The Return of the King Extended Edition DVD

(Click on the post title to go to IGN page)

This is going to be sweet!

The bad thing is that it is going to come out in December. Eh, before you know it, Christmas will be around the corner and we shall have our own copy of it.

If a person gets the Collector's Set, you get a small statue of Minas Tirith, which looks really nice. I got the Collector's Set of "Fellowship of the Ring," which came with the statues of the Argonath, the two kings of Gondor (Isildur and Anarion). I passed on "The Two Towers" Collector's Set, in which is came with a statue of Gollum.

Looking forward to it!

Weekend Plans

After a well-deserved sleep-in, Katie is making me go to "Art in the Park," an annual event during Crazy Days in Madison.

I'm not really sure what goes on there, but apparently vendors are selling stuff for extra cheap, but I really don't want anything. Katie loves it, so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt to accompany her to this thing.

As for Sunday, the race is on! It's the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono, the race that Ryan Newman won last year in his #12 Mobil 1 Dodge. Hopefully he can get his second win of the season, he came close last Sunday at New Hampshire, where he finished 3rd.

I'll probably end up sitting around on my butt, putting in some more rosters into NCAA Football 2005 and cleaning up, especially my office, since that's a declared disaster area.

No issues for me right now, I'm kind of worn out for the long week at work. The Democratic Convention is over (big whoop!) and Bush is out on the campaign trail, trying to save some face for the November election. Although I'm a stout Republican and Bush supporter, he's going to have to pull something out of his ass to win in November.

If anything else happens exciting this weekend, I'll post it on Monday.

Dog Sitting, Part II

Well, "Frankie" has now officially invaded the house.

It's a little runt of a dog. A weiner dog, to be exact. The cats, Clovton and Bubba, cannot really know what to make out of it. Bubba took a swipe at Frankie, and Frankie barked like something fierce.

I picked up Frankie to haul him out of our bedroom, and Clovton was sitting on top of our entertainment center. She looked at me with a look like, "What the hell are you doing?! You're supposed to do that to me!"

Playing "fetch" with Frankie is an experience in itself. He's tries to pick up a ball bigger than his head, but his large mouth manages to pick it up. It's almost hilarious to see him run after the ball, because he's airbourne half the time with his long strides, plus the fact that he's so low to the ground. His ears are also quite large, so a gust of wind will actually pull his face back. It's great.

At least it hasn't shit in the house yet!

ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll Released

Here's the Top 25:

1. USC
2. Oklahoma
3. LSU
4. Georgia
5. Miami
6. Florida State
7. Michigan
8. Texas
9. Ohio State
10. Florida
11. West Virginia
12. Iowa
13. Kansas State
14. Tennessee
15. California
16. Clemson
17. Missouri
18. Auburn
19. Virginia
20. Maryland
21. Utah
22. Wisconsin
23. Minnesota
24. Purdue
25. Oregon

An Interesting, but Funny, Forward

I got this in my e-mail. I thought it was pretty funny.

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.

With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.

With WorldCom, you would have less than $5.00 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of Beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling price, you would have $214.00.

Based on the above, current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. It's called the 401-Keg Plan.

Dog-Sitting

It ends up that Katie and I are going to watch a friend's dog while her and her husband are going on vacation for a few days.  The dog's name is "Frankie."  I don't even know what it is.  It's just this little scrawny thing.  Kind of looks like a beagle.

But last time we doggie-sat for it was when Katie and I were living at the apartment.  That thing shit everywhere, puked everywhere, and whined when we didn't give it any attention.

I told Katie I didn't mind watching the dog, as long as it's out on the front deck, so it can poop and pee and puke out there.  I'm sure our cats, Clovton and Cassifer (Bubba) will not care for a dog hanging around in the house for a few days.

Twins Sweep White Sox

Now the Twins are 3 1/2 up on the White Sox.  How 'bout a little "HELL, YEAH!"

But there are talks that first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz will be traded before the deadline (July 31).  Probably to Pittsburgh in exchange for pitcher Kris Benson, who's 8-8 on the year.  It'll be tough to see Dougie go, since his glove at 1st base has been so solid for the past couple of years.

