Argh, so I wrote a blog yesterday but Giant Bomb screwed up, so let's try again, shall we?

• Know that feeling when you try something for an hour but actually end up nowhere, like you wasted your time? That's me revisiting Geometry Wars 2. It unbelievably annoyed the heck out of me as I tried to take back first place on my friends list from Skrutop. The annoying thing was that I couldn't even beat my old scores. But I'll try again later this week.
• I don't care what the majority of the Americans say on the Rock Band forums, the Fratellis are an awesome addition to Rock Band. Three of their songs were released as DLC, and I've been disappointed by the generally negative reaction from there with comments like "OMG WHO R THEY THEY ARE NOBODIES BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH" and "SRSLY HAS ANY1 HEARD OF THIS BAND HMX DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE DOING" and "Y ISN'T MARILYN MANSON KORN IN THERE BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH" (but I guess I shouldn't be surprised).
• I hate the hypocrisy. There's been plenty of fucking bands out there that have only been a hit in the US, yet when there's a band that's huge in the UK (and probably in Europe, I don't know for sure) that's being added, there's so much backlash. Do remember that Rock Band is selling in Europe, too. Pricks. I'm not directing it at anyone here on Giant Bomb, but I like ranting.
• Oh, and the Fratellis pack? My favourite pack so far this year for me. Really fun on guitar (surprisingly challenging), really fun on vocals (but then again, I know the songs, heh), and the drums would've sounded fun if I liked playing them.
• There's talk of me going to be part of a band in Rock Band 2, which is cool, probably as bassist considering the other guitarist is better than me. The other three are talented at their own instruments. No band name yet, though. Any suggestions?
• I'm so getting Street Fighter IV.
• Why does House suck so much this season?
• Guilty pleasure alert: Why do I enjoy the Big Bang Theory an alarming amount this season?

Alright, I'm done. Catch you later.

As good an actor as I think you are, sir, you voicing my Asian father with your Irish accent totally doesn't work.

(Yeah, I got Fallout 3, and yeah, I tried to create my Chinese self. Wheeee.)

I still read people's blogs, and I still read stuff on Giant Bomb. I've just been kinda inactive. So yeah, hi, and how are you?

There was a bunch of stuff I wanted to do -- for example do a full feature of favourite television episodes of 2008 -- but I haven't had the time, really. For those wondering, last season's House two-part finale, "House's Head" and "Wilson's Heart" would have shared the top two places (I wrote a bunch of stuff on that back on the GameSpot blog before I deleted it), followed by (probably) Lost's "The Constant", which was made even more awesome by the fact that there was a payoff in the season's finale.

Right now, I'm playing plenty of Super Duper Street Fighter II Hyper Turbo HD Remix Hadouken Arcade, or whatever it's called on XBLA. It's still really fun, and it's got me all excited for Street Fighter IV. Oh, and there's Rock Band 2, which I've been playing on most days. If you wanna play -- Band Quickplay or Score Duel, I don't mind -- then just add my gamertag (Ben Wilkins III) and lemme know who you are if it's not obvious.

I've also started uploading videos of some of my runs on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/WilkinsIII

And after briefly becoming bored with music during the back-end of last year, I'm back looking for new bands and stuff. Asobi Seksu, My Bloody Valentine, and Eagles of Death Metal -- you're next! This month, I've been listening to a lot of Los Campesinos!, and they're great if you like bands like upbeat indie pop and The Go! Team (which I do).

Anyway, catch you all later. Who knows when I'll blog next.

So, I've done an appalling job at, you know, blogging. That doesn't mean I'm inactive, in fact far from it. I still read blogs (even if I don't post much), and I enjoy reading and watching Giant Bomb's content. Anyway, to break this drought, I'm going to blog a bit about what I've been listening to and what I'm planning to get in bullet points. Later this month when the television season gets rolling again, I'll post a television special with a bunch of my thoughts on how this year's shaping up. Oh, and Andy Murray reached his first Grand Slam final in the US Open, and has now risen to fourth in the rankings. Congrats, man. Keep it up, and you'll catch up with Djokovic in no time.

Music I've Been Listening To

• Rilo Kiley: I now possess all four of their studio albums. What's insane is that I got them in reverse-chronological order, from Under the Blacklight all the way back to Take Offs and Landings. Obligatory comparison: Execution of All Things > More Adventurous > Take Offs and Landings > Under the Blacklight. Take Offs and Landings is a bit inconsistent, but has one of my favourite tracks of theirs, "Science vs. Romance".
• Shout Out Louds: I eventually got around to getting their first album, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff. And it's good. Very good. Their follow-up (Our Ills Wills) is better, but they still impressed me a great deal with this one.
• Explosions in the Sky: After Psychomode's recommendation a trillion years ago, I finally checked them out. The reason why I held out for so long was because I didn't expect to like instrumental tracks too much. The long song lengths were a bit off-putting, too. But after liking Mogwai recently, I went ahead with The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place, and I liked it. Liked it enough to buy the follow-up, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone. And that was also a fine album.
• Okkervil River: I only got one of their albums earlier this week (The Stage Names), but I've been enjoying it a great deal.

