Sunday, July 20, 2008 

Time to fly...

I finally found the full-version PV (japanese abbreviation of "Promotional Video", equivalent to our US "Music Video") of that Naruto Shippuuden opening theme song - "Bluebird" by Ikimono Gakari (which I love to bits).

I just love how the singer hits them high notes ^_^

Also, I found the japanese kanji lyrics online, and took it upon myself to transliterate into romaji, and also translate into English. Mind you, I'm not fluent in Japanese, so my translation is based on whatever meanings/definitions my NJStar (japanese word processor program) gave me. I tried to use Babelfish to help with translating, but it just made me more confused, so...yeah...whatever.

I think this song jives with what's going on right now - Val, Myloe and I will be flying early Monday morning (tomorrow). Instead of packing my bags, I find myself procrastinating and blogging :-P

Val will come back a married woman, and I will come back with Corbin-Lee and Chet ^_^

Enjoy.
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Ikimono Gakari - Bluebird



Romaji transliteration and English translation (attempt :p) by V. Cruz

Habataitara modoranai to itte (you say if you could take flight, you would
not return)
Mezashita no wa aoi aoi ano sora (you have an eye on that blue, blue sky)

"Kanashimi" wa mada oboerarezu (you've yet to experience "sadness")
"Setsunasa" wa ima tsukami hajimeta (now you're starting to grasp the meaning
of "painfulness")
Anata e to idaku kono kanjyoumo (I'll also embrace these feelings I have
for you)
Ima "kotoba" ni kawatte iku (now the "words" will be changed)
Michinaru sekai no yume kara mezamete (As you wake up from a dream of a
world that's become unknown)
Kono hane wo hiroge tobidatsu (spread this wing and fly away)

Habataitara modoranai to itte (you say if you could take flight, you would
not return)
Mezashita no wa shiroi shiroi ano kumo (you have an eye on that white, white
cloud)
Tsukinuketara mitsukaru to shitte (If you could break through, you'll discover
what you want to know)
Furikiru hodo aoi aoi ano sora (to shake free from limits, that blue, blue
sky)
Aoi aoi ano sora (that blue, blue sky)
Aoi aoi ano sora (that blue, blue sky)

Aisou tsukita youna oto de (you're intoxicated with the sound of used up
compliments)
Sabireta furui mado wa kowareta (to break a rusted, old window)
Miakita KAGO wa hora suteteiku (you're tired of seeing that CARGO, so throw
it all away)
Furikaeru koto wa mou nai (the thing you're looking back for is already
no longer there)
Takanaru kodou ni kokyuu wo azukete (your fast pulsating breaths resound)
Kono mado wo kette tobidatsu (kick out this window and fly away)

Kakedashitara te ni dekiru to itte (you say if you could run away, it will
be by your own hand)
Izanau no wa tooi tooi ano koe (that distant, distant voice is calling for
you)
Mabushisugita anata no te mo nigitte (overwhelmingly dizzy, I also hold
your hand)
Motomeru hodo aoi aoi ano sora (we'll search without end, for that blue,
blue sky)

Ochiteikuto wakatteita (I already know that we might crash)
Sore demo hikari wo oi tsuzukete iku yo (nevertheless, I'll continue to
pursue the light)

Habataitara modoranai to itte (you say if you could take flight, you would
not return)
Sagashita no wa shiroi shiroi ano kumo (you've been searching for that white,
white cloud)
Tsukinuketara mitsukaru to shitte (if you could break through, you'll discover
what you want to know)
Furikiru hodo aoi aoi ano sora (to shake free from limits, that blue, blue
sky)
Aoi aoi ano sora (that blue, blue sky)
Aoi aoi ano sora (that blue, blue sky)

7/20/2008 12:18:00 PM | |

Sunday, July 06, 2008 

WALL*E spazzes out, and I finally upload pics

Okay, so I don't have anything better to do than blog about my toys and games :-P
---------------------------------------------
But first, let's talk about those pics I uploaded.


