Back in the day, I remember that Cartoon Network launched Boomerang (”It’s All Coming Back to You”), which they used exclusively to show vintage cartoons. On that note, it could be interesting for them to launch another new network, on which they’d exclusively show superhero shows. I bring this up because I’m in the middle of Justice League Unlimited after watching The Batman and Teen Titans. I like superheroes.

OH YEAH! Saw Revenge of the Sith. Wicked Awesome.

I spend a vast majority of my online time reading. Mostly blogs, the occasional long article that catches my interest, that kind of thing. I think this is generally a good use of my time, but occasionally I make the mistake of reading the comments that follow the article, usually looking to see if anyone else holds the same opinion I do, or if if anyone has interesting points to make. What absolutely floors me is how readily people will either directly criticize the article itself, or the subject of the article, or another person’s comment, or any combination of those three.

I don’t know why this amazes me so much, and at the same time it bothers me. It’s not the fact that the readers have differing opinions – that’s a given. But the mean-spiritedness on so many message boards is really depressing to me. Because I’ve been really watching coverage of them lately, I’m going to bring forward the example of the next-generation consoles launching. There are people who’ve already decided they don’t like the PS3, or the X360, or the Revolution, but they don’t know why. Apparently they’re judging by appearance, and while that certainly plays a part, it’s absolutely not the standard by which consoles should be judged. Honestly, you can’t base most things on appearance, although as a deciding factor it varies in importance.

But it saddens me to see posts proclaiming the PS3 sucks and Sony sucks when they more than likely haven’t even seen it in person, much less played it. If you like the Xbox, you’re an MS fanboy. If you like the PS3, you’re a Sony fanboy. What if you like both? Isn’t that possible? Won’t there be a ton of people (myself included, probably) who own at least two of the next-gen consoles? I don’t have a problem with people who don’t like certain companies. I don’t like certain companies. But if you can offer a solid reason why as opposed to just saying the company sucks, chances are people will respect you a little more and you won’t just be starting arguments for no reason.

Of course, I’m probably just on another one of my naive ramble. That’s not generally how things seem to work on the internet. Creative / constructive criticism is rare – instead it’s just people trying to make others feel that they’re stupid and wrong for liking something (eg “I can’t believe you like the iPod! You’re just another Apple fanboy!1!!!”)

Sometimes I think it would be fun to have some PHP and maybe comments on this page, but the problem is nobody reads it anyway, and they would all be like that one above

So, picked up a couple of games: Star Wars Battlefront, Alien Hominid. I’ve not played the latter, but I can happily say the former is a very enjoyable time-waster. I actually discovered it thanks to the demo disc Sony sent me back in December that I recently revisited (to replay the Prince of Persia 2 demo). But anyway, I like it. Speaking of Prince of Persia, I’ve finished POP: Sands of Time on both the PS2 and the mobile, and I really, really enjoyed them both. I love the acrobatics in Prince of Persia and I’m halfway debating picking up Warrior Within. But Prince of Persia 3 is coming out this winter too, so that’ll be good. Also coming this winter is Sly 3 (yes!).

So yeah, I also took the leap and reserved an Xbox 360. I’ve not really had to debate much about it, since it’s backwards compatible and that’s what really matters to me. It’s more worth it for me to wait and pick up one of those instead of buying an Xbox now. So that will be fun – I’m looking forward to Halo and Half-Life 2. The sad thing is that all the games I’m looking forward to are not next-gen games, but it will be nice to have the option to play them.

The big debate is not whether to get a PS3, so much as when. Unlike the Xbox, I don’t feel the need to buy one at launch, and I may be able to hold off until Rockstar delivers a new GTA (which I am hoping will happen). Vision Gran Turismo is a great launch title, but not something that will make me need the system. Who even knows if the GTA franchise will continue to launch on the Playstation? I mean, I assume it will and now it makes even more sense because of the sheer power the PS3 vs the Xbox (it seems the tables are turned).

What I’m happy about is that now all the new consoles are actually fairly nice looking. The original Xbox was always an eyesore and the PS2 isn’t that great either, but it’s OK. With the new ones it seems like they are intent on removing the "toy" perception. The Revolution looks like a nice little package but I don’t have much interest in it since most of the Nintendo franchises seem to have lost their luster for me. I’ll take Sly Cooper over Mario any day, and I think it’s because they don’t attach his name to random games to sell more, and I hope it stays that way. That’s kind of where Crash and Sonic got derailed also. Originally they were both these really cool and unique games, and once the companies saw they were getting name recognition, they started just slapping the name on everything.

