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August 31, 2007

Two out of Two Smarty Hotties Agree...

My essay on Deadpan is "Totally fucking awesome and fantastic and there is no way I could come close to writing something so cool." Wow, they wrote an entire play by play of listening to my essay. That's amazing. (I mean, yes, they wrote an entire play by play of listening to the entire Deadpan, but that's still awesome.)

So, um, you know, feel free to go listen to my essay on the latest Jack Mangan's Deadpan Podcast. It's right here, in episode 72.
Hm, that message makes me want to send Jack another essay. I'm glad it's well-recieved. Anyway, I had to share that.

Posted by poetfox at 08:17 AM | Comments (0)

August 29, 2007

Some thoughts on poetry.

So, as I was trying very very hard to be a good student and read all the poetry I needed to read for my class this evening, I realized I have a weird view of poetry for someone named "poetfox".

Most of it I really don't like.

I just really can't read it, especially poems longer than a page. There are exceptions, of course, but I keep wondering what the hell the point is as they string together image after image with no reason why. I understand it's supposed to be subtle, but the LAST thing I want to do is have to work to find entertainment in something. So I don't.
Now, yes, every so often there comes a (usually short) poem that will grab me from the beginning with a comment and then leave me with a smile by the end. These poems usually are not obscuring the message with their imagry, like most poems. What they're saying is right out there, it's just that their images and metaphors help to flesh out the nuances of their feelings of the situation to make me relate to them more. That's the kind of poetry I like.
Unfortunately, there's very little that can be written about such poems in a scholarly sense, because everything is right there in front of you. So when you look at "classic" poetry, it's mostly the sorts with obscure messages behind deep words, because then you can debate what the hell the poet is trying to say. Which is really kinda stupid, I think, because I've written enough stuff to know that setting something like that up often involves not having a good point in mind when you start.
Anyway, I don't really expect people to like my poetry. It's all very personal most of the time. The thing that gets to me is I often write poetry trying to say a very specific thing, and I think I spell it out very well, but then I give it to someone else and they come up with a different interpretation. It's weird. I don't know if it's a "it can't be that simple" sort of situation or if I'm really a good poet for some crazy-ass reason. Who knows.

Anyway, I wrote two poems in my scratchbook since the start of school, so I'll type them up and put them on poetfox.com after I post this. One is pretty good and one is kinda shitty in my opinion. Feel free to tell me which is which, or if its hard to choose because they're both shitty. I don't mind. I like critical feedback when I create something and I feel like I never, ever get it.

Posted by poetfox at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)

August 28, 2007

Today's Topics: Human Mating Rituals, Persona 3, and Turning Oxygenarian.

So there's this new girl, Sarah, at work. She's competent. Yay! Also, she keeps talking to me. This is not a bad thing, since, you know, having friends at work is good, and she certianly seems like a cool person, and I could always use more female friends. But tonight, I started wondering if maybe she liked me... like... liked me... you know? I mean, I'm happy and taken, it doesn't especially matter in the long run, but... I'm extremely oblivious to such things. I really don't see anyone as a potential mate or date. My mind really doesn't register anyone that way, until something happens to click them into that sort of designation... the sorts of things that don't happen in normal day to day conversation... things like "Hello, I would like to date you/have sex with you." Doesn't really happen. (At least, not too often. Heh.)
Anyway, the point is, if she was interested, I would not have a clue whatsoever. I remember, a couple of days before graduation, realizing that Lindsay Kuper really did talk to me a lot. Granted, most of this was in Calc, a class with but 7 or so people in it, but she'd strike up a conversation other times, too. It just sort of slowly dawned on me that maybe that sort of behavior is the sort of thing that a guy (yes, well, she didn't know that) is supposed to pick up on and use as a base to ask someone out... you know?
I just really don't know! My strategy in love has been fruitful, of course. I have a boyfriend I'm crazy about, and although I've had heartbreak in other relationships, I think, in general, I came out the better for them. But I just have no reference or context to normal dating rituals. It's all kind of perplexing to me. I just sort of have to wonder if that's a problem. I just sort of have to wonder if me not doing anything in reaction to this stuff is... I dunno... insulting or frustrating for people. I just... I dunno, I just wonder. It's what I do.

So yeah, I already didn't follow that homework schedule in the last post. Thanks, my moody self! But eh, I'm alright.

Oh, but yeah, the other thing that put me into the "thinking about dating" sort of mindset has been Persona 3. Cause there is dating in that... and I read these conversations with the girls that my character is supposed to be hitting on, eventually anyway, and it's just friendship... and I know I'm SUPPOSED to be looking at them and say "Well, I'll work towards dating her." But I don't. They're just another character to talk to and learn their story. And their stories are not very interesting to me, actually. So I don't bother with them much.

