Happy Memorial Day and video game #1 Illbleed

Or, more likely happy No Tobacco Day since this blog is probably going to end up being on May 31st. Are you going to be tobacco free today? I know I am since I don't use tobacco. Anyway I have no real idea what this blog was going to be about so I thought I might as well talk about the holiday and say thank you to all the American troops (it is a USA holiday after all) who are or have fought in the armed forces you are all brave people and we salute you.

Ah, a thought just popped into my head!



Let's talk about video games tonight, the video game I want to talk about is called Illbleed, a game that came out on the Dreamcast in 2001 (I think it was the last Dreamcast game to be released in the US). This is one of my favorite video games I own because it's like a b-horror movie that's very creative. In this game you can play 5 different characters each having a better skill, and you are supposed to make it through 6 levels and then the last boss. These 6 levels also have bosses too, but they are actually levels instead of just a big arena. Anyway the game takes place in a horror themed amusement park (sounds like a fun place to be) where the player enters a level by going into a move theater. In these levels there are traps that can hurt you (ok now it doesn't sound like that much fun), frighten you, and even take your money. The player has a health meter, a shock meter, and a bleeding meter and if any of these reach their peak (or zero) then you die (game over man, game over). You can spot the traps that hurt you if you find the horror monitor, which lets helps you avoid damage when encountering these deadly beasts... ok maybe they're mostly just things like deadly doors and phones.  I highly suggest you check it out, it's a great game.

There was a sequel or port of this game but in never saw the light of day because the man that created this game died :(

Here's what I'm talking about when I mean this game is like a b-horror movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDq2pE4xG6Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZQox83BBW0&NR=1

Reminder #5: Support the troops even if you don't agree that they should be fighting because they are putting their lives on the line, if you hate that they are fighting take it up with the idiots who sent them over there. Also even if a video game is old it can still be a great game.

Music Pickup # 1: Floodland, 13 Above the Night, and Body Census

Today was a special day, I got to eat for the first time in 3 weeks! No, no that's not true, that's Jimmy's story. OK so really I got to go to my favorite used cd store today. It's quite far from my house so I only get to go every couple months, and as far as I know there aren't any more used cd stores where I live (the only stores that have cds are the stores like best buy or target, you know the ones that hardly have any good music). I managed to get a few cds there too, but sadly I couldn't find most of the bands I was looking for ( [x] - Rx, Eisenfunk, Santa Hates You, etc.), I guess lots of the bands I like are even too obscure to be found at this store.

Anyway here's a quick overview of what I think about the cds I got today.



Yep the first cd is entitled Floodland by The Sisters of Mercy. The Sisters of Mercy is a Gothic Rock band that started out in 1979 and they only had 3 studio albums and this was their 2nd one which came out in 1987 (funny thing, on the booklet it talks about what a cd is). Anyway, this is my favorite Sisters of Mercy cd ( it's the only one I have at the moment. I know, shame on me :( ). I love every song on this cd besides 1959 (it's not a bad song though). My favorite songs on this cd are Domination/Mother Russia, Lucretia My Reflection, This Corrosion, and Driven Like The Snow (I will provide links). You may think that that's a lot of songs, but I'm only naming that many because I don't think it would be right to put up 9 of the 10 songs. In closing I think this is a great cd, I wish more bands sounded like this.



This is another great cd by My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult called 13 Above the Night. It's my 3rd cd I have by them and definately one of the better ones (Crime for All Seasons is just an ok cd, but I See Good Spirits & Bad Spirits is pretty good). Thrill Kill Kult is a electronic industrial band that started back in 1987 and are still together today! They like to make their own music and then add some b movie voice clips to their songs (this band really inspired me for my music). This was their 4th cd which came out in 1994.
 This is probably the most technoish or discoish TKK cd they have and I really like it, it's probably one of their best ones, actually come to think of it, it's my favorite TKK cd. Anyway my favorite songs on this cd are Final Blindness, Delicate Terror, China DeSade, Blue Buddha, and Starmartyr. Again, just like the Floodland there are just too many good songs to name.



Ah the last cd I got, Body Census by :Wumpscut: It came with a code in the booklet which let me download some free songs! So if you get a :Wumpscut: album make sure to look through the booklet because there is probably a code that'll let you download some more songs. Anyway :Wumpscut: is a German electro-industrial band that started in 1991 and is still around today! Sadly this band doesn't tour, actually it's only 1 guy too. What's cool about :Wumpscut: is that they/he puts out a cd almost every year, and he's a DJ. He's almost living my dream job (being a DJ and a music artist, all he needs to do now is have his own club). So what do I think of this cd? I think it's ok, it's probably my least favorite cd I got today but that's because the other cds pretty much only had great songs. I do have lots of favorite songs off of this cd but I'll only name a few. I like the songs: A Beast Sleeps in You, We Believe We Believe (one of my favorite songs by :Wumpscut: ), and Ain't that Hungry Yet.

