Mamed

Go out and get this program right now:

PC: http://www.mame.net/downmain.html
Mac: http://www.macmame.org

If you haven't heard about MAME before it's become one of my favorite new toys. MAME stands for Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator and does exactly that; allows you to play nearly any arcade game ever made on your computer. As of now I have the following games installed on my computer:



After you get the MAME program you will need to download the game ROMs individually. Older ROMs range in size from 5-20k and new games such as Crusin' World can get as high as 40 MBs. I have been using two different ROM download sites (although theirs hundreds) and each seems as good as the other, give both a try:

Rom World
and
Rom Nation

The best part is that your computer doesn't have to be new to run these games, pretty much any computer should be able to run them just fine.

As of now my personal favorites are the original Mortal Kombat, Bubble Bobble and Street Figher II.

Enjoy!

Helicopter Crash

Wanna see a cool helicopter crash?



Click Here

I can say it's cool because everyone lived.

Awwwe Shit!

Hold on a minute while I collect myself... *sniff, sniff* ok, I think I'm ready now...

It's beautiful! In case you don't know what your looking at, your looking at the brand new Playstation 3! It was unveiled today and all the specs were given at an electronics convention called E3 in Los Angeles, California. I just got done reading a 10 page article on the new Playstation and I'll try to sum it up for you quickly. Xbox 360 fans, you might want to stop here and save yourself a shred of dignity.

First off the PS3 will use Blu-Ray DVD discs, a new format of DVD meant to replace the current form of DVD. Blu-Ray DVD's can hold about 7x the amount of data a regular DVD can hold. Lets see that, uhh yeah... 7x more than Xbox 360 games will be able to hold!

The Playstation 3 will also be able to burn DVD's. This could be used for many different things, but many are thinking PS3 will contain some sort of TiVo like function with the ability to then burn shows onto DVD. Xbox 360 just has a standard DVD player with no burning capabilities.

Playstation 3 will use bluetooth wireless controllers with the capability to run up to 8 controllers at once. Xbox uses a RF wireless technology which is much less versatile than Bluetooth. Bluetooth also has much longer battery life.

PS3 uses a single 3.2 GHz cell processor. Now some may say "yeah, well Xbox 360 has 3, 3.2 GHz processors", well the difference is in the type of processors, PS3 uses a cell processor, a brand new state of the art processor that isn't being used in personal computers yet. Oh and yeah, it can perform over twice the amount of calculations per second as the Xbox 360's 3 processors. It also has 256MB system RAM 3.2GHz, and 256MB GDDR VRAM at 700MHz. Basically that translates into a hell of a lot more power than Xbox 360.

It will be backward compatible with ALL Playstation models, even the original Playstation. Xbox officially claims it doesn't know weather Xbox 360 will be backward compatible at this point and now it's looking like it probably won't be.

It will have a state of the art nVidia graphics processor which will be called the RSX (”Reality Synthesizer”), and will trump the Xbox 360 with 1080p (yes, that’s a p) graphics support. This means Playstation 3 will be true high definition (HD) as opposed to Xbox 360 which is only 780p (a half-assed HD used on cheaper HD TV sets).

It also has 6 USB 2.0, memory stick, compact flash and SD card slots.

I could go on and on but there's about a million other blogs doing that right now, I wanted to give a quick and accurate comparison between the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. In all seriousness the Playstation is looking like it is going to absolutely destroy Xbox and even some of the Xbox blogs are saying so. I read one earlier that said "at this point we have to rely on the game developers to produce more enjoyable and funner to play games". This spells death of the Xbox to me. Xbox has never had better games than Playstation and everyone knows it. Good luck Xbox!

All I can say is it feels pretty damn good to be a Playstation man right now.

Fore more info read just about any technology blog or check out one of my favorites, Engadget.

Self-Esteem

Oh How I Despise Microsoft

Told ya!

"The new console from Microsoft is based on a similar IBM PowerPC architecture used in Apple computers--the Xbox 360 uses three 3.2GHz symmetrical cores, according to the company. Apple has been using PowerPC chips since 1994 and Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs has said the company is happy with IBM's PowerPC family of chips."

Read the Rest - Xbox 360 demos running on Macs

The Truth Effect Vol. 1

My Drums Again
Originally uploaded by Jason Davis.

So today I picked up the ole' beatin' sticks and pounded out a few of my temporarily disbanded bands songs. I really miss The Truth Effect and hope that when Jon get's back we can get back together and begin the rocking again.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about allow me to indulge you with a short biography of our band...

And now, "The History of The Truth Effect, Vol. 1":

The Truth Effect in it's roughest form was conceived on a mid-summers day at Todd's Bar & Grill in Salt Lake City in 2003. Talk of forming a band began as Jon, myself and his friend James were sitting at the bar talking about music. James mentioned he played guitar and sang, Jon has been playing bass for years and I had been playing drums for just as long. Immediately we started talking about forming a band.

