It’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. We now know all the participants in the championship series for both countries. In the states we have the Philadelphia Phillies squaring off against the New York Yankees starting tonight. Both of these teams are pretty solid, so it should be a competitive and close series. If it goes to Game 7, I’ll be ecstatic. There hasn’t been a Game 7 World Series since 2002 and we’re in dire need of some drama. ...

When you’re on a 2.5 week trip, it hardly seems like it’s ever going to end, but it was my last day in Tokyo and it felt pretty surreal. It would be my last chance to tie up all my loose ends, so I headed out to get my final souvenirs and replace that stupid sake cup that I broke. The plan was to go over to the Square Enix store to grab a CD for Min, the Tokyo Seibu Loft to try and replace the sake cup, somewhere to find another bag because my suitcase was now too full to travel, the Tokyo Dome to get Fighters jerseys for Eric, and maybe a CD shop to look for a live Persona music DVD/CD. ...

Deep from the trenches, it’s time for your Monday video feature: Embedded Reporter. We’re back to everyone’s favorite day of the week: Monday. This week I’ve got a few selections for you to watch and enjoy. First on the agenda is the latest in my favorite ad campaign in a long time, the Sony VP of [Insert VP Title Here] ads. I really hope this ad campaign sticks around for a while, it’s the first time that I think Sony’s really “got” it. Too often their ad campaigns are unnecessarily arty, bizarre, and alienating. I’m sure the idea behind those campaigns was to get people thinking about the product to look it up themselves, but it’s really more effective to have a solid, funny, VP of Epic Footage to help sell the system. ...

Insert another credit, because it’s time for your weekly video game news and you’ve just hit the Game Overview screen. We’ve gone and hit the mother lode, folks. A Left 4 Dead 2 trailer was “leaked” (I don’t believe in PR leaks of things this awesome…) and is making its way around the nets. Just watch it below. It is drop dead sexy. Video Games | Left 4 Dead 2 | Leaked Zombie Survival Guide Trailer ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“How awesome would it be to see this guy outside your window during a flight?”] [/caption] After a fun few days in Sapporo, it was finally time to head back to Tokyo. We were officially on the home stretch of the trip with only three teams left to see. I was starting to see the end of the trip in my sights and, I’ve got to admit, it was depressing to think that all the fun would be done so soon, but I was also ready to get back home to my own apartment. ...

It’s time for Wednesday Morning Quarterback, your weekly sports round-up. Things aren’t looking good for the Dodgers. Their supposed strong point, their bullpen, is being totally trashed by the brutal Phillies offense. In fact, their starting pitching, Kuroda excluded, has been their most dominant factor and the only thing that’s been keeping them afloat most of these games. Still, you can only blow so many leads before I stop believing that your team can actually put wins on the board. In fact, the Dodgers are nice and down three games to one with little hope of winning tonight to actually make this a series. Padilla will be pitching against Cole Hamels and, since Vicente is responsible for the only Dodgers win, this is really their last chance. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“375” caption=“This guy is rocking a sick happi. I wish I had one too.”] [/caption] Three days in Sapporo. One to fly in, one to catch a game, and one to fly out. We really only needed two, but the remote location and the unpredictability of flights and baseball game lengths warrant three. It’s a real shame too, because if we had rolled our arrival date into our baseball watching day, we would have seen Yu Darvish pitch. ...

Deep from the trenches, it’s time for your Monday video feature: Embedded Reporter. On Rocktober 13th, two great games came out: Uncharted 2 and Brütal Legend. So far I’ve finished Uncharted 2 (still gotta go back and get the Platinum Trophy), so I’m working on Brütal Legend and both have been great stories so far. Like almost any review says, Uncharted 2 is a fantastic action movie with great dialogue and character interaction. I’m glad they didn’t have Nazi Zombies this time, but their replacement was kind of annoying too. Also annoying: the final boss! Took me a while to finally get a workable strategy against Lazarević, but once I did, things were going better, but I was still losing. Ever had it where you can’t complete a gaming task, so you shut down a game and then come back to it and beat it in one go? Thanks for being kind of late Saturday morning Eric, if you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have beat the boss. I am not looking forward to battling him on Crushing mode for what will probably be my last required trophy. The ending of Uncharted 2 was great and it had some hilarious lines in it. I’m kind of debating whether or not I should make Eric watch the cinematics from the game, because they make a decent, if disjointed, movie. ...

Insert another credit, because it’s time for your weekly video game news and you’ve just hit the Game Overview screen. I really meant to get this done last night when I got home from Eric’s, but I started playing Uncharted 2 instead (I’m so close to the ending!). I’ll probably review the game when I finish it and I’ve had a chance to really think about the game. Other than that, I have a few bits and pieces of news for you, mostly having to do with, you guessed it, Left 4 Dead 2. ...

[caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Your guess is as good as mine.”] [/caption] Boy, it’s gonna be tough to meaningfully fill these next few posts, since this day was mostly filled with travel (and no baseball) and the next is filled with baseball and not a whole lot of sightseeing, but I’ll do my best to make this as interesting as possible. [caption id="" align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“Already off to a great start, I see.”] [/caption] ...