TO THOSE WHO CARE...

Unfortunately, Google Adsense has deleted my account due to my "endangering" Adsense's clients through "illegal and unwarranted" activity on my blog.

Shit happens. To be honest I expected this sooner... but I got what I wanted. ;)

Shortly put, I will not be placing ads on my site anymore. I will continue to support some of you in the days ahead, but don't expect a lot from me. Sorry!

If you're actually interested in what I've been posting, feel free to continue reading, but otherwise... don't waste your time on me anymore. Have a great day!

...AND RUN LIKE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU..

----Blind Prophet

Rondo Music

Hey, everyone! Just ran across a great site the other day and thought I would share it with some of you! If you're a musician (of any level) check, it out!

http://www.rondomusic.com/

This site has a LOT of pretty cheap, decent quality equipment and guitars. If you're into guitars for fun or professionally, give this site a go! I'm ordering my next guitar from Rondo... and I've heard from several friends that the guitars they sell are actually really well constructed and aren't cheapo pieces of shit like many other "warehouse" type music sites.

In the next few days I might show a few of the guitars I've been considering buying from Rondo.

Enjoy!

----Blind Prophet

Dodgeball!!!

(pic removed)

(pic from http://www.outdoorfunstore.com)

Well, I played in a local dodgball tournament yesterday... and my team won! Hahaha take that, other teams!!! Yes, it sounds like not a very big deal.. but it was fun and a great way to let off some steam to enjoy the weekend.

In fact, I enjoyed the game so much that I was forced to search through my movies folders and find Dodgball the movie and watch it!! A classic! Now I'm thinking that the other teams should have practiced with wrenches...

So have any of you ever played in a dodgball tourney?

----Blind Prophet

D-Net Forums!

Alright, so I know someone who's starting a new forum and is looking for members, so I promised I would plug the site and try to help him find some people who want to swing by and just chat about...

...well, about everything and nothing, I suppose.

If you're a forum lurker and you're currently banned on 14 out of the 23 forums you frequent, and you're looking for someone to talk to, you might come by and check it out:

http://www.darmin.net/forums/index.php

Have a good day! Next time I'll post about a vidya game or another piece of camera equipment which I may or may not eventually buy! :D Talk to you later!

----Blind Prophet

Olympus E-620 Digital SLR Camera

(pic from GoogleProducts)

I know that everyone must be getting awfully tired of these continuing reviews of digital cameras... but I'm the type of person who has to make a fully informed decision before buying something that costs me a month's rent. I guess you'll all just have to deal with it! :P

This is the Olympus E-620 model digital camera, yet another brand that I've been taking a glance at while considering which kind of camera to buy. Here are a few of the important specs:

--Six in-camera art filters
--2.7" LCD screen
--12.3 Mexapixel live MOS sensor
--TruePic III+ processor

With a price of around $600, this doesn't look too bad as far as digital cameras go. I read a few reviews that call this Olympus's flagship camera model... so it must be fairly decent, yes?

Until next time...

----Blind Prophet

Canon XSi Accessories!

After looking at the Canon XSi the other night, I decided to get a better idea of how much some accessories and extra lenses for this digital camera would cost. So here are a couple of lenses for the Canon XSi:

--Canon EFS 17x55 f/2.8 IS USM Standard Zoom Lense, approx $900

-- Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS Lense, approx $280

--Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, approx $180

Those are in order of higher-end to lower-end in terms of quality and performance, as well as price. Now for a few specialty lenses:

--Canon EF 100mm f /2.8 USM, Macro Lense

--Canon EF-S 10-22 f/3.5-4.5 USM, Wide-Angle Lense

--Canon EF 85 mm f /1.8 USM, Portrait Lense

Well, I hope some of this info helped some of you who may (or may not) be looking into buying a digital camera like I am. Have a great day/evening!

----Blind Prophet

Canon Digital Rebel XSi Digital SLR Camera!

(pic removed)

(photo from crunchgear.com)

Well, sorry about not posting anything yesterday. I've been having wireless problems because a neighbor just set up their own wifi network... and it's interfering with mine. YARRRGH so I've had to do some tweaking and bullying to get our signals to get along with each other... and long story short, here I am!

Another camera I decided to take a look at (thanks to one of my followers; THANKS for the suggestion, Colin B!) is the Canon XSi Digital SLR Camera. Price for this model is around $700 new and maybe around $500-600 used. Here are some of the features of this interesting digital camera:

--12.2 Megapixels
--EF-S 18x55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens
--3-inch LCD display
--DIGIC III image processor
--EOS Integrated Cleaning System

Overall, it looks like a pretty awesome camera! It's so tough trying to shop around and choose the right digital camera (for amateur/beginning photography)... there are so many interesting brands and models to select from! Maybe soon I'll find the one. Until then...

...Stay thirsty, my friends. DOS EQUIS.

----Blind Prophet

Nikon D3000 Digital SLR Camera

(pic from GoogleProducts)

Still looking at different digital cameras, and this particular model caught my eye as a decent entry model. Some features are:

--In-camera retouch menu/software
--10.2 Megapixels
--AF-S DX 18x55mm lens
--6 auto modes

So that's just a little bit about the Nikon D3000. It generally costs about $500 or less, depending on where you look for it and whether or not it's new or in an accessorized bundle package when you buy it. I just wanted to share this info since I've still been searching for a workable, affordable digital camera.

