KofC Get to Know 'Em: Maestro

How are you?
I am fairly buzzed from drinking this afternoon.

You just got back from the cross-country team trip to Colorado, what was the sweetest part of the trip?
The sweetest part was tying for 1st in our annual mini golf tournament. [Ed. Another KofC member representing the clan in activities other than vids, way to go!]

Second part of previous question: the seniors decided to not do senior night this year for what can only be a lame reason, since you're a senior next year please verify you're going to do senior night and bar-hop your way across Estes Park.
As has been discussed among us already, there is definitely going to be a senior regardless of what anybody says. [Ed. Thank God.]

Rock Band or GH?
I must say that I do like the way that GH distinguishes its different notes while playing, but Rock Band definitely beats it out right now. However, when the new GH comes out it might win this battle, the drum set looks sweet. [Ed. I hate how RB distinguishes notes on guitar/drum, but the singing looks pretty cool.]

You just turned 21, how does it feel to be of age, and what were you doing the minute that you turned 21?
Turning 21 is one of the top 2 best feelings of a person's life, but sadly when I turned 21 I was sleeping at midnight, and then running in the morning. However I did purchase beer, drink beer by playing quarters, and then proceed to carry my beer across campus to show off my age.

Everyone has a drinking habit......SB, Big Guy, and Eternal piss the bed, Dammer falls out of bed and randomly explodes in anger, Warthog swallows his own puke, Pablito talks in German and then sleeps like a petrified tree for 14 hours straight, Adeclipse blacks out and can't be held responsible for what he does, Daymonster pukes on people's vehicles (Ed. No 'monster I'm not mad, I just have only drank with you 3 times in my life and this is what popped into my head)......Maestro what's your habit?

I will say that I tend to go for the ladies. I really loosen up and come on to the ladies to a point where I probably scare them away, but hey I'm drunk so what can I do?

Follow-up: Will you ever get a girlfriend so that DanaWillEatU has someone to talk to when we come home to visit?
I am working on it. I realized that this year is the year to really go after it, and since a lot of the freshman girls are fairly hot I can't go wrong. [Ed. That's gotta be a lie, Luther girls are not hot.] Besides, once I get drunk I can at least get some bad decisions out of them, and on a sidenote, Rose Bear is still younger to SB than freshman are to me so I'm still good.

Daymonster doesn't like Smash Bros., I think that it's fun. Does Daymonster need to look past the button smashing and allow himself to have some fun? What are your embellishments/beefs about Smash Bros.?
I will say that smash bros is great, I thouroughly enjoy playing it, but I actually haven't played too much of it for a very long while. I will say that the only cool part about smash bros is the new characters. Aside from that, the new levels are sub par, and the game play is no different then melee, so what's the point of playing brawl over melee?

What's the longest distance “Buckack!!” you've ever done and was Unky Warthog the recipient?
First off, Unky Warthog was always the recipient, and he most likely always will be, but since Cody (God Dammit) is coming back for a ridiculous almost 2 years there will be some his way. [Ed. That's so sick.] The longest distance was from Brandt to Jensen (Unky had a Trombone lesson so feel free to laugh at that). 

There is one (and only one) game you can pick to play for the rest of your life, what game do you choose?
Wow, that's a tough question, but since you must realize that I have not been addicted to Halo or any of those other games due to lack of an Xbox system, I will say that I could play Zelda Ocarina of Time for the rest of my life and be happy with it. The advances that were made when that game was released, and the enjoyment of almost every part of that game is priceless. 

You recently ran 17 miles as part of your cross-country training, what is your weekly maximum for this season and do you think you could take Josey in a 30 mile race?
My weekly maximum is 80 miles, and I could easily take Josey in a 30 mile race. I say this because I could get through the first 20 miles at around 7 minute pace, and then after that I would have a decent lead on Josey so I would just have to gut out the last 10 miles. [Ed. Race-off with Josey in-between lawyer stuff?]

If you could pick one video game character to live like, who would it be and why?
I would be Link from the Zelda series. He gets every chick to want to marry him, and he pwns at teleportation by song and killing random enemies.

If you could watch in real life one video game cut-scene, what would it be and why?
It would be the cut scene when Greil from Fire Emblem Path of Radience fights the Black Knight. I have seen a lot of cut scenes, and this is so far my favorite.

Name one moment in video games that has touched you emotionally.
The moment in Baten Kaitos when Kalas your main character betrays you after 45 hours of intense gameplay. [Ed. Agreed!]

There is only one food you can eat for the rest of your life, what is it and would you consider eating it with syrup on top?
The answer is steak and yes I would consider putting syrup on top. [Ed. New recipe? ]It would probably make it even more delicious.

Chunky or creamy peanut butter?
Chunky is the way to go. I find it is like gambling because you never know if you are going to get that rotten peanut or not.

What's the best beer you've ever had? And by best don't limit yourself to taste alone, take into account any extraneous situations you may have been in.
Up to this point the best beer I have had was by brand a Keystone Light, but it came out of the very first Das Boot on the night that it arrived and changed many members of the KofC forever.

