Chilled Monkey Brains

Top 5 Grooviest Firefox Extensions

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 05:58:07 GMT

I haven't jumped on the Chrome bandwagon yet, so I still think Firefox is slicker than two eels humpin' in a bucket of snot.

Even though my favorite part of Firefox is the add ons, I've come to realize that I'm taking the precious little thing for granted. I just think of them as part of Firefox, use them, and throw them away like a kleenex or a hooker with a glass eye. OK, maybe not that last bit, but when you really think about it there's something very cool about having so many useful free apps to add to your browser.

It wasn't that long ago that you could have any functionality you want with Internet Explorer...as long as Microsoft bothered to include it in the program in the first place. No skins, no add ons, just plain old IE and its "special" way of rendering HTML.

So, here's a shout out to some of my favorite Firefox add ons. Does it sound stupid when I say "shout out"?

1) Twitterfox - I use it to update Twitter. It tells me when new tweets come in and it's reasonably unobtrusive. That's the "less than 140 characters" description.

2) Foxytunes - I like to listen to music while I'm doing stuff online and with a reasonably large iTunes library I tend to forget what the hell I've got in my collection. Foxytunes lets me see the artist and song title at the bottom of my browser as well as letting me pause, stop and skip tracks (among other things). I can also click on the song title and get some information on the artist, song and album. That last function has been hit or miss for me, but I still love this one and use it almost daily. It supports a suprising number of audio players, from Foobar 2000 to Windows Media Player (and nearly everything else in between).

3) Flagfox - This one is kind of silly but fun. It displays a little flag in the address bar that shows me the location of the server on the site I'm visiting. Useless but still fun and easily ignored if you lose interest.

4) Scribefire - A blog editor I've just started using. I'm still figuring out what it can and can't do, but it seems like a fairly simple way for me to maintain both Livejournal and Blogger. I'm not sure why I'm keeping up two blogs that nobody reads, but at least this makes it easier.

5) Download Helper - Lets me yoink Flash (and other video) as well as some streaming audio from websites. I don't use it often but sometimes there's a flash video that I really want to save for posterity.

So, what are some of your favorites?

Radiohead's "Creep" covered on a Ukulele. Seriously.

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 07:50:27 GMT

That's Amanda Palmer playing "Creep" on a Ukulele, which she apparently does more often that most. The funny thing is, I think it actually works.

Shadowrealm Reviewed

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 07:42:02 GMT

I finished Paul S. Kemp's book, "Shadowrealm", a few days ago and posted a review on Amazon.com. I'd imagine the review will be posted up there in a day or two. I'll post a copy here as well in case anyone is interested.

I'm too tired right now to say anything particularly eloquent, but this was a book that managed to choke me up a little bit in a few parts. This was one of the few books I've read lately where the ending went exactly where I felt it should logically, yet was still incredibly satisfying.

For those of you keeping track (I don't think I'm even keeping track) the first book I'm reading for 2009 is Simon Scarrow's "Under the Eagle". It's historical/military fiction set in Germany around 42 AD. The book has some problems with "point of view" but I can tell it's going to be a light, fun read. It reminds me a bit of a book about Pullo and Vorenus from the HBO TV series "Rome"; come to thnk of it, that's probably what motivated me to pick it.

Edit: Still cross-posting from Blogger. Unfortunately, I'm still doing it manually.

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Listening to: Ennio Morricone - L'Arena
http://foxytunes.com/artist/ennio+morricone/track/larena

Send lawyers, guns and money

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:04:57 GMT

Nah, that's OK. Just be sure to visit me @ chilledbrains.blogspot.com/.

New (to me) Promo for Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse"

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:27:05 GMT

I somehow managed to miss this promo from Joss Whedon's new show "Dollhouse". I'm really excited to see the show but I'm already mourning it's demise since Fox has scheduled it on Fridays, AKA the genre show graveyard.

The video is fairly self-explanatory, but the short version of the show is Shady Corporation has a group of young women who can be "programmed" with complete personalities and skills and then hired out to take care of various tasks, some less savory than others. The "dolls" all have their memories wiped clean after every job.

The protagonist, Echo (all of the women are named for the NATO phonetic alphabet), slowly starts to gain her memories back in between the wipes. I'd imagine she won't be too pleased with the whole thing.

Here's to Fox giving this show at least as many episodes of "Firefly". Joss Whedon must be a hardcore masochist for working with Fox again.

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Now playing: Clutch - The Soapmakers
via FoxyTunes

Big Trouble in Middle Earth

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:41:48 GMT

Wow. I just played the Xbox 360 demo for Lord of the Rings: Conquest. I realize it was just a demo, but for such an A-List property from a formerly awesome developer (Pandemic) it really seems like a half-ass, button mashing waste of time. The game is coming out in a month or two, so I can only assume that what I played was representative of the finished product.

