Beatles Remasters=Yoko Gets More of My Money

I'm REALLY excited about September 9, 2009. That's the day that ROCK BAND:THE BEATLES comes out, which I'm sure is going to be awesome. But I read in the most recent issue of ROLLINGSTONE that on that very same day Capitol/EMI Records will release the complete Beatles discography completely 100% digitally REMASTERED. Now I know some of you non-music geeks will say, "But Jason, you're a true fan...you already own all The Beatles CD's why would you re-buy them?" To that question I ask: "Have you tried listening to the current CD versions with headphones on (i.e. on an iPOD)?" If you have, then you know how TERRIBLE, how GOD AWFUL those shitty 1987 masters are. You see, unlike most "classic" bands, that release "remastered" versions of their classic works every few years to raise funds (and pay for expensive drug habits) The Beatles have not released ANY remastered CD's since the original CD run in 1987--with two noteable exceptions: the "1" Greatest Hits CD (which I bought specificially because it was remastered) and the LOVE soundtrack. It is universally accepted that current Beatles albums on CD sound worse than the vinyl versions. They are muddy, clunky, ugly-sounding abominations. Even as a super-fan I feel as though I have no truly experianced much of The Beatles sound because I have mostly been exposed to their music via crappy radio and crappy CD's. Don't beleive me? Think I'm a sound-snob? Go pick up LOVE and listen to it--with earbuds. Then go pick up RUBBER SOUL on CD and try to listen to it. You can't. You fucking can't. The RS article goes on to say that besides new stereo releases, Capital/EMI is also putting out a "Mono" boxset. I don't subsribe 100% to the "mono is better" arguement...however, I do admit that when The Beatles recorded their earliest material, it was originally done in Mono. So perhaps those early records should be presevered in Mono, as that was the canvass the artist originally used. Not sure I'd want to listen to an album like SGT. PEPPER in Mono. But then again, what the hell do I know? The stero mixes though...those will be mine on September 9.

Yes, yes, yes!!!

Bliss

I can't wait for this.

It's called ROCK Band...not COUNTRY Band!!!

So I woke up today, and for the most part everything was okay. Oh sure, my life is kinda shit right now (what with the Great Depression I'm facing...oh, and the economy is bad)--but for the most part life was livable.

Then I go to the computer and head over to Rockband.com (as I sometimes do). To my horror I find that CMT has announced that on December 16 of this year, a muther-fucking god-damn "Country" track pack will be released.

WTF???

Though no song titles have been announced, the artists have. Behold, the dumb-ass jug-bands that will soon grace Rock Band:

1. Brad Paisley
2. Brooks & Dunn
3. Dixie Chicks
4. Dierks Bentley
5. Miranda Lambert

These red-neck hillbillies must be stopped. Sure, I don't MIND that crappy country music exists...just so long as it stays out of my ROCK BAND game. But why Jason? You don't have to download it! True, but instead of releasing a cool rock song, on December 16 they're going to put out a crappy country music pack. Harmonix (the game developer) only puts out new music once a week (on Tuesdays). Ergo, this crappy-ness IS GOING TO HURT ME!!!

Possible "country" artists I could have tolerated:

1. Johnny Cash
2.
3.
4.

The Dixie Chicks? You gotta be joking...


P.S. Everyone knows Country music sucks...

"All You Need Is ROCK BAND"

Leah pointed out that today in USA Today it was reported that MTV Games/Harmonix are partnering with Apple Corp. on a new Beatles-music game.

Yes, that's right--my two great loves are getting married!

ROCK BAND+The Beatles=My money is about to fly out of my pockets.

The game will be a stand-alone game (not a ROCK BAND expansion, like the upcoming AC/DC track-pack--which I'm also buying) and will come out X-Mas 2009. Apparently George Martin's son is helping to produce the game. Awesome.

My only wish is that I can one day drunkenly sing "I Am the Walrus." Oh, and I can't wait to play the solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

One (Wo)Man Band

So there's this game called ROCK BAND 2 that's about to come out (next month). To gear up, my and Leah have been playing more ROCK BAND. We've both been working on our drumming, because it's not our primary instrument (I do guitar, she sings) and it's hard because it involves your hands/arms AND the use of your foot (for the bass drum pedal). Right now I'm getting about 99%-98% 5-stars every time I play on Medium (which is a lame/easy setting I know). HOWEVER, when I up it to Hard I get my ass-kicked (sometimes I even fail).

