Languages

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Is This Game Worth $300 Million?

 

A massive multiplayer player online (or “MMO” for you non-geeks) game released by Electronic Arts (EA) that will cost you about $60 up front and $15 per month for the subscription.  With the power of Lucas Arts and EA behind it, the thought of this being a HUGE hit should be a no-brainer, right?  Except that reports estimate that the game cost somewhere between $100-$300 MILLION dollars to create…with most leaning heavily toward the $300 million rumors.

Wow.

Now, I know very little about MMO’s.  It’s nothing personal…they just don’t make my socks roll up and down.  But that does seem like a shitload of money to have to make back just to break even.

Here’s a trailer…let me know what you think…

WSJ Editorial BASHES House Repubs, Boehner, Cantor, McConnell Over Rejection of Payroll Tax Break

 

                Curly                                  Larry                                    Moe

“GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell famously said a year ago that his main task in the 112th Congress was to make sure that President Obama would not be re-elected. Given how he and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the President before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest.” –Wall Street Journal (12/21/11)

You can check out the entire Wall Street Journal editorial here...

R.I.P. “Bored To Death” (9/20/09-12/20/11)

 

One of the funniest shows on television with one of the best casts.  I have an entirely new level of respect for Ted Danson as a comedic actor and Jason Schwartzman as someone deserving of early praise.  Of course, Zach Galifianakis is awesome.

TRAILER ALERT: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"

The Hobbit Martin Freeman

I was never a big fan of the LORD OF THE RINGS movies…but this looks okay.

Click here to check out the first trailer…

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

A Very Special “DRUNK HISTORY CHRISTMAS”

Ryan Gosling…

Eva Mendes…

Jim Carrey…

A touching and heartfelt retelling of a classic Christmas tale…with a Blood Alcohol Level of 2.2.

 

(Click the pic above for the video…or click here... )

“…BCMD!” SUGGESTED READING: Robert James Waller’s “Excavating Rachel’s Room”

 

...With her eighteenth birthday near, Rachael has moved to Boston, leaving her room and the cleaning of it to us....

We take a few days off, just to get used to the idea of there being only two of us again. Then, tentatively, we push open the door to her room.

The dogs peer into the darkness from around our legs and look up at us. The room—well—undulates. It stands as a shrine to questionable taste, a paean to the worst of American consumerism. The last few echoes of Def Leppard and Twisted Sister are barely audible. Georgia sighs.

I suggest flame throwers coupled with a front-end loader and caution the cleanup crew, which now includes the two cats, about a presence over in one of the corners. Faintly, I can hear it rustle and snarl. It is, I propose, some furry guardian of teenage values, and it senses, correctly, that we are enemies.

Trash bags in hand, we start at the door and work inward, tough-minded.  “My god, look at this stuff; let’s toss it all.”

The first few hours are easy. Half-empty shampoo bottles go into the bags, along with three dozen hair curlers, four dozen dried-up ball-point pens and uncountable pictures of bare-chested young men with contorted faces clawing at strange-looking guitars.

Farther into the room salvage appears: the hammer that disappeared years ago; about six bucks in change; fifty percent of the family’s towel and drinking-glass stock; five sets of keys to the Toyota. More. Good stuff. We work with a vengeance.

Moving down through the layers, though, we begin to undergo a transformation.  Slowly, we change from rough-and-tumble scavengers to gentle archaeologists. Perhaps it started when we reached the level of the dolls and stuffed animals. Maybe it was when I found “The Man Who Never Washed His Dishes,” a morality play in a dozen or so pages, with her childhood scribblings in it. In any case, tough-mindedness has turned to drippy sentimentality by the time we find the tack and one shoe from Bill, her horse.

I had demanded that Bill be sold when he was left unridden after the five years of an intense love affair with him were over. That was hard on her, I know.  I begin to understand just how hard when Georgia discovers a bottle of horsefly repellent that [Rachael] kept for her memories.

