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            September ‘04

Okay, I really want you guys to e-mail me your top 5-10 lists so I can 1) post them and 2) jumpstart my interests and see what you guys are into at the moment. They can be top 5-10 of just about anything. I’ll start with a few. “All-time” means that the top 5 or 10 is unlikely to change. These are, in my opinion, the top 5 or 10 artists, games, etc. of “all-time”. “Currently” means that this lineup could change, but at the moment, if asked, this would be my top 5 or 10.

My Top 5 Favorite Bands/Artists (all-time):

1)     U2 (the most varied band, IMO, from “Achtung Baby” to “Zooropa”)

2)     Led Zeppelin (staple of many top artist lists)

3)     Jimi Hendrix (*clamps down stapler*)

4)     Dick Dale

5)     Ted Nugent

My Top 10 Favorite Songs (currently):

1)     New Year’s Day (unedited War version) – U2

2)     Vertigo – U2

3)     Nimrod’s Son – Pixies

4)     Remote Control – The Clash

5)     Acrobat – U2

6)     Achilles Last Stand – Led Zeppelin

7)     Where Is My Mind? - Pixies

8)     Angel – Massive Attack

9)     Cities On Flame With Rock And Roll - Blue Öyster Cult

10) Just What The Doctor Ordered – Ted Nugent

My Top 10 Favorite Games (all-time):

1)     Ninja Gaiden (NES) ◄ The best game ever made

2)     Ninja Gaiden (Xbox)

3)     Ninja Gaiden II (NES)

4)     Fallout 2 (PC)

5)     Silent Hill 2 (Xbox)

6)     The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

7)     Mega Man III (NES)

8)     Contra Spirits (SNES)

9)     Super Bomberman (SNES)

10) Chrono Trigger (SNES)

Honorable mention: Akumajo Dracula (SNES), Demon’s Crest (SNES), Dracula X: Rondo of Blood (PC Engine), Fallout (PC), Mega Man X3 (SNES), Quake (PC), Sim City 2000 (PC), Street Fighter II (Numerous editions and platforms), Street Fighter Zero 2 (Arcade), Super Mario 64 (N64), Super Metroid (SNES), Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (Xbox)

I used to absolutely hate driving because of the other people on the road, but over the past couple of years I’ve become indifferent toward other drivers and driving itself. Mostly because 90% of my driving is on the same Interstate and loop. I know the physical makeup of these two roads like the back of my hand, don’t need to read any of the signs, and mostly just tune out from the driving experience.

Yesterday evening was a test in patience though when there were people all over the road heading south. I was really annoyed with these people because they didn’t know how to drive I35 and 1604 at all. I’m not kidding you when I say that one guy was straddling two lanes UNABLE TO DECIDE WHERE HE WANTED TO BE. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PERSON DOING? Learning to drive in the middle of this night?!

People were speed weaving between cars constantly because 80-90 mph wasn’t fast enough for them and daddy’s $uper leet 2 furious poser mobile XL. Though I myself don’t speed, these people couldn’t even put up with the people that normally speed around 80-90 mph. Then, at one point, the idiot in front of me decided to slow down to 45 when a cop car had its siren on GOING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION AS US. Then he proceeds to keep up this behavior for the next couple of miles, AFTER the cop has passed. Meanwhile, I can’t move over because there are so many people whizzing by at a reasonable speed and leaving me no opening to get past said idiot.

People that don’t know how to drive these roads should not be allowed on them. We should all be stopped at checkpoints and pay for or show a card of proof that we know how to competently drive these roads. I would gladly put up with such a nuisance if it meant the drivers around me weren’t complete morons.

Don’t even get me started on the driving skills of the freshmen on campus. “Let’s play ‘go in reverse blind and gamble that we don’t hit the person behind us and hope they get out of the way in time’!” MORONS.

I watched people playing The Sims 2 a lot this last weekend, but a certain little something didn’t click in my mind until I actually played it. The game is a lot like The Sims for Xbox (as well as other console versions that exist). After thinking it over, The Sims for Xbox is really a sort of The Sims 1.5.

In the console edition, everything is in 3D, and the rotating and zooming is similar to the latest PC edition. The goals in campaign mode that you have to achieve are somewhat similar to the idea of aspirations in TS2. The campaign mode lets you live out the life of your sim, but unlike TS2, they don’t age. Actually, it would’ve been cool if TS2 had a campaign mode like TS on Xbox. I don’t remember if it had lot selection and landscaping options (it’s been a while since I’ve played it), but I do know that houses can’t be as big as TS2.

