Mando.org

Everyone remembers Nov. 22, 1963 as the day we lost one of our last great Presidents. Alas, I’m too young to remember him firsthand. All I have are books and memories passed down, but even those impress. But today I remember C.S. Lewis, another great individual whose death was overshadowed by a nation’s loss.

Brother Lewis, thank you for your wit and clarity of thought. Thank you for saying what others wouldn’t (or couldn’t). Thank you for your stories that my father shared with me, and I in turn share with my children.

I didn’t forget my wife’s birthday, I just forgot to blog it. Which is fine, because she never reads this anyway. Heck, I’m pretty sure I’m the only one that reads this.

But, just in case she happens over here, Happy Birthday baby. I love you.

I won’t go into the gory details about MP2. I’ll just give you my impresssions of the game, with the understanding that I loved Max Payne and fully expected to love Max Payne 2.

I did love Max Payne 2. It was just as fun as the first one. Max Payne is one of the few games (Final Fantasy X is the other one) that my wife sat and watched me play. The graphics and gameplay (and I think the choice of 3rd person helped in both cases) pulled her in, and the story kept her watching. Max Payne 2 caught her attention in the same way, so that says something about its overall quality.

The levels are good and the gameplay is just as good as the first one. All in all, I really enjoyed the game, with 2 gripes:

1. Game length: It was awfully short. I know that there are more gameplay modes unlocked once you beat the game, but it’s the story that kept me playing, and now that it’s over, I just don’t have the desire to play any of the other modes. In other words, more levels, more story.
2. Nothing new: This was more of an expansion pack than a new game. There’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose. But when games like Enter the Matrix do an incredible job with something like bullet time, you’d think that Max Payne’s developers would take notice and at least copy them.

I swear I get the wierdest SPAM. Check this one out :

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

–John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address Washington, D.C. January 20, 1961

I mean, I get it. There’s a web bug in there but what’s really funny is that it gives a 404 error when you try to get it. So it can’t track you even if your email reader automatically downloads images referenced by your email (which it shouldn’t). But what really bakes my noodle is the quote.

That’s a great quote, and eerily appropriate given what’s going on in the world. I wonder why they chose THAT particular quote.

Are they closet JFK fans? Random quote? Trying to get past SPAM filters? Who knows? But it’s probably the first SPAM that I’ve truly enjoyed .

I got another bizarre SPAM from the same guys :

President Bush was awakened one night by a call from the Pentagon.
“Mr. President”, said the general, barely able to contain himself, “there’s goodnews and bad news.”
“Oh no”, muttered the President. “Well, let me have the bad news first.”
“The bad news, sir, is that we’ve been invaded by creatures from another planet.”
“And the good news?”
“The good news, sir, is that they eat reporters and pee oil.”

Buh-dum-bump. Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here all week. Don’t forget to tip your waitress.