So more practice is needed.

Anyway, we were messing around last weekend and Leah took over the drums. I picked up the mike and sang (really badly) for a few songs. Somehow Leah got it in her head to play and sing. The drums are still a bit too hard for her, so she switched over to guitar. See, even though she doesn't play it anymore...she used to play GUITAR HERO 2 way back in the wonderful-magical "dorm days."

Don't believe me? Check out this Limemonkey file photo:



Leah strapped on the guitar and I held the mike. Her favorite song is "Maps" by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs...so that's what she tried. Even though she frequently has trouble multi-tasking in real life, Leah is a champ when it comes to video game multi-tasking. Not only did she do it, but she did pretty well at both. Here's her score (she was so giddy she made me take a snapshot of it):



I can't wait to see her play and sing Dylan's song in RB2. Truly that will be some awesome one-man-bandsmanship.

This Just In: My Head is About to Explode

ROCK BAND 2.



September 14, 2008.

ALL MASTER TRACKS!

* Abnormality - "Visions"
* AC/DC - "Let There Be Rock"
* AFI - "Girl's Gone Grey"
* Alanis Morissette - "You Oughta Know"
* Alice in Chains - "Man in the Box"
* Allman Brothers - "Ramblin' Man"
* Anarchy Club - "Get Clean"
* Avenged Sevenfold - "Almost Easy"
* Bad Company - "Shooting Star"
* Bang Camaro - "Night Lies"
* Beastie Boys - "So Watcha Want"
* Beck - "E-pro"
* Bikini Kill - "Rebel Girl"
* Billy Idol - "White Wedding Pt. I "
* Blondie - "One Way or Another"
* Bob Dylan - "Tangled Up in Blue"
* Bon Jovi - "Livin' on a Prayer"
* Breaking Wheel - "Shoulder to the Plow"
* Cheap Trick - "Hello There"
* Devo - "Uncontrollable Urge"
* Dinosaur Jr. - "Feel the Pain"
* Disturbed - "Down with the Sickness"
* Dream Theater - "Panic Attack "
* Duran Duran - "Hungry Like the Wolf"
* Elvis Costello - "Pump it Up"
* Fleetwood Mac - "Go Your Own Way"
* Foo Fighters - "Everlong "
* Guns N' Roses - "Shackler's Revenge"
* Interpol - "PDA"
* Jane's Addiction - "Mountain Song"
* Jethro Tull - "Aqualung"
* Jimmy Eat World - "The Middle"
* Joan Jett - "Bad Reputation"
* Journey - "Anyway You Want It"
* Judas Priest - "Painkiller"
* Kansas - "Carry On Wayward Son"
* L7 - "Pretend We're Dead"
* Lacuna Coil - "Our Truth"
* Libyans - "Neighborhood"
* Linkin Park - "One Step Closer"
* Lit - "My Own Worst Enemy"
* Lush - "De-Luxe"
* Mastodon - "Colony of Birchmen"
* Megadeth - "Peace Sells"
* Metallica - "Battery"
* Mighty Mighty Bosstones - "Where'd You Go"
* Modest Mouse - "Float On"
* Motorhead - "Ace of Spades "
* Nirvana - "Drain You"
* Norman Greenbaum - "Spirit in the Sky "
* Panic at the Disco - "Nine in the Afternoon"
* Paramore - "That's What You Get"
* Pearl Jam - "Alive"
* Presidents of the United States of America - "Lump"
* Rage Against the Machine - "Testify"
* Ratt - "Round & Round"
* Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Give it Away "
* Rise Against - "Give it All"
* Rush - "The Trees"
* Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye"
* Smashing Pumpkins - "Today"
* Social Distortion - "I Was Wrong"
* Sonic Youth - "Teenage Riot"
* Soundgarden - "Spoonman"
* Speck - "Conventional Lover"
* Squeeze - "Cool for Cats"
* Steely Dan - "Bodhitsattva"
* Steve Miller Band - "Rock'n Me"
* Survivor - "Eye of the Tiger"
* System of a Down - "Chop Suey "
* Talking Heads - "Psycho Killer"
* Tenacious D - "Master Exploder"
* Testament - "Souls of Black"
* That Handsome Devil - "Rob the Prez-o-Dent"
* The Donnas - "New Kid in School"
* The Go-Go's - "We Got the Beat"
* The Grateful Dead - "Alabama Getaway"
* The Guess Who - "American Woman"
* The Main Drag - "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter"
* The Muffs - "Kids in America "
* The Offspring - "Come Out & Play"
* The Replacements - "Alex Chilton"
* The Sterns - "Supreme Girl"
* The Who - "Pinball Wizard "

All I can is: Thank GOD I am no longer in college, because this game would fuck up my grades.

