Sunday, July 18, 2004

must...remember...to...breathe...

Today's OCRemix:"Unikwak" Uniracers Remix by Ailsean, JAXX, and Prozax. Well, this came as a huge shock to me when I realized just how much the online gaming community liked their music, so when I stumbled onto OneUp Studios I was impressed because it just goes to show that some people love what they do, and several of the remixers from the previous OCR decided to get together and create their own site to feature their music. Simply admirable. Anywho, this piece by musical genius Ailsean, in conjuncion with rockin' and rollin' guitar soloists JAXX and Prozax, created this marvelous rock mix of the music from Uniracers, one of the most fun and zany racer-ish games for the Super NES. Since OneUp studios doesn't exactly highlight individual songs in the same way OCRemix does, you'll have to scroll down Ailsean's section of the site (the link is the title of the song) and just click on the song yourself to download. Oh, and by all means, download some of his other bits too. Well, after just enough hassle to keep me anxious, I finally headed out and bought Dance Dance Revolution Max (and the pad) and decided to start jammin'. It's a really cool game, and I manage to keep my parents very impressed with the rate at which I can play the songs (even though I'm still not that good). So far, though, I sure am enjoying my purchase, and although I got a cheaper pad it seems to be doing its job (even if the right arrow goes a little spastic at times.) Most challenging songs: "Love This Feelin'" by Chang Ma(Light) "Paranoia Evolution" by 200(Light) "Trip Machine Climax" by De-SIRE(Light) "Orion.78 (Civilization Mix)" by 2MB(Light) "Sana Morette Ne Ente" by Togo Project feat. Sana(Standard) "Brilliant 2U (Orchestra Groove)" by Naoki(Standard) Most fun songs: "Holic" and "era (nostalmix)" by TaQ(Light) "Ordinary World" by Aurora feat. Naimee Coleman(Standard) "Rhythm and Police (K.O.G. G3 Mix)" by CJ Crew feat. Chirstian D.(Light) "true...(Trance Sunrise Mix)" by Riyu Kosaka(Standard) "Stomp to my Beat" by JS16(Light) "My Generation (Fat Beat Mix)" by Captain Jack(Light) "Insertion" by Naoki Underground(Light) So...I can do almost any song on Light except "Paranoia Max", "Orion.78 Civilization Mix" and "MAX 300" and I can do a few songs on Standard difficulty...my range so far on songs is somewhere between 4 to 6 "feet" on the difficulty scale. My amazing freind Steve, on the other hand, can do more songs on Standard than myself, so his range is 5-7 feet. Anyway, not much has happened in the past few days, except now I've begun watching Naruto religiously at the reccomendation of the friends whom I've introduced to the series, and now I have to watch even more to catch up. I'm only on episode 30 right now, but only because I can only download so much every month before my folks get on my case. Well, bagpipe lessons start tomorrow, so, hopefully, I'll be able to get up before noon, which is the norm during the holidays. I must remember to breathe.... Well, see you guys at 5 P.M. EST tomorrow. -WDS-

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Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Politics and moviegoing...bad for the stomach, good for stress.

