Got accused of bias (and poor writing) again today. Just gives me that warm funny feeling. The warm fuzzy feeling that having an antisocial basement dwelling shut-in whose sole contact with the outside world comes from forums and Internet porn can give you. Iâ..ve read so many things online and off and Iâ..ve never thought I was such an expert (even on the topics that where I AM an expert) that I felt compelled to belittle an author. I might offer additional points of view or the occasional pat on the back but the GALL it takes to question the ethics and intelligence of someone you donâ..t know is just appalling. Of course if youâ..ve spent all 19 years of your life listening to your mom tell you how handsome and smart you are and that the girls will come around and that those guys at the food court â..just donâ..t get youâ.â.¦ wellâ.¦ perhaps your perception of the world is a bit skewed. I just have to laugh at these guys. They think Iâ..m writing directly to them. That from my writing they â..knowâ. me. I dare any of them to guess my favorite type of music. Iâ..ve made sure throughout my Audioholics career NEVER to specify. I donâ..t think Clint or Gene could guess. But go ahead and continue to think you know me. Feel free to continue to send those comments in. One day Iâ..ll put them together in book. The Collected Emails of Ignorance or How the Internet Killed Manners or What Guys Do While Theyâ..re Waiting for Their Mom to get Them Pizza Pockets. Personally, I know where this is goingâ.¦ my first stalker. You know youâ..ve made it when you have to have a fan dragged off by the police when you find them in your bedroom sniffing your socks.

Holy crap this game rules. I can’t believe this is a early generation Xbox 360 game. I just can’t believe the graphics. The whole thing looks like a cut scene to me. If this is one of the first gen games (released just one year after the launch), you KNOW that in a year or two the games are going to be mind blowing. The 360 is my first system since the PS1 so forgive me for gushing but the more I play this game, the more impressed I am. The atmosphere, the sound effects, the everything… It just all works together to create such an immersive experience. I haven’t been this impressed with a game since Metal Gear Solid. And the cut scenes are incredible (lifelike movement, lips that almost track with the dialog). Just incredible. The voice of Lance Henriksen doesn’t hurt at all. Of course, I suck at it but that will change (I hope). If I can ever get Clint online again we’re going to test out what I think is sorely lacking from Halo 2 – co-op play over Xbox Live. Running around killing each other is fun and all but playing through the game together will just rule. I can’t wait.

Read this. You know, you’d think I’d get a free subscription being a reviewer and all but NOOoooOOO! $17.99 is too much to dole out. Of course, I’ve never asked. But whatever. Read the discussion thread and see how people still think we are shrills for Netflix. So we can’t like something? We can’t be satisfied customers? What’s up with that? I’ve rarely had a problem with scratched/missing discs and Netflix has always taken good care of me. But since I’m a reviewer I must be in the pocket of Netflix. Right. My integrity is a LITTLE more expensive than $18. That’s the hardest part about doing this job, if something is really good, and you say so, people think there is something going on. Believe me, if it sucked, I’d tell you. That’s my job.

So I made my first Podcast yesterday…

This was a “practice” Podcast to test out my skills. Took me the better part of the day. For a while, the Home Theater Alliance has been talking about this. Well, mostly Clint and me. And he suggested that I do it because, well, he wanted irreverent. I’m not sure I can do irreverent by I CAN do sarcastic and mean. If I can tone down the mean, I think you end up with irreverent… at least that’s the plan. I’ll probably put at least one more together before I “go live” mostly just to work out the kinks. I’d post the Podcast here but my mic is so God-awfully crappy that it is unlistentoable. There is this high pitched squeal that is coming in either from the fan or the hard drive of my laptop. The only way to listen to it without extreme discomfort to use your laptop speakers as they so attenuate the high end that it doesn’t come through.

So, the next step is to get some better equipment and to make a first podcast for Gene to hear. Clint seemed to like it so I think we are off to the races. I’m going to try to use the desktop to see if that helps the noise problem. If not, all this work I’m doing will never see the light of day because of the poor audio quality. The name of the Podcast? Well, you’re here aren’t you? We bought the URL yesterday and started working on it but it’s still a work in progress. It’ll probably be a weekly podcast at least at first. We’ll see how it goes.