Monday, June 30, 2008

An Argument

Sorry for not posting for a while. I won't do it again. This is just a quick argument. I must admit that it was fun to write.


:sigh:

You're always sighing. Why? It's not like you're bored.

Life gets a bit monotonous after a while...

No it doesn't. Your life is perfectly fine and you're happy ninety percent of it!

That's not true! I suffer sometimes.

Like when? During the visit to the dentist? When you stubbed your toe? There are people starving in Africa!

That's your argument for everything. Can't I feel bad without worrying whether someone is feeling worse?

No.

Look, I'm sure that many people have worse lives than me. I'm just saying that sometimes you should focus on your own life rather than others.

You self-centered son of a bitch.

Now you're acting all high and mighty as if you're God! You constantly do attention grabbing things! Last week you lost the remote and got the whole damn house to search for it!

Screw you!

I'll make sure not to sigh near you again.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Best Video Game Sequels that Hardly Resemble the Originals

A lot of video games have sequels, but most of the time they just seem to be expansions of the original. Fortunately, there are some games that wipe the drawing board clean and start anew with a game that is just as, if not more awesome. Here are my favorite sequels that do just that.

Super Mario Bros. 2: Sure, it wasn't originally planned to be a Mario game, but it tons of fun nonetheless. Four very different characters to choose from, hidden warps, creative bosses like Mouser and Birdo, and of course, plenty of vegetables to pick. This game might not have been on the list had there been no vegetables.

Donkey Kong Country: Although Miyamoto didn't like it, Donkey Kong Country was one of the best platformers out there. It had arguably better than N64 graphics and made an antagonist one of the most beloved game characters. It was so great when you rolled off a cliff for an item then jumped back onto land. Physics be damned! You wanted that extra life and you weren't going to let common sense stop you! To this day, it's still fun to watch a gorilla ride on top of a rhinoceros.

Paper Mario: Yes, a second appearance by Mario. He's in a lot of lists because he's been in a lot of good games. That's the reality. Paper Mario is the unofficial sequel to my all-time favorite game; Super Mario RPG. The original had a compelling story, some of the best music in a video game, and oodles of secrets. Paper Mario had none of these, but it did keep one thing; amazing graphics. While they may not be the most advanced graphics for its time, it was so cool to see how everything in a world was set up like a pop-up book. It made it even better when Mario fell and he floated down as a sheet of paper. The game wasn't thrilling during battles, but outside of them, there were a lot of puzzles to solve. I guess that's why there were no battles in Super Paper Mario...

Day of the Tentacle: In my opinion the best point and click game, the sequel to Maniac Mansion was hardly like the original. Only one of the playable characters stayed and rather than the evil doctor being the villain, he was your friend. Unfortunately, one of his pet tentacles drank toxic waste and became evil. To make a long story short, you and your friends get lost in time and you have toilets to communicate with each other. Although this sounds like a bad idea, it was actually a great story. The puzzles were cool to see play out. For example, if you get George Washington to cut down a cherry tree, it will disappear in the future, or if you put wine in a safe place, it can be found hundreds of years later as vinegar. All in all, it made you think, but it was extremely humorous while doing it. Maniac Mansion was so hard, that I couldn't beat it, though.

Yoshi's Island: Let's end with a Mario game, shall we? Yoshi's Island was the pinnacle of platforming. There were secrets, items to collect, an annoying sidekick, and the coolest bosses. In one you were shrunk down and eaten by a frog, another fighting a man-eating plant that surrounds you at all sides, and the last was shooting giant eggs into the distance while a giant Baby Bowser was inching towards you. Some may say that the game looked kiddy, but anyone who has played the game knows that it takes skill and willpower. This game was nothing like Super Mario World, even though it claimed that it was Super Mario World 2 on the cartridge. Super Mario World was a great game, but Yoshi's Island was just...epic.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

The Seven Samurai

This is a movie review that I wrote for school last year.

