It's spring break, and I'm in Los Angeles (more specifically, West Hollywood) having a great time. Took a trip to Chinatown and Little Tokyo today, and I thought I would share with you some stuff I picked up. Oh this is going to be formatting hell.
1) Strawberry Gummy Candy: "Kasugai's strawberry gummy, made from fresh strawberry juice, is a very delicious gummy. Please have a fun time with this strawberry gummy."
They're actually quite good.
2) Lucky Money Cats
Both bought in Chinatown.
1) Hello Panda (biscuits with choco cream) Nummy nummy!
2) Hi-Chew Fruit Chew Also nummy.
3/4) Mochi It's a gummy-type snack made by smashing rice into a chewy substance. There is some kind of flavored jelly on the inside. Really good.
Bought in a grocery store in Little Tokyo.
1) Ramune Carbonated Soft Drink (Melon Flavor) When you open this thing, you use the cap to shove a little ball down that might carbonate the water... I don't know. It does something.
2) Oi Ocha Unsweetened Green Tea Haven't tried this yet, but I'm looking forward to it. It claims to be number one.
Bought in a grocery store in Little Tokyo.
Domo-kun! (mascot of Japan's NHK television station)
If you didn't already know, Microsoft recently banned a woman from Xbox Live for identifying herself as a lesbian in her profile. She was reported as being offensive by some homophobes who didn't want themselves or their kids to see her sexual orientation.
You cannot shelter kids from things like homosexuality. To have a parent think they can control everything their child sees is just ridiculous. Besides, most kids are pretty open and indifferent to that kind of stuff.
When I first saw this, I was a little confused why she would identify herself as a lesbian to begin with, but after some thought I realized she has plenty of reasons. First, if you ever played a game of Uno with a woman over Live, you will know that at least one of the other players will spend the entire game hitting on her. Second, it is called an "About Me" section, and your sexual orientation is a pretty big part of your life.
Now I understand that Microsoft wants to create a family friendly atmosphere on Xbox Live (keep trying guys), but their policies are in desperate need of an overhaul. Supporting homophobia isn't something I would consider "family friendly." Some people would disagree with me on that, but I hope they are the minority here.
I am gay, and although I don't plan on updating my XBL profile with that information, it is really unfortunate that doing so would get me banned.
Some quick stuff... -If you don't absolutely hate reading, Michael Ian Black's My Custom Van is hilarious. My favorite essays so far include "One Day, I'm Going to Open a Scented Candle Shoppe," "Erotic Fiction: The Elevator," and "A Series of Letters to a Squirrel." -Flower pleasantly surprised me, I really enjoyed it. -Noby Noby Boy was worth my five dollars. Girl needs to reach Mars soon. -I bought Dead Space on Steam, and I'm terrified of it. First levels are supposed to be cakewalks... the elevator sequence freaked me out.
Guess what arrived today? A poster and a soundtrack from a super game!
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That poster is signed by Tim Schafer and says "Sewer water is often highly radioactive" in the corner. The CD is the original cinematic score from the excellent game Psychonauts. I can die peacefully now that my collection is finally complete. The receipt even had a little "Thanks : )" hand written on it! Time to stock up on Brutal Legend stuff.
[Update] Poster is totally framed and on the wall now. 4 Comments
First off, the 56k warning was a joke. Anyone using a phone line should be shot. So anyway, I stacked up all of the stuff I bought last year on my desk and myself a little sick. This is what happens when you have a job but no bills to pay. I tried to make the names on the boxes as clear as possible.
Stuff!
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I also bought a new PC this year.
Woo!It glows!
In addition to all of that, I met a couple of awesome people in NYC yesterday. These are best viewed as thumbnails, because they totally are not made of wax.
I filmed a fifteen minute video blog for these, but the sound cut out right in the middle. I discovered the error after I closed my notes. I'm an idiot. Let's see if I can remember what games won!
Games
Best Debut Nominee: No More Heroes Winner: Left 4 Dead - zombies!
Best DLC Nominee: Burnout Paradise Winner: Team Fortress 2 Best Downladable Game Nominee: Geometry Wars 2 Winner: Braid
Biggest Disappointment Nominee: Mercenaries 2 Nominee: Unreal Tournament 3 (360) Winner: Fallout 3 - turns out I hate post-apocalyptic nuclear wastelands!
Best Soundtrack Nominee: World of Goo Winner: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Best PS3 Game Nominee: LittleBigPlanet Winner: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Best Xbox 360 Game Nominee: Gears of War 2 Winner: Grand Theft Auto IV Best Wii Game Nominee: Animal Crossing: City Folk Winner: Mario Kart Wii (doesn't deserve it but whatever) Best PC Game Nominee: World of Goo Winner: Left 4 Dead
Best Game of 2008 Nominee: Gears of War 2 Nominee: Left 4 Dead Nominee: Grand Theft Auto IV Winner: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Other Media
Best Album Nominee: The Killers: Day & Age Winner: LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver (came out in 2007 but I bought it in January)
Best TV Show Nominee: Tim and Eric: Awesome Show, Great Job! Nominee: 30 Rock Winner: Battlestar Galactica
Best Movie Nominee: The Dark Knight Nominee: Milk Nominee: Wall-E Nominee: Quantum of Solace Winner: Step Brothers
That's it for 2008! Go ahead and bitch about my picks in the comments.
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I just placed an order for Kickass (the name I'm giving my new computer). The order total before tax was exactly $2142, which is crazy considering Battlefield 2142 is one of my favorite PC games.
final specs for those interested: Intel Core i7 2.66GHz Dual 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 6GB RAM at 1066MHz 64-bit Vista Home Premium 500GB SATA HDD by Alienware
I'm a couple of days away from buying a new computer, and I could use some feedback on the specs I chose. My budget is $2,000 (I'm buying, not building).
Intel Core i7 2.66GHz Dual 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 3GB RAM at 1066MHz 64-bit Vista Home Premium 500GB SATA HDD by Alienware
I've been playing a lot of Animal Crossing: City Folk lately because hey, it's Animal Crossing and I freaking love Animal Crossing. Today was the Harvest Festival, and because I can't control my craving for rare items, I spent roughly three hours getting the Thanksgiving-exclusive Harvest Series. My home now has a theme... but...
Before - Some Mushroom stuffAfter - Complete Harvest Series 7 Comments
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