Weekend of March 28th 2014

The last bits of March now hold significant weight with me.  It seems like March is now my month of renewal, reassessment of life goals, and devotion to change in the year.  So far it works out much better than January 1st, which I think is an arbitrary time to do things at.  One of my new things is taking time to get started, but I did it close enough to the time that I think I can stick to the pledge.  I want to work my way back to the height of my stability, which was sadly 10 years ago this year, but I'll get there.  Its nothing compared to what I did last year.

Watched Romantics Anonymous on Friday.  Its a nice little heartwarming, quirky romantic comedy.  Reading its summary, you might say "uhh no thanks, I've had enough neurotic comedies for the foreseeable eons", which is what I said, but it straddles this fine line of not going into being annoying.  American comedies seem to think annoying is funny.  They've thought that since Ben Stiller became famous.  Its untrue.  The annoyance being funny part, its true that Ben Stiller ruined American comedy.  So if you like sappy movies in the vein of You've Got Mail, then check it out.  Especially check it out if you like French ones like Amelie.

One of the things that I have to get used to is the fact that people change guitar strings ALL the time.  With my bass, I'm in the camp of using bass strings forever and a day.  I go for that motown, warm tone, and I like the feel of well worn in strings.  There are people that don't change their strings for 20+ years.  Its a thing.  It is also a contributing factor to bass strings being 20-30 bucks and guitar strings are $5.  I got Cryo-genically frozen strings.  Not because I wanted to, I'm a DR fan, but they were out of DR's at my local place and I was not in the mood for a drive.  So far they have seemed very resilient.  I have recently gotten into trying to practice speed metal, like High on Fire, and I would not be surprised if the strings got worn out while I clumsily learned technique.

My food savior is the fact I have what I want for breakfast on Sundays.  Usually this means a stack of pancakes.  Sometimes though, I need to get inventive with my pancakes.  My favorite so far is to buy a muffin mix and make pancakes out of it, and for the most part it works well.  I have to be really careful though, because muffin mixes have browning agents(sugar) in higher amounts than pancake mix.  I burn them quickly if I do not make small pancakes.  Lemon Poppy seed was this week's, and it was awesome.

Clash of the Titans is only barely a remake of the first.  Its sort of all over the place with a heightened sense of ADHD.  For the most part it was enjoyable, and the original kind of played with Greek Myths without caring too much about accuracy, so I can forgive it for being fast and loose with the rules.  It got a little "out there" with one of the characters(the black magic one), and the bumbling hunters that were supposed to be comic relief seemed to thankfully get their time cut in the film, but for an action movie it was good enough.  I plan on watching the sequel.

I'm very tense this week.  Its either going to be a good week, a long week, or a bad week, my bets are hedging on long.  I may just have to get a 6 pack on tuesday to help me unwind, which will take me contrary to my goals in a few ways, but I'm wound up a bit at the moment.  Blog wise?  Well I need to start back listening to ACDC for the Brian Johnson years.  I have a Final Fantasy ranking to finish, and a card game to talk about.

Final Fantasy Rankings Part 2 and March 27th

Final Fantasy Rankings Part 2

(Original unabridged post from my Gamer blog)

(Part 1 post from my daily blogs)

This is a listing of my ranking of Final Fantasy Core games as of 2014.
I am including some information along with the rank.  There will be 2 numbers after the game's title: the first is my game grade(1-10) in context of when it came out.  The second is what I'd grade the game today.

6. Final Fantasy 4 (10) (8)

Final Fantasy 4(known as Final Fantasy II in US), was the first introduction to an epic plot to many JRPG fans in the United States.  The epic story of redemption is still one of the best in video games, now only starting to show its age because of bad translation.  There are, however, many translated parts that have survived and become much beloved.   It used advanced 16 bit graphics(particularly with the airships) and it went to places you never thought of.  Like the first it blended Tech and Fantasy into what Final Fantasy always has been, a blend of the two.  I dock it points now because the graphics really need more detail in the overworld, and the translation stinks and is confusing.  Still, unlike 5, 2 and 1, I'd recommend casual RPG players give it a go, its very very important in gaming culture.

5 Final Fantasy 13 (8) (9)

While doing my list, this is the only game that I would rate better today than I did the day it came out.  Not only have I vastly enjoyed this game, it has only grown in my eyes as time has gone by.  A lot of the crap said about 13 is true of all JRPG's, and I believe its crap reviews and bandwagon hatred is more a symptom of the rejection of JRPG's in the last 5 years or so.  I loved this game.  I loved the characters, I loved that the characters grew over the course of the game, I loved that everyone was there for a reason.  I saw visual things that stunned me.  I heard music that made me tear up.  I took part in a story that grew epic, world changing, and emotionally draining by the end.  Despite looking "modern", despite having not that great combat(hence the 8 rating), it felt like a Final Fantasy should.

4. Final Fantasy 7 (10) (8)

This was the first Final Fantasy that I played near its launch.  I can't really say anything about 7 that hasn't been said.  It was THAT revolutionary when it came out, even if you did not like it.  It ushered in a rush of JRPG's that have not happened since.  A whole generation of Japan's best got sent our way because of the success of 7.  Why do I rate it 8 now?  Well, the character models aren't even cute any longer.  The cutscenes, while amazing for their time, are very short.  Many of them are rendered at much less quality than the others.  The music, story, and presentation get high marks, and the Materia system mechanic ranks as my favorite of all games, not just Final Fantasy series.

March 27th

While the original series of Final Fantasy rankings was 2 posts long, I am taking 3 posts to do it here.  I try not to give you all too much a wall of text to read every day.  As an aside, since 7 is up there on the list, I fully believe that the Zephyrm Cochrane from Star Trek: First Contact was directly ripped off of Cid from Final Fantasy 7.

Freakin' guitar, I can't catch a break.  I finally put in the time to start knowing what the hell I'm doing and the world conspires against it.  I'm starting to think I was remembering the wrong string from 10 years ago, and think that the A string has a bur on the string saddle causing my strings to unravel.  Maybe it wasn't Ernie Ball's fault... I hope so, because their strings are way cheaper.  Anyway, I'm getting my amp models set up in case all I have to play for a long while is Rocksmith amps... can't even get that done though, I got 2 amps and the string broke.

I complained earlier that nothing in God of War 2 seemed as much like a Metroid area as the Temple of Pandora did in God of War 1.  I still stand by that, but at least the Fate's island is starting to show that they attempted this with it.  There's some overlap and returning to areas before, and seeing previously explored areas from afar, so its there.  The visuals still amaze me, and its pretty cool what they focus on you killing in this game.  It'll take 2 or 3 of them dying before you realize you're attacking a certain demographic in Greek Myths and its not what you expect at first.  I have to say one of my favorite things is the indifferent snear Kratos gives to all things that get in his face and yell a horrifying scream.  Kratos is never impressed.  He is disappoint.

