Hello there! Before I say anything else, let me just gloat and bask in the glory that is me, fulfilling my commitment to updating this blog every Friday! Yay me! ^_^
OKAY, I know I actually posted something just a few days ago, but that post wasn't a weekly-update post, so it's still within my rules! This will be my first weekly-update post this year, so again, YAY ME! ^_^
.................and on that note, let me just wallow and banish myself to the farthest reaches of the corners of humiliation in admitting that I don't actually have anything to say. Any worthy updates, anyway.
Well, I suppose there IS the news that I've finally received all the replies for university (yes, it seems I'm gonna go to college, whoop-da-doodly-doo). I want to go to the United Kingdom for university, and I basically got 2 conditional offers, 1.5 rejections, and 1.5 unconditional offers. What's that? You don't care? Right, well...........uhh.........this is awkward.
ANYWHO, let's not talk about that. Let's instead talk about fanfiction. YAY ME! ^_^ So, do you know what fanfiction is? I'm gonna blab about that anyway. 'Fanfiction', or 'fanfics' for short (or 'fics' for even shorter, no 'ics' though) are, like the name suggests, works of fiction created by dedicated fans of a certain professional work, most commonly written work. Basically, in terms of writing, a fanfic is a story made by a person who likes a written work (like a novel or a poem) so much that he/she decides to come up with her own work based on the first, professionally-published ones.
Of course, being the avid reader that I am, I too happen to have certain stories I truly enjoy, and I must say I do have a few brilliant ideas (if I do say so myself) of what these stories might've turned out like if they had taken a certain turn or something. Now, currently there are a large number of websites on the internet that host fanfics; in other words, people upload their own fanmade stories to these sites for other people to read. The biggest and most famous one of these sites is FanFiction.net, where I also have an account and have posted stories!
This is what I was trying to tell you: I am the proud author of no less than ONE fanfic on FF!
...........................
Oh wait, that's not something to be proud of. What is to be proud of is that, on this day, I finally made my first update of the year! :D I just updated my story on FF today, and woo-hoo it feels great! Yeah!
But what is even more awesome is the fact that now, I am the proud author of TWO fanfics on FF! Woo-hoo! That's a cause for celebration! I have just uploaded the first chapter of a new story on FanFiction and so from now on, I will work hard to update my stories regularly, so as to not disappoint what little readership I have. I will update weekly, on Fridays, on the same day I update all of my blogs. So from today onwards, Friday will be my update day! UPDATE DAY!
Speaking of updates, my two other blogs (monsterworlds.blogpsot.com and something else that I'm keeping a secret) have also been updated and now they contain even more materials! By that I mean they now house more of my rantings. And I suppose, since they are my blogs, no one should really care. Oh well, I do most of my non-thematic ratings here anyway. I think I'm just talking to myself again. Hmm.......
Well, that's all for tonight folks. Since there really isn't anyone who actually follows all my junk here, I guess I'm actually writing all of this just for the future me. Well then, future Irfan, hope you have a good laugh when you're reading this in year 20XX! :D Talk to you soon!
Friday, January 13, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
I don't know what the title should be, so "TITLE"!
OKAY! I am totally hating myself for updating this blog even though I'm supposed to update it every Friday, but...but....I just got this sudden inspiration! I felt like I just HAD to rant about this particular thing, and I figured that this blog would be the perfect place to do just that! :O So here I am, ranting in the night.
Well, it's nothing important, really. Just, you know, it's about video games. See, I really like to play video games, and most of my favorite video games come from the Land of the Rising Sun (that means Japan, in case you didn't know). However, the fact of the matter remains that the last century has undeniably been the American Century, where people of the United States of America dominate almost all forms of information and communication technology (I'm talking about the Internet).
While I have nothing against Americans personally, there IS something that's bothering me. To no end. And not just people of the USA in particular, but people of the West in general. Now, understand that Japan produces an unbelievable amount of successful video game franchises (such as the Super Mario Bros., Final Fantasy, and my personal favorite, Pokémon). Of course, if a country develops something, it goes without saying that some of its values, its traditions, its stereotypes, will go into their work, consciously or not.
Alright, that's enough background. On to the main point of my blabbering! See, what bothers me is this: when a certain video game franchise becomes famous, it almost always gets exported to other countries, for various reasons. And when that franchise proves to be successful in other countries as well, that franchise has gone global. In other words, it becomes an internationally-recognized franchise, and further development of said franchise will no doubt incorporate this fact in mind.
Designers, programmers and developers alike will then try to create new games, but with the international audience in mind. And so they will most likely tone down the cultural influences in later games, so that those games can be accepted easier by people from outside the developers' home countries, who might not be aware of the commonness or importance of those influences. This is usually the point where franchises start to change, and rather drastically after a while.
What do I mean by "change"? To put it simply, the later games the developers' make will no doubt be different to the earlier games, because the earlier games are usually developed with only the national consumers in mind. But when you have people from all over the world you need to think about, the end result of future games will be quite different indeed. And when that difference becomes so large that it's unignorable/unneglectable (intermezzo: those are not real words), what happens then?
That's right! The stinking, blasted international community, whose cultural sensibilities were being considered carefully by the game developers as to not offend them by clashing cultures, complains about the dramatic change! Really? REALLY?!
...Sorry. I just had to let that out of my chest. Ahem. Continuing on, what I'm trying to say is basically this: you know, if a video game you really like changes over time, and you find yourself in a dilemma because you despise those changes, stop and think about the game developers for a moment. Those developers are working their butts off just to make sure they could produce high-quality games that are innovative and entertaining while at the same time acceptable by most, if not all, peoples in all nations and cultures. IT IS NOT EASY DOING THAT! It is very, very difficult indeed to create something that remains fresh and true to its roots when its roots are difficult to understand by people from other cultures, you know.
*sigh* I'm sorry. Maybe those of you reading this post couldn't care less about what I had to say, but I just had to say it, okay? These consumers, these members of the global audience the game developers are trying so hard to satisfy......how spoiled and unappreciative can you get? I'm not saying you don't have the right to dislike the newer games, no; by all means, to each their own and we all have our rights to like and/or dislike something. Taste is relative, after all. However, I'm just suggesting that, if you want to blame the developers for changing the franchise you hold so dearly, don't be so hard on them. It's hard to create things - works of art, if you will - that can be accepted by the international community.
Remember: they grew up in different cultures and hold different values, and those cultural values will no doubt find their way to be incarnated in the developers' works. The developers work so hard just to minimize these incarnations in order to create a bridge of understanding between differing cultures, to make their works understandable, enjoyable and acceptable to as many people as they can be, and I for one say that, if nothing else, we should at the very least respect them for that :)
Well, it's nothing important, really. Just, you know, it's about video games. See, I really like to play video games, and most of my favorite video games come from the Land of the Rising Sun (that means Japan, in case you didn't know). However, the fact of the matter remains that the last century has undeniably been the American Century, where people of the United States of America dominate almost all forms of information and communication technology (I'm talking about the Internet).
