The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Well, man, I’ve been slacking off on this (and a lot of things, honestly) but I’m finally getting to Shivam’s mix! He mentioned something about including tracks for me. Let’s see how that goes, eh, and get right into it. Everything in the bold and italics is what was on the little sheet that came with the CD.

Listening Time Volume 5: Colors of Sound

1.  Unique – Feelin’ Fine (DJ Sy mix) She loves me, I love her, and we dance in the pale yellow lights. : Well, alright, this definitely is starting faster… a lot of scratching… man, I need to learn to spell definitely… ooh, vocals… male… I wonder if it’s just going to be touches or actual singing. I do like actual vocals with these kinds of songs… I’m weird, I guess. Yeah, it’s mostly just a beat with a lot of scratching over the top… not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course… okay, there’s some soft like… melody underneath it… ooh, some singing about smiles and faces… Feeling Fiiiiiiiiiiine, apparently! Dat dat doot doot dat datdat doot doot… Oh, man, already distraction… NarinaKitty, too… don’t much like her… but CD, yes… hmmm, yes, it does keep going and going, doesn’t it? Then again, I guess that’s what most remixes and stuff do. I dunno, I really like this kind of music, but I prefer them, in general, to be like… songs, you know? And not just catchy tunes to dance to. I guess because I never go dancing… hmmm, more vocals… this is the same stuff as before, isn’t it? Yeahyeah, it is. Changing to skin mode so I can see how much is left… woah, still a lot of song. And more singing… and now Jonathan comes in. Yay. Sigh. Getting out the headphones. Drumrolllllll and it’s over.
2. Franke Goes to Hollywood – Two Tribes (Rob Searles Club Mix) But trouble is brewing in paradise under the green boughs. : Woah woah, that starts off strong… hmmm… there’s some singing, but it’s all echo-y remix style singing… more filters, more filters, more! Mmm, see, I want this to be the opening, and then the song to do something, You know? But I just have a feeling it won’t. Like I was saying, this sort of thing is great to dance to, I’m sure, but it gets so… repetitious just listening to it… this coming from someone who loves Soul Coughing, though… I guess they use repetition to make a point, and then things change, you know? Drum drum drum druuuuuuums, and now the same thing with another layer in there… See, that’s how they work. They start with a base, and then instead of switching it up, they just add another layer… and another… to the same thing… oh, goodness, it changed… sirens and slowness and piano… hm… talkings… old-tymey talkings… hm… and now it seems like it’s starting to build back up… OW OW OW! OW OWWWWWWWW! LET’S GO! Mmm, using the vocals to build of a bridge or whatever to build back up… that’s nice. Ecks is on… a more welcome distraction, certainly, but eh, I do want to get this done. I like how that now it seems more… vocals-based than it was before. There’s less echo-y-ness on the vocals than before. I guess I should ask, is this trouble brewing…? Not really…? I dunno. I do like it now that’s it’s more around the vocals and the song… although now it’s… oh, it’s a new track suddenly.
3. Armin Van Buren – Janerio We remember the times of initial joy and wonder, under a purple ocean sky. : That was… an abrupt change… A slightly different thingy than the last song, although not TOO different… oooh, female whispers…? Hey, there’s the name of the song. I totally heard it. Mmm, just down to the twangy-electrics bits… and… oh, all singing now with some Aaaahs… She loves to be there, apparently… on the beach, supposedly… smiling because I’m there, for some reason… and there’s nakedness…? I guess the lyrics lend itself to “purple ocean sky.” Oh, wait, naked soul? Bleh, I always have a hard time buying into anything like that. I’ve probably just been ruined by that song that plays at work that talks about “you and your beautiful soul” which sounds like the worse line ever and the singer is obviously just trying to get laid. But yeah, it’s got that happy beat in the background that these songs have that really get you going going going, but like… this song isn’t going to, say… be separate in my mind from the last two or whatever? That similar quality, makes them all flow together…
4. PPK – Resurection (video mix) Yet not even that can stave off the inevitable blackness. : And he seems to be working off of that, because these changes are abrupt and it takes me a second to go “wait, this is a new song.”  This one does seem to have a more… darker feeling to it. Little bleepy bit here without drums… okay, here’s some drums as it beeps on and on… building building… and now it’s another dance-y techno song. But something about how it’s made does make it feel more melancholy… if I knew more about music I could probably explain. Maybe it’s the key? I dunno, I’m just throwing stuff out there. Here’s a bridge of some sort, over the top… seems like a different person going against the rest of it… sort of… feeling… if this was a play or something. You know, in my head. That wasn’t worded well… and now we’re back to this melancholy drumless beeping. Oh, and a fade-away this time. I see.
5. Denki Groove – Niji (Potted gold remix) I leave, and rememebr my past lives, now fading into the green mist of memory. : Japanese girl singing… suppose I should have expected something like that with the name “Denki Groove.” Clapping… well, the synth clap noise. Mm, well, the singing is just being used as an instrument so far… you’ve got the girl singing “ah” that’s sorta being used like a drum track or something… and now she’s gone completely… well, now back… hm… what is there to say… is this a green mist of memory, I guess…? I dunno? I don’t claim to associate green with memory. Memory is so fuzzy… just this vague knowing… I guess that’s misty, but that suggests you move through it, whereas I just see it sort of passing you, and you manipulating the flow… maybe… yeah, her voice is really just an instrument, the more and more I hear. I really must be weird, liking vocals like that. Boom Boom Boom Boom over and over in the background… hm… although sometimes its hidden and sometimes it’s more… prominent. These songs always use those drumrolls before they break it down, don’t they? Or just as an ending… soft singing… but man, the songs almost done… abrupt fade.
6. The Lovemakers – Prepare for the Fight The struggle to move on begins, and the harsh orange glow of the streets assaults me. : This is more… guitar-y, although it’s still got that synth background… I’m liking this so far, yeahyeah… just come in with some good singing and I’ll be happy… Oh yeah! Yes, yes, yes, this is a good song! I’d like it to be maybe a little more… intense…? But I’m not going to complain. This is the song of song I like. Or something like that. Eh, whatever, you’ll see what I like when I send my CD out in a week or so. But yeah, this is pretty great. Yeah, it’s like, he goes up for the big belt, but then they do something to do to make it… significantly milder… I wonder what exactly that is… the FIIIIIIIIIIGHT! is stripped of something. I don’t know if that’s any orange glow on a street, though, but that’s nice.
7. Party Ben – Boulevard of Broken Songs I walk this lonely road. The colors all blend together. : Stutter stutter stutter stutter acoustic guitar…? Heh, I wasn’t expecting an acoustic guitar given what I’ve heard so far. This is a song song, male vocals… it feels like an Essner song with more… stuff in the background…? Well, maybe not this refrain part… this part is leaning towards “rock song.” Which I guess has a negative connotation with my friends, but I don’t mean it that way, just trying to describe it. Hey, the boyfriend is on. Yay! But no, I must be resolute, and not be distracted. Yeah, I like these verses pretty good, but the refrain leaves me a little flat… it feels kinda… generic, which is I guess why I called it like “rock song.” It just builds up for the refrain but I don’t think the building and adding the second voice and whatever adds anything, actually. They could do something more interesting with it, maybe. I dunno. Oooooh, this part at the end is kinda fun. But it’s just a little bit and then it’s done.
8. Joe Darwish – The Ken Song The red glow of the sun reminds me that life does go on. : Okay, guitars… ooh, fast guitars… Mega-man guitars…? Why does this remind me of Mega Man? Two guys singing… It’s got this full fullness in the background that all these songs seem to have in common… I don’t know what I want to call that… full fullness is kinda a silly way to describe something. The song is leaving me uninterested, though. Not bad, not horrible. It’s the sort of song I’d be happy to hear at work because it’s better than the majority of the crap they play, but I wouldn’t really remember much about it besides it being a welcome change of pace, you know? I see this description, though. The song would go along with… I dunno… a sunrise after like… a movie with midnight monster hunts at the end… sort of abrupt and fade…
