Kizyr

I'll definitely get this... I hope there'll be some good extras. Wouldn't mind if it came with the soundtrack, too. And it has twenty 5-star reviews already. KF

The melody, arrangement, quality, etc., isn't really my thing, so I won't comment on that (other folks here can give you better feedback on that anyway). But, the lyrics are great. The only reason I like them, though, is from knowing a lot of folks in med school (and, of course, a lot of folks who could relate). While they're not esoteric, I don't think they'd have as much appeal to someone unfamiliar with med school or grad school life. KF

Well, I'm now planning on going to the New Years Eve thing too, whatever that ends up being. Has anything been settled with that yet? I haven't heard anything since I first posted. KF

Bah! Humbug. Well at least there's the up-side of an early digital download! I'll give this a listen when I get home. KF

I don't keep track of this, but is this Xerol and Jewbei's first time at the quarterfinals stage? I'll try to get to this before the finals stage on the last day this time. I keep getting real busy around the last 2-3 days of the month and end up missing the deadline for voting. KF

A year already... This hit hard when I first saw the news. Ascension to Cosmo Canyon is one of the songs that brought me to this site, and everything he composed was amazing. I think folks here should check out his original work if they haven't already. It's just as good quality, if not better. KF

King: "You gotta understand. The last dozen guys I gave money to went out and just killed slimes in the fields before running into the cave without a torch. Money's tight now." Then again, to really get anywhere in your urgent quest to save the world, you had to run in circles and kill slimes for a few hours anyway. KF

How... how did D not get any votes? It's also more fun when your teammates are in the room with you. KF

...I'm afraid if that ever happened, it'd put me off eggs for a few months until I could recover. It's also one of the reasons I'd be so averse to balut. KF

I love and hate how so many of these apply to my favorite series... I wish more games tried to take this approach. It was one of the (many, many) reasons that the QfG series is my favorite non-console series behind Civ. Anything since the Saturn/PS1 era would be capable of this. KF

I've found the best way to avoid traffic is to get a good sense of when roads will be crowded, and in what directions. I metro to work, and most of the time I have to drive, I'm on a reverse commute (away from the city in the morning, towards it in the afternoons). Given the time of day--unless they're leaving NYC at, like, 4AM--then circling around on the Beltway and coming up I-395N will be relatively traffic-free. Yeah there's a ton of reasons why I've basically decided to settle down here. Then again, I also live in Crystal City, so traffic and metro access hasn't ever been a problem. It's also why it's convenient for me to go to MagFest this year! KF

Ok, I can't help you with the roads before Baltimore, but once you get past Baltimore, there's a much better way to get to Alexandria (basically, take the Beltway around DC instead of cutting through it; it's a bit longer but it saves you a lot of time and you don't risk having to drive down New York Ave in Northeast at night). Try this route when you approach I-495: Updated Route (This will avoid having to cut through DC and any of the narrow residential roads in Alexandria. This way is nearly always going to be quicker.) Hope this helps. KF

This game made slicing up turkeys way more fun than it actually is. And I never knew before that eggs bleed! All mine have are yolks. Maybe I should look for the bloody ones next time. Part of the problem is that there are already organizations like the ASPCA that actually know what the hell they're doing. So when that's not enough, PETA takes it to the extreme. ALF takes it to the violent extreme. It's almost sad that PETA doesn't realize that they're doing way more harm than good. That being said, I'll recant everything bad I ever said about PETA if they're willing to provide themselves as substitutes for animal testing. KF

It'd be great to hear more mixes from you in the future. I'll definitely look into that album. Hm... if it's in a similar style as The Ken Song, with lyrics and all, then I see no reason not to just call it "The Ryu Song". Sometimes there's a case to be made for simplicity. KF

Which is why I'm planning to have an elephant at mine one day. ...but that's another subject. Anyway, I was thinking the same thing, regarding a quick move from engagement to wedding. But really, it's all about what y'all want to do, and what y'all are most comfortable with. And I mean, Memories of cake and food < Memories of Magfest 7 <<< The next several decades Anyway, congratulations! This is great news. I'll be at Magfest myself. Maybe I'll see y'all there. KF

