The Hangar

People say crunch time rears its ugly head at the end of the semester, but I've been feeling it since the middle of October! I've turned to meal replacement bars for lunch and breakfast...and they actually are not that bad. I stick to a brand that's covered in chocolate and has flavoured insides and they're actually pretty filling. They have a lemon flavoured one that I'm pretty fond of. But I think the mocha and peanut butter ones do a better job of masking the whey flavour which isn't bad or anything. It just reminds you you're not eating a chocolate bar.

And I decided to try some Aloe water for the first time and it's pretty delicious! The version they have with mango and mangosteen (looks nothing like a mango) is even better! It tastes exactly like a coconut gel!

So, the more I watch Kuuchuu Buranko/Trapeze, the more I like it. The zaniest, most cracked up feel-good series I've ever seen. The first episode was a little weak, but every episode after it has been great. I know the show focuses more on the patients, but I can't get enough of Dr. Iranbu. All three of his forms are pretty great. There's a popular theory going around that the teddie bear-headed him is his Id, the collage student version is the Ego and the child is the Super Ego, but now I think the collage student is the Id. He just bounces around and makes suggestions and brings to light thoughts that the patient is really thinking, but are socially inappropriate and he just eggs them on. Bear-headed Iranbu seems closer to the original book's Iranbu, so he's probably more fitted to be the Ego as the mediator between the Super Ego and Id. Plus collage student Iranbu can be kinda pervy.

BAD DOCTOR

I know the videos for NMH2 came out a while ago but...Henry's not dead! You can play as him! Hooray! The vest and tie look very nice. That's right, fight that gundam cyborg preschooler!

I have a big presentation Monday and a term paper due in 5 days, so I'm really feeling the grind. I've been hard at work for the past week or so, just trying to get notes down and scripts done and all that. When I'm not working, I'm doing schoolwork. But I also went shopping today and bought a new pair of boots, so it's all good.

I haven't been really paying attention to the DS iDOLM@STER game because I know it has a snowball's chance in hell of getting localized and I can't understand moon language. But Ryo is pretty great. He's got quite a range and can even do the girly songs. Eri doesn't get much attention, but she's not bad at all. It's just that her voice is a little high-pitched and childish. Ai would be how Haruka would sound like if she could carry a tune.

Anyway, how come no one's paying attention to the Chiptuned Rockman CD? It's fantastic! I guess it's because they're mostly chiptune remixes of songs that are already chiptunes, but they've done some really creative stuff with the remixes. And they've got Kaze yo Tsutaete, some MMGB series, Rockman and Forte and Wily Tower tunes on there. The Gravity Man remix is the sexiest thing ever. I think what they did with Kaze yo Tsutaete was totally cute, they have little 8-bit voice samples in it. But since it's about Megaman dying and Roll encouraging him to continue and KyT being a love song just about convinces me Roll has a thing for her brother...

So, Ar Tornelico 3 is coming out. Is it me or are the girls getting a little... young looking? The protagonist looks like a young teen, too, so I guess it evens out. Battle scenes are in full 3D and it's for the PS3, so while I'll never have it, I suppose that's pretty big for Gust. The new hymnos forming system sounds interesting, but from what I've heard about powering up your Revys, it already sounds too JAPANNNNNN WHY? for me. Anyway, it takes place on the disk where the humans are the oppressed minority instead of the other way around, so it'll be interesting.

Man, I am having a rotten week. Two weeks. Had my last midterm on Friday and knew barely anything. Came away with a 50. Papers up the wazoo. Wednesday's shift ended on a bad note. I'm clumsy and forgetting things. I appreciate my study group and all but I don't want to have three meetings a week. I've got no time for myself. Even on Saturday! This week, it's my free day! Soooooooo >:{

Anyway, so Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is having moderately good sales. It'll definitely reach 200,000 units sold by the end of the year. The gameplay is reported to be really fun and all the Org members can be played in multiplayer and I've heard the panel level up and power up system the game has is really ingenious. I just thought that since the previous games were so big here and that it's Organization XIII based that it would sell gangbusters.

