2010DigitalBoy

[COLOR="DarkOrange"][quote name='Dagger']Very interested to see what you guys will think of the ending (last third/fourth or so, I guess) of Esca. I thought it was damn near perfect in every quarter for most of its run, but then... well, that's a discussion for later (or for the Escaflowne thread). ~Dagger~[/QUOTE] There apparently is no Escaflowne thread O-o Anyway, I'm gunna, like, spoiler the whole thing, so if you've seen te show just copy it into a word doc or something. [spoiler]So, I finished the show this morning. I have to say, Escaflowne ended up being a pretty big disappointement in my opinion. At first I was eally enjoying it - the sort of blend between shoujo and shounen goodies was neat, but more importantly it was very fast-paced and the actions scenes kicked. ***. There was a great sense of adventures, with the way the crew traveled about very quickly and the world it takes place in seemed very broad. All of the characters, while not particularly deep, were likeable as well. Then somewhere around alfway through the show just ****** up. There was a point of unequivical awesome rigth around the halfway point - both Van and Dilandau were going through turmoil and everything rely seemed to be escalating to the next level. But then in the late teens the pacing just got totally out-of-wack. I guess it was because plot development was becoming more important but it lost a lot of the energy it had and there were certain parts (episode 18) that were plain horrible. But the worst part was wondering where te **** was Dilandau! Dilandau was my favorite character, he was half the fun of the show and for around 7 episodes he wasn't even shown! So around the early 20s things start to pick up again, but you don't get that solid climactic feeling. In the beginning, it had always felt tlike and adventure that was on it's way toward a forseeable goal, but at this point everyone was just kind of running around on their own agenda with some ambiguous plan towards what they were going to do at the end. But the series made one absolutely huge epic fail mistake at this point; making me hate almost ALL of the characters. Hitomi turns into a spiteful ***** (who, until the very end of the goddamn series, doesn't learn the important message from ep 17). Allen, after being tricked into falling in love with Hitomi, never reverts to his cool, suave self and instead pecomes a permanent dickhole throughout the show. Van I didn't hate, but I really never felt anything much toward Van. He was entirely a one-track mind from start to finish, which made him cool and honerable for the first half, like Tony Jaa in The Protector, but at some point he jus seemed to be incredibly thickheaded, having to relearn the same peace message over and over. The best side character, Millerna's fiancee, got almost now showtime, and Van's brother was pretty cool, though he doesn't get to be prominent until the end and then only for a couple episodes. The defining moment of my hatred for the characters though was when Dilandau triumphantly returns with the ****ing awesome Jajuba (or whatever the hell his name was). When these guys were fighting Allen and Van during their reunion, I was BEGGING for him to kill Allen. And you know there's something wrong when you want the bad guys to win. Of couse, had he, in fact, killed Allen, we wouldn't have gotten te dramatic irony of ZOMG Dilandau is Allen's sister. Oddly enough, I thought that part was really cool - wether freaky guy or ****** up girl, Dilandau is always a sexy beast, so I don't care. However, I thought that plot element could have been introduced in any number of better ways. It deffinitely should not have been thrown out there in the last couple of episodes. It's almost liek when we last saw Dilandau and the bad guys said some random foreshadowing things about him, it still hadn't been decided what was going to happen to him. Some more things I didn't like - NOT ONE of the battles that took place after Dilandau's initial disappearance were as good as any beforehand. I was in awe of the creativity and intriguing styles of mech fight used early on, but later it just becomes your average hack'n'slash swordfighting. And oh. dear. god. the final battle was lame. Why? Because dilandau, who had always been an even match for Escaflowne, gets all of his limbs severed IMMEDIATELY only to be saved by Jackajuby and Allen. And I honestly didn't care much about Vanvs.Allen because the only reason I even remotely wanted Allen to live was so that I wouldn't have to see Celena/Dilly sad. In addition, the romance between Hitomi and Van was WAY too rushed. I had always thought it was interesting how the male and female leads didn't begin romantically interested, but were building a bond of trust and I could sense that they would eventually hook up, but why did it hapen in the last 3 episodes and all-at-once? In any event, at the very least the ending was pretty good - it would have been much much better if the HitomixVan pairing had been stronger, but juding the ending individualy it was pretty well done. Overall, I wouldn't call it a bad show, but I would definitely say that it really threw itself off a building at some point. Once the adventure was gone, the fights got lame, and everyone became a bastard there wasn't much left but to end it before you had time to hate it too much. [/spoiler][/COLOR]

