Yesterday I took a fun trip to the City. I may talk more about that later.

Jeff, you rule!

You already knew that because I told you yesterday.

But I digressed from my regression.

I'm off for a few days. I'd say catch me if you can, but I don't want you to do that.

Rich will be doing double duty in the Union. Don't forget to feed the dog. Bathe every day. Get your homework done. Don't let the place burn down and remember: NO PARTIES.

. . . oh, and in case you get super stoked to shake Tim Tracy's hand, don't be a doofus and tell him you are the one who has been PMing him about being in a spotlight. Ugh.

I can be a heel sometimes. I admit it. The suit is for my own protection. It grants me a bonus on my save versus polymorph.

I understand what the hype is about. While the story seems to be predictable, Need for Speed Most Wanted is still a lot of fun. The rain effects are pleasant, though they do not impact gameplay.

The characters are all stylish to a fault, but that is what makes the game so endearing. I wish the Blacklist characters spoke more. Other than "Razor" Callahan, none of the Blacklist 15 speak. Rog and Mia are nice to get messages from, but I wanted to practice my German language skillz with "Baron." That would've been a hoot.

I have found a happy medium with three cars in my garage. Not only does it help to keep the heat down, but I can pour my upgrade money into the lead car while saving the others for heat-generating trials. The least of my cars is still more of a match for the level-1 police chases. . . and you have many to survive in order to fulfill Earl's bounty requirements.

Though I was indifferent to the product a month ago, Most Wanted has me sincerely interested in checking out Carbon when it debuts.

Hopefully Carbon will let me trick out a Toyota . . . a brand clearly missing from Most Wanted.

I have reimmersed myself in Need for Speed Most Wanted.

One of the first things I did was head to the golf course and do a series of doughnuts on the fourth green. Unfortunately, they did not end up resembling an American president.

Everyone else is doing it, so I will too. . . a few pet peeves.

* The incessant banging of my expensive car into a barrier when I switch from Burnout to PGR3.

* Being questioned late at night when my allergies are bad and I'm tired.

* People who fail to understand the pains of allergies. Especially those who insist on having everyone eat outside when the pollen counts are through the roof.

* Feet on my pillow. Seriously I was planning on putting my face on that later.

* Realizing I missed a great deal.

* Getting a bad deal on a trade-in. . . because no matter how you bargain, ultimately you want what they are offering. . . and they have to turn a profit on your used item.

* Making great progress on a difficult task, only to be interrupted to do something more important.

* When you know you clearly failed to complete a task and an automated system reminds you of your failure. Thanks, I noticed.

. . . I'm sure I can come up with more, but I'm tired, I've been banging my expensive car into barriers in PGR3, and my allergies are killing me because I ate in an open-air environment.

I'm going to get some cheese to go with my whine.

On my way home from work today I cashed in my free rental for the month of September. I took home NBA 2K6 since the video place I go to is liquidating their 2006 games. Gone are the copies of Madden 06. NHL 2K6 continues to be rented out. That leaves about four other games from which to choose.

One match and 45 minutes after firing up the game, I had all 1,000 points. Thank you GameSpot.

Gentle readers, Spengler has done it again:

The Idols of American worship.*

*Advanced English is used. Not for the faint of heart.

I have had numerous friends gushing about how great the new Battlestar Galactica series is. If the 45 minutes of abridged drama is any indicator, it offers little more than the other programming positioned as "drama."

The problems I have with dramas these days can be summarized in three faulty categories:

1. Sex as a substitute for developing real relationships

2. Yelling to create tension or to reveal emotion

3. Insufficient usage of the word "Frak."

Okay, so maybe the third one was a bit silly, but Battlestar Galactica gets away with something I find absolute genius: fictional euphemisms. Why pollute a fictional world with real foul language? It spoils a lot of the charm inherent in building that new world.

Take Smurfs for example. Not only was a Smurf (the race) created anew, but the name could be applied to any number of actions, emotions, or noun replacements. Instance: I smurfed myself when I smurfed my leg into the smurfin' table. Yeah, you know what happened, and it is beautiful. I still have a bruise on my smurf from when it happened.

