X-Games

Here's a quick summary of what I watched tonight.

Skateboard big air - Bob Burnquist and Jake Brown tie for first place, during the final run Jake wipes out. Bob throws his run to give Jake the gold. Bob's a legend and I honestly believe he could have won the competition, but being the veteran he is and Jake being a young star without a gold medal, he threw the run just so Jake could have it. I don't deny that Jake is a very talented skater and definitely is due a gold medal, but I really feel like he isn't grateful for Bob's gesture at all. On one hand, I do find it honorable that Jake didn't want the medal just given to him, but to an extent I think it's that he's overly confident and doesn't give Bob the respect he deserves.

I watched Moto X Step Up next. Ronnie Renner and Ricky Carmichael both earned gold medals after Carmichael crashed. I really feel like the competition should have continued. If Carmichael couldn't continue, then he lost, sorry. I don't really see why they felt the need to award both gold medals.

Hopefully we'll see something good tomorrow.

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Gamefly, Mercenaries, Wolverine, Batman, and Marvel vs Capcom 2

Let's have a video game inspired update.

A few days ago I subscribed to Gamefly. The service itself has always interested me, but for some reason I couldn't justify the X amount of dollars per month it would cost. I finally looked over at the list of games I wanted to play but would not offer me enough replay value to be worth a full purchase and decided that this was the best way for me try those games out. So on Friday night/Saturday morning, I registered and queued up a few games. I got my first game, Mercenaries 2, on Monday and my other game, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, on Tuesday. Overall a pretty quick delivery, I'm interested in seeing how long it takes when it's not over a Sunday.

Mercenaries 2 is alright. For the most part, it's pretty simple and has a few difficult things thrown in here and there. I really don't have much to say on this game other than it's fun for a bit. I guess you would classify it as having a sandbox world because it is pretty much open as GTA, Crackdown, and Assassin's Creed. However, in comparison to the games I just mentioned, the world seems a lot smaller. While I admit that some aspect of driving seems to be a little extreme (mainly the hand braking), the vehicles handle very well in my opinion, by far better than GTA and Crackdown. I'll probably finish Mercenaries 2 before sending it back for the next game, we'll see.

I had heard the Wolverine game was actually good, unlike the movie it's based on. I must admit, I'm having a blast playing it. While talking to Ryan he made mention that it really is hard to screw up a game of this genre (third person beat 'em up) and I do agree, however, I also believe it's difficult to make a game of that genre really memorable. Wolverine's gore is absolutely over the top and it just appeals to that macho persona deep within me. The battles are so fluid in every aspect and while there's dramatic slowdown during crucial kills, it never got to the point of where I found it to be annoying. One of the first "wow" moments I had was when fighting Sabertooth, there's a moment where he bends over after a blow and Wolverine did a barrell roll over him before throwing him across the room. Flawless transition. I believe my favorite mechanic of the entire game is the lunge ability. For me, it's just so much fun to be able leap a fair distance and skewer a soldier. Overall, I'm enjoying this game very much and highly recommend it as a rent.

This brings me to my next tidbit. I really hope Batman: Arkham Asylum is good. Also, a picture of the Scarecrow made it's way to the web today. Here's a pic, taken from Kotaku's article. http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/07/scarecrow.jpg

I love the way he looks. The Scarecrow was redesigned in Batman: The Animated Series volume 4 to be a dark figure with a noose around its neck. I'm very glad to see that it retains that aspect. The gasmask is a nice touch, not something I would have immediately though of, but considering the usage of fear gas it makes a lot of sense that he would wear one. The best part is the glove with syringes as fingers. Freddy Krueger would be envious of such a glove. The Scarecrow isn't a fighter, but with something like that he might actually stand a chance in a bout. I'm loving this design.

Marvel Vs Capcom 2 came out onto xbox live today. It will take you for a ride. I've played about two hours of it and I'm really enjoying it. After I get some sleep I intend on trying out the actual online aspect of it. Hopefully I won't get completely mauled.

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Vacation in Review

So I've had a day to recover from my vacation and now it's time to post things that really stand out to me from the week.

This was my first time back in Florida in about 10 years or so and my first time to Destin. It was nice being able to go on a vacation with the sole purpose of just being able to relax, as opposed to having a schedule and things to do. The only thing that we ever had to make sure to plan for was dinner time and besides that, we were on our own to do whatever we wished. In hindsight I feel like I should have made it down to the beach at least once more than what I did, however, I really can't figure out what day I would have sacrificed to do so.

