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Carpe Dementia
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18 Aug 09 Entry 0212

At what point does emulation make more sense than blowing on a cart and praying?
ba5a_retro_nes_usb_controller
Recently I was bit by the Zelda bug – the urge to go back and once again attempt to tackle one of the great Zelda titles. Which one I would throw myself at was undecided – either the classic first one on the NES, the best game of all time on the SNES, or the not quite as epic, but still great one for the Gameboy color.

Eventually, I decided to give the second one in the series (Zelda II – The Adventure of Link) another go. It is one of two Zelda related titles that I have played, but not actually completed. I figured I should probably rectify this, and maybe get the Zelda bug out of my system at the same time.
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16 Aug 09 Entry 0211

about_dystopia
Been toying around with the latest developer build of Snow Leopard for the past couple of days, and so far I have to say it’s nice.

It isn’t anything revolutionary, it really is just a cleaning up and refinement of everything Leopard – things are a bit more unified, and things work in a more sensible way. Unlike Windows 7, this will not change how you use your OS – it’ll just make using your OS a bit better, a bit faster, a bit easier.

Between the two, all I can say is it’s good to be a computer geek right now.

Too bad Linux is still shitty. :p

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01 Aug 09 Entry 0208

The Middleman - Complete Series

The Middleman - Complete Series

The Closed Caption Conundrum

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Middleman Middlereview Middlemaddness

My copy of the Middleman DVD box set from Shout! Factor finally arrived yesterday, and after much anticipation (and drooling over the intricate packaging) Nadia and I watched the first episode (“The Pilot Episode Sanction”), and it was greatly enjoyed… By me. She also liked it, but not quite as much as I did. Not because she didn’t enjoy it, or think it funny or a great show (she compared it, favorably, to Firefly, which is bot a major plus and some major nerd cred right there), but because of the language barrier.

Which brings me to the point of this posting: Why is it so damn hard to get Closed Captioning working while playing back a DVD? Shout!, for whatever reason, decided it would be better to have the captions on this set as Closed Captions, instead of subtitles. I’m not sure why this is – subtitles are simple to use from a consumer standpoint, and universally supported from a player standpoint. But CC? Not so much.

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09 Jun 09 Entry 0196

Been playing a lot of inFamous on the PS3, and loving it. The story isn’t revolutionary, but it is fun and engaging. There are a couple of twists, but it’s not the story… The gameplay is just damn compelling and addicting. Seriously, while playing I will continue to play until the battery in the controller is dead… It’s like digital crack.

Kind of like Crackdown, or Saints Row 2, I suppose. A sort of “One more mission, okay, one more mission, really, I mean it this time, just one more… You know what? I’ll just play another hour or – it’s what time?! Well, one more mission won’t hurt” logic starts running through my head. I can kill hours doing almost nothing in the game, and enjoy it all.
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21 May 09 Entry 0192

I realize I haven’t made an entry in the blog for a while – been busy, I suppose.
Also, I just haven’t felt the urge to write for while. It happens, so don’t panic. I’ll write when I write, and when I don’t, well… Read something else. :p

Last night, I found myself controlling my Mac mini (which acts as a media hub in the living room), with my iPhone using two different apps, and wondering how soon this kind of thing might become “normal”. Not controlling a computer with your phone over your home network, but controlling your computer using a smaller, portable, touch screen interface.
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