Diablo 3 “dropped” yesterday, and I eventually got around to actually playing it. (I had a dentist appointment, so I stayed working late to make up the time and then a query was slow and I was all come ON I want to play Diablo 3 and just as I started stomping my feet and shaking my arms the query finished and I was all YES.)
A lot of folks are having problems with the fact that, even as a stand-alone game, D3 requires an online connection to Battle.Net as part of its DRM (many of the people grousing about this “always-on” Internet requirement are the same ones who are infuriated if their ISP loses bandwidth for five minutes) and the servers are not handling the massive influx of players well. Some folks can’t log in at all and some are getting booted once on, and I admit that sucks. I’m fortunate in that neither happened to me.
What did happen was this:
That there is my machine heating up to 75 degrees Celsius (167 Fahrenheit). That’s a lot of heat, in my book. The fans started up like helicopter rotors and were pushing out so much hot air you could dry your hair with my computer. I got a little nervous and quit playing for a bit to see if I was wrecking my Mackboop.
Nearest I can figure the answer is: not as such. Machines can actually take this kind of heat, provided the fans are doing their job and not crudded up with dust. I can vouch for the fact that a lot of heat was being expelled, so all seems okay. Still, I’ll be out this weekend buying one a them laptop cooling mats.
SO HOW IS THE GAME?
You gotta understand, I love me some Diablo 2. How much? This much: there is a major character in it named Deckard Cain and I still played it, that’s how much. (In D3 we meet his neice, Leah. I don’t know yet if she’s the daughter of Deckard’s sister, Ripley Cain, or his brother, Terminator Cain.) All I wanted from D3 was, honestly, more of the same, and it seems like that’s what I got. Clickin’ and killin’ and lootin’ and it’s all good to me!
In fact, a lot of it has been streamlined for maximum clickill efficiency. You no longer have mana, or at least my barbarian doesn’t. I have “fury” which I build up by killing stuff. That’s convenient because killing stuff is what I’m all about! With enough fury I can then power my special attacks to kill more stuff, which is the circle of life. So no mana potions for me, just healing ones. And occasionally monsters drop health, so I’ve barely even used any of those so far.
The skill system also seems more simplified but I haven’t really gotten into it yet. I’m sure the people who enjoyed finessing the skill trees in D2 are disappointed, but for me that’s not an issue. There’s also some item crafting, I think, but I’m not there yet.
My character is a female barbarian named JaneEyre. Here she is:
and here’s a close-up:
Here she is considering some magic pants:
So: so far, so good! I don’t have any experience with this kind of gaming on my notebook (a Dell Inspiron, Intel Core i5-2410M CPU @2.30 GHz, 4 MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M video card) so if you can offer any tips or can suggest a laptop cooling thinger, I’m opening comments up for them! Also, if you’re playing D3 as well, let me know what you think!
I first heard about the Toynbee Tiles a few years ago, and it was exactly what I love in this sort of story. A tangible thing: tiles places in busy streets; a cryptic purpose: the words “TOYNBEE IDEA IN MOVIE 2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER”; and an enduring mystery: despite these tiles being placed in populated areas for decades, no one had any idea who was doing it or even how. It was something I checked in on every now and then, but didn’t follow up on. Not long ago I heard that there was a documentary on the subject that was supposed to be the best analysis of the mystery and decided to check it out.
Normally I watch these things on my other monitor while I’m working and that’s how I started this one off. But, thirty minutes later, I stopped it because I was pretty sure Becky would want to see it too. I found it absolutely captivating.
It helps that the main person we focus on, Justin Duerr, in an intelligent and personable guy. He starts out going at the mystery like an explorer, hacking away at the leaves and tall grass to see what’s behind them, but it seems as though as they zero in on a suspect, the person behind the tiles becomes less abstract to him, and he wants to hear him out. The idea being proposed is bizarre, and there’s more than enough evidence that the person involved has some mental issues, but Justin can’t help but empathize with the tiler. How must it be, to think you have this great secret, but you can’t get it out, and so you go through an innovative and expansive method of spreading the word. And how must it be if all you want is to get this idea to the public, yet you’re terrified of facing them?
Things get bizarre. They get creepy. They get paranoid. There are twists along the way, but like all great mysteries, the pieces are all there, it just needed someone to put them all together. And although the ending leaves a little bit in the air, it’s quite satisfying.
Resurrect Dead is a great documentary that I highly recommend. Check it out!
