I’m not usually a big fan of anime. I watch Avatar - if that even qualifies as real anime. And I do watch Ghost in the Shell, which is absolutely stunning. Despite this, I am not the type of guy that you would catch watching Mahou Sensei Negima, Love Hina, Chobits, Full Metal Panic, Samurai Champloo, and all those other anime that I have heard about people watching.

Yet, Fullmetal Alchemist captivated my interest and I watched the entire series in a span of two days. Sure, my eyes were nearly burned out from the experience, but it was entirely worth it. When my brother first picked up the PS2 game based on the franchise, I thought that it was incredibly lame and not worth looking into.

But I was off the mark. By several miles.

Not only is the show stunning visually, but it has a gripping storyline that establishes itself (without you being fully aware) from the prologue of the first episode and continues building upon that foundation until it all comes together at the end of the series. I watched it and I was captivated. I could not escape from the vice-like grip that had ensnared me. It was too much to overpower. Even when I should have been working on my PD2 report (which I continue to ignore as I write this), I was drawn in. Such amazing characters. Alphonse Elric - especially - is interesting. Despite the suit of armor that his soul is bound to, Al remains very much a child. And all the stuff that he is put through would drive a child his age into the clutches of madness. Yet, throughout the series he remains untainted by evil and - in the end - he shows that he has grown up through it all.

My favourite character was Lt. Col. Maes Hughes. He is hilarious, intelligent, and he has some awesome tiny throwing daggers that make him completely badass. Unfortunately, the series made me feel robbed of Lt. Col. Maes Hughes time, which I thought was unfair. Such is the price of not being a main character, I guess.

Scar was pretty cool too. Including his purpose in the final episodes. Fantastic how a character who seemed to be devoid of meaning upon his introduction in the sixth episode could go on to be the main focus of several major plot points.

Ultimately, the show was fantastic. Every step of the way, I was amazed. The show had some emotional moments too. There is a funeral scene in the middle of the series that was especially devestating, and one particularly heart-wrenching moment in the first season. Uh oh. Now you know they’re there. Guess you’ll be looking around every corner for something awful to happen. HA! And now you suffer for it.

But seriously…Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the best shows I have ever seen. It started out with full knowledge of where it was headed, and finished off with a resounding finale that will not soon be forgotten. The only disappointing feature is that they followed it with a movie, which I feel was wholly unnecessary.

Anyway, if you have the opportunity to download this show (from various share networks or torrent sites), I recommend that you do so. I got it off of an entirely legitimate television site…in a virtual torrent of tv shows, it sprang out of the void and came to me.

Watch it. I insist. It was truly excellent. If you’ve already seen it, throw a good word in the comments for the show. Yo.

We’ll blow your planet up.

I mean…

Post already. Man. Doesn’t anyone have anything interesting to post about? I know I don’t. But I post anyway. :’(

I’m not feelin’ the love people.

Just had a client who apparently did not think that the Canada Revenue Agency tax forms were kosher enough. These are forms created by the government for a government procedure. If anyone knows the ins and outs of this shit, it is the government. It is their system. I think they know the legal mumbo-jumbo for it. Unless you do your own taxes, you will sign these forms anywhere that you go. That is just how it is. But she fancied herself some sort of special legal jockey, and did not like the terms, etc, etc.

Frustrating ignorant people.

And that is not even as bad as the client I had last week. The man got his taxes done with his wife, and when he was done, he informed me of how displeased he was. Now keep in mind, this tax preperation office is located in a Wal-Mart, at the back of the store. We are stashed in a corner, really. And he was disappointed that we did not have our own office, and that we weren’t detached from the hustle and bustle of the store. He thought it was very unprofessional, and saw fit to get angry at me because of it.

Well, excuse me. But you cannot go to a fast food place and complain that they do not serve steak. Similarly, you cannot come to a business like this and expect me to walk over to the fireplace and pull one of my leather-bound accounting books from the shelf to reference, while we all bask in the smell of potpouri and tobacco smoke. Perhaps he was enraged that I did not offer him a glass of brandy.

What was most humorous is that this man works for Maplesoft. If you do not know what they do, I’ll tell you. They create Maple - a mathematical program capable of doing everything you would ever want in math. So, somehow, this guy has a well-paid job at a company that designs an intensive mathematics program, but he cannot do his own taxes. And the irony is, the guy who did do his taxes (me) is a university student who uses the Maple program in his studies (and uses it poorly).

Talk about the blind leading the blind.

If you have some free time, I suggest skimming the content of Jack’s countersuit in response to Take Two launching a pre-emptive strike.

I must say…it is quite humorous. Jack portrays himself as an American folk hero with all his stories of how he saved the day and prosecuted the evil corporations.

It is funny as hell to see that he imagines most of the gaming industry, as well as publishers, members of the service industry, and gaming media outlets are all responsible for some sort of giant plot to “get him”.

Someday…you will be mine.

With the recent announcement that there will be an XBox 360 Elite hitting the scene soon, I have to say that I am currently being more and more sold on the idea of one day owning an XBox 360. Normally, I would not have considered it, but things are changing.

With the Nintendo Wii, I get to have a more laid back gaming experience. With Nintendo, I have seen in the pass that hard-hitting, must-have titles are only released once every few months. And with school and/or co-op work, I can honestly say that this is a relief on both my schedule and pocketbook.

Most gamers would probably look at me and scream “What the fuck man? Are you out of your mind?”

But here’s the problem folks. Playing games is not the central focus of my life. While I would be living in a truly utopian future if I were to be designing and playing video games for a living, it is not a reality. As such, my gaming time is limited. Extremely limited. Since beating Twilight Princess, all I do is play a few songs in Guitar Hero II with my brother (he bought a second guitar, so that we can “jam”).

So, yes. I’m thankful that the Wii appears to have limited “heavy-hitting” titles.

However, when I am out of university in four years or so, it will be conveniently around the end of the lifecycle for this current generation of consoles. Which means that I will get to pull a move akin to “Penny-Pinching Hulbert”. That is to say, I will just scoop up a 360 at the end of the lifecycle, and bask in all the amazing games.

And so, it is nice to see that Microsoft is upgrading the hardware while maintaining a decent price point. If these trends continue, then the system I purchase at the end of the lifecycle will be a prestine, humanoid tool of virtual pleasure. And, considering the vast wealth of exciting games coming to or already on the system, it will be a worthwhile investment.

Plus, XBLA has too many good games of old that I need to play. Need to. Unfortunately for Nintendo, I have most of their old games because they re-release them a billion times. I have an assortment of classic Nintendo games already through Animal Crossing (you can buy NES games for your house, and play the full thing). I also have the Zelda Collector’s Edition disc (hurray, Majora’s Mask). Furthermore, I have the Sonic Mega Collection.

Most of the Retro games that I would want are covered on this. Notable exceptions include Star Fox 64, Super Metroid, and Kid Icarus…which will be my eventual Virtual Console purchases.

Ugh…you know, reading over this article…or at least recollecting what was included…

It is giving me a headache. When did I lose all ties to coherence and thought…Hmm, looking back…did I ever have it? Ugh. I’m tired people. Forgive me. I’ll make it up to you next time.

Read

It is a very interesting article about modifications that could be made to the DS. Unfortunately, not all of them are software updates. The additional internal RAM eventually leading to the ability to play Virtual Console games on the DS would be greatly appreciated…but I wont hold my breath.