I felt that the Seven Samurai was a great movie, although at times it was quite boring. I liked how 7 different people (master tactician, apprentice, old friend, wood chopper, skillful one, serious and skillful one, and a crazy farmer’s son) with hardly any relation to each other faced 30 bandits in a few battles. It was also interesting how the farmers weren’t completely innocent themselves, as they had killed injured samurai in the past and stolen their weapons. I thought that the part where the apprentice was in love with the farmer’s daughter was unnecessary and it just abruptly ended. The story with the man who had lost his wife to bandits showed how important family was, but it was also boring and dragged on for a while. One of my favorite parts of the movie was when the old man was playing an instrument really badly for the whole scene, and a guy sleeping there said to stop because it was depressing. The other guys said, “No, keep playing!” It was also enjoyable to watch the sparring with the bamboo sticks. It was also really cute when the farmer’s son samurai was so loved by the children. It really depressed me when he died in the end though. He was the staple of the group. What I question the most from this movie is why didn’t they use the horses they stole from the bandits when fighting? It would’ve made the battle much easier. They only used the guns once, which could’ve killed the leader much more easily. It was really sad in the end when it showed the graves of the four samurai that died. The leader said, “Once again we have lost the battle. The farmers won.” I finally understood it meant that he had always beaten the enemy in the past, but he lost his friends. Although I found the movie a bit long and tedious, the Seven Samurai was amazingly well made, the weapons and scenery looked realistic, and the battle scenes were extremely intense. I give it 4.7 out of 5.

230 Games!

I just beat Mega Man 4-6 (I want to beat them all before Mega Man 9 comes out.), I remembered that I played Mega Man: The Power Battle at a private school I went to (They had an arcade machine under the cafeteria!), and I recently started playing Viva Pinata, so that's 5 more than before. I'm steadily moving along here! I'm almost done with Lego Indiana Jones and I'm planning to play a lot of Mega Man, so I'll probably get to 235 pretty quickly. The list is at the title link.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Pulp Games

I just realized something today while playing Lego Indiana Jones. This isn't an amazing game with anything that wowed me or any depth whatsoever, but it was fun. I call this Pulp Games, as novels with no depth or real point are called pulp fiction. Although it can be debated, almost all games have some sort of depth or innovation; something new. Others are just updated from the last edition of it. The Lego games are all basically the same, except the settings, characters, and puzzles change. The story is completely taken from the movies, so there is nothing in that either. This idea can also be applied to sport games which simply change the roster and other small things every year, the first Mega Man games (okay, they had a bit of story, but they weren't exactly compelling), and Mario Party. Is there something wrong with this? Yes. While each game may be fun in its own right, the developers dig themselves into a hole which is not easy to get out. Just how many Guitar Heros are there going to be until Harmonix comes out with something original? Don't get me wrong. I love games like Katamari as much as the next person, but I want to see new things from those people! I love that feeling when something cool comes out, especially if I've never seen anything like it. Luckily, the original creator of Katamari is making a game for the PS3 that is not about Katamari at all. It's good to know that people can start anew, even after getting wrapped up in a hit.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Land Ownership Essay

I actually didn't make this for a class or anything. I just thought it would be an interesting topic to write about.


When I was a little kid, I lived near the border of two towns. Nearby, there was a fence that separated town A and town B. I thought it was a strange idea that your location could change so drastically in an instant. I would sometimes walk through the gate, back and forth, telling myself that I was in town A, then town B. It seems a bit silly now, but I was testing whether anything really changed across that border. Although the adults told me that town A and B were different places, I could find no difference.

People own land by claiming it is theirs, whether through discovery or attaining it from others. This is a strange idea to Native Americans, as they see the land as public, something that can't be owned, just borrowed for a while. When Europeans came, they asked to buy their land. The Native Americans didn't understand that they were giving away the right to use the land, so they happily sold it. Was this naive of the Native Americans or irrational for the Europeans? Who had given the Native Americans the land in the first place? They just happened upon it. That didn't make it theirs. Vast undiscovered lands are found and people instantly claim that it is theirs. There are other animals living there, but if there are no humans, then it is for the taking. Are humans the only ones capable of ownership? No, other animals have possessions. Even when there are no other forms of life, it is still a ridiculous concept. Governments claim airspace above their countries and even the United States put a flag on the moon, signifying that a whole planetoid is owned by a country a ridiculous distance away. How can people claim that these are attainable?

Lands are not things that can be owned. It's all just part of nature. When one claims property, does it include space above and below too? What limits can be made? Modern society is dependent on land ownership, yet it undoubtedly makes little sense. Is it too late to change? Yes. The world is built on flawed logic.

80 Unique Views Today...

Well, now that you're all here, are you going to keep coming back? If you are, thank you. Plus, I feel like I'm talking to a wall if there are no responses, so would you mind a couple comments here and there? Much appreciated.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Spore Creature Creator Part 2

Good news is that I downloaded it. Bad news is it doesn't work. I got to the initial screen with the galaxy in the background, but there are no icons to click on! And I was so excited for this. I guess I'll have to play it at a friend's house...

