Coffee Roasting

had my first experience with roasting coffee via a popcorn popper. It wasn’t that bad, actually. I would recommend doing it outside, though and NEVER touch the plastic cap thingy of your popper with your bare hands. But it was pretty cool. I’ll have to wait until Monday to taste the fruits of my labors to let the coffee expel all of it’s gasses. But it smells like coffee. And it was kinda fun. Anyways, I’ll upload picks and a video later.

Rewviews

Movies:

“How to Train Your Dragon”

Great movie. lots of good action scenes and comedy. I can’t really recommend 3D ’cause I didn’t see it in 3D because it costs $3.50 extra.
Rating: 4/5

“The Informant”

Lame. It’s an interesting true story, but it doesn’t translate to a movie well.
Rating: 2/5

“The Men Who Stare At Goats”

A decent movie. Had some funny moments and some good acting which makes what would normally be just a strange movie entertaining.
Rating: 4/5

“Planet 51″

Ugh. Not all that funny. It steals too many elements from other movies for me give it more than a 3 out of 5.

“Sherlock Holmes”

Great movie! Lots of action, good comedy, great acting, everything works. 5/5

“Where the Wild Things Are”

I absolutely loved the book. It was about a boy who was wild and he learned that it’s good to be wild, just not too wild and he made it back in time for dinner. The movie…isn’t as good. They had to stuff a lot into this film and they somehow turned a beloved ten minute read into a two and a half hour movie. No kid or adult is going to be willing to mull through this movie for that long. A 2 out of 5.

“Fantastic Mr. Fox”

Based on the book by Roald Dahl, who wrote other beloved books like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “James and the Giant Peach”, “Matilda” and “The Witches”, Fantastic Mr. Fox promised to be a joyful and imaginative look into the life of a family of foxes and other animals. That is exactly what it was. As with his other works, Roald Dahl’s out-of-the-box storytelling adds a kind of weird, but warm sense to this story about how everyone’s different, but everyone has a purpose and is good at something. From Mr. Fox who was good at escapes and stealing chickens to the farmers who were good at raising and growing their particular crop or animal.Some probably won’t find this story entertaining, but I did. And that’s why I give Fantastic Mr. Fox 4 little foxes, out of 5.

Music:

“The World is a Thorn” by Demon Hunter

A new album from the popular Christian metal band and I have to say, this is another great one. I wouldn’t say it’s their best, because, if you plug all five albums into a play list and listen to them, they all flow very well together, whereas, with most bands you can tell the albums apart from the style, with Demon Hunter, there are subtle changes, but, even with a couple new members, they sound pretty much the same. That said, there are a lot of songs on “The World is a Thorn” that I love. And it is for this reason that I give it a 5 out of 5.

Games:

“Mafia”

Ah the 1930s. A time when…well, I don’t know what was going on then, but according to this game there was a lot of shady dealings afoot. This game tries to bring what Rockstar did for their GTA series to a 1930s Chicago style city, but they don’t come anywhere near that mark. a 3 out of 5.

“Enthusia: Professional Racing”

This game is a few years old, and when I first tried it a while back, my initial impression was it sucks and wasn’t nearly as good as GT4. Having played it a while, though, and…it’s still not as good as GT4, but it’s not a terrible game. There are a LOT of things they got right. Example: being able to race vans and SUVs is a cool touch as is the odds system that shows your chances of winning a particular race. However, there are other things they got completely wrong. Example: the ranking system is based on your best 9 races in a 12 virtual week period. That means, if you loose a race, or two, you might jsut find yourself starting all the way back with the novice races. Then there’s the horsepower on some of the cars. Some of the cars seem to have the right HP while others don’t. And there’s the stupid Enthu points that you loose whenever you run off course, hit a wall or hit another vehicle. And, as with other games with a penalty system, it ONLY effects you. That means, if an AI driver slams into the back of you, then you’ll loose points. and there are a few other things wrong, too. However, in the end it’s not a bad game. In fact, I give it a 3.5 out of 5.

