Shiftdown

Welcome to another post of Shiftdown! My place to posion you mind with the usless rants of a demented lunatic about everything, anything, and nothing…

Sorry for the dry spell here on Shiftdown for the last 4 days. I have still been really busy preparing for this trip to Japan thats only 2 days aways now. Theres still so much to do and check. Honestly I thought I would be more prepared for this. But I still have so much left to do. what doesnt help i that someof the stuff I need to  pack I use everyday so I can’t pack it up yet. thats making things a real bitch.  But hopefully I can get things all tied down by tomorrow night and hopefully things go off without a hitch. Expect it to be pretty dry here for the next couple of weeks after thursday. Friday will be dead since in the morning I will be flying out and I won’t get to Chiba until 4:30pm and I probably get to Saitama where i’m staying at 7:00pm. And I’m supposed to be going to a party and ‘ll be jet lagged so theres no way in hell there will be a post Frday and maybe also Saturday.

Even with all this preparation I still feel nothing. It hasnt hit me yet that im going to a different country with different customs and a different language (Which I do not know how to speak or understand). I’m guessing that it will hit me tomorrow or as i’m waiting at Airport Security going through the check point. But as much as this whole trip has cost me theres no turning back. I can’t just say “Nevermind”. I am excited don’t get me wrong. it’s a trip of a lifetime. Hopefully I will get to go back again in time. But I do have to say I have a lot of worries right now. Mainly the language barrier that I face. But its all just the unkown too me. It’s just I have no clue what to expect. And thats what worries me most.

Well I have some more stuff to do so I will try and write more on it later…

Sorry for Shiftdown being dry for the last few days. No I am not going to let it just dry up and die there will be more posts. Tonight I will write a full on post.  Things have just been busy for the last 3 days as i prepare for my trip to Japan.  So I will be talking more about that later on tonight and for the next 3 weeks. See you a little later for a new Shiftdown…

So here we are once again. Another post of Shiftdown. The place for everything, anything, and nothing.

Back to the writers block again today. but not for reason of timing or being busy. No today it is just straight out dead day for writing. This tends happen to me a lot and just is impossible to get out of. My minds racing about so many different things. I do have ideas to write about but the boredom level is just do high today I just cant focus long enough to compile meaningful sentences into a paragraph.

So I’m going to try and collect my thoughts. And i’ll come back later tonight and make a long post. Sorry for the Lag but there will be a post tonight.

So a new day and a new post of Shiftdown where my tired mind trys to think up and string together random words about everything, anything and nothing.

Sorry about yesterday people. I just have some serious off days. I’m really not a writer even though lately I have been trying a bit. But it’s hard when its not a major interest. That or if the newes of the day is slow and theres no topics to post and elaborate on. Some days will be like that i’m afraid. I’ll try not to make today as short and lame as yesterdays post.

Again my work schedule is a little off today. I don’t know what it is about having more time that makes it seem so much harder to write this. Well maybe its like I said last week. i work better under a deadline. When I have the full day to do something I’ll just wait until the very last second to get it done. I don’t know it makes it seem easier and like less work. Although more of an annoyance. I’m just bad with timing. Anyhow things here at work are soon coming to a close. As of next thursday I will be out of here. I’m actually a little excited cause i’m a little sick of it here. And I’m a little on edge about some of the people I work with. My goal for the next week is to not just go off on anyone. Although I fell myself slipping.

(*Breaking News*) – From Digg.com: The Taco Bell Dog has died at 15 years old.

