The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

I am still so damn sick. Blearg. I still have one more Listening Time to review and I need to get the blog set up for Role-Playing (I’m thinking of modifying this template with the pictures Mama has drawn… I picked blue because she tends to use shades of blue… thoughts?) and stuff… and school is starting in like… 2 days… man, things to do… things to do…
Mostly, though, I just feel sick as fuck. I’ve been drinking water instead of my normal caffeine drinks, and I’ve actually like… taken medicine, which I rarely do, and I still feel like crap. I can function, unlike the first day I felt sick, but I feel like crap nonetheless.
Anyway, even though I have lots of shit to do, I don’t want to stress out. That’s something I want to make sure doesn’t happen with Role-Playing. I don’t want it to stress me out. “I have to do this, I have to do that.” No… I want to set up a schedule that will keep me working but not make me feel like shit and worry about it (the more I think about it, the more I think the episodes might be bi-weekly) so that I can, you know, accomplish something. That’s what I keep saying about it. I want to accomplish something.
Part of that is winning at school, of course. I only have 4 classes, but I need to actually COMPLETE them all… I can do this shit, I really can… I just have to keep this all going okay… and not let myself get stressed the fuck out.
Stress is my real enemy.

In other news, I’ve made up my mind, and I’m going to order one of these when they finally get back in stock? Why? Because I like the idea and I often wish I wore more jewelry on a daily basis. It looks kinda neat and is gender-neutral so I can wear it and I want to. So there.
Also, Rock Band continues to be awesome, by the way, even though my sickness means I haven’t been able to sing for awhile… which sucks. I really love singing! But oh well.
Finally… um… I dunno? I dunno. I don’t know what else to say. So there. A little update.

Firstly, Rock Band is FUCKING AMAZING.
I bought it today on a whim, and I spent HOURS singing for Spaeth, Jonathan, and I’s band, Sass of Potatoes. And it was COMPLETELY FUCKING AMAZING. Oh man. So much fun. Come over and play it with me, dammit! I gotta learn drums.

Okay, so anyway, here’s the warning line: I’m going to talk about what passes for my “sex life.” So, you know, if that sounds like something you’d never want to read, don’t keep going, okay? I just… I censor this blog too much, I think. The whole point of me keeping the blog in the first place was to keep myself more in touch and honest with my feelings and not bottle them up.

I want to sort of talk about love. I’m sure I’ve talked about it before, but spent the day rocking out with my brother and Jonathan, watched a movie with them and Essner, snuggled with Brer and he left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling as he went to bed, and then Ecks came on and we talked and I got yet another warm and fuzzy feeling… and it’s just… gods, I’m so damn lucky to have so many people who are awesome in my life. But the thing is, the two guys I am so… that I love… they don’t talk. They don’t know each other. I don’t know if I talk about Ecks enough with Brer. I mean, they are separate. Brer is my boyfriend. He is. I love the shit out of him. If it wasn’t a horrible idea for the long run, I wouldn’t hesitate to move near to him and be with him. It’s never been in question that I love him to death, and Ecks understands that, and has a girl he’s sorta dating anyway. We’re extremely good friends and writing buddies and we do… other things… and that’s awesome. Ecks knows about Brer, I talk to him for relationship advice… but I don’t really talk to Brer about what I do with Ecks. I worry about that.
I don’t talk about him because, I dunno, I never feel like it’s something I need to bring up? I mean, it’s not like anything I feel is wrong happens. Trust me, I worry about EVERYTHING and I never worry that my relationship with Ecks is betraying my serious romantic love for Brer in any way. At the same time, I feel like he might not want to hear about it, you know? Isn’t that weird, hearing about that? But I’m sure he doesn’t want to be in the dark, either… I don’t know, I guess I’m probably writing this to start the discussion between us.
I mean, okay, Brer and I have talked about, you know, third parties. There is nobody I’d feel more comfortable bringing in than Ecks. But Brer doesn’t know him… you know? I can’t suggest him because of that, because it has to be someone we’re both familiar with, you know? Close to?
I don’t know. Obsessing over these ideas is probably stupid, in the end. Like I said, if I felt something was wrong in all this, I would worry about it, because I worry about the stupidest shit you could ever believe. I guess that’s like… one thing about my current relationship situation that I’d like to change, in some respect. Get these two special people in my life talking, at least.

