Semjaza

Maybe I'm crazy, but I thought the issue at hand was that of civil unions between same sex couples. Not the sanctity of marriage, it's viability as a sacrament and the religions that encompass it. This is just a law thing, here. In any case, people are going to believe what they think is right. If people think homosexuality is somehow wrong, I don't feel it's my duty to convince them otherwise. Besides, it's obvious that it is a battle that gets nowhere lol.

There's a few songs on there that I would have disposed of. This Is the New *hit is entertaining and it works for an opening song, but I still feel it was an odd single choice. The same with mOBSCENE. Why that was chosen, I have no idea. It sounds a lot like something off of Holy Wood. In fact, I would think people could mistake it for Disposable Teens. There's still enough solid tracks on it that I'm able to enjoy it. It gets high energy enough that I can get into it and the instrumental work is still pretty exact. I'm happy overall. I've still not bothered with the new Foo Fighters release.

I'm looking forward to it. It got great reviews, it's part of a great series... The Tales series actually sells VERY well on average in Japan. It's up there with FF, Dragon Quest, etc as a large RPG franchise. If you don't own the various PSX versions, I suggest you check them out. Anyway, I believe Namco has confirmed that they will be bringing it out in the US (Baten Kaitos is still in the air, but it is on their US site, so here's hoping). I wouldn't expect it until Spring 2004 here in the US at the earliest (its tentative date is April).

Gong-hooted? heh Well it should be noted that I am not fond of many of the FF games, so I'm biased. I know people here don't agree with me, so it's all well and good. Most people seem to think RPGs I enjoy are rather dull anyway lol. Personally I'm not fond of FF7's story, or otherwise... although I can see why people would be. I don't really know what to expect with this. I really don't know how they could take such a long game and make a decent sequel to it within 60 minutes... but I suppose if you took FF7, you could probably compress it down into a rather short film if you REALLY wanted to. I agree with you on the whole disappearing text after talking thing. I didn't have a problem in FFX with that, personally... but there are a few RPGs that sometimes get ahead of themselves with the text. If you wanted to read it, it's basically too bad. I much prefer the RPGs that wait for you to press X (or whatever) before moving onto the next bit of dialogue. In any case, hopefully it will turn out.

There are no lyrics in the non-Greatest Hits version of Chrono Cross. There also aren't any songs in that game that are included in important areas, they're pretty much just background songs. In FFX-2, the songs are sung in key story parts... and I doubt the average user would want to keep looking back and forth at his instruction manual to understand it. They could have added subtitles, but people seem to forget that there is a LARGE amount of people who don't like them. That's why there is such a large dub market in anime and foreign films. FF, unlike Chrono Cross, sells to a far larger group of people and thus they have to make it more accessible for everyone. Annoying a few kids who would rather have the Japanese song is a lesser evil than annoying a large group of people who don't know what the hell is going on in their game... especially considering they speak English in the rest of it. Like I said before, I don't get why they couldn't have inlcluded both. I would have liked a total Japanese option in FFX, for example... but they didn't. Not much can be done, I guess. So as much as I would like it, I guess I'm just trying to give a reason as to why they don't do it. I know it's annoying, but that's just how localizing works most of the time.

Well, I don't know if I was one of the people considered "rude" or not. I wasn't trying to go after anyone, it just seems really weird that if you don't agree with that... you basically just don't understand it and apparently [i]couldn't[/i] understand it either. It has nothing to do with actually believing she is telling the truth or not. If you do, that's cool I suppose... but don't go around claiming that everyone else is blind to the truths of the supernatural somehow and only those of a certain religion would ever believe it. There was a relation made to miracles as well. If someone came on here and claimed to have witnessed a miracle where some religious artifact spoke, I doubt anyone would believe them. In fact, the Church wouldn't either, they'd investigage it thoroughly first, like they do with all other reported miracles. They don't simply say "Ah, a new miracle thanks to our faith that no one else can comprehend!" Some things are beyond explanation, I suppose. However, if some kid came on here and said he was abducted by aliens, would you believe him? I wouldn't, same story as to why lol. Oh well. I don't really think you have anything to apologize for. It's best to just stick with what you actually think the first place, I'd say.

