Btw Crimson, you and your wife are invited to New Years also.. I didn't mean to make it only Executioner!

To Crimson:
1) We are there... Exhausted but there
2) I am guessing a dex of at least 23...

Bruce Campbell is in Spider Man 2!

Good info on Blade 3

I'll bring the Smirnoff...

Mr. Executioner, I am hoping you will join us for a minor New Years festivities up at my place. I am not planning anything big since I know the northern cali people can't make it but at least we can have some fun!

Just wanted to post a Happy Holidays to everyone. I don't know when or where I'll see each of you next, but I just wanted to say that I hope life treats you well and that your holiday is a fulfilling one. I'll be in San Diego at my sister's new house for Christmas Eve/Day and I do not yet know where I'll be for the New Year. Hails to you all.

Painful... Previous games in this title were so good. RIP Black Isle Studios.

Fallout 3 screenshots surface - PC News at GameSpot

Great news! Sacred is getting published in US! This looks like it is going to be an excellent game!

Encore to publish Sacred - PC News at GameSpot

This has to be the funniest "Our site is under construction" message I've ever read...

http://www.megatherion.com

This might be interesting. Another Diablo like game out of Asia.

Blade and Sword for PC at GameSpot

From the Kamelot Homepage:

"Writing sessions for the next album!
Thomas reported in with the following: "I just got back from a whirlwind 3 weeks in Norway and Germany. We have written 5 new songs for the next Kamelot follow-up to EPICA. Here are some working titles that may change on the album – March of Mephisto, Nothing Ever Dies and Serenade. The new songs range from HEAVY to Fast and we worked on a new ballad."

Timo Kotipelto and Jörg Michael are out of Stratovarius.

After several emergency meetings, this move finds acceptance within the band. “Due to irrevocable and massive difficulties between the band leader Timo Tolkki and me, it has been agreed that this is the best thing to do to preserve at least some of the integrity the band used to have", says singer Kotipelto. "I will now fully concentrate on my solo album and I am convinced that this is the best way for me."

Jörg Michael says that his priorities lie elsewhere at the moment, but that the suddenly escalating trouble in the band is one of the main reasons he doesn't want to play in Stratovarius anymore.

Jens Johansson states that he thinks this situation is very unfortunate, but that he is ok with it nevertheless, given the tension and turmoil of the last couple of months.

Jari Kainulainen was not available for comment

"I think this is the beginning of new era for Stratovarius and that the future looks bright and promising. I have composed some of my best songs during the last month", Timo Tolkki says from his writing mansion next to the gulf of Finland. He promises that Stratovarius fans will be both surprised and amazed by the next album. "If anything good comes out of this, then I guess it will be the emotions I have managed to channel into new songs about this situation, which has been very heavy for all of us." he continued. "I have been having quite bad mental problems lately, but I feel better now due to anti-depressive medication my therapist has prescribed me."

Also, according to the booking agent Continental Concerts, the current line-up is "100% certain" to fulfill all its obligations regarding festival dates next year even though there is a lot of simmering hate still, waiting to boil over.

According to Tolkki, he is currently talking to a German singer and a Finnish drummer about replacing Kotipelto and Michael, but he stresses that absolutely nothing is confirmed at this point. He adds that he is actively looking for replacements.

Iron Maiden will be at the Universal Amphitheatre on January 30 and 31.

From www.rammstein.com

"The Rammstein DVD LICHTSPIELHAUS will be released on PAL format December 2003 and on NTSC format January 2004! For the first time LICHTSPIELHAUS will feature an entire collection of all Rammstein videos, exclusive live material of the band and making of material of selected videos. New information on exact release dates of the individual countries are constantly updated here. "

You can go to the website and see the cover art for the DVD...its nice.

Breed Demo -- I would suggest getting it from Fileplanet, I plan on picking it up this week.

Breed spawns new demo - PC News at GameSpot

Ouch! A moment of mourning. Although I haven't gotten along great with most of the games that Black Isle Studios have put out. I have bought a lot of them, just most of them couldn't hold my attention. They were an excellent development group devoting a lot of time and effort in the D&D gaming genre.
Interplay shuts down Black Isle Studios - PC News at GameSpot

Jessica Alba Wallpapers

Steven's web site: http://people.ucsc.edu/%7Esloverid/

Many Hails...Dead One. I will attempt to download the demo tonight and comment further after sampling its wares.