Okay, see, this is also a technique to get me to liveblog a CD tomorrow to get this off the top of the blog. Heh. Goodnight, people.
*cough*RockBand’sAwesome*cough*

Go ahead, have a look around. Is it to your liking? What’s that? You’ll take it? Awesome, cause YOU DIDN’T HAVE A CHOICE! TIME IS MEAN LIKE THAT! MUH HA HA HA!

Anyway, welcome to 2008, a year of endless opportunities, or at least 365 days worth of opportunity. What have I been spending this opportunity on so far? A little bit of writing, but mostly being moody. Off to a great start, I’m sure. I did go to a pretty spiffy party at the Burners’ last night, though. It was much more fun than I expected.

Mama, at random, drew me another picture of Tailrazor. I guess she was unhappy with the previous version? I thought it was great, myself… anyway, I should still share it, because it’s great artwork, so here it is. The other picture captures more of… who Rebecca is, though, in my head, so I’d point your imagination more that way for how I’m going to write her and treat this as really neat, badass art, because it is neat, badass art. Yesyes.
I’m still actually working on Role-Playing, by the way. I wrote a good thousand words on it last night. That’s like… progress, or some shit.

Something I am not making progress in, though, is FFXI. Which sucks. But I have new games to play, I haven’t gotten back into it. Mm… I need to, though. Also, I am not making progress in liveblogging these CDs in this stack here, which I’m sure you’ve noticed. Oh well.

So I wrote for the first time in a long while tonight. I finished the second chapter of Arc 1 of Role-Playing, which I had started a little… fuck, I dunno, a long time ago. It was surprisingly easy to get back into it. I just read it and kept going.
Anyway, I hope I can keep writing. Bother me about it, dammit! The plan, I guess it’s a new years resolution thing, even though it’s not quite here yet, is to write a couple pages every night when I get home from work, instead of the pointless fucking around I normally do. It worked for one night. I even got a lot of writing done while talking to Ecks, which was surprising.
I finally got back to my Role-Playing project because Mama drew me this, which is awesome. It is really nearly perfect. I like the hair, which I didn’t really give any direction on. That’s how I’m going to picture her hair from now on. I don’t feel like she’s quite as tall as she should be, but other than that, it’s exactly how I pictured her. But seeing Tailrazor exist like that made me sorta go and want other people to understand who the hell she is. That requires writing the damn story. So first I did a test podcast of the first chapter, which went well, or so Ecks and Kale tell me, though I’m going to end up re-recording it because I go too fast in parts… and now all this writing… I can do this shit, you know? I can write a story and make a podcast, I really can. Keep me on it.

In other news, speaking of New Years a few paragraphs ago, my work schedule has been moved so I get off at 9. I can go to Layne’s New Years party! I just hope Essner can go so he can show me where it is… I’ve only been to Layne’s new house once, and I didn’t drive, so I have no fucking clue how to get there. Anyway, that’s exciting.

Also, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters continues to completely enthrall me, so much so that I go to bed at 2 and say “Eh, I’ll play for a while in bed and then sleep” and then later go “Holy shit, I need to put the damn game down because it’s 5 in the morning.” I should write a review of it. And liveblog these two Listening Time CDs. And keep writing on Role-Playing. Just generally be constructive, I guess. That’s what I should do. Yeah.

Goodnight!

Merry Chrissymas, people!
Here are some quick highlights from mine.

