So the NeoRaffles are looking good for me so far. I just won the logo contest and got 750 Points extra for me to use. I really feel like going for the Banner contest, but I feel it's unfair. Not because I think I'll win (I'm not much of a prick), but it's a dick thing to do if you end up winning the entire thing. It makes you look like a total ass and I don't feel liking sending out that message.

So, this is my firs time ever experiencing the Neo Raffles and I think they're great. So far I offered so much stuff. Haha. I can accomplish all of it, I'm sure, but it feels like it might take me a little while. Specially the digital downloads, but no one should complain since I'm doing this for free. But let's leave the anticipation till the 18th. I might offer some more stuff, so if you guys have ideas let me know. =P

Also, recently I noticed I've gotten quite popular over Neo for some odd reason. I have no clue what it is but a lot of people are noticing me a lot know which is kinda cool, but sort of a drag at the same time. I've gotten some people PM me here and there asking me to be my friend, but I don't mind really but it really feels like I'm not going to put up much effort in the friendship and then thought to be an ass of some sort. I always found it quite ludicrous to ask someone to be your friend and then after some fun PMs here and there completely forget about them.

Then there's the good thing about it because back when I first joined, I could never be recognized by the likes of people such as Yug and U_Turn. I've been knowing Yug for quite a while, not too long, but enough to know him well. U_Turn was the one that surprised me though. I never talked to him, never really knew him personally, but I still somehow managed to get on his "Cool" List haha. Which I thought he was just joking at first, but it turns out he thinks I'm a cool guy. I feel the same about him and always thought he was, but now I feel we're on the same level now. Haha.

Then there's Arc and Harvest. Turns out that I've been having their MSN's since the dawn of time, but I never realized it. That was some awkward stuff right there, but it's nice that I'm clearing out that 200 something list of people that I have no clue who they are.

Finally, there's my real life. I can't help but feel utterly depressed. Not the the point of committing suicide, but enough to keep the down during the day. It's getting harder and harder to find motivation throughout these tough days. My best friend and I are hardly hanging out, and it's really putting me down for some reason. I have no clue if it's because I might have feelings for her, but I doubt it. Of course, lately we have had an improvement for the past few days because we're talking more often which is good. Means my life is starting to turn around, but it's not enough. I can't really help that Neo is almost the only thing I do every day. I don't even know why I get on to be honest, I enjoy it and I enjoy talking to some of my close friends on MSN, but if it's starting to make me feel a little depressed, I think it's time to get off. Or least do something else, like playing sports. I need to work out, which is near impossible with the type of brothers I have.

All they do is snack on junk food and since my mother doesn't make to many big meals for me to get food, I end up wanting to snack later on. What's worse is that they end up eating half of the healthy stuff first. Like fruits. They should let me eat that shit, they can all the junk food they want and still be in shape. I know I was when I was a kid. Always running around like there's no tomorrow. Now that I'm older, my metabolism has slowed down a lot and I get lazy. I need that healthy food. I'm so ashamed of myself. I wish someone could tell me the right words to motivate me.

other neoseeker related zl neoraffle life neolife

other

Well as some of you know, I'm very involved in theatre. This last weekend I was able to go to the Illinois State Theatre Fest at University of Illinois. I was also able to bring down my schools fall play, Sarah Plain & Tall, to perform. Here is my recap of the weekend.

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Left 30 minutes late around 4:00pm, and took the 3 hour van drive down to the festival. Nothing too bad, just a fun van ride. We got to the motel, dropped off our stuff, and went to go see the All-State show, Hairspray.

Hairspray

Starting off the festival with a bang, we went to see Hairspray. This was the best show that I saw all weekend. Nothing much to say about it. The lighting was amazing, the sets were superb. I wish that the mic's were a bit louder though, the pit band was a tad loud. The actors were dancing SOOO close to the pit it was scary. I thought for sure someone would fall in.

After the show we went back to the motel and ordered some pizza. We all went to our rooms, and my room was up to about 5:30am, so we got about an hours worth of sleep.

