Thought I'd test out GameSpot's new image-hosting option. First of all, I think it's about time GameFly invested in some more copies of certain games, don't you?

Check that out! Even older games like GUN, and lousy games like TMNT, are listed at a short wait. I just got Max Payne 2 from them, which was the 7th game on my queue! Crazy!

Anyway, most weekend mornings (and, by mornings, I mean, of course, 1 or 2 in the afternoon), I walk down to the nearby 4th St. shopping district. 4th St. is a pretty high-end strip of shops, with swanky shoe stores and fashion boutiques and the like. Generally the area around the Berkeley campus would be more my speed, with Amoeba and Rasputin, two awesome record stores, along with all the secondhand clothing shops and the students and the jewelry vendors and the dudes with their tables full of ultra-left-wing bumper stickers and all that nonsense, but 4th St. wins out for two important reasons. First of all, I can walk there. And secondly, there are always lots of dogs. 

Incidentally, the only music shop on 4th St. is a Hear Music. Hear Music is owned by Starbucks, which I think is kind of strange. Hear Music sort of presents themselves as having an indie vibe but I went in there today to pick up the new Ted Leo album, and they only had one copy. Ted Leo doesn't even have his own little divider there. The disc was in their miscellaneous L section! That just ain't right! (The new Ted Leo is a pretty solid collection of songs, by the way.)

But despite its shortcomings, 4th St. does have its charms. In addition to the abundance of adorable canines, there's also a Cody's Books, the only one in Berkeley now that the original location near the campus has closed down.  And it has a place where I can get a great cup of coffee. Right across the street from there is Bette's Oceanview Diner, where they sell great pizza by the slice for $2.50.  And on 4th St., Pablo serenely watches over it all.

The area under the bridge on 4th St. has been done up lately with images of Native Americans and poetic phrases above, but homeless people still camp there, and a block away there's a place where men hang out on street corners in the mornings, hoping to be picked up and paid for a day of tough manual labor, all within range of people spending $200 on a pair of shoes or a hot new dress.

On my way home, I'll usually swing by the Grocery Outlet and grab a few things. It's a bargain supermarket, but not everything is as cheap as you might think.

Still, if you're looking for your very own Golden Tee arcade machine (and who isn't?) Grocery Outlet is the place to go!

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SPOILER ALERT: In this video I discuss, in some detail, the plot of the 2400-year-old play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. I also talk about free will and fate in the story and gameplay of God of War II, what we need to see in God of War III, the awesomeness of Symphony of the Night, and, of course, why I think Terminator 3 is pretty lousy. Also, if you are easily offended by jokes directed at novelist Tom Clancy, that content warning is for you!