9. Dir En Grey – Garden Try as I might, my green and black surroundings won’t allow me to forget you. : Mm, this one is quieter… once again, some sort of Mega Man vibe for no reason. It goes and goes and goes in the background. Not much change in the instruments besides something in my left ear that goes along with the singing… I can’t understand the singing…That’s not Japanese… I don’t recognize the language. Huh. Duggaduggaduggaduggadugga down there in the background during the refrain. I think if the volume was similar to the last few tracks this would feel as busy in the background as well, but because it’s down a notch it doesn’t, really. Oh, and it’s ending… but there’s half a track left… here’s some little blippy strums… and some choir… and it’s building and building up again… and now it’s back to where it was before, only the drums are a bit different. All of these songs have had much more energy than most of previous mixes, but I find it still not being exactly what I mean when I say energy… I mean, they’re energetic, and I do like them more because of that, but it’s not exactly what I’m talking about… I need to find a word… oh, the song’s over.
10. VAST – Touched The darkness returns, yet with a streak of clarity. : Mmm, quieter in the mood way, not in the volume way… acoustic guitar and soft singings… hmmm, what’s up with that background singing… it reminds me of something but I can’t really… I don’t know how to tell what it WOAH, guitars! And singing more powerfully. Yeah, I like this… and it fits with the little snippet of idea better, too. Definitely see “darkness with a streak of clarity” in this song. I honestly could do without some of the dramatic instrumental sections, but it’s pretty nice… now we have a slow break… eh… and now it gets back to it with a little more… and there’s that singing again. Man, I wish I could think of a good word to describe that background vocal… and… bagpipes…? No, that isn’t bagpipes, dammit, I dunno know that either. Oh well, it’s over.
11. Placebo – The Bitter End The stark white moonlight shines down on me as I realise how slime the chances of making it work are. We’re not meant to be. : Okay, this is starting strong… and he’s singing, sorta… what do I want to say about his singing… there’s a definite feeling there… he’s in his own little section and that’s what he’s singing in… that makes no sense, does it? Oh well. Oooh, I kinda like the beeping there… doda doda, doDa, doDA… that kinda thing. I think I know what it is about the vocals… it doesn’t seem connected to the music at all. He’s singing in his own channel and they’ve build the song around him without his knowledge maybe sort of feeling. Lots of guitar in my right ear… drums in my left now… hm… and vocals in the left… and now it’s mixing a bit better… it is weird how songs can feel so different when you’re wearing headphones and you can actually sense the difference between the two channels and whatnot… my two speakers on my computer are normally sitting right next to each other, so there’s not difference… and it’s build and building and drops suddenly!
12. Ripslyme vs Hotei – Funktastic Battle The sun shines brightly on me as I return to living a whole life again. : Scratch scratch… chanting scratch scratch. Oooh, kinda… funky… dare I say… funktastic? Heh. The volume level did drop, though. Rapping… in a language I don’t understand… there’s some english thrown in that. That could be Japanese. I do find that I enjoy lighthearted fun rap more and more the more I listen to it. It’s just that so much rap that gets mainstream is on those incredibly idiotic sorts of topics and it’s all annoying. The form itself, though, is kinda fun. This song is fun. Lots of brass in the background. I’m enjoying this one. Oooh, sorta breaking it down here with different brass in the background… and some electric guitar instrumental break… Woooo! Yeah. Huh huh huh huh. Hallelujah! Heh.
13. Keane – We Might as Well be Strangers (DJ Shadow remix) The prism distorts you in my mind, as I rewrite those sectors. : Stutterful… I don’t know if the stuttering serves any point, really. It’s not getting me. There’s singing, kinda light singing… and theres some building drums in the background… and now it’s going to break down into techno-ness… yeah, pretty well, though it’s kinda slow. Once again, I get that feeling I had earlier of the vocals having not much at all to do with the music, like he just sang into a mic and then handed it to someone else who put the song together… you can reach more of a… union between the two, can’t you? That’s possible, right? BEEP BEEP beep beep Beep Beep BEep BEep. And now it’s kinda fading away with sad piano noises over echo garbage… hm… yeah, I dunno about that one.
14. DJ Payroll – Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Luno (apollo 440 vs bloc party) Black and White, I know you now, and won’t be played the fool again. : Fastfast start here… hmm… Mmm, I’m diggin’ the guitar so far… and here’s some crazy techno drums coming in behind it… all the vocals are all… vocordered and messed with or whatever. I can barely understand them and hear what they’re saying… I guess the words aren’t really the point, but I’d like to be able to make them out if I wanted to… mostly because I enjoy singing along with songs… but yeah, this seems more… dance-y… like back to how it was in the beginning of the CD. Yo-oh! Or maybe Go-oh! I can’t figure it out, but they’re talking ’bout it, that’s for sure. Woah, a bit crazy here on the bridge… Hmmm, but yeah, I dunno… It’s really busy and exciting in the back, there, but there’s nothing on top of it that feels substantial. Is that a valid complaint? Hell, I have no idea. And it fades and then just an echo voice end.
15. Ellegarden – Salamander The rainbow diffuses through me; I’m purged of sad and happy. : Slow guitars… plink plink plink plink… and now it got going… Mm, his voice is getting eaten by the guitars… feels… very similar to previous songs… like the last one or the one before maybe… but yeah, okay, here’s a refrain where his singing feels more like a part of the song because his singing builds with the music, you know? He jumps up and the music jumps up. There ain’t no a lot of things, apparently. I can see the description on this one, too. Well, the diffusing part, anyway. He needs more time… he will somehow make it through… and it breaks down to just guitar… well, hey, it got back to normal quicker than I thought. I figured he’d do the first part of the refrain and then do it all again to bring it back… that’s kinda the formula… some busy guitar work here, leading to the end. And then one sustained note being annoying in my headphones and done.
16. Republica – Ready to Go ( US version) Why mope any longer? The world is screaming for me in reds and golds. : Light-feeling guitar… some cymbal… some female vocal… ooh, some big drums in the background, though they’re soft… they’re just… big… the drums used was big. Oh, goodness, some Rokkin’ guitars added… I was expecting it to stay kinda slow. Mmm, yeah, I’m liking this pretty well. Oh, it’s this song? I’ve heard that vocal before. But I couldn’t have heard this before, I don’t remember all the stuff around the vocals… maybe this is a remix? I guess it probably is. The title didn’t completely suggest it, though… the song is pretty decent with working with the vocals, though. They don’t feel pasted into a different song. Back to the light guitar… hm… and back to the rokkin’ guitar part at the beginning. Neat.  Yeah, this song gets my seal of approval, for what little that’s worth. I like this. It is kinda… slow in a weird way. Not really slow… the energy it gives me is not in the beat of the song, so I feel like I’m faster than the song itself… I think that’s the remix-stuff over the slower vocals that’s causing that, perhaps. GOOOOOOOOOOOOO! End.
17. DJ Rap – It’s Good to be Alive Damn right it is. The world, in its myriad shades and spectra, is wide open for me, as long as I choose to live in it. : Strings… definitely slower… then again, it’s… woah, that’s… that’s weird vocals… what the hell is with those vocals… what kind of effects are those… the whole thing is a bit louder… the drums are making my head pound, actually… there’s some female and male voices mixed in there, I think… now the vocals are brought up more to the front… I dunno, I expect a title like “It’s Good to be Alive” to feel more like a celebration… this feels more like a… like a relief… like… “thank goodness we’re still alive” sort of feeling… which I suppose works with the title as well, of course. What kind of a name is DJ Rap, though? Seriously? Heh. Yeah, this song is pretty good, but it’s not the party I expected… more… looking into the horizon… which I guess fits with the description given, about the world being wide open and full of possibilities. Love to love you love to love you love to love you… and strings… sad strong little dramatic strings… echo echo… and that’s it.