We started jamming under the name "Delta Force" with each of us playing our respective instruments. We continued jamming for about 3 weeks when one day I brought my cousin Joey by to watch us jam. Afterwards, Joey, being a guitar player jammed with Jon and I for a bit. Something felt different. After 3 weeks or so jamming with James, things never started to feel right, after we jammed with Joey, we knew we wanted him instead of James. Not more than a few days later, we packed up our stuff and started practicing at my house with Joey. We changed the name of the band to "Muffdiver" and continued playing under that name for a few months. Things were going great and within only a few months we had about 6 songs of original material under our wings. Eventually we decided that we needed a more mature name and started trying to re-name the band. We went through a bunch of names for a couple weeks including TBA, Catalyst Ignite and a few others. Eventually we settled on the name "The Truth Effect", a name I had come up with after reading a book called "When the Music's Over", a book of journals from a schizophrenic teenager in Australia who's disease finally overtakes him and he commits suicide. He had titled his journals The Truth Effect but the name was changed when the published them in book form. We all liked the name and the decision was made, from then on we would be called "The Truth Effect".

Although things were going good we were starting to have problems with Joey showing up to practices on time, or at all. He had a girlfriend at the time who was about as bad as one could get and she was causing major problems between him and the band. Before things soured too badly we played our first show. A battle of the bands style competition put on by a local film company called Spyhop Productions. The show was at an old pickle factory called Trasa in Salt Lake and we rocked. Although there was no official winner, we were one of the bands that won one of the slots on a local music show on KRCL radio. After the show things continued to sour with Joey. We tried and tried to make it work but after he had missed over 10 practices or so, we were forced to move on. We were also forced to cancel our spot on KRCL due to the fact that we no longer had a guitarist in the band. After about 2 months of searching for a new guitarist our friend Mikey from the band The Contingency Plan recommended a guitarist named Anthony to us. We started to jam with Anthony in the winter of 2003 and things started going great again. We wrote more songs and recorded our first multi-track recordings of the song "Anger Is..." in my friend Mike Crane's basement. I mastered the song using Cool Edit Pro and we finally had something that sounded good to show for our efforts. We also started playing shows at Kilby Court, a popular local music venue here in Salt Lake. Although things with the band were going great, the relationship between Anthony and Jon began to sour. Finally the tension reached the breaking point and in January of 2004 Anthony left the band.

Nothing happened for about 3 months as we searched for a replacement for Anthony. We had posted fliers all over town and jammed with a few different people but no one seemed to be working out. One day while at work a few of my regulars Greg and his wife Robin told me about a guy that was giving Robin's nephew guitar lessons who was looking for a band. They gave me his phone number and I called him. There was no answer so I left a message. After a few days he never called back so we kept on searching until about 3 weeks later when he finally called. He introduced himself as Eric Eschelbach and we made arrangements to jam in a few days. Nearly the second I hung up the phone my battery died. We all agree if my battery had died 2 minutes earlier, we probably would have never talked. It was a good thing it didn't because Eric turned out to be our final and permanent guitar player. After our first jam session we instantly knew that he was the one. He brought a musical style to the band unlike anyone we had played with before, and not only played the songs, but added to them in a million different ways through multi-tracked guitar parts. After only a month or so of constant practice we began playing shows again. We played many shows at Kilby Court and played one show with the touring band "The Revolution Smile". We also played at Liquid Joes, The Urban Lounge, Rocky Mountain Raceway and Hard Rock Cafe. During that time we also recorded a full multi-tracked CD quality EP that consisted of 3 of our most popular songs, Nothing Can, Anger Is..., and 6 A.M. Everything seemed perfect with Jon on bass and vocals, Eric on guitar and myself on drums. At one point we were even recruited by a talent scout that saw one of our shows at Kilby Court. He said that he had originally come to see The Contingency Plan, but that our set had blown him away and he wanted to discuss things more. He took us out for drinks at the Cabana Club and we talked about the band, contracts and other talent scout related stuff. He offered us a deal with him getting 20% the first year, lowering to 15% thereafter of all of the bands profits. In return he would book us shows in and out of state, have us open for touring bands and help produce an album. We thought long and hard about the offer but eventually declined because we felt we could get an offer that was just as good if not better a little further down the road after recording an album on our own and getting a few more shows under our belt. July of 2004 we were at the top of our game. We even made nearly $200 playing a show at Liquid Joes. We had a bunch of kick ass songs, we were playing shows constantly and we had just begun to make money, nothing could stop us. Nothing that is but drugs and addiction.

