Carrie Underwood won the American Idol contest last night, officially, leaving runner-up Bo Bice to go back to his drugs and possibly just-as-lucrative record deals with those that specialize in people with lots of hair.

Few know that Bo had a different life before he lent voice to new interpretations of Ides of March songs — he was a game programmer called Ragnar Scheuermann, who was at different times over the past decade on the teams for Ultima Online, Dark Zion, Ravenblade, Shadowbane and 9th Dominion.

Sorry Ragnar, I mean Bo. Maybe next season.

I didn’t bring my towel to work yesterday even though Douglas Adams’ after-death army commanded it. Instead, I ended up using a towel to pad my knees after I got home from work and forced myself to puke whatever was making me feel sick.

I’m staying home today. I haven’t updated much because everyone else has been saying the stuff in my head.

Me and Damion won’t be seeing much of each other, even though neither of us will be at E3 this year. He arguably had more reason to go than I did, but I never can tell.

Today I got a new boss where I work. That’s about all I’ll say about that, because I still don’t want to talk about where I work in this space. Deal.

Edit: For anyone who is going, be sure and check out the Namco booth for the best E3 gimmick ever:

May 18-20, All Day – Namco Hometek – We LOVE Katamari Ball – Help the Prince please the King of All Cosmos at this E3Expo with the We LOVE Katamari ball. The King of All Cosmos has requested all attendees to provide items throughout the three days. Items should be lightweight enough to be attached and as nutty and creative as possible. Items should NOT be x-rated in nature or include clothing, books, magazines, papers or garbage. Those representing the Prince also have full right to decline any item.

It’d be worth it just to see what they refuse to add to the katamari ball. Thanks Saralah. And thanks BoingBoing for the cameraphone picture of the pre-E3 katamari.

Damn fun game overall, but don’t get it unless you plan to spend the whole weekend fooling around with it. Incidentially, it’s only $29.99 — Majesco apparently expects to clean up on volume, and they aren’t doing half bad.

Also, a good reason to get the PC version over the XBox version is you’re less likely to throw your controller after the many, many frustratingly difficult parts that have absolutely no replay value because once you’re through, the first words are “I’m not doing that again.” There are few, and I’m working on what I think is the final level, the Meat Circus, so hopefully there’s a little fun left to be had.

Also, one wonders, given how close in theme and tone this game is to American McGee’s Alice, why Erik Wolpaw of Old Man Murray fame would want writing credits. Maybe it’s so Psychonauts wouldn’t have a “plot dreamt up by one of the programmers who worked on the worst of the Earthworm Jim games.” Yeah, OK, maybe that’s it. Glad things are working out.

This is probably not going to impress most comic/collector nerds, but it’s impressive to me. After a SomethingAwful thread from Batman’s Shameful Secret (the comic book forum) about collectible action figures, I decided I had to have one of the Spider Jerusalem action figures from DC Direct, and asked fellow forum goon [Z?]NNY if he’d send me one. I’m not an especially patient person, but waiting through a mail routing problem was worth it.

I’ll probably keep him in the box for a while. If you squint, you can read the “I hate it here.” typed over and over and over behind him. The back has this paragraph:

This man tells the truth. And that’s why everyone hates him. Whether he’s wielding a laptop keyboard or the dread Bowel Disruptor, outlaw journalist Spider Jerusalem has made his foul mark on the City, spewing hate and outrage in his infamous newspaper column “I Hate It Here.” Spider Jerusalem is the voice of the future: and the future is bad for you.

Includes a laptop computer and Spider’s two-headed cat.

[Z?]NNY threw in a bunch of posters and Free Comic Book Day stuff in, mostly posters:

Two DC Countdown posters, one Sad Marv In Snow, Superman, Other World, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Wildsiderz, Hellboy (poster and The Corpse comic) and Mickey Mouse.

Well worth the wait. Now I have to decide where to put all these posters. Thanks!

Coming real soon, though all the cool kids have more than a taste of it thanks to INTERNET. Most will probably end up buying the album (I bought the last one twice, because I thought I’d lost my first copy.)

And it wouldn’t be Gorillaz without freaky music video action. Jamie Hewlett has apparently been playing with the Source engine to make “Feel Good, Inc.” Yeah, looks like at least two guys from D12 are on this album, including this track. Crappy quality shots below.
Continue reading Gorillaz: Demon Days…

I even like documentaries, but fuck this shit.

More awesomeness. This one’s been a long time coming.

One movie about the end of a nation based on exclusion of all but one race of people, and one about people in another nation struggling with their own and each other’s racial identities. The first, “Der Untergang or “Downfall” auf Englisch, I’d seen before thanks to the powers of INTERNET, the second, “Crash,” I had no plans to see other than rave reviews in the Austin Chronicle and narrowly avoiding wrecking my car on the way to the movie theater.*

Absence from Austin makes my heart grow fonder, even if all I usually do there is go see movies I probably otherwise wouldn’t get to see.
Continue reading Downfall/Crash…

Trailer. Don’t bother trying this with Firefox, at least not until the plugin issues are worked out.

Looks absolutely hilarious. Willie Nelson as Uncle Jesse for the win. Jessica Simpson, like Catherine Bach, might just be tolerable enough acting-wise to show off lots of T&A and drop highly suggestive one-liners. With Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott as those Duke Boys. (Oddly enough, both have played jerky co-star to The Rock — Knoxville in Walking Tall and Scott in The Rundown.)