Monday Meanderings and Melee

I don't feel like writing to much today so if anyone else is really feeling like they have something to say please feel free to post something. Pablito, I'm looking in your direction for a first impression of COD4.

Bungie just posted their longest weekly update ever in which they talk about how they are changing Melee so it doesn't seem to randomly choose the winner. Because it is so long I will briefly paraphrase what they said they did.

Before, in Halo 2 it gave the winner of a Melee contest to whomever hit first. This of course gave the host advantage because the host would always see their melee first, or whoever had the fastest connection would also tend to win more melee contests. In Halo 3 they changed it. Most people play with a ping of 80-100. If the ping is 100 that could be a difference of 3 frames from one xbox to another. So when the computer would see a melee it would wait about 3 frames to see if another melee occurred within that time frame. If it did, whoever had more health would win the fight even if the loser punched first.

Now the when a melee contest occurs, and both players are close to the same health (including shields), no special protection is given to either player. This means the outcome of a close melee contest can be death for both participants. If one player has clearly more health than the other they will be more likely to win in a close melee contest, but if it's close it will go to hit first. If I did a bad job of explaining that (and I probably did) check out the Bungie post on the topic.

Be careful playing Call of Duty, a marine is now missing after playing the game. Authorities are saying that the game may have sparked bad memories from his time in the Middle East.

These guys made a full stage for Rock Band where each band member gets their own screen and they modified a full drum set.

Xbox Takes All My Monies and SeXbox Controversy

- I totally forgot to mention something. One of the two clans we talked about before, the Saved By Grace Clan, played Bungie the other day. Apparently they killed them in regular team slayer and then lost the next two matches in weird game variations. Check out the Bungie story here. We should play Bungie someday.

- After about 6 years, Microsoft has finally turned a profit in it's video game sector. "Primarily due to increased Xbox 360 platform sales" and everyone knows that companies make all their money with the accessories and software. Due to an "increase in Xbox 360 console sales, video game sales led by Halo 3, Xbox Live revenues, and Xbox 360 accessory sales." Normally I wouldn't be thrilled with a giant like Microsoft making money off of me, but I also don't want to see the Xbox series go the way of the Sega Corp.

- What is Bill Gates doing with all my money? Just stopping world hunger.

- I would buy this if I didn't hate the sword.

- Rock Band Guitars and Drums are available for purchase separately in a couple weeks.

- As I alluded to in the comments of yesterdays post, there has been some really interesting stuff going on with Fox News and Electronic Arts. Basically, Fox News did a story about "full digital nudity" in the Mass Effect game. They brought on two "experts" to talk about the game. One was Geoff Keighley from Spike TV, MTV and Video Game Trailers and Cooper Lawrence a radio host and psychiatrist.

Cooper Lawrence goes on to say that the video game is terrible for kids, that studies say that most video games are played by adolescent males. The game is misogynistic because the male decides what to do. And that is features obscene digital sex.

When Geoff gets a chance to talk he shoots down every single on of her claims by explaining the average age of a gamer is in his 30s. Mass Effect can be played as a woman or a man, and the 30 plus hour game has at most 2 seconds of an "alien side boob". But the best part is when he asks her if she had ever played the game and she giggles and says "no."

Also she calls him darling, which I think is ironic. Watch the video clip here.

But after this aired people started going on to Cooper's book page on Amazon and giving it shitty reviews. As of right now there are 9 reviews that give the book 5 out of 5 stars and 412 reviews that give the book 1 out of 5.

Anyways, EA sent a letter to Fox News asking (not demanding) for an apology. As they made several claims that were "absolutely false". I think EA was most upset that they were marketing this game to youths and teenagers. Which to be fair, 17, 18, and 19 year olds are teenagers and can legally buy the game, but I don't think that's what they meant.

Here is a bunch of articles in chronological order but it's getting pretty out of hand. EA wants an apology, and Fox wants someone from EA to come on the show. But if it's anything like the first clip there will be 6 people against the game and one reasonable person for it, who gets 30 seconds to talk. And you wonder why people won't go on Fox.

Links:
http://kotaku.com/347350/keighley-sets-mass-effect-record-straight-or-tries-to
http://kotaku.com/348791/fox-responds-to-ea-invites-onto-news-show
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/01/24/mass-effect-sexbox-controversy
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Daymonster to Leave Clan and other Bizarre Things

I haven't had the opportunity to play too much Halo lately, but when I have had a chance no one from my beloved KofC has been on. In fact some haven't been online for over two weeks! Last night I did play a couple games with Dammer, and that was good, but not as good as it used to be, back when we all played.

But then something happened, I saw Dajuicee was on. Now, many of you might not know Dajuicee but I played a couple games with him and Adeclipse back when Adeclipse was new. I don't know Dajuicee very well, and as far as I can tell he is some sort of secret gay lover with Adeclipse, but that's not important. What is important is when I checked out his Halo party, I saw he was playing with 4 other people. Wow, 4 other people! That know each other?! That are communicating?!

