[201] Less than honest

console

< Piro >

"four days, my fault"

Tuesday - November 27, 2001

I hope everyone had a good holiday. Me, i barely survived it, but I blame that on the way i am wired.

Depending on your personality, a nice four day weekend can be viewed as either an opportunity to relax, visit family, chill out, play some games, and generally goof off and get some rest, or an opportunity to catch up on allllll the things you've been letting slide because you've been too busy to fit them in before. This is how I viewed the holiday. :)

Now, for me, the family thing wasn't too difficult. Luckily, Seraphim and I don't live very far from our families, so travel time and headaches were not an issue this year (on Wednesday, I got a call from Largo as he spent two hours attempting to get thru the traffic jam that had enveloped his city on his way to visit his 'significant other' for the holiday. I spent a good fifteen minutes trying to talk him out of ramming various vehicles around him ^^;;) That doesn't mean that i was able to actually DO anything thursday - by the time we got home, the day was shot, and I decided that i needed a break and blew off the friday comic. Sounds like a real recipe for goofing off, doesn’t it? Yea, right.

Friday morning i woke early and looked around the apartment. Now, you have to keep in mind that Seraphim and I are pretty busy people. She works full time AND goes to grad school full time. I have my day job and then work on Megatokyo most of the rest of the time. Add midterms, on and off flu for both Seraphim and I, and one sick kitty - you get the idea. The apartment needed some time devoted to it.

It's funny where we sometimes get inspiration for things, and where we look for encouragement to do tasks that we don't REALLY want to do. Cleaning the apartment, top to bottom is NOT a favorite task of mine. After a few cups of coffee, some pop tarts, and a few episodes of Mahoromatic, i was finally inspired attack the tasks at hand. Hey, i'll take inspiration from wherever I can get it. :)

I did a LOT of drawing over the four day weekend. In the next few days, i'll be finishing up a few pieces (some of which are destined for the MT store - Christmas stuff, you know ^_^;;). Actually, the best work i did is not really 'specific' to christmas - I think you folks should like it. It's based on a joke i made a long time ago, but it's still amusing. :P

Speaking of christmas presents to yourself, my laptop is working out very well - very well indeed. I could get spoiled by this. The best thing about it is that now, when i am truly in a grumpy, discouraged, foul mood because i can't think worth crap, i can go curl up in my chair, and huddle in a dark cloud with the laptop on my lap. It doesn’t mean i am actually any more productive, but it sure helps in my attempts to get sympathy from Seraphim (i didn't say it works, i just said it helps in my efforts to make her feel sorry for me. ^^;;)

The other thing i did was get myself a new laptop bag. I've been stuffing my laptop in my Flapdoozy, but the pack isn't really designed for laptops (especially big ones like mine). I've been worried that it might get damaged, so I went and got myself a Mixmaster bag... supposedly, it works well as a laptop bag. We'll see when i get it.

Sorry about the rather bumpy start to Chapter 2 - episode 2 and 3 were a struggle, for some reason - maybe it was the holidays, getting started back up, i dunno. I think they are good, just... not executed as well as I could have done them. Actually, i plan on going back and fixing up 2 and 3 a little in the near future, but that will have to wait till i really get back on track.

So much for my 'short' rant. I think i need to get on the phone and smack largo around a little. Nothing irritates me more than a 'happy' largo.

[heheh, all joking aside - congrats to Rod and Ruby on their engagement. Best wishes, and, oh... Ruby... i did warn you. :P)

... support mt stuff ...

You can support Megatokyo by getting yourself some cool YakPak swag using the link below. Piro has been carrying a black Medium Flapdoozy since the comic started (because that's what i really use ^_^). Also, the YakPak people are cool folk:

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< Largo >

"Mullet Gear Solid 2"

Tuesday - December 4, 2001

[Largo] - 14:47:00 - [link here]

First up, Christmas time is here, which means, Christmas MegaTokyo Merchandise is available!

Also, as promised long ago, you can now order Ph33r My L33t N3kkId Skillz!!! boxer shorts and other assorted items. Just think how cool it will be have a naked Largo in your pants. This one is that perfect stocking stuffer for someone you loath, er.. love.

It’s really sad to think that what will likely be heralded the best game of 2000, was mediocre.

I speak none other then, Mullet Gear.. er.. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Now before I proceed to bash it, I will engage in the standard practice of saying something nice about the game, then beat it into the ground with an ugly stick. This is a method used by game reviewers to make us seem more professional.

For all of MGS2’s technical merits, and great gameplay, the game has lost a lot of the charm that it had in MGS. The very world that was so painstakingly crafted for us to save in MGS, is gone.

It’s my belief that the game designers got really loaded, called in sick the next day, and let some philosophy/art students that were interning take time off from bringing them coffee and donuts to let them write what passes for plot in MGS2. Sure the game is fun, so long as you wear a blindfold and earmuffs while interacting with the characters. Besides that, it’s great.

From a technical achievement, the game is a milestone, a new standard by which to measure tactical simulations. It’s just too bad that in the effort to make such outstanding game play, they forgot about the whole ‘plot’ thing.

In comparison, I’ve been playing another game as of late, with great game play, and as good a plot as in MGS2. The game is called, Super Monkey Ball. Apparently, there are these monkeys, and they have balls, big giant balls, which you use to move about. My friends and I spent the entire evening coming up with monkey and ball related jokes from this one.

Playing with your super monkey balls is never a dull experience. I recommend this game for parties with people who don’t drink beer, but still want to experience the effects of public humiliation and shame. Seriously though, we had a lot of fun with our monkey balls, and I hope you fun with yours’ too.