I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. My mom cooked the traditional dinner and brought it over to my house this afternoon when I got off work. I seized the opportunity to make her watch Stardust, which I tried desperately to get her to see in theaters to no avail. When I could finally get her to settle down long enough to sit down and pay attention, she loved it. And I remembered that I love it, too. The ending always makes me tear up, and for once I'm glad that I'm sick because the sniffles coming from my end of the couch sounded like something I'd been doing all day anyway.

A nice close to the evening. Just for the record, I hate working on big holidays like this and I maintain that nobody but cops should have to do it. I wish more people agreed, or were at least sympathetic. While work was slow and easy, it was still painful. All of my tables were abnormally rude prima donnas. Demanding this, demanding that, no thank you's, absolutely no patience at all. Essentially, I was being treated like a bitch rather than a friend or hell even a PERSON as I'm used to receiving from our clientelle, and they were tipping in line with this attitude. The only explanation I can think of for it is a lot of visitors from out of town for the holiday.

Let me lay out the things I want to say to you people, but can't because it would get me fired:

It is a holiday. It is a busy season. I am tired. I am sick for the billionth time in a handful of months. I want to be at home with my family. I don't fucking care about you or what you want. At all. But I have no choice.

So:

You will listen to my introduction, you will listen to everything I say, you will say please, you will say thank you, you will request the things you want, and you will be respectful. If you cannot do these things, then I will get your extra butter/refill/pie/side of salsa/whatever else whenever I damn well please. And you can sit and wait and watch your food get cold in the meantime. If I haven't already decided to let it sit and get cold before giving it to you. And yes, you will be late getting back to your family for your Thanksgiving plans. Because - while I will not spit in anyone's food - I will sabotage your experience in whatever way I can if you so much as look at me wrong. Especially on a day that I'm wasting my time catering to you only to get disrespected and paid below minimum wage when everyone else working is getting paid time and a half.

Sure, you can complain to my manager and get a portion of your meal comped. You can complain to whoever you want. But in the end, I won. You had a shitty experience in return for your shitty attitude. You came on my turf, and I made sure you will never come back. Also, you're probably going to get sick. Enjoy that.

Thank you. That felt good. Sadly, with tomorrow being Black Friday (and us opening on Christmas Day for the first time this year), I don't think my attitude is going to improve any until I get my vacation in January.

A couple days late, but I've been busy.

Had a fun Halloween on Saturday. I was still feeling a bit under the weather so I didn't do anything exciting. I dressed up, stayed at home and hung out with mylifeasamoose. We made a kind of lame version of Midori Spiders, attempted to watch scary movies with a couple of tripping roomies in the house, and gave candy to kids. There was a brief venture to a co-worker's party, which made us feel very old. Having sufficiently startled enough tweens, we returned home.

What was significant about this Halloween was it was the first time I've ever dressed up for the holiday. Well, except for that time my ex threw me in his old Scream costume and made me chase his best friend with a butcher knife to scare trick-or-treaters. Which was a bad idea, because I tripped on the robe and stabbed her. We broke up shortly thereafter.

...Anyway.

Dressing up and really trying to have a festive spirit about the holiday was a new and exciting experience for this reformed Jehovah's Witness. Kalin came over as a dirty old man (the boxers say "RIDE THE PIG!"), while I dressed up as...



Demon Fool. At least that's what I was calling it.

Next year I plan on going all-out for Halloween. It really is my favorite holiday. I already requested it off from work a year in advance, and I'm going to have the tackiest house in the neighborhood. There shall be a party, and hopefully plenty of hangovers as party favors. Consider yourselves invited.

On-line dating can be a rocky road. After weeding through the horn dogs who just want a picture of your dick and throw you in their sheets, you may meet someone that's awesome and likely form a friendship with. Then you have the guys who meet you once and never call back. And then you have the worst: guys that are really into you, and... just... no. And it's really not their fault. They could be awesome people if they weren't dumb.

As I write this, I'm being bombared by one such guy. Our IM conversation is going a little something like this:

canttakeahint23: hi
imtooawesomeformypants: hiya :)
canttakeahint23: whats up?
imtooawesomeformypants: eh, not much at the moment. having a smack down with a friend of mine who apparently needs me to inform him that he's dumb and guage out exactly how dumb he is about everything ever.
canttakeahint23: oh cool
imtooawesomeformypants: you?
canttakeahint23: chillin
imtooawesomeformypants: ...cool :)

Five minutes later...

canttakeahint23: so whats up
imtooawesomeformypants: apart from bitch slapping? uh. listening to music?
canttakeahint23: fun fun
imtooawesomeformypants: :P

Minimize the window, close eyes and hope he goes away. Five minutes later, again...

canttakeahint23: so what u doin
imtooawesomeformypants: ...
imtooawesomeformypants: I'm performing brain surgeory on a martian I met walking home from work. He tried to abduct me, but it didn't work out in his favor. His brain juices are oozing all over the floor. The stains are going to be a bitch getting out of the carpet, let me tell you.
canttakeahint23: cool just chillin here



canttakeahint23: what u doin
imtooawesomeformypants: DUDE.