Well, yeah, I enjoyed this CD. Brought up some of my weird dislikes about dancing music, but it was good. Definitely higher-energy than previous entries, even if I still didn’t quite get what I mean about energy… maybe like… getting me on the same wavelength and pumping me up… hell, I dunno. My CD will be full of songs that do that to me, so I suppose everyone else can tell me what it is I like… but yeah, neat to listen to. I’m going to rip that Funktastic track now.

Hey, now I don’t look so much like a liar! Neat! Also, at some point this next week, in case I don’t make another post, I’m going to be moving servers to, well, a server I’m in control of instead of Droid. Wish me luck with that. If there’s some sort of interference in service, that’s probably why. Hopefully everything should just drop into Cpanel flawlessly as Droid told me.

ANYWAY, Mass Effect is an RPG-ish experience from Bioware. This indicates several things: There are a lot of dialog choices and a lot of dialog with your party, who tend to be fairly well-rounded characters (though, personally, Obsidian’s takes on Bioware’s games have created more interesting characters, at least to me. But they’re both good.) and have a lot to say about themselves and the world. All of this is pretty separate from the whole “game” aspect, which has dungeon crawling and shooting many a robot and person though a variety of locales.
There’s like TONS of dialog in this game, and it’s all voice-acted, even your own stuff. Instead of picking a phrase and having the character respond to that phrase, you pick a general idea and your character says something along those lines. It actually works really well. Your choices get to be short and to the point, like “Kill him,” “We should save him,” “That’s illegal,” and so on, but what Shepard says is much more satisfying than that… something like, if you picked “Kill him,” Shepard would say something like “You switch sides too often. I can’t allow you to survive.” and then pull a gun on them and shoot them. It’s neat. Anyway, all of the dialog is great, but that’s to be expected. There are no annoying voice actors in the game, and both Male and Female Shepard sound right. It’s awesome.
Technically, however, the game has flaws… since the 360 does not necessarily have a hard drive, the game has to work REALLY HARD to run without using any HD space as a swap file or whatever. The disc is spinning CONSTANTLY while you play, and it sometimes takes a few seconds for textures to pop in… so you’ll be talking to a character, and all of the sudden, BAM, the texture on the wall behind them or on their clothing will just appear. It’s not annoying outside of dialog, though… I never really noticed it anywhere else, though I’m sure it happened. The menu system is god-awful as well. The game forces an inventory limit on you, and then makes it near impossible to navigate your items in order to manage them. It’s really quite frustrating.
These issues, though, don’t break the game. The story is cliche, but well written, and the dialog great, like I said. The combat is pretty good as well. The combat controls an awful lot like a Gears of War with magic. You can dash up to cover, pop out from behind it to shoot a few shots, and then hide again. You have four different weapons, but depending on your class, you’ll suck with some of them because you can’t train in them. This isn’t much of a problem. I used the pistol for most of the game, and it was still powerful and satisfying. I didn’t feel I was missing anything by not being able to use the Assault Rifle or Shotgun well. Holding down the right bumper lets you use your various abilities from a pause ring menu, and it works well. I was an Infiltrator, so I mostly had Tech attacks, but they were really satisfying. They all dealt damage as well as shut down one thing… Overload shut down their shields, Sabotage overheated their weapons so they couldn’t fire for awhile, and Dampening kept them from doing their “spells” for awhile. The weapon combat abilities like Marksman and Shield Boost were very handy as well, Shield Boost especially because I had such high shields because of my class. The combat starts out hard, but gets pretty damn easy by the end of the game if you go out of your way to do some side quests to improve your skills and equipment. In the end game, unless I happened to run out in front of a missile Turmulent or something, I was pretty well completely safe. The last boss was still satisfyingly hard, though not frustrating, which I appreciated.
The vehicle combat, though, is not nearly as refined. It’s fun the first few times you get to blow shit up in the Mako, but some stupid decisions quickly come to your attention. Shields in on-foot combat start to regenerate after a couple seconds of you not being shot… if you’re patient and take cover for awhile, you can recharge them completely, and it doesn’t take so long as to annoy you, but still long enough that you have to be careful. The Mako’s shields are completely annoying. They recharge glacially slow if you lose them. Like 5-10 minutes for a full charge. I sat an enjoyed a Frosty the other day, and it STILL wasn’t completely charged by the time I finished. You can repair the hull and armor portion of the Mako, but it is something like 25 percent of it’s max health, the rest being shields, so you still can’t get into too much combat without being screwed unless you let the shields recharge. Additionally, the aiming sight for the gun is a weird transparent grey. This disappears on almost all backgrounds in the game, so you can’t aim worth anything for absolutely no reason. It’s really annoying.
All in all, though, Mass Effect is flawed. Yet, it has so much charm and so much… good… going for it that I really didn’t care too often as I played through it. I hope all the stupidity is worked out in the sequel, but as is, it’s a great Sci-Fi RPG experience on the 360, and almost certainly worth your attention if you like Bioware’s games, or feel the need for an RPG that isn’t sillystupid like Blue Dragon.

Another one down… still need to write something about Mario Galaxy, though. Oh well, I’ll get there. Maybe next sunday…

Okay, so, it’s a day late, but it’s not like anyone but me cares anyway! We’ll start with Rune Factory. I’ll try to write more today, but damn, I’ve written a shit ton on Rune Factory already, so now these are getting their own posts.

Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon was, supposedly, described by the Harvest Moon creator as “Harvest Moon with Swords.” Harvest Moon. This explanation is completely accurate, basically. You can sit there and farm up a storm if you’d like, and some of the series’ improvements since the first game that have carried over, like the backpack, make this just as good of an experience as it can be. You can even grow crops out of season without having to purchase a greenhouse like in other games, since each dungeon has a “season” climate inside with which to grow various crops. (though who knows how they grow without sunlight) The biggest change from previous games that I’ve played is that you can walk over your crops. I guess that sounds kinda stupid, but in previous games, when your crops got close to the point where they were fully grown, they’d block your path. Therefore, even though your seeds would cover a 3×3 square, you couldn’t actually plant them in the full square, because you wouldn’t be able to water the middle square… at least not with the starting watering can. This isn’t an issue in this game, which is nice, I suppose. It does tie into the fact that growing 9 crops to completion gets you a “rune” which refills some of your RP. You can not harvest the crop and it’ll produce a new rune everyday, if that’s your thing, but that’s mostly useful in dungeons.
Which brings us to the new part, which is the dungeon crawling. Your farmer/adventurer has two meters, HP and RP. Each time you do a chore or attack or whatever, it takes some RP. If your RP meter is empty, it takes some HP. Run out of HP and you collapse… run out of HP in a dungeon and you’re dead. You run through, fighting enemies and destroying these machines which sort of work like the monster generators in Gauntlet. It’s really hack and slash and not especially deep, in all honesty. You get some spells, and as I mentioned, you can plant crops in the caves to create “recharge zones” to get your RP back, if you so desire. You can also charm monsters. These monsters work as both the gnomes and the livestock of previous games. You can tell them to do chores around your farm, like watering for you, and some also produce eggs, milk, etc, for you to sell. You can also take them with you adventuring, which is nice, though they don’t have the best AI in the world.
And that’s it, I suppose. The dungeon crawling is not the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen, but it’s a welcome distraction from the normal Harvest Moon gameplay which, if you’re like me, you’ve already exhausted in previous outings. There’s a plot of sorts, but it’s not going to wow anyone. It’s just something else to put on your daily chore list like any other farm chore… just to see how far you can get and maybe level up, so that you have more RP to get more done in a day. My problems with the game are the hot springs. It’s a bathhouse this time, and it doesn’t open till 3 PM game time. This is insanely annoying, especially in the beginning of the game when you don’t have much stamina, because you literally have to set the game down to let the clock run to 3 with nothing at all to do if you want to make the most out of your day. That’s retarded and frustrating. Also, for once you have a wide variety of people to marry. Not everyone is just a country girl in this game. You have adventurers, spies from other countries… women who do shit other than get married. And yet, if you woo them, they immediately become “stay home and take care of the kids” moms. It’s kinda silly. That’s missed awesomeness potential. Why not have them adventure with you, or research new spells while you’re gone, or otherwise help out the dungeon crawling portion of the game? You could do neat shit with that, but they didn’t. Oh well, maybe in the sequel.
Wow, I really rambled on that one. Anyway, if you like Harvest Moon, but would like a little change and haven’t picked one up in awhile, this is a good buy, I’d think. Just don’t expect a COMPLETELY new experience and you’ll be fine. It’s really just further refined to keep your interest longer… you also might want to wait for the sequel I hear is coming out soon at this point. It might have more in-depth combat and whatnot.

So I’m opening up this thing and woah, there’s like another envelope made of folded paper… and… goodness. It appears to be some sort of musical journey planned, and he has little sentences about what happens in each of the tracks and stuff… hm. And there’s like… sections of three tracks… how am I going to lay this out on here? Well, let’s see… I guess I’ll put everything up there before my ramblings. As I type them, though, I have a feeling most of these tracks are going to be things I thoroughly enjoy in the context of something, but just floating out there vaguely in general I won’t get much out of… I guess I can try to picture this journey as I go? I suppose that’s the idea. I’ll do my best.

…metempsychosis, the eternal cycle of mortality to godhood…

-Muladhara-
Track 1: Prologue ( Red Wings – Game Music Concert – The Best Selection – Nobuo Uematsu)
Beyond your perception are the forces controlled only by fate.
Drumdruums… OH, Okay, I didn’t recognize it immediately from the title, but this is the music like… at the beginning of FFIV. It’s a really nice little piece. Not something I’d listen to at random… but it has sort of a feeling of… it sums up Cecil’s sorta feelings about having to do things but not liking the methods…? It’s sort of regal and respected, but there’s that undercurrent of dread kinda in there. I suppose it does fit that little sentence up there pretty well… sorta… embodying how you have to go along with fate, no matter what…

Track 2: Blessing of Mother Earth (Home Village Arni – Chrono Cross – Yasunori Mitsuda)
This is the familiar world: what you know and have always known.
Mmm, Chrono Cross. Everyone says it has an amazing soundtrack, but I never really recall its soundtrack at all, and I beat the damn thing… it didn’t leave much of an impression on me. And this is a sort of nice windy quiet town sort of theme, but it isn’t really doing a WHOLE lot for me. It’s kinda nice, but I dunno… these sorts of feelings it evokes… about everything sort of being quiet and okay, just sort of make me nervous. There has to be SOMETHING wrong… I guess that’s just a problem with how my mind works, though. Anyway, is that like… a harpsichord…? Is that what that is? I have no idea. But yeah, I guess I do feel a power in this song, but in general this would be the kind of music I would leave just in the background of something.

Track 3: Revealed Destiny (A Fate Accepted – Odin Sphere – Hitoshi Sakimoto)
In whatever form it takes, a greater calling beckons you to journey beyond your sphere.
Odin Sphere, eh? The game I wanted to love but was so damn repetitive… I don’t know if the song is beckoning me onward as it tells. I guess it’s a little bittersweet…? Maybe a looking back on what you’re leaving sort of thing…? But I don’t feel that calling… it feels more like a look back than a look forward, and isn’t that what destiny is…?

-Svadhisthana-
Track 4: Farewell to Familiar Earth (Tina – Final Fantasy VI Grande Finale – Nobuo Uematsu)
Let the sun’s rays warm you one last time as you bid goodbye to what you hold dear.
Oh, this is just the world music…? Isn’t it? Man, I’m such an FFVI n00b in general. Never beat the damn thing. I wonder why this is Tina’s theme…? This is the world music, right? Maybe I’m just insane. There’s certainly been more exciting world themes… I like the one in FFIX myself, if I remember correctly. But I like how this is like… building up more and more as it goes along… like as you leave and move forward you’re filled with more… determination and whatever. On an unrelated note, I really need to learn how to spell certainly at some point. I keep having to spell-check it and I use it all the fucking time. Ooh, a little downward movement… I wonder if it’s going to end like that… yeah… it’s slowing to a finish… hm.

