Literary References in Lost

This post is going to have heavy spoilers for the Lost season finale. If you haven't seen it yet, read ahead at your own risk.

The day after every episode of Lost airs I tend to head over to Lostpedia and read about the latest fan theories based on the information revealed in the most recent episode. One thing that I always find interesting is the literary references that they cram into every episode. Some of them are a stretch, but the sheer quantity of them leads me to think that most of them are not a mere accident. The one reference that I found on Lostpedia for the finale was the following:

The Lord of the Rings:The Fellowship of the Ring: Jacob's "They are coming" is the same phrase found in the Book of Mazarbul, found and read by the Fellowship in the Chamber of Mazarbul in Moria. Shortly after reading this account of the demise of the Dwarves of Moria, the Fellowship loses one of their company when Gandalf is dragged into a chasm by the whip of a Balrog, a scene which Juliet's own fall recalls.

That's really cool and even if it's an accident, it's interesting that someone was astute enough to make that connection.

Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance Trailer

A new trailer was recently released for the new Evangelion movie and it's definitely got me excited about it again. I just hope that the pilot of EVA-05 isn't batshit crazy. That series could use a sane, well-adjusted, female character.

In WoW news, I got my 2v2 rating up to 1250 last night and was able to purchase the Deadly Gladiator's Libram of Fortitude. For those that don't know what this does, it grants 120 attack power for 10 seconds every time I use Crusader Strike, an ability with only a 6 second cooldown. This means that as long as I'm not crowd controlled and can keep swinging, I always have this extra buff. Not a bad upgrade for both PvE and PvP after only 2 weeks of arena matches.

3D Realms closes

The brains behind the decade-long production of the fabled Duke Nukem Forever is closing shop. Tis a sad day for gaming.

In WoW news, I got my 2v2 team to 1200 and the week still isn't over so I might get even higher, who knows? For any paladins out there still using Seal of Command for PvP, stop right now. I switched over to Seal of Blood and the self damage is negligible, even on a team with no healer. Just keep Sacred Shield up and use those Art of War procs when your abilities are on cooldown and you'll mitigate more than enough of the damage to yourself to blow someone up without killing yourself first.

Long time no see

So, I know it's been almost 2 months since I've updated, but I have a perfectly good explanation for that...actually, I don't, there's just nothing terribly exciting happening.

Patch 3.1 for World of Warcraft launched about a month ago and the Argent Tournament and Ulduar have been eating my soul. However, it's good times and if you quit playing this god-forsaken game a long time ago, I highly suggest you take another look at it. It's still as addicting as ever and it's being made even moreso as they keep changing all the little annoying things that have been in the game since its launch 4 years(?) ago. It's a good game and they only keep making it better, it's uncanny.

For those who may be curious about how far through Ulduar I've gotten, our guild has cleared through Auriaya on 25-man and we're on Yogg-Saron on 10-man.

Also, I've started twittering. If you feel the need or desire to read my inane thoughts you can check that out at twitter.com/joecheez.

Max Payne 3 announced

Rockstar announced the release of Max Payne 3 today, but aside from the knowledge that it takes place after his retirement and in a new city, there is little else known about it. Personally, I'm a huge fan of this series and loved the "renegade cop hellbent on revenge" premise, but I thought that they took a step backwards in the second installment by focusing on the love story a bit too much. Hopefully they go back to the series roots and find a new reason for him to dish out the vigilante justice that makes this series so much fun.

Eureka 7 Trailer

There's a Eureka 7 movie coming out in April and the first trailer for it is up on the Japanese movie site. It's looking good.

Dragonball Kai and more BioWare news

I didn't report it, but it's been known for a couple of weeks that Dragonball Z will be re-cut and re-aired in HD as Dragonball Kai. Which is all well and good, but the real news is the announcement of exactly how much is being cut. Toei has said that the new cut of the series will follow the plot of the original manga. This means that there should be far less filler episodes and the consecutive episodes of 2 guys grunting at each other for 30 minutes will also be gone. This might actually be worth re-watching.

In gaming news, BioWare has announced that they are openning a new studio to assist in the development of Mass Effect 2. I can't argue with that. Anything they can do to make Star Wars: The Old Republic and Mass Effect 2 the most stellar games ever is a good thing in my book.

Mass Effect 2 Teaser and New Resident Evil 5 Trailer

BioWare has released a teaser trailer for Mass Effect 2 and Capcom has released a new trailer for Resident Evil 5. I'm highly anticipating both of these games and can't wait for them to come out. Resident Evil 5 is being released on March 13, 4 days before my birthday ~_^

Vacation

Well, so far I'm enjoying my time up here in the frozen norths of Wisconsin...mostly because it means I don't have to work. Vacation is vacation no matter where you spend it =P

I also have some WoW news today. Apparently Jeff Kaplan has stepped down as the director of World of Warcraft and has moved on to Blizzard's "next-gen MMO"...whatever that is. Also, there's an interesting interview with Ghostcrawler containing some information about dual speccing that I know many people have been interested to know the details of.

Sessler's Soapbox

So, Killzone 2 is/was/will be released in the near future or past. I have no idea and don't really care, but this video of Adam Sessler ripping both Xbox 360 and PS3 fanboys a new asshole is priceless.

