LOADED

"One week... that's what 'hope' is."

Magical Me

Mike sent me some of the pictures from James' birthday party where I did some magic.

View them here and click on the "<--" button

Did you see this too?

I could've sworn I saw this exact thing on TV. Was this recorded from someone's DVR?

Wednesday Music

MUTEMATH - Typical


And maybe it's just me... but I have a soft spot for Lupe Fiasco. Why? Two words: He's SMART!


Lupe Fiasco - Kick Push

This week and NEW GAME GET

Been pretty busy this week. Work is long and arduous.

Tuesday the 14th I got Megaman 9. Day-um. If you have a Wii, and you don't have this game yet... you NEED it.

Wednesday the 15th I watched the Bella Lugosi Dracula movie. Meh.

Thursday the 16th I played MONSTERPOCALYPSE at the Haven. It's ok. Not the best, but pretty ok. I play the giant robots. Sky Sentinel will save us all!

Friday the 17th Max, Eric, & Nancy (Eric's girlfriend) came over to the Museum to help me with some computer stuff. We played a few games, but it was a pretty weird evening.

But I DID get Super Robot Taisen Z for the PS2. Super Robot Taisen (Wars) is a long running series taking robots from MANY anime and manga and putting them all in one game. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overman_King_Gainer, The Big O, Zambot 3, Daitarn 3, Xabungle, Gundam, Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, Getter Robo G, Grendizer, God Sigma and many others... TONS of robots/mechs. And it's a really decent strategy game too.

Friday was also the release of the Mother 3 English Patch.

Mother 3 is the 3rd installment of a cult classic on the NES/SNES. It only came out here in the US for the Super Nintendo (as Earthbound) but it died a slow painful death. Well fans have been trying to keep it alive by spreading the 'word'.

When Mother 3 came out two years ago (only in Japan) the fans went nuts, but many couldn't enjoy the story. Two years later, they can. And I gotta tell you that it's TOTALLY worth it.

I have never played Earthbound although I have gotten a NES cartridge of the original Mother game for the NES through NES Reproductions. It had an English patch, but it was too "grinding" to play and enjoy.

This one is a bit of grinding as well, but the story is so deep and interesting... and ADULT that you get lost in it. You want to know more. I cannot suggest enough you finding the ROM of the game *cough*HERE*cough* and downloading the patch. Oh, and here's a really decent emulator.


Saturday the 18th I performed my first birthday party as a magician. I didn't charge for it (for one, because it was for my good friend Mike Ruch's son James... and two, because I'm not good enough to charge yet) but it gave me a LOT of insight to performing for children.

I think it went well, and what I heard from my wife (who was surprisingly well enough to be there for about an hour... she's been really sick) the kids liked it.

It was nerve racking, but I think it was passable. I can definitely see why children's magicians do a 20 minute act, though... MAN what a tough crowd. I also see why many of them do extra stuff as well (doing balloon animals afterward) to account for their fee.

One kid really surprised me, though. He was an older boy and hung out with the "older" kids. He had short blonde hair and while he was with the "cooler" crowd, when the other older kids went off on their bikes... he stayed and played with the little kids. It really impressed me and he was really nice to everyone during the whole afternoon. Really impressed me.

And here's how to take scratches off of CDs and DVDs using toothpaste, peanut butter, soda pop, and baking soda...

So... what if...

...the "Lost Boys" from the movie "Pan" became teens?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtUI5MC9tVM

I hear that this is what the "cool kids" today are listening to.

Loves me some Little Miss Gamer

I love this episode.


And this made me think of Jen and our WiiFit

There ain't no school like Old-School!

Jen and I have been watching old episodes of Voltron on DVD. Man... so many memories! And I found DVDs for Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman.

But below, when I was first getting into anime (Japanimation as we called it) in the 1986/87, my friend Mark Salisbury showed me this video he had gotten (ON LASERDISK!). A daicon is a Japanese radish. 'Dai' can mean 'big' or 'great'. Con... like convention. DAICON! So much fun.

I can't believe I found this video on YouTube! Technology is amazing.

And the scary thing: I used to be able to name about 80% of the characters.

Now I just need to find a DVD copy of 'Robot Carnival', and I'll explode from ani-memories.



And come to find out that one of Jen & my favorite stories/movies/tv shows from Japan (Densha Otoko) had an opening for the live action TV show based upon this video. Talk about an "inside joke"! Only serious otaku (nerds) would get that reference!



And the entire album (Time - ELO) is FANTASTIC. One of my top 5 albums.

The Nintendo DSi

Thoughts? Downloadable content will NOT be region-free.

- 3.25 inch LCD screen (versus the DS Lite’s 3 inch screen)
- Two .3-megapixel cameras equal to a maximum resolution of 640×480
- Will be able to sync with the Wii Photo Channel and edit photos
- SD slot on right-hand side.
- On-board memory
- Comes with web browser (presumably Opera-based) and will support music playback with adjustable pitch and playback rate.
- Will launch with the DS equivalent of WiiWare in which you can download new titles for the DS (Wii Points now officially called Nintendo Points)
- DS Ware titles range from free/300/500/800
- No GBA slot
- 18900 yen ($180 US)
- Battery charging time: ~2.5 hours
- Battery charge length:
lowest brightness: ~9-14 hours
low brightness: ~8-12 hours
medium brightness: ~6-9 hours
high brightness: ~4-6 hours
highest (3-Suns) brightness: ~3-4 hours
- The DSi will be released in white and matte black on November 1st in Japan, 2009 elsewhere.



On the bright side, CLUB NINTENDO will be coming to the States! Now there's a reason to buy Nintendo products: free stuff!!!

And when did I miss that Jack "Douchebag" Thompson has been officially disbarred?

And now, Hitler is BANNED from X-BOX-Live! Can this day get any better? I say it cannot, my friend!

October brings... the SCARY!

Last year I played horror video games. It was fun and I discovered some really fun games. I also watched some movies based on those games.

This year I decided that since I haven't played Castlevania I would go that route. And movies? Dracula movies, of course!

Last week Jen, Dale and I watched "NOSFERATU: Phantom der Nacht" from 1979. Pretty creepy... but being an artsy Werner Herzog film, it was pretty funny in some places.

This week we're watching "Shadow of the Vampire" from 2000 with Willem Dafoe. I'll also be playing the original NES classic CASTLEVANIA. I do have the NES version, so I don't need to get it on the virtual console... but if you don't have it you might want to play it for the October season.