While I have nothing against Americans personally, there IS something that's bothering me. To no end. And not just people of the USA in particular, but people of the West in general. Now, understand that Japan produces an unbelievable amount of successful video game franchises (such as the Super Mario Bros., Final Fantasy, and my personal favorite, Pokémon). Of course, if a country develops something, it goes without saying that some of its values, its traditions, its stereotypes, will go into their work, consciously or not.
Alright, that's enough background. On to the main point of my blabbering! See, what bothers me is this: when a certain video game franchise becomes famous, it almost always gets exported to other countries, for various reasons. And when that franchise proves to be successful in other countries as well, that franchise has gone global. In other words, it becomes an internationally-recognized franchise, and further development of said franchise will no doubt incorporate this fact in mind.
Designers, programmers and developers alike will then try to create new games, but with the international audience in mind. And so they will most likely tone down the cultural influences in later games, so that those games can be accepted easier by people from outside the developers' home countries, who might not be aware of the commonness or importance of those influences. This is usually the point where franchises start to change, and rather drastically after a while.
What do I mean by "change"? To put it simply, the later games the developers' make will no doubt be different to the earlier games, because the earlier games are usually developed with only the national consumers in mind. But when you have people from all over the world you need to think about, the end result of future games will be quite different indeed. And when that difference becomes so large that it's unignorable/unneglectable (intermezzo: those are not real words), what happens then?
That's right! The stinking, blasted international community, whose cultural sensibilities were being considered carefully by the game developers as to not offend them by clashing cultures, complains about the dramatic change! Really? REALLY?!
...Sorry. I just had to let that out of my chest. Ahem. Continuing on, what I'm trying to say is basically this: you know, if a video game you really like changes over time, and you find yourself in a dilemma because you despise those changes, stop and think about the game developers for a moment. Those developers are working their butts off just to make sure they could produce high-quality games that are innovative and entertaining while at the same time acceptable by most, if not all, peoples in all nations and cultures. IT IS NOT EASY DOING THAT! It is very, very difficult indeed to create something that remains fresh and true to its roots when its roots are difficult to understand by people from other cultures, you know.
*sigh* I'm sorry. Maybe those of you reading this post couldn't care less about what I had to say, but I just had to say it, okay? These consumers, these members of the global audience the game developers are trying so hard to satisfy......how spoiled and unappreciative can you get? I'm not saying you don't have the right to dislike the newer games, no; by all means, to each their own and we all have our rights to like and/or dislike something. Taste is relative, after all. However, I'm just suggesting that, if you want to blame the developers for changing the franchise you hold so dearly, don't be so hard on them. It's hard to create things - works of art, if you will - that can be accepted by the international community.
Remember: they grew up in different cultures and hold different values, and those cultural values will no doubt find their way to be incarnated in the developers' works. The developers work so hard just to minimize these incarnations in order to create a bridge of understanding between differing cultures, to make their works understandable, enjoyable and acceptable to as many people as they can be, and I for one say that, if nothing else, we should at the very least respect them for that :)
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Updates, updates!
HELLO! So.................I know I have once again abandoned this thing for a few months, but hey, I'm back now! And hopefully, with the arrival of 2012, I'll be able to commit to this thing much more! :D Now, I'm not going to say a lot with this post, just some updates and whatnots.
...You know? I'm not even sure WHAT I'm supposed to be updating about. I still haven't gotten the hang of all this "blog about whatever you want" stuff, since I think having a themed blog would be better as it actually HAS a purpose for existing. Hm. Whatever.
Oh yeah, speaking of which, I DO have a themed blog, right here on blogger. It's something I made because I really, really don't know what to talk about here. It's a blog about......well, you'll see what it's about when you try opening http://monsterworlds.blogspot.com. I think the URL itself is already a major giveaway, don't you think? :p
Anyway, to those who know, who are interested, and who actually cares, I have an account on FanFiction.net. In case you don't know what fanfiction is, well, go look it up yourself, because I'm writing this during the night and as you've probably known, I am a horribly, horribly lazy person. So why mention the account anyway? Well, because apparently I have several readers who actually like my story (yeah, singular, 'cause I haven't gotten around to writing a second story), and I would just like to tell nobody in particular that I have decided to update my story once a week starting next week. On Fridays, to be exact.
Also, on that day I'm going to be starting a new story. In other words, I'm going to be writing two fanfics at the same time. Woo-hoo! ^_^ (in case you didn't know, no, it's not anything special, because a lot of fanfic writers work with multiple stories anyway. It's just a pretty big deal for an aspiring writer such as yours truly).
OK, I guess that's it. I have no college life to speak of because, unlike most of my friends, I'm not in any universities yet. So the last thing I can say here is: I have another blog. This certain blog is important, because, like monsterworlds, it has a certain theme, but unlike it, it's a pretty serious thing. If you MUST know what it is, I suppose a riddle wouldn't hurt. Crack this simple wordplay and you'll stumble upon the Clarius:
On an adventure you embark
To find what I write in discreet
You'll find it, though only the Core
Thoughts of a young adventurer
Start from the spot the flag is marked
View the thing that can be complete
I don't think you've seen it before
And I can't rhyme "adventurer"
Well, that's it. I actually have an idea on what else to say here, but I guess I'll save it for next Friday. 'Til then, TTFN! :)
...You know? I'm not even sure WHAT I'm supposed to be updating about. I still haven't gotten the hang of all this "blog about whatever you want" stuff, since I think having a themed blog would be better as it actually HAS a purpose for existing. Hm. Whatever.
Oh yeah, speaking of which, I DO have a themed blog, right here on blogger. It's something I made because I really, really don't know what to talk about here. It's a blog about......well, you'll see what it's about when you try opening http://monsterworlds.blogspot.com. I think the URL itself is already a major giveaway, don't you think? :p
Anyway, to those who know, who are interested, and who actually cares, I have an account on FanFiction.net. In case you don't know what fanfiction is, well, go look it up yourself, because I'm writing this during the night and as you've probably known, I am a horribly, horribly lazy person. So why mention the account anyway? Well, because apparently I have several readers who actually like my story (yeah, singular, 'cause I haven't gotten around to writing a second story), and I would just like to tell nobody in particular that I have decided to update my story once a week starting next week. On Fridays, to be exact.
Also, on that day I'm going to be starting a new story. In other words, I'm going to be writing two fanfics at the same time. Woo-hoo! ^_^ (in case you didn't know, no, it's not anything special, because a lot of fanfic writers work with multiple stories anyway. It's just a pretty big deal for an aspiring writer such as yours truly).
OK, I guess that's it. I have no college life to speak of because, unlike most of my friends, I'm not in any universities yet. So the last thing I can say here is: I have another blog. This certain blog is important, because, like monsterworlds, it has a certain theme, but unlike it, it's a pretty serious thing. If you MUST know what it is, I suppose a riddle wouldn't hurt. Crack this simple wordplay and you'll stumble upon the Clarius:
On an adventure you embark
To find what I write in discreet
You'll find it, though only the Core
Thoughts of a young adventurer
Start from the spot the flag is marked
View the thing that can be complete
I don't think you've seen it before
And I can't rhyme "adventurer"
Well, that's it. I actually have an idea on what else to say here, but I guess I'll save it for next Friday. 'Til then, TTFN! :)
Monday, October 31, 2011
The ages of our toons!
