Shinmaru

My favorite NES game has always been Super Mario Bros. 3. It was the game that got me hooked onto gaming for good...I had been playing games for a couple years, but never for any long length of time. SMB3 changed that. I would play the game for [i]hours[/i] every day. It was that much fun. I loved it to death. The power-ups, the levels, the bosses, the graphics, the music...it was all just so damned awesome. The Legend of Zelda: Adventure of Link is probably one of the more underrated titles for the NES (though, it has undoubtedly received more attention because of Zelda: Collector's Edition). The game was radically different from the original Zelda but it was still an awesome game in its own right. I never got [i]close[/i] to beating it when I was younger, though. The game, quite literally, ripped me a new one. Gauntlet was pretty cool, too. Who can deny the action of Gauntlet? I know I can't. I never got close to beating that game, either. I was really bad at games when I was younger lol. The action was solid enough to keep me interested, even after I would get killed endlessly.

Shinmaru continued walking forward, Manic slung over his left shoulder. Manic's tears were dripping softly onto Shinmaru's shirt, but Shinmaru paid no notice to this. His attention was focused onto the stream of smoke that was flowing out from Maison Otaku. "...that's not good, is it?" Shinmaru asked Kat. "No, I'd say it's not good at all," Kat replied, running furiously to the entrance of Maison Otaku. She opened the door and stormed inside, Shinmaru falling in line behind her. They both ran frenetically up to Smokey's apartment and threw open the door. "Oh dear lord..." Shinmaru muttered, staring at the chaos inside. The apartment was an absolute mess. Food was strewn in piles along the floor. There were small fires in just about every corner of every room in the apartment. Of course, the copious amounts of frightened teenagers scurrying about to and fro were not making matters any better. "What the hell happened here?!" Kat shrieked. The sheer volume of her voice surprised Shinmaru and he dropped Manic onto the floor. Manic decided to take advantage of the situation and tried to scamper away. Kat turned around and stared at Manic with fire in her eyes. "Don't you dare go anywhere, Manic! You're staying, too!" Manic nodded quickly and crawled over to where Shinmaru was. He promptly began whimpering like an old dog, while Shinmaru twitched uncontrollably, due to the fact that he was still frightened of Kat's loud voice.

[quote name='wrist cutter][b]Three Amigos![/b'] - All I have to do is say the three cast member: Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Chevy Chase. All in one movie.[/quote] The sight gags alone make Three Amigos! worth watching. Some of the funniest sight gags I've ever seen are in this movie. Plus, it's worth it to see Steve Martin, Martin Short and Chevy Chase in their prime years in this movie. It's hard for me to think up three movies that really stand out, but I'll give it a shot. 1. [b]Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back[/b]: The movie has it all. Action, adventure, suspense and I even managed to see it without having the famous plot twist spoiled for me beforehand, which made me enjoy the movie that much more. Plus, Darth Vader just kicks ***, no questions asked. 2. [b]Monty Python and the Holy Grail:[/b] Almost thirty years after the fact and the movie is still immensely hilarious and quotable. The movie is just so damn random, yet it all makes sense somehow. 3. [b]Pulp Fiction[/b]: The first of Tarantino's movies that I've seen and still my favorite. The movie has a great sense of flow, even though the events that happen bounce around everywhere within the span of a couple days. It's unflinchingly adult, but it wouldn't work any other way, heh.

Yep, this is definitely a game that I have my eye on...I'm actually thinking about breaking out the wallet for this one :p I'm looking forward to playing a new 2D Zelda. Don't get me wrong, the 3D Zeldas have been great, but I want to see what can be done on the 2D plane with the power of the GameCube. Should be a real treat, especially if it's 20+ hours...ooh baby. Navi's/Tetra's Trackers never really struck me as interesting, but it might've been an interesting diversion for a few minutes. I would've at least liked the chance to play it for a couple minutes, but eh...there's still a slight chance that the game might still be included, I suppose. Shadow Battle could potentially be fun, if done right, but I'm not sure I see that happening. Again, it could be an interesting diversion for a while, though. Obviously, Hyrule Adventure is the main draw of the disc and the other two games are just meant to be supplements, so I'm not expecting anything [i]amazing[/i] from the other two games on the disc.

I've had this same problem, as well (I also use Internet Explorer). I've included a couple screens in the attachments, so that you can see it for yourselves. They're a bit small, but they work, I suppose lol. EDIT: I use IE v. 6.0 and my screen resolution is 800 x 600.

