Karate chop!

My free t-shirt from General Mills got here and it actually took less than the 6-10 weeks the box said it would. I'll admit I was impressed with the t-shirt quality, it is pretty good. I was expecting some crappy brand shirt with thick scratchy feeling material. The fabric is nice and soft, there isn't a tag, and the fit is pretty good. Considering it was totally free, it was a hell of a deal.

Stylin' and profilin'

Cody likes it because on the back on the shirt is says "Cheerios". We'll I guess he should've got one then! I've checked the cereal isles and it looks like these t-shirt boxes are all gone, so you if see one you should definitely grab it. Even if you don't want it, you could always give it to someone for Christmas. That said, my Christmas shopping is officially done!

Cheerio!

I still got it!

Thanks Cam.

Say cheese!

This afternoon me and Cody went and saw G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra at Westhills, the theater by our place. It is currently under going a renovation and when we walked into our theater Cody said "It smells weird." It smells brand new! We watched G.I. Joe in one of the newly renovated screens, so our theater had the stadium seating and rocker style seats. You can lean back in them and if any jerks sit in front of you, it's still easy to see.

After about 20 minutes of crappy previews (only Astro Boy looked good) the movie finally started. Somebody forgot to dim the lights once the movie started and I didn't want to get up because I didn't want to miss anything. Some girl left and then and when she returned the lights immediately went down, so thank you!! Since we got there a few minutes early and had to watch so many previews I managed to finish my nachos before the movie even started. That's good, so all my attention can be on the movie screen. I was shoveling a nacho in my mouth when a cheese covered jalapeno fell and landed on my shirt and bounced a couple times too for good measure. I knew this was probably going to happen, next time I'll have to bring a bib.


The movie itself was pretty much what I was expecting. Yes, it wasn't perfect, but I was satisfied. Cody said he liked it, so that is praise enough! Although, I could mostly talk about what I didn't like with the movie. First, lips on Snake Eyes' mask!! They made a thing between Ripcord and Scarlett when everybody knows it's all about Snake Eyes + Scarlett. Cobra Commander's lame mask. Those are my biggest complaints other than all the CGI and shaky camera work. If there is a battle going on I want to see it, especially when it's Snake Eyes vs Storm Shadow. Quit shaking the camera around, pull it back a bit and let us see the action, after all it is an action movie. Cody said he didn't like the accelerator suits. I didn't mind them as they seemed kind of cartoony and since it is based on a cartoon then it all makes sense. The fight in the movie was between the young Snake Eyes and young Storm Shadow. Those two kids put the stars to shame.

I know it is kind of a kiddie movie, but the collateral damage on display here is enormous. There is a chase through the crowed streets of Paris with stuff getting smashed left and right and blowing up and you are telling me nobody got hurt? It doesn't show it, but you know innocent people died, especially when the Eiffel Tower fell on them. I thought Joes were supposed to stop that, not take part in it? Now that I've seen the live action movie, it just makes me want to go watch cartoon.

More useless stuff.

Remember when a couple weeks ago I posted that I had finally gotten around to getting the Nirvana "All Apologies" CD single? Well, after that I was sitting in front of the computer and was a bit bored, so I decided to go on eBay. Trouble! After doing to some looking I ended up getting three more hard to find Nirvana items.

First up is the Hormoaning EP. It was originally released in Australia to promote the Nirvana tour and then again in Japan for the same reason. Mine is the Japanese version and the booklet is all in Japanese. The disc contains six songs; Turnaround, Aneurysm, D-7, Son of a Gun, Even in His Youth and Molly's Lips. At the time song the songs were hard to find, but now the box set and other discs they can all be easily found. Still with only 30,000 copies pressed for the Japanese version (same for Australia) it won't be too easy to find. The price of the CD with shipping and exchange came to just over $15 which I think it a damn fine deal especially since the price tag on the back of the CD said $19.99.

