Victory is Mine!

Now playing: Corner Stone Cues feat. Christopher Tin - Madokara Mieru
via FoxyTunes


I FINALLY took my behind-the-wheel drivers test, and passed of course. The story is a long one, but it bears repeating. Long, long ago, during my first summer back at home in the bay after my freshman year at UCD, I decided it would be a good idea to get my license. Now, given the set up of Davis, CA, a car really wasn't necessary. Everything one needed could be gotten to by bike, and for anything else, there was the bus, which was free to students. It was more out of simple practicality that I was going after a license, but all that summer I read up my drivers hand book, got my permit, practiced every day. I scheduled my behind-the-wheel test for the last day I was in the Bay, I literally would be driving back to Davis the minute I got out of the test.

At this time, my pop had just gotten a brand new Prius, which was really awesome. I had been learning on his old '83 Toyota Tercel, which had been a really good car back in the day, but had gotten so old that the people in charge of the clean air comission included that make and year as un-salvagable for the it's emission standards. Consequently, they paid him to get rid of it, and I ended up using the Prius from then on. Now, it was so new that we hadn't yet got the paperwork for the insurance, but we brought the old insurance card for the Tercel, because it's all we had. We got in to the DMV, went up the right window and the lady checked us in. She did stop when we told her that the car we were driving didn't match the model on the insurance card, but she nodded and let us go when we explained. She handed us the slip of paper to give to the person who would test me and told us to pull around to the back.

So we drive into the queue of cars waiting for the behind-the-wheel test. Get up to the front, and a different lady comes out to administer the test. She comes up, I hand her the paper and our registration and insurance. "The insurance doesn't mach," she says. We explain ourselves. "I'm sorry, but the insurance doesn't match." And she walks away.

Needless to say, both my mom and I were hopping mad. We didn't have enough time to reschedule due to me having to go back to Davis, and the final insult came when my mom contacted the insurance company. They told us that the DMV could call them and they would fax the insurance info straight to the office where I would be taking my test. Over the next 3 years I was too busy at Davis, either with school or with summer work (that began the day after finals ended and ended the day before classes began) to try again. I did have some friends offer their time and their cars to get me back up to speed, but I just didn't have the drive (rimshot) or the time.

So, when I finished out my degree and returned to the Bay not a month and a half ago, I resolved to finally get the damned thing. Luckily over the past few years I've never had the need to drive, either as a relief driver on legs of a journey or to cart drunk friends around, as I've had the fortune to have more throughtful folk for the latter. But being back in the bay has reminded me that having wheels very much expands what one can do. My folks have also agreed to chip in for my own vehicle, so hopefully I'll be even more free in the near future. However, that also means I'll have no excuse to look for a real job.

On that topic, my pop has been nice enough to give me some paid coding work in relation to his job, and I think I won't get a better rate in any other job, even if it is more up my alley. Still, I'll be looking around now that I'll be more mobile.

I also paid a visit to the local comic shop, which I have been going to since I was a wee one. I hadn't been there since they moved, wonder of wonders, about five blocks from my house (when I lost interest), but I was pleased to meet an old friend of mine currently working there. We caught up and I bought a few comic collections of old favorites. I'm going to be sure to visit again, as it was great to see ol' Robert Marrujo again and it's nice to have old friends in close proximity.

I miss my girl in SoCal, but am hoping to see her sometime next month in her new place. I'm also scheming to get our parents to meet, which my folks are eager to do. It'd be nice to finally be down in LA with both sets of moms and pops present, I'm sure they'd get along quite well, and always love an excuse to hang out in the bibliophile's-dream of a house that is the abode of the 'taubs. I'm sure my girlfriend is tired of hearing it, but I always like to say that the main room of her folks house gives me a whopping case of bookshelf envy (along with almost every other room, in point of fact).

I also miss my Davis friends, and hope to contrive a reason to come up and visit. As some shout outs, I'd love to spend a night on the town with Toes, Alex and the incomparable Danger. I also get a happy grin on my face when I think about bringing Rome Season Two up and regaling my old fellow classics-nerd and friend Cindy with more medeterranian antics. Though I despise current slang, I can find no better exhortation than this: Holla back, folks!