Friday, January 9th, 2009

After waking up, I got some breakfast at Panera Bread, and went to the campus. The first show I saw was Noises Off, at the Foellinger Auditorium.

Noises Off

This show was basically about putting on a show, but ends up being a joke. The first act started slow, and was about the last rehearsal before show night. The second act was the back stage of the show during the first show. The set was a big room, and before the second act started, the crew actually turned around the set, so you could see the back of the set and how it was run back there. People were falling down stairs, getting poked by cactus's, and just controlled chaos. Very funny. The third and final act was another show, but everything goes wrong. Lines were missed or dropped, people were injured, and just hell broke loose. But everything was on purpose.

After Noises Off, went out to lunch, and walked around for a bit, until the next show.

Quilters

I basically went to this show so I could have somewhere to go, and to take a nap. I don't really remember the first half of this show. It was about a pioneer woman and her daughters, who all made quilts, and told stories of their quilts. The 2 best things about this show was that the girls were good singers, and that it was only an hour long.

After sleeping through this show, I took a quick walk to another show, The Yellow Boat.

The Yellow Boat

The Yellow Boat was a show based off of a true story about a hemophiliac boy who died from HIV/AIDS. The show was way too artsy for my tastes and didn't catch my attention. Slept through a good chunk of this one as well.

After this show me and the girlfriend just walked around campus for a while until the next show, also at the Foellinger Auditorium.

Amadeus

All I need to say about this show was holy shit. The second best show I saw all festival, next to Hairspray. The show is about a rival of Mozart, and his war with God through Mozart. Towards the end of the first act the rival gets a hold of some of Mozart's compositions. He realizes how good Mozart is, and becomes angry. He starts throwing papers and crumpling them up. The lights dim for a very dramatic effect. The rival throws up the papers in the air, and its basically an explosion of papers. They seem suspended in time since they take so long to fall. This is by far the best scene I have ever seen in drama.

After this show we went out to Taco Bell to get dinner, and went to bed early because we needed to check out at 6:40am.

Saturday, January 10th, 2009

Today is the big day, we get to perform Sarah Plain & Tall. We got to the Foellinger Auditorium at 7, and started setting up set and everything. The set was up on time, and every thing went smoothly. Nothing special really. It was just really fun. After the show we packed up and went to a buffet. There we told the waiters that it was our Director's birthday, when it really wasn't. The ended up being really fun. And I consumed lots o' food. Finally we were on our way home, and that is that.

Over all, it was a very fun time. I wish I could have seen more shows, but I still enjoyed the festival. So, glad ya read that all. :D

other musingsthoughts theatre

Note: This is a review that is currently under review in the CRS queue. However, being a relatively unknown movie, I figured that it wouldn't get too much attention, so I am posting it here to get more feedback. Comments and feedback are appreciated! Enjoy!

If there is one genre of movies that I can’t stand, it’s those sappy movies that are funny the whole way through, but have a sad ending that completely twists the focus of the film. There is a way to combine both elements into a film without becoming a trite family movie that shoves good morals down your throat. Smoke Signals is a perfect example of a film that combines both elements beautifully, using a unique story to produce a masterful glimpse into the life of a Native American living in America today.

Smoke Signals is a movie based on the novel The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie. The novel centers around the story of a boy living on an Indian Reservation, searching for answers. Alexie adapted the collection of short stories into a screenplay himself, producing a mesmerizing story that, while it takes a different path than his novel, still reaches the same end result: giving insight about the life of an Indian in modern-day America.

The movie centers around Victor, a young Indian living on the Couer d’Alene Indian Reservation. Victor is a young adult in his early twenties, living with his mother. His father, Arnold Joseph, left the family when Victor was only twelve, leaving Victor bitter and generally unpleasant.

The film opens with Arnold Joseph catching a baby that is tossed out of a burning building. People praise him and call him a hero, but Arnold Joseph seems riddled with regret from the incident. The infant he saves is Thomas Builds-the-Fire, a kid the same age as Victor, who enjoys telling stories and who is a bit… quirky.