But Persona 3! It's a damn good game! But there are four main possibilities for criticism, and I'm going to list them and talk about why they don't bother me.
1. You can't control your party. Apparently the Japanese play Dragon Quest with the party AI on, and never really control them, so I guess this setup isn't weird to them. Honestly, though, it works in this game. The game is about social relationships, and it makes sense for these people to be your friends in battle, and not minions to control. The AI is pretty good, anyway. There are very few times when my party members do something I don't want to do (most of the time this is casting debuffs on hard regular enemies... the debuffs work well, but I'd often rather them save their SP at that point... but I guess that's why I should assign them the Conserve SP tactic, huh?). Also, the range of actions your party members can do are much, much smaller than yours, because you can switch personas and weaponry and generally have to juggle a lot more. Also, you can issue a Rush command by pressing Triangle that not only makes the battle animations run at a quick pace, but makes everyone in your party pick normal attack and gang up on one enemy at a time. Between this and not having to pick options for every character in the party, the traditional turn-based battles go very quickly, and I think that's a plus. I think they addressed the problems of not being able to directly command the party pretty well, but that's just me.
2. At least half the game is a life sim. A lot of the game has you interacting with people to build your Social Links, which buff your Personas, which makes you better in battle. You have to date and pick the right options and what not to build  trust with people... I can easily see how this could bore the shit out of some people. But Atlus translated it really well, and it's all really well written and pretty interesting... and you can only do like... 2 actions in the span of a day in the game, so it too moves pretty fast paced. You have to choose who to prioritize and then go with it and see what happens. I enjoy it, but it's not for everyone.
3. Tartarus is Randomly Generated each time you enter. This also doesn't bother me. Since almost all of the plot happens in the life sim part, the pure dungeon crawl makes for a nice change of pace. The scenery changes every couple of floors. Most of the time you're trying to race up to the next boss floor (where there is a teleporter that lets you teleport from the ground floor directly there, skipping the floors in between from then on) before your party gets tired. The tired mechanic I've actually never found annoying. When my characters get tired, I know it's time to stop grinding for gold or whatnot. It's often around the time when I'm ready for that change of pace found in getting back to the life sim.
4. The game has a strict time limit. The game only lasts for one school year, then you face the last boss, whether you're ready or not. Actually, there are large bosses every full moon on the calendar, so you have to be ready by the time they come around. It has yet to be a problem for me, though. As long as you go to Tartarus every time your party is rested and healthy, you get enough experience to survive. As soon as you can easily get up to the barrier (which is after about three bosses worth of floors, which disappears after you beat the next big Full Moon boss) then you should be able to beat the next big boss with no problem as long as you attack it intelligently. I've gotten to that point a good game week or so before the full moon event, giving me extra time to dick around and build up social links with no problems.

Anyway, I really like Persona 3. It's going to keep my interest for awhile longer, most definately. It's actually taking away from my KoL time, which is suprising, as KoL has held my interest firmly for so long. If I keep only checking it every couple of days, I think I'm going to do an Oxycore run next time, or at least an Oxy run... apparently most people who play those play them because you get significantly less turns a day since your only options for extra turns are rare Spleen items, so you don't feel overwhelmed by stuff you have to do (and if you don't do it, you're wasting time you could be using to do awesome things). That sounds pretty good right now. I do feel kinda bad not using all my turns like I should.

Anyway, I guess it's about bedtime. Goodnight.

Posted by poetfox at 01:48 AM | Comments (0)

August 25, 2007

The Homework Schedule for the week of August 26th

Here's something I'm going to try. This is the shits I need to get done this week. Or should. To cut down on stress and have things done with time to spare.

Sunday: Read my shit for Science and Religion. Write my short 2 page paper about my worldview that should be low-stress. Read my shit for my Theory class. (This takes care of all the homework due in the morning, so I don't have to worry about waking up even earlier to do it.)
Monday: Working that night. Go to the library between classes to get an overview of what the hell "Books In Print" is (Should be pretty... um... simple) and, if I'm feeling good, go ahead and write that short explaination. Also, you know, reading for Graphics if needed.
Tuesday: Read anything needed for Small Press Pub in between classes. Write that "Books in Print" thing if I didn't already. Read stuff for Poetry (and Graphics, if needed).
Wednesday: Go to class and don't suck.
Thursday: Any reading for Small Press Pub in between classes. Working that night. Any reading for Sci and Religion or Theory would cut down on work for Sunday.
Friday: Lazy Day. I deserve it.
Saturday: Working. Lazy Day. I deserve it.

That sounds like a pretty good strategy, doesn't it? Of course, I'll probably try to do readings in the large periods of time when I'm early for classes, too... that'll help alot... but this is good for a start. I'm going to try to make Sunday my "Write one of your stupid papers" day. If I write a paper every sunday, I should get to the point where I have a few weeks before I could try to write a paper to relax. Also, if I really have trouble with said paper, I'll at least have it started before the night before... maybe I should actually use that little schedule book they always give me... I'd kinda feel like a tool, though, using it... but it would be nice to keep goals in mind... goals are good, right?

Anyway, if you're so inclined, make me stick to this schedule. I gotta kick ass this semester. Low Stress. Get shit done. That's the plan.

Posted by poetfox at 02:35 PM | Comments (0)

August 24, 2007

This is a quick update. I'm all meh and don't feel like writing more.