FFXIII Trailer

Square Enix released a new Final Fantasy XIII trailer today. Check it out. Too bad we still won't see this game state-side for over a year =(

EGM shutting down

Electronic Gaming Monthly is shutting its doors this month. Their last issue will be the already released January '09 issue. This definitely saddens me a bit since it's the only magazine I've subscribed to in years and was one of the least biased video game magazines I've ever had the pleasure to read. They stood their ground when threatened by companies to pull ads if they didn't give good reviews several times during the magazine's lifetime and their journalistic integrity and wit was the main reason I stayed subscribed for so many years, even after I was finding out about things weeks earlier on the Internet. It was a GOOD magazine and I hope the people who got laid off find greener pastures elsewhere and continue doing what they do so well.

I'm kind of a big deal on the Internet...

On the night of the Wrath of the Lich King release I (and many other nerds) met up with one of the WoW Insider guys at a bar named Duffy's in Chicago where we nerded out about WoW while waiting for the midnight release. Well, apparently someone was snapping pictures when I wasn't looking and I've been immortalized on the Internet...go me. I'm the guy right in the center with the orange shirt. If I look unhappy to be there, it's because the music was obnoxiously loud. Credit for finding the picture goes to my friend Sam; he's in the bottom left corner in the leather jacket and Psychonia of my life as a cartoon is in the back-right corner of the photo, sitting to my left.

I also saw this interesting article on FileFront this morning that points out the scary similarities between Robo's theme from Chrono Trigger and Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley, along with an accompanying mash-up video.

Also, the Sonic Unleashed Demo hit Xbox Live this morning and I need to find time to play it.

I'm not dead yet...

So, the NXE didn't brick my box or anything, but it is a little excessive and confusing. I haven't used it for any considerable amount of time though, honestly. World of Warcraft is still eating my time. Gearing up a tank is a pain in the ass and you have to do it quickly enough to meet people's expectations, regardless of how absurd they are. People will only tolerate wiping so much before finding another tank and not bothering to give you another chance.

Also, I finished an anime called Claymore over Thanksgiving. It's nothing particularly special, but if you're in the mood for fan service, gore, and over-the-top action, this is for you. It's not a bad anime by any means, just the epitome of mediocrity.

The New Xbox 360 Experience

So, the new Xbox experience has launched and while I haven't yet booted up my system to see how the upgrade goes (WotLK is eating my soul) I have heard mixed reports of how the upgrade has gone. Microsoft has reported some problems, mostly with the Marketplace, and Gabe of Penny Arcade is complaining that his box keeps freezing when he tries to open his friends list. The former is an annoyance, the latter is game breaking. We shall see how my own experience with the Experience goes.

One other thing that I found interesting about the upgrade is that it allows games to be installed to the HDD so that the disk doesn't need to be read. This is great since you could easily confuse the sound of the disc drive spinning with a passenger jet landing in your living room, but surprisingly this can also lead to a decrease in performance for some games. For example, Bungie made a post on their website actually advising against doing so for this very reason. Hopefully, this feature is better supported for future games because frankly, the noise of the Xbox 360 hard drive is just ridiculous and the ability to mute it most if not all of the time would be wonderful.

Halo 3 Recon

So, there's a little bit of new information about the design of Halo 3: Recon. Apparently there's going to be several story arcs with different main characters all linked together by the main story of the primary character. It sounds more confusing than it is. Follow the link. Also, the new episode of Gundam 00 should be out soon...hopefully.

P.S. I have my Mac, it's super sexy, and Wrath of the Lich King is fucking awesome.

Sonic Unleashed, lookin' better and better

So SEGA has unleashed two new trailers for Sonic Unleashed (c what i did thar?) and it just keeps looking more and more must-have. I'm looking forward to it.

Also, my MacBook is shipping from Shanghai, China. Who knew?

MacBook Pro

So, I placed my order for a new 15-inch MacBook Pro earlier this morning. I upgraded to 2-3 day shipping, but with Veteran's Day on Tuesday that only leaves 2 business days before Wrath of the Lich King releases. If it ships today, I should be ok, but if it doesn't ship until Monday, I might be shit out of luck as far as having it for my LAN party. Cross your fingers for me...

Gundam 00 S2 episode 5

Menclave released Gundam 00 S2 episode 5 recently. It's awesome. Go watch it.

Also, I fully realize that my last 3 posts have only been Gundam 00 release announcements. There's just nothing else too exciting to report at the moment...except for Obama winning that whole election thing (thank god), but I'm sure you knew that.

Gundam 00 S2 episode 4

Gundam 00 S2 episode 4 was released yesterday afternoon by Menclave and is, as usual, of outstanding quality. This episode was a little slow compared to the first 3 of the season, but still quite good. They have to move the plot forward eventually, I guess =P

Also, I hadn't realized that the 4th season of Slayers had come and gone, I'll have to find that...and I started watching Claymore. So far, I've only seen the first, very gory, episode and it doesn't seem bad, but there wasn't anything that sucked me in or repelled me so I'll have to watch more to see if I like it. The art style is VERY similar to the Escaflowne movie.