Hey Mr. Imperial Executioner... What do you think about this one?
Unreal II multiplayer demo live - PC News at GameSpot

So I got kinda crazy here...

I bought Chobits the complete series from Ebay for a great price because it was being shipped from Hong Kong, and it turned out excellent...

But that led me to purchase Witch Hunter Robin the complete series and Tenchi Muyo the complete TV series.

Oops.

Talking about Dimmu Borgir, we went to an excellent concert on Wednesday night featuring those crazy death heads. It a ton of fun!

I think my friends and I could bring down a dorm room by turning on our computers every morning if we lived in one...

Students’ appliances zap colleges

From the Nuclear Blast Homepage:

Norway’s Black Metal Band No. 1, DIMMU BORGIR, outdid hundreds of competitors and got chosen to administer two songs to the trailer of the upcoming movie “Hellboy”, a comic adaptation comparable to other films like "Blade" and "The Crow". Check out http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/hellboy for more information about the gloomy action flick and http://www.empiremovies.com/movies/2004/hellboy.shtml for the cool trailer.

And keep your fingers crossed that DIMMU BORGIR will also succeed in enriching the soundtrack of "Hellboy" ...

One of my favorite computer games is getting a sequel. Go to the offical site below for details.

Warlords Battlecry III

There is a new box set of the Alien Quadrilogy coming out December 3. Four movies, nine disks. Can anybody say special features???

And yeah, I'll be there in line with you Deathshade when Hellboy comes out.

This looks very cool!

Yahoo! Movies: Hellboy (2004) - Trailers & Clips

Oh yeah, I added Hollenthon: "With Vilest of Worms to Dwell." Its like Therion, but with a black/Norwegian metal influence.

Sorry about the fat post, but I couldn't do a direct link to the page, which is from the Nuclear Blast Homepage:

BAL-SAGOTH NEWS: AUTUMN/WINTER 2003

THE SIXTH ALBUM: WRITING CONTINUES:
The writing of the long awaited sixth BAL-SAGOTH album is continuing, and the new material is sounding truly phenomenal. Fans of everything Bal-Sagoth have crafted, from the debut album to the most recent opus, will truly find the forthcoming sixth album a wondrous and enthralling voyage into the darksome realms of sinister avant-garde black/death metal! Barbaric, baroque, bombastic... BAL-SAGOTH!
The front and back cover artwork by renowned fantasy artist Martin Hanford is now complete, as are the interior booklet illustrations by both official artists Martin Hanford and Samuel Santos.
Recording is expected to begin during the depths of winter, with a release through Nuclear Blast during the spring of 2004.

NEW BAL-SAGOTH SHIRTS IMMINENT:
Bal-Sagoth have finalized a new merchandise deal with the German company Rock Bottom (www.rock-bottom.de). Rock Bottom are a company 100% dedicated to METAL, so they are a fine choice to take over production of the prestigious range of Bal-Sagoth garments.
The first item produced will be a much requested Bal-Sagoth logo shirt, and will be available both as a t-shirt (with backprint) and long-sleeve (with back and sleeve-prints). Additionally, there will be a "girlie" fit style shirt, featuring an exclusive backprint.
And don't forget, the last few copies of the original award-winning range of Bal-Sagoth shirts from Razamataz (featuring exclusive Martin Hanford artwork) are going fast! Get yours now from www.razamataz.co.uk before they're gone for good!

"THE POWER COSMIC" OFFICIAL LYRIC BOOKLET... AT LAST!
All who lamented the lack of a full lyrical supplement for the fourth album "The Power Cosmic" will be pleased to know that there is now a new edition of the album available which contains a full colour 12 page lyric booklet.
This new edition of the fourth album is available on CD and is sublicensed from Nuclear Blast by the Russian company Irond Ltd. (The lyrics are printed in English, and the layout was designed by webmaster Jamie which first appeared exclusively here at the official site!) Check out www.irond.ru for more.

