Zel-kun’s Words

Well, this week has been fairly uneventful so far.  Work has been steady, and that’s always good.  On a whim, I installed Vampire: Bloodlines on my computer (yes, I know it holds a place of *ahem* honor in my Hall of Shame), and installed a fan-made 3.1 patch.  I must say, that with many of the rampant glitches and bugs fixed, the game is fairly playable.

The game still eats resources like no one’s business, making an alt-tab to switch programs nearly impossible, and sometimes exiting out of the program takes an age and a half.  As for the game itself… its serviceable so far.

The game has re-sparked my interest in the Vampire the Masquerade world, and I’ve been spending time reading up on the histories.  Makes me want to run a Vampire game, but I know I never will, just not my style.

In other news, I’ve made a resolution to myself to take the stairs as much as possible.  I must have climbed up 10 flights of stairs already today, and its an efficient way to work in some exercise in my day to day routine.  I luck out in that I can only access the stairway from my offices, meaning only five floors at the top of the building, so I avoid trekking up eleven flights of stairs first thing in the morning.

I still walk down eleven flights going out to lunch and going home, though.  While its not as aerobic as walking UP the stairs, you can still feel it in your legs when its over.

Zel-kun out.

As the title of this entry indicates, I had my very first Mexican Thanksgiving this year, and I don’t mean I ate some turkey enchiladas.  I spent Thanksgiving with Zai’s family, and it was an interesting experience.  To the tune of the Mexican news, we ate roast turkey, meat stuffing, and various cheese and glazed covered vegetables.  The stuffing had little bits of this mexican fruit (something between an apple and a pear) in it for an occasional bit of sweetness that was very unique.  Towards the end of the meal, I was offered a piece of this fruit that had been baked with some carmalized sugar on top, which was unlike anything I had ever eaten, and delicious at that.

Zai’s family in itself is an interesting blend of people, very hospitable and friendly, there was never a moment where I felt I didn’t belong there, even if I couldn’t understand most of the dinner conversation.  I just like to pretend it was all about how awesome they thought I was.

We spent the day playing video games (mainly Eternal Darkness) and basically just hanging out.  We invited her brother to our Soul Calibur tournament, to which he politely declined.  At least I think it was a declination, I couldn’t really say, he just kinda walked away as though I wasn’t there.

Zai’s brother might be an odd sort.  I couldn’t really say, as he’s never looked at me nor acknowledged my existence in any way.  I say cordial greetings to him, and I may as well have been talking to a wall.  During our video game session, I spotted him CRAWLING down the stairs, skulking his way like he was some kind of retarted marine.  Finally Zai noticed him and he ran past us into the kitchen.  This behavior might be considered cute…. if he wasn’t in his twenties.

Top this behavior off with the fact that he has the pure audacity to insult me behind my back.  I had mentioned to Zai some time ago that AOL’s high speed about 1/3 as fast as any other service out there, and this comes up the other day as her family was talking about changing their internet service.  She, of course, brought up my little statement about AOL, to which her brother (a loyal AOL-lover for some unknown reason) replies, “Who cares what he thinks, he’s a stupid beast.”  Of course upon hearing this, I become a whirlwind of pissed I haven’t been in awhile, but at least I have the small consolation that he was promptly slapped for that statement.

But, I suppose Thanksgiving is the time where we’re supposed to have trouble with our relatives, I know I do.  My stepbrother Phillip has apparently moved into our home, and I’ve been doing my best to be polite and friendly.  His stuff is everywhere, and he keeps on having awkward little ‘chats’ with me.  He’ll waltz into my room while I’m playing a game or something, and a talk like this might ensue:

“That’s a game you’re playing, huh?”

“Yep, its called Okami, game based on a Japanese legend.”

“Oh… so its fantasy?”

“Yep.”

“What is that, are you a wolf?” he continues, like a lost child.
“Yeah, that’s the god Amaterasu, who’s trying to cleanse the land of evil.”

“What is that… and iguana fish? (WTF?)” he says as the plot in the game advances and a serpentine dragon is summoned.

“I don’t really know yet.”  Which was true, he was seeing it as I was.

“So, you have any games that aren’t fantasy?”

“No.”

