I never thought I would make it to 30, but it looks inevitable being that my birthday is next month. So anyway, what do you do at big milestones in your life? Re-assess everything, take stock and see what you have yet to accomplish I suppose.
I have lived all over the place, had all sorts of jobs, I have been to lots of cool countries. You know what I never did? I never beat Super Mario Brothers 3. It might not seem like a big deal, but it has bothered me for years. Decades actually.
So a few weeks ago I bought me a Super Nintendo on Craigslist, and I started my quest. It quickly became obvious that the years had not been good to my hand-eye coordination. I was certainly not the same Mario player I was back in 1990…when I was 11.
After a few weeks of intense practice I am back in action and kicking some koopa ass. I have made it all the way to world 7, and even to the second Fortress after 7-9.
Anyway wish me luck…I only need to beat world 8 and I will have accomplished my goal! Sure many people might think this is not a worthy goal for a 30 year old. But you guys can go to hell, let’s see you try and beat this shit. It’s hard!
While I was searching for some SMB3 graphics for this I came across this fun fact!
When you see a birds-eye view of all of the mazes from Zelda put together, they actually spell Zelda!
Alright, I finally plugged in my XBOX after months of other distractions and down came a big update. After the update I noticed that there was a link for NetFlix in the menus…interesting and exciting. Well as you might have noticed from my previous posts I have been in search of the right media player for a while. I have used a Windows PC with 3rd party software (JRiver MC), Windows with media center (WMC), and of course my Apple TV with the Boxee.
The only one I could stand was the Apple + Boxee. And even though Boxee is still in Alpha, it is a crap load better than using WMC. It is the integration of video sources like Hulu that really make it great + the ability to view my local media makes it indispensable. If you couldn’t tell yet, my goal is to get as much media as possible to my TV with the least amount of BS.
I also like to have a variety of media sources like internet based as well as my local media files. Just video though, audio is all handled by my Sonos. Anyone who knows the Sonos, knows I am not in the market for a new audio streamer as I already have the best. I love it so much I am gonna name my first born Sonos. But where is the Sonos for Video?
OK so I still don’t have that all in one solution I am looking for. I don’t believe there is a way for me to play my local Xvid – DivX files via the XBOX MC (I haven’t looked yet), but NetFlix on the XBOX is awesome. Go online, and drop something in your ‘Watch Instantly’ queue and it immediately populates on your XBOX, ready to play on your TV, in HD in some cases. It is quick and easy and it doesn’t even take long to buffer on my shitty Time Warner connection. Well worth the $8.95 a month for so many high quality movies and tv shows sent right to my XBOX. Yesterday I watched 11 episiodes of Jericho and the movie FEDS with Rebecca DeMornay, and I have about 100 things after it in the queue including the full seasons of about 10 other shows.
Well worth $8.95. Plus I still get movies sent to my house if it is not available for instant streaming, like Ed and his Dead Mother. A classic for any fan of Steve Buscemi or the walking dead. (sitting in my mailbox now!)
So I guess I am going to mess with my XBOX to see if I can get it to play movies requiring codecs, I am sure there is hack around by now. If I can make that happen, it has a chance of being my perfect media player. Oh and if you don’t want to mess with your XBOX for movies, Roku makes a box for $99 that will pull down NetFlix instantly in the same way; sans all the Microsoft gaming malarky.
When I was growing up, man did I love that game Risk! I used to carry it around on a 5 1/4 floppy disk in the inside pocket of my jean jacket. You know, just in case I came across an Apple IIC, IIE or IIGS. Yes I was a nerd, yes I wore huge glasses and yes I will beat your ass in some Risk if given the chance.
Greyscale Goodness
Now here is your chance to relive your old days of greyscale global domination…except now in color on your iPhone. The game is Lux by SillySoft, and it is already poplular for the Mac and PC. They now have a free version for the iPhone, and I can’t get enough of it.
This version Lux Touch is what they are calling the free version for the iPhone. The company says that they will be coming out with Lux Dlx (deluxe) in the near future which will have more levels and better AI. I can’t even imagine Risk on any other playing field besides the continents, but it is on its way to the iPhone.
I never thought I would make it to 30, but it looks inevitable being that my birthday is next month. So anyway, what do you do at big milestones in your life? Re-assess everything, take stock and see what you have yet to accomplish I suppose.
Alright, I finally plugged in my XBOX after months of other distractions and down came a big update. After the update I noticed that there was a link for NetFlix in the menus…interesting and exciting. Well as you might have noticed from my previous posts I have been in search of the right media player for a while. I have used a Windows PC with 3rd party software (
When I was growing up, man did I love that game Risk! I used to carry it around on a 5 1/4 floppy disk in the inside pocket of my jean jacket. You know, just in case I came across an Apple IIC, IIE or IIGS. Yes I was a nerd, yes I wore huge glasses and yes I will beat your ass in some Risk if given the chance.