Playoff tickets?  I'm still debating that (if they make it).  I went to the playoffs two years ago, when they beat Oakland in the Wild Card and lost to eventual champion Anaheim in the League Championship Series.  I didn't go last year -- kind of glad, since they had their asses handed to them by the Yankees.

NFL News

Eli Manning -- the biggest baby (along with his father, Archie) in the NFL -- has signed with the New York Giants.  He got a 6-year deal worth $54 million, along with a $20 million signing bonus.  For crying out loud!  A worthy fantasy football pick?  Not likely!  Bitch should be playing for the Chargers.

Stud-Man Brian Urlacher pulled a hamstring in Bears practice yesterday.  They said it's a pretty good pull, but no worries, he should be ready for the season.  I still wouldn't give the Bears defense a consideration for fantasy football, even though they picked up Tommie Harris, the first-rounder from Oklahoma.  Rex Grossman?  Dark Horse, baby!

And back to Ricky Williams.  Still a druggie!

 

Best Video Game Football Player Ever?

This is a debate that has lasted since the dawn of video football games.

All of us has had the experience playing almost every football game out there, whether it was Tecmo Bowl and Madden on Nintendo, Madden and NCAA on the PS One, or Madden, NCAA, and ESPN on the PS2.

Last year, Michael Vick was hands-down the best player on Madden 2004.  Nothing could stop the guy!  He could run, he could throw the ball 80 yards -- he was just simply too tough to beat.

But overall, throughout all the football games I've played, it's gotta be Tecmo Super Bowl's Bo Jackson on the old 8-bit Nintendo.  It's a no-brainer that this guy could run for over 3000 yards in a season while averaging 30 yards per carry.  Along with Marcus Allen in the backfield, the Raiders were a team that was tough to beat.  Also, an honorable mention pick, is Rod Woodson on Tecmo Super Bowl on the 16-bit Super Nintendo.  Woodson, then a player with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was the return man on kicks and punts and was a defensive back for that tough Steeler defense.  Every return pretty much had a guarantee for a touchdown.  If an opposing quarterback had the guts to throw in Woodson's direction, he would most likely snatch it out of the air, and -- you guessed it -- would return it for a touchdown.

Who's your man?

NCAA Football 2005 -- Update

I've put some more rosters into the game, finishing the Big Ten and moving into some of the teams who finished on the Top 25.  It's a time-consuming process, but I've got the time until Madden 2005 comes out on August 10.

How do I play the game?  Well, when I'm actually playing as Michigan on defense, I don't even control a player.  It's all up to the computer, so it can be a bit more realistic and not just have one guy (the player that I'm controlling) rack up all the stats.  I like to even things out, see how players match up against each other, whether it is pure ability or even just the statistics.  With that, then it's more valid when a player gets drafted in Madden 2005, adding to the realism.

Also, when I have a really quick return man on the kicks and punts, I don't even bother returning the ball myself.  I let the computer take over, so he'll be tackled more easily and I'll have a huge field in front of me to chalk up some yards.  Otherwise, I'll be returning the ball a long distance, and my offensive numbers after the game are going to be nothing.  I'm a stats man (goes back to those Tecmo days).

I rarely run the option, although I should!  I used to run it non-stop in NCAA Football 2003 on the GameCube, since I had one of the fastest quarterbacks in the nation.  The Triple Option is a huge play -- you can either hand it off to the fullback for yardage up the middle, have the quarterback keep the ball, pitch it to the halfback, or even drop back and pass it.  It's simply deadly!  Lately though, I've been huge on the passing game, although my wide receivers aren't worth a shit.  Hopefully when the next season rolls around, their abilities will increase and dropped balls will be a problem of the past.

NCAA Football 2005 Heisman Trophy -- First Season

It was probably one of the closest race I've ever seen on the game.  Very exciting to see the vote totals come in.

My senior running back for Michigan, David Underwood, finished 5th.  He had rushed for over 1500 yards and scored 20 TD's, but it pales in comparison to what the 1st and 2nd place finishers got.