• My mom got me something that surprised me and that I wanted: a 500 Gig external HD. Score! Now if only I had somewhere to plug it in in here…
• Jonathan got me Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters as well as some Microsoft Funmoney (he says to buy Rez HD when it comes out) Anyway, I wasn’t expecting Ratchet and Clank, but from the bit I’ve played it, it plays millions of times better than other such games I’ve played on the PC (Monster Hunter Freedom, Daxter) because the camera doesn’t suck ass. I’ll play it some more in bed tonight, but already I’m liking it more than I expected. I may have to pick up Up Your Arsenal and Going Commando on the cheap.
• I got not one, but two copies of I Am America And So Can You. Colbert would be proud, I’m sure, though less proud when I return one. Oh well.
• My family still enjoys Scene It: Lights Camera Action. The game could explain the rules better, though, so you know when it’s a round where you have to buzz in. But I got everyone upstairs to play a game, and everyone was having fun, even though it’s obvious Mom doesn’t like doing the worst, even though she does. I’ll have to pull everyone up here again soon. It’s nice actually being able to share what I spend like… all of my leisure time doing with my parents, even if the game is quite a bit different from most of the games I play.
• I got Guitar Hero III, but not Guitar Hero II, so I only have one guitar… that will be remedied tomorrow, I think, with a combination of returns money and Hastings credit. GHIII on Medium is quite a bit harder than I remember Guitar Hero being. Like, I can still beat it, but I’m nowhere near acing them. Maybe I’m just out of practice.
• I think my presents went over well, though I’m sure I’ll be coaching my mother on how to use her iPod for weeks to come. But that’s okay. She was already bragging to people about getting one, and how she’s so technological or something. Heh. So Mission accomplished there.
• Earth Defense Force 2017, which is one of the things I got for Jonathan, is an incredibly mindlessly fun game with humorously horrible voice acting, and I recommend it to 360 owners. We just got done playing a lot of Co-op, and it’s a blast.

Jonathan’s going to bed now, cause of his crazy early shift tomorrow, so I believe I’m going to try out Zack and Wiki and then lay down and play more Ratchet and Clank. I hope you all had a great Chrissymas, too! Mine went pretty darn well. Heh. Goodnight!

Last night, I dreamed that Brer dropped by work to kiss me, but just to kiss me. He couldn’t or wouldn’t stay, and left, and I cried quite a bit.
I must be missing him a bit more than I thought. Though that’s a bit selfish, I suppose, he can have Christmas with his family, same as I’m having Christmas with mine. He’ll be back soon anyway. It’s not like I’m in tears constantly or anything silly, but it does seem like my subconscious is trying to say something, especially since I rarely dream.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that for no reason. Merry Chrissymas Eve, people. Go spend time with your families and have fun, yeah?

See that list in the last post? Yeah, I did none of that today. Which means I need to do the picture-taking tomorrow! Score! I guess I should find out when Jonathan is working tomorrow… I’ll do that now… okay, he’s off tomorrow. Awesome. That’s when I’ll take pictures. The rest I can do real late at night or whatever, no big deal.

Anyway, I got Shivam’s Festivus gift to me in the mail today, and it… I dunno. It was quite a feeling. Here’s the unwrapping I did for the site, cause that was part of it… here’s his response, and here’s me trying to explain my feelings about it more in response to his response… in any case, it’s really quite neat, and it has significance for him and what he thinks of me, and it… it made me that kind of blushy, embarrassed sort of happy, you know? It was really sweet. It certainly wasn’t the sort of feeling I was expecting to get out of it when I joined up for this Festivus exchange, but man, it was neat… it really does stick out, though, among all of my stuff. It’d look nice with all of Mom’s stuff in the little curio thing downstairs, but this is mine, and she wouldn’t like the significance anyway… so it’ll set on top of my computer, at least for now, until I think of a good place for it… it… yeah. Shivam did well. It certainly moved me in some way, since I’ve literally spent most of the day trying to think of how to word my feelings about it, and I still don’t think I’ve succeeded. But hopefully explaining around the mark will give you some idea, I dunno.

Oh, how did I do in my gift-giving? I think well, considering Calorie Mate looked up my AIM account to tell me he liked it when he got it. I guess since I’m linking to Talking Time posts, I can link to that one too. I don’t think I’ve talked about how my gift went over yet, right? This isn’t rehashed? I hope?

Anyway, guess I best get going to work now… I got a caffeine withdrawal headache begging for a big caffeine drink. MERRY FESTIVUS.