And he continues to IM me. He's doing it as we speak, asking me what I'm doing every two seconds. I'm at home on the computer with my IM client turned on. There really isn't a lot I can be doing. Are you trying to make me feel like the most boring person in the world?

Or how about this one:

35isnt_old: So, what are you up to? :)
imtooawesomeformypants: Working on getting a game I play to work on my computer. Recently upgraded to Windows 7, and everything about it is amazing except for getting this damn game to work lol.
35isnt_old: Well there's your first problem, Windows sucks :P
imtooawesomeformypants: Normally, I'd agree, but W7 is actually pretty awesome. And this isn't even Window's fault... the game itself works fine, it's just a third-party program I use for the game isn't built for it without a lot of tweaking.

We continue chatting for awhile, he's not too bad...

35isnt_old: So what are you doing over there? Anything fun and exciting?
imtooawesomeformypants: Still trying to get this game to work, it's being a bitch...
35isnt_old: You're really into that game of yours...

Alt-tab to another chat window...

titanidick: You're sooo cute... what are you wearing?
imtooawesomeformypants: Boxer-briefs and a parka. One half of my body is freezing and the other's burning up!
titanidick: lol you're so funny. Take off the boxer-briefs and send me a picture.
imtooawesomeformypants: lol nah I'm good.

Alt-tab...

35isnt_old: Still playing games?
imtooawesomeformypants: I might be if I could get it to work!

Alt-tab...

titanidick: Aww come on. Why not?
titanidick: Here let me send you a picture of mine. My dick is really beautiful.
imtooawesomeformypants: lol that's really not necessary, but thanks

Alt-tab...

35isnt_old: How's the game going? Hit the next level yet? :D
imtooawesomeformypants: ...I'm not playing anything. >.>

Alt-tab, the sound notifications are blowing my speakers up.

titanidick: Are you a prude?
titanidick: I bet you don't even jack off lol
titanidick: Why don't you want to see it?
titanidick: Did I scare you away?
titanidick: :(
titanidick: I see... sorry to bother you
titanidick: you're a bitch
titanidick: why aren't you talking to me?
titanidick: hey
titanidick: wtf dude
titanidick: what's your problem
imtooawesomeformypants: Holy shit, calm down >.>

Alt-tab!

35isnt_old: Beat the game yet?
imtooawesomeformypants: I'M NOT PLAYING ANYTHING.

Alt-tab!!

canttakeahint23: what u doin now
imtooawesomeformypants: I'm writing a blog. Here, I even mentioned you!: http://germsama.livejournal.com

It's been a long time since I've done anything substantial in FFXI. I took a bit of a break from the game for about a month and a half. Upon returning, I found that all my Linkshells had died and only a handful of my friends were still playing. Without anyone to play or interact with, my playtime has been scarce at best.

However, I received an invite to do the famously epic battle Divine Might tonight with a group of random people. This is one of the final battles in the Rise of the Zilart expansion that requires an alliance of players to go up against all the Ark Angels at once. It's an optional battle, which grants you a really fantastic earring for completing.

We just did it a little bit ago, and the battle went surprisingly smoothly. We didn't wipe a single time, I didn't die once, and we took care of all five in about ten minutes. After finishing, we arranged smaller parties to go knock out the final quest in the expansion so we could all be done with it. Color me BEYOND excited -- doing missions are the whole reason I play FFXI.

So I run back to get my final cutscene for the quest and get my uber earring. Only to get the opening cutscene for Divine Might. Which was supposed to open the quest. Which I didn't know I needed to get.

No mission complete.

No earring reward for my efforts.

Nope, just a start for the quest I just finished.

.........

A S D F ! *headdesk*

I'm so fucking pissed. It would have been really awesome if someone had told me to get the cutscene first. It would have been really awesome if I'd read a guide to the battle first and known that already. It would be even more awesome if the game weren't fucking retarded and could recognize that I just DID THE QUEST it's asking me to begin.

It would be one thing if this just meant I had to turn around and do the quest over again, like in a normal game. What makes this really terrible is that all 19 players I had just done it with had already moved on to the next quest, not a one of them are about to turn around and do it again for me, and the fact that these people were mustered up to do it in the first place is a miracle with the dwindling player base.

Between this and the recent situation with people quitting in anticipation of FFXIV... I'm a little fed up with that game. My fingers are hovering over the cancel account button right now, and I have World of Warcraft taunting me from the shelf above my computer.

These are dark times.

Early last year, I found myself shockingly addicted to American Idol. Definitely not the kind of show I would normally devote any amount of attention to, but I was really taken by David Cook, and particularly Carly Smithson. Carly was the primary girl I was rooting for. Something about her reminded me of Amy Lee, a sentiment she deepened by performing an Evanescence song at one point during the show. She has a beautiful, chesty voice, and it was a damn tragedy to see her voted off in sixth place after an amazing performance.

And then Ben Moody (ex co-founder of Evanescence) comes along with an Amy grudge...



...and forms We Are the Fallen. A band made up of three ex members of Evanescence, with Carly Smithson as their lead singer under a name with an uncanny similarity to Evanescence's debut album, Fallen.

I have no idea how to feel about this.