In 2nd place, was USC QB Matt Leinart.  He led the voting in 1st place votes, 2nd place votes, and still finished second in the running.  As for the Heisman Trophy winner, that was North Texas running back Patrick Cobbs, who rushed well over 2200 yards on the season.  Cobbs had more 3rd place votes, and in the end, finished with only 8 more points than Leinart did.  In fact, now in real life, he was last year's leading NCAA D-1 rusher with over 1600 yards on the ground, and he didn't even play in 2 games that year!

Cobbs is going to graduate from NCAA Football and will be imported into Madden 2005, along with Leinart and Underwood.  This all should make for a very interesting draft after the first season of Madden is complete!

Crash Publications, Inc.

I have a new project in the making: "The Hanley Falls Nuclear War: The New Threat."

I've been working on this for a while, probably got about 100 pages written.  This new story, is actually Part 6 in the long line, even though I only had Parts 1 and 2 written, back when I was a sophomore in high school (a LONG time ago).

I decided to fire this up again.  I already told Mike all about it, how it's going to come together, and eventually come apart.  Sometimes I have to give myself a little punch in the shoulder because some of what I write is so damn good!  It's set in Wood Lake, in the ruins of Hanley Falls, and Mike's old house with his parents which is now the STUDS Headquarters.  It's long, it's elaborate, and I really don't want to give too much away.

DRAMATIS  PERSONAE

 

General Michael Timm, STUDS Army, Joint Chief of Staff Chairman (Ret.)

General Robb Sneller, STUDS Marines, Joint Chief of Staff (Ret.)

General Sean Brovold, STUDS Air Force, Joint Chief of Staff (Ret.)

Admiral Anthony "Tony" Eye, STUDS Navy, Joint Chief of Staff (Ret.)

Colonel Shane Hubbard, STUDS Security

Bryan Schrupp, civilian

... and other supporting characters, like wives, girlfriends, etc.

 

All of our parents are dead from previous altercations (sometime in Part 3, although never written) and Mike's brother Kevin is dead, along with my brother Dan, who both died in the beginning of Part 2 (sidenote: what really pisses me off is that I had written Parts 1 and 2, but I cannot find them, anywhere!).

 

Inspiration?  Who knows.  Back in high school us guys were all in a huge, creative stage in our lives.  Mike and Robb wrote "Westward Bound," a story of a group of wagons heading west from Minnesota.  It was probably the most humourous piece I've ever read -- especially when Rob Velde gets his nuts bitten off by a squirrel (when squatting to take a dump).

 

Now days, I'll write stuff down when I can.  Mike, on the other hand, is more of the poet.  He used to go by the pseudoname, "Whiskey Wolf," then it was "Sir Michael Wallace," but I haven't heard much from him in a while.  I'm trying to carry on the tradition of story writing, and just maybe it'll make it to book form someday.

More Football News

We all know by now that Dolphins running back Ricky Williams retired.  Eh, so what.  The guy really wasn't right in the head anyway.

I'll give it up to Ricky anyway.  He had the NCAA D-I record for rushing yards until Ron Dayne (Wisconsin) broke it, played a couple of mediocre years in New Orleans until he was traded to Miami.  Five seasons of pro ball -- that's it!

But, I could care less.  We Viking fans are used to it -- Robert Smith leaving after having tremendous seasons, but that was understandable, having 4 knee operations and puking all over the field.  The only shock to me was when Barry Sanders retired, who in my opinion, is the best running back EVER to play in the NFL.

Good ol' Barry had some comments about Ricky leaving the game, saying something like "we haven't seen the last of Ricky."  I was kind of taken aback by this.  Barry was only like 1,500 yards away from breaking Walter Payton's old rushing record (now surpassed by Emmitt Smith) and he walked away with millions of dollars offered to him by the Detroit Lions.  Why couldn't Barry come back, even under the new GM leadership of Matt Millen?  So what gets Barry off, spouting that Ricky could make a return?  Only that he's played 5 years?

It's a dead argument.  Barry is never coming back, in fact, he's going to Canton.  Adios, Ricky -- I could care less!

Lesnar Signs with Vikings

Okay ... is this a publicity stunt?

I remember reading last month that Brock Lesnar, former WWE Champion, was trying out for the Vikings.  Both head coach Mike Tice and former Vikings linebacker Scott Studwell said that he was "as raw as he can get," and he probably wouldn't have a chance in making the team.

