Well, I figure it's an apt enough title to be workable for my purposes. Given that I pretty much read the webcomic Goats straight through in two days I think that I'm not really supremely able to manifest creativity at such a rapid rate at the moment. Same style as the Part 1, admittedly not titled as such, bolded mini-titles.
I'm glad I'm not old
Had an interesting experience at work this morning. Watched a car pull up, diagonally, into the concrete barrier of the front parking space of the store. A elderly gentleman ambles out of the car, his equally-aged wife passively sitting slantedly (remember, one wheel is up atop the concrete barrier, offsetting the entire SUV) in the passenger seat. He walks in and our conversation ensues:
Him: "Howdy-Doody"
Me: "Hey there, what can I help you with" (He's holding a few envelopes as best I can tell at this point).
Him: (Walking towards the mailboxes, having obviously not heard me) "Howdy-Doody"
Me: "Howdy-Doody"
Him: (Puts the envelopes in the mail slot) "Do you know what that means?"
Me: *Nods* "I do"
Him: (Walking towards the door) "It means 'How do you do?'"
Me: (As he opens the door) "Have a good day, sir"
Him: (Walking out the door, more to himself than to me) "No, it means 'How do you do?'"
Anime for the Holidays
Static Subs put out a pair of Otome Episodes for Christmas, and despite my having seen the vast majority of both episodes already raw, Corsair Midori continues to be a force of raging awesomeness. Also the Otome OST1 and Mai-Hime Best Collection, as well as GxS OST2 came out and while the Otome lacks the humor song I was looking forward to, the rest of the OST is pretty nice. Good to know that Mai has a song, despite not actually having had a character appearance in the show yet. The Best Collection is really clench with some absolutely incredible songs, not enough Harada Chie though. All this of course inspired me to burn Disc 11.5, which is a continuation of Disc 11 which was rushed and semi-incomplete, mostly due to the iTunes mishap outlined in the first Holiday Blitz.
Did I mention I hate our customers?
Had another lady today come in. She was lugging a decently sized (25 x 18 x 13 I think, I didn't have the need or want to measure it) 25lb prepaid-package. She immediately berated myself and my co-worker for not having assisted her in getting it into the store. In my defense there's two tabletop coupon displays, a standing rack of greeting cards, and two posters between myself and my vision of her, so I didn't actually see her needing assistance, not that normal people should need help with 25lb objects being lifted with both hands, but that's another matter. To top it off, the shape of the store is not condusive to my coming to her assistance:
----|door|-----
| |
| |
| ---------
| /
| / X <--- Me
| | ___
| | Y | |
| | ^ | |
| | | |
| | | |
After processing her drop-off package, she asked me to sign her insurance forms, which quickly escalated to a minor verbal fight as I told her I could hold them for the UPS Driver to sign, because those forms needed to be signed by a UPS Driver and I, was neither a driver nor an employee of UPS; as she tried to convince me that someone always signs them here (I bet Desha is to blame), and that I was employed by UPS and should sign it. In the end, she left with the forms, unsigned, and swore a string of vulgar words as she left.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Friday, December 23, 2005
Holiday Blitz
And to think, I almost managed 3 consecutive posts in 3 days.
iTunes for the atypical American Consumer:
So, in a stroke of madness, which isn't completely unlike myself, I decided last week to play around with the settings of my Music Library in iTunes. Before we get any further, let me stress that I do not advise such actions. What had inspired all this was a drive to cut the excess Harddrive usage of my computer. Since I cannot convince Nero and the DVD-Burner to comminucate yet I have to take draconian measures, and upon discovering that iTunes was keeping almost 2 gigs of duplicated copies of music, something had to be done. Either way, there's a wonderful little option in the program that restructures your music library and renames everything accordingly. Well, unfortunately this meant the Folder on my Harddrive Music Library and not the iTunes music Library (redundant naming systems for the lose). Anyways, my Music Folder got twisted into the idealized Apple vision of an American music folder: Artist -> Albums -> Tracknumbered Tracks named with the Album and the Title. This doesn't work well for the type of music I collect since I tend to group by category, Anime/Game, rather than by Artist simply for the sheer number of Artists a single category can contain. So now the race is on to reconstruct my Music Folder, a truly daunting task to say the least, but hopefully it'll allow me to cut down on the excess.
For a game called Snake-Eater, I seem to be kicking alot of Rabbits:
Since David's venerable PS2 seems to disbelieve that I own a working copy of Suikoden IV I've changed gears and started to play Metal Gear Solid 3. Bear in mind the last FPS I've played Console-side was RE4 (And trust me, I've tried cinematic dodging a few times). So, I started off well enough, earning a few ground-holdups against opponents knocked prone by a roll or a melee combo. I had to look up how to actually capture/interrogate an enemy (the concept of a button hold in MGS outside of a gun was kind of alien to me) and immediately started a few bloodbath's in this manner. As anyone who's ever watched me attempt the Dragon Cave in Star Ocean can attest, the Analog sensitivity of the PS2 Dual Shock 2 is sorta a weak point of mine, I tend to be heavy handed (and thus the long + soft note in the Dragon Cave was roughly 40 straight failures) and thus I tend to fail to interrogate and instead more violently bring my captive to his end. I love the take-out maneuver of a attempt at a frontal capture, the trip-slam, and spent much of the pre-sniper portion of the game using it as my main offensive form. After acquiring the Sniper and the Light Machine Gun it's pretty much been cutting a swath through soldiers, leaving a trail of dead foes in my wake. For an MGS game my killcount is probably nearing triple digits and I've only just reached the Fortress. Overall the camera is really a pain, and the fact that most enemies simply outpace me in movement is stupid. Sitting around to regen is annoying, but ideally I shouldn't be seen or hurt anyways so that's okay.
Boss Fights:
Ocelot - The Revlovler fight. I went into this with about 1 shot worth of life and thus ended up eating the two life medicines I'd gotten by the time just to manage the fight. Not particularly hard, but annoying to fight distance with the tranq gun for no real reward.
The Pain - Actually, remarkably painful but not terribly difficult. The Bullet Bees managed to waste away a fair amount of my precious Cure materials. I managed it in one try, but using Stun Grenades instead of Smoke Grenades was a seriously unwise idea. Much easier without deafening/blinding yourself for a shorter effect.
The Fear - Absolutely annoying fight. I ended up hiding in a corner, praying my Stun Grenades knocked enough food out of the trees and waiting for my chance to blast him. Took about 8 tries to get a good run against him and achieve victory mostly a matter of luck than anything else. Burned through 2 of the 3 batteries I had at the time. He has remarkable accuracy, shooting through solid trees and whatnot. I think he does far too much damage to be anything more than a corner camp really, no other viable way to Tranq him down, I guess lethal would probably be far more feasable as he can't eat that back.
The End - What can I say. I think I spent nearly 2 hours in this fight, never got close to being defeated. Hell, early on I got so tired of playing the searching game that I traded out for Female Kabuki Mask with Fly Uniform camo for a massive -40% index standing still in the light. Not really a hard fight, just an annoyance until you can scare him someplace where he'll leave footprints to track and not run to areas that require massive footwork to get to. That he can restore life photosyntethically is annoying and stupid, but hey, he only did it once before I managed to beat him. And only broke two legs overrolling assualts on him and off of high cliffs.
The Fury - Easy fight until I got him down to the last quarter and the areas he frequented were filled with flames and I got toasted. I sorta gave up keeping distance and using the Mosin and ended up just pummeling him down the rest of the way. And yes, I definately tried to RE4 dodge during that end cutscene there.
RE4 is the superior gameplay though weaker on the story. Don't get me wrong, I loved RE4's story, but MGS just has all the history and content to the borders and goes deeper. RE4 on the Gamecube just feels right, unlike MGS 3 on the PS2 where I find myself using L1, L2, R1, R2, and Square all together inorder to fire while Shoulder Aiming on my tip-toes with any Assult Rifle.
I've heard the conversation about the Cardboard Box and the James Bond Conversation, but I don't use the Call function much, so I've probably missed out on some of the other good ones.
Christmas Loot
Got a Nintendo DS with Mario Kart and Advance Wars: Dual Strike. I'm now 12 missions in, and it's certainly an excellent game. Fantastic characters, challenging, inventive. The new COs are an interesting variation on the previous themes and the music is good as well. I think I'll have to go pick up the latest Fire Emblem Game and Meteos before the end of the week. Wonder if there's anything else there on the DS that is a must have.
iTunes for the atypical American Consumer:
So, in a stroke of madness, which isn't completely unlike myself, I decided last week to play around with the settings of my Music Library in iTunes. Before we get any further, let me stress that I do not advise such actions. What had inspired all this was a drive to cut the excess Harddrive usage of my computer. Since I cannot convince Nero and the DVD-Burner to comminucate yet I have to take draconian measures, and upon discovering that iTunes was keeping almost 2 gigs of duplicated copies of music, something had to be done. Either way, there's a wonderful little option in the program that restructures your music library and renames everything accordingly. Well, unfortunately this meant the Folder on my Harddrive Music Library and not the iTunes music Library (redundant naming systems for the lose). Anyways, my Music Folder got twisted into the idealized Apple vision of an American music folder: Artist -> Albums -> Tracknumbered Tracks named with the Album and the Title. This doesn't work well for the type of music I collect since I tend to group by category, Anime/Game, rather than by Artist simply for the sheer number of Artists a single category can contain. So now the race is on to reconstruct my Music Folder, a truly daunting task to say the least, but hopefully it'll allow me to cut down on the excess.
For a game called Snake-Eater, I seem to be kicking alot of Rabbits:
Since David's venerable PS2 seems to disbelieve that I own a working copy of Suikoden IV I've changed gears and started to play Metal Gear Solid 3. Bear in mind the last FPS I've played Console-side was RE4 (And trust me, I've tried cinematic dodging a few times). So, I started off well enough, earning a few ground-holdups against opponents knocked prone by a roll or a melee combo. I had to look up how to actually capture/interrogate an enemy (the concept of a button hold in MGS outside of a gun was kind of alien to me) and immediately started a few bloodbath's in this manner. As anyone who's ever watched me attempt the Dragon Cave in Star Ocean can attest, the Analog sensitivity of the PS2 Dual Shock 2 is sorta a weak point of mine, I tend to be heavy handed (and thus the long + soft note in the Dragon Cave was roughly 40 straight failures) and thus I tend to fail to interrogate and instead more violently bring my captive to his end. I love the take-out maneuver of a attempt at a frontal capture, the trip-slam, and spent much of the pre-sniper portion of the game using it as my main offensive form. After acquiring the Sniper and the Light Machine Gun it's pretty much been cutting a swath through soldiers, leaving a trail of dead foes in my wake. For an MGS game my killcount is probably nearing triple digits and I've only just reached the Fortress. Overall the camera is really a pain, and the fact that most enemies simply outpace me in movement is stupid. Sitting around to regen is annoying, but ideally I shouldn't be seen or hurt anyways so that's okay.
Boss Fights:
Ocelot - The Revlovler fight. I went into this with about 1 shot worth of life and thus ended up eating the two life medicines I'd gotten by the time just to manage the fight. Not particularly hard, but annoying to fight distance with the tranq gun for no real reward.
The Pain - Actually, remarkably painful but not terribly difficult. The Bullet Bees managed to waste away a fair amount of my precious Cure materials. I managed it in one try, but using Stun Grenades instead of Smoke Grenades was a seriously unwise idea. Much easier without deafening/blinding yourself for a shorter effect.
The Fear - Absolutely annoying fight. I ended up hiding in a corner, praying my Stun Grenades knocked enough food out of the trees and waiting for my chance to blast him. Took about 8 tries to get a good run against him and achieve victory mostly a matter of luck than anything else. Burned through 2 of the 3 batteries I had at the time. He has remarkable accuracy, shooting through solid trees and whatnot. I think he does far too much damage to be anything more than a corner camp really, no other viable way to Tranq him down, I guess lethal would probably be far more feasable as he can't eat that back.
The End - What can I say. I think I spent nearly 2 hours in this fight, never got close to being defeated. Hell, early on I got so tired of playing the searching game that I traded out for Female Kabuki Mask with Fly Uniform camo for a massive -40% index standing still in the light. Not really a hard fight, just an annoyance until you can scare him someplace where he'll leave footprints to track and not run to areas that require massive footwork to get to. That he can restore life photosyntethically is annoying and stupid, but hey, he only did it once before I managed to beat him. And only broke two legs overrolling assualts on him and off of high cliffs.
The Fury - Easy fight until I got him down to the last quarter and the areas he frequented were filled with flames and I got toasted. I sorta gave up keeping distance and using the Mosin and ended up just pummeling him down the rest of the way. And yes, I definately tried to RE4 dodge during that end cutscene there.
RE4 is the superior gameplay though weaker on the story. Don't get me wrong, I loved RE4's story, but MGS just has all the history and content to the borders and goes deeper. RE4 on the Gamecube just feels right, unlike MGS 3 on the PS2 where I find myself using L1, L2, R1, R2, and Square all together inorder to fire while Shoulder Aiming on my tip-toes with any Assult Rifle.
I've heard the conversation about the Cardboard Box and the James Bond Conversation, but I don't use the Call function much, so I've probably missed out on some of the other good ones.
Christmas Loot
Got a Nintendo DS with Mario Kart and Advance Wars: Dual Strike. I'm now 12 missions in, and it's certainly an excellent game. Fantastic characters, challenging, inventive. The new COs are an interesting variation on the previous themes and the music is good as well. I think I'll have to go pick up the latest Fire Emblem Game and Meteos before the end of the week. Wonder if there's anything else there on the DS that is a must have.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Come on baby, light my ire.
The above is not a typo, it's entirely appropriate. The ME building goes to special lengths to see that I'm driven insane, but when even metal grinding on metal is not sufficient they pull out the big guns, Grad Students attempting to win tickets via a fax contest.
Remember, for every number you see I had to hear the dialing and the busy signal. For every ... single ... time.
Viola! The torment I endure.
Remember, for every number you see I had to hear the dialing and the busy signal. For every ... single ... time.
Viola! The torment I endure.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
The truth of this is probably irrefutable
A little conversation held of AIM with my father at about noon today:
Dad: What ya want for Christmas?
SonOfBloodII: Hadn't really given it much thought.
Dad: Better start thinking then.
SonOfBloodII: Will do.
Dad: Probably the only IM chats that include punctuation. :-)
SonOfBloodII: I do believe that that is likely the case.
Dad: What ya want for Christmas?
SonOfBloodII: Hadn't really given it much thought.
Dad: Better start thinking then.
SonOfBloodII: Will do.
Dad: Probably the only IM chats that include punctuation. :-)
SonOfBloodII: I do believe that that is likely the case.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Black Friday Rant
Or it would have been had I started this > 86 Minutes ago. But that's all relatively irrevelant since this is merely placeholder. Sometime after I finish crashing my ship of life against the rocks of my own shortcomings I'll be back to talk about that which is Thanksgiving and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
But since I have to give you some sort of knowledge before you go.
Kiddy Grade Episode 1 Panty Shot count - 6.
And now you you... (I leave it to someone else to finish that one).
But since I have to give you some sort of knowledge before you go.
Kiddy Grade Episode 1 Panty Shot count - 6.
And now you you... (I leave it to someone else to finish that one).
Friday, October 21, 2005
I think this place induces homicidal tendencies...
Conversation (Paraphrased, but close) between myself and Kyle while work today. Apparently a field trip of kids are parading around the lower level of the Lobby here.
Kyle: Do you hear that?
Me: Sounds like a bunch of children milling about.
Kyle: Looks like it too.
Me: Down there amongst all that heavy machinery, seems dangerous.
Me: Any one of those devices could do some serious damage.
Me: Like that forklift, I bet you could just get them all with that, in a line like they are.
Kyle: Do you hear that?
Me: Sounds like a bunch of children milling about.
Kyle: Looks like it too.
Me: Down there amongst all that heavy machinery, seems dangerous.
Me: Any one of those devices could do some serious damage.
Me: Like that forklift, I bet you could just get them all with that, in a line like they are.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Disc 2:
Also known as the vain hope that doing something that can be easily and finitely resolved will allow me to stop mentally wandering and get back on track with learning the madness that Fourier left behind which he studied heat transfer, his Transforms.
Anyways, thanks to the magic of iTunes, and no I don't own and iPod yet, but that's a story for another time, preferrably after I've solved the related mystery before I seriously piss myself off, I've managed to change a setting that totally killed the original ordering of my playlists, not that it alters anything, but just fair warning that the numbers here don't match the order that actually occurs on the discs themselves, and I'm way too lazy to mentally recreate it, though I bet I could.
Disc Two (21 songs, 1.0 hours) AKA: The first Instrumental Disc.
1) ??? - Akui he no Chourou (2:21). The Melody of Oblivion (BGM) : In retrospect this song would've done much better on a Transform / Metamorphasis headlined disc just because of the transition from classical to driving rock beat. Not really an oft used nor well used BGM of MoO, but they can't all be winners, eh?
2) ??? - Anabasis (1:26). Kiddy Grade (BGM) : I have an unusual enjoyment of this song, can't explain it, but I like the humor conveyed by Cesario and Viola, end of story.
3) The Black Mages - Battle with the Four Fiends (4:00). Final Fantasy IV Remix : Actually, I never played Final Fantasy IV, but still, it's Black Mages, it's a pleasant enough vocal-less rock song on a theme that I can emphasize with (Honestly, Uematsu's good, but he's not totally original on every single song, the style prevails).
