Valkyria Chronicles is wowing me right now!!!

I just completed the most difficult, but certainly the best chapter of Valkyria Chronicles, and I haven't felt this adrenaline from playing a game since Metal Gear Solid 4. You see the blue glowing chick in the pic above? That is Selvaria! I'm sure you recognize her if you've seen trailers. She's a baaaaaaaad bitch! She does not play! Following an extremely gratifying victory on a tough operation, the cutscene afterwards was so full of epic.

It's a shame this game will probably get slept on, because it's truly a work of art. I think, so far, it's one of the best games on the PS3. The story did start out kind of slow the first couple of chapters, but it's in full gear now, and I can already tell it's a good one! And eventhough this last operation was tough as hell, I loved all the strategy that went into it. It took me three tries (and eventually a few hints from ole' gamefaqs) and I finally got a good strategy. Even when I was on the brink of victory, I didn't feel I had it until "Operation Complete!" came across the screen.

I can't wait to delve deeper into the story, and since that last battle gave me a crap load of experience and money, I've got some upgrading to do! But that'll have to wait till tomorrow seeing as I actually have to wake up early tomorrow.

Ninja cat!!!

This video is hilarious, topped off by the music:



LMAO! That cat was just creepin'!

Album review: Brandy - Human

I know this review is late, but it's because I've listened to this album a lot! My thoughts on it have changed quite a few times over the many listens. I'll go through each song, save the intro and the Long Distance Interlude. Here we go!

• The Definition - This album opener is kind of interesting for me. I really like how it starts and the beat is knocking. But there was always something bothering about this song, and I couldn't put my finger on it until now. The second half of the song just falls off! Starting with the bridge, her voice just kinda goes off, and after that the song just stumbles into mediocrity. Good thing the album picks up immediately...

• Warm it up (with love) - This is a masterpiece of a song! Everything about it is perfect . You can't help but smile when you listen to it, and Brandy's vocals are on point. She hits this incredible low note in the second verse that just shows off Brandy's amazing range. Brilliant song!

• Right Here (Departed) - The first single, and it's another awesome track! A perfect Brandy song.

• Piano Man - This is a firecracker of a song with a sick beat! Brandy kills it like the pro she is and makes this song and instant classic! "We can have the whole world singing tonight!"

• Long Distance - The second single and one heck of a ballad! Brandy vocally kills this song. It starts out with a very faint piano and you can hear all the richness in Brandy's voice. There's nothing else like it in the industry.
  

• Camouflage - One of my favorite songs on the album! I haven't mentioned it yet, but I need to. The lyrical content on this album is so strong, and this song is a perfect example. Again, her voice is incredible, and the choir that comes in at the end is just the icing on the cake.

• Torn Down - Here's a song I didn't really like much when I first heard it, and now I love it. It took a while to grow on me, but I love the way Brandy sings it. It's a very nice song!

• Human - The title track is one of the best on the album! Brandy is known for being one of the best at giving you that emotion with her voice, and this song is the perfect example. She sings her ass off in this song! It's one of the best vocal performances I've heard from Brandy.

• Shattered Heart - The first thing I noticed about this song is how similar it is to Jennifer Hudson's "My Heart", content wise. The second thing I noticed was the beat. I love the beat! I like Brandy's vocals on it, but the song itself is kind of on the bland side, and I never actually finish the song because the last 40 sec. are so redundant.
  

• True - Brandy shut it DOWN on this song! This has turned into a top favorite of mine. She's able to bring so much emotion with that voice of hers, and this is a song everybody can relate to. Her voice is haunting in the chorus with the addition of a slight echo effect, and layering gives extra emotion to simple lyrics. Incredible song!

• A capella (something's missing) - Oh lawd, she's just showing off now! Not that any proof was needed, but this song proves what I've always said: Brandy's voice is music. As the title suggests, she supplies everything in this song, save a very short lived guitar at the beginning. This song is absolutely stunning! You have to admire this woman's skills even if you're not a fan.

• 1st & Love - Kind of a playful song that Brandy shines on. I can't see myself getting tired of this song anytime soon.

• Fall - This is the song that leaked a long time ago, but now it's mastered. Everything is definitely tightened up, and there's an added bridge that's a killer! Her vocals don't sound as raw as it did on the leaked version, but I still love this song. Brandy blesses us with an a capella version of the chorus from "Camouflage" at the very end and it gets rewound all the time! Her voice is so damn rich and amazing!

So after the somewhat disappointing start, the album went into full overdrive with great song, after great song, after great song. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to this album from start to finish because it's been so many times. This album also has one of the strongest finishes I've every heard, with the last 4 songs all being awesome.

