I'm the Wednesday Guy

Who is posting only 10 minutes before it becomes Thursday. I could lie and say I live in Hawaii (where it's only 6:50), but let's be honest: I'm just lazy as shit. So get used to it, the Wednesday guy might be more of a late-night Wednesday guy more often than not.

But I guess I kind of have an excuse today cause I've been hungover all day and you can't exactly think of things to write when your heads still swimming from last night's tequila shots. Saw a guy get his ass kicked, some bad karaoke singers, live dubstep and hit on hot bartenders though. Guess it's worth the hangover.

Interesting thought though: what if there wasn't such a thing as hangovers?

"Hey Ben, want to go to the bars tonight?"

"Nah, I've got work at 8am tomorrow, I have to give a presentation and all"

"Dude didn't you hear? You can't get a hangover anymore!"

"Ohhhh shit, let's go get hammered and make bad decisions"

Every single night. And I'd still be able to hold a steady job. Which I'd probably need considering I'd be blowing 50 bucks at the bar daily.

But enough of that fantasy, let's talk about me. I feel it's easier to describe myself in list form so here we go.

• I'm Ben
• I'm 21 years of age
• I go to Radford University
• I code applications/websites
• I play starcraft
• I lead a top clan in runescape
• I get drunk and break things/make bad decisions
• I, like a large majority of men, enjoy womens
• I like football
• I like soccer
• I watch a lot of movies

Guess that's pretty basic stuff that a lot of people like really. Hmm might just be easier for you all to follow my posts to figure out who I am instead. So yeah, do that.

Yum.

Wow. I cannot make any fucking promises. Ever.

Every time I do, I completely forget and fuck up, or even worse, I remember, but I can’t think of anything of substance to write about.

So this time, I’ll talk about something very important to me.

Pretzel M&Ms .

Anyone that’s had one of these delicious things can probably attest to it, but what it basically is is a M&M that has a salty little pretzel ball In the center of it, making for a magnificent contrast between the sweetness of the milk chocolate and the salty flavor of the pretzel. Easily one of the best snacks I’ve had in a while, if I could live off of these things I would, but I honestly think it could be better. It’s a good first step but… It’s not chef’s chocolate salty balls.

I’m not even a huge fan of chocolate, but if this is the first step towards the ultimate confection… This’ll be incredible. Chocolate salty balls will be greater then cheesecake, pie, cookies, fudge, even regular cake. Everyone will clamor for chocolate salty balls, and then the company will be sued for copyright infringement by the creators of south park.

Till then it’ll be pretty sweet.

The Day Gainax Stole Christmas (Or, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt pt. 2)

WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt!

Every Ot/a/ku on 4chan liked Christmas a lot.
But Gainax, who lived over in Japan, did not!

Gainax hated Christmas! The whole Winter Line-up Season!
Now please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be that their heads aren't screwed on quite right,
It could be, perhaps, that their shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason
Was that everyone thinks that Gainax can't properly end a season!

But whatever the reason, be it their endings or their shoes,
They sat there on Christmas Eve, hating the Ot/a/kus.
Staring into their computer screens with their asian faces deplored,
At the warm-hearted threads on 4chan's anime board.
For every Ot/a/ku at 4chan on the net,
Was busy now, posting a thread about the final episode of Panty and Stocking to make their bet.

"And they're loving Miss Stocking!" They snarled with a sneer.
"Today is the finale! It's already here!"
Then they growled, with their Asian fingers nervously drumming,
"We MUST find a way to keep Christmas from coming!"
For tomorrow, they knew that all the anonymous guys and gals
Would be posting about how the episode was the best one ever to their pals!
And then! All the flame wars! The Haters! The Fans!
That's the one thing they hated! All of those stupid Fans! FANS! FANS!

Then the mods, young and old, would make a sticky.
And the posters would cheer! How disgustingly ICKY!
They would start on Panty and Brief! And how Stocking was a slut!
And Gainax couldn't stand how they loved Chuck the mutt!

And THEN they'd do something Gainax couldn't stand!
The tripfags and Anonymous would get the drawfags together; hand-in-hand!
They'd whip out their tablets, their scanners and pencils with Christmas bells ringing,
And they'd all collaborate on fanart, some of them even singing!

