S'more Smooth Suribachi Stratagems

After four seven eight days* spent not typing anything (worthwhile), I felt that it was time to post something of good quality. While it hasn't been a stellar year so far in this blog, it's still alive (albeit barely), and so I figured it deserved a little something for holding out this long. Refusing to die off like a voice in the wind... it's worth something, and that something... would be words. (A six-year-old somewhere is asking: "What the hell kind of gift is that!?")

Words are a complex crop that I haven't cultivated in a while, and so it took a lot more effort than usual to get them ready for presentation. A lot. But with a careful eye to watch them grow, some time to help them adapt to being summoned on such short notice, and (hopefully,) people bored/curious enough to read them, I'm sure these words I've labored for ought to do the job.

* = The entirety of last month was not counted in this statistic. Hell, the majority of this year wasn't counted. Ignorance can be bliss sometimes.

This was me earlier today.

Now that I've typed this all out... let's see if today's words can form sentences that make sense (as opposed to this entry's ridiculous mish-mash of a title). Let's go and rock out the rest of this long (and hopefully engaging) spiel!

Level Up Time

Time to level up! Gef just hit 86 yesterday, and I think one of my goals for next week is to get him to 87! *logs on*

Oh, and in other news: just finished Battle Royale a few days ago. Holy shit; I did not see that ending. Now I feel like I should watch the movie...

Entering the Program

Sometimes you get gripped by something so awesome and crazy you can't help but be hooked. When this happens, embrace it. It may be controversial or sickening or aghastly shocking - but it's something that you'll remember for ages to come.

That's happening to me right now in the form of Koushun Takami's famed novel Battle Royale I just started the book earlier this morning... ...and holy shit, is this thing freaky.

As such, this is all you get. But what I ended getting is a map, a compass, some bread and water, and a... *ruffles through a duffel bag* ...wait, where's my weapon!?

Eve of Seven, Strings of Thought

Look into this entry and grasp the obvious - that the eve of seven days' work is approaching, and that three days' work of excitement is about to unfold.

Oh, and notice that this is going to be an awesome entry, too. =P





CURRENT MUSIC:
Bear McCreary - "Roslin and Adama"
Battlestar Galactica

As Battlestar Galactica fits under the genre of "space opera," that means it is allowed to have its own romantic storylines. While there are a decent number of these in the course of the series, there's one that I absolutely adored: the subtle and natural romance between President Laura Roslin and Commander William Adama.

"Roslin and Adama" is the aural representation of their budding relationship (one that seems more obvious to us than to them). Composed in a style akin to a slow waltz, this string-heavy piece with piano backing plucks at the heartstrings whenever it appears. Matter-of-fact, it's so powerful of a leitmotif that Bear McCreary himself "...reserved this theme for only the most powerful, dramatic scenes in their relationship."

Powerful, stringed, and warm despite being slow and almost-melancholic-sounding. You can't really ask for a better combination than that. Unless of course, you're Bear McCreary and decide to make a piano-only version of it.



"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."
- A. A. Milne

Quite true. Maybe that's why I'm always so disorganized, both in a physical and mental sense. I keep bumping into things that grab my attention and get me to think or play.

Carving the Books of the World

initializing startup... done.
accessing rogue protocols... done.
establishing mainframe connection... done.
running command firewall lines... done.
starting up defensive system...

Welcome to the WeißeRitter Defense Mainframe
Powered by Gründer Industries
user:
> wkc8942
pass:
> ********
code:
> angels ten

...authenticating...

Good afternoon, White Knight! Query?
> run "blogPublic"
initializing... done.
BLOG of the PUBLIC... open. Query?
> code "masteraccess"
> upload "20111030"
...I'm sorry, we do not have a file "20111030" in the servers. Query?
> code "TSleak"
please provide security confirmation:
> code "backdoor021903"
command authorized. upload and download of top secret data is authorized
> create "20111030"
creating new file "20111030"... done:

The Fifty Skies of Emotional History

Evening, everybody. Let's go ahead and make yourselves comfortable as you read this. First things first, though - we gotta have the pre-blog stuff waste your precious time entertain your mind as I prep up.

*cough*





CURRENT MUSIC:
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan Cover)"
Electric Ladyland

Often associated with Vietnam-based media (or anything related to the end of the '60s), Jimi Hendrix's famous cover of "All Along the Watchtower" is one of those great songs you just can't really get tired of listening to. It's so good of a cover that even Bob Dylan himself feels as if it's a tribute to Hendrix.

Part of the reason I'm listening to this is because Battlestar Galactica used a cover of its own at the end of the third season. It varied greatly in style but it still got the job done. While it's a great cover of its own, it obviously is out-trumped by this variant.


KCE Japan Sound Team - "REX's Lair"
Metal Gear Solid Original Game Soundtrack

Ah, the music of Metal Gear Solid. It takes me back to the days where I spent countless hours playing one of my favorite video game franchises to both enjoy the cinematic quality and master the sense behind the complex plots.

"REX's Lair" plays in the maintenance facility that houses the superweapon known as Metal Gear REX (just in case the title didn't tell you anything). An ominous-sounding piece, the somber choir (and the electronic accompaniment) puts a heart-stopping chill in your bones as you navigate your way around the area. If anything, the music aurally represents the doom that could be launched from REX if you don't take it out in time.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots featured a re-done version of "REX's Lair" as Snake revisits Shadow Moses Island in Act IV. While the piece is no longer reliant on the ominous-sounding chorus, it still manages to get the same chilling feeling you got from the first game as you sneak your way through the area once more.

