Shinmaru

I'm trying to listen to everything everyone's throwing out there right now -- SRV doing "Voodoo Chile" is great, and I always wanted to get into Hum, so thanks to John for that. :) A couple more recommendations from me: [url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=aBRhwWDzJ_c][b]Gloria[/b] by [b]Patti Smith[/b][/url]. Pretty amazing cover of the great [b]Them[/b]/[b]Van Morrison[/b] song. Actually, it's not as much a cover as it is a complete rewriting of the song -- Patti redid the lyrics entirely, aside from the chorus, which is much more gender-bending when sung by her lol. I think my favorite thing about the song is the pure energy of it -- I feel it from my head to the tips of my toes whenever I listen to the song. This is a classic and deserves to be listened to by everybody. [url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=s7IP7Rtla2A][b]Girlfriend is Better[/b] by [b]Talking Heads[/b][/url]. If you don't already listen to [b]Talking Heads[/b], Sara, then you should because I'm pretty sure you would love them. This is my favorite [b]Talking Heads[/b] tune, from their concert movie [b]Stop Making Sense[/b]. It's so catchy and funky, and I love how absurd the song is overall.

I like the idea of going by system. EDIT: I'm going to add in honorable mentions, because it bothers me that there aren't more games here. XD [b]NES[/b]: Definitely [b]Super Mario Bros. 3[/b]. This is the one that grabbed me by the throat and made me a gamer for life. The first time I flew with Racoon Mario was magical. [b]Honorable Mention[/b]: Um ... I guess [b]Super Mario Bros.[/b] barely over [b]The Legend of Zelda[/b], because I was more of a Mario fanatic when I started gaming. [b]Super NES[/b]: [b]The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past[/b]. Still my favorite game ever. I can beat it in a flash today, but it's still so much fun. No Zelda game after this has come close to equaling this game's bosses in sheer fun + difficulty. [b]Honorable Mention[/b]: If LttP is 1a, then [b]Super Metroid[/b] is 1b. No game before it nailed the spooky, moody science-fiction atmosphere as well as Super Metroid did. Everything being one gigantic world is ingenious as well -- you had to be there to know how huge this was in 1994 lol. [b]Game Boy[/b]: Never played many Game Boy games, actually, but I suppose it would be [b]Pokemon Red and Blue[/b] by default. [b]Honorable Mention[/b]: [b]Pokemon Gold and Silver[/b]. XD [b]N64[/b]: [b]The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time[/b]. I don't worship at the altar of this game, but it is still great fun to play even today. Love the scope of the boss battles, even if most are way too easy. [b]Honorable Mention[/b]: Yeah, definitely [b]Super Mario 64[/b]. Playing this for the first time was like staying up until 4:30 a.m. playing SMB3 all over again. Wonderful. [b]PlayStation[/b]: [b]Chrono Cross[/b]. Great story, great music, fun battle system. Plus, you get to **** with different dimensions. Why the Final Fantasy games are more popular than this is beyond me. [b]Honorable Mention[/b]: [b]Final Fantasy IX[/b]. It's the black sheep of the Final Fantasy family, but darn it, I love the little guy. Well, I love it until things get SUPER SERIOUS~! near the end of the game, Zidane turns emo, and we get the lamest final boss in the history of ever. [b]Game Boy Advance[/b]: Never really played this much either. I guess I'll go with [b]The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap[/b], just because I love Ezlo so much. [b]Honorable Mention[/b]: I forgot about [b]Metroid: Zero Mission[/b]. That's a good game. [b]GameCube[/b]: [b]Super Smash Bros. Melee[/b]. My brother and I spent hundreds of hours beating the crap out of each other in this game. [b]Honorable Mention[/b]: [b]Resident Evil 4[/b]. Blasting the **** out of **** is fun. [b]Nintendo DS[/b]: All the [b]Phoenix Wright[/b] and [b]Apollo Justice[/b] games. Not only are these games funny as hell, but they also present compelling stories and characters with sharp, witty writing. Absolute must-play games. [b]Honorable Mention[/b]: Uh, I guess one of the [b]Advance Wars[/b] games? Everything pales in comparison to the awesomeness of Phoenix Wright. [b]XBox[/b]: Never used my console that much, so I'll go with [b]Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance[/b]. I actually like the story more than most, and the gameplay is great fun ... when you aren't being bombarded with cutscenes, anyway, haha. [b]Honorable Mention[/b]: [b]Beyond Good and Evil[/b], although I never beat it. I should do that some time. [b]Wii[/b]: [b]Super Smash Bros. Brawl[/b]. ... Yeah, Melee is totally repeating itself here. XD [b]Honorable Mention[/b]: Tie between [b]Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess[/b] and [b]No More Heroes[/b]. They both rock in their own ways; Twilight Princess is more epic Zelda (and Midna > you), and No More Heroes is supremely gory, ridiculous fun.

