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I know it's crazy but I've lived in SF for 12 years now and never made the short trip to Las Vegas. Well I finally did make it there this past weekend - and here's some random thoughts.
1) OMG - I've never seen so much free parking in my life.
2) 80's music - it's everywhere - in the casinos, the restaurants, the hotel lobbies - really cheesy "Oh Mickey you’re so fine" 80-s music. Guess that says something about their target market these days.
3) The roller coaster cars at New York, New York's roof top coaster are shaped like taxis. Lol
4) I realized that I really don't believe in something for nothing. The whole lure of getting rich quick by gambling is lost on me. I have a very fundamental belief at the core of my person that you only get things in life that you are willing to work hard for.
5) Cirque du Soleil's 'O' is one of the most amazing theatrical events I've ever seen. It is such a brilliant marriage of a multitude of performance traditions such as theatre, circus, street performance, cabaret, vaudeville and it all works so well together. The show really took my breath away several times.
6) Cirque du Soleil's Beatles tribute called "Love" was even better than "O"
7) The Bellagio fountain is WAY bigger than it looks on TV and entirely enthralling to watch.
8) Sure it's mostly OTT and totally cheesy at times (ok often)- but Vegas offers subtle thrills too if you are observant. Little things like the completely bare box white sushi restaurant decorated with nothing but thousands of goldfish in bowls, or the lounge decorated with hundreds of iridescent hand blown glass bubbles to give the illusion of sitting inside a champagne glass.
9) Everything in Vegas looks like Americans think it should rather than how they actually do. From the Bridge of Sighs which is easily 4 times the size of the actual, to the Gondola's floating through crystal clear pool water rather than the brackish, pungent sludge of Venice Canals
10) I liked it alot more than I expected I would. I sorta get the allure of weekend in Vegas and think I'll be back.
Infamous
Overall - 8.5
Art direction/ animation - 9
Story - 7.5
Controls/ Combat/ Platforming - 8
Replay Value - 7
(Scale 1 - 10)
An interesting game in that it takes the 'Sand Box' game to a new level. They have managed to have open world exploration without sacrificing character development or a story line that draws you through the game. The real star of the game is the actual exploration of the world. The game boasts terrific 'flow style' jumping and platforming that make moving around the world good fun. It's sort of 'Mirror's Edge' without the broken combat system and with the addition of a point.
In summary - I liked the game. It throws alot of different types of game play at you; combat, platforming, exploration and even stealth and executes them all reasonably well. The story, though not perfect, is engaging. And the game length is really respectable (close to 30 hours) especially with the current trend to shorter and shorter games. I'd say this one is probably worth a purchase and an absolute must for rental.
Despite often being asked, I still find it difficult to talk about ‘Bear Pride’ in general terms. It’s hard to sum up such a wonderfully diverse and broad reaching community in just a few words. I am even somewhat hesitant to do so for fear that by overly defining the community, I am in someway limiting it. It is hard to pin down exactly what it is that has made this community so attractive to so many people and frankly so successful. There really was no ‘Bear Community’ fifteen years ago, but look how far we’ve come in such a short time. For me the key question is not ‘what’ we are, but ‘why’ we are.
( Read more... )
We're All Criminals Now
Video'd on the subway
reading the news and then
walking along the highstreet
video'd once again
Waiting for a bus in Stockwell
Cameras on my back
suddenly hearing sirens
sounds like a panic attack
Chorus
Hey Hey, Don't ask me how we've changed
We're all criminals now.
Another routine procedure
Driving in your car
stopped and search and questioned
can you prove who you are?
Chorus
Got the bus to the station
music playng in my head
ran to get on the tube train (Didn't this just happen on Muni?)
Police shoot someone dead.
Chorus
I recently (and arguably hypocritically) got an ipod touch - because my old ipod died. I was understandably very skeptical at first but I found the interface very easy to use, and the apps alot of fun. I found a portable bridge player that I think is just amazing. But for me - this is just a smaller more convenient PSP. And when I compare it to that product - it has most of the features I want and is comparably priced. (Although the lack of external media ports and battery are disadvantages) Had I paid $499 for a poor quality phone that is now being offered for $99 dollars (80% less!!) a little more than a year later, I, like any objective consumer, would be livid.
As usual, The Simpsons got this just right in a recent episode. While Lisa is at the 'Mapple' store shopping for a 'mypod' - 'Steve Mobs' comes on the in-store big screen monitor and says " I have an announcement to make…" - the scene cuts to all the customers desperately yanking cash out of their wallets and throwing it at the cashier before they even know what they are buying.
For what it's worth that's what I can't stand - that brain washed, mob mentality, of anything Apple does is awesome even when they are doing stuff that is pretty clearly un-awesome.
oh and by the way - that original iphone you spent $500 on a year ago? It's now $99.
Ok applezombies - commence flaming me about how ignorant I am for thinking that you all just got completely screwed (again) by Apple.
I can't help but feel conflicted about my IML experience. I will admit upfront that, sexually, I am a very conservative person (Captain Vanilla as one ex dubbed me). But intellectually, I am extremely liberal. I believe strongly that anything two consenting adults want to do in the privacy of their homes is completely their business. But it's the privacy part that I am struggling with. Watching guys walk down the streets around IML, into restaurants, museums, public parks etc. I couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Sitting shirtless in buttless chaps in a public venue where children are - well I just find it inappropriate. There is a part of me that respects the freedom of expression, and the unwillingness to be marginalized by society’s 'norms'. I agree that governments should not have the power to edit us as humans beings and dictate how we should express ourselves, but I guess that I also feel that inherent in that believe is the understanding that mature adults will 'self-edit' their behavior when necessary. And I can't help but wonder how much that failure to do so contributes to the fear and hate which fuelled Prop 8.
Each year at the Vendor Mart at IML there is one display that is truly and utterly shocking - it's (IMHO) intentional and meant to be challenging. This year it was a large screen TV playing an endless loop of extremely graphic bestiality porn. Again, it's not the act itself I object to (although it probably fails my 'two consenting adults' test.) It's more that I feel a little like a hypocrite when I am explaining to my family and friends that gays are just like everyone else and not perverts and freaks, while watching videos of gay men doing stuff that I'd be appalled if they ever saw.
I reminded of the questions that form the core of Edward Albee's recent Broadway shocker "The Goat". How tolerant am I? How tolerant should I be? If I like to consider myself open-minded - does that mean I have to accept everything? Is there a line? Where is it and who decided where to draw it? Should we as a community try to present ourselves as more 'mainstream' in order to garner approval and acceptance? And if we decide that we should not self -edit, is it naive to demand that society accept us no matter what our behavior (especially - when not even all of us are comfortable with certain things)?
These are all difficult questions and I'm struggling today.
