by Matt | Dec 21, 2002 | Imported Entry
Well… I’m 22. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me… happy birthday dear Matt… ah fuck it, who am I kidding.
There’s a note on the counter mentioning that my parents are gone to a double-header hockey tournament this afternoon. They don’t know when they’ll be back but that we “might have time to get food if it’s not too late.” How nice of them. My plan of sleeping until 4 in the afternoon as gone horribly wrong mostly because of the damn phone which won’t stop ringing. If they were birthday well wishers that would be one thing, but when a telemarketer wakes you up at 8am on your birthday you just have to unleashe a little anger in their general direction. Hopefullt AT&T got the hint this time. Then again, maybe I was swearing so much they couldn’t understand what I was getting at.
I think at this point I’ll probably just get up. I don’t have any plans for the day and nor should I. I’ll leave the house at someone’s request but I’m not going out of my way to do anything in perticular. Since my parents leave for my birthday each and every year my usually routine is to order a pizza with there credit card and watch movies all day. Too bad I can’t find they’re credit card.
I don’t know. I don’t even know why I’m writting this. No one gives a shit. I should just go back to bed. I hate birthdays. They don’t make me feel “happy or special”, they make me feel like shit. No one is ever around for them, my parents dont care and my gifts just get added to Chirstmas. So whats the point in having a birthday in the first place.
by Matt | Dec 19, 2002 | Imported Entry
Have I mentioned my love for Amazon.com I placed my order and got a confirmation email at 2:03pm. At 4:45pm I got a “your order is complete and has shipped” email. Which means, in a little more than 2 hours, they rounded up my items, put them in a box and got them to a UPS truck. Amazing.
by Matt | Dec 19, 2002 | Imported Entry
Well, Chip and I saw LOTR: The Two Towers last night. I can’t really say much about it. I sat down and debated whether to review it or not and I couldn’t come up with too many points to talk about, good or bad. It’s an epic, a 3+ hour long, pee before you go, epic. It’s grandiose, it’s huge, it’s involved and did I mention that it’s over 3 hours long? Technically it’s 179 minutes, which would make it almost exactly 3 hours, but there’s at least 6 previews before it and not to mention the ever increasing amount of f*ing commercials before the previews. I consider that all part of the “show” and so they get factored into “butt in chair time.” It’s good. It’s very good. I can’t really get into detail about WHY it’s good however. Mainly because I don’t know. I will say that it’s quite possibly the best use of CG I’ve seen in, well, forever. I don’t count CG movies as “using” CG since they’re not using anything else. I’m talking about the movie that use it in addition to whats actually on film. The really fantastic part is the integration into the film, it’s flawless, it’s fantastically believable and it’s really well done. Having watched the extra features on my parents copy of the first movie I know how they accomplished the battle scenes and I still can’t believe it. It’s a very well done movie. It’s also like Star Trek, I don’t need to tell you to go see it because if you’re going to you probably already have. If you’re not, then there’s no point. I would recommend a rental when it comes out to those who will miss it in theaters. It’s slightly better than the first in my opinion mainly because of pacing issues and the battle scenes and with a rented DVD you can always pause to go to the bathroom.
We also did a bit of shopping before the movie at Old Navy and if you’re not doing anything this weekend, get your ass down there. I got a $26.95 sweater for $10. You can’t beat that with a stick… and if you could, it would have to be one hell of a stick. It also spurred me to finish my Christmas shopping for Lauren which I’ve done today. I won’t mention what I got because I know she’s reading this (hi hun!).
Lastly… it’s two days before my 22nd birthday… do you know how old I feel? Damnit, I don’t want to grow old. I want to be 21 for the rest of my life. I would have said 18 but you can’t get a nice margarita at a mexican restaurant if your 18… well, depends what restaurant. But seriously, I don’t like my birthday. I never have. Most of my birthdays I spend alone and depressed. Last year I was in TX for my birthday and it was a welcome change but this year looks to be the same as all the rest. I’ll get up late, mope around the house and get a pizza for dinner. I think they call that the “birthday blues.” Whatever.
But on the upside, I might be getting my Sony Clie’. It’s going to be one of those combined gifts since my birthday is close to Christmas. This happens more often than it should but I’ve gotten used to it. This year I welcome it however because I get to spend a little extra on myself (I usually pick out my gift) and get what I really want. Well, what I really want is a $5000 camera, but we all know that’s not going to happen, so I’ll take the Clie’ as a runner up. I think I’ll work on persuading the ‘rents to order it tonight. We’ll see.
Alright, thats about it. Later.
by Matt | Dec 18, 2002 | Imported Entry
Ok, first up is What’s Playing for Winamp 2 and 3. It’s a plugin that lets you send a list of, surprise, what you’re playing to a html file, perl script or some other content form. I asked chip about it and I might beg him to figure out an easy way to make it part of my webpage once its redesign is finished. Apparently it’s pretty easy but I’ll let you who are more skilled than me be the judge of that. The author provides plenty of explanation and documentation so it might just be do-able.
