X-Entertainment | Nowhere to run.



	My dying wish is for an owl/camel hybrid, which I call camowl.

Nowhere to run.

Over the course of the next seven days, I'll be assisting on a shoot starring six professionally trained dogs, traveling to Toronto to the first time, and working extensively with interactive Furby dolls. I'm kind of digging my job right now.

Wednesday Survey: To what level do you believe in the following: Ghosts, Space Aliens and Cryptozoology's Finest. "Ghosts" being, like, yer dead mama, or his dead mama. "Space Aliens" being, like, space aliens that have visited this here planet. "Cryptozoology's Finest" being, like, Bigfoot and shit.

Also, sharing the things I love most, I remind everyone that you can still listen to Freddy Krueger's music album by clicking this old link. I listen to it every night. Please don't hate me.

Posted by Matt on 08/16/2005. E-mail me!

Discussion Thread: 102 comments

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Ghosts: I hope so

Aliens: We aren’t alone, I just hope the aliens are more like Dr. Zoidberg and unlike Kang & Kodos

Cryptozoology: Yep. I think Bigfoot is real, Unicorns, Loch Ness Monster, Steve Guttenberg’s stardom…

When I visited Burlington, Vermont on July 24, I crossed Lake Champlain in a ferry, and searched for Champ. My name links to a news story about a fisherman and his son seeing him the other day. Damn, wish I did…

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 08/19/2005 1:39 AM

gadgetsgirl: Believe it or not, that was our main text in the first psychology class I took in college

There’s a lot of overinflated ego out there that gives skeptics a bad name (thankfully we also have people like Michael Shermer). For instance, there’s a great website I’ve been using as my start page called http://www.skepdic.com/">The Skeptic’s Dictionary that I would urge everyone to visit and read. There’s a lot of interesting info there. The problem is, it’s not exactly neutral in its POV. If you believe a lot of this stuff and you go read the corresponding entry… well, the author doesn’t seem so interested in respecting your beliefs while presenting alternative explanations.

I’ve never understood that… why would you risk alienating the people you wish to reach? Unless you’re more interested in reinforcing your own smug sense of self. I perfectly understand losing your patience with someone who, for example, keeps pushing Creationism as a legitimate science, but give me a break.

Oh, and the fact that you’re 30 and visiting X-E makes you pretty damn cool in my book

Gozer: Well, my friend has his birthday a few days before mine and neither of us are partiers so we usually end up doing something low-key like renting as many games as we can afford and sleeping over. It was fun but we really got stuck with a mixed bag this year. Feel free to skip this section, I’m just bored and feel like expressing my opinions:

*Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life – How is it possible that Natsume is on its 8th incarnation of the series (10th if you count the female versions of the GBA and GCN games that were released recently) and they’re STILL just as sloppy with their programming and localization? As a fan of the series since the SNES version I feel pretty let down at how unpolished this game is. This has gotten the most playtime of the games I rented however. It’s covered in inexcusable warts but I love it anyway. Which is probably why we’ll keep getting half-finished games like this. Oh well…

*Killzone – My friend warned me not to rent the Harvest Moon game (he loves the series too but he dislikes the latest version) and I warned him not to rent Killzone. We both knew it was probably going to suck but he wanted to see it in action. We were basically right. I expect Killzone 2 to be excellent though, given they won’t be fettered by the limitations of the least powerful console on the market.

*Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 – A pretty cool WWII first person shooter with limited tactical control. If a historical game gives me a greater understanding and respect for the time period and the people who lived it, then in my mind it’s done its job. The voice acting isn’t outstanding but this is the closest a game has gotten (and likely will get) to Band of Brothers, and it’s heavily based on a true story.

*Destroy All Humans – Ha ha! Poop jokes! It’s just like GTA except 1) it’s got a better engine (not too difficult to do) and much better control, and 2) it’s not as clever. I like the atmosphere but the humor is a little too lowbrow and hamfisted, even for me.

*Advent Rising – It’s been a long time since I’ve been so disappointed in a game. The developers take a story co-written by Orson Scott Card (who is a fantastic author, even if you hate his political leanings as most do) and totally fuck it up with a weird control scheme, terrible targeting and camera systems and some of the ugliest, most pointless cinematics I’ve ever seen (which are really poorly disguised loading screens). I tried to play through it despite the multitude of bugs, hoping it would get better, but the game locked up on me.

