Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Never again

So in film studies, we just finished watching Jaws. Holy fuck. Am I scared shitless to get in the water ever again. I'm not gonna do a review on it, but I just wanted to touch upon some common fears people have in relation to this movie. Shark attacks are one of the most frightening experiences anyone can have. I think this movie puts into perspective how terrifying it is to be in the territory of a 35 foot eating machine.

Oh yeah, and I looked up "shark attack" on Google Images and this is what I found:


Oh my fucking shit farts. If this didn't make you shiver...no that's impossible. Every single person that looks at this picture is struck with fear. Imagine yourself in that diver's position and if you turned around. I think I'd shit the water so much that it would be more brown than red.

Monday, October 12, 2009

THANK YOU SO MUCH

Hi, Matt here. I just wanted to extend a BIIIG thank you to Chris, Janet, Priscilla, JR, and everyone else who helped me out. KTHXBAI XD

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

Wow. Just. Wow... Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize? Some of you may be thinking,
"It's about fucking time!" While others, me included, are thinking, "Huh??"

Don't get me wrong, Obama is doing a great job so far in the White House. Doing Nothing. Think about it - Health care, the War in Afghanistan, Recession and domestic policies. What has he really done?

-----------------------
Jeff:
Well, the reason for giving Obama the prize as I heard on the news, was that so far he's not doing a BAD job of dealing with foreign affairs (it is given to him for his handlin of foreign affairs), and to give hope to the world, some inspiration that someone, at least someone is doing something for them; so that the rest of the world can follow Obama in stepping up and facing the world. Quite frankly, I don't feel he deserves it either, but if it serves its purpose then alright.
But also, what does it tell the world? Dishing out Nobel Peace Prizes like that? I mean you look at all the other winners, like Martin Luther King Jr. for example, can Obama's actions really even compare to that in any aspect? I don't think so.


~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matt: I don't actually have anything decent to say about this because I just heard about this when Jeff and Ryan were discussing it here. But from what I understand, many people think that Obama recieved the award for doing nothing. Just goes to show how manly he is.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Missile at Moon (NASA)

So Friday, October 9, 2009 way early in the morning NASA, launched a missile at a certain spot in the moon in search for ice or some indication of water. Groundbreaking? I think not. To me, this seems like an extremely selfish action. At least $70 million were spent on that project, all for one thing, to check for water and potential life. If you really think about it... what else could that money have been spent on? What could damage could have been done to the moon and/or the Earth? We don't know how the moon works, we barely know how the Earth works why shoot missiles at it? We don't know for sure what consequences it could have yielded, but as of now it seems safe and nothing has gone wrong.
Selfish yes, that $70 million could have been spent helping the poor, poverty-stricken people, ESPECIALLY in this time of crisis (recession) that is far from over. (Not to mention all this other humanitarian stuff that it could have been spent on.)

Matt: I agree and disagree with Jeff. First of all I agree because it does seem like a lost cause in retrospect. According to Mr. Turek, the actual test didn't meet the ideal conditions for the experiment. In retrospect, we could say that the money could have been better spent on more useful research. But the other half of me disagrees because it seems natural for human beings to want to study what they don't know about. And we definitely don't know a whole lot about the universe. So in a scientist's point of view, this experiment could have been a stepping stone for other great discoveries to come.

Ryan: I agree and disagree as well. "Attacking" the moon had a purpose - to find water. Science is all about failure, In order to learn you must fail. And based on what I've seen, we learned alot. I agree, the money was somewhat of a waste, but the information we may have gathered from the attack might pay off late-game. I disagree with Jeff on spending the money on poor poverty stricken people. The poor need help thats for sure, but the government is more likely to spend the money on the War in Afghanistan or use it for more Bail-outs. Such a waste.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

A word on October events

Well we just entered the month of October. School is slowly passing by. Yay.

So today, we got that student representative report in 5th period, informing all the students about the things to come in October. Pretty good stuff there.

One thing they mentioned was the Spirit Week, which is going to be next week, I believe. Dance-off on Wednesday. Dance-offs are really interesting and exciting to me and I used to like them. Used to.
...
Sigh...
Need I remind everyone what happened last year?
Remember how everyone was so into it? And people were pulling out sick tricks and doing some crazy moves? And then all of that got interrupted. BY THE DAMN PRINCIPAL. That got me kind of annoyed. Then they resumed the competition with a new rule, your head cannot be touching the ground, or something like that. What the shit kind of rule is that? I understand that they might be worried about the "dangers" of dancing, but these guys know what they're doing. And then after like 5 more minutes, the dance-off got stopped again. The next thing that happened pissed me off to heck. The rest of the battle was canceled just cuz the principal couldn't handle the awesomeness of the dances. Hellfuck.

Ryan: Hellfuck indeed. Also, another reason she stopped the dance-off was because spectators were doing some stupid shit, there were a few of them on the roof of the building overlooking the performance. If you want good seats, get there early, don't ruin the event for everyone please D:<

So I'm kind of looking forward to it, kind of. I can't really expect a whole lot out of this year's because it's being restricted by a lot of things. Or should I say, by one thing/person.

I know a lot of pretty good dancers that would make excellent competitors, but I've never seen them go up. I wish they would, because I think that it would be great for this kind of event.

Ryan: I agree, the dancers we know would rip up the dance floor like no other. But then again, the competition in this school is pretty tough, there are a few underground king-pins we don't know about.

So for this year, Halloween is on Saturday. Does that mean that dress-up is canceled? Hell no it's not. Dress-up day will be on the Friday before Halloween, October 30. This is another thing I look forward to in the school year. It's really fun to dress up and see other people's costumes as well. Freshman year, I didn't dress up as anything because I didn't have any ideas. Sophomore year, I pulled out a very crude Urahara cosplay. Junior year (my personal favorite), I dressed up as L. This year I don't know what I'm going to be. I remember in an AIM chatroom, I discussed with some people what we should be for Halloween. We had all these great ideas (my personal favorite was a group dress-up of Brawl characters), but then we realized that October 31st is on Saturday. So we were unsure if the event at school was still going to be held. Unsure, we withdrew all plans. But now that we know for sure that there is going to be a dress-up day, I wanna set those plans back in action. We gotta end senior year with the most squeezed out of the school year, right? XD
Ryan: Pirate.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

VG Review #8: Crossfire



Hi guys, this is another VG review XD. This one is very different because instead of a game that you can play on a console, this is a game that you download and play massively multiplayer style. Another reason why this review is so different is because Jeff is helping me write this entry, since he also plays Crossfire. Get it crackin.

Again, this a game that you can download. You can get the game client here if you're interested. It's an FPS game, if you couldn't tell from the picture above. FPS means First Person Shooter, which means that you are in the first person viewpoint shooting a gun, which means you better kill some people or you're dead.

Well, first of all, you have to download the game. Then register. Then you login when the game screen comes up. Then you are required to make a nickname for yourself and buy a character, either SWAT, OMOH, or SAS (Wiki if you don't know what they are). You are not required to buy a gun right when you start, but you can. Some of the guns you can choose include MP5, M4A1, MP7, AK-74, M60, K1a, and more. If you do not buy a gun, you use the default weapons, the M16 and the M700. The M16 is an assault rifle that has decent stats. The M700 is your default sniper rifle and it does pretty well; 2 shots guarantees a kill, if you hit your target. Now some of you might be wondering how you can hold 2 main weapons. Well, you can't really hold 2 main weapons at a time. You have these things called bags (lol I fail) and in each bag you can hold up to 1 main weapon, 1 pistol, 1 throw weapon, and 1 melee weapon. Your main throw weapon is probably going to be the grenade, and your main melee weapon is probably going to be the standard knife. You do not have a default pistol, so you'll have to buy one, if you decide to do it.

Now on to the main weapons. Your choices for a main weapon are assault rifles, submachine guns, sniper rifles, shotguns, and machine guns. If you're new to the game, I recommend a submachine gun because they're relatively easy to use, and make decent killing machines (>:D). I myself use a K2 right now, a gun that many people consider to be the best gun in the game. But I honestly think that the best weapon in the game is the Scar Light. There are a lot of weapons that you cannot buy right when you start the game because they require a certain ranking. These later weapons are not hard to get, but they do require quite a bit of time and effort to obtain.

Another thing is that there are certain weapons that a normal player like myself, and probably yourself, would not be able to access. This range of weapons can only be bought with real money. The real money is turned into ZP, which is probably short for Z8 Points (it's Z8's game). It is not an opinion, but it is a FACT, that these weapons give the user very unfair advantages. Most of these weapons offer an extended clip, boosted accuracy, higher power, and extra add-ons. Such weapons include the AK-47 camo, the M4A1 Advanced, the M4A1 custom, the Golden AK-47, the AWM camo, the SG-552 camo, heart grenades, combat axes, and some more cheap (not literally) weapons. People who use these weapons usually appear as women characters in-game, and the best advice I have for you when you see one is: leave the game.

