Saturday, May 29, 2004

...sigh, such is life...

Today's OCRemix: "Battle" Earthbound Remix by Spekkosaurus. Despite the...*ahem*...uninspired title, this piece shows some promise, with a techno beat remix of the "Kraken" fight from Earthbound, featuring an initial techno synth that, I swear, sounds exactly EXACTLY like the one from the game. It cuts off kind of short at the end, but I guess it's meant to repeat itself or something, listen with a loop. P.S. Earthbound was, and still is, one of the best RPG games in existence. Gotta love an original story now and then, eh? Well, this was one of the undoubtedly busiest weeks in my "career" as a high school student. After my Cadets inspection, which I must admit, went with unparalleled success, even if I was offstep once or twice. The hardest part was throwing the rifle into the air and then catching it by the butt...with one hand...and try not to hit the person next to me. I pulled it off, and the drill team was meat with glorious applause as we jogged in double time off the field. As for the weekend, our school had a nice long break, and so I decided to go with some of the students on a trip down across the border to New York city. the trip was quite spectacular, so myO post will be devoted to it for the most part. Day 1: we leave school at around 5 PM, meaning that after a check at the border...and getting lost on the highway...we arrived at the hotel in, as AzureWolf would call it: "Newd" Jersey at around 5 A.M., wherupon we would get about two hours of precious sleep before getting up again for breakfast. Day 2: After the aformentioned nap, we got up for an insubstantial breakfast before heading off to the local outlet mall, because we would want to get all the awesome goods while we still had some free time beforer heading for the Big Apple itself. They dropped us off around 11 A.M., informing us to be back at 6. The very first thing I did? Went to a GameStop store nearby, and finally...FINALLY...got a copy of Legend of Mana. Used, but not too bad, considering I've been looking for it for the past six months or so. afterwards, followed some friends around and we went to a Hot Topic store, where I bought an awesome wristband and t-shirt, which I will propably send pictures of once I get the chance. After some exhaustion and hunger, I went to a fast food place, oriental, and had some fired rice, noodles, and some spicy boiled chicken. It was very good...for oriental fast food, anyway. After getting separated from my friends, I just wandered aimlessly until I hit a video store, where they sold quite a collection of anime on DVD, but I wasn't tempted to buy since I wasn't sure what I wanted anymore. I had LoM, I had my wrristband and shirt, hell, I was happy, no reason to get something I don't need so badly. Got lost, went back to the bus, went into the hotel, and, for the first time ever, watched some anime on Adult Swim, including Wolf's Rain, Cowboy Bebop, and Trigun, as well as an episode of FLCL in English. Wolf's Rain I wasn't too crazy about, Cowboy Bebop seemed just a bit too angsty for me, and Trigun was really funny, and I liked it. FLCL in english...actually made morse sense than in Japanese, but to be honest, I don't really like dubbed anime that much anymore, it sounds weird to me to hear it in English, especially after watching so much fansubbed FLCL. Call me crazy, it's true. Despite lack of sleep, I still went to bed at around 3 A.M. Day 3: NYC awaits! We jump on the bus at some ungodly hour of the morning (having gotten little sleep), and took a quick walking tounr of Central Park, where we got lost again, and then had to meet up with the bus to get to the Circle Line boat tours around Liberty Island. After the tour, we went to Times Square, where we got some free time and money to go shop. It was madness, I have no idea how my friends could do that much shopping, I found it horrendously stressful just following them around doing nothing. Afterwards, we went to go see the Broadway musical, Mamma Mia! It ruled, It was funny, uplifting romantic comedy which made me laugh so hard. I loved it. Finally, got on the bus to go to the Empire State Building, where we caught a nice look at the NY skyline...albeit after an aggravating and dehydrating climb up through a horrendously long line. Went back to hotel, fell asleep almost instantaneously. Day 4: Woke up early to catch tour bus to NYC again, whre we got a nice guided tour of the place. Went to the "Soup Nazi (Seinfeld reference)" place, Chinatown, Ground Zero, and back to Times Square, where we were allowed a whopping 7 hours, 4 to 11, of free time. This one was morew enjoyable, as I did not have to look at infinite lines of clothing, but went to a huge music store, to the giant Toys R' Us in Times Square, went to a nice pizza place for lunch, a Starbucks coffee, the MTV building where an interview was being held for the new Harry Potter movie, and took a whole bunch of pictures in what was left of our time. I bought a key ring, as I collect them from places I go. Good day, but I fell asleep almost immediately after watching Cowboy Bebop. Day 5: Ride home, got on the bus at 11:00 in the morning, got back around 9 at night. I was glad to be home, and gave out some gifts that I had bought for my parents on the trip. Well, in short, it was cool to take a good look at the U.S. for, well, one of my first times, but it was still, undoubtedly, one of the most stressful vacations I had ever been on. On a lighter note, final exams are coming up soon, which means I can look forward to the forthcoming end of school year, but at the same time, stress over exams. Lucky me. Finally, I would like to hear from you, my legions of fans *snicker* on what anime you guys think I ought to watch. Now that I've had a taste of it down in the beautiful (if a little hot) U.S of A, I would like to know what you guys all think is good these days. Spare no details, only spoilers. Domo-arigatou. -Won-daa-shot

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Thursday, May 20, 2004

left...left...left, right, left...

