12 Random Facts about Myself, All Related to My Experiences with Videogames

I was tagged again by a friend to play the same game that I’ve played before, and at this point I think it’s rather futile to say that I’m not into tags because I do them anyway. So maybe I don’t do them all the time, but it’s nice to do one of these every once in a while to break the monotony.

Like always, this is about ten things I want the world to know about me.

1. I loved writing all the entries about the first four games I bought for my PlayStation. I loved those so much that I wanted to make this week the videogame week, where everything I blog will be videogame-related. I’m doing a bad job so far, since I didn’t post anything new yesterday. But sure, why not skew all the 10 random facts to videogames, noh?

2. First, I shall tell you about the consoles that I own or used to own. I have NES, SNES, Game Gear, PS, PS2, Nintendo DS and Xbox360.

3. Know Mario Paint? It’s a “game” for SNES. I put the game in quotation marks because it’s not so much a game as it is an application similar to what I can find in a computer. Specifically, Mario Paint is pretty much Microsoft Paint, and I draw in it using the SNES mouse. Now that app isn’t good, but also included in the same cartridge is the Mario Paint Composer, and it lets me compose songs using 16-bits bleeps. How does it work? On an empty music sheet, I place icons, each of which has a distinct sound. It’s that simple, but it has a huge following, and I happen to love watching the youtube videos of its enthusiasts playing its renditions of popular songs.

My personal picks:

Take On Me

Thriller

And are you tired of being Rickroll’d? Why not instead get PAINTROLL’D!

Even the Megaman 3 songs are not spared of the Mario Paint treatment! Not that I’m complaining, of course. Renditions of my two favorite MM3 songs:

Spark Man

Snake Man

4. Since we’re talking about music anyway, I shall also reveal that I pay great attention to videogame music - they’re ancillary, sure, but they’re a huge factor of what makes a game memorable to me. I like the songs of select titles so much I’ve bought and downloaded their albums.

5. The first game that I’ve finished is Super Mario Brothers.

6. I’ve only finished Megaman 2 the first time a week ago, and that’s after I’ve finished Megaman and Megaman 3 many years ago. Of the three I regard Megaman 2 to be the best. It also might be the best Megaman game there is. I prefer the music of Megaman 3 though.

7. I’m incredibly pissed about Windows XP not being able to run Grim Fandango properly.

8. I think Final Fantasy VII is the most overrated videogame of all time. Sure, it says something that I’ve played it to the end, and I do like it, but I’ve never understood why it’s regarded so highly. I didn’t care for the characters, felt nothing about the Aeris’ death (besides the pity that I had lost a healer in my party), found the Materia system to be mere rehashes of FFVI’s Espers, did not feel that Sephiroth was a convincing villain, and thought that the story fell short (what were the Ancients and the Promised Land again, exactly?). I find it really annoying how Square-Enix keeps milking this particular game to death. And if Aeris is really dead, why does she keep appearing Final Fantasy 7 spinoffs as she had in Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 and in Final Fantasy Tactics?

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I’ve said “dead” a bit too often on my 8^th point, because I want Final Fantasy VII to rest already. Move on, people!

9. All of number 8 said, I still like Final Fantasy VII more than Final Fantasy VIII. Squall and Rinoa are the least likable couple I’ve seen in any works of fiction. In fact the only Final Fantasy couple that I’ve rooted for is Tidus and Yuna of Final Fantasy X, bad fashion be damned.

10. Games I’m looking forward to playing: Fallout 3, Fable 2, Gears of War 2, Tales of Vesperia, and Dead Space.

My First Eight Playstation Games, Part 4: the Platformers

(this is the last post of the series. The earlier ones are here, here, and here.)

7. Croc: Legend of the Gobbos

I’ve read people complain about Croc being one of the most poorly conceived characters of any videogame, and frankly I don’t understand the hate. Sure, he’s a uber-precious plushiebaiting rendition of an animal nobody would want in their backyards, but it makes sense to me for him to be like that. Check the youtube video and see how he was brought up.

Also, who exactly were they comparing him to when they ragged on how poorly designed he was? I prefer him to most of his contemporaries of animals/anthropomorphs with attitudes.

Crash Bandicoot has that pedophile grin:

The grin! 

Jersey Devil has that corny mad scientist dark motif (don’t be too hard on Jersey Devil though, because I love that game):

Yeah, I’m DAAAARK!

Gex the Gecko obnoxiously tries to be cool by throwing one-liners, wearing shades and starring alongside a Baywatch emeritus:

I’m like, totally rad, dude! 

Knuckles the Echidna has that fake dreadlocks and that sneer (no pictures. Sorry, I’m too lazy to search for Knuckle’s pics).

Bubsy just plain infuriates:

STATEMENT T-SHIRT!!! 

Spyro the Dragon has a voice so deadpan that President Arroyo sounds like a master of elocution in comparison:

See, his friends are in peril and all he does is say “looks like I’ve got things to do” like he’s a hard-boiled dragon. Show some emotions, jeez!

