Please be advised that the content on these pages is STATIC and for archival purposes only. Links may not work.
Monday, September 1, 2003 5:51:26a: *
Advantage to working nights: You get to see all your favorite webcomic updates a good two, three hours before everyone else. Disadvantage: You get to see all the "no update today, sorry" notices a good two, three hours before everyone else.
Oh yeah, and I'm at the final boss in Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis. Finally. After about a year and a half of slacking off. I may actually finish it before FF Tactics Advance comes out next week. And you can bet your sweet bippy that I'll be driving to Olean on launch day to pick it up. Regardless of what day launch day actually is. Anyway, back to TO. The preceding battles were kind of easy, especially with the Snapdragon swords and warp shoes. The final battle, however, is rigoddamndiculously hard. First off, Shaher has about twice as many hit points as any enemy you've previously faced-- we're talking upper 600 region here. Secondly, your attacks-- on average-- do about 45 HP to him, while he can do 150 to EVERYBODY at will. Not to mention that that particular attack pushes everybody one square away. Finally, you can't even make a dent to Shaher until you've smacked him around with the Longicolnis Lance-- he has a barrier around him and takes 0 damage until the barrier breaks. And that's not even getting into the four flunkies he summons at the start of the battle-- each with about 300 HP and attacks that do roughly 60-140 HP. The only saving grace I really have is Glycinia. Those of you who haven't played Tactics Ogre-- Glycinia is a fairy. As in "winged tiny creature". So, in return for having only 200 HP (while everyone else has about 350-400), she has the ability "Fairy's Embrace", which allows a character to take another turn. You can imagine that I abuse the hell out of this. So I sacrifice one character-- who, in all honesty, probably could not do more than 60 damage with a normal weapon-- to allow Ivanna, equipped with a Snapdragon and the Atropos skill (about 200 damage in exchange for 1/4 of current HP), to attack twice. Now if she could only survive long enough to use it on Shaher. Now that I think about it, why should the main character-- who, if he dies, takes the entire party with him-- be wielding the Longicolnis, anyway? I'll give Lobelia the Longicolnis (she's an expendable angel), Ivanna the more powerful of the Snapdragon swords, and Martin (my main char) the lesser sword, and have a good ol' fashioned ass-whuppin'. Eleanor pulls healing duty, Glycinia refreshes Ivanna as needed, Deneb charms the flunkies (oddly enough, it works on them), and the random extras hanging around can cover Martin and Ivanna. Anyway, later, folks.Monday, September 1, 2003 6:57:50p: *
So yeah, I finished TO this morning. The ending, as per usual for a tactical game that I play, made no sense whatsoever. I think it was the bad ending, but I can't be absolutely sure. All I know is I beat Shaher and he blowed up. Half of my party was dead, but he blowed up. And that's good enough for me to say "done with it!" and take it to the store on September 9th. A week. A goddamn week until what I honestly have heard called "the Second Coming". I could have sworn that that last battle would have taken me a week to finish. The honeymoon is over with Knights of the Old Republic, and I'll explain why. It's a great game, don't get me wrong-- I love the open-endedness of it, and I especially appreciate the fact that it uses the Star Wars license in the best way possible since Star Wars Arcade-- but good god, are the loading times atrocious! Every thirty seconds there's a loading screen. It's almost as bad as the old Playstation games. Load times like this are inexcusable in a modern console game. I'll cut Bioware some slack because it's their first console offering, and because the rest of the game is so damn good, but they've already announced two more RPGs, one for the XBox. It had beter improve a whole hell of a lot on KOTOR-- which may be impossible, but at least try. So what have I been playing? Wild ARMs, of course. This despite KOTOR's near-perfection and the fact that Advance Wars 2 now begs my attention. I'm about to head into the Volcannon Trap with Calamity Jane, and though that prospect alone thrills and excites me, what does not excite me is the fact that, twice now, the game has frozen on me. The first time, it was about to head into battle, and held a particularly offensive brass note for all of eternity until I reset the machine. And the second time was after a battle, when I was basking in EXP and gella, and was actually inches away from a chest containing a new weapon, and found that the fade to black did not want to fade from black. Needless to say, I was upset. At the very least, I used a memory card to save my game. (If you don't get the joke, take a closer look at the Playstation.) Anyway, back to the miscellaneous chaos. I'll be in touch.Monday, September 1, 2003 7:03:32p: *
By the way, I was listening to the Final Fantasy X soundtrack a few moments ago. Nice, quiet, peaceful track 1: Zanarkand. The piano intro. Pleasant, soothing, calming.
