Shinmaru

I usually just put up stories on my site now, but I decided to put this one I wrote on here, too, just because I haven't posted a story on OB for a while. I hope that everyone enjoys it. ?I will wait for you. The sun is out; it?s high in the sky, glaring down at me with all of its heat and power. The shade I?m under does nothing to quell the warmth. I?m so sleepy. So tired. But I wait. It?s all that I can do anymore. The bench rocks slowly back and forth. The feeling is soothing, comforting. I should never know something as calming ever again. But I would like to. That?s what I?m waiting for, you see. Reassurance. He?s gone away, you know; my little boy, that is. He?s run away and he hasn?t come back for such a very, very long time. Does he not know that I worry so very much about him? If only he knew how I cried every night for him. I miss him so. I used to get letters from him almost every day. I have a rather large stack of them on a desk in my house right now. I have so many letters from him! It makes me proud that he would take the time to write me so often, even with the tumultuous life that he must surely lead. I can hardly be sad whenever I take a glance over at that great white column of envelopes; but there?s still that little feeling inside, that twinge of sadness in my heart that I must bear. The stack of letters has been dwindling for ages now. I have not received a letter from my darling little angel in the longest time! I do hope that he is okay. He worries me so much. I do not have so much as a tiny clue to what he is doing these days. For all I know he could have run off and eloped with some floozy he met? but I can?t think thoughts like those. Not about him. He would never do such a thing. But sometimes I do wonder where it is he has gone, and why he refuses to write me. It is as if he does not know that he is breaking my heart, by not writing me. But how could he not know? I am his mother! I am very interested in what he is doing, but he insists on being so very far away from me. Why does he do this to me? I should not think that is very fair to me, or to him, for that matter. He needs me just as I need him. My darling little boy is just not ready for the world. He?s not ready! I can see them crowding around the bushes. My neighbors, peeking over the hedges, whispering their filthy, scandalous thoughts to one another! I know what they are saying. I?ve always known what they?ve been saying. Even now they peer at me with their beady eyes, trying to bore into my mind and read my thoughts. They think that they are so clever? they plan against me at every opportunity. I think that they aspire to keep my little boy away from me, but I am not quite sure. But I do suspect. You see, the neighbors have not just been spreading their absurd thoughts among one another, but they have been peddling them at my doorstep, as well! For such a long time, my neighbors have been trying to convince me that what I?m doing is fruitless. They tell me that he is gone forever. They tell me that he is in a better place now. They tell me that they worry about me, that I should stop waiting on this bench every day for my beloved son! Have you ever heard such an absurd line of thought in all your life? I think that they are a very foolish bunch, indeed. He is in a better place now? What rubbish! There is no better place for a boy than with his mother; not until he is really ready to go out into the world, at any rate. And my young boy was most certainly [i]not[/i] ready to venture out into the world. Oh, he insisted on going, all right. He was very adamant about it, even. But I tried to be the voice of reason. I tried to convince him that he was making a very poor decision. There was nothing I could, however. He always was a very stubborn boy, bless his heart. So, he went. Everything was fine for the first few months. He was very far away from me, but he was very close at the same time. But then his services were requested elsewhere, somewhere that was very far away from here. He had no choice but to go; the explanation was that there was a shortage of people. More and more young men were needed every day. It was his duty to go. I had no say in the matter. He kept up contact for a few months, but that is when the letters started slowly dwindling down to nothing. And it seems like such a long time ago when I got this last, very curious letter? it seemed to be a very smug, very official document. They said that he was gone, and that they were very sorry for my loss. And that was it. How could they say such a thing to a poor old woman? Sorry indeed! They are just like my neighbors, always planning against me, always attempting to keep my special little boy away from me. But I will have the last laugh. He?ll show up on my doorstep someday, and we will be reunited, mother and son! Things will be the same as they always were. They have to be. There?s a truck driving up the street right now. It?s stopping in front of my mailbox. A young man gets out of the truck, and he stuffs a few letters into my mailbox. Then he gets back into his truck and drives away. I try and contain my momentary glee, at least enough so that it does not show on the surface. I cannot let the mailman suspect how much I enjoy the arrival of new letters, for it would only lead to questions from yet another ignorant person. And I am much too tired to deal with such things. I walk up to the mailbox. The muscles in my back are stiff, and my joints groan with pain. This is the only trip that I make every day, but it is also the only trip that is really worth it. I take the letters out of the mailbox, and I sift through them. There is nothing worth reading so far. My hope builds and builds, and I feel as if my heart will burst with sadness if the last letter is not from my son. It isn?t. I hear everything go silent around me. I turn around slowly and shuffle dejectedly back to my bench. I sit back down and let the bench swing. The motion is still soothing, but not as soothing as it once was. The sun has almost sunk all the way down past the mountains off in the distance. I lean back and sigh. There is always tomorrow. He will come back, I know it. I cannot bear to live much longer without my little boy. But I know that I can wait for him. If it takes forever?

