Three se7ens
Not sure why I feel compelled to post something today. I mean, it is cool that today is 07.07.07 and all, but does that mean I need to acknowledge that with a post?
This is a post, so I guess so, but how to acknowledge it exactly? I mean, I can’t just post this and be on my way, can I?
I suppose I could, but I did have one little idea. I thought, maybe since there are three sevens, I’d do three lists of seven. And, since it is Summer, maybe have one list be of things I have enjoyed so far, another of things I have not and finally, the third of things I am looking forward to over the rest of the Summer.
Yeah, that works and it gives me a chance to fill in some blanks since I haven’t posted much lately. Of course, it hasn’t been officially Summer for but three weeks, but we all know we started thinking it was way earlier than what the solstice tells us, right?
Anyway, here goes nothing:
Seven up
- Transformers
Yup, just saw it today and I’m leading off with it. Even if you are not a fan, of them or Michael Bay, it is just a good old fashioned Summer popcorn flick. Go see it. - Beckett and Matsuzaka
Seeing these two pitch on back-to-back nights was pretty cool. Amazingly enough, I have seen the front four and Gabbard while being able to miss Tavarez. Hopefully I’ll be seeing Lester in that spot soon. - Knocked Up
Yeah, another flick that was pretty damned good. This one straddles the line between romantic and crude comedy with skill. Also highly recommended. - Crackdown
Wow, what a fun game. A surprise hit that I never expected. Turns out to be the first game I scored all the achievements on, and at an elevated 1250 to boot. Hitting up the Halo 3 beta was also a boost in excitement for that to drop at the start of Autumn. - Working from home
Okay, except for when it is way too hot outside, which I have been able to miss so far by happening to be in the office those days, but it has been great to gain back at least six hours of time and fifty bucks each week by not driving North. - Beer with fruit
Yes, it is true. I like fruit in my beer. Whether it be a Corona with lime, a Harpoon UFO with lemon or even a Harpoon Raspberry UFO, there’s some extra refreshing about having one of those on a Summer day and I am glad those days are here! I think there’s something macho about admitting that… ha! - Thunderstorms
I don’t know, it is just one of those things I really like about Summer, as long as they aren’t ruining some outdoor occasion, etc. I suppose this is an every year truth, but with the Summer so short and my life so, well… crap, it is hard to come up with even seven things…
Seven down
- iPhone
Enough already! I get that it is the geekiest geek thing to own right now, but c’mon, it costs twice as much as it should and doesn’t even do any one thing well, except maybe be an iPod, but you figure they got that down pretty well by now. At least Sony can justify the PS3 price… I could rant a lot about this one, but maybe you don’t care and I don’t have the willingness to go into detail anyway. - Spider-Man 3
What could have been an incredible film on par with its predecessor, turned out to be a disappointing and hard to keep up with movie. Wouldn’t it be cool if Raimi could do his director’s cut that took out all the Venom stuff and simply teased him at the end? - Crackdone
I just hate that it is over… - Working in the office
I’m sorry, but now it sux when I have to put on the business casual attire and go into the office now. Nothing like coding in your boxers and t-shirt 30 seconds after getting out of bed! - Blogging
Yup, I haven’t really been up for it. I tried to get off on a good foot at the start of June, but fell off pretty quick despite having my *list* of entries to plow thru. Let’s see if I can make July better, but honestly, I’m not convinced… - Music
I haven’t found that Summer album yet. The new Beastie Boys all instrumental disc (The Mix-Up) is pretty cool, but it is no Ill Communication. I thought maybe The Sun and the Moon by The Bravery would be it/one, but while good, not so much with the can’t stop listening. They might be coming soon though. - Cameos by The Office cast
Yes, in order for me to rant on this it means I must admit I saw Evan Almighty and, to a lesser extent, License to Wed. The former was pretty horrible all around, but Wed wasn’t too bad. Anyway, I understand the connections in these two films (and Knocked Up), but c’mon! If you get more than one in a bit role in each, how is that really good for them? I guess I just think it is overkill.
Seven ahead
- The Simpsons Movie
Probably the best thing about seeing Evan Almighty was getting this trailer. It looks so over-the-top all-over-the-place to me and I can’t wait. - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon
I am almost positive this will be the Summer disc for me. I will see them when they come round in the Fall. If you have seen Stranger Than Fiction and dug on the soundtrack, then you dig on Spoon. Out this week! - Superbad
I’m pretty sure this will just dismiss the rom-com aspects of Knocked Up and just be all crude… - Our Love to Admire by Interpol
I don’t know about being a great Summer disc, but I’m looking forward to it. The first single is really good and their first two efforts are outstanding. Also out this week! - Transformers
I wasn’t even thru the first scene and I wanted to plan my next viewing. I don’t even know the last time I wanted to see something twice in the theater. - E3
Well, I’d almost put an upcoming full, non-Xbox Live Arcade title here, but they just aren’t coming this Summer. The well is getting pretty dry on stuff to play. That said, I can’t wait until they announce all the other new stuff that will also get delayed… - My Boys
Yes, a Summer season television program that I actually want to watch! If you didn’t catch this last year, it is a good take. I mostly like the dialog, but PJ is nice on the eyes too I suppose. You can check out last season on the TBS site on these here interwebs.
