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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released earlier this week and I bought a copy even though I had said that I would hold off buying it for a while. It’s a fun game so far. One thing going around is that some people are saying that they won’t play the game because the main character is black. That just seems ridiculous to me. I think the main characters in most video games that I play are white, but I really don’t think about that sort of thing. I admit that when I’m given the ability to customize my character, I do tend to make them look somewhat like me. But that’s because I want to play as a projection of myself, not because I don’t like playing white characters.

It’s official. Everquest II will be shipping on Nov. 8, which is a week earlier than previous estimates. It looks like they’ll be getting a headstart on World of Warcraft. Though they still have some problems to fix, Sony thinks they’ll be taken care of by then. I can’t wait.

Update: It looks like Nov. 22 is the official release date for World of Warcraft.

A lot of people say that Saturday Night Live isn’t as funny as it used to be (I tend to agree), but when I was watching last night I saw something really funny. And it wasn’t even intentional.

Ashlee Simpson was supposed to be performing her second song of the night, but the vocal track for her first song started playing. Her band tried to cover for her by playing the first song again, but she just walked off stage. Eventually, SNL went to commercial. I was wondering if she would come out at the end with the cast and she did. However, she blamed the screwup on her band saying that they played the wrong song. Today I read a quote that she made a while back saying that she would never lip-synch. OOPS!!! How do you come back from that? Some of my friends know how much I get “annoyed” by some of these young pop divas. I just couldn’t help but laugh when I saw that “performance”.

Of course the clip is now on the internet. You can watch the clip for yourself by clicking here. It’s 2.89 MB.

Update 10/26: This morning on The Today Show she said that she had acid reflux disease so her voice wasn’t strong that night. She said that it was the first time she used a backup track (even though lots of others do it). Her manager (her dad) insisted that she do it so she wouldn’t sound bad. Her drummer pushed the wrong button, so it really was her band’s fault. I guess I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.

I like to play video games a lot, but there are people out there who play way too much. One of the worst things about playing games online is that there are little kiddies out there who you can’t even begin to compete against. I think a lot of this comes from many hours of gameplay. These people know all the tricks to playing the game. They memorize the location of everything on the map (weapons, spawn points, hiding places, etc). Even when I used to play more, I wouldn’t have remembered most of that. I guess that’s why I didn’t do well most of the time.

I played in The Screen Savers LAN Party last night. We played the Battlefield 1942 Desert Combat Mod and I was terrible. I didn’t get any kills and I had died about 10 times when I last checked the score. Maybe one day I’ll find a game that I’m good at.

I’m pretty sure that I originally heard about this somewhere else, but my memory isn’t as good as it used to be. Anyway, Amazon.com is now offering the first season DVD’s for the following TV shows for $14.99:

• 24 – Season One
• Angel – Season One
• King of the Hill – The Complete First Season
• Futurama, Vol. 1
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer – The Complete First Season
• The Simpsons – The Complete First Season
• M*A*S*H – Season One (Collector’s Edition)
• Roswell – The Complete First Season

So head over there and get some deals. There may be more that I didn’t find. I think I’m getting 24 since I never saw the entire first season.

The Return of the King (Platinum Series Special Extended Collector’s Gift Set) is now available for pre-order and will be released on December 14. It has about 50 minutes of extra scenes, a lot of behind the scenes material, and a sculpture of Minas Tirith. I can’t wait to see this. I’ve ordered the gift sets for the previous 2 movies in the series and I’m going to get this one. I’ve put off watching this movie on DVD until I could watch the extended editions. I did the same with the first 2. If want to order it and use the link above to do so, it’ll help me out some.

This week I’m going on a little bit of a documentary film binge.

It started on Monday when Diary of a Political Tourist made its debut on HBO. It’s about the Democratic presidential race from the primaries until the convention this past summer. It’s done by the same lady who made Journeys with George, which is about George Bush’s 2000 campaign. I’ve got this one in my Netflix queue.

Today I’m watching Bush’s Brain and Fahrenheit 9/11. Bush’s Brain is about Karl Rove, who a lot of people think has more to do with shaping our national policy than our president. I’m sure just about everbody has heard about Fahrenheit 9/11, but I’ve never seen it before.

Tomorrow I’ll be watching Supersize Me, which takes a look at the fast food industry. It may be a while before I go to McDonald’s again after I watch this one.

In my Netflix queue I have Bush Family Fortunes: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. I’m sure it covers a lot of the same stuff as Fahrenheit 9/11, but I’ll watch it anyway. It currently has a long wait, so I’m not sure when I’ll get to see it.

If I need any reasons to dislike our president and fast food restaurants, I’m sure I’ll have them by the time I am done. It might not watch any movies for a while after this weekend.

A few years ago I joined the Columbia House DVD Club.  I haven’t ordered anything from them in years because I fulfilled my membership obligation and it’s normally easier to buy DVD’s from a local store.  I got an email a little while ago saying that they were going to start offering “mature” titles.  Initially, they are only going to offer Playboy videos, but they will expand their selection in the future.  So go join Columbia House and get your porn!

I got an email concerning The Matrix Online Beta this morning. I think that’s all I will say about that.

If you go to this site you can find out what song was #1 on the day that you were born. These songs were number 1 on my date of birth:

US Charts:
“You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” by Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand

UK Charts:
“Mary’s Boy Child – Oh My Lord” by Boney M