Goddamn Delta Airlines cancelled the sole two flights to Toronto. The one on Friday and the one on Monday are both cancelled for whatever reason. So, the video blog I promised will be delayed some.

Thanks to the gas prices being so insanely high - The ticket price jumped from 169$ to 270$ excluding luggage and insurance costs. That's 270 bucks to fly from New York City(JFK) to Toronto(PIA). That's 678 miles. For the same ammount of money, I can book a flight to Omaha, Nebraska. That's 2100 miles.

Hell I can fly to Chicago for 110$. Damn high-demand prices.

So pretty much I now pay 270 dollar for something I paid 169 for. That, and my flight which was scheduled to leave John F. Kennedy at 11AM this Friday - Has been delayed until further notice. Sounds like they cancelled the commuter-line between NY and Toronto.

I can always book someplace else. But imagine this; 270$ at Delta Airlines, it's already the cheapest.

Meh, we'll see how this works out.

You live the life I live.

You spell "Screw You DeNiro" in cocktail nuts while watching HEAT.
You "accidently" knock over a can of Pepsi over someone's lap while watching Indy IV.
You wonder oftenly if you'll respawn if you die. With full health and weapons remaining.
You go to work, and even there you're doing nothing.
You sit on your ass all day, and don't gain an ounce of weight.

Ah well, it's a good life. In a way.

Hell, I've got even more free time than that. I only work six hours a day. Here's the stuff I've been keeping myself busy with... For two days.

Crysis:

Facility;
A whole custom complex that only features indoor combat. At night time. All in all, this one's gonna be huge. But it's a time taker. Seriously, making everything yourself is quite the damn task in Crysis. I even had to create the goddamn stairs!

But in the end - The first indoors-only map within the game. :D

Six Screenshots, all leading to bigger versions.

Half-Life Deathmatch Mod:
Half way done scripting the insane physics Half Life has. That and seeing as Half Life's been blatantly ripped off by Halo 3 and became a success - It can't go wrong in Crysis, can it now?

All in all, I'm working on the jumping, running speed, a crowbar and a gravity gun. The gravity gun will be visible as unarmed, pretty much. The only thing Crytek didn't work into the editor is an feature to import scripts and models for new weapons.

Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars:

Urban Combat:
Started yesterday, I couldn't find ANY maps that work a bit like World in Conflict, so I started making my own. A map where infantry and aircraft collide. Ofcourse you can use vehicles, and the like. They'll only be able to navigate through the streets tough.

Also seeing as the map is quite dense; It would require you to expand.

Two screenshots, also leading to bigger versions. And as with the Crysis map, I started yesterday Y'know - Hence why it's a bit empty.

World in Conflict:

Highway Redux:
Oh yeah... Interstate 76, baby!

I write stories and game concepts with great detail, and I design maps with great detail. Man I'd hate it if I have choose between either one careers. Lead Story Design, or Map Design. I love doin' both.

While it was a good movie overall... Who's goddamn idea was it to turn it into When Indy Met the Space Invaders?

No. Really.

Y'know, I've been keeping my mouth shut about the Wii for quite some time. And so it goes for the whole CBS-now-owns-CNET thing. While the CBS situation is capitalism to the core; I crack up everytime I see a dude say "This is the end of GameSpot."

Nah, my friend. It's the end for legit reviews again, and the beginning for me becoming a commie.

Well, damn. Now I did it. I discussed the CBS-deal. Ah well, straight to the Wii.

Anyway, the reason why I kept my yapper shut about the Wii is because I flatout dislike any feature about the thing. Ever since they came with a solution to prevent them remote controls from flying through your 800$ LCD TV... It became even more boring than the thing already is.

It's like when Toyota all of the sudden made the HiLux breakable because people didn't like the simplicity of the thing. And about the HiLux being unbreakable; Three Brits from a BBC TV show called Top Gear used every single weapon to take the thing down; Even dropping it down with a building that gets demolished. Still works. Great show, by the way. The only bit of British TV I can accept without giving the TV the "akward stare".

The second reason of why I kept silent about the Wii is fairly straightforward.

I get so damn biased when I talk about the thing. And by the time I'm done talking about the thing, I gotta yell at the top of my goddamn voice "IT'S MY ****ING OPINION!".

Hell, whenever I say "I Hate the Wii. Period." - Half of China gets a sudden heartattack and the other half declares war to the infidel that cursed their nations' pride and dignity. Okay, I won't be the only one saying that 75% of the stuff that comes from that place is crap, I'll be the only one saying that the Wii includes with the 75%.