Today's OCRemix: "Cereberon: Fragfest Mix" Quake II Remix by Bart Klepka. YOu may notice that this link does not lead to OCRemix.org directly, but rather to a site belonging to Mr. Bart Klepka, who owns and maintains the site himself. Sort of the way that theotaku.com eventually started hosting MyO. In any event, Klepka is known for his brilliant remixes of pieces from PC games, to quote djpretzel: "Does Bart Klepka ever make a bad PC mix? the answer: No!" Anyway, I have never really played Quake II myself, but the remix, without a doubt, has a good beat to it, with some fast paced techno, that sounds kind of cheesy at the beginning, but definitely evolves into a powerful techno rumble later on. Great for playing any fast-paced FPS a la Quake series, and you might expect to see more info on mixes by Bart Klepka from me. Tomorrow is the big day, y'all. I finally head out to march on the big football field in front of the school, and, as a last minute change of plans, I'm going to end up leading the entire drill team in rifle drills at "halftime", which was surprising, but certainly not too difficult. I look forward to it, and, despite the fact that I think our crew could use a bit more practice, I think thing should work out reasonably well, as long as no one drops their rifles during the big rifle toss. Well, after the Cadets inspection is over, I get on a bus to head on a vacation spanning the long weekend with some friends. My parents seem just a bit uptight about it, but I am going to a big city, and so things might be a bit stressful for a small-town Canadian like myself. Heh, I plan on coming back with some nice clothes or something, maybe some anime if I can find it. (cable internet still takes some time, you know.) Anyway, I plan on updating this site sometime soon featuring an FLCL theme. I just finished downloading and watching all the subbed episodes, as well as downloading some of the soundtrack. (The Pillows are a very cool J-rock band) I liked the series because, well, it possessed a sort of randomness and lack of comprehension that makes some TV shows funny, such as Naota's father constantly talking about anime, and eventually admitting that he is a character in an anime as well. I then showed it it my dad, who didn't seem to appreciate te random humour, and was more surprised with the opening with Maimimi and Naota, saying it seemed a bit...mature...for a show like that. I had a long talk with his about that one, and I like arguing with my dad, in a way, because we can point-counterpoint each other and speak intelligently like adults. Anyway, he told me that he thought what he saw was a bit shocking not necessarily because it is a cartoon, but because it's about children in a cartoon. I suppose he had a point, but I said that it wasn't even that much, just a guy and his girlfriend, nothing that mature that people cannot watch. After a bit more talk about this, which I won't get into right now, he said that I had some good points, and that he had nothing against me watching the show, but just told me that other people might not be quite as lenient in their opinions as he was. I could figure that out pretty easily, especially after hering that story on OB about that lady who tried to sue Cartoon Network for airing FLCL. A word of advice to all you major anime freaks our there, I read an artile on FLCL the other day on the net, and the reason the show itself might make little sense is becuase almost, if not over, 50% of the show contains references to other anime shows, including Neon Genesis Evangelion and Doraemon. Finally, something funny happened on ACO over the past week. There was the restarting of the monthly writing contest, and not one person was able to make the deadline. Sad, but true, we all have been way too busy. I am feeling rather weary now, so I think I'll leave it at that, and let everyone else decide what to say about it. My school life takes a lot out of me, I have no idea how I'm going to survive college. -Won-daa-shot

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Saturday, May 15, 2004

I love the smell of a sulfur cloud...dancing over my head,,,

Today's OCRemix: "Just Chill" Chrono Cross Remix by The Pancake Chef. As I said before, I have the damndest times trying to remember music from Chrono Cross, as I have not played the game in so long, However, this newest piece is unquestionably familliar. I think it's the theme from one of the Dragon Isles or something of the like...definetely an "outdoor dungeon" situation (feel free to correct me on tihs if you recognize it.) In any case, this music is definetely worth a listen, as it possesses a sort of mystique which I simply love featuring low bass, a simple drum pattern, and an awseome array of wind and exotic string instruments. Also, by visiting the page, you can enjoy djpretzels constant attempts at humour using The Pancake Chef's name. Otherwise, just download the song, and sit back with a cool drink and a relaxed attitude for full enjoyment. For those of you who have never smelled sulfur before, it reeks, but in small amouts, it actually is a pretty cool smell to wake you up and keep you sharp, at least in my experience. Why do I bring this up? Our final Cadets practices are coming soon, and for the next whole week, our entire school is somewhat crazy about it, and now, we decided to start going into full-dress rehearsals, complete with uniform, entire band, and drill team halftime show. However, you will notice that I continue to avoid explaining the reference to sulfur. Our QM (still not sure what that stands for) provides our school with the full military uniform "blues" and also provides practice rifles and equipment for our "halftime show"...That equipment includes small fanfare cannons, which are fired in repetition during the colour parade and the Honour Guards presentation. Loud, and leave that nice refreshing sulfur aftertaste to blow over the rest of us during the show. I'm not complaining, though. I made the drill team, for one thing, which is a huge blast, as I get to be the spectators highlight "halftime show" and posibly improving my chances of getting some kind of recognition for being a drill team member in my first year, which is sort of a rarity. As for the rest of the week, Friday turned out to be a blast, as I got several good results back from each of my classes, including a great Science mark and some excellent feedback in English class, despite the fact that I seem to be having a bit of a war of tastes going on between our teacher and some of my friends. (We seriously hate the books and authors that he likes, so, in order to get good marks, we first write down exactly what we thought of the book, then went back and wrote another copy, stating exactly the opposite of our views, so we are guaranteed good marks. Cynical and contemptuous, maybe, but undeniably effective.) As for the weekend, I have now found some newer tastes in anime, as, thanks to my new capabilities of cable internet, I started downloading video to watch some of the more interesting series I like. (Which is legal in Canada now, don't forget!) Anyway, I downloaded episodes of FLCL and Love Hina. FLCL made very little sense at the beginning, sure, and we only caught a few glimpses of a storyline near the end without actually understanding all the parties involved, but it leaves some things to the imagination. In any case, one of the most memorable things about the series was the music, and so, I went online and got some of my favorite pieces from the series, and, lucky me, they were all made by the same artist, a J-Rock band known as The Pillows. Some of my favorites from the series include "Stalker", "Crazy Sunshine", "One Life", "Sleepy Head" and "Blues Drive Monster." I even found a couple of other good Pillows songs not from the soundtrack, one of which included "White Ash", which I plan to use in my movie, and "Flame", which is a cool song, but for some reason gets me really depressed, which is weird, as only orchestral music tends to do that to me. In other news, I need some help for this movie I'm making, as I still might need some suggestions for music to add for the scenes. Picture, for a second, a spoof of Kill Bill where all the characters fight with wooden weapons, and tell me what you thing would be good music to add to it. Oh, and I do have the Kill Bill soundtrack, too. Well, that's about all I can talk about to stay awake this long, so I think I'll watch a bit more anime, then fall asleep before my mom gets on my case for staying up late. By the way, our final Cadet inspection is next Friday, so, on the off chance that anyone comes to Canada, ask about it! Come on down, wear lots of sunblock, and savour the smell of sulfur hanging in the air! -Won-daa-shot

