Sailor Sushi to A4!

Those who've followed my various "blogs" will have already noticed that with the long and (for once,) good entries, I've sort of brought back my old blog titling habits. It's a confusing metaphorical menagerie of wordplay that summarizes the contents of the entry and paradoxically leaves the reader in the dark at the same time.

Anyway, before your brain suffers an aneurysm, here's why this entry's named the way it is:

• chess
• food (namely: sushi)
• Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon*
• writing

And in case you still don't see it, "A4" refers to chess (both the grid and the "What the deuce?" opening move**) and A4 paper (please tell me you can see the relation between writers and paper...).



* = A good 83% of you are probably giving this entry some kind of "WTF!?" look upon reading that. 83% of the initial 83% realize what it is and are probably wondering if they should revoke my man card for even referencing this. 83% of that secondary 83% have now realized that these statistics are fictional. Finally, 83% of that tertiary 83% probably don't know that this footnote was a How I Met Your Mother reference.

** = Seriously... if you should be playing chess against someone and they do "1.a4," then I hope to God that you win. Why bother wasting time by "blitzing" the queenside rook out to an awkward location when you can gain tempo and fight for control of the center?





CURRENT MUSIC:
Robert Summers - "Moon Crystal Power"
Sailor Moon: The Full Moon Collection

Yeah. You're still reading this correctly. Music from Sailor Moon - and the dubbed version, of all things? *nods* Now, if you have a problem, just shaddap and skip the rest of the music section. =P

Everyone around my age who's seen the well-known magical girl anime when they were a child knows this. Okay, maybe only the girls, but those of us guys out there who either had nothing better to watch before Dragon Ball Z or lived in a house with girls who watched Sailor Moon probably know this, too. In the event that you don't know (which is probably true for just about everyone in my "fan base"), "Moon Crystal Power" is known as the theme music for Serena/Usagi Tsukino's transformation sequence into the title character. While a majority of the English adaptation barely holds a candle to the original Japanese audio, I have to admit that I believe this is one of the better music themes for a transformation sequence.

What amazed me about this piece was that despite the obvious attachment for magical girls, I was able to place it as suitable background music for other characters and scenarios - particularly that "last-second rescue by a cavalry-esque squad" scene in not-so-dark war-based TV shows... and for some reason, opening credits for a sports show.

In the event that nobody's done this (or anything else) using this piece: I CALL DIBS.


Nobuo Uematsu - "Shuffle or Boogie"
Final Fantasy VIII Original Soundtrack

Every main entry in the Final Fantasy series has had some kind of minigame, be it an Easter egg or something that actually helps benefit the storyline by strengthening your party. In the case of Final Fantasy VIII, that game would be Triple Triad, a card game played throughout the in-game world.

"Shuffle of Boogie" is the theme that plays whenever you engage in a Triple Triad game, and its lightheartedness complements the fun the game provides while creating that aura that just says, "Think about strategy while you're listening to me!" Obviously, this wouldn't sit well with a full-scale battlefield scenario, but for something like Triple Triad or any other children's card game, it works wonders.



"The chessboard is limited to an eight-by-eight grid. There is nothing beyond this little universe. No ninth rank. No green pieces that suddenly sweep onto the board to attack both black and white. ... [A pawn] doesn't suddenly blossom into a queen by its own volition. No, chess is nothing like war, which is one of the reasons I play it. It's so much simpler than real life."
- Arcturus Mengsk
(StarCraft: Liberty's Crusade)

I haven't read this book in ages. Loved it when I was younger (I was a bigger StarCraft nerd back then as compared to now), and now that I recently found the copy I had since 2002, I'm thinking of going through it again.

Anyway, Mengsk has a point. Maybe that's why everyone's so drawn to the game - unlike reality, the game's simplicity and complexities are much easier to handle and control.





Evening, readers. I honestly think it's about time to post a good entry for once. Fortunately, that's what y'all will be getting tonight, so celebrate.

Oh, and just for you skimmers: no TL;DR will be present for you. Please proceed to bludgeon yourself in the face with a sharpened shovel.