Today's OCRemix: "G-Storm" Extreme G Remix by bLiNd. One of the golden rules of OCR: If you are unsure of the game, or unsure of the song, you can always trust the remixer. I'm not familliar at all with the game Extreme G for the N64, and, for that reason, unfamilliar with the music, but as soon as I saw the name bLiNd, I was more than enthusiastic to get the mix. bLiNd, for those of you who haven't been here for awhile, is the mixer of my favorite OCR mix from Starfox, called Meteorave. For this reason, I decided to trust my instincts on this one, and got the mix. to my pleasure, I was not disappointed, and decided to put it up. Extreme G, by my guess, is some kind of racing game much like the F-Zero series, and I like the trancy remix because of the oddly reverbed synthesized drums that almost sound like gusts of wind, and the wicked drum pattern and synths that give you a definite sense of speed. Enjoy. Now, I planned on trying to update myO on a lighter note...until I saw the thread for the movie "Farenheit 9/11" by Michael Moore. The opinions varies, and I'll try to avoid names, but I could find a few more contradictions in the arguments of the people who disagreed with Moore's view over those who agreed with him. I feel that the OB is no place for such personal feelings of mine, so I'd rather vent my frustrations on MyO, where there is actually room for that. If anyone feels like arguing with me, I'd rather do it as a regular one on one debate, instead of making it "public" on the OB. Personally, I found holes in what those who disliked Moore's view in the film, one of the first things I noticed was that a few of those who disliked it even admitted that they had never even seen the movie. If you never saw the movie, then why in the hell are you commenting on it?! Furthermore, due to this, some of the arguments were flawed, spoken like people who had never seen the movie, including "the war in Afghanistan was bout oil" or "no one bothered to mention Saddam Hussein". How can these statements be justified by those who have never seen the movie? Did the people who wrote these supposed "reviews" or "articles" even see the movie themselves? Furthermore, a certain member posted an article about the movie being R-rated because of dead bodies, people attacked by bombs, and music with coarse language. ("The Roof is on Fire" by the Bloodhound Gang) I suppose the "Bloodhound Gang" song was justified, but there is argument that Michael Moore claimed: "I encourage all teenagers to come see my movie, by any means necessary. If you need me to sneak you in, let me know," Now, one thing that wasn't mentioned was whether or not Moore was even being serious. What's a little joke now and then? That is a good a possibility as him being deathly serious, as the person who wrote this article gave us no context in that quote. It is said that a leftist philosophy involves reaching the children to brainwash them, but is it possible that the younger generation, (soon-to-be voters and/or military personnel) would want to hear the story from the "other side" since they may end up being thrown headfirst into a war? Personally, I think that younger people should have some interest in politics, that they should see this movie, and, if they do not agree with it, by all means, I encourage everyone to go out and research what the opposition is saying. Isn't the fact that the movie's R rating is the non-liberal way of brainwashing the public youth? Their parents should tell them that something is bad just because all the posters have an "R" on it? That sounds about as much like brainwashing as the creation of the movie in the first place. Besides, to quote the writer, Tammy Bruce: "I’m sure they (Michael Moore/Tom Ortenberg of Lion's Gate Films) fantasized about thousands of DVDs being sent, at no cost of course, to high school history and civics teachers nationwide. This message would then have the legitimacy in your child’s eye of being presented in a school environment where they are to accept and “learn” whatever is thrown their way. The agenda of Michael Moore and Tom Ortenberg is obvious. They know adults will and do see this film as propaganda, and will dismiss it accordingly. Children, on the other hand, do not have the critical thinking skills required to understand when they’re being taken for a ride by an angry and miserable man. And children must see it without that pesky parent who might actually put things in context or even provide a running editorial with the material." If you think that the younger generation, the "children", are so stupid that they cannot think critically about the news presented to them, then maybe there really is something wrong with the system, that people ages 13-16 cannot have the critical thinking skills to be able to argue or research a point intelligently enough to justify "Farenheit 9/11". As I said before, this is brainwashing in the exact same way that the making of "Farenheit 9/11" was considered brainwashing. If the youth doesn't have the capacity to think like that, then why do people on the OB write about politics? Are we too stupid to think clearly on these subjects too? Based on what I see, I think not. They say Moore claimed that almost every American is stupid compared to other countries, and asked the Canadian Conservative Party not act like George W. because they do not want to attach the label of American-like behavoiur to themselves. If that is, in fact, true, then my liking for Michael Moore, as a person, just dropped a whole lot, but if I may not like the man as a person, then I can sympathize with his views on how the system in the States is worse, and no mater how much I may dislike Michael Moore, my absolute despisal of George W. Bush will always remain exponentially greater. People criticized the book: "Stupid White Men", and about how the system is always out to hurt the poor and reward the rich, and how the government will prey on the blue-collar working-class man, making Amrecia seem like such a terrible place. I can find some truth to that, as was shown in "Farenheit", that only the poorer classes in the US will join the army for a hope of having a future, and the rich have no need of joining the military service. To quote Michael Moore: "Those who are most hurt by the system are always the first to rise to protect it." How sad. Furthermore, Moore also went into the story on the war in Afghanistan, and how Iraq lasted (is lasting) much longer. How Bush reacted weakly to suppress the Saudis and Bin Laden, but is now in "control" (controlled anarchy, more like) of Iraq for its oil. On a business level, I can see how this works, as was said in the movie. The Saudi Areabians are some of the largest investors in the American economy, and if Bush were to attack Afghanistan any harder, he would lose all kinds of money, and would rather opt to attack Iraq, where the oil is, and where the major companies who supply weapons (also invested in by the Saudis) would make huge profits. For this reason, I see what Bush is doing as intelligent....but unethical. I admit, though, that the movie was probably weak at displaying Iraq as being "victims" of the US, since they showed an almost conry scene of Iraqi children playing at a local park before the US began its bombings, and that, possibly, the only purpose of the movie was to overturn an upcoming election and, therefore, was the only reason it won the Cannes film festival award. As a film, I admit it wasn't the best I've seen, but I do like the view, a little something from the opposite side of the political spectrum, since the media tends to focus (from what I can tell) on Bush and his persective on the war. Especially since, supposedly, private investigation by the independent media on 9/11 itself was not sanctioned by Bush. Well, that's about all the ranting I have energy for at the moment, but I would like to thank those of you who read this, as it means much to me that I can talk to someone about a subject like this (even if it is an argument) and try and express my opinion as best I can, and, hopefully, get to know people a little better on that personal level of political opinion. Please comment on this, even if you want to bring up something I missed, as it would mean a lot to me. To learn from everyone. -WDS-

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Thursday, July 8, 2004

IT IZZ KALLD @ 'ninei'!!!!!

