Company of Thieves - First Video Here -

I'm sorry, I caught the trailing end of this song, 'Oscar Wilde', on my local [94.7 KNRK] and couldn't get it out of my head... What languages IS she speaking in this song?? Sounds awesome whatever it is. And due to the thriftiness of my local station, they are providing tickets for 10 dollars each as a pre-sale for members. Those guys rock.

They're from my home town chicago, the girl is hot and they seem witty and deep. AND the music is not disposable. That's all I care about!

In the mean-time, spread the word on this band, they have a brite future methinks.

Portland Traffic Sucks!

-WARNING-ranting follows-

I understand people wanting to LIVE when its sunny out, but does that really mean sitting in traffic, during rush hour, in their cars?? Is that living? They need to get on the bikes or walk around the block or go jogging [apparently, you just run...?sic] and stay the hell off the roads.

Today, HWY 26 looked like a gigantic coughing metal snake, inching along for miles...its ridiculous. This town is so screwed with traffic because all the hippie-cum-politicians think they can somehow stave off the tide of millions of expansive PEOPLE moving here by purposely failing to created wide highways, with the sunny dream that people that HAVE to use public transportation WILL. They just didn't think ahead.

We have thousands of people a day driving down 2 lane highways, for miles on end... and there is literally no beltway around the city, to alleviate this.

There should be a law passed that restricts auto traffic to, to-and-from work only, for certain key hours of the day. But NOOooo that would take a bit of our free will away wouldn't it!?

6-8am and 5-7pm: Work traffic only!
All sunday drivers may resume before and after!!

yeah right...

I know it doesn't make sense. How would they enforce THAT!? Also, What if I wanted to stop at the store ON the way home from work?? heh

On second thought, I kinda like Free-will.... dangit

Kal Penn is ALIVE people! -It's just a publicity stunt!

That's right TV sitcom-ers...Kal Penn is an Actor, and surmising if he is actually dead in real life (no pun intended) KILLS me. Do you really think they would have an actor lying down on the floor, in a pool of blood, pretending to be the real-life actor who's just killed himself in real-life, hours after he had done it!?? That is some FAST shooting schedule they got there! And all before friends and family notified, proper grieving period, legal rights signed over, oh yeah, and the REAL news coverage of hypo-hollywood 'journalists' media frenzy?

I just had to say that, to all the confused people out there that are so ridiculously confounded by a simple plot twist that has been a part of Serial T.V. drama since Luke and Laura...WOW.
Need a good laugh? check out the BLOGS FOR HOUSE MD blog and see a fine sample of America's intellect and self-absorbed drama for yourself!

All these comments, and not one even remotely seems to care about the fact that the website posting a faux 'obituary' and talking about his death as if it were real, is EXTREMELY tacky, let alone childish and offensive to real sufferers of depression, and families of those that have committed suicide.

I guess it takes a non-fan to see through this self-absorbed drama discussion blog (over a TV show no less) whose posters seem alarmingly disconnected to reality! Wow people...and I STILL can't get over Darth Vader, being Luke's FATHER!!!!

Total War: Empire -Sound fix here!

For some, here is a fix for a chronic and widespread sound issue . This was the only solution that saved me..during the initial buggy release of a game I've been waiting for, for a year now.

That's right folks, finish up that last quest in ROME, throw down those last few barbarians in MEDIEVAL II.... you have a new game for the next 3 years... Total War: EMPIRE!

The game is BEAUTIFUL, and immensely engrossing. The puff of smoke that sporadically pops out of muskets and cannon are amazingly realistic, the cannon ball realistically blasts through doomed troops, bounces on the ground, then crashes into a nearby house, taking out half the wall and caving in the roof! Awesome..

Let me tell you, you better have a decent system too, I can play CRYSIS on my pc relatively well, but, this one kills my frame rate on any Ship Skirmish involving more than 2 boats.....sigh..it sure looks like a pretty slide show of Naval Combat though!