These are just a few of the similarities. The game really does have a feel of being a hybrid of TS (PC) and TS2. Do I recommend it? Well, the controls take a lot of getting used to, and it’s not nearly as intuitive as playing the game on PC. Once you get it down, the game is enjoyable, however. The campaign mode is a great idea, because it gives the game direction and story. It’s also cool that the game rewards you with new objects as you progress through the campaign mode. There is still the Seinfeld-mode of game play for those that want to play that instead. Also, it’s nice to just pop in the game and play if TS isn’t installed on your PC at the moment.

However, despite all of this, there aren’t any downloadable objects, custom skins, etc., so you’re limited to whatever is in the game as is. I would recommend it for the price (it’s very cheap, and the sequel, Bustin’ Out, is pretty cheap too), if you don’t have access to The Sims 2, and if you can get over the controls. Otherwise, it can be ignored. I just wanted to share my opinion that the two games (TS2 and TS console version) are similar in many ways.

This is so ridiculous. The past two weeks I’ve been dealing with tests and papers, and today I find out that the next three weeks are going to be more of the same. On Friday, I have a test in my Current Issues in World Politics class, then next week I have my next Japanese exam, and the week after that I have my next Marketing exam. The Shambler does indeed say, “BARF!”

To add to this badness, I’m trying to avoid living through another one of my roommate’s giggling sessions with his girlfriend behind closed doors right now by cranking up The Clash and focusing on this website (something I can’t do at 2:00AM when this $h!t is going on and I’m trying to get to sleep because I have to get up early in the morning). I should just live out of my car and spare myself of any future encounters, such as a sloppy meat slapping fiesta. Pardon my language, but these giggling sessions are both bizarre and annoying.

As a side note, my alternate topic title was, “The Rhodekyll don’t like it.”

I had a great idea. We should all refer to the various James Bond actors by “James [insert actor’s last name here]”. For example, we’d have James Brosnan, James Connery, James Dalton, James Lazenby, etc. It’s brilliant!

Still not wanting to work on my paper, I decided to make another post. The site is nearing its two-year anniversary. Time flies when you’re not updating. We all know that in the past, I’ve failed to deliver on many a promise when it came to this site. However, I would like to do something big October 26^th, so if you guys have any suggestions, e-mail me.

Maybe I’ll work on my paper tomorrow… Yeah, that sounds good.

In case you guys want to access the old content on the site (before I overhaul it), go to https://www.angelfire.com/tx5/machrider/copy_of_index.html

It’s all still there, for now.

I wish I had a Vertigo t-shirt! Check out the shop at www.u2.com to get your “Vertigo” merchandise. I’m sure more will become available once the album is out.

I think it is funny how they have to make voting sound hip and such this year.

Being a Political Science major, I suppose I’d better do my duty and tell you all to go out and vote for the Presidential election this year. It’s too bad Bono’s Irish and non-partisan, as my vote would go to him (not because I’m such a big U2 fan, but because he is an excellent political analyst and foreign aide activist). Hell, if O’Reilly can say he idolizes Bono’s efforts in Africa, he must really be something. Bono’s the only person I’ve witnessed from O’Reilly’s show (I don’t really watch Fox News or ANY political news channel, in case you’re wondering—I just read the transcript from the show) that not only didn’t get torn apart, but O’Reilly actually supported (in a sense).

For some reason I really felt like posting a dialogue below. It’s from a story/concept I’m working on.

“You must be Republican.”

“No, not at all.”

“Well, you certainly aren’t a Democrat.”

“You’re right.”

Nice and c a t c h y. I despise how the Political Science curriculum here (and I’m sure around the country--that’s right professors, I said COUNTRY) forces students to pick a side: Democrat or Republican. And they stress that you’d better be Democrat, or you’re wrong (and treat you like a child in explaining to you how you are wrong). That thinking is so backwards that it’s not even funny. Their mode of thought is very dated, and I think that they fail to realize that most people these days are moderate.

Why? Because most (unfortunately, I can’t say all) people use common sense and make intelligent decisions instead of wholly adopting one side or another’s ideology (this is true globally, obviously, and not exclusive to just the United States). In addition to that, most of us moderates haven’t voted in years past in the U.S., I think, because neither candidate in the real election (that would be either the Democrat or the Republican, as they are really the only vote-grabbers) comes off as wanting to support a moderate viewpoint until after the primaries (and in turn, they are painted as what they represent in the primaries whether they drift to a more moderate stance during the Presidential debates later on or not). Because of this, moderates really don’t trust either candidate (again, in my opinion).