Today's OCRemix: "Climhazzard Rush" Final Fantasy 7 Remix by aluminum (deliberately misspelled). As you know, I do appear to be sort of the avid Techno fan, if songs like "Meteorave", "Forever", "Groove-Mecha" and "Jenovad Trance" have taught you anything about my taste in remixes, then "Climhazzard Rush" should be no big surprise. It's a darker techno version of one of the Shinra's theme songs, and even features a slightly garbled clip from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". Otherwise, the rest of the song is sort of weird in its own way, and only the hardcore dark techno fans will really enjoy it. (This is also the very first mix I got from OCR.) Well, probably agains my better judgement, I have signed up for two more RPGs on OB: "O Fortuna" by Balmon and "hero" by Shy. I say "against my better judgement", because I feel that my writing becomes slightly lax when I try and join too many RPGs, besides, I still think I should try posting in the older Laeth and Outlaw Star: FP RPGs as well, so, in theory, I am a part of about 5 RPGs right now. Anyway, I thought I'd give Kill Adam, Vol. 2 a pass, even though it looks like a fun RPG. I'll try reading it along with everyone else, and maybe it will be fun to read as well. However, in honour of the RPG, I thought I'd show you guys a very...unusual flash movie I found on the net. Newgrounds.com's more overlooked series: "ARFENHOUSE", is one of the more...oddly designed flash bits by artist Misteroo, as it features only poorly-done cut and pasted drawings, and this is rather strange, as Misteroo himself looks like a talented artist. However, this is by no means a complaint, as the "ARFENHOUSE TEH MOVIE 3" trailer, is a (in my opinion) hillarious parody of the trailer from the original "Kill Bill", since it takes pieces from both films and adds it's own special twist to them. Thew Trailer is known as: "Kill Billy" and, we have no idea who this "Billy" is. The flash just takes everything to outrageous extremes, including a 5 second scene where three cans of Pringles potato chips drive by on box-shaped mopeds, and the screen flashes "OBSCURE REFERENCE :D!" in bright multicoloured text. and then a strange furry animal watches as the word "LAWSUIT" floats past his face, and creates and anime-style sweatdrop. Finally, there is a small exhcange between a "poorly voiced" Quentin Tarantino and Woogy, who, apparently, designed the flash himself (This isn't the entire flash, just some of my favorite parts). Prepare for some of the most sensless nonsense you have ever seen based on Kill Bill, and try to have fun, even if you don't normally like that stuff. (Oh, and don't listen to it with the volume too high, as the music gets pretty loud.) Well, I'm afraid I must be cutting this post a little short today, but if you ever get the chance, watch the "Kill Billy" trailer, and then go and sign up for Kill Adam Vol. 2. Oh, and post in whatever other RPGs you can, too. -WDS-

