Posted by Kevin Carruth on 2007-12-22 @ 13:55:44
This has been a bad week as far as stuff breaking, and even worse for replacing what broke.
At the beginning of the week, we had some crazy winds and the power was flickering. After it settled down, I turned on my computers and my second windows machine was dead. It fails to boot with a BIOS beep code, which is apparently a memory parity error. I've swapped the RAM DIMMS in and out in various configurations, with no improvement, so I'm pretty sure the mobo is hosed.
No problem, I thought. I'll just pick one up from newegg for $50 or so, after all it's a 5-year old motherboard. But wait, it seems they phased out the CPU socket type so now my only option is buy a new mobo/CPU combo, or buy a used replacement for then-new prices ($120-150) on eBay. Hell, a cheap mobo/CPU combo would probably be cheaper! And since I only use that machine for AIM/TS/Web Browsing, I might go that route.
Then, I broke one of my Rock Band drumsticks. This one isn't really a big deal, as I'm pretty sure my brother's getting me a pair for xmas anyway, and also in this instance I can only blame myself as I broke it by whacking it really hard against a shelf in anger. It's glued and holding up for now.
And finally, last night, the scroll wheel on my Logitech G7 mouse failed. Rather, down-scrolling did. Up-scrolling still half-works. And lo and behold, no one has the G7 anymore. Not even Logitech. Hell, most places don't even carry it, and those that do list it are out of stock. Guess it's back to my old reliable MX1000 for now.
BLEH! That's my mood right now.
Posted by Kevin Carruth on 2007-12-12 @ 15:42:39
With Paramount and Dreamworks both signing exclusivity deals with Toshiba & Co to only release their films on HD-DVD, I'm facing a dilemma. Do I buy an HD-DVD player and thereby support a format I really do believe is inferior, and thus protracting the 'format war'? Or do I suffer with DVD-quality on these new releases for the sake of hoping a format winner will become apparent that much sooner because I withheld my support? I don't know!
Everything I've read leads me to believe that Blu-Ray has an edge over HD-DVD. Sales figures for discs themselves I've seen in ratios as high as 3:1 in favor of Blu-Ray. And while most surveys I've seen report higher sales in HD-DVD players, they almost never include the Playstation 3 in their figures, which I think is a serious omission of data. So will my purchase of a single player, and 5-10 movies really make an impact? No, but if a couple hundred other people are thinking the same way I am, and we all buy it...
GAH!
This wouldn't be a problem if HD-DVD didn't have some movies I REALLY REALLY want! The Bourne Supremacy came out yesterday, and Stardust is coming out next week. Plus I'd really like HD copies of the first 2 Bourne films, as well as Transformers, Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz.
Curse Paramount and their greedy format agreement!
Posted by Kevin Carruth on 2007-11-15 @ 13:41:40
Let's see, what's happened between my last post and now?
First, I went to Florida for a week. I wasn't particularly looking forward to it because I normally hate Florida weather, but I wanted to see the family so I figured it was worth it. And then the weather turned out to be quite nice... though my grandmother's air conditioning needs to be tweaked (it's a bad sign when it's cooler outside than in).
Played Arkham Horror a few times while I was down there; I'm now pretty versed in the rules. Ordered the available expansions and they'll probably get here today or tomorrow.
Then I placed a big movie order when I got back. Ordered Blu-Rays of the Spider-Man trilogy, Cars, Ratatouille, and the Pixar Shorts Collection, and DVDs of Family Guy Vols 4 & 5, and Robot Chicken Seasons 1 & 2. And on top of that, my roommate just finished downloading the Top 100 movies from IMDb (as of December 06, so some have shifted position); we watched High Noon (#100) and Donnie Darko (#98) last night. Should be plenty to keep me from getting bored over the next few weeks.
And if movies aren't enough, there are several new games out or coming out soon that I'm keeping my eye on. First, obviously, is Rock Band, due out Nov. 20th. I'll be getting Guitar Hero III at the same time. Then there's Assassin's Creed and Uncharted, both recent releases. I was really looking forward to Assassin's Creed until IGN gave it a 7.5. But other sites have rated it higher, so I'll probably still buy it; I'm just not in such a big hurry. And Uncharted I'd never heard of till Forrest mentioned it last night, but it's getting rave reviews so might be worth looking into.
Right now however, I'm playing LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga. What a fun game! I hadn't played the two earlier games on PS2, so this combo-pack covering all 6 episodes was brand new for me, and it's crazy fun so far. It's a really funny game, especially if you're familiar with the Star Wars films like I am. And even if you've played both the previous versions (I've read very little has changed other than some unlockable content), the visual upgrade to HD is quite well done.