Well, they've seen him work out and they're giving him a shot -- considering that he hasn't played any organized football since his high school days in Webster, South Dakota.

More than likely, he'll be on the practice squad.  Who knows ... time will tell on this one, though I am a little skeptical.

More on this, here's the Star Tribune story on it.

Grand Theft Auto

I basically completed the whole storyline of the game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.  Then, I checked out my stats.  I've only got 55% of the game complete!  I guess I still have a lot more stuff to do, but I probably will never get around to it.  This game is absolutely huge.

In my opinion, Vice City is a bit easier than Grand Theft Auto III.  III was just plain tough, because I think that DMA Design (developer) re-defined the whole Grand Theft Auto atmosphere and it just became more refined in Vice City.  Two great games, though!

Next up, is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, scheduled for release sometime mid-October.  Set in California, so things will be a little bit different this time.

P.S.  I recently did a mission on Vice City that made me laugh.  It was towards the end of the game and I was doing some missions for Phil Cassidy.  Supposedly there were some gun runners going around disrupting Phil's business, and I needed to take care of it.  There were about six trucks, and in the back of these trucks were crates filled with guns.  My objective: knock the boxes out of the truck, break the crates, and steal the guns -- all the while I'm being shot at.  After grabbing a couple of these new guns, a little message appeared that said: "They're getting mad, they're getting reinforcements."  I replied, "Whatever."

Then I started to laugh.  Apparently, their reinforcements were guys with guns, driving Vespas.  I about died.  I got a $100 bonus for running these guys over, so I made a bundle.  After these guys were blowing out my tires constantly, I drove south to the docks, got me a semi truck, and proceded to blast these guys into the road.  Talk about fun!!

More on Madden vs. ESPN 2K5 Football

Great comments by the way, including Mike's e-mail stating that Sean has indeed bought and is playing ESPN 2K5 ... and loves it.

Sure, he can do that.  I won't stop him.  $20 is tough to beat!  IGN.com gives ESPN a 9.1, and Gamespot.com gives it a 9.3.  Madden 2005 has some hefty competition.

Is it the price that attracts you to the game?  You're giving ESPN what they want!  All what they're trying to do is take away Madden's market share.

When Madden 2005 comes out, are you willing to give that game a chance?  What happened to the good ol' days -- when we road tripped to Sioux Falls our senior year, bought Madden '96 and rented a Super Nintendo (with a $50 security fee) and played that all night long?  Madden '97 during New Year's at the Townhouse?  Are Madden's days over?

You guys might change -- I will not.  I will be forever loyal to Madden, not to some upstart ESPN game.

Sean, you backstabber!!

More Performance!

In days of rising gas prices, it is pretty expensive for me to drive a Chevy pick-up truck with a V8 engine.  I'll do anything to help out on my gas mileage, including my two new improvements to my truck, a new K&N air filter and Bosch spark plugs.

I haven't checked up on my fuel mileage math yet, but already I'm feeling increased acceleration in my truck.  The K&N air filter is pushing more air through the carburator, thus more power while not using that much gas!

Also, I'm using Mobil 1 engine oil, a synthetic, to reduce wear-and-tear on internal engine parts.

Crash Productions

Some of you may know what Crash Productions is.  For those you don't ... here's a "crash" course.

Crash Productions, Inc. is a little company that I incorportated in 2003, in which whatever I produce visually -- it falls under that company.  If I were ever to make any movies some day, they would all be viewed under that banner, Crash Productions, Inc.

I also have a subsidiary called Crash Publications, Inc.  This is for all my stories, or simply anything written down by myself (or others) would fall under this company.

I'm simply doing this just in case if I actually wanted to publish something.  You could say this blog here belongs to myself and to Crash Publications, Inc.  All of my home movies, or anything that I created with the computer visually would be under Crash Productions, Inc.

My future plans are this:  I want to buy a new computer, preferrably a Sony Vaio -- which has to have a good movie program and a DVD burner.  The reason why I chose Sony is because of the compatibility with other Sony components, like a Sony Handycam or a Sony Cybershot digital camera.  Also, the Vaio can have a VCR hooked up to it, importing an analog signal and transferring it to a digital signal, which makes the images or motion pictures easy to deal with -- as in creating movies.

