Les Cinques Du Vendredi

thefridayfive


1. Do you have any pets? If so, how many, and what are their names?
I had a Yorkshire Terrier named Elvis, who lived from 1988 to 2003.
I don't have any pets right now.
My roommate has a friendly, chatty, bulimic cat named "Noël".
Once I get my own apartment, I'm getting a dog.

2. What was your very first pet? Do you remember its name?
The first family pet I remember is Sherlock Holmes, a red long-haired Daschund (in French: teckel).
My first personal pet was a small turtle named Clémentine.

3. Is there an animal you would never have as a pet?
Most birds. Don't like 'em. Don't trust 'em.

4. What common pet have you always wanted but never had? Why not?
Tarantulas. They're so kyoote and fuzzy-wuzzy! My brother would freak the hell out though.
He hates spiders and also most insects.

5. What wild animal (extinct or not) would you own if you didn't have to worry about its adjustment or the cost of captivity?
A pack of wolves. A pair of snow leopards. A pair of tigers.

Videogame eMusic

In a past post, I talked about stumbling across the "Tiger Woods Golf 2005" soundtrack on eMusic and being surprised that
BT was behind it. Well, I decided to do some digging and see what else eMusic had up its videogame music sleeves...
(For the purpose of this exercise, I'm lumping together actual game soundtracks and licensed music in games)


I had heard underrated beatmaker Amon Tobin was sought out to make the soundtrack to "Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory".
It turned out to be true, and eMusic has it. The CD is called, aptly enough, "Chaos Theory".
It's unusual and eclectic, as is to be expected from someone like Mr. Tobin. eMusic also carries other Tobin releases.


Meanwhile, the vaguely Sims-like "Playboy: The Mansion" gets a mix CD of mostly House and Disco from Felix Da Housecat.
You can get it with separate tracks or as one continuous track (only costs you one download).


There's an entire label devoted to EA Games soundtracks, and there are 34 albums to check out.
(15 per page, the link points to page 1 of 3)
The selection runs the gamut from "Harry Potter" games to "Medal Of Honor" and "Need For Speed".
The "Need For Speed" soundtracks don't include the licensed tunes, unfortunately.
Fans of Devo and/or "The Sims 2" might want to check out Mark Mothersbaugh's three "Sims 2" soundracks:
"Sims 2" - "Sims 2: University"
and "Sims 2: Nightlife", which consists of Mothersbaugh's Sims-music remixed by various Techno artists:
Junkie XL, Timo Maas, General Midi, Hyper, Adam Freeland, and the wacky psychedelic Lemon "Nice Weather For Ducks" Jelly!
Yeah you bet I'm gonna download that one!! :)

And if you're a fan of "Command & Conquer", you're in luck. The EA label has all of Frank Klepacki's music:
"C&C" - "C&C: Red Alert" - "C&C: Red Alert 2" - "C&C: Tiberian Sun" - "C&C: Renegade" - "C&C: Generals"
"Renegade" is my favorite C&C game. It's an FPS and it feels like being trapped inside a series of "GI-Joe" cartoon episodes.
I mean, come on! Look at the Brotherhood Of Nod's uniforms! They might as well be Cobra! And you've got all the wacky
GI-Joe cartoon almost-like-real-life-and-bordering-on-sci-fi military hardware you can handle! Yo Joe!


Rockstar Games, those lovely people who brought us the "Grand Theft Auto" series, have a new game coming out called "Bully".
And on eMusic, they're giving the soundtrack away for freeeeeeeeee!!! Just click the link and hit download. It should work.
It carries the unwieldy title of "BULLY (Original Video Game Score) - MUSIC FROM A GAME RATED TEEN BY THE ESRB".
Said soundtrack is composed by Shawn Lee, who has a pair of albums on eMusic already, so he's, like, a real musician. :)
The style of the tracks is all over the place, encapsulating the various styles of the '70s and '80s. I listened to the
samples and heard, among other things: disco, funk, The Cure, Goblin (the weird '70s group that provided music for Dario
Argento's classic horror film "Suspiria"), dub, soul, the "DaDaDa" cheesy Casio beatbox, and new wave.
It's fun in a retro '70s and '80s sort of way, and hey, it's free! Dig it!


Back in the mists of time, in late-2001, the PlayStation 2 launched in the US. And one of the launch games was a fun though
somewhat frustrating little game of high-speed 4WD off-road contraband grab-and-deliver called "Smuggler's Run".
It was released by Rockstar Games, and since they have the hookups, they got Guidance Records to do the soundtrack.
The resulting CD is called "Smuggler's Run Mixed By Oscar G." and features a pleasant mix of dub, house, lounge and techno.
Which is somewhat surprising since the game is so frantic and you're constantly racing the clock.
It's a nice selection of tracks, but it doesn't really seem to fit the theme.


And now, something a little different: "2K6: The Tracks (ED)". The "(ED)" means edited, so no bad words.
This a collection of tracks from EA's "NBA 2K6" game, performed by various old-school-style hip-hop artists.
It's not rap. There's actual music and melodies in there, so it's hip-hop. :D
So if you're like me and you liked De La Soul, Ice-T, Ice Cube, NWA and all of them back in da daze, you might dig some of dis.
A lot of this stuff don't sound like the crap coming out of the radio and the TV these days.