This has kind of debased itself into an "anything you can do, I can do better" thread, it seems lol Statistics can be used in this, but there's statistics to prove anything. They're nearly useless unless you exactly know why, when and how they were determined. However, when you just base it on people you know, you don't exactly get any farther. Several girls I know are very insecure, I could turn that into a statistic. Would it mean anything? No, not really. So I don't see why is matters. I don't care about genders in this way. I haven't found anyone that is so much better than someone at singing, writing, painting, drawing or whatever simply because of their sex and no other reason. I'm sure there are plenty of girls who could kick the *** of most any guy on OB. I'm sure there are guys that could sing far better than most of the girls here. What does that prove? Besides, I'm detecting an undertone of "my sex are better" in a lot of these posts, rather than a "boys and girls are equal" one... Although many haven't outright said it. Even in the posts by the girls who are claiming they are discrimated against. Even the first post mentiond that the first thing that was brought up was that "women are better workers normally" (sic), which had to have started the whole gender debate in the first place... That doesn't sound like something a bunch of argumentative, stupid boys would say. That doesn't seem odd? I don't like any of my friends any more or less because of their sex. I like them based on their personalities, and sure there are gender-related things that can affect that personality, but on a whole I can't see how something that basic could affect my choices. Oh, he's a guy, so he must like screwing girls constantly. Oh, she's a girl, she must love wearing makeup and pink clothes. Nothing works that way. I thought I'd see the even treatment thing mentioned in here a bit more often.. Sure, males can do some things females can't and vice versa, but that balances itself out. Whatever though. The more you get hung up on this stuff, the more you're going to make it a problem for yourself. All the complaining about generalizing and stereotyping that we have to read about in threads here, and that's exactly what is happening in this one. It's actually pretty humorous.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by rttocs77 [/i] [B]In terms of James Bond, I think the best was Goldfinger. Anyone else agree? I thought Sean was at his best and it had the perfect mix of gadgetry, girls, and a good story. [/B][/QUOTE] That and it had an awesomely goofy theme song. I could listen to that all day. The only thing better is Homer Simpson's version of it... Max Power It's the name you'd love to touch But you musn't touch His name sounds good in your ear But if you say it, you shouldn't fear For his name can be sa-aid by any one And then Mr. Burns busts in saying "Ah, Max Power!" finally remembering Homer's new name after constantly forgetting his real one. Classic... I'm also on a tangent here, so I apologize.

