Falling Into Place

So I just got back from an ass kicking at hockey. Not enough people on the bench = me too tired for words. However I thought I'd take the time to write this because it's great news and I'm very excited about it. I might have a job in Jacksonville before I even venture up there. The city of Jacksonville needs someone to do basically the same thing I'm doing right now at the Ymca. The only difference would be more money, a different company, and more black children. I applied today and should here back in a week or two. I'm super psyched about this and it could mean 200 bucks more a month. I mentioned in a previous blog about stepping out of my comfort zone and this is a prime example. I'm going to take it with open arms and embrace the chance if I'm lucky enough to get it.

*Killswitch Engage's new album review coming soon...

True Blood "Scratches" Review

True Blood has captured my mind over the past couple weeks. I had not really paid any attention to it during it's first season on HBO, but with all the previews leading up to season 2, I became intrigued and long story short I watched the whole first season in three days. Now that season 2 is off and rolling, I have become a victim to yet another TV show that I can't miss.

Tonight's episode entitled, "Scratches" was another great episode in the series but left me wanting a little more. So far this season has been dedicated to setting up questions and mysteries to be answered at some point down the line, but I was expecting the story to progress a little more than it did. Lots of new questions were asked, like what in the world was that minotaur/bull creature, and was that Daphne? Another lingering question we're left with tonight is whether or not Lafayette is indeed a vampire. If I had to guess, I would say yes, but we will have to wait two weeks to find out.

I feel like I'm off to a negative start and that is not the way I want to go with this. The opening scene with Bill and Sookie was a thrilling start to the episode. The overall creapiness in that scene was brilliant. I originally thought it was Eric stalking Sookie in the woods so he could take her to Dallas just like he told Bill he could, but I was wrong. Bill taking Sookie to Fangtasia worked out perfectly for a trade between Sookie and Eric, and you could see that coming from a mile away. That's another bright point to this episode (and actually the season). Eric was my favorite character from the first season and I always wanted to see him in more scenes, and that's exactly what season 2 has delivered. Eric definitely has some good mystery and stories from his past and I look forward to his further involvement in the show.

Tara's story this season has been an interesting but very confusing sequence of events so far. It feels like Sam's story from the first season where they showed clues the whole season of him having the ability to turn into a dog, but you didn't know that until the last couple episodes. I believe Tara's story this season will go that same route and I'm okay with that. Maryann showed a new power/ability this week by making a 250+ pound pig disappear. I'm very interested to find out more about her, but her story most likely won't be revealed till the end of this season.

Jessica (Bill's vampire child) had an interesting and very well written story this week too. I actually enjoyed her scenes this week as opposed to her winy teenage antics so far. When she walked in the bar and caught Hoyt's attention you could see the trouble that was building all the way to the confrontation of Bill and Jessica towards the end of the episode. Now as for the end of the episode, I was completely surprised to see Daphne show up on the dock and couldn't help but feel like something was up when the actual dog didn't jump in with Sam. Daphne has been an underused character this season and I thought she would soon become the casualty of a vampire attack, but yet again I was wrong.

All in all it was a great episode that asked a bunch of new questions and was mostly a set up episode for things to come. I'm sure after seeing the next couple episodes I would rank this one higher, but as a stand alone episode this was at best an 8/10.

UNF

See kids, dropping out of high school WILL get you somewhere in life. I've been accepted to the University of North Florida (pending my grade in my final math class at SPC). I finally get to leave my parents house and get out on my own. This could not happen soon enough. I'm already counting down the days till August 21st. I think the best part about it will be that on August 19th I will be turning 21 and as most of you know, that is the "legal" drinking age here in these United States. So not only am I leaving home, but I'm leaving home to drink (just kidding mom). But seriously, it will be nice to go out somewhere and not have to worry about being carded or scheming for a way to get into a bar.

Now as my dad lets me know just about everyday since I recieved my acceptance letter, my main focus up there needs to be school. I am fully aware of this and plan to devote the majority of my time in Jacksonville to school and homework. I'm sure he's just worried that I'm going to go up there and waste his money and my time playing video games, watching Lost reruns, and drinking. Now I won't say those things aren't going to happen, but they will definitely be in moderation and will always take the backseat when it comes to order of importance.