BAL-SAGOTH COMICS:
Work on the series of graphic novels set within the BAL-SAGOTH lyrical universe is also continuing. As an exclusive prelude to these stories, the Official Bal-Sagoth Website will soon be unveiling several pages of BAL-SAGOTH comics written by Byron and illustrated by official band artist Martin Hanford. Watch for them in a future site update!
Additionally, the first prose novella written by Byron and set within the world of the BAL-SAGOTH lyrics is nearing completion. This thrilling story will significantly expand the adventures of Caylen-Tor and his epic struggle against the armies of the sorceress Zyrashana, a tale which first appeared in the song "To Dethrone The Witch-Queen Of Mytos K'unn (The Legend Of The Battle Of Blackhelm Vale)" on the album "Starfire Burning Upon The Ice-Veiled Throne Of Ultima Thule".
Also, fans of the BAL-SAGOTH stories will be pleased to know that a totally revamped and expanded Glossary of all the characters, places, events, artifacts, etc. appearing in the tales will soon be unveiled here at the Official Website, including new information from the fifth and sixth albums.
Additionally, a new and comprehensive version of Byron's complete BAL-SAGOTH lyrics incorporating all six albums and featuring special extended editions of the fourth album's stories (TPC ver. 1.5) will be uploaded soon to co-incide with the new special edition Glossary.

MUSIC TO ROLE-PLAY TO:
BAL-SAGOTH keyboardist Jonny Maudling has recently been working as part of a team of composers creating music for a new MMORPG (Massive Multi-Player Online Role Playing Game) called Adellion. Visit the official Adellion site for more info on this epic fantasy game: www.adellion.com

This looks like a pretty badass motherboard / software combo. I think my next desktop is going to have to be one of these.

Intel(R) Desktop Control Center

From the Dragonforce website:

New Album
London based extreme power metallers DragonForce have started work on the follow up to their debut album 'Valley Of The Damned' released earlier this year.

The majority of the recording is taking place at Thin Ice Studios, Virginia Water, Surrey, England with producer Karl Groom, while all the guitars are being recorded at Herman Li's own private studio in West London.
Herman Li (guitars), Z.P. Theart (vocals), Sam Totman (guitars), & Vadim Pruzhanov (keyboards) have now been joined by new bassist Adrian Lambert, and drummer David Mackintosh (also with Bal-Sagoth).

Said guitarist Herman Li "We are working hard every day in the studio, and I can tell you that the new album will exceed the boundaries of melodic, speed power metal"

The new, as yet untitled album will be released on the Noise Records label on March 22nd 2004.

Star Trek Voyager will begin coming out on DVD in February 2004. Can anyone say Seven of Nine?

In the mean time, two candidates for the Store Manager position at my branch have been interviewed and rejected. Employees are calling in sick left and right and the healthy ones are using their vacation days. My staff is currently only 8, including myself. This holiday season...people will die from 1000 wounds.

This feels like deja vu...

Police to arrest Michael Jackson

Ahh it sounds like Scott liked Witch Hunter Robin.. It is definitely good.. I am looking forward to December 3rd when the next one comes out.

Well then... Making a MMORPG out of The Matrix... interesting.

THE MATRIX ONLINE - Home

Stop whatever you are doing and go buy Witch Hunter Robin. Do it now.

I have posted a review for Please Teacher in my Movie Reviews section.

Click here.

New artwork by Lady NightenGail has been posted in the Artwork section.

The Roadrunner webservice has been on the fritz all week. So I apologize for no updates really and for the fact that my site has been going historical.. I am lucky that I keep a copy of all my site locally otherwise I could have lost info.

Trailer for the next Harry Potter film:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/

I love the Disciples series... I hope they go to Disciples 3 instead of all these expansions...

Rise of the Elves goes gold - PC News at GameSpot

Excellent news about Nvidia finally pulling itself outa the gutter. We don't need another 3dfx.

Nvidia in the black - News at GameSpot

Please Teacher Vol.4 is in my greedy little hands...

Unfortunately due to a way busy weekend with visiting family and a cousin's birthday I was unable to see Martix - Revolutions this weekend. I have heard good bad and really ugly about this film so far, but I am keeping my mind open. I bought disk 1 of a new Anime series I haven't tried before so I'll have a review up for that once it has arrived.

Other then that, don't let Monday get you down.

Sign the Petition, put your name down for having the Original StarWars Trilogy on DVD. As of right now George Lucas is planning on only releasing the 'Special Editions'. Whether or not this petition will help is a completely different matter. Lucas is and always will be a Law Unto Himself. But it definitely can't hurt.