The voice actings is superb, the music is standard fare from Tommy Tallarico Studios (which is to say it’s magnificent) and the writing seems pretty solid in the little I got to play. But overall this title screams "rush job" and I don’t doubt the industry has left OSC with a bad taste in his mouth. We’ll be very lucky to see another collaboration with him anytime soon. Fuck you, Majesco.

There, masturbatory entry over.

Chestnuts roasted by Night_Trekker @ 08/19/2005 1:53 AM

*Looks up at his last entry*

You know, I should probably just start my own website. Probably…

Invader Norbert: Yep. I think Bigfoot is real, Unicorns, Loch Ness Monster, Steve Guttenberg’s stardom…

Chestnuts roasted by Night_Trekker @ 08/19/2005 1:58 AM

@Rayzak: That oderus costume isn’t too horrible.

As far as the survey goes… I totally believe in the possibility of all three.

Chestnuts roasted by gesis @ 08/19/2005 3:49 AM

GWAR!! I like Meat Sandwich the best.

Not much else to say, going to work, I’m so fucking glad it’s Friday! Some buddies coming back into town for the weekend, so I’m gonna have a real good time!

Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 08/19/2005 11:29 AM

I believe in ghosts, but I’m not really sure about aliens or cryptozoology.

Chestnuts roasted by J-Dog @ 08/19/2005 12:54 PM

It is very hard to surf the ‘net when you have had your eyes dialated during an early morning eye appointment. I had to make the text really huge so I could read on the iMac. Damn these eyes!

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 08/19/2005 2:47 PM

Halloween news: The grocery store I work at just got their shipment of Halloween candy. So, you know, keep your eyes open…

Chestnuts roasted by Mr. Mr. Mr. @ 08/19/2005 4:49 PM

On the topic of Matt’s Friday The 13th II article, I just read the latest issue of ToyFare and saw that there are going to be figures based on the movie! There’s gonna be Pamela Vorhees (normal version) and her voodoo version, as well as Jason with AND without the pillowsheet on his head! The Exposed Jason looks exactly like the one Matt posted.

Thanks for mentioning me Night_Trekker but I have no idea what you meant by that…

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 08/19/2005 5:16 PM

Invader Norbert: I just enjoyed the Steve Guttenberg reference.

Chestnuts roasted by Night_Trekker @ 08/20/2005 3:02 AM

I must be nuts, because I totally believe in EVERYTHING! I am so gullible. If there’s a case for it, why not? GHOSTS? SURE! ALIENS? SURE! BIGFOOT? OH YEAH!

Chestnuts roasted by Muppet Baby @ 08/20/2005 1:01 PM

Um…I dunno, I dunno, and I dunno. I was trained as a scientist, sooo I guess I would need reliable, falsifiable evidence. On the other hand, life on other planets makes sense, I’d just say don’t expect it to be anything like humans. We are indeed very anthrocentric. I believe Xenophanes said something along the lines of, if horses could communicate (more effectively than they do) they would describe the gods as horses. I think that sums it up pretty well. Selfish, egomaniacal humans. But I still have faith in the species, for some reason Oh, and I still believe in love. hahahahaha

Chestnuts roasted by Knegative @ 08/20/2005 2:57 PM

I think people would like to believe in ghosts as the same manner of heaven. Its nice to think that when we die we still get to go around and have lives.
As for MY beliefe i think its possible that ghosts exist. I think that alien space craft COULD really be time machienes from the future though. Think about it.
Also congrats matt.

Chestnuts roasted by Zorkporker @ 08/20/2005 3:05 PM

Good point, Knegative. To put it in a different way, we only see Galactus as a giant human be cause we are human. Horses will see him as a giant, world-devouring horse. Skrulls see him as a Skrull. We really have no idea what he looks like. If you go commando every waking hour, I bet you’re going to see Galactus with no undies if you look up his big metal loincloth. We try to understand the unknown, so we do what we can, to see as much as we can handle. Besides, even if you don’t believe in ghosts, you still can enjoy Ghostbusters, right?

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 08/20/2005 3:15 PM

Ghosts:I believe in them to some extent,though I think those psychic people on TV who walk around in peoplres houses going "I sense a sad presense here"are full of crap.They could be here because they have some unfinished business or because of some cosmic fluke that denied them entrance into Heaven or Hell.They could also be astral bodies from the astral realm. Aliens:Like just about everyone who posted comments I believe that it is close minded to think that we are the only ones in the universe.It is also probable that Mars once had life.Despite the fact that NASA said that the Face on Mars was a natural feature,it looks pretty artificial to me.The five-sided pyramids found nearby also look like someone built them.I know a bunch of people are going to think I’m full of crap,but just look at the pictures yourselves before judging my opinion.I also think it’s possible that aliens from another planet are visiting Earth and have been doing so for thousands of years. Cryptozoology:I think it is possible that bigfoot and Nessie could exist,but not likely.I really don’t have a strong opinion on the subject.As for ocean creatures I think its entirely possible that there are creatures we haven’t discovered.All the books bring up the Ceolocanth whenever the subject comes up,that fish dicovered near Africa that was supposed to be extinct.It’s likely that there are other animals that have yet to be dicovered.

