The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Buddy Holly
Electric Version
(Don’t Fear) The Reaper
Dani California

I’m proud of it, if you didn’t notice. I still can’t seem to get any on Expert, though. Expert Vocals is so, so, so picky. Mm.
Also, I bought Last Train to Clarksville because I wanted to, so fuck all ya’ll who don’t want it, because I bought it and it’s fun to sing, so there.

Great Batman Story or The Greatest Batman Story? You decide.

So I find that, even given that it’s been a couple years (okay, apparently a little less than 2) since I played an Advance Wars title, I am still burned out on it. I played the first two on GBA SO DAMN MUCH. So much. I can’t focus on more than maybe one or two battles in a go, and then I just have to put Days of Ruin down. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an amazing, well made game… but I’ve just played it so much that even the new and welcome tweaks to the formula aren’t enough to get me over my… boredom, I guess, with the core gameplay. Not bored… I don’t know. I just look at the next mission and in my head I KNOW how many turns it will take me to beat, and I just don’t want to go through that. So I turn off the DS until later. I don’t know. Don’t let these comments keep you from buying it, because, as I said, it is a very nice re-envisioning of some of the more ridiculous aspects of the previous game (Dual Strikes were just… obscene and ridiculous and there was no way they were ever going to balance them… or most of the crazy-ass CO powers, really…) into a more balanced, interesting experience. It’s good. I just can’t play it for long periods of time. Just like I couldn’t when Mario Golf: Advanced Tour came out… I’ve played so much Mario Golf SO MUCH. I love it dearly, but oh so much of it have I played…
I should do a Review Extravaganza Xday on Undertow perhaps. I dunno. Whatever. I’m going to try to beat another mission in Advance Wars: Days of Ruin before I get sick of it again.

So I was doing this history project and trying to think of weird little things in history to put in there instead of the big stuff, because it’s supposed to be fun, you know? So, for whatever reason, I think of Dani Bunten Berry, the male-to-female transsexual who created the game M.U.L.E., which is this huge deal and which I need to play at some point in time. So I check out her wikipedia page to see if the dates of her doing all this would fit, and I’m browsing along, and I read “After a third failed marriage, Bunten, who had until then been living as a male, transitioned to living as a woman. Bunten later regretted this decision.” And there was a link to the source for this comment. So I go and I read the source, and it’s this rant about how transitioning didn’t ruin her life, but it did cut her off from people she cared about and cost her a lot of money and cut off her sex drive, and if she could do it all again she wouldn’t have gone through with it.
I’d only heard about her like… vaguely. It was only like last year I heard of M.U.L.E., and then it seemed like I started seeing it everywhere, as this sort of small gaming classic back in the day, and knowing that a transsexual was behind it… you know, it was comforting. It meant that, you know, it’s all doable. One can make it, you know? And although I know the state of the internet and information on it is nebulous, and all this might not even be true… it’s just depressing to read and learn about anyway… I dunno. It’s going to be hard. It really is.

In happier news, Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is awesome. I’m going to go to bed and play more of that now.

So Droid totally bought an Eee PC. I’ve been wanting one of these for awhile, and I played with his for a few minutes, and now I want one all the more. The thing could probably fit in most of my big pockets, it’s so small. The screen was a bit small, but everything was very clear and visible… he was running XP on it and it was working flawlessly… oh man. I do want one.
Problems with me getting one: It costs money that I would have to pay, I don’t have a USB CD or DVD drive so I couldn’t install any other OS on it myself, if I wanted to install Windows on it I don’t have any sort of “key” with which to do that. I went and looked for how cheap OEM copies of XP are… good lord, they’re expensive. Fuck you, Microsoft, seriously. I’d buy a legal copy if it wasn’t 150 bucks. For 20 bucks more I get another Rock Band bundle.
Anyway, I was this close to buying one yesterday, and resisted… I can keep resisting, I’m sure, but man, I want one…
Oh, while researching it, I also found this. It can apparently like… streamline and shave down your Windows installation and stuff. That would be useful for installing Windows on that little lappy with the 4 Gig SSHD.
Oh man, I dunno. I’ll keep resisting for now…