Well this really seems to be a bad year for celebrites. Bee Aurthur, David Carradine, Ed Mc Mahon, Micheal jackson, Farah  Faucet, Billy Mayes, And now the Taco bell dog.  Soon hollywoods going to just be all these new celebs that I really care nothing about. And I don’t care much about the older ones that much anyway. But there are so few people that make an impact like the people listed above anymore. Honestly most of the actors and bands now are one hit wonders and disney child stars that are only famous until they hit lgal age and fuck up somehow. Sure i feel bad for them in some ways. They grow up doing something and get typcast into it. And its not really there fault. Its the companys producing these crap shows thatare aimed at young kids to make money off lip sync concerts and lunch boxes. Its all for a quick buck. it why I hate marketing people so much and why the quality of everything such as games, movies, etc. I mean now if one movie makes it big they make 20 more all similar to it. And Video Games. they make a shitty game for verym movie that comes out. im sorry but Harry potter video games just suck, along with X-men and Spiderman games just to name a few. I’m even getting tired of all the lego series games. Just cause lego starwars made it bid they had to do one for Batman (At the same time The Dark Knight came out), Indiana Jones (Alond with Kindom of the Crystal Skull (Which Sucked)), And now there doing it with Rock band. I’m just waiting for a Rock band titled movie to come out. And I don’t mean Spinaltap or Airheads. I am truly sick of all of these. Please stop making this crap.

You know lately i have been meeting with a lot of creative people and hearing how there going to put there material up on there own website. Which is cool and all but it shows me how little people think to protect there ideas. Which is fine if you don’t mind people stealing you work and ideas. This is why I have been stressing the protection of a lot of ideas  we have had here on BN.com. So I got to plug this because I think it can help anyone if you just listen in. Go to indie1031.com and listen to barely legal radio with joe esclante. I listen to it every week (Friday at 11am to 12pm) or get it on the podcast as most of you do. he gives free legal advice on all kinds of topics from the movie industry, music industry, a new buisness, photography. It’s just an all around good place to get some good answers from an expirenced person. Even from just listening every week I have learned a lot, mostly about fair use law. BUt it’s great advice and tips if you thinking of getting into any kind of buisness or starting up some kind of website or band.

Well I’m gonna call it here for this edition of Shiftdown. Tune in tomorrow for another post. Till then

Welcome to another excting rant of Shiftdown. Where my lunacy runs wild about anything, everything, and nothing..

So we here at BN have been evolving nicely. BN games is up in full swing. I’m even getting prepared to post a couple of my own reviews on there for Bioshock, Blaze Blue, Pangaya Fantasy Golf, Dissidia (Import), DJ Max Fever, Infinite Undiscovery, and maybe a couple of other games. The fourms are also starting to see better traffic in them. I am a little amazed at how much this site has grown in the short time it has been up. But I hope it continues. Were still planning the Podcast. And I’m hoping to get that out ASAP.

I also kinda have to apologize for todays post being a little late. I went out to lunch with some co-workers so I was AFK. And the work schedule has kinda been out of the norm for today. But as usual I’m falling behind again. I should have had the Blaze Blue Review up days ago and been hammering through Bioshock. But it’s like I just can’t find the time for anything right now. And my focus is already ahead of myself at the end of next week. Everything I end up talking about is just “I’m going to Japan next friday”. Im guessing some people are getting annoyed. But hey I’m excited about it. Who wouldn’t be. Besides if I get lost and you don’t hear from me again at least you know where to start looking. lol.

So todays gonna be kinda light. I’m having a serious case of writers block and a massive lack of concentration. If I had been able to post earlier I would have had a few things to elaborate on but ive just kinda forgot what it was i was going to write. Which brings me back to the post a couple of days ago about lost ideas. I always seem to have the best ideas in the bathroom, or while im driving. both situations that are pretty much impossible to record them in. And my short term memory is so bad that I cant remember them for that long.

Well im gonna call it here. Ill try to post more later today.

Welcome to another exciting post of Shiftdown the ranting lunacy of everything, anything and nothing that I can think of from my demented mind (JK). Im your host Tim.

Ok so I have trouble thinking of clever titles everyday. Besides I never know what i’m going to write about anyway. So its hard to think of something thats gonna make sense with what im shouting on about.  And as far as my intros go I work in a movie studio (At least for the next couple of weeks)….you know I dont even know where I was going with that. Just go with it. Its corny and makes no sense but i’m gonna do it anyway.Anyway welcome to the second week of Shiftdown. And Sorry about the light posting on the weekend. But i’m still thinking about how to format my posting schedule.

