It's easy to get in a habit of making big statements and not sticking to them. Whether we vocalize them or not, we can fool ourselves in the end with such glorious ideas. This is probably due to our fantasies that give us limitless possibilities without considering the tussle of dedication. I recently had a similar statement spat out of my mind: "I want to learn a foreign language!"
What's my reasoning? Well, the exciting possibilities of one day travelling to foreign lands and avoiding the intimidating language barrier. Also, boredom. Lots of that. It only to a little consideration to figure out the languages I wanted to learn, too. Recently, I've been enjoying my Sega Saturn with some Japanese titles, filled with so letters and symbols, I can't even imagine the meaning behind them. So there's one language on my plate; how about another one? My mind went directly to the coarse and defiantly hip enunciation found in the German language. So there you have it, I'm learning Japanese and German. Just like that.
Am I fool? Maybe, but with free time and no college to give my brain a workout, I don't see any harm (I'll just be out a couple dollars on notebooks and no. 2 pencils). Only time will tell if I keep at this, or just piddle away out of boredom. So, are you folks pursuing any gigantic goals that just came to you out of the blue? Or are any of you currently learning a savvy new language?
I dedicate this post to the "ka" hiragana symbol in Japanese. You're one of my favorites to write, buddy.
Pizzerias knew how to catch my young eye when I was growing up. They had gumballs, sticker machines, silly little gadgets of all sorts, and that was just in the entrance. By the time I made it to a table, my interests would direct toward the shop's cute fluffy mascot, merchandise at the cash register, and most importantly, the arcade machines. I remember quite distinctively a period of time at my local Pizza Hut they had a certain arcade cabinet by the name of Night Warriors. On the surface it was another fighting game, but with just enough quirkiness to really waste a nice amount of change on the machine.
Night Warriors is the second game in Capcom's series of fighting monsters, Darkstalkers. It came out in the mid-'90s and gained a following for fighting game enthusiasts. It's use of monsters, each with their own wacky special moves and notions, instead of human fighters, made for an interesting take on the fighter genre. It has an obligatory sinister atmosphere, with just enough light-heartedness in its comedy to avoid being too pretentious. The monsters range from gigantic musclebound abominations, to sensual and deadly hellcats (which the character Felicia is, quite literally).
There are 16 playable characters (or atrocities, if you prefer). I had fun just deciding which weirdo I wanted to play as when I first tried out this game. They are accompanied with their own menacing, detailed level and fist-pumping techno music. My personal favorite tune is Hsien-Ko's theme, complete with her own "Hya!"'s in the mix. It's a solid fighter, no doubt. But what else would you expect from Capcom? Some deem it as a Street Fighter clone with monsters gimmick, but I'd say Night Warriors has enough charm to warrant its own franchise.
If you are new to Capcom fighting games, there is a bit of a learning curve in the characters' abilities and tactics; having a movelist/strategy guide up and ready to go wouldn't hurt. If you are no stranger to games like the Street Fighter series, the gameplay will come naturally. Besides, why wouldn't you want to master Sasquatch's moves to defeat a Frankenstein-esque creature? Or how about using a swiping combo with a werewolf to take out a giant mummy? Whether you've got a worn-out arcade cabinet still taking in quarters down at the pizzeria, or your own personal copy for the Playstation or Saturn, Night Warriors is a ridiculous and fun fighting game.
So it's February 2011 and this glo-fi chillwave vhs-core trend is still maintaning some consitency in my audio adventures. The staples of the genre are quick to realize: muddled drones, dreamy melodies, mashed up din, DANCE. MUSIC. It's the sound of pleasurable, lazy nostalgia with a whole new meaning. I recently salvaged a little band called Sleep ∞ Over, which falls in the glo-fi genre tree. Three indie ladies with their myspace and their features on compilations and their sevin inch single, Outer Limits. No album yet, but that 7'' is a killer. The song chosen for each side is obvious, as A-side Outer Limits just has a perfect lo-fi Cocteau Mac groove going for it. Or if you prefer, an all female new wave group's basement tapes. But... the b-side.. the song La Rose.. is where the real magic is at. Check it out:
What a tune.. so many glorious marks in this dream pop tune, that it easily earned itself to be the soundtrack to my night time bike rides these past few weeks. The way the intertwining vocals swirl in and out, that meaty drum beat, that simple guitar break after the first chorus... and how the song just picks itself right back up again. It's hazy, yet emotive and meaningful, as it guides you through lonely dark city streets (probably in midsummer). It's the song that just exemplifies the emotion I can extract from music, and gives me a little hope in finding that hidden audio gem while digging through all these hip indie genres.
A churning chunk of sound cutting into the headphones. Monotonous, thick guitars playing from all corners of my ears. Backwards instrumentation chopping and ripping through the headphones. A serious voice ascending from the Netherlands, stating the meaning behind it all. This is doom metal. And as a fan of soundscapes in my metal, doom is my preferred subgenre. And while listening to doom.. I thought.. why not play some?
Bah - DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
Well, not exactly. After mustering up a copy of Doom for my beloved Saturn, I quickly learned the sad truth: it's a crappy port of the game. It has the always unwanted problem of slowdown.. shame on the Saturn! Luckily, using my noggin just a bit, I quickly considered the idea of a DOOM flash game. Which google reviewed to be true, on good old Newgrounds!
So, I fired that bad boy up, got my Electric Wizard and Reverend Bizarre 12 inch mix blasting, and emerged myself in the fires of DOS hell. It never hurts to give classic games a little soundtrack update, you know? Next time you're cruising for a little nostalgia of the darker side of gaming, why not add a little doom metal flair? If you aren't familiar to the genre, try a little taste of this monolith of a track:
And now my mind is a vapid cesspool of dark imagery. Thank you, doom.
To use, or make use, of something-or-other, we need to know the uses. Even with that knowledge we're not safe from scars of scratches. But, we smile and continue our boundless work. In here, I will bring notice to things I feel the digital age might want to know; might want to use. Or really.. anything I feel might be of some interest. Or some ridiculous cogitation. Maybe you will find some entertainment in all of this.