Anyway, in case we’ve forgotten, we’re talking about this game:

Croc is a crocodile trying to save his surrogate father while wearing a backpack. He’s minding his own business, and he’s the one getting the hate? Okay then let’s compare soundtracks. Hum me the songs of any games Crash, Jersey Devil, Gex, Knuckles (okay, at least some games with Knuckles have decent songs), Bubsy, or Spyro appeared in. Okay times up, didn’t think so. Now how about we listen to Croc’s?

Croc Theme (Justin Scharvona, Karin Griffin, Martin Gwynn Jones)

Croc is not a Mario 64 beater that it positions itself to be, but so aren’t Gex and Spyro etcetera etcetera. I like the titular character Croc because he does not look like relics of 90s cartoons, and that he has greater motives than all other Mario wannabes. When I first saw his opening movie I couldn’t help thinking, “I want to save his father NOW!”

And it isn’t easy to do so. The game plays a lot like Mario 64 but it is much harder. For most part the game plays smoothly, and collecting gems and saving Gobbos (creatures that look like balls of fur) have their charms, but there are times when I couldn’t see where to jump at because of bad camera angles. So even though I liked Croc I hoped for a sequel that would fix the camera and the difficulty. Part 2 eventually came, but along with pointless Jello endorsements it wasn’t as good as part 1 and it didn’t bother fixing old problems while bringing hosts of new ones, effectively killing all possible sequels.

8. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile

Just when I’m getting tired of writing, I find out that I haven’t described Klonoa yet. At the beginning of the story Klonoa, a dog with big ears, finds a living magical ring named Huepow. They travel together throughout the game - Klonoa jumps and floats while Huepow fights. Huepow’s power is the highlight of the game, because he does not hurt anyone so much as turn them into a ball that Klonoa can either throw to other enemies or use as a spring to jump even higher. Really, this game is competent 2D platformer and it plays a lot like Super Mario Brothers. It’s near-flawless and its only drawback is its being too easy, but since it’s obviously aimed for younger audiences anyway, I was cool with that. Better they play this game than soulless movie-licensed games, right?

Sadly, those soulless movie-licensed games have sold more than this game, even if it has a very vibrant look and some catchy tunes. Sequels are made anyway, and with Klonoa’s most recent appearance in Namco X Capcom, it’s clear that Namco hasn’t forgotten about this dog.

Well, who can forget him? The story is minimal, as I’m mostly just watching Klonoa and Huepow becoming inseparable buddies. Yet, the game ends with one of the most powerful revelations I ever saw in any videogames. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve never been as heartbroken in any game as I have after watching Klonoa’s ending. Not in Final Fantasy VII or Metal Gear Solid or any of those games that belabors with tons of epic cinematic presentations, but in a game about a dog. And really, if a game of this simple nature is enough to make a few people cry, imagine what can happen in the future of videogame storytelling.

My First Eight Playstation Games, Part 3: the Capcom’s

(read the part 2 and part 1 too!)

5. Megaman Legends

I wanted to get Megaman X4 and Megaman 8 in my PS bundle, but both games were nowhere to be found (I suppose they’re so popular that they never went to the bargain bins). So I settled for Megaman Legends. When I first played this game I did not like it, and I detested the controls. By then I had already played Mario 64, and I just couldn’t get used to playing another 3D game that was not controlled by an analog stick. I had this game shoved aside for more than five years.

By year 2003 (when I was bored with Friendster), I pulled this game out of the shelf and started all over again. I still couldn’t get over how badly it controlled, but I grew to like it. Though it is part of Megaman universe, it is not like other Megaman games where I scale platforms and blast evil robots to acquire their weapons. Yeah, sure, sans the weapon acquisition, the blasting part is still intact, but this game plays more like a 3D Action-RPG (just like Ocarina of Time) with Megaman as the main character. It has the quirks of a normal RPG, since it has towns and dungeons, and I get to earn cash to buy equipments, weapons and armors.

Tron Bonne and a Servbot

This is also the Megaman with the best antagonist. Other Megaman games have enemies that look cool but have little personalities (e.g. Bass, Vile and Sigma). Megaman Legends has Tron Bonne, a bratty, mischievous, scheming and thieving villainess who commands Servbots, an army of super-adorable Lego-alikes. Unlike all other Megaman villains, she isn’t really bad in that she does not have any plans of ruling the world; sometimes she benevolently helps other people. She is merely greedy for treasures, just like Megaman and his friends (although her greed is less innocent), and I always feel bad about having to blast her robots to smithereens. She also has a big crush on Megaman even if they fight with each other all the time; it is funny seeing her simultaneously hating and liking him.

She has also appeared in Megaman Legends 2 (which fixes the control issues I have with the first part), has starred in her own game called the Misadventures of Tron Bonne, and is a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Namco X Capcom. She is very memorable and I regard her as one of videogames’ best female characters. I really want to see her in future Capcom games, especially those related to Megaman Legends, because she is from that one time when Capcom did not make an oversexed cleavage-exposing temptress.

