The Xyco

Just got through Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese. Shockingly poignant with really in-your-face caricatures of stereotypes concerning the Chinese-American and other Asian communities. The setup of three concurrent stories that all fall together makes it all the more enjoyable. Going through Fareed Zakaria's The Post-American World. More accurately a manifesto of global optimism than a substantive analysis. Still makes some good points though. Also continuing read Eiji Yoshikawa's Musashi. God damn this book is huge.

The distinction I am making is in relation to Burning Crusade. When I made it to TBC zones, I couldn't figure out why I was going there (on a level beyond just getting to 70 and moar phat loot). Hell, I think I spent about two weeks just fighting different-colored orcs. Conversely, from the moment I set foot in Northrend, it was ample and clear that I was there to fight Arthas -- first and foremost. Blizz did a good job of not making him the abstraction that Illidian was either, I've encountered him three times now since I've started playing again. I know who his lieutenants and generals are as well when I encounter them. This is at least the impression I am getting coming into the story arc midway through old-world WoW, given the Death Knight intro, the Thassarian arc, the quests in Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord, Dragonblight, etc.

After browsing WoWiki for a good three hours at work, I can safely conclude that the Warcraft story line is the most grotesquely convoluted piece of work I have ever encountered in a video game. I feel like I have seen all these names and characters, but can't even begin to map it all out. Maybe that's the folly of starting with WoW and trying to backtrack. This is also why WotLK is such a great expansion. ALL of the new content in the game can be more or less traced to one figure -- and he's on the cover of the box.

Seems to do the job. Thanks.

I'm looking for a program to split mp3 tracks into smaller tracks. The more I can do at once, the better. Before I Google it and download fifty viruses, I thought I'd ask here and see if anyone has any recommendations.

Tried to get it yesterday. "Oh naw man, February 17th is the SHIP date. It comes out tomorrow." >:[ (They did give me a Ryu headband in consolation though.)

As was intended. It's what makes MGS2 so bloody fantastic. It actually broke down the barrier between the player and the game. I didn't sleep all too well the night I beat that game. On a lesser scale, Age of Empires made me understand the law of diminishing returns better than my high school ELPSA teacher ever did.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D96A7RS80.htm Well lookee there. In this case it is not a liquidation, but nonetheless a bit telling of the times.

I've given the OST a good listen for the past three days now. Surprisingly good to work out to. Basstronix's "Silo" and "Runway" are some easy favs, but "Rocking the Cradle" me made me (drop whipped) cream (from my latte all over) my pants.

Whoa. Seriously, this is dope.

Had to dig pretty deep to find this one. Is the Illidan guild still around? Now that DKs are open to any server, I'd be happy to join given that I no longer have to plug away 30 hours killing boars and doing chores just to play with other people.

I've had multiple tell me that this mix really brought out the best of the source -- bringing to light a song that was previously unlistenable and forgettable, and turning into something infinitely more enjoyable and memorable. I couldn't agree with them more.

Surely you would not think so of "Guile's Mile Long Dong" or "Music of my Groin". Surely not.

So I got the 360 arcade package as a combined birthday/Christmas gift from my significant other. My girlfriend > yours

Gave a 6 pack of 60-Minute Dogfish Head IPA. Got a 4 pack of 90-minute Dogfish Head IPA. Also got Mirror's Edge. Holy. Fuck.

Art design draws me to a game. Graphics do not.

I am sigging this.

You are not the first person to do this. Proceed.

Have my old 40-something Pally that can be transferred should I renew my account. May start an entirely new toon just because I took a liking to Priests last time I was playing. I'm a bit more inclined to play Alliance though, just because that's where I have been for awhile. Is there a counterpart to this guild on that side?

For sale now: Okami (PS2) with box and book Guilty Gear X2 (PS2) with box and book

This is certainly a far cry from the site as I came to it in 2001. Well done all.

The samples may not be perfect, but the arrangement is very, very cool. If you were trying to channel Hans Zimmer, you did it brilliantly. If not, you should be competing for his job.

I wouldn't get one's hopes up too much, granted that they completely wiped out this guy's immune system and started from scratch.

Been waiting for someone to give the FF6 source some love FOREVER. I couldn't ask for anything better.

In the past, before games had voice-overs and substantial ambient effects, music was key to setting the proper mood in a game. Music gave depth to characters, story, action, etc. that could not otherwise be gleaned by the primitive graphics, etc. In modern games, where gameplay is somewhat modeled on cinema, it adds thematic / dramatic effect.