I'm going to admit that when I was younger (read: "more depressed in the past"), I had this on heavy rotation on WinAmp. Frankly, this track amplifies any depression held within a person's heart, and the more this plays, the more that depression exponentially grows. Try not to listen to this if you're not in a happy place, mm'kay? =D


Bear McCreary - "Roslin Confesses"
Battlestar Galactica: Season 2 Original Soundtrack

With the weather being how it is today, I felt that this was an excellent track to help me convey the mood the overcast skies was throwing out at us here in my part of California. A string-dominant piece, "Roslin Confesses" feels like one of those musical interludes that definitely fit some kind of heart-to-heart scenario you'd see in film or television (gee, I wonder how I figured that one out). Strings slowly reveal the drama and close with a snippet of the "Roslin and Adama" leitmotif.

Maybe I have something to confess today. Maybe I don't. You'll just have to read on and on, I suppose. All I can say is that this is a nice song to have in the background if you have something important to say.


Yoko Shimomura - "The Edge of Green"
Radiant Historia Original Soundtrack

One of the tracks from the Nintendo DS RPG Radiant Historia, "The Edge of Green" does its job in elevating the tension one would normally get when in a stronger fight. While this music pretty much goes for fights that aren't so crazy, when this plays, you know you're in for something interesting.

It's a pretty good soundtrack - and the fact that Yoko Shimomura (famed for her work in Super Mario RPG and the Kingdom Hearts franchise) composed it makes it even better.



"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go."
- Martha Washington

The day is indeed what we make of it. Now here's a question for you. It's an overcast day outside. Do you let it aid the day in mucking up your mood, or do you fight the skies and yell "Screw you and your depression" and flip off the clouds?

I'll let you decide what I chose as you read today's entry.

Writing Parks

Lots of music! Lots of text! Lots of silly things interspersed throughout!





CURRENT MUSIC:
Apocalyptica - "Master of Puppets (Metallica Cover)"
Plays Metallica by Four Cellos

For those of you who don't know who Apocalyptica are, they are a Finnish cello metal band - that is, they primarily use cellos. They originally started out by covering Metallica songs (which is what Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, their debut album, consists of) and eventually began making their own music that rocked out just as well.

I personally love this rendition of "Master of Puppets" - for some reason, I think this actually had a stronger tone than the actual song did. The guitar solo/interlude in the middle of the song... oh, maaaaaan, it just sounds amazing.


Russell Brower, Derek Duke and Matt Uelmen - "Silvermoon City"
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Soundtrack

A good majority of the Horde players know this music piece as the primary anthem that plays when entering Silvermoon City. I say this because the majority race of Horde players seems to be the sin'dorei (the Blood Elves). That, or they're roleplayers sent to delegate something in Silvermoon.

I'm digressing. The brass and percussion announce your arrival in Silvermoon territory with a loud fanfare before giving way to a bit where a cello and choir aurally lament the loss and suffering the sin'dorei and Silvermoon had to endure. The brass switches in for the cello and repeats the same line the stringed instrument sounded off. It then goes through a different melody completely yet retains the same melancholic sound throughout the rest of the piece.

Now, that's not to say that by listening to this, I'm assumed to be in a depressed mood. No, I'm actually in a fine one. I just love the instrumentation and elegance this piece has. Don't get me wrong - the other anthems and interludes for the other Horde cities are great as well, but Silvermoon... man. The emotion just matches the city well.


Hideki Sakamoto - "prime #7"
Echochrome Original Soundtrack

The crazy mind-bending puzzle game for the PlayStation 3 has quite the interesting little soundtrack. Consisting primarily of nothing but a string quartet, the music just radiates with elegance and calming emotions... a perfect way to aurally clear your mind and get you focused on hand. The fact that the track names have no "real" track names help as well - they're all just prime numbers, forcing more of your focus on concentrating on the music rather than the name.

This piece (along with the rest of the soundtrack) helped immensely while I composed this entry.



"The easiest thing to do on earth is not write."
- William Goldman

This is a very true statement here. I honestly could not write anything anymore on this blog and not have to worry constantly about making a daily deadline or anything of the sort. I could very well stop posting here and would never have to worry about anything related to this site ever again. That would be a wonderful feeling, right? Not having to force myself to compose something? Not having to deal with self-induced pressure?

Wrong. I relish this site. It's probably one of the few things I have going for me right now, and by continually posting I allow myself to endure and embrace the hardships that rocket my way. Mind you, this site offers me no hardships whatsoever, but I like to think that so long as this site exists - as long as I keep writing - anything I do isn't completely for naught.

So, I will not take the easy road and tarry off, never to be seen again. I will write. I will write until my conscious self no longer exists. I will write for the sake of everyone who decided against taking the easy road and busied themselves with some kind of written task. I will write because I can write - because not many else will heed the call - because I love it.

Reading a Day Off

CURRENT READ:
Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich
David Kenyon Webster

In case you don't know (most of you probably don't), I'm something of a World War II buff.
While all war is atrocious, I can't help but admire the stories and media based on this great conflict.


In this case, I'm currently reading a book written by Private First Class David K. Webster.
People knowledgeable with American paratroopers may be familiar with this name - Webster was one of the guys mentioned in Band of Brothers.

It's a pretty good read - if one wanted to know a sample of what life was like for the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

*keeps reading*