So there you have it, the cds I got today and what I think of them.
If you want to check out some of the songs on these cds here are some links (only 2 per cd), enjoy.

Floodland
Driven Like the Snow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4baio42dmY
This Corrosion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obzPPeHgHRQ

13 Above the Night
China DeSade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne3Oubp3AF8
Final Blindness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Boy0gVTRx0

Body Census
We Believe, We Believe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmOkvLPervA
The Beast Sleeps Within You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi7vZNHYjDo


Reminder for blog # 4 : Used cd stores are the best cd stores because you will almost always find a good cd at these stores, especially if it's an old band or a band that's not mainstream.

What is Cybergoth?

Well I'm glad you asked random blog title. Cybergoth is (from where I live) an underground style that many people (everyone at my college) don't know about. Some people online call it Cyberpunk but that's not really true since there are some differences (Cyberpunk = color, but more militeristic, Cybergoth = darker more "rave" - ish). I don't know much about cyberpunk though, but I think they can kinda look like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsV500W4BHU (song is "When Worlds Collide"  by Powerman 5000) and Cybergoth is kind of like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNAdtkSjSps (the song is Pong by Eisenfunk). I digress.

OK so just to let everyone know this is just a generalization obviously not every cybergoth is like this and they shouldn't have to be.

Many cybergoths are female, so if you're like me it's a good thing since there's so many to choose from (if you want to date a cybergoth lol) So what exactly is of a cybergoth? Well it's a subculture that has elements of cyberpunk, goth, raver, and rivethead in it. It is also about looking toward the future.

Now let's move to fashion.

For guys, they usually wear some gas masks or resperators, goggles, and cyberlox/dreadfalls (they're like artificial dreadlocks), now I did say earlier that cybergoths are darker right? Well many do tend to like wearing neon colors too but most of the time the main color is black. Some wear vests while others don't. The shirts are either neon or black, the biohazard seems to be a popular design. I'm not sure why wikipedia says that lots wear tight pants because from what I've seen (and from what I wear) there's only loose/baggy pants to be seen but there are a few people that do wear tight pants. The design on these pants very but from what I've seen they mostly either have strings and stuff, or they have circitry designs. Platform shoes/boots are also popular. Some guys also wear skirts ( no, not miniskirts huge ones that go down to the ground), and those furry leg warmers. Now since these are mostly things women wear they can get mistaken to be women with their cyberlox/dreadfalls. If you don't believe me just look at the comments on the Pong music video I linked above.



For girls the color scheme is the same, and so are the extra accessories that go on the head. So lets talk about their clothing. Some wear fishnet stockings (on their legs or arms). They also wear black tights and PVC chokers and bracelets.



So is it expensive to dress like this? Yes it is. Since most of this stuff isn't mainstream you will most likely have to go online and buy these things... Unless you do what the goth subculture used to do (and mostly still does) which is make your own clothes out of cheaper cloths found at thrift stores like Goodwill. The only problem with that is that it's hard to find something you really want (I've been searching for a good jacket that I can add some UV string or wire to and other stuff but so far I haven't found any yet), and if you go down this route you might end up ruining the clothes if you don't know what you're doing.



Now for the music. I love the music that's accociated with Cybergoths, it's pretty much EBM, Industrial music, Futurepop, Synthpop, Techno, Noize, Aggrotech. If you don't know what those are let's just say technoish. Bands that are like this are: Eisenfunk (yes I love this band), VNV Nation, T3rror 3rror, Wolfsheim, Angelspit, :Wumpscut:, Wynardtage, and X-Fusion. Cybergoths also like do industrial dancing when/if they dance (not all do remember, this is just a generalization). I find this to be kind of easy to do (especially since I suck at pretty much any other kind of dancing lol).   

The only reasons I call myself cybergoth, are because I like the music, the way of dance (probably since it's the only way I can dance, lol) and the fashion. My inner self is more Goth than Cyber though, which I will get to in a later blog. 

Here are some helpful links if you're looking to get started in this awesome fashion.

