The Roulette Wheel

I had a pretty shitty weekend. I don't really need to go into detail as to what happened but let's just go ahead and start by believing that the only reason I was down all weekend was because my core group of friends were totally gone. That's not the real reason but it's going to have to be good enough because I won't be talking about what started my weekend off REALLY. Among other things that sucked this weekend: Cocked up an oil change (seriously...this NEVER happens with me) making it last over 3 hours, missed seeing Ted because of it, shitty concert Friday night that I parked WAY too far away, all my alternate friends were non-responsive to hanging out ('cept Dave...thanks Dave!), my brand new video card crapped out and I'm going to have to send it back, mom and I butted heads pretty hard, finished an awesome anime (this always depresses me), grades were due Monday, it FINALLY started to get hot in Dallas...but the air in the house was out so it was over 87 degrees in my room (I have a temp reader in here). Anyway...long story short and with no carriage returns: Shitty weekend. Yes I'm still in love with my PS3. "Beat" Burnout Paradise...there's lots more shit to do but the credits rolled. Beat Army of Two with Dave. Watched a bunch of BluRay. Found a badass program that decrypts DVD's and puts them into PS3 specific formatting with the press of one button (I'm working on getting the 3rd season of Battlestar to my PC so I can give my friend's DVD's back). All in all I'm looking forward to a new weekend. But I have a paper to do and finals to write, and TAKS, and a new 6 weeks to plan. Oi...Anyway...I'm out.

Tommy "As an English teacher I should flog myself for that post...actually...don't mind if I do!" Schubert

I mean I love my Wii but there's just something about the extensive custamizability of the PS3. Do I still hate Sony? Fuck yeah. That's why I bought the system used. They get none of my money. That's how I tend to roll with Microsoft too. Bought Vista on eBay. Anyway...stretching personal morals aside. I fucking love my PS3. I've been using it in one capicity or another since I got it and there's STILL shit I'm discovering. Just connected to it through the network and streamed some crystal clear anime off my pc's HDD. That was pretty awesome. Could really stand to be more supported codecs but considering it already has everything else beat console wise for media playback. I've still yet to use any of the PSP stuff, the backwards compatibility stuff, connection of mouse and keyboard, or the internet browser. I've really only scratched the surface with the media server stuff so I need to fuck with that a little more.

How about the games? I have an HD television so they obviously look fucking awesome. I'm playing Rock Band like it's going out of style and I'm already on the B license for Paradise city and not bored or slowing down yet. I downloaded a couple demos too and I think I'll be going to be doing a lot of renting. They game prices are just out of reasonable price range for shit I'm only going to be playing through once. Just that simple.

I've been playing a couple movies too. Honestly? Bluray isn't really all it's cracked up to be. Basically it looks marginally better than my upsampling DVD player. That and movies are, ready yourself, over $30. Yeah. So needless to say I haven't bought anything yet. I HAVE on the other hand been delighted that Blockbuster has started carrying them and will let me get free rentals of them when I bring in my online movies to turn in. That and you can order them online just like anything else without any extra change. That's nice. I will say that their extras are nicer and that their menus are more responsive and accessible. But loading times, however short, for a movie? Is that a joke? Anyway. That's my take. Oh right...one last thing: blue tooth Bluray remote? Fucking awesome.

Ok...it's about time that I move on and get back to my movie already in progress. If anyone out there has a PS3 my handle is as you might expect. "Cerif27".

Tommy "I wonder if I'll ever adopt a new handle?" Schubert

So this is basically the earliest I've been home all week. I'm still on only two and half hours sleep and I seriously can't believe I bought a PS3. Considering games are $60 and movies are $20-$30 it's clear that I have actually lost my mind. Great for me :P I'll be buying Rock Band and an extra guitar sometime this weekend just because if I'm going to go nuts I might as well go all the way nuts right? Anyway...literally nothing interesting happened today. My kids got to pitch their movie ideas to professionals and get critiques. That was cool. I saw the first hour of Forbidden Kingdom and then I had to leave, and I saw a new anime that's about to come out from Funimation called Vexille. No interesting flirting or anything of that nature. That's a good side effect to ordering my PS3...I'm thinking more about it than the ladies...ya know...for maybe another 12 hours anyway, then it's back to the ladies.

Ok...I REALLY need to get some sleep. Soon as I play some COD4.

