It’s that time to look back at the year’s past and, take what we’ve learned, and direct ourselves into where we want to go in the future. Put simply, let’s get to those new year’s resolutions!
I’ll stick with my usual lot of eating better, exercising more, saving money, and making more time to see friends. But I have a few more to tag on for good measure.
First, I want to keep on the guys at work for getting me involved in web development. I want to be working in that department full time by this time next year. Ideally to the point where I can do my work remotely, from home or anywhere. The goal is to be able to stay gainfully employed by the time Ashley gets her teaching license next year so that I’ll be free to follow her wherever she may go with it.
I also want to continue working on this site. Last month, I set myself up with the challenge of making five posts per week. I was inspired by a job listing looking for a game reviewer that had that as one of it’s requirements. I’m proud to say that I’ve been doing a pretty good job so far! I may bend the rule a bit by counting any day that I work on the site, not just writing posts. I’ve been reading up on how to manage a site and possibly capitalize on it. I don’t expect to make any real money (if any), but I would like to prove to myself that I can do something significant with it. Though it will be hard to top David Sirlin’s comment here.
Those are my biggest resolutions. I have tons of minor things I’d like to improve upon myself, but those are key. The only other thing I can think of is playing more Street Fighter. Even if I only play single-player like a loser. With all the hype around the franchise next year and the game room events at Animazement, I’d like to stay somewhat fresh.
This was a big weekend for birthdays. Yesterday, a close buddy of mine had his 30th birthday. The day before, my sister turned 19. And the day before that, Stan Lee turned–holy shit, that guy is 85??
Wow, Stan Lee’s getting old. Like, ooooooold. And yet he continues to take part in terrible television show year after year. I’ll give him one thing; he has a lot of energy and enthusiasm for his age. I think that it’s because of that (more so than the fact that he created some of the most influential comic book characters in history) that when he finally leaves us, he’ll be so greatly missed.
I always read stories from all sorts of comic book professionals about the day they first met Jack “King” Kirby. All of them–no matter how old the person was at the time–gave the sense of a child meeting his hero. All very inspirational. Unfortunately, I’d never met Jack Kirby before he died. Never even seen him at any of the conventions I’d attended. Unlike Stan Lee, Jack Kirby wasn’t in the spotlight much, so I never got much exposure to him other than his artwork and those stories.
Stan Lee’s different. The closest I ever got to seeing him myself was when I walked in on the last 5min of a panel he was on. I could barely see him from behind all the people standing in the back of the room. But aside from that, I think that him being in the public eye was a positive thing. Every time I see him talking on TV, I get excited! Even if it’s about comics that I’ll never read ever, I feel like a kid again!
I think one reason why we’ve been seeing Stan Lee so often lately in both film and TV is because people are realizing that he’s not going to be around to lead the way for the comic book industry for much longer. So they’re going to get as much mileage out of his notoriety as possible. Whether it be producing crappy reality shows or 3-second cameos. Sure, it might be exploitive, but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t love seeing him.
Luckily, I was able to avoid enough of the holiday madness this year to not bring me to my almost annual Christmas rant. However, I still hold a deep distaste for how consumer-based our culture has become. It’s ironic that a holiday whose spirit gravitates around generosity and kindness actually tends more to bring out the ugliest sides of people’s character.
So instead of my going off for a few paragraphs about shit I’ve said before, I think I’m just going to link to a video that a friend of mine pointed toward me. This one is called The Story Of Stuff, hosted by Annie Leonard. There’s nothing about the video that we don’t already know somewhere in the back of our minds. I’d say it’s in the same spirit of the Game Boy Advance Rant I did a couple years ago. But it’s important that we expose ourselves to these types of media to bring that knowledge forward. When we actually put some cognitive thought into how the system is fucked up, it puts us into a better position to get ourselves out of it.
Below, you’ll see the introduction section of the video, but you can find the rest of the pieces under it’s YouTube profile or watch it in it’s entirety on it’s website.
Man, I take a little time away for the holidays and WHAT THE DAMN??? A whole lot of shit goes down. Mostly in the world of Street Fighter. So lemme do a little bit of a World Warrior Round-Up…
BIG NEWS: Street Fighter IV in-game footage released!
My first impressions? I’m very impressed. It’s just the 2D fighting gameplay that I was hoping to see. There is a bit of camera movement, but it’s used mostly for subtle effect. I’m still not sure I understand the tentatively-named “Save System”, but I think that’s something that I may not completely get my head around until I get my hands on it.
One of my favorite parts of the 1UP video above is when they kinda confront the guy who produced Capcom Fighting Evolution. He about half-way apologizes for that game, but gives the excuse that the project was handed to him by one of the head designers just as he was on his way out and that he knew the whole time that getting those characters and gameplay systems to work together was a tall order from the get-go.