“Okay… goodbye,” and he’ll mope out of the room.  Its somewhat disconcerting.  Now, I don’t mind that he’s making an attempt to be friendly, that’s not the issue.  I’ve seen him talk to other people, he’s more fluid, he’ll approach them and start talking.  Me… he asks me these questions and I feel like he’s trying to talk to a small child.  Which may be the root of pretty much all my problems with all my family members.

I’m not in the ‘cool’ league with my brothers and cousins and all that.  I don’t like sports, I don’t do drugs, I don’t like beer, and I don’t party, so there’s a chasm growing right there.  Add to that the fact that I watch anime and cartoons, read novels and play RPG’s, and I end up being quite the black sheep.  On top of that, it seems that my choices to like these things have labelled me as either immature or mentally deficient in my family.  The way I’m spoken to sometimes, its laden with a tone that says, “I think you’re a little retarded.”

And of course, I’m reminded of this as five minutes ago, not long before I’m typing this, my brother and stepbrother skulk into my room, beers in hand, looking over the place like I can’t see them, and say, “Look… his room’s all fantasy,” like I can’t fricken hear them.

Well, I think I’m done with that little rant.

Zel-kun out.

New webcomic review for Slightly Damned up.  Its a comic I started reading and was fairly entertained by.  I’ve noticed that lately, I’ve been falling out of anime-themed comics.  It seems like everything out there has been done a few hundred times before.  Giant mechs, hybrid aliens, furries, and more spikey-haired-angst-filled people than I care to count.  Its rare that someone stops producing a rehash of what they’ve SEEN, and starts giving me something they made themselves, something deep and internal.

Its part of the reason I can’t stand fanfiction, the mere mention of the word makes me shiver.  Its admirable that you like something so much you wish to emulate it, but to actually take the same characters and ideas and spit them onto paper seems… I dunno, futile.  If you have talent as a writer (and many fanfiction writers DO, don’t get me wrong), sit down and think, create some characters, create a story, make something that’s YOU.

Reading fanfiction seems more inane, because if I enjoy a series of novels, then spend the time to read a piece of work that’s non-canonical, it seems like I effectively wasted my time.  I was given no new insight on the characters, I learned nothing new of what happens, because IT DIDN’T HAPPEN.  I think I’m now going to refer to fanfiction as fictional fiction.

Zel-kun out.

I was checking my messages on MySpace this morning, and I was utterly shocked to discover that one of them was NOT junk.  That’s right, I actually had a legitimate message there.  So I look and am further shocked, it was a webcomic author who had stumbled on my little site here and wondered if I’d be interested in reveiwing his comic, Super Frat.  How could I refuse?

Being it has been the first time a webcomic artist has come to my site, I clicked on the link hoping it didn’t suck, because a bad review would be a bad thing for any webcomic artist, especially one who cares enough about his work to seek out some reviews.  I’m happy to say I wasn’t disappointed, and that this webcomic did, in fact, make me laugh.

The best of luck to you, Chris and Tony, I hope your readership grows.

Zel-kun out.

Immigration… here in Chicago, its a farily heated issue.  I’m sure its an issue in the rest of the country, but here in Chicago, roughly 1/3 of the population is hispanic.  In addition to that, there’s a hispanic woman who is to be deported for being here illegally, is currently holed up in a church refusing to leave.  I was actually shocked this was still going on, she has been there since September.

The base of the issue is that she wants to stay in America with her son, who was born after she came to this country.  So now, she is sending her son off to Mexico to petition the Mexican government to help.

Now think about that a moment…

Imagine that you’re a Mexican official.  Your duty is to serve the people of Mexico.  And you hear this plea, “Please let me stay in America, I want to remain here because its better.”  I honestly can’t imagine how I’d handle that.

Its a controversial topic, to be assured.  Many mornings I drive to work and hear it debated on the morning radio show, callers from around the city both supporting and against illegal aliens. (though I suspect many of them hated ALL hispanic people)  I think that this is a perfect example of just how far up its own ass America is.

America is a good country, because of it, I have a decent job with a decent salary, I don’t have to worry about my government suddenly toppling or an army marching through my front yard.  It makes sense that people want to move here.  That being said, if you are living a substandard life, if you fear for your children’s safety and upbringing, would you not do anything you could to ensure they have a better life?

No matter what we do, people will come over, not everyone has the years of time it takes to come over legally.  And it IS a problem, but not because they ARE coming over, but what happens AFTER they come over.

