My Car Still Needs Repairing (BEDA 23)

Well that was quick. Turns out my car is still having a few problems, so the guys at the shop are coming by to pick it back up tomorrow. Well that kinda sucks, but oh well. Looks like I'm out of a car again. I just hope it doesn't take another two months before they get to it this time around.

And as it turns out, my car isn't the only thing in need of repairs either. Today's blog was also having problems as well, so it looks like I'm going to have to get some work done on that, too. I know, what are the odds, right? But again, all I can say is oh well, and hopefully my blog will be all fixed up and ready to post by tomorrow. We'll see.

Save Me (BEDA 22)

While writing my post last week about Musical Imagery, I really wanted to discuss the band Avenged Sevenfold, but ultimately held out on them in favor of Paramore. However, it's interesting that it came down between those two bands to discuss in that post, since I have a similar history with both of them. I discovered both of them via music video games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. In fact, of all the bands I've been introduced to through gaming, those are still the only two that I've actually went out and bought their albums after the fact. After getting into those bands, I also took a look back at their older stuff. And with both bands, I found their early work to be completely unappealing, so it's probably for the best that I got into them later in their careers.

Unlike Paramore, I wouldn't call myself a particularly big fan of Avenged Sevenfold. I only own two of their albums, City of Evil and Nightmare, and of those two albums, while I can certainly listen to them all the way through, there's only a handful of songs on each that I would actually say that I like. However, that handful of songs just happen to be so good that they've kept this band in constant circulation with me for years now.

Their first song that got me hooked was "Beast and the Harlot". The guitars on that song were just alluring. They sucked me right in and haven't let me go since. I loved the song so much that I went out and bought the album without even hearing any of their other work. I don't do that often, but it really payed off this time.

Their guitars have such a haunting style to them, and their drummer is just absolutely incredible. Their singer admittedly takes a little getting used to, though. He has a strange, almost nasally sort of voice, but it works for them. It's certainly better than their earlier stuff, when he used to just scream all the time. Thankfully, he doesn't do much screaming these days. But this is a band that has really evolved their style and matured with every new release, and the quality of their music has increased substantially as a result as well.

This leads me to their latest album, the emotionally fueled Nightmare, which really is their best work to date. The opening track, "Nightmare", kicks us off with a real bang. It has such a rock-and-roll haunted house feel to it, which sounds like it should be cheesy. And honestly, listening to some of the lyrics (especially the chorus), it really is sort of a cheesy song. Yet this song is just amped up with so much energy and kicks so much ass that you can't help but fall in love with it.

And their ass kicking continues through the next few songs as well, before the album suddenly decides to dial it down and sooth us over a bit with softer, more melodic tunes. This part of the album is where it sort of drags a bit. It's not that the songs are bad, it just sort of goes on for too long at this slower pace. However, all of that is made up for and then some when we make it to the final track.

"Save Me" is truly an epic. It really is the culmination of all of the very best that this band has to give wrapped up in a single song. At over ten minutes in length, you never want it to end, yet it always manages to fly by so quickly. This enchanting song starts off slow and builds up to a momentous display of passion. It's an awe-inspiring finale to an otherwise decent album, and one that only gets better with every listening.

It bares saying again that this song is epic. In fact, this one song alone was what I originally had in mind while writing my Musical Imagery post, as this song has done a number on my imagination. But I felt so bad leaving it off that it actually inspired an entirely new post in the process. So if you get the chance, check this song out and let me know what you think. Even if you're not necessarily a fan of Avenged Sevenfold, it has a certain appeal to where I'd still recommend at least giving this song a shot.

Another Sunday... (BEDA 21)

I apparently suck at Sundays. I'm usually good at coming up with ideas for blogs all throughout the week, but then Sunday gets here and all I can draw are blanks. I think if I do this Blog Every Day thing again I'm going to have to change it up a bit. Maybe Blog Every Weekday August (BEWA), or Blog Every So Often August (BESOA). I think that might work out much more favorably.

I'm really not doing much today. I plan on getting some more work done on my novel. We had a workshop yesterday, which was really productive I thought. Some of our regulars sadly couldn't make it, but we did have a couple of new faces show up, so that was good. And I actually brought a piece of my own this week, too, the first chapter in my new novel. I received quite a bit of helpful feedback, so I'll definitely be putting that to good use.

As for a couple of personal updates, I did get my car back last week. It's nice to be able to go anywhere I want, whenever I want, and not have to worry about whether or not I can borrow a car or catch a ride from someone. And also, my buddy in the Army will be returning this week. As he put it, he can't wait to finally come home to America and eat some Chinese food. Wait... what? Anyways, I haven't seen him in about a year, so it'll be great to catch back up with him.

