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hmm...
2006-08-03 21:43:44
Heat died down and the really loud posts have been privatized. Now if we could just get that on the forums there's be no need for mods. 0-0
I don't really see how a "I hate seeing friends uber-pimp vids they like while others go unnoticed" rant turned into a "wmm sucks" debate. We already know it sucks. It's in the banners, in sigs, and in the insta-posts everytime someone admits to using the program. Note - they admit it like you admit you don't change your socks every day. Dirty little secret. There's no point defending it because, seriously, there's no excuse for not changing your socks everyday.
I don't bother defending wmm anymore. Because when a wmm user defends the program, they're really just defending themselves and their work. Someone says wmm sucks, they're saying videos made with the program suck, and people who willingly use the program suck. Only those who've never used it can defend the program as an entity - anyone else is just blasting back at people who think they suck.
I realized that eventually. I'll still refer people to the program (quietly, by pm these days), and I'll share tips I've learned with those who choose to or feel forced to use the program. But I'm not going to spend another minute defending my work. Someone says wmm sucks, I just try to make a note to remember that person and not push my sucky work on them anymore. My Premiere 6.0 vids suck as much as, if not more than, my wmm vids did, so I know it's me they're insulting and not the program I used.
There used to be a time when people would point to MexicanJunior as proof that not all wmm users suck. He's too nice, has too many friends, and has too many enjoyable videos for the "wmm sucks" crowd to argue after his name is dropped. I haven't seen that in the forum in over a year. I guess after a 'non-sucky wmm user' moves on to a different program it's easier to pretend he never existed - and to continue the 'all wmm sucks' trend. I still like my vids, I still like MJ's wmm vids, and I still like new vids that come out using the program. I think the program itself sucks in comparison to some programs, but I don't think the videos do or the editors who use the program. I don't think it's worth it to try and convince other people to agree with me. I'm really not sure why others continue to defend their use of wmm. If someone tells you to your face that you suck, is there really a point in trying to convince them otherwise?
Just accept that they don't think you're good enough. You can either get good enough so maybe they'll stop telling you that you suck, or you ignore them and continue doing what you like. Your other alternative is to go hang out with those who don't think you suck (probably because they suck as much as you do). I'm more the middleroad type person. I avoid and ignore (as long as they're insulting *just* me - I don't want to see them attacking friends too timid to defend themselves and too new to know they can ignore the attack). I won't waste time trying to be good enough for them, and I won't waste time trying to convice them they're wrong in their opinion of me. I'm not going to find myself a group of equally sucky friends so I feel better about myself, either. I like what I like, I don't like what I don't like, and I'm old enough to know that just because I don't like something that doesn't mean it's flawed - it means my opinion is different. And I'm okay with that. This is just a hobby to me. I have people I like who make vids I don't like and I have editors whose work I like despite hating them (as people) with a fiery passion. As long as I'm enjoying myself it doesn't matter. It's probably easier if you're antisocial. You can jump in and defend whenever you feel like it or you can walk away. I don't think I've hurt anyone's feelings since I joined this site (or any other online group), so it's not like anything I do - or don't do - will make a difference after I quit.
Hobbies are nice that way. This isn't high school. I don't have to guppy around after the greats, or slunk along with the losers, or even sniff from the sidelines with the oddities. I can just turn off my computer and all that petty stuff goes away. Or better yet, I can just go to a different site. This is the internet. ;p -
re: aim
2006-08-01 17:04:37
Instant messengers are like telephones. I don't use them unless I have something to say to someone and that's the only way to get ahold of them. Even when I get online to speak to one person in particular, I end up with four+ windows open, unable to follow all the discussions at once, and the next thing I know I've spent hours chatting about nothing in particular. It's especially bad when someone new IM's me, we chat for an hour or so, and then three months later that person emails me and I have no idea who they are because I probably talked to four new people that one night I went on aim, all about similar topics. It's very awkward.
I'll get on aim when I'm bored sometimes, just to pop into the old chatroom and feel nostalgic when there's no one there. I pop into the irc chatroom, too, to lurk and read weird topics while I'm doing long stuff like compressing or ripping footage. Most of the time I don't mess with any of that stuff unless someone happens to PM me when I'm bored asking to chat on aim for a while. That's pretty rare, since I tend to be bored off and on so randomly no one else hits the "I'm so bored I could talk about nothing for hours" stage at the same time as I do. I almost never let myself be bored for more than an hour, and since few people talk on aim for a half hour (and *just* a half hour), I avoid it altogether. -
Tonberry fell over...
