Better Late Than Never

I think that of all of Nintendo's franchises, The Legend of Zelda is my favorite. I remember being around 8 years-old, this would be '88 or '89, and going over to my older brother's friend's house, where they were playing the first Legend of Zelda game. Just watching them play was enough for me. I was hooked and I wanted more.

I played the second Zelda game, Zelda II: The Adventures of Link, but after that I pretty much stopped playing. I didn't get a Super Nintendo when it came out, only much later from a friend, I missed all the Gameboy and Gameboy Color Zelda games, I was in college during the N64 Zelda years so I wasn't playing many games (unless they were of the drinking variety), and then I missed the Gamecube because by that time I was a Playstation fan through and through.

Not until recently with the purchase of the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii, both presents from my mom because I'm her little baby boy even though I'm pushing 29, and got the Phantom Hourglass for the DS and Twilight Princess for the Wii. Along with the Wii, I also got the Gamecube Zelda game I missed (the Windwaker) and I also got the Gamecube disc that has both N64 Zelda games on it (Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask). All that leaves now are the Super Nintendo game (A Link to the Past) and the couple Gameboy and Gameboy color games.

Well, since I got the DS I picked up the port of A Link to the Past, which is actually a Gameboy Advance title, but since the DS plays GBA games, I'm good to go, and just recently as in today at work (don't worry, the boss is away) I finally beat it. A game that came out in 1991 for the Super Nintendo, I've finally beaten 17 years later. That's just crazy.

I'm pretty happy with the accomplishment and I'm looking forward to playing all the other Zelda games I missed throughout the years. I should let my nephew know I beat it, but since he's only 8 years-old now, I doubt he even knows what the Super Nintendo even is, let alone that there was a Zelda game for it.

I'm not sure how to take this. Am I cool, or not?

My godson/nephew called me early this evening with a question. Apparently, while playing The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on his Nintendo DS, he came to one of it's many puzzles and got stuck without being able to solve it and move on in the game.

The puzzle is this: On the lower screen of the DS is a crest, just an image of a symbol or something. On the upper screen is your "Sea Chart", i.e. just a map of the ocean with some random islands on it. The riddle reads something along the lines of, "To find out where to go next, press the crest across your Sea Chart to find your way."

So he was stuck. He had no idea what he was supposed to do and he just couldn't figure it out. So what does he do? He calls his Uncle Pat and asks him because, well, Uncle Pat has a Nintendo DS and, and get this, not only does he have the Phantom Hourglass game, but has beaten it. This last fact astounds him to no end.

Anyway, he calls me and of course, without having to look it up and having beaten the game more than half a year ago, I tell him that to solve the puzzle, all he has to do is close the DS. When the DS is closed, the two screens particularly rest on each other. It was so simple, but yet, everything about using the DS tells you you're not suppose to goes it while a game is playing or else it "goes to sleep".

Now the problem as I see it, does this make me extremely cool, or extremely lame? Yes in the eyes of my nephew I'm the coolest adult around, but does that, at the same time, make me pretty lame that 8 year-olds think I'm the bomb (and yes, I realize that saying I'm the bomb make me sound very uncool, but whatever, I do what I want, and doesn't that fact make me cool? Oh whatever).

What's the damn point of giving us a great female protagonist if this is what you do with her?

I'll be the first to admit that Lara Croft of Tomb Raider fame isn't your ideal representation of real women - that she's more well known for the size of her...attributes than she is for her intellect, but what was always cool about her was that she was really a strong female character with a strong presence. She held her own around all the boys, some times kicking their asses in the process. And yeah, she was designed to have a killer body so that men/boys wouldn't feel so badly about playing as a female character, but that was just to get her foot in the door, so that people would try her game. But with the new box-art being revealed for the newest incarnation of Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider Underworld (and I do see that it almost sounds like your saying Tomb Raider underwear but whatever - one topic at a time), it's like she isn't important anymore, just her body.



As you can see in the image that they chopped off the parts of Lara on the box-art that just don't matter, one, her feet, because who really cares about a woman's feet unless they hideous, and two, the top of her head, where most people keep their brains.

Maybe I'm just reading way too much into this, but then again maybe I'm not. I've always felt a little uneasy playing Tomb Raider games, almost like I'm above this kind of thing, but when the box looks like this, I'm even more uneasy to go into a store and purchase it, like I'm some prepubescent adolescent who can't get real porn and must settle for this.

I have absolutely no problem with Lara Croft being damn sexy, actually I encourage it, but when her sex-appeal starts to over-shadow everything else about her, well then, she's just another pinup model without any redeeming qualities. What about her puzzle solving abilities, or her exploring through jungles and dangerous tombs? If, after the game comes out, I find out that it really is a great game, I'll probably play it, but otherwise I'll pick something else.

Pretty god damn sweet

With the Pixies Doolittle album coming to Rock Band as Downloadable Content, I so want to get the PS3 more now then ever. I want to rock out to the entire amazing track list that makes up this CD. Every single one of these songs is pure, unadulterated awesome, and if you don't agree with me, go soak your head. I want to scream "TAME!!!" into the microphone while playing the bassline to "Tame". I want to play the main rif to "Here Comes Your Man". I want, I want, I want.

"Got hips like Cinderella..."

Guilty Pleasures

It's really quiet here in the office today. My boss is in his office with his door shut, one other employee is quietly working in his office down the hall, and the last employee isn't here the rest of this week because of a death in his family (Yes, I work with only 3 other guys in my office).

With the office being this quiet I'm getting loads of Unit Test written for a new application I designed and implemented earlier this week, but it's also given me the chance to listen to some complete albums over my headphones without the tracks being interrupted by anything.

Today this is what I've been listening to all morning:





So what are some of your guilty pleasures. Those tunes you love to listen to but only when no ones around, and only through your headphones if you're sure no one will ask you what you're listening to.

I'm man enough to say I think strong, powerful women are hot

Check this woman out. Big guns, black leather, oh yeah. She can kick my ass any day (wait, does that even make sense).

The Coolest Librarian Ever

Last Thursday was a pretty shit day, having gone to my Grandma's wake, but I did get a little good news - I was accepted into the grad school program at URI to get my Masters in Library Studies and Information Services. I know it's no big deal getting into URI, but for the time being, I'm going to pretend that it is just to boast my ego a bit.

After finding out I was accepted I scheduled my first few classes for this summer, one of which starts at the end of this week - no real time to get my head around the fact that I'm now a grad student but what can you do. My first class is Introduction to Information Science and Technology, which sounds a lot worst than I'm hoping it probably will be. The first class, this Friday will be 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, but then after that the rest of the summer session will be online classes so I'll be able to do them from anywhere at anytime.

I told my boss that I'll have to work remotely on Friday because of my class (I also told him I was accepted to the grad school at the same time :-) ) and he doesn't see any problem with that, just as long as I keep up 40+ hours a week working. It'll be challenging, believe me I know from watching Amanda do it now for the past three years, but I really need a change. Software has it's good points, but the bad moments greatly outnumber the good, at least for me they do. So I'm going back to school to try and do something about my career path. But even if I do have to give up my software job, I'd rather be poor than miserable any day.

And it's not like I'm going to be a poor grad student. I'm going to try and keep my crummy software job for as long as possible while taking classes so as to still be able to contribute to my household without putting any unnecessary burdens on ourselves. And in a few years I'll be that wicked cool guy that works at the library that disproves all the librarian stereotypes.