| Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|12:35 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | michael jackson | ] |
| [ | Parameter |
| |  sad | ] |
| [ | Battle Theme |
| | Billie Jean - (Michael Jackson) | ] |
It still doesn't quite seem real that Michael Jackson is gone. Though we all knew he was troubled, his passing was sudden. After having a day to think about it, it has brought some different feelings to mind.
When I was a child, my older family members used to talk about these touchstone moments, such as JFK's assassination, and how they always remembered exactly where they were when they heard the news.
I remember thinking this was odd, and that I doubted if I would remember such things. My memory has always worked a little differently than most people. As a child, I could go into great detail about Super Mario Bros., or my latest Science Fair project, but I couldn't always tell you what we had for lunch at school that day. (A fact which consistently infuriated my mother.)
Now, being a little older and wiser, I realize that I was wrong. My short-term memory has improved. I had an Arby's roast beef sandwich and fries for lunch today. (Mama would be proud.) In all seriousness though... I DO remember exactly where I was when major things happened. For example:
( Read more... ) |
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| Anniversaries |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|05:48 am] |
December 2008 - SOPHIA (my car) turned 4, and my LiveJournal turned 5! It's hard to believe I've been on this site for over half a decade now. I still remember my first post.
Late April 2009 - Been living in Houston for a year.
June 2009 - My youngest sister turned 13 the other day, which means all my siblings are now teenagers. Also been playing FFXI a year... though not exactly, since a month could effectively be subtracted just for Hurricane Ike.
July 2009 - I will have been on planet Earth 29 years. Go me! I've tried not to think too much about being 30 soon... but it is an impending reality. It's time to accomplish some more things before that milestone. |
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| I'll Be Back |
[May. 27th, 2009|03:49 am] |
I may or may not have internet for a day or two due to changing providers. Just getting this out there in case anyone sends me a message/comment/whatever. There's a good chance I will still have access though.
I have complete faith the internet will continue to stay weirdly amusing while I am gone. For example, I just now got followed on Twitter by a group for outspoken atheists.
And on that note... in the meantime, please enjoy this video of Jason Statham's Death Race with the comedy stylings of Mario Kart. |
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| Strange Days... |
[May. 4th, 2009|03:25 am] |
You know times have gotten a little strange when the latest X-Men game is rated Mature, and the new Terminator movie is PG-13. |
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| Best Buy Haul |
[Apr. 26th, 2009|07:03 pm] |
Well, I didn't get Soul Calibur IV. Did any of you guys? Our Best Buy was sold out of Infinite Undiscovery too.
I didn't get there right when the store opened, so it's partly my fault. However, the employees lamented to me that there were only two copies of it to begin with, so maybe it's just as well. Fighting over 2 copies of a game with video game nerds is not my idea of fun anyway, and I would have been LIVID if I was waiting before the store opened and still didn't get a copy.
I called 3 other Best Buys when I got home. Sold out. So was the website- couldn't even have one shipped to me. I guess I'm simply not meant to have Soul Calibur IV right now. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before there's another good deal on it though.
Anyway, I decided on a $50 budget to put some games on my credit card, and here's what I ended up getting:
007: Quantum of Solace
C&C 3: Red Alert
Guitar Hero III
Supreme Commander
Unreal Tournament III
The only one I've played so far is Quantum of Solace. Quantum is a pleasant surprise- the graphics are very detailed, I like the soundtrack, and the gameplay is similar to Gears of War. It also came with a free 007 t-shirt, which I definitely plan on wearing. |
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| Saving The Day The Ninja Way |
[Apr. 23rd, 2009|07:07 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | 3 ninjas | ] |
| [ | Parameter |
| |  full | ] |
| [ | Battle Theme |
| | You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet - (Bachman Turner Overdrive) | ] |
I was at the 99¢ Store today, and I bought a VHS tape of 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain. Being a logically-minded person, you may ask yourself, "Why would you do such a thing, Ross?" To which I would reply, just take a look at the cover:
That's right. It features the all-star cast of Hulk Hogan (depicted tearing open the cover in excitement and/or anger), Loni Anderson, and Jim Varney, in addition to the ubiquitous 3 Ninjas. This promises to be an epic piece of cinema.
