Show Me the Meaning of Being Lazy

Kozumi's quote of the week:
Child-like innocence is a necessity of this world. Otherwise, we would have *never* believed a video game about a portly plumber who falls down a kingdom and into a magical mushroom land, filled with mushroom people, where an army of evil turtles are trying to ruin their shit. If you tried to tell that to us today we'd be like "WTF are you snorting man, gimme some!"
--Az, I am a Japanese School Teacher (Gaijin Smash)

School has officially started (in that its the 4th day in and thus add codes have been for the most part issued). And there has, w/ the exception of last April/March, never been a time when I have wanted to jut sit back and goof off than before. Sure all summer, I had the time, but my nature is to really just laze around like a fat cat in a sunbeam when I have all the free time in the world, and update things like DA and my blog when I have next to none. Its an odd habit I really need to kick.

So. This semester is full of retakes, and so far, it seems like spring 08 again, since I decided to be a dumbass and book myself not only the intro to Autodesk Maya class, but the habitat project class (wherein you must produce a 12 inches by 22 inches, photorealistic pencil rendering AND acrylic painting of a habitat w/ at least 30 animals and plants), AND the illustrious Sheldon Borenstein's friday drawing class which is about 6 hours of straight drawing. Oh....and there's that non-fiction class.....

So! Expect to see me a bunch of times when I'm trying to escape from work. lol.

What's new? Nothing really. Most updates'll hit DA first, then here. I haven't been up to much besides Brawl/Pokemon/Earthbound Diaries and the new series I've been working on, Distance. I am preparing for a massive Neo Black 9 revival, since next year will be the 10 year anniversary of existence.

At some point I'll be finishing that brawl vid I promised. Haven't gotten around to really getting my footage of the Tabuu fight mostly cuz Tabuu is a cheating whore. I might start another vid to get me started.

Halloween, Lunies! Its coming! I've been sniffing around Guise's blog and though I've been merely lurking, I can already see the beginnings of something for the witchy october season. Can't wait. Also I'll be attempting a Halloween countdown myself, perhaps w/ more reviews and scary things like Dionaea House or a spooky flash game.

And I'm jumping WAY ahead, but for you Advent-urers, I've been doing some XE AC related stuff and hope to have it up soon. ^^ I miss HU.

Ok! Update over. Back to making temples and helmets.

*Welcome to hell, Lunies*

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, LUNIES!

Didn't think i'd get 31 entries, but what a ride it was (what with being late the last 5 or so days ^^;;). We've just turned out our lights and we were the last ones ont he block to do so. It was pretty good, I haven't given out candy to the kiddies since we moved into the apartment around 5 years or so ago. It was nice to see them. We prolly got more than 120 kids. I saw only a scant few costumers at SJSU, but there were a few cool ones. Like this:

That Spartan's pretty keen also...XD Whee. KILL THE REDS, SUCK IT BLUE.

I found him.

This just made my day. ^^

My bf and I decided to walk down to Japantown in San Jose for exercise, so we walked on down, grabbed a snack, then visited our friend at Farout Toys. J-toan was doing a trick-or-treat for the kiddies at various shops and restarants. It was really cute. Also, the guy who ran Farout was playing a Godzilla movie that was f-kicking awsome. Don't ask me which one, I only know it was newer and it had a wrestler in it. It was pretty neat.
On our way back, I noticed that a few houses were dressed up to kill for Halloween.

It really took me back. I haven't really had a chance to really just relax and reminesce about my childhoods of Halloweens. Its been a long time since I can say I really enjoyed one, or even an October proper.

There's something nostalgic about old webs, fake blood, and ridiculous manniquins. I remember these things when I used to trick-or-treat, something I haven't had the chance or guts to do since I was in high school. It was a chance to see things haveen't changed all that much.

