Modern Warfare 2

So, Modern Warfare 2 was released yesterday. I played it non-stop last night, and finally completed the single player game. It was pretty interesting.

For starters, this game series is ridiculously popular. It appears to have sold at least 4 million copies in the first 24 hours, which is insane.

The game is basically like a Michael Bay movie. You play as four different characters who are each interconnected to the same events. To summarize, Russia has invaded the United States, and CRAZY stuff is going down.

The game also has a controversial scene, where you literally play as an undercover CIA agent working in a terror cell in Eastern Europe. Fox News and some other media outlets are trying to spin it as a shocking thing, but I don't really see it. For starters, the game is rated "R." Stores aren't allowed to sell the game to anyone under 17. That being said, you have to treat a game like this on the same standard you would use to critique a rated "R" film. Against that standard, intense violence and psychologically or emotionally troubling content are permissible.

It seems like with this kind of story, media outlets usually do the laziest story imaginable; ie: think of the children! This is a weak argument. Games are just like movies, they have industry-imposed ratings. The FCC reported a study last year and found that among films, music, and games, the three entertainment media which carry industry self-regulatory content standards, video games had the highest percentage of retail compliance in only selling games to those who met the required age. Additionally, the average age of an XBOX 360 or PS3 owner is roughly 25 years, so the notion that this game's target audience is children is again just not true. Thats' like arguing that HBO should censor its content because kids also watch TV, and they might have access to the shows their parent's watch.

As for the substantive argument against allowing the player to take the role of a terrorist and shoot civilians in an airport, in my opinion the key distinction is that you don't "have" to shoot anybody. You can simply stand back and watch in horror as your terrorist comrades kill the civilians. The scenario has a major flaw, however. You can't shoot your terrorist comrades, or the mission ends. The game forces you to play through the entire airport massacre, at which point the terrorist leader reveals that he knows you are actually a CIA Agent, and he thens shoots you. The problem I have with Infinity Ward is that they don't allow you as the player to attempt to stop the massacre. I think it would have made a much more interesting point had they given you the option, and written a separate story progression. Instead, your only choice is to mow down civilians in the airport, or just walk behind your fellow terrorists, and do nothing.

Aside from that, the only complaint I have with the game is that the story was too fractured and chaotic, they don't transition between scenes well enough to give you a coherent idea as to how all the characters will eventually intertwine.

One surprising moment in the game is when Russia fires an ICBM at the United States, which detonates in the upper atmosphere causing a massive electromagnetic pulse (I think) to wipe out all electrical activity on the Eastern Seaboard. You witness this through the eyes of an astronaut as he repairs a satellite. You look up just in time to see an ICBM on the horizon, coming slowly towards the United States. When it explodes, the shockwave destroys the satellite and sends your mangled remains hurtling into space. It was rad.

If you buy this game, you should add me on XBOX Live. I will totally shoot you in the face in multiplayer.

XBL name: lawblob

It is Finished

Today I notarized and shipped my final certification packet of paperwork. Now all I have to do is cough up another $300 for some other fee and show up to my formal interview in January, and I will then be certified as an actual New York attorney. I think they also mail me a card or badge or something, stating that I am an attorney. I plan on putting it into an old-school flip wallet, like a 1950s cop with a cigarette barely dangling out of his mouth who nonchalantly flips his Detective badge in the face of a suspect. I tried to find a good photo of a noir-style 1940s detective to display with this post, but when I typed "noir cop" into Google, one of the first images I saw was a poster for Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and I lost a little more faith in humanity.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I just heard somebody slip on a grape inside a grocery store.

Update: We have a Manhattan Apartment!!

I just spoke with our broker and learned that some vultures were also interested in our favorite apartment, so we took it! We are moving into the one bedroom walkup apartment in the post below. It has the black fireplace and nice kitchen.

We are moving to 38th Street. Click the link to see the building in Google Maps. It is the sandstone colored building directly next to the red brick building labeled 27E. On the Google Maps page, it is about 50 yards behind the big UPS truck in the picture.

The apartment is shown in the pictures below. Our block is nestled between Madison Avenue & Park Avenue.

We will probably move in Friday, November 20th.

One of these is our Manhattan Apartment

I was in Manhattan yesterday looking at apartments. We have it narrowed down to two places. Both have their advantages.

The first is a studio highrise on Park Avenue. There is a full gym and big laundry room in the building, and the building itself is very ritzy. Unfortunately, it is fairly pricey for the small size of the actual living space. Here it is:





The second place we are looking at is a walkup one bedroom apartment on 38th street. There is a small laundry room in the basement, but no gym. It is also very close to the Park Avenue apartment. Both of them are close to Grand Central Station. This apartment has a small bedroom, a fireplace in the living room, and a nice kitchen. The building is small, and feels very comfortable and classy. It is on a quiet street with some incredibly nice townhouses.






If we really wanted to go wild, we could rent this next apartment. It is also in the same 38th street building as the one bedroom apartment described above. This, however, has a full bedroom and a loft, and is on the 4th floor. Like the others, it has a reduced price, which makes it almost within our price range. If we had a kid, this would be our choice. But since its just Melissa and I, this apartment is honestly too big for us.

I am debating just going ahead and renting this place, then subsidizing the cost by convincing my parents to sub-lease one of the bedrooms as their 'Manhattan timeshare.' At first I laughed as I thought about this, but the more I think about it, that doesn't sound too crazy...

I PASSED THE NY BAR EXAM

This morning I received an email telling me whether I passed or failed the NY Bar Exam. Not only did I pass, I scored much higher on the multi-state exam than I thought I would. I just transitioned from horrific anxiety to incredible elation.

Here is some demographic info from this year's exam.

Mad Men suit

Brooks Brothers has a line of suits inspired by the show Mad Men on AMC. If I am going to move to Manhattan in a few weeks, im' pretty sure I need one of these.

FINAL LEVEL TWITTER GANG

I only follow one celebrity on Twitter. Ice-T. You heard me right.

For starters, he calls his Twitter followers the "Final Level Twitter Gang," or abbreviated as FLTG. He posts a daily quiz with a picture, asking you to identify some random rapper or celebrity he is standing with at a party. He also posts non-stop about movies and video games, and occasionally some vaguely motivational statement, like how as the leader of the FLTG he is making us, his followers, into "strong soldiers." If that's not awesome, what is?

We are moving to Manhattan

In three weeks, Melissa and I are moving to Manhattan. Melissa has accepted a position at a hedge fund in Greenwhich, Connecticut. I will work in Morristown, New Jersey.

This has all happened so suddenly. Melissa was applying for new jobs in the NYC area on Craigslist, and low-and-behold, a hedge fund in Greenwhich had posted a listing that was perfect for Melissa. We drove to the city last week so Melissa could interview with the firm, and today they made Melissa a formal offer.

The locations of our respective offices dictate that Manhattan is the easiest place for us to live. Fortunately for us, the economy has driven down rent prices, so we will be able to afford more apartment than had we moved there any time in the last seven years.

Over the next three weeks we hope to finalize our search for an apartment near Grand Central Station, and move-in by Thanksgiving.

I can't believe this is happening.