Bon Scott Retrospective and March 26th

Bon Scott: Retrospective

(Unabridged Original Post from Music Blog)

I have made it through multiple listenings of the Bon Scott ACDC era.  Bon Scott was every bit the rock and roll singer he sung about being.  There is no making a saint out of Bon Scott, and that unapologetic attitude just makes him that much more a rock and roll legend.  The thing is, there are a couple of songs where he seems to bare his soul a bit.  An early example is "Its a Long Way to the Top", but the best example of this is "Ride On", and I feel like he was growing to have some maturity to him near the end.  Bon Scott's influence can be heard very strongly in the later 80's bands like Motley Crue and Skid Row.  While that style of vocals is now considered dated, the original stays the standard and the ACDC songs, especially the Powerage+ era still feel like fresh hard rock.

My favorites that feature Bon prominently are the ones where he gets "real" with us.  I like "Its a Long Way to the Top" and "Ain't No Fun"".  I also like the songs where he stretches his singing ability a bit, like "Highway to Hell", "If you Want Blood" and "Rock and Roll Damnation".  Finally, I can't forget his sleaziest, most witty songs "Big Balls"  "Whole Lotta Rosie" and "The Jack".  Even if he did not write the lyrics to all of those, his delivery is iconic.

The truth behind Brian Johnson's hiring, I found out, was that it was Bon that picked him.  One night Bon came back from watching a show.  He told the band that this singer really howled on the mic, got on the floor and tore up on stage.  He told the band that this singer really had "it", he had that Little Richard mentality, he really knew what rock and roll was about.  It just so happened, that was the night that Brian Johnson got appendicitis and he was genuinely howling in pain. After the band realized that Bon would want them to go on after his death, the first name that came to Malcolm and Angus' mind was Brian Johnson, because they felt he had been given the "ok" by Scott all those years ago

March 26th, 2014

Its funny, last week I was having misgivings about the PS4 and Microsoft virtual reality headsets.  I felt that Occulus had done all the heavy lifting and these two companies would be coming in to swoop up the benefits and have a competing product basically using all the hard work Occulus had done.  Now... I'm really glad Facebook isn't going to have a monopoly.  Combine this with the camera being integrated into Occulus and they are just having too many missteps these days for me to support them.  Maybe Valve will pick up the technology as well.  This is the closest we've ever come to "in home" and "you know, actually works" VR in my lifetime.  I hope it doesn't spell doom for the tech for another 10 years or so.

I'm not a fan of Mayo in general.  Mayo though, is an important base for a lot of sauces and a great shortening substitute in breads.  Anyway, if you are not getting this Kraft Olive Oil mayo, you need to try it.  You can reduce calories in things by SO much with this stuff.  I make a spicy chili mayo for zuchini fries, salmon burgers, and a few other things.   I use mayo in my "quick" biscuit recipe when I don't have time to do them all fancy like.  I make a small amount of thousand island dressing with it for my crab salad sandwhich.  This stuff works well in everything.

I played the most lump sided, bad luck induced game of Lord of the Rings LCG yesterday.  Before turn 2 ended, I legitimately was wiped out.  This is with the easiest rated quest in the starter set.  I haven't lost this quest in months and I was playing it just to get my game knowledge back up to par.  The starter box has particularly weak "Lore"(think Blue magic in Magic; The Gathering), but I really like Lore.  I'm doing a 2 Leadership 1 Lore deck, and I just do not know if its going to cut it.  I was not going to get any new expansions till I finished that 3rd quest, but I just want to play Lore so badly.

Still, its funny, going back to the Facebook buying Occulus Rift VR tech for 2 billion dollars.  Old people with money to burn still do not understand the tech industry.  Reports are that pretty much any stock with the word Occulus rose in price for no other reason than people buying it because they think they're getting a steal on penny stocks that are about to be worth billions.

CCG vs LCG and March 25th is Tolkien Day... apparently.

Collectable Card Games vs Living Card Games
(Unabridged original Post from my Table Top blog)

If you are in any part a nerd, then you probably know what Magic the Gathering is.  It is what we call a Collectable Card Game, and it is the most successful of its kind.  Every year there are 3-5 "releases" of cards that you have to purchase in randomized packets.  These cards are organized into rares, uncommons and commons, but you do not know what you're getting ahead of time.

There is a lot of stuff said about this type of game play that turns people away from it.  First, you have to spend lots of money to get the cards you want to play with.  Second, there is always a new set coming down the pike in a few months, so you'll never "catch up".  Third, they raise the power of the cards as time goes on so that if you have an old set of cards, chances are you can not compete.

So what is a Living Card Game?  Imagine there is a card game, like Magic The Gathering, but all boosters and expansions came in complete sets throughout the year.  There is no need to rebuy sets because all the sets have the same cards, always.  You do not get randoms, you do not need to trade for extra cards, and you do not need to go hunting for rare, out of print stuff.  You buy the set, and you're done.  Each set comes with the maximum number of copies of a card you are allowed to have.  Now all you have to do is get good at playing and game.

March 25th, 2014

Today was Tolkien Day?  How come I did not know about this?  March 25th is the day Sauron was defeated, and so marks the end of the Third Age.  I've never done the calendar conversions or really memorized the date.  I ended up playing God of War 2 most of the day, so I did not celebrate Tolkien Day.  I think I'd rather put things on birthdays, but seeing as how most people are still hung over on Tolkien's B-day, I can see why they'd want it to be in March.

Occulus got bought by Facebook yesterday.  I am really disappointed in this news.  Facebook has never shown they are interested in furthering technology unless they think they can use it to expand their social network.  I can't help but wonder what the hell John Carmack must think right now.  He left Id, the company he founded, to get rid of the corporate overlords so he can work on something independent like he did back in the day when he was furthering computer technology.  Suddenly he's now an employee of one of the largest companies in the world.  Then we have all the people that backed the thing when it was just a Kickstarter idea.  Occulus was this great hope that VR was going to get legit and user friendly, now its probably going to become this closed platform.

God of War 2 just keeps getting more epic.  It is not as much of a "3D Metroid" as the first game was(Temple of Pandora in GOW is one of the best clockwork level designs ever),  but the epic scenes are only getting more and more awe inspiring.  I can not believe this was a PS2 game.  I know the HD remakes have the texture quality up, but the amount of far draw distance and incredibly huge set pieces is something that was in the original as well.  I also like that there are a lot more notable cast members in the story than before.  There was a lot of "this is LIKE a famous monster, but weaker" stuff in part 1, but in part 2 you see a lot of named myths.  God of War 1 also had a story that kept you guessing from the very beginning.  You got glimpses of things that happened, but only getting 75% through the game did you realize everything that was going on.  God of War 2's story seems much more strait forward, but I'm probably not even 1/2 done, so we'll see if that changes.

Went overboard with the coffee today, had a wicked case of insomnia all night.  I really should've just stuck with more water all day.  It was cold though, and I kept making coffee for when I wanted to do something outside.  Anyway, I payed for it with an all night long headache and an inability to sleep.

