Somewhat Manly Nerd

Blizzard may have started up their Starcraft II beta yesterday, but I wasn’t invited. Luckily, the newest installment of turn-based digital crack was announced today. And it’s already up on Steam.

I haven’t even spent NEARLY enough time with Civilization IV. Of course, it’s not like I need to buy its successor when it comes out — but I won’t be able to help myself. I’ve had 12 years to play Starcraft, and got plenty of time out of it back in middle and high school. Civ4, on the other hand, I only bought about a year ago. I think I’ve only actually finished one game of it; I also have played maybe 15 hours on another massive session. But that’s not nearly enough. A game like Civ4 deserves a triple-digit number of hours dedicated to it; that’s an amount of time I’ve only given to a small handful of games — namely Starcraft.

But enough of me lamenting over time wasted not playing Civ4. This is about the future. This is about HEXAGONS.

Look at those pretty, more strategic things. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities, and gives the PC gaming elite boners across the world. I can’t say I have much experience with hex-based gaming, but it intrigues me greatly. I. Am. Excited.

And I mean Blizzard. This has nothing to do with white stuff falling from the sky.

Emails were apparently sent out today for the closed Starcraft 2 beta. I did not receive an email. This is bullshit.

What do I need to do? I signed up for the beta day one (I think), I uploaded my computer specs, and I registered my Starcraft Battle Chest and my Warcraft III and Frozen Throne keys. Did I need my Diablo and Diablo II keys? Would that have gotten me in? Do I blame my dad for throwing out a shitload of PC game cases I had piled up that included those two games? Do I have him to blame for extending my wait to experience the game I’ve been anticipating for a dozen years? Just tell me. TELL ME. WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?!?

I guess I can give up Starcraft II for Lent now, though. Unless of course I get an email in a later wave — then all is forgiven. And Starcraft II is chosen over God.

Time for stream of consciousness on being surrounded by DVDs and Blu-rays and video games and books. While intoxicated.

I really expected to be more drunk tonight after the shots of Jose Cuervo with Tabasco sauce I downed tonight. Perhaps the latter combats the effect of the former, who knows. I nonetheless did have a fun Mardi Gras celebration, complete with aforementioned shots and Jumbalaya. And now I will complete it by adding a post to my blog in which I explore the feelings and thoughts I have regarding the relatively massive collection of entertainment I have in my room.

I have a lot of DVDs. Somewhere near 150. Actually, it’s closer to 350, since a lot of the DVDs I have are actually TV sets. I’m just going by my DVD Aficionado account with these numbers. It’s a lot. There are certainly people out there with many times more, but for a not-filthy-rich 23-year-old, it’s a pretty big collection, I think. My Blu-ray collection is lifting off the ground too, starting the whole cycle again.

And movies and TV shows on physical media aren’t the only form of entertainment I like to spend too much money on; I like my video games as well. Buying games on Steam is probably the worst, since I can’t resell them. Even books — do I need a library of books that I will probably never read again?

All this shit, all these movies and games and books — I like buying them because I like sharing them with people. I like having the ability to pull these things off my shelf and give them to someone who’s interested. I want to be able to pull Curb Your Enthusiasm out and expose a person to its greatness for the first time. I want to be able to lend A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again to someone unacquainted with David Foster Wallace. I want to watch The Godfather with the one person I know who hasn’t seen it.

These opportunities just seem to be drying up. Perhaps because I still live at home and I do not wish to have anyone spend their time in my bedroom smack dab in the middle of my parents’ house. Maybe because most of my friends have seen a lot of the stuff I’ve seen. Maybe because no one fucking cares, including myself. I find myself with a collection of shit that I truly have no need for. I want to sell most of it.

I think this all might be tainted by the lost hope of wanting to share all of it with someone, or maybe just the happiness that person brought. I would have liked to watch everything with this person, but at the same time I would have been happy just being with the person without any of the shit around me. Either way, without that person, I hate the pile of shit around me. I hate all of it and would trade all of it for her. But that won’t change anything — except my bank account. But maybe that’s enough?

I have the insatiable urge to know as much as possible about everything fucking thing. I want to be knowledgeable about movies. I want to play as many games as possible so I can say I’ve played them. I want to read voraciously both for my own knowledge and also for conversational purposes. So I don’t go back to stuff I’ve already experienced often. I am all about new experiences (apparently not when it comes to weekend hangouts, though). So why should I own all these things if I’m not sharing them? I have no goddamn idea.

