A Decision To Be Indecisive

It's no secret that I work in a retail environment as my profession. Which means I am exposed to all facets of society both good and, usually, bad. Today I've decided to share some observations with you, because that's just how giving I am. Part of this is for humour sake, part of it is because I have a genuine dislike of eighty-five-percent (maybe more) of the human race.

Without further adieu, here's some things you need to be looking for when "Out in the Wild":

THE FAUX HAWK


I've come to the conclusion that having a faux hawk pretty much instantly makes you a jerk-off. Just take a look around you and consider how many assholes you've seen with them. But the ultimate faux hawk tragedy is when I see smaller boys (we're talking 4-7) sporting this hairstyle. That right there should set off the warning lights that said child will, mostly likely, be a chortling bullying type in the near future.

The "UMMM" FACTOR


How can you easily spot a dumb-ass out in the wild? It's easy, my friends. I figure that anyone who can not string together two complete sentences without going "ummm..." is not a very bright person at all. I'd like to say I pity the teenage girl I saw the other day who peppered almost everything she said with that "blank-stare" vocal noise but it's not my fault she's a dumb-ass...

TAPOUT, BITCHES!


I think the image above, which I found on a random Google image search, pretty much sums up my feelings on TAPOUT shirts. I'm seeing these damn things everywhere since men have decided that watching a bunch of greased-up, muscle-bound guys rolling around on a mat throwing the occasional punch was "cool" (even though it seems kind of gay). Sorry dude, just because you're wearing the shirt doesn't make you any more of a bad-ass.

Any self-respecting 80's low-budget movie fan knows the name Michael Dudikoff. Apart from appearing with Tom Hanks in 1984's Bachelor Party he also became a somewhat minor b-movie action star the next year with Cannon Films' American Ninja. In between the first and second of that series (of the five, he'd appear in all of them but the third), Dudikoff was the hero in the racist smashing, bayou based Avenging Force. Also directed by AN helmer Sam Firstenberg and co-starring his AN partner, Steve James; this is the perfect movie between that film and its sequel. Dudikoff isn't a much different hero than he was there but this has enough cheeseball action, and a great over-the-top performance by James P. Ryan as the main baddie, to be more entertaining than it should be.



Following up Enter the Ninja and Revenge of the Ninja this reason I love this one so much isn't because I saw it countless times of TV growing up - though I assume it has helped me wear some rose-tinted glasses towards it. The reason Ninja III: The Domination is so crazy is because it takes your regular ninja movie and tosses in a whole bunch of The Exorcist. That's right, phone company worker Lucinda Dickey finds herself possessed by the spirit of a ninja (played by Sho Kosugi!) who we saw earlier get gunned down after going on a (totally awesome) rampage through a golf course. As if that wackiness wasn't enough, this is also a 'beyond the grave' revenge pic. It's probably the most bizarre of Cannon's 80s action flicks, and that's saying a lot!

This early evening I headed out to the new fancy sports arena in town, which I can walk to in about 15-20 minutes if I so wish (and judging from the shit traffic, I should), to check out a pre-season game for our new AHL team, Heat.

Relocated from Illinois, where they were the Quad City Flames, the team is supposed to be a big deal to make this less of a redneck/crack-head hick farmer town. It's the last stop on the road to the NHL as we're the farm team for the Calgary Flames. I find that funny since we're less than an hour away from Vancouver and the Canucks most hated rivals are, you guessed it, the Flames.

Anyhow, after much scrambling about to figure out where I left the tickets (they were in the car, which my wife had at work), we were dropped off at the arena. Which was fine by me since the person I was going to the game with was getting all uptight at his wife (and my mother-in-law) because she wasn't all gangbusters to get there. We got there with lots of time to spare, so I don't get what the big deal was.

The arena itself is pretty nice, and it better damn well be considering how much it cost the city/taxpayers, with a 7,000 person capacity. They announced the attendance as 4,400 or so, which was disappointing but you have to remember it was pre-season.

