I don't write about anything terribly personal in this journal and rarely f-lock, so if you want to friend me go right ahead. Just be sure to drop me a line in this post, otherwise I'll probably happen upon your name in my userinfo one day and be all like: "WTF, WHO IS THIS LOSER STALKING ME LAWL." and, like, ignore you and stuff.


NOTE: If you're looking for my fanfiction, you won't find it here. I share a writing blog with kaiousei at prolific_geeks.

MODERATELY LARGE ART POST!
Upon having decided to purchase ourselves a table at a very small and rather insignificant anime convention NEXT MARCH, Dawn and I have been working hard at drawing bookmarks over the past week or so. Our goal is to have literally hundreds of hand drawn, completely unique bookmarks made by next spring in order to maximize profit or... something.

This is inexplicably some of the best art I've done in ages (not that I... pride myself terribly on my drawing), so I'm going to make you all look at it. ♥

( Silent Hill, Metal Gear, Gurren Lagann, Harry Potter and some Original Characters... )

I really do love how a full 50% of the pictures that show up in tinypic's "featured pictures" are either from lj post secret or f!s. XD

Okay, screw being "too cool" for popular anime: I am twelve episodes into Tengen Toppan Gurren Lagann and I fucking. love. it. I supposed the appropriate phrase here is that I am "gar" for it.

Also, one of these days I'll actually check my flist or reply to my comments. Seriously. o__O And maybe talk about the game module I'm making, since I'm pretty pleased with the way it's turning out (even if the Aurora Toolset turns my brain to mush). And it's giving me an excuse to use some of the most dumb ass character names I've ever come up with LILLUM NIEFEL. I WONDER WHAT THAT COULD BE FORESHADOWING?

In that spirit, RANDOM MEME TIEM!

1. Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2. List (and upload, if you feel like it) seven songs that start with that letter.
3. Post them to your journal with these instructions.

orangenoslide hooked me up with the letter 'S'. ♥

Skinny Fists - Christians and Lions
Shadowplay - Joy Division
She Came and She Touched Me - Townes Van Zandt
Somina Memories - Parasite Eve
Shalott - Emilie Autumn
Sugar - April March
Stay With Me - The Velvet Teen

I am at the point where I need to decide between paying my credit card minimum or buying groceries. This decision makes me feel inexplicably adult. :P

I had my mentorship from PlayWRITE assigned the other day. Ian Christy from Radical Entertainment. Although this company is by no means my first choice (BioWare, alas, once again we are separated by cruel circumstance T__T), but my God did I ever adore this Ian Christy fellow while I was in Vancouver. He has awesome tattoos and delivered one of our most interesting lectures. His wife was also adorable. So even though he's not a fan of the kind of games I like (I GUESS NO ONE IN THE AMERICAN INDUSTRY IS, LOL I'M A WEEABOO), I feel I can learn a lot from this man.

MAYBE IT IS NOW TIME TO WORK ON MY MODULE. SOME TIME. MAYBE. I swear, I've got it all planned out. Up here. *taps noggin*

So, Leslie, Adam and I just finished marathoning Metal Gear Solid 4 (by which I mean Leslie marathoned it and Adam and I made snappy commentary) and, predictably, I need to gush because...

... well, shit. Hideo Kojima has composed his fans a love letter. I can't really see this game appealing in any way, manner or form to people who haven't been there with Snake since the beginning (by which I mean either Outer Haven or Shadow Moses, uh, not 1985). It's a game for the lovers, for the devotees, for the people who'll never lose patience with this series even though it's completely over the top. Which this game was, by the way. It was a ridiculous, convoluted mess, which is what makes it so amazing. So here's my spoiler-free review:

