Note to self 62: 08/19/1999
  Well, I was gunna spend some time bitchin' about how the car shop in town farged my car up (again) and how I had to drive a mini Mirage rental around for a few days (Sam Malone was right: It's amazing just how fast you can go when you don't give a crap about the car you're driving)...... but then I went and had a great time with Sarah on Saturday and that car stuff doesn't really bother me anymore ^_^
  Ahhhhhhhhh, Sarah @_@! *Ahem!* Anyway, I also finally finished Lunar: the Silver Star Story Complete last night, and so comes another video game review from the Rossman.

Lunar: the Silver Star Story Complete

  First of all, I was lucky enough to have actually played the original Lunar: The Silver Star back on the Sega CD oh-so-many years ago. I never beat it as the system and the game were both my friend's and he only lent them to me for a week, but I really enjoyed everything about that game (EXCEPT FOR THE CAPS LOCKED FONTS).
  It wasn't my first RPG, but it was the best I'd played up till that time! The characters rocked, the story was cool and the "animated" cut scenes were load-blowingly rugged!....... Years pass. Lunar is upgraded to a 32-bit system with lots of graphical and plot changes. Then the anouncement follows that Working Designs will port it over to the US as a Playstation game. I'm in Heaven.
  The translation of the game is incredible! The amount of time that must have gone into just the text must have burnt out many a translator. Each and every person you meet in every single village and town during the quest must be talked to at least 5-6 times (some even more!) throughout the game in order to catch every hilarious line! This is by far WD's funniest game ever!! Each one of Nall's snide remarks and Kyle's (da man!) comments about women or booze is priceless ("Just wait 'til you see what else I can do with my tongue."). The animation cut sequences (done by the ever awesome animators of Giant Robo @_@) are breathtaking and worth the price of the game by themselves. The second disc alone has about 1/2 hour of incredible short films that help bring you closer to the characters than any other game I've seen (including Xenogears and Final Fantasy 6)

  While the game may be short compared to other RPGs currently out now (only about 23-25 hours to beat), you feel more a part of Lunar's world than Alex the Dragonmaster himself. I found that I really cared about what happened to Luna, Mia and Jessica. And I really wanted to hang out with Laike, Kyle and Mel (what a party that would be, neh?)! Those guys kicked arse! I also found that I wanted to beat the living tar out of the Magic Emperor and Nash even more than I did Kefka! Those guys sucked arse.
  Forgive me. I'm still basking in the victory light of finishing the game up very late last night and I'm still on a fun RPG high *_* And lest I forget, no review of Lunar would be complete without mentioning the English voice actors. Why can't all anime movies and shows be dubbed this well?!?!? Huh? They were great! Nall's pitch may have been a bit high, but that did fit his character fairly well. Luna's voice was beautiful! She was so perfect for the role. Even the minor characters like Royce, Mel and Laike were flawless.

  I wish there was an ending song or something (nitpicking!), but that's my only complaint with this game. And the Outtakes of the voice actors at the end of the credits more than make up for that ("Kee-yaaaaah!!" :) Throw in a soundtrack of all the songs and bgm (a lot from the Sega CD version too for us nostalgic nuts) AND a "Making Of" cd with a few secrets of its own and you've got the best video game buy of the decade!...... Well, until Lunar: Eternal Blue comes out in its 5-CD package 0_o

