Well, not really, I had a planned post, but I don't know if I'll have time to get through it all. I'm getting to this approximately 6 hours later in the day than I'd initially expected, so I'll likely have to pick up the torch where ever it is that I end. Standard assortment of mini-posts to follow.
Your stop, sir.
So, I've discovered that being the only person in the family to have a car with more than 2 doors has pretty much pidgeonholed me into the lovely duty of family chauffeur. Not a serious issue, but this certainly wasn't originally as planned (in my defense, all the vehicles in the family minus my father's had 4 doors when I got the CRV).
X III, the Last Stand (Yes, Spoilers)
So, I went with the family to see X-3. Preface to this, I must admit that I did not go into the movie expecting to see my comic book re-portrayed on the screen as it played out there. I'd have to have been a fool if I expected this, because honestly, you know from the first that certain elements have changed. What did I want out of this movie? I wanted some good explosions, convincing characters, and at least as much side-line showboating as I got in the second movie. If you're asking yourself what side-line showboating I'm speaking of, I mean the scene where William Striker's forces are storming the academy. We get to see Siren (it's a girl, so it's not Banshee), Kitty Pryde aka Shadowcat, Colossus, Arcade (I can only assume based on his interactions with the television) and even a glimse of a girl with giant square earrings whom one can only conjecture must be Jubilee, even if she's not wearing the traditional flourescent yellow raincoat. So, bearing this in mind, how does the movie stack up:
Are the characters true to their comic book selves? Yes, all their actions fit what I'd expect. No one does anything that had me questioning motives or reasoning. Is it fully satisfactory? Not quite. There are a lot of things that don't totally add up across the pages. Mystique selling out Magneto after he abandons her for becoming human? Totally within the realm of both their characters. Magneto getting angry at Pyro when the latter suggests he'd have killed Xavier, again fits, though it leaves an odd juxtaposition of ideals that never gets resolved properly (though taking them both out and ending the Brotherhood does alright).
The dialogue could've done with a bit more. Not in any specific venue but across the board there are exchanges that could've been intensified. Kelsey Grammer as Beast? Wonderful, and he has some of the best lines in the movie ("I cannot believe this once fit me"). Juggernaught and Kitty? Not so great. Senseless pandering and namecalling. Though I fully concede that Shadowcat's mocking of Juggernaught was justified, Juggernaught isn't really much of a comedic relief character. Magneto was great, wonderful. He was everything Emp. Palapatine should have been. Phoenix was great too, angry, conflicted, powerful (to continue, I always hated Phoenix. She was trite for far far too long in the comics/show, and served as a consistant annoyance in my opinion).
The effects are wonderful, with exceptions. I've gotta admit I was a bit miffed at the family in the car on the bridge scene. They get such attention, yet when it comes time to the be hurling cars and blasting them with flame, it seems to have completely been forgotten. The moon rising up over the Alcatraz complex? Despite a bright, midday battle? Every car with it's lights on? Those sorts of oversights are not forgivable, though they can be overlooked. The lack of a response from Angel's father post-recue by his pariah son? Again troubling, but at least not out of character that time.
Where I really feel the show needed help was the characters. Did Magneto's secondary wave of minions (Ie, not Multiple Man, not Jugger, not Pyro, but the lesser Brotherhood members) have any real identity? No, they did not. Spike was a recoignizable, if foolish and shortlived character. The rest of them, while appropriate, were virtual nameless plot devices. Mainly the Mutant-Senser, the other two were just there to show the type of brutes the Magneto employed (Well, at least blowfish was, the other one, the Chameleon, didn't even do much except help throw Angel's father out of the window). The Shockwave one (I don't even know what gender he/she was supposed to be) was again just used to destroy the guns that had been modified to stop Magneto, as opposed to having him rip up a bridge girder or defensive tower and smashing in through the weapons in an arcing blow (Ignoring the question of why there were no weapons inside the building).
Watch the credits (not the post-credits, that's another discussion in and of itself) and you'll note credits given specifically to Psylocke and Jubilee. Did either of them manifest their powers, prove their identity, no. Did my favorite X-man make a show, of course not, if he hadn't by the second there was no way to have him make much of a magical appearance. Iceman becoming truly Iceman was great though, and the combat tactics of our team of 6 was fitting and fun ("Don't ever do that again"). Exavier's unnecessary foreshadowing, not needed.