Final Fantasy Rankings Part 1 and March 24

Bottoms up: The bottom 5

(unabridged MUCH LONGER original posting from my Gaming Blog)

This is a listing of my ranking of Final Fantasy Core games as of 2014.  I am keeping to the Core numbered Final Fantasy games, excluding the MMO's(11 and 14), and excluding 3 as I have not finished it. There will be 2 numbers after the game's title: the first is my game grade(1-10) in context of when it came out.  The second is what I'd grade the game today.  I would also like to point out that when I talk about "Graphics" I am also talking about the original versions, as the remake graphics of FF1 and FF2 are really really nice, and the 3D versions of 3 and 4 are pretty good too.

Also, I will try to keep vague on my spoilers.

11. Final Fantasy 8 (5) (3)

Final Fantasy 8 is the only "bad" rated game on my list of Final Fantasy games.  It got good marks for visual world design and the impressive sound track.  Story is my most important factor in a Final Fantasy, and I much more enjoy the almost non-existent story of Final Fantasy 1 to the horrible story of Final Fantasy 8.  Gameplay failures include: Junction Magic, Weapon crafting, level scaled enemy difficulty, lack of exploring on the final disc.  As I said, this is the only "bad" rank on the list, it feels unfair that the next games are near it, because they are vastly better than 8.

10. Final Fantasy 1 (10) (5)
9. Final Fantasy 2 (8) (5)

The pioneering games were revolutionary for their time, and the graphics are charming now, but they have some obvious flaws.  Final Fantasy 1 barely has any plot to speak of, and Final Fantasy 2 has a crippling level up mechanic that will have you attacking your own members more than the enemies on screen.  Final Fantasy takes a decidedly scifi switch near the end, with satellites, robots, and time travel.  Final Fantasy 2 has political intrigue, death, loss, war, and introduction of PLOT to the series.

8 Final Fantasy 5 (7) (6)

If this game had modern graphics, cutscenes and a coherent re-write, we would have one of the most epic stories this side of the original Star Wars trilogy.  Multi-world space wars, generational evil epic battles, fallen heroes redeemed, honor bound enemies, its got it all.  If you love the job changing system, this game does it best.  There is no "this is the best" set up, everyone I know ends with vastly different characters at the end.  The failure of this game is the crappy translation that Square has given it in all its incarnations.


Final Fantasy 10 (8) (6)

This Final Fantasy title is the nomad of my list.  It keeps going up and down in rank.  Its characters, and indeed the game, is somewhat saved by Auron, who would rank high on list of "most badass characters" in games.  The game gets extra high marks for its pre-rendered cut-scenes and its musical score.  Its beginning and ending is also ranked high, previously being my favorite ending to a Final Fantasy, though newer titles eclipse it.  The beginning with the Blitzball invasion by Sin is still my favorite beginning to a Final Fantasy, and part of that is because the soundtrack is just as badass as Auron is.  Sadly the game is based on a personal story between a small group of characters, and these characters are rather flat and do not grow emotionally during the game.

Tomorrow will not be the continuation of this list, but when I get to the list again it will be a struggle for me to keep them short.  I may split it up further.

March 24th, 2014

Grocery Day.

I've recently started experimenting with Wontons.  Wontons are tricky.  They go from done on the edges to crispy black in about 1 minute, so if you're baking them you gotta keep an eye on them.  Wontons are really cool because they are so versatile.  You want a bit more "healthy" noodles for your chicken soup?  Use Wontons.  Want the soup to be thick and have bigger noodles?  Then let the wontons cook in the soup for longer periods.  They expand.  I want to make a wonton lasagna so I can actually eat more than a spoonful.

I've been getting my "soup" goodbyes out of the way before the weather gets too warm.  In winter I love to make tons of soups, but this year I've just neglected them.  The last 3 Fridays I've done Potato Soup #3, invented Dirty Rice soup and made a Wonton soup.  I think this Friday will be my last soup for a while and I need to come up with something.

If you are the kind of person that needs to cut down on your carbs, I have to make a suggestion: Oscar Meyer P3.  These are $1 snacks that are 3 proteins in the pack with no carb filler.  The "Rev" by... whoever, cover their "energy snack" in a big carb tortilla wrap.  The P3's have nuts, cheese, and meat in a pack.  They have colbyjack, almonds, peanuts, turkey, chicken and ham... well combinations of those things depending on the pack you get.

Weekend of March 21st

Weekend kind of dragged on and went too fast all at the same time.

Friday night had a bonfire outside after dinner.  It has been a long time since I've done that, too long, because I enjoyed it immensely.  It would have been much better with a beer, but I got some tobacco pipe smoking in there.  The fire creates like the perfect dry heat area around it, and it makes pipe smoking no hassle.  My nephew was over and we had a riveting talk about how wolves are afraid of fire, so we did not need to be afraid to be outside at night.  He's almost big enough to go to Kindergarten.  My sixth Nephew/Niece to do so.

Saturday I hung out with my friends a bit.  Starting to get tired of this "would've been better with a beer" thing that's happening.  I want some beer.  I want a burger and a beer and nothing to do the rest of a night.  I mean, I got over not having a gaming computer a while ago.  I get by on my console and besides, i'll just be stuck in an MMO when I have a gaming computer heh.  But this beer thing, sucks.  I was kind of jonesing for a Yuengling or a Leinenkugel, which is weird because that's as close to swill water as I can stand.  I allow myself one thing to be a full on snob about, and its beer, so get over it.  I want something that is not thick and heady, like a dark lager.

Sunday night watched Wayne's World all the way through for the first time in a long while.  You know, I generally see a lot of movies that take a nostalgic look at an era... 10-20 years after that era, but Wayne's World kind of got its time exactly right.  Its like Wayne's World and the 1980's John Hughes movies could do that, but everyone else has to wait a decade or so.   Its a weird thing.  I can not think of any post-2000 movies that do it, maybe they're all just pop infused non-sense?  Maybe I haven't looked very hard, or maybe I'm not nostalgic for that era?  I'll have to look into it.

The Bravest and Day 20

The Bravest

There is a documentary on Netflix that should not be watched by just anyone.  It is chilling and ridiculous and powerful all at the same time.  It is called The Act of Killing, and while this should be in my Media Blog I don't want it to stay there among all the fun and interesting things.  The documentary is about a group of men that in the 1960's killed millions of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia, and how they are heralded as heroes and talked about on their national news and praised.

It was in this documentary that I saw one of the bravest things I've ever seen in my life, ranked up there with the mysterious man in Tienanmen Square.  Let me set the scene for you.  In this room they are re-creating the torture and killings that happened.   The actual killers are playing the parts of themselves.  There is a man that killed 1,000 men, women and children by himself.  There was no mass killings, no mass gas chamber poisonings.  There was no barrier or veil of euthanasia, every kill was hands on murder.  Another man there was another leader of a different death squad.  They are re-creating this scene and the actor playing the "victim" speaks up, saying he has a tale, a true tale.  This man, this brave man, reveals that his step-father(who is likely his real father, but claims step-father so he does not seem like someone wanting revenge) was taken by one of them, tortured and murdered.  He tells how the next day that no one would help them bury the body because they were afraid they would be killed as well.  He explains that he and his grandmother had to bury him in a shallow grave "like a goat".  The whole time he's telling this story, to the killers, he has to smile and explain he's only telling the truth, he's not judging them.  There is no accountability for these killers, they are praised and applauded at the drop of a hat.  Rarely has anyone made them face the choices they made.  They then film the scene.  This brave man is now his father, and the men that really did kill and torture his dad are "faking" doing the same to him.