[COLOR="rgb(255, 140, 0)"]I want to amend my article since it's been a long time and the ending no longer applies. If the last sentence could be replaced with.... [COLOR="DarkOrange"]"After a stint with nearly being banned for backseat moderating, DigitalBoy went on the create the popular RPG The Panopticon, which gained him a new set of friends among the moderators of OB. Over time, DigitalBoy created a few hit RPGs before essentially retiring from the business due to school activities. At one point, DigitalBoy decided to go on hiatus from the boards, opting to make it less of his main hideout and more of something he only checked so often, however no one noticed this because his posts were still so rediculously frequent. Recently, DigitalBoy has regressed almost solely into the music and anime sections of the site, only popping his head into the general discussions when really bored."[/COLOR][/COLOR]

[quote name='Neuvoxraiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]If inserted Mitch here, he?d probably come crying to someone with crocodile tears pouring down his face. And the ensuing flood would destroy us all. But seriously folks. The only good idea I?ve seen so far involves hobo lawyers. Although Shy has lobbied me personally for some Sandy drama. This is where you expand on the idea. The idea in short: Involves some of us baking a pie and Sandy being angry because we weren?t making the pie right.[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]I wouldn't mind being the jackass who keeps tampering with the pie formula behind everyone's backs until Desbreko notices and uses his nads to hadoken me into the next world XD. [/COLOR]

[quote name='Arispa'][size=1]I'm going for minimal procrastination, but gods know how long that's likely to last. Still. I'm lovin' the optimism, DB. I'm along the same path, actually. Insanely happy with how my New Years went, was insanely happy - and I've slept over at my boyfriends house so many times that I think I sleep better with him than alone. Well, I guess that's a given but... it makes me feel better. Which, in turn, makes this year destined to be better. I broke up with the worlds biggest jerk (who I had been dating 2 years) last September, and am now dating one of the sweetest guys I know. Yeah, I guess you could say this year will be better.[/size][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]That's awesome! I know this will be a great year for you as well, I can feel it in your post! Good luck to your relationship![/COLOR]

[quote name='0ber0n the Neko']oh, sorry. i forgot my /sarcasm tag.[/quote] [COLOR=darkorange]Really? I thought it was just invisile and assumed it was there. I hope you don't think I'm stupid...[/COLOR] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]You two, please. There's already been a warning about posting of this nature recently. For the sake of this thread, just let it go and keep the discussion on topic.[/COLOR][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana][COLOR=blue]- Petie[/COLOR][/FONT]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]*skims through, only reading the parts where I am mentioned* nice, though I expected you of all people to be a little meaner XD in any event, I can't tell you how glad I am to be a prominant enough member that I am put in OB parodies without asking to be, something I dreamed of years ago. [/COLOR]

