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I have some special love for the "Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Sea" opening. It's super-cinematic and it makes me laugh every time (that game had the most hilarious voice acting ever).
Hahaha. Me and my sister still make a show of clenching our fist and and looking off into the distance while saying, "I've been waiting." Or flailing around and yelling, "It's unthinkable! To act against the Empire?!" Seriously, though, the game is actually pretty fun. The second one copped out on the opening, though! Not nearly as cool.

What always bothers me, though, is that the part in the raft never actually happens (at least to my knowledge). Trailers always lie!
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I'm tempted to start plugging XNA but then that's way, WAY out there in what your looking for so i recommend VX or XP over 2k and 2k3, mainly because learning RGS and RUBY will give you a foot hold into more commonly used programming languages and a basic idea of how coding works (or something like that) 2k.3 is basically a scripting engine with some code like bits.

EDIT: I will say this though, because of how limiting 2k/3 is you have to think pretty creatively to make something really complicated so it's good for thought exercises on how to create something with a (relatively) limited toolset.
Sppppeaking of XNA, I've been thinking about messing with it in my spare time, but I'm not sure about learning C# while I'm doing C++ in class. (Knowing me, I'd probably mix up some stuff: I spent like a day trying to figure out why my code wasn't working when I went from Java -> Python -> Java, only to realize that I was saying self instead of this. :P) Can anyone vouch for its usefulness in comparison to C++-based stuff like Dark GDK?

Actually, to the OP, it wouldn't be such a bad idea to look into programs that use languages. Once you've got a foothold in one, it's much easier to understand most of the others. Programming languages are not all that hard to learn; the difficulty comes in utilizing them to get what you want. For everything else, there's Google.
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I don't remember if I posted this before... but when I went to Nigeria last summer we always used to pass by this store with a Barney head and a Teletubbie head out front, whenever we were going to/from our house. It was so creepy we had to take a picture, at some point. Anyways, just thought I'd share in lieu of not having taken a good pictre of myself in around a year.

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Huh. I totally forgot about black history month. The historical figures remembered during the month helped a lot with civil rights, and I respect them for that. I've been told, though, that it's not my history, because I'm a first generation American whose parents are from Africa. (So I guess that's the truth, technically.) Serious question: does that make a person less African/less American? Certainly I can't pull the "your ancestors made my ancestors suffer" card, but being born and raised here, I still consider myself an American through and through.

I remember in my eighth grade history class, we had a discussion about some blacks wanting reparations for the years their ancestors spent in slavery. There were four black kids in the class (including me), and it was pretty much split even between people who thought it was dumb (me and one guy), and people who thought it was a fantastic idea (the two other girls). I argued that not only was our nation already in debt, but doing reparations would be nearly impossible (tracking down all the people whose ancestors were slaves, as opposed to Holocaust victims or victims of the Japanese internment during WWII, which was much more recent). Also that then we'd have to pay everyone who's ever been blighted by the American government, and that a loooot of people. One of the girls opposing me snapped that I was just saying that because I wasn't African American and I wouldn't get any money from it. IDK, I guess it's a valid point, that I wouldn't get any money, but that's not what I was thinking when I argued against it.



Also a serious question, does anyone find their parents to be a little too racist? Seriously wtf is wrong with them.
Whenever I told my parents that I made a new friend at school, they always used to ask "are they black?" At the same time, though, they kind of dislike American blacks. Actually, I don't think they are more partial to disliking any particular race: they are equal opportunity when it comes to that sort of thing. (My mom is mildly insistent that I marry a nice-Nigerian-boyTM but I get the feeling she wouldn't particularly care what he was as long as he was educated, had a paying job, and wasn't a complete dick.)

On a side note, Hispanic Awareness Month is October (I think). I always remember because it has the most awesome acronym. HAM.
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A lot of kids make do with old editions. Not enough to make up the bestseller gap, though.

I really dislike using eBooks because reading on the computer hurts my eyes and I usually like holding the book in my hands when I'm making notes. That said, bigwords.com, as mentioned before, really helped me out last semester. I also know that some sites let you rent textbooks for a semester, which is cool if you're like me and don't write/highlight in textbooks at all.

Also try buying international editions: they're a lot cheaper ($30 on the ones I've bought, as opposed to $100+) and they are literally exactly the same on the inside. Just make sure you're buying the right edition and whatnot. The only difference for the ones that I've had is that they were paperback and don't look as nice, but that's really nothing compared to your savings. Also, you probably won't be able to sell it back to your campus bookstore but eBay's always good for that, too. So basically what everyone else has said. I guess I should add to that, as a general note for everyone who''s attempting to buy textbooks...

