BTUI (Buying Things Under the Influence)

I kind of decided to buy Boom Blox: Bash Party while tipsy the other night. It turned out to be a great decision as the game is spectacular, but it got me thinking about buying things while drunk or in other altered states.

I've often joked about my list of games that I'm just waiting for a drunk night to go and buy. Currently, this list is two games strong:

• Cho Aniki (A homoerotic TG16 shooter on Virtual Console)


• Pong Toss (that beer pong WiiWare game)

(Random Musing: the lead singer in Coheed and Cambria sounds like Geddy Lee. It's weird.)

Those two games have populated that list since last fall and I've still yet to buy them. It could be that the Wii's interface to buy games (especially with a credit card) requires too much effort for a drunk enough version of me to operate, but maybe I have some restraint. Obviously not enough restraint for a $40 retail game, though. I confuse myself.

I think I would've been more likely to buy things while drunk on Xbox 360 because it saves my credit card info. I probably have bought a few Rock Band songs that way, actually.

I have actually purchased a game on the Wii's Virtual Console while drunk, though. I bought Chew Man Fu while drunk, and that game fucking rocks. It's this weird ball-rolling puzzle game for TG16 that's on the Virtual Console.

I don't really have any more steam for this thought, though. I'm spent.

~~~~~~

Boom Blox: Bash Party is fucking fantastic, though. I really recommend it to anyone with a Wii because it's got got the best multiplayer this side of a Nintendo game. There's so much variety in the gameplay. I'm 20% into the game and already I've gone through five different gameplay mechanics. And there even seems to be advanced versions of each gameplay mechanic as you master the first batch.

The most interesting one thus far is definitely the underwater mechanic. They fuck with the physics and have underwater physics and they require you to throw gems up to the surface before they hit the ground. At first, they're all stationary and it is easy. Soon, there's all sorts of other blocks around and a fucking octopus swatting at your shit. It's fucking intense. There's a space level, too, but I haven't gotten there yet. I'm pumped for it.

~~~~~~

Tomorrow is my fiancee's hyphy party. Should be a good time. I imagine we might ghost ride a whip and listen to some E-40. Perhaps we'll drink hyphy juice. Idk. I just wanna keep it treal.

For now, it is time to debate whether or not to go to bed, or boot up the Wii and play some Boom Blox or try out the Munchables.

Intro, E3, and My DSi

I don't know how long this will last, but I'm going try to reboot this P.O.S. into some sort of game journal with occasional distractions (like my token summer movie musings and such).

Anyone that's a fan of more abstract weird shit, go to the Venkman Suite, which is my community blog with my now fiancee and our two best friends. Its not updated often, but whatever.

If you like reading even more abstract shit, read my fiancee's blog about...well, just read it.

~~~~~

I went to E3 last week. Words can't really describe how insanely awesome and tiring it was. All I'll do for now is link you to Nintendo World Report's coverage of it, which is insanely robust. I will be contributing to a post-E3 feature soon, so I'll keep you posted on that.

~~~~~

I've been loving the crap out of my DS lately as I picked up Nintendo's The Legendary Starfy on Sunday and downloaded WayForward's Mighty Flip Champs and Nintendo's Mario vs. DK: Minis March Again. All of them are pretty fantastic. I'm getting near the point where I can write up reviews on MFC and Mario vs. DK, so look for that on NWR soon (I'll try to throw up a link).

I'm really liking Starfy though. It reminds me of an underwater Kirby with better level design. It's pretty simple, but it's got this undeniable charm and surprisingly good sense of humor. It's been kind of a cakewalk, but it's been a wonderful contrast to the difficulty of Mighty Flip Champs. I can't wait to see what other powers Starfy will get and see what other bosses there will be. The bosses are easy, but I love how they terrorize not just one level, but an entire world.

My DS will continue to get love as I await the arrival of Atari's Ghostbusters DS for review.

Although that pesky lil Wii will be getting some love as well thanks to the coming storm of The Munchables, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (hopefully), Let's Tap, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, and maybe Indiana Jones Wii.

Top 5 Xbox 360 Games of 2008

I work for a Nintendo website, so my Xbox 360 and the games I buy for it are rarely talked about.
That being said, I need some soap box to stand on so I can tell the world my top 5 Xbox 360 games of 2008.

#5 - Prince of Persia

A fucking beautiful game that looks similar to a watercolor painting. I thoroughly enjoyed its 10+ hour adventure and I don't have much to complain about besides the fact that the game plays itself a bit.
The ending is awesome, though.

#4 - Mirror's Edge

I really love this game despite its evident faults, such as questionable combat and frustrating deaths. The single player story, while short, is very enjoyable and brings about a different kind of platforming. The time trials are where the game shines and I eagerly anticipate the DLC at the end of the month.

#3 - Fable II

There's some Sims stuck in my open-world adventure game! The sheer amount of content in this game is astounding regardless of the short main quest (that I still haven't completed but watched my roommate complete). It would easily claim the top spot if it weren't for the amount of repetition and the lame bosses.

#2 - Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

There's some vehicle creation in my platformer! While some might hate on the change of pace in this game, I loved it. With a wealth of different things to do, this game easily sucked me into its crazy world. Rare still has a sense of humor. Yay!

#1 - Left 4 Dead

Party game of the year. Valve once again proves that they are probably the best developers in the world (at least for FPS) by making a zombie-killing with only four levels that are different every time. Easily accesible, lots of challenge. Wonderful.

Game of the Forever: Rock Band 2 - I can't really compare this to any other game. I love Harmonix and I love Rock Band.

Top 3 Downloadable Games (XBox 360)

#3 - Sega Soccer Slam - Best Xbox Original EVAR! (I know Psychonauts is really good...)
#2 - Braid - Fun game, lots of pretention
#1 - Bionic Commando: Rearmed - Beautiful remake of a great game. Multiplayer? Awesome!