I joined in their party and saw that Adeclipse was playing under a different name and we proceeded to play some social slayers. It reminded me of the good old days when we were all playing, talking, laughing, livin', L-I-V-I-N'. I miss those days and that is why I am leaving the Knights of Cydonia. It is too hard for to be a part of this great group and still be missing the everyday discussion and frequent Halo play dates of yester. It's been great knowing you guys and maybe one day we can be clan-mates again.

P.S. I am joking about quitting the clan. And the gay lover comment (kind of).

Speaking of other things that are about as strange as The Daymonster quitting the KofC, a USA Today article talks about how major music labels and individual bands are now approaching game makers trying to get their songs onto games like Rock Band and GHIII.

2.5 million songs have been downloaded since Rock Band has come out. And since only about 1 million copies of RB have been sold, that's like 2.5 downloaded songs per copy. That's a lot.

Here is the list of the 10 most popular songs for Rock Band DLC:
1. Metallica (Ride the Lightning, Blackened, And Justice for All)
2. The Police (Can’t Stand Losing You, Roxanne, Synchronicity II)
3. Black Sabbath (covers of N.I.B., Sweet Leaf, War Pigs)
4. Queens of the Stone Age (3s and 7s, Sick Sick Sick, Little Sister)
5. David Bowie (Heroes, Moonage Daydream, Queen Bitch)
6. Weezer, Buddy Holly
7. Foreigner, Juke Box Hero
8. Creedence Clearwater Revival, cover of Fortunate Son
9. The Knack, cover of My Sharona
10. All-American Rejects (Dirty Little Secret, Move Along)

Other strange occurrences? Well, somebody combined Super Mario and Halo into a strange side-scrolling adventure, called Super Mario Fusion. The video can be found here, and if you want you can download the game here.

Since this is a post about things that aren't normally done. I want to take this opportunity to extend the proverbial olive branch to LocoPollo/Puyo. Why let little things like what computer or what OS is better get in the way of a long and illustrious friendship? Let's stop this right here and show the Jews and the Muslims how saying you're sorry can go a long way. I'm sorry Loco, I hope you forgive me. Also, can you get me a free copy of Dr. Daisy Pet Vet.

I also noticed Josey typing in the shout box at the right --->. This is also something that rarely happens. But it something that makes me very happy. I have been downloading about 8 new maps everyday (that's the limit you can do each time). What you need to do is sign into bungie.net. Make sure it says "Welcome, Josey Wales!" or what ever your Gamer Tag is.

Now go to the Game Map Variant Forum on the website. When you click on the forums you will go to a new page where the Map is posted. Here is an example of a map called "Titanic" at the top you will see something like this.

Now click on "Download to Halo 3". Once you click on that you should see this.

Now click "OK" and you can continue doing this 7 more times. Game variants are the same way and often they are posted right with the Map so you can use them together.

Hope that helps Josey.

Also, go to google and type in "what you didn't know about the knights of Cydonia". We have gotten over 20 visitors in the last month from this search. People are going to know a lot about you, Eternal.

Wednesday's List of Random Stuff

Here are a few links/articles to get you through hump day.

- Has anyone been reading/watching about the 16 year old Australian kid who threw the huge party? If not check out the interview with him here. He became very popular after this and appeared on several radio shows. However, during the cleanup they found a video from the party and he is now facing Child Pornography charges. (The Link does not go to Child Porn, it goes to the Reuters article about his arrest.

- Article about Rock Band on CNN.com It's not a great one but it's funny that it's on CNN.

- Master Chief was not going to be the main character in the now postponed Halo Movie.

- Does any other KofC members watch Lost? Have you checked out Find815.com yet? It's good.

- What is your opinion on Halo Wars? Here is some cool concept art/wallpapers.

- I found this "Ten Golden Rules of Online Gaming" at Destructoid.com and instead of just linking to it I decided to post it here for two reasons. A) I don't have much to say today and B) no one seems to click on the links. (Besides Puyo, but then he says it's old news and calls me a noob.) The actual post at Destructoid can be found here.

People have been hunched over their PCs, firing rockets into the faces of their friends since Doom. The ability to play a game against real human opponents via a network changed the face of the industry and helped shape the scene we are now a part of. Over the years, we have seen the world's largest network, the Internet, expand to phenomenal heights and with it, gaming too has grown in ways that were once never thought possible.

Gaming over the Internet is now a major part of the hobby we all hold dear, and as titles like Halo rose to bring more and more mainstream attention to multinational fragests, we have seen online gaming become one of the most integral facets of the industry. With mainstream attention, it has also brought with an influx of new, fresh-faced gamers who have logged on with wanton abandon, unwitting of the rules that we have held dear as digital war veterans for millenias untold. At least outside of the PC universe, online gaming is full of people who perhaps do not understand the etiquette and courtesy that comes with the territory.

