Good news/Bad News

The Star Wars saga continues... not!
George Lucas announced Clone wars will continue, and a new SW tv series will be coming as well.
This is terrible news.
Why? Because we're still stuck in fucking prequel land! locked in by a set start and a set finish! Where's the fucking exploration? Wheres the expansion? Clone wars will take place between episodes 2 and 3, and the other live action show takes place between 3 and 4. Well thats fine and dandy george, but how excited can any of these stories possibly be when we all know the last chapter? If they wanted to do a post ROTJ movie, then we'd be talking. new jedi order coming up, cleaning up after the empire and all that.
So this new bumper series between the old and new trilogies might be good, since we're talking about the rise of the empire and vader and palpatine taking firm control. Whoa, hold on. We're not going to do that, because Lucas says no main characters! Great, the only interesting idea we've got and he's shit on it prematurely.

The new movie might be a gas, and I like the current Clone Wars show. but seeing as CW has already started and ended with chapter 25 leading into the beginning of Revenge Of the Sith, any new CW material would be going even DEEPER into side story hell.

FUCK. can't we get a new goddamned fucking Star Wars story where I DON'T know whats going to happen at the end?

Alpacas for fun & profit

I found myself at the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival today. These are truly weird creatures, but very friendly. They're like a cross between a dog a sheep and a llama. I petted one and another nibbled on my girlfriend's hand. It was pretty neat.

We got all sorts of alpaca propaganda, including a pamphlet "Meet the Alpaca: An introduction to a stress-free lifestyle with the gentle alpaca"

While I can't deny that they're clearly very lovable animals with great value to breeders, the alpaca fans were kinda like indie rockers, desperately dedicated to their alternative animals. No mainstream heards like cows or donkeys, no!

Halo 2 Update

I got a chance to play a bit with the new autoupdate on Halo 2 last night. As expected, the stronger, shorter fuse grenades are way more popular now. The update is obviously frustrating some people though, either because they can't cheat anymore or because they aren't prepared for the enhanced weapons (the pistol is now even weaker than before!). Whatever the case, i was mopping the floor in a manner greater than I'm used to, and other players were dropping out like crazy. This made stats on all the ranked games I played on monday unavailable, which is a shame.

Next week we get the the first 4 of 9 new maps, all of which are shown HERE. Official Xbox Magazine went to press before the 2 freebies were finalized so they've got shots of one of the maps the website doesn't advertise, "Elongation" which looks really cool. its 2 long parallel hallways with conveyer belts. Running the flag or bomb should be frantic.

Defending Feral cats

I can scarcely beleive this is an actual case.
I can understand that the cats are feral and killing native wildlife, but it just seems like it will create more problems. trapping, fixing, and releasing or even trapping and euthenising seem like better ideas. Hunter just want to kill whatever they can.
I understand hunting as a legitimate tradition, skill, and even as a sport. But why kill a wild house cat? you going to stuff it? eat it? I can't think of a sane person who would do either.

Bay gets Transformers

Yahoo has the story. The AP photo they put up there is from an article 3 years ago about collectors. Its Tony Bacala of TF2005 fame!

2 Dolla Bill y'all

from the Baltimore Sun:

A tale of customer service, justice and currency as funny as a $2 bill

Michael Olesker
PUT YOURSELF in Mike Bolesta's place. On the morning of Feb. 20, he buys a new radio-CD player for his 17-year-old son Christopher's car. He pays the $114 installation charge with 57 crisp new $2 bills, which, when last observed, were still considered legitimate currency in the United States proper. The $2 bills are Bolesta's idea of payment, and his little comic protest, too.

For this, Bolesta, Baltimore County resident, innocent citizen, owner of Capital City Student Tours, finds himself under arrest.

Finds himself, in front of a store full of customers at the Best Buy on York Road in Lutherville, locked into handcuffs and leg irons.

Finds himself transported to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, where he's handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service is called into the case.

Have a nice day, Mike.

"Humiliating," the 57-year old Bolesta was saying now. "I am 6 feet 5 inches tall, and I felt like 8 inches high. To be handcuffed, to have all those people looking on, to be cuffed to a pole -- and to know you haven't done anything wrong. And me, with a brother, Joe, who spent 33 years on the city police force. It was humiliating."

What we have here, besides humiliation, is a sense of caution resulting in screw-ups all around.