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Sunday, May 9, 2004

Roller coaster...dizzy....

Today's OCRemix: "Booster Tarantino" Super Mario RPG Remix by djpretzel. djpretzel, the founder, owner, and proverbial judge, jury, and executioner (sometimes) of OCRemix.org. The man himself, this is true, makes his own Remixes as well, and usually of most older/lesser known games than something you might find from Square-Enix, for example. Anyway, for all you movie fans out there, this piece was styled after the soundtrack from Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction", and the original song is Booster's Tower from Super Mario RPG (god, wasn't that game such a riot?) Anyway, the song is really cool, featuring some very slick saxophone, and a really good drumline as well. Nice stuff, from the owner himself! Well, my apologies to those on MyO for the past week, but things have been a little...nuts...to say the least. Last weekend, my computer wis infected with the Sasser.a worm, and I couldn't get on the net, or use my PC much either. That was fairly discouraging, considering I had to get on the Internet to get the programs to remove the virus. (When will all the madness end?!?!?)...Anyway, my point is that after some deliberation, my dad borrowed a third-party virus scanner of a friend at work, and put it on a disk which we used on my PC. I had 33 files infected with Sasser.a, which was discouraging, but I was glad to have found the problem. However, the strange part was, when my dad checked his PC, it said he had over 100 files with Sasser.a, and yet his PC seemed to be working fine. On the major upside, this Thursday we got a cable modem for my PC! Hooray! To celebrate, I'm abusing it with large downloads and online games of Battlefield. It works quite well, I'm pleased to say, and my dad is working on buying a wirless router for the rest of the PCs. To recap the week, one of my biggest events came last Sunday, where I went to the big city to march in a parade for my school's Honour Guard. Here was the itinerary: 600: Wake up. 630: Breakfast at school. 830: Arrive in the city. (One of the more amusing moments on our trip occured when a small car sideswiped our bus, the bus sustained no significant damage, but the car that hit us appeared to have its side ripped up pretty badly.) 930: March on! 1030: Sit in 2 hour Church service, (Apparently, I was the only one in our Guard who was able to stay awake through the whole thing.) 1300: Free time! I went with a couple of girls from Nepal I know to an Indian restaurant. It was nice, and they both had a good laugh at my expense when I tried to taste the restaurant's hottest curry. They also taucht me how to eat rice with my fingers! It's hard. 1500: Bus departs, some people leave with souvenirs, others, like myself, with just the memories...(To this day, the girls still laugh at my experience with hot curry.) Well, that was the coolest part of the weekend, for sure, and then our day was cut shorter than usual on Friday because we were going to Quebec on a tour for History class. All the same, that didn't keep us from coming back with a few souvenirs. Just for the heck of it, I bought a comb that looks like a switchblade, and my friends and I had fun scaring people with it, and I did the same to my parents when I got home. In other news, we are currently working on a big movie for our Drama Class, and we hope to finish in a few more weeks, probably working on our own time, as well. It's a Kill Bill-esque movie with the working title Oni-no-Bokuto: Demons of the Wooden Sword. Basically, I kadnap the boyfriend of a student of mine (martial arts) and she goes on a rampage, trying to recover her man and kill me. How fun is that?! I look forward to making this movie, and my teacher is going to teach me how to edit it for credits and...you guessed it...music. Anyway, It is now 2 A.M. here in sleepy Quebec, and I think I'll stay wired for a little longer before passing out at my PC. By the way...it snowed on Monday...really, it did. My words to my friends as we watched the snow fall in the morning: "Don't you just love this country?" -Won-daa-shot