Spore Creature Creator

Yes, it got leaked, but not for a Mac, which happens to be my computer. At least the official one is out tomorrow. I'm actually really excited for this. I love the idea of making an animal basically from scratch and being able to move it realistically. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to make with it, but it'll definitely have a lot of limbs. Actually, what I might do is try to make a realistic human. If I can make any animal, why not Man? I actually think it's not going to work, seeing as this version only has 25% of the parts. Ah, well. Anyway, I'm not actually sure if I want the whole game. The idea of making the animal is plenty for me. I don't need to conquer worlds with it. The only part of the game that really interests me other than the creature creator is the simple organism stage. It just seems like a cool idea to eat the smaller creatures and slowly increase in size. Well, I hope this will be fun.

Edit: Never mind. It's online already! I can't wait to play...

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Bugs

I must admit that I feel very similar to this character...

I hate nature. I feel that it's out to get me. Whenever I'm outside, I find some mosquito or anthill at my feet. I HATE bugs. I have nightmares about them crawling up my legs and covering me. I shudder to think about it. This is why I'm in the fetal position on a park bench. If my feet don't touch the ground, then bugs are less likely to get to me. I really don't want to be here, but my friend is playing guitar here in Central Park for a little extra cash. I like to walk through the park, but when I have to sit down, then I am more accessible to those evil creatures. Oh God! There's one next to my neck!...Killed it. I feel sorry for it. It isn't its fault that it's disgusting. Oh no. What if they come looking for the bug that I squished and find its broken body? They'll know it was me! They'll band together and crawl over me and bite me! How much longer do I have until my doom?!? I have to get out of here! I get to my feet and start to run away. I yell to my friend that I have to go. I can't take any chances. I need to get to my apartment. My sweet bug-free apartment... Or is it?

Monday, June 16, 2008

An Egg Yolk

Ah, the egg. Loved and hated by many. Some people refuse to even eat the yolk of an egg, saying that it's grotesque and foul tasting. Others, like me, will embrace the yolk, eating it whole or savoring it slowly. The hard boiled yolk is, I admit, a bit hard to swallow. I need some sort of drink with it to wash it down, but I enjoy the texture and flavor. Some might think this is strange, but I never put salt or pepper on my hard boiled eggs. I feel that it takes away from the taste. But the greatest egg dish of all is not the hard boiled egg, but the poached egg. It is a regal dish, often having its own cup, a throne if you will. Depending on mood, I may eat it on toast or plain. Here is the fun part. One must poke a hole in it, and golden liquid will seep out. Then they must take a bite or gobble it at once. The latter ensures them getting the most yolk, but the former allows the eater to contemplate the egg, to understand its true meaning. When I am eating an egg like this, I feel that I have reached a temporary euphoria. The only thing that can get me down is the idea that it will be gone soon. The poached egg is a perfect dish. There is no way to make it better.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Best Day Ever

I wanted to work my fancy outfit into the comic somehow, and it actually came out pretty well. Necessity is the mother of invention, I guess. You can find the comic at the title link.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Liquid Pie

This is my third comic. The idea comes from my friend. He really thought that liquid pie would be a good idea. Admittedly, I thought it would be too... Find the comic at the title link.

Friday, June 13, 2008

How Long Should a Blog Post Be?

Nobody wants a long blog post. They want it to be short, sweet, and to the point. Has everyone become ADD? Yes. The internet has made us like this. And I'm completely fine that way. This is how long a blog post should be.

Eli Whitney

I made this comic in Chemistry class of all places. We weren't doing anything that day anyway. You can find it at the title link.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

George

This is a little characterization piece I made in creative writing club.


George is a kind fellow. Well, everybody assumes he's kind because he doesn't talk. Some say that he's mute. Others say that his parents never let him talk. He does help everyone around town that needs help, as long as they ask. Nobody knows what he's thinking, though. He never shows any expression. As far as we know, he's a robot, just doing what he's programmed to do. He only eats at home by himself. Sometimes I even question if he's alive.


Unfortunately, we were supposed to be the character in an interview afterwards, and my character wasn't quite the interview type.

