Year End Summary

assuming in the next few days I don't smoke, drink, have a menage a trois with korean pop stars or ever be requited romantically, I think now would be a good time to summarize my year. I think i'm well out of themes, because this year has just been chaotic.

so, this year started off with a LOT of goodbyes, and fuckery of the highest order. I made new friends in Sam and Kenzo (and Kris, but there's more on that later), got repeatedly pushed out of my comfort zone only to attempt to bounce back slightly changed.

Anyone close to me in 2010 would remember me saying I was through with Hann. I was right. Hann losing it kinda made the deletion process all the more easier, so that worked to my advantage.

Needless to say, once again the family is growing. I've found people I can really be myself around (minus murderous tendencies) and who often share like-minded goals. Meanwhile, its been a year and the 4 of us (me, dush, chang and maxim) are still spending weekends hanging out and playing video games.

that felt odd.

I was prepared to say this year was terrible. I mean, shit happened. I was backstabbed, thrown into worlds I was completely unprepared for and every female in my college thinks i'm a serial killer. But it works. As of this posting, SHE is still not talking to me, but who knows? things might work out.

Perhaps the biggest achievement of this year was me knowing who I am. Teenagers always have this issue that without knowing who they are, they do stupid things. They conform just so they'll be liked.

I am this guy who likes robots and aliens, romance, hip hop and Kpop. I tend to not feel at crucial times, I tend to explode at bad times. This statement makes no sense to the reader, but to me, I know what works now.

The whole challenge of learning to draw has been the catalyst for a lot of things. I guess in a way, occupying my mind with that one challenge, it solves so many others.

In short, this year was my year to figure things out on my own. all the times I WAS left in the cold contributed in a way.

Hit me, 2012.

It's just how I roll

21/12/11: That weird Game Review (Doctor Who: WIT and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney)

I can't catch a break. As you may know, i'm a pretty straightforward guy. I enjoy the simplest of gaming: Combat, plot, not too much minigames. Today I got to play the new Doctor Who MMO, Worlds in Time.

Now, before I start, I have to mention DCU Online. A junior of mine once pestered me about why I won't play it with him (trying to get at i'm too chicken to do anything online). My rebuttal was that I HAD played it (which I did) and I just found it... underwhelming. For some reason, ALL MMOs now go under that same cookie cutter format of "Kill x [monster] to get this reward". And DCU wasn't any different. it's like that girl who just can't meet an honest guy. What the heck?

Don't get me wrong: I enjoy myself some good action. in fact, I almost thrive on it. But the market is just WAY saturated right now.

So I was linked to DW: WIT. http://doctorwhowit.com I'll mention some stuff I liked about it, here:

the art style is VERY cute. almost like AQW. The clothes store in the game pleases fans of the series, with options such as the tenth doctor's suit (color customizable, of course) and various other garments from doctors of long ago. As far as i've gotten into the game, it was NOT AT ALL like an MMO i've played before.

The mechanics of this game are heavily co-op and mini game driven. To the point if you're an anti-social guy like myself, The Doctor will assign you 2 mindless AI drones at your beck and call. It was highly suggested you form your own party before engaging in any missions.

Before I go on any further, it should be on the record half an hour into this game, as much as my love for DW tried, I rage quit and have no forseeable plans to continue the game. Here's why:

MINI-GAMES

I was told at a seminar once about familiarity. Sure, you wanna design an alien race with a jet: but you have to let them somehow know its a jet. You can't make a flying bagel and say "this will break the sound barrier!". In retrospect, a supersonic bagel is awesome. I digress.

The short version of the following rant is that the minigames are various, and sometimes a little overdrawn. Also, they make good use of familiar concepts.

The game relies HEAVILY on mini-games. Your first one is door unlocking. anyone who's played Fairypop (or something like that) on Neopets will be familiar with this. various colored objects, you have to shoot the right one at the right location to make them all disappear. For some reason, though, you repeat this a LOT of times, to the point you want to take a sonic screwdriver to your head and wish it could kill you. which it can't.

Unlocking doors? still mini-game worthy. I get it.

The next bit, you have to fix some wires. Re-wiring, on the other hand, is the same hacking minigame from the first bioshock. connect pipes from point A to point B before the timer runs out. when you screw up, it gets progressively harder. The first time I had to do this, I was lost. But this wasn't as overstretched like the lock picking was. And to be honest, this still makes a little sense. Especially with the bioshock background.

From here on, it gets downhill. I finished my quest and was rewarded with my 2 mind slaves. My next part, I had to question a guy. I thought, "okay, point and click dialogue. Simple, right?"

WRONG.

