I made another discovery yesterday. Once you take the time to work out the mechanics of Guitar Hero on the harder difficulties, it becomes the greatest game ever made. The learning curve is made easier (although not much) if you've got some guitar experience and know the meaning of terms like "hammer on" and "pull off". I was with the masses after i first started playing GH2, agreeing that the difficulty had increased sharply since the original and made it a challenge to complete songs even on the medium setting. However last night i sat down and worked my way through the first four song groups on hard, and by the end was strutting around the living room doing my assorted rock star poses. My high point came after belting out the kickass "Monkey Wrench", rocking my way through the epic "War Pigs" while showing off some Eddie Van Halen-esque fretwork.

generals gathered in their masses
just like witches at black masses

(devil signs in effect)

I missed an anniversary the other day ... December 5, 2006 makes it a full year that i have been accumulating listening statistics. Happy birthday to fac13 stats.

And the final tallies for the year, culled from 653 hours, 45 minutes, and 58 seconds of musical enjoyment, spread over 10,370 tracks:

Top artists 1. Jim Gaffigan 9:45:20 2. Yo La Tengo 7:30:23 3. Revolver 6:21:57	Top albums 1. Tom Vek, We Have Sound 4:50:31 2. Editors, The Back Room 4:42:12 3. Revolver, Cold Water Flat 4:41:45
Top songs 1. Abandoned Pools, "Armed To The Teeth" 27 plays 2. Revolver, "Red All Over" 17 plays 3. Revolver, "Shakedown" 14 plays	Top genres 1. Indie Rock 210:10:52 2. Modern Rock 100:44:36 3. Indie Pop 73:12:49