We hold up treasures and call to each other. “Look at this, do you remember...?”

And there’s Barbie. And Barbie’s clothes. And Barbie’s camper in which the young female cat was given grand tours of the house, even though she would have preferred not to travel at all, thank you.  My ravings about the sexist glorification of middle-class values personified by Barbie seem stupid and hollow in retrospect, as I devilishly look at the cat and wonder if she still fits in the camper. “Here kitty, kitty....” Ken is not in sight. Off working out on the Nautilus equipment, I suppose. Or studying tax shelters.

Ah, the long-handled net with which Iowa nearly was cleared of fireflies for a time. “I know they look pretty in the bottle, Sweetheart, but they will die if you keep them there all night.”

Twister—The Game That Ties You Up in Knots. The ball glove. She was pretty decent at first base. And the violin. Jim Welch’s school orchestra was one of the best parts of her growing years.

She smiles out at us from a homecoming picture, the night of her first real date. Thousands of rocks and seashells. The little weaving loom on which she fashioned pot holders for entire neighborhoods. My resolve is completely gone as I rescue Snoopy’s pennant from the flapping jaws of a trash bag and set it to one side for keeping.

We are down to small keepsakes and jewelry. Georgia takes over, not trusting my eye for value, and sorts the precious from the junk, while I shuffle through old algebra papers.  Night after night, for a year, I sat with her at the kitchen table, failing to
convince her of the beauty to be found in quadratic equations and other abstractions. I goaded her with Waller’s Conjecture: “Life is a word problem.”  Blank stare.  Finally, trying to wave hope in the face of defeat, I paraphrased Fran Lebowitz: “In the real world, there is no algebra.”  She nodded, smiling, and laughed when I admitted that not once, in all my travels, had I ever calculated how long Smith would need to overtake Brown if Brown left three hours before Smith on a slower train. I told her I’d sit in the bar and wait for Smith’s faster train. That confirmed what she had heretofore only suspected—algebra is not needed for the abundant life, only fast trains and good whiskey.

And, she was right, of course.

The job is nearly finished. All that remains is a bit of archiving. I have strange feelings, though. Have we sorted carefully enough? Probably.  Georgia is thorough about that kind of thing. Still, I walk to the road again and look at the pile. The tailings of one quarter of a life stacked up in three dozen bags. It seems like there ought to be more.

When I hear the garbage truck, I peer out of an upstairs window in her room. The garbage guys have seen lives strung out along road edges before and are not moved. The cruncher on the truck grinds hair curlers and Twister and junk jewelry and broken stuffed animals—and some small part of me.

She calls from Boston. A job. Clerking in a store, and she loves it. We are pleased and proud of her. She’s under way.

The weeks go by. Letters. “I am learning to budget my money. I hate it. I want to be rich.”

She starts her search for the Dream in a rooming house downtown and finds a Portuguese boyfriend, Tommy, who drums in a rock band and cooks Chinese for her. Ella Fitzgerald sings a free concert in the park. The cop on the beat knows her, and the store is crowded with returning college kids late in a Boston summer. Here in the woods, it’s quieter now.

Her room has been turned into a den. A computer replaces curling irons and other clutter on her desk. My pinstripes look cheerless in her closet where pink fish-net tops and leather pants once hung.

Order has replaced life. I sit quietly there and hear the laughter, the crying, the reverberation of a million phone calls. The angst of her early-teen existential
crisis lingers, drifting in a small cloud near the high ceiling.

And you know what I miss? Coming home and hearing her say, “Looking pretty good, Bob! Got your suspenders on?” She could make a whirring sound just like the motor drive on a fine camera. Those few moments of irreverent hassle every day are what I miss most of all.

Regrets? A few. I wish I had walked in the woods more with her. I wish I had gotten mad less and laughed longer. Maybe we could have kept the horse another year.

Victories? A few. She loves the music and the animals. She understands romance and knows how to live a romantic life. She also has the rudimentary skills of a great blackjack dealer. I sent her off with that instead of luggage....