Decision = Made. I'm not buying a Nokia N800. If it were 200 dollars, I would already own it, though. But that's just too much. I get too much into "If I added a hundred dollars, I'd have a PS3" or "If I added two hundred dollars, I'd have a laptop" and it's just not worth it. So I'm saving it for now. I could use it to take that trip to PAX after graduation I wanted, or to buy a new computer... or... you know... transition... lots of possibilities.  

This first week of school has drained me. I don't really know why. I guess I felt like I was moving non-stop... in any case, I'm really out of it today, and moody... but I've been playing Persona 3 all day, and that's been fun as shit... but I just got to the second strata of Tartarus, and man, did the enemies jump in difficulty! I'm going to need to just grind for a couple trips, I think...
I also tried a lot of fusion and stuff, and it was kinda fun, but I had no fucking idea what I was doing. I just tried to end up with new Persona and Persona of Arcana I had leveled up alot... is that the whole point? I dunno. There's so much about this game I don't get yet. I'll get back to you on it. It is pretty sweet, though.

I bought a Light Novel today, of Kino's Journey. I didn't know Tokyopop had put those out... we'll see how it goes... I'd like to read all the Haruhi ones... they should translate those.

This isn't the kind of detail I wanted to say about things... bleh.

Posted by poetfox at 05:55 PM | Comments (0)

August 21, 2007

Justifications For and Against Me Buying a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet

For:

Against:
Should I...? Bleh, I dunno. Right now I have resolve against, so I'll resist... for now...

Posted by poetfox at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)

August 20, 2007

I am doing a jump in order to talk about the end of Bioshock.

I finished Bioshock. I want to say some sort things about the end. So I'm going to do my first ever "Jump" or "Cut" on this blog. Exciting, no? Click Here to go past said jump. Also note that going to this entry through the archives will reveal this spoilerish information. The jump link is actually just a link to the archives. Unlike the last time I posted spoilers, I'm not even going to be vague about it, so seriously, don't go look if you care at all about the game. Okay. Go jump now, if you want.

---SPOILURS START HERE---

Holy crap, that was anticlimactic. I really didn't see my character in a powerful quest for power who would then go out and try to nuke people with secret Rapture nukes. I really didn't. Well, I guess it was kinda mean harvesting them after I stopped following Atlas, but eh. I was just doing what I had to do to survive. But whatever, I see the game's point, I suppose. But still, I beat the very hard last boss and then I get this video of me like... bitch-slapping a Little Sister, and then there's people collecting wreckage from the plane crash and me throwing Little Sisters at them to harvest Adam and then it shows a nuke. It was weird. I really hope the "good" ending brings things to a more satisfying conclusion, because that didn't really do it for me.
Overall, though, the game is great. Just like KOTOR II before it, even though the ending was kinda shitty, the overall awesomeness of the game is barely diminished.
Anyway, that's what I had to say.

Posted by poetfox at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)

Edumacation: The Beginning of the End

Well, school has started. Well, it probably will have by the time you read this, anyway. It starts for me in like 8 hours. What's my goals for this semester, you ask? 1. Get Everything Done. Even if it's mediocre, it's better than nothing. 2. Utilize the gaps between classes to get work done ahead of time for less stress and more fun without guilt.
That's it, really. We'll see how this semester goes. Good luck to everyone who might be starting. Me and my BINDER OF THE FUTURE (The Staples Better Binder) will be kicking ass and taking names, I'm sure.

So, I guess some quick reviews.
Bioshock: Still fucking awesome, but that's all I'm going to say about it still. No spoilers. Judging by the number of weapon upgrades I still need to find I'm pretty close to the end of the game, though. PC demo hits today. If you can handle this game, at least try the demo, eh?
Superbad: Not super good. Michael Cera is an incredibly funny guy, and when he was talking, I laughed. His curly-haired co-star thought himself funny, but was really not funny. The "McLovin" side story was fairly entertaining but ultimately forgetable. So, for those keeping track at home, about a third of the movie was garbage, a third was funny at times, and a third was Michael Cera gold. Wait for the DVD, if you want to see it. It's about what you'd think it would be.
Mr. Driller Drill Spirits: I bought this on clearance at Hastings, because I'd heard good things about Mr. Driller, and that there was nothing wrong with this version except a pointless lack of single card multiplayer. But gods, this game is weird. I really don't know how to approach it. I'm going to keep trying when I feel like it and I'll get back to you on it. For now, though, Picross is so much more appealing (even if I have started using the hints... I decided using them was better than being frustrated, and that I'd have more fun. I was right.).
Visions of Escaflowne: I don't know. I really don't know. I'm watching it with Brer right now. I really don't know. It's a decent enough show, but I'm not interested. I think part of the reason I'm eh about it is that some of the dubbing voices are kinda bad. However, I just don't know if I can give it the full attention subtitles require. I really don't know.
Irresponsible Captain Tylor: I guess the show was supposed to be funny? But I couldn't like Tylor. He's either a genius but selfish asshole or he's an idiot and I don't know why I'm watching his bumbling misadventures. I dunno. Brer and I stopped watching it for Escaflowne.

Okay, off to bed. Wish me luck getting up early and getting to Grauel on time...