45s!! I got the 7" singles for Heart-Shaped Box and All Apologies. These weren't quite of a good deal as the Hormoaning EP, it worked out to more like $15 each. It's an investment and one day maybe I can sell them for $20 each. They are in pretty good shape and it doesn't even look like the vinyl has ever been played. The sleeves have a $5.98 price tag on the back that has probably been there forever, so getting it off will be next to impossible. I can add these to my other Nirvana 7"s: Come As You Are, the Jesus Lizard Split (on blue vinyl!), Sliver/Dive and my three bootleg 7"s.

This afternoon I went to the Inner Sleeve, a new and used record store, to get a new box for my 45s. It is the same style as a comic box, but sized for 7" records. Mine old one is crammed full and I figured I'd better get a new box because my shelf is filling up and I've even got a few new records coming soon. I figured I'd collect 7" records because they take up less space than LPs. My very small collection isn't anything spectacular, but I collect stuff I like and not just stuff I think will be worth money. That said I have the Power Rangers theme single.

G.I. Glow

The other day I was at Wal-Mart getting some essentials like deodorant and toothpaste when I was walking by the toy department like I always do just to "have a look". They had a big G.I. Joe display with all kinds of crap promoting the movie and I saw something that actually looked cool, a G.I. Joe flashlight. It's a flashlight, so it can actually be useful! I grabbed it and some AA batteries and rushed home. After opening I discovered that it actually took AAA batteries, not AA batteries and I bought like a 12 pack. Also, if I had bothered to read the package I would've noticed that it's a signal light, not a flashlight.

The light looks kind of like a military style flashlight with the bent head except for the blue and yellow colour. The head turns so it can be straight or at a 90 degree angle. The lens rotates to display one of five different logos; the Joe logo, the Joe symbol, the MARS logo (Destro), Cobra logo and the Arashikage logo(Snake Eyes' ninja thing). When you press the button the logos are projected in a red light which totally threw me off because the filter on the end of the light was green. Anyway, it actually works. Now I can shine the Cobra logo into the night sky and they will come to my aid!

The light isn't limited to shining symbols onto your bedroom wall, it is also a weapon! Press a button to open a hatch on the end of the signal light, then press it again to fire the missile. I fired it at Cody and it hit him, so that too works. Unfortunately, it doesn't fire hard enough to actually hurt anyone, but if they are in a bad mood it might just annoy them. To remedy this I would recommend sharping the end of the plastic "missile" to point and aim for the eyes. Now we're talking!!

Finally, the light comes with a single G.I. Joe dog tag that is plastic. Couldn't they have at least added another dog tag, so you can have a set instead of just one. You know you are going to lose one anyway, so if you only have one you are screwed when it gets lost.

This light could've been so rad had it actually been a flashlight and not a signal light. You think they would have at least added made it both and have it be able to function as a flashlight and have some signals as a bonus. Also, instead of a missile launcher there should've been a hidden knife inside the handle. Next time, I hope.

We have a winner!

While the internet is used mostly for porn, buying crap you don't need and playing video games, once in a while it gives back. Back in the day when I first got online I used to go to some free lotto website and enter every day. I did it for a while because I actually won a couple times. Not a lot, but nothing is funnier than going into the bank to cash checks for $1.00 USD. I think it probably cost more than the $1 to have the checks printed and sent to me. Other than that I won a few DVDs from online contests like A Better Tomorrow, Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, Legend of the Black Scorpion and my all time favorite, a copy of Gen X Cops signed by Jackie Chan. I also won free passes to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when it was released.

I've bought music from Interpunk before and they always have contests running, so once in a while I'll visit and see what the have going. Usually they aren't any band contests going that interest me, but it's free to enter, so why not? Turns out I won one! I won some stuff from a band I've never heard of called The Friday Night Boys. After being contacted about winning I provided them with my address and my swag arrived yesterday. The Friday Night Boys have released their new(only?) CD this summer, so the contest has a summer theme.

An inflatable beach ball that is signed by all four members of the band.

A pink inflatable inner tube or donut (whatever!) signed by three members of the band and one of the signatures is all smudged. Where is the fourth guy?!

And finally the icing on the cake, a very yellow bikini bottom with the band's name branded on the ass! Absolutely stunning!

