Double Edged

Finally

I went to see Batman Begins tonight... for the first time. You know, my girlfriend has seen it three times now.

Anyway, I thought it was incredibly well done and the setup for the next installment was nothing short of something special. Christian Bale is very good at what he does and this movie is another tick mark in a growing repertiore of excellent movies. Since he is Batman moreso than anyone else who has ever played the Dark Knight, it is a pretty safe bet that there will be at least two more movies. That seems to be the trend in comic book movies that do well in the box office and are accepted by those folk who spread the legends and whisper tales about the masked vigilante. Xmen and Spiderman will both be getting new additions in the next year or so and, hopefully, Bale will return to this role a couple more times. This, in and of itself (if Bale stays for two more) would make these movies stand out above the previous attempts at bringing Batman to the silver screen.

My Two Love Songs

If you click on the "Continue Reading" button then you will discover the lyrics to the two songs that, of all the songs I've heard, best convey how I conceive the relationship I have with Heather. The first song is our song, you know how couples have their "song" or whatever? yeah, so this one is ours. This song is probably more pragmatically descriptive of our relationship, i.e. certainly not perfect but something wonderously satisfying, mysterious, and complicated all at the same time; something that I've unremittingly worked (thankfully not alone) on for many years now (even during the year and a half we were broken up). This song is extremely accurate and reflective of my intellectual "grasping" of our relationship. The second song is far more indicative of where my heart stands in the matter (not that the first isn't) from a lyrical standpoint. It's just smooth and laid back, like Dave just kinda lets the relationship take him over without offering any resistance. On top of that it questions the reality of the relationship while at the same time professing the desire for permenant solidity.

I began writing my own song a couple years ago and it is painfully obvious that I know nothing of how to construct such an entity. Nevertheless, even though it is unfinished (a work in progress, as it were), I'll post it so ya'll can see how I pen these things (and laugh, criticize, praise, etc...). Obviously I'm not anywhere near as talented as Corgan or Matthews but I'm working on that part.

1. Stand Inside Your Love - Smashing Pumpkins (Machina)

You and me
Meant to be
Immutable
Impossible
It's destiny
Pure lunacy
Incalculable
Insufferable
But for the last time
You're everything that I want and ask for
You're all that I'd dreamed
Who wouldn't be the one you love
Who wouldn't stand inside your love
Protected and the lover of
A pure soul and beautiful you
Don't understand
Don't feel me now
I will breathe
For the both of us
Travel the world
Traverse the skies
Your home is here
Within my heart
And for the first time
I feel as though I am reborn
In my mind
Recast as child and mystic sage
Who wouldn't be the one you love
Who wouldn't stand inside your love
And for the first time
I'm telling you how much I need and bleed for
Your every move and waking sound
In my time
I'll wrap my wire around your heart and your mind
You're mine forever now
Who wouldn't be the one you love and live for
Who wouldn't stand inside your love and die for
Who wouldn't be the one you love

2. Crush - Dave Mathews Band (Before These Crowded Streets)

Crazy, how it feels tonight.
Crazy, how you make it all alright, love.

Crush me,
With those things you do
And I'll do for you
Anything, too, oh...

Sitting, smoking, feeling high...

And in this moment
Oh, it feels so right...

Lovely lady, I am at your feet,
Oh, God, I want you so badly.
And I wonder this:
Could tomorrow be so wonderous
As you lay sleeping?

Let's go drive 'til morning comes,
Watch the sunrise and fill our souls up,
And drink some wine 'till we get drunk.
Yeah...

It's crazy, I'm thinking,
Just knowing that the world is round
And here I'm dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down?
And is this real, or am I dreaming?

Lovely lady, let me drink you, please.
Won't spill a drop, no, I promise you
Lying under this spell you cast on me
Each moment the more I love you.

Crush me, come on
Oh, yeah...

It's crazy, I'm thinking
Just knowing that the world is round
And here I'm dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down?
Is this real at all, or am I dreaming?

Lovely lady, I will treat you sweetly
Adore you, I mean...
You Crush me,
And it's times like these
When I think that feeling
I know how I love you.

Come on, come on, baby...

It's crazy, I'm thinking
Just as long as you're around
And here I'll be dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down?
To each other we'll be facing
My love, my love,
We'll beat back the pain we've found
You know I mean to tell you
All the things I've been thinking
Deep inside, my friend.
Each moment the more I love you.

Crush me, come on, baby...

So much you have given up
That I would give you back, again and again.
Oh, my love, many now hold you,
But please, please, just let me, always.