6. Pocket Fighters

This plays like a standard Capcom fighting game, and it has characters from Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, and Red Earth. True to the title, the fighters here are shrunk and given chibi appearances, making everyone look like a kid. The game is odd because when I fight, gems get scattered over the screen. Collect enough gems and my fighter becomes stronger: for example, after leveling up in this way Ryu’s small Hadouken becomes a big flaming Hadouken. It’s really a fun game to watch because the animations are hilarious and all the characters, even the otherwise morose Akuma, have wacky taunts, costume-changes and role-plays. My only gripe here is that out of 12 characters, six are Shotokan fighters (in layman’s term, six characters play like Ryu).

My First Eight Playstation Games, Part 2: the RPG’s

(continued from here)

3. Granstream Saga

I have just recently learned that this game is the fourth of a series of games known as the Soul Blazer series. It’s strange because Granstream Saga has a publisher different from its 3 older brothers; it is not by Enix, but by THQ. The other three Soul Blazer games are Enix’s equivalent of Zelda, and unfortunately they have not sold well. Terranigma, third game of the series, has not even gotten a North American release - a pity since it is a great game and it has a story that rivals Squaresoft’s finest.

Like the previous three games, Granstream Saga is obscure; unlike them, however, this is not a Zelda clone, but more of a hybrid of a traditional RPG and a fighting game. While it has all the town and dungeon explorations prevalent in RPG’s, it plays like a fighting game whenever I battle. My character would engage in one-on-one combats with any enemy, and he slashes, defends, and does magic, all in real time and at precisely the moment I press their assigned buttons. I like Granstream Saga because it uses fighting game mechanics to help ease the tedium of RPG’s combats just by getting me more involved in the action. The dystopian story about floating continents that were gradually sinking is done very well, and it doesn’t hurt that the characters have left quite an impression to me.

This one has left an impression too:

4. Tactics Ogre

At this point anyone who has been playing videogames since the PS era has heard of Final Fantasy Tactics. What most of them don’t know is that FFT takes much of its ideas from Tactics Ogre. TO also has the class changes and the fantasy politico-plot that was quite the rage in the PS days. It was a major hit in Japan then and it ranked on number seven in Japanese Famitsu’s list of top 100 games of all time.

Sadly, I never got very far in this game. Not to sell it short or anything, but I wish there were an English translation of the game for the SNES (yes, it is originally for SNES. The PS version is a remake). The game is good, but it is hampered by long loading times, and since tactics games are never meant to be fast-paced, it just requires hefty time investments. I once heard that the game takes 80 hours to complete, and that’s for one ending, and this game has 8. If this came out on SNES I’d gladly play it on an emulator while abusing the fast-forward feature.

My First Eight Playstation Games, Part 1: the Racers

I just listened to the premiere episode of GameCritics’ podcast. It lasted for an hour, so I suggest that instead of listening to it while sitting in front of your computer (which is what I did), just download it and then use it while driving/commuting to work. It’s not short stuff, but I liked it because I liked how they talked about the state of videogame reviewing, and about how valid Roger Moore’s critique of Max Payne’s film adaptation was. If you don’t have my patience and would just like to listen to the best parts of it, though, go somewhere near the 40 minute mark, where the staffs disagree with Roger Moore’s scathing criticism of videogames as not being able to make people cry. They mentioned a few games that, though not making them shed tears, have been very emotionally affecting. One of such games happens to be among the first eight games that I got when I bought my first PlayStation, which was in 1998. Actually, this post is about those eight games. You can read about that one game they referred to on the number 8 of this list.

A family friend owns the store where I got my PS, which is why an additional controller, a memory card, and eight free games of my choice were comprised in my special, discounted bundle. The catch is that none of the free games were recognized big-named titles; they were more of bargain games that the store was hoping to clear from inventory. Still, I can’t say any of the games are bad; it’s quite the opposite. That I can name all of them even after 10 years is a testament of their quality (that have unfortunately not been acknowledged enough).

1. Porsche Challenge

Okay, so I may have exaggerated a bit: one of the eight games does not deserve to be remembered that well, and it’s this. Porsche Challenge is not really bad because I don’t recall it having any significant flaw; it just doesn’t add anything new to the racing genre. This game is primitive because it dates back to the era when it’s already a big deal to have one car manufacturer sponsor a videogame (Lamborghini also has a game in Super Nintendo, and I like that game more). Additionally, I believe that one of the major pitfalls of some genres of videogames – i.e. first person shooter, real time strategy, and in this case racing - is that after playing their most recent titles, their old games will feel antiquated. Gran Turismo is already out when I have played Porsche Challenge, and there exists a gulf between the scopes of each. The former is a racing simulator where I acquire licenses, win races, earn money, buy cars and custom parts; in the latter, well, I just race, and it isn’t even as fast and exciting as any Sega or Namco arcade racing games (like Ridge Racer and Sega Rally). I did not feel the Porsche-ness of these Porsche cars.

2. Road Rash 3D

Road Rash 3D is the 3D migration of an existing game, hence the title. The earlier Road Rash, which came out in Sega Genesis, is a sleeper hit, or at least that’s what I hear all the time since I’ve never played that game. I actually like Road Rash 3D a lot and it is in my list of ‘why aren’t there more games of this type’. It is essentially a motorcycle-racing game, or perhaps I should call it bikers game. The races are dirty because I can hit other bikers with batons just to slow them down. Definitely don’t do that in real life, but it’s cool to do so in this game because nobody in it suffers any serious injury from all the fighting anyway. And I can also jump over cars. How cool is that?