The post credits is interesting, and anyone who doesn't stay through the credits is a fool at any movie in general, extras or not. I don't think they'll make another movie. Honestly, I'd love one, get some different characters some screentime, but I don't think it's likely. I'm just biding time for Pirates II now, although the Snakes on a Plane trailer was amusing, mostly for audience reaction.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Desperation for something to do
... is a pretty powerful impetus, actually. Though I guess it's not exactly shocking that large scale inaction is a strong drive for action.
I keep telling myself that perhaps I should pick up Atelier, both games, but I figure it's only fair that I require myself to pick up the pieces of my life first. That and it's not like I don't have enough things that still require me to beat them. Plus, having played Guitar Hero, I think I want to pick that up, though it did seem to have a relatively short tracklist (25?), but then again, that's stacked up against the full Stepmania, 9 long DDR version lists worth of songs plus two lists of customs, so I have a bit of a bias. Heart Full of Black is probably worth it though. I think I'll just wait for the sequel though, see what that brings to the field.
I refuse to concede defeat by boredom, though the point is sorta approaching. I've still got large-scale comics to read without even delving into either of the comic fallback approaches: sprite comics and searching out comics I know to be dead and therefore nearly impossible to find. I do need to hijack the radio for Dave FM though, seriously.
I keep telling myself that perhaps I should pick up Atelier, both games, but I figure it's only fair that I require myself to pick up the pieces of my life first. That and it's not like I don't have enough things that still require me to beat them. Plus, having played Guitar Hero, I think I want to pick that up, though it did seem to have a relatively short tracklist (25?), but then again, that's stacked up against the full Stepmania, 9 long DDR version lists worth of songs plus two lists of customs, so I have a bit of a bias. Heart Full of Black is probably worth it though. I think I'll just wait for the sequel though, see what that brings to the field.
I refuse to concede defeat by boredom, though the point is sorta approaching. I've still got large-scale comics to read without even delving into either of the comic fallback approaches: sprite comics and searching out comics I know to be dead and therefore nearly impossible to find. I do need to hijack the radio for Dave FM though, seriously.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Collected Musings
...and/or miseries. There's an odd equivalence at some points in time. I really need a steel spike for my back, my posture is so ridiculous atrocious. But unfortunately reversing 15+ years of bad habits isn't a minor endeavor.
Currently a slated August (End of Summer, bleh) release date for Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories. Not exactly the best title ever, but they probably could've mangled it worse I imagine.
"It is easier to stab someone in the back than it is to look them in the eyes.
Society is built upon this principle and it is universal to those who rule..." Great quote, wish I could recall the source of it.
Gatech would have me believe that I've forgotten my password for Email etcetera, which I find difficult to believe, given that I used them in a cyclic pattern (albiet a bit mutilated by the 3-segment Active Directory changes), and none of them work, though I did manage to get into email just a few days ago. It's not a significant deal as I route everything to the gmail, but I like to send school-related emails out from that address just for appearances.
I swear, if I hear Shakira's new song on the radio again there will be a fair deal of violence. Well, probably not, given that the odds of it occuring are pretty massive given circumstances and I don't have a good way to commit violence and get away with it.
Currently a slated August (End of Summer, bleh) release date for Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories. Not exactly the best title ever, but they probably could've mangled it worse I imagine.
"It is easier to stab someone in the back than it is to look them in the eyes.
Society is built upon this principle and it is universal to those who rule..." Great quote, wish I could recall the source of it.
Gatech would have me believe that I've forgotten my password for Email etcetera, which I find difficult to believe, given that I used them in a cyclic pattern (albiet a bit mutilated by the 3-segment Active Directory changes), and none of them work, though I did manage to get into email just a few days ago. It's not a significant deal as I route everything to the gmail, but I like to send school-related emails out from that address just for appearances.
