13 posts tagged “qotd”

Do you have a pet? What kind of pet do you own, and why did you choose it? 

Submitted by Brendz.  

This seemed like a nice segway.  I decided to save my Proud Mamma posts for Vox to keep my LJ remotely on topic.  See also the pictures and video to your right.

Tifa is a miniature poodle, though I like to say she's a poo-wok (poodle- ewok mix).  She's three months old and in dire need of a haircut.

Who or what do you really love?

LOVE

What's on your Top 5 video games list?
Submitted by mileena.

First and foremost, Final Fantasy VII has always been and always will be the (slightly overrated) love of life.  Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart have worked their way into my heart and they're not going anywhere.

However, we talked it over and decided that we weren't totally exclusive; we can see other people.

Final Fantasy IX is my second favorite with The Cast That's Impossible Not To Like Lest He Hath No Heart, and Final Fantasy XII has quickly claimed a spot in my top 5 (even though I'm probably no where near the end--Hunter's Camp?).

I've been trying to figure out a way to work this in somewhere, so I'm just going to type it out now: I find it more than a little disheartening that so many people that hated FFIX's Princess Garnet love Princess Ashe in FFXII.  They're not too dissimilar, only Ashe's adaption to the "real world" happens off screen.  By the time Vaan and Co first meet Ashe, she's already begun learning the ways of the underground and is fairly battle hardened; Vaan considers her to be a bit of a bitch before he figures out she's the princess. Alternately, Garnet is introduced to the cast as the princess; the characters and the player's see her at her most sheltered.  Yes, she's naive to the ways of the rest of the world and everyone wants to protect her, but by the time she witnesses the destruction of neighboring kingdoms and the death of her mother, she's determined to become her country's leader in this time of crisis.  She grows to be graceful and queenly by the story's end. ...But somehow showing weakness prior to her coronation makes her weak overall. 

Good job, kids.  Way to miss 3/4 of the game. :)

Another favorite is Jak II, a great, well-rounded, cinematic game that guarantees to have you (first jokingly, then seriously) pondering its suicide rate.

And I guess I should throw in Ocarina of Time for good measure.  Or smash it together with Majora's Mask to try to squeeze another game into my top 5.  Everyone knows that Zelda games are fun; although I loved the Wind Waker, the OoT generation is still my favorite.   Those games really felt epic, though it's a different kind of epic than that of FFXII (though I admit to sometimes comparing the two while running around in the wasteland... and humming the Gerudo Valley theme for good, geeky measure).  It didn't have the ridiculous complexity of FFXII's narratives (every time I think I know who someone is, they turn out really being aligned with someone else and die D:), but the world itself was monstrous and so well laid out.  It wasn't just running into the distance and moving to the next screen a la FFX; you really felt like you were crossing a continent.  I don't know if TP will be able to replace it, but I'm more than willing to give it a chance.   Assuming I'm able to get a Wii.

At least the box will be pretty.  AND ZELDA HAS A SWORD.

Books, movies, music; what's in your top 5 right now?

I've been meaning to do this for, like, a week now. Top 5 music releases of the moment are:

LOVEppears

I've been listening to LOVEppears era stuff a lot recently--both the actual album and the ayu-mi-x II collection.  Some of my favorite songs are from this period -- it had some truly classic singles -- but I really don't think it was her strongest.  It was definitely the one that launched her into the superstardom, so maybe it's the sentimental value that's been pulling me to it recently.  "immature" and "And Then" have been getting a lot of play, especially. 

Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack

FFXII is always coming up on my playlist when it's on shuffle, but I've been... voluntarily listening to it a lot more, especially "Kiss Me Good-Bye".  ONE MORE DAY!  

Home

Of course, Angela Aki's solo stuff has also been played to death.  See also my top song at Last.fm.  "Uchuu" is my favorite song from her library and quickly climbed to the top of my list; I recently ordered her first Japanese album (the One indie), and I can't wait to hear it.

Can't Sleep Can't Eat I'm Sick/Ningyo

Other artists that have taken over my playlist recently are Jolin Tsai and Namie Amuro.  Namie's addition to iTunes has allowed me to indulge in some of her pre-Hip Pop singles, though I have to say I prefer my Namie with slightly skanky Engrish.  Even so, her recent single CAN'T EAT, CAN'T SLEEP, I'M SICK is still on constant repeat.  I love the whole thing--even "Ningyo", which is a lovely change of pace.

Dancing Diva

As for Jolin Tsai... I'm not quite sure how the recent kick got started.  Although the assumption of Dancing Diva and J-Top probably had something to do with it, I've found myself listening to Magic and Castle a lot.  It's been awhile, so I suppose it was due.

