Seperated at Birth?

Top: Christopher Plummer. Bottom: John Stewart. Phooeyhoo.com reports, you decide!

Paris Hilton's Cell Phone Hacked!

And this web log has hit a new low ...

In case you haven't heard, the T-Mobile network was hacked and, probably amongst other goodies, the hackers gained access to Paris Hilton's Blackberry. Along with the quotidian photos and "to-do" lists were also 500 celebrity phone numbers (On a side note: Ashley, I never realized that you knew, Paris! Okay, bad joke. Please don't kill me) which found their ways to various web sites resulting in 500 not too happy celebrities fighting off calls from annoying fans. Everyone from Avril to Eminem have been hit.

Does that mean Paris will finally pull those annoying T-Mobile commercials?

Okay, so that was the worst post ever. But I shall make amends when Chlamydia returns!

Google Eats Mapquest

Google has started betaing their Google Maps. At least the Google-dominated future will be surrounded in a pretty white background with soft shadow effects!

Time is Mine Once Again

Knights of the Old Republic II was released for PC last week and its been eating my time ever since. So I did what every sensible person with tons of work would do. I used my day off for an all-day marathon to beat it and have its time sucking powers forever off my back ... at least until the new Elder Scrolls game comes out.

How did this one fare against KOTR I, my favorite RPG since Planescape Torment and Ultima? Honestly, not too badly. We're getting tired of the "I don't know who the fuck my character is" KOTR spin — but this one did it about as good as the first one. (Attention Lucas Arts and the makers of KOTR III: you are not allowed to do this for KOTR III. Get a new angle.)

In this one, you're guided by a mysterious old lady named Kreia who (surprise!) knows more about you and your universe than you do. Although no Jolee, she does make more than enough pointed comments to keep the action going. She's probably the only NPC of all time to wonder why so many people give up their lives to join you on your quest. The other NPCs range from a Carth clone who is equally as annoying and not one, not two, but three hotties that decide to follow you around. Choose from arctic hottie, blind hottie, or rogue hottie. The best part about NPC interaction in this game is that you can influence your NPCs by what you do. Hence, the banal arctic hottie becomes quite hilarious should you try to tempt her toward the dark side.

Unfortunately, the designers decided to put in a bunch of annoying little things. Most of the bugs from KOTR I are still there. Sometimes, running around a rock can be harder than fighting off dark jedi. There's one especially annoying part in the middle of the game where you lose control of your main character. Yes, I realize that putting you in the shoes of your NPCs is the standard way to move storylines but this example is ridiculous. You're given control of a character that you've never played before. She's a rogue so has no strength. And you're forced to use her to fight off a bellicose wookie which basically involves running around the room, shooting at him, and running around some more ... for about 20 minutes. If that weren't enough to drive the pontiff nuts, you're then to sneak around the compound to free your main character. This either involves fighting your way through (instant death) or using the stealth generator, which is almost as bad because it's death by boredom. Your character moves at a snail's pace when cloaked. Argh. Well, at leat they got rid of the required turret battles after going to any planet.

For some reason this game seems to move at a much quicker clip than KOTR I and there's not a whole lot of time to catch your breath and just upgrade your weapons. And this is a shame, because they've really vamped up the weapons upgrade system. But it always seems like it's carting you off to one place or another. Conveniently, the story ends off at an unresolved place for your main character (thankfully, they do let you know what happens to all of your hapless followers) perfectly setting up KOTR III, if they plan to do that.

Final Verdict: B+/A-. Would have gotten a solid A- if it weren't for all of the annoying stuff that should have been fixed after KOTR I. Still, it's a nice way to pass by 30 hours of your life. KOTR I fans and RPG fans should definitely check it out.

Argh!

I'm late on posting this as the wheels began rolling about two months ago. But during my mid-week drinking binge last night, my blood started boiling all over again so I thought I would mention it now to those of you who don't know. That is, all of you non-Oregonians not in the loop.

My buddies in Oregon wrote for a publication called the Oregon Commentator, a so-called "conservative" journal of thought. Hilariously, by Eugene standards I'm pretty damn conservative. (Take that, Cara!) Anyway, through a series of events that involved joking over a dumbass named Toby Hill-Meyer (who insists on people using "gender-neutral" pronouns), they've been denied funding by the undergraduate financing council. Hence, another example of leftist campus politics gone totally inane. Evidently, once again, the first amendment doesn't apply to anyone who pisses off people in power. In this case, to a bunch of loony leftist undergraduates.

Anyway, you can read more about this sorry issue in the Commentator's Web Log. Scroll down to about February 1st for the fireworks. This post should give you a good idea of what's going on. My good friend Dan is in the middle of this and his gems can be found here, here, and here.