Darth Drabek

I just sent The Final Solution, by Michael Chabon, back to the library. It was a good, quick detective story.

Say Anything - Every Man Has a Molly My old college buddy was in town this weekend, and the music swapping reached epic proportions. He loaded me with a boatload of new stuff, and my CD burner was working overtime as well. In related news, the new(est) mc chris album is really really really good.

mc chris - Townie

Faces - Glad and Sorry

Looks like it stars that guy from the Daily Show that has his own sitcom on FOX now. I caught the back half of Rocky III on TV the other day. Man, I love Rocky movies.

Yeah, it's not exactly "robbing a bank" on the scale of respectable crime. You won't see George Clooney starring in a movie about a group of dashing rogues who plan a ... gang rape.

Afterhours - There's Many Ways I like this band so much I will forgive the incorrect grammar in their song title. Especially since their first few albums were sung entirely in Italian. They really need to post "Judas' Blood" though. That song is "the cat's ass," to borrow a phrase from my old boss. Colorful guy.

I put on my thinking cap yesterday for this one, but all I could come up with was "well, they're not using contractions... then when you said "Do not lose how to play the game" I thought you had to use each of the words "how to play the game" in your post somewhere... then I realized that wasn't it. Then I gave up and slunk home, defeated.

Rx Bandits - In Her Drawer

I guess it depends on the player; I can almost always spot the difference in writing style. The thing that caused me to finally ditch the mod was when NPCs started referring to Lilarcor as "Larry". It sounded like something out of 20th century Earth, not Faerun. Ah, but now you're referring to the BG2 banter pack, as that talking sword was found in BG2, not BG1. I haven't tried the banter pack for BG2. I never saw a need for it, actually. I've played that game through probably two and half times, trying to take different combinations of NPCs with me, so I could hear different interactions and do different NPC quests. Before I started BG1, the biggest knock I heard on it was there wasn't enough party interaction. So, I took a chance and installed the banter pack, because a lively group of adventurers can make the most tedious dungeon crawl interesting.

the Lemonheads - My Drug Buddy Three chords and the truth, baby.

It should, because you can start a character as any of the other kits, e.g. Assassin, Kensai, Inquisitor. The one bad thing about tutu is it divvies up the other NPCs weapons proficiencies into more specific categories. Like I think in vanilla BG you just had small swords and large swords, and Khalid has two stars in large swords and two in two-weapon fighting. Well, with tutu they decided those two stars from large swords are now two stars in bastard swords. Not what I would have picked. Still, annoyances like that are easily fixed using Shadowkeeper, which lets you reassign proficiencies to your heart's content.

Being someone who played the series backwards from BG2 to the original, I never actually played vanilla BG1 for more than 10 minutes. I too, have enjoyed the benefits of tutu and the banter pack. In fact I remember talking about the quality of said banter pack a few months back when I was playing the game... I had said I couldn't even tell which banters were Bio-made and which were added with the mod, intending to commend the quality of the modders' work. Someone, Deraldin maybe, pointed out that if there was a banter at all, it was probably from the mod. Never did play Finch though... next time, next time.

Monster Magnet - See You in Hell That's how a rock band should sound.

If you've waited this long, you might as well wait until Team Gizka finishes their mod restoring all the cut content. Unless you're up for a nice, crushing disappointment after a very good game. I took a gander over there a few days ago, and those fellas are taking their project seriously. The list of fixes and restored content looks pretty damn comprehensive.

Yeah, I wish I got the chance to see them live. Soundgarden - The Day I Tried To Live

Mad props. Those last series of races seemed like they were a half hour long. Back on the RPG front: I got tired of the endless reloads from high-level wizards owning me in BG2:ToB, but I wanted to see how it ended so I cheated my way through. So, technically, I finished that one, although I didn't put much work into it.

Man, I've been listening to Soundgarden all morning. Kickstand, I got saddle made of leather Kickstand, I got the words to come together I got the urge to ride your trike My mother says that's the only life

My RPG resume isn't too impressive, I know. But I've never had a PS1 or 2 (so none of those Final Fantasy games for me), and I grew up on action games. How many of you can say you finished Duke Nukem:Zero Hour for the N64? How about Road Rash 3 for the Genesis? Anybody? Bueller? Tried and trashed: Morrowind, Fallout 2, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights Played and finished: BG, BG2, KOTOR, KOTOR:TSL, Jade Empire, Bloodlines, Fable

In celebration of Audioslave's demise: Chris Cornell - Sweet Euphoria

To those questioning the genres: Sure, the Star Wars and Vampire universes are "fantasy." But it's pretty obvious that for the purpose of this poll, Kaftan is defining fantasy as the Tolkien-esque concept, with elves, dwarves, orcs, etc. That style of fantasy lends itself easily to the CRPG genre. And because it's such a recognizable archetype, it requires less imagination on the part of the writer/developer and the reader/player. We've all read that story before. Its familiarity is part of its charm. However, on the flip side, that familiarity makes it a lot harder to come up with something original and stirring. I enjoy fantasy CRPGs, but not entirely because they are fantasy. I'd buy a good CRPG, dragons or no dragons.

I loaned a new friend of mine my KOTOR for PC, and he came over this weekend and left me with his copy of Lego Star Wars 2. Hell yes. What goes around comes around. So far it's more fun than the first one!

I'd listen to it... but then again the idea you propose is right up my alley. A quick Googling and I can state with authority that their playlist is already better than most American rock stations. Was/is Big Wreck Canadian? I remember they had one hit in the states and it seems odd that they'd show up multiple times on the playlist. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Sometimes Always

TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me Maybe I need a few more listens, but I don't see what the big deal is about these guys.

My vote goes to Slick Willie. He did a great job of balancing the nation's budget and reducing the National Debt, which was no easy task. He also passed a budget reconciliation act in 1993 that raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2 percent, while cutting taxes for 15 million low-income families and made tax cuts available for 90 percent of small businesses. Reagan may be the Hollywood president, but Bill Clinton was Robin Hood with a southern drawl! That said, Hillary doesn't have a chance in hell of winning in 2008, and there are at least three other Dems I'd rather see in office than her.