On to the actual gameplay. Being that this is an FPS game, you have your standard Team DeathMatch and Elimination modes, but Crossfire is unique in that it offers a variety of other ways to play. In Search & Destroy, one team is assigned the task of detonating 1 of 2 sites, and the other team's goal is to stop that team from exploding anything. In Ghost Mode, one team is partially invisible and is given the task to blow up 1 of 2 sites, and the other team is required to stop them. In the Vietnamese version of Crossfire, they also have a Zombie Mode, which looks extremely fun to play, so I hope Z8 includes this mode on a later patch. In addition to all these different modes, you can also play the same modes, but with some modifications. There are options available that restrict all players to using just knives or just sniper rifles or just pistols. The variety of modes keeps the game fresh and fun to play.

So what do I think about this game? Well I like it. I like the fact that you can choose your weapons based on your play style and also carry around other weapon sets for different situations. Again, I like the different modes you can play in. Sometimes I get bored with Team DeathMatch, and when that happens, I can join some other game with an Elimination mode or a Search & Destroy mode. It's a pretty fun game if you have the time to play it.

Unfortunately, there are quite a bit of flaws about it, too. But not all of them are directly about the game. For example, some of the people that play it ruin my experience by calling me a hacker or a "stupid ass bitch". Of course you're gonna get those kinds of people on an MMO game. [By the way, there used to be a LOT of hackers on this game, but Z8 or Suba did a really good job with patching up all the bugs and loopholes] Another thing (Jeff might touch up on this in his opinions) is that there isn't as much realism as we had hoped. Jeff pointed out to me that the AK-47 is very INACCURATE in real life, but in Crossfire, it is a very ACCURATE weapon. Some of the recoil is unrealistic too. Some guns have way too much; and I can tell that it's too much because I've seen them in action in real life. But one of the main problems I have is the "ZP whores", as I like to call them. These are the people that decide that they want to own everyone and start spending real money on the game in order to get better weapons than the rest of the common players online. One of the ways you can tell if someone is a ZP whore is if they are playing with a woman character (SPOP). 90% of the time, that person is a ZP whore. They ruin the game for me because none of my weapons can match their dollar-bought firearms. I seriously think that Crossfire should draw the line somewhere.

Overall, I'd say it's an entertaining game. It's not great, it's not horrible, it's just...good. It's especially fun if you have someone you know playing it with you. Try it out if you have the time and hard drive space.


Gameplay: 8/10
Controls: 8/10
Difficulty: 7/10
Graphics: 9/10
Music/Sound: 8/10
Overall: 8/10



That's my take on this game. Jeff, what do you think about Crossfire?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alright so here's my side (Jeff) of this game. Honestly I think Matt covered the majority of it, but there's always more opinions to add.

Alright, so with the gameplay, if you're into CS (Counter-Strike) you'd like this game, though most likely you'll choose CS over CF because it is paid for and more developed. If you've played console shooters like Call of Duty, or CS, you probably wouldn't be interested, but for those people who don't like to spend money on games, this is a great choice. The gameplay is pretty solid and straightforward, not too hard to figure out. There are a few minor flaws with the physics sometimes but it's totally tolerable; for example, aiming right on the person, wasting a whole clip without hitting them once; doesn't happen too often and it's correctable with experience.
The guns... i'd say they're 70-80% realistic, (don't expect Call of Duty physics and capabilities with this) the AK-47 as Matt mentioned above I realized is a pretty accurate analogy to the real one, it is depicted pretty well and made playable in the game. Z8/Suba did a great job with the weapons design and all its features including recoil and aim considering this is a free game. The one drawback is if you're like me, you do find it to have a very limited variety of weapons, but I'm sure they'll add more with new patches. One thing's for sure though, the people who pay money for this game are overpowered, but not invincible, enough skill will be enough to surpress them with any gun.

Overall, this game is a GREAT free MMO, if you're into FPS. It combines a solid gameplay with good weapons, and it has enough in it to keep you from wanting to quit; I mean who gets tired of shooting people?

Monday, October 5, 2009

The Importance of Soundtracks


In the morning, I drove to church. Well, I usually drive to church, but this time it was a little different. I plugged in my iPod to the car radio and I started playing Mario Kart music. DAMN. That was the best thing ever. I really felt like I was in Mario Kart. Which was good and bad. Good because it gave me the "in-game" feeling. Bad because I was so into the music I almost crashed. =P

I also tried this experiment with one of the Blue Yoshi authors, Ryan. So as many of you know, I like Lucky Star. So does Ryan. But anyways - and I may have talked about this before - in the Lucky Star anime, the characters mostly talk about trivial things on a daily basis. And when they do that, some music plays. It sounds like elevator music from the start, but it's a little jumpier than that. It was entertaining to watch, so I downloaded some of the background music, and went to school the next day. I put in an earphone, started up the Lucky Star music, and proceded to have a conversation with Ryan. It worked like a charm. Not only did it make the conversation more enjoyable, but it made me feel like I was in a TV show or an anime. Haha yeah.

It's freaken awesome when you're doing something and you have music to go along with it. It just exacerbates every experience you have while doing whatever you're doing. For example, try running with frantic horror music. You'd probably feel a little scared and run faster.

Some more practical applications:
- When you're doing your homework, play some heroic music. In reality, you're only doing homework, but in your head, you'll feel like you're slaying dragons.
- Set up some upbeat song as your alarm in the morning. You'll probably wake up happier and be ready to take on the day (I actually know someone that does this).
- In the shower, play the Psycho theme. Just kidding.
- At night, find some ambient music to play. Unless your intention is to NOT fall asleep. In that case, put on some screamo.

Experiment around. You'd be surprised.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Oh Ehm Gee Frostycola is All Up In Hurr! (And Jeff, too XD)

This is a very cool day for Blue Yoshi, because now we have some new authors! Ryan Ruan and Jeff Tarn have both agreed to write for Blue Yoshi and share their random thoughts as well as me sharing mine.

So without further delay, here's the second author of Blue Yoshi, Ryan!!





Whoa! Looks like change is afoot in this little blog!

What up readers? The name be Ryan. But please, when on the internet I am known as FROSTYCOLA!!! /applaudandlaughterensues

I am very excited to be blogging with Matt kay? His posts are very entertaining to read and I can only hope to be as funny as he is. I really hope you enjoy our random-ass posts as much as we do!




And here's the third author of Blue Yoshi, Jeff!

Whooo so I am sure this is gna be a crazy blog now LOL. This is Jeff. How you doin'?



...come on Jeff, is that all you could think of?

Thursday, October 1, 2009

LOL Potter

So I heard that the last book of Harry Potter is going to be split up into 2 movies. I think that's a pretty good idea, since one movie may not be enough to capture all the events in the book. And this is coming from a Potter noob, since the last book I read from the series was Prisoner of Azkaban. After that, I just watched the movies.

So...what are they gonna call the movies? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2? But wouldn't that kind of be inconsistent to the other titles? Maybe they'll just give them the same name, Deathly Hallows, and expect the viewers to figure out which comes before and which one comes after.

OR, they could name the first movie "Harry Potter and" and then name the second movie "the Deathtly Hallows." Or maybe they'll just give them original names. Who knows...I don't.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Unrelated

Textbooks are heavy, they take up a lot of space, and they can cost a lot of money. So of course a lot of people don't like textbooks. But I find them amusing for one particular reason.

Pretty much all textbooks have the most bullshit covers ever. I remember in elementary school our math books had things like plus signs, division signs, some formulas, sample fractions. Now when we get into middle school, the textbooks have some random shit like a globe or a guy running. What the hell? Put some damn math symbols on the math books goddammit. Even my textbook for math now has a picture of a cello on the front. And it's not just math books, it's almost every book. Remember when you were taking chemistry where you got those books that you never used? Remember what was on the cover? Some group of people on a whitewater raft. How the hell does that relate to chemistry? It doesn't. It's just some generic picture that's supposed to LOOK educational.

Here are some examples of generic textbook cover pictures:

- Some people making out (Spanish 4)
- A bridge (Physics)
- A watercolor painting (Psychology)
- A guy kicking a soccer ball (Physics)
- A pyramid (English)

Now some might argue that the pictures are kind of related to the subject. For example, let's take the soccer one. Someone might say, "Hey, kicking the ball requires physics, so that's why they put it on there." Ok, well that's fine and all, but don't tell me you can't put up some DAMN measurements or equations. When I see a textbook, I want to SEE the things I'm learning on the front to get in the mood to study. Not some picture of people bungee jumping or smashing clocks with a hammer or using hand sanitizer.


lol don't take this rant too seriously.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Solid

So as many of you know, the administration at our school is implementing a new rule. And as many of you know, it's bullshit. Apparently, you are not allowed to wear a plain Tshirt anymore because it is "gang related". This rule is shit related. Many people, including myself, think that this rule is ridiculous and unreasonable.