[quote name='Chabichou'][COLOR="#004a6f"]Personally, I am getting sick of this growing mentality that people can do whatever they want as long as they're "not hurting anybody". It's really quite sad that our current society's idea of freedom is simply the lack of morals and dignity and respect. Prostitution (and drinking, smoking, doing drugs, and many other immoral acts), are all harmful, to the people performing these acts and to their entire society. Prostitution should remain illegal. It is a a disgusting, immoral act and harms the dignity of all parties involved. I will not sit here harping about the religious perspective of sex (like the idea that people should be married in order to have sex), but I will at least say that sex should only be done by those in a relationship who love each other. Simply using other people's bodies for pleasure (whether they are paid or not) is disrespectful and immoral. Why should we promote these kinds of ideas by making prostitution legal? Our laws should not only protect people from physical harm, but should protect dignity and morals.[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]Dignity and morals are in the eye of the beholder. If we imposed an absolute system, we'd be, like, controlling people's brains and stuff. And... that's doubleplusungood. [/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Your second 'Hiro and Miya' is definietly Hiro and Kyousuke XD you know, i realized sometime earlier that Shinbo really has a way with awesome characters named Kyousuke, lol. Maybe I'll finally get around to resizing the Kyousuke sig I've had on another board for 6 weeks for OB use lol. damn macs have no easy way to resize things. Anyway, those stills were interesting - do Kei and Kyousuke become romantically involved in the game? They sort of hinted at it at the end of the show but we don't get much info... in any case Kyousuke is simply awesome and they'd make a great couple. in response to that manga thing... one day I need to meet Shinbo and the entire staff of SHAFT and just get a handshake from all of them... and maybe their autographs... and maybe I can be their helper monkey...[/COLOR]

[quote name='mistressroxie']Prostitution[/quote] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]Is digitalboy approved! *two thumbs up*[/COLOR]

[quote name='Whiteblaze'][FONT="Arial"]Happy New Year to all! Is it just me or does anyone else notice how people seem to believe that 2008 in particular will be a great year? I know it's a New Years thing to have better hopes for the new year, but everywhere I go there are people expressing that 2008 is going to be a very good year. Has anyone else noticed this? Now here's what I'm talking about. People believe it's going to be a great year. And hey I'm not complaining, I think and hope so too. Oh and DB do you think you'll do something special on birthday this year? Because you know it only happens every hundred years! I would love to when my 11/11/11 birthday rolls around in a few years, but I don't have anything in particular in mind right now. I'm not really a New Year's Resolution kind of person because I could be inspired or moved to do any number of things that I did not give a resolution to do. Carrying them out takes motivation to want to do it and focus to stay with it. However I'll say that with all that I have learned in the past and this past year especially, I want this year to be the best.[/FONT][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]There's a few good reasons that I know 2008 will kick ***, and that's because as of the end of 07 I have everything sorted out. Within 07 I emerged from a 2 year depression (June) gained a hobby/lifestyle that I enjoy most (started in Feb, became serious in September) discovered what it meant to always be having fun (September-October) even in the face of immense hardships (October-November) figured out that I really can do anything I want (end of November) and spent the last month preparing myself to finally 'become' (hence my resolution) Oddly enough when I woke up today (8:30 Pm >.>) my parents were watching 'The Secret' which was a beautiful and inspiring coincidence as if god (my heart) knws exactly where to go from here. This will be the beginning of a great life, 2008. I have to go back to school tomorrow which will be hilariously awkward (was out the entire week before break with illness) so I simply can-not-wait to see where the future goes!!! *briming with optimism!!!*[/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]This might read awkwardly, having bee cut from the tail end of my Year in Review blog post, but it does the job. So I think it?s time to get right to the heart of the matter. What was my favorite show of 2007? I?m actually a little bit mad that this was my choice because I would have lived to have something as gracefully amazing as Potemayo or Manabi Straight for my number one, but then again, I didn?t pick Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann in the end, so I guess I?m still as indie as ever. Yes, odd as it is, I watched my favorite anime of all time on new years eve, concluding with the last 2 episodes after the new year had already begun. I had alrady seen the first 6 episodes before, and t was already my favorite show of the season, however, I am much better at marathoning and saved it. Which I also did for all of Fall?s shows. The plan was to wait till 1 week before 08 and watch them all, but that plan failed. however, I KNEW I couldn?t finish the year without watching this show, and I KNEW I could not write the year in review until I had watched this show. Yes, I am talking about ef ~A Tale of memories~. This is, by FAR the single greatest show I have ever seen. I don?t believe that anything else came remotely compare to it, and I doubt I will ever like another show this much again unless Shinbo hand-writes his next show with every ounce of his soul. ef. Is. perfect. Visually, it is the most intriguing, creative, beautiful, amazing, insert superlative thing ever. Emotionally, it touched me deeper than anything EVER. PERIOD. And that?s on 2 fronts even. For one thing, the romance stories were the most well-told romance stories of all time They were NEVER cheap. They were NEVER stupid. The characters were all realistic, enthralling, they beckoned every emotion of the watcher. From start to finish this show ?glistens?. From 2 still images that will shake the foundations of your SOUL to the first climax to make me cry, on-spot, ever. The ****ing OPENING SONG of the last episode made me tear up. The ending was MOVING. However, the shows message is what presses it deeper and deeper into the core of my heart. This show truly expresses the feelings of a dreamer, and artist, it sits exactly where I sit, at the penultimate decision of the beginning of one?s future. around 8 hours before watching this show, my new year?s resolution was already set. I resolved to BECOME and this show WAS THERE. To put into words how this show made me feel cannot be possible - unless I can make you cry, make your heart pound, make your lips curl into a smile that hurts your face muscles, make your skin tingle, your body shake, and give you the feeling that you are rising from your chair, maybe you?d get the gist of it. Or maybe I?ll pick up my camera, tun it on, and show you exactly how I feel.[/COLOR]