So Brer and I had this like… several hour argument last night? It was over nothing, and my feelings certainly aren’t hurt or anything, and I highly doubt his are either. I mean, we were talking about Fallout 3 and stuff. But it was very heated. A little ways into it, I really wanted to drop it, because it was going nowhere, but I found I wasn’t letting myself do that. And as it kept going I think I figured out why.
Brer is a very informed person. Like… very. He seems to have facts on hand for everything. And, you know, that’s awesome.. It’s part of who he is, and I love him for who he is. But it… when I get into any sort of argument with him, he lists these facts, and I don’t have them in my head to point out where he’s wrong effectively. That’s also fine, in general, because, you know, I could go and read up on everything and stuff, and choose not to. That’s my call. I’m fine with making it.
The problem is he takes the argument or discussion out of the realm of sort of… vague intellectual debate and into fact-checking when he does this, and that means I can’t… win. There’s pretty well no way for me to be able to do it, you know, because every sort of idea I have to try to dismiss these things and bring it back to an arena where I can compete is met with more facts I can’t compete with.
I’m not stupid, you know? There is a difference between being informed and being intelligent, and I’m intelligent, but not always informed. But constantly losing and having my ideas shot down just makes me want to… want to win once, so I can say “See? I can go toe to toe with you.” I don’t think I’m that notch below him on the smartness scale, but I feel like that sometimes, and I don’t really like that feeling, you know? So I argue and argue and argue over nothing, trying to make him concede something, anything… and then it’s like 3 AM and nothing has changed.
So yeah, that’s why I keep playing devil’s advocate and fighting on and on once these things get started, even when I agree with him. I don’t know. Just how I feel.

So I played Rock Band tonight online with people from Talking Time. It was a lot of fun. I sang on Hard. I found that I am a lot more accurate if I like… sing everything falsetto and breathy and feminine. I don’t know why that is, but I was getting like… 90% instead of my normal like… 86% when I try to sing like the singer and such. Who knew? Also, I find I like Electric Version quite a bit even though Essner really dislikes it. I mean, not like Mass Romantic levels of like, but enough for me to seek out a copy of it. Oh well. Too bad for Essner, he’ll just have to not enjoy it as I play and sing it or whatever. Also, I found I suck ass at singing Reptilia. Mostly because I realized after I had picked it that I had never sung it before. Seriously, I got like… 67%. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is playing online with a full group is just about as fun as offline, though the malfunctioning of the headsets made it hard to… talk much. But oh well. Hopefully we won’t have that problem next time.

I should be in bed, but I’m not.

Also, I’m probably late to the party, but did you see this video of the Bionic Commando Remake for XBLA? I tried the original back when I picked up this little Capcom Classics GBA cart from work on the cheap, and I sucked at it. I’m horrible at old school games nowadays. But that looks to add more interactivity. And co-op? Fuck yes. That’ll get ten dollars of Microsoft Funmoney when it comes out.
Oh, and while I’m linking shit, they have this flash demo of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney over here. If you ever wanted to know if you’d like playing a Phoenix Wright game, try that out, and then imagine that over a whole game, because you do basically do everything you do in the games in that demo… well, okay, besides the investigation parts, but you know… the text… that’s the important part… if you like that.

I’m tempted to write something here about how my mom thinks I’m a failure and keeps communicating this to me in a roundabout, covert kinda way, but I don’t think I want to get into it. I think thinking about is what made me so drifty and unable to concentrate and quietly depressed this evening. I think I’ll just go to bed, play a little Picross, and sleep.

Hi, everyone. Still sick. Coughing up a storm, so… if you see a storm, probably my fault. Sorry.

Classes have been going okay so far. Lowish stress. We’ll see if I can keep that up. I hope so.

