TEAM FORTRESS 2 FREE WEEKEND!!!

So you have heard me go on and on about how awesome Team Fortress 2 is.  Want to give it a try?  This weekend you can for the low cost of...FREE!  This weekend you will be able to download and play my favourite game for free.  For more information go here.   All you folks out there with brand new computers  (Goose and Greg) should certainly check it out.  If you are looking for good servers, come play on my clan's {Team Fortress 2 Fort} servers.  We have a list of the different servers we run at the top right hand corner of the page.   My Steam Screen name is: {TF2F}.theButterFly.  Look me up!  You will not be sorry.

At least 2 years

These Peeps have been on my desk for at least 2 years.  They are quite hard and might proove lethal if thrown.

Another Awesome Trailer!

It should be no secret how happy I have been recently that so many comic book movies are being made.  Especially since so many of the up coming films look awesome!  Of course there is Dark Knight and Iron Man which will certainly be amazing, but check out some of these other trailers!

Will Eisner's The Spirit (Directed by Frank Miller)

I also saw a trailer for the new Incredible Hulk movie staring Ed Norton this past weekend and it looked pretty bad a$$!  I won't say that the first HULK movie was anything great.  (Aside from the fact that Ang Lee did a great job of translating the visual style of the comic page to film.)  This movie looks like it will be alot better.  First off, Ed Norton.  I think we all know how I feel about Mr. Norton.) Secondly, they have taken the smart route and given the Hulk an enemy to fight.  I believe the trailer features a Hulk villian called "The Abomination".  Check out the trailer here.  There is so much to be excited about for nerds this summer!

 

• OH!!!  Today is rumoured to be update day for Team Fortress 2!  Yay!  New maps and Medic Weapons and achievements!

New Dark Knight Trailer

Big ups to my buddy Joel for sending me this.  Check out the new Dark Knight Trailer.  (The quality sucks, but you can still see it for the most part.)  Again can I just say THIS MOVIE SHALL RULE!  Apparently in LA they had a joker themed scavenger hunt that eventually led to Man's Chinese Theatre where they showed this newest trailer.  Read the article here.

OOOOO.....New Button!

Hey look!  There is a new button on my blog.  You should click on it and vote for my blog.  You might win tickets to Lollapalooza.  (Not from me.)

Morning Folks

• Congratulations to the Automatic Rebalancer on his new PC.  Seriously, I think it's time for Team Fortress 2 for you now.
• I've decided to do one of the nerdiest things I've ever done in my life.  The Second to last weekend in May I am going to drive myself and my computer 4 hours to Windsor Ontario to play in a LAN party with my fellow Team Fortress 2 Fort clan mates.
• Got to watch the streaming performances of Portishead, and Hot Chip from Conchela this weekend.  Both really good.  I was sad that the Animal Collective performance was preempted for Portishead just as it was starting to get interesting.
• Saw two great movies this weekend: True Lies - I know this is old, but I had never seen it.  Loved every second of this movie.  Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Writen by and starring Jason Segal of "How I Met Your Mother" this movie had me laughing the entire time.  It isn't hysterically funny, but that isn't intended as a slight.  The humour is really good, and the dialogue really shines.  I enjoyed this movie quite a bit.

Free Radiohead!

I know that there are a few Radiohead fans out there so I wanted to pass this along.  Today you can download a free mp3 remix of the song "Nude" from their most recent album "In Rainbows".  Click here to get to the download links.

Like the new look?

I felt like I needed to switch things up a bit today. 

Pitchfork.tv

Want an awesome place to check out some very high quality streaming music videos?  Try Pitchfork.tv.   A great site with a wide array of music available.  I would highly recommend "All Caps" by Madvillain (hell anything by Madvillain),  "Graveyard Girl" by M83 and this awesome Joe Strummer video "Johnny Appleseed"

Also this Radiohead video is awesome.  Drum Thom!  Drum!

Because it really is the best one...

The Chicago Reader is running a contest to select some of the best things in Chicago.  Best Blog is a category.  Vote for In Mark's Head.  Because really it does rule.

Vote here (blog category listed under the media heading)

Well, just let me say...

It's been awhile since I've posted to the old blog.  It's been busy at work and I've been spending lots of time with Finch and the The Showmen.  It's been a busy month.  This past weekend was the 2nd Annual 4/20 Pot-Luck Film Festival.  This now yearly tradition is one of my new favourite holidays with The Showmen Clan.  I actually say without hesitation that this year surpassed last year's festival.  In other news, things are going well for me.  I've actually been able to start myself a savings account which makes me feel pretty darn awesome.  I am almost grown up.

I recently also took the chance to upgrade my Nintendo DS.  I traded in my old clunky DS Classic for a sleek new sexy Cobalt Blue DS Lite.

I've been playing lots of Castlevania on it.  I've played through "Portrait of Ruin" which I really liked, but I am sure I didn't do right, because the end that I got must certainly have been the "bad" ending.   Now I am working on "Dawn of Sorrow".   So far I am not enjoying Dawn of Sorrow" as much as I liked "Portrait of Ruin."  Largely because I miss the dynamic of being able to control two different characters.  However, both of these games do give me plenty of what made me fall in love with the original Castlevania many many moons ago.