Dude, Wii Fit is AMAZING!!!

So Leah woke up at the crack of dawn to try and secure a copy of Wii Fit. If you don't know what Wii Fit is, it's an amazing game that comes with this thing called a "balance board." It takes your weight, figures your BMI, teaches you yoga, you can do aerobics, improve your posture, build muscle, BURN calories.

Amazing.



All of this is either classy (and informative) tutorial--taught by a hot trainer (the sex of which is your choice...needless to say I chose the hot lady or the dude) OR (and this is key) you can play fun ass mini-games. There is skiing, there is hula hooping. There is soccer. All of this is highly competitive, too. Leah can jump further than me on the ski game...and every time I play it reminds me of this. Likewise, I can use my head to smack incoming soccer balls...AND I'm the "Super Hula Hoop" master. Everything you do is recorded and tracked. You can set weight loss/gain goals and the game will help you achieve them. Today I worked out for 30 minutes. I am so FUCKING SORE after playing this game.

My friends Becky and Jimu were with Leah today and they too picked up the game. I can't wait to hear what they think of it. I myself am amazed. By dressing up working out as a game, I think I might actually have a chance to lose some weight and feel better. I'm serious.

Let me put it this way: If I had to choose between sitting on a bike in a sweaty gym or dodging flying panda heads (yes, that's right FLYING PANDA HEADS) then I chose the flying panda heads. God bless Shigeru Miyamoto--he who made my ass fat by inventing Mario is now going to help shrink it. Yay Japan.

New ROCK BAND Avatar

Hey Amber, check out my new XTC t-shirt!





Also, I found an old Polaroid at work a few nights ago...still worked:

Guess What? It's B-A-A-A-A-C-K

That's right, today I got my XBOX 360 back from Microsoft. It only took a month, but I'm finally able to play HALO and ROCK BAND again! Me and Leah re-formed La La Munky and the Lucky Kitties tonight when I came home from work.



Much fun was had.

By the way, I'm still smoke-free.

A Few Gigs.

Today La La Munky&The Lucky Kitties played a few "gigs" today. It was mostly fun. I'm playing mostly on "Hard" though, which is upsetting...I can hold my own in "Expert" but there are a handful of songs that I can't even get through, and in the Band World Tour that just don't cut it. SO, whenever we have to play a "mystery" song, I've been just going with "Hard."

Anyway, Leah did pretty good (though she's coughing an awful lot still). I was most proud of her when the B-52's "Roam" came up (this song is a breeze on guitar, not so much on vocals). But she did great.

Here's a random pic of me rockin' out:



And another of me "in-game," with my sweet-ass GBV shirt I made (if only my hair were that color):



Overall we had fun, but after we finished a lengthy 6-song set (one of the songs we did was The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" which is really, really long) the game locked up!!! Luckily for us, the game saved our score...but our head's nearly exploded.

I took some pictures of Leah, but it would piss her off if I posted them...

Return of the ROCK...and the cookie monster

Wow. That's all I can say..."wow." Because of the public nature of this blog (and some of the people who are now it's readers) I don't really feel comfortable getting into the (slightly shameful) specifics...but suffice to say, I have ROCK BAND back. Got it back yesterday afternoon.

What I thought was a new patch problem, turned out to be a faulty disc (which was scratched...but not so scratched that it couldn't play--but whatever). The good news is, I have ROCK BAND back. The bad news is, I deleted all my saved data in a hope to clearing up the problem (by the way, thanks for being so "helpful" Microsoft). I spent a good chuck of last night re-downloading all the extra songs I had. Unlike, say iTUNES, however--the Microsoft store kept track of what I bought (so I didn't have to pay for them again).

Anyway, since all our band data is gone...and scores...me and Leah are forced to start over.

The new band's name is: La La Munky& The Lucky Kitties

Once everything was working again, I was eager to play...check out this (awesome) score on that classic Police song "Roxanne" (not only did I 5-star it, I GOLD starred it AND played it perfect on EXPERT). Not the hardest song in the game...but not the easiest either.