Games That Missed the Mark

Fallout 3 - I played this and then realized how much I don't really like Bethesda games. No offense, I respect them for making huge games and all, they're just not my bag.

Grand Theft Auto 4 - All GTAs are the same to me. I really only like fucking around in them. I don't care for the monotonous story.

Review of Fall 2008's Video Games

Hey everybody! This place is barren wasteland due to the whole Nintendo World Report thing but I'm thinking every now and then a boy needs a place where he can curse like a fucking sailor and not focus on his Wii. Because, honestly, this latest season of video games has been a barren wasteland on the Wii. Besides reviewing games, my Wii resides in my Lauren's room so she and Jen can play Harvest Moon. I played some Brawl, Warioware, and Mario Kart last weekend. I played some Wii Sports and Tetris Party with my family over Thanksgiving. I tried Wii Music and got frustrated with how terrible it is and then played Guitar Hero: World Tour on Wii and got equally pissed off. With the exception of the games that have been out for a while (Brawl, MKart, Mario Galaxy...) and the few recent gems (de Blob, Wario Land. I'll be generous and say Mario Super Sluggers), this holiday season has been largely unimpressive.

That being said, I am intrigued by the trio of balance board compatible games that came out a few weeks ago (Skate It, Shaun White Snowboarding, Rayman Raving Rabbids 3) because I need some justification for going to Target at 8 AM and spending $90 on Wii Fit.
Also, I'm crazy excited for the releases slated for next year, such as Mad World, the Conduit, Punch-Out!, Sin and Punishment 2, and the as-yet-unannounced games that have to be coming. I haven't given up on the Wii, not in the least. This fall just kind of blew.

What I have been doing is playing my Xbox 360 like a madman. For the first time since the fucking thing came out, I actually care about all of the big releases and have actually paid attention to the system. This has been a plentiful season for 360.
Since October 21st, I have bought: Fable II, Mirror's Edge, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Left 4 Dead, and Prince of Persia.
Here's the best part: I haven't been let down with one of them. I would recommend all of those games to anybody. Fable II is a great, lengthy, humorous open-world RPG. Mirror's Edge is an inventive, genre-bending experience. Banjo-Kazooie is a gorgeous vehicular re-imaging of a fun Mario 64 rip-off. MK vs DC is, well, the weak link of the group, but its got a bunch of comic book characters fighting ninjas. Left 4 Dead is probably the best thing to ever happen to FPS for me, and maybe the best party game of the year. Prince of Persia is a beautiful piece of art with Shadow of the Colossus undertones.

It's been a fucking sweet season for 360.

"Shit, July's Almost Over" or Review of the Summer Movie Season and Beyond

It looks like one of the best summer movie seasons in recent memory...fuck it, EVER...is almost done. Yes, we've still got the Mummy 3, X-Files and the typical plethora of August comedies, but to me the season is over. This year was pretty much all build up for the Dark Knight anyway.

This summer began with what will probably be recognized as one of the best movies of this season that didn't have Batman in it. That would be, naturally, Iron Man. With Robert Downey Jr. being pretty much fucking perfect for this role, it was of no suprise that this film was really good. Throw in some Jeff "The Dude" Bridges and Nick "Sam Jackson" Fury and its even radder. Probably the surprise of the summer eventhough it always looked promising. I'm honestly still shocked it didn't really dissapoint.
Hopefully we'll be seeing a sequel with Favreau coming back to direct.

Speed Racer, the much-maligned Wachoswski Bros. movie, was the second movie out of the gate and while everyone seemed to hate it, I actually enjoyed it a lot. Although I guess that happened because I knew what to expect and that was a crazy kinetic throwback to a shitty cartoon show. It was funny when Billy and I exited the theatre and began to complain about it and we slowly realized that everything we complained about was the shit from the cartoon show that pissed us off to begin with.
I'd call this as retardely faithful to fault but hey, it was pretty cool that the entire movie was peretually in motion.

Chronicles of Narnia 2...what the fuck ever...

Indiana Jones IV was another wonderful treat for me but thats because I didn't have this heavenly view of a rather by-the-book adventure series. I think all of those crazy Indy fans that went into this movie wanted something completly different from even the original movies. Yes, Shia swinging with the monkeys was unneccesary, but it fits perfectly in line with the series as a somewhat ridiculous fun adventure playing on old 40s' serials. The trademark Indy wit was there but it still doesn't hold a candle to Raiders. However, I would say it compares nicely with the likes of the Last Crusade.
Regardless, it was a fun time in the theatre. End of story.

The Incredible Hulk was probably one of the few superhero movies this year that seemed to harken back to the old ways of the genre. That is, the extremely predictable revealed-in-the-trailer bullshit that passed us in recent years. That being said, it was probably the best Hulk movie possible. He's a very limiting character especially when he kind of has to be a hero. I hope when the inevitable Avengers movie gets here, they go the Ultimates route and use the Hulk as a villain in the first half. Fuck, just make the first volume of the Ultimates as the movie, that shit was tight. Mark Millar's hot as shit these days anyway. Let's get that muthafucka reap the benefits of seeing his fantastic Ultimates story on the big screen while making his proposed Superman trilogy.
Regardless, I really hope Tim Blake Nelson comes back as Leader at some point...

Speaking of Mark Millar, Wanted was probably one of the most ridiculous bombastic over-the-top-violent films I have ever seen. Thus, it was awesome. And Morgan Freeman totally said "motherfuckers."
This movie, in a small way, made me extremely pumped for the Watchmen next year as I remember the buzz for Wanted's original comic release was "Its like the Watchmen for super villains!"
By the way, the original comic series was about super villains, not assassins. Imagine how much cooler that would have been.

