Grung Rock Munk!

There is a nice little fad on the net to make songs we all know, or at least enough of us know, into Chipmunk parodies. There are literally thousands of them on youtube but I picked out something a little extra special that gave me a smile. I was hoping that it would do something similar to you. For reference sake I am also going in include the original track music on this page as well.


Limp Bizkit - My Way


Now, who likes Limp Bizkit? They are a bit of an aquired taste and some people find them more crude then anything else but some of their songs fit into a more general type of audience, one of those is "My Way" and it is what I picked. Origianally I was going to go with "Break Stuff" but the Chipmunk version sounded a little too "rough" to have me posting on this blog without a small warning.


Limp Bizkit's My Way Chipmunk Style



I was amused by a lot of the Chipmunk reiterations but some just break the ears and sole. One of the many Tool songs just do not fit with a Chipmunk tone to them. These songs, along with others, are a little difficult to listen to sometimes but there is a small bit of smiles you could get from them if you tried.


The Pot by Tool Chipmunk Style



Did that not just make you cry in pain for the artist and/or song that was just raped by the Chipmunks? I know a tear left my cheek but I have a soft spot for the artist.

That small atrocity aside the moderately new movie did spur on these remakes some time ago and usually images from the movie are used. One particularly popular one seems to be the "gangster" Chipmunk poster but no rodent is going to look like a hard ass while he is still a rodent.

Fairy Tales!?

A game that I have been personally fighting tooth and nail is slowly gripping my attention and pulling me deeply into its game environment. It is something similar to Cantr and while only Cantr needs the hype, I shall give the other game its small dues.

Currently I have chastised the game on its forums for not fitting a few simple needs for its players while forcing other things that are based on the developer, as there is only one, views of what constitutes a reasonable world right. This would not be a problem for the games selling point not its open and free form world. A world that is free to be created by its players while still being horribly limited by its developer is not a free world. It is only the illusion of free.

You may, or may not, have realized that the name of the game has yet to be actually said. This is mainly because I still am withholding a final thought on the game. Currently it is in open Beta but due to several very bad game mechanics it would be almost impossible to actually recomened anyone this game. Especially with a delayed ability to play, currently one must wait aproximitly six to nine months before the ability to play is opened up for them.

That "feature" alone, by itself, cripples the game from being a recommendation. If this, and a couple other flaws such as its cluttered interface, are worked on or even overhauled entirely then we shall see about a full honest review.

There is, however, the shinnning hope I see with this game. I am actually enjoying some of its quirks. A few of said quirks I had originally written off as broken in one manner or another. The quriks I refer to still need work but are in no manner broken beyond the ability to play the game.

Once more time with this game is had by myself and a few things cleared with the community and/or its devolper I shall fork over a biased review, as all reviews are indeed very biased.

Faery Tale Online

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BRAIN FART!

Brain farts make me laugh, don't they you? I mean we all know its slightly annoying to have a sudden brain lapse but when you see others do it, you can not help and chuckle slightly to yourself. Apparently there was actually a study on brain farts and why they happen. According to the study, which was done last year, there is something of a thirty second precursor to a brain fart.

KGB Knows Something About Brain Farts

That being all fun, one should really check the link to the article in the side bar about the science behind a brain fart. It is really interesting to find out how the brain starts to take a nap upon doing something mindless and repetitive but anyone who has done a mindless and repetitive task could have told you that.

Really, if you stop to think about a brain fart, it may cause you to have a brain fart. You'll at least give those around you, if any, a kick from your involuntary release of ignorance.

Simon Says

Come on, who doesn't love Simon Says? I dare you not to spend at least an hour trying to beat your own personal score. Myself I could not get past about twelve. I never did have the sharpest memory but perhaps some of you will fair better.

Not much can be said about Simon Says. The game gives you a colored button combination to hit and you either do it correctly or incorrectly. Upon success you are given a longer pattern to follow. How long can you get yours?

Simon Says

Make a song with it, beat your record but above all else, remember to have fun. That is the purpose of a game after all. If you are not having fun playing Simon Says then I'm sorry you don't like pretty flashing lights with simple sound tones to implicate success.

Stretching the Truth

Roleplaying and other forms of collaborative writing all require its participants to play along with each others styles and manners by which they create. There is only a small problem with this and it is when does "truth" become "fiction" when one states a positive and another a negative from the same perspective. This is a good when trying to learn, have fun or "write by flight" but it can cause trouble among the group.

When one writer has something drastic or absurd happen* it can cause a catastrophic event among the rest. If others are not willing to play along with the sudden twist or alteration there quickly causes problems. Adversely when others do "play along" you start to break the line of truth. The truth of the story; its legitimacy, flow and general mood.


Truth

• The ability for a story to stay focused and on point.
  
• The believability to that the story has to its readers.
  
• The constant flow and easy to follow continuity of a story.
• No magic, lasers or anything not currently present in our reality.
  
• Can be found in science fiction and fantasy but is usually coined "Light Sci-Fi/Fantasy" and has little to no magic lasers etc and is "pushing" the line of truth.
  
• A stories general all around existence, if grounded in our reality.
• Requires similar minded individuals to keep truth at a constant.
  

Truth is something of a term I have "invented" for what I mean as I am unsure an actual word or phrase for what starts to happen. If a story is already on the border of the surreal then the truth is already slowly being lost and this was the point of the piece to begin with but a majority of writing, especially that of the collaborative nature, does not.

