Wednesday, December 31, 2008

This Week In Entertainment (12/31/08)


A very light week leads to a late post, and a solo entry.

My Pick of the Week is Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics 2. It's an ok sequel to StarTropics, but I think I preferred the island setting better. At least there's no hint about dipping a letter in water.





That's it. Enjoy 2009!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Christmas Aftermath: The Gifts

Now to talk about what I got.

I got 200 bucks cash from my parents because they don't know any better.

I got Chrono Trigger DS and Harvest Moon: Rune Factory from my sister and brother-in-law. The former is a game that I've owned before on the SNES and played to death already. One more go around can't hurt. The latter was loaned to me. I was allowed to keep it because my sister bought another copy cheap at the failing KB Toy Store.

I got 30 dollars in Wal-mart cards from my aunts and uncles.

I got a card from PM with a picture of him and his family.

Lita sent me a Christmas card and a hat she crocheted.


After Christmas I got to the mall and got two Wii games and a linksys wifi router. I still haven't opened the router because I'm not sure if it's what I need but hopefully I can return it if it isn't.

The games I got were Okami and Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. The latter was only fifty bucks for the guitar and game so it was a good deal.

Christmas Aftermath: The Giving

Sorry that I haven't updated lately. I shouldn't have taken the last few days off but I haven't gotten Wifi lately. Now to share what I got and gave this year.


I got my mom a small popcorn maker. We didn't have any popcorn to try on it yet.

For my dad I got a Superman ornament. This was probably the most pricey thing I bought this season.

For my sister and her husband I got gift cards like last year.

For my friend and coblogger Lita I got a graphic tablet. I got it after she joked that I should get one for her during one conversation we had. I almost didn't get on because those things are friggen expensive, but I found one cheap enough.

For my friend and coblogger Rimmi I got another Adam Busch picture that was signed by him. Does that count as regifting?

For my friend and coblogger Mickey I got a keychain with a picture of Marcy Rylan, who he has a crush on. Sadly we haven't heard from him lately because his town is in a state of emergency. Stupid New Hampshire weather.

To my friend and coblogger wurwolf I got a Resident Evil 5 poster because her family enjoys the fourth game so much.

For my friend PM I got a amazon gift card.


For the second year in a row I bought a gift for the X-Entertainment guy because I enjoy his Advent Calendar. I got him a lava lamp because it was one of the cheaper items on his wish list. Man, I wish he could turn his calendars into a feature movie just so they could have James Lipton shoot flames from his arms.


I forgot to take my advice from last year and buy myself something expensive. Oh well. Next year I'll ignore everybody and get the latest Apple ipod thing.

Tork's Picks Week 17

Finally, this season is over tomorrow. I'll take:

Atlanta over St. Louis
New England over Buffalo
Cincinnati over Kansas City
Green Bay over Detroit
Indianapolis over Tennessee
Giants over Minnesota
Carolina over New Orleans
Pittsburgh over Cleveland
Oakland over Tampa Bay
Houston over Chicago
-
Washington over San Francisco
Baltimore over Jacksonville
Jets over Miami
Dallas over Philadelphia
Seattle over Arizona
-
Denver over San Diego

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Advent Calendar 2008


SUN

MON

TUES

WED

THU

FRI

SAT






























Twenty-Fifth Day of Christmas



Our final ornament at Tork's Blog is a barn. Hey, Jesus was born in a barn, right? ... Work with me here.

This is the other ornament my sister gave me the night before her wedding. It looks like a Fisher Price toy we had when we were kids. The barn came with a silo that did nothing but allow you to store stuff in it. You can open the barn to see a few people inside.



And that's it. Thank you for following my blog despite the infrequent updates. Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Twenty-Fourth Day of Christmas


Today's ornament is one of the two I got from my sister during her wedding eve party. Yeah, my sister got married, but I didn't report it because all my operatives are working on new lightbulb stuff. UPDATE: No updates about lightbulbs.

This little Pac-Man machine plays the Pac-Man theme when you push either of the start buttons. It takes 3 watch batteries and it lights up when it makes sound effects. It's too bad they couldn't fit the whole game on it. I bet they could for cheap if they wanted to.

Twenty-Third Day of Christmas



Today's ornament is one of the nerdiest yet. It's a Maryland quarter that can be hanged on your tree. I have a few more of these but this is the only one I decided to hang on my tree this year.

You can see some Maryland specific thing on the medal. The state quarter is a boring state capital but the outside has stuff like our state bird and a crab from the Chesapeake Bay.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Twenty-Second Day of Christmas


Today's ornament is a simple star with a baby Jesus in a manger. Yep, I'm pushing my religion all over you today, suckers!

This star came from the third or fourth grade. On the back is my name and my home room number. I'm not going to show that side for privacy reasons. I have a red star with another nativity scene.

I forgot that I had these. This star would have come from about 1989-1990. It's nice to see this even though it's not what I had in mind when I started this calendar. I haven't found the ornaments that I wanted to show off but the twenty some ornaments I've shown are good enough.

Rimmi's Cartoon Intro Challenge #14

This month's cartoon is Delilah and Julius. It's a French cartoon but we have an English version available for dopes like me. I'm going to mostly watch the English version.




The intro starts with two spies running across rooftops. The style of the cartoon is similar to those Esurance car commercials.