That’s about it. I could add taking some time off work and getting the doors off the Jeep to the last list, but those are obvious and I can’t point to when either will truly happen. I actually tried to pull those doors off today, but they are very stuck in the hinges right now and I was hurting my back trying to get them off. I think a rubber malletting will be in order…
Anyway, how about you share some lists of your own with me in the Comments?
This post has 6 comments (now closed):
Sean
Mon :: 09 :: Jul :: 2007 :: 08.44 pm
Hey, got those doors off for a couple hours yesterday! 🙂
Also, you don’t have to leave lists of seven too. Leave what you think of because I am interested!!!
Ed
Tue :: 17 :: Jul :: 2007 :: 04.30 pm
Sorry it took so long. I guess I’m still steamed that I missed out on my once-a-millenia goat sacrifice last year on 6/6/06 to give too much thought to 7/7/07. Anyway, here goes, in no particular order.
7 Up
1. ‘Transformers’ Action Scenes – Bay was hired to bring the spectacle and he does so on a grand scale. There’s a reason the military gives him such unbridled cooperation. He shoots their equipment like a p@rn flick. That opening attack in Qatar is just the appetizer for several rousing action scenes. (It’s not all good though – see my 7 Down).
2. Knocked Up – Funniest movie I have seen in a theater since There’s Something About Mary. Just seeing Seth Rogen headline a hit flick makes me happy. Unlike Sean’s 7 Down, I was happy to see The Office mates and other Apatow regulars make their cameos. Seeing the Freaks & Geeks crowd again made it feel like I was at a reunion, only the best kind, one that I never wanted to leave. The best way to describe this movie is it is like a rom com and a slob com hooked up and while the slob com wins out – it also learns something in the process.
3. Pennsylvania Trip – A great family vacation capped by my first visit to my sister’s digs in 14 YEARS!!!
4. E3 – This happened last week and while there wasn’t much in the way of megaton announcements, now that I have had time to digest it all, there is a lot of games coming THIS YEAR that I really don’t have time to play – in other words, we have a watershed on the way. Good times ahead. Top of my list is for the 360: Blue Dragon (August), Bioshock (August), Halo 3 (September) and Mass Effect (November). For the Wii, Metroid Prime Corruption (August), Super Mario Galaxy (November) and Super Smash Brothers (December).
5. XBLA Library – I didn’t assemble all of these this summer, but most have joined my Box since May. To date, I have the following on my hard drive – Aegis Wing, Alien Hominid, Doom, Hexic, Sonic the Hedgehog, Assault Heroes, Heavy Weapon, Dig-Dug, Pac-Man Championship Edition, Galaga, Prince of Persia, Cloning Clyde, Geometry Wars, Jetpac Refueled, Wik, TMNT, SmashTV, and Castlevania – Symphony of the Night.
6. Virtual Console Library – Same goes for the Wii. I now own the following (all stored digitally) – Super Mario Bros, SMB2, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, Paper Mario 64, Legend of Zelda, Adevnture of Link, Zelda – A Link to the Past, Zelda – The Ocarina of Time, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2, Starfox 64, Super Castlevania IV, Ristar (don’t ask) and Kirby’s Adventure (really don’t ask).
7. My Today Show Appearance – Al Roker is shorter than me. Anyone watching at 8:37 a.m. on Monday June 11th saw my mug smiling and waving.
7 Down
1. ‘Transformers’ Comedy – Simply put, LAME.
2. Spiderman 3 – This shocked me. With too much thrown into the pot, this still felt half-baked. This film and its excess ruined me for future blockbusters. I didn’t want to see Pirates 3 for fear of the same impact.
3. My Thirsty Lawn – The drought has taken its toll on my once lush lawn leaving it brown and tired. And in related news, when did I become that guy who worries about his lawn?
4. The Rachael Ray Dunkin Donuts Spots – Lovely to look at but man is that voice shrill. No wonder her hubby strays.
5. Stephen King’s Dark Tower – 2 years later I am nearing the end. What a boring slog to a tale that began with such promise so many years back. Joe – You might get this title back, yet.
6. Missing out on 2 Choice Sox Games and Sweet Seats – You’re reading Sean’s Blog so you know the 4-1-1.
7. Another Summer Removed from our World Famous Group Chatham Vacations – For those in the know, I’m sure you feel the pain. Here’s to the good ol’ days, man.
