Messages

1

Falcom Specials / Re: Falcom Weekly Special Feature + Felghana ON SALE FOR 10 BUCKS +S/H!! YESS!

« on: May. 25, 2009, 10:12:42 PM »

Oh well. I always seem to miss sweet deals like this.

At least I got to play today in one of those big inflatable "bounce houses" that kids have at birthday parties.

And yet, for some reason, I still feel as if I missed out on Falcom's deal.

2

General / Re: Ys Utopia !

« on: Apr. 15, 2009, 09:18:29 AM »

Wow, I can't believe that this place is back! Yay!

I meant to post a few days ago, but I'm on vacation and the only time I can get a decent internet connection is when I'm outside of my hotel. Yes, my hotel has a fantastic view, but only teases with inconsistent wifi.

Anyway...

I think I had just moved back to NJ when I was last here, checking the forums regularly.

Life is a lot better now: I have a stable career and my daughter is now 5 friggin' years old.

That means, comrades, that I do all of the following:
1. Jonas Brothers movie (3D!) opening weekend. Saw it.
2. Hannah Montana movie opening day. Check.
3. High School Musical 3 opening weekend. Check.
4. Disney's crappy music infiltrating my mind? Yes.
5. Me singing along to Disney's music and enjoying it? Yes.
6. Ask me what my favorite Hanah or High School Musical songs are. Go ahead.

Yes, life has changed a wee bit.

3

General / Re: Hobbies other than Ys.

« on: Apr. 15, 2009, 09:09:32 AM »

I actually visited the forums a few days ago (yay!), but lost my wifi just prior to posting in this thread (damn). Disgusted, I closed the browser instead of saving my post.

"Idiot," I said to myself.

So here is my new, generic contribution to the thread:

Creative outlet: All things TurboGrafx-16 / PC-Engine is my main hobby, though lately I've been reduced to simply making desktop wallpaper (it's fun, but my pseudo-artistic endeavors are my way of procrastinating / avoiding other projects I am working on)...

Sadly, I don't have much free time these days...


Passive: All the banal things one would expect (i.e., listen, read and watch an eclectic mix of music, books and films).

I enjoy high brow and low brow...from Bach to Born Against, from Blakes 7 to Charles Bronson, from Shakespeare to The Three Investigators, etc. etc.

4

General / Re: Michael Richards (aka K-K-Kramer) flips out! Reveals he's a racist pig.

« on: Dec. 08, 2006, 10:12:36 AM »

Hahahha. Excellent!!

esteban666 and I can think of at least one individual that this video was made for and who needs to see it...

Yes, that "Lost Episode" is nicely done .

Also, I just noticed MP83's banner / sig ... ha!

5

General / Re: If you have one minute to waste...

« on: Dec. 07, 2006, 04:33:47 PM »

So, do you horde your crack cocaine in the bathroom the same way?

In a word: Yes.

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General / Re: Michael Richards (aka K-K-Kramer) flips out! Reveals he's a racist pig.

« on: Dec. 07, 2006, 04:31:57 PM »

(Newman was lame, as far as I am concerned).

"Hel-lo... Newman..."

I always loved that BTW!!!

Yeah, I liked that line as well . Jerry delivered it well. I also liked it when Jerry's mom addressed Newman in the same manner. She was even better .

7

General / Re: If you have one minute to waste...

« on: Dec. 06, 2006, 01:43:18 PM »

uhhhhhh...
You didn't actually eat that dorito, did you?

No, the Dorito that fell in the toilet (well, the three that fell in the toilet, we did a few takes) got really soggy.

In the scene with the blow dryer: the blow dryer was "so" powerful that the chip eventually broke and flew across the bathroom and smashed against the wall. You should have seen our reaction: "No! We don't have any more whole chips, do we? Dammit!"

8

General / Re: If you have one minute to waste...

« on: Dec. 05, 2006, 09:19:27 PM »

This is cut-n-posted from another forum, but I thought you might be interested in seeing this, NightWolve, because we are not ashamed to admit we like JCVD and silly martial "arts" films .

Well, I'm certainly not so ashamed of admitting it in my own forum.

Videos: Mildly amusing, but too short. So you're in the second one and this was your post from another forum? If so, that's nifty you guys did this.

Yeah, the contest only allows 30-second entries. Some of the more talented folks were able to squeeze a lot of stuff into 30 seconds. The only thing that makes us feel good is since there are so many lame entries by other folks, our stuff won't be considered the bottom-of-the-barrel. We might be hovering just above the bottom, but hey!

9

General / If you have one minute to waste...

« on: Dec. 05, 2006, 11:42:58 AM »

This is cut-n-posted from another forum, but I thought you might be interested in seeing this, NightWolve, because we are not ashamed to admit we like JCVD and silly martial "arts" films .

UPDATE 12.05.06: My brothers visited me on Sunday and said, "Hey, let's make two more entries for the Doritos SuperBowl contest." Well, I was feeling rather lazy and I kept trying to convince them to forget about the Doritos contest and just watch a movie with me instead.

