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Attention all who fight like dairy farmers or cows: http://www.telltalegames.com/monkeyislandTelltale Games (who brought you Sam And Max Seasons 1 and 2 and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People) in cooperation with LucasArts (who essentially defined and killed the point and click adventure game) is on the verge of producing a couple of things. The first is an episodic series of games for PC Download and X-Box Live starting in July, once again bringing life to the once thought defunct Monkey Island series, staffed by a whole mess of people who worked on the original projects. Dave Grossman (Former LucasArts, now Telltale, one of the big three who wrote the original two games) is the design director, Ron Gilbert (the very writer of the first two games) was called in as a creative consultant, even Dominic Armato is excited to be flying back out to reprise his role as Guybrush Threepwood. Secondly is a complete overhaul of the first game. The Secret Of Monkey Island Special Edition will be made accessible to a new generation of gamers complete with a new art style painting the backgrounds, new dialogue, a tweaked SCUMM Engine and vocals (once again, Dominic Armato all too happy to lend his pipes for Guybrush), I've gotta say the remake looks pretty sweet. If this does well on download play, it could give life back to the point and click adventure genre, something that's been dead for far too long and needed in the face of modern hardware (DS and Wii, I'm lookin' at you).
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S'been a year since the last update, huh? Well, it's 3am as I start to write and I've gotta lot of stuff I wanna say. What better way to celebrate than an update on Jacon's last hurrah...still, I guess a little debriefing is in order. I've been trying to make some changes in my life and it's just taken a little while to get comfortable with em'. First and foremost among the major changes was a recent departure from my former job at 7-11. My friend and co-worker Woody got me a position as a package handler at the FedEx loading docks and that's working out beautifully. The job starts at 3 am and runs for a few hours where I'd just be sleeping anyway. Ultimately I make a little less money, but it's a comparable wage for a much more active (and thus enjoyable) role, there's room for plenty of advancement and I get to work with a great bunch. Admitedly, I do miss the store work a bit, but they were making a lot of changes under a new manager I just couldn't see eye to eye with (my former co-workers, AJ and Woody, inform me a lot of sh**'s been going down since I left, so I know it's not just me). In any event, AJ and I are gonna hang outside the workplace and I still get to work with Woody. As far as I'm concerned, the best of the job stays with me. During the transitional period between those jobs, I've made some personal changes as well. A wardrobe change (since I had absolutely no sense of style this time last year), a more involved undertaking in learning to cook (because everybody should know this, and dessert is an awesome thing to know how to make) and there's been some talk about me returning to SCC, ostensibly to rework my former AA into a degree in photography (the job market sucks right now, but maybe it'll stable up by the time I'm done). I've also been trying to get a little more involved with the family, having the opportunity to prepare dinner from my grandparents last month (Jamaican spiced chicken, homemade creamed corn, white sauce macaroni and cheese and a lemon pound cake for dessert) and make a cherry pecan pudding for mother's day (easy, but damn if it doesn't look more impressive than it is). Anyways, onto the main event. After ten years of bringing otaku throughout Florida a kickass gathering to congregate and enjoy the industry with each other, the staff finally agreed that it was time to pursue their outside interests and make this the big finale. But how exactly did it stand up? Lessee... Friday: Didn't get much of a chance to do any of the events, save Anime That Doesn't Suck with Joey Snackpants. It's the same show every time, but he's such an amusing speaker, I'd reccomend seeing it every time if you have the spare hour here or there. I spent this day mainly darting from one end of the convention center to the other snapping photos. I'll post a photobucket link as soon as I've had the time to upload and edit the pictures....oh, right! I got a new digital camera for Christmas! It's a little gas guzzler in terms of battery life, but I can get so many more pictures with this in a single day. Saturday: After work, the weekend was mine. What did I do on that day....well, again, mostly take pictures, but! Breaking into Comics Panel: Honestly, I just needed a place to sit down, but this was a pretty interesting panel about artwork, scanning, publishing and copyright. Don't see myself using this information, but the speakers were amusing and full of insight (and business cards, apparently) that had everybody hanging onto every word. Fansubbing 101: Immediately following the above panel, this was held by a girl who translates and fansubs J-dramas. She started by talking about the work that generally goes into producing a sub, like obtaining a raw video, the programs used for dialogue insertion and how to actually insert the dialogue. In the second half, she brought up a scene from a goofy detective show and asked the audience to provide the dialogue. Somehow, we ended up making the scene even sillier by calling an Asian lady Miley Cirus and adding sub-notes telling everybody Hai = Yes. Definately the amusing high point of the day, but certainly not the moment of greatest interest... Robotech Panel: If it's about robots, I'm there! This was more or less the same panel at AFO two years ago, but you can't go wrong at a gathering where you can reminisce about the awesome cool things you grew up with for a while. Here's hoping AFO gets a mecha panel! Incident at 0000 Hours: It can be said the two biggest events on Saturday were the Masquerade Ball and the Hentai Cafe, both starting around 11pm. The lines were the longest of anything at the con, taking up nearly the entire convention center just to support em', downstairs and up. Unfortunately, I didn't have a mask to be downstairs and the line was too long to be horny upstairs, so I just wandered around for a bit before settling down outside the viewing rooms. I ended up playing a little DS and talking with some others, a female staff supervising the rooms, a male staff working with a Macross Valkyrie figure and two guys playing Advance Wars: Days of Ruin. While I was a little disappointed there was nothing to do before, that actually turned into a pretty enjoyable couple of hours. About one hour in though, something happened. Con staff started coming through and asked if we had seen a certain individual. We didn't see anything and they started searching the viewing rooms before quickly moving on. We all wondered what was going on but quickly returned to what we were doing. When they came through again in about five minutes, somebody moved to find out what was going on. At first, we only learned that the Masquerade was under lockdown. It would take another five or so before somebody told us that they were searching for a young man who'd been feeling girls up at the ball. Now they were running around from room to room all over the center trying to track him down and....do whatever it is they planned to do with him. Dunno if they ever found him, but a few of the late night events had to be called because some Captain Hormone couldn't keep his mitts in check.....bastard. I missed the Lupin movie for your stupid buggery! Sunday: We all know it's the slow day, and while it was no exception here, the turnout was fairly large. Guess everybody wanted to say Sayonara at the end. Viewings: Shin Mazinger and Tales of the Abyss. The frst is a remake of the classic pioneering super robot series by Go Nagai and the second is an anime adaptation of the Tales Of game by the same name. The first has me convinced Nagai should probably focus on non-Mazinger materials for a while since the first episode seemed to be a random mishmosh of concepts that lacked explanation and only a fan of the early series would have a chance of getting (and even then, it had some pretty crazy stuff in it). The Tales of the Abyss showing was worth seeing, even if you don't play the Namco games. The artwork was true to the game, the story paced along pretty well and it had some pretty funny moments in the second episode. I'd reccomend that one if you ever get a chance. Gundam Panel: Cancelled.......BLARG! Steve Bennet - How to Talk to Girls: To be politically correct, he called it "How Anybody can talk to Anybody", but I figured if anybody could use some advice, it'd be me (though I bet I'm not the only one who'd say that). This was an open discussion where the subject was how to approach, talk to and potentially break the friend barrier with somebody you might show some interest in. For the most part it was Q&A, and that made for a good deal of dispersed amusing comments, but there was a lot of serious talk on both sides about ice breaking, general conversation, handling rejection and the like. Above all hilarious and much was said worth consideration. Overall: Despite the fact that it rained nearly all weekend and that unfortunate incident on Saturday night, it looked like everybody was having a good time. It may not have been their strongest year, but JACON went out on an enjoyable weekend that will leave everybody with memories of a legacy come to an end. So, one last time....Sayonara, JACON! Here's lookin' at AFO! Current Mood: All sortsa stuff
Current Music: Gaiking the Great from Gaiking: Legend of Daiku Maryu
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For a while now, I've been suffering from a lack of computer functionality (the damn thing won't turn on. I'm granted a concession right now to make use of another terminal). This is all hard to spit out, but
All this work...all this learning....all this running around and excitement over having something to do....all for nothing?