Is it because of the Xion haters? I know that there used to be a large backlash when she was revealed, but everyone loves her now (spoiler alert) since she was handled well. From what I've seen, Square Enix took someone with a Mary Sue-ish premise and made her sympathetic and likable. Her friendship with Axel and Roxas is tragic and heartwarming and she never gets in their way. Those Xion haters can go sit in the corner while anyone who took up the game can have fun with the system and fun, new character. :P

Soooo, LoZ: Spirit Tracks doesn't feature WW Link but...
( Super Duper Spoilers )

Spoilerific trailer here.

I used to be kinda neutral on Spirit Tracks before but now I must have it. The link to the Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass is too strong for me to ignore. And finally! Zelda has a major role! She can even take part in combat! So awesome. And the instrument is the pan pipes!


link y u gotta be so cute? :3

So, apparently this Halloween was really busy. I couldn't take part, I was working. :P There really isn't much candy left over, though, so I guess the proof is in the pudding. Or lack of it...anyway, I did watch the movie for "Let the Right One In". I was quite good. I was laughing more than I should have in the beginning, but only because I recognized certain scenes and was like "and this is the part where Haakan shows that he fails at life." Actually, Haakan was much more incompetent in the movie than the book.

Anyway, the movie was very subtle. Very smart. Got very tense in the second half, even though I think Lacke could have been handled more sympathetically. He just kinda felt there. The relationship between Eli (Pronounced EE-lee. Yeah, I had no idea. I've been pronouncing it "Elly") and Oskar is really freaking adorable. Even though one is a powerful vampire and the other is an socially maligned and unstable kid, their love was both innocent and sweet. It doesn't help that Oskar had some really nice hair.

Anyway, I know this was revealed a while ago, but I keep forgetting to talk about it. I'm very much hyped for the Pokemon Gold and Silver remakes coming out...spring of next year. It's out of Japan right now, and it looks like it has almost everything I've ever wanted in a Pokemon game as a kid. Pokemon Gold was my first real videogame, so the remakes have got me waxing nostalgic. I really enjoyed my first run through, but by the end of the game, I had my critisims. It was too hard to level up on Mount Silver due to the low levels, Kanto was pretty bare bones and the Legendaries could have been fleshed out a lot more given what they were working with.

With the new remakes, they've added introductory cutscenes for the Legendaries, added the cut features to Kanto, added stuff like Gym Leader rematches, pokemon following you in the overworld and scenes to flesh out the rival character. He's become extreemly popular with the Japanese fandom as a result. Due to his shenanigans, with me, he is now to be called Wooby McDerpderp. For his tsundere adoableness and unintended dorkyness.

I'm a little sad that they did away with the old female trainer (Kris) but Kotone is a whole lot cuter than she was. Sorry. It's the irresistible combo of the thigh-highs, overalls, and the paperboy hat. Can't beat the thigh-high stockings.

The music is also really fucking awesome.

Sooooo, saw the new Evangelion movie in theatres a while ago. Looked and sounded fantastic. But very condensed. I still suggest watching the series before seeing it; the movie's not very well suited for newcomers. Though Shinji and Misato are still my favourite characters, I can understand why English fans think Shinji is annoying 'cause, by George, Spencer's inflection can be pretty darn whiny! Misato's angry voice is the goddamn best, though. And the Ramiel fight was amazing! Best Angel ever! Anyway, I'm really anticipating seeing the 2nd movie in theatres; it's quite different from the show.

So, I'm enjoying the Ar Tornelico II Let's Play Over at Something Awful...

( Sing to make things explode! )

I caught up on Deadman Wonderland. Minatsuki's true personality is great. I love how she has such a frank and brutal personality when she looks like a fragile girl. Crow's still awesome. Mockingbird is such adorable Kaworu-style slash bait, but his cannibalism is giving him a creepy edge. FFFFFFFF THE RED MANNNNNN THE FORGERIES poor Ganta.

Aw mannnn I can't wait for Rockman Gigamix. Just seeing the few scans that are out have gotten me so hyped! I haven't even seen all the volumes of Megamix yet! Ariga's covering 3, 7 and Battle and Chase. I'm really looking forward to the Megaman 3 issue, since the one he's got in Megamix isn't really a serious depiction like MM2's. Not that I don't like the comical approach, but MM3 deserves it. Anyway, Gigamix looks like it'll have an extra dose of Protoman. They have a shot of him during his pre-anithero days I'm assuming. And his Breakman outfit looks great! It can't come out soon enough!

