Darth Drabek

I remember Speaker for the Dead had the piggies; was Xenocide the one with the Asian-types with OCD and Jane the holo-girl? I remember those two had some points in which I was seriously trudging through them simply out of stubborness. Ender's Shadow was very good. A lot of the "good" was just recycled ideas and nostalgia for the first book, though.

I played KOTOR on Xbox and later, PC. I thought the PC's controls might be awkward, but by only real beef with it after playing was the inventory and menu screens being super-small if played in higher resolution than 800x640. I hear they fixed that in TSL.

Just finished Bloodlines as a brawling Toredor who seduced anything on two legs. Kudos to B Mitsoda and everybody else who wrote that fantastic dialogue! I think I'll play it again as a Malkavian... or maybe a Tremere.

Pavement - Elevate Me Later I really like the Crooked Rain album... from what I hear it's more melodic than their earlier work. Is "Slanted and Enchanted" worth all the hype it gets? I'm not much of a hipster, so I don't own three copies of it and play it every Sunday.

Rilo Kiley - Portions for Foxes Their singer is the indie-pop hipster's dream girl. She's purrrrty.

Steve Earle - I Ain't Ever Satisfied

Oh man, the Steelers were firing on all cylinders yesterday. They had some serious momentum going for them. Hopefully it carries over the Super Bowl! Even if I wasn't a Steelers fan, I probably would have rooted against the Broncos just because I really don't like Shannon Sharpe (as a broadcaster).

thats a great song Pete. I was so gnarly and I drove my dads car Lost In The Supermarket / the Afghan Wigs <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I was a surfer and I was a skatepunk... Haha, yeah that is a great song by CVB. What a weird band. Get their cover of Pictures of Matchstick Men if ya don't have it. 10X better than the original and 100X better than Ozzy's version. Now: Big Star - Thirteen Would you be an outlaw for my love? Great line.

Welcome back, B-dawg. Social Distortion - Bad Luck

^^ Good song, yourself. Automatic for the Peeps is a good album. Especially "Find the River."

Went on a Tony Hawk binge last month, totally destroying the last two versions (THUG2 and THAW) with mad combos and sick lines. Fear my skater jargon! Double kickflip! Beni-hannn-naaaa! Now that I took the plunge and bought Bloodlines, I haven't been able (or willing) to play anything else for about a week. I just tore up the Fu Schnickens lab with Barnaby.

The Rolling Stones - Wild Horses Couldn't drag meee aaawa-aayyy

Wow.... maybe I'll hit that magic 200 this year! Do I get a level or something? Actually, cotton candy would be nice. Definitely better than a level. A corn dog would be good too. How about an autographed Wheaties box with the Obisidian team on it?

That song always makes me twitch, supressing some potentially embarassing emotional reaction. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Know what ya mean. Definitely one of Bobby D's more ... desolate soundscapes. Blonde on Blonde is my favorite Dylan album, barely edging out Highway 61 Revisited. Bob Dylan - Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again Mona tried to tell me To stay away from the train line. She said that all the railroad men Just drink up your blood like wine. An' I said, "Oh, I didn't know that, But then again, there's only one I've met And he just smoked my eyelids And punched my cigarette."

Bob Dylan - Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands

Dude.... does this mean that Sheryl Crow song is a cover? Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Wild World (Cat Stevens cover )

You listen to a lot of Tom Waits, and list a lot of his later work. You know, the crazy albums like Swordfishtrombones, Frank's Wild Years and Rain Dogs. I think those albums are great, but for casual listening I prefer old Tom Waits, i.e. Small Change, Closing Time, and Heartattack and Vine. Especially when drinking alone on a Tuesday night... not that I do that. So my question to you is this: Is ol' Tommy better as a raspy-voiced lounge singer and balladeer, or as a raspy-voiced growling composer of eerie, otherworldly songs with things like marimbas in them? Other freaks who enjoy Tom Waits are free to chime in, as well. My two examples of Mr. Waits at the top of both forms: TW - On the Nickel TW - Sixteen Shells from a Thirty-Aught-Six

Bad Religion - Better Off Dead

Guided by Voices - Glad Girls Only wanna get you high!

