Time killah

This past weekend was an expensive one that’ll have my budget for this month covered in red ink. You see, I was at the car dealership this weekend because the little wrench indicator light lit up on my dashboard a few days prior reminding me it’s time for a maintenance check. I went to the service department hoping to just get an oil change but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

Last time I had my car serviced I passed on the suggested valve adjustment which would have had me paying over 600 dollars for the total service job. This time I decided to bite the bullet and go forward with it (curse my responsible ways). In the end, with an oil change, rotated tires, and a valve adjustment, I ended up paying nearly 400 dollars. Geez, let me tell you that having a personal vehicle is such a great symbol of freedom (and almost a necessity for Southern California living) as you can go anywhere, anytime but man is it an expensive symbol of freedom.

I didn’t know it at the time but apparently valve adjustments take a long time to service as the mechanic has to wait for the engine to cool down before servicing it, so I had a lot of time to burn through before my car was ready. When I’m in these situations where I have a lot of time to kill, I usually play a game on my phone. My game of choice: ChuChu Rocket! for the iPhone.

During short waits like at the barber shop or at the dentist office I usually play the arcade mode of Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night, but if anything is going to take longer than 30 minutes I bust out ChuChu Rocket! If you don’t know, it’s a puzzle game where you guide mice called “chuchus” to a rocket ship while trying to avoid these crazy-eyed space cats that’ll eat them if they cross paths. You can’t control them directly as they run in a straight line or they’ll turn right when they hit a wall, but you can guide them with a limited set of tiles that allow them to change their direction.

You’ll fly through levels relatively quickly through Normal mode as it is setup as a sort of warm up to how the game plays, but things will get really difficult after that. Some levels later on in the Hard and Special modes are real headscratchers that it will have you focusing so hard for a solution that you will become blissfully unaware that you are staring angrily at your phone and making all around you very uneasy because they believe you’re about to go ape crazy on them all. On the plus side, it’s a great way to have no one sit next to you.

I exclusively play this game while in waiting rooms and I’ve played over 70 levels thus far. At the pace I play, this game could be unlimited because there are over 500 levels crammed into it! I’ve played this game over the span of a couple of years and it’s good to know I’m nowhere near of completing it, making it my game of choice in the near future to be used at any car dealership’s service department I may be stuck in for a number of hours.

Prizes of war

Part 2 of the Art of Pogs feature: the green lava tube.

Y.W.A (Yankiiz Wit Attitudes)

The upcoming film Straight Outta Compton has a meme generator that allows you to replace the word "Compton" to whatever you want it to be. So inspired by the original movie posters for the film, I used the meme generator to replicate it, but with the cast of Cromartie High School. You’re welcome, Internet.

Weird science

I just finished catching up with the second season of Rick and Morty. Wasn’t too bad catching up since only two episodes have aired.

Before watching them, I wasn’t sure if a second season would be a good thing or bad. I loved the first season and was surprised at how funny it was; especially with its type of humor. With Rick’s dialog and his attitude towards...everything, and the situations they got themselves tangled in, it was a show that stuck out from a lot of the other stuff that Adult Swim was putting out. It was so good to me that I got the feeling that there was just enough episodes for the writers to be satisfied with before struggling to make it funny and then wear out its welcome.

I was wrong. Well, at least based on the first two episodes of this new season. I’m happy to say the comedy is just as strong as it was before and I’m sooo glad they haven't gone down the path where they find something people liked based on focus research from watching season one and then burning that once cool and neat idea to the ground. Hopefully the remainder of the season is as good as its beginning.

Wubba lubba dub dub!

Let the boys be boys…

Starting the show with a show stopper, the first lava tube we’ll look at will be nuthin' but slammers.

Somthin' new

The inaugural subject for the new features section of this website is one that is forever tied to my childhood. Some would call it dumb. Scratching their heads in confusion as to why it was so popular. While others went hog wild into the craze; entering into that gotta catch 'em all mentality and burnt through all of their parent’s hard earned cash into what would be labeled as just a fad.

It’s also something that I don’t think anyone but ‘90s kids would really understand popularity wise. I’m talking about Pogs! Interested? Then check out this feature’s index page by clicking the image below -- which will also be located on the right side of the website. New content will be appearing for a number of weeks, so keep checking the feature, or read the blog for new stuff.

Bad boys of the pond. Or lake. Or river. Or ocean.

Even fishing has attitude! At first I thought it was ridiculous, but to be honest, if I were a fisherman, I’d probably sport the Bass Knuckles line of clothing. Also, it’s Owner hooks or go home!

I need a poster of this

Really dig the box art for Skate or Die 2. A lot of rad is radiating from this pic.

Funding the next chapter

Look what I have gone and done. I already spent all of my free cash for the month by giving it to the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter. Even though I was happy to see Yu Suzuki getting the opportunity to continue his epic story, I wasn’t sure if it was something I wanted to assist with by contributing to his Kickstarter (since it was already funded just hours after it was announced). I thought about it for a long while before finally deciding to pull the trigger just shortly before the campaign ended -- and I was happy to do it.

I really respect Yu Suzuki for all of his contributions to video games. From his pseudo-3D sprite-scaling games from the ‘80s like Hang-On and Out Run where he added unique controllers to the arcade machines for players to experience, to the ‘90s where he introduced 3D polygonal based gaming with Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter. But his most ambitious project was Shenmue, a game that incorporates a few different genres plus added a few new gaming elements to the mix. Originally planned as a grand 15 chapter story, it was left incomplete for many years where only two games were released.

I’ve always appreciated the series from a distance but never actually played the games myself. My brother bought the original game when it came out back in 2000, and I watched him play the majority of the game, but I never saw the ending. Similarly, I watched my cousin play through a huge chunk of the sequel when it came out for the Xbox, but I never saw the ending. I’m so glad I was able to get both games for myself before sellers on eBay decided the price for these games need to be doubled what they were following the announcement of Shenmue 3. I also have both the Dreamcast and Xbox connected to my TV ready to play.

Now with the third game beginning development and my added contribution to its funding, this seems like a good time and incentive to actually play the games. I’m planning to start playing the first game soon and am excited as ever to return to Yokosuka and experience the world of Shenmue firsthand.

Fever dream

I just watched a video where voice actor Steven Blum, Adventure Time’s The Lich, and Naruto’s Gaara were all playing a version of bingo called Bang! on a stage at Comic-Con. To see it for yourself, check out this week’s Pre-Flight from Toonami to see what the hubbub was all about.