Ramblings from the barstool.

I’m back again this week from my favorite wing joint, Taco Mac Metropolis. I’m still getting the hang of my fairly new Windows 7 Starter Edition Netbook. There’s a few quirks to still work out, but it’s getting there. This week’s game reviews are BioShock 2 and Borderlands.

BioShock. I’m not really sure why the original FPS bagged my attention. Maybe it was the graphics. Maybe it was the environmentally haunting musical score. Maybe it was the idea that a modern-day Atlantis could have been constructed in the 1940/1950s. BioShock 2 picks up 10 years after the original with a whole new story where you play as one of the complexly unknown Big Daddy characters designated as “Delta”. The way 2K Games constructed this edition of the series was very intuitive. By slyly mentioning events and characters from the original, you don’t miss anything if you didn’t play the first, but you can’t help but snicker with laughter every time you run across a reminder if you did. Continuing with the use of the Unreal engine (Gears of War, Unreal Tournament, etc.), the graphical detail and response speed are as awesome as with the first. The new multiplayer feature seems to have real potential, but I haven’t really tried it out (I’m the story player, remember?). I completed the game on the middle difficulty in about 4 days with a good collection of the achievements. I’ll need another go ‘round to get more of the achievements, but it’s definitely worth the play. I’m happy with spending the full $60 on this one.

Borderlands is the most addictive game I have played in quite a while. The graphics and game mechanics play out like a comic book, which I’ve always found to be a really cool way of presenting a game. The world is massive. Unfortunately, like Red Faction, the quests get a bit monotonous; however, they are much more challenging and varied. From first inserting the disc into the tray to finally looking at the time before bed, I had spent the better part of 8 hours behind the controller. Woah. I haven’t had a game trap me in that hard in a while. But, I’ve gotten my fill as I don’t have that sort of time to devote to games these days, with having a GF and a house and all. ;) If you do, go for it!

Well, I’m out till next round. Besides, I’m completely fascinated with Olympic Curling at the moment, and I don’t know why…

 

l8rz!

Returning to the depths of Rapture…

Yay! Bioshock 2 is in the mail on its way! I’ve been in full anticipation for its release ever since the first announcement 2 E3s ago (that’s Electronic Entertainment Expo for the uninformed). I hope to have some extended time with it this weekend, but V-Day has already been claimed by my GF. I seriously doubt I’ll finish it in 2 days, but I should at least have a write-up next week for ya.

Guitar Hero World Tour. Yes, I’m finally at the 4th release in this really long series. Having played II, III, and Aerosmith, it was time I finally delved into the band aspect of Guitar Hero. My response? I SO WANT THE DRUMKIT!! I’ve only had time to work my way through the “life as a guitarist” story, but this will be another game I’ll be adding to my library soon… as soon as I spend next month’s game budget on Final Fantasy XIII. ;) I will have to say, nothing is quite as entertainingly screwed up as watching a digital recreation of Ozzy Osborn singing “La Bamba” (with Sting as your bass player and Travis Barker from Blink-182 on the skins). My GF told me a hilarious conversation she had with a coworker about guitar gaming:

Coworker: We were playing Rock Band the other night. I was all hyped up and thinking I was cool. As soon as I started playing, I couldn’t hit a single note. I failed us out in no time. Guitarist are gods. A couple chords on a guitar and the panties drop. No one ever got laid by playing a guitar game.

GF: Keith did.

LOL! That’s awesome! And the best I can do is 5-staring the “Medium” setting. She loves her dork. ;p~

 

l8rz!

But, I’m with the band… (parte duex)

