The Last Candle

Okay, little bit o’ a bloggin break there. Four days for, say, good holiday cheer and relaxin’, then another two days for bad DSL blowout agony. Today, however: an update.

Another Christmas come and gone. Gone, along with several other holidays, I suppose, but this page is all about the Christmas spirit. Or was, at least: now it’s just a shell of fond remembrances, recalling the soft snow and the crackly wrapping paper, the smell of tea and pine needles, flashing camera bulbs and little chocolates brought out of a flamboyant oversized sock. That sort of thing.

Also: gifts. I like to keep birthdays and Christmas gift givings out of the way here. Today, however, an exception: A particularly fine gift received this Jolly Saint Nick Season; a gift that is not only quite rare, but completely awesome and totally white and shiny. (Word is that this beast supposedly plays games or something, which just happens to be a particularly fond hobby of mine.)

And so, without further ado: The Xbox 360.

Quite a beaut, ain’t she? Alright, alright — let this image be the evidence that Microsoft has indeed not restrained the monolithic design philosophy that brought the populace the original two-ton black obelisk Xbox. However, as an addage somewhere goes, it is not what is on the outside that counts — or how much outside is covered — but rather how much cool stuff is packed inside. Join me for brief look at the 360’s innards and performance — you won’t be disappointed.

Since the proud announcement of the 360, Microsoft has made it known that the newest Xbox would move beyond the simple single-use game console paradigm into the world of multi-use set top box devices — recordable TV, media management, and so on. Pretty cool stuff.

What they’ve kept on the down-low is that the Xbox 360 goes beyond the ephemeral, indistinct world of software. That is, the 360 brings new and exciting capabilities to the physical world. No longer is the interface between the user and gaming simply limited to the controller; with the Xbox 360, Microsoft has successfully pushed the veil past the gamer, offering an exciting experience to anyone willing to take part in what the Xbox has to offer.

For example:

Has a console ever had so much storage space? Nay — has any console ever had any storage space? I think not!

As you can see, even though this is a cutting-edge development, the available storage capacity in the Xbox 360 is extremely generous: Not only could I pack in Shadow of the Colossus, a remote control, and a seasoning jar of parsley leaves, I have additional room in which I may choose to place a few fruits or a book. And as a humongous usability boon, when the 360’s lid is down and you forget what you left inside the ‘Box last time, you can peek into the little window to see what your space-age machine holds. So handy!

As the past two images show, there are no port or interfaces on the front of the Xbox 360 at all. While this may seem like a major oversight on the part of Microsoft’s engineers, remember: wireless peripherals!

Now that’s we’ve had a minor look at the ‘Box’s interior, let’s move onto the aesthetic value — a sore point for the original Xbox. After having the 360 sit pleasantly in my living room for nearly three days, I’ve found that the simple and beautiful, almost iPod-esque construction of the console gives my entertainment center a highly-positive aesthetic boost. See for yourself:

A commanding presence, wouldn’t you say? My humble, meager Gamecube lurks a few feet behind the Xbox 360, cables and controllers shaking with fear at the arrival of the new king of consoles, this new giant of gaming.

Here’s another small look into the Xbox 360’s interface. Microsoft has long pursued identity persistance, and the Xbox 360 is no exception: The near-ubiquitous Start button, commonly seen on Windows operating systems, has been given a streamlined, rounded makeover and placed as the 360’s power-up button:

While several of the adjacent buttons from above have obvious functions, others are a complete enigma, a mystery for the Xbox 360’s operation and the potential impact on the entertainment arena. My guess is that something similar to how Xbox Live was initially delayed will occur: Consumers will have to wait a few months to discover what exciting services these additional controls will perform. Still, the smell of free upgrades is wafting down from the horizon!

That’s the Xbox 360 in something less than a nutshell, but it was a nonetheless breathtaking tour. The 360 is truly the frontier of gaming — and beyond! — and I look forward for any ingredients Microsoft will undoubtably include in this already-fantastic machine.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some gamin’ to get goin’.

Whew, my White Elephant recipient on the Shack finally tucked into his box o’ junk. On Monday, the fellow noted that the box was received; once that happens, it’s a tick-tocking clock’s tune down to when the goods inside are spilled out and displayed to the entirely of the Shack — slightly unnerving when you forgot exactly what you sent, and then you get to bluster over it compared to some people getting a package from an employee at iD Software that includes, among the half-dozen games and paraphenalia, an autographed copy of Doom 3. Yowza.

I haven’t received my own box o’ junk yet, but looking at the big list of participants, while only less than half have received, pretty much everyone has sent something out. Most likely the package/envelope/oil drum’s arrival is just a matter of time!

