Greetings from Nagoya

Happy Chinese New Year!

You think you know Tiger?

I see it all the time!
People on the golf course, at the driving range, the internet; referring to their kids, their buddies, their playing partners as "Tiger Woods", or "the next Tiger Woods". Whenever someone hits a remotely good shot, or makes somewhat of a long drive, that person is immediately addressed as Tiger. Heck, I've even been "mistaken" for Tiger Woods once or twice after hitting what kids refer to as a, "Monster Drive".

First of all, what is this obsession with Mr. Woods? Okay okay, he's the best golfer in the world, he's amazing, and he's legendary. Fine. So was Michael Jordan. But you don't see anyone over the age of 12 referring to themselves or their friends as MJ.

Secondly, when these people address their fellow human beings as TW, it is so obvious that they have absolutely no clue how insanely good Tiger is. His mixture of talent, determination, competitiveness, and work ethic lift him to basically an untouchable status. One occasional good shot won't even get you a souvenir ball. Woods is so high above the average golfer, that it is of utmost absurdity to try and compare him to any of us mortals.

I don't burst into flames or get annoyed when I hear guys being referred to as "Tiger", but it certainly makes me think, "oh here we go again...".

Writer's Blogk

I'm sure my loyal readers (yup, all five of them) have noticed gaps in between my blog entries. Well yeah, so have I. There are a few reasons for this.

1. China. Its incredibly difficult to log in to blogger dot com in China, and as I mentioned before, its not possible to view any blogger blogs including my own. So during my one to two week stints in China, I am not at all motivated to blog. Not to mention I hardly have any free time at all while I'm there.
   
2. Sports. I can't help it that I'm addicted to sports; namely baseball and American football, but mostly baseball. Due to un-popular demand, I'm trying to cut down on my baseball entries as not to drive away what little audience I have.
   
3. Taboo subjects. I don't like to bitch about work here. You never know who's reading my crap, and I don't want my own blog to bite my own ass, thanks and no thanks.
   
4. Writer's block. Sure I could put in an entry a day about my everyday life, but I often feel this self inflicted pressure to post stuff that's unique or interesting or stuff that people will want to read. I get lost in that search for the perfect entry, and I'm often unable to decide what to write. I've got 10 posts lined up in my "save as drafts" section, but I often scrap them or never end up posting them cause I just deem them unworthy.
   

Anyways, I've decided yesterday to just "post whatever". Right, I don't think people would want to read about me and my daily adventures. Yet when I ask myself whether I had fun reading about Arthur getting food poisoning, or Alex's adventures at the Toad, the answer is a resounding YES! So I guess I'll just follow suit.

Shadow of the Colossus

Sadly, I haven't had much time for videogames lately. Luckily, I was able to try the fairly new game, Shadow of the Colossus for the PS2. The story starts off as nothing special: hero needs to revive life of girl, sent on quest to defeat Colossi by powerful diety... and so on. The game however, is nothing short of amazing.

Okay, so your job is to fight these... Colossi. Then you actually see one for the first time, and you're overwhelmed! These things are HUGE! How does one approach this battle? How can the character defeat an enemy over 1000 times his size? Insane! Awesome! This is the first game in a long time where I am actually nervous when I play it. I don't know if its the realistic graphics, the intense action, or just the sheer size of the colossi compared to my character. This game gets my blood pumping.

The Graphics are superb as expected. They are meant to mimic realism. No silly, funky looking stuff. The tone and feel can range from sunny bright, to dark and gloomy. The graphics really play that out well.

The Music is also excellent. It is unique and fits the setting well. Music during battles give an epic feel plus a sense of urgency. It definitely adds to the excitment.

The Controls are very good. The player soon gets used to all the jumping and grappling. There's nothing overly tricky here. Naturally it takes a little time to get used to, but the controls don't get in the way. The horse controlling is a bit different. At first I questioned why they made controlling the horse so not user friendly. Then I realized they did it for realism. Here's how its done: to accelerate, you press a button that kicks the horse to move forward. More kicks, more speed. By turning left and right, the character in the game actually has to steer the horse left and right with the harness. Not the easiest to control, but I can totally appreciate the realism of the game. Controlling the horse isn't always easy, but that's probably the case in real life as well.

The Gameplay is amazing! The world of SOTC is so beautiful to just roam around in. Then you meet these Colossi that look like they could crush you with one finger. Its excitment and beauty in one colossal package. Nearly every level provides a new challenge and a unique way to defeat the colossus. I had a unique gaming moment of excitment while fighting the flying colossus (5th one I think).

The Value in replaying the game is there. Since you only fight each Colossus once and there's no real drudgery like fighting minions in between, I'd love to play thorough this game again after I'm done.

Take a look at the screenshots, and you'll know why its called a colossus.

Needs more blog

My blogging mentor has kindly informed me that I haven't been updating. The last time I updated was right before Christmas, and during the holidays freetime and alcohol are shaken harder than ice and vodka with a touch of vermouth.

After that I was once again exiled to China by my beloved company for two weeks. The funny thing is that while in the land of mighty government censorship, I am able to edit my blog but unable to view it. Great...

In the meantime, enjoy this SNL classic of classics: