Cuisine in the Flames

Originally I was going to write some kind of silly introduction for today. It would have involved food- and fire-based puns that I'm sure people (read: me) would get a kick out of. However, not everyone can digest cheesy banter of that magnitude, so I decided to lower the heat.
The last thing you want to do right now is to burn yourself off something with enough spice to make a smuggler cry blood.

This fire's really heated up the air the last few days. Pun both intended and not.
(Photo taken by Karen Quincy Loberg of the Ventura County Star.)

I'd advise people with poor taste palates (read: those that can't stand the heat) to stay out of the kitchen. I don't feel like scalding anyone's tongues or soft skins, so I might as well warn you now.

Okay, enough puns. (Even if the local fire here in California is a hot topic.) Without much further ado, I present to you: the stuff that made Thursday a hot day.

(Please don't extinguish my life due to these indigestible puns. I'm on fire!)





CURRENT MUSIC:
Hiroki Morishita - "Divine Decree~Ablaze"
Fire Emblem: Kakusei Original Soundtrack

In keeping with the themes I've set for today's entry, I decided to expose you to some Fire Emblem Awakening. Of course, I might have used something strong, as this music piece is aural inferno of dramatic warfare. (That's right; the tasteless puns continue. I'm just getting warmed up! =P)

In-game, there are quite a few audio tracks that could play when you're in a battle. It's typical for strategy games to do this - if you were stuck with only three pieces for instance, every fight - no matter how hectic, dramatic, or gut-clinching it is(n't) - would seem the same. That could be particularly damaging to the player's emotional investments in the game - the wrong piece of music could overglorify a simple training simulation, while music without a dramatic kick guts an otherwise emotional fight.

Thankfully, Fire Emblem Awakening didn't fall prey to this. There's a good handful of tracks that could play during the missions, and each one is capable of complementing the situation. However, they took it one step further and created two versions of each piece - the normal one heard on your turn when you're looking at the battlefield, and an "Ablaze" version that cuts in when you watch your units actually engage the enemy.

Quite interesting and dramatic. This track alone seems to convey the whole "this fight is going to decide how the story unfolds" emotion with so much fervor (and the choir does help a lot).


John Williams - "Cantina Band 2"
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

For those of you wondering why I'm listening to music from Star Wars, you obviously don't know what today is. I'm not even going to bother explaining it to you, because you don't know.

For those who do, however: good. May the Fourth be with you, too. *smiles*





Alrighty, ladies and gents; it's time to talk about Thursday. Let's fire up the grills and cook us a feast!

*slap for the puns*

I'll admit that this should have been up hours ago, but due to it being May 4, I was legally obligated to watch the original Star Wars trilogy. Otherwise I can't call myself an awesome geek. Much time was spent enjoying the story behind the movies once again - and some time was spent attempting to educate a younger cousin about the awesomeness that is the Force. (Sadly, I don't think it was a success.)

Scrawny-looking nerf-herders aside, it was the reason why today's entry so damned late. Of course, with today being May 4 and all, I think it's forgivable.

The sun should not be this red this late in the morning.

So, yeah, this fire that's ravaging the county I live in. For those of you not in the know (read: the not-Californian readers out there, should that crowd exist): a wildfire erupted two days ago in the outskirts of Camarillo, California. Since then it has spread and consumed much land, and the local firefighters are expecting the earliest possible containment of the inferno to occur sometime on Monday.

Always fun. I remember waking up, looking out my window, and noticing three things.

1. The traffic on the local highway was nearly bumper-to-bumper going southbound.
2. It smelled like ash.
3. I don't think I had enough sleep.

It's not like it mattered, though. Because I got food! DELICIOUS FOOD!

Jersey-style food!

Delicious, messy, downright dirty food. Thank you, Garbage Truck...

And Korean-Mexican fusion!

...and thank you, Kogi!



Yeah, that's it. May the Fourth really took my remaining time, but at least I posted. *sighs*

Until the 'morrow.