Complaints I hear from the media:

1. They took our jerbs!

Some employers do hire illegal aliens because they can pay them far less than a citizen.  Solution: Put into effect a law that allows them to work, but force employers to pay them the same wages as a citizen.

2. I can’t understand a word they’re saying!

True.  I’ll agree that if you take a position where you work with the American public, it is your responsibility to be completely fluent in English.  This is why schools should be taught in English. they should grow up knowning the language.  Additionally, having a bilingual program in every elementary school so American children grow up with a basic understanding of Spanish would probably help.

3. They’re on welfare!

If they have a job and pay the taxes (see number 1), and they need Welfare as supplemental income, then I don’t see a problem.  But if you come over and expect the country to take care of you, then you should turn around and go back, we have enough leeches as it is.

There thousands of Mexicans in my area and most of them have jobs, most of them are productive members of society. 

4. They wave the Mexican flag!

Hmm, I can understand the need for unity.  And I can understand how people living in America and waving a Mexican flag might be seen as offensive.  I’ve known some Mexicans in my day and one thing seems fairly clear: they don’t really like Mexico, they like their heritage, which is admirable.  I was watching Mind of Mencia (TV show on Comedy Central) and ol’ Carlos had a good idea, a flag that represents Mexican-Americans.  While I desagree it should be a bean in a bandolier drinking tequila, it isn’t a bad idea.

I don’t normally go into political rants, but receiving what seems to be the 100th “mexicans are ruining america omgwtfbbqlol” email today, I figured I’d finally say something.

Well, that’s all for now.

Zel-kun out.

It isn’t very often anymore where I pick up a game and am impressed by it.  Usually the best anything scores on a scale of 1-10 is a respectable (but not nessessarily astounding) 7.

Best Games in the last couple years:

Suikoden III - 7/10

Suikoden IV - 7/10

Zelda: Windwaker - 7/10

Soul Calibur III - 7/10

Dragon Quest VIII - 8/10

These are the creme of the crop, the best games that I’ve played, and they are only ‘good.’  The gaming market is really dying, with the games both predictable and mundane.  Really, the only reason why those two Suikoden games made the list is because they WERE Suikoden games.  If they were forced to stand on their own, its unlikely I would even have finished them.

Now, there are likely other great games out there, unfortunately my game of choice tends to be an action-adventure or an RPG, of which the pickings are despairingly slim.  The Japanese are the source of these games, and for many years, they have succeeded in this endeavor.  Unfortunately, they are now failing, and failng repeatedly.

Its not even nessessarily because of lack of a good story-based RPG, they have those.  Their stories are as strong as they’ve ever been, and with modern technology turning them into interactive anime, the visual presentation of the games is a work of art.  These games fail for the following reasons:

1. “Innovative” battle system - Most RPG’s that have come out lately use this live-action system that splices traditional RPG battles with action-filled combat.  This is a good idea in theory.  In fact, I thought it was pretty cool when I played Star Ocean back in 1999 and saw it.  There’s one problem, this makes even the most mundane battles take forever, forcing the player to actively participate in every last random battle.  This makes the game drag out unnessessarily and quickly increases the ‘boredom factor.’  Even games with interesting plots can fall victim to this (Star Ocean 3, Tales of Symphonia).  Because of this, otherwise good games end up in the trash pile.

2. Japanese people think I’m a pervert.  Japanese people, hear my plea, because someone needs to say this.  Bare chests and male midriffs are not cool, midriffs especially.  If you ever ask the question “Should I have this char with a mesh tanktop or a halter top?” then stab yourself with your pencil.  I’m tired of my heroes looking like they’re going to a San Fransiscan gay bar (if that character actually IS gay, more power to him).  Conversely, I know what the female form looks like, I happen to enjoy the female form, but I really don’t need it bouncing and strutting its way all over my screen.  Its hard to take a character seriously if she’s going on about how the government is controlling people and how her parents were murdered if she looks like she is about to go on the strippers’ runway.  I know you want to make your character look unique, and I applaud that, but there are many ways to accomplish that other than making your cast look like its in a porno.