Don’t Forget to Be Wild

Human beings are wild by nature. Some will deny that, even though a lot of those same people believe in evolution. According to evolution, humans are animals…and we’re just as wild as the other animals on this planet. I think that’s why some of us love the wildest of animals while the other half of society hates wild animals. But, then again, how can you tame something when you’re not tame yourself?

I also think that’s why opposites attract. I mean, think about it: if your a neat freak, what’s more wild than a person who isn’t? Or if your a PK or someone who’s uptight and formal, it’d be wild to date someone who was informal. And the opposite is true as well: if you’re a punk kid who likes to go to raves at night, it’d be wild to date someone who’s more of a nerd and hates raves.

For a while now, ever since I’ve moved back to Spokane, I forgot to be wild. I started cursing God for all the rotten stuff in my life and irritated that I didn’t have a job or a girlfriend and was just stressed. But, I believe God has been screaming at me the whole time, going: “I would love to help you out, Micah, but you got to do you’re part as well.”

Now, I have mentioned before that I believe I have the soul of a wolf, and I think I understand exactly what that means: It’s not a physical wolf soul, more of the personality of a wolf. A wolf is wild and needs a lot of space and loves the outdoors and winter and the snow, but a wolf is also fierce and bold and strong and will risk everything to defend his pack. Recently, I’ve been more of a dog than a wolf. And I’ve suffered because of it. The same was true in the military, although, I think there, it was more of the fact that the army wanted to tame me and my soul didn’t like being tamed, especially if by taming,they meant “beat into submission.”

I think everyone could identify with an animal. I think it’s important to do so. Because, as I’ve said many times before: there is a lot we can learn from the animals. They can teach us so much.

This weekend has become something amazing. Friday started horribly, but then I went to see “How to Train Your Dragon” and by the time I came out, I could hear God saying “You’ve forgotten to let your soul lead you. You’ve neglected to let him out and you’ve forgotten what your guardian angel is and all the things you’ve seen back when you were wild.”

And, now, I’m eager to be wild again. I’m always in a better mood when I am. When I’m wild, I’m pursuing my future wife God guides me; I get out and actively seek a job. It’s hard and two horrible jobs one after another is enough to make anyone aprehensive about getting another, but it needs to be done.

So, take a tip from someone who knows: Don’t forget to be wild. You’ll be better off if you are.

The First Cup

I’ll actually be starting up an entirely new blog for coffee, but I took a little time to decide which coffee shop I wanted to try first. And I think I’ve decided on the first place: 4 Season Coffee Company located in Downtown Spokane. Sounds intriguing and could end up being the Stumptown of Spokane. We’ll see, though.

Anyways. Along with my reviews and opinions, I’ll also post contact information about the places I visit. Maybe, eventually, I can do video blogs or live blogging about the shops.

You can check out 4 Seasons Coffee’s website at: 4seasoncoffee.com

Coffee Blog coming soon

I think I’m going to start setting aside $20 a month for coffee. I will be roaming around Spokane, visiting the various coffee shops and blogging about them. Should be good. I’ve already visited a couple coffee shops, and both were good. and both were in the local mall. Thomas Hammer is the best so far, ’cause they have great coffee and for having an atmosphere that can make one forget that they’re in a mall. Anyway, you all should look forward to that ’cause I’ll be starting it next weekend after I see “How to Train Your Dragon”

Rubbish

I’ve decided to download and watch almost every episode of the British Motoring Show, Top Gear (a few episodes here and there are missing, but, oh well) and all their talk about horrible and great cars has gotten me in a sort of critic mode. And there are a few cars I cannot stand.

1. The Mazda Miata. Unless you’re a girl or a homosexual, you shouldn’t be driving one. Seriously. They’re cute…and not in a good way. I don’t care how much Richard Hammond likes them. In fact, the colors the Miata should come in are girly ones like pink and purple…and others. Just to discourage guys from buying it.

2. The Porsche 911. If you’re looking at it, it doesn’t scream for your attention. Every rich idiot has one and the design hasn’t changed in forever. They’re boring.

