FuzzyCouch

Julie and I spent the day in St. Louis and went to the Yeasayer concert Monday.

We had lunch at a local coffee shop near Grand and walked around that neighborhood, then went over to The Loop area of Delmar and looked around there and grabbed a bubble tea. We then went looking for the concert venue on the Washinton University campus. On the way there, we spotted Julian Casablancas crossing the street in front of us. I don’t know if I said it out loud or not, but I at least thought to myself, “Hey, that guy looks like Julian Casablancas. Oh, it is Julian Casablancas.” He had a show later that night at The Pageant.

We then went back to Delmar for Thai pizza. The Thai pizza — we had Pad Thai and Tom Yum versions — was strange. I thought it tasted like quiche, even though it didn’t have eggs in it.

We ate slowly, killing some time before the concert. We weren’t sure where to park at Wash U, but we eventually found a spot. We had already purchased our tickets, but there was some major confusion about if there were tickets available still, and the venue organizers hadn’t be especially clear about the matter.

The Riverfront Times story gets into that a little bit. They also have a slide show of photos — one of which I found myself in, I think.

Julie and I were about seven or eight people from the stage. The sound setup was great. There was a point at which I found myself stuck behind a 6’7″ guy and seeing the band got a little difficult. That was probably only for one song. Most of the time, I was behind a girl who was a little shorter than me and I could see fine. She spent a lot of the show bumping into me while dancing, but it was only slightly annoying. Julie got warm towards the end of the show and headed for the back of the room where it was cooler. She said the sound and view was great back there, too.

I added this show to my list of concerts and realized we hadn’t been to a show in quite a while.

Tags: Uncategorized by Guido
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Arguably the biggest thing in gaming this week was the iPad launch. No, I didn't purchase one, I do think it would be wise to wait for the 2nd generation. Apple will probably add some feature (like a camera), but even in the worst case scenario where the next version includes some insignificant change, then the original will be cheaper! So either way, I'm waiting for now.

So I've been living vicariously through others as they get their gaming on with the new device. The first thing I noticed was the Twitter phenomenon. Maybe it is just the circle of people I follow, but this was the first time I've witnessed an entire product launch unfold from pre-launch lineup, un-boxing, new user experiences, impromptu peer user groups, troubleshooting, and recommendations all springing forth in real time as the product became available to the masses. It was incredible to see all sorts of people posting pics, describing which applications they like best, collaborating about charging and wi-fi problems, it was really incredible to witness the power of Twitter.

The latest CO-OP show brought new concerns to the table. As the hosts expounded on how wonderful the device is and demoed some very cool games (that I admit, made me a bit envious), I kept noticing how poorly ergonomic playing games on the device looked. Watching them play all hunched over gave me a sympathy neck-ache of my own. Maybe placing the device on a table would help a little, but I'm just not sure how much that would help. I would love to see a mock-up of those single-colored iPod ads with a silhouette of a guy hunched over playing on his iPad! If you have the talent, let's see it! :-)

The excitement only built as the details of the new iPhone OS 4.0 were announced. Now we'll get a lot of overdue features (like multi-tasking) but also the equivalent of XBOX Live for the iPhone/iPod/iPad games! Achievements, Leaderboards, Friend Lists, Matchmaking, all will be a part of the platform, YAY! I think the combination of this, and the new iAd platform unveiled is really going to take marketshare from the Facebook gaming scene as well as make a pretty tough road for Nintendos 3DS... friend codes anyone?

If the rumors are true, and a new iPhone is to be launched this summer, I'm likely to upgrade to that and continue holding off on the iPad. But as I spend this evening playing through a $5 copy of ESPGALUDA II (normally an $80 import!) on my 3GS I can't help but maintain my enthusiasm for the Apple platform!

Tags: External feed, Games by Troy
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