Batman: Arkham City Review

I figured I would get a quick review in of the game that has dominated my life for the past two weeks. So far it's pretty great. According to my progress report I am roughly 15% through the game, and have probably logged about 20 hours of play or so. I know that's not as good as the prepubescent kids that rock 20 hours a day, but for a full time doctor, it's about all the time I can put in. The graphics and sounds are great. The actors that do the voices of the Batman characters all do an amazing job that makes the story much more interesting. The plot of the game is that a portion of Gotham City has been walled off, and all of the criminals are just thrown in to fend for themselves. It's a great way to work all of the classic villains into the story, and the game provides character bios if you are not familiar with some of them. There are a lot of side missions throughout the game as you follow the main story line. Some of the side missions overlap with the story so you can take care of both at once, others are a nice break from the main story to go do something else. The city itself is extremely well designed with lots of places to grapple onto or jump from one roof and glide to another. Speaking of jumping, gliding, and grappling, the controls take some time to get used to. Every button on the controller is utilized and sometimes a combination of several buttons at once is needed to accomplish a task. There is a hint option that is very nice, it tells you what button to hit if you find yourself getting bludgeoned to death to give you a chance to escape or retaliate. Overall, it is one of the better games I have played lately. My only fear is that it will now sit unused for several weeks since Modern Warfare 3 comes out tomorrow.

I Finally Finished 'The Dark Tower' Series

Almost a year to the day after I started 'The Gunslinger' by Stephen King, I just finished the 7th and final book of the Dark Tower series. The series as a whole was great, but was kind of disappointed with the ending. It is hard to say if I was not thrilled because I was finally finished, or if it was just a let down. I had a similar feeling as I finished the Harry Potter books, but was more satisfied with the ending provided in that series. I do tip my hat to Stephen King for writing at least 3 books in this s series that I would consider to be great books, hard to do on a consistent basis using the same characters. The whole series itself took over 20 years for him to write, so I am glad I started it after the whole series was already completed, or I probably never would have continued after the first book. On that note, to any of the few people that read my rambling, if you do decided that you are looking for something new to read and decided to read this series, the first book is by far the worst. It is tough to get through, and you will not like the main character. There a lot of references to characters whom you don't meet until later books. The main character, Roland, is not really very likable. The hardest part for me going in to it was that I thought it was going to be more like a western movie. It is called 'The Gunslinger', the main character sounds much like an old Clint Eastwood character, and it starts off in a town that seems like the old wild west. The stories are more like reading a science ficton/'Lord of the Rings' book. This is exactly what Stephen King tells you he is going for if you read the author's introduction, but still hard to wrap your head around until about the third book. Overall I highly recommend these books, just be prepared to question whether you want to keep going after the first book, it is worth it.

Super Cool Things I love....for two weeks

I remember when getting a Wii was my main mission in life. I would stand outside Best Buy every Sunday morning, and hope they got a shipment in for the week. Many weeks i was disappointed, but then finally it happened. I was the proud owner of a Wii and life was good. I played a lot of bowling, golf, and guitar hero for about two weeks, then the thrill wore off. I would play periodically once a week of so, then once a month, then every few months. Just when I was ready to give it all up a miracle happened. Something new and exciting came into creation that I just had to have, the Wii fit. How could I get tired of this? Exercise and a video game, what a great concept. I could never get tired for pretending to hula hoop or ski jump, or could I? I don't even think the novelty of the Wii fit lasted more than a week. Luckily the Wii fit has a talking character on it that reminds you how lazy your are and how much weight you have put on. On a whim today I turned the sucker on, and that little bitch said, "I haven't seen you in a while. It has been 285 days since your last workout." Now how does this little bastard know what I have been doing outside of Wii world? Eff him. I think I am going to go buy the new motion active sensor for Playstation 3 just to spite that little jerk. I am sure the improved graphics are what have been holding me back on Wii.

And.....I'm Back (Kind Of)

So I have not written anything in the last few months. I would like to blame the mental strains of getting married, but that was three months ago, and here we are, no blogs since. Not a whole lot new to report, I am no longer a single man, yet there are still no people attached to me, still figuring that one out. I have moved from the slums of Hammond, IN to the luxurious life of Munster, IN as far as work goes. It's amazing how I was so used to getting yelled at for things that were not by fault by a bunch of Medicaid whores, that when normal working people don't bitch at me about their $150 copay, I am always prematurely braced for a verbal ass ripping. The new store is also about a mile from my house so that is a huge plus as well. There is no overlap, which I am still getting used to, so I work 14 hour days every other day, but I'll get used to it. Well, just when i was starting to get the hang of this again, I am going to be leaving town tomorrow for San Diego for a week for a friend's wedding. Hopefully there will not be a 6 month gap between now and the next update on my exciting life. Actually so little happens that it might take that long to get enough material for a 2 minute read through post. Hopefully not.

NCAA Tournament Part 2

So I may have had a few drinks during the previous post, but my bracket predictions were pretty close. UNC did get a two seed, and a less than stellar Big Ten tournament performance dropped Purdue to a three seed. The way the brackets were drawn up though, does allow for a UNC vs Purdue championship game. Ohio State and UNC actually ended up in the same bracket, so that makes my scenario even slightly more plausible. In my opinion Purdue got the easiest of the four corners of the bracket as well. With a number one seed Kansas and a number two seed Notre Dame, Purdue has chance to win southwestern bracket.

NCAA Tourament Time

Well it is finally time for March Madness to begin, and I know that what I think will definitely affect your brackets so here you go. This might be the boldest pre-selection date blog you ever read, but my final prediction is UNC vs Purdue in the championship game. Now this may prove to bite me in the ass, since I don't know how the brackets will shake out, but I am picturing both UNC and Purdue to be 2 seeds in different brackets, so there is a fifty percent chance it could happen. UNC has boned me in the past so I don't expect a lot from them, but they had a great end to their season, and despite my Big Ten loyalties, I am hoping to watch them defeat Ohio State. Let me give you the main and only reason I hate Ohio State: the moron alumni that refer to themselves as having played at "The Ohio State." Now it strikes me that that statement needs some clarification. Anyone asinine to make that comment left the university early to become a professional athlete, and while in attendance mainly spent their time drinking and banging gullible women, so that is why I hate them. If any other Big Ten team can make the Final Four besides/including Purdue I will be happy. I wouldn't mind seeing a Purdue vs. Wisconsin rematch in the championship game to be honest. Everyone is all over the ACC and Big East nuts, so this would be a good way to ball gag them in my opinion. Oh well, we'll see how it plays out, in typical Chicago Bears fan fashion I will predict Purdue 84 and UNC 2.

UPDATE: Brewing Experiment

The first batch of beer has been completed. Turned out okay, but not what it was supposed to be. I may have added a bit too much sugar during the bottling process. What is supposed to take like an American lager, turned out more like a hard cider. Still tastes pretty good though, definitely drinkable. It also turned out very carbonated, it's hard to pour a glass of it without at least a 2-3 inch head at the top. I am taking this as evidence that there was too much sugar added during the bottling process as well, since that whole purpose of the sugar at that stage is to carbonate the beer. The next brew I try will be something a little bit darker, more updates to follow. On a non-related note, work still sucks.