I'm back, bitches!
Hi. Yumiko, your friendly neighborhood ninja, here again, and here's why: I was talking to Ky the other day and mentioned that he really hasn't written much in the way of news updates for the past three months, and he's like "yeah, I just don't feel like writing right now," and I'm like "dude," and he's like "and there's nothing to write about anyway," and I'm like "dude," and he's like "dude," and I'm like "Dude..." and he's like "Dude!" and then we got on with our lives. And basically I'm writing to the list today whether Ky likes it or not.
The Australian Open -- that's news, right? Something to write about? I think so. Of course it looks like the major TV networks didn't think so, seeing as the only place you could see the matches was on ESPN 2. "Hi, ho, I'm a big-shot network executive! I have absolutely no clue about anything! Australian Open finals? Oh, there's three other big tennis tournaments every year, I think we can skip this one." But heaven forbid they actually not broadcast a regular season basketball game. The NBA regular season: is nothing more of an exercise in futility? Do they really need to play 250 games to figure out which two teams *don't* make it to the playoffs? Seriously, people... but back to the Aussie Open. On the women's side, Jennifer Capriati defended her title against Martina Hingis, and on the men's side, Thomas Johansson came from out of nowhere to beat Marat Safin. Some cool matches throughout the tournament, too.
You know, after thinking about it for a minute or two, every sport should be run the way tennis is run. Scratch the "regular season" and just have three to five tournaments a year, plus some scattered exhibitions and smaller tournaments. If you lose, you're out -- better luck at the next tournament. Not "well, we've got 274 games left in the season to make up for our loss today. No biggie." And globalize everything, too. I mean, they call baseball's championship the "World Series" when 95% of the world isn't even invited. A bit pretentious, no? (I could go on and on about this global sports thing, but that's a story all to itself...)
Next story... how about the State of the Union address? You know, that stupid thing they aired on TV on Tuesday night instead of showing 24? Is it just me, or did it seem like President Bush's writers told him, "Hey, use the word 'evil' a lot, people really get a kick out of it." I'm guessing that the one quote I remember from the speech, "They are as wrong as they are Evil," was supposed to move me to cry or to stand up and salute the flag or something, but not laugh.
But speaking of evil, one town in Florida (the dark land to the east from whence storms arise, servant to the dark lord Sauron) has put their money where their mouth is on the anti-Evil issue and banned the Devil. (this comes from http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/01/29/town.satan/index.html) Way to fight the good fight, oh small town of Ingles, FL, I'm sure your proclamation that "Satan, ruler of darkness, giver of evil, destroyer of what is good and just, is not now, nor ever again will be, a part of this town of Inglis" will cause people to think twice before sinning in your peaceful fishing village. Satan, law-abiding citizen that he is, will surely pass you by from here on out.
Enough about evil. Let's have some fun! If you're at all into abstract interactive art *besides* games, scoot on over to http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~macopism/noct/data/index.html for some dancing light goodness. The instructions are all in Japanese, but if you don't speak Japanese you can assume that absolutely everything just says "Click Here" and still get as much out of it.
And, as if calling out to me, specifically, "Yumiko, plug our webcomics, now's the perfect chance," both Penny Arcade (www.penny-arcade.com) and PvP: Player vs. Player (www.pvponline.com) have redone the look of their sites this past week, so you might as well stop by and take a look. It really couldn't hurt, now, could it?
To finish out this news report, let us gaze into the future...
Super Bowl's tomorrow. Apparently this year they're even playing a big football game for us to watch while we pig out on snack food. (Don't look at me like that, even the Ninja must eat!)
And, one week from yesterday, Winter Olympics begin in Salt Lake City! Yaaaaay! Of course, this means that you won't hear anything from me or Ky unless it's about a great hockey match, or who took gold in the biathalon, or what the newest extreme snowboarding exhibition event is.
Until next time -- and pray that we meet again as friends,
Yumiko