Places Visited in My Early Days

Having used it for more than 10 years, I have recollections of how the internet was like in the olden days: from the dulcet tones dial-up modems to the cluttered look of dot-com era webpages. It’s no understatement to say that the web is better now than before in the browsing, in the design, in every imaginable way, but that does not mean that I didn’t like to surf the net back then, as there were many sites that I frequented even before Web 2.0 became the standard. There may be many recent sites in my bookmark and my RSS feeds now, but they don’t quite arouse feelings that match my nostalgia to the sites I frequented early in my life in the internet.

This post is where I take the journey to the past. Join me, and see what gems I found before the days of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and blogs, presented in the form that I found them (courtesy of archive.org’s brilliant “Way Back Machine”).

NBA

url: www.nba.com

Many of my interests came and went, but persisting few from since my childhood include videogames, anime, comics, and basketball. Back in the 90’s I would always tune to ESPN and watch the half-hour NBA Action show, seeing the week’s highlights and the brief tribute to any players. It’s where I first heard of NBA.com, which consequently became the first web page I ever visited.

Ccurrent status: active

IGN

url: www.ign.com

Although it’s still a famous news outlet for videogames (and other geek stuffs), I’ve always preferred IGN in its earlier state. The reviews were short and straight to the point and didn’t go longer than a page. It has too much babes and cars talk now, and the flash movies make the navigation very unwieldy.

Current status: active

GameCritics

url: www.gamecritics.com

I hate going into this new age talk about destiny, but nothing else could explain how I found this website. On one quiet night when I had nothing better to do, I typed in random stuff on the address bar of my browser. I tried videocritics.com, but that didn’t have anything that kept me diverted for long. When I typed in GameCritics.com, I read their reviews on Legend of Dragoon, and immediately I was hooked. Prior to coming here, I’ve never read any videogame reviews that goes beyond the technical details of the games. Modeled after Roger Ebert’s movie criticism, GameCritics discusses videogames in a more serious way than the average site, by going lengths to describe even the emotional response the game calls forth. The forums, which I was active in years ago, are full of intelligent members that often make the most thoughtful posts. They’re the only videogame site whose writers I befriended and correspond with since. Unlike the others in this list, GC has become even better through the years, now that it has blogs and podcasts.

Current status: active. Additionally, some of its writers started their blog, like Brad for drinkingcoffeecola.blogspot.com, and Mike Bracken for thehorrorgeek.com. Both of them are entertaining, and very informative if you’re into videogames, horror books, and horror movies.

Games Hermeneutics

url: www.lotusreaver.com

It’s strange, but I always found myself able to relate with Kevin Sung (the author). Maybe it’s because back then, there weren’t too many internet writers who were also Asian-Americans (I think he’s Chinese.) I always thought of Game Hermeneutics as an underappreciated site; it’s just not mentioned enough despite all the great articles about videogames, illustrations of videogames, and Asian movies.

Current status: gone, and the author now resides in kevinsung.org, with blog posts which are quite good if not as detailed as his works from lotusreaver.

Lord Carnage’s Cursed Fanboys!

url: http://sarcasm-hime.net/fanboys/

It’s almost bizarre that during site’s most active times, I was also at the height of my anime fandom, and as the new contents dwindled, so too did my love for anime. And while people can give me links to anime review sites that discusses thing more “analytically”, I’d take the bubbly fanboyish-fervor from sarcasm-hime any day.

Current status: inactive. Last update is on year 2006.

Animetric

url: http://www.animetric.com

I dug Animetric’s former author, Rowena Lim Lei, and I may be even more biased for her than most other anime critics simply because she’s a Filipina. Animetric’s reviews on anime (even the red-light district ones, if you catch my drift) are often well-written, as it rarely falls into pointless fanboy-gushing (which may sound hypocritical given the glowing endorsement I just gave in the another fanboyish site, but the thing is, Sarcasm-hime’s gushing was anything but pointless; brash and loud, maybe, but not pointless).

Current status: active, but Rowena Lim Lei no longer writes for it and handed it to Aaron Murphy, who also writes well, if not anywhere as memorable at it (then again, that may just be my nationality-bias speaking).

Anime Academy

url: http://www.animeacademy.com

Anime Academy exemplifies anime criticism at its most readable. Every review is presented with a short list of pros and cons, plus a longer (but always concise) comment about the anime’s plots, characters, and even music.

Current status: active, but languishing in obscurity. The new reviews take too long to get published and have, for years, been mostly about the latest Lupin III movies.