So lately (the past week) I have been lacking ideas to write about. So I kinda just rant on and complain about the same old thing which is usually everyone elses opinion or hoe I loath celebrity news. I know it’s a little hypocritical of me because I myself want to review things but however I  do it in a different light. A review should be what is good about it and whats bad about it and what you liked and disliked. I know what you thinking though “Well thats how reviews are”, well its not. Most review are all written to sway you to like and or dislike something. There not just meant to be informative to give you ideas to look for then try it for your own opinion. No there made to say yes Do, buy, or get this cause its the greatest thing ever, or dont because its the worst thing ever and if you do you are a incompatent loser. Personally I dont like being told what to do or buy by anyone. Im free to hear out your opinion because I might find a useful piece on information but in the end dont tell what to do. Ill decide for my self thank you very much. Ok so ill try to make that my last comments on reviews but I don’t think that will be the end.

Hmm well lets get into music shall we. I know its kinda old news but Blink-182s back together. It’s been kinda cool hearing them played on the radio again. Kinda nastalgic of my middle school days when they were popular. I’m kinda of intrigued to hear a new album by them. Just hope it doesnt take 4 years like Julien-K. Although Death to Analog was defitly worth the wait for me. I even bought it on Vinyl.  And the last album i bought which was Greendays 21st Centry Breakdown was a little dissapointing to me. It has some grea songs on it. But a huge track list with not so many good ones. Honestly I like seeing a lot of new songs but I would much rather have a 9 track CD with 7 to 9 great songs then a 15 track cd with 6 good songs. At first I thought I was going to be dissapointedwhen I heard H.I.M.’s Venus Doom because its small amount of tracks but almost every track is awesome. I think theres only one song I didn’t care for on that album but I still even kind of liked it. Oh and in case you didn’t know I’m a bit of an audiophile. And my music likes cover a wide range of genres. I’ll listen to almost anything. But back to the vinyl thing. I love them. I abosolutely love vinyl. And i dont mean the preverted fetish kind( ha ha). I mean 45s, Records, Musical frisbies, the giant CD. Theres something about hearing the hiss of the needle as the turn table spins. I especially love listening to them for classic records from bands like Led Zepplin and Motorhead. Really anything old. its that nastalgic feeling you get when you think this is how it was supposed to sound originally. Dont get me wrong I like digital. but I honestly think as good as digital is it still doesnt compare to the classic sound of tape and analog. You just can’t get that in digital for no matter how good its replicated. And besides with computers limited processing power the clipping points just kill a lot of music. Yeah tape and tube have there limits but its not just a cliped piece of staic from a dropped sound wave. Its a smooth warm transition. But again I am a  big fan of digital. And mainly Synthesizers. I even have a Roland GR-20 Guitar synth and I love it to death. You can do so much with it. And digital music like Techno and Idustrial with a lot of synths in the mix  are great. I would love to get my hands on an old tape recording machine. Since I have such a fondess of the different spectrums of sound I try to match it with the gear I buy. Like I have a solidstate Amp but I am dieing to get my hands on at least a 30watt tube amp. A Fender twin reverb would be my amp of choice if i could have any.  I do like how plug-ins in Pro Tools can replicate the old tube and tape sound however I just don’t think its as good as the original think. I have a thing for nastalga I guess. Oh and I also like antiques.

Which brings me to my artistic style. yeah I like Anime and Manga and i draw a lot of concepts from them but my main influences would be considered Cyberpunk and Steampunk. Which I have to admit my obsession with the Steampunk style kinda increased from playing Bioshock. Which I think is one of the best games ever made. And I hop they dont screw up part 2. But theres just something abotu these styles that draws me in. I love the alien look of things cyberpunk. Its one of the reasons I liked Halo so much. My absolute favorite thing of that style are the alien Hiroglyphics. I  even have a set that I designed myself.  I will also throw out that Egyptian hiroglypics are a big favorite of mine.  But steam punk amazes mt as well as cyberpunk. Because its almost the opposite. Instead of sleek and clean, its antique and ruin. I guess it also kinda of comes from my likes of industiral wasteland backgrounds one of the reasons I fell in love with Final Fantasy VII’s artwork.