I woke up today feeling a huge surge of energy that for some reason has to be worked for whenever I'm working (ironic, ain't it?). This can be traced back to a few reasons:


I asked for today off.
Having a personally-scheduled personal day off to just kick back and relax is always a fun thing. Gives you time to recuperate from working your tail off so much and also lets you catch up on much-needed sleep. Plus, you can plan stuff with friends and everything.


Today is my "social sushi" day.
A few years ago my friends and I used to be big on getting sushi. We'd meet once a month, stuff our stomachs to the brim with the marvelous invention called sushi, have lots of talking and laughter shared amongst ourselves and then proceed back to our lives with a fat stomach and the most amazing food coma you can have... ever (until the next "social sushi" day, that is).

As the years have passed, the practice has dropped from most of my friends' schedules. I, however, seem to be a huge stickler for being conservative (in the non-political sense, mind you) and adhering to "tradition," so I revived the idea about ten months ago and have faithfully kept getting sushi with people who were free at that point in time. Nowadays, I'm still doing it (as today's entry will indicate).





So, if you like sushi, live near me, and wanna have a fun time eating, talking and what not, then bookmark every third Friday of the month off (or at least reserve lunch hours from 1200-1600).

Until the 'morrow, everyone!

Weird

I am honestly finding today to be weird. Today is the first Thursday in over a year that I'm actually working. Normally I'd have them off either because of classes or because I didn't change my availability during school downtime.

So now instead of posting something decent for today, you get to hear about the following thing...



The Facebook group for "JOSH BLANCO vs. THE WORLD" is now up. I've outlined the basic questions one might ask for this endeavor, so I won't be doing anything here.

Sunday, June 19. That'll be a fun day, I think.



But enough talk... have at you, work!

Cellular Nostalgia

I'm one of those guys who likes cell phones that're fully customizable. By that, I mean that all my contacts have a personalized ringtone and text message that fit them. I'm picky like that, but at the end, it proves advantageous - I can listen to something epic or silly go off on my cell phone and while everyone questions what the hell they just listened to, I answer or respond with a smile on my face* as I pick up the phone.

Lately, I've been editing ring tones and sound effects all day on my cell phone. It's been a while since I had to make ringtones for anyone, but I'm beginning to love doing this all again. Back in my senior year of high school I was drafted by a bunch of my friends to make ringtones for them, and it was a great gig - at the time, there was little technology offered out there that could make a ringtone exactly how they wanted.

Of course, now that there's so many apps out there, there's little need for a friend with some tech knowledge to make you a set of personalized sounds, and I think it's a sad age. Sure, these apps can help you record your own things and have rendered services like mine completely obsolete, but it in my opinion, the finished product loses the humanity and personal craftsmanship that I tend to put forward on my ringtones.

Maybe it's just me griping because in my view, these apps just shortcut it. Some of them can only cut in second-blocks (e.g.: making 02:45.00-03:05.00 the ringtone) whereas a finely-tuned product would cut and hash in a fade-in or fade-out (e.g.: fading in at 02:45.24 so the chorus that kicks in at 02:45.80 doesn't seem like someone magically plugged in the auxiliary cords from the recording). Some of them can even splice and rearrange fragments of a musical piece so it works, but again, there's no decent audio-editing mechanisms (e.g.: it can't cut exactly where it's needed).

*breath*

Yeah, I needed to vent that. In an age like this, it seems that the heroes of old just got swept under the rug as some disguised impostors steal the limelight.

I want that light back.





A-Anyway, apart from chucking a bunch of ringtones, sound effects and alarm stuff into my phone, I haven't done much. Got work tonight, too, so that means I have to cut myself off here and prep up.

Televised Poetry

Today was sort of a lazy day for me. I spent it doing some light cleaning followed up by watching a bunch of TV shows I said I'd watch eventually... but rather than talk about all that stuff, I present to you: my day summarized in haiku format.



A day of nothing
solitary and tranquil
...SO self-rewarding.



Back to the DVD player! *goes back to catching up on TV series he hasn't been watching*

Pending Cool

Okay, I need to post something decently cool sometime this week. If anything, it might help my readership by drawing in another friend or something.

But as expected of me, it's not today - mostly because I got called in to work early. Whoo, money.
Maybe some other time. *heads off to work*

White Knight Live: Denny's

So instead of a decent entry today, I decided to go to the local Denny's with some of my co-workers at Target.

