Claw’s Blog for September 21, 2008

The price tag of the banking bailout: $700 billion!  Yep, that’s as probably as close if not more than the price tag of the war in Iraq.  As the President said, this is not the time for ideology, but for solutions.  Having said that, we should never have gone in debt the first place.  Bad business loans, the budget deficit, borrow-and-spend policies, and arguably the war in Iraq have all contributed to this.  I think it would be hypocritical of us to condemn this and not look at our own spending as we now have more credit card debt than ever.  Our spending lifestyles of overpriced quinceneras, owning too many game consoles, satellite subscriptions, HDTV, gas-guzzling Hummers, expensive social outings (clubbing, movie theaters), just to name the very few things of overconsumption perhaps not seen since the Roaring ‘20s.  It’s time to start living within our own means.

Speaking of budgets, California has now passed the budget more than 2 months its past due date!  It has a projected $15 billion deficit, but I’m still waiting on when the budget will actually balanced or at least close to it. 

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is finally released.  The long-anticipated game is out on all major console systems (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, and PSP), but not on the PC (I don’t see why it shouldn’t).  The game received some lukewarm reviews: while it has a great story and physics engine (using the Force in a lot ways that kick a--), it does become repetitive and the gameplay at times is full of bugs.  As a Wii owner, I’m especially disappointed that the 2-player dueling mode is not online, so I guess I wouldn’t be able to play against Roger from my own home.  The game was hotly anticipated for the Wii since the Wii Remote ways conceptually made for this, but the bad camera angle of this game hinders it a lot.  I haven’t played the game yet, but if I get a chance to, I’ll see if this rings true with the critics.

The Dodgers are now 3.5 games ahead of Arizona for the Division Title, and thus a playoff spot.  While the Dodgers obviously can’t win all the remaining games, it’s inexcusable for them to lose to the Giants at Dodger Stadium the other day.  Yes, they won yesterday, but the remaining opponents do not have playoff indications, while the Dodgers still do.  C’mon Dodgers, you can’t afford to lose any game now.  The magic number, at the time of this writing, is now 5.  In fact, ESPN says the Dodgers’ chance of making the playoffs is 97%.  Let’s make it true!  And thank you, Manny Ramirez! 

Mega Man 9 will be released tomorrow as a downloadable game for the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3.  This game will feature old-school NES graphics and sound.  There could be a trend on making original games using technology of gaming past.  That would be awesome.  Super Mario World 3, anyone? 

USC is idle this week, but UCLA continues its downfall, losing to Arizona 31-10 in the Pac-10 opener.  Looks like Rick Neuheisel could be out of a job soon. 

I’m off now for another week of work, work, and working out, ending it with my overspending at social outings.

Discuss Here.