Word, bitch. Suck my humility. Jeah.

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I just watched a documentary on what I consider to be the best album of all time, Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon". I rented it off Netflix, but that was apparently a waste, because I'm going to have to buy it now. I highly recommend it to anyone in or planning to be in the music recording industry. The stuff they did for that album was absolutely genius. They put a lot of work into that album. When they made it, they were trying to make an album, not just individual songs.

The documentary had lots of technical detail. It was really cool when they'd play a song, then they'd cut all the tracks out but one, switch tracks around, add tracks, then put everything back on, all the while explaining what was going on with each individual part. There were also solo performances by Roger Waters, David Gilmore, and Richard Wright. They were all brief, but good. They also featured the demo tapes, which sounded horrible, but it was so neat to hear how completely different they were from the finished song. Truly, I understand why they went with the synth version of "On The Run" over the guitar version, but I liked the guitar version much better. They should've just added variety to that. I mean, it's cool what they did with the synth version, but the guitar version just sounded so much better.

The bonus material was basically just more documentary, only specific to individual songs. It also had a lot more in the performance department. Their ability to perform hasn't degraded over the years, especially surprising concerning David Gilmore's voice. You'd think it would have gotten worse over the years, but it really hasn't. It'd be really nice if they all got back together and made another album. It would also be nice if they released an album of all the other crap they did for Dark Side of the Moon. Some of that stuff was really cool.

I wonder if there's a community out there on the net that releases songs in their individual tracks. That would be so cool to have access to.

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Does anyone out there have pictures from Anime USA 2003? My usual sources are dry, and I haven't been able to find much by googling. In fact, I've found more pictures by perusing the forums on Cosplay.com than I have with the google search.

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The legendary battle. Which do you choose? Sex or violence?

What? They already had that presidential election. Gore won, and Bush became President anyway. I'm talking about more important issues, namely sex and violence.

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So I recently acquired Knights of the Old Republic, Magic: The Gathering Battlegrounds, and The Simpsons: Hit & Run. I will now review each in a single paragraph.

First, off, is Battlegrounds. Wizards of the Coast has tried to combine Magic: The Gathering with Street Fighter. Needless to say, it doesn't work. The game is awful. The play mechanics, while smoother than one would expect, are still clunky. It's a strategy game that allows no time for strategy. You spend too much time navigating the spell-casting menus to actually bother with the action element, which is vital to winning. Wizards has only proved that they are ten years too young to make a video game.

Knights of the Old Replublic, however, offers us something we've always wanted: a good Star Wars RPG. Honestly, there aren't too many good Star Wars video games at all. Now, I was looking more for another Baldur's Gate when I started playing, and I didn't really get that, but I also thought it was going to be more action-based than it is. The combat system is the only thing I have a problem with. They're trying to blend action and strategy in an over-the-should-perspective game. This wouldn't be a problem if you were just by yourself, but controlling party members becomes a nuisance. You can't tell them to move to a place, you have to guide them all the way there, all the while not being able to tell the other party members what to do. And your party members will just sit idly by while you're getting your ass kicked if they can't see the enemy. However, this, and the expectedly bad voice acting (which is unnecessary to begin with), are the only negative points of the game I have found so far. Well, actually, the main character I'm playing (female smuggler) start off in her underwear, and she has a really nice ass, which is kind of distracting. It has also prevented me from equipping her with any kind of armor (except when needed for reasons outside combat).

The Simpsons: Hit & Run is actually a very fun game. You can't take it in as long of sessions as Kotor, but it is very fun. It's a hybrid of Crazy Taxi and Grand Theft Auto. GTA was a better game, easily, but this game is up there, and much better than Crazy Taxi. Then there's the whole Simpsons element. The only flaw is the camera angles when you're walking around, but then you're not walking around much. Most of the game has you behind the wheel of a vehicle. Destruction and vandalism are both rewarded.

So, I returned Battlegrounds and kept the other two. When choosing between Koto and Simpsons, it's really a matter of commitment. If you want to play for hours a session, Kotor is probably more your game. If you want to sit down and play for 15 minutes, then go do something else, Simpsons it is. Short of that, it's just a matter of whether you want action or role-playing.

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When walking, I prefer to think that I'm not moving anywhere, but rather I'm making the universe move with my feet.

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I saw Master and Commander while in South Carolina for Thanksgiving. It's a good movie. It's not an action movie, nor are there any romance elements, and there's only a few traces of humor. The visuals were spectacular (well, considering the subject material). The action scenes were few but intense. There's good character development, and nothing was overplayed. From the trailer, I thought everything would be overdramatized, but then I thought the same thing of Road to Perdition, and have been proved wrong on both counts.

It's really the best thing playing in theaters right now, so if you're going to see a movie, go see that one. I still can't figure out what's so sexy about Russell Crowe, though.

Also a point of interest, MovieWeb.com has changed their format. Like most good websites that change their format to be more flashy, they now suck. It used to be a good site for quick stats. Now it's painful to look at.

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