Video Game Review: Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble

I decided I might start doing things like this more often. Here goes.

Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble is a successor to the supposedly amazing game, Viewtiful Joe on the GameCube. It was highly praised and is considered one of the best GameCube games of all time. This DS "sequel" is not.

To be honest, I've never played Viewtiful Joe before, so I was a bit confused when I started the game. Why did this guy just wander on to some movie set to try and beat an actor up, only to realize he can't use his powers outside of "movie world (whatever that is)?" What kind of superhero doesn't already know his weaknesses? This is how the first sequence takes placed. I figured that this guy only has real super powers in movies, but not off the set (or something like that), and now he wants to save the world from crime, but he can't for obvious reasons. Ok, makes sense to me. I guess.

Then we're told that some guy who Joe knows has this camera that lets him use his powers in the real world. It's never explained where this camera comes from or how it does what it does, it just appears with this old guy and he tells him to shout the magic words and power up. This is where I realized the story in this game probably isn't that great.

The game is your average beat-em-up side-scroller. You find robots (who's appearance are also unexplained) using your "V-Power." V-Power gives Joe special abilities, such as the ability to slow down time, or the ability to... scratch enemies? What?

Yes, you're supposed to scratch enemies, and it's treated like kicking or punching someone. It's supposed to be for enemies that are, in a sense, blocking your attacks by attacking you. The problem with this is that it's out of the way. It's hard to pull out your stylus and start scratching the enemy in the alloted time, and you can't see anything if you stab your finger around on the screen.

At this point, I stopped playing the game.

I will commend Capcom for making a game that, aside from the touchscreen aspects, didn't use the DS's gimmicks. The top screen shows you fighting, the bottom screen just shows a more zoomed in view. The microphone, to my knowledge, is never used. This is surprising for a game released fairly early in the DS's lifecycle, when features like these were abused to no end.

Capcom also did a good job with the graphics. They pushed the limits of the DS by making pretty big levels with a bunch of moving, 3D objects. They also utilized "cell shading," something the DS excells at. So, all in all, the graphics aren't that bad either.

So,what's the problem?

Double Trouble has controls that work, apart from the touchscreen aspect, which is a pretty hard concept to grasp. The graphics aren't that bad, and it doesn't abuse the DS's features. The real issue is that that's about it. There's nothing very interesting about this game. You beat up bad guys and move on. The story is barely a story at all, as things just seem to happen with no explanation. There is no online or multiplayer, there's no cool feature that changes the game at all. It's just a regular beat-em-up.

I'd give this game a 7/10. It's not horrible by any means, but there's nothing to keep you interested, and the touch screen thing just doesn't work. If you want a regular beat-em-up, this game is what you want, but it doesn't seem to change a whole lot as nothing seems to happen ever.

Album Update

Yeah, so,  a lot of you are probably wondering if this album is coming out or not. It is... Just not now. The long standing problem is that we need a way to make beats and music, but I've been too lazy to do that. However, after some of my friends from school found out that I'm an amazing album, they're just desperate to have this released. So, no turning back now... Hopefully I'll get FL Studio for Christmas. If not, I'll just buy it myself. We'll see.

I'm also thinking about not doing a remake and just making a new album entirely. I have so many good ideas for songs that I originally just wanted to be bonus tracks on the new album. But now I think I have more bonus tracks than albums.

I've actually written a whole rap, all from scratch. I wrote it to rap at Cross Country practice, and expanded it to a full-length song. In my opinion, it reads better as a poem than a rap, but I'm sure I can make some modifications.

If you guys are really desperate, I'll post the rap here. But it is pretty gruesome, so. Yeah. I got a reputation to keep. :P

Things that irritate me about Facebook

1. When your profile picture is not a portrait of you. It's not as bad when it's a group shot or something with you at least in it, but when you post, then you get some closeup of three people or something like that and you can't tell who the heck it's supposed to be.
Then there are the people too lazy to even upload a profile picture. Come on, you have to have one of you SOMEWHERE.
Then there are the people who upload some "funny" image as their profile picture. No. That's not you. I don't care if it's on your wall or whatever, but the profile picture helps people identify who you are. And you are not a dancing cat.
Then there are the people who take a picture of something else (like, an object) and set it as their profile picture. I've seen this only once, but it's still there. Seriously. What the heck.

2. When someone talks in chatspeak on Facebook. This is not Twitter or a text message. You don't have a character limit. In fact, most people get on Facebook out of boredom. So you basically have all the time you want. So you don't need to spend less time typing (and therefore making yourself look stupid), when you could make yourself seem somewhat smart. (This is worse with some people than others)

3. When you don't understand the difference between private and public. Nobody wants to see you talking to your boyfriend about how hot he is on his wall. That's what a private message is for.

4. When someone likes 800 pages in one day. We get an update in our newsfeed when that happens, so everyone can see that you liked 147 pages today. Go spend your time doing something else.

5. When you accept anyone's friend request. What's the point of making your profile private when you accept a friend request from anyone?

6. When you take a picture of yourself in the mirror while holding a camera. Sure, it's easy, but you look like an idiot. Just point the lens at your face and shoot.

7. When someone uses a Facebook application that posts on their wall or someone else's. I don't want to get an update that tells me you're 23% Asian, or that you need me to help you find your dog on Farmville. Nobody else does, either.

These are just a few of the many things. I don't expect any of these to change, but I'll use these as a list of things I won't do on Facebook.

Facebook

I gots a Facebook. You can friend me or whatever here.

Mark Farmer

Create Your Badge

To be honest, if you're reading this, I've probably already friended you (because I think only Micheal, Josh, and Jared read this anymore), but, hey, doesn't hurt.

Why?

Why?

Team Fortress 2 Theme

I've always wanted to do something like this, and last night, we finally did.



Ian's on bass, Josh is on guitar, Josh is on cello, and I'm on Violin. This take doesn't sound as great, but below, you can find our edited one (where we each recorded individually), and we fixed a few mistakes we made in the above video.

Fred

Recently, I noticed the extreme love or hatred the world has with Fred.


If you don't already know, Fred is one of the biggest internet stars. He has the most subscribers on YouTube, and has one of the most-watched videos online as well. His videos are about a supposed kindergartner that is normally picked on in and outside of school. Here's one of his most famous videos:





But only until now did I realize how much people hate Fred. Before, it was really simple: Either you thought his videos were funny or you didn't. But now, it runs much deeper. Ex-fans are freaking out because of his most recent videos, which, in my opinion, are much high quality than the "original" ones show above. The fact that he's making a movie about his character also just adds to the fire.