They've only released one song, Bury Me Alive, so it's hard to make a judgment one way or another. A part of me is excited about the band. Being a fan of Carly, it's cool to see her move on to do exactly the sort of music I wanted to see her do.

On the other hand, the whole thing just seems sort of... vindictive? I've met Ben Moody twice, and I'm sorry but I think he's an asshole. I could be wrong. I probably am wrong, considering Amy Lee fired the lot of them and they regrouped with Moody. But I think I'd be more supportive of We Are the Fallen if it didn't seem so much like a revenge project. A) Their name. B) The fact that they only have one song and are playing live with old Evanescence songs. C) Moody innocently going on in interviews about how Evanescence isn't doing anything, and they just want to give fans something to listen to while they wait. Then going on to say that all Evanescence is is Amy Lee and guitarists hired to play We Are the Fallen's parts.

Hot Topic drama, indeed.

In any case, my impressions of Bury Me Alive are mixed at best. I'm not particularly swept, but I'm willing to at least hold out long enough to hear a few more songs before writing them off as Moody just trying to start shit. With Evanescence getting ready to release some new music within the next year, the two will probably be going head-to-head so the drama should prove to become interesting for drama fiends like myself.

Robin Hobb just posted this on her SFF Newsgroup:

"Theory: Given a set of adjacent desks, a cat will choose the most disruptive path in crossing them.

Data set: One black cat, Bagheera, 14 years old. To reach the assistant's desk, she climbed up onto my lap, danced not gracefully across my keyboard, transitted a stack of bills to pay, sending some into the garbage and some into the recycling, walked through the rolodex, across the film transcription machine, casually kicking a camera out of the way, crossed the keyboard of a mac laptop and finally reached the assistant's lap.

And then carefully descended to the floor.

I contend this is a measurable phenomenon.

RH"

I lol'd. It's so true.

A cat crossing the keyboard can be especially destructive. They know just the keys to step on to send chaos upon whatever you're working on. Files closed, bitter IMs you're not finished with sent to an unsuspecting victim you probably weren't going to send the IM to anyway, sometimes total shutdown of the computer. Only to sniff at something on the desk and then disappear, nonplussed.

Sometimes I think they have a better understanding of computers than we do.

AAAHHHHH!!!



AQUA IS BACK TOGETHER AND DOING A NEW ALBUM! AHHH! AHHHH! AHHHHHHHH!! *heart failure*

I hope the Capslock conveys my excitement enough. The gay boy in me is flailing all over the house right now.

>.>
<.<

I'm just now listening to the three new tracks they recorded for their Greatest Hits album that came out overseas a couple months ago. And I'm in love. Yes. I'm in love with Aqua all over again. And fuck all you naysayers. If there's any pop group worth listening to or an ounce of respect AQUA IS THAT BAND.

Excuse me, I need to drive my room mates insane by blasting these three songs at top volume on loop.

KYAAAAAAAA!



PS: MUST OWN!

Sometimes I love being gay, because it means I'm allowed to do things like watch Sailor Moon and it's okay.

Which is, by the way, a guilty pleasure. I used to wake up early every morning to watch Sailor Moon before school. My mom loved to make fun of me for it. I wasn't "officially" gay then, so it wasn't okay yet. But I didn't care, and I never missed an episode. Now, just hearing the theme song sends me into fits of nostalgia. It's one of those anime that will always be better than any other anime exactly like it just because it was what I watched as a kid.

aila_chan was going on about how amazing season S was, and it occurred to me that - as I only ever watched the DiC adaptation - I've only seen the first two seasons of the show. More like first and half of the second season, because it seemed like they would always get to the middle of the second season and start over again. I was always frustrated by that. While I have the first season in Japanese on DVD, a majority of my experience with the show is as an English dub. So I've run off and obtained the rest of the series, intent on having this insane Sailor Moon marathon from beginning-to-end. Indulge my inner nine year old flailing gay boy.

And I just started that. After watching the first episode on DVD, I decided to hop on YouTube to watch the English dub and compare the two.

It's like watching a totally different show.

There was SO much cut, a bunch of exposition added, all sorts of added CGI transitions, and new music. It was horrifying.

Yet... I'm on the fence. Is it wrong that I kind of like the butchered version of Sailor Moon better? The music in the English version was nicer, for one. I'll never be able to see her as Usagi, no, she's definitely Serena. And her horribly dubbed voice IS her voice. Period. This is strange for me, because A) I'm a purist, and B) I don't like dubs. The English version goes against everything I stand for, but I prefer it. This is sending quakes through the very foundation of my perception of self. I think I'll never be the same. I might need therapy. What is wrong with me?

The power of nostalgia. It's fascinating!

Felicia Day and the rest of The Guild cast got together with Jed Whedon and Mo Tancharoen (of Dr Horrible fame) to make a music video bound to go as viral as Alanis Morisette's My Humps cover.



I lol'd, I did.

And if you haven't already seen The Guild, you can check it out on YouTube. The third season starts this month on Xbox Live, so now's the perfect time to get caught up. If you have ever been or are into an MMORPG, I can't recommend the series enough.