Alright, hi people who I doubt are actually there! First off, I would like to admit that it just occurred to me that a lot of people who blog about personal stuff usually write things when the things are actually there to be blogged about, instead of keeping a deadline for how many posts they need to write in a certain time period (e.g. once a week). Now, I intended to use the latter system, y'know, to keep myself committed to this blog, but then I realized...
...I had nothing to talk about. How about that!
Even so, since I dream of becoming a writer I need to accustom myself to writing a certain amount of stuff in a certain amount of time, but I also need to write sincerely because I have something to write about, instead of just randomly blabbering. This means I need to combine the two systems above. How am I supposed to do that, you ask? Well, surprisingly I found the answer pretty quick: I just need to go out often and get an inspiration to write! Simple. But not that easy, especially since I'm a slave of a very cruel mistress named LAZINESS! :(
Still, I actually do have something to talk about today, so yeay, a topic! :)
Now, I was born in the early 1990s. People my age whose family owned/owns a television and subscribed to several famous international channels should know what I'm talking about when I mention Catdog, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, 2 Stupid Dogs, Hey Arnold!, Yakkity Yak, Rocko's Modern Life, The Angry Beavers, and more. These are some of the 90s cartoons that I used to watch and love, and I know for a fact that a lot of other people around the world share my sentiments. Then
came several more, such as Cartoon Network's famous Cartoon Cartoons group of, well, cartoons! These include Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, Ed Edd n' Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Sheep in the Big City, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and my personal favorite Codename: Kids Next Door. Other enjoyable past cartoons (for me, at least) are Fillmore, The Proud Family, Invader Zim, Dave the Barbarian, Lilo and Stitch, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Chalk Zone, American Dragon: Jake Long, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Mucha Lucha, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Class of 3000, Xiaolin Showdown, Megas XLR, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Samurai Jack, and Kim Possible, in no particular order and just to name a few.
Ahh yes. Good times. Good times. Boy, I'm getting such a premature midlife crisis here.
What's that? What am I trying to say here? Oh right, I need to explain this. Ahem! OK, so basically, the cartoons I mentioned above are old cartoons. By "old", I mean they were at the top of their game (most of them, anyway) during the late 1990s to the early 2000s. All of these cartoons, as far as I know, were aired on either Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, or Nickelodeon, and most of them have either finished their run or were canceled, with only a few of these cartoons airing reruns nowadays and even then on obscure time slots.
Personally to me these old cartoons were great! Some of them, like Samurai Jack, Xiaolin Showdown and Kids Next Door, were beyond great that they reach the level of pure awesomeness! :D And again, I know for a fact that a lot of people in my generation (that is, the kids of the 90s) think the same. To us, these cartoons were some of the best TV shows ever! They were our loyal companions throughout our childhood; always there even when the bullies have taken all our lunch money, the teachers unfairly giving tons of homework, and the parents grounding us for no logical reason. OK, maybe not everyone experienced those but I hope you get my point. Basically, these cartoons were our not-so-imaginary friends, and they stick with us through the good times and bad. Recently, I've been going through the opening themes of all of these cartoons on a certain video-sharing website (it's YouTube), and MAN IS NOSTALGIA POWERFUL! :'") Seriously, taking a walk down memory lane is frightening in that it could make you feel really sad and really happy at the same time. I know that times change and all, but if I could I'd wish I could watch these cartoons all over again. Just to waste my lif - I mean, just for old times' sake.
However, if you have ever been to YouTube, you'll know that all videos have a "comments" section. This can be disabled at the uploader's leisure, but the vids for the opening themes of these old cartoons that I watched still had their comments. And the majority of those comments are something along the lines of "the cartoons of the old days/90s were the best" or "cartoons today suck; kids don't know what they're missing" or "[insert profane curse here] Cartoon Network/Disney/Nick for canceling these shows!" and a lot more stuff that you can find on your own. Now, not that I disagree with the general public on this matter, but in my opinion, people need to start growing up. I loved these cartoons too, believe me I do and will always do, but they've passed and we need to move on. Yes, I know today's cartoons don't match up to the old ones, and yes, I know what the kids of today are missing, but don't you think that's a relative thing? By that I mean it's a matter of personal preference. What kind of cartoons we like is just what we like, and that means other people, the younger generation in particular, don't have to like what we like. We of the 90s need to let the past go here, people! Things change and that change isn't necessarily always up to our personal standards, but they might be the peak of excellence to other people, or in this case, people of another generation.
Also, this is something that's been on my mind for quite a while. Don't you think that these cartoons were so great to us because we grew up with them? I mean, when we're still young, we absorb things much quicker than when we're grown-up, and also we tend to take in the things we see and hear and incorporate it into our own points-of-view. I don't know about you, but to me this means that the cartoons we of the 90s love are loved by us partly because they were aired when we were young enough to be impressed by them, not necessarily because of good quality. In retrospect, I'd call a lot of the above cartoons pretty stupid and nonsensical, but I'd still watch them nonetheless because of sentimental reasons. Do you understand what I'm saying? By extension, it means that the kids of the mid-to-late 2000s (2005 and after) will love many of the cartoons they're growing up with and will presumably hate the newer cartoons that will come out after they've reached adolescence in much the same way as we hate the cartoons of today. If you doubt me, then try to find people of the older generation, like our parents or uncles and aunts, and ask them what they think about our cartoons. The way I figure, not a lot of them will say they liked it, or even understand what it's supposed to be about. That's because they had different means of entertainment when they were young, and those aren't necessarily better or worse than our form of childhood entertainment. That also explains why a lot of old people like to shove "when I was your age..." stories down our ears so much: because, when they were our age, they saw, heard and did things that are sentimentally still attached to them. Now I hope you get my point.
In conclusion, I would just like to say that, first of all, I think I'm a terrible blogger, 'cause I don't write about stuff that good nor do I write often D: And second, about old cartoons. Remember: we of the 90s love them so much because we grew up with them, and the generations above and below us like different things because they grew up with something else. That something else might not be so bad nor good, but in general we just don't like them because they weren't our not-so-imaginary friends from way back when.
...I had nothing to talk about. How about that!
Even so, since I dream of becoming a writer I need to accustom myself to writing a certain amount of stuff in a certain amount of time, but I also need to write sincerely because I have something to write about, instead of just randomly blabbering. This means I need to combine the two systems above. How am I supposed to do that, you ask? Well, surprisingly I found the answer pretty quick: I just need to go out often and get an inspiration to write! Simple. But not that easy, especially since I'm a slave of a very cruel mistress named LAZINESS! :(
Still, I actually do have something to talk about today, so yeay, a topic! :)
Now, I was born in the early 1990s. People my age whose family owned/owns a television and subscribed to several famous international channels should know what I'm talking about when I mention Catdog, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, 2 Stupid Dogs, Hey Arnold!, Yakkity Yak, Rocko's Modern Life, The Angry Beavers, and more. These are some of the 90s cartoons that I used to watch and love, and I know for a fact that a lot of other people around the world share my sentiments. Then
 |
| The Cartoon Cartoons logo |
Ahh yes. Good times. Good times. Boy, I'm getting such a premature midlife crisis here.
