Super Mario Galaxy

I bought Super Mario Galaxy on Friday and I must say, this game is fun! I am Nintendo’s target demographic for the Wii. I am a casual gamer in every sense of the word. While I appreciate complex games like Metroid Prime 3, Halo, Zelda (Ocarina of Time is the only game I’ve ever actually completed in my life), I have a short attention span with games. I usually play for 15-30 minutes then take a break and do something else. This is what makes Super Mario Galaxy so great for me. I play a galaxy, which on average I would say takes 15 minutes for each galaxy, some even less, especially if there is a time limit, then I take a break, or maybe I’ll play another galaxy. I wish all games were like this. I would really like to finish the newest Zelda, but I’ve not played it in so long that I would have no idea where I left off and it’s a game that, while you can save and stop playing at any moment, unless you’re really paying attention to your surroundings, you can forget what you are doing and where you should be going. And I do. I don’t have to worry about that with SMG.

As for the controls, they took some getting used to, that’s for sure, but I have the hang of them now and I can usually walk around, even upside down, without any problems in direction. The graphics are pretty sweet too. It’s the Wii and it’s Mario, so it’s not like I was expecting PS3 or Xbox 360 graphics. The scenery is awesome, the galaxies are creative (the Rolling Greens galaxy where you have to balance on a ball and roll into a giant golf cup was fun and short). Overall, this is probably one of the games I’ve enjoyed playing the most, on any system.

St. Louis History: Disney World St. Louis

KSDK in St. Louis has been running specials during their news giving little known facts about St. Louis history. I think it’s a great thing they are doing because it’s important for people to know about where they live and a little history never hurt anyone. Plus it’s something positive and not the same old negative story you see on every other news broadcast. I’m going to start posting the ones I find most interesting since I am a history fan and I love the city of St. Louis. Today’s article is about St. Louis being the original site for Disney World (now located in Florida).

In 1964, downtown St. Louis was being courted as a possible location for, believe it or not, Walt Disney World.

“Disney was going to plan this sort of historical thing, it had rides, it had places dedicated to the mississippi river, places that were designed to give you an experience like Lewis and Clark and this was on a grand scale, this was no small plan,” said Dr. Archibald.

Legend has it that Disney abandoned the St. Louis plan over a disagreement with August Busch II over sale of alcohol.

While the fact that Disney planned for an alcohol free environment at his park, Dr. Archibald believes that the reasons the plans never went through were far less sinister.

“The truth seems to be that, financially the project wasn’t feasible, that disney got additional property in Florida at a very, very low price for the development of Epcot and the development of Disney World,” said Dr. Archibald. Source

, ,

Just sit right back and hear a tale

Do you ever sit back and laugh (and cry) at some of the dumb antics the Bush Administration engages in? Does it seem too crazy to be true, like you’re almost watching a TV show? Well, Peter Norvig asks, what if the Bush Administration was a remake of Gilligan’s Island? This is what he came up with:

Plot Synopses for Episodes of a Gilligan’s Island Remake Starring Members of the Bush Administration.

BY PETER NORVIG

– – – –

Gilligan invades a neighboring island of cannibals. He mistakenly believes that Mary Ann and Ginger would be a sufficient force to secure the island, and Skipper erroneously claims they would be welcome as liberators.

A hurricane hits the island. Gilligan does nothing to help, but tells Mrs. Howell, “Lovey, you’re doing a heck of a job.”

Skipper goes hunting for fowl on the island and accidentally shoots Mr. Howell in the face, then waits a day before telling Gilligan.

The professor’s experiments conclusively show that climate change is causing the island to sink into the sea. Gilligan erases his papers and tries to stop him from talking, thinking that will make the problem go away.

,

And the Truth Shall Set You Free

Well, it would have. But you lied. So it won’t. I’m of course talking about Barry Bonds, who has just been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for perjury and obstruction of justice. There was a great article in the Post-Dispatch this morning that I’d like to share with you all. It sums up Barry Bonds and this situation quite well.

Let the rationalizing begin.

Barry Bonds’ day of reckoning drew much closer Thursday. Actually, it arrived.

The question of whose lineup will include the free-agent left fielder next season has become secondary to which judge will find Bonds on his or her docket.

At the end of a four-year investigation into rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs by elite athletes, the feds hit the game’s all-time home run king* Thursday with four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice because of lies he allegedly told a federal grand jury. Major League Baseball knew this train was coming but until now remained unsure when it would reach the station.

A marvelously gifted talent who has tarnished his career by showing contempt for teammates, media, the game’s integrity and the truth now stands formally accused.

Thursday’s federal indictment will cause Bonds’ supporters to trot out well-worn excuses, mail-order legal degrees and a race-based defense of a man who has never embraced anything other than himself.

Read more

,

Charter Really Sucks

I’m really fed up with Charter Communications. I’ve heard the horror stories of Comcast and even my experiences with Mediacom haven’t been that great, but Charter really gets under my skin. The past few days my 5mbit internet connection has been going really really slow. Painfully slow. I’ve run several speed tests on several different computers (a Windows Vista box, an Ubuntu box and my MacBook) and each time the speed registers at less than 1mbit. So, I’m paying over $40 per month for service that is only delivering less than 20% of what I’m supposed to be receiving? (Not to mention the fact that I’ve never gotten my whole 5mbit connection and most times it’s as if i pay for 5mbit but they only deliver 3). That doesn’t sound to fair to me. I’ve checked all the cable connections in the house to see if there might be a loose cable somewhere and haven’t found anything. So what do I do? If it doesn’t clear up on it’s own over the next couple days I will have to call and deal with an hour of a recorded voice telling me to power-cycle my modem, restart my computer, disconnect my router, stuff I’ve already done, then I’ll have to deal with the technician who will have me do the exact same things the recorded voice told me to do before they finally accept that it’s their problem and schedule an appointment to come look at it. Of course, I won’t be expecting to see an actual technician for at least 3 weeks after I set up the appointment, because that’s how Charter operates. It’s no surprise they’ve gotten a failing grade and thousands of complaints from the Better Business Bureau. So, you may be asking, why don’t I switch? The answer is simple; the Sherman Anti-Trust Act apparently doesn’t protect my city from giving a monopoly to Charter. There are no other cable companies or internet service providers (unless I want dial-up). The only high-speed net access is through Charter. I can’t wait for the day that AT&T comes into St. Peters and starts offering video and internet services. That will be a great day in the lives of many Charter Communications customers.