Some call it art. Others call it fart.

Since Gran Turismo 4 came out, Durand and I have had a friendly competition with the photo sessions. Some of the picture are downright sweet ass, which I makes me wonder about the artistic quality of them. Granted they are not actual photos that were developed in a dark room, hell they aren't even of real cars. But can you really deny visual stimuli that they are? Does it depend on how it is presented? Who created it? Or is it just something that everyone can just agree on as beautiful?
Sure, given the ease at which the game makes of getting really cool action shots anyone could produce pictures like these but does it take something a little more than a copy of the game and some free time to make make something as close to what the designers had imagined? If I had taken this picture with an actual camera and an actual car and produced the exact same image, would either be more valid than the other? Well either way, I like doing it and I hope Durand has some more when I go over tomorrow. This is still my favorite one though:
Woo Hoo! Look At That Evo Fly! That's right Iceman... I am dangerous.

That's right. This is my life. A world of pictures and none of them worth a damn. But I like them. Such a life... Where everything and nothing is art. I like this one I took of Emily while in Memphis. It kind of reminds me of Edward Hopper. But that's just me.

Oh well, time to play some games. At least there's validation in beating the next level.

Baddest is now a word

I beat Medal of Honor: Frontline the other night. Without using any codes. I'm the baddest person I know. I don't know anyone else who has beat it without some kind of cheat code. Which makes me the baddest person I know. Maybe even the baddest you know. Never mind the thousands of twelve year olds weaned on Halo and the like who can pass through games like this in their sleep. Either way, I'm the baddest, even though spellchecker is telling me that "baddest" isn't even a word. It is now, and I am He. Booya, Herr Nazi Stinkbutt! What's that? "Vas?" you say? Here, let me say it again. Booya! When's the last time you heard that? That's because only the baddest are allowed to say it. Booya again! IN YOUR FACE!

Another day at the office

This is my day. Maybe that's why my head hurts.

The countdown has begun

I have five days to finish one of my pictures. Sarah said I couldn't finish it before August so that's what I'm going to do. Maybe. I've been working on it since about October, so it might be a good for me to actually finish it. I'm sure there is more to it than just finishing it, though. Something psychological. Like, once I get it finished, what will I have left to work on? Nevermind the other unfinished pictures I have to work on. But this one has taken a large amount of work and effort and to finally be done with it, I don't know if I'm ready for that. Nevertheless, it will be done in five days. Maybe. Just because she said I couldn't do it. Of course it all depends on whether or not I'm feeling the juice. I tried to get a few things going Sunday and just couldn't. I ended up just playing games since I couldn't even get started. Better to not attempt than to go and screw up the whole picture. And with as long as I have been working on it, I probably would have blown my brains out. Of course it look like I did that before I started drawing:

There are actual figures in there. They are just a little hard to see since they only exist in pencil form right now.

Blogger has the worst spell checker ever. Ever

I used widescreen in my last post and while checking for errors it offered ideogram as a replacement. For widescreen. Where does that even come from? How? Why? And as I'm checking this post; the same thing. Whatever... Cuckoo.

Double fireballs are awesome

About 12 years ago in 1994, two Street Fighter II movies were unleashed upon the world. Only one mattered and it wasn't the one with Van Damme. It was Street Fighter II : The Animated Movie. Unlike the live action movie or the Alpha movie that followed, this one had real fights and a coherent storyline. That and the Chun Li and Vega fight. Now, after it was released on the Street Fighter 15th Anniversary Collection in it's edited form (though it was advertised as uncut), it has arrived, finally uncut and double-sided with the original Japanese voice actors. The only problem with the Japanese movie is that none of the music that was added in the stateside version is included. That's right, no KMFDM during the Chun Li fight. The effect is an incredibly intense fight scene with incredibly lackluster music. I was actually bored. That's right, bored. But even after seeing this movie a million times, I still find myself sucked into it. Even with the disappointment of the music in that fight scene, the rest of the movie does not fail to deliver. The point I think I love the most though, is the fact that it doesn't make Ken look like a chump or a Ryu clone. At the height of the action in the Alpha movie, why does Ken's Dragon Punch fail to KO the villain goon? We all know that Ken is as powerful as Ryu, and depending on who you talk to, he's stronger (remember Ken's ending in Alpha 2). He wouldn't make a very good sparring partner if he wasn't. But I digress. The Street fighter movie is probably the best pick as far as Street Fighter movies that do not include Sonny Chiba. I don't think I really need to mention the fully restored shower scene, which was... Um interesting before the frontal nudity was placed back in the movie. You know what part I'm talking about. Either way, when watching the part of the movie that takes place in India, keep an eye out for Gouki (Akuma), as he does make an appearance in the movie. Without the widescreen version the movie is now presented in, we never knew.

I'm Out Bitches

I've got a five day weekend! I'm going to Memphis. I'll see you on Monday... Bitches.

GODDAMN!

I want this game. I will avenge you Leon.

Everything or nothing... Usually nothing

Last night, Durand and I attempted to play through the co-op missions on 007 Everything or Nothing. There's nothing like being shot full of holes. I really enjoy this game, which I have to say is very refreshing after a bad spat of 007 games. Not naming names (cough, Agent Under Fire). This one is in third person, so you get to see Bond, or whoever you are playing as, get shot all to hell. We do pretty good up to a point, but always get cut short when we find some kind of rhythm. We will beat it though. Soon. Nevermind this game is probably a couple of years old and we have been trying for just about as long, off and on. But it will happen. Nightfire was a cool game too. It was probably the best follow up to the N64's GoldenEye. That's no easy feat either. But as far as Agent Under Fire and GoldenEye Rouge Agent are concerned; "No , Mr Bond, I expect you to die."

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow

This is the song playing now. Everytime I hear it I think of Bart Simpson driving the tank, singing this song, hopped up on "Focusin". Poor Sir WideBottom. Alive but without a purpose. Kind of like me. I recounted my college years with a co-worker during lunch I have to admit that if I had sucked it up and finished what I began, I would probably be a lot happier these days. Of course there's no guarantee of that and I' m not unhappy where I am. Quite the opposite. But still, everyone wonders about what things would be like with different decisions made. I made an observation that I might have been able to do something with the knowledge I've gained besides spot a portion of a picture in video games or movies and know the painter, title and even sometimes the year. The example I use today, one I've used too many times, is in the movie "About Schmidt", the part where Jack Nicholson's character is asleep in the bath is based on a painting by Jacques-Louis David (pronounced Da-veed). It's called "The Death Of Marat". It's a very romantic painting of an actual incident, in which Marat was murdered in the bath by his lover slash spy-er-on-him by the government (I think, it's been a while). The scene was obviously a bit more bloody than the painting but that goes into the artistic movement of the time. Why do I know this? Of what use is it? None. Bah.

I'm so bored I can't even post anything

Literally. I've written and erased so many times. I'm at work and the "Instant Replay" song is playing overhead. Wee-ooo, Wee-ooo, Wee-ooo. Yeah, that's in the song. It's also the sound you hear after I've tried to escape the song by jumping out of the window. I probably wouldn't even make it though, because in my moment (or moments?) of insanity, I would more than likely forget to take my headset off and as I ran for the window, I would get rubberbanded back into my cubicle by the cord. That would be pretty funny to see, if physics actually worked the way they do in my head, anyways. I just can't wait to get out of here and get back to my life of glorified violence and crime. I stared back up with Grand Theft Auto III after Durand brought Liberty City Stories over Thursday night. I beat it but when I loaded my game, I saw that I still had about 49% of the game left. Time to get my hands dirty again. And again.