For these people, Destructoid has the answer. If your copy of Halo just hit your mailbox, or even more urgently, if you started playing online years ago and have never even been through basic training, this is the guide for you. Check out the list to finally learn how to be an online gamer with these crucial rules. A doorway into a world of elite playing pleasure is yours for the opening.

1: Online gaming is serious business:
So, you finally got your game hooked up and are ready to play. Now, you may be forgiven for thinking that online gaming is about having fun. You are very wrong and you will learn this in due time. Because we gamers are too physically weak to pick random fights in bars, we must assert our alpha male dominance another way -- by twiddling our fingers around on buttons until virtual representations of people we don't know simulate death.

This is your life now, and you are connected, physically and emotionally, to your in-game avatar. When they frag you, do you not bleed? Well, no you don't but that's not the point. You will mourn him for every second of that respawn countdown. His digital death just killed a little piece of you, and you will avenge with the fury of a thousand angry Gods.

In team games, if you are losing, remember to berate your teammates and tell them how much they suck. You won't be making a fool out of yourself for ordering them around and reminding them that your side is losing and nobody's helping you win. Also, you must use words like "alpha," all the time, just like you're a real army man!

2: Noobs are scum:
People who are new to a particular game are terrible vermin who you should not fraternise with. These subhumans are known as noobs and they are the pariahs of online gaming. You, however, were never a noob. You were playing games online before the Internet was even invented. In fact, you're so awesome that you were playing Dizzy the Egg team deathmatches on your Commodore 64.

Make sure to check out the stats of anybody in a game with you. If they have not been playing for long, then you must hurl insults at them because they are lesser human beings. Laugh cruelly if noobs are your opponents, and grimace loudly if they are on your team.

Also, the term noob has such power that if you dislike someone's actions in a game, you can say it to them as well. Obviously, displeasing you is deadly enough to make them forget all their prior gaming experience and they actually revert back into children.

3: If a feature in a game is popular/effective, it is cheap:
Be it the chainsaw in Gears of War, or snipers in any FPS ever made, there are a number of cool features and tactics in games that people not only find enjoyable to use, but are often highly effective methods of securing victory -- never use them. If you do so, you are cheap and will become a noob. You are a hardcore gamer now, which means you only use shotguns or anything else that's really boring. You hate all that is popular, and if you see anybody utilising the best/more useful features of a game, you are to get rid of them immediately.

If these pukes were good at the game like you, they wouldn't need to rely on such cheap tactics, would they? They'd be like you, running around with the shotgun, not having fun and despising everything everyone else is doing. The fact that they have killed you so many times is proof of how bad they are at playing.

4: If anything kills you at all, it is cheap:
Like the above rule, but applied to every potential threat in a game. If someone shoots you to death using nothing but a pistol and with his eyes closed, he is being cheap. Cheap is one of the most brutal insults after noob, and anybody who hears it will feel worse about the fact they are winning ten to zero. It's a hollow victory, because they are so cheap.

5: If you are losing, it is because of lag:
Following on from the cheapness laws, you will soon get to learn that nothing is ever your fault when it comes to gaming. Lag is a process whereby everyone in the game becomes better than you thanks to the Internet helping them become cheap. The Internet does this a lot, but never affects the enemies you kill yourself, because you have skills.

Nearly every death you ever suffer in a game will be due to lag of some kind. The Internet hates you that much, even though you are so good.

6: If you are losing badly, it is because they are hacking:
Losing a little is one thing, that's just lag conspiring to keep your ownage levels down, but lag can only help the noobs cheaply beat you so much. If you are losing to such a point where not even your lag-pwning skill seems to be making a difference, well there's only one solution, and it's not that they are better than you -- it's that they are hacking.

People who appear to be doing a lot of killing and not much of being killed are hackers, plain and simple. There is no way they're that good without cheating. Re-assure your team (after calling them worthless) that the enemy is clearly powered by nefarious undertakings and you are being penalized for your wholesome and pure ways. Then remember to say alpha.

7: Everyone is gay:
Before the Internet was invented, gay people were those in society who were attracted physically and emotionally to members of the same gender. Since the Internet, everyone and everything is gay. From the gun they use to kill you, to the voice they use to communicate with you, it is all gay, gay, gay. Lag is gay, snipers are gay, noobs are gay, people from other countries are gay, the countries they come from are gay, the ocean the country is surrounded by is gay, the fish in the ocean are gay, all sealife is gay, life is gay, gays are gay, gay gay gay. Gay.

Using the same one-syllable word to describe everything you don't like might not be an indicator of a varied vocabulary, but who cares? Words are gay.

8: Singing is awesome:
Communicating via a headset is great because it lets gamers sing, and that is one of the only reasons we buy headsets. In fact, some people are known to log into servers just to hear poor quality, nasal renditions of the latest "phat tracks." One of the most original and beloved songs to sing is anything done by Rick Astley.

Try to sing as loudly and obnoxiously as you can into your headset before, during and after a game, only stopping when you need to step away from the mic to breathe. Everybody will be impressed and will want to play with you again. In fact, you're so great at singing that the only reason you're not on Broadway right now is that show business is full of lag.

