Category: IRL

Lights of Ecstatic Species

November is going to be the bestestist month ever. Super Mario 3D Land and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword come out a week apart from each other, and the latter comes bundled with a CD of the Zelda 25th anniversary symphony tour and a gold Wiimote. But besting even my insatiable lust for Nintendo games (and swag, and VGM), I’m going to see Matthew Good in concert.

If I had a bucket list, seeing Matthew Good live in concert would be damn near the top of my bucket list.

Van Halen might have been the first act I really liked, but Matthew Good was the first artist I ever truly got into. After getting Beautiful Midnight for a birthday or Christmas or something and listening to it every night for months, I was hooked. Napster hit the scene not long after, and I was able to listen to some of Matthew Good Band’s older tracks, but was constantly put out because I wasn’t able to find their previous album, Underdogs, no matter how hard I looked.

Back then I was still fairly green as far a music goes, and I was unsure about asking for the follow-up album, The Audio of Being, because I hadn’t heard any music from it (a trait I still have). I really wanted Underdogs, but I ended up getting The Audio of Being for Christmas in aught-one, and I may have listened to that one even more than Beautiful Midnight. I know that for several months, I not only put it on to listen to as I fell asleep, but also listened to it repeatedly as I whiled away my after-school hours on an emulated copy of Picross 2.

Over the years I’ve lost the vigor to keep up with new CD releases, so whenever I see a new Matthew Good album on store shelves, it’s like a tiny little Christmas for me. The two that really got my blood pumping though, were In A Coma and Live at Massey Hall. He actually did a tour to support In A Coma right after it’s release, but it was a bar show, and since I was afraid of bars at the time, I didn’t go.

In A Coma, by the way, is the gigantic 3-disc collection of not only his best work, but new material as well. The first disc is essentially the “greatest hits” disc, with a few new and unreleased songs thrown in for good measure. The second is part acoustic versions of old songs, part Loser Anthems (a limited edition EP), and half B-sides. The last disc is a DVD filled with music videos (with commentary), and some behind-the-scenes stuff. It’s essentially the physical manifestation of a wet dream for me.

Live at Massey Hall is exactly what it sounds like, and the reason I’m so excited to actually go to a show. I listened to both discs of that album every day that I got a chance for at least a month and still make time to listen to it on the long trips to and from work. So yeah, I’m pretty pumped. I thought new Zelda was going to be the event of the year for me, but I think it’s been topped. If the show is anywhere near as wonderful as the live album, I guarantee that I’ll be walking on air for weeks afterward.

So yeah, just wanted to share that. November 7th can’t come fast enough. </fanboy raving>

UPDATE – I just got an email from Chapters that’s going to make Novemeber even better. Way, way back in May or June or something I pre-ordered the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Ultimate Collection Volume 1 as a birthday present for myself (as it was due to release mid-September), which is a collection of the first seven original TMNT comics, plus a bonus Raphael issue. But then, less than a month before the shipping date,  I got an email saying it was delayed to January 2012. Sucktastic. Today’s email however, says it has been un-delayed to November 22! Hooray!

I’ve never been really into comics, but I’ve always wanted to read through the original TMNT series. Even if they never produce another one of these, I’ll be glad to have the first few. While searching for that image, I found out that Kevin Eastman headed up a new TMNT comic series in August (issue #1 promptly sold out), and that Nickelodeon is producing a new animated series next year. Oh, 2012 is going to be a good year. New Turtles cartoon, new Nintendo console, end of the world. I feel like I’ve forgotten something important though…

On photos and blogging about them

I guess I’ve been photoblogging more than usual lately. Kind of offsets that couple of weeks there where I just put up solid walls of text with nary an image to accompany them. Kind of.

Truth be told, I just have a buttload (a term I’ve been using way too often lately) of random images sitting on my desktop and phone that I needed to do something with. So there are more to come! I spent almost no time at my home last week, and I don’t know how much I’ll be there in the days to come, but there will be another onslaught of photobloggery sometime in the future.

I’m also trying to get Stephanie set up on here so that she can join in the fun. I sold her on the photoblogging idea, given that she just loves to take pictures. So that’s going to happen too. Get ready for the picturepocalypse.

That’s not a real bone!