3. Without (I'll Have Her Love) - Jared Leonard

Every time I close my eyes
the sun fades
and I cry
Waging war with myself
I wish my heart
would just die
Ridding me of all I hold dear
that I might live
I have nothing left to give

But when I see her standing there
And she stares back at me
I wonder where I would be
So while I smile through the pain
I know the end will be the same
I’ll have her love
I’ll have her love

Lost in my own world
confusion takes my mind
and I fall
Thoughts become so unclear
but even in the darknes
I hear her call
pleading for me to return
to take up the sword
I fight to cut the cord
That binds my heart with fear

But when I see her standing there
And she stares back at me
I wonder where I would be
So while I smile through the pain
I know the end will be the same
I’ll have her love
I’ll have her love

I battle through the demons
that cling to my soul
and I fade
Losing with every swing
into deep rest my soul is laid
forever laying I’ll never be the same
left deep in the hole
I dug myself, can’t be free
Yet still she reaches down for me
As she calls out my name

When I see her standing there
The tears streaming from her eyes
I know my burden she will share

My Favorite PA

By PA, of course, I refer to that dubioud web comic that happens to be thoroughly entertaining to, well, pretty much anyone who plays video games. I am in the process of compiling a list of my favorite strips from their archives which start back in '99. Last night I hit January of '01 and I don't suspect I'll be finishing up the list until sometime near the end of the weekend. This is primarily due to work and playing World of Warcraft.

In other news, after over two decades of not really having a favorite band (though, when people asked I often said Metallica) I have finally hunkered down and chosen the band that most fits my personality in music and in lyric. They are the renowned and soon to be (from what I hear) rebound Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corgan is a fantastic lyricist and a decent guitar player to boot. With Jimmy Chamberlain on the drums, Iha on guitar and D'Arcy on the bass, it's a combination that has stood the test of time (for the most part) since their first album debuted in '91. They finally broke up in 2000 after the release of Machina and Corgan went on to form another band with Chamberlain (Zwan) which also broke up after a couple of years and releasing only one album. Chamberlain has since released a solo album (which is absolutely fantastic if you are into drumming at all) and I believe Corgan was also working on a solo album. There is talk of getting the Pumpkins back together once his solo endeavor is done and I truly hope this happens so I can have an opertunity to see them live.

So, my birthday is in a few weeks and my parents are flying me out to New Mexico to, you know, hang out and stuff. My dad is out there on business right now and the company has been nice in flying my mom out there for a few weeks every so often (she flew out for the second time on the 18th) and they both wanted to celebrate my hitting of the quarter of a century mark with me. I've only been on a jet twice before in my life and that's only because there wasn't a straight flight from Spokane to Atlanta (whole nother story). I must say I enjoyed it the first time and am looking forward to it come August.

I know this is completely unrelated to everything I've said so far but I think everyone is entitled to my opinion: Johnny Depp is freakin' amazing.

Beer Pasport

Taco Mac is my watering hole. The nice thing is, you can get rewarded for drinking a lot of alcohol, so long as it's no more than 6 a day (that's all they will credit to your account). By account I, of course, refer to their passport club in which the challenge is to drink a variety of beers, 325 different ones to be exact. Actually, I just found out a few days ago that the same beer can count twice if you drink it on draught as well as in the bottle/can. I'm not sure how I feel about this yet, but I won't resort to such a tactic until I've exhausted their vast heterogeneous repertiore. To date I've accumulated the following (all caps indicates draught):

AMSTEL LIGHT, Asahi, BODDINGTONS, BUD, Bavik Pilsner, Bud Light, Bud Select, COORS LIGHT, Eye O' the Hawk, FOSTERS, Grolsch Lager, HIGHLIFE, Icehouse, KILLIANS RED, Molson Canadian, Molson Golden, PETRUS OLD BROWN, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Petes Wicked Ale, Pilsner Urquell, ROGUE AMERICAN AMBER, Rock Green Light, Rogue Honey Cream, Rogue Shakespear, Samuel Adams Light, Sapporo, Skyy Blue, Smirnoff Ice, Southpaw Light, Tecate, Tennet's, Wittokerke, Wurzburger Hofbrau, Xingu, Zima

Tonight I added Whitbread (an English pale ale) and Skullsplitter (a Scottish high gravity amber, like Killian's on steriods) thus bringing my total to 37 items so I've a way to go before hitting 325. I'm quite enjoying this passport club and if anyone ever needs advice on beer drinking, I've got words to share. I still haven't found a beer as enthralling as Guinness yet and probably will never find a beer I like more, but I'll be damned before anyone can accuse me of not having tried out what the world has to offer... no one does it better than the Irish.

Fox and the Hound

I went to this pub called Fox and the Hound out in Hamilton Place tonight with Timmy, Spoon, and Heather. Tuesday nights are, indeed as I was properly informed, $2.25 draughts. I had a pint of Newcastle, a pint of Harp and a pint of Guinness all for less than $7. I will be there every Tuesday night unless I am prevented from going by the providence of God. They were out of Boddingtons tonight but that didn't matter because they had Guinness. Guinness for 2.25. And there was much rejoicing...

