No silly goose, not Chucky.. charity.

I just got through listening to a podcast where they were graciously promoting the Child's Play charity. For those of you who may not know, this is a charity founded by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins(or Gabe & Tycho) of Penny Arcade, that helps bring games and other items to children's hospitals. Ever since its inception in 2003, donations have increased each year and hopefully this year will be no different.

This will be my second year participating and I couldn't be happier being a part of it. These kids need something to take their minds off of their unfortunate circumstances. I remember when I was in a hospital for months with a pituitary tumor (Cushing's syndrome) and I would ask the nurses if I could have a chance to play the N64 or PS2. Any chance I could get to play something, I took that opportunity because it was a fun outlet. I even asked my mom to bring some games from home for whenever I had a system in my room. I don't think I realized at the time how much I appreciated having that outlet because it helped make rough times a bit easier.

It is really easy to donate. Just head over to the Child's Play charity website and choose a hospital to donate to. Each hospital has a wishlist with items to choose from. Games are as little as 10 bucks so don't worry if you can't afford much. Every little bit counts. Books, toys, and movies are also available so there are plenty of choices.

Again, any kind of support you can give is greatly appreciated. Tell your family and friends. Thanks for reading! Any questions, leave 'em.

Also, feel free to mention any other charitable organizations here that you support. =D

Do work, son(s)!


EDIT: Here are a list of community fundraiser events.

So I was playing around with NXE for a bit this evening and I must admit, I was quite impressed. I created my lovely Conan O'Brien avatar and perused the new interface that is replacing the old blade system. I think everything looks wonderful and is very easy to navigate. Unfortunately I do not have a Netflix subscription, so I wasn't able to explore this potentially amazing feature. However, the real reason I was so eager for this update was the ability to install games to my hard drive. I have one of the older systems and my disc drive is essentially shot to shit. It has scratched way too many of my games. It is kinda like my 360 has Parkinson's and is reading my discs with a switchblade. It sucks. I was banking on this feature to essentially fix my disc read error problems and possibly prevent me from needing to purchase a new console all together.

Any who, I have been terrified to play Gears of War 2 for the past week because I really did not want it to get scratched. Every time I booted it up, it sounded like my console was gargling nails. You can probably imagine the relief that I felt after finally being able to download it without having to fret for future gameplay experiences. It took a little less than 10 minutes for the game to download. Afterward, I wanted to check how much space I had for my next download. It turns out I only had 5.6 gigs left on my 20GB hard drive. Gears 2 took up a whopping 6.7 gigs. I checked the rest of my library to see if I could stuff anything else on my HDD and the only games small enough were Condemned: Criminal Origins and the Orange Box. Yes, the disc with 5 games on it is less that 5.6 gigs. Ain't that some shit?


These are the results for most of the games currently in my library that I tested.

Assassin's Creed: 6.7GB
Bioshock: 6.1GB
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare: 6.7GB
Gears of War: 6.5GB
Gears of War 2: 6.7GB
Golden Axe: Beast Rider: 6.4GB  (I won it so get off me!)
Grand Theft Auto 4: 6.8GB
Halo 3: 6.3GB
Madden NFL 09: 6.7GB
Mass Effect: 6.8GB
Splinter Cell: Double Agent: 6.8GB

I figure you already know most of this by now, but nevertheless I enjoy bringing redundancy into your lives. So to any fellow 20 giggers who were looking forward to this feature, start deleting old game saves and underplayed demos or start saving coins for that 120GB overpriced brick of bullshit. Unfortunately, you're going to need one to really enjoy this.

Note: Sorry I didn't have the likes of a Fallout 3 or Fable 2 to test, but I think you can guesstimate from the sizes of GTA4 and Mass Effect.

My outlandish weekend in a list of loves and hates because I have a migraine and can only think in bullet point segments. I apologize in advance for possible incoherence, foul language, and lack of structure.

• I love Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti, but Shoot 'Em Up is a stupid fuckin' movie. Therefore you both fail and I am a dumbass (or a trooper?) for sitting through that piece of garbage.
• I hate how many Joker's came to my door on Halloween night. Creative much?
• I love Raisinets, but I hate the fact that they look like gerbil poo.
• I hate when your friends think it's funny to keep a secret from you for 3 days and when you finally find out, the secret sucks balls.
• I hate my friends for that.
• I love Gamefly. What the hell took me so long to sign up for this?
• I hate going to Best Buy and looking at the PS3's that I can't afford, but I love the cashier that looks like Ralph Macchio.
• I hate store clerks who think I am an inconvenience for asking them questions.
• I love going to Rutgers at 1 a.m. for fat sandwiches, but I hate the assholes who work the truck.
• I hate getting lost in Trenton at night.. yeah, Trenton.
• I love being the only sober one at every party, but I hate driving belligerent drunks around because I don't drink.
• I hate my friends for that.
• I hate guys with ponytails. You're not cool doods!
• I love lolcats. They're still not old to me!

• I love playing manhunt at midnight at my old middle school.
• I hate the cop who found us.
• I love my newfound interest in graphic novels. Any recommendations?
• I hate buying bottled water. You should be free!.. but I do it anyway.
• I love the feeling you get when you bump into someone really amazing from high school that you haven't seen in a few years.
• I hate the douchebag she was with.
• I love watching Aladdin and the Jungle Book back-to-back.
• I hate John McCain's campaign commercials against Obama.
• I hate Subway's 5 dollar foot long commercials even more.
• I love sarcastic people who can't take sarcasm.  /sarcasm
• I hate Gucci Mane for being a person.
• I love funny cat videos. Like CocoNelly. I guess I'm officially addicted to adorable kitties?
• I hate getting abused by my step-brother at Power Stone, but I still love my Dreamcast.
• I love the Mirror's Edge demo. More please.
• I love getting an extra hour of sleep. Even when it's the weekend and it doesn't even matter.
• I hate not having enough time to listen to all of these great podcasts.
• I love/hate fantasy football. Depends on the day I suppose... today I love it.
• I love MLG and can't wait for Vegas. Str8 to take names!
• I hate Bill Maher.
• I love reading all of your blogs, guys. Even if I don't comment as frequently as I should, I try to read all of them. Keep up the great work and take care!

It is really unfortunate that this wonderfully orchestrated piece of goodness isn't going to be in the final game. I wish they could have found a way to remove the lyrics and retain the music, but I am nothing but supportive of this decision. I hope people realize why this was done and are not being too naive about the situation, but rather open-minded.