For a while now, I've been mulling it over...can I get over some inaccuracies? Sure. My build is off....so, not every character has been matched to figure in the cosplay world...can I face everybody knowing I put forth my best effort and still come out...subpar?
Each question comes in turn....each question comes with an answer of unrelenting shrugging....but why? If I don't care about any of this, why am I second guessing everything I've been doing for the past two months? Because on some level, they all do matter...but more to the point, I'm not flying with the fire of point four anymore.
When I began this little journey a year ago, I had something to keep me going....I don't know if it was hope or delusion, but it's something I need to let go of....Vyse was part of something else...something..distant. When point four became beyond my reach, I thought to keep moving. I thought if I kept going, things would work themselves out. However...
This isn't me. Pimptastic as I think Vyse is, the mainstream arguement isn't my forte....the experience I sought to gain with this costume was meant to segue into something else...however, on levels I'm not ready to divulge, moving into that would have reprecussions that don't sit well with me. The shame I feel now at my failiure is almost enough to keep me from the impending Jacon at hand....however...
My sentiment overrides my shame on this one. People who take such pride and joy in their work....I'm not ready to stand among them....even so, this was never about the costume, it was about the convention and it's meaning to me....some people have Anime Expo...some people have Otakon....this one, Jacon, is mine.
I can only apologize to anybody who read these entries, having any bit of confidence in me for the days to come....especially you, Captain. I was hoping to meet you face to face in pirate attire. To face you now, void of results...
I'm sorry for any misplaced faith, but my biggest flaw finally caught up with me....I was doing this for the wrong reason...I need to reconsider my position...and see if I have the right reason.
Side Notes:
- Many surfaces came out curved when I tried to create a straight seam with lighter materials. Should've stretched at first to create a suitable edge.
- Couldn't find anything to satisfy me for those yellow notches on the front of the coat....what the heck are those anyway?
- Custom building things with hot glue, carboard and hot glue....I rather enjoyed this psuedo construction work... Current Mood:  depressed
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The end results of my prop construction are two cutlasses and an eyepatch frame. Cuttlasses: With a base of insulating foam from Home Depot, I used my glue stick reserves to coat each blade with a scalding layer of hot glue. It didn't take as long as one might think since it dries so quickly, but a brief moment of lost concentration resulted in two pretty painful little burns on my left hand. Just the same, the swords are considerably more durable and have the stability to be held as Vyse holds them (one is thicker at the hilt to be held in the left hand like a tonfa, whilst the other is a little thinner save the grip to be held in the right hand as a normal sword). They look a BIT clunky, but since they were made by my hands, I just can't bring myself to not love how they turned out. I can't wait to apply other methods on future projects (I REALLY get into working with my hands). The blades are painted red (Pyri/Increm was the default spell set for Vyse) and the hilts are yellow with some masking tape for wraps. Eyepatch frame: My second eyepatch and it's not even going to cover my eye. Melted down and painted white, all it needs now is a suitable strap to fix it to my head. Next Up: Since my little sewing mishap, I'm behind schedule on the coat. Still, all I need to do is sew in a collar (urk...), attach those yellow clamp/patch/things on the front and connect the sleeves. Also gotta make a scarf for around the neck....not QUITE sure how to go about making it, but the worst is behind me. Shouldn't be TOO hard... As for boots, my plan is to make a pair of covers to wear over my sneakers. The guide from Jenova's cosspace topic offered some insight into construction, and I've got a crazy little idea for soles...I'll divulge that info once I know if it works or not. No sense in passing out info without merit. "Our strategy today will open the road to a better tomorrow" - Zhuge Liang (Dynasty Warriors 5/Shin Sengoku Musou 4) Current Music: Meta Knight's Revenge - Super Smash Brothers Brawl
