Eep.
After a lot of stalling I finally decided to buy a laptop, a Toshiba Satellite one in fact. I've been using it for a few weeks by now, and it seems ok so far. I just need to motivate myself to make backups and boot discs later just in case the laptop crashes someday in the future. It's taken quite a few hours to set up Windows and download all the essential programs (as well as the update process for pretty much everything starting from SP1, GeForce drivers and Java Runtime Environment). I hope I won't have to go through yet another chore like that anytime soon.
I was really close to buying Starcraft 2 while I was in the store, though, but I forced myself to limit my purchases and just walked out with the laptop and its accessories. I haven't really decided yet if I should wait a couple more years for SC2 and all its addons once all of them are released in an affordable package or if I should just buy the thing even though it's costly. It'll also be only a matter of time before Diablo 3 arrives, too; the market has simply too many interesting games right now, and I hardly have enough time or money to play them all even though I'd like to.
Then again, I also need so save money for Fallout 3 (Game of the Year edition with all its DLCs, of course) and Fallout: New Vegas because I really want to play those too eventually. But there's the fact that I also need to get off my ass and actually play through Deus Ex (update: I recently checked DE and it actually works well in Win7, arguably better than in WinXP, which is weird), Baldur's Gate 2 and a couple of other games that I still haven't played but which I happen to own. I just wonder if I can make them work in Windows 7 after going through the patching-up process. And there are also the emulators: I've noticed that SnesWin works fine in Windows 7, but I still need to test WinUAE and Gens as well as Project64 to see if those have been patched too.
I've been quite busy with our Finnish marketing project. Our university has decided to focus more on marketing than humanities, and that means more and more marketing courses will creep into our department. That's a load of bull if you ask me, but I also understand the benefits (after all, it never hurts to know more than literary theory or phonetics). Our group's project is to design an advertisement for a furniture company; we also have to write a 25-page report which will detail budget, competition analysis etc. Despite that horrific subject matter the course has been ok and quite funny; we have a rather relaxed atmosphere in class, and we've made the lecturer laugh many times with our antics.
I also got a job in the nationwide alcohol retailer Alko (do far the evaluation time lasts until the end of August, but if all goes well, I might get to work there for a longer period of time), and I'm grateful for such an opportunity because the bills don't pay themselves. Sadly it's not a clear-cut 8 hours per day type of job; you might get a shift (8 hours minimum per week) every once in a while but at least that's better than nothing. I've also been considering taking the job of a freelance movie reviewer assuming that any of our newspapers are interested. I've noticed that many movie reviews are downright horrible, mostly acting as plot summaries. If I'm given a chance, I can show them what a real movie review should look like, but I won't have my hopes up because newspapers are notoriously stingy when it comes to cultural matters. Still, it's worth a try.
Easter went quite well although I was disappointed that I didn't get to watch any Bible-themed movies this year. Sis Maarit and her boyfriend Jarkko came to visit mom and I, and we spent the days together. Jarkko had also brought PS3 with him so I finally got to try my hand at playing some PS games as well as experiencing Blu-ray quality in Full HD TV.
The games I tried were The Force Unleashed 2 demo and Uncharted 2. As I expected, I sucked at both. You had to remember all those combos and mash so many buttons at the same time and manually adjust the camera angle, and I'm used to a much slicker gameplay on PC so I had trouble advancing in these games even in the easiest difficulty setting. I basically went with trial and error in TFU2, beating stormtroopers and their droid escorts with sheer luck. It was fun but also frustrating because the combat was so fast-paced and the controls were odd for someone like me who wasn't used to them. As for U2, it went somewhat better because the controls made more sense. However, I really sucked at crowded battles such as the one at Lazarevic's excavation site. Having to manually adjust your aim which keeps screwing up thanks to the gun's firing was a pain in the ass. Because of my poor aiming, I was constantly out of ammo so I often ended up fist-fighting the bad guys just to collect more ammo. I also found out that the pistol was a better weapon for me because the larger rifles and such were quite inaccurate unless you stood right next to the crooks. However, the games were fun, but I'd much rather play them with a keyboard and a mouse. Or maybe I'm just getting too old for these kinds of fast-paced button-mashing games.
Because the PS3 gave me a chance to try out Blu-ray in its fullest settings, I put in some of the Disney Blu-rays that I had bought... namely Snow White and Beauty and the Beast. The former looked quite alright but the latter made me jaw drop: the visuals were even more stunning than I had assumed, and I could see every little detail in the background and animation. This also helped me to notice all the minor mistakes which the animators had made. It gave me a new appreciation of the films (particularly BatB).