They'd draw and they'd sing! Draw and sing!
DRAW! SING! DRAW! SING!
And the more Gainax thought of the Internet-Art-And-Sing,
The more Gainax thought "We must stop this whole thing!"
"Why for who knows how many years we've put up with this now?!
We MUST stop Christmas from coming! But...HOW?"

Then they got an idea!
An awful idea!
Gaianx got a WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

"We know just what we'll do!" Gainax laughed from their throats.
"We'll ruin the ending of Panty and Stocking! That'll sink their boats!
We'll make the episode as planned, but right at it's end...
Stocking will cut Panty into pieces! 666 Pieces that Brief will have to mend!"

"And if that's not enough, we'll bring back Corset too.
We'll troll them so hard - they won't know what to do!"

And that's exactly what they did. Minutes after Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt episode 13 was released, 4chan's Anime & Manga board EXPLODED with replies. Not many of them were too great. Here, take a look:
Yeah, it wasn't pretty.

Long story short, Gainax trolled the HELL out of everyone who watched episode thirteen during literally the last two minutes of the episode - Bringing back the BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy), revealing that Stocking was in fact evil, cutting Panty into tiny pieces, and telling Brief that he must collect all 666 pieces of Panty, travel to the neighboring city, and repeat what transpired in the previous 21 minutes of the episode ALL OVER AGAIN in order to get her back.
The episode ends with the rest of the cast (Demon sisters included) staring in shock, and Garterbelt telling Brief and Chuck to venture forth.I feel that's an accurate depiction. Oh well, I suppose on the bright side we might get a second season (that is, if Gainax wasn't joking about that too). If not, that'll be yet another anime that Gainax can put under their 'Gainax Ending' cliche belt.
I'd like to say that we at 'That's Your Problem!' hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and hell, even a Krazy Kwanzaa! (Lol Kwanzaa)

-Arlon The Enigma

Pack to Power Trade #3

Ouch.

That's the reaction some would get after reading the future outcome of this trade, if anyone actually read this blog.



This looks pretty bad right now, ya? At the time this was a pretty legit trade! take a look:

Trade 3(then):
Goblin Guide - 5.25
Total: 5.25
For:
Phylactery Lich - 4.45
Dark Tutelage - 1.25
Total: 5.70
Profit: +0.45


I even made a bit of profit off of this one. Not much, but nearly enough for a full game of DDR.

Check the same trade as of this post:

Trade 3(now):
Goblin Guide 9.56
Total: 9.56
For:
Phylactery Lich 2.10
Dark Tutelage 1.27
Total: 3.37
Profit: -6.19

Not looking good for the P2P....

Stay tuned for more!

Saturday again? Already? (Or Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt pt.1)

Seems like it. So, what should we go over today? More Evangelion?
...No. I'm good.

Let's try another Gainax anime, shall we? Here's another one of my favorites, Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt.
...No, I'm serious, that's the title.

No, it's not porn! Here, look
er...Uh...
Damnit...

OK so it's full of fanservice. Sue me. Regardless, Panty and Stocking are two raunchy, bitchy angels who were kicked out of heaven and sent to earth. In order to redeem themselves, they must defeat ghosts and collect 'heaven coins' to purchase their way back into heaven. They are put under the care of the Priest named Garterbelt.
Yeah. After a few episodes, the angels make acquaintances with a high school nerd named Brief (affectionately nicknamed 'Geek Boy' by the angels).
Anyway, the series is directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi (whose repertoire includes anime like FLCL and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann). The artstyle is different from what Gainax usually produces; a cartoony homage to American animation. The animators vary on the episode, switching between artists from Gurren Lagann, but the same basic style stays the same in each episode.
The angels themselves do battle by 'transforming' articles of clothing that match their names into guns and swords. Upon defeating a ghost, the anime cuts to a real life model of the ghost, and the model then explodes with some kind of random word or phrase.
The church bell gongs, and everything goes back to normal until the next ghost appears. But where are all of these ghosts coming from? Who is responsible? Maybe a little bit more next time...
-Arlon The Enigma

Pack to Power Trade #2

The following post is going to be a somewhat short post for two reasons:

I am packing to go home for Winter break.
I am drinking.


This week I will be showcasing the second trade in the Pack to Power quest. At face value, this was a pretty level trade when it was made a few months ago, but as of this post it has shifted in our favor! Check it out:





Original Trade:
Avenger of Zendikar - 9.85
Vampire Hexmage - 1.04
Total: 10.89
For:
Goblin Guide - 5.25
Glacial Fortress - 3.67
Luminarch Ascension - 2.22
Total: 11.14
Profit: +0.25

Not much in terms of overall profit, but this trade helps to diversify the P2P card pool.