Some people are rabid fans of Fred, and it's understandable as to why. His videos (at the time) were very original, and were directed towards the audience of girls that liked completely random stuff happening repeatedly, and also made the "high-pitched voices are funny" concept more popular. Again, he's the most subscribed person on YouTube, with close to 2 million subscribers. In fact, in a recent interview with Lucas  Cruikshank (Fred), he said one fan came to two of his merchandise signings, 8 hours away from each other.


But then there are those who hate Fred. Some merely dislike his videos. Others don't like his high-pitched scream. But recently, there have been those who dislike his recent advancements. Just a year or two ago, large media corporations picked up on Fred's popularity, and has since used it to their advantage. He's been the subject of dozens of sponsorships, and his fans have defiantly noticed.


On one of his videos, lolaloveable260 made this comment:


"Dude, these videos are getting so lame... they used to be funny. Then you signed up with Nick and it's like, **** dude, just stop. This isn't funny and soon enough you'll have more dislikes than likes. You're too old for this ****, aren't you sick of this yet?

Come up with something new, dude. You had fame and now you're falling to the bottom, just like every other celebrity who didn't play their cards right."

And now, it's time for my opinion.

I do not like Fred's videos, but that doesn't mean I hate Fred or Lucas Cruikshank. In fact, the one thing I hate about Fred is the general population's outright disgust for Fred and his works. Comments like the one above make me think, "How can you hate someone this much?" And then there are the videos of "Fred gets shot!" "Fred gets blended!" and so on.

First of all, Fred is a star, and his fans have to come to terms with that. Fred is not just some YouTube celebrity anymore. His new movie shows that he is an actor, not just some kid messing around with his mom's camera. People like lolaloveable260 don't seem to understand that one of the worst things Fred could do is to keep doing the same old stuff over and over. If anything, his new videos are an improvement. There's much more quality, content, and actual humor in them. They've made me laugh a few times, whereas his older videos didn't.

So, basically, in conclusion, people that hate Fred need to have an honest legitimate reason, and people that are "ex-fans" need to realize who Fred is now, and his current potential.

That is all.

Supa Cool Stuff - 7/22/2010

Here's some neat news of the now. Maybe I'll do this more often. I dunno.

Telltale Games is attending the Comic Con, and in honor of the event, they've put pretty much all their games on sale. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People is only $5, and seasons one and two of Sam & Max are only $10 as well. Check it out!


Speaking of money-spending opportunities, Lemon Demon has put their greatest hit, The Ultimate Showdown, up for download on the Rock Band Network! It's $2, but is only available to those who own Rock Band 2 on the Xbox 360 (for now...).



For those who don't already know, Valve has created a free co-op alien shooter called Alien Swarm, and released it a few days ago. It's free, so why not download it?


So, yeah, that's about it for today. Oh, here's a cool picture.

Awesome Sbarro Cash Register

Next time you have a chance to go the Sbarro (the one at the Chesterfield Mall, obviously), make sure you take a look at the unused cash register. You'll find that it will occasionally show the message "c-c-c-combo BREAKER". It's a video game reference only some people will get, but I thought it was awesome.

Auto-Tune

I've been reading about peoples opinions of Auto-Tune, and figured I'd throw in my own two cents on it.

In case you don't know, Auto-Tune is a program used to alter the pitch in peoples music. It was originally only used sparingly, to fix small mistakes in music. However, in 1998, Cher released her hit single, Believe, which introduced the world to what is now know as the "T-Pain Effect" (as Cher used it in one song, however, T-Pain used the effect in all of his songs). You can especially hear it when they hold long notes.

Apparently, some people hate this with a passion, (such as Jay-Z, who wrote an entire song about how much he hates Auto-Tune) and I have no idea why. Some say that if an artist uses it, they aren't a true artist. But, to be honest, I don't think any of their fans care. I mean, as long as they come out and sat, "Hey guys, I'm not a pitch-perfect robot, I use Auto-Tune," then I don't see why you would hate them for using it. All of their fans know he/she uses Auto-Tune, and they're still their fans, so I don't think it makes them any less of an artist.

Others stereotype the artists and say that anyone that uses Auto-Tune sucks. Not because they could be considered "fake" artists, but because, apparently, using Auto-Tune can somehow contribute as a factor of why you hate an artist. For example, some people say that Justin Bieber is a bad artist because his lyrics are repetative, he sounds/looks like a girl, and seems like he's 10 years old. These people would also say that he "uses Auto-Tune," as if that makes him seem any worse, when it doesn't. (Although I do dislike him and his works)

Please comment with your opinions.

Michael Playing Kirby

A while back, after summer camp I believe, my friend Michael and I were on our way back home, and I decided to record him playing Kirby Super Star Ultra. Here's what happened:

Cool Things Google Can Do

So, we all know Google is awesome, and about all of the neat services it provides. However, he's some cool things you can do just by searching specific terms into the search bar:

Weather:  Search "weather [city, state]"
Stocks:  Search the ticker symbol for the stock
Time:  Search "time [city]"
Calculator:  Search the math equation. (You can use ^ for exponents and "sqrt" for the square root). You can also use the calculator to convert measurements.
Earthquakes:  Search "earthquake [city, state]" or "earthquake"
Population/Unemployment rate:  Search "population [state]" or "unemployment rate [state]"
Dictionary:  Search "define [word]"
Local search:  Search "[general category] [ZIP code]" (For example, "itallian food 63011")
Movies:  Search "movies [ZIP code]" or "[movie title] [ZIP code]" for showtimes
Health:  Search a health term (Ex. "asthma")
Poison control:  Search "poison control" to find the Poison Control Hotline
Suicide prevention:  Search "suicide" to find the Suicide Prevention Hotline
Flu shots:  Search "flu" to find locations in your area that give flu shots during flu season
Arline information:  Search "[airline] [flight number]" or [city/airport code] airport" for flight delays and current arrival/departure times
Map:  Search "[city/state] map"
Related sites:  Search "related:[website address]" to find sites related to that website
Package tracking:  Search any tracking number for a USPS, FedEx, or UPS package to track its current location
Patents:  Search "patent [patent number]"
Area code locations: Search an area code to find where it is located

That's not to mention the other countless services Google runs. Check them all out. They're all really great.

Spring 2010 Orchestra Concert

Here's us playing at our orchestra concert that we had today!









Also, I got a rose. :D

Prepositional Music

Our class needed to memorize some prepositions for an upcoming test. This proved to be a difficult task, so my friend created a song of the prepositions. He just recorded himself saying them and then set it to some music. As he said himself, it sucked.

Preposition Song sound bite

Sound bits

I found these sound bits, so I figured I'd upload them to share with you guys.

After a long practice hike for Philmont, Jared and I recorded these in the car on the way home. They're really boring. But, here they are.

