And Just When You Thought He Was Gone...

There's a message buried in that title. It only becomes evident if you look at what I just wrote on anyButton too. The message is that I erroneously believe that a title ending in an ellipsis is an appropriate substitute for humor. This is because I'm tired, and nothing has happened that would make a particularly funny title ("On the Merits of Wasting a Month and a Half Doing Nothing." Actually, that one's a little better.)

So you ask, "What the Hell do you want 20cc? Are you just trying to waste my time or do you have something meaningful to say?"

A brilliant question, my friend. The answer is of course, "A little of both."

I do actually have news, for instance:

anyButton is actually getting a real website. I won't post the official URL until it's really working, but honestly I think I may have posted it a long time ago on aB anyway, so it hardly matters. We also have a Twitter now, for whatever reason, and have been bouncing around ideas for new formats. Maybe something, you know, actually funny.

In other news:

I'm currently listening to CUBErt. That is, the song by System of a Down, in case it's also like some obscure band of which I haven't heard.

In other news:

Posting very short tidbits separated by double returns is a great way to artificially bulk up your blog post.

Good stuff, right?

Oh and by the way:

He's coming to get you.

If any of you were wondering, that dude is Henrik Klingenberg,

the Finnish keyboardist best known as a member of the

power/(arguably)progressive metal band Sonata Arctica.

If any of you haven't heard of them, I happily invite you to

find something heavy to hit yourself with right now.

I Say, Bloody Hell.

I've tried to avoid posting videos of my guitar playing, because I'm so abysmal at it. I thought this was pretty funny though, so what the hell.

This is me trying to play the intro to All That Remains' Chiron. When I get to the high G#, I hit one of the most perfect pinch harmonics I've ever played, completely accidentally. The shock of it made me mess up the rest of the intro. Dammit. Also, yes, I know it's synchronized poorly. It's Blogger's fault.

And this is the same intro, without the sucking. This one isn't funny, I'm just putting it here because I was trying to show my friend, but the video is too big to email.

In other guitar news, I now see why my friend (not the one mentioned above) complained when I tried to do pickslides on his guitar, as I just tore the shit out of my pick.

Anyway, now that I've done this, I'll probably ignore the blog for another few weeks or so. À Bientôt!

EDIT:

Apparently it's not Blogger's fault. I tried uploading the video to Youtube and embedding from there, but had the same problem. I'll mess around with my video settings some time when I don't have so much homework.

Also, here's the (also poorly synchronized) music video for the above song, so you can hear how much better ATR is at it.

Somewhere on Maine Street

I'm on the road for the week, so reasonably I won't have a review. Unfortunately, from the state of my school work, it's starting to look like I won't have time to review a game for next week either. My tentative plan is to review Prince of Persia (which I played through last weekend) so that I have something to show, but I don't have to find time to play through another game. This is unless anyone feels like writing my LTP for me.

Anyone?

Damn.

Moving on then. I do actually have something to write for this week. On a whim, I decided I would try my hand at reviewing a restaurant, just to keep you guessing on what this blog is actually about. I recognize that this is going to be written for a rather more limited audience, and that I have absolutely experience reviewing food, but I felt it would be a disservice not to try and spread the word to my followers (all four of you).

So if any of you happen to be driving through the Hudson River Valley area for any reason, you might find your way to the town of Rhinebeck, where there is a restaurant called Tarrapin. Twice my tireless college search has led me there, and both times I was impressed. The terra cotta colored building suggests a tendency toward Spanish or Mexican  cuisine, and while that's true to a degree, it by no means encompasses the entirety of the menu. There's a wide selection of gourmet food available from specialty salads to a variety of sandwiches to pasta to some of the most interesting quesadillas you can find. In addition, there are a number of interesting tapas items, and some well portioned, delicious deserts. Not only is the food delicious, but the portions are small enough that you won't feel overwhelmed at the end of the meal. Throw in a friendly staff and a quaint, small town setting, and you've got a really remarkable place to relax for an hour or so with some friends and some food. Even if you're not in the mood for a meal, you can have a seat on the patio and grab an iced tea and some great tapas, like duck liver quesadillas, goat cheese wantons, mini burgers, and small pieces of lamb chop with chimichurri.

