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first off, ds is back in the win column!  after last post’s ugly news that a “buffy: the vampire slayer” game was coming to my cherished handheld, good news came today in the form of organized crime and the rebirth of the most sought after classic, maybe ever.  first, joystiq has the official pics that grand theft auto is heading to chinatown and the ds.  while there isn’t a lot to this so far except for the title, it’s exciting to see nintendo welcoming a bit more grown up franchise.  not that what ds and even wii has done so far isn’t spectacular, it’s just nice to have a change of pace.

and secondly,  chrono trigger is back.  and no it’s not some emulator and i didn’t dig up an old snes and cartridge on ebay.  nintendo finally came around and made a remake of one of my all-time favs and honestly, one half of the reason i love rpgs to this day.  (final fantasy III on the snes (VI in japan) is the second).  I can’t wait to beat this game, and beat it again, and again, and again, since even back then, they had the vision to give you all your stats and gear back so you had a reason to persue the multiple endings!  here is are some screens on ign.  cue the salavation.

 nintendo also seems to be doing it up big on the wii.  while i don’t own one, i love my time spent with the console and i continue to be impressed by their innovation.  as if yesterday’s announcement of a even more accurate motion controller wasn’t enough, they are taking their already successful wii sports franchise on vacation.  kotaku, the best home for gaming nerdery on the net, has the pics of wii sports resport.  and yes, i do want to play wii frisby with a wii puppy.  does that make me less of a man?  if anything, i would say it makes me more of an american.

but i can’t leave sony out of this nintendo lovefest.  everytime i think i’m out, the bastards pull me back in.  thanks a lot sony.  just when i thought i was going to keep some money in savings for a bit, you have to go out and make the ps3 that much more attainable.  but i’m not faltering yet.  i need something besides mgs4 to get me to drop that kind of cash.  but then again, my stimulus check does come soon since i was part of the last group to have them mailed….snake?  SNAAAAAAAAAAAKE!

we start at boing boing with a double shot from those guys.  first up, is something that might be the best thing i’ve ever posted on here:  an idea vending machine.  seriously.  i get so frustrated with an indecisive group who can’t figure out what do, and i’m just as much a part of the problem when it happens.  but now two quarters solves that problem in an instant.

the second hit from boing boing is a bit late, but i didn’t have time to post.  it’s pretty simple.  iran tested some missles, but then tried to lie about it by putting out some photos that were…doctored.  well, needless to say it didn’t take long for the fierce gavel of judgment to come crashing down on the site of the next season of “the war” coming to fox news, cnn and msnbc this call.  dear iran, you suck at photoshop.  thx, the internets.

in bike news, comes an amazing idea from trek, featured over at gearfuse.  the bike company has come up with the ingenious concept of a biking vending machine/repair station.  the one-stop-shop would have come in especially handy a couple weeks ago when i found myself stuck on the side of the road with a flat.

in something that needs little explination, lazarus has developed wine labels so the blind can get drunk a lot easier.  

in music news, radiohead keeps staying like 5 steps ahead of the pack and this time they are doing it with their music video.  apparently thom yorke and crew decided that they didn’t need cameras for their new video, just lasers.  the pics are amazing and the video should be coming soon behind.

and finally, for the first time since i decided i wanted one and persued tracking it down after christmas for three months, g4 has given me a reason to not want a nintendo ds anymore.

so getting to the title of this entry. there is an apartment in my neighborhood. well there are a lot actually, but i don’t have the time or reason to talk about them all here. this one in particular was special. because in the ground floor window that faced the street on my walk home from one of my favorite restaurants and also a local market, was the man himself. the leader of the autobots and quite possibly the greatest american without an actual heartbeat: optimus prime. and i’m not talking about some new rehash. this was the original. the same one i found in my mom’s closet around christmas of 1986 i believe.

it was always so comforting knowing that the best of the best in all of the transformers kingdom was there watching over the neighborhood. ready for anything. if the decepticons attacked, he would be there. if a dinobot got out of control, he would reign them in. or maybe you just wanted to say hello. optimus was always there for you. but no more. sadly, optimus prime and the other robots (which were cool but not transformers, maybe in training though) has moved on. there is just a curtain there now. and no robots to be seen anywhere.

i mean, sure. over the past almost two years i have lived in my current place, i have grown a lot. and i’m not saying i don’t need optimus there, but i think our little slice of rva is going to be ok. we have good people, and i know deep down inside, if we need prime and the rest of the autobots, they will come to our aid. but i will miss seeing his robot face, smiling at me under that cool looking thing that covers up where his mouth would be.

