http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:Aforextreme&section=today deviantART RSS for by:Aforextreme en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:40:32 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/28853695/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/28853695/ Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:54:08 PST [link] (In case you clicked the picture before I was able to put the link in the description.)

I really have nothing much to say for now. I'm getting some finals done and hopefully will be able to get some real headway done on that animated series I've been commissioned to do. More of that around the holidays, that's for sure.

Also, I noticed I turn 20 in a month. That's insane. Anyway, I'll try to update here more often, I promise!

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/27807784/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/27807784/ Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:11:17 PDT
Also, do the words "The Drifter" entice you? The gears are turning on that project again. The script is almost completely done (in my mind, mind you), and my good friend Rory (yes, Rory from TSAOMAC and such), wants to do music for the project, so it's getting closer and closer to starting.

*HYPERANIMAT!ON is still on hold, but I think once 2010 rolls around, I'll be ready to make the first episode (consider the one that I've already done the pilot.) Since I already wrote up 5 episodes' worth (including the pilot), there'll be some more fun to be had with Dack and Mr. Oven Mitts soon.

Also, just wanted to mention "Red Bull Stash", the coolest viral marketing scheme EVER. Basically, Red Bull is hiding a shit-ton of cases of Red Bull Energy Shots all over the US, and on their Facebook page, you'll find an app that lets you enter your zip code, then provides the closest unclaimed Stash location, as well as a clue to find it. Nick and I went looking for one in Temple the other day, only to find one that we weren't even looking for. We then found a ton hidden around the Art Institute campus (literally, since they were all hidden in AiPH-owned buildings). Each case comes with 12 e-shots, and they're damn tasty. (I'll admit it. I love Red Bull.) Those of you in the Philly area, though, will have to compete with me, especially if you're near Center City. I got this area damn-near locked down.

Might as well mention some shit I've played/listened to/watched. "Knights in the Nightmare". Damn good DS game. Combines elements of SRPGs, action-RPGs, and bullet hells. (Yes, bullet hells.) Basically, your CURSOR takes damage, not your units. You go around the screen equipping weapons to your "Wisp", and then to an eligible unit, which will let you charge up an attack. It gets WAY complicated from here (seriously, there's a bunch of tutorials the game encourages you to go through before you even start), so check out Atlus' YouTube page or the game's page on IGN for videos detailing the game if you're interested. Also, i'm re-playing TWEWY. And LOVING it all over again.

The roomies have been watching Lost on Netflix. I've been watching on and off. I'm kind of interested now. Also, District 9 and Zombieland were great fucking movies.

Protest the Hero is quickly becoming one of my favorite bands. Their singer is kind of whiny for my taste, but DAMN are their guitarists amazing. Thankfully, there's an instrumental version of their newer album. And it is AWESOME. Here's a sample: [link] Also, Between the Buried and Me's new album, "The Great Misdirect", comes out in a scant 10 days. Halle-fuckin'-lujah. The first two tracks popped up on YouTube. (The first transitions into the second, so you might wanna load both and pause the second at the beginning and play it right at the end of the first if you want the full effect.):

-Mirrors: [link]
-Obfuscation: [link]

I also wanna mention the VGXPO this year. There wasn't too much to do, but this was my first time cosplaying. And, MAN was it fun after I got over the initial shyness. and I were Nia and Simon, respectively, from Gurren Lagann. We actually won cosplay contests! She and I won for both Best Couple and Best Anime, and she tied with a girl dressed as Rebecca Chambers for Best Female. Plus, tons of people wanted to take our pictures. Oh, and we were part of a mass Caramelldansen. In fact, someone uploaded it to YouTube...

WARNING: The following link features plenty of costumed men and women dancing to an admittedly catchy song, and will therefore most likely cause your brain to implode from awkward: [link]

Other than that, we had some fun going around the freezing-ass city and seeing all of the sights. So yeah, last weekend was a blast. And, with that, I think I've made up for about 4 months of Journal-absence. And I spent most of it NOT talking about future projects. Weeeeeeei'mlazy.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/26247923/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/26247923/ Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:16:36 PDT
Here's a few things I've done, so you can keep up:

Eternal Darkness Review:
[link]

More of these will be coming soon. Klonoa fans, Klonoa 2 is my next review.

"Lights", an original song
[link]

Eeeeeyup. I made a song. Woot.

And, lastly...
[link]

Just... click this link and follow me on there if you even give a shit...
I feel so... dirty...

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/25594945/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/25594945/ Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:48:11 PDT [link]

And, I know I'm gonna regret this, but here's my Facebook. At least let me know you're from deviantART, okay?
[link]

Finally washed up on shore after being at the beach for a week and a half. This quarter in college was a huge bitch, with classes like 3-D Modeling (which I still don't get), and Art History (which I still think is a bunch of over-analyzed bullshit). Seriously, if I ever go down a serious art path, I'm just gonna paint a banana next to a crab and you people who over-analyze every single Goddamn painting are gonna lose sleep trying to find a connection. And when you ask me "What does it MEAN?!" I'll simply say: "Nothing. I felt like painting a crab next to a banana. Big whoop."

So. Never did that remake of a Flash that had its third birthday back in the beginning of June. If you're not totally acquainted with my gallery, it was gonna be "Your Guts (I Hate 'Em)" by Reel Big Fish. Still, I'm planning another re-make later this year, to a Flash I still really like. And it'll be THAT one's third anniversary, too.

There are some other Flashes I wanna do in the meantime, and they're gonna be music videos. Hell, one might be done before I go back to college in mid-July. The other one might be a good successor to "The Fuck You Song", but not done by Reel Big Fish, and not it's a little more clever with its humor. I really think this song has the potential to be hilarious when put to my sub-par animation.

I'm still working on a rough draft of "The Drifter". Not sure if I'll put it on here, since it's a little sketchy. But, I do plan on making it into a digital graphic novel, so you could see it soon. I also have plans to revive a certain team of crime-fighting rock stars...

There are some other projects in the works, but they're on hold for now, while I handle some of the aforementioned things. I'm also doing a new series of game reviews, done in a satirical manner, called "Just Another Game Review Show". I'm pretty sure my last journal was so fucking far back that I never even thought of it before I posted that one. Here are the current JAGRS episodes:

-Billy Hatcher: [link]
-MegaMan Legends: [link]

I plan on reviewing "Knights in the Nightmare", an insanely complicated and fun real-time SRPG/bullet-hell for DS next, and possibly a re-review of "The World Ends With You", because that game kicked so much ass. I'm also considering reviewing "Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil" and "Klonoa: Empire of Dreams", and a few other games. Some of these reviews will be parodying existing reviewers, such as Nostalgia Critic, Angry Video Game Nerd, The Spoony One, Angry Joe, and more. Best case scenario: ThatGuyWithTheGlasses picks me up as one of their reviewers. Worst case scenario: hard drive space wasted.

That's all I can think of for now. At least I'm on break, catching as many z's as I can.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/24333710/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/24333710/ Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:34:24 PDT
Here's what to expect from me animation-wise in 2009. Expect. Hm. Don't rest too heavily on these expectations. The next Flash I want to do (and possibly have out by May) is a remake of a Flash I made almost 3 years ago. I want to release it near or on the original's 3-year-anniversary. I'm not gonna be updating just the graphics, I'm gonna do a full-blown re-imagining of the entire song, altogether. (Does that hint help? We'll see.) I'm also planning on remaking another Flash for its 3rd birthday, but that's not 'til later this year. (October, maybe. There's your hint.) So, yeah. You're going to be seeing possibly 2 remakes from me this year. (They were pretty popular Flashes back in their day. One was recently beaten on YouTube for my most viewed video.)

Take note that *HYPERANIMATION! is going to be under hiatus until further notice, because I want to re-work the character designs so that every character looks SOMEWHAT different. (a.k.a. Not all of the characters are going to have the big-eyed Dack look or the white-eyed Mr. Oven Mitts look.) I'm toying around with some character designs, and might post them soon. This means that you can also expect the first episode to be completely re-animated. What this means about my other potential animated series, "Spence and Company", I cannot say. That's still in development stages, and I haven't even worked out scripts for the first couple of episodes yet. Hell, I haven't even finalized character designs. "Spence and Company" might still be a long ways off.

Anyway. On to other animations. I very badly want to make some short films in Flash. By short, I mean a few minutes. Just some ideas cooking in my head that might translate well into short animated films. We'll have to see. I also planning on making a few Wreckless Media Radio animations, but ideas for those are still in the air. (Seriously, besides the sitcom thing I did and LazyMuffin's take on Brian Berris' Aristocrat Joke, there aren't too many good "clean" bits on the show... segments without a shitload of side comments from those who aren't talking, or segments that fit well into the format.)

Then, there's the return to form. I used to do a shitload of music-video-style Flashes back in the day, and I think I wanna bring that back. (Hence, the two remakes I want to do.) Other than that, the aforementioned short films would, most likely, revolve around music (much like "Where's My Homework?" did.) However, there's that whole "rights" thing, where putting Flashes on YouTube is dangerous, because they could just as easily be removed due to copyright claims or whatever. It seems kind of selfish to abandon perfectly good songs because I want to put them on YouTube, but if you go to my YouTube page and see my most-viewed video, it's "The Fuck You Song", a music video of "Another F.U. Song" by Reel Big Fish. Shit netted me about 70,000 views as of this posting. Second-most viewed? "Cheer Up!", with about 45,000 views as of this post. So, obviously, YouTube is a pretty good market to post these as well, and if I can't post them on there, then I'm only half-motivated. Seriously, I think "The Fuck You Song" alone has gotten me the majority of subscribers on there. Now, this could just as easily be related to the fact that everyone on YouTube appears to be a 12-year-old retard, which means the reason that "The Fuck You Song" is my most-viewed is pretty obvious. And, let's be honest: I'm never gonna top that video in pure offensive essence, mainly because I don't know a song quite as offensive as that (which, I guess Reel Big Fish should be proud of. Though, they have some other really fun, mean songs.)

The songs used in these music videos, though? Well, I could technically use Rory's music, because he's my friend and all (not to mention the exposure he'd get if it's good enough.) Maybe another Reel Big Fish video. (Maybe even "Dateless Losers", after all these years?) I also want to do a Between the Buried and Me song. Badly. They're slowly becoming my new favorite band (possibly toppling Reel Big Fish from that position.) Unfortunately, their songs would fit a very small niche, as they're progressive metal with screaming lyrics, and very deep lyrics at that. Most of the people on the internet would be too stupid to grasp the themes conveyed in the songs, myself included. (Their songs are flexible enough that you can walk away with your own meaning, rather than theirs.) There are a few songs from their album "Alaska" that I'd love to do, including the title track, but there's already an official music video for that song, and the ideas in my head for a Flash based on the song are highly inspired by the official video. If not that, there's another song I could do, and I understand the theme of the song well enough that I wouldn't create some piece-of-shit abortion that's totally missi... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/23816938/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/23816938/ Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:54:02 PDT
Apparently, Namco Bandai seems to think that America is all about tough characters with deep voices. While that may be true on the most part, that doesn't mean you should disappoint your fans by completely changing the original designs that they've come to love. Many Klonoa fans were outraged when a survey popped up on Namco Bandai's website, offering a re-design of Klonoa for the North American release of the remake. This new Klonoa featured no hat, smaller ears, and pretty much looked like he belonged in a Sonic game. Here's a link to the infamous comparison, with the original Klonoa on the left, and the re-design idea on the right: [link]

Thankfully, either fans or actual newcomers to the series (or a combination of both) hated the re-design idea, so it was scrapped, and thus, we fans thought we were getting the Klonoa we all loved.

Cut to this afternoon, when I stumbled upon some gameplay videos of the American build of the remake on IGN. Everything looked beautiful, from the environments to the animation. And then, Klonoa spoke.

I had to pause the video. I couldn't believe what I had heard. Had they... had they... changed Klonoa's voice?

Well, it turns out, this is just another instance of the Japanese stereotyping us Americans as gung-ho, "Gears-of-War" playing bad-ass motherfuckers. While I don't mind having that image pinned to me, I do mind when my favorite childhood games suffer from it! By now, I'm sure fans and a few of you smart ones have a thought running through your head: "You mean, they kept the voice the same in the Japanese version?" Sad, but true: I watched a video of the Japanese version of the game, and lo, Klonoa's voice was the good old high-pitched one from the games of yesteryear. Here, have a listen for yourself. Here's the Japanese version: [link] and here's the American one: [link]

Now, some of you are going "Well, I don't really see what the big difference is." Meanwhile, the Klonoa fans are probably foaming at the mouth. For those of you who aren't Klonoa fans, the Japanese version has the voice that is featured in EVERY FUCKING GAME since it came out. (That includes some recently-released Game Boy Advance games.) For it to all suddenly change is just depressing.

Imagine, if you will, that they changed some familiar aspects of your favorite games. Imagine if Cole Train was white. Imagine if the Hellghast weren't British. Imagine if they put Hannah Montana in Guitar Hero. Yeah, these seem like small things, but overall, they would make the games seem like completely different games, altogether.

