cablecarrier

So, an update on the college situation: I've been deferred on the Harvard front, so I'd better hedge my bets and get on applications to other places. Current candidates include Princeton U., Georgetown, and Troy (last restort). I'm quite disappointed on the Harvard deferral. Admission would have made a nice Christmas gift, but I'll have to settle for drifting around in admission limbo.

On a lighter note, the school semester is pretty much over. All I have left is a Democracy exam, a book report, and some college stuff to take care of. I'm really looking forward to a couple of weeks of relative relaxation.

Finally, Guitar Hero II is just as rad as I had hoped it would be. The song list isn't quite as good as it could be, but I can forgive that.

So, my application to Harvard is en route to Massachusetts. I cannot stress how glad I am that is over with. But I still have a trio of SAT subject tests to get done D:

But in better news, the Guitar Hero II release date draws near, with some places even breaking the street date. Of course, none of those places are around here. But man, this game looks awesome. I ask you to watch these excellent videos.

This song is carpal tunnel on a disc. I think it might even be impossible to beat.

Stray Cats!

Monkey Wrenches!

War Pigs!

Nirvana!

Dethklok!

and finally...

TROGDOOOOOOOORRR!!!!

I will find a way to buy this game. How many kidneys do I need to live?

Some of the bonus songs have been announced, and holy fuck they're great.

Freezepop returns from the last game with "Less Talk More Rokk", as do Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives with "Soy Bomb". Also, Drist contributes "Arterial Black", but we already knew about that.

But here's where the neater stuff begins. Voivod tosses in "XStream", as does Buckethead with "Jordan". Also, Every Time I Die with "The New Black". Please note that I have never heard of these last three before, with the exception of Voivod, which I have merely never heard the music of.

But here's the kicker(s). Fans of Metalocalypse rejoice, Dethklok's "Thunderhorse" is also on the bonus list. Care for a less violent form of flash animation? It's been recently confirmed that "Trogdor" of the Strongbad email fame is also in the game.

My desire for this game increases exponentially.

Full Guitar Hero II song line-up announced:


Also included in the game will be a total of 24 bonus songs, most of which are unnannounced. And to get an idea on how insanely difficult this game will get, here's a nice little video of Dick Dale's Misirlou (aka the surf-rock song from Pulp Fiction).

The sound is a bit off, but you get the idea. That's at the hardest difficulty level, by the way. It looks terrifying D:

I can't wait :D

I can be rather verbose when I feel the need. =P

Anyway, I'm going to let the whole "creative writing" thing go. After some thinking, I've come to the conclusion that while it sucks quite a bit, it's nothing that can't be lived with at the very least. I really hate writing from prompts, though. A lot.

So, today has been alright. Got up at 5 a.m, cool. Spent half the day at a journalism workshop, all right. Ate lunch at Ruby Tuesday's, eat drink and be merry.  Lounged around the journalism room reading "Common Sense" while waiting for school to adjourn, groovy. 

But that's not why I'm writing this entry. No, my friends. I am writing this because after the aforementioned series of events occurred, I learned of circumstances that now surround my preferred class. To the uninitiated, I will describe this preferred class first, then give the circumstances that surround it. 





Wow, this ran pretty long. That's not the least of what I have to say about it, but I'll get around to writing the rest later. Maybe.

Also, I've managed to calm down by watching Guitar Hero 2 gameplay videos. Thanks, Harmonix :^:

With each scrap of news released, I become more and more excited about Guitar Hero II. The first is already one of my favorite games ever, and the second is shaping up to be a blast as well :D

News about the song list is kinda slow, but it's been picking up as the game gets closer to release. Confirmed so far:

* Arterial Black - Drist (original track as a bonus song)
* Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
* John The Fisherman - Primus (original track)
* Madhouse - Anthrax
* Psychobilly Freakout - The Reverend Horton Heat
* Shout at the Devil - Mötley Crüe
* Strutter - KISS
* Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses
* Trippin' on a Hole in a Paper Heart - Stone Temple Pilots
* War Pigs - Black Sabbath
* Who Was in My Room Last Night? - The Butthole Surfers
* You Really Got Me - The Kinks, as performed by Van Halen
* YYZ - Rush

Nothing exactly mind-blowing on there, but I'm really psyched to play Sweet Child O' Mine. Also, keep in mind that there's about 20 songs besides these yet to be announced (with the promise that a couple will be original tracks). I wait impatiently for confirmation regarding Queen or David Bowie.

So, the New England trip was very fun and exhausting. I think my favorite site was either the Smithsonian or the Korean Veterans Memorial. The latter may be the most emotionally moving monument I've ever seen. It really is something to behold, especially at night, up close.

Moving on, here are the answers to that song lyric thing from the last post:
( Knockin' On Heaven's Door by Guns 'N Roses )

Speaking of music, I added a bunch to my library lately. The rest of Queen's News of the World; Little Creatures and Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads; the rest of Let's Dance as well as a Greatest Hits album from David Bowie.

Well, it's been a while since I've updated this with anything worth reading, hasn't it?

-I picked up Brain Age, which inspired the subject above. It's like pure crack, but with numbers.

-Name That Tune seems to be the cool thing to do today, so I guess I'll hop on the bandwagon.

Step 1: Put your MP3 player, iTunes, whatever on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line(s) from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Bold out the songs when someone guesses correctly.
Step 5: Looking them up on google or any other search engine is cheating.

