You need to be familiar with H.P. Lovecraft if you want to have any geek cred at all. Here are some links to help you out. Personally, I own the collected and unedited works of Lovecraft from Arkham House Publishers.
Want to buy the unedited books from Arkham House for your geek? You want this one, this one, and this one and you’ll have just about everything he ever wrote. They won’t fit in a stocking but believe me, they are cool. Many of the books you’ll get at your local store are edited pretty heavily. If you are familiar with these books, you can tell who just bought different editions because they’ll use wrong words or quotes. And there is nothing a geek likes more than feeling smug and superior 🙂 .
Word of the year according to Merriam-Webster Inc.? W00t. Yes, w00t. Spelled with two zeros. God help us. This was voted on by users on their site from a list of 20 most looked up words (right after “facebook”). What’s next? l33t? Pwned? President of Merriam-Webster John Morse remarked that the choice reflected the growing use of numbers when typing words. Hey, I’m as geeky as the next guy… OK, I’m twice as geeky as the next guy and honestly, you’d have to look pretty hard to find someone the same geek level as me (level 52 if you were wondering)… and even I think this signals the beginning of the end of our language as we know it. Sure, it’ll sound the same but the way things are headed it will look more like an algebra equation from hell than words. And this is a good thing how? You got me. Well, at least when I spell-checked this post “w00t”, l33t, and pwned showed up as incorrect.
Of course it is subjective. All depends on how much you make right? Not necessarily. Value is almost always a comparison of features and performance compared to other products features and performance at the same price point. Sometimes, there is a comparison to an absolute bar but these comparisons are usually meaningless. Ok… maybe I should elaborate…
Let’s say Joe knows nothing about a topic but he wants to make a purchase. For sake of argument let’s use home theater as that topic. Joe goes into a store looking for a big TV, a surround sound system, and a high def player (he’s seen the commercials after all). Joe has about $1000 to spend (poor Joe, he’s in for a big surprise!). It doesn’t take Joe long to figure out that $1000 isn’t going to get him all the much – especially if he wants that 1080p thingie that he’s been hearing so much about. Joe decides that he can stretch his budget a bit and doubles it to $2000. Now, let’s see what Joe buys and why: Read more…
You and me!
Do a search for HD DVD or Blu-ray sales and see what you come up with. Nonsense, rhetoric, and claptrap. It’s pathetic. Every time I post something about one camp or the other I get at least a comment or two from the other side. “HD DVD is definitely going to win because of the price of the players.” “Blu-ray is the obvious winner: they sell more discs, they’ve sold more players, and Michael Bay loves them.” Well, let’s break this down:
- HD DVD player sales to date – ~750,000 (as reported by the HD DVD camp)
- Blu-Ray player sales to date – ~2.7 million (as reported by the Blu-ray camp)
- Blu-ray outsells HD DVD discs by 2:1
Read more…
I hate them.
That’s right, that’s what I said. Hate. Loath. Detest. Think they are the worst thing to happen to games since… probably since ET was released on the 2600. Why? Not because the ratings are unneeded or unhelpful but because of the “foot in the door” it gives politicians looking to boost their “I’m looking out for your kids because you’re an incompetent parent” image. It’s sickening. Take Manhunt 2 – the whipping boy of the video game world. It’s bad enough that it is an extremely violent video game that is a sequel of a very violent video game. But it had the misfortune to come from Rockstar Games who have been on everyone’s short list for “video game manufacturers that need to be run out of business” over the whole “hot coffee” incident. Read more…