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Wednesday, July 7, 2004

Exuastion + nostalgia = 1 old and tired WDS

Today's OCRemix: "Faster" Blast Corps Remix by Stephen Malcolm (or whatever his name is now). Now, Blast Corps for the N64 had something, maybe it was the senselessly mowing down buildings whilst trying to avoid the nuclear apocalypse, and then, once you could have a little free time, you could bulldoze small towns into oblivion just because you could use the extra cash. Ok, so maybe the story didn't make the most sense, that mowing down the whole world would have done less damage than a single nuclear bomb in some unheard-of state. Whatever. In any case, it did have something, and maybe, just maybe, that something might have been that beautiful country-techno hybrid soundtrack that you could jam to everytime you decided to hammer a small country to kingdom come. In any case, that is at least one of the reasons you will injoy this mix. One of the better featured tracks in BC, this bit is something you can groove to every time you relive the nostalgia of dynamiting a building to bits with a disproportionately-sized crate of nitro-based explosives. A little less country, a little more techno, a whole lot of fun. I only wish that they could make it speed up the way they did in the game when the rolling missile was bout to hit something. P.S. Thanks to Semjaza for pointing out the error I made on the "Groove" mix. Panzer Dragoon was for Saturn, not Genesis. Anyway, much to my delight, my parents let me rent Dance Dance Revolution on my PS2 for a couple of days, and the game store also rented the pads, so I got two. I was even more delighted to hear that my parents were in favour of me getting the game, as they said it looked like a cool way (for me) to get excercise. I have almost mastered "Stomp to my Beat" by JS16 on Light (easy) difficulty (but the song is hard) and I can do almost any song on Light and even "Sandstorm" by Darude on Standard (Normal). The game, however, does take quite a bit of energy for long periods, and I have gone through about three changes of clothes in the past day and a half. I return the game tomorrow, but I think I might buy it at a later date, get a bit of practice for sports next year. Anyway, some of you may have noticed the new banner heading my site, (well, under the FLCL robo anyway) and it is a little something I took from my movie from Drama Class, Demons of the Wooden Sword. I thought I might dedicate this post to the group, as this belongs to them as much as it does to me, and I hope it means the same to them too. I thought I might talk a bit about the group, but I won't use their names as I am not sure how they would feel about it. M (as I will call her for this post) was our lead actress, and she was definetely a good choice for our lead. Her role was the silent assassin chasing those who kidnapped her husband, and although her role did not have the greatest number of speaking lines, she was certainly more than fitted for the action category, as she would perform all the choreography for the movie phenomenally, even adding her own personal flair and suggestions for each section of the film. It was great working with her, and I was appreciateive of the fact that she could fall down any given number of times and never uttered a word of complaint. J was our male assassin character sent by me to kill M, and although he had a bare minimum of speaking lines, his strength was also in the inventiveness of choreography. His fight with M was the very first scene we shot after we got the final version of the script ready, and although the scene itself was a little glitchy, he performed his character with a cool air and gave the impression that he knew what he was doing at all times, even though he might have been screwing up. (I wouldn't know, I never caught him) E.D.P. was our second actress, and although her role was similar to J's, with a few more lines, as we suspect she seems to have a different relationship with her superior (me), and an even stranger relationship with M., her once-rival in the underworld crime business. Upon meeting M in the woods, E.D.P. delivered a stunning line of venom at M, who beat a hasty retreat only to be followed closely by the nunchuck-wielding E.D.P. After a frustrating battle in tall grass, E.D.P. delivered a stunning final blow to M. who jumped back up and pressed the knife against E.D.P.'s throat, who had no choice but to run. Afterwards, she has a little exchange with her boss (me), she is eventually backed into the wall, and goes down screaming from blows from my wooden sword. Since she was acting insubordinate and failed to make the hit, she was punished with painful death. Although not the most amazing role in the production, E.D.P. gave a superstar performance, and never lacked in the enthusiasm department either. In my opinion, Chiyaki Kuriyama (Go Go Yubari from "Kill Bill") has nothing on our very own E.D.P. P, Our other male role, played M's husband, an overly-concerned and overly-nervous, but also incredibly brilliant archaeologist who is kidnapped my me, J, and E.D.P. in an attempt to find a hidden treasure. P finds an old tome in the public library depicting the exact location of the supposed treasure, but their escape from the library is thrwarted by J, who kung-fu's them both into unconciousness. I arrive, pick up the book, and take the unconcious P with me as a war trophy, after delivering a vegeance monologue to M. P is also present during the final battle, where I tell him all about the true identity of his wife, an innocent woman, caught up in the study of archaeology, actually the top of the underworld assassins. P played his role well, but he shined in assisting me with the creation of the movie, and helping me lay the plot of the movie down to everyone else, a "Tomb Raider"/"Kill Bill" hybrid production. I appreciate all the work that he put into the developement of the story, as well as his lending us a hand with assistance from J, even when they didn't have too much work to do. Finally, me, who basically did 100% of the post-shooting editing of the film, adding all the special effects, sound, transitions, and even a couple of narrative voice-overs on my own time, having been offered some time to work after school on my teacher's iMac PC, using iMovie. I played the leader of the assassin band, known as the Demons of the Wooden Sword, and also trained M, before she left the business for some unknown reason. After my last battle with her, I express some pleasure at being defeated by my own student, and thought it was the best thing she could do for me. (Hey, it would be flattering, in a way, to know that you trained someone to be even better than you.) I can't exactly thank myself for the work, but I would like to ay that this could not have been possible without the people I was with, and each of them made their best contributions, in their own ways, to the project, and it would not have been anything like it was without their help. Oh, and I would like to thank my mom for helping me build and paint the weapons from scratch, since I don't know crap about woodworking. Well, that's enough for today, and I'll be able to post again in some RPGs, hopefully, tomorrow or the day after. Oh, and I think...1.5 weeks until bagpipe lessons. -WDS-

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Monday, July 5, 2004

Novelty...why so new?

