it's dangerous to go alone, take this quiz

Hey Underground Dragon, I scored an 80. I completely forgot about Anticipation until seeing that quiz. Wow.

By the way, give me your Wii code. I need someone to trade friend medals with in Metroid Prime*.

* To those not playing Metroid Prime, I am completely aware of how totally and entirely whack that sounds.

Things that I have been doing lately instead of updating my blog:
-Working
-Wishing I could take a nap
-Wishing my laptop wasn't broken (the hard drive is only a year and a half old and it is already glitching out on me, I really really really hate hard drives)
-Trying to find a Nintendo Wii
-Playing around with said Wii once one was found

Rock bands that need to go away:
-Foo Fighters

Things in my living room that have been hit by the Wiimote:
-The coffee table
-The fireplace
-The couch
-Other people

Christmas Songs that should be removed from the playlist of the radio station I listen to while at work, and replaced with gems from the Motown era:
-Dominic the Donkey
-The one with Bruce Springstein
-99% of the songs recorded since the early 90's

Things realized for the first time after watching parts of the Wizard of Oz last night:
-The munchkins pull together an elaborate welcoming comittee within a few minutes of Dorothy falling out of the sky
-Those that have been chosen as representatives of the Lollipop Guild are much surlier than one would expect members of said organization to be
-When Dorothy and her gang finally reach the Wizard, he gives them basically nothing but acts like these items will improve their lives tremendously, resulting in what this particular blogger believes to be the first reacharound filmed in motion picture history

EGM has another hilarious installment of their Child's Play feature, where they gather kids' opions on the cutting-edge time wasters of yesteryear. Their reaction to Mike Tyson's Punchout (a game I spent many an hour sitting Indian style in front of) is priceless, and their adoration for the first Legend of Zelda is surprising. The first installment can be found here.

as someone who plays videogames occasionally (like when it's cold and snowy outside) i often disagree with a lot of discussions about violence in games. although i tend to not play violent games (i prefer games like zelda where you figure out riddle after riddle), i don't think shooting games like doom or halo are going to give birth to a generation of sharpshooting trenchcoat mafiosos. the fun in those games is more of the have-fun-while-you-kick-your-friend's-ass variety. and, i was a huge fan of the controversial grand theft auto 3. it was simply an amazingly crafted piece of work, not unlike the sopranos, which is also noticeably violent. as long as this stuff is kept out of kids' hands, i don't have a problem with it.

however, the producers of grand theft auto have just released a new title that severely crosses lines of decency for any medium; manhunt. in manhunt, you play the part of a character that is for some reason or another coerced by a snuff-film maker into performing a series of very very sadistic murders for his videos. there is a six minute video of footage from the game circulating on the net now which i will not link to, because the visuals are simply too deranged. if grand theft auto is the sopranos, manhunt is faces of death. we're talking disemboweling individuals with a chainsaw here.

where's the fun in that?

egm has a hilarious article this month about kids playing classic games from our childhood (may take a few seconds to load). one kid's comment on the atari 2600 game of e.t.: Maybe another movie company that didn't want you to like E.T. made this game.

dk might be enjoying going back to school, but i feel like i'm walking around like arnold schwarzenegger in t2 when they're in that crazy molten iron building saying "i need a vacation". i made the mistake of taking an intense mini-semester class over christmas break, so i've been going full steam since last january (that whole gmat thing). between my new duties at work and my professors that teach with a cat o' nine tails ("you didn't amortize for this year's depreciation!" *smack!* "no weekend for you!"), as that lady said in airplane 2, the pilot's turned to jelly.

so, my only break from the land of numbers and economic concepts has been a few head-clearing minutes here and there with super mario sunshine. that's right, mario. i traded in my ps2 for a gamecube, and the half hour i spent at gamestop while they checked everything out was one of my most bizarre shopping experiences ever. kevin smith should do a sequel to clerks, and instead of the two protagonists working in convenience and video stores, they should work at a video game store. the socially inept critters that dwell in these places boggle the mind.

por ejemplo:
-i've been in this particular store twice, both times there was this one guy trying to chat it up with the guys behind the counter. this last time, he sees that i'm going to be there a while and starts chatting with me. he is dressed in full army gear for absolutely no reason. he owns no video game consoles but spends half his time hanging out in this store. dude, you're in new york, there's stuff to do!!
-then, some random teenager comes in off the street:
kid: "did you get any new xbox games in?"
counter guy: "yeah, just (blah blah blah)"
kid: "how is it? have you read the reviews?"
counter guy: no response
kid: "i hear you don't identify with the characters and the tasks become menial and repetitive" (okay, wtf?)
counter guy: no response
kid: "oh... ok, thanks" he then, literally, walks out the door backwards, trying to get some ackowledgement from counter guy.
-3 middle aged women came into the store to buy games for themselves. who knew?

motto: stay away from these stores like the plague!

i suppose i have to admit defeat, after years of denial it must be true, i am a geek. when i see a t-shirt design like this and go "ooh, that'd be cool!" i need someone to just give me a good, hard slap.

if you can answer the following questions, sorry, you're a geek too.
a) what does this t-shirt refer to?
b) what character is portrayed in this t-shirt?
c) what two other feats can this character perform?
...and, for ten bonus points
d) what does shoryuken mean when translated into english?