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.

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.

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.