I still have yet to see Wall-E. I have a beautiful girlfriend and I promised to wait for her.
Shit, I feel like some little kid waiting for Miss Right so he can lose his virginity already...except Wall-E might be better than sex from what I've heard about it.

Hancockless. Hancocksuck. Hancock-shouldn't-have-been-heavily-edited. I am eagerly awaiting the hopeful DVD release of Hancock - the R-rated version.

Hellboy II is the next best competitor for the "Best Summer Movie Without Batman" for a damn good reason. One, its got the best artistic direction courtesy of Guillermo del Toro. Two, Its got better laughs than most of the comedies I've seen this year (except Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was the best comedy of the first half by far). Three, Ron Perlman is probably the greatest B-movie actor this side of Bruce Campbell. How awesome would it be if Bruce Campbell showed up in del Toro's rumored third Hellboy with all the Universal monsters?
Anyway, awesome characterization, especially in Abe Sapien's direction, and a stellar addition in Seth MacFarlane's Johann Krauss. Also, be prepared to be amazed by the spectacle of all of the creatures. They really look fantastic.

And now...I'm getting to the ultimate. The Dark Knight. I seriously consider this movie to be the greatest movie I have ever been privy to. Everything about this movie, with the exception of a few nitpicky details, was fucking pitch perfect. Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine all give spectacular performances with whatever they are given. As much credit as Ledger's been getting (and he deserves it), I feel the need to comment more on the brillance of Oldman's Jim Gordon and Eckhart's Harvey Dent. I've heard the term "disappear into a role" said about this movie and its actors and I think one of the most understated disappearances are Oldman's and Eckhart's.
But whatever, this movie is fucking spectacular. Go and break as many records as you want, Dark Knight, I'll still throw my money at you.
And if this movie isn't nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actor, than the Academy is no longer worth my time. It doesn't have to win, but it really should be nominated.
Fucking A, Chicago won Best Picture. Like for real, what the fuck?

Anyway, Top 5 Movies of the Halfish-Year (For Me)

1. The Dark Knight
2. Hellboy II
3. Iron Man
4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
5. Wanted

Best Movie I Haven't Seen: Wall-E
Honorable Mentions: Indy IV, Cloverfield

As far as the rest of the summer...

X-Files: I Want to Believe (July 25th) - I wish I was completly invested in the X-Files mythos so I could be really excited for the new movie, but alas, I have only seen a few episodes here and there. I completly respect the series though. David Duchovny rules.

Step Brothers (July 25th) looks funny but I don't like Will Ferrel. However, John C. Reilly is amazing...so that might make up for it.

Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (August 1st) reveals to me how much this series is pretty much Indiana Jones+Mummies.

Pants 2 (August 6th) = Funnay!

Pineapple Express (August 8th) - I made a bold prediction when I first heard about this movie. I said it would be the funniest movie of the summer. The Superbad of 2008...except, ya know, not overrated. I am sorry to say I might have made an error. In the fiercest comedic competition since 40-Year Old Virgin/Wedding Crashers '05, We have Pineapple Express and...

Tropic Thunder (August 13th) - Like fucking seriously, I am proud to be a comedy lover for that week.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (August 15th) - I would be remiss if I didn't mention this movie but, in all honesty, I don't care too much. It'll probably be cool but I would much rather this be a direct-to-DVD. Although, on that note, can we go back in time and put Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker in the theatres? Fucking great movie.

The Rocker (August 20th) - The fuckers who are distributing this movie are off their rockers (HAHA!) Why did they movie it to this date, within a week and a half after two comedies with much better buzz? I got to see Rainn Wilson at the Transformers 2 shoot and the fucker is hysterical, but this just sucks that his potential breakout movie is getting shit on.

Hamlet 2 (August 22nd) - As a veteran of high school theatre, this intrigues me a little.

And that's the summer (at least for my interests).

Some choice picks for the forseeable future.

September 08 - Eagle Eye, Choke
October 08 - Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Zack & Miri Make a Porno
November 08 - Quantum of Solace, Harry Potter 6
December 08 - The Spirit

And my early predictions for top "summer movies" of 2009 - Watchmen, Star Trek, Transformers 2, G.I. Joe

And for the record, my top movie of Summer 2007 was Live Free or Die Hard.

