Harry Potter fans rejoice! The new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, will be released on July 16, 2005. Good thing it’s not as long of a wait as last time. Check this out.
I recently saw a headline saying that the next movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is about 75% done. I didn’t read the article though. It’s currently scheduled for release on November 18, 2005.
The server that I usually play Everquest II on was down for about 2 days this weekend. After their normal early morning update on Friday, Sony had to take down all their US servers and I think one of their other servers. Most servers came back online yesterday morning, but the one that I usually play on didn’t come back on until this morning.
The latest message said something about hardware issues. A previous message said that they were doing a rollback. Whatever happened, they probably disappointed a lot of people. The downtime was good because I needed to work on other things this weekend.
At least they are going to try to make it up to everyone. Until Tuesday morning, everyone will receive a 50% XP bonus on adventuring and tradeskilling. I wasn’t planning on playing much over the next couple of days, but I think I will now. They also are giving everyone 3 free days.
There is a new miniseries making it’s debut tonight at 8 CST on Sci Fi Channel called Legend of Earthsea. It’s based on books by Ursula K. Le Guin. The series stars Shawn Ashmore (X-Men), Kristen Kreuk(Smallville), Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon), and Isabella Rossellini (drawing a blank here), among amothers.
Although most Sci Fi original movies that I’ve seen parts of are very bad, their miniseries are usually very good. If this one is only half as good as Taken, it’ll still be worth watching.
I’ve never read any of the books, but I’m going to give the series a try.
Lost is definitely my favorite new TV show this season. Of all the new shows that I started watching this season (mostly NBC shows because of all that advertising during the Olympics), Lost is the only one that I still watch.
The show is about a group of plane crash survivors that are stranded on a deserted island. It’s a lot like 24 in that it’s really just one long story divided into many different episodes. Each episode spans approximately one day. I like the way that use flashbacks in each episode to give you background information on one of the characters. It may be hard to pick up on everything if you haven’t been watching since the beginning, but I urge you to give it a try anyway. It comes on Wednesday nights at 7 CST on ABC. The very first episode is being replayed this coming Wednesday.
It has several actors in in that I recognize from other places: Daniel Dae Kim (24), Dominic Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings), Terry O’Quinn (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Earth 2), Harold Perrineau (Oz, Matrix 2 & 3), and Ian Somerhalder (Smallville, Life as a House).
There have been rumors about a death on the show for a while now. This past Wednesday, I thought it had actually happened. Dominic Monaghan’s character was left hanging from a tree by some psycho and the doctor couldn’t bring him back. At this point I’m thinking to myself, “I should’ve know something was up when I saw him on The Late Late Show last night because I haven’t seen any of these people promoting this show before”. I was angry because they were killing off that poor little hobbit. Luckily the doctor went crazy, started back pounding on the hobbit’s chest, and was able to bring him back.
Go Doc!
Should I get a Nintendo DS or a Sony PSP? I’ve heard positive and negative things about both systems.
I went to GameStop today. The manager there is pretty cool. I went to buy the KOTOR II strategy guide because they didn’t have it in when I went to buy the game. He gave me the 20% discount that you get when you buy the guide at the same time as you purchase the game. We started talking about DS’s, and said that I should go play one. We played a multiplayer match in the Metroid game. It was a pretty even match, but he had to go talk to an applicant. Anyway, after playing it for a while, I’m pretty sure I want a DS. But I think I’ll put off a final decision until I can test drive a PSP.
Tonight, Rick’s Cafe teamed with WMSV to offer Free Movie Night at Hollywood Premier Cinemas here in Starkville. This was the second time they had done this and the plan is to make it a semi-annual event. The first 1500 people that entered the theater after 6:15 tonight got to see whatever movie they wanted for absolutely free. Jason, Jennifer, Allison, and I decided to go see I Heart Huckabees. I like indie movies, but a lot of them are very strange and this one was no exception. Still, it was funny in some parts and I enjoyed it overall.
It looks like EA has learning it’s lesson and will be trying to make working conditions better.
Read here.
It looks like I have 4 tickets to see The Daily Show on May 31, 2005. The whole process only took about 2 months to complete. They were booked up until April 2005 so, I had to pick a date between May 31 and June 30. The only other range they gave me was during the first week of May, which is right during finals. So, I figured I should pick a day close to a holiday. Now I guess I have to start making plans to be in NYC on that day. I’ve wanted to go there for a long time. I think it would be a nice vacation, but I’ve got a feeling that for some reason I won’t be able to go. Stay tuned.
A group led by The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility released a list of the Ten Most Violent Video Games as a warning to parents for the upcoming holiday shopping season. They are:
1. Doom 3
2. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
3. Gunslinger Girls 2
4. Half Life 2
5. Halo 2
6. Hitman: Blood Money
7. Manhunt
8. Mortal Combat
9. Postal 2
10. Shadow Heart
I have 3 of these games and plan on getting 2 more soon. You can read the official press release here.
As an alternative, they recommended 9 non-violent video games. They are:
1. Antigrave
2. EyeToy
3. Jak 3
4. Karaoke Revlution Vol. 3
5. Madden NFL 2005
6. Mario Power Tennis
7. Prince of Persia
8. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
9. SimCity 4
I only have 1 of these and don’t plan on getting any others. You can read that statement here.
Dave Chappelle is my favorite comedian these days. I watch his TV show and hopefully I’ll get to see him in person one of these days.
Around the beginning of September I saw him on The Tonight Show promoting his new comedy special. They talked about how he lives on a farm near Dayton, which is were I spent my summer. He has a neighbor that does most of the real work on the farm. I did some searching on the net and discovered that the farm is in Yellow Springs, Ohio. I actually did some biking out there the weekend before I left. It turns out that he was spotted in Dayton at Best Buy and Meijer about 2 weeks after I left. I wish I had known that he lived there when I was in Ohio. I wonder how quickly I would’ve gotten arrested or shot if I had shown up on his property
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