They made me play bejewelled with the guy. BEJEWELLED. I mean, anyone who watches Doctor Who would agree that dialogue is one of the gems of the show. and i'm denied the chance to talk to the guy, with it being phased over instead for a game of freaking BEJEWELLED. I couldn't lie to you if I wanted, people. What's worse was that there was this weird tutorial-hint-thing that made NO sense that kept interrupting me. Thanks, one word tutorials.

So after regrouping with my mindslaves who bejewelled the other witness, it turns out my guy was an Auton. Go figure. Now they're introducing to me the combat system. Knowing the good Doctor to be a bit of a pacifist, I wasn't expecting much from combat. Maybe a simple turn-based thing. or even the 3x3 click thing. Are you ready for it? I promise you you're not.

they made me play

TETRIS

Combat is translated into Tetris. and by "translated", I don't mean in the way BBS "translated" card games into real life combat. I mean they CALL it combat, but what they MEAN is tetris.

"psh. tetris. Piece of cake"

actually, the blocks I knew too well looked more like ice cream. Before I rage quit, I'd started referring to them by flavors. But color coding OR filling up a space perfectly (no gaps) does not get rid of their ice creamy goodness. No. apparently, you need a special glowy ice cream (color coded to match respective flavors, of course) to come in contact with a chain and blow them up. I'm not sure for how long, I never got that far.

So no. It wasn't EVEN tetris, it was SUPER TETRIS TARDIS EDITION.

I'd died so many times in this 'kombat' that I finally closed the game. And unless a strange man in a fez comes up to me and changes my mind, I doubt it'll ever be open again. I bring your attention to my supersonic bagel: the combat system is so distorted from what you're used to, you don't know if you want to call it combat or not.

Verdict:

I have to applaud the makers of this game for not conforming to typical MMO. However, the over-reliance on minigames is a double-edged sword: on one hand, using familiar concepts makes tutorials less important. On the other, we've seen it before. The answer, however, was not ST:TE.

Congrats, Doctor. you have out-WITted me. Or maybe free MMOs just won't be good.

***

On the less recent front, I tried my hand at an older game today: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. I'll have to say, I'm not sure how to describe it. You've probably played it or at least heard of it by now. It's a courtroom game where you play a lawyer named Phoenix Wright. I won't spoil the storyline, as its VERY story-driven.

The game makes you look for evidence, talk to people, building up until the big court case (which is the combat equivalent).

I must salute CAPCOM, the courtroom (while the reading is tedious) really feels like a verbal boxing match. Twitter followers would notice my many tweets while I complained about my ass getting handed to me by Miles Edgeworth. you really need to watch what you do, and not piss off the judge (although that usually only happens by giving him crap evidence).

Unfortunately, as in DMC, when my wits fail me, my solution is to whip out the biggest sword I can and ctrl+kill_all. and that's not an option here. the odds of you doing the right thing by luck are very poor, and you'll have to spend a lot of time reviewing statements.

I'm still early into the game, but as the chattiness of this game is necessary (you're a lawyer, for crying out loud), there's not much to complain on it.

It should be noted that this game throws you straight into an anime. Everyone's reactions are rather exaggerated, for some reason the murderer is usually a witness and anyone old enough for "other courtroom activities" has not-surprised-its-an-anime giant-sized fukushima reactors under their necks. I can't imagine they go to the beach much, seeing as they'd probably cause ANOTHER Tsunami. This of course leads to funny side thoughts when they bring up wire-tapping [ e.g: "You tapped the victim?" "I would"]. I won't mention that they focus on this A LOT. But I just did.

Phoenix Wright is a nice refreshing pace, and their not-combat system still has an almost combat-y feel to it. Before I go back to sleep with thoughts of supersonic pastries and other baked goods in mind, I have one last thing to say:

TAKE THAT!

It's just how I roll

12/12/11

I kind of miss you. That smile, that general assumption you have me figured out, then that resigned look when I ask you to explain and you say you can't read me. I can retreat into my hate and schemes and grey tinted glasses, but the fact is sometimes I just want someone to challenge me. Ironically, it is this challenging that is keeping us apart.

Why do I keep doing this whole "happy-by-day-miserable-by-night" thing? i need sleep. and carbonara.

It's just how I roll

Mortality (11.12.11)

Look around you

move some dirt; plant a seed.

as the sun sets, you see the ember light caress the dirt.

'someday it shall be green hills'

A small field now.

You're basking in the glow of sunrise.

The sun has been all but too much; you've never seen rain.

'should not the ever sun, shining; be a gift?'

It's the noon and people have come to help.

Its only natural that the strongest chains are forged in sweat and blood.

you look up and the sky reddens.

it's never fair, is it?