Also, it had been marked down to 29¢, which proves that even the 99¢ Store has standards.
However, if you still need convincing, do yourself a favor and read the following A Kid's Review of 3 Ninjas: HNAMM from Amazon in its entirety.
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| Vault Boy approves. |
[Apr. 22nd, 2009|03:48 pm] |
Here's a story from last week I found pretty amusing.
Who knew Matthew Perry played Fallout? And to the point that he developed repetitive strain injuries? Wow. |
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| Getting a little MSTie-eyed... |
[Apr. 9th, 2009|06:56 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | mst3k | ] |
| [ | Parameter |
| |  excited | ] |
| [ | Battle Theme |
| | Trouble Again - [Star Wars: Droids] (Stewart Copeland) | ] |
I think this interview with Jim Mallon was posted sometime last year, but if you haven't seen it, it's an interesting read for MST3K fans.
This part was particularly noteworthy:
"Q: Here’s a question every MSTie has wanted to ask you for 15 years or more: Do you, in fact, own copies of the first three KTMA episodes?
A: In fact, I do! I just saw the 3/4” cassettes last week.
Q: Is it possible, then, that the host segments (since the movie segments would have rights issues) from those episodes could someday be released? MSTie completionists out there are dying to know.
A: Yes. We’d like to put some of them up on mst3k.com. Because of the age of the tapes and the format, though, we need to find a facility to help us make the Quicktime files. 3/4” machines regularly ate the tapes when the format was new. I would hate to have that happen now."
It's great to know this, for two reasons.
1.) It confirms once and for all, that Mallon does indeed have copies of the original KTMA masters. This fact alone was debated for years.
2.) It also clarifies that Mallon is not opposed to releasing the early episodes (at the very least, the host segments anyway). In the past, he was sort of painted as this buttery hoarder who had locked away the KTMA episodes in his airtight vault and thrown away the key. This interview depicts him as more of a thoughtful, yet pre-occupied fellow.
Oh, and something else really cool for MST3K fans... over half of the original 26-minute KTMA pilot was shown at DragonCon 2008! Joel and co. seem to skip some of the riffing, but they DID show all of the host segments. So check out The Green Slime too, if you missed it: Part 1, Part 2. |
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| April Fools |
[Apr. 3rd, 2009|05:09 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | watchmen | ] |
| [ | Parameter |
| |  silly | ] |
| [ | Battle Theme |
| | Wario Ware, Inc. - [Super Smash Bros. Brawl] | ] |
It was a more subtle prank than last year, but my joke this year was last post's Watchmen Pilot. It was a real video posted to YouTube- but not an actual pilot. It's a fan-made parody, as you probably figured out.
I like to do e-pranks that are plausible- at least at a first glance. You guys are pretty clever, so nothing too silly. And doing the same prank twice in a row? Predictable and cliche. (Of course, Rickrolling people in 5 or 6 years, once it's a nearly forgotten meme? That would be fun.)
Oh yeah, and here's the original, non-embedded link. The creator has some sidebar notes, as well as links to a theme MP3 and a high-def version of the clip. Parody or not, it was a genuinely interesting and well-made animation. If it was a real cartoon, I'd actually watch it! |
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| Watchmen Cartoon |
[Apr. 1st, 2009|04:47 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | watchmen | ] |
| [ | Parameter |
| |  curious | ] |
| [ | Battle Theme |
| | Mario Circuit - [Super Smash Bros. Brawl] | ] |
Did you guys hear about the Watchmen cartoon pilot? Check out the clip below:
(No Rick Rolls. It's a regular YouTube video.)