4) Pillows - Curly Rudy (3:01) : Actually not from a video game nor an anime (*Gasp*, I know), though under prevailent technically they did do the OST to Furi Kuri so it's not totally devoid of traces. Either way, I love their music, it's got a special kick to it, just like the Seatbelts, though they (Seatbelts, since it defaults to nearest specific noun) tend to be a bit more psychological in their humor and music, Elevator Music Robbery (that's totally not the title, but totally conveys the message) for example.
5) ??? - Eclair's Theme (2:01). Kiddy Grade : Kiddy Grade's OST runs on an eclectic mix of classical and brass plus various synth all watered down in volume and tone for a colorful and semi-sugary result, works well with the colorful anime, a bit odd if you're not prepaired for something akin to that though.
6) Melody - Ganbatte Ikou ze (1:31). Midori no Hibi (BGM) : In addition to be a coherent statement, and one that I actually know the meaning behind (scary, no?), it's a pretty repetative and cutsey little song that makes me smile.
7) ??? (I could find this one out, not gonna) - Girl's Power (3:25) : Yes, Eclair's and Lumiere's VA from Kiddy Grade singing a somewhat rock song. I always think Powerpuff Girls when I hear it for no particular reason. Either way, there's something about VA albums I enjoy. After you get used to hearing a character's voice you don't really mind hearing it a bit every now and then after that I guess.
8) Basement Jaxx - Good Luck feat. Lisa Kekaula. Appleseed OST : Ahh...not only a band even anime-free readers can identify with ('Where's your Head at' anyone?) but a kickass song anyways. I've always found feat as part of a title to be a semi-glamorous way of doing things. In the old days it'd just be a simple "and" in the artist listing, but these days we have to make things hip and cool for the current generation. Either way, the song goes hand and hand with Basement Jaxx's offering on the soundtrack to SSX3.
9) Rie Fu - I Wanna Go To A Place (5:10). Off a Single CD of the same name : It shows up somewhere in Gundam Seed Destiny as an OP/ED, I think - never watched GS or GSD and don't remember, but it's Rie Fu, who'll show up alot over the course of the discs because of her excellent and fluid blending of English and Japanese. This song is no exception to that rule, though it's fairly slow relative to most of the rest of the disc. Not Instrumental, but my discs weren't designed with that in mind, just the aftereffect naming.
10) Flow - Journey (3:09). Off of the DAYS Single CD : Days was OP1 to Eureka Seven, but honestly, you can't really go wrong with Flow, upbeat and fun. Also not Instrumental.
11) ??? - Theme (3:01). Koudelka : I don't know who was technically responsable for the music here and it's debateable whether you consider it instrumental or not (Hymnal-esce chant-singing) but it's a good creepy song quite fitting for the atmosphere of the game (As poorly drawn as it itself may be have), perhaps I'll have to finish it sometime.
12) Liquid Tension Experiment - Universal Mind (3:36) : Not a single anime or video game tie here, just incredible instrumental guitar workmanship with some very nice synth accompanyment. Not really fitting for the disc, but this stuff makes up some of the more relaxing without sleepyness music I have on Asgard.
13) The Black Mages - Matoya's Cave (4:46). Final Fantasy I : Another FF that I haven't played, though I probably will some day just for completeness. Unlike most Black Mage stuff this one doesn't overtly display the rock tendencies for a bit, it builds to them onto of a more classic redoing of the score, and it works beautifully.
14) Orange Range - Mission in Taisakusen (3:01). Single - ~Asterisk~ : Opening with a Mission Impossible flourish, it's you standard rock number with some alright synth and good guitar riffs but as with most Orange Range works, it's the vocals that are the key point. Harmonies equal win.
15) Kaijura Yuki - Oharahetta! (1:16). Mai Hime (Humor BGM) : I'm shocked I didn't put this on the first disc myself, but I was more focused on OP/ED works than even some of the songs I would've normally placed higher up. Kickass Xylophone work, enough said. Kaijura Yuki's done alot of good stuff which'll show up in parts on later discs too. Oh, and I really want the Mai Otome OST, just for the v2 of this song.
16) The Pillows - Scent of Sweet (3:14) : I dunno what it is about the song, but I think the Guitar Ostinato really seals the deal here. I like strong opening riffs and this song, as with most Pillows work, delivers beautifully.
17) ??? - Space Activities (1:50). Kiddy Grade : A little pomp and circumstances music (not actually similiar to the graduation song at all, that was not the context intended, try again). A royal feel to the whole thing, but again, it's got that Kiddy Grade washed out softness to it, kills most of the pomp and leaves it as just a fun little song that's maybe a bit full of itself, but nice listening.
18) Tanaka Kouhei - Sunabouza no Theme (1:47). Sunabouza : Go listen to the soundtrack for The Incredibles, that's the same vibe right here. I love that jazzy pop style music, and this song delivers just that at an appreciable length without being repetative. The Artist of this bothers me in reflection of Beck, I'll have to look into it.
19) Tsunami Bomb - Invasion from Within (2:27). Disgaea (Special Event BGM) : God, the first time I went in again Prier this song completely sealed the deal. Nice indie-esce Rock, female lead singer, I should try and track down a CD but I've to date been unsuccessful.
20) ??? - The Spirit of Framenco (2:31). The Melody of Oblivion : As an artifact of translation it probably ought to be Flamenco instead, as it's a flamenco hybrid with excellent violin solo above it all and used for some of the more key events in the middle range of the anime. The smooth guitar in the truly flamenco part of the song is very relaxing, though the song itself has memories of some tense spots.
21) The Black Mages - Vamo Allo Flamenco (4:27). Final Fantasy IX : Much as I hated, though finished, the game, this song is pretty much the best thing out of it. It's a unique experimention in style for Uematsu (was even in it's non Black Mage-d styled, even more so now) and again has the rock-absent introduction to the more ramped up center of the song.
Disc Two had some relaxing songs to it, but the Black Mages pretty much undid all the relaxation with the upbeat rock. Instrumental as a lone style is difficult to make into a CD if you've not got just a few similar artists, I think I prefer things a little mixed, as Sheena would say it's the fruit that really brings out the spice in the curry. Yeah, I just paraphrased Tales of Symphonia cooking advise, I need serious assistance, men in white perhaps.
Anyways, thanks to the magic of iTunes, and no I don't own and iPod yet, but that's a story for another time, preferrably after I've solved the related mystery before I seriously piss myself off, I've managed to change a setting that totally killed the original ordering of my playlists, not that it alters anything, but just fair warning that the numbers here don't match the order that actually occurs on the discs themselves, and I'm way too lazy to mentally recreate it, though I bet I could.
Disc Two (21 songs, 1.0 hours) AKA: The first Instrumental Disc.
1) ??? - Akui he no Chourou (2:21). The Melody of Oblivion (BGM) : In retrospect this song would've done much better on a Transform / Metamorphasis headlined disc just because of the transition from classical to driving rock beat. Not really an oft used nor well used BGM of MoO, but they can't all be winners, eh?
2) ??? - Anabasis (1:26). Kiddy Grade (BGM) : I have an unusual enjoyment of this song, can't explain it, but I like the humor conveyed by Cesario and Viola, end of story.
3) The Black Mages - Battle with the Four Fiends (4:00). Final Fantasy IV Remix : Actually, I never played Final Fantasy IV, but still, it's Black Mages, it's a pleasant enough vocal-less rock song on a theme that I can emphasize with (Honestly, Uematsu's good, but he's not totally original on every single song, the style prevails).
4) Pillows - Curly Rudy (3:01) : Actually not from a video game nor an anime (*Gasp*, I know), though under prevailent technically they did do the OST to Furi Kuri so it's not totally devoid of traces. Either way, I love their music, it's got a special kick to it, just like the Seatbelts, though they (Seatbelts, since it defaults to nearest specific noun) tend to be a bit more psychological in their humor and music, Elevator Music Robbery (that's totally not the title, but totally conveys the message) for example.
5) ??? - Eclair's Theme (2:01). Kiddy Grade : Kiddy Grade's OST runs on an eclectic mix of classical and brass plus various synth all watered down in volume and tone for a colorful and semi-sugary result, works well with the colorful anime, a bit odd if you're not prepaired for something akin to that though.
6) Melody - Ganbatte Ikou ze (1:31). Midori no Hibi (BGM) : In addition to be a coherent statement, and one that I actually know the meaning behind (scary, no?), it's a pretty repetative and cutsey little song that makes me smile.
7) ??? (I could find this one out, not gonna) - Girl's Power (3:25) : Yes, Eclair's and Lumiere's VA from Kiddy Grade singing a somewhat rock song. I always think Powerpuff Girls when I hear it for no particular reason. Either way, there's something about VA albums I enjoy. After you get used to hearing a character's voice you don't really mind hearing it a bit every now and then after that I guess.
8) Basement Jaxx - Good Luck feat. Lisa Kekaula. Appleseed OST : Ahh...not only a band even anime-free readers can identify with ('Where's your Head at' anyone?) but a kickass song anyways. I've always found feat as part of a title to be a semi-glamorous way of doing things. In the old days it'd just be a simple "and" in the artist listing, but these days we have to make things hip and cool for the current generation. Either way, the song goes hand and hand with Basement Jaxx's offering on the soundtrack to SSX3.
9) Rie Fu - I Wanna Go To A Place (5:10). Off a Single CD of the same name : It shows up somewhere in Gundam Seed Destiny as an OP/ED, I think - never watched GS or GSD and don't remember, but it's Rie Fu, who'll show up alot over the course of the discs because of her excellent and fluid blending of English and Japanese. This song is no exception to that rule, though it's fairly slow relative to most of the rest of the disc. Not Instrumental, but my discs weren't designed with that in mind, just the aftereffect naming.
10) Flow - Journey (3:09). Off of the DAYS Single CD : Days was OP1 to Eureka Seven, but honestly, you can't really go wrong with Flow, upbeat and fun. Also not Instrumental.
11) ??? - Theme (3:01). Koudelka : I don't know who was technically responsable for the music here and it's debateable whether you consider it instrumental or not (Hymnal-esce chant-singing) but it's a good creepy song quite fitting for the atmosphere of the game (As poorly drawn as it itself may be have), perhaps I'll have to finish it sometime.
12) Liquid Tension Experiment - Universal Mind (3:36) : Not a single anime or video game tie here, just incredible instrumental guitar workmanship with some very nice synth accompanyment. Not really fitting for the disc, but this stuff makes up some of the more relaxing without sleepyness music I have on Asgard.
13) The Black Mages - Matoya's Cave (4:46). Final Fantasy I : Another FF that I haven't played, though I probably will some day just for completeness. Unlike most Black Mage stuff this one doesn't overtly display the rock tendencies for a bit, it builds to them onto of a more classic redoing of the score, and it works beautifully.
14) Orange Range - Mission in Taisakusen (3:01). Single - ~Asterisk~ : Opening with a Mission Impossible flourish, it's you standard rock number with some alright synth and good guitar riffs but as with most Orange Range works, it's the vocals that are the key point. Harmonies equal win.
15) Kaijura Yuki - Oharahetta! (1:16). Mai Hime (Humor BGM) : I'm shocked I didn't put this on the first disc myself, but I was more focused on OP/ED works than even some of the songs I would've normally placed higher up. Kickass Xylophone work, enough said. Kaijura Yuki's done alot of good stuff which'll show up in parts on later discs too. Oh, and I really want the Mai Otome OST, just for the v2 of this song.
16) The Pillows - Scent of Sweet (3:14) : I dunno what it is about the song, but I think the Guitar Ostinato really seals the deal here. I like strong opening riffs and this song, as with most Pillows work, delivers beautifully.
17) ??? - Space Activities (1:50). Kiddy Grade : A little pomp and circumstances music (not actually similiar to the graduation song at all, that was not the context intended, try again). A royal feel to the whole thing, but again, it's got that Kiddy Grade washed out softness to it, kills most of the pomp and leaves it as just a fun little song that's maybe a bit full of itself, but nice listening.
18) Tanaka Kouhei - Sunabouza no Theme (1:47). Sunabouza : Go listen to the soundtrack for The Incredibles, that's the same vibe right here. I love that jazzy pop style music, and this song delivers just that at an appreciable length without being repetative. The Artist of this bothers me in reflection of Beck, I'll have to look into it.
19) Tsunami Bomb - Invasion from Within (2:27). Disgaea (Special Event BGM) : God, the first time I went in again Prier this song completely sealed the deal. Nice indie-esce Rock, female lead singer, I should try and track down a CD but I've to date been unsuccessful.
20) ??? - The Spirit of Framenco (2:31). The Melody of Oblivion : As an artifact of translation it probably ought to be Flamenco instead, as it's a flamenco hybrid with excellent violin solo above it all and used for some of the more key events in the middle range of the anime. The smooth guitar in the truly flamenco part of the song is very relaxing, though the song itself has memories of some tense spots.
21) The Black Mages - Vamo Allo Flamenco (4:27). Final Fantasy IX : Much as I hated, though finished, the game, this song is pretty much the best thing out of it. It's a unique experimention in style for Uematsu (was even in it's non Black Mage-d styled, even more so now) and again has the rock-absent introduction to the more ramped up center of the song.
Disc Two had some relaxing songs to it, but the Black Mages pretty much undid all the relaxation with the upbeat rock. Instrumental as a lone style is difficult to make into a CD if you've not got just a few similar artists, I think I prefer things a little mixed, as Sheena would say it's the fruit that really brings out the spice in the curry. Yeah, I just paraphrased Tales of Symphonia cooking advise, I need serious assistance, men in white perhaps.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
News from the field.
It would appear that the copier they've installed in the mailroom here has a most interesting power switch. It's like a push-botton toggle on the side, which I of course was passively toggling not noticing what it was for until, upon closer inspection, I noted the standard | and O markings of a power switch.
Stupid new Active Directory requirements have upped the password ante, requiring 3 of 4 categories (lowercase, symbol, uppercase, and numbers) which means that my passwords now all involve usage of the shift-key which is just an annoyance (I think I need to figure out what unshifted symbols qualify and use those).
Picked up the Unofficial Disgaea Soundtrack, I'll stack it against the 20 track original and see how things look, but that's an experiement for a time later in the week after my labs are not looming ahead so imposingly.
Internship/Co-Op headhunting isn't going over so well. Hopefully I can get something after a put this semester of Electrical behind me and have a better knowledge basis on which to search the field.
Stupid computer has managed to lose sound properties, which means that I'm musicless, and I really hate that feeling. It's about time to go hunt down a Better Quality and Lower Priced iPod alternative, I just wish the foolish competitors would actually spend some money on advertising so I didn't have to research so meticulously.
Oh well, I think I'll tinker around with the settings here to try and restore the ability to play The Pillows while at work, gotta have something to keep me sane.
Edit: As it turns out. The speakers are not connected, and connecting them kills the computer. This may prove to be more of a challenge than I had originally intended.
Stupid new Active Directory requirements have upped the password ante, requiring 3 of 4 categories (lowercase, symbol, uppercase, and numbers) which means that my passwords now all involve usage of the shift-key which is just an annoyance (I think I need to figure out what unshifted symbols qualify and use those).
Picked up the Unofficial Disgaea Soundtrack, I'll stack it against the 20 track original and see how things look, but that's an experiement for a time later in the week after my labs are not looming ahead so imposingly.
Internship/Co-Op headhunting isn't going over so well. Hopefully I can get something after a put this semester of Electrical behind me and have a better knowledge basis on which to search the field.
Stupid computer has managed to lose sound properties, which means that I'm musicless, and I really hate that feeling. It's about time to go hunt down a Better Quality and Lower Priced iPod alternative, I just wish the foolish competitors would actually spend some money on advertising so I didn't have to research so meticulously.
Oh well, I think I'll tinker around with the settings here to try and restore the ability to play The Pillows while at work, gotta have something to keep me sane.
Edit: As it turns out. The speakers are not connected, and connecting them kills the computer. This may prove to be more of a challenge than I had originally intended.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
One for the road.
A misnomer of a post title, as it reflects plan rather than reality. But oh well, I still will get accomplished what I wish to accomplish, the logistics will just be slightly different.
Talking about the Tech load isn't really a priority for me right now. Let's just say I consider it to be quite the trial and leave it at that. I'll get into hardcore music nerd in just a bit, but first I think due clarification is owed on the last part of the preview. So here's the story:
G4 TV runs, on weekends aftermidnight, a selection of shows collectively grouped under the label Barbed Wire Biscuit. The show lineup includes
* Brainiac - another one of those shows mixing things men like (blowing stuff up, women, that sort of deal) and science.
* Happy Tree Friends and Friends - Explanation not needed I'd think. Google the first three words if you don't already know, not for those who are squeamish about excessive cartoon violence.
* Anime Unleashed - G4's rotating anime selection. Nothing on here that really stands out as something I really need to see. But then again the polish of modern animes makes even the best of the older ones just seem to come up short.
* Cinematech: Nocturnal Emissions - Basically Cinematech with an emphasis on the high age spectrum game selections and imports.
