These BlazBlue trophies really crack me up.

Note: The description is “Do a 20 hit combo after the round is over” (yes, you can continue to control your character, to a limited extent, after KO).

BlazBlue also has an “easy specials” feature and is designed to work very well with a pad. You press a direction on the right analog stick and you do a special. This includes Distortion finishers and Astral Heat finishers. Of course, the person who creates the lobby can disallow easy specials.

That’s another thing. BlazBlue has real lobbies. Up to six players, if I recall correctly off of the top of my head, can be in a single lobby. When you create a lobby you can set it so that the winner keeps playing or that the loser keeps playing, or I think random? I’m not entirely sure what the third option is. Anyway, it’s pretty cool.

In addition to the above, anyone can save their game to their consoles hard drive. It dumbfounds me that CapCom didn’t do this, and in fact put limitations on the playback feature for each console. In BlazBlue you can save any fight that you have, and you can even allow other people to download your fights. So, in SFIV you’re limited to the top 5,000 players, but you’re free to share your fights as much as you want in BB.

There’s also a spectator feature in BB. You will be booted if your connection can’t keep up. That’s happened to me once. Generally, though, it’s pretty easy and painless to watch other people’s matches. This is a feature that can be disabled when the room is created, so it’s not always available.

The single player has a pretty decent story, as far as fighters go. There’s both a story mode and an arcade mode. Oh, and you don’t have to unlock basic characters lol, but you do have to beat arcade mode with most characters to unlock their Astral Heat finisher.

BlazBlue’s features are far superior to Street Fighter IV. In fact, it blows SFIV out of the water and really shines a light on IV’s confusing, dare I say archaic limitations. When reviewers say that BB is the new standard that fight games will be set against, that’s true.

The game play, of course, is significantly different. Just watch any video and you’ll see that it’s more chaotic. I had no idea what to expect before I got it; I never heard of Guilty Gear before people began talking about BB. I thought the game was going to be some crazy and confusing stuff, and it is because I’m new, but it’s not as bad as you may think.

The game play in each is just too different to compare though. I can’t say that one is better than the other. They’re both good games and both require a unique approach. BlazBlue will be friendlier to new players though, I think.

While it sounds like I’m a gushing BlazBlue fan boy, the facts are simply the facts. SFIV’s features simply doesn’t hold a candle to BlazBlue. The game play, though, is so different that I don’t think it’s right to say that one is better than the other.

Still, I can’t recommend Street Fighter IV to a new player. BlazBlue’s feature simply puts IV to shame.

Technorati Tags: Street Fighter, BlazBlue

Most of this new direction in fitness and health came about when I found Scooby’s channel on YouTube. There’s a ton of useful information there, and the fact that he’s about 15 years older than I am yet has a physique that just blows me away was enough for me to really pay attention. He knows what he’s talking about, and it works.

If you’re looking to diet and lose weight then I highly recommend his YT channel. He doesn’t sell a single thing. Scooby has a web site - Scooby’s Workshop - with a load of useful information and, again, as with his Youtube channel he doesn’t sell a thing on his website.

This guy has been very helpful as I’ve moved toward losing weight and building muscle for 2009. My diet is much better and I’m eating tasty food in spite of that fact.

As always, the changes that you make will have to become a permanent change to your life style if you want to keep the weight off, so what it boils down to is: Are you unhappy enough to actually change, or are you comfortable enough with your weight that you won’t? You may complain about your weight, but will you actually change your life to change your weight? Those are questions that only you can answer.

I’m not complaining though. Last night’s dream was pretty damn good.

The dream began in an old, two story house. The set up was similar to a movie: Something terrible had happened in that house in the past, but we didn’t know the details of it. Of course, bad things began to happen around the house. The situation worsened until young girls were turning up murdered.

I don’t remember the specifics. Dreams will be like that. I do remember being in the house with two young girls. Some bad things had been happening and scaring them. While my memory is vague as to the details of why I was there, I think that I was trying to help the young girls in some way.

We were at the top of the stairs when the ghost appeared. She was maybe 7 years old, physically solid, and by this point in my dream I knew - we knew - that it was the ghost who had been murdering the children. Always girls. Always around the age of the ghost.

She paused when she saw me. I wasn’t her target, but I was standing between her and the two kids who were with me. Though I don’t remember the specific words that were exchanged, I remember begging the ghost to leave the children alone. Either the ghost showed me at that point what had happened to her, or I learned previously - I don’t remember - but I remember insisting to the ghost that it wasn’t “their fault”, and they “aren’t the one who done this to you.”

