knic84's public diary

Konami seems to have attributed some of the Dance Dance Revolution franchise success to its important-sounding moniker, as they and maker of Frequency and Amplitude, Harmonix, have slapped it on the fruit of their collaboration, Karaoke Revolution, a singing game for PS2 which employs the pack-in microphone as its weapon of choice. That or they just aren't good with titles, which would explain the whole Revolution thing to begin with. Anyway, those with a modicum of vocal talent and a good measure of shamelessness brave the danger of sounding like a complete jackass as they sing along to a bunch of unfortunately chosen music, save for a few tracks. A few which make me want the game rather badly - one, in particular. A song by the Gin Blossoms, bless their defunct old desert twang. Could it have been a user vote that put Hey Jealousy in the game? Who knows how the 11-year-old song got on there, since although it was a hit at the time, the rest are fairly recent, well-known, or classics of eras gone by. Sorely misplaced alongside 32785 Michelle Branch tracks, that old personal favorite jumped out at me from its bottom-of-the-list spot on the box, and since I have so much practice from singing it in the shower, I'm dying to know whether the bathroom echo and running water masked innumerable truly abominable renditions.

But with this game comes the terrible toll of untold self-humiliation. It's a given I'd have to sing for much-amused onlookers who would dare not step up to the mic themselves. Dare I drop 80 bucks Canadian on this game only to deny I have it and shield it from view at every opportunity of discovery? It's the kind of game that could keep you up at night, paranoid that your guilty pleasure will be found out by loose-lipped siblings and revealed to ravenous friends who would love nothing more than to gawk at your cringe-worthy performance. You see, with friends like mine, you're not a God-fearing individual, you are a friend-fearing one. Your socks can be tied at the ends, you can be poked, tickled, and smothered with pillows, and if you're still alive at that point, you can be licked on the FACE, but still, none of it would compare to the dignity lost in a single minute with Karaoke Revolution.

Maybe someone will buy it for me for Christmas.

knic84 broke some glass at 8:37 PM.

It's been 2 days since the incident, the grotesque nature of which merited this post, my boycott on food at my college, and a refund of my $1.10. You see, when I bought an Amazon Brittle chocolate bar from one of the school variety stores, I paid for a milk-chocolatey blend of toffee, cashews, and brazil nuts. No one seems to know what Amazon Brittle is - it's one of Cadbury's shiny purple foil-wrapped treats. I never buy the things, as frankly that's too many different nuts for me, but I didn't feel like Glossettes again. In retrospective, I should have gone with that peanut-/almond-loving instinct.

Anyway, back to the point -- what I bought and what I got were entirely different, the likes of which may not shock and appall you, but I'll remain thankful that I examined my purchase before eating. Because, you see, upon opening the lunch sandwich substitute, I was greeted by the sight of white mould festering in an almost-mistakeable-for-nougat-spilling-out type profusion on the end. But it certainly wasn't no nougat.

And then it got worse.

What appeared to be little fecal matter deposits or possibly dead larvae hung clinging to cobwebs going from chocolate to wrapper, and a point of entry indicated where some hungry and ill-fated spider had dug itself a shallow, cocoa-buttery grave. A territory I cared not venture into.

Apparently, as I was informed by the counter lady, the food sits in the warehouses a long time before it even gets to the school. I did notice a not-so-fine layer of dust on some of the more unpopular shelfees, but how a spider would get in after packaging is a mystery so I guess I can't rightly blame the school. What I will do is spend my money elsewhere, since burnt pepperoni on grease-slathered, overpriced Pizza Pizza, extra fees for debit payment and this latest occurence have persuaded me to boycott college food.

So don't eat school food.

knic84 could've been more clever at 4:52 PM.

