Mega Man 9 is starting to irritate me a little. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Mega Man series…hell, it might even be my favorite video game franchise of all time. (Not sure what they’ve been thinking the last few years though) When I heard they were making a new 8-bit Mega Man game I was nothing short of ecstatic. They even put in an option for sprite flicker so it truely LOOKS old school. I love the attention that was given to old school detail….

…however…

…did we really need EVERYTHING about it to be old school Capcom? I understand not putting in the dash and mega-buster charging, but my controller has a lot of buttons. In newer Mega Man games, special weapons could be cycled through using the shoulder buttons ON THE FLY. Not in this one. It just had to be 100% old school. So as a result…I’m getting kinda tired of pausing the game, changing my weapon, unpausing the game, killing two guys, pausing the game, changing my weapon, unpausing the game, solving a puzzle, etc. etc.

I’m also sick of the Wily levels already. I still haven’t finished the whole game cause it’s such a time commitment. There’s about 4 different Wily levels with bosses of their own. They’re all fun levels too. The problem…I haven’t been able to beat the 4th Wily level yet, BUT, just like older Mega Man games, if you don’t beat one Wily level, you need to start all the way back at the first one EVERY TIME. This makes even attempting the last level an easy 30 – 45 min commitment each time. It’s just too much.

All that said though, I’m loving that I’m able to relive the experience of the original Mega Man gameplay. I’m pretty sure it’s wildly popular across the consoles as well, so maybe Capcom and other companies will take a hint that it’s gameplay that makes a game good, not needless graphics. My next hope for the franchise…let’s see Mega Man X back in action!

Courtesy of Dave Palmacci:

Dr. Marty Klein hits it on the head; the penis head. This guy, well.. he’s more than a guy, he’s a genius. I finished listening to a great podcast he hosted that covered everything I’m gonna bitch and rant about below, this is not to my credit, only his, I am just agreeing with it 100%.

Can you remember as a kid seeing someone naked and it scarring you or messing you up for life? Honestly, was there ever a point? Did peeking at some scene in a movie with a naked man/woman make you have nightmares? No? How about the scene with the machine guns? Yeah, I bet that did. So why is it OK in our society to have gruesome gore in even PG-13 movies, but we all flip out when there’s a half second of a nipple during a super bowl half time show? (which was the number 1 most downloaded piece of media on record.. yes, it was terrible).

People in general state that our country is full of sex. Yes sex, sex, and more sex everywhere we go!! Is it really? Did you know in every European country that has a coastline there’s at least 1 nude public beach? How many Europeans are messed up from that? K, how many are comfortable with that? Yeah, almost all of them.

See I think we as Americans aren’t comfortable with sexuality. We pretend we are, but we aren’t. Almost all my female friends are afraid of letting a guy think she is a so called “slut”. Because of what? She carries around birth control pills? I have guy friends who would need to be paid a billion dollars to kiss another man… as if he was being asked; “would you jump in this space ship, zip around the planet Mercury and spit on the sun without dying?”. Pfft, why a billion? Cuz they’re afraid people will think they’re gay, a billion will ensure he is not, or rather it will ensure his sexual security.

Our country is the Catholic Church when it comes to sex. We’re ignorant, we’re uneducated, and at the same time we all somehow want it. A biological urge we deny as a mainstream culture, all because we think we are doing something moral. Yes, priests who denied sex were very moral raping little boys right after they were done talking about banning condoms.

See, our society places sex in the negative category of public attention and concern. Where as it should be in the positive. The FDA did not approve a morning after contraceptive that was proven to be 100% effective in preventing pregnancy after unprotected sex the night before because; “We feel it will make people have more sex” BRILLIANT! Sex = bad, nipple sightings cause cancer, case closed.

Meanwhile STDs are on the rise, divorce rates going up, abortions happening like dental appointments, and we somehow think lack of sex education and placing the subject and image of sex on the positive end of culture and society is not related…

Could rant on and on, but you get my point. I play them and I have friends who play them too; video games where you blow people’s heads off, kill innocent people, watch movies with the same shit. But if I have a poster up with a girl wearing kinky clothing somehow then I’m a sick bastard.

I’m not saying download porn, I believe porn kills sex/love life, get rid of it the moment you aren’t single. What I am saying is; sex is a pleasure in life, it’s an art, a delicacy, we’re living longer, and we better get use to loving longer and sex is a part of that. Maybe if our culture educated people, encouraged people to be with a partner, to be secure and fine with their bodies, their sexuality, hmm maybe we’d have less; pedophiles, rapists, STDs, etc.

Great example to wrap it up: When I was in Reykjavik they didn’t have a dirty porn store, they had an “erotic enhancement and education” store. A well lit place, it looked like a mac store, I almost was going to walk in to buy a laptop (til I saw what was on the screen..) very positive atmosphere and the lady inside was wearing a suit! Simple example, now think about the trash porn stores we have here… all negative. Hmm, embracing sex vs. dubbing it a sin.

K back to blowing up heads on PS3…

Now that I have your attention, maybe you can help me out. I’m currently saving to FINALLY make the move out of my house. I’m looking to do so this summer, and I should have at least, if not more than, $5000 banked because I like to feel secure. I’m looking for advice that current or past apartment owners might be able to give. Some questions and concerns I have are:

- How much did you have saved up before making the move?
- How did you find out about an available apartment/the one you got?
- Is it worth trying to find a roommate, even if it’s a stranger?
- Did anything unexpected come up that caused a problem?
- Any general words of wisdom for a first-time renter? Stuff you wish you had known?

Any of these questions that you might be able to answer would be incredibly helpful. Thanks in advance.

I haven’t posted an actual blog in awhile, but I’m really bored and can’t think of what else to do right now. I used to post more when I had more free time and now that I have free time again maybe I’ll get back to it.

Xmas vacation is right around the corner. I have work and class next week and then I’m off till January 2nd…

I’m usually very excited about xmas by this point…right now I’m not. We’ll do the presents thing as we always do, but then what? I don’t have the extended family that most people do. The majority of my xmas day will be spent the same way every other day is spent. I tried capturing some of the xmas spirit I’ve been missing by having a get-together this weekend. Needless to say it didn’t amount to much. Thanks to the few of you who could spend a little time with me, but I think I ended up doing more harm to myself than good.

I’m usually very excited about vacation by this point…right now I’m not. Lately work has been one of the only things that keeps me busy enough to where I can’t think and I’m in a fairly good mood. Aside from performing on the 22nd, I have nothing planned for the whole span of vacation. For me that means way too much time to live inside my own head. I need to line up some projects to keep myself occupied. Everyone else is still going to be busy working so that means a lot of empty time by myself. Right now I think I’d prefer working.

I’m strongly considering getting a second job. As usual I’m feeling finanically crunched and I need so badly to get out of this house. Not only that, but if I’m working then I’m mentally distracted, so maybe I won’t be so miserable. It would probably mean a lot less available time for my friends, but honestly I’m lucky if I see any of them anymore.

My throat hurts today. I think I’m getting sick again. Lucky me.