Cut back to modern times, and Victor receives word that his father passed away, and he must travel to Phoenix, Arizona to pick up his ashes and belongings. So, he teams up with Thomas Builds-the-Fire and they head to Phoenix, revealing a lot about Victor’s relationship in the process.

The meat of the story is told in flashbacks. Throughout the journey Victor remembers key events in his childhood, which all lead to the memory of Arnold Joseph leaving Victor and his mother. The flashbacks are sad and revealing; most center on his father’s alcoholism and abusive tendencies. The memories are used frequently, but it never seems to be done in excess; every scene is memorable and necessary to revealing the true character of Victor.

The alcoholism referenced throughout Smoke Signals is a true issue facing many Indians today. House Made of Dawn, a Native American novel, uses this alcoholism to show give insight on Native American life. The lead character, Abel, faces huge struggles with relationships as a result of his troubles with alcohol. The sad truth is that this issue is a widespread problem on Indian reservations.

While the focus of this movie is on the father-son relationship between Victor and Arnold Joseph, there is a great coming together of Victor and Thomas Builds-the-Fire. Victor doesn’t really like Thomas at the start of the film. Victor thinks of him as an annoying nerd who tells stories all the time. Which is a pretty accurate description of Thomas as we first see him in the film.

But the great thing about Thomas is that he is such a genuine person. His smile radiates whenever he’s onscreen, and his awkwardness is believable and even likable. Victor, who is naturally cold anyway, doesn’t warm up to Thomas right away. But after a few key bits of dialog between the two, they become friends. It’s not sappy, and it’s not something that dominates the remainder of the film. It is, however, a key turning point in Victor’s life, where he changes his outlook on life. It’s a brilliant transition; one that’s heartwarming but never overly so.

Another key aspect of the film is Thomas’ storytelling. Thomas likes to tell stories, and it’s really the driving force behind his character. Thomas has some key insights, offering up interesting stories of Victor’s past through a different perspective. While much of Thomas’ quirkiness stems from this habit of telling stories, and also is the main culprit behind Victor’s disliking of Thomas, it is also what brings them together. It’s a difficult thing to understand, but it is done beautifully.

What I love about Thomas is that he is an annoying character to be sure, but he is also immediately likable, the underdog if you will. He is picked on by the other kids at the “Rez” school for wearing his signature jacket, but never stoops to their level. He is a kindhearted person that eventually gets through to Victor and it transforms the way Victor views the entire situation with his dad. Thomas offers some key insight about Arnold Joseph, through his experiences with him and also through his stories.

One thing I’ve yet to touch on is the humor in Smoke Signals, which is pretty odd considering that the movie is quite comical. Most of the jokes are directed at Indians and life on the reservation. The humor in this movie is of a different nature; it’s not forced jokes that keep the flow of the movie going, and it’s not your standard Indian stereotype jokes. It’s a mature, sensible humor that is very relatable to the jokes that you make among friends. And while the literal jokes are pretty few and far between, there are plenty of comical dialogues between Victor and Thomas, as well as visual cues that generate laughs.

The acting in this movie is very well done, especially Victor and Thomas (played by Adam Beach and Evan Adams, respectively). Every Native American character in this movie is played by a Native American, which is nice. The film seems very authentic, which is no doubt due to the superb acting from everyone, down to the smallest of speaking roles.

The direction of the film is also very nice. It’s very minimalist in the way it’s shot; it’s an independent film, so don’t be expecting intense special effects and the like. However, the minimalism works, using pretty straightforward camera angles and shots rather than using ridiculous “artistic” shots that would ruin the message of the film. I feel that the minimalism has an entirely different effect than Black Robe, another film that capitalizes on minimalism. Black Robe has much more emphasis on drawing power out of key angles and shots of nature, while Smoke Signals really doesn’t try anything outside the box.

