the-inbetween.com

Month of Futility

The month of futility is upon us. I would like to participate in the novel writing. I really would but I know I won't manage it. Perhaps it would be best if I just quit before it starts. I'd have more time to finish Castlevania DS and Shadow of the Colossus.

In a month, the Dr. Mario / Panel De Pon (locally known as Tetris Attack) bundle that greeted the Japanese GameBoy Micro launch will get a domestic release, as Dr. Mario and Puzzle League. Panel de Pon. Tetris Attack. Puzzle League. Whatever it's called, it's finally (officially) available in portable form. It will be a good pickup that might get lost in all the 360s and Mario Karts and gun shoot kill games of the season.

Just wish that they bundled something other than Dr. Mario with it, which has been released two hundred million billion times already.

Attack of the Forbes

Holy shit, this piece of tripe from Forbes, Attack of the Blogs, is the most moronic "mainstream" article I've ever seen about weblogs -- and I've seen many. There is so much ridiculousness in there. Sensationalist FUD. However, I can't say such things because it would make me an evil, ranting and raving attack blogger! Jesus Christ.

I could break down every printed paragraph, but I do not have the patience. Instead, heed these lessons:

• Microsoft and SCO are unfairly targetted by bloggers because they are such good and caring companies and have done nothing to warrant a geek backlash.
• NO, wait, Microsoft is evil for supporting bloggers. How dare they give weblog scum exclusive interviews with Bill Gates?
• If you make security devices that can be beaten by a simple pen and you get a lot of bad press because of it, it's not because of your own incompetence it's because of an evil bloggeratti conspiracy.
• Google is evil because they advertise on the web and, *gasp*, sometimes these ads show up on vile blogger pages.
• Anonymous attacks are a bad bad thing. Yes. However, abusing the DMCA to counter-attack with lame "copyright" excuses is good.

There are real concerns and serious issues that could have been properly raised in this article, but the fluff piece is so over the place, so unfocused and so sensationalist, it just comes off as a parody of itself. Yeah, there are problems with free speech on the web -- all free things have their price (just look at the reader reviews at 1up.com) -- but to spin it in such a pro-corporate way is just rediculous.

Halpern has had less luck getting anyone in Congress to listen to his plaint. He says that may change if a few politicians get a taste of what he has gone through. "Wait until the next election rolls around and these bloggers start smearing people who are up for reelection,"Halpern says. "Maybe then things will start to happen."

Yeah, good luck with that, because in an election it's the bloggers that do all the political smearing -- never other politicians. No. Never. Nor do "pundits" with millions of viewers. They never lie or make any personal attacks (thanks to anonymous sources.) No. Joe Bob with the weblog, with two dozen readers, is the real evil menace.

I don't want to come across as a defender of gutless, anonymous mucksters, however, I do want to come across as a critic of misguided and idiotic "news" articles. So it's a toss up.

Edit: OMG, pile-on! Look at that evil lynch mob go: boing slash.

post-RPS 2005

Photos, with commentary, from the event. Unfortunately, I lost in the first round.

It wasn't a complete loss, though. I won my first match against some cute asian woman. It's just that each round requires two wins to advance, and it was during the second match that I was defeated, losing to some guy that got an automatic bye because of an absentee. Lost in three sets. It was close, but obviously not good enough. With the bye, he was better and, since I did not see him play, I didn't have a sense for his tactics. Excuses, yes, but valid points.

For competing (and for signing up), all registrants received four RPS bucks. Basically, the idea was that you'd go around the floor challenging people to RPS and betting the bucks on it. The person with the most at the end of the day would win a thousand dollar prize.

So, I started with four. Whenever I challenged someone, I would challenge them to one round only, which deviates from the official three round rules. This was street RPS -- unsanctioned by the referees -- so anything was game. The one round format (best two out of three throws) was perfect for me because I'm stronger rushing out of the gates than I am at finishing someone off. With the early game, I am hard to predict and fast with the throws. It works to my advantage.