It's supposed to be a third person action game recreating major battles in the Lord of the Rings books. It's supposed to allow you to play battles from both the good and evil sides. The idea of being able to play the charge of the Rohirrim on the Fields of Pelennor and then switching over to controlling the Balrog is just awesome; that makes the failure to execute this game even more of a shame.

At least the demo was free and I saved myself the $60 it would cost to buy the game.

By the way, definitely check out the song listed in the Foxytunes link listed below if you want to hear some authentic pirate/sailing songs. Be warned for a 200+ year old tune it's incredibly filthy. "The Good Ship Venus" is another fun one. We all know what "Venus" rhymes with.

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Now playing: Hal Willner - Gavin Friday / Baltimore Whores
via FoxyTunes

Hung over without the Fun Bits

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:31:43 GMT

I managed to sleep through the New Year festivities, but woke up at just the right time to ensure that I couldn't sleep all night.

I got a few hours of fitful sleep but now I feel severely hung over. I wasn't even drinking! How the hell can I miss the good times (good TV theme song) and still get the shitty part?

I'm going to try to chill out, take a nap and listen to Video Games Live. Every time I hear the music from Halo it makes me feel like strapping on some Spartan power armor and kicking some serious alien ass. How geeky is that?

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Now playing: The Dresden Dolls - Sex Changes
http://foxytunes.com/artist/the+dresden+dolls/track/sex+changes

Destro in '12

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:41:31 GMT

I still don't feel like my vote for the Commander was wasted.

Kick my ass from thousands of miles away!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:56:47 GMT

Through the magic of technology!

So, I finally managed to get an Xbox 360. Feel free to add me to friends list and join the legions of 12 year olds, blind people, quadriplegics and "special people" who have kicked my ass in Halo 3.

Oops

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:53:27 GMT

For anyone who's interested, here's the link to some song samples on Amazon for the "La Mar Enfortuna" CD I mentioned in the last post.

Oh, yes. I did.

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:49:07 GMT

Pandemic Studios is getting ready to release the next game in their "Mercenaries" series. It's a very open sandbox type game where lots of things blow up in a variety of satisfying ways. Anyway, the commercial they've been airing lately has a song that's both really stupid and catchy at the same time. It's been stuck in my head for a day or two, so it's become my mission to pass it on to as many people as I can.

If you're looking for music that's actually good, I can definitely recommend "La Mar Enfortuna", an album of Sephardic Jewish songs by Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow (from the bad Elysian Fields). Jennifer Charles sings like an angel and Oren is a very talented multi-instrumentalist. It's on John Zorn's Tzadik label and can be found on Amazon.com but probably not in your local Walmart. They're modern takes on some very old songs and the album cover itself is almost worth the price of admission.

Exercise or torture?

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:16:37 GMT

Determined to get back in shape I've started some fairly simple exercise.

I've started off just doing some Hindu Squats and push ups. The squats are a really good lower body workout and surprisingly good cardio. Some say that they're bad for the knees, but I've had no joint pain from doing these.

The Hindu push ups are, for me at least, incredibly difficult. I can definitely see how this will help with atrophied shoulder muscles and also get some good flexibility.

Check out Youtube and you can find some good examples of these exercises. They're very effective and you can do them in the privacy of your own home (naked, if that's your thing) without any equipment.

Also, started reading Ed Gentry's book "Neversfall". I've only read two chapters but it seems quite good so far and it got the Paul Kemp seal of approval so I think it's going to be a good read.

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Now playing: Aesop Rock, Del Tha Funky Homosapien & Think Differently Music - Preservation (Featuring Aesop Rock & Del Tha Funky Homosapien)
via FoxyTunes

More Star Wars "Force Unleashed" love

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:46:32 GMT

OK, so it appears that Mike was correct and "The Clone Wars" movie turned out to be about as enjoyable as using your wang for piranha bait.

The new Star Wars game from Lucasarts, "The Force Unleashed", still looks to be forged of pure 100% Grade A ass kicking awesomeness. I don't see a lot of actual game play footage in the attached clip, but the cut-scenes look great and the game play sounds very ambitious. It actually reminds me a bit of one of the more underrated Xbox (original black brick, not white take-out food box) game I can think of: Psi Ops.

The beauty Psi Ops was the way you could use the various psychic abilities (telekinesis, pyrokinesis, remote viewing, mind control) to find multiple ways to take on the game's challenges. You could play the game as a plain, old shooter and in that regard, it was purely mediocre. Once you started using your psychic abilities the game just transformed.

Let's say that you've got some standard FPS mooks keeping you from advancing to the next area of the game.