----Blind Prophet

Call of Duty: Black Ops OUT!!

I'm a lameass and I have a job that starts early in the morning, so unlike most gamers who are grabbing their copy tonight, I won't be able to play the game until tomorrow afternoon. :( BAWWWWWW it sucks. Pic IS related, believe it or not. Since I'm not going to be zombie-like in front of my TV screen all night, I won't be needing a doctor.

But some decent health insurance might be a good thing to look into if you're planning on binge drinking/eating while zoning on Black Ops all night after it comes out at midnight (depending on where you live). Anyway... so having a good doctor might help you when intense photo-overload blasts your brain into mush. :P

Good luck playing!

----Blind Prophet

Medical Insurance!

That's right! I'm getting some medical insurance soon, thanks to my loving mums and pops. It's Coventry Health Care from Mercy hospitals, because my mom works for a local hospital and she gets coverage... as do any "claimed dependents" under the age of 26!! Wooooo!! Hooray for being a 20-something leech! :D

Seriously, everyone here should check into the Mercy systems health care packages. They have some good plans and prices.

Just a little plug for ya. :)

Website: http://www.mercyhealthplans.com/

----Blind Prophet

Still sick! :(

Dammit! Not much else to say, really. Sorry I haven't made any fun posts here recently. I'm still sick today, and feeling pretty low. I'll get back on the horse as soon as possible. Still haven't seen a doctor, too.

Here are a few random thoughts/newsbits to entertain you:

1. Nancy Pelosi is seeking position as House Minority Leader.

2. Black Ops comes out Tuesday!

3. Barfing isn't fun but I always feel better afterward. Ahh, endorphins!

Alright, that's probably enough. Have a good one, folks!

----Blind Prophet

Sick today!

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFoCP6g74E4guKl_zV72nvhRMo99lVio_IcFuAdq9aKo2BRpRRCjlTJDhF6Iia9v5a1_PWlYpUmYSxLHmWcpV05KnuRPojt6du-sM0TPQrXjDLzGpNae69BlWH3fJAAvXG801H/s400/BarfingMan.jpg)

Ughhhh. I've been sick most of today. Phooey. Not much fun at all. Sore throat, fever, general murder-me-right-now sorta sickness... and it didn't help that I still had to go to work and tough it out. I was glad to get home, strip naked, gulp down forty-eight tylenol, and just veg on the couch for a couple of hours.

(pic related)

I'm not thinking it's bad enough to see a doctor, though. I'm not sure I trust the medical profession in the first place, and I also don't quite have full health care coverage. Anyway, this probably isn't the sort of sickness that a doctor could do much for... just give me some "feel goods," or something, I guess. :P

Sorry for the boring post, everyone. I didn't really feel like talking about anything of consequence.

----Blind Prophet

Black Ops!

Alright, alright. I know everyone else is posting about Call of Duty: Black Ops also, but to be honest, it's a pretty big deal in the gaming world. It's expected that sales for Black Ops will be higher than those for even MW2... and I believe it! Only a few more days until it comes out!

I'm thinking about camping out to get my copy... but really, I'm not going to have 48 hours free to play the game right after I get it, so I guess being one of the very first to have it won't do me much good, eh? Among the rumors and additional gems I've heard: weapons will be bought with in-game cash earned from multiplayer missions/games. At the end of the credits there's a bonus level where you play JFK and fight zombies. New wager matches and system!

I guess we'll see how it all turns out, and I guess we'll find out if Black Ops truly can live up to the hype that's been created for its release. Here's to gaming! :D

---_Blind Prophet

VOTING!

(pic from justsaynews.com)

That's right! Today is the first Tuesday of November 2010, so it's voting day here in the United States! It's a midterm election, so all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up and 37 out of 100 Senate seats are up for grabs. If you haven't voted yet, please, go out and get it done! Life isn't a videogame, so get your ass off the couch and go vote!

I voted at around 4:00pm. I had to deal with a line stretching out the door of the voting building (which is unusual for my precinct)... but the wait was worth it, because as I looked around and saw others waiting to vote, I was pleased that so many had turned out. Yeah, I believe in democracy. We don't live in a Borderlands style world here, folks. :P

Anyway, I'm sitting here watching the returns and it looks like the Republicans have gained control of the House... so depending on your political beliefs you can either cry or rejoice about that. Mostly I'm interested in seeing how some state propositions turn out, such as Prop 19 in California (weed) and a proposition in Colorado regarding abortion. I'm a political science guy, so it's interesting to watch election returns and see how votes end up coming out. *shrug*

So happy Voting Day to everyone!

----Blind Prophet

Borderlands UPDATE

This is what Borderlands is all about. Guns, guns, guns! Before I began playing Borderlands, I'd heard that it was a loot-based RPG running along the same vein as Diablo, so I expected a certain amount of loot-hunting and scrambling for dropped weaponry and booty...