Some of my friends came in late because of "back-to-back traffic" - the others and I laughed at them because the highway next to the restaurant is DEAD.

Tonight was a weirdly-cool night. Part of it is due to guests being guests (I censored myself there) and the other part is because of weirdly-cool piano-based conversations (and an actual piano).

But enough talk - food and friends NAO.

Possimpible Scheduling

Today's entry's title is a direct How I Met Your Mother reference. And yes, there are some things here that are both possible and impossible.

Like posting something decent for today!





CURRENT MUSIC:
Billy Crawford - "Pokémon Theme (Jason Paige Cover)"
Pokémon: The First Movie

As most people my age were heavily involved with all things Pokémon over 12 years ago, they will probably know the lyrics to the well-known opening theme song from the much-watched first season of the anime series (and I guarantee that if you clicked that link, you'll sing along - unless, of course... you had no soul as a child). With that in mind, most (if not all) of those Pokémon fans went to watch The First Movie and the first song we heard was this one.

Granted, the cover goes off on a different style than the original song, but it still holds the same heart and soul of the Pokémon franchise that Jason Paige's version did.

Plus, this is great music to drive (fast) to. Yeah, you'll probably get looks from bewildered drivers at stop lights and standstill traffic, but that's to be expected - they probably lost touch with their fun-loving side a long time ago.


Tetsuya Shibata - "Dante's Office / Seven Hells Battle"
Devil May Cry 3 Original Soundtrack

A no-nonsense, rock-themed fight piece that gets right down on the nitty-gritty. Not much else to it, but it doesn't matter - the Devil May Cry games were all about stylish, hack-and-slashing badassery* in the first place. And what better way to slay a bunch of demons than with a heavy guitar backed by electronica?

Sadly, Dante's jukebox didn't seem to know that. Well, it knows now...

* = Being half-demon is cool enough... but when you're surrounded by a bunch of scythe-wielding demons (who've already stabbed you with the pointy ends) and your response is to casually walk over to your pizza instead of your firearms... then I'd say you're pretty badass.


Nobuo Uematsu - "SeeD"
Final Fantasy VIII Original Soundtrack

Thus far in my gaming career I can only say that I've played one game from the Final Fantasy franchise - VIII. I'm not going to delve on the aspects on why I've only played VIII or have yet to complete it, nor am I going to delve into the classic "BEST FINAL FANTASY GAME EVAR" debate* on here. I'm just going to simply talk about this particular piece.

"SeeD" is best heard as background music for any sort of mission briefing, debate, game plan or that idle time between discussing the course of action and actually executing said course of action. Despite the militaristic sound it has (that repeated drum melody coupled with the woodwinds gives it that sound, you know?), it works in virtually any kind of meeting where a "what next" discussion occurs. Whether you're attempting to hijack a train carrying a tyrannical leader, mapping out your next fly-by route through a star system, or debating the pros and cons between eating waffles or pancakes for breakfast


David Wise - "Stickerbrush Symphony"
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest ~ The Original Donkey Kong Country 2 Soundtrack

If I ever wrote a theory on the term "musical irony," I would cite this as a prime example. While most gamers who've played Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest will agree with me when I say this is one of the most relaxing (and therefore, memorable) tracks in the game's soundtrack, they will also agree with the following statement: those plant levels SUCKED. Don't get me wrong - they were challenging (which is what games should be), but perhaps they were a little too challenging, considering that they required a bit of mastery when it came to navigating the level whilst flying around in cramped quarters on a nut-spitting parrot...

I'm digressing here. "Stickerbrush Symphony" is perhaps one of the best tracks from that game. The serenity that emanates from the entire piece is just soothing - it gets me calm if I listen to it in a decent dosage. Take a listen if you don't believe me. Hell, just take a listen regardless of your current stress level.

Of course, the funny thing is that while it feels all calm and relaxing, if you were to focus on the bass line, you'd probably be freaked out at the contrasting speed - more so if you pay attention to the left hand here (give it 20 seconds - I'm not shortcutting this track for you because it'd be a travesty if I cut any of it off). Making your hand dance that fast like that... Jesus, I don't think I could pull that off anytime soon.