Now Comic Con. I dont know much about this yeah. I’ll be looking up on it later today or sometime this week. Yet another year though i didnt get to go. But in someways I could have gone and in others I can’t. If I went I’d dip into my trip fund and right now thats my top priority at the moment. But I think it would be intersting to go to. And there so many exclusive things I’d like to get my hands on. Like the limited Griffbal Halo action figure lol. Again i’ll try yo plan it better next year so I can go. So if you know me and you interested in going lets put a plan together. Also in Con news I got an email today from Anime Expo gor a earlyy pre registration for Anime Expo 2010. All 4 days for $50.00. in my opinion thats great considering i payed 35 for one day this year. but it was totally worth it. And yes I will be going to AX2010 all 4 days next year. Hopefully the BB Podcast will be up and in full swing and will do a special coverage of it. I don’t know i think I’m getting a little ahead of myself here.

Well Im thinking of posting a bio here. It will probably be the only post in a catagory. And I don’t think anyone cares really but i fell I should at least put a background for myself for those who don’t know me. Well thats all for today. As usual check back tomorrow for a new post of Shiftdown.. Till then……

Sorry about the lack in post yesterday. And sorry todays gonna be the same. I got work at 3 so I dunno if ill get a post up later on. maybe i should just wait until tomorrow anyway.

I played blaze blue for a bit. Got to say after only 20 minutes of play im in love.  The graphics are great the controls are good (A little easy for a Guilty Gear game i think) but thats the way it was supposed to be. I am actually a better person to review this game because of the Guitly Gear panel i got to sit in on at AX09. So Ill be getting that up real soon on BN Games.

Ok well later on dudes I got shit i need to do for now. Check back later for an update if not tomorrow for a new episode of Shiftdown…

So here we are. Ive completed my first week of Shiftdown. I’m amazed that I have actually kept writing this everyday. So the weeks done and gone and I cant remember what all ive done. But my mind is focused more on whats to come rather than the past. Now it is only 2 weeks before I will be going to Japan. The friday after next I will be on my way arriving there next month. I think its funny how I am leaving early on friday and getting there late saturday.The extream time change between the US and Japan really messes up travel.  Somehow im loosing over half a day of my life in the process. But I guess it does make sense to have the time difference although it does make communicating hard. I have expirenced this firsthand trying to talk to friends of mine.  But I will get the time I loose in going to japan when i am on my way back cause i will leave late in the evening but arrive in the morning here on the same day I left. So essentially I will live the same day twice. Which is something that I am looking forward too for some odd reason.

But my trip to Japan brings me to think of how to format Shiftdown. Should I keep doing this daily? or should I update 3 times a week? I am finding it a little hard right now trying to get this done everyday during my lunch hour to make a long and somewhat interesting post. But also meaningful and pointful.  Well for as long as i can ill try to keep these things going everyday. Todays kinda of a slowday as far as news and interesting subjects (at least ones I find interesting to elaborate on). But I can say this as far as update here are concerned. While I am in Japan the updates are gonna be on a serious lag. I’m still not sure of exactly what im going to be doing while im there and or how much time I will be able to or will spend on the computer. But Ill do an update when I can. But after the 17th there will be Pics and vids from my trip. So keep an eye out for that.

So the pl4n for t3h w33k3nd….Nothing. Just the usual. Ill get my room straightend up. See about getting my Mac downgraded so I can finally use protools again. Maby get some stuff recorded. And maby get some serious gaming in on Halo3 and Blaze Blue.  Will se how it goes.

