Blame Canada

Gonna thrill 'ya tonight...

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:31:50 GMT

(Full version here, has embedding disabled)

Always think of Thriller on Halloween night... not without a tinge of sadness this year, but it's still no less awesome.

Has it really been over a month since I updated? Shame on me. I could have sworn I made at least one update in October... but I guess not.

Hope you all had an excellent Halloween!

He speaks the truth!

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:22:56 GMT

If you're tired of Kanye, pass GO and collect your $200. I haven't mentioned it on my LJ though, and this is the best one.

SGE2K9 Pictures

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 06:40:58 GMT

2009 Album here.

When I got home, I realized I hadn't taken many pictures. Sorry guys- I'll do better next year. I actually borrowed a couple of pictures at the end from Emily so I would have at least one shot with me with the group. Hope you don't mind, Em- I did credit you. :)

I took a lot of videos though, which I named and catalogued the other day, so I'll probably start a SGE2K9 group on YouTube soon. If anyone else has videos to contribute, that would be keen. Heck, I might even screencap some good video shots to pad out my album with a few more pictures later.

Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:58:11 GMT

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:

Princess Di: It was 1997, and I was 17 years old. We were at our house in Decatur. Keith had come over, and we were playing videogames in the garage which we had converted into a gameroom. My mom suddenly came in and said, "Ross... the Princess has died."

JFK Jr.: It was 1999, and I was 19. It was the first time I lived in Nashville (the second was 2005-2008), and it was in my early days of college. I was sitting at a table at South Street Cafe with my uncle in Nashville. There were televisions at the bar, and they announced on TV that his plane had gone down.

9/11: It was 2001, and I was 21. I was going to school at the University of North Alabama in Florence, AL. I had gotten up to go to Art History Survey class, and Dr. Kontar announced to us that a plane had crashed into the Twin Towers. She said she didn't know if the University was going to cancel classes today. (They didn't, and we ended up having classes as usual... though everyone was very distracted and congregated between classes to talk about it.) I remember thinking that it didn't seem real. I wondered in the moment if she was making some kind of weird joke or something, despite the fact that that would have been completely out of character for a scholarly professor with no penchant for inappropriate humor. It was just so incomprehensible that my first reaction was to grasp for some sort of denial mechanism.

Yesterday, when Michael Jackson died, I didn't know about it at first. Actually, I was completely oblivious. I was playing Bionic Commando: Rearmed on Xbox 360. Suddenly, I got a call on my cell phone. It was my little brother. I remember thinking it was unusual, because he's on Eastern time, and typically only calls me at night. My brother just recently graduated from high school, and he has a job working at Sears. He said he couldn't talk long, because he was calling me on his break. He asked me if I knew that Michael Jackson had died. It was one of those moments where like two seconds passed in real life, but it almost seemed like a minute of silence from the shock and confusion.

My little brother is not as outwardly sentimental as I am. I'm kind of an ol' softie at heart who loves to wax nostalgic, but he's a bit more stoic, like my stepdad. He didn't say it in so many words... but I knew he had called because he was saddened by the news. My brother, sisters, and I are all big fans of MJ's music. There's a lot more I could say about that, but I'll make a second post tomorrow.

Suffice it to say, I definitely think this is a "Where were you when...?" moment of our generation.

Anniversaries

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:14:56 GMT

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.

I'll Be Back

Wed, 27 May 2009 09:04:37 GMT

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.

Strange Days...

Mon, 04 May 2009 08:31:23 GMT

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.

Best Buy Haul

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:24:03 GMT

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.

Saving The Day The Ninja Way

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:33:03 GMT

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.

Vault Boy approves.

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:56:59 GMT

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.

Getting a little MSTie-eyed...

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:27:43 GMT

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.

April Fools

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 23:28:17 GMT

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!

Watchmen Cartoon

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:32:32 GMT

Did you guys hear about the Watchmen cartoon pilot? Check out the clip below:

(No Rick Rolls. It's a regular YouTube video.)

