P4: Gritty Reboot

I haven't been very active on these boards in a while. I moved and was without internet for a while, just not feeling motivated to post. As an act of penance here is a picture of me (left) with Five Iron Frenzy's lead singer (middle) and my good friend from elementary school (right).

I am re-reading The Hobbit. Such an enjoyable book, albeit simplistic.

Yeah I'd honestly prefer it if those dials weren't even on there. Because now it just displays like half of the (incorrect) day of the week in Spanish. --- Also purchased the following on vinyl: Led Zeppelin IV The Song Remains the Same Fleetwood Mac - Rumors UFO - No Place to Run UFO - No Heavy Petting Van Halen - Fair Warning Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon $1/ea

You get a "like" for proper use of a possessive pronoun in front of a gerund. Congratulations, use it wisely. Also, I'll buy one at some point. Not necessarily waiting for a price drop, but waiting for the value to be there for me.

Picked up lots of new games over the past month and a half, mostly at thrift or on the cheap: Carcassonne - $3 Survive! - $1 Knizia's Lord of the Rings - Traded for a few thrifted games worth ~$6 Munchkin - $1.50 Wits & Wagers - $1.35 Sorry! Sliders - $2.70 10 Days in Africa - $1.50 I'd recommend most of these to anyone getting into board/card gaming. Lord of the Rings in particular is grand.

My Nixon stopped showing the date and month correctly. Sigh.

Bought the Humble Indie Bundle of the 6th incarnation.

So there's this... http://www.toothycat.net/~hologram/Turing/HowItWorks.html

Playing a lot of Left 4 Dead 2 now that I finally got my computer and internet up and running after moving to San Diego. Going to install Mass Effect 3 soon. Life is too busy.

I think I did the Wiimote/Nunchuck combo.

I bought this a couple years ago and have never been able to get more than a few hours in. I didn't really "get" the gameplay, the controls were wonky, and the production values were pretty bad.

Except it's capitalized, I'm fairly certain... Isn't that how it's supposed to go after an ellipse? Here is the actual quote from my Kindle copy:

I noticed very few errors. And you'd think he'd be pretty careful about something so potentially crucial to the series.

Except it's capitalized, I'm fairly certain...

Wife surprised me with it. I still think the cover art is stupid.

Played some more Last Night on Earth over the past couple of evenings. It's a fantastic thematic.

FDS makes a good point. If I'm talking to someone from Valve telling him how much I loved the first Half-Life, and I tell him I played it by borrowing the discs from a friend in high school, is that going to lessen his satisfaction in having produced something that someone loved? I understand there are limitations on this (if no one paid for games, they wouldn't get made), but on the individual level it's something to think about.

Duh, Johnny, mace needs to be used in your foe's eyes to be effective. I have been thinking about dice mechanics a lot recently. I think they are good so long as they are simply used to prevent games from becoming deterministic. I like dice combat because it forces you to play the odds and hope for the best, knowing that you made the right choice even if you end up getting a bad outcome. That's how life works, and I think dice do a decent job of simulating the idea that a plan can be perfect in theory and simply not execute well. It's also very exciting when you pull off a low-odds roll for the win. Dice do not work when they're tied to a central mechanic AND cannot be overcome with some effort. Monopoly: good rolls wins the game regardless of strategy, bad rolls loses the game regardless of strategy, every time.

I've never much enjoyed hard alcohol, either in mixed drinks or in shots. I can handle a little tequila and the odd mix, but I'm all about the beer.

Been a while since I've had a good hearty beer. Maybe tonight is the night.

Oddly enough our yard & garage sales are getting commercial to an extent. While there are plenty of the normal family yard sales on the weekends, I always see more than a few "professional yard salers" with new furniture, tires, movies, games, and the like. Way overpriced too.

Yes, it's not uncommon to see undercover agents busting vendors for counterfeit products, burned DVDs, etc.