Of course, they ultimately persuaded me to help them and now you can see the results:

KungFuDorito

Originally, my brothers wanted me to wear the karate + lucha libre outfit. I said, "Hell no, it's FREEZING outside." And it was. It was friggin' ice cold and that karate outfit is made of tissue-paper-thin material.

FACT: We had to stop filming because we were frozen and the sun had set.
FACT: At 10:30 last night, my brothers started editing this film. By 11:45 they had to upload it in order to make the contest deadline (at midnight).
FACT: They told me that they didn't have time to decide what the best shots were, or to clean up the editing, so don't get too excited. Also, they were using Windows' "MovieMaker" and it kept crashing / slowing down on them -- they can't believe they were able to finish at all.


And now, as if that wasn't enough, here is the second entry:

Desperate for Doritos

Yes, that's me. Now you can understand why I initially didn't want to help my brothers! And my poor wife came home late Sunday night to find us pleading with her to do those two short scenes where she knocks on the door. I'm sure that Frito-Lay does not want Doritos associated with unsavory things like toilets, but my brothers were unwilling to compromise on their "vision".

FACT: Doritos do get soggy when submerged in water.
FACT: The sound you hear when the chip bounces off the rim is real, but slowed down to 1/4 speed, or so my brother informs me.

It's all very silly, of course, and they know that they don't have a chance at winning anything.

10

General / Re: Super CD-Rom System v3.0 Card

« on: Dec. 04, 2006, 10:03:00 PM »

Oh I see! I misread his post....He was talking about a true system 3 card. Well if it is not on ebay the I guess that it will be impossible to find.*Edit* http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PC-Engine-Super-System-Card-Ver-3-0-CD-ROM2-Rare_W0QQitemZ104753595160QQihZ020QQcategoryZ123438QQcmdZViewItem
See if this item is stilll avaible.

This auction was for the Japanese HuCard, which won't help the original poster, since he needs the harder-to-find, more expensive US HuCard .

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General / Re: Super CD-Rom System v3.0 Card

« on: Nov. 28, 2006, 04:31:25 PM »

Hello i am newish to the fourms.

Anyway, does anyone know where i could find a US Version of it (The Super CD-rom card)? Because sadly almost all the major TG-CD games require it... Yeah i actually have the original TurboGrafx system.

Thank you.

P.s Good job on the translations guys, keep up the good work 

Unfortunately, the US version of the SCD System Card is rather pricey and doesn't show up on ebay too frequently (in my experience, anyway).

Outside of ebay, there aren't too many places where you'll find TG-16 / PCE fans who are willing to trade / sell the item you're looking for. It wouldn't hurt to ask at the forums at pcengine-fx.com or magicengine.com ... but be sure to ask the "regulars" if the person you're doing business with is trustworthy.

For the price the HuCard fetches on ebay, you might consider investing in a DUO or a PCE + SCD add-on. I have the SCD add-on and it works great.  I've always wanted to get the "suitcase" PCE + CD combo, but since it would have been necessary to get the Japanese SCD System Card (which is cheaper and far more common than its US counterpart), I decided to keep things simple.

Plus, if you get a Japanese system, you can play Japanese HuCards

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General / Re: Michael Richards (aka K-K-Kramer) flips out! Reveals he's a racist pig.

« on: Nov. 28, 2006, 04:17:05 PM »

I'm sure if I were to actually sit down and watch the video in action, it would put a terrible thought/feeling/taste, whatever you want to call it in my head about watching his character in Seinfeld from hereon out. I think I'd prefer to just leave this news as news about the actor Michael Richards and not the character of Kramer that he played on Seinfeld. It's an image that I'm fairly sure I don't want to ruin for myself.

-SkyeWelse

I think you made the right decision. Personally, I'll never see any of Richards' stuff the same way (i.e. Kramer or Stanley Spudowski in UHF). Thankfully, though, I always thought George was the best character on the show (Newman was lame, as far as I am concerned). I've gone from liking Kramer, to hating the character, to liking it again.

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General / Re: Michael Richards (aka K-K-Kramer) flips out! Reveals he's a racist pig.

« on: Nov. 24, 2006, 07:58:11 AM »

The latest Seinfeld DVDs just came out, too.  Sales aren't going to be good for that I think.

I brother pointed this out to me last night! He says that there was a decent amount of promotion and marketing for the DVDs... so I, too, feel that this could affect the sales. Or maybe not, who knows.

Either way, KKKramer's rant helped make this a memorable Thanksgiving for my family and I! (NW, check  the other forum for the full scoop. If I had visited these forums first, I would have posted the anecdotes here).

EDIT: OK, I cut-n-pasted from the other forum....