I can tell you that I have several tapes with home movies, whether it is the Dawson Road Trip, The New Year's Bash of '96, or all of the footage of The Owl Garden.  I have created highlight tapes in the past just using a VCR alone, but with a computer, I can start all over -- have digital sound and have better transitions to the motion captured.

My future project is this:  an Owl Garden documentary, like a 5th or 10th anniversary type of thing.  As far as I know, The Owl Garden has existed since '93 or '94, and we've got tons of footage, either from Mike's old camera or mine.  With that, make a whole new DVD with new music, interviews from the basketball players themselves, and so on.

I am a man of history and I have to say for all of the players who played at The Owl Garden, those memories will not fade.  The competitiveness, the comraderie, and more importantly the friendships made on that grass-and-dirt court are there to stay.  It's my mission, along with a few others, to make the memories live on because we simply cannot go back to the past and re-live them again.

Star Wars -- New Title for Episode III

Big news from Lucasfilm!

Some of you know that I'm a big Star Wars fan.  That's alright, that's just the "geek" side in me, which all of us should have some of that in us.  Anyways, news was released on Saturday from the official Star Wars site that the new movie coming out in May, 2005 will be "Revenge of the Sith."

My reaction?  It's typical -- George Lucas said he kind of wanted a title that reflect the previous Episodes (IV, V, and VI), so "Revenge of the Sith" would have the same ring like "Return of the Jedi."

As far as the story goes, the title fits.  The Sith fight back against the Jedi, Anakin Skywalker turns over to the Dark Side and eventually becomes Darth Vader.  Other people may be upset by this announcment, but it's all good with me.

More info:

The Force.net

MVP Baseball 2004

While I am not updating rosters on NCAA Football 2005, I'm playing EA Sports' MVP Baseball 2004, with Albert Pujols as the cover boy this year.

I'm playing through a Dynasty right now, with my team -- the Minnesota Twins.  It's a fairly easy game to play with a lot of depth, but with a week to go before the All-Star break and a 70-9 record, maybe I should crank up the level a little bit.  Kyle Lohse -- 14-0 with a 0.47 ERA.

I created my own player, maxed his abilities out, and ran him up through AA ball, AAA ball, and now is playing on the MLB team.  "Tony" did well in AA, struggled in AAA -- then players like Torii Hunter and Shannon Stewart were struggling, so I brought up "Tony" and he's been ripping it up since.

The depth of this game in unbeliveable.  Each MLB team has two minor league teams, representing AA and AAA.  With that, as the GM, you have to keep track of several ballplayers -- like their salaries and if they're simply in a good mood or not.  I get countless e-mails from my players every day (MVP Inbox), having players bitching me out for not getting any playing time or they're unhappy about their contract.  DELETE!

The man for me this year is catcher Matt LeCroy, already hitting around .320 while blasting 42 home runs -- BEFORE the All-Star break.  That a kid!

Who knows if I'll be able to finish the season or not, because we're getting into the influx of new videogames for the summer and early fall, like Madden 2005, NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup, LOTR: The Third Age and Burnout 3.  I'll keep it up as long as I can, but I cannot guarantee of giving Minnesota another highly anticipated world championship!

Madden 2005 vs. ESPN 2K5 Football

Mike and I disagreeing about which is the better game for the upcoming NFL season.

I say Madden, Mike says ESPN 2K5.  Also, 2K5 is selling only for $20.  That should tell you something!

Madden -- THE ORIGINAL.  The game that started it all ... well, actually it was probably Tecmo Super Bowl ... but that's besides the point!

Mike is simply selling out for the cheaper game.  It may look good and have all the off-the-field stuff -- just like MADDEN -- it don't make sense.

Mike, the Liberal.  I thought I knew him better than that!

NCAA Football 2005

The season has started for the Michigan Wolverines.

After dominating NCAA Football 2004 on the PS2 for 5 straight seasons (with 4 straight NCAA Championships), I decided to move on to the new addition that was released last week.

