I'll start off by saying that I've been listening to Weird Al since lower grade school and I've grown up loving most of his work (Okay, I admit I wasn't so keen on his Saturday Morning show, but I dare any of you to tell me you havn't quoted 'UHF' at any point of your lives).

Anyone familior with RiffTrax or MST3k for that matter will realise just what a natural fit this it then that he's brought in to riff on one of the more profilic movies of the early 90's, Jurassic Park. A sample and eventual purchase link can be found here...

[link]

(Nice tie in with his own song near the end of the sample).

This also prompted me to pick up the trilogy set today for about $22. I hadn't seen the other two movies yet anyway so it's a good enough excuse to pick it up as well.

Another staple of my early childhood was the Dragon Warrior series. In the last decade of me collecting video games I've been able to get three games of the series (1, 2, and 4 respectively). The last two games of the series are particularly rare due to a limited run as well as higher than usual pricing for NES games back in the day. While the first two were relitivily simple finds (I have no less than three copies of Dragon Warrior 1), Four was a marvalous stroke of luck, but not nearly as much as my aquisition yesterday...

There's a pawn shop in my town that's notorious for up-pricing it's games if it seems to have ANY sort of 'op-cultural' value. What do I mean by that? Let's look at some examples...

Bart vs The Space Mutants; $25
Pac-Man on the NES, Licenced Namco version; $40
Super Mario RPG; $140

Anyone with an iota of knowledge about gaming would know these games arn't work half of what they're listed here. Not to knock SMRPG, but that price is far too steep even for the most avid of collectors. To clarify, games that arn't specialty priced are not labeled and go for $10.

Back to the story at hand, I stopped by the shop work for my usual parusal, when I noticed a familior word in an unfamilior typeface. 'Dragon Warrior III'. I immediately called over the clerk (one of the younger employees, the owners didn't seem to be in at the time) and asked to see the cart. It looked to be in good condition, as well it lacked a price sticker.

"There's no price on this game, so it's $10?"

"$10, the usual"

"Sold"

Waltzing out the door I could barely contain the grin from my usually stotic self. The game seems to be working perfectly (hasn't even envoked the blue-flash yet), the only thing that would have made this better is if I managed to get the Instructions, charts and maps that came with the original game. Perhaps I should go back and see if they kept them.

Merry Christmas to anyone catching this journal... yeah that's right, Christmas.

I had doubts of how well my gifts would be received this year, but a few last minuite additions really helped. For my Parents I got them a DVD player (with several DVDs of classic comedians like Groucho Marx, Red Skeleton, Abot and Costello, and the obligitory Three Stooges), so now I've dragged them (kicking and screaming) into the next (current) generation of entertainment. To even things out though, I also got mother a gift certificate for a crafts store and my father a similar voucher for a hunting goods establishment.

My brother, sister and neice were pretty easy until the very end, although I did dodge a pretty big bullet for what I had planned. I originally thought to get them a Wii, but after a few choice cercomstances out of my control I got them a PS2 instead. This was spurred by my sister (who isn't a gamer in the least) buying DDR SuperNova 2 and needing to borrow my system. After balancing just how difficult it STILL was to get a system (something I wasn't counting on), and that a PS2 would be significantly cheaper I thought this to be a better option. On top of that, I also got them Gran Turismo 3 and Boogie (for my sister, again she's not a gamer so I don't think she'll complain). My niece was fairly easy; a teddy bear, a large stuffed lion, a tinker-bell ornament, and Pound Puppy.

Overall, they seemed pretty pleased with their gifts. I myself am pretty happy with the Third Season of The Office and two more volumes of the annual Bathroom Reader. I also got a portable laser-pointer and lamp, and other various things.

That's about all for now. My art has been a little less fickle of late so I may acctually have a deluge of peices soon. We'll see how my remaining week at home is. Got a lot of cleaning up left to do as well.

For everyone reading have a merry Christmas, Chanukah, and any similar winter holiday

being the doody head he is, tagged me with one of those questionarie... meme... things... whatever you kids call them.

Anyhow these are the rules...