What's that? What am I trying to say here? Oh right, I need to explain this. Ahem! OK, so basically, the cartoons I mentioned above are old cartoons. By "old", I mean they were at the top of their game (most of them, anyway) during the late 1990s to the early 2000s. All of these cartoons, as far as I know, were aired on either Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, or Nickelodeon, and most of them have either finished their run or were canceled, with only a few of these cartoons airing reruns nowadays and even then on obscure time slots.
Personally to me these old cartoons were great! Some of them, like Samurai Jack, Xiaolin Showdown and Kids Next Door, were beyond great that they reach the level of pure awesomeness! :D And again, I know for a fact that a lot of people in my generation (that is, the kids of the 90s) think the same. To us, these cartoons were some of the best TV shows ever! They were our loyal companions throughout our childhood; always there even when the bullies have taken all our lunch money, the teachers unfairly giving tons of homework, and the parents grounding us for no logical reason. OK, maybe not everyone experienced those but I hope you get my point. Basically, these cartoons were our not-so-imaginary friends, and they stick with us through the good times and bad. Recently, I've been going through the opening themes of all of these cartoons on a certain video-sharing website (it's YouTube), and MAN IS NOSTALGIA POWERFUL! :'") Seriously, taking a walk down memory lane is frightening in that it could make you feel really sad and really happy at the same time. I know that times change and all, but if I could I'd wish I could watch these cartoons all over again. Just to waste my lif - I mean, just for old times' sake.
 |
| YouTube logo |
However, if you have ever been to YouTube, you'll know that all videos have a "comments" section. This can be disabled at the uploader's leisure, but the vids for the opening themes of these old cartoons that I watched still had their comments. And the majority of those comments are something along the lines of "the cartoons of the old days/90s were the best" or "cartoons today suck; kids don't know what they're missing" or "[insert profane curse here] Cartoon Network/Disney/Nick for canceling these shows!" and a lot more stuff that you can find on your own. Now, not that I disagree with the general public on this matter, but in my opinion, people need to start growing up. I loved these cartoons too, believe me I do and will always do, but they've passed and we need to move on. Yes, I know today's cartoons don't match up to the old ones, and yes, I know what the kids of today are missing, but don't you think that's a relative thing? By that I mean it's a matter of personal preference. What kind of cartoons we like is just what we like, and that means other people, the younger generation in particular, don't have to like what we like. We of the 90s need to let the past go here, people! Things change and that change isn't necessarily always up to our personal standards, but they might be the peak of excellence to other people, or in this case, people of another generation.
Also, this is something that's been on my mind for quite a while. Don't you think that these cartoons were so great to us because we grew up with them? I mean, when we're still young, we absorb things much quicker than when we're grown-up, and also we tend to take in the things we see and hear and incorporate it into our own points-of-view. I don't know about you, but to me this means that the cartoons we of the 90s love are loved by us partly because they were aired when we were young enough to be impressed by them, not necessarily because of good quality. In retrospect, I'd call a lot of the above cartoons pretty stupid and nonsensical, but I'd still watch them nonetheless because of sentimental reasons. Do you understand what I'm saying? By extension, it means that the kids of the mid-to-late 2000s (2005 and after) will love many of the cartoons they're growing up with and will presumably hate the newer cartoons that will come out after they've reached adolescence in much the same way as we hate the cartoons of today. If you doubt me, then try to find people of the older generation, like our parents or uncles and aunts, and ask them what they think about our cartoons. The way I figure, not a lot of them will say they liked it, or even understand what it's supposed to be about. That's because they had different means of entertainment when they were young, and those aren't necessarily better or worse than our form of childhood entertainment. That also explains why a lot of old people like to shove "when I was your age..." stories down our ears so much: because, when they were our age, they saw, heard and did things that are sentimentally still attached to them. Now I hope you get my point.
In conclusion, I would just like to say that, first of all, I think I'm a terrible blogger, 'cause I don't write about stuff that good nor do I write often D: And second, about old cartoons. Remember: we of the 90s love them so much because we grew up with them, and the generations above and below us like different things because they grew up with something else. That something else might not be so bad nor good, but in general we just don't like them because they weren't our not-so-imaginary friends from way back when.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Ummm, hello there. Who am I again?
Ah, that's right. I'm the guy that abandoned this blog for a few months. Well, to anyone who's actually following what I post here (not a lot) and to those who wants to know (also not a lot, I bet), I can explain. No seriously, I can explain, so just stop pointing your fingers and throwing all the blame at my direction!
OK, so listen up: I had come up with a sort of ingenious plan. A few months ago I started to embark on creating a large and secret project that I needed to do by myself. The brilliant idea that I had at the time was that I was gonna use my next post to announce the project when it's finished HERE, on my blog! :D Well, that was the plan, anyways, but I'm very ashamed to admit this (not really) that laziness got the better of me and, though I am three-fifths of the way to my project's completion, made me took a break and I have yet to resume working. Granted, I did have a few things to take care of, but they weren't really anything major, so I'm not making any excuses and hereby admit to the whole virtual world that I. Got. Lazy. Lazy lazy lazy lazy lazy. And because my project wasn't finished yet, I restrained myself from posting anything new.
Well, there it is. Ta-dah! The reason behind my absence. See, I told you I had an explanation. OK hey, I never said it was a GOOD explanation. Whether you find it stupid, pitiful, amusing, impressive or whatever, that's all I can say, really. But! Rest assured, I have now (planned to) start working again, because a certain date is coming up and I would like to present my finished work to a special someone on their birthday (oops, you didn't need to know that!). So there! Instead of announcing my finished project, I am now posting to announce that I have beaten the crap out of my laziness! Hah-hah!
In a somewhat related news, I have decided to create a second blog, right here on blogger! Why, you ask? Because in case you haven't noticed, this blog is simply for random personal things in my life, and I had some other interesting ideas that are much more thematic, so I made the second blog as a place for me to ramble about those thematic ideas. I don't have to give you the link to it, because I'm a total jerk!
Psyche, not really. I haven't actually made a post in my new blog, so you don't have to bother checking it out. Yet. And besides, I'm pretty doubtful that a lot of people would come and visit my new blog, so yeah, I'll get to posting my first post and I guess I'll see what happens from that point on.
Well, that's all I have to say, for now. But, just to add something to this post to showcase more random personal stuff from my life, I'll throw in one extra topic: the Red Hot Chili Peppers' new album! To those who don't know and have the slightest interest, the Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) is a band, a funk-rock band from the USA. Well, they have combined multiple genres during their career actually, but anywho, what I'm trying to say is that I have a fascination with this band. In fact, I have repeatedly named them as my third favorite band. If you've read a previous post of mine, you'll know that Linkin Park tops my list, but I haven't mentioned which band is the runner-up. I'll post about that later.
So, back to RHCP's newest album. It's their first album since their longtime guitarist, John Frusciante, left RHCP, which made many fans around the world worry about how RHCP is going to turn out. Long story short, John was an invaluable member of the Chili Peppers, with whom the band made their best-selling and most successful albums, but he's gone now and there's nothing we (I) can do about it.
