I have one of my good friend's DJ Indica latest set called " ElectroSynthesis Avin' It Techno Mix ".

The set itself is a well deserved shot of Acid Techno / Acid House adrenalin and something that sits very nicely on my MP3 player.

I have a problem though. He used a sample at the beginning of his set that has drilled deep into my brain. So much so, I'm found repeating and reciting it all the way to work. I plan on finding it and using it next time I spin somewhere...which should be in the next 20 years or so. From what I can tell, it's an excerpt from a deep house vinyl by D² and the track is called Therapy. I HAVE to find this.

You can listen to the set HERE and see what I'm talking about. Just click the second link in the list there to hear it. You might wanna crank the speakers up for this.

Just to give you an idea ( and for those who don't have access to speakers or are, say, at work ), the sample is some guy ( presumably a Detroit DJ called Dan Diamond ) either on a phone or a recorded interview or something discussing his love for music. What he says mirrors what a lot of DJ, like myself, feel about music. It goes as follows :

...when I go to a nightclub, you know.
I'm not going for the fire that coming out of the walls...
Yeah..
I'm not going there to go be in the VIP area and drink fancy f*cking champagne...
Nah...
Nah, I'm not going for none of those reasons, to tell you the truth, you know...I'm just going for the music.
I don't need big breaks and a big song with a buildup, lights and smoke... f*ck all that, man. I don't need none of that sh!t.
I just need some good music.

I got enough problems of my own, man, with women and...jobs...DJing...making music, you know, so when I do go out, man, I just wanna have a drink and just sit back, man, and be by myself and just nod my head to some good music, man. I don't wanna be f*cked with, bothered (not sure about that part in italics)...lights and...dressing nice...
...I'm just a regular guy, you know, who walks into a club and wants to hear a groove...
All different types.
My life ain't gonna change tonight. With years and...years and... (don't know if it's like that on the vinyl though)
'Cause right now, all we need to do isjust ...bob our heads to this groove right here. You know.
'Cause all you need is a kick drum and a good bassline and a hithat.
You don't need any of that other shit, man. It's aaall confusion.
I was gonna let this groove play and let you understand that...I'm all about the music...



Just plain awesome. And inspiring...

Man...I have something in my eye...*snif*...crap.

Didn't your parents teach you anything for f**k's sake ??????

2 things : either I'm getting increasingly older or increasingly f**king irritated. Please tell me it's the latter. Read on...

Shopping used to be fun for me. Now, it's an excercise in patience and futility. Now, wherever I go, I feel like stopping to walk and yell at the top of my lungs. I won't go into details as to what physical injuries I would inflict on most of the people that cross my path in malls and stores.

The issues are as follows :

- Respect. Since when has it become socially acceptable to cut in line without ANY valuable reason ? What makes it so that YOU don't and shouldn't wait in line like everyone else ? What social status do you possess that allows you to bypass the line to the cashier ? That's right : NONE. Because there is NO social status that allows you to do that. I don't care if you are the f**king mayor of New York, my Glock won't discriminate when I pop a cap up your a$$. Get back in line and WAIT YOUR F**KING TURN.

- Politeness. Am I just an old romantic hag or am I the only human being who actually holds doors and gave my place in public transport to older people, pregnant women or the handicapped ? And since when does it become socially acceptable to rush to get a vacant place on a bus before an old man gets there ?

- Egotism. Everyf**kingone for himself. Look, I'm all up for doing stuff that makes you feel good but when it affects negatively everyone around you, I don't agree. I'm sorry but I feel lying about your 6 year old son dying of cancer to buy a f**king Wii shows a total lack of godforsaken humanity. If it's for your 6 year old son then why the need for an extra controller, the Wii Blaster and the purchase of Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition ????? Couldn't you just stop at being the World's biggest a$$h0le ? You had to insult our intelligence as well ?

R-E-T-A-R-D-S.

You know who you are. And I hate you. All of you that fall into these categories, you don't deserve my sympathy.

...

Venting feels good. It's part of the healing process.

Endure, f**kers.

Review 1 : Gears of War PC

Ok. Obviously I played the 360 version beforehand. The very first time, I wasn't too impressed with the game mechanics. This occured just after playing Rainbow Six : Vegas where I was truly impressed at how easy it was to run for cover, get behind cover and aim from behind cover so I wasn't too sure about the whole " press X to get behind cover " thing...

...but I eventually got around that and truly started enjoying what a great game GOW is. And thankfully, that translated insanely well into PC. Granted, the PC version has some slowdown issues where the game seemed to freeze for about 1 or 2 seconds but that only occured ( at least on my system ) when entering new areas, as if the game sort of " preloads " the upcoming level in advance. That works well because I suffered no slowdowns DURING a heated firefight, where you want your system to be stable and not freeze while you're getting your arse handed to you or when trying to snipe a running target, for instance.