OriginalTrilogy.com - Dedicated to the preservation of classic sci-fi

Trailer for Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence - Sneak Peek

...and an article on Sepultura, also on Digital Metal.

Here's the latest with KMFDM from Digital Metal.

There is a little tidbit in this article about Starship Troopers 2, unfortunately straight to DVD...

Ain't It Cool News - View Article

Woo-hoo!!! I knew you'd like 'Phone Booth!' No one else would have worked as well as the voice over the telephone.

I have posted reviews for 3 anime's in the Movie Reviews page:

• Full Metal Panic


• The Slayers: Collection 1


• The Iron Giant (Warner Bros)

I will not post a review on 'Phone Booth' but I saw that this week and did enjoy it thoroughly.

Hails to you all! I've posted part II of my not-so-short-story "When Worlds Collide" on my homepage. Kill it and grill it...all input welcomed. Have a good weekend!

Ain't It Cool News - View Article

You'll want to check this out... Aliens Vs. Predator the Movie...

Greetings from the bowels of visceral pain and suffering...and other stuff too. Just wanted to post an interesting piece of information. It seems that the concert we're going to in November sold out. Come ready for battle because, as Adeptio will tell you, you have to fight for every inch at these places. It will be glorious.

Added Star Trek V Special Edition to the DVD Page.

Thanks for the 411 on Breed.

"We are all dead men. Only by victory will our lives be returned to us." - STDS9

Just FYI Executioner that game you were looking into 'Breed' has been pushed back until February 2004.

This is pretty cool.

Police Cars go digital age

I have a thought for a story about a young man named Phoenix who is destined to rise again... Also I need to put up three reviews this coming week since I didn't get to it this weekend.

1) Full Metal Panic - preliminary reports say 3.5/5
2) The Iron Giant - 4/5 (I would almost say 3.5)
3) The Slayers (Collection 1 Disk A) - 4/5

I just finished watching the movie "Solaris." Will someone please rent it and tell me why I didn't get one bit of it? I'll pay for the rental. They say its an endearing love story...?

That and another apology to Eric and Gail for not calling/emailing sooner about this weekend. I've been stuck on the bottom tier of the pyramid of needs during those few moments that I'm off work. I'll fix it.

Keep writing the good stories people!

Since other things are denied me... here are some upcoming release dates...

DVD Release dates:

• X2: X-men United -- Nov 25th


• Please Teacher Vol 5 -- Nov 4th


• Terminator 3 -- Nov 11th


• Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Mega expansion ubbercool version) -- Nov 18th

Book Release dates:

• The Lone Drow (Book 2 of The Hunters Blades) -- Oct 28th


• Exile's Valor -- Nov 4th

So I apologize if the posts seem to have slacked off... Work locked down the proxy server on any game review sites so most of my information coming in has ceased. Quite annoying but I guess it leaves me more time to get my job done right?

Matrix Revolutions reviews

No posts really today... This looks cool, I'm contemplating trying it out when it is released.

Horizons

-- Nothing cooler than being able to play a dragon...

From the Nuclear Blast Home Page:

With the release of “Elements Part II”, STRATOVARIUS have finished their impressing concept. Nine new tracks including the single “I Walk To My Own Song”, showing again the variety of this legendary Power Metal act. STRATOVARIUS ever had their own sound they kept for years. Straight and catchy melodies, but still able to surprise. You all know what to expect, but in the end they created a metal masterpiece that will rest in our hearts for eternity. “Elements Pt. II” features many classical hymns and proves the high level of the band. “Elements II” also shows the more quiet side of STRATOVARIUS, with tracks like the classical influenced “Awaken The Giant”. On the other side there are Speed metal tracks like the straight “I’m Still Alive”.

Two things:

1) NightenGail and I saw Lain #2 last night. It was even more excellent than the first which in most animes (and books even) isn't normally true. By the third or fourth episode on the disk they drop a lot of the weird stuff and get more into the storyline which is MUCH appreciated. And the storyline is excellent. Still rates a 4.5 to 5 out of 5.