You could take out the poor bastards by blasting them with your gun, but it was much more interesting to set one of them on fire, pick him up using telekinesis and then chuck him at his buddies.

Say you were pinned down on a narrow bridge by some bad guys who just happen to have good cover all the way at the other end of the bridge. You could just charge them with guns blazing and hope for the best, OR you could pick up a big metal crate and use telekinesis to create your own floating shield and then, when in range, toss the massive projectile right on top of those pesky minions cowering behind their sandbag barrier.

I won't even begin to try to describe how much fun it is to use your mind control on an unsuspecting and heavily armed guard.

I'm hoping Force Unleashed encourages this same sort of flexible game-play. Then again, it could be another Lucas crap fest.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones makes me want to bitch slap Ubisoft

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:01:03 GMT

That may be a bit of an exaggeration, and "The Two Thrones" is certainly better than the previous game, "The Warrior Within".

Still, I've hit a part of the game where the difficulty suddenly jumped from a difficulty level of "just right" to "impending stroke". The difficulty, at least in part, comes from some really wonky camera and controls that seem fine in the platforming and puzzle parts of the game but really hinder the combats.

It's a shame, since the game has been top-notch up to this point. The crappy difficulty really pulls me out of the narrative and doesn't seem to be necessary at all.

As soon as the Xbox 360 price drops hit I can play some GTA:IV and Bioshock. That should help ease the trauma of PoP: Two Thrones and I'll still forgive Ubisoft if they make a sequel to "Beyond Good & Evil".

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Now playing: Black Light Burns - Cruel Melody
http://foxytunes.com/artist/black+light+burns/track/cruel+melody

Avoid Helix like Genital Warts

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:07:29 GMT

I've read more than a few tales from authors who received some fucked up rejection letters but this is something I've never seen before.

The editor of a speculative fiction magazine called Helix actually sent a rejection letter with the words "sheet heads" referring to characters of Middle Eastern descent. Mind you, this is language from a so-called professional.

The really amazing this is that this Sanders guy (the editor) has the gigantic brass balls to try to call the author out for actually posting the email.

It appears the moral of the story is that it's OK to use racist language as long as you think it won't actually reach the people you're referring to. The racism, cowardice and subsequent denial of the whole thing (taken out of context, indeed) shouldn't surprise me, but it still does.

James Lipton frightens me a little bit. OK, quite a bit.

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:41:49 GMT

Actually, this is probably one of the most clever ad campaigns for a movie in recent history. There are actually a ton of these little ads, but the James Lipton ones uh...resonated the most for me. I find him deeply, profoundly creepy. Like Larry King creepy.

Edit: Boo-yah!

Sorry, Wizards of the Coast. It's not you, it's me.

Fri, 30 May 2008 08:05:15 GMT

This thought just kind of hit me in one, great sleep-deprived blast.

D&D 4th edition is hitting streets in about a week and I don't care at all. I'm not even sure I want to care.

When 4E was announced I started off skeptical, moved on to slightly hopeful and then slowly back to skeptical as more information was released about the game. Now I don't even bother to read the previews that are being released.

It's odd to think about how much I've enjoyed the various editions of D&D over the years and yet I don't really have any feelings at all about the new incarnation. Maybe something will spark my interest in it or my gaming group will try it and it'll grow on me.

People seem to like it and it certainly looks like 4th Ed. is going to be a huge hit so I suspect I'm in the minority among D&D geeks everywhere.

Oh, well. Maybe there's a new edition of Boggle coming out that I can get myself excited about.

Tough to Beat?

Thu, 29 May 2008 07:33:03 GMT

Comcast really sucks, but I find this commercial hilarious. I would probably still beat that prehistoric beaver thing to a pulp just to show Comcast that they can't make up for shitty service with funny videos of cavemen and cute mutant animals.

I wish I had thought of this.

Sun, 25 May 2008 07:24:38 GMT

I also wish I had the artistic ability to create something like this too.

It's an odd coincidence that I just happened to see "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas" on TV last night. No one seems to be quite sure who created this, but it most recently appeared on the video game blog Joystiq.

Some twisted little (or maybe not so little) part of me wants to see Dr. Gonz...uh, I mean Dr. Luigi after he's taken a huge hit of ether.

Oh, that's a good one.

Sat, 24 May 2008 09:09:55 GMT

I believe the Communist party has now, officially, taken the front running for the World's Biggest Balls award for 2008.

This Reuter's article chronicles their righteous indignation over their portrayal in the new Indiana Jones movie.

Seriously. I'm talking about the one with the magical crystal skull and a 65 year old man smashing through the windshield of a truck unscathed. Apparently, the pulp villain in the movie just doesn't represent the kind, gentle, kitten-loving Communist party that ran an entire country in to a hole that they've yet to climb out of, imprisoned and murdered their own citizens pretty much for any reason under the sun and were responsible for at least one major act of genocide and often managed to mix more than a healthy dose of greed in with their Socialism (go figure...corrupt politicians).

