Amnesia

So I finally caved under pressure and bought a Nintendo Wii. I have been having a lot of fun with the console, so much so, that I’ve been taking time away from my computer gaming at night once the kids are in bed.

If you are in the market, let me make a few things perfectly clear. The guys at Best Buy will try to sell you the following things:

1.) One Nintendo Wii console

2.) One Wii Play (which comes with an extra controller)

3.) One Wii Controller recharging station

4.) An extra Wii Nun chuck.

5.) The extra 2 year warranty

 6.) Various other assorted accessories.

Obviously you need #1.

The Wii Play is not as good as they promote it. “Oh, it’s got like, 8 extra games and it comes with a controller for just 20.00 more, instead of paying the 30.00!”

First of all most of the turn based games, you can share on one controller. Don’t spend the extra 50.00 on Wii Play. It’s not worth the controller. The only fun game in the entire thing is the shooting game. The cow racing game is highly amusing although it gets boring rather quickly.

Unless you are going to spring for Excite Truck or Mario Party 8 while you’re there, don’t even bother with the second controller until you’re ready. The Wii controller recharging station was a waste of money and I decided to bring it back. From what the sales guy said, I thought I’d be running out of batteries every day. We’ve had the Wii for over a month now, and haven’t changed the batteries once yet. Save the 30.00 bucks and just buy yourself batteries. It takes up less space, and probably less electricity!

I bought the 2 year product replacement plan, because I do have young kids. Instead of the 1 year manufacturer’s warranty that automatically comes with the console, Best Buy offers the 2 year warranty that runs concurrently. The significant benefit being that should the Wii break, I walk across the street and they hand me a new one. This includes the controller that comes with the console as well.

So seriously, if you’ve got a limited budget, but want to surprise the loved ones for an upcoming holiday; just get the console. It comes with Wii Sports, and a controller. If you can afford an extra 50.00, spend the money on Mario Party 8. Once you get the extra funds to afford another controller & nun chuck, it’ll be a much better option for you than Wii Play.

Avoid Wii Carnival at all costs unless you have smaller children. If you’re an adult, you’ll find the entire game tedious and boring.

If you’re an adult, Zelda Twilight Princess is teh bomb. I’ve never had to be that coordinated in my life, but I’m managing quite nicely. It’s a lot of fun to actually have to swing your hands for the sword or lock onto and select targets for the boomerang. I will tell you, if you’re not used to two handed play, either on a video game console or via your computer usage, there will be a little bit of a learning curve.

So in a nutshell, the Wii has been fun. The new Metroid will probably be my next purchase, a long with another game that the kids and I can all play.

A week later than I wanted to, I was finally able to make it to the artsy theatre two towns away to see ‘In the Shadow of the Moon’. Desperately in need of upgrades, it was the only location in the greater Hartford area that is showing the movie. The seats are torn and stained, the screen has seen better days and I don’t know what to make of the amazing mass of bacteria that call the floor their home.

At $10.00 a ticket, which is more than the local up-to-date cineplex just down the road, I was disappointed as I took my extremely worn place in the middle of the theater. Yet, when the lights went down, I could have been viewing this flick from the seventh level of hell and wouldn’t have cared.

I don’t think there has been a movie in which my jaw has remained plastered to the ground for the duration. This documentary was probably the best I’ve seen on any subject, period. You would think that showing video footage from the 1960’s would be a liability in these days of CGI and other special effects, but it was this original NASA footage that moved me more than any movie I have ever seen.

I can’t explain to you, the emotions that ran through my body as Apollo 11 lifted from the ground. From someone who would make her appearance on this heavenly body almost 8 years later, this film made it feel like I was transported back into a time where people actually cared about the space program. Through conception of the plan during the cold war with Russia, to the anticipated launch of the three astronauts; Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin, you can’t help but sit and stare at the screen with amazement.

In one scene taken purely from the NASA archives, the engines roar to life and liftoff is declared. Yet somehow, even almost 40 years later, the still cameras at the launch pad give you an amazing look into the beauty and sheer power of the spacecraft. Amidst the clouds of smoke, there is a swirling dance of fire and ice that your mind registers as impossible and yet completely enthralling. It’s the stuff made out of fantasy and science fiction novels and it takes a moment to register as ‘real’ in the back of your head.