I think that games like Gran Turismo and the like are very good at what they do, but I've never been into those types of racers at all. My lack of interest in cars contributes to that pretty heavily. However, I wouldn't doubt that the latest simulation-based racers have gotten more user-friendly, for lack of a better term, since I last bothered to play one. Don't know how interested I'd be in trying another one out, though. I prefer Mario Kart-styled games where everything is frantic and crazy, but I don't play racers nearly as often as I used to. I've enjoyed the genre as a whole less and less as time has gone by... except for stuff like F-Zero, which I still love. I always look forward to the release of a new F-Zero game, because I know that I'll like it a lot. :)

Ah, good, I was going to start a topic just like this lol. Nice work, Roxie. :) Anime Expo takes place in Anaheim, CA from July 1st to July 4th, by the way. I live about a half hour or so from the Anaheim Convention Center, so it's not a big problem for me to go. I had a hell of a time last year, and I'm expecting to have an even better time this year. Not only because I'll actually know my way around the place this time, but I'll be going for two days instead of only one (July 2nd and July 3rd). I didn't see nearly all of what AX had to offer last year, so I'll hopefully have a more complete experience this year. I'm planning on meeting up with OtakuSennen like I did last year. We'd originally planned to have a rather large group this year, but it's slowly dwindled down to only the two of us lol. Oh well. We'll still have a good time, because there won't be that awkward 'first time meeting' feel to everything. :p

[quote name='Midboss']Anime aside, I enjoy Seinfeld, X-Play, and WWE (shut up).[/quote] Ooh, Seinfeld. Don't know why I forgot to mention that. I've [i]really[/i] gotten into the show since its release onto DVD. So damn funny, and even fifteen years after it first came onto the air Seinfeld is fresher than 99% of the shows I've watched on television. I actually enjoy watching WWE, too, but I wouldn't call it one of my absolute favorite things on television. The quality of the shows is far too inconsistent these days.

My favorite show is Futurama, Dr. Zoidberg is the coolest!! ...yeah. Futurama is maybe my favorite show on television. The more I watch it the more I love it. The show is exceptional. The writing is fantastic, the animation is incredible, the voice acting is perhaps the best I've ever heard ever (that's factoring in movies as well), and it's just hilarious. I also love how easily the show balances a coherent arching plot and well defined characters, while still being able to make each episode funny enough to stand on its own. No other show has really come close to achieving that, I think. Futurama is also incredibly geeky, but that's just how I like it. I love a lot of other shows, but many of the shows I like are either alive only in syndication or are dead and cancelled. Stuff like The Twilight Zone (the original show, which craps on any of the other lame ripoffs), Mystery Science Theater 3000, Batman: The Animated Series, The X-Files, Rocko's Modern Life, The Tick, etc.