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Monday, April 26, 2004

*dies on spot*

Today's OCRemix: "RadicalPunks" Chrono Cross Remix by Ailsean. Even if you aren't much of a punk rock fan, and even if you didn't really like Chrono Cross very much (or lent copy to a friend...who moved a month later.) I would definetely reccomend this to you. Now, as I said, this is a punk rock, make no mistake, something a la Sum 41 something fierce. However, if you do take the time to listen to this, you'd probably have to appreciate the skill and precision that Ailsean puts into this piece. "Radical Dreamers" from Chrono Cross wasn't even the best song, mind, but Ailsean definetely did his part in rearranging the piece, even adding his own personal few bars at the end. Therefore, I think you should listen to this not necessarily because it's a great song, but because Ailsean knows quite a bit about making music, and you'd probably be at least a bit impressed with his skills in reworking the piece. So far, the weekend turned out to be pretty cool. I went to the big city in search of a lone copy of Legend of Mana somewhere, but to no luck. However, I did find a wicked army surplus store that sells swords and awesome camouflage pants. (I admit it, I really, really, really like camouflage pants.) So far, I'm still arguing with my dad about the sword thing, but he agrees that If I can manage to find a good katana for about 90 bucks or so (believe me, they were that price) than I can probably do a much better job of convincing him. One of the more ironic sides to this argument is the fact that I saw an episode of CSI with him on the weekend about this guy who bought an ancient military katana from the 19th century for a few hundred grand, only to find out that it was counterfeit, and crafted very cheaply. Well, it got better. Saturday I saw a friend whom I haven't seen in a few months, the infamous Steve. I went to his place, where we checked out a few funny flash movies off newgrounds.com, including an animated Matrix flash, as well as a couple of cheaply made claymation movies and a Matrix: Reloadad and Resident Evil flashes of scenes from the movies, only dubbed with different voices. (Imagine hundreds of nerdy-voiced Agent Smiths, and people dying to Celine Dion music, you get the picture.) Sunday was cool, but I won't get into that, as really nothing happened, which is cool, how is it cool, though?...well...because nothing happened...and that's cool. (damn teenage paradoxes) Well, right now I am sitting at my PC, listening to "Vampires" by Godsmack, and feeling mildly amused. ...so you know what that means... ...I'm thinking of my RPG music lists... ...but I won't update now, because my current obsession is with cover and CD art. However, for your viewing pleasure, I think I'll add the quickie work that I've already fixed up for the CD. Mostly, I rely on photography for my CDs, because I could not draw anything good to save my life, for real. The below pics are from Laeth E'Thae Back Cover: CD: Well, hope it's not too bad. I like the look, but as soon as I find a beach somewhere I can finish the front cover. Hopefully before I got to Portugal in the summer...who knows, if I can find a lot of sand somewhere I can do the photography in my basement. As for future music, well, I'm working on a compliation for Solo's Digimon: Way of the Worlds, so expect to hear something about that, too. OK, something else to dream for for the coming weeks. Furthermore, I posted in some of the RPGs I'm in recently, so check those out, and sorry for the delay, all. -Won-daa-shot

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Sunday, April 18, 2004

Stupid week...

Today's OCRemix: "Forever" Chrono Trigger Remix by Suzumebachi. Now, CT was a really great game (Where do you think I got my name, huh?), and the music, although not one of it's best points, kept me coming back for more, and had a great feeling without being repititious. For that reason, I am a bit confused as to why I have absolutely no recollection of this mix by Suzumebachi appearing in the game. CT and techno really never seemed to be a good combo for me, and I think that although Suzu's work is good, it is also totally unrecognizable as being from the game. The intro is really cool, complete with grand piano and - before you ask if there is something wrong with your speakers - a crackling FX reminiscient of film noir flicks. However, the song starts to get a bit old as it goes on, so you're not missing too much if you just listen to the first minute or so. I say that if you want good techo, get Meteorave instead. Well, this past week has been sort of up and down with schoolwork and such, as my moods shifted from disappointment (failed a French test) to excitement (went to see a play) to nerves (big Science test on friday) to preparation (Cadets inspection in a month) to boredom (reading a crappy book in English) to relief (got Friday afternoon off) to good times (had an Arts festival on Saturday). Naturally, I hated the constant pressure of my French and Science, and these days, English is just plain boring. Fortunately for me, one of the things I'm really looking forward to is our Cadets inspection next month. *goes into black/white film mode* Cadets has been a tradition at my school since...well...practically when it was founded. One of our schools greatest shining moments was when we were asked by the Quebec Black Watch to guard the border to Vermont from Fenian invasion, and our defense squad spotted movement in the bushes, and fired repeatedly, only to discover that they had shot a cow strayed from its pasture. To this day, there are Battle colors in our school chapel to commemmorate the cow that was our only casualty of war. (Despite what it sounds like, this is a true story...really...it is.) Anyway, *flashes back to color* today, we don't really have to go around shooting cows to earn recongition. The inspection in early May is one of our small town's more interesting events, as the band marches down from the school building, and our Colour Party and Guard of Honour (including me) lead and march in the parade, and our drill team supplies a little "halftime show" with some awesome rifle tricks. Sadly, we only get practice rifles with no ammo, but it should still be a cool show. If you can get away for a couple of days in May, come visit and check out the show. This weekend, however, was kind of slow, as all my friends are busy. (School friends with homework, non-school friends with their own lives.) However, today porobably won't be a total loss, as tonight, I'm going to go watch Kill Bill Vol. 2, which I'd prefer to say I'm not forcing my dad to come see as well, but...I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. On a different note, a friend of mine had a talk with me about musical styles and taste, and I have to admit, even though I don't exactly like his taste in music (black metal) I have to admit he sure knows what he is talking about. Among other things, he introduced me to Tool, and I really like that, but he is very adamant about his idea that one shouldn't listen to the music for any particular reason or meaning, just if it sounds good, listen to it. I like that view, to a point, but I also use some of my music to get ideas for writing, so that's probably my reason for liking what I listen to. Well, I'm not in the best of moods right this second, as I have some homework to do, but maybe next week I'll feel more up to updating MyO, as right now I feel like I'm just cranking this stuff out by force, instead of just letting loose as usual. Até ja, é até amanhä. -Won-daa-shot