Minor spoilers (highlight): Like I said- no Rickrolling, it's a regular video. However, as you have probably figured out, the cartoon itself is a spoof. APRIL FOOLS!

So yeah, I thought Rorschach was the funniest. Crazy stuff.

K.K. Song

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:27:55 GMT

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!

REBOOT: IN PROGRESS

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:07:48 GMT

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 pjade's LJ that Miami Law is apparently GaijinWorks' first game that will be released! Very interesting...

Achievement Unlocked

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:43:25 GMT

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...

Time to Pay the YouTube Piper

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:06:55 GMT

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.

SGE2K8.5: Cookies vs. Dinosaurs

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:49:03 GMT

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:

Saturday, February 14th

* The ROMhouse is playing a demo of Minesweeper for Xbox 360 when I arrive. CONSENSUS: Yep, this is Minesweeper.
* Emily takes us to Chicken Express! It is the first time I have ever been there, and we acquire delicious foods for eating back at Casa Del ROM.
* We watch MST3K: SoulTaker. Joe Estevez and Pumpkinface Guy steal the souls of very 1980s teenagers, and Joel makes a cameo!
* Chris, Lindsey, Joanna and I go to Chris' show (AKA Shy One Horse), and we run into Ryan there. (BONUS!) Pizza, merriment, and matching half-hearts are had by all! Shy One Horse rocks the joint, and is easily best in show.
* Return to ROMhouse for Rock Band. Not the first time I've played Rock Band, but the first time I've played with OTHER PEOPLE, and I'm actually pretty good (at least on Easy, anyway)!
* I even got a 99% singing on Billy Idol's White Wedding, which surprised the heck out of me, especially since I don't usually even sing in front of other people.
* Chris, Seth, and I are talking about random stuff... game reviews or something comes up, and I jokingly refer to the weekend as SGE2K8.5. Seth points out that Parish doesn't give 8.5s to things anymore. SADNESS. I guess we have to retire the 8.5.

Sunday, February 15th

* Joanna invited us to visit her non-denominational church, so Chris and I meet up with her and Lindsey. We ended up getting into a big discussion about the band later, but the preacher was good. Oh, and we went to Sonic beforehand, and I got French Toast Sticks. :D
* Afterwards, we went to a little coffeehouse on the water. I ordered a hot cocoa and chocolate-dipped Rice Krispie bar, and we sat near the pier and talked for a long time while the ducks made farting sounds. Lindsey and I thought this was very funny. Chris and Joanna... not so amused.
* Joanna heads back home, and we go to Food Shui! YUM! After a delectable meal, it is then Lindsey's time to depart.
* Back to the ROMhouse! I demo Counter Force for the Wii. Danny and Chris are pleasantly surprised. Danny points out that Hyper-Devbox Japan is actually a FRENCH company (?!), and we laugh at the French voiceovers.
* We discuss iPod Touch games. Danny actually reviews them in Gamasutra's official blog, which I still need to check out!
* Danny, Seth, Beckey, Chris, and I make a grand voyage to Fry's. It is a store of many wonderful electronics. Much to their dismay, out of all these things, I purchase Vampire Rain for Xbox 360.
* Danny shows me Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, which I was very curious to see. In three generations of emulation, Digital Eclipse has STILL not fixed the sound emulation for Phantasy Star III!! GRR! The other games sound accurate though, so it may just be a quirk with that one title. Overall, the collection is good!
* Chris and I meet up with Wes, and partake in free band pizza at the same place they played on Saturday.
* While sitting on the back patio, Wes was talking about smoking, and I quipped that he smoked all the cigarettes so nobody else had to. He had a good laugh, and said he is going to use that as his excuse from now on! ^_^
* A really AWFUL band starts playing at approximately the decibel of EARSPLITTING. We exit, stage-right, and stand outside talking for ten minutes about how terrible and unnecessarily loud they were. Also, music blogs.
* After we get back to the ROMhouse, Chris had to write his article for Album Du Jour, so I packed up and struck out for Houston.

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.