I still havn't given a solid reason of why I don't like the thing, eh?

I can qualify as a traditional gamer. And American.

The lazy, under motivated, half-witted biased jackass who's got a Budweiser in one hand, and a half-beaten-to-death controller in the other. Under his ass is a rock solid couch and infront of him is a TV with M-rated goodness spraying gore on anything.

What is missing; I am not obese, and yes I can get off my fluffy couch.

The Wii trows it all around. You gotta be fit for certain games,standing up is preffered and by the time you're playing it for two weeks - You've got an right arm twice the size of your left arm. The games that are considered good ran old for me back in 1998, and the ones that appeal to me are getting trashed and ripped apart by any reviewer.

I'm the type of guy who likes to choke on Dorito's while playing a game, and that's pretty damn hard considering you've got your hands full swinging the two controllers around.

What motivated me to do this blog is that I found out that a friend of mine bought a Wii after giving the brand a good week by trashing it down, who's my age, and just as biased and insane as I am. Yeah, we're buddies to the heart. Practically brothers. Only I am naturally insane, he's a learner.

So, I wanted to give it a try seeing as the guy who's most alike to me gave up to the goodness.

Well, giving Super Smash Brothers Brawl a chance - Five minutes later we were jamming away at The Scorpions "Rock You Like a Hurricane" on Rock Band, on the X360.

Yeah, I'll never like the Wii.

Now this Friday I planned to go and visit my special someone up in Lindsay, Ontario. It's a sixhundred mile drive from New York City, and I've done it quite a few times now.

Heck, roadtrips are an annual thing for me. Mostly I take a friend across country, in '06 I brought a friend along with me from New York to Los Angeles, and back. In six weeks. In a 2-seater. A rotten Pontiac Firebird TransAM that burned down with a ****ed clutch and a jammed accelerator not two months after the road trip.

In '07 I took my very obese friend(Yeah, I have to note that) in my then-new shortcab pick up truck, to Detroit.

This time I wanted to drive to my special someone who's currently at Flemming College in Ontario, Canada. Seeing as she's all alone, and to say the least - Depressed; I promised I would hop by as soon as time would be right.

Now I promised you guys a video blog, and I've gotten myself a camcorder, and taped the thing stuck to my rearview mirror, and made damn sure it would record, so I "borrowed" my friends' laptop so it would record directly to the laptop.

All in all, I haven't been paying attention to the gas prices. I don't use my own car that often, and when I gas up - I usually just pay while paying more attention to the free candaayhh rather than the big sign outside reading "Unleaded 3.98$". Hell, most of the time I'm filling up gas with the UPS van - The cost's on UPS anyway.

But, when I pulled onto the Texaco I always gas up at - I saw "Unleaded 4.07$". I heard alot of whining about on CNN lately about the gas price reaching the four bucks a gallon. Them bastards could've told me it was already PAST the four bucks a gallon! My car does 15 miles to a gallon. Which is for a heavyweight Chevrolet pick up truck - Pretty damn good.

I'd be weighing 700 dollars less by the time I reach Highway 403, on the New York-Ontario border.

So, traditionally - Me and my ways of life. That means; To be ignorant and quick I booked a ticket from JFK to Pierce International in Toronto. 67 miles from Lindsay.

Laura, that's her name. She's doesn't own a car, doesn't trust herself driving, and all that kind of blabber - I've got no ride from Toronto to Lindsay. Hell, for the insane price that my ticket costed I expected more than "unlimited insurance". For instance, a decently priced rental car.

Better yet - If someone from Toronto can explain me why the hell the Rental Agency's shut down, I'd appericate that.

For some reason my flight goes from New York, to Cincinnati, to Denver, to Toronto. I gotta wait from 11AM, to 5PM at Cincinnati. Then I gotta wait from 7PM to 10PM at Denver and then I'll be finally in Toronto. I don't know what happened to the one-way-to-your-destination stuff; But hell. I'll live with it. It's cheaper than going by car.

Basicly, I gotta sit around half a day for a four hour flight.

So I figured. I'd rip my camera from the car again. Take it with me, and might as well do some talking at a lifeless camera while I'm wasting life away at Ohio and Colorado. Might aswell visit Cin-City and the Rockies.

All in all, prices of gasoline are skyrocketing, Delta Airlines blows harder than a 900 megawatt leafblower, and I'm going to do a video blog while wandering around two cities, wait, three cities I have never been in my life before.

It's that I'm a man who goes after made promises; Otherwise I'd never do this.