Since we were playing the Manitoba Moose, and since that team is the Canucks farm club, there were lots of Vancouver jerseys on display. I'm a Canucks fan too but if the Heat is going to be my local hockey team, I'm going to cheer for them. The game itself was pretty decent as the Heat came back from trailing 2-0 to win it 6-4. There were a couple of fights (though the second one I had to yell, "Stop hugging him!"), a penalty shot goal, and an older lady sitting behind me who kept shouting things in her smoker's voice like "Turn on the Heat!", "Burn the Moose!", and other obvious plays-on-words.

It's been a while since I've actually gone to a live game, and I enjoyed myself, but since this team is so close to me and since tickets aren't that expensive, I'm hoping to check out at least ten games this season - it helps that someone who works for me has season tickets and is kind enough to share them.

Since I run a department in a retail store that mostly specializes in toys and the like, I've had a lot of annoying little rug rats cross my path in the years I've been doing it. They're the kind of kids that are dropped off by their parents in the aisles while they piss off and shop elsewhere. And they can't leave shit the fuck alone either.

I have many stories I could share, including one where I had to drag one obnoxious teenager out of the store by his hoodie while he told me what I was doing was "child abuse" (to which I replied, "you're not my child"), but the other day I almost stuck my foot firmly in my mouth.

At the time I was working on pricing up some summer toys, since they had just gone half off, and I heard this repetitive clinking sound. Nothing new since I've caught people bashing a hockey stick off exercise equipment before, but this just wouldn't quit.

Anyhow, I eventually spot the culprit, which is a younger boy smacking a metal pole all over the place. Just as I'm about to wander over and request he stop I realize something: he's blind. Yeah, I almost told a blind child who was using his cane to find his way through the labyrinthine store to knock it off. Which leads me to think: why can't they make blind people wear those funky black sunglasses you always see in the movies? It would make it easier to spot them and stop idiots like myself from being a jackass.

I've said it before but this town is becoming a haven for idiots.

This evening I had to go pick my wife up from work at Midnight. On a Saturday. This is usually bad news if you're trying to avoid the moron parade. And they were out in force.

From the guy yelling at a truck backing onto the road down a side street, to the guy shouting out of the passenger window of a pick-up at nobody in particular, this place has become drunk Redneck Heaven. And to top things off there was two cop cars parked at the end of my street with flashers ablaze - probably to track down the latest drunk/cracked out resident.

I love this town. It makes me happy.

I can strike a line through a couple more musicians I wanted to see as I had the pleasure of seeing both Ronnie James Dio and Tony Iommi last night as Heaven & Hell rolled through Vancouver with Coheed & Cambria in tow. I still have the ring in my ears to prove it!

Ended up with primo seats as we were in the second row pretty much right in front of Dio. You can't complain much about that. The show was at UBC Thunderbird Arena, which I've never been to and seemed like a pretty decent venue. They obviously weren't expecting the huge crowds like when I went to Maiden, but it was an alright turn-out.

We didn't get there until Coheed was entering into their second song of the set, which was disappointing, but I still go to hear "Ten Speed (Of God's Blood" and "Welcome Home", so that pleased me. They put on a decent show considering a lot of metal heads were just there for the main event and I heard numerous people saying afterward, "I don't know who they are but they rocked it pretty good!". They were selling a signed CD/DVD combo of their last album, "No World for Tomorrow" and if I didn't already own it, I probably would've bought it instead of a tour shirt.

I was this close to catching one of the drummer's sticks as it bounced off the tips of my fingers. I probably wouldn't of kept it anyway since the girl behind us was way more into them than I was with all her bopping around, screaming, and "I love you's" - I might've been a nice guy for once and given it to her.

Went to the merch table and bought a tour shirt which is basically the "Devil You Know" album art on the front and dates on the back. It's suitably evil enough to annoy all the religious freaks in his hypocritical town.

Then it was time for H&H. A band nobody knows who they are until I just say, "They're Black Sabbath without Ozzy".

