Kumiho's Den

Uhh ... Look what I found!

2005-09-22T15:28:00.000-10:00

This blog ... needs to be updated more. LOL

Big-O

2005-01-14T13:58:00.000-10:00

I watched the first couple of episodes of this newly run anime on the Cartoon Network. Suffice to say, it's weird. Very. I'm not accustomed to this blending of one theme and working it into an abnormal environment. Take, for instance, the concepts of androids. Now, back in the early 20th century, it wasn't an unheard of concept - just that it mostly resided in science fiction novellas of that time. But, to consider a fully functioning android made with technological marvels not found even in this part of the 21st century ... you'll probably agree it is too weird.

Since this series is being developed by Sunrise (not sure if this is Bones Studio, the people responsible for Wolf's Rain and Cowboy Bebop) I decided to at least watch a few before opening up my yap about it.

Well, sorry to say, there's nothing too redeeming going for this anime - yet. Maybe as the series progresses, things start to firm up a bit and the story starts to make sense. For now, it's too fantastical for my tastes and borders on the weird and sublime ... like chocolate chip cookies dipped in au jus of prime rib. Blech.

I've been getting my steady doses of Naruto although the manga line of the series has gone on vacation for a while. Not sure of any details, but there's been talk of picking up from where they left off with Naruto leaving Konoha for more training under the guidance of his sensei, Jiraiya. I am a bit excited yet also a bit subdued. Are we going to get more flashbacks just to fill pages or are we getting new materials? Speak up Kishimoto-san!

As for the other things ... World of Warcraft has been occupying my time yet I'm just too worn out to put my thoughts about it in this blog. Maybe over the weekend. It's a 3-day Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend for me, not that I'd don my civil rights pledges and hit the streets or anything. I'm probably just going to chill out and relax. Legal work with ineptitude and stress does not a happy person maketh. Or something like that.

Some News

2004-12-08T17:15:00.000-10:00

Although I haven't been posting here as often as I should. Just a couple of additions to the blogspot. First off is my blog which covers the adventures of an undead rogue by the name of Kosy in the World of Warcraft. http://undeadkosy.blogspot.com The next blog is for my character on Final Fantasy XI, Katsuya, a Tarutaru black mage. http://katsuya.blogspot.com Enjoy!

Turkey FF Style

2004-11-29T10:14:00.000-10:00

I spent most of my Thanksgiving weekend in front of the PS2 playing Final Fantasy XI. This time, I created a new character and decided to start over. I never realized how tough it would be, but it is quite difficult. Starting over is one thing, but to have to start from scratch with out resources and money is another thing.

My new character is a Tarutaru named Katsuya. She is a magic user and since Tarus are quite adept at using magic, I decided on the Black Mage job with a subjob of a White Mage. In the world of Final Fantasy, a Black Mage primarily uses dark elemental magic as well as the other elements with the exception of light. Light or Holy is an exclusive type for the use of White Mages, Paladins and Red Mages. Black Mages and Dark Knights are aligned with the powers of dark elemental, so unless they sub the aforementioned jobs, they are not able to utilize the powers of light/holy elemental.

A Black Mage has another vital difference from White Mages. Whereas the White Mage is the party's medic (healer and protector) the Black Mage is the party's offensive weapon. The BLM (Black Mage) can cast a range of spells that affect a single target or an area of effect (AoE) They are also capable of wielding Ancient Magic, magical arts long lost in the realm of Vana'Diel and capable of wiping out even the most toughest of adversaries (but at the cost of a large amount of mana)

I chose BLM as my job only because of my Dark Knight (DRK) roots. I was always used to posting huge numbers in terms of damages and have always felt accustomed to playing the party's offense. I feel that the job of BLM gives me the same options and also adds in a couple more dimensions not found with DRK: the ability of gaining more party invites than most of the other job classes as well as having the ability to progress through stealth type missions/quests which can net large amounts of income for the character. Also, I will continue to level WHM in order to provide another important resouce: Teleportation. This is often overlooked income generator which totally abides by SE's ToS and also is the most legitimate way of working for your income.

I only hope that in the coming future I can successfully enjoy playing with my new character and making many more new friends.