Me Talking in the Car sound bite

 

Jared Talking in the Car sound bite

Edumacational Filmature

New videro:



Pretty funny. Seriously, sit through it all. It's good. Here's the bloopers:



BONUS:Want in on those totally scientific drawings? Get high-res pics here!

Orchestra Concert, Comin' Right Up!

Here's teh music I'm playing at my upcoming orchestra concert. In order from favorite to least favorite:


Toccatina - William Hofeldt
Dance of the Tumblers (from Snow Maiden) - Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakoff (Arr. by Sandra Dackow)
Korean Folk Song Variants - Arirang (Arr. by Elliot Del Borgo)

So, yeah. There you go. More coming up... later, or something like that.

Confirmation Fun!!11!1!!

So, yeah, I'm offically confirmed now. Here's me giving my testimony.



Here's my testimony. FUN STUFF. LEIK IT? POST COMMENTS.

Also, check out my new subdomains!
aba.jamco.biz
videos.jamco.biz
jmmc.jamco.biz
blog.jamco.biz

AWESUM.

Psst. Check out this website. This guy makes some cool music.

2012 Review

Ok, so, I just saw 2012, and, to be honest, it wasn't all that good. To say the least, it was very predictable, very unrealistic, and was full of cheesy "comedy."

*SPOILER ALERT*

Essentially, this movie is about destruction. The core of the Earth is really hot for some reason, and it's making everything move and burst into flames. I will say, visually, the movie was great. Everything looked realistic. However, some parts were way too generic. Here are a few scenes:

• The Earth is falling just behind the group of escaping main characters, as we see the landscape lowering just behind them. (This happens more than once)
• Two buildings are falling vertically into each other. The main characters in the plane fly right between them.
• Main character falls into bottomless pit. Just as the other characters are getting ready to leave, the main character comes out of the pit and makes it back to the rest of the characters

As you can see, these scenes were easy to predict and were expected in a movie like this.

The unrealistic comes into play just a few minutes into the movie. Although movies like this tend to not be as realistic as normal, even meaningless events made no sense. In one scene, we find out that, two days before the Earth "explodes" or whatever, the Chinese have already built gigantic ships to carry away the wealthiest and richest people. This happens in mere weeks of finding the exact date of destruction. The characters say a generic racist joke and move on. I, on the other hand, and wondering how anyone could draw up these plans and still have time to make the ships.

And, finally, the comedy. You'd think that, in a time of an international crisis such as this, that there'd be no time for laughing, much less bad jokes. Unfortunately, that's not the case, as characters crack jokes like "we lost it all in Vegas" and "we're going to need a bigger plane," along with (harmless) racist jokes, potty jokes, and more.

*END SPOILER*

So, overall, it was ok. At least the movie made sense. I was able to follow along well, and got to know each of the characters. And, as I said, the visuals were good. However, I think this sums the movie up; Here were the last two lines:

Little Girl: I'm not scared. No more Pull-Ups.
Main Character: Nice.

Laser Tag, Baby Aliens, and Club Penguin

Today, we had an outreach event for our youth group, where we played laser tag and ate pizza. We were supposed to invite someone that didn't go to church, so I invited Josh. During the laser tag, we had the greatest time.

If you've ever been to Sports Fusion, and played a game of laser tag, you'll know that the most sought-after area during the game is the "sniping spot." If your team can take over that one small location, you will dominate. Naturally, Josh and I went for this spot. When we got up there, a few kids had already "claimed it." So, we though, "Eh, we can take them." Then we ran into this 5-6 year old. He apparently was supposed to stand guard. However, instead of "shooting people to make them leave" he "pushed people out of the area." Obviously, this kid was way too young to have any strength to push us out. He was strong, I will admit, but all he really did was push you around. You could easily just walk away from him. This is where I did my favorite thing I like to do in this situation, which is to be calm and do absolutely nothing. While this kid pushed me around and started shouting "GET OUT. YOU'RE OUT," I talked to him, and said things like, "Is this how you normally handle situations? Do you just push people around?"

Josh, on the other hand, outsmarted him. This kid was about to charge at Josh, when Josh stepped out of the way. This caused the kid to crash into the wall, which caused him to get angry. Then he decided to literally pistol whip us, because pushing wasn't working. I kept talking to him the whole time, getting absolutely no response. After a while, some other kids came and realized what was happening, and told some of the "referees." Apparently, this kid was running away from them at that point. When the game was over, we came out and the kid tried to get us to not say anything to the staff. How stupid does he think we are?

Afterwords, we signed up for another game of laser tag. In this game, we did the same thing: Went for the sniping spot. Once we got there, a bunch of other kids came. Instead of fighting them, we told them to stay up there with us. This formed an alliance, which meant that out of the 4-5 times there, three of them were on our side. We owned.

After we came home, we watched a show called Nanalan'. This is a show for preschoolers that teaches them things, like about butterflies, or cleaning. This show was prime game for Josh and I to make fun of. The website has clips of the show, so you can see just how weird it is. We have a lot of fun making fun of it.

Then, we went on and poked at some people on Club Penguin. It was tons of fun, because these people figured that, instead of going to their "igloo" (which is a private home only certain people can enter) or change servers so I can't find them, they just run around the map, in hopes we will leave them alone. To be honest, we didn't do much. We merely shouted odd things in their presence. (I would write more, but I am tired.)

So, yeah . That was my day. Good stuff.

Orchestra Concert

We had our orchestra concert today. It went pretty well. My favorite piece we played was Allegro, but I think we played One-Bow Concerto better than any of our other pieces.

Anyway, I've already uploaded all of our concert videos, so, here they are (in order from my favorite to... not so favorite)









Now,I know a lot of you (or at least Brandon Powers) are probably wondering where the aforementioned "One-Bow Concerto" is. Well, conveniently, the camera batteries died at the start of that piece, and, coincidentally, my dad decided to put the other batteries in the camera AFTER that piece.

I am also planning on uploading last years concert videos soon. (I have no idea why I haven't already). We might also have some exclusive high-quality recording done the day of the concert. (However, it is unknown WHEN we will get said recording)

Speaking of high quality, on my website, I made the latest video downloads conversions of the raw video file (in other words, the downloads are higher quality than the YouTube video, although it's usually the other way around) If you have iTunes or Windows Media Player, you can actually stream these downloads without downloading them, instead of watching the YouTube video, which is, again, lower quality. (Although, I'm not sure if streaming with WMP works. I tried it, and it buffered A LOT.)

So, yeah. Any questions or comments, leave a, well, comment. I love to hear from your guyz.

