The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

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.

Good News: I wrote something today!
Bad News: It ended up as an erotic fairy tale about a page long that I probably won’t be passing around to too many people and, for being an erotic fairy tale, doesn’t have all that much sex in it.
Good News: I really enjoy playing FFXI with a 360 controller! It feels a lot more… relaxed like that, personally. Also, I’m enjoying Red Mage.
Bad News: I keep dying while trying to level. I played a decent chunk today and I think I just broke even on experience. Man, that’s annoying. I guess I need to duo with Jonathan some more… that was less frustrating.
Good News: I cleaned up another chunk of my room today!
Bad News: I could have finished the job if I wasn’t so lazy all morning.
Good News: Mom bought be a 4 Pack of Rockstar, because she saw how much I drink it. I appreciate the effort.
Bad News: I drink the Rockstar JUICED Mango/Orange/Passion Fruit flavor. She got the regular Rockstar flavor, which tastes like Red Bull and therefore tastes like complete and utter ass. Bleh.
Good News: Tomorrow is our little Chrissymas party that’s going to be a whole lot of fun!
Bad News: That means I can’t join in on the first Halo night with the new maps… I haven’t bought the new maps, yet, but just hearing about the horrible things people have already done in Foundry makes me ready to drop money on the Microsoft Funmoney Card.
Good News: Now that I’m out of school, I have all kinds of free time for shit!
Bad News: Brer has already left to go to his parent’s house for Chrissymas. Granted, he’ll be back like 2 days after Chrissymas, but eh, I’ll miss him… though he does say he’ll be around in the afternoons and have privacy, so hopefully I’ll see him a lot.
Good News: I wrote a new blog post!
Bad News: It was weighted down by some stupid Good News Bad News gimmick I came up with.

It’s late, but I wanted to post some crap. Like this.

CHRISSYMAS SHOPPING LIST UPDATE!
What everyone has been highly anticipating! Or something. This is just why you needed me to get my blog back on track!

Mom: Check.
Dad: Not Check (Still trying to think of something good…)
Jonathan: Check
Grandma: No Check (Got a crafty idea I have to look into doing soon)
Grandpa: Check
Brer: Check (Already mailed, should get there by Friday)
Essner: Half Check (Have something jokey, want to supplement with something good)
White Elephant Game: Check
Festivus Exchange: Check

I am ALMOST DONE. Exciting times. Should finish up sometime soon, I’d think. Hopefully. Yes.

Other business… hmm…. I picked up a Crimbo P.R.E.S.S.I.E. just because I really wanted the Can Has Cyborger effect. It triggers enough for me and I’m not such an optimizer as to stop using my Mayflower Bouquet, too, so I suppose it all works out in the end. I just figured if I wanted it, I should get it and support the game I love, you know? So I did. It’s currently named B.O.X.X.I.E., but I’m open to better suggestions for a name… that’s just what I came up with off the top of my head.
It looks like the Crimbo content is finally in full swing, too… I’ll hope the Wiki has some guidance up before I use my turns tomorrow… I don’t want to miss anything.

What else what else… oh, Talking Time is starting an FFXI static party, and I’m joining, and that makes Jonathan and Spaeth excited, so they’re joining in some capacity… even if it’s just being on the same server as me and going along with Jonathan’s crazy Three Beastmaster party.

Anyway, there’s some updates… I should probably get to bed. Tomorrow: Cleaning up my room, part 1!

Testing… testing… is this thing on? Testing… okay.
Welcome to the new server! Hm? Looks the same as the old one, you say? THEN THE ILLUSION IS COMPLETE!

What have I been doing while I was waiting pointlessly for the server to move? Well, the people of Talking Time convinced me to join a Static FFXI party, I entered a Yaris tournament, I managed to keep my head together for the rest of the semester, (almost, anyway. Still have to do well today, but then I’m done) I thought more and more about launching Roleplaying since I have all this server space for the MP3’s, and I met Jesus. He gave me a pony.
It was all really exciting! A shame I didn’t blog about it, huh?

But we’re back now! First order of business is the two Listening Time CDs I have waiting to be liveblogged, then I’ll probably see if I can’t work on Roleplaying… so hold on to your hats, Getmeoutofthis.net is back. (I know you don’t care, but just… you know… humor me and hold onto your hat anyway? Please?)

I’m starting the process of moving servers right… now. So if things are screwy, you know why! Things should be fine and normal after the move. Hopefully.

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…

So, time for some more self-promotion. My poem, Release and Repercussions, is in this weeks Deadpan podcast. Also a clip of me making an ass of myself while doing a mike check, as I do when I actually record me. You can go listen if you’d like. I’m thinking about recording my essay The Specialists to send in for next time. But I dunno. I should really write something new, maybe.

So, yeah, remember when I said I was going to make three posts on Sunday and now it’s thursday? That’s why you should never post “Part 1” in the title of something. Maybe I’ll make it a multiple Sunday event so I’m not a complete liar. Then again, who knows if people care anyway.

I also want to try that program Pixel used to make all the awesome Cave Story music to try to make some music for Roleplaying… yes, I’m thinking of working on that again… man, I dunno, I’d like to have something like that… and when I move servers, which I honestly should get on sometime this week or next, I’m going to have shit-tons of space and nothing to put there, so I might as well host audio files, eh? Anyway, tell me to work on Roleplaying, as well as other things. Projects are good. If I’d just do a little project every day, I’d probably be a happier person overall. But man, video games are just so fun.

Here’s the Chrissymas Shopping List Update you don’t care about.

Mom: Check Plus (Present plus other SECRET PURCHASES completed)
Dad: No Check
Jonathan: No Check
Grandma: No Check
Grandpa: Check.
Brer: No Check.
Kale: No Check. (Apparently he has some secret plan for getting me something. He told me not to worry about getting him something back, but I really don’t roll that way. Unless I get completely stumped, I’ll get him some little thing.)
Friends Gift Exchange: No Check
Friends White Elephant: No Check (The new plan is to draw one name and then invite the whole extended friend group over for White Elephant. I like this plan.)
Talking Time Festivus: Check (I got lucky on the draw, and drew someone who I had no problem thinking of what to send them. Just waiting at least until it’s December for a bit to get it into the mail, though.)

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.