Shinmaru

[quote name='OtakuSennen']Another good arcade I've been to (for games themselves, not community from what I've seen) is Gameworks in Las Vegas. It's this huge, multi-story arcade with almost any game you could possibly imagine.. I went to town last time I was there. It's a part of a chain, apparently, so there's more of them all across the country.[/quote] I've been there, it's pretty nice. And, yes, Gameworks is a chain. There's a Gameworks in the mall near my home, which, sadly, is one of the very few arcades even remotely near me. There's not much in most arcades that appeals to me anymore, though. At least not from what seems to be most popular. I'm not that big into fighters, I don't play DDR or racers very often at all, and I don't usually stick with light gun games for very long. I personally prefer the older arcade games (Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, etc.), sports games (Virtua Tennis, Virtua Soccer, NBA Jam), and the action-games/shooters (Metal Slug, Smash TV, and the tons of great scrolling shooters that have come out in arcades). The shooters I especially love; there is [i]nothing[/i] I have more fun with in an arcade than a really good, action-packed shooter. Luckily the arcade at my school is good for all of the genres I enjoy. I wish there was a place nearer to my home that was a better arcade, but I guess you can't be too picky when it comes to these things. :)

[quote name='Dr. Mario']-The Star Wars Trilogy[/quote] Can't believe I forgot about that. I have the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD, as well. That's a really good set. The updated visuals and sound make it worth the movies in the set having to be the Special Edition movies, I think. The documentaries and other extras are also really fun. I also have the Indiana Jones trilogy boxset. I almost shed a tear when I watched them - the movies look [i]so[/i] much sharper, haha. Plus it's Indiana Jones, and we all know how kickass he is, right? :)

I guess this is the thread for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? lol I got back from the movie a couple of hours ago. I wasn't really fond of the trailers that had been popping up on TV lately, for whatever reason, so I was a bit apprehensive going in to the film. However, I ended up liking the film. Johnny Depp did a good job as Willy Wonka, though I don't think that I could compare his performance to Gene Wilder's... they're practically two different characters lol. On another forum I go to, there were a few people saying that they couldn't hear what the Oompa Loompas were singing. I didn't have any trouble at all hearing the songs, so whatever. I liked the songs a lot. I thought it was pretty neat [spoiler]how they were done in different styles. That made the songs a lot more fun to listen to. I'd have to see Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory again to make sure, but I think I like the Oompa Loompas in this movie better. The flashbacks to Wonka's past were pretty fun, too. Nothing mind blowing, or anything, but they give a bit of a reason for Wonka's odd behavior other than 'I'm crazy!!!1!11'. Though if I had a choice I might've kept that ambiguous since I think it's more fun to imagine your own reasons for Wonka's demented love of candy. Oh well, I like Christopher Lee, so that was a nice bonus, anyway lol.[/spoiler] Also, I [i]loved[/i] the little parodies and references sprinkled throughout the movie. [spoiler]Mike Teevee squeaking 'Help me! Help me!' ala The Fly, the Oompa Loompa stabbing down at Mike in the shower like in Psycho, and, of course, the big 2001: A Space Odyssey parody. Oh my god that was the coolest thing ever. I loved it so much. When I first saw the scene in the TV with the apes, I was like, "Oh my god, are those the apes from 2001??" And then the music from the opening of 2001 started playing when Wonka was preparing to teleport the chocolate bar, and I had the biggest grin ever on my face. I was cracking up when the monolith in the opening scenes of 2001 was replaced with a big Wonka bar. Hilarious.[/spoiler] There's probably more stuff that I missed or that I'm just not remembering at the moment. Don't know if I have many complaints about the film. It wasn't incredible, but it was a damn fun movie. I think that's all you can ask for, really.

I've got all four seasons of Futurama. I love that show to death, and I wish there were more seasons to buy. All of the seasons are well worth owning for any fan of Futurama, not only for the improved sound and visuals, but for the excellent episode commentaries, as well. They're funny, informative, and almost as entertaining as the actual episodes themselves. It's getting to the point where I watch the episodes with commentary more often than I watch them without lol. I also have Excel Saga and I'm working on acquiring all of the RahXephon DVDs. I like Excel Saga, but it's a bit hard to watch sometimes. There's so much bizarre stuff going on in that series lol. A lot of it is funny, but some of the episodes aren't that funny at all. RahXephon I really like a lot, and I don't have very many complaints at all about the series from what I've seen. I'd say it'll easily become my favorite anime after it's all said and done. :) My most wanted DVDs are a tie between the Mystery Science Theater 3000, X-Files, and Twilight Zone sets. I wish they weren't all so damn expensive lol. Being a fanboy of certain series is tough sometimes. I'd also like to get the Simpsons, Family Guy, Batman: The Animated Series, and Alias sets eventually, as well.

