bedeviled mojo slop

Today was my first day at ReallyReallySmall Co (RRSC).

I now work in the video game industry.

Apparently I am so hardcore at Guitar Hero that I broke the X-plorer Controller Strum Switch as shown hm'yah.

\m/

That little metal clip above the spring should be attached to a plate that then makes contact with another plate to indicate a strum. There is one switch for the up strum and one switch for the down strum. Rather than spend another $60 on a new controller, I'm going to try my hand at a little hardware hackery to repair this broken controller. GuitarHeroParts.com to the rescue! And wouldn't it be my luck that they have replacement Strummer Switches.

It should mostly be a matter of unsoldering the old switches and soldering in the new switches ... mostly.

After 10 years and 4 months, today was my last day at ReallyReallyBig Co (RRBC).

During that time, I've read some boring goodbye e-mails. Not one to leave without imparting a bit of humor on my now ex co-workers, I signed off (after the boring stuff) with the following:

I will have to defer any “words of wisdom” to those of one Eric Cartman (yes ... of South Park):

“Follow your dreams. You can reach your goals. I'm living proof. Beefcake. BEEFCAKE!”

<smiley-face/>

Tomorrow the A/V in the house is being upgraded. Highlights:

• 6 zone/6 source audio system
• In-wall keypads with display for two-way feedback with compatible sources
• iPod dock with full metadata compatibility to the keypads
  
• HDTVs (yes, plural)
• HDMI receiver and cabling
  
• Wireless audio

I had to do it so that I could finally enjoy Dead Rising. Well, not really ... but that's a fringe benefit I guess.

My XBox 360 died. Again.

Died while I was playing "Through The Fire and The Flames". Again.

Deja vu?

That song unleashes a curse from the depths of Hell when it's going to be beat in a big way. I don't know how I would've done this time around. My current best is around 176k.

I wish I was making this up.

UPDATE:I turned the console off and then on again and it works.

^_^

Technorati Tags: xbox 360 red ring of death through the fire and the flames

Lazy Eye - Silversun Pickups

Ace of Spades - Motörhead

Main Offender - The Hives

8 out of 10 if I had to give this game a rating.

58 out of 58 songs completed on Expert in roughly 3 sessions.

The only song that gave me a run for my money was "Green Grass and High Tides".

*yawn*

I'm sure this game is good in the multi-player "band" experience, but I just kind of breezed through it in the solo tour. Oh well.

My biggest issue with the game is with the timing. I'm sure it's my playing, but in GGaHT, there's a small section where the notes are really, really close together. In Guitar Hero, you usually just strum as quick as possible and you get most (if not all) of the notes and it's sort of a chance to build up your rock meter "juice". Not so in this game. You can witness what I'm talking about in this video at around 7:04 - 7:10. Apparently this is a 5* run through of the song and even they don't manage to get their multiplier going in this section.

At least with "Through The Fire and Flames" the song kicks your ass the entire 8 minutes. In GGaHT, you usually get it handed to you around 8 minutes into the song. 8 MINUTES!!1! And then it sort of doesn't let up for the next 2 minutes.

Whatever, I'm done with that mess now.

Where is my middle finger emoticon? I need it right now. For that song.

Technorati Tags: rock band

There are only a few things you need to know if you want to eat at Momofuku Ko.

1. Reservations are made online. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. The system is free.
2. Reservations are for 1, 2, or 4 people.
3. Reservations are booked a week in advance.

Aside from that, if you get a reservation (once the reservation system opens at 10 AM, all the next week's reservations are gone within 20-40 seconds) , I think you'll enjoy yourself.

They've been open about 3 weeks now and although the menu hasn't changed too much since they opened (1, 2), it's still an interesting mix of dishes. Here is my Momofuku Ko photoset.

Another thing you should know about eating at Momofuku Ko is that you're there for the food. You're in a chef's kitchen. The chefs are busy preparing your food, so don't expect a lot of back-and-forth chit-chat. They're there to cook ... you're there to eat.

And ... the seats that they have around the kitchen are hard and have no back, so it'd be entirely uncomfortable for more than a 2 hour meal. Again, you're there for the food.

For me, the 7 PM reservation was ideal. By that time, the chefs are cooking away, and they're getting into their groove. Food is cooked, food is plated, food is served. Lather, rinse, repeat. It's great if you want to see how a kitchen operates.

There were a few chefs observing that evening. My guess is that they were in training. The most memorable quips from Chef Chang's #2 during my meal were, "This is not that hard. I'm not going to explain it again." and "Well, that's a service. You can hang out or you can head out. What do you think?" The chef observing whom that question was directed to decided to hang out. I think that was the smarter choice.

If it's your thing, they offer a wine pairing (though there were a couple of Sake pairings thrown into the mix). Their wine menu comes to you in a Moleskine Notebook. Honestly, if you're going to have a couple of glasses of wine, you might as well not even open up the notebook and hand it right back to the hostess, telling her, "I'll have the wine pairing." That's what I did.

Sit up straight, eat your food, go home happy. Such is Momofuku Ko.

Technorati Tags: momofuku ko ko david chang

Club Foot - Kasabian

I finished Mass Effect last week. If you want me to cut to the chase and give you a rating, well then I'd give it a solid 8.5/10. There is a lot to this game if you want to explore all the optional assignments that augment the story from the main game missions. I think I played through about a third of the optional assignments.

A big gripe with this game was missions that used the Mako vehicle, which you used in a couple of parts in the main game missions, but used mostly in the optional assignments. I saw it mainly as a way to get from point A to point B quicker and as a place of refuge on planets where you couldn't hang out on the surface too long because you'd die from the atmosphere. It spawned a hatred I had not felt since the driving the Warthog vehicle in the Halo series.

If you're really into RPGs, I think you'll like all the ways in which you can customize your character and weapons. For me, I turned on auto-leveling and I was done with that mess. I just couldn't be bothered.

I haven't bothered to search the Internets for any gripes from other players around two plot elements:

• Rachni: Hmmmmmmmmmm, The Flood from the Halo series much?
• Reapers: Machines who want to turn organics into slaves? The Matrix? *sigh*

That being said, I'm more looking forward to the sequels to this game than say Assassin's Creed. *shudder*

Technorati Tags: Mass Effect