Envision this scene: Last night I was having coffee / dessert with some relatives and they told me that earlier in the day they were watching the KKKramer videos on YouTube -- WITH MY GRANDMOTHER! I cringed upon hearing this and nearly spit out the apricot tart I was eating. It turns out that my Grandma (who is exceedingly prim and proper) wanted to see the videos so she could judge them for herself. I am still cringing at the thought of this.

Ahhhhhh, nothing brings the family together on the holidays like video nasties . Note: This is the same grandmother who gave me an informative booklet about the dangers of D & D and was worried that I listened to satanic music when she saw the felt Dio and Iron Maiden posters hanging in my room when I was a wee lad. I wish I still had the booklet! She gave it to me at the height of the moral panic over D & D and heavy metal. In all fairness to her, she had just been Born Again at the time...

14

General / Re: Game Backgrounds that let you thinking...Ys6

« on: Nov. 21, 2006, 10:12:07 AM »

!!!

15

General / Re: I installed IE 7.0 today. Surprise! It looks a lot like Firefox now...

« on: Nov. 14, 2006, 01:03:57 PM »

My wife installed IE7 on her machine and I have used it a little bit. IE is certainly more bearable with tabs, but I am surprised by the default settings (i.e. the minimal number of visible navigation / menu items). I say "surprised" because I don't know if the average computer user (who is already familiar with IE's old layout) will like the UI changes (i.e. is the new UI intuitive? It's hard for me to be objective, but I don't think it would be for the average user). Personally, I don't mind the new aesthetics. I like that the default UI is cleaner.

I still haven't used IE7 long enough for a verdict. IE7 will never be my primary (or tertiary!) browser, but I still want to see how it stacks up against the others.

I have already tested some web designs in IE7 and I can tell you that it is still not compliant to some basic CSS standards. At least I can use conditional comments to try to fix things, but honestly, it's really annoying to have to do this in the first place (I have conditions for IE5-only, IE6-only and now there are some IE7-only things to add!).

I really liked IE when I switched over from Netscape (since Netscape went to crap). Outside of that, IE5 for mac osx was probably the most inspired browser I've experienced from MS  in recent memory.  Sure, you can laugh at it now, but at the time it seemed really sweet. IE7 seems more like "finally it's out; it is long overdue" as opposed to "yay! IE7 is a revolution!"

Disclaimer: I am no fan of IE. I like FF, Camino / Safari, Opera.

16

General / Re: Something funny for you Ys and Xak fans.

« on: Nov. 03, 2006, 12:34:40 AM »

I laughed at the one comment,
"It's a Japanese walking simulator."

 

Indeed, it was the only enjoyable moment to be found in either video. 

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General / Re: Awesome Halloween theme

« on: Oct. 30, 2006, 11:07:35 AM »

I love the colors

18

General / Re: Bloodsport - The Movie..

« on: Sep. 30, 2006, 04:43:06 PM »

OK USA!

My favorite cheese ball line of the movie.  Cyborg and Kickboxer are my other JCVD favorites. 

On another note, there is a breakdancing movie from 1984 called "breakin" that has JCVD dancing in the background.  You guys have to see this hilarious shit.  This was of course way before he broke into the action film star he became.  I'm also looking at IDBM and it says his first film movie he was a gay karate instructor!

Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo are totally entertaining . I have thesoundtrack for one of them (I forget which one) and ICE T has a track of his own... it's quite amusing and not nearly as "hard" as his later stuff. It probably is one of ICE T's most treasured moments.

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General / Re: Bloodsport - The Movie..

« on: Sep. 30, 2006, 04:39:41 PM »

Yeah, I like Cyborg too. I can watch that every now and then. I seem to like movies with a post apocalyptic wild west type of setting where anything goes and so there's a lot to explore as far as the possibilities. "Universal Soldier: The Return" unfortunately doesn't have much of a, "Hey, I might wanna watch this again someday" feel to it. Pitch Black is a recent favorite of mine on the other hand that has good replay value. That was Vin Diesel's best. I saw it numerous times and even once with DVD commmentary enabled which I don't do too much.

Pitch Black was great! I can't believe Vin Diesel has not done anything nearly as interesting. I've actually seen "The Pacifier" and it was really, really dull. The trailers actually make the movie look a lot better than the actual film, if you can believe that. The next time we need to rent a "family-friendly" film, I'm going to choose Bob the Builder (or something else from PBS). No joke.

The only good thing about "The Pacifier" was that it reminded my brothers and I of Hulk Hogan's "Suburban Commando" that we saw in the theatre when we were young lads. It also reminded us of another film, with a very similar plot, the title of which escapes me at the moment...

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General / Re: New translation project: Cosmic Fantasy 4 - Chapter 1

« on: Sep. 30, 2006, 04:29:51 PM »

I saw your thread at the other forum, but in case I failed to comment there, let me applaud you for undertaking this massive project. Good luck

21

Ys Origin / Re: Ys Origin

« on: Sep. 30, 2006, 04:28:08 PM »

I'm stoked about Ys Origin. I've watched the trailer dozens of times already... I certainly don't mind the abscense of Adol.

