Monday, February 13, 2012

From last time where I left off, I did make some way into disc 1 and seem to be on track to complete this resolution.  This past month, is no different.  I went all old-school gamer boy to get my goal, my resolution, my bane of my gamer existence to be completed.  In fact, I think I went a little too gamer boy on this past month.  It was almost every waking moment that I had that wasn't tied into work and family time I was on my PS3 playing VII.

As far as progress has went, I was certain that I would be finished with the game by June.  But I wanted to saver this moment and by the end of the month I knew that I should ween myself back to take in all that need to be taken in.  So let me just start that I didn't think I would make it to disc 2 so soon.  But before I go any further, let me just start from where I left off.
So onward towards the Nibelhelm's Mako reactor in which what did most people would have expected to happen would be a Cloud freak-out.  But alas, it wasn't so.  Just a bunch of mid level monster bosses and a tad mention about Sephiroth.  But since the game must go on, we climb down on the other end of the great mountains and find ourselves a new plain of field to level up (and man was there some level upping being done, mostly because I was lost.)  Our party finally find their way to Rocket Town.

Why is it called Rocket Town you might ask?!?  Maybe it's because of the huge friggin' piece of 'failure to launch' sticking up like a sore pixelated thumb.  That's my guess.  From here you'll get your next member of our entourage, Cid.  We finally meet up with the Cid of the game, and as far as Cid's go in the Final Fantasy universe, this one is one of my favorites.  He's a formal pilot that got screwed by Shin-Ra when they scrapped the space program for more capitalistic agendas.  And now fat bastard Palmer is trying to steal his plane to chase Sephiroth in some other continent (obviously.)  So you kick his ass, try to take off in the plane but it gets shot down and is only a glorified water ski that can only go in shallow land.  Queue up the Final Fantasy fanfare music we have a new mode of transportation.

So now we go to what is needed to go to which is the Temple of the Ancients which is the other major plot point.  But just before that I realize that I am being tailed by some annoying teenage ninja (as if any other character in the Final Fantasy series isn't normally annoying.)  I beat her, she joins my team, and we are introduced to Yuffie.  And because I know what's gonna happen if I continue to go to the Temple, I decide to go to her homeplace, Wutai.  I get there, because why the hell not, let's continue with other people's storylines.  Big surprise, it bites me in the ass and the little bitch stole all my materia.  And to make it worse, she gets herself kidnapped with my materia by the Turks.  I'm almost like, kill the kid, but I want my materia.  Thankfully they're on holiday and don't want to get their hands dirty.  Let her go and my materia's a mess.  I then decided to go back to Nibelhelm to get Vincent but I made a blank at that time.

So I decide to go en route to the Temple, where I then find out the whole damn game up to this point is to obtain some powerful stuff called Black Materia.  Apparently it has the power to destroy the world by unleashing a giant meteor and causing the Ancients to heal the earth and eventually embody someone to make their second coming into the planet.  Which makes me think why would anyone want to rule the world if they're the only one in it; taking the master of their own domain thing too seriously I think.  So to keep things going, the team tries to get to get it before Sephiroth does.  But the Temple requires a sacrifice, so Cait Sith decides to let himself be it.  The team says, let the back stabbing double agent sunnuvabitch take the bullet.  And the team does the biggest mistake ever and let their schizophrenic leader take the materia.  Two seconds later, Sephiroth swoop's in and convinces Cloud to give it to him.  It makes me sick on how stupid this "Hero" is.  Oh, and along the way, Aeris leaves the party to go all Dog the Bounty Hunter and get Sephiroth.

We head north because, well, that's the only untreked placein the game.  We find the place that is called the City of the Ancients.  Man, these Ancients really get around.  This is where we finally catch up with Aeris as she is ready to return to the planet, whether she wants to or not.  Yup, THE BIG KILL SCENE where Sephiroth falls from the sky and impales our heroine as she releases her white materia into the pool.  We then lay her down to rest and end Disc One.