I’ve spent a considerable chunk of my Sunday morning perusing the Commercial Download Center at X-Entertainment, and man it is hitting my nostalgia bone hard. And that’s actually really weird, because I would have been 3 years old at most when any of these commercial actually aired. I guess maybe it’s the fact that they really don’t make advertisements like they used to. Where have all the silly cartoon mascots and stupid jingles gone? Not to mention the terrible acting and special effects. Commercials just don’t catch my interest the way they used to; I watched the McDonald’s commercial and immediately craved McDonald’s. Nowadays I’m pretty sure McDonald’s ads aren’t even allowed to show food (though technically, in this specific commercial all the foodstuffs are puppets).

The other thing that struck me is just how retarded some of these marketing campaigns are. “Underoos are neat to wear!”? Really? “Neat” is the best word you could come up with the describe your product? Even “fun” would have been less stupid. Don’t even get me started on the Pringles ad.

Why didn’t they bring back the “You can smile, America, with Chuck E Cheese!” commercial after 9/11? Totally would have revived the franchise. (Still too soon?)

The fact of the matter here it that in retrospect, I love this cheesiness. It’s great, and gives me the warm fuzzies all over. I truly miss the days when Ronald hung out with McNugget puppets instead of “healthy lifestyle” kids. And I miss cereal box giveaways sooooooooo much. If I’m ever in charge of a cereal, there’s damn well gonna be toys in those boxes. Fuck anyone who tries to stop me.

I also miss the days when I would spend, well, entire days reading X-E. Matt’s completely done away with the front page (beat him to that years ago) and any sort of complete articles now, and made it so that the blog is the main event. Not that I don’t like the blog, it’s still totally X-E, but I like to dig up the old articles once in a while and reminisce about simpler times. Now there are no article links anywhere and I don’t remember the naming scheme he used for the files so I can’t find any! Augh! I’m sure I have links to many of them in my own backlog, but damned if I’ll be searching there. It’s almost nine years worth of nonsense now!

Creeping me out

I’m not sure what it is about this door decoration that give me the jibblies, but it sure does. It might have something to do with the fact that it looks similar to a robo-robin from Dragon Quest. Or maybe it’s because the head isn’t really attached to the body. Probably a little bit of both, come to think of it.

“Creativity”

We have a whiteboard at work, which we use to promote stuff. It gets changed occasionally, and since I was complaining about not having an outlet for my creativity at work (that’s not really how it happened) I was put in charge of doodling something on it for this month. This is the result:

I wasn’t struggling so much to create something that would draw people’s attention, but rather, to create something that was legible. My handwriting is awful to begin with, and using whiteboard markers only amplifies the problem.

I also had to take some creative liberties with The Unfee. Mostly due to the whiteboard markers not being my weapon of choice, but also because I don’t really care for the canon design. If you haven’t seen the Unfee for yourself, here’s the image straight from our website:

I don’t think it’s a terrible design or anything, but if you’ve seen the commercial (which, admittedly, is visually atrocious), or any of our more recent Unfee ads, you’ll notice that his design doesn’t work too well with many poses besides that one there. I have a great deal of respect for Cambrian (and I’m not just saying that so I don’t get fired for picking on the marketing department’s baby), and I think it’s a great promotion for a great service, but he’s just too awkward, and not in a fun way that works. I’ve spent a lot of time doodling Unfee, and I can never create something that looks good without betraying the original design.

So yeah. I’m pretty pleased with my whiteboard, and so are my co-workers. Also, if you don’t bank at Cambrian, you should go open an account there. And tell them Ryan referred you. I really need some referrals.

Another year is gone so fast

I’ve been to the dentist three times in the last month or so, and I’ve come to the conclusion that they use dental floss made of tiny razor blades there. I’ve gotten into the habit of flossing (almost) every night, and yeah it hurt a bit at first, but now I feel no pain when I floss. My gums don’t even bleed anymore. I’m used to it. But at the dentist’s office? Hurts like a bitch.

In other news, the iPhone’s camera takes way too long to initialize. I was downloading the Virtual Console version of Final Fantasy III yesterday, and the most amazing thing happened. I tried to take a video of it, but by the time my phone’s camera started up it was over.

So normally when you download something from the Wii Shop, Mario will run laps across the screen collecting coins. Sometimes he will be Firey Mario and you can press A to shoot fireballs. Occasionally Luigi will run across instead. But yesterday, Mario and Luigi swam across the screen. In the five years I’ve owned the console, I have never seen this happen, and I’ve sunk way more money than I’d like to admit into Virtual Console and WiiWare downloads. Even my youngest brother hasn’t ever seen this, and he’s probably used the shop as much as -if not more than- me.

So yeah, I wanted at least a picture of it, but the stupid iPhone is stupid and can’t take spontaneous pictures.