Last night me and Leah were apparently visited by the "cookie monster." Leah made 3 batches of cookies (God only knows why)...with most of them going uneaten (hey, I was busy with ROCK BAND). Well, we stayed up late messing around...and when we woke up Leah went into the kitchen and asked "Did you eat all our cookies?"

I, of course, hadn't...

Everything was normal in the kitchen...except that a GIANT PLATE OF COOKIES was now an empty plate of cookies. Hmmn...I wonder what could have happened to them?

In other, unrelated news, Rusty is acting very, very guilty...

No Friday Video Blog! Blame ROCK BAND

I didn't do a Friday video blog. Why? Because my ROCK BAND broke!

Nothing like a $200 toy...right?

See, all was well this morning. I played it, and it was just fine. Then they put out a stupid "update" patch. Well it was pretty cool--a bunch of cool new features (the best was the new music store--think iTUNES in ROCK BAND). Anyway, I shut my system off. A few hours later, went to play it (with Leah) and now it don't work.

The patch killed it? Is it the disc??? Who knows. All I know is, this sucks. I contacted EA (the company that distributes the game) but who know what they will tell me. I'm going to see if I can borrow/rent the game to see if this is just a disc problem. Beyond that....?

Who knows, I may never get to play it again! *gasp*

All I know is: my entire 3 day weekend is now shot to hell. That's all I had planned. Now what? Oh yeah...work on my novel...you must be joking...

Dude, seriously...a BOSTON 6-Pack!!!

I. Am. So. Stoked.

They just announced the downloadable content for ROCK BAND next Tuesday...and they're doing a 6-song pack of BOSTON songs.

Behold the glory:

“More Than a Feeling” (Master)
“Peace of Mind” (Master)
“Smokin’” (Master)
“Rock & Roll Band” (Master)
“Something About You” (Master)
“Hitch a Ride” (Master)

Sure, BOSTON isn't my favorite band...but these songs in ROCK BAND are going to be freakin' sweet. The whole pack costs $9.00. I am so there.

"...Rock'N'Roll ain't no riddle man. To me it makes good, good sense."

From the lead story on Yahoo! "Can Video Games Save the Music Industy":

Older bands have benefited from Activision's guitar monster [Guitar Hero], too. Cheap Trick saw digital sales of "Surrender" go from 58,000 in 2006 to 161,000 in 2007, and classic rockers Kansas watched downloads of "Carry On My Wayward Son" more than double from 119,000 to 297,000. Kansas also claims a more visible result of the video game effect: younger crowds. Where previously their shows might have been attended almost exclusively by an audience old enough to worry about interest rates and cholesterol, now they've got front rows "filled with young teenagers."

It's a whole new ballgame, all thanks to video games


Like AC/DC said:

"We're just talking about the future/Forget about the past/It'll always be with us/It's never gonna die, never gonna die."

RETRO Gaming

We all do it. As we grow older, we tend to look back on the past with fond, rose-colored glasses. I'm not "old" yet, but I am getting older. So like everybody, I've been going back and replaying the movie in my head. I've noticed that certain songs, movies, and books have a kind of "memory footprint" on them. What do I mean by that?

Well, for instance, whenever I hear "Touch and Go" by The Cars I think about driving around late at night in my first car (Chevy Corsica). That's pretty common--songs do that for people. But I've noticed something that can really only happen to people of my generation, and in that I get the same feeling from certain video games.

When I first got my first XBOX, one of the first games I had was a strange little game called JET SET RADIO FUTURE. Never heard of it? Not many people have. It's a sequel to a Dreamcast game (JET SET RADIO), where you skate around spraying graffiti on a neon/cartoon-ish Japan. The gameplay is fun (though simple), and the cell-shaded graphics/art style is cool even today. Another really cool thing about JET SET RADIO FUTURE is it's soundtrack, which is all this really crazy techno/trance/J-Pop. I've tried many, many times to locate this game's soundtrack (both legally and illegally) with no luck...which is a shame. I did however, discover California rapper Marty James this way (his old band Scapegoat Wax is featured on the soundtrack).