In other news: Hansi, lead singer and co-songwriter of Blind Guardian, says recording for the new album is “on schedule,” but also says that schedule is slightly malleble and “can be stretched (manipulated?) a little, while talking about a Blind Guardian album production, anyway.” Okay, a little waiting can be afforded — but not much, considering that it’s been almost four years since their last kick-ass studio album, A Night at the Opera, was released by this completely kick-ass band.

A timeline posted previously estimated February/March for the single release and April or May for the album. May release date, aye? That’d make a fine birthday gift.

In the news update, Hansi had these, erm, choice words to say about a tune on the upcoming single:

“Fly” is a quite surprising title for a Blind Guardian song, one could think. But it lyrically fits very, very well. This song is about inspirations and how they can influence your art, your life and other people li(v)(?)es(?). I, myself, was inspired by the movie “Finding Neverland” when doing the lyrics. The music is mindblowing. It certainly describes how we look at music and how we see ourselves as musicians. We love to explore and assimilate. Though the song is different, it is pure Blind Guardian. I, personally, consider it to be amongst the best songs we have ever written. It is new!!! It is fresh!!! Wether you will like it or not, you will have to admit that you have never heard anything like that before. Not from Blind Guardian and neither from any other band on this planet.

Emphasize mine, o’ friggin’ course. “Finding Neverland”? “New” and “fresh” for an upcoming metal album? Are they smoking whatever Metallica toked up on before releasing St. Anger?

Alright, I have little doubt that this is going to be a another fantastic cut from the Bards, but the inclusion of Finding Neverland into Guardian’s stuff is a grave departure from their previous content — mostly fantasy-geek stuff, but with great detail, proud homage, and intelligently done.

For instance: the album Tales from the Twilight World contained songs about Dune, Stephen King’s Tommyknockers, and Lord of the Rings (which is in just about every album); Somewhere Far Beyond held a song devoted to fictional city Tanelorn and more Lord of the Rings; Nightfall in Middle Earth is entirely about The Silmarillion; and A Night at the Opera has a plethora of literature and history, with muses about Jesus Christ, Socrates, Galileo, two songs for Homer and the Battle of Troy, one for the character Raistlan of the Dragonlance novels, a tune for Wagner’s Tristram and Isolde, a Nietzsche anthem…and three other songs besides.

Next album: Finding Neverland.

It better be the hardcore, riff-rockin’, chain-smokin’ version of Neverland that we never hear about.

You know, after the greatness that the book series A Song of Ice and Fire has been thus far, I was thinkin’ that author George R. R. Martin might even beat out other author Tad Williams and his excellent Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn for my favorite high fantasy franchise. Actually, those two series sum up the whole of my fantasy readin’ in the past five years, making the battle for supreme series just that much closer!

But back to Martin. I don’t think I’ve ever been excited for a book release as I was for A Feast for Crows. In truth, the pitch of the anticipation was not as lofty as that would be for an upcoming video game — sounds all too particularly fratboy-ish, doesn’t it? — but Crows was greatly looked forward to in any comparison. Extra impact was added to the release by attending a book signing with George R.R. in attendance.

But the book is not very good. Oh, it’s well written, surely — Martin fleshes out his characters and interaction far more realistically and completely than any other author I’ve read. However, Feast for Crows was digested with the expectation that the depth of politics and pace of narration would be similar to that of the previous books — that is, high on the momentum and heavy with momentous occasions. All of the books have started off a little slowly, taking one or two hundred pages (out of 800 or so) to get really movin’, but once the rubber hits the road, the last three-quarters of the book can be easily inhaled within two or three days. Just plain captivating.

Here’s roughly how my experience went with A Feast for Crows, however, using a fairly accurate outline:

• Page 0: Woo hoo! New Song of Ice and Fire book! It’s even got my name inside the cover with a signature and catchphrase (“Enjoy the feast”) and everything, courtesy of that fine Mr. Martin! Woo hoo!
• Page 100: Starting slow, same as usual. Same great stuff. No stoppin’ here, no ser!
• Page 200: More developing. Things are taking shape, lookin’ good! The action is on its way, no doubt!
• Page 300: Alright, we’re still busy with the crankshaft. The motor’s startin’ to purr, though.
• Page 400: What’s with all this wandering around? Half of these people I don’t give a damn about. The other half, however, are headin’ for great things! Keep it up!
• Page 500: Seriously now, George: Just kill off the boring people and let us enjoy the interesting characters. I know you’re not afraid of axing a main character or two.
• Page 600: Wait — wait — something big! We’re on the move, and about fargin’ time!
• Page 699: WOW! What a twist! What a move of finesse! Finally, we get to the good stuff after only—
• Page 700: [Book ends.]