1. The damn ending went on for way too damn long, but as for what happened to everyone? It was pretty much the only was it could have ended.
2. The Soundtrack is fucking incredible, holy shit.
3. Snake is "the shit". Otacon's words, not mine. <3
4. No, seriously, I love Solid Snake. And the rest of the cast (MERYL!!! ♥ EVA! ♥ OCELOOOOOT! ♥ J-JOHNNY SASAKI! ♥). Except Rose and sometimes Raiden.
5. Hideo Kojima, a professional question for you if you don't mind: you are a very talented writer. You are very good at saying a lot in only a few words. Why is it, then, that you seem determined to use the MAXIMUM NUMBER OF WORDS POSSIBLE in your scripts. I am seriously baffled, but forever a fan. Love, Jenn.
6. Okay, one spoiler: Snake has an iPOD. At some point in the game, Otacon claims to be a recovered Otaku, but considering that we were able to run around shooting mercenaries while listening to obnoxiously cheerful J-Pop, I'd wager a guess that he was lying. But anyways, running around shooting mercenaries while listening to obnoxious J-Pop? Worth the price of the game alone, really.
7. Also, the game was amazing. Btw.

BONUS ROUND, MUSIC DOWNLOAD!!!
I'm sure I've uploaded some of these before, but since I've got a complete set now, here are all the Metal Gear vocal themes. Even if you've never played these games and probably couldn't give a crap about them, I still recommend ganking these songs. Each of them are lovely in their own unique and brilliantly composed way. The Best is Yet to Come in particular is one of my favorite songs of all time for a reason. ♥

The Best is Yet to Come - Metal Gear Solid
An epic Celtic ballad, sung in Gaelic and full of amazing.
Can't Say Goodbye to Yesterday - Metal Gear Solid 2
A slow, mournful jazz tune. As poignant, self-indulgent and lovely as the games themselves.
Snake Eater - Metal Gear Solid 3
It's... uh, a parody of James Bond themes. It's got lyrics like: "Some days you'll go through the rain, and some days you'll feed on a tree frog..." and is awesome.
Love Theme - Metal Gear Solid 4
The end.

Old Snake
Also, take this track because it's pretty and about being too old for this shit. Which Snake is. But he's a HANDSOME old man. Snake is one of those few things that just gets better with age. Also, one of those few things that actually looks GOOD in a mullet and molestache...

So we've got this new cash register system at work and it's supposed to be all MODERN and EFFICIENT. Only it's RIDICULOUS and INACCURATE and on the old cash register, it only took two buttons to ring in a newspaper. On the new one, it takes eight.

UH. HUH.

Also, I ganked this amazing meme from lady_agrias!
Make a list of all the characters in your icons. (Although you may have more than one icon of a single character, they only go on the list once.) Alphabetize it. Take the first two people on the list; that's your first pairing for battle. Second two people; second pairing for battle. Etc. Then write your reaction to each battle.




Basil of Baker Street vs. Black Mage
Basil survived a fall from atop Big Ben. Black Mage returned from the depths of hell. Who will win!

( ROUND SIXTY-FIVE, FIGHT! )

Okay everyone, here's my new goal in life.

To write characters that European Goth Metal Bands will want to write songs about.



PS: Also, Dragonlance fans, take note: while the other two songs are about Raistlin in general, with some references to Crysania, 'Wishmaster' is about Raistlin and Dalamar.

NIGHTWISH ARE SLASH FANS?

Poll #1196080 LIFE ALTERING QUESTION!!!!!!!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What theme is totally more awesome?

"For me, like the greatest films, it's outstanding because of, and not despite, its idiosyncrasies and flaws. It's the expression of one very creative person's vision and to see that undiluted with all it's eccentricities and genius intact is remarkable. It's also a cracking story and truly rewarding to play."
- Quoth the guy who wrote the first review. 10/10 baby.

YEAH, OKAY. THAT'S KIND OF ALL I WANT FROM A METAL GEAR GAME.

Also, this:



Passionate, overwrought, cheesy, FUCKING BEAUTIFUL, inexplicable, full of B-Movie subplots and brilliant philosophy and things that make no sense and make you feel like an idiot when you try to explain them to non-MGS fans BUT NEVERTHELESS, THE ENTIRE GAME HAS YOU ENRAPTURED IN BREATHLESS ANTICIPATION. It's only two weeks away guys, dfkljhdsjfhkl WHAT DO WE DO IN THE MEANTIME!?!?!?!?!? O_O O_O O_O

IT'S OVER!