So, they're offended by this movie and have threatened to cut it off from the coveted Russian film market.

In case you think the Soviets got a bad rap, just look up the Holodomor, which was denied by Soviet Union until the 1980's. The Ukranians are still a bit pissed about it, I think. The Soviet government starved about 3 million people to death but apparently, they don't seem to think that makes them the " bad guys".

In an unprecedented turn of events, the Russian Communist party may even steal the STFU Award from the German government and their work to ban a violent video game (Gear of War 2) due to excessive violence against alien invaders. Clearly these acts of digital violence against aliens may result in actual violence in the real world.

I was a history major in college, but I'm a bit rusty. What was that violent video game that half the German populace was playing back in the 1930's?

Dancing with the Stars is suddenly a little bit less lame.

Wed, 21 May 2008 06:29:27 GMT

I'm sure your all a bit broken up about Jon pulling a Hemingway over an empty pan of lasagna.

Just watch this clip from Dancing with the Stars and...what did I just type? This may sound like I just recommended running over your testicles with semi truck, but bear (or bare, I'm down with that) with me here.

Ozomatli inexplicably brought their blend of incredibly fun blend of latin, funk, rock, hip hop and Other Stuff and excellent musicianship to the mainstream in a big way by performing live in Dancing with the Stars. I suppose they weren't exactly underground before, but this is some pretty major exposure.

Death and Lasagna

Wed, 21 May 2008 06:08:54 GMT

Apparently, the Garfield comic strips become a lot more interesting when you remove the orange cat from the images. It's a bit of a shame, since it shatters my dreams of a nationally syndicated comic strip based on the later years of Howard Hughes.

I suspect that somewhere out there is a strip where Jon finally leaves the house, only to come back with a half empty plastic jug of vodka and a box of shotgun shells.

Why don't you sit for a spell and take in a bit of Jon's hopeless battle with mental illness and his courageous disregard for personal hygeine?

Confirmed - Healing Surges in 4E Still Bug Me

Thu, 15 May 2008 06:18:55 GMT

Someone on the Giants in the Playground forums posted a link to scans of the pregenerated characters from the first 4th Edition D&D adventure.

The paladin has a power called "Paladin's Judgement" that basically helps to heal an ally by attacking a foe. This has bothered me since the beginning of the 4E rules talk. It's probably just my own mental block, but I just can't wrap my brain around the fact that beating someone like they owe me money is going to heal one of my allies.

I realize that it's a fantasy game and this is a divine power, but I'm still looking for a compelling "why" for this. Unfortunately, the flavor text for this power doesn't add anything in the way of explanation.

New Video from Puscifer for "DoZo"

Mon, 12 May 2008 05:10:54 GMT

Somehow I missed a new video from Maynard James Keenan's band Puscifer. I blame blackouts or alien abduction; maybe blackouts caused by alien abduction. That would explain the missing time and my sore ass.

The video is some pretty cool computer generated stuff from a guy named Meats Meier. '

Yeah, Meats.

Uh, anyway. He's got a lot of art on his site, including some animation and creepy but beautiful desktop images. You can find Meats here.

You can find the actual video after this cut. It's probably not work safe, and I wouldn't watch it if you're easily offended. Or just watch it and be offended. Either way is fine with me. I've placed it after the cut to keep you from getting fired when your boss walks up behind you while you're watching it.

Poking the Bear

Mon, 05 May 2008 04:22:05 GMT

That sounds dirty, doesn't it?

Actually, I'm talking about the grating sense of entitlement that's sprung up on EnWorld with the announcement of the GSL for D&D. I don't know why I even bother reading the Open Gaming forums on EnWorld and it makes even less sense to respond to some of the things posted there.

The new licensing, it turns out, is a much better deal than I thought we were going to get. A week ago, I wouldn't have been surprised to see Wizards release 4th Edition as a completely closed game or one with a license granted to only a select few publishers for a hefty fee.

Instead of being pleasantly surprised at the new license being nearly as open as the OGL, it seems that a vocal minority have already started whining about the closed license and trying to figure out ways around it. It's incredibly annoying (to me, at least) and reminds me of Jim Ward and Fast Forward Entertainments various "fuck you" moments with the OGL and Wizards many years back.

Luckily, most of the people whining about Wizards not letting them to play with all of the cool toys probably won't actually be involved in publishing anything. Still, something about this particular brand of ass-hattery just rubs me the wrong way. It's times like this that I feel bad for people like Linae Foster and Scott Rouse, despite them having gamer dream jobs.