THE SETLIST:
01. E5150 / The Mob Rules
02. Children Of The Sea
03. Bible Black
04. Fear
05. Drum Solo
06. I
07. Falling Off The Edge Of The World
08. Time Machine
09. Follow The Tears
10. Die Young
11. Heaven And Hell

Encore: Country Girl (snippet) / Neon Knights

I went into the show wanting to hear "Mob Rules" and "Neon Knights" and my wish was granted. My friend, Ray, was wondering beforehand if they would play any solo Dio stuff or older Sabbath and I told him they probably wouldn't because they're trying to distance themselves from the name.

Having never seen Dio in person before, I'm going to confirm reports of him looking like a "Hobbit" are pretty close. For a guy so tiny, he has one Hell of a voice. And he sounded really good. There was a good vibe to the entire show though because it felt like everyone on stage was enjoying themselves with Iommi smiling through the entire thing, drummer Vinny Appice getting to do an overlong drum solo, and bassist "Geezer" Butler attacking his instrument with vigor. I know everyone was there for Dio and Tony but I found my attention kept drifting back to Butler - I didn't realize just how good he is.

I know that twelve songs doesn't seem like a big set for the main act but there were moments that broke down into impromptu jams and it's not like we were at a punk show. "Heaven and Hell" cleared ten minutes all by itself.


Here's Dio bathed in red light looking "evil"



And Mr. Iommi doing what he does best.

Highlights of the show, for me, included Dio throwing his famous horns for the first time of the evening, the smoke machine that wouldn't quit, and the guy beside me playing endless air guitar.

I've read in a few places people complaining about the crowd's energy and I can assure them it was pretty energetic up front. Don't whine about the bands getting "no respect" and just enjoy the fact you went to the fucking show in the first place. Douche.

That is all. Up next is Mastodon/Dethklok with Coverge and High on Fire in October. I'm thinking I need volume deadening ear plugs for that one...

It's fricking hot in here and I'm not about to take off all my clothes - though I might slap a bandage on my cheek like a muthafucka!

Even with a fan behind me going full-blast, I'm sweltered. This whole week it's been high 30's, 40+ with the humidity. Nice! I haven't even turned on my 360 due to fear it might explode. And watching movies in the living room is a definite no. Hell, even writing a couple of reviews today was a task. Speaking of that, you should go check them out - Kids Go to the Woods... Kids Get Dead and Mulberry Street - because it's the first two I've written since the start of July. I just don't know why my writing motivation is completely gone lately. I guess because I sometimes feel I'm just doing it and talking to myself. I know people read them but fuckers don't like to talk/e-mail/whatev's (ooo, Internets speak!).

Not much else new. Been working (meh), attempting to figure out why nobody seems to want anything to do with me (huh?), and watching various movies in an attempt to keep my PVR full percentage under 90. I also cleaned the shit out of my house while my wife was on vacation and it's still looking alright almost a week later, go Team Venture!

Had a slight twinge lately to watch a bunch of stand-up comedy so I downloaded some Comedy Central stuff with Arj Barker, Doug Benson, and Zach Galifankas (sp?). I also grabbed the Roast specials because sometimes insults are amusing.

Bought a bunch of CD's at thrift/pawn shops and am closing in on 700 CD's owned. Now if I can just get another unit or two to hold all those fuckers. Want to whittle down my DVD collection but am too lazy to try and sell them on-line (because Blockbuster won't give me shit). Also got excited to hear Night of the Creeps is coming out on Blu-Ray.

That's it, back to becoming a wall of sweat.

We know Chuck Norris is awesome, I now have proof he's evil too. Check out the view count on the Octagon trailer I uploaded to Youtube a while back:

Went to Wal-Mart this fine evening just to peruse their entertainment section, buy some coffee cream, a frozen pizza, and snacks. It happens to be close to home, so even though I despise going in there, I did anyway.

While I was deciding on what sugar (chocolate bar) to force into my system, there was a whole lot of noise coming from the bicycles by the toy section. We're talking the old school "honk-a-honk-a!" horn being pressed over and over. My friend and I decided that, just maybe, there was a clown being raped off in the corner somewhere and that was his desperate plea for help.

