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| 12:19am 09/07/2009 |
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also, fuck me, it's hot |
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| Home again |
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| 04:33pm 27/04/2009 |
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mood:  tired
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Drove up from Baton Rouge to Chicago on Wednesday. My advice after two years of doing this: don't drive, just fly. I'm not driving this trip again unless it's to drive a moving truck.
( recap )
The end of that might make it seem like it was a bad trip, which isn't necessarily accurate. It's just that there is no chance in hell that I am ever going to be making a trip like that again under similar circumstances. Back to the grind tomorrow, though. |
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Read 6 - Post |
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| Chicago, again |
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| 10:33pm 20/04/2009 |
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mood: tired music: The Smiths - Half A Person
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I somehow got reined into making the 15+ hour drive to Chicago (and then the same drive back) again this year, after saying last year that I wasn't going to do it again. One of my friends had to stand in a wedding that weekend, though, so I got conscripted to make another ridiculous semi-beer run. It won't even be a guy's weekend this time, since my other friend is bringing his girlfriend. She's going to DD for us, though, so that should work out somewhat.
This year we've got tickets lined up on the cheap to see the Cubs play at Wrigley Field, so hopefully it doesn't get rained out like the White Sox game we tried to go to last year. The weather looks to be unseasonably warm during our trip for the second consecutive year, too... that's fine, just as long as it's not in the mid 80s like most of last year. I grew a beard out for nothing. Again. At least it hasn't been too hot down here yet this year.
This is the last time I do this trip driving, though (for this reason, at least). I'd rather just fly, gain almost two full days of actual vacation time, and spend about the same amount of money overall. |
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| MUSIC: Cowon S9 16GB portable media player - thoughts |
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| 05:07pm 14/04/2009 |
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mood:  entertained music: Elton John - Tiny Dancer
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I've been messing around with this thing since I got it on Friday, and I have to say that I am rather satisfied with my experience so far. The breakdown is that it's a player with a touchscreen for input (as well as physical buttons for audio up/down, play/pause, and back/rewind/fastforward/next), an accelerometer to determine screen orientation (which can be turned off in some modes), and the capacity for directory or tag-based browsing. Here's my mini-review and impressions so far:
( snip snip )
In short, it's been good so far, and it should make that long, long drive a little more fun. |
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| MUSIC: you suggest what I should listen to |
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| 06:47pm 07/04/2009 |
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I ordered a Cowon S9 16GB Portable Media Player, my first foray into yet another area of technology that I probably should have been experienced with a decade or so ago.
( thoughts on the player )
I've got a 15 hour car ride to Chicago and back in a few weeks. If you had to make that drive with me, what songs would you like to hear during the trip? Also (assuming the answer may be different), what songs do you think I would like to hear on the trip but might not already have? And finally, since I'm that kind of asshole and might want to troll my friend and his girlfriend who will be making said drive with me, what songs would you really not want to hear during a 15 hour drive?
The comment line is open. Next caller, please. |
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Read 7 - Post |
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| SPORTS: MLS - Seattle Sounders open season |
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| 11:45pm 19/03/2009 |
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I know that sports are not a topic that my friends list on livejournal widely follows. I know that soccer is the least popular of the four major sports in the US. I know that MLS is not very popular with soccer fans in general.
All of that being said, the 14th season of MLS opened tonight with the new MLS version of the Seattle Sounders hosting the New York Red Bulls before thirty something thousand people at Qwest Field, which will be their home (and is also the home of Seattle's NFL franchise). Seattle won the match 3-0, and looked moderately good while doing so. New York, who had made it to the MLS Cup final match last year (and lost to the Columbus Crew 3-1, whose manager from last year is now the manager of Seattle), only had a few real chances to score in the match. Both teams seemed to have some defensive jitters, but that's to be somewhat expected in the first match of the season. The field turf playing surface seemed to cause a few strange bounces of the ball, which could make future matches there interesting.
MLS is one of the few professional leagues in the United States (and Canada) that is actually expanding right now, and seemingly has a good business model that is built to be fiscally conservative. This has helped the league to not only weather the current financial woes of the world markets, but to also expand and to safeguard against the problems that the now-defunct NASL had in the past. Seattle opened play this season as the 15th team, Philadelphia will open play next season as the 16th team, and two additional teams will open play in 2011. One expansion slot has already been given to Vancouver, B.C. and it is expected that Portland, Oregon will be awarded the second slot in a press conference tomorrow morning in Portland. St. Louis, Montreal, and Miami had all also had strong bids (with the later two having pulled back for different reasons at different points in the process), and Ottawa and Atlanta had also entered bids (the later of which was pulled earlier in the process).