Well, the fun part of it is over, at least. :P I meant to post during my week away just in case any of you were interested in my FABULOUS FORAY INTO THE VAST JUNGLE OF THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY, but then I ended up pulling fourteen hour work days. I've been too burnt out to keep up with my "assigned" blogging on the Z2H site, let alone update my lj.

It really has been an incredible experience, however, and I'll make a giant post on it when I finally get back to Halifax. A successful experience as well, since my group was one of the "winners" and got a chance to pitch the game we designed this week at VidFest to a wilting and mildly impressed audience of press officials and bored teenagers who wanted to sit down in an air conditioned auditorium.

Until then, check out my impressive schmoozing prowress:



On my left is John, our super awesome Telefilm/CBC representative (also serving as MC of the event). On my right is some guy from EA. I forget what the studio the guy in green is from, but, uh... he made Turok.

In Summation: I still can't believe they paid me to do this.



PS: VANCOUVER IS BEAUTIFUL AND AMAZING AND I CAN SEE MOUNTAINS FROM MY HOTEL WINDOW AND I MISS IT ALREADY EVEN THOUGH I'VE BARELY HAD ANY TIME TO EXPLORE IT, THE END. ♥

I've had a frustrating last few days on account of difficulties regarding procuring a laptop, which I need for the NSI program next week. :P But oh well- life's hard, but if I know anything is that's everything always works out for me in the end. Or something.

BUT ON THE BRIGHT SIDE- the miracle workers next door not only FIXED my computer (the motherboard, processor and power supply were all fried), they actually made it *better* than it was before (!!!). I now have a 2.4GHZ processor, 1.5GB of RAM and a 300 Watt power supply *dances*. Which means, of course, I can finally play BioShock after staring at it longingly for five months as it sat on my bookshelf gathering dust, nestled between my DS cases and Genesis games.

Also, I'm a little excited now about visiting Vancouver in general, especially since they're giving us a per diem for being there so I'm less worried about uh, spending my rent money on food (am I a country bumpkin for assuming everything will be rich and fabulous and expensive on the West Coast? Give me a break, I live in the third poorest non-territory province in Canada). And HOLY CRAP CHECK OUT THIS HOTEL THEY'RE PUTTING US UP IN!!!!! That shit, my friends, is what we call "bananas". The good kind of bananas.

With that all aside, they've actually given us an incredibly fun challenge for the week leading up to the workshop: a required playlist of video games with good examples of narrative design. It's impossible to play all of these in time (especially since I have a job and a social life and tabletop gaming to do), but I'm trying my best to have an intimate familiarity with all of these by Monday. OH, WHAT A DAUNTING TASK. Here's the list.

Metal Gear Solid 1, 2 or 3 (finished all 3)
Final Fantasy 7, X, IX (finished all 3)
Katamari Damacy (played and finished both for the record, the second one has the better story ♥)
Neverwinter Nights (mostly for the Aurora toolset) (have; working on it)
Knights of the Old Republic (played, haven't finished. Am familiar with. Also, it's in my house, so uh. I *might* get around to it)
System Shock 2 (have; working on it)
Deus Ex (NEED)
Fallout (currently playing)
Bioshock (currently playing)
Portal (played and finished)

I wish my computer hadn't been out during the last days of compiling this list: I would have suggested SH2 and one of the older BioWare PC games over KOTOR. :P Also, Planescape: Torment. Dammnit, annwyd, I don't know if I should curse you or fall at your feet in gratitude for introducing me to that game. ♥


PS: REBECCA!
Since they're just DOS games, I've uploaded Fallout and System Shock 2 for you.

Fallout
System Shock 2

To the rest of you? Uh, enjoy free games! *thumbs up*

RE: The NSI Playwrite contest...

*ahem*

I got in. O___________O




... on the other hand, my computer is broken again.

IT'S OKAY. IT'S JUST THE UNIVERSE EVENING OUT THE ODDS, RIGHT? :D :D :D :D

So I mentioned to a few people that I was going to put together a meme like this, but a_white_rain finally pestered me into posting it.

I am forever curious about the proposed original stories and OC RPs of the various people on my flist, but never really have the gumption to just ask about them, so in the spirit of us writers sharing our muses, I present...