After that we're standing at the checkout and some French-Canadian dude, who looks like he needs a shave and a hair cut - the curly haired fuck, is literally clasping his toddler by the throat and asking him "why aren't you saying potty?", of course with the accent it sounded like "poddy", but perhaps he wasn't saying it because you've cut of his air flow. He also grabbed the kid's head between his two large froggy mits and kept telling him to "look into my eyes" like he's trying to hypnotize this, now traumatized, two-year-old into saying potty for him. Bizarre parenting there, if you can call it that.

That's probably it, and I do realize I haven't written in here since March, I just haven't felt the need. Deal with it.

Lately on the way to and from work, and from driving my wife to work, I've been spinning a lot of CD's from my collection I haven't listened to in a while. Recently I made my way through the Escape From L.A. soundtrack, which is not only better than the movie could ever hope to be, but also made me aware of a lot of cool bands.

One of those bands is the main subject here: Sugar Ray. They went through an extremely sad transformation and "sold-out" more than any hard rock band I can think of. This is a band who started out playing quickly paced, straight-ahead rock music and went on to crank out shit like "When It's Over" and "Falls Apart" - songs your mom could happily sing to herself while making casserole for dinner.

And to blame is a little song called "Fly", which came from their second album "Floored". It's an irritating and crappy little pop ballad and feels totally out of place in the context of the rest of the album with such aggressive songs like "Breathe" and "Tap, Twist, Shout". It also became a huge radio hit. Rather than stick to their guns, Mark McGrath and the boys decided they'd go for more fame and their next album "14:59" was a complete and utter about-face from their first two efforts. The best thing about it is the jokey title, which is referring to their fifteen minutes of fame almost being over.

And it was all downhill from there. Two more crappy albums followed, McGrath went on to get a gig on the tabloid celebrity stroke-a-thon "Extra!" as well as other shitty reality shows. He even got his tattoos removed - much too rock for this fucker.

How can a band go from this awesome cover (Ami Dolenz, spank my Monkee - see what I did there?):


To this?


Boggles my mind. At least the other bands I got into from that soundtrack: Clutch and Orange 9mm stayed true to their musical statements - Hell, Clutch is still doing it to this day and they're still kicking much ass. Don't believe me? Visit their WEBPAGE.

Since I happen to work in a retail store, and I also happen to have a Facebook page, I get the joy of seeing all of the younger people on my lists' feeble attempts at getting attention. You know, saying stuff about how they miss someone, how their lives have no hope, all that. For fuck's sake, most of you aren't even (or barely) twenty, come back to me once you've lived a little more and then complain.

Also, check out this little status tidbit (I won't put the name, because that's not nice):
"Jane Doe is sick as Jeffory Dahlmer is..."

Wow, just wow. To be a complete asshole, just for a fleeting moment, it's "Jeffrey Dahmer" and you can't possibly use "is" when he's been dead for years. So, yeah, "Jane Doe is as sick as Jeffrey Dahmer was..." just rolls off the tongue so much better. Though why you'd relate your illness with a cannibalistic serial killer I'm still wondering about.

There's not been a whole heck of a lot going on of note lately but I have noticed a few things on my daily journey through life.

I went to the local HMV today in order to buy the seventh season of Trailer Park Boys on DVD. To get there I had to walk through the Sport-Chek next door because they have a good portion of the mall's parking lot blocked-off as they build a Best Buy. On the way through I noticed just how dead it was in there, a trend that continued into the HMV. Damn, nobody is shopping anymore. I'm hesitant to blame the economy, but maybe that's because I'm ignorant due to nobody I know being affected by it. While I was in HMV I had the honour of seeing a cracked-out lady donning the listening station headphones and dancing around like a looney tune while he abundant jewelry jingled about.

Later this evening, when I was reading the latest issue of Blender magazine, I saw an ad on the back cover for Axe body wash. For one of the types they sell, called "Snake Peel", they actually have the ad line, "Scrub away the skank with Snake Peel" - what the fuck? Anyone who knows me knows I'm completely not politically correct but this is a major print magazine and a pretty big company, they really should know better.