Sure, you couldn't find a house on the US that still gives out handmade treats, or see parents allow their children into haunted houses that were inside people actual houses instead of on the lawn. But there was that crisp feeling in the air that almost takes you back to time when you could. It finally cooled off yesterday and today, and earthquake nothwithstanding (somehow, I neglected to mention yesterday that while carving the mushroom pumpkin, there was a 5.6 earthquake that nearly knocked our china cabinet on me), its starting to shape up to be a grand holiday season.

O RLY?


Here's a pic of my happy pumpkin dude. I like his face, he looks like my granpa, if my granpa was given to being a squash-like veggie-table.

The pumpykin with the face always goes on this silly lil stand we bought years ago. Its goofy, but it somehow feels right.

Dad put the tombstones and the mushroom pumpkin out on the lawn, where the screaming tombstone zombie thing would hopefully scare away any possum that tried to nibble on my masterpiece of gutted gourd.

Hopefully, you all had a great October and Halloween. I wish you all plently of holiday spirit, be it wintery, snowy, witchy, or Japanesey. Its been a great run, my friends, so enjoy it. You only get so many Halloweens in your life. Make the most of them. Eat Reeses Peanut Buttercups til you puke. Trick-or-treat until ppl staop giving you candy. Dress up like you're 6 again. Its Halloween, its Pagan, and its real.

*Happy Halloween, Lunies! See you Next Year!*

KYYYAAAAAA! Its the Halloween Countdown, Day 27

So there was a party today. It was pretty cool. Food and fun. At 6 sharp, my friend climbed up on the roof and we hung out with the chilly October air, then decided that rolling off the roof was a bad idea and found a ladder. Besides an epic Cranium battle to the death, a resounding game of Zombies, and a Mario Kart RACE OF FUCKING WIN, we decided that a lil survival horror game was in order. After some Smash Bros and Halo, I hooked the Wii back up and popped in Eternal Darkness, mentioned in an earlier post. For those who missed it: Eternal Darkness is a game from Silicon Knights (who made the first Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen), a game that's soaked in Lovecraftian goodness of good, evil, and EVIL MAGIC with a K. Its never the good kind of magick, since that kind always happens on the east coast (here, its Rhode Island, but it takes place in other times and locales like Cambodia).

This game is also the best game for fucking with its gamer. It doesn't just throw sound effects and cheap scares around with monsters and cut-scenes. No, this is not your father's survival horror. Besides an innovative (if unweildy at times) battle system that allows you to choose which parts of the creature you're attacking, the game also has something called insanity effects. The creatures of ED are a lot like some of the creatures and places in Lovecraftian stories: they cause insanity in mere humans like ourselves. In ED, you must not only not die in combating creatures from beyond, but also finish them off. If you do not (or refuse to, like some hardcore gamers), your sanity drops until the game decides to make your go insane. Like tilting and jostling the camera for instance. Or having a fly crawl across your screen. Or making it look like you die, but instead faking you out and resetting your position by a minute.

With my bf's request, I decided to choose the green rune (one of the first levels has you play as a roman centurion, where you choose which dark god to serve that dictates a specific ending and path the game will take; there are 3 initial paths, and to see the true ending, you must play through all three and then a fourth time to get it). According to the information I recieved, having the green one has the better insanity effects.

With around 30+ ppl watching, I delve into the first "real" chaper (the first one where the effects would be enabled) and start by kicking ass. By avoiding to do the finishing moves, I accelerated my inasanity effects, which started with a tilting camera angle, my character hallucinating, and whispering voices. It was awsome. Evenutally, every noise we heard, even if it wasn't in the game, we said was an insanity effect. I almost got someone to believe my door slamming was an effect (until someone spoiled it for me T_T). XD

My hightlight of the night was me fighting a horde of monsters, then walking into a room, only to have a literal BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH show up. Some sort of compuer error splashes onto the screen with the usual garble of computer speak and the "press any key to continue" at the bottom, only to flash back to the game, with my character muttering that she's "ok". I didn't curse as much as when we were playing MK, and someone bullet bashed me outta 3rd to 8th. Another effect had me die a horrible death because my controller stopped working. XD Fun fun stuff. I kept healing, hoping my head woould explode, but, alas, that did not occur. I had to stop at the end of that chapter, but I can't wait til I get back to it. ^^ I love Insanity Effects. I'll prolly run late with these last few entires as I scramble for article posting goodness, but all in all, this October's been pretty great.