Music I Have, But Not Listened To Extensively Yet (But Not For Long!)

• Jenny Lewis: Well, the leak of her new album, Acid Tongue.
• Mogwai: Well, the leak of their new album, The Hawk Is Howling. I also have Happy Songs for Happy People from late last month, which hasn't received the right amount of attention yet. I'm not heartless. If the leaks turn out to be awesome, I'll buy the proper albums once they're out.
• Okkervil River: Same situation as the leaks, really. I downloaded an "advance" (whatever that means) version of their latest album, and do actually intend to buy it (if I like it) when it's out in the UK. I think it was released earlier this week over in the States.
• Feist: A few months ago, when I fell in love with The Reminder, I didn't hesitate to get its predecessor, Let It Die. I've forgotten that I had it until I started this list. Oops!
• Ladytron: Someone recommended them to me a while back. Today, I've been listening to them a lot. They're pretty good. I dig their stuff.
• Sonic Youth: Another person insisted I give them a chance after I jokingly mocked them (admittedly without actually giving them a chance). He sent me Rather Ripped.

Music I Haven't, But May Be Rectified Soon

• The Long Blondes: Around the same time I discovered Feist, I found these lot. I've been itching to hear this year's sophomore record, Couples, ever since I enjoyed their debut.
• Okkervil River: If I like them enough, I might bother looking into the three albums I missed pre-2007.
• Explosions in the Sky: It's not a high priority right now, but I'm considering one of their earlier two albums.

Other Bits And Pieces That May Or May Not Be Music-Related

• It's pretty funny that now, the majority of my money is spent on music--either records or Rock Band downloadable content. I don't play many games anymore besides Rock Band and Arcade stuff (Castle Crashers and Braid are awesome). Oh, and the occasional Top Spin 3 match whenever I'm in a tennis mood, like during the US Open. Too bad the toughest difficulty isn't that much of a challenge... I have to resort to creating new, weakened players to have a challenge against the AI.
• I'm seeing The Subways on the 20-something of September. It's also my first proper concert, and by "proper", I don't mean paying three quid to see a bunch of nobodies with my mates. I guess I've always been put off by expensive ticket prices in the past.

His first ATP Masters title.

Because I'm lazy, I'm going to summarise this past week in bullet points.

• Roger Federer, however, got knocked out early against Ivo Karlovic, and because Rafael Nadal reached the semis, he will overtake Federer on August 18 (since Federer is set to lose far more ranking points than Nadal will).
• Predictions for the US Open? I reckon Djokovic will be hard to beat. He's obviously talented on hard courts. You obviously can't discount Nadal or Federer, but I can't see Nadal take it. He's still notably a little weaker on hard than on clay and grass, and as Djokovic proved by a 6-1 7-5 straight sets win over him in the semis, he's beatable on this surface. Murray has an outside chance--winning Cincinnati proves he has the game, but the big question is whether he can last two weeks playing five-set matches or not.
• I got Geometry Wars 2 this week, and it's awesome. I've not played it as much as I'd like to, but thanks to this post, you can be sure I'll be making time from now on.
• I also hit 1,000 wiki points. Just to clarify, I wasn't doing it for the 'race'. I was editing a few pages, and I was pretty annoyed by the long submission times, so hitting that target was more to gain the privilege of live edits than anything else.
• If you're wondering what I've done to get that many points, let me introduce you to my babies. I've single-handedly done everything on Captain Novolin and Powershot Pinball, and I've contributed heavily (including full articles) on A Sound of Thunder, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, and Super Tennis. It's pretty disappointing that writing doesn't net you more points, and that the majority of mine came from linking related pages and uploading images.
• I sneakily gave a mention to my review on The Awakened under the Reception section.
• Speaking of A Sound of Thunder, the results of the HonestGamers contest have not been announced yet. Apparently, they'll be up later today.
• Music-wise, I'm still listening to Rilo Kiley's "More Adventurous", and given that I enjoyed the Subways' debut so much, I went ahead and got follow-up "All or Nothing". It's pretty good, too. It has more stand-out tracks ("Turnaround" is my favourite), but maybe it isn't quite as consistent. I'm also checking out Mogwai (more specifically, "Mr. Beast"), and I've re-found my love for Les Savy Fav. "The Equestrian" is their best song by quite a bit--not because it's about submission and sex.
• The past week, I also decided on my favourite Muse song. That would be the epic "Butterflies & Hurricanes".
• ...And I'm off. Back to some more Geometry Wars!