To fill in John's shoes, a new guitarist has joined the ranks of the Chili Peppers, a young fellow by name of Josh Klinghoffer. Now, Josh was an old friend of John's and has toured with the Chili Peppers before, so I believe RHCP knew who they were choosing, but that still didn't reassure most fans, primarily because RHCP's bassist, Michael Balzary, better known as Flea, is almost-universally acclaimed to be one of the best rock bassists that has ever existed, and some people worry that Josh wouldn't be able to keep up with his skills the way John managed to for the last three albums. Now that their newest album, titled "I'm With You", has been released, and after listening to it nonstop for the past week, I hereby declare, with all the power of an anonymous person vested in me by the Internet, that Josh Klinghoffer is an EXCELLENT guitarist and deserves his spot on the Red Hot Chili Peppers! Note that I refrain from saying "replace John", because frankly, even though I'm not much of a guitar person, I respected John very much and the synergy he brought to the band, and I feel like he will always be, at least in spirit, a part of the Chili Peppers to the very end no matter what, so no, he will never be replaced, but Josh is an exceptionally good addition. OK, I know I can't really decide all that just by listening to one album, but he's doing good so far. Keep it up, Josh! :D
To end tonight's nonsense, I wish to personally thank you for no reason whatsoever. If you're willing to keep reading my posts in the future, please bear with my random silliness as that is, as I have been told, one of my stranger but more effective charms! ;) So thank you very much, sorry that I have been a lazy bum, and see you later, friends!
- Writer, to readers.
Ah, that's right. I'm the guy that abandoned this blog for a few months. Well, to anyone who's actually following what I post here (not a lot) and to those who wants to know (also not a lot, I bet), I can explain. No seriously, I can explain, so just stop pointing your fingers and throwing all the blame at my direction!
OK, so listen up: I had come up with a sort of ingenious plan. A few months ago I started to embark on creating a large and secret project that I needed to do by myself. The brilliant idea that I had at the time was that I was gonna use my next post to announce the project when it's finished HERE, on my blog! :D Well, that was the plan, anyways, but I'm very ashamed to admit this (not really) that laziness got the better of me and, though I am three-fifths of the way to my project's completion, made me took a break and I have yet to resume working. Granted, I did have a few things to take care of, but they weren't really anything major, so I'm not making any excuses and hereby admit to the whole virtual world that I. Got. Lazy. Lazy lazy lazy lazy lazy. And because my project wasn't finished yet, I restrained myself from posting anything new.
Well, there it is. Ta-dah! The reason behind my absence. See, I told you I had an explanation. OK hey, I never said it was a GOOD explanation. Whether you find it stupid, pitiful, amusing, impressive or whatever, that's all I can say, really. But! Rest assured, I have now (planned to) start working again, because a certain date is coming up and I would like to present my finished work to a special someone on their birthday (oops, you didn't need to know that!). So there! Instead of announcing my finished project, I am now posting to announce that I have beaten the crap out of my laziness! Hah-hah!
In a somewhat related news, I have decided to create a second blog, right here on blogger! Why, you ask? Because in case you haven't noticed, this blog is simply for random personal things in my life, and I had some other interesting ideas that are much more thematic, so I made the second blog as a place for me to ramble about those thematic ideas. I don't have to give you the link to it, because I'm a total jerk!
Psyche, not really. I haven't actually made a post in my new blog, so you don't have to bother checking it out. Yet. And besides, I'm pretty doubtful that a lot of people would come and visit my new blog, so yeah, I'll get to posting my first post and I guess I'll see what happens from that point on.
Well, that's all I have to say, for now. But, just to add something to this post to showcase more random personal stuff from my life, I'll throw in one extra topic: the Red Hot Chili Peppers' new album! To those who don't know and have the slightest interest, the Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) is a band, a funk-rock band from the USA. Well, they have combined multiple genres during their career actually, but anywho, what I'm trying to say is that I have a fascination with this band. In fact, I have repeatedly named them as my third favorite band. If you've read a previous post of mine, you'll know that Linkin Park tops my list, but I haven't mentioned which band is the runner-up. I'll post about that later.
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| John Frusciante. Courtesy of Google Images. |
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| Josh Klinghoffer. Courtesy of Google Images. |
To end tonight's nonsense, I wish to personally thank you for no reason whatsoever. If you're willing to keep reading my posts in the future, please bear with my random silliness as that is, as I have been told, one of my stranger but more effective charms! ;) So thank you very much, sorry that I have been a lazy bum, and see you later, friends!
- Writer, to readers.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
"The Boss"
So there was this body. One day, all of the body parts were having an argument. They were trying to decide who gets to be the boss of the whole body, but the thing is everyone wanted to be the boss.
"We carry you guys everywhere all the time. We carry your weight, and without us you can't go anywhere. So we should get to be the boss." The feet said.
"But without us, you can't do anything; you can't write, you can't type, you can't grab stuff. We deserve to be the boss." The hands argued.
"Ah, but I do all the thinking around here. Without me, you wouldn't have a clue as to what to do. And is that not what it takes to be the boss?" The brain continued.
More and more body parts complained. The eyes said that without them, the body can't see the world. The mouth said it was the most important thing in communicating with other bodies. The tongue said it was key to enjoying food, and played a role in digestion. The nose said it smelled everything, and without it the body can't get oxygen. On and on it went, and no one seemed interested in relenting.
Among the wave of voices, the anus spoke up as well. "I should be the boss, because I expel all the dirty and harmful stuff from our body." It said, proud and loud. Upon hearing this, everyone, all of the other body parts, burst out into laughter. All of them found the anus's exclamation to be hilarious, and none of them took the anus seriously. I mean, hey, an anus? They all couldn't stop laughing at it, thinking it was a foolish statement.
The anus was deeply offended by their reaction, so it did the simplest of things in response: it went on strike. How? Well, it shut itself. Literally; the buttock's two cheeks now stuck themselves to each other, so that nothing could pass through. In no time at all, the body became purple and fell really ill, because it could not excrete anything. So, in order to appease the anus (and so the body wouldn't die of not pooping), they let him be the boss.
The moral of this story is: you don't need brains to be the boss; any asshole would do. All he does is just sit there and pass out shit.
You can also change the anus into the penis. Then, the moral of that story would be: you don't need brains to be the boss; any other dickhead would do. All he does is just stand around and piss you off.
Writer's note: Sorry for the offensive language, but I'm sure you all know that it's necessary for the joke to work :p By the way, a teacher told me this joke and he said he got them from somewhere else, so it's not mine, got it? Lastly, I hope you all find this amusing and inspiring!
Dedicated to all the people in the world whose underlings believe they are incompetent and/or just plain annoying.
"We carry you guys everywhere all the time. We carry your weight, and without us you can't go anywhere. So we should get to be the boss." The feet said.
"But without us, you can't do anything; you can't write, you can't type, you can't grab stuff. We deserve to be the boss." The hands argued.
"Ah, but I do all the thinking around here. Without me, you wouldn't have a clue as to what to do. And is that not what it takes to be the boss?" The brain continued.
More and more body parts complained. The eyes said that without them, the body can't see the world. The mouth said it was the most important thing in communicating with other bodies. The tongue said it was key to enjoying food, and played a role in digestion. The nose said it smelled everything, and without it the body can't get oxygen. On and on it went, and no one seemed interested in relenting.
