These Are My Friends Now is Train to Miami by Steel Pole Bathtub

I've gotten a whole lot more traffic since I've started posting about L4D, including this post, which got about 320 times more hits (320) than I expected (1) last week.

I'm pretty sure those googling for "These are My Friends Now" want to know what song it is and where to get it, though, so here's some help:

"These are my friends now" featured in the L4D TV trailer #2 is Train to Miami by Steel Pole Bathtub.

Feeding dollars to dogs

I spent some time tonight trying to feed a dollar to my wife's dogs.  The first dog turned up her nose at it, but Missy was more suggestable.  I totally missed the best shot - the camera was between frames when she really started chewing it up.

Current Music: Flobots, No Handlbars

I guess this is part two in my thousand-part series where post what music I'm listening to now.

Today it's Flobots - No Handlebars. With a great rotoscoped/animated video, good music, and inspired lyrics, this one is an obvious hit. Mix that with my recent TF2/L4D obsessions, and some clever rewriting of the lyrics at ubercharged, and I'm hooked.

Here are the gamers lyrics:

I can play my game with no voice commands

No voice commands, no voice commands

I can play my game with no voice commands

No voice commands, no voice commands

Look at me, look at me

Pushin’ the cart like it’s good to be

On BLU, and I’m a Payload champion

Even when I’m outnumbered 10 to me

I can show you how to pop an uber

I can show you how to eat a Sandvich

I can dominate an entire team

Even when I’m playin’ on my crappy bandwidth

I can stab and run without gettin’ shot

I can outmaneuver any Sniper dot

I know all the routes to the final point

And I can flank any defence you’ve got

Me and my friends, we never lose

Me and my friends got “Cook the Books”

And guess how long it took

I can dominate who I want, ’cause look

I can kill heavies with a bit of lead

A bit of lead, a bit of lead

And I can see you’re playin’ some Left 4 Dead

Some Left 4 Dead, some Left 4 Dead

Look at me, look at me

Just typed to say that it’s good to be

Alive, with hordes of zombies

Tryin’ to stop my victory

I can dodge Hunters without getting leapt on

I can stop a rush, don’t matter how large

I can jump on that wall fan

And I contribute to Boomercharged

I can take out 3 Tanks at once

I can make up for the team dunce

I know how to hold my own on Expert

And I can make a zombie player ragequit

Boomers, Hunters, Tanks and Witches

Me and my crew can wipe out those b*tches

I can outwit the AI Director

I’m one guy you can’t infest, ’cause

I can lead my teammates with a microphone

A microphone, a microphone

And I can win a match with a Molotov

A Molotov, a Molotov

Look at me, look at me

Making zombies go POP!

And it feels so good to be alive and on top

My gun is loaded, my saferoom secure

My win is noted, my victory sure

I can own zombies across the nation

Kill ‘em with bullets or immolation

Turn ‘em into a mass cremation

Whatever guarantees my team’s salvation

I can make boss zombies lose their patience

Send them to exasperation

My team fulfil my machination

To achieve complete pacification, ’cause

I can guide players like a flock of sheep

A flock of sheep, a flock of sheep

And I can leave one dying without a care

Without a care, without a care

And I can board the copter and leave them behind

And leave them behind, and leave them behind

And leave them behind, and leave them behind

And leave them behind!

I can play my game with no voice commands

No voice commands, no voice commands

I can play my game with no voice commands

No voice commands, no voice commands…

L4D Achievments

So they give out a few achievements for the most basic game maneuvers in l4d, which is cool, and then they have super-advanced ones, too.

I'm *all over* brain salad:

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197993331175/stats/L4D

"BRAIN SALAD: Make 100 headshot kills."

They should list a quanitity on each achievment, because I think I could get 100 brain salads.

There are 2 reasons:
1. I'm scared of running out of ammo. Headshots save bullets
2. I love the M16, pistols. They are both very accurate at long range, especially plus kneeling

I wonder what "catch a rare strain of infection, then pass it to someone else" means. Can survivors get zombified later?

