DarthTofu

We'll be sure to send you some lovely Belgian Waffles for your birthday.

The link for that didn't work. Edit: But this one does. http://kotaku.com/5131846/leaked-star-wars-battlefront-3-gameplay-footage Double edit: DAMMIT!

.... I feel insulted that my stupidity doesn't even warrant me a roll as nonexistent producer of this film that it's obvious none of us had a roll in.

... So I watched Clint Eastwood in Gran Turino (sp?) today. I walked in expecting an enjoyable, if stupid, shoot 'em up-style movie, and was pleasantly surprised when it was anything but. I think there are a grand total of three scenes where any guns are even fired. The movie features a large use of the F-word, as well as some politically incorrect name-calling, but it winds up being a lot more than that, as I said. Eastwood plays Walter Kowalski, an old man recently widowered (or whatever the masculine verb of "widowed" is). He fought in the Korean War, and is still haunted by the memories of what he had to do in the war. One of the better lines in the movie comes when he's talking to a priest. Priest: It can be hard, dealing with the terrible things that you were ordered to do in war. Walt: Yeah... but you know what really gets to you? It's the things you weren't ordered to do. Those are the ones that haunt you. He lives next-door to a Hmung (sp?) family, from Indo-China. Among the household are Sue and her younger brother Tao. Sue is smart and quick with her mouth, while Tao is also smart, but very quiet, and not very capable of standing up for himself. Their cousin, Spider, is a member of a local Hmung gang, and is constantly trying to rope Tao into it. He tells Tao that for his initiation, Tao must steal Walt's 1972 Gran Turino. Tao fails in his task, alerting Walt of his presence, and is threatened at gunpoint with an old rifle left over from Walt's time in Korea. Tao winds up going to work for Walt to "pay off his family's debt" to the man. I'll leave the rest of the movie to you to see/to look up on Wikipedia. Even knowing the full plot in advance (I checked Wikipedia out before seeing the movie) I loved it. To quote my friend, "Clint Eastwood puts the 'ass' in.... no, he puts the 'bad' in... screw it- Clint Eastwood puts the full 'badass' in 'badass!'" The ultimate theme is one of peace, and it doesn't end the way you might expect an Eastwood film to end.

http://io9.com/5132905/heres-star-wars-battlefront-iiis-sith-kenobi

Japan, what is wrong with you? it makes much more sense for it to be the result of getting bitten by a radioactive spider and then proceeding to fight villains who are made of venom and shoot electricity out of their hands- gosh! @Rob: I am so getting one of those. I don't care what age group it's intended for, I want one! That's way cooler than the old Beta Wave testing stuff that they had, where you played videogames and produced BetaWaves to increase the speed of your race car. Also, there's this, though I think the Matel one will be more fun. This one looks like it's just "send the ball up in the air." I'd get bored with it after I mastered that much- at least with the other one there are some obstacles. I wonder if I would send it up while I was doing a math problem or something...

Tea Partay. There are a number of wannabe "gangsta'"s in my area, so I find that particularly entertaining.

I'm surprised that's going for $20. There are a number of similar, free programs out there on the Internet that do just about the same thing, minus the star of course. Resident Evil 5: Master's Challenge footage. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv88OYn5ZUM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6MheuIdzNM Even if you've already seen the gameplay, the commentary is highly amusing. "Oh, look, it's Saddam Hussein!"

Already done that Tofu (5th row, center stage); ear plugs helped prevent amplitude overload, and when the concert was over and I took them out, I could have a "normal" conversation (as opposed to my friends who had to scream at each other even though there was no need for screaming anymore) ... My jealousy knows no bounds. When was this? Back in the seventies, back in the eighties, back in the nineties, or in present day? Ever since I bought Back in Black I've been expanding my collection, and I have yet to regret it. The way I see it, their songs can be divvied up as follows: 1/3 sex-based songs (Let Me Put my Love into You, Touch Too Much, Shook Me All Night Long, etc.) 1/3 "rock and roll is awesome!" songs (Rock and Roll ain't Noise Pollution, Rock and Roll Train, Rock and Roll Dream, etc.) 1/3 just plain awesome (Back in Black, Hells Bells, Highway to Hell, Black Ice, etc.)

Not to hijack this thread or to detract from Rob's engagement in any way, shape, or form, but- XAN'S BACK! Woohoo! Welcome back, mate! Haven't heard from you in a long time- like since you'd just returned from your mission off in Alaska (it was Alaska, right?).

Ahhh- lucky! If I could see one band live... okay, yeah, it would totally be AC/DC, but Flogging Molly would come in second place, easily. In preparation for when I finally start getting college letters back: Admissions Board College of Choice Address College Hill, State Dear Professor, Thank you for your letter of March 1. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me an undergraduate admission in your department. This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of candidates, it is impossible for me to accept all refusals. Despite College's outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at this time. Therefore, I will begin attendance in your department this August. I look forward to seeing you then. Best of luck in rejecting future applicants. Sincerely, DarthTofu

... how did one guy do that?!?