( My thoughts... ) |
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| K.K. Song |
[Mar. 30th, 2009|05:00 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | animal crossing | ] |
| [ | Battle Theme |
| | Animal Crossing Theme - [SSB Brawl] (Kazumi Totaka) | ] |
Animal Crossing: City Folk PROTIP:
(Minor spoilers)
Make sure you guys sign on to the game with WiiConnect24 enabled to get your Pikmin hat while they're still available! They also did a St. Patrick's Day Shamrock hat awhile back, which I meant to post about, but forgot. They're both very cool, and little surprises like this really add to the game.
(End spoilers)
Another interesting tidbit I found out about today is Totaka's Song. You may or may not know about it, but you've almost certainly played one of the games it appears in. It's an interesting easter egg- a short hidden song with 19 notes, which appears in presumably every game which Kazumi Totaka has been the music composer for.
It's relevant to this post because Kazumi Totaka AND his song are in Animal Crossing. However, AC fans know him as K.K. Slider. He's actually called Totakeke in the Japanese version (Totaka K. - say it aloud), and Totaka's Song is in every version of the game (K.K. Song - you must request this song to hear it).
This really weirds me out, because it's been right under my nose all this time! I've known about Totakeke, K.K. Song, and the Mario Paint easter egg for years, but I never put all of this together until today.
Anyway, here's an article detailing all the games with Totaka's Song, and some YouTube videos with audio of it (1 2 3) Apparently, Totaka's Song has not yet been found in several games he's worked on, such as WaveRace 64 and Wii Sports. Should be most interesting to see if someone will uncover it! |
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| REBOOT: IN PROGRESS |
[Mar. 21st, 2009|08:42 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | aunt jean, gre | ] |
| [ | Parameter |
| |  determined | ] |
| [ | Battle Theme |
| | Acceptable In The 80s - (Calvin Harris) | ] |
I've been working on taking the graduate exam to go back to grad school. The GRE is $140, which is kind of expensive, so I applied for a fee waiver. I found out yesterday that the financial aid director at my undergraduate university signed off on it and mailed it back to ETS, so hopefully they will grant me a waiver. Then, I'll just need to do the practice exam to prepare, take the GRE, and finally I will be able to apply for a graduate program.
I applied for unemployment as well, and it looks like I may be eligible to receive some benefits until I can get my bearings. This is the first time I've ever truly been let go from a position or had to file for unemployment, but c'est la vie. I am thankful that the system is in place for when Americans need it.
I also went to a funeral this week... Aunt Jean passed away (that's what we all call her- she was my uncle's aunt). She was up in her nineties, so she had lived a good, long life, at least. She lived in Kemp, Texas, and several of us (including me) had gone to visit her back around 2002-3. My aunt stayed in touch with her fairly often. She worked for the IRS for many years, and didn't have any children, but did have a sister, as well as nieces/nephews.
The first time I went to Kemp to visit her, we also went to Galveston, and stopped at this place called Tortuga's. It was some of the best Mexican food I've ever had. I looked for one in Houston when I moved here, but the one that was close by had closed down. However, on the way back from Kemp, I found the other Houston area Tortuga's, and ate there again for the first time in years. It did not disappoint.
In exciting videogame news, I'm close to 6000G on Live now (5700 something), and apparently, Bomberman '94 and Detana! Twinbee are coming out on Virtual Console next Monday. YAY KANGAROOS. Oh, and I noticed on ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) pjade's LJ that Miami Law is apparently GaijinWorks' first game that will be released! Very interesting... |
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| Achievement Unlocked |
[Mar. 5th, 2009|12:18 am] |
| [ | Parameter |
| | shocked | ] |
| [ | Battle Theme |
| | Pop Muzik - (M) | ] |
This past weekend, I broke the 4K barrier on Xbox Live Achievement Points. WOO! I'm currently up to 4605 AP. Not too bad, especially considering I only had about 2500 circa early January.
