It's like Dig Dug for the aughts!

So this weekend I found my latest $2.50 gaming obsession: Miner Dig Deep.

Look, I love mowing down zombies and rocking out on a fake plastic guitar as much as the next guy, but sometimes you just want to chill out and mine for precious stones while an acoustic guitar pleasantly strums in the background.

So far I'm two for two regarding my Xbox Live Indie Games purchases. What are some other good ones out there?

Whither Seltzer's Sweet Lebanon Beef Bologna?

I was in a rut. For months every lunch I made included a sandwich made with Butterball deep fried turkey breast and I was getting burned out. Then, on a lark, I decided to try Seltzer's Sweet Lebanon Beef Bologna and, as my brother would save, it changed my life. If cold cuts are served on Mt. Olympus, surely Seltzer's Sweet Lebanon Beef Bologna can be found in Zeus's fridge. That's how good this lunch meat is. This ain't the stuff you put in some kid's brown bag sammich. It is a meat to be appreciated; to be loved.

But now it's gone. I've checked several grocery stores and can't find it anywhere. It's driving me crazy. I've tried switching over to the beef bologna made by Hebrew National and, while good, it's not Seltnzer's. It's true what the say: a taste of kick-ass beef bologna is worse than none at all.

Further, now I can't find the aforementioned deep fried turkey anymore, either. The lunch meat part of my life has gone all topsy-turvy. Sammiches are boring. *Sigh*

Note: If you're curious as to why I took a picture of this beef bologna long before it disappeared from the shelves, way back when I had planned on making an entirely different post singing its praises, but never got around to it.

It's officially autumn.

I had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season this afternoon. Ah, heaven.

Pixelated Pigskin Prognostications: Week Four

Welcome to week four of my Xbox 360's college football picks via a couple of CPU vs. CPU matches. Wondering how to place your bets for this afternoon's games? Look no further. Well, maybe a little further. Scroll down.



OSU 48, Illinois 20



Richmond 46, VMI 44

And that's all she wrote.

The geekiness is strong with this one.

So, I'm slowly turning my nearly three year old nephew into a full-fledged geek. It all started when he sat transfixed, watching me play The Incredible Hulk video game. YouTube clips of various Marvel cartoons followed, further grabbing ahold of his young and impressionable brain. He was hooked.



I got him this (kinda) matching shirt a few weeks ago. Now I just need to teach him how to count cards and then we're off to Vegas.



Last week he started pre-school and, like any boy reaching this milestone, he was entitled to a new backpack. My sister took him to the store and explained that he could pick out any one he wanted. She said he took a very long time trying to decide between a Cars one (he's a HUGE Cars nut) and a Marvel one. And he made his Marvel.

I'm so proud of the little guy.

Micah World Fall Movie Non-Preview Preview

Well, I'm a bit late in getting this out. Some of my anticipated fall movies have already come (The Informant!, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, 9) and, unfortunately, almost gone (Extract). But there are plenty of other movies coming out over the next couple of months that I'd like to see*. Here's what I'm looking forward to the most (in order of release date):

The Invention of Lying (Sept. 25): I'm not a huge Ricky Gervais fan - mostly due to ignorance of his work - but this comedy's got a great cast (Tina Fey! Louis C.K.! Jason Bateman! Jonah Hill!) and an interesting premise (a man becomes the only person in the world capable of lying and uses that to his advantage). It's got to be at least as good as Liar Liar, right?

Surrogates (Sept. 25): Like all Bruce Willis sci-fi films, this could be really cool or very bad. I'm hoping for the former.

Zombieland (Oct. 9): This one looks like a hoot. I'm always up for a zombie flick, especially a zom-com. It'll likely be one of the few on this list that I'll go see at the theater.

Couples Retreat (Oct. 9): Vince Vaughn! Jon Favreau! Kristen Bell! Jason Bateman! (That dude is everywhere nowadays.) Directed by Ralphie from A Christmas Story!

An Education (Oct. 9): The screenplay for this film about a 1960s London schoolgirl falling for an older man (Peter Sarsgaard) was written by author Nick Hornby and that's enough for me.

Where the Wild Things Are (Oct. 16): I'm not sure how you turn a beloved children's book consisting of only 10 sentences into a full-length film, but Spike Jonze is a master at producing great visuals, so I'm there.

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (Oct. 23): The main reason why I'm curious about this one is because the sight of John C. Reilly as a vampire cracks me up.

Gentlemen Broncos (Oct. 30): I hated director Jared Hess' Napoleon Dynamite, but I love Jemaine Clement. The presence of the great Sam Rockwell splits the difference in this movie's favor.

Saint John of Las Vegas (Nov. 6): I'm a sucker for Vegas flicks. Here the always-reliable Steve Buscemi plays a compulsive gambler.