[quote name='James][color=#707875'] So, while GameCube isn't offering me a constant stream of awesome titles, it's certainly offering more than I can personally afford to buy. And this is the key thing. Why worry about which console is producing more titles, when you probably can't afford to buy all of the ones you want? Obviously, most people have a finite bank balance. And because of that, one has to be somewhat careful about the games they purchase. With this in mind, there's usually more than enough on GameCube to satisfy my interests.[/color][/quote] This is a really important point, I think. I'm notorious for being...well...really cheap lol. Since I don't have as much money available to buy games as I'd like, I have to be more careful with what games I decide to buy (for those who care, I buy a new game maybe once every three or so months now). Nintendo releases a lot of games that I really, really enjoy and they're usually what I end up spending my money on. That's why the lack of third-party support on the GameCube doesn't bother me as much as it does other people, since I don't buy a lot of third-party games. For me, Nintendo has enough great games released on the GameCube to justify it being my favorite of the current crop of consoles. I just think the Nintendo titles that I end up buying are superior to most other games on the market (though, as I mentioned before, there are games that I would think about buying on the other two major consoles).

Kat and Shinmaru stepped away from the bludgeoning noise of the party and out into the street. The neighborhood was already dark and the lamps lit up the street. Shinmaru and Kat each looked from left to right in an effort to spot Manic. "I don't see him," Shinmaru remarked. "Do you?" "No, I don't see him, either..." Kat said. "Wait a minute!" She looked down onto the ground and picked up a piece of paper. "What kind of symbols are these?" Kat asked, perplexed. "I have no idea," Shinmaru said. "Looks like some kind of foreign language to me." Kat looked into the upper right-hand corner of the paper, which read "Chapter Five: Trigonometry". "A Trigonometry book?" Kat said to herself. "This must be Manic's!" "What the hell is Trigonometry?" Shinmaru asked. Even though he was intelligent, Shinmaru didn't know a thing about math. "Trigonometry is math," Kat replied. "But that doesn't matter right now! We have to get Manic!" She pointed off about twenty-five feet ahead of them. "Look, there's another paper!" Kat ran over to the paper and picked it up. It was a Trigonometry page, just as she thought it would be. "What does this all mean?" Shinmaru asked. "Is it some kind of trail?" "Yeah, I think it is," Kat replied. "Whether intended or not, we have a trail to follow Manic!" Kat and Shinmaru sped off and followed the rest of the trail towards Manic.

[quote name='Semjaza Azazel']In terms of the controller, I don't know if I'd call it "more ergonomic". Ergonomics implies comfort level to me, not compatiblity. Sure, you can use the PS2 controller more easily with most games because of its button layout (and since most ports start out on the PS2, of course they'll use this controller best). In terms of comfort and likability, I prefer the GCN controller. The d-pad is small, but I still honestly prefer it to the weird seperated one on the PS2 controller. Plus I still cannot stand how loose the PS2 sticks are. The GCN obviously has its tiny d-pad, z button and nubby c-stick, but they just don't bother me as much. Obviously this is just subjective, so I can't really even argue it. It's just my preference.[/quote] Forgot to mention this in my post, heh. I also prefer the GameCube controller to the other controllers (though, the XBox Type S controller is good, too). The PS2 controller is decently sized, but I've never really felt comfortable using it on some games. For the most part, the GameCube controller is far more comfortable for me than the PS2 controller. I will say that I prefer the buttons on the PS2 controller (that is, the four main buttons), but everything else goes GameCube's way for me. The control pad has never been a big issue with me, since I rarely use it. The control stick works for me just fine. But eh...like Tony said, all that is just subjective stuff lol. Obviously, I'll prefer the GameCube controller for the same reasons that someone else prefers a different controller.