I'm sure some of you are still wondering why I'm bitching about something like this. Even though I'll probably get over my rage and just enjoy the Klonoa remake (and see if there's a Japanese audio option in the American release), it's still a sign that the Japanese think we Americans won't like what they originally gave us. This could be the gateway for future incidents of Japanese games we used to love, Americanized. Honestly, I'd rather that future not happen. What you end up losing there is your fanbase, which might be more important that newcomers to your franchise. Yeah, Klonoa's more of a cult hit in America, but I really don't think changing the character design or his voice is going to net you new players. New players come through word-of-mouth, or impulsive rentals. (Hell, I wouldn't even KNOW about Klonoa had I not randomly picked up Klonoa 2 for PS2 a few years back at my local Hollywood Video. Oh, and WHY did I pick that game rather than another Street Fighter or Final Fantasy? Because it looked different.) And, if you take away what the fans like, they're not going to buy it, NOR are they going to recommend it, because you've trashed their childhood memories. In fact, they'd probably just recommend the original PS1 game, or Klonoa 2, but since those games are rare as fuck, it's not worth it.

If this remake fails here, it could mean 1 of 2 things: either Namco Bandai will see their stupid mistake, and release the game as it should be, or they'll just give up... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/23499610/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/23499610/ Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:03:29 PST [link] (This link will open iTunes.) We're two episodes deep (as of this posting), and we're gonna record the 3rd episode this week. The first two episodes are about 90 minutes long, but the 3rd might be an hour instead. Be warned: the podcast is somewhat offensive.
EDIT: Here's the 'cast on G-cast, for those of you who don't use iTunes. I'm pretty sure you can download the episodes individually from this site. [link]

You know Snuggies? Those retarded blankets with sleeves? Well, if you don't, (like some of you in the UK might not), here's the commercial: [link] Stupid, right? Well, my good friend Kyle sent me the link to the website for their Snugglette, which is essentially a kids' version of the thing. So... I re-dubbed the commercial for your entertainment. Here's the re-dub: [link]

Also figured I'd plug a little movie called "Miss March", which is coming out in theaters March 13th here in the States. Why am I excited about what seems to be just another gross-out comedy? Well, it stars two of the Whitest Kids U'Know, a comedy troupe with their own TV show (naturally, titled "Whitest Kids U'Know"), and I am a huge fan. So, here's the trailer for Trevor Moore and Zack Cregger's crazy-ass adventure: [link]

I wanna plug a band called Diecast, who are a pretty good metal band along the lines of Killswitch Engage and All That Remains. If you're going to download ONE song by these guys, "Fade Away" has to be the best one. Here's the music videos: [link]

Lastly, here are all of my V-Logs up 'til now:
EDIT: "The Rant" is new as of last night.
-Three Minutes Clapping: [link]
-Knife Fight: [link]
-The Making of Knife Fight: [link]
-The Triangle Murderer: [link]
-Guns Blazing: [link]RxuozITJoU (After the ?v, put in =, then P, then the rest... Stupid auto-smileys.)
-The Tired V-Log: [link]
-Lacking Willpower: [link]
-Free Clocky: [link]
-Baby Baby: [link]
-The Rant: [link]

There you go. Just a few glimpses into my life/crazy psyche.

Also, I got a question that some people might be able to answer me: Where can I get "Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney"? I've checked every local EB Games and Gamestop (not to mention a Game Traders), and found no new or used copies. If I want to get this game, the least I'd have to travel is 2 and a half miles, down to a street I've been to once, but I got there by car, and to get there this time, I'd have to take the subway. Anyway, I'm on the verge of beating Phoenix Wright 3, the final game in the Phoenix Wright trilogy, originally released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan, and re-made for the DS here in America. Apollo Justice is the first game in the series specifically made for the DS, and features gameplay mechanics present in a bonus 5th episode at the end of the first DS re-make. Anyway, if anyone knows where or how I can get an easy copy of the game, I'd be grateful.

I'm also on a binge of beating games I've had lined up. I just beat "Chrono Trigger", re-made on the DS, and I'm working on Phoenix Wright 3. Then, it'll be such gam... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/23315337/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/23315337/ Fri, 20 Feb 2009 22:30:47 PST less subtle hint. "Don't STOP the MOTION" Easy enough for you? Well, those who pay attention to new releases should know very well that the latest stop-motion piece is none other than "Coraline", an animated movie based on the novella of the same name. And, this movie was so damn cool, I just had to write about it.

All I can say is that if you're going to see this movie, prepare for a wild ride. If you're going to see it in 3-D, then keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times, 'cause this is one wicked rollercoaster of a 3-D flick. Actually, I was very confused about the wording in the commercials: "The first stop-motion filmed in 3-D". So... is it a stop-motion animation... done in a 3-D program? Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? Well, I was an idiot only to find out that the admission where I went to see it included a pair of 3-D glasses. Real-D 3-D glasses, mind you. Oh, wait. Wasn't that the same company that handled the 3-D when me and my friends decided to go see and riff "My Bloody Valentine 3-D", in Philadelphia?! Then, why the fuck weren't they showing "Coraline" in Philadelphia at all? Seriously, I looked up movie times for this flick, and maybe it's because it had been out for 2 weekends by then, but I could not, for the life of me, find a single theater in the city that was playing it. There was one in the outskirts of town, but I just didn't feel like traveling all that way, when I knew they were playing it here, at home, and I knew I'd be home this weekend.

Enough ranting. "How was the movie, Mitch?", you might ask. Well, I found "Coraline" to do something that I've only ever seen done once before: make a children's horror flick... thats actually fun, and executed well. The only other time I've seen this done was a little movie a few years back known as "Monster House", which used motion capture technology also seen in "The Polar Express". "Monster House" was one of those movies that was scary enough for kids, but was still a blast to watch. "Coraline" is the same. Heck, I'm 19 years old, and I think this was the best time I've had in theaters in all of 2009 so far.

The story is very similar to "Alice in Wonderland", as it involves an alternate reality that turns into more of a nightmare-world as the movie progresses, and it even features a magic cat. Yes, that's right. This movie's got its own Cheshire Cat knock-off. Basically, Coraline, the main protagonist, has just moved to Oregon with her family, from Michigan. She finds her life in this new home rather dull, and upon exploring the house, she finds a small, mysterious door. The door leads to a brick wall at first, but when night falls, Coraline discovers that it leads to a parallel world, that is much better than her old one. Her parents are more caring of her, the only problem is that they have buttons for eyes. Coraline is eventually given the offer to stay in this new world forever, but only if she's willing to let her "Other Mother" sew buttons onto her eyes. She soon discovers the fate of other children who had been trapped in this alternate world, and eventually has to save them, as well as her real parents.

While the pacing of the movie is pretty slow, once it picks up, the movie oozes style. The Other World is much more vibrant and colorful, compared to the dull greys of the real world, a theme found in Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride". The Other World that "Coraline" presents to the viewer does the same thing to the audience that it does to Coraline, herself. It draws you in with beautiful scenery and fantastic visuals, but then, it starts to fuck with your head. Seriously, even to me, an adult, some of these sets looked really creepy, such as the room where the ghost children who had been trapped in the Other World prior to Coraline were being kept. And, since this is coming from the same guy who directed "The Nightmare Before Christmas", the world features plenty of bright colors, as well as jagged blacks and whites.

One thing I had a problem with in this movie was when Coraline was tasked with finding the souls of the ghost children. It sort of started to feel like a video game around then. She has to find one soul for each of the "wonders" that Other Mother has presented to her. After she'd find one, the child she managed to save spouted something along the lines of "Great job! Now, go save the next one, you dumb cunt!" I half expected the Zelda fanfare to play when she found one of them. (You know. The "Duh-DUH-DAH-DAAAAAAH!!") The similarities to Zelda don't end there, oh no. Each of the souls is a different color: red, green, and blue. Hm... oh, wait. Kokiri's Emerald, Goron's Ruby, and Zora's Sapphire. Or, if y... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/22861683/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/22861683/ Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:09:56 PST
Firstly, I'm finally back together with my girlfriend, after we both realized breaking up simply because we live too far away from each other was a mistake. At least her mom is willing to meet me, so this relationship could turn out to be the best I've ever had. (I really didn't know any of my prior girlfriends' parents.)

I'm also starting to become less of an insomniac, and more of... well, a guy who goes to sleep at 5 in the morning only to realize he's gotta wake up in 7 hours for his afternoon class. I'm still not getting a whole lot of sleep, but I'm getting back on a normal sleep schedule.

We also finally have internet in the apartment, which is a huge relief. You'll finally get more updates from me, with art, these journal posts and whatnot. I'll also be on BlogTV more, when I'm not working or simply procrastinating. (www.blogtv.com/people/aforextreme)

Also, the city's been white-washed. Last night I walked down to the 7-11 (to get ice cream of all things), and I had the most beautiful two-block walk of my life. Snow gently falling, and on the ground everywhere. It may not seem like much to people who get a lot of snow (like I do back home), but let me tell you, when you live in the city, and it starts snowing at 2 am and you're out in it, and everything's quiet and the snow's not disturbed, it's damn near surreal. But beautiful at the same time. Too bad my class didn't get cancelled.

I've also got plenty of projects on my plate. *HYPERANIMATION! Episode 2 is the least of my worries for now. I've got some freelance work to do, (though I can't post it here... confidentiality agreement and all that jazz), I'm working on a piece to impress the people in a little Flash group on Newgrounds, which I hope to eventually be a part of, and, of course, I have plenty of schoolwork to do... all of which pretty much doesn't use animation. Eventually, though, you'll see more art on here from my various classes, such as Conceptual Storytelling, Sculpture for Animation, and (gulp) TYPOGRAPHY...

Other than that, though... everything's good. Except for the whole dA virus thing, which even caused ME to comment on someone else's deviation, which might endanger them, Granted, it wasn't ME who did it, it was this virus thing. Basically, there's a bit of a virus goin' round, that if you see a comment that says "rofl this may be related to your interests" or something very similar to that, and click it, it will cause you to comment the same link to other random deviations, whether you want to or not. They claim to have fixed the problem, but at least be on your guard. If you see a comment like that that is linked, don't click that shit.

Besides all that's listed above, I can't think of much else... except that I'm getting back into VIDEO!! Hurrah! I'm planning on bringing my weekly video game reviews, "Reviews from the Laptop" back, but they might not be weekly. However, I might start doing DVDs and CDs as well as games. These reviews will also be split up into various categories: "Lost Gems" are for those games that are amazing, but you've never heard of, "Retro Reviews" are reviews of older games, and "Apps to Apps" are reviews of various applications you can download for the iPhone/iPod touch.

Other than that, I've started "V-logging", and by "V-logging", I mean I've started making random little videos and putting them on my "V-log". They're the closest thing to a sketch show you'll get out of me until I get my shit together. Here are the currently existing videos:

-Three Minutes Clapping (hint: THIS IS THE FUNNIEST ONE. MAKE THIS SHIT VIRAL.):
[link]

-Knife Fight:
[link]

-The Triangle Murderer:
[link]

I'm going to make more of these eventually. The funny part is that all three of these are based on random, spontaneous things I did, and right after I did them, said "Hey, I should record that and put it on YouTube." (And, yes, I really DID pull a canopener out of the knife drawer. By accident. Shit was funny.)

So, yeah. That's about it. Just figured I'd let you know how I'm doing, that I have internet, and that I'm still alive. Yet, I think I'm going crazy. I think. I don't knKJHBLVISBVKJHLSKGVKJVSLKANJWB

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/22499236/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/22499236/ Sat, 10 Jan 2009 03:28:58 PST
So I'll be spending my burfdai going back to Philly, hopefully moving into my new apartment with Tyler, as well as newcomers Nick and Gabe. We're all good friends, but for some reason Tyler and my 'rents are against the move. I dunno why. If they have fear of our new chums, then their fears are completely silly, since me and Tyler both know they're good guys.

I know it sounds shitty that I'll be spending my birthday MOVING of all things, but let's take a step back, here. I'm turning 19. What the hell new can I do at Level 19? ...Well, it says here in the strategy guide that Mitch learns "Smoke Legally in New Jersey" at Level 19... whoop-dee-fuckin'-doo. I'll use THAT often.

I mean, 19 is such a waste. 20 might be too, except that it's a whole 'nother 10, which means it's special in a way. Of course, 21 is huge, what with drinking and all. (Yeah, Eurofags. We can't drink 'til 21 here in the States. Count your blessings.) There really isn't anything noteworthy after 21, except for maybe every 10. (30, 40, 50.)

I look back on the 19 years I've been on this pathetic hunk of rock, and I have to say it amazes me that I've come this far. I've lived with my family for over 18 years, and that nearly drove me to insanity... let alone suicide. (I don't play like that, though. No "easy way out" for me!) I didn't get my damn driver's license until a week before I left for college... 6 months ago.

It also amazes me what things have happened to me and what I've done. Since I've been alive, I've:

- Gone to Disney World
- Gone to Europe (Germany, Austria)
- Gone to the beach every summer since I've been alive
- Broken a bone
- Gotten glasses
- Owned at least 10 gaming consoles (including handhelds)
- Started a Flash series

...and that's just to name a few. Honestly, with all the bitching I do about how much life sucks, I don't really take in the big picture. I've never been in a fire, never had a cavity, only had 1 major family member die, and avoided countless other disasters like school shootings, meteors, and My Chemical Romance concerts.

Truth be told, I'm a very lucky kid. I've got a caring (sometimes too much) family, a wonderful girlfriend (?), and some of the best friends a guy cold ask for. I look back on these past 19 years, and I think "Wow. This is only a quarter or a fifth of what my life holds."

