I remember the day Ryan Smyth got traded and his emotional interview before he left town and I always thought it sucked and wanted to see the guy back in an Oiler sweater. He played 12 years of fearless hockey for Edmonton and is now back to most likely finish his career where he started. That's just fucking cool.
I'm of the opinion that he is exactly what the current lineup needs. A veteran with a ton of heart and a never quit attitude. If even a fraction of that rubs off onto all the rookies...watch out.
Add to the mix yet another number one draft pick in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and the future just keeps looking more and more awesome.
The past four or five days I've had the itchiest, reddest, puffiest eyes ever. I don't entirely know what it's about, but I suppose it could be all the fuzzy shit in the air. Pollen from trees and plants and whatever else it is. Often it fills the sky out here like snow.
The thing is I can't ever recall it bothering me like this. It's impossible to stop rubbing the area around my eyes once I start, and then it makes them look even worse.
sometimes I have to rub them so much the skin around my eyelids and such gets all dry and crackly. it's awful.
Other times I just try my hardest not to touch them and them I get watery, bloodshot eyes, so there is no winning.
I don't know. I'll try some allergy pills and see if it helps any, but it sure is making me feel like crap. All I want to do right now is dunk my eyes in ice cold water, and it's even worse during the day.
So I sometimes look like a strung out junkie, or like Elijah Wood in Wilfred, which is a clever segue:
I watched the premiere episode of this series and it was pretty damn good. Mostly cause there's nothing else like it.
The first 10 minutes sold me on it. Guy tries to kill himself, doesn't. Meets a talking dog. Starts changing life. Are you sold, yet? understandable either way.
I guess it's a remake of an Australian series, which I will now be tracking down and watching.
There's the whole issue of what the fuck is actually going on. Whether the dude is going crazy and hallucinating or whatever. They make it obvious that other people probably see Wilfred as a normal dog...but they don't make it THAT obvious.
So who the fuck knows, is what I am saying. And I don't care if you know. Fuck off with your spoilers.
In gaming news, Shadows of the Damned is a game created by Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil, Vanquish) and Suda51 (No more heroes, Killer 7) and it is fucking awesome and everyone should buy it.
It pretty much plays like a faster paced version of Resident Evil 4/5, mixed with some Alan Wake, and then overdosed on acid.
The story is about a guy fighting demons to get his girlfriend back, at the most basic level.
If you've played any Suda51 games before, you know the guy has a flare for the ridiculous and it is fully present in this game. The humor and over the top voice acting/action is in full effect, and it's great.
It is ridiculous and insane and a really good time (so far!)
Probably one of the most pleasant gaming surprises I've had all year. It is a travesty that it will probably be overlooked and left to die (hey, just like Vanquish!).
moving on...
LA Noire is one of the most overrated games I've played. I'm so glad I rented it despite being force fed hype and praise.
It's not awful or even bad. It's just...who cares? the first while I played it was cool to be a detective solving cases...and then every case was pretty much the same in terms of gameplay and progression so it became boring, especially considering I didn't give two shits about the story.
I am sick of Rockstar's open world games and formula. This shit is SO stale it hurts. If the next Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead or whatever it is isn't changed up significantly. I'm going to have a hard time giving a fuck about it.
So it's over. The better team won, and I'm glad for it. Bring on the draft, now.
I stayed up till about 2 watching live coverage of the riots. Reporters were standing in the middle of it all with a camera crew and cops on one side and rioters on the next it was pretty bonkers.
There are about a million pictures and videos that could be posted to show off how sickening it all is, but I'm too lazy. They are everywhere, you can find them.
And yes, it WAS expected, but there was still this sort of feeling that people/the city had learned from what happened in 1994, but that's obviously not true.
I frantically watched a girl take swings at people while trying (unsuccessfully) to protect her own car from getting smashed and lit on fire. Not a single person thought it a decent idea to maybe just stop.
I watched people get beat and listened to stories of stabbings and full emergency rooms.
I saw people mindlessly smashing in store windows and stealing armfulls of whatever they could carry.
I saw a dude get hit square in the nuts with what looked like a smoke grenade (and it was awesome)
No really, in this age of technology...it is everywhere. Live on CTV and CBC and all over the internet...these people are so moronic that it almost hurts my brain.
There are several websites site up already to identify people and I'm all for that.
What a disgusting night and an embarrassment, though.
I get the argument that it's not necessarily hockey/Canuck fans doing all the damage, but at the same time, it is. It takes a few morons to start some shit and then the mob mentality takes over. Add in some alcohol and you've got yourself a riot.
Fucking losers.
alright, this one is so awesomely bizzare that it needs to be posted:
The Reveal video, with a look at what the controller is capable of:
With a fucking huge ass controller that sounds both insanely cool and insanely crazy. I don't know what to think as of yet.
The screen on the controller can actually stream the game from the console, so you can shut off your TV and keep playing on the six inch screen, which is pretty fucking cool, but not revolutionary.
The console itself looks sleek and simple and I love it. It can use Wii remote and every other Wii peripheral which is also sweet.
It's amazing to think we'll finally get a Nintendo console with enough power for HD graphics, that's for sure.
I imagine there will be a shitload of ports from the xbox 360/PS3 library that will fit in nicely with the thing. A bunch have already been announced including Metro: Last Light, so I am pretty excited.
What was a failure though, is that Nintendo didn't really show off any games for it. There is a quick clip of a nice looking Zelda game, but nothing official.
They could have blown the roof off the place and been declared gods if they'd only showed some actual games for the thing. Wace Race or Metroid or Mario in HD? fuck me, I would have peed myself.
The possibilities are exciting, but I can't wait for more real concrete news and games and actual gameplay videos.
But the thought alone of finally getting to play all those high quality multiplatform games on a Nintendo system is great. Like the good old days.
I feel Metro 2033 was an awesome game that nobody really played. Highly recommened if you want something different feeling than all those boring ass military shooters like COD.
I have to admit I wasn't really hyped for this album like I usually am. I'm not sure why. I guess a combination of a lackluster single (In a place of lesser men) and my disappointment in "Hospital Music" which I openly admit here and now.
That album didn't do a lot for me. Which will sound like madness to some people, but those are just my feelings (and obviously I still love it. I'm just saying)
Regardless, I of course bought this on Tuesday and have listened to it several times through, now. From the outset I knew it was a better album than Hospital Music. I sat in the parking lot and listened to the opening track, and then took off, knowing I was in for a good time.
I feel this is a far, FAR stronger album than Hospital Music. It just does a lot more for me. Perhaps inexplicably so. But it is what it is. That's how music works, right?
Stand outs for me are "What if I can't see the stars, Mildred?", "Non Populous" and "Shallow's Low" which just pretty much blow my mind.
The entire album is great, though...Save for "In a place of lesser men" which I still feel is a weak spot. Of course, in terms of Matthew Good means it's still a quality tune...it just does nothing for me at all.
So to me, this is his best solo record since Avalanche, which, really, will probably never be topped because it is a fucking masterpiece and is easily tied with The Audio of being for my favorite overall Matthew Good (band) album.
What do you guys think of it?
"you guys" being the few who read this blog and listen to the guy.
Also go ahead and argue with me about calling Hospital Music a disappointment. I'm up for that.