Since the FDA released their news release warning against the use of electronic cigarettes, I have found myself bombarded by friends and co-workers trying to save my life. "I saw it on the news last night, e-cigarettes cause cancer," one said. Another merrily informed me that, "There's antifreeze in your liquid! You're inhaling anti-freeze!" Then the inevitable, "They're pulling them from the market."

Nine out of eleven of these people were smokers, I might add. The worst was when a friend of mine who also uses an e-cigarette instant messaged me in a panic, under the impression that he had made a terrible decision and needed to go back to tobacco cigarettes.

After enduring this all day, I feel like I need to write about it in more detail than I can get into during passing conversation to defend my decision to quit smoking and enjoy vaping instead.

The FDA reports that they found a trace of Diethylene Glycol in one of the two samples of e-liquid they tested, a "chemical used in antifreeze". Upon further review of the lab test, I found that they obtained both of their liquid samples from American companies (NJOY and Smoking-Everywhere), and the Diethylene Glycol was found in the Smoking-Everywhere liquid. My first thought upon reading this is, "Awesome. Leave it to the least reputable company in the business to give the FDA just what they need to launch their campaign against e-cigarettes."

Regardless, some people have been lead to believe that they're practically injecting antifreeze into e-liquid. However, the main ingredient in antifreeze is Ethylene Glycol, not Diethylene Glycol. In fact, in a material safety study performed by JT Baker, Diethylene Glycol was listed as only requiring fresh air when inhaled in high doses, and that it's "not expected to require first aid measures". The danger in this chemical lies mainly in the ingestion of high amounts, where it may cause lesions and other damage to the liver and kidneys. Conveniently, the report provided by the FDA failed to mention exactly how much Diethylene Glycol was found in the liquid and in which specific liquids it was found in - be it in one flavor/nicotine concentration, or in all of them.

Redundantly, they move on to report the findings of nitrosamines in the liquid, failing to also mention that FDA-approved products designed to help people quit smoking like Nicoderm CQ and Nicorette contain the same nitrosamines! This is because it's impossible to extract nicotine from tobacco without also getting traces of the nitrosamines that come with it. Where you have nicotine, you also have nitrosamines.

The real kicker for me is their fear of electronic cigarettes appealing to minors due to the wide variety of flavored liquids available. This after the FDA approves Perrigo to market Cherry and Cinnamon flavored nicotine lozenges. They talk like any child can walk around the corner, buy an e-cigarette and begin puffing away just like that. The fact is that even American manufacturers are few and far between, the mall kiosks you may happen to find do card, purchasing on-line requires age verification, and it costs anywhere between $100-$200 dollars to get started properly. There's also the learning curve and upkeep factor that even most smokers I've introduced it to can't handle. The truth of the matter is that it's so much easier for a teenager to walk to the corner gas station, hope they don't get carded and fork over five bucks for a pack of cigarettes and light up. Or, if they're so concerned about flavor being a factor, what makes them think the kid won't just do the obvious and buy a chocolate bar or some mints? Tobacco has always tasted disgusting, and the taste has never prevented anyone, young or old, from getting addicted.

The FDA is missing the point. E-cigarettes are not marketed as a risk free past time. They're marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking for smokers. The manual that came with my e-cigarette states:

"E-cigarette is a revolution in the market directed toward smokers. [...] Suitable User: Adults; People with long smoking history, and suffering from uncomfortable feeling."

Granted, the Chinese aren't so great with their English, but their intentions are stated plain and simple.

Everyone is aware that nicotine is bad for you. We're also aware that there is nicotine in the e-cigarette cartridges. There is no one saying that vaping is a 100% healthy way to smoke. What the FDA has blasted off for the media to broadcast is really nothing but a statement of what we already know, however twisted around to essentially give smokers the message that they should continue to smoke because this whole e-cigarette thing is simply too good to be true. Or use one of their FDA-approved products like Nicorette that rarely work and cost you an arm and a leg. Better yet, try their nicotine free alternative, Chantix, which has driven at least 55 people to suicide! How's that for healthy?

Hidden behind the blatant propaganda of this report is some actually very good news for people who care to look. They found one harmful chemical in their test. One, compared to the over 2,000 chemicals found in tobacco cigarettes. Another study was done on e-liquid by Health New Zealand which reported nitrosamine findings in 16mg nicotine liquids of 8.183 parts per billion, with obviously much less found in lower nicotine strength liquids. To put a bit of perspective on the bigger picture here, the typical tobacco cigarette contains around 1,230.00 ppb.

However, I agree that e-liquid needs to be regulated. Different studies for different liquids always provide slightly different results, as occurred with this Diethlyne Glycol fiasco. I agree that the same efforts made to keep minors from attaining tobacco should be applied to e-cigarette products. However, I can't stand behind the FDA when they're attempting to ban something that could save thousands of lives. This device totes the highest success rate of any nicotine alternative method to date, and I'm stunned the FDA is ignoring it.

"Health care professionals and consumers may report serious adverse events (side effects) or product quality problems with the use of e-cigarettes to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail, fax or phone."

