[Do games make you feel old sometimes?]

I'm with po. Of all the things that make me feel older than I really am, gaming isn't one of them. If anything, it makes me feel younger.

[Are video games still fun for you?]

I'm liking games just fine. Actually, for the past few months in particular I've been enjoying gaming about as much as I ever have. Although, I do find that it helps to mix up genres and try a wide variety of titles. Back in the 90s I mostly only played JRPGs--if that was still all I played I probably would have burned out a long time ago. I recently went on a point-and-click adventure kick and discovered what very well might be my all-time favorite game-The Last Express. And now, I'm exploring the platformer genre a bit--just finished Jak and Daxter for the first time last night (great game, btw). Now obviously, neither one of the games I mentioned are new, but I don't mean to suggest that current titles don't interest me--they do. It's just that I find older games to be equally compelling.

I've been gaming for just about 20 years, and I still love this hobby.

[How did you get your handle?]

I got my name from Gustav Davidson's excellent Dictionary of Angels - according to that book "Israfel" is the Islamic angel of music.

Also, I released a mix here under the name "Dead Lovers' Consort." That's a reference to the German band Sopor Aeternus' two part album "Dead Lovers' Sarabande"

[Is 2D platforming dead?]

Oh, and "I Wanna Be The Guy".

And frankly, if I Wanna Be The Guy can't kill 2d platformers, nothing can.

[Classic NES games]

A lot has already been mentioned, so I'll go with a somewhat obscure title that was a favorite of mine back in the day--Nightshade.

http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/nes/nightsh.htm

It's one of the few graphic adventures on the NES and it has this neat noir-spoof vibe that's really pretty funny. Definitely worth checking out.

[How many of you know music theory?]

I go with the idea that theory is an analytic rather than compositional discipline. I don't think there's any reason to not study it, and it's possible, even likely, that studying theory will have an affect (hopefully for the better) on how you compose--but it's important to keep these fields separate. You may get marked down in theory class if you don't resolve that V 4/3 chord a certain way, but when it's just you vs. the blank page, there are no rules.

But again, if composition is a major interest to you, studying theory can be extremely rewarding and beneficial.

[OCR01415 - Final Fantasy VI "Greater Alchemic Patchwork"]

This is just a case of two people using the same drumloops. The drumloops that I used that also appear on Entropy (and that the includes the woodbock "melody") come from Zero-g's Total Drum and Bass CD - http://www.zero-g.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=176

So, to answer your questions:

1) late 2002/early 2003 - it was done very shortly after Lesser Kerubic which was posted on OCR in 2002.

2) the woodblocks are part of a drumloop from Total D&B.

3) Total D&B

Hope that clears stuff up.

[Anyone else their own #1 listener?]

I'm my biggest fan. All of my music was specially handcrafted to meet my individual tastes.

Although, I don't actually listen to my music very much after it's written--after all, by the time a piece is finished I've already heard it 100s of times.

[Nintendo Wii]

It's Super Mario Bros. 2.

I'm with you. Unlike The Lost Levels, Doki Doki was a game that Miyamoto was heavily involved in and has had a lasting impact on the Mario series (I haven't seen very many poison mushrooms lately, but Princess Peach is still floating around like in SMB2us). Heck, our SMB2 was even brought back to Japan as a Mario game.

Seems pretty pedantic to say that SMB2 isn't a Mario game.

(Oh yeah, and AC is nothing like The Sims )

[OC ReMix in the past]

I first visited the site when it had the orange layout. I didn't think it was anything special at the time.

[Peanuts manga mode!]

It would be hypocritical for me to criticize a "remix" for ignoring the original artist's intent...

...but what the hell. That's just sooooo not Peanuts--completely messes up the characters.

Good grief.

[AMA pushes for video game addiction as diagnosable disorder]

Based on what I've read I think the AMA is on the right track here. Certain people have experienced major problems in the way they use video games and it's nice to see that the AMA is trying to address this. Good for them.

