The Man in Blak

Beat it in four hours. No, I'm not kidding. I beat it in four hours on my first run through, and that's even with my token hour of running around and blowing stuff up bastard-style that I usually have in every Metroid game. It's ridiculously short. And I'm not really keen on the "plot twist" either. It's a great game and everything, but I'd say it's probably the weakest in the series.

I'd like to believe that, but the cynic in me says it's because Cash was renowned as a "country artist" and his death was "last year." I don't want to take anything away from Zevon, who was a great artist, but I was actually quite offended that they were able to roll out special tributes for the Beatles (with Harrison dying) and Zevon, but left Cash's passing as a footnote in a highlight reel. I guess they had to make sure there was extra time for both of Beyonce's performances.

Even though Whatever and Ever Amen has the best known songs, Reinhold Messner is probably his best overall album. Not really a weak song on there at all.

Errrr, well, I'll definitely say that Weapon X is an interesting read since, if for no other reason, it's a book where absolutely none of the characters are sympathetic or redeemable. The tone of characters switch from issue to issue and the writing varies from decent to down right awful ("let's make a mutant concentration camp...and have nobody except for X-Force alumni do anything about it!"). If you enjoy odd "bad guy" books that have decent art, but not much else, you should check out Weapon X. Otherwise, save your money (and/or download time).

Are these Gamecube rips actually CD image files (like .ISO or .CUE)? If so, you may be able to use Daemon Tools to dock the image onto your computer without worrying about burning to disc and dealing with cumbersome CD Drive access times. That being said...pirating the Gamecube is a little silly. At least with the Dreamcast, you had the excuse of many of the games having low print runs.

Please tell me there's another way. I don't want to have to spend three days recompiling a kernel just so my graphics card can work.

An old man turned ninety-eight He won the lottery and died the next day It's a black fly in your Chardonnay It's a death row pardon two minutes too late And isn't it ironic...dontcha think It's like rain on your wedding day It's a free ride when you've already paid It's the good advice that you just didn't take Who would've thought...it figures Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye He waited his whole damn life to take that flight And as the plane crashed down he thought "Well isn't this nice..." And isn't it ironic...dontcha think It's like rain on your wedding day It's a free ride when you've already paid It's the good advice that you just didn't take Who would've thought...it figures Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you When you think everything's okay and everything's going right And life has a funny way of helping you out when You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up In your face A traffic jam when you're already late A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife It's meeting the man of my dreams And then meeting his beautiful wife And isn't it ironic...dontcha think A little too ironic...and yeah I really do think... It's like rain on your wedding day It's a free ride when you've already paid It's the good advice that you just didn't take Who would've thought...it figures Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out Helping you out

Fine, JERRY Lewis hobbles onto the field and tackles Brady, giving him a concussion. Does it really fucking matter?

And then, in the preseason, during Brady's only series, Ray Lewis slams him into the ground on a sack, giving him a concussion. Or how about tearing an ACL? That'd put him out for most of the season. Maybe if someone came and blindsided him and tore his right bicep in mid-release? Seriously, it's the NFL. Brady is good and he has the opportunity to be something special, but the league is far too volatile for you to have any grounds to declare, without a shadow of a doubt, that he's going to win three more Super Bowls.

Yeah, pretty much what he said. It's evolved into glorified streetball, with the occasional European player attempting to bring actual skill into the game. I'm not even going to touch the officiating, which has degenerated into being a couple steps short of "booking" NBA games. Just embarrassing - Jordan, Bird, and Magic should be disgusted to see the game that they built being reduced to this. Runner-up: NCAA Football, who is somehow the only sport on the planet that refuses to crown a definitive champion.

If they're smart, they'll do everything they can to keep Steve Smith. He was a step short of being a frickin' highlight reel for the NFC playoffs, and it's obvious he's got a rapport with Delhomme.