If you lack the raw sexual magnetism and confidence that is required to sing during a game, you can always hold the microphone up to some speakers and play your favorite tunes for everybody. Your fellow gamers really care what your musical interests are and will applaud your tasteful selection of tracks.

9: Calling people naggers is both original and hilarious:
Racism online is bad, which is a shame because deep down everybody knows it's actually awesome. There is, however, a really witty workaround that allows you to say racist words while not actually saying them. Remember that episode of South Park where Randy believed that the missing letter in "n - ggers" was an I? Then he said the full word and everyone was shocked because it was actually naggers and not that word? Well, here's a pro tip -- nobody has EVER thought of calling people naggers online. You are going to be so edgy if you capitalize on this opportunity.

Do it all the time and your popularity will skyrocket.

10: Team members who score are kill stealers:
Kill stealing is one of the most abhorrent and despicable crimes ever committed, and is even listed in some modern Bibles as the eighth deadly sin. Every opponent is a victim waiting to die by your hand alone, and if anybody dares shoot them before you, they are a kill stealer. Only you may have the glory of the kill, and woe betide anybody caught shooting at the same target as you. If they get the win, they clearly stole your kill.

Even if you and a team member are on opposite sides of the game map, they kill stole. Obviously they did. Probably thanks to a hack.

Just remember, of course, that you are not a kill stealer. You are merely an opportunist. Besides which, since all the enemies are your personal fodder anyway, you're taking nothing away from the meat puppets who are only there to be noobs and bring down your score by sucking.

These are the ten golden rules of online gaming. There are of course plenty of other important laws, but this should be everything you need to get started off on the right footing. First impressions are crucial, and with these ten rules in mind, you will always impress.

Good luck pwning, my fellow online warriors. May noobs fall at your feet and your sword cut through the mists of lag forevermore.

Rock Band Updates Galore

My enthusiasm for Rock Band has died a little bit in the last few weeks, probably due to the holidays and class starting up again. But in the last week or so, some very exciting news has come out. Let me share it with you.

It's good to see that the people at Harmonix have lived up to their promise of new songs being released every week. This honestly will keep this game going for a long time. But I was thinking: the average downloadable song goes somewhere between $0.99 and $2.99. Which isn't a terrible deal, until you start thinking about how the original disc had almost 60 songs on it (45 of the songs were ones you had heard of) that would put the original disc at about $120 of song prices alone. Obviously this is not the case, the game goes for the standard $59.99 without the peripherals. So would it be a better deal for us to wait until the next version of Rock Band with 60 more songs for 60 bucks or should we keep buying a few songs every week at a higher price. (Obviously, RB has said they won't be coming out with a new disc for a while, so it's a moot point, but I was wondering is this new way of getting songs better or worse?)

Anyways back to the fun stuff.

Like I said each week RB releases some new tracks. Sometimes you know exactly what song they are selling just by the title, other times it's not so obvious. Next time before you buy check out the Official Xbox Magazine online where they review each song right when it goes up on Live. Here is the review from the latest batch. [Update: Here are the three songs that come out tomorrow... Yay! Monkees!]

OXM doesn't just review the tracks, they also give you three free ones not available anywhere else in their latest issue. It's supposed to hit newsstands tomorrow, but I got mine on Friday night, not sure how. The three songs are Sprøde by Freezepop Rock Rebellion by Bang Shake by Count Zero. You may not know these songs but I instantly recognized Freezepop from my days of playing the grandfather of all rhythm games, Frequency. In fact Sprøde is a song from Amplitude, Frequency's sequel.

As we discussed in a previous post, the favorite instrument for some KofCer's is the drums. And while the drum set that accompanies RB is leaps and bounds above what previous peripherals were like, it's not quite as sweet as this.

This is a prototype of Ion Audio's new Rock Band drum set complete with beefier drums and some cymbals that was displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. There is no release date for this set nor is there an approximate price. And while this set is pretty awesome, I am not sure if it will fit in my studio apartment. Source: Engaget Spanish.

In the meantime if you want a more realistic drum set and have an old real drum set lying around do what this guy did and turn it into a Rock Band set.

If playing the drums isn't your thing and you would like to make your guitar playing a little more realistic pick up this device from SoundTech to attach to your guitar. Here's how it works: The Windows XP and Mac compatible peripheral measures the notes being played on the guitar. After Ediface detects the real notes, it turns the sound into MIDI. With the above device, it then switches in any other alternative instrumentation much like a synthesizer. For RB/GH support, program in corresponding colors for notes — the first five frets of the top string, for example. [Source: Kotaku]

If playing the real guitar and real drums wasn't enough to make you feel like a real rocker, pick up this sweet add-on in June. GameStop's website accidentally put up the image of the Official Rock Band Stage Kit. The kit will include an interactive light and smoke stage show. I can't see how it could get much better than that... well, maybe this.