Val's Bridal Celebration Dinner



Justin, funny faces and all

I've been hating our camera lately. It's not working well, it takes too long to snap a shot, it just sucks. If I can convince Val, I'd love to drop a couple hundred bucks on this cool camera:


Action HD - 1080P High Definition Camcorder w/ Optical Zoom

It's actually a camcorder - but it shoots in hi-def! And the still-pic quality is great as well - 8 MP. It supports 16 GB SD cards - now that's A LOT of pics and vids! And it's available at Wal-Mart :-D

------------okay, now the toy--------------

New toy again - iDANCE WALL*E. I's a cute little robot dancing-thingy, with flashing eye-lights and funky moves. It reminds me of those flowers that move whenever it hears sounds or music. Same concept with WALL*E. Only this time, you can connect your MP3 player to it, and it plays your music (on a cheap-sounding speaker) and dances to your tunes at the same time.

So, I chose a couple of songs for WALL*E to spazz out to.

First, WALL*E boogies to classical Chopin:


val_digipics_2008 019.MOV

Finally, WALL*E grooves to the sabete.org theme song - "Under The Sun", by Verona Chase ^_^


val_digipics_2008 040.MOV

--------------------------------------
Fun, fun, fun!

And...D-Day (departure-day) is nearing! V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N! I don't look forward to baking in the hot-ass dry heat back there, and my time there is only 10 MEASLY DAYS, BUT, I will finally get to meet my Chunky-Boogie-Nephew, see my Chetman, and witness Val and Myloe's marriage!

It will be tough traveling via car everywhere, but I'm up for the challenge. I still dread the long-ass plane ride though...

7/06/2008 12:08:00 PM | |

Saturday, July 05, 2008 

Guitar Hero On Tour


I've flipped Metal Gear Solid 4, so it's time to move on to another game. Val got me a DS Lite and a new game called Guitar Hero On Tour (so now I think we have a total of 4 DS Lites in our house - it's crazy, but we all want to play different games, so we now each have our own - well, Val has 2 :-P ). It's been pretty fun. The same music-rhythm gameplay found on the original Guitar Hero series is what you get in this DS version.


The game comes with the "Guitar grip" - an attachment you insert into the DS gamepak slot. It doesn't fit quite right for me - I can reach the first 3 buttons no problem, but my pinky finger has trouble completely pressing down on the last 4th button. It also feels awkward at times when you have to press multiple buttons to make chords - I really have to contort or bend my wrist to accommodate the presses.

You also get a "Pick" stylus - which is a good size and neat concept. You use this to "strum" or "pick" out your notes on the touch screen side.


Now, I'm not that bad with timing and rhythm. I mean, come on...I actually play a real guitar, and I used to play drums. So, you'd think I'd be pwning this game, right?

WRONG.

This game has been hard for me to master. I'm pretty much struggling with playing on the "Hard" levels. And I definitely suck ass on "Expert" level. Medium level is fine (but not always a flawless performance for me), and Easy level is just plain easy. And I kind of blame the game for some of my inadequate playing. Why? Well, I'm sure I'm pressing the buttons and picking at the correct times - but it seems like the game is not sensing it at times - which pisses me off. And since I'm pretty much stuck at Medium and Hard levels in Career mode, I won't be able to unlock everything the game has to offer.

There's also some modes of the game that I don't care for - that's the multiplayer and battle mode. I'm pretty much satisfied playing practice mode - 'cause I'm trying to perfect my playing in order to get back on track in career mode.

I find that playing the game for more than 10 minutes really kills your wrist and fingers. It's just not ergonomically friendly. It's such a great idea, but practically it's painful. Even though it gives you start-up warning screens telling you to stop playing if you start hurting, or start-up instruction screens telling you the best position, it just doesn't help.

And the playlist - some are hit songs you'll remember - No Doubt's "Spiderwebs", Maroon 5's "This Love", Smash Mouth's "All Star". And some songs are oldies that I don't care for, but I'm still playing them. There's a few of them that I've never even heard of until playing this game.

But still, this game is a challenge and fun to play. And you're able to customize the skin that sits inside of the grip peripheral - but for a price, of course :-P

I haven't gotten into playing the "Rock Band" game just yet. And I think I'm holding out for Guitar Hero 4 - because that will have a band set as well - drums, guitar, bass, and mic. We subscribe to Game Informer Magazine and the most recent issue gave us a preview on this upcoming game. The drum set looks awesome - similar in design to actual professional digital drum sets. So I know it will play well.

So, I'll look forward to getting Guitar Hero 4, but until then, this On Tour version for the DS will have to do :-D

7/05/2008 02:20:00 PM | |