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General / Re: Bloodsport - The Movie..

« on: Sep. 20, 2006, 03:16:51 PM »

Well, I saw "Universal Soldier: The Return" and am now refreshed as to why this movie bombed so bad. First of all, JCVD was at the right place and time to have gotten the first movie made with top guys in the industry. "Universal Soldier" was made back when Carolco was at the top of its game. Mario Kassar was the executive producer and Roland Emmerich was the director, the guy who went on to do Stargate, Indepedence Day, etc. right after, to name a few. This combination is never going to happen again for our poor old JCVD.

(Everyone who loves action movies knows Carolco. Whenever I would see their logo at the start of a movie as a kid, just a simple animation of a 'C' being drawn along with accompanying music, I knew I was in for a good badass action movie. They were responsible for hits like Rambo, Total Recall, Terminator 2, DeepStar Six, Cliffhanger, etc.)

Oh yeah, tons of great films by Carolco... another fave is Golan-Globus (Cannon): tons of super films. And, even I was surpirsed to discover (a minute ago) that there was at least one JCVD <-> Golan-Globus connection (besides Bloodsport):

One of the final movies produced by both Golan and Globus to get a wide release under the Cannon banner was the Jean-Claude Van Damme post-apocalyptic actioner Cyborg. Originally intended as the sequel to Masters of the Universe (and often incorrectly named Masters of the Universe II in TV-listings) the movie went in to production after the toy-line had run its course. The script was reshaped and Jean-Claude Van Damme was cast in the lead. Two sequels were later made, both have proven equally unpopular.

I never knew that! I don't know how reliable this information is, but I would have never guessed that MotU and Cyborg had any relationship to each other. Of course, Golan-Globus are responsible for Runaway Train, The Last American Virgin, Lambada, Death Wish, Breakin', etc. etc.

Anyway, I won't spoil the rest of it because some of you may actually want to see this piece of shit movie for yourselves! It does have one redeeming quality with a lengthy badass fight sequence between JCVD and Michael Jai White at the end, so that's worth watching a few times. See if you can catch a blooper as they're fighting near the operating table which was quite ridiculous given the 40 million dollar budget.

JCVD blew it big time with this movie and it has so far been his last theatrical release. He's been ALL straight-to-video ever since this bomb came out in 1999, which itself should've been a straight-to-video release. Well, I guess it has that novelty to it. If you wanna see the last movie he made that enjoyed wide theatrical release, here you go! Oh, yes, let's not forget, this was the movie that launched Bill Goldberg's (the wrestler) acting career, too! If you wanna call what he does acting, that is... Heh.

Oh yeah, another thing I wanted to mention about the plot. You realize how lame the whole setup is with the government wanting to shut down the Unisol project just like that, given that what they actually possess comes close to being the secrets of immortality. JCVD is Jesus. He died in Vietnam and was later resurrected. So you know how to resurrect the dead, and all you're gonna do with that knowledge is create some bulletproof soldiers, then cancel the whole thing?? WTF? That makes the typical suspension of disbelief that one must exercise to enjoy your average movie difficult. In their world, in their setting, they know how to resurrect the dead, but *gasp*, they're just gonna pull the plug like it's no big deal due to budget cuts and/or the Pentagon brass is still a bit too attached to the traditional soldier, doesn't like this zombie idea anymore... Lame. Course, I'm probably reading too much into things. It's their lousy setup early in the movie that leaves you wondering.

I haven't seen this movie yet, but I definitely will see it one of these days. It's a shame when a movie takes a promising premise and fails to examine the subject matter in an interesting way, opting for a generic formula instead. For example, 99.99% of zombie films are brainless (no pun intended), but then along comes a film like "The Return of the Living Dead" that does some creative stuff (I loved how the "sliced half-a-canine" was re-animated... what a brilliantly macabre concept). Day of the Dead (considered the low-point of the trilogy) also had a great concept (sympathy for the zombies who were being experimented upon --> which leads to a de-demonization of the zombie).

If I ever make the no-budget zombie film I have in my head, I want to explore the way certain things (i.e. monsters / aliens / zombies ) have been demonized ... then turn the tables to show the "villains" as the "victims" (i.e. the humans as the "source of evil"). There have been lots of films that have done this.   Basically, I want to adapt Frankenstein to the zombie genre.

"Humanize the monster, demonize the human..." Not the most original idea, but it could be fun

If you ever get a chance, check out: "(Dark?) Night of the Scarecrow" ... it's perfect for the Halloween season and is my favorite "made-for-tv" films. I actually didn't know it was made for tv (it's that good)! The story draws *some* (albeit weak) parallels to the Frankenstein forumula.

Sorry, none of this has anything to do with JCVD (except the "zombie soldier" conceit).

I think I actually enjoyed Universal Soldier a bit, but it didn't leave too much of an impression on me (since I can't remember anything from it, though I haven't seen it since it was first released on video). Cyborg, on the other hand, has permanently scarred my soul... and yet I continue to re-watch the movie every few years. Ouch.