Posted by poetfox at 12:46 AM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2007

I got Bioshock a week early. Spoilerish stuff clearly marked.

If you have the means to play it, you must own this game. Seriously. This is, hands down, the best story-based shooter I've ever played. (The genre I'm talking about is I guess like... Half Life 2... and F.E.A.R...) It's amazing. I'd like to talk about it, but I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. I think I'm going to say a few vague comments at the end. So just, you know, don't read those. They'll be clearly marked.

Has ebay always been this overwhelmed by retarded bots? Seriously, who in their right mind is going to trust that "Oh, I sent the money to you, even though you can't see it, just e-mail me here to get it and send me the thing after." This is all written like a lolcat, mind. "Halp, I is needingz it mailed to Nigeeria, plz." I wasn't this overwhelmed with bullshit last time I put something on ebay. Granted, it was something of significantly less value (Read: Many Manga books that cost me 10 dollars a piece). Maybe that's it. Anyway, ebay needs to lock that shit down. It's making me not want to ever sell anything on there again. I don't know how you'd stop these bots, but it needs to happen.

Along with Bioshock, I made another very important purchase today... I bought a Nerf Pokeball. It's like... made out of those like... stress ball squeezy stuffs or something?  People seem skeptical about how much fun I can have with this mere 3 dollar purchase. Throwing this at people while yelling "POKEBALL, GO!" is simply awesome. And then I get to follow it up with something like "Aww, it appeared to be caught!" from the games or whatever. Plus, it actually looks really good. I mean, not that a Pokeball is the most complicated thing in the world to make look good, but... it looks good. I have no regrets. Just don't walk into this room, or I'll probably try to catch you.

Anyway, goodnight, people who don't want Bioshock Spoiled.

---BIOSHOCK SPOILURZ START HERE OMG!---

---NO, SERIOUSLY, DON'T READ THIS. IT'S ONLY SLIGHTLY SPOIL-Y, BUT STILL---

---LAST WARNING. I TOTALLY WARNED YOU. IT'S YOUR FAULT IF YOU READ IT!---

Okay, here we go. Ammo was really seeming no problem, and then EVENTS OCCURRED and my ammo cache disappeared for seemingly no reason. Bug or Feature? I dunno, really, though I could see it as a feature. Less Ammo usually equals more tense-ness.
Death is slightly Prey-esque. Sorta. It makes me happy, as it keeps my frustration low, but I wonder if that's going to bother some people.
U-Invent stations have yet to prove their worth to me.
After a full day of play, I just now got introduced to all the different vending machines and stations. This very well might bode well for the length of the game. Even if it's short, though, I can see me playing through it once more immediately after and making some different choices.
This really makes me want to try System Shock 2. I wonder if the graphics would be so bad as to turn me off...
I never get tired of hacking in this game. You'd think I would, but I don't.
There are odd options having to do with framerate that seem pointless on the 360. This might bode well for both versions being exactly the same, I suppose. Then again, that would be no naming saves on the PC, which would probably annoy people

Posted by poetfox at 03:13 AM | Comments (0)

August 15, 2007

I got better. You'd think ebay could do better.

So Brer read the thing I posted yesterday in my depression and we talked about it and he made me feel better. Most everything he said was all things I knew, at least vaugely, but it was still nice to hear him say it. I also got to hear a little more about what his plans are with school, which I may have known but may have not and it was a nice refresher. Anyway, I'm, in general, feeling a lot better now. Not 100%, but not "I want to hide in bed all day and disappear." So that's good.

ebay, however, is not good. I keep trying to sell this lappy and I keep putting it on Buy It Now, cause that's useful, and people keep Buying It Now and then getting banned because they're assholes. I don't know what they expect to gain by this. Are people really retarded enough to mail out their stuff before they get paid? Anyway, I could avoid this if ebay wasn't being a dick and trying to force me to pay for a business level Paypal to have the simple functionality of "You want to buy it now? Pay me, THEN I'll take it down" which you'd think would be standard but NO, they wants my monies that bad. Well, I changed it now so that the auction has no buy it now, but a higher starting bid and a shorter duration... I guess we'll see what happens. I'm just kinda frustrated with ebay right now, so I'm hoping it sells this time and I can stop fucking around with it for awhile.
Brer did mention Amazon Marketplace, and that might be a better way of selling off all my manga I don't need. I should look into it.

Posted by poetfox at 02:35 AM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2007

There's Some Bargaining With Myself and Some Depressed Ranting In This Post.