If you're going to start a thread, at least be courteous enough to provide some input of your own. I don't think it's very fair to start up a thread and expect everyone else to provide the conversation. Anyway, of today's major consoles, I own both of Nintendo's: The GameCube and Game Boy Advance. Of these two, I have far more games for my GameCube and my GameCube gets far more playtime. Even if I want to play Game Boy Advance games, I usually just play those on my Game Boy Player (I don't get out too much, obviously lol). The biggest reason why I prefer GameCube over the other two consoles (don't get the idea that I haven't played them - I have friends with XBoxes and PS2s) is Nintendo. Simply put, Nintendo makes the best games out there, which is more than enough for me. I don't have the opportunity to buy [i]nearly[/i] as many games as I used to (though, I own quite a few GameCube games), so the slight lack of third-party support for the GameCube doesn't really bother me too much. Nintendo makes up for that with the sheer amount of high-quality games they have made and will continue to make. I'm certain that the online issue will be brought up by someone, eventually, but online has never been that important to me, probably because I wouldn't really use it too often. I'm all for multiplayer, but I prefer my multiplayer on a more personal level...it's just more fun that way. The novelty of playing people around the world would wear off, eventually, except if you wanted to play the best gamers from around the world (personally, I wouldn't, because I'd get stomped into the ground lol). If I had to choose a second-place console, I'd go with XBox because there are more games that I'd be willing to buy the XBox for than I see on the PS2 (though, there are a few games that I've wanted to try on the PS2, heh).

I've heard plenty of beautiful songs in my lifetime, though it's hard to think of one that really comes to the forefront. [i]Eleanor Rigby[/i] by The Beatles is one that comes to mind. It's pretty much my favorite song of theirs. The mixture of violins, harmonious vocals and great lyrics make for a truly beautiful song, heh. Too bad it's so short lol. Then, there are some songs that go into the more morbid side of beauty. Stuff by Nine Inch Nails really exemplifies this, I think. Not [i]all[/i] of the band's songs could be considered beautiful (a lot are simply too gritty to be considered beautiful by just about anyone lol), but when you think about it, their songs are beautiful in a lot of ways. [i]Hurt[/i] is a really beautiful song, because it's really emotional without smacking you upside the head with pain, heh. Of recent times, I think Scarling's cover of [i]Creep[/i] is really damn beautiful, mostly because Jessicka's voice is just amazingly sweet and beautiful in that song. It's quite a cool contrast to the band's sound, heh (though Jessicka's voice retains the same sweet quality in all of the other songs, I think it's highlighted in [i]Creep[/i]). EDIT: To answer your question, since I don't really have enough to say to warrant a new post, Jessicka used to be the lead singer of Jack Off Jill. I've not heard as much of their music as I would have liked, though. I always seem to get into a lot of bands after they've broken up lol.

It was only a matter of time before I made a thread for this...after all, I've been yapping endlessly about the series for a while now :p The Dark Tower is basically an epic by Stephen King, which, when finished, will stretch over seven books. The first five books in the series have already been released (though, I think Wolves of the Calla is still only available in hardback) and the last two (Song of Susannah and The Dark Tower) will both be released later on this year. I read the first book in the series, The Gunslinger, around this time last year. The Gunslinger [spoiler]follows the travels of Roland of Gilead, whom is tracking down the man in black in order to complete the next step of his journey to The Dark Tower. Roland's world is "moving on," which means that it is degenerating very slowly. According to Roland, The Dark Tower is the nexus of the universe and he hopes to find some way to slow or even reverse the degeneration of his world at The Dark Tower.[/spoiler] The Gunslinger is a good introduction into Roland's world. It moves a bit slow at times, but it gets good near the end of the book. My favorite parts of the book are a tie between [spoiler]Roland's massacre at Tull and Roland's palaver with the man in black, Walter.[/spoiler] Soon afterwards, I read the second book in the series, The Drawing of the Three. [spoiler]This one picks up right where The Gunslinger left off. Roland has emerged from his palaver with Walter with new information about his future. He knows he has to "draw" three people from another world into his world and they shall join him in his journey to The Dark Tower. He only draws two people in this book, Eddie Dean and Odetta Walker, but I'm not even going to try explaining all the crazy stuff that goes on with all that, because I'd be typing this post forever lol.[/spoiler] I think The Drawing of the Three is leaps and bounds ahead of The Gunslinger in overall quality and it's my second favorite book in the series, behind Wolves of the Calla. My favorite parts of the book are [spoiler]all the craziness that happens as Roland enters Eddie's mind and Roland's jaunt in New York where he gets Keflex (to treat an infection he suffered from the bite of a "lobstrosity"), ammunition and kills off Jack Mort, a psychotic killer.[/spoiler] The third book in the series is The Waste Lands and it's almost as good as The Drawing of the Three. [spoiler]This book picks up a few months after Drawing of the Three. The beginning details how Roland and his ka-tet draw Jake, the boy whom Roland sacrificed in The Gunslinger, into his world. The second part of the book details the ka-tet's journey to Lud to ride Blaine the Mono towards the next path to The Dark Tower.[/spoiler] Obviously, that's a [i]really[/i] simplified synopsis of the plot, but it's tiring typing all this out lol. My favorite parts are with [spoiler]Blaine the Mono because he's just so damned creepy, heh.[/spoiler] The fourth book in the series is Wizard and Glass. [spoiler]The book starts off with the riddling contest between Blaine and Roland's ka-tet. Obviously, you know Roland and the others will win. Most of the book is centered around a key time in Roland's life, where he met the love of his life, Susan Delgado.[/spoiler] Yes, that's a really, really simplified synopis, too. I thought that Wizard and Glass was good, but it really dragged in a couple spots. It took me quite a while to read through the book because of this, heh. The fifth book is Wolves of the Calla. [spoiler]In this, Roland's ka-tet defend Calla Bynn Sturgis (I think that's what the town is called) from the Wolves of Thunderclap, which happens to be where Roland and his friends are going off to next. In the town, they meet Father Callahan, another person from New York who found his way into Roland's mysterious world.[/spoiler] I'm a bit tired of typing, so I'll just tell you to read the book and find out what happens. The Wolves of the Calla is definitely my favorite book in the series because it has the best mix of action, adventure and suspense of the books. Definitely worthy of a read (but only if you've read through the others, heh). I know there are a few other fans of The Dark Tower here. What do you think of the books? How many of them have you read and what did you think of them? Are you looking forward to the final two books?