On an unrelated note, DAMN you Internet nerds for making movies about your crushes on cartoon characters!!!!

Anyway, groovy narrator tells us that these two people are orphans and they are left alone to defend the world. They do stuff like flip around and appear in split screens. Because they're so extreme they can't just be confined to one box, don't you know. Our heroes, a guy and a girl, are wearing black ninja spy clothes, except Delilah is wearing red stripes and Julius is wearing light blue stripes. I'm guessing at the names, by the way. They wear utility belts, so I'm guessing that this is a spoofy spy show. Saint Adam West smiles upon this cartoon.




By the way, is Delilah's thigh longer than her torso? Am I looking at this picture wrong?

Narrator let's us know that he took in the two orphans. So this show has a Charlie's Angel angle. We get a look at him and he's the grooviest thing ever. Imagine if Charlie showed his face and whenver he ordered the angels to do something he insisted it's no big deal. He would then follow this up by asking them to play hacky sack. That's how groovy he looks.



Anyway, he runs a giant academy. He talks about how it's a training ground for the spies but I want to know where he got the money for that kind of thing. I guess it's explained in the pilot but I don't plan to watch it. Then hippy narrator says "Now they have me, and each other...and it's cool." This guy is more laidback than Sam Casey.



After letting us know that our heroes are still teens, we get to find out what's the difference between them. Besides the obvious thing that allows them to have a romantic subplot. Julius the guy (I got it right!) is a surfer, poet, and safe cracker. I bet the second trait is his "humorous" one. You know, he's a tough spy, but he loves poetry! Isn't that hilarious!?




Delilah the girl knows fencing, etiquette, and explosives. I guess that's a way of saying that she's a lady, but she's a SELF-SUFFICIENT girl when it matters. I guess this means that she has to do all the dirty work while Julius sits around waiting for his safe cracking or surfer skills come in handy. Isn't it wacky when gender roles are reversed!?




Anyway, they know all the spy cliches like being masters of disguise and fluency in different languages. Although now that I think of it James Bond never bothered with either of those. Speaking of cliches, narrator tells us that they're saving the world one crime at a time. Then they punch the screen. Kapow!


This show is actually a Canadian show. I just assumed it was French. The entire is done entirely in Flash. It lasted two seasons and ended recently.

There's nothing else that really jumps out from the wiki entry, other than the fact that there's a flash game about the show. Here it is, although my brief attempt at the game didn't last long because I didn't pay attention to the tutorial. All I did was go from airport to airport while Groovy Charlie yelled at me each time. Did you know that the tallest tower in the world is at Toronto? I now know, unless this is Canadian propaganda.

This Week In Entertainment (12/21/08)



My Pick of the Week will really get us into the spirit of Christmas. It's the Resident Evil: Degeneration movie, which does not star what's her face. It's a CGI movie that has Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield in it.

Also out on DVD this week, they're still making Beethoven movies. Seriously.


In theaters this week is The Spirit, a superhero movie that seems to be influenced by Sin City. Only this one is PG-13, so I bet the comic book nerds hold their nose to this one.


Out on the Virtual Console this week is Phantasy Star IV. I've never played this game but I know I was shocked to see it in a store for 100 bucks. I can't imagine any 16-bit game being worth that much. I don't recall any Super NES games being that much, even when a few were 70 dollars. 800 Wii Poins.

Finally we have Fun! Fun! Minigolf for WiiWare. I want to believe, but I've been burned by several lousy Wii games before. If the reviews are any good I'll pick this up.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Twenty-First Day of Christmas



Today's ornament is a reference to one of the best cartoons of the nineties. It's Pinky and the Brain. I forget when I got it but it's still somewhat recent.

I've included a couple more pictures to show it from both sides.




Saturday, December 20, 2008

Twentieth Day of Christmas



Our final ornament on catch-up Saturday is a snowflake. It's only snowed once this month and we rarely have white Christmases, but whatever. It's Christmas!

This one is gold, but we also have plenty of white flakes. They're also covered with glitter.

Nineteenth Day of Christmas



Today's ornament is a fat little lady holding a Christmas present.

You can tell that she's really in the spirit of the season with her Santa hat and her Christmas tree skirt.

Eighteenth Day of Christmas




Thursdays are exciting. Maybe a little too exciting. So we'll balance that with a more generic ornament.

Wait, is that ornament shaped like a dreidel? I can see one family that's trying to play it safe.

Seventeenth Day of Christmas



Today on the middle of the week we have a book. We had a couple of these but I don't remember too much about them.

This one is about teddy bears. I'll show you a page.



Sorry about the quality of this picture. It's the best I could do. Nice to see a nutcracker in this story.

Sixteenth Day of Christmas



Today's ornament on this slow Tuesday is a bell. How could I have gone this long without a bell? I need an angel ornament before this season is over.



As you can see this particular bell comes from 1984. Don't drop it! It's over 20 years old!

Fifteenth Day of Christmas



To start off this week (no really, it's really Monday!) we have this heart-shaped ornament.

You can't really tell in this picture but it has a reflective surface. Not quite a mirror, but you can see reflections of my hand on the sides. We also had red and green versions of this ornament.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Fourteenth Day of Christmas



Is it really Sunday? Time for church! And later, avoiding football. Stupid lousy local teams...

Today's ornament is another train related one. This time we have trains on a bell. It doesn't make any noise though.