To Whom It May Concern: Rock Band at the Super Bowl
Jan 02I don’t know how many of you have had a chance to become acquainted with Rock Band yet. It is a revelation compared to Guitar Hero, and I say that as someone who sat down and made a wish list for a Guitar Hero Great White North edition (all Canadian rock, eh?)
Besides being the ultimate rock fantasy short of going to… well… rock fantasy camp, the game takes the rhythm and appreciation for music taught by the earlier guitar games, and adds singing (it’s often been commented that the Karaoke Revolution games, by the same developer, basically train you, through visual feedback, to sing on key – not to mention learn words and phrasing) and best yet, drums. The best part about the drums is that it’s pretty clear, pretty quick, that if you swapped out the drum pads with real drums in a similar configuration, you’d be playing the drums. Not expert, no no no. But you’d be playing.
The guitars don’t teach you chords or fingering, but the drums do teach you to bang the skins.
I consider myself a decent drummer at the medium level, and the game isn’t mine, so I can only assume that with my own copy and time to obsess alone, I could improve – but even at that level, I felt pretty confident that I was at least ahead by a few months worth of drum lessons.
Now, please observe the following. Feel free to bang yo head. Well, it’s Rush. So, feel free to bop in a progressive manner.
Ok. This got me to thinking, as has happened a lot lately, about whether Rock Band is a Guitar Hero killer. And this video got me thinking that there is one way, in two steps, that Rock Band could completely dominate and crush Guitar Hero.
First, produce enough kits to meet a massive demand. The three you sent to my local Futureshop isn’t going to cut it.
Second, take the Rock Band maniac in this video (or similar) and have his play with Rush. Could be part of their tour. Could be part of the Super Bowl Half Time show. Could be part of the Super Bowl Half Time show in order to help promote the Rush tour. It could be late night TV (lord knows they’ll be leaning on music acts while the writers strike continues.)
And slot that fucker in. It will not be great drumming – in fact, bump him down to hard, maybe even medium, so that the drumming is less insane-o video game drumming, and more like real drumming. But five minutes later, you will have sold everyone watching on the fantasy of being in a band.
Hell, make Geddy Lee sing in-game. You know he can hit those notes. I sure can’t.
Double hell, make it a contest. Winner by Xbox world rankings gets to play with Geddy Lee and Rush.
Just don’t do it until I get my kit.
We Dig Ben
Jan 02So I’m not even sure if I’m allowed to post this, but hell with it, Ben Sian can hunt me down like cattle if it’s wrong…
Ben is a man who I have come to know through the tubes and pixie dust that is the Internet. He has written for IGN and for the site that first brought me, Sarah, and Chris together, Entertainment Geekly.
For years, he’s been doing this bit where he gets B-list to Z-list celebs to hold up a sign that says “I Dig Ben” while he takes a photo.
Now he’s organized this archive of true arcane geekdom for all to enjoy. It is an unassailable tour through the darkest corners of fame, with a guy who looks damn good in an Elvis jumpsuit as your guide.
Trek08: Preface
Jan 02Paula.
Not the prettiest name for a high-school crush. Because of the opening “P,” it sort of explodes from the mouth in an unappealing way, then becomes the verbal vomit of the “-aula,” so it makes a sound like someone spitting in your face, then barfing on your shoes.
Nevertheless. Paula was a crush, my crush, during the spring of my sophomore year in high school, when our all-boys institution finally satisfied the desires of ten of its gayest students and started a drama club. Our debut production was West Side Story, and Paula was a dowdy, blousy Maria with not a speck of hispanic blood in her body. Seriously–she was PAINTED SLIGHTLY YELLOW USING MAKEUP.
Which naturally has you thinking, “What does a young Matt see in such an odd choice for a crush?”
That’s an easy one. The day I first saw her, she was wearing a Star Trek T-shirt. Not any old Star Trek T-shirt, but one depicting the cast of the 1966-69 series, or The Original Series, as most nerds know it.
And that was literally her only virtue, as it turned out. Of course, this took me months to figure out, during which time I fantasized about us cuddling together on a couch in some imaginary living room or den, our heads touching tenderly as we thrilled to the exploits of Kirk, Spock and Bones on the flickering television before us.
It’s not that I didn’t like, y’know, HOT CHICKS as a teenager. It’s just that to my tiny and fragile mind, the idea of a GIRL who liked STAR TREK trumped everything else. The mere concept was literally unimaginable to me, like a horse piloting the space shuttle.
It was not the first idiotic situation Star Trek got me into, nor would it be the last.
Blah blah blah comics blah (12/31/07)
Dec 31Even though my computer monitor keeps shutting itself off and I barely slept last night, I can think of no better way to spend a few of the last remaining minutes of 2007 than writing pointless reviews of comics that came out weeks ago so no one but me gives a shit about them anymore, can you?
Inside: Detective Comics 839, Incredible Herc/Hulk 112, and Superman 67somethingorother.
Holiday notes and a spit-take.
Dec 29I’m back from a one-week trip to Calgary (Dallas of the North), Alberta (Texas of the North) to visit family. For Christmas I got… norovirus! Or something. Not food poisoning. And Influenza doesn’t actually cause vomiting and other… expulsions. Plus, it only lasted a day and bit, so I’m betting norovirus. Lemme tell ya, the abs work-out is spectacular.
Otherwise it was a laid back, quiet affair (with a time-delayed Christmas dinner to accommodate my illness – bah. Humbug!) Got Lost season three, got Little Britain Abroad, got Guitar Hero 3, got a whack load of books, including I Killed (a nice companion to The Aristocrats or Seinfeld’s Comedian.
Last of my store credit at Best Buy; hovering over the Checkout button for a camcorder-to-computer kit thing and the Blade Runner 4-disc set. Have never seen Blade Runner so am sorta thinking I need to rectify that before I get shot by some indignant nerd who decides to find my address and hunt me down for my ignorance.
Holy shit! What!? WHAAAAT!?
Matt, if you’re reading this, it means you’re not watching Blade Runner. And I have your address. You gave it to me.
I will use it. Don’t make me use it.
PS You don’t need the five disc set, but pay it forward and get yourself the four disc set. Don’t give in and get the two disc set. You should have a copy of the original version narrated by Harrison Ford. Most will say they hate it. They are idiots. Without the narration it’s brilliant. With it, it’s brilliant and noir.