Having lost the Electronic Gaming Monthly that had an interview with MAME's creator that I needed for my ethics course, I was looking through articles online for something similar a couple days ago and came across a familiar name: Overclocked. Once a comic I never read about the emulation scene, it's been discontinued for some time now. The author's current focus is remixes, which reminded me of a Megaman X Theme of Zero I once had from Overclocked. In any event, one thing led to another and I found the site, which is linked to at right. A veritable trove of video game treasure, you'll find music from throughout the electronic ages ranging from arcade pioneers like Moon Patrol to the newest crop of Final Fantasies. Really swell. The Megaman X mix seems to be long gone, ousted in favor of better quality pieces perhaps. Though not all of them are to my liking, it's a fantastic idea for a site as it allows anyone with enough talent to let it loose upon the masses. If I had a modicum of musical talent and the right tools, I'd make one so fast....

It's started to get really cold out here, and I've got quite the persistent cough going. Good ol' bronchial failure, which I'm quite unaccustomed to as usually I don't get these things called 'colds'. What with sleep deprivation and general melancholy being a factor, I'm hoping it won't go on much longer. I've got too much living not to do.

Also, I'll be getting a game for my neglected old Dreamcast soon. Maybe that will give me something decent to write about, maybe not. In any case, I have too full a platter with work to be thinking about games too much, but I'd like to put more time into and reap more enjoyment from Disgaea, PS2 strategy RPG extraordinaire, which I've been kindly lent and which is currently serving primarily as a paperweight. A fine game it seems to me, a fine game indeed.

Oh well, until next time.

knic84 took a hair dryer to her hands at 4:17 PM.

Blogger has never wronged me, bless its digital soul. User-friendly and tailored specifically for those who'd like to have their voices heard but would rather not apply any effort to HTML editing, even if they're well versed and have no excuse not to other than being frickin' lazy, its also free. But it's annoying when it pretends to have features that in actuality, it doesn't. You're writing a post in class -- just like all great students should -- and said class is about to end, and in your fit to get the bloody hell out of there as fast as humanly possible, you log out mid-post and it prompts you to save. But apparently you're saving a blank post, as the tasty text is forever lost to the hungry maw of cyberspace. So, I would've had a post here 1 WHOLE DAY sooner if I had started 20 minutes into my C++ class rather than midway through. So don't blame me for waiting a week to post, only to try doing it at school with insufficient time. Blame blogger.

It's been a couple days since I got my long-awaited, breathlessly-anticipated, 100-buck ebay prize in the mail: Guardian Heroes. Ah, that takes me back, to the time novelty-sized Sega Saturn jewel cases inspired in me a real sense of wonderment. Sega CD game case leftovers or not. The game feels right in my hot little hands - note the figurative use of that term, as my hands are actually constantly refrigerated in my own ICY BLOOD. It's a Treasure game, which usually translates to 'play this or forever regret it, you unsophisticated ape.' After a not-terribly-thorough assessment of a few hours tops playtime, I guess the obvious is affirmed - a 7-year-old piece of software with no nostalgic value couldn't possibly live up to such a price tag, but it's still a good game. If I were still big into games and as much of a Saturn nut as I was during its heyday, I'd love it.

Now, onto something else that really incites my self-righteous ire: video games as an addiction. This is becoming the subject of many a study these days and this is being brought to my attention as a gamer. After some light research, a lot of soul-searching and reflection on approximately 30000 hours of game time on RPGs alone, I must disagree with the assessment that games are a life-wrecking pass time. Apparently, there's some chemical shit caused in your brain, by your brain, when it's having fun, and this is a no-no because you'll be desensitized by all this entertainment into a humorless bastard when it comes to normal affairs. So no fun allowed. Games detract from 'healthy' activities like reading, which from what I know in its fictional form provides a nice diversion from reality as well, and biking and socializing. Except where the cube and Smash Bros. is concerned. I've MADE more friends because of games than I would have from biking or reading, and I keep them because of it, but that of course is negligible.

Affected also are school work with lower grades, except I've never had a problem with that. Not that I've ever considered solving algebra or analyzing themes in Canadian literature my main focus in life. I've had to do it ad nauseum and y'know, it's probably given me more headaches than time spent lying dead in a pool of my own player-killed blood in Diablo, or navigating that nefarious air castle in Phantasy Star IV. From what I hear, there's a real problem with workaholism these days. Maybe more games is a good thing.

Thus concludes my rant. Good day.

knic84 finally finished at 8:17 PM.