And I know I’ll sit on the porch as autumn comes this year and other years, in some old sweater with some old dreams, and wonder where she goes and how she goes.  I hope she goes where there’s laughter and romance, and walks the streets of Bombay and leans out of Paris windows to touch falling January snow and swims in the seas off Bora Bora and makes love in Bangkok in the Montien Hotel....

Go well, Rachael Elizabeth, my daughter. And, go knowing that your ball glove hangs on the wall beside mine, that Snoopy’s pennant flies bravely in the old airs of your room, that the violin is safe, and that the little cat now sleeps with us at night but still sits on the porch railing in the late afternoon and looks for you.

Robert James Waller
Just Beyond the Firelight, 1988 / Old Songs in a New Cafe’, 1995
Iowa State University Press

(Out of respect for the writer’s work, I haven’t included the ENTIRE story but it’s an amazingly personal story so PLEASE buy it online or at your local bookstore and show our authors some love…cool?)

Apparently They Didn’t Rate Blogger From December 17th – 18th…

Apparently, Pingdom released the results of a study they did to see which blogging platforms were the most and least reliable.  Tumblr didn’t do well…though part of it might have to do with how quickly it’s been growing.

More info about the study here...

MORNING VIBE: John Mayer “Neon” (LIVE)

 

"Neon"

When sky blue gets dark enough
To see the colors of the city lights
A trail of ruby red and diamond white
Hits her like a sunrise
She comes and goes and comes and goes
Like no one can
Tonight she's out to lose herself
And find a high on Peachtree Street
From mixed drinks to techno beats it's always
Heavy into everything
She comes and goes and comes and goes
Like no one can
She comes and goes and no one knows
She's slipping through my hands
She's always buzzing just like
Neon, neon
Neon, neon
Who knows how long, how long, how long
She can go before she burns away
I can't be her angel now
You know it's not my place to hold her down
And it's hard for me to take a stand
When I would take her anyway I can
She comes and goes and comes and goes
Like no one can
She comes and goes and no one knows
She's slipping through my hands
She's always buzzing just like
Neon, neon
Neon, neon
Who knows how long, how long, how long
She can go before she burns away

Monday, December 19, 2011

THE OFFICIAL “HOUSE BAND” OF “…BCMD!”…

 

To find out more about one of the most innovative men in music, click the pic above…

To download the first single off the new album, “WE MAKE PARTY 2: THE ALBUM,” click the banner below…

Anyone Still Think Cosplay Is For “Losers”?

It’s like fantasy football…but with more hot women. Winking smile

Morrigan, cosplayed by VampBeauty

Hey…Every Little Bit Of Support Helps…

(BTW: AshleyMadison.com is a dating site for married people…LOL ;-D)

Ummm…Isn’t It Just As A Little Too Early To Write Him Off As It Was To Declare Him The Next Joe Montana?

 

Broncos Patriots Tim Tebow

I’m still not sure why I’m supposed to hate him…

R.I.P. Officer Peter Figoski

Figoski Funeral

"Law enforcement officers are never 'off duty.' They are dedicated public servants who are sworn to protect public safety at any time and place that the peace is threatened. They need all the help that they can get."
- Barbara Boxer

More information on the case and the funeral services here...

Well, I Think We Know What SNL thinks About Tim Tebow…

Tim Tebow Jesus Snl

(Click the pic above for some funny shit!)

Thousands Of Rare Books, Journals, Writings Burned At Institute d'Egypt In Cairo

Books Burned

Every time books like these are destroyed in ignorance and anger, we die a little more as a people.

More info here...

And to learn a little bit more about the Institute itself, click here...

UVM Fraternity Closed Over Rape Survey

Uvm

If the national office conducted an internal review and their decision was to shut it down, then I have a feeling more information is about to come out soon.

More info here...

I Just Figured People “Unfriended” Me Because I Was Either Creepy or Annoying…

Interesting results.  For more info, click here...