I want one of these. I was on the fence while I thought it had no good support for IM programs, but I've since found a way to install Pidgin on it. I want it. So I've come to a decision. I'm going to put my brokenish lappy up on ebay tommorow. I've been needing to do that anyway. If I can raise at least half the cost of that from that auction, I'll let myself buy one. Sound fair, internet? Maybe? Eh, we'll see. I shouldn't buy anything, but if nothing else I need to try to recoup the cost of the lappy anyway, so at least that's some motivation.
And I mean, I don't need it. But I'd like to be able to lie down once and awhile and not be away from my beloved internets. I'd like to relax and chat with Brer. I really would.
Also, the fact that I've been incredibly depressed recently probably factors into this. I want something fun to entertain myself. I want nice things. I want to deserve nice things. I don't. But I'd like to.
I wish I was able to easily pin down why I've been so depressed. I really don't know. I just know that after recent talks with Brer, I have even less motivation about school than I did before... eh, I dunno if I want to say this on the blog, because he'll read it... but I'm wanting to say it and I need to be open so what the fuck...
We had a conversation about after I graduate and he was all "You probably shouldn't come to me you should find a good, well paying job and worry about that first." And I understand. It's good advice... but I don't want to do that... I don't want to focus on yet another thing before doing what I've been wanting to do since high school... if I make myself get a career before I do all that shit, who knows how long it'll take.
But it's not just that... it's just the idea of transitioning and finding a real job and living without the people I've grown up with all at the same time is amazingly fucking scary. Any one of those is scary. I'd want to do them all at once. I should, really. But I just... in my head, I was going to graduate and then live with him... and then it would be better... I'd have someone on my side... you know? I wouldn't be all alone... but... it's not what's best.
What's best is never what I want. Ever. I'm really sick of it.
Tommorow I should put things on ebay and get my oil changed and go to work. I want to just lay in bed all day, though.

Posted by poetfox at 01:45 AM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2007

Mistifying Tubes

You know, Pidgin developers. I really want to like you. I really do. No lie. But you constantly make it so fucking hard. I really like your program. But I have to wait for weeks for every update, to make sure the Extpos plugin is ready to go, because you decided having windows stay put was optional, which blows my mind. And now, not only that, when I go to update from 2.02 to 2.1, a sigificant update, one might think, it crashes immediately on startup. Every single time. Pidgin, come on. Come on. Please. Don't tease me with a Windows build if you're just going to half-ass it.

So I got my new moneycard, and immediately used it to buy a frivilous thing and a not so frivilous thing. One was this amazing mousepad. One was a new wallet. I'll let you decide which one was the pointless purchase.

There was talk of seeing Stardust today. We'll see how that goes. I've already proved on Talking Time that I don't remember much at all of the book. Also, on Talking Time, I've really been sort of feeling not part of the group recently. I don't know why. There's no reason to think everyone is ignoring me. Nobody responds to what I say most of the time, yes, but I'm boring, and nobody responds to like 80% of posts anyway. I'm not very controversial. It makes sense nobody would say anything. I dunno, I've just been moody all around. And why does the bridge of my nose hurt for no reason? It's kinda retarded.

Oh well.

Posted by poetfox at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)

August 08, 2007

A Discussion of the Logic Behind the Godchild Hall of Fame and Hall of Infamy in The Fairly Oddparents, and Timmy Turner's Place In These Halls.

So I was watching Fairly Oddparents today, and in the episode Timmy goes into Cosmo and Wanda's house, and sees this Godchild Hall of Fame and Godchild Hall of Infamy and wonders why he isn't in the Hall of Fame. In the end, though, Cosmo and Wanda say "oh, we made a special room just for you and how much fun we've had with you!" and stuff.
In any case, though, I don't really buy it. In the "Hall of Fame" was Denzel Crocker, so this episode obviously takes place after the big episode with Timmy going back to the 70's and ruining Crocker's entire life, basically, with his meddling. Now, granted, up until that point Timmy didn't know that it was him that made Crocker into the bastard he had to deal with on a daily basis, but the fact is, if it wasn't for Timmy and his wishing, Crocker would have had a much, much, much, much better life. Does someone who completely destroys other people's lives, even if it's accidentally, deserve to be rewarded? Probably not.
It's not the only thing Timmy has managed either. His actions nearly put the world into post-apocolyptic dictator Vicky mode in Channel Chasers... hell, he's nearly ruined the entire world countless times. Granted, he always managed to fix them eventually, but there is never much of a mention of any other Godchildren ever doing things on a scale anywhere near what Timmy does. The only other Godchildren we meet personally, from what I can recall, are young Crocker and Remy Buxaplenty. Crocker constantly used his wishing to do small good deeds for the people of Dimmsdale, even to the point that they were having Denzel Crocker day in his honor. Nothing he does is ever world or reality changing in the big picture. Remy Buxaplenty is put forth as a villain, but his wishing is also never on the huge scale that Timmy's is. He wants individuals to be unhappy, but never changes the entire world. Timmy, however, does. All the time. Eventually he changes it back, but not before risking everyone and everything on his whims.
Now, granted, Timmy is a good character. He gets selfish at times, but he's always motivated to do the right thing in the end, as soon as he notices that he might be hurting someone. But is good intentions enough to make him overall good? Nothing he does is permanently bad, but just about every wish he makes is very bad for awhile, even the ones that eventually end in good outcomes. Which of the two halls should he be in?
As I've said, in the episode, the only recognizable character in the Hall of Fame is a young Crocker, so we can use him as a base for who should be rewarded for their good wishing. He constantly did good deeds just to do them. Granted, he got to enjoy being the town hero. This is a benefit. But he could have enjoyed that without actually doing the deeds. Timmy does this in an episode when he frees Chompy the goat and blames it on Vicky. No, he was doing good things constantly. His wishing made things better.
In this episode, he brings three people from the Hall of Infamy to life to talk to them. They list things they've done to get them there, such as wishing all French people being mean to Americans, and starting World War II. These are obviously completely selfish, and don't really help anyone, not even the wishers, really. They're just spiteful. This doesn't fit Timmy either. He's only spiteful to people who wrong him, such as Vicky and the evil Crocker he created. Besides these evil characters, Timmy's wishes aren't about making anyone suffer. If anything, most of his wishes that change the entire world, such as turning the entire world into a world of Superheroes, let everyone else potentially enjoy the benefits of his wish as well. They put the world in danger, sure. Creating a world full of Superheroes means creating a world full of Supervillains as well, for example. But that wasn't the concept. That wasn't why he did it. Timmy isn't spiteful.
So, really, he doesn't belong in either hall. He's not inherently good enough to be in the good place, and he's not bad enough to be in the bad place. So he has a place of his own, I suppose.
Of course, I wouldn't really want Timmy to be completely good or completely evil. Without his reckless wishes nothing would really happen in the show, and the show is great. This is just the sort of retarded crap I think about.
Moral of the story? I think way too in depth about retarded crap.
The end.