"The Definition" is the weakest song on the album, but I still listen to it because it's not a bad song. It's the same with "Shattered Heart", which I actually really like, except for the end. When I give scores to albums, I try not to get too technical about it, and mainly just go off how much I've enjoyed it. And I can tell you, I haven't enjoyed an album this much in quite some time. I absolutely loved Kanye's CD, but this even surpasses that. And this CD helped me a great deal during finals week as I was trying to graduate. Brandy's voice just has that effect on me!

Final score: 10/10

You know what it is....what did ya get???

This is my obligatory 'What did you get for Christmas?' post that I've done every year since I've had this blog. And if you didn't get much, then what did you give? Here is what I was very lucky to receive this year:

• Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories - You already know I had to get this, lol. So far, so good. It's nothing incredible, but it is cool playing it with PS2 graphics and voice acting.

• Valkyria Chronicles - I'm not that far into the game, but I love it so much already! The way the story unfolds in story book fashion is freakin' brilliant, and I can't get enough of all the strategy and gameplay. As I'm typing this, I can't wait to get back into it tonight.

• $50 PSN card - This is a great gift for any PS3 owner. There has been so much downloadable stuff I've been wanting to get but didn't want to spend the money on. Well now I can, and I already have! I bought Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty, the PS1 classic Suikoden, and some MGS4 LBP costumes, and I still got $25 left. What to get next...

• $30 iTunes card - Actually 3 $10 cards in one pack. I can either get 30 songs with this, or 3 albums worth of music. Great gift for anybody with an iPod.

• Slippers and sweater - needed this stuff!

• Joker - This is a new graphic novel simply called "Joker". I've heard great things about it, and the art work is sick!
  

And my parents usually try to surprise me with something every other year or so, and this year they did it again. They got me this fresh TA DEATH leather jacket! I couldn't believe it. This jacket is so smooth and warm too. I love it! I can't really use it right now since the weather down here is not cold at all, but hopefully it will get cold. I know I'll be able to use it later in January when I go up north to my relatives place.

So I had a really good Christmas, both because of the awesome gifts and because of the chance to just chill and have a good time with family. How about you guys?

Christmas Day goes by so fast

I'm sure I'm not the only one who notices this, but Christmas Day always just flies by every year! No matter how early I wake up, the hours just seem to drop off like minutes. I woke up at 7 yesterday, and it seemed like it took no time at all to get to 7 pm that night. I think part of it is that we spend two hours out of the day going to the movies (Christmas Day tradition here). But still, it goes by far too quick. :(

Another thing I noticed regarding this blog that I didn't note in my "Merry Christmas" post was that it was the 3rd Merry Christmas post this blog has seen. I can't believe I've been around that long! I've made a lot of friends over the past 2 1/2 years. I still remember when there was just one person checking this blog for the longest time (you know who your are!). I appreciate it greatly. Because if it wasn't for him and his cool blog, I might not have gotten the attention I got from other people. I still don't have a lot of people checking this blog, but I'm perfectly fine with the small group that does. They're the ones who keep me writing in this thing. :)

Lookey here, I've gone off topic and got all sappy on yall! :P

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to everybody reading this post!!! There's still about an hour 1/2 until it's officially Christmas over here, but I probably won't be on when the clock hits midnight (I say that...), so I'll just do this post now.

I hope everybody has a great Christmas Day! :D

My post about something

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'Ello everybody out there! I'm sure all three of you have noticed that I haven't had SHITE to post about in the past few days. Well...I still don't. But that's not going to stop me from doing this post is it?!

Thursday is Christmas Day, and no matter how old I get, I always love this time of year. I should be stressing out about trying to find a job (which I am doing), but I don't really feel that stressed about it. Funny thing is, it will probably kick in about this time next week. Because God knows I do need one. But for now, I'm just kickin' back in muh house pants and white tee and doing a bit of gaming and occasionally kicking it with friends. Basically, I'm being a bum! Oh and I'm also eating up all the Christmas goodies mom has made. She made these delicious cinnamon sugared pecans (the ones in the pic), and she's gonna tell me not to eat all of them before Christmas Eve. Pssh, she shouldn't have made them so good!!!

Being back home after finally being finished with college is kind of a weird feeling. I've spent the last 2 1/2 years in Oklahoma, and now I won't be going back for another semester. It hasn't kicked in yet, but I probably won't be seeing all of the friends I made over there for quite a while. I told one of my friends after graduation that we are definitely going to have to plan something in the near future. Maybe it can be a really cool trip or something like fellow blogger buddy Random J did recently. It would be nice.