Tales of a Bus Commuter Part 2

Upon reading the first part, you might wonder just what of it had to do with “tales” because what I wrote there were more of backgrounds of what happens inside a bus rather than the stories in it. I could’ve written the latter then, but I decided against making post longer than it already was.

As for the true stories of zany things that happened while I was in a bus, I have a few that I’m going to tell in this entry (since there doesn’t seem to have much else going on in my life these days anyway).

Last year I wrote about being seated next to a couple who were at odds with each other, and this Katrina Halili-lookalike kept staring at me because she didn’t want to look at her boyfriend. That was an awkward moment. Funnily enough, things like that happen to me a lot, and I wonder if, for whatever reasons that I’d rather not delve into, I have a tendency to be nearby whenever there are lovers quarreling inside a bus. If that’s true then I sure hope that’s only so when I’m inside a bus.

You don’t really want to know what it felt like to be glared at angrily by a Katrina Halili

Aside from the Halili-stunt-double incident (perhaps the lookalike is the one supplanting the real Halili whenever scenes of scantily-clad women are not required?), I have another ride of being next to an unhappy couple. This time I wasn’t seating beside them, rather, I was standing next to them, and they were not on the verge of creating a scene, but were in the middle of it. The woman did not say anything at all but her anger hung very intensely in the air. The guy, on the other hand, was shouting “What is your problem biatch you told me you wanted to make love with me and I did that last night and now you’re mad at me?! I don’t get you!!!” Are you familiar with the expression often used in animes wherein a person smiles nervously while the eyes are shadowed and there are vertical lines at a portion of the forehead? That’s how I looked and felt like.

Anime nervous laughter, is the face I made 

I was once heckled by this annoying ticket-seller (here in this country, bus fares are paid to ticket-sellers). I gave him the cash as I was telling him where I was going. He asked me to repeat what I just said. So I repeated what I said, but he still didn’t hear me. Naturally, I raised my voice. He replied, “Are you angry?” And then he discourteously handed me the ticket, by dunking it very forcibly on my hand. Sheesh! He wasn’t listening to me when I told him where I was going; surely I had to raise my voice when I wasn’t heard the first two times? What an anal.

Few weeks ago, an urchin who went inside a bus began handing mails to all passengers, saying he needed money for foods. I’m a man who goes straight to the point, or at least I was on that day. I had a pack of dried mango with me, so I gave that to the urchin. Instead of saying thanks, he frowned at me and took the snack grudgingly. Perhaps he didn’t need want to spend the money on food? Perhaps he wanted other kinds of food? Perhaps modern beggars have become choosers?

Sometimes I can see how people react when hearing/seeing something happening on TV. For example, in his interview, Manny Pacquiao, then running for congress, said it’s harder to box than to lead a city. The entire bus was erupting with laughter. Haha, what a glorious sellout! Another time a show had the whole bus laughing was in Gobingo when the host asked a contestant what movie R2D2 and C3P0 came from. The very well-informed contestant answered Spider-man. Oh my God.

I have never saw something as bad as my cousin did, though, and the only bright side of this is that it didn’t happen in Philippines’ bus. I refuse to tell you in what country this incident took place. My cousin saw a middle-aged man cover his entire lap with a towel, and she spotted, to put less crudely, that underneath the towel were violent up-and-down movements from a hand. I should also tell you that my cousin is a girl and is as old as me, which is quite young. This is the kind of scene that kind of persists in a person’s mind because it’s gross; good thing I wasn’t the witness of it. Seriously, what’s up with doing what the guy was doing in public, where young girls can see?

I have to be going home now. I’m taking the bus and I sure hope it’s quiet this time because I need to get the good ole shut-eye.

Utter Failure

Because I tend not to mimic other people’s expressions, I rarely say anything that people in the internet say a lot. Today, however, is an exception because it’s the first time I have said ‘fail’ out loud. I also hope it’s the last time. 

This all happened less than an hour ago. I was famished, and so I scrounged at the kitchen counter and found a bunch of noodles. I took a pot, lit up the stove, boiled water, threw some noodles in, and added cooking oil, soy sauce, chili and salt – not the most exciting ingredients, but past experiences told me such recipe wasn’t so bad. I then let the noodle simmer for 3 minutes until it had become soft and edible, and as its aroma started to fill all over the kitchen my stomach clamored for instant gratification. So I turned off the stove and took the pot by the handle, but for whatever reason, the handle decided to be a pivot and as a result it turned the remaining part of the pot upside down. All the noodles plus the soup spilled all over the stove. I took a longer time cleaning up the sprawled messes than I took cooking them.

Needless to say, I didn’t eat those noodles. So much for my midnight snack! 

Tales of a Bus Commuter

In capricious times like the past two years, the only thing in my life that has always been constant is my taking the bus from home to work and vice versa at least four times a week. I’m a bus commuter, and good Lord, it’s much better than the alternative, don’t you think? See, I even bothered trawling the ‘net for blog posts (like this and this) from other authors just to prove my point that the bus is much better than MRT!