Here is a well-worded rendition of this epic tale. Oh, the horror! That said, they are all fun, especially Bookworm Adventures, which is the reason I went Popcap game shopping. Stuff like Zuma and Peggle is really good for use during podcasts… I haven’t played Bejeweled 2, but I played Puzzle Quest for who knows how long so I know what to expect… I have no idea what Insaneaquarium is, but I own it now. I might try it after I finish this post. Anyway, I bought them because I wanted them and I wanted something to keep me occupied until Christmas (I find that I only have about an hour or two of FFXI in me a day, at most) and I wanted to reward myself for doing better than expected in school and actually saving a good deal of money up… I think I have more money in the bank right now, split between my two accounts, than I have had in my life. (Granted, this is not an insane amount of money we’re talking about or anything, but still)  It’s kind of a nice feeling, especially since I haven’t been especially working towards it… I think I might let that slow-building savings account eventually go towards some sort of lappy, like the EEE PC (if it drops another 100 bucks, I was so sad that they overshot their estimated price by like… 200 bucks, I was ready to snap one up), or just a new computer in general…
Anyway, the point is, expect at least a review of Bookworm Adventures, because it is completely great. It was even mesmerizing Jonathan as I played, and he sat next to me and called out possible words for me to look for. I have a feeling I’m going to wish it was longer, though. It would also work really well on, say, the DS. They should get on that. They have other Popcap crepe on there, don’t they?
I also just bought the new Halo 3 maps. We only played like 3 custom Foundry levels, but already I realize this was a good purchase. It was fun as hell. There was a really well-done game type Morbid Coffee made called Love on a custom map called The Battlefield (I hope you get that joke) that did a really good MGS sort of experience that will be even greater when he goes and tweaks it a little more, for example. It’ll be awesome. Too bad I’m working again Sunday, so it’ll be at least another week before I can join the Tyrants on Halo Night again.
In other news, I don’t have a Robogoose yet. This saddens me, because I’ve used like 30 Robotic Eggs. I waaaaaaaant it! Even though I’ll never uuuuuuuuuuuse it! Especially since I bought that P.R.E.S.S.I.E.!
And now, a list.

Things I still need to do before Chrissymas (not in order of importance)
1. Listen to and blog the last Listening Time CD in my stack
2. Finish up the little stuff I need to do on Grandma’s presents before I can no longer get to one of those photo printer thingamajigs.
3. Wrap the rest of the presents.
4. Fuck, I dunno… play more Bookworm Adventures? Something like that?

Well, um. I’m behind. Let’s get right to it. The tracklist makes me wonder if it’s all like… punk… but the inclusion of a Soul Coughing song is encouraging. Also, I know so little, don’t be insulted if I’m so far off, Valhalla! Anyway, here we go.