...But this game is completely BEYOND being just "loot-based." It's ALL about the guns, baybeee! I find myself feverishly blowing enemies away, eyes roving hurriedly around the fallen corpses for those precious blues and purples and oranges and yellows! Did that guy drop a shotgun that's better than mine? WHO CARES? Grab it anyway and sell it if it's a POS!

There are so many different gun types and extra effects and special weapons that I'm seriously beginning to wonder if the programmers for this game simply wrote a random weapon-spawn program that generates these weapons (as opposed to simply creating a library of weapons which may or may not be eventually presented to the gamer, depending on game conditions). Seriously. There are THAT many different weapons.

Aside from that, the story pretty much only exists to give you a stream of enemies and bosses to blast away at as time progresses. But that's OK. In a loot game like this, a great story isn't really needed. The drive is to get the best gear, not to find out what happens to the characters. As a side note, I will say that those little robot dudes are pretty hilarious if you spend some time watching and interacting with them.

All in all, Borderlands is extremely addictive, and I've been wasting faaaar too much time playing this video game... but I suppose that's the point of having a fun game, eh?

Happy belated Halloween, everyone!

----Blind Prophet

I Finished Mass Effect!

I finally finished the game! Wooohoooo! Here's to finishing a game that's already three or four years old and has a sequel! :P To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised by the climax of the story. Overall, I was a bit disappointed with the length of the game (my first playthrough being just shy of 25 hours)... but I suppose that's why they included so many extras, as well as a REPLAY option. Hell yes, I WILL start over with Shepherd as a level 47 with pimped out weapons and skills!

Actually, after setting up a gamesave with my "finished" info, I went ahead and started a new game as a new character. The first time I played through, I used the default male Shepherd, and I pretty much stuck to being a good guy and making choices that raised my Paragon standing. THIS time, however, I created a female Shepherd and I'm going to be a very, very bad girl!

Speaking of bad, I did actually complete the romance subplot and I saw the infamous "sex" scene, which was about as sexy as a hunchback janitor scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush. Oh well. I guess we can't have everything we want in a videogame, huh? Now I'm kind of wanting to know if the game developers had ideas for a lesbian romance subplot. Teehee. ;)

So I finally finished Mass Effect! Now on to other games!

----Blind Prophet

Stars tonight

http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/52A1F834-FD5E-0493-FBBDE8D6A42F2DDE_1.jpg

I had a chance to just sit outside with a cigar tonight and watch the stars. They were very pretty and I'm in an area with very little light pollution, so I could see the heavens quite clearly. It's nice to get away from videogames and work sometimes and just sit outside and watch the universe do what it does; go on and on and on. Maybe playing Mass Effect is bugging me subconsciously or something. :P

Tonight was a nice night; a chance to take it easy and just relax. In fact, I might just head outside again after posting this!

Take care, eveyone!

----Blind Prophet

Life is a game.. play it well!

http://www.vtliving.com/phototours/fall/dirtroad4.jpg

FALL BREAK! Recently I've felt like life has been a sidescrolling videogame like Super Mario and I've just been jumping over pipe drains and stomping on mushroom-shaped enemies. I'm not saying that life has been boring or that I've lost interest in things, mind you, but... at times it can feel like a mindless video game quest to reach... to reach what? The next level? To gather coins?

Fall break is here, and it's going to be nice to just hang out and take it easy for a few days. No more intense level-grinding or booty collection (unless it's wimminz we be talking, heh)... at least not for a few days. I'm not going to do ANYTHING during my fall break but be lazy.

How about you? What will/did you do for fall break?

----Blind Prophet

Listen up, gents!

Here's the deal: November is National Prostate Health month, so to honor that commitment to men's secret parts health, all men EVERYWHERE are required to grow and maintain facial hair during the entire month! It's not a law or anything, I suppose... and if you're a lawyer or a judge and you can't grow face hair because of your job, then I guess you're excused. I'm still going to sue you.

But for the rest of us... here are some awesome styles which you can start thinking about as you begin to let that fuzz run wild in anticipation of November! Seriously, this is a big deal. I'm pretty sure none of us gents want to end up with cancer in our no-no bits. So consider it. I'll be right there with you, locking away my razor and suspending its habeus corpus rights. :P

Great tidings and good luck to thine beards!

----Blind Prophet

Volcano in Indonesia

Apparently a volcano, Mt. Merapi, erupted on 26 October 2010, forcing thousands of villagers to flee for their lives. Some 15 people were killed because they were too close to the blast zone when the volcano erupted. If I were one of those villagers moved by this natural disaster, I'd probably want to sue God or something. I'm not sure who the lawyer would be, but I'd think of something.

Anyway, on to the point of this post: I want to be close to a volcano eruption someday. Wouldn't that be awesome? I've always wanted to wear one of those shiny heat-reflective suits and dip things into a moving stream of lava, just for the fun of it... dodge flying pieces of magma, and maybe even break my leg after falling due to the earth shifting below me! What magical times those would be! OK, so maybe that wouldn't be such a great idea. Murphy's law and all that.

But I still dream about it nonetheless. :D

----Blind Prophet

Borderlands

Borderlands! That's right, everyone... without evening finishing the other video games I'm currently trying (and apparently failing) to finish, I went out the other day and bought a copy of Borderlands. I'd heard good things about it, and I happened to stumble upon a store selling it fairly cheaply, so... *shrug* I grabbed a copy.