so one last time, in honor of prime, autobots….transform and role out.

however, i came to realize the real magnitude of internet punch today.  as i was pouring through the many comments awaiting to be approved (read: 62), i said to myself “by golly! we’ve arrived!”  ok, i didn’t say that.  saying “by golly” would be rediculous.  but i did realize, this fame thing has sort of snuck up on us.  how, you might ask?  well let me explain because it would be rude to just tease you without offering a resolution.

so back to the massive ammount of comments and their link to fame.  i used to think that the insurance companies, gambling sites, and other web incarnations that are posting in languages i don’t hablo were just trying to push their own agenda of insuring you, taking your money, and confusing you with their strange dialects.  but no, that is not the case.

it’s obvious to me now, they all are competing to ink a huge endoresment deal with us.  and why wouldn’t they be?  have you been keeping up with this site?  if you have, you are probably are getting calls from your friends, family and work, wondering where you have been. simply tell them “i’ve been in a paralyitic state of entertainment,” and then send them over here.  they will stop bothering you then.

now some of you would might say, “wait just a minute guy.  those are just spammers.  they are trying to use your internet space for free to push their own agenda.”  and i will say to you sir or madaam, stop being a jerk.  first of all, spam is delicious and to try and use it as a put down is just unfair to that retangularish can of meat.  secondly i would say, you are just jealous.  don’t be.  i don’t plan on selling out anytime soon.  i can’t speak the language of half of these posters, i’m very happy with my insurance, and i don’t have any money to gamble because of (insert complaint about gas prices here).

so no worries internet punch faithful.  i’m staying true to the cause.  besides, i don’t do deals that don’t go through my agent (hint:  contact my agent and we can talk money! i’m talking to you hot iron poker dot com!)

first up jeff.  he and i are both avid soccer fans and euro 2008 is currently underway. not to mention the us blasted bardbados on sunday 8-0 in their 2010 world cup qualifier. so today i came home to this message from him on my  computer screen:

jeff: barbados sucks
jeff: i want obama in midfield by WC2010instead of bradley

world cup in usa?  si se puede! that was almost as great as this story my buddy jason im’d me:

jason:  omg. i am in a hippie coffee shop in c-ville and the chick working here was reading some email that she got out loud (she is a loud talker) and apparently someone sent a link to icanhascheezburger. she didnt click it, just said “i dont even eat meat”

man, nothing worse than a hippy.  except a hippy n00b.  lolz.

then there is this awesome link from onerythym.  you might know him from such other interweb hits as this blog.  his awesome contribution while i was at work was this amazing pic of barack obama:

you know how i know he will be a good president?  he is obviously owning that go kart.  if he got stuck on one of the ones that just spins in the middle and gets nailed by everyone, then i would have my doubts.   yes we can, indeed.

the euro 2008 tournament has been amazing so far. since my job is sports and i try and keep home life and work life separate, i don’t usually want to get on that topic here, but there isn’t a ton of soccer talk on our show, so futbol has remained “my thing.” spain is looking sharp (see david villa and his hat trick against the russians), but not nearly as awesome as the netherlands have been. and while i do have a place in my heart for the orange jerseys of holland, spain is my pick. outside of that, the turkey story is really turning out to be amazing as well. they could be this year’s greece.

two weeks away from a trip to new york and i keep adding things to the list of what i want to do. it’s a short list, and i’m going with a lot of other people who i think will all come up with equally amazing things to do so it should be a blast. and somehow despite all the madness, i managed to not empty my back account on a ps3 and become a shut in, hanging out with only solid snake. besides, the rebirth of super dodgeball on the nintendo ds is about all my life is allowing me for video game time anyway. viva espana!

but i mean more like, sitting around at a bar or coffee shop with friends talking about work, the weather, and gas prices.  the other day it was so bad, because i found myself with some of my nearest and dearest at a restaurant and we were talking about the show “friends.”  i never liked that show, but i did work at a tv station that aired it for an hour a night during my shift, so i can’t pretend i don’t know about it.  i was in that conversation too.  when did this happen?

now to the kid part.  last year i had two must-haves in the spring: a bike and a nintendo ds.  i now have both and when you combine that with the manga i can’t stop reading, i’m totally a kid.  i guess it’s a nice balance because i’m not sure if i have ever been happier.

