Batman: Arkham Asylum

It's a new record. I have finished the storyline of Batman: Arkham Asylum in a week. Normally I get a game and I play it for a few days and then I get distracted by a different game. Not this one, it hooked me in and kept me. I could have possibly have been done with it sooner too had I not needed to eat, sleep, or work. Rocksteady Studios did their job well.

Let's get to the review.

Story:

The basic plot is The Joker tricks Batman into bringing him back to Arkham Asylum, only to spring a long planned trap in which The Joker sets free all the asylum inmates and takes over the asylum. Commissioner Gordon and Warden Sharp are both captured. Batman has a long night of rescuing and recapturing inmates ahead of him. Saying much else will give away spoilers. The story is kept pretty much in currently established cannon.

Two minor sub-plots adds a "find the goodies" game as the Riddler has hidden puzzles and trophies all over Arkham and "The Spirit of Arkham" has wrote it's own story in hidden areas also.

The games story was co-written by Paul Dini who won Emmies for his work on the shows "The New Batman Adventures" & "Batman Beyond," so you know it's going to be good.

Controls:

Rocksteady has put together a good control scheme. Simple and to the point, not overly complicated. They are easy to pick up and easy to use. Movement is on the left stick, camera on the right. Batman's various gadgets can be selected on the D-pad and readied and put to use with the shoulder buttons. Various actions (running/grabbing/etc.)are handled by the "X" or "A" Button (PS3/Xbox 360 respectively) with the rest of the face buttons handling combat(punch/counter/stun). "L2" or Left Trigger is for turning on/off Detective Mode, the "R2" or Right Trigger for crouching/stealth.



Gameplay;

With a great control scheme, the gameplay works wonderfully. The "freeflow combat" that they came up with works wonderfully. Point Batman in a direction and start hitting the punch button ("square" on PS3/"X" on 360) and keep moving. If you are in a large crowd your "combos" will rack up quickly. If someone is about to hit Batman they will have "lighting bolts" appear around them, quickly hit the counter button ("triangle" on PS3/"Y" on 360) and Batman will counter them and you will not get hit. If you miss the counter, when you get hit the screen will got to "double vision" momentarily, but will go back to normal.



But while Batman is a capable fighter, he is a smart fighter, and this is where the "invisible predator" system comes in. Armed inmates or large groups can take Batman down very quickly. The environment has plenty of places to hide such as gargoyles, ventilation shafts, etc. Batman can quickly and silently take out foes from these areas. Both the combat and the "invisible predator" work very well and are very satisfying.

Now while there is plenty of combat, the game does also include a fair amount of platforming too, surprisingly. Navigating Arkham Asylum provides plenty of jumping, swinging, climbing, ducking, and gliding.

Batman's gadgets work well for exploring and navigating Arkham, as well as assisting in taking out bad guys. These can be upgraded as the game progresses with an experience system. Take out bad guys, gain experience (and health). Find Riddler trophies, solve puzzles, gain experience.

In addition to the main story to play through, there are the challenge maps that test your skills in combat and stealth. Additionally, if you have the PS3 version you can play through challenges as The Joker, who has his own gadgets and fight moves. I have to say his fight move are fun as they are a bit more silly/clown based.

Graphics and Sound:

If you played the demo then you have a good idea of what it looks and sounds like, beautiful. Rocksteady put a lot of detail into their work. Right down to the fact that as Batman progresses through the game he visibly shows various cuts bruises and scrapes.

Sound is crisp and clean. And considering they got Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin and Mark Hamill from the Batman Animated Series to reprise their roles (Batman, Harley Quinn, and The Joker), there is no badly delivered lines...at least from all that I heard in the game. The rest of the cast are top notch talent. Music fits, sounds very good and is not intrusive.

Overall:

This game kicks ass and takes names. It has a great balance of story and gameplay, neither being sacrificed for the other. After years of terrible Batman games, many of which were just quick movie tie-ins, Rocksteady hit this one out of the park. And with this being the second game created by the studio, that's quite a feat.

The only thing I can complain about is the camera position. For a majority of the game you are looking over Batman's right shoulder. My personal preference would be to have it centered, which is what they do when you are in combat or running.

Still like I said that's really the only problem I can find, and even that is just nit-picking.

I give the game 5 Bat-shaped Stars, Two Thumbs Way Up, a 10 out of 10, and I highly recommend it for Batman fans. Thank you Rocksteady for a AWESOME game.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is rated T for Teen for Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Blood, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence



EDIT - If you wish to follow my game reviews please go to my new game review only blog, "Lord Moon: Resident Gaming Addict" thank you.

Friends That Make You Go, "Hmmmmm."

So I have a couple friends dealing with two very different types of addiction. Both have made me stop and step back and really look at things.

Not gonna use names here.

Friend #1 has for quite a few years now has been dealing with alcohol. While in the past he would admit to having some troubles with it, would not really face up to it. He has a family now, a wife and two kids, and a house. Now he has really decided to tackle his problem, the problem is I'm afraid it's going to make things worse for him. Treatment, facilities, medication, it's all costing him money. Money that should be going to bills, and things for his kids. I hear the frustration in his voice when we talk on the phone. I really hope he keeps it all together. I am glad he's finally getting some help, I just hope it doesn't break him and his family.

Friend #2 has decided to break the electronic addiction. He realized he spent more time reading emails, newsgroups, Facebook, Twitter, message boards, etc. than he did in real life. He has set himself up with a two hour period where he will check and reply email and that's it. He will not answer the phone, closed his Facebook account and pretty much is going cold turkey from all tings e or i. Sounds drastic, but I think he'll be just fine.