So I was working today and thinking and I realized I’m scared to let  Brer read what I’ve gotten down for Role-playing. It’s not so much that I’m afraid of criticism or anything like that… it’s just… I don’t know… it is kind of a big project. I’ve done well so far keeping working at it. But I feel, I guess, like if he doesn’t like it, I won’t feel any support from him, and then I’ll stop. Or something. I don’t know. The story isn’t high art. It’s just supposed to be fun. And I know we have different definitions at times with this stuff… hell, I dunno. Oh well, it doesn’t really serve any purpose to worry about it. He’ll see it eventually, and we’ll see what happens, eh?
I hope to get through Chapter 5 of Arc 1 this week, since I’m not working… shouldn’t be too hard… I’m taking a break tonight, though, because I feel dizzy and cold and miserable. Maybe I shouldn’t, but eh. It’s supposed to be fun, not a chore. As long as I keep chipping away at it, I’m winning in my book.

In other news, I’ve started playing Picross again. I’m surprised at how many Normal level puzzles there are. Just when I think I’ve unlocked them all, they unlock a few more tiers. It’s nice. I don’t think I can handle the “Free” level puzzles… I like doing them on the DS because I get feedback if I fuck up, so I don’t end up at the end and get frustrated not knowing what I did wrong, you know? The “free” ones don’t do that. You can only solve them by trying out things a certainly way using the little “try but not really put dots there” mode. In any case, I think I’d really frustrate me, but we’ll see if I can handle it when I beat the Normal level puzzles. Also, there’s a whole lot of official download puzzles I can get from Nintendo if I run out of Normal level ones, I suppose. But man, Picross is fun. Seriously, it’s only 20 bucks. If you like little puzzles at all, go pick it up.

Tommorow’s Agenda: Wake Up, Food, Look for a copy of OXM for Exclusive Rock Band songs, Class, Food, Class, Waste Time with Brer/Write.

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.

What day is today? January what? And this is an all-Christmas mix? Man, I’m really behind. Oh well, here we go.

M. Nicholai’s Mix
The Silent Knight Returns

1. Santa Claus is gunning you down by Planet Express Oh, of course, the Futurama. Heh. What do I even have time to write, though? The track is already over.

2. Father Christmas by The Kinks Kinda a rocking start here… huh, that’s… I dunno about those vocals, they’ve got a weird quality. Oh, wait, now that we’re to the chorus, I think I’ve heard this before, actually… but at least it’s not a song I was hearing all season at work, so that’s nice, to be sure. Anyway, it’s kinda nice, but it’s not really… bringing about the season for me? Then again, it’s hard for something you’re not familiar with on some level to do that, isn’t it? I don’t know if that’s really the idea anyway. A kinda fun little bridge thingy here, very upbeat. Yeah, not bad.

3. What Christmans means to me by Hanson I don’t know if that’s a typo in the name, but I left it anyway, so there! Oh gods, this is a song I was hearing all season in Kohl’s. Oh gods, oh gods! Well, at least it’s interesting to learn that this is by Hanson, apparently. Yeah, this is a song I was singing to badly for over a month… I do nothing but sing badly to the songs at work very loudly. Did you know that? Probably not. I also do this thing where I just pick one pitch and sing every word at that pitch for the whole song. And when people ask me why the hell I’m doing it, I say “Kids today are spoiled, with so many pitches! Back in my day, we only had one pitch, and liked it!” This song is kinda happy, though, isn’t it?

4. Santa Claus is coming to town by Jackson 5 Ah, the Jackson 5. I actually haven’t heard a lot by them that I haven’t liked decently. It’s nice kinda stuff. Fun and easy. And this is definitely that same way. Little Jackson has a pretty hardcore voice, to be sure. Let us remember him this way, hm?

5. Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney Well, this seems like something my mom would like. I say before I listen. Oh, it’s this song! Dammit, they played this at Kohl’s too. Damn workplace, tainting all the songs it plays! (Exceptions: I Hear the Bells by Mike Doughty, You’re Really Growing On Me by The Darkness… those oddly have not been tainted by Kohl’s replaying them always while I work) There is some neat little blippy stuff in there, though, isn’t there?

6. Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon and Yoko Ono Mmm, yeah, okay… so that’s Yoko Ono singing, huh? I don’t think I’ve ever heard her before… I can’t say this song is doing a whole lot for me, though… it… it’s kinda got a depressing kinda vibe, actually… like… lost nostalgia kinda feeling… like… you can’t go back kinda feeling… if that makes any sense? Also there are a lot of kids singing, apparently. Happy Christmas to you too, slowly fading quieter children…

7. Xmas in the Arctic Pole by Drugstore I don’t know of this “Drugstore” of which you speak. There’s some weird vibrations in her… his…? The vocalist’s voice. It’s… weird… Yeah, I definitely haven’t heard this song before… A solid dose of nah nah nahs in there, I see… I don’t know why waver-y strained voiced person is going to the Arctic Pole, though… I guess I missed that. Or maybe that’s just where the Xmas happens, so you gotta go to the Arctic pole to have any of it… but then does the Arctic pole have a queen? I remember a queen being mentioned… and now the vocalist has pitched themselves lower and it sounds weird. Well, alright then.

8. This Time Every Year by Saturday Looks Good Jingle-y bells… and there’s some guitars there… and some bellish sounds there, too… but wow, that’s kinda… noisy in the background… is it my speakers or is there really all that static-y sound back there? Goodness… okay, there’s a guy singing about the middle of December… which I guess makes sense… but apparently there’s old girlfriends and things going wrong… at this time every year. Aww, poor vocalist. Try calling new girlfriends, maybe? And being less echo-y and having less constant cymbal in the background to annoy me. Seriously, it’s just like this wall of sound in the background for no apparent reason, I dunno what’s up with that… like… it’s drowning out this other guitar back there…? I dunno.

9. Merry Christmas (I don’t want to fight tonight) by The Ramones Well, good, you shouldn’t fight on Christmas, because it’s all happy and shit… okay, but yeah, I get it… Christmas… no fighting… alright here’s some other lyrics… alright, children and faeries, and excitement… and love, that’s good, but it has to be that way, apparently, and you shouldn’t break up now… so I guess this is a song about wanting to wait until after Christmas to break up, I guess…?

10. Santa Claus and His Old Lady by Cheech and Chong Oh… kay… Cheech and Chong, huh? There’s some guy talking now, and some other guy digging something… huh… surely there is a band named Santa Claus though. Well, good! I get to learn who Santa is! Awesome! Brownies! Kickass! Tea! Communes! And there’s some stuff getting down behind him talking that’s not too bad. Chuy is a good reindeer name. That’s a great explanation about how he got everything done in time. “He took the freeway, man.” Oh maaaaan, Santa is getting strip searched now… Oooh, he’s underground now. Sneaky. Well, that was… interesting, certainly.

11. Santa Claus is a Black Man by Akim and Teddy Vann Oh gods, what is up with her voice? Oh gods, that’s annoying. I mean, I guess it’s a kid, but wow. Okay, gotta, you know, take it as cute. Be cool… well, it’s nice that all these oooohers were available to help out for the song. Oh, and now here’s someone else out of the oooooohers singing instead… and now you’ve got even more… okay… yeah… yeah… I get it… well, that wasn’t what I expected from that title, honestly.

12. Please Come Home for Christmas by Charles Brown Oh, alright, it’s this one… actually, I don’t think this one got played in the workplace this year… it’s not flipping any of those flags, anyway… it’s kinda classic, though, huh? It’s never anything I’d listen to outside of something like this or like… my mom putting on a CD of Christmas music, though, but it kinda feels like Christmas, doesn’t it? Maybe?

13. Little Drummer Boy by Bing Crosby and David Bowie Bowie? Bowie?? Indeed it is. That’s really kinda nice, isn’t it? With Bowie up there higher and stuff… yeah, that’s not bad at all. Certainly something I wouldn’t have heard normally, though. I don’t claim to know enough about it to know if this is like… a remix that Bowie could have made with him singing over it, because it feels like it could have been very easily. Either way, kinda neat.

