Blogs that change direction - the best?

Sometimes when I sit down to write a blog post, it comes out totally different than I intended it to be. I may start out just wanting to talk about a certain game, or a certain app, or a certain thing I've been doing, and it metastasizes into something either much more profound or, sometimes, something much less coherent (though thankfully, that doesn't happen often).

Most of the time, those end up being some of my best posts, or at least the ones that get the most response, and it's totally unintentional! Maybe it's that stream of consciousness thing sharpened to a fine point.  Maybe one of these times, when I'm facing a bout of "what should I post about today?" lethargy, I should just sit down and start writing and publish that!  It would probably be better than some of the stuff that's posted on here.

Anyway, there is a reason this topic occurred to me today.

American Airlines iPhone app - something weird

American Airlines has introduced its own iPhone app (don't know if they previously had other smartphone apps or if they will be doing one).

Upon reading the description of what it can do, it sounds very cool. Monitor your status for upgrades, set parking reminders, and things like that.

But there's one rather strange addition to the product description, something that just jumped out at me and said "LOOK AT ME! I'M WEIRD!!!!!" (It then proceeded to pummel me upside the head until I decided that maybe I should take notice of this)

Here's the description, from the app's web site:

Tom Larscheid leaving the Canucks booth after 30 years

I say this with a bit of a tear in the eye, as a Vancouver Canucks fan for the last 12 years. After the first game of this upcoming season (the team's 40th anniversary), Tom Larscheid will be hanging up the radio microphone as colour analyst for the team.

In these modern times when most hockey games are available on TV, I don't listen to them on the radio much any more. However, when I do, I will greatly miss hearing Larscheid's passionate voice analyzing the play of our favourite team.

Yes, he is a "homer" (for those not into the lingo, that means that he's very obviously rooting for his team), but he was much more than that.

Joining the ebook revolution?

Just saw this on Mashable today.

Amazon: E-books Will Overtake Paperbacks by the End of 2011

It's funny how this just kind of sneaks up on you, because for years I've been reading about how ebook sales are anemic and not making much of a dent in the publishers' bottom lines. Pocket Books discontinued their ebook only Star Trek: S.C.E. series due to poor sales. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Amazon reports that they sell 180 ebooks for every 100 hardcovers. Does this come as a surprise to anybody else?

Some of my friends have extolled the virtues of ebooks, and I do get them sometimes, mainly for reading on the go. But when I'm sitting at home, lying in bed (or in the reading room bathroom), I gravitate to a physical book. I haven't graduated to an ebook-only lifestyle.

Have you? Do you prefer hard copies of books or have you gone exclusively ebook? Or are you like me, a bit of a mix?

And if you haven't gone to ebooks, why not? And if you have, why?

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Yet another reason not to eat food at sporting venues

Do you go to a lot of sporting events? Do you find yourself eating there? That can be quite the expensive proposition. We go to Vancouver Canucks games at GM Place (It will take me a while to start calling it Rogers Arena), and all we buy is a large Diet Coke that lasts us the entire game. The prices are outrageous!

A rather small cup of Molson beer (basically equivalent to Budweiser as far as market saturation goes) costs over $7!! And if you want a "good" beer, like Okanagan Spring, it's over $8! Even our large diet coke costs $4.75 ($5.25 if they're doing "collector's" cups). I can't imagine trying to take a family of 4 to a game, and actually trying to feed the kids.

So do you really need another reason not to buy food at the ballpark?

I don't care. Here's another one!

Want to get sick?

Loving the new office!

Can't remember if I posted anything on here about it, but my Facebook friends are aware that I moved offices earlier this month.  After almost a month being down here, I have to say that I'm really enjoying this.  My work environment is a lot more conducive to getting things done, and despite the fact that having a window was not a deal-breaker for me (I was doing fine without one), I have to admit that it's really nice to have one.

I also have to admit that I'm mainly posting about this because I want to post some original pics rather than stuff from the web.  So please indulge me.

Obama in Madden 11? A different take

Wow, lots of controversial comments and vitriol in response to Game Informer's post about President Obama making a cameo in Madden 11.

For those of you who don't know, EA Sports has revamped its Super Bowl celebration when your team wins that Super Bowl trophy.  In addition to team-specific commentary and the appearance of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, the team takes a trip to Washington D.C. and meets President Obama, giving him a team jersey and everything (you can see videos of this on IGN's site).




(This is a horrible rendition of Obama, by the way)

Of course, this news sparked outcries of "boycott Madden!" and "You're just a bunch of rednecks!!!" in the comments section.

I'm a conservative who has no love for Obama whatsoever, but that's the most political I'm going to get in this post.  I think calls of boycotting the game are ridiculous.

Disturbed in Limbo

No, I'm not talking about watching Roseann Barr (or does she still just go by "Roseann?") doing the Limbo.

I'm talking about this wonderful new Xbox Live Arcade game called Limbo.  If you have the opportunity to check it out, you must.  Yes, it's $15 (1200 Microsoft Points), but it's well worth that money.

I just finished it last night, and it's one of the few games I have the urge to just immediately start it over. I resisted that urge, because I wanted to get some more Alan Wake time in, but I will go back to it soon.

Just what's so cool about Limbo?  Duh.  Everything!

Basically, Limbo is a simple game and a simple story.  You control The Boy as he wakes up in a completely surreal world, on a quest to save his sister who has disappeared.  In the process of the 3-5 hours you'll spend playing this game, you'll experience haunting images, grisly deaths, and incredibly innovative platform puzzles that will tax your brain trying to figure out how to move past them.

One Hit Wonders of the 90s (Part 24)

Hello, dear reader. I have a favour to ask you. The original post begins after all of the asterisks, if you want to skip this.

Now that the One Hit Wonders of the 90s series is over, I'm not going to be doing my weekly revisiting of all these posts (I had to do that to add the new post to the bottom). Thus, I won't be able to catch any broken picture links or deleted videos any more. Yet I want these posts to be as good as possible.

Please, if you happen upon one of these posts, or if you take a walk through a whole bunch of them, let me know if you find anything that doesn't work. You can leave a comment, or you can send me a message using that handy "Contact Me" page linked above.

Also, feel free to let me know what you think of the post or any of the videos!

Thank you.

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After a night of drunken debauchery otherwise known as the weekly Vancouver Public Library Book Club meeting (What? We were discussing the relative merits of Thomas the Tank Engine), it's hard to get up and get going on this beautiful Sunday morning. But I shall persevere.

Why?

It's not just because the cat's sitting there looking like she'd make a great pair of mittens.

It's also because it's time for the next installment of the weekly post that's against the Geneva Convention in 13 countries. No, not Lindsay Lohan's "What Did I Do This Week?" scrawl.

It's one-hit wonder time!!!!

The hits that make me want to dance...

and sing...

and lots of other things that I can't really talk about (seriously, that restraining order is *so* constricting).

As usual, you can find the list I'm taking these super-wonderful songs from here. But don't you dare check it out before I'm done. Otherwise, this will come and get you.

Whoops! That's me before I had my dental work done. I thought I had gotten rid of that!

I mean this.

Don't say you weren't warned.

Here we go!