The Morning Toast

One week with DJ Hero

Brian — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:57:15 +0000

We all knew that Guitar Hero wouldn’t be the only “Hero” brand out there. With the kind of ridiculous popularity the franchise (and genre) has it was all but inevitable to assume there would be another “Hero” on the block. Well, the first one out of the gate is DJ Hero which will be followed by all sorts of crazy games, I’m sure. Thanks to a gracious friend, I was able to play with DJ Hero for a week and try it out. And like a stick of gum, it ...

Life at 30

Brian — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:28:03 +0000

Finally, 30. I think I’ve wanted to be 30 since I was 12. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy all my years up to this point. There were great and wonderful, but I think I’ve always longed for the days when you can finally relax and enjoy whatever it is you want to. And I think 30 is about time for that. A milestone I guess I see 30 as the point where you should have most of your life figured out, barring crazy, horrible (or wonderful) exceptions. I tried to ...

It all started with GeoCities

Brian — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:24:47 +0000

Back before everyone had a “blog,” they had “home pages,” and GeoCities was the place to have your own little soap box. My on-line life started with GeoCities, so it is kind of sad to learn that Yahoo is shutting down the service after more than a decade. GeoCities was awesome at the time, but it wasn’t without its problems. Nonetheless, I owe GeoCities a lot. My first-hand adventures in computing started in 7th grade when the first family computer arrived. A big bad 428/SX25. While it was good for SimCity ...

The power of Coca-Cola

Brian — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:30:15 +0000

I have a love-hate relationship with cars. I love driving them, I love looking at them (the pretty ones at least), I even love watching how they’re made, but I hate hate hate having to deal with and maintain them. Some people grow up knowing cars, some don’t. I grew up learning computers, which means my knowledge of cars is pretty sparse. However, in a recent car adventure I learned a lot. I learned that Coca-Cola is some powerful shit. Jen and I went out shopping in my car and everything ...

Use your blog to get free stuff

Brian — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 22:00:58 +0000

I’ve been writing on the web, most call it blogging, for probably over 10 years now. And if you ask one friend I came damn well close to inventing blogging…although I won’t quite claim that title (but wish I could!). I’ve always enjoyed writing about the things I enjoy, and if you’re truly passionate about something, it is your duty to share and impose your happiness onto others. And even if no one is reading (so you think), it’s good to get your thoughts down because you never know what ...

Where the Wild Things Are

Brian — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:58:27 +0000

When I saw Lord of the Rings I said it would be the movie by which other movies would be compared against when it game to visual effects. I said that would stand for 10 years. I was wrong, because Where the Wild Things Are is the new bar to reach for future movies. But the best part…this wasn’t an effects film. Lord of the Rings had a lot of story…maybe too much story, but no matter how “good” LoTR is in the story department, those movies will be considered special ...

Even more Military Madness

Brian — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:40:54 +0000

A while ago I discovered Military Madness for the (retro) TurboGrafix 16. It’s a turn-based strategy game that had me playing for hours on end. It was a game that hit the sweet spot for me when it came to strategy games - not too complex yet not too easy. Well, Hudson recently remade Military Madness for XBLA and it’s I could have hoped for in an Xbox port. Honestly, this port is just that. There’s really nothing new here except some welcomed updated graphics. The play action is exactly as ...

New domain, new blog for Redline Derby Racing

Brian — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:23:39 +0000

As threatened in a recent post, I launched a new blog last week that is focused around my hobby of Hot Wheels collecting and racing. This new venture is one of the few that require active management. A lot of the domains I own were created for set-and-forget projects. Little side projects that were products of “hey, that’s a good idea” moments. Up to this point only the Morning Toast blog gets regular updates and posts. But as I continue to explore my passion of Hot Wheels, I decided to go ...

Manic Street Preachers in Detroit

Brian — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:12:08 +0000

As is somewhat normal, one night Jen was talking about one of her favorite Brit bands, the Manic Street Preachers, telling me tales of when she saw them long ago and how awesome they are…well, awesome in Britain but not really known here. The Manics were releasing a new album and I mentioned she should see if they’re touring the States. Lucky enough for us, they were and we were going…to Detroit. The Road to Detroit Now keep in mind the Manics were also playing in Chicago, which is a city we ...

Being a paintball noob

Brian — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:56:03 +0000

Playing paintball is one of those things I always wanted to do as a kid but never got around to doing. I always viewed it as an activity that was too expensive (and it is) and I also figured I’d be really bad at it and “die” quickly, sucking whatever fun there was to be had out of playing. Well, now 10+ years later I finally got around to playing. I always had some assumptions about paintball: It was a fast action sport with lots of running, ducking, diving, and sliding That paintballs ...