The Wallpost Saga

The other day, my sister and I decided to have a wallpost war on Facebook. The chronological results:

July 20th, 7:38 AM: Chriss: A graffiti Wallpost. Text: YOU POSTED ON MY WALL! STAR!

STEVE
at 10:39am on July 20th, 2007
You got a Wall Post! Show it to people by setting it to B using +.

CHRISS
at 11:09am on July 20th, 2007

your wall is posted on!
It's super-effective!

STEVE
at 11:16am on July 20th, 2007

You found a Wall Post. Combine with a Green Herb?

CHRISS
at 11:29am on July 20th, 2007

WALL POST
GAINED THE LEAD

STEVE
at 11:31am on July 20th, 2007

Down, Up, Left, Right, Punch, Kick, Right, Right WALLPOST!

CHRISS
at 11:33am on July 20th, 2007

You enter the Dungeon of Dungeonness. It is dark. You see a WALLPOST.

>>GET YE WALLPOST
>>TURN YE SOUTH

STEVE

at 11:38am on July 20th, 2007

Greetings, Night Elf! As you know, dark forces have been gathering and possessing wallposts. In order to thwart them, we must get as many of our own wallposts out into Azeroth as possible. Do so, and you will be greatly rewarded.

QUEST OBJECTIVES
*Bring 5 WALLPOSTS back to Grul'Nak

REWARDS
[Keyboard of Posting]

CHRISS
at 11:42am on July 20th, 2007

Your Wall is under attack.
Your Wall is under attack.
Wall has been destroyed.

STEVE
at 11:44am on July 20th, 2007

WALLPOST...

you are the reincarnation of the great hero of time!

CHRISS
at 11:55am on July 20th, 2007

Leave Balamb Garden and enter the Wall Post?

>Yes
>No
>...

STEVE
at 12:04pm on July 20th, 2007

Wa-Wa-Wal-Wal-Wa-Wallpo-Wallpos-Wallpost has arrived.

CHRISS
at 12:10pm on July 20th, 2007

It looks like you are writing a wall post.
Would you like me to
-Change your spellcheck settings to "teh internte splling"
-Add this person as a friend
-Poke this person
-Get the hell away, paperclip

STEVE
at 12:15pm on July 20th, 2007

POST has evolved into WALLPOST!

Give WALLPOST a nickname?

Yes
No <

WALLPOST was deposited in BOX 7 of BILL'S PC.

CHRISS
at 12:19pm on July 20th, 2007

MELEE!
3...
2...
1...
WALLPOST!

STEVE
at 12:22pm on July 20th, 2007

CLOUD
______________
| Attack |
| Defend |
| Magic |
| Wallpost_____|



And that was the end of the Wallwar. I'm sure we'll have another one sometime soon, we really just ran out of videogame/technology references.

The videogames referenced here have been: Mario Party, Pokemon, Resident Evil, Halo, Street Fighter, Text Based RPGs, World of Warcraft, Warcraft/Starcraft, Final Fantasy 8, Final Fantasy 7, Super Smash Bros, and Microsoft Word.

Facebook getting a facelift?

Facebook is updating. Whenever they do this, it always sounds ominous. Watch, it'll be an announcement that they're merging with MySpace.

EDIT: Wow, it's back up and no visible changes. Bummer.

A List

Here's a list of future releases for the Wii that I'll probably pick up:

7/30/07: Super Mario Strikers: Charged
8/7/07: Boogie
8/27/07: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
9/18/07: MySims
9/25/07: Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party
10/16/07: Zak and Wiki: Quest for Barbados
10/28/07: Guitar Hero 2
11/12/07: Super Mario Galaxy
11/13/07: NIGHTS: Journey of Dreams
12/3/07: Super Smash Bros. BRAWL

This list is, of course, subject to change. I'm actually picking up Mario Strikers today. Brent, David and I will probably take it for a spin, see how it is, and try to kick some butt on Multiplayer Online once we get the hang of it. Only a few more days until I have to go to California. If you are in Chapel Hill and want to make plans, please let me know as soon as possible.

Thoughts on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Note: If you haven't read "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" or seen the movie of the same name, come out of your cave. This post contains movie spoilers, so don't read it if you don't want the movie spoiled.