It makes me excited for what's to come.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/22403074/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/22403074/ Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:20:15 PST
10. Mirror's Edge
Probably one of the most interesting ones on the list, "Mirror's Edge" went and made its own genre: first-person parkour. It's definitely different in ways, yet similar to most other platformers in others. I think what really got me here was the way everything was presented: white-washed skyscrapers against a blue sky, with red highlights along the way to guide you. The animated cut-scenes in between levels are also cool. My only gripes with this one are that it can be very clunky at times, and that the game is simply too damn short. Still, this is an interesting experiment... if only worth a rental.
Gameplay: [link]

9. Space Invaders Extreme
What can I say? The guys at at Taito, with help form Square-Enix made the classic game of Space Invaders fun again. This game assaults you with colorful graphics, one of the catchiest soundtracks ever, and a great new twist on the Space Invaders formula, making it feel more like Galaga. There are also great bonus mini-games you can play to earn power-ups. Oh, and did I mention the boss fights? They're fucking awesome. Pick this up for your DS... it's only 20 bucks.
Gameplay: [link]

8. No More Heroes
Those of you who know me know that I adore this game. So, why is it so low on the list? I guess if I had to say what I liked about this game... it's the story and characters. The actual gameplay? Not so much. The game can basically be boiled down to "mash the A button until you have to swing the Wii Remote for a finisher, with the B button thrown in there for good measure." Yet, the death blows with the Wii-mote always feel satisfying, and the bosses always have a few tricks up their sleeves. (For instance, if Bad Girl falls down and has her hand on her bat, don't attack unless you want a bloody nose. If she doesn't, wail away.) The game also gets pretty stale near the end, when you have to play the same missions over and over again to get your entrance fee for the ranking fights. Still, despite all its flaws, the game is almost completely worth it for the crazy cut-scenes and story. Also, Travis Touchdown goes down as one of my favorite characters, ever.
Gameplay: [link]

7. Warhawk
I'm not sure if this one came out this year... but whatever. Close enough, I guess. This "remake" of an old PS1 game is absolutely worth buying as long as you have an internet connection for your PS3. The game is online-only, even with split-screen. Still, this is the game for you if you want a great mix of on-foot, ground and air-vehicle combat. Flying in the Warhawk feels awesome, and when you have a jeep or tank with multiple players, you can get some really great teamwork going. A gripe is the lack of maps, but there are MANY layouts for each map, so you'll rarely get bored. Probably my only problem is the lack of ANY offline multiplayer mode, whatsoever. Still, this is a great online addition to your PS3.
Gameplay: [link]

6. LittleBigPlanet
The "greatest game of this generation" wasn't all that great, huh? Just kidding. The game is great, and I love it, but the other games above it are just more... me. (Hence how the majority of them are RPGs.) Since your imagination is the limit, LittleBigPlanet's level editor is only as good as you are. Even if you're no level designer, you can play the levels online. LittleBigPlanet can sustain itself for quite some time, at least, considering the wealth of user-made levels already on the 'net... and there are hundreds, if not THOUSANDS being added every day. It's like the YouTube of video games... you have to wade through all the shit to get to the great levels, which are usually featured anyway. It's no "Make-your-own-Mario-Bros.", but LittleBigPlanet is a fun game with a huge user community... and it's also given the PS3 a mascot.
Gameplay: [link]

5. Final Fantasy Tactics A2
I've heard people say that FFTA and FFTA2 are nowhere NEAR as good as the original Tactics on PS1, which was also re-made for the PSP. I've never played it, but to me "Final Fantasy Tactics is Final Fantasy Tactics." If you don't know what FFT is, it's essentially a strategic battle-chess, where you choose 6 different characters in your team, each with different jobs and races, and you pit them against enemy monsters or clans. It's the classic FFT form... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/22208916/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/22208916/ Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:05:17 PST
-Black DS lite
-Chrono Trigger (DS)
-Spore
-The Dark Knight
-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 3
-Money

I ended up going form broke to 200 bucks or so in a few days flat, so that's good at least. Overall, it was a good holiday. There were some funny parts, though, like when my dad and sisters and I ended up going to the graveyard to pay respects to our grandfather... little did we know that the roads were all iced up! We went down the hill and it took us a good hour of cracking ice and wearing out tires until we were able to escape it all! I'm laughing about it now, but you had to see how primal I looked cracking ice on the road with the end of an ice scraper and, sometimes, a stick.

Got to see a lot of the fam and stuff my face, though. All in all, a good Christmas. Now, I'm just gonna relax until the 11th, when I go back to good ol' Philly.

EDIT: Opened Spore, there was no manual or game inside. Gotta love Gamestop, those imbeciles!!

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/22083497/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/22083497/ Sun, 21 Dec 2008 16:16:35 PST
BUT ANYWAY:
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]

PLEASE VOTE 5... OR SOMETHING HIGH! (I KNOW YOU ALL LIKED IT.)

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/21881466/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/21881466/ Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:53:08 PST
This one shouldn't take as long to animate, as it has WAY less dialogue than the other project... which I might use next year. As for the one this year? Well, you'll have to wait and see. Si ti tahw wonk ydaerla uoy eye neek a evah uoy fi llew. All I know is, I'm gonna have a lot of fun making this one. And, if I win... well, that'll feed me for... 2 weeks.

In other news, I picked up the Metal Gear Solid Essential Collection, which is Metal Gear Solids 1, 2 AND 3, for a measly 30 bucks. Since I've never had the pleasure of experiencing these great games before, I decided to get it. After all, all of these games are highly-rated and praised, and if I could get all of them for 10 bucks more than a budget title, why not?

Metal Gear Solid is a great game. While it is showing its age, the game does so many innovative things (breaking the fourth wall, interesting and clever gameplay mechanics) that is really doesn't matter. The graphics are pretty good for the PS1, too. Then again, this DID come out back in 1998. Ten years later, it's still a great game. The version that comes with the Collection is the original PS1 game, on 2 discs.

While I haven't FINISHED Metal Gear Solid 2 (because evidently PS2's have trouble reading dual-layer discs... I had to wipe my PS2's laser with a Q-tip and, get this: turn the system UPSIDE DOWN before it read the disc), the game is pretty good. I know this is considered to be the weakest of the 4 in many cases, and this is right. The story is a little "Eh..." and I'm sure fans got pissed at the fact that you play as Snake for only an hour or so, before switching to the girly-man, Raiden. There's also a part where you pretty much have to acrobat your way across a broken bridge, and this is no Mirror's Edge, mind you. Oh, and don't get me started on the ESCORT MISSION with Emma Emmerich... All those flaws aside, the game greatly improves on its predecessor gameplay-wise, introducing first-person aiming, rolling, and more.

I haven't gotten close to beating Metal Gear Solid 3, either. Hell, I played the game for TWO HOURS before the main title credits even came up. This game is vastly different from the first two, though... as far as I can tell. There's a lot less indoor sneaking, and the game focuses on jungle and outdoor warfare. The game is MUCH deeper than the previous two, however, including the whole food system, the Cure system (Snake actually gets wounds which you must heal), a more advanced camouflage system (this was the first sighting of the Camo Index found in MGS4), and better enemy A.I. Still, I'm not digging the outdoor setting, OR the fact that it's set in the 1960's... it doesn't feel like Metal Gear Solid to me. (Yes, I know this is a prequel. Shut up.) I'm sure as I plod along it'll get way more awesome. My one friend even named it his favorite game of all time.

As for MGS4, I only got through the first Act. But, there seems to be a lot more emphasis on combat this time around, as opposed to sneaking. Also, the cutscenes are long as fuck. But, what can you do?

So, I just figured I'd let anyone who HASN'T played these games know how awesome they are. Seriously, if you've never played the original, try to find it, and if you're interested in the sequels, they're just as good (and more advanced, of course).

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/21716844/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/21716844/ Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:29:58 PST
I subscribe to the "G4 Videogame Trailers" podcast, where, once a day, I am sent G4's pick of many videogame trailers, straight to my iTunes. Last night, I was suprised to see the latest entry clocking in at around 12 and a half minutes. The podcast in question? "Sonic: Night of the Werehog Short Film".

I didn't think it was possible, but the guys at Sonic Team or whoever's in charge of the newest Sonic release: "Sonic Unleashed" finally did something that I'd been wishing they'd do for a while. They took those beautiful, almost Pixar-quality 3-D cutscenes (Pixar-quality meaning that everything is very-well detailed, not that the storytelling is on par with the aforementioned studio...), and simply made a short film with them. I had been hoping they'd do something like this since "Shadow the Hedgehog". Hell, they could have taken all of the cutscenes from the above game, and made a movie out of it, even if it was only a short film. ('Cause, let's face it. "Shadow"'s only redeeming quality was the quality of the cutscenes... well, and the plethora of endings one could achieve with the branching path of levels. It's just that the gameplay was so arbitrary the only ending I ever bothered with was the "neutral" one. (As opposed to the "hero" or "dark" ones.))

I think what I liked best about "Night of the Werehog" was the fact that it (as far as I can tell) had nothing to do with the actual game it was based on, save for the main character. Hell, the only canon Sonic character featured was Sonic (and, therefore, the Werehog). Tails wasn't even featured, instead introducing this little pink... "thing" named Chip. (If he's actually in "Unleashed", can someone please let me know? I want to make sure I get my facts straight.) We also get two ghost cameramen who look like they've been ripped out of "Casper" (specifically, "Stretch" and "Fatso"). These two are fighting for the love of a "Ghost Girl", who is essentially "Casper" with a pink hue, pigtails and a dress. (On second thought, if ANY of these characters are in "Unleashed", can someone notify me? I want to make it sound like I know what I'm talking about, but I'm not spending 50 bucks on a game that I hear is half-awesome and half-shit.)

Now, how does this relate to my past? Well, it reminds me of the old Sonic the hedgehog cartoons, where it was all fun and none of the storylines based on the games. Sure, "SatAM" is more based on the Archie comic series, featuring characters like Princess Sally, Antoine, and the rest of the Freedom Fighters, but those comics (for the most part) have no connection to the games' storylines. Long story short: it's nice to see a cartoon based on the blue blur again... even if it does feature him as "the Werehog" for more than half the movie.

Still, I was delightfully pleased by this short film, and I hope that Sonic Team, SEGA, or whoever the fuck is in charge of their CG-team makes more. I don't even care if it's based off of future crap like "Sonic and the Black Knight". (C'mon, admit it. You just KNOW it's going to suck. But, SEGA might make me eat my words later on. DON'T FORGET THE CYCLE!)

On the completely IMPOSSIBLE chance that a SEGA employee is reading this (a Japanese one, no less), here's what you guys did right:

1. NO DIALOGUE. Let's face it, guys. The dialogue in any Sonic-related medium is pretty lame. Yes, even the old American cartoon series. ("Gotta speed, keed"? Come the fuck on.) One thing that made me happy here was the complete absence of ANY speech whatsoever... only fun little noises. From the intimidating roar of the Werehog to the adorable squeals of "Ghost Girl", this short film got it right.

2. DON'T BASE IT ON THE STORYLINE OF A GAME. While it might be cool, I can always slog through the crap that you guys are almost inevitably going to put out, Sonic Team. Make it a story about something completely off to the side. This is where movie-based games fail half of the time, too. They base their game on the story of the movie. If I wanted to hear the story of the movie, I'd watch the damn movie.

3. KEEP USING THAT GORGEOUS SONIC TEAM CG. While I am mostly opposed to 3-D animation, it can be good. The fact that Sonic games are now pretty much entirely 3-D (even if they re side-scrollers) means that Sonic cartoons (or at least short movies) work in 3-D, since the source material IS in 3-D. Plus, as stated before, Sonic Team's CG department is top-notch, and the animation is good, at least.

So, yeah. A great short film, in my opinion. I just felt that I had to rant about it. I've always been a Sonic fan, even with the crap that SEGA's been putting out in past years. I mean, I like Mario, too. His games are great. But I've been a Sonic fan since childhood, and I just can't abandon the blue rodent. I mean, you should have seen how pumped I... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/21381584/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/21381584/ Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:54:53 PST [link]

Ooo, and I forgot! There's also an OUTTAKE REEL, filled with tons of inside jokes and generally unfunny tomfoolery: [link]

If you're wondering why I'm up so late... I'm pulling another all-nighter. I have class in about 4 hours, anyway. And since I woke up at 4 or so this afternoon, well... you can pretty much bet that I'm not getting to sleep at all tonight. In fact, I just got my homework done for said class, which is Image Manipulation. (The homework was recently submitted here: [link]

Other than that... not much else to report on. Might as well share with you some game reviews, of sorts.

Mirror's Edge (Hands-On): Downloaded the demo and it's fun, as I expected. Tyler pre-ordered the game, so we also got to unlock the Time Trial, which is filled with plenty of near-unbeatable runs from all around the world. We expect to get our parkour on next week.

Warhawk: A fun, multiplayer-only title. Unlike the original, you're not bound to just planes, as you can also fight on foot or in various ground vehicles... but the planes, the Warhawk and the Nemesis, depending on which team you're on, provide the most thrills. Pick this one up if you have an online connection.