Both friends have made me step back and examine myself.

Long ago I got into trouble while drunk and the Army put me through their version of AA. So in regards to alcohol I'm very mindful of where that can take me and have really watched myself. I'm confident I have control over that aspect of my life.

My virtual life? Well to be honest I really don't think I'm that bad. I really don't spend a whole lot of time online. Most of my time is during down time at work. At home I really am not online that much. My computer may be logged in 24/7, but not me. I do admit I may play too many video games, but with a new purchase of a vehicle to get around with will change that. Now I can get out and get around when I want to where I want. No more dependence on a bus system that most times seems hit or miss. Not to mention 2hour bus rides for a trip that takes 30 minutes by car.

I wish both my friend the best of luck on their new paths to bettering themselves.

A Three Payday Month and Two Gift Cards From X-Mas

And so the shopping adventure begins....

First stop, shopping the web. So I don't know if anyone here played EA's Fantasy Football this year. I did because I seem to have become a dirty Achievement whore (I'll enter into the 12 step program later this year). With the EA Score Tracker only 80 MS points why not. Well an interesting side effect besides a 200 bump in my Gamerscore is that I managed to win my league. As the winner of the league I got a $25.00 coupon good at the EA online store. Their store doesn't have much in it, but it did have Left 4 Dead. Ding!

Also big purchase for my PS3, but that is a later post when everything gets here.

So, next stop Target. The video game section looks pathetic. It looks like they got well picked over during the holiday season. Not a whole lot to choose from. In the end the only video game thing I get is a 4000 Microsoft points card. Meanwhile they have a helluva clothing sale going on. (I got 2 hoodies, a flannel/hoodie, and a flannel all for $25.00)

Next stop, walk downstairs to Best Buy. Fallout 3 Collectors Edition is the same price as the normal edition, $56.99. Mine. Sheer curiosity has me grab Rock Revolution since it's $19.99. And finally a WoW time card, because some friends have been begging me to come back.

Last stop GameStop. I've been craving the Lego Indiana Jones lately. GameStop had the Lego Indiana Jones/Kung Fu Panda bundle pack for $39.99. As I scan the shelves I notice some more GameStop sneakiness. The have taken some of the bundles and have split them cutting the double cover into two. The result is they are selling the "used" Lego Indiana Jones for $44.99, I did even look for the "used" Kung Fu Panda. Anyway with my "Gamers Edge" card I got the bundle pack for $29.99 (their system lists it as $26.99, after discount and taxes...).

Not a bad bit of shopping.

A Friend Killed Himself

I just found out today. A man I hardly knew, yet considered a good friend took his life on September 9th. Richard Houghton, better known to us at PAX as Shoun. Shoun was in charge of expo hall Enforcers at PAX. He had been an Enforcer since the beginning of PAX This was the first year I really worked with him and really just started getting to know him.

The weird thing is all of this emotion I'm feeling. I hardly knew him yet I feel like I've lost a good friend or a family member. I've had friends and family die from age or sickness, and had my time of grief. This is something that, God, is for the lack of a better word, weird. This is the first person I ever knew personally that took their own life.

And the fact that what I did see of him and know of him was the he was a cool guy. Great humor, easy going, helpful........yet nothing to indicate that he was unhappy or suicidal.

Grief

Shock

Confusion

Sadness

I feel all these and more.

I don't understand why. Why he did it. That's probably the biggest thing that stands out, why.

PAX08: Lord Moon Meet Lord Vader

Lord Moon Meets Lord Vader
Originally uploaded by Lord Moon

Well another PAX in the books. PAX08 had 58,500 people come through. Lord that's a lot of geeks and nerds in one place.

This year was a bit new and different for me. in past years I had worked in Table Top. This year I was in the Expohall......as a Gold Assistant.....with the most exhibitors. Talk about being dumped off the deep end. In the end not as bad as I thought it was going to be. There was the drawback of not getting all the swag and doubles for my annual giveaway at BRS, but I can deal with that. Besides Kathi from Turbine hooked me up with some awesome swag. Two limited to 1000 pieces of autographed artwork from Dungeons and Dragons Online. Nice!

Working the Expohall did let me see a lot of the games that are coming. South Peak had "Ninja Town" for the DS. It's basically a cutesy RTS. Pretty easy to pick up and play, I could easily see playing this on the bus ride to and from work. They also had X Blades, a fantasy action hack & slash with some lite RPG elements. I never got a chance to play it, but it looked damn fun. Big special attacks, with some bullet-time effects that looked hella cool. The game comes out next year. I'd say keep an eye out for it.

It was kind of interesting to hear the guys from South Peak admit that they screwed up Two Worlds, but they said they learned a lot from their first console game and have decided to go cross-platform with everything else they put out.

Atari had some cool stuff. Neverwinter Nights 2 which looked good. Again another I didn't get to play as to many others were playing it. Race Pro which looks to be Atari's stab at the Grand Turismo/Forza market. What I got to play of it was not a final build, but has some good promise. Real tracks, real cars, real driving and real damage.....though in this build there is not a lot of crunching to the cars, more of the bumper comes off and after a few more good hits a wrench appears on screen meaning the car is heavily damaged. And to go with that the fact the pit row wasn't active to repair your car.