Anyway, October is Midterm Month! Busy, busy!

It looks like my money-saving strategy won't work this year as far as textbooks go. Nobody's really selling used books this year and all the books I need go for about as much as they cost in the University bookstore. Maybe because they're new... the only thing good coming out of this is that I'm learning about buying things online. And it looks like I'll be needing most of the books. I have the same Econometrics prof I had last year. Looks like I'll be sleeping a lot in class again. So boring. -_-

The Protomen's new album came out! It's fantastic, the tracks this time around are more complex and polished. Looks like the only characters in this CD are Light, Wily, Emily (Light's girlfriend) and Sniper Joe. I'd like to think Joe looks like the young Protoman from the derpy T.V. series. Keep Quiet and The Hounds are fantastic. I still love Father of Death and Light of the Night, but what the heck did they do to Breaking Out? The album version sounds too muddled, I much prefer the demo version.

Is it me, or is the guy's voice they chose to play Dr. Wily really freakin' moé? And plus, there's no way the guy could win. Light was in his way for Emily's heart and Emily was in his way for Light's heart getting Light to support his plans. The Hounds was the only Wily-centric track, but it's just so awesome I couldn't stop listening to it until they took it off youtube...but the CD's back-ordered and it'll take a while to get up to Canada. I guess I should just head to amazon and get the mp3 version.

School is starting soon. I feel like I'm missing something. Maybe it's because I can't find my calculator and economics is full of maths. /:S

Beat Pikmin 1 a little a while ago. The final battle took a whole day! I'm glad I took an extra day to clear everything. My pikmin are no longer my darlings; my little babies. They are full grown men, veterans and soldiers worthy of distinction. The final battle was brutal. Like many, many little Davids against the Goliath that is the Emperor Bulbax. It was also somewhat short in comparison to Pikmin 2, even though it was extremely fun. Felt a little puzzle-y.

My sister and I also finished all the multiplayer challenge mode dungeons in Pikmin 2. They are a blast to play both with and without a second player. (but especially with) Some of the dungeons were just brutal. SNIPERS RANGE FFFFFFFFFFFF the final challenge isn't half as bad as the Sniper's Range. Anyway, we even managed to perfect most of them. (that just means no pikmin deaths)

Got past my wall chapter in FE: Shadow Dragon. It's the one with Camus. I remember getting stuck on it in FE3 too, but I didn't remember how I got past it. I don't care what other fire emblem fans and the gamefaqs crowd say, I LOVE THIS GAME. The gameplay is sooooooo addictive! I can't help but do several chapters in a row. But I'm near the game and none of my promoted units are at level 20, which kinda makes me sad. Y'know, looking at how everyone just makes Marth hold his feelings in have convinced me that he's at least passive aggressive.

I beat Ikaruga on normal mode in 1-player some time ago. But only because I unlocked the unlimited continues since I played it so much. :( One day, I will do it on one continue! I find playing the game from start to finish oddly relaxing. The second boss is now an entertaining fight instead of a painful frustration. I'm slowly learning the third boss, though he's still a pain. The fourth boss and I get along like a knife and a...easily stabbable thing. <:(

Well, this new coffee shop opened in my home town, recently. By recently I mean I took notice of it a while ago since I didn't notice it there before and just went yesterday. Atmosphere is great and the food is pretty good but man, what did they put in my Ice Cappuccino? I've been bouncing off the walls since yesterday evening. I'm gonna hate it when the caffeine wears off later today...probably on my shift knowing my luck. All I've been doing is playing Light Up the Night over and over between episodes of Gaming Guyz on Something Awful's Flash Tub.

Next time, I'll check out the soup and a feta and spinach twirl. And I'm dying to try a slice of the cakes.

My computer was out of commission for the past two days, so I drew a lot of pencil stuff. It's good to do hands-on stuff again. I'll get them scanned soon.

