Filed by Richard on Friday, March 28, 2008 at 1:25 pm

So I came into a bit of money two weeks ago and decided to splurge and buy a new XBox 360 game. In addition to the enjoyment of playing a new game, this opportunity also affords me the chance to revisit my previous analysis of my Xbox skills in relation to Matt’s.

 Regular readers of this blog will remember that I was able to, using a variety of metrics, conclusively prove that I am better than Matt at Xbox. 28% better in fact.

With the recent acquisition of a copy of Assassin’s Creed (45 dollars at my local Fred Meyer store), I am now able to continue my analysis.

Since I am currently involved in the game’s main campaign, my gamer points for the game are 530 to Matt’s 755. What’s appreciated from an interpersonal and pyschosocial perspective is the fact that Matt can claim dominance over me in Assasin’s Creed during the brief interval between my beginning the game and my ultimate passing of his gamer score. Though I rarely am in the position to experience this myself, I know that many people who are consistenly bested in a competititon with a friendly rival will focus on a small area where their skills do shine, so as to not get overly dejected.

It’s also important to note a factor strongly in Matt’s favor vis-a-vis our relative Gamer Scores. Prior to Assassin’s Creed, my Gamer Score was 28% better than Matt’s against identical games. But Matt accumulated 755 points in Assassin’s Creed, and for me to simply maintain my already considerable lead in percentages, I would need to score about 1050 points. Of course Assassin’s Creed only offers 1,000 points. So from this perspective, while I will certainly continue my dominance, Matt will slightly cut into my percentage lead, regardless of the fact that I will have beaten him in Assasin’s Creed.

So kudos to Matt; keep at it!

Matt is going to kill me.

Filed by matt on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 6:28 pm

Haven’t written a post in a long time so I thought it was high time I slapped something up. My wife and I usually watch TV when we’re eating dinner. We’ve learned over time that certain shows should not be watched while eating. Right now the forbidden list includes Man vs Wild, House, and South Park. Something incredibly disgusting can happen on any one of those shows at any moment having a very negative impact on one’s appetite. Right now the usual dinner show are the previous night’s Daily Show and the run of Arrested Development that’s on HD Net.

Filed by Richard on Monday, March 24, 2008 at 11:27 am

On this edition of the Emmy and Grammy award-winning Mustardayonnaise Podcast, Richard and and Matt discuss the Bourne DVD, Apple’s possible move into subscription content, and other random stuff certain to inspire and delight.

 

 Mustardayonnaise 72 [57:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Filed by Richard on Sunday, March 16, 2008 at 7:11 pm

On the latest edition of the multiple-award winning Mustardayonnaise podcast, Matt and Richard discuss the the Bank Job, Fool’s Gold, the horrible new game Army of two, Hulu, and lots o’ other stuff.

 

 Mustardayonnaise 71 [80:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Filed by Richard on Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 12:20 am

Just saw the new Hulk trailer. Wow. Just wow. That was really underwhelming.

Hulk Trailer at MTV.com

I really hope this thing is great, and the studio and Norton figure out their problems and finish the thing, but this trailer is pretty weak. To their credit, there’s no teasing, half-shadowed snippets of Hulk. They show him in all of his glory. It’s too bad that he looks demonstrably worse than the Hulk from Ang Lee’s version six years ago.

 I’m going to go back to watching the latest Iron Man trailer again. I need some excitement.

Filed by Richard on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 10:03 pm

Final Oscar telecast thoughts, does The Bank Job Suck or is Richard grouchy, Vista’s great! and more…

 

 Mustardayonnaise 70 [54:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Filed by Richard on Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 12:07 am

The Bank Job is a serviceable film of a remarkable story. It runs along at a steady gallop, never really falters in any way whatsoever, but ultimately never transcends into something really great.

Apparently the film is based closely on a real story; albeit a story that was kept under wraps for the last 40 years or so. Jason Statham plays the leader of part-time gang of London crooks circa 1970. They are pressed into attempting a bank robbery by an old acquaintance (Saffron Burrows). Ostensibly the bank job is about simply robbing the bank, but Burrows’s character had actually been put up for the job by the British secret service, who wanted her to obtain some incriminating photos in the bank vault.

The story is very complex; dirty cops, clean cops, dirty politicians, secret agents, underworld hoods, and of course our hapless gang of would be bank robbers all figure into the plot. It’s to the screenwriter’s credit that the story always makes sense, always. Despite many twists and turns, and feints and jukes, you the viewer always know exactly what’s going on; yet it never feels like someone is leading you by the nose from plot point to plot point.

But that said, the Bank Job never gels into anything great. It is simply just ok-to-good in everything, but great in nothing. It’s like a Honda Accord.

Part of the problem may be because of the slavish attention to the apparently true story. Though this is pitched as a heist movie, it’s certainly one of the few heist movies where the heist is over half-way through the movie. Because of this, the actual process of the heist; typically the most enjoyable part of a heist movie, is rushed and not as involving as it could be.

The Bank Job does a good job of capturing post-swinging London; it never really hits you over the head with a too-spot-on mis en scene, but you never really notice any anachronisms either (except for maybe a BarclaysCard Visa logo on a store front… did Visa make it to London as soon as 1970?). Thankfully the film also did not pound us over the head with montages cut to the beat of iconic early 70s British songs. I can only remember hearing T. Rex’s Bang a Gong (a good choice), and a killer cover of Money over the end credits.

While it’s a good sight better than other films in general release right now, it doesn’t speak that highly of the Bank Job that it’s better than College Road Trip and 10,000 BC. A competent, mildy engaging film, nothing more.

Filed by Richard on Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 10:45 pm

It didn’t take long for folks to start Googling Marion Cotillard’s name for more info about her after the Oscars (well for things other than nude video clips). The LA times is reporting that other internet outlets are reporting on her comments of the past year where she indicated that she believed that the 9/11 attacks were a US government plan to destroy the twin towers because the whole area needed urban renewal, oh and the moon landing in 1969 was faked.

Guess what… many movie stars are nucking futs. Even hot French ones. As long as Cotillard keeps appearing naked in movies, and avoids the creepy makeup she wore in La Vie en Rose, she can believe whatever the hell she wants in my book.

Source Article: LA Times
Image Credit: China Daily

Filed by matt on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 9:21 pm

So Richard is trying to get a rise out of me, albeit a week ago, by mocking my gamerscore. He knows I stopped trying at gamerscore a while ago so its a pretty spurious argument. I did a whole post on it and everything. Makes one think he doesn’t even read his own blog. Sounds pretty boob-like to me.