Monterey Trip

Those of you who read my last post know that I went to Monterey, California with my girlfriend over this last weekend. We had a blast. Here are some of the pictures I took while we were there.

I earned the gold metal in a kids game at the aquarium. :3

Best Restaurant Owner ever.

This was an awesome penguin.

If I see that freaking fish one more time...

-_-

Hello Seattle, I am an Albatross... made of spoons.

Can you find the bird hidden in this photo?

Save some fish. Feed me butts.

Crooked tree.

Creepy Plaque.

And here's some scenery.

Going on Vacation

Hello all. Just letting you guys know I'll be on vacation until the 27th, so you won't be hearing from me for a few days. My girlfriend and I are going to Monterey, California.

It should be a blast. We've been looking forward to this for months now. Anyway, I'll be sure to let you guys know how it went when I get back. Alright, Content Hedgehog, out.

And Content Hedgehog's #1 video game of all time is...

#1: Kingdom Hearts II

And thus the true weeaboo in me comes out. Some people couldn't stand this game. Said it was too much teenage angst and not enough Disney magic, as opposed to the first game which was more Disney-oriented. Some can't even stand the franchise - I mean who cares about that big-eyed kiddy Japanese sh*t, amirite?

Well, I do. This game was amazing. From the catchy opening song (admittedly not as catchy as Simple and Clean), to the exhilarating final battle, this game had it all. The gameplay was fast and exciting. The graphics were extremely good for a PS2 game, flashy and eye-grabbing. The music was all amazing, with several outstanding renditions of classic Disney songs, as well as some wonderful new tracks by video game composer Yoko Shimomura.



Kingdom Hearts II is my favorite video game of all time, and I'm anxiously looking forward to future titles in the series.

Content Hedgehog's Top 5 Video Games of All Time

#2: Sonic Unleashed
(Only the 360/PS3 version, the Wii/PS2 version sucked)

I'm Content Hedgehog. You knew there was going to be a Sonic game on here somewhere. And at the risk of sounding like too much of a fanboy, I decided to limit it down to only picking one game from the series for my top 5. Now for those of you that are actually into Sonic games, I'm probably going to get a lot of crap for this, but I actually prefer the later titles in the series. The earlier games were fun, but with the technological limitations of the time period, I just can't say there was anything amazing about them.

Now when the Dreamcast came along, things were different. You could finally be a part of Sonic's world in a full-blown 3D adventure. There were some parts in the Sonic Adventure games that were just plain awesome, namely the intro stage along with the cheesy dialogue in SA2. The Sonic and Shadow levels in SA2 were amazing. Same goes for the Sonic and Tails levels in SA1. But unfortunately, these games were also bogged down by graphical limitations and other annoying gameplay styles.


But this post isn't about the Sonic Adventure games. This post is about Sonic Unleashed, the generally poorly received second Sonic title in HD after Sonic 06. While I can see many of the points the reviewers bring up, everyone can agree on one thing - the daytime levels in this game were awesome. The game was split into two parts, levels that took place during the day where you ran around as Sonic, and levels that took place at night, where you played as Sonic as a "werehog," crawling around beating up enemies.

The night-time stages were terrible. But the day-time stages... They blew my mind. The amount of graphical detail that went into these levels is incredible. I could play any one of these levels over and over again and never get tired of it. Take a look at a run-through of the ice themed level for example:



The speed... the intensity... the music... the atmosphere... Everything about this level is incredible. Although to be fair, I suppose you have to be into this sort of thing to really appreciate it. The only thing bad about this game was, again, the werehog levels, which is why it is only #2 on the list...

Content Hedgehog's Top 5 Video Games of All Time

#3: Tales of the Abyss

Tales of the Abyss is a part of the "Tales" video game series. The best in the series in my opinion. At least out of the titles released in the US. Unfortunately a bunch of the titles don't make it out of Japan, and the last one that did I wasn't able to play because I don't have an Xbox. But I digress, Tales of the Abyss was what all RPGs should strive to be. It had a great story, great music, great characters, and most importantly, a great battle system.

It also had an anime, but don't watch it. Play the game instead.
The Tales series doesn't have your traditional RPG battle system. Once you run into enemies on the map, you enter a battle where you tap X to slice, tap square to use a skill, and quickly enter the item menu and such by tapping the triangle button. You'll see similar battle systems in games such as Star Ocean and Eternal Sonata, but as far as I'm aware, this is the series that started it.

But back to Tales of the Abyss, you start off this game as an angsty teenager (like most JRPGs), but as the game progresses, you become a not so angsty teenager who is actually pretty awesome, and... I'm bad at explaining. Just go play the game if you haven't. And if you have, good for you. You know how awesome Jade is. Oh, also it has a kick-ass opening video.

