Almost over.

I've been watching the playoffs sporadically since they started. Impressed by many things, including the Bruins, who I actually picked to go all the way in my pool. Now, they are in the finals against Vancouver.

And I just want to say something.

I am sick and tired of people who don't care about hockey at any other time of the year, coming out of the woodwork to tell me I should rally behind the Canucks because they are Canadian and I should want them to "bring the cup back to Canada" anybody who thinks like this or has ever said this is a fucking idiot.

Sincerely. Shut the fuck up.

Why is it always people who don't know jack shit about hockey, too? is there some sort of national pride in a game played by overpaid athletes that just eludes me?

The NHL is not about countries. nobody cares about this shit in the regular season, but now all you idiots buy into the media hype and start spouting this shit and I hate it. It happens every year when a Canadian team is in the playoffs and makes any kind of run of it.

Vacouver being a team based in Canada doesn't mean jack shit. I'm not doing the math but I'm sure there are just as many Canadian born players on the Bruins. Why doesn't that factor into the brains of these stupid fucks?

I've been an Oilers fan since the day I was old enough to realize what it was I was watching on television with my mom and dad, and there's a generic sports rivalrly there between the Oilers and the Canucks which carries on for me and many fans regardless of where they are in the playoffs.

Add to that the fact that Canucks fans tend to be the most obnoxious, clueless and classless fans in the game, and it all means I'd never cheer for them. I mean really, from news reports to TSN articles, to the people I WORK with, it's insane how entitled and cocky they all act.

I hope the team loses so they can all wipe their tears with the stupid fucking "I BELIEVE" signs and wait another 40 years.

In terms of what might actually happen, it's hard to say. The Canucks have a great team, I've never said otherwise, it's everything else that I hate about them. Canadian or not.

But the Bruins are the underdogs, with a solid Defensive core. Also, Tim Thomas is an incredible goaltender who can steal games.

It will be fun to watch regardless, but I know who I'm cheering for.


PS. I mostly just want it to be over and for the regular season to start again.

shtuff.

Well, I don't have much to say.

Counted/rolled up a bunch of my change weeks ago and am up to $435.

All that I have left are the pennies and nickles.

A large part of me thinks I ought to spend it on something I don't really need, since it is more or less "found" money to me.

I'm leaning toward one of these:



Been reading a lot about it and I love the whole setup. As a POV camera (helmet) it makes a lot more sense than my GoPro because of the remote and ability to tag clips. It makes me salivate just thinking about it.

The entire reason is I want to actually document whatever kind of trip I go on this summer. I mean actually piece together a decent sized film if only for me and my enjoyment (actually, exactly for that reason) and to be honest I just love messing around with footage like that.

The price on that site is pretty crazy, though. I know it'd last forever and any camera guy/photographer knows how expensive the shit can get, though...so I might bite the bullet. I've found it a little cheaper elsewhere, too. We shall see.

In other news, Dirt 3 is out on Tuesday and I can't fucking wait. Been in love with the series since I got an Xbox (and even before, when they were Colin McRae games)



And this one because it is fucking amazing:



PS. The world didn't end. Better luck next time religious nuts.

Linux saves the day

RESPECT

A long ass time ago I lent my buddy (James) my old computer since his crapped out and I no longer needed it around here.

Well, a few days ago he killed this one, too.

The thing would no longer boot no matter what I tried. no safe mode, no utility partition. Nothing. I also have no windows disc or system restore disc.

So I was tasked to get his "important" shit off of it. (Never mind that he fucked up my computer, right?)

So, since the problem was Windows XP being fucked and not the (I assumed anyway) harddrive itself I decided I'd try something (that I wasn't even sure would work) and download an iso of Ubunto. I'd heard it was possible to boot the entire operating system from a disc without making any changes to the harddrive, so I figured I could do that, explore the HDD and copy whatever files needed saving onto an external drive.

And it worked beautifully.

I just mounted the drive and BAM, copied a shit ton of shit.

And then I played around a bit and I actually really like Ubuntu as an operating system, so I installed it permanently on there since it was proper fucked anyway. At least now it is a functional computer.

And that, my friends, is how I came to have a Linux computer to piss around with. You know, for fun!

Realistically, I probably won't use it a whole lot, only because I just don't have the space to have this old behemoth of a computer hooked up anywhere at the moment. I would if I could.

It has made me think about installing it on my netbook, though. Or even alongside windows, but we'll see.

mmmhmmm

So today I grabbed Brink, a game which I've been looking forward to for some time.

I read a few reviews and they are all over the place. Average to bad to great, but that didn't stop me.

Video game "journalism" is pretty much a joke and always has been. Reviews really don't mean jack shit to me anymore.

Look at a game like Crysis 2 which got great reviews all over the board. I rented it (thank god) and was far less than impressed with it.

It's a game with pretty visuals that is actually incredibly mediocre in every other way. So much so that I was actually stunned numerous times at the crappy design choices while playing it.

Bland as hell. Perfect example of why I no longer give a shit.

The point is, you can use reviews as a guide or whatever, but how there are still people who refuse to buy a game that's rated lower than a 9 from those morons at IGN is incredible to me.

Some of the most fun I've had gaming wise has come from games that received mixed reviews and even some that were universally panned.

I don't know.

What I'm trying to say is that plenty of people seem to been completely off point when it comes to Brink.

Bear in mind this is only after a few hours of play, but man, there's a lot of fun to be had and my first impressions are positive. It's that simple. I'm more or less just saying I don't get how anyone could slap this with a "2/5" and call it a day.

I'm well aware people have different opinions and all that shit, but there are pretty universal things that make games "bad" and I haven't seen much of that in Brink as of yet.

I think a bunch of people expected the single player campaign to be more than it is, but it was always pretty clear that it's pretty much just multiplayer with bots instead of humans.

I dig the art style and the overall feel of the game very much. It's pretty much the opposite of Call of Duty and thank christ for that. So...so burned out from those games.

You still get your XP and shit, but it feels broader and is far more team and objective based. There is also so much shit to unlock that it is a bit nuts. Lots of cosmetic stuff to customize your character with, but also the weapons.

Also the sound design is incredible. Awesome sounding guns.

It's not perfect and has been really laggy at times, but I'm sure that's launch day pandemonium more than anything. It's always like that.

Now if only my internet would stop fucking sucking.

In other gaming news I finished Assassins Creed Brotherhood finally. Shit was pretty awesome. I've completed them all, now. Just in time, I suppose, since another one was just announced.

They keep turning them out, but really, who cares? I feel the quality has been stepped up with each game and there's still room for improvement...so bring it on and change it up.

I do kind of wish they'd just make a "3" with a new character instead of these continuations of the Ezio character, but I can deal, since the dude is badass as fuck.