One hundred MILLION dollars

You've probably heard this already - Lindsay Lohan is suing E*Trade over a commercial that she feels "misappropriated her name and personality." She is asking for $100 million. Here's the commercial (I think..... I don't have audio on my work PC so I'm taking a stab):

Lindsay alleges that the commercial is damaging to her reputation, despite the fact that nothing specifically references her. One quote that I found particularly intriguing:

Ms. Lohan's lawyer, Stephanie Ovadia, said she has heard from many people willing to help her prove her case. "They've said that Lindsay [Lohan] was the first person they thought of when they saw the commercial," Ms. Ovadia said. "People seem very willing to help."

News flash, Stephanie: Your client is a drunk animal. There is a reason people think of Lindsay Lohan when they see that commercial. E*Trade isn't damaging Lindsay's reputation and image - Lindsay is damaging Lindsay's reputation and image. She is not well-known for humanitarian work; if that was the case, people wouldn't make the connection.

Hulk smash!

I'm angry and need to vent before I punch a hole in the wall. I run a small multimedia production business in addition to my full time job and with my other responsibilities, the only way I can get caught up on my production work is to move all my editing equipment into the kitchen. I know it sounds weird but it's an easy central place where I can get work done while still watching my kid.

A few weeks ago, I put together an intro to Caesar's Community Pulse podcast (which I would highly recommend, it's a great way to keep up on major site events and updates without doing goofy things like.... you know.. reading). Due to time constraints and software issues I produced it in the matter of a couple hours but in all honesty I'm not at all satisfied with it. Caesar is putting a lot of time into his podcast and I just feel like I half-assed my end of a major project.

So today I have the whole day to myself and figured it's about time to re-record the intro. I compiled new music and sound effects and started grabbing sound bites from Podcasts 1 and 2. This was the most time consuming section - consolidating about a dozen 1- to 2-second snippets from 2 hours of audio, editing as I go.

I'm cranking along, so far about 2 hours in. I'm in a groove and focused on this role. All of a sudden, the monitor goes black.

Remember I said I've been doing this in my kitchen? Unlike in my editing office, power is an issue so I have to run a power strip with a long cord across the kitchen floor. Rather than step over the cord, my mother flipping dog stepped on the half-inch-wide power switch on the power strip. This of course shut down power to the PC.

As an "older gamer" you probably played those old Sierra games, ALL of which reminded you to: "Save early, save often". I've retained this old adage for years and even saved early in my editing project. But I made the mistake of not saving often (or at all since I saved the initial project bin).

I turn the computer back on re-open the editing software. It tells me that a project closed unexpectedly and did I want to resume working on it? Yes! I became optimistic as I clicked the affirmative. The project opened back up and there are all my files - EXCEPT the goddamn sound bites I've been working on for the last two hours. Because they were all extracted from two much larger files, they didn't save as seperate files and were therefore all gone. Two hours of work essentially never existed.

I immediately closed down the software and went outside for a few moments. I started writing this because if I can tap hard enough on the keyboard, then maybe I can release enough aggression that I don't have to take it out on a wall or miniature pinscher.

I may go upstairs where BC2 is sitting in my PS3, and start dropping mother fuckers with my sniper rifle. And maybe tomorrow I'll start this project again.

We a bunch of f***ing crybabies

... present company excluded, of course. By "we" I mean gamers in general.

Since I got my tax refund a couple weeks ago and paid some bills, I was tossing around the idea of buying a PSP. I've wanted one for awhile and several newer games have made me more interested. I liked the PSPgo, the more compact (and UMD-less) version with a 16GB hard drive, but didn't want to spend the money on that AND a game.

Then I saw a new promotion that helped me make up my mind: Free copy of Little Big Planet or Assassin's Creed when you buy the PSPgo between 2/18 and 3/21. I did a bit of research online and picked one up.