I also got to play their newest Big Game Hunter game. I think one of their own devs said it best, "I'm ready to go home, drink a six-pack of beer, and play this game." I suggested they put a "slow elk" on the game. If anyone reading this knows Slow Elk Ale, then you know what I'm talking about. The beer label has a picture of a cow with a branch tied to it's head. This also prompted the idea of putting a Jackalope in the game.

The Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway didn't show off anything, but it was probably one of the busiest booths on the floor. If you allowed them to give you a "Hellcut" haircut, then you would get mailed the game for free when it was released. The "Hellcut" was a buzzcut with the word HELL spray painted on the back of your head (it was haircoloring paint). I was the 5th one in line. :D I know at least two women went through it too.

Turbine showed off their MMOs, Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online. Both looked damn pretty and when I saw the rigs they were running them on...full blown Dell gaming systems. If I could have just walked away with one thing.........

Cryptic had a playable build of Champions Online. I really like this game. It's was a bit like City of Heroes/Villains but better. Graphically it had a cel-shaded look to make it more like a comic book. The game had more action to it, not a lot of time waiting for your powers to be ready, a big improvement over CoX.

Sony was showing off the Resistance 2 multiplayer and of course LittleBigPlanet. I talked briefly with one of the Resistance devs and he basically said everything you can find online right now. It was interesting to find out he loved his Xbox 360 as much as his PS3 as we started talking about other things. Like the fact that someone at Sony corporate picked the worst email system ever to use company-wide. There were long lines for both games so I got look at them only. I want the big screen HDTV they had LBP set up on, had to have been a 50 or 60inch screen. I did get to play around with Echochrome on the PSP, it reminded me a lot of Crush, also for the PSP, so I may have to get it.

The Rock Band 2 booth/stage easily was probably the busiest. They had all the songs available, but they were not allowed to let anyone play the the GnR song, "Shackler's Revenge," but given GnR that really doesn't surprise me. The coolest thing there besides getting to play Rock Band 2 was at the Expohall party that was afterhours on Friday night. The afterhours party was so the exhibitors could get to mingle and have some fun before the long days of Saturday and Sunday. Expohall Enforcers got to hang out and mingle too. I got to sing Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up" in a band consisting of two of the Harmonix devs. One on guitar and one on drums. My fellow Enforcer, Groove, played bass. The epitome of cool right there.

I did check out the Guitar Hero World Tour booth. They had four stations set up. I give you three guesses as to what a majority of the people played on it, and the first two don't count. Yup, Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher." Overall it looks pretty good, but drummers may have a hard time. My roommate who loves to play the drums in Rock Band pointed out the bass drum line is purple, which is kind of hard to see on the black "fretboard."

That is pretty much all I remember game-wise that got to see or do. Being a gold assistant I didn't want to wander too far from the exhibitor's I was in charge of, nor did I want to leave my area for too long. Most other games I wanted to check out (Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Microsoft's booth) were way crowded. Fallout 3 got especially bad on Saturday when Morgan Webb and Adam Sessler from X-Play showed up. Talked very briefly with Major Nelson about the new dashboard coming. And took a ton of photos (see my flickr account).

I did get to see part of Freezepop's concert and Johnathan Coulton's show on Friday night. Missed Saturday's show. :-(

Keith "Sir Psycho" and his girlfriend, Michella (I hope I spelled that right) came out to visit and attend PAX. They had fun. Keith got to play new songs in Rock Band 2, especially Steely Dan's "Bodhisattva," which evidently was the only time it was played over the weekend. Nobody knew the song so they just blipped over it. Met up with Bobby Blackwolf again and checked out his show live.

And of course got to work with again possibly the best all volunteer team EVAR!, the PAX Enforcers. We do so much for so little and it's all for a good cause.

Forget Cheese, Behold the Power of Batman

Yesterday I went with my roommates to see Dark Knight. We learned just how powerful Batman is.

The movie came to the part where The Joker and Batman are squaring off on the streets of Gotham. Batman has just wiped out his "bat-cycle" into the wreckage of Joker's truck. One of Joker's henchmen rolls Batman over and then tries to take off his mask. The henchmen gets zapped and then the screen goes black.........

After a couple seconds the emergency lights come on over the emergency exits of the theater. Everyone in the theater chuckles at the timing of the moment. While waiting for the movie to start back up I take a quick walk out to the bathrooms and find out the power is out in the theater. After managing to use the bathroom with no lights I come out and run into my roommates. They inform me that the whole block has the power out. Meanwhile The theater staff have started handing out free passes to people in exchange for their tickets.

We waited for a bit to see if the power would comeback on and the movie restart. They started asking people to move outside to wait as it was a fire hazard to wait inside. We decide to go ahead and take the passes instead of waiting since we had a going away party later for a friend. As we left we noticed quite a few business without power.

We went back home to get ready to go to the party. Dorri and Andrea, my roommates went to the store real quick to pick up groceries. Two hours after we left the theater we drove past on our way to the party. Power was still out. As we went along we found the power outage was a bit more extensive than we thought at first. It stretched from Aurora Ave., across I-5 and all around the Northgate Mall. The weird thing was some businesses still had power while those around them didn't.

So don't try to unmask Batman in a movie, you'll get electrocuted and kill the power in many city blocks. :)

Me for President

I'm running for president, would appreciate the vote. I'm a write-in candidate. I'm even getting some news time.

Dead or Alive? Biking into Work

So today I've taken a big step into getting fit again. Last week my boss gave me his old bike as he has moved on to better and more expensive bikes. I had been think about riding into work for quite awhile now, long before he gave me the bike. So since he gave me the bike I no longer had any excuses to not do it.