225 Games

I just realized that I had played Ms. Pacman and Galaga 3 (both with no ending), so that brought it up to 224 games. A minute ago, I beat Patapon, which I had staved off for a while. That brings it up to 225 games! Woo! The list is at the title link.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Sarah Bellum

My little sister Anne likes to write. She likes to make up stories with no real point. I try to tell her that there needs to be some kind of moral or underlying message, but she doesn’t want to hear that. She just wants me to check it and say that I love it. So I do. Today I was called into her room and she asked me if she had a good plot.
“June, how’s this? There’s a girl genius named, ‘Sarah Bellum’, and she goes around solving mysteries with her friends. On her first mystery, she finds that one of her classmates is actually evil, but she has to find a way to prove it.” Oh how I’d love to tell her that nobody in their right mind would name a kid ‘Sarah Bellum’. But I couldn’t tell her that.
“That’s a great idea, Anne.”
“You think so? Cool! I’m going to try and write a series!” She’s always going to write a series, but the next day, she completely loses interest in the character. “Let’s see. How should I title this…? The Beginning of Sarah Bellum: Issue One; Volume One; Series One. How’s that?”
“Marvelous.”

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Running After Midnight

I asked my friend to give me a topic to write a scene about. He said to write about running after midnight (apparently a song name). It's not really a great story, but I think it's pretty good for just getting the picture.


I woke up in a cold sweat. It was 1:30 AM, but I needed to get up. I rolled out of bed and got on my socks and running shoes. I crept out of the house, closing the doors as quietly as possible. I got on the street and broke into a sprint as if I wasn't half-asleep. I ran like I was chased by a boulder. I couldn't run during the day because of the heat, so I had to get my exercise at night. But I was so tired... I slowed down to a jog, then a complete stop. I needed to rest. "I'll just take a nap on the grass here..."

I wake up again, noticing the sun, and look at my watch. Oh crap! I'm already an hour late for school!

222 Games!

I've beaten 222 games! I beat Ocarina of Time (I've played it a lot, but I just finally beat it). I'll make another post when I hit 225 games. The updated list is at the title link.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Julia Child IRB Review

This is an IRB review from this fall.



Like any good dish, be it soup or stew, dessert or appetizer, French or American, a book must have a good base. Julia Child’s book is quite unsurprisingly based on France and food. But just because it is a simple and predictable stock doesn’t mean that the book will be bland and tasteless. It is a stock so well made and so lovingly written, that you taste the book as both a literate masterpiece and a culinary one. One glorious whiff of the book and you’ll want to whip up a batch yourself!

And whip up a batch I did! My mother and I decided to make Pommes Anna, a cake made out of potatoes. We clarified butter, peeled potatoes, sliced them up, and poured the butter in a skillet. I started to put in the potatoes, slice by slice, but my mom told me that I was putting them too far apart. She tried to fix it, but just made it worse! We were upset and frantic trying to figure out what to do. But wait. In both the book and Julia Child’s cooking shows (which we had recently watched) she displayed how important improvisation is. “Just keep going,” we thought. “It’ll turn out fine, even with a few mistakes.” So we trudged on, putting the potatoes in as much of an order as possible. Then we tried to put in some pepper. And of course as in any well-planned procedure, an essential ingredient was missing: we realized that we had no pepper left in the mill, and could not find any more in the cupboard. To get the peppercorns! We raced around putting on the potatoes, sprinkling butter on, and trying to find peppercorns. Finally, voila! We found them somehow and ground some on. Next, the cookbook said to put a cover on the skillet. Cover? What cover? We had just bought the skillet today, and there was no cover when we got it. We rummaged through our pots and pans and found a cover that just fit inside. Crisis averted.

My Life in France is a delicious book. Julia Child is a master of describing food in exactly the right way. You feel as if you are eating the fish, drinking the wine, and soaking up France from the window of a tiny restaurant. The book isn’t all about pure happiness through food, though. She tells of the awe-inspiring cooking lessons at the Cordon Bleu. Once she graduates, she starts making a cookbook. Very possibly the most important cookbook of all time, Mastering the Art of French Cooking brought America out of the stone age of food. Julia put years and years of pain-staking research into this book. She worked day and night over trying to find which exact measurement of cream would make the perfect Burre Blanc, or how the measurements of flour would differ in France from America because American flour has less fat in it.

Julia Child was definitely a hero. Not the kind of hero that does his or her job because they have to, but the kind of hero that just loves what she does. She spread the art of French cooking and should be praised as one of the greatest cooks that have ever lived.

