The Blood Farmer's Dilemma

So, I recently saw Daybreakers with the good doctor. It was pretty enjoyable. I'm always happy to see Sam Neill get more work (a long-time respect for Dr. Grant is to blame for that) and anything with Willem Dafoe is going to be a hit. I couldn't tell what was rougher, the skin on his face or the grain of the film.

While I'm disappointed to see yet another vampire flick hitting the screens, I'm glad that it stuck to some sort of canon. These vampires can't be seen in mirrors, a stake through the heart kills instantly, and nothing but human blood fills their hunger. The mirror thing hasn't been explored in a very long time, and while there probably won't be a sequel, it was very interesting to see it presented.

The premise of the movie was unique as well. The vampire-human wars were long over. They won, and since they have to feed on human blood, we literally became a cash crop. Humans were snatched up from the streets they used to own, to live out the rest of their lives as blood machines. The victorious vampire vanguard continued to get their supplied and rationed blood from various avenues (think: StarBlood's, St Louis Blood Co, Panera Blood, Drippin' Donuts, Hemo's Pizza, Plasma Hut [stop me!]) as they took on our old streets, jobs, and undead lives.

This, of course, can't go on forever, setting up the conflict we need in order to have a story. Blood runs low, they start running out of humans, and they start searching for alternative fuels. Foods. Sorry. They can't get an artificial blood created, and reserves are drying up. People in advanced stages of blood deprivation are like crazed humanoid bats, devoid of all thought but to get more blood. They needed more humans in a bad way, or an alternative, or a way to wean their hunger. Enter Willem Dafoe as the world's first cured vampire. Without giving too much away, the cure is something that kills them, and then the cure is something that sustains them. Deus ex Machina, right out of nowhere.

A weird thing to see was how human these vampires turned out to be. Shuffling in line, waiting for coffee, watching the news, and struggling at jobs. It's like being a vampire doesn't have that undertone of sexual lust, power and control, and the fascination with the immortality of the undead was profoundly understated. Like the rat race never has a finish line. A healthy embrace of classic vampire lore, with a good reality check. I liked this movie, if nothing else as a thought exercise. 80%, will probably buy the DVD. See this film if you like lots of syrup-y blood, gore, Sam Neill, Willem Dafoe, fire, and classic cars. Don't see this film if you like sparkles. You'll cry.

-The0

Stitches

There are memories that each person has, be they good, bad, bitter or sweet. Some are a healing presence, and every time you think back to them, you feel better, empowered, and can't help but smile. Others are scars, reminders of hurt long or recently past, and teach us a lesson or refrain us a twinge of frown when reflected. Memories are key to helpings us be who we are, and I am pleased to say I have many memories over such a relatively short period of time.

I have one memory that doesn't really fit the previous metaphor. This memory is more like broken glass, stuck deep within the skin. Any looking at the scar lets me know it's there, but any scuffling of the area starts a new cascade of pain and subsequent healing effort to be expended.

This scar I got long ago, nigh on 9 years ago. It was probably through a series of my own blunders and assumptions, but suffice it to say, it hurt me badly. Psycho-scarring, and nearly in a life-ending way for me. This was folly, but it wasn't the end of the wound.

I made several attempts to convert the memory, try to make it from bad to good. 3 attempts to be precise. These ended unhappily, and the glass went deeper than could be retrieved out of me on the last of them. I lost many happy things to this memory, most again to my own folly, and I'm happy to see it undisturbed.

Recently, it got disturbed. Not scuffled, just scratched. I'm not happy about it, and to try and protect my meager façade of happiness and integrity in front of a warehouse of messy and hateful boxes, I'm not going to go into details regarding what exactly I'm talking about. It's supposedly in the past, and nothing can change it.

To sum my shard of reflection, I think I would rather have been in a train wreck than to endure all this. It heals better, makes for a better story, and doesn't cost you nearly as much.

-The0

Saddle Up.

It has been a very nice break for me. I logged just over 90 hours into all my Steam games, and ate pretty well whatever I wanted. I stayed up late, I slept in. I saved the universe, only to doom it to total fascism. I melted about a hundred faces off with a face-melting solo, and I got my foot mostly all better. I hang out for extended periods with my favorite people, and had a few drinks almost every day. A great way to start the new year.

I made ZERO dollars during this little vacation.

Despite this I still went out. Dr. Girlfriend treated me to Eddie Izzard. A good show, and I still always laugh at his skits. Many friends were at that show, and we ended up at a nearby cordials bar. A cute place. This is all in faded memory.