109 ... 239 ... Anticipation

2004-11-17T01:03:00.000-10:00

Yes, it's a new week and that means a new episode and a new chapter in Naruto! The most anticipated - actually, it will be this way for several weeks to come - are the TV episodes. This is the definitive arc in the series, culminating all the preparations made in the previous arcs and barreling down towards the ultimate Naruto vs. Sasuke showdown. Fight on! Also, in the manga, chapter 239 marks a turning point in the series, as a new main character comes to the forefront. He is Kakashi, jounin leader of Naruto's cell #7. I say main because it seems that the rest of the story will be taking a breather as the story will be fast forwarded in time to more pertinent events. However, all will not be lost due to this expediency in time as Kakashi's story, which every fan will tell you, has long been overdue.

Kakashi's a unique character in that he seems unassuming and most readers will not notice the subtle strings which binds him to the integral of the story. In fact, without Kakashi, I would believe that the story would be dramatically different. So eat your heart out Naruto, as you will need to share the spotlight for a bit with your sensei!

Hayaku ... I cannot wait for the releases.

Movies ...

2004-11-15T10:19:00.000-10:00

I vegged out on Sunday. During the day, I watched some movie on the Sci-Fi channel, Disturbing Behavior. Well, I actually flipped between that and Apocalypse Now on AMCTV. I liked AN mostly for Robert Wagner's The Ride of the Valkyries and the subsequent action scenes. It was a stirring composition and really set the tone for the depiction of the war. I mostly watched DB for Katie Holmes (Dawson Creek) She is a very beautiful actress. I'm not sure what the movie was about, although it did reek of cheesiness.

I then watched Speed later on in the evening on FX channel. I was mildly annoyed by the insertion of the DVD extras in between movie sequences and felt the airing of the movie was mostly a lame attempt at advertising the movie. If they're gonna show a movie like that, they should just show it since they already put tons of commercials during the airtime anyway.

Star Crafting 2

2004-11-15T10:09:00.000-10:00

I decided to go on BNET and play AI opponents to see how much I've retained over the period of inactivity. Much to my surprise, I didn't lose much of my edge and grit. I pummeled the two AIs using a randomly generated race (Protoss) against Humans and Zergs. I think the Zergs posed a greater challenge since the AI built on a second base even before I detected the primary base. The fortunate thing was that my drone I used to scout ahead found the second base and I sent a stream of zealots to rip it up before they could gather much resources. The meager reinforcements that the AI sent to take the base away from me was easily handled with the 5 zealots that had gathered there.

I then continued to stream in zealots and gathered 6 in the opposite corner which I had highly suspected held a base (I was right) Slaughtering the humans were a bit tough as they had a bunker erected, but still no match for the newly upgraded speed on the zealots. By the 10th minute, I had produced nearly 20 zealots and had lost only 5 in the ensuing battle with the humans. After gathering 10 zealots, I sent them on to the unsuspecting primary base of the zergs while I streamed (now in pairs) of zealots towards the doomed human encampment. Establishing lone zealot scouts on the remaining resource points proved a wise move as I was able to intercept a couple of scv/drone scouts.

With victory close at hand, it was just a matter of time before I was granted the title of victor ... 14 min 37 sec - a very strong showing if I must say myself.

Naruto 108

2004-11-12T01:34:00.000-10:00

This episode puts the series back on the story. The direction has improved a bit and I like the pace now. No longer are scenes dragged out unnecessarily longer than they should and that's comforting to know. I won't give away the story here, but to make it brief, the mission will probably start in Episode 109.

Star Crafting

2004-11-11T13:54:00.000-10:00

I meant it in the sense of the game and not something you do with a needle and some thread ><;

It's been 2 years and a few months since I last played this game. In fact, the last intense session of Star Craft was back in Winter '02. Back then, I had a few acquaintances from an online game called Shattered Galaxy. Well, the game was OK but not what I had expected it to be (the preview in that year's PC Gamer Magazine totally hyped it up) The most annoying thing about that game was the ill-mannerisms of players from both Korea and the United States. Name callings went overboard and childish behavior carried into gameplay. A few of us decided that we had enough of that and wanted to fall back on familiar online RTS games. We decided on a private group and created closed games to play. It was the most entertaining time I have had and I don't think I've ever come close to that feeling since then.