We already have a thread for Devil May Cry 3 [b][url=http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=46266]here[/url][/b], so if you'd like to post about the game then you should go there. Also, please try to provide more dicussion than stating how great the game is. Talk about why you like the game and what exactly you like about it. That's much more interesting to read. :) Thread Closed

First of all, I'd just like to defend my stance on the book a bit. I didn't hate it. I liked it. But there were some things I felt weren't taken advantage of that could have been, and I said as much. I don't think I'm 'picking the book apart'; I think that my complaints are valid. I guess if I don't like every aspect of the book unconditionally then I'm just a bitcher. Right. :rolleyes: I personally think that the book can be a set-up for book seven and still deliver sufficiently on what it's been building up. The stuff with Malfoy is a perfect example: the mystery of just what the hell he was up to was intriguing, it built up to an excellent scene near the end with Dumbledore (my favorite scene in the book), but there's still more to be explored with that particular aspect of the story. The Tom Riddle stuff also worked very well, I thought. That was what I would have liked to see more of in the book. Those two examples meant a lot to HBP as a stand-alone story, but they also directly build to the 7th book, as well. [spoiler]On the other end of the spectrum, I'm not too fond of how Snape finally achieving his goal of becoming DADA teacher was handled. It just seemed like he was still teaching his regular potions class, except that there was less focus on the class. I felt that there was a lot more that could have been done there, but nothing really came of it. The Half-Blood Prince stuff was also very disappointing. Snape ended up unknowingly helping Harry through a lot of the book, but also seemingly commits the ultimate act of betrayal in killing Dumbledore. But I don't think that the Half-Blood Prince bit was really necessary to lead in to that (I think there's an obvious connection to that, or else Snape would never have revealed his identity in such close proximity to it). I never really felt as if the Half-Blood Prince stuff was anything special. Maybe it'll be expounded upon in the next book, I don't know, but all I have to go on right now is what I know and have read.[/spoiler] And I find it a bit insulting that valid complaints are reduced down to me being unhappy about what happened to my favorite characters. If you disagree with me, then discuss it. That's why we're here. There's no need to make sweeping generalizations. I have no problem with you enjoying the book - hell, for $30 you should be enjoying it! I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. By the way, I enjoyed Order of the Phoenix, so don't try taking that tone with me, Syk3. :) [QUOTE=Syk3][color=black][size=2][spoiler]When you said pick up, you mean the overall plot, right? In my opinion, I felt rather hooked from the beginning, but of course, knowing the characters and caring for them goes a long way. But still, it started off rather quickly and exciting.. setting the tone for what was obviously a tough time in both the wizarding and non-magical worlds, Death Eaters arguing and planning, Dumbledore taking Harry on important business, and Harry's suspicions of Malfoy which turned out to be true.. and there was always something going on to keep us satisfied. Finding out who was the Half-Blood Prince seemed to be for shock value more than anything. But actually using it for the title, as I have already discussed, worked fine with me.[/spoiler][/quote][/size] Yes. I was hooked in the beginning, as well, but that had more to do with my curiosity over what would be happening in the book. I don't think that it really started to pick up a ton until the middle, though. That might be just me, I don't know. I don't attribute that to slow pace, because as you pointed out, there was always something going on. I just wasn't enthralled with a lot of the stuff going on, save for [spoiler]Harry's talks with Dumbledore/the insight into Riddle's past and the brief glimpses we got of Malfoy.[/spoiler] I didn't care for a lot of the romance stuff and whatnot. That's where the book dragged down a bit, for me. [quote][spoiler]Well, perhaps Rowling could have explored Snape's new teaching assignment a little more in depth, but as for the spell in the Astronomy Tower, they were only speculating. A few of them believe that you had to have a Dark Mark on your arm in order to get through, which Snape did have, and would explain it just fine.[/spoiler][/quote] Yeah, I think I read through that a bit too quickly. I remember the stuff about [spoiler]the Dark Mark[/spoiler] now, though. But you do agree with me that [spoiler]Snape finally reaching his position as the DADA teacher wasn't built on as much as it could have been. After years and years of trying out for the job, Snape finally gets it, and the results are a couple of classroom scenes and a bunch of homework. The introduction of the nonverbal spells was the most noteworthy thing to come from Snape's DADA classes. I think it would've been nice if those got a bit more importance in his classes - like, we only see them practicing nonverbal spells in conjunction with Snape's class. I don't know.[/spoiler] [quote][spoiler]I was hoping to get a little more from Neville too, to tell you the truth, but there's always hope in the 7th book. Rowling hinted that Neville would be an important side character who slowly finds out the truth of his parents' attackers and gets revenge, I think, but he doesn't have anything more to do with the prophecy. As you probably know by now, Voldemort has made Harry his equal by seeking him out based on the prophecy. If he had chosen Neville, and his mother had died to protect him, he would have those powers of Voldemort at his disposal, but also consider that a lot of what has saved Harry is based on his individual traits, whereas Neville is pretty clumsy. So just to clear that up.. he's not going to be the mysterious hero or anything like that. And on her site, Rowling has quashed any rumors of Neville/Luna romance, saying that they are completely different characters and aren't meant as anything more than friends.[/spoiler][/quote] [spoiler]I'm hoping that Neville becomes a really important player in the 7th book, as well. I think he deserves it. I know he won't save the world, or anything, but I'd like to see him get a bit of justice for his parents' deaths. Oh, and thanks for the heads-up on the Neville/Luna romance, haha. I'm glad that's not going to go down.[/spoiler] [quote][spoiler]I thought Slughorn was a rather interesting character, in that he actually had particular favorites (which I had hoped would have been a way that we learned more about Lilly Potter), and knew famous wizards so well to be able to pick related students and help them out along the way. He was a very susceptible character to greed, it seemed like, though not necessarily by means of money. As for Snape being the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.. I'm sure many of us believed that he would be granted this.. "treat" eventually. And considering that Voldemort pretty much cursed the job since he was denied it all those years ago, and that Snape showed his true colors at the end, him finally getting it was fitting in a way. But like a mentioned before, I agree it could have been shown a little more.[/spoiler][/quote] [spoiler]I thought that Slughorn was rather one-note, because his greed and desire to be associated with the best of the best was all there was to him. I wasn't expecting some complex, multi-faceted character (I'd be lying through my teeth if I said Umbridge was a complex character), but he honestly felt more like a plot device than a character to me. His memory was basically all Dumbledore required from him. The Slug Club stuff was nice, but... I don't know, I just wasn't that interested in him, to be frank. The Malfoy, Dumbledore, and Riddle stuff all held my interest a lot more. I think that Snape's attack on Dumbledore was well done, but the shock of Snape telling Harry that Snape was the Half-Blood Prince wasn't all too shocking to me. As I mentioned in my other post, Snape was my #1 choice to be the prince... I'd been suspecting him throughout the novel. Second, after the death of Dumbledore, what should have been a huge revelation just ended up falling flat a bit. Snape just spits out that he's the Half-Blood Prince, and it seemed like that was that. I think that if the book ended up meaning a bit more to the storyline than the announcement would have meant more. As it was, that announcement was not about to overshadow the death of Dumbledore lol. I did enjoy the irony that Snape was the one helping Harry the entire time, though, I will admit.[/spoiler] Anyway, I just want to say again that while my post seems a bit nitpicky, I assure you that it's not. I'm not finding random things to hate about the book in order to badmouth it, because that's just silly. I did not hate the book - there was about an equal amount of stuff that I liked and disliked, with the stuff I liked outweighing the stuff I disliked (the Malfoy scenes I enjoyed more than I hated the romance nonsense, for example). For near $30, though, I think I'm entitled to get into a small debate about the aspects of the book I didn't like. After all, wouldn't this thread be boring if everyone agreed about every single aspect of the book? :p I just think that the most telling statement I could make about the book is that it is indeed a lead-in to the 7th book, but I don't think that it really becomes more than that.

[quote name='Juke Box Hero][SPOILER'] Q to the wise ones: Who is RAB? Gahh I am soo puzzled....[/spoiler][/quote] [spoiler]The most popular theory at the moment is that R.A.B. is Sirius Black's brother, Regulus Black. I think his middle name begins with an A, but I don't remember the exact name at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised if Regulus were R.A.B.[/spoiler]

[QUOTE=Dagger]So, basically, they're making a Futurama OVA? What do you think the running time will be like? Although I guess if it's modelled after the Family Guy OVA, I could just go look up the specs on that... :p ~Dagger~[/QUOTE] I'm not really sure. I would guess that the actual length would be in between 60 and 90 minutes... probably much closer to 90. A quick Google search directed me to [url=http://www.familyguyfiles.com/citizens/dvdmovie.pdf][b]this[/b][/url], which claims that the running time for the Family Guy movie will be 83 minutes. If that ends up being accurate, then I would think that the Futurama movie would be of similar length. :)

I finished reading HBP a couple of hours ago. I have mixed feelings about it right now. There's lots of stuff in there that I liked, but there's a lot that I disliked about it, as well. I'm going to quote Lunox and expound a bit more on what she posted, because I agree a lot with what she said (also because it was so spirited and amusing, haha). :) [QUOTE=Lunox][color=darkslateblue] [spoiler][i][b]Plot? What? What Plot? What is this Plot you talk about?[/b][/i]: JK Rowling herself said that books 6 & 7 were like one book split into two. Good going, because now book 6 has the most watered down plot. Ever. If you asked me to give you the solid plot of Half-Blood Prince, it'd be a bunch of nonsense. Hey, ever notice the title? Harry Potter and the [b]HALF-BLOOD PRINCE[/b]. The actual 'half-blood prince' played such a minor role in the plot (whatever that was) that it astounded me that JK Rowling didn't name this book 'Harry Potter and A Bunch of Stuff and a Rushed Ending'. Things didn't get into a good flow until near the end when Harry found out what horcruxes were and Dumbledore took him to get one of Tom Riddle's horcruxes.[/spoiler][/color][/quote] Yeah. [spoiler]While I was reading HBP I kept hoping that it would pick up [i]eventually[/i]... 100 pages in... 200 pages in... 300 pages in, and so on. I was incredibly disappointed with how the Half-Blood Prince was almost inconsequential to the plot, except for the whole 'OMG HARRY TRICKED BY SNAPE!!1!!1' stuff. I frowned so badly when Snape spat out that he was the Half-Blood Prince lol. Snape was my #1 pick to be the Half-Blood Prince, but the actual revelation was just incredibly flat, I thought. There was so much build up to it, but the payoff didn't really do its job. I guess that the romance stuff was okay for showing that the students are still kids, even in the face of all the crazy shit going on, but a lot of it was just really forced. Although, really, love isn't exactly the easiest thing to translate into words... I know from experience, haha. Oh well. I'll agree that the stuff with Dumbledore and Harry fetching the horcrux was really class. That was the high point of the book, along with Tom Riddle's past and the scene with Dumbledore and Draco Malfoy near the end of the book.[/spoiler] [quote][color=darkslateblue][spoiler][i][b]Snape? Brilliant!, WASTED POTENTIAL![/b][/i]: If JK Rowling hadn't spent so much time elaborating on the entirely boring romance problems, maybe she could've elaborated on Snape's character instead of getting lazy and dumping it all into 'OOoOoOOo, Snape had the same background and blood-purity problems as Tom Riddle!'. Well, OoOooOo, JK Rowling, we're all SO impressed. And if JK Rowling is using this as some trick up her sleeve for the next book... Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Try and make it believable for readers in the first place, please.[/spoiler][/color][/quote] [spoiler]As I mentioned earlier, what should have been a powerful revelation that Snape was the Half-Blood Prince and had been most likely leading Harry on the entire time was just really flat (mostly because the Half-Blood Prince really didn't end up meaning all that much to the plot). Even though I had predicted Snape to be the Half-Blood Prince, the annoucement still came out of left field. It seemed like he was just written in there to get it out of the way. And then there was also what should have been a [i]huge[/i] swerve with Snape being named Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... but almost nothing was done with that, except the other teachers not being able to break through the spells blocking the Astronomy Tower because they haven't kept up with the Dark Arts or whatever the hell the explanation was. Even my mom, who didn't really have many bad things to say about the book after she finished it, did not like that very much at all. Blah.[/spoiler] [quote][color=darkslateblue][spoiler][b][i]REMUS/TONKS?! Romance in GENERAL.[/i][/b]: The whole Remus/Tonks business. Disgusting. Not because I don't like the pairing (I really liked Tonks), but just the way that JK Rowling incorporated it into the book. What did it do? Nothing. Did Tonk's moping really do anything to affect the plot? No. Did ANY of this affect the plot? No. IS THERE A PLOT? Seriously, you're reading the book and every so often JK Rowling throws in some random line about Tonks moping, and then there's some random out of a cow's ass scene at the end where Tonks confesses her love for Lupin? WHAT. Jesus Christ. Right, so I can understand the Ron/Hermione, which ultimately got on my nerves because it was being so overplayed. Harry and Ginny? Truthfully, I never wanted Harry to get together with anyone, but he had to, I'd pick Ginny. But JK Rowling did something and now I will never see the Harry/Ginny ship in a good light again.