It’s hard to really give an adequate review of a movie like Smoke Signals. I say that because it is an entirely different type of film than I have ever seen before. It’s raw and emotional, but never to the point of self-destruction or depression. The setting of an Indian reservation is unique to this film, offering up a fresh perspective on life and maturity and acceptance. It’s a wonderful film that will make you think about all those preconceived notions that you may have had about Indians, and I highly recommend it.

smoke signals movie review movies

So uhhh...

I'm definitely trying to colorfulize this blog. Klunky has no idea to do it. Like what was he thinking tearing me away from important and people and important work to come in here and blog and write this stuff and totally find all the CSS crap involved on a blog page? Am I so nice I have to do this? Am I so uninteresting that I have nothing else better to do? Is the sky blue? Will Web Developer work right? Have you stopped reading this.

Yes.

No I'm kidding :3 ilu irl Klunk.

But seriously yea. Departing on another amazing web designing journey during which I will find CSS selectors, become extraordinarily frustrated and ultimately make Nate do everything for me because he's just amazing like that.

So here I go.

Test post, BLAST OFF.

Oh wow ;-; I suck.

web development

Yeah, my first blog post. :D

Anyways, recently I've been into the song 'Hallelujah', It's my kind of song, seriously. I know on my profile I said that I absolutely hate singing, but when I sing this song, I actually like singing. :/ Or maybe I just like singing, but too shy. P:

music

BLUE DRAGON ABOILAND:ONJO
LASFNKLNK

AKDN:LADN:
AKDLm:LAMDL;

I hate this game to the point where I would actually burn each of its terrible three discs but that would be a waste of my £13 and the 8 hours of my life I've wasted on it ._. I am angry because I want to xbox so badly but I only have PGR4 that is decent (+worms +feeding frenzy) Why must Blue Dragon be so unexpectedly awful.

Someone recommend me 360 games please. I got lovefilm and I'm not sure what to rent. Not rpgs or epic long epics that take 999 hours to complete. :)

I'm rly bored and lonely btw hence blogging.

xbox 360 musingsthoughts gaming related angry blue dragon pgr4 is lovely lollirage general anger etc

I'm sure most people would rather be taller than shorter. I mean, people seem to get teased all the time for being short while no one really picks on tall kids. However being tall is not all it is cracked up to be.

Why short people get picked on :(

I'm a lanky kid: 16 years old and stand at about 6'3. I've always been off the charts in height when getting a physical or whatnot at the doctor. I have first hand experience in the misfortunes of tall people.

First things first, harder to fit in things. About a week and a half ago I got my drivers permit (whoo!) My dad has this huge van but he doesn't let me drive it. His reasoning is that he might get called out for work and need it but we all know he thinks I'll crash it or something. So instead, I'm stuck with my mom's 1990 Volvo. Don't get me wrong, that damn thing is a *bleep*ing tank seeing she has had it for almost twenty years. But, I don't fit in it. My lovely mother is a pretty tall woman as it is (5'11) and she has the seat pushed all the way back and her knees are hitting the bottom of the steering wheel. When I'm squeezed into the thing I have to recline the back of the seat and basically almost sit on that and my knees are squashed under the wheel. I'm a big guy in a small car.

The next dilemma of being tall is rather obvious, more prone to bumping your head on things. Now this usually isn't the biggest problem but it is a pain in the ass for me. My family got the basement done a while ago. It is really nice: leather couches, 40in TV, fridge, cabinets filled with snacks, etc. In the back corner is the bathroom. Above the bathroom is some ventilation thing that causes the ceiling to be 6 feet high. I'm sure you can imagine what big of a problem this is for me being 6'3. If you don't get it yet, I have to *bleep*ing duck when I need to take a piss..! wtfman

The final thing that grind my gears to no end is that you never hear the end of your height. If I had a nickel for every time I heard the words, "Wow you're really tall" I would be a rich, rich man. And when going to family functions I hear "You've grown so much since I last saw you" at least fifteen times. I mean, I don't hear people telling short people "Wow you are so small" or "You haven't grown since I last saw you!" And they don't because it would be the most awkward *bleep*ing thing in the world. However, somewhere along it was deemed acceptable to make tall people aware of their height 24/7.