Track 5: Passageway to Beyond (Labyrinth – Soukaigi – Hiroki Kikuta)
Your eyes are no boon in the labyrinthine recesses of the subconscious.
Oooh, exciting. It works well with the sort of slow down what the hell is this sort of thing from the last track. I have no idea what game this is, though. Mm, it’s less exciting than I thought, though. The drums are nice, but it’s still kinda airy backgroundy stuff… actually knowing and liking the next track, I do wonder how it’s going to move onto it without being all… weird. Also, there’s a lot of tambourine in this song. Yay…? Hmm, this part sort of reminds me of the flying on Flammie music. I think it’s the little wavery strings there… Also, okay, the little sentence seems to suggest there would be some level of dread to this song, but it’s generally uplifting… oh, it ends abruptly…

Track 6: The First Struggle (Mass Destruction – Burn My Dread: Persona 3 Reincarnation – Shoji Meguro)
A journey is never without hardship: shadows will could your mind and impede your progress.
Yeah, it didn’t slide into this song very well. It’s so… not orchestrated, it’s jarring. Not that I’m complaining. I LOVE Persona 3’s soundtrack, and this remix album is pretty awesome, too. However, the remix really sort of… suggest less of the hardship and battle that, say, the original or FES versions do, which the sentence suggests is what I’m supposed to be feeling from it…? I don’t know. It’s more like… fun hardship… a friendly challenge rather than a potential setback, if that makes sense. Yeah, I’m just sitting here rocking out to this song. Heh heh. Love it.

-Manipura-
Track 7: An Unknown Calm (Disco – Shin Megami Tensei II – Tsukasa Masuko)
Twisted visages support recognizable elements, serving to alleviate your confusion and regret.
Hmm, yeah, you can tell this is from an earlier age. Blippy. But not bad. I like blippy. I never played a MegaTen game before Persona 3, so I’m not familiar with this. It’s not bad… I get the Disco thing from it, and the little fake vocals are kinda cool. I get the sort of recognizable in the midst of confusion thing this is going for, I suppose. It’s different than the early orchestral stuff and even the last track, but still music, and the voices are recognized as voices, but are different because they’re synthy… yeah. Ooh, abrupt end.

Track 8: Fated Encounter (Tearful Twilight – Ys: The Oath in Felghana)
By chance, the first feelings of assumed ecstasy wash over you.
Mmm, yeah. already sorta disliking this… Not… not really my kinda music… well, most of this isn’t, but this moreso… it doesn’t feel… different. It feels fairly generic for this type of thing, maybe? It’s certainly not filling me with ecstasy, assumed or otherwise. It’s just… neutral… very neutral. I don’t know what this is supposed to make me feel like, really. Hm. Oh well, it’s over now.

Track 9: Appearance of Chaos (MELKABA – Xenogears CREID – Yasunori Mitsuda)
The aspects of your self make it known to you they abhor and fear this journey.
Mmmmm, no no… oh, oh wait… I like that… hm. I like the little quiet background stuff… oh woah… that’s neat… what instrument is that… bagpipes, I guess…? I’m not getting abhor or fear from this, but it is pretty neat. Woah woah woah, it just broke it down! Was not expecting that! Vocals and guitars… yeah, not fear abhor, though… well, maybe abhor… a general reluctance to something that must be done, maybe… man, this song is really cool. I mean, it’s not really music I listen to. None of it has been except the Persona 3 track… but I’m getting more out of it with this guide in general… but man, this song is just neat! I mean, I don’t think I’ll seek it out, but I definitely have to get the boyfriend to listen to it. He listens to this sort of soundtrack thing. I think he’ll get a kick out of it. Man, it’s awesome! And now just the vocals… and it could be the end… but it changed to more plinky stuff… man, neat track, and one I wouldn’t have heard otherwise. I guess that alone makes this CD trading project a success, eh? And a slow fade away…

-Anahata-
Track 10: Steps Into The Divine Realm (House of Sacred Remains – Castlevania: Lament of Innocence – Michiru Yamane)
You have surpassed the doorway between earth and heaven; it is now shut and locked eternally.
Hmmm… king enters…? What? I guess that’s the surpassing… and now there’s this bloodpump noise and singing… though it isn’t really giving me a shut and locked feeling so much… more of a hidden cave sort of thing… definitely a moving forward kinda feeling, though I guess that goes with the sentence. Oh oh, it broke it down too! That moment could be the door locking, easy, and then a bit of panic knowing you can’t go back, yeah yeah. Okay. I can hear this one, certainly. There’s like some Castlevania organ-ness in the background now… I guess this end is sort of a “okay, I’m fucked, I have nowhere to go but forward…” and then, yeah, back to that theme I said felt “forward.”

Track 11: Hot-Blooded Vein (Heavy Metal Bomber – Thunder Cross II)
The adjustment to the metaphysical world is difficult; at first, images from the old world dominate your focus.
This is definitely a quick battle-y theme… it’s from a Shmup, isn’t it? I think that’s what Thunder Cross II is. It’s pretty nice in that blippy video-gamey music way. It would get me pumped up to play and then I would die a lot because it’s a shmup. I don’t really think it’s in any way making me feel adjustment or anything, though… Or an “old world.” It’s, like I said, battle. Fighting. Upbeat. I guess I don’t see any of those things in that. Ooh, that bridge is kinda neat, though. Dramatic finish!!!!!!

Track 12: Transcendence of Superego (ZERO – Ace Combat Zero – Keiki Kobayashi)
Your conscience struggles with you to grasp the nature of divinity.
Some electronic noises over strings… Okay, yeah, there’s definitely a struggle going on in this track. For some reason I find myself thinking of Metal Gear. Have no real reason why. Some little piece must remind me of something from Metal Gear… eh, who knows. But yeah, that’s a track that fits the sentence, I think. Oooh, I like the castanets and dancing sort of sounds… what kinda sound is that… I dunno… like… Born to Be Bone style. That’s nice. Quite nice, actually. Oh, and instead of going back, it kept it all and added some dramatic vocals. Oh, and now we’re going back to slower… but yeah, what’s like… the name for that guitar style? I do tend to like that, but I don’t have a word for it or a good way to describe it. And a fade-away ending…

-Vishuddaha-
Track 13: Visions of Metempsychosis (Theme of Laura (Reprise) – Silent Hill 2 – Akira Yamaoka)
For but a glimpse, you see what awaits you beyond mortality.
Pianos… Silent Hill soundtrack, eh? I really liked Silent Hill 2. It was probably the best of the series so far. (Sorry, Tomm, haven’t played yours yet, maybe it’s really good) And there’s some strings… eh, not doing a lot for me in general. But let’s see… glimpse of beyond mortality… yeah, I can see that… sort of… looking into a mirror or something… and seeing hazy visions…

Track 14: Swallowed in Fear (Abandoned Mines B1 – Vagrant Story – Hitoshi Sakimoto)
Alone your mind contemplates the meaning of your mortality and what will come net.
Definate mine-y music. It’s the echo and the sounds that sort of sound like water dripping that says “mine” or “cave.” I guess I can see contemplation in this. It’s a quiet sort of thing… and it seems to be building… like your mind is working faster… and faster… getting more nervous and excited as you get closer to the truth… going and going and going and… yeah. Yeah, okay. I get it. I never did play Vagrant Story either. I’m such a bad gamer sometimes. Ooh, okay, it changed to more of a dramatic evil thing there with this steam woosh noise and stuff… I guess the conclusion that is being reached is kinda sinister…?

Track 15: Rejection of Ego (CODA – Perfect Selection Snatcher Battle)
You discover that the true self is only a half-truth.
Oooh, dramatic. Snatcher, eh? Game I wish I had played… Ooooh, rockin’! Electric guitars… but a slow sort of rocking… which is fitting for a sort of dramatic revelation, I suppose, as opposed to a dramatic battle. Sort of a “No, it can’t be true!” “But it is! Search your heart!” kinda thing, or something. Preferably with better dialog than that. Wheeeoooooooow! weoooooow!~ Mmm, it goes on a little long for it being a “moment of discovery” though… maybe that’s just me. I mean, the song itself doesn’t feel too long… but for the feeling the sentence says, I mean. Faaaaade away end.

-Ajna-
Track 16: Foray Into The Cosmos (Gradius Medley – Gradius – Arranged by Sota Fujimori)
Your mind has split from the body and drifts among the celestial gods.
Woah woah woah, that’s a whole hell of a lot different than the last track. Techno dance-y woah. There is no feeling of drifting in this, at all… it’s… it’s dance-feeling, like I said… I guess, perhaps, the celestial gods enjoy a good rave now and again…? But if my mind has split from my body, that would make it hard to rave effectively…? I guess i could get a sort of space rocket spinning and twirling happily around in space feeling from this too… but I still don’t know if that’s the sort of feeling being among gods is supposed to be like. I would think it would be something more like… awe… you know? They’re gods, for crying out loud. Beings of crazy power you could only just imagine. You don’t dance, you go “Holy shit, gods!” Maybe.
Bleh, Jonathan gaming in here. On with the headphones I hate so fucking much. The god-rave is still going on… for a long, long while. 1, 2, 3, 4. and on and on and on… okay, finally over. Gods, I hate these headphones.