"I mean, seriously," Shinmaru said. "Even [i]dogs[/i] aren't supposed to get drunk [i]that[/i] quickly!" He took a long chug from his beer and tossed the can aside. Shinmaru never really did anything at parties other than drink and belch a lot. However, this was far superior to studying, at least in his point of view. Shinmaru turned over to Smokey, who was standing next to him. "Hey, where's Manic?" Shinmaru asked. "I don't know!" Smokey yelled over the booming noise of the music. "I haven't seen him at all yet!" Shinmaru grunted in frustration. The party just wouldn't be the same if he couldn't bug Manic the entire time. After all, besides watching bootleg animated versions of video games, that was all Shinmaru did all day. "Well, I'm going to go find him!" Shinmaru yelled over the cacophonous noise. He turned to walk away and find Manic, when he bumped into another person. "You're not going to go off without [i]me[/i]!" the person said, jabbing a finger into Shinmaru's face.

Good critique, as always, Mimmi ^_^ I shall definitely take your suggestions to mind, heh. I never notice this stuff unless other people point it out for me lol. The hospital scene, in particular, seemed a bit iffy to me when I was writing it; I'll have to add a bit more to it right now. Again, thank you for the critique ^_^

[quote name='Molleta][color=green']I have to say, I love the movie Clue. It has an amazing cast and is funnier now than when I saw it the first time. So much of the humor was lost on me when I was younger. For some reason, after watching it with my boyfriend a week ago, he feels the need to end every conversation we have with the line, "I'm gonna go home and sleep with my wife." I find that only slightly amusing. [/color][/quote] Clue is definitely an awesome movie. I didn't see it when I was younger, though...I think I first watched it about three years ago. Very funny stuff, heh. One of the few movies that I can stand Tim Curry lol. And it's really quotable (which you pointed out, heh), which is always a plus, especially for a comedy. You have to have [i]something[/i] to remember a movie by :p Also, like Tony mentioned, there will always be movies that stand the test of time, no matter what generation they're from. Most of my memories of movies come from movies made in the 80s/early 90s, actually. Stuff like Indiana Jones, Star Wars (Empire and Jedi, of course, since New Hope was made in '77), Back to the Future, E.T. ...just great stuff you never really end up forgetting. In those cases, though, the movies are still good enough for me to like them just as much, if not more, when I watch them today. Nothing is worse than having your good memories spoiled by watching something you loved as a kid and realizing that you now hate it lol.

Okay, I'm issuing a warning here. The post quality in this thread is [i]really[/i] taking a nosedive. Please put more thought into your posts or I or someone else will be forced to shut this thread down. Thanks.

