Shinmaru

[quote name='Bombu][color=darkred']I just want your fruit in my town so I can cha-ching.[/color][/quote] Ha, basically. Though something tells me that I shouldn't want anything to do at all with Desbreko's fruit. :twitch: Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the game though I don't know whether I'll be able to get it right away... maybe if my siblings and I all pitch in for the game. Good thing they're both big into Animal Crossing! :D And I'm definitely looking forward to trading items and whatnot with people here, especially since getting everything you need to complete a theme was such a ***** in Animal Crossing. Damn Wendell never had the wallpaper I actually wanted whenever he came to town. :mad:

[quote name='XxZeroxX][B][COLOR=Yellow]Halajuya!!! The game I waited for sooo long is commin the windwaker was a great game but it looked like it was for kids but it was still Zelda now the Twilight princess is soo so far already the best Zelda game hands down but im really confused on the released date is it still november or has it ben delayed to next year? can somebody tell me?[/COLOR'][/B][/quote] The game's been delayed until at least April of 2006.

[QUOTE=Manic Webb][spoiler]I was amazed at how utterly huge that island was when Michael, Walt, Jin, and Sawyer were sailing away from it. You expect me to believe they drifted off to sea for probably [b]hours[/b], and the island is still adjacent to them? That island must be huge. This ain't Gilligan's Island, here. It'd be completely impossible for something that big to not get mapped at some point. This adds to a theory I heard that the island might be moving. It's a massive land mass, but it's unmapped. The tide came in by several feet one day, forcing everyone to move farther up the beach and inland. It's in the South Pacific, but there's a population of both boars and polar bears. Then again, Walt was creating the polar bears, so you never know.[/spoiler][/QUOTE] That's an interesting theory, actually... I've been looking up a few theories myself, and I've not seen anyone mention that possibility. I think that would make sense, though. [spoiler]It would certainly explain the tide at the very least lol. That also would add much more to the whole mystical nature of the island... that it is able to move wherever it wants whenever it wants.[/spoiler] And, yeah, [spoiler]I'm expecting more than a few new faces to show up, as well. I'm pretty sure that I heard that an actor who was previously on Oz is going to be appearing on Lost along with Michelle Rodriguez.[/spoiler] You're in for a real treat, AJ. I'm always skeptical of ultra-popular stuff, because I always think that I'll end up disappointed, but Lost lives up to the hype and more. Plus, since you'll be so far ahead of everyone else in the UK, you'll be able to tease your friends with threats of letting loose spoilers. :)

