Gism Butter

I’m always peaking at speed runs on YouTube. Archive.org has a section dedicated to them as well, but it lends itself to lengthy 100%-style runs. Who has the attention to watch a 5 hour run? Great for ambiance, though.

Anyhoo, I thought I post up a few well done runs. First, no death Contra run in 13:52, flat, is pretty freaking impressive. I expect he uses turbo on his controller. If not, wow, but if so… well, I can’t play very well without turbo either. So, no harm no foul on that. NES Advantage was definitely key there.

This run of Mega Man in under 30 minutes is also quite impressive.

Of course, Metroid is always popular in the speed running crowd, and this shorty run shows off lots of tricks of the trade.

My heart goes out to all the magnificent people I’ve worked with over at GameTap’s media efforts. Turner started GameTap a few years back, now, and they’ve, evidently, decided to can all of the ephemeral materials and concentrate strictly on the game services.

Unfortunately, that means I won’t be writing any more articles for GameTap, as my editors over there have been sent away, as, it seems, have been the news, reviews and film crews. I guess Turner decided to cash it all in due to low Web ratings. But, frankly, I can’t help but feel this is all a result of no management. The people they hired to run the Web news and do the videos were all of the absolute highest calibur, and were all people I respect very much. But without a coherent top-down strategy, all the talent in the world ain’t gonna help.

Went to the Tilden botanical gardens this memorial day.

I got to see and touch a Raven’s, or Presidio Manzanita. Or rather, the Presidio Manzanita. It’s the only genetic strain still existing, as it’s a cutting from a single bush in the Presidio, the last of its kind. All the hoo-hah aside, there are Manzanita’s named after every single fort, city, bluff, bay and mountain in California. At what point do we consider something to be a mutant variety of the same plant, rather than the last of a great dying species.

There are differences in these Manzanitas, however subtle, and this is what makes the situation sad. The SF Weekly did this already, so read up on it there. For now, here’s pictures of flowers, babies and pristine public parklands.

OMG OMG OMG, someone made a Torgo action figure. He takes care of the place while the master is away! Torgo is from Manos, the Hands of Fate. Possibly the worst movie ever made. And a great Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, to boot. A tragic affair, that movie. So bad that many people in it committed suicide.

I gotta say, The New Indiana Jones movie was really fun. Public theaters, however, suck. I hate people who talk during movies in the theater. At least whisper, people!

If you’re looking for an unadulterated look into the bucket of truth, chaos and the human subconscious, there are a couple of lenses I’ve been poking at lately. Places like 4Chan and IRCimages are wonderfully horrid fire-hoses of unadulterated Internet. They’re like looking into the eye of pure insanity.

In plain English, 4Chan is a site where anyone, anywhere, can anonymously post pictures and words. After a short period (Sometimes less than an hour) everything on 4chan is deleted from the server. As a result, images posted in the various categories of channels, represented by letters and slashes, range from irreverent to illegal. It’s not a place for the squeamish. But as a portal into the id of the Internet, it’s absolutely fascinating.

IRCimages, on the other hand, is just a robot that scoops up links to images from chat rooms around the Internet.

Again, the results of this hodge podge are at times delightful, and at others, revolting. I scooped out the image above from 4chan, saving it from oblivion. I can only imagine what someone’s art teacher thought of this Zoidberg.

Same goes for the below picture.

If the Internet is truly an uncontrollable, yet ultimately organized cognitient structure, 4Chan and IRCImages both represent the subconscious. That part of the brain that screams “Jump!!!!” when you stand on a cliff, or shouts obscenities at other drivers. And as with the bucket of truth, there’s a certain screaming madness that comes with staring into these abyssal horrors of chaos. I know they’re bad for me, but I can’t resist the urge to peek. Sometimes, you find gems, like this:

I’ve avoided talking about it, as I’ve had to use this as a bit of a threat, lately… But I’ve had DSL problems this year. Something is going on at the CO in downtown Oakland, and I’ve really only gotten a run-around. Covad says it’s AT&T. AT&T says it’s Covad. I just want them all to go away, and let the Internet wash over me. I’ve been down for 4 days! Horrors!$%&$#$%@#$

Spent a day out and about on Saturday. Then again on Sunday. Pictures below, and many many more on Flickr.

Who knew that the Muppets hawked coffee in one of the most violent and sinister ad campaigns ever conceived?

I normally hate fast food. But EA had shitty food at its event tonight, and I needed something to absorb the liquor when I got home to Oakland. So I wandered into the Burger King at 13th and Broadway for a chicken sandwich. I had the hiccups.

No sooner had I ordered, than Doris, the Shift Manager, noticed I had some nasty Hiccups. She immediately handed me a cup of water. And dammed if it didn’t kill my hickups. Therefore, I’d like to give a shout out to Doris, night manager at the 13th and Broadway Burger King in Oakland. She’s a rose amongst thorns.