Dear MedWatch,

I began using an e-cigarette in my eleventh serious attempt to quit smoking tobacco. After three days, I no longer had any cravings for a cigarette. I stopped having nicotine fits at work. Within a week I developed a horrible cough and began to hack up dark gunk that had built up in my lungs from smoking at least a pack a day for five years. Now, my lungs feel clean and I'm breathing better; even my asthma has settled down. I have a better appetite, and more energy. I can run farther than I have in years. My sex drive has shot through the roof. I no longer waste three hours a day going outside to smoke. I stopped smelling like cigarettes and I have fresh breath. My overall quality of life has improved immensely.

This is serious. Please help.

Yours desperately,
Jeremy Howell

Fuck you, FDA.

Aside from Buffy's magically changing hair, this video is pretty fucking awesome. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Edward is creeeepy.

Today was fucking crazy.

I was doing my table work and noticed a few of our customers staring out the window and pointing at something. It had been raining pretty hard for almost an hour but had just let up, so I decide to go outside and look.

And what do you know! There's a funnel cloud off in the distance. So I get all excited, because I love crazy weather, and I run inside and make everyone come out and look at the funnel with me.

So we're all standing outside, and eventually the customers all come outside too. And we're excited, and taking pictures and video with our cellphones. Then I look up and notice that the clouds directly above us are spinning really fast. And the funnel cloud in the distance is getting bigger. And coming closer. And it's touching the ground.

Then I'm hit in the head with hail nearly the size of a baseball and everything in Southlands goes UP in the air in front of us. It dawns on me, "Oh shit. It's coming here."



It all happened so fast, it was fucking insane. Everyone bolted inside as the skies just opened up and we rushed all of our customers into the walk-in. From inside, I saw the trash can/ashtray that sits outside our door spin off the ground and go flying down the road until it crashed into the side of someone's car at Jim & Nick's. I kept sneaking peeks out the backdoor to see what was going on, whenever one of the mom figures weren't around to scream at me to get back in the back. I couldn't see the tornado, but I could see all this debris flying through the air and it was really surreal. It's one thing to see that sort of thing on TV, and a whole different matter to see it before your eyes. Especially when you have no idea what kind of storm you're dealing with or how dangerous it is. You know, you just see trees and trash cans flying in the air like something out of a movie. Except real. It sounded like the roof was going to cave in, and the doors and glass were all threatening to take flight at any moment. Really freaky.

Eventually it all ended and everyone kind of wanders back into the dining room. All the customers poke at their food, notice it's ice cold. Some resume their meals, others leave, and others wait around. It starts hailing some more, so I decide to hang out a bit to see what happens. We hear sirens outside and the police come flying in blocking the entrances to the mall, so we're all like, "What the fuck? Is there another one coming or something?" About ten minutes pass and this cop comes RUNNING into the store. "EVERYBODY OUT!" he screams and storms into the kitchen. "Turn everything off, lock the doors, leave NOW! We're evacuating the mall GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"

Way to keep us calm, for real.



I was one of the first people out the door, and everyone runs to their cars in a hurry to get nowhere. This mass exodus took almost half an hour with all the traffic. The surrounding areas were not much better, since powerlines were knocked out and street lights weren't working. I was very dismayed to find my car covered in dents, and a big circular crack in the windshield. I'm still trying to figure out how this crack happened, it's almost a perfect circle. Magalie's brand new Rav4 took way worse damage. She was just leaving work when it happened, and was driving when all the hail came down. There are dents all over, and her windshield is completely DESTROYED.

It wasn't until I got home that I found out the mall was evacuated due to multiple gas leaks in the mall caused by the tornado. That's great. Gas leaks when lightning's all over the place. We're gonna blow up.

The theater area took the worst damage, with a car turned over and brick walls destroyed. Red Brick Pizza is also, like, GONE, which makes me sad. The area where Village Inn is took the least amount of damage. We're lucky, being hugged right against a big wall that I think blunted a lot of the wind. In any case, the mall is closed indefinitely to repair the gas leaks and clean up the tornado damages. Which means no work for a couple of days, so I guess that's kind of cool? And no major injuries in any of the tornadoes that hit Colorado today. Honestly, the tornado wasn't THAT major. I've been through tornadoes before, but A) it's been a long time, B) I've had a basement to go to, and C) I've never been right in the middle of one like that. It was one of the scariest experiences of my life. During this experience, I noticed that when I'm scared I can't stop laughing. I was seriously just standing there thinking about how hilarious it was that I was being paid to almost die.

I'm fucking wiped out.

Last night, my mom had a baby. Of course, it was all really upsetting, because just before she was due, she had a rather ugly break up with my dad. As a result, he sent a pack of level 90 Yagudo to invade the hospital she was giving birth in, so everyone who tried to be there with her got attacked. It was a very frightening dream, and I'm starting to think I should maybe lay off the gaming a little bit? Then the realistic side of me realizes that's never going to happen, and continue about my geeky way.

It seems there's a pretty awesome E3 going on right now. Among the most interesting news for me was the announcement of Final Fantasy XIV: On-line.



This is interesting due to the striking similarities to Final Fantasy XI. I've spotted both Mithra and Galka in the trailer, and I spy a few Tarutaru in the art on the official website. Which excites me, because the game is gorgeous. At this point it's really just looking like FFXI 2.0, and I wants it.