Wow, I'm pretty surprised at how little attention this thread got, especially considering how many people seem to like Lost. O_o; Anyway, I never saw Lost on its initial run on television, but the rest of my family are massive fans of the show so we have the boxset. I decided to give the show a shot since I've heard tons of great things, and I'm completely addicted to it now. I love how the characters' pasts are interwoven so well with the main storylines. You know that this wasn't some random stroke of luck that these people crashed onto this island. This happened for a [i]reason[/i], and that's reflected well in the pasts of these characters, I think. So far I would say my favorite character is a three-way tie between Charlie, Sawyer, and Locke. At the beginning it was Charlie pretty easily, but Sawyer and Locke have grown on me a ton. I liked Sawyer at the beginning, mostly because I think that the 'asshole sleazeball' is such a great character (if only to test the mettle of whatever characters have to deal with him or her), but I'm glad that Sawyer has been shown to be much deeper and more human than that. Plus, Josh Holloway is a fantastic actor... he's really brought Sawyer to life. Locke I just love because he's so mystical and mysterious. Just the way he always has that knowing, bizarre grin on his face... so damn cool lol. He's probably the character that believes the most that everything that has happened to the castaways happened for a reason. Just about everything that Locke relates more to the island itself than actually attempting to get off of the island like everyone else. It's like he sees something on this island that's bigger than all of them, some grandiose reason for all of them to stay... which is pretty much why he hasn't contributed that much to the whole 'getting off of the island' effort. Anyway, now that I've actually gone through the episodes, my sister has been discussing theories with me like crazy (I can tell she was just waiting for me to hurry up and get through the first season lol). I've got a couple to share right now... We're both of the opinion that the monster on the island [spoiler]is a robot or something similar to that. Not merely because of the mechanical noises heard whenever a castaway is [i]really[/i] close to the monster, but because of the relation to the Dark Tower books, as well. One of the writers of Lost is a self-professed fan of Stephen King, and Lost has been littered with King references, especially in relation to the Dark tower novels (the obsession with numbers, Charlie's addiction to drugs and being caught in the bathroom with drugs by flight attendants, the mysterious beings that steal children, etc.). In the third novel of the Dark Tower series, [i]The Waste Lands[/i], early on Eddie Dean runs into a large cyborg bear in the woods which attacks him. Susannah and Roland end up killing the bear, and Roland's explanation for the bear's existence is that it is one of the fabled Guardians that were meant to protect the twelve Portals that existed in Roland's world. In other words... a security system (as Rousseau referred to the monster as).[/spoiler] I think that this theory makes sense. I can't imagine what else the monster would be lol. Last night my sister pitched the idea to me that [spoiler]the woman on the boat who accompanied the people who took Walt near the end of "Exodus" is Rousseau's daughter, Alex. Just a random thought, but I think that would make sense. The Others take Alex, and then they put her to work gathering more followers. I have no idea what the Others do with the babies, other than perhaps raising them to become their followers. Obviously children who end up on the island are of major importance, or else the Others wouldn't go after them. Maybe Alex and Aaron (Claire's baby) have the potential for psychic powers like Walt has?[/spoiler] Just a couple of things I was thinking about. I'd like to hear other people's opinions on how plausible those theories might be! :)

I still get a bit nervous before speaking in front of a crowd, but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. I'll probably never get over it completely, but I don't think that there's anything wrong with having some nerves before doing something. I'm not really nervous when actually [i]speaking[/i] in front of a large amount of people, so long as I know exactly what I want to talk about. Personally I've taken to volunteering to go first whenever presentations and whatnot pop up so that I can get it over with sooner. I don't like putting up with nerves for very long lol. Lore's suggestions are also good - taking a few deep breaths works out nicely for me. Also, if you're doing a group thing, talking with those in the same boat as you are helps out. Personally it's more than a bit comforting that even if anything goes wrong, I won't be the only one looking like an idiot lol.

[quote name='Qman1']How many season did TZ last?[/quote] The original series went five seasons with nearly 150 episodes in all. That's a very impressive output lol. No season of the original series had fewer than eighteen episodes, while there are two seasons with thirty-six episodes and one with thirty-seven. No wonder the DVD sets cost so much if they have to pack that much in. :p

[quote=Kaluda][U][B]Favorite[/B][/U] NES - Teenage mutant ninja turtles SNES - Final Fantasy 3 [U][B]Least favorite[/B][/U] NES - Metroid SNES - Zombies ate my nahbors[/quote] Please read my earlier post in this thread. If this thread turns into post after post of just lists, then I'll close it. I think that this could be a decent enough topic, so I'd like for it not to go down that road. :) Anyway. My favorite NES game would be Super Mario Bros. 3. The game is just fun as hell to play. Anybody can pick up SMB3 and be pretty decent at it, but you've got to be good to finish it (especially the NES version, where you can't save, and the overall game is a bit more difficult). I also love the wide range of power-ups and different locales in SMB3. Deserts, plains, tundras, etc. may be platforming cliches now, but SMB3 used the different areas in ways that were pretty clever for its time and that actually affected gameplay. I wouldn't know what my least favorite NES game is. I always thought Golf was pretty boring, but I'm sure that I've played worse games lol. My favorite SNES game (and favorite overall game) is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I personally think that the game is a prime example of what makes the Zelda series so great. The puzzles are tough, but not impossible, the bosses are big, bad and fun to fight, there's a huge range of items to use, and the game used a dual-worlds concept that would still be impressive if it were used in a game today. The only complaint I have with the game is that I wish I could fight the bosses whenever I felt like it. Oh well, it's not like playing through the entire game to get to them is such a bad thing. :) My least favorite SNES game... ugh, take your pick with either one of the Home Alone games lol. I have no idea what the hell I was thinking when I played those awful games. I would probably say that the first Home Alone game was worse, because you were "treated" to a horrid soundbite of McCaulay Culkin screaming. Lord, I can hear it in my head right now lol. The requisite "gameplay blew, controls sucked, ugly graphics, etc." comments fight in nicely here, as well.