Today's OCRemix: "Chocoarena" Final Fantasy 7 Remix by Draggor. If any of you have ever seen some of the animated "8-bit Theatre" flash movies by TLF and Brian Clevinger, then you're sure to recognize this piece. Otherwise, this is a very entertaining and upbeat version of the "Electric de Chocobo" from FF7, crossed with...the Macarena. Tres etrange (lacking in accents). The sound of the song itself is very fake, like low-quality techno or something from an old Game Boy. However, that doesn't stop it from being a great piece, full of energy and paced beautifully. Entertain your friends at a party by playing this Remix! Phew, this day has been rather tiring, but I think some cool stuff happened, including the purchase of some new items. (Loving the novelty) First of all, my parents took me shopping for some "summer clothes", which I thought was going to be a drag since I don't usually like the lighter clothing, colour or weight. However, It did turn out all right, as I bought a pair of black cargo pants and a thick green camouflage shirt...despite some protest with my parents about my choices in "summer clothing". We then went to the local EB Games, where, as I was talking to my dad about Dance Dance Revolution, we saw a Mad Catz dance pad for thirty bucks inside the store. I was pretty shocked, as I had guessed even a cheap pad would cost at least fifty. However, my dad said he'd take me shopping tomorrow to see if we can find any better pads, sweet. We also had some bad news, as we got home to realize that Portugal had lost the Euro Cup final match...nooooo!!! My grief lasted all of thirty seconds, as I headed out to the video store to rent the movie "School of Rock" starring Jack Black. That should be fun for tomorrow, and hopefully, I can find a good DDR pad and game for my PS2 tomorrow with my dad. (Now I can finally identify with my character from Apartment Building C. Speaking of Apartment Bldg. C, I have now begun working feverishly (it is hot in here) on my latest project, which has been infamously known for ruining RPG's everywhere (Arcadia and Solo can attest to that.) I've begun compiling music for the RPG. That's right. For those of you unfamiliar with what I speak of, I usually like making short lists of pieces to compile a soundtrack of sorts for some of the better RPGs I join. I like using music to help me think of ideas for RPGs, and it helps me get a bit relaxed, so I can write with feeling for my character. If anyone in the RPG (or anyone who reads it religiously) has any suggestions for music to put in the "soundtrack", I'd love to hear them. On a final, more exciting note, I finally got AIM for my PC, so I can talk at last with some of the people I see here. The name is "Wondershot H2", as, for the first time in my entire life, the name "Wondershot" has already been taken. How cruel is that? Have fun, and don't disintegrate in the heat. (Easier said than done, of course.) -WDS-

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Friday, July 2, 2004

Politics, blackouts, nuts, fruits, cubes, and why it sucks being me.

Today's OCRemix: "Groove" Panzer Dragoon (Genesis) Remix by McVaffe. The second Remix I got by McVaffe I commented earlier sounded quite similar to the mix from Vortex "Groove-Mecha", when in a flash of insight, I only thought so because I had gotten the titles confused the first time around. In order to remedy this, and find the true origin of my interest in McVaffe's tunes, I looked it up: groove: n. 1: A long narrow channel. 2: A fixed routine. So...basically the term "groove" refers to something almost repetitive, hence the reason why McVaffe's two mixes sounded similar at a glance. Well, it is still a mystery why sometihng "repetitive" would be "good" but McVaffe's mix is, without a doubt, "good". Bongos for intro, with flute and strings being our meat-and-potatoes combo throughout the mix, and, as djpretzel commented, sound like something from a certain Eastern martial arts flick. Have fun. Elections in Canada took place a few days ago, and, much to my surprise, my dad had been engaging in political activism the weeks before the election, in support of the leftist underdogs, the NDP (New Democratic Party). The Liberal party, the main and usually most popular party in Canada, have been acting rayther strangely under the leadership of our ex-Minister of Finance, Paul Martin, so my dad, being the cool guy that he is, decided to dance to a different beat, so to speak, and went around town acting in support of the NDP. For a quick rundown of how politics in Canada work, the first thing you have to understand is that we elect parties instead of individuals, and furthermore, it's not exactly a perfect democracy either. Each region in Canada falls under a certain number of "seats" in the entire country (I think there are 255 total.) and each region has a fixed number of "seats" based on it's size. The votes counted in each region form a "seat", and that "seat" goes in support of the party. Since the number of "seats" in a region and the size of the region can be disproportional, a political party can win a "seat" even if it has fewer votes in that area. There are four main parties in Canada. Liberal, Conservative, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois. The Conservatives act much like George W. Bush down in the States, and the Bloc Quebecois are mostly supported in Quebec, as they are a soverigntist party, and usually seem to act in Quebec's best interest. HOwever, for this reason, they want Quebec to be considered independent from the rest of Canada, and otherwise, have few other useful ideas. A party needs 155(?) seats total to be considered a "majority government", and act without the consent of the other parties. However, it is rare that a single party can win over 155 seats in one go, so they have to ally themselves with another party to form a government. The Liberals and Conservatives are polar opposites, and therefore cannot work together. The Bloc Quebecois are separatists, so they can't work too well with anyone else either. So the NDP and the Liberals are probably the best match. However, if no party, or combination of parties, can form a majority government, then they will have trouble passing bills in government, since they cannot agree on most important issues. Therefore, a vote of non-confidence is passed, and there has to be another election next year. ...that's our political system for ya. Anyway, we had a huge group from the NDP visit to watch the elections at my place, invited by my dad. It was actually cool, even though my French was imperfect. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, even though the NDP didn't do as well as we had hoped. It seemed more like a big sports party than an election. That same weekend, my friend Steve went away on a camping trip, and left me his Gamecube for the duration! I played Phantasy Star Online ep.1 and 2 (offline, of course), Animal Crossing, LoZ: The Wind Waker, and Eternal Darkness. So far, I must admit that I am having the most fun with Eternal Darkness, and have almost finished the game already. I'm in the middle of Edward's Chapter, and have been able to stay more or less sane, but where is the fun in that? So far, hallucinating is more fun that I had thought, but I still need to steel my nerves and summon my great sense of humour if I want to get through the game without being scared to death. It's a phenomenon known as the "Steven L. Effect" which my friend, Steve, and Shinmaru possess quite a bit of: the wit necessary to turn Eternal Darkness into a comedy by observing the little quirks the game has to offer. Quite a useful skill, guys. Anyway, the most recent RPG I have joined: Apartment Bldg. C is looking to be quite fun so far, as I harass Shinmaru's character with copious amouts of spare change as rent. Furthermore, we are being attacked by killer squirrels, in a scenario where we must find the penny that powers the fusebox, which, I just realized after playing Eternal Darkness, that there is a reference to the game in that scenario (so far, I can't be sure if Shinmaru is even aware that this scenario could be interpreted as a reference.) In any case, if you have no idea what I am talking about, please ask, and I'll have to reply some other time, as I am falling victim to carpal tunnel syndrome from so much typing. This...is why it sucks being me. -WDS- P.S. I've started making my own music. I'll put it up here, once I can find a place to upload it. Look forward to it!