Posted by poetfox at 02:24 AM | Comments (0)

August 07, 2007

I'm Late To This Party, And Dammit, If You Are Too, You're Coming!

If this was, say, Parish's blog, or a news blog, or just about any professional blog, or not my blog, I would put up a neat picture to preface this. Maybe a picture like this. Or that, even. But no, I link to them instead. That's the Getmeoutofthis.net way. Or something.

So... CAVE STORY.
It's really damn awesome.

No seriously, I've been having a lot of fun. I just got to the first really hard boss, though, and knowing me it might be hard enough to discourage me from continuing. But it's a lot of fun.
The game is basically a cute little Metroid-type game. You're a little guy with a hat, and you pick up various guns. They all do different sorts of things, some have ammo and some don't, and you flip between them easily through little hotkeys or opening a nice little pausey item menu. Each weapon has three levels of power. Some even change effects when they level up. You level up by collecting these little yellow triangly thingies that enemies drop. You lose these energy thingies whenever you get hit, so if you're getting the shit beat out of you, your currently-equipped weapon will level down. You jump really high, it feels like. The controls are overall very good, though the jumping is very floaty. It's not a problem, perse, but it takes a little getting used to. There isn't TOO much platforming so far, but you will die if you jump shitty.
Anyway, it has a cute little story and it's got a nice little visual style and it's completely free. It's awesome. I'm playing a PSP port which has a couple little glitches, but just silly visual things like some letters cut off in some text boxes, and nothing that hurts gameplay. It's over here. If you have a haxx0red PSP, it comes highly recommended. Otherwise, there's a PC or Mac version which I haven't tried but is freely available like... here... although you'll probably have to patch it for English... but my PSP version was using the same translation and it's pretty solid. So, you know, do patch it. Whatever. You figure it out, and then play this awesome free game. Oh, I think there's a Haxx0red DS version too, but I dunno about that so INTERNET IT YOURSELF WHAT DO I HAVE TO HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS?

Play the game.

In other news, I have a Temporary Access Card! Also, we played Catan tonight and I totally won! I'm a winner!
I win.

Posted by poetfox at 12:47 AM | Comments (0)

August 06, 2007

A Comic Dai Linked Triggered The Need To Rant

So maybe I take the game too seriously, but this comic isn't funny. Dai showed it to me, and thought as a Magic person, I'd find it entertaining. But it really just shows a lack of comic guy knowing anything about Magic, really. He read a press blurb about Future Sight and that was it.
There's two reasons that Future Sight is neat. One is that it really does give a glimpse about what space future cards are going to go into. Sure, we might get one printed again, but just thinking about what could be done with some of these 1-shot mechanics over a whole block is just awesome to ponder and debate. The second is that it continued the overall theme of the block, being Past Present Future. Now, I know I've talked about how much I dislike Planar Chaos before, and that probably still holds true. But the whole idea of the themes of the block I can get behind. I can completely get behind the reason they printed "Giant Growth, Only Red" and so on. It's a good reason. It's just not exciting to me as a player. As a concept, it's exciting. Views of the future as a concept and theme, that's a soild idea that deserved to be made. Magic Guy in the last panel is right. The concept of seeing the future of a game you love is cool.
The other part I dislike about the comic is how it talks about them reprinting cards as screwing the consumer over. There's always a chance that you'll get another copy of a card you already have a set of, sure. But there is a very powerful and thriving aftermarket for Magic cards, and you can sell it for a fair cost, or trade it for cards you do need with minimal hassle. Plus, reprinting cards is extremely important to the game. Without reprints, recruiting new players to expand your player base would be difficult. They'd be at an extreme disadvantage, because the only way to get key cards would be to pay extremely high secondary market prices for them. Also, from a design standpoint, when you make an incredibly utility-style card like Stone Rain, it's a card that might need to be in a set for balance. You can't make another Stone Rain, because anything else would need to cost more to be fair. You need Stone Rain to fill that specific slot. Also, such cards like Stone Rain are iconic, and establish a brand. When you play Magic, you expect to see iconic cards like Serra Angel, Shock, and Giant Growth. Everyone knows what those cards are, and people outside the game are more likely to recognize them. Keeping them in the game is important for that reason.

