<\/p>\n
![\""DO](\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mission_impossible_2.jpg\")
<\/a>“DO YAH BURY ME WHEEEN I’M GO-WAWN???
DO YUH TEACH MEEE WHILE I’M HEE-UHHH??
JUST AS SOON AS IIIII BELOONNGGG,
‘EN IT’S TIIIME I DISAPPEAAAARR!!”<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
Tom and his family ended up moving out of his house and into an apartment that fall, so jamming together loudly and to our satisfaction was no longer in the cards.\u00a0 The idea of recording ourselves somehow \u2013 like we had planned to do while he still lived nearby \u2013 also went out the window.<\/p>\n
By the next year, my skills had improved a fair amount.\u00a0 My friends Justin and Max played guitar and drums (respectively), and we would practice almost every lunch hour in one of the school\u2019s music rooms.\u00a0 One of the teachers approached us and said a few students complained about the noise and asked us to turn our amps down, which we were less than thrilled about.<\/p>\n
This prompted us to name our band \u201cQuityerbitchin\u2019\u201d after a sticker on Justin\u2019s guitar case\u2026\u00a0 when it came time to perform at our high school\u2019s Battle of the Bands in May of \u201901 \u2013 the ESApalooza \u2013 that name seemed a bit harsh, and we were asked to change it.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo Complaints\u201d was the next name that came to mind, so we went with that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>I’m the one in blue behind Tom (the guy in the red hat), who I felt compelled to bring in as a second guitarist for that night.
Good times.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
In the fall of 2001, Justin and I got together just for a quick jam session at his house.\u00a0 It was a rainy and depressing Sunday afternoon, and I had nothing better to do.\u00a0 It was also raining at the site of that weekend\u2019s NASCAR race in Martinsville (Virginia), and it didn\u2019t look like they\u2019d be racing that day.\u00a0 With no race on TV, I might as well go jam!<\/p>\n
He and I had a list of songs we\u2019d jammed with Max, but we also had a bunch of tunes Max didn\u2019t like\u2026\u00a0 we would jump at the opportunity to play those whenever we could, and on this day, Justin had another idea to make things even more fun;<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a mic hooked up to my PC \u2013 let\u2019s bring our amps up to my computer room, record it, and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
New songs we both knew but had never played together, songs we had already covered with Max, songs he had never heard, songs I had never heard, songs we taught each other on the spot\u2026 we recorded something like 25 tracks, and it was a blast.\u00a0 I even sang on some of them \u2013 not well, mind you, but it was all in good fun.<\/p>\n
It was quite warm in the room, so we took a break at one point and opened the window.\u00a0 Instead of playing loud and annoying the neighbors, we stopped and played some PC games.<\/p>\n
The first game he showed me was a one I had heard about, but never had any interest in seeing in action.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>2001 – PlayStation 2, PC<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
I just looked up footage of this game, and I remember even less about it than I originally thought.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a third-person action game that combines hand-to-hand combat and gunplay.\u00a0 It was developed by pre-Halo<\/em> Bungie and pre-GTA3<\/em> Rockstar Games.\u00a0 That\u2019s pretty much the only noteworthy thing I know about Oni<\/em>.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t long before Justin switched over to a game I was much more interested in seeing in action\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2001 – PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n At its core, Max Payne<\/em> is a dark and gritty third-person shooter that feels like a playable graphic novel.\u00a0 Comic book pages replace cutscenes as a method of storytelling, and there are great voiceovers and sound effects to keep them interesting.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty unique, and it adds a bit of intensity to the whole thing.<\/p>\n One other feature in particular helped add to the game\u2019s appeal; the ability to trigger slow-motion at the touch of a button.<\/p>\n Having been popularized in The Matrix<\/em> a couple years beforehand, it was just a matter of time before games hopped on the \u201cbullet-time\u201d bandwagon.\u00a0 It\u2019s not infinite, but everything goes into slow-mo whenever you need it to; it helps you dodge bullets, allows you dive through the air, and helps you take out hordes of enemies in one fell swoop.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Neo would be proud.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Justin was in some sort of boiler room area and was busy dealing with enemies up above.\u00a0 As a nice cinematic touch, the camera shifted to follow the last bullet he fired as it went from the barrel of his gun to its intended target\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>