"I got a present for 'ya!"

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:14:59 GMT

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.

Here's his songs in the order in which I like them:

(1.) Neon Rocks - LOVE THIS SONG. Needs to be on a video game. Make this happen, video game industry.

(2.) Acceptable In The 80s - Catchy and fun! This is the song that got me interested.

(3.) The Girls - Calvin Harris has all the girls. ALL OF THEM.

(4.) Colours - Featuring the very British spelling of "colors"!

(5.) Merrymaking At My Place - Slower-paced, but still quite catchy, with the catlike sound effects.

(6.) Vegas - Starts slow, gradually gains momentum. It really picks up around the middle.

(7.) Traffic Cops - The audio quality for this is poor on YouTube. It's short, melancholy, and seems more like a bonus track, but I still like it.

(8.) This Is The Industry - The beat for this song is actually pretty decent, but the repetitive, mechanical vocals are a little irritating.

Game On!

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 03:50:08 GMT

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.

Just Call Him "Random Task"

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:29:50 GMT

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.)

Folk and the City

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:47:51 GMT

Who got Animal Crossing: City Folk? How is it?

Definitely getting it at some point, but it's kinda pricey with the microphone...

Gridlock!

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:50:38 GMT

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.

Well played, Obama.

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:49:02 GMT

Looks like you did it, Mr. President-Elect. Since you're everyone's president, it'll be totally sweet and awesome to not pay for my gasoline or mortgages anymore.

Plus, I suppose that means everyone who voted for McCain instantly inherits the following irrevocable rights from the anti-Bush crowd:

* Incessantly complain about Democrats and how they're singlehandedly ruining the country.

* Blame every last thing that goes wrong in this country ever on Obama.

* Display McCain-Palin bumper stickers on their vehicles for the next 4 (or more) years for no particular reason.

It's a laugh-a-minute, sport.

Good luck overhauling healthcare, by the way. If you're taking on Umbrella Corp., better bring the rocket launcher.

Halloween 2008

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:36:51 GMT

We had a costume contest at work on Friday at work with cash prizes ($200 1st, $100 2nd, $50 3rd), so I decided to dress up. Our theme was Scary Fairy Tales, and I was trying to decide what to be... I told my little sister about it earlier, and she said "You should be DEAD LINK!"

This actually sounded like a pretty good idea, but I figured I could simplify a little and be Dark Link, and that would still fit the theme. I just told everyone at work that I was a "dark elf". This was technically true, and plus, I didn't figure most people there knew who Link was anyway. (Actually though, 4 or 5 people got it and asked me if I was Link! I was really surprised.)

I sketched out plans for the costume on Thursday, and set a target goal of $25. I bought all the materials at Wal-Mart for exactly $25.82, and made the costume in one night. I thought I did pretty great considering my budget and time frame.

A lot of people at work apparently thought so too, since I got tons of compliments! Disappointingly, I didn't win a prize in the contest (I think it came down more to popularity, and perhaps people finding my outfit too scary. I actually scared my co-worker that I sit next to pretty bad, haha.), but they gave away some other recognition awards at the costume awards, and I won $25 anyway! So I broke even, and I have a cool costume to use in the future. WOO!

Anyway, on to the pictures!

(NOTE: The backgrounds are muted or artistically removed- these were taken on the iSight, and the furniture looks out of place. Also, I know the edges on my filtering are lazy- I didn't feel like being meticulous today.)

Here's a picture of me with sword and shield. I actually didn't get to take the shield because the paint didn't dry fast enough. I still looked fine without it though.

Close-up pic.

Picture with sword.

Ok, here's the story with this one-

When I was scrubbing off my makeup, I did my eyes last. Well, I couldn't help but notice I kind of looked like The Dark Knight's Joker. It was too amusing a photo-op to pass up, so I quickly smeared on a little mouth makeup, and PRESTO! Then, a quick Photoshop later, and...

WHY SO SERIOUS?

Finally, here's the link to the album (with full-size pics) if you are so inclined.