Trying to relive those moments now seem to me a bit of a chore than fun. I'm also not as adept or nimble in my interaction with the game and I even lost to the AI (Something that has not happened to me in over 6 years) I would never had thought that there would be a time when I would actually say that Star Craft has become - stale. Well, I'm on the verge of saying so now. I guess I should've had more fun with this game when I had the opportunity to do so.

Utada's Exodus

2004-11-11T10:10:00.000-10:00

I was able to listen to a few tracks off of Hikaru (Hikki) Utada's new album, Exodus, through a friend of mine. I had heard about the impending release several weeks back due to the album being released earlier in Japan. The one song that I had listened to back then was Easy Breezy, which was a catchy tune (although the lyrics make little sense)

Well, after listening to a bit more tracks off of the album, I started wondering. Was Hikki's lyric always this cheesy? In the beginning, when I first discovered her music off of Serpent's anime website (which hosted ripped MP2/MP3 OST tracks and Real Video encoded anime episodes) back in 1998, I immediately recognized that she had a wonderful voice and mastery over singing. I then started to listen to her other singles over the course of the year and then in late 1999, I purchased her album, "First Love" at a local japanese bookstore.

Her songs were upbeat, for the most part, except in the case of First Love and Give Me a Reason which were slow ballads. She authored all of the lyrics for the songs and the talent she commanded at such a young age (16) really impressed me. The translations of her lyrics popped up all over the internet in a scant few months following her album release and as I read it, I thought it was fair poetry - nothing earth shattering, but it was pretty good.

Well, over the course of the next few years, Hikki had put out more albums. As her popularity grew, so did the number of music videos she appeared in as well as the CMs all over TV networks in Japan. She even released a track which became the theme song for Square Enix's game, "Kingdom Hearts" entitled Simple and Clean. I got to follow her maturity over the years and while there were some bad decisions made (The music video for Addicted to You was pretty horrid by most definitions) her natural progression had made her a music genius.

However, this latest album, Exodus, is far from a work of a genius. What really left this impression in my mind was the sudden embrace of the new direction in which electronica hip-hop was taking - more of a cheesy jaunt through Motown as it were. I'm not a big fan of "black" music either, but I know when something becomes a departure from the norm just by listening to it.

The songs ring shallow and her lyrics are nothing more than the work of a confused individual, trying to succeed at the painful progression of leaving the small tidepool of idol and fame into the ocean of fast trends and egotistical talent that is the American Music Industry. Hikki is trying to gain acceptance in her new world by playing up as the new minority kid on the block, harping over racial discrimination in her quest for a "white" boyfriend or whining about the sacrifices made in the global trekking.

I think this is the worst work she has put out ever and I for one feel that this was simply a mistake and bad timing on her part to enter the music scene in America during a time of great political and ideological divide. Hopefully, she can recover from this deviation and not further shame herself in trying to grab attention of the media and listeners by playing up the trash-and-dirt that so many other mainstream artists have embarked on.

Naruto by the Gigabytes

2004-11-11T01:45:00.001-10:00

I have recently completed collecting all TV episodes of the Naruto anime series. However, I'm barely beginning to archive these files. They occupy large amounts hard drive space and are annoying to deal with. I've already burned 15 CDs worth so far (Only about 45 episodes of the nearly 108 that I have!)

Full Metal Alchemist

2004-11-11T01:45:00.000-10:00

With the success of the anime, this story is now being released as a video game. While I do not know the details of the story since I have not seen the anime yet, I do know for a fact that Square Enix is releasing this game.

In the anime, the story (Hagane no Renkin Jyutsushi in Japanese) is about the two Elric brothers - Edward and Alphonse. They have great abilities as Alchemists, those that are able to transmute or change materials from one type into another (e.g., iron into gold) A mishap causes the younger Alphonse to be transferred into an all metal body while the elder brother Edward has a couple of artificial limbs.

I'm not sure about the popularity of this anime but apparently it has caught the attention and imagination of Square Enix and now it is being made into a video game. From what I see, the game is an RPG (Role Playing Game) and features Edward as the lead character and his brother, Alphonse, as a summonable character. Exactly what the story in-game is about is a mystery to me. It may follow the anime series or it may be a distinct story in itself without any relationship to the series.

Interesting indeed and I hope to try it in demo form before committing money to it.

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/games/ps2/hagaren/index.html