Zelda: Twilight Princess Spoilers

I finally beat Zelda: Twilight Princess the other day. I gave up about 45-50 hours of my time over the course of 8 months to play the whole thing. I will not deny that I used a walkthrough--in fact, I used two, one with images and one just text. A lot of the game was scary as hell; I was screaming and sweating (I don't sweat that much) at some points with scary enemies and bosses (i.e. I was swinging the remote and nunchuck around like mad). The feeling of finishing Zelda was sort of like finishing Phoenix Wright--I feel a sense of great accomplishment, but also subsequent emptiness. Now what?

So here's Ganondorf, the main villain. I liked him a lot because of his face--he's basically a Japanese mythical ogre (oni) with some samurai-looking armor and a bigass, fancy sword. I wasn't too crazy about his name, because it sounds like a ripoff of a famous fictitious name, "Gandalf." But other than that, he was pretty cool--used Zelda as a puppet (I thought I was gonna have to fight Midna), turned into a boar with a weak belly scar, rode around on a horse with red eyes, and then decided to battle simple and old-school, man to man, with swords, so I could FINISH HIM. And then the rest of the ending was a blur--Midna turned into some tall lady with a lot of makeup and an exposed midriff, wandered back into her realm, and then busted the shit out the twilight mirror.

Next up on my list of things to distract me from productivity: Super Mario Galaxy. I've only played a little bit so far, but it is looking pretty sweet. I'm not sure if I'm ready to embark on another epic Zelda adventure (I gave up on Link to the Past because I couldn't find where I was in the walkthrough guide), Phantom Hourglass for the DS. I was interested in Pokemon, but then Jamie made fun of me. Still, those monsters look awesome. Winter break is coming up soon though...hmm.

Boyz II Men!

They're back (again)! They have a Motown cover album, including a new rendition of "End of the Road." I only heard about this album as a result of downloading a Japanese music show, Music Fair, last week. I thought I'd provide some screen caps, because no one does musical performance sets like the Japanese. (Maybe it's just Americans who don't have shows like this, and therefore sets like this.)

They performed a snippet of "Just My Imagination," where Wanya got the line "Every night, on my knees I pray..." Here he is on his knees, while Nathan and Shawn console and provide backup coos.

They translated the lyrics at the bottom of the screen. Here is Wanya singing "But in reality, she doesn't even know me..." I had to get a close up of his buttery head and neck. I was instantly reminded of when Cedric the Entertainer sings and dances on stage in Spike Lee's "Kings of Comedy" (or "Kangs," as one might say).

Here they're performing "Reach Out I'll Be There" originally by the Four Tops. I hear this song a lot on peripheral, adult-oriented radio stations like 100.3 Love FM or 106.3 and 102.7, who play a lot of old school stuff. All their vocals and dance moves are on point, so much that I wished they released a DVD instead of a CD. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they'll be touring in Chicago anytime soon :(

Unfortunately, Nathan forgot to keep his legs apart at the end. It's okay, Boss! They also performed "I'll Make Love to You" with AI but I'll save everyone the horror of having to look at her face (it's all in the bangs). She was alright, but clearly nervous and awkward singing about making love in the presence candles, wine, and clothes thrown on the floor. Instead I have bonus footage of lame-o Exile, who looked and sounded especially pathetic next to the Almighty Boyz II Men:

Mordecai asked, "Did that guy get brain surgery or something?" of the right singer. That man needs to take those damn sunglasses off, grow his hair back and wipe that soy sauce off his upper lip.

Understanding McDonaldsese

This morning, Mordecai and I went to McDonald's. I love love love McDonald's breakfast. I know people (i.e. Joe) find their Minute Maid orange juice offensive, but I love it with my sausage egg McMuffin.

Anyway we were looking at the receipt's claim that there are "WINNER$ EVERY WEEK!" and Mordecai noticed something interesting in the fine print. It reads:

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Sweepstakes consists of individual weekly Entry Periods. Open only to legal residents of the US and Canada (other than the Province of Quebec), 15 years of age and older. In order to win, a Canadian resident must correctly answer a skill testing question. See Official Rules at www.mcdonalds-survey.com. Void where prohibited. Limit one entry per person per Entry Period. (Emphasis mine)

One odd thing is that the Quebecois are excluded, but I'm not shedding any tears or anything. What we thought was strange is this emphasized line. What is this "skill testing" question? How are Americans automatically skilled; are we skilled in virtue of being American? But then I also realized that this sentence is poorly structured. I think it wants to say, "In order for a non-Quebecois Canadian to win, he or she must correctly answer a skill testing question." But as it is, the sentence reads, "For anyone to win, some Canadian resident must correctly answer some skill testing question [as selected by McDonald's]." Could a Canadian refuse to answer this skill-testing question on the grounds that the sentence is ambiguous, and still win $1000 "or other weekly prizes"?

Forgotten Houndstooth Item

When writing about how Animal Crossing got me to notice houndstooth, I forgot to mention that I also bought these shoes for their houndstooth-ness (not quite visible in the picture below; trust me).

I neglected to mention them because I've worn them once since buying them in September on a random/impulse trip to Meijer (after dinner at Culver's) with Mordecai and Joe. They damn near destroyed my feet, and I've been scared to try them again.

Carleton's new hat

I'm not so obsessed with acorns anymore, but under the only oak tree I know of in the neighborhood on Sacramento and Schubert, I found an acorn hat. My guess is that the squirrels get all the acorns. Further, they probably get to them before they can fall. I can't climb trees, but maybe I could if I weren't a biped.

So now Carleton has a new hat. He doesn't get out much, but at least he's always stylish at home.

Matcher!

I'd like to point out to the world that I have the same boots as Michelle Tanner:

I really don't know which Olsen twin that is, but who cares! We have the same boots!