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm (Hands-On): Got the demo for this one, too. Anyone who knows me knows I hate, hate, HATE Naruto. But, I'd heard good things about this game, and decided to download the demo. And, guess what? It's actually fun. And I hate it. If I end up buying a Naruto game, I might as well shoot myself in the head. But "Storm" might just be good enough to warrant a purchase.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/21233332/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/21233332/ Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:19:38 PDT
Why was I excited? Well, unless you live in a well air-conditioned rock, you probably know by now that the Phillies won the World Series. You should also know that I live in Philadelphia. On 16th street. Which is two blocks from Broad Street... or as I called it last night, "Ground Zero". Now, if you don't know the story, the Phillies won back in 1980... and they haven't since. Now, in 2008, 28 years later, they finally redeemed themselves and won again. And, naturally, the fans were ecstatic. Hell, there were yuck-heads honkin' their horns the night the Phils got into the World Series. Imagine the scene last night, after they had WON it.

So, I ask again: why was I excited? Because, believe it or not, I'm always up for a party. And there was a huge one on Broad Street. Nick and I met up with AJ in front of our building, and we worked our way over to the mass of people on the main street, a couple of blocks away. There were thousands upon thousands of people crowding the already-closed-off streets, hollering and cheering, booze flying everywhere... but a surprising lack of tits.

Things started out fun. People gave me high-fives, there were random hugs being distributed, and the mood was of a triumphant air. A fire truck passed, and people soon climbed on top of it, dancing and yelling. I liken this image to the scene in "Princess Mononoke", where the great boar Akoto is covered in those red worms of hate. Replace Akoto the boar with a fire truck and the red worms with Phillies fans, and you get the general image. (For those of you who have not seen that amazing movie, let me sum up the previous sentences for you: THERE WAS A FUCKING FIRE TRUCK COVERED IN PEOPLE!!) People were hanging off of street lights and traffic lights, and it was all very fun. Police were always nearby in case things ever went wrong. Which they soon would.

After heading to 7-Eleven for some munchies, we returned to find some potted trees uprooted, the pots turned over. Some of them were broken in parts. Fireworks were being set off in the middle of the crowd, and there were a few fires going on... most likely the trees which had been ripped from the dirt. Trees lining Broad street had their branches snapped. Well, AJ, being a former fireman of sorts, rushed over to where the fire was. Nick and I lost him and Gabe, so we took off back to our dorms. We hung out there for a while, and Tyler was fine... he had been camping there the whole night thus far. We soon received a call from AJ, who realized eventually that he had lost us. We met him at one of the many entrances to the subway on Broad, and he was accompanied by his roommates Justin, Nate, and another fellow who's name escapes me.

We headed back to AJ's place, ate a bit and watched Metalocalypse. Around 1:30, I believe, we ventured back out into the streets, wondering if the crowd and riot police had left. This was not the case. You see, before we went into AJ's dorm, we saw riot police having bottles thrown at them. We realized soon that the situation would turn grim. As we edged our way past crowd members on the way back to my dorm, we saw some broken windows at the F.Y.E., which is a damn shame, 'cause it's a really nice building... and it makes me wonder if they'll be having the Rock Band/Guitar Hero tournaments that will give me the gift cards to feed my entertainment needs anytime soon. People were tipping over a statue of a man with an umbrella in front of the Prince Music Theater, and I even saw a bunch of hooligans try to break INTO said theater with a nearby trashcan. What they could have looted from there, I do not know. The last act of property damage I saw was a single man breaking a window in some sort of clothing store... and another man, acting as an impromptu vigilante, tackled him, and I believe the man was soon arrested. It was both an exciting and terrifying scene.

We finally made it back to my dorm, where there was shredded paper and silly string on the sidewalk outside. Something down the street was on fire. I soon called AJ who claimed that the police were "trying to push [them] over the bridge to Jersey". At least I got a call later, where he claimed the police were letting them chill on 13th and Market, and that he got back to his dorm soon, which was good news. I heard later that there was allegedly tear gas on Broad street.

So, all in all, it was a somewhat terrifying night, but still exciting. I feel bad for the city, though. The Phillies win the World Series, and the fans proce... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20952295/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20952295/ Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:35:15 PDT
1. English Composition II: The same-old, same-old. At least this time around I don't have that overly-critical bitch Stinsman. Hell, THREE out of the TEN questions on our final last quarter didn't even have to DO with English! ("How many essays did you write this quarter?", "What is my name?", and "I drew a symbol on the board last week... what was it?") I mean, I understand why she would include these questions (to make sure we were all paying attention), but COME ON, lady. You need to have your fucking material ready for a final instead of pulling memory questions out of your ass. My mom didn't pay 60 bucks an hour for me to take a class to find out what your name is.

2. Acting for Animation: Quite possibly the COOLEST class I have this quarter. We'll actually be getting up and acting, which is cool, but we'll also be studying the movements and reactions of animated characters, which will assuredly ruin any animated movies for me in the future. Being an animator comes at a price.

3. Life Drawing: Basically the same thing as "Fundamentals of Drawing" (with the exact same teacher I had for that class), but with more naked people. I'm getting a goo impression of this class though, since we actually got to draw a WOMAN in the first class, where the last class of the previous, aforementioned drawing class I had found me with old-man balls in my face. At least I'm getting better at drawing the human figure, right? 'Cause my style is so close to the human figure.

4. Color Theory: A class where we simply learn the effects of different colors, I guess. Painting isn't even the coolest part of the class... it's the teacher! He's such a nice old guy who told us stories about meeting Reagan and all this other cool stuff. And the guy's deep. Evidently, he's writing a book, 'cause he gave all of us a questionnaire to fill out before we could leave. I mean, come on. When a teacher gives you a piece of paper that says "Why do we hate?" and expects you to write down an answer, that's pretty damn cool.

5. Photo Manipulation: Probably should just start calling this one "Photoshop: The Class". Since it's Photoshop, it shouldn't be too hard for me, but damn it if they didn't give me the worst possible time to go. They gave me a Saturday morning class. I have to get my duff out of bed at 7:15 on Saturday morning. It's cruel torture, really. If I don't drop this class and add it at another time, my plans of going home anytime during the quarter are pretty much nixed. And it doesn't help that the teacher of this class talks nice and slow so that the special needs kids can keep up. Oh, wait. I forgot. THERE ARE NO SPECIAL NEEDS KIDS IN MY CLASS. If there's one thing I hate, it's teachers who talk to me like I have down syndrome. Gets on my nerves. Somehow, I'll live through this ordeal.

Now, for something completely unrelated. I've finally moved into the next generation of video gaming. Well, that's kind of a lie, since I've had a Wii for two years. What I mean to say is... I can finally get the real next-generation experience.

Tyler bought a PlayStation 3. Plain and simple. I was with him when he made the impulse buy. At first, I was worried that I'd owe the Ty-man big time, thinking we'd split the console's cost half-and-half. This, added onto the 85 smackaroos I owe him for "Rock Band" could have caused my wallet to collapse into itself like a neutron star. Thankfully, I think Tyler's just going to claim the system fully as his own, and then I won't have to worry about cost. Besides, the games that I will soon buy ("LittleBigPlanet", "Warhawk") will make up for my lack of funding to the PlayStation 3's cost.

If you DO have the luxury of owning one of these sexy, sexy machines, then you can find me on the PlayStation Network under (you guessed it) "Aforextreme". My icon SHOULD be a bomb. If it's not, then I either changed it today, or there's an impostor on the loose and I must kill him, and eat his heart to gain his courage. Delicious courage. Also, if you want to add Tyler (which you know you do) then you can find him as "AceofBlades24", same as his YouTube account (which I also know you want to check out.) Hopefully, by the time anyone reads this, we'll own both "Call of Duty 4" and "Warhawk", so you can hit us up on either of those games.

Anyway, I have work to do, so I'll probably regret writing this lengthy blog later.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20867338/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20867338/ Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:21:42 PDT [link] and I'm going to be doing a weekly live show every Thursday from here on out. On the show, I'll answer (as humorously as I can) questions from the chat, draw requests from viewers, and tell everyone about things I hate.

I think you have to sign up to see the show. If not, stop by as a guest. I also set up a Stickam account, for those who give a shit. [link] I'll be going live on there whenever I damn well feel like it. FREE PUBLICITY!

I swear I'm working on *HYPER Episode 2 but Im ALSO working on ANOTHER Flash, called "Shoulda Taken the Stairs" based more or less on the real-life struggle with my building's elevator. That'll be up whenever.

Also, my DS broke. :C

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20574967/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20574967/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:10:10 PDT
As I imagine a few of you are asking yourself:
"Mitch, how will you create more HIL-arious Flash cartoons for us from your crappy Dell Dimension 3000 running Windows XP you have at home?"

Well, I brought my Macbook. And my tablet. And, last time I checked, you don't need internet access to create Flash cartoons. So, I can do it all from my Macbook, getting the resources I need from the internet (sound effects, music, the like) from my old computer. So, for those of you clawing at me to see Episode 2 of *HYPERANIMATION! (I know you're out there...), you can rest assured that I will get as much done here as I can. Hell, I might have the 'toon DONE by the time I have to go back.

Other work is going to get in the way. I might have to make an animated cartoon for the "Harley's Angels" website, which would be pretty cool, being my first freelance job. I also want to start "The Element Brothers"... at least the script. Don't expect this one to be long... maybe 5 to 10 episodes. It's a comic, too. 'Cause... I haven't done one of those in a long time. I'm also going to do a few short animations for the Digital Multimedia class at my old high school... no doubt Tyler and I are going to visit one of these days. At least, to teach the kids how to do entertainment. Since the kids don't get it these days. What with their Naruto and their reality TV and their channel surfing...

I also plan to upload some of my scans from the fabled (or not-so-fabled) sketchpad that I own. Some of these are genuinely funny, and I want to share these sketches with you.

Now! Time to whore myself out a little! First: if you guys didn't know... I do music now! Yes, music! So far, I only have two songs on my Myspace Music account, but there are bound to be more. Everything in these songs is my doing, except for the drums.

[link]

Next! A few choice videos that have been uploaded recently!

"Rock Band" (Tyler did all the video wizardry.)
[link]

"Nibbles" (You guys have seen most of these here, but here they are in a nifty little package!)
[link]

Here are a few links to my "Reviews from the Laptop", various little reviews that I do. The majority of them are video game reviews, though...

"The World Ends With You"
[link]

"Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz"
[link]

"Water Temple Tribute"
[link]

"Guilty Gear XX Accent Core"
[link]

"Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People"
[link]

"Phoenix Wright"
[link]

There are about 1 or two more besides that, but they're too long for YouTube. ('Cause 12 minutes is long.) They ARE on my Facebook account, however. If you friend request me, you can view them:

"No More Heroes"
[link]

"Space Invaders Extreme"
[link]

I do a new video review every Monday, usually uploaded later at night, like around 8 or 9 p.m. Subscribe to my YouTube account if you're interested. I'm trying to implement more comedy into the reviews, Angry Video Game Nerd-style.

I'm pretty sure you can't see those two unless you friend request me on Facebook. They're early reviews, so they're not really worth making a new account on Facebook for. If you DO have a Facebook, though, go on and add me. I need more friends.

I think that's all I meant to show you guys as of now. More to come, I'm sure. And more art in the coming days, for certain.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20422716/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20422716/ Wed, 10 Sep 2008 20:59:26 PDT
Speaking of Freeman, the Large Hadron Collider DIDN'T create a black hole sucking everyone in, or create a possible Half-Life-esque future last night. This is because the scaremongers out there were probably too busy getting ready for the inevitable end, that they didn't see the little bullet point explaining that the team was only TESTING the device, sending a single beam throughout the tube. NOTHING WAS SUPPOSED TO COLLIDE. However, when they're scheduled to collide the first hadrons on October 21st, THEN there's the possibility that it will make a black hole. Why put the Earth in such danger? To prove that God didn't create it!

No, but seriously. The chances of a black hole being created are slim to none, and even if it DID create one, it'd be too small to do any real damage. (And from what I hear, it'd just collapse into itself or something. I dunno. I never took Quantum Physics. I'm at a damn Art Institute.) On the off-chance that the thing DOES bring about the end of the world as we know it, I'd better work on losing my virginity.

NOW! On to other matters. I'll try REALLY FRIGGIN' HARD to start Episode 2 of *HYPERANIMATION! this weekend. I'm sure I'll get around to it, since my teachers aren't shoving homework constantly up my asshole. The only problem is that I'm going back home for Fall break next week, so I'll have to schlep my tablet along with me on the train. But, rest assured, I will try to do as much of the Flash over break as possible. Like I said before, I want to get all of the episodes from Season 1 (2-5) out by the end of the year. By now... it's a stretch. (More of one than it was back in July.) But, if I work quickly enough, I can get it. Hopefully, I won't sacrifice quality for speed.

Other than that, a few good things recently happened to counter the pain of my forced break-up. For one, "Super Mario RPG" got released on Virtual Console, and I immediately bought it. Just as fun as it was back on SNES, but I figure I should have just saved myself 8 bucks and emulated it. Ah well. Whenever "Strong Bad" Episode 2 comes out, I'll have 1200 left over to get "Sin and Punishment"! (It's 1200 since it's an import... and I've been dying to try it.

And... what else happened recently...?

Um...

Shit, I guess that was it. Ah, well. Mario RPG is great, but it still doesn't fill the hole in my heart. Thankfully, me an' can still talk on AIM.

Oh, and I guess "Spore" is out. Too bad I don't have 50 dollars to throw around. And the fear of the feds keeps me from pirating it. Not that I condone that shit, anyway...

