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2001 L.A. Auto Show Coverage
[ 2-5-01 ][ 3:09 a.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've been mired in midterms and papers this past week. You know what to do: Click!

I can't sleep. It's 3 a.m. right now and blazing hot in the dorms. With all this power crisis brouhaha going on in California, you'd think a big institution like UCLA would lower their damn thermostat a bit.

You know, lately I've been thinking about my own mortality a bit. How's it really like to die? Do you really see your whole life flash before your eyes the millisecond before the Reaper takes you away? Then what? As a Christian, I'm obligated to believe in a Heaven and Hell oriented cosmo's, but I must admit that the cynic within me questions whether or not that's really what happens.

What if, when you die, you're just rendered in eternal black silence...? That'd be horrible. It's like your body dying, but your soul still trapped in your mortal coils. You can't see, because obviously, your eyes are dead. You're like the vegetable version of Helen Keller, buried 5 feet beneath the ground. Gulp.....!

I think I'd rather go to Hell. At least there's some variations there. Any one read Dante's Divine Comedy? According to him, some people in Hell play hide and go seek with Devil's minions. Of course, things get extremely unpleasant when those damned souls get caught. However, it's still better than being bounded in eternal boredom.

Okay, enough of that. It's just that recently, because of the India quake that's killed over 15,000 people and an errant plane crash carrying members of the Oklahoma State basketball players (God bless them), I was reminded again how easily humans die. If we were born with the natural instictive fear of a violent death, then it has got to be a bad thing for sure.

Anyone catch the XFL debut? Behind all its glitzy advertising and macho WWF persona, you know that the teams are all comprised of either NFL rejects or college / Europe football players that couldn't make it to the NFL, right? The XFL will never make it. I'll be surprised if they even complete their inaugural season. One thing I do like, however, is their coin-toss, or rather, variation thereof. A player on each team lines up and scrambles for a ball placed 15 yards or so away. Heh! An even better idea would be to line them up opposite of each other with the ball in the middle. That eliminates dirty tactics like tripping. =P

I think I'm going to try to sleep again now. You might not hear from me for a while. I got more midterms and papers coming up, plus I'm prepping my computer for a full scale re-partition and format to pave the way for my triple OS boot machine (Win ME, 2000 Pro, and Red Hat Linux). I'm planning on working mainly in Windows 2K, using ME only for games and Linux as a personal experiment.

Later.

Snatch
[ 1-31-01 ][ 10:03 p.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

A short review's up. Check it out. Click!

It's true. Napster's going to start charging. There's been an uproar in the community over it, even though the pricing method hasn't even been finalized yet. Some say they're willing to dish out a flat 5 bucks a month for it. Others say once Napster starts charging, it's overs. Then there are those that say they'll only pay if they get certain guarentee's, such as high quality rips and access to all songs ever recorded. Think circa June of this year before all this goes into effect.

This rollercoaster ride ain't over yet, so don't panic. Personally I'm starting to turn a deaf ear to this entire matter. To charge or not to charge, to shut down or not to shut down.... sheesh, make a damn decision already. More here: Click!

Update on the Dreamcast scenario: Sega's pulling out. It's true, according to FiringSquad's report (which, in turn, links to a ton of other resources that cite the same conclusion). So all remaining DC's in stock will plummet in price down to $99. There won't be any new DC's manufactured on Sega's part. Instead, they'll be focusing on publishing software in an attempt to regain all the money they've lost.

Looks like they couldn't take the heat and had to bow out. Ciao, Sega.

34-7, Baltimore Ravens
[ 1-28-01 ][ 9:39 p.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

How 'bout a pat on my back, eh? Everything I wrote in my Playoff Diaries came true. About how I was the only one who predicted a Ravens blowout. About how Baltimore was going to force a bunch of turnovers. About how their defense will contribute to their score. About how Jamal Lewis will top the century mark. My 29-7 prediction was only 5 points off the overall score, too!

I scoffed at Phil Simms when, during the broadcast, he said, "If anyone predicted such a lopsided victory for the Ravens, I wouldn't have believed them."

Ray Lewis, game MVP.

Okay, enough self glorifying. Big time congrats go to the Ravens for winning the Super Bowl. They definitely earned it. The Giants got their due. Hell, them getting to the Super Bowl in the first place was a domino effect of flukes. There was no way they were going to win. Oakland, Tennessee, or even Denver would've beaten them.

The back-to-back kickoff return for touchdowns was incredible. It brought to mind a St. Louis game during the regular season when the same thing happened. Wow!