Console Wars

In May, when the planets biggest annual gaming expo occurs, I posted a bit about Microsoft's and Sony's new systems. Well, this month's cover story on EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly) is about the next-gen platforms and what it all means for us gamer types.

Not much has changed, really, since my previous post; then again, it was only a month ago. Many of my suspicions have been confirmed and, as always, Nintendo is keeping tight-lipped about what its actually going to do in the next year (aside from support the Gameboy and the DS). All three companies have plans for online capability straight from the box and all three will have some sort of service for subscribing to. Pleasantly enough, all three will also be free with the option to get more features for a paid subscription (a la Xbox Live). Microsoft has a huge head start on Sony and Nintendo with their Live service which is most excellent and, by all accounts, will only be getting better with the next generation. The Xbox 360 won't have Wi-Fi from day one (like PS3 and Revolution) but there will be adapters available for those of us who have faith that wireless is getting much more reliable and is becoming the way of things in the future. Both Sony and MS will have wireless controllers for their systems. MS is developing a proprietary technology while Sony is utilizing Bluetooth. The big N has revealed nothing about its new controller design but i'm sure it will be original and innovative if not downright annoying. Of course, all three systems are supporting HD picture quality and you will need an HD capable tv in order to get the most out of acquiring one (or more) of them. This is probably the next thing I will invest in, hopefully sometime before November when the Xbox 360 hits shelves. I can't really lament or lambast this moving towards higher quality video output because I'm always whining and complaining about that kind of thing. MS is making all the developers for their system program their games in the widescreen format so, at least if you decide to go this route, you will never see a standard format game. I like this decision but it's nothing to brag about nor is it a selling point for the 360, just a nice added bonus for snobs such as myself.

Okay, so, enough with all that junk that casual gamers don't really care about (and, believe me, I could go on about hard-disk drives, USB ports and lots of other things...). What about the games? The system that ends up on top in the next five years will, undoubtedly, be there because of the games. My "unbiased" selection as to which machine will be number one in 2010 is the PS3. I say this for two reasons. First, Sony has an established base of consumers that easily doubles Microsoft's and Nintendo's combined, and that's just in the U.S. (they are even bigger in Japan). This fact alone ensures Sony's position because the PS3 will be backward compatible so once it comes out there will be nothing to prevent buyers from trading in their PS2's. Secondly, Sony has more exclusive developers working with them to produce exclusive titles. That is, Sony will have more games that you can only play on their system (and they will all be good, e.g. Gran Turismo 4, Metal Gear 4, and Killzone). Of course, MS and Nintendo will have their exclusive titles as well, and they'll also be good (Metroid and Halo anyone?), but with the quantity and quality of Sony's exclusives they've a much better chance of getting and holding the number one spot (though, there won't be any really "getting" for Sony because they already have it). My prediction is that in the first two years MS will come very close to taking Sony's crown until developers begin unlocking the true potential of the machine. The 360 is getting at least a 6 month head start on the competition and it's an extremely formidable system where a lot of business will be brought in by the online capabilites and the quality of the first-gen games (I, most likely, will be getting it on day one, or thereabouts). But Sony's machine is more powerful and, in the end, will have more quality titles in a wider genre range than either the 360 or the Revolution.

For me, I've no doubts that before 2006 comes to a close I will have a PS3 and a 360 sitting comfortably side-by-side underneath (or next to, perhaps) my shiny HDTV. Nintendo is even prodding me to get their system with a feature that, depending on the price of the downloads, brings great (potential) joy to my heart. I speak of the Revolution's ability to play all the games from Nintendo's 20 year past beginning with the venerable NES. The big N has even hinted that it might revamp some of those oldies to make it even more worth my while. Even more exiting than this, though, is I hear rumors of a complete remaking of Final Fantasy 7 for the PS3. Redone to graphically fit with the astronomical processing power of PS3, the thought of playing FF7 with in-game graphics that surpass even the superb quality of the Full Motion Videos of the best PS2 games gives me chills. It's things like this that will keep Sony on top. Microsoft will stay afloat with Halo and its Live service. Nintendo will always have Mario, Zelda and Metroid and they certainly don't seem to care about being number one. Why should they? Let MS and Sony fight it out while they sit on their cushy chairs without a worry because they will always be around.

Theologian Quiz

Turns out, I'm Anselm as well...

You scored as Anselm. Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?' Anselm 100% Karl Barth 80% J�rgen Moltmann 60% John Calvin 60% Charles Finney 53% Friedrich Schleiermacher 53% Martin Luther 40% Augustine 33% Paul Tillich 27% Jonathan Edwards 13% Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com