EDIT: Tyler and I got "Rock Band". I only got to play this game a few times before and it's great on the Wii. Lack of customization is a minor gripe. Also, drums are friggin' hard. MY DAMN FOOT WON'T LISTEN TO MY BRAIN. AND SOMETIMES IT GETS THE HANDS TO GO ALONG WITH THE WHOLE "WHOOPS YOU JUST FUCKED UP THE END OF THAT OVERDRIVE POWER SIGNATURE" ACT. Still, awaiting number 2 this November!

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20257724/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20257724/ Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:00:25 PDT 's boyfriend. Sadly, some douche saw she and I leaving and re-entering the football game on Friday night, so they tipped off her mother and she basically had Sarah end the relationship, or else.

I'm hurt, to say the least. It's not her fault, though. If anyone's, it might as well be mine. I should have figured something like this would have occurred.

We're still good friends, though. Maybe we could get back together, someday, but both of us aren't too pissed at the fact that we'll see other people.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20244778/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20244778/ Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:23:13 PDT
Thursday night was a little uneventful. and stopped by for a bit. Me an' Jay then went to the football game at my high school, the first of the season. There, we met up with , who looked just as cute as ever, might I add.

Even though there was quite a bit of rain, our spirits were not dampened, and we had a great time. Even better, my high school beat the opponents, our long-time rival school, for the first time in a few years! Not that any of us were really paying attention to the game...

So, tomorrow, I'm hoping I can hang out with Jay and Evan one last time, and Sarah if the circumstances allow. If not, I'll be back home again for Fall Break starting the 22nd of September. Then, I'll have plenty of time to hang out with friends.

Now, concerning some of my projects... I'm thinking of abandoning "Unlimited Panic" as a mini-series and just tackling it as a short film. I feel the story would be a little drawn-out as a 10-episode mini-series, (what I had originally planned), and a 20-30 minute short movie could do the trick. It's still in development stages.

I have everything I need to make Episode 2 of *HYPERANIMATION! in front of me, but alas, I'm still a lazy bastard. Since I have no classes Monday (Labor Day, after all), maybe I'll start it then.

I also recently downloaded "RPG Maker VX" and "XP", so maybe I'll start a little RPG project if I find the time. Hell, if Rory could make the fantastic "Sunset Over Imdahl" with RPG Maker 2003, I'm sure I can crap out a half-decent RPG in one of the newer softwares.

I might also start a new comic. It's either going to be traditional-style, except digital, or it's going to be an animated comic; an idea I've wanted to try for a while, now. All I can tell you is that it stars a guy named Zack who wears a red coat with HUGE coat-tails, black fingerless gloves, an insane ponytail, (think the ponytail from the Musashi games, but slightly tamer), and the ability to manipulate fire. I might call it Blazeboy (a comic name I've had for a bit, now) but I'm not sure yet. Development stages, and EARLY at that.

So, yeah. Fun-ass weekend. REALLY fun time at the game last night. Heh heh.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20138273/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/20138273/ Sun, 24 Aug 2008 20:36:39 PDT
Thankfully, I'll be going home this weekend, which means a boost in my food supplies (prolly lots of frozen stuff), as well as (most likely) a boost in my funds.

I've been finding good ways to pass the time. Strangely, I have not touched my DS in quite some time. This is strange because I have yet to finish FFTA2 OR PW3:TAT. I need to get my "Space Invaders Extreme" on, as well.

Though, I have been juggling "Majora's Mask", "Persona 3", and "Sonic Mega Collection". I also downloaded "Audiosurf" off of Steam today, taking advantage of a half off sale exclusive to this weekend (saving me a whole 5 dollars.) The game is great, but the only problem is that Steam doesn't run on Macs, so I have to boot up my hard drive's partition for Vista when I want to play. And Vista loads like a fat guy runs.

I've also gotten into "Lucky Star" as of late, not just getting on the bandwagon far too late, but missing it completely. I like the style of the show, and the lack of over-the-top action is refreshing. Also, Konata is easily a female version of myself (as well as any other teenage gamer, really.)

Hopefully, this week, I'll start "*HYPERANIMATION!" Episode 2, a project I've been procrastinating on IMMENSELY. Like I said, I want to get the other 4 episodes in Season 1 done by the end of this year, so I'm going to start as soon as my pasty ass lets me.

Also, check on my YouTube account ([link]) for my "Reviews from the Laptop" series, where I review a video game each Monday. (I usually shoot, edit, and post the episode ALL on Monday afternoons.) Tomorrow, I'm either reviewing "Guilty Gear XX Accent Core" for Wii, or doing a retrospective on the Water Temples in the past few Zelda games, citing how annoying each of them are. (Depends on how pissy my day is.)

Not starving yet,
Mitch

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19975488/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19975488/ Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:14:53 PDT
In other news, I'll probably put the Guitar Hero contest video up on YouTube and my Facebook... in 3 to 4 parts... soon. Tyler has completed the video, but it's a half an hour long, and almost 2 gigs big.

Time for a few game recommends! "Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People" is a fun little point-and-click adventure game, brought to us by the same developer that brought Sam ad Max into the 21st century, TellTale Games. The game is hilarious, and "Homestar Runner" fans are going to notice all the little in-jokes, like the Taranchula Black Metal Detector, the Drive-Thru Whale, or the fact that you can "make-your-own" "Teen Girl Squad" comics. I recommend this game if you love point-and-click adventure games, or are a die-hard "Homestar" fan. New episodes will be released each month, with 5 in total. Even better news.... supposedly the new "Sam and Max" games by TellTale are being brought to the Wii this fall.

I also recommend "Space Invaders Extreme" to anyone who likes classic gaming and has 20 bucks and a DS. Or a PSP. It's a great little enhanced version of the classic shooter.

And now, for a new meme! I get asked questions, but my answers are the names of songs from one, and only one artist. I choose REEL BIG FISH! The album name that the song is from will be in parenthesis.

1. Are you male or female?
"I'm Her Man" (Albums: "Everything Sucks" and "Monkeys for Nothin' and the Chimps for Free")

2. Describe yourself.
"Dateless Losers" (Album: "Cheer Up!")

3. What do people feel when they're around you?
"Somebody Hates Me" (Album: "Why Do They Rock So Hard?")

4. How would you describe your previous relationship?
"Suckers" (Album: "Cheer Up!")

5. Describe your current relationship.
"A-W-E-S-O-M-E" (Album: "We're Not Happy 'til You're Not Happy")

6. Where would you want to be now?
"Another Day in Paradise" (Album: "Monkeys For Nothin' and the Chimps for Free")

7. How do you feel about love?
"A Little Doubt Can Go A Long Way" (Album: "Cheer Up!")

8. What's your life like?
"Party Down" (Album: "Monkeys for Nothin' and the Chimps for Free")

9. What would you ask for if you had only one wish?
"Ban the Tube Top" (Album: "Cheer Up!")

10. Say something wise.
"Will the Revolution Come?" (Album: "Monkeys for Nothin' and the Chimps for Free")

UPDATE: Here's a little meme and did, so I figger I should do it too...

--

When you break his heart===[Let him know you still love him. He's very forgiving.]

WHEN HE MISSES YOU===[Talk to him a lot. Let him know you're still alive, and that you miss him, too. If he's got his Mac, get a damn webcam!]

When he says its over===[There's still something inside of him telling him it's not.]

When he reposts this bulletin===[Read it, I guess?]

When he walks away from you mad===[Sometimes it's okay to give chase. Other times, it's best to just let him vent it out.]

When he stares at your mouth===[C'mon, ladies. You know this one.]

When he pushes you or hit's you===[I don't hit wimmins.]

When he starts cursing at you===[Don't retaliate and swear back. That usually leads to more problems. He'll calm down soon.]

When he’s quiet===[Try to start a conversation. Who knows? Maybe he'll be interested.]

When he ignores you===[He's probably in a lot of pain or something. Try rubbing his shoulders or something. If he doesn't respond, he's probably liking it. If he tries to pull away, just leave him alone for a bit.]

When he pulls away==[Something is not right.]

When you see him at his worst===[Let him know you still love him. That's usually enough to bring anyone out of the abyss.]

When you see him start crying==[He's probably at rock bottom. Men don't usually cry if they can help it. Try to comfort him i... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19878789/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19878789/ Sun, 10 Aug 2008 12:46:00 PDT
-"Batman: The Ride"
THIS IS NOT THE DARK KNIGHT COASTER. We never got on it due to the extremely long line. Still, this is the world's first inverted coaster, and I think it was faster than Talon at Dorney Park. The thing that really got me was the excellent theming, which made me feel like I was in the first movie.

-"The Great American Scream Machine"
Starting to show its age, but it's a solid coaster. With seven inversions. I thought it was pretty damn fun.

-"Superman: Ultimate Flight:
Waiting an hour and a half in line was worth it. This "flying coaster" really simulated flying, but also felt like a falling dream. Except you're also rising. And you don't wake up when you nearly hit the ground. I also found the restraints quite comfortable, while others have said they were the opposite. Then again, I'm skinny.

-"Kingda Ka"
We got on this thing more than an hour earlier than was advertised. (We got on in 45 minutes as opposed to 2 hours.) Fast, fun, but I wouldn't have waited much longer for it. It's too damn short. And it was rickety. I think I had a mild headache upon exiting the ride. Still, it lives up to the hype, but almost doesn't reach that sky-high peak.

I guess our lack of rides was our own fault. We went on a Saturday in August, and we didn't even ENTER the park until 1:30 in the afternoon. FlashPasses would've been good, too... had they not cost more than the ticket price my brother found. Maybe next time I'll get to ride newer ones like "El Toro" (one that I REALLY wanted to ride, but the line was extremely slow... and I think they were only running one train...) and "The Dark Knight Coaster" (It's the new-for-2008 coaster, and it's indoors, so I figure it was worth a shot. But, the line was slow and the kids annoying.) We were actually going to get on Nitro, but as we were within sight of the stairs leading up to the loading platform, the ride broke down or something... they weren't allowed to disclose information about it to us apparently. Had it not been for that, we would've been on 5 rides yesterday... possibly 6. Ah well.

NOW! On to other matters... I'm thinking of making a little group here on deviantART. Just a group of people who like to make funny things and whatnot. I'm not entirely sure what the SIMILARITY to us all will be (like maybe that we all do Flash cartoons or something...) but I'm sure I'll figure it out. So far, I think and are in, but I want to know if is also down. Anyone else willing to join, let me know.

And we need a name. My suggestion is "The Forces of Evil", but I want to hear other suggestions (whether you're in the group or not.) Until we decide, I'll have a list of possible names at the end of each journal. Here they are, with their creators.

1. "The Forces of Evil"
2. "The Crazy Fucker Project"

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19836183/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19836183/ Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:17:56 PDT , so I guess I'm obligated to do this. Here's DA RULES:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend your cool...
7. When you're finished tag some other people to do it!

Opening credits: "Egonomic"-In Flames (Sure, it's intense...)

Waking Up: "Torn"-Disturbed (Torn... from bed?)

Getting Dressed: "I Wanna Rock"-Twisted Sister (YEAH!!)

First Day of School: "Injection"-Rise Against (I dunno...)

1st Period: "January Friend"-Goo Goo Dolls (I DON'T KNOW...)

Sport: "Still Alive"-Portal (Wow. Just... wow.)

Homework: "Brown Sugar"-Rolling Stones (I dunno...)

Learning a Lesson: "Another Day in Paradise"-Reel Big Fish (I could learn a lesson from this song.)

Graduation: "Drenched in Fear"-In Flames (Quite the contrary.)

Falling In Love: "Cowboys From Hell"-Pantera (I really have the wrong playlist for this, don't I?)

First Kiss: "Boss DJ"-Reel Big Fish (Ugh.)

Fight Song: "Trogdor"-Strong Bad (FUCK YEAR!!)

Break-up Song: "Burnin' For You"-Blue Oyster Cult (I guess this could work...)

Prom: "The Air That I Breathe"-All That Remains (I really don't have the right playlist for this thing.)

Prom Night: "99 Red Balloons"-Goldfinger (I still don't know.)

Sleeping: "Medicine Wheel"-Between the Buried and Me (A somber song. It works!)

Eating: "The Flame of Youth"-DragonForce ('Cause eating is INTENSE!!)

Mental Breakdown: "War of Freedom"-Sectoid (Eh...)

Driving: "Sing Along Forever"-The Bouncing Souls (This was in a Burnout game. It'll work.)

Flashback: "What Drives the Weak"-Shadows Fall (Depending on the flashback, this could work.)

Getting Back Together: "Dizzy"-Goo Goo Dolls (Maybe she still drives me insane?)

Getting Married: "Samurai Struck"-The Surf Coasters (My playlist SUCKS for lovey-dovey stuff.)

Birth Of A Child: "Fields of Despair"-DragonForce (Mitch has left the room.)

Final Battle: "I'm Her Man"-Reel Big Fish (Okay, for all the intense METAL I have on my iTunes... THIS comes up here. Well, it's a song about fighting for a girl, so in the right situation, it could work.)

Death Scene: "Detharmonic"-Dethklok (Despite the lyrics, this works well.)

Funeral Song: "Like the Angel"-Rise Against (It works OK...)

End Credits: "Vacuum"-In Flames (Someone care to explain to me how I managed to begin AND end with an In Flames song?)