other

So remember those bugs I mentioned with PoP? Got an email back from Ubisoft about them which asked me to send along some info to further help me with my problem. Sent it, got a response back the next day which said to try something they'd already suggested in the original list. Informed them of such, haven't heard from them since (January 6). Ugh. Not happy at all. Seems like I'll be returning this one. Mirror's Edge, please. And it better be playable. :P

gaming related

Well being bored on Neo' is a sign that I need to write a Blog. So I thought "Not one major thing has happened for me to report about so I'll compact them into this one Blog"

Friends. Well, I'm in a bit of a weird situation at the moment with my mate. He fancies this girl that we hang around with but barely talks to her, not even on MSN. I on the other hand also like her but talk to her IRL and on MSN. I don't know weather to actually go for it and ask her out hurting my mate or lose the only girl I have a chance with. We also hang with another girl who got asked out today! (it doesn't happen often) She turned him down. So me and my mate decided to take this opitunity to annoy her (it was a slow day). So we start with stuff like "he's handsome, go for it" and "Once you've had black there's no going back". She didn't respond so we went with the "He's depressed now. He's going to cut himself later". This got to her, We got a massive lecture about certain events in her sisters life that we didn't know about. Oops.

School. At school its awkward because I flirt with a certain girl during break and lunch but it hasn't effect me and my mate too much. we still chat and quote "Family Guy" and "TFS Dragonball Z Abridged Parody 1-7" (look it up on youtube its brilliant!). Apart from that there's the lessons, not much there just mock exam results, My English teacher hates me, Getting in trouble for not doing my work in IT all that stuff.

Home. Well the only news is that today when I turned on my 360 I had the Red Ring of Death! But all is well, my mum is taking it back to game and getting it fixed or replaced. I'll hopefully live without it for a little while.

Thanks for reading, please comment I would like it when I get feed back.

~Futility

musingsthoughts

(RedChocobo is one word for the sake of the intended reference. It is NOT a typo.)

Anyone who's ever seen my youtube account will know that I am a challenge gamer through and through. My current challenge is one of the hardest things I've ever done, and I've done most of a NLBLLG (No Licence Board Low Level Game) on Final Fantasy XII. So, what could be worse than one of the hardest JRPG challenges? A challenge on Pokemon Ruby. I wish I could be making this up. I really do. Sure, it's Pokemon, a kids game so increasing the difficulty is needed to NOT get bored but I've played obscenely difficult Final Fantasy VI romhacks that were easier than doing a Solo Snorunt challenge. Thats what I get for taking SSPC (Solo Straight Pokemon Challenge) requests and then using an RNG to determine which one I'd use... I've been at this for three days (technically) now and I only have one badge :(


High Quality Link

Normally, that very fight would take about 2 minutes at most (if underlevelled)... I spent more than twice that length at a higher level than the strongest AI enemy D:

To give a rough idea on how hard some of these fights are gonna be, Azeman (the guy who suggested/requested the bloody Snorunt in the first place) decided to gauge each gym leaders difficulty:

Roxanne - Done
Brawly - Hard [bloody understatement]
Watson - Medium
Flannery - Hard Hard Hard [i.e. very fuggin' difficult]
Norman - Medium
Winona - ??? [I'd say easiest gym by a long shot; only thing worth worrying about is a Skarmory]
Twins - Hard [Solrock will make things harder than they need to be D:]
Wallace - Medium

As for my overall idea of the E4?

Sidney - Medium [Nothing _too_ difficult, but it could still be hard]
2nd guy - ??? [I don't even remember what he uses let alone who he is D:]
Glacia - Medium [This'll be more tedious than difficult; Ice vs. Ice :I]
Drake - EASY! [Easiest fight in the entire game by a mile and a half! Ice vs. Dragon :D]
Steven? - Hard [If I'm right and it is Steven then theres a crapton of Steel-types for me to kill D:]

musingsthoughts neoseeker related gaming related pokemon azeman hatred snorunt

I'll be putting stuff in here rather then my Neohome now. For two reasons:

1. It is easier than coding all that stuff, one day I am going to actually bother and when I do it shall be awesome.

2. I've never actually had a blog so why not have one on my favorite website, Neoseeker! =D


I always accept Graphic Requests. If you want to request PM Me .