So, next weekend(not this friday), I'll be gone 'till Monday. To visit Canada's only Green-caring College Town, and video tape my own buttugly face while wandering through America's Most Boring Cities.

... Why couldn't my flight be directed to Las Vegas or Atlantic City? You capitalist bastards at Delta!

Tough, you'd still get the video blog.

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I'm nineteen, I'm practically an adult. Yet, I'm giggling like a little school girl when I watch this. Hell, I even made it myself. Tough, there's no denying that when a TV goes Wii on a guy is gold...

Have I improved from the first series, or what?

Yeah, I figured I've played enough Orange Box to have a steady reason to *****.

Did I need to have a reason? No.
Why didn't I have a reason? Cause I'm working my ass off on another 20 ways to Kill Video. More on that at the end of the blog.

Right, the title comes from a certain thing that's in the Half Life series. Something that enables you to immitate a seizuring monkey by swinging your crowbar so damn fast; It's L33t.

NLFHR #16 - The Orange Box(...X360).

Right, it's because it's such a cheap set of games that makes it so damn popular. Hell, it's like why everyone is driving a Ford Crown Victoria overhere - It's dirt cheap; But holy hell - Is it a piece of crap or what!?

The point I'm getting to is this - Cheap means "We know it's damned boring, that's why its only 30 dollar!". Now you say "Do'h!", I'll say "No ****.".

And if I dare to complain about the price > craptastic ratio; I get the "DUDE! FIVE EFFING GAMES!" load of salami-synonym.

First of all; It's three.

Yes. Three. Episode 1 and Episode 2 are "Episodic Content" - Also known as; You only get it if you wish to use it. If it were expansion packs(which they are); They'd still be three games.

If the games were called like this: Half Life 2, Episode One(P.S Using all props, characters, storyline and items from HL), Episode Two(P.S Using all props, characters, storyline and items from HL), Portal and Team Fortress 2 - Yes, it would be five games. But considering there's "HALF LIFE 2™" written in huge split font on both episodes; They are NOT two seperate games.

Damn marketing tricks, huh?

Alright, alright. I'll review all th...five seperate.

Half Life 2: Let's see. One mute anti-Gillette with glasses to make him look smarter than the straightforward trigger-brain, some conspiracy took over the world, long ass levels, quite the variety in weapons and physics pwnage.

... To continue, some tower thing, headcrabs, dudes with headcrabs, fast dudes with headcrabs, slow but poisonous dudes with headcrabs, fanny crabs, toilet crabs, itchy crabs, yadayadayada.

All in all; There's too much, and too little.

Vague? The levels are too friggin' long to maintain entertaining, with too little within that level to make it entertaining. From beginning to end, levels look and play the same. To add ontop of that; They're one hour and a half long each. Within that, repeated weapons and gameplay.

Oh, and if I wanted puzzle games. I would've played Portal. But considering as Alyx finds me clever, and it's overly obvious these two have a secret polygonal hasn't-been-written-by-the-story-writers-yet thing going on - I'll be the jackass doc/shooter I am; and put cars over holes.

The sound's okay, the voice acting is okay, the graphics are outdated, but we're talking about a game that's what, five years old?

Half Life 2: Episode 1 - See Half Life 2, but then with even more dark, you're-stuck-with-the-lady gameplay and a different plotline.

Half Life 2: Episode 2 - ... I am not gonna repeat myself twice. Tough this one is a helluvalot more better and faster-paced than both HL2 and Ep.1.

Portal - Not much to say, I'll end up bashing it with the wrong reasons as I'm not much of a puzzle-fan. Tough, it's an game you should play. One way or another. And yes, the cake is a lie. I touched the TV screen and I didn't get any cake. TEH SPOILERZ!

Team Fortress 2 - In a nutshell; If you don't buy it for the PC - You sir, are an underestimated moron who's a console whore and can't even see fine multiplayer gameplay when a 1200$ PC with an NVIDIA 8800, Intel QuadCore 6600 etc is standing right infront of your face.

Like me.

Basically, it's killing Koreans with; Shopping Carts, pre-school tactics, Melons, conspiracies, etc.

If you want a preview; Just say so.

Best title in the history of blogging.

So yeah, I've been here for two years. And according to the typical use of teh interwebs - I now should go onto Lolcats.com, pick a picture of a cat, with a punchline that slaps the Comedy Business on the cheek with a piece of beef, and then type "PAAATTTHHHYYYY!" as if I'm walking off some seventees movie set.

Yeah, right.

No, seriously.

Really.

