 Malik
(10/5/09)First things first, I am glad the Seahawks wore their alternate uniforms last week. I don't like the neon envy green or whatever that unnatural shade of eye blinding brightness is called. However, I also do enjoy that the NFL is supporting Breast Cancer Awareness month this month. Yet, when you add in that shade of magenta pain on the eyes, the only thing worse would be that shade with that horrible green. It would cause a lawsuit against the Seahawks when people start to report blindness immediately after kickoff. I know, pink is not a tough enough color for NFL players, but that shade of magenta is not doing many favors in games with so much of it (like the Seattle/Indy game). As for the Seahawks...well, I think it was obvious that the hottest team currently in the NFL (the Colts) would beat the damaged 'Hawks. That goes without saying. However, I honestly think Seattle had a chance if not for one thing. It's like a repeat of the horrible Bears game the week before. If not for Mare, I think the Bears could have been defeated in a very sad and pathetic game. With the Colts, I think the blame entirely goes to the offensive line. Yes, the Colts were scoring machines. That's to be expected with Peyton Manning in control of an offense. However, the Seattle defense didn't do any worse than one should expect. It was the offensive line that failed to deliver. Hell, the offensive line made me glad that Hasselbeck was still benched with his rib injury. After all, the Colt's defense would have completely killed such an immobile passer as Hasselbeck. If Seneca Wallace was not so mobile and able to scramble when it's called for, the Seahawks would be down to their third string QB now. It's one thing for the line to offer no protection for Wallace, which led to many rushed passes that just couldn't go anywhere. It only gets worse, however, when the rest of the offensive line problems emerge. Actually, it's only a single problem. Every pass that was great, or every rush that made major yard gains were always called back. A 20 yard gain quickly became a 10 yard loss when the yellow flags were flying like popcorn in a popper due to offensive line players pulling off some horrible holds, and being tricked into some really sad false start penalties. At least the false starts tended to be due to a more psychological team (the Colts) tricking and baiting Seahawk players into false starts with some nice minor twitches while in formation at the line. There were at least two drives that become horrible and ruined by these penalties. Add in the lack of protection for Wallace, and you had some nasty fumbles and interceptions while Wallace is panicking about who will clean up his corpse when Indy's full weight of the defense sacks him into oblivion. It's not like the Seahawks couldn't do anything. Even if Indy was starting to pull out important players near the end of the game, the back to back touchdowns (along with a great on-side kick after the first TD) showed that Seattle had some moves. It just wouldn't materialize when Wallace was left with no options but to pray that he didn't become hamburger when he was given absolutely no protection unless it came from illegal maneuvers (like holding). I would say I'm looking forward to Hasselbeck returning, but I just can't say that. Hasselbeck has some good years left to play, but with this offensive-to-watch line, his career is looking mighty short and filled with some major pain. Malik |
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Malik
(10/7/09) I did get around to downloading almost all the new songs for Rock Band for the week. I only skipped one (the Alanis song that is not Ironic...whatever it's called). In short, the songs are probably all fun enough on expert guitar to merit some attention and maybe a casual glance if you don't know the songs well enough to trust buying them. The only things worth mentioning seem to be that nothing is overly hard, but nothing is quite as simple as one might expect (especially Handlebars...which has some nice guitar passages). It's also worth noting that these songs are probably best for vocalists. I mean nearly all of the tracks just seemed geared towards either awesome lyrics or insane singing styles. Between the craziness of Jack White's vocals on Salute Your Solution (which sound beyond insane to deal with on vocals) and the cool relaxed tone of Handlebars, this is a vocalist's week for DLC. However, I have realized a problem with Rock Band DLC lately. The songs just keep being awesome, but I think I'm losing my attention span when it comes to RB. Mainly I have lost my usual band (with me being the one person who would still go nuts for a weekly Rock Band night), and seem to have no one to regularly play with. This means the entire game is, more or less, now a single player experience for myself. I always felt each person, like with the multiplier in overdrive, just keeps adding to the experience...and a single player is just missing too much of the crazy fun. I know, I could try the horrible abyss known as finding random player on Live, but that just seems like a dirty and unfavorable place to go when dealing with RB. Between the song obsessed ("Every song has to be Welcome Home!"), the elitist asses ("I don't play with anyone who can't gold star Painkiller"), and the random crazies, I just don't think this is the right game for me to delve into Live for. Maybe if I am really desperate, but that's maybe asking way too much for humanity to deliver upon. Anyway, I don't think I'm out of playing, and paying for, RB...yet. However, the day may be getting quite close. Now that I got my vintage (real) guitar back from the repair shop, I feel like it might be time to listen more to the classic bullshit line; play a real instrument already. I mean the single player on RB is not much different, except having a instrument track for the parts you don't handle. When you have enough CDs to cover any songs you love playing on a real instrument...well, maybe I should just jam with another fake band (the CD has real bands, but the recording is as inflexible as any computer generated band on Rock Band). Blah...maybe I am just getting too old and jaded. Malik |
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Malik
(10/9/09) I'm just not feeling too inspired for writing lately. In fact, I'm feeling uninspired when it comes to doing much of anything that's not playing Bookworm Adventures 2. It's sad when that's the only thing that can hold my attention lately. Guitar, Rock Band, or even just watching TV or movies is feeling more like a chore than fun. Hopefully that will change some when Tuesday rolls around. I do have Brutal Legend pre-ordered and I'm hoping for the best. At the same time, I have the PS3 demo for the game and I have not been able to find the will power to even give that a shot. At least if anything can help someone get out of a jaded funk, I think a Tim Schaffer game is the best bet. Speaking of that game, it's no surprise that Rock Band will have some Brutal Legend inspired music for DLC next Tuesday. I mean they are both published by EA, so it would only make sense, especially for two games in which music is so important. Anyway, the only real thing I've noticed, beyond how Rock Band DLC doesn't excitement enough lately, despite being pretty damned good, is that Tenacious D is getting another DLC track due to this pack. I would say it's getting to be a bit too much if it was another band that got DLC recently...but it still feels like Tenacious D stuff is just long overdue after the first year of RB never having a single track. Anyway, I think I'll just keep up my bad/down mood by remembering that UW and the Seahawks both play this weekend, so I'll have plenty of horrible uninspired football to keep me uninspired. Ok...that's not fair. UW is actually doing some stuff, and is about a thousand times better than last year. As for the Seahawks, anything I say would not be fair either...to the extent of how truly bad they are this season. Malik |
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