Rachmaninoff

[quote name='Panache']So all this talk of Nightwish made me wanna hear them. Overall they are pretty disappointing for me. Their sort of classical metal mix seems really boring to me. very dull. I also really don't like this singer. She is just very bland. Her voice reminds me of like...an old school opera singer or something. *starts listening to seether some more*[/QUOTE]I find that kind of ironic really, since that classical influence is what I love about it. It's the other kind that I can't stand. XP And as others already said, the singer[I] is [/I]an operatic soprano. Another thing I think really suits the more symphonic sound the band has. But hey, I can understand, after all, I don't like most of the other stuff. Anyway, right now I'm listening to [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JG8KkWhsiY&feature=related"][U]Bach Double (Concerto for Two Violins in D minor)[/U][/URL] So beautiful. I mean, even though I do like Nightwish... I can only listen to that kind of stuff for so long before I have to switch back to something like this. XP

Can't say I care for the music. Not my thing even if it was good, but it doesn't sound good to me. XP[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial]Seriously? Jeez. Terrible name. I mean, when I think "[URL="http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/5660/gogoea5.jpg"][COLOR="Blue"]go-go[/COLOR][/URL]"....[/FONT][/QUOTE]I clicked on that and went... O_O But then my mind added an s to the last go and it had me thinking of this: [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq42To1QgtY"][U]Click[/U][/URL] I think I'll stick with that image over the other one. XP

[quote name='Sabrina'][FONT="Tahoma"]Anyway, my name is Sabrina... hurray for getting my real name for a user name... I figured it would be taken. Hehe. But yeah that's me. Basically I'm a college student at the University of Utah and Crystia's roommate... so it's her fault I'm here since she got me started on Lucky Star the other day. And that video... that I can't get out of my head. >_< Good grief. [/FONT][/QUOTE]Oh! So it [I]is [/I]you! Oh this is too fun! And in case you're wondering... this is Darren. :p But seriously, this is too funny, Crystia's dragged you in as well. She's good at that, her and Des. >_> Though in my case it was Fruits Basket, though Lucky Star is a good one too. And that video... *bangs head on desk* It's slowly killing my brain cells I tell you. Heh. Anyway, in any case, welcome to the madness, I think you'll enjoy it. :catgirl:

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE="1"]Is that some sort of hint for us about Alexander's future Darren ? Or are you just being bleak in general ?[/SIZE][/QUOTE]Uh... Just in general since there's some foreshadowing I see in people's posts, though I won't say who's. But that has me wondering about certain things and if I'm right... [quote name='SunfallE'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]Not if he knows what's good for him. :p I swear, I'll clobber him if he pulls something like that out. And I know where you live Rach, there will be no hiding behind a computer screen. [/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]No surprises, like I did with Alexander getting clobbered by his brother and leaving you hanging and wondering as to his fate. I promise. Though I'm sure not being able to hide makes that a necessity. Man... threats of violence in an rpg should stay in the story instead of spilling into the real world. XP

[quote name='Allamorph;807850][FONT=Arial]I guarantee you'll like Creek Mary's Blood. And you should also look at The Sirens, because the guitar solo is very tasteful of the style, and the choral partwriting is very interesting.[/FONT][/QUOTE]You're right, I do like it and I'm actually listening to it at the moment. I'll have to check out The Sirens for the guitar solo once I'm done with the first one. [quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial']Hurrah for legit nomenclature taking over the thread! :D[/FONT][/quote]Oh I agree. We could use more of that actually. Heh.

[quote name='Shy'][size=1]Beyond that, it was a great post, Sandy. I love Gadget's ending, and it's extremely fitting for the character I think. Very tragic, very beautiful.[/size][/QUOTE]I like it as well, how his story came to an end. An invisible Gadget seems oddly appropriate somehow, you can't help but feel sorry for the kid since nothing ever went right for him. Though before this is done and over with, I imagine his story will not be the only [I]tragic[/I] one.

The trailer to this looks fantastic, I already love what I've heard of the music for it. And I agree Christian Bale looks to be one of the best to play Batman that I've seen in quite a while. I know I'll definitely be seeing this once it hits the theaters.