I've heard that it's a FPS/RPG offering a huge amount of weaponry, character upgrades, and large maps. I haven't gotten an opportunity to play this yet, because as I mentioned before... I'm trying to finish some other video games before beginning any new ones. We'll see how long THAT lasts. :P

----Blind Prophet

SEGA RingEdge and RingWide

Is SEGA getting back into the hardware game? It certainly looks that way! Recently, Sega has put out some arcade system boards named the RingEdge and RingWide. Some have dubbed these as the "Dreamcast 2," but as they aren't quite full consoles, I wouldn't necessarily give them that honor... yet.

There are rumors flying around that Sega is indeed looking to perhaps produce its own system in the next couple of years and get serious about rejoining the Console Wars. Would such a console be able to compete with the PS3 and xbox360? I think so, don't you?

I'd dearly love to see that happen.

----Blind Prophet

Golden Sun Photos!

These are just a few stills from Golden Sun: The Lost Age, for Gameboy Advance. Posting about the new DS Golden Sun yesterday got me in the mood to play the game again! Ahhhhh, such fun!

I actually even downloaded a GBA emulator so I could play this on my desktop. :P

Enjoy!

----Blind Prophet

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

My pants just nearly exploded off of my body when I first heard that Camelot was going to be finally making a sequel to the Gameboy Advance Golden Sun video games. I LOVED THOSE GAMES. There was nothing better back in the day than being able to play such well-developed and CAPABLE RPGs on the GBA. I mean... 30+ hours of full-size RPG gameplay and well-written story on a handheld gaming system? Golden Sun: The Lost Age, for instance, had a world-spanning weapon-creation system and a series of quests wherein one could forge a weapon of ultimate power... adding even MORE hours to the game. Not to mention side-bosses!

The Lost Age also left us all hanging with its climactic twist right at the end of the game, leaving us to wonder... What was going to happen to the world? How would Isaac and Felix and company stop the power-hungry Alex?

And now IT IS BACK.

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, for DS.

I CANNOT WAIT!!! :D Here is the IGN preview of it:

http://ds.ign.com/articles/112/1129094p1.html

What say you, friends?

----Blind Prophet

HOLY CRAP HASSELBLAD!!

While I'm not entirely ignorant of the cost of some higher-end digital cameras and photography equipment, it never quite struck me just HOW COSTLY some of this stuff could be... until I began browsing the internet. Gobless the Information Age.

This here, ladies and gentlemen, is the Hasselblad H3DII-39MS Digital Camera! Wowsas! Apparently it has software and an operating system that can read your mind and a lens that can take a picture of your grandfather's grandfather using inter-dimensional time-warp. Well, maybe not, but I couldn't think of any other reason for the $30,000 PRICE TAG!!!

Again, I suppose I'm ignorant about the true cost of some of the better photography equipment out there... but this begs me to ask the question: IS IT NECESSARY? Some of the best pictures in history have been taken with cheapo cameras, on the fly and sometimes even accidentally. Do we really need cameras like the Hasselblad that cost as much as houses?

Thoughts?

----Blind Prophet

Beiber Time!

I can't even stand to post a photo of him, and it pains me to post about him, but...

BEIBER. I guess he needs a lawyer now! Everyone's probably already heard the latest about this "sensation" of a pre-teen pop star. It all began innocently in Canada... like so many other stories no one really cares about. (Sorry, leafies ;))...

Beiber was apparently playing laser tag over the weekend, enjoying himself immensely, when... word passed through the laser tag building that BEIBER IS IN THE HOUSE!!! So naturally, every kid in the building starts targeting the pop star, shooting him mercilessly and without pause. I have to admit; I'd do the same thing.

So apparently, while this was going on, one of the other children ALLEGEDLY yelled a homophobic slur at Beiber, who then ALLEGEDLY pushed/punched the kid. The kid's parents realized that their son had just been ALLEGEDLY assaulted by a millionaire, and so.... they are suing! Awesome!

Looks like Beiber needs to hire a good lawyer.

I have no advice for him.

----The Blind Prophet

UFO Abduction Insurance!

While fladoodling around on the internet the other night, looking for information on motorcycle insurance, I got bored and began to look for coverage policies on other things... meteor strikes, foreign invasion, animal damage...

...UFO ABDUCTIONS??

That's right, folks! Most of you may have heard of this before, but I was shocked to find that many (if not most) large insurance companies offer alien abduction insurance! Ummm... what? Am I missing something here? I understand the workings of supply and demand, but have there honestly been THAT many people demanding UFO abduction insurance, just on the off-chance that they are chosen to be swooped up in the next wave of alien experimentation on humans?

Here's a Wikipedia link about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_abduction_insurance

In the above wiki article, it says that the Heaven's Gate people all purchased UFO abduction insurance right before their mass suicide. The insurance company didn't pay off, though... I wonder if there's a way to prove that the cult peoples' souls actually DID get picked up by their alien spacecraft?

The world may never know.

