The Trivial Sublime

diamondmagus @ 2007-06-06T00:46:00

2007-06-06T04:50:30Z

Jonathan Coulton's version of "Baby Got Back" is the best cover ever.

diamondmagus @ 2007-05-29T19:38:00

2007-05-29T23:40:10Z

I wonder what the general reaction would be if I started doing the Napoleon Dynamite dance in the middle of the frozen foods isle of the local Meijier.

Maybe I just need to not listen to Jamiroquai in public.

Anyone else got a song like that?

diamondmagus @ 2007-05-21T23:02:00

2007-05-22T03:05:13Z

Well, funwithrage mentioned a zombie survival flash game called The Last Stand, so I had to go play it. Its actually pretty easy, as these kinds of games go. Just as a word of advice, do nothing but search for guns until you're out of the pistol range. I finished it with using the Uzi and the chainsaw pretty much exclusively once I found them (I did upgrade all the way to the AK, but just found the Uzi had superior stopping power).

All in all, a fun little game.

Mario Paint meets FF4

2007-05-14T05:46:09Z

So.... awesome...

His versions of Castlevania 2, Robo's Theme, and Mega Man 3: Wily Stage 2 are freakin' sweet as well.

diamondmagus @ 2007-05-07T16:14:00

2007-05-07T20:18:23Z

Fire in the disco! Fire in the disco!
Fire in the Taco Bell!
Fire in the disco! Fire in the disco!
Fire in the gates of Hell!

Just got back from Spider-man 3...

2007-05-06T01:19:57Z

In the vein of Four Word Film Review, here's my take.

This trilogy's Matrix: Revolutions.

But then you realize I kinda liked Revolutions.

Okay, SPOILER WARNING!

Okay, so Spider-man. First off, one too many villains. Just give us Goblin 2 and Venom, or Sandman and Goblin 2. Putting all three together, together with the MJ+Peter plot just made the movie choppy. We see the Symbiote and... then it doesn't appear again for like 45 minutes. What, is it just hanging around for a week in Peter's apartment?

The MJ plot felt... I don't know... hackneyed? Too much suspension of disbelief for my taste, in a lot of scenes. What, the butler doesn't here the first round of fighting between Peter and Harry, but he does the second? News flash buddy: telling the son how his father died EARLIER would have been better!

Pretty sure Peter put his mask on and off 4 times during that last fight. He dropped it at one point, and then had it back on again. Okay, so we need to see Toby's face, fine. Still, a LITTLE consistency?

I think there was more man-crying in this movie than I've ever seen outside of WW2 films.

Toby Miguire dances like a white, white, white boy. Also, emo haircuts make you evil.

I feel like I need to watch a good 3rd movie, like Return of the King or Return of the Jedi. Hehe, Return movies...

When WoW meets Final Fantasy...

2007-05-05T02:45:34Z

Awesomeness abounds!

diamondmagus @ 2007-05-03T16:25:00

2007-05-03T20:26:20Z

I think its significant that the song I most associate with Neon Genesis Evangelion is Nine Inch Nails' "Closer".

diamondmagus @ 2007-05-01T19:14:00

2007-05-01T23:18:37Z

I have come to understand that my inner 13 year old Japanese schoolgirl, in addition to loving DDR, J-pop, and anime like Azumanga Diaoh, also really likes the Spice Girls. I have no other explanation.

diamondmagus @ 2007-04-23T19:18:00

2007-04-23T23:19:40Z

"Someone once said this, and I believe it to be honestly true: Optimus Prime could stroll down the street today, declaring that he needs help to defeat some alien menace, and MILLIONS of men aged 25-30 would grab whatever they could and follow him into battle without question."
- Anonymous

Burning Crusade, and a link

2007-01-22T19:20:31Z

I've been spending most of my time playing the hell out of Burning Crusade, the latest World of Warcraft expansion. My main character, Night Elf Warrrior named Valeren, is currently halfway through level 66 (out of 70), so I'm in the upper curve of players, which makes it easier to do all the quests when they aren't camped to hell. Its really good to advance my main character who I really enjoy playing - it had gotten to the point where she was decked out in BWL / AQ40 gear and the guild had hit an all-time low in raiding so she had stagnated for a while. BUT NO MORE!