I had decided Sunday (today) I was gonna ride in just to get an idea of how long it was gonna take and how out of shape I really was. I had joke that I would probably die around the point I crossed the Fremont bridge.

Well like the song says, "I am still alive."

Though I feel half dead.

My legs are rubber, my butt is a bit sore, my hands are a bit sore and numb, and my bionic wrist hurts. I also have the added bonus of a little road rash on my left knee and hand. One thing I've done hundreds of times (maybe thousands) as a kid/adult on a bike, I biffed. Riding up a curb. I've always popped a small wheelie to get the front tire up over it and let the back tire bump up on it's own. This time the back tire said fuck you and slid along the edge, wiping me out.

Which now has me thinking of taking the basket thingies off the pedals.

The ride in was fine, but then again it was mostly downhill til I hit Dexter. Coming back though was a different story. I took 8th off the Burke Gilman trail (why can't my whole ride be on the Burke Gilman trail) and it was a gradual climb to HELL!!!! Plus around that time the sun decided to come out........DAMN YOU SUN!!!!!!

So anywho, I'm alive still and and it only took me about 40 minutes to bike in. About the same amount of time riding the bus. Looks like Wed., Thurs., and Fri. I'll be biking into work.

Holy Crap!!! I'm In Wired!!!!

Feel the power of the dark side of interior decorating
Originally uploaded by Lord Moon

I'm honored and slightly disapointed. On the positive I'm honored to have been selected to be in Wired Magazine's Star Wars 30th Aniversary Celebration. Disappointed in that they got my Flickr name wrong. It says Land Moon instead of Lord Moon. At least they got the links to my Flickr account right.

Fun With fd's Flickr Toys
Originally uploaded by Lord Moon

These two photos were selected. The funny thing is they asked me about the "Warhol" style Darth Vader pics I did, but didn't use them.

Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

OK so last night I found myself scrolling through the free OnDemand movies. I stumbled across this "gem." Punched play and away I went.

I realised something might be really wrong when David Hasselhoff's name popped up. My first thought was no please tell me they didn't....... Not that Hasselhoff is a bad actor, He just wouldn't have been my first choice for Nick Fury.

So over all yes it's a bad B grade TV movie. The script/plot is a generic Hydra threatens the world with destruction unless they are paid "One Billion Dollars." Nick Fury is called back from "retirement" in the Yukon. His retirement seems to be using a pick axe on a cement wall in an "old mine." (If he's supposed to be mining gold how about having him digging on a cavern wall?) A badly CG'ed "hovercraft?" flies in with Agents to tell him he's been reinstated.

While at first the thought of David Hasselhoff as Nick Fury, it seemed to be the dumbest thing ever. But as the movie progresses he's not half-bad. Sadly he's not half-good either as certain parts of the script he overacts, though I have a feeling "The Hoff" never took this movie seriously, given the script, production values, and the list of "no-names" used to fill out he rest of the cast and who could blame him. Though, I'd be the first to say, if they could get a good script and a decent cast & production team around him Hasselhoff could be a good Nick Fury.

Let's take a look at the rest of the cast.

Hey look it's a who's who of bit-part, B-Movies, and cable TV show guest stars. Funny thing is most of the cast seems to have appeared on Stargate SG-1 at least once. Everyone seems to have been instructed to overact their cookie-cutter parts.

Lisa Rinna - the woman Nick left behind at S.H.E.I.L.D., still has feelings for Nick (and vice-versa) (token babe)

Sandra Hess - the psychotic daughter of Baron Von Strucker who orgasms over her own power.....and when she kills someone. (token babe part 2 )

Neil Robert - the n00b agent who graduated at the top of his class and is so eager to please Nick that he screws up every time. (token younger beefcake for the one or two women that will watch the movie)

Gary Chalk and Ron Canada - Nick's oldest friends and long time agents, always concerned about their friend Nick. Will say at least once, "Think you can still do it Nick?"

Tracy Waterhouse - the ESP specialist, there to provide "clues" to move the terrible plot along. (token babe part 3, my personal babe choice)

Tom McBeath - overbearing, bureaucratic idiot in charge of S.H.E.I.L.D.

Scott Heindl - the psychotic son of Baron Von Strucker, has about 5 minutes of screen time......maybe 7.

Adrian Hughes - One of Nick's best friends ever, best agent ever trained by Nick, Stud-muffin, killed in the first 5 minutes of the movie.

Campbell Lane Baron Von Strucker's dead body for most of the movie....until the very end.

Stellina Rusich - Interpol agent, standout performance....screams while wrapped in plastic.

Bill Croft, Roger R. Cross - who and who?

At the end you find out it's a Marvel Studio's production, which explains a lot. The movie has it's moments, but they are just to few and far between. The Nick Fury character and S.H.I.E.L.D. have potential for a good movie. Sadly this was made before anyone cared about making a good movie based on a Marvel character, that would come four years later with Spider-Man. If you are curious to see this movie....do not pay money, and make sure there isn't anything else on that you could be watching.

Morn the Loss of Album Artwork?

Years ago I read a magazine article about a man lamenting about the loss of LP album artwork. He was morning the fact that as CD's became more and more popular all the album artwork was shrinking. Gone were the big bold album covers of yesteryear. At the time I thought really nothing of it. To me the CD's still had the album artwork, you could still see it. So it really didn't bother me, he just sounded like an old man morning the loss of the past.