Okay, that having been said, I went to go see HPOotP last night. I didn't think it was very good. After the movie, I looked over at Brent, kind of shrugged and went "Meh." The book was far more satisfying in every way, mostly because of the huge disappointments that were my favorite scenes in the book, which will follow in a list form:

1) The Escape of Fred and George Weasley

Okay, if you didn't completely LOVE this in the book, you are insane and crazy. Seriously. This was one of the greatest scenes in the entire series, culminating in a large swamp getting created in the hallways of Hogwarts. They threw fireworks, they made a swamp, they threw dungbombs, and finally, they told Peeves to give Umbridge hell! ...None of which actually happened in the movie. In fact, all that happened was that they flew in during the Charms O.W.L. and threw a lot of fireworks. That's it. It was boring, it wasn't inspiring, and moreover, it was completely different than the book - not slightly changed, completely different.

2) Umbridge gets carried off by centaurs.

We all hate Umbridge. I mean, come on. She's easily the most unlikable, annoying character, and they got casting spot on. However, her exit from this particular movie wasn't that great. It, like much of the rest of the movie, was rather mundane. The centaurs fired a few shots and then ran off with her, as opposed to where she's running away from them, and you just assume that she got carried off and Grawp is the one that saves Harry and Hermione from the centaurs. Although, I guess the centaurs didn't really have a beef with the kids in this movie since Firenze wasn't !@#$ing teaching Astronomy, now was he?

3) Snape's Memory

You cannot expect people to understand the relationship between Snape, James Potter, and Lily Evans with tiny, seizure-inducing snippets. That memory was one of the high character-building points for Snape and his motivation behind hating James so much, as well as the cause for an identity crisis for Harry. This kind of ruined that. It almost justified Snape for feeling the way he did toward James. Almost.

4) The Quibbler isn't in the movie??

Okay, how are people supposed to believe Harry if nobody is there to tell his story. The Quibbler makes one appearance: Upside-down in Luna Lovegood's arms. That is it. And that is annoying. No Hermione taking advantage of Rita Skeeter, no hushed "I believe you"s in the hallways, NOTHING! Even Seamus's little scene couldn't really compare to the entire student body getting behind Harry.

5) What happened to Kreacher?

Did he not betray the Order in this one? Just...no explanation as to why Voldemort (Vol-de-mort! Vol-de-mort!) was able to know Harry would come running for Sirius?

And now, just because I feel like I must, here are some things that I liked about the movie:

1) Casting

The actress who played Umbridge was very easy to despise, and the girl who played Luna was very easy to like. It's as a result of very good casting.

2) ...no, wait, that's probably about it.

It's not that it wasn't a fun movie, it was. My problem with it lies in the area of adaption - it was not a good adaption of the book, whereas the previous movies have been able to stay at least close to what the book describes. However, in defense of the movie, OotP is an incredibly large book, even larger than Goblet of Fire, and frankly, contains a lot of exposition. So, I can understand why it made sense to go the way that they did...I just don't like it in the slightest.

Cartoons of my Childhood

One of the birthday presents I got from my sister was Season 1 of Animaniacs. For those who do not remember this show, it focuses on the antics of the Warner Brothers, Yakko and Wakko, and their sister, Dot.

This is possibly the funniest show ever.

The humor is incredibly sophisticated, sophisticated to the point where I wonder if we even understood the depth of it is children. Their subject matter ranges from parodies of Gilbert and Sullivan to Les Miserables to Apocalypse Now. It's actually incredible how they managed to parody so many things. Not only is the humor sophisticated, there are a plethora of double entrendres and innuendo.

This, of course, is not to say that it isn't hilarious for children. The visual gags alone are worth it, and all the other innuendo and puns are completely over their heads. It kind of reminds me of the Muppet Show, which was a Sketch Comedy show masquerading as a kid's show. In any case, if you haven't seen Animaniacs, I've got it now, so...yeah.

I also picked up Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for Wii while Sarah was here. We both agree that it kind of sucks as a game. So, I took it back and reserved Super Mario Strikers instead. That should be a really fun time.