This might be a bit early for this. There's still some stuff coming in December that I'm very interested in... but what the hell, I might as well get this started. If there's something upcoming in December that you're very interested in... say so. I won't care. As long as it released in 2003, you're good. I'm hoping to see a lot of random stuff in here, but I'm half suspecting a ton of top radio hits as well... not that that's always a bad thing. Anyway, I have some requirments for this thread. [b]PLEASE list reasons as to why you like the release and why you feel it should even be included in a list. Something more than two sentences would be nice as well. [/b]. Other than that, it's free game. Try to keep it around 10 or under, but if you don't, whatever. Feel free to list a few disappointments as well. I did lol. ----------------------------------------- These are in no real order, I hate ranking stuff that I enjoy enough to consider my "top" anythings. [b]On the Might of Princes - Sirens[/b] I am not a fan of emo in general, I'd say. I don't even know what the hell it includes anymore. Every other band today seems to put out emo stuff. Most of it's whiny, another section of it is nothing but yelling. On eBay, seemingly any old clothes some idiot wants to get rid of are marked as "emo". Don't ask me why. This band seems to fall somewhere on the outside of that, thus making them worth my time. This is better produced than their previous two releases. I think it's for the best, as it sounds great. They lose that home-recorded, intimate vibe, but they come out with some really great sounding, vibrant songs. Worth checking out. [b]Marilyn Manson - Golden Age of the Grotesque[/b] Being a big Manson fan, I had been looking forward to this since Holy Wood. I actively searched for news and by the time it leaked, I had to have it. I couldn't stand the idea of people enjoying this while I got to wait. It didn't help that it leaked nearly 3 months before it was to be officially released. At first it was hard to be impressed. The audio was basically FM radio quality, thanks to the the recording method (it was ripped via a PC's line in thanks to the CD's copy protection). I'm really anal about audio quality, especially in this case because the bass was nearly non-existant. With a release as beat-centric as this one, bass is rather important lol. Anyway, I finally got the CD and made my own final opinions. I have no clue how some magazines (Kerrang for example) could call this the band's best. It's hardly bad (in fact, it's quite good), but it has nothing on Mechanical Animals or other previous releases. There's some really solid songs on here. Tim Skold's (ex-KMFDM) influence is extremely apparent. Sometimes I wonder if his inclusion (I believe he was originally on as simply the producer), was part of the reason Twiggy departed -- a lot of it makes traditional bass almost pointless. The shift in music is expected, as none of the band's CDs really sound very similar. They're all decidedly Manson, but they have their own edge. This is no different. My main issue was that of the writing. A good deal of the songs are up with what I expect. Even if you don't enjoy the subject matter, I'd have to say that Manson himself is one of the better actual lyric writers around right now (at least in that genre). Spade, for example, has some really nice verses. There is some great wordplay in here (particularly in Ka-Boom Ka-Boom, which is my favorite track), which has always been one of my favorite things about the band. Metaphors still abound, but they're hardly something you can't figure out yourself with some digging. Despite the good points, there was a lot of the CD that just feels really self-serving. In particular "The Better of Two Evils", which I still cannot get into to this day. From what I can tell this CD's theme is simply a "**** you" to pretty much everyone that has been in his way, but at times it gets too straightforward, I guess. Still, solid work and surprisingly better than most other stuff I've heard this year. [b]The Blood Brothers - ...Burn, Piano Island, Burn[/b] Sometimes I wonder what exactly I see in this release. It's not exactly a marvel of musicality (is that a word?), it's not accomplishing anything new. It just manages to work a lot of energy into a nice punk/hardcore release that pushes a lot of the boring mall punk ******** that permeates popular music out of the way. Plus they get bonus points for being one of the few bands that put something out in the past couple years with two singers that doesn't include some white kid trying to rap. Instead you get some scream-y, punk-ish vocals (which aren't unlistenable, I actually like them) and another guy who does a little more subdued stuff. It's a nice combination and I think it is pulled off well. Instrument-work is nice. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it remains fresh and interesting. Plus they have some cool synth worked in from time to time, which ups the fun for me :D I'm not big on hardcore, but this is some really solid stuff. [b]Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Take Them On, On Your Own[/b] The fact that I got this for less than $10 new is a travesty. I don't know why so many seemingly haven't bothered with these guys, but they're among the best of the dark-minded rock bands I've come across. Their last release had a lot of problems. One thing I don't like on CDs is when vocals are constantly buried under the wall of sound that the rest of the band creates. That was the problem with their last CD. With this one, they've managed to overcome that... and somehow by doing this, and becoming a bit better at what they do, they've managed to totally surpass the average quality they previously had. Some might disagree with me, but I stick by this This is really great stuff. It's far more edgy than BRMC and that, coupled with what I mentioned, makes it a great release. [b]Ween - Quebec[/b] I'd have to thank Lambtron from Gaming-Age and his constant mentioning of Ween for this. I only own this and Chocolate and Cheese at this point, but god these guys are awesome. For some reason I always figured they were some ****** 80s rock act and never gave them any attention. I admit my stupidity. Quebec is awesome. It has the weirdness that I grew used to with Chocolate and Cheese, but it also keeps the rocking qualities too. The opening track makes me feel like I'm listening to bizarro-Motorhead. After that, I don't really know how to describe my feelings on this. It just rocks. [b]David Bowie - Reality[/b] If any other band put this out as one of their first releases, it would be freaking amazing. However, being David Bowie, I guess different things are expected. He can no longer get away with "good" material thanks to his heyday. A lot of people probably thought that was returning thanks to Heathen, which was excellent. The only problem with it was that it was so mellow that I couldn't bring myself to listen to it all that often. I can see why Bowie did a full tour with this release rather than Heathen, it's just more concert-material. Reality goes in a totally different direction, but I wouldn't say it totally forgets what was accomplished on Heathen. It's really solid stuff, and definitely deserving of being put in here. It's upbeat, fun to listen to and well composed. Some of it seems a bit odd, but that adds to its fun. No complaints. Plus if you got the limited edition copy, you get a really nice revision of Rebel Rebel. It's a more subdued, "lounge" version. Nice stuff. [b]Constantines - Shine a Light[/b] Another fine Sub Pop release. I prefered Modern Sinner Nervous Man, but that was rather short by comparison (3 tracks versus 12). As such, I play this more often... more good stuff to listen to in an equal amount of space. I've seen them compared to the Pixies. I suppose the wall of sound they go for at times could be comparable, but overall I just don't see the relation. I don't think that these guys have what made the Pixies as special as they were... that said, they're sure far better than what Frank Black/Black Francis has become with the Catholics. "Show Me Your Tears" managed to interest me though, so I'm sticking that on this list too lol. Really solid release and I don't know that much I could say would do it justice. Great stuff. Again, another must own. [b]Menomena - I am the Fun Blame Monster[/b] I don't remember why I bothered with these guys. I remembered hearing about them somewhere, and upon seeing the booklet art... I just felt some need to own it. It's very, very hard to find, although I eventually stumbled into it online. The thing I like about them is that unlike a lot of recent bands that rely on long instrumentals, they still have lyrical sections that are actually worth listening to. I could listen to this all day, it's just really relaxing and great to listen to. Plus they use saxophone. Who the hell does that anymore? Not many bands that I can think of. Bonus points for the excellent use of xylophone and piano. [b]Anathema - Natural Disaster[/b] It's amazing how little I see these guys spoken of. They're one of the front-lining metal bands out right now, I'd say. Natural Disaster probably doesn't compare to the amazing releases known as "Judgement" and "A Fine Day to Exit", but it's pretty damn close. If you're in the US, you'll have to import, sadly. I feel it's worth the price. The sound has changed over the years... I'd say it was black/death metal at first, but at this point they've moved onto bigger and better things. That has been evolving more and more over the past few releases. The same basic core remains, obviously... it's just somehow different, even from the last release. There's a new edge to it. They've managed to do what they do best, but made it more accessible without actually taking away any of their integrity. I think it was pulled off well, I'm sure others probably don't. Entire thing is amazing, some of the tracks really stick with you. Must own, I think. [b]Frank Black - Show Me Your Tears[/b] When I first got this, I can't say I was disappointed. That's not because the CD was amazing, but simply because Frank Black and the Catholics just really haven't been anything special. A few good Frank Black albums and some subsequent average-stuff doesn't leave one optimistic. And so I wasn't. The CD was good, but it didn't blow me away. Sometimes it still hard to realize that this is the same guy responsible for the Pixies. The sound and writing style have changed dramatically. I gave it more chances though, as in the end, Black has rarely let me down. This CD grows on you. Especially the obvious irreverence to so many things that it presents. Don't give up on it too quickly. It's pretty damn good, but no "Teenager of the Year". [b]Muse - Absolution[/b] Another CD I had to pay import prices on. I'd have to say it was worth my $24.99 though. I doesn't compare to "Origin of Symmetry" due to some points where I feel it falters, but I much prefer it to "Showbiz" (strangely the only local release of theirs... I'll never understand that). It's really great stuff though. When listening to it on the street, I sometimes smile to myself. So many things about it are just done so well. It makes me giddy just hearing parts of it. Even the intro with it's marching sound is something I play, while I usually skip intros and outros on other releases. There are a few tracks I don't listen to as much, but on average I love it. The use of non-standard instruments in this type of music is always a nice thing too. Any band that uses grand piano (or what I assume is grand piano, who knows) kicks ***. Plus there's some great use of mandolin in here too. [b]String Cheese Incident - Untying the Not[/b] Another band makes use of sax, thus deserving of being on my list. The rest of the release is pretty kick *** as well... the instrumental sections in particular can be simply excellent. I could listen to Orion's Belt all day for just that reason. The way it completely jumps around genres at times, and still manages to pull them off flawlessly, is great. There's even an Irish sounding song called "Valley of the Jig". The vocal areas are great as well, and I don't know that this encompasses one thing either. Parts sound almost like a country barbershop quartet and others sound just like rock. It's all great. I think this is totally worth owning. [b]You Am I - The Cream and the Crock[/b] Yes, it's a greatest hits collection. No, I don't give a ****. You get a nice mix on here, and that's all that matters. I guess they're similiar to what people would think of when they think of 60s/early 70s rock. Most of it is upbeat, it's all well written, well played... good all around. I'd play these guys over most of the current "the" bands going for a similiar sound. If you're into rock and haven't checked these guys out, do yourself a favor and do it. I don't regret the $25 I paid for this 2CD set. ---------------------- So that's my list of favorites for now. I don't feel like writing more, although I have others I'd like to add, such as My Morning Jacket, Holopaw, Grandaddy, The Wrens, Death in Vegas, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Funeral for a Friend, Mogwai and The Raveonettes. ----------------------- Disappointments: [b]A Perfect Circle - Thirteeth Step: [/b]Disappointment does not mean BAD. This is a solid release, but I expected more. A few kick *** tracks and a bunch of dull ones do not make me happy after Mer de Noms. Good, not great. [b]godhead - Evolver[/b]: What the hell happened? They seemingly went for a more guitar based sound this time around, and I feel they fell on their faces. Too many forgettable tracks for me to be impressed. This after their three previous releases that were all excellent. 2,000 Years of Human Error took what godhead was, upped the production and removed the redundancies... it all seems thrown out the window now. ----------------- So there you go. Hopefully this will turn out well.

