Andy Laub they call me "The Solution"

Um, well – I played GTA: Vice City today, to see how it was since I’ve been playing Driv3r for quite some time, and now I don’t know what to think. I really like Grand Theft Auto for its immersiveness (I know I’ve mentioned this prior) but Driv3r, in spite of its numerous glitches, is really a nice-looking game. Furthermore, the controls feel tighter compared than those of GTA. This is purely subjective, but I think Driv3r balances well between the looseness of GTA and the extreme tightness of The Getaway. It will take awhile to get used to again, but I think I can make the sacrifice for San Andreas.

Speaking of websites (who?) – here are some that I’ve recently been enamored with: gtagaming.com; engadget.com; joystiq.com; consolidatedskateboard.com; adultswim.com; elementskateboards.com; toymachine.com; edmunds.com; apple.com; gamespot.com; esfootwear.com; that’s it for now.

And so Adult Swim – what is going on here? This week Seth McFarlane (creator of Family Guy) is showing his four favorite episodes and personally introducing each. Fine – great idea. But so far, two of the three were on last week. Just venting.

andylaub.com has changed yet again. I think I am finally happy enough to leave it alone for awhile – I don’t think quarterly relaunches should be necessary. It ties in nicely with LaubJournal and for that, I am thankful.

I bought Ratchet & Clank awhile ago and while it took me awhile to get into, I can now say I like it very much. The same goes for Prince of Persia. It has a Max Payne-like quality to it in that the levels are relatively brief, which means that I’ll continue to play, saying, “OK, this is the last level then I’m done – wait, that next one doesn’t look too bad, I’ll do that one,” and so on and so forth.

I also recently procured a copy of The Spine. Very good album.

Homestar Runner .com has some very nice features right now, including not only a Decemberween in July special, but also a video they did for They Might Be Giants, who I guess have a new album out. I think I might get it, but I want to see if it’s going to be on iTunes first.

I am continually trying to convince myself that I do not need a car. There are so many nice ones out there, and some of those are actually affordable by someone in my position. I actually am leaning back toward good ol’ Honda, with the Civic Si and the Acura RSX. Both of these are reasonably-priced with good-sized engines for their small statures (same as Abe’s El..er, CR-V). I am very fond of smaller, low-down cars. I drove a Nissan Murano on Friday and while it had more than adequate power (Nissan’s 3.5L V6), it was verging on being uncomfortably high. It’s not a bad car at all, but the dealership we were at confirmed my beliefs – Nissan is great at design, but not at build quality / resale value. Hondas have some of the highest resale out there which is great if you buy new, drive little, and sell early.

There’s also a new iPod.

I was putting a thing together at work today which, among other things, was featuring a new vendor of ours, ipath. Because of this, I ventured over to their site to check it out, and it is good. There is a section where people can send pics of their ipath shoes. One week, however, they were pretty light on images so they just took random photos of their office, which is probably the funniest thing ever – you don’t generally expect to see “isn’t this the coolest printer ever?” on an action sports site. Also notable, since I’m in this groove, is Alpinestars, as well as Seven2, whose initial ads (which are awesome) had no url on them so for a long while I didn’t even know what they were for. And finally, go get this magazine because it’s cheap and interesting.

I saw this movie/music thing somewhere and figured I’d do it too*:

• opening credits: Never Gonna Give You Up Cake
• dreaming / waking up scene: How It Should Be (Sha Sha) Ben Kweller
• happy friends scene: Bohemian Like You the Dandy Warhols
• driving scene: Hunter Björk
• action/fight scene: Horndog Overseer
• car chase: Date With The Night Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• happy love scene: Hotel Yorba the White Stripes
• mellow scene: Float On Modest Mouse
• sex scene: Stellar Incubus
• angry / bitter scene: Gone Ben Folds
• breakup scene: A Mistake Fiona Apple
• evil / revenge scene: Shiver Maroon 5
• contemplation scene: In Other Words Ben Kweller
• sad / breakdown scene: Look What You’ve Done Jet
• death scene: Flying High Jem
• funeral scene: Winter Tori Amos
• nostalgic scene: The Scientist Coldplay
• closing credits: Supreme Robbie Williams

*If you don’t already have iTunes, you live a sad, sad life.

A coworker brought in Laffy Taffy this morning which resulted in a barrage of absolutely awful jokes flying back and forth via email:

Why were the baby strawberrys crying? Because their mom and dad were in a jam.

What did the baby horse say to the mean horse? Be kind to your neigh-bors!

Where can a monster always find friendship? In the dictionary.

What did the volcano say to the other volcano? I lava you.

How are a clergyman and a small blender alike? They’re both mini-stirs.

What do you get when you cross a chicken and a spaniel? Cockerdoodledoo.

Where do cows go to have fun? The moo-vies.

Why did the farmer feed the cow money? He wanted rich milk.

Great. So I also decided to pick up Sly Cooper and Max Payne over the weekend, which cost me a not unreasonable sum of $26. I am pleased with both – Payne because it is a Rockstar effort and therefore there’s no possible way not to like it, and Cooper because it’s a lighter side of stealth, which is really pretty fun. At this point I am more addicted to the latter because I tend to tear through platformers if I really enjoy them. Max Payne is, of course, a lot darker, which will keep me from moving through it too quickly. I also want to continue Driv3r and MGS2, which I haven’t touched for awhile. I was tempted by Ratchet & Clank at the game store so I foresee that one in the near future as well.

An article about Sony’s upcoming “iPod killer” led me over to their store today, where I was sidetracked (again) by their limited-edition X505 notebook. This is quite a machine, and looks are in the “to die for” category, but it’s hard to believe that it’d make a good everyday computer. I have to wonder what kind of person would spend 3 grand on system like this. I certainly couldn’t justify it. It’s a great-looking package but I don’t think it could surpass my laptop in any aspect but portability, which itself is a mixed blessing. With every pound dropped you lose some features critical to the overall experience. I’m not even sure it has speakers. With the X505, Sony is apparently out to prove that a notebook can be cool or practical, but not both.

