Two work nights down, two to go... Yay!

    On the trip North Wednesday morning, I smoked my usual two stogies. One was the reliable 'Bottom Shelf' figurado. The other was a Baccarat 'King', an 8x52 cigar that looked almost comically huge, like the one smoked by Cameron Mitchell's Karl Rojeck character in My Favorite Year. Look:

    Despite the size, it was a sweet, mild smoke. The cigar had a nice creamy wrapper, and the draw was absolutely perfect. I was very impressed. I'm hoping to smoke this brand again, as I like a mild smoke now and again.

    The featured Modern Warfare 2 vid today is an 11-0 Flawless Search and Destroy by ThrillingDrew. The second vid is a CoD4 Free-for-All match by jakeyyHD. 
    Included in today's embedded videos is a new Halo: Reach trailer (is it live action? ingame footage? both?) titled 'Deliver Hope'. The trailer is action-packed, cunningly edited and scored, and it does what I think Halo hype does best: Evoke emotion. Maybe it's because I'm a sentimental old soldier, but the Halo ads which catch my attention most are those which feature self-sacrifice. It's tough for me not to want to play a game which just might have moments like that in it. Sadly, the Halo hype is far better than the Halo game. It's probably a good thing that the producers of these Halo shorts aren't working for the Ministry of Propaganda, or we'd all be goose-stepping in short order. And me first in line. Moving on...

• Call of Duty: Black Ops set to repeat controversy of Modern Warfare 2? I frackin' hope not.
• Hands cramping on Call of Duty: Black Ops DS.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops Xbox 360, PS3 in top 5 sales.

• Jeff Gerstmann's 'This is a poor excuse for a Halo: Reach preview'.
• Microsoft calls on Halo fans to contribute to the 'Monument of Light' to honor Reach heroes. 
• And, ladies and genetically enhanced gentlemen, this is the Monument of Light.

• Bioshock 2 'Minvera's Den' DLC hits 31 August. And it's only $10 US.
• Doom 4 dev: '3D needs more time'. In other news, Captain Obvious is a Doom 4 dev.
• Android users: Try out Gameloft HD games.
• Xbox Live update to 'improve' Voice. Unless it has something to auto-mute the bat-screeching Timmies, so what.
• Sony reportedly mulling 'Online Pass' equivalent. 
• Brad Pitt to star in Red Dead Redemption movie?

• Stress test your PC hardware to avoid problems and keep your equipment stable. 
• Observatory Snaps the Most Detailed Pic of a Sunspot Ever. 
• New microbe discovered eating oil spill in Gulf.
  
• Stress test your PC hardware to avoid problems and keep your equipment stable.
• Six social implications of Facebook Places.
  
• Facebook study says narcissistic users spend most time on Facebook. That, or they're unemployed.
• Is Facebook worth $33 billion? Nope.
  
• Battle of the Physicist Fanbois: Star Wars gets it more accurate than Star Trek on the 'Praxis Effect'.
• Blastr's Eleven Best Commercials featuring Darth Vader. 
• Wookie the Pooh. Teh Awesome.
• The Ultimate Silent ‘Star Wars’. [YouTube version embedded below.] George Lucas has often said that a good Star Wars movie is like a silent movie. Since his dialog is often crap, he may be right. This converted-to-silent clip of the climax of The Empire Strikes Back (arguably one of the two great Star Wars movies, possibly the greatest, and not coincidentally directed by someone other than George Lucas) proves him right.