So, even if you only have a passing fancy with sports, and even if you haven't followed soccer very much up to this point, now's the time to get on board the bandwagon and get in on the ground floor. Soccer's the most popular sport in the world and America's supposed to be a great melting pot, so stake your claim and form your fanhood early. |
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Read 2 - Post |
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| Games: The Ogre Battle Saga |
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| 03:09pm 06/03/2009 |
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mood:  working music: Ogre Battle 64 - Revolted
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I know that I've harped on how much I like these games and their continuing-storyline time and time again, but I had written up a (relatively short) comment about the very basic plot of the series with a very basic breakdown of each game's part in the story that I was going to post after the recent re-release of the SNES version of Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen on the Wii's Virtual Console, and I figured I should get it down in here since a) that is the purpose of this journal and b) I've slacked off a little bit on my renewed regular posting (there's been a good deal going on with me recently, I just haven't had time to write it down for the most part).
( Read more... )
Another interesting note is that the SFC/SNES version of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together was released on Virtual Console in Japan, but I'm not holding my breath that we'll see a translated version show up on the Virtual Console any time soon (it was first released in North American markets on the PlayStation). That doesn't mean that both regions couldn't see a re-release of the N64 title Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber, though. And with the upcoming Nintendo DSi and the reports of a DSiWare service, it's not out of the question that both of the sidestories could see eventual release. I'd personally pay for touch-up remakes that fixed translation inconsistencies and shortcomings and featured hi-def touch-up renditions of the original artwork, but I don't know that the market is really there for it. Which is a shame, really, because this story is so much better than what you find in Final Fantasy I, II, III, IV, or V, but that inaccurate name is a golden cash cow that must be milked repeatedly. |
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Read 9 - Post |
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| MUSIC: Cirque du Soleil - Saltimbanco |
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| 02:23pm 27/02/2009 |
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mood: working music: Cirque du Soleil - Kumbalawe
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cajunbatchick and I just saw the arena version of Saltimbanco this past weekend, and I had the urge to get the music after the show. As with all Cirque du Soleil things, it's really just not the same in take-home form as it is at a live show (this was in an arena, not under the Big Top like I had seen Alegria, Drallion, and ... the other show I saw from them that I can't ever remember the name to, even after looking all the shows up). That doesn't mean that it wasn't a good show, though... the show itself was excellent (although perhaps not as stunning as Alegria was to me), and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance to see it. It's just that most of the soundtrack doesn't grab you as much without the visual accompaniment of the costumes and lights and performers, and some of the songs on the soundtrack are not the complete version from the show (at least, I think this is the case, based primarily off of my memory of the show).
( cut for length )
So, again, see the live show if you get the chance. If anyone actually saw the (now-retired) Big Top version and has also seen the arena version, please let me know how the two compare. |
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Read 3 - Post |
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| SPORTS: college basketball - LSU @ Arkansas |
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| 02:15pm 19/02/2009 |
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mood: working
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In another close game, LSU came out on top 72-69 hitting its last two free throws (in a game where they shot terribly from the stripe) with only a few seconds to go. Arky missed its last 3 point attempt. 10-1 in SEC play now, only 4 losses overall.
LSU is still missing its starting point guard, Bo Spencer, who they will need healthy for SEC and (potentially) NCAA tournament play. They get Auburn at home on Saturday and Florida at home on Mardi Gras night... there will be no Mardi Gras Massacre this time. Unfortunately, attendance will probably be poor for these games, especially Saturday's game. Besides the main Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, Baton Rouge's "big" parade is on Saturday and the new Alex Box baseball stadium is having its grand opening this weekend with LSU hosting a three game series against Villanova. |
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| GAMES: No More Heroes |
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| 04:11pm 17/02/2009 |
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mood: working
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I've only played a few hours into this, but it's a pretty great little romp of adrenaline and destruction so far. The graphics are a little bit rough, yeah, but the game's atmopshere might not work quite as well if it was more "serious" and realistic. It's not exactly like most games on the Wii are supposed to look pretty, anyway.