And, well, I suppose that's all I got for now. Another Sunday, another blog post. Yup.

Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations (BEDA 20)

So I lied yesterday. I said there was a few games that I'm looking forward to, but there's actually not even that many. Nope, only two, and the other one just so happens to share a similar name and premise as yesterday's game. So, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations. Speaking of generations, I've played very few games this gen that I would consider good, and even fewer that I've been able to put more than a handful of hours into before getting bored. But among those few that have truly impressed me was last year's Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, which took me completely by surprise.

Being a Naruto fan, I've given some of the games in the series a shot. They've been okay, but nothing worth writing home about or anything. So when I went into Ninja Storm 2, I was expecting more of the same, even though the previews looked especially good for it. But that game absolutely blew me away. The adventure mode was gripping, and kept me coming back for more to visit every nook and cranny. Not to mention certain elements from the story mode were actually improved upon from the source material. And the fighting engine, while different from most fighting games, was truly rewarding once you got the hang of it. This game was simply addicting, and I sank more hours into it than I care to admit.

What I also really liked about Ninja Storm 2 was that it really was a game made with diehard Naruto fans in mind. The fact that the Pain portion of that game was a direct manga adaptation, as opposed to an anime adaptation, is probably the biggest token to that. And while Ninja Storm 2 already felt like the ultimate must-own game for Naruto fans, this upcoming one looks to be an even more complete Naruto experience.

Ultimate Ninja Storm 1 covers almost all of part 1 of Naruto, while Ninja Storm 2 covers everything after the time-skip up to the Pain arc. With Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations, this game is essentially combining the first two Ninja Storm games into one, allowing us to play with all of our favorite characters as both their younger part 1 forms, as well as their older selves from part 2. And not only that, they're including some of the glaring omissions from Ninja Storm 1, such as Zabuza and Haku. Plus, since the story has progressed since Ninja Storm 2, we'll also be getting some of the characters introduced since the Kage Summit arc added in as well, making for a much more complete roster than probably any Naruto game prior.

After Ninja Storm 2, I was saying that they really should probably hold off on another game for now. Since the War arc was just getting under way at that time, I didn't want them to just churn out another game with little in the way of new content in the meantime. However, if they absolutely have to release something new, then I think this is definitely the best rout to go. Especially considering that Ninja Storm 1 was only released on the PS3, meaning that I, an Xbox 360 owner, was unable to play it. So in a way, this makes up for missing out on that, and should be a great way to tide over us Naruto fans before they ultimately go all out again with the inevitable War arc adaptation.

Sonic Generations (BEDA 19)

There aren't many games that I'm looking forward to. At all. However, of the very, very few that have caught my interest, one of them is Sonic Generations. Now, I've documented in blogs past about my love/hate relationship with this game series. To recap, the original classics are the best games ever, while the 3D games range from pretty good to absolutely abysmal, with just enough glimmers of sheer brilliance radiating out of the crap to keep me frustrated that they still haven't managed to get it right just yet.

Sonic Generations promises to be a collaboration of those two distinct styles. It's a collection of some of the most classic stages in Sonic's history, revamped and updated. Each stage is apparently going to have two ways to play it, either with the classic 2D style of gameplay, or the modern 3D style. I've seen some of the videos for this game, and it's actually kinda funny watching those two different styles played back to back, because it really shows just where Sega kept getting it wrong with the more recent games in this series.

When you think of Sonic, you think speed, right? Must go faster, must go faster! However, if you take a look back at the classic Sonic games, you'll notice that not only were those games not all that fast, but you were actually punished for trying to go too fast. Rush through the stage, and you've got spikes, badniks, and bottomless pits just waiting for you to crash into. No, with those games you actually had to take your time and be somewhat methodical with your actions. Yeah, you had your spin dashes and your loop-de-loops, but you had to be smart with them. You had to time your jumps right, or you'd be paying the price for it.

However, once Sonic left the realm of 2D, Sega said screw all of that. All they remembered was, "Sonic's fast!" And so, they focused solely on trying to make Sonic fast. Levels were designed in a way that focused on getting you moving straight ahead at lightning speeds. And to their credit, this actually worked in some cases. Sonic Adventure 2 actually pulled this off almost flawlessly, even if the level designs and badniks were a bit bland in that game.

