Mooninite attacks!

Ah, yes. I remember this from last year. Do you? It was all over the news. It was also getting a lot of laughs all over the interwebs. You can find more info at this Wikipedia article. Some of the devices were actually auctioned off on Ebay. Oh, viral marketing.

Stimulate this

I'm not too clear on the tax return situation that is happening this year but this article by Naomi Klein got me thinking about it. It's an interesting read on the Bush administration's history of capitalizing on disasters.

Now, from what I understand, if one fulfills certain requirements, he or she is eligible for a larger tax return this year. And this is all part of the "economic stimulus package" mentioned in the article. But how is a couple hundred dollars extra this year going to "stimulate the economy"? I mean is this being done under the assumption that people are going to run out and buy stuff they don't need? I'm pretty sure that, with the way things are now, a lot of people are going to be using their tax return to pay bills and debts. You know how much debts I owe?


By the way, Naomi Klein is a great author. Read her first book, No Logo, for an insightful analysis of multinational corporations and the anti-globalization movement. Yeah, it may take you a while to finish but if you can read the Lord of the Rings then you can read this.

In different area codes...

This article on Virgin Mobile got me thinking about my account. Now, the story isn't that great but it does point out the frustrations people have in dealing with customer service issues. To summarize, a woman's stepsister passed away and her Virgin Mobile account has remained active for six months. There's really not much to worry about since it is a prepaid account and therefore the stepsister is not gathering up bills after death. The point is that that Virgin Mobile just can't seem to manually close the account. They act like it's a chore to get stuff done.

Again, this is just an inconvenience and at least she's not being charged for a phone that no one is using. But it bothers me to hear stories like this. I mean, think if there was a bigger issue here. Everyone has dealt with companies who are just incompetent when it comes to dealing with customer issues. Sometimes it's like the logic and reasoning behind the actions of a company only make sense to potheads.

I've had a Virgin Mobile prepaid phone since 2004. I haven't signed a contract with another phone company because of my horror story with one in 2003. Virgin Mobile doesn't have the glamorous phones that other companies do but I have what I need: a cell phone.

And I've run into their lame customer service department as well. Last year I moved from Seattle to Vegas and had to change my number. Shouldn't be too hard, I thought, so I called in and made the request. After getting through all the account verification stuff the rep asks me my new location and enters the info to give me my shiny new Vegas number. As I get my pen ready to write it down, I think of all the annoying calls I will have to make to update people on my new contact info.

The rep tells me the digits but the problem is that it begins with 206. The area code for Vegas is 702; Seattle is 206. I ask him to repeat the number. Yeah, I heard right. It starts with 206. So I tell the rep that I've actually moved to Vegas. In the state of Nevada. I don't need another Seattle number. He tells me that's the info he entered and thats my new number.

I explain that this must be wrong because 206 is the area code for Seattle. I need a number local to Vegas. The rep re-enters the information and tells me that he will retrieve another number. This one will be for Vegas and I'll be ready to go. I'll point out that during this part of the conversation both the rep and I have been polite to each other and there's been no "tone".

My new number is ready: 2...0...6...

Now I'm rubbing my eyes in frustration. Look, I tell him, this can't be right. That is the area code for Seattle, I explain, I need a number for Las Vegas. Here's where his attitude kicks in. Maybe he was having a bad day and this pushed him over the edge. Mr. Rep raises his voice and says, "this is your new local number for Las Vegas and it begins with the 206 area code".

Once again, I explain to this guy that this is not the area code for Vegas. Why would I want a 206 number if I already had one. There would be no point for me to call. While I'm talking, I start to imagine that I've lost my old number only to get another which is useless to me in this city. People would have to call long distance to reach me. I make sure I'm not insane and verify that my parents home phone number does indeed begin in 702. "Why are we even arguing. The problem must be on your end because Las Vegas numbers begin with 702."

And that's when he says this: "Sir, this is the number that the system has given you. I'm looking at Las Vegas businesses online and their telephone numbers have the 206 area code."

Does this guy think I'm some kind of idiot? Does he just want to get me off the phone? Luckily, I too have access to the Internets. I happen to have my laptop in front of me and I do a quick Google search for "las vegas businesses". The results show phone numbers beginning in 702 but, oh my gosh! None begin with 206. I quickly inform Mr. All-Knowing-Omnipotent-Customer-Service-Representative that I am also looking at a listing of the same information he should have in front of him and the area code is indeed 702.

