Watch Me Do My Yul Brynnar Walk
1/21/3

Friday, I took off work early and went home and played Ratchet & Clank. By six p.m., I had gotten to the end where I�m fighting the main boss. I had $65,000 (or bolts, whatever) and by the time I gave up, I had run out of money for ammo.

Friday night, I dreamed platform gamey type dreams. Saturday morning, I beat �Blarg� on the third try. I was given the option to restart the game with all the money and weapons, I accepted. I had 48k bolts and some horrific weapons. I saved up to 60k and got the Golden Tesla Claw, which had previously not been available.

Here�s what the normal Tesla Claw is like. Say you�re at some soir�e with about 30 people standing in front of you. Hit the button and lightning jumps out and fries about six of them. Tap it again and it gets the next five or six. They start running, spilling their tropical drinks, let�s say, and you zap and zap and zap and they�re all gone. Good weapon. Should be in Grand Theft Auto (but it�d make the game too easy).

Then there is the Golden Tesla Claw. The main visible difference before firing it is that it is gold, though a nasty cheap brassy gold. Same scenario, schmoozin� with the victims, having a few cocktails. When you fire this time, bright green lightning arcs out and hits the first 15 or so, immediately dissolving them into their component juices. One more tap and we�ve got solitude.

It took me 33 hours to do Ratchet and Clank the first time. The second time, and yes, I did finish the game again by Monday afternoon, took me 11 hours. And now I have the RYNO (stands for Rip You a New One). It�s a rather (rather rather rather) powerful (and economically viable) multiple self guided rocket launcher. Where it took me about 30 or more tries without the RYNO to beat Blarg on Friday and Saturday, the first time I went in with full health to get him with the RYNO, I got him. Bu-bu-bu-bu-boom!

On Monday, I put new spark plugs and wires in the Miata. The NKG plugs I took off were so nuked looking that I think they are the original plugs. I checked the gap and they were 0.015 off spec. I put in some old Autolite Platinums that I bought for the Saturn (and regapped to 0.044 for the Miata) and some NKG wires. The car is much smoother now. It�s the difference between dating a cheerleader with hairy legs and a speech impediment and dating Laura Croft.

Man, I�m in full geek mode today. I would lay off mentioning video games any more but�

I got an email from Amazon saying they shipped The Sims for PS2 to me. I actually knew they did it before I got the email since my every alert accounting clerk wife called and asked me if I had just bought something for $54. I told her that The Sims must have shipped.

I also put in Wipeout Fusion last night. When I first tried the game, on Christmas Eve, I blew up before completing the three laps of the first race. Not just the first time, but about five times. So I put it away and played Ratchet & Clank for, oh, I guess nearly a month. I may have actually gotten more mileage out of it than Vice City. Well, I blew up in the first three laps last night too. Then, I decided that I�d get the clunky old Feisar (or as clunky as a maglev jet racer can be) and that I�d just poke around the track and try to finish, not really racing. Oh, and I came in first place. But now, with the Sims coming UPS to my work today, I�ll probably not play Fusion until February.

In other news, Survivor 6 starts February 13 and the cast looks likeable, unlike the freaks they had this last time. And the DVDs I�d like to see are Resident Evil (which Aisia wanted to rent this weekend but we didn�t), Tomb Raider (mostly for the commentary track, plus I love the scene where the machines shut down, but hate that later laser pointers work), and The Professional (Leon) if it has a commentary track.

Looks like IFC will be putting on Run Lola Run this month also. I saw The Magnificent Seven for the first time this weekend. TC was amazed I�d never seen it. I have seen all the other ones just like it. Most recently A Bug�s Life. When the farmers went into Texas to buy guns, I asked Aisai if the seven were circus performers like in A Bug�s Life. They aren�t BTW.

And Yul Brynnar is one freaky freak of a freakoid. But cool while doing it.