I'm also panicking because they're doing a simultaneous worldwide release next year. There's still so much I want to accomplish in FFXI, I don't know if it can all be done in a year's time. But I don't want to miss out on the initial chaos and havoc that happens in a new MMO when nobody knows what they're doing, because those are some of my favorite memories of playing FFXI. I've got my work cut out for me.

Square-Enix have been talking about this MMO for a long time under the guise Rapture. FFXI, as much as I love it, was very experimental and attempted to accomplish a bit more than the hardware was capable of at the time. It's still limited by that. Really, World of Warcraft was the first to really break into the goldmine for MMORPG's. Gathering what they've learned over the years from FFXI, and taking queues from WoW's success, this should turn out to be a really amazing game. I have my fingers crossed that it will pose a threat to WoW's popularity. WoW is a decent game and all, but it's about as worth the attention it gets as Final Fantasy VII is of it's fame. Not very.

And I'm seeing more Final Fantasy fanboys bemoaning the fact that, yet again, an MMORPG gets numbered into the series. Really? Get over it. It's a number. How much does Final Fantasy VIII have in common with Final Fantasy II? Pretty much nothing. Apparently you haven't been paying attention: the Final Fantasy series is a cash cow of RPGs ranging from moderately good to pretty damned awesome, with recurring mascots used to sell the games. They have nothing to do with one another. Say it with me: CASH COW. CASH COW. CASH COW. Are we clear on that yet?

So FFXI & XIV are on-line. So you have to pay a subscription to play them. So you have to have decent internet to play. I have news for you: the year is 2009. A decent DSL connection is pretty much standard these days. Hell, people have decent internet on their cellphones. The cost of a subscription fee is equal to that of two fast food meals a month. And if WoW is any indication, MMO's are taking over the market. It's called a progression of technology. Did you whine and complain when the series went 3D? Nope. How about when they added voice acting? Well, yes, but then you got used to it. So while you're at it, get used to this too, because this is the direction that games are headed.

And if FFXI is any indication, MMO's are just as capable of providing an amazing story as any single player experience. Remember, this is technology evolving. MMO's allow the creators to continually build and shape the world you're playing in. There are endings, and then there's more. How many of you FFVII fanboys would love for something like that with your beloved lifestream world, whatever it was called? Judging from the sales of the FFVII compilation, quite a few. Imagine all of those extras and more rolled into a single game. What is there to complain about? Get off it.

But, that's just my opinion. To be honest, I'm not that big of a fan of the series to begin with so perhaps I should have no say in the matter. Regardless, they numbered it and that's the way it is. I think the game looks awesome. I could care less what it's called. I'm going to buy it. Simple as that.

In the meantime, I'm going to go nuke some Yagudo.

Last night I watched s. Darko, the much bemoaned sequel to one of my all time favorite films, Donnie Darko. A completely non-official and non-canon sequel which has nothing to do with the original creator, Richard Kelly, I might add. But I was curious and had nothing better to do, so watch it I did.

The verdict: it's not as bad as people will have you think. It can't even compare to Donnie Darko, or most other movies I've seen, and it's not very memorable. At best it's visual fan fiction, but I have to admit it's not bad for being what it is.

The film first of all assumes that you understand Donnie Darko, and that you've seen the Director's Cut. If you haven't and don't, you're going to be completely lost because it doesn't bother explaining anything: Failure #1.

Failure #2: It tries WAY too hard to be Donnie Darko, and it gets annoying. This movie has little new to offer. I almost want to call it more of a tribute than a sequel. All of the same shit happens, and they try to sneak too many little things in. As a person that's seen Donnie Darko probably a million times after exposing new people to it, and watching it for myself, I noticed ALL of them, and IMO they were overused.. The red Firebird. Cellar door. The fast forward/backward sequences, the random slow-mo. Quotes that were taken directly from the original and reused VERY poorly. "I don't believe in that, but I believe in life's a bitch and then you die." "Wake up." -- said a million times. "They made me do it." -- out of nowhere. "That's... when the world... is GOING TO END." -- like a million times also. Really?

I think what disappointed me most was that they threw in all this little shit, but not ONCE did we get a "What's a fuckass?" reference. In a movie about Samantha. There's something very wrong about that.

Failure #3: There is no humor. It's so fucking serious.

WHERE THE MOVIE SUCCEEDS: When it's not trying to be Donnie Darko. They did a stellar job in every scene that was not ripped off the original, and I can't imagine why they didn't just try to make an honest-to-goodness sequel rather than a remake. It's clear that whoever wrote this movie is capable of producing good work. There were some scenes that had me floored, and I really liked some of the ideas presented. There was one scene that has it's roots in a Donnie scene, but they added a twist to it and actually IMPROVED on the original. I had an :O face the whole time.

Most of the acting is pretty mediocre, but Briana Evigan gave a great performance as Samantha's best friend, the best in the movie by far. Which is just weird to me, considering she's best known for her role in Step Up.

Also, the soundtrack is fucking amazing. I actually paid to download it iTunes because I couldn't find it anywhere else, that's how good it was!