I'm getting used to the idea that anticipation of upcoming threats is pivotal in weapons selection. If you're facing the Horde and you can back into a single room (your back is safe), shotguns are the way to go. It gives scattered shot with stopping power at close range. Perfect.

For open spaces with sniping ability, the M16 is awesome. When you slow, stop, or kneel, the accuracy gets real tight for sniping, plus it's automatic and has a little more stopping power than the Uzi.

...but I see no use for sniper rifles in anything but single player, and single player is boring.  The weapon may as well not exist.

L4D: These are my friends now

I really like the 2nd TV spot for L4D featuring the song with chorus "these are my friends now." It captures what's key about the game: the survivors don't mingle because they're in the same military or part of an assocation, or because they signed up for some common cause, or any typical reason to unite. In the zombie apocalypse, any un-infected human with a gun is your best friend. I bet Louis detests Francis in a dozen ways, but neither of us are zombies, so hey, these are my friends now.

I have found that, just like in TF2, where people start to associate themselves with their player class (see FYI, I am a spy - though I am actually Engie). In l4d, I've found that I'm Louis. I don't know why, but now it's stuck, and I don't like connecting to servers where Louis is already taken. I rely on voice chat, but when user 1337dood is playing as Francis, I'm never sure if I should speak "dude" or "Francis" when addressing him. I think I've been switching off. When the username is "=P" or "416328", though, it's pretty clear which name to use.

I've gotten used to playing on expert mode, even though it's impressively difficult. Expert mode makes all the other modes feel like target practice. When I revisited an advanced server the other day, Bill decided to just shove zombies around instead of shooting them. After a half-dozen shoves, he yelled "melee only!" and we pushed some zombies around a bit, laughing at them.

In expert mode, though, there are no games, no jokes.  We only fight and die.

Update: See this post if you just want to know who wrote the song and get a youtube link.

Chicken Police

These chicken police are hilarious. Is this typical chicken activity? Will they regulate my dogs or cats when they fight with each other, too?

What I'm Playing Now: Left4Dead

Left4Dead was released by Valve for $50 this week, or $100 in the better whole-valve-catalog deal. Unable to raise that much cash for a mere video game when I've got kids to feed, but needing to play it, I reviewed my options: hawk my electric guitar, make an early withdrawal from my 401k, or ask my wife to prostitute herself in Danville's seedy red-light district.

Luckily, a friend gifted me the game, which may have saved my marriage.

Before L4D was released, I joked that it was going to be just a stupid FPS with zombies. Not so. This game forces teamwork on people in ways that even Team Fortress couldn't manage. Working in this foursome against the clever AI director is really a blast. You can't afford to have a jerk on your team, but it's even worse for him; get caught alone in this game and you're dead, period. You simply cannot fight the hunters & smokers without teammates, so you have to coordinate, and that's what makes this 20 times better than any FPS on the market since quake.

What I'm Reading Now: Nothing, dammit

So I've been without an audiobook ever since I finished Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, which I really liked and my wife really meh'd*.

This was the last audiobook I had burned, and I haven't made it to the library for another. This is driving my crazy on my commutes. I'm spending 1.5+ hours on the road daily with nothing but the radio, and the radio is failing me.

My sports radio station (KNBR680) is full of commercials and often letting idiots call in with terrible stories. I like NPR a lot, but they frequently decide to do long stories on obscure, uninteresting topics. ...or they'll review some weird musician that blends african drums with banshee screams and computer-generated white noise - and they will love it, which has to be a blatant lie. I'm still waiting for them to review a plain old rock band or pop artist and say it's fun to listen to.

I need some audiobooks.

*Yes, you can meh nouns. See wiktionary. She meh'd this book as she called each outcome predictable, which spoiled all the tension & mystery, but then admitted she may have read it a previous time in her youth.