Hopefully by the end of the night Ill have some more interesting things to post. I hate these slow days. Theres nothing interesting to rant on about. Every good games getting pushed back and the only good movie out right now is Harry Potter. Im too late to rate transformers which I still dont know if i liked or not. And seriously its on that hairline of the best thing ive ever seen and WTF??? I will say i thought Harry Potter was great. I had no complaints. Although our site owner hated the movie. But I have never read any of the books which I think is the smartest thing that you can do. Now I’m not saying dont read. by all means go grab a book now and crack it open. i can wait ………………………………………….. Done? Ok. Well the problm is that your reading and getting all the informationg before editors and producers cut and chop the hell out of it so that what can be done is in there and its what they think is interesting and marketable. And the whole point of being marketable is what kills movies the most. but also the branding in them. I like GM but I was so glad when they pulled out of Transformers 2. I was glad to see sideways as an Audi R8. In my opinion the cars should have been a lot different. But to me the best car in that movie is not Bumblebee anymore but Sideswipe. I hope and pray that Chevy makes that Stingray Corvett. I would gladly pay 90-95,000 for that car. Hell maybe more if they made some supercharged V-10 version. But that was probably the most beautiful car I have ever seen.  But branding in movies really kills it because they make it so obvious. Like in the last 2 James bond movies Sony has been whring their products all over it with their cellphones, laptops, thumbdrives, etc.  Honestly I just find it annoying. At least hide it in there better. be a little more creative about it. And dont plaster it through the whole movie.

So theres 2 more weeks until Im done here with my job and then Im out of this country for 2 weeks of a nice vacation. 7 Days of work left. And I cant wait. Well i’ll wrap this up for now. Check back tonight for Part 2 of Shiftdown…

Welcome to Shiftdown, everyones favorite somewhat daily rant/blog about everything, anything, and nothing..

Sorry for the lag on todays post.I took the day off work and Ive just been so busy going here and there. Honestly it’s less work going to work then all I did today.And most of it is just all catch up work. Which is what seems like all my life is lately. One big race just to catch up. Reviews, Previews, New Movies, New Games, Rants, emails, news, etc. I’m just behind on everything. Hell even this late post today is the begining of the Lag. After my main appointment the rest of the day has just been spent on catching up on everything i said I would do or needed to do. For instance I finally I finally replied to an e-mail to a friend of mine that was sent to me a month ago. I also sent a couple of letters to friends of mine one of which I said i would send almost two weeks ago.(Earlier)-> And now I am on my way to see X-Men origins Wolverine. Something I said i wanted to see when it came out sometime ago when it first came out.And yes i said a movie theatre. I know a good theatre I like going to thats super cheap and plays movies that are older and most likely coming out on DVD in a week.

I’m a procastinator through and through. It takes me forever to finish something unless theres somekind of strict deadline to it. Thats why i have so many side projects still in the beggining phases. But don’t get me wrong I do do things and finish but I do have a lot that I just drag out. But I am getting a lot more serious. Shiftdown is proof of that. I actually hand wrote this post on my way to the movie theatre. Something i never though i would do. Especially since I’m not much of a writer, although lately I have been thinking more and more ive writing in my head. Too bad I didnt have something to write with cause now there lost. And I have been thinking of carrying a small note book to jot down my ideas and thought or small sketchs. I did use to carry a small sketch pad (Since i was an art student) but I stopped a while back.

I hate loosing Ideas. It’s one of the things i hate most. It really eats at me when i know I had a great idea, song lyric, or design that I cant remember enough to put down and record it so I can refine or use it later on. A lost idea is a lost oppertunitty. It could have been the next big thing or a failed venture. But not to know weather or not it was gold or shit is something that haunts me. I hate thinking of what  could have been. But writing has become easier. And it is a good way express my ideas. Currently I am writing a story which is still yet to be titled. I am hoping to find a artist that can illustrate it for me (Cause i’m real rusty and i’m not good at drawing characters), and i’m hoping I can make it a weekly comic here on BN. I’m also trying out my hands at song writing. Well lyrics at least anyway. The first title which I hopinh to have done while i’m in Japan is titled “Living in lies” for the upcoming band my friend and I are trying to start. So look for a band page on BN, and myspace sometime soon (Possibly in the next few weeks). But I have also helped with lyrics for my friends band “Nosh Up” (Check them out on myspace) for a couple of their songs. Hopefully i’ll get to keep helping them out. I’m hoping to try my hands at producing. Ulitmately my  goal in life is to be a music producer.