[/spoiler][/color][/quote] [spoiler]Yeah, the Lupin/Tonks stuff left me scratching my head lol. Seemed to just Apparate out of thing air, really (pun!). I like Lupin and Tonks a lot, but Lupin's initial reaction to the pairing was similar to mine... lol. The Tonks stuff really seemed like it was just randomly tossed in there every once in a while. Didn't really seem to add very much to the story. I guess all of the pairings all coming in at once at the end was part of the 'love conquers everything' theme, but I don't think it was pulled off too expertly lol. Ron and Hermione annoyed me a lot in this book, because they were both being a couple of real dicks. Kind of like how 'ANGST!!1!!111 Harry' annoyed me in OotP lol. I guess it's true to life, because teenagers can be real assholes, but still. It was a pretty big departure from their characters, I though, but people change, I suppose.[/spoiler] [quote][color=darkslateblue][spoiler][b][i]LET'S FORGET ABOUT NEVILLE, LUPIN, AND OCCLUMENCY. False hopes and desires![/i][/b]: No, really! Since they seem so unimportant now. Didn't we read about 40 pages of Harry sitting through Occlumency lessons in OotP? And I can't believe JK Rowling promised all this shit like 'A great thing will be revealed about Lily Evans!'. What exactly was it? That she was good at potions?! OK! Gee, that was a revolution. And 'a lot more about Lupin will be revealed!'. WHAT?! All I learned was that Lupin is suffering, but JK Rowling decided to give him, what, 7 lines in the whole book?[/spoiler][/color][/quote] [spoiler]Poor Neville. I like him, I wish he'd be developed a bit more, especially since he actually could have been an incredibly important figure. There has to be more to his character than 'Voldemort chose Harry over Neville'. But I guess that he'll be paired with Luna and that will be that. Whatever. I'll happily eat my words if he's developed more in the 7th book, though. Lupin's grown steadily less important to the overall series since GoF, sadly. I hope he'll get more of a role in the next book, though I'm not getting my hopes up. I don't know how much more Occlumency will be referred to, especially now that Voldemort has closed off his link with Harry.[/spoiler] [quote][color=darkslateblue][spoiler][b][i]Harry and Ginny's break-up scene[/i][/b]: Wow. I can taste the cheese.[/spoiler][/color][/quote] [spoiler]I don't think that there was any way that this could have been done without it being a bit cheesy. Not any that I can think of, anyway... then again, I'm rather cheesy with romance, too, haha. The only way that could've been avoided is if Harry didn't get with anyone at all, I think.[/spoiler] [quote][color=darkslateblue][spoiler][b][i]Bill/Fleur[/i][/b]: Ok, the part where Fleur back-talks Mrs. Weasley after Bill gets hurt is amazing. I hate Ginny. And I am starting to hate Hermione. Fleur is freaking amazing. I love her. She, Luna, Katie Bell, and Parvati are the only female characters who aren't driving me mental.[/spoiler][/color][/quote] [spoiler]Yes, I rather enjoyed that myself. Added a lot more to Fleur's character. Before that she just made me laugh a bit, honestly. Nice to see that's she not some bitch-ass whore lol. I think Luna's become my favorite female character in the series. She's so awesome. Her commentary during the Quidditch match was great, haha. If I knew someone one like her I'm sure I'd be great friends with her. I think it's because I enjoy quirkiness quite a bit. :P[/spoiler] [quote][color=darkslateblue][spoiler][b][i]Draco[/i][/b]: Very in-character.[/spoiler][/color][/quote] [spoiler]Agreed. The scene with Draco and Dumbledore near the end was excellent. I'm glad to see more to Draco than being a supreme jackass. The progression of his character from the beginning of the book until the end was well done, I thought. He'd of course be all too eager to prove himself in the beginning, but once he realizes what he's gotten himself into he can't get himself out of it. Great stuff. My love of Malfoy's character grows. Also, making Crabbe and Goyle into little girls is just too funny.[/spoiler] [quote][color=darkslateblue][spoiler][b][i]The history of Tom Riddle[/i][/b]: Was very cool. Thank you.[/spoiler][/color][/quote] [spoiler]Yes, yes, and yes. Great villains are so interesting. Again, it's nice to see more added to Voldemort's character than 'I AM THE ULTIMATE EVIL FEAR ME MUDBLOODS ARGH!!11!!!'. His thirst to prove himself is similar to Malfoy's except that Riddle was more than willing to go the extra mile to achieve his aims. It's so creepy how kind and genial he could be, but then you got some of the true glimpses into his character (the scarlet flashes of his eyes, his creepy smile, etc.). Voldemort is a fun villain.[/spoiler] Also, Lunox: [spoiler]What did you think of Slughorn? I didn't care for him too much. He was mostly there to get a raging hard-on whenever Harry showed up. He felt much more like a plot device than a real character, honestly. A lot of my disappointment from him comes also comes from his addition to the staff putting Snape into Defense Against the Dark Arts and nothing really springing from that, either. Disappointment all around.I liked the addition of Umbridge better in the last novel. She was so much fun to hate. Slughorn didn't really inspire much in me other than annoyance.[/spoiler] Whew. So, yeah, I liked some things about the novel, but there were a lot of things that disappointed me as well. I hope that the final novel really ties things together strongly enough to put HBP in a new light, but I don't know how that would occur. Oh well. I still enjoyed it overall, I suppose.