Really, really fat

It’s potluck day at work. I’ve already eaten enough perogies and veggies that I’m surprised my co-workers don’t have to roll me around. I’m trying to lose weight for the wedding, and going back for more would be very counter-productive to that cause.

But there is a cheesecake in the lunch room.

It beckons me. I can hear it calling; its sweet, gooey voice echoing in my mind.

I don’t know how much longer I can resist…

Itchy. Tasty.

Earthbound

Do you like Earthbound? If you answered no, it’s because you haven’t played it.

It seems that the big thing about Earthbound is that everybody loves it for different reasons, and more often than not, they’re all little personal things. I’ve read a host of Earthbound-related stuff this week, and I recommend checking out at least Talking Tyrant Loki‘s take on it. It’s the shortest of the three links I’m posting here, and probably the easiest to swallow. Another one from a website I’ve never read before called Critical Distance gives you a sort of play-by-play of a handful of other people’s EB-related musings. The last, an absolutely mammoth review by Tim Rogers really digs into the game. It’s a long read, and it’s incredibly deep. If you don’t want to experience Earthbound after reading this, nothing will sway you.

Me, I think the thing that draws me most to Earthbound is the music. Ever since the first time I played it, the Onett theme has stuck with me. I whistle it pretty consistently, and usually when I go for a walk on a quiet day (sans iPod) I find the Twoson theme playing in my head.

More than anything, the little scene you get when waking up in a hotel and the accompanying melody are permanently ingrained on my soul. Most people miss it because you wake up and leave the room to get back to the quest, but there’s a piece of music that plays after the “good morning” melody that I’m sure is exclusive to the room after waking. Once you leave the room, it switches back to regular ol’ hotel music. I think. It’s been almost a year since I played the game, so the details are a little fuzzy.

The point is, that that one tiny moment -those ten second between when the screen fades after talking to the hotel clerk and leaving your room- makes me feel an overwhelming sense of serenity. In other RPGs, waking up after a hotel stay produces a chime and then it’s back to business. Earthbound perfectly captures that one feeling that we all get occasionally in the morning, when you wake up and everything feels absolutely perfect for a few fleeting seconds.

The little melody. The music that comes afterwards. The chirping of the birds in the background. This minor instance that is a throwaway moment in any other game has had a deeper and more lasting impact on me than any other element of any game that I can think of. You may read this, having never played the game, and think I’m nuts. Maybe you have played it, but didn’t get the same sensation. But this affected me. I can’t even describe how it works in my head. Anytime I stay at a hotel in real life, this scene invariably invades my mind.

There’s a scene in the game where you stay in a haunted hotel, and the whole process is similar, but twisted. That was when I truly realized that things were really amiss, despite the fact that the town was overrun with zombies and smelly trash can ghosts. It was emotionally distressing, to say the least.

All that, and I haven’t even gotten around to the Sound Stone Melody (called “Smiles and Tears,” apparently). This is the first song that I can remember which evoked a strong emotional response in me, and remains one of two songs and the only instrumental piece that has ever brought tears to my eyes on the merits of the music alone, the other being Queen’s “Save Me.” But while the latter brought about its response through a genuine expression of despair and loneliness, the Sound Stone Melody has a more ineffable quality to it. I don’t know how it manages to grip my consciousness so tightly, but it does. It’s one of my favourite pieces of music, and it really is beautiful.

The main quest of Earthbound is to assemble the pieces of this melody. Yes, it’s to help defeat an evil alien, but that’s besides the point. You travel the world, to these sacred places that really aren’t so extraordinary on their own. At each one, you acquire the next few bars of the tune. Once you’ve assembled them all and listen to the entire piece, you cannot help but be overcome by a wave of nostalgia, remembering all of these places, and everything you experienced on the way there. Maybe it was just a silly quest in a silly video game, but now it’s a part of you too, and that melody will bring all those feelings and memories back every time you listen to it. I used to sit on the Sound Stone screen and listen to the melody -even when incomplete- over and over, because it brought with it the absolute strangest feeling I’d ever experienced. It was like the greatest happiness and the deepest sorrow wrapped into one short, simple melody.

So yeah, Earthbound is pretty deep. I recommend playing immersing yourself in it as soon as possible. And don’t just get to the end. Walk around. Explore the world. Let it and all of its little details wash into you. Though given that everyone who writes about Earthbound in this way played it in their developmental years and is now waxing nostalgic about it, I’m not sure if an adult could properly appreciate the game. All I can say for sure is that I played plenty of video games in my youth, and none of them evoke that same warm feeling in my chest that Earthbound does.