1. A challenge. Solve the world.

It's never fair, is it?

in the brownian life that collisions happen;

only to disappear.

2. An almost doppler-like effect.

We sit together and our minds are being teased by it.

movement makes us what we are

it is also destroying us

3. we are not grapes.

Why do we not value what has already gone sour?

we discard; we move: the clockwork equation.

But the world moves just like that

4. We discard and are discarded.

We forgive but are never forgiven.

When we are gone, what do we leave behind?

Who will look at our footprints only with the desire to meet our end?

5. Half of a face, a quarter the cycle.

Its coming, and the stars come out.

they are the audience; they demand their show.

The journey is not ending yet, I hope.

6. Some have finished the journey. Answered the challenge.

The finish line is different for all of us.

We are now at the half-face. Is that excuse enough for change?

I look next to me, marks in the field resemble people gone.

I tried to put them back, the broken pieces.

I wear my enemy on my wrist. In the arrow of progression; i long to be a ghost.

Because when you're at the 11th hour, riddle me this:

Will they be there forever, or just longer than most?

**

As you can see, something is bothering me.

I'll reflect on it soon enough

It's just how I roll

8/12/11

although technically the week ends tomorrow, my recap will focus on the awesomeness of the past few days.

Since none of my readers are from my xanga days, it should be noted that Transformers changed my life. Not in the big dramatic way, well, in a way... but yeah. The first transformers movie got me IN to animation. its set the course of the past few years. Made me decide "yeah. I wanna do movies. particularly robots".

Of course, the credit also goes to Adib for just about being one of the most awesome best friends ever (did I ever mention the story of how he taught me stop motion?) so that really put everything together. Life would be drastically different without him (shoutout to Alex, mention a word of this to him and I will hunt. you. down)

So yeah. Remember: were it not for transformers, i would not have gone the next 4 years as "cynical robot geek dude". Take that in. And then this week, I met Shawn Kelly and Carlos Baena, the lead animator of transformers and one of the animators at pixar respectively.

It. was. awesome.

I mean, seriously. I didn't think about it much at first, then I was like "shit. this dude is why i'm here"

I'd have the same speech for Carlos, but pixar has always been such a wide range that it doesn't quite connect. But his story bout the whole rejection thing really puts things in perspective.

So, aside from shaking his hand, I got him to sign my unnamed tablet. It. was. awesome.

thoughts running low. will also eventually write my thoughts on The Muppets. (which i watched a special screening of)

It's just how I roll

3/12/11

So, if you haven't quite noticed, i've shut myself up for a pretty long time. Blog posts not been as full of that content you just love.

Since nothing really HAPPENS anymore, i'm now going to one-shot you my week. Stay tuned as I cover sexy tangos set to pop music, velvet suits, Jung Soo Yeon and the sex that never happened.

So, I spend a lot (i mean A LOT) of time at home. However, melor came back recently and we needed to catch a movie. Since i'd already caught immortals TWICE (and STILL don't get what its about) and that awesome movie about boxing robots was no longer showing, all i had left was twilight.

At the very least, I got my money's worth in laughs. This movie was so horribly done I would have cried. And then the censorship board had to go and butcher the movie FURTHER and now I walk out of the cinema not knowing at all what the fuck I just wasted valuable life seconds watching. Granted, given a choice, i'd watch this again over abduction (if you haven't read how much i hated THAT, I strongly recommend you do).

And the only thing making this movie worse is the people who obsess over it. I have my obsessions too, granted. But if someone's going around giving your shitpiece of a movie a beatdown, the last thing you wanna do is let him know how much it bothers you. Seriously. This is a new record for me. I got told to shut up during the movie by 2 GUYS (XY people) and then got called "uncivilized" for criticizing the movie.

I've hit an all-time high on that.

Although i'll give it one thing, to an extent the wedding was okay, and jacob is a LITTLE more tolerable here. But the werewolves are still having orgies in the woods and bella is still a... well she's not a slut, what do you call the most spineless and needy person on the planet?

i would mention you, but that'd be below the belt. even for me.

Moving on, the week also had its share of kpop. SNSD won an award and people hated that. The sky is blue, water is wet and every time you bite a piece of bread, it gets SMALLER. Honestly, the higher you get up the K-Pop ladder, the worse off it gets.

Basically, what i said earlier applies here. Both ways. Haters who hate only make the fans happier, and fans who bitch about haters only make the haters win. How do you curb this?

NOT. GIVE. A FUCK.

I mean, I'm happy everyone who won well, won. throw your own little parties and give the devil your soul or whatever the fuck you kids do nowadays when something goes your way. Done.