Disc Two starts with us making way further north to some snow resort where there has been a "Man in a Black Coat" sighting and they want to go down and get them in this snow maze.  After getting lost a couple of times, I finally able to find myself to get to the next place in the journey and fight another boss.  That leads me into a crater from the last Meteor attempt years ago.  We find a bunch of Sephiroth's oompa-loompa's making their way to the center and sacrificing themselves to give him, well, as far as I know, a god-complex boner.  No, it's to summon what they call Weapon, it's a beast that the planet created to protect it from harm, no matter what the cost is.  Of course I'm playing the American version of the game and there's three Weapons (more on that in future posts.)  The team makes it to him and then Sephiroth pulls some crazy jedi mind trick and tells Cloud that he's just a failed experiment and wasn't meant to be.  Hojo (the crazy Shin-Ra scientist guy), Scarlett, and the Turks come in and pretty much comfirms that Cloud was a failed experiment.  He finally realize that he's a threat to the team and abandons them to be Sephiroth's bitch in his hibernation status.

Oh, and the team gets captured and is prepped for execution, fan-fuckin'-tastic.  Well, Weapon comes and causes havoc where the team is being held for execution by Shin-Ra and it causes mass confusion and hysteria.  The party escapes and hijack's one of their airships.  And that's just about as far as I gotten in January.

I almost felt bad that I went this far and it's only been a month into it.  But keeping in mind that this game is a real pain in the ass to complete, it was worth getting as far as I did.  We'll see how February pans out and see what comes in next month's update.  Until next time...

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Friday, February 10, 2012

Parenting for this Generation

Well, since it seems that there's another viral video out there, and for the most part I don't usually pay much attention to them. But every now and then there seem to be one that draws such an impact that it has to be noted for how awesome its stance is. And I don't mean awesome in my usual coin of the term as in "Holy crap, WTF, that's so winning..." (even though I think it is, but that's besides the fact.) This draws me in awe in wonderment on yes, sometimes we need to take things to these extremes. 

I'm certain if you have a Facebook account that you've seen your friends posts links such as this on your wall of news-ish stuff and either nod in approval (like me) or throw up in disgust (which I think you're a total pussy for doing such a thing.) This goes for a generation that as we grow older, and more mature that we forget that our environment also grow and spiral out like some crazy weed on a pristine sidewalk. I just wanted to make my stance on the matter and say, BRAVO TOMMY JORDAN, BRAVO!!! 

Most parents I think don't have even enough balls to discipline their children, and I don't approve of that lame-style of parenting. I come from the old school where if you did something wrong, you were punished based on the level of severity it was. Everything from no ice cream from the ice cream truck to getting a switch from the near by tree and get swatted on the backside for my crimes. As you can see, I'm not a bad person for experiencing such nor a bad influence in society (for the most part.) I think in times like these you have to lay down the law for your kids so they don't stray down the path. And Tommy Jordan did such a thing in this viral video. So for this, I solute you and let this be a lesson to kids that don't appreciate the things us as hard working parents who want nothing more form their kids but their love and dedication for what they do to provide for them.

 

I just had to state that while it was still fresh. This isn't going to throw off anything for next week. In fact I'm going to try hard to get a Valentine's Day song in for this month's Lyrical Revolution Resolution and an update from last's month's progress of Final Fantasy VII. Until later in the next week or so (man what a weak ending...) 

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Sunday, February 5, 2012

WTF PEOPLE!?! Super Bowl XLVI

Well, at least this year after watching the Superbowl, I'm not waiting a couple of days before I write it.  But man, I'm almost ashamed to say this since I'm a diehard Eagles fan; but "I bELIeve in ELI..."  That was just one helluva game on both parts.  Quite honestly, I was a little bit worried on whom I should root for.  The Giants are divisional rivals of mine and, well, I can't stand Tom Brady.  And since I rather have championship won from someone within the NFC East versus anyone in the AFC, I went with the Giants.