My second attempt at college took me to Lafayette, Louisiana, which is about 2 hours away from New Orleans, and in the middle of Cajun Country. When you think of “cher” and alligators and swamps and such, this is the area you’re actually thinking of. In fact, some of the local TV ads there had two versions: one in English with French subtitles, and one the other way around.
At the time when I was there, 1987-1988, Lafayette was going through a bit of a depression. Like a lot of places in south Louisiana, it relied heavily on money from oil companies drilling in the Gulf. That money had dried up and the city was reeling. There were billboards around saying, “Tomorrow the sun is gonna shine on Lafayette!” and bumper stickers with “I believe in Lafayette” (which were parodied as “I be leavin’ Lafayette”). Few things are more depressing than forced optimism, so this didn’t help much.
That’s all beside the point. What’s important is that while I was there my musical horizons expanded dramatically. There were several reasons for this. First, I got a job there working as a DJ for the college radio station’s (KRVS) late-night alternative music show, “Out on the Fringe”. They had what was to me an extensive library of bands I’d never heard of, and I spent a lot of time trying many of them out. Second, I was doing my homework, reading British music magazines like Melody Maker and NME and getting things imported for me. Third, I met my friend Ben, who’d had a head start on me in listening to new stuff. (It also should be pointed out that, for the first time, I was out of my insular little community in New Orleans, which also helped expose me to some new things.)
A lot of this musical explosion is reflected on the sixth Cool New Music Tape, Paradise Misplaced, but it was too big to be contained. As a result, I finally got around to making a compilation I’ve been thinking about doing for a long time now.
DISK ONE:
Nerve (12″ Version) – Shriekback
Fire in the Rain – Agent Orange
Praying Mantis – Don Dixon
Happy All the Time – The Flatmates
Town To Town – Microdisney
Thrift Shoppin’ – Pianosaurus
Burning Out – World at a Glance
Our Summer – All About Eve
Little Mascara – The Replacements
In Your Eyes – The Reivers
The World Spins, I’m Part of it – China Crisis
You – The Cold
Power – Fields Of The Nephilim
We Care a Lot – Faith No More
Instant Club Hit (You’ll Dance to Anything) – Dead Milkmen
Rain – The Cult
Try – Zette
DISK TWO
Surfin’ USA – The Jesus and Mary Chain
Pack Your Bags – Dash Rip Rock
Chemical Way – Uncle Green
Make a Little Love – Alex Chilton
What’s My Scene – Hoodoo Gurus
Norwegian Wood – Electric Love Muffin
Da Da Da I Don’t Love You You Don’t Love Me Aha Aha Aha – Trio
Beaver Patrol – Pop Will Eat Itself
Big Brother Muscle – Screaming Blue Messiahs
Cry Baby Cry – Throwing Muses
Drill – Wire
Amplifier – The dB’s
A Selection – Fishbone
We’re the Replacements – They Might Be Giants
Earn Enough For Us – XTC
Love Dog – Norman Nardini
Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead – Depeche Mode
Waiting For The Flood – Love And Rockets
Thirty five songs from this formative year. There isn’t much to say about many of them, as they were just things I found in the radio station or that were on British compilation albums I got. Many of them were on a tape I threw single songs on to listen to in the car (which is why we start off with that Shriekback song; it was the first song on that tape.) But there are a few I’d like to talk about.
Fire in the Rain – Agent Orange
Praying Mantis – Don Dixon
Drill – Wire
These were on a compilation album Ben had for Enigma records called The Enigma Variations 2. I don’t remember any of the other songs on it, but these three got played a LOT.
Thrift Shoppin’ – Pianosaurus
I’ve noticed that some folks hear this band and can tell something’s a little off about it, but can’t figure out what. They’re playing only on toy instruments.
Little Mascara – The Replacements
Make a Little Love – Alex Chilton
We’re the Replacements – They Might Be Giants
Ben got me into The Replacements, and The Replacements got me into Alex Chilton. As a result, when I got the “Don’t Let’s Start” single by TMBG, this song was more popular with me than the title track.
You – The Cold
This was a New Orleans band that was huge there in the early 80s. At the time I wasn’t much into music at all, so I completely missed out on them. However, one day I found an album of theirs at the radio station, 16 Songs Off a Dead Band’s Chest. Knowing of them, I took it home and listened to it, and when I heard this song (and “Mesmerized”) I had wave after wave of fauxstalgia wash over me. I never saw this band live, and couldn’t have heard these songs more than once or twice before (if at all) but they hit me as though I had deep, personal memories of them. I couldn’t explain it.