Street Fighter: Legend Of Chun-Li
Apparently, the up-coming Street Fighter movie will be centered around Chun-Li. It will star Smallville’s Lana Lang, Kristin Kreuk, in the lead role and is set to begin filming in March of 2008 with a theatrical release later that year.
Now, lemme tackle the main premise first… Chun-Li has always been a staple character in the Street Fighter franchise; I can’t deny that. But if you’re going to produce a film based on that franchise, it’s best to start out by focusing on it’s lead star(s), Ryu or Ken. In the 1994 movie, the movie was centered around Guile, which I can understand since it’s an American-made movie, so naturally the lead hero is going to be the American soldier (even if he’s played by a kick boxer from Brussels). But I think we’ve progressed a bit in our culture, especially after the booming popularity of Asian martial arts films in the past 10 years. Give Ryu the lead. Save Chun-Li’s movie for the sequel or a straight-to-video release. (Right now thousands of Chun-Li fans are cursing my name.)
Secondly, Kristin Kreuk is cute and all, but she looks way too young for the part. Chun-Li is “the strongest woman in the world”, not the strongest girl. The actress originally announced for the role, Jessica Beil, may not have looked Asian enough, but certainly more age-appropriate. If this were a Street Fighter Alpha movie, I might be more inclined. But also, Kristin Kreuk is way too thin! She’s a stick girl! If filming begins in March, she has less than three months to hit the gym to beef up and train!
2008 is the year of Street Fighter revival!
Overall, 2008 will be a big year for the franchise. Super Street Fighter II HD Remix is due out. Street Fighter IV is aimed to be ready by then. There’s the Street Fighter movie going into production. Udon is gearing up to produce comics based on Street Fighter again (after their long, hard work on the aforementioned games). Lord knows what other projects and merchandise will also come out next year… I’m very excited. There’s been a lot of hype and attention around Street Fighter this past year. I hope that it genuinely brings new gamers into the fold and revives this suffering franchise.
Alright, it’s that time of year to brag about the swag!
This Christmas, the bulk of my score contained a small stack of books I’ve been wanting. The brightest gem being Sun Tsu For Execution. It’s a book that takes “The Art Of War” and helps apply it to managing tasks and business. I got some graphic novels, too, including Star Wars: Republic Vol 1, Street Fighter II: The Manga Vol 1, and Street Fighter Alpha: The Manga Vol 2. I also got WordPress For Dummies, which I’d bought for myself but happened to get on Christmas. I’m hoping that will help me spruce up and capitalize on this site.
I got an Adam Carolla poster that I’ve had my eye on. It’s an odd size, so I’ll have to see if I can get a decent frame for it. And speaking of things to frame, my sister drew this cool picture of Cammy that’s definitely going up on my wall.
Additionally, I got the DVD for an anime that I fell in love with at COUp, Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman. Transformers made recurring appearances with a cute mini figure 2-pack and a Transformers-themed Monopoly board game.
My family seemed to enjoy my gifts to them. One thing I got my sister was The Family Guy: The Game for PS2, which is actually a lot more fun than I thought. Not to mention hilarious! Heh, though despite that, we still spent a good few hours playing the ever-addictive Disgaea.
And of course, I got some money and loads of treats. Panther got a couple toys as well, so she wasn’t left out. My folks got a gift for Ashley, but I have no idea what it is. I guess I’ll find out when I see her next!
So, rumor has it that Capcom is supposed to make some big Street Fighter related announcement this Friday. Most likely the first showing of in-game footage of Street Fighter IV. Big news! But I have a question…
Okay, first there was the link posting first screencaps and gameplay info, now this. What’s up with these Latin-based sites getting these major scoops before US or Japanese-based publications? Not to sound racist, but I thought our journalists were the most aggressive in the world. How the hell did 1UP or IGN get totally Pwn3d by some Brazilian game blog?
Perhaps there are prices to be paid for haste, since the guy who posted the debut screencaps of SF4 is about to get destroyed by Capcom and EGM. Whoops.
For Christmas, Ashley got me a sweet Pac-Man jacket. But best of all, she got me something I’ve been coveting for over 8 years now: A Utilikilt! This is why I love this woman…she knows me all too well.
You see, I have these rules for buying me gifts (of which Ashley is the only person who’s exempt). My family would always tell me how hard I am to shop for. They’d ask me for lists, but that kinda ruins the spirit of it all, I think. If I tell you what to buy me, how am I going to be pleasantly surprised by the sentiment. To me, a gift is a reflection of how well you know and care about the person. And for some reason, my family kept giving me junk.
I know… It sounds ungrateful. But when someone gives me a terrible gift, I feel bad that they wasted money on something I either don’t like or can’t use. Not only that, it sucks to learn just how much someone doesn’t know or listen to you. Then once I receive the gift, I’m then burdened with the task of getting rid of it. My loved ones lose money and I’m stuck with a chore…everyone loses. I honestly would prefer no gift than receive a burden.