However, these presentations did come with flaws: some of the shots in SW were out of focus (e.g. Queen Grimhilde's eyes when she orders the Huntsman to bring her Snow's heart), and the animation in BatB stood out from the backround in a really irritating way. In fact, the BatB characters looked like flash-animated cardboard cutouts. I know it's because Blu-ray's quality makes the distinction between matte and pencil animation clear, but it really pulled me out of the movie. I believe that some hand-drawn animation just doesn't benefit too much from Blu-ray treatment, and BatB further cemented that thought in me. Sure, the awesome video quality is great, but I was aware I was watching animation instead of watching a story. Perhaps it just takes time to get used to such a dazzling look, but it did catch me by surprise.
I found the Disney extras on Blu-ray quite interesting. I like the interactive hosts, the sheer number of behind the scenes clips as well as the fact that the program bookmarks which segments you've seen so far. It took me several hours to go through BatB's and SW's bonus features, and I sincerely hope Disney keeps up the trend in future Diamond Editions. The only thing that I lament is that they should've spent more time on the technical aspect of the music; now they just tend to glorify the songs and songmakers for 20-30 minutes instead of actually explaning all the instrumental motifs and the thought put into creating them.
I happened upon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic by accident. I didn't pay much attention to it at first although I had fond memories of G2 incarnation of ponies which I used to watch as a kid. However, when I found more and more posts about MLP:FiM being awesome, I got curious. Was the show getting such good hype for nothing, or did it really have something worth watching? I decided to check it out.
The show turned out to be better than I expected. Despite being a commercial show aimed for young girls, it also had enough depth and good characterization for other segments to enjoy too. The cast is likable, the stories are witty and fun (with some clever pop culture puns going all the way back to obscure theatre plays), and the animation is smooth for flash standards. And the VAs do a pretty good job: gotta love Tara Strong's performance as Twilight Sparkle.
I guess I could gush about the characters a lot, but let's just say that my favourites are Fluttershy and Applejack. There's just something about those two that I find so adorable (and gotta love those accents). It's rare in a show like this to have so many likable characters, but I've yet to encounter a single truly obnoxious character (the two young male ponies in the Trixie episode came close but they didn't piss me off in the end). That shows the quality of the characterization.
The show is also self-conscious. It knows when it's using tropes and sometimes subverts the audience's expectations. It isn't even afraid of making fun of itself (e.g. Pinkie's musical number in episode 2), and it's also quite good at foreshadowing and comedy. Sure, it rips off from several sources (Benny Hill's Yakety Sax in some chase scenes, Spike's dastardly whiplash persona taking cues from various silent era movie villains, and Rarity's "Art of Dress" song lifted almost directly from a certain play to mention a few) but it's done in a good enough way to keep adults interested. I doubt even I have spotted all the cultural references in this show, and the funny thing is that those tributes don't distract from the episodes themselves at all.
Of course the show's not perfect. I could list tons of flaws if I wanted to, but I don't feel like it. Considering the target audience, this show has exceeded people's expectations. It's good quality entertainment for any Pony fan and even for those who despised earlier incarnations. Of course it also depends on how much cuteness you can take, but if you have an open mind about animation and stories like I do, then you might be surprised. I look forward to watching more episodes as they air: the show's been promising so far.
One thing that surprises me is how many fans the show has from guys aged 15-35. I think it all started from 4chan as a sort of practical joke, the guys wanting to make fun of the show. Then they realized it was actually good, and soon many of them became "bronies" (a slang term for pony fans... yeah, don't ask). Since then the show's popularity has spread like wildfire, spawning multiple internet memes. Although I'm happy to see male fans for a show intended for girls, it's also deeply disturbing how fanatic many of these fans are. I don't judge anyone by being a devoted fan, but sometimes the fans' actions go quite over the top. But it's their fun so I'll let them be. It's just kind of interesting to see how far they're willing to go for their "love" of the show. =P
But enough talk. It's time to show some of my favourite crossover videos (may or may not include retarded humour):
Probably the best MLP crossover so far. MLP and StarCraft. 'Nuff said. The lip sync is gorgeous.
Wrap ups have never been so catchy. Seriously, I've had this frickin' song stuck in my head for over a month now, and it doesn't go away.
This confirms that Pinkie Pie would be Ronove if Ronove was a mare. Yes... deliberately silly, I know. In case you're wondering wtf I'm talking about, please refer to Ronove's official article at tGAWiki. Both he and Pinkie Pie are cloudcuckoolanders of the highest caliber. Seriously. I can't watch a Pinkie Pie scene without being reminded of Ronove... particularly any episodes dealing with cake.
This cracks me up every time. Gotta love the Moonbase Alpha references. Yes, it's retarded but hilarious if you know the context. And yes, the show has so many intentional drug references that it's outrageous.
Thanks to fellow RPers (and a chat with Nic) I finally proceeded with a plot I had been waiting to "conclude" for several months and posted this at tGA. I just love it when a plan comes together. Obviously it was such a big twist that I didn't want to make it happen without consulting with a few people first. I was kinda worried if they'd reject the idea but luckily they gave me their approval so I could proceed with it.
I don't recall ever reading (or watching) a scene where your resident comic cloudcuckoolander character turns the plot upside down. Feel free to correct me if you know such examples because I'm curious of reading such scenes (particularly if they're pulled off well). Ronove happens to be a rather quirky, funny AND random guy in tGA world who sort of acts like a comic relief. However, he changes after regaining his memories and defeats a major villain but instead of heroic stuff he takes said villain's place in a twist. It may sound far-fetched but it makes sense in context.
This neat twist gives the heroes something to ponder and puts them in a rather dangerous, unknown situation. Will their former ally remain as an elusive friend or become an even worse foe than the ones before him? Ronove's story has yet to conclude, and I'm happy that I can finally drag Refan into it because his story is about to take a dramatic turn too (although it obviously isn't the focus of the main plot, it's still a nice subplot which I've had going on ever since chapter 1). I just like long-term plans which span chapters and subtly reveal themselves to other RPers.
I generally enjoy writing about betrayals because the challenge is keeping the characters in-character and yet make the twist plausible. Although the Ronove revelation post looks a bit rushed, I can't really think of a way to improve it without lengthening it considerably. And it's just a part of a bigger whole. I also like the mystery of it: what exactly does he have in mind? Who is he loyal to? What are his ultimate goals (which may or may not be his "visible" goals)? Why is he so interested in Refan? How will he react to Omaroch's imprisonment? Can he and Nesa remain friends anymore? Will he try to have revenge on those who betrayed him in the past or does he have common demon interests at heart? Is he still crazy, or does he have a split personality? These and so many other questions will be answered eventually... I hope. I just like the twist for the simple reason that it gives Ronove much needed character development and turns him into a rather conflicted, interesting "antagonist" character. Plus his actions show that even the main heroes don't win all the time.
I hope the RP stays active because I really want to continue the Vanna storyline and see how other characters will react to these sudden twists. And how will Refan react to all of this? That remains to be seen.
Yours,
Mikko
I was really close to buying Starcraft 2 while I was in the store, though, but I forced myself to limit my purchases and just walked out with the laptop and its accessories. I haven't really decided yet if I should wait a couple more years for SC2 and all its addons once all of them are released in an affordable package or if I should just buy the thing even though it's costly. It'll also be only a matter of time before Diablo 3 arrives, too; the market has simply too many interesting games right now, and I hardly have enough time or money to play them all even though I'd like to.
Then again, I also need so save money for Fallout 3 (Game of the Year edition with all its DLCs, of course) and Fallout: New Vegas because I really want to play those too eventually. But there's the fact that I also need to get off my ass and actually play through Deus Ex (update: I recently checked DE and it actually works well in Win7, arguably better than in WinXP, which is weird), Baldur's Gate 2 and a couple of other games that I still haven't played but which I happen to own. I just wonder if I can make them work in Windows 7 after going through the patching-up process. And there are also the emulators: I've noticed that SnesWin works fine in Windows 7, but I still need to test WinUAE and Gens as well as Project64 to see if those have been patched too.
I've been quite busy with our Finnish marketing project. Our university has decided to focus more on marketing than humanities, and that means more and more marketing courses will creep into our department. That's a load of bull if you ask me, but I also understand the benefits (after all, it never hurts to know more than literary theory or phonetics). Our group's project is to design an advertisement for a furniture company; we also have to write a 25-page report which will detail budget, competition analysis etc. Despite that horrific subject matter the course has been ok and quite funny; we have a rather relaxed atmosphere in class, and we've made the lecturer laugh many times with our antics.
I also got a job in the nationwide alcohol retailer Alko (do far the evaluation time lasts until the end of August, but if all goes well, I might get to work there for a longer period of time), and I'm grateful for such an opportunity because the bills don't pay themselves. Sadly it's not a clear-cut 8 hours per day type of job; you might get a shift (8 hours minimum per week) every once in a while but at least that's better than nothing. I've also been considering taking the job of a freelance movie reviewer assuming that any of our newspapers are interested. I've noticed that many movie reviews are downright horrible, mostly acting as plot summaries. If I'm given a chance, I can show them what a real movie review should look like, but I won't have my hopes up because newspapers are notoriously stingy when it comes to cultural matters. Still, it's worth a try.
Easter went quite well although I was disappointed that I didn't get to watch any Bible-themed movies this year. Sis Maarit and her boyfriend Jarkko came to visit mom and I, and we spent the days together. Jarkko had also brought PS3 with him so I finally got to try my hand at playing some PS games as well as experiencing Blu-ray quality in Full HD TV.
The games I tried were The Force Unleashed 2 demo and Uncharted 2. As I expected, I sucked at both. You had to remember all those combos and mash so many buttons at the same time and manually adjust the camera angle, and I'm used to a much slicker gameplay on PC so I had trouble advancing in these games even in the easiest difficulty setting. I basically went with trial and error in TFU2, beating stormtroopers and their droid escorts with sheer luck. It was fun but also frustrating because the combat was so fast-paced and the controls were odd for someone like me who wasn't used to them. As for U2, it went somewhat better because the controls made more sense. However, I really sucked at crowded battles such as the one at Lazarevic's excavation site. Having to manually adjust your aim which keeps screwing up thanks to the gun's firing was a pain in the ass. Because of my poor aiming, I was constantly out of ammo so I often ended up fist-fighting the bad guys just to collect more ammo. I also found out that the pistol was a better weapon for me because the larger rifles and such were quite inaccurate unless you stood right next to the crooks. However, the games were fun, but I'd much rather play them with a keyboard and a mouse. Or maybe I'm just getting too old for these kinds of fast-paced button-mashing games.
Because the PS3 gave me a chance to try out Blu-ray in its fullest settings, I put in some of the Disney Blu-rays that I had bought... namely Snow White and Beauty and the Beast. The former looked quite alright but the latter made me jaw drop: the visuals were even more stunning than I had assumed, and I could see every little detail in the background and animation. This also helped me to notice all the minor mistakes which the animators had made. It gave me a new appreciation of the films (particularly BatB).
However, these presentations did come with flaws: some of the shots in SW were out of focus (e.g. Queen Grimhilde's eyes when she orders the Huntsman to bring her Snow's heart), and the animation in BatB stood out from the backround in a really irritating way. In fact, the BatB characters looked like flash-animated cardboard cutouts. I know it's because Blu-ray's quality makes the distinction between matte and pencil animation clear, but it really pulled me out of the movie. I believe that some hand-drawn animation just doesn't benefit too much from Blu-ray treatment, and BatB further cemented that thought in me. Sure, the awesome video quality is great, but I was aware I was watching animation instead of watching a story. Perhaps it just takes time to get used to such a dazzling look, but it did catch me by surprise.
I found the Disney extras on Blu-ray quite interesting. I like the interactive hosts, the sheer number of behind the scenes clips as well as the fact that the program bookmarks which segments you've seen so far. It took me several hours to go through BatB's and SW's bonus features, and I sincerely hope Disney keeps up the trend in future Diamond Editions. The only thing that I lament is that they should've spent more time on the technical aspect of the music; now they just tend to glorify the songs and songmakers for 20-30 minutes instead of actually explaning all the instrumental motifs and the thought put into creating them.
I happened upon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic by accident. I didn't pay much attention to it at first although I had fond memories of G2 incarnation of ponies which I used to watch as a kid. However, when I found more and more posts about MLP:FiM being awesome, I got curious. Was the show getting such good hype for nothing, or did it really have something worth watching? I decided to check it out.
The show turned out to be better than I expected. Despite being a commercial show aimed for young girls, it also had enough depth and good characterization for other segments to enjoy too. The cast is likable, the stories are witty and fun (with some clever pop culture puns going all the way back to obscure theatre plays), and the animation is smooth for flash standards. And the VAs do a pretty good job: gotta love Tara Strong's performance as Twilight Sparkle.
I guess I could gush about the characters a lot, but let's just say that my favourites are Fluttershy and Applejack. There's just something about those two that I find so adorable (and gotta love those accents). It's rare in a show like this to have so many likable characters, but I've yet to encounter a single truly obnoxious character (the two young male ponies in the Trixie episode came close but they didn't piss me off in the end). That shows the quality of the characterization.
The show is also self-conscious. It knows when it's using tropes and sometimes subverts the audience's expectations. It isn't even afraid of making fun of itself (e.g. Pinkie's musical number in episode 2), and it's also quite good at foreshadowing and comedy. Sure, it rips off from several sources (Benny Hill's Yakety Sax in some chase scenes, Spike's dastardly whiplash persona taking cues from various silent era movie villains, and Rarity's "Art of Dress" song lifted almost directly from a certain play to mention a few) but it's done in a good enough way to keep adults interested. I doubt even I have spotted all the cultural references in this show, and the funny thing is that those tributes don't distract from the episodes themselves at all.
Of course the show's not perfect. I could list tons of flaws if I wanted to, but I don't feel like it. Considering the target audience, this show has exceeded people's expectations. It's good quality entertainment for any Pony fan and even for those who despised earlier incarnations. Of course it also depends on how much cuteness you can take, but if you have an open mind about animation and stories like I do, then you might be surprised. I look forward to watching more episodes as they air: the show's been promising so far.
One thing that surprises me is how many fans the show has from guys aged 15-35. I think it all started from 4chan as a sort of practical joke, the guys wanting to make fun of the show. Then they realized it was actually good, and soon many of them became "bronies" (a slang term for pony fans... yeah, don't ask). Since then the show's popularity has spread like wildfire, spawning multiple internet memes. Although I'm happy to see male fans for a show intended for girls, it's also deeply disturbing how fanatic many of these fans are. I don't judge anyone by being a devoted fan, but sometimes the fans' actions go quite over the top. But it's their fun so I'll let them be. It's just kind of interesting to see how far they're willing to go for their "love" of the show. =P
But enough talk. It's time to show some of my favourite crossover videos (may or may not include retarded humour):
Probably the best MLP crossover so far. MLP and StarCraft. 'Nuff said. The lip sync is gorgeous.
Wrap ups have never been so catchy. Seriously, I've had this frickin' song stuck in my head for over a month now, and it doesn't go away.
This confirms that Pinkie Pie would be Ronove if Ronove was a mare. Yes... deliberately silly, I know. In case you're wondering wtf I'm talking about, please refer to Ronove's official article at tGAWiki. Both he and Pinkie Pie are cloudcuckoolanders of the highest caliber. Seriously. I can't watch a Pinkie Pie scene without being reminded of Ronove... particularly any episodes dealing with cake.
This cracks me up every time. Gotta love the Moonbase Alpha references. Yes, it's retarded but hilarious if you know the context. And yes, the show has so many intentional drug references that it's outrageous.
Thanks to fellow RPers (and a chat with Nic) I finally proceeded with a plot I had been waiting to "conclude" for several months and posted this at tGA. I just love it when a plan comes together. Obviously it was such a big twist that I didn't want to make it happen without consulting with a few people first. I was kinda worried if they'd reject the idea but luckily they gave me their approval so I could proceed with it.
I don't recall ever reading (or watching) a scene where your resident comic cloudcuckoolander character turns the plot upside down. Feel free to correct me if you know such examples because I'm curious of reading such scenes (particularly if they're pulled off well). Ronove happens to be a rather quirky, funny AND random guy in tGA world who sort of acts like a comic relief. However, he changes after regaining his memories and defeats a major villain but instead of heroic stuff he takes said villain's place in a twist. It may sound far-fetched but it makes sense in context.
This neat twist gives the heroes something to ponder and puts them in a rather dangerous, unknown situation. Will their former ally remain as an elusive friend or become an even worse foe than the ones before him? Ronove's story has yet to conclude, and I'm happy that I can finally drag Refan into it because his story is about to take a dramatic turn too (although it obviously isn't the focus of the main plot, it's still a nice subplot which I've had going on ever since chapter 1). I just like long-term plans which span chapters and subtly reveal themselves to other RPers.
I generally enjoy writing about betrayals because the challenge is keeping the characters in-character and yet make the twist plausible. Although the Ronove revelation post looks a bit rushed, I can't really think of a way to improve it without lengthening it considerably. And it's just a part of a bigger whole. I also like the mystery of it: what exactly does he have in mind? Who is he loyal to? What are his ultimate goals (which may or may not be his "visible" goals)? Why is he so interested in Refan? How will he react to Omaroch's imprisonment? Can he and Nesa remain friends anymore? Will he try to have revenge on those who betrayed him in the past or does he have common demon interests at heart? Is he still crazy, or does he have a split personality? These and so many other questions will be answered eventually... I hope. I just like the twist for the simple reason that it gives Ronove much needed character development and turns him into a rather conflicted, interesting "antagonist" character. Plus his actions show that even the main heroes don't win all the time.
I hope the RP stays active because I really want to continue the Vanna storyline and see how other characters will react to these sudden twists. And how will Refan react to all of this? That remains to be seen.
Yours,
Mikko