While editing the tags on some MP3's of songs I just ripped from my CDs it occurred to me, with the future of music (and movies and books for that matter) moving more and more towards the digital download distribution, what becomes of the album artwork?

The reason this popped up in my head is often when I download a song from a band's site and more recently off eMusic (I finally joined a paid service) or when I rip a CD, I often have to add the album artwork to the MP3's tag. The MP3's are just files, 1's and 0's on a hard drive. LP's, cassettes, and CD's all have always had artwork, but through the digital distribution process, artwork seems to, so far, have been lost.

Is this the future? Music and artwork always seemed to go hand in hand for me. Part of the reason I finally broke down and got an 5th gen iPod was it it would display the album artwork while the song played. When I listened to CD's I would often look at the cover or go through the booklet. When I was a kid listening to LP's or cassettes I would do the same. So far most of the music I've downloaded through online services (MusicMatch, eMusic, band web sites, MySpace, etc.) have rarely had any artwork. iTunes has artwork for now, mainly because the songs they are selling also come out on CD, so they can package it with the file. In the future will they too not have album artwork if there is no longer a physical means of music distribution?

I hope not. I mean, like I said music and art go hand in hand to me. I can listen to a song and picture it's artwork in my head. Or vise-versa I can see an album cover and have the songs pop into my head. To further the music going hand and hand, who can hear Yes and not picture Roger Dean's artwork? Iron Maiden and not picture Derrick Riggs' artwork. KMFDM and not picture Brute's artwork. These bands rose to fame and so did the artists that did their artwork. They became semi-entangled as one would make you think of the other, mutually benefiting each other and working off of each other.

So I do hope that album artwork does not go the way of the Dodo. It would be a sad world with out it, to me at least. Or maybe I'm just an old man, morning the loss of the past.

Sunday at Work/Lazy Afternoon

Me
Originally uploaded by Lord Moon.

Well I have no theme or rant or whatever to say today. Just decided to write some stuff while I have some down time at work.

First off I got a haircut. I got a buzz. I looked at myself in the mirror and decided it was time to finally give in and do it. My hairline has receded enough that trying to grow it long looked ridiculous and I really couldn't do much with it short either. It's taking a lot of getting used to, it hasn't been this short since basic training.

Mother Nature is not fair. All my life I always wanted long hair. While growing up though I got the "while you live in our house you get a haircut" speech from my folks. Then after I graduate high school I join the army , no chance of long hair there. The before I got out of the army I noticed the hairline starting to receding.

Sigh

I getting excited to go back to Wisconsin to visit family. I haven't seen anyone back there in forever. Gonna stay at my grandmother's place, can't wait to get some home cookin'. I'm also going to visit a friend in Chicago, we're gonna get some good Chicago deep dish pizza. Hopefully there is some good snow when I get there. I haven't seen "real" snow in years Seattle occasionally gets "snow," but the most I've seen is like a foot & it was gone in a couple days.

I've discovered flickr.com & it's sort of reawakened the photographer/Photoshop artist in me. I bought a digital camera & have been playing with Photoshop more lately. I'm actually posting this blog through flickr which is a neat little plus.

My wrist is bothering me a bit more as fall settles in. It's giving me dull soreness on some rainy days. On cold days I've discovered that my right hand will be cold, colder than my left. I think there might be some circulation or nerve or something else wrong. I've been dealing with it, my roomate made me a wristie to help keep it warm.

So life is good and things move on.

Maya just kicked my ass.

I used to be fit once...I used to be in the army, but I got out of the army in '93. Since then my workouts have consisted of using the stairs instead of the elevator.

For about the last 4 years I've been thinking about doing something. My doctor telling me I need to lose some weight kinda popped that into my head. Mostly I thought about it, but did nothing. 5'11" 210 lbs. I'm only about 30 lbs. over-weight and everyone tells me I look fine.

The clincher hit me last October....literally. Oct. of 2005 I was riding my scooter to the store when a guy ran a stop sign and hit me. Thankfully I only ended up with a broken wrist, it could have been so much worse in a busy intersection (coincidentally they installed a stoplight there recently).

Anywho, after my physical therapy for my wrist, I discovered my shoulder was having problems. It was determined that the casts I had worn had tweaked the muscles around it. So I had a new battery of exercises to help my shoulder, including push-ups.

The dreaded push-ups.

Back in the army I did push-ups practically every day. In a 2 minute period I would knock out about 70 - 80 something push-ups, no problem.

So here I was getting ready to do push-up to help my shoulder. Sadly I could barely knock out 10. Even worse the therapist suggested I change to "girl" push-up, instead of on your toes, on your knees. (Nothing against girls or women that's just what we always called them in the army.) (As a side note I'm also a little unsteady doing them with my wrist as it does not bend enough anymore, I use "handles" now)

So after my shoulder got better the therapist told me to continue working the shoulder and game me some surgical tubing to use as "weights." Well that lasted all of about a day.

Flash forward to yesterday. I'm wandering around my local video game store, what do I find in the used bin? Yourself Fitness. I had seen it before, thought about buying it before. Something about this time said buy it. For those that are not familar with it, it is a workout program that you can play out of you Xbox (or PS2 or PC). It can design a workout & meal program tailored for you. A lot better than video workouts on DVD or VHS, because this you can adjust the workout on the fly. You can also track your progress. If you want more info here's a link; http://yourselffitness.com

So today I popped it in. Originally I was going to wait til Monday to start, but decided no to put it off out of fear that the game might become the next dusty piece of exercise equipment I own.