See if you can buy/borrow textbooks off of your friend who've already taken the class, or if the older editions of a book are similar enough to the newer edition to get by. Some books (like our Calc. I/II book) were pretty much exactly the same, except some of the problems were numbered differently. Also, be wary of classes that have no books listed: if they're art history/English/other arts and sciences courses, they're likely to bust out a syllabus with 10+ books on the first day. Not textbooks, but normal-ish books each in the $10-$30 range that can really run up your costs, even with eBay and Amazon. Make use of your school's/county's public library system in this case-- check out the books before anyone else does. And be a jerk and keep renewing them for as long as you can, like I do.
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who fucking cares? stop chatting with strangers on the internet and sending them your picture
I'm going to have to agree with this one. Generally, on the internet we're all just anonymous beings with avatars for faces. Doesn't really matter what sex you are, and you shouldn't really ever feel the need to prove it. (Unless you are on a dating site, that might be important.) Because what do you get out of it if they believe you? The satisfcation that... well, there's nothing really accomplished. Not sexism, just adhering to a meme.

I had this whole rambling spiel about women and new media and our tendency to self-label, but then I read it over and it was kind of stupid. So I guess I'll just say that maybe it's mild sexism when people say TITS OR GTFO, but I feel like the internet has enough penis jokes to make up for it. Nobody's really serious about it, and if they are, odds are you probably wouldn't be able to tell, anyway.
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guess this means that there's going to be a Catcher in the Rye movie soon. old Salinger didn't want it to be made into one (he hated movies, like Holden), but i guess his daughter declared long ago that she was going to make it after her dad died. hmmmm
Geez, what kind of daughter says that while her father's alive?Man I sure hope he didn't leave the copyright to her or anything! Maybe his last will and testament with same something really awesome, like "Screw you guys, I leave all rights to my work to that one high school kid I gave that interview to, so HA!" Supposedly, Wiki said he had some unpublished manuscripts marked with "publish, do not publish, edit before publishing" etc, so if that's true, it might be interesting to see. If it is true, I also hope they respect his wishes and only publish the things he wanted published (Emily Dickinson comes to mind, with that though). I know there's a lot of stuff I wouldn't want published in my passing. You know, if I were a famous author or something.

It's not shocking, but it kind of hits me in that weird, almost-like-nostalgia sort of way. There's like a million and five things that I could say, because the Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorite books and J.D. Salinger was a truly interesting person, but I guess I'll leave it with this quote that pretty much sums it up.

"What really knocks me out is a book, when you're all done reading it, you wished the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."
-Catcher in the Rye
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That list of clubs is pretty amazing. I am ashamed to say that my university has 350+ clubs and organizations and most of them are not nearly as amazing as that.
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Iaman, nice haircut! (IDK when you got it cut, though,but I definitely remember it being longish.) It looks good on you.
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Also, I know it's kind of "MAIN STREAM" but the only Anime I really like is Paranoia Agent. It's pretty nuts.
It's directed by Satoshi Kon, who also does some other strange works that you might be interested in. Paprika and maybe Perfect Blue (haven't seen it, but heard it's good). Actually, certain TvTropes might help you out in your search. I say "might" because you never know what you might find with TvTropes.

Also maybe not nearly bizarre enough for this topic, but I Heart Huckabees was pretty what-the-fuck at some moments.
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If you've never watched Angel's Egg... well, I dunno. I consider it bizarre, but maybe that's just me. I also didn't like it, but apparently some people did so maybe you will, too? (Anime Recommendation Database says you might like these things as well.)

The manga about the spirals (someone mentioned that?) is Uzumaki, I believe (no relation to Naruto, of course). I've never read it, but I've heard it was pretty trippy, very bizarre, and somewhat nightmare-fuelish. You could probably find it at Onemanga.com or something.

Also maybe 20th Century Boys, or if you don't mind a mildly shounen flavor (and some graphic stuff!) perhaps MPD Psycho. And Akira, if you haven't seen that. Tends toward pretty crazy in the last ten minutes or so. I'm probably just mentioning that last one because we had to watch it as part of my class this week (on anime auteurs, haha).
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Since we're sharing, I have these, which are okay but not fantastic. Despite the subwoofer, the bass is kind of nonexistent. They were also cheaper then the Logitech ones (in store) so that might tell you something about their quality. Or not, IDK.

Next time maybe I won't be as cheap when I buy speaker?
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Does everyone have logitech speakers or something? My room, loscs and Mr. Ls rooms all have logitech speakers.
I've got Altec (really small ones). I should have gotten Logitech; my roommate has them and they're a lot better then mine.
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Yeah, I was wondering about that floating Dreamcast controller, too. It demands explanation.

nah my room's nerdiness is just beginning; you're probably thinking of a picture i posted once where i said "i WISH my room was like this".

wunderbread i love your room by the way. if we lived near each other we would be best friends xD the only big con i go to is Youmacon (here in michigan) but i wish i could go to other ones~
Thanks! I've only been to two really big cons (NYCC and Megacon), but I'm planning on San Diego Comic Con next year (yay for free roundtrips from Southwest). I find hybrid anime/comic/video game conventions to be a little more fun (and NYCC gave out a ton of free stuff!). You should try New York Comic Con this October-- I think they're joining up with New York Anime Festival so it's bound to be a bit crazy. :)
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your room looks awesome WunderBread, thats the first time I've seen someone have a Jake and Amir poster in their room. They are awesome. The fooly cooly poster's bomb as well! I like the fact that you don't have a generic FMA poster but rather changed up a bit  ​ . Is that a ps2 slim on your 360? also It's hard to believe you have 2 fresh apples just "there" on top of your printer.

