So, yea I watched way too much Kenshin this weekend. All day Sunday (like 12 hours) of it. I did finally get to see how the Shishio thing ended. But it did the usually too-long-for-a-battle thing (4 episodes). So I was thinking, if I were watching this when it first aired I would have been pissed if it took one month to finish a battle. Unfortunately I cannot see anything being as dramatic or climactic as the Kyoto story line, so I am curious as to what route they will take for season 3.

I need to play some bemani tonight. I don’t care if it is Pop’n or IIDX, just something.

Oh yea, I am writing in circles. I need to get this feature to make sense to someone aside from myself.

Last night late into the eve, the twisting and turning resulted in a completed Rubix Cube… fecking dies.

I knocked the shit out of all kinds of songs on Pop’n 8 last night. Pretty much every songs level 28 or lower fell last night. The only exception was Miracle 2… the timing on the hits suck and it bounces all over the place. Anyways … WOOHOO for me!

I am going to go home and play Pop’n… I just got off work. Hai if you want to do anything this weekend LMK.

Oh… I just got hired for game journalism :)

Well it showed that I have not played Pop’n Music in a while. Last night my left palm was all tender and I could only play for about 45 min before I had to stop slamming my hands into giant buttons.

On Monday I bought a Rubix Cube. I am not quite sure why either. I have never solved the bastard either, but I thought I might be able to… call it an urge. So Monday night I got it down to only 2 squares out of place, then while not really paying attention I twisted the thing beyond recovery and I would have had to start over. So I picked it up last night, and again I get it down to just 2 cubes out of place. I also, while not paying attention, twisted and scrambled it beyond hope of backing it up. THE CUBE WILL FALL!

Anyways, I thought this was hilarious:

Pop’n Music 9 (9-line) is now all cleared.The last song on the list of unbeaten was Slash Beats. The 2 prior were Hip Rock long and Oi Punk 0. I hate Oi Punk, so that took the longest. Then on my first try I beat Hip Rock long, I think that I just thought I coulden’t beat it so I never tried. Then when just cycling around to make sure I got them all I came across Slash Beats and it took 2 tries. Then on the song complete screen with all your songs totals at the top it said “All Stage cleared - Congradulations (:| ) “. So yay. Now the only 2 nine line songs that I have left over all the Pop’ns that I have are Special Ending (almost beat last night, only one bar from beating it) and Des-Raegga.

I also practiced on making my hands faster and pattern recognition better last night. I passed quite a few songs that were just a bit too difficult before: Choco Pop (H), Flower Pop (H), Rag Time (H), Showa Waltz (H), Bali Trance (H), Disco Girls (H)… I thought there was more. None the less I was quite happy considering that I have not played in over a week. My wife also decided that the game was a lying cheat for her not being able to beat City Pop which was labled as a 12 … she had not played Pop’n (aside from her favorite songs) in about a month… suuuure blame Konami. ;)

None the less it felt really good to play again last night.