So let's go over the game itself, since that's what I was mainly focus to watch (we'll get to the commercials in a bit, trust me.)  I was feeling pretty damn good in the beginning with that early safety.  It gave me hope that there were be flaws in the Patriots system.  The touchdown afterwards was just a confidence builder that the Giants could also make plays without relying on opponents mistakes.  My immediate thoughts was "Repeat?!?"  And then shit started to hit the fan.  A Patriot's field goal middle of the second quarter and I thought; "Eh, no big deal."  Then the touchdown in the end of the half; "Fuckin' A, really!?!  So that is how it's gonna be."  I mean New York was supposed to be some big deal about their defense and more importantly their pass rushing and it wasn't there at that time.  No problem, they'll pick it up at the half.  First drive in the half, Patriots did what they do best, score that knock out punch to start.  Now I was friggin' worried.  It was sloppy play going up to the red zone for the Giants and eventually came up with a couple of field goals.  I was still worried for the whole game.  Then the Giant's last drive.

Where the hell do I start.  Well, obviously the Manningham catch to the end zone.  That was just great and also lead to a really bad challenge by New England.  I mean, Stevie Wonder could see that both feet were in bounds and it was a clean catch.  Way to burn a time out and I was thinking, we got a chance at this.  I was hoping for at least a field goal.  Then, from one of the most beautiful plays I've seen in the game to the ugliest touchdown that I've ever seen, just happened.  I mean, I can understand stopping and momentum kept him from staying on the one yard line and going in, but Bradshaw could have just dived, or took a knee even to run out the clock.  I was thrilled but I was also hoping for at least some more time to drop before a score.  So 'Wonder Boy' Tom Brady had :57 left on the clock.  "Crap, really?!?  Well, let's hope for the best," is what was going though my mind.  Then back to back drops and a sack.  "Hell yeah!!!  Pat's are goin' down," then he made the first down.  "Crap!"  But just like things should be, you can't script a better story.  No more advancement from there and the last :05 left in the game my heart dropped.  As the last second ticked off the clock, Brady threw that Hail Mary and you could cut the tension with a spoon.  With nothing but white jerseys covering Hernandez, the blocked catch and the game was over.  A great game that could rival other Super Bowl's and even what I still cling to of being the greatest game of my generation with the Eagles's 4th. and 26.  But that's the game that was, and I couldn't have been happier with the results of how the game was played, none the less, the outcome.

But what's a Super Bowl without commercials?  And this year had some good ones, not great ones, just good ones.  The favorites (or at least memorable ones) in my opinion were the GoDaddy commercials, just as provocative as usual.  Another reliable source of good commercials were Budweiser's prohibition commercial.  It made me want a beer, but I was having a margarita at the time, and I'm a responsible drunk where I don't mix liquor and beer.  Hyundai's Rocky montage was pretty memorable being that I support anything Philly and what's more of an underdog story from an underdog town than Rocky Balboa.  As far as any others, they were either stupid or easily forgetful in my book.  Of course I was more focused on the game itself this year versus the commercials because, I wanted to see a repeat (as noted from my beginning of this post.)  And there was a matter of the half time show.  Quite honestly I didn't see much of it.  My kids were playing outside and I went to blow off some steam on how badly the first half ended and spend some time with them.  I did make it in to see a little of Madonna's performance with Cee Lo Green, and quite frankly, I was more interested in Cee Lo.  The whole performance was crap in my opinion, and I'm glad I didn't get a chance to see the whole damn thing.

Well, that just about sums it all up here.  One helluva game, and that's what the spirit of what the Super Bowl is supposed to be about.  A great game against two giants, and in the end, the Giants were on top.  Kudos to them, good try for New England, and on to see what it will be for next year..