Sorry for the large bump, but Tony directed me to some incredibly exciting news. I think this will leave all Futurama fans esctatic: Source: [b][url=http://dvd.ign.com/articles/634/634262p1.html]IGN DVD[/url][/b] [quote]In the first of IGN's exclusive Video Blogs direct from San Diego's Comic-Con International, voice actor Billy West (Fry, Zoidberg, the Professor, and many more voices for many more shows) revealed to us that a brand-new direct-to-video Futurama movie has been greenlit. Not only that, but there is also an option for a second movie as well. With the model established by Family Guy's return ? where a direct-to-video movie eventually spawned the show's return to Fox primetime as well ? could the much-missed Futurama also be on the way back to a set near you?[/quote] So, there is at least one direct-to-DVD movie in the works, with the possibility of another to be made afterwards. I don't want to get my hopes up too high for Futurama's return to television, because I don't think that's very likely. Regardless, I am incredibly excited about this. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I am excited to get [i]anything[/i] new from a series I thought would be left for dead after its final episode aired two years ago. A guaranteed direct-to-DVD movie is fantastic news, I think. :)

The only sport I'm actually pretty good at is tennis. I started playing tennis when I was a sophomore in high school, and I played with my friends every year afterward. The sport's a [i]lot[/i] more fun than it looks, trust me. I don't really care for watching it on television much, but it's very fun to play, especially with friends. I've had some incredibly entertaining tennis wars, haha. I've not played tennis in a long while, though. :( I'm decent at plenty of other sports... I like playing football, basketball, and baseball.

I've really gotten into RahXephon lately, and I would recommend it to anybody in a heartbeat. Interestingly you mentioned Eva, which RahXephon is often compared to, as I've seen... the two series aren't very similar, though, other than at the basest, most superficial level. The characters, in particular, are quite different - honestly, they're all just far more [i]likable[/i] than those in Eva. That's not such a big deal to me (though it is nice), but I imagine that it would be a very big deal to a lot of people. RahXephon also has a very interesting, complex story that takes full advantage of the characters and their various relationships to and with each other. There are plenty of twists and turns that, despite being genuinely surprising, make sense when you stop to think about them. As much as I like Eva, I got the feeling that a few things were introduced into the story rather arbitrarily, honestly. With RahXephon, it feels more like you're getting a wider peek at the larger picture with every episode. It's already there in front of you; your eyes are just being opened more with each passing episode. Also, I think that RahXephon is far less depressing than Eva is lol. Not that RahXephon is a light-hearted story, or anything, but it doesn't lay it on quite as thick as Eva. I think a lot of that has to do with the overall strength of the main character, Ayato. He's much stronger mentally and emotionally than Shinji is. Ayato has his moments, but they don't come around quite as often as Shinji's. The tone of the story isn't quite as stark as Eva's, either, though it is quite dark. I prefer the mood of RahXephon's story thus far to Eva's through the same number of episodes (I've seen the first 16 episodes of RahXephon). RahXephon is also very beautiful. Color is used incredibly well, the landscapes are gorgeous, and the characters and mecha are all excellently designed. The fight scenes are animated with great care, too. Definitely a visually stunning series. I like the music, as well. It's subdued, for the most part, but that helps it add to the show without overshadowing it. The fact that the music is used fittingly isn't too surprising, since music is a rather big theme of the series. So, yeah. I hope that recommendation helped out a bit. I've not regretted buying the first four DVDs of RahXephon, though I [i]do[/i] regret not waiting a few minutes and buying the boxset, haha. Oh well. Nothing to do but to wait until I save up enough money to buy the final three DVDs. :)

