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No More Heroes (aka Kenji's a slowpoke) |
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I recoiled in mute horror after trying to play NMH back when it came out (via Gamefly).
Two years of reading about it, lurking on 4chan, and generally mulling it over, swishing it around in my brain like a fine wine, I came to the conclusion that the guy makes games terrible on purpose.
If taken for what it is, beyond moronic fanboys and weeaboos, the game serves as a pretty bizarre commentary on both video games, otakus, young male sexuality, and generally the audience of games of this sort.
Travis Touchdown is a sociopathic monster, with severe inadequacy issues. The most blunt connection is one with the type of player who would be won in by the various tropes of the genre: ultraviolence, retro-vidja bullshit, and overt sexuality (in the form of his handler).
Then you take all the insane otaku cliches, the lightsaber wetdream crap, the tedious open world bullshit (lambasting the sandbox genre), and the horribly annoying, pain-in-the-a** jobs etc that make you bust your a** doing stuff you hate just to get to the next Kill Bill esque money shot boss fight. It's meta commentary on video games and the people who play them.
I'm not saying that No More Heroes is high minded or art or even a good game by any normal definition.
I just think that people assume he didn't mean for the game to play like s**t and test your patience, when I don't think anything could be further from the truth.
He's an epic troll, and hilariously enough, people who bash on this game do it for the wrong reasons, and the people who love it don't realize they're being made fun of.
 Kenji_Salk · Tue Sep 01, 2009 @ 09:18pm · 0 Comments |
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Austin City Limits Post-Report |
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Bloc Party heart I enjoyed that performance so freaking much, it elevated to an experience for me. For a full hour, I was able to put my insecurities, cynacism, and all that aside and just ******** be hypnotized by the beauty of them doing their thing. I sang along, I jumped up and down, and I got choked up during Prayer. I've never been able to really do that before, and it was liberating.
And I totally loved seeing The Decemberists too. I've never been the biggest fan of them in the world (I enjoy what they do, but never went out of my way to listen to them since she listens to them all the time), but seeing them in action really made me form a new appreciation of them as performers. Thankfully I knew all their songs, and was able to really get into the energy of the crowd, and I can't say I didn't get really ******** choked up during Crane Wife 3.
It was an amazing festival, two of the best concerts I've ever been to, and totally worth a 12 hour bake in the sun walking all day.
Took 40+ photos of the concerts, and should have them developed and on my computer by Thursday, so I'll be posting them shortly.
Kenji_Salk · Tue Sep 18, 2007 @ 06:31am · 0 Comments |
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I'm going to vent, beware. |
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If anyone who I refer to in this reads this, sorry. I feel justified in airing this, and I stand behind all of it.
I typically have a pretty good relationship with my father. He's been supportive, constructive (in his own way), and pretty much a good guy all-round.
I've made a fair share of mistakes in my developmental years, and up to and including the beginning part of my adult life. I admit that whole heartedly, and have enough humility that, if anything, I tend to beat myself up over things a bit too much and worry about things I shouldn't. Needless to say, I'm anything if not able to admit my faults and try to work on them.
I recently came off of a long-term job (Gamestop), after spending 3 1/2 years neglecting school and busting my a** in high-pressure retail. I enjoyed it for the most part (worked my way up from the bottom rung to a store manager), and am very proud of my work there. Well, in August of 2006, I was terminated on a whim due to "being too lax with the return policy with customers", which I feel was a minor issue that I was unaware of, but they terminated me all the same.
I've been feeling down about how it all went down, and that I was fired from what was arguably one of the best work environments I've ever had (problems with the company aside), and the personal troubles that were a result of that snowballed fast on me post-firing. I lost my apartment, got into significant debt, it strained Kao and I's relationship, and lost a few friends due to being blamed for it.
After a tough holiday season and new years, Kao's dad let us move back in with him temporarily while we get back into school and try to find jobs. It's been rough going back, though her dad is nothing but supportive, and trying to get back on my feet.
I had recieved a entry-level job at a hotel to tide us over and cover the car payments while we went to school and looked for better jobs. Problem being, my schedule didn't really allow for much job hunting, and needless to say, nothing else was found.
