9/05/2005

a long weekend leading to a long week

there was no post on friday as i took friday off and spent it with moonflake as she had the day off. it was my vac after all.
i managed to finish almost all my coding for the project. just a few what-nots to do and then a final class to be sorted once i know what formats i need. then we just glue it all together into a final project... yeah... sounds easy doesn't it. :)

the weekend was pretty good. we didn't really do much, which was kinda the plan. i'm getting really far in advance wars 2. almost finished the campaign :)
but i have missed a map to one of the hidden missions (i know where it is too... i just couldn't get it and get a good rating for the mission) so i'll have to replay anyway :)
plus once i finish the normal campaign i should get access to the advance campaign (basically the same but harder... against more troops etc.)
plus i have the warroom to go through (a bunch of skirmish maps)
the game has a lot of playability/ replayability :)
on a similar note: i did my advance wars by web turns today. i'm currently in 2 games and waiting for a 3rd to start. i only do a turn every now and then (one every day or two) so it may take a while to finish, but as you can see from the screenshot nearby, things are already heating up in one of the games... and it's only day 4. (i'm playing sami: orange star, vs grit: blue moon).

on to gaming news:

a new gameboy advance game is in production at the moment, rebelstar: tactical command. its being plugged as a turn-based strategy from the creators of x-com. ever play x-com (know here as ufo: enemy unknown). well look at the nearby screen, or visit their site and you can see that the gamplay looks very similar. even the storyline has a couple of similarities. this is a good thing as x-com rocked. plus i like the look of the anime style characters :)
the story (copied from their site): The year is 2117. The evil Arelian Empire has been in control of planet Earth for decades. Initially, the Arelians brought peace and prosperity to a world ravaged by war, disease and ecological devastation. Later, they controlled Earth's inhabitants through fear, using their henchmen, the Zorn, to abduct people when they turn 30. Now, a band of rebels rises up to fight against the Arelians. A new recruit, Jorel, quickly advances through the ranks and becomes their leader. He organizes the rebel forces and builds a powerful army. Soon, he'll challenge the Arelian Empire for control of planet Earth.

also: a new metal slug game is in creation :)
metal slug 6 is heading for the arcades sometime soon. there will be 6 playable characters and i'm sure it'll be just as fun as all the previous metal slug games.

movie news: land of the dead is soon to be released here in sa. the fourth installment of george romero's "of the dead" series of movies (night of the living dead, dawn of the dead, day of the dead, and now, land of the dead).
schpat is organising a land of the dead party at one ring with prizes and all. more details will be posted as i get them. check out schpat's page too.

talking about schpat: i need to choose the money or the prize. now the cash is always good, but is the prize worth more than the cash? is the prize something i want? can i afford to not get 60 rand? how strong is the need to know what's in the box? is there a head in there? hmmm.... what to do....

on the real world front:
new orleans.... what a fuckup that place is.
cops are turning in their badges rather than go out into the warzone that new orleans has become. soldiers have been given the go ahead to shoot to kill. choppers bringing in aid get sniped at so they no longer land, they just turf the stuff out the sides and bugger off. raping and pillaging has become rampant.
the irony of the whole situation is that there are people there who are claiming that there are not enough soldier giving aid and help to people.
people are claiming that america doesn't care about them.
a small observation here: the soldiers would be able to give you more help if they didn't need to stop you looting the stores, didn't need to prtect themselves from you shooting them, didn't need to protect other people from you mugging them, didn't need to protect the innocent from you raping them.
they would be a lot more helpful if they could land their choppers without you shooting at them.
i feel really sorry for the innocent people there... i really do.
but next time they warn you that a catagory 5 hurricane is on its way and the place should be evacuated, you should go. you live in a soupbowl surrounded by water just waiting to flood you at the smallest chance. you got lucky: the storm got downgraded and was only catagory 4 when it hit. next time you may not be so lucky... leave!
also: thinking "it'll be really easy to break into people's houses once they've evacuated." is not a smart thought process, although that seems to be what has happened. viewing footage of police and soldiers turfing wannabe gangsters out of shops may be funny for a short time, but in reality its sad.
sorry to all the innocent people there, but the rest deserved to be flooded. i can only say i wish more people drowned, weighed down by their pockets full of someone else's possesions.
new orleans has been flooded before and no amount of building will stop mom nature when she throws a cat 5 hurricane hissy fit. next time listen to the people who study this shit and evacuate, leave the criminals to drown. if all the innocent people left when they were told to, the army could open fire and clear the scam up in one easy sweep.
every new bit of information i read/ see leaves me with less compassion for what remains in new orleans.
*sigh* stupid stupid stupid...

to lift your moods, i'll sign off with a cute icon thingy:
ps: an interesting question relating to faerie fire and fog clouds has been asked at askzestar... i will be answering soon (a day or two).

