I have never liked one Zelda game.

I was never on top of the NES games. Couldn't get into Zelda III on SNES emulator. Hated the look and controls of Ocarina. Thought Windwaker looked like ass.

But Iain has the Nintendo Wii, and a copy of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The game looks great. I'm playing it, and I'm enjoying it. But I'm still not a fan of the genre.

I'd just like to point that out to all you folks who are hardcore Zelda fans. The WiiMote now has knife-twisting action.

Posted at 10:51 AM | Comments (3)

Il neige.

Posted at 10:57 PM | Comments (2)

Most of you don't know Sus, but she posted this on her LiveJournal the other day...

It's for a good cause...

Posted at 05:31 PM | Comments (1)

Thanks for your torrent of comments, they made me feel special. Even when Allen told me to piss off. :-)

If you haven't seen it, have a look at that Gears of War commercial that has Mad World running around in my head. It's pretty haunting.

To answer Bryn's comment directly: yes, News Corporation has disaffiliated itself with Mr. Simpson. So that means no TV interview, and no book. Rupert Murdoch has also personally apologized to the Goldman family. Any money that Fox has lost on this foolish venture is stupidity-tax well paid.

Of course, this is the kind of thing I expect from Fox, so I'm not surprised. The company I'm most disappointed in is Amazon for agreeing to sell this trash. Having an Amazon account I took the opportunity to write a very strongly-worded letter to complain about their choice. Some customer-rep at Amazon had the nerve to send me back a boiler-plate letter to the effect of: "Everyone has different opinions about different things and Amazon doesn't censor them because that would be wrong and it's our diversity that makes us beautiful."

Fuck off.

There's selling a book with extreme political views. There's selling a book for those curious about nuclear explosives. There's selling a book documenting the case of an infamous unsolved murder. There's selling books that are fictionally violent and smutty and what have you. But selling a book that profits from getting away with someone's murder, that describes it in brutal detail, and which thumbs it's nose at justice and the victims' families, that's in a completely different ethical universe. Don't lecture me in censorship and diversity; profiting from this book is no different than profiting from someone's death. It IS profiting from someone's death.

Posted at 08:35 AM | Comments (2)

I turned on the radio today, after my usual hectic day. The piece started right as I pushed the on-switch. It was a dance by Philip Glass, with pianos and strings in his usual beauty. And it was exactly what I needed to hear right at that moment.

How that struck me.

Posted at 05:49 PM | Comments (4)

Random Thoughts:

- Absinthe and Spruce Beer were made for eachother.

- Vancouver in November is wet. Murlocs would like it here.

- World of Warcraft rules my life again, but being in a good guild makes leveling much easier and more fun. It's also nice to call in the big guns when some stupid Horde player is picking on you. 8 more levels 'til 60.

- More RAM is always better.

- Hooray for Angela!

- It's fun to play with Iain's Wii. Seriously, someone at Nintendo was thinking when they designed this console. All you die-hard PS3 fans waiting out in the rain at night or shooting eachother for a chance to get the slim number of units that Sony shipped (clearly an attempt to tantalize you further), I laugh in your general direction.

- Assembling decent working computers out of spare parts is surprisingly rewarding.

- Why is my mother is practically the only only posting comments. She's noticed that herself.

Posted at 11:46 AM | Comments (7)

It never ceases to amaze me what our sick and disturbed society is capable of inflicting on itself. Remember OJ Simpson? Well, what if I told you he was now promoting a Fox TV special and a book that is basically: "If I had murdered my wife and friend... which I totally didn't... but IF I did, here's how I would have done it and gotten away with it", would you believe me? Well, it's true.

I remember in the nineties the more cynical of us joked that we were but a decade away from the publication of "Killing your wife for fun and profit" by OJ Simpson. Somehow, the joke isn't quite as funny anymore.

Posted at 01:58 PM | Comments (6)

There's a bit of a furor going on right now between Stephen Harper and Hu Jintao due to some remarks by Harper on China's human rights record. Subsequently, China has stomped it's feet and cancelled a meeting between the two leaders. Meanwhile, Harper has said that he won't "sell out to the almighty dollar", exchanging values on human rights for the value of potential trade.

Well excuse me Mr. Prime Minister, but you are a fucking hypocrite (as usual). I remember in the dying days of our much-underrated Liberal government, the Liberals were constantly lambasted by the Conservatives for criticizing the Bush administration and refusing to cooperate with the "war on terror". Jean Cretien and Paul Martin were labeled as "anti-American"; criticized as eroding Canada's closest ally and potentially damaging trade.

Well fancy that! Here we are in the present and we find now-Prime Minister Stephen Harper damaging relations with another huge trading partner, and acting like he's the God-damn champion of Canadian ethics.

Now, far be it for me to defend China, of all countries. But when you're a head of state you have to learn a little diplomacy when it comes to criticizing the internal policies of your neighbors. Otherwise, they won't talk to you at all and nothing gets done. Any reputable head of state knows this... unless of course you're some Albertan economist who heads a lame-duck government that the majority of people didn't vote for.

Posted at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)

There IS a God, and her name is democracy. Now squirm, you damned Republicans, SQUIRM....

But I digress, there still remains much to be seen. Will America continue to redeem itself? Is there a solution to Iraq? Can the world find its way out of this inner party nightmare? Find out in 2008... stay tuned...

Posted at 09:06 AM | Comments (1)

Uuugghhh....

As if the whole Barrick-NovaGold thing wasn't enough....

Posted at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)

"Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

- Hermann Goering

A tidbit for you: the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is proposing that American citizens should have to seek government permission before traveling abroad. Can I see your exit visa, sir?

Posted at 04:41 PM | Comments (2)