2) Sonata Arctica was excellent on Century Media records, I am quite nervous to hear of them going to Nuclear Blast. Not to say that Nuclear Blast bands aren't quite good, just generally they are a different sound then what I consider Sonata Arctica. We'll just have to wait and see what this entails (Whether the label tries to steer their music).

More from the Nuclear Blast Homepage:

We just received the following news from Gorgoroth:

”Gaahl [vocals] is heading to court the 20, October.
He is accused for unordinary vile use of violence. Gaahl risks a 6 years sentence if he gets condemned, the outcome of the court trial
will be announced in a couple of weeks.”
Other news:
“If things will turn out better with the local promoters, Gorgoroth will hopefully play on the metal festival in Tel Aviv the 7th of March 2004, be sure to check their website www.gorgoroth.tk for confirmation. Gorgoroth are also working on possibilities of touring in USA and Mexico etc, check back on this issue too.”

From the Nuclear Blast Homepage:

Sonata Arctica,the divine Power Metal band from the land of the Thousand Lakes based around vocalist Tony Kakko, recently signed a long term record deal with Nuclear Blast Records.

We are very proud to announce this new signing and are looking forward to a bright future together!

At this moment the band is working on new majestic hymns, which might be recorded before summer 2004.
Sonata Arctica is the future of Melodic Power Metal

I still haven't seen Lain #2 and Italian Job even though I have it from netflix because school / work has been overwhelming my schedule... I'm hoping I can get to it this weekend! I'll post a mini addendum to the review for Lain after I watch the second one.

Yes and no about Kill Bill. It had a lot of blood shooting all over the place... But nothing that was "ewwww". It was more along the lines of, ok lets use a blood pump here to have it squirt for no apparent reason. Was it 'horror' all that blood... No it was almost comedy. But to answer your question, yes it was damn bloody.

(edit) Thinking back there were two scenes that the gore wasn't ... Called for. 1) was seeing someone's brain after cutting off the top of the skull, 2) the opening scene was very dark.

(edit edit) Alright fine (after another 5 minutes of thinking). It definitely rates and 'R' rating. There was a lot of stuff in it that definitely is messed up. If you have any reason not to want to see random really horrible things, then skip it. (Stuff like... Rape was implied, death of a baby in the womb, putting a sword through someone's genitals)

Since I haven't had much to report today:

We saw Kill Bill Vol 1 this last weekend. In my opinion it was excellent, definitely two thumbs up and an instant classic. Nothing is cooler than a Japanese school girl wielding a ball and chain whooping ass.

Can't think of anything else to report at this time... Gaming industry is kinda quiet right now and Netflix is doing me good still. I have another anime to watch and The Italian Job.

For those of you who haven't checked it out yet, NightenGail posted a story on the Stories Blog on Sunday. It is a great start!

I really like this article... I am definitely contemplating it. I should have done it a long time ago.

MSN Money - Getting rich is simpler than you think - Start investing

I just grabbed samples of the new Falconer CD. The songs sucked, the new singer sucked...it is a last and ultimate sign...Falconer is dead. Long live their first album.

Been a long week. Installed a new server at work on Wednesday (7pm-2am), went to a wedding rehearsal and dinner Thursday, had someone arrested at work today, and participating in the actual wedding tomorrow. Next week will be worse because my store manager is leaving and I'll be doing her work as well as mine indefinitely. The remodel in my branch had gone from a week long project to a month long project. Now you're telling me that there's a sequel to X-COM coming out? Its over...the world can just burn.

X-COM 2?

Check out this Gamespot article. (Is the ImperialExecutioner cowering in fear?)
UFO: Aftermath Preview - UFO: Aftermath Previews for PC at GameSpot

Oh... Math Sucks

The Slayers DVD I rented was Season 3 I think... So we are returning it to Netflix and getting the first season disk one (Which I swear wasn't there before). I'll put up a review for it after seeing that one.

Added the new album by KMFDM called World War III. Also added half a dozen DVD's. I've been bad. I should be punished. Any volunteers?

This is amusing... A European commercial done by Ben Affleck...
IFILM - L'Oreal: Ben Affleck's Hair

Just an update... I actually posted 2 movie reviews today.

1) Ai Yori Aioshi
2) Serial Experiments: Lain

Check them out in the Movie Reviews Page.

I have posted my second story! Follow the link on the left to see it!

I have posted another Anime Review... Go check it out in the Movie Reviews!

