Half-Life 2 Owns Me

I've got a lot to talk about today, but I thought I'd share that comic strip with everyone because I think that'd be an awesome idea! I wish they didn't cancel that Dilbert show. Anyway, as you may have guessed from my post title I have indeed gotten into Half-Life 2, which I borrowed from a friend, and it's truly badass.



Some people were disgruntled because it got Game of the Year status over GTA: San Andreas, but those people need to play this game for a couple of hours. It is such a unique game experience because it's so bloody immersive! Some people think that games like Silent Hill are immersive because you feel scared sometimes, but when you have awesome weapons and ammo and you're still scared, that's truly incredible. You always feel like you are a part of what's going on and you always have to keep going. It doesn't even feel scripted! It's well worth the price tag, so get it if you get a chance to. Counterstrike: Source is pretty cool also and comes with it for free.

Now for some UT pride. I'm not a supporter of Bush, but it's nice to know that our band played at the inauguration. It's honestly one of the best college bands I've seen, but it's very sad that they lost a member recently. My prayers go out to his friends at Tejas and his family of course. Back to happy stuff though, there was an awesome Rose Bowl insert in yesterday's Texan so try to get your hands on it if you haven't. It has great pictures and articles. Speaking of UT, if you're in the College of Natural Sciences consider joining NSC.

There's a lot of movie news out there today. The most exciting item though is the release of the trailer for a new movie by Tim Burton, of Nightmare Before Christmas and Big Fish fame, called Corpse Bride. The trailer looks like it's shaping up to be a great movie so keep your eye on it. David Yates is now officially the director for Harry Potter 5. I haven't read the books but I think that the movies just get better and better. Lastly, Robert Zemeckis, Neil Gaiman, and Roger Avery are coming together to do Beowolf! I'm a fan of Zemeckis (Back to the Future, What Lies Beneath) and Avery (Pulp Fiction) so it should be a great movie.

eXeem has finally been released in public beta, and it looks pretty good. It comes from the creators of Suprnova and acts as a P2P client for torrents. It makes people more vulnerable than the creators since everything is so decentralized, but I think it's gonna be great as it grows in power. For those of you who don't know, torrents are a way to download files from other people (called seeds) and while you download you also upload. You can resume easily and it ensures uniformity of the file so it's pretty cool. I only support the use of torrents for TV shows though. I don't download music anymore, I just buy CDs on sale. I don't see the point in pirating movies I can get for free from the UGL, so I don't support that either. I think it's important to be able to get shows you miss or can't get because you don't have cable. I wouldn't mind watching the ads for them if they came with the file if it made it more legit.

A couple of random things before I conclude for today. If you know someone in high school, please pass this speech onto them. It has a lot of great stuff in it and I think a lot of it is very true. I finally finished that puzzler I was grumbling about yesterday after finding out that i doesn't have to be less than j. I understand now why these things are so important: they make you realize how dangerous faulty assumptions are. I think I'll have fun with them and that they'll become more and more a pain in the ass as the semester progresses. We finally get our first project this weekend, so that should be interesting. If you want a good chuckle by the way, check this out.

Now for your favorite meme and mine, the Friday Five:

1. Which is worse, the Burning Question ~OR~ the Painful Truth?
Definitely the painful truth. A burning question can always lose steam, but the truth can hurt and sting for a while. You never forget the painful truth. When your memory chooses what's important to store for the long term, emotionally intensive things almost always stick.

2. "Live hard, die young and leave a beautiful corpse" ~OR~ "Live long and prosper"?
Live long and prosper. The longer you live the more good you can do for others and for yourself. If you live your life too fast how can you savor the beautiful moments?

3. Let bygones be bygones ~OR~ Bitch, I'll cut you!?
I don't follow this always, but let bygones be bygones. Revenge causes more trouble than its worth in most cases. The people that do you wrong always get what's coming to them.

4. Private hell ~OR~ Sharing is caring?
Private hell for sure. When bad stuff happens to me, I like to bottle it up. It may not be mentally healthy, but my problems are my own and no one else's. It's my responsibility to get my stuff together.

5. Open hearted ~OR~ Walls around your heart?
Being open hearted is really important. Obviously you can't wear your heart on your sleeve, but with some discretion it's a good thing. It makes you more friendly and likeable as long as you don't annoy someone with your romantic escapades (or lack thereof if you're like me).

Enjoy the weekend! :)