3. Side Quests.  Side quests are cool, I love a good side quest.  But you know what you’re doing that’s really beginning to tick me off, Japanese people?  You’re putting windows of opportunity on your side quests.  So if I don’t speak to guy A in town B before I accomplish event C, I don’t get to do that sidequest ever.  So now I’m frantically going through, making sure I do everything two or three times to pick up those vague clues as to what I should be doing.  I’d rather spend my time playing and then seeing what I missed at the end of the game.  Because if I want to advance the plot, I feel that’s my right, I don’t want to worry about what I’ll possibly lose out on.  This makes the game frustrating and really cuts the replayability factor.

4. Character design - I touched on this in point 2, but there’s one thing that needs to be done.  If you, even with modern technology, insist on only having one character model per character, make sure its something that fits the situation.  Mages going around in t-shirts and shorts (I’m looking at you, Symphonia) don’t exactly scream ‘epic.’  If you plan to have a warrior in full plate, and you plan to have a scene where he is roused from slumber, don’t have him WEARING the armor while sleeping.  Think about who your character is, and what he’s doing, and ask yourself, “Would he be wearing that?”

I’m sure if I sat down and thought about it, I could think of more reasons why RPG’s are failing these days, I could, but I’m not going to.  This isn’t about the not-so-great games, its about a terrific new game I picked up entitled ‘Okami.’

Okami is an action-adventure game about Amaterasu (of Shinto origin) coming to Nippon (Japan) in the form of a great white wolf, to fight the demon Orochi.  In the game, you run around as a wolf, fighting demons, helping people, and cleansing the land of the dark curse that strangles it.  You attain new weapons and powers, and use praise (exp) to increase your godly powers.  Your biggest powers come in the form of ‘Brush Techniques’ which basically have you pressing a button, then drawing a simple shape on the world, invoking the power of your choice.  For example, drawing a line through a rock will slice said rock in half, or drawing a couple of lines where a bridge used to be will restore said bridge.  Once you get the hang of it (deceptively simple), invoking these powers is a breeze, and much quicker than going to an equipment screen selecting and equipping powers and items (looking at you, Zelda).

The game is visually stunning, like a Japanese painting come to life, and running through the world is a pleasure.  Most transitions between events are practically seamless, so you don’t have to tap your foot while watching that ‘now loading’ screen.  The one drawback is its painfully long exposition, but once that’s over you have free reign, the game being explained to you in short bursts by your companion.

Your movement is unrestricted and fluid, there’s no limitations like being unable to jump or unable to swim.  If you want to jump off that cliff, feel free, you’re a god, you’ll be fine (you can’t swim for long, but you get a technique that creates giant lilpads on the water).  Battle is colorful and dynamic, running around, leaping and attacking and using your brush techniques to finish them off.

Time is spent both in batlle and in towns, performing small and large miracles for people, and earning praise in the process.  It isn’t one long dungeon crawl nor a series of sidequests that never end, this makes the gameplay stay fresh and exciting without getting old too quickly.

I would recommend this game to anyone looking for something a bit different out there.  I’m not sure if I’d give it a 10/10, but I think it holds a solid 9/10.

Zel-kun out.

Saturday I did something I rarely, if ever, do.  I willingly went to the movies.  I don’t like the movies.  The smells, the talkative people, and the fact that I have to sit and stare at a screen for two hours, none of it is appealing to me.

But when I saw the preview for a Will Farrell movie, where he’s a character in some novel, my interest was piqued.  So I called up Zai, and said, “Let’s go see a movie.”

It took several hours for her to recover from the shock.  But when she did, we headed to Hollywood Boulevard, our theatre of choice.  There’s nothing quite like a theatre with high-backed chairs, drinks, refills, and food, all while you watch a movie.  I figure if I have to be dragged to a movie, I may as well be comfortable.

This movie was a pleasant surprise, it was especially refreshing to see Will Farrell taking on a more sophisticated role.  Filled with a lot of deadpan comedy and believable characters, it was what I would call a good movie.  I honestly walked out of theatre happy that I saw the movie.

So if you’re looking for a good movie, I would recommend ‘Stranger than Fiction.’  Which, in a sea of sequels and remakes, is actually something original out there.

Well, that’s all for the moment.  I leave you with one of my favorite lines from the movie, “Aren’t you happy to know you’re not a golem?”

Zel-kun out.