Scared the shite out of me, which in and of itself is not a difficult thing to do, but still.Thursday, September 4, 2003 4:55:39a: *
Did some looking at FFX-2's artwork tonight. Assuming I get the game, I'll be keeping the party in the Mascot profession for quite some time; because if there's one thing I've always wanted to see, it's a gigantic stuffed moogle swinging around a moomba doll at a bad guy, flanked by a crack-addled Cait Sith and a very disturbing-looking Tonberry. This, of course, after I get sick of staring at Dante-ette Paine as a Gunner.Thursday, September 4, 2003 4:44:59p: *
And I'm just as surprised as you to learn that I have acquired "excellent" karma status at Slashdot. Don't look at me like that, I just kept posting goofy stuff.Thursday, September 4, 2003 10:04:12p: *
And there was CSI, and it was good. It's always good. OK, then, going to work on the Dynamic Toy...Thursday, September 4, 2003 11:57:35p: * The Furry Quiz now open for business. Thanks, as always, to Kat for the concept and assistance with the selection of the furries involved.
I wonder what I'll do next for the site, but then again... wait a second....
I have content now! There's actual content on the site that may attract visitors! Heaven help me, what have I done?
Excuse me, I'm going to go weep in the corner, now that my non-mission statement has been violated...Friday, September 5, 2003 6:39:52a: *
Despite the claims of others, I must admit that I've almost always been satisfied by the products put out by Mad Catz. I'd picked up a battery pack for my GBC as the first of my business from them, and I've been a regular patron of theirs since. Their stuff has been of good quality and of affordable prices, and it has never failed to impress. I haven't had much opportunity, or for that matter need, to purchase any of their controllers recently, but two of their more recent designs struck my eye-- the LumiCon and the RetroCon. As you might expect, the LumiCon is a lighted controller for either XBox or PS2. It certainly seems like a bit of a gimmicky thing, but what can I say? I'm a sucker for things that are shiny and move quickly, as Pez is so fond of saying. The RetroCon, however, is another matter. It harkens back to the days of the old-style NES controller-- a rectangular, angular beast that thumbed its nose at ergonomics. While the RetroCon isn't so much an evolutionary throwback-- it does have some curves that fit the hand more easily than the twenty-year-old pad we all blistered our thumbs on-- I have to admit that I like it a hell of a lot better than the crippled pad that exists for the Gamecube's "hardcore" contingent. Mad Catz has decided that old-school style can fit with a full-featured PS2 controller, and by golly, that's what they've done. You get it all, even the twin analog sticks. So that's my next purchase, once I find it and find the cash to pick it up. That is all for the time being, folks. We'll be back this afternoon.Friday, September 5, 2003 8:20:04p: *
Quick note-- I just saw a commercial for FF Tactics Advance.
Based on the commercial alone, I'd never even consider buying the game. It has some 14-year old doing a fake phone psychic commercial.
Thank the maker I know better than to trust anything I see on TV.Saturday, September 6, 2003 9:14:04p: *
I just wrote a very long and detailed report about why I like filesharing but hate piracy.
Oh, and Tactics Advance is very, very good. Cheap at times, but good. The Law system really helps add a new challenge to the skirmishes. And thank the maker they decided to implement "flee" for the random engagements. Again, to Ivalice I go....Wednesday, September 10, 2003 5:04:15p: *
Welcome back to Disturbing Search String Theatre. This episode's meditation on madness is:
keitaro urashima naked
Thank you. Please join us next time on DSST, where we hope to further prove that humankind is a bunch of morons.Thursday, September 11, 2003 2:31:20a: *
OK, so technically First and Last is still in the alpha stage, because it's not yet got all the neat widgets I want to put into it done. But on the other hand, beta sounds nicer, like "We know it's got bugs, but we just want to get it out and we'll patch it later." And actually, the bugs I have in it now are nothing compared to the bugs that WERE in it before. Say, I have an idea....Thursday, September 11, 2003 2:45:57a: *
So what do you think? I like the idea of having it right there.... It's a neat touch and nice and unobtrusive, too.
