Wednesday, March 3, 2004 6:50:54p: *
For those of you who don't get the joke, the lovely vision below this post is the Element of Fire, Seraphita. And 'FUEGO!' means, naturally, 'FIRE!'.
Not much going on-- the flat tire I got yesterday was still under warranty from the last time I had problems with it, so that's that. Moreover, I'm confident that the interview I had yesterday before the flat tire will work out to my advantage.
I hate having to wait...
By the way, Stephen King's new miniseries Kingdom Hospital starts tonight. I really love scary stories, and King is the master of them. The film versions of his books don't always turn out quite as well as one would expect ('The Stand' being a notable exception), but they're enjoyable nonetheless. So I'm looking forward to this.
One last little bit. Lee Desmond, of South Carolina. Yes, you. I'm talking to you now. I want you to email me. The address is somewhere on the site; if you're as smart as I remember you to be (hint: you are), you should have no problem finding it. I can only hope that you have enough sense to google your own name once in a while. Speaking of which, I'm off to do just that to see what turns up. Later, folks.Thursday, March 4, 2004 11:56:03a: * TFO.net Presents: How Not To Schedule Television
Channel
6:00 PM
6:30 PM
7:00 PM
Movie 1
My Giant ('98, Billy Crystal)
Movie 2
Movie
Private Parts ('96, Howard Stern)
Thank you.Thursday, March 4, 2004 12:02:34p: *
Please excuse the whitespace (blue-space?) between the title and the entry in the post below. Blogger is smoking the crack. But enjoy the joke, all the same; it was culled from an actual TV listing I saw not half an hour ago.Friday, March 5, 2004 10:09:42p: * Penny Arcade, as always, is a center for creamy filling of goodness. Sometimes they leave out the creme, which is cool-- after all, you can't always have creme, sometimes you have to have nougat-- but the goodness is everpresent. Which, as it suggests, is good.
But something that can only be described as not good was found this afternoon, specifically in Gabe's post. Let's do the quote thing, shall we?
"I've had a lot of mail asking if print versions of these books will be available. [...] It's technically up to the companies that own the work though."
OK, I can see one important thing wrong with this. Gabe, you are the "company that did the work". I understand that it's a sticky licensing issue, especially if the game you did work for kinda tanked (which, thankfully, none of them have). But if your lawyer was at all competent, he would have made damn sure that when you were contracted for the comics, a clause was in there that said you retained rights to reproduce the work. After all, it's the same principle as an advertising firm. A firm makes a 30-second spot that wins critical acclaim, even though the product advertised is largely garbage (let's say, oh, Pets.com, to give a "totally random" example). That firm then retains the rights to the ad, so that it can either display it as a showcase or sublicense the ad for a "best ads" tv show or something. The point being that the ad firm can still use the ad for its own purposes, whatever they may be, so long as those purposes don't amount to "we did this ad for this product; we liked the ad but the product sucked; I can't believe we wasted such a great ad concept on such a sucky piece of suck". (Again, hypothetical here, and the example of Pets.com is not at all in any way shape or form totally random.)
So, Gabe, in about another six months I'd suggest looking to Dark Horse for help on publishing these and a few other of your miniature serials. Like, say, "Over Easy"? Which you've only been promising for four goddamn years now? I'd personally like to see that.
(This impersonation of Tycho's writing style brought to you by "FFXI Withdrawal". For those times when you absolutely, positively must kill a Goblin Butcher-- overnight.)Saturday, March 6, 2004 8:43:21a: *
I just wanted to mention that last night, my site managed to get its 5000th recorded hit (at least on the main page). This makes me very proud to announce that this is merely the beginning, and that things are going to continue from here...
