Wandering As you may or may not know, I'm a bit of a Pearl Jam fan. I've just secured some sweet tickets to their June 16th show in St. Paul and am pretty freaking excited. Anyway, you may have heard about Eddie Vedder's incident in Denver the other night. It's something that confuses me on one hand and disgusts me on the other.
I've mentioned many times that I in no way care to tell you how my political views play out. I'm not here to sway you in one position or another. But I can't be the only person who's noticed that since that day, voicing an opinion of either dissent or merely concern seems to have become almost a criminal act. It's one thing to be loyal and patriotic; it's another to be led by the nose and ignorant. Regardless of Eddie Vedder's political opinion, and how you feel about it, we're not living in the 50s anymore. We don't have to boycott the product or art of people who may not completely agree with the president, and we certainly don't have to start a freaking witch hunt in order to eradicate some sort of modern day red menace.
Read this idiotic comment posted on a Pearl Jam forum:
"If you hate our country so much. Move to Iraq! You live an incredible life...make millions a year...quit your complaining. . .you guys are worse than the sick people defecating and vomiting in our streets!!! A boycott is starting and this, hopefully, will be bigger than the boycott of the Dixie Chicks."
To that I say: if you want to live in a society which silences all those who disagree with the powers that be, how about you go move to Iraq. So because they make millions they can't have opinions?
Hilden and I had a conversation over dinner last night about this very thing; the fact that those who oppose this war and even oppose President Bush are being made out to be some America-hating pinko-commie traitors. It's ridiculous and extremely hypocritical. These people are suppressing the freedoms that they're supposedly trying to defend and justify.
The fact is, we're at war. Some people support it, some people don't. Respect eachother and the opinions of your fellow Americans. If you have strong feelings either way (which I don't, so don't start a hate mail chain), be open to intelligent, rational discourse instead of anger and stupidity.
I fill a good deal of textual real estate ridiculing and criticizing our resident chucklehead, Aaron Hilden. Much of it is well-deserved, some of it is just because I know how much he enjoys tough love. All of it is in fun.
However, I have to say in all sincerity, that if you are ever unfortunate enough to ride in a vehicle while that crazy bastard is at the wheel, you'd be best served to jump out any time his speed comes even close to dipping under the mid-40s. First of all, the guy has absolutely no sense of direction. Put him on a NASCAR race track, set the guy off, and he wouldn't be able to find the friggin' finish line. After venturing out in search of a meal last night - which in Minneapolis is much more difficult than it sounds - there were more wrong turns, missed exits, and jaunts down the wrong way of one-way streets than I care to mention. It was all topped off by missing the turn to his alley.
Sometimes, in spending time with him, I feel as though he's like the mentally challenged kid down the street that your mom makes you play with. Only in this case it's my very own sense of pity and bemusement, rather than my mom's. I guess it's the same reason that people watch Jerry Springer or N'Sync. It's a freak show.
You may also be interested to know that every time I mention his name in this column, I get a call from his mother.
Ok, that's not true. She calls me for other reasons.
Let's talk games, eh? After all, this is a gaming site. If you haven't noticed, Joe's review for Amplitude has been posted and it seems he's quite taken with it. I had the opportunity to do a hands-on preview a couple months back and can see why he loves it so much. What a great game. It's got the old school sensibility that I adore so much mixed with great style and flair. And as Joe mentioned, it's incredibly addicting. Thanks to Sony for getting that sucker to us.
I've been searching all over the damn internet for a copy of Bonk 3: Bonk's Big Adventure for the Turbo Duo with absolutely no results. It was the last game released stateside for the Duo (1994) and apparently either no one bought it, or no one is willing to get rid of their copy. If any of you have any suggestions (and yes, I've tried eBay), please send them in. I'd very much appreciate it.
One last thing, here's a snippet of a conversation I had with Sony GWX Editor in Chief, Brian Williams:
BrianGWX: what would you do about a stalker? JLuedtke: I'd have sex with them. Then they'd go away when they find out how bad I am.
Well folks, I'm off for some more Zelda. Word to each of your mothers.
Sunny Day Well, it's raining like a madman outside, but my spirits are high nevertheless. I have no idea what the reason is for this newly found upbeat attitude, but let's hope it sticks around for a while.
You all know of my Turbografx obsession and my affinity for the Bonk games. I was tooling around on the internet this morning and found this rather amusing article detailing the history of the Bonk franchise. It's pretty funny and includes a number of cameos from other Turbo characters like Keith Courage, the caveman from Legendary Axe, Monty Mole from Impossamole, and JJ from JJ and Jeff, just to name a few. Give it a read, if only for the entertainment value.
Radiohead's new album is due out in about three months and apparently one can already download early versions of the album's tracks, much to the dismay of Jonny Greenwood. While I don't see Radiohead ever attempting to pull the Lars Ulrich and Metallica schtick, I can see why they're a bit annoyed about the whole situation. However, it seems as though they understand the desire of their rabid fanbase to get their hands on new music as soon as possible.
I checked out Hilden's funk band at O'Gara's Garage last night. It's good to know that the humor and irony of a ten-piece band full of white guys called The Profits of Soul isn't lost on the guy. Despite the silly name - and the fact that Hilden's in the band - they were damn good and did an incredible job of recreating some great funk and soul classics. As well as a bit of disco...but we won't go there.
