Andy Laub

One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two. One. Two.

DiRTY »

25 May 07

DiRT comes along and makes me forget about Forza 2 for a couple of days.

Here I was, getting all excited for Forza 2 when out of the blue, this game DiRT comes along and darn near blows it out of the water.

Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. But based on the demo, DiRT looks to be very, very good. I was a little surprised when a fellow gamer mentioned that people were saying it was better than Forza, shrugging it off as hyperbole. But as soon as I started playing – no, wait – as soon as I got to the menus it was already awesome.

So wow, 2 great racing games in the span of a month? And a price drop on the racing wheel? It’s a good time for car fans.

Do you have lots of items? Perhaps you could use some Great Pockets.

[Adult Swim] has posted up some new music. Go forth and enjoy, and watch the Me-I video.

Totally Useless »

19 May 07

Beyond comment spam. Way beyond.

Comment spam has been around for awhile and is a pretty common experience for any blog admin. Thankfully I have Akismet to help me out, which is why I was surprised to see this email:

To: [my comment address]
From: lngdifh@mail.com
Subject: [andylaub.com] Comment:

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Website: http://pharmaduk.xshorturl.com/levitra.html
IP: 202.225.151.14

Seems pretty standard. So I wonder how this got past Akismet and wander into my admin to delete said comment, only to find that it’s not there.

And then I realize: it’s not a real comment notification. A normal subject line will be formatted with the blog name in brackets, not the URL. Furthermore, it will give links to both view the post and delete the comment.

So I’ve got to say, this is clever(?), but I don’t get the point. But asking what the point of spam is beyond being part of the internet experience has about the same point as spam itself.

Tomorrow may be Bike to Work Day. Unless you’re in San Francisco; then you missed it.

So, why aren’t you going to bike to work tomorrow?

If you’re like me, you’re probably saying to yourself “I don’t spend nearly enough time on the internet.” If that’s the case, then good news everyone! Adult Swim’s Fix Adult Swim Video has been updated in both interface and content, with a ton of regular shows and seven new pilots for your time wasting.

Forza (2): The Motorsport Strikes Back »

11 May 07

Forza 2 rocks my socks, and it’s just a demo.

JB’s persistent hounding (fine, occasional reminders) has led to my downloading of the Forza 2 demo, the full game for which comes out later this month. After playing it for about 25 minutes, I shut it off, my impressions solidified:

It looks very nice. There’s some aliasing, but then, I’ve never seen any game ever without some form of aliasing, so that’s a non-issue for me.
The controls feel very similar to the first game. I felt right at home immediately, no complaints.
The physics are really fun. I spent about 5 minutes actually racing and the rest going backwards around the track trying to hit the other cars. It’s kind of fun to watch your Mercedes SLR hit a Z06 so hard it flies up in the air. Furthermore, the actual car-to-car crashes feel and sound amazing. I jumped the first time my car got hit.
Everything sounds amazing. And in the demo at least, no music during the actual racing (yay!).
The spoiler/air brake on the SLR still does not move. It didn’t move in PGR or the original Forza, yet it does on Gran Turismo 4, a game that’s 2 years old. Boo.
I will be buying it.

That’s it? One of the most highly-anticipated games this year is coming and my biggest complaint is the lack of spoiler movement? Well, yeah. But if a game touts its inclusion of detail, then they’d better be prepared to catch some flak for missing a few.

Regardless, the game looks fantastic so far, and I’m excited for the final product.

This flew under my radar, but Contrast, The Features’ new EP, is now on iTunes in addition to hard copy.

In two more months, we’ll know whether The Transformers movie is really good or really mediocre. But plot aside, giant robots are always cool, so enjoy some in hi-res.

Some new (old) pages »

09 May 07

No more JS on the homepage. I think.

Info and Contact have returned.

Still no archive, since that seems to be what the cool kids are doing.

Also, I’m lazy.

Oh yes! Yes yes yes yes yes YES YES.

It’s the new Saab 9-3.

I am very much digging the new Bell & Ross BR01 Instrument Tourbillon. Too bad it’s apparently the same price as my house.

Movies worth seeing:

(PDF, I guess just disregard that second one, although Ferrell is pretty laid back in it.)

Holy cow, that’s awful (for reference).

…once the cells have been without oxygen for more than five minutes, they die when their oxygen supply is resumed.

An amazing article on MSNBC about death and resuscitation.

More different, more the same. »

01 May 07

Version 14 has landed.

So here’s a new look, and it just happens to be May 1st. I’m getting better at this “every six months” thing.

Questions? Comments?

“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” Yah, alright. Maybe instead of speaking in absolutes you could just state these kinds of things as opinions and then you wouldn’t look like such a fool when you’re wrong.

I’m not trying to say the iPhone is a sure thing, but it’s too early to be so dismissive.

Burnout: Paradise is coming this winter, and bringing with it “an open world environment where you can do anything, anywhere, anytime!” This game is going to be good.