Darth Drabek

I'd like to play this Bloodlines game, but it's not on consoles and I'm not sure my PC can handle it. I've got 512 ram, 2.6 ghz and plenty of hard drive, but my video card is a lame integrated GeForce something or other. I can run KOTOR (with good frame rate if I turn off a few graphical options) and GTA:SA with minimal slowdown. Do I stand a chance?

The Afghan Whigs - Crime Scene Part One As I breathe All the evidence is piling up against me As I breathe In the essence rare that's falling from the vine And if you knew Just how smooth I could stop it on a dime You could meet me at the scene Of the crime.

Boston - Feelin' Satisfied Classic rock is good for the soul.

Yeah, sounds like some kind of life support stretcher, eh?

Duke Nukem Forever. All kidding aside, I won't be buying one for a few years anyway until the price drops a few hundred (if I buy one at all), but I would love to see next-gen versions of some of my favorite series: Road Rash and Virtua Tennis come to mind. That tennis game was so much fun for the DC back in the day. Another Hydro Thunder would be nice too. Also, more story-driven, party-based RPGs in the KOTOR vein would be very welcome indeed (Star Wars universe totally optional) and might persuade me to buy one sooner. And where's my Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold sequel?

Have you heard the "Rockin the Suburbs" album he put out after he went solo? There's some top notch catchy piano rock on there. It also includes one of my favorite songs, "Fred Jones Part 2," a story of a man losing the job he's had for years, of the older generation being phased out of society. I think I'll post it in the lyric thread in the next few days. And as if the song weren't good enough already, it has backing vocals from John McCrea from Cake!!!! Right now: Afghan Whigs - My Curse

I was there for a little while in the KOTOR days. There was a really nice guide there to basic D&D stuff like attack rolls and saving throws, as well as a character building guide. I think they realized that with KOTOR they were going to have a large influx of Star Wars fans who were not familiar with math-intensive games, and so kudos to them for their patience. Of course, once I initially came here for KOTOR 2 news, I never went back to Bioware's boards. The people and discussions here are much more interesting.

That's one of my favorites by Leonard Cohen... and here's another, although I like the Johnny Cash version much more. Bird on a Wire Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free. Like a worm on a hook, like a knight from some old fashioned book I have saved all my ribbons for thee. If I, if I have been unkind, I hope that you can just let it go by. And if I, if I have been untrue I hope you know it was never to you. Like a baby, stillborn, like a beast with his horn I have torn everyone who reached out for me. But I swear by this song and by all that I have done wrong I will make it all up to thee. I saw a young man leaning on his wooden crutch, he said to me, "You shouldn't ask for so much." And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door, she cried out to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?" Oh like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free.

Enough with the Chappelle-ing, gentlemen! Please! I will not have my reputation (as chronicled in KQD's flawless T.O.M.B.S. report) tarnished by inadvertently derailing the T.O.M.B.S. thread itself! (Or is the PnP section like WOT where sidetracks and tangents are the rule, not the exception?)

Wow, I've made it! Got my star on the Obsidian forum walk of fame (well, the equivalent anyway). Thanks for the report Kor, and thanks to all you loons for making these threads so fun to read! And although I wouldn't be surprised if it was a lyric, I did pull the aforementioned quote from Chappelle's show, but I only quoted it before the Rick James skit had been beaten into the ground by everyone and their brother yelling "I'm Rick James, b*tch" all the time. Well, I guess I'll have to cook one of these up for somebody now. I'll have to think on it for a while, but I will eventually do it. In the meantime, you know where to find me.

New Wheel of Time, eh? What does that make it, the 44th book? I stopped reading those books at about number five. I just reread Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy, which is most excellent. Not too much other than that, at least not lately. I want to read the three new Hobb books that supposedly continue the Farseer saga, but I won't do it without rereading the first three. I don't remember much about them except that there was a secret passage and there was some serious sibling rivalry in them, haha.

I don't think it would be possible, because there are so many different decisions your PC can make throughout the game. Unless...... LA/Bioware made the largest Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book ever!

Hehe, in the more recent live version he changes the lyrics to "...band that wasn't even together..... they're called Guns N Roses."

