Archive for February, 2013

New Average-Of-5 Record: 40.39

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Cubing Records on February 9, 2013 by slateman

zhanchi-stickerlessI’ve been consistently getting good times with the stickerless Zhanchi. My regular stickered Zhanchi isn’t tensioned well enough, it’s just not nearly as good as the stickerless. As for today’s solves, one 45-second run marred a pretty sweet run of five, a run that featured two sub-40s. This gave me my first sub-41 average of five, impressive considering I’m still using beginner’s method. (I still suck at F2L).

So, what were my times? Lessee…

41.00 / 47.17 / 45.76 / 36.50 / 41.54 = 40.39 Average

Best Albums Of 2012

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Lists, Music, Web Design on February 9, 2013 by slateman

vintersorg-orkanI’ve been posting my Best Records of The Year for over a decade now. While 2012 was the weakest year in…well…over a decade, it still had some good stuff. So, in continuing the trend of listing the best of the best, I’ve given the coveted Album Of The Year title to Vintersorg’s Orkan. Read the whole article here.

I have high expectations for 2013, as I’ve already stated. However, until then, I’ll still have last year’s Vintersorg, Borknagar, Alcest and Module.

New Cube Order Placed!!!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Personal on February 7, 2013 by slateman

mf8-gigaminxMy birthday approaches and somehow my 3x3x5 is missing. I have a feeling one of my students may have lifted the Cube4U 3x3x5. Whatever the case, I can’t find it and…oh right, my birthday is coming! My mother sent me a few bucks and she originally wanted to get me my new cube of choice for Christmas. Therefore, the cash is going to a new cube order – an expensive one at that! So, I am replacing my 3x3x5 with a 3x3x7! I’m looking forward to this and hope it’s as good as the 3x3x5. I found it to be a very fun cube; it’s not very challenging but enjoyable to solve.

However, that cube doesn’t cost very much and I did mention this was an expensive purchase. Well, after a long wait, I’ll be adding an MF8 Gigaminx to my collection! This is a 5×5 version of the
Megaminx I got last March. I’m pretty psyched to try such a behemoth of a cube…and of course, my eyes have already wandered to the 7 and 9 layer versions (Teraminx & Petaminx) however, while the former is somewhat manageable financially, the latter is an absurd $230 or so. I think my wife would have a hard time with that. Especially when the PS4 is likely to come out this year. I digress. I won’t get these cubes before my birthday (Sunday) but I can’t wait to test them out. Stickering the Gigaminx isn’t high on my excitement list…but it has to be done. Happy birthday to me!!!

2013 Video Game Release List

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Lists on February 3, 2013 by slateman

Colonial-MarinesI had to cancel my GameFly subscription but I hope to re-start soon and begin playing all the new stuff set for 2013. 2012 was a good year for games, mostly thanks to GameFly! Now, with new hardware to come, and many titles not yet announced, this is clearly incomplete. AND, since I don’t have a 3DS or a Wii U, there are actually more things I’d like. However, we’ll keep it brief. Let’s see what’s coming this year, and, like my Metal Release List, it’ll be followed by a number (out of 10) ranking my excitement level. Kalmah’s new record on that list was clearly an 11!

02/12 – Aliens: Colonial Marines (10)
03/05 – Castlevania Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate (0 – No 3DS :()
03/12 – God Of War: Ascension (7 – b/c I don’t care about multiplayer)
03/19 – Gears Of War: Judgement (7 – Dunno why so low!)
03/26 – Army Of Two: Devil’s Cartel (8 – fun co-op!)
05/07 – The Last Of Us (10 – Naughty Dog!)
09/17 – Grand Theft Auto V (8)

No Date/Not Announced Yet
??/?? – Ys: Memories Of Celceta (10!)
??/?? – Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow 2 (8)
??/?? – The Walking Dead – Season 2 (10!)

Hardware
??/?? – Playstation 4 (10) – I love the PS1/2/3
??/?? – Xbox720 (9) – Love hardware, not MS as much tho!

There are some high-profile games not on my list – guess I just don’t care that much about them! Looking like a good year, not a great year…not yet. We’ll see how it goes!

Updated: 2013 Metal Release List

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Lists, Music on February 3, 2013 by slateman

The Living InfiniteAs I work on my Best of 2012 article, I can tell last year was a weak year for metal. In looking around, it was evident that 2013 would crush last year’s offerings with an incredible listing of albums to come. In the very least, there’s a new Kalmah which alone should do the trick. However, I’m also terribly excited about a new October Tide and I’m curious about the Soilwork double album. And..Skeletonwitch is in the studio? Lantlôs?!?! Fuck yeah! So…let’s see what’s coming. Better than 2012? It has to be! What follows is the Date/Release/How Excited I Am (out of 10).

Out! – Helloween – Straight Out Of Hell (It’s quite good!)

02/27 – Soilwork – The Living Infinite (8)
03/19 – Anthrax – Anthems (6)
03/22 – Hypocrisy – End Of Disclosure (6)
03/25 – October Tide – Tunnel Of No Light (10)
03/25 – Finntroll – Blodsvept (6)
04/19 – Amorphis – Circle (9)
04/?? – Summoning – Old Mornings Dawn (9)
05/28 – Dark Tranquillity – Construct (7)
06/?? – The Black Dahlia Murder – Everblack (8)
09/?? – Solefald – Kosmopolis (6)

??/?? – Kalmah – ? (11)
??/?? – Lantlôs – Melting Sun (10)
??/?? – Skeletonwitch – ? (10)
??/?? – Amon Amarth – ? (8)
??/?? – My Dying Bride – The Manuscript (EP) (8)
??/?? – Children Of Bodom – ? (7)
??/?? – Down – Down IV Part II (5)
??/?? – Megadeth – Don’t really care (5)

I added a few I’m not too excited about…but still…this should be a pretty good year! Imagine Moonsorrow announced a new album too? Oh….just imagine!!!

2nd Best 3×3 Record – New Best Average Of 5

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Cubing, Cubing Records on February 1, 2013 by slateman

zhanchi-stickerlessI love my stickerless Dayan Zhanchi. The thing is just the smoothest cube I’ve ever touched and solving it is such a joy. It’s been referred to as the butter cube because of its absurdly smooth turning.

And today, I figured I’d take 5 minutes and do some quick runs. Not only did I get another best average of five (41.09) but I also performed my second-fastest solve ever! 33.67 seconds is still more than a second and a half slower than my record, but also a second and a half faster than my old record! The fact that I averaged 41 seconds over five solves is amazing (but also mostly credited to that 33-second beast of a run). In any event, it’s a new record and a new 2nd-best record and for that, I’m pretty thrilled. My times:

42.32 / 33.67 / 44.72 / 43.78 / 40.96

Ys: Memories of Celceta Coming To The U.S.!

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Ys with tags on February 1, 2013 by slateman

YsCelceta01I’ve been an Ys fan since Ys I & II dropped on the TG-16/PCE back in 1990. In fact, I even made a shitty site on it. Today’s news is exciting though, even 22 years after I started playing the series. Ys: Foliage Ocean In Celceta (Memories of Celceta for the U.S. version) will be coming out this autumn via the spectacular XSeed Games. I’m so psyched. Finally a reason to own my Vita!!!