If everyone just lists games, then this thread will get very boring very quickly. Please supply reasons as to why those games are your favorites and least favorites for both systems. That way the posts in here will be more fun to read. I'd be especially interested to read why Yoshi's Island is your least favorite SNES game, since it is a personal favorite game of mine. :) EDIT: RiflesAtRecess provided a nice example in his post. A few sentences explaining your reasons for choosing each game will suffice. :)

So, after finally getting into Seinfeld when the DVDs came out, I decided to stop being so lazy and watch Curb Your Enthusiasm. The show gets talked up a [i]lot[/i], and I figured I'd enjoy it since Larry David was such a large part of Seinfeld (and is obviously a large part of CYE lol). I saw my first episode of CYE a week ago (the one with the corpse-sniffing dog), and I've been addicted to the show ever since. I'm watching Season 4 on HBO Comedy, and the new season is slated to begin near the end of September, I believe. I like that the show shares similar themes with Seinfeld, but that it also deals with a different side of life than Seinfeld does (Larry David plays a more eccentric version of himself, as a semi-retired millionaire living in Los Angeles). Also, since the show airs on HBO, there's much more freedom with what can be explored. CYE is more 'adult' than Seinfeld could have ever been (for obvious reasons), and is just incredibly dark in places lol. I also love the cast of characters. They're like normal people, except that they all have their quirks that are played up to an absurd degree (like the blind man who refuses to date anyone who isn't beautiful). And it never feels like the show has bizarre characters purely for the sake of being bizarre. They're all used well and are generally hilarious. I could go on, but I'll spare everyone lol. Does anyone else here enjoy CYE? What are some of your favorite moments/episodes/characters/etc.?

I love The Twilight Zone. I think there are two TZ marathons each year... one on the 4th of July weekend, and one on New Year's Eve/New Year's Day. I look forward to both of them very much, haha. I really got into TZ while watching one of those marathons a few years ago, in fact (I might've watched a couple of episodes before when Sci-Fi still showed the episodes outside of the marathons). I'm a developing writer, and TZ is a huge influence on me, both in the style of the stories and their structure. I think what I enjoy most about TZ is that one can enjoy the series as both pure entertainment and intellectual entertainment. You don't really have to [i]get[/i] the deeper meaning behind any of the episodes to get some enjoyment out of the series. I think that's the basic reason why there is so much emphasis on science-fiction and fantastical stories on the series. With that genre, the writers could slip in social and political commentary without the network higher-ups being privy to it. Who would expect such a fantastical series to be commentating on the world at large? I think that was a pretty brilliant move, personally, and it makes the show that much more enjoyable. If you want to think, then you can try to figure out what each episode means, what it is trying to say, etc. If you just want to watch some TV, then you can just see, say, aliens coming to Earth, befriending the humans, and [spoiler]plotting to eat them,[/spoiler] and nothing more. :) I really wish I could buy the TZ DVDs, but they're way too much for me to afford right now lol. It's a shame, really. Oh well, just a few more months until the next marathon, at least. :p

Morpheus is right, GameFAQs is your best bet for a Silent Hill 3 strategy guide. Prima probably published one at some point, though I'd wager that you'd rather go the free route. :p Anyway, I'll leave this open in case you have any more questions. If you don't, then I'll close the thread.