I don't think they overpaid Davis at all, considering that he was the primary reason that they clinched in the regular season...but I'll admit, he certainly seemed to be lacking a little bit of oomph in the Super Bowl. Carolina's going to have quite a controversy on their hands next year, considering how DeShaun performed down the stretch. As it stands...it's just another kooky win for the Patriots. They did it to the Rams and they did it to the Panthers. My theory is that they're just paying off Karma for being on the receiving ends of one of the most devastating Super Bowl losses of all time. In reality, the Patriots are going to be ridiculous next year, with Colvin healthy and everybody else gaining confidence from this amazing season. Just phenomenal performers on defense and playmakers on offense (including the most underrated corps of receivers in the NFL, in my opinion). On another note, I think this kind of shoots that whole "NFL has too much parity" deal down, considering that this is their second Super Bowl win in three years, and their third appearance in the last ten years. Sure, the game was tight, but if the NFL was truly as random as everybody would have you believe...it would have been the Redskins and the Jaguars in the big game this year. Hell of a Super Bowl...and I'd love to see a rematch next year.

Obviously, this has been a phenomenal success. If you remember, my original post was actually somewhat grounded in the fact that a lot of the crap threads in NHB were taking a toll on the server, in terms of space and bandwidth. But, I'll admit, that doesn't necessarily mean that NHB will be the ultimate solution. Other than that... I appreciate the effort of going through and digging out the great threads from NHB, but I still believe that many of those could exist in General Chat. Am I going to go through each and every single thread and frantically search for any sign of flaming and trolling to prove myself wrong? Er, no. Especially not on a Saturday Night, with a beer in hand. The issue isn't that there haven't been good threads. The contention is that those good threads could have existed elsewhere (though, I admit, I can't really prove that) and that, for every good thread, there's at least ten threads that are garbage. That, however, is a matter of opinion. As it stands, there's no sense in arguing about it. If anybody else has an opinion on it, they'll vote and post accordingly; I, on the other hand, have said all that I need to. The post was originally meant to be a suggestion. I'm not going to type up a 50-page manifesto and storm out just because HD is allowed to exist. I just thought that could be a possible solution to some of the problems...which is why I posted it. If the vote convinces the mods or Dames enough to do something about it, they'll do something. If not, I'm sure they'll say something. Either way, I said my two cents and people reacted, positvely and negatively, which means that it was probably good to bring it up for discussion.

You didn't hear me say this, but if you've got a good broadband connection, just go on DC++ and download some runs of issues from the comics hubs. That's how I've been catching up. Otherwise, there's an absolute crapload of X-Titles out there now. From what I've glanced over, you'll probably want to check out New X-Men (after the Here Comes Tomorrow storyarc comes out...because they're right, it is confusing as hell). Emma Frost is actually a decent read too, even though it's more of a teenage drama than your typical action comic. Other options: Uncanny X-Men (which I believe Claremont is returning to write again), X-Statix (which used to be X-Force) or even 1602 (which is an "medieval Elseworlds" deal for the Marvel Universe that's written by Neil Gaiman). From what I've heard, most of the other books (Agent X, Wolverine, X-Treme X-Men, X-Men Unlimited) aren't worth the paper they're printed on. One thing I'm not sure of: the Ultimates line, which I guess is some kind of ultra-action alterna-verse versions of some of the popular Marvel comics. That could be worth checking out, perhaps.

I'm not saying dump NHB because it lacks intelligent conversation (though I did express disappointment in how it had turned into a troll breeding ground). I'm saying dump NHB because it's redundant. Look at the first post that I made in this thread, Banky. Any of the good threads from NHB could exist just as well in General Chat. Do you even have a response for that? For the love of god, you're not getting censored. A hundred people aren't going to be following you around and telling you how to post at Underground Smarks because that's your place. But if the moderators (and the posters) of TSM feel like the garbage from NHB is entirely unnecessary and that the good elements of NHB can live in General Chat...then they've got the right to get rid of the folder - it's their community too. Question: what is keeping you from doing those threads in GC? It's General Chat. It has had threads like "The Person Above You Thread" - how is it somehow "smarter"? The people who are worried about the stupidity of NHB spreading into the other folders may have a legitimate complaint, but everybody else who is basically saying that TSM WOULD BE BANNING FUN IF THEY BANNED NHB~! are making absolutely no sense. Seriously, take a second, relax, and think about it - give me a legitimate reason why the fun that you have in NHB is somehow unattainable elsewhere.