----The Blind Prophet

MOTORCYCLE INSURANCE

Yeah, yeah... lately I've been talking about SPENDING SPENDING SPENDING... but you know what? I'm about to get done with my degree and ACTUALLY begin working full-time in my profession. Why the hell shouldn't I deserve a nice self-graduation present? Sure, it may seem masturbatory to my ego, but... WHO CARES? I think I've earned a gift from myself. Anyway, I've been considering getting a bike. Pictured is a Yamaha V-Star 1100, one of the models I've been drooling over. I wouldn't consider a Harley yet because I've heard that Harleys are expensive as far as parts and maintenance.

SO now to the point. Does anyone know of a cheap motorcycle insurance carrier? I know GEICO and Progressive do it, and are supposed to be fairly decently priced. Allstate too, I believe. But if I'm getting a bike, I want to make sure I'm getting the best deal available. What does everyone think? Anyone else have a motorcycle? WHICH INSURANCE PROVIDER DO YOU USE??? :P

----Blind Prophet

Canon EOS Rebel XS

Here's another camera I've been looking at lately. It's a more mid-range, less pricey model, and so it holds some attraction for me. If I start down the path of photography, I want to get something that's not too expensive, but still good enough to take really great photos. This is the Canon EOS Rebel Xs!!

It's 10.1 Megapixels, has an LCD screen, compact build, and intuitive controls. What more could a beginner ask for? And best of all, it's in the $500 price range; cheaper if I can snag one used! It's looks pretty good to me... what does everyone think?

Digital Camera

Lately I've been considering getting into some amateur photography. Yeah, it sounds cliched and it probably is, but damn. All the time I see awesome sunsets and moonscapes and car wrecks and murders... I mean... ummm... Cool stuff. And I find myself wanting to capture the moment in some way other than cell phone video. Hell, maybe I could even manage to find a new way to bring in cash! Or not.

Either way, I've been looking at the Nikon D7000 digital camera. It's expensive, but seems like a really good model to aim for in the future. Obviously I would probably start out with a simpler model, something I can pick up from EBAY or something for $200 or so. But... it's nice to dream!

Does anyone else have any experience with the Nikon D7000 camera?

Update on Spectral Force 3

So a couple of days ago, I posted about this new game I bought fairly cheaply at the local gaming store. Spectral Force 3! After looking it up and reading several reviews, I stumbled on over to Youtube and looked for a few gameplay videos, just so I could get a sense of what the gameplay was like before I actually began to play the game. Why? Because... uhhh... who cares why?

At any rate, Spectral Force 3 looks fairly interesting. I wouldn't say it's MINDBLOWINGLY new or anything, but as I said before; it's a standard Strategy RPG... and I'm OK with that! I don't need things to be constantly new to enjoy them!

So please enjoy this video, which is an excellent review of Spectral Force 3!

----Blind Prophet

SHOOT ME IN THE FACE

Recently, I was at the video store, browsing around and looking for some stuff to buy or rent to watch in my free time. Yes, I'm one of those lame-asses who doesn't have Netflix yet. Oh well... fuck it. Anyway, so I'm in the video place and I decided that I might stop by the kid's section and look for a movie or two that I could grab for my 2-yr old niece. She's a cutie and I thought I'd be nice and surprise her with a cute little children's film or something.

LO AND BEHOLD, what do I see? An entire rack of Land Before Time movies. WHAT THE FUCK. Yeah, I knew there were like 7 Land Before Time sequels out there... but I jest not, I counted SEVENTEEN different Land Before Time movies, each a different episode or "adventure," (and I use the term loosely).

Really?

Does Littlefoot really have THAT many problems? Didn't he reach that lost valley in the FIRST one? I think I must have missed some sort of timeslip subplot in the series, because honestly, I can't think of anything that would give any self-respecting animation studio to keep revisiting the same damned kid's movie. Pretty soon they're gonna be coming out with The Land Before Time: The Rise of Veloci-socialism.

Just wait and see.

I thought the first one was better alone.

Anyone agree?

NEW GAME! (for me)

I just bought this game in the cheap bin at a local gaming store... and I'm wondering if it's any good. I mean, I looked it up online and read everyone';s reviews about it, and it looks like a standard strategy RPG... same tactics-based gameplay we've had since FF Tactics, just with a different story and some new elements thrown in here and there. Honestly, I have no problem with that! I love this type of game!

So why has IGN.com and other similar gaming websites given it such a mediocre score with their game rating systems? Maybe I'm missing something because I haven't played it yet. *shrug* Spectral Force 3 looks like a good video game to me!

Well, I guess I'll find out.

Anyone have any experience with this game?

----Blind Prophet

Kansas City Chiefs are 3-1!!

That's right! Despite all reason, logic, and common sense, I am and have been a Chiefs fan for many a year... one of those die-hard fans that every year continues to woefully bleat, "THIS year... THIS year... THIS year they will win..."

AND IN 2010, IT ACTUALLY IS THIS YEAR!!! :D

Chiefs, now standing at 3-1 (due to today's loss against Indianapolis), are already doing wayyyyyy better than they did last year, or even in the past decade, to be honest. I was saddened by their failure to destroy the Colts today, yet deep down I know that it's alright. My team, for once, is on top! Before the game today, the Chiefs were the only undefeated team in the NFL. Can't beat THAT with an iron rod!