Let’s follow a slippery slope (though, it may be true to an extent) here. I would like to think that most of America is depicted by foreigners as unintelligent (whether this is conscious or subconscious) because the people that represent us are the “extremes” (there really aren’t any extremes in American political ideology on a macro level), which don’t reflect the vast majority of Americans (I would at least like to believe—please prove me right, fellow citizens). These “extremists” (I hate using this term because they are only extreme moderates) mostly or wholly adopt one side’s political ideology, which is very unintelligent and irrational (people DO behave irrationally in some cases, whether you want to believe it or not).

I don’t know why I’m writing this out considering I just spent the last hour talking about this over the phone and wish to be through with politics for the evening. Well, I hope I at least pissed off some of you out there. Hopefully even pissed off some of you enough to go vote. Also, why do all these posts I only intend to make a paragraph or two end up being so lengthy???

I hate my major.

… activate the links on the nav bar with all the time I’m spending on the site today. Maybe later tonight.

I listed what I believe the site to be known for to the left (nav bar). That’s all I’m going to add to the site unless 1) I think of something else I want to add or 2) you guys e-mail me content or suggestions. Sometimes I get really tired of updating this site because I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall, but as soon as I stop updating for a long stretch of time I start getting complaints. Well screw you all. Either send me stuff or all I’m going to do is keep writing topics here in the News section. Heh, maybe if I offend you guys enough and alienate you, you’ll stop visiting and make my life easier. I’m somewhat just joking, because I do enjoy writing the topics, but I really feel too preachy and authoritative without any feedback. Again, ceanes@gmail.com

Anyway, let’s give the site some visual flair (black and white gets on my nerves a little since it’s so generic). New topics will be blue (as you can see, all topics for today are blue). This should make it easier for you to distinguish what’s new content and what’s old. I’ve also thought a bit about putting in ‘back’ links and such on all of the pages I plan to add, but no one really uses them these days, so I think I’ll ditch that idea and only put them on a select few pages.

Also, I am aware of some BIG grammatical mistakes (I make small ones all the time—that’s just my posting style) I’ve made in my previous posts. I could easily go fix all of these, but it’s not too important to me. My favorites include, “For what it is, the movie great,” and, “Combine that with the fact that the enemies all mostly…” (I think I meant to replace one word with the other at one point or go back and edit it later but never did). I get a kick out of these errors.

I’m happy with the way the page is progressing so far, but that’s only my opinion. You guys all probably think it sucks. Then again, I never hear from you guys or even know if you’re reading, so screw you too (again).

Finally, just so you guys know how this process works, I make all of the site changes on my desktop, but only my laptop has an internet connection. I transfer all of the site files from my desktop to my laptop so I can upload all of the files. This is one reason why I don’t update daily (the thought of taking the time to transfer turns me away from updating sometimes). It’s just much less of a hassle for me to update on my desktop.

… so I’ll keep updating with random content.

I’m really hungry, so I’ll do a review on that.

I don’t want to get up right now and prepare anything. I’m kind of lazy at the moment and don’t feel like getting up out of my comfortable dish chair, so let’s give initiative a 2 out of 5 (I will eventually get up and get something soon).

My stomach has a deep, distracting ache, but I can still think and critically analyze situations if I really apply myself (see the post below this one), so I’ll give physical and mental well-being a 3 out of 5.

My choices of what to eat are fairly limited to what’s in the cabinets and pantry. I have a lot of eat, but nothing too appealing. Potential satisfaction gets a whopping 3 out of 5 (very neutral rating).

Overall, my hunger rating equates to ~2.7. That’s not too bad, I suppose.

I don’t really care for the topic title, but it is SOOOOO appropriate.

My roommate misunderstands my stance on Nintendo. I really like Nintendo as a company. They have created some of the best games out there (though not so much in this generation, in my opinion). I just do not regret buying my Xbox instead of a Gamecube. He always thinks I unfairly bash games on the Gamecube because I think Nintendo sucks or something. I only bash games when I have lots of big, legitimate criticisms. You can’t convince me that Animal Crossing, Zelda: Wind Breaker, Harvest Moon, and Pikmen are fantastic and stellar games (well, maybe Pikmen—this game looks decent/fun, but very repetitive).