As it turns out, the little ghost girl had been murdered by her sister. It was no accident. I don’t think that I ever found out why - the ghost didn’t know either - but her sister had deliberately killed her. I remember seeing something like a flashback.. her sister smiling at her, then a flash of flame, then feelings of “Why?” and “Help me!” and sounds of her sister giggling, or maybe yelling at her to die..

Whatever the case, I pleaded with the ghost, asking her to see that these little girls who she had been killing - these revenge murders - had nothing to do with her own death. Killing them wasn’t going to make anything better.

I also knew instinctively that if I pushed too hard then she would kill me along with the two children who were with me. When the ghost stepped forward I didn’t try to do anything. I could feel the turmoil from her. She stepped up to the two girls who were with me, and they cried and tried to back away. The ghost suddenly stepped toward them as though she were going to attack them, then her face, her clothing, and I’m sure her hair all burst into flames inches away from the two children. She screamed furiously into the faces of the two girls. I recall seeing her skin burn from her face, the layers of her skin blistering, burning, and dropping away.

Then she vanished.

She had so much anger that she just wanted to release it. It was rage, but she also recognized that I was right and killing them would do no good. Frightening the two girls was her compromise.

My heart was beating incredibly fast. I was afraid. I like dreams with ghosts, and creatures, and monsters, and things, but this one had me frightened. I’m not entirely sure what was so different about it, to be honest…

I also think that the murderous sister’s ghost was around too, but I don’t recall any specific interactions with her. I remember a sense that their parents saw the murderous sister as a perfect, sweet little girl and spoiled her, but I don’t remember if she was treated better than the sister she had murdered. I do recall, though, that the murderous sister got away with killing her sister and all the while their parents thought that she was a sweet little girl.

The dream morphed after this. The setting shifted so that this old house was atop a large hill across the street from the house that I grew up in. In reality there was no hill across the street..

The people at my old house were a resistance group. Apparently they were “hunters”, at least of a sort. A group of people who went after monsters, like werewolves.

I was apparently a double-sided spy. I recall hearing their plans of going out that night to kill the werewolves, and I remember thinking “what if they find out?” and feeling like I had to get out of there. That I had to warn my friends.

Late that evening, before they headed out on their hunt but while no one was looking, I dashed across the street, dashed up the hill, and darted into the house. I was a werewolf, and they were coming to hunt me.

I shifted form, becoming the typical werewolf beast. I eyed the house below with their fire burning in a metal trash can where the porch should have been, and, if I remember correctly, I may have howled. There may have been a sense of others, nearby or not.

Then the dreams were over.

Technorati Tags: dreams, ghosts, werewolves

I was lucky enough to sit in on the Korean language level 2 class this semester. I received no grade for that class, but I did learn something new. The instructor this semester is a good teacher. I’ll miss her class.

The Principles of Learning class was very slow, especially in the beginning, with the instructor cover a single topic in a single class quite heavily. This wasn’t needed in the beginning of the semester and, I’ll quickly admit, wouldn’t have been needed later in the semester had I not begun suffering from considerable (general) burn out. The result is that I stopped paying much attention in class nor taking things anywhere nearly as serious as I should have. The final exam definitely suffered. I would have been happy to see a C… disappointed, but happy, but I think that my attendance is what brought it up.

Issues In Today’s Economy had a good instructor, in my opinion, even though the material of the class was very boring for me. Some subjects simply do not click with a person, and economics is one such subject to me. There are bits of interesting information in there. Anyway, I was crossing my fingers and just hoping that I would get a C in this class. The last minute hard work seems to have paid off.

Social Psychology was… not my favorite class. It’s a fascinating subject, but I do better when a classroom is more a traditional classroom. Social Psych had far too much random conversations going as a part of the class that only vaguely related to what was being talked about. In my opinion, anyway. Maybe I’m completely wrong. Perhaps it’s just that I was at odds with the class’ format.

Creative Writing was a class with a high amount of over head. Writing stories and poems, rewriting them, reading others’ work and giving feedback.. it wasn’t difficult, just busy. There were certain things one needed to do to earn an A so I wasn’t necessarily expecting an A in that class.

Anyhow, there’s that college semester. Later folks!

Courses Taken 2009/SP at Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas
(Undergraduate)
Dept Course Course Description Hours Grade
PSYCH 394 PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING 3.00 B
ECON 191 ISSUES IN TODAY’S ECONOMY 3.00 A
PSYCH 456 INTRO TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 3.00 A
ENGL 250 INTRO TO CREATIVE WRITING 3.00 A
Credits Attempted Credits Completed Semester GPA
12.00 12.00 3.7500
Semester Messages
Dean’s Scholastic Honors

The Negative - Let’s get this out of the way.