I take SERIOUS issue with “Silent Night, Deadly Night” being on this list: FANDANGO’S TOP 10 WORST CHRISTMAS MOVIES

Santa Claus Conquers Martians

Though if you click here, I think you’ll agree with the rest of the list like I did.

But “Silent Night, Deadly Night”?  C’mon, man!  It’s a classic.  A classic.

Will James Bond Still Be Sexy in Depends and With A Walker?

Bond Craig

I think Daniel Craig and Pierce Brosnan are my two favorite “James Bonds” and I like the idea of him having more films in this franchise on record than Moore but…won’t he be a bit…old?  I mean, he still has two more THE GIRL… movies and if he wants to throw in any side projects then this could take a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time.

More info here...

'The Dark Knight Rises' Trailer: New Batman Movie Features Bane, Catwoman (VIDEO)

Dark Knight Rises Trailer

The trailer is amazing.  And anyone who doubted Anne Hathaway?  I think this puts those concerns to rest.

(Click on the picture to check out the trailer…)

Obama Health Care Law: Supreme Court Sets Dates To Hear Oral Arguments

Obama Health Care Supreme Court

March 26th-28th, 2012.

Curious to see where this goes.

More information on how the timeline will go here...

Nevada Judge Rules Fetal Personhood Initiative Misleading To Voters

Personhood Nevada

Another victory for women’s rights and personal rights for all.

I will never understand how a group can claim the government is too involved in people’s lives…yet then want to turn around and use that very same government to control how other people live their lives.

I think that’s called… “blatant hypocrisy”?

More info here...

Sarah Palin On 2012 Presidential Run: 'It's Not Too Late'

Sarah Palin 2012

RUN, SARAH!  RUN!

Just how pathetic is the RepubTeaBaggee nomination pool for the 2012 election?  Ron Paul is leading in Iowa, and SARAH PALIN could still enter the race! LMAO!  The RNC better start working overtime to tank the economy because their nominees couldn’t win a 6th Grade class election! >;-)

More info here...

SOPA Anti-Porn Amendment Rejected By Bipartisan Coalition

Don’t get me wrong…I believe pornography to be one of the most important cornerstones of this country’s foundation.

But this needs to be worked on NOW????

More info here…

John Boehner: Senate Payroll Tax Cut Will Fail In the House Tonight

Boehner Payroll

“Captain 9%” doing another great job as Speaker of the House.  BTW:  what happens when your approval rating is less than the margin of error? LOL >;-)

More info here…

"At last, my love has come along / My lonely days are over / And life is like a song..."



It was announced by her physicians on Friday that the great singer Etta James is terminally ill with cancer.  Her career spanned over fifty years with such amazing hits as "At Last" and "Something's Got A Hold On Me" and resulted in her being voted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Her voice is soulful and divine...one that will live on and inspire future female singers for generations to come.

Thank you, Ms. James...



Etta James "At Last"



Etta James "Something's Got A Hold On Me"

Payroll Tax Cut Extension: House GOP Seeks To Reshape Senate Bill

Payroll Tax Cut Extension House Gop

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, MIDDLE CLASS!  Your "present" from the RepubTeaBaggees is going to be about a $1000 extra lump of coal in your stocking this year!

But I know what you're thinking: "That's okay, Ray...just as long as the millionaires and huge corporations still get their breaks this year."

Well, don't worry, little ones.  Keep those visions of sugar plums dancing in your head.  They'll be JUST fine!

More info here...

Newt Gingrich’s assault on ‘activist judges’ draws criticism, even from right



Look at this man.  Is he REALLY the person you want deciding for you what is and what isn't "anti-American" when it comes to our judicial process.  For a man who never misses an opportunity to tell us what a great (and HIGHLY paid) "historian" he is, you would think he'd remember this little thing about the separation of powers within our government.  It's kinda' there for a reason...

More info here...