BTW-oh yeah, here the sweet fix for any sound issues that you may be having. Not sure if it solves all of them, but this one seems to fix numerous people's issues online.. until the next patch hopefully clears it up. As of this date, the newest patch is only MARCH 30.

Good luck., and stay tuned for my little review once I get a tolerable frame rate and working game!

This FIX is for people who are having problems with The Sound cutting in and out of: - Intro Video - Road To Independence videos - SEGA Intro...

Okay so I tried all the suggested fixes that people have given on the forums. None worked. I even tried to edit my bios to fix the problem. I found the solution by my own experiences. TO FIX THE SOUND BUG DO THE FOLLOWING: * MUST HAVE Left 4 Dead Game OR Get The FREE Left 4 Dead Demo

1. Go To Program Files

2. Go To STEAM Folder

3. Go To STEAM Apps

4. Go To Common

5. Go To Empire Total War

6. COPY the file Binkw32.dl and store it in a backup folder on your desktop

7. GO BACK one Folder (Before Step 5)

8. Go To Left 4 Dead (Demo)

9. Go To bin

10. COPY the file binkw32.dll

11. Go Back To Empire Total War folder

12. DELETE or OVERRIDE the file binkw32.dll

13. NOW PASTE the file binkw32.dll

14. THAT'S IT! GO back to the game... it should work. I hope it works for you. Let me know. Cause of BUG: Problem with the latest version of BINK Video Codecs

UPDATE 9/2011: An update patch has been released for this game. Before you try any of the fixes mentioned in this article, update your game to the latest build and check if the problems are fixed. If you are using the pirated version, a cracked patch has been released by RazorDox – read all about it here.
Note that you may encounter none, some or all of the problems mentioned below – user experience seem to vary from each installation. Also, not that some of these problems may exist in the legitimate version of the game as well. We cannot guarantee that the fixes mentioned in the article will solve all your problems – sometimes they will and sometimes they won’t.
Sound issues, missing sounds and other audio related problems
Problem: Missing sound effects. You may encounter missing or no sound effects with Empire : Total War. For example, when you give the command for a unit to march, you may not hear the corresponding sound effect. Some have reported missing sounds from horses, swords, cannons, etc as well.
UPDATE 8/03 (Working Solution): Search TPB for "etw_sounds_sfx.pack", download it and replace the sounds_sfx.pack file in the game's installation folder.
Solution 1 (Untested): Note that I have not tested this solution myself. Backup all replaced files before testing his method.

1. Download the Empire : Total War Demo and install it (It’s a free Steam download).
2. In the Demo installation directory, locate the file demo3.pack. Rename the file to sounds_sfx.pack
3. Browse to the installation directory of the full game (not the demo). Replace the sounds_sfx.pack file located in the full install dir using the renamed filed created at step 2.
4. Run the game

Solution 2 (New/Updated) : Download the “Empire: Total War sound fix for all releases” which can be found on public BitTorrent trackers.
Problem: Missing voice acting and missing/skipping advisor messages
Solution: See solution 2 for Missing sound effects problem (above)

Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman Dies

Medal of Honor recipient and veteran of three wars, a good man has passed away yesterday.

-please check out the full article at military.com after this excerpt. We can all pay our respects toward someone of this caliber, as we all should strive to do something important, and meaningful in this short time on earth.

'As Ed "Too Tall" Freeman lay ill in a Boise hospital over the past few weeks, many came to pay their respects to the 80-year-old national war hero and former helicopter pilot.
One unexpected visitor offered a very personal thank you to Freeman, a veteran of three wars and recipient of the highest military award -- the Congressional Medal of Honor -- for his actions on Nov. 14, 1965, at Landing Zone X-Ray, Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam.
"A guy came into the hospital and said, 'You don't know me, but I was one of those people you hauled out of the X-Ray,'" said Mike Freeman, 54, one of Ed's two sons. "He said, 'Thanks for my life.' "
Freeman died Wednesday.

His Medal of Honor citation credits him with helping save 30 seriously wounded soldiers in 14 separate rescue missions in an unarmed helicopter. '

Link to article HERE (@ military dot com)

Rest in Peace Ed. You deserve it.