This scene will stay with me for the rest of my life.  It may be the bravest, saddest thing I've seen on film.

March 20th, 2014

I wrote that above this morning and the rest of this before.  I feel weird talking about my day after writing about something so heavy, and I probably bummed you guys out, sorry about that.  I'm going to continue with what I wrote about my day before.

I continued writing.  I have plenty of video game stuff done to last me a while, so I'm trying to come up with topics for my Music and table Gaming side.  I've got a Bon Scott retrospective coming soon, and I'm about to move on to the Brian Johnson era, which probably has more songs I haven't heard than the Bon Scott era.  On the table gaming side I had an idea, a little "trick" that a GM can use to get the players creating some of their own story during games.  I started on writing about the Lord of the Rings Living Card Game, and as I type this I think I should write a descriptor of Living Card Game and why its not a Collectable Card Game.

I started God of War 2 today with the intent on beating it.  I never got around to buying the game for my PS2, and so its really nice having it to play in HD on the PS3.  I have played through part 1 several times, and I just could not imagine them topping the awesomeness.  I mean, I knew from what people told me that God of War 2 was considered better than 1, but I just figured they meant the story or the puzzles or the graphics.  I did not believe they would top the over-the-top spectacle that was God of War.  I was wrong, and I'm having a blast with it.

I am doing a level in Flower each day.  I have said before that this game was the best "skating" game since the first Tony Hawk.  It really feels like you're skating or surfing among the grass as you play, and I can't help but do things like soar up into the sky before getting the easily gotten flower... it feels fun to just "play" in that game, and not worry about "beating" anything.  It is way better than the other game I have by the same people, Flow.  Though Flow is fun in its own way.

A house blew up near me today too.  I think I heard it, though I can not be sure.  I had one of those moments, similar to that Earthquake we had a while back, where something happened and I explained it away quickly and almost forgot it.  Then, while I was out smoking my pipe on the porch, all the emergency vehicles near me started blarring and heading down the road.  For a solid 10 minutes they came and went by.  Then I read the news.  The thing that happened was that I thought I heard a car door slam, which isn't too rare of an occurance, but this time I was so convinced I had heard a car door slam that I went outside and made sure no one was parked in my garage that I can't see from my windows.  Then I came back in side and grabbed my pipe to go out and have a smoke.  So I think it was the car door slam sound that was the sound of the house blowing up.

A note about Rants and March 19

Rants.

Rants can produce a lot of content.  I have found that when I go back through my blogs(all the way to Myspace!) the majority of the stuff I classify to private or erase all together ends up being rants.  Rants are fleeting, and full of emotion, and they do not tend to stand the test of time.  Plus, who the hell wants to read a rant?  Is not there enough negativity?  If you want to get your internet hate on, I'm sure you already have plenty of bookmarks to take you to places that piss you off real good.  I could make post after post about how Ghostbuster's 3 is now bullshit and should never be made.  I could make posts about how Pixar is just doing what drove Disney down in the early 2000's... and how Disney Studios is doing what made Pixar wonderful in the early 2000's, and how its bullshit things just don't coordinate.  I could rant about how WOTC's worshiping of Magic the Gathering, and bowing to that team's wishes means that Dungeons and Dragons can't live up to its true potential, and how a corporation wide release schedule among all their products could create a giant nerd renaissance.  Oh I have rants.  I'm somewhat of a nerd after all.

But that's not what I try to do here.  I try to keep my posts informative, and little less than dry, and nothing that's going to anger people that read them.  That's not to say I will not rant in the "personal"  spot on the posts below the main, but those posts are fleeting as well.  Those posts aren't in my larger blog archive.  Those are one day out of, hopefully, many.  Fleeting, just like a rant should be.

I'd rather tell you the positive stuff.  I'd rather tell you how I was surprised by a movie.  I'd rather talk about how Japan is making good "family" entertainment that is smart, intelligent, and just not done in Hollywood any longer.  I'd rather tell you about how Google+ Hangouts have changed table top RPG's, and for those that are brave enough, have lead to many new games, many new friends, and a good community.  Somewhere in there I will stick a history lesson, or a "did you know" fact in there.  That's just how I roll.

Anyway, this is as much an affirmation to myself as information to you.  I will try and keep my rants in check.

March 19

I did a lot of writing today.

Almost all of it was blog content.  I hit on something I can write a ton of information and opinions about and decided to do all I could think of so that I would have blog fodder for the coming week... or 2 weeks.  Most people will find it boring, but fear not!  All posts here have an equally boring summation of my daily life as well!  Also I'm not insensitive to you people's plight... I'm working on getting several updates from my music stuff(ACDC listening is still going forward), some table top stuff, and maybe something random in between.

Read that the next Dungeons and Dragon's edition is being made without the thought of multiple editions of split content like they have done for 3.5 and 4th.  That was the #1 reason I said "screw you" to WOTC from the get go with those editions.  In case you are an old player and don't know what I mean, they split the core D&D classes in half, added a few new ones, and put out a Players Handbook #1 out, and like a few months later put out Players Handbook #2, so for you to get all the info from what 2nd and 3rd Ed's Players Handbook, you needed 3 players handbooks.  Bullshit.  Anyway, I have kept up with the pre-release test versions of the game, and I am cautiously optimistic.  I've been looking for a blend of 3rd Ed with more modern "narrative" takes to the characters(13th Age came close), and I'm hoping WOTC does a good version.  The background and skill system, as of the test packets, looks really really good.

Time to figure out what video game I'm starting next.  I'm thinking Ni No Kuni, but I do also have God of War II and Metal Gear Solid 2 staring at me.  I know I'm going to be playing and finishing up Flower as a change of pace while doing either.  Since pretty much all my blog content I wrote yesterday was about Final Fantasy, I'm in a JRPG mood, I don't think I have any "traditional" ones to play through... wish I had Bravely Default or Lost Odyssey.

Mr. and Mrs. Mutt and March 18th

Mutt Lange

(Unabridged Post from my Music blog)

I wrote earlier that I was surprised that the "ACDC" sound was established in Powerage instead of Highway to Hell.  It may have sounded like I did not give Mutt Lange enough credit for the work he did with the band.  This can not be further from the truth.  Listening to the albums he did with them(Highway to Hell, Back in Black, For Those About to Rock) has given me a lot of insight.

In Highway to Hell I hear Mutt's influence in many places.  While the band seemed to learn how to play together in Powerage.  The lyrics are tighter, and there are backing vocals used in the background.  The songs seem to take on a less nebulous structure.   The reason why I know this is Mutt's influence?  Because of Def Leppard.  You see, after his stint with ACDC, Mutt was hired to work for Def Leppard.  Their most important 3 albums were done by Mutt.  That backing vocal track is on every major Def Leppard song you can probably think of.  Song structure, recording techniques, you can hear it across all these albums.