For some reason unbeknownst to me, one of my old posts, which has long sat dormant with its single comment, has suddenly come under attack.  Someone has taken time out of their day to program that particular URL into their bots and aim their spam cannons at my poor little site.

In six days, I have received no less than one THOUSAND comments on that post, my ‘flag as spam’ finger clicking as fast as it can, and I realize the damn thing is not working.  So I discovered a nice little option: Blacklisting.

Blacklisting is simple, I take a key word (in this case a constant in the address), and add it to the blacklist.  If any comment contains the phrase, it is deleted before it even reaches my moderation queue.

However, I have cause for concern that partial matches may cause a valid comment to be blacklisted.  If you made a comment and it did not show, please contact me directly or make a post on the forums.

Zel-kun out.

Before I had the misfortune of working for Wal-Mart, I managed to land a job as an engraver for Things Remembered, back when I was still in high school.  This job had me working in a technical capacity and did not truly expose me to the idiocy of the general public.  It also helped that most of the patrons were of upper-middle class or higher: managers, executive, doctors, lawyers.  This meant that while I usually didn’t need to worry about slipping and falling into a sticky vat of stupid, I still had to walk on eggs around these people, lest some arrogance get splashed on me.

Unlike stupid, which sticks to you and even after freeing yourself, you can still feel the sticky residue for the rest of the day (like maple syrup, really), arrogance is caustic.  Arrogance is like a small jar of acid each of these people carry around with them, and if you’re unfortunate enough, they’ll take the lid off and throw it in your face.  And while it sears your flesh, marring your once good looks as each individual skin cell writhes in agony, you must look at your attacker and smile.

To give a basic example, let’s say that there is a Zippo lighter being engraved.  Your typical, brushed-finish stainless steel lighter.  To engrave something, you take a diamond-tipped stylus and program the engraving into the computer.  You then execute the program and the machine goes to work.  Now, there’s many variables to consider: force, type of tip, passes, and material to be engraved.  Each of these walks the fine line between the customer leaving happy, or you going home looking like Two-face.

The engraving can be too bold, not bold enough, too deep, not deep enough (yes, there’s a difference between boldness and depth), too big, or too small.  The problem being is that all those factors are relative.  So even with what is, by the book, a perfect engraving, you still take the chance of having a very angry doctor scowling at you because he feels his pen’s engraving is a quarter of a millimeter too large.

Now, I tell you that story to tell you this story.  Whenever we engraved a lighter, it was common courtesy to fill it.  So I take the top of the lighter off, and squirt some of the fluid inside.  I reassemble the lighter and notice I got a little bit on my hand.  So I take a paper towel and dry it off.

Now… I have posted stupid stories here before.  But this is the first time I did the dumb deed myself.

You see, apparently wiping lighter fluid off one’s hand still leaves a residue.  This was information I did not know at the time.  This would very likely have been useful information to know.  I spin the wheel of the lighter, which grinds against the flint, sending sparks to the fluid-soaked wick.  The wick lights up as it should, and so does my hand.  My hand is now on fire.  In slow motion, I look at my hand encased in flame, glance at the customer who’s now looking at me in wide-eyed disbelief, close the lighter, and proceed to whip my hand about, hoping the wind would put the flame out.  To my luck (and likely the fact that there was only a residue of fluid which likely wouldn’t have burned for more than a couple seconds anyhow), the flame goes out.  The truly odd thing is the seemingly calm air I had about me at the time, like setting my hand on fire was an everyday occurance.

“Burn your hand often?” the customer asked once the flame was out.

“Only when I feel the need to make my day more exciting.” I respond.

Apparently, as I’ve learned since then, it is somewhat common practice for pyromaniacs and teenagers stoned out of their damn minds to douse their hands in lighter fluid and set it aflame, because the fluid will burn and not your hand.  And I thought I was dumb for setting my hand on fire.

Zel-kun out.

Firstly, I’d like to make mention of a true series of stories I’ve been caught up in called “My life (or something like it)” on Perrero (http://pererro.blogspot.com/).  I reccomend going there, doing a search for that title, and reading from the beginning.  Its a perfect example of a story I didn’t think would go anywhere, and then scoops me up in a whirlwind.

This week has been a long one, with it being dead, then busy, then dead, then busy.  Honestly, I’m worn out over here.  Looking forward to the weekend.

 Zel-kun out.