chibiforte

I'm becoming disenchanted with so much of anime, it seems.  I just tried to watch the first episode of kure-nai.  I got about six minutes into it before I just shut it off, bored out of my mind.  The opening theme reminded me of "The Nanny" with Fran Drescher, which was an immediate turn-off.  The animation reminded me of what I very strongly disliked about Samurai Champloo.  Which was, of course, the animation, or most of it, at least.  I don't know, it just bored me to death.  Maybe I'll read some blog posts about it to see if I missed anything, but if the small portion I watched is indicative of the series as a whole, then it's safe to say that I'm not going to watch it.  It's sad, too, since this is one of the series' that I was looking forward to seeing.

And I didn't care for the first episode of To Love-Ru, either, but at least I made it to the end of the first episode.  It struck me as typical fanservice, with not much more thrown in.  I've read almost all of the manga so far, but it's also somewhat boring and typical.  Bleh.

Hopefully Allison & Lillia will be put up soon.  I'd enjoy watching something good, and hopefully it'll BE good.

Anyway, since this Spring Season is pretty lackluster, I might just start devoting my night times to video games, again.  I'd like to complete EarthBound before going to college, as well as try to get into Chrono Trigger a little more.

I don't know why I made an entry, but it's time I have to kill.

 Still pondering that particular transition in the novels that I have to figure out.  Hopefully I'll be making some headway on that soon, since I want to finish up these summaries.

This upcoming Spring Anime Season doesn't look all that special.  Allison & Lillia looks really interesting, as well as Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, Nijuu Mensou no Musume, Itazura no Kiss, and especially kure-nai, but that's pretty much it.  I really doubt I'll even watch much else besides Allison & Lillia, but we'll see how it goes.

We forked Ben and Jay's yard, last week.  And just earlier tonight, my older brother and sister-in-law placed hundreds of post-it notes on both Gabe's and Jeremy's trucks.  It looked awesome.  This'll show everybody at the Youth Group that our family is not meant to be messed with. :3

I read today that the Ben Stein movie is going to definitely be airing at our local theater, which is a huge plus for me, seeing as how I didn't think the subject matter would be accepted by the theater's owner (seeing as how he aired the Al Gore movie thing), but it turns out that he's just in these things for the money, and if he can make money from a movie, it doesn't really matter what the subject matter is about.  And considering this is a small town, it'd probably be more accepted than all of these big cities.  I'm predicting that there will be at least one boycott of the movie in at least one state, probably here in California in certain cities.  It wouldn't surprise me in the least, considering the terribly hypocritical patrons of this state who think they're open-minded, but are far more bigoted than the things they fight against. xD

I haven't been playing as much Brawl, lately, but that's because there's not much more for me to do on it.  We've unlocked pretty much everything we can, except for the Boss Battle challenges, which are horrendously difficult and something that I don't want to partake in.  I want to try to get into some RPGs again, like Earthbound, but I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and play it.  If nothing else, then I'm certainly going to have a giant backlog of video games that will finally be completed once I'm in college with free time on my hands.  I predict weekend marathons will be taking place with my roommates.

Speaking of roommates, I'm really hoping that I get some cool ones.  I think the current allocationg per room is about four people, so I'll have three roommates.  I want at least one of them to be a chef of some sort, so they'll constantly make food and ask me to taste-test it.  I'm also hoping that another one of them is a computer genius who can help me with tech stuff.  And I hope the last one is an artist or musician of some sort, who can draw or help me with music stuff.  It'd be awesome if that happened.

I downloaded at least two gigabytes of OCRemixes, today.  I decided that it was time I go through what that website has and just enjoy what they put out.  So far, I'm impressed by these remixers.  They really know how to take chiptunes and rework them into a completely new creation.

I started my piano lessons last night.  It was only 30 minutes long, but I did learn some stuff.  I didn't actually play anything, of course.  I'm not ready for something like that.  But she did teach me some things, like finger placement, rests, the difference between the fortissimo and the pianissimo.  Good stuff.

I've been playing through both Earthbound and Mother 3, lately.  M3 is obviously more difficult, since I can't read the Kanji, but I have a no-spoilers guide that'll help me through it, so it's all good.  Earthbound is just so awesome, though.  I just beat the Sludge monster that was sending zombies to Threed, so now I'm at Fourside with no clue as to how I continue the game.  I seem to have missed a Soundstone tune, as well.  I need to backtrack a little bit, I guess.  I really need to start playing Chrono Trigger, though.  I don't want to have to sell it since it's such a rare game, but if I don't play it, that's exactly what my Dad plans to do.

