Memorial Day

I just felt the need to post, since I've been seeing some mixed messages coming out of the media leading up to this day. Mainly, Memorial Day is not a day for honoring veterans... we have a perfectly good Veteran's Day for that. No, Memorial Day is for honoring those souls that lost their chance at becoming veterans when they died serving their country. 'Nuff said.

Quick downloadable games multi-post

I just took a look back... and it looks like it's been a while since I've bothered to write up any of the games that have my focus at the time. Of course, right now that's because I don't really have a "main" game sucking my every free moment away, but rather a few "lesser" games all vying for position, which I'm playing as mood and time constraints dictate. So, here's a few of them, if you're looking for some time wasting fun:

• For you Windows types, if you're looking for a type of game that hasn't been around for quite some time, you might try The Wizard's Pen. I snagged my copy for about $10 off of Steam. For a more standard (but definitely not "normal") adventure-style game, Steam also has Sam & Max Season 2.
• Available for multiple systems (I got mine for the PlayStation 3), there's Puzzle Quest Galactrix, a fun twist on the standard match-3 puzzle genre, in a couple of ways. Of course, if you haven't played it yet, the original Puzzle Quest is a fine little game, as well.
• On the PS3 side (when I'm not in a multi-hour session of Oblivion or Disgaea 3 or Civilization Revolutions or...), I still get some mileage out of Noby Noby boy... and PixelJunk Eden is still very entertaining (enough so that I need to work on "finishing" it, so I can snag the expansion for it with a minimum of guilt).
• And then there's the Wii... where I've got 2000 store points ready for something "worthy", and have had since the beginning of April. Hopefully they come out with something that piques my interest someday soon, lest I start thinking of it (with the Wii Fit) as just "exercise equipment", which would be the touch of death for my use of that system... :)

So, there you go, no major blockbuster games, but plenty of decent playables to be had, depending on your playstyle.

Movie o' the day: Star Trek

I know, this is pretty early after release for me to have seen the film, but after hearing nothing but good things from all quarters, I had to check it out myself. Unfortunately, it's another movie that I would have to give "spoilers" to do a proper review on... suffice it to say that, yes, they made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that they were kicking off an "alternate history" of Star Trek with this film. Heck, they did a good enough job of that differentiation that I could readily see myself watching a sequel to this film, and might even follow a new series, were this the launch point.

Of course, it wasn't a perfect film by any means... on the visuals side, there were two bits that I never cared for on sci-fi ships. The "enemy" ship is spiky all over, for no apparent better reason than to make it the "scary" ship, which isn't even remotely necessary (think Death Star for the antithesis of that concept). Also, one of the Federation ships had a large, rapidly spinning section, which falls in the same category of being flashy for no reason, not to mention entirely inconsistent with every Federation ship I've ever seen, at least.

Beyond that, there was at least one major plot hole, which I can't detail without giving away entirely too much of the movie... but if you just sit back and enjoy the ride, it's still a load of fun.

"Senority"

Wow... I thought I'd seen some government shenanigans, but I guess they're nothing compared to the shenanigans within the government itself. How can a simple concept like seniority get twisted around so?

For those of you not knowing what I'm talking about, Sen. Specter, the one that was a Republican until just turning Democrat, was a senior member of a number of committees... until tonight, when he was "stripped of his seniority", basically reducing his importance on those committees (link). Now, I'm no expert (thankfully)... but, as a rule, you don't go punishing people who switch to your side. That's the sort of thing that makes people rethink their choice to switch.

Heh... and here I thought that seniority had something to do with the length of time you served your country/company (well, where rank doesn't get involved, anyways). Live and learn.