The Decemberists
Von Iva
Mike Relm

On the ever-expanding short list of concerts that you must see whenever you possibly can, I add another entry:

The Polyphonic Spree

Though E3 is descending upon us, I won't (for the first time in very many years) be attending the event. I don't actually mind, the way E3 is now, it wouldn't be very useful or interesting to anybody that doesn't have scheduled appointments and meetings. I'll take my coverage from GS and probably be a lot better for it.

I am, however, attending Games Day Baltimore this Saturday. That is basically Warhammer fantasy land, where you can pretty much explore anything Warhammer-related, including (of course!) WAR. I'll be working the show floor, helping people play RVR matches. So please, if anybody is in the area and planning to attend, stop by and say hi.

I'll also be at Games Day LA in August, so if you're in the LA area, buy your tickets now!

Spying shows your limbs caught in the rails
These simple games will soon be growing tales
And I know we haven't said enough

Some of the most intense conversations you have with a person can happen without words, messages passed through time and space via unsuspecting carriers. Signs of a person's actions without the accompanying narrative, allowing you to fill in the blanks of their days and nights. Is it human nature to always suspect the worst?

I envision my dear friend Carolyn Michelle sitting in her living room cackling as she passes my Pac Man Championship Edition score time and time again. She doesn't ever message me to tell me that she's done it, but each time that I beat hers and put my controller down, I don't get any kind of satisfaction. Instead I'm filled with the dread of knowing that any time spent away from the Xbox is time that she will have to demolish my high scores. Aaron too, has entered the fray, and though I'm a competitive person, I can honestly say that I only like the competitions where I continue to win. If they keep this up it might be too much for my fragile ego.

On the subject of wordslessness, a friend of mine from high school and I went to the Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival this weekend and saw Building a Broken Mousetrap, a documentary about Dutch punk band, The Ex, made by the creator of the Fugazi documentary Instrument, Jem Cohen. The documentary was an hour long set of one of their shows at The Knitting Factory in NYC interspersed with footage of Manhattan. The filmmaker was there to speak about the film afterwards, which is always my favorite part of film festivals, but I was surprised at how many people were looking for deeply symbolic meanings to some of his choices in the film. "What was the decision behind filming it half in black and white and half in color?" one attendee asked. "Oh I just ran out of money," was his answer. As a philosophy major, I don't know that I'm allowed to even think this, let alone say it, but maybe we should stop trying to see too much into the wordslessness (or even the words), and just let ourselves be.

Perhaps Carolyn Michelle hasn't even seen my high score at all, and I am simply fabricating her side of the story.

In that case, I'm definitely going to kick her ass.

However, as I make my way through Hard trying to 5-star every song, I have figured the one thing about Guitar Hero that really bugs me. The set list stays in order, although the difficulty of certain songs varies widely (with respect to the others) depending on the difficulty setting.

Wolfmother's "Woman" is the song that I got the Perfectionist Award (100% notes hit) for... on Medium. On Hard, I absolutely can not get above 3 stars. I've 5-starred every song in the following two sets, but for some reason, I can't do a thing with Woman.

I've spent a fair amount of time in Practice Mode, but even though I'm glad that it's there, it doesn't seem to help. The biggest problem with I have with Practice Mode, I think, is that it just feels like work.

On the subject of women and Guitar Hero though, I thought of a few songs that I would really like to see in the upcoming Guitar Hero games.

Joan Jett - I Hate Myself for Loving You (Because I Love Rock and Roll should not be the song she's remembered for.)
Runaways - Cherry Bomb (Because I really love Joan Jett)
Drain S.T.H. - I Don't Mind
Stevie Nicks - Edge of Seventeen
Pat Benatar - Heartbreaker (I really prefer Love is a Battlefield but Heartbreaker is undeniably a better guitar song.)
L7 - Mr. Integrity (I would secretly like a whole set of L7 songs as a downloadable pack, toss in Andres and ****list and I would be thrilled.
Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl (I'm not sure what's up with this video. But I wouldn't mind being reincarnated as Kathleen Hanna)

You know those weeks? Those really terrible weeks where everything just seems to go wrong? Those weeks where the only thing that could possibly put a smile on your face is a movie about your soon-to-be-husband Billy Mitchell defending his Donkey Kong record?

The King of Kong!

Thanks Alex!

1. Vinny Caravella (Vincent or Vincenzo are also acceptable) is a video editor at GameSpot.

2. He's tremendously talented and hard-working.

3. He's my best friend in the universe (known and otherwise).

4. His birthday is May 10th.

5. He goes by the pseudonym Mindcavity. You can stalk/harass him or simply send birthday wishes here: Mindcavity

6. He is about to be embarrassed.

[video=cH06wWD55b4PsjPb]

P.S. Thanks for capturing the rare Vinny on film Aaron!

I'm now the proud of owner of the greatest DVD collection in history. I can barely wait out the work day to get home to watch the whole thing. And I work at a video game company! You know it has to be good!

P.S. I really suck at Puzzle Quest. Almost as bad as I am at stupid Mario Party.

P.P.S. Working with Paul Barnett is like being on The Truman Show.

"The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist."

-Kurt Vonnegut

My level of respect for Alanis Morissette as an artist is fairly deep, so I apologize for the cheesiness and obviousness of the pun in the post title, especially considering how brilliant this parody of My Humps is. 

If you haven't read through Ricardo's massive Super Paper Mario coverage, you should.

Especially this part (from Chapter 3)

You'll also pick up two new pixl homies, Thudley and Carrie.The Luminous Ricardo Torres

Yay!

Carrie is a floating platform that lets you move at a faster speed than running and float safely over spiky floors, of which there are many.The Effervescent Ricardo Torres

Huh...uh?