We shall see. I'm going to be doing a little backend work today. Later, kiddos.Sunday, March 7, 2004 8:03:03p: *
Naturally, I'd manage to get sick just before everything falls into place. Oh well, these things happen. I'm sure I'll feel better in the morning (read: after a night's Nyquil-induced coma), so we'll have to do the news thing then. I have a lot I want to cover, too-- notes on anime, games, and life in general. In short, tomorrow I give the site a continued reason to exist. So, 'till the morning then.Monday, March 8, 2004 8:36:48p: *
All righty, folks; I promised a long diatribe, and here we are, almost 24 hours later. Let's do this.
As the forum-gumi know, I'm something of a prolific Slashdotter, and I tend to be very vocal on the comment forums when the topic, climate, and mood hit me just right. This weekend was rife with fun stuff to discuss, so, in no particular order:
The Viacom/DishNetwork thing: Being a former employee of a cable company, and knowing just what all is involved on BOTH ends of the spectrum, I have little sympathy for either side in this little spat. About five years ago I would have been all for the inclusion of the Nicktoons channel, as at that point I knew all the older shows I enjoyed were there. But now that I'm older I just don't care-- partially because I use the TV primarily as a monitor for my consoles, but also partially because I grew up, and most of the current lineup doesn't strike me. That being said, I'm still patiently waiting for the Region 1 DVD releases of "Danger Mouse" and "You Can't Do That On Television".
I glossed over the Ghibli thing, but from what I understand, it's a good thing I didn't buy the Fox DVD for "My Neighbor Totoro". Or any of the other DVDs, yet-- waiting for a boxed set. Ditto for the Lord of the Rings DVDs-- haven't bought any of those yet, but I'm planning on it once the trilogy edition comes out.
The EB-as-fence thing: I'll be completely honest here: this isn't in any way indicative of the company as a whole. Sure, all the stores are part of the same corporation, but they are individually managed; and I for one knew two of the most kick-ass managers EVER. Chris in Jamestown (formerly of Erie) was the best, and Paul (former assistant manager) from Olean rocked mightily. So all you self-righteous, boycotting jackasses who're knee-jerking your way to Gamestop, don't. That's all I'll say about that.
Well, not really: I've heard a lot of splash damage about the whole "75%+ markup on used games" thing in the thread, too. To be honest, I've gone both ways on the issue-- it's not entirely fair that we give you store credit and turn around to sell the game for . I'll grant that much. But at the same time someone very wise mentioned that without the trade-in offer, the odds are pretty damn slim of finding anyone to give you even that much for the game. Which is true. I know for sure that I wouldn't be able to afford all the games I've gone through if I didn't trade in every once in a while. So it's a balance, really.
All right, finally from Slashdot we have the Master Sword thing. Not much to say here except that now, Greg Dean has no excuse. (And no, I didn't email him. I was waiting for him to mention it.)
Let's get to the games, shall we?
dot Hack vol.1: Infection has grabbed far too much of my time recently. About seven hours' worth, to be precise. I picked it up about three weeks ago with some spare credit (which also got me the Greatest Hits version of Kingdom Hearts-- all in all, I made about having sold that one back as soon as I finished it and waiting to pick it up again when it made GH), and didn't touch it, actually, until I started thinking about it. The other three parts are all out now, which was the first excuse I'd made (not all of them are yet, though, so touche). After getting into it a little bit, I can say it pretty accurately mimics the MMORPG experience, aside from there actually being a plot, there is. Incidentally you can choose to ignore the plot at certain points, as well-- but you know me, since I like to plow through a story, that wasn't going to happen any time soon, and I routinely got my butt handed to me early on. I have to seriously question the design decision to make 5-level dungeons with no save points anywhere. Especially in plot dungeons. Overall, though, the game is solid and plays pretty smoothly.
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles also found its way into my hands, which surprised me to no end. Of course, my GBA-GC link cable has mysteriously disappeared since beginning play. No matter, the single-player experience isn't much to scream about. I just wish that the designers had thought to allow the use of a GBA in single-player mode; if you go solo, your only choice is to use your main GC controller (or, natch, a Wavebird). Again, no biggie-- this just means it's at the bottom of the "to play" stack, or more likely, the top of the "to sell" stack.