Hahaha, those SpongeBob = Death Note parodies are wonderful. The one with SpongeBob acting out Light's initial killing spree is especially hilarious. I'm a SpongeBob fan, although I haven't watched the show regularly in a while. Whenever I see an episode I like, I'll watch it, though. The show is good, silly fun. Also, replying to something else I saw -- Batman: TAS had poor animation since when? That statement just blows my mind. It's not as slick as the very best possible today, but it's hardly The Super Mario Bros. Super Show or something like that lol.

[b]The Dark Knight[/b]: Loved it. Didn't have problems with the length, the pacing, or anything. The only thing I would have done differently is [spoiler]keep Two-Face alive because, as it is, it feels like he's been wasted[/spoiler], but I don't know what the Nolans are planning for the third movie, so hey. [b]Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay[/b]: I like the first movie, and I like this too. There are some situations that are a bit too similar to the first one -- most notably [spoiler]the creepy farmer guy having a hot wife and some bizarre sexual hang-up (in this case, incest lol)[/spoiler] -- but the movie as a whole is still funny, so I didn't care too much. The funniest, and saddest, part is when [spoiler]Neil Patrick Harris dies quite violently after branding a prostitute. Neil!!!!!![/spoiler] [b]Predator[/b]: So over the top and so much fun. It's hilarious listening to the Governator try to be sarcastic. Poor Arnie. Watching Jesse Ventura's [spoiler]chest explode[/spoiler] was nice for me since I hated his character. The best part, however, is that apparently aliens also have macho pride. Arnold and the Predator preparing for their throwdown is soooo unintentionally funny, it's ridiculous. EDIT: Also, the '80s credit montage is glorious. Did they film that in case Predator was made into a TV series? :animesmil Movie Count: 29 (Live Free and Die Hard, Time Bandits, The Hustler, Black Dragon (Miracles), Hollywoodland, Blood Diamond, Animal Crackers, Marie Antoinette, Inside Man, The Fountain, Tombstone, Jurassic Park (Rifftrax), No Country for Old Men, Juno, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Rifftrax), There Will Be Blood, Rize, Born Into Brothels, Eastern Promises, Gone Baby Gone, Hard Candy, The Matrix Reloaded (Rifftrax), Hot Fuzz, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs, Phone Booth, The Dark Knight, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, Predator)

The closest I can think of is [b]Robin Hood: Men in Tights[/b], haha. (Which, oddly enough, shares its lead actor with [b]The Princess Bride[/b]. :P) It's not [i]quite[/i] the level of fantasy of [b]The Princess Bride[/b], and its romance definitely isn't as appealing, but I think the movie is underrated as a comedy. I haven't seen it in a few years, though, so maybe my opinion would change on another viewing. Everything else I can dredge up doesn't quite fit the bill -- [b]Monty Python and the Holy Grail[/b] has next to no romance (and I'm 99.9 percent sure you've already seen it), and neither does [b]Time Bandits[/b] (I like the visuals and direction in that more than the story, anyway). Anyone else? lol Comedy is my preferred genre -- the darker, the better, though I'll never turn down a nice, light comedy if it's really funny. I've also got a terrible weakness for film noir. The stories make more sense the less you think about them, but I love the pure style of film noir -- the look, the way the characters act and speak, and the worlds they show. Science-fiction and horror are down on the next rung; if they're good, I'm there. I'm starting to enjoy musicals the more I watch them, as well. If I've got three hours to spare, you can be sure as **** I'll be filling them with [b]My Fair Lady[/b]. :)

[url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=cF0DYmm1W_0][b]"Just Like Honey"[/b] by [b]The Jesus and Mary Chain[/b][/url]. If you've seen [b]Lost in Translation[/b], this is the song that plays over the credits. Basically everything I love about music is in this song. Just simple, soothing music, although the style might take a few seconds to get used to, I don't know. I love it, though; whenever I hear the melody, it makes me want to go outside on a sunny day and fall in love. [url=http://youtube.com/watch?v=A0v3wpK80iY][b]"Turkey Crossing"[/b] by [b]Curve[/b][/url]. The song that made me a diehard Toni Halliday fan. I adore the attitude she puts forth in her singing -- just the right amount of sarcasm, and she masks it with her gorgeous voice so that whoever's on the receiving end of it wouldn't know what the hell hit him.