Valhalladeath’s mix

Track 1: Let’s Take a Trip Together by Morphine Mmkay, is that some sax? Yeah, mmkay… hmm… Mm, some weird layered vocals… not like bad, though. This is a very laid back song, isn’t it? Apparently he wants to go the scenic route and we’ll get to know each other. The lyrics are sort of romantic, but the music doesn’t really inspire that in me. Hmm, what’s that percussion back there… it doesn’t sound like a normal drug… almost woodblock but not quite. Eh, I dunno. I think it’s how the guy sings that keeps it from feeling romantic to me. He’s got this unique sort of tone but I’m not getting anything behind it, you know? Hmm, fading ending…
Track 2: Super Bon Bon by Soul Coughing Ahh, a classic. Super Bon Bon. I am a Soul Coughing fan, if the inclusion of a Soul Coughing track on my own mix didn’t give it away. I like the Propellerhead remix of this a little more, I think, but the original is really good too. Now, see, as I listen to it, it has a similar quality to the last song… very laid back… but I like this one a whole lot more… is it the lots more percussion, or Doughty’s much more trippy lyrics that go along with it? Or is it where it kicks it up a notch during the refrain? I dunno. “And by! The Phone! I Live! In Fear! Sheer Chance! Will Draw! You In! To Hear!” Fuck yeah. Heh. I think there’s something about Soul Coughing in how Doughty’s voice is both vocal and like… instrument, you know? Maybe? His repetition gives it a much more rhythmic quality than just singing, and yet there are words there to… get. The end.
Track 3: Breaker by Low Ooooh, there’s some clapping. Clapping is exciting right… and some weird electric organ music… kinda piercing, actually… not all that pleasant to hear… hmm, I wonder if the song is gonna “break it down” anytime soon or if it’s just going to be all this… mmm, nope, just all this… but they added vocals… but man, I don’t like that electric organ sound… it’s not a pleasant listening experience with it’s minor and it’s high shrillness and shite… hmm, there’s a guy AND a girl singing now… Oh, here’s some guitar… are they going to break it down…? The song is like… 2/3rds over with by now, though… No, just… some more stuff in the background under the Ahhhs and the piercing noise… Apparently there’s got to be an end to that, though. So that’s nice.
Track 4: Crestfallen by (+/-) Interesting band name… ohh, weird vocal samples for percussion… and what is that stringed instrument… harpsicord…? That’s just a random guess… this isn’t too bad, though… I just hope it “breaks it down.” Does that make any sense, when I say that? Basically, I mean, make a huge change and… BAM! There it is! Breaking it down! Now we got all these drums and guitars! Yeah! That’s real nice… I like this song… I might like it better if it was less… instrumental and had some more vocals… more I listen to these CDs the more I realize I love a good set of vocals and lyrics in my songs… probably because I’m that person singing along with the songs in my car all the time. Aww, a nice ending.
Track 5: Solace of You by Living Colour Hmm, that opening reminds me of something but I can’t put my finger on what… okay, here’s some singing… mmm, he’s all… what’s that I’m trying to say… I have no idea. Something about his voice… bleh, I dunno. It’s kinda repetitious so far… oh, okay, it’s changing. Here’s a verse, I suppose… oh and there’s some background vocals… Yeah, this is a nice enough song, but it’s not going to get into my regular listening schedule… but it’s nice. Wish I knew what it was reminding me of, though, so I could let you know… mmm… Ooh, I like this “gotta go back inside” thing at the end there… yeahyeah.
Track 6: Life in One Day by Howard Jones Oh, what? What? This song? I know this song… I never had a name or a title for it, though… they play this at my workplace, so I do have an automatic aversion to it, though I admit it is one of the BETTER songs they play at my workplace… not one of the best, though. (They sometimes play Gorillaz, The Darkness, and Guster, for example) Oh well, I guess I’ll play the flute and dance and sing my song until it gets over with… but yeah, instant bad feeling towards it because it’s a workplace song. Sorry.
Track 7: Sunday Bloody Sunday by Saul Williams I think I heard a version of this by Richard Cheese… I have a feeling I’ll keep thinking of that while I listen to this one. But okay, here are some drums… and some singing… Yeah, definitely have listened to a version of this by Richard Cheese. Certainly trying to be intense, isn’t it? With the little electric wacka wacka noises… Yeah, it’s acting all intense but the pace is very slow… well, okay, not VERY slow, but… slower than I would expect… it seems like it’s trying to pump me up, you know, and it’s not, because it’s moving too slow to do that… 2NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITE! We can be as 1, baybee. Wow, what’s up with this bridge? Serious electric… stuff… overtaking the song! It’s eating it alive! Oh, and now it’s suddenly gone because of tears being wiped away. Was it all supposed to be tears? And now there’s a spoken part here about fact as fiction and crying and needing a drink and death… yeah… “trying to be intense” is my short impression of this song. And it ends abruptly.
Track 8: No More Love by God Lives Underwater Woah, I already love this song… this opening is great. I hope it does something good with it… mmm, not bad, though the music is eating the vocals and they’re like… doing something weird with multiple voices to make it hard to understand… Yeah, I love that guitar thing at the beginning, and now it’s repeating again… the singing isn’t carrying me along between them, though, as I’d like… it’s still pretty good, though. Mmm, only halfway through the song, eh? I guess this is the bridge? It has an Ahhhhhhhhhh going on over the guitars… and it keeps on Ahhhhhing and falling in pitch… and then back up… No Moooooooooooore! (love) is how they’re singing it… oooooh, now they’re breaking it down… with that guitar and some electric beats on top of it… yeahyeahyeah, I like this… man, I wish I liked the singing parts in the middle as much as I’m liking this part at the end. This is nice… and fade away ending…