During the game today, I wasn't too impressed with Cassel's performance. Maybe it was because they were playing away from home, or... well, I have no idea; but for whatever reason, he just couldn't throw eligible, completed passes. Kansas City defense, however, was top-notch! I'm VERY happy to see KC defense doing as well as it has; keeping the enemy off-balance, applying pressure at the right time and in the right place... and generally somehow managing to foresee the path of the opposition. I was happy about that!

All-in-all... I'm not entirely excited about the loss against Indianapolis, but really, the Chiefs are still doing really well, considering their history.

Here's looking forward to more!

----Blind Prophet

TOO LATE REVIEW!!!

Alright, self-righteous glory-seeking gamers of un-disputable power... just shuddap. I KNOW, I KNOW, this game is what...? 3 years old now? SO WHAT? Some of us gamers can't afford to get the newest and the best right when it comes out. Because guess why? I don't get fucking food stamps. My money feeds me and I can't spend $60 on a video game the very DAY it comes out. I have to wait a year or two until the price drops to like $10 on the USED shelf at the local trade-in gaming store. So just stuff it and enjoy yet another TOO-LATE REVIEW!!!

Mass Effect is an amazingly well-constructed, full-throttle adventure/action RPG. What does that mean? Well, it's an RPG with levelling of characters and a points-based system of upgrading characters, as well as a method of upgrading weaponry and using new spells (called "biotics" in the game). And yet this isn't your standard RPG; it's not turn-based, there are no battle-screens (battles are real-time in the open environment), and it's largely action-based. Cool, huh?

Actually, since Mass Effect comes from Bioware, it's quite similar to Knights of the Old Republic, that MOST FUCKING AWESOME of RPG adventures for the PS2 and original xbox. It seems like a lot of the mechanics of gameplay, battle, and structure of quests is built from pre-existing KOTOR templates and game structure. That's OK with me, but gamers looking for something radically different from Bioware's other RPG fare might find a bit lacking. One example of this is the "light side/dark side" meter found in the game, which tracks your decisions through the plot and tells you whether your character is a good or bad dude. This also plays out in how other characters react to you later on in the game... again, much like KOTOR.

QUESTS! There are so many damned quests and minor plot lines to finish that I swear, I could play this game until my grandkids have grandkids and I probably still wouldn't be finished! There are multitudes of galaxies and planets to visit in Mass Effect, each having their own histories, environments, and pleasant surprises waiting for you to find! Add to those a HUGE amount of minor quests and you're ready to spend upwards of 100+ hours getting through the game.

YOU DECIDE! I really like the ability to design (to the last detail) your own character. You can make it an alien, a human, a woman, a man... choose facial features, etc etc... VERY customizable! It's the same with job classes and skill sets. Basically, you can be whatever you want to be in this game, though personally I'd recommend running through the game once as the pre-designed Commander Shephard. Hey, you won't see the special sex scene otherwise, right? ;)

The only real drawback I found in this game is the lack of awesome music. Yeah, there's some scifi sounding background music, but that's all it ever is. Elevator crap. There are no stunning scores for huge battles or catchy "planet exploration" tunes while you're... errr... roving around exploring a planet. I guess this may be a minor inconvenience for most, but I like to enjoy music when I'm playing a game, and I definitely noticed a lack of it in Mass Effect.

Well, that's all I have right now because I'm getting tired of typing and to be honest, I haven't even finished the game yet. AND I'M TOO CAUGHT UP TO SPOIL IT FOR MYSELF BY LOOKING IT UP ONLINE! Oh well. Call me back in about 100 hours and I'll tell you more about the ending and how I fixed things and saved the galaxy by killing Saren.

He DOES lose, right?

Right?

----Blind Prophet

Politicians are all the same.

When I heard the news that the Naked Cowboy was "running for President," I must admit, at first I was interested, laughing at the prospect of such a thing. The Naked Cowboy? REALLY? This world is full of surprises! Finally, someone in the White House who makes some sense!

Well... imagine my dismay when I tuned in to watch the Naked Cowboy's press conference concerning his candidacy. I stood watching in shock, not able to believe it... HE WAS CLOTHED.

WHAT?

I knew it. Politicians are all the same. The minute they enter into the realm of public office, these people must be somehow brainwashed by the Illuminati or something in order to appear alike and do the same things. I mean, wasn't the entire POINT of the Naked Cowboy's existence to BE NAKED? To sing his wondrous songs without clothing, no matter what weather or company chose to meet him?

And here he is, giving in to political pressure to wear clothing.

And I had such hopes.

*sigh*

----Blind Prophet

Life's Ironies

Today I was in a mandatory Diversity Seminar to increase professional understanding of the situation of increasing diversity in the workplace blah blah blah... just pretty much the general "don't murder people of other races" stuff that businesses/the workplace is required to give. As part of the seminar (which was 6 hours long, by the way), there were several panels of diverse students and people from the community who discussed and answered questions based on their experiences as members of a minority race. There were several different panels of people that came in and shared their experiences at different times during the day.

After about an hour or two of this, I began to notice something...

THE PANELS WERE SEGREGATED BY RACE.

There was one panel that was all-black, there was a panel of Spanish-speaking/Latinos, etc etc... none of the different panels were mixed together!