I swear, if I hear Shakira's new song on the radio again there will be a fair deal of violence. Well, probably not, given that the odds of it occuring are pretty massive given circumstances and I don't have a good way to commit violence and get away with it.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
2 Months
Technically for the above to be true, I'm a day early. But given that Feburary is short anyways, I think I have all kindas of early written out here.
Well, I can think of a dozen ways to take this, but as per my norm, going down one means delaying others, so I don't choose which lets me keep them all without using any. I hate consumables, in anything (gaming context mostly, though it spills over), I never use them.
So I think Pandora isn't for me, I spend too much time skipping songs that I don't really want to hear, but I think might adversly affect my list to Veto. I'm not really playing the Genetic Engineering card with the whole setup quite yet, though I'm really beginning consider trying for certain themes in a starting set, rather than certain artists, and then crushing expansion to see if I can create a narrowly defined box of music. Probably alot harder than it sounds, since Pandora doesn't tell me all the genes of a given song, but it's the best I've got to work with at present, with Last.fm asking for a download, and Di.fm being, well, not something to listen to at work, with all the distractions and interruptions. I can't settle into that genre with distractions like that.
Beat Kingdom Hearts 2. 57 hours of play between a Wednesday afternoon and the following Tuesday evening. 94% of the Journal, 86% of Gummi Ship things (I never did the Class C of the final area, Juggernaught, didn't ever upgrade my ship past what I created at around the same time that I got Falcon 4). Most used, Valor Form, 57 times. 11 Drives into Anti-form. I didn't drive all that much, I admit. 2 Deaths, Shang-Yu when I first did Mulan (Aka, I had no life and barely any abilities) and the Nobody with the Lances when you return to Re-Lock Beast's Castle (I still don't get how to avoid him). Mickey is hax, not very useful cause I spent more time saving Sora with him than actually fighting, but hax none-the-less. All but 1 of the treasure chests (Somewhere in Twilight Town it sits, mocking me), which will be a real challenge given that it took me almost an hour to find the last one I was missing in Aladdin (Hint: The Huge one that contains the map to Jafar's little tower, still took me awhile even after I figured out I was missing that map as well)
The ending actually ends, which is a plus after KH, though the Bonus Ending was, O.o
Seriously, completely not what I expected, art style and all.
To fill the D2 Niche I've been nursing with Eastern Sun while I'm at home I borrowed Dungeon Siege 2 from Jiaz. I still really don't support the game at it's core, the leveling system is alright (Skills increasing faster than Levels but being capped by Level isn't so helpful though). The never look back system is a bit unfortunate, as the first time through it's hard to say what you want. Probably doesn't help that I'm taking advise from Jiaz about what to choose rather than being impulsive (Impulsive generally lands me with much more spread abilities, being generally far weaker), but Dungeon Siege 2 kinda calls for that sorta thing in order to survive. It does a better job of allowing me to handle multiple characters with special abilites without feeling like I'm not up to full potential than the first did, but it feels like a hollowed mix of Baldur's Gate and Diablo, which isn't a complaint, just I happen to like both parts of the mix, and thus would enjoy either part in purity better than the mongrel that comes from the pedigrees. Still, I think I'll beat it, and then play through with a bit more abandon (throwing weapons and 2-handers and pets for all!). The limited Autocast list is troubling, as I really would like to have a Summon and both Buffs in my Nature Mage's slots, but I make do. They do have obscenely long durations.
Also been playing Burnout: Revenge since it was used and very inexpensive compared to the price the Xbox 360 version of it is asking. Pretty enjoyable. The Traffic Checking changes are a signficant upgrade over what Burnout 3: Takedown offered. Also makes for a nice tradeoff. As Checking offers very little boost for the effort, less than I'd get for simple same-direction "Near Miss" and far less than either "Oncoming" or "Oncoming" with "Near Miss" on the other side. Also makes takedowns a bit harder, as while I can land "Traffic Check" Takedowns fairly easily, but I can't actually knock a car into another, as they'll just Check it themselves. Crash is alot nicer without the Multipliers, quite a bit more tactical, and the inclusion of "Choose your Weapon" with the variety of cars is really enjoyable. I'm not great at Crash yet, Burnout 3 has made me soft, but I'm getting pretty good. Crashbreakers in the other modes is kinda awkward, makes it almost too easy to keep a lead. The Checklists bother me, as they're mutually exclusive at times. Ie: Crashless-Race an d X Revenge Takedowns in a Race (which require you to have been takendown to get a Revenge Rival), but perhaps that's just my inability to either not crash, or crash by something other than my own poor driving, speaking there. And yeah, burning lap and preview events, still suck.