I should actually have a lot more, but I spent too much time on FFXI in 2008, which has absolutely ridiculous requirements for AP. I could make a whole blog on that subject alone, but I'll put it this way- there is a separate achievement for getting each job class to Level 75 (the maximum level). If you don't play MMORPGs, let me put it another way- months of work PER JOB for a mere 30G.
Whatever. The way I look at it, I've earned 12 Achievements on there, and I'm close to unlocking 2 more, so that's 14 more Achievements than most people will ever earn for Final Fantasy XI. It's just too bad you'll never know what they are unless you ask, since they're ALL SECRET. Thanks, Square Enix.
Oh well- I digress.
I had put in 5 hours of overtime last week, so I got some new 360 games this past weekend. Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, Operation Darkness, Sega Superstars Tennis, LEGO Indiana Jones, and Kung Fu Panda. As it turns out, I really like all of these games, and I got good deals on them too.
And yeah... there's been some work drama, but I don't want to talk about it right now. Maybe next time... |
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| Time to Pay the YouTube Piper |
[Feb. 21st, 2009|01:43 pm] |
Though I rarely mention it, I have a YouTube channel. Here's a link if you're interested. I think the ROMhouse are my only friends who might even know about it.
My channel is mostly videos of glitches and weird/rare things in videogames that I had a camera handy to record at the time. A resolution of mine was to post more videos in 2009. I posted a new video today for the first time in about a year:
This is a video of the ragdoll physics going nuts in Perfect Dark Zero. That enemy actually bounced around longer, but this is all I was able to record.
Also, here's my most popular video- Mr. Resetti Gets Angry. It's a 10-second video I posted on a whim, because I found it amusing. Apparently, so did THE INTERNET, since it's gotten over 50,000 VIEWS since I posted it! Amazing.
TODAY'S MORAL: Never underestimate the free time POWER of Animal Crossing nerds. |
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| SGE2K8.5: Cookies vs. Dinosaurs |
[Feb. 18th, 2009|12:32 am] |
| [ | Parameter |
| | giddy | ] |
| [ | Battle Theme |
| | Barracuda - (Heart) | ] |
This past weekend, I visited the ROMhouse.
It was Danny's birthday on Saturday. Knowing his fondness for CAKE, I went by the mall to get a cookie cake before heading to Austin. They had all these cookie cakes on display with fancy designs, like roses and whatnot... so I thought, hey, a T-Rex would be perfect! Since they did rose stems, I knew they even had the green icing.
So, I ask the cookie guy, and he's like "Yeah, the girl who does the cakes is an ART MAJOR! She should be able to do that!" And I'm thinking, great! This was a GOOD IDEA. He gets the girl's attention, she comes over, and he asks her if she can do a T-Rex. This is met with a blank stare.
"No, I can't do that," she replies.
"I know you guys don't have a whole lot of room to work with," I conceded, "but what about a T-Rex at the very bottom, from the WAIST UP?"
"Nope, sorry." She goes back to her non-dinosaur cake-making.
"You know what... that's ok. Thanks anyway," I tell Mr. Cookie Company. And I marched down to Cinnabon, and got their biggest box of cinnamon rolls instead.
I mean, seriously- an art major, that can't draw a basic 2D T-Rex? That's kind of insulting. I mean, ok... maybe the unique request made her nervous... but geez, most kids can draw a halfway decent dinosaur in elementary school. I digress though.
Flash forward a few hours later! I arrive in Austin, Cinnabon in tow, for Danny's birthday. Highlights of the trip, in hopefully chronological order:
( HIGHLIGHTS! )
So there you have it. What a RAD WEEKEND! I bet you wish you were me right about now.
Oh yeah, and one other thing... when I was leaving Houston, just past the Memorial City Mall, there was a homeless man. Not just ANY homeless man, mind you- he was sitting atop the median, wearing a very dapper hat, and playing a saxophone- playing it quite well, in fact. It was like he was waiting there... waiting to play me off on my journey of AWESOME.