But this isn't about the PSP. The link above is to Sony's blog announcing the promotion and comments from the anonymous internet public. First, the promotion is for new buyers (like just about every promotion in the history of fucking commerce). Second, the free game is automatic - if you're under 17, you get LBP; 17 and older, you get Assassin's creed. Not a big deal if you've bothered to do your research, but Sony could have done a better job at communicating that in the promotion.

Which brings me to my point: Six pages of comments proving what a bunch of whiny pussies gamers are:

"I purchased at launch, am i getting one??? No!
Thats right sony giving us the finger yet again for supporting a risk they took."

"Geee thanks for ripping me off Sony."

" I better get a choice of the game or the PSP goes back to BestBuy."

"False advertising. Lawsuit."

"the way you have treated me with the PSP (sub par games, ridiculous prices for handheld games) you almost FORCE me into piracy."

"Thanks for the slap in the face SONY."

"This will probably get me banned but Sony you are a bunch of cowards. The way you treat your customers (the sheer reason you have your jobs) is ridiculous."

The list goes on, and on, and on. Six pages of comments reeking of the stench of entitlement. It's as if they never bought something that went on sale six months later. It almost makes me ashamed to have bought a PSP - are my testicles going to fall off now?

Oh, and to wrap up Sunday night's blog: PS3.

God I hope this doesn't make me a Sony fanboy.

Decisions, decisions.......

A plea to the developers out there:

Stop. Just fucking stop it already.

I have been a PC gamer for probably 20 years now. 3 years ago, when a bunch of my friends were all buying Xbox 360's, I bought one of those too. in 2008 I gave my wife a Wii for our second anniversary. In 2009, within a week of filing my taxes I found a great deal on a PS3, and couldn't pass that up. And just a few months later (August) I needed to upgrade the ol' PC again so so I invested in a gaming laptop that will hold up for a while.

And then just last week I caved to Sony's "free LBP when you buy a new PSPgo" promotion.

Long story short, when a great game comes out, I have more than enough hardware to support it. Even if it's an exclusive like Forza 3 or God of War 3, I can't use that as an excuse.

I have a full time job and a toddler. My wife works second shift so weeknights I am solely responsible for maintaining the kid's schedule and taking care of everything else around the house. I usually have less than 2 hours of "me" time each night. When I can, I play games. But I am really having a very tough time fitting it into my schedule here.

So in about 26 hours, it will be Tuesday here on the east coast. Tuesday, March 2, the official release date of BF:BC2.

I am just starting to get used to MAG's controls.

But when Battlefield 2 was released for PC, I played the crap out of that game. From what I've seen of BC2, it makes BF2 look far more obsolete than it is.

So please, game developers, give an old man a break. I am spending way too much money and time trying to catch up on these " must have" games and in the end, I can't dedicate enough of my attention to these games you develop. And you leave me with some extremely difficult choices to make.

Like, for example: On Tuesday am I buying the Xbox, PS3, or PC version of the fucking game?

Tiger Woods' whore and a media whore

The former is Veronica Daniels, better known in the MILF-porn circles as Joslyn James and one of Tiger Woods' many whores. And the media whore is Gloria Allred, who is now representing the porn whore (and one of Tiger's other whores) demanding that Tiger apologize - get this - to his whores for... actually, I'm still not quite sure for what. While Tiger's personal life should really be personal, we have all seen it become a media circus and what media circus wouldn't be complete without Gloria Allred?

Anyway Whore 1 and Whore 2 held a press conference after Tiger apologized. They feel that while he is on Apology Tour 2010 he needs to acknowledge the rest of the people he stuck his penis in, because they deserve an apology more than anyone else.

So the media whore went on Sean Hannity's show alongside Jeanine Pirro who has clearly taken the more rational side. The first five minutes are really just introduction - Jeanine Pirro chimes in around the five minute mark, and then around 6:30 it starts to get AWESOME.

Catfight! Catfight!

I've always thought Gloria Allred was a twat but this interview just confirms it.