To celebrate a few random things, including some minor site maintenance, I'm going to bring some web-based light and goodness into your life.

It's been a while, but I just recently rediscovered Airbag, a great blog by Greg Storey, who is funny, intelligent (or he reads that way, at least) and designs a damn nice blog.

Do yourself a favor and browse his site.

They’re right, the critics are right. Half-Life 2 is one of the best games, if not the best, I’ve ever played. The original Half-Life is probably the only game that offered such a rich, full experience. But HL2 exceeds it in almost every way, and not merely because it’s newer. It has the crafted, focused thrills of a well-designed game, the gritty, intense roughness of combat, and the bleak, varied immensity of a ravaged Earth.

Because of this, HL2’s greatest weakness is also its greatest strength. Valve has created a world bristling with such variety, intensity, struggle, possibility, and life, that I ache for more. I want to break the fence and drive over the mountain, smash down a new door and walk an unseen avenue of City 17, or see the rest of the Earth through the eyes of Valve. HL2 feels like the stunning beginning of something that will balloon into a universe beyond even its creators’ expectations (largely due to their openness to the gaming community and the modders). There’s no way for HL2 to encompass every desire it creates, even after exceeding so many expectations.

I’ve beaten the game over 2 times now, and I can see already that I’ll be playing it over and over for quite some time. There’s so much to cover and so many surprises that I’ll warn you before you continue reading: SPOILERS AHEAD. Don’t read below if you want to play HL2 with an unformed view.

John Woo's Paycheck is quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. Never see it. In every way you can think of it is bad. John Woo must have been drunk or dead the entire time. Philip K. Dick's work is getting pissed on, and it's excruciating to watch.

That is all.

Picture taken at 1:55 PM: I can smell the ashes already...

Note the bandage on index finger. I showed that motherboard who's boss!

Just to clarify, the motherboard is the boss.

It's official, Alisa and I are sorry (third one down).

If you don't know about Sorry Everybody, the short explanation is that it's a page devoted to apologizing to the rest of the world for not having enough votes to vote G. W. Bush out of office. It's not about being mean or vindictive, but expressing hope and sympathy (and trying desperately to give other countries a reason to not hate all of us for the opinions of 51% of us). It was started by a friend of my friend Jon. Within a few days, I saw a segment about it on CNN.

Anyway, if you're a non-Bush voter, scroll through a few pages and see some of the many people who are with you and will help us undo whatever crap Bush brings down on our heads. Also, there are apology acceptances from other countries, which is pretty cool.

I saw one of my favorite groups, Interpol, live this Sunday, and they brought more rock than I knew what to do with. Even if you’ve heard their first album Turn on the Bright Lights and Antics, their latest, you can’t grasp what they’re like onstage. There’s a deep, intense, charismatic energy that grabs you and everyone around you when they delve into their songs. It’s great. It actually reminded me of seeing the Ramones live. The Ramones were a seminal punk band, and their albums are classic, but they blasted the veneer off the floor with the energy they bring live, which the studio can only dampen. Interpol does the same to the thin disaffected veneer people often bring to concerts in an effort to look cool. By the end, you’re dancing.

In addition to Interpol, there were two opening acts. The first, On! Air! Library! was very cool. If it’s any indication, I bought their album. They’re definitely too abstract and odd to go mainstream any time soon, but when the two female vocalists sing together, the songs are just amazing. Definitely worth a listen.

The second group was another story entirely.

It's done. In spite of my optimism and an excellent voter turnout (particularly compared to last election), President George W. Bush has maintained his seat at the head of our country. Bush's strategies of fear, deception, and 'it's better to be simple' have won the hearts of more voters and, more importantly, more votes in the electoral college. Apparently, according to both the popular vote and the breakdowns by affiliation that I've seen, this country is going conservative.

On top of that, roughly 51% of this country is loudly and proudly proclaiming, "We prefer action movies to intelligent discourse," when it comes to the world and politics. This group of Americans wants bullying, simplistic fear-mongering. And they will get it in spades.

Don't get me started on the Legislative Branch.

Voting is such an empowering and singular act. It truly feels good to vote. One of my friends recently did it for the first time, and commented on how he never realized how empowered and connected one person could actually feel by voting. It's such a large process, but that's what makes it so great. You know, across the country, others are participating in what must be one of, if not the, largest free elections in the world.