I’ve realized that I haven’t been paying much attention to the portable gaming hardware that’s rapidly becoming more and more amazing. I think the PSP is an awesome little machine, and I’m toying with the idea of getting one. I really can’t make myself spend that much money on it, though, and I know I won’t use it very much because a) I really enjoy console gaming and b) I just don’t have a lot of opportunities to play games when I’m not at home. Again, it’s something I’m considering, but it’s just not a definite like some things are.

I am impressed by the packaging of the Game Boy Micro in the same way I was impressed by the iPod shuffle and the Mac mini. It is cool because it is so small and remains totally functional. I see it doing well if they hit the magical and mythical $49.99 price point, and with the hardware involved, that doesn’t seem unreasonable. At that point it becomes an impulse buy / stocking stuffer type thing, and I think that’s great. At the same time, I don’t see myself replacing my GBASP with it, but then again, I didn’t forsee buying an iPod shuffle either. One word, I’ll repeat it: IMPULSE.

So that was some kind of ramble, I guess, but that’s really the stuff that’s been grabbing my attention lately. I’m excited to see what then next generation of consoles brings us (wireless, for one – that’s pretty cool), and excited to finally have an Xbox , even if it is 6 months away.

Oh yes – shoes.

10 may 2005

I like Apple. I like Honda. Both of these companies are similar in the fact that their customers have a general tendency to be very loyal to them. That’s fine. They are both, I think, deserving of this loyalty as thanks for putting out a good product that works well. That’s why I’ll buy another Honda and I’ll buy another Mac, more than likely without considering their competition.

So, Apple and Honda are both big companies. They both have a lot of customers. That means they both have a lot of products out there, and that means, inevitably, things are not always going to work right. This isn’t a concept that’s limited to Apple and Honda. Every company has this problem; some more than others.

What bothers me is that when something does go wrong, people go out of their way to be as loud as they can about it, proclaiming that the company that wronged them is the worst company ever and they’ll NEVER buy from them again and you should never buy from them or you’ll be SORRY.

Right. Because you had a problem with your minivan, it means every Honda ever made is inevitably defective and you should get rid of yours and never buy another Honda as long as you live or terrible things will happen. That’s not how it works. Your computer is defective. Fine. The store gave you problems with fixing it. Fine. Sorry it happened. If you feel the need to vent on a message board, fine, but don’t expect every person who is a loyal owner of the product you had problems with to suddenly agree with you.

How bout this? Hey, Apple made an mp3 player without a screen! They’re idiots! I hate Apple! They’re all a bunch of hype and lemming zealots! Wait, why do I hate them? Because I don’t own one? Because they’re making technology popular?

What? Honda made a pickup truck? It’s not a real pickup truck because it’s not real 4WD with a full-size bed! They’re idiots! The product is going to flop! It’s ugly. No, wait. Honda made a pickup truck/car kind of combination with the off-road capabilities of a Pilot and an open bed with a built-in locking trunk? How does that not make sense? Is it because Honda felt the need to expand into markets where they saw potential for a profit? Maybe. What about that business move is upsetting?

People are idiots sometimes. And I guess I’m just a Mac-zealot domestic-hating lemming.

I really, really like Family Guy. Paul and I keep talking about it at work and I cannot get over how funny it is. Sunday’s episode was awesome, like they never left.

I have to wonder about American Dad. Is it not as good because it’s basically a copy of Family Guy? If Family Guy didn’t exist would we like American Dad better?

If Family Guy didn’t exist? The horror.

I bought some more hot traxx.

Anyway, good cartoons tonight, I suppose. Family Guy, anyone?

I picked up Songs For Silverman the other day. Big surprise, I really like it. I can’t believe I would like an album by my favorite artist; it just blows me away.

Anyway, it’s on DualDisc. This is the first I’ve seen this and I’m impressed with the features they can cram into a $12 CD. There was a real nice making of/behind the scenes video included, so I’d highly recommend the physical album over the iTMS version.

So welcome to this new(ish) site. Look is majorly different but structure is the same as it ever was. I achieved my goal of not changing the code, so really the whole thing was a big update of CSS and images.

My friend Jodi left our department at work a few weeks ago to move over to marketing. Which means that her position (senior) became available. Which means that I applied for it. Which means that I am now a senior graphic designer. Good, good news.

Did I mention Abe got a new car? I think so.

I picked up THUG 2. It’s OK I suppose.

If I were smart I would’ve written something really witty and clever for today, since people will probably come here, read my 1-line paragraphs, and then be all like "what? No way I’m reading that again…"

But maybe oversimplication is a good thing?

Also, check out Jim’s site. And Abe’s. Big thanks to Paul for his help in making them not broken.

Or, go (back) to the Reboot sites. The CSS one, or Flashland.