After such a long pause I am surprised I have this much to say. More disasters are in the works, but suffice it to say, I just don't care to write right now. Suck it up.

It's not gold, but it's a start. There are some events that deserve their own separate posts. Important ones. Revealing ones. Ones that would probably be better off not written out, but that's not my style.

-The0

A Happy Christmahanukwanzaakah to all!

Well well, that time of year is here yet again. A time for some of joy and receipt. A time for others of sorrow and tax. Where the tides of the season find you, let it be know that this one bids you much happiness! It is a dear pleasure to know you!

My season has been a little weird. A good friend in the country, my first Christmas with a partner in a long while, and barely enough cash to stretch across all my friends for gifts. The main save-all for this season has been my blessed deal-a-day sites and Steam.

Let me digress for a paragraph. Steam has been the best thing to happen to gaming since Nvidia came out with SLI. A community where you can buy the games, connect automatically with friends in the same game, track your acheivements and all with a simple email address. Steam is what XBL wishes it could be. Steam offered literal fleets of sales for the holiday season. The gift of game will keep me consumed for many hours in the coming month.

A few hours with friends and family is enough to cure what ails you in most any case. My foot feels better, and I'm going to get my teeth taken care of sooner than later. There is a LOT of New Year time-off coming up, So I plan to have a a lot of fun and a lot of alchol.

Merry Holidays and Happy New Year!!!

-The0

Surgery! Good times!

I was recently hospitalized and released on account of a infection. Tiny little bacteria, all swarming around inside me, began to get hunger and eat up on my flesh. I have no idea how that got there, all I know is that few would be able to make it through the multiple shifts I had to endure simply to spend a couple days off of it. At the end of my couple of days off, when it started to look more like a bratwurst than a foot, I took a roundabout trip to the surgery wing of St. Lukes hospital, via route of family practice.

After a quick look from a bevy of aghast nurses, the surgeon walked in. He took a quick survey of the area, stabbed me a couple of times with a lidocain needle, and began to slice. This was astounding. It was a world-opening pain, the kind where you don't really even feel it anymore. Needless to say, I think this guy was something of a sadist.

I was hospitalized for about 4 days, dreading the next visit from the surgeon. Rough asshole. While I was laid out on a back breaking bed, one of the molars chipped horribly. This is a molar which supposedly was supposed to be removed when I was closer to 19. I'm beginning to see why. I was accompanied near the whole time by friends and the ever-dear Dr. Girlfriend. I saw a good few movies, watched enough TV, missed a lot of work, and learned that morphine doesn't really do much more than itch. The moral of the story is...

is...

I don't know. Fuck, that surgeon fucking sucks.

-The0

Treachery on the 7 Seas

Recently, through a very lucky set of conditions, I was able to obtain a version of Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. I am currently running Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit, and I was actually pretty happy with it. But times, they change, and so must I. I wanted to have the 64-bit capability so that I could expand to more RAM, and be on the curve of 64-bit programming. What I learned may startle you.

YOU CAN'T JUST TRANSFER OVER 32-BIT FILES AND PROGRAMS TO A 64-BIT SYSTEM!!! Who knew?! Not this guy. So here I am, I have cloned my whole full hard drive to one twice its size. The end result I desired was to have a Windows.old folder on my bigger hard drive, not just on my old hard drive. This Windows.old folder would have all my old settings, all my old programs, even all my old music and libraries! I could simply copy and paste those all onto the same drive, and be done with my upgrade. I. Am Stupid.

I went ahead and tried to do most of this. About the only thing that wound out working was transferring my steamapps folder over to the new steam folder. With that setting the precedent, I decided to copy over every program file in it's like program file. Windows 7 64-bit has a special Program Files folder for 32-bit programs. Cramming files like I did messed up a LOT of things. I guess you could say it'd be like trying to cram a Neon onto a V8 engine, even if you get it to friggin' fit, how in the snot will you make it run? Not very well.

So I decided to try and go back and delete these files. This is the most annoying thing about Windows 7. Just because you put a file somewhere, or install a program, doesn't mean that 7 will let you remove it. It's not enough to be the Administrator. You need to have the permission of Trusted Installer. Who the hell is Trusted Installer, and when did he touch my PC?! This probably applies only to direct Windows features though. Still, quite confusing.

The best thing I wound up doing was formatting and starting from scratch. That works well. I'll be careful this time, and copy over My Documents one folder at a time. Then, fresh installs of all my old programs. The most convenient discovery so far is a site called Ninite. It's a site that allows you make one massive download of all the common applications you would want on a new PC or OS. Pretty nifty.