There was a good movie somewhere in there. Some big shit was going on in this movie, bigger than anything that happened in Donnie that I was pretty interested in. But because they wasted so much time sampling Donnie, there wasn't much room for anything else and it just turned out to be incoherent. If I dreamt that Donnie Darko happened in the desert, and I was part of it, that's exactly what s. Darko would be. That's the best way I can think of to describe it. Blurred details, unexplainable sequence of events and all.

Don't go out of your way to see it, but if you happen to watch it for some reason or another, just try to keep in mind that it's not canon and try to enjoy it for what it is. You should, however, go out of your way to listen to the soundtrack. That's some good shit.

Project Trico Trailer

WATCH IT HD.

The latest game from Team Ico for the PS3. I can't fucking wait. This and Heavy Rain are the two PS3 titles I'm most heavily anticipating. It looks like a combination of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus (=masterpiece, btw)... except with FALCOR. FALCOOOOOR!

Why do I get the feeling that this game is going to make me sob like a child? As if the horse wasn't enough! ;_;

I just finished watching the Lost season finale, and I'm still trying to figure out if I loved it or hated it.

There were a lot of exciting and touching moments. You can't really go wrong with magnetic pockets of doom wreaking havoc, and I never get tired of seeing Jack and Sawyer beating each other down.

The big reveal that the Locke we've seen isn't the Locke we know sent my head spinning with questions, although it explains quite a bit of his change in character. It seems that Esau (who I'm calling this person until we're told otherwise) is unable to kill Jacob with his own hands, so it would be logical to conclude that the loophole is to simply convince someone else to do it for him. Thus the rule that only the leader is ever allowed to see Jacob. But all of this about Jacob living at the statue rather than the cabin has me reeling. So who the hell has been at the cabin this whole time? Could it have been Jacob's nemesis asking John for help? I'm trying to recall, perhaps one of you can help me: has Richard Alpert ever actually been seen at the cabin, or was that all Ben's doing?



Regardless of my utter confusion, I enjoyed the biblical nods throughout the episode. Jacob seems to be more of a God-like character, who influences humanity with little nudges (as he referred to in the Jack flashback) yet always concedes to their freedom of choice. He appears in each of the character's pasts, making small changes without ever disguising himself or resorting to lying. Esau on the other hand, preys on insecurities and manipulates people and in a way very reminiscent of Satan, while Ben represents the straying soul lost in the serpent's eyes, losing his faith. You've done all of these things for your leader without asking questions, done everything out of faith, and what have you gotten out of it? You still have cancer, a dead daughter, insert any number of other bad things. You haven't even met him. How could this person ask so much of you, and yet seemingly ignore you? I think Jacob's calm, pitying eyes as he was confronted by Ben are an important clue into what he meant by, "What about you?"

The opening scene between Jacob and Esau reminded me oddly of the story of Job. Could that be the game they're playing at? Esau seems insistent that the presence of mankind only brings on trouble, while Jacob maintains a certain faith in humans to evolve into better people. He shows this belief in each of his flashbacks with the characters, which I assume is him choosing his "players" to eventually find the island, or in the case of Hurley and Sayid, leading them back to the island after "straying".



And while all havoc is breaking lose, we find that two of the Losties finally get it. Through the entire show, I've always looked to Rose for which direction to lean in, a moral compass if you will. While she may be a simple woman, she's always had a certain intuition lost on the rest of the cast. By not concerning herself with all the complicated details, she's able to give a candid and unbiased viewpoint. Nevermind the irony in Rose and Bernard being an interracial couple, the black and the white "star" players in Jacob's game. I've missed them terribly this season, and I'll be really sad if this is the last we see of them.

By the way, anyone else feel nostalgic at seeing Vincent, and the abandoned camp at the beach? While it doesn't suck to be getting answers, sometimes I miss the simplicity of the show's earlier seasons: people just being people, scraping by while a bunch of random shit happened.

The more I think about Smokie, the more I wonder about him. It's been established that he's essentially a security system. If that's the case, then it would make sense for him to be "working" with Esau to keep people off the island. Though I believe Cerberus may have a more subjective view of humans than Esau, judging them from their past to decide whether or not they're worthy or even capable of evolving. What if, this whole time, it was Esau manifesting the dead rather than Cerberus?



On a less picking-the-show-apart note, the final moments of the episode were absolutely gripping. I never knew how much I loved Juliet until she was dangling over that pit, and the last scene with her using what's left of her strength to beat the bomb into going off had me utterly broken. God, that whole thing was so intense. How desperate they all must be, to sacrifice themselves without really knowing for sure if it was even going to work. Also, what a vicious way to end the season. This is going to be the longest nine months of my life, I think.

I suppose that settles it: I'm dying for the next season, and I want to go back and rewatch this season just to analyze Locke/Esau. After that I'll probably want to go back and rewatch the series again. I guess that makes it a good finale?

It's kind of sad that the season finale for LOST airs next week, and I somehow missed that we were even reaching a climax. Spoilers ahead, obviously. I don't feel like cutting.