.....this 'content' thing is starting to scare me. What if it develops into a habit, huh? Then what? I'll become addicted. You'll keep coming to the site, demanding content, and I'll keep producing it... But still, for a web server approaching its sixth month of operation, this isn't too bad. Especially given the complete and total lack of attention I've given it over these six months.
Speaking of lack of attention, back to FFTA I go.Thursday, September 11, 2003 2:53:40a: *
Let's make sure this doesn't disappear again....Thursday, September 11, 2003 2:55:08a: *
OK, then, for real this time, you can view the up-to-the-reload status of the First and Last game, as well as go to the play page, over there on the right button bar. Das ist nicht, eh?Thursday, September 11, 2003 5:18:42a: *
Oh, yes, before I forget, I like what Phil said at DMG Ice today. Go check it out.Friday, September 12, 2003 12:52:00p: *
I changed the archiving to be monthly instead of weekly, just because I prefer monthly updates. Helps to put the site in perspective.
Ahem. That is all.Friday, September 12, 2003 11:37:46p: *
At the behest of those lovable scamps at Penny Arcade, not to mention several friends, I shall soon TAKE OFF! to the Great White North TAKE OFF!.
The purpose, of course, is to go to Casino Niagara, but let's not dwell on that.Saturday, September 13, 2003 3:58:12a: *
I think the word "kupo" is severely underappreciated. It's like "monkey"-- one of those words you just yell at random intervals when you're in a down kind of mood.
Kupo!
KUPO!
I feel better.Saturday, September 13, 2003 4:25:43p: *
The announcement of Mega Man Anniversary Collection makes me a very happy fuzzy, kupo. The only dilemma, of course, comes in whether or not I want it for the PS2 or the Cube... Then again, that's not even really an issue. GameCube all the way. It would be akin to heresy to play Megaman-- REAL Megaman-- on any console other than a Nintendo one. Which is probably why I haven't really played Mega Man 8 (PS1) all that much.... Megaman is 15 years old. FIFTEEN. Do you have any idea how old that makes me feel? Or worse, how old it makes me feel to remember getting Megaman 2 for my birthday, shortly after it came out? ....And Mario is well over 20. Pac-man is 22, and Space Invaders had its silver anniversary this year... These things aren't just a passing fad anymore, they're history. Ancient history to some. I sympathize with Gabe and Tycho, who deal with the younger generation's lack of appreciation for the gamer's past. In fact, the oldest I've ever felt was when I had to describe Pac-Man to a six-year-old kid. But you know what? He loved it. And that's all that matters, kupo.Sunday, September 14, 2003 2:53:46a: *
Anyone else see this? Looks like an interesting project. I'll take a closer look when I get out of work.Monday, September 15, 2003 5:25:33a: *
Neko Machi has been down for about a week now. I'm concerned, but I know Ewen's got a handle on things.Monday, September 15, 2003 12:58:47p: *
About fifty versions of the Star Wars Kid video exist out there-- splicing the poor kid into the original film, turning him into a T-1000...
