posted 2004/09/25 at 23:08
Yeah, I'm slacking off on the diet again. No, I'm not happy with myself about it, but if you knew how much effort I was putting into this project of mine, maybe you'd understand. Or maybe you wouldn't, who cares.
Anyway, I was actually watching Fox News Channel this afternoon so I could catch the other Don from New York -- Don "Phrekwenci" D'Amato -- on there talking about DDR (MPEG of Don's appearance available here). You know, it's bad enough that FNC has such an obvious conservative bias, but when it comes down to it they're just not running a good operation down there at all. To wit:
- They actually asked Don if he could bring his own equipment to the studio to show people, which posed a big problem because Don is an arcade-only player. By point of comparison, when Tanya did her appearance on The Today Show, the show actually bought two dance pads just for her appearance. (I think the other person being interviewed brought a memory card just so all the songs would be unlocked, but that was it. Can you imagine Don having to tote a Cobalt Flux all the way from Lindenhurst to the middle of NYC?
- All the footage they kept airing during the segment was old, a tactic FNC uses frequently. (For all that neocons want to fuck with the environment, when it comes to old news footage FNC's the biggest believer in recycling out there.) They not only had footage of pre-MAX arcade games, they also showed footage of another reporter trying the game out for the first time.
- Worse yet, Don says he sat in a room for over an hour at the FNC studios and was never briefed on what they'd be asking him about. Hell, even when I did my little local TV news appearance for that one site I was working on back in the day, the interviewer let me know what kind of questions I'd be asked ahead of time, so, you know, I'd be prepared. I read Don's site phrekwently (bad joke, I know), and he's a very intelligent man, but because of the way the interview was conducted, FNC never really gave him a chance to show his intelligence, or to make a coherent case about DDR.
So yeah, even if you don't want to hate FNC for being the broadcast wing of the far right, hate them for being a bunch of cheapskates who can't even conduct a simple "lifestyles" interview properly.
posted 2004/09/24 at 16:43
Don't ask me about my personal life right now, seriously.
Anyway, I was hoping to really speed-track this new project of mine, but that is a serious no-go. I'm not even sure I'll have it up and ready by next weekend, but I'm hoping I can burn the midnight oil these next couple of days and really get going on it. One real pain in all of this, though, is that I've been having to do so much online research for this project that my AutoComplete list in Google is now full of the search terms I've been using recently, and not porn words like I usually have in there. (I'm a perv, okay? Deal with it!)
By the way, David Cobb's going to be a write-in candidate in Ohio since he missed the mark to get on the full ballot by about 400 signatures. I would have liked to have helped with the signature drive, but that was back in July when I was so sick. I'm not sure about Nader's status on the ballot, but I'll be voting for Cobb anyway so that's no big deal for me.
posted 2004/09/22 at 17:22
I picked up DDR Extreme on my way into school today. If what I've heard on DDR Freak about not being able to turn off the corner buttons during game mode is true, though, it could really affect my ability to play the game. Add to that the fact that the Ultramix 2 songlist keeps looking better and better, and I may have to pick up an XBox after all. (Used, of course; I don't want to give any more money to Bill Gates than I already have.) Either that or get a Japanese PS2 and start buying the Japanese mixes, which may unfortunately lead to me trying out BeatMania IIDX and really sinking all my money into my ongoing Bemani habit. Le sigh.
posted 2004/09/21 at 23:39
Hopefully those of you (or at least those of you in the US) have seen that public service ad where they say that if your teenage daughter likes teddy bears or lollipops SHE'S ON ECSTASY AND YOU HAVE TO GET HER HELP!!! Ahem, anyway, they finally started showing that stupid thing here in Toledo, although they add a little "tag" at the end saying the message is brought to you by the Sylvania Community Action Team. Whose initials pretty much describe what I think of that dumbass commercial.
I was hoping to have the new project launched tonight, but I'm nowhere near done yet. Maybe I'll have it done by the end of the week. I'll warn you ahead of time, though, that this project is very political in nature, so for those of you who aren't into politics so much (aka the smart ones), you might not be so enthralled with this project. Take a look at it when it's done anyway, though, and just be impressed by its scope. Please?
posted 2004/09/19 at 23:50
Okay, now I can get into football again. Good grief, that was not an easy game to watch. And I'll keep my little comment on my diet log up just for the hell of it; I really thought the Bengals were gonna get shut out there.