Joined a new message board!  The Town of Odyssey, to be precise.  Sure, it will only make sense to an Odyssey fan, but if you can get past that, it's a great board.

Engine Sentai Go-Onger seems to be a really funny series, so far.  Sure, I haven't actually been able to watch any episodes with subtitles, but even watching it RAW is still good, and I can understand some basic things fairly easily.  It's essentially a parody, that's all I need to know.

CLANNAD was apparently cut to 22 episodes... Ugh.  But, well, I guess I shouldn't complain too much, considering that it's been a really good series, so far.  I just have no clue what they're going to do with the ending.  I'm not even going to hazard a guess, I'm just going to wait and see what happens.

I ordered some Gekiranger CDs a few days ago!  They should be here either next week, or the few days following the release of Brawl.  It's awesome, one of the CDs has all of the character songs and various insert songs on it.  The other CD has theme songs from Gekiranger, Boukenger, and Magiranger, so I'm psyched for that.  I also ordered the Digimon Adventure OP Theme CD Single, but that wasn't in-stock at the time I ordered it, so they'll ship it out at a later date.  No worries, I'm still going to enjoy it.

I've been doing some more work on my planned novel series.  I was able to plot out what happens in the first two novels, and I finished working on a major event in the third novel last night.  I'm hoping to get at least ten or so novels planned out before I start the actual writing process, just so I know where I'm taking the story.  I'm going to make sure that I have any loose ends tied up neatly before I even make it public, so there shouldn't be any worries about me abandoning the project.  I don't know how or where I'll host them, but I'll decide that when the time comes.  I'm still thinking of a title change, however.

 This isn't really an update, but I'm just going to put this out there.  It's a video that showcases the vocal version of "Bein' Friends" from the Mother/Earthbound series.  It's just a nice little song, with cute lyrics and whatnot, so I thought I'd put it up as an entry. :3

Here's the lyrics:


BEIN' FRIENDS **vocals by Catherine Warwick**

When you are happy
With laughter to spare
Fun is twice as fun
With someone to share
When you are lonely
And full of despair
Things aren't half as had
When somebody cares

Maybe now you have figured it out
That's what bein' a friend is about
When you're lookin'
For someone you can rely on
Don't you ever doubt me
I'll be there someway, somehow
That's what bein' friends is about

When you are restless
And want room to breathe
I will give you all
The space that you need
And when you're ready
For my company
I will come around
Just call on me

Maybe now you have figured it out
That's what bein' a friend is about
When you're lookin'
For a shoulder you can cry on
Won't you think about me
When you're looking
For someone you can rely on
Don't you ever doubt me
I'll be there someway, somehow
That's what bein' friends is about

I'm your friend till the end
Count On me
In the sunshine and the rain
Paradise and back again
Count on me
Let me be a friend in need
Let me be a friend indeed
Count on me

And if you ask me
You know that it's true
There is not a thing
That I wouldn't do
I'd follow you
To the ends of the earth
That's how much I think
Our friendship is worth

Maybe now you have figured it out
That's what bein' a friend is about
When there's something
That you just don't understand
Won't you think about me
I'll be more than glad
To lend a helping hand
Don't you ever doubt me
I'll be there someway, somehow
That's what bein' friends is about
I'll be there someway, somehow
That's what bein' friends is about

Tell me all your secrets
I will swear to keep them
Let me know your problems
I will help you solve them
When your heart is aching
I will stop it breaking
Whet you are in danger
I'm your guardian angel
I will stand beside you
Be the one to guide you
When your dreams are crumblin'
Call me I'll come runnin'
That's what friends are all about

I forgot to mention this, but I finished up all the translated parts of Clannad that I was able to, which includes all the main routes.  It was a good game, and I hope I can continue on and start the After Story once they release a full translation patch.  It'll be fun, I'm sure.

I've actually downloaded about four visual novels that I plan to play.  The ones I snagged are Narcissu, true rememberance, planetarian, and Gadget Trial.  Out of those four, I'm most interested in planetarian and Narcissu, as the former is supposed to be a really sad story, and the latter is supposed to be some kind of story about hospital patients and what the patient's who have contracted fatal illnesses (and are without hope) have to go through.  I'm almost scared to finish these novels, since I'm not an emotional person and I'm not sure how I'll react if the ending's are shockingly sad... but I'll make sure to talk about them in the future.  planetarian keeps freezing up my computer as I make my way through the story, though, and it's driving me bonkers.