This reaffirms a founding principle of the Internet:
"Stupid stuff will propagate around the world at an alarming speed."Tuesday, September 16, 2003 7:19:07a: * Gabe has discovered RPGs, and all is well with the world. It's almost like discovering that the horrible allergy to beef you thought you had your entire life was nothing more than a bad Happy Meal when you were five. Discovering a new genre opens worlds, man. I wish I could regale you with times I've found that that thing I hate actually is something I love, but it hasn't happened but once or twice. Case in point: fighters. For a while there I loved Super Street Fighter II. Dhalsim, Cammy, and Ryu-- they were my best characters. I never got to the professional level that some people have, nor did I really have any desire to. Just playing the game, savoring victory, and learning from defeats-- these were enough for me. Then they started to suck. I tried some alternative fighters-- Killer Instinct, Tekken 1-- and they left a foul taste in my mouth. These were not my calling, these were not what I loved. I retreated back into my shell of RPGs and Mario. Flash forward to the college years. A glut of RPGs threatened to follow me home one day, but wisely I put "Beyond the Beyond" back and picked up Pocket Fighter instead. I'd wanted something with a little more speed to it, something that had some action. I figured this would be the perfect thing to help me regain my past skillz. I got my ass kicked. Repeatedly. And I loved every second of it. (Riskbreaker John has unlocked a repressed memory!) There're also my ill-fated forays into real-time strategy, which should not be overlooked. So let's see, there was Warcraft 2 when I was still in high school, there was Total Annihilation when I roomed with Fat Carl; there was Starcraft shortly after rooming with Fat Carl; and Black & White sitting on my desk, untouched past 45 minutes of gameplay (which reminds me, I ought to uninstall that soon). Part of this is because my computer has traditionally sucked. Part of this is because I traditionally suck at RTS. At least I'll always have my Holy Trinity of Genres: Role-Playing, Puzzle, and First-Person Shooter. I think maybe I'd qualify for a minor in Fighters and Platforming/Adventure; definitely flunk out of RTS and Sports (though I have shown an odd affinity for Racing and Extreme Sports genres). Adios, muchahos. By the by, for what it's worth, Xbox Live players can check me out on the Tetris Worlds rankings. Gamertag: TheFurryOne. (Like it would really be anything else.)Tuesday, September 16, 2003 6:47:20p: * Something I Noticed: On a Hot Pocket wrapper, I saw the following warning: "This product must be cooked prior to eating." Well, when else are you going to cook it? After you eat it? "I'm going to swallow this frozen sucker whole, and then chug a tumbler of napalm!"Wednesday, September 17, 2003 9:41:36p: *
It's time for an extra-special edition of Disturbing Search String Theater. Tonight's entry has the dubious honor of having brought up my page twice, making it doubly disturbing. Without further adieu:
romantic dates planned by girls
I'm working on a non-Dynamic Toy update this weekend. The Colonel needs more time in planning and development. We'll have more info in a bit.Wednesday, September 17, 2003 9:57:53p: *
OK, I like this setup for the main page a little better. Plus, well, I added another worthless widget to the sidebar over there, but it fits with the site, doncha think? Right, then, on to the real work....Thursday, September 18, 2003 2:03:58a: *
I've begun work on a satirical view of anime, called So You Want To Be An Otaku. It's still a work in progress, and to be honest I'm not sure if it's even remotely funny. Your input is greatly appreciated on the forums.Friday, September 19, 2003 12:26:48p: *
So You Want To Be An Otaku has updated with the second batch of content. Depending on how work goes the next few nights you may wind up with some updates over what real people call the weekend. Though to be honest I'm a little nervous as to how some of the jokes are going to be received-- or actually how many of them people will actually get or find funny. I do always welcome criticism, so I suggest dropping me a line. Contact info is on the About Page.Friday, September 19, 2003 12:52:24p: * Gamers.com has the list of games being presented at the Tokyo Game Show next week. About 50% of those will never see U.S. shores, regardless of how many people really want Bandai to bring "One Piece Grand Battle" over. But I'm pissed off primarily because Konami announced Pop'n Music 9 and I still haven't found clue one towards the supposed U.S. version. Right, then, time to take decisive action. I'm going to e-mail Konami and ask them if it was ever made.Saturday, September 20, 2003 12:41:07p: *
OK, I just got confirmation from my boss. I get free "the whole nine yards" cable now and broadband for . Working for the cable company has its advantages.
So that frees up about from my monthly budget, most of which will go to reducing what's on my credit card. After the first of the year, of course, I'll be able to start looking into picking up a new gaming computer or building one myself. We'll see. Later, kiddies.Sunday, September 21, 2003 4:03:43a: *
Neko Machi is indeed still alive, but it may not be kickin' per se until all the host-move-stuff gets sorted out. Rather than actually change my links page (which I rarely, if ever, do), I'll just point you all to blackbird.nu's main page and hope you have enough sense to know it's just temporary.