Where did I leave off? A yes, the Artist pass. We did not realize the true power of this simple laminated card until the second day. My GF has a bad habit of overstepping defined lines of security; mostly out of absentmindedness. OK, well, I’ve seen her do it twice. Anyway, she noticed a friend of hers working for the sound crew that we did not anticipate to be on the cruise. She hopped into the “secure” area behind the stage to say hello, not thinking about the fact that cruise goers were not supposed to be back there. Apparently, the security detail lurched for her, but quickly stopped once he saw the pass around her neck. Heather neglected to tell us that as long as we wore that pass, we could go behind stages and sit in the artist listening area for the Skynyrd show. To be honest, we didn’t take advantage of the pass’ power except for the Skynyrd show. I sat next to Kevin Kenny of Drivin’ and Cryin’. I didn’t want to bother him as he was there to listen to Skynyrd with the woman on his other side (his wife/gf/lady friend I would assume), so I never actually talked to him. But I sat next to Kevin Kenny…. Heh. Surprisingly, most of the artists, other than Skynyrd, walked out and about in the crowd while they weren’t playing. Over the course of the cruise, we talked with Dan, lead singer of Hill Country Revue, at one of the bars (he told me he had a huge crush on Heather once I said we were her friends), Phil from Molly Hatchet, Paul from Hightide Blues, Tom Hambridge and his agent, Richard Turner (he was pretty quiet) from Blackberry Smoke and his wife Mary-Anne (sp?) (who sat with us late night), along with others I can’t really remember. My brain suffered a social overload at some point. Heather introduced us to the rest of Oakhurst (AP, Kruller (the happiest man alive), Max, John, and Loomis), of which I think it’s safe to say they befriended us. Zach came to Atlanta to play for Heather’s live CD, so we partied with him, his wife, and Heather after the show. There was always a late night show where Francisco Vidal or Scott Munn (or both) would perform covers joined by various people from the different smaller bands. Zach seemed to play with everyone. By the second evening, we kept asking, “Where’s Zach? Oh, he’s on stage.” Heather aptly titled him the “banj-ho”. Since my GF wore her “I <heart> my dork” T (it received a lot of good comments), we decided that Zach’s wife is getting a “I <heart> my banj-ho” T for her birthday later this year.

On our third day (second full day), we docked in Cozumel for 8 hours. Heather, Ralph, Zach, Loomis, Kruller, John, my GF, and I rented scooters to tour the coastline outside the city for the afternoon. AP originally joined us, but ended up staying in town due to a pretty rough night before (it was his birthday). Our first stop was a Mexican cantina for real fish tacos (corn tortillas and fresh fish), tequila shots, and Mexican beer (I was happy to see they had Sol). You can tell this place was used to catering to Americans. English was spoken better than some places in Atlanta, and they had running water. I will tell you, however, taking a dump in Mexico is odd. They won’t let you put the TP in the toilet. There’s a trashcan next to you lined in a plastic garbage bag. They must change it regularly since there was no stench in there. Anyway, as we walked in looking for a place to sit, Scott, Nick, Kenny, and Ron from BonePony invited us all to join them and pulled up tables. They had rented a Jeep instead of scooters. After food, we toured the coastline more working our way around the west outside the city. I’ve seen the clear water of the Keys and grew up in the muddy waters of the southeastern seaboard, but I’ve never seen water as blue as I saw in Cozumel. It was like living in a postcard. Our next stop put us at a tiki-mexi-Rastafarian-type bar. As we parked the bikes, sitting there was none other than BonePony, again, and Hightide Blues. Jokes and stories ensued. I found a hammock next to Kruller and Loomis. With my $2 Sol, I felt like every George Strait, Kenny Chesney, and Zac Brown song I’ve ever heard about Mexico. No wonder they never want to leave. The temperature was beautifully near 90 with a cool breeze. And this is in January! I didn’t move for almost an hour. Unfortunately, our time was limited, so we continued our bar-hopping for one more stop, then returned to town and the boat.

We made a lot of new acquaintances that week; many we hope to see again next year. Oh, yes. We will be going, again. Heather said she is even going to try to get us officially registered as her crew this time. Might as well since she kept introducing us as her entourage. ;) Our first vacation together, and a first real vacation for both of us in many years. It’s something this gaming techogeek definitely needed.

So how did we get home? Ha! Here’s the funny part. The rattletrap said it’s final farewell about an hour and a half from home (almost 30 minutes from where we blew the tire on the way down). A blown head gasket. I wasn’t all that worried as my GF has family not from from that location. Ralph had family not far as well, so we had a place to stay if needed. But, it was getting dark, we were not used to the cold since we had been in warmer climates all week, and we were sitting on the side of the road with hangovers and lack of sleep. Luckily, 3 of the bands Heather had befriended were not far behind us on their way back home. In twos we loaded up with each of our rescuers. John and Charlie with Hightide Blues, Heather and Ralph with Blackberry Smoke, and us with BonePony. I cannot begin to express my gratitude to these guys for taking time out of their trips to accommodate us. Scott, Nick, Kenny, and Ron are a great bunch of guys. They took on almost complete strangers (other than our quick meeting at lunch on Cozumel) to help us home. Thank you so much for your help and goodwill. You are more than welcome in our home if you ever need a place to stay while in Atlanta.

Whew. What a story. What a week. Memories that will last forever; or, at least, until next year! :p~ Thank you Sixthman! Thank you Heather!

 

w00+!