As we got close to the end of the semester, I was called one day by the new manager of the hotel, and was informed that I was fired due to borrowing 3 bucks from the petty cash (something allowed by every manager as long as they were informed, which the trainer of the new GM was informed, but the new lady wanted to clean house, and used it as an excuse).
Point is, I'm (regardless of my lack of blame) ashamed of being fired TWICE, since I take pride in my work ethic, and this has never happened to me before.
So now I'm struggling to find another job, especially one that pays what I need.
Anyway, to get to the main point, I went over to my father's house to borrow a bit of money to help with my car payment while I look for a job (which he was totally cool about on the phone). He proceeds to drill me for not having optimized my time better (took a few days right after finals to spend time with a friend before adamantly hitting the pavement), and went off on a lecture fest about how much of a directionless ******** I am. My best friend (who we were previously going to move in together as soon as I got a job) joins in and tag-team brow beats me about how I need to change my ways, buy then proceed to tell me that I'm incapable of change.
All the while, I keep agreeing that all the points they make are true, but that doesn't seem to be enough for him. I spend all my visiting time defending myself against his angry fed-up assault, and try to reason with him, but at this point he seems to have given up on me, and is just taking petty shots at me out of bitterness.
To rub salt in the wound, my dad keeps telling me that I'm just like my mother (which is a textbook waaayyyy hurtful thing he says, knowing how screwed up she is and how much I hate her).
So I haven't talked to him in going on a week, and I don't know if I want to anytime soon.
On the way home, my friend continues to agree with him, and tells me that he won't move in with me until I prove I'm capable of living on my own (like having an apartment and full-time job for over 2+ years isn't enough).
Now I have to revise my work searches and apps for elsewhere, and focus on living on my own. I'm upset that at a time when I'm clearly depressed about my station in life, that some of the people closest to me are entirely unsupportive due to having procrastinated for a few days post finals, and take it upon themselves to fix me.
Sorry, I just needed to vent about this stuff, since I've been pretty hurt about this and I don't seem to be getting over it yet.
I'm no longer concerned though, with their approval, and am just going to concern myself with Kao and I's well-being.
Kenji_Salk · Mon May 14, 2007 @ 04:16pm · 1 Comments |
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American Anime: A Positive Trend |
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It's an unpopular opinion, that's for sure, but I couldn't be happier about American animation taking on a Japanese aesthetic, while featuring what makes American film/television so damn good.
I just finished an Avatar: The Last Airbender marathon.
That show is so freaking good, it's sick. The writing, the acting, the score, the story, it's the pinnacle of what american writers and actors can do with the visual majesty of the Japanese art style/cultural influence.
There is a definite downside to this whole fad: shows likeTeen Titans, while visually impressive, was bogged down with juvenille writing (when it was serious, though, it was relatively good) and spastic visual comedy that went overboard more often than not. Granted, the audience Teen Titans was shooting for was not exactly guys in their 20's, but Avatar (which was the greatest mistake Nickelodeon ever made, a diamond in the rough) is supposed to be targeted towards the same demographic, and yet it is mature beyond it's age range.
For too long animation in the states has been a stagnant puddle of idiotic childrens shows (with the occasional witty gem), and adult humor series (Venture Bros. and Boondocks being watermark exceptions to me) with little or no emphasis on story or visual presentation. As a public, we still cannot get around the concept of a story being told through animation that can be taken seriously by adults, as well as children. It holds us back, and produces crap like Totally Spies and idiotic Disney sequels.
Thank god for shows like Avatar, which prove that you can work around the system of negative mindsets and tell an engaging story that is mature, emotional, thought provoking (at times) and entertaining to both young and old. Disney could really learn something from you guys.
Kenji_Salk · Sun Sep 17, 2006 @ 10:55pm · 1 Comments |
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OMG Silent Hill the movie is looks amazing! |
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Just been wallowing in screen caps and interviews with the director (Christophe Gans) and man, it looks like it will turn out to be one awesome movie. *drool*
Favorite. Game. Series. Evah.
Well, that and Metal Gear.
