Stardust (2007)

Go see it. NOW. It is worth seeing multiple times on a large screen with surround sound. If you do not see it in theaters you will regret it. Trust me.

The best next-gen Final Fantasy Characters

I, much like everyone else, have an opinion on which Final Fantasy characters are best. However, my experiences are limited to when the series made the switch to Playstation, and pretty much everything after that. So, I am going to make a list of my top 5 favorite Playable Final Fantasy characters and why they are my favorite to date. (You'll notice that Cloud, Squall, Zell, Tidus, and Vaan are not even close to being on this list.)

5) Vivi Orunitia - Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy IX is probably my second least favorite Final Fantasy, but it had the huge redeeming quality of being whimsical and magical, which was very unlike the previous two installments. He was cute, and didn't really seem to have a mouth, but he could pack a punch. He was my desktop wallpaper for a good 2 years, too.

4) Vincent Valentine - Final Fantasy VII

Dude was a freakin' Vampire. I mean, come on, that's awesome enough. But when you add in the point that he was a VERY difficult to obtain secret character, and the only one who could handle guns, AND his limit break involved shapeshifting...well, he was really cool. Even though you could only get him late in the game, it was totally worth it.

3) Rikku - Final Fantasy X

She was the first character you got to play as besides Tidus, and she was awesome. When you got her Godhand and fully unlocked it, she was next to unbeatable. I liked the idea of a female thief, and she was a female thief princess who was much less annoying than Yuffie. Also, she acted very much more her real age than any of the other characters in that story.

2) Auron - Final Fantasy X

Dude was a ghost and totally awesome. In fact, I don't think there has been a parallel to how awesome Auron really was. He wore sunglasses (and is the only one besides the Turks in VII to do so), and had a huge sword, so double pluses!

1) Balthier - Final Fantasy XII

He is Auron mixed with James Bond. I'm not even 10 hours into the game and I think he's the best character in the Final Fantasy universe ever. He is the ONLY suave player character in the entire universe of Next-Gen FF games. He's a space pirate, and he is just all around AWESOME. Seriously. He makes learning tutorials fun. And if that's not high praise, I don't know what is.

The Excitement Continues

I'm very excited. Sarah arrives tomorrow afternoon, and it's going to be really, really fun. We're going to all the places that I used to go to when I was a kid and visited here. We will go to Pearl Harbor and the Polynesian Cultural Center. It's going to be really fun, and frankly, very relaxing to have her around.

In other news, apparently the creators of Pokemon are trading their own Psyduck over GTS for Ponyta. I hope I can get one, it would be really awesome to have one for bragging rights.

A Pokemon Post

It would be cool if there was an online Pokemon mob called the PokeMob. Just saying.

Anyway, I have finally settled on a Pokemon community that I like, the pokefarm.com message boards. Within 10 minutes of posting the Pokemon I needed to complete my Pokedex, I got like 7 responses. Very cool.

Also, Chriss got a DS, so we're having some fun trading time =D. She likes the "stupid looking ones." So I'm trying to breed a few of those.

Bet you thought this would be a much more detailed post, didn't you?

Where was I for Harry Potter?

For some reason, when I woke up this morning, I was thinking about where I was for each of the Harry Potter releases. Now, keep in mind that for the first three, it wasn't as big of a deal for me, since I had no idea that there were such things as "midnight release parties." Especially since the first book started the phenomenon. But, for the curious, here is a list.

SORCERER'S STONE
In Chapel Hill, NC - bought from local Barnes and Noble by parents.

CHAMBER OF SECRETS
In Chapel Hill, NC - bought day of release from same local Barnes and Noble, finished that day.

PRISONER OF AZKABAN
In Chapel Hill, NC - bought day of release, Barnes and Noble (Surprise!), finished same day.

GOBLET OF FIRE
In Honolulu, HI - bought morning of release as soon as mall opened at Waldenbooks in Kahala Mall - finished later that day (and yes, I have the version where James comes out of the wand before Lily).

ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
At NC Governor's School. Bought from local bookstore next morning AND got from Amazon.com that Monday (because the mail wouldn't go through). Finished in 2 days because of class (blaugh.).

HALF BLOOD PRINCE
In Durham, NC as a TiP RC - Went to the midnight release party and took pictures with a treasured camp relic that the staff normally steals. Finished next day due.

DEATHLY HALLOWS
In Chapel Hill, NC at release party - Went with Meredith to the local Borders and finished the book by 6:30 AM.

And that's it. Almost every book (I think) was a summer release, which I suppose was very well planned by the publisher.

Final Fantasy XII - First Impressions

Name of Game: Final Fantasy XII
Platform: Playstation 2
Price: $29.99

Yes, I know the game came out like a year ago, and I know I'm behind on the times, but I just started playing it, and everything I've heard about it is completely true. I'm only about 3 hours into the game, but I have to say that it's got one of the most interesting storytelling methods, and possibly the best turn-based battle system I've ever seen. (For those that disagree that it's turn based, it really is, at it's core, turn based.) The characters I've gathered so far are distinct, all with their own personalities and backstories - far more similar to Final Fantasy X in that respect. (VII through IX had characters joining the party well into the second or third disc, which was annoying because they never got as much attention as the hero and heroine. Can you honestly say we learned as much about Aramant as we did about Zidane?)

The Gambit system is pretty incredible. I actually have only just scratched the surface of what it can do. I'm hoping to play a little bit more before I have to go back to school because I know that after I get back, I'm probably going to be pretty swamped. But it's a great game, and I'm looking forward to seeing where they take the story.

Virus on Vacation

I am sick. Fever, the works, etc. I hope everything turns out okay. You know that I'm blogging sick when I'm not making very much sense, etc. I said etc twice.

I'm Walking, Yes Indeed...

Today was my first full day in lovely, sunny Hawaii, as well as my first full day with Eurydice, my new MacBook. I put her through her paces, and I'm happy to say that she has been passing with full, flying colors.

I walked many places today - I began at 8:30 AM with a brisk walk to Ward Center and then another walk to the beach, as it was very nice today...81 degrees - cool enough to walk around without sweating too much and warm enough for sandals, shorts, and t-shirt.

I'm very tired now, though, so I think I will end this entry here.

Also, the pilot episode of SciFi's new series, "Flash Gordon," is available for free download on iTunes. Haven't watched it yet, but I'll post the impressions here when I do.

RIP Aphrael

Well, Aphrael, my loving and adoring iBook G4 has finally been put to rest.

My favorite computerized girl has been having problems all summer, and it's been very hard to figure out what was wrong. I finally went to the Apple Genius Bar in Honolulu to try and suss out what was wrong. Apparently, the DC in power port was misbehaving, and it could also have been the logic board. It would cost 300 dollars plus a 117 dollar battery plus a 73 dollar charger to fully repair it. For those of you keeping score, thats a little under 600 dollars.

I have decided to finally upgrade to the MacBook. It is still white, but it has more storage space and comes standard with a full gigabyte of RAM. It is very pretty and I have a new case for protecting it.

And her name is Eurydice.

The Wedding Week and Further

SUNDAY

The flight from hell. See previous post.

MONDAY
- Went to go get a marriage license for Dusty and Kirsten. I took a lot of pictures chronicling the entire event. It was fun to try and find City Hall. My experience following Sarah to the Capital building in Kentucky totally paid off.
- Walked around the city, visited the Metreon, and found out that the entire arcade level was closed. Forced to re-evaluate bachelor party plans. Bought Buffy Issue #5.
- Zach arrived and had a traveling adventure: he took the wrong BART train from the airport.

TUESDAY
- Went with Zach to Fisherman's Wharf to scope out a potential place to have bachelor party. Found a fun arcade that we thought would be appropriate. Spent 2 hours and 5 dollars at arcade between the two of us. I got the high score on Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 =D.
- Moved to a new location of residence: a Marriot (I think) near the airport. Dusty's family arrived, we helped them to get settled.

