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.
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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.
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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.
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4 days til Brawl...

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.
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.

Being sick at work sucks donkey dick. Which, coincidentally is a possible way of how I have this killer sore throat right now.
Or it could be from the cold and wind going down my throat and my immune system finally wearing down after a season of fighting the wintery weather hardcore for a week and then being like 'eh, too many layers' and sending myself out onto the frozen tundra of William Paterson with nothing but pants, shoes and a jacket.
If there is anything illegible in this post, I blame Wayne Hall, for all I've eaten has been at that grimy place of food stuffs.
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You wonderful readers witnessed history the other day. My Y: The Last Man and Barkley posts were restructured into semi-legitimate newspaper articles for one of the P.O.S. bi-weekly newspapers at my school. I will continue to use this as a testing ground to see if I have enough bullshit to write about on a topic to turn it into article length.
My next topics for writing are going to be two of these four: Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Darjeeling Limited, Justice League: New Frontier and the new Murder By Death CD.
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Some notes on my brief play time with Professor Layton:
-It's like Phoenix Wright with no court and all logic puzzles.
-Has a very nice European animation style (Think Tin Tin or Triplets of Belleville)
-Puzzles sometimes thread on 'holy fuck this shit is hard' territory but for every one seemingly impossible puzzle, there are at least five that make you feel semi-smart instead of totally retarded.
-If there ever was a game that made you feel like you were mentally challenged, this would be it.
-Great characters
-See the Game|Life PSA at the end of their coverage of Brawl.
-If you own a DS, you owe it to yourself to buy this game.
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I've reached the point of a highly anticipated event when I stop following a normal calendar and just state the day as "Today is 19 days away from Brawl".
If people recall, I wrote a week and a half long poem about Rock Band (See the 12 Days of Rock Band) because of my anticipation for the game.
Will Brawl get the same treatment? I'm not sure. Will I write about it a lot? YA GODDAMN RIGHT! There's a huge difference between Brawl and Rock Band. Rock Band is noisy and I can't play it every moment of the day. Brawl can be a rather noiseless game if needed, so I will probably stop playing the game for classes and a few hours at work so I can catch up with schoolwork.
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Roger Clemens is fucking guilty.
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Heroes is a fucking kickass show. I finished Season One the other day and I am avoiding beginning Season Two because I know its only 12 episodes and that there will be no new episodes until at least September.
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I downloaded "El Scorcho" by Weezer and "Sex Type Thing" by STP from the Rock Band DLC Treasure Trove. El Scorcho is fantastic and Sex Type Thing just makes me think of the Weird Al Polka that it is in.
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Today I bought Ninja Gaiden III off of Virtual Console. I've actually never played the game and I am very excited to cry and piss and moan while playing it because, after playing it for 15 minutes before I had to go to work, I could only manage to get to the second half of level two. Fucking Tecmo and their ridiculously hard games.
There's a reason I haven't played the new Ninja Gaiden and that is because I know how hard the originals are and I don't feel like fucking crying in 3D. Crying in 2D is tough enough.
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For anyone that got to the end, I have a question of beardly proportions. I have some semblance of a beard going on and I am giving you, the reader, some options as to what you, the reader, think I, the writer, should do with it.
A) Just go all Grizzly Adams with it
2) Shave it so I look like a 14 year old instead of a 17 year old
c) Make it a Goat
D) Grow a 'Stache
5) Leave the burns, chop the rest
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Nearing 18 days til Brawl...

