Hung Truong: The Blog!

Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 on PSP: Loading Time Analysis

Now, I don't own a PSP, but if I did, I'd be very pissed if my game took more than 6 minutes to actually get to the game. I can probably complete a whole circuit of Mario Kart in 6 minutes! I'd be doubly pissed if I waited all that time to play a wrestling game!

Some wonderfully pissed person has made a video showing exactly how long it takes to load Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 on a PSP. Thankfully, they overlay the audio with the music from Benny Hill, which makes it somewhat bearable.

I believe the issue here is that the designers of the game decided to put all of the crap that was in the PS2 version and just stick it into the PSP without considering anything. Instead of making a game for the PSP, they just crammed too much in there. My favorite part of the video is where it takes about 10 seconds for the game to load up… the loading screen! Seriously, how can you PSP owners put up with this? Get a DS already!

Have You Heard Of Montreal?

No, not that city in Canada, the band, “Of Montreal?” I've written about them before, but they're pretty good, so I think they deserve a whole freakin' post. In fact, they're probably my favorite band, at the moment.

My favorite band used to be They Might Be Giants, because of their nerdy lyrics and infectious melodies. Lately, though, they've been veering off course and going into some bad territory. When every other release from a rock band is a kid's album, something is wrong. I have a feeling they've sold out, and they're “over the hill” now, so to speak. Anyway, back to the band at hand.

Of Montreal is this crazy indie type band that plays just the kind of music I like. Insane music! The lyrics usually don't make any sense, and when they do, they form some kind of grandiose plot, kind of like a rock opera. Many of their song names don't even make sense. Just check out the tracklisting for their Early Four Track Recordings album. Weird.

I think their more current albums are more synthesis/electronica based, whereas their older albums are more dirty lo-fi guitar sounding affairs (which isn't a bad thing). Sure, they're a might bit pretentious, but they've got the awesomeness to back it up. The albums I've bought from them are Early Four Track Recordings, and Aldhils Arboretum. Both are pretty awesome. The Gay Parade and Horse & Elephant Eatery (No Elephants Allowed) are also really good.

You can download a ton of MP3s from their website (legally, even!). I recommend The Problem With April and Nickee Coco and the Invisible Tree for starters.

It's really nice to find a band and actually become a fan; Something I haven't done in quite a while. I really should actively look for new music to listen to, but I guess I'm kind of lazy when it comes to that. Maybe I'll become an Of Montreal expert before I go looking for any more music…

Albert Einstein says the darndest things!

There's this fun little php based thingy that lets you insert stuff into the chalkboard of Albert Einstein. I made up a little shabooya roll call for him. You can also make him write whatever you want.

Isn't it fun to mock the dead?

Of DDR and Thievery

I had a very strange (and unusually memorable) dream last night. Then again, maybe all of my dreams are strange, but I just can't remember them.

It started off with me and my friend Patrick playing Dance Dance Revolution. I was getting AAs and he was doing pretty badly. Then my friend Tim came over and told the two of us that he could get AAA on any song we were trying. What a bluff! I was curious as to see how Tim could be a DDR maniac, so we decided to drive to the mall (because I guess my home DDR wasn't good enough?).

Tim and Patrick drive away, and I'm still getting into my car (I dunno why we didn't carpool). I remember that my cell phone is in my parents' car, but I'm like, “I don't need that!” I try to follow them but they're gone. Somehow, I get lost on the way to the mall, and curse myself for not bringing my cell phone to call them. This is strange, because the mall is only like, a few blocks away from my house.

Somehow me and Patrick end up in a school, and he wants to look around. It happens to be some voting day, and there's a bunch of senior citizens in a room sitting in desks writing up their ballots. Then whoever's in charge of the election starts kicking the old people out and ripping up their ballots because they're taking too long to vote. I'm mad, and start yelling about how that's illegal, and they should let the old people vote.

Suddenly, one of the old people steals something out of my messenger bag (like my PDA or something) and I chase her! It's one of those slow-motion dream chases. She's really fast! She gets into her car and I can't catch her! Later the police nab her, and I demand the death penalty, or at least the right to smack her down.

I dunno if she ever got what was coming to her, but I was pissed. I don't think I'd wish capital punishment on the elderly in real life, though. I guess it was just the frustration of running really slowly in the dream, and losing to an old lady in a race.

Weird, huh?

Threadless.com Reprint! + Secret Sale!

Hey! So “Captain Awesome” got reprinted at threadless.com. But you know what? I didn't buy it. For some reason, once it was available, I realized that I wouldn't really ever wear that shirt in public. In this case, the wanting was more desirable than the having. Just like T'Pring in Amok Time! (If you got that reference, huge nerd props to you!)

I like the design, for sure, but it's just not a shirt. It would be a cool poster or something though.

I did, however buy some shirts. 3, in fact. Why 3? Because there's a “secret” sale going on. I'll fill you in. If you buy 3 shirts and type in one of the coupons, you'll get $15 off your order. That's like, 3 shirts for $30. Here's the codes:

tenbucks20, tenbucks45, tenbucks87, tenbucks34, tenbucks85

Anyway, here's the shirts I got (so don't get em, or there could be a chance that we'd wear the same shirt on the same day, and that would be embarassing. Unless you don't live near me or ever come in contact with me. Then it's ok):

Nerd Berd

Nerd Berd has a nerdy bird and a cool pattern on it. I'm a nerd, so naturally I like Nerd Berd. It's also pretty cute. My favorite color is green, so it's also a plus that the shirt's main color is green.

The only nerdier shirt I can think of would be one that had binary on it. Oh wait, I already have shirts with binary on them…

What else can I say? I like the Nerd Berd, and hopefully it will like me back.

Human Concept

I'm not really sure I know what the meaning of Human Concept is. What I do know, however, is that elephant looks way cool! And it's crossing the street! At an elephant crossing!

This elephant is majorly detailed. It reminds me of one of the animals that O' Reilly (not Bill O' Rielly!) uses for their books. It's in Khaki, which means it will go great with my… blue jeans!

Predicament

Predicament is a shirt with a guy fishing on a giant fish! I guess his predicament is what he does after he catches the fish. It looks like the fish has already caught him! This shirt must take place in Soviet Russia!

I picked this shirt because it looks cool. I mean, why else would I pick a shirt, right? I'd prefer it in a different color, but blue works. The sky is blue, and so is water. And there's both sky and water in this shirt!

Looking at these purchases, it seems there's pattern. Yep, all these shirts have animals on em. I don't think I planned this when I bought em, it just happened that way. Or maybe I just prefer animals on my shirts rather than precocious artist trash! Whoa, I think I need some sleep now. Good night.