Frigid, I'm sure. Come burn your butt off in Florida, we're better than those stinkin' Aussies! (No offense meant to any stinkin' Aussies that are capable of harming me, either directly or indirectly. Full offense meant to those stinkin' Aussies incapable of causing me any distress or pain. )

Duuuuuuuuuude- now there's a film in 2009 for me to look forward to! Sweet! 9 looks like it's going to be pretty good, especially with Tim Burton on board- I don't think I've ever seen a movie he's managed to screw up. *nocks on wood*

I saw this movie the other day, and it's now one of my favorites. I must say, I was expecting Across the Universe to be like a history video that tried and failed to connect with kids from today's society, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it really did connect with me, and I found out that, despite what I'd thought for years, the Beatles really did have some good songs.... it's just that the Beatles don't do quite as good a job of performing it as these guys did. Watching it was a lot of fun. My mother: Notice how they don't take any responsibility or confront their problems. My dad: Yeah! When we were kids- oh, wait, crap, this is when we were kids. Damn.

While I don't have a 360, I do have a good friend who is rather enthralled with the franchise, and has agreed to let me take the other controller for co-op when it comes out. BTW: Left 4 Dead is going to control your life for a little while. Get used to it.

... 'cause lord knows, you're neither! Just kidding with you, mate.

*Stumbles in on the second* Uh... woah... I think I stayed up a bit too late New Years eve... I went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure with some friends who graduated last year (I was the only high schooler in the group), rode Hulk and Dueling Dragons, in the front row for the first time (freaking awesome) and also rode the new Mummy ride (also awesome- think Disney's Space Mountain, only multiply the fun factor and the awesomeness level by about infinity), and I got to go on the new Simpsons ride... twice! Universal closed at 1:00 in the morning, but we got on the Simpsons ride at exactly 12:59 AM, much to the disappointment of the workers who wanted to go home, though they were quite happy that we were literally the last people on the ride. They told us that we could scream and yell as loud as we wanted, and we did. The ride's a load of fun- it's a motion-simulator ride, where you watch an image and your car moves as though you're taking part in everything, even though you aren't. All of the characters are in 3D, and the jokes are still funny the second time around (don't know about the third). Anyway, it makes fun of Universal Studios (at one point you crash through a billboard that says, "Give Universal Studios money!") and Islands of Adventure throughout, as well as themeparks in general. Yesterday I spent a good chunk of the day (seven hours) at my almost-but-not-quite-because-of-distance-issues-that-we-both-rather-wish-weren't-issues girlfriend's birthday party, which was a ton of fun. I particularly enjoyed winning at Monopoly Disney-style (I kept everyone but my ultimate opponent in the game by feeding them money when they needed it, and in return they gave me all of their property rather than going bankrupt. I wound up owning 2/3 of the board, and held the one property that prevented my opponent from getting a Monopoly. In the end, it finished the way all Monopoly games end: Everyone got bored and left, and declared me the winner because I cling to the game with the most tenacity).

*Throws rice* Okay, so it fell a little bit short of New York, but you still have my best wishes, man. Michelle's a lucky girl to have you, mate. Live long, prosper, and stop after three babies. Seriously, after three kids, the younger kids are going to grow up to be crack dealers. Plus we have a kinda huge global population. Seeing as we can no longer count on you to ensure that it doesn't grow, now we have to depend on you to make sure that it doesn't grow too much. If I'm going to school up in Ithaca or Pittsburgh when the wedding is going on, you bet your butt I'm going to show up and crash the reception. Seriously, though- congrats. I wish you both the best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykgvXBZj5Gw I'm afraid the forum may be dying... almost none of the old hands are popping in with any regularity. Hell, even I'm not popping in as often... post rates have slowed to a crawl... is this the end for ol' SWR?

I had a glass of eggnog and a little bit of "blood of Christ." (Church is really awkward for me, and has been for the last... oh, five years. Don't know why my folks still think that I'll be "saved" by going, but I'm dragged along every year all the same.) That's the extent of my "binge drinking." I had a very Classic Rock Christmas- AC/DC and Metallica albums were very nice (two each- Black Ice, Highway to Hell, Master of Puppets, and Metallica), plus I got some awesome show tickets- David Copperfield and (drumroll, please) Spamalot, with the latter on my birthday to boot! I also got a copy of Through the Looking Glass and Alice in Wonderland.... both of which are in Latin.

*Wishes fervently that it would be released for PS2, because that is all Tofu owns* No video games in my Christmas gifts this year, but that's alright. My buddy got a new copy of Guild Wars, which comes with a new expansion pack, so he's giving me the key and his old disk, so I'll get the original Guild Wars, plus the Eye of the North expansion pack at some point in the future to dink around with. Should be interesting, though I'm a tad apprehensive about giving an MMORPG a try after my "luck" with Runescape...

As in, "Don't drink too much?" Who are you, and what have you done with the real Mad78, you sick, stupid impostor? Mad would never suggest putting a bottle of booze down before passing out! Never!

*Grabs frying pan* Mother of All Omelets: I am coming for you!

Aww, spit. The stupid Mac doesn't come with MS Paint- I'm hosed. In the meantime, enjoy this old image from the depths of photobucket accounts of old.http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a169/DarthTofu/merrychristmas.jpg