Sic Transit Rock Band...NFL Rises (Kinda Sorta)

Yes, I am still enraptured by Rock Band, but I am also dealing with real life rearing its ugly head ahead again. Yes, I still attend classes and get assignments done. Yes, Rock Band is awesome. Yes, I've played it a lot and for fuck's sake, no I don't give a shit about your two cents and what misconceptions you heard about the game. Shut the fuck up about the Strat! Mine is working fine (for now) so quit bitching when you suck at the game, Ricky! And when it is blatantly obvious that both of the people that live in the room are done with the game and one is going to bed in a matter of minutes, stop playing the fucking game and go to your room and piss off your own roommate some more instead of me!
Ricky, if you read this (which I don't think you do), just take a hint next time when it is largely obvious that you should be done with the game. If you want to play it so badly, but it yourself. Yes, you might not have the money, but does that mean that the money I saved up (kind of, my credit card bill balooned because of it) should go towards your entertainment?
This goes out to all current and future college students, if you happen to be in a room that is not your own and the people who live in the room are grimacing as you play their video games and eat their food, get the fuck out.

Anyway, I just finished an interesting experiment regarding our very own National Football League. In a conversation I had with Allon a week or so ago, when we realized how awesome it would be for his Jaguars of Jacksonville (yes, they're not his team, but I don't feel like being "his favorite team, the Jaguars of Jacksonville" and I know I did it right now, but fuck off, its my blog) to not be in a division with the Colts of Indianapolis. Then I realized that there once was a mythical time when this was true.
So during work today, I scoured for the old division lines that were used up until the Texans of Houston were added to the league in 2002. So I added those very same to the AFC West and moved the Seahawks of Seattle to the NFC West from the AFC West to even out the divisions.

Surprisingly, nothing really changes. If the season ended today, every single team that would get into the playoffs in the current format would get into the playoffs in the old format. Albeit the schedules would be different if this setup were used, regardless, the only thing that changes is that we'd have more interesting divisions and teams given new life.

The NFC East (feat. Cowboys, Gints, Faggles, Cardinals and Redskins) would still be a great division, but nowhere near as battle hungry as those damned Centralites (feat. the Pack!, the Pirates, da Bears, the Lions and the Vikings). Granted, only two teams are added to these divisions, but it still would be interesting (and nerve-racking) to see the Packers play the renewed Buccaneers twice this season. I'd actually like to see if the Cardinals would play up to their decent opponents in the East or if they really do suck.
The NFC West would be as boring as ever as it had one fucking team with a winning record (the Seahawks) and said team (the Seahawks) would hold a two game lead over the schizophrenic 'Aints and some other teams of no note (except that one team used to have Mike Vick. And three of the were in Super Bowls in the past 10 years)

The AFC East would be hot shit, only for one fact and one fact alone. The Colts of Indianapolis would play the Pat Riots twice a year and share division of shit (besides them, of course). Other than that, the other three teams would be cannon fodder (Bills, Just-end-the-season and the Hapless 'Fins).
The AFC Central would be a battleground of sorts. The Pittsers of Steeland and the Jaguars of Jacksonville would be battling for the title as the Browns of Cleveland would be chomping at the bit while the Houston Oilers suck the shit for the top three teams as they plummet because apparently Vince Young can't win games (but he's ok in fantasy, but no quite good enough because I was the jackass who banked on Cedric Benson and Reggie Bush to be my running back darlings). The Ravens aka the Browns and the Bungles would still be freefallin'.
The only cool part of the AFC West would be the fact that the Texans of Houston would actually be in the playoff race as they'd be sitting tied for 2nd with Broncos of Denver and only one game behind the SlightlySuperChargers.

A more interesting view on this would be if the divisions were aligned by their real life boundaries, which is what I thought would happen when the divisions were realigned (seriously, I understand the Cowboys having solid rivalries with East teams, but why move the Colts from the East (which they sort of belong) to the South (where they most certainly do not), all for what? Keeping rivalries in the East and North?
Whatever, I'm just gonna go play Rock Band.
What?
I have a paper due?
Shit.

On the 8th day of Rock Band...(Trip to Wal-Mart)

On the 8th day of Rock Band my bandmates gave to me a very tired joke, 2 dollars a downloadable song, 6 handjobs a-coming, 5 Star Pieces, Super Mario Galaxy, 3 TVs, Super Mario Bros 3 and an announcement on DLC.