3. The Bugatti Veyron. The Top Gear crew love it, and I can’t see why, although I’ve never driven it. But, it’s ugly, big, and yes it has a great top speed, but it takes a little while to get there and it really doesn’t look like something that started out life as an experiment to see if VW could get a production car to go 300mph without ripping itself apart. It just looks like a Bugatti. Yawn.

4. And this one really does drive me mad. What I call the F. U. V. or Fake Utility Vehicle. Seriously, what’s the point of spending money on an “SUV” if it can’t do what SUVs are supposed to do: go off road. Heck, Subaru has an entire line of SUV CARS that can perform better off road than some of these things. These FUVs include: The Hummer H2 and H3 (AMG got it right with the H1, but GM ruined it), The Cadillac Escalade, The BMW X5 and X3…and pretty much any other GM SUV. Sport Trucks and SUVs I get. They for show and aren’t really designed for anything but the race track, but If you’re going to spend $30,000-$60,000 on a SUV, you should get something that can handle an little bit of dirt. The Escalade is just pathetic. It’s a as useful as a big shiny gold chain around your neck and handles the dirt like a prissy valley girl who cares more about what their wearing than they do their own life. The Hummer is more pathetic than the Escalade in my opinion, ’cause it was inspired by an ACTUAL capable offroad vehicle. But GM took it and turned it into an Escalade with big, mean looking tires.  I mean, it’ll go over your neighbor’s car just fine, but it’s still a horrible offroader. Top Gear showed why the X3 sucks. I mean, it’s completely pointless to buy an FUV. I mean, if you watch the movie Zombieland, it demonstrates this point well. The two SUVs that were left after everyone turned into a Zombie were the Cadillac Escalade and the Hummer H2. That’s because, no Zombie wanted to go near them because they were already useless. The blended in with the Zombies. Look, all you rappers and other people looking at buying a Hummer or Escalade (and I’m targeting them because they’re ridiculously expensive), stop a moment, and punch yourself in the face, it’s a stupid idea. The only thing that a Hummer or Escalade say (and they say the EXACT same thing) is, “I’m rich.” But there are a LOT of other other cars that you can say that with. If you want to buy an SUV and you want to spend a lot of money on one, get a Land Rover. They’re just as expensive AND you can take them offroad without breaking them. And a Land Rover says “I’m rich, smart, AND I’m not afraid of a little dirt.” Better yet, buy a BMW or Porsche if you want to fit into that “I don’t care what I spend my money on” crowd. AND the Escalade and Hummer get HORRID gas milage. The ironic thing was the Hummer was GM’s answer to their own Electric car. ‘Cause nothing says I’m enviromentally friendly like a Hummer. I think I’ve made my point.

Epic Fail of the Decade

This prize would have to go to Microsoft. I mean, they released Vista, promising there would be not security issues with it, and within a week of it’s release, they release a security update. AND Vista is one big resource hog. If you look on the back of some Games for Windows, in the system requirements, some actually have a different memory spec for Vista. Example: I’ve seen a bunch that have said 1GB of memory was required for everything else, but if you had Vista, you needed 2GB. why? because Vista’s gonna suck up half your memory.

And then there’s the Xbox 360. The original Xbox was built by Intel and worked and was a pretty cool system. The 360 was built by Microsoft. Why a software developer decided to build hardware, no one knows. But, I sure hope Intel or someone else builds be next Xbox. The 360 gets the Epic Fail of All time, so far. I mean, this system was hyped up and down and then MS purposely under-released it. Well, it’s more like they knew they didn’t have as many systems as they hyped and they also knew every single one of the initial systems weren’t actually complete and all of them suffered from the Red Ring of Death. And most everyone suffered through those issues or swapped the 360 for a PS3. That was until Forza 2 was released. I have never seen a computer reject software as much as Forza 2. Both Microsoft and Turn 10 denied that the sudden slew of RROD crashes had nothing to do with the recently released racer, but, I know for me, my system was working fine until I put FM2 in. In fact, I think everyone who played Forza 2 had the RROD.