Anyway, I went to the mall on my day off with Leah, and I was in a FYE when I decided to look for it. I'd been looking off and on for the past few weeks in a bunch of local game store, but so far had struck out. I know, I could have just ordered it online--but what's the fun in that? This game isn't the first HALO, it was sorta unknown when it came out (all the way back in 2002), so I knew finding it now would be a challenge.

But, the Galleria FYE had it! It was a bit overpriced (a six year old game for $20) but I was so happy to have found it, that I picked it right up. I went home and eagerly put it into my XBOX 360, hoping to God it was backwards compatible (though all XBOX games are supposed to be compatible with the 360, this is not always the case). Anyway, this is all really geeky and probably not that interesting to those of you know don't play video games, but skating around in this game is the most fun I've had (game-wise) in ages. I don't know what it is, but for some reason this game really does it for me.

So, if you play video games--what's your favorite "little game"? the one that you love and you have so many fond memories of, that most people don't even know existed?

Call of Duty 4

Me and Leah, bored and very poor--traded in a few video games. I was going to get the new BURNOUT game...but that's proved VERY hard to come by. So I waited a few days and checked back at the game store where I had $45 in credit...and no luck. I got the other game I've been itching to play--CALL OF DUTY 4.

The CALL OF DUTY games are a bit like a Michael Bay movie--very shallow action/thrill rides that rely heavily on pre-scripted events (example: every time you play the same bridge blows up (in the exact same way)). In general, I'm pretty much against games with lots of pre-scripted events. I don't mind the story (I realize that HAS to be scripted) but part of what makes games like HALO great, is that for the most part the action is loose and varies each time I play it. There are scripted events, but they're few and far between.



I got CALL OF DUTY 2 with my XBOX 360--and it was great. As an ex-history major, there was just something about taking part in the Normandy landing that was just too irresistible to pass up. Shooting Nazi-assholes is fun, too (honestly, I have more remorse shooting mindless zombie/aliens in HALO). And I guess that's where CALL OF DUTY 4 differs. Unlike the other three games, this one takes place...today (in the Middle East). I'm not gunning down Hitler's people...it's a bit more complicated. The new technologies are both awesome (bunker busters) and terrifying (you witness/nearly survive a nuclear explosion--that's right halfway through the game your solider character dies!). But what are good are new toys if I have to wade through all this...shades of gray-political shit?

I realize that CALL OF DUTY 4 is barely a "simulation" of fighting a modern war in the Middle East. Honestly, I hope to never find out what that feels like. What CALL OF DUTY does allow me, a civilian, to see is how futile/complicated/chaotic/uncivilized a full-out modern conflict can be. It's too bad that most kids that play this game will only see the bloodshed and think "cool." Or even worse, "killin' A-rabs is fun!" For me, games like CALL OF DUTY are warning signs: "Don't go Here...you seriously won't like it." I think that's the game designer's intent...after all, every time you die you're treated to a (very thought provoking) quote disparaging war.

It's a good game, but I have to admit it's not as much fun as the ones set in WWII. I think Bart Simpson said it best when he said: "Contrary to what you've just seen, war is neither glamorous nor fun. There are no winners, only losers. There are no good wars, with the following exceptions: The American Revolution, World War II, and the Star Wars Trilogy."

Limemonkey's Life UPDATE

So I'm working (yay). That's about all I can really say about it. There isn't much to my new job, I'm a little disappointed. But that's to be expected (and actually a good thing). I'm more motivated than ever to get back to writing (soon) and keep my eyes peeled for a "real" job. But at least there is money coming in.

Inspired by the new Ringo album, I picked the ROCK BAND drums back up again today. I'm on the last set of songs (on Medium--though I can play on Hard, and actually finished a song (barely) on Expert).

That is my life...that's what's going on with me right now (exactly...boring). I work in the evenings during the week and on Saturday I open and close (9:00am to 7:00pm). I've been told Saturday's are the one of the slowest days (less than 50 people in 10 hours), so I'm toying with taking a book to read--and possibly reading the 200 pages I have written...I want to get back to working on my book, but honestly--it's been so long I need to re-read what I have to see where I was!!! Me have short memory...

Tomorrow is one of my days off, me and Leah are playing on going to the movies (CLOVERFIELD, the first time for her, the third for me). Her sister in New Mexico gave us a bunch of free AMC movie passes, so it won't cost us anything. Which is good, because we're poorer than I've ever been in my entire life...which reminds me, BURNOUT Paradise (5) came out on Tuesday (smash-em-up racing game)...I downloaded the (free) demo on XBOX Live--it f-ing rules. Becky, if you're reading this...get online and download it. It's great. Leah also pre-ordered the new SMASH BROTHERS game (for free, once she traded in a bunch of old games) for the Wii. We'll get it whenever it comes out (it keeps getting delayed).

