doolittle, chainsaws, and long rakes

Video game talk. Run.

If you know me, you know I am a big fan of Rock Band. Tonight, I played Doolittle by the Pixies.

The entire album. In a game.

I can honestly say its one of those video gaming benchmarks for me. Here's an album I've been listening to for 15 years, I know every word and every sound on it. Getting to interact with it is a truly beautiful experience. One can level many criticisms at music games' lack of reality- and choosing between five colored buttons instead of a fret board is a clear dumbing-down of the process. But in its rawest form, the act of causing Joey Santiago's guitar to play or not based on my input- well its damn fun. I've thought of all of this before- but sitting down and playing a complete album really makes it special.

I can't wait to have some of the crew over who love this album too. I can't wait to screech into the mike "cookie I think your TAAAAAAAAME!". I want to play the bass on every song- guitar is fantastic but there's so many bass lines.

And I haven't even thought about drums.

Guitar Hero: World Tour is coming up. It has an alledgedly better drumkit and the sweet nectar of user created songs (no vocals for obvious reasons). But tonight reminded me that Harmonix (the original Guitar Hero creators who moved on the Rock Band) still have a leg up on the newer publishers of Guitar Hero (Neversoft, who previously did Tony Hawk games. Seriously). If you play Guitar Hero 3 and play Rock band you can just feel the difference. Rock Band was created by people who love music and know music. Guitar Hero 3 (and the upcoming Aerosmith and World Tour) were created by people who used to make skateboard games and now want to make money.

Speaking of money, Guitar Hero World Tour would require me to own 2 (!) fake drum sets. Fortunately I have guitars that will work with it. I don't know if the mike will work with it or not. My plan is this- let it come out and see what the user generated content comes up with. If it's robust, then its a consideration. The unknown factor at this point is how Rock Band will respond. I have a feeling they will answer loudly. They also will most likely allow all the songs I've bought to carry over to the next game.

These things are becoming platforms inside of platforms.

End video game talk.

I've been going to the gym. I am sore in the appropriate places. It feels good. I took tonight off and instead attempted to clean the roof of my shed in the back yard. I duct taped a rake to a long branch to scrape the roof of the leaves and dirt that have collected there. It worked. Sort of. But the funny thing was, there were growing plants up there. Perhaps I should do that more often. I am going to have to devise a more stable Long Rake for future endeavors. On the main roof of the shed I merely succeeded in pushing the loam to the rear of the roof. A couple of my most energetic thrusts (yeah, that one's free folks) resulted in the ladder slightly shifting. Not a good prospect when you're 12 feet in the air. So that- and thunder- ended my pitched roof battle. heh.

Oh and Sunday I got to use my new chainsaw. It is, as I expected, the most fun you can have with a power tool. Especially after cutting down things with loppers and a hand saw. It's almost effortless, and I get a kick out of the arterialesque spray of wood from the small trees I felled. Yeah, I'm into that. Sue me. The yard is a constant battle. Any of you with houses know this. I walk out to get the mail and I can spot about 15 things I want to do. And just looking in the back triggers all sorts of nagging reminders. The weird thing is, part of me wonders why I am so (albeit mildly) obsessed about my yard. I used to look oddly at my father when he would spend hours on his day off in the yard doing all sorts inconsequetial things. But now that I'm older, I guess I get it. It's just like anything else- it can consume you. Sometimes you need something like that to forget about all the crap you have to do at work, or the various other ruts you have dug for yourself.

I'm down with that.