The evaluation part winded me, I'm a bit worse than I thought.

I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't select the techno music and the lack of rock or metal music, but that's splitting hairs. ;) Plus I can get the techno music as a reward for keeping my workout "appointments." So I went with 80's (funny I don't remember any of this music from the 80's) Some of the exercises I have the complete "can't dance syndrome." I did my best to do the V step, mostly I just kept moving. The rest I picked up after a bit. There was a bit of a glitch, I saw a break coming, but it skipped right to the next exercise.

At some point Maya said water break, oops. Pause, run up stairs, swipe my roommate's water from the fridge (I'll get her another, she won't miss it) run back down & continue.

In the end I was sweating, breathing hard, a slight dizziness, but feeling good surprisingly. Something about this I think I can stick with. Though I need to clear a larger area to work out in. ;)

Wish me luck.

Sigh

Someone wanna give me about a million dollars? Or how about $50,000 that should cover my bills, fix my car, and take care of most of my student loan.

How about free rent?

Winning Lotto numbers?

I hate feeling like there is no end to my bills. And I did it all to myself.

Sigh, I'm just depressed a bit right now. But I never seem to make any headway financially.

Any advice before I find myself moving back in with my mom?

The Cast Is Off

Thank God!

Although this brings a whole new round of pain, but these are good pains. And I have a custom brace I have to wear for now. The doctor decided to start rehab on my wrist a week early. On the 18th I went in for him to check out my elbow (which turned out to be bursitis, joy)& some weird burning/warm sensations in my wrist(just healing pains). He took the cast off & had new x-rays taken, had me do some hand & arm movements & said he wanted to start me on rehab. So now I have to go in twice a week for rehab sessions & have various exercises I have to do at home.

I've been back to work since the 8th. On the 7th I had gotten a smaller cast & was able to at least do my job. Interestingly enough when I described what I do at work my doctor said it would be good exercise for my fingers. That & after I mentioned something about video games he said they would be helpful also.

So things are slowly coming back. I can kind of write with my hand again & I can sort of play video games, but my hand & wrist get fatigued after a while. Got a nasty looking 3 1/2 inch scar & it's getting itchy where the hair is growing back in. Can't wait until this whole thing is over.

My Ordeals With a Broken Wrist

I'll start by reviewing briefly as possible how it's effected me from Oct. 14, 2005 - Nov. 3, 2005.

The most obvious, as well as most persistant, is pain. In the past I've had broken toes, broken fingers, a cracked kneecap, & a broken collar bone (also a broken nose & broken ribs, but I was too young to remember them). None of those past broken bones compares to my wrist. Past broken bones the pain centered around the break itself & for the most part was gone in a couple weeks. My wrist, on the other hand, has been a constant source of pain & not just my wrist, the whole arm & fingers. I have been taking my prescribed pain medication, (Percocet the first week, Vicodin the rest of the time) and it sort of manages the pain, to the point it's dull and bearable. Mornings I wake up in a decent amount of pain, I eat breakfast & take a pain pill. I then sit back in my chair, turn on the TV, and for next 1 - 2 hours writhe in pain while I wait for the medication to kick in. The rest of the day I'm for the most part fine, just that dull reminder, but at various random points during the pain flares up. It's hard to describe the various different types also. Sometimes it feels like hot water started flowing in my wrist, sometimes it fells like lines of pain shooting from my fingertips all the way up over my elbow or a fire from my palm back to mid-arm, these types of pain are some of what I go through. If I wiggle my fingers all together there's a little pain, but if I try to move them one at a time the pain increases and I get the shakes in my other fingers. Overall I will say the pain has gotten marginally better. I used to take pain pills 3 times a day, breakfast, lunch, & just before bedtime. I stopped taking the lunch time pill & noticed no real change in my pain management.

Loss of sleep, directly relates to the pain. Much like my morning ritual, I experience about an hour of pain, but I get a bonus, sleeplessness. Finding a position to sleep in is a mission in futility. Any position I find that is semi-comfortable quickly becomes uncomfortable. Mostly because of the way my arm is wrapped in it's cast. The cast runs from the base of my fingers, over my elbow, to halfway up my bicep. This locks my elbow into being half bent & locks my forearm from twisting or turning. All of which puts pressure on my shoulder, which then feels like it's going to pop out of socket. These things, including the pain flare-ups, are keeping me from getting any decent sleep. One night I actually threw a fit...a kicking screaming fit. It surprised the hell out of me, where the hell did this come from? I sometimes get some naps in during the day, but still no good sleep.

Work, I have not been able to work since the accident. I work at NorthWest Cable News as an audio op. The best way to describe my job is I am in charge of all audio & cameras. I bring up faders on microphones, video packages, background music and I position cameras to shots via robotics, etc. It's very demanding job, but also a fun job & I love it. I need both hands to do it, in fact it's been joked that I need to grow a third hand for the job. With most of my arm in a cast, there is no way I can do my job & it's frustrating. I love my job, it's the same & yet different every day, but I can't do it right now.