That's about it for this Monday morning.

One last non-Rock Band related video:
OMG, this is so sweet. Even though you don't go through a shark tank, this seems way better than any of the water slides at Atlantis. (Note: This could also be considered old news but I found it to be worthy of sharing, in case someone hasn't seen it yet.)

Daymonster to never sleep again.

Scientists are working a snortable drug that can replace sleep. I know what you are thinking, no, scientists are not testing crushed up Adderal pills. Supposedly the issued a nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A to a bunch of moneys. It reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in the monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests.

Although the doctors say that the drug, if issued to Squatting Bear would merely help him sleep the recommended 7-8 hours. As SB's desire for slumber overpowers even the strongest drugs and hormones.

Check out the article here about orexin A.

Some other links:
If I collected action figures/dolls I would totally buy these.

Since I am the self-proclaimed best Rock Band drummer in the KofC, I will provide you with an article about how to become as almost as good as me.

This is gross.

Watch this video of Tyler "Psycho T" Hansbrough dunk on Kenny George. George is 7' 8" btw,

Pokerstars Pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier won the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure that SB played in and Josey and I attended. It would have been way cooler if SB would have won the 2 million, but what-ya-gonna do?

On a related note, Squatting Bear, I have one of the PCA shirts in my bag. I'll give it back to you next time I see you.

Also, I saw this lil' guy at the tournament. I wonder if he plays Halo?

Anyways, that's about all I got for today. Hopefully with Josey and SB back, the blog will get going again and we could maybe even play some vids.

Tuesday Tidbits

Not too much is going on today, at least in my world, so if anyone has anything pressing please feel free to post it or add it to this post.

Amazon's deal of the day is the Halo 3 Legendary Edition for $59.99 with Free Shipping. Essentially you can get your own Master Chief collector's helmet and Halo 3 for 54% of the regular price with out paying tax or shipping... tempting.

KofC Picture of the Day
Dammer's Screenshot of a stick he had on Narrows.

Speaking of Dammer, his shitty Steeler's barely squeeked by the winless Dolphins 3-0. Wow, was watching the MNF game really better than playing halo?

I just completed the replacement program for the Rock Band guitar. As I told you the other day my guitar is broken but fortunately the replacement process seams pretty easy, I just told them the issue I was having, gave them my address and they should send me a new guitar with a prepaid box to send my broken one back in. Until then they put a $125 charge on my credit car to ensure I send back my old one. And they said they weren't selling individual instruments. Liars.

Bahamas is looking more tempting by the minute. My only question is: this place is like a resort, I am worried we can't just walk in and sleep in your room. There might be some restrictions on things like that and the last thing I want is to get down to the Bahamas and not have a place to sleep. Well, it's not exactly the last thing I want, but it wouldn't be as cool as mooching of SB for the week.

As most of you saw from Josey's comment, Target is selling a Def Leppard guitar. I have included a picture and description from Target's website. The only question: is it compatable for Rock Band?


Lastly, we need something to get excited about again, like the Get to Know 'Ems, or the Official K of C Song (which, I believe is "Immigrant Song") anybody got any ideas?

Pablito Gets Box Of His Own

Having scrapped and saved and worked myself into the ground the past 2 weeks at work, I'd finally collected enough money to get my own Xbox 360. Just having the dough wasn't the only hurdle to overcome either. It started on Friday when The Daymonster forwarded me a deal regarding getting a free copy of Halo 3 with the purchase of a 360. All you had to do was register your box's serial number and put a code into this website and your free copy would arrive in the mail in a couple short weeks! I was immediately excited, perhaps too excited. After thinking about it for the rest of the work day I decided I'd buy one online since my company has a partnership with Microsoft and I could get a small discount through the glorious Employee Purchase Program. Unfortunately my computer froze near the end of the day and I didn't want to take the time to reboot and risk missing the bus.

I tortured myself all weekend mulling it over in my head again and again. Should I try to get one online on Monday? I can find a ride to Best Buy, should I just get one in the store? Should I get one at all?

Monday came and I arrived at work like any other day. I logged into my computer, checked my email, went to the company intranet and ordered a 360... A wave of hysteria rushed over me. I just ordered my own Xbox! I chose the fastest shipping, it said it would take 2-3 days. That's not long! I'm a bit more patient than Daymonster, I'll be fine until then. I quickly got a confirmation email of my purchase and not long after that I got an email confirming the item was on backorder: "Please allow 7 to 14 days for more inventory to become available."

There was only one appropriate thing to say: "That's unacceptable."

I scoured the website for a number I could call to cancel my order but it was all automated. The only option was to try to cancel via email. I submitted my request and as of the time of this writing I still haven't gotten a response. I can only hope in 2 weeks a second Xbox doesn't arrive at my door.

Monday night was uneventful. I suspect other KofC members played a few casual Halo matches while I, as Valencia, got knocked out of the Champion's League quarter final stage (in penalties!) by Roma in Football Manager. I still had no idea what I was to do about my Xbox situation.