The Collector’s Edition (aka, the CE) comes in a box that is smaller than what I expected. At the least, I thought that the much hyped “hint book” would have taken up some room. Unfortunately, this wasn’t to be the case.

The “hint book” for Street Fighter IV CE is a very thin, glossy paper thing with a very small number of pages. It is easily the most disappointing part of the SFIV CE. In fact, I seriously thought that the hint book had been left out of my CE because it was no where to be found inside of the box.

Only once I opened the Blu-Ray Street Fighter IV animation did I find this supposed… “book”. It’s more accurately described as a flyer at best. You’re familiar with the advertisements that come with products these days; the ones on glossy paper that are tucked into DVD cases and the like. That’s pretty much what the “hint book” turned out to be.

This SFIV “hint book” lists (seriously) only a few (four? five?) of the characters, and in turn only a few of their moves. There are no hints, nor any information, nor anything else. There isn’t even text aside from what is absolutely required to list the moves and the names of the characters. The only good thing about it was the artwork.

If this was supposed to sell me on the official SFIV Prima guide then it is has failed miserably. I won’t even bother looking at the thing.

The Okay - Cool, but not made of awesome.

Laying somewhere in the middle is the animation, Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind. This skin-deep introduction to Street Fighter IV is definitely not a high quality anime story, although the artwork itself is done well enough. On the other hand, I don’t think that anyone was expecting a deep story from this. It is, ultimately, a long intro movie for the game, and many of Street Fighter IV’s animated endings make direct references to the events in The Ties That Bind. (note: you can currently find the entire movie on Youtube and elsewhere).

As a part of the SFIV CE it’s not a bad perk at all. The voice acting (I only watched it with Japanese audio) employed some decent talent, and the image quality is good; of course, it’s Blu-Ray so you kind of expect that. The animation & artwork quality isn’t the best that I’ve seen in an anime movie, but it’s far from “bad”. If you do watch it on Youtube then keep in mind that you’re probably not watching the HD version.

The sound track also deserves to go here. Here are some thoughts on the Collector’s Edition sound track:

Thankfully - and yes, I do mean thankfully - the Street Fighter IV theme song itself is not on the CD. I just don’t even want to think about this song, so moving on…

Track 3 on the sound track is a good example of what makes this OST decent. It’s befitting a fighting game, but it’s use of strings, appropriately Asian drumming, voice (think group “hua!”), and fast paced music makes it something that’s actually well worth listening to. If you liked the music in 9 Dragons then you’ll totally dig this tune, though it’s a faster tempo than what you’ll find in that MMO.

The new Chun-Li theme (track 7) is also fairly well done. It’s clearly identifiable, but it’s been brought into the present with instruments, modern synths, and additions that make it an over all enjoyable listen for fans of the Street Fighter series. This music is only played during a “Rival Battle”, so it does have a more serious sound to it. Rival Battles: Serious business, amirite?

Track 16 is a mellow, nonetheless upbeat techno tune that I’ve heard occasionally played in the Lobby between online matches. It’s good for chilling for a moment before hitting “Ready!”.

The closing track, track 17, is a catchy Jazzy version (complete with synth Sax) of a traditional Street Fighter tune. Oddly enough, it reminds me of the background music found in the Out Run series of driving games.

Track 3 alone almost moves this OST into the “Good” category, but the rest of the tunes on the CD (all of which I skipped here) are firmly set in the category of “background noise”. At least to my ears.

The Good - Now we’re getting somewhere…

While I’m very disappointed in the “hint book”, the Street Fighter IV Collector’s Edition is, in all, a pretty good buy. Taken all together I’m not disappointed in spending the money for it. The addition of the Blu-Ray animation, the Ryu figure, and the sound track are all bonuses that come together to make it a good edition fitting any gamer’s collection.

The Ryu figure, which I have not removed from the box at all, looks decent enough from what I can see. The artwork on the box is pretty good (although I wish they’d stuck with Chun-Li, I have an obvious bias).

In all, the CE itself is the best part of the CE, aside from the game itself. As a package, it comes together well.

Good night folks.

Technorati Tags: Street Fighter IV, SFIV, Street Fighter, Collector’s Edition

I’m sure feeling it today. Especially in my calves, which are a new addition to my exercise routine. They burn the next day, particularly on the treadmill (which I need to set to a lower speed in order to complete). Hopefully those muscles will quickly adapt to the new stress.

Speaking of calves, every time that I use that machine I’m reminded that I need to buy some new shoes.

Anyway, I don’t know how long I’ll stay at the gym tonight. I’ve only had a few hours of sleep. Maybe I’ll take a nap before I go.

Later.