And that's my first restaurant review. Another item of note is that I've discovered that the buildings in Manhattan are tall enough that they apparently interfere with my GPS. Yet another reason the city is best observed from a distance.

I'll throw in my latest musical obssession for good measure. I insist on continuing to embed videos, even if they sometimes don't fit into the blog's format, because it looks better than a hyperlink.

I admire this band for Craig Mabbit's ability to sing and scream with equal intensity and skill. Also who can help but love his creepy antics?

Foresight

It's been a while since I posted anything here, so I decided it was time for some filler. Since I doubt any of you care much about my school work, I suppose I'll talk about my plans for the near future.

I still have a plan for something interesting on Abnormality, but my schedule allows little free time, and what time there is I tend to spend playing guitar, and playing the games I have to review every week. Some time in the near future, however, I plan to release something thought provoking. I also still have another piece planned for aB that's waiting for a week without a review. I'm not sure when that will be, since there actually seems to be a lot coming out soon. I have a Resident Evil 5 review finished that just needs some proofreading, and I should have that up later today, once I decide whether or not I want to include a video. Next week I was hoping to play the Wanted game, (I hated the movie, but it does lend itself to some cool gameplay) but I doubt Gamefly will get it to me by this weekend. Frankly, I'm not sure what I have to play this weekend. I suppose I might give the H.A.W.X. demo a try, and maybe finally finish Saints Row 2, or put some more time into Silent Hill 2. (I actually just checked, and Gamefly can't get Wanted right now, so they're sending the newest Prince of Persia. Maybe I'll just review it, depending on how much a care about it.)

After Wanted, I've got The Godfather 2 and Velvet Assassin on my list for the next of the week, and then for May I'm looking at the Wolverine game, Damnation, and the Terminator game. Frankly, I've rather looking forward to the new Terminator movie too. Unfortunately, I'm not terribly interested in any of those games. June, however, brings the new Batman game, (eh, I'll give it a shot) Infamous, Prototype, and Overlord II, most of which I'm pretty pumped for, especially Infamous.

I've assuaged my guilt for ignoring Abnormality for so long, so I'll stop ranting about games that aren't out yet. Here, have some music:

I don't know why there are three minutes of silence at the end of this, but whatever.

The video isn't synced here, but it's the best song I could find, and they do some crazy improvisation at the beginning.

And on the Third Day, He Rested.

So I stayed home today. Strangely, I would have much preferred to go to school, but I've been developing a rather irritating sore throat over the past week or so, and I thought it prudent not to expose my friends to infection. [Insert 28 Days Later/Left 4 Dead/generic zombie joke here.]

Of course Biscuits is spending the night here anyway, so I don't suppose I've accomplished much by avoiding school.

At this point, the expectation would be either that I did something fascinating and revolutionary today that I feel I have to share with you, or that I did absolutely nothing, and am just assuming you people out there care about my rather mundane day. I assure you it's the latter.

In short, I slept late, played guitar, and I'm only writing this because I'm bored out of my wits. I just thought I should share that with the public at large. The sensible thing to do would be to see if my French teacher has posted the homework on his blog yet, but then I'm not often very sensible.

And that's my terribly interesting report for the day. Congratulations, you've just wasted two to five minutes of your life, and you'll never get them back.

As compensation, here are the songs I'm currently trying to learn on guitar.

And the song I'm currently listening to, which I don't believe I'll be able to play any time soon.

As a closing note, if anyone out there thinks the title of this post likens me to God, and thinks that I'll burn in Hell for it, I appologize for your narrowmindedness and poor sense of humor. I'm sure he would get the joke.

Also if anyone out there is offended that I didn't capitalize "he" when referring to God, get a life.