Among the wave of voices, the anus spoke up as well. "I should be the boss, because I expel all the dirty and harmful stuff from our body." It said, proud and loud. Upon hearing this, everyone, all of the other body parts, burst out into laughter. All of them found the anus's exclamation to be hilarious, and none of them took the anus seriously. I mean, hey, an anus? They all couldn't stop laughing at it, thinking it was a foolish statement.
The anus was deeply offended by their reaction, so it did the simplest of things in response: it went on strike. How? Well, it shut itself. Literally; the buttock's two cheeks now stuck themselves to each other, so that nothing could pass through. In no time at all, the body became purple and fell really ill, because it could not excrete anything. So, in order to appease the anus (and so the body wouldn't die of not pooping), they let him be the boss.
The moral of this story is: you don't need brains to be the boss; any asshole would do. All he does is just sit there and pass out shit.
You can also change the anus into the penis. Then, the moral of that story would be: you don't need brains to be the boss; any other dickhead would do. All he does is just stand around and piss you off.
Writer's note: Sorry for the offensive language, but I'm sure you all know that it's necessary for the joke to work :p By the way, a teacher told me this joke and he said he got them from somewhere else, so it's not mine, got it? Lastly, I hope you all find this amusing and inspiring!
Dedicated to all the people in the world whose underlings believe they are incompetent and/or just plain annoying.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Aah, nostalgia. Few things can beat that feeling, am I right? ;D Well, I kinda have been getting a nostalgic feeling lately. About what, you ask? Oh nothing, just my two favorite teenage situation comedy series ever! And they are: That's So Raven and Drake and Josh!
That's So Raven. Anyone who's ever flicked their remote button to switch to Disney Channel a few years ago must know what this series is, and why I am so obsessing over it. That's So Raven is basically about a teenage girl named Raven Baxter (played by Raven-Symoné) who, well, is just your average almost-ordinary teenage girl trying to live life, date the cute guys, avoid the occasional bullies, cheat ("study") for tests, have parties behind her parents' backs, keep her little brother under control, and figure out how to live life to the fullest. But there's a twist: she is actually a psychic, who has the ability to see the future with almost 100% accuracy, what the show calls her 'visions', although she can't control where and when she will get a vision (the funny thing is, she always makes a silly face whenever she gets these visions). It's her biggest secret, an only her family and closest friends know this.
Now, this series mainly revolves around the antics of Raven and her friends and family and all the trouble they cause. Sometimes her visions help her, but most of the time they just provide her with vague images, often bugging her to no end about what the visions meant. She will always, always get into trouble, and she will almost certainly don a funny disguise to help her fix it. What I love about this series is, well, first and foremost is its sense of humor, of course. Never fails to make me roll over with laughter, this show :D But it's actually more to how they present the comedy rather than the comedy itself. I don't know how to describe it, maybe because I'm not really a good reviewer (sorry about that), but personally I found That's So Raven to be hilarious, even more so than average teenage sitcoms. True entertainment for the teenage soul that's looking for a good laugh! :-)
Drake and Josh. This is yet another excellent teenage sitcom, aired on Nickelodeon. It's about two two teenage boys, Drake Parker (played by Drake Bell) and Josh Nichols (played by Josh Peck), whose mom and dad respectively get married. So what happens? The two boys become stepbrothers, but they immediately find the other guy is more than they can handle. Drake is naturally easygoing, fun-loving, and mischievous. He loves to joke around, lies a lot, plays the guitar in a band and dates a lot (a lot) of girls. While Josh, he's your stereotypical honor student/nerd: hardworker, studies all the time, talks too much, has weird geeky likes and doesn't go out much. He works in a theater, loves the local science fair, hates to workout and can panic easily. The two brothers don't really have much in common, so initially they argue about every single little thing in their brand new household: bathroom privileges, privacy issues, personal habits, and later on things like who gets to use the car, how to get into parties, etc.
The show mainly revolves around the lives of these brothers, and how they have to find a way to be able to live with each other without driving the other guy nuts. And that's pretty hard, considering both Drake and Josh find each other irritating, to say the least. But with time, they come to love each other and treat them as family (but not a normal one, at that!). One unique thing here is that, at the beginning of each episode, both Drake and Josh will be talking about something that's somehow relevant to that episode, in different frames and talking to us, the viewers. And it's always very nicely done. But above all, the thing I love most about Drake and Josh is that it actually teaches me something: how to be family to someone. Because they're originally unrelated, they have to start from scratch, and I was lucky enough to see a true process of becoming family, with all the good humor, pranks, magic tricks and hot girls along the way. It also teaches me the true value of brotherhood and how to tolerate people who are different. Really, my favorite episode was just simply touching. This show is one of the best that I have ever watched. Stupendous! :-)
Well, sadly both series have come to an end now, although you might find reruns playing on their respective channels, depending on where you live. I guess all good things must come to an end, huh? Ahh, but those old days were more than satisfying for me. I highly recommend these two series to anyone who enjoys a good laugh and likes to watch teenage sitcoms. Trust me, you'll probably learn a thing or two. Wish I could say the same to the two shows' spin-off series, though.
That's So Raven. Anyone who's ever flicked their remote button to switch to Disney Channel a few years ago must know what this series is, and why I am so obsessing over it. That's So Raven is basically about a teenage girl named Raven Baxter (played by Raven-Symoné) who, well, is just your average almost-ordinary teenage girl trying to live life, date the cute guys, avoid the occasional bullies, cheat ("study") for tests, have parties behind her parents' backs, keep her little brother under control, and figure out how to live life to the fullest. But there's a twist: she is actually a psychic, who has the ability to see the future with almost 100% accuracy, what the show calls her 'visions', although she can't control where and when she will get a vision (the funny thing is, she always makes a silly face whenever she gets these visions). It's her biggest secret, an only her family and closest friends know this.
Drake and Josh. This is yet another excellent teenage sitcom, aired on Nickelodeon. It's about two two teenage boys, Drake Parker (played by Drake Bell) and Josh Nichols (played by Josh Peck), whose mom and dad respectively get married. So what happens? The two boys become stepbrothers, but they immediately find the other guy is more than they can handle. Drake is naturally easygoing, fun-loving, and mischievous. He loves to joke around, lies a lot, plays the guitar in a band and dates a lot (a lot) of girls. While Josh, he's your stereotypical honor student/nerd: hardworker, studies all the time, talks too much, has weird geeky likes and doesn't go out much. He works in a theater, loves the local science fair, hates to workout and can panic easily. The two brothers don't really have much in common, so initially they argue about every single little thing in their brand new household: bathroom privileges, privacy issues, personal habits, and later on things like who gets to use the car, how to get into parties, etc.