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Monday, January 30, 2012

2012's Lyrical Resolution Revolution: January Edition


I figure if I'm going to do this, I can't fail on the first month, right?!?  So here's what I have in store for January.  I wanted this song to reflect my re-institutionalization to song writing and I felt that this brings it out just right.   It reflects on what I learned and loved in the past about how things were and hope for how things are to come.  I pretty much feel that it shows not only maturity from my usual standard in writing, but also on how I grew as a person in my life.
So here's to the first song of the new year.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present for your written-verse pleasure: Seasons.
There was once a time in our lives, when we thought we were invincible // And there were times within our lives, when we wished we were invisible // And there were those times in our lives, which we thought were incredible // And there will be times that we’ll be tried, to either stop or to let it go
They’ll be a season where we’ll have to be tested // Will we make it today, or we doomed to yesterday // From the sins of our fathers to what fortune tellers call // To either live for the moment or experience old
This season – we’ll make the best of our time // Last season – we reminisce of our crimes // The reason – that we continue together // Next season – we’ll live like its forever // This season – // No reason –
There are times within our lives, where we go through a crucible // And there are times within our lives, where we go through such a spectacle // And there are times within our lives, to tame the bull or grab hold // So many times that we’ve been tried, to either step up or to let it go
They’ll be a season where we’ll have to be tested // Will we make it today, or we doomed to yesterday // From the sins of our fathers to what fortune tellers call // To either live for the moment or experience old //
This season – we’ll shine the light on our times // Last season – remember a sobering sign // No reason – we can’t continue together // Next season – will be better than ever // The reason – // This season – // Live in rhyme – // And reason –
There’s no rhyme – // And no reason – //  There’s just time – // And passing seasons –
This season – we’ll make the best of our time // Last season – we reminisce of our crimes // The reason – that we continue together // Next season – we’ll live like its forever // This season – we’ll shine the light on our times // Last season – remember a sobering sign // No reason – we can’t continue together // Next season – will be better than ever // This season – // No reason -

I sure hoped that you enjoyed this being the first of many songs to come from me this year.  Here's to living up to a resolution, being productive, and doing some good with my talents.

BootLeG sampler.. signing off...

Monday, January 23, 2012

WTF PEOPLE!?! Ninety's Nostalgia

Maybe it's just be turning thirty later this year, maybe it's because I think that that was the greatest decade that I lived so far.  But it just seem to me that there is an overflow of what I call "Ninety's Nostalgia."  That is to say that every kind of media that I seem to glance over is on the hook of reliving the whole Gen-X era.  Technically I am considered to be Generation Y, but that's besides the point.  The point is that everywhere I go, something from the 90's pop back.  It's neither good, nor bad, but it does bar the question, WTF PEOPLE!?!


Of course I'm a big fan of The Nostalgia Critic and this kind entertainment I approve of.  Hell, I might even approve of all those VH1 best of the 90's bullshit that come to show every know and then. (Then again, I don't know of anyone that ever watched VH1 after 2002.)  It shows all the stupid, stupid crap that was for the light of a better word, decent, at the time.  The good thing about those examples is that they don't just focus on the 90's.  Which is refreshing for someone like me that prefer variety.  The problem lies in those that dwell with the reliving it like some sick Peter Pan syndrome.  These are the ones that I enjoy just enough to get pissed off about.


One thing that I grew up with was the serge of all the cool crap that was on Nickelodeon.  It was the birth of original cartoons and content for a network meant for kids.  The original set of NickToons set the wave of what would make the network the juggernaut that it is now.  From Doug, Rugrats, and Ren and Stimpy; to Spongebob, Fairly Oddparents, and Fanboy and Chum Chum; it's totally meant to be for kids.  Then they branched out to different sub-stations if you will, which are Nick Jr., NickToons, TV Land, and TeenNick.  And as part of TeenNick, they have a block of programming that set aside tweens the whole back in my day mentality.  Four hours of 90's programming of the same crap that they fed me they're feeding them, and looking back at it, it was indeed crap.  And the bad part about it is that it's all the stupid crap, not any of the good stuff.  Seriously, Doug, Kenan and Kel, and Hey Dude; c'mon man!?!  That's like the filler before all the good stuff.  I rather be watching the current crap than the old crap.  Yeah, I know, Nick was on it's infancy, but that's what stood out. Bring back old episodes of Double Dare or remake Wild 'N' Crazy Kids, but not this crap.


