MrNepathy's Blog

In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I know Jonah Knight. His wife, Lisa, has been a friend of mine since high school. When asked about writing a review for his album, I was a little hesitant at first because it’s a little hard not to be biased. Or hard to be honest, if you’re timid. (more…)

In order to write a review of the album Ghosts Don’t Disappear by Jonah Knight, I’m going to start with a mini review of his previous album, Singer/Songfighter, because I listened to that one first. Singer/Songfighter is a mixture of song styles, some leaning towards acoustic and folk while others have a light punk sound. Some of those styles, particularly the acoustic ones, work better. They’re a bit like Obadiah Parker if you removed the piano, or Kings of Convenience in that the music skews towards the lighter tones. “Cameron’s Dog” and “Everything Will Be Fine” are where this style really clicks whereas “Calling” feels like an odd mixture of New Orleans style guitar and folk vocals. Stylistic experimentation within a single album is fairly common. Compare “Christians in Black” to “Like I Needed” by Rogue Wave from Asleep at Heaven’s Gate or “Devil” to “Dakota” from Stereophonics on Language, Sex, Violence, Other. (more…)

When I turned 35 I ran a mile faster than I had run it before. On my 36^th birthday I ran farther than I had run prior to that. On my 37^th birthday I tried to sleep late. I had more success with my plans at 35 and 36 because I woke up at just after five o’clock in the morning. Still I stayed in bed for a bit hoping that sleep would carry me back into the Fun House world of the subconscious, but there was no such luck. (more…)

“Atlanta,” she said as she hung up the phone. She said it in the same tone I imagine some captain had used to tell Robert E. Lee that Atlanta had fallen to Sherman: disgust peppered onto disbelief. The  single word held explanation, admission and defeat. It also birthed a slow, roiling chaos. (more…)

I was doing a seven-million-dollar bid at work and while on a conference call that was mostly about biking strategies followed by thirty seconds of, “oh by the way, bid like this…” when I heard reference to a bid we had just won through Bacon World. Bacon World is a big third party that controls quite a lot of business. Another analyst had done a bid through Bacon World for Chuck’s Waffle Hut. Chuck’s Waffle Hut is some company you’ve probably never heard of, but you all probably have waffles in your house. Maybe they’re not Chuck brand, but by the size of the business it’s safe to say Chuck moves a lot of waffles. (more…)

Normally I do a review in December for the year in pop culture, but as sometimes things get lost in the shuffle and we lose praise as time moves on, I thought I would do a “Year So Far” list. That’s what you’re reading now. Go. (more…)

Now before you all send me angry little comments defending your precious computers and telling me that computers save lives, make things more efficient, helped put humans on Jupiter and let you master rhubarb in Farmville, I’ll remind you that they also made Jar Jar possible. ‘Nuff said.

Well not really ‘nuff said because there are more paragraphs coming, and here they are. (more…)

Now I have been an Iron Man fan since before I was a teenager. For a while I bought the issues one at a time at the local 7-11 or at the comic book store. Eventually I subscribed to it back in the days when comic books arrived in brown paper sleeves in the mail. Though I read other comics on occasion, like Groo the Wanderer or The West Coast Avengers, Iron Man was my only subscription. I subscribed just in time to get issue 200 in the mail. That issue came out in 1985. So in reviewing Iron Man 2, there are two ways to look at it: as a film in general or a film about Tony Stark/Iron Man. (more…)

The following blog only covers the first hour of Red Dead Redemption so you can read this without worry of spoilers beyond that. The game starts with your character, John Marsters, going to a fort to confront his old friend Bill Williamson who isn’t the brightest star on the horizon. If I were Douglas Adams this is the point where I might write, “Before I continue, I should tell you that the worst that happens is that someone gets shot in the gut and also a shirt is ruined, but otherwise no one is harmed.” But I’ll just say Bill Williamson sleeps in his own bed that night and your unconscious body is picked up by two people traveling by. You wake up and meet Bonnie who paid fifteen dollars to the doctor to have you patched up. She’s a nice lady who runs a ranch and once you recover asks you to help out to earn your keep. (more…)

Before I launch into my case against Nintendo fan boys, I have to say a few things first. I grew up on Nintendo. After the Atari 2600, the Nintendo was the next console I had. I played Zelda on the gold cartridge and subscribed to Nintendo Power to get a free copy of Dragon Warrior. My brother and I slaughtered many a gold golem to earn money for better swords and armor. I believe the first Final Fantasy game I played was on a Nintendo system. I’ve owned the Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 and still have a GameCube somewhere in the basement. I have a Wii though ever since I stopped using Wii Fit, my Wii has been pretty much dormant. It got moved out of the way during the Oscar Party at my house and it’s still tucked away to the side and practically out of sight. Though I don’t play the Wii, I cannot argue against the Wii’s success or the brilliance behind its design and marketing. The problem with the Wii is it’s meant for everyone, not hard core gamers. So it sold millions of consoles to nursing homes and adults who would not have considered buying any other system. Your Uncle Roger probably has it and he probably has Wii Resort. Meanwhile Microsoft and Sony are selling the latest Call of Duty game to KingStabber74 and XNinjaSniperX who are probably your cousins. (more…)