2006-08-01 15:54:03
Poor Tonberry. :(
So I started a new FF8 game a few days ago because I wanted to get back into the spirit of the game (so I could incorporate a certain task into a fic). And I got caught up in playing again. At first I was doing the whole "card the monsters so you get the items, the spells, the AP, without your level rising so the monsters you fight remain as weak as ever" approach. Then I got sidetracked with cardgames - that damn prison guy gave me SIX Rosetta Stones. Six. WTF. I remember the first time I heard you could get rosetta stones from him (the guy on level 11 of the prison, who charges 200gil per game) I played 100 rounds before I finally got one. I'd never heard you could get two, but on my third time playing that section of the game, I got two of them after 90 games with Zell and 20 with Squall. This time I decided to just keep playing till I got enough Elnoyle cards to get my weapons later (energy crystals). Well...I got plenty of useful cards. I'm really good at the whole card game thing. But I also got 4 rosetta stones with Zell. And then when I stopped back by with Squall I got two more of the things. Clearly there's no limit at all. That's almost annoying - they're supposed to be really hard to get and here I have more than I can use. I can't even sell the stupid things for two more discs because it would be a waste of money (I'm waiting for the "sell high" option).
Somewhere along the line of using cards to make my characters stronger (while carding monsters and not rising in exp level), I realized how useful the Elastoid cards are. One gets you a steel pipe, which gets you an aura stone, and aura is the most powerful spell you can junction (besides being really nice for quick battles - Lion Heart as soon as you're done with Fisherman's Horizon, since I can never seem to get my Dragon Fangs from T-Rexaur). That whole "card the Elastoids" made it easy to get lots of Laser Canons, too, so I didn't have to waste my energy crystals to get the necessary Pulse Ammo. So now I'm off fighting Tonberry's and waiting for the King to show up. I'm not sure which approach I want to take this time.
The last time I played I wanted to get through it as quickly and easily as possible so I Darkside'd Squall into yellow and Lion Heart'ed every single one until the King showed up, then kept right on until he died, too. I remember it took about an hour compared to how long it takes using Diablos to fight each Tonberry. Squall didn't even need to be at a high level - I'm guessing Lion Heart just comes up more often when facing Tonberry's and GF bosses. This time I have aura spells, so I'm thinking about using those instead of keeping Squall in the yellow and using the other two to keep him alive while he does all the fast killing.
I'm really curious to see what Pulse Ammo looks like. I know, I've done every sidetrip in the game (except the chocobo world, since I don't have a pocketstation). But I've never really used Irvine's limit break (or Zell, for that matter). I usually stick with Quistis' Shockwave Pulsar and Rinoa's Invincible Moon while Squall does all the hard work. If a single pulse ammo shot takes off a lot of damage, Irvine could probably be really useful. I think I'll try him out when the king shows up. If it doesn't work, I can always reset the game. Once I take out 15 tonberry's I save between each one, so it's more convenient if the king shows up and kills me unexpectedly. ;p
Gagh. I love games that are still entertaining after so many replays. It's no wonder I don't buy new ones - I still haven't done everything with the ones I have. ^.^ -
Underworld
2006-08-01 03:23:06
This movie is a collection of short Japanese films available for a cheap price at your local Walmart. It's advertised, on the cover of the dvd, "Kadokawa, the makers of 'The Ring' and 'Dark Water' invite you to another world...UNDERWORLD."
My brother purchased this movie because he liked The Ring. He hasn't watched it yet because his little girlfriend (10yrs his junior and just turned legal a few months ago) is afraid of scary movies. Due to my well-known obsession with all things Japanese (supposedly) he lent it to me for a first viewing. Let me tell you, I have never seen a more falsely advertised film.
Without spoiling anything, I can say front up that Underworld is like a Japanese version of the Twilight Zone with an Alfred Hitchock styled narrator explaining the morality lesson youngsters should learn in each tale. It's not scary, it's weird and hilarious and omg I'm embarrassed to think my brother will eventually watch this dvd and think *this* is what makes me like Japanese movies. I've explained about anime plenty of times, but they still see me as the "all things Japanese" and this film will really ruin their impression of "all thing Japanese" and me by association. It's nearly as bad as the time my mom found out they had game shows in Japan where middleaged men cheer scantily clad girls to run around an obstacle course for comedy, money, and fun. I DO NOT love all things Japanese. >.>
About the film (spoilers, naturally), it's really funny. The narrator is so unecessary it's almost pathetic to think they actually felt the need for his role. The shorts would be much better without him there to introduce them (spoiling the entire surprise in every single one of them) and then to recap afterward (like the teenyboppers won't realize the moral of the tale is not to be a slut or you might attract the wrong kind of guys). Just the fact that the guy is middleaged while all the characters in the shorts are teenagers makes it even more condescending. It's like watching fables done realtime with a wanna-be horror twist and a preacher explaining every single bit to the kiddies so they'll learn their lessons. ::groan::
If you ignore the narrator guy, though, some of the shorts are really neat. One of them is actually romantic and sweet - not at all spooky like it's supposed to be. One of them is like a comedy porno, with a scantily clad girl writhing bound and exposed on a bed ala The Exorcist while the lead guy laughs and struts and gags and calls her baby. Oh, God, that one was so stupid it was funny and humiliating at the same time because they're trying to pass that thing off as HORROR! Man, and people are going to buy this and think THIS is what Japanese horror is like, that THIS is the stuff the makers of The Ring did that DIDN'T get bought and redone in American format. Painful, painful.