staying in that vein, while it’s been a while since i’ve bought any legos, i still can’t help but get really excited when i see something like johnny 5 made from those magical bricks.   (ps. short circut 4 is rumored to be on the way)

speaking of movies, i watched the trailer for “choke” this morning and you can do if you click that link.   it looks pretty funny even tho the lead guy seems slightly annoying to me.  his best friend in the quasi-creepy neighbor in “me you and everyone we know.” back and forth forever, indeed.

uncrate also took me back today with the unfortunate return of british knights.  i can’t completely hate on this development because i had a pair.  they were like the ones pictured but yellow and white instead of black.  and i mean, highlighter yellow.  that’s the price you have to pay to be the coolest kid in fifth grade.

and finally, i’m not uncovering any real secret here (lol@ me.  i’m clever), but each sunday i really enjoy reading postsecret. frank warren started this project a long time ago.  maybe you;ve never heard of it.  maybe you just forgot about it.  also, his new facebook page offers bonus secrets!  don’t tell anyone or do.

i started to think more about why i’ve been slack on the posts and i guess i have just taken an internet break. i’ve been reading more. trust me, i was just as suprised as you to know they still print words on paper, bind them, and sell them as books. i’ve also gotten back into some comics and that has been really fun. it reminds me of some of my really happy times from high school and college where i could finally just dive into something totally mindless and fun because it was summer and i had no prior responsibility. of course this only applies now to the hours outside of work, but it’s still satisfying.

then also, there has just been a lot going on irl. friends coming and going, vacations, trips, people getting sick and then getting much better, bikes, food, shows, writing, lunches, playing with cats and dogs all over the city. good times. but i have decided to wait for now on the metal gear 4/ps3 purchase. i just figure, with a three day trip to nyc, and an already mounting pile of things to digest (read: books, movies, tv shows, podcasts, music, anime, manga, and video games i already own and have yet to complete or in some cases even play), my money and time can be spent more wisely.

and a good example of that is what i did today. in the ever competing world of internet content, both free (podcasts!) and stolen (stop all the downloading!) , i decided to pay for something that i didn’t have to, but that i greatly enjoy. “the sound of young america” is this great podcast that is also aired on some pri and npr stations around the country. jesse thorn is the host, and he refers to himself as america’s radio sweetheart, which i think is hilarious, but also makes me jealous that i didn’t think of it first.

while i missed the deadline, i e-mailed jesse and found out i could still donate to the maximumfun.org drive. that is the site that that distributes tsoya. if you like what you read here, i know you would enjoy jesse’s work and the guests he talks to as well. either way, my t-shirt comes in six to eight weeks. ^_^

i enjoyed reading about the adventures of johnny bunko a great deal (and i’m not just saying that because the author commented on my blog. but he did! check it!) i think what dan pink does, is really simple yet extremely ingenious. the book is a manga, that has all the style, humor, and antics you would expect in that style of comic, but uses it as a tool to offer career advice. the balance of invaluable information and artistic exaggeration of situations (one’s we’ve all seen if we’ve ever had a job in an office…or really anywhere.)

i don’t want to spoil the tips, because i expect all of you to read the book for yourself. some of the things in there you might be doing, some you might not have realized, and some may seem obvious but even if that is the case, the advice and this abstract career guide offers is great even if it is just a reminder.

if you are a fan of manga or comics, it’s neat to see the style applied to something a little more practical. this book is by no means sesame street, but who says we can’t still learn with our fun? and speaking of the style, kudos to rob ten pas for his artwork. good characters, and all the right touches in the right places. there is no doubt, he is a student of the style. i hope to track down more of his stuff in other manga as well. to save you the googling, hit up www.johnnybunko.com for more info. also, it just hit me that with this being graduation season, it would make a really fun gift.

as far as the lack of posts lately, i wish i knew why that was. i was trying to think of why today, before i wrote this post and i can’t really think of any one thing. if it is an consolation to the handful of loyal readers, i’m behind on laundry, tv shows recorded in my dvr, podcasts, and songs i check out at stereogum as well. i guess the combination of early summer and bikes has kept me outside. i’ll balance things out and keep the posts coming soon enough. promise.

in a double shot form boing boing, we have the mega man bedroom and the mario car.

nothing says happy memorial day like japanese games painted on things.

all the best,
jels

but back to my point. in perusing some of the new movie trailers apple fed me today, i came across american teen. i was a little skeptical becuase for me, it’s been 10 years since i graduated high school, and i keep hearing rumblings (that i try very hard to avoid), about a reunion.