Tuesday arrived and I sent in a few more emails requesting my order be canceled. Then I made plans with my brother to go to Best Buy after work and get a 360 the sure-fire way. 3:00, alright the day is almost over. I'll just go to bathroom to waste some time. While on the toilet, darkness... the lights go out. Is this a joke? Who shuts the lights off in here? The power had gone out, I realized, after finishing up and finding my way outside. It started back up when I got to my desk so I turned on my PC to get back to work. A little less than an hour later... darkness again! I can't work in this environment! In the middle of a text message to my brother to pick me up immediately, the power comes back on and I think better of trying to sneak out early. 5:00 comes and goes. Where is Turner? He was supposed to come get me 15 minutes ago. I call him and he's in the middle of an online poker tourney. Pretty good excuse, I can't argue with that. He promises to pick me up at the break in 9 minutes and go back to his house for him to finish the tourney and afterwards we'd head to Best Buy. Back at his house I sit there half watching him play, half watching TV. He starts getting excited; he's almost in the money! He opens up the tourney lobby and there's 19 players left and the top payout is $23.50?! What the fuck! I sat here waiting for you to finish this tourney worth a couple bucks? I throw a $10 bill at him and say I'll buy him out if we can go to Best Buy RIGHT NOW.

Finally, we're in the store and there's enough copies of Rock Band for all the customers to buy two! I grab one along with a 360 and Halo 3. I felt so relieved to have them in my cart, hand the cashier my card and have them all paid for. I ride back to my apartment with the Rock Band box buckled safely in the backseat.

Upon coming home, we set about the business of unpacking everything, which took a while and made quite a mess that I'll hopefully have cleaned up by Sunday. Rock Band is amazing. I never imagined the drums would be so fun. I promise I'll stick to guitar for the KofC band though, otherwise we'd just be a drumline. After Turner left I spent a little time getting my connection set up and Gamertag recovered and signed into Halo 3 where Josey and Daymonster were waiting for me. The comforting environment of my own apartment and probably the fact that I didn't have to share a screen was conducive to my play. Here are my stats from last night compared to the (last time I played at SB and Josey's):

Record: 7-2-1 (5-8)
K/D: 109/103 (172/191)

Quite an improvement I should say!

Supplement:
Not even 30 seconds after posting this I received an email from Microsoft Care Team alerting me that my online order had, per my request, indeed been canceled.

Could this ending be any happier?

Thursday's Notes

I don't want to do a full post right now as everyone is still concerned with the Official KofC Song vote. It's neck and neck and looks like Tilla will be the deciding factor. Dammer, please inform Tilla that the polls close at midnight tonight.

But life goes on and there have been some interesting news that has popped up in the last few days I think we should be aware of.

Rockband Downloadable Content
Rock Band, as you all should know by now will be released in approximately 109 hours. Which might seem like a long time but that's one sleeping session for Squatting Bear. I already pre-ordered it from GameStop and will be picking it up after work and I drop off my final project for Grad School.

But for those of you who have it pre-ordered from Best Buy you can go to the midnight launch in your area. There is only one in Illinois and it's about an hour from where I live... tempting.

Also, Harmonix and MTV has announced their plans for DLC for Rock Band. Songs are going to be available the day it comes out with each song costing $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) or a 3 pack for $5.49 (440 Microsoft Points). Some of the bands that will be available will be Metallica, Foreigner and Weezer. The entire list of songs and dates can be seen here.

Internet Connection
So here is a quick story. I scheduled time for an RCN contractor to come out and check on my internet issues. The only time I could do it was from 5-8pm yesterday. I tried to leave early from work but something came up (formatting issues for the KofC site). So I left around 4:50pm and hoped the cable guy would arrive closer to the 8pm side of the time frame.

He wasn't.

He called me at around 5:04pm and asked if I was there. Obviously I wasn't and he said I was going to be charged $79.95 for his time and he wouldn't do anything. Needless to say I flipped out. I was on the bus yelling at the cable dude and told him that he needed to come back and unhook it cause I was switching to DSL immediately. He told me that he couldn't come back and to call RCN to unhook my service.

Anyways to make a very long story a little bit shorter, when I got back to my apartment I called him on the number he called me at and convinced him to come back. He did, apparently he had another no show (how ironic). He added an adapter to my cable that is supposed to regulate the signal that he thought was creating the problem. He wouldn't change anything from the outside, much to my anger. But...last night I tried to test to see if it helped. The few games I played online seemed to have no lag but I didn't get a large enough sample size because I couldn't enjoy playing because no KofC members were on.

So anyone up for some lag testing tonight?

Bungie's Weekly Update
I really recomend reading this. It's really interesting and sometimes it's funny. In this week's update they show where the kills and deaths happen on Gaurdian. Like I am sure most of you suspect, the yellow room with the elevator thing is where the majority of the action is. [Editor's note: Unky informed me that the map is of Sniper kills and deaths, it's still interesting though.] Here is the link to where all the weapon heat map. I was waaaay off.