College Blows, Disney World and Iron Man

So the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon review I am working on at NWR is going to be pretty funny. I shall post a link for all to see when it hits.
~~
I am so done with college this year. It will be fantastic when I can go home and stay there. I generally like my house and get along with my parents so that's rather cool. Also, my darling little baby niece is down there and I like seeing her...and I go through withdrawl when I am at school.
~~~
Count til End of Semester: 4 Papers (Due 5/6, 5/7, 5/8, 5/14), 3 Exams (5/8, 5/12, 5/14) and 1 Take Home Final (Due 5/9).
~~~~
I leave for Disney World on May 16th. It's going to be so rad. While I know Disney might not be the uber wonderful conglomerate that was shown to me in my youth, I can't help but get excited to go to Disney World because, well, I can admit to having the maturity level of a 10-year old kid in some aspects. Anyone that has seen me geek out about anything or wax philsophy about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can attest to this.
Also, Indiana Jones 4 comes out while I am down there and I really hope something cool happens for it.
~~~~~
Speaking of summer movies, the season just began last week with Iron Man.
Iron Man was very good but I am no longer going to revel in my hyperbole that was shot to shit with Spider-Man 3 last year.
Summer movie hyperbole is probably the biggest overblown crap in the world. How many mediocre movies have been seen through rose-colored glasses because they had a midnight release and some nostalgia behind them? Pretty much all of them (except Batman Begins, Spider-Man 2, X2 and...umm....I might be missing one).

Regardless of my view on the level of hyperbole during the summer movie season, Iron Man was a damn fine film. While actual action may have been sparse, the movie was well-developed, had a solid cast and Robert Downey Jr. was phenomenal as Tony Stark. I will use hyperbole with RDJ because he really was that good in the movie. He was the heart and soul of the movie and he delivered. I'll see how everything shakes out, but I think this might be the missing movie I refered to above.

To answer everyone's questions (bear with me and pretend like I have a regular readership that cares), I will still be at every midnight movie that I can make it to and, more specifically, who the hell will be around Wayne, NJ next weekend and wants to see Speed Racer?

Schloarly Article on the works of Pauly Shore: Firsties

Note to self: Write scholarly article about the works of Pauly Shore and how he is a Shakespearean tragic hero.
Other note to self: You wrote this completely sober.

Mortal Kombat vs. DCU, and Rock Band Albums

So the new Mortal Kombat game has been revealed, and like promised, it looks like an April Fool's Joke.
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
Yes, that picture does have Sub-Zero staring down Batman. Yes, this is a real game.
Is this a must purchase for my 360 or potential PS3? Almost.
I'm a closet Mortal Kombat fan (although I really prefer MKII because of its simplicity) and I love the DC Animated Universe so this is pretty much a must-watch if not a must-buy.
For any interested parties, check out the Gamespot Preview.
~~~
In other news, Judas Priest's Screaming for Vengeance was announced as the first full length album to be released on Rock Band. Disappointed as I am that its not Who's Next or Nevermind, there was some other cool news that came out in the announcement. The Pixies' Debaser is going to come out on Rock Band in May or June, and the Pixies are weird and awesome.
~~~
I'm excited for Weezer's forthcoming Red Album (All self-titled colored Weezer albums are good. It's a rule) but Rivers Cuomo dismays me with this quote on Rock Band and Guitar Hero:

“I don’t get those games at all. I mean, I haven’t tried them. But they must be fun because people love them. But, to me, it seems like if you’re going to put that much effort into playing something, you should just play a real instrument [laughs].”

Whatever, as long as the entire Blue Album winds up on Rock Band...and maybe Hash Pipe or Dope Nose or something funny like that.

Fall Semester 2008 - 19 Credits of FUCK ME!

After a 4 semesters of 15 credit nonsense, I've realized that college is fucking stupid.

To me, 5 classes a semester is fine. However, if you do the math, 5 classes a semester at WPU (including the two extra credits for lab science and the credit and a half First Year Seminar) for four years will only net you 123.5 credits when 128 credits is necessary for graduating.
No wonder people take 4+ years to graduate.
So, in an effort to head off this growing challenge of snagging a degree by May 2010, I'm taking 6 classes valued at 19 credits next semester. Let's look at them and gauge my excitement.

Some Bullshit Literarture Class
MW 9:30-10:45
In all honesty, I don't know what era this class covers. I need to take some lit classes and this professor is supposedly easy.

Creative Non-Fiction
MW 2-3:15
It's with the guy who heads the Honors track I'm doing (Performing and Literary Arts), so that's pretty (Kevin) boss. I've also heard it is a good class, so that is also boss (Bailey).

Acting I
Tuesday Night sometime
Fuck, I thought I was done with bullshit acting classes. If I have to write a fucking paper in this class, I'm gonna kill.
But anyway, its with a good professor and I need to take it for the aforementioned Honors track.

Screenwriting
Wednesday 11-1:40
Honestly, I'm looking forward to this class. I've been wanting to take a screenwriting class for a long time.

Here's where it gets lame...

Geology
TR 11-12:15
R 2-4:40
Yay, rocks! This is the only fucking science class that fits into my schedule. I fucking hate science classes. Fuck.
Fuck.

Easiest Math I Can Take And Still Get Credit For
Online
And the 19 credit kicker is this stupid fucking class. Fuck, I hate this shit. I don't wanna take 6 classes.
Whatever, I don't really have that much to do anyway. I should stop complaining. I have Fridays off and I'm taking some classes I'm into.
At least my GPA's still something like 3.2 and only getting higher.
I believe I've had a steady curve upwards every semester (2.7->3.0->3.2->3.3?)

To My Niece

Foreword: To celebrate the birth of my niece, Haley Susan Ronaghan, I decided to write a letter to her to detail the day of her birth and some other things.

Hey Haley,

Your name has some good alliteration potential to it. Like I just wrote before, "Hey Haley" kind of rolls off the tongue. I like your name. It's pretty pretty. Props to your parents. I don't know whether it was your mom or dad who came up with it but, and this is just a guess, it might be your dad because I've known him to be good with names. Albeit most of the names I remember him coming up with were a hodgepodge of rock stars and baseball players that he used when we played wiffleball when we were younger.