[quote name='indifference'][COLOR="Indigo"]Gods, I'm on spring break and watching silly videos that make me laugh so much seems almost criminal, especially this one. I blame Des for this by the way, since he got me started on them, heh. [YOUTUBE="Lucky Star Caramelldansen"]Dic_TIFv6mg[/YOUTUBE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]I need to borrow Aceburner's avatar for that video. I mean.. Oh hell, that's addicting as all get out. Konata is hilarious. XP Man, there's a lot of these type of videos... [YOUTUBE="S.O.S. Brigade Caramelldansen"]UC-n0F_y2LE[/YOUTUBE]

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial]Yeah, I'll be hitting Strauss from about 3 'til 6 this morning. >_>[/FONT][/QUOTE]Heh. Though now you've got me off on Nightwish again. Bah! But there's no denying that for [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ2abtU6tTo"][U]Nightwish - Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan[/U][/URL] the cello solo approximately 2:00 into the song is gorgeous. I'm going to end up getting the album just for that song alone. Even if it's in Finnish it's still a beautiful song.

Kerstin was feeling rather useless at the moment, it was a feeling she had been struggling with for quite some time. Even doing the sketches for the meeting she had been a part of for sector eight had felt like a useless gesture. The whole war on some level to her felt pointless. Why couldn't they have just reached a compromise? Why did the stupid killing have to continue? So many questions and no answers that she was comfortable with. It didn't help that she couldn't just return to her original life of an artist. It seemed rather ironic and sad that only now did she really understand why Darren had been so frustrated by what had happened to him. Looking at things from the outside, she could only see what seemed like an amazing opportunity. Getting the job of Shipping Expert, something that was highly coveted and sought after, along with the chance to make a real difference, it had all seemed exciting to her. It was a thought that made her laugh now, a dark bitter laugh that did nothing to alleviate the feelings of entrapment she felt. And that too made Kerstin want to laugh, being on board one of the flag ships, a position that so many would pay anything for and yet all she could see was how much the [I]Conqueror[/I] felt like a prison. It was stifling and maddening all in one. [I]I need to get out of here. [/I]Though where she didn't know. Returning to Reflection to attend university was out of the question. In truth, nearly everything was out of the question. After all, she was too afraid to go on her own, her face too well known. Getting a military escort was limited on account of the war and she did not wish to be targeted yet again on account of her brother. Though that was something she couldn't bring herself to fault him for. After all, she too was pleased to see him make sure some of the more corrupt officials were dealt with. Kerstin finally decided to put in a request for an escort down to one of the cities close to the main capitol, she did need a few art supplies after all. If she couldn't really go anywhere, the change in scenery might at least make her feel better, if only for a short while. Though as she put the request in, the thought crossed her mind that if she knew where Darren was, she'd leave in a heartbeat. Dangerous or not, she'd leave the sector without a second thought. [CENTER]------------------------------------------[/CENTER] His hand pressed to his forehead, Darren was wondering what idiot had kept the older protocols running at the location the original message had been sent from. That more than anything had scrambled the message nearly beyond recognition as well as the person attempting to fit the data into the merchant forms. It was one of the dumbest things he had ever seen anyone do, [I]ever[/I]. It was like they had tried to stuff form after form for one's cargo with some form of information that on some level looked like gibberish to him. [I]What in the world is this suppose to be?[/I] Though considering that the illegal mental modifications had been done in sector fourteen, he imagined that it was data for another illegal project of some kind. But then he got another surprise when he realized that whoever sent the message had tried to be even more clever in hiding the information. The original protocols had been somehow stripped, half of the data indicating how things were to be processed gone, replaced with more of the same type of gibberish. Though he imagined someone who understood genetics might understand it, that is, if it hadn't been scrambled. It was easy to see how the newer protocols had made things worse. Without the recognition code and sequences, it had tried, unsuccessfully, to restructure the data for transmission. Which of course had only messed things up even further. The sloppy manner in which it was done was most likely a result of whoever sent it doing so in a hurry, after all, Stevens had said that one of the head researchers there sent an emergency transmission via the shipping protocols since all other routes of communication were jammed. Stevens was mistaken in thinking that the interference scrambled the message though, no that was caused by the sender stripping out chunks of the older protocols to make room for the data being sent. And now, it was hopelessly mixed up on account of the new protocols. It didn't help that there was now a lot of redundancy in there as well, in the form of the standard duplicates made for verification and record keeping processes. A good third of the data was duplicated and needed to be trimmed out to get to the original message. [I]This is going to take a while.[/I] Darren took a deep breath before leaning over, folding his arms on the terminal in front of him and then placing his head on his arms, breathing out. [I]Gods, this really is going to take forever. I'm going to have to request equipment for this and I can't imagine that they'll want to give me a decent hand held computer. [/I]Though if they really wanted it done in a timely manner, he was going to need it. Darren sat back up, looking around at the small cargo room on the ship he was on, where the equipment was set up. Even though the blond Versilan who had brought him here was no where to be seen, the two guarding the exit were still staying put. He took another deep breath to steady himself and got up to approach them. [I]I should find out what that guys name is[/I], he thought as he realized that not once had he ever volunteered what his name was. [I]Who the hell is he anyway?[/I] Not that he really cared, it just seemed silly to refer to him by appearance only.