[quote name='Phenom'][COLOR="DarkSlateGray"]There's nothing to talk about in this chapter. My brother brought up a valid point about the 8 tails. He looks like Hulk Hogan.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] If he suddenly starts speaking like Hulk Hogan for no reason at all, then I take back everything bad I ever said about Naruto.

[center][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v388/Shinmaru/shikamaru.jpg[/IMG][/center] Why shoot him when you can just outsmart him?

[quote name='Clurr'][font=arial]The other day I remembered that my dad had seen Winona Ryder walking her dog while he was at work, and I felt like I had gotten punched in my stomach. I got so jealous, even though that happened 18 years ago.[/font][/QUOTE] Great, now I'M jealous. :| EDIT: I'm also jealous of your great avatar. Not many celebrity sightings here. I met Tony Hawk when I went with my uncle and cousin to a skate show he was doing. That's about it lol.

[center][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v388/Shinmaru/GurrenLagann-13-Large32.jpg[/IMG][/center] Simon seems to like it.

[b]Phone Booth[/b]: I liked it. Colin Farrell's not normally my cup of tea, but he's good here as a total douchebag who's boxed into a corner and pushed to his limit. Kiefer Sutherland is his usual awesome self -- his voice has a lot of character and really sells the feeling that he could kill Farrell's character at any moment. Movie Count: 26 (Live Free and Die Hard, Time Bandits, The Hustler, Black Dragon (Miracles), Hollywoodland, Blood Diamond, Animal Crackers, Marie Antoinette, Inside Man, The Fountain, Tombstone, Jurassic Park (Rifftrax), No Country for Old Men, Juno, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Rifftrax), There Will Be Blood, Rize, Born Into Brothels, Eastern Promises, Gone Baby Gone, Hard Candy, The Matrix Reloaded (Rifftrax), Hot Fuzz, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs, Phone Booth)

Haha, Symphony of the Night references make my day. I thought the Kaiba/Mokuba pet jokes would be pushed further with Kaiba suggesting deadlier creatures to buy Mokuba. On the one hand, that would have worn out quickly, but on the other hand, the final creature probably would have been pretty ridiculous.

In true American style, I lost at a card game and then watched **** get blown up while inhaling an assload of smoke from burning fireworks. Good times!

[b]Ouran[/b] is the best suggestion I've seen so far. You'll love that show. Also agree with the [b]Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei[/b] suggestion. I'm a big fan of [b]RahXephon[/b]. It has a bunch of the cliche mecha trappings, but it does some interesting things with them. Plus, at heart, the show is a really good love story (no, seriously). And, as always, I'm a fan of anything that messes with time (in this case, Tokyo Jupiter being [spoiler]seven years behind the real world[/spoiler]). [b]Clannad[/b] is a good one. Nice and romantic at the end, and it's funny as hell. If you're looking for something funny, then you also need to see [b]Genshiken[/b]. That had me cracking up every few seconds. If you're in the mood for a movie, too, then you should see [b]The Girl Who Leapt Through Time[/b]. Really fun time travel story.

I own the PS1 version only, so I would actually think about getting this, [i]especially[/i] if the God awful slowdown from Final Fantasy Chronicles is eradicated. Hate that so much. :|

Haha, been a while since I have been in here. Glad to be back! [b]Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull[/b]: I enjoyed it for what it was, though it definitely was not as good as the original trilogy. There were some bits that were too silly for me (the refrigerator); however, I didn't have a problem with the whole [spoiler]alien angle[/spoiler] since it fits in with the time period and isn't really [i]too[/i] out of place with what Indiana Jones is all about. Also, Cate Blanchett ... pretty hot evil Russian, I must say. [b]Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs[/b]: Didn't like this as much as [b]Bender's Big Score[/b]. The plot jumps all over the place and doesn't really seem to fit together until the very end (and not in a good way where you're like, "Oh, so [i]that's[/i] how they relate!"). Still, there's lots of funny stuff here. Fry continues his ascent to becoming the funniest character in the series, Professor Farnsworth's hilarious rivalry with Wernstrom takes a funny turn, and Zapp Brannigan has a large role. Not as good as I would have hoped but still solid. Movie Count: 25 (Live Free and Die Hard, Time Bandits, The Hustler, Black Dragon (Miracles), Hollywoodland, Blood Diamond, Animal Crackers, Marie Antoinette, Inside Man, The Fountain, Tombstone, Jurassic Park (Rifftrax), No Country for Old Men, Juno, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Rifftrax), There Will Be Blood, Rize, Born Into Brothels, Eastern Promises, Gone Baby Gone, Hard Candy, The Matrix Reloaded (Rifftrax), Hot Fuzz, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs)