You might notice I have a tendency to ramble and by the time you can actually comprehend this, you'll probably know firsthand. If you like the rambling, cool. If you don't, I'm sorry, this will probably drone on and jump from subject to another. Now onto another subject!

Today is the day of your birth, a mere 20 years and 2 weeks after I was born. It was a humid on-and-off rainy day. The Yankees played their first game of the 2008 season, which is the last season at Old Yankee Stadium but I'm sure you know that already as your dad will probably have told you. In case you forget, the Yanks beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2. The March Madness NCAA tournaments are almost done. Tonight in Women's Basketball, Tennesee beat Texas A&M and Connecticut beat Rutgers and the winners made it to the Final Four. In Men's Basketball, it was the first year that all four #1 seeds made it the Final Four. I'm scoping out different news outlets on the internet to see if anything else cool happened. There probably have been other cool things and I'm sorry I missed them.

I got the call from your grandma at 8:15 PM tonight. She was really excited and I heard your grandpa calling people in the background. You brought about quite a stir as most new babies do. I was eating tacos at Baja Fresh with my girlfriend, Lauren, and my friend, Dan, when the call came. I wonder if you'll like tacos or Mexican food in general. I hope you do. There's this cool Mexican place in New Hope, PA (across the river from where your Aunt Jill and Uncle Miles live) called El Taco Loco. Make a note of it. There's another Mexican place there, but I find its absurdly overpriced.
I have to thank you because your birth saved me about $15. I was planning on walking over to the Gamestop near Baja Fresh and buying Sonic Gems Collection for Gamecube because I've been on a Sonic the Hedgehog kick lately. Thanks to you, I saved money. I'll make sure I use that money wisely and perhaps use it to spoil you at some point. Remind me of that and I'll take you to a movie or something cool.

As of this moment, I am watching the Graduate (good movie, we should totally watch it when you're older) in my college dorm at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ. I am in my second year here and I'm majoring in English and minoring in Philosophy. I recently got a volunteer job at Nintendo World Report. It's an independent Nintendo site. I'm really excited about it and I just posted my first review there recently. If you can't tell by now, your uncle is an unapologetic big nerd. I'd like to think this will hopefully score me some cool points when you get older.

As of this moment, I haven't seen you. I really want to. Your dad just sent me pictures of you. You're the cutest baby I've seen to this day, although there's a considerable amount of bias in that since you're my brother's daughter. I can't wait to meet you. I'm going to try my hardest to be the best uncle I can. I hope you won't notice by the time this makes sense to you, but I am very nervous that I won't be able to meet the standards of uncledom. I've never met you and I already love and care about you very much. I can't wait to watch you grow up. Thinking of you growing up makes me not be afraid of growing up. My childhood is coming to a close while yours is beginning. It seems almost fitting that I turned 20 two weeks ago and now you are born.

As much as I can't wait to see you, I wish you could meet your Aunt Aislinn soon. She's off in Bellingham, Washington working at Western Washington University at the Rec Center there. She's got the same alliteration in the name you'll call her that you have in "Hey Haley". I think you'll like her and I hope you two get to spend time together at some point.

I'm running out of things to say, kid. This probably won't happen often because I tend to talk a lot about things no one cares about besides me. I'll end this by saying a few things that I think are the most important things I could say to you: As your uncle, I will always be here for you whenever you need me, if you need me. I love you very much.

Love,
Your Uncle Neal

End of an Era (Kind of...)

I might not be posting in this sucker as much as I kind of sort of possibly used to. I've had good times with this blog (or as I prefer to call it, the place where I talk about shit that I want to talk about for an audience of about three) and I think I'm going to calling it temporary quits for a while for one reason.
That reason being, I got a job at Nintendo World Report as a Staff News Writer and thus most of my video game writing focus will be there and not here. And while I advertise this as my thoughts on video games, movies and music, we all know that this is just an overblown venue for me to talk about video games and occasionally mention 311, Murder by Death, Rushmore and TMNT. I'm sure I'll return to talk about movies and/or music and talk about video games outside the realm of Nintendo, but most of my focus will shift from aimless internet wandering to focused internet wandering for the sake of a legitimate position.
Thanks to all my loyal readers (if you exist) and...who the fuck am I kidding? I'll probably post something in mid-April when Leatherheads and Forgetting Sarah Marshall come out. And there might be a new Weezer album sometime soon that I could mention and talk about how all I really like by them is the Blue Album and a smattering of songs from everything else.

Random aside: I saw this video of the Bloodhound Gang at a live show combining the Sweater Song by Weezer with Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nothing to Fuck With. It's pretty solid.

I've Got Nothing

Another missed day...
Sorry loyal readers, but I had an emotional day and well, shit I just plum didn't have much to say.
~~~
Favre's retirement press conference *tear*
~~~~
I'm almost done with Kirby 64. The game is a lot better than I remember it and I'm glad I had my impulsive Kirby buy. I might try to burn through it tonight and maybe even buy Kirby's Adventure with the 500 Wii Points sitting around on my Wii.
~~~~~
I demand Brawl comes out now!
I really want to play this game...
~~~~~~
I was right, I ain't got shit to say today.

Rock Band Downloadable Content Analysis

So, in the bastard son follow up of my Virtual Console article, I am now doing the 'Rock Band DLC' article that I mentioned.
Here is the list of all the songs I have on Rock Band...by year (I had to have some way of differentiating them. Also, I have a very boring job, so this kills a lot of time)
* represents cover

1960s (1)
"Last Train to Clarksville" by the Monkees*

1970s (29)
"N.I.B." by Black Sabbath*
"Sweet Leaf" by Black Sabbath*
"War Pigs" by Black Sabbath*
"Hitch A Ride" by Boston
"More Than A Feeling" by Boston
"Peace of Mind" by Boston
"Rock & Roll Band" by Boston
"Smokin'" by Boston
"Something About You" by Boston
"Ever Fallen In Love?" by the Buzzcocks*
"Complete Control" by the Clash
"I Fought the Law" by the Clash
"Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival*