One of the shorts involves teenage girls all decked out in the classic school uniforms. Maybe it's from watching too much anime, but seeing real actors wearing those outfits...just the look of them made the short seem outlandish and unrealistic from the start. And the way they talk! They move their heads and pitch their voices just like anime characters. I thought that was done to make the moving lips in animation look more natural. Now I'm caught on the horrible thought that maybe they actually talk like that in real life...on a regular basis. 0_0
My favorite shorts are "Left behind the mountain", "Guardian Angel" and "Mortuary." If anyone reading this decides to check out this dvd, PLEASE don't listen to the guy when you watch Guardian Angel. He spoils EVERYTHING. That short would be so much better if he'd kept his big mouth shut. Left Behind the Mountain is just good fun - you get to see an asshole get his, with a nice little twist that (in my opinion) is the closest thing to a scare on the entire dvd. Even the bigmouthed narrator couldn't spoil that one. And Mortuary is just all around good fun. It gave me a jump, made me feel sorry for the characters (emotional responses besides gut-bursting laughter are rare outside Guardian Angel). And it's just a good old fashioned short.
Bottom line - these have nothing in common with The Ring. I haven't seen Dark Water, but I've heard it was boring and not the least bit scary (unless you're afraid of water), so they may have something in common with that. But they aren't horror so much as bizarre. Neat. Funny as hell. Kinda cool. Touching. Sad. Disgustingly gratuitous and bizarre. It depends on which short you watch. But not one of the 6 "Spine-Tingling Tales of Horror" (as written on the back of the dvd) is the least bit scary. I'd show it off as an example of how neat and weird Japanese producers can be. But I'd distance it as far as possible from the likes of The Ring. That's just embarrassing, besides being false advertisement. -
cell phones
2006-07-31 18:53:57
So my mom decided it was a waste of $19 a month to have my phone connected since I switched from dialup to broadband. I kept it unplugged 24/7, because I'm the only person listed in the phone book with our last name - meaning all the spammers call me looking for my mom, my brother, my sister, and 'current resident' trying to sell things or get donations for anti-abortion groups (I told them I was prochoice and appologized for wasting his time - he took it surprisingly well ^^). The phone would ring every hour, waking the kid and really making me wish I'd thought to put myself on that Do Not Call list. Anyway, since I wasn't using it, my mom decided to get the line shut off. In its place, she took it upon herself to provide me with a cell phone. That's awful. I have a cell phone. I'm a complete sell out.
I told her I'd never buy minutes so my family still wouldn't be able to call me. She told me she'd already paid for a 700min per month plan with free nights and weekends so I had better leave the damn thing turned on and charged. I told her I'd leave it in my car every time I went into a store or restaurant. She told me that's fine as long as it's turned on. I told her I'd never answer it if it rang while I was driving. She told me that was acceptable as long as I used the "missed call" list to call her back if she was the one trying to contact me. I told her she'd gone to far. She laughed at me.
My mom's really messed up in the head. You'd think it would be clear that I want as little contact with them as possible. I'm already renting an appartment right above her office. Why should I have to talk to her when she's not working? And I swear, if my brother calls me one more time this week asking me to look up cheat codes for one of his racing games, I'm gonna chuck that cell phone in the toilet. I'll tell mom the kid did it. >.>
On the up side, I can now call India any time I want since the minutes are prepaid and longdistance doesn't count extra. And it's kind of nice being able to go from my desk to the coffee pot when we're talking - I hated having a phone to begin with so I never upgraded to a cordless model. The ringtones are cute, too. I admit, I like having a different tone for each person. I know right away when it's one of those calls I'd rather not answer. I just have to make up a good excuse for having missed them when I call back six or seven hours later. ;p
Bottom line, I have a cell phone now that I'll probably never use. I got a microphone/headset a while back so I could use skype (now that I'm on broadband) but I never go around to using it. At least this time it's my mom who won't be getting her money's worth. She should have known I'm not the cell phone type. I have trouble replying to emails. How does she expect me to actually get up and call her back when I intentionally miss her calls? It's like she has no idea how lazy and antisocial I am. Kinda sad. I thought she knew me better than that. ^_^;
JOURNAL: Arigatomina
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