I'm thinking I should get Atelier Iris. Not only is the name pretty alluring (everyone loves Atelier), but there's a II coming out the end of this month, and with Disgaea beaten, Phantom Brave winding down (I can't bring myself to go for the endgame here, I'm not going to Level Characters to Fuse to Characters and Level Weapons to fuse to Weapons and level Titles to put on Created Dungeons to empower the Titles for each of my major players just to go for it. The game is too damn complex) and Disgaea really really ending now: Uber Prinny is next. Ultimate Sword, almost a second once I get the levels to steal it. Ultimate Spear, and working on the Ultimate Fist and Bow. Phantom Kingdom still holds interest for me, that I'll probably play through all the extras, it'll amuse me throughly, and there's alot more endings at stake, unlike Phantom Brave, which doesn't hold a whole lot more to offer.
So I got this glorious question in my head the other day. What game would you advise as a method for getting or keeping someone interested in gaming. Actually, the original question was "What Final Fantasy would you reccomend as a starting point for someone new to the series?" (I pick X btw, more on that in a future rant) I think God Mode Online is partially to blame for the idea, as reading that comic does tend to get me in the Gaming-Thought Mode. Logically, the answer boils down to audience and intended subject. You can't very well introduce someone to the wrong genre, just like Pokemon probably wouldn't be a wise choice for introducing a teacher or parent to the joys of gaming. Platform probably plays a role as well. I'm not so certain that Xbox based Morrowind holds the same sway as CPU based, especially for those who prefer the control offered by a mouse rather than Analog Joystick. Obviously, games with the "Othello" motto/slogan are probably best for this. You know what I mean, the whole 'A minute to learn, a lifetime to master' deal. So, some of the big games on the list, coming from personal experience obviously:
Civilization (Probably 2, or 4 if it's any good. 3 wasn't), not really a console alternative.
Bomberman (None of this 3-d, Revenge, or whatever other fluff, just the pure stuff)
Secret of Mana / Tales of Eternia (Multiplayer RPG goodness)
Starcraft/Warcraft (I really do find these to not only be peak of RTS, but best at user created additional maps), again, not worth trying for the Console gamer.
Chu-Chu Rocket and Tetris, preferrably Tetris Attack (Substitute most of the SNES puzzle games as an additive; Wario Wood)
Mario Party probably takes the cake for multiplayer games of that genre, Fusion Frenzy wasn't quite as good, though also amusing.
Smash Brothers, probably closely followed by a mix of DoA, Marvel vs. Camcom or SNK, Guilty Gear, or Soul Caliber, depending on specific interests.
Halo still dominates my opinion of multiplayer shooting, probably the Duo and Single player as well, unless Perfect Dark: Zero was better than everyone told me, but I doubt that.
Burnout or Gran Turismo or some variety of Twisted Metal for the driving game series. Or Crazy Taxi if you kinda prefer a mix.
GTA probably rules supreme over it's domain, pick one of them. All the knockoffs aren't any good really. The Getaway comes to mind, and that was horrendous.
Splinter Cel and maybe something Rainbow 6 for the more realistic shooters, Stealth and less-Steath respectively.
Unreal Tournament or Quake, kinda a preferance call on that kind of CPU based carnage.
And, what I've come to realize as the god of beginner's games, Animal Crossing.
Seriously.
Not kidding.
You can't lose, tons to explore and do, always something to keep you busy. Things to collect, travel to other towns, meet new people, grow plants, visit the island, upgrade the shop, donate to the museum, storage space, shirts, extras, holidays. This ranks up there pretty highly.
Well, I can think of a dozen ways to take this, but as per my norm, going down one means delaying others, so I don't choose which lets me keep them all without using any. I hate consumables, in anything (gaming context mostly, though it spills over), I never use them.