And that's it! I tag , , and . And I guess for good measure.

ALSO!! BIG F'IN SHOUT OUT TO , who has a new website: [link] Go there and buy some shit to help support a starving artist! DO IT FAGGOT.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19774048/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19774048/ Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:29:09 PDT 's journal, the second from that of .

SO LET'S GO

Seven things you like the most:
1.
2. Sleep
3. Video games
4. Chocolate
5. FLCL
6. Drawing
7. Roller Coasters

Seven important things in your room:
1. Air
2. Vidya Gaems
3. Bed
4. Toilet
5. 4 HUGE ASS WINDOWS
6. MacBook
7. Picture of

Seven random facts about you:
1. Despite my somewhat anti-social demeanor, I'm enjoying the city life.
2. I'm shaven. ...What? On my face! I got rid of that annoying moustache! What did you THINK I meant?!
3. I have it set so it displays a random wallpaper every time I power on, which means I probably won't submit desktop screenshots very often... especially today. (My wallpaper today is not exactly what you'd call "work safe"...)
4. I dislike most 3-D animation outside of Pixar. "Bee Movie" was okay, though. It mostly stems from having to do it in Digital Mutimedia class. DAMN YOU, 3-D STUDIO MAX!!
5. Even though I'm sure the filters on Photo Booth are whored out a lot, TfHa7Hken4"I'm having a damn fun time with them.
6. There was a stinkbug in my Language of Animation and Film class today, only I noticed it, and I kept watching it, even through our test today. I hate bugs.
7. I eat out a lot more than I should. My money was damn near depleted by the time I got home this weekend. (Don't worry... there was a Voices check waiting for me.)

Seven things you plan to do before you die:
1. Have my own animated series, movie, or comic book series.
2. THREESOME!!
3. Act/voice-act
4. Visit another country... possibly Germany again; shit was pretty cash.
5. Get to realize how much of an idiot he can be. (No offense, Evan.)
6. Be a one-hit wonder. (Music-wise...)
7. Take pictures of all of the Pokemon signs and travel to the Rainbow Cloud to take a great shot of Mew!

Seven things that you find attractive:
1. Chokers. I don't know why, I just do. Especially if it's one of those thin black band ones.
2. Cute face
3. Sense of humor. (Bonus points for nerd humor!)
4. Eyes
5. Smile
6. Body. (You know what I mean.)
7. Um, I guess personality. ...Or butt. Whatever.

Seven things you say the most:
1. "FUCK!"
2. "Oh, fuck me, right?"
3. "What the fuck?!"
4. "Fuck that noise."
5. "Fuck you!"
6. "I'm fuckin' starving."
7. "That's pretty funny."

Seven favorite drinks:
1. Mountain Dew Code Red
2. Vanilla Coke
3. Mountain Dew Voltage
4. Jones Berry Lemonade
5. Cherry Coke
6. Cherry 7-Up
7. Dr. Pepper

AND NOW, ON TO THE NEXT EVENT!!

1. When was the last time you cried?
I don't remember, but it was definitely within the past year...

2. Have you ever faked sick?
Surprisingly, no.

3. What was the last lie you told?
"I don't know." (I mean that's the lie, not that I don't know the answer.)

4. Have you ever cried during a movie?
When I was little, "Pooh's Big Adventure", during the song where he wonders where Christopher Robin went. I'm such a fucking pussy.

5. Who was the last person you couldn't take your eyes off of?


6. Have you ever danced in the rain?
I hate the rain. Why would I be DANCING in it?

7. Have you ever been drunk?
No, but I'm sure I'd be a riot.

8. Have you ever tried... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19625061/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19625061/ Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:39:18 PDT
Round 1: I went up against a lovely girl named Meg. The randomly picked song was "Reptilia", and we had to play on Medium. It was basically a battle of attrition, as neither she nor I were missing any notes. However! I missed a note somewhere around the 1/3 mark of the song. Thankfully for me, when she missed her note, I had gotten a Star Power sequence. It was close, as she and I only missed one note each. I won by 500 points. If I had lost, I'd still have a second chance at Round 2 shortly after. Meg got into Round 2 by this way. Tyler managed to best his opponent, who was quite a funny little kid.

Round 2: Out of sheer luck, I managed to pick "Through the Fire and Flames" out of the bag with the song names. My opponent and I played on Hard. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't keep up score-wise. Tyler eventually lost to who would be my final opponent...

Semi-Final: The three winners of Round 2 were told to pick their own song and have a score-attack. We all agreed it would be more fair to pick one song and see who could get the top score. The top two scorers would move on to the Final. The song picked? "Hier Kommt Alex". The crowd loved my charisma, as I was tapping my foot and head-banging along with the German song. I got the second-highest score, by a wide margin from my last opponent, as well as the other semi-finalist.

Final: Max, my last opponent, and I were now locked in a best-of-3 competition. I picked the first song, "Raining Blood". I suppose I got lucky, since I was able to hit a few key Star Power signatures. I ended up winning the first song. Max then picked "Lay Down", a song he specialized at. He was able to best me by quite a few points. We both agreed on the final song, "Through the Fire and Flames", after a bit of coaxing from me. I somehow managed to beat him at the final song. We went out in style. I'll admit that he was absolutely the better player. I just managed to get a little lucky in terms of Star Power signatures hit. We shook hands and that was it.

So, I won a $100 gift card to F.Y.E., a few movie passes, a Hitman T-shirt, Lord of the Rings Online, and a bunch of small crap. I'll probably see if I can sell back the Online game, myself not being a huge fan of MMORPG's OR Lord of the Rings mythos.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy I won my first official Guitar Hero tournament. I feel bad for Max, though. He was easily better than me, and I feel it's my fault he lost, since I kind of coaxed him into agreeing on DragonForce. Ah, well. What's done is done.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19577530/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19577530/ Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:51:50 PDT
He pitched his CD to us in rap form, and the rhymes he spat, oh, they were delicious. Yet, neither of us had our wallets, so alas, poor Apple Martini was left hanging. I felt like a dick.

Anyway, I ended up getting my printer, so I'l actually be able to scan stuff for you guys soon. Naturally, they neglected to include a USB cable (the same with Tyler's; I got the same printer as him), so I'm off to Radio Shack tomorrow to pick one up. New art is on the way! I can't wait to share some new pages from my sketchbook with you all!

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19473359/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19473359/ Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:52:29 PDT
Excited for 1:1 sword-fighting in the new Wii Sports,
-Mitch

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19393407/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19393407/ Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:22:06 PDT
Cool. Version 6, huh? I'm diggin' it. Anyway, I have been moved into Philly for almost a week, now. Our apartment is located just off of Chestnut street, and only a handful of blocks to Broad Street, or the "Avenue of the Arts"! There's a huge F.Y.E. store on the corner of the two aforementioned streets, as well as a Borders. We were pretty distressed about not finding an E.B. Games or Gamestop, until stumbling upon BOTH in the SAME MALL. Weird. We also have a Dunkin' Donuts right across the street... even though there are Dunkin' Donuts on every FUCKING BLOCK of this city! John Goodman must stay here a lot. Get it? 'Cause he does the commer...cials...? Eh. Whatever. We're also a hop and a skip away from City Hall and Love Park.

The apartment is unfortunately a one-roomer, with two beds next to the windows and the kitchen stuff along the opposite wall. Things are a LITTLE cramped, to say the least. Still, we're making it work. We even got my bro Alan's 27" TV, straight from his house near Temple. (Thanks, Al!)

We passed the time on our weekend off by playing Resident Evil 4 for the Wii, Persona 3 for the PS2, (I played, Tyler watched,) and getting acclimated to the city. We got our internet to work today, after many trials and tribulations. It's a Wi-Fi signal through Tyler's Time Capsule, but we only got 1 IP Address, so we can only use one internet-capable device at a time. (Ex. We can't be online on Tyler's MacBook Pro and the Wii at the same time.) We're trying to resolve this problem, but if we can't, we're just going to have to piggy-back between wireless devices, which should prove to be a... moderate hurdle.

I also got my iPod Touch, loaded up with my music, as well as some of Tyler's (like Disturbed's new album). I have yet to get my MacBook, but I think it might have already arrived (since I got my Touch the day before they notified me.) I'll have to check by the building where they deliver our packages later.

The only brutal part about the experience is my schedule. I have to be AT CLASS before 7:35 AM on Mondays AND Tuesdays. (Guess I'll have to stock up on Monster...) At least my first class on Wednesday doesn't start 'til 12:30 in the afternoon, so can sleep in that day. I gotta get to class by 8 am on Thursday, but the class only goes 'til 10 am, and I have Fridays off. I feel bad for Tyler, though. His class today didn't start 'til 12:30, (his first class is the same as my second...), and his second class goes from 5:30 pm to 10. PM. Seriously. That sucks. He'll have to grab dinner on break! Thankfully, classes weren't as long as advertised today, (first class, after all), and they were interesting, to say the least. One has us watching films and animations and discussing them, and the other is a basic Graphic Design class. I'll learn more hands-on animation stuff soon.

The only problem is my tablet. It's a serial model, and the MacBooks don't have that kind of port, so I'll have to hunt down the adapter for it, soon. I don't have to worry about Flash (in my apartment, anyway) until early August. I promise, I'll get more *HYPERANIMATION! out soon.

Anyway, my college adventure has been fun and exciting so far; let's hope it stays that way!

Wondering if he'll find it too quiet when he's sleeping back at home,
-Mitch

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19276862/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19276862/ Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:45:52 PDT
The bad news? Adobe Creative Suite is on back-order, so it's coming a few weeks later. (2 or 3 weeks.) So, don't expect any new animations (or the start of *HYPERANIMATION! Episode 2) once I go off to college, unless I obsessively use their labs for a few weeks. At least now I don't have to worry about pirating Flash.

I can also get my tablet to work on the thing apparently, with a small adapter. (It's a serial tablet, not a USB...)

In terms of new animations within the next two days, I'm making one more short one which will be put on here separately, then 5 of them, (Mitch and Mike Show Eps. 1 and 2, Crazy Rory, The Drunk Witness, and the new one "Abduction"), will be put into a little collaboration and thrown on Newgrounds and YouTube. I guess I'll call it "Nibbles".
(It's a working title.)

I also finally picked up "Persona 3: FES" Good game if you like JRPG's.

Anyway, I owe this thing, so here it is.

Leave a comment and I will:

a) tell you why I friended you,
b) associate you with something - fandom, a song, a colour, a photo, etc.,
c) tell you something I like about you,
d) tell you a memory I have of you,
e) ask something I've always wanted to know about you,
f) tell you my favorite user pic of yours,
g) in return, you must post this in your journal

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19163640/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19163640/ Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:56:16 PDT [link]
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Square-Enix?
Nintendo DS?
Clocks everywhere?
Where do I recognize that tick-tock sound effect from?
What could it possibl-

...Chrono Trigger.

I'll be back later, I just need to change my pants because I just SHAT BRICKS!!

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19134798/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19134798/ Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:57:09 PDT
But, I've decided I'll start posting more reviews on here. So, here are two for you: "Wall-E" and "The World Ends With You"

-

Review: "Wall-E"

This is the first non-Brad-Bird Pixar flick to get it right since a while back... probably back to "Finding Nemo" or "Monsters Inc.", whichever came first. (I never did see "Cars"...)

The movie is essentially a robot love story, with the titular character doing his job on Earth (making trash cubes), when a sleek, shiny robot named Eve comes down to the forgotten planet via spaceship and starts scanning for a certain something. Wall-E soon falls in love with her, and follows her into deep space after presenting her with the item she's looking for. He continues to pursue her through a Space-cruise that's been going on for far too long, and is the tip of a much deeper plot.

The worlds presented are both very vibrant and realistic. 2700 AD Earth is covered in mostly brown hues, while the Axiom, the Space-cruise, is colorful as can be, with bright lights and newer technology.

Even though they have virtually no dialogue, the robots are extremely expressive, in the ways that Charlie Chaplin and Mr. Bean are.

As for the other characters, they don't get to talk much either, only because they aren't on camera as much. In fact, Fred Willard appears as the CEO of a Wal-Mart-esque company called "Buy N Large", in live-action, too. He only appears on video screens or photos, but it's a similar effect to when they used real actors in "Happy Feet".

Overall, the story is deeper than it looks, and is revealed in layers, with just the right timing. The acting, computer-generated or otherwise, is great, and the graphics are beautiful. It's another great Pixar movie, and one that shouldn't be missed.

-
Score: 10/10
-

Review: "The World Ends With You"

I forget where I first head about this one. It was either the contest they held here on dA, or somewhere else, but by the time I'd heard about it, it was less than a week until its release.

"TWEWY" is developed by Square-Enix and Jupiter, the same team that brought us "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories" on the GBA a few years back. Heck, the game itself was designed by the "Kingdom Hearts" team.

The story goes something like this: Neku is an emo sociopath who, one day, wakes up in the middle of the scramble crossing in Shibuya, with a strange skull pin and the ability to read peoples' thoughts. He then recieves a text message proclaiming that he needs to get to the 104 building within 60 minutes or "face erasure", signed by "The Reapers". Malicious demon animals called Noise start attacking him until he makes a pact with a stranger named Shiki, who helps Neku fight off the Noise. Neku has to put his distaste for others to the side if he plans to survive the seven-day "Reaper's Game".