Season 5 is ranking right alongside Season 2 with me right now -- which is not a good thing. Okay, slightly above S2, but it's still not doing so hot. We've been chugging along without any direction for too long, and now that they've established some idea of where they're going with all this 70's nonsense, all of the characters begin to annoy me. Jack, you're cute with your total change in character and all, but you're an idiot. Kate, you've become an annoying and chatty third wheel, even to the audience. Sun, I can't tell if you've suddenly become a bad actress or if it's the same lines over and over you keep getting that are turning you into Harry Mason from Silent Hill. Sayid, your hair is too long; Rose, you're nowhere to be found; Sawyer, your face is bloody, etc... etc...

And it's somewhat amazing to me that the writers have managed to go nowhere so quickly, and yet still have so much going on that a majority of the cast have been swept under the rug with screen time enough for a reaction shot or two. The only person I care about at the moment is Miles and Doctor Candle Ingredients.

I guess it's not terrible, but I'm definitely bored. What a huge step down after S4. Come on, next Wednesday. Let's blow shit up and get it over with. The sooner we move on from here, the better.

China's ultimatum: smoke or be fined.

This combined with the looming ban on e-cigarettes by the FDA is just astounding to me. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but the reach of the tobacco industry's power is simply astounding. Which, by the way, this ban thing is very annoying. There's nothing official yet, but we're expecting an announcement tomorrow. I finally found the easiest way to quit smoking I've ever encountered, and now they're going to make it difficult for me continue? Ugh.

Speaking of quitting smoking, I've been doing very well. I still get cravings for real cigarettes from time to time, mainly when I first wake up in the morning, after a meal, or at random periods during work. As a result, I did buy a pack of cigarettes a few days ago, but I've only smoked two of them over a period of four days. I think that's pretty good. The only drawback to this is that I'm fairly certain I'm going to be replacing one addiction with another, very similar addiction. But honestly, as long as I get myself down to a lower nicotine dose, I'm fine with that. It's the motions of smoking that I enjoy most, and if I can keep that while gradually reducing my risk of DYING, I'm happy.

GM to pull the plug on Pontiac car brand

T.T

Sad day. Sad, sad day. Admittedly, I haven't been a huge fan of a lot of their cars of late. After the final Grand Prix make (which still holds the key to my heart), nothing really caught my eye. If anything, they gave my eyes sores. And honestly, there wasn't much between the Firebird Formula and Grand Prix that I liked, although the later Grand Ams are pretty cute grocery-getters. BUT STILL! Pontiac was always my favorite brand since the juiced up Fiero my dad had as we were kids. I hoped that they'd be able to pull their shit together again, but I suppose not.

Wah.

I got my e-cigarette in the mail a couple days ago. For those of you who don't know what an e-cig is, there's a decent article about it here.

mychimaera told me about it a couple weeks ago. I immediately hopped on-line, did some research, and have become obsessed. The main appeal in it for me is the freedom to (guiltlessly) smoke in my room. I don't need to smoke everywhere I go; I'm fine with all the public smoking bans as long as I'm not drunk at a bar on a cold winter night. But not being able to smoke in the house has been torture. I don't think I can express how difficult it is to do something like focus on writing when I'm sitting there the whole time thinking about how much I want a cigarette. It keeps me out of that "zone" I want to reach, and even if I manage to hit that point it's gone the moment I stop to satisfy the nicotine craving. Even if I'm not writing, it takes so much time out of my day to stop what I'm doing to go outside and smoke a cigarette for each of the 30-some cigarettes I smoke in a day. At six minutes a piece, that's three hours a day spent smoking -- give or take. Nevermind the fact that I'm lazy, and outside is all the way upstairs.

To have this issue remedied without the stress of quitting smoking is a GODSEND. And as I've continued using it, I'm finding more and more benefits in the investment. A) It's loads cheaper than cigarettes. If you refill the liquid yourself and do your research on where to buy from, the cost of smoking is far, FAR lower than quoted in the article I linked. I think, at most, I'll be spending around fifty bucks a month to "vape", as opposed to the near $200 I'd be spending on cigarettes after the recent price increase. B) I'm still on the same pack of cigarettes I had the day it came in the mail. It does a really good job of satisfying that cigarette craving. Sadly, it doesn't have the same throat hit I sometimes want, so I'm having an analog cigarette here and there. But for the most part, I'm fine without. C) I'm starting to notice and be disgusted by the smell of cigarettes. This may or may not be such a good thing, but I view it as surprising progress. D) Starting today, I suddenly have tons more energy.

As far as the device itself, I bought a black m401 with a blue LED. I wasn't incredibly impressed at first. The pre-loaded cartridges that came with it gave me no throat hit at all, and the vapor was kind of weak. But as the atomizer began to break in, I started to load the cartridges with my own liquid, and in general learned how to use it better (you puff it differently than a cigarette), both of these problems are fixed. My biggest issue right now is that it's easy to forget when to stop puffing on it. Since it doesn't end, it's easy to just suck on it all day. As a result, I'm having a constant nicotine high like whoa.

It's nice. Tell your smoker friends about it. The investment will make both you and them much happier. My ultimate goal is to gradually reduce the amount of nicotine I'm using until I'm down to none. That will begin as soon as I'm fully off analog cigarettes.