If you haven't seen this page before it is pretty cool...

DVD Easter Eggs | Home Page

Half-Life 2 theft affects more than Valve - Half-Life 2 News for PC at GameSpot

Interesting, so because of the theft, we wont get the game until April 2004 and they are worried about more than just the game being affected because of the licensing of code from other development companies.

It is a sad state of affairs the gaming companies seemingly have to utilize Bank level security systems. That won't drive up development costs at all will it?

I have added a new section to the Movie Rentals area. It will allow me to post reviews on the Netflix Anime rentals I get. Since I am now subscribed to that service I want to make sure that any anime I watch is rated so no-one else gets suckered into the bad ones, or I get to spread the word on the good ones.

First review is on DNA² - Metamorphosis. I gave it a 6, watchable but not buyable.

Check it out! Here.

Very cool! The Disciples 2 game is getting another expansion pack and this one sounds cool.

Discples 2: Rise of the Elves

It allows you to finally take charge of someone other then the normal 4 races.

Check the site, pretty cool graphics.

Posted a new DVD I received today.

Hacker spoils game for software firm - Half-Life 2 source code published

Interesting article. It seems that some hacker broke into Valve's network and published their source code for Half-Life 2 on the internet...

I updated the template on the Stories blog to allow easier identification of a story. I pushed the poster's name to the top right under title so instead of having to scroll to the bottom to find when and who published the article, you get that information right away.

Atari to patch Temple - The Temple of Elemental Evil News for PC at GameSpot

I can believe it. The game looks great, has the best rules conversion of a D&D game I have ever seen. But there is a lacking something... Oh yeah, fun!

It isn't that bad, here is the deal:
1) The performance on a high-end computer leaves much to be desired
2) The character controls are a little rusty and require adept manipulation
3) The game misses the following two components:
  a> Lack of good rewards make playing only partially interesting
  b> It takes a long time to jump into the game, and even then you have long periods of 'time to get to the next section' which grate on the nerves

But besides for those issues it is a stellar looking game and a good start to a D&D franchise. They completely one upped Neverwinter Nights.

Second Story has been posted by the ImperialExecutioner... It not for the faint of heart, literally. Most of us have gone through it, but don't let that fool you.

Since I see it as foolish to include links to the Stories blog on every update, I am going to have you point your mouse a couple of inches to the left... Yes there, where it says Stories on the menu, now go ahead and depress the left mouse button. You will soon see..............asdfasdfl;askjfd;sljf (Page transmission ended, redirecting to new site)

I have now created a Stories from the Shadows blog on my site. You can access it here.


Also I posted the first story... A Shadowrun Short Story. "Blackened Alleyway"

They can change the name of their company all they want...but if they so much as breath the wrong way towards Ai Yori Aoshi, the world will become a very dark place for them.

In other news, the newest album by Enigma, called Voyageur, is another solid installment. Not their best work ever, but still worthy of your hard earned money.

Ain't It Cool News - View Article: "Pioneer Entertainment Inc. to Become Geneon
Entertainment Inc. After Acquisition Pioneer has announced that is has changed its name to Geneon Entertainment ' a new word combining 'generate' and 'eon,' embodies Pioneer Entertainment's creative capabilities to produce new entertainment with eternal value.' Yosuke Kobayashi will continue to serve as President of Geneon Entertainment (Usa) Inc. "

I don't know how I feel about this... We got a lot of good Anime out of Pioneer and I'm afraid this might change things.

Two new Mercedes Lackey books are scheduled for this Month (October)...

Exile's Valor
The Outstretched Shadow

Exile's Valor is the follow up to Exile's Honor which is set in the world of Valdemar

The Outstretched Shadow is a completely new series... It sounds pretty good, click here to see Amazon's description.

I updated my DVD listing, only because I had forgotten to add in the movie Demolition Man which I had bought a couple of month's ago.

The Lord of the Rings: Trailers

I haven't determined yet whether I wish to view this or not... But the above link is the Quicktime trailer to Lord of the Rings: Return of the King... Watch at your own discretion.

Just FYI I got this data from Ain't It Cool News.