"Heroes" by David Bowie*
"Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
"Queen Bitch" by David Bowie*
"Casey Jones" by the Grateful Dead
"Sugar Magnolia" by the Grateful Dead
"Cheeseburger in Paradise" by Jimmy Buffet
"Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffet
"Volcano" by Jimmy Buffet
"My Sharona" by the Knack*
"Can't Stand Losing You" by the Police
"Message in a Bottle" by the Police
"Roxanne" by the Police
"Teenage Lobotomy" by the Ramones
"Working Man" by Rush*
"Action" by Sweet*
"Bang A Gong (Get It On) by T. Rex*

1980s (20)
"Call Me" by Blondie
"Roam" by the B-52s
"Jukebox Hero" by Foreigner*
"The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden*
"Crackity Jones" by the Pixies
"Dead" by the Pixies
"Debaser" by the Pixies
"Gouge Away" by the Pixies
"Here Comes Your Man" by the Pixies
"Hey" by the Pixies
"I Bleed" by the Pixies
"La La Love You" by the Pixies
"Monkey Gone to Heaven" by the Pixies
"Mr. Grieves" by the Pixies
"No. 13 Baby" by the Pixies
"Silver" by the Pixies
"Tame" by the Pixies
"There Goes My Gun" by the Pixies
"Synchronicity II" by the Police
"Limelight" by Rush*

1990s (10)
"All The Small Things" by Blink-182
"Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis
"Wonderwall" by Oasis
"My Iron Lung" by Radiohead
"Siva" by the Smashing Pumpkins
"Zero" by the Smashing Pumpkins
"Interstate Love Song" by the Stone Temple Pilots
"Sex Type Thing" by the Stone Temple Pilots
"Buddy Holly" by Weezer
"El Scorcho" by Weezer

2000s (18)
"Attack" by 30 Seconds To Mars
"The Kill" by 30 Seconds to Mars
"Dirty Little Secret" by the All-American Rejects
"Move Along" by the All-American Rejects
"Rock Rebellion" by Bang Camaro
"Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial) by Coheed and Cambria*
"Shake" by Count Zero
"Sprode" by Freezepop
"Still Alive" by GLaDOS
"Hysteria" by Muse
"3's and 7's" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Little Sister" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Sick Sick Sick" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Song With A Mission" by the Sounds*
"Dreamin'" by Weezer
"The Greatest Man That Ever Lived" by Weezer
"Troublemaker" by Weezer
"Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother

I have a grand total of 78 downloadable songs. That means that, for all of Rock Band, I have spent over $300.
I spend a lot of money on video games.

Top 5 DLC Songs
1. "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
2. "Action" by Sweet
3. "Working Man" by Rush
4. "The Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden
5. "Sprode" by Freezepop

Honorable Mentions: "Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother, "Buddy Holly" by Weezer, "El Scorcho" by Weezer, "My Iron Lung" by Radiohead, "Limelight" by Rush, "Synchronicity II" by the Police, "More Than A Feeling" by Boston

Favorite Song By Instrument
Guitar: "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie and "Joker and the Thief" by Wolfmother
Bass: "N.I.B." by Black Sabbath
Drums: "Action" by Sweet
Vocals: "Ever Fallen In Love?" by the Buzzcocks and "Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie

UPDATED 3/26: Added Boston Pack
UPDATED 7/1: Added everything I bought recently

I am sad Brett Favre retired: A Rope of Sand

Sorry for the day off, I am actually trying to post everyday now. I will probably post twice today to compensate.
~~
There's a few reason why I didn't post yesterday and let's get to the one that will probably resonate with me for the longest.
My favorite sports player ever, Brett Favre, retired yesterday. I'm still not really believing it.
It all started when I was in the food court with Lauren and she was like, "Hey look! Brett Favre's on TV!" and I looked over and what did ESPN say?
"Brett Favre to retire from NFL"
and it also said something about being on the phone Desmond Howard which really makes me wonder if Jamal Reynolds wasn't available or something. Desmond Howard was with the team, for what, a Super Bowl? Like fucking seriously, they could've been able to contact someone with some kind of bigger connection to Favre than Desmond fucking Howard. Doesn't Shannon Sharpe work for ESPN? Just call his ass up and be like 'put your brother on the line'.
Anyway, Favre's retirement put a somber tone on the entire day and still has me being all mopey still. He was an institution. He's been the starting quarterback for the Packers since I was 4 years old. That's a long ass time!
He will be missed from week to week, but he left a lasting legacy that will probably not be forgotten.
~~~
I had a philosophy paper due today which I was working on during the majority of my free time yesterday. So that ate up my potential blogging time.
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I also had to deal with intramural sports bullshit including a group of defectees and the loss of our potential team captain to said defectees. So, if you're interested in being the captain of an intramural soccer team, lemme know.
~~~~~
4 days til Brawl...

Cleaning Out the Refridgerator (or How I Learned About Virtual Console Economics)

I've been having a problem as of late. Whenever I go to download a game off of the Wii Virtual Console, I look at an ever-shrinking number of artificial "blocks" that make up my Wii's Storage System.
I remember, a long time in the year of 2006, thinking to myself as I download Bomberman '93 and Sonic the Hedgehog, "Damn, that's a lot of room. I'm never going to fill this up."
I was wrong.
Dead wrong.

Right now my Virtual Console list stands at 24 strong:
NES (11): Adventures of Lolo, Bubble Bobble, Ninja Gaiden, Ninja Gaiden II, Ninja Gaiden III, Punch-Out!, Startropics, Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 2, Super Mario Bros 3 and Wario's Woods
TG16 (2): Bomberman '93 and Chew Man Fu
Genesis (4): Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Gunstar Heroes, Kid Chameleon and Sonic the Hedgehog
SNES (3): Super Castlevania IV, Super Mario World and Super Metroid
N64 (5): F-Zero X, Kirby 64, Mario Kart 64, Pokemon Snap and Sin & Punishment

And, my fridge has almost filled up. Soon I'm going to have to make tough decisions for my Virtual Console future. What game on this list would be my first to go?
I have my thoughts. Some of these games aren't neccesarily classics and were perhaps accidental purchases made in a drunken stupor (only Chew Man Fu falls into that category. It was my birthday, I drank a few White Russians, I bought a racist video game) but I have a little bit of sentimental attachment to all of them. After all, I bought them and the amount of crap you have to go through to get this shit (connecting to the internet, buying points, downloading the game) means it wasn't exactly easy.

I guess the point of this could have been summed up in a small sentence:
Get off your ass, Nintendo, and make a fucking Wii harddrive!!!!!

Also, 6 days til Brawl.