This 12 days of Christmas horseshit is getting dumb. First it was just Mario for the majority of it and now its just a stretch to see whatever I can get to fit.

Anyway, I was kind of "meh" about Rock Band for the past week if anyone could notice by the obvious Mario flair that this blog had for the past week. However, the Wal-mart trip that I made last night on the fool's hope that there might be a Rock Band leak got me pumped again. Drums are so much fun even without the bass pedal.
This trip was chaotic in nature and rather impromptu. You see, I was working and I got a phone call from my friend Jen. I'm not supposed to use my phone at work, so I passed the phone off to Lauren, who graciously visited me, in case it was something important. It was, since Jen was actually Dan (they date and Dan borrowed Jen's phone) and he had taken the wrong bus from NYC and was about 20 minutes away from school. So, we picked him up and then I coaxed Lauren to make a stop at Wal-mart. At Wal-mart we ended up discovering the area where they had Rock Band set up and Dan and I began to play. The guitar was broken and thus I let Dan play a song since he had not played it. As Dan finished one song, some little shithead kid with a rat-tail said, "Is that your last song?"
Dan, not being a prick by any means, let the kid play. The kid then preceded to play Black Hole Sun, which, if anyone knows, is retardedly long. The little kid's sister than played a song and he helped his sister out by beating the red drum with the guitar in a rather animalistic manner. Just a very baser instinct of just beating the fuck out of it. I learned then that there is nothing wrong with the guitar or drums, people are just fucking stupid.
Of course it gets a bit better. This little rat-tailed shitfuck told Dan that he knew him and that he lived near Brett and was friends with some other douchebag. Dan was caught off guard at first and then was like, "Oh yea! Brett. I remember him."
Finally the kid's mother dragged him out after much whining. "Say hi to Brett for me!" was Dan's parting shot.

I fucking hate kids.
Remind me to shoot my own if they are that dumb...or shoot myself.

On the 7th day of Rock Band...

On the 7th day of Rock Band my bandmates gave to me 2 dollars a downloadable song, 6 handjobs a-coming, 5 Star Pieces, Super Mario Galaxy, 3 TVs, Super Mario Bros 3 and an announcement on DLC.

The downloadble content prices were released for Rock Band. 1.99 a song and 5.49 for the 3 packs of songs (although you can buy all the songs separately).
The schedule until Christmas for DLC was released too and I am really really excited. There is pretty much something every week that I want. YAY!
Although the two albums (Who's Next and Nevermind) are disgustingly M.I.A.
Very worrisome.

School is boring. Although I only have 2 days of classes before I have ROCK BAND! And all I have is to write 4 pages combined across two papers spanning 14 pages and do an online health assignment and I am free to play Rock Band throughout T-Giving break (although I'll have a Sci-Fi paper to write).

On the 3rd day of Rock Band...

On the 3rd day of Rock Band my bandmates gave to me 3 TVs, Super Mario Bros 3 and an announcement on DLC.

I had a video game program thing at college today. It was moderately successful. People came, it was cool. Tomorrow will not be tournaments...which sucks, but whatever...less planning for me.
I learned a few things.
1) Don't bank on the non-gamer crowd to show up, even if they trip and fall into it. They will still get intimidated and leave.
2) Guilt more friends into coming. Thats the only reason the ones of the library worked.
3) Perhaps take drinking/pot breaks
4) Drop acid

As you can see, it could've gone better. But whatever...the people that showed up seemed to enjoy themselves.

On The 2nd Day of Rock Band... (Super Mario 64 is Jesus)

On the 2nd day of Rock Band my bandmates gave to me Super Mario Bros. 3
and an announcement on DLC...

I've been playing a lot of Super Mario Bros. 3 thanks to Wii's brillant amazing dollar-eating Virtual Console. If I were a weaker man (and I am already a weak man), I would be flat fucking broke selling my body for Wii Points on the streets of Paterson.
As it stands, I have some modicum of self control and I did not secede to that.