Which brings me to what I have been doing, sitting at home......doing for the most part nothing. Now prior to the accident, that might have sounded fine for a weekend or a day off, but after a while it starts to be it's own personal hell, especially if your primary arm is locked up in a cast. There had been times I felt like breaking the cast off, just so I could attempt to do things. My roommates have both gotten good laughs at watching me try to butter bread, or open a juice bottle. I can barely write with my left hand, much less sign anything so writing checks is near impossible, thank God for debit & credit cards. I'm an avid video game player & out of the over 300 games I have I can play maybe 10 one handed. The funny part is my doctor encouraged me to play video games to keep my fingers moving. For the most part I really can't do chores around the house, I need help to take out the garbage, I can't empty catboxes, though I can empty the dishwasher. Opening letters, candy bars, popcorn, cereal, all have been exercises in cordination between my left hand & my teeth. Typing on my computer has been an adventure also. What usually took me a couple minutes now takes twice as long. Taking a shower is also an interesting experience since I have to keep the cast dry. Basicly let's just say that part of my left side all I can do is get it wet, I can't bend my left arm enough to get everywhere & my right arm being lock up in the cast means I can't reach that side either.

That's about all I can think of right now.

Ow

So on Oct. 14th I got hit by a car while riding my scooter. I had the scooter exactly one month & had just made my first payment on it the same day. The driver went through a stop sign. His excuse was it was dark, there were a lot of headlights & my white scooter blended in with them. My first thought was, he thought I was headlights & still came though the intersection?

He also stated that I rolled really well. Gee thanks.

Despite how well I rolled I still ended up with a broken right wrist, 3 stitches in my upper lip, bruised ribs, & scrapes on my left knee & both forearms. The wrist required surgery to be put back together, which included putting plates & screws in to hold it all together. I'll be in casts for about 6 weeks. Work has put me on short-term disability leave, which gives me full pay for 2 weeks & then 60% pay there after. Hopefully I'll only be out for 3 weeks max because the doctor said I'll get a smaller different cast after the first two weeks after my surgery (I had to wait one week before surgery for all the swelling to go down.

Finally got to see the damage to my scooter yesterday (I vaguely remember seeing the scooter after the crash, before a nurse driving by got out & took care of me till medics arrived). Talking to the repair shop guy, the amount of damage to repair with estimated parts & labor totaled $1000 more than the cost of the scooter itself.

In the second pic note how the center of the seat is off-center compared to the front main post. I was hit hard enough to bend the frame. Seeing that & the rest of the bike I got lucky with just a broken wrist. (If you click on the pics you get a larger image.)

Night Walker Anime Series

So I picked up the "Night Walker Midnight Detective" DVD at EBGames as part of their "buy 1 get 1 free" sale (I also got "Basic" good movie). I had never heard of this series before & it said on the cover "3 Hours of Vampire Action." Well being a bit of a horror & anime fan I decided to check it out. After viewing the first DVD I found the second DVD on eBay for a decent price.

After viewing both I decided to write a review. So here are my thoughts on the Night Walker series. (WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD)

Basic premise of the show is Shiro is a vampire with a human heart. So he hire's himself out as a detective to fight the evil Night Breed in Tokyo. Most of the episodes Shiro is hired by Yayoi who is with a special paranormal branch of the Tokyo Police, the NOS (I don't remember if they ever said what NOS stands for). Yayoi is also Shiro's lover/provider in that she allows Shido to feed off of her blood, but not to the point of turning her into a vampire. Shiro has a coffe runner/secratary/helper named Riho. Riho has a HUGE crush in Shido, which causes all sorts of tension when Yayoi is in the office. Shiro also has an "Urban Fairy" sidekick named Guni....mostly she's there for comic relief. The last main charater is Cain. Cain is also a vampire, he is the one that created Shiro. Shiro does not remember anything of his life prior to becoming a vampire. Only Cain knows that.

I think the episodes are too short. It doesn't really allow enough time to play out everything they seem to be trying to fit into each episode (plot action backstory etc.). In the later episodes they do finally settle into the short format and the writing gets better, but it still lacks depth. Added to the problem of the short format the action is limited.

I have to say that by the end of disc two they have done a lot of charater development between backstory & present day.

While I love the concept of the show, sadly a lot of it was lifted from the Anne Rice novels. The relationship between Cain & Shido is the same homo-erotic vampire relationship Rice created with Lestat & Louis. And also the same can be said for the father-daughter/lovers relationship with Shido & Riho, it mirrors the relationship of Louis & Claudia. Right down to Cain/Lestat practicly forcing Shido/Louis to create Riho/Claudia as a vampire

The final episode was good....up until it became the "it was all a dream moment," (I really hate that plot gimmick). That & it felt wrong storywise (almost like a "jump the shark" moment) with Shido & Riho becoming a couple at the end. Mostly because by that moment she was still young (early teens?). Whereas in the Louis & Claudia relationship while she is sill trapped in the body of a child Claudia is quite old.

While the back of the case on Vol. 1 describes it as "Anime meets Forever Knight with some Angel and City Hunter on the side," I would describe it as more Anime meets Forever Knight meets Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.

I did like the second disk better in that the stories were better paced & just plain better writting then the first few on disc 1. I loved that they explored Yayoi's background, though the off-handed way explained Guni in the same story seemed tacked on.

While I liked the series, it's missing a main adversary. While they try hard to set Cain up as the main baddie, he seems to have no connection to the Night Breed that Shido & company are constantly fighting. And while great character devlopment happend for most of the good guys (Guni the exception), the bad guys aren't. The Night Breed pretty much serve as "monster of the week." While Cain is always rambling on either about the "Golden Dawn" or how much he want's Shido to return to him. Neither provide much of anything.