By the way, I know I have some good ole country folk in my social circles, I don't know if readin' this is your thing, but Mutt Lange is THAT Mutt Lange that married Shania Twain, and produced her biggest albums.

March 18th

There are few things on this planet I despise more than Skim Milk.

Anyway, played a couple of hours in Grandia and got to a good stopping point.  That game is just... sooo slow.  The story just isn't there, and I just don't care about the characters no matter how good the designs and art are.  They artifificially inflate the time played by making you backtrack through already explored dungeons.  I'm already not a huge fan of big dungeons, and I'm even less inclined to like them the 2nd and 3rd time through, especially because there's nothing "new" to discover with them.  Longest 34 hours in a game I've ever played and I'm only on disc 2. 

Final Fantasy X HD got released, which means I'm watching the movie cutscenes in HD for the first time and enjoying that.  I enjoyed the cutscenes more than the actual game.  I'm not a huge fan of FFX, though the ending was really really good.  Auron is also on my top list of badasses, right there with Shadow and T. G. Cid.  Will I ever go through FFX HD?  Ehhh, I got a lot of games I'd play before it.  Seeing this did make me think I need to re-evaluate my favorites list for FF characters, as its probably been 10 years since I thought about it, and I've grown into a different person, and I have FF13(which I loved) to add in there.  I wish I had gotten around to playing and finishing FF3(Japanese 3), which is still the only core FF I haven't played through.  I could only play the remake of that though, which changes and adds to the game, so I'm not sure it would count.

So coming up... A few top 5's and a Game Ranking.

Weekend of March 14th, 2014

Pretty good weekend.

I felt like I had not created enough soups this winter, which is traditionally the season I do soups.  I took stock of what I had in the pantry and came up with "Dirty Rice Soup".  I'm a huge fan of Dirty Rice.  We never went out to eat for breakfast very much, but when we started going to Shoney's, I found this wonderful thing called Dirty Rice.  I always added a spoonful of stewed mushrooms to it also.  So my recipe for Dirty Rice Soup is not complicated; some people say my recipes are too complicated.  I use a "cheat" in this one because that's what I had on hand, and it turned out so well I'll probably always use this "cheat.  Uncle Ben's Microwaved Santa Fe Rice.

-1 can chicken stock
- 1 4oz can of Mushrooms
- 5 sausage links(diced)
- 1 packet Santa Fe Rice
- a few shakes of your favorite cajun seasoning
- a few shakes of onion powder

Saturday I watched Thor: The Dark World.  The whole reason I gave the new Marvel Universe a chance was because the first Thor was surprisingly watchable.  Until then, I figured Iron Man was just going to be a fluke because Robert Downey Jr was so good in it.  I am not a fan of the Avengers, I am an X-men fanatic.  Never liked Thor, never liked when they put "gods" into super hero story lines.  I always thought Captain America was either used to attack America by a very liberal writer, or haphazard propaganda by a right wing writer.  I thought Iron Man was a less fun Batman.  Well, the movies have been very good, and Captain America is probably the best done of all of them IMO.  It all started because I gave Thor a chance.  This 2nd movie was better.  If you liked the first Thor, this movie is everything like the first Thor, but more and better of it.  Like Hemdel?  He gets to talk and do stuff.  Like Asgard?  You get to see how the place functions.  Like Thor's band of elite soldiers?  They get lots of screen time.  Like Loki?  You'll love this movie.  Complaint?  They sort of plundered Star Wars for the sound effects.

Oh and Christ "9th Doctor" Eccelston is in it.

On Sunday I took my girlfriend on a trip to Michaels.  What a toy store that place is lol.  It reminded me of how little I"ve done on the arts and crafts side of things, and just how much I actually wouldn't mind learning to do.  I have a thing for wooden boxes and wire bending arts.  Soooo many wooden boxes.  I think what I want to do with the wooden boxes and learn the wood branding stuff.  There are a few bass and amp boutique makers that use it in their designs and I always seem to like it. Their wire department had tools I didn't know existed... I want to make hand bent "bird cage" candle lanterns. They have "flat" wire, and also aluminum wire.  I also saw a book on wire designs, it did not look a lot like what I typically think of doing, but they would be good skills to learn for decoration.  I'll get around to it, I have a few things I need to do
 first.

Personal day March 13th, 2014

March 13th, 2014

Research day.

Today is one of the days I use to completely research the things I'm interested in doing/making/playing etc.  I am meticulous with this kind of stuff.  I know some people where my habit of this can get on their nerves, I'm probably too cautious on a lot of things.  If I'm going out to buy a coffee machine, I come armed with information.  If I'm going to buy a cigar, I'm educating myself on the history of the brands I'm looking at.  If I'm buying an amp, I'm filling entire blogs with my search.  So what did I find out?  My "wants" are expensive, and my "needs" are expensive too.  Truck repairs.  A new bed.  Well not much I really care to share here, but I did decide on my next guitar.

I went reasonable, and I also decided that my amp replacement is a "need".  I look at things as a way to help me not go crazy and make impulse buys.  I've looked at a lot of guitars.  I looked at a lot of makers.  In the end, I decided to go for a Les Paul "copy" that "matches" with my SG that I plan to keep in E minor tuning.  The Agile guitar company is a bargain that I will regret if I miss out.  So I'm going for one of their lines, and it comes out at around $350 total with case for a guitar that many feel is better than a Les Paul studio plus at $1200.  Will it irk me that the headstock of my SG doesn't match its sibiling?  A little... but a faded brown Les Paul of its same line is $800ish, that's freakin' used SG Standard territory, and I'm not even a huge Les Paul guy.  Common sense and a gloss finish come through for the Agile.  Also, like, that's it for the foreseeable future.  I'm not an instrument collector.  When it comes down to it, I make the decision to stay simple.  It just takes me going the long path to get to that decision.

As for the bedroom.  I've decided to go with light grey paint on 3 walls, white on 1.  Then pine furniture.  Pine furniture is cheap around here, like cheaper than Ikea, and it fits the region.  I did not get my money totals up yesterday, but I shaved over 50% going with mix-match style pine stuff instead of "oak" veneer/stain.  I've got some cool layout plans.  I am going to go for a hotel layout of the bedroom with a love seat, coffee table set up instead of the "cafe" set up I was thinking.  In the end, there's a lot of movie watching in my bedroom, so the love seat just makes more sense, even if the individual chairs would have looked better... and been more comfortable... the love seat will reduce messy bed occurances.  

Ok, I hit my 45 minute timer.  I'm keeping my time here limited because I can easily get carried away.

Fates and Benefits also March 12th

Fate Points and Bennies

(Unabridged Post from my Gaming Blog)

In Savage Worlds you can be awarded a Benny by the GM(or by other players in some alternate rules).  This makes Benny rules kind of liquid, as you simply get them when someone judges what you do merits it.  This makes them flexible.  If the GM wants more action, he'll reward the players for being more proactive in things.  If the GM wants clever resolutions to problems, he'll start rewarding that.  It is kind of like Dog Treats.  Some people do not like this non-codified giving of bennies because someone can become a "favorite", or you can encourage bad behavior.  You can easily get the "try to be the funniest person" benny race, or the "reward for using bennies in a situation" benny.  You use bennies to re-roll dice that do not fall in your favor.  You get a second chance to dodge a bullet, or a second shot of adrenaline in combat so you can do heroic things.