Track 9: Chrome by VNV Nation Oh nos, some sort of aliens invading… all electric… oooh yeaaaaaaaah, I like that… some nice techno-y beats there… let’s bring it all together with some solid vocals… okay, here’s the singing… mmm, not bad… not bad… now break it down, make it more intense… no, didn’t… hm… still, some nice base behind it… awww, okay, here’s the refrain and it still doesn’t KICK IT UP A NOTCH, you know? Bring it back to the level of that opening with the refrain? It’s still more subdued… that’s not what I want… I want that energy through the whole thing… but it just goes away when the guy starts singing… he’s not excited with the music, he’s just singing and there’s music behind him… he’s gotta go with it, you know? Gotta… eh, it’s going to change the song. It’s alright, I’m just disappointed. They start with these strong beats and then get to these generic “let’s sing because this song has lyrics” part that doesn’t DO anything interesting… see, and here’s the bridge, and it’s back to those techno-y beats and it’s building up… and it’s going to build up to him singing again, which will go back down, I know… see, it’s not even building up to the level it was at the beginning… yeah… and an abrupt end…
Track 10: Get Your Body Beat by Combichrist Stutterful… hmm… and it’s got a building thing behind it… am I going to get my body beat by this song? I dunno… it’s thump-y… again, going for intensity, I think… it’s got these evil growl sorts of noises in the background there… hm… oh yeah, okay, intense singing… Well, at least my complain about the song not being in tune with the singing and the music not hitting the high it had at the beginning is moot on this song. The music builds with him. Ooh man, the song is dropping F-bombs! Oh nos! Go! Go! Pyew! Pyew! Let your blood flow! I don’t know what genre of music to call this, but it’s not really a genre I listen to. Still, it’s got energy and it know what’s its trying to do… okay, here’s the bridge, and it’s… just sort of sitting there with creepy stutter-y talking in the background… maybe sung through one of those things that make your voice come out like the guitar? If I could play instruments, I’d use one of those all the damn time, those things are cool. Anyway, I would stop to go get my body beat and let my blood flow, but I still have 12 tracks to go, so I guess I must disregard the song’s advice for the time being. Okay, for the end, the song sorta fell into the background… and runs for a little… and then stops.
Track 11: Speed by Atari Teenage Riot Well, definitely feels speedy so far. …huh… they seem to be having fun. But there’s just them singing over all this random noise… most of it at a really really fast pace… there’s a guy and a girl…. mostly the guy except on the refrain I guess? SPEED! SPEED! SPEEEEEEEEEED! I’m trying to think of how this is different from what Melt-Banana does on a lot of their songs, with her just sorta yelling over random stuff in the background? I really can’t find a good way to put it. It is different in my head, though, most definitely… SPEED! And it’s over.
Track 12: No “W” by Ministry A choir? Oh nos… sounds ominous… despicable acts of terror and evil? Damn! And now some heavy guitar over the choir sample. And now here’s some really fast guitars… dudddlaudddladuddla… and some really fast singing to go along with it. Very sorta… guttural? Is that the word? And here’s a sustained something… I dunno what he’s saying… Crash, maybe? Something. Well, it all certainly is up-tempo… this is like… like… Tony Hawk music. That’s what this makes me think of. Maybe that’s an insult? I dunno, playing Tony Hawk was the only place I heard stuff like this… I don’t get out much, musically. Heh. God Bless America, the end.
Track 13: Push It by Static-X Duddaduddaudda DOO duddaduddadudda DOO! Yeah, you’re whatever, yeah, you’re something else, yeah! Yeah! Listen to them grunt and try so hard to be HARDCORE. Apparently he sees it and needs it! Then stop pushing it, man! You’re just going to forget where you pushed it to! I dunno, this song isn’t doing much for me. Heh, oh, wow, that’s kinda different in the bridge here… with the little tinklies… but… yeah… forgettable in my book… it’s not really keeping my attention here.
Track 14: The Unthinking Majority by Serj Tankian See, yeah, this is the sort of music I was thinking about when I wrote the intro… these last few tracks… are these not punk? I mean, I have no clue. Oh, okay, this completely changed… and is singing about Antidepressants… awww, I don’t like those lyrics, seeing as my boyfriend just started taking antidepressants… These sort of thoughts were why it made me very uneasy when he told me, but I trust him and stuff… but that’s UNRELATED TO THE SONG! I guess that’s what you get when you liveblog, though… ooh, I kinda like this bridge here, though, with the quick guitars… but yeah, the song is kinda political, isn’t it? I don’t tend to get into such things… I guess the whole… back and forth between the antidepressiants part and the other part makes the point of the song pretty well. Fits the message, I mean.
