The Technology Side of This Update

Sometimes I wish I had more friends who were into video games. Right now, I have Cat and Bob. And with Bob in Seattle, Cat and I are left alone to fight against the naysayers. E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, has begun, and along with it, two amazing revelations have occurred, and they are both about Nintendo.

I just watched a trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which is coming out this fall. You can find the trailer here. It is amazing. Not only is it by far the most amazing looking Zelda game ever, but Link, our faithful hero of ages past, can transform himself into a lupine state. Wolf, my friends, wolf! I am so excited about this amazing looking game.

Secondly, Nintendo revealed its next-generation console, the Revolution, and it looks amazing! It blows Xbox 360 out of the water, and even gives the super sleek Sony PS3 a run for the money. Here is a picture of this awesome design.

But, I'm officially not buying any new games until I have a better job. That means no:

Jade Empire
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Delta Force: Black Hawk Down
Advent Rising (by Orson Scott Card)

Dork dork dork. I'm so excited. And yes, I know I'm getting old or whatever some shit, but I love video games, so don't be a hater. Later.

The Nature Side of This Update

White Water Rafting was ok. I wouldn't say it was amazing, because it wasn't. I'm happy to have experienced it, but I have no need to experience it again. Was it scary? Yes, mostly because it's hard to guarantee safety in nature, and because I have slow reflexes. To be honest, I was more interested in the rock formations causing the rapids than the rapids themselves. What does this say about me? Maybe deep down, I am an introvert in an extrovert's shell (wink).

But, I really admire nature people. I love people who are able to live like a hippie and know how to survive in nature. And I love the camaraderie between nature people, like all the tour guides or whatever. But I am not a nature person. I don't know what it is, I just don't handle it well. Maybe it's because I can't understand preparedness, like it being a good idea to bring antibacterial gel or a trash bag or things like that. Maybe it's the bugs.

So, I enjoy learning about rock formations and nature, but I'm not good at being IN nature. So... I can be a tour guide, just not a survival expert. I don't know. I'd still love to go to Alaska or Yosemite and really see all there is to see, the wildlife and hot springs and all that.

Speaking of Yosemite, Cameron Diaz has a new show on MTV that is really good. It's called Trippin, and it's basically her and whoever she chooses going on an expedition to some nature destination. Last week it was Yosemite, and Rebecca Romijn and DMX were with her. I kid you not, DMX. He wasn't big on the nature stuff though. Anyway, it's great because it pushes learning about nature as well as how we can help the environment, which are great things. And it makes me like Cameron Diaz, which is hard for me sometimes. I dont' know if anyone else ever feels like that. Maybe it is dumb to think about liking or not liking people I don't even know.

And that's all for nature news.

here we go

Sorry I haven't posted recently. I have been neglecting. As always seems to happen.

Two really cool things happened in the past 28 hours, and one really cool thing will be happening in the next 72.

First, I saw Kingdom of Heaven. Now, I don't know if you prefer Ridley Scott(the director) or not, but he's made some pretty classic movies (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator). And this is no exception. I don't want to say it's perfect. It certainly isn't. But any movie that keeps me thinking for more than a day has to be at least a little bit good (sorry Big Fish). And it dealt with Christianity, the religion, and spirituality. And Muslims. And if that hasn't sold you yet, let me say just one more thing: Leper. Yeah, you heard me. Check it out.

Also, there was a special on MTV tonight that revealed the next generation Xbox. I was really excited, and then I watched MTV. Why does MTV ruin everything? They took something that could be enjoyable in itself and put so much garbage around it that you could barely see the cool stuff. If I want to watch the killers, I'll watch the OC. But if I want to check out my future wife in the form of a small box, then let it be! Suffice to say I was left unsatisfied. Whatever. E3 is coming up, so I can get my fill of video game news then. I hate MTV.

And lastly, this weekend I am going white water rafting with a great man for his bachelor party. There will also be drinking, I'm sure. But I don't think we'll be drinking and rafting together. That's just a dangerous combination. But it should be a blast. So no updates till after that.

Leper.

locks of short hair

I just found out that Locks of Love requires a donation hair length of at least ten inches. There's no way I can ever grow my hair that long. Right now my ponytail is around six, but that's just a rough estimate because, frankly, it's hard to measure the length of something stuck to the back of your head.

I don't really want short hair anymore, at least not without a good cause, but I dont' really like the overall messiness and unprofessionalness of my current hair either. I think it is pretty hard for a guy to look professional with hair over his shoulders. Am I right? Help me, Miracle Grow!

You know what would be a bad gamer handle? Monkeybites. Seriously. That's the name you give your friend who is the punching bag of the group. Monkeybites. Or Monkey Pox. Really anything that refers to you as the byproduct of being around monkeys is probably pretty bad.

Arms Akimbo

I think I got a gamer handle now. Cat let it slip and I tried it on and it felt right somehow. Now it sounds dumb. But that's what I think about any handle that might or might not be mine. It is Akimbo. Akimbo? What the hell? I like it because it sort of describes how I play at times, with flailing limbs. And since people always say "arms akimbo" then I could be in a room with a bunch of guns and say "arms, Akimbo." Then I would launch a multitude of obscenities under my breath while taking down a particularly fiesty Elite. Does it sound cool now?

It's not permanent yet, but it's getting there. Also, Halo 2 on Legendary is by far the most difficult piece of electronic entertainment I have ever experienced. Instead of entertainment I could easily consider it a torturous road of unending firefights with no hope of relief. And in co-op mode, your teammate doesn't respawn! You just die! The only reason to keep playing is the challenge and the chance to say that I beat Halo 2 on Legendary, which has that much more intimidation in it after actually experiencing the game. We didn't even make it past the first level.

Oooh Taboos!

I was going to come on here and bitch about things, but it doesn't seem as justified as it did when I was angrier. I saw The Interpreter with Cat last night and it was good. I think she liked it more than I did (I didn't cry), but it was still good. I would say that it is good like The Siege is good, but different because it deals with Africans instead of Arabs (and many other reasons that don't sound so ignorant). I always like when a movie brings our attention to third world conditions without being overbearing (Hotel Rwanda doesn't count because that actually happened). Remember when I suggested an end to the life of Robert Mugabe? That was in my old diary. That was also very wrong, even if he is a monster. He still needs love and forgiveness, same as me. Same as me.

But seriously, what the heck is wrong with some of these world leaders? Do they know that they're destroying their people, or is it a blind ignorance that keeps them out of the loop? George H. W. Bush didn't know about the bar code scanner at grocery stores until 1992 or something. Because he never had to go buy groceries after being VP and then P, and maybe even before that. Maybe it's possible that human rights violaters don't know about it because they don't have to go themselves and violate human rights. Well, at least that's what they seem to argue, like Slobodan Milosevich.

As far as writing letters to stop something like the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, who do you write to? We have:

Senate Foreign Relations Committee
House Committee on International Relations
President Bush
Condoleezza Rice- Secretary of State

After that, the options seem to be:
The Sudanese Government (unlikely, as they are currently allowing it to happen.)
The African Union (Just as unlikely. A) Why listen to us? and B) they haven't done much yet, why start.)

So we have six groups to write letters to. One whose complicity is not even questionable, and five who seem to be implicitly allowing it to happen. Is that a terrible accusation? I only mean that if we're willing to invade Iraq for not having WMDs, why can't we invade Sudan for actually murdering tens of thousands of displaced persons?

I didn't want this to get political. I'm sorry. After such a nice start too.