Also, these updates tell you what changes are being made to the matchmaking. Like you might have realized Social Team Doubles is gone and Rocket Race (which sucks btw, but this guy likes it) has taken it's place.

KofC "Juvenile"
Check out the one comment on our video on youtube.

Daymonster Feeling Left Out
I realize that many of the members of KofC date back to the college days where drinking boots to Beerfest was the norm. But I feel out of the loop during these conversations. So with that I offer two solutions.

a. I would like to reminisce about a couple things real quick. Striker '96, TimeSplitters, Open Gym at the Armory, and the Beer Pong summer of '06. There, I got it out of my system.

b. I would like to get super drunk watching Beerfest next weekend with as many of you as possible.

Miscellaneous Monday

Well, it's Monday.

I don't mean to detract from poll-happy Josey Wales' post about the pressing beer issue. But I had some time last night after being betrayed by Squatting Bear, Josey Wales, and Tilla all in one night. But I won't bore you with a post about that, although it was very frustrating. Instead, I finished campaign. The last level was probably one of the best in any video game, and you could easily make an entire game out of it. The actual ending was pretty lame if you ask me. All I will tell you is that I guarantee Halo 4 will have a similar beginning tutorial as Halo 1 had.

After I finished campaign, I went to the theatre to watch some game footage. Then an idea came to me. What if you took a few screenshots from a couple angles and pieced them together. You could definitely make it 3D. Anyway I decided to try it out real quick before I went to bed and this is what I came up with.

It's Dammer getting his ass blown away by a 'nade in Guardian. Click on the image to see it. Obviously it's not great as it is a major pain in the ass to upload the image, unhook my xbox, go online to bungie.net and then piece it together. But it's a start and I have some good ideas for the future.

Or if you prefer, you can bust out those old 3D glasses and click on this one.

Two shitty Halo players find love
I also came across this post last night. To be honest if I was going to ask someone to marry me during Halo, I would probably just betray them and hump their corpse. But I am old fashioned.

How could you marry a girl with a lousy .82 social Kill/Death ratio? Oh, probably because he has a just as bad .82 ranked K/D. Another thing that's fishy about this, as her screen shots of the "Marry Me?" event is different than his. In her picks the M in 'Me' is made out of covenant rifles, and in his it's made out of snipers. I am going on record in saying this is a major publicity stunt and I will only believe it if they have their wedding on top or red base at Valhalla on Xbox Live.

KofC Theme Song Information
So I narrowed my choices down to two songs. Unky has emailed me the mp3 of his choice, but I am still waiting on everyone else's (besides Josey, and Pablito). I am super pumped about this so please send me some songs asap.

I realize it's about 10:30am and thus will not hear from Squatting Bear for another 3-5 hours, but the rest of you have no excuse.

Rock Band Watch
Less than 180 hours until Rock Band. It's a drum off!

Rock Band Set List Announced

I realize this is old (3 days) news but I thought I might post about it anyways. Harmonix and MTV Games released the final set list for the greatest game to be released this year and possibly ever! (besides Halo obv.)

The list of songs spans five decades and should be a pretty good range of music, from heavy metal, to punk, to alternative. Here it is.

1960s

Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter"

1970s

Aerosmith "Train Kept a Rollin'"*

The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again"

Boston "Foreplay/Long Time"

Mountain "Mississippi Queen"*

The Police "Next to You"

David Bowie "Suffragette City"

Black Sabbath "Paranoid"*

Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper"

The Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop"

Deep Purple "Highway Star"

KISS "Detroit Rock City"

Molly Hatchet "Flirtin' With Disaster"

The Outlaws "Green Grass & High Tides"*

Sweet "Ballroom Blitz"*

1980s

Rush "Tom Sawyer"*

Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead or Alive"

The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go"

Faith No More "Epic"

R.E.M. "Orange Crush"

Iron Maiden "Run to the Hills"*

1990s

Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"

Metallica "Enter Sandman"

Nirvana "In Bloom"

Stone Temple Pilots "Vasoline"

Weezer "Say It Ain't So"

Smashing Pumpkins "Cherub Rock"

Radiohead "Creep"

Beastie Boys "Sabotage"

Hole "Celebrity Skin"

Garbage "I Think I'm Paranoid"

Soundgarden "Black Hole Sun"

2000s

The Hives "Main Offender"

Queens of the Stone Age "Go With the Flow"

The Strokes "Reptilia"

Jet "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"

OK Go "Here It Goes Again"

Nine Inch Nails "The Hand That Feeds"

Pixies "Wave of Mutilation"

Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Maps"

Red Hot Chili Peppers "Dani California"

Coheed & Cambria "Welcome Home"

Fallout Boy "Dead on Arrival"

The Killers "When You Were Young"

New Pornographers "Electric Version"

* Indicates a cover song, all others songs are original master recordings

I am most looking forward to Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive" and Beastie Boy's "Sabotage". What songs are you looking forward to, and who is playing what in the Official Knights of Cydonia Band?