When you create a thread about a game, everything relating to that game goes into that specific thread. It doesn't matter whether you want to ask a question about the game or just engage in general discussion about it. One thread fits all conversation. :) Anyway, I merged the two threads.

[quote name='Siren']In the hands of a fool, satire fails.[/quote] No kidding. Please read the rules. I don't care that much if you want to babble and be incoherent, but at least try to make something that will spring up some decent discussion. Most unfortunately, a thread made for the sole purpose of flaming Nintendo won't cut it. Thread Closed

[quote name='Charles']So, what's the verdict? Was the entire thing a work (from the start) or not? What do you think?[/quote] I don't think that it was a work at the beginning. Lita cheated on Matt with Edge, and Matt ended up leaving the company because of that. I think that Matt realizes that he could potentially make some nice money off of all of this, though, and he decided to head back to WWE when the offer was on the table. Even if things don't work out after the angle for Matt, his stock will rise on the independant scene, I think. He's already working some shows for Ring of Honor, which he mentioned last night while on the air. This angle could make his profile much higher when it's all said and done.

My parents don't really care about anime very much at all, but they've never spoken out against it, either. Hell, my dad was even willing to drive my siblings and I to Anime Expo this year and last year. Neither of my parents are really interested in watching anime, but they don't try to stop me from watching it. I guess that they silently support the habit lol. They monitor my brother and sister more, though, since I'm nineteen, haha.

[quote name='Godelsensei']Since then, I have achieved such great feats as having set Shin on fire, like, seventeen times...[/quote] Ah, those were the days. You've not set me on fire for a long time. Where am I going to get my second-degree burns from now? :( Near the end of my junior year in high school I was in a computer class. We had various projects, and for each project we needed to make a cover page. TheOtaku.com was one of the various sites I went to in order to get pictures to use. I went to TheOtaku for a couple of months before I decided to check out the message board. I liked anime, but I mostly stayed because of the video game areas (95% of that was the Nintendo board, though :p). Then James got crazy (or dangerously sane) enough to hire me, and I've been modding Nintendo/Play It for a long while now. That's pretty much the only thing that keeps me around these days. [spoiler]I guess that posting about video games, the occasional anime, RPGs, Music, Movies, and TV, and short stories might also have a slight hand in keeping me around, as well. :D[/spoiler]

[QUOTE=Charles]What do you guys think of the Kerwin White gimmick, by the way? lol I didn't actually get to see it, as I missed most of Raw this Monday. I've heard it's pretty entertaining but at the same time--WWE really seems to be laying it thick on insulting Hispanics recently, with the Mexicools actually riding a lawnmower to the ring. That's probably one of the more tasteless gimmicks I've ever seen. Hassan's terrorist angle easily tops that though.[/QUOTE] I can't comment on the Kerwin White gimmick, because I missed Raw this past Monday and forgot to tape it. The gimmick sounds funny, but I would agree that WWE isn't really capitalizing on their Hispanic fanbase. Personally I'm not very offended by the Mexicools, because their group seems to be more intent on satirizing Hispanic stereotypes. At least, that's the gist I got from their first appearance on Smackdown. But they're still not overly appealing to the majority of the Hispanic fanbase, I'd wager. I really don't know what to think of Hassan's terrorist angle, though. I guess that it all depends on where WWE decides to go with it. A few people on another board I frequent were suggesting that Hassan's explanation would be that he tried to be like Americans, and he tried to reason with them, but now he was forced to resort to becoming what the fans always assumed he was and he has always hated. I like that idea, but I doubt that WWE would go in that direction. I'd love for them to surprise me, though. And, yes, I hope that they keep Maria, as well. Her gimmick is hilarious, and she's easy on the eyes, as well (which is obviously what WWE is going for in their women now, though you wouldn't get that impression looking at some of the Diva Search contestants). EDIT: Apparently Jim Cornette's been released from WWE. There was an incident recently where Cornette got into an altercation with one of his workers for laughing at a wrestler during a serious angle and therefore bungling the whole thing. That was probably the last straw and led to his release. Cornette really won't have any trouble finding work elsewhere, as he's probably the best mind in the wrestling business right now.