Jeff Tarn is helping me out with this post indirectly. According to him, Mr. Glass "pulled in 5 of those kp guys and they were all wearing white tshirts." So now it is a rule that you cannot wear this kind of clothing. What the ass kind of logic is that? Also, since he wears a lot of solid colors, an SIA told him the same thing that Mr. Glass probably told the 5 other guys. And Jeff also brings up a good point. "to a loot of people plain tshirts is like half or more of their wardrobe which would require them to buy more and tshirts with designs on them cost a lot more. up to $10+ more. you can go to foot locker and buy shirts, 5 for 20, then you go to pacsun, 1 shirt is 20." (By the way, these quotes were ripped straight off of AIM, so I didn't put any major changes in the thoughts) This new rule could cause people to have to get more clothes and generate unnecessary spending.

Jeff also gave his thoughts about tomorrow, which is the day that many students are going to wear plain Tshirts to school in an attempt to obliterate this rule. He says, "i actually think mr glass is okay with giving us all demerits for defiance." I disagree, because if enough students will wear it I think they won't even bother. But it is possible that what Jeff said could happen. It would probably be like a big tardy sweep to Mr. Glass. We'll see tomorrow. Even though Jeff thinks that Mr. Glass will give out demerits, he still will be part of the "rebellion" tomorrow. "[I'm doing this] to be part of the movement and the chance that he'll change his mind and if not him, the rest of the staff." Already, many people are planning to take part in this. We should all be supportive of the whole student body and our rights and show that it's unfair to put this rule on us.

So be sure to wear your plain Tshirts tomorrow to stick it to the man.

Monday, September 28, 2009

House

[The following is an old post off of my AiB blog. I didn't have any ideas to write about so I just pulled this up. And also, the timing seemed appropriate. This was originally posted February 1, 2009.]





I like the word "house" for three reasons.

1) For its common definition - I like being in my house =D.
2) I like house music. Hooray for sick beats.
3) House MD is a kickass show.

Now, I want to talk a little bit about number 3. Just this year, I discovered House, the TV show. I mean, I knew about it, but I had never watched it before because it looked kinda weird. But after I went to a Math&Science Club bonding event, I discovered how great it was. They showed the pilot episode of House and I was hooked.

When I got home, I looked for websites where I could watch more House. I was seriously addicted. Megavideo (long sigh) had it, so I watched it there. And then...it came. The stupid-*** m****r f*****g message that said, "You have watched 72 minutes of video today." I was pissed. So I had to download it and that took a while. But in the end I got my House. And by the way, MEGAVIDEO SUCKS.

For those of you who are like my past self, and don't know what House is, House MD is a medical show featuring Dr. Gregory House and his team of doctors. Each episode they face a new disease and bust their balls trying to find out what it is and cure it before it kills the patient. I love Hugh Laurie's acting and I didn't even know that he was British because he had such a good American accent. I still can't believe he has to fake it all this time.

After watching through the first season and into the second, I notice these episodes take on a repetitive pattern. I'm not saying that it makes the series BAD, but I'm just saying. So a typical episode of House would go like this:

In the opening scene, you're transported into the life of a random person and watch them live out a slice of their life. All of the sudden, you see them suffer the effects of some disease that they have, probably obtained through some event in the past. And then, the cool intro plays. After that, Dr. House and his team will accept the unusual case and try and figure it out. They use a whiteboard to try and organize the facts and pinpoint the disease. The first time, House will think he is a genius and guess at a disease and order his team to treat the patient for it. However, he is sadly mistaken and the treatment causes the patient to get worse. House and his team will go back to go over the facts and look for more possibilities. The team will be more careful this time, because one wrong move could end up with a dead patient on their hands. House will take a daring risk and treat the patient for a disease that nobody else believes to be true. But he does it anyways and the patient is all better.

Some of the optional things that may happen in episodes are:
- Dr. Cuddy will kick House off the case.
- The patient will get a seizure.
- Dr. House breaks a funny. XD
- Fights within the diagnostic team.
- Clinic duty with Dr. House
- Visits from family members of the doctors/loved ones of the doctors/previous loved ones of the doctors
- Patient dies (that's right, not always do they cure the patient)

I remember one scene, House was in the clinic playing Metroid on his GBA. The patient asked him what he was doing and House mumbled, "Level 4...." I laughed because I clearly don't remember there being distinct levels in the Metroid games. But correct me if I'm wrong.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Top 10 Best Items from LoZ


My first post in a while. Many people know about the Legend of Zelda series. It's been a classic since it first came out on the NES in 1987. To this day, the series is going strong and still pumping out great games. Each of the games is unique in their stories, their gameplay, and....THEIR ITEMS.


Hell yes. Admit it. Part of the reason you played LoZ was to play with all of Link's toys. How could you not? They're so fun to use and it's extremely rewarding when you obtain one of them. And once you get them, the game's on. Some of the items are only useful one time, but others can prove their usefulness over and over again.

And that's where this list comes in, the good items. Which ones are the best of the best? We'll soon see.

What makes up this list? Well of course items, but not every item has a chance on here. The items that are staples in every game aren't eligible (for example, swords, bow & arrow, bombs, bottles, etc.). This list should be made up of items that only have an appearance in one (maybe two) games. Also, since I'm making this list, they have to be in games that I've played, or else I won't know the function of the item. So here it is!

10) Gust Jar
This item comes from the Minish Cap. The gust jar is a very efficient weapon. If I had to describe a gust jar in one word, it would be...Kirby. It sucks up everything. Bushes, rupees, hearts, even some enemies. And it has no burnout, so you could hold down the button and just walk around, inhaling everything in your path. But of course it'd slow your movement down. The gust jar has another useful function in certain situations. When you're on a stagnant pond, and all you have is a lily pad, you can use the gust jar to navigate. Just suck up air and poof, fire it in the opposite direction you want to go.


9) Magic Hammer
Magic hammer is brought to you by A Link to the Past. There are quite a few obstacles and enemies in this game that require the magic hammer. But I don't know what's so magic about it. It is useful, despite the misnomer. Flip shelled enemies over on their bellies to slash them. You can also pound annoyingly placed stubs of whatever in your way to go through. And overall, it's just a powerful weapon. I like it.

8) Pegasus Boots
If I remember correctly, this item appears in both A Link to the Past and The Minish Cap. So what's this item do? It makes you run as fast as Sonic. You go so fast that you can't even turn. You go so fast that the enemies you hit are instantly obliterated. You go so fast that you can knock items out of trees if you run into them. You go so fast that the grass you run over is instantly shredded. You go so fast that the screen has trouble catching up with you. You go so fast that you never ever want to walk ever again.

7) Fairy Slingshot
Some might argue that this is the equivalent of a bow and arrow. I say shut the hell up because it fires NUTS not ARROWS. The first point-and-shoot item you recieve in Ocarina of Time was one of the best things you could ever take out of a treasure chest. Why go up close to someone to slash them out with a sword when you could take someone out from far away. Speaking of which...

6) Hookshot
This was pretty damn cool when I first got this. It was in the later dungeons of A Link to the Past, but once you got it, it changed your whole fighting style. No longer did you have to suffer the peril of engaging in close combat with your enemies. You could now just stab at them from the other side of the screen. Link has the best toys. In Twilight Princess, another version of the hookshot was present: the clawshot. I prefer the hookshot more, because I didn't find the clawshot particulary effective in fighting enemies.

5) Gale Boomerang
The boomerang is, in fact, a staple item in most Zelda games. But this is not a boomerang. It's a GALE boomerang. It was pretty different from the regular old piece of plastic we got in the other games. This one could do so much more in Twilight Princess. With the power of wind, you were able to access things a regular boomerang could reach, and things that it couldn't, such as: stray rupees, a heart, some enemies. The throw of the boomerang creates a mini tornado that sucks anything into it and brings it back to you. The only downside to this was that they included this in Brawl. For fighting, I'd prefer the traditional boomerang.

4) Fire Rod
The fire rod was like hell on a stick. In A Link to the Past, you could unleash the power of hellfire onto unsuspecting victims. They could even see it coming and it won't matter because they'll be ash. In one particular boss fight, the fire rod causes major amounts of damage. The damage range isn't limited to that boss either. Many others suffer the burning inferno cast upon them. And that's why this is number 4.

3) Ocarina of Wind
Not to be confused with the ocarina of time, the ocarina of wind was an extremely useful tool in your quest in Minish Cap. Remember the Pegasus Boots? Remember how I told you how fast they were? Well this thing is faster. When you play a song on this ocarina, you are instantly teleported to any warp zone of your choice. That made traveling a LOT easier and I was very happy when I got this.

2) Mole Mitts
This item was given to you early in the game in Minish Cap. It's not useful for fighting enemies, but it is useful in another aspect. Besides the one dungeon that required the use of this item, there are various parts in the game where you can use these mole mitts on weak walls to dig in and search for treasure and heart pieces. It was absolutely essential to have this if you want to 100% the game. Also, if you use this randomly on an open field, you may find big rupees or other rare items.