Michigan started out ranked 9th in the Coaches and Media polls, so working my way up to the top was a task.  After playing the game for a while, it was a lot harder from the year before.  The AI on defense was improved, but it could just be the team I was playing with, since I haven't done any recruiting yet.  One of my closest games of the year was a 3-0 victory over Minnesota for the Little Brown Jug, during a rainy, cold game at Michigan Stadium.

Then came the big game against Ohio State, Michigan's rival.  David Underwood, my halfback, put up some impressive numbers against their defense.  I won that game, and the Big Ten title.  I was currently ranked 4th in the nation, going to play #3 USC Trojans at the Rose Bowl.

Talk about a battle!  Besides having players that really couldn't match up against USC's team, I held a 7-0 lead after the first quarter, then my quarterback, Matt Gutierrez, threw an interception and they returned it 74 yards for the touchdown.  My kicker didn't fare too well either, missing two clutch field goals.  Michigan simply didn't play very well, and I ended up losing my first game in probably over 100 games -- spanning from NCAA Football 2003 -- final score: 21-16.  Michigan dropped in the standings from 4th to 7th, with a final record of 12-1, which isn't too bad.  My coaching contract was extended 3 years for winning the Big Ten title, which I accepted.  But I've got a huge beef with some of my players.

It's understandable in the beginning of a season that my players won't perform too well -- that's all in the controller.  I'm learning the new plays on offense and defense.  Offense is a lot tougher to master.  Like I said before, the AI on defense has improved, so I'm always looking for those "bread-and-butter" plays which I can take huge chunks of yardage from the defense.  As for Michigan's defense, I basically play a Cover 2 Zone, sometimes Cover 3, sometimes Cover 4.  Rarely I do blitz, unless I have a dominating defensive line or quick linebackers.  I'm going to wait until I do some recruiting to pick up some blue-chip players who are quick off the line to give the opposing offensive lineman some trouble.  Back to "my beef" with the players -- my kicker was absolutely horrendous.  There is simply no power behind that foot, even with the wind behind his back.  He probably didn't make 50% of his field goal tries the entire season.  Also, I'm super-upset at my wide receivers, namely Braylon Edwards and Jason Avant, the #1 and #2 receivers on my depth chart.  Edwards ended up 2nd in the running for the best wide receiver in the nation, but he also dropped 20+ balls during the season.  Edwards graduates now, so I'll be looking for new and fresh talent WHO CAN CATCH A BALL for the my next season.

Kudos to my halfback David Underwood and my offensive line!  Underwood rushed for over 1500 yards on the year and scored 20 touchdowns on the ground, breaking the old school record.  He came in fifth for the Heisman, third for the Maxwell Trophy (best offensive player) and third for the best running back in the nation.  He also is going to graduate.  But impressive is my offensive line, which all five starters made the first team All-America, and my center came home with the Rimington Trophy (best center).  Super-happy with those guys, although in my opinion, they gave up too many sacks!

As you can see, NCAA Football 2005 is huge!  I take it seriously, especially during the recruiting part during the off-season.  I'll export the draft class (so they can be imported into Madden 2005), then go off and recruit the best guys I can find for the positions I need.  If I have any scholarships left, I'll go out and pick up the best guys for whatever positions, just so the other teams can't pick them up.  The new thing to watch out for during the recruiting session is their GPA ... performance in the classroom.  In the previous NCAA Football games, GPA wasn't really a factor, or not at all.  Now, if a player cheats on a test, fails to show up for study sessions, or simply breaks team rules, you have to do something about it.  Either you could let it slide, or make an example of that player.  It just adds to the excitment of real NCAA Football!

As for now, the season is over.  Oklahoma is the national champion, beating LSU.  I'm currently filling in rosters with real names, so just in case if they get drafted in Madden 2005, they won't just be a number.  More updates on this later!

There and Back Again...

Well, I've decided to fire up the ol' Blog again, since there is a lot going on right now.  It all ranges from life, movies, video games, and just plain opinions about stuff (a lot of them!) considering the current situations in the world.

I was kind of hoping to post pictures and stuff on here, but I have to route it through FTP to my server here at college, but I've decided against it.  If I'm going to post any pictures on here, there will be a link available to click so you can be routed to that particular page.

Other than that, bear with me.  I'm learning the new format of Blogger, since they've changed it here in the last couple of months.