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial]My mouth dropped open, and I made an odd noise. =P[/FONT][/QUOTE]Hehe. I remembered correctly then. But then I just listened to it with the vocals. Spots like between 8-9 with that signature metal singing is why I often skip the vocals in metal. I do not like that at all; it's like nails on a chalkboard. *shudder* However, songs like [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdZn7k5rZLQ&feature=related"][U]Nightwish - Amaranth[/U][/URL] are fine. And now that I've listened to several of them with the vocals... I can't say that I prefer one singer over the other as both of them have their strong and weak points. I'm with you Allamorph, it would have been interesting if both of them were in the band together. That could have lead to some really powerful and interesting songs. And now that I've listened to enough metal today to have my roommates giving me odd looks I'm going to switch back to something a lot quieter. XP My poor ears need a break. That and I'm in the mood for some Bach. :animesmil

[quote name='Aceburner']Don't question Prem's logic. He's like the Yang of this site. Speaking of which, where's the Yin gotten off to lately?[/QUOTE]He decided to break off by virtue of setting his computer up so he can't get to OB. He's still around though as I see him on AIM all the time. Though he's usually set to away for watching anime. lol I'm sure he's found some new site to spend too much time on. XP Anyway, I find the dislike of romance/slice of life anime kind of interesting since I'm the exact opposite. Too much action and that's a total turn off for me. I really dislike shows like DBZ and Naurto. Not because they are necessarily bad, but because I enjoy the other type better.

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial]His voice is ridiculous. And he still has enough control when he sings [I]"Sing, my Angel of Music!"[/I] to put great vibrato on it even though it's like an octave higher than he's supposed to be able to sing. (I hope he's not a Castrati. =P) [B]Edit:[/B] Oh, and [COLOR="DarkRed"]Rach[/COLOR]? Would you mind telling me how on earth you can bear to listen to The Poet and The Pendulum [I]without the vocalists?[/I] It'd be like listening to Carmina Burana without the choir.[/FONT][/QUOTE]Yeah, that control freaks me out more than anything. XP Because it sounds great. Seriously. You should try it. And knowing you, somewhere between 6-7 into the song you'd like the brass, if I remember correctly that is. I haven't listened to it in a little while. Tell you what, you listen to it without the singing and I'll give it a shot with. :p In fact, I'll go put my disk in right now and do that, I might even listen to the rest of the album that way while I'm at it. [I]Maybe. [/I]

Allamorph is going to gloat over this but... [YOUTUBE="Akamaru Hamster Dance"]PEAsma9vM9k[/YOUTUBE] I think I lost brain cells watching that. XD