Power – Fields Of The Nephilim
A joke at the time was that I had become a “big ol’ goth” and I have no idea what started it. It wasn’t remotely true. Nevertheless, buying this album (which didn’t get a lot of play, but I liked this track) didn’t help matters.
Rain – The Cult
Within the listening range of KRVS was the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola (unless I’m wrong and it was a different prison. Looking at the map it seems doubtful that the signal reached all the way out to there). The prisoners listened to The Fringe show and would get a guard to call in a request, which was always the same request: this song.
Try – Zette
Ben had this single by an artist I can’t tell you much about, and we both really dig this song. It’s actually the B-side; the A-side was a cover of Chic’s “Le Freak”.
Pack Your Bags – Dash Rip Rock
Another local Louisiana band, I first saw them play in Lafayette and then caught them several more times in Baton Rouge.
Chemical Way – Uncle Green
Ben helped me out with the show, and we had a policy that anything which came into the station on clear vinyl (yes, this was before CDs were prevalent) got played. Uncle Green sent us a copy of their album which was clear green, and that’s how I discovered this band.
Norwegian Wood – Electric Love Muffin
A fantastic cover of a classic song.
Beaver Patrol – Pop Will Eat Itself
Making a compilation about what I was listening to at this time means facing the reality that I was listening to this.
Amplifier – The dB’s
Ben and I (and Merlin) went and saw The dBs play at Tipitina’s and we met two nice young ladies there. Merlin was kind of being an ass and nothing happened. The next morning Ben and I were leaving my parents’ house and commenting how we wished we’d chatted the girls up more and suddenly I looked out the window and said, “And there they are.” They were staying only a few streets away and were standing out in the driveway. We stopped and chatted with them more and possibly even got phone numbers. Nothing still happened.
Love Dog – Norman Nardini
This was a delightful track we played all the time because it was so bad it was amazing. We knew that nobody liked it as much as we did, but every time we played it we claimed it was by request. This is actually not the version we played; I have never been able to find an mp3 of that one, which featured barking dogs in it.
Sometimes I Wish I Was Dead – Depeche Mode
An oddball Depeche Mode song that was on a compilation album I bought called, I think, Revenge of the Killer Bs, featuring obscure B-sides. I bought it just for this song, which was not at all what I was expecting based on the title (I was thinking Black Celebration, it’s actually Speak and Spell).
Waiting For The Flood – Love And Rockets
While I was in Lafayette I made repeated attempts at a “quiet” mix tape, with varying degrees of success. This song made it on to many incarnations of that mix.
So there you go. Lafayette, despite the friends I had there, ended up being a minor detour in my personal journey, but musically it had a huge influence on me. Many thanks to Dave at KRVS and Ben for helping that happen.
Incidentally, the house on the front cover is where I lived in my second semester in Lafayette. The back cover is the cypress swamp outside the student union at the college there.
Remember the other day when I had that eye doctor appointment? The reason for that was some recent headaches — non-migraine ones — brought about most probably by eyestrain*.
I hadn’t been to an eye doctor since 2006, and I’m on the other side of 40 now, so it was definitely time to go see what the deal was.
The good news was that my eyes aren’t in that bad shape. I can use some help in long distance and a little more for close-up, but all in all, I’m doing fine. The bad news is — well, there isn’t really any bad news. My eyes just aren’t that bad.
The eye doctor said I might consider going with bifocals, but I didn’t really need them at the moment. Still, I figured I was probably headed in that direction anyway, so I may as well start getting used to them now, rather than waiting until I had to.
My new glasses arrived Friday, and here they are:
I know the thick black frames are very hipsterish (also very much like my dad’s old glasses), but I wanted something that made my beady little eyes appear bigger, and the other option was the thin wire frames which I’ve had issues with in the past.
So far they’re taking some getting used to. Mostly I’m just having trouble remembering to wear them and not to take them off when I’m doing up-close stuff, as I did with my old glasses (which I eventually just stopped wearing altogether.) However, if it’s any indication that I’m getting used to them, last night I had a dream in which I was wearing them and the lenses kept falling out!
I’ve only had them a couple days now so I can’t report back on how well they’re helping out. I do know that wearing them last night while playing Fire and Axe did not help my Vikings sack Rome, so for now I’m hanging on to the receipt.