1) Ball and Chain
This was probably the best present ever. Easily Twilight Princess's best weapon, this is the ultimate domination tool. The name says it all, it's a big spiked ball on the end of a chain that you swing around and throw at people or obstacles. I remember it took about 3 or 4 hits with a sword to kill a certain enemy. With the ball and chain, the same enemy died after 1 or 2 hits. It does have quite a bit of startup lag, but once you get it up and running, you can just destroy any enemy in your sight. I want this. :D

Monday, September 14, 2009

Spirited Away

[I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd put this in as a filler. This was a review I wrote for my film studies class about the movie Spirited Away. Since I'm writing it for a class, it's gonna look different from the ones I post up on Blue Yoshi. I wrote it differently, since I'm writing for a teacher this time. So don't take this one too seriously, but if you want to read it, go ahead, here it is. Enjoy.]

Spirited Away is a pretty well known film from a not-so-well-known director. Hayao Miyazaki was the director of Spirited Away and he also brought about other movies, such as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Princess Mononoke. Pretty much all the films that Miyazaki works on are all animated, and Spirited Away is no exception. Because Spirited Away is animated, it does have a lot of room for creative thought, and that’s where this movie really shines.


Sprited Away’s creativity begins with the actual story. The main character is a girl named Chihiro. Chihiro recently had to move to a new place (for reasons unknown) and left behind her old life, including her friends and her school. She doesn’t have very high hopes for this new destination and just uses the opportunity to sulk. On the drive to the new house, Chihiro’s mom and dad get themselves lost and all three of them end up at what seems to be an abandoned theme park. Hunger gets the better of Chihiro’s parents, so they find food and begin eating. Chihiro has a bad feeling about the situation, but leaves them to eat while she walks around. She soon finds a mysterious bathhouse where she also sees a boy her age. The boy chases her away and Chihiro is left to look for her parents. It soon becomes nightfall and the spirits have awoken. Dodging ghostly figures, Chihiro finally finds her mom and dad, still eating. But when they turn around, Chihiro sees that they somehow transformed into pigs. Terrified, she runs away, yet again. With nowhere to go, she hides from all the spirits. The boy from the bathhouse finds her hiding and tries to comfort her this time. His name is revealed to be Haku, and he wants to help her, first of all by getting a job at the bathhouse. In this way, Chihiro enters the bathhouse of the spirits and gets to work, in hopes of later reuniting with her parents.


You can find many memorable moments while watching Spirited Away. I think one of the best scenes was when Chihiro was flying with Haku up in the skies (Haku can turn into a dragon). During the flight, Chihiro suddenly remembers that Haku, in dragon form, saved her from drowning when she was very little, and by remembering this, Chihiro also remembered Haku’s real name. Before, the owner of the bathhouse stole his name and replaced it, and Haku forgot his real name since then. Now that he knew his real name, he could be the master of his own fate.


Spirited Away was originally a Japanese movie, which is a minor problem. The language gap can quickly be overcome by translation. But what doesn’t get translated is the kind of feeling that the Japanese voice actors can create through their own language. As a result, the English version is lacking in acting skills. People might prefer the English version, and others might like the Japanese version. It differs between people.


For an animated movie, Spirited Away looks amazing. The people who made it paid very close attention to detail, and as a result, even though it’s an animation, it feels realistic. There are some things about it that are not realistic, however. But even these things looked great on film. The different spirits and monsters and supernatural effects were very colorful and detailed. The score for this film is terrific as well. I actually have the soundtrack to this movie because it’s so good. Right when the scene calls for some music, it’s there. And it just enhances the mood. Joe Hisaishi, the musical composer for Spirited Away, did a great job creating music for this movie.


The movie has a good ending (spoiler alert!). In the end, Chihiro makes a deal with the bathhouse owner to return her parents. But she can only return to them if she can figure out which pigs they are. Several pigs are lined up and Chihiro was told to choose her parents. She tells the bathhouse owner that they aren’t in the group. Surprisingly, she’s right. She no longer had to work at the bathhouse and she was now free to go. After parting with Haku and the others from the bathhouse, she sees her parents on the far side of a field. She rushes over and hugs them, crying and laughing, just happy that they’re back. Her parents acted like nothing ever happened between entering the “theme park” and the present. Chihiro leaves with a positive outlook that this new place might not be so bad. What this film teaches you is to try and make the best of things, even when things look pretty scary or intimidating.


So overall, this is a very good film and it was very entertaining to watch. This film is like a big journey that you travel with the characters on screen. You really feel like you’re “spirited away” in this other world. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys good movies. Out of 10, I would give it 9. It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough.


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Anime vs Manga

Do you ever see me do any manga reviews on Blue Yoshi? The truth is, I like anime better than manga. For my own set of reasons. But today we're gonna take an unbiased look at anime and manga and try to evaluate each based on their pros and cons.

Well, before I do that, I'll explain why I like anime better.

No actually, it would be easier to do pros and cons first.

LoL I'm arguing with myself.

Anime
Anime, as we probably all know by now, is a Japanese animation style that is not only popular in Japan, but in various other parts of the world. It produces series that many of us become attached to. But already, there are some problems. Being that this is comes from Japan, the anime itself is going to be in Japanese. If you speak Japanese, great. For the rest of us, we're screwed. There are only two options available to us now: we can either watch the English dub or the English sub. Let's talk about subs and dubs for a second. Dub means that the anime is now taken over by another company that has to redo the anime with English-speaking voice actors and editing some other minor things. English subbed anime is not done by big companies, but instead, groups of fans that are fluent in Japanese and English translate the anime and put subtitles. This way, the anime is left as it would be in Japan, just with English subtitles. Most people prefer to watch subs rather than dubs. And the general agreement is this: English voice actors suck balls. I also side with this argument, but to be fair, there are some people that like the dubs. Some series have pretty decent dubs. Ok back to anime in general. Anime has a lot of things that manga doesn't have to offer. For one thing, anime is able to make use of music, because after all, it's an animation. Also, while most mangas are in black and white, anime has color. Which may be appealing to some people. Uh oh, I'm not supposed to be comparing yet....shoot. I'm too lazy to go take that out, so just pretend that you didn't see it.

Manga
Manga is the equivalent of a comic book. It's just as popular as anime, and it also originated in Japan. It's a book with pictures and speech bubbles. We do have access to manga as well, but it has it's own problems. The mangas that are processed by other companies and get official translations come by way too slowly. The series may be at chapter 100 in Japan, but what we get in the US as the latest release is chapter 50. But there is an alternative, however, and many people will agree that this is the better option. Online, people scan fan-translated copies of manga and post them on the internet. It doesn't give you that book reading experience, but at least it keeps you up to date with the latest releases. I have read some manga online and I do think that the fans have done a terrific job translating. Not only do they translate, but they explain certain customs and plays on words in Japan that we wouldn't understand in the US. I'm not entirely sure if the US versions of manga have this.


Ok, now it's comparison time. Manga vs Anime. Anime vs Manga.

Mangas sometimes have corresponding series in the anime variety. For example, there is a Naruto manga and a Naruto anime. However, the stories may differ between the two. I remember watching a series, anime style. And later, I decided to revisit the series in it's manga form. When I first started, I was very surprised how differently they started off. Not only are the stories different, but just...how do I explain this? Well, let's take a series for example...Negima. Mahou Sensei Negima is both an anime and a manga. If you do a bit of research, you will find that the anime is 26 episodes long. If you do a little more research, you'll find that the manga is ongoing. WTF? The anime stopped, but the manga still has more to offer. Mangas are like...soap operas then. No wait, I take that back. Don't compare mangas to soap operas. Please. Like I said before, anime has color and sound effects/music to go along with the animation. So if you are a visual person, you'd probably prefer anime. Manga is just black and white, and you have to create your own music and sound effects. Just kidding. If you really do that, you're weird.

Manga and anime are so different. But it's the special things about each one that attracts people. Certain people will like anime and certain people will like manga. It's not really one is better than the other, it's just a matter of opinion.

So the bottom line is this. If you keep moving from series to series and you're a visual person, anime is probably best for you. If you stay loyal to a couple series, then manga is for you.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Anime Review #14: Hidamari Sketch


Oh man. I love this anime, and with good reason. It's so radically different from other anime. Uniqueness is one thing, but this is like a whole other style of anime. I have no idea. I guess it's because it's about art and everything has to be artistic about this anime. It's just awesome.

It's a shortie. 13 episodes long. They also have a second series: Hidamari Sketch x365, which I'm watching right now. And I've heard rumors that a third series will be coming out.

This anime is like the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya in the sense that the episodes are not presented chronologically. But unlike Haruhi, I don't think it makes a difference if you watch Hidamari Sketch in broadcast order or in chronological order. I'm not entirely sure how to figure out the chronological order, but you can either look online for the correct order, or maybe use the dates in the episode titles.