"Mallow, you're...not a tadpole!" Dramatic music played, as if to emphasize this point. Mallow's face contorted into a look of extreme confusion. "Say what?!" Mallow yelled. Shinmaru laughed uproariously as he watched his bootleg copy of an animated version of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. This was the third part of a, what else, seven part series that he had just recieved in the mail a few hours ago. "Man, I didn't see that coming at all!" Shinmaru yelled with glee, despite the fact that he had played the original Super Nintendo game about fifty times in lieu of homework. "Ah, I love bootlegged copies of animated versions of video games." "[b]Do you know how bloody illegal that is?![/b]" a voice yelled from outside. Shinmaru jumped into the air and hit his head on the roof of his apartment. He yelped with pain, then proceeded to stop the episode, eject the disc from his television and hide it. There was no way that he would be going to jail, if he had anything to do with it. "Whew...that was a close one," Shinmaru said to himself. He continued to listen to what was going on outside and soon realized that the people outside were not talking about him. "Damn it, they made me stop watching my show and they weren't even talking about me!" He rushed outside angrily to confront the people who had taken the joys of his cartoons away from him. "What is with all the yelling?!" Shinmaru yelled at the top of his lungs. "Don't you know that some people are trying to watch some stuff and that we need peace and quiet?!" Shinmaru calmed down when he spotted Manic sulking on the bottom of the stairs. "Heya Manic. What's up?" "I'm trying to figure out how to get away from all of you nutjobs," Manic replied. "That's a good one," Shinmaru laughed. "You live in the apartment building, right?" Smokey asked Shinmaru. "Want to come to my party?" "Party?" Shinmaru asked. "Hell yeah! Anything to avoid studying...you know, I have to take the SATs soon. That's gonna be a real pain and I could use a good party to get my mind off of them." "Party?" another person spoke up from down the hall. "What party?"

I'm [i]this[/i] close to actually going out and buying a PS2 for R-Type Final and Gradius V...I'd need money first, though

Well, in that particular case, I believe it would be "thumbing through hundreds of papers". Anyway, the story seems good so far. It reads well and very smoothly and you can really feel the joy that the person in the story gets from reading. The rough draft is coming along well so far...I'd like to see you continue, if that's possible ^_^

