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Miranda

I have been using this computer for several years, and this is the first time that I realize that I have named it, “Miranda.” I’m not sure what the reference is.

I’m betting it’s not the rights, however timely it may be. It’s probably not Miranda from the Tempest, as that does not follow any of the normal naming conventions that I have used in the past.

About the only reference I can think of is Miranda Lotto from D. Grey-Man. Which is a stretch. I was never really into the series, although I’m considering reading the manga.

Ghost Widow

The 5th Gen iPod Nano is a really feature rich device for being, well, nano sized.  I don’t know where to begin.

I like the video camera, but I can’t see myself using it much except in those situations where I find myself needing a middling quality video camera.  On the other hand, I’ve got a middling quality video camera in my tiny music and video player.

The pedometer is interesting although I will probably not use it much.  I know my route every day and I’ll maybe turn it on for special occasions.

The screen is fantastic looking and I’m thinking about moving some videos over, perhaps the first few episodes of TV that people have recommended to me but I haven’t had the time to watch.  It is a small screen, but the image quality is very high so maybe it’ll even out.  Then again, I watched video on the GameBoy Micro screen (thank you Play-Yan adapter) so my tolerances are probably pretty high.

There’s a voice recorder.  So yeah, I guess that means I’m carrying two of them around since I have one on my phone.  Which I have used in the past.

Oh, and it plays music.

The Debut

My first twitter post isn’t all that exciting.  It’s not a, “Hey, I’m trying out this twitter thing” or a “Hello world” post.  It’s simply a blurb that exists and has some meaning in that moment.   Something that I expressed in well under 160 characters but in retrospect could have used more of them to place it in context.

Simply:

Sitting in Michael’s office.
2:48 PM Apr 11th, 2007 via web

The Box Project

I have a box full of 20 year old journals and I think I have a project for them.  It’s going to be painful, but if I stick to it, it may be humorous and educational at the same time.

Three Strikes

Dear Microsoft,

Probably not going to buy any games for the 360 since this is the third time it has died since I have owned it.  Since repairing it is half the cost of a new console, I’m not going to repair it and in fact, I have boxed up the console and all of the games, since I can’t play them anyway.

In the meantime, I’ll just reallocate all future money that I was going to use for the 360 into PS3 and Wii titles.

Thanks!

God of War ]|[

See what I did there?  Ahem.

Kratos, Ghost of Sparta, God of War, Slayer of Ares, Sex Minigame Enthusiast, Climber of Long Ass Chains, Sole Employee of Mythological Creature Extermination Services Inc., and most importantly, Collector of Red Orbs, returns in the third and possibly final installment of the God of War series.

Odds were, I really wasn’t going to be surprised by anything that I encountered in playing God of War ]|[.  I enjoyed the first two and played them to completion.  I played through both on hard difficulty, which I felt was just the right level of difficulty.  Each time I saw the “restart from last checkpoint screen” I felt I might be able to make it if that next time, if I really just got my game on and just brought it.

Or just got luckier.

Probably the latter.

In my defense whenever I got to a point where I seemed to hit a dead end, (Usually around the nth restart.  I never really count.)  I would really rethink how I was playing and start playing differently, trying new moves or strategies.  So part of it may have been skill, but I’m not going to discount luck entirely.

But beat them I did, and seemingly before I knew it, (amazing how fast sequels get here when you’re not watching them obsessively) God of War III arrived.  I’m not going to say it was worth the wait, since I wasn’t really anticipating it.  However, when I remembered it was out, I picked it up right away.  (Maybe because my 360 was dead, but that’s another issue, altogether.  Everyone:  MAYBE BECAUSE MY 360 WAS DEAD.)

But on to God of War III

The God of War games are guilty pleasures that I just can’t say no to.  They have been consistently fun, well produced, and I can’t fault a game for being both of those things.  The third is also fun and well produced, only this time it has the added visual punch of being on the PS3.  So visually it’s way ahead of the previous two games.

Kratos is not a nice guy.  He just kills people.  That’s his thing.  He accidentally killed his wife and daughter and wears their ashes for eternity as his burden.  He’s killed more than a few gods and demigods in his lifetime.  He is a killing machine.  His motivations are simple.  Get vengeance.  On whoever.  Or is it whomever?  Either way, people are dying.

In fact, if you’re a civilian in a God of War game, you might as well arm yourself with whatever you have laying around and at least go out fighting because Kratos is going to kill you and he’s going to kill you so hard that red orbs come out of your mauled corpse.

Not surprising so far:

It’s a God of War game.  So you’ll kill lots of creatures with the Blades of Chaos Exile, collect red orbs and upgrade your various items and weapons.

Kratos’s quest for vengeance is pretty much all there is in terms of story.  I mean, a lot of it could have just been cutscenes of Kratos yelling, “ZEUUUUUUUUUUUS!” and shaking his fist at Mount Olympus.  In fact, I’d like to see someone do this.

Blood.  Everywhere.

Still working my way through, but the game is basically a very pretty God of War game.  If you liked the previous ones there’s nothing stopping you from getting this one.  However, there have been some surprises:  (Spoilers ahoy.) (Continued)

The Methodology

With the addition of the 5th Gen iPod Nano, I’ve examined how I rate songs.  To be honest, I’d rather have song tagging, but since I don’t have that, I’ve had to define how I use the star rating system.  This way, I have a more consistent metric for using the tools that I have.

One star – Delete

There is something wrong with this file.  It’s broken in some way, either there’s clipping or it cuts off, or is mislabeled.  Or I could just really hate the song and what the hell is it doing in my library?  Also, podcasts from 2005 are typically one starred.

Two stars – Meh

Pieces of incidental music that I don’t feel, and that’s their problem.  (Typically tracks from soundtracks, although Vangelis is a notable exception.)  Also songs from albums that I just ripped in their entirety that I don’t care too much for.

Three stars – Well maybe

Audit.  These are songs that need listening in order to see how I feel about them.   There is a smart playlist in iTunes for this and it fills up with 25 songs.  I try to get through them during the workday, giving them a full listen while I’m at my desk and the iPod is easily at hand.

Four stars – Pretty good

These are songs that I will listen to in their entirety, depending on my mood.  Typically an easy decision to make, I just four star music that I enjoy.

Five stars -

I am physically unable to skip these songs.  It is a physiological impossibility.

How this works:

I search for one star songs in my library and delete them.  Then, comes some iTunes configuration.  Specifically, three smart playlists that are synchronized to the iPod.

  1. First, a smart playlist that is automatically filled with music that is rated four stars or above.  This way, I’ll always have something I want to listen to.
  2. Then another smart playlist for songs rated three stars, but limited to 50 songs.  This list is typically listened to at work, while the iPod is close at hand on my desk.  As I go through the list, I make sure to rate songs that I enjoy at least four stars, while some songs I leave at three stars for another listen.  Some songs go down to one or two stars and those never come back to the iPod.
  3. Finally, a smart playlist that’s filled with songs that are unrated.  This is another list that I go through at work.

In this way, I hope to be through my iTunes music library with a better idea of what I like and don’t like.