[quote name='0ber0n the Neko']Yeah, because DID YOU KNOW, Maynard is god and went back in time to CREATE MUSIC. Anyone who doesn't agree with me obviously has bad music taste and can't appreciate multi-faceted lyrics about sex and also having gay sex. *sigh* philistines...[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]Hey guys? Tool isn't even that great a band. [/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]HAPPY FREAKIN NEW YEAR!!!!!!!! This will be the best year ever!!! The only one to surpass 07!!! My birthday will even be 08/08/08!!! My resolution: BECOME!!!![/COLOR]

[quote name='Goodbye, Face'][font=arial][size=1]There is a rule in the journalism world that a review must NEVER mention Tool in a review. Unless it's about Tool. There's a reason for this.[/font][/size][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]Just like Neon Genesis Evangelion in the anime community XD. Fine, no more Tool comparisons. [/COLOR]

[quote name='Panache'][B]Still Alive[/B](the ending portal song) Man this song is definitely the best song in any video game ever.[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]Indeed. Mega indeed. Find myself walking around singing it and stuff. You seen the flash vid on vgcats.com?[/COLOR]

[quote name='AzureWolf']Yeah, that member pisses me off too. =P[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]I wonder what it means that I love indifference : O ?![/COLOR]

[quote name='Panache'][B]Escaflowne 1-4[/B] Hmm...wtf? This anime gets good and almost has me interested then someone does something extremely stupid. Like[spoiler]...the girl has a vision she foresees the obvious attack...then they write it off as nonsense[/spoiler]...but they have no problem believing the she came from another planet story. WHAT THE HELL!!! This better get better...and damn soon.[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]Wait what the ****? How are you complaining about that?! Okay, you get random chick A and you're supposed to think she just knows these things? It's not like she said 'I can see the future ZOMG!' she just said these things out of nowhere, and besides shed' just been through a lot of trauma. Unless they really ****** it up in the dub (I wouldn't be surprise, the dub is old and I believe it aired on TV, so it' sprobably like watchig dbbed Utena or something) that stuff was all perfectly fine. And yeah, I'm watching Escaflowne ATM, having just gotten through episode 10 and it's absolutely awesome, I can't believe I put it off for so long. but theen I guess it's also nothing like I expected, heh. Man, that movie really ****** it up. Also, Panache, I wish you wouldn't make it seem like Geneon made the shows themselves or something >_>[/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]I haven't met anyone from the internet, however I plan to go to otakon next year and hang out with the Megatokyo forum group who get together at the con yearly. The closest I've come to 'meeting' anyone on here is talkng to Goodbye, Face over Xbox Live XD. If my Gears of War skillz weren't completely waned, I'd play him again.[/COLOR]