Didn't watch the Oscars, don't care about Hollywood giving each other congratulatory hand-jobs.

Watched the comedy Role Models tonight with Seann William Scott and Paul Rudd, it wasn't that bad and had a good handful of laughs even if it played up it's L.A.R.P. (Live Action Role Playing) angle a bit too much in the finale. I also recorded the John Candy comedy Summer Rental simply because everyone needs a 80's comedy now and then.

While I was waiting outside the grocery store my wife works at (this being almost midnight) I saw some dude putting his food into his car and slowly returning his cart. He looked sad. Sometimes I wonder what's going through people's heads as they go about the bland routines life tends to throw at you all the time. Maybe he was out shopping that late because he was alone. Maybe he's just afraid of people and prefers later hours when there's less people. Or maybe he just wanted to get away from his home life. Who really knows? The human mind is much too elaborate and fucked-up to try and get a grip on.

Yeah, so I haven't written a thing here in a while. Perhaps it is because things have been boring but, really, it's just because I'm so damn lazy. Just thought I'd recap a few, random and mostly pointless, things:

-I finally entered the World of HD. Went out last night to buy a HD television set and ended up at Future Shop. Jen and I knew which set we were interested in but, thanks to high pressure sales tactics by a salesman who looked barely nineteen (and told us he'd worked there a year but hadn't sold a solitary unit of the one we wanted), we ended up leaving a bit perturbed and annoyed. Now, I know we only really wanted to spend $700 before taxes but after shopping around a bit, we ended up buying THIS. They chopped about $120 off the price at London Drugs for us and, so far, I'm happy. Remember, all I've had it a 27-inch Citizen TV, so even seeing my 360 in "TrueColor HD" was cool. Tomorrow they come by and hook up the HD cable and buying the PVR ended up costing $650 - which you can pay for monthly. So, yeah, it's quite an expense we weren't expecting but, with heavy budgeting and all that, it'll be cool.

-When putting back the Megadeth CD, "Rust in Peace" today, I noticed that only The Melvins seperate the 'deth from Metallica. Which amused me because we all know what a whiny bitch Dave Mustaine was in Some Kind of Monster.

-Got tickets to go see the Flight of the Conchords concert in May. I guess I was lucky since my fellow Graveyard writer Josh told me that it was extremely difficult to get them and they sold out in under two minutes. Thank goodness for the early tip by someone at work they were coming and the fact I did internet pre-order three days before general sale (using the code "SUGALUMPS").

-This Chinese food I am currently eating re-heated is pretty good.

-I have twelve 360 games I have purchased I haven't even put into my system. The last one was Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, which I plan on playing after I finish Conan and Call of Duty 3. I recently completed Dark Sector, which is a mix of Gears of War and Krull. It was an entertaining game and well worth the eight bucks I paid for it.

-I'm thinking of trying alligator when I go out for Valentine's dinner on Saturday.

-The new Bang Camaro CD is pretty kick-ass. Plus when I ordered I got an autographed CD book, a pin, and a iron on patch.

-The new My Bloody Valentine probably would've sucked if it wasn't in 3D. Probably the best thing about seeing it (apart from it was free because a friend gave me advance passes) was finally getting to meet Josh. He's been writing for the site for years and we talked for a while even before that (back in his Chainsaw Fodder days), so it was super cool to finally meet up. The best thing was that we got along pretty darn good with each other. It was a lot of fun and I hope to do it again sometime.

Can't really think of much else, so there!

Since everyone else seems to be writing a blog post about what they received for Christmas, I guess I'll get in on it.

We went to the house of a couple we're friends with for Christmas Eve and I ended-up getting the 2-disc version of Step Brothers and Iron Man from them - which I wasn't expecting at all.

My wife bought me a $20 HMV card (I used to it to buy season one of "The Venture Bros."), some Microsoft points (which I downloaded the game Cloning Clyde and some Rock Band 2 songs), a pair of jeans, a Minimates set of Batman/Killer Croc, an Iron Maiden hat, some candy stuffs, and the 3-disc special edition of Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.