Over the phone I hear fingers clicking over a keyboard and then a short pause. And then: "Oh".

You lying sack of cagada. Of course, I didn't say that. I didn't need to; he knew he got caught lying. Yeah, that must be a flawless system they have over at Virgin Mobile. It must be better than Skynet.

Anyway, I get put on hold for a few more minutes and a supervisor returns on the line. His vague explanation is that an error occurred on their end and that I was correct. I get my 702 number and, for laughs, I ask him why I was lied to, and treated poorly. I get the standard "sorry for the inconvenience" excuse and let it go.

So I hope you learn a lesson from reading this. Make sure no company punks try to get away with lying to you. Especially when you know you're right.

Alien in the alley

A Discovery Channel show on UFOs and USOs (Unidentified Sea Objects; yeah, I hadn't heard this term before) reminded me of this clip from 2005. Two teenagers in Mexico are startled by a being that reaches out from behind a light post late at night in an alley.



The event is captured by a cell phone camera, thus the low image quality. But, as is pointed out on the commentary, the arm that stretches out is approximately 1 to 1 and 1/2 meters long. Plus this thing has to be pretty thin to hide behind a light post. Pretty cool if you haven't seen this before.

Cloverfield afterthoughts

It's been a few days since I watched Cloverfield and I thought I'd write another post about it now that the whole experience has sunk in and passed. A review of sorts. This of course means that if you haven't gone to see it, stop reading. I will spoil it for you.

First off, I like that the actors are all no-names. I didn't recognize anyone in the film and that just adds to the realism. Had the movie featured the kids in Transformers or one of the dorks from Superbad, that effect would have been diminished. Duh.

The documentary style of the film is what really sells it and emphasizes the realistic aspect. Yes, some of the "amateur" qualities are probably digitally added (like the out of focus shots) to make it look more non-professional. You can see the production values and the slickness of it. But the point is Cloverfield pulls off the look and feel of four kids filming a disaster on their video camera, making it easier for the suspension of disbelief.

On a side note, I can't help but think of the documentary style described about the Navidson Record of the impossible labyrinth in House of Leaves. Yeah, I'm in the middle of reading it. But the similarities between this film and the book jumped out at me. Surprisingly, I found a much more concrete connection between Cloverfield and House of Leaves. The character Lily Ford actually has an interest in the book as explained by the Cloverfield Despoiler Wiki and as seen on her Myspace profile.

The unveiling of the monster itself also drives the movie along. I love that you only see bits and glimpses of the monster as the characters attempt their rescue mission. The brief shot of the monster's face as the four antagonists escape into the subway was startling! The limited camera angles and the lack of a long, cinematic view of the monster increases your desire to see what in the world New York is up against. I kept wanting the camera to move slightly to the side or to take at least two more seconds with a shot of the colossus. When you finally see a steady view of the thing towering over Hud, it becomes a great payoff for the audience. Very effective.

Now, there are some questions remaining. This doesn't mean that the films plot line is bad or lacking. Quite the opposite, it makes you want to delve deeper into the whole incident that occurs in Cloverfield.

• What, exactly, is the Cloverfield monster? An alien? A deep sea beast that lay dormant in the ocean? A weapon engineered by clandestine organizations with far-flung idealistic motives?
• What is the object that falls from the sky into the water in the Coney Island scene? Is that some missile to wake it up? Is that the monster itself? The monster egg? Does that mean it's an alien? Or was it dropped there on purpose?
  
• Since the events occur at "INCIDENT SITE U.S. 447" and the monster is still alive by the end of the film, does that mean other sites had attacks? By other monsters? Or this one monster that went on a rampage? By the way, who whispers "its still alive"?
  
• Are the tiny creatures baby monsters? Are they parasites on the Cloverfield monster? A separate species? Why do they make people explode? What happens after someone explodes?
  
• This question has really been bugging me: What happened to Lily? She got on a separate helicopter so did she survive? Did she make it out of New York? What's her story? Is she gonna be the basis for the sequel?

The good: Cloverfield is a great action/disaster film told in a convincing fashion that makes you want to keep watching until the monster is right in your face!
The bad: Having anyone spoil the movie for you.
The warning in theater ticket booths: This film may cause motion sickness.

More aliens! Now in Texas.