We have a thread to discuss the three consoles[url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=49000][b]here[/b][/url], not to mention separate threads for the [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=33556][b]XBox 360[/b][/url], [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=47323][b]PS3[/b][/url], and [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=47326][b]Revolution[/b][/url]. The first thread is the best bet for what you want to discuss. Next time remember to do a quick search for any threads similar to what you'd like to make. Thanks. :) Thread Closed

[QUOTE=Lore][color=#6699cc]I don't think that knowing [spoiler]right from the beginning what happens to them[/spoiler] ruins the movie at all (you mentioned in the Zone that some peope had said that), but it does make the movie that much sadder throughout (as opposed to, say, having just a few truly awful moments at the end.) I wonder, does that make sense?[/color][/QUOTE] Makes perfect sense to me. I definitely agree with you that revealing that [spoiler]Seita and Setsuko end up dying[/spoiler] so early on in the movie works very well. Say you don't know that happens - when you're watching the movie, you have an inkling of what's going on, and you figure that there's a 50/50 chance that [spoiler]Seita and Setsuko don't make it... but maybe, [i]just maybe[/i], they survive. But the story is structured in such a way that the two [i]can't[/i] live, since that would undermine one of the key messages of the movie (that war affects completely innocent lives in an incredibly brutal manner). If the two live, the message still gets across, but I don't think that it's quite as strong. Anyway. Seita and Setsuko are likely to die regardless of whether or not that fact is made known in the beginning of the movie. If you don't know that they are supposed to die, and then it actually happens, it's a shock, yes... that might even be more effective more often than not. But with the way Grave of the Fireflies presented its characters, knowing that they were going to die made the actual event all the more heartbreaking, I think. You know what will ultimately happen to Seita and Setsuko, but you can't help but make a connection to the two because they're so damn [i]nice[/i]. Personally, though I knew they would die, I kept pulling throughout the movie for [i]something[/i] good to happen to ease their pain in some way. I really enjoyed it, for example, when the two were able to have some fun, because it meant that they were happy. Conversely, I felt terrible when all of those sores were revealed on Setsuko's back, since I knew that those were causing her great suffering; much more suffering than she deserved. I guess what I'm getting at is that the movie is more about the actual journey itself rather than what happens at the end of the journey. Setsuko and Seita die, and they are very sad moments, but what happens up to that point is equally distressing.[/spoiler] So, yeah. lol

There's a thread about the DS [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=36436][b]right here[/b][/url]. If you'd like to post about the DS, use that thread. Also remember to search for any existing threads on the same subject before starting a thread of your own. :) Thread Closed

The only anime to make me honestly sad, and anywhere close to tearing up, is Grave of the Fireflies, which I just watched a couple of days ago. I would say that overall the saddest moment in the film is [spoiler]when Setsuko finally dies... she and Seita went through so much crap, and it's so disheartening to see such a sweet character suffer so much. The fact that she and Seita are reunited in death is a bit comforting, but still.[/spoiler] I'm feeling horrible just recalling that right now lol.

If you want to discuss anything related to the three consoles coming out next generation, then go [url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=49000][b]here[/b][/url]. That would include potential spending decisions, I think lol. For the record, I don't know how anyone could make a decision on which console he or she wants to buy based on the information out there right now (except perhaps for the XBox 360). As al Nintendo fan I'm more likely to go for the Revolution, but there hasn't exactly been a ton of information released about it so that I can make a better decision. Thread Closed

Yeah, I'm disappointed with the delay, too - moreso because I'll actually have plenty of money to spend around that time. Oh well... there will be other games to play, I guess. :( The screens look really great, however. I didn't think that GameCube games could get much better looking than Resident Evil 4, but it looks as if EAD are out to prove that sentiment wrong lol.

Bill Murray is probably the biggest for me right now. He's been on a great roll when it comes to movies lately (except for Garfield I guess lol). Lost in Translation is awesome, I've heard good things about The Life Aquatic, and Broken Flowers looks pretty good, as well. Plus, Mr. Murray also has a nice backlog of classic comedies to his credit, as well. :) I would agree with Molly on Scarlett Johansson... if she's not my favorite actress in Hollywood right now, she's pretty close (I am a big Winona Ryder fan, too