Now if you haven't noticed, i'm going to go on about goings on in the world instead of my head. Because this week, you don't get a glimpse. Still under reconstruction. Moving on.

So the awards show saw one more awesome thing thats never really happened in the world of kpop (my verification is that if its happened before and korea DIDN'T go into civil war, it'll happen a million more times (case in point, abracadabra))

(photo: AllKpop)

Before you think i'm all upset about this like the million of fangirls, boys and other, i'm actually pretty cool with this. We guys have no shot with hyunA anyways.

So, Trouble Maker, as I understand, is some form of mini group from B2STs HyunSeung and 4M's HyunA. Now, anyone who's seen BubblePop! would agree with me if I said the music video was largely a letdown. HyunA (in my opinion) is a very talented artist, capable of some pretty awesome dance moves (anyone who can tango is, in my books, a bauss) some sick raps and can pull off the fierce look well. Bubble Pop however, throws that all away in favor of her 2 talents right there. This performance however, was very tango-like, VERY steamy (more than twilight, anyway (I STILL feel profoundly ripped off)) and lets face it: HyunA looks better in a long dress compared to Bubblepop's "how many ways can we strip hyunA without getting this mv banned?" concept.

And then the mv came out.

i know i'm not mentioning HS much in this rant, because i'm not very familiar with B2ST (i like their songs, but never got acquainted with the members. bite me)

So the mv is like, good. Crazy good. it's like a korean Love. Sex. Magic. and anyone who knows how much i like that one... knows how much I like it? clearly i am in need of more sugar in my system.

if you've seen Hyuna's performances of Just Follow on Music Bank, you'll see the side of HyunA I don't get dates for liking. Fierce, charismatic, and still hot even though she's hardly showing any skin. While she's not rapping in this music video, that confidence is still there.

while the acting isn't GREAT, any scene involving the duo feels like a sexual timebomb waiting to explode. That bit where they almost lock lips and she pulls away almost leaves you breathless. It's not over-the-top, it's just hot.

And HyunSeung (the lucky bugger i wanna high-five SO BADLY right now) looks damn good in a suit. he looks a little babyfaced compared to HyunA, but does the man know how to work a suit. he has several in the mv, from leopard print to velvet. and they all. look. gorgeous. Sadly, i didn't take any caps of him (priorities. blow me, fangirls)

did i mention red lipstick is a killer turn-on? because yeah.

So with Melor being back, she's introduced me to british comedy. Brits are dry, sarcastic and awesome. While I love the kind of american humor associated with Barney Stinson (over the top slapstick) and Jack Donaghy (well-timed oddly placed phrases), there's just something I love about Stephen Fry and Jimmy Carr. Jimmy Carr tends to be a little offensive, but people say that about me all the time. Plus, anyone who can make a comeback like Jimmy deserves to be worshipped. If you haven't, check him out. Stephen Fry is at his best on QI, where he makes saying ANYTHING sound normal.

I've also finally gotten around to hearing LMFAO's Sexy and I know it. I will never watch the full music video, for I like my retinas not burnt to a crisp. It's not that I hate LMFAO, I quite liked Party Rock Anthem and SAIKI is pretty good too. it's just that I think they are prone to being seriously overplayed. And if there's anything i hate, its a good song being ruined by a 13 year old who just learned to cuss.

So if you haven't noticed, not much on SNSD. I mean, there was the award, and Star Life Theater (which i have yet to finish watching and therefore shan't comment). In fact, you'd almost say they did nothing in the uprising of HyunA for this week. A few minutes ago, I'd have agreed.

Then this happened.

Did I mention I loved this police concept? it's uniformed like Genie, they are showing off legs without looking too over-the-top and it just nags you at the back of the head with that little stripper fantasy with their knee-high boots.

"Yes Jessica, I have been bad. And the handcuffs are ABSOLUTELY necessary"

and I wonder why no one will date me.

BONUS: shoutout to Alex if she's actually read through this long and didn't storm off at the twilight rant.

It's just how I roll

27.11/11

Insecurity time. shh.

So I have this bad habit where when i'm left alone too long, I start churning out worst case scenarios and they start destroying me like corruptors on a banshee. And really, no one's safe from this. Sometimes i think even those i hold closest are ready with a knife and a smartass soothsayer for a brilliant day in politics

if you got that reference, good for you.

So yeah. sometimes I think you're actually just entertaining me while hoping i'll eventually be gone. I mean, I don't know about you, but I think we connect really well. And well, yeah. But you have your world, I have mine. and another of my many personality flaws would kick in if we crossed those lines.

brain suddenly blank. lately my head's defense mechanism against depression has been to just empty all thoughts after a while. blek.

It's just how I roll