Just in case anyone's reading this and doesn't know what the game's about: you control a character named "Travis Touchdown", an anime fan with a familiar laser-like beam weapon sword who is striving to become the world's number one assassin. In order to get to the top, he's got to knock off the 10 assassins rated in front of him. The game features gratuitous blood, death shots, language, and references making fun of movies, anime, games, and the cliches that can be found in all of them. It's good, clean, family fun, right from the end of the video before the first level. |
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| FOOD: V-Day dinner |
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| 10:01pm 14/02/2009 |
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mood:  playing music: Genso Suikoden Piano Collection 2 - Quiet Days ~From Genso Suikoden III~
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Since Steve screwed up and left the basketball tickets at his apartment when he left town for the weekend, Kris and I didn't make dinner and go to the game tonight.
Instead, we ate terrible Plucker's takeout (somebody must've been pissed that they got stuck working tonight) and watched Sweeney Todd at home. There was Strawberries and Cream ice cream, though (and it was pretty good), so it can't be said that I did nothing to match the holiday.
Happy Holidays, still. Get your fill of king cake while there's still time.. only a week and a few days left. |
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Read 1 - Post |
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| SPORTS: World Cup Qualifying (CONCACAF) - USA v Mexico |
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| 05:02pm 12/02/2009 |
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mood: working
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Game was played in Columbus, Ohio last night, and the US won 2-0 on two goals by Michael Bradley. Mexico had several good players out injured or suspended, but would have been at a disadvantage even with a full squad... their record against the US on US soil since 2000 is now 9-0-2, and they're making it a habit of losing 2-0 in Columbus in World Cup Qualifying. The US team had a few shaky performances (Brian Ching at forward, Heath Pearce at left back, Sacha Klejstan at right-center midfielder), but on the whole the squad played very well considering the heavy rains before the match and the strongly gusting winds through most of the night.
This is the final round of World Cup qualifying for this region (CONCACAF, which consists of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean nations). Six teams (USA, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Honduras)advanced from the previous rounds of qualification, and each team plays home and away against the other five teams for a total of ten matches per team. You get 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and no points for a loss. The top three teams advance to the World Cup Finals, and the fourth place team from CONCACAF plays off against the fifth place team from CONMEBOL (South America) for another spot.
Results through leg 1: Costa Rica and United States with 3 points each (tied at plus 2 goal differential), El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago with 1 point each (tied at 0 goal differential, and Honduras and Mexico with 0 points (tied at minus 2 goal differnetial).
Leg 2 schedule (Saturday, March 28th):
- Trinidad & Tobago host Honduras
- Mexico host Costa Rica
- El Salvador host United States
Leg 3 schedule (Wednesday, April 1st):
- United States host Trinidad & Tobago
- Honduras host Mexico
- Costa Rica host El Salvador |
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| VIDEO: Yawara - A Fashionable Judo Girl |
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| 10:22pm 05/02/2009 |
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mood: tired music: Dirty Pair TV - Space Fantasy
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Oh ho, see what I just did there? I guess I have more than four main interests after all.
I finished watching AnimEigo's production of Season 1 of Yawara tonight, and I have to say that I pretty much liked it. It's not a one season and done super hyper anime, but it also isn't super long like most of my other favorite series. This is by design, though, since the series was essentially counting down to the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 when it was made, and the story fits into that timeline.
It's older anime, so the artwork's not as flashy. It's sports anime, so there's minimal lasers and explosions and such. The main character is a girl and she has girl rivals, although there are enough male characters who are relevant parts of the story and who have personalities that are fleshed out (and even some that develop, albeit at a slow pace), so it's hard to say for sure if this show is geared specifically at girls or more towards everyone (I'm leaning towards the second option here, having done little to no research). It's subs, not dubs, and that is a good thing. The soundtrack is good (through season one, at least), and fits the settings pretty well. I haven't really paid much attention to the transfer quality, to be honest, so I can't comment on the video and sound quality off the top of my head. Even if it's not HD, it still looks and sounds great for something that's over 15 years old.
Many thanks to AnimEigo for getting this out there. Here's hoping that they'll produce the second and third seasons as well. I will buy them, for sure. |
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Read 4 - Post |
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| MUSIC: Final Fantasy Dissidia OST |
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| 05:04pm 04/02/2009 |
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mood: working
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The game is of the "dramatic progressive action" genre (or, action), and features a hero and a villain from each of the Final Fantasy titles from I to X who do something. Chaos is involved somehow. I don't know, I've never played it. Hopefully it's better than Ehrgeiz.