Call me a dick, but I found it sort of ironically hilarious that these groups of people were segregated by RACE during a DIVERSITY seminar.

*shrug*

----Blind Prophet

Embarrassing Habits!

THAT'S RIGHT! I was driving to work this morning, minding my own humble business... getting ready for the day, just enjoying my commute... when I looked to my right and noticed that the lady driving the car in the lane beside me was giving me a funny look. At first I didn't understand what the hell was wrong. Why was this strange lady daring to stare at me with a mocking, disgusted glare on her face?

Then I noticed that I was picking my nose. Hey, we've all done it at some point, right? I must have been flicking the boogers onto the floorboard or something, and I sincerely hope I was NOT subconsciously eating them. At any rate, it was very embarrassing, but NOW I AM SHARING IT WITH THE WORLD!!! HAH!! TAKE THAT, SOCIETALLY-PRESSURED SHAME!!!

So how about it, folks? What are YOUR secret embarrassing habits?

Not much to say today...

...as I'm in a retrospective mood and have little to say. Also, I have quite a lot of work to do, so here's some interesting music for you to enjoy while wasting your time on my blog! :D

P.S. Just try to ignore the messed up youtube embeds that are fucking with my blog template. Heh sorry. Oh well.

WARHORSE, Solitude



RUSH, Limelight (a personal fav!)

Sometimes, When My Brain Shuts Off...

... I start to daydream about running around dressed like this guy, challenging everyone to duels over small perceived insults. Cuz, you know, swashbucklin' dudes are pretty vain about their appearance and demeanor, right? Right? I would be. Don't you dare fucking insult my knee-high leather boots! I stabbeth theee!

I don't know, everyone. It's been a long day today. Sword fighting everyone in sight just every now and then seems to be the only option in helping me to retain my sanity while getting me through the day. Tomorrow will be better, I'm sure. Until then, however, enjoy this link where you can buy cheap swords that will undoubtedly break the first time you try to use them in actual combat!

http://www.trueswords.com/

*sigh*

They don't make 'em like they used to. This next site, however, DOES. It's definitely worth a look if you're seriously considering adopting the musketeer/pirate life and running around town getting into well-intentioned and naturally hilarious fights to the death:

http://www.starfireswords.com/info/home.php

----The Blind Prophet has SPOKEN!

Remember When...

THIS movie was the shit?

Maybe you were never a fan of the movie, but I sure as hell watched it as often as possible when I was little. They don't make movies like this anymore, and I personally feel that the world is poorer for it. Adventure, comedy, songs, and a bit of dark realism all meshed together to give us one fantastic film!

That creepy child-kidnapper with the hugely phallic nose scared the shit out of me... but I think that's a good thing. I never once let a skulking guy dressed in black ever catch me with a net when I was little.

Ever.

At any rate, enjoy the vid!

People are so RUDE

I don't know what it is, but for some reason people are so RUDE these days. Today, while driving around and innocently completing my shopping and errands for the day, I accidentally cut some guy off in traffic. OH MY GOD HIS PRECIOUS, PRECIOUS CAR!! The fucker followed me all the way to the next stop light, which happened to turn red right before I reached it. So the guy climbs out of his car, walks up to mine, knocks on the window, and starts bitching about the incident.

I honestly think I should have sucker punched him and sped through the red light, laughing all the way, but I asked him to calm down and told him it was a mistake. It really was; I hadn't seen his stupid vehicle. Anyway, so there were no big fights or anything... though in retrospect I kinda wish I had gotten out of my car and started some shit. That woulda been hilarious.

Anyway... was it really necessary for him to walk over to my car in the middle of traffic and cry like that? What a rude little piss-squirt. CALM THE FUCK DOWN. Nothing happened to your precious over-compensation of a car; it was an honest mistake. Just grow some man-balls and move on with your day like the rest of us. I hope you're reading this so you realize how much of a child you were today. Haha.

----Blind Prophet

PRAYYYYY

I have to give a seminar/lecture about Reconstruction and Black Code laws in the 1870s soon... and I was trying to think of some modern(ish) music to have playing while people are entering the auditorium in which I'll be presenting. The music needs to be sorta hip, but still be about African American conflict/discrimination problems.

Right now I'm looking at "Pray," by Jay-Z... but I'm not sure it has the right tone for a discussion/presentation about post-Civil War society in the South. Heh... The song doesn't need to be a show-stopper; it's basically background music that will be playing while everyone enters the room.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions for other songs, please throw 'em at me!

Thanks!

----BLIND PROPHET BOYYYYYYY

Communication Is Fun

So I guess everyone is caught up to speed these days as far as communications and modern day technology concerning phones... everyone except for me. Hell, even my grandma texts all of her male lovers, thumbs ablur, a ravenously lecherous grin on her face. OK, maybe not my grandma (she's dead, by the way)... but you get the point. EVERYONE IS DOING IT OMG I HAVE TO GET A PHONE I CAN'T POSSIBLY LIVE WITHOUT ONE JESUS OHHHHHhhhhhhhhh..... I haven't had a cell phone for half a year.