Track 17: Revelation of the Mind’s Eye (Spider’s String – Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner – Shoji Meguro)
Godhood awaits beyond your final melancholy moments of humanity.
Mmm, more MegaTen stuff, eh? Slow, though. I think Persona 3 is probably fairly different in feel than the rest of the series anyway. But yeah, that’s definately melancholy and… yeah. Was a bit distracted during that short track…

Track 18: Supression of Id (Battle – Shin Megami Tensei II – Comp. by Tsukasa Masuko, Arr. by Sword of Justice)
Nature must finally release it’s grip on you; she has no more sustenance to bear.
Woah woah, yeah! Rockin’ Battle track! Take that nature! Get the hell off me, motherfucka! Man, if I had played this RPG when I was younger I would have gone fucking crazy over this theme… I am now… I need to get me a copy of this… wait… I have it on a CD. I can rip it. Ha. Oh yeah, this is going in my battle themes folder of my MP3 player. (Yes, I have a whole folder dedicated to battle themes so I can have imaginary boss battles against what ails me. Shut up.) But yeah, it’s not so much a release as a punch Mother Nature square in the face and get the fuck out of there sort of feeling. Not… say… the feeling of freedom one might get with a gentle release from nature.

-Sahasrara-
Track 19: Tears of Pandemonium (Demise of the Ritual – Shadow of the Colossus – Kow Otani)
The chaos of mortality is now in the past.
Yeah, I expected something down a bit with that sentence. Very… church-y. I don’t guess I ever got far enough in Shadow of the Colossus to hear this music… I don’t recall it. IT doesn’t sound very happy, though, for leaving something that sounds kinda bad, “chaos of mortality,” behind. Ooh, especially that part. That’s sinister-sounding. It’s not really very comforting to have that behind you, I guess. Then again, immortality is kinda scary and bad-sounding.

Track 20: Shedding the World (Boss (Final) – R-Type Final – Yuki Iwai)
Beyond this final step is the esoteric knowledge of creation.
Dramatic choir… the sound keeps going back and forth in my headphones… is that intentional…? It’s kinda annoying and disorienting because it’s happening constantly in a steady rhythm… I guess that’s because the knowledge of creation is hard to grasp maybe? I dunno, I just make up symbolism as I go along. That’s all symbolism is, really, right? Some shit you made up to justify something you noticed? Especially when there’s vocals, though, I could see standing on the last step, looking into the infinite. So I suppose this track is successful in that regard. Hmm, I wonder what the SECRET HIDDEN TRACK coming up next is. I sorta keep thinking it’ll be a joke… like… the Mario Bros theme. But eh, this is all too serious and well put together for a silly joke. We’ll see.

Track 21: Eternal Bliss (???)
Mmm, yeah, guitars and saxaphone… and some vocals with pointless waver-y effect applied to it… I don’t place the song at all… oh… wait… a point…? It’s all being waver-ed out… but now back to normal… huh… laughing… and… that’s it. Well, okay then.

I have to say, that was sort of an abrupt and unsatisfying end. I also have to say that, when given a context to all this music I would never normally listen to, a focus with which to approach the music and look for things… I got more out of it. I paid more attention and I was more… stimulated. It was a very nice Mix. Good jorb!

Okay! I got a new Listening Time CD in the mail! I got mixed messages about me doing this liveblog thing last time (though Nich said he appreciated the time I took to write it) but I’m doing it again anyway. I only understand what I think about things when I try to put it into words. Anyway, this is a liveblog. It’s not being posted live, but I’m just writing it as I listen with no edits. I can type this up and then use all that to create a more compact not crazy reaction.

In any case, Balrog’s CD he used has a neat design on it… I need to go shopping for CD blanks and shipping boxes for this thing… I also need to get Megi and Ecks to tell me what they thought of my mix… not a lot of help having mix beta testers if they don’t actually tell me what they think of it…
BUT OH WELL! Here we go. This time I’m going to type out all the titles before I start to save time.

Balrog’s Mix 1

Track 1: In the Meantime by Spacehog. Hm, kinda quiet. Kinda familiar somehow… but no, it’s gotten started now and I’m pretty sure I haven’t heard it. Just that little thing that keeps repeating in the background sounds familiar… Wooo oooohs, huh? Not looking promising. Waaaait, no, maybe I have heard this one… or maybe this is a cover of something I don’t really know…? I can’t say I really care too much for this vocalist. There’s something I can’t place about how he’s singing that seems unnecessary… like he goes “you-ou” when he sings “you.” But yeah, in general, this song is too slow to really hit it out of the park for me… oh, we’re to the bridge… Not especially different…? Just enough to say “Oh, there’s the bridge.” I’m trying to focus in on the lyrics. Maybe they’re awesome. But I’m not really catching anything that’s grabbing me… it seems to be finishing up now, though… the song isn’t like… bad. It just doesn’t feel… special? Certainly not energizing, which is what I like… hm? Oh, ending with some piano thing… probably supposed to lead into the next track on the CD it’s from.

Track 2: Chemical World by blur. I dunno if that was a smooth transition, but then again, I don’t think ANY of my current CD draft has smooth transitions… it’s just that Nich’s songs sounded so similar that they all connected decently… but this one… hm… it seems a lot like an Essner song with more… electric guitar…? Sorta British accent on the vocalist…? Generally better to listen to than the guy on the first track, certainly. It is similar to the first song, actually, the more I hear it… the first song just ended weird, so it didn’t click… there’s a little interlude… if I hadn’t seen the little bar on the player I might have guessed it was over. Yes, Yes, Yes, it says. The sorta subtle second voice is kinda nice… oh, we’re fading out already… that felt… kinda forgettable. Like I’d hear it in the background and not really register it.

Track 3: Gates of the East by The Clash. See, now we seem to be picking up a little more. It’s got a little faster tempo, but I can sorta feel the similarities to the other two… maybe…? I dunno. Well, at least the refrain sounds a bit different than the rest of the song, which isn’t something that seemed to be happening with the previous two tracks. Besides the bridge, there wasn’t really like… sections in those. Mmm, this one has me nodding my head along with it. That’s a good thing. I don’t know if I’d seek this song out, but there’s definitely an energy to it, which I can appreciate. Wait, is he saying “Gates to the West”? But the title is “Gates of the East”…? Maybe I should have been playing more attention to the lyrics. I have a feeling this song could end with a Cha Cha Cha… no, they did a little change repeating fade instead…

Track 4: Centerfold by The J. Geils Band. But it flowed pretty well into this song. I think this song was on the first CD I ever owned… it was some weird 80’s compilation that my mom got me with my first CD player, not knowing what to get me… granted, I had no opinions on music then at all, so I wouldn’t have known what to ask for… I still don’t know if I have a complete grip on my musical tastes… but yeah, this is a pretty fun song. Again, not something I’d seek out, but certainly worth listening to if, I dunno, I’m actually using the radio or something. Plus, it’s about porn. Isn’t porn great? Well, then again, I dunno about pornography magazines… they’re sort of obsolete in this day and age… however, why the hell am I saying that now? I wanted to say something about what the song means but I’m running out of time and have nothing interesting to say. The “crowd singing along” ending thing is a kinda fun… thing…? Repeated thing…? Not finding a word. And, of course a fade… and whistling!

Track 5: Bron-Yr-Aur by Led Zeppelin. Starts quiet… quiet… some acoustic… quiet… not looking good for me liking this song, this acousticness… very like… I dunno… classicalish? Maybe that’s the idea, it’s a short track. I’ll admit I’ve had no known interaction with Led Zepplin… all the band’s name brings to mind is that episode of the Venture Bros. where Brock is all like “What, you got a problem with Zep?” But yeah, I don’t know if we needed this interlude there… it brought me back down… I could have built up more off of Centerfold to something with more oomph.

Track 6: Eyes by Rouge Wave. Maracas, and slower acoustic… I guess if this has to go here the previous track is a good way to get you here. Got a little echo effect on the vocals or something… Yeah, this is in that whole group of songs I just hate because it’s slow… mm, I like this refrain with the light singing over the singing, though. That’s nice. Oh, Brer’s on… and the song disappeared without any other surprises…

Track 7: Top of the World by Shonen Knife. Light start… oh oh… it’s kicking it up… still got this light little guitar over a faster little thing… hmm, female vocalist… doesn’t sound like a native english speaker… I think this is a Japanese band anyway. The name sort of suggests it. Hmm, this is faster tempo, but it’s still subdued… that’s sorta what I’m feeling from the whole thing… maybe trying to be more… relaxing music, perhaps… this is the sort of music you might play sitting down… well, maybe not Centerfold, but… yeah… Your love put me on the top of the world, eh? How harsh your love is, putting me in the freezing arctic wilderness!

