Jeff Gerstmann, Gamespot and a soon-to-be huge scandal

In short, these are the facts:

- Eidos Interactive pays (big bucks) to gaming website Gamespot to put advertisement of their latest game, Kane & Lynch.
- Jeff Gertsmann, Editorial Director at Gamespot, reviews the game on november 13 and gives it a score of 6.0, which means he considers the game "mediocre".
- Penny Arcade, on november 29 publishes a comic strip implying that Jeff has just been fired because of his bad review of Kane & Lynch.
- Gaming website/blog Kotaku tells the story but at first considers it a rumor. Then the story is updated: They get confirmation that Jeff has been fired.
- As of this moment, Gamespot and Eidos remain silent.

Ok, I don't expect Eidos to release a public statement anytime soon, but I think Gamespot should, before the thing becomes a scandal of epic proportions.

Who moved my sun?

I know that up there in the northern hemisphere, even though you're still a month away from winter, you're feeling a little bit cold already.. am I right? That means that down here, even though we're still a month away from summer, we should be feeling warmer... right?

Well who's the bastard that moved my sun? Where is my sun?

Maybe those guys who've been claiming all this years that there's a thing called global warming weren't wrong after all...

Of cell phones and ribs

Las night my cell phone died. My lovely, trusty, beautiful, noisy w300 thought that it would be fun to support the writer's strike (without telling me), and yesterday, when I came home and plugged him in he just said "configuration error" and refused to work (the bastard!).

So, today at the office I felt like I was locked in a cage, totally incommunicado. I couldn't call my girlfriend, couldn't call my mom, couldn't call home, couldn't call my friends, and they couldn't call me either. "But Rojo", you may say, "what about work?" Well, let me ask you, who could think about work in a situation like that?

But now that I've had some time to think about it, you're right. It shouldn't be the end of the world, right?

Sadly, it IS.

Fifteen years ago we couldn't care less about those ugly looking bricks and now, we NEED them. We managed to live without them, but now we just CAN'T. We can't. All I can think about right now is that I want him back soon or I will die, lonely and miserable. Damn consumerism.

Anyway, I left my baby with my provider and they will be returning him on wednesday. Hope he's okay.

.....

In the evening me and my girl went to Tony Roma's and ate some delicious St. Louis ribs. Awesome taste! All I can say is: God bless America for BBQ. Seriously, BBQ is one of my top favorite sauces in the whole universe, up there with honey mustard and blue cheese. Now, can anyone tell me what are the best brands of BBQ sauce out there?

Oh, to drink we ordered some passion fruit Pisco Sour. FYI, Pisco Sour is Peru's national drink and Pisco is Peru's national liquor. Pisco is a strong (as strong as Tequila) and very deceptive liquor: you won't feel anything after the first glass, but after the second one bang! you might end up kissing the floor. Read more about Pisco here (that is, if you trust Wikipedia).

.....

Björk will be in concert in Lima today. If I manage to get in I'll try to take some pictures. I'd love to see her and I'm dying to see that little ReacTable.

.....

(Hope this doesn't sound sexual) My Wii has been blue since yesterday LOL. I wonder what's it downloading...

Oops!!!

I just discovered that my blog settings needed to be modified. Only registered users were allowed to comment :$
Ok, now anyone can comment. Please tell your friends about this blog, tell them to comment, I'll try to be original and funny once in a while, I promise.

Pink, the color of love

Today, after some deep thinking I finally came up with an explanation for my blog's name.

I'm in love. Abso-fucking-lutely. Yes, I've been in love before, but not like this. Believe me, I know. And yes, I know that when you're in love, you have this nasty habit of making promises that you intend to keep for all eternity, promises about living together, having kids, buying a dog, growing old and paying the mortgage.

But heck, that's how I feel right now. I'm very much in love, I'm making those promises, I intend to keep them, because I'm sure she's the right one. I want to be with her, in good times and bad times, until we're old and don't have any teeth.

And to me, love resides in the pink side of mind.



PS: Actually, it all started when she asked me if I'd have a pink blog. First I changed the color of my blog in spanish, then I decided to write a blog in english and thought that I could use the color in the name. 'Cause pink is the love you discover.
PS 2: I just read the lyrics of "Pink" by Aerosmith and found this verse really appropriate: "Pink it's like red but not quite". My blogger name , "El Rojo" means "the red guy" in spanish, and is the name I use in my spanish blog. This blog and the other might end up being very similar, but not quite the same. I think this blog will let me explore different subjects, given the fact that it will have a different audience.

Not a Jesus freak

I started writing this blog to reach a different audience than my other blog (that would be, uh, english-speakers), but today I thought about something.

What if my Jesus button is driving some people away? You know what I'm talking about...

So, for all of you guys, don't be scared. This is me:

- I do believe in sex before marriage.
- I use condoms.
- I believe in the theory of evolution.
- I don't think videogames are the source of all evil.
- Marilyn Manson does not eat babies for breakfast.
- There is no gay mafia.
- War is bad. Peace is good.