From the mother-in-law I received a Starbucks mug with gift card, the fifth season of "Trailer Park Boys" and the massive 16-disc "Monty Python's Flying Circus" collection that contains all of the show's episodes and a couple of their live performances.

I also received $125 in cash, which I used to buy: 2 Xbox 360 games to the tune of Condemned 2 and Prince of Persia, the new AC/DC album "Black Ice", the 2-disc edition of True Romance, the complete series of The Office (the BBC version), the 2-disc gift set for Silverado, and The Dark Knight. I also bought my wife some socks, because I'm nice.

Overall, I came out with way more than I deserved. Now I'm going to be chained to my television for days watching it all.

We're closing in on the end of the year and I'm ramping up on site to make up my choices for "Best" and "Worst" horror films. I've got a complete list currently but I'm trying to cram in a handful of 2008 movies I've yet to see just in case something slipped by. I seriously doubt it, but there's about eight movies I need to view before the end of the month and you never know.

The end of the year is notorious for "best of" lists and I was thinking about music releases of the past twelve months that've made an impression on me. The one album that stands out the most, much to my surprise, is Metallica's "Death Magnetic". Despite what all the 'real fans' say, this is one Hell of an album. Sure, it's not the piss 'n' vinegar of their earlier stuff, but you have to remember these are guys now in their forties. And fuck you stupid metal forever fan boys for making issue of them shopping in expensive stores. They're goddamn millionaires, there's no way they'll keep their DIY aesthetic from when they were in their early twenties making thrash records and living in tour buses. It's a complete album and they've brought back the solos "St. Anger" didn't have, tons of wah-wah pedal and all, as well as got rid of that awful snare drum sound. I particularly like "That Was Your Life" and "The Unforgiven III" (it should've been called something different, then it wouldn't of been so harshly judged). I continue spinning this disc and am glad it's again cool to like them.

I've also been listening to Guns N' Roses "Chinese Democracy". It really should've just been an Axl Rose solo project considering all the people with a finger in the pie. The title track has six guitar players credited! It's a pretty mixed bag and all over the place. I've heard a bunch of the songs on it before in various leaks over the years and I absolutely hate "Street of Dreams" where it sounds like Axl is sobbing while singing or, at least, trying out to be cast in Andrew Lloyd Weber's Phantom of the Opera. I need to listen more before I pass final judgment.

On a last music related note, lately metal ballads have been big on my play list. I just love these damn things, don't know right why. If you're wondering what I mean exactly then check out "Beyond the Realms of Death" by Judas Priest, "Cemetery Gates" by Pantera, or "Fade to Black" by Metallica. Holy shit, they're good - though I'm a mite concerned they're all death themed, but then I suppose they couldn't be called metal.

If I ever needed proof of the absolute wrecking power of Celine Dion's music, and I'm mostly shifting the blame to her song from Titanic, then I have photographic evidence from the cover of last month's Canadian edition of Reader's Digest:


That poor child has had his entire face burnt off by her songs!! Damn her!

I don't really pay much attention to entertainment news - which, granted, is difficult considering I run a webpage where I constantly get press releases - but the following article just blew my freaking mind.

Batman Is Evil

So the mayor of this horse-fuck town is suing the makers of The Dark Knight saying that the fact they're using the same name that they are responsible for several unsolved murders and a high female suicide rate due to the "psychological impact" from the success of the movie. This just reeks of "piece of the pie" to me and if Warner Brothers actually decides to offer a settlement, they're just as retarded.

The Batman character was created by Bob Kane in 1939, why is it when a movie based on such a character makes almost a billion dollars Worldwide (as of this entry) that this comes out of the woodwork? The almighty dollar, that's why.

Last week when I was listening to the music podcast from IGN their topic was listing the first five songs that came up on shuffle when they turned on their ipods (or itunes). Since I am apt to be interested in such nerdy endeavors, I decided I would do the same thing. The only difference being: a) I own a Zune and b) it's only me talking about it and, it's quite likely, nobody gives a shit. But this is my blog, so I'll do whatever I damn well please!