1. Post these rules
2. Each person tagged must post 8 random (hopefully interesting) facts about themselves
3. Tags should write a journal of these facts
4. At the end of the post 8 more bloggers are tagged and named
5. Go to their page and leave a comment telling them that they're tagged.
6. Make the last one embarrassing and/or shocking. Please, nothing nasty

Fair enough... lets see...

1- I have 40% native Canadian Cree blood in me, yet my skin is as white as bleached chaulk. Well not quite, I tan nicely but I still tend to be on the pasty-side.

2- I really have no specific musical tastes. I usually just think of song to song to whatever memory I have accociated with them. As bands, I probably only like Weird Al, Barenakid Ladies, and Lorenna Mckennit

3- I don't like carbonated drinks. My favorite drink is probably Iced Tea, the ruder the better

4- In counter to the above, I used to be a big coffee drinker, but I quit soon after high-school since it started giving me headaches

5- Dispite being technically inclined, I tend to be resistant to new technology. I never got my own portable CD Player until six years ago, an MP3 player three years ago, and a high-def television not even three months ago.

6- In real life I can sometimes be quite boarish. I'm usually not afraid to share curt words to superiors if I feel I'm being honest about my feelings.

7- I had very little inhibition when it comes to saying things. I rarely think of the conciquences until long after.

8- I acctually have too much inhibition when it comes to being intimate. It's something I've had a difficult time understanding. It's not that I feel uncomfortable being around the oppisite sex, maybe it's more about just releasing myself fully to someone I can trust.

I guess that's all I care to share about myself, I'm rarely this open in public >_>

On a side note, I'm still looking for Freind Vouchers in Metroid Prime 3. I don't have many left to trade back, but if someone's willing to lend me some I'd really appreciate it. My Wii FC is 4136 3615 8283 3576 . Send me a Note if you add me.

Now then, the next eight people to get this... hnn..










That's all for now. Later

Figure I should update this thing once in awhile...

*shoos spiders away from console*

Well I guess a heads up for what it's worth, it'll be my birthday on Monday. Truthfully I find it difficult to get as psyched about it as I once was, but so long as no-one from work finds out (we have very unique rituals there), I'll be fine with letting people know.

In other news, I've been digging into Metroid Prime 3 this week. For my veiw of the game so far I have to say it definatly took some getting used to, the controls that is. On the Advanced setting it's almost unbeleivibly touchy, but after a few hours it feels quite natural and almost nessesary. If you want a tip though, learn to make great use of the Z button to help steady your aim. The rest of the game I have no problems with. It might not have the look and poly-counts of games like Bioshock, but again the artistitc touches help make the game feel as alien yet coheisive as a whole which in the end is much more nessesary that having purdy textures.

I guess there must be an ulterior motive for mentioning both of these things in my journal. Namely, Freind Vouchers. I've gotten 6 vouchers myself, but so far I don't have anyone to trade them with. If anyone's willing to trade (or daresay... donate? ^_^; ) I'd be very graitful. I need me some Mii Bobble-Heads!

My Wii Console Freindcode is 4136 3615 8283 3576

I guess that's all that bears mentioning for now. I know I've been rather slack in getting art up here (moreso than before), but as soon as I get the energy I'll be sure to post my creations here

I admit. I've hardly been a blur of activity on dA lately. My gallery updates maybe once every two months, and that's because I'm very picky about what I show here.

I think a little less excusable is my lack of participation in the community side of dA. I havn't really comment much lately on anyoine else's work unless it's directly related to myself or someone closer to me.

I think this is something I should change, and hopefully I should provide (what I hope to be) contructive comments on more of my freinds and other people's art.

It might be a bit bolsterous to say of myself, but I want to help others who genuinely want to improve what they do. A forwarning I'm hardly a yes-man, but I hope none of my comments come off too negitive. After all, if I feel you can't improve, why would I bother posting?

Although in turn, don't feel neglected if I don't comment much on your stuff. I might be at a loss of anything to say or unaware of the angle your art is commong from. It's taste if not that.

Not much else to say... maybe in turn I can get some constructive veiws of my art as well

NINJA EDIT;

Guess I got the exact oppisite message that I intended. What I ment was I'm going to try abd comment more on other people's Deviations, so no I'm far from leaving dA ^_^;. Expect to see a lot more of me in the near future.