Anyway, there's a stupid rant I felt compelled to write. And Dai is disagreeing with me that the comic implies these things, which shi might be right on, but I need to stop the argument now before I start getting angry, because I always seem to be angry when I get into arguments with hir.

Posted by poetfox at 03:01 PM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2007

I've Got Those Wallet Is Gone Blues

So my wallet got stolen. Or maybe I dropped it somewhere. I don't know. It's definately gone, in any case. I've already killed the money card, so I should be fine. I just get a lot of errands to do on monday when I wake up! Though that doesn't seem too bad... driving around, doing errands, listening to TWiT, maybe eating some lunch with someone afterwards...

But anyway, the point is, now that my beloved Chococat wallet is gone, I need a new one. I don't really want another Sanrio Wallet... most of them aren't very good. The Chococat one I got to look at and feel and know it was decent before I bought it. Over the internet, I cannot do this. What I do want, though, is a cool new wallet. And I remembered, from a long time ago, the Magic Wallet my Mom got me. (I realize now that that was one of the best presents she ever got me without advice from myself or my brother, actually.) I don't know where it is now, but that thing was awesome. So I do my internet thing and look for this wallet, and the only place on the whole internet I found it is here.
How does that site look to you? It looks all shady and weird. Well, okay, maybe not shady... just... old. Not the sort of website a company would likely have... I dunno. Maybe I shouldn't worry so much. Mom's very few internet purchases are all from places that make me cringe, and they all turn out fine. It's the one place that has what I want, so I should just order the Magic Wallet Plus I want from there and be done with it, and if I'm really worried I can call their Customer Service line first and talk to someone about it.

But this is all kind of moot right now, because my wallet is gone and I don't have a debit card to order these things with. Sad face.

Posted by poetfox at 02:39 AM | Comments (0)

August 04, 2007

Here's This Rant: Gaming Needs More Novellas

Fuck, I did it. Ordered Persona 3. Dammit.
We'll see what that does on my budget. I need to not buy anything now that I'm set for work and set for gaming for this month. Bleh. I dunno. Sometimes I just dislike how little restraint I have for niche games. Luckily, most of the time these games are budget priced or portable, so it's not so painful. This game is full price (though I am saving five dollars on Amazon), but it's not like I'm not getting a good value. It's a big game, and it comes with some nice extras. I'm not angry they're charging it. It's more just me.

I've done half-rants about this before, but a thread on Talking Time a long while ago made me realize that I am a lot different than I used to be, and one of the reasons I like portable games more now is because they're normally shorter, or designed to be consumed without marathon sessions. I like download games from XBLA because they're designed similarly. I cannot handle console RPGs anymore, no matter how much I like them. I loved FFXII. I got maybe halfway through, and I can't play it anymore.
Gaming Needs More Novellas.
I am not interested in a game with "70+ Hours Of Gameplay!" on the box. I am not interested in a game that waters down gameplay to add those hours and keep me from beating it. I want gaming novellas. I want the awesome, and I want it to end the moment it starts to feel like a chore.

Examples Of Games I've Played Recently That Are Novellas:
Paper Mario. Basically the whole Paper Mario series meets this. Paper Mario lasts exactly the right length. They aren't too long. They end right after they give you all their toys and you feel fufilled. If you're one of those people who need to milk every hour possible, they have extra bosses and dungeons to slog through for tiny rewards. But that doesn't matter. The game is beat.
Wonder Boy in Monster World: It was a perfect tiny chunk of Metroidvania! I know it wasn't made with this in mind, and it probably would have frustrated me if I hadn't used a walkthrough for some things. But it was a very solid game that ended very quickly, with no backtracking or anything required.
Kirby's Adventure: Most of the platformer Kirby games meet this as well. They're easy and fun, you have a great time the entire time you play, and then you're done.
Crackdown: If you want to play Crackdown as a game that you beat, then it works very well as a novella. You gain new skills at a very good pace as you beat the bosses. You always have something new to fiddle around with, whether a new gun or a new jump height to explore more, and just when you get all the skills and have seen about everything, you beat the last boss and win. If you want more, you can play co-op or single player and dick around. But the core game is a novella.
Katamari Damacy: It builds to an amazing climax and then you're done. You can go back and replay it, but you're finished, and it doesn't take too long to get there, and you enjoy every moment of it. It having shipped originally at a budget price was just a bonus.

Most XBLA games I play through likely fall into this category as well. If not, they're build around doing one little session and then putting it down until later (like Uno or Catan). But things like Band of Bugs, that's exactly what I want. A well-made chunk of Tactical RPG that I can beat without investing hours and hours.