In order of arrival to my ear drums, after shutting off Metallica's new CD, "Death Magnetic" (which is rather good and makes them almost cool again to listen to):

1. "Is There Something I Should Know" by Duran Duran
You can colour me surprised that one of my numerous guilty pleasures from the 80's came up first. But I show no shame in enjoying earlier Duran Duran stuff. This song probably isn't in my top five songs by the band, but I can't say it's shite either. Lots of synths, a funky bass line, and a catchy enough chours.

2. "No Sign of Life" by OK Go
This one comes from their second LP, "Oh No", which I admit I don't have a very close relationship with. But it's an alright romp anyway.

3. "Bag O Miracles" by Eagles of Death Metal
Pretty Southern rock sounding, but most of this band's stuff does show that influence. It's 70's rock filtered through modern day with the help of Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme in tow. This one's got lots of hand claps, harmonizing, and folky guitar.

4. "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson
I was seven when "Thriller" came out. It was the shit to my little brain and I was soon cutting up my mother's dress gloves, sporting them on one hand, and attempting to do a moonwalk. This song isn't off that album, this song isn't one I like by Jacko. It's a bland, crappy ballad that shows up here simply because it's on the "Number Ones" compilation on my Zune.

5. "Emily" by Bowling for Soup
Standard pop punk and nothing I listen to much. I didn't pay much for this disc and I think I bought it because I heard "Punk Rock 101" on one of EA's various sports games soundtracks. I don't have a huge affinity for pop punk like this and Blink-182, but I can tolerate it.

Early impressions of the abundance of gaming that headed my way this past week:
Age of Booty: I hate the name for this Xbox Live Arcade game. I much preferred its original moniker, Plunder. It's a fairly basic strategy game where you control pirate ships and try to gather resources and take over towns before your opponents can. It took me a few games to get the hang of it but once I did, I enjoyed myself. I've yet to try it on-line but I've read that's what makes this game worth the 800 points I spent (or 10 bucks in money talk).

Dead Space: Like I said before, this feels a lot like John Carpenter's The Thing with it's mutating humans and the like, but for an unestablished "horror survival" game this (so far) hits all the right notes. It looks good, it's gory as fuck, and there's something satisfying about taking apart a creature who's out for your blood limb-by-bloody-limb. I've only spent 2-3 hours with it but I'm digging it.

I played a heck of a lot of Fable II today and I wasn't that enthralled in the first few hours but it's managed to grow on me as my trusty dog and I have explored various countrysides killing beasties, collecting treasures, robbing houses, and trying to get rid of one of the townsfolk who become much too enamoured of me for my liking. The working mini-games are pretty simple and the gambling tables they've included make for mild fun, but I've just enjoyed cruising around seeing the sights.

Finally, I popped in Saint's Row 2 this evening for some co-op with a buddy and damned if it wasn't one of the most fun times I've had playing on-line in recent memory. It's completely over-the-top stuff what with you busting out of jail in the opening moments, destroying a court house, and generally being a bad-ass. I loved stealing a samurai sword and slice 'n' dicing people with the cool stabby animation. It's not a lot different from the first and won't win any awards for graphics but I had a great time laughing it up and acting goofy.

Now if I can just get through more of these before Fallout 3 next week.

Yeah, I lied. I didn't buy it like planned. I did get a good deal on Fable II though as I took in the flier from my work which was ten dollars cheaper and not only did they match it, but they gave me an additional 10% off - the entire amount, when it was supposed to just be on the ten dollar difference. Not complaining. So far, the game is alright. A bit dull at first but I can sense it getting better.

The West Coast chain of stores called A&B Sound are totally going under. In the last year they've shut almost all their stores with only four remaining in business. However, judging from the fact they're clearing out almost all their CDs for 70% off, I don't think they're going to last much longer. But when I can get 6 discs for 29 bucks, I will reap such benefits.