There's no advertising here, unless it relates to a specific topic (like, a link to GameFAQs would be allowed if someone was asking for codes or something). Threads can't be created specifically for advertising, however. Thread Closed

[quote name='Bloodseeker']Nine inch nails sucks *ss! They're out of tune, and they're ear wrenching to listen to! They're bad, even for a techno band.[/quote] That's pretty ridiculous. Nine Inch Nails isn't even a techno band lol. I personally don't think that they suck, though their last couple of albums have left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Anyway, I guess I prefer NIN, but Tool and NIN are pretty different from each other, I think. Comparing Tool and Slipknot is just wild, but I guess that's just because I don't like Slipknot. Different strokes. EDIT: I was speaking more in terms of quality, which is why I mentioned that I didn't like Slipknot. I don't think that they're even close to the level of Tool, but whatever lol.

My sister and I went to Anime Expo last year. We were hanging around outside a few of the rooms, and this guy approached us. And I swear that this guy embodied every single nerdy/geeky/dorky/whatever stereotype you could possibly think of. He mostly stopped to chat with us about how he had previously watched the subbed version of the Cardcaptors Sakura movie (I guess we were standing outside of one of the screening rooms). I wish I'd taken a picture with the guy. My sister and I still crack up whenever we mention him. It was just such a weird moment lol.

I'd like to be relatively obscure for most of my life, and then die a really cool, bizarre death, after which anything I've done goes into the public spotlight. Then I'll be famous, but I won't have to deal with all of the crap that comes along with it. That seems pretty ideal, to me.

I like how this has turned into another Final Fantasy thread. Yeah, man! Anyway, there's a nice recurring theme in the Tomb Raider series: From III on, they all suck. It's a rather nice joke played on those who bought the games. :)

[quote name='James][color=#737373'] And I still remember Shinmaru's old username like it was yesterday. ~_^[/color][/quote] Nobody will ever let it die. :( It's almost been two years since I rid myself of that accursed name. I should probably make that into an event: 'August (whenever): Shinmaru wised up and got a good username!' Anyway, I think that the fact that people are getting a bit exasperated over the difference between n00bs and newbies is amusing. So many things are of the most vital importance on the Internet. :rolleyes:

My exposure to The Toadies is limited, but I like what I've heard. Don't have either of their albums, but I do have a few songs here and there. Of what I've heard my favorite song is "Tyler". I love how deceptive the song is. You hear it in the beginning and you're like "Oh, this is a nice love song", but then you listen to the rest of the song...lol. The instrumental part in the middle of the song is a nice touch, too. It gives you a bit of time to stew over the lyrics a bit before the song brings out the big surprise on you lol. Great song.

[QUOTE=Lunox][img]http://xs31.xs.to/pics/05224/delorean.jpg[/img] [color=darkslateblue] I feel like such a dork. BUT I WOULD SO BUY IT. [/color][/QUOTE] You stole my post! ...except that I was going to say the Batmobile. Now that I think about it, though, I'd probably rather have Doc Brown's DeLorean. Damn, that thing is awesome. Everything else is way behind. I don't care enough about cars to have a dream one. Not unless they can travel through time or something. :D

[quote name='Generic NPC #3']That would be amazing. I recently picked up Volume 3 at Best Buy (it was only $30, unlike the $40 it was marked) and as I watched it I came to the realization that this is really my favorite show ever. There's not a single bad episode, even including the ones with weird, disheartening endings.[/quote] Definitely. Every time I watch Futurama I just love it more and more. I really wouldn't have a problem calling it my favorite show ever. There are a few episodes in the series that are 'average' in comparison to the others, but I still enjoy watching them. And the best of what Futurama has to offer is just so damned amazing. I find it really fascinating just how much the show really got right. It's downright gorgeous, the writing is sharp and funny, the stories are fun and deceptively deep, the characters are incredibly well-developed, and the voice acting is easily the best I've ever heard. The Futurama cast never ceased to amaze me with how great they truly were. I wish more people loved the series - it's geeky as hell, but it also had so much more than that to offer. I've not played the Futurama game, actually. I might think about picking it up sometime, especially if I can find it for a decent price.