Second, CS skins. For those of you who play CS (and there’s only a few that read this that do) this is for you. Over the past few days I’ve been putting together Matt’s CS Pack v3.0. If you’ll remember correctly, about a year ago the place I (we) used to get replacement models and skin thought it would be a good idea to start charging. Now, this is obvious BS since they didn’t make any of these models and you could find them elsewhere. Their point was that you could, but that they were the ones spending the time to put them together into a collection. Basically it was a convenience thing. The problem is that I never really used 100% of their collection. I would use about 80% and then add my own favorites to round it off. So, I decided to go ahead and put together a collection that I would be 100% happy and thus v1.0 was created. Originally it was about 200Mb worth of weapon models, character skin replacements and maps. Now, it’s nearly a CD full and covers everything from maps to models to cross-hair replacements and everything in between. Now, I’m not going to take any credit for any of it (unlike that afore mentioned website) because a: I didn’t create any of these and b: I would have put the collection together anyways. But, since it’s so large, I’m not going to offer it up as a download, I wouldn’t want to kill our poor server. So, if you want a copy, you’ll have to ask me for it. BUT what I will do is provide a few links to some of the things in the collection. That was, if you don’t feel like installing a whole ton of stuff you don’t need, you don’t have to. And this way, you can make your own collection, which is always better in the first place. Anyway, here goes.
Now remember, these are all 5 star, top notch, A+ type skins. Of course, peoples opinions as to what an A+ skin looks like will probably vary. These are simply my top picks as to what I’ve seen as well as used. Please, by all means, if you think you have a better version of something, send me a link and I’ll take a look at it.
Weapon replacements:
USP .45 – nice, simple and awesome texture
Glock 18 – hands down the best glock replacement I’ve ever seen
57 – really slick replacement even if it’s not the same gun
XM1014 – wow.
AK47 – nice and simple, the way I like it.
M4A1 – with extras – without extras – same skin, different versions.
Scout – clean.
AWP – dang, thats pretty…
SG550 – good replacement for such a crappy gun
Now, you may have noticed that all the weapons aren’t represented. That’s because I either couldn’t figure out where I originally got them from or it’s been so long since I changed them that I’ve completely forgotten. My MP5 skin for example, has been the same since CS 1.3. Why? Because it’s the best MP5 skin I’ve ever seen. For all the categories I’ve skipped, visit the CS-Nation Archives or CS-Skins.net and I’m sure you can find some that you’ll enjoy.
Player skins:
CT players – well, this is sort of a “choose your own” kind of deal. There are 5 seriously good model replacements, all by the same guy and all of great quality. You just have to choose whether you want the good guys to look like the FBI, NYPD, US Marines, UN Peacekeepers or the British Paratroopers. They all play very nicely and are very recommended.
T player replacements – well, there’s really only one pack and it’s not a surprise that its by the same guy who did the above CT packs. Everyone really likes his stuff and for good reason. There’s also a runner-up pack but in my opinion they get a little confusing if you’re playing with CT skins that also wear camo.
Other:
Last but not least there are a few little touches that make the game simply that much more interesting. First up are some cross-hair replacements. Why would I replace a cross hair you ask? Because instead of this, you could be using this. See, that’s why. This is Arrowhead’s cross-hair pack (note: direct D/L link) and it’s fantastic. A welcome change from a big X in the middle of the screen. Grenades are also something that can be fancied up a little bit… at least until they explode that is. Give these a try.
I was going to mention a whole host of places to get maps, but nearly every site that I had bookmarked doesn’t exist anymore. So, I’d suggest visiting some of the links below and trying to find some there. Also, look for themed packs floating around the net (ie: desert maps, ice maps, 30 versions of de_dust maps, etc). You’ll find some.
Also, you simply must check out RzE’s CS Helper. It’s a vgui based binding system that makes life SO much easier. Take a look.
Lastly here are some links in case you get bored and feel like browsing for you’re own. Warning, this may suck up more of your free time than you’d care to admit. You’ve been warned.
C.o.D.G Gun Shop – older models/link but still good.
CS-Nation – home of the “Skin of the Day”
CS-Skins – not regularly updated but still pretty good
CS Central – another good one.
Counter-Strike Center – a little bit of everything
Thats about it. Hope someone finds all this useful.
by Matt | Dec 17, 2002 | Imported Entry
Well, it looks like there’s not going to be a photo shoot today. The company that Dave and I were taking pictures for doesn’t seem to have the product (tables) ready for us to shoot. It’s been tentatively pushed off to Thursday. Nuts, and I shaved and everything. 🙂
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