The language of the world creates an added depth and dimension to bring the world to life. . . but now I am merely repackaging what I have already written.

So, what exactly happened to the days when the acting was as deep as the focus photography? As my wife and I have been watching old Hitchcock movies, Orson Welles films, and animated classics from the 70's and 80's we have noticed that current storytelling methods only reward the thinking impaired. I'm not saying entertainment is not to be found in TV or movies, but writers are definitely writing down to their audiences.

The subtleties found in Strangers on a Train are far too deep for comparison with Snakes on a Plane. Robert Walker's sickly-sweet portrayal of the disturbed mastermind, Bruno Anthony, should be one for the history books. Unfortunately, audiences seem to be more inclined to lap up performances by outllandish portrayals of megalomaniacs. I suppose the Hitler archetype is easier to pass the PC litmus test than the thought of the priviledged man next door being a calculating assassin. But if he is good in bed I suppose all is forgiven.

I hate to break it to the over-stimulated masses but not everybody flits about from bed to bed as portrayed in Hollywood productions. Though I have invoked Hitchcock previously, the subtleties of his lovers (To Catch a Thief, Notorious, and North by Northwest) are not lost on me. Nevertheless, he graciously allows his audiences to focus more on the plot of his movies than the consensual affairs. 

Developed storytellers can build subtlety into their scripts. Spider-man 2 is my favorite comic book movie even though the action sequences may be over-the-top. The writing is smart and the actors *gasp* actually make an honest effort to weave subtleties into their performances. Though they do not succeed in every instance, the presentation tells more than just how emphatic one's voice can project a list of four-letter words. How sad then to see the pollution of mired storytelling seep into the current crop of mainstream comics.

For date night Friday night, my wife and I strolled downtown to a great video store to pick up some discounted movies. We rented The Hulk and Giant Robo. As we were moving through der Ausgang, I mentioned to my wife the underground root brews they were packing in their refrigerator.

She caved.

For the same price we paid for the two movies, my wife and I picked up a bottle of Buckin' Root Beer. courtesy of Jackson Hole Soda Company.

I'm really not much of a carbonated beverage fan. As a matter of fact they tear up my insides pretty well. This concoction is evidently the exception to the discomforting rule.

The flavor was smooth and the aftertaste was rather refreshing. At a price of $2.00 per bottle, it seemed steep, but the quality was on par with Henry Weinhart's. The label takes a nod from Jones, but pays tribute to "the Pioneer Spirit of the Old West." My wife has pioneer stock in her heritage, but I found the branding & positioning to be the most impressive of any of the overly marketed products on shelves.

Ultimately, my wife had no problem finishing off the bottle, but I wished we had gotten two, just so I could have enjoyed more than a few sips.

As for Giant Robo, if you enjoy anime, you owe it to yourself to track down a copy of this 1991 anime and give it a view. Though it has many of the standard fares of contemporary giant robot shows, it is an update of the 1967 production that set the standard.

Some of the Tenchi Muyo-like relationship issues creep in, but the mystery and energy-fueled drama make for a fun caper. My wife enjoyed watching it, which is (in itself) a testament to its quality.

I had 33 takedowns (Gold Medal) and an Awesome ranking on the last Road rage course. When the 360 was saving said game, it crashed. Ye old disc read error. Not only did the 360 crash but it wouldn't recognize Burnout as a game. When I kept trying to restart the game my 360 kept treating the game as though it were a DVD. Crazy hardware.

If the system had still been in its vertical orientation I would have laid it down. But since Greg and many others have had severe disc scratching problems from 360s, I already laid that console down. I am hoping the one enjoyable game I am currently playing is permitted to retain its playability.

Late last week I posted a few of my favorite Burnout Revenge clips taken from various races. I tried picking the most exciting, interesting, and dynamic clips. My friends list received notification of the upload, but an unintelligible, two-second clip of a car in the White Mountain track is in the Top 20 clips. I'm puzzled.

When last I checked, short videos do not make great clips. Somehow, 397 people missed that memo.

If you want to check out my Burnout Revenge clips, look for me on XBL. I'm happy to share.