Anywho, I'm probably about to hop on the PS3 and play a little bit of Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Unversive. I rented it the other day. What do I think of it? I'll save that for another post! :)

LittleBIGPlanet: Metal Gear Solid 4

I love it!!! Mm sure knows how to lay the charm on thick. I can't wait to download this pack. The Snake costume is cool enough, but I want to play that level! The Screaming Mantis costume is also a must buy. From other pictures I've seen, Raiden will be a costume, and that will also be a must get. The cool thing about these costumes in LBP is you can mix it up.

I'll be sure to snatch these up when they become available.

Resident Evil 5 box art (+ a slight rant)

Here's the Resident Evil 5 box art:

It's the same for the 360, of course. The box art is pretty cool, and it's eye catching.

I was thinking about posting some of the gameplay videos that have been released, but honestly, they're all boring as hell. All of the trailers that have been released so far have been really cool and do a good job of getting people pumped for the game, but the gameplay videos are a different story. Hopefully playing will be funner than watching. I'm sure it will be, but the similarities to RE4 are uncanny. It kind of worries me that I'll be playing an HD version of RE4 with different characters. I hope that's not the case. Another thing I noticed while watching the gameplay videos was the annoying squishy sound it makes every time you shoot somebody.

Despite all my ranting, I still have high hopes for the game, and I can't wait to play the demo whenever it's released, which I hope is soon!

Voldo is a smooth criminal

This video is crazy! Check it out:



That must have taken a long time. This video is funny, but it just shows how crazy Voldo's move set is. And that he's got some HOT dance moves! The part right after the replays had me dyin'!

My favorite reaction to Scarlet takes a tumble

I've seen many reactions to the now famous youtube video "Scarlet takes a tumble", and I should've done one my damn self had I known better, because I was dyin' laughing when I first saw it. After the many I've seen, this guy has my favorite laugh and reaction.



Good laugh isn't it, lol!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer

I like it! I always though Huge Jackman was a good Wolverine. They also finally got Gambit in one of these movies, and he looks pretty cool as well. There is still a long way until the movie comes out, so I can't say I'm excited about it, but I'll definitely see it.

God of War III and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves teasers

Two new teasers for two of the PS3s biggest games for 2009 were shown at the Spike VGA earlier tonight, and they are online for those of us who didn't want to waste our time watching that God awful awards show.

Here's the God of War III teaser:



Ok, maybe I'm being too harsh here, but I can't believe Sony decided to release that video. That first shot of Kratos was actually kind of ugly. Again, maybe I'm being harsh, but seeing as the first two GoW games are two of the best looking games on the PS2, I expected more. With that said, I know I can't say too much about what was seen because it's obviously still extremely early in development, and the video was so short. The rest of the video looked cool, but that in game shot of Kratos at first wasn't very good. The textures looked ROUGH.

Onto Uncharted 2: Among Thieves



Now THAT looked really cool! I really, really need to play the first one. As I've said before, I played the demo like 5 times, so I'm not sure why I never got around to buying the game. I need to put it on my list.

No doubt these will be huge games for Sony in the coming year, and I will probably play both of them. Despite my disappointment with the God of War III video, I know that by the time it comes out, it will look amazing. Because you know Sony isn't going to let one of their staple series be half-assed.

I graduated!!!

After weeks of stress and studying, and then getting sick, it was a HUGE relief to graduate from college yesterday! I was on the edge with one of my classes and was kind of worried about it even after I walked at the commencement. But I checked my grades last night and everything is good. YAY!

There were many pictures taken, but you will only get a couple out of me! They might be a little blurry because I had to crop them. I had just walked into the arena with the rest of the graduates when I heard my family acting crazy, this was my reaction:

This picture here is another slightly blurry one because it was also cropped, but it's of me after I got my commencement print:

And this last one is also of me actually before commencement plotting my next move:

I'm back home now. The next goal on the list is to find a job, and hopefully one I can tolerate. Although, with the job market how it is right now, I might just have to take something I might not like just to get on my feet and get my own place. Wish me luck!

But for this moment, I'm just happy I made it through college and not thinking about working for the rest of my life. <_<

Later!

Lewis Black

I was talking to a friend the other night, and he had never heard of Lewis Black, so I told him I would make a post about him. He's one of my favorite comedians because of what he talks about, and because of how crazy he acts sometimes. Here's a couple clips. The first one is kinda long and starts out slow, but give it a minute, and it's pretty funny. The second one is him talking about milk. I don't think anybody else could make milk this funny.

Jennifer Hudson going back to work

Almost two months after Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother, and nephew were murdered, she is back to doing what she does best...showing off that voice of hers!

She's scheduled to be working on the music video for her new single, "If This Isn't Love", next week. She was supposed to start filming it before the tragedy. I wonder what the video will be like considering all that has happened with her and her family? I'm excited to see it. I think it could really be a huge hit considering the time of release and because it's such a good song.

Jennifer has also been nominated for 4 Grammy awards for her new album.

