Author name: Jessie

Jessie Mihalik has a degree in Computer Science and a love of all things geeky. A software engineer by trade, Jessie now writes full time from her home in Texas. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing co-op video games with her husband, trying out new board games, or reading books pulled from her overflowing bookshelves.

Halo 2

/ Life

So, here I am, sitting in the Alamo Drafthouse, watching people play Halo 2 on the movie screen. While I’m not a huge Halo fan, I must say this is pretty cool. I actually got to play for a while, and the dual wielding is awesome. This is actually an event from the end of the whole “ilovebees.com” saga. I didn’t pay much attention to it, but apparently a lot of people were really, really into it. So, the Microsoft PR machine set up four locations across the country for a “training” event. Basically, it just means you get to come out and watch/play Halo 2 all night, with an Xbox Live connection to the other three locations. Another reason the Drafthouse is the best theater in Austin is the free wireless access, which is allowing me to bring this post to you straight from the source. When we get home, and I feel like it, we’ll post some pictures. Yes, you all have my permission to turn green with envy now.

Bleh, Dustin does not have anything with spellcheck installed, so any misspelled words are all his fault. :)

Drool Worthy

/ Applefangirl, Gadgets, Life

Well, as I’m sure you all know by now, Apple has announced a new “iPod Photo.” This handy little contraption comes in 40 and 60 gig versions with a color screen for viewing your photos. I’m not exactly sure who has 60 gigs of photos, considering that is bigger than the hard drive in my Powerbook, but I’m sure someone out there probably has 60 gigs of music. Crazy music freaks.

Besides featuring a “razor sharp LCD” screen, Apple has also managed to increase battery life to 15 hours for the new model. However, the downside of the new improvements are the slightly increased thickness and weight of the iPod. Not that I think you’re going to notice 0.06” or 0.2 ounces (compared to the previous 40 gig model), but hey, you might.

If you’re a big U2 fan or you just want to pay a premium for a black iPod, Apple is now offering the U2 Special Edition iPod, which sports a black case, red scroll wheel, and the band’s signatures on the back. It’s only available in a 20 gig model (guess you U2 fans don’t have much music?) and you’ll pay $349 instead of the normal $299. However, if are planning to buy “The Complete U2” from the iTunes music store anyway, then you’ll be happy to note the U2 Special Edition iPod comes with a $50 off coupon. Oh, and a special edition poster. Yippee.

Now for the most drool worthy news of the day. Tootsie Roll has finally, finally created an entire bag of Vanilla Tootsie Rolls. As everyone knows, vanilla was previously worth the extra effort of digging through a huge bag of mixed candy to find. Well, dig no more. Just run over to your favorite supermarket and pick up a bag of “limited edition” vanilla Tootsie Rolls. Mmmmm…

Ok, I seem to be having some difficulty typing this evening, so if you see typos, just ignore them. Must be the Project Management class; apparently if I go more than a few hours without using a computer I guess I forget how to type…

Sleep Is For the Weak

/ Games

So, with the addition of Fable into our Xbox collection, my daily routine has changed from “work, eat, sleep” to “work, eat, play Fable, play Fable, play Fable, oh crap! it’s 2 AM, well… ok, one more second, play Fable…” This has consequently changed the “work” portion of the day into the “sleep” time. So to counteract that, the “work/sleep” time has become the “YAYAYAYAYAY CAFFEINE IS GREAT!” time. Yes, I have everything perfectly under control. jitter twitch jitter

Well, let’s see. Fable. It’s not quite what I was expecting. It’s a lot more linear than I would like, especially after hearing all of the hype. I was hoping for a Morrowind type experience, which is probably why I was disappointed. The other disappointing thing is you can only play through the game as a guy. Not a terrible flaw, but it would’ve been nice to have the option to choose.

The game itself is beautiful. The graphics are well done and the changing of your character’s appearance is a very cool feature. Since I am playing as good, my character’s hair has lightened into blond and now I have a halo and ethereal butterflies hanging around. Dustin is playing as evil and his character’s complexion is turning dark and his horns are sprouting. You also acquire scars when you get hit in battle. After eight hours of play my poor guy is looking pretty sad.

I’ve heard the game is fairly short, by RPG standards, around 10-12 hours. That means I’m looking at about 2-4 more hours before the end. It seems much shorter than that. I really have a hard time believing I’ve played 8 hours already. At least the game seems like it will have high replayability (is that a word? it is now).

Should you buy it? Yes, definitely. Will you become addicted? Yes, definitely.

The Inuyasha Movie Experience

/ Anime, Movies

The Inuyasha Movie Experience

Yes, experience. Viz had free showings of the first Inuyasha movie in theaters across the country. Dallas happened to be one of the lucky places to get the movie. So, since we had been planning a trip to Dallas anyway, we went. The movie was ok, I’d seen it before and I still don’t like the English dub, but the experience is a toss up between hilarious and very, very scary.

The movie started at 10 and it said to get there early. We arrived around 8 and quite a few people were already there. Some were in cosplay, some in Inuyasha teeshirts, and some carrying around little stuffed Kirara’s. There were lots of kids (middle school, maybe), with their moms. Lot’s of girls with high pitched voices. Heck, probably lots of guys with high pitched voices, it was hard to tell.

So, after Dustin and I played our Gameboys for two hours, it began. First, loud screaming welcomed any main character onto the screen. Then, especially loud female screaming welcomed Sesshoumaru any time a glimpse of him was seen. Then, four guys decided to be narrators and would scream out the Japanese attack names over the English dubs. I thought that was pretty funny, but apparently some other people did not, judging by the number of “Shut the hell up!” yells that followed their narration. I mean, really, “Backlash wave” is a pretty lame translation of “Bakuryuuha” even though it’s probably close to literal. Just watch the movie and wait for the building music and booming attack noises while the English voice actor is screaming “BACKLASH WAVE” and you’ll see what I mean.

The obligatory booing and hissing accompanied Kikyou any time she decided to make an appearance and a round of aaahhhs was in order for Rin. Overall, the experience was ten times better than the movie would have been by itself. At least now I know that I’m not the craziest Inuyasha fan out there.

Cheezy Conversation of the Day

/ Life

“Hey look, there’s the dam!”
“Yeah, look at all of those dam rocks.”
“And all of that dam concrete.”
“I guess that makes this the dam road.”
“Look at those big dam power lines.”
“These dam jokes never get old.”