Enjoy!

Tonight I re-realized my liking of a band called Forgive Durden; I highly recommend going to their site and letting their three songs play out. While you’re at it, why not go ahead and add them on purevolume and MySpace?

In the meantime of getting more clients and/or a regular full-time Web development or photography job, I might go to Art’s Camera and apply for a part-time position after the holidays are done. The extra cash would be welcomed, and I love photography so it might be kind of cool at the same time. That, and maybe I get a discount on camera gear! That’d be dangerous.

I just got back from a show headlined by Heroes! Villains! It was cool to finally see them play, and they put on quite a good show, albeit rather short. I think they played just the five songs off their newly released sampler, but it was solid stuff. The opening and bridge of each song particularily shined for me. If you’re interested in hearing what they sound like, check out their MySpace page.

I took photos at the show tonight, which was tough even for a local venue. They played at the 8th Note Coffee House at the UWM campus, and I think they only had one light on, and that was lighting the far wall by the drummer. I didn’t bring my flash because I hate using it at shows, but I had no choice, even shooting at ISO 1600. I don’t have a decent wide-angle lens yet, and with local shows you’re usually right in front of the band or you can’t see them at all, so I only brought my 18-55mm kit lens and ended up having to use the XT’s built-in flash, which is just a nightmare. Pictures coming later today.

If you check out the above article, you’ll see that Multiverse is in talk with Fox Licensing to turn Firefly into an MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) Game. As Tim Buckley put it, if this is done half-assed, it would be an absolute abomination to the series. I’ve loved Firefly and then Serenity from the first time I viewed either, and the prospect of a game is intriguing, but I just hope they don’t screw this up.

I like that one; it’s not some crazy ass cryptic one you and your friends have to huddle around for 20 minutes trying to figure out if you’re going to die of some unknown cause by the third Tuesday of March, or if a burlap sack full of rare kittens will fall into your lap on the 21st of next month. It’s just so much easier.

My little brother made a craft project for the four of us for St. Nick’s today, so I made him something in return. I printed it out on matte photo paper and glued it to a piece of cardboard, then in turn cut it out and stuck it in his stocking. Now I pass on the greetings to you. Hope everyone got lots of sweets in their stocking this morning. More to write later.

Go to their purevolume page and listen to Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades as you read the lyrics.

“Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades”
by Brand New

Keep the noise low.
She doesn’t wanna blow it.
Shaking from head to toe
while your left hand does “the show me around.”
Quickens your heartbeat.
It beats me straight into the ground.

You don’t recover from a night like this.
A victim still lying in bed, completely motionless.
A hand moves in the dark to a zipper.
Hear a boy bracing tight against sheets barely whisper,
“This is so messed up.”

Upon arrival the guests had all stared.
Dripping wet and clearly depressed,
he’d headed straight for the stairs.
No longer cool, but a boy in a stitch,
unprepared for a life full of lies and failing relationships.

(Up the stairs: the station where
the act becomes the art of growing up.)
He keeps his hands low.
He doesn’t wanna blow it.
He’s wet from head to toe and
his eyes give her the up and the down.
His stomach turns and he thinks of throwing up.
But the body on the bed beckons forward
and he starts growing up.

The fever, the focus.
The reasons that I had to believe you weren’t too hard to sell.
Die young and save yourself.
The tickle, the taste of…
It used to be the reason I breathed, but now it’s choking me up.
Die young and save yourself.

She hits the lights.
This doesn’t seem quite fair.
Despite everything he learned from his friends,
he doesn’t feel so prepared.
She’s breathing quiet and smooth.
He’s gasping for air.

“This is the first and last time,” he says.
She fakes a smile and presses her hips into his.
He keeps his hands pinned down at his sides.
He’s holding back from telling her
exactly what it really feels like.

He is the lamb, she is the slaughter.
She’s moving way too fast, and all he wanted was to hold her.
Nothing that he tells her is really having an effect.
He whispers that he loves her,
but she’s probably only looking for sss…

(Up the stairs: the station where
the act becomes the art of growing up.)
So much more than he could ever give.
A life free of lies and a meaningful relationship.
He keeps his hands pinned down at his sides.
He waits for it to end
and for the aching in his guts to subside.

The fever, the focus.
The reasons that I had to believe you weren’t too hard to sell.
Die young and save yourself.
The tickle, the taste of…
It used to be the reason I breathed, but now it’s choking me up.
Die young and save yourself.

Up the stairs: the station where
the act becomes the art of growing up.

The fever, the focus.
The reasons that I had to believe you weren’t too hard to sell.
Die young and save yourself.
The tickle, the taste of…
It used to be the reason I breathed, but now it’s choking me up.
Die young and save yourself.

On PS3 launch day (Nov. 17th, 2006), I went to Target and picked up an Xbox 360. No waiting in line (even at the checkout!), no fighting for a ticket to purchase it, no jumping over other people and their carts to reach the electornics shelf first. No sir (or ma’am!). I walked in, told them I want a 360 and Gears of War, paid for the things, and waltzed right on out of there, past the Wii campers and all.

In fact, this comic depicts my excursion perfectly. That weekend concluded with me picking up Lego Star Wars II and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

First off, Gears of War is an absolute God-send to the 360. It has beautiful graphics with cut-scenes that really aren’t cut-scenes because they take you seamlessly from gameplay to cinematic and back again. It’s also not your typical shoot-em-up-style game. Well, it’s a shoot-em-up-style game, but there are tactics and strategy involved; most notably the “Take Cover” commands. You can run up to an object in the world and “take cover” so you’re (mostly) protected from enemy fire, taking a second to poke your head out or just your gun to return the favor; or perhaps you blindly throw a gernade over a crashed car and hoping it explodes something worthwhile? Perhaps you just wanted to see it explode. Regardless, you won’t get tired of the game because it’s going to make you think your way through some problems and blast your way through others. Gears of War will provide you with a lot of seriously gripping gameplay; but if it starts to get old, head on-line or jump into co-op mode and play with a friend.

I’ll write about Oblivion and Lego Star Wars another day, but to sum them up really quick: Oblivion is a pretty massive role playing game (RPG), but it’s single player only. That has its pros and cons, but is turning out to suck up the majority of my gaming time. Lego Star Wars is an incredibly stupid kind of fun game, one that’s rediculously entertaining to play, but can get old pretty quick. Still worth buying, however I suggest picking it up for a last-gen console (PS2, Game Cube, Xbox) because it’s cheaper than the next-gen systems by $10-$20 bucks, and I mean c’mon, it’s Legos, they can’t up the graphics that much.