Note to self 61: 08/09/1999
  That was a fun week! Got a lot of work done and finished up the design of my new office during the week leaving plenty of time to relax over the weekend. Friday the MegaPlayboy and I got working on our 100 beers from around the world club (I'm the newbie in that gathering, but I'm coming up from behind fast enough), and then we bugged Angus (who was still at work in the middle of a small blackout) and Clint who drove us back to their place to watch Revenge of the Nerds (Alec's all time favorite movie we later discovered) on HBO. Then we were drivin back downtown where we got to the MPB's pimp-mobile and went over to the Carmike 12 to catch the 11:30 Iron Giant showing........we were the only ones in the theater (we had fun being as loud and obnoxious as we wanted, but it sucked for the movie which deserved a lot more) -_-. IG was the first good movie I'd seen this weekend. It was really fun, it had a great story, it had a rugged giant robot and it didn't have any crappy song and dance numbers to spoil it! That's how you make an animated movie!
  Anyway, I got home late that night and played some Lunar. After waking up late Saturday I realized that my checkbook was missing (I looked everywhere) and after tearing my apartment and office apart conceeded and went to see Bruce Willie in Sixth Sense. This was the best movie I've seen all year! I'm telling you to go now before anybody ruins it for you and spoils the ending (we're talking Planet of the Apes and Crying Game size shocker here!). You've got to experiece it for yourself!!!
  Sunday, I was going to help the MPB's mom move, but after waking me up early to ask for my help again, he then called back to say that my help was no longer necessary.... I couldn't even get back to sleep-_-  Later I met the Wolfman at the movies (again) and we saw Mystery Men at a late showing. Another great movie. This was my first 3 movie weekend in years and all of them were good (the first time that's ever happened!).
  Then this morning I dropped my car off at the dealership for two more recall notices which should be fixed by tonight.... Should....

Note to self 60: 08/02/1999
  @_@ The last few weeks have been very busy and interesting for me. First, I got an incredible job offer from a great company in Norcross, GA as web administrator to start asap. I had to turn it down, though, for reasons best left to your imagination. It's great to feel wanted and I hope that those guys get somebody just as good as me to fill the position.
  I also went to see a bunch of movies over the past two weekends. American Pie was funny as ****! It also gave us a bunch of new catch phrases to use around town (such as, "Ma'am, I'm three sheets to the wind" and "What's my name, b****?!"). Big Daddy was okay, but waaaaaay too sweet. And finally, the MegaPlayboy and I drove to Lawrenceville late Friday night just to see The Blair Witch Project. While it was incredibly inventive and different than anything I've ever seen, it's really not all that scary. It's very creepy and freaky, just not scary. And unlike a lot of people in the audience, I really liked its ending. Also, if you haven't already seen it, check out the Sci-Fi Channel's "Documentary" on the Blair Witch, it really sets up the movie perfectly. Oh yeah, we scared the living p*$$ out of Mulder and Meg!... Still don't know what they were doing with that u-turn though.

  Other than the hideous 2 week heat wave that's hit Georgia recently (driving the daytime temp into the 100s most every day), not too much is really newsworthy here..... My electric bill is gunna be HUGE this month..... just as long as my air-conditioner holds up.

Note to self 59: 07/19/1999
  First Urusei Yatsura on DVD and now SDF Macross *@_@*!!!! Animeigo ROCKS!!!!!... and I'll soon be broke. Oh well, at least it takes them forever to do a series. My monetary spending should be spaced out.

Note to self 58: 07/16/1999
 WOW! What a week! Where to start, where to start? First of all, I finally got a DVD player ($40 off and 3 free movies of my choice included [I love commissioned employees^_^])! I got the Sony 530 model and it's a dream! All the DVDs I've gotten over the past six months (from different on-line sales that I couldn't pass up) play beautifully on it! Ghostbusters Ultimate 15th Anniversary Edition is my fave! The Tenchi Muyo OAV box set is pretty snazzy too. Let's see, now I have those two and Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Big Lebowski, Terminator 2, Happy Gilmore, The Fifth Element, Aliens, Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, Predator, Jackie Chan's City Hunter, Tenchi the Movie 1 and Clerks Director's Edition@_@!!!!! Every single one looks and sounds gorgeous on my tv and stereo!!
  Now for some even grander news than that! I saw Sarah Brightman live in concert on Wednesday night!!!! That was one of the greatest shows I've ever seen!!! Her voice is even better live! She truly proved that she is the Angel of Music:)  What made me really happy though is that she sang my favorite song there ("Captain Nemo") while swimming on the stage!!! That was soooo cool *@_@* Each song was a huge production number with dancing and costumes and she had a full 20 piece orchestra playing behind her the entire time!!!!! The packed house at the Civic Center definitely got their money's worth! The two hour concert was way too short though, but after she took her first bow and the curtains closed she reappeared after two minutes of standing ovation to sing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". Then the curtains closed again (and a few idiots left -_-) only to reopen to the second standing ovation to have her sing her signature "Time to Say Goodbye"! I was sooooooo glad I went! I'd be kicking myself for the rest of my life if I had missed her perform! Yowzah!