Today is also the day my username changed from antguy002 to Antguy!!
I never knew I could do that and i'm so happy I found out =D

My Graphic history:
I've always been 'tight' if you know what I mean. I'll never buy something if I know I can get it for free... legally anyways. So I have used GIMP for probably about a year now. I started off in the Anime Graphics Request Thread and made my way around to the "Official" G&A Forum. That request system has been through so many changes and I probably like the current one the most, the worst would have been the ERA idea... good idea but just didn't work.

This is my first post, so... 'til next time!
Antguy.

other

Last night I had a dream that lasted the whole duration of the time I was asleep, which is a pretty rare thing for me. For those seven hours, I was at NeoHQ, or at least, a version of it.

I walked in with two other people, some girl that I didn't recognize and Dark Dom (he looked like he used to, before he straightened his hair, which I realized the next morning). Anyway, we walked in and started to look around. Red had apparently went out for an errand, and so ar_cat gave us a tour. The funny thing was, ar_cat's appearance wasn't anything like in real life. If anybody is a fan of the anime "Code Geass", then you'll laugh when I tell you that ar_cat was Kallen (not a human like version, but the actual anime character, but nobody seemed to notice). As we are looking at all of the rooms, we go into a break room (resembling the break room of NBC's "The Office"). There we spot tekmosis. The odd thing about his appearance was that it was an asian kid I know, but he had bulging biceps and large pec's. The kid is about four and a half feet tall though, so it looked awkward.

There was a filing cabinet that was just begging for me to investigate. I waltzed over to it, opened up the top drawer and saw a ledger type notebook. I dusted off the cover and it said "Red's Guestbook". I opened it up and was about to write in it and then Wolfwood yelled at me to stop. I didn't actually see Wolfwood, just a silhouette of him in a dark room. ar_cat rushed into the room wondering what was going on and noticed what I was about to do. She frantically explained to me how Red actually isn't supposed to know that they are giving tours of the office to neomembers. All of a sudden we heard the front door creak open. Everyone froze as ar_cat whispered that we must get out of there. She propped open a window as the three of us slid out undetected while tekmosis put the guestbook back into the filing cabinet.

I woke up wondering what just happened. I began to wonder where the rest of the neostaff were, as well as the reasoning for the strange appearances of the neomembers I saw. Also, why didn't any of us visitors talk? We were silent the whole time. I just shrugged it off and started my day. :) There is one thing bugging me though, it seems like more had happened, but it was erased and replaced with a different event, almost as though my mind didn't think the missing events had the right elements in them or something. >_<

This is actually the fourth time I've dreamt I've visited it, and by far the strangest. :P

other neoseeker related

I was listening to Songs About Jane today, and I have to say, Maroon 5 is a brilliant band.

When I think about it, my taste in music is much more mainstream then I might believe. I am not much of a music person. I have a mp3 player, but I barely use it. So, the music I like is really a lot of the stuff that is easily accessible, although I'm still not a pop kinda guy. I like soft rock, so current bands like Barenaked Ladies (yeah, not totally mainstream), Maroon 5, The Fray, people like that are all people I get into.

If you have a similar taste in music like I do, then I want to introduce you to a new group, one that is definitely not mainstream. They are Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. You may recognize the name because their album is my current signature.

Anyway, Ted Leo has a pretty unique sound, although it is similar to groups like Maroon 5 and the like. It's probably better to let you hear the songs and decide for yourself. This is Me and Mia, one of my favorites from them:



If you want some more of their stuff, drop me a comment here and I'll send you some more links. As for me, I'm going to get back to putting Sunday Morning on loop. >.>

music ted leo and the pharmacists me and mia band