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I had to delay my progress on Vyse because of an unfortunate accident involving zipper installation (somehow sewed the front of the coat to the back of the coat. Dunno how THAT happened). After a hassle in salvaging and making a new coat base, I've been working on some of the props for the costume: the eyepatch and the cutlass. Eyepatch: As far as I can tell, the eyepatch Vyse wears is a simple plastic frame on a black cloth strap. To create the frame, I drew the basic shape on paper, holding the shape over my eye and then making marks and cutting the pattern as necessary. Tracing the shape on a curved sheet of cardboard and coating the resulting frame in duct tape, I used a bit more tape to create a basin around the shape of the frame piece to create a makeshift mold. So, what goes in the mold? Say it with me now... Hot glue! Save a slight burn here and there, it's safe to work with, quick to dry, and with the scalding hot tip of the gun, easy to shape. Right now, I have a nice and smooth piece of plastic looking frame, ready to be painted and have some cloth and a plastic lens attached. Cutlass: What a sight I must've been lugging a big ol' sheet of insulation foam a mile and a half home. So large it couldn't fit in my car, it was a nice day out, I hiked out to Home Depot for a sheet of foam about three feet taller and twice as wide as I (only conventional size I could get it in). Long story short, I have two pink foam cutlass', but despite the overall durability of the foam, they're still pretty flimsy. I plan to coat them in paste before painting and applying the wraps to the hilts. Even then, these are gonna be pretty delicate props. Nerd Front Updates: - Capcom, whilst working on Ace Attorney Five, is also producing another game: Miles Edgeworth: Perfect Prosecutor. Famitsu's data says it's gonna leave behind the courtroom battles for this game and switch to a more traditional adventure game style. Case work aside, they're gonna have a tall order to fill with the complete change in gameplay. - Suparobo.Jp has a big ol' section dedicated to their new project in colaboration with Monolith Soft, Endless Frontier: Super Robot Taisen OG Saga. Since Monolith Soft has a hand in this, KOS-MOS Version 4 (Xenosaga), Reiji Arisu and Xiaomu (NamcoxCapcom originals) are coming out for a spin! The charcater designs look great and the promise of Banpresto supervised vocal work on the DS has me pumped for this one! Here's hoping for a US release! Current Mood:  Super robot spirity!
Current Music: Whatever that music is on the Endless Frontier page
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Brother Timmus had me over on Sunday to break in Super Smash Brothers Brawl in a little co-op/competition. He was getting a little tired of the restricted options on WiFi play, so he figured the best way to see how the game measured up was to call in his usual sparring partner to really test the balance issues.
Brawl received a lot of nonsense concerning a number of issues. Director Sakurai and the development team studied a lot of the "advanced maneuvers" (wavedashing, for example) that came up in Super Smash Brothers Melee and did their best to balance out the general movements in the game so such things couldn't be exploited by more advanced players. Sakurai said that they did this because he took a look at videogames these days and saw how hard they were or how far they were geared towards certain kinds of gamers. The goal was to create a more user friendly game with fewer entry bars. Sadly, it's been met with a great deal of criticism since "pros" can't use these ultra-fine exploits to enhance their fighting. To cut it short, there are two kinds of melee players in Brawl: those who DID use these moves and now have their most potent weapons removed, and those who DIDN'T use these and don't suffer any loss at all.
The next complaints stemmed from the general slowdown from Melee to Brawl. It's true, the new Wii game DOES move a bit slower than Melee, but this is only to more finely control the speed tiers for all the characters so the Power:Speed ratio is more cleanly distributed. The general understanding is that the faster you are, the less power you have, but it's never really been that simple ^_^.
Notes of Interest:
Ganondorf (Zelda fame) - Slowest running speed, second slowest walking speed (Jigglypuff has the slowest walk). Still has the uber slow B punch wherein you can go get a pizza and just be finishing when you get back. Undeniably the strongest in raw power.