[quote name='0ber0n the Neko']Early Tool was, in all essence, hard rock/grunge. Ever since then, they've been compared to every band in existence. Hell, I hear someone tried to say the new Primordial sounded like Tool (which, might I add, is a DIRE mistake.) [/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]Oh, **** you. Anyway, I went through my iTunes library and ranked everything so that I wouldn't have to listen to all the lame crap on there and only get the 4-5 star tracks. It can be a little annoying, because I like to choose music by mood a lot of the time, and if I'm really not in the mood for a song I skip it. As for right now, I just transferred from Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz to Motekke! Sailor Fuku from the Lucky Star soundtrack... my tates are really all over the place XD. [/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]I have heard very little Boris, but then again, back when I was looking there were about 90% less youtube videos around and I wasn't good with searching, so if I look around I could probably find some more stuff. However, I have heard about 3 Boris songs, one of which was from Pink and was pretty kick-***, not to mention had a cool video. However, other than that I heard their drone stuff, which I simply could not ****ing take. I have a cousin who use to call them his favorite band when he was listening to lots of drone, however, I could not stomach it with my very brief attention span.[/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Listening to Had a Dad by JAne's Addiction. My parents were both major fans of JA (in fact, that's how they met) but I've never cared much. However, it's rare to find a song that rocks a ******' monster groove like this one. 4 minutes of pure unadalterated funky groove. [/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Copypasta from another forum, just to explain the accusatory opening statement, as well as deleted segments lol. Anime community, I have a very urgent question for you, and I'm sure there's some people here who are exept from this but anyway: What the ****?! Why the **** haven't you seen Black Heaven?! Why the **** isnt' it in your top 20, why isn't it lised as a classic in yuor books, and what the **** are you waiting for? I just got done with my marathon of Black Heaven, which is kind of like what happens when you take the pitch black comedy and depressing reality of Welcome to the NHK, cross-breed it with Pink Floyd's the Wall and then inject it with a few doses of crazy sci-fi. If that combination doesn't sound awesome to you, go ****ing die, now. This show was absolutely incredible. The story was beautiful, it draws you into every character and from around the half-point onward it's nonstop epic. Not to mention one of THE GREATEST endings OF ALL TIME that was incredibly moving and full of epic, GAR, and pure WIN that will bring the manliest of men to tears. If you still decide not to watch this, I ****ing feel sorry for you. I will now proceed to listen to nothing but Floyd for the rest of the night.[/COLOR]

[quote name='Dagger'][url=http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=puT55b0Gkpg][u]First look at Il Teatrino[/u][/url] (crappy camcorder trailer from Comiket) Confirmed for 14 TV episodes & 1 OVA. I would just ignore the music altogether, as it's hard to tell what's from the background noise and what's from the screen (much less pass judgment on the songs). It's funny--for all that I complained about Madhouse not being involved with this, I never bothered to check which company had taken their place. Turns out that it's Artland. They've done some really good-looking stuff (namely Mushishi) but on the whole have a mixed track record. While it's hard to make any decisions based on the promo, it didn't show off anything impressive. ~Dagger~[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrange"]All I know is that Nameless Anime Song A better not be the damn OP. The Light Before we Land (and Woke From Dreaming for that matter) is one of the best anisons ever to grace my ears, probably even on a list of my favorite songs ever. I'll be disappointed if we don't get more damn European indie!!![/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]XD that sounds like half whining half sales-pitch to me. [/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrange"]Since I'm likely about to do the same thing in several classes, I can't advise you, unless you want to do what I plan to do - use every excuse humanly conceiveble and make it up second semester through guts and hard work (or say you're going to, then lapse into '**** this ****' mode and laze arounf) [/COLOR]