One thing that's frustrating for us Warriors is the sheer amount of Paladin plate that you get from quest rewards. Casters, its not so noticable - all the cloth will have +spell damage, and you only have to watch for +healing or specific stats. Sure some casters need more +crit, but... its not like any one piece of +damage gear is useless. As opposed to that plate with +healing and mp/5. It doesn't help that it seems like all I get in instances are Paladin, Shaman, Hunter, and +healing drops. Its freakin' ridiculous. For example, I've killed the first boss of Mana Tombs 4 times - first drop was the Druid Idol, then the freakin' paladin gloves THREE DAMN TIMES. Stupid bastard has the first shield that's a clear upgrade and I want to get rid of my damn bug shield (Ancient Qiraji Bulwark). I think I've only replaced like 4 items since my stuff won't freakin' drop.

In any case, the Outlands just LOOK cool as hell. Hellfire Penninsula gets kinda old, as its just mostly red rock, and Zangarmarsh takes a lot of time to get through, but the Forest is very nifty and the Netherstorm is just awesome with all the floating islands. I'm a big fan of the new instance design too; shorter instances with fewer bosses makes it easy to run an entire instance in about 30-45 minutes if you know what you're doing. Good turn around time especially when the bosses don't drop YOUR FREAKIN LOOT (I'm a bit bitter at all the pally loot since I don't group with a lot of paladins).

In non-WoW news, I'm still watching Bleach. Up to episode 46, I think. Its starting to go a bit Dragonball on me ("OMG his powerlevel is too high! I MUST TRAIN NOW! HAHAHA, ITS OVER 9000!"), but I think that's just a momentary thing. I'm even more amused at how Exalted its getting. Not only do they wield Diaklaives, the anime banners are getting involved.

Now for a link (from Fark), how to solve a Rubik's Cube. I haven't studied it all, but it'd be a fun little skill.

As a final note, if I ever started a WoW guild, there's a very real possiblity I'd name it < GO GO GODZILLA >.

Bleach and SDL

2007-01-16T03:59:51Z

I started watching Bleach the last couple of days. As these things usually start, its got some "monster of the week" early on, but it moves at a quick pace. No Shinji Syndrome main character either! I think that's what I need in an anime: a non-whiney main character and for stuff to actually HAPPEN. :P There is like 110 or something episodes of this stuff, so who knows how far I'll actually get (on 28 or so now). Would make an interesting RPG setting too.

Now for a Semi-Daily Link: Rob Paravonian's Rant on Pachelbel.

Funny stuff.

PS: BURNING CRUSADE BIXNITCHES!

Damn, up at 3 AM again...

2007-01-14T08:04:08Z

Thanks rcat78 and ferret_kitty for their music suggestions. Indeed, one can never go wrong with Queen.

Right now, I'm going through a big electronic music kick, particularly house and trance music. Got a bunch of random songs from Curse Gaming's WoW videos (Fura always has good electronic music in his vids) which lead to this DJ Tiesto album I'm currently enjoying. I love this music when I'm just grinding in WoW, which I'll be doing a lot of in a couple of days. EXPANSION BABY!

Except the store I reserved my copy from isn't doing the midnight opening! Damn bastards.

Today's SDL comes from VG Cats.

ADVENTURE TIME!

... WHAT... THE... FUCK... was pretty much my entire response. Yeah.

Your random fact for the day...

2007-01-12T07:58:12Z

From the Wikipedia entry for Nobuo Uematsu:

"In the 2004 Summer Olympics, the United States synchronized swimming duet of Alison Bartosik and Anna Kozlova won the bronze medal using two of his pieces from Final Fantasy VIII in the second half of their routine."

So when exactly does video game music count as mainstream? I'm guessing car commercial.

ITunes Sucks

2007-01-12T06:19:02Z

I need some help: What should I use my iTunes money on?

I started searching for some stuff I wanted to get... okay, so no Nightwish albums... none of the Rammstein albums I want... no Prodigy, "Music for the Jilted Generation"... no "Run Lola Run" soundtrack... you suck iTunes. You royally suck.

So now I'm just downloading songs from different videos I've seen. Maybe I'll just branch from there, this Airwave song is pretty cool.

So what should I get? Lets get some suggestions.

Today's SDL

2007-01-08T22:58:45Z

I think this one stands on its own.

OH DEAR LORD, BEES!

Temptation

2007-01-08T03:34:35Z

I'm EXTREMELY tempted to buy a Ninja Universal Remote and start changing the TV channel at my local Burger King so its not permanently on Fox News.

Why Exalted and the Internet is cool...