And, as if to bring balance to the links page, Thor's home page suddenly lost it shortly after I sent him an email regarding a linkback. One up, one down. There is a cosmic scale, never to be tipped... or something like that. Workin' on a page for SYWtBaO.Sunday, September 21, 2003 6:46:44a: *
And, natch, having taken a closer look at Ewen's site sans NM, I have a lot more respect for him than I previously held. Impressive setup, man.
OK, still working on the guide update.Monday, September 22, 2003 5:05:38p: *
Neko Machi is back, Thor is back, Rina has cute art up, DMG Ice is updating more frequently... life is good on the links page.
We'll see if I can get those updates together soon, but I've been so unproductive lately. Time will tell.
EDIT: Well, yeah, I did completely forget that I changed my password this morning... along with a couple others' passwords. So things should be OK now.Monday, September 22, 2003 8:32:37p: *
Games.Slashdot has an interesting story regarding supposedly "unfair" return policies by game retailers. The problem that they claim is happening is that stores are "cheating" people out of a return when they try to bring back a game that they don't like. I like to believe I have a unique perspective on this.
At the store where I worked if we got a return on a new game that looked like we couldn't resell it, even if it was returned just because someone didn't like it, we stuck a tag on it and chucked it in the defective bin. If it was in good shape and the customer didn't have a habit of high turnover, then we re-sealed and repriced it and put it back out (after, of course, checking that all was well inside).
I tend not to buy new games much anymore, but when I do I always, ALWAYS do my homework first. The only time I'll buy a game on launch day is if it's one I know I'll play for a long time and not get sick of two days in. Everything else waits until I find it used or several reviews say it's good-- even KotOR.
Naturally, I miss working for the store-- getting to borrow games for evaluation saved me literally hundreds of dollars, and I never once burned a game; typically if I liked something I bought it.
There is one last tale to tell of returns, of course, and it is not a pretty one. During my sophomore year I attempted to pick up Baldur's Gate for the PC. I believed my computer could handle it, I was willing to shell out the (then substantial) for the game, and the only place in town that had it was Software Etc. in the Millcreek Mall. (The EB hadn't opened yet and wouldn't for six more months.) The first time I tried it it wouldn't install. I examined the cds and found a number of scratches on one of the CDs, so I went back and I asked for a different copy. The store manager balked, saying the scratches shouldn't affect the installation and that the game was fine. Right. I convinced him to give me a different copy of the game, but he said that if that one didn't work then I was stuck. Well, it did work, for about two weeks. Then the game just randomly crashed. So, at that time, I proclaimed myself to be a console gamer and swore off PC RPGs until Neverwinter came out.
The ultimate problem? My CD-RW drive in the old computer was inexplicably too slow to handle the game. RAGE...Monday, September 22, 2003 9:35:20p: * What's In My... now available for your perusal. In case you wondered. By the way, this only took 30 minutes to code, a record for a Dynamic Toy. Why a Dynamic Toy? 'Cause I can update it on the fly. More an experiment than a real feature to the site.Wednesday, September 24, 2003 2:54:05a: * An Experiment: Put on a pair of headphones and listen to "Eminence Front" by the Who, preferably the version found on the Ultimate Collection. Listen really closely and pay attention to where Pete's vocals are coming from. They're all on the right-hand channel. The left-hand channel is instrumental only. Don't believe me? Listen to it again, but turn off the right-hand channel or remove the right-hand headphone (works best if you have ear-clip or ear-bud phones). It took me two listens to figure this out, wondering why, after ripping it, I didn't have vocals; it turns out that I have my work headset on the right, and the music earphone on the left (the other one is clipped to my shirt). Muy freaky.Wednesday, September 24, 2003 7:49:43a: *
Hey all. Updates this weekend are going to be largely behind-the-scenes-- I'll try to get the fifth page of SYWtBaO live before working on anything else, though. We'll see what happens as time goes on.Wednesday, September 24, 2003 8:20:25p: *
I'm selling my Magic: The Gathering collection on eBay, in case anyone's interested. I know that shipping the beast is going to be expensive; my horribly inaccurate bathroom scale reports that the box is 25 pounds, which means that it's probably closer to 30. But damn, if that isn't a hell of a lot of cards-- somewhere between 3000 and 4000.