This is going to be a long voyage. All ashore who's going ashore!

-The0

Public Awareness

Radio Iodine. Have you heard of it? Not the radioiodine which is used in the treatment of thyroid cancer. The Radio Iodine that was an alternative band born in St. Louis. It was short lived, only pushed out one EP and one album. I recently came into possession of both of these collections after some rather avid hunting on Amazon, and I'm glad that I did.

Now, I would've been another member of the public not aware of this band had it not been for one weird thing. When my older brother went off to college, he left a good sum of his old clothes behind in his room, which henceforth became my room. I found a nice long sleeved black t-shirt in this room a couple of years after he left, which I started to wear around frequently. After a while I found that there was a weird crust-like collection of lines on the left sleeve. It took about 15 minutes to ascertain that this was no stain, but a logo for Radio Iodine. I thought my older brother hadn't listened to 30 minutes of alternative in his life, certainly not to my knowledge. I did the research then, found out what the hell this band was, and made it a goal to have their material.

That was about 4 years ago. Since, I finally found the CDs at a beyond reasonable price, and become a good fan of them. This is all despite the fact that they broke up in 1997. They have an alluring sound. Dirty yet smooth. Think Cranberries + Garbage + Megaherz = Radio Iodine. So I of course had to tell my older brother about this whole enterprise. The odd thing is that he had no idea how he came into possession of the shirt either. It was a total mystery to the both of us how that shirt came into our possession. Still, I had new music, and it was good.

Later that very day, my older brother had lunch with one of his old high school friends. They reminisced about the olden days, and somehow or another they came to the conversation of the first concert to which he dragged my brother. A small, simulated excerpt from that conversation:

'Wait, wait, I remember that now! Did a band called Radio Iodine have anything to do with that?"

"Yeah it did! I was really into them for a while!"

"Did you happened to have any merchandise from that show?"

"Yeah, I bought a shirt."

"My brother has that shirt now!"

My older brother told me about this conversation. I insist now that whether it was his or not, this shirt, through a semi-bizarre set of circumstances, has opened me to the small, short-lived story of a good St. Louis band. I like their stuff, it Audiosurfs very well, and it appeals well to any small party.

I'm keeping that shirt.

-The0

Ornithological Genocide

Thanksgiving has come and gone for another year. It's my Mom's Favorite holiday, and she desires the whole fmaily there on that day. It was a good day. It underlined the many things for which I am thankful. In no order whatsoever, here is an incomplete compendium.

• I am thankful to have my lovely Dr. Girlfriend in my life. She makes the whole fucking "Let's get to the grindstone" lifestyle more than worth it. After the dust settles at the end of the day, she's there, making everything better.
• I am thankful that somehow, in the middle of a wage freeze, my new boss saw fit to push for my raise, which went through. I think it is probably because the new kid they just hired was probably working for more money than me. Whatever. I feel less like an ant than I did before.
• I am thankful for all my friends who continue to show their support to me, and all they ask in return is that I be who I am. What wonderful fun!
• I am thankful for the fact that I, for the time being, have a metabolism that allows me to get away with eating anything I damn well please and not gain an ounce. (Side note: I don't work out enough)
• I am thankful for the fact that my computer can and does act as a space heater in what is certain to be a cold and expensive winter.
• I am thankful that my beloved Rammstein put out another album for us fans. Great stuff.
• I am thankful for the new album and new season of Dethklok and Metalocalypse. Brutal.
• I am thankful for Tim Schafer's Brütal Legend. It's always been this way in my mind, and now I can show others what I've been seeing when listening to the aforemention material.
• I am thankful for all the holiday sales that have made my holiday shopping that much easier on my budget.
• I am thankful of course for the entirity of my family. Who am I without all of you?
• I am thankful that my truck is still hauling ass when I need to do so.
• I am thankful that the band is getting back together.
• I am thankful for the Internet and all its wonders.
• I am thankful for Steam. Period.
• I am thankful for Firearms, Tobacco, and Alcohol.
• I am thankful that I can consider this post finished.

This was a little more arduous than it should have been. Eh. Still not complete. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

-The0

Left 4 Dead 2: Electric Boogaloo

So, I have put in a good number of hours into the new Left 4 Dead, and I have a serious conclusion regarding its performance.

This game kicks ASS!!!

