(no subject)
Messenger has started annoying the crap out of me by lagging out when I start typing. Nothing else seems to do it, so I'm pretty sure the problem is limited to MSN Messenger itself, but I can't figure out what the problem is. Squinting at the task manager it seems to be suffering spikes of CPU usage that might be coinciding with the lag, but I'm not sure. I might try reinstalling it, as a system restore back to Wednesday, before the problem started, didn't help.
Spent the last two days watching all of the Sarah Connor Chronicles, and finding it surprisingly awesome. It's got plenty of flaws and cringeworthy moments (read: any time John Connor is in high school), but some moments of genius or brilliant disturbingness, too. Plus, I like the mind-bending fluidity of the timelines (I can only assume it relies on a model of time travel wherein anything that alters the timeline creates a new, different timeline rather than there being one truly fluid timeline, which would allow for some leeway in regards to the third film [which it takes place... before?] and the ever-changing nature of SkyNet's origin). So there's that and Fringe, whose second episode didn't really live up to the pilot, and next week new series of Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. Ought to tide things over till Lost and Battlestar return next year.
Term has sort of snuck up on me - in my head I still had it pegged as two or three weeks away, but next week is Fresher's week, and then teaching starts the Monday after next. I've still not been able to register all my modules due to the usual unhelpfulness of the university website and my department's inability to respond to email, nor am I quite sure what's going on with the dissertation (Though I did, at least, find out what's happening with proctoring). Also, it turns out I'm probably not in the department's mailing lists, which would explain why I'm always out of the loop. I think this coming week I need to get my shit together, both in terms of paperwork at university, and heading into town to buy various things I've run out of (like, for example, jeans that aren't shredded to nothing, and shoes that are coming apart at the sole. Could also use a laptop bag that's actually big enough for a laptop and, gasp, the appropriate cables, let alone my philosophy notes). Back to the dissertation, I've got no idea what to do, but I'm thinking of fudging something together re: Nietzsche, perhaps exploring the popular conception of him as a progenitor of certain Nazi ideals. Call it "Misuse of the Ubermensch" or something. I don't know, maybe that's a shit idea, but I can't think of much else to ramble about right now.
Been burning through Mercenaries 2 since I picked it up on the cheap the other week, and it hasn't disappointed in the 'stupid fun' stakes, but the ever-present bugs are starting to take their toll. You can't play it for ten minutes without stumbling across something frustratingly stupid; I think the physics engine is the worst culprit for that. Sometimes you can freefall from a helicopter to the ground without being hurt, others, a slight drop whilst lurching down a hillside will kill you on foot, or severely damage your vehicle. Invisible potholes will literally flip a tank into the air where it will spin like a top, and whilst almost everything in the game is destructible or at least mobile, you'll sometimes ram straight into an immovable object with no explanation. The AI is catastrophically bad, prone to blowing itself up by firing rockets or other explosive weapons at point-blank range (inexplicably, I don't think I've seen it *miss* with a rocket and hit something at close range, killing itself - it's as if it's aware of intervening material and goes "shit, can't shoot here!" but as long as it has a clean line of sight, it will try to take you out, no matter how suicidal that may be); it's almost incapable of simple pathing, being unable to, for example, board a vehicle you're driving without running back and forth on the spot for a bit trying to work out how to get to the doors, and is liable to get stuck on a bit of scenery, sending it running back to its start position before it tries again with the same, blocked route. On the road, the AI also has a splendid habit of a) sending civilians lurching from the roadside and under your wheels (a penalty for collateral damage) and b) crashing endless streams of vehicles into yours. It's easy to play GTAIV and complain about the idiocy of the AI drivers at times, but then, it's like you're complaining about other people. "Oh, I wish they wouldn't always try to swerve into you". At least they're capable of swerving! Faced with an oncoming vehicle, the Mercs 2 AI will crash into you 100% of the time, even at low speeds. It just seems utterly unaware of your location.