Video Game Burning?!?

Quote from a pastor:


We are considering having something similar to a rally where parents and children can bring CDs and video games that they consider are destructive to the mind set of our youth and have a burning, just like they had a gun buyback last year...

Young people are being influenced by what they see and what they hear. They are being influenced by television ... television and videos are telling young people a vision but something that's not reality...

[Violent media] has a tremendous influence on young people and violence. That's basically all they see. Most of them try to emulate what they see, when in reality, the people they see don't even live in those communities. Some of the rappers they see on TV portraying crime don't live in the urban areas — they live in the suburbs somewhere. It's all a facade.


Yep. It's a revival of book burning. Look how much society has evolved!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Fuchsia Dunlop IRB Review

When you hear the phrase, “Chinese food,” what do you think of? Shrimp lo mein? Chicken and Broccoli? When you hear the phrase, “French food,” can you make such a narrow picture? Most people would say no. This is ironic, as China is hundreds of times bigger than France and has many more delicacies to choose from. Fuchsia Dunlop shows exactly how little Westerners know about the second largest country in the world.

Fuchsia Dunlop set out to research China for the BBC. Almost as soon as she got there, she abandoned the idea of working for TV and started getting into the native cuisine. Amazed by the flavors and extraordinary food, she decided to take courses in Sichuanese cooking. She saw how much different Chinese culture was to what she was used to. Daughters are hardly seen as part of the family, in some parts of the country, people have never seen foreigners, and almost all of the people loved Mao, even though he killed many people and was a fierce ruler. Fuchsia was overwhelmed by this culture shock, but she started to become more and more Chinese, almost to the point where she couldn’t understand why some people wouldn’t eat chicken feet. Now she has become a food celebrity and she makes China seem like an amazing place to be.

As I read this book, I got more and more intrigued by China. The whole idea of a culture revolving around food and streets brimming with snacks piqued my interest. I had to learn more about it. So I decided to make a hot pot from the book and my parents and I drove off to Chinatown for Chinese produce and sauces. It was a blistering hot day, but we had to find my ingredients. We left the car and checked all of the stalls. It took a while, but we finally found some radishes, ginger, and cabbage. The cabbages were a bit bigger than normal ones, but the radishes were HUGE. They were practically the size of my head! There were also string beans almost as long as an arm! Whoever said everything is bigger in Texas has obviously never been to China. We checked a couple of grocery stores and found our sauces and I managed to find some milk flavored pocky (It melted by the time I got home, but it was actually white chocolate flavor, so it was okay.). One grocery had animal crackers with Macaw, Furseal, and Mandarin Duck shapes (I didn’t know that they were that specific in those designs!). The groceries smelled of dried shrimp, so getting out of them was a relief. After our shopping, we visited a crowded restaurant called Xo Kitchen. I wanted to get the goose feet, duck feet, or pig knuckles, but I stopped myself from getting too strange foot food. We did get a whole squab, though. Head and tail still attached. It was delicious. We went home happy (minus one parking ticket). Success!

The next day, we made the hot pot. We peeled and chopped monster vegetables, eating leafy cabbage slices on the sly. The Sichuan peppercorns’ bag warned not to eat as a snack, but they looked so delicious! My Dad chopped the meat and then stirred it into a spicy chili mixture. Covered in chili sauce, the colorless meat had donned a supernaturally spicy coating. We covered it in water and let it stew for a few hours. Just a little while now…

We put the dish in a fondue pot and watched it come to a simmer. We took our rice and a bit of the concoction. We raised our chopsticks to our mouth and felt the flavor. Not only did we taste it, we felt it. The hot pot had overpowered us. I dipped into my cran-grape juice funds and went for another go at this challenge. Nothing in that pot was the least bit mild. Then we remembered. The tofu! We threw it in, waited a little while and took a bite. Ah! Something that has that almost obnoxiously loud spicy flavor coupled with a cooling inside! We were pleased at this flavor. The radishes were also quite a good contrast, both bitter and spicy. Nearing the end of the feasting, we were delirious with spice. As Fuchsia Dunlop put it, “We couldn’t distinguish pain from pleasure.” And so ends my brief discovery of China.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Rez HD Review

Wow. This game is epic. It's a rail-shooter that plays like a music game. It never really explained the plot, but I'm okay with that. It makes up for it in glamour.