ENOUGH. For probably the last time for a while it's time to do the character...
ROLL CALL
Yuno - The MAIN main character. There are 4 characters that the series focuses on, but Yuno is the one that we follow most of the time. Yuno is a junior in high school and attends Yamabuki Arts Academy. She always wears X-shaped hairpins, and for that reason, is often represented in the anime as an X. You might not understand what I'm saying right now, but just watch the series and you'll get it. She is a very innocent person and probably the shortest out of all of the 4 main characters. She lives in room 201 in Hidamari Apartments. Oh yeah, she is also called "Yunocchi" by the next character.

Miyako - Also known as Miya, this is the most physically matured person, but the least mentally mature. Also a junior, she lives in 202 at Hidamari Apartments, right next to Yuno. Her room costs way less than the others' and you could see why when you see the inside of it. She's very wild and a fun loving person. Her stomach is bottomless and she's always eating. She loves her friends and is an especially good friend to Yuno.

Hiro - Hiro is one year older than Miyako and Yuno, making her a senior at Yamabuki. She is very sensitive about her looks and always goes on diets to try and lose weight. Even though she tries to avoid food, she always cooks for everyone else at Hidamari Apartments, especially for the next character. She is sometimes represented in the anime by her crazy hair. Well, it's not crazy when you first look at it, but when the weather's just right, it starts moving.

Sae - Same age as Hiro, which means she's also a senior. She lives in 102, right next to Hiro and right below Miyako. She is a writer and only attended Yamabuki because she wants to be able to illustrate her own books. She gets embarassed very easily. She also has a sister named Chika, but you only see her one episode. In Hidamari Sketch x365, you see her more often, however.

Yoshinoya - Known as Yoshinoya-sensei, because, after all, she's the teacher. She's probably even more immature than Miyako, which means she's a crazy teacher. She always cosplays for her class and is scolded by the Principal for it. She has a pretty good relationship with the other girls at Hidamari Apartments.

The Principal - Kinda nameless, but he doesn't really need a name. He's the character that really sticks out because it looks like he's out of place. He just looks really weird. His head is super long. It's like a hot dog. He doesn't really play a big role, other than occasionally showing up and talking to some other people, or scolding Yoshinoya for her crazy behavior.

The Landlady - Also nameless, to my knowledge, she is another character that appears less in the first season but more in the second (the other being Chika). Her name says it all, she's the landlady of the Hidamari Apartments. She's pretty easy going and is a frequent smoker. And she talks in a weird accent, but also cool. Yup...not much to say here.

This anime is another slice of life animes. If you don't remember what that means, it just means that there's no real story. Instead, the anime shows "slices" of the characters lives. So even though it doesn't have a story, it's still successful in developing the characters and making the series entertaining.

This series comes with a LOT of extras. There's probably like 5 OVAs and 2 specials. Which is a lot. I haven't watched them though.

So what's Hidamari Sketch all about? Well, I can't really answer that because, I told you, it's a slice of life. What it's pretty much about is Yuno, Miyako, Hiro, and Sae hanging out at school, but mostly in the apartments. It looks like a fun lifestyle because they make it seem that way. This anime takes slices from all around the year and gives the variety that keeps this from going stale.

Another thing about this anime is how artistic it is. Unlike other animes, Hidamari Sketch has this unique way of making you think and making you interpret different images and symbols. It sure worked for me. I loved Hidamari Sketch.

Some of the music is very artsy too. I tried to find some soundtracks but I failed. Which sucks, because I wouldn't mind putting this in my library.

So is there a downside? Well, as much as I hate to say it, there is. And it's probably the same thing that was the best part about the anime, the artistic viewpoint. Some people might get confused watching the series or not like the way the anime is portrayed. If that's you, you might want to try the manga. I've never seen it though, so I'm only guessing.

I can't really say much about this series since it's so short AND it's a slice of life. But overall, it's a good anime. I'd probably keep watching this. If you're looking for something totally different, try this. It might turn you on. Just kidding. It is good though.

Storyline: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Mood: 9/10
Uniqueness: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Summer Retrospective

I wanted to do this post after the Hidamari Sketch one, but I'm gonna do this one before it to save time.

Summer is ending. It's a given that pretty much everyone is pissed or sad. And why shouldn't they be? Summer is the best. Well that goes without saying. But for me personally, this summer has been one of the best summers of my life. It wasn't perfect, but it was definitely better than the previous summers.

Let's start with the highlight of my summer: DRAGONAUTS. Dragonauts was so kickass, I have to wonder why the hell I didn't do it last year. It's another one of my unique families. We just had a lot of fun this summer. I mean, I wish that I could do this all year. It's so enjoyable to be with these people and rowing boats. I really liked all the gatherings that we had too. We probably had like...3 or 4 potlucks this summer. And they were awesome. I made so many friends in Dragonauts. Some really nice people. The best part was the races at Long Beach. The best 2 days of the whole summer. Even when we weren't racing, it was still a lot of fun just hanging out with the other team members and watching LARD or some other team racing. The races were intense. Again, the best part about summer were these two days. If I could do it every weekend, I would.

In general, I was probably most active this summer. What I mean by that is this - most other summers, I wouldn't leave the house unless I really had to. For example, the summer before this one, I went to Gateway Academy, and then went home, and that was my whole day. The summer before Gateway's summer, I literally stayed home all day. This summer, I actually hung out with friends and cool people and did fun stuff. Makes me wanna redo the other summers.

This summer wasn't perfect, like I said. I had to take a physics class at Cerritos College. Which was bullshit. I didn't see a purpose in taking the class except that it was just something to do. I guess my mom wanted me out of the house.

Still, the other good stuff just overrode this little detail and made this a candidate for one of the best summers of my life.

I'm not sure if my birthday counts as being in the summer, but if it is, then that makes it better. THANK YOU, GUYS!!

So yeah, that was my past look on 09's summer. Stay tuned for one last post, Anime Review #14.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Anime Review #13: They Are My Noble Masters



Hi, everyone. This is a quick filler for other stuff to come, so don't expect too much. It was a short anime, so I just watched it in like, 2 days. For the second time. It's 13 episodes long. Well I'm getting ahead of myself here.

This anime is a lot of things. It's a comedy, an ecchi, and a drama. But mostly comedy. While there are quite a few characters, they're all pretty much main characters, so I guess I should name them all. So let's get started on the -

ROLL CALL
Uesugi Ren - A young man in search of a job. He left his home with his sister, Mihato, because his father was very abusive - a result of his alcohol addiction. He does find a job. He becomes a butler at the Kuonji residence. He and his sister are the newest additions to the family under the household and Ren tries his best to serve and to please his masters.

Uesugi Mihato - Ren's sister. She is a very kind and caring person on the outside that would never hurt a fly. She loves her brother very much and...yeah. On the inside, however, it's revealed that she does things to achieve some of her personal desires. But that doesn't change your view of her a whole lot. She has many tools and items hidden all around her body for some reason, and that makes her a very useful servant in the Kuonji household.

Kuonji Shinra - The eldest sister of the Kuonjis. That makes her the super master of the house. She is a composer and she loves music. She usually has a busy schedule and looks down on people a lot. Even if you're not her servant, she expects you to call her Shinra-sama (which is how you address nobility). There is seriously something wrong with her brain, because she constantly sexually harasses her younger sister, Miyu, and also some of the servants.

Kuonji Miyu - The middle sister of the Kuonjis. She looks like a child, but she's in her twenties. She's a genius and graduated very early. She doesn't even have to leave the house and she still makes money (from all the inventions that she created). For some reason, she constantly walks around the house with her shirt off (but you don't really see it, of course). She also owns a robot named De Niro. De Niro is shaped like an egg and is very useful in most situations. It has a developed personality and it's almost like he's a member of the family. Almost.

Kuonji Yume - The youngest of the three Kuonji sisters. She is a very happy-go-lucky girl and is best friends with one of the other servants in the house, Natose. She is often neglected as the youngest sister, and she gets sad from this lack of attention. She often has fantasies of people paying attention to her because she is some kind of hero or something. And she has pink hair.

The Colonel - He does have a real name, but it's never used in the series. Instead, he is called the Colonel because he was a war veteran and now a butler in the Kuonji residence. I believe that he is the head butler because of his age and power over the other servants of the house. He believes that appearances are important and shows it by constantly combing his hair or trimming his mustache.

Benisu - I'm pretty sure she has a last name too, but they never mention one. She's kind of like the head maid or something. She's usually in charge of the cooking and is very sensitive to bad comments about her food. She is a very temperamental person. She often releases her anger on the lower servants (in good comedy).