I've been listening to a lot of Earthbound music, lately.  I downloaded all the "Rock Candy" remix albums from starmen.net, and I'm now in the middle of the fourth album.  And, I gotta say, I'm really impressed by how well these Earthbound fans remix their favorite game's music.  There are some tracks that I don't particularly appreciate, but for the most part, it's pretty good stuff.  I really want to try playing that game again, though.  I have every game in the series, but Mother 1 through 3 are in Japanese, and Earthbound is on the SNES (and I can't find time to play console games right now).  I'll have to figure something out.

I seriously cannot wait until Super Smash Bros. Brawl comes out.  I know I've said it before, but I can't help myself.  This game is going to be the best thing since sliced bread, and trust me, I like sliced bread.  I've been dreaming about it, listening to the music rips from the Japanese version, planning on sleeping over at my cousin's house so that my friends and I can play it all night, figuring out how quickly we can get back from the Gamestop in the next town so I can play it as soon as possible, etc.  I can't help that I'm addicted to it... and it's not even out, yet!

I'm still in the planning stages of my novel series.  I'm not sure whether I should keep the name or not ("Law/Grace").  It's a bit of a rip-off from WOTM Radio, since that IS their catchphrase, and I wouldn't want to make it seem as if I'm plagiarizing them or that their whole organization was involved in the production of my novels or anything.  I may not understand business matters, but I can at least figure out that unintentionally associating their name with mine is not a good idea for either of us.  They don't put that forward slash in how they present the entire concept, though, so maybe I'm safe.  It's kinda like Fate/Stay Night, in a way, so maybe there won't be too much confusion.  I'll have to send them an e-mail, just to be safe.

I actually spent a good half hour on some preliminary work on the novel series I'd like to make.  Yes, I believe I'm actually going to write this thing.  I had such great inspiration last night and earlier today as to one of the big story elements I'd like to implement.  I think I'd like to create that particular scene I envisioned in my mind as a test chapter, since it's such an emotionally gripping moment, and if I do well enough with that, I know I'm able to write somewhat coherently.  It'll be great, but I don't know who I'd make it available to.  I guess I could put it up as a download in this journal for anyone to come by and read, as long as they comment on it after they finish.  It'll be awhile before I can get that done, I'm pretty sure, however.  Unless I surprise myself and actually come up with good names for the characters.  Considering that it is going to be illustrated with anime-styled artwork (once I find an artist, of course), I'll just go with Japanese names.  Just a stylistic choice on my part, and I'm not one of those fans who insist that Japan is the end-all, be-all awesome country.  I prefer America, thank you.  And English, of course.

...What was I doing, again?

Oh yeah, so, I'll make a test chapter available when I'm finished, for critiquing and whatnot.  Look forward to that.

I got an opportunity to view a screening of a horror movie, today.  It was one of those test screening deals where the filmmakers allow an audience to watch a movie that is still in development in order to get data in order to make the movie better.  I filled out a questionaire and everything, it was neat.  The movie was decent, but there was far too much cursing and blasphemy, and I really hate that sort of thing (I even mentioned it on the comments section, so maybe they'll take heed).  I took Ben, Jay, and Bronson, and I was going to take Steven, but he bowed out at the last minute in order to finish homework, so that was pretty sad.  It was kind of funny when we got there, though, since the movie theater wouldn't let anybody inside for almost an hour AFTER we arrived there, so we ended up buying chips and salsa from a nearby Mexican restaurant and just snacked and talked during that time on the tailgate of Bronson's truck.  It was a fantastic bonding moment. :3

I can't get over how awesome this Dragonball CD is.  It's my first Japanese CD purchase, and I'm so content with the songs on this album.  I've listened to the album at least once today, and I'm relistening to it right now.  I really like the remastered songs, specifically "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA", "We Gotta Power!", "Hikari no Tabi", "HERO", and especially "Kimi no Sora e".  They are just adorable songs.

I'm going to be taking piano lessons pretty soon, hopefully.  I started playing around on the keyboard a couple days ago, and I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner.  I really, really like the piano, and it's the one instrument that I could see myself playing as a hobby.  I can already somewhat play Nagisa's Theme from Clannad, as well as part of the Super Mario Bros. World 1-1 song, and the Twoson Theme from Earthbound, and the first group of notes from the Forest level in Super Mario RPG.  And some other various parts of other songs.  And it's fun!  I want to mainly play video game music, but I'm good with anything, really.  I just want to be "that guy", the person who is able to play the piano at a party that is housed in a place that has a piano.  I think it'd be neat.  I can kinda read sheet music, though I have to study it beforehand before I can actually play anything.  I need to read it better, as well as learn finger placement and work on my timing, although timing won't really be a problem with songs I know.

I'm going to be a piano man. :3