WEDNESDAY
- Zach, Myself, and both the Sharpes and Haller families all had lunch at an Italian restaurant.
- We moved hotels again.
- Had bachelor party! It was a good time - we played Air Hockey, Skee Ball, DDR, Shooting Range games, and bought super balls with all our tickets.
- Played a lot of poker.

THURSDAY
- Went to Embarcadero and walked around for a while. Found a comic shop and snagged Welcome to Tranquility #9, and Gen13 #11. Went to Virgin Megastore and picked up Muppet Show Season 2.
- Met Gwynneth for coffee/tea/beverages. We had a nice chat and it was really great to see her.
- Went back to hotel and watched Muppet Show for a while.
- Ate dinner with Dusty's Family.

FRIDAY
- Went to Gordo's with Zach, Dusty, and Dusty's family.
- Rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Both went relatively smoothly, and the dinner was very awesome. Zach made a really great toast.

SATURDAY
- The wedding and reception. All excellent - very nice ceremony, and it was kind of weird to actually see them married (incidentally, Kirsten has changed her name already on Facebook.).
- My aunt picked me up and I had dinner with her family and some friends. I told my little cousin a story with music.

SUNDAY
- Went to the aquarium with my aunt's family. Saw sharks, penguins, jellyfish, seals, and anchovies. The coolest part was the anchovies.
- On the car ride to the aquarium, I let my cousin choose the attacks for Pokemon Diamond by giving her the stylus. Super cute.

MONDAY
- Early flight to Hawaii.
- Erm...bought a new computer (see post).

The Flight From Hell

All of my good friends, please read carefully. THIS COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!

I wake up on the day of my transcontinental flight, and head over to the airport a few hours early only to find out that it was delayed for 1 hour. I thought it wouldn't be a problem since my flight out of Chicago left at 1:20 PM Central Time, and the approximate running time of the RDU to O'Hare flight is 1 and a half hours. The flight was supposed to leave at 12:20, so I should have been able to catch the flight...except for the fact that as soon as we got on the plane and they wouldn't let us use phones, the captain came on the PA and told us that the flying time was going to be 2 and a half hours. Needless to say, I missed my flight out of Chicago.

I found another flight out at 6:35 PM Central, so I waited in Chicago for 5 hours in order to board the plane. When I was finally called, the flight suddenly stopped boarding and everyone was pulled off of the aircraft. Apparently, there was something wrong with the aircraft. So, they first delayed the flight until 6:50, then to 7:35. At 7:05 they were ready to board the plane again. They opened the doors...then immediately closed them. The attendants informed us that due to inclement weather in San Francisco, the flight was going to be delayed another hour to 8:35 PM Central. We did managed to leave at that time and I got to San Francisco at 11:05 Pacific.

The flight that I missed due to the delays out of RDU was supposed to get to SFO at 3:50 Pacific.

Needless to say, I had a rough travel day last week.

Packing

I've begun the arduous process that is packing, and I have to say that I'm not very happy about it. I am going to have to do a great deal of traveling in the next couple of days, and that is always slightly vexing.

My laundry is finished, my DVDs are packed, as is my Wii, Hard-drive, and Apple Essentials. By tomorrow at this time I should be completely done packing and will most likely be going to sleep. Then comes the long, long, long plane ride...

Pokemon Update

So, I have discovered that I'm very close to completing the National Pokedex in Pokemon Diamond. I went Safari Zoning yesterday in both Emerald and Leaf Green, netting myself a very rare Pinsir in Leaf Green, and a Stantler and Houndor in Emerald. I also managed to snag a Tropius, the only regularly catchable Pokemon completely unavailable to catch in Diamond/Pearl.

What will invariably trip me up, though, is the inability to get a legitimate Palkia through GTS. I need the catch credit, but I'd also really like to keep it in my contained Legendary Box. Once I get Palkia, Mewtwo, and Manaphy, I will have all the Legendary Pokemon legally possible to have.