You're basically in a computer that wants to kill you. You must use your human-like avatar to shoot and destroy all forces pitted against you. You can try and make combos by locking on or shoot directly by rapidly hitting the button (and destroying your thumb in the process). Your avatar flies around, delving deeper and deeper into this computer world to ultimately get to a boss. Probably the most interesting thing about this game is the world itself. The only solid objects are you (at full health) and the enemies. The rest is an imaginative freeform, sometimes in shapes of pyramids or sphinxes, maybe the Taj Mahal, but usually swirling and bobbing expanses. The music in the game is basically made by you. When you attack, you make a sort of clapping noise. When you hit, a buzz. Everything you do will orchestrate the game, making the game that much more amusing. Yes, of course the developers designed the levels to inspire you to shoot at these intervals and such, but there is room for creativity, and the idea that your gaming abilities are making music is quite amusing indeed. The bosses, although I have only played three so far, are very well made. The first is a sphere that throws a cluster of attacks at you while keeping hundreds of shields around itself. You must pick each one off. The second is a sort of monster that tries to shoot things through pincers at you. You must destroy each pincer, then go inside of it to kill the source. The third boss is a giant tower filled with turrets that shoots homing missiles. As you can see, this game holds back nothing and is a pleasure to just watch.


Graphics: 10 (They don't need to be real looking as long as they are stunning)

Story: 4 (Not much to go on, but the idea of destroying a computer from the inside out is cool)

Sound: 10 (When there's a game practically based on sound and does a great job at it, how can I rate it anything else?)

Gameplay: 9 (Most fun I've had in a shooter, but it loses a point for a slow cross-hair and it's irritating to restart a level from the beginning.) 

Replay Value: 8 (Keeps most of the fun in the second play, but loses a bit of the wonder of what's going to happen next.)

Overall: 8.2 (For $10, how can you miss out on this game?)

Friday, June 6, 2008

A Chat With an English Teacher After the Story is Written

No, this is not nonfiction. I just find it amusing to twist situations I'm sometimes in, hence the fishing story and this.

"I love the use of imagery."
"Oh yes. It makes everything in the story seem realer."
(What the hell is imagery?)
"And the character is very much like Ali Baba. I like allusions."
"Yes. I intended that of course."
(Ali who? Allusions?)
"So, what made you write this story?"
"I was just reading Great Expectations and the idea came to me."
(Great Expectations... I'd never read that. I was watching Lost.)
"Great Expectations? I love that book! What's your favorite scene?"
"I'd say the one when they find the polar bear on the island....I mean the first one!"
(Damn it, Toby! Think before you speak!)
"I need to read that again... Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow."
"Bye..."
(I'm going to need to Wikipedia imagery later...)

Pokemon Graduation Speech

The sad thing is that we all know exactly what he's talking about.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Creepiest Game That's Not Trying to Be

Video games are sometimes meant to be scary. Sometimes they're not, but still send shivers down our spines. Here's a list of scary moments in games that are clearly not scary games.

  • Ghost houses in Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island: Boos aren't supposed to be scary. They're funny looking ghosts that are about as terrifying as a person covered in a white sheet. The thing that makes them creepy is that when you look at them, they don't move, but creep closer as you turn away. They're like stalker ghosts. Plus the music in the levels gets me antsy. I just want to leave as soon as I enter.
  • The haunted mansion in Super Mario 64: This is a whole different story. The boos in this game were 3-D and their smiles haunt my dreams... But that's not the only scary part. There were numerous eyeballs that stay focused on you, books with sharp teeth flying after you, and a PIANO trying to eat you. The first time I got near the piano and it started coming after me, I almost had a heart attack. And let's not forget the basement. There's a merry-go-round-type thing in the middle. And it played music ingrained in everyone's brain that has played this game. If I were to describe it, I would liken it to a clown with a switchblade hidden behind its back. *shudder* It took me until I was 10 to gather up the courage to get all of the stars.
  • Gruntilda's Lair and Mad Monster Mansion in Banjo Kazooie: Gruntilda's Lair was pretty scary, considering that it's a hub world. A little song that kept you on the edge of your seat, and a new scary thing every room. Let's not even discuss Cheato's rooms. For some reason I just needed to get OUT when I saw him. Anyway, each room had a theme. The first had a giant picture of Gruntilda, just to remind you that you were trespassing in world completely controlled by an evil witch. One had mummies, another was full of spider webs; needless to say, it is not an ideal living space. Mad Monster Mansion was full of ghosts and ghouls. It was cartoony, but in a way, that made them scarier. I tried to avoid this place while on my quest to get notes, but unfortunately had to gather my courage and check every nook and cranny.
  • Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask Skulltula Houses: What's scarier than a half-skull half-spider come down on a web in front of you? One that is fused with a human. The people cursed by golden skulltulas were made skulltulas themselves and now ask Link to kill those cursed beasts so they can become human again. I guess you're supposed to feel bad for cursed people, but I was just weirded and creeped out. I go in there, grab my adult wallet, turn for the door screaming and try not to set foot in there again. In Majora's Mask, there was only one of those guys, but I tried to avoid eye contact. I guess I just don't like monsters moaning for help.
It's kind of ironic that I didn't find Luigi's Mansion scary, because that was basically the only game on a Nintendo console that tried to be scary. I guess it's because the darkness and the ghosts became the norm.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Net Neutrality