Until finally they stopped watching!   Why are you not watching "How I Met your Mother"?  Seriously.  It is the best show on television. PERIOD.  END OF DEBATE.  THE BEST SHOW ON TELEVISION! This past week's episode is easily one of the best installments of the series and certainly of season 3. (However, Ted's 2 minute date with Sara Chalke was also awesome!) I wont spoil it, but something awesome happens.  Something that warmed my heart. I've watched the episode 3 times so far.  For the record, The Showmen have been predicting it since the beginning of season1.  It feels good to be smart.

I had some other things I wanted to talk about but I'll save those for later.  Time to go work.

Felt Like a Rant Today

 

This is a short comment I wrote today in response to this Engadget article.

Here are a few points:

I am curious why no one has mentioned this point yet.  So lets assume you buy one of these computers.  Assuming that the cost of a license for OSX is factored into your cost.  (ie: that Psystar is installing valid purchased copies of the OS.) I can't see why Apple would have an issue with this.  They sell their software, and make their money.  They don't have to support it because it violates their EULA.  (One would assume Psystar will assume support responsibilities.)  Heck, they don't even have to worry if they do push a patch out that breaks these machines, because the OS is being ran on unsupported hardware.   I can't fathom a single reason why Apple would have an issue with this...oh, wait I know why.  It might have something to do with the really pretty and expensive computer they want you to buy.  I hope I do not come across as an Apple hater.  I think Apples are some of the most beautifully designed pieces of computing hardware out there.  Their OS is stable and easy to use.  Apple makes good computers.   I've long said that if you give me a mac I can play games on I'd think about it.  However, let us not be naive.  Apple taking an issue here really boils down to them trying to protect their monopoly.  Monopoly you say?  How could that be?  Apple is not a monopoly.   In the broad view of the computer industry certainly not.  However, in the segment of the population that wants to use the Apple operating system they certainly are.   It's their software on their box or nothing.   All Apple is doing here is trying to protect their sales margins on their incredibly over priced hardware.

- @ amazo - isn't profiting off of the work that other people have done for free the basic premise of open source?  As an example, you can go out and get Linux for free on your own, or you can buy Red Hat and get the same basic Linux except you get some support behind it.  One would assume this is how things would work with these computers.  Yeah, you can turn any dell into a OSX box, or you can pay a company to do it for you.   This is the basis of any successful company as far as I see it.  Find something people want to do and do it for them.  

Garvey...time to buy that Wii

Telltale Games has just announced that they will be making episodic Homestar Runner games for the Wii.  This should make folks at the Royal Toybox happy.  What a perfect way to celebrate a new job.   The purchase of electronics.

Rank The Four Majour US Sports

Rank The Four Majour US Sports.  (Sorry not Soccer*, I'm talking Football, Baseball, Basketball and Hockey. BECAUSE YES HOCKEY IS A MAJOUR SPORT DAMN IT!) in terms of the amount of athletic ability required to be successful at that sport.
I would say...

1) Baseball - I think that baseball is the top because of the two very unique phases of athletic ability required.   Hitting a baseball I think has to be one of the hardest thing to do in sports.  The dexterity and mental focus is phenomenal.  Combine that with the physical skills to play defensively and baseball clearly has to be the top.  It taxes both the body and your wits.  
2) Hockey - Some people would say hockey is about running in to people.  Actually it really isn't.  Hockey secretly is about not running into people.  It just tends to happen a lot because  well they are playing on ice.   Hockey is really a fast and beautiful it requires such body control.  Plus, the entire game is played on skates.

3) Basketball - In terms of skill and dexterity required to play a spot I would rank basketball almost on par with hockey.  I do however have to give hockey a slightly higher ranking for two reasons.  First being well, the entire game is played on ice.   Secondly the goalie position is a position of such skill that really has no equivalent in any sport really.

4) Football - Rounding out the list is football.  Now first, I do have to say that being a almost sub-par athlete myself I take nothing away from anyone who is able to play any sport at a professional level.  Even football has a good number of talent positions such as quarterback and place kicker.  However, I must rank football the lowest due to the fact that at the very core of the game of football ones proficiency can be boiled down to your ability to ether run into other players or avoid being run into by other players.  

 

*For the record, I would rank Soccer 2nd if it was included in this discussion due to the extreme levels of physical fitness required in combination with the coordination required to dribble the soccer ball.

Stephen King on Video Games

In a recent Entertainment Weekly column Stephen King discusses anti-video game legislation.  An interesting article.  Mr. King is one of the better popular culture commentators writing today.

Lolla 2008

Well, today they announced the lineup for Lollapalooza 2008.  I've got my tickets already.  Joyce is coming into the Chi for the weekend, and Finch is going with us too.  I must say that I am pretty happy with the line up this year.  Check out this video show casing the different acts! 

The groups I am most excited about:

1) Nine Inch Nails

2) Radiohead

3) Rage Against the Machine

4) Kanye West

5) Gnarles Barkley (Maybe)

6) The Black Keys

7) Lupe Fiasco

Best Wii Game Ever Made

Ever notice that things in Japan are just a tab bit weird .