The Box (Nov. 6): The director of Donnie Darko - which I still haven't seen (I know, I know) - brings this tale about a married couple given an interesting proposition: a mysterious man presents them with a small wooden box that has a button on it. If they press it, they'll get $1 million…and a stranger will die. Intriguing.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Nov. 13): I'm a Wes Anderson buff and this features new music by Jarvis Cocker in it. Can I pre-order my ticket yet?

Red Cliff (Nov. 13): I'm also a John Woo fan/apologist. I even own the three disc Windtalkers special edition DVD set. Sigh. But this war movie is reportedly the most expensive Asian film ever, so it's got that going for it.

And though it's slowly been making the rounds across the country since August and still isn't slated for Richmond, I'm hoping that Big Fan eventually makes its way here. And is Romero's Survival of the Dead even going to get a theatrical release?

*As with my Summer Move Preview, I doubt I'll get to them all right away, though I have seen seven of the summer movies I was looking forward to.

Song to close out the weekend: "Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel" by Barenaked Ladies

At the risk of ruining my indie street cred, I've got an admission to make: Barenaked Ladies' "Tonight Is The Night I Fell Asleep At The Wheel" has been a shower singing staple of mine for years now. In my imaginary concerts this is the closer that brings down the house.

I've been a huge BNL fan for years and I can't imagine the group without Steven Page. His voice and songwriting were integral parts of the group (and their kick ass live show). We'll just have to wait and see how the new album turns out without him.

Pixelated Pigskin Prognostications: Week Three

Another week, another couple of college football picks produced using the processing power of my Xbox 360 via a series of CPU vs. CPU games. These are this afternoon's outcomes:



Ohio State 48, Toledo 14



Richmond 32, Hofstra 55

So the Xbox 360 has said, so it will be. Good day.

I PAED 4 A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1

After reading this review, I decided to spend a buck on a new game: I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1, which plays a whole lot like Smash TV. The most appealing thing about this game, though, is the theme song that plays throughout the game. It absolutely cracks me up (check out when the chorus kicks in at about :40 seconds into the above video).

The way I look at it, I paid the dollar for that song and getting the game is just gravy. Or, alternately, I would've spent four quarters on this back in the day.

The concept supposedly takes the piss at the typical offerings in the Xbox Live Indie Games marketplace, but I've never played anything from there, so I'll have to take their word for it.

Sunny day

Tonight's season premiere of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia": "The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis"

While Frank, Mac, and Dennis try their hand at real estate, Dee arranges to be a surrogate mother to a wealthy couple with a sweet house. All the while, Charlie faces off with a lawyer on the intricacies of the judicial system.

Discuss.

And now I have "it".

For the past 5 or 6 years my daily go-to scent has been Polo Blue (and before that, starting in the mid 90s it was Polo Sport). Like with any product that you use on a daily basis, things can get a bit boring. So I decided to mix things up.

Continuing with my Old Spice brand loyalty, I figured why not kick it old school with something that's been around for generations*? If Bruce Campbell can get paid to endorse the aftershave, then it's good enough for me. So I went to the store and picked up a buoy-shaped bottle of their Classic scent.

It's actually a lot less spicy and more powdery smelling than I anticipated it would be. But I dig it and will keep it in my rotation so as to shake things up a bit. I just wish it was made with bits of real panther.

*Though I've read that the formula was tweaked once it was sold to Proctor & Gamble.

You give love a bad name. Whatever. Nevermind.

Courtney Hole is none too pleased* that a dead-eyed Kurt Cobain is a playable character in the recently released Guitar Hero 5 and let loose a series of rambling tweets stating her disapproval, claiming breach of contract. Meanwhile, GH5 publisher Activision countered her accusation, claiming that Hole's signed contract allows Cobain's likeness to be used in such a manner.

If I was Activision's counsel, I'd also add "cocaine is a helluva drug."

You know, maybe I have some pent-up anger from seeing one too many Spin/Rolling Stone covers proclaiming this suicidal junkie to be the Spokesman Of My Generation (ugh!), but I kinda want to make Cobain sing some Bon Jovi now.

While on the topic of music games, I'm calling it: The Beatles: Rock Band is the Game of the Year. Playing it this weekend was a transcendent experience.

*Neither are Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, but they don't have any control over Cobain's estate.

Song to close out the weekend: "Encore (Grey Album Version)" by Jay-Z

With all of the Beatles hoopla this week, I thought I'd post one of my favorite Fab Four-related works. This video is cool and Danger Mouse's Grey Album - which remixes Jay-Z's Black Album using only sounds found on the Beatles' White Album - is a phenomenal work.

Bonus song!



John Wesley Harding's "When the Beatles Hit America", in which he speculates about what would happen if the Beatles reformed today (er, or in 1990 when this song came out). It's strangely prophetic.