The gameplay is the first thing that one will notice playing "TWEWY". It shares many similarities with the aforementioned Kingdom Hearts GBA spin-off, but there's one major new mechanic: you fight using both screens at the same time. Using the stylus to control Neku and the D-Pad to control his partner may sound daunting at first, and it is. Thankfully, the game eases you into it with various tutorials.

Combat revolves around pins, much like "KH:CoM"'s cards. Each of the 300 plus pins in the game has a "psych", and a stylus movement to activate it. It can get a little confusing later on, as Neku can have up to six pins equipped at a time, and many pins have the same stylus command. It's all about equipping the right pins for the occasion.

Other interesting gameplay mechanics are evolving pins into new ones, a food system which helps up your stats, a clothing system, and a brand system that makes the top brand of clothing or pin in the area stronger, while reducing the power of the lowest-popular brand.

The graphics are okay for a DS game. They're very sprite-based, with a bit of 3-D thrown into the backgrounds. All of the areas of the virtual Shibuya look pretty faithful to their real-life counterparts.

The music is great. This is one game where you'll want to plug some headphones in and jam. The playlist is very diverse, with tracks ranging from rock to rap to pop. The playlist also seems to change depending on which partner you have. And, did I mention you can change the menu music to any song you bought in an in-game store?

As for the game's flaws, it's reletively short for a JRPG... around 20 hours before you beat the final boss. Thankfully, you can go back to any chapter and complete objectives to obtain... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19117326/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/19117326/ Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:14:45 PDT
Somehow, just now, I was able to log into dA, after not being able to for almost two months.

Knowing my computer, this will all change when I log off. So, in case it DOES, let me do some announcin'.

*HYPERANIMATION! Episode 1 got me 500 buckaroos at the PA High School Computer Fair. I'm getting a MacBook for college.

Speaking of which, I leave for Philly on July 10th. My classes start July 14th. I will start work on *HYPERANIMATION! Episode 2 when I get there, with my new Wacom tablet I got from my uncle.

I won the Best Actor award somehow, at the 4500 Digital Video Competition. It was a contest where we had just one weekend to write, shoot and edit a short film. My future roomie edited the majority of it, and did all of the special effects. Here is the fruit of our labor:
[link]


I deleted pretty much all of the messages and deviations I had stacked up in my absence. No biggie.

Hope I can still log in tomorrow!!

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17876411/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17876411/ Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:11:17 PDT
I'm currently typing this at school. Somehow, I hacked my way into my account, even though the site is blocked. (Probably since there is no "www" before the "deviantART", and they block it by that. I can probably keep doing this for a bit, as well as go to Evan or 's house.

There's a bit of speculation as to what exactly has plagued my computer. It could be a simple problem with my cookies, or it could be some weird virus.

Anyway, no one really seems to know exactly what it is, and no one anywhere is able to help me (or, in the case of a certain image board, WON'T help me... okay, they helped me a little...) at all. If all else fails, I'll simply re-format my computer and re-install Windows, hopefully getting rid of this problem.

So, I probably won't be able to contact you people for some time now. And that sucks. But, I'm trying to solve the problem.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17818417/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17818417/ Sat, 12 Apr 2008 17:34:57 PDT
My piece-of-shit DSL box likes to lose the connection, preferably when I'm doing something important or when myself or someone else enters the room (because it actually has a mind of its own.)

So, it happens one night, and I turn it off and back on like I always do. Without reloading the page, I found that I was logged off of this great website, without having clicked the Log Out button. I dismissed this as nothing.

What a FOOL I was! I went to the computer the following day, only to find that I lacked the ability to log into any websites at all. It would just reload the page, and the login forms would be blank again. FUN. SHIT.

Some websites, such as Newgrounds and GameTrailers, allowed me to log in at the front page, but clicking another link logged me out again.

However, when Newgrounds did, one day, let me log in, I could finally log into other websites.

Then, one day, I couldn't get on Newgrounds. I emptied the caché, and I could again.

So, here's how it goes:
Step 1: Try to log into Newgrounds and click another link.
Step 2: If step 1 fails, reset my Safari browser.
Step 3: If step 2 fails, ???. But, it should work now.
Step 4: Log into other websites as I would if my computer WASN'T A PIECE OF SHIT.

So, I might not be able to talk to you guys as often as I could, since the computer is sentient, and is bent on destroying my happiness. Soon, it will discover that I have found ways to log into the websites I enjoy browsing. And when that happens... I'll just call Verizon or something.

Just giving you guys the heads-up. YOUR COMPUTERS WILL WANT TO KILL YOU. AND IN SEVERAL YEARS, THEIR GRANDCHILDREN WILL BE ABLE TO. (ROBOTS.)

One last note: I'm entered with some friends in the 4500 Digital Video Competition, where we have this whole weekend to write, shoot, edit a short movie. I might be able to put it on YouTube. If I can, I'll link it here.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17589756/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17589756/ Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:46:10 PDT
]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17530236/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17530236/ Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:16:08 PDT




Ready?





I WAS THE ONLY CONTENDER IN MY CATEGORY.

Yeah, the other guy for the other animation that was entered never showed up, so I won by default. Anyway, the judge really liked Episode 1, and I think I'm a-shooin' to win at the State-wide competition in May. We'll soon see, I guess.

Anyway, glad you all liked it. In fact, I think it's gonna get front page on Newgrounds.

One can only hope...

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17500300/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17500300/ Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:52:24 PDT Complete!
-Voice Acting: Complete!
-Animation:
*Scene 1: Complete!
*Scene 2: Complete!
*Scene 3: Complete!
*Scene 4: Complete!
*Scene 5: Complete!
*Scene 6: Complete!
-Menus: Getting there...

There. The cartoon itself is done. The whole finished product (menus and stuff) will be posted tomorrow, I promise.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17449270/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17449270/ Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:38:37 PDT Complete!
-Voice Acting: Complete!
-Animation:
*Scene 1: Complete!
*Scene 2: Complete!
*Scene 3: Complete!
*Scene 4: Complete!
*Scene 5: Complete!
*Scene 6: Not yet started...
-Menus: Getting there...

Suck it. I pulled an all-dayer and got it done between Good Friday mass and other errands.

As for how much time I have left, I'll be gone virtually all of tomorrow (Saturday) and Easter Sunday, getting back probably Sunday night. So, there's a good chance I won't be getting this thing worked-on over the weekend.

Thankfully, Scene six is SHORT. Also, it's pretty much a straight-up dialogue scene with only one shot change, so it should be easy to manage. Then, I just gotta fix up the credits, menus, etc, and it's ready to go. I have all day Monday (half of which will probably be spent sleeping) and Tuesday at school. Wednesday is the Computer Fair.

In other news, I visited Philly yesterday to check out the University of the Arts and the Art Institute. Both have devastating tuitions, but AiPH seems to have more technology, and more of what I'm looking for.

While there, I picked up Jam Sessions for the DS. It's pretty fun, but not so much a game. More like a music tool for your DS. It turns your DS into a pocket guitar, where you strum using the touch screen, and pick chords with the D-pad. I recommend it to all wannabe troubadours.

I'm also getting the hang of driving, too. (I know, 18 and I JUST got my permit. Sad stuff.) But, anyway. I'll be on the road soon enough, I guess.

So, Happy Easter, since I won't be back 'til Sunday evening.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17366426/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17366426/ Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:19:35 PDT
-Storyboarding and Script: Complete!
-Voice Acting: Complete!
-Animation:
*Scene 1: Complete!
*Scene 2: Complete!
*Scene 3: Complete!
*Scene 4: Complete!
*Scene 5: Not yet started...
*Scene 6: Not yet started...

So, ten days to get this sucker done. Worst part is: Scene 5 is gonna be the longest, so I can no longer dilly-daddle. But, working on it hard enough, I should have no problem gettin' this shit done.

(I spent the weekend unlocking all of the characters in Brawl, so I guess that was a bad decision. But, Sonic rules, even if it's very hard to KO anyone with him.)

See you in ten days! Time to hibernate with my cartoon, so it shall emerge complete!

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17292035/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17292035/ Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:04:04 PDT
MODES:
-Classic is still good old fun
-Subspace Emissary is surprisingly fun, even if I'm only 10% done with it.

CHARACTERS:
-Pit is easily my new favorite. His agility and combos suit my playing style.
-Meta Knight plays a lot like Pit... and like a less-cheap Kirby. In fact, one might call him Pit with better special moves.
-Pokémon Trainer is... interesting. Three different characters: Squirtle (much like Pikachu, short and fast), Ivysaur (like a four-legged Mario), and Charizard (slow but powerful, like Bowser.
-Snake is VERY different, but has potential.
-Zero Suit Samus is Samus, but faster and without projectiles. Oh, and a whip. Yeaaah.
-Ice Climbers still suck.

NEW FEATURES:
-Taking pictures through the pause screen RULES.
-Coin Shooter is more fun than Melee's lottery, but harder.
-Final Smashes are powerful, but not enough to make or break a match... all the time, at least.
-The Smart Bomb rules if you don't blow yourself up, too.

Overall, the game is great. Tons and TONS of new content, as well as old stuff we still like. Multiplayer is as fun as ever. Haven't tried online yet, seeing as how my WiFi Connector likes to be a bitch. Can't wait to see how others like Lucario and Sonic play. Expect a full review when I've had more time with the game.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17216114/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17216114/ Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:56:08 PST Complete!
-Voice Acting: Complete!
-Animation:
*Scene 1: Complete!
*Scene 2: Complete!
*Scene 3: Complete!
*Scene 4: Not yet started...
*Scene 5: Not yet started...
*Scene 6: Not yet started...

Whoo!! Finally made some headway and finished Scene 3... which should NOT have taken as long as it did. And, apparantly, the due date is now March 26th, so I got me some free time again.

Scene 4 is just a short dialogue scene, so I shouldn't have any problems there. But, I'm going to see Children of Eden at my school tomorrow with Paige, so I probably won't get anything done tomorrow night.

And, come Sunday, I will never get any work done ever again. You should know damn well what I'm talking about.

And now, a meme taken from .

1. What should we call you?
Mitch. I don't like "Mitchell" as much...

2. Have you ever showered with someone?
I'm not going to lie. Once.

3. Do you still talk to the person you fell hardest for?
Yeah.

5. Yay, you got a free holiday, South America or North Korea?
Europe.

6. Does a kiss make you feel better when you're angry?
I wouldn't know. I've never kissed a girl when I was angry.

7. Right now do you prefer a Strawberry Milkshake or a Banana Cupcake?
Milkshake!

8. Is your phone within a meter radius of you?
Yes, but it doesn't work.

9. Wait, are you a male or a female?
Male.

10. What are you wearing right now?
A t-shirt and PJ pants. Who wants to know, sexy?

11. What color is the thing you are sitting on right now?
Blue.

12. Are you doing this just because you're bored?
Kinda.

13. What is bothering you right now?
Getting *HYPERANIMATION! done.

15. Was last New Year's Eve enjoyable?
Hm. A night of playing FFXII instead of partying... NOT ENJOYABLE.

16. I'll bet you miss someone right now?
Yep.

17. And where might they be?
Dunno.

18. Can you type over 60 words per minute?
Maybe.

19. Are you high?
No.

20. McDonalds or KFC?
Burger King.

21. Donut King or Wendys?
Wendy's, never even heard of Donut King.

22. Target or Walmart?
Target. Wal-Mart's too ghetto.

26. Would you ever become a vegetarian or even vegan?
No. Meat rules.

27. Where are you right now?
Home.

28. What is your desktop picture?
Me colored on a black adn white picture.

29. Can you swim well?
Yes, very.

30. Do you shop for clothes?
Not often.

31. Where do you think your best friend is right now????
At home.

32. And what are they doing?
Sleeping.

33. Do you believe in ghosts?
Sometimes.

34. Would you rather go to Tokyo or Paris?
Tokyo.

35. How about Melbourne or Rome?.
Rome.

36. Do you have a guitar in your house?
I wish.

37. Are you listening to music right now?
No.

38. Who else is in the room with you?
Nobody.

39. In winter, would you rather wear jackets or hoodies?
Jacket with hood.

40. Do you wish you were somewhere else right now?
Often.

41. How often do you get onto myspace/facebook?
Former sometimes, latter everyday.

42. How long can you go without your mobile phone?
Depends on what my friends are doing.

43. Do you have any enemies?
Plenty.

44. What are you doing?
Taking this damn survey.

46. How much cash is in your wallet?
'Bout $35.

47. Ever kissed a person who's name started with A?
Nope.

48. Who last called you babe/baby?
Um...

49. What last made you sad?
The video of the marines kicking the puppy.

50. Would you be able to date someone who had a kid with someone else?
I... dunno...

51. Is the person you last kissed younger than you?
I think...

52. Do you know anyone called Trucy?
What the hell kind of name is Trucy?

53. Spoon or fork?
Fork.

54.Where did you last sleep other then your house?
Campout.

55. What’s the best way to say I love you?
From the bottom of your heart to the tips of your toes.

56. What’s the worst way to say I love you?
I love you so much I want to drink your blood.

57. Are you afraid of anyone hearing you pee?
No. I shoot it like a ROCKET.

58. If you were to change sexual p... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17080381/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17080381/ Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:15:23 PST
]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17062839/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17062839/ Mon, 25 Feb 2008 18:16:00 PST
This'd be okay, but if there's one thing I hate... hate, hate, HATE... it's doing comics/animation over that I already did. I feel it's the biggest waste of time ever. But, them's the brakes.