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Saturday, June 19, 2004

Summer at last...or is it?

Today's OCRemix: "Dungeon Cave (BuriedAliveMix)" Skies of Arcadia Remix by Steve Pordon. Skies of Arcadia is just one of those games that mesmerizes me every once in a while. Once every so often, an RPG comes around that just turns heads and opinions fly, a la something along the lines of Tales of Destiny (PSO), or perhaps Evolution (Dreamcast) or the like. Sometihng comes along that people just think is cool, and I admire that, it shows that the RPG system can be flexible, despite what some people might think. I love it. As for this remix, I love it too. The demi-review by djpretzel cites that the song nearly didn't pass the judge's panel due to repetitiveness, and that comment in and of itself almost ruined the music for me. This mix is really something nice, with a great intro beat, eventually changing halfway through to a solid low guitar hard rock deal, that, as some reveiwers mentioned, makes "BuriedAlive" a very apt description. The question of "repetitive" only comes into question near the end, as it reapeats the same pattern a few times, but it is a rather nice pattern, if I do say so myself. Congrats to Steve Prodon who makes a mix I can really sink my teeth into. Well, week two of exams went quite a bit worse than my first. Math was a disaster, as I had not prepared as much as I should have. However, my teacher was kind enough to let me test again using a different exam, and that one went a whole lot better. According to him, I had all the right work, and I had made my effort, just the test was over my head a bit. No big deal. History and Science went rather well, and at the awards ceremony yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that I had won an award for top student in my Drama class! It was a great feeling, even though I felt a little silly walking a bit faster than usual to get to the end of our chapel to recieve the award, (The award turned out to be a DVD of "West Side Story", complete with a copy of the script, sweet.) Graduation was a cool ceremony, but downright painful, as I had to stand through the whole two-and a half hour thing, and watch a whole plethora of other people win awards, some people went up two or three times, even. Well, at least I got to say my goodbyes to the graduating class, friends, and teachers, and hopefully see some of them over the summer, maybe. Well, I also had a very emotional goodbye with my Drama class, specifically, the group I worked with on Demons of the Wooden Sword (our movie) and was happy to hear that the group had bought copies of the DVD that our teacher had kindly burned for us. I look very forward to seeing that group again. Hell, maybe even make a sequel. Well, now that it's all over, I feel strangely detached, as some friends of mine in the grad class were. I feel like I'm not going on a big, amazing summer vacation at all, just taking a short break before returning to school life as normal, as though the school is my real life. Not bad, considering I've only gone there one year. It feels like home already. Well, to close this post, I thought I'd put the results from the song contest I put up a week ago. Not as many guesses as I'd hoped, but there are the answers: 1: “Peace Sells” by Megadeth 2: “Roll the Dice” by Lunatic Calm 3: “The Grudge” by Tool 4: “Superblaster” by Curve 5: “Pretty Fly for a White Guy” by The Offspring (I thought at least one person would try this.) 6: “Date Rape” by Sublime 7: “Wonderwall” by Oasis 8: “Sad and Lonely” by The Secret Machines (unreleased) 9: “Slither” by Velvet Revolver 10: “One Life” by The Pillows (Originally in Japanese, part of the FLCL soundtrack. Good guess, terra.) Well, that's it for now, but expect more from me now that the summer has begun, and my life is officially over. Have fun, all you bored people. -WDS-

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Sunday, June 13, 2004

1 down, one and 1 weekend to go...wtf?!