I'm not really surprised by the callousness of WWE's releases. Vince McMahon's never been known to be anything but a ruthless businessman. None of the decisions made by WWE surprise me that much, with the exception of the release of the Dudleys. They've been a stale act for a while now, but they're still over with the crowds - you figure that they'll be a good pickup for TNA. Though I wasn't surprised by the Dawn Marie release, it still is pretty disappointing even by Vince McMahon's standards. I hope that she at least got a nice chunk of severance pay. The Haas and Gayda situation is a bit disappointing, too, though I don't think that Charlie Haas will have trouble finding work elsewhere. He's always been a beloved figure on the Internet scene, and he'll probably find steady work on the independent scene. I feel sort of dirty for saying this, but I'll miss Kenzo Suzuki a bit as well. Not for his contributions in the ring, but for his 'ya America r00lz!!1!11' gimmick he had. That was pretty funny in the same way that Maria's 'idiot interviewer' gimmick is funny (though I think Maria's gimmick > Kenzo's). If he really does have cancer, that's sad to hear. Best of luck to him and Hiroko. I don't think that the Cruiserweight title is dead yet, but it's getting there. I really wish that WWE would just put Hurricane on Smackdown in the Cruiserweight division. Apparently he's a big merchandise mover, and he'd obviously get far more exposure on Smackdown than he does on Raw. There's still the Mexicools, Nunzio, either member of MNM could step up, Nova, Scotty 2 Hotty, and, of course, the Cruiserweight champ Paul London. Not an amazing division, and it's pretty much hanging by a thread at the moment. Tag team wrestling is pretty much dead in WWE. Raw has Hurricane and Rosey and the Heartthrobs. Perhaps La Resistance, as well, if Rene Dupree gets back together with Robert Conway. Smackdown has MNM, maybe Hassan and Daivari, and everything else would be makeshift tag teams. I don't expect to see Snitsky, Val Venis, or Hurricane get cut. I wouldn't be surprised if Tyson Tomko, Robert Conway, Danny Basham, or Sylvan Grenier got the boot, though.

I'm really struggling to not take a peek at any of the spoilers in this thread. I feel like I'm surrounded by big chunks of black in here lol. Anyway, I bought the first four RahXephon DVDs at Anime Expo. If I'd waited just a tiny bit longer I probably could've bought the boxset, but I spent my money a bit too eagerly lol. Oh well. I've been interested in watching the series for a while now, and the praise that people like Dagger and Solo bestowed upon RahXephon only made me want to see it more. When I first watched Vol. 1 I was a bit disappointed. The plot seemed to move ahead very slowly, and I had a hard time following the dialogue on occasion. I'm pretty sure that was because I was distracted, however. I watched it a second time at night when it was very quiet, and I enjoyed it quite a bit more. I'm guessing that this is a series that becomes far more enjoyable upon repeated views lol. I finished watching Vol. 2 about an hour ago. There was much more character development present there, which made it easier for me to get into than the first DVD. I really enjoy the relationships the characters have with each other, and how important each seems in regards to the entire scope of the series. Haruka's relationship with Ayato, in particular, is pretty interesting... I'm also interested to see whether or not Quon has anything more to do with Reika, especially after [spoiler]their interaction in Episode 9 (is that a spoiler? I don't know, I'm trying a play it safe lol)[/spoiler]. In fact, I'd be glad to have a bit more light shed on Quon in general, regardless of whether or not it has anything to do with Reika. :p I don't really have any theories or predictions or anything like that, though. I'm not good at doing that sort of stuff. I just try to make sense of things as I go along lol. I enjoy going back into a series and piecing everything together after I'm finished watching it more, anyway. Hopefully it won't be too long before I acquire the final three RahXephon DVDs. I'd hate to go for a long time without seeing the rest of the series - the suspense would kill me. :( EDIT: The 11th Movement is better than you. All of you. The third DVD ruled, and I'm expecting the fourth DVD to be even better. I need the final three DVDs, stat!! Ah, RahXephon. :love2: :love2: :love2: EDIT2: I [i]knew[/i] the fourth DVD would end on a cliffhanger. Sigh. So much stuff going on, and I'm sure I don't understand half of it right now. Haruko's relationship with Ayato is interesting. I'm 99% sure that [spoiler]she loves Ayato and she probably knew him in Tokyo Jupiter... everything so far seems to be pointing in that direction, anyway. Ayato's nostalgic feelings, Haruko's gift to Ayato, etc. The fact that Ayato would be the same age has Haruko had he been outside of Tokyo Jupiter was plainly mentioned, as well... it makes sense. If this is indeed true, then Ayato's memories with Haruko could have been erased/buried easily enough.[/spoiler] There's probably much more to that, though, knowing this series lol. Also, I have no idea what the hell is going on with Quon, Mishima, et al. lol