But more often than not, they got this style of gameplay oh so wrong. The more open 3D environments makes platform based maneuvering more of a hassle to begin with, and the increased speed doesn't help matters in this regard. This makes for games that are much harder to control and much more frustrating than necessary. The fact that they clearly were rarely play-tested and, as a result, were loaded with game-breaking glitches was just icing on the cake.

Going back to Sonic Generations, watching the gameplay footage available thus far really shows off this stark contrast between the two styles. And with this evidence not only out there, but actually produced by the developers of the game, it really makes you wonder how it was that they managed to get so far off track with this franchise.

But I'm still interested in the game nonetheless. I'm mainly curious to play through the classic stages with their updated graphics, though seeing how they convert these stages to the 3D style will still be intriguing as well. And they're even throwing in a few of the stages from later games, such as City Escape from Sonic Adventure 2. I'm actually not sure if they're planning on doing the opposite and reverting the modern stages to the classic 2D style, or if they're just going to go the Sonic Colors rout and have sort of a mesh of styles for those stages.

So, as with all modern Sonic games, I'll be going into this one with some reservations. And yeah, it's a little more of the pandering to the old school Sonic fans that Sega's been doing the past couple years. However, I'm willing to give it a shot because, while it may not technically be anything new, I'm still interested to see what they come up with.

Camp Catch-Up (BEDA 18)

I've mentioned a couple of times how I'm behind on Camp NaNoWriMo, and, well, that's still the case right now. Doing Camp NaNo and Blog Every Day has been a lot more challenging than I imagined it would be, but I was still trudging along well enough at first. However, due to personal reasons, I've put this project on hold for a bit and have purposefully avoided it for at least a good week. I just really couldn't even think about it.

But this week, I've made an effort to get back in the groove a little. The novel I'm writing this month is actually the sequel to the novel I'm currently trying to get published. I've revisited what I've written thus far, made a few quick edits, and outlined some chapter ideas. And now, I really feel like I'm ready to dive back into this thing and get caught back up on my Camp NaNo-novel. And since I don't really have any plans for tomorrow (today?), I'm going to see if I can't just buckle down and really tackle this thing, and hopefully make a significant impact on my word count.

Musical Imagery (BEDA 17)

So the other day I was talking with a friend about music, and how different songs can form different images in our heads. For some songs, that image may be as simple as just seeing the band on stage performing it. And for others, they may just remind you of certain things going on in your own life. But then there's those certain songs that can invoke such powerful images, songs that, when you listen to them, they almost form their own music video in your head. Lately I've noticed that these tend to be the types of songs that really stick with me after I hear them, and the ones that I make a real effort to seek out.

For me, the images I see feel like an anime opening, only the scenes that are playing out are taken directly from my own stories that I'm writing. Anyone who's read my work can tell how heavily influenced they are by anime and other action cartoons. That's how the images start in my head before I even sit down to write them, like I'm watching them play out in an actual cartoon. And when I listen to these songs, it's like they're providing a soundtrack for those stories. In some cases, I've even gone so far as to edit these songs in my head to accommodate for timing and punctuating key moments in the song in order to better fit the images they've created. Perhaps someday whenever I get my hands on some sort of editing software, I can actually alter these songs for real.

I can't say for certain exactly what kinds of songs do this for me. Sometimes it's the powerful vocals or the lyrics that grab my attention, other times it may be the epic guitar solos or the haunting drum beats that get me. But for the purposes of this post, I'm going to turn my focus on a band who's music has been so consistent in forming these images that they've essentially become the official band for my series. That band is Paramore.

If my novel ever gets big and has a cartoon adaptation and all of that, Paramore would almost certainly have to do the opening theme. Their songs are so catchy and upbeat, yet they have a certain edge to them that really elevates their music. Haley Williams' voice is such a perfect fit, accompanied by those rockin' tunes that truly compliment the drama and the action oriented settings of my story. And when I actually pay attention to their lyrics, I find that they fit a lot of the themes in my story at times as well.

But while many of their songs have stuck with me in that manner, two in particular have pretty much cemented themselves as songs I will always personally associate with my story: "For a Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic", which is practically the theme for the novel I'm currently working on, and "Careful", which would be the theme for the next novel in the series. It's almost fitting that these two songs also serve as the introductory tracks to Paramore's latest two albums. What can I say, they're powerful openers.

I'm not sure if any of what I've just said will make sense to anyone, because quite frankly it was pretty hard to even try and explain. But it's just something I've always done (or, perhaps more accurately, music has always done to me), and when I was talking to my friend about it, I was thrilled to see that I wasn't the only one who did this when listening to music.