You’re less likely to get herpes here than at MRT. Photo courtesy of this flickr guy. 

Speaking of buses - or at least the ones from this country - I have my laundry list of gripes about them, and we’ll get into that very soon. Before that, though, I must say that I don’t hate taking the bus. The ones that are clean and are maintained well are most certain to give me the most comfortable journey (or sleep?) home.

Anyway, I really hate how noisy our buses are especially since it’s rare for them not to have TV’s. I get elated in the rare cases when the bus I take only has a radio; I’d much rather hear the ultra-tacky Love Radio than watch all the unoriginal trashy shows on GMA TV. It’s always shows from that bloody TV station, as though all bus drivers were required to sign terms of agreement to play only GMA TV’s shows because I can’t imagine why anyone would want to watch them since they stink in otherworldly proportions! Heck, why not do short reviews: Asero is a Terminator + James Bond ripoff with its title role played by Richard Gutierrez, the most stone-faced actor of the world. Its sole redeeming factor is watching Heart Evangelista belly-dance, in that one episode. Joaquin Bordado is for watching oily-chest Robin Padilla ham it up with the most tough-as-nails facial expressions! Jackie Chan Adventures is the cartoon version of the tritest Jackie Chan movies, where there are secret artifacts and where Jackie makes funny faces while fighting – I’m quite sick of the latter. Dyesebel is some kind of story inspired by The Little Mermaid, except with the melodrama ratcheted up by 10-thousand kilowatts (and it forgets its mermaidly roots as the plot progresses). I could go on and on. Not even their news show 24 Oras is spared of corniness, what with the bombastic orchestra music, plus the “bad-ass” descending from platform Mike Enriquez does whenever the Alerto 24 segment starts. The only GMA TV’s shows that I don’t mind watching are the game shows like Gobingo and Family Feud.

…but let’s go back to buses. I am fairly tolerable to certain lack of cleanliness - I don’t raise commotions when I see soot behind the chair in front of me - but I have limits too, and I mostly blame passengers for buses becoming dirty. I just can’t stand the general un-thoughtfulness most passengers are: they dispose their bubblegum by throwing them on the floor; they take too many spaces in their seats; they litter their trashes; they just really make buses filthy. Some buses are just so filthy they’ve become the shelters of roaches. There are buses that house so many roaches I can smell pungent scents even when I’m outside!

Yeah, I have observed this much, but I’m still not so choosy about buses. I am choosy about my choice of seatmates though, and by choosy I don’t mean I go away when certain type of people take the seat next to me; I merely skew to a less favorable disposition when I’m beside someone apparently unlikable. Since I often take my seat earlier than other passengers, I often am the one waiting to have the seats filled. Whenever anyone comes into the bus, I always make mental commentaries, and if you could dive into my mind and hear what I’m thinking, you’d probably get something like this:

Greasy-faced middle age guy: sit elsewhere!

That guy better not sit next to me! 

Big Momma with carrying too many shopping bags: sit elsewhere!

Yuppie with a boy-scout look: sit as far away as possible coz I don’t wanna hear your mobile phone conversations where you speak “faux Yankee” call-center English!

Hipster with a Kim Jong Il haircut: you look like a nut so please get out of here.

Couple looking so lovey-dovey (a.k.a. horny): oh dear, I’m not a voyeur. Get away from the seat next to me and go find a bedroom!

Nubile girls with hot legs: sweetie, this throne is yours for the taking!

For you, I’ll make sure the next seat is sparkling! 

I like pretty girls to sit beside me because their smell and their shoulders are always more conducive to sleeping. I swear that’s the only reason I prefer them!

My New Obsession!

I’m not really in the mood to be elaborate, so let me just get this done real quick.

I’ve been reading Ed Brubaker’s Captain America. So far I’m at the 34th issue (of 42, or so I heard). I have a good reason for going that far into the entire series, and that’s because the story rocks my socks off! I know it’s utterly embarrassing and pointless to go into a gushing-fanboy mode when describing any product, but I just can’t help it in this case. The writing, the pacing and the characterization feel so right.

And by the way, I’ve never read a single issue of pre-Brubaker’s Captain America, so I have almost no prior knowledge of that superhero. Sure, I know his arch-nemesis is Red Skull, and that America represents America (duh!), but that’s about it. Even so, I can follow the story most of the time. The only rough places are some issues that are tie-ins of major marvel events: for example, as part of House of M, issue 10 has nothing to do with the continuity; being part of Civil War, it’s hard to understand issues 22-24 when you’re not following the entire Civil War arc chronologically. Since I haven’t read either, I don’t know what are happening at those issues at all.

Besides those complaints, I can wholeheartedly recommend this series. Ed Brubaker excelled in portraying Captain America not as an ultra-nationalistic boy scout, but as a jaded war veteran. The characters were fleshed-out very well. The story did not weaken a bit even after issue 25 (you probably know what happened there by now). So, yeah, go read it.