UPDATED 3/4: I forgot Pokemon Snap. Also, I refrained from doing this earlier, but here is my grand total of Virtual Console expenditures (including NJ sales tax): $186.18
So, for the price of Rock Band, I bought the Wii rights to 25 games.
In a sadder post, I might go in depth into my Rock Band spending.

I think I have today's post figured out...

Murder by Death's new album: The Red of Tooth and Claw

Murder by Death is a very distinct band that appears a lot older than they actually are. Their history dates back to the turn of the century when the band, all students at Indiana University, met and decided to make music. They got their name from an old Neil Simon play entitled Murder by Death. At the time of their inception, the band was a five-piece consisting of common rock instruments such as guitar, bass and drums but also having a female cellist and a keyboardist. The band, featuring guitarist/vocalist Adam Turla writing songs that eschewed back to his religious studies background, quickly dropped out of school and became full time.
They released their first full length in 2002 entitled Like the Exorcist, but More Breakdancing, on the New Jersey independent record label, Eyeball Records. The album was focused more on the crazy dark instrumentals than the art of Turla’s lyrics. In 2003, they followed up with what is their most critically lauded album, Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left of Them? This album told the story of a small Mexican town and their fight against the Devil. There’s also a song about zombies and it opens with the Devil drinking in a bar and getting shot in the back. It was after this album that the keyboardist left to return to school. This altered their sound a lot as now the cellist had to take over on keyboards and thus split her time on cello and keyboards. The band’s third album, In Bocca al Lupo, drew inspiration from Dante’s Inferno and instead of telling a long story like their previous effort, it told separate stories focused around similar themes focusing on the different sins and levels of Hell.
The band’s new album, which hits store on March 4th, is entitled The Red of Tooth and Claw and represents their debut on another independent label, Vagrant Records. The album is yet another step of their consistent evolution but they are showing signs of sameness with this record. They are one album away from something I call the “Millencolin Effect” (named after Swedish punk band, Millencolin). The “Millencolin Effect” occurs after a band releases three albums that sound almost exactly the same. That is the point when I stop caring because I don’t like hearing the same stuff over and over again. Currently, bands like Flogging Molly (who also have a new album coming out on March 4th) and the RX Bandits sit on this threshold.
Going back to the band on hand, Murder’s new album sounds very similar to their previous effort, In Bocca, but it does have its differences. For one, Turla seems to be embracing the fact that he sounds like a modern day Johnny Cash but I’m pretty sure if I threw some of the songs (namely opening track “Coming Home”) in a Johnny Cash mix CD, many people would not be the wiser. However, the album contains a lot of what I love about the band: great lyrics, dark cello riffs and overarching theme. The overarching theme on the album about fire and revenge and it is very noticeable in such tracks as the single, “Fuego!” and “Ash”. Interestingly enough, I would say those two songs are the highlights of the album. Other solid tracks include “Steal Away”, “Rum Brave” and “’52 Ford”.

The Hills Are Alive...

I saw the Sound of Music at my old high school. That was cool. The set was, I believe this is the only term for it, dope as hell. The Von Trapp house was ridiculous. Bravo stage crew. I am proud of the people I once worked with and the people who I don't know.
Personally, I think the show sucks dick. It's a terrible terrible show, but this was a good performance of a bad show, much like Gypsy. My fondness for fabled 'classics' of musical theatre wear out once the plots are shown to callous attempts at leading into another song.
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March Mustache Madness has begun and I am now clean shaven for the first time since early January. Good luck to all involved with this ridiculous idea.
Remember, trimming is allowed but only to accentuate whatever facial hair you're focusing on.
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It's March 1st, so that means Brawl is only 8 days away. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so pumped...
Like, for realz, I am so damn pumped.
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I beat Professor Layton. Haven't finished all the puzzles in it yet, but the main story is complete so the urge to play it is a little dulled. I'll still kick back and knock out puzzles whenever I get an oppurtunity. The game is amazing and the replay value lies in the depth of the extra puzzles.
You might not technically replay the game, but there is a lot to do.
~~~
I'm kind of pissed at Harmonix but in a very good way.
The leaked DLC list for March was scheduled to have a stupid Thrash pack to kick off the month. I was happy as a pig in shit for this because I want to stop buying songs for the game as I think it is slowly driving me broke.
However, they happen to announce 6 Grateful Dead songs and while I am not a deadhead, Lauren's kind of into them and their music might be fun in a stoner Rock Band sort of way.
~~~
I really wanna play Brawl...
Like, now.
*sigh*

Professor Layton: Puzzles, Top Hats and Mysteries

A bit of a preface before this, if you will. I'm thinking of doing the blog like this. A few structured articles here and there, like this Professor Layton review (a direct copy of my school newspaper article), with the rapidly occurring random thoughts posts.
So there, I've made my decision. I'll try to post semi-regularly, but we all know that doesn't happen.
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The task is simple. You have three wolves and three chickens on one side of a river. You must use a raft to ferry them across. However, only two animals are allowed on the raft at one time and at least one animal has to be on the raft for it to move. Also, if the wolves outnumber the chickens on either side, the chickens will be eaten. The task is not as simple as it might seem.
If that previous paragraph sounds appealing, than Nintendo’s latest DS game, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, is the game for you. Professor Layton is, quite simply, a puzzle game tour de force. In it, you control the British top-hat-wearing Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke as they journey to the village of St. Mystere and tackle the mysteries surrounding the death of the famous Baron Reinhold. The game has very artful graphics that are in the similar style to famous European animation such as The Triplets of Belleville and Tin Tin. It’s gameplay echoes a fine blend of the illustrious brain training games on DS such as Brain Age and Big Brain Academy and adventure point-and-click games such as Myst and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. That means, more or less, that this game includes a lot of exploration with a smattering of puzzles.