Halo: Combat Evolved Review for PC at GameSpot

Why the hell would they do this? Do developers not understand what the gamers are asking for. Personally for my little group of friends what do we like more than shooting at each other in Quake 3? Playing Co-operatively against the computer. Will we never get another game like Unreal 1 which allowed co-op? (At least if I remember correctly)

Halo for the PC also loses the original versions much-vaunted cooperative play mode. But in spite of all that, and in spite of the very high standards for first-person shooters on the PC, Halo is still an incredible action game. It's a true classic--a game that hasn't lost any of its impact and intensity over time.

The Bard's Tale announced - The Bard's Tale News for PC at GameSpot

This puts me in abject terror. I cannot think of any way the developers of this game could possibly do better than the original. Not to mention the screenshots bring me a stomach ache.

Here is to hoping that the developers realize the title of the game should change just to not destroy our wonderful memories.

I haven't gotten a review up yet about this but I am really enjoying this album..

Sonata Arctica: Winterheart's Guild

If you go to Executioner's site here is his rating (just look down the list and you will see it).

A couple note worthy album release dates:

Dark Tranquility - Live Damage DVD: September 29 (Euro release date, USA unknown)
Enigma - Voyageur: September 30
Stratovarius - Elements, part 2: October 27
Falconer (just in case you want a good laugh) - Sceptre of Deception: November 4

Confirmed in the studio (late 2003, early 2004 approximate release):
Bal-Sagoth, Rhapsody, Heavenly, Borknagar, Dargaard, Kataklysm

5 Tickets (the most I could buy)...but only 4 warriors have risen to the call. Another is required. Jonathan? Lisa? Steve? Craig? Whom shall it be?

New artwork has been posted by my lady NightenGail in Artwork (will redirect this page to the artwork section)

This is going to be a ton of fun!

You purchased 5 tickets to:
________________
Dimmu Borgir
House of Blues Sunset Strip, Hollywood, CA
Wednesday November 26, 2003 6:15 pm
Seat location: section GA

Someone remind me what sleep is like! *YAWN*

The second DVD release from Nightwish, entitled "End Of Innocence" is on its way from Finland. It is said to contain a great variety of concert footage including their first live performance ever. I will report on its quality as soon as it arrives.

Ai Yori Aoshi - With All My Heart -- Looks like October 14th for the next installment of Ai Yori Aioshi (I know I can't wait!)

Please Teacher - Hello Again -- Release Date November 4th.

Why do we have to wait several weeks for my next Anime fix?!? Not fair!

Pretty excellent weekend... Besides for lacking in sleep (Went to bed both Friday and Saturday night after 1AM) which is easily remedied because after this is done I'm going to bed. I saw Underworld on Friday night, I give it one and a half thumbs up... About a 6 out of 10. It had great potential but unfortunately the script that the actors was handed didn't live up to the concept. I don't have any complaints against the actors, Kate Beckinsale was beautiful although didn't quite pull of the 'badass' her character should have been. Scott Speedman was also slightly out of place he didn't seem to have any backbone until towards the end and then it wasn't the original character anymore. I really enjoyed the weapons though!

Alright have a good rest of the weekend peoples, time for me to call it an evening and hopefully kick the headache that is coming back.

You know what the doctor said about the headaches? Eye strain... Too much computer work. Hah like I ever look at a computer! Ok maybe a little. So she suggested at night and in the morning sitting with a cold washcloth over my eyes for 5 minutes and taking headache medicine when I needed it. Hmmmmm.... I love this stuff.

Atari Forums - The Temple Of Elemental Evil

I finally have the game in my greedy little hands. I have played both a 4 character party and a single character party for > 1 hour each. Trying to control a party of characters is more difficult than it should be. I constantly had to reselect characters and generally ended up doing tasks on the wrong character. On the upside combat is fun. Just getting to combat (town interactions) takes too long in my opinion.

I was out sick yesterday with the oddest issue... My eyes are really irritated and I am getting bad headaches. I have been taking Advil almost on the 4 hour mark for the last day or so. Today I hope to get into the doctors to see what they can say. Class last night was to say the least, difficult.

Received and added Naer Mataron - River At Dusk Scalding. It is an excellent example of raw black metal without any gimics. Sadly, as with many "true black metal" bands, the recording is very thin in quality despite the ferocity of the songs. It gets 3 Skulls.

