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November 22, 2007
The world's best fake guitarist...
... is Fuschiara!
So, the boyfriend got this gihugous video game box set thing for the Xbox 360 called RockBand. It's apparently made by MTV. Here's the deal. It comes with an almost full-size guitar controller which is actually made by Fender. If you aren't familiar with real guitars, Fender is pretty much the largest guitar manufacturer in the world. They make such legendary guitars as the Stratocaster (Strat), Telecaster (Tele), Jaguar, and they are the same company that collaborated with Kurt Cobain to create his own guitar the JagStang.
That's not all though. It also comes with a 3 foot tall drum kit complete with 4 drum pads and a foot pedal. It also comes with a very heavy duty mic. Oh yeah... there's also a game in their somewhere.
What's the purpose of this some might ask?
Well, to form a band of course. So after he made me come over to check it out, I finally gave in after professing that I play real guitars not toys several times. I actually found it to be rather fun. Of course, for me, the coolest part was that (the goathead death metal guitar aside) they use actually Fender and Gretsch guitars including some vintage ones.
It also makes you create a character as your persona in the band. You can create a lot of detail right down to the City that the character hails from. For some reason everybody assumed I would try to emulate myself, but I actually created a totally badass punk rock chick from Paris, France who I named Fuschiara ( pronounce like the color Fuschia and then ara, like in Tiara).
Fuschiara is doing pretty well. She does best on Nirvana, particularly "In Bloom." I just got her a new Vintage 1962 Fender Jaguar.
At any rate, the game was much more fun than I thought it was going to be. I really like the feel of the toy guitar because it's pretty solid and some of the hardware on it is the same stuff Fender uses on their actual guitars.
The game can be really easy or really difficult depending on what you choose, and I"m sorry to say that being a decent actual guitarist doesn't make you any better at the game!
Currently it's only out for PS2, PS3, and Xbox 360, but IGN indicates it's rumored to soon be available for the Wii as well. I only have a Wii from that list so I'm looking forward to having a copy of my own to practice on so I can show up the boy friend.
Oh, another note. Unlike Guitar Hero, the RockBand features songs being sung by the REAL artist. So you get to play alongside Kurt Cobain groaning his way through In Bloom. It's great. There's a lot of Metallica on their, even some NIN and Chilli Peppers.
So... ROCK ON!
You can pick it up on Amazon.com if you want a copy by clicking here
Posted by Decemberice at 10:02 PM | Comments (0)
November 17, 2007
Nothing like a brand new car...
... to brighten things up.
I've had my new car for a while now, but I thought I would do ample testing before I blogged about it so I could give a fair review to those who might be considering it. My new car is a 2008 Nissan Versa SL. It's not the most expensive car out there by any means, but after driving it for a little over a month, I can tell you that it's worth every penny of it's price tag.
Mine is red. Highlights in the creature comfort category include Bluetooth compatibility (which works flawlessly with the iPhone), Intelligent Key (it doesn't really have a key, just a fob you keep in your pocket which works with the locks based on proximity). It's also got an in-dash Audio Input Jack (read: an iPod Jack in the dash), and pretty much power everything.
I suppose I should explain my family's obsession with Nissans first. There really wasn't an option when I decided to shop for a new car. I briefly considered a Ford Fusion because they look cool and my dad loved Fords, but to be honest I'm just a little scared of buying an American made car as I intend to own this car for quite some time. My parent's Ford van isn't all that old and has already had more than it's share of problems both big and small. So, I defaulted to the family security blanket... a Nissan.
At one point in time our driveway sported 3 Nissan Stanza's and a Nissan Sentra. Yeah, it's an obsession. Right now it's only got two Nissans.
At any rate, I love my Versa. The pro's are pretty much listed above, that and it's a very smooth riding vehicle with a ginormous turning radius and amazing fuel economy. I'm also excited that with all the features listed above, it was still well under 20K.
The con's are that you don't get much of an engine in the $16,000 price range. It certainly isn't having any trouble speeding up or going up a hill, but it's a far cry from the Nissan Stanza's engine which would speed to 60mph without so much as a tap of the gas.
Anyway, that's about my new car. I haven't really taken pictures of it yet because it's been extremely rainy where I live and I've been waiting for it to clear up a bit so I can get my car washed before snapping it's glamour shots. Until then you can see a strange rear quarter shot of it I found on the net, or perhaps you remember it as the car from the first season of the TV show "Heroes" and don't need a picture!
There's one thing I can say about owning a new car... It's kinda nice to know that you'll get where you need to go and not have to worry about what's going to go wrong with it next. My car is so loaded with insurance, gap insurance, lifetime maintenance and service plans... if it so much as drips a single drop of oil, I get it repaired for free and get a rental in the meantime. I guess I've just had enough cars die on me to know the value of an extended warranty.
Posted by Decemberice at 11:10 PM | Comments (3)