Jin Kazama (Tekken) vs. Kung Lao (Mortal Kombat) Rock Howard (Fatal Fury) vs. Vega (Street Fighter) Ken Masters (Street Fighter) vs. Geese Howard (Fatal Fury) Hwoarang (Tekken) vs. Blanka (Street Fighter) Yoshimitsu (Tekken) vs. Iori Yagami (King of Fighters) Heiachi Mishima (Tekken) vs. Raiden (Mortal Kombat) Kyo Kusanagi (King of Fighters) vs. M. Bison (Street Fighter) E. Honda (Street Fighter) vs. King (Tekken) Axel (Guilty Gear) vs. Sagat (Street Fighter) Chun-Li (Street Fighter) vs. Akuma (Street Fighter) Haohmaru (Samurai Shodown) vs. Ryu (Street Fighter) (damn, what a wretched draw for Haohmaru) Mai Shiranui (Fatal Fury) vs. Marshall Law (Tekken) Ky Kiske (Guilty Gear) vs. Wolfgang Krauser (Fatal Fury) Fulgore (Killer Instinct) vs. Rugal Bernstien (King of Fighters) Shang Tsung (Mortal Kombat) vs. Terry Bogard (Fatal Fury) Felicia (Darkstalkers) vs. Kibagami Genjuro (Samurai Shodown)

Dump it. Out of all of the threads in NHB, any "cool" thread that is just based on goofing off could serve just as well in General Chat...which leaves - trolling (which burns up resources and has absolutely no appeal to other members of the board) - circle jerking (which, frankly, is equal to trolling for all of the people who aren't "on the inside") - flaming (which, with all of the rules imposed on the folder, isn't even a worthwhile option) Just trash it, delete the threads started by PBPs, and consolidate the rest into General Chat.

Yep. She was a member of one of the gloriously awful lineups with Captain America, Dr. Druid, the Black Knight, and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

... Do I even want to ask?

The girl with the lightning bolt is Ms. Marvel, IIRC. The girl in the fire suit is Firestar and the guy jumping in the background is Justice, or Vance Astro - they're both the "reservists" that were recruited from the New Warriors.

And, ironically, Tony Stark would be the deciding vote when the Avengers voted to disband the West Coast half of the team. (The idea to cancel the West Coast branch could probably constitute a thread in itself.) Stark would go on with many of the West Coast outcasts and form Force Works (a.k.a. the Avengers done X-Men style!), which had a pretty good core lineup in its own right: Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Spider Woman, USAgent BTW, here's a picture of the Busiek/Perez-era (I believe) Avengers squad:

Just a warning for those of you who search on the internet for cracks and software patches and such. If one of your search engine leads you to a crack from X-Cracks.com, don't click on it. The site is the primary distributor of the Smartsearch.ws spyware deal and it is a BITCH to clean and remove. This thing embeds itself into your Internet Explorer registry, flooding your favorites with Smartsearch junk, changes the prefixes on all of your pages so that Google toolbar searches to go smartsearch.ws, generates fake 404 messages whenever you try to find a page that has the words "smartsearch.ws" and "remove" in it, and (finally) changes the linking on a program (for instance, notepad) so that whenever you open it up, it simply recreates the whole virus all over again. You can download CWShredder here and, for additional support for this spyware (and other CoolWebSearch variants), I'd definitely recommend checking out http://www.merijn.org/ as well. This thing is an absolute pain in the ass, and easily the most annoying trojan/spyware I've ever encountered in my entire career as a Tech. Support guy.

There's always masturbation. That way, at least you'd get something accomplished. Plus, it's extra practice up for THE BIG MOMENT! Soon, yes, very soon, they'll be no more apple pies for Chave!

Then maybe THIS ISN'T THE REAL WORLD! Why don't you leave the keyboard and go for a little walk. You'd be amazed how beautiful the world is. And here you are turning heel on an internet message board. Oh, how our most beloved heroes let us down. Shouldn't you be getting laid or something? Really. Go get some ass. Give your mother a hallmark card. Watch the History Channel. Play badminton. Please put all that creative wit to use - the world is begging you. But please stop wasting bandwidth by putting yourself over as the best poster in Hardcore Discussion (as if that is actually something to aspire to). Don't you have better things to do?

One of their earlier lineups from around #100 of the original series had: Seven's a good number of members, and all of them (well, maybe all of them but Quicksilver) have important ties to the history of the Avengers. Another very recent lineup had: I think both of those are probably deserve recognition of being considered...though, in reality, there's been far more absolute crap lineups of the Avengers than good.