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, exercise, weight loss, muscle building

I was at the rec center for about two hours this evening.  Amazing.  When I finally showered, got dressed, and walked out of the locker room that’s when I saw some friends playing badminton.  I decided to join them for a game despite the fact that I was wearing street cloths at that point.

Hopefully they’ll forgive me for working up a sweat on a simple game like that, and realize that I was already quite tired from a lengthy exercise session.

At the end of tonight’s long session I decided to return to lifting (before the shower), but this was mostly out of curiosity.  Tonight was the first time that I lifted actual weights in the machines at the rec center rather than using the resistance machines (I’m a sucker for simplicity).

If I remember correctly, I lifted about 30 pounds on my biceps, about 130 or 160 pounds on my shoulder / back (I can’t remember which at the moment, but it surprised me that everything felt so light), and 190 pounds on the Hip Abduction and Hip Adductor (outer and inner thigh).  Laying leg press was at approximately 130 pounds, but I’m not sure because I left it at whatever it was set to when I got onto the machine.

Unfortunately I don’t remember the weight amounts on the others, but in all I was fairly pleased with what I was able to do.  In so far as strength training is concerned I’ve been doing resistance training exclusively for the past two semesters, so I’m impressed with the results.

Granted, the bicep amount of 30 lbs was quite light, but I’ll hopefully be improving those through push ups – assuming that I can remember to do the confounded things.

I’m wonderfully tired this evening.

Good night folks!

Technorati Tags: health, exercise, fitness, weight loss

That’s pretty sad considering how much effort I’ve put into increasing my health, strength, and general fitness.  This has always been the case for me though, and pull ups / chin ups are the same way.  I wonder if there’s a hundred pull ups challenge?

So anyway now I’m going to do something about it.  In addition to going back to the recreation center this semester I’ll also be doing the Hundred Push Up plan every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday (I go to the rec center on Mon., Wed., and Fri).

I look forward to the results of all of this madness by the end of this semester or so.

Update:  This will have to begin tomorrow, February 5th.  I can’t begin it this evening because I just got back from the recreation center, and I was there for about two hours or so.  It’s time to relax.

Technorati Tags: exercise, health, push ups, hundred push ups, 100 push ups, hundred push up challenge

This movie is going to be in my head for awhile, and it’s firmly and permanently put itself into my list of all time favorite movies.

목소리, which is Korean for “voice”, is the only horror movie that has – to my memory – ever brought me to tears.  Not tears of fright.  Not tears of laughter.  But tragic, moving tears.  I’m not saying that I cried my eyes out.  No, that’s not accurate, but cried I did.

The actresses done a fantastic job, and the director brought the talent together wonderfully.  The writing, the acting, the directing – it was all amazing.

It wasn’t until toward the end of the movie that it brought out the tears.  Like I said, it’s not like there was sobbing involved.  But perhaps it’s more beautiful because of this?  I was watching it, and that was it.  The tears flowed, and I was just kind of like, “Damn it…” but there wasn’t any other reaction that was more appropriate.

Then the ending of the movie – which I won’t spoil – but seeing the credits rolling and.. well, then the part that I won’t spoil.  It was powerful.

So, even though they will probably never read this, to the actresses and the writer and the director:  You were all incredible.

To explain the movie to those who may be curious, the movie is a part of a series called “Whispering Corridors” (여고괴담).  Voice / 목소리 is the 4th in the series.  Each of the movies are only connected via their theme.  They do not rely on each other to continue one long story, so you can watch any of them.  I’ve seen two:  The first and the fourth.  They’re decent movies.  I recommend them, and I would like to see the others.

The theme is that they take place in a high school, and the ghost is always stuck in the high school.  In the two that I have seen there is always a friend who has some sort of connection with the ghost, but how this plays out appears to be different for each of the films.

Voice takes place from the point of view of the ghost.  What is existence like for her?  This tale grows from the first moment that she becomes a ghost until the story’s conclusion.  It’s not all from her point of view, of course, but by and large that is perspective of the movie.

Really, I don’t want to describe too much because these movies also have an element of mystery to them.  Talking about the movie in any sort of detail runs a real risk of giving away some part of the story.

If you watch Asian movies at all, then you definitely need to see 목소리.

In so far as being a horror movie, it’s definitely not as scary as others that I have seen.  However, it’s obvious that it was never the goal of this movie to be the most frightening horror movie.  No, this is definitely a horror movie and it is definitely still creepy, but more important, there is an element of raw humanity in 목소리 / Voice that is portrayed subtly, yet, in the end, very powerfully.

Wow.

I’m going to watch the ending credits again.  Later folks.

Technorati Tags: 목소리, voice, stories, sad stories, tragic, tragedy, movies, horror, horror movies, Korean, Korean movie, Korean horror movie