LadyCrimson

That would make an excellent conspiracy theory. The next Oliver Stone movie!

I played it back in the day. It's a very solid game, I'd definitely say it is worth the pickup. They've changed a ton of stuff since I played it, for the better from what I hear, so I can't give you too much insight on it. I played it when it was first released...it was ok. For me the best part was being able to play solo w/those idiotic hirelings (they were a hoot...) in an anti-social separated instance. But the MP aspect was ok, just not as fun as, say, WoW, imo. GW didn't have a real "big MMO" feeling, because of the instance system. I've thought about trying out the new stuff but .... nah. I don't think it'll have changed enough to make it worth going back.

If that's Washington DC, that's one of the areas that's as average-expensive or more so than around here. New York is another one, especially if you use dollars per square foot. 2008/2009 Forbes "Most Expensive Zipcodes" list (based on median home values) has 250 California zip codes in their top 500, which includes a lot not far from us. Our house has dropped in value since we bought it a year ago (we expected it) but it's nothing like many other areas hit so hard...unless the world collapses (never know) I'd guess in a couple years, three at most, our personal house value will be back where it was, if not higher. I don't know if it'll ever reach back to it's 'boom-time' peak, tho...which was ridiculously over-priced for a 1000sf home (I think it was close to 750K, and we wouldn't have bought it then). *shrug* Edit: lol, yeah, even in expensive US areas, it's still a lot better than in say, Japan. I've seen real estate shows about people buying there...tiny little concrete boxes with a sink and toaster-oven counter ovens for a kitchen, and bathrooms are like tiny closets. Ouch.

War is a bloody business. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The only problem with Swadian Knights is they tend to cluster in a giant knot of horsemen and if you're not careful they "trap" you in the middle. I should try weaker units...Knights are becoming boring. I win everything.

I wonder who all the "cool kids" are? But yeah, that's pretty much what entertainment-as-multi-million-business does.

Aha, I think I finally got it! U2's The Edge's "Numb." K, now I can sleep at night.

Agreed. They make very basic, simple stories that are effective for wrapping around action-oriented gameplay progression, and it works, but imo they certainly haven't been genius story-tellers. That's their key, imo. If you like the kind of gameplay they provide, they provide it consistently. And they don't seem to rush their games as much, which is one reason why I think they have a decent record re: bugs. I'd definitely like to see a completely new series by Blizz (is that what you guys mean by "IP?"). It's time for a different world setting.

I remember those ads, but no, that's not it either ... those are too "peppy".

I'm moving there. Most people here would disagree with you. Heh. Sheesh. I grew up with 2 siblings in a house that was about 2100sf...my mom sold that a couple years ago for 1.4 million. Average home lots around here are 5000-5500sf (that's including house, front, back yard). So most houses that are 2500+sf have to be two story w/little yard, or be in the rich acre+ areas like Atherton/Woodside where the mansions are 3-5-10+ million. Heh. I can understand about not having a yard, tho. I think kids need a yard to play if it's possible for the parents to provide one (not to mention safety reasons). Our house may be really small, but at least it has a decent yard for a big city suburb. Meaning, it's small compared to a lot of middle-states/non-big city areas but big enough for a garden, kids to play, a pool if you wanted, a dog, etc.

Today is the day that the conficker 2.0 worm is supposed to hit. Hubby's spent all week trying to prepare for it, for some customers, just in case. I wondered if it was a mean April Fools hacker joke to panic people (and the virus would do something relatively harmless like 'hahaha'), but apparently not. :/

The first time I saw these (kinda creepy) ads, the monotonous tune drove me up the wall because it sounded so familiar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MNafENKCvI All the posts/searches I see say some Moldy Peaches song from a film called "Juno", but for me, that's not it. Never seen the movie, never heard that song. Can anyone think of another song that the ad's music reminds them of? It's driving me nuts.

There's already so many such threads - books, movies, music, what I did etc...possibly making this one "Movies & TV" seems easier.