Track 8: A Good Hearted Woman by Waylon Jennings. Mmm, live track cheering. Country…? Certainly sounds that way… at least the singer’s voices, anyway. Maybe it will surprise me… nope, not at all, definitely country. Well, can’t say I’m not getting a variety of stuff from these CDs, I suppose. I don’t outright HATE country like some, but all country songs sound exactly the same to me… much like a lot of mainstream rock is just “Rock Song” and not really anything in particular. This is just “Country Song” to me as I listen… even the topic and lyrics is very… cliche for country. Granted, I have this feeling that this person is one of the people who sort of… created country music? But I don’t actually know that… ooh, it’s picking up a little bit with a repeated refrain here… and then fading away…

Track 9: Lay, Lady, Lay by Bob Dylan. My exposure to Dylan is: not really paying attention while playing Euchre over at Dustin’s house, and the Weird Al song Bob, which I mostly just like because I like Palindromes. The CD did transfer to this song pretty well… it’s all very… quiet… his voice is louder than any of the music… I guess that shows you what’s important in the song? Isn’t he supposed to be some really awesome lyric guy? Gods, I’m showing my lack of knowledge, aren’t I? I guess I’ll try to absorb the lyrics, then, they’re obviously being the focus… Not… doing much for me, but I think I started focusing late.

Track 10: 20th Century Boy by T. Rex. Okay, all his songs have this steady background beat that does change through the song… maybe that’s what all these songs have in common. There’s some Wo-ooooooaaaaahs! in this one. Oh, I like this change! Nice bridge… no, it’s a refrain… it’s a good change… this one has me tapping my feet, so it’s at least got something that’s hooking me up. Yeah yeah, I dig this refrain quite a bit. Mm, now here’s some saxophone…? but it’s fading out and ending, I suppose.

Track 11: Freddie’s Dead (Theme from Superfly) by Curtis Mayfield. Oooh, yeah… come on, this should pick up a bit… maybe…? It’s… it’s good mood-setting music… it definitely inspires a whole sort of… image… and Mom’s printing something… great. Mmm, I’m sad this isn’t picking up and is just going on at the same sort of setting. I would really enjoy this BEHIND something… as a scene mood setter in something… which, just glancing at the title, it very well might be. But yeah, it just has that repeating back rhythm like… like most of the songs… I mean, I guess most music has that, but it doesn’t take a break, or change for things like a bridge or whatnot… it can change pitch a little, but that’s it… I dunno, maybe I’m overthinking it. Then again, I’m writing paragraph after paragraph, so I guess I am by default. Man, this song is going on forever and ever.

Track 12: Hawaii Five 0 Theme Song by ???. Oooh, drums. Ooh, Hawaii Five Oh. I don’t really know why this is here. Heh. It’s kinda silly and fun, though, I suppose. Yay for brass, though.

Track 13: Last Living Souls by Gorillaz. Now, I like the Gorillaz. More of their upbeat stuff, obviously, but they’re pretty great. And this is a pretty great song, though not one of my favorites. See, it’s all building and stuff as it goes… I enjoy that sort of thing. The vocals and everything don’t really change or anything, but it just slowly gets more and more and more… see, and now, this bridge is completely different, unlike what I was trying to say earlier. And it’s a nice little change, I suppose. All kinds of like strings… and then back to some of the more electronic sounds… and it just stops at the end… has any other song did that? I guess the last two did…?

Track 14: Incinerate by Sonic Youth. Mmm, more similar, it sounds like. None of these songs want to just let loose and go! Subdued, like I said… Nich’s mix was subdued in a different way… trying to make more of that quiet creepy electronica feeling, while these songs are more just subdued sorta rock-y things for the most part… I want to say I don’t like this vocalist, but when pressing myself for a reason why to tell you I can’t decide on anything. Generic, maybe? Eh, I dunno. Mmm, I like this stuff under the “Incinerate! Incinerate!” part… the rest doesn’t really thrill me, though… my leg is going restless leg, but not to the beat of anything. The little guitar solo here is a little more interesting… although it went into those annoying noises for no reason there.
Man, I am such a bad reviewer of these songs. Seriously. I like such a limited range of music… but I guess I established that before I started.
Oooh, there’s that “Incinerate! Incinerate!” part again. I don’t know why I like that part the most… I think because it feels like it’s building towards something, though it never does. The end.

Track 15: Substitute by The Who. I used to have a friend named Rebecca who was obsessed with the Who. She sent me a mix CD. I was pretty indifferent to most of it. Mm, but this is not too bad… it was building there… yeah, that has a nice beat to it. Again, though, I think I’m not supposed to like the music as much as the lyrics, I suppose. They’re all about those too, yeah? But yeah, see, it has little slow lyric parts, and then it does this quick little building part into the refrain. I like that. And mother interruption… I guess I should really be doing this at 1 AM when I get home from work… but I never feel like accomplishing much then. Mm, I sorta like that fake ending there, but then again, normally things change after such an ending… like, they change key or something… not so much with this. Also, why are they singing “Substitutes” when the title is “Substitute?”

Track 16: Dog on Wheels by Belle & Sebastian. This is an Essner band, and not one that I’ve picked up… oooh, but I do like that… but, again, I want it to break out and start rocking out! But I don’t think it’s going to… but at least there’s definitely a strong energy there below it. But the music is definitely secondary to the singing and lyrics again. I should really pay more attention to it, but I only tend to focus on lyrics on things I want to sing along with, and this doesn’t make me feel like that. Ooh, some nice trumpet there. Always gotta like the brass… I’m glad the trumpet is sticking around. La la la’s? Well, okay, I guess… the eeeeeeeend! Laaaaaa!

Track 17: Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant. I know this song… see, now this is energy! This is what I talk about wanting in general, when I wish there was energy to the songs I hear… this sort of thing just makes you want to get up and make a fool of yourself or dance, or just… you know… energize you. Energy. Ramble ramble! Energy! But yeah, it’s this song. I never knew who made it or whatever, but I’ve definitely heard it multiple times before. It’s all kinda big band, right? Those sorts of songs do tend to have the energy I want most of the time… granted, I like a wide variety of “energetic” songs. A lot of the energy from this song comes from those drums. They’re relentless but infectious. Also, it’s teaching me valuable life lessons like “Don’t Drink, Don’t Smoke.” Words to live by. Or something. Dun DUN! The end.

Track 18: The Man In Love by Charlie Feathers. And back to slow again… this guy’s name makes me think of that stupid Unicorn Planet thing that Jessie showed me once… but mm, this is all old-tymey, isn’t it? But it certainly is about a man in love, though. I’d leave it and skip it, but eh, it’s almost over and I should give every song a fair shake. Shake shake! Mischief Makers! No, bad me, think about games later. The end. Abruptly.

Track 19: Journey To The Center Of A Girl by Cramps. I’ll admit, this title and band name were intriguing me, so let’s see. Aww, male vocalist? I was so sure it was going to be female. The music is okay, but his singing is very… slow and measured? He’s singing over the music instead of with the music. Plus, he’s being all wavery or made wavery… and it’s kinda annoying. See, I sorta wish this song was over but I look over and it’s barely halfway done. Uh oh. Still all wavery for no good reason. Oh well, I am going to have this Burger King mint now, while I listen. Yeah, that’s right, I just had an after-dinner mint, and I’m going to eat dinner AFTER I finish listening to this CD! I’m so bad. Is this song over yet? It’s like it to be… but there’s still a fourth to go. I think I’ve already experienced everything this song has to show me and I would like to move on, please? The Go! Team is next, and I always like them, although not as much as I always expect I will. Whoo, it’s over!

Track 20: Junior Kickstart by The Go! Team. Ooh, good, I think this is one of their faster songs…? Maybe? Let’s see. Yay, Brass! I’m so biased towards brass because I used to play the trumpet. Wait, is this one of their songs without the vocals…? I can’t remember, but I really like the Go! Team’s like… chorus singing. Yeah, I think this is instrumental… oh well, it’s still pretty decent. I’m bobbing my head along with it… though like I expected, I’m enjoying it slightly less than I was expecting… I don’t know what it is about the Go! Team that does that… I always get so excited to listen to them and then I hear it and I go “Oh, really? That was all I was? I mean, it was good, but that was it…?” I’m so weird.

Track 21: Moonage Daydream by David Bowie. And Bowie at the end. Bowie is my brother’s thing. I like some of his songs quite a bit, but in general, he’s in that camp of stuff I recognize is good but doesn’t really thrill me. This is a song of his that doesn’t really ring any bells to me… I’m sure I’ve heard it. My brother owns like every single Bowie album. But I can’t remember it. Freak out in a Moonage Daydream, hm? Is that a recorder? It sounds like a recorder. Man, recorders. What an instrument. But yeah, it’s Bowie… I don’t really know what else to say about it… it’s fading away slowly, certainly…

And I guess that’s it. Time to get some food and then try to condense these thoughts into something small to post on the forums… whee…? Oh, the end of the CD flows into the first track pretty well. Final thought.

