The Phone Company

I picked up gamecube a couple of weeks ago. Nintendo's latest console is universally considered the weakling of the big three but it has something that no one else does, Mario. King Mario. Mariokart. Mario Power Tennis. the system pays for itself right there. Glitzy graphics got old a while ago. As good as they are now, they just aren't a huge step up. Hell if I can still play Balloon Fight and love it then something then maybe graphics aren't exactly where it's at. Sure they're a nice bonus, but it all really comes down to pressing buttons and directions on a little pad. I want a challenge but it doesn't have to be too complicated. Beating a prostitute with a bat is not intrinsically fun. Not in the least. When people try to sell me on these new school games by raving about what you can do to the cop cars that are chasing you, my inner yawn starts fighting for a public hearing. The deeply simple/simply deep play control in Mariokart is so smooth that I rarely notice the derth of junkies on the track, itching to get flattened by my supercharged Yoshi carriage. (Actually, I would pay for that.) Nintendo is pronounced fun. Always has been, always will be. posted by Kermit at 6/21/2005 02:08:00 PM |

Caught an English showing of the new Batman flick last night. I actually enjoyed it. The sound was fantastic and the rest of the film was pretty good too. Nice to see an action film get treated with some care and respect. Good work all around. I plan to ruin next week by seeing the new War of the Worlds which I am undoubtably a sucker for looking forward to. They played the trailer for it last night and though the film looks absolutely moronic, there were some fleeting shots of the martian warmachines' legs (LEGS!) and tentacles. That got me all excited like a CNN reporter waiting outside a courthouse. Tingly all over. Bursting of bubble is scheduled for next Wednesday morning at 12:01 sharp. I should mention that every other preview looked absolutely terrible. Grand prize goes to the Fantastic 4 which should set a new bar in the world of inepritude. It will still make $80 mil for showing up. posted by Kermit at 6/21/2005 11:46:00 AM |

All the discussionas about Gitmo and prisoner abuse/coddling really brings out some weird arguements. This is from the comments section of a post at Baloon-Juice:

Most, if not all, of the people at Gitmo were caught on the battlefield bearing arms against our troops. Are you saying they were just innocents, caught up in the euphoria of jihad? And they really didn't know what they were doing? I don't buy that.

Pretty amazing. You invade another country and people have the nerve to fight back. It is now considered completely unacceptable for people to even resist our forces. I know this is just one guy commenting on some blog, but nontheless, I have seen the sentiment echoed over and over again. Fighting against the armed forces of the United States is in and of itself a terrorist act according to these people. The other old standby is that these people weren't wearing uniforms and thus had no right to be on the battlefield. By that logic, were the U.S. to get invaded, most all of us would have no right to resist because we would be lacking the proper attire. None of this is to say that a lot of these prisoners/guests aren't really bad guys, but rather it is a comment on the stunning display of the "logic" that now pervades much of our discourse. posted by Kermit at 6/21/2005 11:32:00 AM |