Sonic (Hedgehog series) - Weakest in power, but fast enough to run circles around Captain Falcon and Fox (second and third in speed tiers respectively). Shows up for a few seconds in the main story mode (Subspace Emissary) just so he's there for the last boss fight....Sonic and Mario together for the big epic showdown every gamer from the 90s dreamed of....guess that's enough.
Pitt (Kid Icarus) - Pitt is the second most obscure choice for Brawl, but the fine balance they brought to his character for offense and maneuverability makes him a likely contender for tournament favorite (though Marth will likely be the top choice). His bow/naginata makes him control a BIT like Link, but easier to learn and with greater recovery options.
Snake (Metal Gear series) - He fights with artillery, flies with a balloon and hides in a box. Given his general versatility in terms of speed, offense and maneuverability, he COULD be a tournament favorite if not for the fact that his forward smash aims just a little ahead of his feet (taking out your bazooka and aiming it down is NOT a smart way to kick off your Smash Bros. career....oh, Kojima-dono....how could you let them do that?!).
Ike (Fire Emblem, Path of Radiance Version) - Because he's swinging Ragnell around with one hand, Ike is built for power and taking hits. Not especially fast, but he compensates with a large swing range, high percentage hits and the dangerous Aether as his last recovery move. Offers a bit more difference from Marth than Roy did.
ROB - Y'know that little Robot Nintendo sold the initial NES units with during the big videogame crash in the 80s? That little toy they designed for use with two crappy games Nintendo used to fool people into thinking the NES was a toy and not the "dying fad" of videogames? Well, Nintendo showered their affections on the little guy and made him a full fledged Smasher in Brawl (swear to god, everybody THOUGHT the actual promo video showing ROB was a joke). He requires some patience to use, but he is NOT a joke character.
I could keep my nerdgasm going forever discussing my little observations from a run through the Subspace Emissary (Main story mode), some competetive smashing (Tim won our first Brawl match, three points to two....still a worthy first match, even if I lost ^^) or a little co-op collective (Co-Op event matches...Brother Timmus and Kux are formidable indeed), but I think I'll cut it short before I ramble on in a never ending post. Vyse progress next time! Current Mood: geeky
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Megacon happened this weekend, but with my clearance for Jacon weekend (workwise) I found myself a bit ill-equipped to ask for any time to go down and see all the hubub. Ah well....next year. I've got other things to take care of now.
The next time I get a weekday off (seems work has me pinned down this week) I'm heading into Orlando to look into a bartending school of some repute. With all the recent quittings at the store I can't quite bring myself to leave anytime soon, but with a few months and the proper classes, I can be ready to move onto something bigger when the opportunity presents itself (I've discreetly had my eyes on job listings for the past few months. A trained barkeep [and eventually, chef] will always be in demand in central Florida). People keep telling me I'm in the wrong line of work...I suspect 7-11 thinks I won't be around for a terribly long time either. Still, I rather like getting in contact with people by day and there's just enough down time to ponder a few things between tasks (can't stand work if there's nothing to do for prolonged periods of time....gah, I hated my last job for that).
Sunday was my day off, so when my shift let out on Saturday I took to designing and modifying the sleeves I've prepared for my Vyse coat. Thus far, the main body of the jacket is sewn together (none of those yellow things on the front or collar attached though) and needs a little shaping on the edges before I can put the sleeves on. The actual sleeves are finished (those sash/buckle deals on the wrist look horrible up close, but to just look at them....sooooo coool!) and were fun to plan and build (despite one MAJOR mistake which I had a little fun turning around). The only issue left to resolve with the sleeves is just picking up a little jewelry adhesive to keep those buckles from sliding around from one end of the sash to the other.