Now, all of that, discounting Brainaic, has nothing directly to do with brests. However in the trailer, specifically at the Anime Unleashed portion, there is a shot of, not nudity of any sort, but an anime character with a high cut shirt (ie, the bottom of the shirt is above the lowest curve of the breast). I didn't actively go seeking the source, but in playing Guilty Gear X2 it came to me. On GGX2's disc there is the opening to GGX, which is where the scene originates. Dizzy's first transformation into a Half-Gear. The storyline of GGX isn't something to be delved into here and now, mostly since I'm still learning it myself. Story Mode in GGX2 is pretty rewarding. It's hard, with dynamic battle openings as the story progresses and fight scaling based on events (Ie. Sol Badguy absolutely trumps I-No, whereas no one else does; goes along well with their paring at AWA tonight, but Heterosexual kisses and AWA events aren't on the table for topics tonight), and pretty reward pictures. Jam #3 is really adorable, just because of Ky's reaction within it. Now if only I could figure out how to Beat Mission 8, I'd be moving in that mode as well, Burst Aerial juggles just aren't my thing with I-No, I'd much rather have someone with less Uber-Reliance (since I don't get to do Romantic anyways) and more variety to their strengths. At least she can run unlike Potempkin, but that's neither here nor there.
Oh well, time to delve into the realm of music, since I think I'll enjoy this, and frankly enjoyment is something that's been in short supply since school started upping the ante on my classes.
Since I make week(end)ly forays to home I've taken up the habit of burning a disc of
music for myself every time I have to make the trip, so I've accumulated 5 discs of my picks for myself. They were more spur of the moment than planned and really focus on the anime side of the playlist since I've heard most of my other stuff a hundred times more, having owned those mp3s for a good many years longer. They aren't titled, but I've been toying with at least giving them subtitles of some sort based on themes that ended up showing up.
#) Format: Artist - Song (length). Source : Discussion
Disc One (20 songs, 1.2 hours, 130.3 MB)
1) Orange Range - *~Asterisk~ (4:15). Bleach (OP 1) : I really like this song. It perhaps would have been worth it to burn off the Romantic version ( drops out most of the music and basically a recitation of the words, oddly fun). It's about the length I like for my songs (non-BGMs at least). The PV (music video) don't do much for me though, it's basically a street concert of the song.
2) Naoki Sato - No Doubt (1:05). Good Luck (Japanese Live Action) : Instrumental. Drums against ostination guitar with non-word vocal overlay. It's got a nice grove to it. A fun listen, though perhaps better suited to a CD of BGM stlyed musics, or burned off with the rest of the OST for Good Luck (3-4 really good other songs on it).
3) (Tsutchie - fat jon) - Fly [Small Circle of Friends] (3:53). Samurai Champloo (Ep 23 ED, plus insert in a later ep (I think)) : It's a nice mellow song, a bit on the soft side perhaps, but there are methods for altering that (my preferred method being cranking the volume in my car, but that's another story).
4) Saitou San Band feat Tanaka Koyuki & Minami Maho - Follow Me (2:12). BECK (Repeated song, particular being an exerpt from Ep 6 (rough guess)) : I really enjoy this song. It's not quite as cool without being able to see Maho do the dance, but as a general rule of thumb the songs from an anime about musicians are usually pretty good. The Rocket Boys version is a bit cleaner bu I prefer Maho and Koyuki's voices.
5) Savage Genius - Forever... (4:49). Erementar Gerad (OP) : Good techno opening, classic Savage Genius style. A good song and a good quality version at that. Singer's english isn't on the level that some of the other cross-lingual vocalists posses, but it doesn't bother me in the least.
6) Kuniyoshi Chiemi - Genki wo Dashite (3:57). BECK (Insert Song) : This song is lovely. It's all about the getting to be cheerful and happy. Not very bass heavy unlike most of the previous songs (I am a Bass player, you tend to notice these things), but still easily one of my favorite songs when I'm feeling down.
7) Akino - Go Tight! (4:43). Sousei no Aquarion (OP 2) : The anime isn't actually fansubbed far enough for me to have heard this song from it, though I have seen it raw. It's a lively song, good pairing after Genki wo Dashite (despite the fact that I tend to play these CDs on Random, and that I didn't plan the order of any of them). There's some really wonderful vocalizing done on this song.
8) ???? - Hachimitsu [Honey] (3:07). Honey & Clover (Insert Song) : Actually a male singer which is a departure from the previous 3 songs (the other 4 before that are 3 males and an instrumental). Just another one of the more melody heavy songs like most of the rest of the CD (excepting Asterisk).
9) Beat Crusaders - Hit in the USA (2:59). Beck (OP) : A rock song which is generally fairly unique for an anime opening, but then again Beck is a fairly unique anime. High energy and mangled english, I enjoy it (almost a redundant thing to say given that I chose to burn it, but hey, gotta fill space somehow).
10) Melocure - Home & Aawy (4:29). My wife is a magical girl (OP. I guess I could have given the Japanese name in English rather than the translation, but I decided not to) : Again on the lighter side of the musical spectrum. It's again on the slower side of the pacing, but that's not a bad thing. It has a see-saw effect going with alot of the lines, which I enjoy overly much (by see-saw I mean it oscillates the emphasis and pitch between syllables).
11) Younha - Houki Boshi (3:17). Bleach (ED 3) : I've seen this girl perform a few times now, mostly blaming Jiaz for these but not complaining. All I have to say is damn does she bang on that piano of hers. Rock sock, first on this disc to have piano in it. High energy, fast paced, and one I could probably sing along with fairly well (Despite not speaking the language, not bad eh?).
12) ???? - Koi no Mahou (3:57). Maburaho (OP) : Maburaho was a pretty awful anime. Like the sort you inflict on bitter enemies sort of anime. That said, I still think it was pretty cute, the opening especially. Again high energy and fairly fast spoken words though not quite as fun without the accompanying visuals (or the pre-OP sequence for that matter).
13) The Stripes - Loosey (3:57). Bakuretsu Tenshi (OP) : I'm honestly thankful that this song made it though Geneon's translations without being re-edited to be English, but then again I think that fact can mostly be attributed to the fact that no one is really 100% what the hell it is the singer is singing for a good quarter+ worth of the song. The Stripes like to have tap-dancing as part of their songs (see Theme of the Stripes below for a better example), it's pretty damn cool actually, if a bit odd the first time.
14) Tatsuhisa Suzuki - Myself (3:32). Tide-Line Blue ED Single (The other song on the single) : To be honest I think I like the first 12 seconds of this song more than any of the rest of it. It starts of with fun Synth melodies. The rest of the song is above average, but it's really my enjoyment of various little synth or rock-solo parts of the song that keep me coming back to it.
15) Savage Genius - Omoi wo Kanadete (3:34). Uta Kata (OP. And no I am not going to bother with the mutated Mobius that should be between those two words) : Savage Genius has very pretty openings to their songs and a very pretty and high singing voice; this song definately showcases that. It's a lively song with slower parts in between the instrumental riffs. It's a fairly pretty anime, could I ever bring myself to watch the last 12 episodes (out of 13).
16) (FORCE OF NATURE - Nujabes - fat jon) - The Million Way of Drum (2:48). Samurai Champloo (BGM) : Complete instrumental with drum focus (shocking right?) used for tense fights in the anime. As a stand alone song it runs kind of long without any real innovation, nearly 3 minutes without a whole lot of varience. Still good for a break from all the actually sung songs on the disc.
17) The Stripes - Theme of the Stripes (4:06). Bakuretsu Tenshi (OP Single Alt Song) : Song goes for about a minute of instrumental before the song actually gets some words and that's not bad at all. It's a rock-rap styled song, nearly constant in the lyrics with a fun chorus in it.
18) Rie Fu - Voice (3:56). Bleach (OP 1 Single Alt Song) : Rie Fu has really impressive capability with the English Language and this is a pleasant showcase of that. The guitar to go along with the song really finished the equation nicely.
19) Suneohair - Waltz (4:53). Honey & Clover (ED 1) : Once you've seen the animation accompanying the ending you'll be hard pressed not to think of spinning objects as you listen, not that that's a bad thing. It's a male singer again (as was the Stripes) but he sings fairly high up in the octaves, which matches the synth vibrophone musical accompanyment. Long song, but fun all the way.
20) Chihiro Yonekura - Yakusoku no Basho e (4:29). Kaleido Star (OP 2) : Just like Myself, the punch of this song comes at the start, but it's still a fun listen.
Meh, didn't turn out to be the commentary of written that I'd really wanted, probably shorten future disc listings down to shorter commentary (No, "I like it" commentary as well hopefully). Oh well, if you bother reading though it let me know how you'd prefer the future stuff done (Commentary or sans?) or drop me a line if I've got something you'd like to hear, I've got a fairly wide means of dissemination at my disposal.
Talking about the Tech load isn't really a priority for me right now. Let's just say I consider it to be quite the trial and leave it at that. I'll get into hardcore music nerd in just a bit, but first I think due clarification is owed on the last part of the preview. So here's the story:
G4 TV runs, on weekends aftermidnight, a selection of shows collectively grouped under the label Barbed Wire Biscuit. The show lineup includes
* Brainiac - another one of those shows mixing things men like (blowing stuff up, women, that sort of deal) and science.
* Happy Tree Friends and Friends - Explanation not needed I'd think. Google the first three words if you don't already know, not for those who are squeamish about excessive cartoon violence.
* Anime Unleashed - G4's rotating anime selection. Nothing on here that really stands out as something I really need to see. But then again the polish of modern animes makes even the best of the older ones just seem to come up short.
* Cinematech: Nocturnal Emissions - Basically Cinematech with an emphasis on the high age spectrum game selections and imports.
Now, all of that, discounting Brainaic, has nothing directly to do with brests. However in the trailer, specifically at the Anime Unleashed portion, there is a shot of, not nudity of any sort, but an anime character with a high cut shirt (ie, the bottom of the shirt is above the lowest curve of the breast). I didn't actively go seeking the source, but in playing Guilty Gear X2 it came to me. On GGX2's disc there is the opening to GGX, which is where the scene originates. Dizzy's first transformation into a Half-Gear. The storyline of GGX isn't something to be delved into here and now, mostly since I'm still learning it myself. Story Mode in GGX2 is pretty rewarding. It's hard, with dynamic battle openings as the story progresses and fight scaling based on events (Ie. Sol Badguy absolutely trumps I-No, whereas no one else does; goes along well with their paring at AWA tonight, but Heterosexual kisses and AWA events aren't on the table for topics tonight), and pretty reward pictures. Jam #3 is really adorable, just because of Ky's reaction within it. Now if only I could figure out how to Beat Mission 8, I'd be moving in that mode as well, Burst Aerial juggles just aren't my thing with I-No, I'd much rather have someone with less Uber-Reliance (since I don't get to do Romantic anyways) and more variety to their strengths. At least she can run unlike Potempkin, but that's neither here nor there.
Oh well, time to delve into the realm of music, since I think I'll enjoy this, and frankly enjoyment is something that's been in short supply since school started upping the ante on my classes.
Since I make week(end)ly forays to home I've taken up the habit of burning a disc of
music for myself every time I have to make the trip, so I've accumulated 5 discs of my picks for myself. They were more spur of the moment than planned and really focus on the anime side of the playlist since I've heard most of my other stuff a hundred times more, having owned those mp3s for a good many years longer. They aren't titled, but I've been toying with at least giving them subtitles of some sort based on themes that ended up showing up.
#) Format: Artist - Song (length). Source : Discussion
Disc One (20 songs, 1.2 hours, 130.3 MB)
1) Orange Range - *~Asterisk~ (4:15). Bleach (OP 1) : I really like this song. It perhaps would have been worth it to burn off the Romantic version ( drops out most of the music and basically a recitation of the words, oddly fun). It's about the length I like for my songs (non-BGMs at least). The PV (music video) don't do much for me though, it's basically a street concert of the song.
2) Naoki Sato - No Doubt (1:05). Good Luck (Japanese Live Action) : Instrumental. Drums against ostination guitar with non-word vocal overlay. It's got a nice grove to it. A fun listen, though perhaps better suited to a CD of BGM stlyed musics, or burned off with the rest of the OST for Good Luck (3-4 really good other songs on it).
3) (Tsutchie - fat jon) - Fly [Small Circle of Friends] (3:53). Samurai Champloo (Ep 23 ED, plus insert in a later ep (I think)) : It's a nice mellow song, a bit on the soft side perhaps, but there are methods for altering that (my preferred method being cranking the volume in my car, but that's another story).
4) Saitou San Band feat Tanaka Koyuki & Minami Maho - Follow Me (2:12). BECK (Repeated song, particular being an exerpt from Ep 6 (rough guess)) : I really enjoy this song. It's not quite as cool without being able to see Maho do the dance, but as a general rule of thumb the songs from an anime about musicians are usually pretty good. The Rocket Boys version is a bit cleaner bu I prefer Maho and Koyuki's voices.
5) Savage Genius - Forever... (4:49). Erementar Gerad (OP) : Good techno opening, classic Savage Genius style. A good song and a good quality version at that. Singer's english isn't on the level that some of the other cross-lingual vocalists posses, but it doesn't bother me in the least.
6) Kuniyoshi Chiemi - Genki wo Dashite (3:57). BECK (Insert Song) : This song is lovely. It's all about the getting to be cheerful and happy. Not very bass heavy unlike most of the previous songs (I am a Bass player, you tend to notice these things), but still easily one of my favorite songs when I'm feeling down.
7) Akino - Go Tight! (4:43). Sousei no Aquarion (OP 2) : The anime isn't actually fansubbed far enough for me to have heard this song from it, though I have seen it raw. It's a lively song, good pairing after Genki wo Dashite (despite the fact that I tend to play these CDs on Random, and that I didn't plan the order of any of them). There's some really wonderful vocalizing done on this song.
8) ???? - Hachimitsu [Honey] (3:07). Honey & Clover (Insert Song) : Actually a male singer which is a departure from the previous 3 songs (the other 4 before that are 3 males and an instrumental). Just another one of the more melody heavy songs like most of the rest of the CD (excepting Asterisk).
9) Beat Crusaders - Hit in the USA (2:59). Beck (OP) : A rock song which is generally fairly unique for an anime opening, but then again Beck is a fairly unique anime. High energy and mangled english, I enjoy it (almost a redundant thing to say given that I chose to burn it, but hey, gotta fill space somehow).
10) Melocure - Home & Aawy (4:29). My wife is a magical girl (OP. I guess I could have given the Japanese name in English rather than the translation, but I decided not to) : Again on the lighter side of the musical spectrum. It's again on the slower side of the pacing, but that's not a bad thing. It has a see-saw effect going with alot of the lines, which I enjoy overly much (by see-saw I mean it oscillates the emphasis and pitch between syllables).
11) Younha - Houki Boshi (3:17). Bleach (ED 3) : I've seen this girl perform a few times now, mostly blaming Jiaz for these but not complaining. All I have to say is damn does she bang on that piano of hers. Rock sock, first on this disc to have piano in it. High energy, fast paced, and one I could probably sing along with fairly well (Despite not speaking the language, not bad eh?).
12) ???? - Koi no Mahou (3:57). Maburaho (OP) : Maburaho was a pretty awful anime. Like the sort you inflict on bitter enemies sort of anime. That said, I still think it was pretty cute, the opening especially. Again high energy and fairly fast spoken words though not quite as fun without the accompanying visuals (or the pre-OP sequence for that matter).
13) The Stripes - Loosey (3:57). Bakuretsu Tenshi (OP) : I'm honestly thankful that this song made it though Geneon's translations without being re-edited to be English, but then again I think that fact can mostly be attributed to the fact that no one is really 100% what the hell it is the singer is singing for a good quarter+ worth of the song. The Stripes like to have tap-dancing as part of their songs (see Theme of the Stripes below for a better example), it's pretty damn cool actually, if a bit odd the first time.
14) Tatsuhisa Suzuki - Myself (3:32). Tide-Line Blue ED Single (The other song on the single) : To be honest I think I like the first 12 seconds of this song more than any of the rest of it. It starts of with fun Synth melodies. The rest of the song is above average, but it's really my enjoyment of various little synth or rock-solo parts of the song that keep me coming back to it.
15) Savage Genius - Omoi wo Kanadete (3:34). Uta Kata (OP. And no I am not going to bother with the mutated Mobius that should be between those two words) : Savage Genius has very pretty openings to their songs and a very pretty and high singing voice; this song definately showcases that. It's a lively song with slower parts in between the instrumental riffs. It's a fairly pretty anime, could I ever bring myself to watch the last 12 episodes (out of 13).
16) (FORCE OF NATURE - Nujabes - fat jon) - The Million Way of Drum (2:48). Samurai Champloo (BGM) : Complete instrumental with drum focus (shocking right?) used for tense fights in the anime. As a stand alone song it runs kind of long without any real innovation, nearly 3 minutes without a whole lot of varience. Still good for a break from all the actually sung songs on the disc.
17) The Stripes - Theme of the Stripes (4:06). Bakuretsu Tenshi (OP Single Alt Song) : Song goes for about a minute of instrumental before the song actually gets some words and that's not bad at all. It's a rock-rap styled song, nearly constant in the lyrics with a fun chorus in it.
18) Rie Fu - Voice (3:56). Bleach (OP 1 Single Alt Song) : Rie Fu has really impressive capability with the English Language and this is a pleasant showcase of that. The guitar to go along with the song really finished the equation nicely.
19) Suneohair - Waltz (4:53). Honey & Clover (ED 1) : Once you've seen the animation accompanying the ending you'll be hard pressed not to think of spinning objects as you listen, not that that's a bad thing. It's a male singer again (as was the Stripes) but he sings fairly high up in the octaves, which matches the synth vibrophone musical accompanyment. Long song, but fun all the way.