Track 15: The Mob Goes Wild by Clutch Sure, adjust your pants all you want, guy… not gonna stop you… mm, that’s kinda fun, hmm? It’s got a nice beat and stuff to it… it carries me along with it, and I always like that… yeah, this is going to end up being forgettable, but I’m going to enjoy it the whole time it’s playing, I can tell. More political kinda lyrics though, isn’t it? I get the point of those sorts of lyrics… I mean, it’s probably all important in the big scheme of things for people to write such things and distribute such things… but I really don’t care for it… give me creativity and humor with some rocking music or something over making a statement any day… well, a political statement, at least… sometime I guess I’ll have to explain my apathy towards politics… I at least have a justification in place, even though I don’t know if that excuses me. But yeah, anyway, remember that statement about enjoying the song all the way through? I did. The music was simple but catchy and nice.
Track 16: Tom Sawyer by Mindless Self Indulgence Not one of my favorite MSI songs, in all honesty, but then again I only have one album by them that I like like 3 songs off of. It’s not the sort of music I tend to gravitate towards, but my ex-girlfriend in the past really liked them and, as I said, got me into several of their songs. I don’t think I like this song because it doesn’t inspire me to sing along with it… but maybe that’s just because I’ve never taken the time to figure out what the fuck it’s about and what he’s singing, I dunno. It’s not bad, though. The end.
Track 17: Ridicule by American Head Charge This is surprisingly slower and more acoustic than expected. There’s a lot of mumbling I can’t understand going on… and now there’s some guitar…? And more mumbling… and more guitar… and more mumbling… and now it’s more… whatever. He’s all scream-y and it’s got those sort of… hard guitars in the background… what the fuck is that sort of sound called… metal, maybe? Hell, I dunno, that assumption is made like completely off of watching Metalocalypse. And now it’s gotten all slow again… and then back to that thing… Oh, okay, here’s some serious guitar and screaming again… I will never see you agaaaaaain! Apparentleeeeeeee! And some sadder yelling… and then back to the slower acoustic-y stuff… till the end, maybe? It’s looking like it… yes… yes… and… yes, to the end! Setting up for another song on the album I don’t have.
Track 18: Circle by Slipknot Phone-calling noises…? What…? Okay, some acoustic guitar… You can have all the dust you’d like, guy. Time has flesh, apparently. Sounds delicious. Should cook it up and eat it! Or something. That was a stupid thought… he’s singing lightly with repeating guitar beats and now here it went to a refrain… is there some violin in the background? No, I think I’m crazy… He knows the way, that’s nice… Yeah, this song has no energy, so I don’t really like it much at all… Also, everything he sings has this echo for whatever reason… I don’t think I want to follow him, really… ooh, I do like all this drums and stuff at the end here with the weird noise of the top… but it’s the end of the song… see? Over.
Track 19: March of the Pigs by Nine Inch Nails Peppy… doot dee doot dee dootdoot dee! Aren’t these guys like big or something? I can’t remember ever hearing a song by them before. But he’ll let me come down, which is nice. Now there’s quiet whispering singing and suddenly piano…? And then it explodes again after silence… interesting, at least. Heh. And it seems to be repeating the pattern… yeah… except there’s more piano… and the piano is the end of the song…? Yep.
Track 20: Backstabber by Dresden Dolls More piano, but it seems to be a main instrument… oooh, female vocalist. Nice piano… I’m all for piano as a rock instrument… or something… heh… this is actually feeling like more of an Essner song to me… it’s pretty good, but it’s not really getting under my skin and making me rock out to it. But it’s fun. There’s some male vocals behind her voice…? I think. There’s some building list I’m not completely paying attention to. Damn me. It’s a nice background song, though, but like I said, it’s not taking me over and making me pay attention. It’s also very soft and happy-feeling for a song called “Backstabber.” Oh! Oh! Was that an F-bomb I hear near the end? And we’re going out with a lot of piano, it seems.
Track 21: I Got Lost by Dinosaur Jr. I want to like this band, because it’s name is Dinosaur Jr. which is a great band name. But it’s starting very slow and acoustic here, which is turning me off, thanks for my pointless dislike of most slow songs… oh, there’s some big drums building now… but we’re still intro-ing… still intro-ing… is there going to be singing? There is is… and… wow… yeah… not liking that… how to describe that… so… pointlessly falsetto… and it has some sort of filter over it… something softer and less annoying would have fit this song a little better, wouldn’t it? Maybe? I’d like it more, maybe… yeah, I really wanna turn this song off, but I shall persevere through the last half. Damn you, Dinosaur Jr.! You have such a cool name! There’s some strings in the background… something bigger, like a cello, maybe? I dunno why I always try to guess the instruments. I don’t know enough to be accurate at all, really. All the way, all the way, now… singing in an annoying way now… And it’s over.
Track 22: Cure for Pain by Morphine This is the same band as at the beginning, isn’t it? Yeah, it is, I’m not stupid. I can remember names. There’s a sax, front and center. Where is the taste? That’s a good question. I’d like to know that myself. Yeah, not a lot here for me to get excited about… but at least it’s not annoying me like the last song. It’s kinda soft and lazy… and he’s throwing his drugs away… and it’s going all sax solo, which is nice, certainly… someday, there will apparently be a cure for pain… I don’t like that idea, though. Pain is useful, even if… painful. You want to still be able to feel pain, you just want to be able to deal with it well… oh well, CD over.