Note to self 57: 07/05/1999
   First off, after the Mega Playboy and I dropped our stuff off at Chujo's place to take up to Baltimore for Otakon for us, we went to the theater and met the Wolfman for South Park the movie. That was one of the funniest pieces of cinematic art I've ever seen! We couldn't stop saying "Uncle ****er" or "@$$ Spelunker" for days!
  Anyway, early Friday morning we took off for Baltimore (with only one stop in Charlotte, NC [gawd I hate that town -_-]) and arrived a little after 11am. We took the train to the front door of the Convention Center and quickly mingled with some nuns (from a different con). After finding the Otakon registration table, we got our reg packages and then soon met up with Roberto and the gang who had already checked in and proceeded to share with us a few stories about some maniacle-like racing and jumbo rudeness exhibited during their driving trip up. Then we all got down to some serious partying! While Anime Expo usually has great cosplays, dealers' rooms and music video contests, Otakon usually has great guests, premieres and a much better city-life outside the con! And this year they did not disappoint! Baltimore ROCKED! It may have been a triffle bit HUMID, but it was fun as hell! We hit the Hard Rock Cafe, the Aquarium, the USS Constellation and even ran 2 miles through not-so-nice neighborhoods to see a building get leveled (and there we learned that "Marty" from chanel 13 can "Lick" a certain construction worker's nutz). We also got a better understanding for general building construction and city-wide air conditioning from the same construction worker.

  Later we heard Yoko Kanno's incredible live performance (and got her, Mari Iijima's and Watanabe's autographs :), Minmay's (short but incredibly sweet) concert (we also learned that I may still have a shot at her as her and Mr. Mari Iijima are breaking up), took several pctures of an Angel going to the bathroom (errrr, not as sick as it sounds) and saw many more fun things (including the live action City Hunter, God of Cookery, Photon 1-5, End of Eva, and Macross: Love, Do You Remember) to make it a memorable weekend!... But what the MegaPlayboy and I'll never forget (or live down) would have to be Friday night and getting sloshed, taking turns telling many sick jokes to the sleepy Chujo, watching Robert turn himself into Rick James, chasing people around Baltimore (still sloshed), going to a bar for a quick five Sam Adams for a renued buzz before the Music Video contest and having a blast with Mehve and Mike till 3am! All other stories you might hear about the 2nd of July are completely false.

  Let's see, other than more "stair skiing", the humidity, two fire alarms (one during the video contest and one during Mari Iijima's concert [where I finally heard "Do You Remember Love" live @_@), a funny as f*** panel on "anime on the net" and Greenfield promising us Eva on DVD (better be with the extra footage) by December, I can't think of anything more right now. As soon as I get my pictures developed I'll start putting together a new ONIcon page with them (and stories I may have forgotten here).
  The plane ride home was cool though! To make up the fact that we had to wait a while on the ground for a flat tire on the plane (which I am glad they fixed btw;) the pilot flew circles around a huge and incredible fireworks display right outside Athens before we landed!! It was so incredible to see them from the air like that (we must have seen most of the fireworks show too!) as they don't appear to be too far off of the ground (fireworks in general that is). Man was that cool!!! ^_^

  Then today I went into my office and started to do a little catch up work when Clint and Angus came in and offered me a bar-b-que dinner at Clint's parents' house! We went motorcycling and 4X4ing thru the woods and had a great ribs dinner with Les and Ben showing up later too. All in all a great weekend ^_^
  Gun DAMN!

Note to self 56: 06/29/1999
  Drove up to North Carolina again to see my Grandmother :) We spent Friday through Sunday with her taking her out to eat, playing cards and watching "Murder She Wrote". She's doin' just fine.
  The club's got all the plans finalized for the trip up to Baltimore this weekend and Timmons and I are the only ones flying up. We're leaving 15 hours after everyone else, but we'll still get to the con before any other UGAnime-er :). Oh well, after we drop off our stuff and see them off, we're meeting a bunch of guys to see South Park the movie. It will be HUGE I tell ya!

