More free stuff: Games 'n' movies

To the Milwaukee folk: FREE DVDs and games that will otherwise suffocate in a box at my parents' house. If you're interested, e-mail me.

Movies

• Stargate (Ultimate Edition)
• Stripes (Extended Cut)
• Madlax Vol. 1
• Transformers (original animated version)
• Office Space
• Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic
• FInal Fantasy VII: Advent Children (bootleg)
• Walk the Line
• 2046
• Cowboy Bepop Remix
• King Kong (Peter Jackson version)
• Bad Santa
• Chelsea Walls
• Animatrix
• The Abyss (Special Edition)
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder version)
• Family Guy: Stwie Griffin: The Untold Story
• Greatest American Hero

Games

• Resident Evil Zero (GameCube)
• Splinter Cell (PS2)
• Super Mario Sunshine (GC)
• Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga (PS2)
• Rogue Squadron III (GC)
• Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (PS2)
• Dragon's Lair 3D (GC)
• Halo 2 (Xbox)
• Gran Turismo 4 (PS2)
• Grandia II (PS2)
• Radiata Stories (PS2)

Also available (but not free): a miniature pool table, about the size of a dinner table. If you're interested, hit me up.

Off topic: Free music!

In these troubled economic times, free music is a godsend (assuming you obtain music legally). And I've come across two pretty darn good albums that sound great to these ears. Listen and love!

The Damnwells: "One Last Century"

I saw The Damnwells sometime in 2002, when they opened for Rhett Miller (of Old 97's) at the Abbey in Chicago. It was one of those rare shows when the opener actually outshined the headliner. Like most of the music I listen to, it's power pop with a healthy dose of grit. The band released its latest album last month for free, and you can get it here.

"Century" sounds Goo-ey, but in a good way, but the overall sound borrows more from "Gold"-era Ryan Adams, but without sounding derivative. It's optimized for road-trip listening, so I'll put it to the test when I drive down to Florida.

"Bastard of Midnight"

 Gemma Hayes: "The Roads Don't Love You"

Gemma Hayes shares the same record label with Tommy Keene (who is one of my favorite power-pop artists), and that's how I stumbled upon her. "Hollow of Morning," her latest disc, is a nice listen, but I wanted to get my hand on "The Roads Don't Love You," which is only available in the U.K. After a few nifty Google searches, not only did I find the album, I found it for free right here.

If My Bloody Valentine and Beth Orton had a bastard child, "Roads" would be their offspring. It's polished and slightly overproduced, but a handful of tunes will get stuck in your head for weeks.

"Nothing Can"

Lisa Loeb and I are meant for each other.

R.I.P. Geek@Heart

A few weeks ago, I noticed that MKEonline has been completely erased from the Internet. Before, you could access MKE's content via Google search. Now even that route has been blocked. The Wayback Machine can't break in, either.

Even though I saved some of my better Geek@Heart posts as PDFs, I also created convenient TinyURLs for them, too, and I would include them in my resume when it was appropriate. (In fact, I like to think the blog's endearing charm helped me land my new job, which starts in a few weeks.)

And God bless that blog. After all, it got me into E3 in 2006, allowed me to write about being an extra in "The Dark Knight," and got my fellow MKE staffers to drink poop coffee.

So like the ending of Star Trek II, where there is death, there is also life. Geek@Heart is dead. Spread the Nerd is born!

He has been, and always shall be, your friend.

Note: The blog is still under construction. Please watch your step.