01. I have swum with wild dolphins.
02. I have climbed a mountain.
03. I have taken a Ferrari for a test drive.
04. I have been to Las Vegas.
05. I have held a tarantula.
06. I have hugged a tree.
07. I have done a striptease.
08. I have bungee jumped.
09. I have visited Paris.
10. I have changed my name.
11. I have stayed up all night long, and watched the sun rise.
12. I have seen the Northern Lights.
13. I have had major surgery.
14. I have grown and eaten my own vegetables.
15. I have called or written my Congressman.
16. I have slept under the stars.
17. I have changed a baby’s diaper.
18. I have taken a trip in a hot air balloon.
19. I have gotten drunk on champagne.
20. I have given more than I can afford to charity.
21. I have looked up at the night sky through a telescope.
22. I have had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment.
23. I have sold my own artwork to someone who didn’t know me.
24. I have been a sperm or egg donor.
25. I have taken a sick day when I was not ill.
26. I have asked a stranger out.
27. I have had a snowball fight.
28. I have photocopied my bottom on the office photocopier.
29. I have eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild.
30. I have held a lamb.
31. I have taken a midnight skinny dip.
32. I have had a meaningful conversation with a beggar.
33. I have hit a home run.
34. I have danced like a fool and not cared who’s looking.
35. I have had two hard drives for my computer.
36. I have loved my job.
37. I have taken care of someone who was shit-faced.
38. I have had enough money to be truly satisfied.
39. I have stolen a sign.
40. I have backpacked in Europe.
41. I have gone rock climbing.
42. I have had a nose piercing.
43. I have gone on a midnight walk on the beach.
44. I have gone sky diving.
45. I have visited Ireland.
46. I have sat at a stranger’s table in a restaurant and had a meal with them.
47. I have visited Japan.
48. I have bench-pressed my own weight.
49. I have stolen from my parents.
50. I have sang karaoke.
51. I have lounged around in bed all day.
52. I have posed nude in front of a room full of strangers.
53. I have dressed sexy for no reason.
54. I have gotten it on to “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye.
55. I have kissed in the rain.
56. I have played in the mud.
57. I have played in the rain.
58. I have gone to a drive-in theater.
59. I have done something I should regret, but don’t regret it.
60. I have visited the Great Wall of China.
61. I have discovered that someone who’s not supposed to have known about my blog has discovered my blog.
62. I have taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days.
63. I have eaten sushi (the non-fish kind).
64. I have fallen in love and not had my heart broken.
65. I have toured ancient sites around the Mediterranean.
66. I have broken a bone.
67. I have played D&D for more than 6 hours straight.
68. I have dyed my hair.
69. I have been in a movie.
70. I have LARPed.
71. I have loved someone I shouldn’t have.
72. I have kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy.
73. I have had plastic surgery.
74. I have had sex at the office.
75. I have gone without food for 5 days.
76. I have had my picture in the newspaper.
77. I have won first prize in a costume contest.
78. I have ridden a gondola in Venice.
79. I have gotten a tattoo.
80. I have find that the texture of some materials can turn me on.
81. I have rafted the Snake River.
82. I have gotten flowers for no reason.
83. I have taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country.
84. I have gotten so drunk I don’t remember anything.
85. I have been addicted to some form of illegal drug.
86. I have performed onstage with a famous symphony orchestra.
87. I have recorded music.
88. I have eaten shark.
89. I have had a one night stand.
90. I have gone to Thailand.
91. I have bought a house.
92. I have had my pubic hair waxed off.
93. I have been on a cruise ship.
94. I have been able to speak more than one language fluently.
95. I have bounced a check.
96. I have performed in Rocky Horror.
97. I have read - and understood - your credit report.
98. I have raised children.
99. I have picked up and moved to another city to just start over.
100. I have “sung” loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when I knew someone was looking.
101. I have had an abortion.
102. I have parasailed.
103. I have survived an accident that I shouldn’t have survived.
104. I have flown an airplane.
105. I have broken someone’s heart (but they deserved it).
106. I have helped an animal give birth.
107. I have hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.(1/2 way there)
108. I have won money on a T.V. game show.
109. I have communicated with someone, without sharing a common spoken language.
110. I have had a snake as a pet.
111. I have had a threesome or moresome.
112. I have ridden a motorcycle.
113. I have driven any land vehicle at a speed greater than 100mph.
114. I have had a body part of mine below the neck pierced.
115. I have fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol.
116. I have been a DJ.
117. I have ridden a horse.
118. I have had sex on a moving train.
117. I have built my own PC from parts.
118. I have visited all 7 continents.
119. I have maintained 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year.
120. I have gone back to school.
121. I have petted a cockroach.
122. I have read the Iliad.
123. I have selected one “important” author who I missed in school, and read, just to see what all the fuss was about.
124. I have apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt.
125. I have thought to myself that I’m living my dream.
126. I have had sex with more than one person in a day.
127. I have put more than 120 hours into a single RPG.
128. I have spent more than $150 on 1 video game.
129. I have failed at learning a second language.
130. I have voted for a president.

I think that I am a little bored, but I have an ass load of work. I have been putting it off a little. But I wanted to talk a bit.

So I decided that anything less than a “B” rating I will not even bother writing down or transfering over to the VJ army. Not worth my time as I know that it will go up sooner or later. The problem with this is that I will need to know for 4th and 5th style what the EX scores for those are. I think that I will just focus on 6th and 7th style for a while.