Also, I need a travelling case for my DS.

This Year's SteveTV Lineup

And now, the moment nobody's been waiting for: the listing of my top 10 shows for the fall lineup. Note that this list includes some old favorites that I will continue to keep up with. Starting from number 10 and counting down to 1, the 10 shows that I am most excited about! (WARNING: Spoilers for previous seasons of some shows.)

10) Scrubs (NBC)

It is the final season of Scrubs, and although I have seen the previous 6 seasons and kept up semi-regularly, it is the last on my list of desired television watching due to the lack of consistent quality in episodes this past season.

9) Pushing Daisies (ABC)

I've been seeing teasers for this show. It's about a guy who can bring things back to life with a single touch of his finger. He uses this power to bring murder victims back to life, ask who killed them, and then make them die again with another touch of his finger. It seems like a quirky, dark show, and I'll probably watch the pilot to see if it ends up being any good.

8) Psych (USA)

Always a favorite, I am hoping that a full season of Psych will continue into the fall this year.

7) Heroes (NBC)

Normally, I think Heroes would be higher on this list, but after one season of drawing out the drama, I'm unsure as to what the next will bring. I still haven't seen the finale, though, so don't tell me anything about it.

6) Finishing Various Sorkin Projects (DVD)

In between the current state of Television, I will be continuing my quest to finish the remaining 2.5 seasons I have left of The West Wing as well as the 1/2 season I have left of Sports Night to fill the void left by Studio 60.

5) Veronica Mars (DVD)

Another show I did not have the chance to finish, I will endeavor to complete the second and third seasons of Veronica Mars this year, and I am very much looking forward to it.

4) The Bionic Woman

The previews look cool, and it could flop. But honestly, I just really want to see where they go with this.

3) The Sarah Connor Project

The Terminator TV series starring that actress from the 300, Zach from Heroes, and SUMMER GLAU as the Terminator protector of Sarah and John Connor. Out of all the new shows airing this fall, this is the show I most want for iTunes to have a season pass for.

2) How I Met Your Mother

Obviously, the closest to the top without actually being the top is the chronicles of Ted Moseby. Watching Ted team up with Barney to "be awesome" is going to be one of the highlights of the fall season.

And, if you haven't guessed it already, my number one slot goes to...

1) The Office

The Office is going into its fourth season, and with it comes some wonderful plot points just waiting to be developed: the hiring of Ryan for the corporate job, and the blossoming romance of Jim and Pam. This is the only show I will never, ever fail to miss.

Tonight

Many things will happen tonight, the least of which will be doing my laundry (I didn't do it yesterday, shut up.). Getting a haircut, going to Brent's, and calling the tux place to rent my tux for the wedding. Should be a great time. As always, calls are appreciated.

To Do

To Do Today:

1) Laundry
2) Organize Shelves
3) Clean Out Closet
4) Write Thank You Notes
5) Make Packing List
6) Ready items for shipping

Mario Strikers Charged Review

Eh, why not?

Name: Mario Strikers Charged
System: Wii
Genre: Sports(?)
Price: $49.99
ESRB Rating: E 10+

Right, so this game is ridiculous in a good way. The single player (which can actually be a 4-player on the same team campaign) is pretty entertaining, but it gets difficult pretty quickly. The controls are relatively intuitive, with the most fun part being tackling (or checking. It's really more like hockey than it is like soccer.). You just move the Wii remote forcefully and whichever character you control will check the nearest character.

Multiplayer, though, is completely chaotic. Seriously. You're lucky to get a single goal on your opponent in any given 3 minute game. Which is why Sudden Death occurs, and then the first person to score automatically wins. I'm looking forward to testing out the Online version of multiplayer later on during the year when I'm actually better at this game. It's really fun, but it seems like it's the most fun with 2 or 4 players, as opposed to 1 or 3.

I enjoyed this game and will probably continue to enjoy it, as I have 2 more captains to unlock.