"You know the day destroys the night Night divides the day Tried to run Tried to hide Break on through to the other side Break on through to the other side..." "Jeremy!" Jeremy twitched in surprise. He leaned forward slightly and turned off his stereo, then he took off his headphones, wrapped them up and placed them onto the table. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his dampening brown hair. Usually, the basement was nice and cool, but Jeremy didn't really mind the warmth that much, either. Jeremy was about to go upstairs, when he realized that he had left his Doors CD in his stereo. He walked up to the stereo, took the CD out and put it back into its case. Jeremy was a messy person most of the time, but he cared for his CDs as if they were newborn children and always made sure that they were safe when he was not using them. Jeremy walked slowly up the stairs and opened the door. A fresh blast of cool air refreshed him from the stifling, stuffy warmth of the basement. Jeremy searched around the house for whomever had called him; his mother, he presumed. He walked into the kitchen and his eyes swept the room...nobody there. He checked the living room but there was nobody there, either. "Mom?" Jeremy yelled. "Where are you?" Jeremy continued his search of the house, but there was nobody there that he could see. The bedrooms, the bathrooms, the guest rooms...not a person within sight or sound. "Where is everyone?" Jeremy asked himself. "I could have sworn that I heard somebody calling my name." Jeremy walked slowly back downstairs and decided to take a walk outside. He approached the door, opened it, stepped outside, then closed the door and made sure that it was locked. Jeremy began to stroll down the sidewalk. He gazed from house to house, street to street; there was not a person in sight. "That's real strange," Jeremy muttered to himself. "There's nobody here at all." He looked up into the sky, which blazed with the dark orange light of a perpetual sunset. The dark, sunny glow struck Jeremy in the face and blinded him momentarily. He raised a pale hand in front of his face to shield his brown eyes from the dazzling glow of the sun. "Damn sun," Jeremy spat. "It's not even late enough for sunset! What the hell is going on here?" Jeremy continued to walk down the sidewalk. There was nobody walking along the streets or in any of the stores. The lack of people unnerved Jeremy more and more with each passing second. He was starting to approach the commercial area of his neighborhood and, still, he had not seen one hint of activity either outside or in one of of the houses. It was as if everyone had simply disappeared off the face of the planet. Jeremy peered down the road...he thought he spotted a shadow moving in the distance. "Hey!" Jeremy shouted. "Hold on!" The shadow turned its head, spotted Jeremy, and bolted off. After a moment's hesitation, Jeremy made haste after the shadow. His arms flailed and his legs felt like they would give any second, mostly because Jeremy wasn't much of an athlete, but he somehow managed to keep it together long enough to see the shadow run into the local pet store. Jeremy walked inside and looked around; even the pets in the pet store had gone missing. All, that is, except for one. In a cage located by the front cash register, there was a green parrot. Jeremy walked up to what was seemingly the only form of life left in the neighborhood. "So, how did you get here?" Jeremy asked. The parrot did not answer. "Heh, going to be quiet, eh? That's cool, I suppose. At least I know that there is at least [i]something[/i] still alive here besides me and that I'm not going ******* [i]crazy[/i]!" Jeremy slammed his fist down onto the cash register in frustration. "******* crazy!" the parrot squawked. "******* crazy!" Jeremy peered at the parrot with a slightly deranged look in his eye. "So, you think so, too, huh?" Jeremy asked quietly. "I don't think I'm crazy yet, but I wouldn't say I'm totally sane right now, either." He paced back and forth in front of the parrot, pausing occasionally to look the bird in the eye. "I woke up this morning and thought I'd just listen to some music...next thing I know, I'm the ******* Omega Man! Ain't that a trip, Squawks?" The parrot simply stared at Jeremy in response. Jeremy shook the parrot's cage violently and the parrot squawked and cried in terror, green feathers flying asunder. "God damn you!" Jeremy yelled. "I want some [i]people[/i] here! Where are all the damned [i]people[/i]?!" He stopped shaking the parrot's cage and bowed his head in frustration. All this was getting to be too much for Jeremy...only a few minutes of total and complete solitude and he was already walking down the long road to madness. He exaled slowly and tried to calm down his nerves and rationalize the situation as much as he could. "Okay...I know that just about everyone is gone," Jeremy said to himself, collecting his thoughts. "For whatever reason, everyone seems to be gone, except for the shadow and this parrot. Something tells me that the shadow knows exactly what the hell is going on here...so, if I catch up to the shadow, then I can figure out what's happening! Sounds like a fair plan, right?" The parrot nodded. Jeremy walked out of the pet store and looked across the street. The shadow stood there, staring at him. They looked into each other's eyes, sizing each other up. Jeremy had the distinct feeling that he recognized this shadow, but it was impossible to tell from where, as he could not get a clear look at its face from this distance. Without warning, the shadow ran off again. "Bastard!" Jeremy ran across the street after the shadow. After a few minutes of running at full speed, Jeremy's lungs began to burn harshly. He needed oxygen very badly but he did not stop running after the shadow. Eventually, the shadow slowed down to a stop, its back still turned to Jeremy. Jeremy slowed down, as well, and stooped with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. As soon as he had collected enough precious oxygen to sustain his lungs, Jeremy placed a hand on the shadow's shoulder. "Just who the hell are you, buddy?" Jeremy asked. The shadow turned around slowly and looked up at Jeremy solemnly. Jeremy looked at the familiar face of the shadow for a few seconds, then stepped back suddenly in shock. "You...you're me! A younger me, but me nonetheless..." The shadow nodded in response. "What the hell is going on?!" Jeremy screamed into the sky. "There's nobody left on the planet except a wise-*** parrot and some damn shadow...thing that somehow looks like me when I was a kid!" Jeremy kicked a garbage can in frustration, scattering several pieces of garbage on the sidewalk. "And now..." Jeremy whispered. "Now I really think I'm off the deep-end. I've really ******* lost my mind. Are you happy now?! I'm all alone in the world and I've gone insane! What else do you want?!" The shadow looked up at him understandingly. "Come, and you shall find out," the shadow said smoothly. The shadow trotted off slowly, while Jeremy stared in amazement. The shadow may have [i]looked[/i] like him, but it definitely didn't sound like him. The shadow had the sort of smooth voice that could convince anyone to do anything...you didn't stop to think about it; you just went along with whatever they said. Jeremy followed along slowly, not knowing where the shadow would take him. Soon, the shadow led Jeremy to the outskirts of his neighborhood. There was a small cliff that overlooked the part of the ocean that was near Jeremy's house. The shadow led Jeremy up the cliff until they got up to the peak, which overlooked the ocean. There was a door on the very edge of the peak, which the shadow was standing in front of. The shadow gestured to the door with an outstretched arm. Jeremy nodded in understanding. The shadow opened the door and took one last look at Jeremy before stepping inside. "Go then," the shadow said. "There are other worlds than these." The shadow closed the door and left Jeremy alone. "Well," Jeremy said. "I guess this is it. Should've figured that, with all this, that it would come down to a simple choice. Either I do...or I don't." Jeremy figured that his was an easy decision. There was nothing left for him here; he might as well take his chances with the mysterious door. Jeremy took a step closer...the door seemed to go a step farther away. Jeremy walked forward a few steps more and the door began to get farther away. Jeremy spat to the ground in frustration and broke into a frantic run to the door. Farther and farther away the door went, as if it were teasing Jeremy...as if he wasn't meant to go through the door after all. And, just when Jeremy was about to give up, the door inched closer. After a few minutes of strenuous running, Jeremy finally reached the door. The door, it seemed, that he was destined to go through. Jeremy grasped the doorknob and opened the door slowly. Jeremy was awed at the sight he saw...nothing but pure, white light as far as the eye could see. Jeremy stepped through and the door slammed shut on him. Immediately, the white light turned black and he fell down into darkness. Jeremy fell, and would continue to fall, forever. ----- "...he's not going to make it," the doctor said solemnly. "We could keep him on life support, but I'm afraid the expenses would be too much for you to bear." Jeremy's mother nodded in understanding, tears pouring down her cheeks. She looked down at the maimed body of her son. He was covered with scars and was barely clinging to life with the help of the life support machinery that the hospital had hooked him up to. The car accident had not taken Jeremy's life but the fact that he needed life support to stay alive was not exactly reassuring. "Yes," Jeremy's mother said. "As much as I hate to do it, it's for the best...I do not want my son to suffer. I would rather that he die peacefully." "I understand," the doctor said. He nodded to the nurse. She walked over slowly to the life support machines and kept her hand over button for a few seconds. She looked over at the doctor and Jeremy's mother for reassurance and, when they both nodded, she pushed the button and shut down Jeremy's life support. The machine pumping oxygen into Jeremy's ruined lungs slowed to a stop; the other machine monitoring Jeremy's pulse continued to monitor Jeremy. The lines and beeps stretched out continually for a few seconds, until Jeremy flatlined. Jeremy's mother sobbed loudly. Though she had not wanted her son to continue to suffer, it did not make her loss any easier. "We'll leave you alone to grieve," the doctor said. He motioned over to the nurse and they both left the room, closing the door behind them. ----- As always, comments and critique are appreciated.