Kim Jong Il Dead: North Korea Leader Dies At 69

Kim Jong Il Dead

Do you get the impression that the "batshit-crazy nut" doesn't fall far from the "batshit-crazy tree"?

More info at this link...

A BIG, FAT "...BCMD!" APOLOGY AND CLARIFICATION...




GOOD NEWS:  I managed to stay awake from 8:00am Saturday until 11:08pm Sunday (minus a brief 20 minute crash sitting at the computer at around 4:12am Sunday morning).

BAD NEWS:  Thanks to some major issues involving Blogger, Windows LIVE Writer and the connection I have between Twitter, Facebook and my blog, a HUGE chunk of my time was spent trying to figure out at one point they all met to conspired to fuck me over.  I'm FINALLY getting my regular posting abilities back, as well as all the bells-and-whistles that come along with it.

"THE 24 HOUR '...BCMD!' RANDOM POSTING MARATHONAPALOOZEFEST " afforded me the opportunity to create some interesting posts on a wide range of personal and definitely-not-so-personal topics...but "The Wonders of Modern Tech" brought me crashing back down to earth.  But I'm learning quickly that that's part of the game when you're looking to build-up something like this (...so anyone out there with suggestions should feel more than welcome to post their thoughts in the "COMMENT" section.  I mean...it's the holidays: sharing IS caring.)

So a big, fat, wet, sloppy, might-have-to-get-checked-for-rabies "THANK YOU" to those who jumped on board or who've been on board the whole time.  I'm working on better tech and software so that problem doesn't happen again, and the posts I have archived will need to be tweaked a bit but you'll be seeing them over the next several days...though I'm not sure if that's a promise or a threat.

***KEEP WATCHING THIS SPACE!***

Ausgezeichnit! ;-)

Saturday, December 17, 2011

I’m not looking to take a dump on anyone’s childhood…especially my own…

…but watching this scene now, don’t you think he comes across a little…ummm…”kid-toucher-ish”? Or is it just me?

Just so you know, this is me…

388179_681208605696_36502281_34804197_863579022_n

Not sure what look I was going for in this picture, to be quite honest.  I sure-as-shit needed a shave though.  Damn.

“…BCMD!”’s Totally Uninformed NFL Picks of the Week: WEEK 15

Based on nothing more than the few things I remember from countless hours of ESPN’s “First Take” and “SportsNation,” here are my amazingly ill-informed, pull-it-out-of-the-seat-of-my-ass predictions for this week (highlighted):

Thursday, Dec. 15
Jaguars at Falcons 8:20 PM  (You have to trust me on that one…)

Saturday, Dec. 17
Cowboys at Buccaneers 8:20 PM  (…shit…)

Sunday, Dec. 18
Dolphins at Bills 1:00 PM
Redskins at Giants 1:00 PM
Titans at Colts 1:00 PM
Panthers at Texans 1:00 PM
Packers at Chiefs 1:00 PM
Bengals at Rams 1:00 PM
Saints at Vikings 1:00 PM
Seahawks at Bears 1:00 PM
Lions at Raiders 4:05 PM
Jets at Eagles 4:15 PM
Browns at Cardinals 4:15 PM
Patriots at Broncos 4:15 PM  (Yeah…I know…but all he does is win!)
Ravens at Chargers 8:20 PM

Monday, Dec. 19
Steelers at 49ers 8:30 PM

There.  I feel manly again.  Grr.

Off to do a bit of tweeting while things are still calm…

twitter-logo  326

The TWITTER feed (DeliciousCowz) updates on the left side of the blog site as well as on my Facebook page…

A Bear On Cocaine Is NOT A Bear I Want To Meet…

i-fcking-love-cocaine-126876-466-462

…but it would STILL be better than a shark on heroin whipping around nunchucks or a python on crystal meth with a butterfly knife.

Thoughts?