So I came up with the idea of The Five Forbidden Gifts rule. There are only five types of things that I absolutely don’t want anyone to buy for me ever. Everything else is fair ball. I don’t even mind if you get me something I already have; that still tells me that you understand my tastes. And if someone gets me a movie or something that it turns out that I don’t like, I chalk it up to hey, at least you tried. And I appreciate that.
Anyway, here are the Five Forbidden Gifts:
Clothing
Furniture
Decorations
Cooking Supplies
Cat Toys
Clothing is something I think we all have difficulty with. Something is either not at all our style, or it’s the wrong size! One year my mom got an ugly shirt from a relative and when she said she might exchange it, she discovered from the receipt that it was bought from a store catered to fat women. There’s an insult I could do without… If the only clothing that you believe will fit your recipient comes from a fat person store…don’t buy them clothes.
By furniture, I don’t really mean like a couch or something… Even something like book shelves or end tables can be a pain. Aesthetic tastes aside, one thing I’ve noticed that people don’t consider is if the recipient even has room for what they’re trying to give them. One year I got a wine rack. it was cool, but in the few times that I have wine on hand, I keep only one bottle at a time…not enough to warrant an entire rack. Second, in my small apartment, I have absolutely no room for a wine rack. Up on Craigslist it goes…
Decorations can get ugly. And while you don’t have to worry as much about having room for them as you do with furniture, they do tend to pile up. I have enough Christmas ornaments to fill a full sized tree. Again, my apartment is only big enough that I can use a pint-sized tree. Of which I can’t use anyway because my cat will destroy it. People know this, yet buy me ornaments anyway…
I also don’t have much room for cooking supplies. I do enjoy cooking, but people seem to think I’m Alton Brown or something. Also, I have half a dozen sushi preparing and serving sets. It’s awesome that people know I love sushi, but I have no idea what brings them to think I can make the stuff, let alone serve it in my home. Whenever I eat sushi, I hit a sushi bar. Also, there are things that I do wish I had (like a blender) but I can’t because I don’t have room for one. Thus, only I myself buy my kitchen supplies when I see that there is a need and a place to put it.
Lastly, cat toys. My cat never plays with toys that people can buy. Her favorite toys in the universe are gift bags, milk jug rings, a laser pointer (which I already own), and my shadow.
Other than that, the sky’s the limit! Merry Christmas!
This is quite possibly the #1 reason why I’m happy I don’t work at Spencer Gifts any more. All day, every fucking day, people would come in and squeeze those damn things. And of course every teenager would think they’re the pioneers of new comedy when they’d grab the whole bundle of 5-10 chickens and squeeze them all at the same time. Usually followed by them running right out the door, as if you could even call that a prank.
The question is not why do places keep selling these things…it’s why do people keep buying them??
I’ve pretty much gathered that Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim’s late night lineup is more or less designed for stoners. I think it started back with some of their early shows like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which is a funny show, but clearly tests well with people who are high. Since then, I’ve been seeing more and more shows that are god-awful, but you can tell that they’re made to give stoners something to watch in the post-midnight hours.
The latest example that I can’t ignore is Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. The funny part about it is that I kinda know how it’s tailored to stoners because when I watch it, it reminds me of a fever dream. Like when I get the flu and my fever runs so hot that I’m all delusional, that show is how my brain might interpret normal television. So if I were to get so ill that I’m totally delusional, Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! would either appear extraordinarily fucked up or translate into Seinfeld.
To give an example to those who haven’t seen it, here’s quick clip of what I’m talking about, but I suggest you check out the entire episode, if you have 10min to kill. Though the first three are all you really need.
According to a recent study, girls prefer 2D games while boys prefer 3D games. The study suggests that girls like to play games that are “easy” while boys are attracted to games that are “challenging”. While, if this were to be true, I don’t think I’d be too surprised by it, I gotta question some of the factors of the study.
First of all, it was done using an N64 emulator. An emulator? Really? You couldn’t scratch up $200 in the budget to buy a real N64 and about 15 games? Secondly, I don’t remember a lot of 2D games on the N64. Couldn’t they have used PSone games for a more accurate comparison? And finally, most 3D N64 game suffer from the same thing that turns me off to a lot of 3D games…really shitty cameras.
Like I said, if it were true that girls tend to prefer 2D while boys prefer 3D, it wouldn’t surprise me, but I’m not so sure about the study’s explanation as to why. It almost suggests that girls play easy games because they’re dumb. I hope their use of quotations is their way of assuring us that this was not their intention. I can see more boys being drawn to challenging games because we tend to be more competitive by nature, whether it be against an opponent or a puzzle.
I also admit that I prefer 2D games…and not just the fighting type. Not because they’re “easy”; I’ve just run into more fun 2D games than 3D. Does that suggest anything about my intelligence? I may leave that up to you…