In the "John's a Whipped Sap" department, Christine's third favorite show American Idol was delayed last night due to a Minnesota Wild game, so we ended up waiting until 11:00 to watch the stupid thing. I had to sit through an hour of bad show choir cheesiness just to get to the end and find out they weren't kicking anyone off. Dammit! That's the only good part of watching that piece of trash is seeing the no-talent hacks get booted and cry themselves off the stage!
Ah well, I'm still in a good mood.
Continuing with the "John's a Whipped Sap" news, my dad recently found out he's got extremely high cholesteral. My family has a history of heart attacks and whatnot, so Christine freaked out and now my life has turned into one healthy regime after another. A bike ride after work, a healthy - but sensible - dinner, and never, under any circumstances, feed John after 8pm. Lord knows, little green fuckers will start popping out of my back and taking over the community.
Not Clever Enough to be a Fool I just don't have it in me to come up with some clever ruse for you to fall for. Anyway, it seems other staff members have already given you enough poo to sift through.
What I wish was an April Fools joke was this. Shit, man, like kids don't already have enough BS to get past, what with Nelly and all.
[Nice band-aid, moron.]
It seems as though if R Kelly isn't trying to have sex with them, the KKK is trying to recruit them. Well, at least they're armed.
People in homes where the annual income is less than $35,000 a year spend about 50 percent more time a week playing video games than those in homes with incomes above $74,000, according to a study released on Tuesday.
It's an interesting study, even if I'm not sure what it means. Video games can be a relatively cheap form of entertainment, I suppose. But at the same time, I've got some unemployed neighbors down the street who drive BMWs.
Push Me, Pull Me Wow, you guys really know how to come through when I'm in a shitty mood. Thanks to those of you who took the time to send in a note with various attempts at brightening my day. I really appreciate it.
Enough pissing and moaning, eh?
Remember when Giraldo got hit in the head by a chair on his old talk show? Somebody needs to hit the guy again, because between reporting false news in Afghanistan and messing with our troops in Iraq, it's obvious that something was knocked loose in the chair debacle.
Besides, can a guy with a mustache like that really be trusted?
I had a brief discussion with Joe yesterday regarding Zelda. He's working diligently on a review of the game, so we sat down to discuss the finer points of Nintendo's latest masterpiece. We both decided that regardless of how people reacted to the visual style, Wind Waker is the most visually pleasing game we've ever laid our eyes upon. Aesthetically, everything fits together seamlessly and makes total sense. There is some childish and whimsical element to the Zelda series that has finally been captured in this edition.
The other thing we discussed was the difficulty of the game, or lack thereof. Neither Joe nor I had seen a single Game Over screen throughout the course of gameplay, which begs the question: is there a Game Over screen? I guess we could go back and find out.
That being said, the complexity of the game rests in the mind-bending puzzles one is forced to solve throughout the game. The puzzles are brilliant and extremely rewarding. In fact, the other night, I found myself stuck on a particular room and decided to shut the game off, take a step back, and come back to it later. Just before I fell asleep that night, the answer came to me and I jumped out of bed to finish it up. Moments like that in gaming are so completely satisfying and a testament to why the Zelda franchise is so freaking popular.
We've been approached by arcade gaming legend Todd Rogers for an interview. I've met Todd a few times at expos and game competitions and despite his Ron Jeremy appearance, he's a hell of a nice guy. In fact, you'll find a picture of Todd and I posted on his website here.
Anyway, take a look through his website and if any questions for Todd come to mind, jot 'em down and send them over to me. Competitive gaming isn't exactly a worldwide phenomenon, so it's been difficult for me to get this article together and make it interesting.
Hard to Say It's been an interesting weekend, to say the least. What started off being a weekend devoted solely to adventures in Hyrule, turned into a bizarre, twisted turn of events that perplex me as I sit back and try to make sense of it all.
A friend (non-gamer) stopped by on Saturday to have a beer and check out Zelda. He's the same guy who went out and bought an N64 immediately after seeing me play Ocarina of Time, so I was hoping to have the same effect on him with Wind Waker. We wound up inviting some other friends over and heading to a place called "Stand-Up Franks" in Minneapolis' Northeast side. It's called Stand-Up Franks because there are no barstools. Anyway, after a couple of drinks, we headed back to my place and sat around the bar drinking and chatting.
Divorce is a horrible thing - especially when there are children involved - and something I know plenty about. After a couple drinks, one of my friends confessed that he and his wife were getting a divorce after only five years of marraige. It's really heartbreaking as both of them are dear friends of mine and people with whom I've spent a ton of time.
It sort of put a damper on the rest of the night and we all spent the evening sitting around the fire in my backyard in silence.
Life is a funny thing.
To make things worse, my ex-girlfriend from almost three years ago screwed me out of four grand and now I get to take her to court. It's a long, drawn-out situation, but here's a word of advice: never ever co-sign a loan for someone without a brain in her head. You'll thanks me later.
Whoo...I'm really bringing things down this time around, aren't I? Well, to cheer me up, I found this thread in our forums. It's entitled, "John Luedtke is the man and does not suck". Well, thanks for clearing that up for us. I never realized that was even up for debate, but thanks anyway.
You'll notice that the first person to respond with a derogatory comment is GWX's own Sonny Uppal. A "man" not known for his intellectual prowess, or handy way with the ladies. In fact, in India, that last nugget that drops into the toilet before you go to wipe yourself is often referred to as an "Uppal".