i didn’t have a bad high schoolexperience, and any struggles i did go through were not really about school so much, but just working through lingering issues with my dad peacing out and stuff like that. i actually did really well in high school academically and socially. but i have no desire to go back. i was happy then, and i’m happy now and everything in between is just that. so i think if i can get my hands on a copy or find a theater within 150 miles of here showing that movie, i’m going to go see it on the night of my reunion.

even tho i still think this will play on the typical themes in a more realistic way, i guess that is sort of how it was. it’s just hard to generalize it because we always live in the details. the facebook profile for the movie makes my stomach turn a bit, the poster makes up for it. but still i would almost assuredly bet the house that it will be a much better time.

and i have to share this reader commentary from across the pond. i love great sarcasm (see above paragraph), but when it is published in a newspaper, even better. you might have to enlarge the image once you click it. now i’m off for some sleep. if you hear a loud pop and you are in the mid-atlantic, it was probably me. my head asplode.

being born in 1980, i have come to the realization that simpsons references will hold significance for the rest of the my life, and i’m very ok with that. but the fact that one of my all-time favorites has become a reality, makes me realize what is possible now that i am in the adult part of life. best week ever has discovered good burger (bonus points for the kenan and kel movie reference). june’s trip to nyc just got a whole lot more intense.

with our currency constantly getting the reality-tv makeover treatment, props to this guy over at flickr, who is taking it to the next level. i recommend taking advantage of the sideshow feature.

considering i went back to the country to see mom and grandma today, i should have gotten this belt over at boing boing to fit in.

that is great, but it’s not ultra awesome. however, it is fitting that a blog called ultra awesome, is responsible for an ultra awesome nes coffee table. and this isn’t just style, it’s function. the thing actually works! if you only follow one link today, make sure it’s that one for the full break down.

and finally, cnn is reporting that obama dwindled hillary’s superdelegate count to two. which makes this pic that my buddy jason sent me from icanhascheezburger significant yet again in this race. and now, we must part ways by saying, kthxbai.

wednesday the fishcapades continued with onerythym and i moving up to catfish. he caught two, one being the biggest in the pond probably.  and i was just happy to get the one i got, take the hook out of his mouth, and get him back to the water safely.  his name was winston by the way.  the other two were trevor and denise (her parents, big cosby show fans).

on thursday it was back to memphis for some baseball.  but first, a sneaker quest.  for those of you who know me, and as the rest of you who stick around to read this will learn, i have a shoe problem.  i like sneakers a lot.  i don’t buy a ton of them.  i’m pretty restrained, but i love looking at them, reading about them, and seeing all the cool designs.  but when i do decide to buy a pair, i will go all out to track them down  (including calling a puma outlet store in hawaii.)

so anyway, on the way back form the zoo, we stopped at a galleria.  what is that you ask?  a mall, with a fancy name.  i found this pair of puma’s i liked, but they didn’t have them in my size.   i thought, oh i’ll just track them down when i get home, but when i checked the web later, i found out none of the stores within 100 miles of home had them in my size.  and only one store in my half of tennessee where i was at, had them either.  so at that point, i knew, these shoes would be mine.  and they are.  and when i got home, i realized, they match my cat exactly.  it’s pretty amazing.

so anyway, the baseball was magical.  get at me on facebook for a full gallery there.  i don’t even want to think about the baseball situation in my town after visiting such a top-class facility.  on friday, the week of greatness was closed out with iron man and some steaks on the grill.  go see iron man.  i’m not even going to tell you how great it is.  just effing go.

a super special thanks to onerythym and his family for putting me up for the week.  it was an absolute blast.  everything we did was awesome and i’m already looking forward to the next time.

other than the great outdoors, we started a group on rock band for the xbox 360. our band is called “time fuxorz” and we are currently in amsterdam on tour. today we also at amazing bbq because this is tennessee and that is what you do here. the pigs were smoked for 12 plus hours then drenched with amazing sauce, and served with baked beans, potato salad, and mac and cheese. magical.

yesterday we saw harold and kumar and that was funny. really silly, but good. then we went to my roommate’s 15 minute b-day party thanks to skype and the webcam. also we had a really weird experience at this chinese place. no matter what we did, pay the bill, say thank you, leave a tip, the lady would not stop standing at our table alternating between saying bye and thank you.

saturday the flying part was pretty chill. slight delay in charlotte, but smooth for the most part. on the connecting flight from richmond, a friend of mine from one of the fm stations in my cluster was also headed for a connecting flight in nc, and then i talked with a psych professor from memphis on my connecting flight. he was a really awesome guy. tomorrow is the zoo.