Fate Points are earned by a player putting their character through hardship.  To get a Fate Point you have to invoke a negative aspect of your character, and fail at some task or ability.  It forces you to think of real disadvantages of your character.  If you choose a disadvantage that rarely comes up(pineapple allergy), then you're going to find it hard to come by Fate Points.  Fate Points are sort of your "dream powers" if you go by the idea that Fate is sort of a group of lucid dreamers trying to make a story together.  You can use them for mundane things like adding +'s to your roles or -'s to other's rolls, but the real power is when you take narrative control of a situation.  You can create a rainstorm so that bad guys on the roof of a train have a hard time staying on.  You can make an enemy's gun jam, or put car keys in the sun-visor so you don't have to hotwire a car.

So that's the differences.  There are some more, but this is enough of an explanation to get you started.  Bennies are more free for the awarding, but are more rule tied to their usage.  Fate Points are very codified in how you attain them, but the use of them is very free form.  Both are really cool additions to the old gaming formula, and even though I'm pretty much the GM of games I play, I love anything that takes control away from me, and gives the players the ability to affect the world.

March 12th

Some video game news, Costume Quest is getting a sequel.  If you have not played the game, its a short little RPG about kids fighting monsters on Halloween.  When you go to fight, your dinky home made costumes become super kickass, powerful versions of themselves to fight the monsters with.  Its made by Double Fine, the creators of Brutal Legend, Psyconauts and a few other really cool and quirky games.  Its fun, give the original a shot, its usually really cheap.

Watched Kick-ass 2 last night with my girlfriend.  I have to say, after all its said and done, if you liked the first one you will probably like this one.  It is worth watching.  The new director does not have the style or skill of Mathew Vaughn, but he does a good enough job.  The movie is much like the first one, it sets up this silly idea and does it real campy, and then proceeds to destroy it with violence.  My only complaint is that the movie seemed to have more movie execs looking over its shoulder.  It is violent, sure, but it loses some of its balls.  Its not less violent... let's just say you don't get your heart ripped out like it feels like its getting ready to do early on.  If this was made like the first one... there would have been a ton more "innocent" super heroes dying in horribly bad ways.  Anyways, you like the first one?  Watch the second.

Powerage and March 11th 2014

Powerage

(Unabridged Post link from my Music Blog)

I started this journey through ACDC with a few preconceptions.  Many of them were true.  I thought the Bon Scott era was a dirty era with songs about wild rock and roll life; this was true.  Some preconceptions were not true.  I thought Bon Scott had only done 3 or so albums.  I now know that Scott was there for many more hits and albums than I had previously thought.

I knew that early on ACDC took lots of inspiration from the 1950's rockers, like Chuck Berry and Little Richard.  I had figured that the "middle" era of classic hits and THE "ACDC" sound came about largely as the influence of Mutt Lange producing Highway to Hell.

From track 1 to the last, the sound is much more what I hear as "ACDC" than what came before.  Instead of quick power chords, the guitar tones are allowed to breath.  Instead of a bluesy sort of solo, there were some fast play, and unless I"m mistaken there was some tapping. Its like Malcolm and Angus finally let go of their hero's inspiration and started paving their own road.  Anyway, I had assumed that the big transition from an early blues rock band to the biggest hard rock band of all time was because Mutt Lange had taught them a thing or two about recording, and the success of Highway and Back in Black lead to them keeping that voice.

Now I know they came up with the sound themselves as a natural evolution of their touring, writing, and chemistry as a band.

March 11th, 2014

Finished Walking Dead Season 3 yesterday.  I really wished that the first two seasons were this good, because the 3rd season... wow.  They earned it the 3rd season.  Season 1 I enjoyed when they were on the run and just trying to survive, that was really cool.  I realize that they stop and try and find a home just like you would in real life... but season 2 was just so... eh.  I hated the Shane vs Rick love triangle story thing.  I don't know what happened between 2 and 3, but by 3 they had gotten their character writing.  All the characters, new and old, have so much to them.  The actors were given freedom to be great also.  Season 3 has to go with the greats like Dr. Who's 10th Doctor's 2nd year, Star Trek Next Gen's 5th.  With Season 1 and 2's finale, you basically watched to see who died, but with Season 3 you are watching because you're hoping all your favorites live.

I've been watching Rig Rundowns as of late on the Youtubes.  I'm a bit of a tech junky, you'd probably all me a Gearslut if you did not know me better, so these videos are really really fascinating to me.  Its really cool to see who thinks of their guitars as tools and who babies them.  I also like knowing which bands use stomp boxes and which ones have their tech to do that.  You get a feel for who tries to push being "artistic" and who is just trying to "rock".   I have to say that the bassist for Soundgarden(Ben Shepherd) has a lot more personality than I would have thought.  He seems like a really cool person.  Also, everything I learn about John 5 leads me to respect him more.  It is crazy how many guitarists bring up Buck Owens, and I've seen 3 with Buck Owens decorated guitars.  I've seen a PRS done in the Buck Owens style, and a telecaster.  It runs the gamut

Passed up listening to ACDC's next album yesterday.  I"m at the end of the Bon Scott era and I think I'm going to let it sink in a bit before I move on.  I've been keeping a list of songs I like, and so I want to go through the playlist a few times and really get a feel for the era.  I listened to Podcasts.  I generally listen to "Dungeons and Dragons" podcasts, I put it in parenthesis because I'm translating it for people out there.  Dungeons and Dragons certainly features, but they talk/play things like GURPS, Savage Worlds, Pathfinder, etc.  Happy Jack's is definitely my favorite, but I'm most jealous of Gamer's Table's stable of gamers they have to pull from and get to play so many varied games.  Their Actual Plays are like Radio Dramas.

Signature Scone and March 10th

That is a scone.

Technically these are also scones.

When you try to classify the difference between American Biscuits from the European Scone(Scottish actually), you run into problems.  The closest people can get to is to say that scones are sweetened and use egg, while American Biscuits do not.  Any American can tell you that biscuits do come in the sugared variety, and any Scotsman will tell you that they have unsweet butter scones(likely the origin of the American Biscuit).  Anyway, the scone is the baking recipe I reserve for myself.  I will rarely do cakes, I will rarely do cookies, I suck at making bread(I do make egg-breads occasionally).  I don't like stepping on people's toes at family gatherings.  But scones are mine.

Those were my first attempt.  When cut into triangle they do look similar to the scone I'm going for, but my problem is I came up with this recipe, I did not follow one.  So I added too much liquid and was not willing to expand the recipe to make a ton of them.  I adjusted and my future efforts should produce a better looking scone.