And this is "2K7", 'cause EA's gotta make new versions of all their sports games every year, y'all!
Same deal as above: edited version, assorted old-school-style hip-hop artists. Heck, it's even got A Tribe Called Quest!
And it's compiled and produced by Dan The Automator, for those of you for whom that means anything.
There's also an all-instrumental version available, so you can lay down your own rhymes.


That's all I could find. There may be more but I wouldn't know where to look.
There's not neat "videogame music" category on eMusic. Just "soundtrack", and that doesn't help because several of the ones
I found for this article where listed under their appropriate (or not) music genre, under the artist's name.
Anyway, I hope you find something like!

Randomage

Doop-dee-doo...

Things have been kinda quiet at Chateau Kzin high up on the Centinela Hill.
I went back to work Wednesday 27th last week (we had Monday and Tuesday off! We're crazy like that).
The office looked pretty empty, with half the people on vacation, and it looked even emptier on Thursday and Friday.

On Saturday afternoon, Warren (No LJ) came by and we ran some errands with the Sibling.
Then we dropped him off and finished the errands without him. He kept twirling my hair, which is getting long.
I should probably explain the hair twirling. My brother has the stupid habit from when we were kids of twirling his index
finger in my hair and making curls. I think he's jealous of my thick mane, and he likes to piss me off. Siblings...
So anyway, he kept reaching over and I kept slapping his hand away and it degenerated, so Warren was like "you kids
knock it off or I turn this car around!". "But he started it!" I exclaimed. So we left him at the apartment. Tee-hee.
We went to Target, where I bought a new bathmat (oooh aaaah) and a lil' Lego set: 4 Republic clones with a speeder bike.
By the way, Lego is actually making actual genuine blasters for the Star Wars minifigures. No more using camcorders or
bullhorns with extra parts attached to make 'em look like blasters. Another blow to Lego's old "no-guns" policy.
On the way out, we laughed at some homeboys wearing their Nikes with the big Nike tags still attached.
Then we went to Smart & Final for some cases of Arrowhead. Then Trader Joe's for food, and Albertson's for soda for Warren.
We stopped back at the apartment to drop off the stuff and collect DJ Bro, then hit the Chipotle in Marina Del Rey for some
delightful burrito and guacamole goodness. Hmmmmmmmmmm, guacamole from Chipotle...
Back to the apartment where I showed Warren some stuff on the computer, including the "Alberta Indian" on GoogleEarth.
And too quickly it was time to see my buddy off. Awwwwwww...

On Sunday, El Hermano went to the movies while I stayed home, lazing around all day. I wasn't in a "movies" mood.
He saw "Apocalypto", "The Good Shepherd" and "Happy Feet". He liked them all, especially "Apocalypto".
He found "Shepherd" to be a leeeetle slow in places, but still very good.
In the evening, I picked up a big bottle of Smirnoff Ice to ring in the New Year. We didn't want to get too smashed.
I turned the oven on at 10pm and put our New Year's Eve Santa Maria Beef Bottom Sirloin Roast in it 10 minutes later.
But the time Le Frère was back from his viewing extravaganza, the meat was nearly done and I was making the mash taters.
We had a nice dinner and downed the Smirnoff Ice at midnight.

I had New Year's Day Monday off, of course. We stayed home and watched the Rose Parade.
(see a previous post for YouTube link to Star Wars floats, Imperial Marching Band and massive 501st Legion presence)
Bob Eubanks was extra-dicky this year and I wonder how long his co-hosts can keep covering for him.
And I was back at work on Tuesday 2nd.


The Sibling is feeling better. He went out and rode the bike these last 3 days. He stopped taking the morphine pills
because he doesn't hurt as much and they were making him really sleepy. He wants to get a few things done!
He's got an appointment at USC on Monday and I'm taking the day off work to go with him. We're gonna get as much
information as we can on his current condition, including the fracture, and see where we go from here.
He continues working on the book. He also wants to gather his poetry into a book for publication in France.


My flu is just about evicted. I finished my antibiotics and I'm nearly out of codeine cough syrup. Hmmmmmm, codeine...
Actually, I'm not too crazy about the syrup. It tastes okay, but it numbs my mouth and makes me thirsty.
Now that the cough is nearly licked, my acid reflux has returned, irritating my throat and making me cough. Wonderful.
I got very little sleep last night. The wind outside was INSANE. And when I did finally fall asleep, I had a nightmare.
I woke up, took an Alka-Seltzer to beat back the reflux, and went back to sleep. I woke up at 9:30am (!?!?!?!).
So I was late to work. Blargh...
I'm gonna have to do some catch-up sleeping this weekend.

Oh, hey, we surpassed 100,000 subscribers here at Amp'd Mobile last week! From zero to 100,000 in just one year! W00T!!!
No, I didn't find an extra lil' somethin' in my paycheck. We had that kickin' party though!
I love my job.



Edit: A small rundown of Bob Eubanks dickery can be found here.
(Jabuary 2, 2007 entry in case it's updated)