20) Chihiro Yonekura - Yakusoku no Basho e (4:29). Kaleido Star (OP 2) : Just like Myself, the punch of this song comes at the start, but it's still a fun listen.
Meh, didn't turn out to be the commentary of written that I'd really wanted, probably shorten future disc listings down to shorter commentary (No, "I like it" commentary as well hopefully). Oh well, if you bother reading though it let me know how you'd prefer the future stuff done (Commentary or sans?) or drop me a line if I've got something you'd like to hear, I've got a fairly wide means of dissemination at my disposal.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?
Me: Oh yay...they're using the industrial wood-chipper downstairs...
Kyle: Hahahaha
Kyle: and chipping steel?
Me: Nah, doesn't sound like steel, more crushing than metal on metal grinding.
Me: Definately louder than it would be were it a human (excluding screams) though.
In other news, I really hate this gimp school keyboard, really really really hate it.
Oh well, finished forging signatures, time to actually get things done with the forged signatures. Oddly, it's not much more tranquil when I have no one to do work for...
Kyle: Hahahaha
Kyle: and chipping steel?
Me: Nah, doesn't sound like steel, more crushing than metal on metal grinding.
Me: Definately louder than it would be were it a human (excluding screams) though.
In other news, I really hate this gimp school keyboard, really really really hate it.
Oh well, finished forging signatures, time to actually get things done with the forged signatures. Oddly, it's not much more tranquil when I have no one to do work for...
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Just another week of school left...
...and hopefully I'll get some more content back on my own forsaken space of the internet.
"Always acknowledge a fault frankly. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you opportunity to commit more."
"Always acknowledge a fault frankly. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you opportunity to commit more."
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Blitz news
Asgard's being Reformatted, he's needed it for awhile. I look to it as an adventure, since I intentionally elected not to save any of my bookmarks, the grand search will be on to resurrect what I have put behind me, especially the array of webcomics. I think I'll switch over to a David-paradigm system for them, but more on that later.
X-Box is still the least reliable system on the console market. Microsoft truly are pros at the having things lock up on my, grats guys, grats (not!). But more on that later as well.
Finished reading Real Life's first book. I'm not an especially large Real Life fan, but I do like comic commentary, nice to see the thought that goes into things. Partially Clips does a really nice job with commentary.
Woo. 9 days until Atelier Iris which I think I've convinced myself to buy despite what I think might be a very contrived merging of systems. And one month to Makai Kingdom, I don't think I can bring myself to not call it Phantom Kingdom though. Well, hopefully those two will tide me long enough for a game with real graphics (I love NIS's art, simplicity and all, but the point stands) to come about (Read, I need KH2 to come out, that's the goal).
Only Jiaz would really even come to understand this, but a mere 11 days until Erementar Gerad is released in Japan...frightening.
More later, sleep now.
X-Box is still the least reliable system on the console market. Microsoft truly are pros at the having things lock up on my, grats guys, grats (not!). But more on that later as well.
Finished reading Real Life's first book. I'm not an especially large Real Life fan, but I do like comic commentary, nice to see the thought that goes into things. Partially Clips does a really nice job with commentary.
Woo. 9 days until Atelier Iris which I think I've convinced myself to buy despite what I think might be a very contrived merging of systems. And one month to Makai Kingdom, I don't think I can bring myself to not call it Phantom Kingdom though. Well, hopefully those two will tide me long enough for a game with real graphics (I love NIS's art, simplicity and all, but the point stands) to come about (Read, I need KH2 to come out, that's the goal).
Only Jiaz would really even come to understand this, but a mere 11 days until Erementar Gerad is released in Japan...frightening.
More later, sleep now.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
I'm around...
...just very very busy. Summer school is just full of scholastic goodness. I'll get content to places when the time rolls around. Until then. Well, I've got nothing, go read a webcomic or something.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Lucas has failed me.
I was originally planning to talk over several topics of the weekend. Namely X-2 (the movie), but I've blogged that in the past, and my feelings are pretty much the same as before: interesting storyline that is independant of the comics yet preserves the feelings of all the characters with festive extras, Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap (Man oh man is this game cute, and it's different. No Bow/Boomerag/Bombs/etc. from the first dungeon, I got a Suck Jar ... how fitting), Mercenaries (It seems that LucasArts LTD doesn't suck quite as much as LucasFilms LTD, but this one is far from perfect as well), but all those are minor points not worth taking from vital sleeping time when set aside Episode 3.
So, I saw Episode 3 today. Relative to everything I had heard before I saw it, I have to say that Lucas's film is decidedly heavy-handed in favor of males (Padme is the only one with any lines) and it does do a good job of setting up the next 3 movies (though I have some issues, those will be addressed later) but what David says rings truest. There is more time spent in the movie that is set to music than there is to dialog or combat.
The opening is alright. There's mere 3 paragraphs of text at the episode opening, which feels alot smaller than usual (didn't bother to compare it to the previous ones) and the space fight is alot smaller of a scale than I would have liked. We focus almost entirely on the two Type-zero (I call all the base model's Type-zeroes, though I'm sure some nerd can tell me their official name) A-Wing's piloted by our two main Jedi. Certainly there are explosions and other things around them, but primarily they are the focus and it's really a wasted time that could be spent better in grand-scale combat / eye-candy rather than a show of whatever extra kinds of droids they could pull out (Vulture Droids, those little gremlin droid things). The Type-zero X-Wings were nice to see, as were most of the other familiar ships involved in the brief moments of the fight.
I won't go moment by moment here, mostly because I don't really recall everything and I'm certain I'd overlook something, so I'll speak in generalities regarding the movie and it's characters.
The movie in general plays the art card way too heavily. Too often I found myself wanting something, anything to actually occur. Originally I thought that the problem with the movies was Lucas's crappy attempts at a love story and JarJar, however it turns out that the real issue at hand was the sweeping landscape views. Yes, those are nice, but when 50% of the movie is devoted to artbook moments I begin to lose patience. From the preview I thought the movie was going to redeem the series, it was actions and emotion and no JarJar. Instead I found myself longing for JarJar to speak (I cannot believe I said that), because then I'd at least have some dialog and some sort of action. As things stood most of the fights were either shown starting or the ending mopping up, but no real substance to any of them, and it was very disappointing. The betrayl/execution of the Jedi was poignant and awesome, but other than that the movie really lacked much of anything, the climactic moment being ruined by crappy characters. Even the new creatures and machines got at least partial looks over them in dramatic fashion (Obi Wan's mount especially), a kind of attention the Rancor or the Sarlac never got, and, honestly, never really needed.
Mace Windu sucked. I waited 3 movies for Samuel L. Jackson to do something, anything, and instead he seemed to be the fuel to Anakin's fire of rebellion. He was neither encouraging nor mentoring, but left to abject detactment for no particular reason. He was unimpressive in the scope of his few combat appearances throughout the trilogy.
Palpatine is evil and insidious, but he feels sort of meager at times. His feigns and schemes and revelations seem poorly timed, as if he were a really good evil mastermind, just really shitty about carrying through his plans precisely. Such as everything he tells Anakin about the Jedi tends to be a warning against something that Palpatine has done or has Anakin do already. His temptations unto Anakin are nicely done though, as are his arguements.
R2-D2 gets more screen time that I expected, and I'm not really certain what the point of that was. Certainly he's a usable humor/plot device, moving elevators and opening doors, but I don't think that his fight scenes were really necessary or very good. It seemed like the (not-very) comedic relief role of JarJar was passed onto R2-D2 in a demeaning fashion.
Yes, the fourth, fifth, and sixth movies are set up, but there's a few things that stand as bothersome. While the first two of these movies were obviously aimed at the new generation of viewers (having very little attachement to the previous trilogy (4, 5, 6)) this movie attempted to woo back former fans while maintaining the new fanbase, and falls short on both deals. The name-dropping and hints at the events of the original movies is decent, but brings up plot conflicts and confusion. The seperation of the events stands to aggrevate the problem further as the people and places seem to be there for no reason other than being there.
Specific issues I hold, most of which you could maybe overlook if you tried hard enough. Warning, this part contains Spoilers:
Obviously the movies are still meant to be watched 4 5 6 1 2 3, else Darth Vader's revelation to Luke is really spoiled and ruined.
1) Yes, Chewbacca is introduced, but why? From his relation to Han it doesn't seem like he's any sort of Wookie Nobility or really of any special note to his people. Further, his appear does nothing to secure his connection to Han, nor his connection to any place close to where Han conducts business.
2) While it is nice to have all the vehicles and soldiers set up and foreshadowed, I don't see how so much of the Empire's Technology can fall away in time for the future movies. Obviously this is nitpicky, as these are the modern series, concocted with far more resources than the original trilogy, but it seems a bit sad that the Clone Army's division and ranks and commands and massive array of vehicles will be reduced to carbon copy, rankless, inaccurate, thoughtless Stormtroopers with ATATs ATSTs Tie's (which don't really make a prominent show) Speeders and Swoops and little else.
3) The Death Star (already a full circle) is a compelling throwaway allusion at the end, but honestly, it feels like a plot hole. Leia is barely born, not nearly of age to be stealing the plans for an in-construction Death Star. If the first one takes them 18 years with the full resources of a newly forged Empire (roughly how old Luke and Leia are in A New Hope, being generous) then how come the second one takes about half a year to be constructed?
4) Is Wedge Antilles (or is it Biggs who is Antilles...) really that much older than Luke? Seems unlikely.
Well, that's all I really can summon forth from memory at this point in time. So, I close by saying that if you asked my favorite of the 6, I'd still say Empire Strikes Back. If you asked my favorite of the latest 3, I'd say it is a contest between the first and the second as far as which sucks less (excessive JarJar/Gungins/stupidity vs. badly written love-angst)
In other news, Chronicles of Narnia is going to be an excellent movie.
So, I saw Episode 3 today. Relative to everything I had heard before I saw it, I have to say that Lucas's film is decidedly heavy-handed in favor of males (Padme is the only one with any lines) and it does do a good job of setting up the next 3 movies (though I have some issues, those will be addressed later) but what David says rings truest. There is more time spent in the movie that is set to music than there is to dialog or combat.
The opening is alright. There's mere 3 paragraphs of text at the episode opening, which feels alot smaller than usual (didn't bother to compare it to the previous ones) and the space fight is alot smaller of a scale than I would have liked. We focus almost entirely on the two Type-zero (I call all the base model's Type-zeroes, though I'm sure some nerd can tell me their official name) A-Wing's piloted by our two main Jedi. Certainly there are explosions and other things around them, but primarily they are the focus and it's really a wasted time that could be spent better in grand-scale combat / eye-candy rather than a show of whatever extra kinds of droids they could pull out (Vulture Droids, those little gremlin droid things). The Type-zero X-Wings were nice to see, as were most of the other familiar ships involved in the brief moments of the fight.
I won't go moment by moment here, mostly because I don't really recall everything and I'm certain I'd overlook something, so I'll speak in generalities regarding the movie and it's characters.
The movie in general plays the art card way too heavily. Too often I found myself wanting something, anything to actually occur. Originally I thought that the problem with the movies was Lucas's crappy attempts at a love story and JarJar, however it turns out that the real issue at hand was the sweeping landscape views. Yes, those are nice, but when 50% of the movie is devoted to artbook moments I begin to lose patience. From the preview I thought the movie was going to redeem the series, it was actions and emotion and no JarJar. Instead I found myself longing for JarJar to speak (I cannot believe I said that), because then I'd at least have some dialog and some sort of action. As things stood most of the fights were either shown starting or the ending mopping up, but no real substance to any of them, and it was very disappointing. The betrayl/execution of the Jedi was poignant and awesome, but other than that the movie really lacked much of anything, the climactic moment being ruined by crappy characters. Even the new creatures and machines got at least partial looks over them in dramatic fashion (Obi Wan's mount especially), a kind of attention the Rancor or the Sarlac never got, and, honestly, never really needed.
Mace Windu sucked. I waited 3 movies for Samuel L. Jackson to do something, anything, and instead he seemed to be the fuel to Anakin's fire of rebellion. He was neither encouraging nor mentoring, but left to abject detactment for no particular reason. He was unimpressive in the scope of his few combat appearances throughout the trilogy.
Palpatine is evil and insidious, but he feels sort of meager at times. His feigns and schemes and revelations seem poorly timed, as if he were a really good evil mastermind, just really shitty about carrying through his plans precisely. Such as everything he tells Anakin about the Jedi tends to be a warning against something that Palpatine has done or has Anakin do already. His temptations unto Anakin are nicely done though, as are his arguements.
R2-D2 gets more screen time that I expected, and I'm not really certain what the point of that was. Certainly he's a usable humor/plot device, moving elevators and opening doors, but I don't think that his fight scenes were really necessary or very good. It seemed like the (not-very) comedic relief role of JarJar was passed onto R2-D2 in a demeaning fashion.
Yes, the fourth, fifth, and sixth movies are set up, but there's a few things that stand as bothersome. While the first two of these movies were obviously aimed at the new generation of viewers (having very little attachement to the previous trilogy (4, 5, 6)) this movie attempted to woo back former fans while maintaining the new fanbase, and falls short on both deals. The name-dropping and hints at the events of the original movies is decent, but brings up plot conflicts and confusion. The seperation of the events stands to aggrevate the problem further as the people and places seem to be there for no reason other than being there.
Specific issues I hold, most of which you could maybe overlook if you tried hard enough. Warning, this part contains Spoilers:
Obviously the movies are still meant to be watched 4 5 6 1 2 3, else Darth Vader's revelation to Luke is really spoiled and ruined.
1) Yes, Chewbacca is introduced, but why? From his relation to Han it doesn't seem like he's any sort of Wookie Nobility or really of any special note to his people. Further, his appear does nothing to secure his connection to Han, nor his connection to any place close to where Han conducts business.
2) While it is nice to have all the vehicles and soldiers set up and foreshadowed, I don't see how so much of the Empire's Technology can fall away in time for the future movies. Obviously this is nitpicky, as these are the modern series, concocted with far more resources than the original trilogy, but it seems a bit sad that the Clone Army's division and ranks and commands and massive array of vehicles will be reduced to carbon copy, rankless, inaccurate, thoughtless Stormtroopers with ATATs ATSTs Tie's (which don't really make a prominent show) Speeders and Swoops and little else.
3) The Death Star (already a full circle) is a compelling throwaway allusion at the end, but honestly, it feels like a plot hole. Leia is barely born, not nearly of age to be stealing the plans for an in-construction Death Star. If the first one takes them 18 years with the full resources of a newly forged Empire (roughly how old Luke and Leia are in A New Hope, being generous) then how come the second one takes about half a year to be constructed?
4) Is Wedge Antilles (or is it Biggs who is Antilles...) really that much older than Luke? Seems unlikely.
Well, that's all I really can summon forth from memory at this point in time. So, I close by saying that if you asked my favorite of the 6, I'd still say Empire Strikes Back. If you asked my favorite of the latest 3, I'd say it is a contest between the first and the second as far as which sucks less (excessive JarJar/Gungins/stupidity vs. badly written love-angst)
In other news, Chronicles of Narnia is going to be an excellent movie.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Aggregate Blogging
Yeah, so I've managed to make myself busy (well, Physics played a role, but I think that ultimately it's easier to point the finger at myself) so I've just jotted a few quick notes to cover the intermission and lay down here, hopefully in some substance.
Saam, Sean W., Anna, and Charbak can be added to the list of people that demonstrate that Summer isn't really any less crowded than a typical semester.
My ECE professor isn't really getting any less odd these days. Making remarks such as:
"You all had recitation yesterday, did they teach you real kung fu?" or "It's hard to explain some of these things sometimes. I wish this was like the Matrix where we could all just jack in and I could think it to you, and you'd be all like 'I know DSP Kung Fu!' and I'd be like 'Show me' and we'd go into the room." and the ever popular, while running out of the room at the start of class to get something he forget really quick "Today's topic: the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy nor Roman nor an empire" and yes, it did grammatically bother me, but that another story.
So, Working at MechE hasn't been too bad, I haven't figured out a way to get them to buy me a Laptop yet (they've got the budget, I've seen bits and pieces of it) but they have shown me that Technology really will destroy mankind. And no, I don't mean all the complicated devices they have for actual Mechanical Engineering, I just mean the stupid Copier of death. Not an official title, but this thing was being a royal pain the other day. It was inverting copies (I put in 8"x11" vertically, it prints lengthwise. I invert the paper to be lengthwise, it prints vertically). It jammed every time I tried to feed it a copy through the top, and not only did it jam, it jammed hardcore (5 jams, only 3 of which were real, off of 4 pieces of paper). That said, I've been forced on several occasions to get creative due to the lack of available materials. The room lacks Staplers, Staple Removers, and Paperclips though I chalk this up to theft rather than lack of supplies, but it makes things interesting as I often resort two the pair of straight knives (they really aren't quite letter openers, but I think that might've been the original purpose for them). It's interesting to watch I imagine, me with a pair of long blades operating on the various machinery (I actually disassembled a three-hole punch the other day to get it working).
Relating back to the family festivities of David's Graduation, this was truely an event to make those of the Orient ear's bleed. What do I mean by this you may ask? Quite simple really. Somehow the movie Shaolin Soccer was brought to topicality and discussed. Suffice to say, having a group of grandparents in late 80s and early 90s raised in England and North of the Mason-Dixon Line, trying to pronounce Shaolin is truely an assailment on ones ears. This disturbance across cultural barriers was later compounded by Ian pronouncing (terribly I might add) the credits to Tales of Symphonia.