23

General / Re: Bloodsport - The Movie..

« on: Sep. 15, 2006, 01:39:55 PM »

MOVIE PICK OF THE WEEK: I just watched Ong Bak at my brothers' behest, and I must say that I found it thoroughly entertaining.  I think you would dig it, NW, because it has a classic action film formula that will certainly appeal to fans of Bloodsport and / or JCVD. Believe me, I was skeptical about this film (I wouldn't have watched it), but I'm glad my brothers convinced me to give it a chance.

Yeah, it's pretty badass, I bought the DVD actually! If you wanna support the guy, go check out 'The Protector' at theatres right now. It's the same guy [Tony Jaa].

wayback://apple.com/trailers/theprotector/

Awesome, it's been a long time since I went to the movies.

24

General / Re: Bloodsport - The Movie..

« on: Sep. 15, 2006, 02:03:52 AM »

Ah, I forgot about Dolph Lundgren. Yeah, he was cool back in the day, but his descent was all the more swift I think. All the DVDs I mentioned above arrived btw. Him and Van Damme did some audio commentary for the Universal Soldier [SE] DVD, so I'll check it out when I have a chance to watch it. (An aside, I was disappointed in finding the Universal Solder: The Return disc turned out to be fullscreen. I hate that... Happens to me all the time. I was thinking I bought the widescreen version and I get stuck with fullscreen.)

Anyway. Seagal definitely had much more mainstream success. He is the better actor. I dunno why he's back into direct-to-video hell again after a respectable release like Exit Wounds ($52 mil US/$28 mil foreign= $80 mil worldwide), though. Overweight again? And I guess considering the $50 mil production budget, it was a flop??

I hate it when I can't find the WS version of a movie. I usually end up buying the lame "fullscreen" version, though, if I want to see a particular movie really bad. Of course, a year later, the WS version of said movie is released. DAMMIT, the studios really know how to get my money.

I reckon that everyone here already has a WS televsion (probably HD), but I still have a 20" cathode ray. However, the good news is that my wife wants one of those fancy "new" WS televsions and I'm stoked! Finally I'll be able to watch my DVD's on a nice big screen (Previously, I've been using my laptop since it has the nicest picture).

I just might have to hold a Bronson/JCVD/Stallone/Seagal marathon to christen the new TV. Of course, we won't get a TV for at least a month or two... but I'm already thinking about it

Back on topic: $30 million profit is nothing to sneeze at, but sometimes studios aren't satisfied, I guess.  Perhaps they fear that Seagal won't draw-in enough consumers unless they team him up with a trendy co-star (take your pick, male or female). You see, if you team up Seagal with, say, Penelope Cruz, you'll be able to appeal to a much larger demographic (I'm being sarcastic but I think marketing departments really think this way).

MOVIE PICK OF THE WEEK: I just watched Ong Bak at my brothers' behest, and I must say that I found it thoroughly entertaining.  I think you would dig it, NW, because it has a classic action film formula that will certainly appeal to fans of Bloodsport and / or JCVD. Believe me, I was skeptical about this film (I wouldn't have watched it), but I'm glad my brothers convinced me to give it a chance.

MOVIE PICK OF THE CENTURY: If you want to see one of my all-time favorite films, check out "Runaway Train". I consider it one of the masterpieces of 80's B-film dramas (it's an action flick / drama) ... but it rarely, if ever, gets much appreciation. At least, I have never met anyone who is as obsessed with the film as I am. Watch it at night with the lights off.

25

General / Re: Bloodsport - The Movie..

« on: Sep. 08, 2006, 01:31:20 PM »

The only good Bloodsport is the first one. One of favorite movies when I was younger (my brothers and I watched it a zillion times), though I haven't seen it in ages.

Yeah, me too. I bought the DVD and was watching bits of it the other day. I've been buying a bunch of Jean Claude Van Damme movies myself from amazon.com, recently. Still waiting for three to arrive in the mail: Universal Soldier [Special Edition], Universal Soldier: The Return, and a double feature DVD of Legionairre plus The Replicant. Knock Off and Desert Heat already arrived and it turned out I had already seen Desert Heat from somewhere, maybe on HBO. Not one of JCVD's shining moments, but that was just about when he was destined for direct-to-video greatness.

Anyway, the Bloodsport sequels were complete crap obviously. They went in the same direction as the Kickboxer sequels with Sasha Mitchel. Worse and worse AND worse. I don't even think having had Van Damme in them would've helped much. I saw the 2nd and pretty sure the third as well. I didn't even know they made a 4th until recently, but I've no interest. Ooooh, scary subtitle, "The Dark Kumite..." Pffft.

Having Van Damme in the  sequels wouldn't have made them significantly better, but at least Van Damme would have been in them. Surely, there would have been some novelty in that, if only to say, "Damn you, Jean-Claude, for making this movie!"