Archnacho and Tortilla Godzilla’s Quality Roms

url: http://home.no.net/qualrom/

This site had a decent selection of roms and emulators for NES, Genesis and SNES. Games were described in a rather original way – by having the two site owners bicker about hilariously random irrelevant nonsense.

current status: dead

GameFAQS

url: http://www.gamefaqs.com

Who needs official strategy guides when GameFAQS offers free walkthroughs for even the most obscure games?

current status: active

RPGamer

url: http://www.rpgamer.com

Like anime, RPG was one of my biggest obsessions when I was in high school. At that time, I would buy and play any videogame RPG that gets released, and I’d regularly visit RPGamer for news of the upcoming titles. The reason I don’t come back here often these days is that my passion for RPG’s have diminished over the years (and you can also blame RPG’s continual fall to blandness for that). I also think that RPGamer’s recent spate of reviews waste too much time using RPG-jargons, making them nigh unreadable.

current status: active

You Gave Me the Mood Indigo

There’s this bit about Truman Capote that never ceases to amaze me. According to him, he can remember 94% of his conversations with anyone. And while I can only wish to share his genius, his superb writing skills, and his ability to document about killers in non-judgmental way (see: In Cold Blood), today I can gloat about being able to remember more than 94 percent of the conversations I had. 

Because it was you who I was talking to. 

Despite having said too often how much I don’t like being reminded of you, the rest of me are more fond of you than my words would admit. They like you so much, that I need not see you to know you’re already here. I can sense you from the way you speak, that unmistakable Ilonggo-accented Filipino words being muttered like the way a saxophone could play any notes beautifully. My brain suspends thinking about all mundane things they pass off as logic when you’re present. Every time you giggle the sound of it reverberates inside my ears for hours as if I need to let marinate every nuances of it. You look like a splotch of colors in the middle of an unused canvas that begs to be painted. 

So you did not come wearing that white clothes after all. So it was red. So you made it apparent that the color of my cheeks was trying to compete with that red polo shirt you’re wearing every time you say something too cute. Did you notice, the moment you held my elbow, that I was incapable of talking, incapable of thinking straight besides wishing that this moment lasted longer? Did you count how many times I said something very random and how I would get embarrassed after that? Did you realize how frustrated I was that I only have to remember 5 minutes of the span of time we talked because that was how long it lasted, because the world had set to expedite this meeting? Why did you have to leave so soon? 

But you said you might come back tomorrow. I can tell you this much: I was at the edge of my seat this entire day, probably anxious, probably too fearful, probably could not feel the ground no matter how hard I stepped. Yet if pressed to say whether or not I want you to come back tomorrow, I’m sure you know how I feel. I’m sure you know that remembering the things we talked about in five minutes is less than satisfying to me. I’m sure you know how much I cursed the taxi for arriving too soon. I’m sure you know I’d like to spend more time with you, if only to test how long I can sustain remembering 94% of what you say. Maybe if our conversation went for hours, I’d still prove to be better than Capote in that regard, but I’d still not be satisfied. 

Isn’t that right, woman?

Heart of Mine, Be Still

Remember (Hank Mobley)

Woman, you ought to know how annoyed I was when I heard that you’re coming here at an unspecified time tomorrow. I was neck deep into finishing the job assigned to me, you see, when that announcement was made and it disrupted all my train of thoughts. I spent the rest of the day fumbling about, not convinced that I wasn’t having a nervous breakdown, although somehow I made it home without being carried by stretchers.

But let’s talk about you. I resent that despite my insistence to not think much of you anymore so I can let go of bitter memories, you are some of the things that have clung to my recent musings like barnacles to barge. What irritate me more about you are why I become so invigorated whenever I wonder about you, why I keep thinking with certain fondness of all the possibilities of the day when you’ll come comes, and why I keep recalling the way you promenade gracefully and the way your smile makes me delirious like I wouldn’t believe. We’re not close. We haven’t spoken for months, and days of your absence haven’t exactly been reassuring to me that you think much of me as I do you. So what’s going on, then? Why the uncertainty, mixed with resentment, then hopefulness and anticipation?

I have a request for you, woman. Don’t try to act cute by wearing that diaphanous white clothing that I saw you wearing a year ago. I try to avoid talking to people about what my muse looks like, after all.