Now, this news is a couple days old but Primer Impacto had another report today with photographs of the UFO(s) that appeared in Texas. The pictures showed very bright spheres in daytime sky and a faint disk in the air with bright circles of light on it like headlights of some sort. Unable to find those pictures, I did find an article on cbsnews.com about UFOs appearing over the small town of Stephenville, Texas.

Looks like it's the talk of the town there and so far this object in the sky has not been officially identified or explained. That's not stopping skeptics from explaining it as military aircraft or illusions. At the very least, they'll get a boom in alien/ufo related merchandise!

I like this part best:

"People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of times," said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide.

Everyone knows this isn't the end of times. That's gonna happen in 2012.

More Smash news

This official Nintendo video presents the features on upcoming Smash Bros. Brawl and is rumored to reveal three new fighters: two Pokemon and Ness.



That Nintendogs power-up looks annoying.

Giant monsters never die!

As the first film I went to watch in 2008, Cloverfield was a good choice. It's the monster movie for modern times. It's told through the point of view of a hand held camera documenting New York as it is attacked by the monster. I've kept up with the hype of it for some time and I'm glad that it didn't disappoint. The trailers are widely available and set up the premise of the film. Other than that, I don't want to spoil any part of it (at least not now; I do have a lot of unanswered questions) so just go watch it.

Aliens

WFT? What is this?



This was on the news this evening. I've been to La Romurosa. I didn't see UFOs when I was there. They look like metal snowflakes.

Gaming Stuff

Okay, so if you haven't yet heard, Smash Bros. Brawl is delayed until March 9th. The roster is already up to 29 characters ready to battle it out. And this doesn't include secret/unlockable characters!

The latest issue of EGM (February) has an insightful editorial on journalistic integrity and not selling out. Yes, I do read/subscribe to print media even though news is now instantly available online. Anyway, this editorial explains one of the reasons why I've always like EGM ever since I started reading it in the old Mortal Kombat days. The reviews have always been honest and they let you know if a game is great, good, okay, bad, or a piece of crap. Read it here. (By the way, I got Yoshi on my EGM cover; Link is way awesomer.)

Gabe and Tycho take on Soul Calibur IV. It's the whole Star Wars thing. Invite Indiana Jones into the fight while you're at it, Namco. He can wield a bullwhip. Short Round can be in it too!

Finally, 1up has a great feature up: 101 Free Games 2008. Some of these look pretty cool and they're not that big to download. In fact, some are online; like Five Minutes to Kill Yourself! It's a nice timewaster; I killed myself in 4:52.

My gut demon

So it was about 11:00 pm last Sunday and I was feeling fine. By fine, I mean healthy. Throughout the day I had eaten a strudel, some leftover chicken from El Pollo Loco, pop, mashed potatoes, and then three carne asada tacos. No sign of what was to happen later on.

Sometime around 11:30 I decided I was still hungry enough to eat two bowls of cereal (Rice Krispies) and a banana. Afterwards, I was full but still feeling alright. SWAT (the movie) happened to be on so, wanting to wait out my big meal, I stayed up to watch it. At 12:30 it was over and it was time for me to sleep.

I stood up and felt an uncomfortable growling in my stomach. I did eat a lot so I guess my body wants to poop something out. After a trip to the bathroom, I changed and lay me down to sleep. The long growl in the pit of my stomach was the second sign something was wrong. I stayed there staring at the streetlamp light filtering through the window. No matter how hard I concentrated to fall asleep the movements in my panza continued. Then the demon inside got angry and I squeezed myself into the fetal position. It wanted to force itself out of my throat.

At that point I calmly got up and walked to the bathroom. Once I got a hold of the sink, I blew chunks everywhere. Rice Krispies, milk, and some meaty matter splashed onto the bowl. It felt good. But the relief didn't last. No.

It was 3:30 when I lay back down. That was all I needed. Just had to vomit and now I can go to sleep. But it wasn't the end, was it? I couldn't shut my eyes. When you can't sleep you just lay there like a zombie. My gut demon was still angry and I could feel my innards moving. Trying to deal with whatever was torturing me. I rolled around hoping that gravity would help my guts process this faster.

It was 6:30 and I was back at the sink. The puke was pink now with bits of digested food floating in it. Like an unholy soup. I still hadn't slept and now walking was a pain. I dragged myself downstairs to drink water. Hoping that it was out of my system. Again, I tried to get some precious R.E.M. sleep before the rising sun looks into the window.