Why would I sell something that has brought me such joy in the past? Why would I choose to pawn off memories of nights spent in 5-way melees royale, amongst friends and roommates? What would posess me to end what has been a six-year legacy?
Three things. First, I'm relatively broke. Second, I haven't played in well over eighteen months. Third, I was never that good anyway. And another thing, I'll always remember it, even if I don't have the cards. I'm keeping two or three which have a bit of sentimental value to me-- but for the most part I'm out of the game, permanently.
It was either the Magic cards or start looking at selling some of the NES game collection, which I really don't think I'm going to do...Thursday, September 25, 2003 2:18:56a: *
If you're one of the forum-goers, please check out the latest additions to that. Of course, everyone's welcome to join the fray, but those who've already chimed in should give a look, especially as I've started up the role-playing game. Kinda.Thursday, September 25, 2003 12:10:37p: *
You may have noticed a couple changes on the links page. If so, good for you.
The point of all of this behind the scenes non-updating is so that I become proficient enough to take a shot at a larger PHP project I want to create. Each step I take gives me a reference to look back at, a point where I can say "OK, that worked, so I can do this and this here..." when building the big thing.
That, and I hated how I'd done the links page previously. Oh well. More to come later.Thursday, September 25, 2003 9:06:28p: *
The three most triumphant words I've heard in a long time came from CSI: "You heard that?"
Oh yeah. This is gonna be one hell of a good season.
More later.Thursday, September 25, 2003 11:11:01p: *
Feelin' lazy. I may update later tonight, I may not. Something's got me wanting to watch FLCL again. More than likely the fact that I have no self-preservation instincts. Oh well.Friday, September 26, 2003 1:34:28a: *
Just noticed this about Amarao and Kitsurabami's car in the last episode of FLCL... it's backwards. If Mabase is a Japanese village-- which, of course, would explain all the Japanese writing in the series-- then the driver's side of the car would be on the right. Kitsurabami is sitting in the driver's seat of the car, and Amarao is on her right. The car is a US-style car, backwards in relation to the rest of the cars on the road. Moving on.Friday, September 26, 2003 4:26:20a: * 4:17 AM:Slashdot has the Matrix Revolutions trailer listed for subscribers. Which means that by the time you read this, I'll have it and you will be faced with 2.4 Kbps download speeds. So, *ahem*, HA-HA!
Thank you.
ADDENDUM, 4:24 AM: Whoa. Dude.
Whoa. Dude.
Whoa.
The next forty days are going to be absolute hell...Friday, September 26, 2003 5:51:57p: *
I should probably weigh in with my "official" word on the whole Tokyo Game Show/Night Of A Thousand Horrors Games thing. Seeing how as, y'know, I made such a big deal about games in the past. So here goes, in no particular order. I'm decidedly unimpressed with Square Enix's lineup so far, but that's probably because I'm still overwhelmed by FFTA (which I'm about 20% of the way through, now). I'm not interested in Front Mission, despite claims that it will cure cancer; FF 12 does grab my attention, but it's just what, one poster so far?; and we all knew more Kingdom Hearts was coming, but the news that a GBA version is indeed intriguing. But there's nothing terribly exciting at their booth just yet. Naturally, though, these games are all VERY far off for US gamers, so there's not a whole lot to be too excited over anyway. Everything we're looking forward to is already old news over there (Sword of Mana, FF:CC, FFX2, and FFXI). Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, however, raises an interesting question. Why?! All things considered, the game is now six years old. SIX. Why wait six years to release the ending to the game? Seriously. If, the next time you can't think of a proper ending to a game, you want to delay it six years until you can, and not give us a pathetic non-ending like the one for the original FF7, I probably won't mind. Well, OK, I'll mind, but I'll be happy knowing the game is being delayed for a valid reason and not just because of some stupid snowstorm (Lunar 2) or because it's a buggy P.O.S. (Star Ocean: Till The End of Time). Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes continues to look better and better every time I see it. Snake actually has a nose now! And a defined face! Shadow Moses is going to be a lot cooler, especially when you read the descriptions of the anime-ish action sequences (Snake doesn't just dodge the Hind-D's missile, he springboards off of it. BAD. ASS.); though there was precious little information revealed regarding Snake Eater. MGS has proven to be one of the greatest of the "new" franchises; it's time to see how long it can keep up its streak of goodness. More in a bit.Friday, September 26, 2003 6:10:52p: *