Great chapter, Solo ^_^ *proceeds to outline his favorite parts of the chapter*

[quote name='Mimmi][size=1][color=#800000]Another game I enjoyed playing with my younger sister was [b]Bomberman[/b]. The moment I realised that you could pick up your opponent, toss them across the screen and hear the little dude shout "[i]Go Away ![/i] " made all the times I lost bearable, mwuahahaha.[/color'][/size][/quote] Well, I never had the opportunity to play the original Bomberman on the NES, but I didn't rent Super Bomberman quite a bit (I didn't get as much out of it as I could have, though, because I only had two controllers for the SNES - still, the multiplayer was quite fun). The one-player mode was frustrating, at times. Especially if you accidently box yourself into a corner with bombs. What's worse is when you do this with the detonator bombs, which means that you basically have to kill yourself. Nothing is worse than that, let me tell you.

[QUOTE=lava lamp]Hey, Dagger, news flash: Some people aren't native English speakers and are trying their best to get out sentences that to you may seem "incoherent." Stop being a grammar Nazi and realize that "clarity" and "coherency" don't necessarily mean grammatical perfection.[/QUOTE] Hey, lava lamp, news flash: Grammatical perfection is not what is being asked for. Dagger felt that tomo's grammar could improve a bit and that's all. Dagger was just doing her job and she did it in the most polite matter possible, I think. And, frankly, I doubt that you know any better than Dagger does whether or not tomo is a native speaker of English. If you or anyone else doesn't care for the way that OtakuBoards handles this sort of thing, then leave the site. It's that simple. Honestly, I just wish you'd get off your high horse and stop spamming threads like you've done here and you've done in the past. Anyway, so this post isn't completely off-topic... I watch anime for entertainment value. That's pretty much how I view anime and other forms of entertainment. If I'm going to invest my time in something, then I might as well get some entertainment out of it, heh. I don't really watch too much anime, though, as I'm not a huge fan of most of it. A lot of it is just too derivative for my tastes.

