Rogue Galaxy 60h02m12s

This morning at 2:00am I finished Rogue Galaxy. It was a big relief to finish it. The final boss battle was a very long and sometimes frustrating multi-part affair. I died once about twenty minutes into it because I didn't use healing items fast enough. A dumb mistake on my part that very nearly caused me to hurl the controller at the wall. It was about 1:00am but I didn't feel like I could sleep until I finished the damned thing, so I re-started. The whole thing ended up taking an hour and a half, although that included some long cutscenes.

The game didn't need to be so long if you ask me, since parts of dungeons were cut-and-pasted over and over in order to make the game longer, which often made them a chore to get through.

In summary, and sad to say, the game did not live up to my expectations (Level 5's last game was the excellent (and even longer, by the way) Dragon Quest VIII).

Although I don't regret the time I spent playing it, there's no way I would bother re-playing it. However, for JRPG fans it's definitely worth playing, with many enjoyable elements (for example the fast and fun real-time battle system, the high quality animation, and the character's Special Attacks, for example Kisala's Deadly Stench attack where she throws the smelly old sock - oh how I wish I could bring her in the next time my boss throws a tantrum).

Scientific?

I like eating sushi, and this morning when I went out for a walk I noticed a new sushi joint had opened up near Taylor's Square. It had an unusual name for a sushi joint: 'Scientific Sushi'.
While I would agree that sushi-making could be considered an artform, it seems a bit of a stretch to call it a science.

Top Ten Movies 2007

It's that time of year, so here's my Top Ten Movies of 2007:

Black Book - Paul Verhoeven rules, man.
The Brave One - So does Jodie Foster.
Control - How did they manage to reincarnate Ian Curtis for this?
Die Hard 4.0 - Bruce Willis proves that the coolest action heroes are over 40.
Eastern Promises - Team up David Cronenberg with Viggo Mortensen and you have a great movie. It's a scientific formula.
The Host - South Koreans make the best monster movie since Alien.
Pan's Labyrinth - I know there are people who don't like subtitles, but that would be no excuse to miss a movie as awesome as this one.
Ratatouille - If you tell somebody about this one, and they make a face and tell you they don't watch animated kiddie movies, stick their idiot head in the nearest toaster and loudly demand that they stop being such a boring old fart.
Tideland - It seemed that some critics felt that Terry Gilliam should have been drawn, quartered, tarred and feathered for this. Those critics are idiots. Read the book too. Mitch Cullen sent it to Gilliam asking for a blurb if he liked it. He liked it all right. He made a movie out of it.
Zodiac - Great movie about the serial killer. Hallelujah! David Fincher is back on track (following the excellent Se7en, he farted out the disappointing Panic Room).

It occurs to me that one of my handful of readers may be reading this, so I'd like to invite you to list your own top ten in the Comments field. (There's a list of 2007 movies here) Don't be shy now!

Bus Brats

It was a sunny day and I felt good. I got on the bus and instantly heard bellowing. It was coming from a bunch of teenage idiots who took up the rear half of the bus. Empty booze bottles clanked on the floor whenever the driver hit the brakes. One of the kids noisily hawked up a gob of snot and spat on the floor. A bottle bumped into my foot and I picked it up and threw it at the snotty kid. He yelped and blood spurted out of his face. I laughed at that, then one of them shouted, "You fuckin' cunt!" and lunged at me. I swung my arm and sent him flying into a pole, one of those poles on the bus that has the button you push when you want to get off. The kid hit the floor and groaned. I stepped on his stomach and his eyes almost popped out. The other kids looked like they didn't know what to do next. That it might not be such a good idea to come at me like their friend did. I said, "You idiots are making too much noise. It's annoying, so you'd better shut up or get off the bus."
They shut up. A couple of them went to check on their friends.

Wallander's Heard Enough

"Ordinary human beings," said Hansson in dismay. "Completely normal on the surface. Underneath, mentally ill beasts of prey. A man in France, the foreman of a coal depot, used to cut open the stomachs of his victims and stick his head inside to try to suffocate himself. That's one example."
- Hansson depresses Wallander even more than he already was in Sidetracked by Henning Mankell [1995]

Summertime, Wallander Style

'The summer landscape seemed a surreal backdrop to his thoughts. Two men are axed to death and scalped, he thought. A young girl walks into a rape field and sets herself on fire. And all around me it's summertime. Skane couldn't be more beautiful than this. There's a paradise hidden in every corner of this countryside. To find it, all you have to do is keep your eyes open. But you also might glimpse hearses on the roads.'

- Kurt Wallander from Sidetracked by Henning Mankell

Funny Catholic Joke

I was listening to my favourite radio show this morning (The Naked City on FBi) and Coffin Ed told this very funny joke:

The Pope dies and goes to heaven.
St Peter says, “So, is there anything you wanna see? Anything you missed out on in your life?”
The Pope says, “Yes! I would like to see the original version of the Bible!”
St Peter says, “OK. Come over here then, go in that little room. It’s in there!”
After a while the Pope shouts, “OH, MY GOD!”
St Peter runs in and asks what’s wrong.
The Pope says, “This word, ‘celebrate’! We thought it was ‘celibate’!”

You Will Never Get It Back

This morning I heard somebody on the radio say something idiotic. It's a line that I've heard and seen written many times. These retards always use it when talking about a movie, a book, a video game, a performance of some kind, whatever it is, that they ended up disliking. They will say this:

"That's four hours of my life I will never get back."

What a shame. It's regrettable, isn't it? But let's imagine that you could actually get that time back. Let's be honest. You would only waste it on something else. Your time isn't really that valuable anyway, let's face it. Get over yourself. And you only use that meaningless line because you heard some other idiot retard use it, right?

But what an idiotic thing to say, really. Oh, boo hoo! You will never get that time back!

Pass the tissues.
Let the healing process begin.