I've been looking to see Ed Wood for a long time now, and I just finished watching it. I was [i]really[/i] impressed with it, and it might be my new favorite Tim Burton film... I'd have to think about that a bit more, though. Johnny Depp was really good as Ed Wood, and it was interesting to see how Johnny Depp's performance as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory draws more than a bit from his performance as Ed Wood eleven years ago. Martin Landau was really good as Bela Lugosi, too; I felt so bad for he and Ed through the whole movie. It's even sadder when you know that [spoiler]Ed never really does succeed making movies, and he lives a crappy life even after trying his hardest to do what he loved the most.[/spoiler] Anyway, I'm pretty sure other people here have seen Ed Wood... what are your thoughts on it? Like it? Dislike it? I'll give more thoughts later when I've had a bit more time to think about it lol.

I'm half-Mexican, part English, part Dutch and part German. The European mix comes from my mom's side of the family, and my dad's side of the family is just about all Mexican. I find it interesting to note that my dad and all of his siblings ended up in interracial marriages. There isn't much of that down here, but then again I live in a small, mostly traditional town. It was probably worse back when my dad and his brothers and sister actually married, though lol.

No, I don't think that I have a weird last name. It's not really common like Sanchez, or something, but it's not exactly an exotic last name, either. It's not really hard to spell or pronounce at all, but someone inevitably messes up either one for some reason lol. When I tried out for the basketball team in high school the coach would always pronounce my last name in this really bizarre way. I felt like George Constanza half the time. At least the coach never showed an affinity for wedgies, or anything. :nono:

[quote name='Who?']Nice to see Shin cares about keeping up with his own threads.[/quote] Shut up. :( :( :( I'm re-reading all of the [i]Dark Tower[/i] novels just to catch things I might have missed before, and to make better sense of the storyline in places where I felt it was a bit vague before. It's always so cool how you catch a bunch of things on the second or third read of a book lol. I also have a ton of books I have yet to read sitting on my bookshelf... I've been really lazy with reading lately. Blargh.

My favorite band is Sonic Youth. I don't really know how to classify them... I guess they're an alternative band, but that seems too generalized a description lol. Sonic Youth is mostly known for the dissonant, experimental guitar playing of Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo. They're a lot more than just a bunch of random, crazy guitar noise, though. I personally love how Sonic Youth takes that noise and manages to craft it into honestly great sounding music. Their music has grown more accesible as time has gone on, but I don't think that it has gotten any worse at all. Sonic Youth has been playing for nearly twenty-five years now, so I think they know what they are doing in that regard lol. In addition to that, they are pretty good writers and I like how different each of the vocalists' voices are. I personally enjoy Kim Gordon's the most when she's at the top of her game, but she can be hit and miss at times. There are some songs where she is trying to hit notes that are out of her range and it doesn't sound very good at all lol. Thurston's voice is probably the most consistently nice sounding. I don't know if I've ever heard him record a bad song. Most people probably like his voice the most. I like the rare songs where Lee sings, as well. His voice is a nice contrast to Thurston's; it's a bit strange at first, but it grows on you. Other bands that come close to being favorites for me include Pixies, Curve, Ween, The Beatles, and Queens of the Stone Age.

I prefer Coke to Pepsi by a lot, but I don't drink either very much anymore. I just get soda from vending machines when I need something to drink very quickly. If I have a choice I'll usually go for something else. Besides those two, I don't really drink much other soda... I like Sprite, but I haven't had much of that in a long while. I can't stand Mountain Dew; it tastes absolutely revolting to me. Ugh.

[quote name='Dagger']All I can really tell you is that whatever your preferences (and this is a general you), there is some anime out there which will appeal to you and/or won't totally disgust you, assuming you aren't turned off by the very fact that it's animated.[/quote] Yeah, pretty much. I'm not exactly a huge fan of anime, but I do appreciate that there's a wide variety of shows to watch should one want to search them out. I guess I like some anime because it's something a bit different from what I usually watch, though I do prefer Western animation overall. Like Dagger mentioned, you can find some things in anime that you just would not find elsewhere (the same is true for Western animation as well, I think). A good 80-90% of what I bother to watch on television is animated, so it's obvious that I prefer that medium much of the time. :P