So far things sound well and good, right? Not exactly. Truth is needed to keep a reader in the story based on the reality of the world as he or she views it. This can be difficult as not everyone always sees, hears or tastes the same thing upon a similar situation. Some of us are even lacking the ability to use on of our senses so there becomes a true problem quickly.

Truth Problems

• Predictability of plot
• Lacking deep or well thought out plot
• Story is safe and appeals to a more general type of audience rather then a niche.
• A story with constant truth has no conflict or drive within it.
• Boredom for reader.
• Over use of truth leads to a lack as the reality becomes to Utopian and perfect.
  

While the truth of a story should be kept in mind and generally brought point it is good to drop the truth in favor of something more fun or interesting. This comes in matters where in stories something almost random happens and, at times, it can leave the reader a little out of the story. Abrupt change from truth to not causes an immediate removal of oneself from the world presented to you. This means that there must be balance.

So we must find truth in the stories we write while allowing it to also falter to the side without dropping it completely. This balancing act is, in itself, amusing to those who truly write a story with intent to amuse the rest of us.

*See Derailing Fiction for details.

Block Drops (Flash Game)

One would not believe this was a true flash game, especially with the option to fully download the game and play it as a client off line, but it is! The game looks, sounds, and plays so beautifully its just magic. The gameplay is so simple yet engaging you'll not be able to stop yourself from playing.

Controls

• Arrow Keys - Move
• Shift Key - Jump

Premise: You are a blob, thing, and you move about tile blocks trying to make it to the finish line, checkered box while making each stack of blocks disappear below the beautifully animated water.

I know that sounds dumb and might seem like you have even played it before someplace else but the music and animation drag you in. You almost feel like you are this little blob thing making musical steps continuing on a goal to who knows where. Honestly, you can not help but spend hours playing this game and once you realize you did, you play some more! It is rare that a flash game plays and sounds so well, at least to me, while still staying simple like a flash game should.

The game does, like most, have flaws. The basic the the ability to see. Actually it is the lacking in ability to see that causes the problem. There is only one view of the 3D rendered puzzles so your character can be easily hidden by taller block stacks and heavy forbid if you've an issue with depth perception. All of that and I'd still fully suggest this! PLAY THIS GAME, SERIOUSLY!

Link In Side bar but if you are lazy, you may go here as well.

Dream Relms (Coraline and/or Alice)

Alice meet Coraline, Coraline meet Alice. The two of you have had similar adventures both including rabbit holes, evil queens, a guiding cat and being a book later made to film. While with Alice In Wonder Land, this is rather literal with an actual rabbit hole and evil Queen of Hearts etc, Coraline's lines are more abstractly drawn.

The "rabbit hole" in Coraline is nothing more then a locked door. This could also be taken back to Alice with the talking doorknob as both are required to be opened to allow entrance into the world of wonder. While the talking doorknob has no key, the small wallpaper door has a key to match the world it hides, a button skeleton key. Also, Alice's door is only one way, letting her in but not out while Coraline may travel freely between both worlds, at first.

Evil Queens always run dream worlds, so it seems. It is as if women are the target to shatter the dreams of a small child. In Alice it is a "mother figure", keeping tabs on her kingdom even with a slightly ironed fist. Coraline literally has "another mother" to deal with. Each "evil queen" of the world is the main hurtle but, unlike Alice, Coraline actually fights. Alice flees from the Queen of Hearts and only has herself to save, Coraline has several she selfishly frees and even dooms the "other mother" to a destroyed world. Coraline the little girl savior, Alice the damsel in distress fleeing for her life and praying for her hero.

Cats! One, the Cheshire Cat is a guide into insanity and from the reality. Alice follows, dumbly, and eventually finds herself in loads of trouble do to this mangy feline. Coraline's feline companion warns of and tries to prevent trouble. Even rescuing Coraline at one point. Cat's are good at killing rats and helping, when it suits them, it seems.

Now on to a core issue. Alice was actually dreaming, there was no harm and once she woke it was only a personal lesson learned. Coraline's dream realm was a real threat. One that caused actual physical and emotional pain to herself and several others. No one believed, except for he friend Wybie, that the girl was telling the truth so only in essence was the world "not real".

Both books have also been made into movies. Alice in Wonderland getting the "Disney Make Over" and making everything a little less violent and/or angry in the process. while Coraline has the same charm of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Graphically there is no contest but this is due to the years the movies are apart. Because of that fact, neither can be judged against each other. As most of you have seen at least Alice in Wonderland, I shall only talk about the visual quality of Coraline.

3D is a neat trick in the theaters but it still fails at home. Still, at home, the staple of "one blue, one red" 3D glasses is how the movie is displayed. This would work better if one was not slightly colorblind, like myself. At one point there was time to stop the 3D of it and simply watch the 2D version as the glasses hurt not only my eyes but others. When you take the 3D "away" not much is actually lost. The movie still has a great charm and what is needed to be passed along in the story, is.

Musically, I am unsure. Both have their quirks, take a personal choice among the two songs I favore most from each.

Alice in Wonderland - Caterpillar



Coraline Song: Exploration

With Alice it is "cartoony" and the tone of music seems dated while Coraline's music has less of a need for the film itself, which is good when judging music on itself, it is still difficult to pick between them. However, when push comes to shove, Coraline beats Alice hands down on all counts; even if Alice "did it first" Coraline does it better, faster and stronger.