( Knock-knock-knockin on Heaven's door )

My internet connection can go fuck itself. Seriously. It's been acting up all damn day, and it doesn't look to be getting any better. I bet that I'll be hitting the refresh button when I submit this entry.

P.S. Might, I know that I've been tagged, and I'll do that thing later in the week, preferably when it's not late and I can type.

FUCK. YOU.

Wow, Kingdom Hearts II is so great. I've spent almost every waking hour playing it since about 9 last night (last night being, by my estimate, Saturday night). The Tron-themed world is just about the coolest thing ever.

Just a quick follow-up on the American Idol show tonight. I'm a bit disappointed, but not quite surprised. The contestants singing Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Somebody To Love, and Innuendo were pretty good, but holy crap the guy doing We Will Rock You (Ace?) was horrible. Oh god my ears. Also, nobody broke the end off of the mic stand and walked around with it. I'll probably watch the results show for a bit of closure (I hope the guy that butchered Fat Bottomed Girls gets the shaft), but I won't give it any attention until the last show.

Also, I somehow managed to make the assistant editor for next year's journalism staff. This puts me in a bit of a Dan Quayle situation, with me being both in a place of authority and totally incompetent. However, I'll give it my best shot.

Emphasis on the "yet".

Anyway, deadline for my yearbook spread is tomorrow, and I'm a bit worried about it (I hate deadlines). That said, I think that I've got everything lined up so that, barring any significant tragedy on my part or that of larger, perhaps divine, outside forces beyond my control that seem to be conspiring against me these days [and fuck them], I'll be able to knock out a large chunk, if not all of it (honestly, I'm not holding out a lot of hope for the latter, but I'm shooting for it anyway), by tomorrow's end. Also, a recent update by my editor has made me realize that, through my ineptitude in this field, I'm helping put far too much undue pressure on her, and I'm going to do my damnedest to put an end to my part in it. Tomorrow, it's go time.

On a much, much lighter note, American Idol is doing a show full of Queen songs next week. I usually don't watch the show, but I have to see this.

Yes, I haven't updated this in a while. I still don't have Civilization IV, by the way.

Moving on, I recently watched the film Good Night, and Good Luck. For the uninitiated, it's about Ed Murrow and his crew as they take on Joseph McCarthy during the McCarthy era. It's riveting stuff, and makes me feel more than a bit ashamed of the news today. When was the last time a news organization really spoke out against wrongdoings by the government? The bit during hurricane Katrina came close, but nothing came of it. The attorney general testifies in a congressional hearing, doesn't get sworn in, and all but waves his johnson in front of the comittee because he doesn't have to worry about being tried for perjury? Barely gets a blurb on CNN, right before they cut to a 10-minute piece on whether soda is bad for you. An investigation into illegal federal wiretapping gets dropped because it might be "giving comfort to the enemy"? I can barely think about that one, it makes me so mad. Many say that Murrow is rolling in his grave because of the state of affairs in televised news, and other than the fact that he was cremated, I'd say that they'd be right.

...and I tell him to go eat a sandwich and leave my "nasty little civilization" alone.

Tonight, I have a new obsession:


Is it pretty? Yes.
Is it deep? Yes.
Can you nuke other civilizations in it? HELL YES.

And it will be mine someday. I've found it for around $16 not including shipping on eBay, and it's $50 retail.  I don't have a way to buy from eBay, so the latter is my only choice. Time to start saving.

I have received an iTunes gift certificate for Valentine's day, and I've been using it extensively.

So far, I have purchased:
-An episode of Comedy Central Presents (Vic Henley)
-We Will Rock You, Killer Queen, and Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen
-32 Footsteps and Man, It's So Loud In Here by They Might Be Giants (I wanted to buy Minimum Wage as well, but I can't justify spending over a dollar for a song that's 47 seconds long)
-Bohemian Polka by Weird Al Yankovic
-Sympathy For the Devil by The Rolling Stones
-5/4 by Gorillaz

And I've still got over $10 to go.

Also, it has come to my attention that Schoolhouse Rock shorts are available for purchase.

He just dropped by and gave me a copy of Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition. To say the least, I was not expecting this. I can only imagine that it's part of a larger, Johnny Appleseed-like endeavor to bring joy to the masses via Capcom's stylish beat-em-up. However, this does give me something to do for the remainder of the afternoon.

I've spent the last hour or so singing along to music, mostly Queen songs. It's sadly addictive.

I've completed what little shopping I had to do for Valentine's day (simply a box of chocolates). I must say, I'm surprised at the sheer non-variety of the chocolates available for purchase (in Wal-Mart, anyway). However, the mere existence of a chocolate brand sponsored by Larry the Cable Guy makes me think this isn't entirely a bad thing.

Also, it's snowing at the moment. There's no doubt in my mind that it won't stick, but I'll be damned if it doesn't look nice.

Despite beating it within the first night, The Warriors has surprisingly taken up a lot of time. Beating up on guys in a bar with cuesticks while "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen is playing is a lot of fun.

I got a $10 gift certificate for iTunes, and I've bought a few songs.
-We Are the Champions and Don't Stop Me Now by Queen
-Walk This Way and It's Tricky by Run-DMC
-The Rising by Bruce Springsteen

I might get Devils and Dust soon, too. However, the fact that neither AC/DC nor any member of the Beatles has material on iTunes is a downer.