Now let's take a look at how that trade would look today.

Original trade at current prices:
Avenger of Zendikar - 12.18
Vampire Hexmage - 1.38
Total: 13.56

At first glance, it would seem like this ends up being a losing trade for us, but take a look at what we received!

For:
Goblin Guide - 9.55
Glacial Fortress - 2.83
Luminarch Ascension - 2.65
Total: 15.03

Profit: 1.47

The profit from this trade has multiplied nearly six times! This is why it is important to not only think about a card's current value, but to also consider its potential to impact the meta in the future. Keep in mind, however, that this by no means the prices will be the same a few more months down the road. Cards that are popular will move faster than less popular selections, so perhaps try to sweeten a trade for something you have that you know won't move as quickly.

More next week!

Massive purging.

Ok well…. I don’t really know what to say about last time.

It’s quite difficult to be lucid while snorting several pounds of heroin, but I have to apologize for suggesting such a brain bashingly bad idea to everyone here.

I also have to apologize to everyone here for actually managing to sell such a horrible idea to Disney. I didn’t think they’d actually option it for a movie. And they apparently liked the idea so much that they decided to make a movie. And apparently, the execs are so confident in it that they were willing to travel back in time several years to produce it to come out in February of next year.

Y’know, this is usually the point that I would post a bunch of screenshots, showing why this movie sucks and comment on each of them…. But I honestly can’t bear to watch this shit again. I can’t bear to watch the baby I’ve brought into this world. I can’t stand the fact that someone took such a god awful idea and made something so preposterously stupid out of it. I mean seriously? Gnomeo and Juliet?

Fuck man.

Yknow what, fuck it. I can’t think about this shit anymore. I mean, seriously. Who could have been so retarded so as to have come up with this bullshit?

….

Yknow what, if I don't blow my brains out by next week out of depression, I'll do something really bad.

Gulliver's travels.

Miles Davis

I really have nothing at all interesting to say, so read about someone more interesting. Here's a report I did on Miles Davis in high school. Read about this badass genius.

"Miles Davis was born on May 25, 1926, in Alton, Illinois. At age 13, Davis began taking trumpet lessons. At age 16, he began playing professionally outside of school. By the time he was 18, David began playing in Eddie Randal’s “Blue Devils”. It was this year that David began temporarily playing third trumpet in the Billy Eckstine band, along with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. That fall, Miles enrolled in Columbia’s Julliard School of Music, before dropping out to pursue a career as a full-time jazz musician soon after. It was from there Davis became an influential jazz musician, and stood at the forefront of numerous progressions in jazz music.

For the next few years, Davis played in many bebop combos. The most notable example is Charlie Parker’s Quintet. In 1948, however, he started organizing musicians to create a new style of jazz. In 1950, Miles released Birth of the Cool, the first cool jazz album ever recorded. The music on Birth of the Cool was more mellow and laid-back than other jazz music at the time. Four years later, Miles released Walkin’, which became the first hard bop album. Hard bop, while similar to cool jazz, had a more grooving beat to it.

In 1955, Miles Davis formed the Miles Davis Quintet, which included John Coltrane, among others. After recording five albums and eventually forming into a sextet, Davis began recording albums with Gil Evans, including Porgy and Bess, which included pieces taken from George Gershwin’s opera, and Sketches of Spain, which featured Davis playing Spanish Flamenco music backed by an orchestra. The final album recorded with Gil Evans, Quiet Nights, was a collection of bossa nova (a style of Brazilian music) tunes. Around this time, the Miles Davis Quintet recorded Milestones, the first modal jazz experiment by Davis.

On August 17, 1959, Miles Davis took his modal jazz to a new level. He released his most critically acclaimed and arguably most influential album, Kind of Blue. Aside from two songs, “So What” and “All Blues”, none of the songs on the album were practiced by the sextet. Davis and new sextet member Bill Evans wrote a basic framework for the other three compositions, which the rest of the group saw for the first time during the day of the recording. According to the RIAA, Kind of Blue is the best-selling jazz record of all time, going quadruple platinum and selling over 4 million copies.