The album takes a bunch of songs from the older games and redoes them to, presumably, fit into this game. I can't say if they do or not. Some of the tracks sound pretty cool, some are a little lame, and some drag on too long. Don't expect to hear all of your favorite songs from the older games, since the selection is mostly limited to songs pertaining to the heroes and villains that were used in this game.
I guess it would be pretty cool to a hardcore FF fan, although I think that I personally prefer the Super Smash Bros Brawl method of allowing you to select from remixed, rearranged, and original versions of tracks for the assoicated characters. Give it a whirl if you've played some of the older games and you've got the time. |
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| GAMES: Dragon Quest Swords |
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| 05:59pm 03/02/2009 |
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mood: working
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This is that little Wii mini-RPG that came out a while back, with the really long title name about mirrors and queens or something. It's a lot of Wiimote hacking with not a whole lot of difficulty involved, which is good in a simplicity way but bad in terms of keeping my attention. I had been playing for the past few weeks, but I grew tired of playing through the same missions repeatedly to find enough materials to upgrade my swords so I think I might be done with this and move on to something else (No More Heroes, maybe).
Anyway, the soundtrack is very Dragon Questastic, with several of the similar tunes we've all grown used to over the years. Unfortunately, each stage only has the one musical track, and you'll probably want to silence your assistant player after a few playthroughs. I know, I know.. Dragon Quest games are repetition. But this one is more of an action game than an RPG (think, first person hack-and-slash, but where you actually have to hack and slash), so it couldn't have hurt to throw a few little feature improvements in there.
The repetition wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the game's unforgivable flaw: no matter how many times you've listened to them already, you have to listen to (large) portions of certain dialogue every time you play a mission. Not being able to skip a dialogue is one thing (and a horrible thing at that), but not being able to skip all but the last 15% of a dialogue is mind-numbingly bad. If I can skip that part of the dialogue, why not the entire thing!? Vell, vell, vell... |
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| FOOD: NOLA BA gathering |
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| 03:17pm 28/01/2009 |
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mood: working music: REM - Shiny Happy People
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A group of over 60 people got together for a beer gathering at a local Cajun Jewish deli this past weekend. The deal was that everyone was supposed to bring either a few bottles of beer that are unattainable in the local market or some food to share. The event was only supposed to be about 12 to 15 people, but it ballooned into a massive gathering with people from several states attending as well as representatives from several breweries and distribution companies. There was no real order to the beer opening, and people were on the honor system not to abuse the hospitality of others. In this kind of unorganized, chaotic environment that was ripe for failure, a really cool party broke out and everyone had a good time (although I can't say that every attendee was feeling that way the next day).
We had homebrews by several different people (including the brewmaster of the fledgeling NOLA Brewing company). We had stuff from Avery, Great Lakes, Port, Stone, Unibroue, Eggenberg, Three Floyds, Russian River, Deutsches, The Bruery, Victory, Southern Tier, Oskar Blues, Ironhill, Highland, Green Flash, Great Divide, Founders, Terrapin, Brooklyn, Arcadia, and so many more breweries that I can't possibly remember them all. With so many people, the sampling sizes were pretty small, but it worked out well because there was so much stuff that everybody got to try most of the things they were interested in. I went with the strategy of "kick the thing off hard and fast" combined with "pour everything I brought first so I can get to the drinking", and I had a blast. Stephen and I were two of only a few people who went strong wall to wall (Ryan had to work), but we couldn't have done it without our DD (thanks, babe). We definitely impressed several of the reps with the turnout, and also with the knowledge and passion about craft beer.
All in all, it was a great local event for beer geeks. People are already planning out the 2nd Annual event for next year. |
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Read 1 - Post |
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| SPORTS: college basketball - LSU v MooSU |
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| 04:11pm 22/01/2009 |
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mood: working music: Katamari Damacy - Disco Prince
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This game was for first place in the SEC West, albeit early in the season. MSU plays a 4 guard, 1 center set, while LSU usually plays an undersized 2-2-1 or 3-2 setup. MSU's big man (Varando, or something like that) is bigger and more physical than LSU's big man (Chris Johnson). MSU was probably planning on running LSU's guards ragged, raining down 3s upon them, and feeding it to their advantageous matchup on the inside.
LSU's defense kept the pressure on all game, though, and kept the 3 damage to a minimum. MSU was able to exploit the inside for a while, but it's hard to keep an advantage inside when you get out boarded by a large margin. Advantage, Tigers. In addition to hustling the boards, LSU shot fairly well from the field. Marcus Thornton was something crazy like 5 of 7 from 3, hitting 3 of them and getting a steal and two free throws all in the first four and a half minutes of the second half. It was only a six point differential going into halftime, but that stretch pretty much sealed the deal. The final score was 80something to 50something, so everyone in attendance got BOGO Cane's boxes.