Another thing, is it just me or do people not like to put up their “lower” IIDX scores? It seems like there are alot of gaps on people charts and only A ranked songs are on there. It is pretty hard for me to find an even challenge to DJ Battle at the forum.

Oh well, the only reason that I am focusing more on this than Pop’n is becasue it is there. When the Pop’n Navy comes up I will probably put IIDX aside for a while.

Well, Chris Kohler (one of the writers for insertcredit.com) is getting a book published in September. It looks like a good read, and I will probably end up getting it out of principle alone.

I also spent some time with my 7th Style IIDX scores. In Light 7 I only have a few C’s left to turn into at least B’s. I need to get my act together. I need to work on improving my scoring. A lot of people made some great accomplishments since Friday (Venom made the Dangun Single life clear, BBH broke 400 AAA’s, Masaka placed at Evolution) and I am feeling left out or something. If I keep sticking with Pop’n Music and IIDX I feel like I may end up pulling out some nice accomplishments.

I spent all weekend watching anime, so I might as well pull out some reviews:

Excel Saga: This ended up being much better than I thought. It started out weak, and then improved, then it shocked me. This is truly parody to the max in anime. The more anime that you have seen the more you will probably enjoy this series. Although I am not use to digital anime yet (I mainly watch older series) to me the animation seemed impressive for a TV series. I watched the dubbed version of it (as I have a tendency of doing since I got married) and have to say that since the time of Iczer 1 dubbing has improved greatly. Actually, I would say that I even enjoyed all the voices (although they did change Excel’s voice actor halfway through). I really want to watch this “Pop up Video” style where they give you insight to all the jokes I probably missed out on. 3 out of 4 Stars, it would have been 3.5 stars if they had eliminated one of the two recap episodes and if the first 2 episodes would have been better “beginning” episodes.

FLCL: I had watched the FanSub for this about 2.5 years ago. Then I had lived in a shotgun rental with only one window unit AC. One hot week mid-July my wife went back north to visit and work with her family to earn some extra cash. I was sitting in the front room with my PC, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, sweating profusely when I came across this anime on accident, and I am not even sure how it happen. I believe I saw it in someone’s signature at a forum. I spent that weekend finding and downloading the fansubs. Watching the series again in complete this weekend brought back that memory. The feeling of hot, sweaty, skin sticking to leather, but not caring because of my entertainment.

This series covers so many topics that it would take a dissertation to cover them all. In a mainly humorous manner; growing up, relationships, love, arson, religion, and responsibility are just some of the issues covered in this series. Set in a normal/not-at-all-normal town a giant iron overshadows this sci-fi story. Packed full to the brim with humor, parody, emotion, action, and - oh yea - humor you will find yourself drawn right into this series from the first episode. Having seen the subbed version I can truthful say that the dub actors portrayed the story and emotion quite well. This was quite difficult to watch subbed, but was very enjoyable to watch dubbed. 3.5 out of 4 stars.

I also started Rurouni Kenshin again with my wife. She picked up the series but we have been watching Ranma 1/2 for a while. I think that we went into overkill mode with Ranma, as it is difficult for me to watch it anymore. It is like someone trying to give you 3rds of a meal you were full with on the first time you got it. So, instead of finishing season 4 of Ranma we started Kenshin. We had previously watched season 1 and part of season 2 from Cartoon network… wow, there was a good deal of editing done to get that on TV. I think that we watched about 20 episodes over the weekend.

More as it comes in.

My first AA for a 7 key song! YAY.

Linky… scroll down.

Also I beat a 6 star 7 Key and entered some more song in for in VJ Amry (mostly 7th Style stuff)

I still suck :\

Well not much. I beat Cheer Train 7 key last night. I don’t know why but I really like that song. It was also the first time that I have played anything bemani in about a week and it showed. It took me about 45 min before I could play anything well, and I was scoring poorly all night… well I though. Then I just realised that I score poorly in IIDX still because I was beating my old scores :\ oh well

Also I got through the 3rd Excel Saga DVD last night. It really picked up since the second episode. The first 2 episodes so far are the worst. The New Years episode was freaking hilarious. This is slowly becoming my favorite “comedy” anime.