Weird Conversation

nightdreamer: you look lovely in that profile pic of yours
Killthecat: hey!
nightdreamer: i hope that does not offend you when someone says you’re lovely
Killthecat: thanksss!! ^_____^
nightdreamer: but if it does then pretend i’m misspelling “loony”
Killthecat: lol. no reason for me to be offended, silly
nightdreamer: some people get offended
nightdreamer: for no particular reason except to say “i have angst!”
nightdreamer: anyway, enough of my silly musings
nightdreamer: how are you?
Killthecat: im rushing a paper. but i dun wanna go to manila. it’s raining hard!
nightdreamer: really? what’s this paper about?
Killthecat: pros and cons of globalization!!
nightdreamer: ha OVERWHELM THE CON!
nightdreamer: say globalization gives people like me overwhelming amount of OT’s.
nightdreamer: plus no respect!
nightdreamer: plus no social life!
nightdreamer: plus no dvd-marathon-life!
nightdreamer: make it SUPER BIASED!
nightdreamer: nah, kidding
Killthecat: hahahaaha
Killthecat: actually, i hafto make it super biased. prof is a communist. lol
nightdreamer: just write the word McCarthyism and you’re sure to get an instant 5.0 (note: 5.0 is the failing mark where Killthecat studies)
Killthecat: what is that??? :O
Killthecat: is it like, paul mccartney pero mccarthy???? :O
nightdreamer: nonono…
Killthecat: then what is it???
nightdreamer: McCarthyism is the american movement in the 40-60’s wherein people just accuse others of disloyalty by saying they’re communists
nightdreamer: so if someone was promoting equal rights, a McCarthyist would call that someone a communist
Killthecat: lol. that’s stupid!!
nightdreamer: oh indeed it is.
nightdreamer: american history is full of stupidity.
nightdreamer: a site sent me an email requesting me to sponsor their site on my own blog.
nightdreamer: i, of course, am declining.
nightdreamer: i’ve seen some blogs get ruined because of pandering to sponsored posts.
Killthecat: but is moneyyyyyy!!
Killthecat: L-)
nightdreamer: what is money if there’s no love?!
Killthecat: LOL. but if there is no money, love goes out the window!!
nightdreamer: LOVE SURVIVES AGAINST ALL ODDS!
nightdreamer: [cue power ballads]
Killthecat: but money money money, is so funny! in a rich mans world
nightdreamer: but a rich man ain’t happy if a rich man ain’t lovin’!
nightdreamer: [what kind of conversation is this?!]
Killthecat: i dunno (
nightdreamer: your face is money
Killthecat: monkey?
nightdreamer: i said money!
Killthecat: monkey ngaaaaaa!!!!
nightdreamer: what’s monkey gotta do with money?
Killthecat: monkey, has more K!
nightdreamer: huh.

A Hopeful Revival

I find it very funny how September and October ALWAYS manage to be my most uneventful months of the year. I mean, I swear, I don’t like not posting junks about what’s happening in my life, but what’s there to post about when not even junk happens? All I do these days are watch dvd’s, read books and comic books, and as much as I like talking about these three things I never intended to turn this place into a review site.

Speaking of this place, I don’t know what’s becoming of it, but then again, I think the topics I go into length about reveal my personality. Oh well, duh, of course that’s the case. But what is probably not apparent is how I can just talk about one thing in one post and then something of completely different interest the next. I’m beginning to think that I’m also like that in real life. When I am talking to someone I just change topics the most randomly in content and in timing. Perhaps I need more focus.

So how am I doing? I’m good and I’m busy and I realize they’re don’t make a very good couple. I haven’t been reading too many books lately: it’s the 42nd week of the year now and I’m two books behind. I finished after the quake by Haruki Murakami, and then Native Son by Richard Wright, and without a doubt the latter book is a better one but it also happens to be the most disturbing and depressing book I’ve read (yep, worse in that regards than Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood). I also saw a couple of movies and read a few comic books, and I’m considering not revealing what they are now because I might write about them at a future time. Yep, I believe in withholding such info, for no particular reason.

I am hoping to have two more entries this week, so that, you know, I can go back to how I frequently I used to post per week. In the meantime I ask my readers: how are you doing?

This One Sticks

This guy and I were talking about Spider-man (mostly Spider-man 3) non-stop for the past few days (though you can’t read it here, as we discussed this on yahoo messenger) and both of us managed to post our reviews of that lackluster film. Now before I move on to discussing something slightly-related, let me add a few things that worked in Spider-man 3. None of these were saving graces, but I think that they need to be recognized. Really, not saying them aloud bothers me a lot in my sleep. No wonder I got this stupid cold (yeah, I know I’m digressing, but I said that to let people know how I’m doing lately).

I still like J. Jonah Jameson. He is the editor-in-chief of Daily Bugle, the newspaper where Peter Parker works as a photographer. All of his scenes were funny. There’s no greater schadenfreude than watching J. Jonah Jameson lose his temper and lash out snide remarks, which he did all the time he appeared. If the movie were just about him it would’ve rocked. Alas he appeared only in a few scenes, so just like everyone else he was underdeveloped.

I also like the Stan Lee cameo. He actually spoke to Peter Parker. Really, that’s the only reason I like his cameo, but that’s reason enough.