I also started a second trip through Xenogears a week or so ago, and had been grooving pretty quickly through it. I made it to Nortune D Block before allowing it to take a back seat to DDR and dot Hack, though-- which is where I was stalled for the longest time on my first trip through, incidentally. So we'll be taking our time with that-- I don't expect to be done with dot Hack for another month or so.
Let's talk a little bit about DDR, as well. Since the announcement of DDR Extreme for the US in January, we've heard precious little about the title from Konami-- admittedly, they're notorious for keeping secrets, but having to wait until August for more details is a little annoying. But a cabbit can dream, can't he? And I'm almost positive Konami Googles themselves whenever it's decent to do so. So, with no real hope for them to actually read this, here's a short list of the songs I'd like to see in the US Extreme: Let's Get Down, Witch Doctor, Graduation, Speed Over Beethoven, Candy(heart), Candy(star), Nori Nori Nori, Healing Vision (both mixes), Boom Boom Dollar, La Bamba, and (for Pez) Butterfly. Let's hope they get the message. Oh, and one more thing: Bring over Pop'n Music 8 or I swear to high heaven I'll come and slice off Goemon's head. That is all I have to say about that. Ahem.
Finally, I want to weigh in on a topic that's not related at all to the site, but still of import to a few readers out there. Politically, I don't want to endorse any of the candidates for the 2004 Presidential Elections in the US. In fact, if you want to be honest, I think they all are the lowest of the low. I can't find a single redeeming quality for any of the candidates-- incumbent included-- nor do I see anything in their platforms I'd endorse or even find to be good for the American people as a whole. We bandy words a lot here in the Internet about Candidate X or Political Party Y, but in the end we all wind up saying the same thing: "I don't like any of them, so I'm not going to vote for any of them. I'm going to sit on my ass on Election Day and eat Cheetos as Dan Rather reads me the results and offers witty insight." Folks, especially American folks, I don't think that's the answer we're looking for. I suggest you write to the candidate who repulses you least of all and tell him what you think of his position, and what he can change to earn your vote. This regional baloney, this telling one state one thing and another state another thing, this has got to go, too. We're a wired culture, people. We can get the news from L.A. just as easily as the news from Washington, D.C., Portland, Maine, or Butte, Idaho and Fox, Pennsylvania. We're a wired populace, people. So let's start wising up to what they're shoveling before we're hip-deep in it.
I bid you all a good night, and we'll do this thing again sometime soon. Insomnimancers can expect me in Vana'Diel tomorrow night.Monday, March 8, 2004 8:59:41p: *
And lest we forget, tonight we also bring you an installment of Disturbing Search String Theater. Tonight's titillating episode is entitled:
accidental boob slip videos
Please be aware that due to FCC sanctions, we are now running this website on a five-second tape delay. Thank you. Please tune in again for more Disturbing Search String Theater.Tuesday, March 9, 2004 1:16:40p: *
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...
I'm back in business.
I start in Erie on Monday morning.
More info later.Saturday, March 13, 2004 6:31:48a: *
OK, here's the deal. I've got an apartment in Erie now, and the power and phone are all set to go. The drawback to this is, of course, that I won't have phone service until Monday at the earliest. So I'll be out of touch for the time being.
I have to apologize that I've not kept you all up to date on what's been going on-- I've been quite remiss in that. However, in the four days since I learned I was hired, things have gotten weird. I had to run to Erie two days in a row, pack the bare minimum, struggle to even find out whether or not I'd have a place of my own by Sunday (Pez had graciously offered to let me crash, and I think him for that as a back-up plan)... Like I said, weird. More than that, all the utilities I called on Friday said nothing could be done until Monday. Irritating. I'd be mad if things weren't actually working out semi-well.
So what now? Well, I know where I have to be Monday morning. And hopefully for many more mornings after that. So let's hope this works out, folks.
