The Writer's Strike and Me.

If you've been out of the universe for the past few months you may not know that Hollywood Writers are on strike. You may also have noticed that TV really sucks lately. I wrote an article over at MarriedGamer.com about the strike increasing DVD viewing and Video Game playing. What I didn't mention was what I thought about it. So here goes.

I started out thinking that it was unfair that writers didn't get a cut of the digital download sales on the things that they write about. Realistically, if you worked on it you should get paid for it (unless you are God, or a blog writer with a passion and a few loyal readers). I still think that, to a point. Unfortunately, I'm tired of nothing being on during the winter season. The only good thing that has come out of this is that the wife and I now watch TV together because of the lack of disagreements (rarrrrrrr!) on what we want to watch.

I also want to know why the writer's union can give the okay for their members to write for The Grammy Awards, yet not agree to write for America's favorite shows. How hard is it to write for a music awards show? "And presenting the award for greatest hard-core-country-metal newcomer singer/songwriter of the year is...(insert famous person here)." That seems hard.

What I really am trying to say is: I want to watch syndicated TV again. I want new episodes of shows, like LOST or even Grey's Anatomy (for the wife, of course.) I want to not live again! I want my warm soft couch to caress my backside while I slide into a near comatose state for a few hours. Please give me that back, Writer's Guild of America, please!

I Likes Me Some Super Mario Bros.

If you haven't been able to tell, I've been on hiatus for the last few weeks. For starters my wife, son and I decided to go and visit relatives in Washington (the state) for the Christmas season, and do a lot of shopping (and I mean a LOT!). And then I had a lot to do when I came back to work. And then I got lazy. And then I got my wife pregnant (which actually happened before we went on vacation).

Before we left I picked up Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Gameboy game) for my DS Lite. After so 17 years this game is still really fun to play, a fantastic find in the Fred Meyer bargain bin. I don't know how many times I have died in my pursuit to finish this game (or how many times I have thrown my DS in frustration). For all of you Super Mario Bros. fans out there: I know that you can use the warp whistle to beat the game quicker, I wanted to do it on my own merit (and I haven't figured out how to successfully use it).

Super Mario 3 is a timeless classic. Running and jumping on things never gets old, not to mention flying and swimming like a frog. SM3 is everything I remembered from the olden days, plus a little more. The beautiful coloring and graphics still hold up today. Turtles are still non-scary enemies, but flying ships with flame throwers scare the crap out of me. It is still fun to find treasures in the air or after sliding down a pipe. I also love the different worlds: Air world, Ice world, Desert world, Big world, Forest world, Normal world, Waterworld (Kevin Coster is the man!), and Fire World. (Have you ever noticed that the word "WORLD" doesn't seem like it's spelled correctly?)

I think the only thing that gets on my nerves (in this game), is that the little mosses and big bosses are always the same. Sure, some of them fly, but is that really a challenge? (some say "no") I guess, being the "fly" person that I am (more jive, really), I still love it. But it could have used more originality when it came to the bosses. I think I'll fire up my time machine and go talk to the developers about this. I might rethink that plan since I'm still in the process of inventing the time machine and haven't gotten all of the bugs worked out (I also want to apologize to my family for the missing animals).

In conclusion (why does everyone need closure?), I recommend that you go out and buy this game immediately! If you don't own a Nintendo DS or Gameboy Advance, I would recommend that you go out and buy one of those. If you are an executive for Nintendo and want to send advertising dollars to me for the glowing review of your products, please email me: alteredweapon@gmail.com

I hope everyone is having a Happy New Year and will continue to read (unless you have stopped) or become a new reader. Bless you all!