Well, I’m still sick. Actually, its getting worse, and I’m afraid that its going to turn into a full-blown flu. I should be taking it easy, but I really haven’t had the chance, or at least haven’t been allowing myself to.
First off was the Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence cluster-fuck that blew up yesterday afternoon. Long story shot, many people, including myself, have been long waiting for the Snake Eater re-release, which was to include a slew of new modes and insanely awesome extras, which many were afraid would be Japanese exclusives, so we were all relieved to discover that it would be coming State-side as well. The thing is, no one really knew what exactly we were getting, and how to get them; then came announcement that much of the content would be available as a pre-order bonus, so everyone relaxed. But many folks, including myself, didn’t realize that there were two separate packages…
In the end, there are four discs. The first contains the original game (I think). The second includes different game modes, like the online component, plus the original NES/MSX Metal Gear games (I think). There there’s a third disc which has all the cut-scenes assembled together to form an actual movie (I think). And finally, a fourth “bonus” disc which has a behind the scenes, making-off documentary (I think)
EBGames and GameStop offered two packages: the regular edition and a limited edition, the latter being $10 more. But no one really knew what was in each (the retail sites were definitely not very clear on the subject), so many simply sat back and waited for the details. But all of sudden from out of no where, its revealed that they decided to stop taking orders for the LE package online, and everyone flipped out when they learned that the third disc, which was the one that everyone wanted, was what was lost, meanwhile the fourth, again so called “bonus” disc (that no one was really excited over) was still coming out with all the other “regular” pre-order. So those who sat back and waiting, like myself, got screwed over. As for brick and mortar shops, they were still offering the LE package, but it depended on the store.
So all of a sudden, I had to make all these calls to EBs and GameStops in Manhattan (and most folks will know that I hate dealing with either place) in a desperate attempt to find a store that was still offering the LE package. But I did find one, so I had to rush on over and put my money down before they ran out. And that store in particular is one in which I’ve had some pretty big issues in the past, and now I must put my faith in them that nothing gets messed up. Instead of just putting down $5, I paid for one copy in full (not that it truly guarantees anything, but just in case it gets down to who paid for their upfront or not, which has happened I hear). Though I also put down an additional $5 for another copy, for anyone I know who isn’t getting fucked by this situation but fill find out too late.
EDIT: Sorry, but its already claimed. It?s going to Joe a.k.a Isfet!
Anyway, last night was movie night. Saw an episode of Monty Python (Can you believe that MK has hardly ever seen an episode?! Just Holy Grail I think.), Stage Beauty, a flick from 2006 starring Claire Danes and Billy Crudup, about the very first female actor ever, back when only men were in plays, even doing female parts, because it was the law, and the latest Chris Rock stand-up special, which was really good. His viewpoints on various topical items were dead-oon, especially the political ones, to the degree that I found myself getting rather depressed. Mostly because Rock, like many other public comedic figures, like Jon Stewart, do such an amazing job of enlightening the public, by pointing out everything that’s wrong with our government, yet most of the “fans” out there, so act just as outraged, actually never bother to go out there and vote.
Took a cab home so I could get to bed as soon as possible, since once again, I’m sick and all. And what time did I actually go to sleep? Close to 4 in the morning. And why? Because of my goddamn Mac, or course…
As you might recall, I wiped out the drive and got Panther back on in the morning, and everything was running super smooth. But when I tried checking my email late last night, I couldn’t. As described previously, what I normally do is back up the one preference file Mail has, plus a folder that actually contains the mailboxes, and reapply it in the spots they belong after I’ve reinstalled the OS (which I’ve done about 30 times already on my machine alone). Then when you start up Mail after the reinstall, everything’s there, like nothing even happened. But this time it didn’t work… none of my inbox messages, or sent mail was present. My archived messages (I get tons of email, and I save all the important stuff, so I back everything up) were also missing, but I was actually able to import those, via a manual process in the program. But since I back stuff up at the end of the month, all my February emails were gone.
So what I then had to do was REINSTALL TIGER YET AGAIN (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) so I could access my email (I had some really important messages to send and follow-up on). After that was done, I was pissed, and became determined to rid of Tiger as fast as possible, but since I didn’t have an extra external hard drive to back everything up (which I had borrowed from the work the day prior), I had to then put everything on my own FireWire drive, but since there wasn’t enough room, I had to then decided what non-essentail files to throw away. I ended up getting rid of a bunch of movies and some shows called Puppets Who Kill, none of which I had even gotten the chance to see, and even though I doubt I ever would have, it was still annoying. But the process of backing stuff on my FireWire drive, then making bigger files smaller so I could put them on my iPod, which I also had to erase, as well as the time it took to just wait for stuff to move, was taking forever, and before I knew it, I had to get up for work in about three hours, and I hadn’t even gotten the chance to start wiping out my Mac’s HD before installing Panther, so I said fuck it. All that time and energy wasted.
Earlier today, I posted my Mail transfer problem on six different forums, in hopes that someone out there might be able to shed some light as to why it was happening and if there are any possible solutions. And despite going to some of the best resources on the web for Mac related help… MacWorld, MacAddict, ResExcellence, GAF, YayHooray, and even the official Apple tech forums, I gotten barely any information, let alone just a response. I knew things were bad when the first response, which was almost an hour after first putting the problem out there on YayHooray, was “um, i can’t follow your post cuz i’m stoned, but have you…” and the question posed didn’t make a damn bit of sense. I got one other response on ResExcellence, and a few more on YH, and the consensus there seems to be: it seems that Apple just changed the way Mail works, and there’s no real going back. Fuck.
Also not helping today is the fact that I can’t access my webmail. God damn does 1&1 ever suck (hence why I need my Mac Mail so badly).
Anyway, its gonna be a really busy next few days, so I probably won’t get a chance to update till after theNew York ComicCon this weekend, where I’ll be on the floor with the new Unlucky mini on-hand, for selling and trading. Hopefully the indie comics folks there will fare well and not be totally drowned out by the big publishers, and all the anime, movie, video game, and toy folks. And hopefully, I’ll be in good enough shape to attend.