And these puzzles are really hard. They vary from a bevy of puzzle genres, most of which you may have heard of because they are created by famed Japanese puzzle guru, Akira Tago who is a professor at Chiba University. The game begins with simple yet tricky puzzles that ease you in and then slowly shed the facade with puzzles that will leave you frustrated and trying all kinds of answers for long stretches of time. This might sound bad, but it is not. Never have I played a video game that has challenged my mind as much as this game. It deserves a spot in the growing number of elite Nintendo DS games.
Besides the difficulty, the only negative thing I can say about this game is that it ends, although there are 150 puzzles to play before the game is officially completed. Then again, Nintendo has promised weekly downloadable puzzles using their burgeoning Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. While I have not connected my DS to the internet to download the puzzles, I have heard that they are mighty challenging and have probably driven grown men to tears because of their sheer difficulty. Even better news for fans of this game is that there are still two more games to come out. The series is very popular in Japan and they have already seen the release of a sequel (Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box) and the announcement of a final game in the trilogy (Professor Layton and the Time Traveler).

The Recurring Sakurai

I figure I'll keep up with the random musings until I decide what to do with writing in this blog. I might try to do focused articles or keep this up.
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West Virginia is not a real state. It is a vortex where people think they are in West Virginia, but they are really in Alabama.
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Professor Layton is truly like crack. I am in love with everything about this game and I've had fucked up puzzle dreams to prove it.
Coincidentally, these dreams are separate from the infamous dream I had last week where I dreamt that I was sick and went to my 11 AM class...and then realized I was still sleeping and woke up...and then didn't go to 11 AM class because I thought I already went. I was also very delirious and sick. (see two posts ago when I said I was 'sick and at work').
Anyway, Layton rocks the house and I just witnessed the most balls to the wall cut scene in a DS game since anything from Contra IV. It involves a top-hat-wearing professor, his apprentice, what appears to be a pier and a ferris wheel.
If you have a DS, buy this game.
If you don't have a DS, buy a DS and this game.
~~~~~
Masahiro Sakurai has now become my favorite living video game developer. He sits at that throne just on top of Miyamoto (Mario, Zelda, Nintendo), Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Series) and the dude who made Rez. Naturally, my favorite video game developer is Gunpei Yokoi, but he died in a car accident, so what the fuck, world? The poor man was hit by a car shortly after he was let go by Nintendo because of Virtual Boy. It would have been so pimp if they had some big reunion and then he made Ultra Metroid or something with a better title and then we could all sing and dance and not have any more war.
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So anyway, I've been digging Sakurai lately mainly because of his work on Brawl and the Dojo blog. He also created Kirby at the age of 19, which is really an inspiring feat, or would be if I wasn't turning 20 in 3 weeks. So now I'm in the 'usually eschewed by sports players' feeling of failure because I haven't made my Kirby yet...
*sigh*
I think I'm going to play more of Kirby 64 when I get back to my room...
~~~~~~~
Fuck the naysayers cuz they don't mean a thing!
Kirby 64 is surprisingly good. I remember playing it a long time ago and been a little underwhelmed...not sure why. It is definitely not as deep as Kirby Superstar, but it has its own charm that makes it better than your average game. What can I say, Kirby's adorable. You can't tell me you don't smile when he does his cute lil arm wave and says 'HIIIIIIII!' in Smash Bros.
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Sakurai also was a part of the team that made Adventures of Lolo, which is probably the Professor Layton of the NES.
~~~~~~~~~~
What the fuck happened to Jake Plummer? I know he's retired, but for fuck's sake. He grows one playoff beard and goes off the deep end.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I think if I invite mc chris to one more Facebook event of group, he'll actually go....either that or he'll defriend me...
Also, does anyone remember how fucking awesome Adult Swim was back in the day? Old Sea Lab, ATHF and Brak Show are sadly unmatched these days. Venture Bros is the only show that hearkens back to that era.
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I wonder what games Sakurai will make after Brawl?
I think he's done with Nintendo and he's going to work with his new company, Sora. I very much anticipate his next venture.
Just like I anticipate the next Professor Layton game as I'm closing in on the end of the first one.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I mentioned my favorite game developers (referring to singular people), and now I feel like mentioning my favorite development companies. Nintendo, HAL Labs, Intelligent Systems, Game Freak, Tecmo (circa Ninja Gaiden I,II and III and Tecmo Super Bowl), Silicon Knights (except Dyack is kind of a cocky prick), Harmonix, Square (circa FFVI, SMRPG and Chrono Trigger), Sonic Team (before whatever point they went insane), Next Level Games and Level 5.

Brief Note to Superbad's Naysayers

My dear friend Billy finally saw Superbad and we discussed it. What transpires next is an elaboration on what I said to him.

If you didn't enjoy Superbad than I guess you just didn't get the aesthetic of the humor. Don't give me that hoity-toighty bullshit "Well, I completly understood it" because you obviously didn't if you didn't find it funny. You can demerit the movie however you want because, honestly, it is not a great movie. It just does what it's meant to do and executes it perfectly. It doesn't try to be something that it is not.
To me, the funniest part of the movie is the name. That's because they're not fucking Superbad but they think they are and that makes them every high school kid ever! It is a stupid dumb movie, but thats why it works so well. It is very relatable. I guess if I had to sum it up, I'd dub it the antithesis to every John Hughes film ever. I mean, there are far better films in the world but for that movie was, it was perfect it tried to be nothing but itself

hioo1: gold slick!