post christmas greetings, from an hd/dvr world

hey hey hey, and ho ho ho. hope everyone had one hell of a merry christmas, i sure did. there's just something about christmas that's so kickass, it is indeed my favorite holiday/day/season/time of the year. this year was no different, despite the fact that everything seemed to want to make it less so. thankfully, that good ol' christmas spirit came through and made for a lovely day.

now that all the gay is out of the way, let's get down to business. kickass gifts i got/things i can wholeheartedly recommend at this point...

- logitech mx 1000 LASER mouse

my dear god, could it be possible that this mouse exceeds not only my expectations, but my previous mouse, the microsoft intellinet explorer? yes indeed it is. this is hands down, THE only mouse that exists in my mind at this point. the levels of comfort and performance are ridiculous. the sensitivity may be set a little high at it's default, at least for my tastes, but i'll be damned if that's about the only issue i can think of w/ this thing. that and the fact that it doesn't ship w/ settings for firefox, but that's remedied in about two seconds (change the back and forward to the keystroke "alt + left or right" depending on which button you're changing.) what's fucking odd is that when you do change that, the buttons still hold the same function in explorer, both the internet and windows variety, but not in the windows picture viewer, which is odd. but between the overall feel of this extremely comfy mouse, the total number of buttons and their feel as well, not to mention it's incredibly quick charging, long lasting battery and wireless perfection, this is the mouse to end all mice. and the little thumb platform is genius. i can't express how highly i recommend this mouse. seven dicks up out of five, especially since you can find it at a few of the big stores for about half price right now.

- the complete calvin and hobbes

this is coming from a guy who grew up reading calvin and hobbes in the paper daily. a guy who has always thought that the art of creating a comic strip has never been done better than by bill waterson. a guy who owns all the individual calvin and hobbes books, and because of that has refused to buy the larger collections of multiple books that contained what i already had. that being said, this set is amazing. to be able to have every single calvin and hobbes strip ever created in one place is a thought that makes me happy. in the pants. the strips alone speak for themselves, but the presentation of the set is really top notch. the books look great, the art work on each volume and the case is perfect, really capturing some of those classic calvin and hobbes moments and feelings. be warned though, this set is not recommended for the elderly, little kids or nerds. or anyone else who can't lift what has got to be like 50 goddamn pounds of comic. it is a beefy set, but that'll happen when you've got every goddamn strip ever. aside from that though, it is just fucking awesome.

- nintendo ds

so yes, we all know of my love for the 360, and how i was at one point thinking i may get one for christmas. as the weeks passed though, it became clearer and clearer (or more and more clear, i don't know) that that just wasn't gonna happen. in all honesty, as much as i would jump to get one today, it probably ended up being better that i get to wait a few more months. hopefully either the price will go down, or the hard drive will be increased. or hell, both.
and then gears of war and oblivion and whatnot as well. that being said though, i've been looking to get me a ds for quite a while now. you may all remember my insane gay love for metroid prime pinball. as more better games just kept coming out, the system just seemed like the logical thing to pick up. i've got me a system and four games for at least $150 less than it would have cost for a 360 alone right now. and it's not just a great substitute for those who can't get their hands on a 360 (which is is though), it's pretty much just a great system, handheld or not. i'm playing mario kart (so fucking good it's pretty damn unbelievable. connecting to an opponent online is a fucking chore though, which will hopefully be streamlined in newer games on the system. it blows my mind to be able to play wifi online w/ that thing though, super fucking cool), nintendogs (seriously too cute to even handle, and i've also had the least amount of time w/ this one since my sister has fallen in love w/ it), trauma center (ouch. seriously. this game will kick your ass. but really fucking odd and fun because of that. another one my sister seems to be trying to steal), and advance wars (hopefully the long term "rpg"/strategy game i'm looking for, since i'm personally iffy about the lack of compelling story in mario/luigi). i'll get some more in depth reviews of these in the coming weeks when i spend some more time w/ them, but i'm thinking these first impressions will hold. i wanted to throw them out there. a cousin of mine got a ds for christmas as well, so i'm looking forward to the multiplayer good times that will follow w/ that. and the online mario karting.

- insane home theater setup

my parents went out and picked up, on my recommendation, a top to bottom complete home theater setup. a setup that is beyond awesome. once again, exceeding expectations. it all start w/ a lovely (seriously) monster surge protector, a kickass jvc th-c6 home theater in a box, a scientific atlanta explorer 8300 hd-dvr, and it's all topped off w/ what has to be one of the best performing hdtv's money can buy, the 50" dlp, samsung hl-r5067w. this is one hell of a system to behold. true to it's reviews, the jvc system is easily the best home theater in a box you can get for under $500. once it's all set up and running the harmony remote is fucking dream. i've had to tweak it a bit, mostly for "watch dvd" (there's really no need for a chapter skip option in the menu when there are buttons for it, but it is nice to add the ability to switch discs w/o having to take control of the jvc dvd player). overall though that's incredibly painless, and once it's working you'll be amazed at a) how well it really does work, and b) how you have surprisingly few places to stash so many now unnecessary remotes. and then the tv, well, take my word for it. cause you have just got to see it to believe it.

those are all the same places i got this thing purchased through. i pass them on to you, because through that, and then grabbing some belkin pureav component cables from amazon, you should be able to get the entire setup, shipping included, for the same price as the tv alone when purchased from best buy. now i'm not knocking best buy, cause it's the place to go for dvd's and shit like that. but to be able to save about $1,000 dollars off the price of the tv is pretty much a no brainer. be warned though, none of these places seems to be very adept at communicating what's actually happening w/ your purchase, but trust that they will all show up as promised. one place said they had no record of the jvc purchase, only to have it show up the next day. newegg was easily the best, shipping the remote w/in two days i think. and rapid plasma used some odd ass company to ship w/, but they did call the day before to make sure someone would be home to get it, gave me an 11-3 window, and showed up at 11 on the dot saying they would have been here earlier but had to wait til 11. so it should be all good. seriously though, if you're not in on an hdtv yet, go right on ahead and grab one of these. it is fucking beautiful.

this is a generally awful post i'm realizing, but, eh, what can you do? i'ma put the wraps on it now, as i'm boring myself and wanting to go jump back into any one of my kickass ds games. i may pick up metroid prime pinball, mario and luigi, castlevania: dawn of sorrow, and/or meteos this week as well. to think that two games go for the price of one 360 game does make me feel a whole lot better about my ds as well. to also think i can take my ds on set and use it to pretend to be busy and not have to talk to people is also excellent. thank god for technology. anyway, that's it. be back wednesday w/ an equally uninteresting post. chat w/ you later.

stahl