Todd Snider - Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues (a lovely parody of the scene I grew up loving) Hey, hey, my, my Rock 'n roll will never die Just hang your hair down in your eyes You'll make a million dollars Well, I was in this band goin' nowhere fast We sent out demos, but everybody passed So one day, we finally took the plunge Moved out to Seattle to play some grunge. Washington State that is. Space Needle ...Eddie Vedder ...mud 'n' honey! Now to fit in fast, we wear flannel shirts, We turn our amps up until it hurts, We got bad attitudes, and what's more When we play we stare straight down at the floor, wow-ee Pretty scary. How pensive ...how totally alternative. Now to fit in on the Seattle scene We gotta do somethin' they ain't never seen. So, thinkin' up a gimmick one day We decided to be the only band that wouldn't play -- a note. Under any circumstances. Silence ...music's original alternative. Roots grunge... Well we spread the word through the underground, that we were the hottest new thing in town. The record guy came out to see us one day, and just like always, we didn't play; it knocked him out. He said he loved our work. He said he loved our work, but he wasn't sure if he could sell a record with nothin' on it. I said tell 'em we're from Seattle. He advanced us two-and-a-half million dollars. (harmonica break) Hey, hey, my, my, rock 'n' roll will never die, Hang your hair down in your eyes You'll make a million dollars. Well, they made us do a video, but that wasn't tough, 'Cause we just filmed ourselves smashin' stuff. It was kinda weird, 'cause there was no music, But MTV said they'd love to use it. The kids went wild, the kids went nuts, Rolling Stone gave us a five-star review; said we played with guts. We were scorin' chicks, takin' drugs, then we got asked to play MTV Unplugged; well you shoulda seen it. We went right out there and refused to do acoustical versions of the electrical songs that we had refused to record in the first place. Then we smashed our sh*t. (harmonica break) Well, we blew 'em away at the Grammy show, by refusin' to play and refusin' to go. And then just when we thought fame would last forever, Along come this band that wasn't even together. Now, that's alternative ...hell, that's alternative to alternative. I feel stupid ...and contagious. Well our band got dropped, and that ain't funny, 'cause we're all hooked on drugs, but we're outta money So the other day I called up the band, I said, "Boys, I've taken all I can, "Shave off your goatees, pack the van... "We're goin' back to Athens."

I think it's about time to resurrect Ye Olde Lyrics Thread (again). The Replacements - Answering Machine Try to breathe some life into a letter Losing hope, never gonna be together My courage is at its peak You know what I mean? How do say you're okay To an answering machine? How do you say good night to An answering machine? Big time's got its losers Small town's got its vices A handful of friends One needs a match, one needs some ice Call-waiting phone in another time zone How do you say 'I miss you' To an answering machine? How do say good night to An answering machine? I get enough of that Try to free a slave of ignorance Try and teach a whore about romance How do you say 'I miss you' To an answering machine? How do you say good night to An answering machine? How do you say 'I'm lonely' To an answering machine? The message is very plain Oh, I hate your answering machine I hate your answering machine I hate your answering machine...

I could send you some traditional Chinese music. They can put you asleep in a hurry. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Haha, I wrote a huge paper once on Gagaku, traditional Japanese music, for a Japanese history class in college. That stuff was not so much fun to listen to.... interesting, but not much fun at all. Warren Zevon - Gorilla, You're a Desperado

I found the Ferlinghetti poem I read (and enjoyed) back in the day. All the aspiring poets (and fan fiction-writers) among us can probably relate to it. It's called "Constantly Risking Absurdity" and it goes something like this... Constantly risking absurdity and death whenever he performs above the heads of his audience the poet like an acrobat climbs on rhyme to a high wire of his own making and balancing on eyebeams above a sea of faces paces his way to the other side of the day performing entrachats and sleight-of-foot tricks and other high theatrics and all without mistaking any thing for what it may not be For he's the super realist who must perforce perceive taut truth before the taking of each stance or step in his supposed advance toward that still higher perch where Beauty stands and waits with gravity to start her death-defying leap And he a little charleychaplin man who may or may not catch her fair eternal form spreadeagled in the empty air of existence

The Beatles - Day Tripper One of the first "riffs" I learned on guitar back in the day. Coincidentially, Type O Negative played a much heavier version of this riff on their version.

I read some Ferlinghetti back in a college lit class. Wasn't this particular one, but still, good stuff. There's a cool bookstore in San Francisco that I visited that all the beats used to frequent back in the day, I guess. Lot of Kerouac, lot of Ginsburg. It was definitely the sort of place in which I could spend all day reading in a corner.

Haha, I knew a girl who sang that No Doubt song "Spiderwebs" on her answering machine. It was terrible. Goldfinger (skater-friendly-pop-punk before skater-friendly pop-punk was cool) did a nice cover of "Just Like Heaven." I saw them live a handful of times back in the day. Lotta fun.

I used to dismiss The Cure as chronically depressed goth poets, but that was before I actually listened to their music. I found out I do enjoy it, in moderation. I mean, how can you deny "Lovesong," "Close to Me" or "Cut Here." And that's not even mentioning "The Lovecats," which is fantastic.

Teenage Fanclub - Mellow Doubt (alternate version) Now that's what I call a solid alt-pop song! You sure know how to pick 'em, Kor.

Ryan Adams - Winding Wheel Baley, your recent Johnny Cash binge is commendable. The first record he did on American was fantastic, maybe better than American IV....maybe. Pick it up if you can (unless you already have it). Also, the dude posted some Social D a while back, for which I give him major props.

I'm dreaming.... of a whiiiiiiiiite.....Christmas! Not so much here. After weeks of 15-20 degree weather and piles of snow, we have had a bit of a thaw in Northern Ohio this weekend. I do feel for those poor bastards working the malls, though. The paper assigned me the annual "Last minute shoppers" story, so I got to see them in all their misery Friday night. I swear, you can see the looks in their eyes that says "If I hear 'Baby Please Come Home' one more time I'm going to beat someone with a candy cane. Happy holidays to everyone, and Merry Christmas too (if that's your thing)!

Pixies - Head On (which is a cover, incidentally)