I'm relatively proud of my school escapades so far. In Mission: Finish All Work Before Rock Band, I have been suceeding. As it stands, I have 3 pages of a 10 page paper to finish due on 11/21, a book to read (or at least read enough) and a 4 page paper to write by Wednesday and another book to read half of by Thursday. Also, there is the pending portfolio I should begin working on for my Creative Writing final.
The happy note out of all this: I finally prove my worth as an English major. I've had 3 papers that I've received back so far. All 3 papers have been As and I've only been satisfied with one of them. I rock. Imagine if I didn't rush these papers and dwelled on them longer. Everything would be awesome. Oh shit, it already is!

Super Mario Galaxy is my surging dark horse right now. I was kind of ho-hum about this game for a long time. I mean, its a main Mario game, I guess I'm there. I wasn't there for Sunshine, but whatever. I was not in full control of my gaming dollar. Actually, I was, I was just stupid and didn't understand video game economics (that is, trying to find the sweetest deal ever and possibly trading in games to fufill it).
But as I read and hear more and more about Super Mario Galaxy, it appears to truly be some sort of second coming of the Video Game Christ (Super Mario 64).

Now to cut that Mario Galaxy rant off completly, let's look at Super Mario 64 as the Video Game Christ. Let's see...It arose in a time of video game division. Sega and Nintendo has split gamers and Sony had widened the gap. It came about, highly praised, but the platform it was on was screwed over by its own Judas kiss to Sony. Its been highly revered by all. Probably hated by a bunch of people. I guess Jews don't beleive in It. Now people (myself included) doubt Its second coming.
I could probably drag that paralel out longer, but I doubt anyone cares. So go fuck your mother...or, you know, leave a comment and I'll think about this further.

Seemingly Random Musings

Video Game Program tomorrow at the Hopewell Library at 12 Noon - 4 PM. Be there!
It'll probably be focused on Halo 3, but Wii will be present and so Melee will probably be played.
However, the Guitar Hero Playing Device (PS2) is not making the trip. Hopefully Steve Rock will bring his guitar for the 360 version so GH will be made available.
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I still really want to buy Skate (360). The demo will occasionally pop up in my fucked up Halo dreams and then like, I'll be doing kickflips and grinds with Master Chief and Elites. I liked it better when I'd play some puzzle game a lot and then go to sleep dreaming of playing Dr. Mario or Mean Bean Machine. Well...at least I'm not dreaming about Bioshock...
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Bioshock is fucking fucked up. Fuck.
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I hope NiGHTs 2 (Wii) doesn't suck. I've always wanted to play more of the game but never thought the entry fee of an entire Sega Saturn was worth it.
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Mario and Sonic Olympics should salvage the crap that Sega's been putting together. Fencing excites me and so does the fact that its both mascots in the same freaking game. If this game can get to half-Warioware proportions, I'll be content.
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After playing a lot more 360 in recent weeks, Nintendo really needs to get their internet shit together. Virtual Console is hot shit but online play? downloadable content?
I've been having a ball with my 360 because of those two things. I've been downloading demos, playing games online, downloading content...
Albeit this will overturn as Halo 3 wears out, I've played a lot more 360 in the past month. My Wii playing has been delegated to these things:
1. Melee (Gamecube game)
2. Sin and Punishment and F-Zero X (Nintendo 64 games)
3. The occasional drunken Warioware game (alcohol influence)
4. Metroid Prime 3, which got shoved aside once Halo 3 came out and appeared to outMetroid Metroid in its second level with all the fucking backtracking. Although MPrime3 outHalo'd Halo with its opening scene with the spaceship getting attacked.

So my Wii playing has been older games and drunkeness primarily.
My 360 playing has been generally new and sober.
With the advent of GHIII (which 360 won my purchase) and Rock Band, there will be a veritable brawl...
waitwaitwaitwait
Super Smash Bros Brawl is coming out for Wii.

Oh fuck, Nintendo wins.
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Go Yankees.
Packers are still the best team in the NFL.
Woo!