Sooooo...The Protomen just released a new track a couple of days ago. And it's so awesome my computer explodes every time I play it. It's called Light Up the Night and it has a very strong 80's rock sound. (FFFF I love me some 80's musicccccc) It's about Dr. Light wanting to set things on fire. I think The Protomen are really setting Light up as a pyromaniac. :/ It's actually not my favourite song out of what I've heard of Act 2, but it's so very hot-blooded; it makes me want to get up and dance.

And Sony, what the fuck is this? I think it's an attempt to market to girls but as a girl, I think it's full of fail. OMG PSP? Really? Seriously? There's a lot of good games for the PSP, but seriously just pushing shovelware and licensed (other than patapon and locoroco) games as "games for girls" makes the library look pathetic and you don't want that. The meager minigames just accentuate it more. In the personality test you can get a dog, a fat blob, an animu girl that plays weaboo golf, an eyeball and a character from a CGI movie. And only pushing the lilac PSP? What if we want the light green one? I want to think it's a joke but I wouldn't put this past Sony since the "All I want for Christmas is a PSP" garbage.

I feel like a brand new person! *-o-* Maybe I should start showering in the morning instead of night; I can seem to get anything done during the daytime.

Anyway, the department store catalogue for the Christmas Holidays just came in. So early! I have a lot of fond memories of my childhood flipping through the book, circling what I wanted and mom and dad buying it to pretend it was from Santa. I always kind of wanted the gimmicky presents and stuff like rock polishers, but looking through the book now, I find the gimmicky toys really expensive! No wonder I'd almost never get them. It's really frickin' weird, though. In the catalogue they have a large plush Kenny (South Park Kenny) right beside Dora the Explorer and the penguins from Madagascar. WTF? And they're also offering a large, plushie Domo-kun. I thought I'd never see the day. Not only that, they're selling costumes based off The Dark Knight. Yes, yes, they have a Heath Ledger Joker costume, too. o_O

I kinda want the Domo-kun plushie.

Anyway, I'm currently reading through Let the Right One in and it's the best vampire novel I've ever read. For one, the characters are flawed, interesting and believable. Two, the vampire is actually scary and there's no sugarcoating of the romantic relationship. Three, the prose is straightforward and unadorned, making it an easy and entertaining read. Translated from Swedish, I sure am glad it made it to the West. Hakan is both creepy yet strangely sympathetic. I really look forward to reading scenes with Eli (creepy asskicking vampire girl) and Oskar. (her/his? young, troubled yet violent love interest)

( OskarxEli )

Anyway, awesome book so far. I recommend it for people who like the concept of vampires even if they've been annoyed by their portrayal in recent years.

So. Survivor level in Elite Beat Agents. A mushroom monster is creating zombies that laugh a lot and the main guy can't stand that, so he shoots them with gross tasting peanuts to turn them normal. Wat. (I kinda suck at that stage. Can't even do it on normal yet.)

Lots of people are saying they can't get past the second chapter of Ikaruga (oh my jesus, so expensive...except on Xbox360) even after having it since it came out on Live. I know it's a tough game, but Chapter Two is far from the most difficult stage. (It's the fourth, then the third. I still have problems beating both their bosses on time.) And sometimes in Ikaruga, in order to go forward you must take the path of pacifism. Simply don't shoot and focus on trying to get past the bullets. The bosses even choose to leave you alone if you survive them long enough. Sometimes it's better to choose the way on non-violence, you know?

So, I've picked up Deadman Wonderland. It's from the mangaka of Eureka Seven, which is known for being darker than the show. And it is the most twisted take on tournament oriented shounen I've ever seen. The contestants, the scientist sponsor, his lackeys, the main-character's best and childhood friends are all complete psychopaths. It's pretty much kids with super powers beating each other up for the entertainment of tourists in a happy-go-lucky theme park in a post-apocalyptic Japan.

( And the looser has to loose a body part. )

I was looking at houses a while ago and in one of them, the owner had a cat. It had a fierce face but was very friendly. (and very overweight) I played with him for a while, but then he got the bright idea that my arm was a toy and he nibbled on my wrist. It flared up at first, but only a few minutes later, it cleared up. It's healing very nicely now, but I hope I don't go blind or something.

Tryin' to get my backlog out of the way...

