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.