The atmosphere from the crowd was pretty good, considering the lows during the past decade having sucked the life out of the PMAC... best of the year so far. There's a big matchup on Saturday against top 15 Xavier which will be on ESPN2, and a win in that game should really build up the momentum. |
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Read 1 - Post |
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| GAMES: Fire Emblem - Radiant Dawn |
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| 11:09pm 19/01/2009 |
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mood: tired music: OutRun 2 SOUND TRACKS - Night Flight
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I'm a big fan of the tactical / strategy RPG genre, so it may come as something of a surprise to say that I had never played a Fire Emblem game that wasn't through emulation before this title. (Suikoden, too... I know, I'm not very good at being a gamer.) I had not played the prequel, Path of Radiance (on GameCube), but I was still able to follow the story without much of a problem. The Fire Emblem games do not all take place in the same "world", which was something of a disappointment to me.
My favorite game franchise of all time, the Ogre Battle Saga, not only takes place in the same general world but also follows the same overarching storyline (which is hindered by a translation that leaves a bit to be desired and the fact that the current rights holders will probably never build the next game since the main creative forces behind it no longer work for them). There are also two side stories (the games on Neo Geo Pocket and Game Boy Advance) that fill in the blanks for two major players in the big story.
So to learn that the Fire Emblem series was nothing but a few different start-stop stories was kind of a let down. Better than the Final Fantasy "world", but not on the same level as Ogre Battle. The game itself was okay, if a bit on the aggravating side in terms of permanent character kills and a played out and cliched good and evil, right and wrong, order and chaos storyline.
All in all, it was okay. But I have no desire to go back through the other games and play through them just for the sake of doing it. If they "meant something" to the history of the characters, countries, and races that I was supposed to have gotten interested in it might be different, but I'm not (re)grinding a Famicom SRPG just for the hell of it. |
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Read 4 - Post |
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| MUSIC: No More Heroes Sound Tracks Dark Side |
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| 12:08am 18/01/2009 |
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mood: listening music: Manami Matsumae - Finale
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No More Heroes is a “dark” game for the Wii where you go around doing tasks as a lightsaber-wielding assassin named Travis Touchdown. It’s not great, it’s not bad... probably better than average, but broken in a few annoying ways. Coincidentally, that description also applies to this album, a slew of remixes, arranges, and spinoffs from the official soundtrack.
This album is a nine track journey - not into the game itself, but rather into the feel of the game. Track 1, “It's kill or be killed mix”, gives you a feel of the assassin task portion of the game. Track 9, “The virgin child makes her wish without feeling anything [ver.v]”, is a taste of completion. Track 6, “N.M.H. The Outer Rim Remix”, and Track 2, “N.M.H. 6955 mix”, are background music with techno twists. And Track 4, “PURE-WHITE GIANT TINY GLASTONBURY”, is an electronic VGM Japanese lyrical foray into some other place. It’s probably my favorite track on the album.
It’s 9 tracks, and comes in at about 45 minutes. Give it a whirl if you’ve got the time, but not if there’s something else you’d already wanted to listen to. |
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Read 1 - Post |
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| FOOD: Bananas Foster Cheesecake |
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| 04:47pm 17/01/2009 |
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mood:  hungry music: The Connells - Hey You
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This is quite possibly one of the world's greatest desserts, and also possibly the work of the devil. He is a kind, benevolent devil, though, who only takes your health and leaves you with heart congestion and diabetes instead of your immortal soul. Fast food, pizza, and chinese buffets were going to do the same to you eventually, so you might as well get the enjoyment of some bananas foster cheesecake in there beforehand and one-up that pesky heart failure.
In case anyone doesn't know what Bananas Foster is, you basically take sliced bananas and cook them in a pan with butter and brown sugar. You can optionally cook in some rum (or amaretto, or other sweet alcohol) that you then flame off (burn it off). It's great by itself, or over vanilla ice cream, or (as in this case) over cheesecake.
This post doesn't really describe the actual dessert itself, but that's because it isn't quantifiable by the words of mere mortals. Unless you get one of the cheap knockoffs, in which case balls to that. You should go out and try this treat for yourself. Or, if you don't live around here, look up the recipe on the internet and cook some up... it's not difficult at all, and well worth the effort. |
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