"When I bought the stereo player," Bolesta explains, "the technician said it'd fit perfectly into my son's dashboard. But it didn't. So they called back and said they had another model that would fit perfectly, and it was cheaper. We got a $67 refund, which was fine. As long as it fit, that's all.

"So we go back and pay for it, and they tell us to go around front with our receipt and pick up the difference in the cost. I ask about installation charges. They said, 'No installation charge, because of the mix-up. Our mistake, no charge.' Swell.

"But then, the next day, I get a call at home. They're telling me, 'If you don't come in and pay the installation fee, we're calling the police.' Jeez, where did we go from them admitting a mistake to suddenly calling the police? So I say, 'Fine, I'll be in tomorrow.' But, overnight, I'm starting to steam a little. It's not the money -- it's the threat. So I thought, I'll count out a few $2 bills."

He has lots and lots of them.

With his Capital City Student Tours, he arranges class trips for school kids around the country traveling to large East Coast cities, including Baltimore. He's been doing this for the last 18 years. He makes all the arrangements: hotels, meals, entertainment. And it's part of his schtick that, when Bolesta hands out meal money to students, he does it in $2 bills, which he picks up from his regular bank, Sun Trust.

"The kids don't see that many $2 bills, so they think this is the greatest thing in the world," Bolesta says. "They don't want to spend 'em. They want to save 'em. I've been doing this since I started the company. So I'm thinking, 'I'll stage my little comic protest. I'll pay the $114 with $2 bills.'"

At Best Buy, they may have perceived the protest -- but did not sense the comic aspect of 57 $2 bills.

"I'm just here to pay the bill," Bolesta says he told a cashier. "She looked at the $2 bills and told me, 'I don't have to take these if I don't want to.' I said, 'If you don't, I'm leaving. I've tried to pay my bill twice. You don't want these bills, you can sue me.' So she took the money. Like she's doing me a favor."

He remembers the cashier marking each bill with a pen. Then other store personnel began to gather, a few of them asking, "Are these real?"

"Of course they are," Bolesta said. "They're legal tender."

A Best Buy manager refused comment last week. But, according to a Baltimore County police arrest report, suspicions were roused when an employee noticed some smearing of ink. So the cops were called in. One officer noticed the bills ran in sequential order.

"I told them, 'I'm a tour operator. I've got thousands of these bills. I get them from my bank. You got a problem, call the bank,'" Bolesta says. "I'm sitting there in a chair. The store's full of people watching this. All of a sudden, he's standing me up and handcuffing me behind my back, telling me, 'We have to do this until we get it straightened out.'

"Meanwhile, everybody's looking at me. I've lived here 18 years. I'm hoping my kids don't walk in and see this. And I'm saying, 'I can't believe you're doing this. I'm paying with legal American money.'"

Bolesta was then taken to the county police lockup in Cockeysville, where he sat handcuffed to a pole and in leg irons while the Secret Service was called in.

"At this point," he says, "I'm a mass murderer."

Finally, Secret Service agent Leigh Turner arrived, examined the bills and said they were legitimate, adding, according to the police report, "Sometimes ink on money can smear."

This will be important news to all concerned.

For Baltimore County police, said spokesman Bill Toohey, "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world."

The other day, one of Bolesta's sons needed a few bucks. Bolesta pulled out his wallet and "whipped out a couple of $2 bills. But my son turned away. He said he doesn't want 'em any more."

He's seen where such money can lead.

as ridiculous as the combination of Best Buy's actions and the police's reactions, nothing is as bizarre as claiming this had anything to do with 9/11.

funny post script: in December of 2001, which really was just after 9/11, I was at this very Best Buy on york rd, brought 2 cds and a copy of Megaman x6 on playstation to the counter. clerk rang up the cds, didn't charge me for the game.

therefor I reason: paying for things at the best buy gets your arrested.

Come on.

Tool's Maynard James Keenan Says He's Found Jesus on a posting on April 1st? MTV isn't exaclty high caliber news anyway, but this is fuckin Maynard. Brian Warner himself is probably more likely give up the MM gig for the church than him.

Robots Playing Cards

saw this posted on fark. high quality!

New Times

Theres a computer animation school that just completed a short film for its final project called "BATMAN: NEW TIMES"
As you can probably guess, its about Batman, but the catch is that its animated using Batman legos as its inspiration. Even more impressive is Adam West starring as Batman and Mark Hamill as the Joker!

Combaticons

Just made this for our new Halo 2 clan, The Combaticons