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Friday, April 9, 2004

Take a hit, why don't ya?

Today's OCRemix: "thebattleofstringsandacellphone" Final Fantasy 9 Remix by zid. Even if you didn't like FF9 very much, This remix might amuse you more than any of the others. For one thing, you'll probably like the acoustic guitar skills of zi, and, in a surprising twist, his ability to incorporate the use of his cell phone into the mix. Yes, it's true, this guy uses his cell and guitar to make music. Some people found the cell to be the best part, but I preferred the way that zid used the acoustic guitar to make this remix, and, somehow, made it work quite well. Listen to this if you are a fan of acoustic, or, for that matter, cellular phones. Well, nothing much newsworthy this week, except for that fact that I'm working to get some RPG's back in business, but, for now, some things have been going on, and people out there, you'll have to forgive me for not appearing for a while. For one thing, I've started mentioning myO to my friends, and got someone I know to try putting up a myO site. Normally, this is something I wouldn't do, as I prefer to maintain anonymity over the net. Then I thought: hey, I'm not really saying anything here that I wouldn't tell my friends about in real life anyway, so the way I see it, I can just mention it to them, and if they don't like it, too bad. If they do, that's cool too. I figure that it's not really...logical, to put something up on a site that it's okay for strangers to read, but not friends you know personally. On another note, laws in Canada seem to be changing in the past while. Last week, the Supreme court ruled that music sharing on the net in Canada is now legal. Apparently, their take on the issue was along the same lines as books and photocopiers in the library. You're allowed to photocopy parts of books in most public libraries, so, people should be allowed to get tracks from CDs for no charge as well. There's probably going to be some more argument over this, but for now, my friends seem pretty happy with it. I fear that I am losing some of my edge for writing. The ideas just don't seem to come as well anymore, and, unfortunately for me, our English class has not done some creative work for a while now. Another thing, ACO didn't have their monthly writing contest this time around, so I've got little to do there anymore, and even the Adventure Arena seems to be experiencing some downtime lately, so there's not much to do there. The way I see it, when I have some writing to do, I can write more and more and not have to stop. When there's a good active RPG around, I usually post in that, then update myO and maybe think about something to write in ACO. If there's nothing to write about, then I get really stuck. The blade dulls, so to speak. However, I gave Laeth E'Thae another go, and I think the music list is just about done. The only thing now is to add a front and back cover, and, if I can convince my friends to help me, some artwork for the inside. Here's the list: (Song-Artist-Album) "Wanderers" Laeth E'Thae OST: The Grudge - Tool - Lateralus Re-Entry - Limp Bizkit - Results May Vary Take It All - TrustCompany - The Lonely Position of Neutral Soil - System of a Down - System of a Down Wish - Alien Ant Farm - ANThology Fly From the Inside - Shinedown - Leave a Whisper Unwell - Matchbox Twenty - More Than You Think You Are Ruled by Secrecy - Muse - Absolution Go - Andy Hunter - Exodus Lateralus - Tool - Lateralus Minerva - Deftones - Deftones Ok, so I've managed to more or less divide the whole deal into four main parts. They are as follows: Intro: The Grudge, Re-Entry Time: 11:13 This section blows you right into the action at the start, featuring the powerful, yet somewhat depressing beat of The Grudge. Tool really sets the right mood. A world falling apart, spurred by hate, and people cry for change and the madness to end. Our heroes decide to break this monotony of death and despair, thereby ending this "grudge". However, this also is a good piece for my two main characters, who seem to be facing their own grudge as well, and are trying to deal with it. Re-Entry is something to get you back into the heavier beats, with an almost-nu metal beat to it, as the only lyrics include: "all around the world/you know me/we know you". Such is a beat to set the mood to an open world, as I said, paralysed by fear and anxiety, and yet, somehow, these people come to save it. How? We are not sure, but the fact remains that they know and love this world, and this world knows them in return. 2nd Quarter: Take It All, Soil, Wish Time: 10:58 Prepare your eardrums as you break into the heavier nu-metal junk of mine with the second part of my CD, where the heavier nu-metal comes in. Take It All was something that just came to me while listening to my ancient TrustCo album, and I thought that it works on two levels, as a fight song, and as a hard, but depressing, piece about death and suicide for my protagonist, Kaze. Naturally, Soil would have to come in for the exact same reasons, and, it works on an excellent level to bring the power, lyrics, and decibel level up one or two notches to act as a paragon for Kaze's mind set, of growing insanity and depression, as his thoughts turn to violent death. Wish, I am not too sure about. It struck me as a good piece to use, but I'm not sure why. It hits me as a piece of fight music, but after listening to it, it gives me an idea of what happens when you start to observe everything around you, and imagine just how useless everything feels at times. Hence the use of the song. (I used the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater remix for this edition, as it seemed to be just a bit more chaotic than the original, and a bit more dissonant. I liked it.) 3rd Quarter (downtime): Fly From the Inside, Unwell, Ruled by Secrecy, Go Time: 19:19 The longest quarter of this CD gives you some time to relax from the hectic first half, and what better way to do that then with a bit of Matchbox Twenty and Muse sandwich, with Shinedown to leave us with a bit more nu-metal aftertaste, and a little techno Go for a little change of pace. Shinedown's Fly From the Inside was not so much about the characters as it was bout the whole world. The dreams of the world, the people of the world, the goals of all the characters combined, the wanderers, the dreamers. Whatever you want to call them, I felt that Shinedown's bit worked well to convey that, and the fact that it's a cool song in my book didn't hurt. Matchbox Twenty and Muse were Arcadia's choices, so I can't really speak much for them, she chose them for her own reasons, and although I can't give any details. I have to admit they do fit nicely in with the rest of the tracks. Especially Muse's Ruled By Secrecy, which has an air of mystery and depression to it, which, as I said before, adds to the story as a whole. Go is a bit more of a fight song, in techno, and with a bit of a spiritual side to it. I don't listen to it much anymore, as I prefer my other tracks, but for some reason, it just seemed to belong here. Outro: Lateralus, Minerva Time: 13:38 The last quarter of "Wanderers" is a little kick out of our world, if you get what I'm saying. For one thing, Lateralus is one of Tool's better pieces, if I do say so myself, and I like it because it struck me as a song about trying hard to find something, and working to achieve your goals and dreams, and essentially, wandering. In a flash of inspiration, I found that the song could be about all the characters, instead of just mine, as it's about humanity and trying to search for what you want. Be it peace, or heaven, or anything else you can think of, this song works to convey that. Minerva, on the other hand, is a last, moaning and groaning nu-metal Deftones bit which I really love, because it gives you that last kick of depression as you leave this sad world of ours, and wonder what happens next, giving you a chance to go back and listen to The Grudge and Re-Entry all over again. This is why I like the structural arrangement of my list, as it seems to make you go into a loop as you listen to it. Well, I still have yet to find a couple of songs to complete the list, but that's about it for my contribution. Again, if anyone from the RPG (or even someone who has just read it or thinks they have something to add) that is the reason we all have comment boxes here. Wow, I am so tired now, I think I'll just sit back and not move from my chair for the remainder of the evening. Ate logo, all. -Won-daa-shot