To "Jack Prouty"

Mark Farmer

c/o Cheap As Free Inc.
2976 Mishler Road

Mio, MI 48647

February 22, 2010

Jack Prouty

4719 Cole Avenue, Room 12

Dallas, TX 75205-3516

Dear Mr. Prouty:

We regret to inform you that your order of "#8187 Tranquilizer Darts (10)" and "#8191 Tranquilizer Gun, Silver" are out of stock at the time, as we no longer carry these items, as the law prohibits us from selling them any longer. Enclosed is a full refund of your order, including shipping and handling. (Please contact the Internal Revenue Service [IRS] for your tax refund)

As per request, we also have an update on your order of "#6773 Plug & Play 'Robo Robby: Ultimate Destroyer' Lifelike Robot (1/2 size)." We at Cheap As Free Inc. rely on only the best materials from the most suspicious companies, and are taking great care in creating your robot. However, being a commercial business, our need for human organs (which are required to build your order) is small in comparison to humans. We have recently been informed that we are number 36 on the "Heart Donor" list and number 47 on the "Kidney Donor" list at at Mercy Hospital. If requested, we can contact anyone on our list of available "organ harvesters," although partially illegal and whose work are of diminished quality. This would be a secret "under-the-table" operation, and only between you and one of our reliable businessmen here at Cheap As Free Inc.

If you need to, contact us by phone at (800)CHEAP-CO or (800)243-2726, or online at CheapAsFree.com. If needed, personal contact can be provided by giving the order number "88616" when asked. Please do not reply to this address.

Sincerely,

Mark Farmer

Concert Preview

I should be uploading a concert preview to my website sooner or later. It will be unfinalized recordings of our class playing our concert pieces. Hope you enjoy them!

EDIT: Turns out I am not able to get ahold of the require materials to provide this entertainment. Hope to see you at the concert!

Musings...

I'm bored. I have a lot on my mind right now...

First of all, I'm disappointed in whoever created the Ocean's Eleven soundtrack. I've just recently saw the movie, and have been listening to jazz music lately, and loved the music. I went to buy it, and hated the album. It contains all the music from the movie, but they took the time to interrupt the music with dialog from the movie. At the beginning and end of the song, they insert unrelated dialog for no reason whatsoever. Now I'm angry that I can't enjoy the music, if I chose to buy the album.

Next up on my mind is the Star Wars Holiday Special. I saw someone essentially summarize the "movie" with clips and such. It was, by far, the worst film I had ever seen. Unlike my previous worst movie (Manos the Hands of Fate), where the plotline made no sense, and it seemed like the cast/crew didn't even try, this film contained all the cast from the movie, good effects, crew, etc. Which is exactly why it beats Manos the Hands of Fate. Instead of just being a bad movie, this film seemed like someone actually tried and failed at creating it.

The plotline revolves around the fact that Chewbacca and Han Solo are in space, being attacked by the evil guys, and are running late for the "Life Day" celebration. This makes Chewbacca's family depressed and anxious. Instead of anyone going on some sort of quest to help them out, they wait around in their house doing pointless crap, and forcing the viewers to watch it too. Full instructions for putting together a transmitter, how to make some worthless recipe, what goes on in the mind of the "grandpa" Chewbacca, and other pointless stuff. It's hard to explain without actually seeing the film, but, just remember, if you choose to watch it, you will DEFINATLY regret it.


Also on my mind was this picture I helped Josh Photoshop. I essentially gathered and cropped the images, he added all the cool effects. Check it out:

Awesome, right? I know, I know.

I have other things I COULD say, but I guess I'd rather keep them to myself for now. Maybe later I'll talk about them. Until then... Here's a quote:

"Be polite. Be efficient. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
-The Sniper, Team Fortress 2

Well, here you go.

My blog is now on Blogger, and hopefully safe from being moved around all over the place. Hope it works. :D

Mah Blog!

Some of the pictures aren't working. I tried fixing them, but to no avail. I'll work on it later. :P

JAMCO.BIZ

I just finished up the website a few days ago. I would have told you, but I accidentally deleted the blog. I still have all the old posts, and it's all fixed now, so it's ok. Hope you like it! Give me feedback in the comments or send me an email at webmaster@jamco.biz.

Abducted By Some More Aliens!

Sorry for the lack of posts latly. I've been pretty busy with homework and Windows 7.

Anyway, most of my work is now being focused here. Follow. Subscribe. Become blinded with awesomeness. This is Abducted By Aliens: Collectors Edition.

An Unveiling

Ok, let's make this short: When I was little, I wrote ad-libbed and recording songs and distributed them to... others. These songs made no sense, included nonsense words, were written ad-libbed within hours, and included fake "features."

Well, for those of you that didn't pick up your copy, too bad. BUT, I can compensate by creating a Collector's Edition with remixes and bonus songs, right?

Yes, Abducted By Aliens: Collector's Edition is currently in production. I suspect it will be ready by this holiday season, but seeing as I just got this idea this morning, that could just as easily change. However, to prove to you guys that this isn't CSM 3, or George and Tom, or any other project I backed out of, Josh and I have created some album art. FUN STUFFZ.

Adobe Fun!

I finally got Adobe Master CS3 thing. I got all the awesome products. Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver... Expect awesomeness in the next few months.

Here is our first Photoshop picture. Josh made this one.

Video Games and Violence

Want to know how bored I got? So bored I wrote something. Check it out. Discuss in the comments.

Computer Time

This summer, I've been on the computer. A lot. After I combined my two computers, I was able to play Team Fortress 2, and that game is awesome. Josh and I keep on playing it. Over. And over. And over.

Apparently, my parents have been concerned about this, saying it has caused me loss of sleep, grumpiness, and lack of activity. This morning, I was told I'm going to have a limit of 6 hours on the computer. Great.

However, that's just in the summer. During school (which starts in, like, a week) I get 4 hours. Whoopie. I realized that that's just 3 hours until after school, and an hour after dinner. But that's when I use the computer the most. No body's outside, no one's willing to do any physical activity... The only people around are the ones on Team Fortress 2. No, I'm not about to go on and say, "My only friends are virtual friends..." I'm not friends with any of these people (half of them curse all the time). I'm just saying that that's what I do at night.

Still, if I don't use any of my "hours" after school, that leaves me to 10:00 PM, which is when I go to sleep on a school night. So, I'm kind of mad right now, but I'm sure I'll get over it. :P

8th Grade Orientation Is Tomorrow.

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no.

Spore

GameStop is having a FREAKING HUGE SALE that only lasts until the second! Buy buy buy! Hundreds of games under $20!!!!

Today, I'm going to get Spore. In case you didn't know, Spore is one of the biggest games ever. It allows you to create and run a whole entire species. It's like the ultimate life simulator. It will be awesome.