Wow, I am tired tonight

Sorry guys, this is going to be a short blog post. Went up into the Mountains with my girlfriend today in hopes of seeing some snow before the end of Winter (for those of you that don't know, I live in Southern California - not much snow here). There were a few clumps of it here and there, and we threw some snowballs at each other, so that was fun. Also saw the Secret World of Arrietty, so expect a review on that sometime within the next week or so. I'll continue with the top 5 list tomorrow. Alrighty then, laterz.

Content Hedgehog's Top 5 Video Games of All Time

#4: Portal 2

This spot used to belong to Portal until the second game came along. This will probably be the most "mainstream" game on the list. Building upon every aspect of the first game, Portal 2 managed to make the perfect game even more perfect. Like yesterday's pick, I'd have to say Portal 2 is easily the best game of it's genre.

Portal 2 is, as many of you are probably aware, a first-person puzzle game designed much like a first-person shooter, except instead of bullets, the gun shoots portals. On top of this ingenious game concept, the game is only added to by extremely humourous dialogue, clever puzzles, excellent graphics, gameplay, and sound, and a kickass credits theme. I will say that Portal 1 probably had the better credits theme of the two, but hey, it's hard to beat Still Alive.

Introducing... Content Hedgehog'sTop 5 Video Games of All Time

#5: Brave Fencer Musashi

This gem was made made Squaresoft back before they merged with Enix Co. and became Square-Enix. First off, this game had one of the most exciting soundtracks of all time. Right off the bat you're thrown into the action with this track here:


From there it just gets better and better as you adventure through treacherous territories and overcome outrageous bosses. If you consider games like Spyro and Crash platformers, then this was easily the best Action/Adventure game on the PS1. The awesome gameplay and story is only added to, in my opinion, by hilariously cheesy dialogue, as well as a story that's not half bad.


Also, there was a Simon-esque minigame at the end that was pretty fun too.


Anyway, sorry for the abundance of video links, but this game just has too many good moments - making it #5 on Content Hedgehog's Top 5 Video Games of All Time.

Kid Icarus: Uprising

So I'm not gonna lie, this game looks a lot better than I thought it would.



Comments anyone?

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 15

Day 15: Family Picture

It's a dango family~ Also the baby dango is a penguin. :3 Okay, so I got kind of lazy for this one. At least my girlfriend should get a kick out of it. :) Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Tough Love: A video from a dad to his daughter via Facebook

This video... A good reminder of how awesome rednecks can be. And how crazy. O_o

I was tagged...?

So I was going through my normal list of blogs, leaving comments here and there, when I come to DWei's blog and see that he's tagged me. This was originally 11 questions, but he changed it to 4, so that's all I'm going to do too. Also this originally had 5 rules, but I'm cutting it down to 3. So here it goes...

1. Put the rules of this Tag on your blog.

2. Everyone tagged should tell 4 things about themselves, answer the 4 questions asked by the person who tagged you, tag 4 other people and ask them 4 different questions.

3. Don't tag anyone who's been tagged before.

Anyway, here are the 4 things about myself...

1. Blue is my favorite color.

2. I'm starting a few top 5 lists on my blog in the weeks to come.

3. While I generally use Content Hedgehog for all of my blogging related stuffs, I also use the alias Nwizard2 online.

4. I'm currently reading a book called the Rainmaker. It's taking a while.

And here are DWei's questions...

1. For unspecified reasons you have just acquired $40, 000 in $20 dollar bills. For other unspecified reasons you have 10 minutes to hide all this money somewhere in your home where no one will ever find it. Where would you hide the money?

Hmm... Probably at the bottom of a drawer somewhere. I dunno. Most likely I wouldn't hide it in my home.

2. You have been abducted by aliens that are undecided in destroying the planet. What are you carrying in your pockets that will either convince or deter the aliens from doing so?

Right now? My planner and my wallet... Maybe I could show them my Driver's License with a picture of my fabulously handsome face on it. |:3

3. An eccentric billionaire wants to hire you for a year to act as her personal dinosaur. You will be assigned a dinosaur costume, be expected to act and sound like said dinosaur at all times, only be allowed to eat whatever that dinosaur ate, get equipped with a saddle, as well as many other requirements. You will receive benefits and at the end of the year be paid handsomely. Do you take the job? Why?

Best question ever. Yeah, I... probably wouldn't take it. Mostly because I like eating certain foods, and my girlfriend probably wouldn't like me roaring in her face.

4. You have been granted the ability to give the worst superpower possible to your worst enemy. What does he/she gain?

Ooooh boy. Let's see here... Why are these questions so great? lol. I'd give the ability to only give outstanding grades to my history teacher. :D

As for my questions...

1. What is your favorite video game of all time? (sorry, my questions aren't going to be as awesome as DWei's)

2. What is your favorite cartoon?

3. What is your favorite website?

4. What is your favorite movie?

And with that, I'm gonna go ahead and tag...

1. RCB

2. Pat Hatt

3. Jimmy Fungus

4. Dreadnaught

If you've already been tagged, forgive me, it's hard to keep track of all these different blogs. And if you just don't feel like doing it, that's cool too.

