I get along with HBO.

HBO is alright.  They've done good things for me.  Band of Brothers is the definitive WWII production.  Rome is, for lack of a better term, eximius.  And Curb Your Enthusiasm is generally pretty hilarious.  I never really got into that whole Sopranos thing, but whatever.  

My point in all of this blathering is that I'm hoping HBO will continue its trend of entertaining me with Preacher, which is finishing up its pilot right now.  It's a comic book, which is a strike against it considering the seemingly endless stream of poorly-adapted comic filth that's been running through theaters for the past few years (I'd list them, but you know the ones I mean).  Yet movies like Batman Begins, Sin City, and Hellboy have proven that it can be done right.  

And, come on.  Look at this description:

Preacher centers on a Texas holy man named Jesse Custer, who is possessed by a supernatural entity that is half angel and half demon. Given immense powers, Jesse sets out on a journey to find God—who has fled from heaven—and hold him accountable for his actions.  (SciFi Wire).

How can that not be good?  I mean, he's hunting God.  Do I have to spell out for you just how cool that is?  Do you need me to draw you a map to Awesome?  Because I could do it, and let me tell you: the path from here to Awesome leads right through God-hunting Preacher Land.

Ah, but there's a catch.  Of course.  The guy doing it is the guy who just finished Ghost Rider.  Now, I admit there's not much I can say about that movie, having not seen it, but it looks like it's a guy with his head on fire, riding a motorcycle around for a couple of hours, and all the reviews I've read have pretty much confirmed that.

And so, we're back where we started on this little blogventure: HBO. They've done me proud in the past.  Let's just hope they've made the right choice here.

It's a hat!

So, I ordered a pita a while ago (through Campusfood.com), and I wanted a cookie with it. I specifically wanted chocolate chip, but in case they didn't have any, I added this note to the order:

"If you don't have chocolate chip, then surprise me (with another cookie, I mean. Not like a puppy, or anything--I'm not looking for a huge surprise.)."

And this is what I found in the bag when my order got here a few minutes ago:


Spiffy.

I don't smile a lot...

...but I did just now when I saw that The Empire Strikes Back is on HBO.  Seeing the original trilogy takes me back to the old days of watching them on the USA Network, back before I had my own copies.  Ah, memories.

For your consideration

 Japan said, "You know what's wrong with couches?  They're too comfortable."

Thus was born the futon.

Company of Heroes review'd!

[This was intended as a write-up for the "+ List" but it ended up being way too long, so I'm putting it here.]


For the first few minutes, this game basically looked like Dawn of War with a WWII reskin job (not surprising considering it's coming from the same duo as DoW: Relic develops, THQ publishes), but after playing through the single-player campaign, I've found that there's a lot more depth here: intelligent use of cover, completely destructable environments, three distinct advancement trees (Infantry, Airborne, or Armor), and the constant struggle to keep supply lines open. The ability to put up sandbags, razor wire, tank traps, and other defensive measures means that when you take a position, you can really dig in and hold it. At least that's how I play.

It also seems more true to life (and yes, I'm basing this off of my experiences in 'Nam)--you can't just waltz into the enemy camp and start shooting up the place. As fun as DoW is, success in that game does tend to boil down to developing your technology until you have tanks, and then just driving in and killing everything you see. CoH (yes, these acronyms get tedious, don't they?) does offer that option, if you want to use the Armor approach, but gives you more subtle options as well--I like sending in a couple of snipers to spot for me, and then blowing the bejeezus out of enemy positions with artillery strikes.  Subtle, like I said. 

Plus, it has all the obvious improvments--better graphics (by far--this game eats my compy's lunch at full settings), better AI, etc. The one thing it's missing is a cinematic mode (a la Empire at War) that lets you watch a battle after you give your orders. A game this pretty should really show itself off.

My score: 9.7/10

Will Write for Money

Specifically, I need $149,998.  Seriously, I'll write anything you want.  Just give me the money to buy this:



(As a side note, I will also play video games for money, if anyone's interested in that particular service.  I'm a jack of all asses--uh, I mean trades.)

I beat zelda! Wii!