All Jazzed Up, Part 2: Vocal

If you’ve missed the first installment and doesn’t want to back-read, here’s the short of what All Jazzed Up is. It’s my (now) series of posts about my top five jazz albums of a particular kind - guitar for part 1. This is my way to recommend which albums to get if you are a fan of jazz, or if you want to get into jazz. Today, I am listing 5 of my favorite vocal jazz albums. But before that, let me state my two rules for these lists, so that you’d know how things work here. 1.) An artist will not appear on a list twice. I want to encourage everyone to check out as many artists as they can. Jazz is after all a very diverse field of music, and it has a plethora of performers with their own styles. 2.) I am not including compilation albums. I don’t hate compilation albums, but I think the main albums are the ones to listen to if you want to understand an artist’s works and visions. If you are unable to find copies of the listed albums, though, compilations are good substitutes.

5. Julie London - Julie is Her Name vol. 1

When you hear many jazz vocalists, your reaction upon reading this may be a beffudled "why Julie?" You might say that she’s not the most talented musician, and that her voice has a very limited range. Those are true, of course, but I like this album’s minimal approach. Most other vocalists’ albums are backed by a sometimes overwhelming big band, or at least by a trio. This album, however, only has a guitar and a bass accompanying Julie. Since it’s merely the 3 of them, the songs have a very muted feel and they achieve a very film-noir-ish ambience. Who can hear her sing Cry Me A River and not feel bluesy and chilly?

Cry me a river (Julie London)

4. Ella Fitzgerald - Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book

Ella’s songbook albums are legendary. On each of them, she sings songs focused on one of many famous jazz composers - like Ira and George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, etc. Of her many songbooks, I like Johnny Mercer’s the most (and Cole Porter’s at a very close second). But, I advice you not take this particular choice too seriously. By all means, discover Ella songbooks. There are too many to choose from and arguing which one is best is simply a matter of which composer and which arrangement you like the most. I like Johnny Mercer Song Book for the often understated big band arrangement, and for the ebullient lyrics of the songs. As for Ella Fitzgerald, in terms of vocal range and purity of voice, she’s arguably the best among all jazz vocalists.

Something’s Gotta Give (Ella Fitzgerald)

3. Billie Holiday - Songs for Distingue Lovers

Billie Holiday is also one of the finest jazz vocalists. She sounds like she has her vocal chords continuously yanked, and that results to her voice having limited range. But rather than letting her limitations cripple her, she knows how to use them to give her songs more personal touches. She has a penchant to the blues, too, which helps. I like this ablum’s choice of instruments, which include piano, drums, bass, saxophone, guitar and a muted trumpet. I also like the arrangement. All songs have a soft, intimate, and bittersweet feel. They’re the kind of music ideal for when you’re dining with your love. Thank me later for that advice.

A Foggy Day (Billie Holiday)

2. Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson – Winter In America

I put this here because I read that this is a jazz album. Frankly, I don’t know what’s jazzy about it. Sure, there are improvisations, but improvisations are not restricted to jazz. None of the songs here swing. I guess Brian Jackon’s organ-and-flute-playing is the reason this is considered "jazz". If you’re a purist and if you don’t like the merging of jazz and funk/soul music, you might not like this album. I love it. Gil Scott Heron isn’t the best vocalist, but he puts so much feeling into his lyrics that it’s impossible not to like him. And his songs are always originals. That’s right, folks, while other albums here are renditions of jazz standards, Winter in America – as is the case of every Scott-Heron’s albums – consists entirely of original compositions. Each song is distinct, fresh and unrepetitive. These songs also span no-nonsense topics like drug addiction, alcoholism, platonic love, newborn child, going home, and even the Watergate scandal. (Someone of the present generation needs to take a page from  Scott-Heron and to stop singing about personal "angst") His songwriting is influential, that he is often cited as a progenitor to rap music. Intelligent rap music, that is.

(Make sure you get the extended edition of the album, which includes 4 live performances. The live version of The Bottle is remarkable. I uploaded both the studio and the live version, so that you can compare.) 

The Bottle (Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson)

The Bottle (Live) (Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson)

1. John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman – Self-Titled

This album is billed to both Johnny Hartman (a vocalist) and John Coltrane (a saxophonist), but I consider Coltrane’s role here as secondary. That’s not to say his contributions aren’t significant. Quite the contrary, as he complements Johnny Hartman perfectly. Although he’s well known for playing heavy and aggressive avant-garde jazz, here he proves that he can do just as well when playing soft ballads. As for Johnny Hartman, imagine an archetypical crooner from the 50’s and you’d have an idea how he sounds like. Now imagine such crooner accompanied with a saxophone, a piano, a bass, and a drum, and you still wouldn’t come close to predicting how beautiful the entire album sounds. Every songs here create a very romantic atmosphere, and I dare suggest that you play them when you and your love ones are, well, close.

My One And Only Love (John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman)

So those are my selections. Again, if you have anything else to suggest, go abuse my comment box!