I am a Guitar Hero and I Just Dance

Please try to abstain from making fun of me, I can think of nothing else to blog about. So here I go. I love both games. They are excellent for parties. Guitar Hero involves pressing buttons on a guitar shaped controller in time with the notes that are going past on the TV screen. It involves using a lot of hand-eye coordination, which is good for some and bad for others. The best part about the game, though, is that you get to play to some of the best songs, some more difficult than others. As technology enhanced and Guitar Hero got some competition from Rock Band, other instruments were added. This was a good addition involving partner play, but the songs are lacking now. Not lacking in overall quality, but in the difficulty of the guitar part. It is, after all, still called Guitar Hero, but I feel that the guitar part has been left in the dust. Also when/ is there going to be a Guitar Hero 6? I never know. Guitar Hero 5 was unheard of by me until I looked it up to see if it existed last Christmas. No one else knew it existed. Will the Guitar Hero legacy finally end? Do I care? I don't know.

Moving on to Just Dance. My friend first introduced me to this amazing game last summer. It was crazy fun. It was a revolution. And best of all, it included my favorite song at the time: Acceptable in the 80's. The gameplay is simple: hold your Wii remote in the standard position and follow the dance moves on the screen. Only it's not that simple. Besides the fact that the dance moves are shown beforehand by an awkwardly posed stick figure with a mess of arrows, the game is very picky when it comes to where your remote is and when. Not only do you have to hold it at the exact correct angle to begin with, but you are expected to keep it at that angle while doing difficult dance moves. Despite these grievences I still love the game, and the gameplay and song list has gotten better from the first to the second song. Here is the preview for Just Dance 2:



*Update. As it turns out there is a Guitar Hero 6. Who knew? Well now I do. And looking at the song list is making me angry. If the majority of the songs weren't so terrible, I might be able to overlook their use of an Interpol song. But the majority of the songs are terrible. So I am angry. Guitar Hero has gotten progressively worse and I get very protective of bands like Interpol when it comes to being used in movies, or games. Grrr. Here's the song list: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock song list

V: The Final Battle

My first day back from Winter Break was spent watching all three parts to an 80's sci-fi mini series called V: The Final Battle. Though the Special effects were quite mediocre and some of the acting was less than stellar, I was hooked. The series is about seemingly peaceful aliens who visit Earth asking the humans for help. The real reason for the visit of these reptilian extra terrestrials is to take all of the food and water from Earth due to a shortage on their home planet. Did I mention that by food they mean the humans? Creepy, right? Well luckily for the humans, not all of these aliens are bent on destroying humanity. Some want compromise. Together, a group of rogue aliens and humans join forces to defeat their leader, Diana, and her strong military force equipped with powerful laser guns. Not an easy feat. And that's about all I can tell you without giving something away. Sorry, but you are going to have to see this for yourself.

Now for my thoughts on the series. I thought is was pretty good for an old series with minor actors, by minor I mean not widely known. I even sacrificed sleeping to find out what happened in the end, which was finally revealed at midnight. I have to admit I was a little disappointed by the ending. After 6 hours of watching several different interesting plots build up and mesh together I think I have a right to be. Don't get me wrong, the ending wasn't bad, just not a surprise. And there was a cliff hanger. Now that's just unfair. If you're going to make a sequel then go right ahead and hang, but after two sequels I think it's a little unfair for it to end that way. I'm just being whiney though. That was the only exciting part of the end.

You all might have heard of the new TV series called V starring Elizabeth Mitchell from Lost. Well sadly I know about as much as you do, if you know anything, about this updated version. Though now more than ever I feel the urge to watch it. As soon as I do watch it, which I will be sure to, you can bet your boots that I will do a post on it.

Now, since this post is getting quite long with no picture or video breaks, I will show you my favortie scene, which also happens to be the most ridiculous/hilarious scene:



I commend the producers for the effort, but the special effects just ruin the dramatic effect.

Remix

Remixes. Some are good, some are bad. Some make me want to shoot the DJ responsible for the abomination, some make me want to leap for joy whenever I hear them. How do you know when a remix is good you might ask? Well, it is somewhat a personal decision, you could simply decide whether you enjoy the original version or the remix better. But that takes work. And most people are lazy. So I will save you the effort by telling you which remixes you should stay away from. The worst, and unfortunately the most often listened to remixes are usually the ones that you hear on your local maintream radio station, surprise surprise!

You know a remix is bad when:
1. It is by children (yes Kidzbop, this is directed at you)
2. It is by an annoying rapper and/or group
3. It is a cover of an already amazing song (take for example Disney movie songs covered by Diseney channel "stars")
4. The beat does not match up with the original song
5. It is worse than the original.

Now you know which ones to avoid. But which ones am I allowed to listen to, you may ask. Well, faithful reader, you will listen to the remixes I deem good. How do you find the good ones with so many bad ones? You could start by looking up one of your favorite bands on Youtube and simply add "remix" to the end of your search. Secondly, and most importantly, make sure that the remix is done by a good artist. If you don't know, look it up! Any stupid or mainstream rapper name should be discarded immediately. Still need help? Here is one of my favorite remixes, the first video is the original and the second is the remix:



Good, but it could use some improvement:




Much better. I hope my vague expertise will be enough to rescue you from any bad remixes you may encounter in the future.

Most Embarrassing Christmas Gift

Quite a few years ago my father introduced me to what would prove to be the most entertaining Christmas tool ever created. It is called Elf Yourself. It started out as a small site powered by JibJab and Office Max, it's main purpose was, and still is, to find horrible pictures of your friends and family, crop them to fit on an elf's body, and watch them dance while laughing hysterically. Since then, the site has grown a great deal and now includes not one, but several dances to choose from! You can also have up to four backup dancers (which means you can socially scar up to 5 people at one time). And, best of all, you can buy a mug imprinted with their face so they can forever remember that absolutely wonderful picture that you obtained.