When I was in elementary school, I remember myself being one of those dorks whose life aspirations changed every few days. The ones I remember most include me wanting to be a magician, a basketball player and a cartoonist. None of those ideas panned out very well, heh. Mostly because of my ineffiencies in those areas (I've never been able to learn any magic tricks other than simple ones, I'm not especially talented at basketball and I can't draw for crap). Right now, I'm focusing myself on becoming a journalist, particularly in the video game industry (I'd prefer the internet more than a magazine because my style of writing just seems better suited to the internet, I think). Writing has been one of the constants in my life that has managed to hold my interest for a long time. Video games also happen to fall into that area, so it's only natural that I'd want to be a gaming journalist. Who knows if I'll achieve my goal, but I'm going for it.

I probably would've been disappointed to no end if that happened to me lol. Even when my game erased, I could still go back and play it (and I eventually beat the game, though I was forced to do it in one sitting...I wasn't looking too pretty at the end lol). I imagine he was pretty happy to finally be able to beat the game after years of waiting to beat the crap out of the Mother Brain, hehe. I know I would've been chomping at the bit to serve the Mother Brain a three-course meal consisting of missiles in the mouth ~_^ Super Mario Bros. 3 (on the NES) was actually sort of frustrating...well, not really frustrating, but more devious, I should say. I swear, the first five levels (Grass Land through Sky Land) are just meant to lull you into a false sense of security...then, the game drops you into Ice Land and leaves you to fend for yourself lol. The difficulty really ramps up between Sky Land and Ice Land. Lemmy was no picnic to beat, either (though, he was probably the most fun Koopaling to fight). Pipe Land was a pretty tough level, too. I remember getting killed at the water portions of the level quite frequently (mind you, I was five when I first played SMB3). It took me forever to finally reach Ludwig, only to have him stomp me into the ground within seconds. I hated Ludwig with a passion, heh. Dark Land...that place was just an f-ing gauntlet lol. There is so much stuff to go through and so many enemies to beat; the level was insane. It was quite easy to get lost in Bowser's Castle, too, if I remember correctly. However, even with that, my frustrations against SMB3 still could not compare to the unbridled joy that I felt after I finally beat Bowser. I felt like I was on top of the world. The only thing that compares to it is when I beat Bowser in Super Mario World (I actually have that on tape lol).

Although I listen to a lot of different music, the bulk of my enjoyment comes from rock, so I'd go with a rock-oriented group. As for the style, I'd also prefer more of a Queens of the Stone Age style sound, with the band playing mostly hard, fast tunes with heavier, slower songs every once in a while. [b][u]Vocals[/b][/u] I wouldn't really look for anything too fancy with my vocals. I'd prefer someone with a smooth voice that can change and keep in tune with the speed of the particular song that's playing. Someone akin to Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age would fit in rather well with this, I think. Josh's is easily one of my favorite voices in rock, heh. The way he sings really adds some weight to the songs without being too annoying (like someone with a Kurt Cobain style voice) or too loud (like someone with a Chris Cornell style voice). [b][u]Guitars[/b][/u] With the guitars, I'd go for the Soundgarden type set-up. The lead singer would play the main riff of the song. Doesn't have to be anything really complex because he obviously has to concentrate on singing, as well lol. The other guitarist would handle the more complex tunes, like Kim Thayil did in Soundgarden. This person would obviously need a higher degree of mastery of the guitar and being able to create good sounding solos that fit in with the overall tune of the song is a huge plus. The bass player would be the person controlling the tempo of the song. I find it pretty enjoyable to hear the bass player speed up the song and have the other guitarists follow their cue. A good bass player is invaluable to a band. [b][u]Percussion[/b][/u] For the most part, I'd stick with using a regular drum set. I don't have anything against bongos, tambourines or any of those other instruments but I just prefer a regular drum set over anything else, heh. Along with the bass player, the drummer could also play a key in controlling the tempo of the song. When the song needs to be fast, the drummer starts playing faster and vice-versa. Also, like Tony, I'd probably start off a lot of songs with drums...not most of them, but quite a few. It just sounds cooler that way :p [b][u]Other Sounds[/b][/u] What I laid out above would pretty much be the main set-up for the band. Every once in a while, they'd bring in someone such as a keyboardist or an organist (the organ kicks mucho ***, in my opinion) to add a little more to certain songs. I wouldn't do this too often but it's definitely something to consider - certain songs have really used other instruments to fantastic effect and it really pushes them to the top in terms of sound. [b][u]Everything Else[/u][/b] Everything else is just sort of secondary. I'm not really the type of person who cares for huge shows and visuals out the ***...I just like hearing the music and getting caught up in the experience of watching a band live. So, any concerts my band do wouldn't be this huge stage show or anything...they'd just go out, play their ***** off and let their music give the audience a good time.