Bloodsport was such an awesome movie that I have remained a fan of his, despite the path his career took. I have found that I am much more forgiving of his films when I don't use Bloodsport as a reference point (measuring stick). If you go into a movie with low expectations, you're less likely to be disappointed

But man, that is wild. I never would've guessed you were a fan. Here's a more relevant question I've pondered: Can JCVD make a comeback or is he forever doomed with direct-to-video releases, alongside the likes of Steven Seagal, etc.? I feel bad for the guy. I hate to see his career die a slow death, drip by drip with some of these mediocre recent titles like "Second in Command." A new one just came out called "The Hard Corps" which happens to include Vivica A. Fox and it's apparently more of the same. I'll probably buy it when the price comes down to help support the guy. Well, he can say at least for a short time he made it big in Hollywood. Timecop was his most mainstream success. I should also mention, though, I did sorta like his Wake of Death movie from 2004. It showed _some_ promise, but, you know, at the end of the day, it still fell short of delivering the JCVD of the early 90s I remember.

JCVD rules! I think that JCVD could have another huge "hit", but it would be the result of pure luck (i.e. a matter of being in the "right place at the right time" and not the quality of the actual film).

You see, I firmly believe that even if JCVD made some really, really good movies, they wouldn't necessarily translate into commercial Hollywood success. So, we, as fans, would be happy... and maybe a VD would gain a bit more respect... but that's about it.

I actually like Steven Seagal as well, and I think I enjoy his oeuvre slightly more than Van Damme's (though it's hard to compare them -- it's just that Seagal's worst films are slightly more bearable than VD's worst films), but I agree that they both have suffered a similar fate. Did Seagal have more commerical success in the U.S., perhaps? I don't really know, but that has always been my impression.

Truth be told, neither Segal nor Van Damme have stooped as low as Dolph Lundgren has (I recently watched some ridiculous movie called "Bridge of Dragons", or something like that, and I felt that it had to be the lowest point of Mr. Lundgren's career). I should mention that I like Dolph Lundgren and it was painful to see him in a movie like this. At least the movie was entertaining, though

26

General / Re: Bloodsport - The Movie..

« on: Sep. 07, 2006, 01:59:19 AM »

The only good Bloodsport is the first one. One of favorite movies when I was younger (my brothers and I watched it a zillion times), though I haven't seen it in ages.

I've seen all the movies, but my favorite line is still:
"I'll show you a trick or two, American @sshole!"



EDIT: The only reference I could find on the web lists the line as
“Now I show you some trick or two, American @sshole!”
-- Hussein from "Bloodsport"

So I guess my memory is suspect. Oh well, at least I was close.

27

Ys: The Oath In Felghana / Re: Ys - The Oath in Felghana translation

« on: Aug. 30, 2006, 02:02:19 AM »

Well, Mr. Essenion here, the original creator of this thread, was moments ago deleted. He decided to private message me a profane-laced tirade merely because I refused to share with him any reverse engineering/hacking infomation for Felghana. He wanted to hack the game himself to translate it to Russian. Apparently, I somehow owed him this information and if I politely refused, I deserved to be called a "motherfucker" as a result, according to his logic. Can you believe that? Ehh, kids, what can you do? Heh.

Ahhh, what a cheerful, warm-hearted person. Hopefully the PM he sent was therapuetic and he has calmed down by now.... otherwise you might get some more fan mail from him

How does this attached screenshot look with "The Black Throne" text? I added another with the last boss. The font used is Monotype Corsiva and I think it's coming out rather nicely.

It looks superb, naturally . Anyway, I only skimmed this thread, but I can do the Photoshopping discussed earlier. Just PM if my services are required.

28

Ys Typing Tutor Game / Re: Ys Typing Tutor Game.

« on: Aug. 19, 2006, 04:38:49 AM »

awesome! awesome! awesome!

29

General / Re: MyDevil

« on: Jul. 23, 2006, 10:39:11 PM »

Wow I knew nothing about this... what an interesting title!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI_Maze I think I'll have to try an emulated version soon. After looking at the screens, now I see why you made the joke. Look at those smooth non-textured 3D walls! hehe

Oh and BTW, my website got some touching up a week or 2 ago.. check it out!

Awesome, I actually didn't know the history of Faceball! Very kool to find out about it.

I'll have a look at your site as well ...

30

General / Re: Whoops, OK site is back.

« on: Jul. 23, 2006, 10:31:28 PM »

I faithfully checked every other day for this site's return... YAY!

Great news about TurboRip, NW

Also, good luck with the remodeling! I trust you'll be relishing every moment spent on it

I haven't done any major stuff recently, except getting things nice for the "Open House" shenanigans I had to endure (my home went on the market recently) .

Our garage had the crappiest, oldest, nastiest door on it, and I installed a new one. It actually wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it would be. Cleaning out the garage, on the other hand --- well, *that* was a MUCH more work than I thought it would be.