Tommy "I've never fallen asleep playing a computer game...tonight might be the night!" Schubert

Please someone kill me. And if someone else would take my credit card away from me after the hour of midnight that would be great. Yup...I just bought a PS3...maybe I should pay for my medical bills from last semester now. Just to make myself feel more responsible. Only interesting thing today was that I met MC Frontalot. He's a pretty awesome guy. Brian he wanted me to shout out to you for being a fan. If you're not really a fan, the shout out still counts I think. Anyway...I haven't showered, I'm exhausted and I'll have a PS3 by next Tuesday. That's just fucked up to say coming from me. Blah...I'm out.

Tommy "Gorgeous, young, totally non-drinking or smoking, MOTHER of a SIX y.o. was flirting with me for a pretty long while tonight. WEIRD! AWESOME!" Schubert

Well, nothing of any particular interest happened yesterday at all so this is going to be a quickie. Went out for lunch and some drinks with the previously mentioned chick. I'm taking a very "fooled me once..." approach so everything is a little more tolerable. We cleared most everything up without a problem. It was really nice. These festival people work themselves so hard that they really hurt themselves all the time. It's just not healthy. I have heard of several women (it's mostly women here) just taking off for the bathroom for a quick cry and then back to work. That's just not right. If a job really stresses you out that much you just need to find a new one. Why would you do that to yourself? Anyway...the suck for them. I guess that's why I keep getting passed around to all the really stressed out people. They have learned that whoever has Tommy for the day just doesn't cry that day. It's a little weird but it makes me feel needed. Go figure.

On an unrelated note, I'm thinking I'm going to be getting a Playstation 3. For those of you who know me, you're probably thinking that I've lost my mind as well just like these chicks. Not quite the case but I have been thinking really hard about this. Really it was the Blu-Ray winning the format war and rock band for the Wii not having downloadable content OR the ability to use the guitar hero guitar. I'm just not ok with that. There are so many downloadable songs I want from Rock Band that I'm just no ok with it. I mean I have a HiDef TV...why aren't I using it for anything but regular programing?

Anyway...Sam wants back inside the house and I really should get down to the festival to help keep some beautiful ladies from killing themselves. Sadly? Mostly thankless...

Tommy "Mostly thankless...that's a good one..." Schubert

So...I haven't really been able to update lately because during all points in time where I wasn't watching a movie, or at a party until the wee hours of the morning I have been trying to sleep, eat something or just plain slap myself that this is evening happening. Let me give you a quickie on last night because I really need to get back downtown and keep doing my thing.

Immediately after school I headed downtown to watch two of the movies on my list. Chatted with a couple filmmakers while I was there. Caught a world premier for Split: A Divided America. Chatted with Kelly Nyks who I basically got very excited about coming and talking to our kids on Monday. The flaky SMU people didn't call him back so I jumped on it and talked our program up and he absolutely LOVED coming to see our kids. It was awesome. We're buddies now. (at least until he heads back to LA or Holland...where ever he's headed next)

So late last night I head over to LFT for a party for Sam Rockwell's movie that just screened. It's called Snow Angels. I don't know if it's playing again at the festival but that's not the point. Oh and Bill Paxton was there too but at this point he's been at almost every party I've been to so I found myself going, "Oh Bill Paxton is here...eh...". Which feels really odd to say. So after talking up some people I head over to the most logical next party at the Ghost Bar. Chuck D from Public Enemy was there and performing for a bunch of us rich white folks...it was a little awkward...but I really enjoyed it :) Met a lot more people (yes, several of them hot chicks) and then ended up hanging out with Sam Rockwell a little bit. He thought it was funny that someone most of us knows has a Zaphod costume that she likes to wear around the house on occasion. Well...he thought it was funny in a good and endearing way :) Anyway...I really need to get out and get back to the festivities. I took today and tomorrow off so I could rub elbows late into the night.

What??!! It's paying off! Get off my back! ;) I got one of our former students an internship last night...at 2:45am, so bugger off! :) It pays to be able to stay up until morning night after night, stay perfectly sober so you can remember what to say, and it really helps if you just don't get star struck. Anyway...like I already said: I'm out. Catch you guys tonight when I come back home...I'll try and update again.

Tommy "Brown hair = Brunette, Red Hair = Red Head, Black hair = Blackette? Black head? WTF?" Schubert