It was truly a time when this nation, check that; when this world rallied behind this powerful symbol of bold moves and exploration of a completely alien world. It’s a shame that even after the 9 missions to the moon, that we have not had the courage (or budget) to return and continue to traverse the mineral rich lunar soil which still hold Neil Armstrong’s first steps.

If you can drag yourself to the movie theater to see one film this year, make it this one. I feel its power will be lost if you wait for DVD. Likewise, I hope this film is released to the better theaters in the future, including IMAX. If that happens, I will be in line to see it again, in all its proper glory.

This documentary has the right stuff to re-ignite our passion for a program that is not only a modern marvel full of rich history, but a necessity for the human race to survive in the turbulent times to come. I just pray this amazing piece of celluloid is not lost in the tide of Hollywood blockbusters, because frankly, its better than most everything you’ll see this year.

Here is a list of show times in your area.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLjj3FcTElo]

I baked a pie! it’s the first apple pie of the season, and there are only more where that came from. Pretty soon, I’ll be making pumpkin and strawberry rhubarb. Looks soo good doesn’t it? Mmmmm. You know you want it.

I was trying to come up with something clever regarding this video that you’re about to see, but I just couldn’t. I don’t know when David Guetta released this particular song, but it has to be in the very beginning of his career. If all I have to do is put together a looping track with my voice shouting out names of various things, I’m going to be rich.

Enjoy and watch out for your food.

It’s atomic.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsQo1-D_vEw]

So I was shopping today and I saw the music making program, Sony Acid. I figured I’d try it and as I sit here and look down at the computer clock and wonder where all the time has gone, I find it’s strangely addicting.

Here’s my freshman effort. I just wanted to see what the recording sounded like and how easy it was to lay over the tracks, and well, suffice to say, it’s easy. I used the crappy mic, so forgive the background noise.

I will polish up, but enjoy and let me know what you think! As for me, it’s 1 a.m. and I’m using a lot of commas, so I’m going to go to bed.

Sweet dreams out there in Katetopia.

The Alchemist - Thomas Netherward

The Free Companies live by one code; Honor Before Profit. Today, Chairman Thomas Netherward must judge and seal the fate of one who valued the latter over the first.

“Alchemist - Thomas Preview”
Story by Peter Hodges
Dramatic Reading by Kate Baker
Music: “Am I Not Merciful” by Hans Zimmer

…and I’m DFMWMMS’ing. (Don’t f’in mess with me menstrual syndrome.)

So here’s a video. Don’t tell me I don’t ever give you anything.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhLvLuKBsY8]

Yeah, it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.

Oh, and here are two great tastes that no one would have put together.

Leave it to MTV. I give you “Smack my Enya Up.” (Prodigy & Enya)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CTJqwX-AwM]

You can tell it’s Autumn in New England when there are an abundance of mums and dried corn stalks waiting for homes on roadside stands, the colors of the leaves are slowly changing, and the apple picking season is here. We went to Johnny Appleseed’s today, and had a ton of fun! First we picked out pumpkins and then grabbed some nice ripe apples off the trees.

Unfortunately, it looks like the little girl on the right of the picture above had gotten to my camera before I did, and smudged the lense, therefore a lot of the sunlight pics are abit muddled. Oh well, they still came out decent.

Enjoy the pics behind the cut.

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…how big of a geek I was in middle school. (It’s nice to know that some things never change.)  One of my favorite shows at that time was Twin Peaks. I was absolutely in love with Agent Dale Cooper. I even bought the book Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes.

In some weird twist of fate today, one of my children removed it from the bookcase and the cover caught the attention of my father. As he started thumbing through it, an article on the TV show fell out.

As I saw him thumbing through the pages, he started chuckling.

I looked over, now very curious.

“Are you reading that?” I asked with a sarcastic tone.

“Nah. I picked it up to put it away, when this article fell out.” He replied still chuckling.

“Why are you laughing then?”

“Well, who is Kyle M., and why do you love him?” He queried, looking up over the top of his bi-focles.

I don’t know why, but I could feel the heat rising in my face as I started to blush. “Oh, God. Did I doodle?”

“Not too much, just a few ‘I heart Kyles’ on the side of the article.”

I facepalmed.

Just to prove I’m not kidding…

No, while girls my age where drooling over the New Kids on the Block, and Neil Patrick Harris, I was going after the older FBI Agent.

It’s nice to know I held standards even back then.

This is my wonderfully friendly and sweet kitty cat named Chloe. (I told you before that I loved alliteration.)

Yes, thats my lovely foot.