Glaring newbish mistakes aside (I'm sure I'll get some advice some way or another come Jacon), I'm quite pleased with my results. Next year, I'll actually have something to wear to Gasparilla and not just be "half a pirate" next time. Current Music: Investigation (From Ace Attorney Phoenix Wright) - Magical Trick Society Remix
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For a while, I didn't like the notion about talking about my employment. My first job sounded important, but it bored the living hell outta me. My current job is at the bottom of the bucket, but I actually seem to enjoy what I'm doing. I could never get over the concept of what other people might think...lack of ambition...no direction...in it just for the money...well, for a while, those first two were true and now that it's gone, that last bit seems to be the case. That kind of attitude kept me pretty reclusive for a while (I'm not avoiding people for lack of LJ presence. Nothing's just really been going on right now), but in my ideal, there's no place for doubt.
All your life, you hear about how you should find a job you enjoy rather than one that pays well with strife. If I'd seen the truth in that earlier, I probably would've signed on with 7-11 much sooner than I did. The Nation Law Firm, my former place of employment, gave me a small clerical position when I graduated high school. I maintained that position throughout my time at SCC, developing my education to the standards I deemed necessary (if you knew the high school I had to put up with, this would seem like SUCH a reasonable pursuit). For the longest time, I was in it for the money, but I knew I'd have to find something more to life. That's the second reason I decided to take up my studies for another two years (two and one thirds years, if we want need to be technical). It's a shame I've carried in silence for the longest time. I could never figure out what my ambition in life was. When people told me to consider something you enjoy, I could never figure out how to make a living out of something I enjoy.
I get a thrill out of working with my hands. My dad worked at SYSCO, held a position at a contracting yard of sorts, and had a profound ability to work with tools, so I guess I get that from him. Growing up, I had an interest in working with whatever I could get my hands on. Lego, Erector, model kits, you name it. Even now I dabble a bit in sewing for my own personal reasons. Some time ago, I also began to take in interest in the culinary arts. My reasoning there is simply that a clever man who knows his way around the kitchen need not take up a ramen diet ('cept when the next Super Robot Taisen comes out...heh heh). It occured to me then...know who gets to combine these forces for a decent living?
A chef! He benefits from a skill to live by and has the added bonus of his own brand of craftsmanship all day. At first, it felt a bit overwhelming to start over again with a new vision in mind, but plenty of people have held far grander ideals with far less to their name. To that, we look at the present and see where to go from here....
7-11 allows me much more contact with the general public than the law firm ever did (I mostly did little paper-pushing and janitorial tasks. Paid well enough for the time, but....). I get to move around a lot more, strike up a little conversation with the customers, and once in a while, amuse the patrons with a little slight of hand (It's just a little thing I do wherein I toss the change from a transaction from my left hand behind the counter to a waiting hand about it. It somehow seems to make an impression with our patrons). I know this is only phase one in my greater ambition, but I can't deny I'm having a lot of fun with it.
Speaking of such, that little side comment about the change tossing led to a few comments from the patrons. Aside from a smile and a laugh, I occasionally get a comment saying I should be tending bar with such behavior. Usually, one doesn't give much consideration to offhand comments, but I took a moment to consider a few points which could put that to my favor, namely:
1) I know nothing of alcohol (don't touch the stuff). Seems to me a chef should know SOMETHING about the stuff
2) My current position offers some of the experience necessary, so any further training could be more easily facilitated with common sense in customer service
3) I do enjoy entertaining people when the occasion presents itself
It's something I've been thinking about as I study cooking technique on my own for the time being (gotta make the future education come as painlessly as possible). Right now I'm only considering it, and while the road ahead is already long enough, the destination is still certain...eyes ahead, take no guff without objection, and let em' know em' know my ambition is finally at the fore! *pumps arm in the air*
Side Notes on the job:
1) Six times now I've been told I'm fairly chipper for a 7-11 employee. Maybe I'm doing something wrong? @_@
2) Twice I've been toid I have nice eyes. Feels weird taking a compliment for something I didn't really have a hand in. Current Music: Neppu! Shippu! Cybuster! (EDGEWIRED Version)
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