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Saturday, April 3, 2004

*streches*

Today's OCRemix: "Terra in Black" Final Fantasy 3(6) OCRemix by Ailsean. This remix is quite something, let me tell you. Ailsean's hard work is evident in this beautiful work of Terra's theme song, and some critics call it the best piece of work on OCR of it's kind. The intro is slow and cool, and eventually breaks out into some wicked electric guitar later on. If you liked FF3, specifically, its music, you won't want to miss this. Whew, My site has been going through some more morphing lately, and I meant to update yesterday, but I was busy putting up the buttons and such, and then it was nearly midnight so I had to go to bed so I could go to tennis practice this morning...bleh. Anyway, our tennis coaches announced that after a grand total of three practices (only one of which was actually spent handling the racket and balls) they are going to start making cuts. Seems a little unfair, if you ask me, but I guess I wouldn't worry too much, after all, I wasn't too bad this time around...I think. Gah, even if I get cut I'll just have to run off and do some other sport...or maybe take after-school classes instead. Apparently, that is an option for those who get cut from sports teams. In any case, I'll figure out what happens when I go to school Monday, since that is when they update the team lists. In the meantime, I have been posting in RPGs again, which is becoming even more of a rarity these days. Oddly enough, when my time is occupied with homework or studying and whatnot, I find it is the best time to start writing again. Not neccessarily procrastinating, mind you, but after I get some good work done...I take a break by writing some more. That ever happen to anybody else? Taking a break from your work with...more work? Well, my search for Legend of Mana in my town has come up with nothing so far, so after I check the last second-hand place in my area, I'll go off and buy it from the internet or convince the video rental place to sell it to me. LoM is a weird game indeed, views on this game from the critics/game fans are polar opposites: they either really love it or really hate it...like a Tarantino movie or something. Personally, I really like it, and the reasons for that are numerous, and those reasons are the same reasons others would hate them. FOr one thing, LoM is nothing at all like the other Mana games (Secret of Mana/Evermore, Seiken Dentetsu 3.) It has a different battle system, menu and commands, new item list/magic and weapons useage system, and so on. If you were a huge fan of the original Mana games, don't expect any of the same from LoM. If you bought it because you expected anything like the originals, prepare for a shock. For one thing, there is no storyline. Well, at least that's a matter of opinion. The general idea is guy wakes up one morning to realize he knows nothing about his existence, and goes out on an adventure to help him understand the world. On the way, he meets people who give him "artifacts" that allow him to unlock new areas in the world. Eventually coming to the climax when he finds the fables Mana Tree. Now, this may not seem to be much of a storyline, but I found it interesting because you aren't really sure what is happening. You wake up one morning unsure of your place in the universe, questioning your very existence. No one else in the game seems to act like that, but you meet creatures called "sproutlings", who believe that the world is created by your imagination. In a way, that's true, since you use artifacts to open up new areas, but in terms of a game, reading it like a story, it doesn't really make sense, as others believe that their world exists all along, and don't ever think about the fact that reality is nothing like what they percieve. A lot of this game's story is about perception of reality, and you have to use your imagination to really create a story for this game. I liked it for that reason, but people expected the story to be fed to them a little more, like any normal book, and didn't like it, saying it had no story whatsoever. I don't agree with that. Secondly, the new battle/items system. Secret of Mana had this system done differently, breaking from the mold tht other RPG's created, instead of demanding a menu for items and spells, (where, in a live-action game, that would be inconvenient), the spellcasting system was almost instantaneous, using smaller drop-down menus to cast spells and use items. LoM has it very differently. It uses a similar live-action system to that in SoM, but instead of using items and spells by drop-down menus, they are wired instantaneously to your controller, so you would use a button to cast a spell/ability, making