As most everyone knows, Futurama was cancelled a while back. All four seasons of this amazingly underrated series have been released on DVD, and I thought that would be all she wrote. However, there are some rumblings down at FOX that I'm hoping prove me wrong... From [url=www.gotfuturama.com][b]GotFuturama.com[/b][/url]: [quote]Good news, everyone? Over the last week, several sources from within the animation business have indicated to us that there is renewed talk at [b]FOX about bringing fresh Futurama content directly to DVD.[/b] We corroborated this with other sources close to the show before publishing the information. The talk is of course still in a preliminary stage. Options reported to us include one or more Futurama movies in case of a go-ahead. Even though Futurama is not sure to return and the likelihood of its return is currently unknown, this is the first time in the past few years that we have heard of Futurama being discussed at the upper levels of FOX. They'll likely have a good look at the sales of the upcoming Futurama Monster Robot Maniac Fun Collection. As soon as we get more information on the Direct to DVD story, we'll let you know right here.[/quote] And here also is a quote from Billy West in a [url=http://www.billywest.com/forum/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=1&TopicID=821&PagePosition=1][b]thread on his site's forum[/b][/url]: [quote]Well, I spoke to David X.Cohen because we did promos for a new Futurama compilation and he said that they did have talks with the top guys at FOX and they were extremely impressed with the sales of the Futurama DVDs. [b]The idea was to make a Futurama movie right to DVD and then a 2nd and a 3rd.[/b] That's what's being discussed. Fox is trying to figure out a budget for the whole project, and it sounded like David X. was very jazzed! I would love more than anything to do that show again. I thought it was best experience on every level... creatively, voice-wise, writing, animation and the laughs. The laughs. Writers and performers that respected each other.[/quote] It's not a new season of the show, but I am honestly excited to get [i]anything[/i] new from a series that I thought had been left for dead. This is all preliminary stuff, of course, and there's nothing official at all yet. However, if everything can get mashed out, then we might be seeing some brand-new Futurama material on DVD. :) Obviously I'm very excited about potential new material for the series. If this comes to fruition I just hope that the new stuff will keep the same great writing, acting, humor and animation that made Futurama so great. I'd hate to be disappointed. :( Feel free to also use this thread to talk about how much Futurama rules. I know that I will. :D

[quote name='boxybrown305][COLOR=DarkRed']Some more from Mel Brooks would work too. The main ones that come to mind are Young Frankenstien and Robin Hood: Men in Tights, History of the World, Dracula: Dead and Loving It (you said you already have Spaceballs, so that's taken care of). There are many others too, but i can't remember right now.[/COLOR][/quote] Ooh, yeah, I should have mentioned some of those. Young Frankenstein is hilarious, and it's one of my favorite movies ever. Blazing Saddles is likewise awesome. I don't think you could go wrong with either of those movies. I didn't mention this earlier, but what the hell: You should see Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. It's a fantastic Cold War-era satire. I [i]love[/i] the movie; it's maybe my favorite film ever along with The Empire Strikes Back. The best part is that it's not just all political satire - there are plenty of funny moments in the movie that anyone would laugh at. I think that's part of the reason I like the movie so much. It's got a great mix of different styles of humor.

I'll suggest a couple that might be up your alley... The Jerk is awesome. Steve Martin is hilarious in almost everything I see him in, and this is my favorite of his movies. Navin R. Johnson has to be one of the weirdest, funniest characters I've ever seen in a movie. Everything that he does is great, from reminiscing on his days growing up as "a poor black child" to getting absolutely giddy over his first listing in a phone book. The whole movie is just so absurd and hilarious. Three Amigos! is also very, very funny. The movie is about three silent film stars who have to save a Mexican village, because the villagers think that they are real cowboys who can take down El Guapo and his gang of crazies. Tons of great visual gags in this movie. Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Chevy Chase are all awesome in this. Also, if you've never seen any of the Monty Python films (Holy Grail, Life of Brian, and The Meaning of Life), you should see those, as well. They're all hilarious, though Life of Brian is my personal favorite. Most people tend to like Monty Python and the Holy Grail the best, which I can't really argue with too much.