As you can see I have no use for any of that stuff at all. I would've preferred a CD and a couple stickers, but instead I got this. It is all up for grabs, so if anyone or anyone's girlfriend wants the bikini bottoms they are Op size M(7/9). I hope they like yellow because I hate it!

Local Rabbits

I pulled into my spot at home after work and this guy was just sitting on the lawn right in front of me. I've seen him before in the same area and running around the neighborhood in general. I was expecting him to bolt the second I opened my car door, but he didn't! I got out and walked by him and he did nothing. I went inside and changed and then came back out and snapped a pic and he was still in the same spot. Rabbit eyes are freaky looking and his were bug eyed. It was scary, I thought he was gonna hurt me.

AAAAHHHHH!!!!

Bonus points to everyone who picked up on the "Local Rabbits" reference. They were an alt-rock band from Montreal and released two albums on Sloan's murderecords.

Impulse buy!!

Today I only worked a half day and when I was done my shift I went to the electronics department because I wanted to buy a Wii Points card. I wanted some more points so I could download a couple games. When I was waiting to pay I was looking in the discount bin and saw they had a DS Lite and a DSi in there. They were both open box models and were 25% off. Do I need one? Certainly not. Did I get one? Yes.

I couldn't really decided which one to get. The DS Lite is just a smaller version of the original DS. The DS is able to play GameBoy Advance games as well. The DSi is the newest version with two cameras, photo programs, music player, larger screens, and it's able to download DSiWare games. The system comes with a free game download. Unfortunately, the DSi does not have the GBA game slot. I ended up going with the DS Lite because it does play GBA games and it was cheaper. I didn't want to spend a lot of money and end up not playing it much. I did get the 25% off plus my 10% employee discount, so I ended up getting it for $100. I hope that is good.

I got home and figured out I now had a DS, but no games to play on it. I headed over to EB Games and checked out the used games. A lot of the first party Nintendo games are all pretty good, but cost more than the average used game. I ended getting an adventure FPS shooter called Moon and an on-rail shooter called Touch the Dead(only $5!). Touch the Dead is kinda like House of the Dead (no relation) where you are shooting zombies. I played it and I sucked at it. Controls are pretty simple, tap with the stylus where you want to shoot and drag ammo from the bottom left to the bottom right to reload your gun. I always took damage on reloads because it reloads so damn slow. Also, the game looks like crap. Maybe I've been playing so much XBox 360 HD games and know they are completely different systems, but Touch the Dead looked ugly. The name is kinda weird too, is it about necrophilia?

I started playing Moon, but quit after a while because it was making my head hurt. It is a FPS shooter/adventure where you move with the D-pad, move the on screen reticule with the stylus and then shooter the L shoulder button. Now the D-pad is on the right side of the system and I'm left handed, so I can't use the stylus and the D-pad at the same. I changed the configuration to moving with the buttons (on the right) and shooting with the R shoulder button. I found controlling, like moving and shooting at the same time really awkward, but maybe I'm just not used to it yet. I beginning to wonder how this system will be for someone left handed. It will be next to impossible to use the D-pad and the stylus at the same time, so it makes me wonder about control schemes for other games.

I won't have to worry about using a stylus if I play GBA games. All I need to do is get River City Ransom EX for the GBA and I might not have to worry about getting any more games, DS or GBA! EX was made for the GBA and is basically the original NES version with added features like tons of new techniques to learn. It is like the same, but slightly better. I've been waiting a while to play this.

Speaking of River City Ransom, one the games I wanted to download with my Wii Points was Super Dodgeball for the NES from the same guys the made River City Ransom. The characters have that RCR super deformed look to them. I played it and then lost in the finals to the Russians. Oh man, there is a LOT of screen flicker going on in that game. It is still funny when you blast an opponent and he flies off screen to the right and then he comes flying back in from the left. It's only a game of dodgeball, but you are literally out to kill your opponents. When they die a little angel flies up to heaven. If only the Ben Stiller movie was a good as a this game.