Thanks to an infusion of a five buck bill into my money cache thanks to my past RPS allegiances, I began to work it well. Challenge, win. Challenge, win. Double or nothing? Win! Within a short time, I was up to 81 RPS bucks. Then I challenged Team BJ.

That's Team Blue Jays, you pervs.

I was all cocky with my wad of cash -- a rather large wad for a solo, teamless competitor (I had no team-mates to pool money with) -- and challenged them to a thirty buck match. They wanted a best of three match. I hesitated, but agreed. After a hard, long battle, I lost.

My ego then got the best of me. I wanted my money back so I challenged them again. This time for fifty. It was close, but I lost again. After all that work and all those battles, I was down to one dollar. I donated it to their cause with the hopes that my lost money would at least end up with a winner. That is what I get for being too cocky and for letting my guard down by going for a three rounder. Next year will be different.

After the loss I managed to acquire a few more bucks, but my success with those just wasn't anywhere near as good. However, I then encountered Team Easy, who were reeling it in, and got them to challenge Team BJ. Figured it'd be interesting to get these big teams to fight each other. The stakes were high, in excess of a hundred, so I volunteered my past experience as an official RPS Championship referee to the battle. I called some fierce competitions in my life, but never any like these. For two long, super competitive matches, I stood as the voice of judgement between the two heavy-weights. It was my sole consolation for losing so early this year.

Team Easy was the victor and, by proxy, they had my money. I wished them luck with the competition and, head shamed by defeat, I left the event.

Last night I discovered that they didn't win the thousand dollar prize. All my hard earned money was squandered. Team Norway, which featured the two youngest competitors (something that, for a fact, helped them amass large amounts of "donated" RPS bucks), took it.

However, the main prize of the event -- the World Championship -- went to a man that I competed against: Andrew Bergel of Team BJ. Congratulations. Enjoy it while you can, cause next year I'm gunning for the title.

pre-RPS 2005

The 2005 Rock Paper Scissors World Championships are tonight. I'll be there. Again. Here are my previous "reports" -- 2003 Championships, where I was a ref; 2004 Championships, where I competed (and made it to the top 64 worldwide). Expect a "report" tomorrow.

I was watching the trailer for Match Point because it was pointed out elsewhere and because it has Scarlett Johansson. It was pointed out in the context of "watch this trailer and guess who the director is" (if you didn't know ahead of time.) I suggest you do the same. It's a funny game.

It gets a bonus point for using Koop music in the trailer, though.

The Hockey post

One of the things keeping me away from the computer and the internets lately has been NHL Centre Ice. I ordered it just before the start of the season (not knowing that there was a free preview for the first few weeks! ARG), and since then I've watched more hockey than throughout all of last year. Note the sarcasm.

Regardless of the lockout, I have watched a hell of a lot of hockey this season. I'd be just about getting sick of it now were the game not so drastically improved. I still hate the shootout -- always had, since Lillehammer, always will -- but everything else has been working out great. The removal of the red line along with the larger offensive zones, combined with less clutching and interference, opens up the game to a degree not seen since the early 90s. The free-wheeling era marked by the sudden influx of European players (thanks in part to the Soviet collapse) that ended with the sudden influx of European defensive strategies around 94-95. The emergence of a number of great goaltenders in that period (Brodeur, Hasek) didn't help the offensive game much either.

It's cyclical, though, and this year sees a lot of emerging and up and coming offensive players. With the new rules and an emphasis on a more open game, this should be a good omen for the NHL. For, maybe, five years. Then it'll slow down again.

Anyway, some observations from watching Centre Ice.