Being someone who doesn't care for seafood for so long I finally saw this as my opportunity to try some of the best seafood to see if I liked it anymore. For the most part, this wasn't true. Every piece of seafood I tried, I couldn't help thinking to myself how much I would have rather it been another type of meat. Some of it was tolerable and I could definitely eat it all had I ordered it, it just wasn't my preference. I did get to try a fried softshell crab sandwich though, that was interesting in its own way. I also did get to try real sushi for the first time in awhile. That I managed to eat without many problems and even enjoy. The only one I can really think of that I didn't care for was cucumber + cream cheese. Oh and hush puppies. Those were absolutely delicious down there.

As I've said many a times, the beach was absolutely beautiful when we went. For the most part the water was almost perfectly clear, the weather at all times was excellent. Everyone told me that it was a rarity to be there without a single day of rain or a day of extreme humidity. Not once while we were outside did I ever feel my shirt clinging to my skin as it so often does around here. Of course with the beach you also get the beautiful women. While not every female was absolutely gorgeous, there were quite a good amount of attractive women. Not just on the beach, but everywhere we went. Also, this trip reaffirmed that I love southern accents. Something about the phrase "sweet tay" really catches my ear.

Entertainment wise, we played a lot of games and saw a few movies. The movie theatre down there was excellent, as my post from a few days ago details. We definitely overestimated the amount of games we would play through while on vacation and were left with quite a few cases unopened. I wish I would have remembered that my monitor I brought was bad so Ryan could have brought his and we would have had two xboxes going uninterrupted.

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm glad to be home and I guess so. I'm really going to miss Destin though and will always remember this vacation. And as I've said many times during this past week, thank you very much to Ryan and his family for bringing me. In just a bit over a month I enter the work force that I've been dreading so much, this is definitely going to be one of my fond memories of my youth. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

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Our final day of vacation. Today we woke up about noon, went to an all you can eat sushi bar and hibachi grill just down the street for lunch. Ryan, Cam, and myself went down there and despite talking about it all week, the only one of us to get the all you can eat deal was myself. Three sushi rolls, a bowl of fried rice, a piece of cheesecake, and a scoop of fried ice cream later, I was stuffed to the point of feeling sick. Well worth the money.

Following that we went down the beach. Another beautiful day with absolutely clear water. Not the best waves, but definitely an enjoyable day at the beach.

For dinner we went to Old Bay Steamers again. This time I got the chicken alfredo and comically, they forgot to bring it out. So for the second time during this vacation, I got my food after everyone else.

Following dinner another night of boardgames with the other family. It was a good time, despite me losing most of the time. With us leaving early tomorrow morning, I should have been asleep a lot earlier than...well 2am. When I get home I'll write a full review of the vacation as a whole, since there are things that I'm sure I forgot to mention throughout it all.

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It's rather depressing to think that my vacation is almost over. Tomorrow is pretty much our last day here since we leave so early on Saturday.

Today we went down to the beach again. The water wasn't as clear as the other day but the waves were bigger. The sandbar was about the same as the other day. Overall a good day at the beach. For dinner we went to Osaka Japanese Steakhouse. It was my first time at a hibachi grill and it was a pretty good experience. The food was absolutely delicious and at the suggestion of Ryan's dad, I finally got some sweet tea since we are in the south. Normally I'm not the world's biggest tea fan, but I must admit that it was delicious as well.

Following dinner we went to Santa Rosa mall. After hitting up several gamestops and a Sears (got Crackdown for 10 bucks) we just explored it a bit. Nothing really stellar, but nothing horrible either.

After the mall we went over to the place where the other family that's vacationing with us are staying. There we played Rummicube (rummikube?) and even though I lost, I enjoyed myself. I wish we would have at least one game of up words, but it was getting late at that point so I can understand why we didn't.

Tomorrow we plan on heading to an all you can eat sushi bar and hibachi grill. I'm assuming the hibachi is not all you can eat and we're in reality just going for the sushi. Hopefully it'll be good. That's for lunch, not sure what's going to happen for dinner yet.

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So Wednesday's day of vacation consisted of Peggle, Sega Superstar Tennis, dinner, and Up.

Dinner was at a place called Perry's. It's about an 30 minutes to an hour outside of Destin's, a neat little hole in the wall seafood place. I do believe that place has filled me up more than any other restaurant we've been to. The hush puppies were better than Dewey's but not as good as the Lagniappe's. My actual meal was on time and probably better than the one I had at Dewey's.

Following dinner we went to see Up in 3d. I must say, Pixar is extremely good at invoking emotion with any actual dialogue. The movie itself was pretty good and definitely enjoyable. Not really a whole lot to say besides that. There was a short film before it that I really enjoyed concerning clouds and storks.