53 Icons
11-.hack// (SIGN+Original VG Series )
07-Kirby (GCN/Wii+Air Ride)
06-Castlevania
29-The Legend of Zelda Series
Sample:


( Artificial Worlds )

Well, the new vocaloid character is out: Gumi Megpoid. She got her voice samples from Megumi Nakajima; the talented singer who does the voice of ~*~*RANKA*~*~ from Macross Frontier. I lurve me some alien puppy hair freak baby so I had to check out some of her songs. 9 times out of 10, she sounds completely natural! She's leagues ahead of the other vocaloids! Check her excellent One Wish, Keep on Shining, Hi To Mi and Breath. The only thing I that kinda annoys me about her is that her colour scheme (green hair, orange frilly dress) is just trying to invoke the image of Ranka's idol outfit again. Get your own dress, Gumi!

The iDOLM@STER L4U has had the other idol image songs like "Mega au toki" and "I Want" for a while now. It's great to finally see these songs performed in groups of 3 or with the Xbox360's top notch cel shading. And holy moly, Makoto? What happened to your Futari no Kioku? You actually sound like a girl! (It's not a bad change, though. ;D ) They also introduced animal ears/paws/tails outfits a while back and I think they're really gaudy. I know Chihaya is cute in a fox tail and ears, but pepto bismol pink is not Miki's colour. Yukiho's animal is a mole, which I was kinda not expecting...

Soooo, about the DS iDOLM@STER game...it's not featuring 765 productions and is instead featuring on the company Takane and Hibiki are from. Apparently the 765 girls make cameos. One of them is related to Ritsuko and I saw a screenshot with Haruka in it, but who cares about Miss Tonedeaf one and two? Where's my Chihaya?

And apparently...one of the new idols...is actually a guy. A crossdressing guy. ಠ_ಠ

( Epic Trapery inside. )

I don't know what Ryo is planning to get out of this. I'm assuming Ritsuko knows her own cousin's gender so presumably she's ok with her younger cousin prancing around out there. And Ai is a derp. But I think I'll try to get my hands on it anyway. Somehow.

Finished painting my room yesterday. It's just plain, ol' white but somehow it looks bigger. Looking at it closely, I kinda want to put on another coat. But, man does my lower body HURT. It hurts to stand, to walk, to do anything with my legs. :( Curse you lactic acid, curse you...

But after I painted my room, my family and I went to a small bistro in my hometown. The food and atmosphere was really top notch. I had some coconut shrimp, which was really good. I think I liked the stuffed halibut my mother got better, however. Can't beat fresh zucchini and butter sauce. I wanna try everything on the menu, it all sounded so good! I think I'll have some pasta next time. To think we had anything like this in the small town. That makes it three places worth going to, here. :D I'm definitely going back there again.

Gah! I really want Persona 4! When I first heard about it, I didn't think much of it. The characters didn't look as interesting as P3s and I thought Teddie was weird. But then I saw some videos and the characters are all totally endearing. Everyone in your party is someone you'd want to be friends with. With the fact that each Persona takes on the form of some part of the character's selves they don't want to face; you really get to know the characters inside out. Kanji is the most adorable gay (maybe bi?) guy ever.

All the other social links really tug at your heart. I can't choose which guy I like more: Naoki (elegant looking guy dealing with the death of his sister), Kou (popular, sporty guy who's an orphan) or Yosuke (funny, outgoing guy, part of your party). X3 And I love Chie, Yukiko, Rise and Naoto! What a great bunch of girls. (Even though I thought Naoto was a guy...I was kinda disappointed.) And Teddie is full of lulz.

Well, I had a very nice Canada - Independence Day. I enjoyed going to the festival, even though it was kinda rainy for all 4 days and I didn't go on any rides or anything. Tokens have become expensive. >_< But there was a lot of great food there. Loved that one stand's calimari. And you can only get carnival cotton candy, candied apples and soft ice cream once a year. I found a vendor who was selling jewellry made out of semi-precious stones. Everything was so lovely, but I settled for a necklace and a keychain made of rhyolite. :) I sure spent a lot of money...

My vacation is coming up next week. There's plans to go to Toronto Island on Saturday, but I want to go out of town and stuff during the week. I kinda miss work already...