Continuing on: Starcraft: Ghost. You get to pilot a Goliath. Or a Siege Tank in Siege mode. And the game is still a year away. Heaven help me. I'm mad at Gamespot, because they have the Wild Arms Alter Code: F trailer but for some reason won't let me see it, even after registering for their dumb "basic" service. Hint: "Basic service" is what you get when you DON'T have to give away your email address. Screens for Sonic Battle look good, but I'm still seriously waiting on anything regarding Phantasy Star IV for GBA. That's a U.S. issue, though, so I don't expect to hear much until after TGS has blown over. As for Sega's other stuff... well, there ain't much. PSO 3 is PSO, and that seems to be about it that interests me. Konami's non-Snake offerings also seem OK, but no U.S. site is covering Pop'n Music. RAGE! Capcom continues to deliver what they know you'll like, which means Street Fighter, Mega Man, and Resident Evil out the wazoo. Mega Man X Command Mission looks suspiciously like Xenosaga or Wild ARMs 3's battle engine; not that this is a bad thing, but I'd personally rather see the original Mega Man stuff explored a little more. After all, everybody knows the Blue Bomber; but not everyone has had the opportunity to Get Equipped With Bubble Lead, or the like. All right, then, now I have a stupid picture I have to make. Back in a bit.Friday, September 26, 2003 6:32:26p: * TheFurryOne.net Proudly Presents: A Rock Lesson
I prefer Classic Rock.
Addendum: I really don't know if this exact joke has been done before, but I like it. I got the idea from a Rolling Rock beer billboard I saw during my last trip to Erie.Saturday, September 27, 2003 5:42:18p: *
I feel vaguely uncomfortable with the word "management". It's one of those words that's become so overused for very little reason; so much so that it's begun to lose all meaning in relation to reality. We talk about management this, and management that. "Time management"-- not goofing off when you're supposed to be working. "Anger management"-- basically, don't get pissed off. "Stress Management"-- you gots to chill. In regards to my workplace, a "change management" means that they're going to break something for (ideally) a few hours and not tell us how to fix it when it doesn't work after four days. You know what, language in general has really started to make me upset of late. Rather than expressions, thoughts, and ideas, our language has become a beautiful quagmire of euphemism and politically correct double-speak that looks and sounds very pretty at first but eventually doesn't really say anything at all. When did this happen? When did we collectively lose the ability to sit down and talk about something? I mean, substantially talk? In a discussion thirty years ago, one person would be brought about to another's way of thinking through peaceful, contemplative, and rational arguments presented ina logical manner. Nowadays, "discussion" is nothing more mentally stimulating than television-- nice to watch, but everybody comes out of it feeling more validated of their own viewpoint because they've seen just how dumb the other side looks. We've gone, intellectually, from Walter Cronkite's newscasts to your average episode of "The Osbournes". I'm not saying that I'm devoid of this corruption of the English language and the uses thereof. I can get pretty non-definite in my speech if I want to. It's been heightened to an art since I started working in sales and tech support. The non-answer is practically a tool of the trade these days. I don't know what's worse. That in nine months of working tech support and giving out non-answers, people accept them, or that nobody has ever told me that I haven't adequately answered their question (accurately, that is-- I've heard it plenty of times from people who simply don't want to hear the truth). Such a sad state, our species are in. Such fools these mortals be. I want someone out there-- anyone who reads this-- to just come out and say what you mean. Just once per day. If we gave straight, no-nonsense answers to just one question per day, I can guarantee that all this P.C. garbage-speech would diminish. Pretty soon we'd be telling the truth more often than just once a day. Pretty soon, people would actually accept being wrong once in a while without gunning down a schoolyard. Pretty soon schoolyards will be safe havens of innocence again. Pretty soon, we'd be a whole hell of a lot better off. But then again, this is the Internet. You came here for porn and not to be intellectually challenged. I don't even know why I bothered to write this. It was worth a futile shot.Saturday, September 27, 2003 5:55:02p: *
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this, kupo. I found myself watching the last hour or so of "Parasite Eve" this afternoon. Not the game, and not the non-existent movie that Madonna toyed with our hearts over, but a 1998 Japanese film that seemed to cover all of the bases of the original novel. All things considered I liked the film better than the game, especially because the film didn't have revolting mutated monsters that made me physically ill. It just had a lot of Japanese people on fire. And a nippleless naked woman made of orange goo. They seemed to make a point of her having no nipples, because the camera often lingered there. I am not making this up. She wasn't always made of orange goo, though, which is how one could tell she had no nipples. (I suppose I ought to nix the nipple notes, as it may result in a few more humorous, yet no less undesired, Disturbing Search Strings.) More than that, the film was better paced than the game. Oh, and last night some old samurai movie was on the TV in the break room. So, naturally, I made fun of it. Thunder outside, kupo. Time to check on the auction and probably take care of some other stuff before work, kupo. (The kupo thing is meant to help me not be depressed after the previous entry, kupo.)