Anyway, I still think that the movie sucked even if I’ve suggested that you watch it just to laugh at how funny it is. Because Spider-man 3 sucked so badly, I took interest in reading Ultimate Spider-man just to wash off the poor tastes the movie left in the mouth. So, did the comics do that? Was Ultimate Spider-man any good? Yes (in spades) and yes.

All comics from Marvel’s Ultimate series retell the origins and the major events of Marvel’s superheroes, with minor modifications such as setting them on modern times. In Ultimate Spider-man, Peter is living at a time when internets and youtubes are already well into public awareness; I think those were done to make the story feel closer to home. Beyond appearing different from the comics of the olden days, though, the story remains (mostly) the same. Ultimate Spider-man still has the same feel as the early Amazing Spider-man. It’s action-packed, fast-paced, and has a story more down-to-earth than most other superheroes’. And good news: you’ll actually like Mary Jane Watson here. No singing too, and that’s a good thing.

Although I recommend Ultimate Spider-man, I have a couple of complaints. First is that I’m already at around 30 issues, yet none of all the 5-6 villains that have appeared so far have been very well-developed. They just exist to kick Spider-man’s butt and they don’t have a lot of personality. Now, really, don’t get me wrong, as I do think that sometimes a villain is really just a bastard and not a misunderstood person needing our sympathy, but c’mon, this series has wasted time on five (or six?) of such villains! Wouldn’t it tell a more compelling tale if some of the villains were not so one-dimensional? Then again, this comic seems to be aimed for kids so the portrayal of the enemies as simplistically evil may be intentional. I don’t know.

My other complaint is that the comics do not have high re-read values. This may be because there aren’t many profound messages sprinkled throughout the story, and the dialogues are mostly just funny one-liners. In a way, reading Ultimate Spider-man is like watching 24 (I had watched it before it jumped the sharked) in that I just keep wanting to move the story forward without ever wanting to look back. It’s just the kind of comic book series that does not require a lot of mental effort to plow through, and it may be good if you’re in the crowd that wants that. I, personally, find that as a welcome change of sceneries in this era where some super artsy indie comics of late exert a major influence on the industry (and it shows on some of the atrocious JMS’s Spider-man’s stories), but it still does bother me that a comic series that provides not much but cheap thrills has to cost so much. Marvel’s Trade Paperbacks are never cheap and they tend to last forever, and this one is no exception. I’m just glad the Ultimate Spider-man I read isn’t mine and that I did not have to spend any money to read it.

Yucky Web

There’s something I dislike about most of my recent entries, aside from them being all reviews of books and movies. Those, on their own, do not bother me that much, but what really gets me is how tame and positive I’ve become, that I sound like this gushing fanboy heaping gallons and gallons of praises on everything as though I were a zombie blogger paid to say that a movie/book is AWESOME. I get riled up about doing those enthusiastic praising because those seem to be the only thing I’ve been doing lately. I end up looking like an easily-pleased milquetoast.

But after watching Spider-man 3 for the first time two days ago (yes, I saw it that late) I have come to realize that the curmudgeon in me is still as alive and strong as it ever was. I can razz about it for hours and hours that I’m glad I didn’t watch it while dating someone, lest she had to endure hearing me bitch until she grew sick.

This is the worst Spider-man movie I’ve ever seen. I liked Spider-man 1 and I still consider the 2^nd movie, surpassing the 1^st, as one of the best comic book movies. The 2^nd film ended on such a rousing note that the very moment its credits rolled, I wanted to coerce Raimi into doing it a sequel right there and then. The 2 movies worked for me because despite being about someone with superhuman powers, they felt down-to-earth. Their characters did not merely worry about the plight that only those wearing leather spandexes worry about; they also had to deal with problems that any person deals with every day: high school, finances, trying to have a lucrative career, etc. It didn’t hurt that the fight scenes packed punches (har-har!) with kinetic intensity.

Without going into spoil-… ah, screw that, who hasn’t seen these movies anyway? If you haven’t and if spoilers bother you, then you may stop reading now and go do something productive like picking your nose and hoping your booger will get eaten by ants.

Spider-man 3 started with Peter Parker watching his costumed alter-ego’s popularity reach new heights. That looked promising, since a tale of someone coping with sudden fame can excel. I thought then that maybe this movie won’t be as bad as people bitch it; nevermind that there wasn’t much reason for Spider-man to suddenly be all over Manhattan (wasn’t his last heroic act – defeating Doc Ock – unseen by public?). Almost immediately came the first warning sign, and that couldn’t be more blatant when it’s with Kirsten Dunst belting out “They say that falling in love is wonderful… so wonderful, so they tell me…” like she had no respect for her audience’s hearing abilities. She would later sing in a jazz club for the elites. Who would wanna hear her sing jazz?