My PC can't run at optimal resolution for this game but regardless, the graphics were pretty damn comparable to the X360 version even at 1024x768 ! Gameplay is always more of a concern than graphics for me so the game looking so good ported to PC was an added bonus.

The game itself should define a new standard for straightforward no-holds-barred first-person shooters : the cinematic feel and atmosphere was captivating, the voice acting was intelligent and incredibly well done, the motion capture is just incredible and the general pacing of the game keeps you on your toes long enough not to get comfortable.

Marcus, Dom, Baird and " the Cole Train, baby ! " made me wanna be the fifth protagonist. An awesome ride.

/10

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Review 2 : Call Of Duty 4

I started playing that game yesterday so it's still very fresh in mind...and I honestly cannot stop thinking about it. This game is everything I loved about Battlefield 2 combined with new elements I cannot push aside.

I'm also running this game at the default settings so I have no idea what resolution it is at currently. Probably 1024x768 as well. All I know is that the gameplay is so awesome, I haven't cared to notice the graphics. There aren't enough such well done tactical shooters out there for me and this game just hits the spot.

Regardless of whatever rating Medal Of Honor : Airborne got, it redefined the genre for its simple " parachute anywhere and play then and there " ( which, for the record, despite reviews saying it was damn near impossible to drop where you wanted because you'll get killed almost instantly, I've done it countless times in MOH:A and in fact enjoyed the extra attention I was getting as I was sniping germans while being shot at by squads and tanks while lying in a spot where I wouldn't get hit. Yes people, surviving in games is based on hiding from your enemy...especially if they ALL saw you parachute on that rooftop ) mechanics. No, obviously you CAN'T attempt this in COD4 but my point is, it's incredibly immersive ( AND FUN ! ) to sprint through an open field where your squad is engaged with an enemy one and flank them going through houses and corridors and drop the hammer from behind.

And again, some reviewers complained about poor NPC A.I. in your squad. Hm. I must say, only 2 games come to mind for good to excellent friendly A.I. behavior and that's THIS game and Rainbow Six : Vegas ( who's A.I. is so well done, you can actually send your squad in and they'll clear an entire room of 15 enemies themselves without your assistance ). Of course you get the occasional " GET OUT OF THE WAY !!! " situation where a squad member gets in front of you as you're zooming to pick an enemy off.

Here's what I think : players should stop being so damn fussy. If you bring it into context, REGULAR HUMAN BEINGS are also known to get in your line of sight from time to time. Why ? Because, like our computerized counterpart, we don't have eyes behind our heads. So while being prone, aiming and just moving a few inches on either side, it's possible you'll unvolontarily block the view of ANYONE standing behind you.

I'm assuming it is pretty difficult knowing your entire squad's positions while you're trying to stay behind cover to aim and snipe 3 guys unloading full automatic rifle clips at you and 2 taking positions to fire their respective RPGs at your sorry arse behind the remnants of a once gloriously strong and protective brick wall now being slowly reduced to rubble to enemy fire.

Go fight any war and try that for yourself and see if you have the nerve not to get in a team member's line of vision while REAL bodies are flying everywhere and you can actually do something no game can make you experience : smell the mixture of dirt, blood, guts and brain starting to cake on your uniform as you squatting down behind cover, soiling yourself and praying for a miracle.

All in all, that game kicked so much unbelievable @$, I feel dirty I *cough cough* " borrowed " a copy of the game and am probably going to purchase this one to play online.

Yes. It is THAT GOOD.

/10

I'm with Garfield : I hate mondays. Why ? Because every bad thing that happens on a monday is ALWAYS amplified.

The bus is always more packed on a monday, receiving bills sucks more, people piss you off more. The weather is always worse, it's always colder, cloudier, windier, snowier and just generally worse.

It's right after the weekend. You know, the weekend. The time of the week that you truly enjoy, see friends, your family, do activities you can't ( or won't ) do during the week, have an amazing time socializing or chilling with your boys/girls or have some one-on-one time with your boy/girl.

Then comes monday. The day that recalls you to your desk job reality like a swift kick in the gonads. The day you have to start your daily routine all over again. And start going to bed early because of work.

Yeah, I guess if mondays were cancelled, I'd hate tuesdays...but until that day arrives, I'll endlessly hate mondays.

Some of you I bothered with these books and those of you not in the know, I will explain :

The first 3 Halo books published a certain time ago. I'm not a big fan of reading books. Not because I dislike it but because I can't find anything interesting enough to read.