EDIT: Never mind. I found out it's $40, which is still pretty expensive. Now I'm passing the time playing demos of World of Goo and Wallace and Gromit: Fright of the Bumble Bees and the full episode of Sam & Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die! Fun, huh? :P

Walmart Neighborhood Market

I just remembered something from my trip to Dallas I thought I might show you.
Did anyone know there was such a thing as the Walmart Neighborhood Market? I had never heard of them before, until we went there at our trip to Dallas. It's apparently a Walmart Supercenter with all the Walmart stuff taken out. So, really, it's just a grocery store. I had never seen these before, and I thought it was so interesting that Walmart, which is really just a generic department store, is making money off of a branch off a branch. Walmart never intended to sell food at the Walmart, but that's what they do at the Supercenters, just because it could make more money. Now, they're rolling out something that, if the Supercenters weren't even made, would have nothing to do with Walmart.

And get this: They're making something else that's the same thing! The new "Marketside" is the same thing as the Walmart Neighborhood Market, but it doesn't carry the Walmart label. Weird, huh?

Bored again!?!

Obama will save our country. Literally.

Today's REAL Blog Post - Belated Anniversary

First of all, I just wanted to say happy vera belated birthday to my blog. A couple years ago, I made four posts. One told readers that Wal★Mart sucked, and tried to explain why. Now, I explain further...

The year was... Uh... 2007... I was in the grade of the fifths. *coughcough* Ok, so, in 5th grade, for our "learn-how-to-type" class, we had to make a newsletter about something interesting. Or... Some interesting things. So, I wrote about a TV show I had seen on PBS, showing how Wal★Mart killed off the Rubbermaid brand. I thought the topic was controversial, yet sense-makeable, so I picked it as my topic. Now, around that same time, I probably made this blog... Or, at least its counterpart. So, I decided to try and post my views there. Unfortunatly, the post wasn't being graded, so I made little effort to explain my opinion. Evenually, the post got smothered with other classics, such as the "It Stink's To Grow Up!" and "It's The End of the Blog As We Know It..." Anyway, there you go.

Another post was about how video game companies should all exchange positions every few years, and we could vote on top dog. This post just showed how broken my imagination was, and how freakin' bored I was at the time. It only exemplified the fact that my life was really mundane, and my only hope was this small blog. My first post wasn't really attracting readers either, but I was impatient to see it go down. In other word, this was just another failed attempt at at least 3.5 seconds of fame.

My third post of the day tried to throw a celebrity into the mix, and hope that some viewership came out of it. All it did was show that I really didn't know the celebrity (or how to speel) all that much either.

My fourth, and quite honestly first, post told all 'yalls to come here, where teh REAL partyz at! *coughcough*

So anyway, there's another insight to my dull life. Hoping for some more blog action tomorrow.

boredom

See, this is what happens when you lurk around the internet. You find pictures like this.

Today's slow progress and Dallas.

Don't you hate it when you think of something to do when it's late at night? Last night, I thought, "Tomorrow, I'm going to do so much stuff!" But I woke up today having no idea what that stuff was. So, I wasted away my day getting my iTunes Library ready. Then, right now, I remember that I was going to post my new bathroom blogs. At 10:00. Oh well. Look for those tomorrow. (Hopefully)

Anyway, today, after I had gotten all the music I wanted into my library, I started converting them into AACs. (For those that don't know, AAC is slowly becoming the preferred music codec over MP3s.) I thought iTunes was smart, but alas, no. It started converting of my music into AACs, regardless of weather or not they already were, which erases some somewhat important content, which I would rather have if I didn't need to get rid of it. It also converted the file, but kept the old one in the library, requiring me to delete the old files. This makes the process much harder. But it will get done sometime sooner or later.

Also, in case you were wondering, yes, Dallas was awesome, and I can't wait to go again. And trust me, we WILL be going again.

Team Fortress 2

(For some reason, I couldn't add any more text to my lat post...)

Anyway, my computer is fast enough that I can start playing TF2! I love the game, it's a lot of fun. Josh and I are going to be playing it all night!

Biking and Team Fortress 2

Today, Karen and Sarah, Josh's sister, wanted to go on a bike ride to Planet Smoothie. Josh and I went with them, but told them to hang on, because we just ate.

After 20 or 30 minutes, they started continualy bugging us on leaving. After a while, we left.

Now, Karen's a bit slow. That's understandable. But these two kept stopping and slowing down for no reason. We told them that they need to pick it up a bit, and left it. But then, as we ride up a hill, they start yelling, "Slow down!" We slow down and wait for them, but as soon as they gut up the hill, they start going, "Come on! Let's go!" O_o

We stop, and say, "Look, we don't care if you're slow, just don't tell US to speed up." "Why?" I then explain what just happened. "So?" Sarah says, with a smile on her face. Josh says, "Sarah, stop."

Everything was fine until we got ready to leave Planet Smoothie. I say, "Ok, let's go." "No, we're not done yet!" "Karen, we've beenhere for 45 minutes. I just went into Dierbergs, bought something, and came back." "So? We haven't finished yet!" "So throw it away." "But I want to finish it!" "So take it with you." "I can't do that!" Now, Karen poked a hole through her's, so she thre her's away. But Sarah wouldn't give her's up. We finally convinced her to bring it. But as soon as we leave, "I can't take this! I'm just going to throw it away." *FACEPALM*

Also, we went down a hill, and saw them breaking the entire way down. We tell them, "Look, you're far away enough as it is. You can't be braking down the hill." "But we're scared!" *sigh*

On the way back, Sarah keeps stopping. We stop, and see what's up. She said something keps falling off her bike. I look, and it's just the cap covering a screw. I just took it and gave it to her afterwards. So yeah, we won't be doing THAT any time soon.

But, in other news, I've started combining my two computers! I'm almost done, I just need to put in a video card and do some cleanup.

But now, my computer is fast enough

Twilight

No, this isn't going to be a rant on Twilight. Just a run-in I had today. I was up at Josh's, and so was Karen. She was watching Twilight with Sarah. Josh and I were going downstairs, when we see the girls watching the movie. We race downstairs and slam the door. We then discussed plans on grabbing our electronics and foodstuffs as fast as we could. As we got the food, the girls didn't understand that Twilight was a chick flick.

We tried explaining to them that it was a gender issue, and that the movie wasn't for guys. They still didn't understand. Then we said, "How about Alien VS. Predator. The movie is for guys, not girls. It's more mature." They respond, "But it has cussing and blood!" I said, "We're talking about a gender issue here, not a parental view. Guys like more 'mature' titles." Still, no idea. We gave up and left.

Please tell me that this isn't just me, and that you agree that some movies, such as Twilight, are for girls, and some movies, like Alien VS. Predator, are for guys.