Sigh. A Dance of Dragons comes out in 2006, and it better be one hot salsa number to make up for this one.

Tonight was the night where I would figuratively plunk down the plastic for the last bout of Christmas shopping. First, however, I needed to make a visit to the good ole’ banking company’s web page and relieve the credit accrued on my poor $500 credit limit. Prior to checkin’ out the statement, I was amazed that was the first time during this month of high wallet-pillage I’ve needed to pay it off. Just damn good money management, I guess!

As it turns out, the easiest way to avoid hitting your $500 credit limit when you thought you were over is for the bank to triple your limit without letting you know. Thanks, USAA! Guess I proved so handily that I could handle a five hundred samoleon ceiling that USAA felt obliged to serve up the next big exam in responsible life: Can he keep to a sudden and unannounced $1500 limit during the busiest shopping time of the year, a time where he might have hoped the lower limit would regulate excessive spending? Three weeks ago, little did I know that my pencil was already to the paper.

I also decided to take a look at the status of my checking account tonight.

It’s time for a beer.

At least I have some comfort knowing I’m the only soul on this mortal coil using my precious credit card number, thanks to the search provided by this handy utility. Whew!

Fighting against my inhibitions towards most movies these days, I feel inclined to take a trip to the cinema to see King Kong or The Chronicles of Narnia, or both at some point. I thought my quarterly appetite to see a movie was filled by the newest Harry Potter film, but Peter Jackson and a translation of a highly notable children’s tale are trying to turn me back into a movie buff, if only for a weekend or so.

Still, even with Peter Jackson at the helm and Weta behind the scenes, King Kong just looks like another big goofy monster movie. That’s what the critics are saying, too, although the critics are also commenting that Kong is a particularly good monster movie. While I like my action films as much as any other person (I used to be a big fan of dumb films; Bruckheimer and Bay’s Armageddeon was my favorite action film for many years), I’m much more, ah, picky with my picks. Most recently, my focus is on a solid story and really strongly emotive characters — and not in the “fringe drama” over-reactionary sense of emotive — and while Kong probably features a gigantic, beautifully rendered CG ape, the narrative and characters seem like they’d be second-fiddle to his royal Kong-ness. Or maybe Kong makes a better personality that most live action actors, a la Gollum? Andy Serkis plays both characters, so there’s some hope there — but only a smelly ape’s hope.

Also, the movie is three hours long, giving Jackson more than enough time for one or two or two hundred development scenes to soften the moments between Kong batting Cretaceous beasts around with a sequoia. But again: three fargin’ hours for this film? To get Kong from duking it out with a T-rex in the jungle to cold-cocking prop planes from the top of the Empire State Building? Actually, that sounds pretty awesome, but I don’t know about waiting three hours to see it all happen — unless the show is non-stop giant ape boxing action!

I’ve got faith in Mr. Jackson after the Lord of the Rings films, but man, three hours for a monkey movie smacks of cinematic bloat. I guess I’ll find out whether the film actually is full of fluff soon enough. Or not.

As for Narnia, two reasons: CG animals, and Disney at the helm. The first reason is probably not a huge issue — movies, at least big-budget ones, have come far enough to get the CG to look realistic enough to avoid a disconnection between the live action and the generated stuff (read: Gollum). That one lion fellow in the trailers looked fairly sharp, at least, although there’s a wide divide between getting a main character correct and getting an army of secondary character composed of fantasy beasts like satyrs, griffons, and, uh, porcu-pigs or whatever to look “correct.”

And then for the second reason, Disney. In short, I’m skeptical of anything this mega-company gets their hands on these days, and I have not seen or been interested in seeing a film Disney has produced and overseen since the animated Tarzan in ‘99. Since then, there hasn’t been a single film they’ve helmed that’s been exciting or particularly worth checking out in any form. (Pixar films are not included in this bunch. The Incredibles was awesome.)

But after this particularly banal track record of recent years, they decide to import one of the great classic children’s stories, one rife with allegory and symbolism, and it’s expected to be respectable? This is akin to if John Woo (of the Mission: Impossible 2 era, not of the world-changing Hard Boiled era) decided to pick up Casablanca for his next symphony of destruction. I do not have faith in Disney’s huge, heavy white hands.

Then again, Naria’s critics say the flick is fairly well done. If Disney’s done something right in the cinema these days, maybe I should take my sorry film-hating tail to the theater to witness the rebirth in action.