My internet explorations also brought me to Alfa Romeo where I spent about 20 minutes drooling over cars that will never make it here (and some that won’t make it anywhere). I wish Alfa would come back to the States. Same goes for Seat, Peugeot, Citroen, etc. Maybe I should just go to Europe again. The biggest shock for me the last time I came back was how much rattier the cars here are. In Munich, every other car is a BMW. They’re not all new ones, but they’re in spectacular condition because of Germany’s stricter maintainence laws.

It seems to be a fairly common sentiment that the best packaging around right now belongs to Apple’s iPod. While I agree that the iPod packaging is clever and attractive, my vote for the best goes to Crank Brothers. Never heard of them? Crank Brothers created a bike pedal known as the Egg Beater, called such because of it’s resemblance to (surprise!) an egg beater, which has now evolved into multiple lines of pedals, all of which use the same basic concept. Good things have been said about these pedals (none of which were from me, but I like them alot), and a lot of compliments have also been made about the packaging. Crank Brothers has designed a package that makes you feel that you are opening the most important pedals in the world. It’s a fairly simple design, involving an outer sleeve that slides off (similar to the iPod’s) and a box with thicker sides. The pedals are inside, surrounded by black foam, and anything else you’d need is on display for you. I had initially only seen the packaging for mine, the Candy SL, but I saw the packaging for the standard Egg Beaters last night, and it’s every bit as nice, something that can’t be said about Apple. True, my iPod came in a fantastic piece of packaging, but I can’t say the same about my Powerbook. It feels as though Crank Brothers also used higher-quality materials, as well, versus Apple’s liberal use of white styrofoam. Finally, I like that the CB packaging doesn’t use any plastic bags (it’s not necessary in this application). And you get a sticker.

So anyway, I got new pedals yesterday, which resulted in the crank arm getting stripped when I tried to put one of them on. I took it to the bike shop and he was able to put the pedal on, which is good. However, I have been kind of done with this crank since I got it so I ordered a new one, now that I finally had an excuse. As it turns out, the bottom bracket was exceptionally loose so he tightened that for me also. I like that place a lot. If they had a website I would link to it.

Last night we watched The Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kutcher. I was impressed. I was kind of leaning toward liking him again and this pushed me. The movie itself is both clever and enjoyable. The DVD has two versions; I prefer the director’s cut to the theatrical version (different endings), just because it’s a neater package (story-wise, I mean). From what I’m aware, there aren’t many changes between the two barring the endings and certain key parts that contribute to them.

Nike is trying to convince everyone that it has the next next thing in training footwear, that being NIKE FREE, which involves working the same muscles you would if you trained barefoot. I ‘d be fairly oblivious to this if not for the fact that I’ve spent the last three weeks waiting for artwork so I could put an internet thing together for it. I wish I could say I came up with the design, but I didn’t.

I figured, copycat that I am, that it would be good to have a biography, since it was never my intent nor is it my desire to remain completely anonymous.

Also, I received a call from my dad today, to let me know they are going to euthanize our oldest cat, CooCoo. Name notwithstanding, CooCoo was cat who was both loving and demanding. In her later years her caterwauling would fill the house – being deaf, she had no idea what was going on and this was her way of keeping in touch. She was my first cat ever, and probably the best, too. She lived an amazingly long and healthy life, to the age of 21.

This kind of thing starts me thinking about death in general, and I become very weighed down with all kind of emotions. At that point it’s best for me just to go distract myself with something else.

I rely far too much on both. This blog is just not what I want it to be. Now that I have finally found a design that I like I really need to focus on improving the content. The entries should be statements, not questions as though I’m seeking affirmation for the way I feel about things. I wouldn’t mind hearing as such, but as of now I am done listing and asking unless there’s a very good reason for either.

…and by everybody I mean excurs.us and ten23.net. So without further ado, my list of the ten best cover songs:

U2 – Theme from Mission:Impossible The original M:I theme was great. This version is awesome. I don’t really know why, since it’s just a remake of a theme from an old tv show, but it is definitely cool.

Bloodhound Gang – Kids in America I guess, because it doesn’t sound like the Bloodhound Gang? I think this was originally the Muffs, but I could be way off and I don’t feel like looking it up.

Ben Harper – Strawberry Fields When I was *gasp!* tired of the original, Ben
made it cool again.

Ben olds – In Between Days Honestly? I didn’t know this was a cover. I like the new song and I like the original. PS original by the Cure.

The Wallflowers - I Started a Joke The original (Bee Gees, I think) – boring. This? Not.

Bond – Libertango Orig: Grace Jones. Both good. Bond’s songs are great.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Mandy Actually, MFGG’s songs are all incredibly good – what do you expect from a and who makes a rock ballad out of a Barry Manilow song?

Cake -Mahna MahnaAnyone who watched the muppets should know this song. And since everything Cake touches is awesome, who’s to say this is any different? I highly recommend hunting this one down.

Billy Joel’s Movin’ Out OK, so Billy Joel wrote the musical, but the artists (Darren Holden, Matt Wilson, Michael Cavenaugh, depending on what show you see) who perform the songs are fantastic, and the remasters of the originals are incredible. I’d have to say my favorite is Shameless, but the whole CD is great if you’re into Billy Joel.

Santa Esmerelda – Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood As good as it gets – I love this song – that Quentin Tarantino is so great at picking out music. From Kill Bill vol. 1, by the way.

PS, happy July, and to get the songs you’ll need iTunes.