And the isn't all folks, there's seem to be an influx of remaking every damn thing from back in the day.  Cartoon Network did a rebirth of Thundercats, NickToons is doing Voltron and bastardizing the different Dragonball series of cartoons, Hub is doing yet another variant of Transformers as well as a new generation of G.I. Joe.  Sure I used some 80's stuff in that, but it's still the same aspect.  Are we really running out of original ideas that we have to rehash stuff form our youth?  Have all the good ideas been taken?  Hell, even Haim Saban reclaim control of the Power Rangers franchise and what did he do with the current season/series of the show, bring back an original cast member (Bulk) to the cast.  Playing it up to the current youth and the young at heart like me.  It's just bizarre on how much we can cling to that past, that it becomes a Lazarus Pit of entertainment.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it can't be a primary source of new shows.  It's like the oldies of television when the oldies station add in new content from the next decade.


Speaking of which, there's a local radio station, and maybe there's others but I'm talking about mine locale right now, that plays 90's rock music on the weekends.  They call it "Edge of the 90's Weekend" and it happens every damn weekend.  The selection is decent for the most part, but still, it's the principle of doing it every damn weekend.  It's not really all that special if it's all the time.  Maybe if it was a once a month thing and I can enjoy a playlist of Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, Faith No More, and Limp Bizkit in between commercials in my weekend trek home from work.  Like I said, I understand the urge to relive our past, but to a point.  You gotta take it in strides. I just know that once I start to hear Pearl Jam playing on the oldies station, I am giving up and committing myself to the nearest old-folks home.


But that's just about does it for this WTF PEOPLE!?! for the time being.  It was a treat bringing in the new year with a WTF, and of course there will be more to come.  Next week, a song and maybe a Final Fantasy VII review.  Now that's something that the 90's got right.

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Busy as Hell...

Figure I might as well tell ya now...  It's that time of year again where in my day job it's get busy as hell and to try to find time in writing takes up a whole lot.  I figured I try to make a schedule to fit in some posting, but damn, it's hard.  Between work, family life, and the added on task of doing my resolutions (I've been playing FFVII and actually reading, didn't even have time to write down any lyrics for January just yet), it's been pretty damn hectic.

So just to let you know, I haven't forgotten my commitment to the blog, and in fact, I'm trying to make right to make it more appealing.  I've been prepping a new look using WordPress (I truly recommend that format, nothing against blogger, it's just my preference) and hopefully within the next few months (by spring 2012) I've completely move my site over to the new format.  I'll still update stuff here, just using the blogspot.com domain versus using BootLeGsampler.com.  The reason being is that working with WordPress sites as a 9-5, I've come accustomed to how it can be greatly expanded.  I've even been thinking of doing some custom jobs for some friends of mine.  So if you wanna look into some decent semi-pro work done for a website of your choosing (yes, I know this is a shameless plug, but damnit it's my blog I can do whatever the hell I want), just email me and I can see what I can do for ya.  But until then, this is just an update on what's to come.  Actually, as soon as I'm done with this post, I'm gonna start with that lyric for the month.  It'll be a simple one just to see what I got under the hood still.

But as for now, I'm certain that next week, it'll be a WTF PEOPLE!?! post.  What's it going to be about?  Like I'm going to spoil that now...

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Quest to Beat Final Fantasy VII: Pre 2012

In my effort to make good with my resolutions, I decided to post some updates on the blog giving my thoughts of what was the best game of all time 15 years later.  Final Fantasy VII was a groundbreaking success when it came out in 1997 and redesigned the RPG genre since.  Although they're have been critics that doubt that the Final Fantasy franchise is nothing more than just a lame emo-complexed love story, but I think they're engaging and yeah, they're confusing to hell with some of their story, it's still captivating.  But so far, let me just breeze though this to get to my main goal.  It's been a long way coming and I am determined now more than ever to finish that damn game before the end of this year.  