Anyway, that's it for now. Tomorrow I'll try to write something more meaningful/insightful.

ROCK BAND DLC Better than expected

With Leah gone, there is very little for me to do but play ROCK BAND. When I bought RB, I was excited because I knew Harmonix (the creators of GUITAR HERO) wouldn't let me down when it came to new content. Apparently they set up an advisory board, who meet and decided what songs should be added to the game. This board is headed up by Little Steven (from The E Street Band and "Little Steven's Underground Garage"--the finest rock radio broadcast currently going).

I loved how, unlike the GUITAR HERO content, users can pick which songs they want (as opposed to having to buy songs in 3-pack bundles). This means that I don't have to download songs I don't want. Sounds obvious, but it's innovative. Every Tuesday, without fail, there are at least 3 new songs for download (at $1.99). That sounds like a lot, but each song works for the both lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals. That's like downloading 4 new levels (per song). Sometimes the tracks are cheaper, last week's All-American Rejects tracks were only $.99.

Last week was a good week--I downloaded "Give Me Three Steps" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Hard to Handle" by the Black Crowes, "Limelight" by Rush, and two All-American Rejects tracks "Move Along" and "Dirty Little Secret." But that's not what's got me excited...no, no...

I just went online and saw what's coming out tomorrow...oh boy...

"Action" by Sweet (shit yeah)
"All the Small Things" by Blink 182 (okay...I guess)

AND I can't believe they are including this track because it's so strange (but I can't wait to play it)

"Last Train to Clarksville" by the Monkees. The Monkees!!! Are you kidding me???

How much longer before they land The Beatles? How much longer??? And where the fuck is Led Zeppelin?

Portal

Last night, with little to do...I decided to return BIOSHOCK. I didn't beat it, which kinda makes me sad--I only got 1/2 through. Why didn't I finish it??? Well for one thing, I saw Leah finish the game (on Easy) and the spoilers kinda deflated my experience. I also got a little sick of the glitches. The game looked great, and for the most part, it played great too. However, for some reason the XBOX version was buggy when it came to the hacking mini-game. For every time it worked, there were two instances where the game would grind to a near halt...sometimes it locked up completely. The last time I played, I got pretty far (didn't save) and had the damn thing lock up on me when I was trying to hack a camera.

It's a good game, and I highly recommend it...but bring some patience if you're dealing with the console version. Anyway, I returned BIOSHOCK and picked up THE ORANGE BOX for my 360. I've never played HALF-LIFE one (or 2) all I knew was that they're highly regarded in the gaming community and that the game play is very "physics" oriented. What's cool about the ORANGE BOX, is that it's 5 games on one disc. I started playing HALF-LIFE 2...and while I think it's pretty good...it ain't my cup of tea as far as first-person shooters go. I'm a HALO man...I need fields and fields of enemies to mow down. HALF-LIFE seems to have a really good story/voice acting, but it's very much a "thinking man's" shooter. I'm stuck right now on a PUZZLE!!! Arahgh!!! I hate it when I have a machine gun in a game, but I'm too busy carrying bricks and pushing crates to use it. Lame.

But, another of the ORANGE BOX games--PORTAL, is amazing. You wake up in this testing facility and this creepy/sarcastic computer voice starts making you jump through hoops. It's a first person-shooter/puzzle that unlike HALF-LIFE is completely puzzles. You have a portal gun that lets you shoot 2 holes in space that, no matter where they are, are linked. Shoot one end at the wall, then shoot the other end at the ceiling--now when you run through the portal in the wall you'll end up falling through the portal in the ceiling. Crazy. Trippy as hell. I love it.

I found out last night that BLOCKBUSTER sells game passes where you can rent as many games as you want (only one game out at a time) with no due dates. It's like $24.99, which is a lot...but if you have a new system (or one, like our Wii that we hardly ever rent games for) it might be a good way to sample every game. I did that when I got my XBOX 1 back in 2001. Anyway, I thought they quit selling these, but they told me last night that they've never stopped. Just something for you gamers to think about. Now I'm gonna go play Portal.