[quote name='Generic NPC #3']Resident Evil 4: Definite must own if you have a GameCube. Best game in the series and I recommend it to even people who aren't into the previous games. Has something for everyone.[/quote] Yep. I love Eternal Darkness, but I would recommend RE4 over it. I don't even know how easy it would be to even [i]find[/i] ED anymore. I heard that it was selling for cheap in stores, but I've not seen a copy of the game anywhere in a long time. Glad I bought a copy when it first came out. :D You should definitely get them both if you can, though. RE4 is the better game, but ED offers a much different horror experience than RE4 does. RE4 is like an awesome action movie, while ED is more like a suspense movie that screws with your head (not that RE4 doesn't have screwy moments of its own lol). They're both great games.

[quote name='Generic NPC #3']The main point he's making is that the Zack subplot is in no way pushed onto you like it should be. I would say a vast majority of people didn't even realize it existed. The game doesn't hint at it, really, and it requires you to go to a place you've been done with for quite some time. He's not saying that the Zack subplot was confusing once you found it.[/quote] Yeah, that's basically what I was going to say. I didn't even realize it existed until I saw someone mention it on another message board. Who has a reason to go back to the [spoiler]Shinra Mansion[/spoiler] at that point in the game? By that time you should have already [spoiler]beaten the monster in the safe and gotten Vincent...I don't even know if you [i]can[/i] get Vincent that late in the game lol.[/spoiler] And even if someone [i]does[/i] randomly decide to visit the [spoiler]Shinra Mansion[/spoiler], for whatever reason, if you [spoiler]don't have Tifa in your party[/spoiler] you don't find anything of worth. I personally think that's a terrible way to reveal something that's pretty important to the story, and that's confused a lot of people for a long time.

[quote name='Syk3']Well, yeah, I'm just saying. A lot of people go into this movie with the previous two in mind and are just looking for something to ***** about. They can't be pleased, no matter how good of a movie Lucas dishes out, because the originals are so inplanted in their brains. You'd think they could focus on the positive aspects of what the movie has to offer, lol.[/quote] Personally, the only reason I kept the two prequels in mind was to keep my expectations low. I didn't go into this film expecting to be blown away, and I think I enjoyed the movie all the more because of it. But, in the end, people's tastes are their own tastes. Suddenly people can't complain about a film? They paid to see it, after all lol. If someone is just looking for stuff to ***** out, then whatever. George Lucas is laughing all the way to the bank, really. Anyway, I agree with Mitch's assessment of the movie. The love story was blah, the dialogue was pretty lame for the most part, and some of the CGI effects were meh. But there was also some really gorgeous stuff (the opening battle is amazing - it makes the Battle of Endor from Return of the Jedi look like two kids playing Cowboys and Indians), the acting was improved, and there were some kickass lightsaber fights. There was more meat to the story, too, which made it more entertaining. Overall, it was worth the money, but I think that the people who are ranking this with The Empire Strikes Back as the best in the series are out of their minds.

[quote name='Bloodseeker']A vote for a guy that you know isn't going to win is a vote wasted. Mere principals don't count for much in America. At this point, the only two parties that the general public really recognize are the republicans and democrats. If you only have two people that are likely to win and a bunch of others that you know don't stand a chance, its best to give your vote to the one that shares at least some of your views and give the scum a tiny bit more resistance, if that makes sense.[/quote] I realize what you're saying, but I don't agree with it. In any election (not just presidential, but any type of election) I'm going to vote for the candidate who is most satisfactory to me. If that person just so happens to be from a third party, then so be it. I can't in good conscience vote for somebody other than who I feel is the best person for the job. If that leads to 'wasted' votes, then there's nothing I can do about that. It's just the way I feel. Nothing will change in this country unless people actually [i]do[/i] something about it. I'm not arrogant enough to think I'm participating in some third-party revolution, or something, but I'd like to think that every little bit counts toward at least a tiny bit of positive change. Voting for one of the two major candidates doesn't really jive with me, anyway, since both parties have their strong points and weak points with me. For me, that basically boils down to deciding whether economic issues are more important than social issues or vice versa (I mostly agree with the Republicans economically and the Democrats socially, by the way). I don't think that either one is more important than the other.