Of course to do so, I took the initiative and started playing it about 3 weeks ago, with a little time set aside to obtain my goal.  Also I'm going to try to get though this based off of memory alone, no GameFAQs, no outside saves to get me to the end, not even my old strategy guide from Brady Games.  It's all a la BootLeG from this point forward.  Here's my progress so far.  I'll give it to you in text form for now, still planning on recording my progress to video, another one of the many things I need to get going on.


So far I'm 21 hours into the game.  I'm in awe with getting my base characters revisiting them all.  Cloud, my swordsman with apparently more of a mysterious past than the meat in Wendy's chili.  Barrett, who all I can think of at this point in the story is a gung-ho hippie with a machine gun.  So he's spreading his message with fire power instead of flower power.  Tifa, who's along for the ride because she new Cloud before he became a member of SOLDIER and a complete tool, wanting revenge for her father's death.  Aeris (not Aerith, because dammit I'm playing it the way it was developed not how it was actually in the story) is the lovable Ancient who is the last of her kind trying to live a simple life.  Red XIII, who is a mysterious creature that wants nothing more than to just go home to his grandfather.  And last (but not least, so far in my game) is Cait Sith, a fortune telling cat riding on an overweight mog.  


The game took me (as in they took Cloud) to blow up a reactor with a rebel group full of disposable characters as well as Barrett and Tifa; and eventually led them to their death.  Along the way Cloud meets up with Aeris rescuing her from a tyrannical militant group subcontracted by the government, which is run by a major energy sucking corporation.  All I can say at this point is "how very pre-post apocalyptic this sounds."  Later to find out this super powered being killed the president and the rebel group is caught in the middle.  They escape and flee from the home city and is on a quest to track down Sephiroth, the main antagonist from bringing the end of the world because he thinks he's an Ancient that is bent on purging the humans from existence bringing a peace to his kind only genocide could provide.  In the mean time, my team is being man-hunted all across God's green earth trying to find the sunnuvabitch that is actually trying to kill everyone.  It's like if they made The Fugitive into an emo, semi-steam punk-ish RPG.


They go to a near by place called Kalm where Cloud eventually tells his side of the story and why he needs to bring Sephiroth to justice; being that he on a mission burnt down his and Tifa's home town of Nibel and killed her father in nothing short of a powertrip thinking that he was an Ancient because he read a book with his mother's name in it.  That, and he hears voices too.  From there they start going near and far tracking Sephiroth's path to no avail.  They find themselves in a place where Barrett's story start to unravel on how he caused so much trouble to his home town of Corel to the point where he was banished.


Along the way we meet with Cait Sith who is just wanting to tag along because he read the future and doubts his own abilites to tell such and want to see it though.  We get captured and thrown in jail only to be whored out as chocobo jockeys for our freedom.  Yeah, because prison is totally like that.  Barrett meets another person with a gunhand that wants nothing more than to just die.  So he kills him.  I'm certain the story could've developed that more but it's all backstory for a secondary character and that doesn't mean a damn for later on in the game.


Later on, we go to Red XIII's home and he has to make the decision to whether he should stay home and be a complete pussy whining about his parental issues, or continue to fight with us.  His grandfather (which is practically a hybrid of Modok and Bob Barker) tells him to go and continue to fight.  Why was this so important, because everyone needs a fuckin' backstory, that's why.


Now I'm currently in Nibelhelm, where it looks completely normal, outside of half the population is in black cloaks with tattoos based off of which one drank Sephiroth's Kool-Aid first.  Cloud's shocked that everything isn't burnt to a crisp and is starting to doubt his own recounts of what happened a few years prior.  They start their trek to the Mako reactor at the top of the mountain to see what the hell is going on.


And that's where I'm stopping at this point.  Join me next month for what I've done for all of January in playing and eventually beating Final Fantasy VII.  In the mean time, a normal post for next week.

BootLeG sampler.. signing out...