Thats enough from me, time to savor the dulcet tones of the Men of the Robert Shaw Chorus as they belt out old sea shanties.


Enough, More Later.
- James

Various and Sundry

Now playing: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard - Why So Serious
via FoxyTunes


The hour draws nigh when I finally have some wheeled freedom (at least in the legality department, back room negotiations for wheels in my name are still underway). The classic texts call to me; Statius has gotten rather stale, though I'm still curious to see the outcome of the Seven against Thebes. I'm approaching Xenophon with some wariness, knowing in my most academic of hearts that I really should be translating the Greek, but summer is still in my psyche and the authors Greek is easy enough that I feel accomplished simply to skim and match my knowledge of the language with the English translation.

I finished Allende's Zorro with relish, and wonder how much of her influence was the original pulps and how much the cinema. I still have plenty of reading material plundered from the UCD Bookstore before my departure, though I wonder how enjoyable it might be to slog through Les Miserables unabridged or Gravity's Rainbow (though if I wanted a modernist mindscrew, I'd probably be more entertained if I tried to finish Dhalgren). Time with the girlfriend and her wonderful family have expanded my appreciation of L. Sprague DeCamp, though seeing as he's currently out of print, my chances of easily finding works of his are slim. I could always trouble Mr. 'taub for a borrowing from his extensive collection, but my respect for vintage books makes me reluctant to ask. Oh, and note to self, must have a meeting of our respective families, I suspect they'd get on quite well.

The Dark Knight seems to be going on like gangbusters, considering my ill-thought-out foray on opening weekend and the sold out show I attended in the middle of the week, of all times. As the man sitting next to me quipped, "What, does no-one go to work or something?" The IMAX experience is overwhelming and majestic, as always. The limited number of scenes filmed in that glorious format seems to work for, rather than against the film, in my opinion. The breaks in between make the transitions to the monumental images that much more fresh upon their return. Even though they inflated the standard 35mm to fill AS MUCH OF THE SCREEN AS POSSIBLE, there were still audible gasps at the sheer size of the IMAX footage when the opening helicopter shot made it's presence known with a quick cut and resounding bass boom from the soundtrack. Well worth the $15 admission, and if you're considering seeing the big-ass screen version of TDK within the next week, I'd advise getting them a few days in advance and coming at least an hour before hand to get good seats. Yes, it's that popular.

In other news, I'm coaxing the hummers back to our backyard. About a week ago, I chauffered my mom to a bird supply store in what has become a long quest for the perfect birdbath. Seeing the hummer feeders reminded me of one we used to have when I was younger, and a mothers indulgance found me with a new feeder and insta-hummer-food-mix. I've since set up the feeder outside my bay window and have been waiting patiently for the few Anna's that have been flitting around to re-fuel. I've had moderate success so far, and hope to see a gradual influx as the weeks go by. I'm diligently cleaning out the feeder every 5 days, and was pleased to find the majority of my first batch of sugar juice all drunk up by our resident pint-sized birdies. The one snag I've run into is finding the right level to hang the feeder, as currently the cross-bar to my main window blocks my view of the feeding turret itself. There's a little circular perch around the flower-shaped drinking holes, and I like the sight of my few feathered visitors with their little feet firmly grasping it, their wings stilled such that they resemble very sleek and aerodynamic grapes with heads and beaks. True to their nature, when more than one showed up it became a fierce (but tiny) dogfight for dominance of the feeder. I'm looking forward to more hummer watching as the weeks go on.

There's more on my mind, but I've blathered on enough for the moment. I'd make promises for what I'll blog about next, but as I've become rather unreliable in following up, I'll refrain from doing so. One week 'till my drivers test (it only took 3 years).


Enough, More Later.
- James

Thoughts on Crisis Core

Currently in Earphones: E.S. Posthumus' Cartographer

So, I finished playing the newest addition to the many armed monster that is Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core for the PSP. It was both better and worse than I thought, to the extent that follows.

The characters are genuinely like-able and fleshed out, enough back story is given so that their actions are reasonable. There's still a small amount that doesn't make sense, such as why Lazard did what he did, but it's not bad overall.