More Than Harrasment

A few days ago, I posted on here about EnzoLegend. Well, guess what? He's not done yet. He's continued with his shenanigans, what with the lying, and the making everything a big deal, especially when he is involved?

Well, we took another look at his profile the other day, and something scared us. He signed up with Josh's junk e-mail address. We quickly created a UT against him, telling the moderators just that. They too seemed confused. Investigating, they told us something even more shocking: This person signs on with Josh's IP address.

Which begs the question: Who is this person? He's either a great hacker, or someone we know. Could it be a family member? A neighbor? Josh himself?

YOU DECIDE
2009

Fourth of July at Innsbrook

As some of you may know, our family goesout to a chalet owned by our grandparents every Fourth of July and Memorial Day. At least, we try to. On Memoial Day, there's a big party thing with free food, live music, and children attractions. On the Fourth of July, there's a big fireworks show. So we cameout here on Thursday, both because of the fireworks show and because my dad loves the place, and gets Friday off. Really, I wasn't up to it. I thought we were leaving on Friday afternoon, and I would much rather be with Josh checking out the only two Bugatti Veyron Grand Sports in the Western hemisphere.

However, once I got out here, I realised that I was just really tired from staying up until two-thirty the night before, and had forgotten how much I loved this place. Wow, has time flew. Here I am, writing this in the last few minutes before the end of the day, and I can't believe the weekend is almost over. But anyway, that's not why I'm writing you.

The real reason I'm writing is because of the fireworks show. I was so settled in that I hadn't gotten out of my pajamas, and it was 6:00. We ate, layed around some more, knowing that sooner or later, we would all leave to see the fireworks show. Well, we left unprepared. We just got up, grabbed a bunchof stuff, and left. Bad idea.

We forgot the fact that it looked like it was going to rain. Sort of. We had some umbrellas and stuff, but really, if it rained, we wouldn't really be prepared. So we got out there, set up, waited, and it rained. We alljust picked up everything and ran back to the car. Then is started pouring. We all just sat there and wondered if it was still on or not. We watched others. Some were leaving. Some were moving. Some were staying. What were we going to do? Mom and Karen decided it was too wet, and they weren't getting out again. Should we leave as well, and find a better place to park and watch? Would it matter if the show was canceled? If we can't park there, could we get our spot back? We weren't sure. So, instead of deciding, we just sat there. We rolled down the window to see if the music was still playing. It was.

Then, the rain stopped. Dad and I got out, to hear what they were saying over the speakers. We were going to grab the chairs, just in case, when we heard someone say it was officaly canceled. We looked at each other, and told mom and Karen. But, we still wanted to hear, so we left the chairs and went anyway. Good idea! It was either canceled, then started, or started, but it was on.

It was so cool. As cool as it always is, of cource. :P I ran back and grabbed the tripod to take some great pictures, which turned out really well. I also took a few on my phone. But when I turned around, I saw something really cool, and also a little sad.

A van had driven off the side of the road, and needed the assistance of a tow truck to drag it out. This stopped all the trafic of people coming and going. But as the fireworks started, everyone got out of their cars and stood on the side of the road and watched. It was just like one of those movies, where two people go do something, and the whole community gets involved, and then there's a street party.

Now, I wrote this post and hour ago, and the internet connection out here is so intermetient, that I took me an hour to post this blog. So you better like it.

(SIDE NOTE: As I ran to and from the car to grab the tripod, I felt like I was running from a bombing. What with all of the lights, the booms, the people trying to leave as fast as they could, me running as fast as I could... Or maybe I just have mental issues.)

Billy Mays

Ah, yes, I almost forgot...

REST IN PEACE

BILLY MAYS

JULY 20, 1958 - JUNE 28, 2009

ACC and EnzoLegend

Many of you may know that I hang out on a website called Animal Crossing Community, or ACC for short. It's a forum where I can talk to other people about video games and stuff like that.

So, the other day, I got a private message titled "U R wrong." This person told me that I was "retarted" and that the Nintendo DS Browser didn't exist. I OWN the Nintendo DS Browser. We went back and forth until I couldn't bear it anymore and said that it doesn't make any sense to argue with a loser, and I left.

Well today, he expanded, and let his stupidity go public. For more of EnzoLegend's antics, please, read below.

EnzoLegend Lies About the DS (in Private)
EnzoLegend Lies About the DS (in Public)
EnzoLegend Lies About Cars

(For a better viewing experience, please read posts regarding what EnzoLegend says. His avatar is the large bear with a purple background.)

Also, some more information about this person. Here is his profile. Points of interest are the "Currently Playing" section, the "Signature" section, and the "Other Stuff About Me" section.

Currently Playing: With my girlfriend
Signature: IT amazes me how stupid some people r...
Other Stuff About Me: I like cars and stuff like that. If you disagree with me, you will get owned by my superior smartness. I play DS and Animal Crossing all the time. I kind of consider myself a video game genius. I know tons about video games. So you will see me around on the boards and remember, stay out of my way.

Previously, his signature read "It doesn't matter how rich you are or where you've been, it matters how many girls you have following you around." (Something like that.) He also previously stated that he had "a lot of girls" and continued to rate them all on a scale of one to ten, with "7/10, 6/10, 8/10, 9/10, and 7/10." He has removed those things in favor for showing how stupid he thinks I am.

Please also note that this icon:...means that he is new to the site, which sheds some light on as to why he thinks he is suddenly the best on this site.

UPDATE: He has recently erased his signature.

Scout Camp Issues

I lost the e-mail Pete gave me from Scout Camp so I could finish a requirement and send it to him to finish a merit badge. I thought I knew it, but woe is me. So, I decided to scout the internet because, as I learned from my Internet Safety class that I also took at Scout Camp, small traces of information can lead to big things.

So, I searched his name, which is very unique (and by that, I mean his last name). I found out that he has a Facebook account. I don't have a Facebook account, but from what it could show me was his picture and his location. His picture showed it was obviously him...

(IMAGE DELETED)

and his location showed a small city in Illinois, which is where Camp Bunn was.

Thanks to some good work by my dad, we found out he had a Steam account. Thanks to us goofing off a little at camp, I found that he had Steam games (Portal, Left 4 Dead, etc.), so it made sense. Unfortunately, he had to be my friend to send him a message, and he disabled being able to leave comments on his profile. And begin inactive for the past 2 weeks didn't help either. But, there was still some small light of hope.

I searched up his username and found that it too was unique. The only places I could find his username were on technology-related sites, so I knew it was probably him. However, in each of his profiles, he didn't give away any of his personal information. (Good for him.) The only way I could find his email address with my information was to pay some money to some service, which I was not doing.