I was reading an article the other day about the top game publishers (based on many factors, such as revenue, third-party support, critical response to titles, etc.), and, naturally, the top three were EA, MSGS, and SCE (in that order). What surprised me was Nintendo coming in at 10^th. They were beaten out by many worthy publishers (Ubisoft ◄ a favorite of mine, THQ, Activision ◄ another favorite of mine, etc.), but come on. 10^th place? I think Nintendo would really benefit by taking the Sega route: go third-party. They could still stay in the handheld/portable market. This would give them more freedom to develop their games while not having the burden of supporting a major console.

Of course, this won’t happen anytime soon since Nintendo is going to join the next generation of consoles with its Revolution (2006). If this system really isn’t a revolution, I think Nintendo is going to be hit hard for another generation. They have fantastic franchises (F-Zero, Metroid, and Zelda—ironically, only one of those is series is actually developed by Nintendo these days), but without third party support, technological innovation, and top-of-the-line hardware specs, they won’t get large consumer support.

Why play third-party games like Prince of Persia with inferior, compressed audio? It IS noticeable when compared to Sony or Microsoft’s edition or if you just have a good ear (or two J). Why put up with a controller that’s not suitable for all genres of games (you try playing a fighting game with that small D-pad and tell me how accurate it is—let’s not even get into the Tony Hawk series)? Why opt for a console that has no real online community options? No DVD video support. Memory cards as the primary storage unit (okay, maybe being spoiled by Xbox is getting to me at this point J).

You can come up with situational answers to all of the questions above, but in my case, it didn’t make sense to go for such a console. Now sure, I really like Nintendo’s games on the NES, SNES, and N64, and lots of people said they bought a Gamecube for Nintendo’s games (who doesn’t love fantastic, memorable franchises?). However, can they honestly say they are really happy with Nintendo’s games THIS generation? Mario Sunshine? Donkey Konga? Mario Party sequels? Wind Breaker? Animal Crossing? This isn’t the Nintendo I knew and liked. All of their past franchises that are still successful today have been handed off to other companies for development (F-Zero and Metroid), except for the promising new Zelda game.

I’m not trying to sound offensive to Gamecube owners. Hell, I may buy one just for the new Zelda game alone. But honestly, if you can count off the games you are looking forward to on your console of choice on one hand, you may want to look at other options. While GCN owners have RE4, MP2 (I hate using ‘MP2’ because it always makes me interpret it as Max Payne 2 at first), VJ2, and Zelda to look forward to, I have the following list for Xbox (off the top of my head):

BloodRayne 2 (has large underground popularity) – also PS2

Otogi 2 (same level of popularity as BR2)

Halo 2 (though I’m not personally interested in this game, many are)

Dead or Alive Ultimate (huge popularity)

Colin McRae 2005 (reasonably popularity) – also PS2?

Fatal Frame II: Director’s Cut (popularity with the Survival-Horror crowd) – also PS2

Knights of the Old Republic 2 (huge RPG popularity)

Jade Empire (huge RPG popularity and it’s not even proved itself yet)

Midnight Club 3 (reasonable popularity) – also PS2

Unreal Championship 2 (reasonable popularity)

Blinx 2 (is turning heads and gaining popularity)

Rocky Legends (underground popularity) – also PS2

Conker (reasonable popularity)

MechAssault 2 (huge popularity)

Oddworld: Stranger (reasonable/underground popularity)

A sequel to Fight Night (if it’s made, underground popularity) – also PS2?

[A curious observation: nearly all of those titles are sequels. Haha]

Now, you could say that GCN owners have more titles to look forward to than the 4 titles I listed above (Splinter Cell 3, PoP2, Ghost Recon 2, NFSU2, and God knows what else), but come on. All of those games are on the other consoles too. Heck, they are all designed with other consoles in mind and then ported to GCN (SC on any other system than Xbox? You’ve got to be kidding me). What makes the Gamecube versions so special in comparison? They are beaten out by the Xbox version 99% of the time (I am not trying to be rude by this statement, but instead am stating a maybe somewhat exaggerated fact by using the 99%).

Now, call me a hypocrite if you like, because some of those games are also on PS2 (BR2, CMR2K5, FF2 original version, MC3, RL, and a possible sequel to Fight Night). However, keep in mind that those games are NOT coming to the Cube, and MOST aren’t even going to PS2.