So I think Pandora isn't for me, I spend too much time skipping songs that I don't really want to hear, but I think might adversly affect my list to Veto. I'm not really playing the Genetic Engineering card with the whole setup quite yet, though I'm really beginning consider trying for certain themes in a starting set, rather than certain artists, and then crushing expansion to see if I can create a narrowly defined box of music. Probably alot harder than it sounds, since Pandora doesn't tell me all the genes of a given song, but it's the best I've got to work with at present, with Last.fm asking for a download, and Di.fm being, well, not something to listen to at work, with all the distractions and interruptions. I can't settle into that genre with distractions like that.
Beat Kingdom Hearts 2. 57 hours of play between a Wednesday afternoon and the following Tuesday evening. 94% of the Journal, 86% of Gummi Ship things (I never did the Class C of the final area, Juggernaught, didn't ever upgrade my ship past what I created at around the same time that I got Falcon 4). Most used, Valor Form, 57 times. 11 Drives into Anti-form. I didn't drive all that much, I admit. 2 Deaths, Shang-Yu when I first did Mulan (Aka, I had no life and barely any abilities) and the Nobody with the Lances when you return to Re-Lock Beast's Castle (I still don't get how to avoid him). Mickey is hax, not very useful cause I spent more time saving Sora with him than actually fighting, but hax none-the-less. All but 1 of the treasure chests (Somewhere in Twilight Town it sits, mocking me), which will be a real challenge given that it took me almost an hour to find the last one I was missing in Aladdin (Hint: The Huge one that contains the map to Jafar's little tower, still took me awhile even after I figured out I was missing that map as well)
The ending actually ends, which is a plus after KH, though the Bonus Ending was, O.o
Seriously, completely not what I expected, art style and all.
To fill the D2 Niche I've been nursing with Eastern Sun while I'm at home I borrowed Dungeon Siege 2 from Jiaz. I still really don't support the game at it's core, the leveling system is alright (Skills increasing faster than Levels but being capped by Level isn't so helpful though). The never look back system is a bit unfortunate, as the first time through it's hard to say what you want. Probably doesn't help that I'm taking advise from Jiaz about what to choose rather than being impulsive (Impulsive generally lands me with much more spread abilities, being generally far weaker), but Dungeon Siege 2 kinda calls for that sorta thing in order to survive. It does a better job of allowing me to handle multiple characters with special abilites without feeling like I'm not up to full potential than the first did, but it feels like a hollowed mix of Baldur's Gate and Diablo, which isn't a complaint, just I happen to like both parts of the mix, and thus would enjoy either part in purity better than the mongrel that comes from the pedigrees. Still, I think I'll beat it, and then play through with a bit more abandon (throwing weapons and 2-handers and pets for all!). The limited Autocast list is troubling, as I really would like to have a Summon and both Buffs in my Nature Mage's slots, but I make do. They do have obscenely long durations.
Also been playing Burnout: Revenge since it was used and very inexpensive compared to the price the Xbox 360 version of it is asking. Pretty enjoyable. The Traffic Checking changes are a signficant upgrade over what Burnout 3: Takedown offered. Also makes for a nice tradeoff. As Checking offers very little boost for the effort, less than I'd get for simple same-direction "Near Miss" and far less than either "Oncoming" or "Oncoming" with "Near Miss" on the other side. Also makes takedowns a bit harder, as while I can land "Traffic Check" Takedowns fairly easily, but I can't actually knock a car into another, as they'll just Check it themselves. Crash is alot nicer without the Multipliers, quite a bit more tactical, and the inclusion of "Choose your Weapon" with the variety of cars is really enjoyable. I'm not great at Crash yet, Burnout 3 has made me soft, but I'm getting pretty good. Crashbreakers in the other modes is kinda awkward, makes it almost too easy to keep a lead. The Checklists bother me, as they're mutually exclusive at times. Ie: Crashless-Race an d X Revenge Takedowns in a Race (which require you to have been takendown to get a Revenge Rival), but perhaps that's just my inability to either not crash, or crash by something other than my own poor driving, speaking there. And yeah, burning lap and preview events, still suck.