Playing through Pokemon LeafGreen to revisit the old Red & Blue days. It's just as easy as I remember. I had a system, you see: Start with Bulbasaur, blaze through the first gym, catch a Caterpie, evolve into Butterfree, use Confusion to stomp through the second gym, catch an Abra, level to Kadabra, win the game.

It's pretty simple, actually. All the Pokemon in Red & Blue had such a weakness to strong psychic Pokemon that you could clean the floor with a Kadabra. It's really easy, and you get to catch any Pokemon you want to have on your team, as long as at least one of them is Kadabra.

The End of the Week

Ah, birthdays. You never really know how much they stop mattering as much until you pass twenty-one.


That's not to say that mine wasn't fun, though =D.

On Thursday night, I had decided to take Friday off of work, so John, David, Katie, and I went to a bar with the intention of singing Karaoke. Unfortunately, the bar (which was supposed to have karaoke that night) did not have karaoke that night. So, we ended up just having a few drinks, playing some pool and darts, and then I came home and fell asleep almost immediately.

Friday was really great. Really, really ridiculously great. Mostly because Sarah was here, but also because I got to hang out with 3 of my best friends almost all day long. John, Brent, David and I all went out to lunch, then played Mario Party, then went to go see the Simpsons Movie. (Which, by the way is really good, you should go see it. Yes, you!) Then, Sarah was here, so we spent the weekend hanging out, watching movies and such. It was fun!

I think my computer charger needs to be replaced before I leave NC. It's been acting up A LOT lately, so I think it might be time to look into getting a replacement.

Mid-Day Thoughts

Is it weird that I've already begun to get birthday posts on my facebook wall?

I almost won a Dwight bobblehead pin from OfficeTally. Unfortunately, I was the third poster, I thought for sure that I'd get it...oh, well.

Sarah's visiting this weekend and I'm really looking forward to it. I miss her a lot.

Oh! I finally got the Emerald cartridge back from the auction yesterday. I'm going to test them tonight on Pokemon Battle Revolution to see if they're actually legitimate. Should be a fun time. In related Pokemon news, I also finally managed to evolve myself a Milotic! It took a lot of berry growing and a lot of cooking Poffins, but I finally got one!

Also, I'm in the process of writing a fanscript of the The Office. I'm naming the episode "The Intern." I don't know why I'm doing it, but it seems like it could be fun, and I can see if I actually am any good a writing a good, compelling television show. Think of it as an exercise.

Getting older is weird.

The Office

September 27th has been announced as the Season 4 Premiere of The Office. I'm very excited.

Some Linkage for the Loyal

First: Gabe from Penny Arcade went to the Pokemon Tournament this weekend! You can see the PA reaction to it here.

Second: Steve Carell in a new movie! I've been waiting for this one for a while, it's Get Smart!

Third: The most beautiful DS in the entire entire world. I am thinking about buying it as my "Birthday Present to Myself" as this summer has not been the best in the world, and a limited edition Diamond/Pearl DS to show for it might not be so awful.

Finally, the aformentioned birthday is to be taking place this Friday. It should be a small affair. Meaning I'll go see the Simpsons Movie with the guys. Leave comments as to what you think I should do.

The Weekend - Always Too Short

Didn't do much this weekend. The highlight was, of course, hanging out with Brent, David, and John. Brent recently decided to buy a Playstation 3, so he picked up Resistance: Fall of Man, and we gave it a co-op test run. Pretty good times, ordered pizza, had some beer, played some video games.

Also, I have finished Harry Potter (finished it at 6:20 AM the day it came out), but I will not be posting reactions for about a month while I wait for everyone who might possibly read this 'blog to finish it, so that I don't inadvertently give away any spoilers.

PBR Tournament?

Tomorrow, there's a Pokemon Battle Revolution tournament at a mall in Raleigh...there are prizes, even for people who just show up for it.

Is it crazy that I'm considering going to see how I stack up?

The Feebas Frustration

Okay, the folks at Nintendo obviously have started saying to themselves: "How can we make dedicated player of Pokemon want to completely tear their hair out?"

I'm unsure how many people are familiar with the Pokemon Feebas. Feebas is a Pokemon you can get by fishing. It is incredibly ugly. Like, think of the ugliest Pokemon you can and then think even harder. This one is much uglier. In fact, here is a picture of it.