7 Ahead
1. Metroid Prime Corruption – Drops August 28th and should prove to be a nice bridge to Halo at the end of September. MPC dropped jaws at E3 so I am eagerly anticipating this – and the Wii specific controls. Early reports say that the control scheme bests the PC fave keyboard/mouse FPS controls so favored by frag fiends in terms of accuracy and tactile response.
2. The Simpsons Movie – Please do not let the headline read… Worst. Movie. Ever.
3. The inevitable Simpsons Arcade Game release on XBLA – With TMNT there, it’s a no brainer. If not, I’ll just play TMNT and imagine that Donatello’s sai is Marge’s vacuum.
4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Word on this is very good. I loved them all and the last two were especially good.
5. Superbad – Just that little scene where one dude tells the other he loves him and gives him a little ‘boop’ on the nose – Very Funny!!! Although, am I the only one who fears for Jonah Hill and his Chris Penn appearance? Go easy on the Krispy Kreme, dude.
6. Bioshock – Another E3 winner. This drops in August on 360.
7. Football Season – ’nuff said.
Ed
Fri :: 20 :: Jul :: 2007 :: 02.56 pm
@Sean:
I had nowhere else to post this so I figured this spot was as good as any.
You responded to the EA CSO’s comments –
“We’re boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play”. Is he kidding? They are easier to play because of the casual players. Try some old school XBLA games…
I don’t believe he is referring to game difficulty. I think he is actually talking about the very act of controlling or playing a game. And I think he is 100% correct. A XBOX 360 game cannot be played by a casual user without serious tutorial. Same goes for the PS3. The controls are too complex. Hell, I’ve been playing games since 1983 and I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around Madden and all of the various controls. What he is basically talking about is opening gaming up to the mainstream – basically parroting Nintendo’s example.
Mook is beside himself trying to figure out why the Wii continues to sell out and how they are outselling PS3 6 – 1. The reason is simple. The mass market actually bought into the concept. There are people buying consoles that wouldn’t normally want one. And the fact that they still sell out 8 months after release show it’s not just a Christmas fad.
Once upon a time, people liked playing games – the games just got too complex for the average user so the average user went away. The NES – to this day – is one of the top selling game systems – in large part due to the fact that it was easy to play. There’s a reason the word ‘Nintendo’ became the euphemism for ‘video game’ (the same way Kleenex is used to describe any type of ’tissue’).
It took Nintendo to figure out that they needed to recapture that lost audience.
To hardcore gamers like us, its easy to believe these games have gotten easier, but in truth, they are harder to play than they have ever been.
It’s also no accident that MS offered up Scene It with it’s unique one button controller at E3. They are trying to appeal to the casual crowd now.
I think the most irnoic thing here is that everyone thought it was more complex processing that would win this generation and more in more it’s looking like simplicity of design and ease of use may win the day. PS3 and 360 will do fine but the more I see those sales figures and some of the innovative software coming for the Wii the more I think they may lock up a healthy portion of this geneation.
Look at Wii Fit. I scoffed at it the first time I saw it but then I saw all the mainstream press declaring Nintendo the E3 winner and featuring Wii Fit. Wii Fit landed on the covers of the NY Times and USA Today.
That’s pretty significant.
That’s mainstream.
Sean
Sun :: 22 :: Jul :: 2007 :: 01.53 pm
Two blog posts within my comments!!! You should consider posting these on your blog and just linking back to the sources. 😉
But… to touch upon a few of your list items:
1.2: Agree with you on Freaks & Geeks because they aren’t on a currently running show and it has been over for a while, so not nearly as fresh as a together cast as the more mainstream Office-mates are today. I don’t like thinking “Oh, there’s Kevin and Angela and Kelly in Jim’s movie.”
1.4: Well, the 360 titles interest me since I don’t yet have a Wii (hee hee). I’ll comment more on that if you post on E3 as you suggested you might.
1.5: Playing Prince of Persia sure was a pleasant surprise for me. It was fun to kick it old school for a day.
2.1: At least not as lame as George Lucas comedy…
2.4: Her hubby strays?
2.6: Little did I know at your time of originally posting your comment that I’d also be the beneficiary of that 2nd game, even if it did come with a 2 hour rain delay, it was another D-Mat start, which his teammates screwed by not scoring runners on base!
2.7: Whenever the kids are old enough, I’m there. There will be a lot less loud music and dancing, but being with your friends is what counts.
3.3: Please oh please oh please!
Ed
Mon :: 23 :: Jul :: 2007 :: 11.25 am
@Sean –
2.4 She may not have a hubby anymore based on the stories that came out last year about him. Google it.
Ed
Mon :: 23 :: Jul :: 2007 :: 11.26 am
@Sean –
2.4 And in RR speak, I’ll add this. “Delicious plus Scandal. Is Scandalicious a word?”