Virginia T., Sayonara Sanjaya, Subic, Windows Vista and Guitar Hero

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SAYONARA SANJAYA!!!!
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FINALLY! Sanjaya's finally got that pending kick-in-the-ass that has been reserved for so long! Now, Sanjaya fans will be oh so lonely to see their hairy freak of the music industry out of the competition!

But wait a minute...
He's got that friggin' automatic recording contract from 19 Records, though... I wonder what he's gonna sing in the AI6 album and tour. Hmmm... let's just wait and see.

Jay Leno Appearance
Now I see some of the things that have attracted American viewers to this guy who has made his name known in Idol history, in his Jay Leno appearance, he was still being made fun in front of him. He didn't seem to be affected so I think, golly he can take a harsh joke lightly even if he's the butt of it... or does he?

Now we can...
Now we can finally focus on the real talents. Melinda, Jordin, Blake... they're my best bet. But since only America can vote, it will be unpredictable... especially since they're the country who voted for Bush twice... and you know how high his I.Q. is...

VTFW
I wonder what VoteForTheWorst.com's next pick will be... I don't really think they'll spoil the show like they did with Sanjaya since all the others seem to have a winning chance.

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Virginia Tech
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The Korean Madman Who Scared the World
The Virginia Tech shootings (there were 2 subsequent shootings) was definitely a scary time for all the victim's families so I give all my condolences to them.

I guess Cho, who was declared mentally ill, should have been prohibited to be granted the guns he ordered online but since gun shops cannot access records of the government (at least that's what I heard), they didn't know he had murder on his mind. Besides, he could've typed a different name to fool the online sellers (if the thing I heard about gun shops not being able to access records wasn't true, this would be applicable).

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Subic
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It's been a long time since we went there. My sister said (based on her recent field trip) that everything has totally progressed so I'm pretty excited to go there again and see Ocean Adventure and all the other stuff in Subic... if we confirm plans.

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Windows Vista Whine
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This will be pointless but hey, I want to put some extra useless stuff in this post. So please permit me to do so.
So far so good but it feels like a glassy copy of MAC OS X Tiger features in a Windows XP operating system. But it has favorable benefits anyway... though I'll be needing more RAM to make my rig go faster.

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GUITAR HEROOOOO!!!
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Hooked! I just can't stop!
But I don't really have the guitar accessory so I can't really be immersed in the game... hehehe!

It's another Sanjaya ranting session...

A radio announcer's currently living in a tent while a girl's in a hunger strike. What do they have in common? They're American, I know, but aside from that, they're doing this stuff (maybe) not just for publicity, but for Sanjaya. VoteForTheWorst.com should take pity (wait a sec, it's pointless to take pity on these 2 Americans... now I see why they don't mind those 2) and not vote anymore... hell, they should be banned from texting (just wishing) the votes to the worst singer of the lot... They made Jasmine Trias a 2nd runner-up in the 3rd season because of this site, and her singing's terrible! (Good thing the Jasmine Trias mania is over...)

American Idol fast becoming a joke...

It's okay if Gina's eliminated but before Sanjaya?! America's getting dumber and VoteForTheWorst doesn't help either. International viewers, as well as the US critics (and Simon) are getting pissed off because of the fact that he's still breaking our ears off every week. His hair-dos maybe funny to viewers but it is still a singing competition right? Or is it? If his stay extends once more, people are definitely going to consider and perceive American Idol as a mere joke. I guess Simon is right to try another tactic... "It's brilliant!"

To end this admittedly badly written post, let's quote Jay Leno. "I don't wanna say that he's a bad singer... let's just say that even Britney won't marry him." At least that's how I recall it...

AI Results Disappoint

Ohh great, one great black singer is eliminated and Sanjaya's still in the running... and he isn't even in the Bottom 3 (or rather Bottom 2)!!! But I'm not really that surprised...

Stephanie Edwards, the one who has been described as the Beyonce-soundalike by Lulu (the 'mentor' of the female contestants during performance night wherein the theme was British invasion) has been eliminated. And for me, it's not shocking because her performances have been deteriorating (in terms of quality and richness) each week and I think America just got dumb and instead gave her no more chance to redeem herself next week.

I've researched a little bit about Sanjaya and found that many American girls think he's hot... it must be the hair-do or something... America, forget his appearance. If you want him to win, let him win in another kind of competition like, as Randy said, "Hair Idol".
<-- He looks like Diana Ross but doesn't sing like her...
<-- This is the hair-doo he usually sports.

<-- You may mistaken him for Paula from afar...

If I see his face more times than the truly promising LaKisha or Melinda, I'm gonna tear my tv to bits and pieces regardless whether it'd be my friends or mine, HD or SD, widescreen or- you get the picture!
*UPDATE (2 mins later)--> Maybe I don't need to bother breaking my TV set if he survives the cut for many weeks more 'coz he's gonna do that job for me... 'Cmon America! I know you want to see this sucker win! (I was sarcastic...)

American Idol bumbay must get out... pronto!

Sanjaya Malakar (I don't care if I don't spell it right) makes my ears ache so much... so much that I'd throw a knife onto the tv set! What is it that keeps him from getting the boot? The Indian community (no offense)?! Or sympathy votes?! Wild tonight, eh? I agree that today's performance was his best but it still sucked big time anyway! Come on America, get him out of his misery for the love of God (sorry for using Your name in vain)! OK, it's 65% possible that he'll get out of the competition but I think that he'll once again beat the odds and stay (thanks to VoteForTheWorst.com, an anti-Idol site, he'll have to make the screen crack once more... Then again, the TV screen will still crack in his farewell performance in the future (the finale)... or tomorrow...




Game Review of the Week:
Tales of the Abyss
Overall Score: 8.4
Graphics: 7
Gameplay: 8
Sound: 9
Value: 9
Tilt: 9

Entertaining and fun yet a bit boring...

I'm a fan of the Tales series but this is the only Tales game I've ever bought (for the PS2). Now I amaze at the things I see especially over the improvements of the franchise.

The characters may be blocky, the environments (at least the world map) may slow down the frame rate, battles may load a bit slow, but the thing that keeps you playing are the characters and NOT the story. The boring thing is actually the cutscenes which are lengthy, frequent and mostly voiced. The characters just brim with personality (maybe because of the voiceover...) which make cutscenes a bit more entertaining... but for me, the fonon mumbo-jumbo are just too boring to listen or read about.

The battles are fast-paced, especially the boss battles. And the AI of the 3 other allies (you can only use 4 allies in every fight) can take care of themselves and respond to your commands.

The game contains typical RPG fare. You are an amnesiac, spoiled nephew of a duke who hears voices and gets 'headaches' right after he gets kidnapped. He's just isolated in the castle and is deficient in social skills. Guy Cecile is Luke's best friend and together they train under a man named Van. The day goes by as usual until a girl named Tear suddenly attempts to assassinate Van and when she touches Luke, they go somewhere else because of a so-called hyperresonance. There are other major characters you'll encounter in the game. A princess who knows archery, a very young bodyguard with a doll as her weapon, a fon master whose nickname is Necromancer and even a creature who's exiled from his own species.

The campaign is lengthy (it will last as long as 60 hours) especially if you include the side quests and minigames or cooking and whatever.

Overall, Tales of the Abyss is a good game to recommend and because of the characters, you get entertained especially with its sharply written script. The battles are also intense here and can lead to a bit of button mashing. If you are a fan of the series (or not), get it. It's downright fun but not really the best Tales I've played...

Oh and by the way, it's better if you play with friends (it will support up to 4 players).

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More of my reviews can be found @ www.gamespot.com, I just don't have the time to gather them all.