Great! I'll go ahead and pre-order mine this afternoon. After checking his site, I've apparently seen a bunch of his Fallout 3 promotional art already. He's real good... KF

Interestingly enough, there's some similarity with me there. I grew up listening to country music (I was born in Nashville, so it wasn't that surprising). Around middle school, I tried to listen to what I thought was "popular". In high school, I finally realized that I'd rather listen to what I thought was good, particularly since everyone else's tastes conflicted (some people hate country, some hate rap, some hate rock, when I tended to like whatever sounded good regardless of the genre). Oh, the one constant was video game and anime soundtracks. I always liked that. So, it was probably around high school that I just started listening to whatever and stumbled upon a lot of things that I liked. This was also the "good days" of Napster, so there was easy access to anything I felt like giving a try. I ended up getting a little bit back into country, back into qawwali (which my father listens to), into J-Rock, and into various Latino genres. In college, I added French rap/R&B, Japanese hip hop, and various Arab genres to that (plus some other genres that I'm sure if I thought long enough I could recall). The local music scene in Nashville is ridiculously vibrant, also. While I was living there, I had a few friends involved in it, so I got to see some of that. But... since moving away, I don't have the time or energy to look into the local scene here. KF

Mazedude's tracks tend to be very unique, so... sometimes I like them, sometimes they don't quite click with me. But they're always interesting, no doubt about that. This in particular might be my favorite remix that Mazedude's done thus far. It really, really gets at the part-eerie, part-mysterious atmosphere in both SoE and K-Pax (really enjoyed that movie, by the way). It's a brilliant track where you can really hear the inspiration behind it. KF

So, uh, this being my first MagFest, I have no clue what to expect. I've been to several other conventions both large and small--like Otakon, DragonCon, Katsucon, AnimeUSA once or twice--but no clue how this will compare. It's also looking more and more likely I'd be able to make any sort of New Years' Eve thing. Still not 100% though, maybe more around 80% for now. KF

Yes, Apostle of the Evil God was perhaps the best track from this game. It'd be great to hear it remixed. (Of course, the next question is how to remix it.) KF

Singing is a bad idea for me. I think I have a pretty awful voice. But thinking in triads seemed to help a bit. Anyway, I'm still working at this, and I'm at around 80% accuracy for the first six intervals (and far better at the M3/m3/p4 distinction that gave me trouble earlier). KF

Yeah that's what I'm doing. I'm not half-bad at it for a beginner (since I did take around 7-8 years of piano lessons, just never practiced ear training) so I started out with the first six intervals. I meant to say M3--my main confusion is between a minor and major third. I'm pretty good at recognizing an m3, but when I hear an M3 interval I have a hard time distinguishing it (for now). I'm trying to drill in on that single difference. I wish I could think of another easily-recognized song besides When the Saints... for an M3. Speaking of which, the way it tracks statistics to let you know your main problem spots is really great. KF

Wow, I'm already noticing some improvements with this after just two days. Thanks for the link. I'd like to get to where I don't have to actually think of a song, but can just sort of feel the interval. With a few of the ones that're easier for me to pick up, that's already happening (like an m2 or m3, occasional tritone/Dim5), but there're several others that I'm still constantly missing (M4 especially). I like the interface, too. I was always rubbish at picking out intervals, and now I'm not completely rubbish. Maybe after a few weeks I could be half-decent at it. KF

Man, Team Gato is one of my favorite comedic songs; can't believe I overlooked it. Anyway, here's another one that just came up on my playlist, with vocals, although no lyrics: Raptor - PlectraSubCity

Nice... Everything I heard about Bethesda Software has been positive, so I think you'll enjoy it. I have a preference for Northern Virginia myself, but Maryland is an all right place. Plenty of parts have gotten much better in recent years, too (though... I still hear nothing good about PG County). KF