Tutorial time! For those of you who have a hard time following simple instructions, I will walk you through the process of "elfing" yourself, or more likely someone else. I will be using a picture that my dear friend so graciously gave me permission to edit with the promise of one excellent Christmas present, and I will stay true to my word.

First, you will need to navigate to Elf Yourself, which I have obviously provided the link for. Time to get started! Rotate, zoom, and nip & tuck your picture until it fits perfectly within the lines:

Excellent.

Moving on to the next step. Now you can make more elves, clone your current elf, or continue. This time I'm just going to continue on to the dancing stage. Choose the dance that you want performed...

I chose Disco.

And now, simply sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. Oh, and try not to wet yourself laughing:

As you've probably noticed, I decided that a group of dancing clones would be a lot more spectacular than one single elf. My favorite dances include the Charleston, 80's, and, of course, the Orginal.

If this wasn't good enough for you, there is another site that will never fail to impress me. For those of you who are not satisfied with the picture you were planning on using, there is a way to edit it, a very seamless way, I might add. Capable of giving any picture, or person, an upgrade at any time: InStyle Makeover. This tool is pretty self explanatory/I don't feel like explaining how to use it, so knock yourself out. Fortunately for this elf, I think that this picture and video combo is fantastic as is, so I'm not going to mess around with the whole makeover thing.

So there you have it. Make videos, memories, and possibly enemies with this wonderful, and embarrassing, tool.

Adult Swim

Cartoon Network is a scary channel at night. Well actually, Cartoon Network is a bit scary during the daytime too. As anyone who has ever seen any show on this channel will probably tell you, these are the strangest shows that have ever been aired/viewed. Upon watching Courage the Cowardly Dog and Powerpuff Girls when I was younger, I didn't notice anything odd. Now, on the rare occasions that I do see my favorite childhood shows, I do notice the oddness. Generally Courage the Cowardly Dog is just a weird show. Every episode is just as strange as the next, and sometimes even scary, but I have already done an entire rant on this show so I will now move on the Powerpuff Girls. This seemingly innocent show is actually anything but: have you seen the villains? Mojo Jojo for example is a criminally insane monkey with his brain hanging out of his head.

 And what about my personal favorite; Him? This villain's gender is still under question despite what the name implies, if you don't believe me just watch this:



Despite my criticism I still love the Powerpuff Girls and all of their ridiculous foes, especially Him.

Now I shall move on to Adult Swim. Adult Swim is what Cartoon Network morphs into in the evening, which is to say that the shows are equally as "unique," but include strong adult themes, hence the name. I rarely stay up late enough to watch any of these shows, but on the off chance that I do happen across one of them, I know that I am in for a show that will never be forgotten. With shows entitled "Robot Chicken" and "Assy McGee" you will receive a pretty blatant warning as to what you are in for, but then again maybe not.

About a week ago, while I was hastily finishing up one of my blog posts, I received a text from my sister which read something along the lines of: "watch adult swim right now." Being an experienced Swimmer, I knew right away that I was going to be shocked and disturbed by what was about to pop up on my computer screen, and I was right. The show that I witnessed was called "The Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job! Chrimbus Special."

Just be glad I didn't include a video clip with this one.

The best show I have ever been introduced to on Adult Swim is called "Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law." Actually, my sister is the one who introduced me to this wonderful show. Unfortunately, it is almost never aired on Cartoon Network anymore. Sad, I know. Here is a preview of the wonder that is Harvery Birdman:

What did I tell you? Excellent, right? Well that is the end of my rant. I guess what i'm trying to say is "Beware of Cartoon Network." But, if you are brave, curious, bored, or all three, you should take the time to explore the water, so to speak.

Kids Say The Darndest Things

Over the summer my family obtained Netflix. We all automatically became obsessed with watching hundreds of movies per week, sometimes per day. While scoring the films in the Instant Queue, my sister (the oldest one, as in the not crazy one) came across an interesting Indie Dramedy entitled "Me and You and Everyone We Know." The movie commences with a strange artist creating an odd monotone poetic commentary for her artistic works. The rest of the movie is equally odd, including the best scene ever created in all of filmmaking history. I simply call it the "Back and Forth" scene:



As you may have noticed the whole "Back and Forth" story is continued in this video. The whole thing is a little hard to understand out of context, but it is super hilarious if you have seen the movie. The "icing on the cake," or whatever you would like to call it is unfortunately left out in this video, so I shall tell you. SPOILER ALERT! The lady sitting on the bench happens to be a very influential, and very harsh, art show coordinator. The main character tries, without success, to have her art shown in her display. Small World eh? Hence the title "Me and You and Everyone We Know." So anyway, at the end of this whole "Back and Forth" sequence, the banner to this women's art show is shown to reveal none other than, you guessed it, ))<>((. You'd have to watch the video above to understand exactly what significance ))<>(( has.

Top 3 Christmas Songs

Since I have absolutely no other ideas at the moment, I suppose I'll just do a short rant on Christmas music. Some people love it, some people hate it. I happen to love it. The old stuff, at least. I hate the new pop and hip-hop remixes of originals - gross. I love Hippopotamus and White Chrustmas - you name it. But my personal favorites rank as following:

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time - Paul McCartney

Note: while browsing for a decent replacement music video on YouTube I found a Demi Lovato version of it. I cannot describe the revulsion and disappointment I am feeling right now.

Step Into Christmas - Elton John

Elton John is just so amazing.

Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses

Excellence.

I apologize for the lack of original music videos, but believe it or not there aren't any out there, and live is just unexceptable. So there you are. I hope you enjoy my suggestions and share in my hatred for covers of originals.