But, I’m with the band… (part 1)

It has been a little over a week since my return from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man Cruise 2010. It’s taken me that long to recover. 4 days of music on open water (minus the 8 hours we spent on Cozumel). One of the most defining comments I heard on the boat describes the whole cruise. “Nowhere else will you see this many drunk rednecks and no fights.” I felt sorry for the Carnival crew as they are probably more used to serving calmer and non-riotous customers. By the last evening, I noticed the staff behind the bar was singing and dancing with the music of the late night “super-band” of Scott Munn, Francisco Vidal, Zach Daniels from “Oakhurst”, Heather Luttrell, Walter Ray, and Paul McDonald from “Hightide Blues”. I’m pretty sure they were just celebrating the fact that all of us crazies were getting off the boat the next morning, but it was at least good to see them loosening up. :)

So where to begin. Well, I had been trying to find the funding to go on a Sixthman cruise since the first Rock Boat back in 2000. Last year, along with Heather’s convincing, I was able to talk my GF into booking. Little did we know what was in store for us over those 4 days. As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve become pretty good friends with Heather Luttrell and her band which consists of Ralph Luttrell (her father), Charlie Wooten, and Hoffa. John McKnight sat in as drummer for Hoffa since he couldn’t make it. Our trip began bright and early Wed morning before sendoff as Heather and boys picked us up in a rattletrap 1991 Ford passenger van borrowed from a friend. Now when I say rattletrap, did this thing ever rattle. You had to slam the doors with the force of a small elephant just to get them to securely close. At it’s top speed of 65mph, when you open or close all the windows, the roof would make a popping sound as the aerodynamics and pressure changed around it. I still think there was an automatic airfoil (like on the Porsche or Audi cars) up there just readjusting. ;) Anyway, about an hour into our trip, the poor thing blew a tire. An hour and a half, a call to AAA (since we couldn’t find the jack), and a stop at the nearest Wal-Mart for 2 new tires (the spare was bald), we were back on the road. Aside from John’s hysterical sense of humor and constant jokes, the rest of the 6 hours went by pretty uneventful as most of us caught up on our sleep. Sixthman sponsored a “send-off” party at a bar in Tampa, which we attended. We had never been on a cruise before, so we didn’t really meet a whole lot of people there. The beer was cheaper than what I’m used to paying, so I was happy.

The next morning, we all piled down into the lobby of the hotel with the other bands for our VIP shuttle to the port. Now Heather had worked it out with Sixthman about a month before the trip that my GF and I would be boarding as her “staff”. We just thought that just meant we got to avoid all the lines getting on and off the boat and that was it. I will say, avoiding that waiting line was one of the biggest treats I could ever be thankful for. I later heard there was up to a 2 hour wait in that thing. After boarding, Heather and Ralph dragged us to the nearest bar on the deck for their traditional “frozen fruity rum drink”. Afterwards we split off to our cabins to claim our luggage. At this point, we pretty much assumed we probably wouldn’t see Heather again except at her shows, which we were fine with. So after 2 hours of orientating ourselves with the layout of the boat and music stages, we headed to the nearest bar for drinks and listened to Molly Hatchet performing on the deck stage. Amazingly enough, even with 2200 people on the Carnival Inspiration, there was so much room. In some sections, you would hardly see anyone. I will say, the deck did stay pretty packed, but there was still plenty of room to move around without having to bump into people. On our way to the next show Heather flagged us down. As she handed us our “Artist” passes, she added, “Let’s go eat. I’m starving.” If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you know how it works. The food is 24/7 (or 24/4, in our case). I did discover that the bars close at midnight with one remaining open until 4am, however. This pretty much was the case for the rest of the trip. Our day would begin once we finally got up (usually from me waking up around 10a or 11a). I’d beeline for the nearest coffee pot, we’d grab a small breakfast (or whatever they were serving), then head off for our hair-of-the-dog. I finally learned that a bloody mary breakfast really works. After a couple of hours, Heather would find us or we’d find her. We’d travel around between shows together for the rest of the afternoon and evening except when she had to perform (which we’d watch from the crowd). Now by travel, I mean at a snail’s pace. It would take her 45 minutes just to go 100 yards. I found it quite entertaining to watch her get stopped by people asking for pictures, autographs, and some regular conversation. Heather obliged them all, of which I am very proud of her. She really appreciates her fans. I’ve also never seen her revered in this sense before. She and Ralph are “gods on the water,” and it showed in both of them. They both performed with enthusiasm I have never seen from either of them in their regular hometown performances.

I feel like I’m writing a novel here. Since this is getting retartedly long for a blog, I’m breaking it up into multiple posts. Come back tomorrow for the power of the Artist Pass, the banj-ho, partying like a rock start, and scootering Cozumel, along with the grand finale.

 

l8rz