-Storyboarding and Script: Complete!
-Voice Acting: Complete!
-Animation:
*Scene 1: Must restart...
*Scene 2: Complete!
*Scene 3: Not yet started...
*Scene 4: Not yet started...
*Scene 5: Not yet started...
*Scene 6: Not yet started...

We're back down to like... 20% done. Jeez.

Also, I haven't been lazy about the "Listening To" in my Journals. I have been listening to that song so much over the past few days. It is THAT good. Seriously. Download the song or buy the album ("Reroute to Remain").

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17049591/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17049591/ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:38:03 PST
-Storyboarding and Script: Complete!
-Voice Acting: Complete!
-Animation:
*Scene 1: Complete!
*Scene 2: Complete!
*Scene 3: Not yet started...
*Scene 4: Not yet started...
*Scene 5: Not yet started...
*Scene 6: Not yet started...

I wanna say... 36% done?

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17041251/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17041251/ Sun, 24 Feb 2008 12:00:25 PST , as a break from all of this *HYPERANIMATION! stuff.

Rules
1) Answer the questions below
2) Take each answer and type it into dA search box
3) Take a deviation from the first page of results (may use ' popular' or 'newest' ) and post thumb (for subscribers) or link (non-subscribers)
4) You can't copy the persons answers who posted this before you

1. The age you will be on your next birthday: 19 [link]

2. A place you'd like to travel: Germany (again) [link]

3. Your favorite place: The Beach [link]

4. Your favorite object: Wii [link]

5. Favorite food: Pizza [link]

6. Your favorite animal: Dog [link]

7. Your favorite color: Red [link]

8. The town/state/etc in which you live: Reading, PA (I actually live right outside the city in Sinking Spring... but that didn't get any results.) [link]

9. Name of past pet: Carter (cat, since 2001) [link] (Whaddayaknow! I found my sister's picture of 'im!)

10. Your nickname/screen name: Aforextreme [link]

11. Middle name: James [link]

12. Favorite smell: Chocolate [link]

13. Bad habit of yours: Talking to myself [link]

14. Your first job: Voices Newspaper [link]

15. Favourite Movie: Princess Mononoke [link]

16. What are you doing right now?: Working on Flash [link]

17. Whats The Weather Like?: Sunny [link]

18. Favourite Sport: Basketball [link]

19. Favourite Music/Style/Band: Reel Big Fish [link]

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17030611/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17030611/ Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:49:30 PST
-Storyboarding and Script: Complete!
-Voice Acting: Complete!
-Animation:
*Scene 1: Complete!
*Scene 2: Done... in a nutshell.
*Scene 3: Not yet started...
*Scene 4: Not yet started...
*Scene 5: Not yet started...
*Scene 6: Not yet started...

Maybe 33% done?

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17014767/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/17014767/ Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:52:13 PST
-Storyboarding and Script: Complete!
-Voice Acting: Complete!
-Animation:
*Scene 1: Complete!
*Scene 2: Almost done...
*Scene 3: Not yet started...
*Scene 4: Not yet started...
*Scene 5: Not yet started...
*Scene 6: Not yet started...

Maybe 33% done?

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16998712/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16998712/ Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:52:22 PST
Tomorrow, I'll post the first batch of W.I.P. screenshots here, one for each scene.

-Storyboarding and Script: Complete!
-Voice Acting: Complete!
-Animation:
*Scene 1: Complete!
*Scene 2: Gettin' there...
*Scene 3: Not yet started...
*Scene 4: Not yet started...
*Scene 5: Not yet started...
*Scene 6: Not yet started...

Maybe 30% done?

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16984792/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16984792/ Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:53:18 PST
-Storyboarding and Script: Complete!
-Voice Acting: Complete!
-Animation:
*Scene 1: Complete!
*Scene 2: Not yet started...
*Scene 3: Not yet started...
*Scene 4: Not yet started...
*Scene 5: Not yet started...
*Scene 6: Not yet started...

I plan to finish Scene 2 tomorrow. Also, thanks for 9,000 pageviews!

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16968003/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16968003/ Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:20:34 PST
So, because of this, the lil' Flash I've been working on for the past week and a half is temporarily postponed, as are "I Hate Mondays" and "Playing with Fire". (Neither of which have gotten much work done in the past few weeks anyway.)

I'll keep you all posted on my progress, day by day, until the completion and release of the "clean" version of the episode. (The other version has a few things not "suitable for the Computer Fair", I'm sure... you'll see when that version gets done. (If at all.))

So, here's my progress for Day 1!

-Storyboarding and Script: Complete!
-Voice Acting: Complete!
-Animation:
*Scene 1: Almost done!
*Scene 2: Not yet started...
*Scene 3: Not yet started...
*Scene 4: Not yet started...
*Scene 5: Not yet started...
*Scene 6: Not yet started...

Roughly 10% done...

And finally, if you must know, I will be updating this as a new journal DAILY (for posterity), so I hope I don't flood anyone's inboxes!

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16885157/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16885157/ Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:14:43 PST
The episode will be a dumbed-down version (with less bad stuff) for the Fair, and the version that goes up on here will be the original.

Voice-acting starts tomorrow! If all goes well, I should have it done be March at the earliest!

Of course, I have that OTHER Flash I'm busy working on, that I expect to be done possibly by next week...

Oh, and a Happy Valentine's Day to all of you who can actually get dates...

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16773011/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16773011/ Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:40:58 PST
[link]

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16600461/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16600461/ Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:16:03 PST
1.) Put your iTunes, WMP, whatever on random.
2.) Post the first line from each of the first 25 songs, no matter how embarrassing.
3.) Bold out a song when someone guesses correctly.
4.) Don't cheat and look the lines up on Google.

Here we go!

1.) Is this the point where we give up? Now, is this the point where we give in?
Answer: "Halfway There" by Rise Against

2.) Dear diary... Mood: Apathetic.
Answer: "I Must Be Emo" by Hollywood Undead

3.) What have we done with innocence? It disappeared with time and never made much sense.
Guessed first by
Answer: "Monkey Wrench" by Foo Fighters

4.) Smashing through the boundaries... storming through the burning fields...
Guessed by
Answer: "Operation Ground and Pound" by Dragonforce

5.) I always believed in futures... I hoped for better in November.
Answer: "Futures" by Jimmy Eat World

6.) I am really special 'cause there's only one of me.
Guessed by
Answer: "Happy" by Liam Lynch

7.) Warm yourself by the fire, son, and the morning will come soon.
Answer: "Prayer of the Refugee" by Rise Against

8.) The world is spinning too fast, I'm buying lead Nike shoes to keep myself tethered to the days I try to lose.
Answer: "19-2000" by Gorillaz

9.) Let his flesh not be torn, let his blood leave no stain.
Answer: "No Good Deed" from Wicked

10.) When I'm in the pit, I'm gonna punch and kick.
Answer: "Thank You For Not Moshing" by Reel Big Fish

11.) Magic for me. Magic make no sound.
Answer: "5/4" by Gorillaz

12.) Wake up, Mrs. Toadstool. It is I, your one and only King... Bowser Koopa.
Guessed by
Answer: "Ignorance is Bliss" by Jellyfish

13.) I've been drivin' all night, my hand's wet on the wheel.
Guessed by
Answer: "Radar Love" cover by White Lion

14.) I can't get no... satisfaction.
Guessed by
Answer: "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones

15.) Slow down. You've got to slow down and take it easy.
Answer: "Slow Down" by Reel Big Fish

16.) You're 17... evil and mean.
Answer: "Ban the Tube Top" by Reel Big Fish

17.) Summer don't know me no more... he got mad... tiresome.
Answer: "El Manana" by Gorillaz

18.) Flying over darkened skies the battle will call, distant angels crying in the eye of the storm.
Guessed by
Answer: "Revolution Deathsquad" by Dragonforce

19.) The basement scene is dark and dusty... the musty smell, stale air.
Answer: "Less Talk More Rokk" by Freezepop

20.) Simply because you can breathe doesn't mean you're alive, or that you really live.
Guessed by
Answer: "Black Masks and Gasoline" by Rise Against

21.) There's a little girl on my mind.
Answer: "Why Do All Girls Think They're Fat?" by Reel Big Fish

22.) There's a new bomb that's goin' around, gonna blast shockwaves all over your town.
Answer: "2-Tone Army" by The Toasters (Also known as... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16566650/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16566650/ Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:33:24 PST
Also, new video, expecting to be done by next week. Flash artists are going to love this one.

]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16512936/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16512936/ Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:43:41 PST Age: 18.
Height: 5'9”.
Natural hair color: Blonde.
Eye color: Brown.
Skin color: Caucasiony.
Glasses/contacts?: Glasses.
Piercings: No.
Tattoos: No.
Braces: No.
Mannerisms: "That's hardcore".
Other distinctive markings: Do you feel an increasingly large power level? That's me approaching.

FAVORITE
Color: Red.
Band: Reel Big Fish.
Video game: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Movie: Superbad.
Book: Eh.
Food: Pizza.
Game on a cell phone: No one plays mobile games. So, I'm listing my favorite iPod game: Phase!
CD: Reel Big Fish "Cheer Up!"
Flower: What am I, gay?
Scent: Weird question.
Animal: Dog.
Comic book: Either Yu-Gi-Oh! (original, not Duel Monsters), Azumanga Daioh, or Shaman King.
Cereal: Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Website: deviantART or Facebook.
Cartoon: FLCL.

DO YOU
Play an instrument?: Used to play violin.
Watch TV more than 60 hours a week?: Umm...
Like to sing?: In the shower and alone.
Have a job?: Voices (teen supplement to Reading Eagle).
Have a cell phone?: Yes, who doesn't?
Like to play sports?: Kind of...
Have a boyfriend/girlfriend?: No.
Have a crush on someone?: Yeah. Two people, actually.
Live somewhere NOT in the united states?: No.
Have more than 5 TVs in your house?: No, that's insane.
Have any special talents/skills?: I can cross one eye...?
Exercise daily?: No, but once or twice a week.
Like school?: Not particularly...

CAN YOU
Sing the alphabet backwards?: No, that's dumb.
Stand on your tip toes without wearing shoes?: How coordinated do you think I am?
Speak any other languages?: German.
Go a day without food?: Nope.
Remember your dreams: Often.
Read music, not just tabs?: Kind of.
Roll your tongue?: Yup!
Eat a whole pizza?: Not a WHOLE pizza...

HAVE YOU EVER
Won something in the lottery?: Nope.
Snuck out of the house?: Once.
Lied to get out of trouble?: Who hasn't?
Had a computer crash?: Every day, pretty much.
Gotten lost in your city?: Not exactly.
Seen a shooting star?: Once, I think...
Been to any other countries?: Germany. AWESOME trip.
Had a serious surgery?: 5 stitches on my forehead. That story is for another day.
Stolen something important to someone else?: No.
Solved a Rubik's cube?: Yes, with the help booklet that came included.
Gone out in public in your pajamas?: Yeah, one time.
Cried over a girl?: Yes.
Cried over a boy?: I don't think so...
Kissed a random stranger?: Pervert.
Hugged a random stranger?: Yeah, and then he stabbed me. Just kidding. No.
Been in a fist fight?: Maybe once or twice.
Been arrested?: Nope.
Done drugs?: No. Don't plan to, either.
Had alcohol?: In church.
Laughed and had milk come out of your nose?: I don't think I or my friends have ever had that happen to us.
Pushed all the buttons on an elevator?: No, but I WANT TO!
Sneaked into the opposite sex's bathroom?: Yeah, when no one was in there.
Gone to school only to find you had the day off because of a holiday/etc?: You kidding me? I look forward to the days I have off!
Swore at your parents?: Yeah, a few times.
Kicked a guy where it hurts?: Once or twice, but it was last-resort. I'm no cheapo.
Been to a casino?: Yeah, at Fantasy Island, LBI, New Jersey.
Ran over an animal and killed it?: No.
Broken a bone?: Yeah, thumb.
Gotten stitches?: 5 stitches on my head... Okay, here's the story. I was three, (yes, three), and at the pool. Some asswipe kid decides he's going to have a pool toy fight with me. BAM! Gushing blood an' shit.
Had a water balloon fight in winter?: No, but interesting.
Made homemade muffins?: My mom did...
Bitten someone?: A few times. :grin:
Been to Disneyland/Disney World?: Once.
Burped in someone’s face?: No, actually.

WHEN'S THE LAST TIME YOU
Brushed your teeth: This morning.
Cried: Hm...
Went to the bathroom: A few minutes ago.
Saw a movie in a theatre: Yesterday, "Cloverfield". And it ruled.
Read a book: Uh...
Had a snow day: Last year. Maybe one this year.
Had a party: January 11th, 2008. My 18th birthday party at The Works.
Went to a doctor: About a month ago.
Tripped in front of someone: A few weeks ago on the stairs at school.
Went to the grocery store: I forget.
Got sick: Last year.
Got cursed: When I pissed off that shaman. No, just kidding. Never.
Called someone: Yesterday, Derek called me about going to The Work... ]]> ~Aforextreme http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16419825/ http://Aforextreme.deviantart.com/journal/16419825/ Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:43:29 PST
[link]

(Because I know you all have nothing better to do than watch my frail attempts at cinema.)

]]> ~Aforextreme