citizen428.blog()

Yesterday we played two games of 1000 Blank White Cards at the Metalab which was quite a lot of fun. The cards we created ranged from “Emo Cheese” (which cuts itself), “MySpace down” (which of course lets emo cheese melt) to the even more bizarre “Milchschnitte frisst U-Bahn” (sorry, I couldn’t possibly translate this to English). If you want to spend a nice evening with your friends, 1KBWC definitely is an option which you should keep in mind.

Sweetmorn, Chaos 51, 3173 YOLD

Since I got a really bad cold accompanied by an annoying cough and have been feeling like sh*t for the past few days, I finally decided to call in sick today. So after sleeping long, all I did for the rest of the day was lying in bed, playing some poker (won my first HORSE Sit’n‘Go), playing World of Warcraft, reading 2+2 and some of the other forums I regularly visit and watching The Simpsons. Although that may sound like a lot of fun, it actually wasn’t that great since (1) I really feel like shit and (2) I realized this wasn’t much different from most other days. Sure, the Poker and WoW sessions were a bit longer than usual, but other than that the saddening conclusion is that lately I don’t seem to be doing anything valuable with my time. But what’s valuable anyway?

Sweetmorn, Chaos 11, 3173 YOLD

After ignoring or even bashing the game for a long long time, i surprisingly bought a copy of World of Warcraft last Thursday, a fact I entirely blame on Joi Ito. Of course I’m playing the game on my shiny new Macbook and I have to say that I really enjoy it so far. Or maybe that’s just because being a monster slaughtering Troll shaman is much easier than dealing with certain real life issues I’m currently facing. As it seems decadence kills depression once again… Considering this last argument it’s a shame that there won’t be a Mac version of Warhammer Online, because I’m pretty sure by the time it will be released I’ll have some new issues which will need some good ol’ repressing.

Oh, before you become the n+1th person (where n is fairly large) to ask: Yes, I know the South Park episode.

Prickle-Prickle, Chaos 9, 3173 YOLD

A few days ago I’ve blogged about me being uncertain whether to get myself a Nintento Wii or an Xbox 360 (please don’t tell me to get both, that thought is too tempting already!). Currently Big N’s latest offering is a slight favorite again, since – after an exhausting few days partying – I spent the late afternoon and early evening playing Paper Mario: The Thounsand-Year Door, which is one of the most entertaining and funny games I’ve ever played. Later on I decided to finally try out the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection with Mario Kart DS (friend code: 197655187733), and I have to say that I just love it, which means that now I really have to get myself a copy of Metroid Prime Hunters as soon as possible.

Sweetmorn, The Aftermath 59, 3172 YOLD

As you may know I’m a big fan of video game consoles. I currently own two NES, a SNES, a Mega Drive (aka Genesis), a PS1, a Dreamcast, a Game Cube and loads of games. I also played quite a lot on the other systems common in Europe (Saturn, N64, PS2, Xbox). Among the listed systems, the Dreamcast is probably still my favorite for being really innovative and having lots of great games, with the GC coming in a close second. But I’ve had great times with all of them – the original Mario Kart on the SNES and most Square titles on the PS1 come to mind. Of course I also love handhelds and own an original Game Boy (which is unfortunately broken), a GBA and a black Nintendo DS LIte, which IMHO is the coolest portable gaming system I’ve ever seen (with honorable mentions for the Sega Nomad and the Turbo Express).

As you can see I own everything Nintendo ever made except for the N64, which too had a lot of great games but which I somehow never bought. And I really love their products. But I also was always very fond of Sega’s systems, and when the company announced that they wouldn’t produce any more consoles after the DC, I was pretty sure that I won’t buy another game console ever. That held true for a surprisingly long time, until I got myself a GC at the beginning of this year, because (1) the console fever got me again and (2) it was ridiculously cheap because it was already close to the end of it’s life cycle. And although I currently hardly take the time to play with the systems I already own, I’m considering buying a seventh generation console.

Ladies and gentleman, it’s Xbox 360 vs PS3 vs. Wii. I’m definitely not going to get myself a PS3. First off I’m not interested in Blu-ray, HDMI and the other fancy stuff, and secondly I think Sony sucks. Besides that at least two of my friends will get one, so I can play the newest PES or GTA with them. So of course the Wii would be an obvious choice: it has Twilight Princess, is made by Nintendo and features this incredibly cool controller. And did I mention Twilight Princess? Besides that it offers wireless, the option to play my GC games (I could save a little room by storing the GC someplace else), a cool download feature and I’m sure there will be interesting possibilities to use it in conjunction with the DS. But yesterday I suddenly realized that I never considered the Xbox 360. None of my friends has one, and nobody mentioned any plans to buy it. So I read up on it a little, and somehow I started to like the system. Sure, it’s made by the big evil company and it doesn’t exactly offer original games. But it has Gears of War, F.E.A.R, Prey and a lot more good shooters. And I really like playing shooters. Then there’s Oblivion, which by itself may justify getting a 360. Considering the upcoming Halo 3 and Star Trek Legacy, the system might well be worth its money for me. Plus I’ve never owned a Microsoft console. Actually I was pretty sure I never will, but since colo mentioned that he’s interested in a PSP, I’m surprised by anything anymore.

Anyway, I’m still pondering wether to buy a new console or not, but if I do, I’m not sure anymore that I will be a Wii.

Sweetmorn, The Aftermath 54, 3172 YOLD

...but it bought me a Game Cube.