Or, I could just email the camp director Miss Lisa, whose email was provided on the Camp Bunn website, and ask her for Pete's email.

So sure, I didn't get as far as I planned, but think about how close I got, and how easy it was to get the information. Plus, if I just continued to refresh his Facebook page, I could probably see all his friends. But then again, I did have some previous experience with this guy, so I knew what he looked like, what his interests were, and where he lived. But, still...

UPDATE: She has e-mailed me back, and said she'd be happy to help. Yay!

Back from the Scouters

Back from camp. Lots of stuff to say. But, I'll keep it short.

There was this German exchange scout, Alex, that got to go to camp for free. The first-year boys would not stop gawking over her. (She taught Cooking)

Me: "What's your favorite merit badge?"
Some kid: "Cooookkkiinnggg...." *slobbers*
Me: *SMACK*

Me: *eating lunch*
Some other kid: "See Alex?"
Me: "Yeah?"
Some other kid: "She's getting fruit. She always does."
Me: *SMACK*

But that wasn't the end of it. What was such a funny, disturbingly strange coincidence was that during the Family Night Skit Night, he pants sagged, and showed her underwear. Of course, I'm sure this was on accident, because as soon as she stood up, it fixed itself.

Also, for those that care, here are my three favorite counselors from Camp Bunn this year:
1. Pete (Computers, Climbing)
2. Booger (Was at Climbing)
3. OopieDoopie (Backpacking)

It was fun. By far, better than S-F. Highly reccomended.

Boy Scout Camp

I'm leaving today to go to Boy Scout Camp. I won't be back until Saturday.

One More Thing...

Ah, almost forgot. Well, I forgot. But, here it is:

Check out my brand new blog: the Projects Blog. Here, I'll post any of our plans or goings on related to our YouTube channels, websites, or my podcast. Check it out.

A Job?!?

Let's face it: Everyone texts. No matter how old you are, everyone texts. I would much rather text some people than talk to them. Many other people feel the same way.

Today, I tried to just get my dad to think about getting a texting plan. However, instead, my dad told me I needed a source of steady income. All I get is $5 a week, and that isn't enough. So, what's his idea? A job. Yes, a job. I don't think he understands that, even though I only need 3 hours at minimum wage to pay for texting, that no one would give me a job for three hours, more or less pay minimum wage. And besides, do you know how much time it would take out of my day if I got a regular job?

E3 2009

Anyone else know that E3 was this week? The Electronic Entertainment Expo? It sure is. Here's what caught my eye so far:

Ubisoft:
Assassin's Creed 2 out in November

Microsoft:
Project Natal
Facebook and Twitter coming to Xbox 360
Games on Demand

Bungie:
Halo 3: ODST
Halo Reach

Valve:
Left 4 Dead 2

Konami:
Metal Gear Solid: Rising

Nintendo:
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Metroid Other M
Wii Vitality Sensor?!?
Super Mario Galaxy 2
New Super Mario Bros. for Wii
Wii Fit Plus

Telltale Games:
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

Find more information on these and more at Kotaku.com

Schools' Out.

'Nuff Said.

Video Game "Deaths"

Here I go, expressing my views again. Today, I read this article. I was mad. Almost as mad as the person that wrote the article. Yet another suicide, related to video games, blamed on the creators.

There are so many other stories like this. A kid hanging himself because he couldn't play his Wii, now a kid jumping off a building... And these are blamed on the creators of the games?

A somewhat similar occurrence is seen in mass shootings. The Columbine shootings, the teenager in Germany... Blamed on video games.

Ever heard of Jack Thompson? The lawyer who will blame whatever he can on video games? Sad, sad stuff.

Here's the truth. The kid that jumped off the building didn't do it because of something in the game... He did it because his dad wouldn't let him play it anymore. The same with the kid and the Wii.

The Columbine and German teenager are different stories. Sure, the game could have taught them how to shoot a gun, but you learn the same thing in Boy Scouts. Are we going to start blaming them for random deaths too? I hope not.

Disturbing Bus Happenings

I'm not sure if you know this or not, but strange, disturbing things happen on my bus. If I explained here, I'm sure I'd be breaking some social laws, but it's weird.

The part I hate most, however, is when the 6th graders "fight back." Not in a revolt sort of way, but they actually try to intervene in some of the activities the 8th graders participate in, like cussing each other out. All they end up doing is messing with the wrong people, who are just too... old, I suppose, to even mess with them.

Today was one of those days. I was listing to my iPod, when I saw everyone laughing. I stopped the music and listened to hear that these kids had somehow, with the permission of the bus driver, got a hold of the intercom so they could talk to the whole us... Specifically the 8th graders. Here is a short summary of what I heard. [Names replaced for personal reasons]

*laugh laugh*
"And Mitch, pull your pants up!"
"I don't give a **** about what the **** you say! I don't care if my ****** is hanging out!"
"Sara's eating my granola bar..."
*feed back*
*everyone overreacts and quickly puts their hands over their ears*
*purposefully creates feedback*

Then the bus driver took the intercom away from them. While I'm sure the 8th graders deserved it, the 6th graders shouldn't have bothered, since the 8th graders didn't seem to care anyway.

RSS, Music, and YouTube

As a quick update to all my "palz" out there, just wanted to let you know that our RSS feed is acting up. I'll be on it later.

Also, don't forget to check out my Spring Concert videos (for those who care) on my YouTube Channel.

I also have uploaded a new, less disturbing episode of Deciphering the Song, with the subject being "Every Breath You Take" by the Police. Sorry for the horrible lighting.

Bias Kickball

Today, my sister, her three friends, Josh, and I all played kickball. Karen was the referee. We hated the game.

Josh and I thought the rules were totally unfair. You can't throw the ball at people, you can only kick it so far, etc. And to make matters worse, she was bias. Then, we got to kick. We were leading by, like, 3 points, but Karen said it was by 1. So, by this time, I had had enough.

I told her that, just like in real games, the referee is switched out, to make sure that this kind of thing doesn't happen. I suggested that we do the same. She totally took this the wrong was (as an insult) and decided to let Kelly be the referee.

At the end of the inning, I say that Josh should be the referee, because, even if he is bias, it would be one bias referee for one team, and one bias referee for the other, making it even. Of couce, this idea only lasted a few minutes, before the Jacksons had to go in, at which Karen and Sarah quit.

So my point is this: If you're going to play a game, play it right. Don't become bias, then hate other bias people, then quit when you're behind anyway. That right there: That makes no sense.

Fever 1793

Ok, so, today, I finished my acrostic project. Basically, I had to make an acrostic and then plaster it on some poster board related to the topic. So, I finally finished that at home today, the day before it's due. However, this reminds me of a past project. One that will haunt me for the rest of my life...