THE NINE-PART ORIGINAL CHARACTER MEME, EPIC PROPORTIONS EDITION!

This is basically a Frankenstein of two or three OC memes I've collected over the years and never quite finished filling out. It's designed so that it's applicable to OCs from original stories, OCs from RPs and OCs from fanfic. Also, it's FUCKING GIGANTIC, so if you don't want to fill in all MILLION AND THREE options, feel free to edit it accordingly. I'd just like to see it spread around. ♥


( I wrote about 4,600 words on this, w.t.f. )

<b><font size="5">THE NINE-PART ORIGINAL CHARACTER MEME, EPIC PROPORTIONS EDITION!</B></FONT SIZE="5"> <u><b>1. BASIC INFORMATION</b></u> <b>Story Format (Short story, novel, fanfic, ect...):</b> <b>What's your character's name?</b> <b>How old is he/she?</b> <b>What's his/her race?</b> <b>Brief background of character:</b> <b>Character's position or job:</b> <b>Strengths/Skills:</b> <b>Are these skills typical of the fandom? If not, why?:</b> <b><u>2. APPEARANCE</b></u> <b>Is your character considered normal in his/her own world?</b> <b>Would you consider your OC as attractive?</b> <b>Distinctive features, if any:</b> <b>Are these features unique in the fandom? If so, why?:</b> <b><u>3. PERSONALITY</u></b> <B> Temper:</b> <b> Does your character ever get depressed?</b> <b>Leader or Follower?</b> <b>What are three weaknesses in him/her?</b> <b>Three strengths?</b> <b>How does your character get on with those around him/her?:</b> <b>What is the main aspect of his/her personality?</b> <b><u>4. HISTORY</B></U> <b>Does your OC have a family of any sort?</b> <b>Is your character out on his/her own?</b> <b>Has he/she encountered any traumatizing events?</b> <b>What was probably the best time in his/her life so far?</b> <U><b>5. ROMANCE</B></U> <B>Single?</b> <b>Has your OC developed any romantic relationships?</b> <b>Virgin?</b> <b>Does your character like flirting?</b> <U><b>6. SYMBOLISM</B></U> <b>What animal would you associate your OC with?</b> <b>Musical Instrument?</b> <b>Element?</b> <b>Planet?</b> <b><u>7. SHOWING THE LOVE</B></U> <b>Do you draw your character?</b> <b>Do you write about him/her?</b> <b>Do you use him/her in any rpgs?</b> <b>What other ways have you appreciated your OC?</b> <u><b>8. RANDOMIZE!</b></u> <b>Connections to canon characters (if any):</b> <b>Is your character wanted for anything?</b> <b>Does your OC drink or smoke (ect.)?</b> <b>What's one quirk about him/her?</b> <b>Does your character have any phobias?</b> <b>What could you do to get him/her into a blind rage?</b> <b>Does your OC like chickens?</b> <b>The Final Question: What would you consider your relationship with your character to be like? </b> <b><u>9. AND FINALLY</B></U> <b>Story snippet/link to story:</b>

And now for your reading pleasure, a bunch of stuff I've spewed out over the past week and a half in a desperate attempt to win THAT CONTEST!!!!!! (which I've soberly accepted I likely don't have a chance at considering, like, everyone else who's entered is all... y'know, the kind of gamer that thinks KOTOR was the pinnacle of game-writing history).

1) ( TEN UNPOPULAR OPINIONS ABOUT THE WESTERN VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY )

2) My 20 Page Script

3) ( An animated storyboard of a short scene from said script, illustrating the ease with which my writing translates to visual media. )

OHSDKFNLSKDFHJKSDFHSJKHSJKHFDSJKHSDJKFHSDJK

It's okay, Thursday is a drinking day, Jennifer. If you don't get in, you can always drink. D:

HEY, everyone want to do me a GIGANTIC favour? :D :D :D It will only take three seconds.

Go here and click on my profile (it says "Jenn Young"). When the profile opens in another window, there should be five stars in the top left corner above my name. Rate me five stars!