Within Temptation - "See Who I Am"
The Silent Force

Whenever I think of symphonic metal, the first thing that pops up in my mind would be the Dutch band Within Temptation. I got into them after watching an old Counter-Strike 1.6 video that showcased a bunch of CPL players. Sadly, I can't find the video on my hard drives (nor can I locate it on the Internet), but I still remember that opening vividly - the opening 30 seconds were used as excellent background music for the opening sequence.

Anyway, as you can probably guess, "See Who I Am" was the first song I heard from them. That first song you hear from any artist/band/group holds a special place in your musical history, and this is no exception. Possessing a dramatic and raw energy, the song stands out for those wanting their voice to break out and be heard. Such people are "the silent force" of this world.



"To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but what he aspires to."
- Khalil Gibran

Unfortunately, most people have tried already with me... and none of it still makes any sense. Despite this, it's important to try this with people. It helps quite a lot when it comes to making heads and tails of people.





Today seems like one of those days that I spent wondering about things. Things that I have done... things that I have yet to do... things that are possible and impossible (some at the same time)...

Unfortunately, I don't know what to do for today aside from work. I do have one thing to say, though... JOSH BLANCO vs. THE WORLD will be postponed until Sunday, June 19. I have yet to get the time to figure out the workings for it, let alone the first few players to represent the world.

So apart from that little ditty, there's not much else for me to say for today. I'll see y'all later. *catnaps before work*

All Aircraft Report!

It seems like a HUGE mistake for me to put down what I put down yesterday. For those of you too lazy to find yesterday's entry, here's how it closed:

"So, tomorrow. Great entry. I promise."

Yeah. In case you don't know already, I'm big when it comes to promises. Failing a promise... yeech. I'd rather die.



So, I guess I now have to deliver before I go in to work today. I figure: quality, life status update entry would be good.





Today's a Friday. An off-Friday for me, since I don't get paid today. Most depressing for me, since I want to be in a better financial situation than I am now. Eh. It can't be helped - I've always been in a financial rut like this.

Money would be nice. I must be complete.



I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately. I have a couple of theories as to why I'm a bit blue. The main one I'm leaning towards is the mostly-obvious fact that I work in a general retail store - and as such, I encounter lots of kids. Slimy, horrible, spoiled, ill-mannered snots who're raised by slimy, horrible, spoiled, ill-mannered parents who shouldn't have procreated. As such, these disrespectful little whelps just sneeze, cough, wipe, and pretty much whatever on store products... products that I have to tend after. As such, contamination is virtually inevitable.

...maybe I should yell at a whelp today. And maybe I should just refer to those slimy, horrible, spoiled, ill-mannered snots as whelps from now on. I'll teach ye' some respect...

...you know what? I WILL.



Progress with Radiant Historia is going well... my party is at Lv30 and I'm doing well financially. From what a friend tells me, I'm somewhat overleveled... which must mean I'll be steamrolling through the next few boss fights. *evil laugh*



I was debating about calling out from work today due to me being sick. It gives me a day to recuperate and recover, as well as give me a day to just relax how I want. (The overabundance of sick hours I have saved up would finally start to be used for once.) At the same time, I have no idea what I'd be doing if I did. Apart from taking a HUGE nap, I'd end up sitting there wondering what to do.

So, I decided against it. If my condition indeed worsens, it'll be from stress weakening my immune system - stress I know that'll show up when I go in tonight. If it worsens at a much faster rate than I predict (assuming my prediction's true, of course), then oh, man; I think I'd better back off.





So. A decent entry for today, I guess. I'll bid you all adieu until tomorrow, then. I... can't... lose!

Oh, and did anyone notice all the Star Fox 64 references I threw in this entry? =P

Nostalgia > Blog Posting

Somebody remind me to post something remarkably well tomorrow. I'm having waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much fun having a nostalgic gaming session (via Super Smash Bros. Melee and The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening).

I'd apolgize, but we all know how prone I am to putting things off until the last second...

Also, I apologize for the grammatical and typographical errors present in this entry - I typed this all out on my cell phone, and it's kinda difficult to post.

So, tomorrow. Great entry. I promise.

What's The Score?

Here's my plan. I work tonight. My friends get to go off to a concert I really wanted to go to but can't go to because work is... eh, work.

So while most everyone is having fun and spending, I'm off making money in a not-fun manner. Win, draw, or lose?