*I'm Ok, Lunies...I'm--BANG*

Jack-O is Whack-O, and So is Day 26 in the 2007 Halloween Countdown

So, we decorated my place for the saturday Halloween bash. This's a sample.


This is the hallway. At the end is my Dad's room. This hall wasn't festooned w/ a lotta stuff, since the only reason people would be here is for the bathroom. Speaking of which:




I'm in love with window clings, and we've had these for 2 years or so. A bitch to store, but its alllllll worth it. On the opposite wall is my pumpkin pal. They came in a set of 4 (Mummy, Goblin, Witch, Pumpkin).


The wall to my room. I hung pumkin laanterns from very doorway in the house. They're pretty cute. A better pic of the Creey and Crawly painting there can be found here: Clickity Me, or on a previous countdown day.


A closer look at this great mirror. I <3 Target Halloween stuff. ^^ Got some sweet pumpkin lites.


In the hall, we have our creepy bride and groom. The bride is on the right, cuz the women is always right, and men are left with everything else. XD My family has corny jokes.


Our coat closet. I like this cutie witch.

And this wreath.


Aforementioned stuffed heads. That damned Halloween sign kept falling down. eventually, we just left it hanging. I'm too lazy to fix it.


We keep buying these houses, I dunno why. One day, I'll turn around, and BAM, there's a Halloween Lilliput in my toilet. Hope they at least leave the seat down.


These bats, while cool, are a bitch to store. We've lost 2 strings last year. this year, I figure we could leave them up till next year. They'll look great when the x-mas lites bounce off them.


Don't mind CSI on the telly. Above is one of 4 paintings my dad bought that are pastiches of famous paintings. Shown is the Medusa Lisa. There's also a skeletal Blue Boy by Gainsbourough, and an spooky American Gothicka. We also have a holographic changing nobleman. My dad loves these things. ^^


Another set of last year's Halloween cuties stuff. I like cute, what can I say.


In reality, this damn thing scares me everytime I walk by it. Fucking thing looks like a grmlin in the dark. I love yoooouuuu, Ghost Boy!

There's more, but I think i might make the blog die in linking them all. XD I love Halloween. It give me a chance to dress up and get candy, and decorate like a madwoman. I skipped the webbing this year, since I have to cook and stuff. But if the party's a success, then its alllll worth it. ^^

*Halloween is love and fear Lunies*

Halloween Advent Calender, Day 13

What with a midterm project sneaking up on me, I'm missing the deadline by a bit...XD Which leads to another cop out entry, but mayhaps another way to enjoy your upcoming Halloween season.

I'm talking about music, of course. What with everyone and their mom with an iPod of some generation (my beloved 1st gen recently went to meet its maker, literally cuz dad had to bring it back into work ^^;;), playlists are one way for me to really get into the spirit. Never mind that I've had my Halloween Mix on shuffled loop since the last 2 weeks of September.

Every Halloween mix needs 3 songs that if your don't have it somehwere in the mix, you should pelt yourself with tampons and head to your prayer closest. Whoops, that's "Carrie"....which you should all partake in before November thrusts its way into fall.
--Michael Jackson's Thriller: if you're not zombie shuffling to everyone's favorite pervert (no not Peewee Herman), then you're a depraved baby-eater whom relishes in crushing puppies. .....damn, that sounded better in my head.
--The Ghostbuster Theme: busting makes me feel good, dammit.
--And of course, Monster Mash: and its sibling song, Monster Hash, which is the equivalent to owning "Walking Round a Winter Wonderland", with "Walking Round in Women's Underwear" queued next.