The show mainly revolves around the lives of these brothers, and how they have to find a way to be able to live with each other without driving the other guy nuts. And that's pretty hard, considering both Drake and Josh find each other irritating, to say the least. But with time, they come to love each other and treat them as family (but not a normal one, at that!). One unique thing here is that, at the beginning of each episode, both Drake and Josh will be talking about something that's somehow relevant to that episode, in different frames and talking to us, the viewers. And it's always very nicely done. But above all, the thing I love most about Drake and Josh is that it actually teaches me something: how to be family to someone. Because they're originally unrelated, they have to start from scratch, and I was lucky enough to see a true process of becoming family, with all the good humor, pranks, magic tricks and hot girls along the way. It also teaches me the true value of brotherhood and how to tolerate people who are different. Really, my favorite episode was just simply touching. This show is one of the best that I have ever watched. Stupendous! :-)Well, sadly both series have come to an end now, although you might find reruns playing on their respective channels, depending on where you live. I guess all good things must come to an end, huh? Ahh, but those old days were more than satisfying for me. I highly recommend these two series to anyone who enjoys a good laugh and likes to watch teenage sitcoms. Trust me, you'll probably learn a thing or two. Wish I could say the same to the two shows' spin-off series, though.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Yesterday I watched my favorite band, Linkin Park, perform live in Brazil on MTV World Stage 2010. And man, were they AWESOME! :D They deserve every right to top my favorite bands list. I mean, seriously, these guys are just way too good for their own good! Oh, what I'd give to see a Linkin Park concert directly...
Ahem, but anyway, back to the topic! So as I was saying, they played really good. No wait, that was an understatement. They played FANTASTIC! Since their very first album (Hybrid Theory) I already loved all their songs! This lineup --> Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda, Dave 'Phoenix' Farrel, Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Joseph 'Mr.' Hahn <-- is the best in my musical world! I especially love how Chester and Mika can sing interchangeably in many of their songs, when they have such different singing styles (evident in the different sounds between Fort Minor, which is Mike's side project, and Dead By Sunrise, which is Chester's side project), and still be so harmonic! They're both unique singers in their own rights as well, each with their own specialties: Chester can do what I like to call "screamsinging" (screaming melodically), and Mike's raps are really neatly put together. In my opinion, the best example of the harmony between the duo's singing can be heard in their single In The End. My favorite song in all of Hybrid Theory!
Speaking of favorite songs, the best part of yesterday's concert was actually the fact that, somehow, LP played all four of my favorite songs from all four of their studio albums straight in a row! It started with Breaking The Habit from Meteora, then The Catalyst from their newest album A Thousand Suns, then In The End from Hybrid Theory, and What I've Done from Minutes To Midnight! Boy, that was probably one of the most amazing surprises this year. I don't know how and I don't know why it happened, but in any case it made me VERY happy. It was like it was an LP concert just for me (although I know it wasn't). And to think that some people don't believe in miracles...
While I'm on it, I wanna rant about something: Linkin Park's fourth album A Thousand Suns and, to a lesser extent, their third album Minutes To Midnight. Now, these two albums strayed from their previous genres. In my opinion, they moved from a nu metal sound to a more alternative rock kind of thing. It was really different, but I love all their albums nonetheless. What I don't get is that a lot of people that claim to be LP fans consider A Thousand Suns junk, or something like that. So many flamers and haters and trolls out there that abandon LP just because they experimented with new things, saying they miss the old LP and that LP today are sell-outs. Well I for one say that, if you are a true fan of anything, you'd stick with them, be loyal and show them your support. Yeah, I also prefer the older LP albums but I love their new ones as well, because (this is my actual point right here) I love Linkin Park (and thus all their work), not just Hybrid Theory or Meteora. If you only like the older albums and can't deal with the fact that their growing up, then don't call yourself a true fan. Of anything. With time, people change, and bands are just a group of people, so of course naturally they'd change too, sooner or later. And I approve Linkin Park's changes. It just goes to show how creative, flexible and versatile they are.
Well, I myself am growing tired of typing for this one post. But I will NEVER get tired of listening to Linkin Park songs! >:D So yeah, I guess I'll stop here for now. And to all you people reading this, I have but one advice: if you enjoy rock/metal and you haven't listened to LP, go and do it. Like, now.
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| The legends themselves! |
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| Linkin Park's new logo |
While I'm on it, I wanna rant about something: Linkin Park's fourth album A Thousand Suns and, to a lesser extent, their third album Minutes To Midnight. Now, these two albums strayed from their previous genres. In my opinion, they moved from a nu metal sound to a more alternative rock kind of thing. It was really different, but I love all their albums nonetheless. What I don't get is that a lot of people that claim to be LP fans consider A Thousand Suns junk, or something like that. So many flamers and haters and trolls out there that abandon LP just because they experimented with new things, saying they miss the old LP and that LP today are sell-outs. Well I for one say that, if you are a true fan of anything, you'd stick with them, be loyal and show them your support. Yeah, I also prefer the older LP albums but I love their new ones as well, because (this is my actual point right here) I love Linkin Park (and thus all their work), not just Hybrid Theory or Meteora. If you only like the older albums and can't deal with the fact that their growing up, then don't call yourself a true fan. Of anything. With time, people change, and bands are just a group of people, so of course naturally they'd change too, sooner or later. And I approve Linkin Park's changes. It just goes to show how creative, flexible and versatile they are.
Well, I myself am growing tired of typing for this one post. But I will NEVER get tired of listening to Linkin Park songs! >:D So yeah, I guess I'll stop here for now. And to all you people reading this, I have but one advice: if you enjoy rock/metal and you haven't listened to LP, go and do it. Like, now.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Well, this has been a somewhat bizarre week. Firstly, I get to discover that the Monday episode of Fairy Tail just so happens to be the last episode of season 1! Man, what a bummer. I mean, right at the beginning of the week! >:( And you know what was even more irritating? The fact that the preview for the next episode WAS THERE! Imagine that! I have to wait God-knows how long for the second season, but I already have a picture of what the first episode is gonna be. Talk about leaving you hanging over a cliff...
But oh well, I guess I can wait. In the meantime, I just have to satisfy myself by doing other things, such as reading Air Gear online! Now, I am a huge fan of books, and normally I go against the idea of reading comics online (for the simple reason that I don't get that same feeling as when I'm holding a book open in the palm of my hands), but since I don't actually read Air Gear on comic format, I started reading it on Mangafox. One word: epic. Truly a comic for the typical teenage boy and more. Sure, there might be some odd physics theories whose authenticity I doubt, and that in my opinion it contains way too much ecchi, but overall everything about Air Gear is just superb! Spectacular! A great masterpiece by Oh! great (Real name: Ogure Ito) about the ideas of dreams, freedom, flying in the sky and more. I think this manga can easily claim the No. 2 spot on my list of favorite mangas, if I had bothered to make such a list ^^
Oh yeah, that reminds me. Actually, I'm not supposed to be reading too much manga right now, since the end-of-the-semester tests are over and remedial week (yup, it's a week for improving your scores through remedial tests) is in. And boy, did I get quite a lot of remedials! :| See, I'm supposed to be studying now for them, but personally, I just don't see the point. I mean, I already know what I'm going to do with my life and it has little to nothing to do with high school-level Physics and Chemistry. And Mathematics at that. It's not like I'm failing at the subjects which I consider important or interesting for my chosen future profession. So really, with all due respect to my teachers: I don't give a damn about the tests. I crave knowledge, not scores. If I need the knowledge later on, I'll study for them. But that doesn't mean I have to take examinations.