2007-01-07T03:00:33Z

Latest reason why Exalted and the Internet is cool: So, by now, most people who read this journal know what Exalted is. It recently came out with 2nd Edition. Probably the best known (read: one of the only ones...) webcomic set in the Exalted universe is the Freedom Stone. The artist, named Rai, was doing her little comic when it attracted the attention of artist Melissa Uran. Now, Melissa Uran just happens to be a regular contributer to White Wolf, doing illustrations for Kindred of the East, Changeling... and Exalted. So Melissa does some fan art for Rai since she likes the comic and the two become internet friends.

Then along comes the updated Dragonblooded book for 2nd Ed. and Ms. Uran does a good chunk of the art in the book. And there, on page 95, is Reed from "the Freedom Stone" (link goes to a copy of the picture in Ms. Uran's Deviant Art account). Hehehe, gotta imagine its pretty cool to see one of your characters appear in an official book.

As for your SDL, go read the Freedom Stone. It helps if you know Exalted, but its cute none-the-less. Unfortunately, its been on hiatus for a while... I hope it starts up again.

.hack//Roots, God of War, and SDL!

2007-01-03T20:14:49Z

Had a Guitar Hero radio morning today. Heard Helmet's "Unsung" followed by Bad Religion's "Infected" about 20 minutes later. Freaks me out a little bit when I hear those songs on the radio (it was the 89X Time Warp Lunch)...

So I finished watching .hack//Roots yesterday. Its not quite a sequal to .hack//SIGN since they are set about 8 years apart or so and none of the characters carry over. In fact, they are even playing different games with different rules and classes. In any case, it still takes place in an MMORPG. Personally, I think I liked Roots better than SIGN due to a couple of factors. First, the main protagonist in SIGN, Tsukasa, is a whiney git, a la Shinji from Eva. I'm never a fan of the whiney git protagonist. Haseo, the main character of Roots, is much less whiney and even goes berzerk crazy for a good portion of the series. Berzerk Anger > Meloncholic Angst. Secondly, the translation was much better and didn't leave me scratching my head and running to a wiki to find out what the hell just happened after every episode.

Unfortunately, Roots directly segues into the first PS2 game, .hack//GU: Rebirth. I'm tempted to get it, but it never got really great reviews so I'm hesitent.

So, instead, I bought God of War. Oh, man, talk about an awesome game! I think the best part about this game is how it EARNS that "M" rating. Blood is everywhere, copious boobies, and you actually have to sacrifice an Athenian soldier (burning him alive as he screams) to open a door. Intense. Top notch action game too, though I've died WAY more times in that damn underwater part (with the narrowing blades and spikes) than to any monsters. Monsters tend to be the easy part for me; its the damn timed puzzles that kill me. Oh well, its a totally freakin' sweet game and can be bought for like 20 bucks since its a PS2 Greatest Hits, so anyone who doesn't have it should pick it up.

I've got another 2 posts lined up; a comprehensive WoW Warrior post with multiple videos and a post about Alternate Reality Games and ilovebees in particular. For now, just to tide ya over, here's your SDL. You know those cute little Gaia Online avatars you see popping up occassionally? Here's a site that can create them. Warning, the site sometimes takes a long time to load an item.

Post-Holiday Posting

2006-12-31T05:10:03Z

So I hope everyone had a good holiday! I dunno about everyone else, but I ended up with a lot of iTunes gift cards. Funky.

Side question: Okay, so writing new stories with other author's characters is fan fiction. What if you only use the setting, but use original characters? Like writing a Warcraft story or Exalted... does that count as fanfic?

Anyway, SDL TIME!

BUT FIRST, an update on a previous SDL. Yu-Gi-Oh: Abridged - Episode 15 was recently released. Prolly the low point of the series. HOWEVER... there was also a special release: Yu-Gi-Oh: A Christmas Carol, a spoof using the Abridged style characters and "A Christmas Carol". Plus it stars Kiba, so I enjoyed it. Top lines include "Screw the yules, I have money!" and "Oh, don't be like that, Binky Boy. I'm your friend. Come over here and let me cut you... I mean HUG you! Hugging is what I meant."

YOU SHOULD WATCH THE SERIES DAMN IT.

Okay, now for an actual link.

Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006

This is one messed-up animation with a Metal Slug style and lots of gore and messed up special attacks... I think you just gotta watch it and read the summary to the right of the video.