I've been told to get a Blackberry. Apparently everyone considers them to be the "professional" smart phone. iPhones, I guess, are seen as being for the glitzy party-going users. *shrug* A blackberry, I have been informed, gives one a polished, slightly business-like appearance and demeanor.

So how about it, everyone? Should I get a blackberry?

Or should I return to my cave and hide from society? :D

AIMLESS RAMBLINGS

So I was walking down the street the other day, minding my own business, and I suddenly noticed that I was surrounded by zombies. Now, before you start thinking I should've run into the nearest sporting goods store and broken out the golf clubs, let me define what I mean by "zombies." These weren't brains-munching, rotting, living undead brought back by unnatural science. These were everyday men and women simply walking around, going about their normal lives.

So why are they zombies?

They do the same thing, day in and day out. Their schedule never changes. The most exciting things in their lives are special episodes of their favorite TV shows. Receiving a large tax refund in the mail is what gives them purpose. Wake up, eat, shit, work, sleep, wake up, eat, shit, work, sleep, wake up....

...and so on.

I wanted to run around, screaming at them and shaking them, yelling, "WAKE UP!! WAKE UP AND LIVE YOUR LIFE!!"

But I chose to be a zombie too, instead.

True story.

Until next time... THE BLIND PROPHET HAS SPOKEN!!

BLACK OPS!!

COD: Black Ops. Is anyone else as excited for the release of this game as I am? We are now a little less than two weeks (or so) from getting to waste hours and hours of our lives with our eyes glued to the screen in breathless awe! Well, I don't have much to say about the ACTUAL GAME itself, as I imagine that everyone interested in it has already pored over IGN and Gameplanet looking for every little bit of information available.

So to celebrate our impending joy, I'm posting some pics of the game. (from IGN.com) Enjoy!

HEY!

Well, it's been a while... but I'm back and ready for... action... yeaaaahhh...

I have a crapload of comics to unload on here, as I've been quite a busy and artistic boy! So I'll be posting them bit by bit as the days move on. Hopefully you'll all enjoy them, as well as enjoy the humorous and mostly retarded stories that I'm going to be putting on here. Well, until next time! :D

----BlindProphet

LONG TIME NO SEEEEEE...

Yup. The title pretty much says it all. I don't have anything particularly noteworthy to say, and I've been busy with stuff, soooooo....ummmm....kay.

I PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE that I'm going to talk about something at least marginally interesting soon.

----Blindyboy

Nope.

Nothing more interesting than this. Just another random, stupid comic! Enjoy! :D

----B.P.

Gettin' Better!

Another comic. They're getting progressively better, IMHO. BlackRabbit is a friend of mine. This comic is making fun of some of her writing. It would probably be more funny to you if you knew her.

:D Enjoy 'em while they last. Eventually I may discover that I'm wasting my time doing these, but until then...I think I'll keep it up, as it's fun and I think they're funny.

----Blindddddd P.

Yet More Comics. Sorry.

I've just been on a roll lately with this comic writing stuff. I hope you like it. :P

Maybe someday this blog will get more cerebral or intelligent...but until then, expect to see quite a few comics! :D

----B.P.

Another nother Comic!

(CRAPPY COMICS REMOVED. YOU'RE NOT MISSING ANYTHING, DON'T WORRY)

Lol just some more comics I drew in utter boredom. Maybe tomorrow I'll actually post something intelligent and literate and...well, we'll see.

----B.P.

Another COMIC!

Here's me second attempt at a comic. Haha, I liked it. Enjoy. It's late and I'm going to bed now. Tomorrow I'm gonna post something awesome. Watch for it!

----B.P.

COMIC!

Just a comic I drew today. I had a brilliant moment of inspiration and decided to begin a sort of comic series based on loneliness! So enjoy!

----Blind Proooooophet

Hasty Words Lead To...

(WARNING! This isn't mine. This is someone else's work that I took and modified to look like...)(This! My pixel drawing of an Ar-15 tricked out for sniping.)

...Dire Consequences.

So I suppose I spoke to soon earlier this affy-noon...or whenever I made my last post. I'm too lazy to check. I said that nothing interesting was worth noting lately...but I was wrong! Not even an hour after posting on here, I discovered a new hobbie! Pixel Art!

That's right! I was browsing some pixel art sites (out of boredom) and decided that I'd give it a try! I'm not that great yet, so I'm only practicing...but here's my first piece. It's supposed to be an AR-15 set up for sniping. I wanted it to look more like an M-110, but it didn't come out quite right...but it's close enough. To be totally honest, I can't claim that the ENTIRE drawing is mine alone...

I took an existing pixel drawing of an HK-416 and modified it by changing it to/adding a longer fore-guard, a scope & scope rings, a rear-flip sight in down position, a Harris bipod, and a 20-round magazine. The original drawing (someone else's) is at top, my drawing is below, enlarged a bit to show detail. Pretty good, eh? I thought so.

I'm starting small, by practicing on modifying others' work and learning pixel drawing techniques...but eventually I think it would be cool if I could draw entire scenes or objects on my own. We'll see how far I go with this. I could get bored of it or simply not have enough time to do it...or I could seriously become AMAZINGLY GOOD at it and rock your world. That's right, I said it. So I guess I did at least one interesting thing today.

----Blind Prophet Artist Man