What movie can you quote by heart?
Submitted by clamhead.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, which no one else has seen to know what I'm talking about when I quote it.  Thus is the story of my life.

Pre-ordered the (miss)understood Arena Tour and started counting down the days.

How many languages can you speak?  Which languages can you read or understand?

How many can I actually speak?  One.  How many should I be able to speak at this point?  Three.  Any and all comprehension of French has just... disappeared in recent years.  I'm better at reading foreign languages than actually engaging others in conversation, though my Kanji Comprehension Skillz are pretty sad.

the end of an era

I don't think I posted about this yet, but I recently learned that the local store I usually buy my music from is closing.  I've been going there for about five years, and it's more than a little disheartening to see it go.

I did get  the third and final edition of BLUE BIRD free as well as some used... I don't know what you'd call them.  Mini-posters?  I don't know what I'm going to do now.  Obviously Yesasia and CDJapan will be getting even more business from me, and I'm all for the digital J-pop revolution, but there's something about picking through the actual, physical CDs that just can't be duplicated in browsing an online listing.  Even though I credit the Internet for the discovery of most of my favorite artists, there are some I wouldn't have gotten into had I not made a chance purchase based on cover art or something equally shallow.

I still have another month before I finally have to say goodbye, but it's already starting to sink in.  What's the world coming to? D:

If you could watch any movie on the big screen right at this moment, what would it be?

I'd like to see Advent Children in a theater full of geeks at least once, but I'd also love the chance to watch something like Jurassic Park--something that was a huge movie event but I was too young to really get why it was so huge. 

That's one of the things that bothered me about Universal Studios when I went a couple summers ago (I only got to go for a day and would really like to go back...).  You'd think that would be what they'd be doing with their on-site theaters, not showing current movies (on which they already take, like, 90% of the profits from tickets sold at theaters they don't own).  Give people the chance to re-experience the classics!  Or do so for the first time!  You can't go wrong.

Busy day at work and it's rainy out.  I haven't been very productive. I am getting ready to move back on campus Friday.  Exciting, I know.

What are your personal memories of September 11th?

I had a social studies teacher who would always tell us exactly what he was doing in elementary school when JFK was shot, and I never really understood how you could remember something so trivial when something so big was happening elsewhere.  Then 9/11 happened, and the most vivid memory I have of that day is trying to tie my shoe around a stack of school books during an assembly.  It was a weird day because we -- like everyone else -- only heard about the attacks in chunks and no one had any idea what was really happening.  We had gone into the assembly -- it was really just a live advertisement for class rings -- knowing that a plane had hit one of the buildings, but picturing a dinky, almost-toy plane--not a passenger jet.  When we were dismissed from the lecture hall, all of the screens in the cafeteria were turned to CNN with footage of the smoking Pentagon. 

We didn't do a lot of class work that day and mostly talked about what was going on.  One of my classmates from fifth period had a brother at the Pentagon and was in tears; that's when it registered that something really bad was happening.  I had lunch next period and immediately claimed a payphone to call my mom. Practically everyone on my dad's side lived just in or outside the city, and everyone else seemed to have scheduled flights out that day.  One set of grandparents -- those on my dad's side -- were actually driving into the city to see a doctor when they saw the buildings collapse.   My other grandparents were supposed to be flying home and ended up having to take a bus from somewhere half-way across the country.  I don't remember where everyone else was, but they all made it home safe.  I don't live in NY, and it's hard for me to imagine the scale, so I don't really know how close to danger anyone in my family actually was, so I'm sure a lot of it was just my overreacting. 

I visited an aunt who took us to Ground Zero about a year after it happened, but it was so crowded I couldn't really make heads or tails out of anything.   Even having seen it on TV hundreds of times and having family who saw it as it happened, the entire thing is just surreal.  It's hard to think that it's already been five years.  High School itself feels like a million years away, and 9/11 was such a huge part of it--despite the fact that the shoes are the only thing I'll remember when I'm 80.

And now for something completely different: I just noticed Faye Wong has an album on iTunes.  Wonder why she was cut out of the iTunes FFVIII soundtracks?

What's the nerdiest thing about you?

Please see the previous entry.

I'm due for a "real" entry, but I have my Stats final tomorrow.  Prepare for design-related rambling come Friday.

Meanwhile, enjoy Mr. Burton:

My Cloud could beat up your Cloud

2 comments

What magazines do you subscribe to, and why?

Entertainment Weekly because I agree with nearly everything these people say.  Did you know they wrote an editorial about The Spirits Within being the first movie tailored for DVD -- and the potential there -- before AC was in production?  How crazy is that?

Back to Basics

Christina Aguilera

A+++ 

Dirge of Cerberus to be added later.