Once I managed to burn an entire steak, but the inside was still raw. So I guess it balanced itself out. That's about the only food related problem I've personally been responsible for. I enjoy cooking and I'm not bad at it.

X-Men Xtreme is a waste of time, I think. Ultimate X-Men is decent, but I feel it has really come down recently. That leaves a few others, but they mostly suck. With the exception of New X-Men, that is. If you like X-Men at all, I really think you owe it to yourself to read New X-Men. I think it has one issue left in the current arc, so if you want to try it out either wait for the new arc or grab a few older issues. It's really great stuff and it really appeals to the fanboy/girl in anyone. As for the whole age thing, I'm 21. Many comic fans I know are much older than me. The comic shop I go to is in downtown Chicago, and I'm sure many would be surprised to see the type of people that shop in there. Sure you have your teenagers (although no one too young) and your occassional 45-year-old-Comic-Book-Guy-looking people... but the place is filled with successful businessmen and well to do people of all ages. You're never too old for this stuff. Flash, by the way, currently rocks... so you might want to check him out.

My first name is George. Everyone calls me Tony. I guess that suffices for a nickname. Lazy people just say "tone" instead of "Tony", which is weird considering it's already short for Anthony in the first place.

I don't feel Boogiepop and Lain are all that comparable in terms of their end results. The main likeness between the two is reliance on weirdness and psychological aspects. After that, there really isn't anything all that complex about Boogiepop other than its vagueness, in my opinion. Lain on the other hand is just complex. There's plenty of explanation for it all, but it's presented to you in such a quick way that it can be hard to digest it all at once. I think it's totally worth owning, whereas I can't see watching Boogiepop ever again after the first or second viewing.

I just find the idea of it ridiculous in the first place. I also find believing it incredibly naive. If I believe this, should I believe everything I read on the internet? I wouldn't have said anything, but the response I've seen is that basically if someone doesn't believe this, they're not in tune with paganism and simply couldn't understand. I didn't know pagans were the only people with ties to the supernatural lol. I also don't understand why it needs to be mentioned in pretty much any thread there is here. I can't come across one thread in Otaku Lounge that doesn't mention it in some form. In any case, it was just a comment. I wasn't trying to feed any argument lol.

Let me get this straight... if you don't believe some kid saying they see talking smoke on a message board, [i]you're[/i] ignorant?

Charles Manson didn't physically murder anyone, by the way. I have no preference either way. I figure that if someone did something that atrocious to deserve death, they'd probably be a lot worse off if they sat in a prison the rest of their life. Prisons, on the other hand, are overcrowded as it is. I'll leave that up to the courts, I have no vested interest in one form or the other. Personally, I kind of think I'd enjoy prison... aside from the backdoor shinanagans.