First of all, Eldar, I don't know how you did so many of these things... The subject of this report is Laozi : Epithets: Zen Master of the "Cheerio-Spitter" posting technique Expert Cultural Analyst and Occasional Musical Elitist "Don't Mess With Texas" forum cowboy Have you ever performed the mythical "LOL?" You know, when you "laugh out loud" at the computer? Well, I know I have, and many of them have been after reading a particularly good Laozi one-liner. Somehow, he always knows when a forum member has left him/herself open for a good zing - and he graciously provides his services at that exact moment. Say you're browsing the forum while eating breakfast one morning. Your coffee is nice and strong, because it's free trade, heavy-duty stuff you could use to seal cracks in the walls, and life is good. Then you come across a post by that Laozi character that goes something like this: Posted on: Dec 5 2005, 04:19 AM Bam. Cheerios slowing sliding down the monitor. He really excels at this sort of thing. I mean, that bit about dogs that have wasps come out of their mouths when they bark? I was laughing for ten minutes. As a university student, Laozi has also had the chance to develop a healthy appreciation toward books that make you think. He also has shown a refreshingly open mind toward other cultures and nontraditional viewpoints, especially when religion is involved. He has included his own insights as well, to contribute to several weighty discussions. His open mind also shows in his wildly diverse taste in music. From Charles Mingus and Willie Nelson to Fugazi and Propagandhi, to some Japanese stuff that may or may not be from Cowboy Bebop (I honestly wouldn't know), Laozi listens to a VERY broad range of music. However, he will not hesitate to slash you to ribbons with his rapier wit if you dare post your devotion to and/or appreciation of one of those "Days of the Stone Temple Pearl Creed (in Chains)" bands, trendy "screamo" style-punk posers, or one of those polished pop stars on country radio these days. We're talking about a guy who knows if the music sounds like Boston with a steel guitar, it ain't country. This could be due to his status as a Texan. I know I'd be pretty upset with the state of country music if I was a Texan. Also, I'd be drunk. As he never wastes an opportunity to let a top 40 listener know the error of his/her ways, it's easy to see why Laozi is a fan of the highbrow music criticism of Dr. David Thorpe (www.somethingawful.com). Thorpe's column "Your Band Sucks" enrages many ("Hey, I love Radiohead") by tearing their favorite band down with blazing sarcasm ("Well, they are kind of pretentious"). Possibly due to his affiliation with that state that used to be its own country, Laozi never shies away from an argument. He even waited one whole day after joining the forums before calling someone a "facist ass." He has taken on some of the intellectual heavyweights on the boards (a daunting prospect around here), and shown a worldly knowledge of economics, foreign policy and domestic politics. When you add the amount of informed opinions he's thrown out regarding the NHL, NBA, NFL or collegiate athletics, the amount of time-intensive games he's played, plus an in-depth familiarity with several sci-fi TV shows, and a talent for carpentry, I simply don't understand how he has time to take any classes - let alone post here. But the forum community is better for it. Damn, what a sappy ending.

Morrissey - You're the One for Me, Fatty That pretentious bastard never fails to crack me up.

Dungy stated after the game that he and Manning were on the same page there. That's his official stance anyway... could have been damage control though. As a Steelers fan, I was very pleased with the win. And I don't believe all the touchdowns Bettis has scored for the Black and Gold would have saved him if Big Ben didn't make that tackle. A fumble in that situation is unacceptable for someone with his experience.

Swingin' Utters - Stupid Lullabies Been feelin' the punk rock lately. Beware! I might do something vaguely rebellious in nature. :ph34r:

Just started the game for the first time. The atmosphere is fantastic, the dialogue has been top-notch so far, and the quests have been great. That Ocean House quest was amazing. Also, I enjoyed my visit to Gimble's prosthetics... creeeeepy. I hope the game lives up to its early promise.

I went out and bought Bloodlines and it runs (albeit barely) on my computer! I thought for sure I would have to get a new graphics card, but several of the tweaks posted in the other thread have helped my machine run that beast. I just played through the Ocean House hotel, and it's been a long time since I was that immersed in a game. What a fantastic quest. I've got most of the high-end options turned off and my page file cranked up. Even with low graphics options the game still looks better than anything else I've played on the computer. If anyone's interested, I have a AMD 2600 (~2.08 ghz), with 512 MB of RAM. However, my video card, an integrated GeForce 4 MX, is sharing 64 of that 512 MB. I do have a 120 GB hard drive though, so increasing the page file up past the recommended 1.4 gigs was not a problem at all.