Overall it's a hit or miss series with it's best moments coming in the later half. I feel that if the series were to continue they really would need to develop the adversaries more. I'd almost say the 12 episodes are a good pitch for a better series. It's got all the parts for a good show, it's just lacking cohesion.

Meeting Frodo Baggins

OK yes it's Elija Wood, I think the role of Frodo will forever haunt or be linked with him.

He was very cool. Turns out Elijah is a big Jimi Hendrix & Nirvana fan. Because before we did the interview we had an interview with Charles Cross who wrote "Room Full of Mirrors : A Biography of Jimi Hendrix" & after it was over Elijah wanted to meet him & they talked for a good 20 - 30 minutes.

Then we did the interview with him for his new movie "Everything Is Illuminated," what it's like to film the movie in Prauge ("There's lot of beer there," said Elijah) & of course stuff about Lord of the Rings.

After the interview was over I grabbed my copy of "The Fellowship of the Ring" extended version & walked over. Before I got to him he said, "Ohhp, I see a DVD. I have to sign it." He asked my name & signed it, "Tracy, All The Best Elijah Wood." Just before we got the picture someone handed him a slip of paper saying, "Here's that info on Nirvana you wanted." And he replied with an enthusiastic, "Oh cool! Thanks!" I thanked him for the autograph & the photo, shook hands, he said, "No problem."

Then he was on his way, seems I was the last to get an autograph, but then again most people caught him before the interview.

P.S. Everyone I talk to about him seems to want to know his heighth. Well I'm 5'11" & he seems about an inch shorter, so there you go.

PAX '05 aka Gamer Geek Heaven

Well I survived the weekend of August 26-28.

A week prior to PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) my car died, this ment that I would be bussing to & from the expo. Not my idea of fun. Luckily I was able to find someone who lived in Bellevue to let me crash at their place for the whole expo. Which ment 2 bus rides, much better.

Packed up 3 days of clothes, my medicine, shower stuff, charged up my Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra & PSP and I was off. Bus ride wasn't too bad, the Sound Transit busses are a lot nicer than the Metro Transit busses.

I got there about 2 hours before it opened. The line outside for attendees was pretty decent in size. Checked in & got my sweet "Enforcer" shirt & black "Staff" badge, & rode the escalator up to the 4th floor. At the top of the escalator they had the Bawls booth, great placement since everyone has to pass by it to get to any of the tournement areas. Wandering down the walkway I passed a DDR machine, the BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) room, the computer LAN tourney room onto the Table-Top rooms where I would be working most of the weekend.

I got meet a lot of cool people, Rae, Paul, Christian, & many more who's names I can't recall right now. It was great to see thousands of people just enjoying gaming in all it's aspects, table-top, computer, console, etc.

The first game I played was the new 3rd edtion rules Dungeons & Dragons. I haven't played D&D since 1st edtion rules, in fact 2nd editon was out the last time I played. While it's changed slightly it's still basicly the same game. We fought a small horde of Orcs & won. Horray! And there was much rejoicing. :) Shortly there after I played Super Munchkin. It's a card game from Steve Jackson Games. Very fun to play. Basicly the Munchkin series of games is way of playing various genres of role-playing games quickly with a lot of fun & a bit of humor.

Interstingly enough the whole time I was there I never wandered into the computer or console free play areas, and that was part of the reason I went. Goes to show the power of all things gaming I guess.

Friday was kinda short, but fun none the less. Saturday was the first day though of the dealers/sponsers room, where a good bunch of game manufactures & whatnot set up. Nintendo & Sony both had booths, but Microsoft surprisingly really didn't. Kinda weird for having a gaming expo in your own back yard. The only thing Microsoft had set up was a booth for their playtesting department to sign people up. I did check in with them & talked with Kristin. She asked if I wanted to sign up, I told her that I had already quite awhile ago. She asked when was the last time I was in, I told her over a year ago. She then set me up to come in on Monday after PAX was over. (Shhhh don't tell anyone but I got to playtest Project Gotham Racing 3 on the Xbox 360....very cool, making me think about getting one sooner now.)

Nintendo brought out the big guns they had a playable version of "Legend of Zelda; The Twilight Princess" and had brought the most game stations to play all of their new games for all of their systems. Sony, while they had a booth it was kinda sparse. They had three game demos up, Ratchet Deadlocked, Sly 3, & Jak X. Which they were giving out demos for also.

Other booths included the Army with their new "America's Army Special Forces" game, NCsoft with most of their MMORPG's (City of Hero's, Guild Wars, etc), Brady Games gave away a ton of books, Sierra had "Fear" & "The Incredible Hulk" playable demos up & were giving away demos, Nvidia in special drawings gave away their top of the line video cards (retail around $500), Sabertooth Games showed their new card games, one based on Penny Arcade & one based on Warhamer 40,000, Turbine Software had a demo of Dungeons & Dragons Online and were giving away Beta Test keys for it and so many more. The guys from "Red vs. Blue" had a booth, Gameskins sold t-shirts & there was a Pocky booth selling mutiple flavors of Pocky & lots of anime related stuff like figures, soundtracks, etc.

I missed the Omeganaughts competitons, but they had the grand prize on display. Every NES game & accessory ever made & an Alienware Star Wars edition computer. SWEEEEEET.

I missed the concerts they had because of my shift, but I heard that MC Frontalot, MC Chris & The Mini-Bosses all kicked ass.

In the end it was one of the greatest weekend I've had in a while & will gladly volunteer again for it.