It's not like I don't want to. It's just that I don't feel like wasting that kind of money on something I'll only get to play a few times before the stupid DRM kicks in and locks me out of my own game.

Mass Effect and Spore to Require Online Authentication Every 10 Days

I just got home from a trip that took me out of gaming range almost that long. So, besides the fact that DRM is b.s., I'll very likely wind up with a useless piece of plastic in my CD case either after a future trip (you do get up to 3 activiations) or someday when EA is out of business and I want to haul out my then old copy of Spore and play it.

UPDATE: There's hope yet!

[ via Brandelion ]

Yep. In Fox's world, Abraham Lincoln debated the freed slave, abolishionist Frederick Douglass.

Whatevah. In my world, he debated Oliver Douglas, so there!

Seems like we won't have as to wait for this as I thought:

*Solonor does the geeky dance of glee*

EDIT: Bloody hell. It's copyright crap all over again. You can't play with the trailer maker or the comic maker unless you live in the UK.

*Solonor does the pissed off dance of disappointment*

It's not that Forbidden Kingdom is a terrible movie. (Heaven knows the criteria for a good martial arts film has little to do with it actually being good.) It's just that it wasn't all that much fun.

Sure, there's the much-anticipated one-on-one between Jackie Chan and Jet Li. And, seriously, it's the high point of the film. But I couldn't shake the feeling that it was too manufactured. Too "let's not offend either guy's fans." I'm sorry. I love Jackie Chan, but Jet Li could kick the 54-year-old Chan's ass and was just holding back for the sake of the film (yeah, yeah, I know it's all pretend, but still). What I really want to see is a young Jackie Chan take on Jet Li without the whole special effects deal.

I love the flying-by-wire thing when it's done right--when the movie is a great fantasy story. Jet Li's Hero is a brilliant example. Forbidden Kingdom is not. I know I just said that plot didn't matter, but that's when you're looking at it for just the awesome fight scenes. When the fights are obviously fake, then it becomes a fairy tale, and goes back to needing a story to care about. Right off the bat, this one's got an annoying American kid as its hero, and the bookend scenes at the beginning and end of the movie are just painful to watch. I didn't want to follow him into some oriental dream world. I wanted to watch Jackie Chan and Jet Li kick ass.

There were some good things about the movie. Jackie Chan is as funny and fun to watch as usual. Jet Li is like a dancer, and his giggling turn as the Monkey King is amusing. The main bad guy is appropriately bad (though not exactly Darth Vader). It just wasn't enough to outweigh the "ABC Afterschool Special" vibe I kept getting from the kid.

Bottom Line: It was like watching a Nickelodeon version of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

I saw the trailer at the Florida Film Festival and thought it was just going to be funny watching old people do Ramones and Talking Heads songs. ('cuz laughing at old people is, like, awesome and stuff) What I found was a funny and beautiful film about friendship, desire, perseverance, and life. It had me rolling with laughter one minute and forcing back tears the next.

I've included a clip of one of the high points of the movie. In fact, as one YouTube commenter put it, I think it will wind up being one of the best scenes on film in 2008. I'd recommend not watching it without seeing the movie first. Knowing what came just before this song just puts it over the top in the heartstrings-pulling department. But even without its context, it's so achingly beautiful that I forgive Coldplay for sucking so much.

If you show up in a bar and start stompin' out country tunes, and that bar is not a bona fide country bar, you'd better be good. Not good we were, Obi-wan. If that had been the end, then it would have been my first and last open mic. Ever.

Fortunately, the guy that was running the show was an extremely charitable fellow named Bob (who, by coincidence, went to the University of Maine in the 60's). Since there were only 4 or 5 acts signed up, he suggested that we stick around, get drunk, and hop up for another try later. So, we tuned up the geetars and decided to just have a fun. The result: Fun!

Our second set was a rollicking good time. In fact, a couple of biker looking dudes rolled in and gave us the seal of approval when after a hard-rockin' version of "Move It On Over" one of them cheerfully rolled up his pant leg to reveal his "Hank Williams" tattoo. What higher praise is there?

Well, apparently, I've been a little less so this past year, because I took a peek at the outstanding posts and found 13 of the suckers. After deleting the ones that don't make sense to finish off, here is some of the linky goodness I intended to share with you earlier...

The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated (A Library of Congress Exhibition) - Amazing color photographs of Imperial Russia by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii made between 1907 and 1915.

How to make a Green Lantern ring - "In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power.. Green Lantern's light!" (via Brian)

U.S. Intelligence Community - After reading that the National Intelligence Estimate was made by "all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies," I had to wonder, "16? How many spy groups does a country need? And how do we know there's only 16? Aren't some of them like secret and stuff? And is it a gated community? Is there a safehouse owners association?"

Caroline Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama and I Refuse to Buy into the Obama Hype (now a supporter) - A two-fer set of political links, 'cuz I'm an irrational, moon-eyed Obama nut who doesn't see past his pearly white teefs, don'tchaknow. Not that I'm bitter about being labeled a delusional, naive, zombie, fanboy or anything... in any case, the only reason I'll torture my brain with another 6+ months of paying attention to this crap is the fact that it's the best soap opera on TV (until Heroes comes back). I know who I'm voting for in November, and it sure as hell ain't McBush.

Finally, here's a little meme that I'm warping a tiny bit and calling the "3-2-1 Wiki Meme" (mostly because I don't like the original instructions where you tag others).

This is what you do:

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday.
2. Find 3 events that happened on that day.
3. Find 2 other people who were born that day.
4. Find 1 holiday that is celebrated on that day.

Here's mine:

Three events that happened on this day.
1905 - Albert Einstein publishes the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", where he introduces special relativity.
1971 - Ohio ratifies the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, lowering the voting age to 18, thereby putting the amendment into effect.
1997 - First Harry Potter book is published.

Two birthdays.
1891 - Ed "Strangler" Lewis, American professional wrestler (d. 1966)
1934 - Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician (d. 1997)

One holiday.
Independence Day in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

(via Kat )