Natose - Again, she probably has a last name, but I never heard it. She is Yume's personal attendant. She is a crazy athletic servant and shows off her skills by running super fast and jumping super high. She also wears an eye patch over her right eye, which was a result of an injury from a tsunami that hit Natose's hometown. She pays the most attention to Yume and always tells her to never give up. Yeah. Ok.

Kiyohara Chiharu - Also known as Haru, this servant is the youngest of all the servants. He looks like a girl, but is actually a guy. This person is even more invisible than Yume. Nobody notices him, which can be both good and bad. He's in charge of cleaning and he always dreams of creating a clean world. Cute kid.

Kuki Ageha - Not related to the Kuonjis, this is another person from a separate household. She just looks...weird. Remember Scar from Full Metal Alchemist? Ageha looks like his sister. She has a big X-shaped scar on her forehead and has silver hair. She has her own personal servant most of the time, but he constantly displeases her. However, the servant, Kojuro, has his heart set on serving Ageha with passion. Ageha is pretty violent. She hits her servant all the time (which he enjoys, by the way). And she has this outgoing attitude that takes people back a lot.

So those are the main characters. So what's the story? Ren runs away from home with his sister, Mihato. His father keeps abusing them and Ren is sick of it. So out on their own, Ren and Mihato now have to find jobs. Their job search didn't go well. Ren slowly loses hope when he notices a girl in trouble. He rushes over to help and the girl tells him to take her to her house. So Ren and Mihato go to the house where they are greeted with many thanks for saving this girl, who is now revealed to be Miyu. While they are there, Mihato notices the servants and arranged for the two of them to apply to become servants in the house.

Since this anime jumps around a lot, it's hard to come up with a good summary, but that's how this series gets started and how Ren and Mihato get their jobs as servants of the Kuonji house. The story was pretty good. It wasn't solid, but it was entertaining to watch. Sometimes, I think that viewers are left in the dust about certain things. We don't get to see some characters develop and there are a few plotholes here and there. It was at least coherent, however.

Characters are great. Some are kind of annoying though. Like there's this horny girl (who I didn't mention in the roll call) who always wants to be "punished". *shudder* Ageha can be pretty annoying too, sometimes. It's a minor thing, and for the most part, I liked the characters. We see some of their past lives, and that kind of makes you have a different impression of them. My personal favorite is Chiharu because...well...just look at him.

It's pretty funny for a comedy, and most of the time the series is like this. But at the end, the storyline takes on a drama feel, which I like. It also ends pretty well, so most people would be satisfied with it.

So overall, this anime is a pretty entertaining show, but I wouldn't recommend it to hardcore anime viewers or else they'll blame me for wasting their time. It's meant to be just a short, enjoyable series and that's what it is. So don't expect too much out of it.

Sorry this review was so short.

Storyline: 7/10
Characters: 8/10
Mood: 9/10
Uniqueness: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10




SOME CLOSING REMARKS
You know, summer is starting to close, which we all are dreading. And so am I, because it means that I won't be posting that much anymore, since school is starting. So I just wanted to take this time to thank all of my faithful readers ^^ for keeping up with Blue Yoshi for these few months. This doesn't mean I'll stop posting, though. I will try to make new entries when I can, but it'll be at a slower pace. Before summer is over, I wanted to do one more anime review (Hidamari Sketch) and maybe an entry about a look back at 2009's summer. So thank you all for reading, and I hope to keep writing for you guys XD.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

VG Review #7: Puyo Pop Fever



Lucky 7. And here we are at Puyo Pop Fever. Well, this isn't going to be as much of a review as much as it is going to be me telling you how crazy good this game is. In other words, think of it as a commercial. Well, not to that extent, but kinda sorta. ENOUGH confusion.

This game has quite the history. It started off as Puyo Puyo in Japan, where it was a simple game of popping bubbles. At least, that's what they wanted you to think. If you connect four or more of the same color puyo together, then they pop (a puyo is a colored bubble connected to another puyo of the same or different color). Isn't that fun? Popping bubbles? The average person might take a look at this game and say, "Wow, how simple can you get?" And he would walk away. But some of the smart people in Japan caught on to Sega, and they figured out by putting another color puyo in between groups of 4, they wouldn't pop. And if they repeated this process, you would have a very large chain reaction. In fact, that's what the game calls this occurence: chains. So if you pop 4 puyo with no other chains, you send 1 garbage puyo to the other player's screen, and it can only be destroyed if it touches a group that pops. But if you start a 4 chain reaction, the number of garbage sent over is now around 30. So this was a very efficient way to play and pro players began to analyze the game mechanics in order to become champions. This is what Puyo Puyo looks like:




Puyo Puyo wasn't released in the US at the time, but what we got instead was the same game with a mask over it. It was called Kirby's Avalanche and it was released for the Super Nintendo.

So, yeah. It was the same game. Even the puyo look exactly the same as the puyo in Puyo Puyo. The only main difference is the characters. While Puyo Puyo had it's own set of unique characters, Kirby's Avalanche had...well...Kirby characters. You were Kirby, and you challenged many others in Dreamland to your puzzle game. Waddle Dees, Waddle Doos, Bronto Burts, and many others appeared as opponents. I don't know how difficult this game is, but I imagine that it can't be that far off from Puyo Puyo, because the basic gameplay is the same. But I guess it does make a difference if the AI sucks.

There was another version of Puyo Puyo called Dr. Robotnik's Bean Machine. Yeah. Just the name of the game makes me wanna stop talking about it already.

Few years later, Puyo Puyo was realeased in the US under the name Puyo Pop. It was exactly the same as Puyo Puyo except it was an official English translation. But that wasn't the most important version of the game to make it over to the US.

Released in the US some time after Puyo Pop was Puyo Pop Fever (It was also released in Japan, of course). This was the game's most important installment in the franchise of Puyo Puyo. It still has the basic gameplay from the previous games, but with one big new addition: Fever mode. What is fever mode? So when your opponent sends trash to you, it just hovers above your screen, waiting to drop. If you fail to pop any puyo at all, the trash drops in increments of 30 till the trash runs out. However, if you make puyo pop, or make a chain, you will start to counter the trash count, and the trash assigned to your area will decrease before it can fall. Not only that, but for every chain that you set off while your area is threatened by trash, you earn one offset point (chaining when you have trash over your area is called offsetting). If the offset meter goes full, you go into fever mode. And this is where the game gets really awesome. In fever mode, ready-made chains drop down and all you have to do is ignite it. If you do it correctly, another chain pops down, but with an added link. For example, a 5 chain system comes down, and you pop it correctly and get 5 chains. The next ready-made chain will now have 6 chains, and if you pop it so that you get 6 chains, you get a 7 chain system on your next one. Of course fever mode isn't endless, but it's enough to set your opponent back a bit with trash.


Along with the fever mode, Puyo Pop Fever also came with some new characters, some of which came from the earlier games. The new group includes a music teacher, an onion pixy, a frog, a rabbit thing, a cat/puppet, a concieted fish, a very happy ghost, a pouty student, and a demon-possesed boy. All of them are pretty awesome. My favorite is Oshare Bones because he's a gay skeleton. JUST KIDDING. He's not my favorite. But he really is gay.

When I first played Puyo Pop Fever, it was the Game Boy Advance version - one of the less commonly played ones. It still played the same, though. What was lacking was the graphics and some online play. GBA did have link mode, but it didn't allow you to access the net. Puyo Pop Fever for DS and PC both have online. The single player modes are the same, though.

Recently, I found the PC version of the game and I tried it. It was pretty awesome. There are a few things about it that suck, though. During the cutscenes, the text goes way faster than the voices, and as a result, it cuts them off. This is very confusing to read/watch, so I just skip it. Another thing is that online mode in the PC version takes quite a lot of work to set up. You have to download a bunch of applications just to have online mode.

But overall, Puyo Pop Fever is a very addicting game for many people. It's not that popular in the US, but Asians love it. Korean people and Japanese people play it very competitively like a Starcraft game. It involves quite a bit of thinking, so if you don't like puzzle games or logic-based games, don't play this. If you do, this will be the best game you ever played.

While the American fanbase is quite small, I did manage to find a site that groups the Puyo community together. It's "puyonexus.net" and it really helps to visit if you want to be good, or at least decent, at this game. It's also where you can find the Puyo Pop Fever client and all that good stuff.

Wow I let this post go on forever...sorry if I bored you. Here are the ratings...

Gameplay: 9/10
Controls: 7/10
Difficulty: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10
Music/Sound: 10/10
Overall: 8.5/10

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Anime Review #12: Code Geass



I think this 12th review was one that I've been putting off for the longest, mostly because I started this series, stopped it, and then started over. Not to mention that I was watching it at a sluggish pace. And to top it all off, I've been under pressure for about a month to do this review. Because this review was requested by Charlie a while ago. And now the wait is over. Thanks for waiting so "patiently".

Well, this is a pretty well known anime series, not only from it's own quality, but because it also spawned a sequel series, Code Geass R2, which, I heard, was very good. And we might be covering that later, too.

