Call of Duty: World at War Multiplayer Beta

The Xbox 360 multiplayer beta for Treyarch’s WWII shooter Call of Duty: World at War is now available for any and every Xbox Live member to download and play. The beta originally launched back in mid-October, but was restricted to only those that had access tokens. 

I played the beta for about 4 hours yesterday.  There are only 3 maps available, but all the different modes are there.   I only played the “free for all” & “team deathmatch” modes.

The multiplayer is very similar to CoD 4, in that you can unlock new weapons and features as you level up your profile.  At first I thought “create a class” was left off the beta, but soon realized that it also needs to be unlocked.

I always preferred the WWII settings and weapons of CoD 2 to the modern ones on CoD 4. This game will blend the best parts of both games.  

I was a little skepticaI about a Treyarch developed CoD, as opposed to the Infinty Ward ones, but I can’t wait to buy the full retail version on Tuesday.  I just hope that all the stuff I unlocked in the beta transfers over.

CNN Debuts Hologram Technology

During CNN’s election night coverage, the network ‘beamed’ a hologram of a person onto the set.

The technology is called the Musion Eyeliner Hologram Effect. It’s the same technology that’s also used at Universal Studio’s Disaster ride. Very cool.

Watchmen

This is the movie that I’m most anticipating over the next few months.  I loved the graphic novel and can’t wait to see it in IMAX @ the Whitaker Center.  Here’s the trailer that was shown before The Dark Knight.

Domino’s Predicts Obama

After placing my online Domino’s order last night, I was sent to their pizza tracker to track the progress of my order.  They had a few survey questions to fill out while you waited.  

One of the questions was about who you are going to vote for on Tuesday’s election.  Here’s the results broken down by state.  Obama is blue, McCain is red, and yellow is too close to call.  It’s looking good for Obama.

hulu

A few weeks ago, I had missed the series premier of “The Mentalist” and was looking online for a way to watch it. That was when I discovered hulu.

Since then, hulu has become one of my favorite and most visited websites. Hulu is an online video service that offers hit TV shows, movies and clips.

Before hulu launched this past March, watching TV shows on the internet was not easy.  You had to hunt for episodes on cluttered network TV sites, then view them in post-it-size boxes onscreen.

Hulu changed all that by bringing together a large selection of videos from more than 100 content providers all in one place.  It’s easy to search for shows from all of the major networks.  

All shows are put up within a few hours of airing on TV. Here’s last week’s episode of The Office, which was up Friday morning.

Hulu’s Web viewer also has a full-screen mode and streams high-quality video.  I can watch near HD quality video, even when it’s blown up on my 24″ iMac screen.

There are also way less commercial breaks.  There are only 4 breaks per show, 30 seconds each.

The best part is that hulu is free!!!!  Why pay for shows on inDemand, XBL, or iTunes, when you can watch them for free here?

Obama’s 30 Minute Election Special

In case you missed it.

This video conveys the values, open-mindedness, and rationality that underlie Obama’s positions on the issues.

It leaves me confident that his policies will stem the tide of unaccountability and incompetence in Washington that has resulted in an inconsistent and ineffectual administration of the federal budget.

I particularly enjoyed the part when he lays out a number of specific initiatives and describes that “None of this grows government, it grows the economy”.

This video is an inspiring, prophetic, and well detailed message to the United States of America.  It is a masterpiece.  Very very well done.

The iPod Nano Chromatic Song

For some reason I really like this song.  I can never skip through the commercial on the DVR.  Here’s the full version.

The song’s called Bruises by the Brooklyn based trio Chairlift.  Don’t lie, you know you like it too!!!

The Best Cheesesteak

Many people believe the world’s best cheesesteaks can be found in Philadelphia, PA. The first places that come to mind are either Geno’s or Pat’s. Both have been around for decades and are practically Philadelphia landmarks.

The best cheesesteaks are actually 45 minutes south of Philly in Newark. DE at the Cleveland Avenue Sub Shop.

I lived in Newark, DE from 1992 to 1999. Three of those years was as a student at The University of Delaware. The other 4 was spent living in an apartment just off campus.

During those 7 years, I probably got a cheesesteak from Cleveland Ave. about once a week. Once I moved to MD and then PA, I still tried to make it back to Newark at least 2x a year for a cheesesteak.

Last year, on our way to Philadelphia, I introduced Sayra to the Cleveland Ave cheesesteak. At first she thought I was crazy to drive 1 1/2 hours to get a cheesesteak, but after she saw it and tasted it she was instantly hooked.

This past Saturday, we made our bi-yearly visit to Newark to pick up some cheesesteaks. It was worth every second of the drive.

What makes these cheesesteaks so special are both the taste and the size.  A large cheesesteak only costs $6.75 and is so huge it literally takes two meals to eat it all.

They are packed with so much steak that you can’t take a bite without meat falling off the edges!!!  The picture below is only half of it.  The steak melts in your mouth and the cheese is high quality.

The full menu is very diverse, but I have to admit that I’ve never tried anything else there.  That’s like going to The Corner Stable and not ordering baby back ribs.

A few years ago the owners of the Cleveland Ave Sub Shop sold the store and I feared that the size and quality would both suffer.

It’s safe to say that the new owners (the same owners as the Concord Pike Steak Shop) have maintained the same great quality and portions.

The only change that I’ve noticed, besides the much needed remodeling, is that the recorded message that you hear with the specials is gone.  Someone just answers the phone directly.  Not a big deal, but it was part of their charm.

Please leave a comment if you also love the Cleveland Ave cheesesteaks or if you know of one that’s even better.

$2.65 a gallon

The price of gas has dropped to $2.65 a gallon @ BJ’s today.

In search of the McRib.

Back in the 80’s & early 90’s,  McDonald’s sold a pork sandwich called the McRib.  It was a boneless pork patty with barbecue sauce, onions and pickles served on a roll.

This was my favorite item on McDonald’s menu.  I would get one like 2 or 3 times a week.  The best part was to soak up the extra barbecue sauce on the box with your fries.

I remember that the McRib would come and go off the the menu frequently. It was brought back once as a promotional tie in for the Flintstones movie.

I also remember a few years ago when it was on the value menu as McRib Jr. and was served on a regular hamburger bun.  It’s probably been 7-8 years since I’ve had a McRib.

That brings me to last week when I was listening to the Giant Bomb Bombcast. They were broadcasting from the Tokyo Game Show and started talking about some of the cool things they had seen while in Japan.  Jeff had mentioned the Double McRib!!!

WoW!! Could that be true? I went to McDonald’s Japan website and found this…

How awesome is that!!!  Although, it seems to be a little different.  The sauce is on the bottom bun, not coating the patty.  Also, the sandwich seems to be served with lettuce.

I started to do a little more research for this post and discovered that there are McDonald’s in the U.S. that still serve the McRib.  I discovered a McRib locator online and went to work trying to find the closest one to York, PA.

According to the locator, McRib was spotted in Bel Air, MD about a week ago.

I texted Schoppert, who lives in Bel Air, to see if he knows anything about it.  He hadn’t heard anything, so I called one of the stores in Bel Air to see if the rumor was true.

They claim that they hadn’t sold it in years.  I then called corporate McDonald’s headquarters in Des Plaines, Ill.  I talked to Debbie and she told me that some of the franchises are allowed to sell menu items that aren’t on the permanent menu.

She could neither confirm nor deny that the McRib was being sold in Bel Air.  I am going to have to call all 10 stores in that area to see which one is selling it.  I’ll be sure to update the post with pics once I get my sandwich!!!  If you have any info on where to find the McRib, be sure to leave a comment.