So why on earth would anybody want to catch this thing? Well, there are two reasons. First of all, there's the whole "Gotta Catch 'Em All" slogan, meaning that in order to fully beat the game, you need to catch every one of the 490-some creatures that inhabit this world. Second, it evolves into one of the coolest looking Pokemon in the game, Milotic. (Even if you don't play Pokemon, you have to admit that that is pretty cool looking.) The only way you can get a Milotic is to catch a Feebas and raise it's beauty statistic all the way to the maximum. Once it levels up, then it becomes a Milotic, which is just so cool.

Now, we get to the frustrating part. Feebas can only be found by fishing in a specific area. This is not that unusual for Pokemon, as many of the rarer monsters can only be found in one area. However, Feebas is only found in 4 specific "tiles" of water in the entire area. This is a relatively large area, about 200 by 100 tiles, I think. This means that only 4 of the entire "water" tiles in this area will allow you to catch a Feebas. They are random and shift every 24 hours. That's not all. On top of all of that, there is only a 50% chance when you are fishing on the correct tile that you will actually get a Feebas on your line. So, if you are methodically going through each tile, there is still a 50% chance that you will miss one of the special tiles due to being unable to land a Feebas.

...and the Pokemon Company/Nintendo wonder WHY people have to cheat to catch these things.

I, however, (proudly!) did not cheat. I went to the area, and thankfully, it only took about 15 or 20 minutes of methodically going through each tile. I've got one, and it's female, which means I can breed more of them if I need to. Hopefully I can trade some over the Global Trade System for some of the Pokemon I'm having trouble catching, like Heracross and Cherrim.

Hanging out with the Guys tonight. Hope it doesn't go too late, I really need to get more sleep...

Hooray!

The Emmy nominations were announced. Many of my favorite shows and actors got nominated, but the best ones were Jenna Fischer for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy, and Neil Patrick Harris for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy. It's gonna be a fun Emmys this year.

Currently Listening To...

The single of the week in the iTunes Store this week is really fun. It's incredibly catchy and very cute. The song is called "Bubbly" and it's by Colbie Caillat. Since it's free, you really have no reason not to download it and give it a listen if you have an iTunes account. I actually enjoyed this single so much that I bought her entire album, "Coco." It's really chill, and fun to drive to work listening to. I recommend it.

In other news, I finally made it to the post office today. I've been meaning to for, I don't know, about a month and a half now. I had to stop by when it opened at 8:30 before I went to work, but all the mail is out, that's the important thing.

Edit: I just realized that there was one more thing I needed to send. Dang. It's not as essential as the other things, though, so I suppose it can wait.

Harry Potter comes out tomorrow and I am very excited. Unfortunately, neither my sister nor Sarah are able the come with me to the premiere event (the former will be at a Brad Paisley concert, the latter is in Beaufort, NC at the Duke Marine Lab). However, Meredith is coming with me, so we should have a lot of fun. I promise not to post any spoilers at all once I'm done, I may not even post my impressions until I get back to Wesleyan, so that anybody who reads what I write can have a chance to read it spoiler-free.

Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!! =D =D =D

New Season of Psych!

And as such, I have purchased the Season Pass. Here's the rundown Steve TV style:

Name of Show: Psych
Season: 2
Tagline: Fake Psychic, Real Detectives
Network: USA
Price: $29.99 Season Pass on iTunes

Episode: American Duos

I always have high expectations for Psych episodes ever since I managed to get a free copy of the Pilot last summer on iTunes. USA has discovered a way to make good television: detective dramadys. If there's one thing I can say about Psych, it's that it is funny without detracting from the story and characters as a whole. The obnoxious and slightly egotistical main character is still very personable and likable, despite his massive ego. It's a great show, and the only bad thing about it is that it's gotten progressively more and more obnoxious/silly each episode it airs.

But, I've got high hopes for this season, as the first one completely parodied American Idol (Idle? =D), and Tim Curry played the obnoxious English judge.

Woo hoo!

I defeated the Elite Four yesterday, as well as catching Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza, and all the Regi- Pokemon. I'm set to take advantage of that auction whenever I choose...