I know that Obama has an appalling civil rights record. I know that his expansion of many of Bush’s Cheney’s more horrific policies should disgust everyone who supports true progressive government. I know that, despite the morons bleating about socialism and food stamps he has a firm record of being one of the best friends Wall Street ever had. I am one of the people who wants Obama the President to act like Obama the candidate and not turn his back on the things he supposedly believes in. Part of that is screaming about the things he does wrong, and I’ve done some screaming. But part of that is praising him when he does right, and yesterday he did right.
It is about goddamn time that a politician — no less than a Presidential candidate — stood up and said that gay Americans should have the exact same rights as all other Americans. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal, since the majority of Americans are for it, the polls tell us, but naturally the Intolerant Right are up in arms about it.
There’s been a big rush to pooh-pooh this announcement, not only by the usual idiots on the Right but by folks on the Left, and I get it. Obama has been a huge disappointment to people who want something other than a moderate conservative in the White House. But if this statement is to be dismissed, if something like this is worthless because of all the rest of the baggage, then I don’t know what you’re waiting for, because you’re not going to get it. This is how these moments come, and as disappointed as I am in Obama, and as hard as I’d support someone more in line with my beliefs, I’m not going to stamp my foot and hold my breath until Candidate Charming arrives to sweep me off my feet.
I don’t care what his reasons might be behind it. I just know it needed to be said, and I’m glad he said it. I want this issue to be front and center. I want it to be established that to be a Democrat, you have to embrace civil rights for everyone. I want to make Democrats who are uncomfortable about this statement to be made uncomfortable and to hopefully figure out why they feel that way. I want Republicans to say, straight up, “we want discrimination”. I want them to have to own and display this ugliness.
I don’t have any illusions about where Obama will go from here. If he gets re-elected, I don’t expect him to stand up and say, “You know what, America’s getting the single-payer health care system it should have had long ago and anyone who doesn’t like it, I got something big and black you can take a swing on.” I don’t expect he’ll stop sending missiles into Yemen or setting up CIA torture rooms, or spying on citizens or assassinating one every now and then.
His simple statement yesterday, “I think same-sex couples should be able to get married” will have far-reaching consequences. And I for one am glad — and proud — he said it.
Since I posted about that video I’ve been busy. I put out the call, telling everyone I was looking to identify an early 80s music video featuring a guy in an apocalyptic setting
some dudes with, like, stepladders on their backs or something
and a woman holding a letter Y
and a lot of folks scratched their noggins and did some searching and made some suggestions as to what it might be, but nothing was panning out. I reached out on Twitter to Ellen DeGeneres, Roger Ebert, and the High Priestess of MTV herself, Martha Quinn (none returned my calls).
I emailed Stephen Pitalo at The Golden Age of Music Video who is a music video historian. He couldn’t think of anything that matched my description, but was able to confirm that there was no video for “Waiting for a Girl Like You” other than performance videos.
This evening I was just bouncing around YouTube, hoping desperately to see something that would jog my memory. I was in the process of downloading a 6-hour block of MTV programming — commercials and all — from a random Friday evening in 1982 in the hopes that what I was looking for might be in it.
With nothing but dead ends, I tried a different tactic. I looked for the Billboard Top 100 songs of 1981 and scanned them to see if anything jumped out at me. And sure enough, something did.
Barely even making it onto the list at number 96 was “Really Wanna Know You” by Gary Wright. And that title looked familiar. I searched it on YouTube and as soon as I heard the music I started to feel even more on the track. Then I jumped to the middle of the video and I knew right away I’d found it. (I literally yelled downstairs, “FOUND IT!”)
Here’s the mystery video, the white whale, the Kwitzatz Haderach. “Really Wanna Know You” by Gary Wright.
Who is Gary Wright? He’s pretty much a two-hit wonder, and this ain’t one of the hits. The hits are “Dream Weaver” and “Love is Alive”* from 1976.
The guy here with the impressive CV is Brian Grant, who directed this video. Look at all the great stuff he did! “Black Coffee in Bed”, “Shock the Monkey”, “Don’t Cry”, “Kids in America”! Plus a bunch of Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, and he was pretty much T’Pau’s go-to director!
So it’s pretty much just as I remember. It’s clear to see why I thought it might be that Foreigner song; they’re very similar. I don’t know why I found this so spooky, though. Probably just the general level of weirdness and the enigmatic “Y”. It’s no “Icehouse”, though.
I cannot adequately describe what a relief it is to FINALLY get to the bottom of this. This has tormented me for years. Thanks to everyone who helped out, and I’m sorry for transferring my obsession to others, but glad it got resolved so soon.