In 1968, Davis and his lineup recorded Miles in the Sky and Filles de Kilimanjaro, which introduced the electric bass, electric piano, and guitar. This, along with influences by Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, and Jimi Hendrix, lead to Davis producing two albums 1976, including In A Silent Way. These two albums, which were some of the first albums to fuse rock and jazz, contributed to what is today known as jazz-rock fusion. Shortly after, David met Karlheinz Stockhausen, and was influenced to do what was referred to by his fans as “space music.”

Starting with his jazz-rock fusion albums, Davis began requesting to open for bands such as the Grateful Dead and Santana. He began experimenting with a more funk-oriented sound, including adding wah-wah effects to his horn. Davis began trying to appeal to the younger African-American audience with his 1972 album On the Corner, which blended funk elements with his traditional jazz. The album drew heavy criticism, which Davis attributed to the music being incapable of being categorized. For the next few years, Miles recorded a series of live albums and jam sessions.

By 1975, Miles was facing a multitude of health issues. These included osteoporosis and depression. Additionally, Davis had developed a dependency on alcohol and drugs, including cocaine. His performances were criticized during this time as well. All of these factors, and a loss for enthusiasm in music, led to Davis taking a six year hiatus from music.

In 1983, Davis returned to recording, with his album Decoy, which blended soul and electronica music. Davis’s next album, You’re Under Arrest, included interpretations of current pop songs, such as Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.” In 1989, he collaborated to record the album Aura, and orchestral tribute to his music. On September 28, 1991, Miles Davis died of a stroke, pneumonia, and respiratory failure.

At the time of his death, Miles Davis had received 6 Grammys (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), and had been knighted into the Legion of Honor, as well as created or inspired countless styles of music. Since his death, Davis has received 2 posthumous Grammys, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and St. Louis Walk of Fame, induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and an induction Hollywood’s Rockwalk, as well as being certified Quadruple Platinum for Kind of Blue. "

Miles Davis - Will o' The Wisp

Honor among thieves!

When I think of well known thieves, of course there are some pretty fantastic names that I think of..

Lupin the 3rd being the best of all of course!

 

Lupin had his own code of conduct that was an honor among thieves for the most part.
This same honor code has roots back to old works of literature, in the years of Rome, even to today where it can be found in video game lore of Oblivion and other works.
Codes such as: Do not steal from another thief, and to not kill other thieves.
Putting an almost noble spin on theft, robin hood type essence of taking from the rich and giving to the poor is a very idealistic approach to the subject matter.
This same principal has even been allowed by some judges in a ruling of a decision: stating that under the right circumstances: thievery is an acceptable option.


I completely agree with this concept.  I will admit, when it comes to a MMORPG: a rogue is the first character I will create.  I would gladly steal extra items to later sell to npc's to make a little extra profit than others over time.  This can stack up greatly! Not to mention when it comes to the really high level shit, when you can steal stuff that sells for really big profit, that you're the only class that has access to set item.
That is when I really start to have fun with end game stuff in video games. 

Though, this post isn't directed towards video game thievery, awesome animes based around master thieves or anything like that.  This is based upon real life. 
As I look back on it more and more: my family has kinda a tradition or even a bloodline of thievery. 
Sure, my parents like to live by a moral code of ethics, but when the shit hits the fan, those walls of morality like to phase down faster than the defensive shields of a Klingon K23 versus a Predator ship. (Yeah, i went there!)
My mom, the wonderful woman that she can be: I've even caught her using the family trades.  My father, he did a wonderful theft of his own.  He managed to make away from an entire family with a 15,000$ motorcycle, and is currently hiding out in Tennessee.  The downside of that achievement is.. that motorcycle was my college fund. XD
It just seems that the tighter the string gets around our neck, the lower the moral resistance kicks in to do such acts.
I have no problem admitting that I have developed a technique: it's by no means perfect, or even close to upper ranking, but I'm learning as I go.  I've also studied the trade, from lock picking, to slight of hand, even to misdirection: there are lots of things that can come in handy. 
Sure there is a risk, there is a risk in anything you do in life; it's just whether or not the juice may be worth the squeeze.  I would never steal from an innocent though, never from a friend, or even a stranger.  This is where I like to draw a line of my own.  Sure I may attempt things: just for practice, but with no intent to keep.  Pickpocketing for example. 

The point I'm trying to get across... at 4:00 am in the morning -_-, yeah: is that.. we all have our own cards in life to deal with, sure: we may have a pretty shitty hand.  It's just how we decide to play that hand that will decide whether or not we live long another for another game. 