WHERE THE @#$% ARE YOU???

pass_out PassedOut71mess-people-passed-out-800X800

It’s Saturday night…the last Saturday before the holidays and since I’m sure most of you are probably throwing back your fifth spiked eggnog (90% spiked/10% eggnog) let’s start off pretty easy:

(1)  If you’re out right now, drop a comment and let us know what you’re doing and how you’re REALLY feeling.  This site is a “NO BULLSHIT ZONE” so be honest!

(2)  Using these pics as your inspiration, let’s see how many of you are feeling “confessionally honest” tonight and willing to post in the “COMMENT” the worst experience you ever had with “The Devil’s Piss.”  Remember: confession IS good for the soul.  >;-)

Don Hertzfeldt’s REJECTED : Beautifully twisted…

“ My spoon is too big.  My SPOON is too big.”

I couldn’t think of a better way to start the marathon then with this…an old gem but a damn fine one.

Enjoy.  There will be a quiz later…

Just So We’re Clear…

It’s twenty-four hours so things might start a little slow in the beginning.  I figure that sensory overload due to increasing lack of sleep will make the posts more interesting as they go along so please be patient…it will definitely be worth it.

 

Also, some updates will be coming through the “…BCMD!” blog site and others will be coming through the Twitter feed (@DeliciousCowz) that feeds directly onto this blog site as well as my Facebook page.

 

PLEASE spread the love and get the word out to anyone who doesn’t get easily offended and/or lives within close “kick-my-ass” proximity to where I am.

 

PLEASE feel free to suggest things for the site…I’m going to be here for awhile so let’s make this interesting…

THE 24 HOUR "...BCMD" ALL-NIGHT RANDOM POSTING MARATHONAPALOOZAFEST!!!

Two things I want to get off my chest before I start…

(1)  Blogs are just a huge form of “mental masturbation” for people who think their every thought is SOOOOOOO damn important.

(2)  Anyone who says they don’t like Michael Bolton is a fucking liar.

 

So why do a blog?  I wasn’t sure in the beginning…and I’m not too sure now.  What I DO know is that I have a ton of thoughts, feelings and opinions going on in my head every second of the day, and a blog just seemed to be the best way to get that stuff out of my noggin and into some kind of order.  And it calms the voices in my head.

That was a joke.  I think.  Maybe not.  Let me talk it over with them and I’ll get back to you.

 

The mistakes I made in the past with “…BECAUSE COWS MAKE DELICIOUS!” (which will now be “…BCMD!” from this point forward because it fucking annoys even me to write that all the time) had to do with me trying to be “the guy on the outside looking in”…I never really put any of MYSELF into the work and it showed.  But that’s about to change…

 

THE 24 HOUR "...BCMD" ALL-NIGHT RANDOM POSTING MARATHONAPALOOZAFEST!!!

Between 8:00pm tonight and 8:00 pm tomorrow, I’ll be awake and updating this blog through random posts and Twitter updates on a wide range of topics for no other reason than (A) to see if I can do it; and (B) to hopefully keep YOU entertained as I try to make something of this “thing” I’ve created.  No topics will be off-limits…including personal stuff…and some of my views may not always mash-up well with your beliefs and values.  But that’s cool…because if you don’t agree with something I say or post then LET ME KNOW!  This blog is only going to work if YOU stay invested in it, so let me know what you’re thinking, feeling, doing, who you’re doing, how you’re doing it (please use protection) and any yother crazy shit you want to throw my way.

***  TWITTER:  DeliciousCowz

***  FACEBOOK:  Event Page: THE 24 HOUR "...BCMD" ALL-NIGHT RANDOM POSTING MARATHONAPALOOZAFEST!!!

***  EVERY POST HAS AN AREA FOR YOU TO LEAVE COMMENTS!!!

THIS IS A TEST…A REALLY, REALLY AWESOME TEST….

SIDE NOTE:  I’ve heard this song/watched this video EIGHT TIMES and I STILL can’t tell you if I like the song or not.

The video on the other hand? Amazing. ;-)

(T-minus 42 minutes and counting…)