So it looks like this weekend I'm going to try to sneak down on Sunday without Gail (She is working, I thought she was going to have weekends free but I was wrong). I need to drop something off for my mother and pick up two books from the Imperial Executioner. So be warned.

For those Windows XP users you have to check out these Power Toys one of the great ones is Alt-Tab. Use it.

Smoke rose up and the smell of sulfur filled the air. Demons of terrible power ran in fear. A creature of absolute darkness passed in their midst. That's creature's name is Dimmu Borgir. These champions of black metal have returned and cast their latest creation "Death Cult Armageddon" upon the masses. It comes highly recommended.

Can I do anymore posts today? No really... Two more updates to profiles: Pollux and Torch.

It is kinda sad that it sounds like the Terminator won't be our Governator, well we'll see how to legal battle goes over the California Recall.

Added the next big game I am interested in "The Temple of Elemental Evil" into the games page.

Cancel that last email. I forgot that this weekend is the Secondary Marketing picnic luncheon and I signed up to go. So I will be going to that instead of hanging out with family and friends.

Email me with thoughts on whether we should all see Underworld seperately or wait to see it together...

Well thank you sir for joining me! Did you know that Underworld comes out this Friday? I guess I kinda uh... Will come down there to see it with you all. Darnit I was trying to stay away from that place by the sea. Ohwell I guess I get to deal with Devil Dog Druid.

From the bowels of terror I came. I now serve the mighty DeathShade. By his command, I wade into fields of his enemies and bring suffering and death upon them all. I am the Imperial Executioner...and I now join DeathShade in this BLOG.

Tiny update... Just wanted to mention that the Love Hina movie cleaned up nicely and was a lot of fun. I have watched 3 movies from www.MovieLink.com now. 25th Hour, Addicted to Love, A Guy Thing. All three were pretty darn good. I would recommend the service to anyone who doesn't like drive and has broadband internet.

Elemental Evil coming next week - The Temple of Elemental Evil News for PC at GameSpot

Finally its here. I'm expecting it not this week but probably next Tuesday is my rough estimate. I hope it is good, ever since the Eye of the Beholder series the D&D games have let me down. Baulder's Gate games were well thought out but the gameplay bothered me. The first 3rd edition game (A remake on Pool of Radiance) was horribly put together. And Neverwinter Nights... Well it has it's own issues.

Here's too hoping.

That is by far the worst DVD I have ever received from Amazon I just received Love Hina Again: The Movie and it was floating free in the case and is all scratched up on the bottom! Well time to try it out at home after using the DVD cleaner tool I have. Otherwise Amazon.com is going to get a little phone call.

Matchstick Men and One Upon a time in Mexico both open this weekend. Unfortunately I don't think I will see either this weekend. It is R&R weekend for me after the crazy 5 day 'vacation' which turned into all hours party fest last weekend. Plus both only look average to me. Maybe my wife will drag me to Matchstick Men, I think she wanted to see it.

Valve talks Half-Life 2 performance - Half-Life 2 News for PC at GameSpot

That is scary, it says that on a 2.8Ghz machine with top of the line ATI Radeon 9800Pro (Which supposedly in DirectX 9 works the best) it is only getting 60FPS. It doesn't say resolution and all that but still, my little puny 1.7Ghz is going to be crying (My guess is 18-22FPS, almost unplayable)!

Time for an upgrade... Intel's Pentium 4 specs out a nice 3.2Ghz... 800Mhz Front Side Bus... Nummy!

Please Teacher! Vol 2 and 3 was purchased over the last two weeks (Anime), a great show in my opinion although Ai Yori Aioshi wins overall.

The party 4+ day weekend went very well. A lot of Warcraft 3 was played, we did a lot of 4 person vs 2 computer opponents (normal difficulty). And still they sometimes ruled us. What a horrible thing to deal with!

On Monday night (tonight) it decended into a free-for-all executive shooter match. Little nerf saucers were flying everywhere! Click Here although ours were all black and modified so the silly noises didn't go off!

And that basically wraps up most of what happened! Glad everyone came out! (J, Scott, Phil, Jenny, even a surpise visit from Lisa!)

The CD Review for Galloglass has been updated Click Here!

I have updated the Games section by adding Lionheart

Most of the Profiles have been updated!

Weekend still going well (lot of web updating while hanging out with friends? whatever).