I've gotta say, this is pretty scary.

Fishing

Here's a quick story about a father and son.

I sit there in the dinghy with nothing but a fishing rod in my hands.
"Dad? When is something going to happen?"
"Any minute now, Charlie."
That's the same thing he said an HOUR ago. I think I'm going insane. Dad is concentrating on the water, as if when he looks away it'll be gone. He said this would be relaxing. He said it would be a BONDING experience, yet the only words that have left his mouth are, "Any minute now, Charlie." Dad doesn't care about me. This is just some stupid obsession of his that he can't do alone for some reason. I look at the murky water and I weigh the chances of being able to swim back. Never mind. I can't abandon my dad. I don't like him, but I have to be nice to him. It's just the way it is. I try to start a conversation.
"So dad, why do you like fishing?"
"I dunno."
Yep. That's my dad. Ever so entertaining. Wait. I feel a pull. It's a fish! I wrestle with the rod, imagining a giant fish thrashing around in the water. I've caught dad's attention. His eyes fill with happiness, urging me to pull harder. I finally get it out. It's a boot. All enthusiasm drains from dad's eyes. Without a word, he goes back to watching the water. Why can't he at least applaud my effort?!? I sigh, put my rod down, and stand up, dad not noticing at all. I'm swimming back.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

It's a Chemistry Joke...

I made a comic for my chemistry teacher... And all of my loyal readers of course!

You can find it at the title link.

Yoshi- Topsy Turvy

I beat Yoshi: Topsy Turvy. Goodbye and good riddance. That was quite possibly the worst game I've ever played. I would have to re-calibrate the tilt sensor every two minutes for crying out loud!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Prequel to the Elevator Story

I decided to add on to a story that I wrote (gasp!). This is what happens right before the elevator story.

I'm late. I need to get to work FAST. I run through the city streets, scalding coffee in one hand, briefcase in the other. Why must I run to this job? I'd rather literally put my nose to a grindstone than figuratively. Nothing but a dead end job with a stupid boss. I feel like I'm in a Dilbert cartoon, but this is cruel reality. There are no punch lines here. Everyone on the street has a place to be, probably a place that they hate. Why am I out here wasting my life away?!? I could be a sailor, or a race car driver... But no. I have neither the will nor the personality for those jobs. My job is perfect for the dull lowlife that I am. I can see the office building in the distance. Is it worth going to work today? Should I go back home even though I'm almost there? No. I'm going in today. I somehow feel that something good will happen...

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Just Hit 220 Games

Yep. I just beat Majora's Mask, and that makes it 220 games I've beaten. You can find the list at the title link. I'll make another post when I hit 222 (222 is kinda symmetrical!).

Cooking Robots!


Oh. Ho. Eggs. 

I want this! I could rent it to people who play World of Warcraft and they could teach it to grind! Oh, and I could teach it to dance too.

A Quick Stop at Cones

After a Korean dinner (that I'll post about some other time), me and my father went to get ice cream. We found a shop with a large line inside. It was called, "Cones: Ice Cream Artisans". We strolled into the shop and I asked to try a few of the strange flavors. I tried cantaloupe (alright, but had a bit of a overly-sweet aftertaste), watermelon (a sticky grainy flavor), and, one I simply had to try, corn (tasted too MUCH like corn. I found a kernel in my teeth.). I decided to go with the old favorite; chocolate. Why sacrifice good taste for a zany taste? The chocolate melted a bit fast, but was satisfying as always. Next time I'm getting kumquat in rum flavor...