Today's OCRemix:"Groove-Mecha" Vortex Remix by McVaffe. Now, in my last post, I commented on McVaffe's similarity in style when comparing "Groove-Mecha" to another song I had heard on the same day, now, this probably had something to do with the fact that I was pissed for not having found the remix I had been searching for, but upon closer inspection of McVaffe's work I have come to realize that this is untrue. Sorry, McVaffe. In any case, I don't exactly mean that as an insult, as I do like the music. "Groove-Mecha" is a demi-trance deal from the game "Vortex" for the SNES, one of the few aside from the far more popular Starfox to have used the Super-FX chip in the actual cartrige. Despite its unpopularity, the music, (at least, mixed by McVaffe) does sound pretty cool. Complete with the cinema-style strings intro, reverb piano halfway, and disjointed drumlines and techno mute bass all the way, this is something to look out for. Thank you, McVaffe, for opening our eyes to something beyond the mundane, that even the most unheard-of games can have some cool music. Well, week one of final exams is gone and dead, and so far, I don't think it went that badly. As for my French Orals, could have been better, could have been worse. I had more or less memorized the orals that I had written, and, thank God (says the atheist), she allowed us to eliminate one of our orals as a selection, and then asked us to pick the other one at random (coin flip). Well, I got the one I had been doing better on, but as it turned out, I had experienced some difficulty getting the words out properly, and had probably broken more than a few grammatical rules in the process. Furthermore, I was so nervous, I was having problems looking my partners directly in the eyes, and there was this girl right in front of me whom I avoided looking directly at. I delivered my entire speech to the air right next to the right side of her head. Embarrasing, but as I said, it could have been worse. This weekend turned out all right, and just today, I did some cool stuff, including go to a "math party" organized by me teacher to work out all the kinks before final exams, and then I went to the real party, a "Dia de Portugal" (Portugal day) hosted by our neighbours, also Portuguese. It was cool, and I met some friends there that I hadn't seen since my old high school, so I'd say it was a pretty productive day, mathematically, and socially as well. Speaking of social, I have decided to be the exact opposite by stealing this next idea from Shinmaru, who stole it from terra, who stole it from Arcadia. I choose 10 songs from my PC at random, and you have to guess what they are. 1: If there's a new way, I'll be the first in line. It just better work this time. 2: It don't take much to break me, It don't take much to make me feel all right. 3: Desperate to control all and everything. Unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen. 4: I will reach out to switch you on. I will reach out until you come. 5: He may not have a clue and, he may not have style. But what he lacks in both, well, he makes up in denial! 6: Let me tell you a story bout a girl I know, had a drink bout an hour ago. Sitting in a corner by herself, in a bar in downtown Hell. 7: Today was gonna be the day that they were gonna throw it back to you. By now, you should have somehow realized what you had to do. I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do, about you now. 8: Did you get your heartache and your head rush confused? Have you been sleeping late, cause you've been abused? Are you alone? 9: Here comes that water. It comes to wash away the sins of you and I. 10: If the blue poppy's petals are swaying without any wind It's all thanks to my sigh. I don't know for sure, but it's gotta be. You'll probably have a hard time with these. Some are old, some are very recent, one of them hasn't even been released on CD yet, and another isn't even originally in English! How's that for a challenge? Oh, and if you can't guess the songs, I would be intrigued to know if you can guess which one is the non-english one, and which song hasn't been released on CD. Good luck, all! See you after exams! -WDS-

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Wednesday, June 9, 2004

...must...finish...exam...