So what makes this series so unique? Well, it's kind of a paradox, because if you asked me, the best way to describe this series is a cross between Death Note and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. So it's not incredibly unique, but it did have some things about it that set it apart from a few typical series of its genre.

Whoops, I almost went into the story. And that's not how we do things here. Because as everyone knows, now is the time for the...

ROLL CALL
Lelouch Lamperouge - The main character of Code Geass. In a lot of ways, this character is very similar to Yagami Light from Death Note: He's very intelligent, he thinks the current world is rotten, and he wants to create a new world from it. The main difference between the two is his special ability: the Geass (pronounced GEE ahs, not JEE ahs). This ability allows him to control people into doing what he orders them to do. For example, if he told you to tell him your deepest darkest secret, you'd do it. He has a younger sister that he cares very much about, and I'll talk about her later.

C.C. - I don't know why, but in Japanese, it's pronounced "C2". Only Lelouch knows her real name. She is not human, but she appears as one. Lelouch first found her in a capsule, and that's where she gave him the power of the Geass. She is probably Lelouch's closest friend/accomplice because for some reason, she can't let him die. It's revealed later that she gave the Geass to one other person, and I'm not sure if she gave more out. We'll see in R2.

Nanaly Lamperouge - Lelouch's younger sister. Her name has various spellings in the English language, but this is the one I'll use. Since childhood, she is blind and crippled in her legs. She cares very much about her loved ones. She is the reason that Lelouch wants to create a new world. And yes, Lelouch loves her very much. Like all brothers should do to their sisters. *gag*

Kururugi Suzaku - Lelouch's friend since they were 7 years old. For some reason, in the present day, they're not together, but instead meet again in the first episode, Lelouch as a Britanian student, and Suzaku as a warrant officer in the military. He is a very moral person and bases his actions on what he thinks is right. Unfortunately, that brings him into conflict with Lelouch and some other people, as you will see by watching the anime.

So those are the mainest of the main (yes I made up "mainest"). There are a whole bunch of other characters out there that I haven't mentioned. No kidding. Probably in this series alone there are at least 30 characters. Some important groups are the Ashford Student Council and the Black Knights. So I'll give a quick description of each.

The Ashford Student Council is (OBVIOUS ALERT!) the student council in Ashford Academy. It consists of Milly Ashford, Revalz Cardemonde, Nina Einstein, Shirley Fennette, Lelouch Lamperouge, Karen Stadtfeld, and Kururugi Suzaku. Everyone except Karen and Suzaku were original members, as Karen and Suzaku joined the council during the series. This is the main group of people we see when the show switches over to Lelouch's school life. They do have an involvement with the story's main conflict, but it isn't a very big role.

The Black Knights are the terrorist group controlled by Zero. Zero is Lelouch (I promise I'll explain everything later). As Zero, Lelouch carries out his plan for the destruction of Britannia through the Black Knights. This organization grows in number throughout the show, and is the main threat to the Britannian Empire.

Confused? Sorry. I'll get right into the storyline so that things will make sense.

The Britannian Empire has taken over most of the world's population. Soon, Japan also fell under the control of the Britannians. They were stripped of their name and heritage and instead were given a new name: Japan is now known as Area 11, and the Japanese themselves are known as Elevens. Lelouch and Suzaku were 7 at this time, and Lelouch hated Britannia for it. So he promised his Suzaku that he would crush Britannia one day.
Fast forward several years. Lelouch is now in high school. He lives his life as a Britannian student. When he sees a Japanese resistance force in action, he is immediately interested and accidentally gets himself involved. He then meets C.C. and she gives him the Geass. Not knowing what just happened, Lelouch uses the Geass and realizes its power on people. This is where Lelouch sets his plan into action. He starts with an assassination of a prince by using the Geass to get to him. His friend Suzaku, an honorary Britannian but once an Eleven, was accused for the crime. Lelouch decides to step onto the scene as Zero, by using a mask and a cape. He makes known his existence in the world and immediately makes Britannia his enemy. From there, Zero gathers many other Japanese terrorists and calls them the Black Knights. Suzaku was found innocent, because Zero claimed to have killed the prince. Suzaku is freed, but people are still suspicious of him. He joins the student council and builds up his reputation from there. Both Lelouch and Suzaku are best friends in school, but they are worst enemies at war without even realizing it, because Suzaku pilots a special mecha for Britannia, and Zero is masked and against Britannia. Neither of them is aware that they are trying to kill their own best friend. And that's what this series is all about.

Interested? You should be. Don't worry if the series picks up a little slowly, it'll go at a much faster pace later on. Like I said before, this series is like the baby of Death Note and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Lelouch very much resembles Yagami Light because of his superior thinking ability and his motives. The Gurren Lagann part starts with the Knightmares. Knightmares are used commonly in battle in Code Geass. What a Knightmare is is a big humanoid robot piloted by a human. These Knightmares have awesome capabilities, such as: being able to wield a firearm or a blade, grappling hooks, and high speed manuvering. Some special models are able to fly or fire powerful beam cannons.

While the Knightmares are interesting, the actual story is even more intriguing. Code Geass accurately portrays the racism people face in real life. In Code Geass, Britannians see themselves as superior to the Japanese (Elevens) and show discriminatory behavior towards them. Britannians might gang up on Elevens and start beating them up. Elevens are especially looked down on by the nobility. Even Suzaku, who was an Eleven (but now an honorary Britannian), is treated with disrespect at school. So besides being an entertaining series to watch, Code Geass really does have a hidden message for all of us.

I think my favorite thing about this anime is the different sides we see to each character. Lelouch is Lelouch at school, but outside, he's Zero. Very few people knew about this, so it was interesting to see him in his daily life trying to hide the fact that he was Zero. Karen Stadtfeld, in the student council, dresses as a Britannian student, but is really a Japanese terrorist in the Black Knights. And she works close quarters with Zero and STILL doesn't know that he's actually Lelouch. There are so many things hidden from people that we see just by watching. We get to know almost everything about the main characters. So the REAL entertainment came from how the characters acted toward each other in different situations, which would include different identities for someone like Lelouch.

So overall, I thought this anime was a very good 3 gigabytes well spent. I am very much looking forward to watching R2 and reviewing that for all of you guys. This anime was not incredibly unique, but made up for it in everything else. The characters were awesome, the storyline was incredibly complex and exciting, and the music wasn't bad either. So give this one your time, if you have any to spare, and I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

Storyline: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Mood: 9/10
Uniqueness: 5/10
Overall: 9/10

Monday, August 24, 2009

Pirates vs. Ninjas

Ok. I've seen this so many times that I can't even count on my two hands or two feet anymore. People talking about pirates vs. ninjas. It seems like such a debatable topic to most people. But why? Why do they have to keep bringing it up? Just settle on one, dammit. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to analyze both groups and then come up with a final answer on the best ones.

Since people say "pirates vs. ninjas", I'm assuming they're talking about who would win in a fight, so let's look at it from that perspective.

Pirates
Pros:
- They have firearms
- They have bigger firearms (cannons)
- They work as a crew
- Their captain is usually pretty strong
- Their captain can also be supernatural material (examples: Barbosa or Davy Jones)
- They always carry around swords.
- So they can be skilled in swordfighting.

Cons:
- Teamwork isn't always present
- Besides using guns and swords, pirates don't have any super outstanding physical ability
- Pirates don't really take care of their bodies, and can be lacking in certain things (examples: legs, eyes, arms)
- Combat skills may be lowered by the consumption of alcohol, namely RUM
- They're not that smart


Ninjas
Pros:
- High strength
- Good speed and agility
- A big arsenal of weapons (stars, knives, swords, staffs, knives on chain, fans, just chains, cat claws, etc.)
- Usually camoflauged
- Quick thinking
- Did I mention better equipped?
- Asian (just kidding)
- Can make quick escapes so they survive longer

Cons:
- Usually fight in small numbers (1 or 2 ninjas)
- Equipment can get in the way
- Ninjas don't use guns (at least the traditional ones don't)


So if it's not obvious to you yet, ninjas do seem like the better group, in terms of fighting abilities. In real life, that is. However, taking a look at fictional ninjas and pirates makes me wonder. Let's take a look at One Piece. In One Piece, Monkey D. Luffy just beats up everyone, pirate or not. Of course, he has to owe it to his special ability that he got from the Devil's Fruit (stretchy powers), but he's still really cool.

So it goes down like this: in real life, ninjas would win. In nonreal life, I say it's up to chance. They seem pretty evenly matched in the manga/anime world.

Top 10 Worst Ways to Be Woken Up

I'm not sure if the title of this entry is grammatically correct.


Yes, another top 10 for all of you eager readers. Which is about...4 of you. I'm not sure, cuz I don't know who reads this and who doesn't. Anyways, this top 10 is all about wake ups. The worst ones.