You know what's really disturbing about the Bottom of the Well in OOT? During the Imprisoning War, all the races of Hyrule were enemies of each other. Since the Bottom of the Well was where the sheikah would bring the enemies of the royal family to torture them...yeah. Man there is a lot of blood in there. Under cheery, ol' Kakariko, too.

Now I've gone and done it. I've joined artslam. It's gunna be Dark Lord Radulphus stuff so I can finally do something with the poor guy.

Anyway, last week was super busy. There was some kind of family gathering every 2 days. I accidentally missed dinner and karaoke with my friend and her family; I feel so bad! Even if she said it was ok.

Ocarina of Time is a really well put together game. It's a joy to explore and there is always something to do. Those who say it doesn't age well are out of their minds. It's oozing Zelda charm. Some puzzles surprised me, even if they popped out in newer Zelda's that I've played before. Dungeons are nicely paced. Characters, while simple, were endearing. The whole experience is satisfying. (It's butt-ugly though. :P I've never appreciated the Wind Waker's gorgeous art-style more than right now.)

I like Pram. I like Quickman. They can even be really cute together, but from what I've seen of Battle and Chase (game and manga) I'm not sensing it too strongly. I think I might be able to put a stronger case together for PramxProto, even. And holy moley, Turboman was totally putting the moves on Quickie in his Battle and Chase ending. Calling him up and sounding all seductive like that...how come Quick's rivals always go bonkers for him?

And Shadowman was totally ninja-ing wolves in the face. He's so awesome.

Woah, I've been to a lot of places this summer already. In spite of me living only a few minutes from Niagara Falls, I've never been on the Maid of the Mist. The Falls is really beautiful up close! I wanted to walk in the park but we had to head to some place out there called Wilson. There was a restaurant there called the Sunset Grille that was hidden in the woods near a marina. It looked kinda shabby on the outside, but on the inside, it was like a highbrow restaurant. Kinda like the Boston Hotel. It looked like a shabby highwayside diner but the seafood was top notch!

On the water we saw some swans and ducks swimming around. I went out on the docks to take a better look but when trying to head back, it got so wobbly I almost fell in. XD There were shops around the waterfront and the stuff they were selling was really beautiful. But it was too expensive! $55 for a necklace that looked like I could get it anywhere? We just had ice cream instead. I wish I could share this with my dad but we had a lot of fun memories with him too.

Started watching Kannagi. From the intro, I thought it would be a pop star show, but it's actually something between a harem show and a parody of a harem show.

( Characters and dialogue are surprisingly good... )

Anyway, considering of watching Hell Girl. Seems to be a competent horror anime series. Lots of traditional Japanese death symbolism gives it a unique flavour. Dub looks good. Plus, the opening is awesome.

Mario Galaxy 2. Golden Sun 3. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. Mario and Luigi 3. The Legend of Starfy. Metroid: Other M. Sin and Punishment 2.

It's a good time to be a Nintentard.

Sin and Punishment looks really awesome. Impressions say the controls are perfect and intuitive due to the Wii interface. Gameplay looks as top notch as always. The two main characters are called Isa (the boy with the jetpack) and Kachi. (on the hoverboard) Ikaruga's artist returns to give it awesome concept art. I swear Saki's son was named Isa in his prophetic dream...anyway, can't wait to nab this.

( I also wanna yammer on about the No More Heroes 2 trailer I saw recently. )

And Metroid: Other M. Day one.

Metroid: Other M was just revealed at E3. It's being developed by Team Ninja and Nintendo instead of Retro. It's 3rd person and the graphics look a little gaudy but Samus looks like a major badass using melee moves.

Looks to be a prequel...they're adding more characters so that makes me kinda on edge...looks like Metroid's finally got their token black guy. (Don't die, ok?)

OMG ADAM IS IN IT AND HE LOOKS AWESOME. The dark hair is very becoming. EEEEEEEEEEEE

49 Icons
12-Kirby (German Comic, Amazing Mirror Commercial, Kirby Manga)
08-Osu! Tatake! Ouendan!
19-The Legend of Zelda (Original/Cartoon+Wind Waker)
10-Naruto (Anime)
Sample:


( Oh, teh lulz to be had... )