Cephiros, The One Winged Angel

Last night I decided to upgrade to Firefox 3. I mean it is just a browser even if they say it’s a vast improvement over Firefox 2. However, when I upgraded I noticed it was taking bookmarks that were much older than my current ones. I finally discovered the reason for this was because I once installed a pre-release of Firefox 3.

After what seemed like hours upon hours. I finally resolved the issue.

Anyways, small update. Least I posted!
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Today was a contrast of highs and lows. Even though I had very little sleep; I went to Circuit City because of a sale on 1600 Microsoft Point cards at $15! That’s a savings of twenty-five percent per card. I cleared out the whole stock at the Gateway Circuit City. $120 dollars worth of points for $90… Score! So far I haven’t spent any since I don’t want to go wild with my spending. I might pick one or two more but we’ll see.

On my way back to the MAX, I need to get some change for laundry since I wasn’t able to get any quarters on Friday or Saturday. It was a big pain in the ass. Two dollars from the Fred Meyer’s customer service counter. The rest I already had or got from putting dollars bills in a soda and pushing in the change return button.

Laundry was started relatively late in the day since the laundry rooms get quite busy on Sundays. However, the dryers were a little difficult in finding an empty one until around 3pm. Everything was completely finished near 5pm; I went down to the laundry room to get my clothes and I returned to my front door. Bah, I didn’t bring my keys and I accidently locked my door. FUCK! FUCKETY FUCK! Ok, breath in, breath out. I was able to get back in thanks to my girl, Chandelle but after nearly two hours outside.

I think I found a domain name for my new video game blog. I also think I found the perfect Wordpress theme as well. After I flesh out my budget a little then I will register the new domain names and start the new site construction.

That’s all folks!

Rockband Roundup – 6/3/08 DLC Reviewed

Another week passes by and Harmonix has given us more DLC as promised. Whether or not you like the music they release every week. You do have to applaud them for at least keeping their promise of weekly DLC at moderate prices. Anyways, enough fanboy pandering to Harmonix! We’ve got content to review!

This week’s review is Disturbed Jimmy Buffett. Ah, yes the new name for Parrot heads from now on. No, no, I am just kidding. Yes, this week we have Disturbed and Jimmy Buffett. This week’s content has something for good ole dad and his teenage son. Maybe buy the Jimmy Buffett pack as an early father’s day present? Perhaps, I can help you decide!

Disturbed - 240 MS Points ($3.00) Pack / 80 MS Points ($0.99) Individually

Truthfully I never heard of nor listened to this band prior to the announcement they were going to be in Rockband. That doesn’t mean I’m not open to new music but I need a venue that allows me to experience new music. After downloading and playing it. I can tell you that I really enjoyed these songs.

I do believe that this might be the first time the bass was harder for me than the guitar parts. I played both bass and guitar on hard. I was able to pass them all but with higher scores on guitar. The one song that I had the most trouble with which required some practice was “Perfect Insanity” since it had a short but quite challenging solo.

All of the songs had interesting but challenging note charts for all three instruments while the vocalists might have a small break in difficulty here. All three songs have solos on guitar that were hard but not impossible. Bass made good use of chord changes mixed with hammer-ons/pull-offs. Drum note charts were fun and allowed this gimped drummer to actually do well.

Final Verdict: Good song pack and with a great limited price. Absolutely get it unless you can’t stand Disturbed.

“Indestructible”

Band: 6/9 Guitar: 7/9 Drums: 7/9 Vocals: 3/9 Bass: 7/9

‘Inside the Fire”

Band: 6/9 Guitar: 7/9 Drums: 7/9 Vocals: 4/9 Bass: 7/9

“Perfect Insanity”

Band: 6/9 Guitar: 8/9 Drums: 7/9 Vocals: 3/9 Bass: 8/9

Jimmy Buffett – 480 MS Points ($6.00) Pack / 160 MS Points ($2.00) individually

Parrot heads rejoice! Your Rockband ship has finally come in. Most people have heard at least heard one or two Buffett songs in their lifetime. You might actually be able to get your parents to play some Rockband. I find all of these songs catchy and pleasant to the ear. However, the drums are by far the most “challenging” of this song pack but not by much beyond the difficulty of the guitar and bass note charts.

However, if you’re an adult age twenty-one and over and drinking then you won’t have to worry about failing out on the guitar and bass. That’s a positive factor for this song pack. Apparently, all of the songs were recorded again specifically for Rockband. “Volcano” reminded me too much of Super Mario Brothers game music. This song pack is good for fans, parties, and getting a high spot on leaderboards.

Final Verdict: Six dollars is a little steep. I feel only those who are big Buffett fans or those who would like to diversify their song list should purchase this. You have the power… Use it!

“Margaritaville”

Band: 2/9 Guitar: 3/9 Drums: 4/9 Vocals: 1/9 Bass: 3/9

“Cheeseburger in Paradise”

Band: 2/9 Guitar: 2/9 Drums: 4/9 Vocals: 2/9 Bass: 2/9

‘Volcano”

Band: 3/9 Guitar: 4/9 Drums: 4/9 Vocals: 1/9 Bass: 4/9

Source: Song difficulty ratings from Rockband Music Store

It’s been a crazy week so far. Well, not really but I have been pretty tired and not getting much accomplished. Last weekend I went to the Rush Snakes & Arrows tour up by Battleground, WA. It was the first time that I saw them in concert and I had a great time. My father came up to visit me so we could go to the concert together. It was a special concert for since Rush was the first concert he attended when he was a teenager. Of course I was really tired the next day because lasted just past 11pm and you have so much energy after something like that which prohibits you from going to bed right away.

Margarita Monday was blast again in Grand Theft Auto IV. Hanging with friends of Gamehounds Podcast and Platform Nation meant I had a great time. Playing video games with people are not complete dicks and are liked minded felt good. I hope to attend every Margarita Monday if possible.

As I listen to my gaming podcasts and try to an active member of Platform Nation. I’ve realized that I would like to get more involved with the gaming community. I don’t ever expect to start my own podcast since there are more than enough good ones there. In addition, I don’t think I quite have that radio voice. I am going to submit a writing sample to The Gamers Pub to review retro games. It will be a good experience whether or not I get the position. It will allow me to sharpen my writing skills.

Also, I’m going to start a game related blog on my domain separate from my personal blog. Just to make sure things are not cluttered between the two. I’ve already done some house cleaning with old posts in this blog like all those Youtube posts whose videos which are most likely not valid along with some personal ones I no longer want on the internet.