I'm probably quite far into the game now. I'd hoped to clear most of the side missions either by the time I was done or after finishing the main "story", decrepit as it is, but I'm not so sure I'll have the drive to do so. A disappointing sequel, to say the least (though the Panzercycle, a custom motorbike running on tank treads, fucking rules).
Spent the last two days watching all of the Sarah Connor Chronicles, and finding it surprisingly awesome. It's got plenty of flaws and cringeworthy moments (read: any time John Connor is in high school), but some moments of genius or brilliant disturbingness, too. Plus, I like the mind-bending fluidity of the timelines (I can only assume it relies on a model of time travel wherein anything that alters the timeline creates a new, different timeline rather than there being one truly fluid timeline, which would allow for some leeway in regards to the third film [which it takes place... before?] and the ever-changing nature of SkyNet's origin). So there's that and Fringe, whose second episode didn't really live up to the pilot, and next week new series of Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. Ought to tide things over till Lost and Battlestar return next year.
Term has sort of snuck up on me - in my head I still had it pegged as two or three weeks away, but next week is Fresher's week, and then teaching starts the Monday after next. I've still not been able to register all my modules due to the usual unhelpfulness of the university website and my department's inability to respond to email, nor am I quite sure what's going on with the dissertation (Though I did, at least, find out what's happening with proctoring). Also, it turns out I'm probably not in the department's mailing lists, which would explain why I'm always out of the loop. I think this coming week I need to get my shit together, both in terms of paperwork at university, and heading into town to buy various things I've run out of (like, for example, jeans that aren't shredded to nothing, and shoes that are coming apart at the sole. Could also use a laptop bag that's actually big enough for a laptop and, gasp, the appropriate cables, let alone my philosophy notes). Back to the dissertation, I've got no idea what to do, but I'm thinking of fudging something together re: Nietzsche, perhaps exploring the popular conception of him as a progenitor of certain Nazi ideals. Call it "Misuse of the Ubermensch" or something. I don't know, maybe that's a shit idea, but I can't think of much else to ramble about right now.
Been burning through Mercenaries 2 since I picked it up on the cheap the other week, and it hasn't disappointed in the 'stupid fun' stakes, but the ever-present bugs are starting to take their toll. You can't play it for ten minutes without stumbling across something frustratingly stupid; I think the physics engine is the worst culprit for that. Sometimes you can freefall from a helicopter to the ground without being hurt, others, a slight drop whilst lurching down a hillside will kill you on foot, or severely damage your vehicle. Invisible potholes will literally flip a tank into the air where it will spin like a top, and whilst almost everything in the game is destructible or at least mobile, you'll sometimes ram straight into an immovable object with no explanation. The AI is catastrophically bad, prone to blowing itself up by firing rockets or other explosive weapons at point-blank range (inexplicably, I don't think I've seen it *miss* with a rocket and hit something at close range, killing itself - it's as if it's aware of intervening material and goes "shit, can't shoot here!" but as long as it has a clean line of sight, it will try to take you out, no matter how suicidal that may be); it's almost incapable of simple pathing, being unable to, for example, board a vehicle you're driving without running back and forth on the spot for a bit trying to work out how to get to the doors, and is liable to get stuck on a bit of scenery, sending it running back to its start position before it tries again with the same, blocked route. On the road, the AI also has a splendid habit of a) sending civilians lurching from the roadside and under your wheels (a penalty for collateral damage) and b) crashing endless streams of vehicles into yours. It's easy to play GTAIV and complain about the idiocy of the AI drivers at times, but then, it's like you're complaining about other people. "Oh, I wish they wouldn't always try to swerve into you". At least they're capable of swerving! Faced with an oncoming vehicle, the Mercs 2 AI will crash into you 100% of the time, even at low speeds. It just seems utterly unaware of your location.
I'm probably quite far into the game now. I'd hoped to clear most of the side missions either by the time I was done or after finishing the main "story", decrepit as it is, but I'm not so sure I'll have the drive to do so. A disappointing sequel, to say the least (though the Panzercycle, a custom motorbike running on tank treads, fucking rules).