The death of music

I mean, we know Justin Bieber is actually a girl, but Ludacris got in on this? I know this is 4000 years too late, but I ended up being viewer 590,032,709  after resisting for so long. Anyway, I can’t take him serious anymore. Im not a huge rap fan, but this tune was pretty sweet back in the day in my partying days.

And now he’s Justin Bieber’s bitch. Anyway, Justin Bieber is the death of music. I cant take any new music seriously. Ever again.

Short poll, yes or no

Let’s Play Golden Axe 2

http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#hpZ7gfnNJQA

Part 1 and 2 of my Golden Axe 2 LP.

Let’s Play Golden Axe

Start to finish, one of my favorite games on the Genesis.

Netflix raises prices OMG end of world!

Netflix has proven itself as a necessary evil in the world. The online streaming service, I mean movie rental service,  accounts for a whopping 30% of bandwidth use in the US, at least according to this site. It serves up tens of thousands of movies and TV shows, 80% of which are either terrible or old as dirt. Yet it accounts for a lot of people’s primary source of watching new TV shows and movies, with a paltry $8 monthly service fee to get an on-demand network well ahead of what cable and satellite providers have, and just $2 more to stick a middle finger to Redbox and Blockbuster to get a DVD mailed out to you. Well that middle finger’s cost has quadrupled now.

Getting rid of these is Netflix's middle finger to the postal service, godspeed!

Now bear in mind, Netflix had gotten is start by doing the whole mail DVDs business, before streaming was ever an option. So in a way, it is kind of a stab in the back at where they got their start. Of course, technology happens. AT&T for instance stands for American Telephone and Telegraph. They got their start on telegraph. Nowadays, who the hell uses a telegraph? Its only a matter of time before these shiny, environmentally destructive discs go the way of the telegraph.

I have to say, I like the new model, to a degree. Im shocked about the outrage people have in the difference of the pricing. Netflix for damn sure wasn’t making any money off the 1 DVD model only costing $2 a month more. And they are a business, not a charity. And yes, you can get virtually everything on DVD whereas Instant Stream is like finding a needle in a haystack for something that is not only new but worthwhile. Still, Netflix is just awesome. I dont watch TV anymore, I watch Netflix. I know its “so soon” after my Hulu Plus article, but this is breaking news. Though Im sure you probably read about this at 50,000 other places by now.

Boo hoo to those that are going to cancel Netflix because you dont get your DVD for 2 bucks more anymore. Your only option now is Redbox, which also has a similarly terrible selection, and will be the victim of a future article. Blockbuster has gone the way of the dodo because you wanted to pay $1 instead of $3 or $4 for a movie rental, well that and their terrible ability to trend with technology, kinda like with some nameless telegraph company that though talking on the phone would never take off. I do miss Blockbuster though, if just because for their last 3 years or so, the stores were like walking in a building attacked by a zombie apocalypse, except clean and tidy, and always in stock for the latest movie, eff waiting for weeks for Redbox and Netflix to finally have it. And Blockbuster will be a victim of an article too.

XBOX 360 Netflix client is for the win. The Wii and PS3 client sucks. Call me a fanboy if you must, you cant hide from the truth.

But today, its all about Netflix. Grow some hair on your balls and just cancel the DVD addon if you are going to complain about the price increase. And if you are only in it for the DVD, well then cancel the streaming. Netflix may be raping your wallet, but at least you can choose how they’re raping it.

So how about some feedback from all (2) of my trusty readers. Vote on a poll, is the price increase going to affect your movie watching at all?

Lunchtime!

One of the perks of working with a heartless multibillion dollar wireless carrier is getting a free lunch every now and then. It certainly makes getting through a day of people bitching about charges on their bill which are totally justified that much easier. However, it is always something that I regret right after the food hits my fat, cornbred american tummy.

Now bear in mind, the idea of getting free food gets me excited like Lindsey Lohan after an all night binge, but the consequences are never worth it. Little Caesars again!? They are all about quantity over quality, they make enough of their blasted pizzas to feed everyone on earth to the point of heart attack. In case you arent aware of little caesars, first consider it a gift. Then consider that they sell large pizzas for 5 dollars. They offer the ultimate in recession friendly dining if you dont count ramen, and they also make your soul go in a recession.

Pizza is pizza, and free pizza is even better, but prepare for a full on attack on your body. Eating their styrofoam crusted pizza is one thing in the comfort of your own home, but eating it in a building that 500 others occupy is a different beast. Burping becomes your primary form of exhaling, expelling gas from your ass seems like a good way to fix the situation until everyone else is doing it. After its all said and done, even the most staunch, braindead tea partier will be a believer in Al Gore’s ramblings.

This is a life changing event that I wouldnt wish on my greatest enemy, yet myself and millions of others cant resist shoving this crap in our faces. God help us, or at least seek the comfort of a colon cleaning.