Pre-Holiday Postings

2006-12-24T06:24:46Z

I rewatched the 13 Episode Hellsing series today. Dubbed, this time, instead of the sub I originally had. I really appreciated that they gave the characters British accents, though Anderson being Scottish was kinda weird. There was also a lot of humor that I must have missed the first time. Like when Jan Valentine is taunting the Round Table ("Now while you're waiting for us to kill you, we highly recommend pissing yourself! Followed by a course of praying to your impetent God. Then cowering the corner and begging, always good. But if you act now, there's still time for an old-fashioned suicide! THANK YOU LONDON! WE LOVE YOU! GOOD NIGHT!") and Alucard's line when Luke calls him a monster ("I get that a lot."). Or else I was just watching subpar fansubs which leaves lots to be desired. That was the problem with the .hack//SIGN I watched; the fansub just didn't convey enough details so I ended up reading episode summeries to figure out what the hell happened in the episodes. Doesn't help that .hack//SIGN is just generally confusing as well...

In any case, tomorrow I am off to visit family for a couple of days, so prolly no posts till I'm back in Detroit. Your Semi-Daily Links shall resume then. Have a good holiday everyone!

Semi-Daily Links: YTMND

2006-12-21T22:32:34Z

So by now most people have probably seen You're the Man Now Dog. Some have probably seen the spin off site YTMND.com, which allows users to create their own versions of the site. Just need a picture, sound and text. A fun site to mess around in, complete with user fads, really sweet music compliations (which I'll feature at a later date), and even a previous war with Ebaumsworld.

In any case, here's one of my favorite YTMNDs: A better version of 'Signs'.

PS: Is it too ironic to listen to the .hack//SIGN soundtrack while playing World of Warcraft? I can't decide.

Another SDL!

2006-12-21T05:06:41Z

Alrighty, time for the Semi-Daily Link as you're scrolling through your Friends list. Today's link deals with Exalted.

What's that you say? You've never heard of Exalted? Well, if you're a table top RPG fan and a White Wolf fan in particular, and you've never heard of Exalted, I'd call your geek credentials right there. But here's a quick run down: Mix 3 parts Ninja Scroll with 1 part each of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Legend of the Five Rings, the Odessey, Final Fantasy 7, and Dungeons and Dragons. The main PCs are the Solar Exalted, reborn demigods whose essence was imprisoned thousands of years ago by their upstart underlings the Terrestrial Exalted. Now the Solars are back to find the Realm has branded them Anathema and the world's gone to crap. Being demigods, the PCs have phenomenal cosmic powers (ONE Solar Exalted lead a coalition of Northern Barbarians to destroy 4 full Legions, out of 30 total, from the Realm), insane dice pools, and overall badassiry. Couple that with rules about doing crazy stuff to recharge your power (called stunts), and a Storyteller rule of "There is no such thing as too over the top", and you've got a game that revels in its overpoweredness. Of course, until your little Solar meets his Abyssal counterpart...

In any case, one of Exalted's fun little quirks is the names. Sure, you've got rather simple names like Panther, Dace, and Swan (who probably got beat up a lot, which might be why he's a martial artist now), but you've also got The Lover Clad in the Rainment of Tears, Harmonious Jade, Sad Ivory, and Princess Magnificent with Lips of Coral and Robes of Black Feathers. So yeah, they get pretty ridiculous.

Enter the Exalted Name Generator. Put in the categories like "Colour" "Metal or Stone" "Positive Emotion" and generate your own crazy names!

Semi-Daily Link time!

2006-12-19T18:59:18Z

Okay, I've been sitting on this link for a while, and all I ask is that you watch it before judging me. :)

Yu-Gi-Oh: the Abridged Series (Episode 1).

Essentially, it condences a Yu-Gi-Oh episode into 4 minutes, replaces all the voices and makes fun of the whole thing. Its actually REALLY funny. It probably helps to know some stuff about Yu-Gi-Oh in the first place, but there's lots of generic anime or pop culture jokes as well. The voices get clearer around Episode 4 or so, and there's 14 total at the time of this posting. Here's another link to all the episodes. Its also important to know that only episodes done by LittleKuriboh are ligit; the series is actually pretty famous on YouTube so watch out for imitators.

Personal Highlight: Kaiba in general is probably my favorite, but the line "Screw the rules, I HAVE GREEN HAIR!" is tops.

Samurai Champloo: Update!

2006-12-19T05:44:55Z

Okay so I'm watching Samurai Champloo (like I said in my earlier post) and episode 15 "Bogus Booty" where the female ninja keeps convincing Mugen to fight the guys... seriously, its gotta be one of the funniest anime episodes ever.

"SONS OF BITCHES! I WANT MY NOOKIE!"

Also gotta wonder what she whispers to him to take on the group underground...

HAHA, great stuff.