[Happy Birthday Extravaganza]

Happy birthday, zirc!

I thought you were older than that for some reason.

[Video Games Live: Dallas]

D'oh! Wish I had known about this ahead of time.

[Who's a Music Major?]

I used to be a music major. I was a composition major with a concentration in guitar for two years before deciding to pursue something else. I didn't really have the talent to have any real shot at doing what I wanted to do with a music degree, become a concert composer, and so I looked into going after other interests.

You gotta know when to fold 'em, as a great philosopher once said.

[Frustratingly unsubmitted remixes]

israfel submit the rest of your crap for goodness sakes

I honestly think my best mix is the one I did of Lagoon for the SNES. I would submit it, but the filesize is too big (it's a fairly long mix) and I don't have the source files to re-encode it.

[Forum Avatars - RIP]

Meet the new droog, same as the old droog.

[Otogiriso/ St John's Wort]

The movie itself was pretty goofy and not anything particularly noteworthy, but set design is just great. I would love to see more serious haunted house flick on that set.

I never really got the impression that the mansion was based on RE's though; the thought never really occurred to me. So, I can't really offer much help, but I just wanted to chime in to note that yes, someone else has actually seen that film.

[Death Note]

I'm on volume 10 of the manga and I really like it. But I checked out a random episode of the anime and I wasn't too impressed. Most the series is just people thinking and talking and I'm not sure if there's any particular need to animate that. Oh well, I may still check out the anime once it's officially released, but for now I'm thinking that the manga is better suited for this sort of narrative.

[Happy Birthday Extravaganza]

Hey all, thanks for the kind words, well-wishes and other various oddities. Very groovy of you guys.

[300]

As a movie, I didn't like it. Though the story was okay, there wasn't enough character development for me to actually care about most of the people except for the main character. I guess as a related note, I found that the fighting took over much the screenplay. I'm fine with that, but it did this to a point where much of the subplots were placed in almost as a last thought. In the end, I felt that the movie was overwhelming testosterone driven. It appeals to the most basic desires of men and this is where the main attraction lies.

This sort of thing is actually something I really liked about the film, because it made it more faithful to the genre of war chronicle that the story is derived enough.

Certainly, all the things you said could also be said about The Song of Roland, a medieval war chronicle--the entire story is one long, highly violent (and extremely improbable) fight scene with practically no character development--it's just par for the course for this genre.

[300]

Saw it. Loved it.

I often argue that Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" is brilliant in fully realizing a medieval passion play. And here, I think 300 succeeds in fully realizing those old war chronicles a la The Battle of Maldon, The Song of Roland, Three Kingdoms, The Iliad etc. etc.

It tells the story in all its exaggerated, hyperbolic glory---just as it was originally handed down to us.

[iPod or Zune?]

Check out iTunes first. If you like it (like I do), get an ipod, otherwise go with something else. Probably not a Zune though, that thing's been getting a lot of bad press.

[Music Theory Questions]

what did you mean by "give for not learning aren't any good"

I generally hear two reasons for not studying theory. 1) The person just doesn't want to, which is perfectly fine but it's not much of a reason. And 2) The person thinks it will hurt their creativity--and as I mentioned before, barring a misunderstanding of what theory is, this simply won't happen.

and "that doesn't mean it's still not counterproductive to purposefully avoid theory training"

This seems pretty straightforward to me, but here goes: when one makes a decision to purposefully avoid theory for whatever reason (unless there's some really awesome reason that I've never heard) then that person is deliberating handicapping their understanding of music. And that's an obviously counterproductive thing to do.

[Music Theory Questions]

Because 1) I was primarily talking about people who write music, and 2) the reasons performers (including guitarists) give for not learning theory aren't any good.

Yeah, you can be a good composer or performer without studying theory, but that doesn't mean it's still not counterproductive to purposefully avoid theory training.