I'm worried about this Physics test mostly because of the Professor's response when asked if the test was roughly the same length as the tests of other years. After replying that he really hadn't checked, and probably should have, he added, "If the class were only an hour long I feel that I could give the test and while it would be about the right length, many of you would still be here when it ended. However the class is 70 minutes long." Yeah, inspiring, not.
I dragged Jason home to give blood, cause he was foolish enough to actually accept the offer, showed him Interstella 5555 (which I'd also watched the weekend before, but it's fun so no complaints on my part) and had him subjected to both Settlers of Catan Expansion and the grandparents. Giving blood wasn't quite up to par this time around. While the nurse asking questions was lively enough to have some fun with, the actual blood drawing nurse (I bet they have technical titles for those jobs, hell if I know them) wasn't quite so good at it. My needle torqued, which didn't actually cause pain, but it made my flow incredibly reduced and I spent a good deal of time waiting for the blood-bag to fill. They'd gotten a new set of questions on the forms, updated about a week after the last time I'd given, and I had a good deal of fun discussing the possible reasons for the changes as well as why the Red Cross's latest order of plastic gloves apparently had been placed for Purple Colored gloves (yes, they really were, like a deep purple). As far as question changes, gender specific quests now had an opt out for members of the other gender (Ie, Woman no longer fill in the "No" bubble when asked if are a man who has had sex with another man since 1976, but rather fills in a "I am a Woman" bubble), a military personal question was added, and the thing was overall made easier on the nurse to read (the names of drugs being produced on a handout rather than said, and countries of danger reduced to general areas which would be followed up with specifics if needed).
During the last time the family ordered Chinese, Ian's fortune cookie read "Support Literacy, Buy a box of Fortune Cookies."
I was originally going to say something about the decent gas mileage of the CRV and how I'd gone the whole week close to low fuel without actually hitting it, however the little yellow light I rarely see did pop on as I was pulling into the parking deck on Friday morning (which took place on the 27 despite what one of the higher ups at MechE might want me to believe). However, since I'm on the topic of cars, I developped (well, I had these, but didn't really ever have to deal with them) two pet peeves to other drivers. The first being those who sit at a green turn light too long (twice I was made to wait until the light had turned yellow before they finally wised up to the world around them and went, and once only becaue honking was done), the other is specific to the Apartment. It's a gated community, and there are a few people whose specific ailment, be it chronic retardation, blatent unobserveration, or ass-hole-ic nature compells them to disregard the location where you are to place your card key to open the gate and instead roll right up to the gate and sit there. It's quite annoying for now I have to trigger the gate twice if I wish to get in, once to get them out of the way, and once to keep the gate open so I can pass. Annoying as all-get-out.
And, to end on a note of general randomness I draw from the Horoscope from Creative Loafing, placed adjacent to Tiny Sepuku (which can be read online here and includes cute ones like this and this just to choose two really fast. Anyways, here goes:
Horoscope for May 12-18:
(Caution: Information in this horoscope contains references to exotic sexual practices. If you might be offended, stop reading now. I present this material to you because you are in a heightened state of arousal, both physically and metaphysically, and could benefit from outrageous provocations as you rethink your approach to intimate acts of love.) The ladybird beetle copulates for up to nine hours at a time, and males may have three 90-minute orgasms in one session. Bonobo apes are not obsessed with orgasm, but have frequent erotic exchanges of every variety, from intercourse to mutual masturbation to oral sex; homosexual contact is common. The male sponge louse disguises himself as a female to aid his seduction strategies. As soon as praying matises begin coitus, the female bites off the male's head and eats it; sex continues, however. Slime mold comes in 500 genders and at 13 of these have to collaborate to have a sucessful mating session.
Just to think, someone had to research all the information, and some scientests had to have discovered that. Though it leaves you wondering, how exact does a species have 500 genders, and exactly how is that supposed to be an inspiritation to rethinking a approach to initimate acts of love?
Saam, Sean W., Anna, and Charbak can be added to the list of people that demonstrate that Summer isn't really any less crowded than a typical semester.
My ECE professor isn't really getting any less odd these days. Making remarks such as:
"You all had recitation yesterday, did they teach you real kung fu?" or "It's hard to explain some of these things sometimes. I wish this was like the Matrix where we could all just jack in and I could think it to you, and you'd be all like 'I know DSP Kung Fu!' and I'd be like 'Show me' and we'd go into the room." and the ever popular, while running out of the room at the start of class to get something he forget really quick "Today's topic: the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy nor Roman nor an empire" and yes, it did grammatically bother me, but that another story.
So, Working at MechE hasn't been too bad, I haven't figured out a way to get them to buy me a Laptop yet (they've got the budget, I've seen bits and pieces of it) but they have shown me that Technology really will destroy mankind. And no, I don't mean all the complicated devices they have for actual Mechanical Engineering, I just mean the stupid Copier of death. Not an official title, but this thing was being a royal pain the other day. It was inverting copies (I put in 8"x11" vertically, it prints lengthwise. I invert the paper to be lengthwise, it prints vertically). It jammed every time I tried to feed it a copy through the top, and not only did it jam, it jammed hardcore (5 jams, only 3 of which were real, off of 4 pieces of paper). That said, I've been forced on several occasions to get creative due to the lack of available materials. The room lacks Staplers, Staple Removers, and Paperclips though I chalk this up to theft rather than lack of supplies, but it makes things interesting as I often resort two the pair of straight knives (they really aren't quite letter openers, but I think that might've been the original purpose for them). It's interesting to watch I imagine, me with a pair of long blades operating on the various machinery (I actually disassembled a three-hole punch the other day to get it working).
Relating back to the family festivities of David's Graduation, this was truely an event to make those of the Orient ear's bleed. What do I mean by this you may ask? Quite simple really. Somehow the movie Shaolin Soccer was brought to topicality and discussed. Suffice to say, having a group of grandparents in late 80s and early 90s raised in England and North of the Mason-Dixon Line, trying to pronounce Shaolin is truely an assailment on ones ears. This disturbance across cultural barriers was later compounded by Ian pronouncing (terribly I might add) the credits to Tales of Symphonia.
I'm worried about this Physics test mostly because of the Professor's response when asked if the test was roughly the same length as the tests of other years. After replying that he really hadn't checked, and probably should have, he added, "If the class were only an hour long I feel that I could give the test and while it would be about the right length, many of you would still be here when it ended. However the class is 70 minutes long." Yeah, inspiring, not.
I dragged Jason home to give blood, cause he was foolish enough to actually accept the offer, showed him Interstella 5555 (which I'd also watched the weekend before, but it's fun so no complaints on my part) and had him subjected to both Settlers of Catan Expansion and the grandparents. Giving blood wasn't quite up to par this time around. While the nurse asking questions was lively enough to have some fun with, the actual blood drawing nurse (I bet they have technical titles for those jobs, hell if I know them) wasn't quite so good at it. My needle torqued, which didn't actually cause pain, but it made my flow incredibly reduced and I spent a good deal of time waiting for the blood-bag to fill. They'd gotten a new set of questions on the forms, updated about a week after the last time I'd given, and I had a good deal of fun discussing the possible reasons for the changes as well as why the Red Cross's latest order of plastic gloves apparently had been placed for Purple Colored gloves (yes, they really were, like a deep purple). As far as question changes, gender specific quests now had an opt out for members of the other gender (Ie, Woman no longer fill in the "No" bubble when asked if are a man who has had sex with another man since 1976, but rather fills in a "I am a Woman" bubble), a military personal question was added, and the thing was overall made easier on the nurse to read (the names of drugs being produced on a handout rather than said, and countries of danger reduced to general areas which would be followed up with specifics if needed).
During the last time the family ordered Chinese, Ian's fortune cookie read "Support Literacy, Buy a box of Fortune Cookies."
I was originally going to say something about the decent gas mileage of the CRV and how I'd gone the whole week close to low fuel without actually hitting it, however the little yellow light I rarely see did pop on as I was pulling into the parking deck on Friday morning (which took place on the 27 despite what one of the higher ups at MechE might want me to believe). However, since I'm on the topic of cars, I developped (well, I had these, but didn't really ever have to deal with them) two pet peeves to other drivers. The first being those who sit at a green turn light too long (twice I was made to wait until the light had turned yellow before they finally wised up to the world around them and went, and once only becaue honking was done), the other is specific to the Apartment. It's a gated community, and there are a few people whose specific ailment, be it chronic retardation, blatent unobserveration, or ass-hole-ic nature compells them to disregard the location where you are to place your card key to open the gate and instead roll right up to the gate and sit there. It's quite annoying for now I have to trigger the gate twice if I wish to get in, once to get them out of the way, and once to keep the gate open so I can pass. Annoying as all-get-out.
And, to end on a note of general randomness I draw from the Horoscope from Creative Loafing, placed adjacent to Tiny Sepuku (which can be read online here and includes cute ones like this and this just to choose two really fast. Anyways, here goes:
Horoscope for May 12-18:
(Caution: Information in this horoscope contains references to exotic sexual practices. If you might be offended, stop reading now. I present this material to you because you are in a heightened state of arousal, both physically and metaphysically, and could benefit from outrageous provocations as you rethink your approach to intimate acts of love.) The ladybird beetle copulates for up to nine hours at a time, and males may have three 90-minute orgasms in one session. Bonobo apes are not obsessed with orgasm, but have frequent erotic exchanges of every variety, from intercourse to mutual masturbation to oral sex; homosexual contact is common. The male sponge louse disguises himself as a female to aid his seduction strategies. As soon as praying matises begin coitus, the female bites off the male's head and eats it; sex continues, however. Slime mold comes in 500 genders and at 13 of these have to collaborate to have a sucessful mating session.
Just to think, someone had to research all the information, and some scientests had to have discovered that. Though it leaves you wondering, how exact does a species have 500 genders, and exactly how is that supposed to be an inspiritation to rethinking a approach to initimate acts of love?
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Extra notes
A few random tidbits of things to toss out, there are more to be said than I'm saying, but at 1:30, after being up the better part of 17 hours, I'm not really running at full speed.
Watched episode 2 of Samurai Champloo on Adult Swim. Dub isn't terrible, Fu's a pretty common voice among America's far less extensive VA pool of talent.
NIS will be releasing Atelier (Alchemy-themed RPG, 6th in a series, 1st US release (I think)) come the end of June and Phantom Kingdom (or Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome if you want to get technical (good lord, why does the main character appear to turn into a book?)) sometime in mid July.
For those who were wondering who specifically I meant by most everyone still seems to be at Tech, I've so far encountered Gena, Tim, Alex, Jiaz*, Kyle*, Christen*, Jason, Nathan, Clara, Victoria, and Sean*. Anyone marked with the * means I've seen their vehicle as well as them, though admittedly I don't know half of the un-*'d people's vehicles anyways.
Well, that's all I've got, I'm of to bed.
Watched episode 2 of Samurai Champloo on Adult Swim. Dub isn't terrible, Fu's a pretty common voice among America's far less extensive VA pool of talent.
NIS will be releasing Atelier (Alchemy-themed RPG, 6th in a series, 1st US release (I think)) come the end of June and Phantom Kingdom (or Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome if you want to get technical (good lord, why does the main character appear to turn into a book?)) sometime in mid July.
For those who were wondering who specifically I meant by most everyone still seems to be at Tech, I've so far encountered Gena, Tim, Alex, Jiaz*, Kyle*, Christen*, Jason, Nathan, Clara, Victoria, and Sean*. Anyone marked with the * means I've seen their vehicle as well as them, though admittedly I don't know half of the un-*'d people's vehicles anyways.
Well, that's all I've got, I'm of to bed.
Saturday makes the week...
So I'm at home today in recoignition of David's graduation. Mind you, I didn't actually attend, the 6 tickets were utilized by parents, grandparents, and a girlfriend, I was the home director of festivities (Very much a made up on the spot title just now). Basically I cleaned up the house and ordered the pizza (more on that later), but the true tale of the party begins yesterday.
I had all of one mission to accomplish before the party, well, before Saturday started that's all I had, the list exploded exponentially on Saturday, but that's a bit further on. Either way, this mission was the sucessful retrieval of an Oreo Cheesecake from Micks, which is located in Lenox, which is near the apartment. So, I made my way to Micks, which took a bit more guesswork than I would have liked because I forgot where it was (for those keeping score at home, it's right next to the California Pizza Kitchen). So, I get there and ask the seating guy what I should do if I'm there to pick up a cheesecake, he directs me to the bar, tells me to ask there. So, I go in, and the following conversation is had:
Me: "I'm here to pick up a cheesecake."
Bartender: "A cheesecake to go?"
"Yes, an Oreo Cheesecake."
"I don't see any takeout orders on the list."
"Hmm, that can't be right."
"So, did you just need a slice of Oreo Cheesecake?"
"No, an entire cheesecake."
"An order like that would take...wait, did you call in earlier?"
"Yes, the order was placed yesterday."
"Alright, let me check."
At this point she gets the manager of the place, who, after an exploration of the back, discovers that they do indeed have a complete Oreo Cheesecake in the back. He goes to get things together, discovers they don't actually have any cake takeout boxes, proceeds to wrap in it saran wrap with circular cardboard protection (a valid way to do things, just less elegant). Elapsed time, about 15-20 minutes. So I take my precious cake and head home.
Important detail one, my bed at the apartment is my bed from home.
Important detail two, we don't have a guest bed in my house.
This means I slept on the sofa, not for the first time, but I definately prefer a nice bed.
I get up fairly early (8:30 ish), hard not to with everyone else being awake already and proceed to get into my cleaning and such. I even shaved, mostly because it's getting to be a hassle to have to wait on the Food Court employees to decide that my Student ID does probably look like what I'd look like without the facial hair. Then I get a phone call. Kyle's car battery is dead, and he'd like either a ride or a jump, I figure I've got the cables, and can provide a ride should that fail. Jiaz o course won't be up for a good 4-5 more hours. So I drive down to the apartment, we mutually discover that jumping is not sucessful (for the record, Dead's Positive, Live's Positive, Live's Negative, Grounded (usually Dead's engine block) is the proper way to jump) so I just give him a ride back to his house and then to work. I go home, spend a meager amount of time discovering how the starting levels of Guild Wars are since Ian had finially relinquished his grasp on the computer. I'll talk about my limited experience with the game later. So, then I head out to get some pizza's because it's about time for graduation to be ending and the relatives to be showing up. So I head over and order 4 large pepperoni, 1 large cheese, 3 large sausage, and 1 giant anchovy and black olives. Manager's new hire is pretty bumbling, much to the annoyance of the manager, but my order does eventually get completed, along with the 3 large greek salads I needed, and I somehow manage to maneuver all of that out to my car in one go; quite the sight to see I'd imagine. Get home and have a get together with relatives. David will be going to Oxford @ Emory, just to quell everyone who's going to be asking me. Conversations within the relatives tend to get very stream of consciousness at times, it's pretty interesting to deal with, scary to outsiders though, how everything just kinda flows along in conversation. Meal finishes, most of the relatives move on to other places, the remainder plans a few hands of cancelation hearts (I lose, not by a huge margin, but a loss is a loss). David's glad to have all the pomp and circumstance behind him so we go play a few rounds of Halo II online, I do rather well for once, several fall before our combined might. Ian has all this time retained his death grip on the computer. I boot up Tales of Symphonia and plunge a bit closer to the end, find inceasing amounts of dialog and dialog and steadily decreasing actual gameplay, FFX-esce anti-game game trance sets in (play FFX, you'll understand). Ian eventually gives up the computer, I play a bit more of Guild Wars, find that I've missed talking to a few people online, check anime releases.
Father takes over the computer for online D&D, I resume Tales of Symphonia. The last two hours of the game contained all of 5 fights, 3 laughably easy, 1 nice and challenging, and one that perhaps would have been challenging had I not elected to take a party of fast hitting characters rather than a mix of spellcasters and melee. Last 2 hours also contained about 3 or 4 anime-drawn cutscenes. The game as a whole contains 2 more than that, if you count the opening of the game as one. I'll maybe mess with the New Game+ features another weekend when I have a few hours to spare of less than prime online time.
But yeah, that's been my weekend so far. Tomorrow looks to be finally getting a piece of Random Curiosity as well as misc Physics work and bookkeeping on my part.
I had all of one mission to accomplish before the party, well, before Saturday started that's all I had, the list exploded exponentially on Saturday, but that's a bit further on. Either way, this mission was the sucessful retrieval of an Oreo Cheesecake from Micks, which is located in Lenox, which is near the apartment. So, I made my way to Micks, which took a bit more guesswork than I would have liked because I forgot where it was (for those keeping score at home, it's right next to the California Pizza Kitchen). So, I get there and ask the seating guy what I should do if I'm there to pick up a cheesecake, he directs me to the bar, tells me to ask there. So, I go in, and the following conversation is had:
Me: "I'm here to pick up a cheesecake."
Bartender: "A cheesecake to go?"
"Yes, an Oreo Cheesecake."
"I don't see any takeout orders on the list."
"Hmm, that can't be right."
"So, did you just need a slice of Oreo Cheesecake?"
"No, an entire cheesecake."
"An order like that would take...wait, did you call in earlier?"
"Yes, the order was placed yesterday."
"Alright, let me check."