In addition to this argument, it is clear to me that Nintendo’s target audience is not as geared toward my age and tastes as the other two console options. I don’t care how much one speaks against this argument. Just take a look at the front page of “cube.ign.com” or their Previews page. Compare that to the comparable pages of xbox.ign.com or ps2.ign.com (or their relevant Previews pages). Cube’s target audience is younger than the other two consoles.

Now keep in mind, though, a good game is a good game. I don’t care if the theme of a new Mario game is in vein of the originals (though Mario Sunshine is taking it too far). Mario 64 is an amazing game. I would LOVE another Mario that was as great as that title. However, MOST of the games targeted toward a younger audience are not of the caliber that Mario 64 was.

Most of you have already heard all of this information and arguing before, but it really struck a nerve when my roommate said that I “hate” Nintendo (that is the word he used, and I was ready to go ballistic). I like Nintendo and their franchises, but this generation of Nintendo games hasn’t WOW!’ed me like the previous generations. Their console hasn’t impressed me, both technically and support-wise. In fact, the only reason I bought an Xbox was because I said I would only buy the console that Ninja Gaiden was going to be on. Every other great game on Xbox has been icing on the cake. Had NG gone to the Cube, I would have bought a Cube. All of my friends know this, but my roommate ignored this when he made his statement.

So let it never be stated again that I hate Nintendo. This is an inaccurate statement. Maybe if someone provoked me to comment on Sony and it’s PlayStations I would write a topic on that, but that’s another can of worms I don’t feel like writing about right now. As for the future? Everyone has a chance. PS3 sounds very promising (but so did PS2—Sony is the king of console hype), Xenon or Xbox Next (whatever name it decides to go by) could be in trouble or enormously helped by coming out earlier than the other two consoles, and Revolution may wow us as actually being a gaming revolution.

Which next gen console will I get? Whatever the next NG is on.

Questions or comments? E-mail me at ceanes@gmail.com

My last college post (“Gonna paint a wagon, gonna paint it good”) talked about how professors are getting lazier as time goes on. Today I’d like to point out that they lie and are forgetful.

My most recent example is from today: in my Current Issues in World Politics class my teacher said that our first paper is due on Wednesday and there was an uproar. Why? Maybe because she NEVER set a due date for the paper. She said she had been mentioning all along that it would be due October 6^th (a lie—she never set a date). So now I have to hustle and finish this thing up for Wednesday. Looks like I have two long nights ahead of me.

Thank you so much, college, for making my life hell.

Well, I hope you get something out of the posts below. I’m tired of writing for today.

I’m sick of the RPG genre these days. There are only a handful of worthwhile turn-based RPGs (Final Fantasy 7+ is NOT in this group) out there. KOTOR was great, and the sequel should be good as well, but other than that, there really isn’t much of anything (unless you own a PS2 and buy the standard, formulaic Japanese RPGs). The vast majority of popular RPGs these days are Action-RPGs: Fable, X-Men Legends, Sudeki, Morrowind (the Shambler says, “BARF!”), the King of the Rings RPG brawlers (which are miles ahead of the movies—HCtK impressed me), the Hunter series (though these games are more brawler than RPG, like the KotR games), etc. Nearly all of the big RPG hits on the horizon are also in this category: Jade Empire, The Bard’s Tale, Demon Stone, etc.

The non-formulaic turn-based RPGs already out there (non-formulaic being RPGs breaking the Japanese mold that’s been around since the SNES and going for a more pen and paper experience) for this generation are pretty lackluster (except KOTOR, of course). For example, Gladius was great at first, but then I quickly grew bored because the game lacked personality, story, and was very repetitive. Tack on Metal Dungeon for the same reasons as well.

I do have, ironically, the King of the Rings turn-based RPG to look forward to. While I may despise the story, I’m willing to give the game a go since there are next to no turn-based RPGs around. It appears to have a simple turn-based system like Square’s RPG efforts, but at this point, I’ll take what I can get.

Why aren’t more videogame RPGs striving to be closer to the pen and paper games that inspired them in the first place? While I despise pen and paper games because of their over-complexity, there have to be more people out there wanting games with systems as strong as these inspirations. I think it’s sad there aren’t more turn-based RPGs around with complex systems, because all of these action RPGs are starting to look alike and for the most part, are very simplistic in design (Jade Empire looks like an exception). I can only play Final Fight and Double Dragon clones with stats every now and then. They get old quickly because they are so repetitive (much like this post is getting).