I thought this movie was extremely stupid. I've not read the book, but I guess in terms of the film it doesn't even matter. The acting was terrible. Especially from the main character. I don't know if it was so much his fault as it was the fact that the written dialogue was just terrible. He didn't seem to care about a single thing he was saying. The fight scenes and such were okay, and I guess it was watchable... but definitely the worst of the last several films I've seen.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Sweet Pie [/i] [B][COLOR=coral][B]I'm always a little confused here. The main character is KANEDA ,right? AND TETSUO too, maybe. WHY, Kei is involved in everything that has got to do with AKIRA. In the early part of the story, A LOT of it is about Kei. And AKIRA looks a lot like KANEDA. WHY? SOMEONE help me!!!![/COLOR][/B] [/B][/QUOTE] All of the characters look very similiar to eachother, it's just the art style. The main importance of Kei is really just to advance the story along so that Kaneda can find out what exactly is going on with Tetsuo. She's the link between it all, so obviously she is over importance.

There's a reason the stories about Lilith and other such things do not appear in the Bible. I doubt any religous-minded person would put any credence in her existance. It's all well and good with mythology, but it's not really applicable to this stuff. Just like the countless other myths from Jewish and Christian beliefs are barely of importance now, and probably never were. Lilith is another one of those things that people can go anywhere with... I've read things about people considering her to be the first succubus, for example. Anyway lol.

Yeah. We have a forum for anime [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=27]here[/URL] and a forum for banner requests [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=59]here[/URL] Also, please check out the Information Center (aka Rules) [URL=http://www.otakuboards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=69]over here[/URL]. Thanks.

Any fan of anything good usually goes through this. I've had it happen to me with countless bands in the past. As soon as the hype around the movies and their subsequent DVD releases dies down, everything will go back to normal. I think we all know that most of the people interested now didn't even touch the books beforehand. At the very least, it's nice that it's all doing so well. I remember reading that long ago the books ran the risk of pretty much falling off the face of the earth, but they regained popularity due to a well timed republishing. So everything goes in a circle, I guess.

How many times am I going to have to see that stupid equation at this place?

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by rttocs77 [/i] [B]I think they are running out of ideas for their own songs. It also seems like a lot of people are remaking 80's songs like: Orgy- Blue Monday (was a New Order song) Limp Bizkit- Faith (was a Georgie Mike song) Jessica Simpson and some song she did. There are plenty more. [/B][/QUOTE] Covers are as old as bands themselves, basically. I guess I'd attribute some of it to that, but not a lot. There's literally thousands of cover songs about that are easy to find, and I'm sure many are from the 80s. If a song does overly well, I guess it can help the original band out... but based on my experience most people don't even realize it isn't the cover band's song. Limp Bizkit with The Who's Behind Blue Eyes for example. Or Nirvana with Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World. On the other hand, it does help some bands out. Metallica did a few Misfits covers awhile back which got them a bit more into the spotlight. I don't think I'd attribute much to that, especially because I can't think of anyone in particular covering the bands that were mentioned in the first post.

I really want to see this, but it's reportedly almost three and a half hours long. I don't know if I can sit still for that long.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Dagger IX1 [/i] [B]Let me first mention that although we may disagree on a couple of points, you seem to be an amazingly reasonable person, and I must applaud you for that. Now, I'm not exactly a student of theology, and it's been a long while since I so much as glanced at a Bible. However, if I recall correctly, Leviticus (like much of the Old Testament) contains numerous prohibitions against all sorts of behavior, as well as an expansive set of rules governing people's food, clothing, and general comportment. Not all of these guidelines are still followed today, so why is the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality treated any differently than, say, its remarks about the inferiority of women? I'm just curious. ~Dagger~ [/B][/QUOTE] Leviticus is extremely archaic. Honestly, if someone is going to follow it's vague condemnations on homosexuals, they might as well listen to everything it says. One of the following verses basically says that slavery is fine, as long as you don't sleep with them. Obviously, this book is not exactly great source material for modern arguments lol.