At this point she gets the manager of the place, who, after an exploration of the back, discovers that they do indeed have a complete Oreo Cheesecake in the back. He goes to get things together, discovers they don't actually have any cake takeout boxes, proceeds to wrap in it saran wrap with circular cardboard protection (a valid way to do things, just less elegant). Elapsed time, about 15-20 minutes. So I take my precious cake and head home.
Important detail one, my bed at the apartment is my bed from home.
Important detail two, we don't have a guest bed in my house.
This means I slept on the sofa, not for the first time, but I definately prefer a nice bed.
I get up fairly early (8:30 ish), hard not to with everyone else being awake already and proceed to get into my cleaning and such. I even shaved, mostly because it's getting to be a hassle to have to wait on the Food Court employees to decide that my Student ID does probably look like what I'd look like without the facial hair. Then I get a phone call. Kyle's car battery is dead, and he'd like either a ride or a jump, I figure I've got the cables, and can provide a ride should that fail. Jiaz o course won't be up for a good 4-5 more hours. So I drive down to the apartment, we mutually discover that jumping is not sucessful (for the record, Dead's Positive, Live's Positive, Live's Negative, Grounded (usually Dead's engine block) is the proper way to jump) so I just give him a ride back to his house and then to work. I go home, spend a meager amount of time discovering how the starting levels of Guild Wars are since Ian had finially relinquished his grasp on the computer. I'll talk about my limited experience with the game later. So, then I head out to get some pizza's because it's about time for graduation to be ending and the relatives to be showing up. So I head over and order 4 large pepperoni, 1 large cheese, 3 large sausage, and 1 giant anchovy and black olives. Manager's new hire is pretty bumbling, much to the annoyance of the manager, but my order does eventually get completed, along with the 3 large greek salads I needed, and I somehow manage to maneuver all of that out to my car in one go; quite the sight to see I'd imagine. Get home and have a get together with relatives. David will be going to Oxford @ Emory, just to quell everyone who's going to be asking me. Conversations within the relatives tend to get very stream of consciousness at times, it's pretty interesting to deal with, scary to outsiders though, how everything just kinda flows along in conversation. Meal finishes, most of the relatives move on to other places, the remainder plans a few hands of cancelation hearts (I lose, not by a huge margin, but a loss is a loss). David's glad to have all the pomp and circumstance behind him so we go play a few rounds of Halo II online, I do rather well for once, several fall before our combined might. Ian has all this time retained his death grip on the computer. I boot up Tales of Symphonia and plunge a bit closer to the end, find inceasing amounts of dialog and dialog and steadily decreasing actual gameplay, FFX-esce anti-game game trance sets in (play FFX, you'll understand). Ian eventually gives up the computer, I play a bit more of Guild Wars, find that I've missed talking to a few people online, check anime releases.
Father takes over the computer for online D&D, I resume Tales of Symphonia. The last two hours of the game contained all of 5 fights, 3 laughably easy, 1 nice and challenging, and one that perhaps would have been challenging had I not elected to take a party of fast hitting characters rather than a mix of spellcasters and melee. Last 2 hours also contained about 3 or 4 anime-drawn cutscenes. The game as a whole contains 2 more than that, if you count the opening of the game as one. I'll maybe mess with the New Game+ features another weekend when I have a few hours to spare of less than prime online time.
But yeah, that's been my weekend so far. Tomorrow looks to be finally getting a piece of Random Curiosity as well as misc Physics work and bookkeeping on my part.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Well, I'm here
Even if my internet connection isn't always, hazards of the place I guess, nothing major, just an annoyance, but I'll get over it at some point. As usual, I really need to shave, but other parts of school life and moving in have taken major priority, so that'll be something I'll hopefully take care of soon, lest I have to kill a fresh blade entirely in one go.
After lunch today I had about an hour to burn so I went to my standard kill-an-hour-on-campus spot, the Music Listening Room. Turns out they've had a DDR machine added since the last time I was there. I feel that it is very fitting. Listened to Daft Punk's album Homework, still the only Daft Punk the MLR has on tap, but it's a good CD so no complaints here. Put me in an Interstella 5555 mood though. The lights on the volume control for my headset flashed in time to the music, which was fun to watch.
Anyways, a few quotes from my various Professors of this year and last, just for general amusement purposes.
Physics 2111, the second time:
* "Now if [he moves the center of rotation of a sphere to a line that doesn't pass through the center] you as students have a pretty justified case for child abuse. So no, that won't be on the final."
* Prof: "Alright, everyone get out your PRS's"
Student: "PRS is the highlight of my day."
Prof: "PRS is a big fucking pain in the ass."
-A few minutes later-
Prof: "I hope no one is recording this, there's only so much that tenure can save you from.
ECE 2025 (also the second time I guess, though I withdrew the first time, so not really retaking):
* "Saying Shit into an early synthesizer and listening to it play it's demo song with that /7 Shit shit, shit shit shit /7, that was the pinnacle of humor at age 13. I'm trying to cuss less in lecture."
* "The Math and Physics people make fun of us for using j instead of i, but we make more money then them."
My ECE Recit prof (I'm going to enjoy this).
* Comes in and starts up his computer while lowering the screen and turning on the projector. "Windows '95 on my Pentium 1 Laptop, it'll be a minute."
* Drawing a sample sinusoidal wave, "Now let's say that this is graph of... Ameobia Lifespans in Alaska."
* "Nothing happens instantaneously, nothing lasts forever, well, unless you're in the math department, but we have to build things that actually work."
* After drawing a Frequency against Amplitude Spectrum and declaring that it was an Impulse Graph, "Now I know those of you who've been in higher level math are going 'Oh no, Impulse graph, infinately tall, infinately thin' but this is ECE, so just pretend that it's merely really really tall and really really thin."
* Prof: "Has anyone taken any of the higher level ECE courses yet?"
Me: "Does it count if I took this before and dropped it?"
Prof: "Shh...don't scare the rest of them like that."
* As he tries out and throws away 3 dry erase markers, "When you all graduate and become rich, I want you to send me lots and lots of markers."
* "Can something ever be totally quiet? Abraham Lincoln's speeches are still floating around out there somewhere, but they've lost so much energy over time that things like grass growing and century old hurricanes drown them out."
* Continuing in the same topic as the above. "You can sit in one of [room with padded ceiling, floor, and walls to absorb noise] and you'll still hear this 'ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump'. The sound of your blood flowing. And if you shift you'll hear all your clothes rustle. Drive yourself crazy really fast."
Alright, time for me to get some sleep so I can be up for work. Hopefully I find some time to make a mark on Jiaz's Random Curiosity with some of the anime I was finally able to get after buying my 100' ethernet cable (and yes, I needed most of that to reach the router). Well, I wish myself luck, lots to do tomorrow. All my classes plus getting a cake and heading home for David's Graduation on Saturday.
Hope everyone else is having fun these days, for a summer semester there's still alot of people I know around campus.
Song of the moment,
Hazel Fernandez - Number One (Vocal Version)
off the Bleach OST.
After lunch today I had about an hour to burn so I went to my standard kill-an-hour-on-campus spot, the Music Listening Room. Turns out they've had a DDR machine added since the last time I was there. I feel that it is very fitting. Listened to Daft Punk's album Homework, still the only Daft Punk the MLR has on tap, but it's a good CD so no complaints here. Put me in an Interstella 5555 mood though. The lights on the volume control for my headset flashed in time to the music, which was fun to watch.
Anyways, a few quotes from my various Professors of this year and last, just for general amusement purposes.
Physics 2111, the second time:
* "Now if [he moves the center of rotation of a sphere to a line that doesn't pass through the center] you as students have a pretty justified case for child abuse. So no, that won't be on the final."
* Prof: "Alright, everyone get out your PRS's"
Student: "PRS is the highlight of my day."
Prof: "PRS is a big fucking pain in the ass."
-A few minutes later-
Prof: "I hope no one is recording this, there's only so much that tenure can save you from.
ECE 2025 (also the second time I guess, though I withdrew the first time, so not really retaking):
* "Saying Shit into an early synthesizer and listening to it play it's demo song with that /7 Shit shit, shit shit shit /7, that was the pinnacle of humor at age 13. I'm trying to cuss less in lecture."
* "The Math and Physics people make fun of us for using j instead of i, but we make more money then them."
My ECE Recit prof (I'm going to enjoy this).
* Comes in and starts up his computer while lowering the screen and turning on the projector. "Windows '95 on my Pentium 1 Laptop, it'll be a minute."
* Drawing a sample sinusoidal wave, "Now let's say that this is graph of... Ameobia Lifespans in Alaska."
* "Nothing happens instantaneously, nothing lasts forever, well, unless you're in the math department, but we have to build things that actually work."
* After drawing a Frequency against Amplitude Spectrum and declaring that it was an Impulse Graph, "Now I know those of you who've been in higher level math are going 'Oh no, Impulse graph, infinately tall, infinately thin' but this is ECE, so just pretend that it's merely really really tall and really really thin."
* Prof: "Has anyone taken any of the higher level ECE courses yet?"
Me: "Does it count if I took this before and dropped it?"
Prof: "Shh...don't scare the rest of them like that."
* As he tries out and throws away 3 dry erase markers, "When you all graduate and become rich, I want you to send me lots and lots of markers."
* "Can something ever be totally quiet? Abraham Lincoln's speeches are still floating around out there somewhere, but they've lost so much energy over time that things like grass growing and century old hurricanes drown them out."
* Continuing in the same topic as the above. "You can sit in one of [room with padded ceiling, floor, and walls to absorb noise] and you'll still hear this 'ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump'. The sound of your blood flowing. And if you shift you'll hear all your clothes rustle. Drive yourself crazy really fast."
Alright, time for me to get some sleep so I can be up for work. Hopefully I find some time to make a mark on Jiaz's Random Curiosity with some of the anime I was finally able to get after buying my 100' ethernet cable (and yes, I needed most of that to reach the router). Well, I wish myself luck, lots to do tomorrow. All my classes plus getting a cake and heading home for David's Graduation on Saturday.
Hope everyone else is having fun these days, for a summer semester there's still alot of people I know around campus.
Song of the moment,
Hazel Fernandez - Number One (Vocal Version)
off the Bleach OST.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Round two of the GameFAQs Spring Villain Battle
This keyboard does not have a functioning left Ctrl key, it's starting to bother me. Anyways, let's see how well my guesses were.
Quick link to the stats from last round here.
So, I made three mistakes. I underestimated Devil May Cry's fanbase and, as usual, I expected more out of Final Fantasy and less out of Sonic. And of course I figured there'd be more Suikoden support, but that is not the case.
Those mistakes aside, the next round is now set.
Round 2:
Battle 1
Bowser vs. Sigma
Should probably be a landslide of a victory. While Megaman has cool villains and everything, Bowser will take this round, Dr. Wily stands a much better chance than Sigma.
Battle 2
Revolver Ocelot vs. Dr. Wiley
I think Megaman's main foe might be just strong enough to edge out a victory over the gunman who was foolish enough to be possessed by a regrafted hand. Then again, there is strong support for both sides so it will be close, but my bet is on the Dr.
Battle 3:
Sephiroth vs. Vergil
Well, I was wrong to think that Vergil wouldn't get this far, that was my mistake, but he's not going any further. No question, no contest.
Battle 4:
Lavos vs. Liquid Snake
Again, this will likely be a fairly close battle and I'm not certain that Lavos will prevail over a better Metal Gear Solid character who manages to live on even after death, but I'm thinking that since Lavos should have the support of most of the RPG and specifically Final Fantasy fanbase he could manage to win this one.
Battle 5:
Kefka vs. Wesker
I take back all the bad things I said about Wesker last time. Yes, he is far behind the scenes, but he also has a hand in practically everthing occurs in all of the Resident Evils 1 through 4, and he does alot of pretty damn villainous things. Not nearly on a Kefka scale, but still pretty villainous.
Battle 6:
M.Bison vs. Diablo
It's sad to say that I think that Diablo is the underdog suprise of the contest, but I was expecting that. I think that Diablo has enough undercurrent support to be a strong part of the contest. With that said I could concieve of the only Fighting Game character evil enough to be considered a Villain taking him down, but for now my support is on Diablo's massive PC fanbase which should give him the edge in a mostly console contest.
Battle 7:
Ganondorf vs. Ansem
Ansem doesn't play a very massive role in the first Kingdom Hearts and really hasn't made his presence known in the GBA continuation. I'm glad he made it two Round two and I'm hoping for big things out of the second game, but either way he's going to be crushed this round. Ganondorf is bigger, better, badder, and has the Smash Brothers background to seal his total victory.
Battle 8:
Robotnik vs. Master Hand
Obviously I'm doing this on a revised basis, my actual entry for the contest has Sin picked to win this fight, but that's not going to happen. I'm quite proud of Master Hand for proving me right that a presence in Smash Brothers is superior to a presence in a very poorly done Final Fantasy game, though Kuja was fairly evil, if not very able to express it. Sonic fans will again carry this one through in what should be a crushing victory.
Quick link to the stats from last round here.
So, I made three mistakes. I underestimated Devil May Cry's fanbase and, as usual, I expected more out of Final Fantasy and less out of Sonic. And of course I figured there'd be more Suikoden support, but that is not the case.
Those mistakes aside, the next round is now set.
Round 2:
Battle 1
Bowser vs. Sigma
Should probably be a landslide of a victory. While Megaman has cool villains and everything, Bowser will take this round, Dr. Wily stands a much better chance than Sigma.
Battle 2
Revolver Ocelot vs. Dr. Wiley
I think Megaman's main foe might be just strong enough to edge out a victory over the gunman who was foolish enough to be possessed by a regrafted hand. Then again, there is strong support for both sides so it will be close, but my bet is on the Dr.
Battle 3:
Sephiroth vs. Vergil
Well, I was wrong to think that Vergil wouldn't get this far, that was my mistake, but he's not going any further. No question, no contest.
Battle 4:
Lavos vs. Liquid Snake
Again, this will likely be a fairly close battle and I'm not certain that Lavos will prevail over a better Metal Gear Solid character who manages to live on even after death, but I'm thinking that since Lavos should have the support of most of the RPG and specifically Final Fantasy fanbase he could manage to win this one.
Battle 5:
Kefka vs. Wesker
I take back all the bad things I said about Wesker last time. Yes, he is far behind the scenes, but he also has a hand in practically everthing occurs in all of the Resident Evils 1 through 4, and he does alot of pretty damn villainous things. Not nearly on a Kefka scale, but still pretty villainous.
Battle 6:
M.Bison vs. Diablo
It's sad to say that I think that Diablo is the underdog suprise of the contest, but I was expecting that. I think that Diablo has enough undercurrent support to be a strong part of the contest. With that said I could concieve of the only Fighting Game character evil enough to be considered a Villain taking him down, but for now my support is on Diablo's massive PC fanbase which should give him the edge in a mostly console contest.
Battle 7:
Ganondorf vs. Ansem
Ansem doesn't play a very massive role in the first Kingdom Hearts and really hasn't made his presence known in the GBA continuation. I'm glad he made it two Round two and I'm hoping for big things out of the second game, but either way he's going to be crushed this round. Ganondorf is bigger, better, badder, and has the Smash Brothers background to seal his total victory.
Battle 8:
Robotnik vs. Master Hand
Obviously I'm doing this on a revised basis, my actual entry for the contest has Sin picked to win this fight, but that's not going to happen. I'm quite proud of Master Hand for proving me right that a presence in Smash Brothers is superior to a presence in a very poorly done Final Fantasy game, though Kuja was fairly evil, if not very able to express it. Sonic fans will again carry this one through in what should be a crushing victory.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Overlooked
You know, it was Friday the Thirteeth two days ago? Really missed that one. I'm so not chronologically with it.
Still doing stuff other than moving in
Well, just a few quick notes to toss out to make it look like I'm keeping this alive.
Found this page while surfing Gatech's Parking site while at work, note the charts at the bottom and who's the "loser" as far as pricing is concerned. Now we see why D'Oraz bikes.
Also, just watched Appleseed, DVD Special Edition. Wow, and I thought Air was pretty, spectacular effects, nice plot twists, and of course a good strong moral similar to MGS 2's ending moral. Speaking of MGS, the latest VGCats is an absolute fantastic read. Alright, more later, I think I might need to actually finish packing stuff, like Asgard, now.
Found this page while surfing Gatech's Parking site while at work, note the charts at the bottom and who's the "loser" as far as pricing is concerned. Now we see why D'Oraz bikes.
Also, just watched Appleseed, DVD Special Edition. Wow, and I thought Air was pretty, spectacular effects, nice plot twists, and of course a good strong moral similar to MGS 2's ending moral. Speaking of MGS, the latest VGCats is an absolute fantastic read. Alright, more later, I think I might need to actually finish packing stuff, like Asgard, now.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Just to aggrivate every English Teacher I've ever had...
I'll be covering myriad topics today, catching up on everything and all.
I'll get a run down of how well my predictions (which don't necessarily coincide with my actual entry) for the GameFAQs battle worked out as soon as the first round ends.
So, here's a little something to just ponder, it is an actual question that comprised the entirity of an employment application, and the answer that got the job is interesting.
"You're driving along on a dark, rainy night when you pass by a bus stop where you see 3 people waiting:
The first is an elderly woman who is quite sick and will certainly die if she is not taken to a hospital.
The second is your best friend who once saved you life.
The third is the perfect lover of your dreams.
So, who do you take with you in your car knowing that you can only take one of them (Note, don't even think about bending this rule). Do you save the old woman's life? What about your best friend who once saved your life? You may never meet your perfect mate again."