You see, what really happened is, a long time ago I read that famous "Jesus is fucking metal" strip at Penny Arcade and I liked the image. That's how it ended here. Now, about Jesus? I like the guy. I like his ideas. And I will not say anything else on the subject, because this blog is not about religion. This blog is ("will be" would be more accurate at this time, I know) about the music I like, tv shows I watch, my favorite movies, some videogame news and random thoughts on life, the universe and everything.

Please come back. Don't get scared by Jesus. He's metal, you know?

Virtual Console First Timer

More than 4 months after I got my Wii and almost 2 after I got my copy of Metroid Prime 3, I finally gathered enough courage to try the Virtual Console service. I took out my trusty credit card (hooray for credit cards... woohoo!!!), bought 5000 points (that's $50 for you, mister) and started browsing through the list of top games.

My first choice was a no-brainer: Super Mario World (SNES). I was also tempted to buy the recently released Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) but I decided that it wasn't on my list of priorities right now (actually, if I had to buy a NES Mario game it would be Super Mario Bros. 2). The inclusion of Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos on the list, now that was surprising. Yes, I consider that game one of the greatest, most enjoyable for the NES, but I didn't know that a lot of people felt the same. Tecmo, if you're reading this (chances are you're not), please make a Ninja Gaiden Black game for the Wii!!!

After checking the list and passing on the Metroids and Donkey Kongs (I played those to death when I was a teenager) I went to the Genesis section and picked Gunstar Heroes (a game that was ahead of it's time and was sadly overlooked) and another no-brainer, Streets of Rage 2, a game that makes me remember those days when beat'em ups like Double Dragon or Final Fight where everything. Finally, my first day of shopping ended with me buying Paper Mario for the N64. I left the Virtual Console with 1100 points on my wallet and the sensation that I totally understood how women feel when they buy shoes.

¿So, what should be improved?

- The Mario "progress animation" is a nice detail, but when you're downloading a big game (N64, Neo Geo) it can eventually become annoying. I would like to have the option to choose a real progress bar that showed percentage or actual downloaded kbytes.
- A news/future releases section would be an interesting addition.
- How long until Square gets in the game?
- When will Capcom start releasing the Mega Man games?
- It would be great if we could get the content of the original instruction manuals.
- We want more GOOD old import games (the kind that were never released).
- I hate the fact that I can't play the games if I transfer them to my SD card. If I want to make space in the Wii's internal memory, I have to repeat the tedious process of copying and erasing each game. The Wii has no "move" option from memory to card, and there's no option to copy/erase multiple games.

Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable experience. I'll be doing some more shopping in a couple of months.

On a side note, I just ordered Super Mario Galaxy (Merry Christmas to me!!!) from www.cduniverse.com, a great store that not only has better prices than Amazon in some products, but it also ships videogames to South America. Yeah!

Häagen Dazs Ice Cream: Yes, precioussss, we loves them...

It's been almost a month since my girlfriend made me taste a brand of ice cream I had never paid any attention to at the supermarket. You see, I'm the sort of guy who tends to eat the same candies/desserts/chocolates every day, and she is the sort of girl that... well, the sort of girl who has a sweet tooth.

So, my first time with Häagen Dazs was after she found out that I hadn't even tried it. She bought a pot of Dulce de Leche flavor (for those who don't understand a bit of spanish, "Dulce de Leche" means "Milk Candy"); all I have to say is that it was AMAZING. How could I've been missing on such a delicious thing?

Days later she suggested I tried the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor, and I was like "ok, let's go get a pot RIGHT NOW!" ('cause you know, I'm a fan of Cheesecake and now I was a fan of Häagen Dazs too), but when we went to the local supermarket, bang!, there were no Strawberry Cheesecake pots in sight. We went to another local supermarket and to a gas station but we had the same luck. Bummer.

A few days later I was buying a Cosmo (it was for her, what do you think?) at another gas station and I noticed a Häagen Dazs freezer. I walked to it (well, maybe I ran... a little), opened it, reached to grab a Dulce de Leche mini-pot and suddenly another pot caught my attention.

Yes, it's not that hard to figure out what flavor it was, is it?





Now, where can I get a pot of Bailey's Irish Cream?

Metal Gear's Grey Fox comes to Super Smash Bros Brawl on Wii

Yes, being a Metal Gear fan myself (and Grey Fox being the cool kick-ass character that he is), now I'm feeling very very excited about SSBB. Ok, maybe not that much knowing that he will not be a playable character but an Assist Trophy, but this information makes me believe that Sonic The Hedgehog will not be alone either: he might be joined by none other than Tails (or Knuckles?).

Check the info on the official website: Smash Bros. Dojo

Will Capcom get a character too? When will we find out?

For now, let's just cheer and have a little cosplay fun. Yeah!

Info obtained through www.kotaku.com (here's the link)

NY Guy saw girl of his dreams on the subway

There's this guy who saw the girl of his dreams last sunday in a subway in New York. He wanted to find her, so he had a great idea: to put up a website with a drawing of her and detailed instructions on how to contact him. ¿Would you help him find her? If you live in NY, visit his website at http://www.nygirlofmydreams.com/, and if you see her, let him (and her too, don't you think?) know about it.