*cut to wavy flashback*

Ok, so, in 6th grade, I had to do a project. It was based on the book Fever: 1793. Basicly, I had to do a bunch of stuff: Write out summaries of the chapters, do some little character thing, fill out a packet... All that stuff.

However, thanks to Ian and his antics, I could never get any of it done. So I ended shoving it all off to the day before it was due. Pretty much ALL OF IT.

So I spent the whole day working on it. I HATED IT. It was the worst- well, not the worst. One of the worst days of my life. I think I got a 73% on it. Oh well. Better than a 0%.

*cut back to real life*

So please, PLEASE listen to this plea: Don't wait until the day before for ANYTHING! Even homework! I do my homework the day it's assigned, in case I have any questions! I was talking to someone who had to start and finish their acrostic today, and I felt so sorry for him. He didn't know what he was walking into.

So be forewarned, my friends. [INSERT GOOD ENDING HERE.]

New Computer!

Ian's giving me his old computer. He just recently built a new one, with separate parts ordered from different places, all high-tech stuff. He's giving me the computer with everything in it. Memory, video card... All that stuff. Can't wait to get it tomorrow.

Gnite, Mark.

Twitter!

Follow me on Twitter! I need some friends! The only person I'm following is Weird Al. So, come on. Join.

Technology Is Your Friend

I recently just uploaded my new podcast, Technolgy Is Your Friend, onto iTunes. (If you don't know what a podcast is, watch this.) If you don't want to download iTunes, you can use any RSS reader, like Google Reader, to be alterted when a new podcast has been added. However, you'll still have to download the video. (Here's the RSS feed.)

The podcast informs people on how to do realitvily easy stuff on the computer. The first podcast is "How to Add Subtitles to Your YouTube Videos." The other videos may be "How to Understand Chatspeak" or "How to Use RSS Feeds."

Thanks a lot for your support!

Xbox 360 or DSi?

I saw 17 Again tonight. I'll let you guys know how it went tomorrow, but I'm really tired right now.

I just want to ask you guys: Should I get an Xbox 360 or a DSi? The Xbox can do more, but costs more. The DSi is cheap, but doesn't do as much. Not that it's some cheap thing I want to get just because I can afford it. I want both.

So, go ahead and leave me some comments on what you think. Thanks.

EDIT: Sorry, this was supposed to be posted on Friday. My computer has been really slow lately.

DSi and Acolyting

For those that care: I have made a playlist of videos on YouTube that explain almost every feature on the DSi. As is says in the description, I will only list videos that AREN'T about the Japanese version. Not only can you not read it, but the DSi has been in Japan since October of last year, so it's a lot more different than the one here. See my DSi post for more new information.

Ok, so, yesterday, I acolyte for my church. Now, I acolyte a lot. It's easy. Get up, light the candles, leave. But that's a the contemporary service. And the one I acolyted at was a traditional service.

Now, I had done this before. Once. And that was a total breakdown for me. I bawled at the realization that I had to acolyte then and had no idea how. This might have also happened because I had a test in confirmation that night. Or so I thought.

My pastors were nice enough to give me a run down of what I had to do, but that doesn't mean there weren't problems. Because it was a Lent service, people were allowed to request opening hymns, so they weren't in the bulletin. Well, I had no idea, and by the time they started singing, I realized that my hymnal was lodged between my seat the the brick wall behind me. That was really the only problem.

But this past service was a Maundy Thursday service, meaning there was communion. I had no idea what I had to do. I knew that I had communion at a different time than the rest of the congregation, but I didn't know when or how. Even after I got that figured out, I still didn't know what to do. One of our church staff came out, dressed just like me, and had communion with us. I figured I should do whatever he did, so he got up, stood behind the altar, and watched. Was I supposed to stand there? Well, it wouldn't hurt. Then he got up, bowed, and entered the altar, and I knew I should have just sat down. So I did.

Now, honestly, this doesn't sound as interesting as it was. If you went to my church, it probably would have made more sense. Or maybe if you were me. But, you aren't really either or those. So, good night.

April Fools Day

Yeah, I know, I'm a day late. I was thinking about how I missed out on all the great April Fools jokes on the internet yesterday, and I thought I might tell others some of the one's I've heard of.

Homestar Runner: Following a previous video, where they told viewers jokingly that they would redo all of their videos and feature the main character, Strong Bad, the site intro was edited just like that, where Strong Bad greeted the viewers with an e-mail instead of the site's normal intro. Check it out.

Smosh: Uploaded a video, telling viewers that LeVar Burton from Roots, Star Trek, and Reading Rainbow, had bought the "company," promising to redo the website and videos so they featured him. Check out what their site used to look like on April Fools day. Watch the video.

Google: This year, as a tradition, Google announced Gmail Autopilot, where Gmail would automaticly respond to emails. You could adjust the amount of typos, capitalization, brevity, and emoticon use in the message. Check it out.

The Guardian: Announced yesterday that it would now be a "Twitter only service," forcing all articles to be 140 characters or less. "Twittered" articles includes "OMG first successful transatlantic air flight wow, pretty cool! Boring day otherwise *sigh*" from 1927, "W Churchill giving speech NOW - 'we shall fight on the beaches ... we shall never surrender' check YouTube later for the rest" from 1940, "Listening 2 new band 'The Beatles'" from 1961, "Berlin Wall falls! Majority view of Twitterers = it's a historic moment! What do you think??? Have your say" from 1989, and "RT@mohammedalfayed: FYI NeilHamilton, Harrods boss offering [$$$] 4 questions in House of Commons! Check it out" from 1991. Check it out.

Yahoo!: Released a new search option on their website, where you can search topics based on your political party. Try it out. Check it out.

Monetate: Invented Smellr: ads you smell. "It's like Flickr, but for your nose." Check it out.

YouTube: Fliped the whole site upside down and backwards, including the videos. Even though it's gone now, you can still enjoy their instructions on how to view the videos.

Amazon: Launched their new "cloud computers." Cloud computing was a metahpor meaning computers you can't see, but now, they've taken it to the skies, and sent up blimps with computers in them. Check it out.

Expedia: Now sells flights to Mars for only $99. "Save $3 trillion!" Check it out.

Microsoft: Announced their new game for the Xbox 360: Alpine Legend! Based off of Rock Band and Guitar Hero: World Tour, yodel and blow through countless hours of fun! Check it out!

Economist: Opens its new theme park: Econoland, litteraly applying the term "roller coaster ride" for the US economy. Check it out.

HowStuffWorks: Told the world what "rechargable gum" is really made of. Check it out.

Hope that's enough laughs to bust your gut... Or, maybe not.