Radiohead – True Love Waits (live)

I was going to pick something a bit more obscure, but I’ve never posted this song before and I’m sure there are at least SOME people out there that haven’t heard this. And by some people I mean clueless teenagers. It’s not on any of Radiohead’s studio albums, but surely everyone over the age of 17 has heard it. I guess I’m just making sure — since everyone 18 and up obviously reads my blog. Perhaps I should comment on Valentine’s Day?

Usually I would be one to rip on the holiday, but I think Valentine’s Day hate is getting played out. Apathy is the new hate. I just do. not. care. that I will not be spending today with some special lady. I’m sure this sentiment will change at some point during the course of the day*, but that would just cement it as any other day. Does this signal personal growth of some kind? A scary possibility, I know. But then I think about making a joke about having sex with a virtual Yvonne Strahovski in Mass Effect 2 for Valentine’s Day and I breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that I’m still an idiot.

Man, Mass Effect 2 is awesome. And I don’t need to buy it anything for some random holiday. Now watch my 360 break. That would be a bad Valentine’s Day.

*Yep, that was quick.

I could have made this a “Valentine’s Day Edition”, but fuck that. I’ll just dedicate the Song of the Week to the holiday that makes lonely girls eat lots of ice cream and chocolate.

I Enjoy Watching Curling – Brewed Sports says curling reminds him of baseball. I subsequently end up watching curling purely due to this statement.

Hipster Puppies – The picture captions make the site. Well, that — and the fact that it involves dogs.

The 7 Somewhat United States of America – A pretty interesting take on collections of people across the country using Facebook. I guess it’s not all bad.

NYPD World Trade Center 9/11 Aerial Photos – Amazing (if you can call them amazing) “new” photos of the collapse of the twin towers. Seriously, it looks like a volcano erupted.

Under the Milky Way – The sci-fi and astronomy geek in me absolutely loves these posters and wants to buy every single one. I’d be all over The Sun poster if it were available to buy.

Yes, this is real. I think this just beat the Jump to Conclusions Mat as the worst idea ever.

Remember when I asked for a spoof of the Google ad during the Super Bowl ending with “divorce lawyers”? The internet listened.

via AutoComplete Me

Peyton Manning pulled a Favre. Did anyone see that coming? That inception may not have been the last throw he made, but it might as well have been.

It’s amazing how little I have to say about this game. Maybe I’d have more to say if I could gush about Peyton Manning being the GOAT, but that’s kinda impossible when he was outplayed by Drew Brees, who was absolutely perfect. A QB can’t do much better than 32-39 for 288 yards and 2 TDs. If it weren’t for that pick, maybe Peyton would have. Or if Garcon caught that one pass. You know the one I’m talking about.

Seriously, I’ve got nothing. Uh, Reggie Bush didn’t do much. That I know. And my friend won 100 bucks in his pool. That was cool.

So is New Orleans officially rebuilt now? Did this Super Bowl win just make the city OK finally? Can we move on?

I really should work on getting more non-baseball links, but I can’t help myself. Edit: Hey, I did!

This Tweet in Baseball: Your Weekly Update on the Sport’s Twits – Walkoff Walk puts together a collection of amusing and inane tweets from people in the sporting world.

Does it matter that the Yankees keep buying pennants? – A long post ruminating on the Yankees’ massive payroll and what it means for baseball. The comments make the discussion pretty interesting.

Viva El WAR (Part 1: Hitters) – A fantastic rundown of the hottest baseball stat in the land from the #1 Cardinals blog on the internet. No doubt Cardinals fans love WAR due to it being just another way to quantify Albert Pujols’ greatness.

Super Bowl XLIV Ads – Not even sure why I’m linking this, since every American already saw how much they sucked. I expect spoofs of Google’s ad shortly. May I suggest one that ends with a search for “divorce lawyers in paris”?

Best (And Worst) Cities to Find Love – Hey, Valentine’s Day is in a week! This list sucks though. The three biggest cities in the US — New York, Chicago, Los Angeles — get Ds for ‘Social Life’ due to their formula depending on a ratio, not total number. I can maybe understand the singles ratio part, but restaurants and bars? Come the fuck on.

Sarah Palin’s Keynote Speech: Now With Tea Party Illustrations! – I really wish this post looked how it did in my Google Reader with no need to click on each individual picture. Nonetheless, I think the stupidity is still worth a look. And no, I do not subscribe to Jezebel, someone shared it with me, I swear!

The Secret History of the Birthers – How the movement associated with insane right-wingers actually started on the left. This is why I hate politics.