So I just got done playing like 3, 4 hours of Call of Duty 4 Multiplayer with the Talking Tyrants (I even used the little Clan Tag feature to put a little [TT] in front of my name, so our little sortabutnotreally clan is cool like all the cool kids online) and holy crap, man, that be some good gameplay.
The multiplayer has a lot of modes… your basic deathmatches which are awesome enough, for example… the class system makes them more interesting than normal, because you’re sort of playing your chosen guy. There’s a mode grabbed straight from Counterstrike which I actually ended up enjoying more than I thought… we were playing it in this 3v3 mode with a whole team of Tyrants against random people, and it was a really good time. We used teamwork and shit… and there’s this mode called Headquarters where you fight to capture this point… then the team that captured the point gets their spawns turned off, and has to hold it as long as possible, scoring points based on the time they hold it. Once it’s destroyed, it’s a scramble to the new point… and then there’s Old School mode, where everyone starts with a shitty gun and there’s guns and powerups spread all over the map… it’s a weird mix. But there is definitely plenty of variety in the multiplayer, more than I expected, and that’s a good thing, seeing as that’s most of the reason why I bought the game.
I tried to explain why I just like the Call of Duty feel to multiplayer shooters better previously in this post, and I think it still is fairly accurate. When you’re calm and skillful you win. When you’re not “on,” you die immediately so you can try again. There is no pointless constant struggle like you get in Halo. All the guns feel powerful. It’s great.
Call of Duty 4 Multiplayer is great.

As far as the Single Player goes, it’s pretty nice. I had a lot of fun playing through it, and although I didn’t pay much attention it seemed to have a pretty solid plot, too, which was neat. It is really painfully scripted, though, and it punishes you for playing it safe… there was a point in the game where I stayed back and sniped from this building… I’d clear the whole area… there’d be nobody… it was like everything was paused… my friends wouldn’t advance, everything just stopped… and when I walked out of the building, it was like someone pressed play. All the NPCs started moving and acting again, and a new wave of enemies appeared. It was weird… when it works, it works really well, but moments like that break the illusion.
Apparently Gabe doesn’t like the game because you can’t blind fire, and although I sorta get his point about it being a step backwards, do not let his words dissuade you! The game is good! Very good! Yes! Very good shooter! Having to step in front of a door to throw a grenade is not too bad when you have the healing powers of heavy breathing at your side.

Anyway, if you couldn’t tell, I’m really happy with my Call of Duty 4 purchase. If you’re on the 360 and want to play, definitely let me know.
I still need to talk about Rune Factory, but I want to get a little deeper into it first. I haven’t done TOO much that I wouldn’t do in a normal Harvest Moon game yet… what else do I need to say… um… I guess that’s it.

So, before I say anything else, here is a quick retelling of some lines from Phoenix Wright 3 that made me laugh out loud for longer than was really necessary.

Godot: Well, you know what they say. A cornered fox is fiercer than a jackal.
Phoenix: No, a cornered fox is just scared and confused!
Godot: I tire of your animal metaphors, Trite.

Seriously. Laughed so stupidly hard.
Anyway, I beat Phoenix Wright 3 is pretty great… if you liked the other two. Seriously, there’s no way to jump in the middle. From what I’m hearing, even though Apollo Justice starts a new main character, it’s so entrenched in Phoenix Wright backstory that you’re still going to be lost if you haven’t played all of them up to that point…. which I don’t mind, but again, makes it hard for newcomers. Because of this, there really shouldn’t be a tutorial case in the game, but there was… at least it was interesting, though, and very plot-relevant. The fifth case pulled out all the stops to give Phoenix a great send off, though honestly, I felt like the fourth case in Justice For All was a lot stronger and more emotional. Anyway, reviewing this game is kinda silly. If you’re following the silly lawyer anime turned game, you’ve already bought it or are going to buy it. If you’re not following it, there’s not a lot for you here, and if you want to get started, go find the first Phoenix Wright.

Anyway, I might blog again later about Call of Duty 4, but for now, let me leave you with a picture of the perfect Japanese object of sexual desire. Man, those wacky Japanese. Way to go, NHK. Perfectly executed.

Okay, so I couldn’t resist, because it was 10 dollars. Could you have? It should have been 10 dollars originally. I can’t believe they were trying to sell this for 60 bucks… this would have been an incredibly kickass XBLA game, for example…
Oh, what game am I talking about? WARTECH: Sendo No Ronde.
Anyway, if Bullet Hell Schmups and Fighting games had a child, this would be the game made. It’s… incredibly interesting. I can easily picture fans of Schmups really liking the game… each character has various patterns that they shoot out that I’m sure someone who was actually good at Schmups would be able to dodge, but I just spin around and get hit a lot… you also have this shield you can put up to halve your damage to bullets you can’t dodge that I always forget to use… oh, and you can transform into B.O.S.S. mode, where you basically get to become a Schmup boss for a few seconds and spew all kinds of crap everywhere… but if someone is actually good they can deal a ton of damage to you like that, too, because you can be attacked like a Schmup boss…
Anyway, I feel like I lack the vocabulary to properly describe this game because I rarely play games from one half of its formula. It sort of feels like Zone of the Enders multiplayer from a top down perspective… in that you have these close and long range attacks for each button, so you can try to rush in and melee or use your various bullet patterns to whittle them down…
It’s… it’s kinda neat. And they’re selling it for 10 bucks at every EBStop… and it’s totally worth that, and comes with some fairly easy achievements… like a whole set of achievements just for leaving the 360 on for like 100 hours or something… though that’s a RROD waiting to happen. Heh. But yeah, I could see someone who plays a lot of Schmups and who wants to challenge other Schmup fans on something other than score picking this thing up and loving it a lot… which probably means it was really fucking popular in Japan, because they’re crazy about such things…
Me, though, I’ll stick to dicking around in it on Very Easy for the achievements… the fact that the final bosses can still kill me on Very Easy shows you how much this game is not for me… oh well.
Call of Duty 4 tomorrow. Wheeeeeee!

You’ve all heard of Gunkata… but have you heard of… Gymkata? It is the ultimate martial art. Seriously.

So the makers of Kingdom of Loathing, my beloved browser game, pointed me towards a game that a KoL fan is making in a similar style and that all of the KoL people were beta-testing… it’s called Twilight Heroes. It’s pretty awesome, actually, although it’s still in beta, so there are things like… missing picture and such. Also, there’s no huge wiki of everything you’d possibly need to know about it out there. Some might consider that a benefit… I admit it’s a different sort of experience, not knowing exactly what to do all the time… at least I’ve been able to figure everything out… the thing is, though, if it ever gets into KoL-levels of puzzlage I’m going to really want a walkthrough or hints or something… some of those KoL puzzles I would have NEVER figured the fuck out without looking at things…
However, I do have to say that the equipment makes me laugh… in KoL land, everything is ridiculous and drawn stick-figure-style, but in Twilight Heroes, most everything is modified photographs of things… which makes me think about my outfits realistically, which makes me giggle. I’m currently wearing a Flak Helmet, Skateboarder style kneepads, Skeptic Sandals, a Leather Jacket, a speedo, and carrying a beanbag gun and a riot shield. Just putting that image into my mind… man, I’m a completely bad-ass looking super hero, aren’t I?
Anyway, if you want something else to play while at work or while you only have a computer or something, you could do a lot worse than Twilight Heroes. I’m poetfox on there, of course, and I’m an Elementalist… if you want my weird Air Shield buff, let me know, I can totally hook you up.

Now I’ll just have to check out Cthulhu Nation sometime… although from everything I’ve heard about that, it’s extra super completely confusing… definitely going to have to find a help resource before I pick that one up.

Essner let me have the two The Go! Team albums… and they’re kinda nice, but I’m liking them less than I thought I would. They’re good music, and nice to just put on in the background, but they have less that really grab a hold of me and thrill me than I thought they would. Hm… oh well. I’m just really stupidly picky on music… as future Listening Time entries will show (there was actually a positive reception to all that liveblog rambling I did for Nich’s CD, so I’ll probably do it for every one I come across. Just a warning.)

JUST BECAUSE I CAN!
“Talking Themes – Nich’s Michs”

Track 1:Debaser by The Pixies. I’ve heard of the Pixies… I don’t really care for this guy’s voice… he’s like screaming but not screaming? It’s kinda weird. The song isn’t bad, though… but it’s not like… clicking into me and energizing me like I like my music to do. It’s in that large grey area of songs I can say “Yeah, that’s alright” but then never listen to again… then again, this project is supposed to expand my music experience… or something…

Track 2: Ageless Beauty by Stars. Female vocalist… that’s nice… it’s all like airy and barely there, though… and I dunno, there’s not a lot happening in the background or whatever… it’s just like this steady constantly repeating thing that occasionally changes pitch a little but doesn’t change… it’s kinda hypnotic, I guess, but not doing a lot for me. I guess it does make the refrain like… kick it up a notch… but it’s still so… subdued. Sure seems to go on for a long time, too…

Track 3: Last Dinosaur by The Pillows. Oh yeah, this like the first track from the FLCL soundtrack… the Pillows are good stuff… first song and band I actually know, too… Oooh, lyrics. This is an expanded version, or the one on the FLCL soundtrack was a shortened one. Yeah, good track.
I will admit, though, that I think I’m sorta getting what they mean by flow…? All these songs have a sort of similar… background feel. I don’t think the current draft of my mix has that… I switch it up a lot… ups and downs. This has kinda been one constant sort of feeling. (although maybe a little different with the vocals in track 1) What does this mean? Fuck I dunno. Just trying to think like… something about it.
Oooh, back to the song, I love this bridge… that’s nice.