Kenji_Salk · Fri Dec 02, 2005 @ 07:26pm · 3 Comments |
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Been offline for a while now.. |
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Seeing as Kao and I recently moved into our new apartment, and have yet to have the money to get a decent net connection installed.
Right now, I'm on Kao's brother's computer, catching up on all that I've missed. I shall update the moment we get DSL.
Kenji_Salk · Tue May 03, 2005 @ 06:15pm · 0 Comments |
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Spring Break Coming to a Close... |
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And I haven't done JACK. Working has kept me busy, and lack of cash has made sure I wouldn't be doing anything outside of my house for the duration of SB.
Though I can't complain too much, at least I HAVE a job. I could be unemployed.
Been spending most of my time chillin' and playing video games, hanging out with Kaophyre, and drawing.
All in all, not too bad.
Kenji_Salk · Fri Mar 18, 2005 @ 08:23pm · 0 Comments |
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So yeah, I got my own place (sort of). |
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I achieved apartment. I have a roommate from college that has a pretty well paying job, and we found a spacious place that is perfect for me right now.
Can't wait.
I shall post more in the morning, what with it being so freakin' late and all. whee
Kenji_Salk · Tue Mar 15, 2005 @ 05:52am · 0 Comments |
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Okay. *deep breath*
I am SO fed up with the anime/game community at large (though this will be a video game specific rant, it applies to anime fans as well).
First off, let me give you a brief rundown of my life (pertaining to this rant). I'm a 20 year old allround geek who is a manager at a Gamestop, who has scraped by childhood with the emotional help/haven of anime/video games. It was the only thing that got me through middle/high school, though was a main source of my emotional/social trauma at the same time. I would be bullied, harassed, beat up, thieved from etc., part of the reason would be because I would be playing Pokemon in class, or reading Playstation Magazine (keep in mind, back then video games or cartoons=nerd, geek and so on, warranting harassment).
Life has been hard on us all, we all should know that, and you're supposed to cope with it as best you can. Video games were one my main sources of escape, the one thing that gave me solice when I was out of school. It was an escape from social horror, family problems (divorce, mother with cancer etc), and money troubles. They presented me with amazing stories, great characters, awsome worlds, and the like. The foundation for my childhood, and a major influence as to who I am today. heart
So it disgusts me to see something that I love SO MUCH become the fodder for elitists, self-riteous assholes, ignorant meathead Joe Shmuck, and just about everyone that made my life a living hell back in gradeschool. stare
This Penny Arcade illustrates my feelings very well (sans the last panel):
Not only is every little punk kid and their dog jumping on the "old school" bandwagon (which makes no sense half the time, due to their age etc), but idiotic douchebags who once called video games stupid and kiddy are now taking it as their own. Coupled with the new marketing of video games to trendoid ******** (G4 anyone? Hot Topic "oldschool" merch anyone?), trying to make video games "hip" and "edgy", when they don't need to be jazzed up. Let the product sell itself, goddamnit. scream
It just makes me sick to see the industry go THIS mainstream, to the point of homogeny. No integrity AT ALL, and rarely is a new and creative idea/game rewarded in sales (with the exception of games like Metal Gear Solid, and the like). gonk
Another problem with the fanbase is the elitist shitheads who turn video game consoles into a WAR, and force those to ally themselves with a certain console, bickering like little children over which one ROX hard enough. It's like partisan politics, only it DOESN'T MATTER AT ALL. I own all three consoles, and plan on getting a PSP and a DS, so I have no alliances, but I am fed UP with arrogant trashtalking children spreading their venomous hate around as if anyone really gives a damn. Just like what you like, and if you can't respect other people's tastes/opinions, then shut the hell up and don't talk to me (this goes for all of you, N fans, Sony fans, and yes, "X-Heads" wink .
I am tired of not being able to discuss video games with people without attempts of flamebait being vomited upon this forum.
The childish bullshit has GOT TO STOP, because I'm on the verge of quitting the whole video game thing altogether (outside of a few favs of mine, like MGS or Silent Hill). stressed
Ugh, that felt good to vent. domokun
Kenji_Salk · Mon Mar 14, 2005 @ 11:09pm · 5 Comments |
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