Apparently getting your friends to come by and rate your pitch is not considered cheating since the judges still look at content over attention. As long as I can keep my pitch in the top rated, it will gain more attention and the better chance I have at winning the contest.

If you're curious: this is a contest to get accepted into a video game writing program that, if you do well in, you are given an internship in the business. So far, the only company they've definitively announced that they're working with is BioWare but... skdjhfsdjklfh IT'S MOTHERFUCKING BIOWARE. I was all like: "oh whatever, I'll try but like I really have a chance *eyeroll*", but after perusing the highest rated profiles of the other contestants, I realized that I'm a much better writer than a lot of them. So, uh, I... I might actually have a chance at winning this one. o__O *hyperventilates*

ANYWAYS. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. ♥

So I had an exam conflict. Today. Which I was real dumb about and didn't notice until, ooooh, Monday at about eleven o'clock at night. The Registrar's office were complete dicks about it (and rightly so- I too would have little patience for students who'd left things so until the last minute), so what I ended up having to do today was pop into my History exam- flailing- and explain the situation to my professor, who is awesome and supercalifragilisticexpealadocious and was all like: "Okay, Jennifer, I know you write fast so go do your other exam first." I then RAN to the auditorium, wrote my Children and Youth Lit exam, then RAN!!! back upstairs to write my 20th Century History exam. I nearly filled the book on both of them and I STILL finished before the better half of my history class. XDDD

Long story short, today I wrote two final exams in a single exam slot and I think I finally understand what it means when one is BURNT OUT FROM SCHOOL YAAAAY.

On another note, today I bought VIM and some HARDCORE SPONGES. I-I feel like such a grown up. T___T

Y-y'know, Adobe, when I'm doing this thing where I save a 1000x6000 pixel image with twelve layers of coloring and then safely close the program before restarting my computer, I generally assume that when the computer turns back on, the file won't be corrupted. :D :D :D :D

D:<>!!!!!!

Thank you. djgkhdjklhsdjklf

But on second thought, I suppose I should be thankful that this is the worst thing that's happened to me in a while. It's always on the upswing when you care enough about minor annoyances to post them in your lj. :P

I'm all registered for next year's courses! XDD

FIRST SEMESTER
Studies in Victorian Culture (Mon/Wed 11:05-12:20)
Lord of the Rings (Monday, 6:05-8:35PM)
European Nationalism (Mon/Wed, 3:05-420)
Medieval History (Tue/Thurs, 10:30-11:45)

SECOND SEMESTER
Studies in Victorian Literature (Tues/Thurs 1:30-2:45)
Lord of the Rings (Monday, 6:05-8:35PM)
Russian History (Mon/Wed 3:05-4:20)
Classical Traditions (Wednesday, 4:30-6:59)
Modernity in Africa (Wednesday, 12:30-1:45)
Medieval History (Tue/Thurs, 10:30-11:45)

No electives next year. I figured since I've decided on doing a double-major I should, uh, get those out of the way first. ♥ Shit, second semester is going to be *brutal* o__O. I'll be in school from noon till' seven on Wednesdays.

But you know what? I don't really care, because the most important detail here is that I have:

NO. FRIDAY. CLASSES. Sweet merciful Jesus hallelujah. Also, I'm taking a fucking class on Tolkien and thus may never complain about school *ever again*.

I may be a "n00b" to Dungeons and Dragons itself, but as a life-long geek, I owe a lot to good ol' Gary. Without traditional console RPGs, without all those D&D ripoff computer games I used to play on Windows 3.1, without Slayers, without Dragonlance (s-shut up, I was, like, *nine* years old), without all those draconic tropes hashed out by TSR over the years (we ripped them off mercilessly in the early years of 'Ryuuguu', I'll be honest), without the hobby of roleplaying in general, without any number of things inspired by Gary's brainchild my life would have lacked a sufficient quiotent of geeky enrichment. So thank you, Gary. I'm sorry you didn't finish your olifactory in time. D:




ALSO: some of you may have noticed that I've been in a sort of "hiatus" recently. This is because my keyboard is nearly unusable right now. It was painful enough to hammer out this meager paragraph. Hopefully, I'll make my triumphant return to internet addiction within the next week.