Talk to you as soon as I can.Monday, March 15, 2004 8:56:10p: *
OK, so here's the good news. I have arrived safely here in Erie, the bare basic services have been set up (apartment, electric, water, and phone) as well as a couple extra services (cell phone and I'll set up DSL in just a few moments).
The bad news is, of course, that to do all this I had to start working again. ^_^ My first day wasn't too bad, but it could have gone a little smoother if things had worken out differently. Anyway, so that's really the extent of the "bad news".
What's bizarre, naturally, is that tonight (being the first time that I've relied on broadcast TV in well over ten years) the closed captioning for "The Green Mile" is inexplicably not the closed captioning, but actually the current time. I know some stations broadcast this information, but I never thought that it was visible to users (it's usually just for VCRs to auto-set themselves, like mine did). Weird...
Anyway, forum-gumi have a few new things to check out, and I have some catching up to do. So we'll continue this later, kiddos.Saturday, March 20, 2004 10:21:01p: *
Hey there, folks. The DSL's up and running fine; I've purged my system of both the AOL and the "Witty" bug... all is well once again. As soon as I get done here, I'm going to fire up Unreal Tournament 2004 and have myself a look-see...
Oh, and incidentally, I stopped by Splash Lagoon this afternoon after I got back into town and tried my paws at Double mode on DDR Extreme. All I can say is, Pez, I have a lot more awe for you now after having experienced Double for myself...Wednesday, March 24, 2004 6:47:03p: *
Been a while, hasn't it? It's very difficult for me to keep up with the old habit of daily updates now that I have the meager beginnings of a social life, but I'll try my best.
Anyway, a couple things I'd like to touch on for a moment. I submitted a story to Slashdot this morning about the GameOn NY festival coming up in November, but as of about five minutes ago it still was listed as "pending". I imagine it'll be rejected by 8p this evening, but anyway... There's something that this site conveniently neglects to mention: One of the members of the event's steering committee is none other than Bernie "I Hate You" Stolar, aka "That guy who completely f**ked up the US Saturn" and "The guy who, after f**king up the US Saturn, f**ked up the US launch of the Dreamcast". If there's anyone to blame for why Sega is not a contender in the hardware market anymore, it is this man. This man is deserving of more ire from gamers than any other-- not Rockstar Games, not Klebold and Harris, and certainly not Joseph Lieberman. BERNIE STOLAR IS EVIL INCARNATE. He single-handedly destroyed Sega's reputation in the US; forced developers to flock en masse to the PS2, XBox, and GameCube; aborted support of a fairly-well-to-do system in favor of a new console that wouldn't be out for another 18 months; and left his successor with a broken shambles of a company that was too far down the spiral to be saved. I think I've made my point.
For you Slashdot people coming to my site, be it from my story or from a comment in someone else's submitted story, please notice that I didn't put that little set of remarks in my version of the blurb because, hey, who are we kidding-- /. has enough bias already.
On a brighter note (well, relatively brighter, anyway), I received the boxed set of "His & Her Circumstances" (aka "Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou") from a dear family member, who knows who he is. Aaanyway, this series is great. I'd considered picking it up myself a few times now, but I'm glad I got the chance to see it all at one go. I've finished Disc 1 already. The reason this came about is an interesting story as well. My uncle noticed I'd mentioned Evangelion on my site, and asked me what else of [Evangelion director Hideaki] Anno's work had I seen. I replied with "FLCL", and he looked shocked that I hadn't mentioned Kare Kano. So he sent me the box. Arigato gozaimasu. The series is best summed up by the producer's notes on disc 1: "[Kare Kano] is a high school romance in the same way that Neon Genesis Evangelion was a giant mecha show." The art style and flooding of titles can be overwhelming for neophyte otaku, so it's not exactly the best introduction to Anno's pieces; I'd probably suggest FLCL for that. (Maybe.) But so far I'm really digging the story, and getting riotous laughter from the whole thing. It's genuinely funny and I think everyone can relate, just a little, to one or more of the characters. (Forum-gumi can expect a minor tirade in a few minutes... but then again, I never said Inner Circle was going to be all plums. ^_^)
Anyway, time enough to watch a little more, maybe bust some humps in UT2K4 or FFXI, and then catch Kingdom Hospital. Solid.Thursday, March 25, 2004 6:33:41a: *
FFXI was released yesterday for the Playstation 2.
