Let There Be Rock

I have been playing a LOT of Rock Band 2 lately. I originally thought about waiting for the instrument bundle (which is out in a couple of weeks) but after seeing the 80+ song setlist (not including DownLoadable Content + 98% of Rock Band 1 songs), I had to break down and buy the game. EA decided to release the stand-alone game separately for the 360 on September 14 (about a month before the instrument bundle and the PS3) and since I already have the drum set from the original RB + my favorite wireless guitar (GH3 wireless Les Paul - which is compatible), I went ahead and made the purchase. I haven't looked back since. Out of 50 possible achievements, I have 39 so far with many others close to being done. I can't count how many hours I've spent playing these songs on guitar, bass, drums and, yes, even singing with the microphone. So much variety. Heck, look for yourself:

Rock Band 2 On-Disc Track List:
Artist Song Title Decade
1. AC/DC “Let There Be Rock” 1970s
2. AFI “Girl’s Gone Grey” 2000’s
3. Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know” 1990’s
4. Alice in Chains “Man in the Box” 1990’s
5. Allman Brothers “Ramblin’ Man” 1970’s
6. Avenged Sevenfold “Almost Easy” 2000’s
7. Bad Company “Shooting Star” 1970’s
8. Beastie Boys “So Whatcha Want” 1990’s
9. Beck “E-Pro” 2000’s
10. Bikini Kill “Rebel Girl” 1990’s
11. Billy Idol “White Wedding Pt. I” 1980’s
12. Blondie “One Way or Another” 1970’s
13. Bob Dylan “Tangled Up in Blue” 1970’s
14. Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer” 1980’s
15. Cheap Trick “Hello There” 1970’s
16. Devo “Uncontrollable Urge” 1980’s
17. Dinosaur Jr. “Feel the Pain” 1990’s
18. Disturbed “Down with the Sickness” 2000’s
19. Dream Theater “Panic Attack” 2000’s
20. Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf” 1980’s
21. Elvis Costello “Pump It Up” 1970’s
22. Fleetwood Mac “Go Your Own Way” 1970’s
23. Foo Fighters “Everlong” 1990’s
24. Guns N’ Roses “Shackler’s Revenge” 2000’s
25. Interpol “PDA” 2000’s
26. Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song” 1980’s
27. Jethro Tull “Aqualung” 1970’s
28. Jimmy Eat World “The Middle” 2000’s
29. Joan Jett “Bad Reputation” 1980’s
30. Journey “Anyway You Want It” 1970’s
31. Judas Priest “Painkiller” 1990’s
32. Kansas “Carry On Wayward Son” 1970’s
33. L7 “Pretend We’re Dead” 1990’s
34. Lacuna Coil “Our Truth” 2000’s
35. Linkin Park “One Step Closer” 2000’s
36. Lit “My Own Worst Enemy” 1990’s
37. Lush “De-Luxe” 1990’s
38. Mastodon “Colony of Birchmen” 2000’s
39. Megadeth “Peace Sells” 1980’s
40. Metallica “Battery” 1980’s
41. Mighty Mighty Bosstones “Where’d You Go” 1990’s
42. Modest Mouse “Float On” 2000’s
43. Motorhead “Ace of Spades” 1980’s
44. Nirvana “Drain You” 1990’s
45. Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky” 1960’s
46. Panic at the Disco “Nine in the Afternoon” 2000’s
47. Paramore “That’s What You Get” 2000’s
48. Pearl Jam “Alive” 1990’s
49. Presidents of the USA “Lump” 1990’s
50. Rage Against the Machine “Testify” 1990’s
51. Ratt “Round & Round” 1980’s
52. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give it Away” 1990’s
53. Rise Against “Give it All” 2000’s
54. Rush “The Trees” 1970’s
55. Silversun Pickups “Lazy Eye” 2000’s
56. Smashing Pumpkins “Today” 1990’s
57. Social Distortion “I Was Wrong” 1990’s
58. Sonic Youth “Teenage Riot” 1980’s
59. Soundgarden “Spoonman” 1990’s
60. Squeeze “Cool for Cats” 1970’s
61. Steely Dan “Bodhitsattva” 1970’s
62. Steve Miller Band “Rock’n Me” 1970’s
63. Survivor “Eye of the Tiger” 1980’s
64. System of a Down “Chop Suey” 2000’s
65. Talking Heads “Psycho Killer” 1970’s
66. Tenacious D “Master Exploder” 2000’s
67. Testament “Souls of Black” 1990’s
68. The Donnas “New Kid in School” 2000’s
69. The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat” 1980’s
70. The Grateful Dead “Alabama Getaway” 1980’s
71. The Guess Who “American Woman” 1970’s
72. The Muffs “Kids in America” 1990’s
73. The Offspring “Come Out & Play (Keep ‘em Separated)” 1990’s
74. The Replacements “Alex Chilton” 1980’s
75. The Who “Pinball Wizard” 1960’s