The inspiration I had was graham crackers.  I do not need to make graham cracker crumbs, I just need to soak the graham crackers in milk until they are soggy before mixing them with the dry ingredients.  I love the taste of graham crackers and I have been craving Golden Graham cereal.  I also added butter scotch chips into the scones because I wanted that little surprise, and I think chocolate with graham cracker would be too close to s'mores.  The butter scotch brings out the honey and sweetness of the graham.

So here's the recipe so far... If I change it next time I make them, I'll change it here.

2 and 1/2 Graham crackers(if you count the little rectangles as crackers then its 10) 

1/4 cup evaporated milk

2 cup Biscuit Flour(with the baking soda/powder already added)

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoon butterscotch chips

Just soak the crackers and sugar in a bowl with the evaporated milk, then mix it in with the dry ingrediants.  Add the chips and treat like you're making biscuits.  Add more flour if you need to make it less sticky, add more milk if you need it less dry.

March 10th

I overslept waaaay later than I have in over a year.  I'm sure a part of it was the time change, but even then I woke up late.  

Our Walmart is getting redone.  I don't know if its because Costco is being introduced to the area or what, but they are gutting and redoing a lot of departments.  The tiny crafts aisle, of which my girlfriend makes a lot of use of, is becoming a large "station" with its own manager and help station.  The amount of stuff is increased by a large margin.  Of interest to me: colored copper wire.  I have been trained as a wire technician for orthodontic appliances, and so I am pretty good at shaping wire into all sorts of things.  I have my own tobacco pipe stands I made from bending clothes hangers.  I'd like to make some art with the wire one day.

At one time I quit soda about 10 years ago and that lasted for about a year.  During that year I got used to drinking black coffee with nothing added.  I was able to do this because my work place actually had decent enough coffee.  A lot of the fat I consume is dairy related, and the most over indulged is milk in my coffee.  Don't advise skim, its literally the fat that I want.  Anyway, they have some new Kuerigs and Kuerig clones in the kitchen section, and I'm thinking that might be my ticket to consistent cups of coffee.  Now... that just leaves my problem of drinking an entire pot a day, something I can't do with Kuerig because... well I'm not a millionaire.

Weekend of March 7th, 2014 Update: Grills!

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first.

Not having an amp has drained my motivation to play beyond practicing a few techniques.  On Sunday I hooked up my amp-modeler through my bass amp and manipulated settings to get a decent sound out of it... and yet it still just did not "have" it.  Also I had to plug in, patch and unplug so much stuff that its just not practical to use, not to mention probably somehow dangerous.  Priority one will be getting a cheap dirt pedal so I can at least get some battery powered distortion to practice with.

On to the good stuff.

First grillout of the year!  Everything worked perfectly.  The hotdogs, hamburgers and chicken were done, and as far as I know not overdone(aside from the hotdogs, as people around here like them burnt, charred black).  I cleaned the grill up before hand.  Got a new grate scrubber.  Used the bathtub to soak the old grates.  Dried it out with a pre-warming up of charcoal.  The old grill might have a few more years on her yet.  She gets her biggest workout on Easter, then she can take it easy generally the rest of the year.  I am hoping to get a new power outlet added to the garage so we can have some music out there... I guess I need a new stereo with an "input" jack for my tablet... either that or get a new sound set up for my TV... why everything have to cost money?

Listened to the last Bon Scott album in the ACDC stuff.  This would be Highway to Hell, a very important album in my musical development, and as "bad" as it sounds, an important album in my childhood.  I've got a much larger post on it to be featured later this week, two ACDC posts actually.  The whole Powerage/Highway to Hell era is a huge area of "finding themselves" time for ACDC.  What we hear today has its roots in those albums.

I did not get around to watching the last 2 episodes of Season 3 Walking Dead, that'll be for Tuesday most likely.  I didn't get around to watching or playing anything this weekend beyond some youtube stuff.  I think I'm going to start posting some recipes here.  I will not be making a recipe blog, so it'll just be a part of the Skypp Everything blog.  I think I may have come up with my "signature" sweet.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Heads and combos and March 7th

This blog is also for my sanity, as is talking about amp choices.  Really missing having a guitar amp.

The DSL40c is probably my perfect choice except for one thing: the "c" in the name is for "combo".  I tell people what combo amplifier means and they snark at me like I was telling them something everyone knows.  I talk about heads and cabs though and I get blank stares, so... there's that.  Technically you can say heads are combos too(pre-amp and power amp), but its not common nomenclature.



So why does it suck that the DSL40c is a combo?  Well, it goes back to my search for a bass amp.  I have almost opposite views when it comes to bass vs guitar equipment.  Its stupid, I know.  Anyway, I knew and planned to try a bunch of different bass amplifiers.  I could switch bass "head" units to figure out which I liked better, and the speaker cabinet acts as a sort of known quantity.  The speakers stayed the same, so it was the head that was making any changes.

There's another, more practical reason.  If a amplifier head goes bad, you still have the speakers.  You do not have to replace your entire set up because a circuit went bad.  This happened to me early in my bass head search, but I still had another head, so it did not affect me very much.  This is the reason I really want to do this with my guitar set up.  I don't plan on owning a lot of amp heads or going on a search with my guitar heads like I did my bass units, but the way my brain works, I need that ability to not lose my entire rig because a circuit goes bad.







March 7th

I wasted the day.  Yea, it makes me feel horrible, so get your hate on.

I watched Season 3 Walking Dead, though I'm not quite done with it.  I have to say that I enjoyed Season 1 mainly for the company that was with me while I watched it.  It was the first "show" that me and my girlfriend really shared together.  Later we've shared Adventure Time, Big Bang Theory and Doctor Who, but Walking Dead was first.  I felt the pacing was kind of tedious with season 1, but overall rather enjoyable.  I'm into the whole post-apocalyptic thing no matter which genre of it that the show is.

Season 2 was a bit too much telemundo if you get what I'm sayin'.  I mean that it was too much like a soap opera, and felt like entire episodes did not have any "this is the end of the world in a zombie invasion" feel to it.  The last episodes of season 2 picked things up and ended in a "holy.. what?" kind of moment.  So it took me over a year to get around to watching Season 3.

Season 3 has blown me a way.  There's drama, but its not all "highschool with 30 year olds" drama, its drama about what it means to be human and just how much has the world changed the characters living in it.  It is also ruthless.  It makes it hard to get attached to a character in the same way Game of Thrones does, except... its brilliant.  You do not want to like someone because they might die.  Read that again.  That's exactly how the characters on the show feel about new people.  You're protecting yourself just like the characters do.  You share a little bit with them, and that's something "screen acting" has struggled with causing since the first shows stopped being performed in front of audiences.

Amp Hunting March 6

I'm in no position to acquire a new amp right now, but doing research helps me cope with it.  Its research I need to do before getting one anyway, and I'll have months of time to wait and think about my choice.

Going into this, I know I'm a Marshall "fanboy".  I know its silly that a lot of my decision to get what I get is because it says Marshall on the front.  Actually, if I had the money, it'd be a Marshall clone, so I don't know if its fair of you to say I only want the name.  If I only wanted the name, I'd make the same decision I did 10 years ago and get a solid state Marshall and call it a day.  The thing is, making music is largely a creative endeavor, and creative endeavors require inspiration.  If me playing a Gibson SG through a Marshall amp is what I use to be creative, then so be it.