I like to think everyone needs a fresh restart in life. A clean slate. be it a new job, career feild, change of scenery like moving to a new city, state, or country. but with the times as bad as they are and the economy in a spiral it’s really hard to start over. But somepeople have to even if they dont want to these days. I am expirenceing this firsthand myself. And with thousands of jobs being outsourced it’s  no wonder why no one can keep their current lifestyle and are forced to cling to whatever they can find. Starting over can be great if your in a position to do so, but to have it thrust upon you without much warning is just unreasonable.

And companies are no help to this. I mean yes outsourceing is good for cheap labor but when all of our jobs are outsourced and theres no work here at home. So were all screwed. And with more and more outsourcing and machines replacing people, things are just going to get worse. Everyone needs to stop thinking about the quick buck and instead the long haul of the situation. This is especially true for the music industry. And all these people with more money than they know what to do with should feed some of it back into the economy. Don’t just let it sit there where it’s not doing any good. I cant say there greedy because most probably most probably workedvery hard for their money. But all these over paid politicians need a drastic paycut. Them and their familys can survive comfortably on less for a while. meanwhile these same people have not been able to fix the problem their  being paid to fix. But enough on that subject. I could rant on this all day and give my opinions on how to fix it.

(After seeing the movie)

I guess I can continue where I left off on reviews and the people who review them. I kind think a review is pointless about a minute after a minute after something is released to the genral public because at that point everyone is forming their own odes and opinions. So really they don’t matter. Or at least at that point because later on there kinda useful to people who havent actually seen it yet. And I know that kinda contradicts what I said before but actually when somthings new your just spoiling it.  But I don’t think reviews for video games are really kind of pointless. Unless you can honestly not be too critical of it and just say weather you liked it or not. Or what you liked and what you didn’t like. And not compare it to some game that’s coming out 2 years from now or some game made 10 years ago. And those really bug me. The ones who review games made 10 or 15 years ago and say well the game should have had this and should have looked like this. Its called progression. I mean hell the technology is better now and there has been such a long time to grow ideas off the original concept. If you think it should have been that way well then remake the fucking game and update it to what you think it should be!! Or shut up!! Seriously….. But reviews for games are kinda useless in my opinion because most games have a really short shelf life now a days. Unless its a smash hit game like Halo, Final Fantasy,  Street fighter, etc. Because with games only being printed for about a year before they discontinue them it is getting harder and harder to find some games. especially with the used game market letting cherry discs go to irresposible people and then getting scratched beyond repair. So the supply of games keeps dwindleing and rarer games just get harder and harder to find as the price goes up. As a collector I try to hold on to every game i buy. and I do my best to get my hands on all kinds of old cartridges, consoles, paddles, memory cars, and accessories. Even demo discs are worth hanging on to if you have the extra space.

Well my Blaze Blue review is going to have to wait until tomorrw. As busy i was today and then going to see the movie I didnt get a chance to play it. So tomorrow night im gonna try and make it a game night so ill have a couple of game reviews to post most likely being Blaze Blue, Guilty Gear2 Overture, Current Status of Halo 3 online and maby a classic review of Pheonix Wright Ace Attourney. So tune in tomorrow. Ill have a rant news post up int the afternoon if i get the chance and then ill have the reviews up tomorrow night or saturday afternoon.

Sorry folks todays been a busy day. Been out of the house almost all day today. I will post a new Shiftdown latertonight while I give Blaze Blue a spin so i can review it. So check back later tonight