Will work for debt reduction

It's come to my attention that out of my incoming graduate class, I'm probably on the high end of debt incurred, thanks to 
a) out-of-state tuition
b) little funding from UCSD

I'm going to start working ASAP to remedy this situation, or else I'll be repaying loans until I'm 36. Expect Blake to be very very busy sometime soon.

Still, that won't be all that bad. I signed up for this gig partially to be busy. Life as a writer in Texas was too slow to be sustainable. And now that I'm here, I've eased into having less of a life. Upon my arrival, going out three nights a week was the norm. Now, some four months later, I got back from hitching a ride across town for the sake of a free Chipotle burrito. I really don't feel that bad about the decline in activity, which makes it OK for me to marginally become a little bit more of a loser by working anywhere between 5-20 hours a week.

These days, I get my gaming once a week via CO-OP. It's the only game-related show I watch religiously, and that's saying a lot. It's six guys getting really deep about the games they review, and they're consistent about it. They'll cover everything, from AAA releases during release week to indie games and iPhone stuff. And there's some little sketches and banter, too, which keeps you from being overwhelmed with Gaming Information and lets you 'get to know the guys' in the same sense that Top Gear fans know about the hosts of that show. Give it a whirl; it's better than the rest of Youtube's Top-Gear-Wannabe gaming flotsam, and a thousand times more interesting than hearing pro bloggers mouth-breathe into a Skype call for an hour. (Unless you're Robert Ashley - if you're him, you can talk in your awesome stoner voice all day.)

Music post: Get the new Basement Jaxx

After a grueling 3-year wait, the new Basement Jaxx album is out. It's not as amazing as the 2006 one, but it's still solid stuff - and undeniably the sound that these guys are known for. 

It's called Scars - and be sure to let me know if you come across the extra track from the Japanese release. I love these guys, but 1500 yen for one track is a push.

A new TV addiction

At long last, a new TV season is starting with actual interesting stuff. As far as mainstream TV goes, I'm elated with the return of Burn Notice and the impending triumphant returns of Entourage and Top Gear. I hope Californication finds its way in there too.

But I've also found something a little less seasonal: Current. It's a new-ish network on cable and satellite, and it had its own circulation in the news recently when it turned out that the two reporters abducted by North Korea back in the spring worked for the channel.

Also, Al Gore founded it.

And as Al Gore's baby, it's a pretty big hit. It's intelligent, tech-savvy, and of course very green, all while being entertaining. They've established a delicate balance of informative, eye-opening, and funny, and most of the programming is geared to fit in time slots much smaller than 30 minutes: they know their audience.

Quite possibly the best show is InfoMania, a 30-minute sardonic look at the week's news as reflected by the ADD-o-sphere, a word I just made up to aggregate the blogosophere, Twitter, and cable news channels.

Most of the shows are free downloads in any format (iTunes podcasts go along with traveling very well, I've discovered), so give them a shot. If you're even a quarter of the giant techie nerd dork I am, you'll be entertained, and possibly even enlightened.

I am officially with the times

I have finally caught up with the outside world and seen / played the following things:

The Dark Knight - Why didn't you people tell me it's not actually a superhero movie? As soon as everyone said "It's wayyyy better than Iron Man" I immediately shut off my attention, because I've never cared about superhero movies. But my haircut guy more accurately described it as "an epic crime drama with a funny costume every now and again." And he's right. It was awesome in the same way that Heat was awesome.

Wall-E - AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW :D

Chrono Trigger - A lot of hardcore gamers who lived through the 90s call it The Greatest Game of All Time, and I finally understand why. I originally borrowed the game from a friend in the mid-90s, but it became apparent that I was too young to get what was really going on. Now that I'm a grown-up, the Nintendo DS re-release was the perfect chance to give it a shot.

For the uninitiated: it's a time-traveling RPG from the guys who make Final Fantasy. It's fantastic, it's epic, and you won't be able to put it down.