4 Comments:

Blogger Synkronos said...

Not everyone was able to evacuate. The poor and homeless, for example, have no means to leave and nowhere to go to (short of walking/sleeping in the open, but I'm not sure they could have walked far enough in the time given them - and nobody will give a smelly bergie hitchhiker a lift). I kind of agree with you on the people who could leave but didn't, but a lot of those will be people stubborn enough to believe that they could weather the storm or that it couldn't possibly be as bad as all that, could it? It's a kind of stupid, but not the kind you deserve to die for.

American friends of mine have largely been horrified by the government's handling of the situation in terms of coping. Apparently this sort of scenario has been anticipated and planned for, and it's basically a massive massive fuckup despite that. I hope she doesn't mind, but here's her post:

"How am I feeling? I'm pretty damn upset and mad. Everyone who has ever lived in the area knew a distaster like this was bound to happen. I was watching the weather last Saturday when the storm was still just a 'small' category 3 storm. I turned to my husband and said - 'I have a bad feeling about this. I think this is going to be the storm.' And I wasn't the only who felt this way. I knew people were going to die and suffer. I never realized that our government - a government that supposedly was prepared for anything since 9/11 happened - could fuck things up so much and allow even greater suffering and death. I'm not a big fan of the current administration during the best of times, but I would had hoped that they would be even slightly prepared for a situation that had been "planned for" and wargamed. A situation for which they had 3 days warning"

Also, she posted some links. Check these out if you are interested in first-hand accounts:
Insomnia on LJ
NOLA blog
Metroblogging

5:22 PM  
Blogger zenstar said...

everyone could have gotten out if they wanted to. it would have been shitty... but look at the alternative. i believe they even had busses shipping people out (for free). and you had 3 days to get out of the soupbowl. you take 3 days off work and see how far you can walk. i bet you get out of capetown.
as for the government... i don't particularly care on way or the other about the polotics (ie: no political arguements please) but they have been cutting the disaster fund for anti-terrorism fund. basically they were more scared of another sept 11 than a hurricane.
also: i think the aid they are getting is not too bad. it could be better, but the gangs could stop shooting at the supply lines.
the guys setting up the pump to drain new orleans were being shot at ffs!
it is a sucky situation. i am sorry for the innocents that were stupid enough/ unlucky enough to not get out. but reality: the tidal wave last year was far worse...
its a natural disaster ie: not all fun and games and the gangs are just fucking it up for everyone.
it could be handled better i'm sure (if things were set in place better) but as it is it ain't bad as far as disaster relief goes. it would move like a well oiled machine if it weren't for all the lead gumming up the works.
you cannot tell me that the hurrican caused hundreds of rapes, robberies, and murders. thats just scum fucking it up for everyone. that scum should be shot.
hopefully, under martial law, something can be done about it now and i hope it gets sorted out... but we'll have to wait and see.

10:33 AM  
Blogger Synkronos said...

"you cannot tell me that the hurrican caused hundreds of rapes, robberies, and murders"
And indeed I am not. However, not everyone stuck in New Orleans is a raper, robber or murderer, and not all are stupid.

11:38 AM  
Blogger zenstar said...

you will have noticed that i said: "i am sorry for the innocents that were stupid enough/ unlucky enough to not get out."
the people left in new orleans (other than help coming in) can be broken down into 3 groups:
a) stupid people who didn't get out.
b) unlucky people who didn't get out
c) the fuckers screwing over group a and b and the help.
no matter how stupid group a is, they don't deserve group c.
neither do group b. they are the worst off group in the equation, unlucky not to get out and now being fucked thanks to group c.
basically my point boils down to this (mostly): the aid could be better, but as it is it isn't bad except for the fuckers (group c) who are fucking it up for everyone. people should have gotten out. some of of those that didn't (unknown percentage) are stupid for not doing so. some of those that didn't (unknown percentage) are unlucky for not doing so.
if group c never came into existence then there would be a lot more people able to help group a and b.
hell, there'd be a whole lot more cops helping instead of quiting like they are now.
cops are handing in their badges rather than walk into a warzone. cops that would otherwise be quite happy to help people.
thats all i'm really saying (with some extra ranting around the edges.).
hopefully the soldiers will sort shit out under martial law. its a pity it had to come to that.

1:06 PM  

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