In September 2004 Jon started missing practices. It wasn't a big deal at first, but eventually it turned into an every day occurrence. He would sometimes disappear for days without calling or showing up for any of our scheduled practices. After only a few weeks of this, we were forced to put the band on hold. What was going on unknown to Eric and I was that Jon had fallen prey to drugs and addiction. He had begun using heroin and soon after the band became second to the drug. It was a month or so until Eric and I finally figured out what was happening. At the peak of our career as a band, just when we were getting the shows, the fans and the money everything fell apart. That was the end of The Truth Effect until about 2 months ago.

A few months ago I found out that Jon had admitted himself into rehab. A few weeks ago, he got out. While in rehab Jon met a girl from California and asked her to marry him. They are now engaged and living in Santa Barbara, California. I have spoke to Jon and he is interested in starting the band back up again when he moves back to Utah to continue going to school this August. I've spoken to Eric as well and it seems as long as Jon comes back and still wants to play we're going to get back together again. I for one hope it happens, I can say without a doubt that Eric and Jon are two of the best musicians I've ever met and what we created together was pretty amazing. Let's hope for a resurrection...

For more info on our band check out the following links:

The Truth Effect's Official Website
Our PureVolume page, where you can listen to our demo
The Truth Effect Forums
Eric's Recording Company

Xbox 360

Well the new Xbox, the Xbox 360 was offically announced on MTV today and all I can say is "ha-ha" (a la Nelson from the Simpsons)! Now I personally didn't see the show, but I've read enough about it to know that I didn't miss much. Pretty much all of the 200+ comments on one of the blogs I read, Engadget are negative. Nearly every one says the same thing that I could have told you months ago; that the Killers suck live, Xbox 360 isn't all that great, and all in all the whole thing was a big disappointment. I think one of the Engadget comments sums it up best when they said "I wanted to believe... I so wanted to believe!"

Now to be fair the Xbox 360's spec's aren't the worst in the world, but I did notice something that no one that I have seen has mentioned yet. According to the official Xbox stat sheet, the Xbox 360 runs on 3 - 3.2 GHz IBM Power PC chips, Power PC chips? Aren't those the chips used in Macintosh computers? Why yes, yes they are. So essentially Microsoft who is basically the god of the PC industry is running a Macintosh chip set. Am I the only one that finds this ironic? Anyway, from what I've seen and what I've read the game clips don't look all that impressive and they definitely aren't as mind blowing as all the Xbox ass clowns thought.

So in closing I would just like to reiterate my stance that Xbox always has, and always will be a dissapointing competitor to the all-superior Playstation. Xbox fans, you have 1 week to feel on top of the gaming world, when the PS3 is announced, you'll be right back to where you've always been... A distant second.

Nate Moved

Well we just got done moving Nate into his new apartment downtown. After about an hour of moving, 2 hours at Wal-Mart and an hour or so to set everything up we are finally done. We were also able to leech off a high-bandwith wireless internet connection a kind and unassuming resident is kindly providing for us. As a matter of fact, for the exact purpose of leeching internet I first brought my laptop down and tested the area for wireless networks. Sure enough, there were 3, 2 open and 1 protected. After that we went to Wal-Mart and bought a wireless card for Nate's computer. Now we're up and running on one of the fastest internet connections I have seen. As a matter of fact, this is the connection I am using to post this very blog post as we speak.

Point of this being, if your moving out always test your new place for an open wireless network, chances are you'll find one and not having to pay Comcast $59.99 a month for a cable modem is always a good thing.

That's It, I'm Writing My Senator

You know I must be pissed if I just filed a formal FCC complaint and wrote both of my senators about an issue. What pissed me off so bad that I spent the last hour of my night writing pissed off letter to various government agencies? Two evil words: Cingular Wireless. I hate this god damn company so bad it makes my blood boil. I'll give you the short version of my problems.

So I'm an AT&T wireless subscriber. AT&T wireless had always been known in my area to be the best cell phone company. Sure they were a few bucks more than the others, but the better coverage and customer support was worth it to me, I've always been one to pay a little extra for a better product. Anyway, about 6 months ago a company which I am now convinced is owned by the anti-christ (Cingular Wireless) bought out AT&T and began to slowly exterminate all AT&T subscribers. Pretty much the day after Cingular took over my phone started to have problems; dropped calls, people that were trying to call other getting me, system error messages, etc. At one point my service got so fucked up that people calling me were getting patched through to other random people. Also sometimes I would dial a number out of my address book and I would get connected to someone that was trying to call someone on their phone. Anyway the system was all fucked up. I called Cingular and went off on them. They told me there was nothing they could do, in which I responded "than cancel my fucking service". The cunt on the other line told me that I couldn't cancel my service because I was under a 1 year contract after adding a second line to my plan for my girlfriend. Now on a side note the guy who added the phone made it VERY clear and I made damn sure of it, that this would NOT put me in contract (since I was out of contract) and that I would only be charged $9.99 a month for the new line. Well both of those were bullshit because not only did they start charging me $20 a month for the new line but apparently they tried to extend my contract too. Well I went off the deep end when this bitch told me that and I finally got her to remove the contract. Now the guy I originally talked to when I was having problems was fairly cool and told me that they were having massive problems in Utah, Nevada and Colorado and that they had been getting calls all day about it. He also told me to call back when my service was back to normal and they would give me a credit for the time my phone wasn't working. Okay, fair enough. Well apparently Cingular has a policy that states that they do not issue credits or refunds for lost service no matter what the case. Well needless to say when I heard that I just fucking snapped. I railed this bitch like she had just given me AIDS and demanded to talk to the head of her department. He told me the same thing, but gave me a $20 credit for my trouble. Let me ask this though... WHAT THE FUCK AM I PAYING OVER $100 A MONTH FOR??? Apparently nothing, because Cingular claims they don't have to guarantee me service. What the fuck am I paying for then??? For them to give me shit for 1 1/2 hours just so I can get a measly $20 credit? I can't believe that they can have a policy in which they technically don't HAVE to provide service when the ONLY fucking thing the company does is provide wireless S-E-R-V-I-C-E!!!