Anyway, the house is sold (well, the deal doesn't close until the end of the month... but hopefully nothing crazy will break the deal) and this tuesday I'm driving cross-country in a Uhaul and towing my car.

I should be packing right now, but of course I'm on my computer

YAY! For procrastination.

31

General / Re: TV/Paper/Radio news

« on: Jun. 22, 2006, 11:49:58 PM »

I can provide some more info on the survey stuff.

Many years ago (1998-99) my wife was chosen by
http://my.kninc.net/Login.aspx

To take surveys. The only incentive they were offering was a free WebTV + keyboard + free service. Everything was free, mind you, as long as you took the surveys in a timely fashion. Otherwise, they'd drop you and ask you to return the equipment. Supposedly, after three years, you'd be able to keep everything.

Anyway, we had no need for silly WebTV (we had a proper computer and dial-up), but being the dorks that we were, we thought that it would be neat to see how WebTV enhanced the television.

Well, digital cable was not widespread at the time, and even when it was more readily available, you had to pay extra for it. So, we actually had a blast with WebTV since it provided on-screen info and schedules. It worked very well, actually.

Soon digital cable was the norm and there was no need for WebTV.

But we were still taking those stupid surveys. At least 2 / week. Lots of organizations used Knowledge Networks services, and sometimes you were told who commissioned the survey you were taking.

99% of the time it was typical market research garbage.
Sometimes, especially around elections, big news stations would use surveys to gauge the sentiment towards candidates.
Sometimes the surveys seemed to be for public policy. At other times, it seemed like it might be for academic research (this was very rare, though).

What I learned from this experience was that surveying was big busisness and that many organizations (from news organizations, academic researchers, public policy advocates, market researchers from corporations) must have paid a lot of money for Knowledge Network's services.

In order to obtain a representative sample for a survey, you have to either use the phone or the internet. Since WebTv's were distributed for free, it ensured that folks who might otherwise have been excluded from the surveys were included. It reminded us of the Nielson "boxes" that folks got. A kid I knew in high school was in the Nielson survey.

Anyway, long story short, I hated 99.999% of the surveys I took and purposely answered to keep things as short as possible. "Do you enjoy any of the following beverages?" No. "Bottled water, then?" No.

32

General / Re: Just bought a new 250 GB WD drive. What's the best price for 'em?

« on: Jun. 21, 2006, 01:28:12 AM »

OK, point taken. I thought my external harddrive was a very good solution, but now I am questioning that assessment. I know I have a bunch of files on the HD that haven't been properly archived yet (on CD)... I'd be upset if I lost them.

33

General / Re: Connie Chung Croaks...

« on: Jun. 21, 2006, 01:19:02 AM »

This is one of the most insane things I've seen. Clearly, she was going for camp, but clearly, she was unbearable during 99% of the song.

I have to give her credit for the finale, though, the way she convincingly fell to the ground... that alone earned her 1% of goodness, in my book.

I'm serious.

34

General / Re: TurboRip v1.00: The PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM ISO/WAV/CUE Ripper

« on: Jun. 17, 2006, 05:37:03 PM »

Anyway, hurry up and try TurboRip already then.

Well, as I mentioned in the other thread, the only PC I have to play with is Oldie. My wife won't let me touch her brand new laptop, unfortunatley.

Next time I'm home I'll give TurboRip a whirl

35

General / Re: Just bought a new 250 GB WD drive. What's the best price for 'em?

« on: Jun. 17, 2006, 05:32:19 PM »

So, I went down to my local BestBuy and noticed a 250 GB/7200 RPM/8 MB CACHE hard drive on sale for $79.99. The 2nd drive on my PC system was just about to die, but I was able to salvage just about everything that was non-recoverable/replacable. The Win98 partition had already been damaged and could no longer boot. Fortunately, when I turned the PC off for a few minutes, and restarted, the noise the drive was making stopped and it began to work again allowing me to copy off my important files.

Anyway, so $79.99 x 1.0875 = $87 bucks for 250 GB. Good deal? I'm usually pretty lazy about these things even though I know I can probably hunt for a better deal on the net. If I see it on the shelf at the store, I'm more inclined to get it that way if the deal is fairly good enough. In this case, the sale was like a 70 dollar instant rebate from their regular marked up price. Anyhow, I like Western Digital myself and this seemed reasonable, so I decided what the hell. I need a backup drive now that my other one died and I'm at a critical stage with all my legacy, projects, etc. so if my main drive died, my life would be over. Heh. (I don't have a DVD burner for making backups either...)

Well, I actually have not priced drives for quite some time (2+ years), but it certainly sounds like a kick-ass deal. 250 GB? Goddam! I bought an external HD for $150+ 2+ years ago for a whopping 80GB and I thought that was absolutely huge!

TANGENT:
Not to go off on a tangent, but the hub of my home network is actually a Dell Pentium II circa 1998! I mention this because you are still running Win 98, as I am, on our old desktops. I remember when my wife and I bought this computer, because maybe 6-8 months later, the first Pentium III's were released.