I'll leave the answer that was chosen for the end of all my rambling, but I would like to point out that it seems like the Best Friend is just setup to be shafted in this whole deal, a shame.
Well, Spring Semester is over, so no more will I be in Uzer's Physics class, no more T-shirts with Math is Hard or I Make Stuff Up, I somehow doubt my Physics II professor will be interesting.
For once I don't have a little handwritten note of all the events that need retelling, or not retelling as might be the case with my threat to use Jason's shower. My rage over the annoying David @ the Apt place has pretty much subsided now that all the stupid forms are in the past, hopefully it'll be some good times.
Actually I think I'll leave the winning answer to the question above for later, just as incentive to do a bit more blogging when I actually make it home, and am a bit more focused.
I'll get a run down of how well my predictions (which don't necessarily coincide with my actual entry) for the GameFAQs battle worked out as soon as the first round ends.
So, here's a little something to just ponder, it is an actual question that comprised the entirity of an employment application, and the answer that got the job is interesting.
"You're driving along on a dark, rainy night when you pass by a bus stop where you see 3 people waiting:
The first is an elderly woman who is quite sick and will certainly die if she is not taken to a hospital.
The second is your best friend who once saved you life.
The third is the perfect lover of your dreams.
So, who do you take with you in your car knowing that you can only take one of them (Note, don't even think about bending this rule). Do you save the old woman's life? What about your best friend who once saved your life? You may never meet your perfect mate again."
I'll leave the answer that was chosen for the end of all my rambling, but I would like to point out that it seems like the Best Friend is just setup to be shafted in this whole deal, a shame.
Well, Spring Semester is over, so no more will I be in Uzer's Physics class, no more T-shirts with Math is Hard or I Make Stuff Up, I somehow doubt my Physics II professor will be interesting.
For once I don't have a little handwritten note of all the events that need retelling, or not retelling as might be the case with my threat to use Jason's shower. My rage over the annoying David @ the Apt place has pretty much subsided now that all the stupid forms are in the past, hopefully it'll be some good times.
Actually I think I'll leave the winning answer to the question above for later, just as incentive to do a bit more blogging when I actually make it home, and am a bit more focused.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Hodgepodge Events
A variety of news and stories from the past few days, subtitled for distiction as needed.
Deadly with unconventional weapons
So, today I managed to cause abrasive damage to the point of bringing forth blood twice. Now, of the following categories:
A) Attempting to hold two large gatorade bottles by the tops in one hand.
B) Losing control of an undersized flathead screwdriver while trying to change the blade of a box cutter so already loosely sealed that the spare blades slide out of it in random intervals and locations.
C) Carrying a stack of flat cardboard box patterns.
It makes no sense but is complete truth that only A and C actually got me cut.
When it rains it pours
Well, Housing is a place for of Bastards these days it appears. Since our Shower began to leak (profusely when used), Housing has been by on several occasions, well, twice so far, and has failed to be able to find either a leak or a cause. Now, the cause I concede might not be the easiest thing in the world to find, but when they run the water and I can come back to find the floor soggy, I begin to question the basic axioms that support my reality. Either way. This past Friday, Kyle took a shower at their request, basically to give them evidence of a leak. So, of course, to alleviate that marshland scent, I opened my window to give the room some fresh aid. We went out for lunch down at the Student Center, and I didn't give it another thought. Well, lunch was alright, perhaps the pizza was a bit on the liquidated cheese side of the spectrum, but that's alright, it's above par for Woodruff anyways. Well, upon our leaving the Student Center the sky decided that Jiaz, Kyle, and I looked far dryer than it really intended, and promptly opened with a torrent of rain so severe my Technique dissolved in my hands. Well, upon our more than damp return, I discovered that the wind's direction of choice was not condusive to my choice to open the window. So yes, wet floor, wet room, and wet me; very much not a good thing, but a little rain never killed anyone who wasn't a witch to begin with and Asgard doesn't seem to have exploded as a result, so I guess everything's okay.
In other news
David's Psych book has today informed us that the definition of health is no longer "The slowest rate at which a person can die." It didn't tell us what the new definition is, but we found the point interesting nonetheless.
Deadly with unconventional weapons
So, today I managed to cause abrasive damage to the point of bringing forth blood twice. Now, of the following categories:
A) Attempting to hold two large gatorade bottles by the tops in one hand.
B) Losing control of an undersized flathead screwdriver while trying to change the blade of a box cutter so already loosely sealed that the spare blades slide out of it in random intervals and locations.
C) Carrying a stack of flat cardboard box patterns.
It makes no sense but is complete truth that only A and C actually got me cut.
When it rains it pours
Well, Housing is a place for of Bastards these days it appears. Since our Shower began to leak (profusely when used), Housing has been by on several occasions, well, twice so far, and has failed to be able to find either a leak or a cause. Now, the cause I concede might not be the easiest thing in the world to find, but when they run the water and I can come back to find the floor soggy, I begin to question the basic axioms that support my reality. Either way. This past Friday, Kyle took a shower at their request, basically to give them evidence of a leak. So, of course, to alleviate that marshland scent, I opened my window to give the room some fresh aid. We went out for lunch down at the Student Center, and I didn't give it another thought. Well, lunch was alright, perhaps the pizza was a bit on the liquidated cheese side of the spectrum, but that's alright, it's above par for Woodruff anyways. Well, upon our leaving the Student Center the sky decided that Jiaz, Kyle, and I looked far dryer than it really intended, and promptly opened with a torrent of rain so severe my Technique dissolved in my hands. Well, upon our more than damp return, I discovered that the wind's direction of choice was not condusive to my choice to open the window. So yes, wet floor, wet room, and wet me; very much not a good thing, but a little rain never killed anyone who wasn't a witch to begin with and Asgard doesn't seem to have exploded as a result, so I guess everything's okay.
In other news
David's Psych book has today informed us that the definition of health is no longer "The slowest rate at which a person can die." It didn't tell us what the new definition is, but we found the point interesting nonetheless.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Clearing my notes
I really must admit that my Winamp playlist is sort of intimidating, I mean, especially in how terribly formatted/identified some of the songs are. Suprisingly long average song length, I was thinking the eyecatches would've knocked that down a bit, but I guess there's a bit of balance against the few 10+ minute songs. Having 5.3 days worth of music on one playlist does seem a bit excessive though, perhaps I should import all of Stepmania a well, just to see what that would do.
So, family and I have finially reached disc two of Tales of Symphonia, just a little under 40 hours of gameplay.
I'll get to editing in some more here later. Gotta sort out Registration and Parking decisions for the time being.
So, family and I have finially reached disc two of Tales of Symphonia, just a little under 40 hours of gameplay.
I'll get to editing in some more here later. Gotta sort out Registration and Parking decisions for the time being.
Friday, April 15, 2005
GameFAQs Spring Character Battle
So, we have the Battle of the Villains, meet your contestants here. Anyway, my thoughts on the matter, welcoming discourse as usual.
First matter is to realize that the quality of a villain is not really any indicator of how far they'll go in this contest, it really is nothing more than a big old popularity contest.
With that in mind, past contest results look like this. 2004 2003 2002
Format-
Battle Number
Villain vs Villain (winner in bold)
Reasons for choice
Battle 1
Bowser vs. Pyramid Head
Hands down, no comfrontation.
Battle 2
Sigma vs. Andross
Megaman > Starfox, especially when Starfox just has a big floating head. I mean, at least Sigma has a human form leading into his big floating head stage.
Battle 3
Revolver Ocelot vs. Nemesis
Really, Nemesis is a pushover. Sure, he harasses you, he chases you around, but he just don't pack the same punch. It's a split call because it's a similar genre pairing off he bat, but I think the master of the gun is better than the trenchcoated mutant with a one word phrase.
Battle 4
Dr. Wily vs. Ultros
Hard call, Ultros isn't really a major villain, but he recurrs majorly, and he's a Final Fantasy character, however I think the man responsible for terrors such as a robot with the power to launch snakes takes the cake in this pairing.
Battle 5
Sephiroth vs. Ramirez
No contest. I don't really like Sephiroth, but he's got cool music and he's never failed to finish in the top 10 of any prior contest. That and I bet there's no users out there with Ramirez in leet with numbers attached on the GameFAQs boards.
Battle 6
Vergil vs. Ghaleon
I hope Ghaleon wins. I mean, Devil May Cry wasn't very good off that bat, and although I didn't play the third, I don't really see it being redeemed. Ghaleon on the other hand, was quintessential evil, plain and simple.
Battle 7
Lavos vs. Mother Brain
Hard call. Both Samus and Chrono do remarkably well in all the previous battles, however I think that Lavos, destroyer of worlds has a bit more a kick than the big medulla oblongata in a jar.
Battle 8
Liquid Snake vs. Officer Tenpenny
I don't think you can really call any GTA character a villain, and while the game was cool, Tenpenny isn't really what I ever consider worth a vote in a contest like this.
Battle 9
Kefka vs. Mithos
On a scale of evils, Mithos is pretty damn evil, like insidiously evil. He's not Lord Yggrasil, who bound two worlds together in competition for existence because he could, but he's pretty damn evil. Kefka on the other hand, blows him out of the water. In addition to be irredeemably evil to the point of slaughtering innocents and practically destroying the world, he's a multiform boss battle via an interesting system and a Final Fantasy Character, and remarkably popular in prior contests at that.
Battle 10
Luca Blight vs. Wesker
Luca's evil on a Kefka level of evilness and I think Wesker's just a bit too far behind the scenes in most Resident Evils to win big on this one, but I'm pretty iffy on the matter.
Battle 11
Albedo vs. M. Bison
I don't really think a villain can come from a fighting game, but I don't think Xenosaga has the same reach as Street Fighter, so I've got odds on the Psycho Crusher man. Plus, Albedo was always a non-serious fight (letting you get blows, talking to you), M Bison always just kicked your butt and laughed.
Battle 12
Ridley vs. Diablo
I just don't think one can underestimate the power of Diablo's far reaching fanbase, even if you are the coolest Metroid villain ever, especially better than the immobile mother brain.
Battle 13
Ganondorf vs. Giygas
Okay, Earthbound is cool and all, but it doesn't really stand a chance against much anything else on this list, especially not Ganondorf, who's standing as a serious Link villain and as a powerful addition to Super Smash Bros Melee, just whoops up some serious butt.
Battle 14
Ansem vs. CATS
I'm overturning my initial thoughts on the matter. The all your base is a far reaching effect, CATS historically just doesn't really make it past the first round, sure we like the phrase, but it's not worth our vote. That and Ansem shares a game with Sephiroth.
Battle 15
Dr. Robotnik vs. Sin
It's a hard call. I vote Sin because he's a final fantasy character. However it's in my nature to sell Sonic short. I could see Robotnik going through this round and the next if the fans come out in force. Honestly there are better choices than Sin out of FF-X that would've fared much better.
Battle 16
Kuja vs. Master Hand
This battle should just rot. I hate Kuja, I refuse to acknowledge FFIX as a FF game, and Master Hand is not in the least a villainous character, but he's definately harder to beat. So for those reasons (hating Kuja and Master Hand being a bit of a toughie at times) I give this to Master Hand, however, whoever does take it, they're not getting past the next round.
I won't get into further rounds on speculative voicing though I suspect Boswer Sephiroth Kefka/Diablo and Ganondorf will be the final four, with Seph taking down Ganon for the final win.
On a more personal level of opinion, I'm quite disappointed in some of the characters omitted, especially Magus of Chrono Trigger, who, while able to convert, was pretty damn good at being bad.
First matter is to realize that the quality of a villain is not really any indicator of how far they'll go in this contest, it really is nothing more than a big old popularity contest.
With that in mind, past contest results look like this. 2004 2003 2002
Format-
Battle Number
Villain vs Villain (winner in bold)
Reasons for choice
Battle 1
Bowser vs. Pyramid Head
Hands down, no comfrontation.
Battle 2
Sigma vs. Andross
Megaman > Starfox, especially when Starfox just has a big floating head. I mean, at least Sigma has a human form leading into his big floating head stage.
Battle 3
Revolver Ocelot vs. Nemesis
Really, Nemesis is a pushover. Sure, he harasses you, he chases you around, but he just don't pack the same punch. It's a split call because it's a similar genre pairing off he bat, but I think the master of the gun is better than the trenchcoated mutant with a one word phrase.
Battle 4
Dr. Wily vs. Ultros
Hard call, Ultros isn't really a major villain, but he recurrs majorly, and he's a Final Fantasy character, however I think the man responsible for terrors such as a robot with the power to launch snakes takes the cake in this pairing.
Battle 5
Sephiroth vs. Ramirez
No contest. I don't really like Sephiroth, but he's got cool music and he's never failed to finish in the top 10 of any prior contest. That and I bet there's no users out there with Ramirez in leet with numbers attached on the GameFAQs boards.
Battle 6
Vergil vs. Ghaleon
I hope Ghaleon wins. I mean, Devil May Cry wasn't very good off that bat, and although I didn't play the third, I don't really see it being redeemed. Ghaleon on the other hand, was quintessential evil, plain and simple.
Battle 7
Lavos vs. Mother Brain
Hard call. Both Samus and Chrono do remarkably well in all the previous battles, however I think that Lavos, destroyer of worlds has a bit more a kick than the big medulla oblongata in a jar.
Battle 8
Liquid Snake vs. Officer Tenpenny
I don't think you can really call any GTA character a villain, and while the game was cool, Tenpenny isn't really what I ever consider worth a vote in a contest like this.
Battle 9
Kefka vs. Mithos
On a scale of evils, Mithos is pretty damn evil, like insidiously evil. He's not Lord Yggrasil, who bound two worlds together in competition for existence because he could, but he's pretty damn evil. Kefka on the other hand, blows him out of the water. In addition to be irredeemably evil to the point of slaughtering innocents and practically destroying the world, he's a multiform boss battle via an interesting system and a Final Fantasy Character, and remarkably popular in prior contests at that.
Battle 10
Luca Blight vs. Wesker
Luca's evil on a Kefka level of evilness and I think Wesker's just a bit too far behind the scenes in most Resident Evils to win big on this one, but I'm pretty iffy on the matter.
Battle 11
Albedo vs. M. Bison
I don't really think a villain can come from a fighting game, but I don't think Xenosaga has the same reach as Street Fighter, so I've got odds on the Psycho Crusher man. Plus, Albedo was always a non-serious fight (letting you get blows, talking to you), M Bison always just kicked your butt and laughed.
Battle 12
Ridley vs. Diablo
I just don't think one can underestimate the power of Diablo's far reaching fanbase, even if you are the coolest Metroid villain ever, especially better than the immobile mother brain.
Battle 13
Ganondorf vs. Giygas
Okay, Earthbound is cool and all, but it doesn't really stand a chance against much anything else on this list, especially not Ganondorf, who's standing as a serious Link villain and as a powerful addition to Super Smash Bros Melee, just whoops up some serious butt.
Battle 14
Ansem vs. CATS
I'm overturning my initial thoughts on the matter. The all your base is a far reaching effect, CATS historically just doesn't really make it past the first round, sure we like the phrase, but it's not worth our vote. That and Ansem shares a game with Sephiroth.
Battle 15
Dr. Robotnik vs. Sin
It's a hard call. I vote Sin because he's a final fantasy character. However it's in my nature to sell Sonic short. I could see Robotnik going through this round and the next if the fans come out in force. Honestly there are better choices than Sin out of FF-X that would've fared much better.
Battle 16
Kuja vs. Master Hand
This battle should just rot. I hate Kuja, I refuse to acknowledge FFIX as a FF game, and Master Hand is not in the least a villainous character, but he's definately harder to beat. So for those reasons (hating Kuja and Master Hand being a bit of a toughie at times) I give this to Master Hand, however, whoever does take it, they're not getting past the next round.
I won't get into further rounds on speculative voicing though I suspect Boswer Sephiroth Kefka/Diablo and Ganondorf will be the final four, with Seph taking down Ganon for the final win.
On a more personal level of opinion, I'm quite disappointed in some of the characters omitted, especially Magus of Chrono Trigger, who, while able to convert, was pretty damn good at being bad.
Friday, March 25, 2005
Last 5 CD's listened to in my car:
Eve 6 - Horrorscope (You have to admit, it's a great album title)
Appleseed OST
Widespread Panic - Ain't Life Grand
Ima Robot's self titled album
They Might be Giants - Apollo 18
Last 3 games bought:
Phantom Brave
La Pucelle Tactics
Disgaea
(Noticing the trend?)
Last 3 games gifted to me:
Unreal Tournament 2k4 (Like I have 5.8 gigs to spare. I don't even have 200 megs at the moment)
Ratchet and Clack: Up Your Arsenal (100% completion to boot)
World of Warcraft (A whole set of stories in itself)
Latest dark indulgence:
Darth Mix M&Ms (Dark Chocolate Peanut M&Ms for those who aren't aware, Star Wars Episode 3 themed/inspired, if the name doesn't give that way.)
Yeah, there'll be substance later, after I can get equations of laminar flow in non-circular tubes cleared from my mind.
Eve 6 - Horrorscope (You have to admit, it's a great album title)
Appleseed OST
Widespread Panic - Ain't Life Grand
Ima Robot's self titled album
They Might be Giants - Apollo 18
Last 3 games bought:
Phantom Brave
La Pucelle Tactics
Disgaea
(Noticing the trend?)
