Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection

I'm a big pinball fan, and when I picked this up this weekend for the PS2, I had very high hopes. Unfortunately this game doesn't quite deliver for me. Maybe I'm spoiled from playing the excellent Little Wing Pinball game Monster Fair, but this game has a few glaring problems that keep it from being an absolute blast to play. The first problem lies in the physics of the ball. The ball seems very light, which may or may not give the player a competitive advantage, but it certainly throws off the feeling of realism I was expecting to get with this game. The other problem with this game lies in the overall glitchiness of the newer games. I've had Tee'd Off! get stuck on at least four separate occasions, and when a ball gets stuck, you have to tilt to eject it, or in one case, even completely restart the game. Very disappointing, as some of the older games from the 50's and 60's, while a neat diversion, aren't the reason why I bought this collection. Other problems include the lack of a quick Reset (load times are atrocious) and pre-set, uneraseable high scores which may or may not be impossible to achieve. Given that I only paid $10 for this game, I can overlook some of its flaws, and it certainly looks great from a graphical standpoint, but if I'd paid the game's original $20 price, I would be a bit more upset by the bugs in it.

Storage

I've been giving a lot of thought to the whole moving/storage conundrum lately. With a bunch of new furniture, new washer and dryer, etc, selling is not an option. I was hoping my sister would get a job in the Morgantown area-she said she would like to use my furniture while I'm away-but that still leaves plenty of stuff that fits into the "not really essential, but stuff I don't want to sell" category. Stuff like 3-4 video game systems that have nostalgic value, a few (50 or so) books, artwork...lots of stuff. And if I pay for storage for that stuff, I might as well pay for storage for everything, unless my sister or my parents want to pay for a U Haul to take my furniture to my sister. A temperature-controlled storage unit big enough for everything is going to cost me about $100 a month, or $1200 a year. This is ok for one year, but two years ($2400) is well over the cost of everything in storage bought new. It's still too early to worry about, but if I really like it in Korea and make a return trip, I'm going to have to figure out what to do with my stuff in storage-two years in a storage unit is not an option.

The Little Red Hen - A Comedy of Errors

Well, at least it's over. To be honest, it could have been a lot worse. Everyone remembered their lines for the most part, and the parents really got a kick out of the whole thing. There were only a few times when the production stopped for no apparent reason, and while three (yes, three) bathroom emergencies occurred within the members of the chorus, only one resulted in injury. For some reason, one of the male students who had to get up and run to the bathroom during the performance decided to run full-tilt at the risers on his return trip. Of course, this resulted in him running head-on into the front of the risers. Luckily, he was ok-no bumps, cuts, or bruises. I think kids tend to be more invincible than we give them credit for. If I was the victim of the same circumstance I'm sure I would have ended up in the hospital. Anyway, I'm glad that this was my last major grade level production of the year. I don't think I could handle another one.

The Boss, The Beach Boys, and Tony--what more can you ask for in a radio show?

Tony Kornheiser is back on the radio, after taking a hiatus for Monday Night football and switching networks. He's now on Washington Post Radio. In addition to being my favorite radio host, Tony is also my favorite celebrity. His show, supposedly a sports show, rarely contains any sports discussion. It's more of a Regis and Kelly-type general discussion with occasional interviews with sports figures. It's hard to explain exactly why this is the greatest show in radio history, but I urge you to download an episode available for free on iTunes and listen. Tony is the man, and now that the Washington Post puts up a commercial free podcast of his show every day, I can take him with me to the land of the morning calm. There's not much better news than that.

Listen to Tony talk about Thunder Road while it plays in the background here.

Spinal Tap to Reform, Fight Global Warming

I'm happy to report that the members of Spinal Tap, though performing in a concert to fight global warming, don't quite understand the concept.

"They're not that environmentally conscious, but they've heard of global warming," said Reiner, whose other films include When Harry Met Sally and Stand By Me. "Nigel thought it was just because he was wearing too much clothing -- that if he just took his jacket off it would be cooler."

Read more here.

John Dvorak = Rush Limbaugh

I listen to This Week in Tech every week, and every week the source of my frustration is one John C. Dvorak. Every week he comes on with the sole purpose of promoting his blog, which I assume brings in a lot of ad revenue for him. He's a lot like Rush Limbaugh in that he doesn't care what comes out of his mouth as long as it brings him more publicity. Dvorak o far behind on the tech curve, giving him any sort of platform to express his antiquated views is a waste of time. I read somewhere that he's like the old grandpa the family brings out on the holidays to listen to because he's old and senile, but doesn't really contribute much other than being someone to laugh at. Just last week he condemned the future of AJAX, solely because he found it hard to use. AJAX is the technology used to edit webpages without hitting refresh-think Flickr or Frappr. He also famously predicted that no one would want to use a mouse back when the Macintosh came out in 1984. I know Dvorak is on TWiT for the same reason that Rush was on Monday Night Football, that is, to incite controversy, but when your panel includes the rest of the guys on the podcast, do you really need someone like that?