...
(It's not working very well, kupo.)Sunday, September 28, 2003 7:10:45p: * OK, Now, Really This Time, A Word From Our Still-Fake Sponsor (Though We Certainly Would Not Mind If CLAMP Wanted To Send Us Something):
...I don't have anything more useful to contribute to that, really. Just... whatever.
(thanks to Mezzanine for unwittingly donating the artwork, I'll ask her permission someday....)Monday, September 29, 2003 12:57:27p: *
I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about my good-natured ribbing of Apple's most recent apocalypse catalyst operating system, OS X. I like Apple. I like Mac OS, and I like the fact that OS X takes it closer to a UNIX/Linux-style powerhouse as opposed to the "sure, we have a better processor, but we're going to cripple it with a nasty-ass OS that's remained unchanged since 1984" tyranny of System 1 through to OS 9. I found it very amusing, once I started watching X, that there was a computer geek as one of the main villains. And I thought, "When she's not mind-screwing the Beast, what kind of computer would Satsuki 0wnz0r?" So, there you go. OS X/1999. Every error dialog comes with a verse from Revelations, and a fatal crash is Error Code 666 (which automatically summons The Other Kamui to lop your head off). Bloody inconsiderate coworkers. I'll continue this later.Monday, September 29, 2003 7:59:01p: *
All right, I'd like to register a complaint, here... While trying to find a way to get the Steal:Weapon ability in FFTA, I wandered on to the message board, where the liveliest topic was Ritz' cleavage and how hot the various viera jobs are... nevermind the fact that they're sprites, or in some cases not even old enough for that sort of thing.... All I can really say is that people are disgusting, sometimes. I've been over this before, of course, but... really... I mean, why? Are these people so stupid that they can't see all the beautiful people around them? Maybe it's just the fact that I work at a semi-nice place with lots of people of varying types, but I don't really find any characters haunting my dreams as much lately...
No, I don't know where I'm going with this. Sue me, I'm old.Tuesday, September 30, 2003 8:37:19a: *
For what it's worth, my cable actually has good stuff on these days. Apparently sometime during the last two months, about twenty channels were added that are actually decent, if not watchable or interesting. I still primarily frequent the music channels, but those are starting to get old-- seems like they only have about seven hours that are on loop and shuffle. I don't really know when the playlists change but they do-- usually after hearing the same song for about a week straight... Naturally, they still haven't fixed the New Wave channel. By the way, what the hell is "Fuse"?Tuesday, September 30, 2003 8:43:18a: *
Fuse is apparently Canada's MuchMusic, but "edgier" and "more hip". Judging by their website, at least. I liked MuchMusic when I got to see it (seven years ago), and any site that links to Home Star Runner can't be all bad (even if I don't). But I am hesitant. Especially since I doubt they play anything different from the usual crap.Tuesday, September 30, 2003 7:21:29p: *
You know, my mom is always worried that I'm going to have my credit card number (which is 666, by the way) and other information stolen by some ub3rl337 h4x0r here on the big bad Internet. I always scoff, but it did happen to this guy I know...