On a completely separate note, I had forgotten how hard Legendaries are to catch. I think I had to restart the game about 8 times before finally catching Rayquaza, and I would have gone through a total of probably 60 Ultra Balls if I hadn't been shutting off the game every time I accidentally killed it. The others were hard to catch, too, but at the same time, there is an immense satisfaction in catching these impossible-to-catch Pokemon. Mostly because you have to skill to catch it without killing it - getting it down to under 10 HP, putting it to sleep, and just chucking Ultra Balls at it until it's subdued...it takes a fairly long time.

John came back from Chile yesterday. He regaled us with many awesome stories of his travels. It was really great to see him, and it's too bad that I only get to see him these last two weeks that both he and I will be in town. Ah, well. We all had dinner and then played Mario Party, which I'm sure is something that's going to happen fairly often in the next few weeks.

I haven't managed to see who won the Main Event of the World Series of Poker yet, so nobody tell me!

No Way!!

Nickelodeon finally wised up and put out 7 classic episodes of Nicktoons on iTunes (iToons?). This includes the pilot episode of Doug, arguably the best Nicktoon ever.

Here's a complete listing of what's on the iTunes store:

Ahh! Real Monsters!: The Switching Hour
CatDog: Dog Gone/All You Can't Eat
The Angry Beavers: Born to Be Beavers/Up All Night
Doug: Doug Bags a Neematoad
Hey Arnold!: Downtown As Fruits/Eugene's Bike
Rocket Power: New Squid On the Block/Down the Drain
Rocko's Modern Life: Carnival Knowledge/Sand in Your Navel

Each episode is $1.99 each, and the full "Season" is $10.99. Not a horrible price for a small bit of childhood early cable nostalgia!

Yay!

Diagnostic 3 is officially done, and I think I did really well on this one...I'm convinced that I got 99% of the logic games correct, which is an excellent feeling...too bad Logic Games only comprises one section of the test =C. Oh, well.

Oh, well...

I was reading the live updates for the WSOP this morning, and I found out that Scotty Nguyen busted out in 11th place. Blast. It would have been so cool if he won.

Also, I'm 2 badges closer to the Elite Four and thus being able to take advantage of that auction thing.

Too bad I don't have that much time to play today due to work and LSAT. Oh, well...

Lest Studying Accelerate Time

More like decelerate...

Got 2 more sections of LSAT work to complete and then I'm going to go do something else. It's hard to believe that me taking a 5 minute break consists of posting to this blog about 8 times a day...

Takin' A Quick Break

Thought I'd take a few minutes to review Will & Grace Season 1 while I take my LSAT study break...

Show: Will & Grace
Season: 1
Format: DVD
Price: $19.99 on sale at Best Buy
Number of Episodes: 22

I'll be honest, I picked this one up because the price was low and I needed a sitcom to watch. I was pleasantly surprised by the high quality of the dialog, but it was hard to make me as attached to the characters as I would have liked. I can understand why this show followed Friends, as the show needed the lead in of a more popular sitcom to develop a mainstream fanbase. It's an excellent show, very well written, but it lacks the cliffhangers that most season one shows have - although it does introduce us to Karen's maid, which is very funny.

There are a couple of episdoes of the first season that merit an A, however the season as a whole is probably a C+ or B-. I'm finding it hard to want to continue watching to the second season, but we'll see what happens.

Hanging Out at the Cradle and other news

Got back home about an hour ago from the Cat's Cradle in Carborro, where MC Chris had a show. He is a total geek which is awesome - Drake and I pretty much agreed on that point when he opened his show to the Transformers theme song and the Ducktales theme song. His rapping was pretty good, too.

In WSOP Main Event news, it looks as though Gus Hansen busted. That sucks, I was pulling for him.

Got 2 badges down in Emerald, so I'm only 6 badges and 5 difficult battles away from unlocking the National Pokedex and obtaining legit legendaries...yeah, this is probably going to take like 2 weeks if I'm lucky...

A Good Laugh

But only if you know me.

Oh, Chiara

Going to the cradle tonight to hang out with Drake. Also managed to obtain a copy of Pokemon Emerald...I hate playing through the 3rd gen games. They have none of the old GOOD Pokemon, but if I can unlock the national dex, I can send it in and get legit legendaries from the auction.