I feel the need to describe the place we went to go see the movie at. First of all, the theatre is done by a theatre called the Rave. The movie itself is cast on a DLP screen, versus the simple projectors at the theatres back home. Additionally, this one has an extremely nice surround system, something that I've always wondered why our theatres lack. I think this theatre was 14 screens and during peak hours would have three concession stands open, one in the center and one at the end of each wing.

The theatre itself is located in a place called the Destin Commons. I really love this place, it's pretty much a mall but located outside yet not lumped into the classification of a strip mall, at least in my opinion. I guess an appropriate way of describing it would be a village of strip malls. There's blocks like you would see in a regular residential neighborhood, but rather than separate buildings would be just one big building with multiple stores occupying it. Everything is done in a sandstone that just looks wonderful. The aesthetics of the place are only enhanced by the lighting and the foutains. Just a really pleasant place and I really wish I could spend more time down there. My only complaint is that the majority of the stores are all clothing stores that you'd expect to find in any mall. It just doesn't seem like the kind of place you would go to buy clothes, at least I wouldn't. It also lacks any form of electronics store which is a bummer for me.

I also feel the need to plug Sega Superstars Tennis. I bought this before we left on vacation for 5 bucks or so at Gamestop. This game has brought me hours of enjoyment since owning it. A highly recommended buy since you can get it pretty cheap. There's also a Sega themed racing game set in the same vein as Mario Kart on the horizon. It's from the same studio, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.

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I really should have done these blogs at the end of the day instead of at the end of the next day. I'm having a tough time remembering what all I've actually done.

Yesterday we actually made it down to the beach. It was my first time swimming in a large body of water (the Gulf of Mexico isn't actually an ocean, right?) and it was pretty amazing. While I can't really say I did a lot of 'swimming', the water was absolutely beautiful and so clear. I've never seen anything like it before. The sandbar at times was pretty high, resting only a few inches beneath the shore of the water. Yesterday was also a day when that hotel sold hot dogs and nachos. I guess it's not a frequent event because there was tons of people in line for them. They weren't bad at all and made a delicious lunch. Sadly, we didn't get any nachos because they ran out.

Because it was such a nice day, everyone decided to stay out on the beach for longer and we went to dinner later than usual. We went to a place called Dewey Destin's, the certain numbered grandson of the founders of Destin. After waiting a good hour and a half we were finally seated. The server came by and took our orders, whenever she finally delivered our food we noticed something was missing; my food. The server looked at us and said she'd check on my order. She came back out after 10 minutes or so and said that my food should be up any minute. Another 10 minutes pass and she came back out and informed me that they for some reason didn't cook my food and offered me a salad while I waited. So after crunching on some lettuce for a bit, she comes back out and informs me that they apparently ran out of pasta for my dish, so someone had been sent to go buy some from a local grocery store.

...

Yeah why I wasn't informed of this an hour ago when I ordered is beyond me as well. So then I waited, and waited, and waited. I finally got my dish (to go) and a free piece of pie. We also weren't charged at all for my meal. When everything was said and done, we spent somewhere in the realm of three to three and a half hours at this restaurant where only thirty to forty minutes of it being actual eating. To comment on the food, other patrons of our table complained that the balsamic dressing was nearly nothing but vinegar with a bit of worcester sauce mixed in. My salad was simply iceberg lettuce with ranch dressing and a quarter of a tomato. Their hush puppies were edible but not very flavorable, especially when compared to the amazingness of the ones we had the night before. Ryan's fried crab sandwich was alright as well. I tried a leg of it and found it to have an interesting texture but it tasted mostly just like fried batter with an odd aftertaste. The pasta was definitely not worth the wait. The alfredo sauce was good though, probably one of the better that I've had, but definitely not the best. The piece of key lime pie wasn't very tasty in my opinion. The crust was good, but really, just about any pie crust is.

While we were sitting there waiting on my dish, a server came up to who I assume was a manager or owner of the place and said something about a table getting ready to leave. The guy simply just said "I know". Very shortly after that while he was still standing there, another server walked up to him and informed him that a table just walked out, to which he responded again with "I know". So in addition to our table not having the best of experience with the restaurant, apparently another table was so tired of it they just left without paying their bill and the person in charge let them because it was the house's fault. Overall not the best place we've eaten and "alright" at best. I'd eat there again, but not if we have a repeat of what happened last night.

In video game news, we beat Dead Air on Expert last night and Ryan got his What Are You Trying to Prove achievement. We played Peggle for most of the day.

In closing, I present to you this image of how Twilight should have ended: http://imgur.com/3GUnR.jpg

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