Gas Masks:
http://www.obscuria.com/gothic-accessories/cyber-masks.html (very expensive but they do look pretty cool)
http://www.dysfunctionaldoll.com/masks-respirators-c-30.html?osCsid=b8d003160d2da6d50b1dda0e1e96ec69 (Their masks are a lot cheaper, plus if you buy from them you get a 10% off your next order coupon!)
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cyber+goggles&x=0&y=0 (I reccomend the cheap BIOHAZARD GOGGLES since that's what I have, but the Welding Cup Goggles #5 Shade seem ok too)

Clothing (if you can you should modify it or make your own, but if you suck at doing that, like me, here are some links):
http://www.lip-service.com/lipservice.php (they are a little expensive unless it's a sale, they also have regular gothic clothing too)
http://shop.cyberdog.net/ (the only downside is that this stuff is pretty expensive, especially if you live in the US. But the will still ship to the US so that's good)
http://store.vampirefreaks.com/ (I guess you can also shop here too, they have some cool clothing)

YOUR LOCAL THRIFT STORE

Music:
http://www.amazon.com/ (That's the only site I get my CD's from, you can also try your local CD store (not the chain one like Best Buy but the cool one that sells used cds and has obscure bands that many people haven't heard of. You know the one that also sells records).

Industrial dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl5sUOISKgk&NR=1 (dancing doesn't start until 5ish minutes in)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJXvj4_b91E&feature=channel_video_title (If you like this type of dancing you should definately check out his channel, he knows what he's doing).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlzbT2xduTI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD4caPmfhss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDZpPvvoxh0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp1pUKR_pdw&feature=mfu_in_order

Oh and here's a few makeup tutorials in case someone reads this blog and they want to use makeup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zwttcPpst8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAR9eVoYJvc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8fNcW58fts


Honestly  it is very simple and pretty easy to do, and it is so much better than other types of dancing because it allows for so much freedom. The best advice I can recomend is to close your eyes, let the music flow through you, and let the music move your body.


Reminder for Blog #3 - Cybergoth is expensive (probably one of the most expensive alternative fashions) but if you like it you should not let the money get in the way of dressing how you like. If you don't have much money and want to dress cybergoth make your own clothing and accessories. Definitely make your own cyberlox since those are really expensive and they can be made out of anything (also it'll be more in the Gothic spirit if you do). You can also use those plastic dr. masks if you don't have the money for a gas mask. Also, you don't have to wear every accessory if you don't want to.

 

 

The Hangover Part 2

I have to be honest, I wasn't really planning on making this blog today but one of my friends wanted  to go see it so we went and saw it today.

A dark theater, a crowded theater, and Bradley Cooper getting a call saying that they really messed up (I'm trying not to curse in these blogs because vulgar language gets annoying to read pretty fast). This is what my friend and I walked into after we got our tickets for the movie. Wait! The movie is supposed to start 10 minutes from now! I guess we really messed up, or it could just be that the movie theater we walked into was the wrong one... yep it was.

So now walking into the correct movie theater I looked around, Wow it was still pretty crowded, we had to sit in the front part of the theater, which could've end up badly (giving me the usual sore neck), but luckily we were able to sit at the top row of the front part of the theater. So enough of this boring story of the movie theater.

Oh wait before I leave you with my "review", I have to say this. MOUNTAIN DEW PITCH BLACK IS BACK!!!!!!!

Let's start the "review".

Here's what the movie's about for anyone who doesn't know. Stu (played by Ed Helms) is gettin married in Thailand and he invites his friends Phil (played by Bradley Cooper), and Doug ( played by Justin Bartha). He also ends up inviting Alan (played by Zach Galifianakis) too. They end up getting messed up and not remembering the night. They are miles away from where the wedding is and they lost one of the people they were hanging out with, the (soon to be) brother-in-law Teddy (played by Mason Lee). So they have to find Teddy and get back to the wedding before it starts.

The movie starts off almost exactly like the original with people setting up the wedding and the soon to be wife trying to call her soon to be husband (this time it's Stu) on the day of the wedding. I liked this because it's an homage to the original and I do like these openings because it catches your attention and gets you into the movie fast.

After this scene it goes back to a week ago showing what everyone is doing before the wedding and showing why they invited Alan.

I didn't have high hopes for Zach Galifianakis's character Alan because I found that character rather annoying in the first Hangover movie, but I was pleasently surprised at Alan in the movie because he really wasn't as annoying.

Anyway I digress, after this they meet the soon to be brother-in-law named Teddy which seems like a good enough guy, but of course Alan has to annoying  and be hateful to Teddy. This ended up in me wishing to not see Teddy again in this movie. But this was probably the only time I found Alan to be really annoying and one of the next scenes he kind of redeamed himself.

There is a pretty funny part at the dinner table where the father-in-law talks about Stu, and ends up dissing Stu in front of everyone at the rehersal dinner ( He says something like "you're just like my brother, the one that's mentally retarded" and says that Stu is also like some type of goopy rice). Then Alan ges up to say something and what does he say? He starts spewing facts about Thailand. He does end up talking about Stu though, saying that "it's not the first time he's been married, that was a whore..." Which was pretty funny since it's in front of everyone.