[quote name='Aaryanna_Mom']Oh my... You have no idea how much that post of yours made me laugh Blayze. That bit where Daniel shot Kried, I don't know why but that just cracked me up. :catgirl: Though Daniel is feeling pretty stupid over it I imagine. Anyway, fun stuff.[/QUOTE]You're not the only one. Heh. That made me laugh too. Anyway, now that I'm on Spring Break I'll have more time to post... and on account of not having fight scenes to write up for Almagest. Those type of posts not only take forever, but they kind of fry your brain. XP Hmmmm... *wonders if the event Crystia is hinting at is related to what Darren gave Stevens earlier on in the game* I know I'm curious to finally see just what the hell that is. As I'm also curious to see if my guess about it is right. :p

[quote name='SunfallE'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]Sorry Rach, but you [I]are[/I] nice. :p[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]Bah, you're such a traitor. XP[quote name=''[Sound_Nin];807097'][COLOR=Navy][FONT=Book Antiqua]Back on topic, another thing I'd have to say I like in a person is an animal lover. Whether you're a cat person or a dog person, that's something in common. Although I'm more a cat person myself, I have dogs too and love them just as much. If I notice a person is an animal person, I'm more drawn to them from the start. Good chemistry, there.[/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote]I agree. I prefer it if someone likes animals. I hadn't really thought about it until my roommate's girlfriend was telling him that they would never have a cat or a dog and that just seemed rather bleh to me. Even if I never have pets around, I can't imagine not liking them. So yeah, seeing her have that attitude was a turn off.

[quote name='Clurr'][FONT="Arial"]I knoooow! I'm still slightly mad that she got kicked out of the band. She's so much better than their new singer. I haven't listened to much of Nightwish's new stuff, but I got as far as the vocals in one of the new songs and had to turn it off. It's just not the same. :[[/FONT][/QUOTE]Well I have their Dark Passion Play album, with the new singer... >_> However I love the instrumental disk so I haven't really listened to the new singer enough to compare. I usually listen to the instrumental only. I should break out the main disk and listen to it just to check the new singer out. Heh. While we are here on Nightwish though, take this song: [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoSIuaczGN0&feature=related"][U]Nightwish-the phantom of the opera[/U] [/URL] Okay... am I the only one creeped out by how the guy matches the soprano... in pitch? O_O At about 2:00 in the song, I mean, that just freaks me out a bit to hear him doing that.

I decided to watch [B]Lucky Star[/B] again since I'm on Spring Break. I'd forgotten just how much I love this show. Konata is just too much fun for words. I so love her reason for not getting into sports or other things. lol And the way she teases Kagami is just hilarious along with how she gets a [spoiler]job working at a cosplay cafe[/spoiler] all just to support her otaku habits. And Akira? Oh good lord... that girl is too much. Heh.

[quote name='indifference'][COLOR="Indigo"]Right now I'm listening to [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP-itmzuF6A"][U]Nightwish-Dark chest of wonders[/U][/URL] Something I blame completely on Allamorph. Especially since now I'm going to have to get the album Once that this is on. It's such a nice face paced and well done song, and I like the vocals. The main singer has a great voice.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]Oh you won't get any argument from me, the singer has a fantastic voice, and for a metal song, it is nicely done. :p And since we are on metal here, I do like this song by Kamelot [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-TUufvK0gU"][U]Ghost Opera[/U][/URL] Not my usual thing, but it [I]is[/I] a great song and I do like listening to it every once in a while.

I'm thinking that spar the two of you have going is fun. I like how you left it off Crystia, I can so see that being something to force Nathan to put up a hasty block, but since it's a rather weak strike... I can see Gavrie's blade merely glancing off the block as he follows up with the real strike. I mean a block would give him more than enough time to get his other hand back on the staff to guide it so the left can concentrate on the power behind the next hit. Unless I'm seeing how the play is running incorrectly, that's what I see. And as Gavrie is thinking, a missed block at that speed is gonna hurt. Though I'm sure Nathan won't miss or he'll see what Gavrie is doing. :p

[quote name='Matt']Duel of the Fates? Come on, Battle Of The Heroes would be so much more epic.[/QUOTE]Definitely Battle Of The Heroes. Oh well. XP At least it went well right? Still a video would have been hilarious.