• You can tell how big of a hockey market a place is by the commercials its local broadcaster shows. Lot of cars and beers? Big market. Lot of car dealers and beer distributors? Small market.
• Man, it is amazing how many attorney/legal help commercials are shown in the US. Especially in the Southern areas. I was watching a game broadcast from the Phoenix region, and like every third commercial was for a law firm. Wow. That's mind-blowing.
• Today's Calgary+Phoenix game was a good one. Despite the lack of wins, I think Gretzky's coaching debut has been going well thus far -- his team plays hard and competes every time.
• Despite being a joke for years, the Rangers are a good, *gasp* hard-working team again. One that is fun to watch. They're not the greatest team in the league, but they have a lot of upside. I said this just before the start of the season (after seeing a preseason game), but I'll say it again. I like the Rangers. It's shocking after all the ridicule, but there you have it.
• Nashville has been off to a great, great start. There's a good reason why I drafted their goalie, Tomas Vocoun, in the first round in the Sportsfilter hockey pool, and that reason was that I expected the team to do well. Yes. Eat that McGuire. Now if only my ProLine prognostications were a little more... accurate.
• Despite not having won a single game, the Pittsburgh Penguins are a fun, fun team to watch. They have the fire-power to take on any team (and Crosby has been living up to the hype so far), but they lack the finish to seal the deal. The biggest proof of this was their game against Philadelphia. They tied the game 5-5 after trailing 5-1 (!), their goalie made an amazing game saving stop at the end of regulation to keep it tied, and then they get two penalties and lose it, short handed, in overtime. No finish.
• Ottawa is tearing it up, but after two meetings, they have not proven that they can beat the Leafs at hockey. They can beat them at arbitrary shootouts, but not at hockey. If they meet in the playoffs (again), they won't have the luxury of a shootout to settle it. hah!

Colossal Ads

There's this video of a "news report" about some giants unearthed by last year's asian tsunami floating around the internet now.* If some giants like this were discovered, you'd think you'd have heard more about it (not to mention that even a tsunami would have a hard time unearthing something so big.) Hence I -- and many others -- are 99.9999% convinced that it's a viral ad. The question remains: what for?

I had my suspicions, but after seeing a pair of subway poster ads for Shadow of the Colossus today -- already more advertising than I've ever seen for Ico -- my suspicions grew. The markings on the stone in the "news report" are very much in the style of a Colossus and, also, Ico.

The good news of this is that it means that the release is, finally, only days away. The bad news -- if this is indeed what this "news report" is about -- is that advertising is getting shadier and stealthier. This I don't like. Advertisements should be clear about the fact that they are advertisements. Being clever isn't an excuse. Neither is being viral.

On the flip-side to that, advertising shouldn't be too obvious, as is the case with Toronto's new garbage bin pilot project. Have you see these fuckers? They're obnoxious. They're monsters.

They're supposed to be practical garbage disposal mechanisms that support themselves through advertising, but, in reality they are giant obstructive billboards with unpractical garbage bins attached to them. I don't want to notice the city's garbage bins just as much as I don't want to notice its garbage. Garbage bins should be invisible. Not electrified with giant 8 foot glowing billboards!

Contrary to their purpose, these bins do a good job of making garbage noticeable. They're big and ugly and not at all practical, designed to bring in money and not garbage. If you do live in the city and you have seen them and you have an opinion on them, then tell the city. I think the ugly bastards should be removed, along with those awful iPod streetcar stop ads.

I'm really, really starting to hate advertising. More so.

* I hate linking it because by doing so I am supporting it.

Addition. Somewhat related article: SCEA Teams With Heavy.com to Promote Shadow of the Colossus.

Two Fifty

Two Fifty focuses on one small idea and does it well. It gives you a checklist of movies and you mark them off when you see them. That's it. It works.

The only problem that I have is that it uses IMDB's arguably dubious Top 250 list. I wish there were multiple pre-defined lists for the ultimate in lazy.

One thing that I've wanted to do recently, ever since I found a DVD rental store that was completely stacked with them, is attempt to watch all the movies released via the Criterion Collection. It's also a bit dubious, but you can't argue that the mix that they have isn't interesting.

In the end, I guess all such lists are dubious as there can't exist one essential film list. You'll never find a consensus. So, that said, I've seen nearly half of the 250. 118 to be exact. I could probably bump it up a few more if I were to count the movies that I've kind of sort of seen, but not fully completely (like Fargo), but eh.

Other lists: Time's All-Time Top 100; AFI's Top 100 American Films; Guardian's top 10 sci-fi films, as voted by scientists.