Here goes. I have a lot more music on CDs than I do on my computer. These aren't in alphabetical order, because I'm not really picky about that when it comes to CDs for some reason. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf The Pillows - FLCL OST No. 3 Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica Modest Mouse - Good News for People Who Love Bad News Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth The Beatles - 1967-1970 The Beatles - The White Album The Beatles - Past Masters The Beatles - One Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation Sonic Youth - Washing Machine Sonic Youth - A Thousand Leaves Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse Nirvana - Nevermind Nirvana - In Utero Nirvana - Unplugged in New York The White Stripes - Elephant Scarling - Sweet Heart Dealer Muse - Origin of Symmetry Muse - Showbiz Muse - Absolution Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand David Bowie - Greatest Hits Vol. 1 At the Drive-In - Acrobatic Tenement At the Drive-In - In-Casino-Out At the Drive-In - Relationship of Command Big Black - Songs About ******* Curve - Cuckoo Curve - Doppleganger Millencolin - Home From Home Misfits - Famous Monsters Pixies - Come On, Pilgrim Pixies - Surfer Rosa Pixies - Doolittle Pixies - Bossanova Pixies - Trompe Le Monde Pixies - Complete B-Sides The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow Ween - Chocolate and Cheese You Am I - The Cream and the Crock Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals The Amps - Pacer Eagles of Death Metal - Peace Love Death Metal Explosions In the Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place Holopaw - Holopaw Jack Off Jill - Sexless Demons and Scars Jack Off Jill - Clear Hearts Grey Flowers The Jesus and Mary Chain - 21 Singles And I have some mix CDs here and there. Pixies seem to be represented the most in my CD case. I love them. They're my second favorite band behind Sonic Youth. I'd recommend picking up any of their albums, though I enjoy Surfer Rosa and Trompe Le Monde the most. I like The Beatles a lot, but I don't have many of their main albums in my CD collection for some reason... I guess I just like picking up the random collections more. Just about everything I own falls into the vague 'rock' category, but there's still a nice bit of variety throughout, I think. I don't know that any of these bands sound very much like each other lol.

On my way home from a trip to Las Vegas, it suddenly began to snow. Not just a light snow storm, either; the stuff was coming down strong. The flurry lasted about a half hour or so... maybe a little less. It made our windshield tough to see through lol. That's weird, right? As far as I know, snow isn't a very common occurance in deserts. :whoops:

I was born on November 19th, 1985. I share a birthday with Jodie Foster, so I guess that's sort of nice lol. There aren't any other celebrities that I like who share a birthday with me. Ted Turner? Calvin Klein? Meg Ryan? Blah. I'm a Scorpio, but I've never bought into horoscopes or anything like that. In my opinion, there has only ever been one accurate set of horoscopes. Allow me to show them to you: [quote][b]Aquarius[/b] There's travel in your future when your tongue freezes to the back of a speeding bus Fill that void in your pathetic life by playing Whack-A-Mole seventeen hours a day [b]Pisces[/b] Try to avoid any Virgos or Leos with the Ebola virus You are the true Lord of the Dance, no matter what those idiots at work say [b]Aries[/b] The look on your face will be priceless when you find that forty pound watermelon in your colon Trade toothbrushes with an albino dwarf, then give a hickey to Meryl Streep [b]Taurus[/b] You will never find true happiness - what you gonna do, cry about it? The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep [b]Gemini[/b] Your birthday party will be ruined once again by your explosive flatulence Your love life will run into trouble when your fiancé hurls a javelin through your chest [b]Cancer[/b] The position of Jupiter says you should spend the rest of the week face down in the mud Try not to shove a roll of duct tape up your nose while taking your driver's test [b]Leo[/b] Now is not a good time to photocopy your butt and staple it to your boss's face, oh no Eat a bucket of tuna-flavored pudding, then wash it down with a gallon of strawberry Quik [b]Virgo[/b] All Virgos are extremely friendly and intelligent - except for you Expect a big surprise today when you wind up with your head impaled upon a stick [b]Libra[/b] A big promotion is just around the corner for someone much more talented than you Laughter is the very best medicine, remember that when your appendix bursts next week [b]Scorpio[/b] Get ready for an unexpected trip when you fall screaming from an open window Work a little bit harder on improving your low self-esteem, you stupid freak [b]Sagittarius[/b] All your friends are laughing behind your back (kill them) Take down all those naked pictures of Ernest Borgnine you've got hanging in your den [b]Capricorn[/b] The stars say that you're an exciting and wonderful person, but you know they're lying If I were you, I?d lock my doors and windows and never never never never never leave my house again[/quote] It's strange, I've fallen screaming out of a window every day for the past six years now. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to work a bit harder on improving my low self-esteem.

My childhood was dominated by cartoons, which isn't very different from my TV viewing habits today, actually. I loved older cartoons such as the Looney Tunes, the Hanna Barbera cartoons, etc. and I watched just about everything that Nickelodeon and WB showed. I watched a lot of cartoons on FOX, as well. Ah, the days when there were actually more than two or three cartoons on television that I liked. My favorites out of the bunch were Rocko's Modern Life, every Looney Tunes short ever made, and Animaniacs. I never watched any live action stuff, save for wrestling. I loved watching WWF and WCW, and I still watch WWE today. Other than that, though, I didn't watch any live action shows regularly.

My first job was at a small cafe in a hospital. All I did was wash dishes, put food away, and mop up the floors. I made cookies a couple of times, but that's about as far as I strayed from the daily routine lol. Right now I've just finished working for a bookstore. The lady who owns it needed help for a couple of weeks while she set up shop (she just moved here), and I basically helped move around shelves and put away books. I've already bought a few books from the shop, and I had my eye on quite a few others I saw while I was shelving them. Books rule. Unless I'm needed anymore at the bookstore I'm out of a job for the moment until later this summer. In August I'll start up a job at a Halloween shop. Should be decent enough, since I actually like it there.