[quote name='MistressRoxie'][color=#9933ff]What about you? Ever have to pay a ticket? (Or did you challenge it in court?) Points on your license? Share.[/color][/QUOTE]I've never gotten a ticket... but then I don't have my own car so I rarely drive. We have a family car that I use from time to time, but most of the time I use the light rail system we have here in SLC. As for telling your mom... if you're on her insurance I would fess up. Otherwise, I don't see a reason to.

Although there are plenty of songs that I could say evoke a strong emotion, often what I tend to notice is a well played melody or snippet in a song or piece that makes the song or movement powerful. Kind of like in Jaws, that signature music that tells you what's coming or like in Star War's with Vader's theme. It's more those snippets of a melody that evoke a powerful emotion when I'm listening to them instead of a particular song. Though that's probably just what I notice more than anything. After all, I listen to instrumental music more than I do to music with actual lyrics. XP

[quote name='Sandy;807526]I can probably tell now that in the beginning, I planned that Gadget and the Starks would be relatives to the Almagests as descendants of Celsius' brother who moved to New Czenoble after some dispute, and was subsequently erased from the family tree. Because Almagest blood is special and ancient and stuff, it would enable the use of machines like the cannon as well as help Gadget survive the injections. But that idea wasn't approven by Josh, so I gave it up and made the Starks family commoners.[/QUOTE]I actually like that they are commoners better. But then the[I] lost relatives[/I] is a pretty old ploy and way overused in stories these days, so having them actually be regular everyday folk is far more original in my opinion. Even if Donner needs to die. :p[quote name='James;807537][font=franklin gothic medium]I guess my only comment would be that none of this, as far as I know, is personal. In fact a number of members have talked about how much they like you.[/font][/QUOTE]Quoted for truth.[QUOTE=James'][font=franklin gothic medium']My feeling is that each person should do a final post (not yet, but shortly) to wrap up their characters...and that should be it. No contrived/shoehorned end post. Just everyone's last posts and then, perhaps, some credits or something like that.[/font][/quote]I like that idea, that's how we ended the first Silver One, Beth just had each of us do a final post with our characters instead of her doing a final one. I liked that a lot, it really gave us a good feeling of completion by getting to put in those last thoughts for our character. And the idea of simply doing credits for a final post? That would be kind of cool in my opinion. :catgirl:

[quote name='Aaryanna_Mom']No. For those of you who do not have children... No. Don't try to compare it based on your own experience or thought process either. That is inherently flawed and part of the reason why children at that age are considered minors and unable to make decisions. No two kids think a like. I've have three, I've seen this in action. It was an accident, make no mistake about it. A tragic accident and in no way the child's fault. That is the very meaning of the word accident: An undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss; casualty; mishap. Any event that happens unexpectedly, without a deliberate plan or cause. Don't forget that, [I]ever[/I]. This is going to be hard enough on his parents without total strangers being insensitive and cruel by attempting to find a spot to place blame. Sometimes, there just isn't any.[/QUOTE]I can see where you are coming from, after all as a parent yourself, I'm sure the very idea of losing a child is horrifying. But for the rest of us... even if there was no intent, there is a cause. It's not so much an issue of placing blame as it is understanding what lead to it happening in the first place. I feel bad for the other kids. I only hope someone helps them get over that since no kid needs to live with the fact or knowledge that a stupid decision resulted in killing their friend. I'm sure you can imagine how more than any words by a stranger, they'll blame themselves. I mean, I wouldn't want to be the kid who actually helped bury him in that sandbox. That's a horrible burden for anyone one. In the end, I don't think anyone is trying to be cruel or insensitive, but rather that they find it a little hard to understand how things got so out of hand. I think it's an accident, and yet at the same time it's going to be important for the kids to realize how crucial it is to think on one's decisions before following through with them. That you can't just imitate something like that. What makes me the saddest about this whole affair is that this lesson is going to be so painful for them.