Marshall does make an amp in the range I want.  Back in 2004, if you wanted Marshall tubes, you were looking at a ton of money for more power than you'd ever want to use inside a small stage, much less a bedroom.  Now though, they have this DSL-15h that is a 15 watt tube amp head.  It has the dual channels I've gotten used to in the past 10 years.  It will come with a footswitch for changing the channels easily.  I also like that it has a 1/2 power switch on it, that way when I'm loading up the gain for more "modern" metal, I can lower the overall volume and increase the distortion easier.  The downsides?  It is missing a few modern touches that I will be losing.  Not the built in effects, I don't care for that, but I will be missing the Effects loop.  There is also not an emulated out for computer recording or headphone use.  Maybe not now, but I could see in the next 10 years where I'd want both of those.  The #1 reason I want this amp, "unlike all their sub-$1000 amps in the past the DSL-15 nails the Angus Young sound" -Rob Chapman.

Blackstar is the most popular small amp makers.  When Orange brought out the Tiny Terror and started the craze, they dropped the ball on updating that amp in ways the average player wants.  Blackstar took up the slack and now have the popular amps in this range.  I'm looking at the Blackstar HT-5 or 20 if I look at the same price of the DSL15.  They have both the effects loop and the emulated lines that I'd want.  Blackstar is a company made of former Marshall engineers.  These were the guys that did the more modern amp engineering at Marshall and left when Marshall started doing re-issues as their high end.  So, it is still Marshall pedigree.  The problems with it?  It is so "modern" in sound that I am worried I would not get the classic sound that it so hard to get if your amp doesn't do it naturally.  Modern metal can be gotten easily with a pedal, I'd rather have a classic sound and use pedals for the other stuff any day of the week.  It does have a knob that is very famous called the ISF knob, and it makes it sound "American" or "British" or a blend of the two.

My 3rd choice: Egnater.  I've been interested in Egnater for years.  They are the tech junkie amp makers.  The line I'm looking at is the "Tweaker" line, and before that I wanted a "Rebel".  The Rebel had both "American" tubes and "British" tubes and a switch that let you choose between or blend either.  The Tweaker is the newer style where they use EQ switches to achieve all its things.  The Tweaker 40 is the one I want because it has 2 channels, but the channels are the same exact copies of each other.  Then you use the switches to alter them.  So instead of having a Clean and Dirty channels, I could have Classic Rock and Metal channels that I typically use.  You can choose to make them sound "British"  "American" and "AC".  There are also hot and clean switches, deep and bright switches, its called "Tweaker" because its made to do lots and lots of different amps, and from what I saw on Youtube it actually does it.  So what's my hangup?  40 watts can take a lot of juice to make sound "right", and the Tweaker 40 does not have a 1/2 power switch.  The Tweaker 15 doesn't have the fully editable footswitchable channels that the 40 has.  Its also $100 more than the DSL or the Blackstar 20.  Damn, it is "Neat" though, and "neat" factor carries much weight with me.

So that's what I'm looking at.

If the Egnater had a 1/2 power switch, I'd be all for it, no question.  If Marshall's DSL40 came in a head format instead of a combo, I'd be all over it. The combo adds an effects loop and has a 1/2 power switch.  If Blackstar... did not feel so much like a compromise between both, I'd just like to play through a Blackstar to get rid of my fear of it not getting the tone I want.

Frozen and Disaster in March

My Experience with Frozen

(Unabridged Post from my Media Shelf blog)

I find myself in this weird world where Disney is not making any hand animated features, and Pixar is endlessly putting out horrible sequels to my least liked Pixar movies.  I don't like this world.  The thing is... the Disney Studio's recent CGI movies are trumping Pixar.  Wreck-it-Ralph had a hand up when it comes to me because its based on video games, and thankfully it was created by people who actually loved video games(of all eras).  Wreck-it-Ralph was amazing.  Frozen, I wanted to hate Frozen.

Frozen had no excuse to me as to why it was CGI and not hand animated.  It was a Disney princess tale, not a movie about computer created characters. The last Disney Princess movie done CGI was Tangled.  I disliked Tangled, which I thought would have been better animated by hand and stole too much from other popular non-Disney movies.   I started picking Frozen apart early.  The snowman thing looked horrible.  Then there was the whole "dumb guy, smart princess", but now probably 1/2 of Disney movies use this dynamic... oh and 100% of today's sitcoms.

I think it turned around for me during the amazing landscape sequence I was waiting for, because the song was amazing.  The song sequence "Let it Go" is easily the highlight of the entire movie for me.  I got the incredible visuals I was expecting, and a pretty good song I was not.  Early on I really liked that the two Princesses were not enemies.  This was a movie made for sisters to watch together.  It is a dynamic not explored in Disney before.  Then they also had some hard political intrigue.  I'm not talking "oh no the guy from the other nation doesn't like things", I mean they had economic manipulation and diplomatic position shifting.

Idina did an amazing job on the Oscars right before they announced that Frozen had won for best original song.  Even during the Oscar performance, I was like "this is a very powerful song".  I can even overlook the incessant need for people to put a "let's talk in the song like Pink" part at the very end.  Then the pair that came up to accept the Oscar were like the most bubbly and funny pair I'd seen at the Oscars all night.  They also looked like normal, every day people among a sea of plastic and paint.  I was very happy for them.

The stupid animated snowman never redeemed himself.  I took the opportunity of his song sequence to go take a piss.

March 5th, 2014

DISASTER!

My guitar amp blew.  Looks like something in the pre-amp fried.  I have a couple of choices to continue playing.  I can play through Rocksmith, but I can't watch my Youtube while learning and doing that.  I can put my amp-modeler into my bass amp.  I have wide response speakers in my bass cabs, and they have tweeters as well, so it doesn't sound too horrible, and I am lucky in that I like "dark" sounding cabs to begin with.  I just can't get it fixed right now, and its probably near 50% of its worth to get it fixed.  I will probably take this opportunity to switch to a head + speaker cab set up instead of a combo... for this specific reason.  I blown head doesn't mean my speakers are useless.  I am thinking of getting an empy speaker cabinet and transplanting my speakers into it, that'll save me quite a bit.  But that's a long way away...

Was a good day up until then.  I did my early Spring cleaning of my wardrobe.  Reduced my laundry load by a large amount.  I always dislike getting ready for warmer weather.  I like sweaters and multiple layers.  I hate warm weather.  I am not a "feet in the sand" kind of person, I am not a "moderate" climate kind of person.  I like the idea of Montana.

Getting psyched about Easter coming up... well the amp going out kind of puts a damper on things, now that I think about it.  I was looking forward to maybe playing with a few of my cousins.  If i have to use my bass amp as a guitar amp, that leaves no bass amp for me to play bass on.  I will still get to grill out and cook food for everyone, and see everyone playing and having fun.  Also, I get chicken salad.