Track 4: What’s Mine Is Yours by Sleater-Kinney. Another female vocalist…? Heh, maybe not… no, that’s a girl. Mmm, not bad, so far… yeah, if it keeps slowly building like this, I could get into it… mmm, it isn’t getting much more… powerful… like I was hoping… but it’s still good… what the hell is up with all this random stupid reverb guitar…? Okay, dislike building… this section is kinda stupid and it just won’t end… now they added some bass to it… okay, starting to get back into the song proper… and it’s starting to build again like in the beginning… but yeah, I never really want to hear that section in the middle again, it was kinda annoying. Wow, that ends abruptly…

Track 5: Soft Power by Ladytron. I have some Ladytron CDs, but this song doesn’t immediately spring to mind. Their music tends to be a little too slow for me to completely get into them, even though the female vocals and electronic music seems like a good fit… but this one isn’t too bad… I could probably have guessed it was a Ladytron song without reading the track list, though… something about how the lyrics are sung just reminds me of their other song. They do that DA DA da da DaDa DA! thing with the vocals all the time. This is definately one of the better Ladytron songs I’ve heard, though. Oooh, drum track with some energy added… and now we’re into an Ahh ahhh ahhhh section…
In general, I really want this mix to kick up the energy, but I know that’s just a personal bias… that’s what I turn to music for. To energize me. It’s why I do things like collect boss battle themes, because they’re sort of designed to do that.
The Aaaaahs are apparently the end, but they’re just going on forever and ever… I really sorta dislike songs that do that… it seems kinda pointless, really. The interesting part is over, you’re like… wasting my time.

Track 6: I Spy by Pulp. Whispery… hmm… lots of whispers… and now it’s picked up a little with some nice background stuff… but man, all of the tracks on here have this sort of subdued energy, though… like… almost to the point where I can rock out, but they’re keeping it down… on the down low… keeping it calm… sorta thing… I do like the little bell-y noises, and the little tiny bits of sound from the guitar… we’re back to whispering now, though… apparently the singer wants to be caught fucking someone’s wife…? What’s up with these LA LA’s… hm… yeah, I don’t know… it’s… yeah. Now it’s all slow again towards the end… I don’t know if there’s enough time for it to pick up at all again…

Track 7: Blood Tree by Mary Timony. Still the same sort of feeling going on with the subdued music… yeah, I already don’t like this song… also, my brother is back in here now which makes me annoyed that I’ll have to get out the headphones… Oh, it changed… that’s better… let’s see what it does after this point… yeah, it does the little change thing again… I like the refrain, but the rest isn’t doing a whole lot for me…

Track 8: Accused of Stealing by The Delgados. Sort of a methodical walking forward sort of feeling… more… more… and now they went to this echo-y piano… and what’s probably the refrain… which is only in the right speaker, which is… odd… oh, okay, so they have a male voice on the left… alright. Well, now it’s back to the original… okay, so just going through the various parts again with different lyrics. It’s alright, but again, it’s not clicking and interacting with me. It’s alright, certianly. If someone put this on, I wouldn’t complain. But that describes so, so much of the music I listen to… probably like… 70%… 20% I don’t like… 10% I love… maybe something like that. Hmm, the music is building slowly… has been over the whole song, and now it’s pretty like… strong… not like… powerful but just… louder… I guess a little more powerful…

Track 9: Pyrite Pedestal by Pretty Girls Make Graves. I think these guys opened for Franz Ferdinand when I saw them… they kinda sucked in concert. This one starts out promising, though… nice and fast with neat little keyboards… Oh yeah, this is nice… all energetic drum roll behind the sorta slowish lyrics… it… yeah. I could do this… this is closer to what I want… knowing how he’s slowly moving in energy or whatever, this might bode well for the end of the CD. Mmm, yeah, now the music is even stronger… yeah, that’s nice… Jonathan left, I can take off the headphones, thank goodness… yeah, it’s got my head nodding to the beat and whatnot. Good job, song. But… it’s got the long fade out… bleh, why? And Jonathan comes back in after leaving. Wonderful.

Track 10: Dark Matter – Andrew Bird. Mm, whistling…? Oooh, lots of building… lots of building… yeah… yeahyeahyeah… mmm, a little slower now that it got going than I was hoping…. yeah, Nich definitely has a style he likes… and I guess everyone else likes it on the board, as he’s got nothing but praise for this mix… hm… is this leaving any kind of impression on me…? It’s all kinda fading together, they’re all kinda similar and this isn’t really affecting me in any strong way. I keep wanting to use the word methodical again… it’s very like… marching in the background… duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh constantly… like a lot of these songs. Hmm… sorta ending kinda sad or something.

Track 11: I Summon You – Spoon. These are the guys who did the soundtrack to Stranger Than Fiction, right? Essner likes them… I like like… the theme song to the movie. I don’t know what it’s called… but yeah, this is definitely an Essner-like song. Nothing wrong with it… and it has a beat I can nod and tap my foot to and general get into a little bit… ooh, tambourine. And see, this is different from the other songs because it has… what’s the word… a syncopated rhythm…? Go go, Wikipedia… yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what this is. That makes me get into it a little more. Maybe I just like syncopation? Abrupt stop… man, no in between stops for Nich…

Track 12: Lord of the Netherword by Shoji Meguro. Organs… oh, this is the song from one of the MegaTen games… not Persona 3. But the same guy. Yeah, it sounds like his softer less hip-hoppy energy pieces from Persona 3… that means I really appreciate it, but have no real want to listen to it outside of a video game context where it can set the game’s mood well…I worry about setting my mood to anything but happy in my spare time…

Track 13: Skip Divided by Thom Yorke. Beepy… hm… weird… definitely differentish… hmm, I wasn’t expecting a male vocalist even though Thom is probably a male name… his voice is kinda getting eaten by the sorta annoying electronic noise music… it’s like deep bass that eats everything… and there are weird noises in the background too… yeah, it’s just like totally eating the singing… it’s hard to focus on it… I guess that’s the idea they’re going for… but it just makes me feel distracted, like I’m missing something… or I could miss something, if I don’t keep the two things like… separate… The vocals are a little louder now, but they seem focused more on the left side which still makes me feel kinda awkward… Also, the like… emotion of the song doesn’t really change at all when the music changes, it’s still giving the same feeling out… it doesn’t really feel like a break or whatever.

Track 14: Seven Swans – Sufjan Stevens. This is an Essner band… I’ve heard them before… I think they’ve even played one of his songs in Kohl’s, though it was an upbeat one… this one is all this acoustic something… and very slow… so I already hate it. It’s kinda haunting, I suppose, but if I wasn’t trying to like… be open and was just listening for something to listen to I definitely would have already skipped this… ooh, they added some piano now… but it’s probably going to be more of the same only with some piano behind it… I guess the instrument is like… a Ukulele maybe…? It has a kinda toy-ish quality… Wikipedia go… oh, he’s holding a Banjo… yeah, that could be a really slow banjo. Another vocalist… female… just on the left… hm… mmm, they keep building… I’m liking this a little better at the end with the sorta full group going at it.
Nich seems to be about… haunting… they all have that kind of quality… is that all he listens to…? Or was he just trying to make a haunting mix? See, I dunno… I was trying to make something entertaining as well as a cross-section of what I enjoy listening to while trying to keep things maybe a little more obscure so that it would be new to people… I wonder if that’s what Nich did, or just put a lot together with similar themes… music people might be able to do that.

Track 15: Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized. Started with a voice saying the title… and there are vocals sorta fading in… Hmm, you’ve got a singer and another singer whose voice seems to be pumped through a filter to make it sound like a radio… and now it’s all grown out and built… but still very slow… and walking slowly forward, like I was talking about before… they keep adding more and more vocal parts overlapping each other, though, that’s kinda neat. Sorta like a round I suppose. It definitely builds the intensity. I keep spelling definitely incorrectly and using spell-check to fix it… I wonder how many times I’ve done that so far… oh, look, yet another vocal part. Another abrupt end.

Track 16: Warm Night by The Concretes. Mm, what is this start reminding me of… “In the good ol’ suuuumertiiiiiiiime!” Or something… it’s like… carousel-like? Does that make sense? Goes around and around and around, slow and gentle… not too bad, I suppose… but yeah, definitely that sensation I said… of moving but not really going anywhere… gentle… got some violins in there… hm. It’s interesting, but again, not really my thing. It does sort of invoke a mood, though. And we all fall down. Hey, it didn’t end abruptly or forever!

Track 17: Debaser by Feed. Last track… a cover of the first track, or so I understand. Only with a female singer. Ooh, I like those drums… hm… what are they going to do with them? Mmm, taking awhile to get going… and like… modem noises in the background…? And dogs barking… that’s… hm… not really enjoying that… weird little stall pointless point here with some big like… cymbal hits and more weird seemingly random beeping… now those drums I like are coming back… and some more music is coming back into it… Ooh, there we go… that’s more my style… I could get into a whole song like that. Ooh, guitars… yeahyeahyeah, that’s much much better! A little repeating, but nice… and now it’s fading away and… done… that’s the CD.

Overall, yeah, this CD is not for me. At all, really. It’s mostly the sort of music I’m indifferent to and never seek out… I might give it a second listen sometime just to be fair, but… yeah. It doesn’t make me want to do so besides out of a duty to this whole mix CD project…
I do feel like I might have a good grip on the musical whatevers of Nich, though… I wonder if that’s everyone’s goal or if I shouldn’t assume I can get that from these CDs… hmm…