Now, this may be some Lost in Translation or Values Dissonance thing, but I found myself rooting for supporting characters that weren't part of the main drama. My prime example is Kunsel. This fellow is Zack's buddy from the very beginning, a SOLDIER 2nd Class with a good sense of humor and genuine likeability. The only real interaction you, as the player, get with him (aside from a few cutscenes) is through the Mail system. I found it to be a rather brilliant kind of immersion, as letters to Zack come wherever and whenever he happens to be (some depending on the plot, of course), and from all sorts of folk. There are the usual company bulletins and letters from the boss, but you'll also get little notes from the other characters depending on what's going on.

Kunsels occasional missives are, in my opinion, the best thing about the game. They literally are little "Hey how are you?"s that I could imagine a good friend sending, talking about this or that and thoughts on the goings on that really made me connect with the character. The warmth and humor that came from them made me seriously start to question just why it was Cloud, of all people, whom Zack got so buddy-buddy with. Looking back, I really can't remember any scene which shows Cloud and Zack connecting in any sort of way that made me think "Yeah, these guys are definitely gonna be good friends."

Once again, there may be something in the values dissonance that I'm missing here, but the writing just seemed to completely swerve about. I felt like I was supposed to find out how all the relationships in FFVII proper came about, and instead, it all feels like it came about purely by chance. When the last scene between Zack and Cloud happened, it never felt like this was the logical conclusion based on how the two came to be friends. It felt like "Hey, you who I only know a small amount about, who has gone on a grand total of two missions with me, and who has spent the last 1/4 of the game completely comatose while I've saved your ass, shall be my LIVING LEGACY!"

And then you've got this wonderfully sympathetic character of Kunsel, whos last missive is along the lines of "Hey, I know you're not dead like they say, old buddy, and you must be in a crapload of trouble, but I'm here for ya!" who's not even spared a second thought. I felt much the same way about the two romantic roles of Cissnei and Aeris (I REFUSE to spell it with a "-th," and still maintain that it sounds like one has a lisp). Aeris is the established g/f of Zack as of FFVII proper and Advent Children, and to be fair, there is some chemistry between them. I just found the wonderful tension between Zack and Cissnei at the end of Crisis Core to be far more compelling. If it wasn't for the japanese cultural thing about first kisses, I wouldn't have been surprised to see those two be a little more intimate (before Zack ran for his life, that is).

The rest is all well and good, great production values and a good combat engine. Sephiroth's Face Heel Turn is still kind of...odd. I guess he never really thought about his origins too hard, because that's all it took to throw him off the deep-end. Well, considering his back story, I can kinda see why. An additional point of interest, if you've gotten your hands on the rest of the proliferating spin off media for FFVII, you'll have seen the same 3 or 4 big scenes from the plot proper at least that many times in all their various incarnations. For those of you worried about whether Crisis Core takes as much liberties with re-arrainging the canon as Last Order did, fear not. It's more or less verbatim from FFVII proper.

Oh, and there's an "epic poem" called LOVELESS (what is the Japanese fascination with ALL CAPS, I wonder?) that's less in line with Homer and more in line with Hildegard of Bingen (read, crazy mystic rambling). You have been warned.


Enough, More Later.
- James

Not actually feeling down, but....

Now playing: John Ottman - Xavier Escapes (Deleted Scene)
via FoxyTunes

...it's late and late hours tend to bring the melancholy. Thought I'd make some use of the collected poems of Alfred Noyes, and this one fit (in an almost frighteningly perfect manner) with a particularly lonely summer in Davis, years ago...


The Return
by Alfred Noyes

O, hedges white with laughing may,
   O, meadows where we met,
This heart of mine will break to-day
   Unless ye, too, forget.

Breathe not so sweet, breathe not so sweet,
   But swiftly let me pass
Across the field that felt her feet
   In the old time that was.

A year ago, but one brief year,
   O, happy flowering land,
We wandered here and whispered there,
   And hand was warm in hand.

O, crisp white clouds beyond the hill,
   O, lavrock in the skies,
Why do ye all remember still
   Her bright uplifted eyes.

Red heather on the windy moor,
   Wild thyme beside the way,
White jasmine by the cottage door,
   Harden your hearts today.

Smile not so kind, smile not so kind,
   Thou happy haunted place,
Or thou wilt strike these poor eyes blind
   With her remembered face.



Enough, More Later.
- James