#195 - Miscellanilicious.

[reileen]

Yahoo!Tech: 16-year-old drops out of school to play Guitar Hero

But how much gaming is too much? For North Carolina native Blake Peebles, there's no such thing. Guitar Hero is his title of choice. "I usually play till I can't anymore," he says, in this profile from the News & Observer.

In fact, young Mr. Peebles is dropping out of high school... in order to focus on Guitar Hero full time.

No, no, f'rreal. F'rreal.

However, I worry that Peebles, who's just 16, may have a tough road ahead trying to break into competitive gaming. The costs of traveling to tournaments alone can totally outstrip earnings, and the amount of training can be grueling. Sponsorships are often a pipe dream. And then there's the issue of games going out of date and being replaced by something new. Traditional athletes never have to worry about, say, distance running being upgraded with a new version, but many games can go out of style, fast. In the end, there's just not much cash there: One gamer, quoted at the end of the linked article, says that in eight years his total earnings are about $25,000 total, and that's including a national championship in Halo 2.

I didn't even know you could make $25k from competitive gaming. Though that probably proves how out-of-touch I am with the gaming world. Dude, just give me my RPGs and my Mario and Zelda and my button-mashing fighters and I'm a happy Reileen.

***

TODAYshow.com: Catch you later, Colonel Mustard: 'Clue' goes tabloid

Goodbye, professor. Farewell, colonel.

Toy maker Hasbro Inc. has updated its classic Clue game for today's tabloid culture to include younger characters, more weapons, and new rooms, including a spa and guest house.

The six characters' last names remain the same, but their first names and bios have been updated. For example, Miss Scarlet is now Kasandra Scarlet, a famous actress often featured in tabloids. And Mr. Green is now Jacob Green, an African-American "with all the ins."

NO. NOOOOOO. GIVE ME BACK COLONEL MUSTARD AND PROFESSOR PLUM. :(

You know what I used to love reading back in the day? The mini-mystery compilation tie-in novels for Clue, where you'd get to read a couple of mostly innocuous mysteries before ending with a "NAO MR BODDY IZ DED FROM _____" scenario (which would always be revealed to have Made You Look if you bothered to read the next successive novel - I remember one particularly ridiculous retconning where Mr. Boddy explained that he had been shot with one of his trick bullets, which pierced everything except human skin - no, f'rreal). I very rarely tried to figure out the mystery myself, thus single-handedly defeating the entire point of the novels, but the characters were so much fun. I wonder if any of the libraries in the area have these books? I can't remember what the hell happened to mine.

***

I just noticed that DePaul's revamped Campus Connect site has something called a "Course Cart", where you can temporarily save class listings until you can actually enroll in them. The name just makes me think of going down the aisles of the DePaul Class Department store, shopping for classes, with this coupon in hand:

"DePaul's Demonic Blowout! Buy two classes, get one free! Not applicable to sale items. Void where prohibited. Valid until September 10,2009. No cash value."

***

"birthday" now has a workable chorus melody and piano accompaniment! Chord patterns are mostly set...I think?

I really, really want to write a song mocking Twilight fandom, but there's just so much to mock - I'd end up having to write the equivalent of "American Pie" for it.

-Reileen
and I know I cannot bear it all alone