PS: I got the info from Luis Sanchez, he says that today this website was one of the hottest at http://del.icio.us/.

21 things that only guys do

1.- Men don't hug each other: they break each other's backs.
2.- Guys don't hand things: they throw them from a distance.
3.- A man will never serve beer to another man; instead, he'll just pass the bottle (this statement goes against statement number 2, but just because the man has to preserve the beer's integrity).
4.- Men don't carry purses because they don't need them: wallet goes in one pocket, keys and coins in the other one, and cigarettes, pens and useless pieces of paper in the shirt.
5.- Only guys compete to find who burps, farts or pees better.
6.- Only men do the "flaming fart" trick.
7.- Only men say "pull my finger" (and this is the third statement related to farting... see any pattern here?)
8.- Only men brag about their scars and wounds.
9.- Only guys buy tons of drills, lawnmowers and toolboxes that they will never use in the future.
10.- Men will always try to change bulbs, put wall sockets or fix pipes, even though they know that in the end they will have to call a real repairman.
11.- Men don't eat salad in front of women.
12.- Men will never recognize that they caused the car accident.
13.- Only a man uses the words "jackass", "idiot", "moron" or "asshole" to talk to his buddies.
14.- Men will never admit that they were looking at that girl that just passed by.
15.- Men will never lift the toilet seat.
16.- Men will never change the toilet paper.
17.- Men will always leave some juice or milk in the box to avoid taking it out of the refrigerator.
18.- Men will always act like they're about to die when they catch a cold.
19.- Guys will never admit that they know the names of the Backstreet Boys.
20.- Men will always say that your favorite actor/music star is gay.
21.- Men will always answer "no" when you ask them "Am I fat?"

Advice for tourists planning to visit Peru

I was walking through Jorge Chavez Airport in Lima, Peru for the umpteenth time and I spotted this guy who definitely was an american tourist. How did I know? Well... he was wearing a cowboy hat! And for the umpteenth time I reminded myself that tourists always have this terrible habit of dressing up to look like tourists and do stuff that only tourists do.

And that, my tourist friend, is a HUGE mistake in a country like mine. Even though I believe that my country is the most beautiful country in the world (sometimes I even think that I'm living on Middle-Earth), it's far from being in ideal place for tourists, so walking around having what I like to call "the tourist look-and-feel" is not convenient, much less if you really are a tourist.

My tourist friend, let me get straight to the point: being a tourist in here means "rob me", "I'm an easy victim for a scam", "charge me a higher price". Dear tourist: before you even consider coming to my country, you should read news about it.

So, being myself the charitable guy that I am, I'm going to list some useful advice for anyone who's planning to visit my homeland in the future.

Advice for the tourist friend coming to Peru

1. Never, NEVER EVER, use those kaki vests that tourists normally use to go to safaris in Africa. You're not going to bump into any wild animals in our cities. Get rid of those stupid safari hats too!

Don't. Just don't.

2. Avoid wearing shorts. Nothing says "tourist!" like a pair of milky white legs.

3. Do not cover your whole face with sun block when walking under the sun. Most cities have a really nice climate, neither too hot nor too cold.

4. Do not check your maps on the street. Everyone will know that you're lost. Check them before you leave your hotel.

5. The same goes for dictionaries [your language]-spanish. It would be better if you learn some spanish before coming, hehehe! And put some effort on your pronunciation.

6. Do not wear typical peruvian attire, like chullos or ponchos or any of that stuff. We don't, so you shouldn't either. Only tourists do that. If you buy some peruvian clothing, wear it on the safety of your own country.

No, no, no, no, no...

7. Think it twice before you decide to accept help from local people that you meet on the street. Some of them only want your money, sex, and in the future a green card.

8. Don't even think of coming with one of those giant digital cameras (this applies specially to japanese tourists). Buy a small digital camera instead.

9. Don't ask any questions to bystanders unless you fulfill item #5. For more information, check items #4 and #7.

10. And the most important thing: Do not speak in your native language in public.

If you do all the things stated above, you can visit my country with no worries.

PS: Ok, to anyone out there who's not laughing, this was all a joke. You have to be careful when you come to my country, but not THAT careful. Peru is as safe as any other latinoamerican country. Or even India. Or Egypt. Or Thailand. Or Nepal.

Post # 1

This is my first attempt at blogging in english. I've been running a blog in spanish (I'm from Peru) for over a year and suddenly I felt the need to try something new. Let's see if I'm capable of handling both blogs without dying in the process. I really really hope that this experiment pays off!

These weekend I'll start publishing my first posts and I'll be pimping up my blog with the usual stuff: widgets, banners, links, counter, Adsense and, of course, I'll change the color (the blog has to be pink, you know? Otherwise the name wouldn't make any sense).

Please come by later, give this guy a chance, will you?