Anyway, I actually still use "Oldie" for basic stuff. The CRT monitor is -- no joke -- like 60 lbs. OK, I don't know how heavy it is, but it is definitely one of the heaviest monitors I've ever encountered.

When friends and relatives want to use a computer, my wife and I never even mention our laptops. We simply bring them to Oldie.
END TANGENT.

36

Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim / Re: Umm... the English voices didn't come first.

« on: Jun. 15, 2006, 02:21:00 PM »

The Japanese voice actors are just as bad, if not worse. Probably worse, much much worse.

Oh and by the way -- the Japanese voices are certainly not the "original" ones. The game was developed in North America and the Japanese voices were added after the English ones.

While I respect your opinion of preferring the English voices to the Japanese ones, I have to shoot down your claim that the English ones came first.

The proof lies in the cutscenes for the PS2 version:  notice how the lips (not just the timing, but the actual lip movements) are perfectly synchronized with the Japanese dialogue, not English.  Pay close attention to the opening CG, particularly when Terra is speaking.  If the English ones came first as you claim, the lips would be synched to the English dialogue instead of looking like FFVII: Advent Children.

I don't mean to rain on your parade or anything, but I have to correct people when they say something that simply isn't true.

Seldane, you know I enjoy teasing you . So where is your response to this post? Could it be true that you were mistaken? I'm just teasing

37

General / Re: TurboRip v1.00: The PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM ISO/WAV/CUE Ripper

« on: Jun. 15, 2006, 02:14:40 PM »

I still haven't had a chance to use TurboRip, otherwise I would have given you feedback

But, if I may, I would request that you retain the CD-Text feature! I think it is really kool! I know I may be in the minority... but if possible, keep it.

I learned how to burn one myself in fact, then I went and tested it with a car stereo CD/WMA/MP3 player at Bestbuy -- which has them on display and operational -- to see if it would work. Heh.

Very, very kool. I am going to look up the history of CD-TEXT, do you have any juicy links that I might not find with an average search?

I am primarily interested in when CD-TEXT was introduced and what players support the feature. It sounds like CD+G to me ... a neat idea that was never really utilized. I know, you can laugh about CD+G, but I thought it was pretty kool back in the day (and I am still trying to find some CD+G music albums! All I have are a few samplers...)

38

Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim / Re: Cheats for PAL Ys:Ark of Napishtim

« on: May. 16, 2006, 07:24:22 PM »

But I see absolutely no reason whatsoever why anyone who isn't Japanese would want to use Japanese voices instead of English ones.

Well, once I play a game (or watch a movie) with an English dub, I often re-play (re-watch) the game / movie in the original language. The basic plot / story is fresh in my mind, but I am curious how the soundscape has changed. Sometimes it's not just the language -- but the background music, sound fx, etc. too -- that have been altered. For example, even silly little things like the sound of sirens on emergency vehicles are sometimes changed! I know, I know, I'm easily amused

39

General / Re: How and when did you discover Ys? and...

« on: May. 08, 2006, 06:49:18 PM »

This is just a small post, but check out this store's Ys misspelling. This is by far the worst case.

Click here!

Yes, that's a new one. The nicest thing I can say is that they almost misspelled Ys correctly!

UPDATE: OK, the recent brouhaha over the misspelling of "Y's" motivated me to dig up my SMS copy of the game. You're right! The label on the cart is misspelled (I didn't remember that), as well as the entire manual (especially the first few pages that provide the background story).

40

General / Re: How and when did you discover Ys? and...

« on: May. 08, 2006, 04:36:29 PM »

Oh right. I totally forgot. Twelve years after the last Ys misspelling (YsIV), Konami decided to bring up the trend again. You know, just in case anyone had forgotten about it. 

This is the seal from the PS2 version of Ys VI (yeah, I photographed it, I'm too lazy to drag out the scanner from the closet.)

It is JUST spelled like that on the seal -- nowhere else. As if they WANTED to put the fault SOMEWHERE. 

Ha! I hadn't heard about the PS2 label, that's just golden!

Also, I'm happy to see that this thread moved on to be productive. On that note, to further our discussion, I can help put the "Y's" misspelling in even more context:

Ys wasn't only mispelled on the game packaging. I can tell you that nearly all of the North American video game magazines mispelled "Ys" as "Y's" at some point. And publications were not consistent (that is, the spelling would not be consistent within a single issue, let alone across several issues). This left the impression that the two terms could be used interchangeably. KEEP IN MIND that this was late 80's / early 90's, well before the Disciples of Ys began spreading the Good News (i.e. enlightening folks with the official Ys Canon).

Anyone (like myself) who was introduced to Ys via the console versions (SMS, TG-CD, SNES, Genesis) and read North American gaming publications has been exposed to "Y's".

Now, don't get me wrong: I want to promote the proper spelling of Ys and I think this is an important goal. However, I fear that many folks have forgotten or are unaware of the history behind the misspelling.