Pixelated Pigskin Prognostications: Week Two

Another week, another couple of college football picks produced using the processing power of my Xbox 360 via a series of CPU vs. CPU games. Here is what will go down today:



Ohio State 63, USC 28



Richmond 42, Delaware 27

The Xbox 360 has spoken.

Note: To correct for last week's ridiculous scores, I lowered the time for each quarter from 15 minutes to 8 minutes, but the difficulty was kept the same. That seemed to help somewhat, at least for the Richmond game.

Never forget.

I'm ready for some football

Though I much more prefer college football, I welcome tonight's XFL NFL season opener (and am curious about the UFL). I'll be babysitting my niece and nephew tonight, so Thomas the Tank Engine and Dora the Explorer* will dominate the TV screen, but there are plenty of games ahead.

*Why does it seem that all kiddie show characters need to list their credentials nowadays?

Happy Labor Day!

Don't forget to pack away your seersucker tonight.

Pixelated Pigskin Prognostications: Week One

Ah, glorious college football season is here! Every Saturday for the next few months, you'll most likely find me planted on the couch, unshowered, catching the day's games and constantly checking on the status of my Pick 'Em pool.

I've kinda sorta neglected this blog lately, so to get some more activity 'round these parts I'm starting a new feature: Pixelated Pigskin Prognostications*. Using the computing power of the Xbox 360 and my copy of NCAA Football 10, I'll run CPU vs. CPU games for Ohio State and defending Div. 1-AA Football Championship Subdivision national champions Richmond against their respective opponents for that week to predict their real life outcomes.

And if there's a big non-OSU/UR game that you'd like to know the outcome of beforehand, ask nicely and I just may pull the results out of the digital ether.

So, here is what I'm predicting for today:



Ohio State 84, Navy 10



Richmond 72, Duke 40

Okay, those aren't very realistic scores. I'll probably have to tinker with the difficulty setting, quarter length, and whatnot. Or maybe you should just divide each team's points by two and then round them to the nearest possible score. Or something. Until then, though, these are my predictions and I'm sticking with them.

*Hopefully, I can keep this up without getting bored or running out of time (each game takes about 2 hours to play; I just do something else while it's doing it's thing).

Pouf! It's gone.

I don't like using bar soap. It leaves my skin feeling gritty and dry. So years ago I switched over to body wash, long before it became hip for men to use it. Back then it was just me and Craig "Ironhead" Heyward doing so. ("But, Ironhead, what's with this thingy?" R.I.P.) I've been through my share of, for lack of a better, more masculine term, poufs. It just so happens that recently I was in the market for a new one.

At first, I briefly considered the Axe Detailer Shower Tool because of its two levels of scrubbing resistance. But then I realized that it is an Axe product and I refuse to use their stuff because I am neither 14 years old nor a douchebag. Next.

So in a striking display of brand loyalty*, I settled on the Old Spice Deck Scrubber. It looks as manly as a pouf can look, in that it resembles a bar of soap (kinda). But I think the main reason why I picked this up rather than a garden variety $.99 one from Target is that college football season is upon us and the Deck Scrubber has a scarlet and gray motif. That's right. Even in the shower I'm a Buckeyes fan.

*See, Old Spice Classic scent body wash is my "thing".

Micah World Top 25

Here they are, the top 25 songs burning up my iPod (as of 9.2.09):

1. "Tell It To The Volcano" - Miniature Tigers
2. "Stadium Love" - Metric
3. "At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)" - fun.
4. "Summertime Clothes" - Animal Collective
5. "I'm Walking This Road Because You Stole My Car (Don't Go)" - Fascinoma
6. "Passing Afternoon" - Iron & Wine
7. "Chinese" - Lily Allen
8. "Hot Venom" - Miniature Tigers
9. "Everybody Knows You Cried Last Night" - The Fratellis
10. "The World Will Deem Us Dangerous" - Her Space Holiday
11. "Going Back/Going Home" - Butch Walker
12. "Sulphur To Sugarcane" - Elvis Costello
13. "God Help the Girl" - God Help the Girl
14. "Top of the Bottom" - John Wesley Harding
15. "Remedy" - Little Boots
16. "Twilight Galaxy" - Metric
17. "Librarian" - My Morning Jacket
18. "New Slang" - The Shins
19. "Yardwork in November" - Actual Tigers
20. "Dammit" - Blink-182
21. "My America" - A Camp
22. "Close the Door" - Clem Snide
23. "Survival Car" - Fountains of Wayne
24. "The Temptation of Adam" - Josh Ritter
25. "Cuba" - Jude

Lots of changes since the last chart, due mainly to me giving my Summer Mix a lot of virtual spins.