For real? I didn't know that was possible... heh What, developing a crush? No, it's not in the game. I make up a story for myself in my head as I go along, which I'm finding a lot more fun than having one pre-made for me. There's a rpgforum thread called "Let's Play...Mount & Blade" that I read that's the perfect example of this. It makes good reading, if you're familiar with the game anyway I guess. It's 20 pages long from all the replies, but you can just read the posts with the screenies, which are the "story" posts from the person playing. One of the best "let's play" type of threads ever, imo. The person has a great imagination and simple but fun story-telling style. http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=431317

So does this thread encompass general TV watching, too? Did anyone see last night's House episode? Maybe the most interesting one for a while, with the whole "locked inside my head" patient viewpoint. I loved his internal head-voice comments about "so you're wrong, again, and don't know what's wrong with me, again?" Kind of a gentle inside-jab on the formula of the show, I thought.

"dead" & "pledge" - I can see that. "By signing this paper, you pledge to be in debt until you're dead!" hah. Side note: I really hate it when people are looking over your shoulder as you type. I try very hard to look away/not read when other people are doing it, but some folk (my hubby, ahem) just stare and stare until you're done and you can look at them and say "yes, need something?" One of those things that shouldn't bug me but does anyway.

Jolene, Dolly Parton. Not a country fan, but there's some songs that are still classic.

Our house payment is almost 3 times what the rent was on the somewhat bigger single-family we were in. But that isn't average - we had a superb deal on the rental due to a "leave me seriously alone and it stays cheap" retired rich dude kind of owner. 3000+ sf house ... hahaha, in RWC/penninsula that'd likely be well over a million, even now. Not for us, sadly. Not that we'd need that much. A couple thousand would be nice tho. Because it is? It is a funny spelling tho, isn't it ... most of us here pronounce it close to "more-gauge." Dictionary com says it has some French roots. Maybe that's why?

Same here. I know there have been games where while playing I'd think "what a terrible/annoying gameplay flaw/bug/design" or whatever, but I can't think of them off-hand. There's a lot of little gameplay annoyances that aren't actual bugs. One of my biggest beefs is when games have terrible menu interfaces - not the layout of the actual menus, but, for example, the way you enter/exit them and how it affects the game. Or when they don't include an "are you sure" type of check for things you might too-easily accidentally click on (like "quit"). Ultima9 is still the one that sticks in my mind for actual bugs. You don't even need a list, just toss a stone and you'll hit one.

The taxes were always a pain but now it + the state business/program slowdown is beginning to crimp us. Our old rent was very cheap so it was easy to save lots beyond what's needed for taxes - our mortgage on this tiny house is not cheap, meaning a lot less to work with. Fark over-priced real estate and the unrealistically-low-for-this-area "this is a jumbo loan" number. We have a fixed rate of around 6% and at the time were lucky to get it. We think we'll qualify for a refinance under some of the new stuff going on, which could give us something closer to 4.5% and would save quite a bit and give more breathing room. Looking into that. We're still pleased to have bought, tho.

Over-rated I'd have to agree. It's not that it's bad, tho...it's just not as advant garde as the reviews made it sound, or something.

Still Mount & Blade, when I have a moment. My character is developing a "crush" on King Harlaus. Must be all the "You're awesome" compliments he gives out. This game needs an option to become the Queen. Hahaha

Did you try to drop the refresh rate any lower, like 60?

I'll change up one day soon. I figure this thing will break or do the tube-fade thing too badly and so I keep looking for an LCD that'll do. Not many CRT's for sale anymore.

I'm still sitting around the house in my bathrobe, filled with a lack of desire to run a bunch of errands I have to run. Grumbling about how owning a house didn't help with our taxes at all. That's what happens when you don't have any kids or other major deductions and have to file self-employment. Looking at the back of my morning drink of diet soda - mmm, brominated vegetable oil, yellow dye #5, caffeine (the important part), and lots of other I'm-sure-are-bad-for-me chemicals. Yummy!

Tried to watch Memento. Had great reviews and stuff, and I like Guy Pearce. It's interesting, that's for sure. But the strange backward-working flashback scene connectors were too distracting and it was a bit slow. I turned it off after an hour...maybe I'll try finishing it later.