I'm thinking I should get Atelier Iris. Not only is the name pretty alluring (everyone loves Atelier), but there's a II coming out the end of this month, and with Disgaea beaten, Phantom Brave winding down (I can't bring myself to go for the endgame here, I'm not going to Level Characters to Fuse to Characters and Level Weapons to fuse to Weapons and level Titles to put on Created Dungeons to empower the Titles for each of my major players just to go for it. The game is too damn complex) and Disgaea really really ending now: Uber Prinny is next. Ultimate Sword, almost a second once I get the levels to steal it. Ultimate Spear, and working on the Ultimate Fist and Bow. Phantom Kingdom still holds interest for me, that I'll probably play through all the extras, it'll amuse me throughly, and there's alot more endings at stake, unlike Phantom Brave, which doesn't hold a whole lot more to offer.
So I got this glorious question in my head the other day. What game would you advise as a method for getting or keeping someone interested in gaming. Actually, the original question was "What Final Fantasy would you reccomend as a starting point for someone new to the series?" (I pick X btw, more on that in a future rant) I think God Mode Online is partially to blame for the idea, as reading that comic does tend to get me in the Gaming-Thought Mode. Logically, the answer boils down to audience and intended subject. You can't very well introduce someone to the wrong genre, just like Pokemon probably wouldn't be a wise choice for introducing a teacher or parent to the joys of gaming. Platform probably plays a role as well. I'm not so certain that Xbox based Morrowind holds the same sway as CPU based, especially for those who prefer the control offered by a mouse rather than Analog Joystick. Obviously, games with the "Othello" motto/slogan are probably best for this. You know what I mean, the whole 'A minute to learn, a lifetime to master' deal. So, some of the big games on the list, coming from personal experience obviously:
Civilization (Probably 2, or 4 if it's any good. 3 wasn't), not really a console alternative.
Bomberman (None of this 3-d, Revenge, or whatever other fluff, just the pure stuff)
Secret of Mana / Tales of Eternia (Multiplayer RPG goodness)
Starcraft/Warcraft (I really do find these to not only be peak of RTS, but best at user created additional maps), again, not worth trying for the Console gamer.
Chu-Chu Rocket and Tetris, preferrably Tetris Attack (Substitute most of the SNES puzzle games as an additive; Wario Wood)
Mario Party probably takes the cake for multiplayer games of that genre, Fusion Frenzy wasn't quite as good, though also amusing.
Smash Brothers, probably closely followed by a mix of DoA, Marvel vs. Camcom or SNK, Guilty Gear, or Soul Caliber, depending on specific interests.
Halo still dominates my opinion of multiplayer shooting, probably the Duo and Single player as well, unless Perfect Dark: Zero was better than everyone told me, but I doubt that.
Burnout or Gran Turismo or some variety of Twisted Metal for the driving game series. Or Crazy Taxi if you kinda prefer a mix.
GTA probably rules supreme over it's domain, pick one of them. All the knockoffs aren't any good really. The Getaway comes to mind, and that was horrendous.
Splinter Cel and maybe something Rainbow 6 for the more realistic shooters, Stealth and less-Steath respectively.
Unreal Tournament or Quake, kinda a preferance call on that kind of CPU based carnage.
And, what I've come to realize as the god of beginner's games, Animal Crossing.
Seriously.
Not kidding.
You can't lose, tons to explore and do, always something to keep you busy. Things to collect, travel to other towns, meet new people, grow plants, visit the island, upgrade the shop, donate to the museum, storage space, shirts, extras, holidays. This ranks up there pretty highly.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Garbage Collection
Since I told Jefe I'd add something, reciprocation of efforts in the continuation of the field of bloggings I guess, here goes.
An ordinary day in an extraordinarily cilche world
First off, Answerman's contest for this week, is so amazingly interesting I feel completely compelled to work out the best combination of Pirates, Spaceships, Superheroes, Ninjas, Werewolves, Dragons, Demons, Gods, Magical Relics, Music, Mecha, Incest, Breasts, Pantyshots, and other cliches into the masterpiece that I hope I won't be able to even read with a straight face.