  I finally got Lunar from Buy.com and in only 3 hours have gotten to the "boat song". This along with Xenogears is what FFVII should have been! A fun game with great story and characters that you really care about (and not just because they died cheesy deaths halfway through only to blatantly tug at your heartstrings -_-).
  One more thing, go out and buy Running With Scissors NOW! It's all worth it just for "Albuquerque", Al's 11 minute epic which blows even "Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" out of the water! (And especially for the 20 minute Quicktime movie somewhat "hidden" on the disc too).

Note to self 55: 06/14/1999
  Nothing much this week. Saw Austin Powers 2 on Saturday with some friends... Played DiviDead and Chrono Trigger some too while waiting for Lunar: SSSC to come in from Buy.com (with a bunch of other stuff I ordered). As for Austin, it was okay, but compared to the second draft script I read a few months ago it didn't/couldn't hold a candle to it. For some unknown reason they cut out some of the funniest pieces (especially the final chase between Powers and Dr. Evil through the time portal and the Cameron, Jack and Rose cameo :)   What's up wid dat?
  Other than that, I had another funky dream. An old girlfriend wanted to get back together with me and I just laughed^_^

Note to self 54: 06/07/1999
  Question: How can one guy get the shaft so many times in one weekend?.... The answer I came up with is "a lot". This weekend sucked major *%@! I doubt I'll head back to Atlanta for a few months now, just feel like being alone without much human contact (from the city) for as long as possible (I'm sure you've felt like that before).
  I had another really weird dream last night. So many of my friends were getting married that out of desperation for fear of being left behind I proposed to a girl I knew back in high school (at the time I did, it felt almost right). First the ring I bought wasn't big enough (-_-), then I ran into my high school sweetheart who made me think twice about it, and then when I realized what a horrible mistake I was making and tried to find ways of breaking it off without pissing my fiance off too much, well... then it kinda blended into a "Star Wars" dream and things got weird.... I've gotta become friends with a psych student or something.

Note to self 53: 06/03/1999
  Well, to start things off I had some pretty weird dreams this past week. If anybody wants to help in interpretting them, be my guest. The first messed up nocturnal vision was all about a certain acquaitance of mine (name withheld to save her face;) who turned out to really be a man who had a sex change operation..... I never wanted to go near her before, but that was just plain freaky!! And it seemed that only a few of us found out and we were debating whether to tell everybody else.
 The second dream was all about a surprise party somebody threw in my honor. Everybody I knew showed up (yep, even Snotlick!) for the huge bash, and it started out as a costume party (with me dressed up as a bunch of grapes [like one of the Fruit of the Loom guys]).... But as the party waged on, soon enough I was the only one still in costume. It was kind of embarrassing, but I really never let it get to me as I mingled all around. Even kids I knew from grade school were there!.... - So, any Freuds out there?
  Other than those two dreams the only other memorable thing I did was have 3 Memorial Day Bar-B-Que's this past weekend (Chi-Chi and I ended up just watching "Disaster Saturday" on TLC all night while drinking his new roommates' supply of alcohol instead of moving his crap :).

Note to self 52: 05/27/1999
  After the past few weeks, an ordinary one like this week just seems kinda bland. I finally started Chrono Trigger on my old SNES again (forgot just how cool it was!). My goal this time around is to find all 15 of the endings in the game. So far I've gotten 6 of them. This past weekend I saw Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels with my free ticket from the Phantom Menace fiasco. That movie better be up for best pic of the year! It was hilarious!!! Great wrap up too! :)
  This weekend I'll probably just end up helping Chi-Chi move from his apartment to the house he's renting with 3 other guys. They promised me a party with lots of drinking next week if I did (I'm just a softy). And oh yeah, yesterday I hit on a girl at the gym (really cute!) who had no friggin' sense of humor at all. I only bring this up as it was rather embarrassing trying to explain all my comments and jokes to her to prove that I wasn't an idiot, just a schmuck who thought he was funny -_- Urgh.....
  At least Lunar: the Silver Star Story comes out tomorrow. Go out and buy it now!!