On my mix, at a whopping 60+ tracks, I have those three and then some. Like Hotel California. Its not a Halloween song by any stretch of the imagination, but always sends a chil up my spine. Same goes with Carlos Santana's Put Your Lights On, though it has some scary qualities. I also suggest Bad Moon by CCR, Haunted by Evanescence, Soul Man by the Blues Brothers (right is right after Soul reaver's main theme), Finale by L'Arc en Ciel (a song about Sadako of Ringu fame), and They Might Be Giants' Courage the Cowardly Dog song they did when CN was awsome and had cartoon music vdeos. Of course, I have Tubular Bells (a classic horror theme), and Disney's Grim Grinning Ghosts (the track they play at the graveyard part of the Haunted Mansion). Also included is Gorillaz's Dracula, which has samples from a Bugs Bunny cartoon (wherein he meets a vampire, then hijinks ensue).

I also have many samples from Fatal Frame 1, which though it had some bad acting, had some great ambiant "music" during ghost encounters, which juxtiposition nicely with the music tracks (Jonny Hollow's Skeleton Song is wonderful to hear after starting at the Blinded Ghost encounter from FF). Also from video games:
-Bi-O's theme from Bust a Groove 2 (its has some delicious screaming and zombie moaning samples)
-Nupraptor's Theme from Blood Omen (also with some great screaming samples)
-Chou and Koe, themes from Fatal Frames 2 and 3 respectively
-Primal Eyes from Parasite Eve
And I can't forget Akira Yamaoka's work in Silent Hill of which I have some of the more memorable tracks like:
-Theme of Laura (full version and the trailer version, which sounds more accoustic)
-Remodling from Silent Hill 4
-Alessa's Harmony from the movie (which has Alessa saying "I'm burning", a reminder of what had happened during the movie)
-Usagi (Robbie the Rabbit's disturbing music video song), Caramel Mix #1, Ki-Ko-No, and Fukuro, all of which had some of the most disturbing and bizzare music videos ever made (seeing Robbie actually move is a sight to behold)

This is just a sampling of my iPod's Halloween Mix, and I hope you all have one too. After all, Christmas shouldn't be the only holiday that gtes its own custom sountrack (Halloween, fortunately) is quite devoid of boy band/teenybopper covers of good songs (though one day, I'd like to hear anyone cover Monster Mash just for the hell of it).

*Music is Love, Lunies*

Halloween Advent Calender, Day 11

A few suggestions on how to kindle a Halloweeny feeling:


Its into the second week of October, so this is about the time to, if you haven't already, get a costume in mind. If dressing up as a murdering rapist with a metal triangle for a head is your cup of mocha, so be it. I'm still on the fence with sexy Peach, but its nice to have options (Mio of Fatal Frame 2 fame, or Miku from fatal Frame 1, or even Mary Sunderland, as above).


Buy some cute Halloweeny decorations. Raziel's got a sweet pumpkin chair. Even if you have to grab some cotton webbing, at least go to town on some decorations. We have about 8 large tubs of Halloween decorations (while our Christmas tubs are 3 in number).


Watch a Halloween special. I have Charlie Brown's and Garfield's. I always make sure to grab a Courage ep here and there.

Light a fire. Which is something we can no longer to, since our new house lacks a fireplace. T_T


Take a trip. But, try to avoid Toluca Lake. I hear its near this weird town.


Play a horror game. My personal faves are Silent Hill (numbers 2 and 3 as highly recommendable), Fatal Frame (all are worthy), Lunacy (if you can find it, its for the Saturn), and of course Resident Evil (4 on the Wii is superb).

Those are some great things besides donning a t-shirt with pumpkin designs or bats and skeletons. Have a great holiday season. Remember: CANDYCANDYCANDY!

*Huh, radio, what's w/ that radio, Lunies?*

Excuse me! Are You Alright?!