Pictures are worth a thousand words. I'll let the ones below speak for themselves. Congratulations to Baltimore, formerly the Cleveland Browns, for winning Super Bowl XXXV.

"My team's better than yours."

The Ray Lewis story has come a full circle.	The Ravens picked off Collins 4 times.

Song of the Week
[ 1-27-01 ][ 8:56 p.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

"Here's to the nights we felt alive
Here's to the tears you knew you'd cry
Here's to goodbye 
Tomorrow's gonna come too soon"

--> Click! <--

I really ought to be cracking on some homework right now, but instead, I decided to update. That shows you where my priorities lie. Speaking of lie, anyone know the proper use of it? I'm sure I just butchered it, because I'm a grammar dunce. I know some people that actually understand all that subject/verb preposition past participle cesspool. That's impressive. To me, the technicalities of the English language is harder to grasp than Calculus.

Super Bowl XXXV tomorrow! Gerry and I would've setup the contest where you'd guess the score and the closest estimate would win $5 like we did last year... except not many readers of Rice World care about the actual game, I'm guessing, based on the amount of feedback (or rather, lack thereof) I got on my Playoff Diaries.

Most people think this game will be a kick-fest.

My personal pick is 29-7 Ravens, but most "experts" predict a low scoring and rather dull affair overall. Let me tell you something, the entire NFL playoffs and its outcome has been a surprise, and I think it'll be punctuated by the Super Bowl itself. It's funny to read some of their comments though.

"Final score, 2-0 Ravens in OT. Kerry Collins falls asleep in the endzone out of boredom." -- David Fleming, ESPN the Magazine

The sideshow's going to be impressive. 'N Sync and Aerosmith lead a star studded group. I got a nice chuckle out of the 'N Sync Super Bowl commercial. Synchronized urination! Heh heh.

One final note: tomorrow is the 10 year anniversary of Scott Norwood's field goal shank. Sigh... it was the closest my beloved Buffalo Bills got to winning a Super Bowl. They got blown out their next three trips there. Their opponent that game? The New York Giants. The location? Tampa, Florida.

This is Not Funny!
[ 1-26-01 ][ 3:56 p.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

Man accidentally saws off hand, then shoots nails into head

"BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A Pennsylvania construction worker accidentally cut off his hand with a power saw and then shot himself in the head with a nail gun several times, apparently hoping to end his pain, police said."

*Bzzzzzzzz* WTF! OMG! ARRGH!! ..... *Pow Pow Pow* ..... gurgle...

Heh heh heh... ahem... cough........ Heh heh. Click!

Got rained on again today. Same story, same situation, same misery. Mumble grumble...

I'm working on the Car Show pictorial article right now. Out of 32 digital pictures I took with the el crappo cam, 24 came out to be tolerable. Here's a little teaser pic.

My Infiniti G20 made an appearance at the show.

Rice & Gerry's Movie 10 Spot of 2000
[ 1-24-01 ][ 4:41 p.m. pst ][ By Rice ]

Movie reviews have always been one of the bread and butter features on Rice World. Y2K's featured a bunch of mediocre flicks, but there were 20 that separated themselves from the pack... both above and below. Check out what Gerry and I thought in our Movie 10 Spot article: Click!

So... I missed my Tuesday morning lecture this week, thus effectively endind my non-ditching streak at 29 hours. And it was for the most common reason, too. After repeatedly slamming the snooze button my alarm, I awoke roughly 45 minutes after the class had already begun. Damn. Since the reset, I'm currently at.... 3 and a half hours. Heh. I'll keep you updated. =)

Can you believe I got rained on again today? It was drizzling a little in the morning, but I was under my comfortable covers, so I paid little heed. Around noon the sun started to shine so I thought I would've been safe from the acidic tears of heaven. After my hour of lecture, though, the skies opened up again and poured on me. Hooray. And it was the kind of rain that doesn't look like it belong. You know, with the sun shining and all. The worst part was when I finally reached my safehouse, it stopped raining. Growl!

There's been some reports of Sega closing up their Dreamcast shop. Rumors started to fly a couple of days ago, and was intensified yesterday by so-called offical reports from Japan. People were saying how Sega's gonna stop manufacturing the DC by March and start pure software developing for the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. Rice World's very own console guru, Cruise, denied it. Today, Sega issued their official statement denying all reports of them closing shop, thereby proving we should never doubt the words of the immortal Cruise. ;)