The last time I typed LOL was when teh mudkips wur bettur thn teh piekachoows n charriezarts. Okay! You smartass! I know I typed Lol in the title. And three times in the blog so far.

I've been here for 730 days. If there's one internet tradition I ain't following it's the cats and punchlines that look like they've been written by a declining comedy icon with a single-digit IQ.

I know, I know - I'm a hardass.

Anyway, since I got nothing to celebrate, seeing as it's just two years. Unlike most of the people I know on this place; Who've been here since '02, '03 and '04. I'm just gonna continue with what I was planning on doing.

... And that's nothing. Half Life 2 is so damn long; I'm only at Ravenholm. Half Life 2 Episode 1 - Dumb mistake that I tried it; it blew the ending for me. I haven't tried Episode 2 yet, but according to IGN.com and our own Gerstmann; It's the best of the three.

Portal is indeed one interesting game. I've managed to get to Level 11 within an hour. Afraid that I'd nail it within 3 hours; I went on to a bit of Team Fortress 2.

All in all; I'll get back to the NLFHR Hate-review tomorrow. I think I need one fierce playthrough of Half Life, that I need to complete Portal and atleast more than one match of TF2 to have a solid reason to ***** like there's no tomorrow.

Ah yes... Good ol' traditional complaining about everything and anything. Gives me a reason to live...

Unbelievable that I didn't buy this game earlier. Wait, games. So far Half Life is the only one I've tried. Bet your balls on me reviewing all five of 'em soon.

To put that aside, I've been hauling ass and managed to submit my entry to Developer for a Day 6 three hours before the deadline closed. I guess Lady Fortune's being a friend for today.

Back to the Orange Box. It's true - It is the best damn value you can get. It costed me 25$ and hotdamn is it sweet.

Short blog for today, but I've got some taco's to slay.

Crazy thing, ain't it?

It's like a complete blur to anyone. One calls it being EMO, the other says that you'll feel down and look at life as if you'd rather place a .45 against the side of your head.

I tought myself how not to think myself into a depression, considering how I live and all. My life's practically scheduled, and the only thing that keeps me from shooting myself is that special someone. Who's, unlike me, making a career. Maybe I'm going too far by saying "shooting myself", but it is how it is.

People told me that life's a bumpy ride. I then tell them that my life's a stellar ride over the Route 66 of the fiery pits of hell.

Y'know, the people that know me don't consider me different. Tough I've got a checklist of diseases(as the government likes to call 'em), that makes James May's Pre-flight Checklist look like a Two-step program. But what I mean with not being considered different is that I'm this basement-type-o'-guy who only goes out with a solid reason.

I'm always this cheery loudmouth jackass who's got passion for nicknaming people and smile at anything. Which, being in New York City - Should be a reason to send me off to live with the Dream Team.

Hell, being the cheery dude most of the time puts a camo over what I really am. And what the hell am I? An overachiever that failed pretty much everything so far, and who stepped into adulthood way too early, who's got a ****load of issues with himself and is only proud of how he looks. And what can I be proud of? An tall hairy rocker who's stuck in '88.

I ain't exactly positive over life either.

For three years, since I turned seventeen, I've been dealing with depression. And while dealing with Autism alongside, I only could talk to myself when things got too heavy. I could just manage to keep it hidden, until I met the one I love. I feel like I'm gonna saddle her up with more ****, than the average eighteen year old college-goer can manage to hold, if I break.

To her, I'm the listener. Nicknamed "Ass-kisser". She's got her issues, and I'm the person who understands, and then sucks up to make her feel better. Her having been heavily depressed when she was a teenager, I keep on trying to hold the hell on.

What made me depressed in the end? Thinking about life. Knowing that it's going nowhere, with a half-assed career at Leech Incorporated, and another craptastic career at UPS. Father 3000 miles away, mother my sworn enemy. Being a lone soldier, pretty much since I was barely an adult. Living paycheck on paycheck. Being a bright sunny dude, while being a rotten corpse from within.

What kept me going? The writing that I do. There's your reason of why I write so passionate. I express more feelings within my projects, blogs and such than Bold and the Beautifull did in 30 years.

What's the final edge? Losing the last star I've got in my life. And quite frankly, I am doing too well to keep her by my side. And it's not like I'm contributing anything to the relationship we've got.

Meh, not a single damn soul gives a ratsass. Maybe one or two, but they're on the exit line nevertheless. Here's your happy sunshine BraindeadRacr, AKA NJ. Are you speechless, Mr. 104 New Views? No suprise. Can't blame ya'.