combat much faster. On the other hand, this limits the combat options themselves, so your basic abilities range from normal attacks to spells to unique skills, that's it. Items are not for combat use, and there is no MP gauge or anything, and HP recovery in battle is automatic regeneration. It's not the most glamourous of RPG fighing systems, as you need only to master a few buttons to cast powerful magics, but the game really shines outside of the battlefield. Good characters and events are always the cornerstone of any RPG story, In SoM, this was not a problem, as the characters had their own personality styles and traits. In my opinion, LoM improved on that, creating even more characters with their own perceptions on reality, and used beautiful watercolor 2D backdrops for each of the areas. However, some fans complained that this new look for the game was too childlike, resembling Pokemon or a pop-up book or something of the like. This, I find, is completely off the wall. The characters vary greatly in appearance and personality, but nothing can really justify a comparison like that. The 2D backdrops are great artwork, and "too childlike" is definitely not an appropriate description. They just take a step forward in the presence of color, using brighter tones and borders to create a real fantasy-world feeling. Sure, it resembles a storybook world at times, but its one of the points that I found very appealing, unlike what others might think. The other innovations in this game, including "world creation", blacksmithing, and capturing/raising monsters were not exactly the games strongest points, but sure gave it a lot of replay value. Most people blasted the world creation system, saying it had no impact on actual gameplay just by placing artifacts around your area to open new towns/dungeons. This is untrue, as some people are not attentive enough to percieve. Depending on where you place your areas, items acquired in towns or monsters and treasure found in dungeons can vary. If you place a town in a certain area at a certain time, you might find better items for sale, and if you place dungeons in different places, then the monsters inside may be stronger/weaker, and the treasures inside may be different too. The blacksmithing areas include crafting/altering weapons and armor, and creating musical instruments (method of casting magic) and mechanical allies. Blacksmithing is a very hard and tedious procedure, also costing a lot of money, but it's the only way players can get the strongest items in the game (treasure chests in dungeons do not contain weapons, only metals or other tempering agents.) Depending on how you craft your items, they can be incredibly strong or very weak. Smithing only requires a little research (game trial and error or internet, lol), and a whole lot of money and patience. Musical instrument creation is a bit simpler than smithing, as all you need are metals and elemental coins to give your instrument the magical power it needs. Afterwards, equip the instrument as an ability, and use it in battle to cast magic. Very easy. Golem creation is a lot like smithing, except for the fact that you need weapons and armor to create an animated ally. Just use higher-quality goods to create your metallic friend, and use items inside it to give it abilities and a "personality" in battle. Finally, monster raising was blasted by most reviewers, as it was said to resemble Pokemon and was, you know, unappealing. Monster raising in LoM is a very fine procedure, much like blacksmithing, and requires time and patience. First, you go out and capture a monster in the field by luring it out with food. Second, you get some seeds from a dungeon/store, and grow crops in your backyard to feed to your new pets. Third, you research your crops to see what effect they might have on your monster's personality/stats. Fourth, take your pet out into battle and it'll give you a hand as though it were an ally. As I said before, not the greatest points in the game, but just one more reason it has excellent replay value. Lastly, there is the music. Music in LoM is one of it's best points, as it's cinematic intro/outro sequences also feature live music with lyrics in Swedish, and the music overall is excellent, ranging from louder and more driving in the dungeons, to more peaceful at home, to busy in a town, and breaking out into all-out carnage in the boss battles, LoM's music is just one good reason why one would really like this game (or just buy the soundtrack.) Whew, I have some serious gaming on the brain, here. I'm going to go have something to eat now. -Won-daa-shot

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Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Kiss me, I'm in uniform.