Sorry

Sorry for the lack of updates guys. My computer back in my room can't hardly browse the internet anymore, and I've been swamped with studying for my final (FINAL!) exams, so that's why there hasn't been much to post about.

In very recent news, I got The Dark Knight last night, so I'll be watching that as soon as I get time! Not much outside of that, just been studying away trying to graduate! I'll try to hit y'all up with something less boring in the near future.

Later! :)

New computer

Well gang, over the two years I've been blogging, it has been from one source, one computer. All the energy and love I've poured into this blog (trying to be dramatic, work with me here) is going to be transferred, very shortly, to a new source...A NEW COMPUTER!!!

*cue music*

With the recent breakdown of my current computer, I have come to realize that it is time to move on. This isn't the first problem to occur with my computer, but it's definitely the biggest and, from the looks of it, most lethal. Also, I've had it for about 5 years now. It's time for an upgrade! Describing the problem to my mom, she had a suggestion..."you might have to get a new computer for a graduation gift!" As the idea hit me, I started getting pretty excited. Even on the verge of graduating college, I still get excited about new things as if I were still 12 years old. Some things never change.

So then I started asking myself, what kind of computer should I get? Recently, I've been very intrigued by the Macs, not just because of their brilliant advertising, but also because I liked the one I've been on in this very lab. I just liked the feel of it. But, I'm not sure I would really need a Mac. I mean, aren't they more for the artistically gifted people like my good friend Deitrix, or somebody like that?

I'm almost certain on the fact that I'm going to be getting a PC, but what kind? That's my question to you, my loyal readers...the proud few! :) Of course, I (or I should say, my parents) don't have unlimited funds, so I know I won't be able to get the best, most amazing thing out there, but whatever I get, I know it'll be with great consideration, because with things like this, I usually stand there for a long time staring before I actually make a move, lol.

Catch you guys later!

Is my computer on its death bed?

Earlier today, before I set up camp in the library here on campus, I was running my disk cleaner because I felt my computer was running a tad slow and I need to get rid of some things I don't use. I do this all the time, so it's nothing new. Well I noticed this one was taking a REALLY long time, and I'm not sure why. Actually, my computer on a whole has been running quite slower than usual every since I got back from the break.

So here I am, just sitting here, when all of a sudden...a stank blue screen covers my entire screen and tells me something about some error and that I need to shut down immediately. I looked it up on google...and it was the "blue screen of death!" *gasp* Anyway, after that happened, the next hour or so was very frustrating! I was never able to shut my computer down properly and everytime I did restart it, the screen would either be frozen at or before the welcome screen, or if it got past the welcome screen, by bottom icons and Start button wouldn't show up, and then it would freeze. I started panicking and started going crazy because I had a very important paper on my hard drive that was due and I wasn't able to get it!

Luckily, after several (several) trial and error restarts, it finally came back to normal...kind of. It's still not the same, even as I type this. It's like my computer got injured or something while I was away, and now it's on life support! :(

It is better now, but I'm just worried that when I turn it off and try to turn it back on, it's going to do all that stuff over again.

I just really hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I really don't have the resources to get a new computer.

H. Piddy

This video had me dyin', especially the beginning. Watch:



The song is funny, but I was crackin' up at the beginning with the dudes in the scarfs and glasses walking like they were all hard.

Music video: Brandy - Long Distance

MILES better than the "Right Here (Departed)" video. The part in the rain was really nice! And Brandy is lookin' fine in this video. She's kinda sexy when she's all wet! I was afraid at first that it would just be some boring video where she's just standing there looking sad, but I'm so glad they switched it up mid way through.

Nicely done!

Joker art

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Damn, if only I could draw. This is pretty awesome, and it was just done with colored pencils. Must have taken a long time!

I'm getting all pumped up about this movie again because it comes out on Blu-ray (and dvd) next Tuesday! I can't wait! Also coming out on that day is Brandy's new album, Human. So it's going to be like a mini-Christmas that day, to me-from me!

Uncharted 2 announcement teaser

I still need to play the first one! I've been waitin' on that damn game to hit Greatest Hits for the longest! This will definitely give me more incentive to play it. I have no idea what's going on in the teaser or why he's all bruised up, but I assume it has something to do with the end of the first game.

Need to play it!!!

Prince of Persia gameplay montage

O_O! That was awesome! Geeeesh this game is beeeeeeeeeeauuuuutiful!!! I might have to sneak it onto my Christmas list...

There aren't very many reviews out for it yet, but the few that are out are giving it really good scores, including 5/5 from Gamepro, 93 from IGN, and 9/10 from Gameplayer. I also like the fact that it is such a departure from the rest of the series and that they're doing something new.

*includes game in Christmas e-mail to parents*