I bought an assload of books off Amazon recently, so I'll be popping back in here every once in a while. Right now I am reading [b]Seven Seconds or Less[/b] by Jack McCallum. The author spent an entire season with the 2005-06 Phoenix Suns team and documented his experiences. It's pretty fun so far, but I'm hoping it will get a bit deeper soon (I'm about 50 pages in at the moment). Recommended if you're a fan of the NBA.

I bought [b]No More Heroes[/b] recently, and I love it ... at least, the main levels I love. The parts between levels are kind of fun at first, but when you have to raise a ton of money to access later missions/better equipment, and you have to do the jobs again and again, then it gets kind of boring and repetitive. However! The main part of the game makes up for it big time. Battles are a touch repetitive, but the violence is so over-the-top that it makes every fight enjoyable. Not enough can be said about the bosses in this game, either. They're insane characters and fun as hell to fight. The cutscenes relaying their random *** stories are almost as fun, haha. So, yeah, I've had a lot of fun with it. I got it for $30, which is a reasonable price for this game. Get it if you don't already own it.

All the Phoenix Wright games. If you don't have a problem with doing a ton of reading, then get them right away. Great stories, great characters and great writing.

Haha, how many times did we get the "ZOMG SHOCKING REVEAL" noise this week? Three times? Is that some sort of record? Also, is it just my imagination, or was Kate not in this episode at all? Maybe in my wondrous delirium, I blocked out her miniscule screen time. Whatever the case may be (lol), this episode scores major points for 1) having very little/no Kate and 2) no Kate making retarded puppy eyes at Jack. Yay! Although ... [spoiler]hey, look, Kate is in the preview for next week's episode -- and she's being held at gunpoint. SHOCKER. Vincent could probably hold her hostage at this rate.[/spoiler] Best part was definitely [spoiler]Hurley sharing his chocolate with Ben. For some reason, the conversation (mostly one-sided by me >_>) trailed off into observing how awesome it would be to have a chocolate harmonica. I'm totally patenting that idea.[/spoiler] [spoiler]Keamy[/spoiler] is scary. It's so bizarre to see someone stand next to Sayid and actually be the more intimidating person. I actually had to look up [spoiler]Keamy's[/spoiler] height just to be sure we didn't have a Tom Cruise situation with Naveen Andrews where you think he's of normal size, but he's actually shorter than my sister would be if you threw her in the washer and then continuously dried her for a week. ([spoiler]Keamy[/spoiler] is nearly 6'8", for the record.) Also, [spoiler]Claire is creepy -- and hot, haha.[/spoiler]

That's true. There were at least [i]some[/i] good things about the episode ... - Sawyer/Ghostbuster interaction. Much more of this, please. - Jin being awesome the entire episode. More of this, please. - Juliet yelling at Kate. You know the drill. Not enough to not turn my stomach every time Jack and Kate were onscreen, but it was something.

My God. Worst episode ever? I'm not totally sure ... that would require me to go back and watch more Kate episodes, and frankly, that is something I'm not willing to do. Suffice to say, though, this episode was pretty terrible. Do the writers actually [i]like[/i] this?? I mean, really??

[quote name='Dagger'] (Speaking of which: [spoiler]Kate sliding off her tank top and making eyes at Jack[/spoiler] = arguably one of the worst ways to open an episode.)[/QUOTE] Man, not five minutes in and they already topped this. My siblings and I all booed lustily at [spoiler]Jack and Kate making out in the shower[/spoiler]. It was pretty great. This is going to be a long episode. EDIT: If possible, we booed louder at [spoiler]Jack reading to Aaron and then making out with pantsless Kate[/spoiler]. My level of hatred has seriously never been higher.

Just as long as there's no annoying, Heroes-esque "What are the rules??" ad campaign. The scariest thing about last night's episode is that [spoiler]I have no doubt Ben can find Penny and kill her. There goes any chance of happiness Desmond had.[/spoiler] :(

Hahaha, I didn't even think about that. That's fantastic. Best joke made during the episode: [spoiler]"He's going for his mecha suit!" while Ben went into his Cave of Wonders. It's pretty much the only thing left that could possibly make him any better than he is now. Make it happen, writers!![/spoiler]