Quote of the Week:
"I got fucked."
--My sister, when asked how her day went last week. Needless to say, she 1) meant to say "fucked over", and 2) had a rather unpleasant day that day.

Clio's Word of the Week:
Splitch (v): Sound made when poking large animals (ie elephants, rhinos, hippos) with a pointy stick.
Two in a row!
Gru(interj) One type of moaning sound made by zombies. See also uuuhhhhh, muuuuuhhh, and braaaaainnnnssss.

So. Its now Cotober. Which means many things. Light tables and animation. Good horror flicks. Halloween party. Yaoi-con. Manga. And costumes. Costumes costumes costumes.

Loki: And candy. Lots and lots of candy. Candy candy candy.

YEs. And candy. Did anyone know that the old Disney Halloween cartoon Skeleton Dance was animated by Ub Iwerks? Man, the man was a freaking genius. If any of you really don't know who Iwerks is, I suggest at the very least Googling him and reading up cuz he's fucking sassy awsome.

Aro: Duh dum da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum, da da da.

Yes. Sexy. In other news, I got my hands on ADV's translation of MaLoRa. And I'm disappointed. Not ultra disappointed, but really disappointed. It could have been a lot better. And the fact that they released RAGNAROK before both the anime and the original series really annoys me cuz it just jumps right into the story. And its REIYA not REYA. That "I" is emphasized. And its ECCHAN not ETCHAN, but I'll let that one slide. But to have Reiya not speak in 3rd person?? No honorifics? "Dad" and not "Daddy"??? Ok, I'm really annoyed. But I guess that's what happens when you have contract workers.... *sigh* I know I was building up for disappointment but I guess I was still a little too optimistic. Fair translation, but it could have been a LOT better. One HEL of a lot better. And speaking of which, we won't be seeing her for quite awhile either.

*breathe* Ok, after that little rant, now I'm gonna leave some teasers for upcoming posts. XP Wah-ha.

We're gonna have 2, count 'im, TWO movie reviews this October: Shaun of the Dead and Ju-On, a special book review, RanLune's first Halloween Party (complete with Michael Jackson's Ghosts, an iPod on random and of course glow in the dark baseball) and some other cool stuffin's. Just you wait, its gonna be a hoot! And check out X-Entertainment's coutndown to Halloween! So, catch ya all on the flip siiiide!

*Til next time, Lunies!*

Blaaahhhh....

Kozumi's Quote of the Week:
"I'm gonna argue w/ you naked, so I can make you hard...I mean make it...it hard for you to argue back...!"
--My sis, when talking to Tamago.

Clio's Word of the Week:
Giku (interj): (Japanese) Onomatopea for gulping.

Pleh.....rough week to say th least. A severe abdominal stomach ache since Sunday nite, weird ass KUNDIS shos up on my back....

Loki: Whatsa "kundis"?
Aro: I dunno, what's a kunids to you?
*padumpum pish*
Loki: .............You're a moron.

Saw the doctor, nothing much to report, since stomach ache's gone, and the skin thingy is under further observation. Hope its benign. Plus I gained 3 whole pounds since Sunday! Grrr....

Still obsessed w/ CSI, given that's all my sister watches now.... Love that show; its like Forensic Files w/ characters. And Daveigh Chase was on it. ^^ I love Daveigh Chase.

Played a bit of the new Silent Hill Game, The Room. Man, I love survival horror. Its creepy, its fun to play, ez, and the graphics are nice. I think I might buy it. ^^ Yeah yeah, I know, finish the other games, but what with The Room and Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Director's Cut, Ju-On, and Y-con, its lookin' to be a great Halloween. ^^ YES.

What's everyone gonna be for Halloween, BTW? Annual Halloween Bash Thing at Dez's is set for the weekend before Halloween weekend, and I love it when ppl come in costume. So, as comment box homework, what's this year's costume?

Gonna finish up some homework, so all you Lunies hang tight. Ja ne.

*Till next time, Lunies!*