Scenes of the movie’s villains were occasionally done with some empathy, but they never reached the pathos seen from the fall of Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus. Part of the reason for that failure was that there were too many villains - Sandman, Green Goblin Jr, and Venom - but it’s the execution that bogged them down the most. Remember the feeling the dread of waiting for Green Goblin Sr. and Doc Ock to reach their breaking point? Bad news then, two of the three villains from Spider-man 3 had already reached their breaking point when they first appeared, and the remaining one, Venom, reached his breaking point in a very contrived manner (and given that there were many foes, you don’t see him developing a lot). So there’s no satisfaction to be had in witnessing how they became anarchical. In fairness, Harry Osborn was given enough depth in the first two movies. It was in his being Green Goblin Jr that was lackluster. Actually, everyone failed to be convincing villains. How? How about we compare them again with the two foes from the previous films? When Norman Osborn was already wearing the Green Goblin suit, he still had the pressure of acting like a responsible person to Harry Osborn, to Mary Jane Watson and to Peter Parker. Doc Ock turned bad because he would do everything to right his failed experiment, which cost him everything. Their dilemmas were what made them memorable villains. In Spider-man 3, two of the three villains were villains merely because they wanted to kick Spidey’s butt. Hence, they became one-dimensional. Sandman had his jaded past, a point that should make us understand that he was not evil, but merely wronged. That part was relegated in favor of seeing how Spidey wants to kill him for being the murderer of Uncle Ben. So what we get are three revenge plots.

Did having 3 characters swearing vengeances make the theme of revenge stronger? No. Having too much demeaned it, because given the limited length of a movie, what could be one revenge story got divided into compressed 3. The anger and the bloodlust of each never became too prominent.

The villains’ schemes were hilarious. They took turns being menaces! Goblin Jr. would just so happen to bump his head and have amnesia, so that he can be shoved aside for the time being and so that we can have time to see Sandman’s superpowers. And then when Sandman was presumed to be dead, Green Goblin Jr would regain his memory and annoy an irritable Spidey. After a scene where it looked like Goblin was killed by a bomb (in a more coherent movie, he would’ve died a long time ago; so what exactly is he, the liquid terminator?), which made him inactive again, Spidey would remove the black costume, actually an alien infesting his body, and the alien would fall down and turn Eddie Brock to Venom, who also just so happened to be at the church where Spidey was agonizing. Venom would then find Sandman. I had no idea how he found out where he was and how he knew he was alive since the Spidey wearing the alien suit thought otherwise. They then partnered and challenged Spidey by kidnapping Mary Jane Watson, a kidnap-bait seeing how it happened on 3 movies. Meanwhile Green Goblin Jr felt guilty for his sins and turned a hero after his butler had told him 2 movies too late that Goblin Sr. wasn’t killed by Spidey. Raise your hand if you don’t find all these so convenient.

I’m not done yet! Did you recall how the previews made a big deal about how Gwen Stacy was in this movie? Comic nerds will tell you that Gwen Stacy should’ve been the Mary Jane Watson of the first movie, and she should’ve been killed the moment Green Goblin dropped her. But whatever about that and her appearing two movies too late and how we should blame her absence for having MJ stayed in the series too long it’s sickening. She was in this movie to… do nothing but look cute. She was supposed to be Eddie Brock’s girlfriend too, but I didn’t recall ever seeing them being sweet to each other. I guess I never would. The moment Spidey bombed Venom I was like, “Yeah, go ahead and kill Venom so you won’t have to bother developing him the next movie!” Or maybe he’ll be magically resurrected in Spider-man 4?

As annoying of a nag MJ was, Peter Parker was most irritating. He no longer was the aww-shucks down-to-earth guy we rooted for. Here he became the Spiderjerk. I’m not even talking about the time when he donned a black costume and became a kind of Mister Hyde, which was supposed to un-pent his darker sides but I don’t remember his dark sides as being a philanderer nor as someone who likes to dance like a wacko (what a riot to watch, that one). He was a jerk from the beginning of the film. He let his popularity get way over his head, comforting MJ in all the wrong ways when she looked down. He kissed Gwen Stacy in front of MJ and when MJ complained he was like “Gwen is just a classmate! You know it’s you I love!” How does that work, moron?

I should probably not even start enumerating the plot holes at the risk of writing a novel, so I will mention just one (but a major one). Halfway in the movie, regaining his memory, Green Goblin Jr. ambushed MJ in her house, and the scene transitioned as we see him threatening MJ. The next scene MJ told Peter that she’s breaking up with him because she was seeing another guy. While she was going away, Goblin, revealing that the conversation was conspired, said good job to an angry MJ. Then Spidey, who didn’t know that Goblin regained memory, had lunch with Goblin where Goblin “confessed” that he was the man MJ was seeing. What happens next? Spidey ambushed Goblin in his mansion, saying he knows his schemes and his being Green Goblin again. I must’ve missed something, but how did Spidey know? And what did Goblin blackmail MJ with again?

But you know what, I’m gonna go ahead and say you should watch this film simply because I’ve never seen one as intentionally funny as this. If the plot holes, the hammy dialogues, the superficialities (parting hair downwards a sign of angst?!), and the singing and dancing did not crack you up, the scene where Spidey leaped across a CGI American flag would! Go get ‘em American tiger!

EDIT: I forgot the part about the fight scenes. Sandman’s and Goblin’s were good, but Venom’s sucked. The only thing that ever happened whenever Spidey was battling Venom was Spidey getting stuck with goo. Venom’s tongue never appeared.