Bonus Artist Bonus Song Title Decade
76. Abnormality “Visions” 2000’s
77. Anarchy Club “Get Clean” 2000’s
78. Bang Camaro “Night Lies” 2000’s
79. Breaking Wheel “Shoulder to the Plow” 2000’s
80. The Libyans “Neighborhood” 2000’s
81. The Main Drag “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter” 2000’s
82. Speck “Conventional Lover” 2000’s
83. The Sterns “Supreme Girl” 2000’s
84. That Handsome Devil “Rob the Prez-O-Dent” 2000’s

Pretty righteous, no? Games like Rock Band (and the Guitar Hero series) have opened the musical world to me and I have discovered many new bands and songs from bands I already know and love. I'm actually getting to the point where I like the Rock Band series more than the Guitar Hero series. Strangely enough, Rock Band's publisher Harmonix created the Guitar Hero series. They developed the original, Guitar Hero II, and Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80's (a lesser known but still awesome expansion exclusively on the PS2). They handed the publishing rights over to Neversoft for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock I assume because they'd already started development on Rock Band. In all honesty, I'm glad they switched to Rock Band because the idea of a full-band game is full of awesome. In my opinion, the Guitar Hero series has been playing catch-up ever since - especially with Neversoft's latest offering: Guitar Hero: World Tour. It's basically a Rock Band clone except that it has the look of a Guitar Hero game. Everything else you can trace right back to the original. I love both games and I'll likely be purchasing the GH:WT bundle when it hits shelves at the end of October. I just can't get enough of these games.

But I'll be taking a break from RB2 tonight so I can get back into some Halo 3. Ah, the ways I fill my evenings.

I Put A Wig On You

Almost a week since I've been in here. Lots of stuff going on this week. First and foremost, surely you saw this. And don't call me Shirley.


Highlight of my career. Now if Angela could just visit us down here at KFDX. Honestly, I'd brag about that for a long time.

Otherwise, things have been good. OU is back at #1 this week after a mildly convincing game with TCU. Our offense still put up respectable numbers, but I'm afraid I won't be impressed until we beat Texas. The Horns look better and better every week. I hope we don't end up looking past Baylor. They don't appear to be a pushover either.

The Cowboys, on the other hand, looked like complete pushovers against the Redskins. At home. Huge kick in the teeth. Romo couldn't complete a pass to save his life. I'm surprised he managed three touchdowns. A divisional loss will always come back and haunt you. Hey, the New York Football Giants won a Superbowl at 10-6 last year. It could always be worse.

Xbox Live is down today. Looks like I'll be taking a break from gaming for at least 24 hours (shocking!) and maybe even go to bed on time tonight! No Rock Band 2, no Halo 3, no Force Unleashed. What WILL I do with my time? Hopefully something constructive.

New Big Bang Theory tonight. What a great show. I relate to those guys in so many different ways. Not so much in their intelligence levels but more in their level of nerdiness. I think I'd fit in well. I missed the new Project Runway (yes, I watch it. Get over it.) this past Wednesday, so a double-header awaits this Wednesday. The Office season premiere was frikin' hilarious. My favorite part though? Jim and Pam getting engaged. I guess Pam is off the market now. Sad face. The Grey's season premiere, while it was an extended 2-hour episode, was still pretty good. They picked up right where they left off. However, vice-presidential debates = no new Grey's this Thursday.

While I'm not a fan of the show "Chuck", I hear these fellows are making an appearance tonight...



Happy face.