Now don't get me wrong, it can be damn annoying to try and get and get onto a car ferry and dying 3 times after a minute, and it can be much more difficult to simply reach the end zone, but VALVe has done a magnificent job of mixing things up and keeping a good idea fresh. With the new infected, you have to stay on your toes, and monitor your teammates a lot more. The level design is fantastic as well, and you never feel like you're simply running around in a system of arbitrary tubes.

My least favorite of the new infected is the Spitter. Here I am, I've just healed up, and we're progressing nicely, when all of a sudden I'm swimming in this green goo, and I'm losing health like I just fucked a lawnmower. It's almost as bad as startling a Witch, and it's especially bad when you're trying to get out of the goo and you're surrounded by zombies. I guess they're finally getting back at me for all those molotovs.

Of the levels, my new favorite is Hard Rain. For this level, you're running to get more fuel for an escape from your previous campaign. All these linear based maps actually link up, and it's very impressive how they segue into each other. Hard Rain isn't linear though. It's circular and dynamic! You have to run to the end, grab the fuel, and run back, only this time, the whole place is flooded from the rain. During the 4th chapter, the weather changes a lot, going from heavy rain to torrential flood. This summons the horde, and makes it impossible to hear your teammates. Awesome.

The characters are easily attached to as well. Of course, everyone went clamoring for the George Clooney-esque Nick character, and following my tradition, I tried to stick with a female character, Rochelle (I have my reasons.) Coach reminds me of Hank Hill in a weird way. My current favorite is Ellis. His ability to yammer on in a situation of extreme duress is a metaphor of how I think I interact with new people.

I usually get frustrated at new games, but this one is growing on me nicely. The replay value is astounding, and there are all these new game modes that I have yet to try. A great step forward for VALVe. That stated:

LET'S SEE SOME DAMN HALF-LIFE ALREADY!!! (please.)

-The0

It's not the Zombies that kill you...

So, like the rest of the Steam-nation, I am right now sitting here, waiting for Left 4 Dead 2 to release. I preloaded everything, it just needs to be told to "Go." A bit like me, actually. A little disappointing, but not unexpected. I'm certain it will be out before the sun comes up again.

And verily it is! A decryption ensues this sentence. Not to do a stream-of-consciousness post, but this is going to be exciting. I was going to shoot for a "Well isn't that the way it goes?" post, but now it looks like a pre-game excitement post in in order.

L4D2 is looking to be huge. New Special Infected, 5 campaigns out of the box, and new gameplay modes. This is going to be a nice long couple of days off. A review in my hackneyed style is going to be in the works, be assured.

And now, I have been made aware of a Woot-Off!!! I'm not sure if that should be capitalized or not, but it's a significant enough occurrence to break my train of thought. Maybe this time around, I'll be able to snag a couple of items, and stock some holiday gifts for friends.

The waiting is over. Now let's see if the zombies can kill me.

-The0

Impulse 101: Lessons in Self-Control

A thought occurred while I was supposed to be working tonight, one about which I've actually already thought. Access to cheat codes for games is far too easy. You look them up in the strategy guide, you find them on GameFAQs, and all of a sudden the game becomes a pointless delve into violence, a timesink. The difficulty, the fear, the thinking, it all vanishes. You know what it is to be like Dr. Manhattan.

Now granted, I spent the first half of my gaming life doing precisely that. When I got Quake installed on my first PC, I played for about 5 minutes before I decided to cheat and hack it. I was God in a brightly lit dungeon, with ammo being the farthest concern from my mind. In retrospect, this revolutionary game was slighted by my laziness and bloodlust. Game programmers put a LOT of work into making games challenging, and that challenge is what makes the game fun, not necessarily the slaughter. To just mindlessly kill things via cheats is to voluntarily vote against thinking, as far as I am concerned.

However, it somewhat begs the question, why even include the cheats in the first place? It's beyond me, but it's still very fun to play with them. To run amuck and just turn enemies into red paste is a grand stress reliever, and slightly less sociopathic than shooting real people. It's an escape to an alternate world anyway, why should I have to be bound by its rules too?

My final thought is, at what point should you consider using cheats? At what point is it fair to you and the game designers to start playing around? Where have you explored all that needs to be explored, and had time to enjoy and embrace all the subtleties of their work, their sold gift? I think it's either after you've played through the entire story on hard mode, or at least twice on regular. Then, feel free to hack, cheat, and rob the AI of their opportunity to make you feel weak and outsmart you.

4 days until L4D2, everyone! Happy gaming!

-The0