Also: just a fun little quote type thing that I somewhat thought of, I just thought it sounded cool:
It's not the man with the biggest gun, the loudest voice, or the strongest punch that you need to be worried about... It's the guy who is giving them the orders that you should be scared of...

Thank you for reading: this has been my second installment into the Ballister mindset.  By the end of this lovely journey, more about me than a large percentile of my close friends and family even know may be revealed: Who knows?!? Thank you, and have a wonderful night.

A quick look

Saturday again, it seems. Another week where our other authors (The HelpeR aside) DIDN'T POST. Let's work on that, huh?? Christ...

Oh well, this week we will be looking at something very near and dear to my heart.Er...
There we go. Neon Genesis Evangelion. An anime from Gainax studios that never ceases to stir up discussions on forums everywhere. The original run of this series took place back in 1995, and followed the events of an awkward wimp named Shinji Ikari as he piloted what seemed to be a giant robot against monsters called Angels to prevent Third Impact (in layman's terms, the end of the world). The show seemed like every mecha fanboy's dream; giant awesome robots fighting monsters, explosions, blood, and even the occasional fanservice (example:see above image). However, around episode 18, shit went from kind of light-hearted with some comedic relief, to just plain serious and depressing. While the anime was still good, this began the slippery slope downhill where alot of fans stopped caring about the anime itself. The final episode (26) caused alot of problems, including threats towards the creator's (Hideaki Anno) life. Eventually, Anno released The End Of Evangelion movie, which seemed to be a retcon of the final two episodes, but seemed more of a big 'Fuck You' to everyone who had a problem with the series ending.

I mean, it seems legit. I'd be mad too if I made an award-winning anime and everyone bitched at me for ending my series the way I wanted to.
Moving on...

Years later (12 to be exact), Gainax releases the first of a tetralogy (series of four films, yknow like trilogy but with one more) of 'Rebuild of Evangelion'. As far as everyone can tell, it seems like a complete retcon of the series; crisper, smoother animation, Shinji being less of a wuss, new characters, some characters appearing alot sooner than they should, etc. For example, check this out:
Yeah, the one on the right looks a little better (that probably wasn't the best shot, whatever).

Now so far we can only speculate what's in store for the series as we go on, but Anno has confirmed that the third film will have a new storyline, and the fourth will be a completely new ending for the story. Knowing Gainax studios, we're in for a mindfuck of a ride. Speaking of mindfuck... Something seems a little off about Rebuild...
....-Arlon The Enigma

Awesome idea here!

Hey guys. I took a break last week cause I was feeling pretty mellow. However… I got something big to tell you all about. Promise you all won’t steal this idea, because I think if I sell the rights to this, I’ll probably make millions. Fuck, I’ll be set for LIFE with this shit.

Alright, you promise you’re not gonna tell?

No seriously, don’t steal my fucking shit. If you plan to steal my fucking idea I will find you and eviscerate you.

We have an understanding?

Alright then, here’s my idea.

So like, everyone loves garden gnomes right? Those fuckers are awesome. I mean seriously. They looks awesome. My favorite garden gnome has to be Mr. winklebottom.

Magnificent. A boy and his gnome.

Right well, enough about winklebottom. So look, everyone loves gnomes. They’re always happy, you can play with them, and they don’t judge you. All you need is your imagination and it’s like your best friend is right there, playing with you. This shit is awesome.

Right well. So my idea is:

Let’s take popular stories, and instead of humans… WE HAVE GNOMES.

Spread the word! It’s an awesome idea right?

I was thinking for the first movie, we can start off with an old staple of literature. It’s hard to go wrong with the old stuff right? I thought about it long and hard, and I figured, honestly, which classic is better than…. Romeo and Juliet!

It’s basically romeo and Juliet, but instead of humans, it’s gnomes, and instead of Verona, it’s set in the front yard of 2 people, and instead of actual fighting, they compete with each other doing things like LAWNMOWER RACES. There won’t be any deaths obviously, a movie like this NEEDS to be PG, but that’s fine, we’ll overcome it with our characters all being extremely likeable, the romance be realistic, and all the other ceramic creatures in the lawn will be alive. It’ll be fucking crazy!

Let me know what you think about it. If you want to produce this, drop me a line. This shit will be fucking HUGE.