Today's OCRemix:"Frame of Mind" Beyond Good and Evil Remix by Aurora, destructo, and SuperGreenX. Now, as I may have said before, the reason I got to OCRemix.org is because I am always looking for something different to expand my "palate" if you will, for music. Now, just a few hours ago I was cruising the site in a depserate search for a song I had heard on an 8-bit Theater flash by TLF and Brian Clevinger. To no avail, I decided to just browse the site and pick up tracks at my own leisure. After getting 3 of the 4 Perfect Dark mixes, two songs by McVaffe that sounded almost exactly alike, and a mix by Bart Klepka from a game I have never heard of, I finally saw this bit by destructo, Aurora, and SuperGreenX. Now, my first throught was: "Three remixers?! That's crazy..." After listening to the song, I was thinking... "Now where the hell is that mix I was looking for in the first place?" Not to say I didn't like the song, just that I was too busy looking for something else. However, before this "review" turns into a ridiculous anecdote, I would like to say that this mix is really sometihng else. Although I had never played Beyond Good and Evil before, I can proudly say that I want to now, after listening to this. It is very cool and a great orchestral bit, with an opening that sounds to me like something out of Princess Mononoke, and eventually changing to a harder drumbeat and piano halfway through, and ending with a sort of hybrid of the two styles. Really fine stuff, even though I never really listened to it my first time. Sorry. (Oh, and it is now the 50th OCRemix I have on my PC, yay!) Well, it is now halfway through week one of final exams. so far, could not have been any better. I say so far, because I know for a fact that it can only get worse. tomorrow I have two French tests, one in reading and the second is an oral exam. The oral is going to be the real kicker here, because my teacher told us to write three orals out of four subjects, study them all, and on the day she would choose which of the three orals we would read. Actually, I like the idea for a final exam, I would like it even more if I didn't have to do it, but that's life, and now I have to study all three works intensely within the next seven hours so that I can complete my work sucessfully, tell my parents all about it, and finally go home and waste my precious youth downloading more music. Well, I also finished my movie for my Drama class at last, complete with editing and all that, so now I can get the whole thing on DVD for my parents can see the senseless slaughter their son is capable of on camera. Then again, it sucks because I get stabbed with a pair of wooden knives. Anyway, It's a very Kill Bill-esque story about a woman and her husband going on an archaeological expedition, when they both get jumped by a group of assassins looking for a treasure in the area, so the wife goes out on a revenge trip with a pair of wooden knives, when she realizes just who the assassins were, a group she used to work with known as the Demons of the Wooden Sword, and I played the leader, the equivalent of "Bill". The movie wasn't half bad, considering it was by a group of high school students with two months to plan and shoot witha budget of almost 0$ (Canadian). I also got to see some of the other class projects when I wnt to edit the film, and saw some cool stuff including a talk show by the younger group, an anti-smoking commercial by the college group, and the movie the other half of the class was working on. Very fun and tough experience, and I'd love to do it again. Well, with no time to waste, I must go and finish off my studying for the French orals! ...after listening to more music. -WDS-

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Saturday, June 5, 2004

Bura-Bure, complete with facelift!

Today's OCRemix: "StArMaNn Mega" Earthbound Remix by DJ Seith. Now, don't expect your conventional Remix whenever you go to OCRemix.org. Everytime you go, expect to find something new wand exciting, or small and boring. Don't ever go there with expectation on what those songs may be, however. Just go to a game you like, and play it by ear, downloading one or two things at a time that look good. Now, when this Remix "happened" to get onto my list, my first reaction was: "Wow, what was this guy thinking." followed immediately by: "I like it." Whenever you go download something by Seith, his trademark style involves warping and distorting clips from the soundrack of the game itself, and playing them in no particular order, also featuring an independent drumline and using sound effects from the game itself. Even if it doesn't make the most sense, you can't really doubt the all out weirdness in trying to understand music like that. My hat goes off to DJ Seith for making a Remix that completely befuddled me with its warped sounds, and knocking on doors and the static that comes at the end of the world. (I still think you should get this Remix, just don't expect to understand it if you haven't played Earthbound.) Well, the site has finally recieved its much-awaited plastic sugery, there were no fatal accidents during its construction, and this site was not tested on animals before being released to the general public. Now that's environmental concern for ya. Well, now that I have the new look, I thought I might take a look back at the old. For me, the old started when I first went to OB, and some of the more interesting first impressions I had when visiting the site. Well, I would like to say that I didn't behave like a dumb newbie, but that would be a lie, since my first stop was Adventure Arena, and would act out in stories too quickly for anybody to react. This earned me a few sour looks from some of the other members, but I quickly began to get the grasp of general RPing, to let other people have their chance to write as well, and to try and go more with the flow of what the creator had in mind. My first good friends when it came to RPing were Dmitri and monkeyqueen (who was known back then as oekakiotaku.) After a little while, I began to get better at the writing part, in the context of RPing, to the point that it became work and I began to write less and less. After a little while, I tried to write a few of my own RPs, but the first one died almost before it finished, then then next two died a few pages in and my most recent one never even made it to the Adventure Arena. Sad, I know, but someday I hope to be able to work on something new, and I take a great pleasure from sharing my thoughts with others, even if they aren't big hits or anything. Now, with V7, the original charm of being a newbie member is all but gone, and I now try to be extra-wary when looking at new RPs in production. Only every once in a while does a really cool one come along, and I do my best to work in it, and usually watch its progress even if it doesn't go too well. As I said before, the RPing for me is starting to look like a real commitment, like work, but hopefully, I'll be able to continue my RPing and practice my writing skills both inside and out of the Adventure Arena, stopping only to get an iced tea and listen to some music. Well, what were everyone's first impressions with OB? Now that times have changed somewhat, I have sort of lost the "exciting" taste for the site, but I still go because I like to write. What did you think when you first came to the site? How have you changed now? What do you like most? Heh, good memories. -WDS-

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