Lastly, I participated in a high school English debating competition again, after quite a while. And boy, was I ever rusty! :( I hadn't had the chance to polish myself after some time, and that was evident in my performance these last couple of days. And not to sound like a sore loser, but it was my first time in British Parliamentary system (I have the Bakrie University to thank for that), so I think that played a part in creating difficulties as well. But it wasn't all that bad. My school's team made it to the semifinals, so I could say that I learned a few useful things in this competition. In other news, one of my juniors (Muhammad Arifian Adin) topped another branch of the competition, the diplomatic simulation. He was representing the country of Brazil in a meeting concerning green economy. Congrats to you, Rif! :D
Well, I suppose that's all for this week. I wonder if there's anything significant that happened that I'm forgetting to write about here...Hmm. I don't think so. There's only one other thing that comes to my mind and I'm keeping that to myself! Ha! So that's it for now and, umm...see ya!
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| The cover for the 1st volume of Air Gear |
Oh yeah, that reminds me. Actually, I'm not supposed to be reading too much manga right now, since the end-of-the-semester tests are over and remedial week (yup, it's a week for improving your scores through remedial tests) is in. And boy, did I get quite a lot of remedials! :| See, I'm supposed to be studying now for them, but personally, I just don't see the point. I mean, I already know what I'm going to do with my life and it has little to nothing to do with high school-level Physics and Chemistry. And Mathematics at that. It's not like I'm failing at the subjects which I consider important or interesting for my chosen future profession. So really, with all due respect to my teachers: I don't give a damn about the tests. I crave knowledge, not scores. If I need the knowledge later on, I'll study for them. But that doesn't mean I have to take examinations.
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| December Rocks 2010 by Bakrie University |
Well, I suppose that's all for this week. I wonder if there's anything significant that happened that I'm forgetting to write about here...Hmm. I don't think so. There's only one other thing that comes to my mind and I'm keeping that to myself! Ha! So that's it for now and, umm...see ya!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Well hey there! Recently, I had been thinking about what kind of things other than a week-recap I should babble about here. I mean, hey, as far as I know, blogs can be just about anything, right? :D So that's why I decided to write about something right here right now.
But then came a problem: What was I going to write about? Basically, after watching a bunch of One Piece AMVs on YouTube last night (hey, I was bored!), I got this somewhat BRILLIANT idea of making the most basic of basic lists: a list of my favorite things! ^_^
Without further ado, here are some of my favorite things in the world:
1. My favorite food: Seafood!
2. My favorite drink: Milk!
3. My favorite activity (hobby): Reading books!
4. My favorite novelist: Matthew Reilly!
5. My favorite manga: One Piece!
6. My favorite band: Linkin Park!
9. My favorite science subject: Biology!
10. My favorite subject: English!
11. My favorite element: Fire!
12. My favorite animal: Cats, especially lions!
13. My favorite children's books author: Dr. Seuss!
14. My favorite video game company: Square Enix!
15. My favorite movie company: Pixar!
16. My favorite fruit(s): Oranges, bananas!
17. My favorite number(s): 7, 11, 13!
18. My favorite Western superhero: Spider-Man!
19. My favorite mythical creature: Dragons!
20. My favorite quotation: "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." - Albert Einstein
Well, I guess that's it for now. If I ever feel like it, maybe I'll make another list of 'my favorites', on lesser things. 'Til then, thanks a million for reading this! :-)
But then came a problem: What was I going to write about? Basically, after watching a bunch of One Piece AMVs on YouTube last night (hey, I was bored!), I got this somewhat BRILLIANT idea of making the most basic of basic lists: a list of my favorite things! ^_^
Without further ado, here are some of my favorite things in the world:
1. My favorite food: Seafood!
2. My favorite drink: Milk!
3. My favorite activity (hobby): Reading books!
4. My favorite novelist: Matthew Reilly!
5. My favorite manga: One Piece!
6. My favorite band: Linkin Park!
7. My favorite video game franchise(s): Harvest Moon, Kingdom Hearts, Pokémon!
8. My favorite color(s): Red, golden, aquamarine!9. My favorite science subject: Biology!
10. My favorite subject: English!
11. My favorite element: Fire!
12. My favorite animal: Cats, especially lions!
13. My favorite children's books author: Dr. Seuss!
14. My favorite video game company: Square Enix!
15. My favorite movie company: Pixar!
16. My favorite fruit(s): Oranges, bananas!
17. My favorite number(s): 7, 11, 13!
18. My favorite Western superhero: Spider-Man!
19. My favorite mythical creature: Dragons!
20. My favorite quotation: "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." - Albert Einstein
Well, I guess that's it for now. If I ever feel like it, maybe I'll make another list of 'my favorites', on lesser things. 'Til then, thanks a million for reading this! :-)
Sunday, December 5, 2010
I've decided on something: I'm gonna update this blog at least once a week! Well, not that there's really currently anyone interested in reading this blog, but, yeah well, you know, I guess it could be a good practice for self-commitment and all :D And I've decided to do it in a kind of week-recap format, so I'll be posting about things that happened on that week. So that means I'll update this thing every weekend then. Very possibly Saturday, Jakarta mean time.
SO! Here is the entry for this week. Or rather, the things that happened up to this point:
1. I finally finished reading the second Skulduggery Pleasant novel: Playing With Fire by Derek Landy! Hmm, I first bought the first book during a cultural-exchange trip to Malaysia. I fell in love with it instantly :D Now, after more than three years after that, I have found, and definitely bought, the three novels after it! All thanks to my good friend Putri Widya Utami (love ya so much, P!). This series is crazily fun, and I just admire how the second book was able to build upon the concepts of the first book so well! I do believe I'm developing a crush on Valkyrie Cain right now :p Will start reading the third book in a few days. Hope it will be even better! :-)
1. I finally finished reading the second Skulduggery Pleasant novel: Playing With Fire by Derek Landy! Hmm, I first bought the first book during a cultural-exchange trip to Malaysia. I fell in love with it instantly :D Now, after more than three years after that, I have found, and definitely bought, the three novels after it! All thanks to my good friend Putri Widya Utami (love ya so much, P!). This series is crazily fun, and I just admire how the second book was able to build upon the concepts of the first book so well! I do believe I'm developing a crush on Valkyrie Cain right now :p Will start reading the third book in a few days. Hope it will be even better! :-)
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| The 3rd Skulduggery Pleasant novel |
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| The 1st Skulduggery Pleasant novel |
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| The 2nd Skulduggery Pleasant novel |
2. As usual, I watched Fairy Tail (anime) on Animax this week. Now is the part where Natsu and Gajeel (yes, this is how his name was translated in my country) are fighting Laxus, who (as I proudly announce that I correctly guessed that he is a dragon slayer) is invoking the Fairy Law as I type this. By the way, I have to say that during the Tower of Heaven arc of the story (which I have yet to read), almost all of the fight scenes were absolutely epic! Starting from Erza vs Ikaruga onwards, and especially Erza vs Jellal (don't ask)! Wondrous! :D I was right to choose Erza as my favorite Fairy Tail heroine. Let's see what happens next!
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