Chestnuts roasted by Suren @ 08/20/2005 7:09 PM

armoz fah life nigga

Chestnuts roasted by antonio montanian @ 08/20/2005 8:48 PM

Hmm, no Saturday night thread yet? Must be Matt’s too busy to start one for us.

To whomever keeps mentioning IFC’s horror movie schedule – thanks to your advice I’m watching Slumber Party Massacre right now.

Chestnuts roasted by Carri @ 08/20/2005 10:23 PM

And speaking of Slumber Party Massacre, I should mention there’s a scene with a victim making kool-aid. If anyone wants to see a 1982 packet of kool-aid being put to action, there’s your chance.

Chestnuts roasted by Carri @ 08/20/2005 10:27 PM

The one saturday I remember the Saturday night thread and alas… there is none.

Chestnuts roasted by Neo Anderson @ 08/20/2005 10:29 PM

If it makes you feel any better Anderson, I just finished watching the Matrix.

Chestnuts roasted by Knegative @ 08/20/2005 11:29 PM

I’m late on this, but oh well.

Ghosts: Spirits, yes…full-fledged ghots that interact with physical objects…not really, but I won’t say no completely.

Aliens: Definately. Have they visited us? I think it’s a 50-50 deal. Maybe. Maybe not.

Bigfoot/Nessie, etc: I believe that many "monsters" may have some ring of truth to them…but that truth may be stranger..or normaler..than we think.

Chestnuts roasted by Cameron T. @ 08/20/2005 11:55 PM

eh, I just finished watching Ghost Ship and that movie sucked ass!! Really obvious CGI, and a plot with more holes than my original ET blanket from 1983! The ending sucked too, didn’t make any sense to have a stupid little twist like that.

Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 08/21/2005 12:00 PM

"Every time you’ve heard someone say they saw a ghost or an angel; every story you’ve ever heard about vampires, werewolves or aliens is the system assimilating some program that’s doing something they’re not supposed to be doing."

I cannot believe I didn’t quote this before. "God, I must be slipping in my old age"

Chestnuts roasted by Knegative @ 08/21/2005 12:27 PM

Ghosts – I believe in 100 percent
Space Aliens – I believe they exist, but don’t believe the toothless rednecks who go on History Channel specials have really seen them.
Cryptozoology’s finest – exist, because I saw a cryptid myself. It looked like a cross between an emu, a dog, and a Lipoterm.

PS- this is a bit late, but about Safari Amusement Park – I’ve been there like 1,000 times

Chestnuts roasted by Joe Pentangelo @ 08/21/2005 2:46 AM

Ghosts – On a scientific, rational level, I don’t think there’s reason to believe in them. On an instinctual, spiritual level, I can’t discount them entirely. So I’ll stick with a ‘Probably Not’.

Aliens – Yes, there is almost certainly life on other planets. No, that life doesn’t necessarily resemble us in having two arms, two legs, a head with two eyes, a mouth, and so forth. No, that life is almost certainly not close enough by to visit, and even with advanced technology there’d be no way for aliens to know we were here until the first broadcasts made it to them – and even then, they’d have to have their instruments set to the exact right area of the sky. Even if there were human-like aliens that knew we existed and lived close enough to visit, I doubt very much that they’d come all this way just to probe some rednecks’ anuses and cut up cattle.

Cryptozoology – Bigfoot, probably not. Nessie, probably not. Is there unidentified life on our own planet? Definitely. In more urban parts of the world (Western Europe, Japan, America, etc.), I consider it probable that most undiscovered species are likely to be small enough to have eluded notice thus far. This said, there’re probably tons of undiscovered species small and large in the Amazon Rainforest and other still quite untamed parts of the world, and as for the ocean we only really likely know a tiny portion of the life to be found there. So yes, strange animals unknown to science exist… but they aren’t likely to be in the American Midwest or in some lake in Scotland.

Chestnuts roasted by Silkenray @ 08/21/2005 7:04 PM

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