[SUPERINTENDENT]: “PLEASE REMAIN CALM!”

>> (.) \ VTT TRANSCRIPT AS FOLLOWS...

I've always been hard on myself. I'm not sure why. The thing is, it's not just in one aspect of life. It's in many. Goodness, where do I start? My professional life/career, my social life (or lack thereof), friendships, relationships (lack thereof), and even over the most unimportant things (video games, for example). I never believe that I'm good enough. Smart enough. Talented enough. Funny enough. Good enough looking. Decent enough. Well, you get the picture. I've been told on numerous occasions from objective viewpoints that I'm too hard on myself. I know I am, I just don't know why. To digress a bit if I may, I was playing Rock Band 2 last night and came across "My Own Worst Enemy" by the popular 90's alternative band Lit. The two-line chorus sums it up pretty well. Excuse the language.

It’s no surprise to me I am my own worst enemy
'Cause every now and then I kick the living sh** out of me.

Yep. That's basically it. Sometimes I feel like I'm so hard on myself that it's like I'm just kicking myself repeatedly. But the question remains - why? Perhaps I'll find out one of these days. In any event, perhaps I can take some encouragement from my two favorite New Zelanders. Jemaine wrote a song for Bret to cheer him up when he was having self esteem issues on my new favorite show, Flight of the Conchords. Observe.


That's something you can take with you. Maybe I have it going on. Then again, maybe not.

One positive note about today, September 23, 2008: Bungie released the newly-revealed update for Halo 3 known as "Mythic." New maps. (30) New achievements. New skulls. The good thing is, all the achievements are attainable in social OR ranked matches. Unlike the original achievements which, for the most part, could only be done in a ranked free-for-all match. I'll never get those.

That's all for now. Keep it clean, people.

\ ~ QUERY COMPLETE

\ ARCHIVE CLOSED \>

Save the Cheerleader. Save the World.

First and foremost: 27-16. 3-0.


Now, I'm not a fan of NBC's Heroes so I'll explain why I used a promotional tag from said series shortly.

It's been a fun past few days. The Sooners had a bye week this past weekend (you gotta slow down the scoring somehow) and as a result, my brother decided to make a trip here to the Falls from Norman. I'll be honest, I don't have many visitors to my humble abode (and why would I?), so it was nice to have company for a few days - especially my brother. Whether it's in person or over Xbox Live, we always have a good time. Such was the case this weekend. I was able to take a day off work last Friday so he could come down on Thursday evening (it's nice not having class on Friday). We spent most of the weekend on the 360 blazing through some Guitar Hero II & III co-op, which is something I don't ever do because of the aforementioned lack of company. The Halo series also received lots of attention. Travis and I work well as a team so we typically play a lot of Big Team Battle or Team Slayer. I'm not much of a Lone Wolves kind of player. However, Halo 3 was actually on the back burner most of the weekend because we decided to plow through the entire campaign of Xbox originals Halo and Halo 2. I'd forgotten how great those games were and it's unfortunate they're frequently lost in the swarm of Halo 3. I guess the online gaming revolution is part of the reason why. Games with a single player campaign as their primary focus are a dying breed in favor of multiplayer deathmatches (which aren't bad, don't get me wrong). It's why I'm always on the lookout for a new FPS with a solid story as its focus. But I digress.

Travis also has a knack for finding some of the best TV shows I've never heard of. Case in point: Flight of the Conchords. It's an HBO original series and as I stated in my previous post, it's hard for me to stay away from those. The Sopranos, Deadwood, and Entourage just to name a few. I own each of those series on DVD and I'm pretty sure I'll add Flight of the Conchords very soon. It's a little hard to describe the humor as it's not your typical "sitcom" you see on prime time network television but it also doesn't fall into the British Comedy category that I thought it would. It follows two aspiring, yet struggling, New Zealanders/best friends/band members Jemaine and Bret (and their band manager/New Zealand Consulate, Murray) as they acclimate to New York life trying to find gigs to showcase their music. The show isn't for everyone but I absolutely loved it and will likely purchase Season 1 at some point.


All in all, I had a blasty blast this weekend. I'm hoping to take a trip to Norman in the not-to-distant future for a football game and, you know, general merriment. I always love going back to Norman to try and somehow relive my college days.