About 2 years ago, I was walking around randomly at the downtown Indigo library and found these books on the shelf. Having just completed Halo 2 with my good buddy Stéphane, the storyline was still fresh in my mind. A bit convoluted though : try starting, going through and completing an entire video game in about 6 pot fueled sessions on for size. But I'm nowhere near a fan of fiction books based on a video game or superhero universe.

I read the back cover of the first book of the 3-part series and was intrigued. Paperback books are generally cheap so I gave it a go.

And I was hooked. And blown away.

I finished the book and went back to buy the 2 last ones. I witnessed the calculated birth, upbringing and some of the most extreme missions John-117 ( aka Master Chief ) went through in his existence.

So I'm currently playing through Halo 3 and the saga continues. But I also found out today that 2 NEW books are out, one in april ( which flew over my head apparently ) and one that was released Oct.30 2007.

Needless to say, I will have to buy these two books very soon as the first trilogy rocked my world and made me still believe in reading books. Eric Nylund, who wrote most of the first trilogy, just astounded me with his literary style so I cannot wait to read Ghosts Of Onyx.

I am installing Gears Of War as we speak, I just hope it runs ok on my PC, even if I have to lower the resolution, I don't mind. The gameplay is just incredible, after getting a taste on the 360.

Speaking of which, my friend Ricky might just sell me his 3o buying the Elite. I don't need all the extra stuff so I'll manage with a regular 360. His price is just unriveled. Let's just say it'll be under 200$. Pretty f**king sweet. I should mention I have NO next-generation consoles yet.

And I'm still looking for a Wii despite the good news...

Started playing F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate. After playing Timeshift. Bad mistake.

Why ? Well, F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate lets you slow time to gain an advantage on your enemies. Problem is, you slow down a bit too. Timeshift gives you the possiblity of slowing, stopping and even REVERSING time. Not only that but when time is slowed or stopped, you still move fluently at regular speed ( while everything else around you is either slow or stopped entirely ).

There is something REALLY satisfying in STOPPING time before you enter a room with 2 enemies talking to each other, go through the door, kill one of them, back up to the previous room, restore time and hear the remain guy go " Wait ? What ? How did THAT happen ? ".

The fun part lies on the fact that the game producers considered that time HASN'T stopped for the guys. One minute they're engaged in a conversation about being assigned to " check on a bunch of pipes deep in these godforsaken sewers " then in an instant, one of them becomes bloody and falls dead where he stood. Just plain awesome.

FEAR on the other hand, is a bit dated so only timeslow is available and the overall game, so far, is pretty bland. Even the levels are incredibly bland. You'd think they'd be able to polish it up a bit in the full year it took to create Perseus Mandate but no. At least, not so far.

I've played about 45 minutes yet and BARELY anything scary so far...which is what the game should be about.

I'm kinda disappointed, honestly.

I'm getting Gears Of War PC. Now THAT I'm looking forward to.

Indeed. I haven't recently heard anything more terrifying than this.

What, you ask ?

Have the poles finally melted ? No but we're slowly getting there. Is Britney pregnant again ? Dear God no but it would be scary indeed. Is the government finally going to invest money in the health care and educational system ? No, that's not terrifying, it's damn near impossible.

No, people. It's much worse : the XBOX 360 OUTSOLD the PS3 in Japan last week.

I still can't believe it. I'm in shock. I can't honestly wrap my head around that concept. The world is at war ? Fine. Eco system's going to Hell ? It was to be expected. But Microsoft, an american company selling more consoles in Japan than a Japanese one ? That's nonsense. Utter nonsense.

At this point, I'm expecting anything to happen. Unbelievable.

On a lighter note, I'm currently downloading F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate and if the previous add-on and game is any indication, it'll be awesome.

I'm currently looking into getting Gears of War and Call Of Duty 4...if my cpu can handle it.


Oh and by the way, I'd like to take a minute and congratulate everyone who reads this blog : you officially are the most bored people in existence. With the vastness of the almighty internet today, if you choose to spend a few minutes here every now and then, either you should seriously have your head examined or you are the bestess and coolest peeps I know. Or both. Yeah. Probably both. And I thank you for that.

I wish I had some dirt or anger to let out but I don't. I'm too tired and I'm going over to my friend's house later today so I got nothing but love, w33d and the prospect of video game playing to look forward to later today so it's aaaaaaaall good.

I should post more, I know. I'll try too. See y'all soon.

P.S. : I've recently discovered, downloaded and have on my video-capable MP3 player a slew of Code Monkeys episodes. That show unbelievably rocks, it's insane. Check it now if you are half the video gaming geek I am. I'm seriously addicted. More on that later.

C YA kidz.

It's been around for as long as man's existence.

Violence. For eons, man has resorted to violence to resolve issues. Look at all the wars we've been through. Look at the war in Iraq. Look at Israel and it's perpetual quarrel with its neighbors. Look at what happened to Jesus 1974 years ago.