14. Christmas Time is Here by Vince Gauraldi Trio Don’t know this name… oh… oh, it’s this one… what is this one always making me think of… like… Peanuts Christmas, maybe…? Is that what it’s reminding me of? I have no idea. It’s very light and airy, of course… very… unobtrusive background style, I suppose. It’s got that sentimental feeling too, certainly… mm.

15. Fairytale in New York by The Pogues featuring Kristy MacColl Mmm, yeah, very… oh… oh! I think I heard a version of this sung by Dr. Girlfriend and the Monarch awhile back… but I didn’t really recognize the song. I guess this is it, huh? The guy’s singing is kinda eh, isn’t it? He’s got a weird annoying quality to his voice… oh goodness, what in the world is happening now? It’s got like… bagpipes back there or something? Or at least the quality that makes me think of them, anyway. Oh my. Well, at least it picked up a bit, hm? Goodness, it used the word faggot. Wow. Um, yeah, didn’t expect that from the beginning. Huh… well… I guess it’s about Christmas…? I’m not really getting that from the whole thing though, but whatever. It’s not like it HAS to inspire that in me or whatever.

16. Twelve Days of Christmas by Bob and Doug McKenzie Very Canadian sounding, apparently. Perhaps I should be drinking a White Canadian while I listen. Oooh, mystery days of Christmas. I like that idea. Okay, I think I’ve heard this part now that they’re singing… kinda. But yeah, I’ve heard this part. Oh man, I like that choir singing “BEEEEEEEER!” Heh. Well, well sung, people. Merry Christmas and a good day to you, too, sirs! Now there’s all kinds of talking and electric noises… yeah… well, that was nice. Heh.

Well, certainly a Christmas mix filled with stuff I hadn’t heard before with a sprinkling of stuff I had… like… once before. It works! But probably would have worked better if I hadn’t listened today and had instead listened like… in December. But oh well. That’s another one down! Whoo!

Hey, Harmonix, if you’re listening to me for no reason, here’s what I want to see as Rock Band DLC, no in particular order. Well, besides TMBG being first.

1. Anything by They Might Be Giants. Need some Suggestions? Okay. How about Snail Shell or Damn Good Times?
2. Albuquerque by Weird Al. Yes, I would play it. It would be hilariously awesome. It would also never happen.
3. Digital Love by Daft Punk. Also probably would never happen, but I love that song.
4. Just about Anything by Franz Ferdinand. I’d love another try at Take Me Out with the vocals and drums, or something like Dark of the Matinee. And, of course, Do You Want To.
5. What Is Rock by Blue Man Group. It would be INSANE on expert drums, and a lot of fun. Alternatively, Time To Start, though that might be boring for the vocalist.
6. More Good Rap. Granted, I know NOTHING about rap music, so I doubt I’d be able to recognize it to buy it, but Sabotage is REALLY fun and different on the vocals.
7. Walkie Talkie Man by Steriogram. Yes, the opening song of Elite Beat Agents. I love it. And it would be really challenging to sing. And it’s a good song.
8. Just about Anything by Soul Coughing. I think So Far I Have Not Found the Science might be neat for a slower song. I’m also partial to Moon Sammy and Super Bon Bon. Super Bon Bon has tambourine for the vocalist.
9. Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight by Spinal Tap. Yes, we already had it in Guitar Hero II, but I wanna sing it, dammit, and Spinal Tap is awesome, and that’s one of the better choices from the band’s songs. I’ll also accept Gimme Some Money because I think that song is hilarious and it is probably my favorite Spinal Tap song.
10. Tribute by Tenacious D. Or any of the good songs on the original album… Double Team, or Wonderboy… something like that.

There’s just some ideas off the top of my head. Most of those will never happen, because they have to hit the lowest common denominator so that they’ll sell lots of it when they make it… so that means more classic rock and stuff… but I can dream, can’t I? Also, Jonathan would like more Bowie, but as far as I’m concerned, of the songs in the Bowie Pack they hit all the rest of them I wanted. Still, it did say “Bowie Pack 1” so maybe there’ll be more. Sass of Potatoes could become a Bowie cover band.