Today's OCRemix: "Dragon's Prayer: The Blackened Desire" Chrono Cross remix by Destiny and zyko. This remix I can't exactly recognize as being from Chrono Cross, probably seeing as I haven't played it in almost a year. It's good music, to say the least, with some excellent hard guitar at the beginning (which, I'm told, is played by one of the composers, zyko) and an eerie backgroud chorus and wintry bell solo being played in the background. I am guessing that this is a version of the boss battle music, but as I said, I haven't played the game in a while, and the boss music wasnt exactly my favorite, either. As for the piece itself, I think it works, but I personally got a little bored of it after a few plays, the two music styles seemed too contradictory for me, so I wasn't sure what to make of it. Try it for yourselves and see. I'm back in school, in case that wasn't obvious already. So far, I think this'll be a fairly easy week, considering I leave for the city on a trip with my French class, and then only two more days of school. I am not sure if we have any breaks for Easter (hell, we just got back from a two and a half week vacation,) but if we do, I'll make a point of visiting some old friends, or at least bugging them to play Enfo with me again. In other news, my school obligations now require me to start playing competitive tennis. I say "start", when tennis is actually one of my favorite sports, but "competitive tennis" is another matter entirely. The extent of my tennis involves playing with my dad, dissolving into philosophy while we play a rally game, and so on. Now, I'm expected to practice for weeks at a time, and only 8 of the 20-odd players will be allowed to form a team, so plenty of cuts will be made. ...I miss curling already. Finally, I get my frist taste of homework in a long time. My new Physical Science teacher (we rotate teachers every term) will now allow us to type up our notes, so that should be a load off my mind. My objective now is to try and get 85% or over for this term, so I can get a tie for it at the end of the term. If ever I mention my grades are slipping, I want you all out there on the net community to give me a nice hard smack to get me focused, k? -Won-daa-shot (I now use the above signature here and here only, I figured I would kind of miss it, so I decided to keep it for now.)

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Sunday, March 28, 2004

In breaking with tradition...

Today’s OCRemix: “JENOVAD Trance” Final Fantasy 7 Remix by ffmusic dj. This remix, as the title suggests, is a trance variation of Jenova’s battle music, a la FF7. It’s a great techno song, but I can only reccommend if you are a trance fan. If not, then you probably wouldn’t like it. It is Jenova’s theme song, unmistakable, but it doesn’t really have the same horror-movie feel or much of a “fighting” element to it. It’s just been remixed as a techno. Good techno, but just that. I've been doing quite a few things differently over the past three or four days. Just one phase of beginning to obsess about school again. For one thing, I took a good hard look through my backpack to make absolutely sure I didn't forget anything for school. (You know, gets annoying after a little while when you realize you forgot something the night before you return.) Luckily for me, nothing. (But just you wait, I'll be back Monday realizing I did miss something. Damn school-related karma.) On the other hand, I am looking forward to returning to an argument with a friend of mine over Portugal and the Netherlands, but that’s another story for another time. Today, I took the longest walk ever with my dad. From our house in the suburbs to a video game store on the other side of town. Our original plan involved walking downtown for a bit and back (around 1 mile in each direction), but eventually, I got the incredible idea of trying to walk all the way across town to this video game store. T'was a four-plus mile deal, but it was fun. When we got there, we got change at the store, and phoned my mom to give us a ride back. I really should get out more, you know? My dad claimed it was a very unnerving experience for him, seeing exactly what our town looked like from the perspective of such an observer as one walking around aimlessly. He said that he saw all these small businesses downtown that he wasn't even aware of, and some of them open and then close shortly after he became aware of their existence. He has a point, as we saw all these businesses downtown dealing in things like artwork, pottery, cheaply made clothing, music items, and even tiny multi-national restaurants or cafes everywhere we look. In the suburb on the opposite side of town, we even saw a sign pointing to a nearby house, claiming that they make and sell their own jeans. I have to admit, my dad seemed way more surprised than me, as he talked to my mom about it almost all the way home, only, I wasn't too surprised, as I had seen the streets in the area, such small privately owned businesses in the "arts district" that seem to appear and disappear at random. That district is like prime real estate for small arts/hobbies businesses, and it's what makes my town cool to walk in, even if we have to bug the person with the car when we're done. My dad says that the town should own a server to keep track of all the businesses in the town, and use the Internet to effectively advertise within the town area. Heh, I think it would just be a better idea to get all the small business owners to get a myOtaku site. Well, I am also working on trying to wake up before noon each day. So far, it seems to be going all right, as, after today's walk, I should fall asleep pretty easily tonight. Oh, and between the last time I updated and today, I rented, completed, and returned Legend of Mana (or Seiken Dentetsu 4, just because it sounds so much more interesting for some particularly worthless reason.) It's a great game, and I think I'll buy it if I can find it at any game stores in the area, then, plan B is to convince my dad to let me order off the net (my dad does not trust the Net for ordering items.) If that doesn't pan out, plan C involves renting from the video store, saying I lost/broke the game, pay charges, keep game (that would probably be the easiest since I know they have it, but I just hate being dishonest.) Oh, as for the bad news, I still have not started writing yet. Ridiculous, really, as I should have loads of time on my hands, but I would rather just listen to Tool or play LoM or something of the like. How sad, to not have a work ethic, make me want to talk to my dad again... Speaking of Tool. I decided to use a new avatar (made, I believe, by Semjaza) for OB. Mr. Azazel has great taste in music. Huh, well, I think I'll kick back and fall asleep in a few minutes, maybe get a few lines of writing down before then, I dunno. It's a very dull time right about now. Oh, and, just so you know, we still have some snow up here. It's seriously scary, even for Canada. -Won-daa-shot (by the way, is anybody really bugged by the erroneous signature of my name that I use? It seems to look more and more annoying every time I look at it, so I might get rid of it.)

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