Nowadays, it's an acceptable media figure. You see it on CNN as we're shown a constant stream of video clips of american soldiers shooting semi-automatic weapons at Iraqis, local news with an endless daily stream of first-degree murders and car accidents, magazines about weaponry and huge billboards of movies where actors are seen in glorifying gun-wielding poses.

But all that's acceptable. All of the above are shown constantly regardless of age and public exposure. Violence-glorifying movies get a PG-13 at best. Movies with nudity get a PG-18 rating. Worldwide television newscasts of suicide bombers, crashed planes and execution-style shot middle-eastern soldiers get no rating whatsoever.

Now, people get all riled up over violence depicted in video games. Manhunt 2 is already banned in the UK and Katie Couric made an eye-rolling entry about it on her Notebook show.

Ok so let me get this straight :

VIRTUAL video game violence where the protagonist escapes from prison and inflicts bodily harm on other equally demented VIRTUAL rapists, serial killers and other various scum : BAD.

REAL innocent lives lost, violent spouses, high-school or university killings and exploded buildings in foreign countries with bodies littered all over the place and family members crying over the loss of their loved ones : GOOD.
Or at least, acceptable.

I'll start blaming video games for our kids being violent when parents get their f___ing priorities straight. Most of them bitch and moan about that game setting a bad example on their kids while they go deer hunting, range shooting and collect guns. But these past times are absolutely NOT RELATED and are fine, of course. As long as you go to church every sunday and you use your guns on other human beings ONLY to protect your family as dictated by the Second Amendment.

Shifting blame on Rockstar Games does NOT excuse parents' lack of control and interest over their children.

It's time to put your pants on people and stop shifting blame on others. Do your f___ing part as a parent and restrict your children's access to certain information. It is NOT society's job to educate and keep a watch on them FOR you. The rest of the world WON'T get involved in your kids growth or education so stop pointing fingers at everyone around you for your failure as a parent.

There is a reason your kids don't talk to you and this conduct of yours plays a big role in this.

Don't believe me ? You parents could actually LEARN something from watching the South Park movie. Yeah, I don't know what's worse : watching the South Park movie or LEARNING something new. Phew. Tough choice.

So by all means, stop blaming canada.

I'm not sure I understand how this whole RSS thing works. I opened a Feedburner account, got my RSS feed to go through there and finally tagged the little icon on the top right there to work. I don't understand what Feedburner can do for me aside from showing me my feed traffic with nifty graphs and such.


If anyone knows and can explain this to me in lament's terms, please comment, e-mail me or whatever, I'd appreciate it. Thank you.


My friends bought Hellgate London, a game set in 2038 London where the forces of Hell are unleashed upon Earth. Yeah, massive flashbacks of Doom here but it's in the future ( big f--king difference, I know ). Not my type of game but I could be mistaken. I'll look into that and talk to them a while.



Me, I'm going to try Timeshift soon, it appears to be a very good game. More my style : a first-person shooter with added perks like time slowing, accelerating and downright stopping. There also seems to be some puzzle solving using these skills which I think is awesome since it doesn't set back those abilities as being just mere " gadgets " but NECESSARY functions of the game.


I'll keep you posted on that game. Tried a couple Portal user maps yesterday. Meh. Ok but nothing groundbreaking.

Tomorrow, I'll be starting Halo 3 at my friend Stéphane's house. I am psyched ! Honestly.

" I need a weapon... "

I'm quite a bit done. I first wanna say that this altered " Black Stripe Blogger Template " by Deziner Folio rox my sox. It's just awesome. Of course, I made some changes but it's fundamentally the same. It's great.

Did I mention it was great ? I'm off for a Halloween party at a couple of friends and I hope you're off doing the same.

It's my time to shine in public transportation as I'll be costumed and looking a bit out of place. I may even be able to steal the thunder of that crazy dude that always rocks, talks to himself, scares old ladies and it's just too goddamn creepy.

Pictures may be up soon, who knows. No, I don't have a camera so they aren't gonna be my pictures. Bite me ( especially if you're a sexy female vampire).

Happy Hallow's Eve, silly maniacs !

New design is up.

Nothing fancy but it works. Until I get bored with it.

That's how confident I am about this interface. Oh well.

Valley girls, be warned : I'm working on a new layout which will not make you wanna puke and bang your head on a concrete wall somewhere.

I know you feel like doing so but please, resist the urge... and come back shortly.

It'll be good, I promise. No, really. I'm not shitting you.

Ok ok, It's up now. Not much to see, I admit but soon. Trust me.

In the meantime,

You still here ? What the hell are you doing here ? My blog's not even publicized yet.

I'm getting there though.

What are you doing here ?