Rapid Fire Review – Spiral Knights (PC, Steam)

This is a review of a free to play action mmorpg from Sega. This game is free to download and play from Steam or the Spiral Knights website. The gameplay is fast paced and has less grind than most MMOs, but also lacks the depth you get from most MMOs in combat. Still, it is a fun game that I recommend giving a try, especially if the standard MMO is too dull or deep for your tastes.

Pros:

Bright and Colorful graphics

Great Soundtrack

Easy and fun pick up and play gameplay

Excellent variety of dungeons, traps, and item pickups.

Cons:

Lacking in customization

Combat is too simple

You have to grind or pay to play to prevent running out of energy for the day.

Final Rating: B-

Hulu Plus – Like paying upfront for STDs

If you happen to have an XBOX 360, you may have recently noticed that XBOX Live has been introduced to the Hulu Plus service. And the timing was perfect, as they managed to introduce it during the PSN outage to put that much more salt in the wounds of disgruntled PS3 owners who were unable to utilize the services they paid for like Hulu Plus or Netflix. When this happened, Microsoft and Hulu came together with a deal to offer a 1 month free trial for the service. I thought it would be good to give it a try, as my wife has been a big fan of Hulu’s services, and Hulu Plus gave its customers access to a much larger catalog of tv shows and movies than the free site offers. But sometimes the lesson learned is, just because its free doesn’t mean you need to try it too.

A quick look at the interface.

The basic interface of Hulu Plus for XBOX 360 doesnt really have any surprises. The layout you’ll see here is basically the same as you would expect from the Zune Marketplace, Microsoft’s portal for Video purchases and rentals as well as music. A cascading menu of categories on the top left, with a simple but eye popping background, and the oversized fat tiles we’ve grown accustomed to for better or worse. Hulu Plus allows you to play videos you have added from the queue on the Hulu website directly from your XBOX, like you expect from Netflix. However, the interface suffers from a flaw that, once you get used to it isnt a big deal, but when you first discover it is so crippling it makes you wanna buy a bus ticket to the nearest Hollywood studio for a shootout verbal outlash. That flaw is none other than how your queue is actually managed.

There is no parity as you will quickly discover between the Hulu Plus website and the interface you use on the XBOX Live client. Hulu Plus doesnt offer any way of adding to the queue directly from the XBOX unlike Netflix (at time of when I tested the service at least). When you add a show to the queue on Hulu Plus, if you want quick and easy access to the whole series, you would select the add all to queue option. However, if you want to watch on your XBOX, its recommended to add only ONE episode to the queue. The reason is, whenever you add a series to the queue, it adds a tile for EVERY SINGLE EPISODE? WHAT. THE. HELL!?!?!1411?!~ Now, it does offer a nice option once you select an episode to switch which season and episode you wanna watch from there, but this is still just a damn mess, much like their programming lineup.

why can't I watch Modern Family from the start? Guess I'll wait on Netflix to add it.

Hulu Plus makes false claims about the amount of shows they actually feature, well to a degree. It is true they do have thousands of TV show episodes and hundreds of movies. However, there are some major gaps that make these numbers completely irrelavent. I wanted to catch up on a show called Modern Family, which I hear is supposedly one of the best TV comedies of recent times. Due to scheduling issues and lack of a DVR service, I have never been able to watch the show, and Hulu Plus gave me a great opportunity to watch it from the comfort of my living room. The problem is, they only offered Season 2. WTF? Well, there’s one show I can’t watch. My wife is big into Glee, I think I would hate it personally, but I want to give it a fair shot and watch the pilot episode. Nope. They dont have that either. What’s going on here? I understand with the regular Hulu service they only offer the last few episodes of a show so they can keep you visiting the site regularly, and in the case of Glee I had dodged a bullet, but why with the service where I actually have to pay $$$$$MONEY$$$$$ do I have to deal with such inconveniences?

clicking that yes button is almost as good as sex

This brings me to the conclusion of the review: Paying for Hulu Plus is not much different from picking out a prostitute based on their STDs. Any way you look at it, sure you might have fun for a night, but after its said and done, you probably will get an itch or rash, stomach cramps, a reputation for being a lush, and dirty looks from the churchy folks. But getting an escort who has private parts so well traveled that the highway department had to come repave it at least doesn’t come with watching pesky commercials, and wasn’t the only reason we tolerated the terrible original Hulu service and its blasted commercials was because it was free? I cancelled my Hulu Plus subscription faster than it takes a horny teen to blow his load.

Let’s Play a horrible game – Zoo Race

This one brings me back, an old let’s play/review I did back in ’09 when all the reviewers were doing it.  Basically its a crappy bible racing game with tons of bugs.

Double Dragon NES Trilogy

Xena: Warrior Princess (PS1)