This actually forced MS to spend nearly $4 million to extend the warranty on the RROD issue. Before that, MS had spent millions of dollars to fix the RROD issue, and eventually it was “fixed” or rather, they replaced it with a different warning, which means the same thing the RROD did.

These issues were unfortunate, too, ’cause the system itself was a pretty decent system with some great titles. But, with the RROD issues, space issues (MS not only still operated with DVD-ROMs instead of just installing there 15GB a layer HDDVD drive in the system and letting their developers use that, but they also have a system that doesn’t have a Hard Drive, which makes developing games difficult ’cause you don’t want to leave anyone out.), the 360 has suffered needlessly.

However, there are some hints that MS might be partnering with Sony to release a Blu-ray enabled system soon. MS has denied that there would be a 360 with Blu-Ray, but that doesn’t mean that the next Xbox wouldn’t feature Blu-ray. I think it would be interesting to see what developers like Turn10 and Bungie could do with 33.1GB of space.

New Stuff

First, today Apple announced it’s new half inch thick, 1.5 lb, $499-$879 iPad which is the long rumored Tablet. The iPad goes on sale in March for the Wifi only, non-3G version and, if you want to extend your AT&T contract, you can pick up the 3G version in April. But, be warned as the 3G version will cost you an extra $130. The prices will be as follows:

$499 = 16GB

$599 = 32GB

$699 = 64GB

The device is compatible with all iPhone apps, and come with iTunes and iWork built in. It will also feature the new iBook and iBookstore feature which will allow users to buy, you guessed it, books.

The Best part: iWorks. Yes, you can actually take your iPad to the local coffee shop and work on that book report or stories.

The Worst Part: Well, no camera sucks, but it does have a speaker and mic. Why a speaker and mic and no camera? who knows. But the worst part is your stuck with AT&T. This especially sucks if you get the 3G version. I’d say wait until Verizon picks up Apple products….or save another $500 and get an actual Mac.

Secondly, I have a new site up that showcases my Guardian Angels story series. Now you can jump over to http://guardianangelsseries.yolasite.com and read the adventures of Saipia Jones and her team.

With Great Intelligence…

…comes great…um…unintelligence. Some of the smartest creatures on the planet tend to do really stupid things. And the amazing part is, they tend to do the same stupid things.

I think with any kind of intelligence, you gain the ability to have brain farts. Even cats, which are pretty smart, run into the the occasional solid object.

so, next time you have a stupid moment, just remember, animals have them, too.

Online Gaming Ratings

Is it possible? Can an online community really bitter the enjoyment of a game? The answer, unfortunately, is yes. There’s nothing like logging into a Halo deathmatch at one in the morning and being cussed out by a bunch of kids who really shouldn’t even be playing the M-rated game.

Now, people say that the Xbox has the best online community, but I’ve actually found that it has to WORST online community. The thing you’ve got to understand is, the majority of Xbox users are those hardcore gamers that tend to complain about every little thing and little kids that cuss more than sailors in a bar. Proof of this can be found in the fact that Halo creators, Bungie, actually stopped reading their own forums because there were so many people complaining about EVERYTHING. Yeah, if you’re online community makes a developer which they had never made the game, then you’re doing something wrong.

However, with the PS3, everyone seems to be a lot more mature. I’ve never been cussed out by a kid who’s young enough to be my own kid while playing Resistance. I’ve heard there are still some morons on the PSN, but not nearly as many. It’s not so bad where you literally stop using your headset because you simply don’t want to listen to all the cussing and whining. True, Live has been around for longer and thus, is probably a lot bigger, but in terms of sheer enjoyment, PSN is the way to go.

Also, there aren’t many times where lag is really an issue during PSN online play, where as, it’s always a threat on Xbox Live. It makes a game so much more enjoyable when you go online and don’t have to worry about some one lag-spawning behind you and taking you out…you also don’t have to worry about the 10-year-old who kills you every time you take the sniper rifle or rocket launcher.

In conclusion, Xbox Live gets a 2 out of 5 and PSN gets a 5 out of 5.