Family affairs
My family never ceases to amaze me, seriously. Excluding the amount of times quotes from the BBC's hit show, Coupling, go off in the household, there's more; and it's not pretty.
Exhibit A - Examine closely. Now imagine that this has turned into a running joke about all dreams as a whole being involved with Oedipius-esce relations. Now, lets up the Ante a bit more (and in my defense I played no part in this), add in the passage of Mrs. King. If you can't see where this is going, let's just say David tells me he was trying very very hard not to laugh at a highly inappropriate moment.
Or take today's jewel. In my standard fashion I'm looking over the offerings of Anime-Network on On-Demand, Halfway talking to myself I announce that they have episodes 1 and 2 of Area 88 (If you've heard of this, you're a step above me) and the following conversation ensues with my father in the oher room;
Father: Oh, I've seen that.
Me: You've what?
Father: I've seen that.
Me: You've seen this? I've never heard of it.
Father: It's about fighter pilots.
Me: (Opening the info screen) '... is an Ace fighter pilot tricked into joining a mercenary gang of fighter [sic]pilot'
Father: I didn't say it was very understandable.
Me: Alright then, how did you come across this?
Father: Actually I watched it on demand.
Me: You mean to tell me you were browsing the anime offerings?
Father: Well, I only had thirty minutes, so I figured that was a good way to take care of it.
Me: Just when I think I'm beginning to figure you out...
Hills are alive...
Pandora is awesome. Seriously. If you're intestered in what I've put together so far, it's the Daft Punk Radio on my Sobiius(at)gmail address. Since every little change seems to spawn a whole wave of changes, the radio is consistently being refined as I go, but looking at the songs that I've given a thumbs up is a fairly good indication of what I like.
Closing Thoughts
All I have to say is that Advance Wars: Dual Strike, has made the DS worth the purchase price many times over already. Go it.
An ordinary day in an extraordinarily cilche world
First off, Answerman's contest for this week, is so amazingly interesting I feel completely compelled to work out the best combination of Pirates, Spaceships, Superheroes, Ninjas, Werewolves, Dragons, Demons, Gods, Magical Relics, Music, Mecha, Incest, Breasts, Pantyshots, and other cliches into the masterpiece that I hope I won't be able to even read with a straight face.
Family affairs
My family never ceases to amaze me, seriously. Excluding the amount of times quotes from the BBC's hit show, Coupling, go off in the household, there's more; and it's not pretty.
Exhibit A - Examine closely. Now imagine that this has turned into a running joke about all dreams as a whole being involved with Oedipius-esce relations. Now, lets up the Ante a bit more (and in my defense I played no part in this), add in the passage of Mrs. King. If you can't see where this is going, let's just say David tells me he was trying very very hard not to laugh at a highly inappropriate moment.
Or take today's jewel. In my standard fashion I'm looking over the offerings of Anime-Network on On-Demand, Halfway talking to myself I announce that they have episodes 1 and 2 of Area 88 (If you've heard of this, you're a step above me) and the following conversation ensues with my father in the oher room;
Father: Oh, I've seen that.
Me: You've what?
Father: I've seen that.
Me: You've seen this? I've never heard of it.
Father: It's about fighter pilots.
Me: (Opening the info screen) '... is an Ace fighter pilot tricked into joining a mercenary gang of fighter [sic]pilot'
Father: I didn't say it was very understandable.
Me: Alright then, how did you come across this?
Father: Actually I watched it on demand.
Me: You mean to tell me you were browsing the anime offerings?
Father: Well, I only had thirty minutes, so I figured that was a good way to take care of it.
Me: Just when I think I'm beginning to figure you out...
Hills are alive...
Pandora is awesome. Seriously. If you're intestered in what I've put together so far, it's the Daft Punk Radio on my Sobiius(at)gmail address. Since every little change seems to spawn a whole wave of changes, the radio is consistently being refined as I go, but looking at the songs that I've given a thumbs up is a fairly good indication of what I like.
Closing Thoughts
All I have to say is that Advance Wars: Dual Strike, has made the DS worth the purchase price many times over already. Go it.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Holiday Blitz (Part 2)
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.
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.
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.
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