After this all the guys go down to the beach and have a few drinks and marshmellows. Uh oh, they wake up in some rundown hotel in Bangkok. All four of them are there; Alan, Stu, Phil... wait where's Doug and Teddy? Well Doug is actually back at where the wedding is taking place because he went to bed early and Teddy? Well he's lost. They do find a monkey though, which turns out to be the middle man for a drug dealer. And they do end up finding out what has happened. I won't go into details of their adventure but what I can say is that during the credits they do show the pictures of what happened to them on their drug adventure (another homage to the first Hangover movie). Also the thing Thailand is known for, according to my sociology professor, does show up here. Yes I'm talking about those weird lady boys, which ended up being one of the worst parts of the movie because the movie did show their penis.

Yep, that is probably the worst part of this movie. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to see some guys penis, especially on the big screen. At least it did kind of add to the comedy and it kind of made sense why they did that.

Now even though I do like this film and I reccomend it  I do see a big downfall (besides the nudity), it's that this film relies too much on the previous film to be good for everyone, if you do see this film make sure you've seen the first one first because you'll get a lot more out of this movie if you did. Of course going by the barebones model this movie follows the same story as the first one but does that make the movie worse? No, of course not. Chances are if you're watching this movie you know that it'll be based on the same thing. A group of friends wake up not knowing what happened, loosing a member of their "fun group" and they have to find him and get back to the wedding.

Hopefully you enjoyed my "review" of the movie, I honestly don't really know how to talk about acting since I either see it as really bad or decent.

Here's my final score: 7.9 / 10
It's funny and I love the homages to the original (even though it could be seen as being lazy) but it does have some parts that I wish I didn't see and it kind of uses it as shock value (at least the part with Mr. Chow). I still managed to find it better than the original (maybe because it was in a better setting for this type of movie)

Oh and of course some critics don't like it, especially the critic I loath the most; Roger Ebert (seriously who gives Kick-ass a 1 star because the girl curses and kills people? He's also the moron who said that video games will never be art and guess what, they are now considered art by congress).

Reminder  for Blog  #2:  Not all nudity is good nudity.

An Introduction

So, it's 1:23 and I'm bored, so why not write a blog? Well should I even write a blog, I mean I do suck at grammer and spelling, and those are the most important things in writing but then again there are people who use blogger/blogspot who are even worse than me.

So who am I? I am nothing and I am everything... OK, not really. I am just a random guy on the internet who is using a blogging site. I guess I am kind of Gothic (more specific cyber gothic) and I don't really have a life right now. Maybe that's why I'm bloggin? Anyway I love playing video games as well as watching movies and listening to music. I'm going to a community college that has a lot of great people, I'm going for a degree in psychology.


Well this blog is going to be about things I find intersting, obviously there will be blogs about the cybergoth, and gothic culture. There will also be some blogs about video games and video game consoles (I love you Dreamcast). There will also be blogs about movies and maybe music. I might also do something called "Dear Diary" which is basically just blogging but with some "personal" details that might be fun to read since it's basically just like reading someone elses diary and who doesn't like that? I'm also thinking about having some blogs about religion and psychology but who knows, if I did that then I would have a blog every day and I'm kind of lazy.

Well before I leave you to move on with your day I have to say something about Internet Explorer 9. It sucks big time. I didn't mind IE 8 that much but now I really miss it since I got IE9. This is possibly the worst web browser I have ever used, half the time the tabs do not show up when you click them (I'd open a tab (let's call it n1), click on another tab (n2), then try to go back to the other tab (n1) and it says that I'm on that tab (n1) but it shows the contents of the other tab (n2). And what about the ads? Well they have vanished! Well they have vanished from their normal spot on the webpage and managed to travel to the upper left hand side of the screen, flahsing every once in a while. And that's not all, if you want to view a video on gamespot guess where it shows up? Yep the upper left hand corner. Do you control the video on the buttons you see in the upper left hand corner? NO! You have to go back to where any good web browser would have the video (where it originally was and should still be) and click on where the pause/play button was supposed to be! Wow I might have to start using google chrome if this continues.

Well that's all I have today, so I'll leave you with a reminder (I'll try to give a reminder at the end of each post as a tribute to one of my old friends, davethezombie)


Reminder  for Blog  #1: There is always someone worse than you at something, but they are still doing what you're doing. So don't do something because you suck at it, if you want to do it then do it (as long as it's not harming anyone else that is).