This means that in another week, the game will have finished installing and all those newbies will be ready to play. *rimshot*Friday, March 26, 2004 6:46:38a: * GameSpot has an interesting summary of Tetsuya Mizuguchi's speech at this year's GDC. I think it speaks volumes that I was able to know that Mr. Mizuguchi was the director of Rez without having to be reminded of it-- I tell you, the game is just THAT DAMN GOOD. Anyway, he makes an interesting point about how the most effective games are those that rely on the "three inherent desires: collecting, raising, and fighting". He cited, of all things, Pokemon as being a key example.
...which kinda makes sense. I mean, yeah, I still have my copy of Pokemon Sapphire and fired it up a few days ago just for kicks. Oh, and unrelated note, a bug in the internal clock for the GBA Pokemon games is patched by Pokemon Colosseum.
A young woman from the Ukraine has gone on several trips through the wasteland that, 18 years ago, was the bustling city of Chernobyl. She's documented her trips in photos, locatged here. (Excuse her English-- if you're enough of a heartless bastard that you'd nitpick that in the face of what you see and what she says, then I have no pity for you and maybe you should have been there when it happened.) I suggest you all, that is to say, all the readers of my site, give it a look and think about it for a second.
In twenty years the site is no less dangerous than it was when the explosion first happened. Given the fallout and dust settling everywhere, it's probably more hazardous. And it will stay that way for the next 30 millennia.
Do we really think that we can continue on as carelessly as we have been? I'm all for nuclear power-- in the Slashdot story that alerted me to the site, there's mention of a 20-year-use meltdown-proof generator in use in Alaska-- but we have to be a hell of a lot more careful than we have been in the past. I support development and research into improving the safety and efficiency (IN THAT ORDER) of our nuclear power plants.
The ideal nuclear power plant is one which is self-contained, meltdown-proof, self-propagating, produces non-dangerous waste (or feeds its waste into a recycler for use in non-weapons production), and staffed by highly trained and secure personnel. We can't get that without researching. So let's research.
I'm off my soapbox now. ^_^Saturday, March 27, 2004 10:49:21p: *
Hey, just a few quick notes. I'm feeling better than I did when I posted the previous entry...
Actually, yeah, there's only one note to mention. Anyone remember my story "Self-Insertion"? You know, the Star Ocean 2 story that had Ashton and Precis bopping around Central City to get back some stolen money. Yeah, the last funny story I wrote. Well, looking through the info for Star Ocean EX, I kinda notice that I got Precis' character COMPLETELY WRONG.
Anyway, torrenting the first two episodes as we speak. I'll let you know in a bit, probably tomorrow or Monday night, 'kay?Monday, March 29, 2004 7:24:17p: *
If you get the chance to check it out, Keoki's "Jealousy" is an excellent dance/trance/techno album.
Oh, and one other thing: I will pass "Paranoia" if it kills me.Tuesday, March 30, 2004 9:28:59p: *
Hey. Passed a few more songs-- I'm up to a point where I can do 4-footers on the first try and 5-footers with a little practice. I was especially proud of passing Brilliant2U Orchestral on Light (5 feet) and... well, I don't know if I did Drop the Bomb S.F. Mix on Light or Standard, but I passed it one way or the other. I also impressed one of the DDR Erie regulars by doing spin-jumps on Spin The Disc Standard.
I got roped into doing Superstar for Oni mode (7 feet). And I managed to get about a third of the way through before I totally blew it.