I'm excited to go to a legitimate college and not know half the people that I'm in class with. I'm looking forward to possibly playing hockey up there on a team again. UNF has a hockey team that I've been in contact with and have expressed my interest to play with. Not only would this be great for my health and awesome exercise, but it would be a great way for me to make friends rather quickly. I'm ready for the next challenge in my life and I know it will have it's ups and downs and sometimes I'll want to give up, but that's life. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and do stuff you normally wouldn't do. I plan to try a lot of new things up there. For one I'm going to be getting a brand new job with people I've never met before. That's kind of putting me on edge considering I've only had one job in my life so far and it's been with people I've known for 4 years. But if I want to be able to drink, play hockey, or do anything besides go to class and study, I'm going to have to get a job. So I'll suck it up and get on with it, because living life in your comfort zone is like not living at all.

The Return of Conan O'Brien

It's been a little over three months since Conan signed off from the his Late Night show in New York, and tonight he returned better than ever.  Conan started off the show with a great monologue that had some really good jokes about his new home, Los Angeles.  He then showed a video of him giving the Universal Studio tour that was classic Conan and had me laughing until it hurt.

Will ferrell was his first guest and he couldn't have chosen a better person to have on his first show.  Will came out being carried on a throne with 4 guys holding him up, later telling Conan he toned down his entrance as to not upstage him on his first show.  Will Ferrell is the type of guest who can carry on the conversation and humor by himself and if Conan had any nerves, then Will was his scapegoat.  

Pearl Jam played a song from their new album and was a great way to end Conan's first of many shows at 11:30.  It's definitely nice to know I can watch Conan now and still be asleep before 1am.

E3: Skynet is Underway

I don't even know where to begin with the absolute madness that took place today at E3.  Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft all held their own press conferences showing off world premieres of some of the most anticipated games of the year.

Elecrtonic Arts showed off some cool new games like EA MMA, and a pretty neat looking demo of Saboteur that was intriguing to say the least.  Ubisoft had a less than stellar presentation.  With comedian Joel McHale hosting the press conference, it started weird and stayed that way.  However, Ubisoft made up for their host selection by showing an amazing world premiere trailer of Assassin's Creed 2 to end their time on stage.

Microsoft was the first to grace the stage today and they set the bar some where in the ozone layer.  They unveiled details on Forza Motorsport 3, Crackdown 2, Left for Dead 2, Tony Hawk Ride, and the much anticipated and overdue Alan Wake.  These games alone are reason enough for a massive nerdgasm, but this was just the tip of the iceberg for Microsoft's press conference.  They went on to announce a very well kept secret known as, "Project Natal".  This project has been, and will be, the talk of the video game world for this week and the rest of the foreseeable future.

Project Natal is a motion sensing camera that enables people to play games without the use of a controller.  The camera tracks 3-dimensional body movements and has voice and face recognition.  This means that by simply moving in front of your camera, your console will recognize you and automatically sign you into your gamer profile.  It also has the ability to track the movements of your entire body in 3-D.  This means if you're playing a fighting game such as Tekken, you would stand in front of your television and actually kick, punch, block, and dodge just as if you were fighting another human.  There was a great moment during the presentation when they were showing off the abilities of the camera by playing a full body movement brick breaker type game, when the speaker called out the Wii by saying, "This isn't a game where you end up on the sofa just using some kind of preset waggle commands".  This was more than enough for Microsoft to show and had just about everyone in the crowd buzzing, but then they brought out the President of Lionhead studios, Peter Molyneux.

What he showed the crowd today was quite possibly the most phenomonal and disturbing thing I've ever seen in a video game.  He introduced a character named Milo.  This character has the ability to recognize your face, voice, and emotions using the project natal camera.  In the video he showed there is an actual human woman talking to Milo as if he was another human being, or a friend.  Then they showed the truly remarkable thing the natal camera could do.  In the game, Milo needs help with a school project and doesn't know how to draw a fish.  The woman in the video draws a fish on a piece of paper, holds the paper up to the camera, the camera scans the picture, and Milo takes the picture and is now able to get on with his project.  If you don't believe it, then just watch the video for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxU_T7C4Ils.  

It is no doubt that Microsoft stole the show with Project Natal and it will be extremely interesting to see where and how this type of technology will go from here.  Hey, worst case scenario is Milo is the beginning of Skynet and the beginning of the machine's take over of the world.