The demon continued to hate my guts and now I had to deal with sleep deprivation. At 8:00 am, I make my way back to the bathroom and become a vomit dragon one more time. This time nothing but a yellow bile burns my throat. My teeth get stained with its taste and my stomach tries to push itself out. Everything I ate the previous day is now down the drain. This has to be it. I dry heave some more and rub the side of my head. I don't care if it's daylight now, I want to sleep.

I had spent all night vomiting. It was like the aftereffects of a party but I never went to one. My gut demon laughed at me and spent the remainder of the day resting in my belly. Monday was spent lying in bed and having only two glasses of water to "eat". I wake up during odd hours of the night again and Tuesday morning I awake light-headed and wanting to eat and vomit at the same time. My body feels purged of my gut demon and I can finally walk upright during the day. With a light meal, I recover from my sickness although dazed and feeling slightly zombified.

The rest of my family feels these symptoms at different degrees of intensity. But none of us could figure out exactly where these gut demons come from. Our biggest suspicion is that the chicken from El Pollo Loco was not properly cooked. I now can't eat there again. And that's the story of my gut demon who forced me to empty out my tripas and hated that I slept at night.

The soul still burns

Among the stuff at the 2008 CES, which is taking place less than a mile from where I live, is a playable demo of Soul Calibur IV and the debut of Yoda and Vader as guest fighters in the game. Forget Street Fighter, SC4 is the game to get! Now, since the CES is not open to the public, the demo was only available for those in the industry. But from reports it looks like the game is faster than previous installments and still retains the many gameplay elements that make it great.



One thing I did hear is that Guard Impacts are back. Wait, were they missing from SC3? I'm pretty sure they've never been out of the series. Soul Calibur 3 is the only one I haven't played extensively but I'm positive that Guard Impacts can be performed on it.

From the footage shown, new character Hilde looks to have a pretty cool fighting style. I especially like that spinning move that you can see in the trailer for about three seconds. As for the Star Wars characters... They're really out of place but it'll be fun fighting as/against them. Darth Vader looks really plain compared to someone like Voldo or Siegfried. A very cool idea would be to add pre-mutilated Anakin as a second or special outfit!

A more important question is how Yoda will play. I mean, that freak is small; will you have to use low attacks on him or will he be jumping up all the time to stand/float face to face to the other characters? Ivy could just stomp on him. And will there be any cool Force-chokes or Force-slams or will those just be their fancy throws? And where's Xianghua? Haven't seen her in any of the trailers. And why Star Wars for that matter?

The latest issue of EGM arrived in the mail today sporting Yoshi on the cover promoting the upcoming Smash Bros Brawl. The latest confirmed fighter being the spaceman from Pikmin with his Pikmin. They're really piling in the cameos for this one. And there's no way of knowing who the secret unlockable characters are going to be. Luigi for sure, maybe some stupid Pokemon. Young Link again? They should use the Wind Waker Link. Since Sonic is in the game they'll probably put in Tails or Eggman. Knuckles would be the better addition. Diddy Kong's joined up so they might add some girl monkey. Kinda lame. Ah, lets just hope for the best and see if Nintendo will add some really worthwhile fighters. That ninja from Metal Gear would be cool.

This baby is hilarious.

Yes, I know. Not keeping up with posting consistently. But, then again, my readership probably consists of two, maybe three people at the most. That being the case, there'll probably be no uproar over the lack of frequent postings.

Who am I talking to?

Anyway, Penny Arcade has some old but amusing comics poking fun at Facebook here and here. If you get annoyed by Facebook, you'll like these. Maybe. I'm not promising anything.

Then theres Mario Doom:


I like the subterranean part of the level. This takes me back to the days when Doom first came out. Man, that was a while ago. I want to see someone do this with Mario 3. Racoon Suit!

Up late

New Late Night tonight. Strike beards are a good way to support the strike. At least Conan is still helping out his writers. I wonder how the show is going to do without writers for a while. But with tonights show, it doesn't look like it'll be too bad. They are relying on segments and guests to take up more time on the show, though.

In other news, I began 2008 broke, in debt, and sending out resumes. Hey, at least I partied into the year and I'm in good health, right. As Jim Carey said in Dumb and Dumber, "we're in hole, we'll just have to dig our way out." :)