Now how does something make its way on this list? Well first of all, you'd have to really hate to wake up like this. Secondly, it has to be realistic. In other words, I've seen it happen before, or it is very likely that someone could do it. So no slamming blue whales on sleeping people.

Ready steady go!!!

10) Sheets taken off
Now this one I'm sure most of you are familiar with. It's Monday morning, and you have to go to school. You stayed up until 1 AM and you really want your sleep. Your mom/dad have other plans. OFF GO THE SHEETS. Now the morning chill starts to sink deep until it hits your bones and freezes them to super...cold...things. And then you wake up and realize you're freezing your ass off. Cold wakeups...ugh. They're the worst. Actually they're the 10th worst.

9) Fart in the face
Just thinking of this made me cringe. But I had to put it. I know this has happened before because I actually read it on FML. Except the dude accidentally pooped on the guy's face. But let's not go there. Ever had the feeling of waking up to the aroma of a good breakfast (bacon, sausage, egg, pancakes)? It's kinda like that, except it's not breakfast, and it'll give you lung damage. Well, if it's bad enough.

8) Whipped cream and feather scenario
Classic. We've all seen this in movies and videos. A guy puts whipped cream on his friend's hand while he's sleeping. Then he tickles his face with a feather so he'll scratch it. But when his hand hits his face, he gets a mouthful of white stuff (I know some of you thought of something dirty just now). This is indeed a bad way to wake up, but why isn't it higher on the list? Because you can eat whipped cream. Win.

7) Ice cold water
My mom did this to me once. It sucked. But I never learned my lesson. So if it's not so bad that you didn't learn from it, it's probably #7. Try to imagine every molecule in your body suddenly contracting to a size 10 times smaller. And then they all blow up. And then the same molecules start having seizures, causing you to shiver your way out of bed. Then every dream you had just shattered into a million pieces, and those pieces were obliterated to dust. And that's what it's like. Now what's worse than that...?

6) Hot water
...Try HOT water. It's bad enough that your skin starts to freeze over when you get a cold water splash, but it's even worse when you get burns from a heated super shower of hell. This one is guaranteed to get someone out of bed - and probably into the bathroom to dunk their body in the toilet.

5) Body slam
Anything physically damaging should probably be on the top 5. This is no exception. I don't think anyone would want to wake up because they can't breathe. Not to mention the risk of fracturing or breaking bones. Especially if the one who's doing the slamming is me. Heh heh. If anything, this will teach you to wake up and be on time, no matter how tired you are.

4) Bed flipped
If there's someone strong enough, or a group of people willing to do the task, they can probably turn your mattress upside down - with you on it. I mean would you rather have a guy slam on you or gravity smite you? And if you live with hardwood flooring, you're effed.

3) Spiders dumped on bed
This one is on MY personal top 10 worst ways to wake up. At position #1. Because I hate spiders. If your friends/family are dicks enough to put spiders in your bed, your enemies must be HELL. Would YOU like to wake up with a spider's hairy leg in your mouth? Or even worse, the whole spider in your mouth? And if that's not waking you up, the spider bites will. Good luck dealing with all the great bumps and bruises. Oh, I almost forgot to mention: you'll probably be traumatized for at least 4 hours, if you're like me.

2) Chainsaw wakeup
I actually have a link to a Youtube video with this. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XNL7B22MVM
There's nothing to say. I mean, just look at the video. That's where I got the idea to put this on spot #2. The guy isn't even pissed waking up. He's so traumatized that he keeps yelling "GOOD MORNING" over and over again. But seriously, don't EVER do this to someone who just finished watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

1) Firecracker
Firecrackers are loud, they're bright, and they can cause lots of pain. This definitely takes #1 on this list. I saw two places where this was used. One was a Youtube video that doesn't exist anymore. The other was in the Jackass movie. In the Youtube video, this guy puts a HUGE firecracker under a napping friend's hammock. He lights it up. For fuck's sake, you'd think the dude was having a seizure trying to get out of the hammock and away from the firecracker. After it was over, even some skin off his toe was burned. Ow. The Jackass version was even funnier though (for me, not for the sleeping people). They first put it in the bedroom and it was loud, bright, and super annoying to them. Then, the sleeping dude got up later in the morning to go to work, where the Jackass guys had even MORE firecrackers waiting for him in his car. He get's in, and they light up. MAN. That wasn't really a wake up, but it was hilarious. There are a lot of videos with firecracker wakeups, so if you want to see what it's like, go look em up. And yes, firecrackers are guaranteed to get most people up. And I say most, because there are rare people that sleep through hurricanes.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

A list of physical things that can, in no way, kill you

1) Darkness

If YOU can think of anything else, tell me, and I'll credit you.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

VG Review #6: Final Fantasy 1



As far as I know, this game can only be played on the NES, the Game Boy Advance, the PSP, and the Virtual Console (which is just the NES version). All versions are pretty much the same, though, and only minor changes were made, such as graphic enhancements and smoothed out gameplay and options.

I played the GBA version for several reasons. First of all, it was one of the few that I had access to; I could only play the NES one or the GBA one. So between those two, I chose GBA because the gameplay was much smoother and I could kinda tell what I was doing. For example, when you're buying equipment in the shops for your characters, you're never sure what you're getting when you play the NES version, unless you have a guide with you. There is no description saying who can equip what. In the GBA version, it does have that indication. Little stuff like that brought me to this. I've heard that the NES one is far superior to the GBA remake, but I don't care about that.

By the way, the GBA remake is called Dawn of Souls and it includes Final Fantasy 2 as well. Although I didn't get a chance to play that, nor do I want to.

This is an RPG. Which means you control a party of people that periodically encounter monsters and attack turn-based style. Which is cool. I always like turned based because usually you're not as rushed as if you attack in real time. In general I like this style of battle because it's very unique and a fun take on fighting monsters.

So who are you? You're 4 people. What are their names? Well, that's up to you. Yep, you get to choose your characters' names right from the start. Well, what kind of fighter is the character? You get to choose that too. How awesome is that? So now you don't have to play the same way all the time. Instead, you can play the game over again with a different combination of fighters to see how you would do. This time I played with the default party: a fighter, a thief, a white mage, and a black mage. It's recommended that beginners use 2 fighters, a white mage, and a black mage.

Compared to the other Final Fantasy games, this one doesn't give you a whole lot of story. It gives you enough to kind of know what you're doing, but not that much. So, again, if you're a big FF7 fan and decide to go back to #1 to see what it was like, and you were hoping for story, then HAHAHAHA.

Hm...the whole game is actually pretty long for an NES game. Or at least, a game that came from the NES game. Is that a problem? For some people it might be. Depends. If you like RPGs and just loooove going around killing things every 5 steps you take, then sure, you'll love this game. If you absolutely hate RPGs (then why are you playing?) then you'll hate this game even more.

Right away you're thrust into the world of monsters and you'll have to slowly build up levels until you're fit to go out into the cruel world. Surprisingly, it doesn't take that long to level. Which is a good thing. Gets you kickin ass right away. So that's a cool thing about this game.

I also like finding treasure and looking for equips in caves and castles and stuff. Makes you feel like you're really in their world.

So what are some of the flaws about this game? Well, the first problem doesn't hit you until about 30 minutes into the game. The things you're supposed to buy are too freaken expensive. Seriously. Ok let's put this into perspective. A level 1 mage spell is 50 gil. Then immediately you go to another town and the level 2 spells are like 250. Then like about 5 levels later, at level 7, you have to end up paying 40,000 gil. Or something like that. RIDICKULOUS WITH A K. You're gonna have to learn how to earn money and save it. So go all over the map and find treasure chests with money in it. Because you need it. And that sucks.

Some of the monsters are really repetitive. And this wasn't as much of a problem as it was an annoyance. In a certain area, I see some goblins. Then later I see some goblin chiefs in another area. It's just the same picture, but with the colors switched around. And this is the case for most of the beasts that you'll encounter. It makes you confused because you're going to forget which monster is stronger or weaker and maybe waste a valuable attack on a weaker monster instead of a stronger monster. Just have them look COMPLETELY different, please.

Also, the final boss kinda requires you to be level 99, but by the end of the game, you're probably only gonna be level 50-60. The game doesn't actually make you go at 99, but it would be so much easier to fight him at maximum power. So if you pretty much have to be 99 by the time you get there, why not include some more levels? Is it because the game is too long already? Well then, how about have more experience points per monster so you can level up faster? There, problem solved.

So overall, what did I think? Yeah, this was a decent game. It was pretty entertaining when I played it and I don't think it was a waste of time for me. I thought it was pretty cool when I first played it. And then I saw some of the later games, like Final Fantasy 4 and Final Fantasy 6. Those two looked amazing and made this one look like crap. But it shouldn't be forgotten. The first one paved the way for a great series and it was pretty damn good at it too.

Gameplay: 7/10
Controls: 9/10
Difficulty: 5/10
Graphics: 7/10
Music/Sound: 9/10
Overall: 7/10