Thoughts about Vegas

Whenever the first really hot day of the year gets here, I always think about Las Vegas. I've been twice, and both times it's been a blast. I love everything about it. Well, everything except the people who stand on corners handing out handbills for escorts. But everything else is great- the cheap food, the free drinks, the neon lights, all the casinos...the first time I went to LV was in 2003 for the Classic Gaming Expo. Even though the expo itself was cool, I remember much more about the whole Vegas experience outside of the convention. The first and only time I've ever had a deep-fried twinkie was at Mermaids. My first and only trip to a strip club (with my ex-fiance (or fiancee-I cannever remember) in tow) was at the Topless Girls of Glitter Gulch on Freemont St., aka The Old Vegas, aka where The Flaming Lips shot their video of "Do You Realize." The next year I flew into Vegas to meet my friend Greg who was living in the SoCal high desert at the time. We had a blast walking around the new part of Vegas, through the Venetian, MGM, etc. Now that the Classic Gaming Expo is making it's triumphant return to the city this year, I may be headed back for a third trip just before I leave for Korea. I'd really love to go-it would be a great going-away present for myself.

Chelsea

I never go to new york city these days
Something about the buildings in chelsea just kills me
Maybe in a month or two,
Maybe when things are different for me,
Maybe when things are different for you
You know all of this shit, just sticks in my head

Is there anything different these days?
The light in her eyes goes out
I never had light in my eyes anyways
Maybe things are different these days

Things I am not going to miss in Korea.

As far as teaching goes, there are some things I'm going to be glad to leave behind forever.

1. Having a multipurpose room.

I guess if I didn't teach music this wouldn't be so bad, but since I have stuff set up all the time like instruments and charts, having to tear it all down just to satisfy some teacher who wants the room to look like a blank space for some pointless assembly. As if the students are going to suddenly forget this is a music room if they don't see the instrument cart out.

2. Bus duty.

I really hate this, especially since I'm the only one who has to do it. At most schools I've been to, they post two people outside in the morning as the busses come in. At least then I'd have someone to talk to whenever I'm waiting for the inevitable bus that's running late.

3. Lack of discipline.

I only hear this from other teachers who have taught in the US before and now teach in Korea, but they all say that discipline problems as we know them in this country simply don't exist in Korea. You don't have kids who will blatantly disregard your instructions or disrupt the class with their asinine behavior. I love my kids at this school, but the culture they're raised in simply doesn't teach any kind of respect for figures in authority, parents included.

....more to come as I think of them....

Sufjan Stevens - Chicago

Sufjan Stevens is awesome. It's one thing to strum out some chords and sing along, but playing something so delicate and soft really shows off how well you can sing. I love the glockenspiel too :)

Little Red Hen, Little Red Hen....

This Thursday my Kindergarten classes are going to perform a musical called The Little Red Hen at a PTA meeting. The Little Red Hen contains possibly the worst songs ever recorded. I don't want to take the time to embed any audio in this post, but let me give you a taste of some of the lyrics:

"Not right now
said Dot the Cow
I can't help right now"

"Feeling too fat
said Neil the Cat
I just feel too fat"

Every time one of the characters speaks, each line is immediately followed by a delightful little number such as those above. The songs repeat often, so you end up singing the same ten second song four or five times during the course of the musical.

Even though I absolutely despise the music, I have to admit that I feel a twinge of sadness when I think about this being the last musical I'll put on at Magruder. Each grade level has really surprised me with the level of reading that these kids are capable of. I'm especially proud of the Kindergarteners (possibly not a real word) with speaking parts. These kids just learned how to read and they're doing a great job memorizing their lines. And I know no matter how much the music makes me cringe, I'll still be smiling ear to ear while the kids do the Chicken Dance for the grand finale.

Pinball wizard or compulsive spender?

I came very close to buying a pinball machine today. It was a 1979 Harlem Globetrotters machine, and was on Craigslist for $150. This is an unheard of price for a pinball machine. However, I don't have that kind of money right now. I emailed the girl and told her that if she could hold it for me until Monday when I get paid, I'd pay $200 for it. As soon as I sent the email, I felt guilty. Here I am trying to save and buy something I'll actually be able to use next year in Korea, like a camcorder or telephoto lens for my d70, and immediately I throw all that out the window to buy this thing that's going to sit in storage for a year or more, and may not even work properly. Why do I do this? Why do I feel the need to buy something (usually video game related) that I have no need for whatsoever but is a good deal? As it turns out, she emailed me this afternoon and said that she already sold the machine. I immediately felt a sense of relief, but there's a part of me that thinks if I see a deal like that again, I'll do the same thing. I need to stop spending so much time looking for good deals, because with the internet, they can always be found, and I'll always end up going broke saving money.

Politics, abortion, and my Catholic vote

Jimmy Akin is a popular Catholic blogger. He covers everything from complex theological issues to moral society to Battlestar Galactica. I read him occasionally, and was troubled by this post. Basically, he quoted (well, he copied the quotes from the Drudge Report) politicians' responses to the recent Supreme Court ban on partial birth abortions.



I'm pro-life. I'm also a Democrat. In some minds, that poses an insurmountable contradiction. However, I believe that it's possible to vote for a candidate who is not 100% pro-life and still have a clear conscience. Why some Catholics believe that abortion should be the be-all and end-all of your political stance is beyond me. I don't know who I'm going to vote for next year, but I certainly won't discount any candidate based solely on their views on whether abortion should be legal.

Obligatory first post.

Ok, so in the spirit of leaving for Korea in a few months, I'm going to start a blog again. This one is going to be more of a hodgepodge of ideas I have about all kinds of stuff. I think that if I write about whatever is on my mind instead of trying to stick with one theme I'll do better.