If THAT doesn't convince you how cool trips to the ROMhouse are, then go outside and kick some more puppies, Steven Seagal. |
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| "I got a present for 'ya!" |
[Jan. 31st, 2009|09:55 pm] |
Frank Klepacki has a pretty cool website. Check it out if you are a big dork for video game soundtracks (like me). He's composed music for different video game series, but I especially like the music he did for Command & Conquer.
I've taken to listening to music at work, and I like to pop over there now and then and listen to his tracks via the handy integrated Flash player. My favorites are Act On Instinct, Just Do It Up, Industrial, and Full Stop (under CnC Series). If you played the original Command & Conquer much at all, I guarantee you'll remember them.
Speaking of music, have you guys heard of Calvin Harris? I was introduced to his songs by chance the other day, as we've been sharing our music at work via iTunes. The song "Acceptable In The 80s" caught my eye in a co-worker's library.
He's a Scottish electroclash musician, and one of my new favorite artists. The beat to his songs= FANTASTIC. (Though his vocals/lyrics could use just a tad more polish.) They're very 80s influenced, except with an electronic edge. My co-worker had the first 8 songs from his debut album I Created Disco, so I got her to burn them to CD for me.
( Check him out for yourself- YouTube links inside! )
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| Game On! |
[Jan. 18th, 2009|09:31 pm] |
I finally got around to registering my friend code on Animal Crossing, so here it is:
Animal Crossing: City Folk
2449-9437-4175
Name: Ross
Town: Radville
Likewise, please post your AC friend codes too.
ALSO! I registered for a Gold account with Xbox Live just after the holidays. So, if you want to mastermind elaborate schemes to unlock Achievement Points, let me know!
Xbox Live: Ross Patrol
I'm already friends with a lot of you guys on Live, but I only had Silver before 2009. Let me know if there is a game you would like to play online sometime. |
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| Just Call Him "Random Task" |
[Dec. 15th, 2008|01:22 am] |
I had the same reaction to this that a lot of people on the internet did.
"Who throws a shoe?
Honestly! You fight like a woman!"
Ah, those wacky Iraqis. No matter what you think of Bush... you've gotta admit, he's got mad dodging skills for his age. That's what you call high DEX right there.
Also, apparently Michelle Malkin and Doug TenNapel are best buds?? This kind of blows my mind.
(P.S. Doug TenNapel created Earthworm Jim, in case you didn't know. Michelle Malkin, of course, is a political pundit.) |
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| Folk and the City |
[Dec. 10th, 2008|01:44 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | animal crossing | ] |
| [ | Parameter |
| | curious | ] |
| [ | Battle Theme |
| | Early in the Morning - (The Gap Band) | ] |
Who got Animal Crossing: City Folk? How is it?
Definitely getting it at some point, but it's kinda pricey with the microphone... |
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| Gridlock! |
[Nov. 9th, 2008|08:30 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | obama, vigilante 8 | ] |
| [ | Parameter |
| |  sore | ] |
| [ | Battle Theme |
| | Boogie Wonderland - (Earth, Wind, & Fire) | ] |
So, Rahm Emanuel. Interesting first choice. A vitriolic former dancer who sends his enemies rotten fish, or stabs knives into tables while screaming he wants them DEAD. Not a real friendly or bipartisan guy... but things won't be dull around the White House!
Heh. Regardless of my immense skepticism though, I do hope Obama accomplishes some good things in office. Anyway, that's enough about politics for awhile.
I played the Vigilante 8 demo this weekend!
PROS:
* Nice graphics
* Split screen offline/Live online play
* New characters probably coming through DLC
CONS:
* Less characters than on N64, and some characters/vehicles were changed a bit
* No terrain deformation
* Some combos were changed due to lack of terraforming
* Cars roll over much easier
More cons than pros, but I still kind of want to download it just because of the Live play. I'm considering it. I really loved the N64 version.
Oh, and also, I made a bunch of cool new icons today. This is one of them. |
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thoughtful
weird
annoyed
optimistic
aggravated