Is this for real??

Just found this auction. It's for legit versions of Mew, Celebi, Latios, Latias, Deoxys, etc...and they've got the tags and satisfied comments to prove it...now all I have to do is get a copy of Emerald and play through it...blast.

Selling Results

I went through the garage and found very little in terms of sports equipment (I guess we got rid of the bats and gloves and skates?). I got rid of 2 Razor brand scooters, 1 old skateboard, a golf bag, and one old driver. Unfortunately, they wouldn't take any of the wedges, woods, or irons that were in the bag, so I'll have to find another way to get rid of those. All told, they bought all those things for 26 dollars. Woo.

My desk drawers are emptied and my desk is sitting next to me while I type this entry on my lap. It's sad to see it all hollowed out.

I'm up, I'm up.

Time to wake up and clean my desk out so we can get rid of it...I've had this desk for my entire life, and now I have to clean it out and get rid of it...**sigh**

I will also be cleaning out the garage today and going to a second-hand sports place to sell all the athletic equipment we no longer want/need. I suppose this will also be fun.

Review of season one of Will & Grace is forthcoming.

Friday Night

Yes, Friday nights are awesome. Mostly because right after I get off of work, I get to come home and do the video game thing for a while. I managed to scoop up the infinite rocket launcher in RE4 today. So, I had a lot of fun blowing up zombies en masse. Brent came by, we hung out and watched the Simpsons.

The other day I had my first experience with Pokemon Battle Revolution online. It was probably one of the oddest experiences for online gaming that I've had in a while. For those that might be wondering, this was the Diamond/Pearl team I was using:

Empoleon
Blissey
Charizard
Gardevoir
Steelix
Giratina (though really this was just a placeholder.)

Basically, the online service works like this: you get onto Nintendo Wi-Fi, and select "battle someone," tweak the rules, and the system matches you up with somebody who also wants to battle. Cool and easy. The only problem is that my opponent was clearly not ready for someone of my level, because they surrendered before the battle even began, although that could be because of the type of Pokemon they sent out:

Me: Charizard/Empoleon
Opponent: Grotle/Monferno

I managed to have two amazing Pokemon that not only had better stats than theirs (even with the lvl 50 all rule in play) but also both of their Pokemon types were weak to mine. It was sweet. Tonight, however, was my first battle with a semi-competent opponent. Each of us picked 4 Pokemon for the 2 on 2 battle:

Me: Empoleon, Blissey, Gardevoir, Charizard
Opponent: Empoleon, Rhydon, Mewtwo, Shellgon

Though normally, the two Empoleons would cancel each other out in that they would prove completely ineffective against one another, it was clear that this trainer hadn't bred theirs with battling in mind. The two moves I saw it use were Rock Smash and Surf, both of which are HM moves. My Empoleon was also faster than theirs, so I managed to eliminate the Rhydon in a single Hydro Cannon hit. Unfortunately, Blissey only got 1 Hyper Beam in before getting KO'd by Mewtwo - My Empoleon took it out with Hydro Blast before it could make any other moves. I replaced Blissey with Gardevoir and managed to take out both Empoleon and Shellgon in three moves.

Brent was watching this entire time, and he seemed thoroughly unimpressed. Ah, well, such is life. I was really surprised all of my Pokemon didn't fall to the Mewtwo - although I guess people take for granted how good they are against the computer AI and just don't bother to train them.

Currently I'm training an Ivysaur I've raised from an egg, an Alakazam that I got over GTS (originally a Kadabra, the trader was smart, he wanted a Machoke for it), and a Beldum so that I may soon have a Metagross maxed out in speed and attack. Still trying for a Snorlax, they're really hard to obtain legitimately.

Must sleep. Big day of desk cleaning and garage emptying to do. **sigh**

I guess I'm going to try this again...

I always try to start blogs/online journals, but I never manage to keep up with them. I guess I can try to start again, funneling in all the other blogs that I tried to do: Steve TV, Lexington Street, etc. I wonder where it will actually take me. I get the feeling I'm going to regret that title sooner or later...