This weekend has been terrible. I’ve been sitting around the apartment all day since Friday afternoon because I can’t afford to go anywhere (paying both my share and my roommate’s share of the utility and electric bills bit a huge chunk out of my account on Friday). However, I did manage to buy a demo disc.

The latest OXM had lots of cool demos worth checking out. I mainly bought it for the Otogi 2 and BloodRayne 2 demos, but most of the other demos were top notch.  BloodRayne 2 surprised me the most, and I definetly want to get the full game. It was ultra violent, had impressive visuals, smooth gameplay (hanging from a pole and shooting at enemies from above was awesome!), a chain to toss enemies around with, and creative level design. At times I felt like I didn’t know where to go next (on my first time through, of course), but once I had it down the fun continued. This is by far the best Majesco game I’ve ever played (that’s not saying much, but come on!). Some may make comparisons to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Max Payne, and others, but I think this game stands very well on its own as a great action title (based on what I’ve seen from the demo, of course).

Otogi 2 was everything I expected and wanted (more of the same with cherries on top). I can’t stress this enough: if you didn’t buy the first one, something is wrong with you. If you don’t buy the second one when it’s available, you should be shot (unless you’re not a gamer. In that case, you’re free to go about your business). This demo had a simple, but entertaining boss fight and you can choose from any of the main characters from the final game to play as. Pretty cool.

The OutRun 2 demo was very nostalgic as well as simple, arcade fun. While this isn’t a game I would spend $50 on, the demo was really fun. Same with the SvC Chaos demo. I wouldn’t spend $50 on that final product either, but with arcade and versus support in the demo already (of course, only 4 characters are selectable, though all except for hidden characters can be fought in the Arcade mode), it will certainly tide me over until the game is in the bargain bin. You can only fight two opponents in the Arcade mode before being booted back to the intro sequence, but without adjustable difficulty in the demo, versus is really where it’s at.

Speaking of versus, a 2 player-only demo of Fight Club is on the disc. I must say, this game has come a long way since the first screenshots released to the public. The graphics are pretty good. As far as the fighting goes, I can’t really comment on it accurately because I didn’t have anyone to play with when I checked it out. I wasn’t overly impressed with this demo, but maybe when I get a chance to check it out with someone else I’ll really be able to tell if this game will be worth picking up or not.

Area 51 was surprising to see since this game won’t be out for quite a while. It was a confusing demo for me. I got the yellow keycard soon after the first enemy encounter, but then I didn’t know where to go. It was still fairly fun, but from what I experienced, it was an all-out action FPS like the old Doom games. This isn’t a bad thing, but may keep the game from being stellar.

Kingdom Under Fire disappointed me. I must say that there are too many brawlers on the market right now. The only positive comment I really have for this game is that if you want to experience what it would be like to be in a hectic battle (like from the big battle scenes in Braveheart or Highlander), this would be your game. However, the action is very repetitive. The demo tried to give me a sense that there was strategy involved in this game, but really it was just moving from horde of enemies to horde of enemies and button-mashing my way through each crowd. Maybe this was just because I was playing the demo and it was from a level early on in the game, but this demo left me unimpressed.

Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow is also on this disc (demo, of course). I haven’t played it yet, but I’m sure it’s stellar just like the original game (the final game got good reviews).

This is definitely one of the best demo discs so far this year. Only the NG demo disc beats this one out from the ones I’ve played. And remember, if the disc doesn’t work for you, everyone online says to boil it and it should work properly (OXM has a reputation for making faulty demo discs that only work after boiling them). I’ve never had to do this, but if you have this problem, boiling seems to be the solution.

If you don’t know what the topic is referring to, then you haven’t heard the new U2 song titled “Vertigo”. I first heard this song a week ago, but I thought it would be worth mentioning here on the site that if you are a fan, it is definitely worth tracking down. In fact, if you can’t wait until November 8^th, track it down on the ‘net (it is available legally on iTunes). The song has a unique sound from all of their previous albums (each previous album having a unique sound on their own) and cements the fact that the band is still very versatile.

As for the other song I’ve heard from them recently? “Neon Lights” is a song I can do without (which is perhaps why it won’t be on the album “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”, but instead on “Vertigo” singles). It’s not bad (it’s miles ahead of most of the stuff on “Zooropa”), but not great.