Last 3 games gifted to me:
Unreal Tournament 2k4 (Like I have 5.8 gigs to spare. I don't even have 200 megs at the moment)
Ratchet and Clack: Up Your Arsenal (100% completion to boot)
World of Warcraft (A whole set of stories in itself)
Latest dark indulgence:
Darth Mix M&Ms (Dark Chocolate Peanut M&Ms for those who aren't aware, Star Wars Episode 3 themed/inspired, if the name doesn't give that way.)
Yeah, there'll be substance later, after I can get equations of laminar flow in non-circular tubes cleared from my mind.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Hopefully my immune system can hold.
So David caught a very nasty stomache bug, suffice to say my awakening today wasn't very present. Hopefully I won't be getting sick, but until it clears up, I guess I'll have to postpone a showing of Shaolin Soccer and/or The Incredibles. The former for knowing the roots of the Evil Team, the latter cause it's just cool.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Speaking of wanting intelligence, I could use some myself.
Okay, I really don't feel so bright. I've really got to start looking at the big picture before doing things these days. Seriously.
So, Kyle, Jiaz, and I laid down a deposit to secure a very nice 1500+ sq foot apartment 10 minutes from tech. A bit above $500 a month, which comes in at a fair bit less than what Jiaz and Kyle calculated Gatech's housing costs at some $620. So everything so be grand, right? Not quite, on several levels. Here's how it pans out.
First off the bat, that $500 covers, well, space, space and more space and some kitchen appliances. Nothing more. Tech furnishes sofas, a bed, a desk, a cabinet, a closet, as well as the kitchen stuff (for an apartment at least, though in the dorms the stuff's just communal). Sink's alot nicer, so's the fridge I guess, and the showers, so all pluses, but nothing that's super critical or anything. However, Tech also covers utilities. Okay, perhaps $130 total a month, so not enough to bring it up to the level of Tech still, we're still ahead, even factoring the gas of a 10 minute drive to campus rather than already being there (though if prices keep rising under the current administration this could definately change). I can get the furniture for the most part (probably minus a bed, I don't really want to move my desk either, or a table, but that's most of it I guess) and the community offers alot. Again technically not anything that Tech doesn't provide (pool, weight room, raquetball court). Parking's free, unlike at Tech however I'll likely need parking there as well so that my driving to campus amounts to something other than the boot getting attached to my CRV.
At this point I'd like to apologize in advance for spelling mistakes before I continue, I've had a major headache ever since traffic coming home and nothing's fixed it for me yet.
Alright, so so far things sound pretty good right? Saving a bit, pretty posh community, beer and skittles lifestyle right? Well, not quite. I don't know what to say about meals. Honestly at the 10-14 plans it's cheaper to eat at Woodruff than to furnish my own food, especially if I want to attempt the same level of variety and beverages. Well, alright, I can manage, just have to get a bit creative, force myself to cook with something besides the microwave perhaps, it'll be a learning experience, I guess. Learning that I suck at cooking perhaps, but I doubt that'll be the end sum of my attempts, I figure I can do well enough, if I push myself. Ah for the good old days of lovely enchilladas.
Alright, food's not really a big deal, I can just cut the savings from the inflated plans into buzz funds and dine on campus for lunch, decent variety and a passable value. What's the big kicker then? Simple. The per month cost of living at Tech is greater than the per month cost of living here, however, I wasn't planning to live at Tech this summer, when the lease starts. So, simple mathematics (and I've had way more than simple) will tell you that any number is greater than zero, alot greater. I've said this several times, innumerable times perhaps, but the way things work is often quite different in theory versus application for me, no matter what I try. Oh well, hopefully I'll have 3 jobs to juggle around which should account for it if it doesn't break me completely. *Cross fingers*
When I started the post 2 and a half hours ago I'd kinda planned another bash against my own intelligence for voting for Bush (and yes, I did, I admit it, and I regret it) but I'm not feeling up to it this evening, perhaps at another time.
However, Karma's not complete without a bit of balance, so: Anyone remember the Geogia High School Graduation Test? David had to take it. Included on the test was the following.
Anne held her stethoscope in her hands to warm it up for her patient. Anne is most likely a:
A) Secretary
B) Doctor
C) Farmer
D) Engineer
When David informed me of the question, I rationally pointed out that maybe 20% of Georgia High School students would be too stupid to know what a stethoscope was (I admit I'm too stupid to spell it on my first try, wanted to add extra letters), however he tactfully countered that you don't need to. The inclusion of the context clues "her patient" is more than enough to answer the question. Nothing but a Doctor has patients. So much for my line of thinking (and George W. Bush's purpoited No Child Left Behind program, but that's a story for another time).
Well, Happy World Water Day everyone. Hopefully the link works for someone, keeps timing out for me, but my net isn't as infailable as it is at Tech.
So, Kyle, Jiaz, and I laid down a deposit to secure a very nice 1500+ sq foot apartment 10 minutes from tech. A bit above $500 a month, which comes in at a fair bit less than what Jiaz and Kyle calculated Gatech's housing costs at some $620. So everything so be grand, right? Not quite, on several levels. Here's how it pans out.
First off the bat, that $500 covers, well, space, space and more space and some kitchen appliances. Nothing more. Tech furnishes sofas, a bed, a desk, a cabinet, a closet, as well as the kitchen stuff (for an apartment at least, though in the dorms the stuff's just communal). Sink's alot nicer, so's the fridge I guess, and the showers, so all pluses, but nothing that's super critical or anything. However, Tech also covers utilities. Okay, perhaps $130 total a month, so not enough to bring it up to the level of Tech still, we're still ahead, even factoring the gas of a 10 minute drive to campus rather than already being there (though if prices keep rising under the current administration this could definately change). I can get the furniture for the most part (probably minus a bed, I don't really want to move my desk either, or a table, but that's most of it I guess) and the community offers alot. Again technically not anything that Tech doesn't provide (pool, weight room, raquetball court). Parking's free, unlike at Tech however I'll likely need parking there as well so that my driving to campus amounts to something other than the boot getting attached to my CRV.
At this point I'd like to apologize in advance for spelling mistakes before I continue, I've had a major headache ever since traffic coming home and nothing's fixed it for me yet.
Alright, so so far things sound pretty good right? Saving a bit, pretty posh community, beer and skittles lifestyle right? Well, not quite. I don't know what to say about meals. Honestly at the 10-14 plans it's cheaper to eat at Woodruff than to furnish my own food, especially if I want to attempt the same level of variety and beverages. Well, alright, I can manage, just have to get a bit creative, force myself to cook with something besides the microwave perhaps, it'll be a learning experience, I guess. Learning that I suck at cooking perhaps, but I doubt that'll be the end sum of my attempts, I figure I can do well enough, if I push myself. Ah for the good old days of lovely enchilladas.
Alright, food's not really a big deal, I can just cut the savings from the inflated plans into buzz funds and dine on campus for lunch, decent variety and a passable value. What's the big kicker then? Simple. The per month cost of living at Tech is greater than the per month cost of living here, however, I wasn't planning to live at Tech this summer, when the lease starts. So, simple mathematics (and I've had way more than simple) will tell you that any number is greater than zero, alot greater. I've said this several times, innumerable times perhaps, but the way things work is often quite different in theory versus application for me, no matter what I try. Oh well, hopefully I'll have 3 jobs to juggle around which should account for it if it doesn't break me completely. *Cross fingers*
When I started the post 2 and a half hours ago I'd kinda planned another bash against my own intelligence for voting for Bush (and yes, I did, I admit it, and I regret it) but I'm not feeling up to it this evening, perhaps at another time.
However, Karma's not complete without a bit of balance, so: Anyone remember the Geogia High School Graduation Test? David had to take it. Included on the test was the following.
Anne held her stethoscope in her hands to warm it up for her patient. Anne is most likely a:
A) Secretary
B) Doctor
C) Farmer
D) Engineer
When David informed me of the question, I rationally pointed out that maybe 20% of Georgia High School students would be too stupid to know what a stethoscope was (I admit I'm too stupid to spell it on my first try, wanted to add extra letters), however he tactfully countered that you don't need to. The inclusion of the context clues "her patient" is more than enough to answer the question. Nothing but a Doctor has patients. So much for my line of thinking (and George W. Bush's purpoited No Child Left Behind program, but that's a story for another time).
Well, Happy World Water Day everyone. Hopefully the link works for someone, keeps timing out for me, but my net isn't as infailable as it is at Tech.
All I want is some intelligence...
Alright, so David borrowed Tales of Symphonia from a friend so I booted it up for about 2 hours today. Interesting game, I wish the damn skits had voices too them. Works like Tales of Destiny II from the Playstation if anyone remembers that one. The game is quaint, nice in its allowance of multiplayer, but not exactly bright. You start off with a 3 character party, quickly advanced to 4. So of course we jumped in David and Ian. Then it dropped back to two pretty swiftly, but Ian had bedtime anyways so we just unplugged the controller and moved on. Then it fell to one for awhile and David went to bed, so again I just dropped the controller and moved on. Turns out, that although there wasn't even a viable controller attached, the game left them in Manual mode and doesn't give me the option to swap modes mid-combat. In short because of the games own shortsightedness, I fought a rather nasty boss fight sans half my party who were merely standing in place doing nothing. My other major gripe is the Z axis. Like most games, there's a 3-d element to battles. Unlike Tales of Destiny where you had merely a forwards/backwards and an up/down, this game also has a z-axis, or relative depth. Unfortunately for you as the player, your selected target designates your z-axis, the direct line between you and them. What this means is that you cannot deal with the surronding enemies without changing targets repeatly. Logically you'd divide targets to avoid this in a full group, but even still, easier said than done, as such acts quickly bog down the pace of combat. I imagine that higher levels will eventually grant me more sweeping abilities to strike across the Z-axis rather than merely the X-axis, but that remains to be seen.
In other news, ingrown toenails are a major pain, good lord I didn't realize that they hurt quite so much.
The low res trailer released by Gonzo for Speed Grapher seems interesting, if way too low res. I can somewhat make out what's going on, but i've got to say, that was a damn tiny (size, not length, though that wasn't too great either) video.
Oh well, I ought to be sleeping, apartments to look at tomorrow, and they tell me I'm driving, so I'll have a report on that when I get back. Fortunately we have neither a pet nor an AnthroPC to worry about, so there shouldn't be any special complications with our search.
In other news, ingrown toenails are a major pain, good lord I didn't realize that they hurt quite so much.
The low res trailer released by Gonzo for Speed Grapher seems interesting, if way too low res. I can somewhat make out what's going on, but i've got to say, that was a damn tiny (size, not length, though that wasn't too great either) video.
Oh well, I ought to be sleeping, apartments to look at tomorrow, and they tell me I'm driving, so I'll have a report on that when I get back. Fortunately we have neither a pet nor an AnthroPC to worry about, so there shouldn't be any special complications with our search.
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Wow...this is new.
Okay, so I usually come home on weekends to escape the drudges of weekends at Woodruff and usually the meal with grandparents and is pizza or hot dogs and hamburgers or occasionally london broil. Last night was indeed pizza with grandparents: 1 sausage, 1 pepperoni, 1 anchovy and black olives (definately not for me). Tonight however was completely different, in a very good way. Caeser Salad and shrimp with dip plus london broil with grilled mushrooms and onions and deep fried french fries. Quite good. Yay for home cooked meals. I guess I should thaw out some icecream for dessert, that sounds good.
Let's get retarded, part 2.
So, I'm convinced that work makes me stupid on the basis that I actually managed to mangle the pronunciation of the word pronunciation while in traffic on the ride over to work. As a sidenote, before you go looking at me like I'm crazy for talking to myself aloud, I'd like to remind everyone that I was taking David with me, so quit thinking I'm crazy like that.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
(Misc) Don't look directly at the light.
Yes folks, I have slight astigmatism, yes, I will be getting glasses, get used to the idea.
Saturday, March 05, 2005
(Apology) Well crap... it's been awhile hasn't it?
My forthright apologies for my failure to maintain this blog. I'll see about doing something about that. But in my defense, my Dwarven Paladin is borderline to getting him war horse, priorities and all you know.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
(Misc) Uhh...yeah....riiiiight, sure.
So, my one source of knowledge of the outside world, Google News (and no, I'm not conspiratorizing something by posting about Google on a Google owned Internet Shoutbox linked to a Google email address) tells me that Apple is doing very well curtesy of the I Pod and considering the number of said device that I've seen around campus, I can see why.
However, on another note, Google also has a newspot about J-Lo and Ben breaking up, the featured picture for this of course being Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider movie, a media production I have so little faith in I still can't recall the actress's name.
I realize that (Misc) has been the tag of most of my recent posts, but that's pretty much what I'm about when it comes to blogging. I've buried my Rants for now, I'd rather landslide the past than keeping it topside and angry, it is all stuff that I'm past anyways. School topics will be the next to surface with the revivication of Tech. Those and WoW stuff at least.
However, on another note, Google also has a newspot about J-Lo and Ben breaking up, the featured picture for this of course being Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider movie, a media production I have so little faith in I still can't recall the actress's name.
I realize that (Misc) has been the tag of most of my recent posts, but that's pretty much what I'm about when it comes to blogging. I've buried my Rants for now, I'd rather landslide the past than keeping it topside and angry, it is all stuff that I'm past anyways. School topics will be the next to surface with the revivication of Tech. Those and WoW stuff at least.
Monday, January 03, 2005
(Misc) Hey look, I'm blogging!
Yes, that's right. As the New Year Begins (or has began, I think I've already missed the boat on that one) no one really wants to be Shipping anything at the UPS Store, so I think I might manage to actually finish this damn post like I've been meaning too. I once again don't have my notes with me (which I figure is tantamount to a sign from on high that I should just blog my stuff when it first comes to me, but oh well).
So, before I delve back into my previous intentions I wish my brother a happy 18th Birthday and everyone a Wonderful New Year.
I think the singlehanded highlight of the Christmas season, besides procratinating customer's expression when we told them how much it would cost to guarantee their 67 pound packages delivery to California in time for Christmas would have to be Jessica's: "My husband brought me coffee, foolish mortal." Nothing like a statement like that to liven up a day, or coffee to liven up a day for that matter, not that I drink the stuff...yet.
So over the Christmas break I went and saw The Incredibles with my family. The theatre (look, I'm getting all proper and European on you) wasn't exceedingly crowded, however it was stratified enough so that I ended up sitting only with David while Ian and my parents took another row a bit further back. Now, I must say, I was dissapointed by the direction that Pixar had taken with the pre-movie animation that they have, as it was no where near the typical level or humor, though still quite well done. The movie itself was fabulous and I was throughly amused. Now, as no one but myself knows, I like what I call movie corollaries. These are, simply put, other things that, if you have seen them, make watching a movie more amusing. In general these things bear similarities to certain parts in a movie, and thus can invoke a sort of nostalgia or subliminal echo of previous enjoyment. Now usually there is a whole slew of corollaries that occur, and almost always you can find some way to work Final Fantasy in there in one manner or another, but there are the big ones from The Incredibles, in my opinion:
Marvel and DC Comics specifically Mutant Apocalypse and the Fantastic Four - Duh.
Bakaretsu Tenshi (Burst Angel) - Anytime Sei's driving the Megavan on the highway.
Star Wars - Speeder bike scene on the forest moon of Endor.
Farcry - The general island scenery of the game.
The Incredibles is also responsable for what David and I hold to be the single greatest evil mastermind's henchman's drinking game ever. Simply put, everytime they run away in fear, take a shot.
For those of us without superweapons capable of inducing mass hysteria in the general populace or alliegance to people thusly endowed, I suggest this simplier alternative drinking game borrowed from Queen of Wands.
So, before I delve back into my previous intentions I wish my brother a happy 18th Birthday and everyone a Wonderful New Year.
I think the singlehanded highlight of the Christmas season, besides procratinating customer's expression when we told them how much it would cost to guarantee their 67 pound packages delivery to California in time for Christmas would have to be Jessica's: "My husband brought me coffee, foolish mortal." Nothing like a statement like that to liven up a day, or coffee to liven up a day for that matter, not that I drink the stuff...yet.
So over the Christmas break I went and saw The Incredibles with my family. The theatre (look, I'm getting all proper and European on you) wasn't exceedingly crowded, however it was stratified enough so that I ended up sitting only with David while Ian and my parents took another row a bit further back. Now, I must say, I was dissapointed by the direction that Pixar had taken with the pre-movie animation that they have, as it was no where near the typical level or humor, though still quite well done. The movie itself was fabulous and I was throughly amused. Now, as no one but myself knows, I like what I call movie corollaries. These are, simply put, other things that, if you have seen them, make watching a movie more amusing. In general these things bear similarities to certain parts in a movie, and thus can invoke a sort of nostalgia or subliminal echo of previous enjoyment. Now usually there is a whole slew of corollaries that occur, and almost always you can find some way to work Final Fantasy in there in one manner or another, but there are the big ones from The Incredibles, in my opinion:
Marvel and DC Comics specifically Mutant Apocalypse and the Fantastic Four - Duh.
Bakaretsu Tenshi (Burst Angel) - Anytime Sei's driving the Megavan on the highway.
Star Wars - Speeder bike scene on the forest moon of Endor.
Farcry - The general island scenery of the game.
The Incredibles is also responsable for what David and I hold to be the single greatest evil mastermind's henchman's drinking game ever. Simply put, everytime they run away in fear, take a shot.
For those of us without superweapons capable of inducing mass hysteria in the general populace or alliegance to people thusly endowed, I suggest this simplier alternative drinking game borrowed from Queen of Wands.
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