Oh, the quote. Right. Well, like I said, I don't watch Heroes but after hearing over and over about the 3-hour premiere tonight, I figured I'd share a little story. I was actually able to meet Hayden Panettiere (Claire Bennet on the show) and get her autograph. She's a very sweet girl (and very good on the eyes) and was happy to sign autographs for those of us with a ticket after standing in line for 3 1/2 hours. It was totally worth it.


Quite lovely, indeed. :)

I also managed to finish up the World Tour on Rock Band 2 a mere week after buying it. There are still TONS of songs and achievements I want to get but now I can spread it out over the next month (until Guitar Hero: World Tour hits) and time-share it with The Force Unleashed. It's an exciting time to be a gamer.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the Emmy Awards last night. While I think 30Rock is overrated, it was nice to see my boy Jeremy Piven (the one and only Ari Gold on Entourage) take home a statue.

Flute of the Commodores.

I can't stay away from HBO shows. Flight of the Conchords. The newest.



More on that and the weekend to be published soon.

You're Cute.

So I just thought I'd share my celebrity crush with everyone. :)




The lovely Jenna Fischer. A.K.A. Pam Beesley of "The Office". Yes indeed.

Outta Sight.

Ninja Cat Comes Closer Without Moving.



Lolcats

iLove. Me Some Me.

I just wanted a win. The last Monday Night Football game in the legendary Texas Stadium couldn't have been scripted in a better way. I experienced so many emotions watching the game last night. Overflowing happiness, frustrated anger, temporary disappointment, you name it. In fact, there were times I was so frustrated that I turned on Rock Band 2 to get my mind off of the many Cowboy blunders of the first half. I ended up watching the end of the game on TV and I'm glad I did. I'm thankful the defense decided to show up on the last two drives by the Eagles or else the Cowboys would be sitting at 1-1 with the Skins. The road doesn't get any easier from here with a trip to Lambeau Field looming Sunday night. Football Night. In America.

Monday felt weird. I didn't take my usual lunch break. Instead, I went to lunch with an associate from AccuWeather to talk about our current weather operating system. We ate at Logan's Roadhouse (on AccuWx's tab) and it was quite a hearty lunch. I didn't eat the rest of the day as the meal came in between my usual lunch and dinner times. Long story short, I ended up staying at the station until 3:30 to talk over business garble and immediately took a nap when I got home. It was nice to open the windows with highs in the upper 70s. I needed some rest as I was preparing myself for the midnight launch of The Force Unleashed, the newest Star Wars game on the Xbox 360. I mainly wanted to be at the midnight release to nab one of these:



I'm a sucker for - 1)action figures and - 2) exclusive items. That being said, it was nice to have the game fully paid off so I could collect this sharp-looking figure. The collecting bug has bitten me of late, now I'm restructuring my budget to fit it in. Thankfully, bills will be a little easier to pay over the course of the next month and a half thanks to an extra paycheck in October. That'll help me save for Christmas presents.

I'm also preparing to get a resume tape together. Be praying about that. It's kind of scary.

Kitchen slash Bathroom

I don't blog much. Maybe I'll just start putting down random thoughts. Yeah, that's sounds good.

Finally, the weather cooperates this week. I mean, as much as I love Seattle weather (every rain drop and every inch of gray sky), I'm actually excited this week to see highs in the upper 70s and mid 80s with nothing but sunshine. I'm confused by my recent infatuation with this beautiful weather. I guess I wouldn't want rain all the time. :)

I bought Rock Band 2 yesterday. It only cost me about $5 because of the magic of trading in old games and systems and turning them into profit. It works quite well. I also have a copy of The Force Unleashed on reserve and fully paid off thanks to said magic. And with Guitar Hero: World Tour out at the end of October and a few other games on the horizon this fall/winter, it's going to be an exciting next few months in gaming.

Sooners win. 3-0. Cowboys hopefully go 2-0 tonight at home against the hated Eagles in the last MNF game at Texas Stadium. Hopefully Dallas quells my fears about their performance tonight and pull out the victory. I'm not asking for a rout, but a convincing win wouldn't be a bad thing.

Again, random, but hopefully (as I've often said) more consistent.