I can't be the only person who feels this way. I'm not really busy, and I feel too busy to invest hours and hours into a RPG. Gamers are getting grown up and getting actually busy, and they must feel similarly. There needs to be more of these things. There really does. Nobody seems to beat games anymore. Most gamers who buy the numbers of games I do don't beat them. I've seen people on Talking Time being excited when they actually beat Super Paper Mario, remarking how long it's been since they beat a game. Beating a game is a good feeling. It really is.
They need to find the good part of the gameplay, not water it down in the least, and just give it to you. An amazing gaming novella will leave a much, much better impression on me, and I would think everyone, than a decent game that's long, long, long.

Anyway, there's my rant. I'm going to bed. I've got to work tommorow so I can pay for Persona 3... yeaaaaah...

Posted by poetfox at 02:14 AM | Comments (0)

August 03, 2007

Shooting Myself In The Head With Awesome

So some other blogs make me wonder about doing things like putting in pictures and putting in jumps and so on, but I dunno if my blog really needs it. The whole blog is really just so stream of consciousness. It's like little mini-essays on whatever I'm thinking about. I like that. It's all rambley like me and it's not laid out. It's neat. I just don't know what to do when I want to put in pictures and stuff. I suppose I'll just keep linking them and assume you're going to click on them.

I kinda like how Flock doesn't default to putting an empty line in between paragraphs any more, but now I have to kinda rethink how I lay things out. Eh, paragraphs isn't really much laying out, though. But I do try to put a space in between topics.

ANYWAY, I was watching The 1up Show for this week, and they were talking about Persona 3. Now, I've been kinda interested in Persona 3. It's got a pretty nice visual style, the concept looked interesting (it's sort of combining a dungeon hacking RPG with a  dating or life sim, where during the night you're dungeon crawling but during the day you're building up these relationships with people, which affect your stats to make you better at the combat at night). However, I can't complete console RPGs anymore. I just really can't. The standard jRPG is just much too long and I fizzle out in the middle. I was thinking I couldn't justify paying the 50 bucks for this game, because I wouldn't play it for 50 bucks worth of playtime.
However, like I said, I was watching the 1up Show and it had some gameplay footage, as they are known to do while covering games, and I got to hear some of the music. It was pretty interesting. I'd heard as much. So I went deep into the internets to hear some more, and dammit, if it isn't completely fucking awesome. It's great stuff! It's this weird hip hop electric... stuff. I want to play a game with this music. I really do. We'll see what happens with my resolve... well, actually, it's pretty well completely gone at this point. Anyway, check out the normal battle music. Weird awesome shit. Heh. The track is called "Mass Destruction." Heh heh.
Also, there's a puppy with a dagger as a party member. I wanna use him.

In other news, I bought school supplies today. Man, that's depressing. I got in on the future: A new generation of binders, just for me! This one totally has rubber on it's hinges. Hopefully the hinges won't split this time because of it. I also got a folder full of folders, because I thought it looked neat. I buy too much stuff like this because it looks neat... but we'll see how effective it is and if I use it. Hopefully it'll keep my random stack of shit in an almost order. I also bought the bag I wanted. It's not very big, but I shouldn't need a big one, hopefully. Then again, I haven't checked my schedule lately. I hope I don't have many classes in a row. Eh, but I'll deal with that when the time comes. I have a little more vacation left. I should be lazy and enjoy it. I gotta keep my stress level at a minimum to keep me happy and working and completing assignments. I need to finish this year.
I really do.

Posted by poetfox at 09:29 PM | Comments (0)

August 01, 2007

SO MANY PICROSS I HAVE DONE! SO! MANY!

So I decided to try out my Ghuol Whelp in KoL for awhile, but he needed a better name than the placeholder I slapped in there of "Munchy." So what did I name him? Well, in honor of watching Jonathan enjoy the terrible voice acting for so, so long, I named him Ethan Waber, after the main character of the story mode of Phantasy Star Universe. Ethan ate corpses, right? It's a good fit, right?
Seriously, though, current KoL news is that I'm going after the Order of the Silver Wossname. I've successfully killed all but 1 hippie. This is good! This proves my tally-mark-making skills were up to the task. The next few days will have me taking out all but one of the Frat Boys, and then it's time for an exciting Last Stand. Though it'll take me longer than it could because I'm going to keep farming for Filthy Lucre, so that's a decent sized chunk of adventures every day...

But Anyway! I got me Picross DS, and you know what? It's still awesome. The stylus controls work much, much better! The only thing is I sometimes hit incorrect boxes as I jab the stylus at the screen to count spaces. But that's more of a personal problem than the game's problem. It's all just a lot of fun, really, and it has TERRIBLE MUSIC. Anyway, if you like those sorts of puzzle timewasters, I do recommend picking it up, especially since The All-Knowing Oracle, Wikipedia, claims that after they get the damn server up, you should be able to download most if not all of the puzzles from all the previous Picross games that only came out in Japan over the Wifi Connection, so that's pretty awesome. Also, you can make your own penis-based Picross extremely easily. Fun times.

People on Talking Time are talking about Halo 3 parties. This is very mean. I don't want to pick it up right at launch, but those would be so fun I might have no choice but to do so! Damn you, friends on Talking Time! DAMN YOU AAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!

Posted by poetfox at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)