So I watch CNN quite a bit at work. I’m starting to wonder when did “the news” become like some kind of tabloid? Does Anna Nicole Smith really deserve all this airtime? A gold digging floozy who had more than her fair share of the fifteen minutes of fame is now news? Just because the wannabe Marylin Monroe died? Does anyone give a shit? Is it just me? I didn’t give two shits about this chick when she was alive.

But now she’s died. End of story. But now I have to see all about whether or not the fucking lawyer is the father or not of the kid? Again is this news that should be on CNN? Larry King has this shit on his show even. And what happened to Larry King while I’m talking about CNN. A few weeks ago it was American Idol losers the whole week. American Idol is not news people. Is this what American News has become? Tabloids?

I’ve decided to not watch tv anymore. I’ve decided to listen to BBC News instead. So far I’ve not heard one mention of Anna Nicole Smith, her bastard kid, or the fucking lawyer scumbag.

May god have mercy on my soul. I’m going to see the Ghost Rider movie at 2:30pm today. The outlook is not good. Ghost Rider first showed up as a western themed character in 1967. A few years later Marvel moved Ghost Rider to the then modern time of 1972. Below is the Ghost Rider of the movie:

This below is Ghost Rider from Marvel Spotlight number 5 and Ghost Rider number 1:

Next let’s take a look at some of the comments on Rotten Tomatoes Ghost Rider page.

I kept hoping the Scooby Doo gang would come out, rip the mask off of Cage and reveal Ghost Rider really is crazy old man Ben Affleck! That would explain so much.
–Willie Waffle, WaffleMovies.com

Ghost Rider reportedly cost $120 million to make. But the resulting cheesy CGI effects, bad sets and music and mugging by the actors, especially Cage, suggest you spent your life’s savings and ended up with a Yugo.
–James Verniere, Boston Herald

It does not sound good at all. A quick IMDB check settles it. The same hack that did Daredevil directed Ghost Rider.

Fuck NBC! I do the equivalent of having something taped off of the tv by a buddy and have it given to me to watch and I get this shit in my inbox? I don’t see the difference. I don’t have cable. So if I have my friend tape it off of tv will we get hit with this shit when we are trading vcr tapes? For the record I really liked My Name is Earl. I bought the first season on dvd. I won’t be buying the second now. Also I’ve learned my lesson on using external trackers on Demonoid.

Re: Unauthorized Use of NBC Universal Properties Notice ID: 14-10266913
2 Feb 2007 05:26:41 GMT

Dear Sir or Madam:

Please be advised that NBC Universal and/or its subsidiary and affiliated companies (collectively, NBC Universal) are the owners of exclusive rights protected under copyright law and other intellectual property rights in many motion pictures and television programs, including the title(s) listed below (the NBC Universal Properties). NBC Universal diligently enforces its rights in its motion pictures.

Title: My Name is Earl (TV)
Infringement Source: BitTorrent
Initial Infringement Timestamp: 19 Jan 2007 19:42:50 GMT Recent Infringment Timestamp: 19 Jan 2007 19:42:50 GMT Infringer Username:
Infringing Filename: my.name.is.earl.02.10.11.hr-yestv.avi
Infringing Filesize: 734334976
Infringers IP Address: 66.190.57.0
Infringers DNS Name: 66-190-57-0.dhcp.mdsn.wi.charter.com
Infringing URL: http://www.torrent-downloads.to:2710/announce

(more…)

Crackdown is a game for the Xbox 360 that just came out. I played the demo off of Xbox Live for quite a long time. The game has the type of free form do what you want gameplay that I enjoy. The story is very thin. Your are a genetically engineered super cop who is tasked with putting an end to the three gangs of Pacific City. You are free just to tear around the city as you see fit.

There is a light rpg like system of five skills that raise in level as you go about your business of fighting the gangs in the city. Driving, Explosives, They are: Firearms, Strength, and Agility. All of the skills except Agility go up as you actually do each type of activity. Agility goes up when you find agility orbs that are scattered around the rooftop and hard to reach high up areas. Once your raise Strength and Agility a few times you start to feel like a superhero jumping around and picking up cars and tossing them at bad guys.

The graphics are worth mentioning because of the almost comic book look of the characters. It’s a blend of cell shading and realistic style graphics of other games. Below are some screens just to give you an idea of what it looks like:

Just lots of fun. It has co-op join any time just like Gears of Wars and is a perfect game to play with a friend. It is worth mentioning that Crackdown comes with an invite for the Halo 3 beta test later this year. Which I’m sure more than a few people picked it up just for the Halo 3 beta. Either way I think it is a must have for the Xbox 360.

Since I got my Xbox 360 I’ve been letting my PC gather dust. The last four games I’ve bought have been for the 360. I picked up Rainbow Six Vegas, Dead Rising, Viva Pinata, and Crackdown. The last PC game I picked up was Star Trek Legacy.

Recently there has been a few PC games that just performed poorly on my PC. Gothic 3 and Vanguard are two I can name off of the top of my head. Both of which sounds like that unless you had two gigs of ram of more you would have trouble. So last week I ordered two gigs of ram from Newegg.com. The 2 sticks of Crucial Ballistix DDR 500 (PC 4000) Ram arrived on the 20th (the same day I picked up Crackdown). I have yet to put the ram in to my PC.

I really hope going from 1 gig to 2 gigs will give me that extra punch to play some of these PC games. Specifically I want to be able to play Supreme Commander without having to worry about turning down the graphics and still getting 10-15 FPS. I realize I may need to upgrade my ATI 1600 XT at some point to really get a performance increase. I think my next purchase will be the ATI 1950 Pro before I just go and build a new PC for myself.

Sometime later today I’m going to force myself to stop playing Crackdown and I’m going to install my ram. Then all I have to do is install Gothic 3 and see if I do get a performance boost. Which may lead me to buy Vanguard. And then theres always Supreme Commander.