Just so everyone knows, there will be no Backwash column this weekend because of the project I've been working on. I've got my domain name and server taken care of (Don, I went with 1and1, but I'm only locked into a three-month contract), and I hope I can get the site fully operational by the end of the week. Doing so, however, will require me writing a lot of content, and of course this is the week that the new PS2 DDR comes out. So yeah, anyone got any extra hours this week they can give me?
I also listened to Björk's new album Medulla last night and, well, get twenty copies. But I still don't like it as much as her mid-nineties work. Maybe that's just the depression talking; I dunno. Blah.
Time to get back to the new project ...
posted 2004/09/17 at 23:53
With any luck, the new project will be going online sometime by the end of the weekend. This may be a big ticket for me, if I can get it churned out here at a fast pace.
Oh, and for those who haven't been following the Friends page on my LiveJournal (don't ask how my diet's going), Tanya's cat TaQ was run over a couple of nights ago. Please have Tanya in your thoughts this next little while.
posted 2004/09/14 at 23:23
Okay people, this is serious: I need the names of good, cheap, reliable domain name registrars and Website hosts. Post anything you have either in the .forum or e-mail it to (my first name)@(my first name)(mylastname).org. I think I may have my next great project here.
posted 2004/09/13 at 03:11
New on Backwash: "Ten Years". I wanted to do something to mark the fact that this month marks ten years since I first got (real) Internet access. I just never thought I'd be mentioning the death of one of my Internet friends in it.
posted 2004/09/12 at 23:46
Okay Don, go ahead and gloat. I deserve it. (But if you're going to gloat, could you at least do it in the .sports section of the .forum so I can get some traffic over there?)
posted 2004/09/11 at 23:19
I don't feel like logging onto LiveJournal right now, so here's the last two days in brief: yesterday I pretty much slept through the whole day (I've been feeling super-tired this past week and I don't know why), and then today, since my parents finally went on vacation this weekend, me and my sister had a pizza party like we normally have when we're alone. I may DDR later tonight, I may not; I already feel like conking out again here.
The next nine days we're forecast to have mostly or completely sunny skies and highs around or above 80, and no greater than a 20% chsnce of rain any of those days. Is there any possibility that you people down south can steer Hurricane Ivan up here towards Toledo? I could use the miserable weather.
And for the first time in several years, I can quite honestly say that yes, I am ready for some football.
posted 2004/09/09 at 02:28
For those of you who follow either the .forum or the Friends page on my LiveJournal, I just found out that Chad Dupree passed away on the 27th of last month.
Fuck.
posted 2004/09/06 at 02:50
New on Backwash: "Invisible but Not Silent". Just me getting whiny, although for once it's whiny with a fair deal of anger and righteous indignation, so it's somewhat different from my usual blathering. I know, I am the kind of person who can categorize all of my different ways of being whiny, right?
posted 2004/09/03 at 14:46
Rowan came home this morning. She was dirty and awfully emaciated, but she's eating and resting inside the house now.
Now if only the rest of my life hadn't gone to complete shit in the past few days, I might actually feel a bit of happiness right now.
posted 2004/09/02 at 00:54
Looks like I might have been worried over nothing. Zell Miller 2004 = Pat Buchanan 1992 anyone? Granted, any floodgate that opens from this isn't all too likely to stream to David Cobb like I'd hope it would, but I'll take any damage to Dubya that I can get at this point.
I was thinking that my recent physical "I feel like shit" symptoms were being caused by this latest wave of depression (mostly caused by feelings of loneliness), but it looks like, for the first time in four or five years, I'm getting hay fever. I thought I'd outgrown it, but apparently I was wrong. I can take Benadryl to ease the symptoms, but Benadryl makes me sleepy, so when I'm out at school (when the symptoms hit the hardest), I'm yawning through classes, and that seems kind of rude to me.
I did go out and buy the new Björk album before going to campus today, but I haven't listened to it yet. I'm not sure if I'm in the right frame of mind for it yet, but at the same time, I really do want to listen to it. No, this isn't some huge crisis for me, but I thought I'd write about it anyway. Hey, it's late, all right?
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