So, yeah, I was mediocre to most of the songs, but it was alright. I could get into a few, and I love Soul Coughing… so… there you have it, I suppose.

So one game that has been on my mind since someone showed me a Youtube video of some of the cut scenes (from the DS version, of all things) was The Simpsons game. I’ve never really been a Simpsons fan, and with all the bad talk about how The Simpsons has gone downhill combined with how horrid most licensed games are, I never would have given this another thought. But those cut scenes did make me chuckle, so I was thinking about trying it. Well, I’m sitting on a fat stack of Hastings Credit, so I decided to try the demo, and if I liked it, go and rent the game. Well, I liked it, and was impressed by how the sound clips never repeated and were all entertaining. So I rented it, and I’ve been playing it all night. I’m not done, but I will be tomorrow… but I can say with confidence that the game is quite enjoyable, and that this is how licensed games should be made.
The basic plot of the game is that the Simpsons stumble upon an instruction booklet, which tells them they are in a video game and thus have video game superpowers. This sets up all kinds of things that pull in all sorts of Simpsons characters, a lot of which I only vaguely recognize and would probably like more if I ever watched the Simpsons, as well as setting up tons of Video Game parodies. It does this really well, actually, and it’s refreshing as well to see EA (who made the game) poke tons of fun at itself as the evil video game overlord who does nothing but stamp out sequels. In any case, why you play this game is for the dialog. All the characters have lots of lines that are very true to the show and very entertaining, and, thankfully, the designers decided NOT to have any of these lines repeat (unless you restart the level, which is okay) which is a godsend and keeps them all entertaining, as opposed to moving into annoying. (For an example of how not do to this with dialog, see almost all the dialog in Clive Barker’s Jericho) It’s all fan service and funny jokes, and even as someone to whom a lot of the fan service goes over my head, it’s still entertaining.
The gameplay itself is nothing to write home about, though. It’s serviceable, and rarely frustrating, and honestly, that’s all I can ask for from a licenced game. It would be neat if it were better. For example, Marge plays kind of like Captain Olimar, and rallies mobs to do things. If this was even MORE like Pikmin, it would have been completely awesome. Instead, it’s just a little like Pikmin, and doesn’t really come off as anything memorable. It’s just a little variety from the beat-em-up action of the other characters. The worst part is the camera, which can do some really odd things and not always control like you’d like. In those times, you just have to kinda give up, and let the game do what it wants. It can be a little frustrating, but, at least for me, the humor inherent in the game more than makes up for it.
Anyway, the game is short. I’m going to beat it tomorrow, no doubt in my mind. I’m over halfway through it. It was completely worth the 6 dollar rental, but I can’t see how it could be worth much more than that, even if you were the sort of person who is willing to go through and find all the collectibles (I’m not, though I think I will go back and collect all of the “Video Game Cliches” that I missed, because those are funny and completely true) and try to ace all the time trials to maximize replayability. I dunno who would have thought it was worth the 60 dollar asking price. But it’s pretty great, and it’s on like every console under the sun. Go rent it for something and enjoy it, eh? Especially if you’re a Simpsons fan, you won’t be disappointed.