Today at work I got so p*ssed that I decided to go out and spend some money on stuff I don’t really need. In the end I bought a Nintendo Game Cube, Mario Kart Double Dash!!, a memory card, and an additional controller in a shop close to my work, as well as a copy of Metroid Prime on eBay which I should get in a few days.

FAQ
Q: You know that capitalism only works by making you so depressed that you just need to buy something in order to feel better?
A: Yes, that’s why I’m also pretty ashamed every time I fall for this, but sometimes you just can’t help it…

Q: Don’t you think that sucks then?
A: Sure I do, but you can’t get drunk all the time.

Q: Why a Game Cube and not a PS2/X-Box/whatever?
A: I’ve collected game consoles starting from the old NES until Sega stopped producing their own consoles after my beloved Dreamcast. Personally I just think that Nintendo and Sega rock, while MS and Sony…ahm…just don’t. I don’t need the newest and greatest hardware, I just want a nice platform which offers the kind of games I like to play. Additionally I already own a Game Boy Advance for several years, which can be used in conjuction with the Game Cube.

Q: You could have bought that Game Cube a lot earlier.
A: That’s not a question.

Q: But still…
Well, after Sega announced that they won’t release any new consoles, I got so depressed and ended my career as a video game collector (I never really liked PC games). Now that I spontanously changed my mind, the Game Cube was the only system I considered worth buying. No flame wars please, I quite regularly play PS2 and X-Box games when hanging out with friends, I just don’t want to spend my own money on those particular systems.

Q: Will you start blogging about Game Cube games now?
A: There might be the occasional post on this topic, but this site definitely won’t turn into a gaming blog.

Q: What about the revolution?
See blog subtitle.

Q: Have you turned into a bitter cynic lately?
You’ve noticed? If I only knew what could be the reason...

Boomtime, Chaos 52, 3172 YOLD

Once again I try to avoid doing the things I’m actually supposed to do, so here’s another issue of “citizen428’s random tidbits”.

• Principia Discordia: “How I Found Goddess And What I Did To Her When I Found Her. Wherein is Explained Absolutely Everything Worth Knowing About Absolutely Anything“. I’m maybe the last person to find this decent online edition of the Principia, but stuff like this happens when you get abducted by time-travelling dolphins before being right in the middle of a government conspiracy. Or was it just the anual meeting of the Rodeo Clown Society? Fnord!
• 1000 Blank White Cards: “1000 Blank White Cards is a card game, the purpose of which is to create the cards you’re playing with.“. Personally I find this really cool: you start out with white cards, and everybody has to draw his or her own cards. I want to try out this game as soon as possible, and I’ll make sure to tell you about it afterwards…
• Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy: This guide on writing decent SciFi and Fantasy stories is for free, but the author requested that if you like it, you should tell another aspiring writer about it, and buy two of his books. As I currently don’t have the money for the latter, I thought I can at least use my blog to reach some more aspiring writers. (via BoingBoing)
• MouseHole: “MouseHole is a personal web proxy written in Ruby designed to be simple to script. Scripts can rewrite the web as you view it, altering content and behavior as you browse. Basically, it’s an alternative to Greasemonkey, which does similar things from inside the Firefox web browser“. I’ve been playing around with this for around a week now, and I have to say that I really like it. Don’t be afraid, why is involved, so there’s chunky bacon for all!
• The Kawasaki Method and The Takahashi Method: Uncle Lecture needs you! And he surely doesn’t want your average PowerPoint food soldier, but instead he’s looking for highly trained and deadly presentation ninjas. (via I-can’t-remember-but-if-in-doubt-blame-BoingBoing)

• Random geeky stuff: moo.fx – “ a superlightweight, ultratiny, megasmall javascript effects library, written with prototype.js“; meebo – Web 2.0 Instant Messaging. Buzzwordy, but looking nice; Selenium – a test tool for web applications. Selenium tests run directly in a browsers, just as real users do
• Update on cool stuff™: The third episode of NCY2123 has been released and part two of When Sysadmins Ruled the World is up on Cory’s web site. Both rock as usual.

Well, that’s it for today, don’t kill any puppets while I’m away.

Yeah, time for another random link dump. I’d bet you’ve been waiting for that, haven’t you?

• blog.red667.org: My friend Red started blogging, so I thought I’ll put some pressure on him by giving his site some exposure. Now he just has to write more…
• bonki’s blog: bonki started blogging too, and he definitely should post more often. Entertain me you punk!
• The Ministry of Silly Walks: And now for something completely different…
• An interview with the makers of NYC2123: Not too long ago I’ve blogged about this new cool, free online cyberpunk comic called NYC2123. Here’s an interesting interview with its creators, which at least is something too read until the next episode comes out. (via NYC2123 blog)
• Sewing, a Flickr photoset on sewing: Yes, sewing. Geek sewing! How about a Space Invaders quilt? Or would you prefer Tetris? (via BoingBoing)
• Red Cell: I’ve already blogged about Pardus before, but during the last few month I got pretty addicted to that game, so I ended up doing a website for the alliance I’m in. And yes, I would have other things to do, thanks for asking…

Today is the perfect example of a nice and lazy afternoon, and I just love it! After having a great brunch at HighTea where we had toasties, antipasti, bagles and lots of other really good stuff, I’m just hanging around in front of my PC reading, doing some Gentoo work and generally having a good time. Live can be so easy…

Now let’s see if I have anything interesting to tell you: