No doubt... Silent Hill has the honor of being the first game I've ever played to actually creep me out. Running through the damned mist, those creepy little kid things, etc. One of the scariest parts was when I was walking down a hallway in the school, and there was a lound noise, like a door slamming or something falling. I go to investigate... nothing. They did that just to scare the hell out of me, and it worked:)
For full impact, play it while alone, at night, with the lights out.
"She could have had any man she wanted, but she didn't. She chose me instead."
I don't think you intended to say she chose someone she didn't want:)
In any case, I agree with you. All it takes is 1 or 2 really bad relationships to show you that the best alternative to a good relationship is to be alone. I'm not saying you should hold out for a perfect person (there is no such thing) but focus instead on the qualities of character. Personality, intelligence, humor, etc. is much more important than looks, because honestly... after 40+ years of marriage, s/he isn't going to look all that hot anyway. If you marry someone who is hot but stupid and shallow... after a few decades they'll by ugly, stupid and shallow. Trust me on this.
I posted this a while back, but here it is again: Zap Rowsdower, Chuck Norris style!
When Zap Rowsdower talks, people become intoxicated by the alcohol fumes from his breath
There are no endagered animals, only animals that Zap Rowsdower hasn't eaten... yet.
Zap Rowsdower once killed an entire cult with a single roundhouse kick. They died laughing.
Bullets are deflected by Zap Rowsdower's hockey hair
There is no forehead under Zap's mullet... there's another beer gut
In the unlikely event that Canada ever runs out of beer, they can drink Zap Rowsdower's blood, which is 120 proof.
You are what you eat, and Zap Rowsdower is 200 pounds of bacon fat
The only force known to withstand the force of a Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kick (tm) is Zap Rowsdower's doughy gut
That's all I have for now... Rowsdowermobile, awaaay!!
Satellite News is still up and running for anyone who liked MST3K. They have news on the Film Crew and Rifftrax (which is Mike Nelson and guests recording downloadable commentary tracks for various movies), as well as other things that the old Best Brains crew are up to.
http://www.mst3kinfo.com/
I was expecing Neville to die, honestly. I thought that, maybe, he was still tied in to the prophecy somehow, and that his death would be the catalyst that would help the others kill Voldemort, similar to how Lily's self-sacrifice rebounded Voldemort's curse back on him.
I was glad to see Neville change into a brave and competent person, though.
Works of art (of any kind) have different meanings to different people. Its more a reflection on the mind of the observer then it is of the artist. Take what messages you can from what you see, hear and read.
"What is the artist trying to say"... who cares? What's important is what you hear.
"If you buy a car, is it reasonable to expect a brand new car if you return the old, scratched one?"
That argument doesn't hold water to me. We're talking about two very different things.
1. You scratch a car, it is still drivable. In fact, a scratch or even a dent or ding will not stop you from using the car as intended. A scratch on a DVD, however, can render it useless.
2. A car costs a lot of money. The material cost, labor cost, transportation cost are all extremely high. The cost of actually manufacturing a DVD is so low, it's trivial. I'm not talking about R&D for game design, package art, etc. Just the disk.
3. According to the game companies, we aren't buying a disk or a game. We're buying a license to use the ip contained on the disk. And, according to the license and associated DRM, there are several things we aren't allowed to do, like make backup copies, copy to a hard drive, whatever. Since we have already paid for a license, and are thus allowed to use the IP, why should we be required to pay the same premium again just for replacement media?
4. The material of a CD/DVD is flimsy. If content companies are serious about not wanting to allow backups and not offering free or at-cost replacement for damaged media, then they should make the media sturdy enough to not get damaged easily.
Excuse me while I wax nostalgic for a few moments... This post will be of no value to anyone, but what the hell, I have karma to burn:)
I remember, back in the original counterstrike days, my group of real-life pals decided that we would just invent a clan for ourselves (which is how they all start, anyway). We called ourselves "The Men Who Would Be Kings" (or, TMWWBK), because we had all just recently seen that movie (good movie, check it out). Anyway, we all named ourselves after characters in the film, and we were just goofing around, and, honestly, we all sucked (most of us, anyway... we had one or two good players). Still, even though we stank on ice, we constantly had people asking to join our clan. We did all sorts of kinda mean things which amused us no end, like telling them to register on line (and sending them to various websites that talked about the movie). Finally, we tired of that and just told people that we couldn't accept any new members, because we ran out of main character names once someone finally picked the name "Billy Fish".
There. That's my burst of nostalgia for the day. On topic, in the MMO I play now, I'm in one of the oldest guilds on the server. We stay together because its a social-only guild. We don't do raids, we don't do end-game, we just talk and joke. Thus, no drama to tear things apart. End game really bites, as far as I'm concerned. It sucks all the fun out of the game by turning everything into an e-peen waving contest.
I think a better analogy would be: If you had a case of beer in your unlocked car and some kids opened the door and took it, would you be liable for distributing alcohol to minors?
I don't know the law in this case (NAL), but it seems stupid to charge the person who bought the beer in this case. Unless, of course, they can prove that he got out of his car, looked over at a bunch of kids, and said, "Gosh, I sure hope nobody takes any of this beer out of my unlocked car, wink wink" then walked away
God, as depicted in the Bible, is not really a big one on granting people personal choices. He's always manipulating situations, and in some cases (like the Pharaoh) actually manipulates people, so that things will happen exactly the way he wants them to. The impression that I got, reading the bible, is that we aren't children of God, we're his puppets. Like God is some cosmicly-powered 3-year old playing with toys, making up and changing the rules as he goes along, and making sure the story only goes the way he wants it to.
God's a voyeur. It's true. That's what all that "omnipresent" stuff is about. He's always going around spying on us. Adam and Eve found out that their playful, innocent frolicking was a big turn-on for God, got embarrassed and put some clothes on. God got pissed that his little game was found out, and a little humiliated at being caught, so he booted them outta the garden.
Gotta wonder, though... how does a god that is supposed to know everything and be everywhere all at once somehow fail to notice that a couple of nekkid monkeys are eating from the naughty apple tree?
X-2... There's an example of a game that might have been really, really good if it weren't for the tremendous amount of cheese we were expected to swallow. SE demonstrated how NOT to make a sequel. And trying to link FFX and FFVII... argh, that was like a punch to the gut.
By "Everquest Clone", do you just mean MMORPGs in general? Because, you know, certain similarities are unavoidable. I don't know, I think FFXI stands pretty well on its own. Hundreds of thousands of players would agree with me.
You didn't like FFXII? Fine and dandy. Sell your copy, if you haven't already. You're not required to like it, and FF fans in general (like myself, obviously) won't miss you. But saying that the franchise is dead? Millions of copies sold would seem to indicate that you are wrong.
They never seem to stop running in circles. I think they actually enjoy it. When this gets defeated in court, they'll just introduce another, extremely similar bill, which will also be defeated. Gotta keep spending that tax money!
I think it's 12 regenerations, meaning 13 total incarnations of the Doctor (the first, plus 12 new ones). As far as regenerations go, there is some evidence that the limit to regenerations was self-imposed by the Time Lords (They offered the Master a whole new set of 12 regenerations to help the Doctor in The Five Doctors special). With the Time Lords gone, that restriction may or may not still apply.
Regardless, a clever enough writing staff could write their way out of that corner with no problems. A couple of possibilities that I just came up with are:
When absorbing the energy from Rose at the end of the first new season, the Doctor's regeneration cycle may have been reset, making David's Doctor the first of a new series of regenerations
The Doctor could stumble across some ancient artifact of Rassilon or Omega or someone, which grants extra regeneration cycles.
The Face of Bo, or some other entity, could grant the Doctor extra regenerations in order to keep him around
You shouldn't change what you teach because someone may be offended. You should only change it if it is wrong. I'm all for historical accuracy. Get the facts right, make sure you can prove it if challenged, and teach to that. If someone gets offended by that... well, they're idiots. Let them be angry, rant and rave. If they want to pull their kids out of class, then fine.
That said, I am always amazed when I watch the History channel and see how much was left out of or glossed over in the US history textbooks, especially regarding the Revolution. I'm sure that its to give kids the idea that America is great, noble, etc. etc. but I don't think that ignoring our own history (especially the mistakes we've made) does anyone any good.
I think the issue here is that robbery, burglary, child neglect, etc. are all illegal on their own. Drugs may be the motivating factor, but that does not mean drugs should be illegal. If that were the case, we'd have to make other motivating factors for commiting crimes illegal as well. It would make no sense to outlaw cars, for example, if someone were robbing people to afford gas money.
Simply put, I don't believe that the government should have the authority to tell me what I can/can't put in my body. If I want to get high*, then that's my business. If there are social consequences for that freedom, then we have to bear it if we want to live in a free society.
Honestly, if drugs were legalized, regulated (like cigarettes and alcohol), would our society be impacted at all? The cost of dealing with drug addicts would be compensated for by not having to care for all the "criminal" drug users in jail. Those who wanted to experiment a little could do so relatively safely, without fear of ending up with a mark on their criminal record. I can't think of any valid reason to not make drugs legal, and I can think of plenty of reasons for legalization
*For the record, I don't do drugs and I don't drink. Not because of some moral high ground, I just don't like the feeling of not being in control of myself.
Can I just say, they would have gotten what they deserved. You threaten somebody's life, even if you know it's not a real threat, then whatever that person does to defend themselves is justified.
And the camera footage would have been hilarious:)
The combat system was, in my opinion, the best part of FFXII. I have to wonder how they're planning on refining it. Still, even if they release it stateside, I don't really see buying it unless they enhance/expand the story. FFXII was "good enough" for me as-is.
I never got to play Star Ocean, though I've heard it's pretty good. Maybe a remake would be a good time to pick it up.
Slashdot Mirror
Ob. Ralph Wiggum:
Hi, SuperNintendo Chalmers!
For full impact, play it while alone, at night, with the lights out.
And miss out on the "Extra Credit" when his wife reads this? I don't think so, my friend!
I don't think you intended to say she chose someone she didn't want :)
In any case, I agree with you. All it takes is 1 or 2 really bad relationships to show you that the best alternative to a good relationship is to be alone. I'm not saying you should hold out for a perfect person (there is no such thing) but focus instead on the qualities of character. Personality, intelligence, humor, etc. is much more important than looks, because honestly... after 40+ years of marriage, s/he isn't going to look all that hot anyway. If you marry someone who is hot but stupid and shallow... after a few decades they'll by ugly, stupid and shallow. Trust me on this.
When Zap Rowsdower talks, people become intoxicated by the alcohol fumes from his breath
There are no endagered animals, only animals that Zap Rowsdower hasn't eaten... yet.
Zap Rowsdower once killed an entire cult with a single roundhouse kick. They died laughing.
Bullets are deflected by Zap Rowsdower's hockey hair
There is no forehead under Zap's mullet... there's another beer gut
In the unlikely event that Canada ever runs out of beer, they can drink Zap Rowsdower's blood, which is 120 proof.
You are what you eat, and Zap Rowsdower is 200 pounds of bacon fat
The only force known to withstand the force of a Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kick (tm) is Zap Rowsdower's doughy gut
That's all I have for now... Rowsdowermobile, awaaay!!
Anything that mentions Zap Rowsdower.
Satellite News is still up and running for anyone who liked MST3K. They have news on the Film Crew and Rifftrax (which is Mike Nelson and guests recording downloadable commentary tracks for various movies), as well as other things that the old Best Brains crew are up to. http://www.mst3kinfo.com/
I was glad to see Neville change into a brave and competent person, though.
My take on things:
Works of art (of any kind) have different meanings to different people. Its more a reflection on the mind of the observer then it is of the artist. Take what messages you can from what you see, hear and read.
"What is the artist trying to say"... who cares? What's important is what you hear.
"What IS this? I hope this is not Chris' blood"
That argument doesn't hold water to me. We're talking about two very different things.
1. You scratch a car, it is still drivable. In fact, a scratch or even a dent or ding will not stop you from using the car as intended. A scratch on a DVD, however, can render it useless.
2. A car costs a lot of money. The material cost, labor cost, transportation cost are all extremely high. The cost of actually manufacturing a DVD is so low, it's trivial. I'm not talking about R&D for game design, package art, etc. Just the disk.
3. According to the game companies, we aren't buying a disk or a game. We're buying a license to use the ip contained on the disk. And, according to the license and associated DRM, there are several things we aren't allowed to do, like make backup copies, copy to a hard drive, whatever. Since we have already paid for a license, and are thus allowed to use the IP, why should we be required to pay the same premium again just for replacement media?
4. The material of a CD/DVD is flimsy. If content companies are serious about not wanting to allow backups and not offering free or at-cost replacement for damaged media, then they should make the media sturdy enough to not get damaged easily.
I remember, back in the original counterstrike days, my group of real-life pals decided that we would just invent a clan for ourselves (which is how they all start, anyway). We called ourselves "The Men Who Would Be Kings" (or, TMWWBK), because we had all just recently seen that movie (good movie, check it out). Anyway, we all named ourselves after characters in the film, and we were just goofing around, and, honestly, we all sucked (most of us, anyway... we had one or two good players). Still, even though we stank on ice, we constantly had people asking to join our clan. We did all sorts of kinda mean things which amused us no end, like telling them to register on line (and sending them to various websites that talked about the movie). Finally, we tired of that and just told people that we couldn't accept any new members, because we ran out of main character names once someone finally picked the name "Billy Fish".
There. That's my burst of nostalgia for the day. On topic, in the MMO I play now, I'm in one of the oldest guilds on the server. We stay together because its a social-only guild. We don't do raids, we don't do end-game, we just talk and joke. Thus, no drama to tear things apart. End game really bites, as far as I'm concerned. It sucks all the fun out of the game by turning everything into an e-peen waving contest.
Yeah, that's a better analogy. I just wanted to mention beer (Hey, I'm at work :)
I think a better analogy would be: If you had a case of beer in your unlocked car and some kids opened the door and took it, would you be liable for distributing alcohol to minors? I don't know the law in this case (NAL), but it seems stupid to charge the person who bought the beer in this case. Unless, of course, they can prove that he got out of his car, looked over at a bunch of kids, and said, "Gosh, I sure hope nobody takes any of this beer out of my unlocked car, wink wink" then walked away
God, as depicted in the Bible, is not really a big one on granting people personal choices. He's always manipulating situations, and in some cases (like the Pharaoh) actually manipulates people, so that things will happen exactly the way he wants them to. The impression that I got, reading the bible, is that we aren't children of God, we're his puppets. Like God is some cosmicly-powered 3-year old playing with toys, making up and changing the rules as he goes along, and making sure the story only goes the way he wants it to.
Gotta wonder, though... how does a god that is supposed to know everything and be everywhere all at once somehow fail to notice that a couple of nekkid monkeys are eating from the naughty apple tree?
FFX-2: Charlie's Angels in Spira.
You didn't like FFXII? Fine and dandy. Sell your copy, if you haven't already. You're not required to like it, and FF fans in general (like myself, obviously) won't miss you. But saying that the franchise is dead? Millions of copies sold would seem to indicate that you are wrong.
They never seem to stop running in circles. I think they actually enjoy it. When this gets defeated in court, they'll just introduce another, extremely similar bill, which will also be defeated. Gotta keep spending that tax money!
Regardless, a clever enough writing staff could write their way out of that corner with no problems. A couple of possibilities that I just came up with are:
When absorbing the energy from Rose at the end of the first new season, the Doctor's regeneration cycle may have been reset, making David's Doctor the first of a new series of regenerations
The Doctor could stumble across some ancient artifact of Rassilon or Omega or someone, which grants extra regeneration cycles.
The Face of Bo, or some other entity, could grant the Doctor extra regenerations in order to keep him around
That said, I am always amazed when I watch the History channel and see how much was left out of or glossed over in the US history textbooks, especially regarding the Revolution. I'm sure that its to give kids the idea that America is great, noble, etc. etc. but I don't think that ignoring our own history (especially the mistakes we've made) does anyone any good.
Simply put, I don't believe that the government should have the authority to tell me what I can/can't put in my body. If I want to get high*, then that's my business. If there are social consequences for that freedom, then we have to bear it if we want to live in a free society.
Honestly, if drugs were legalized, regulated (like cigarettes and alcohol), would our society be impacted at all? The cost of dealing with drug addicts would be compensated for by not having to care for all the "criminal" drug users in jail. Those who wanted to experiment a little could do so relatively safely, without fear of ending up with a mark on their criminal record. I can't think of any valid reason to not make drugs legal, and I can think of plenty of reasons for legalization
*For the record, I don't do drugs and I don't drink. Not because of some moral high ground, I just don't like the feeling of not being in control of myself.
And the camera footage would have been hilarious :)
er... like how bad? The original Resident Evil bad? That's about as bad as it can get and still be funny :)
In any case, it sounds like a game I may want to pick up. Thanks!
I never got to play Star Ocean, though I've heard it's pretty good. Maybe a remake would be a good time to pick it up.