Movie Review: Alpha and Omega

You know, I like kids movies. I think they're fun. But this one... this movie... Alpha and Omega. In my opinion, it's not very good. Alpha and Omega is about two star-crossed lovers from opposing wolf packs, so basically Romeo and Juliet with wolves. Unlike Romeo and Juliet, the female wolf initially dislikes the male wolf and after the two go on a silly little adventure together, they fall in love.

The animation is kind of weird, you'll notice it's a little different from other 3D animated films right off the bat. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I wasn't particularly fond of it. The soundtrack was... alright I guess? Not very memorable. Aside from the god-awful "moonlight howl" bits. These were just embarrassing.



This movie is how furries are born. Some of the characters can be kiiind of cute at some times... I guess... And I'm sure many people think they were adorable. I was not one of these people. And I like cute things. Anyway, while I may have been cringing the entire movie, it wasn't really poorly made or anything, and I'm sure a lot of people are into this sort of thing, so I'm gonna give Alpha and Omega a 4/10.

Philosophy

So I'm taking a philosophy class this semester, and while I'm not all that thrilled about it, there was an interesting discussion brought up by my instructor. Here's the question:

There was an ancient Greek law teacher named Protagoras. Protagoras took a poor but talented student and agreed to teach him without a fee on condition that after the student completed his studies and won his first law case, he would pay Protagoras a certain sum. The student agreed to do this. Well, the student completed his studies but did not take any law cases. Some time elapsed and Protagoras sued the student for the sum. Here are the arguments they gave in court.

Student / If I win the case, then by definition, I don't have to pay. If I lose the case, then I will not yet have won my first case, and I have not contracted to pay Protagoras until after I have won my first case. So whether I win the case or lose the case, I don't have to pay.

Protagoras / If he loses the case, then by definition he has to pay me ( after all, this is what the case is about). If he wins the case, then he will have won his first case, hence he has to pay me. In either case, he has to pay me.

Who would you judge in favor of and why?

I originally went with the teacher, just because the student sounds like an obnoxious prick unwilling to take responsibility. But from a legal standpoint, it seems like it would be the teacher's fault for failing to designate a timeframe. Anyway, what do you guys think?

MegaTypers Review

Want to earn money simply by writing in capchas? It's as easy as 1, 2, 3. At least, that's what the people at megatypers.com want you to believe. It actually seems pretty legit so far. Simply register at their website using the code "8P5" and you can start earning money. It's generally less than a dollar per 1000 words, but hey, it's something. And no annoying surveys or referral links, although you will make extra money if you refer people.

Anime Movie Review: Fullmetal Alchemist : The Sacred Star of Milos

The Funimation dub of the second Fullmetal Alchemist movie premiered at select theaters across the United States during this last week, and some of my friends and I were lucky enough to go see it. Lemme start off by saying, the original Fullmetal Alchemist animated series was my favorite anime of all time. It had the perfect mix of high quality animation, a great soundtrack, interesting characters, a really enthralling story, and just an overall feeling of awesomeness that kept you standing on your toes at the end of every episode.

So needless too say, when it was announced that this movie would be coming to theaters in the US, I was very excited. However, I also kept in mind the movie was basically filler and had nothing to do with the story whatsoever. But that's okay. If it did have to do with the story, it probably would have been based off of Brotherhood, the second series, which, in my opinion, comma comma comma, was not quite as good as the first one.

But anyway, the movie was good. The animation was on par with the original series, if not improved some. The music... nothing too memorable, but I don't recall hearing any misplaced tracks. Since this is a review of the dub, I will also say that Vic Mignogna did an excellent job as Edward Elric, as usual, and the rest of the casting was pretty good as well.

As for the story... here's the tricky part. I thought it was good, but a lot of things probably could have been done a little better. It's about the Elric brothers venturing to a location previously unmentioned in the FMA world and meeting a girl named Julia who lives in an oppressed village that lives in the waste of those who live above them in a large and prosperous city.

In attempt to take back the city that was rightfully theirs, Julia wants to obtain the star of milos, a stone said to have enough power to take out an entire army. Sound familiar FMA fans? Yep. It's the philosopher's stone. So Ed once again has to give his famous lecture on why it's so bad to use something that is created at the cost of human lives. The plot may seem a little convoluted, and it can be at times, but overall I thought it was pretty entertaining. I give Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos an 8/10.



Oh, also Julia had a brother who was pretty important. That's probably worth mentioning.

30 Day Drawing Challenge: Day 14

Day 14: Favorite Fairytale

I don't really have a favorite fairytale, but I was fond of Goldielocks and the Three Bears as a child, so here's my interpretation of it.

American Cheese

Why does American cheese taste so much better when it's warmed up than when it's cold? I can hardly stand the stuff when it's cold, but when it's heated up a little bit on a piece of buttered toast it's like there's a party in my mouth and everyone's invited.