My parents are both Republicans, so I went down that path for quite a while. When I got near the age where I could actually vote, I started researching political parties a bit more. At the time, I was pretty dissatisfied with the Republicans, and I've honestly never been interested in joining the Democrats at any point in my life. I don't think it should be as black and white as "You have to be either a Democrat or a Republican!!111!" So, I took joining a third party as a pretty serious option. At first I just registered as an Independant, because I was a bad decision maker at the time. But after delving into things a bit more, I became pretty impressed with the Libertarian party. I basically agree with their party on just about any issue you can think of, which is pretty remarkable to say the least. I ended up voting for Michael Badnarik in the presidential election, though I knew he didn't have a chance in hell of winning. It's the principal of the matter, people. I'd rather vote for someone I have confidence in rather than one of the two major candidates I see as the lesser of two evils. That's a pretty ridiculous reason to vote for someone, I think. I hope that in the future many more people will see third parties as legitimate options to place their confidence in. Right now, it's like the "Citizen Kang" short in The Siimpsons Treehouse of Horror VII where there are two horrible candidates (Kang and Kodos) running for office, but nobody will vote for a third party because Kang taunts everyone by saying "Go ahead, throw your vote away!" Pretty on the mark, sadly. I do think that as time goes on more people will go to third parties rather than relying only on the big two. It'd sure be nice to live to see that day, though. :p

I've perfected the art of not knowing [i]anything[/i] about student elections until the day after the elections have ended. It's a nice skill to have, and it's served me well over the years. I haven't really paid attention to a school election since middle school. :) The presidential election was a different story. I voted in that, though I couldn't have cared less for either Bush or Kerry (or the Democratic and Republican parties in general, really). Since my allegiance lies with a third party, my vote won't mean jack for a long while. Oh well lol.

[QUOTE=Baron Samedi][size=1]OH EM GEE SO U LYKE, JOYND ONE!!1111 [1!!] RPG LYKE U NO AGES AGO AN IT WUZ LYKE GUDD AND LYKE NOW U THINK ALL TEH RPGS ARE CRAPEY!?!?! LYKE D00D DAT WUZ LYKE ONE [1!!!!] RPG AN THERE HAS ALWAYZ BIN LYKE G00D RPGS AN LYKE BADD ONEZ HEY SO LYKE BROWZE THRU TEH, Y NO, ARKIVEZ AND COMPARE THE LYKE, RATIOS AN ALL. HAHA FLAM SPAM SPAM.[/size][/QUOTE] I agree with B4r0n. His one post made more sense than I have in years.

[quote name='Delacroix][SIZE=1][B]Username:[/B'] I have no idea where you got Shinmaru from. At all. You'll have to elaborate on that one for me. All I can say is that it sounds badass and cool (and slightly cute) all at the same time. This may reflect your personality? I'm not sure...[/SIZE][/quote] I keep forgetting whether or not I've elaborated on this here before. I'm pretty sure that I have in some other thread, but oh well lol. Anyway, my first username was god awful, and after I finally came to that realization after about four or so months of having it, I decided to change my name. At the time I'd been watching Cowboy Bebop, and I thought that Shin from the final two episodes of the series was pretty cool. However, Shin sounded too much like a nickname, so I added the 'maru' to the end of it...I forget where that came from, though. It doesn't matter, however, since this name is a million times cooler than my previous name. For real. Yeah, the name for The Shinmaru Zone comes from The Twilight Zone. I'm a very big fan of the show - it's probably my favorite on television, along with Futurama and Mystery Science Theater 3000...throw Seinfeld and The Simpsons in there, too. :D And before Arcadia comes in here, I most certainly do [i]not[/i] stalk her, nor do I get plane tickets to Florida only to go to her house, press up against her window at night and watch her sleep. ...yet.