Anyway, we've been having problems off and on constantly but today Mckell's phone started to have problems so once again I called Cingular. They dicked me around for 20 minutes and claimed the problem was fixed (which it's not) and sent me on my way like a kid after being sodomized by his uncle for the 20th time. After that I finally decided enough is enough and called them on their bullshit. I filed a formal complaint with the FCC in which they have 30 days to respond to. I also filed a complaint with the better business bureau and wrote both of my local senators. Cingular you've ass-raped me for the last time.

If your contract is up, you're looking for a new cell phone provider and you enjoy hard and frequent ass mutilations by expert dork jammers, give Shitgular a call. I guarantee they'll have exactly what you're looking for!

Straight Outa Compton

Tell me if this wouldn't make you a little suspicious or not. After a long day of work I was finally done with my last remote around 12:30 AM. I was driving down Redwood Road taking the truck back to the warehouse and talking with Mckell, as I started to approach a red light, I look over to the left of me and see a guy in the passenger seat of an old beat up pickup truck holding a handgun up in the air and checking the chamber for bullets. Now that alone is a little freaky, especially since I wasn't in the best part of town, but to add to it, the guy was wearing a cammo jacket, a black beanie (that could have been a ski-mask for all I know) and had a big black duffle bag sitting on his lap. The second he saw me he quickly put the gun down and tried to hide it, but he knew I saw it. As we started to pull away from the light they stayed WAY back and no matter how slow I went, they would go slower and slower. I tried to get a plate, but since they wouldn't get anywhere near me, I wasn't able too. Anyway, after talking to Mckell about it for a minute or two we decided that it was suspicious enough that I should call the cops, so that's what I did. I never got a call back which makes me assume that they didn't find them, but I'm hoping that maybe me seeing them with the gun freaked them out enough that they didn't kill who they were going to kill or rob who they were going to rob. For some reason I highly doubt that two mid-aged mexicans driving around in a beat up pickup truck with masks, cammo jackets and handguns are just getting ready for the dear hunt. Who knows, maybe I stopped something.

I am kind of glad that they didn't find them though (at least I think they didn't), it was pretty obvious that they knew I saw what I saw and they would have known it was me that reported it if they were caught. No big deal right? Well I was driving my work truck which is just about the most recognizable and unique vehicle in the entire state, so yeah, if I get gunned down in the next few weeks, turn this post into the cops... TIA.

Fillmore Beaver Area

Well my quest has finally come to an end. I got home about 4 hours ago after a 5 hour drive back. I went directly to Mckell's to see her since she got back from California today as well. After hanging out there for a few hours I came home and have been laying around ever since. Since I've been staying up late gambling, then getting up early the past few days I am beyond tired. I'm trying to fight it off since Adult Swim is on tonight, but I doubt I'll be able to stay up much longer.

Thanks god for TiVo!

Gimme My Money Back

Well those rat bastards over at the Virgin River got their $20 back from me tonight. Yesterday when I decided to go out on the town I won $20 playing craps. I was tempted to take it over to the roulette table and put it all on black but I decided not too. A couple years ago I took $20 to the roulette table and ended up leaving with almost $300 after playing nothing but red - black, but yesterday I guess I didn't feel like giving them their money back, at least not that soon. I had fun though, I got to play for about 2 hours on their money and at one point was up by about $30, then the table went cold, and not just kinda cold, ice cold. The table was so cold that on a Saturday night in a casino that is packed with people the craps table was down to just me and one other guy. I was trying to weather the storm and get a few big hands but the house ended up taking me... Rat bastards!

Oh well, there's always next time. Tomorrow I head back to Salt Lake and it's shitty weather, I'm not looking forward to it!