Someone recognizes Jake and Amir! Sweet. We saw Pat Cassels at NYCC, geeked out and made him take a picture with us. Good times. And, yep, PS2 Slim, dwarved by the Xbox it's on top of. The apples belong to my friend, who put them in my bag to take them of of the dining hall, but then forgot about them when she went back to her dorm... and I really like the FMA poster; a girl I met at the convention I got it at used to call it the Special Olympics poster (seeing as how half the cast pictured has been permanently disabled in some fashion). FLCL is actually my favorite anime so the scroll is probably my favorite one

losc... I think you've definitely got me beat! All I've got is a greatest hits FFVII (friend gave me a load of PS games that I haven't played yet), and a copy of FFXII that I have yet to open. But you're right: your room is definitely not for neat freaks, haha.
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like are you okay with the fact that anybody with any sort of social respectability after seeing your room would never talk to you again ?
Hahaha, what kind of "social respectability" are you talking about? It's college; there's no mutually agreed upon "popular kids" or anything. Only friends see my room and they are pretty okay with it. Not like I am climbing a social ladder!
i would have the worst panic attack ever in your room
Awesome.
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I love nerd rooms. My glasses are also pretty nerdy, too, but I haven't taken a good picture in like a year so you'll just have to pretend?


Top shelf is actual books, middle shelf is manga/comics/graphic novels, bottom shelf is games/movies/Star Trek glasses/figurines. I'm missing some of my ps2 games; lent them to a friend.

Although mine is more of an animu-geek sort of thing. And a Nick and Nora poster I stole from an intersection?
Am I ashamed? MILDLY. But you just can't go wrong with CONVENTION BADGES.

My name is not Peter V. Brett (obviously). There should be more, but Megacon gives wristbands for three-day passes (which I didn't keep), and I lost my other AFO passes. Only been to NYCC once. Anyone else going this year?
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i fantasize about moving to a snowy town somewhere, getting a small cabin up a hill and just shutting my frigging self in with one of those bar locks on the door. wouldn't that be nice?
Reminds me of Catcher in the Rye? I dunno, I think I'd miss society. Sometimes it's fucked, but a lot of the time it's just crazy-awesome. Like No-Pants subway rides or National Pillow Fight Day, or citizen arrests.

I don't know, it's actually been a loooooong time since I've met someone who was outright racist or homophobic or sexist, or generally dumb in that way. I don't really know exactly what I'd do if I did. Maybe I'd shoot down their comments and get into a discussion about it? Or give them a long, meaningful look and continue the real conversation? Sometimes people just need to get called out on stuff, whether they're in a group setting or not. I'm just not sure how to do it very well.

Maybe I'm just not sensitive toward this kind of thing, though? Yesterday I was talking to this guy who had lived in the same area I do (I'm in a different place for school), and he said he had moved back to Canada in part because the place has seemed really segregated and racist. I don't know what the hell he was talking about; it seems like a great place to me! I have never once gotten a comment about my sex or my skin color in my home town (though, hell, people might have been thinking it?).

(He was talking about the existence of ghettos that were nearly bordering expensive gated neighborhoods, and how that wasn't right. I kind of wanted to say "Welcome to America" or even "Hey, thanks for joining us in reality" but that might have been inappropriate sooooooo.)
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Christmas is awesome. It's a better holiday than my birthday for presents because nobody seems to get me anything for my birthday. (But they are obligated to do so during Christmas? IDK.) Also I basically save the "I really want THIS" for Christmas because people in my family are more likely to wait on buying the big things until the holidays.

Got:
  • an Xbox 360 (plus Assassin's Creed and the Orange Box)
  • Two other games from two different people
  • Two watches (again from two different people)
  • a pair of socks
  • an Intuos4 tablet (small, so it can actually fit on my desk)
  • a slushie maker
  • Nifty key covers
  • $45 bucks
Unrelated to Christmas, but also getting a new cell phone (cover broke off the old one), and my dad got an iPhone so I get his old iPod. Hurray for renewing phone contracts!
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Hahaha, this is amazing. I'm glad there's something being done about it. Go indie community!

(He also reminded me of this guy, who claims to hold a trademark on the word "Stealth". Copyright/trademark law can be ridiculous sometimes. Maybe that's why some many kids I knew in high school wanted to be trademark lawyers.)