Now I know what some of you guys are probably driving at by this point. Yes, I watched Spongebob quite often during its release and also during its glory days, and I'm not ashamed. What I am ashamed of is how terrible the show has gotten lately. It's jumped the shark, to be frank, and it just seems to be going downhill - further than it ever has in the recent years. But why diss the show? It was a good one, and that is why I am going to state the very best Spongebob episodes ever made. Here's #20-10.

#20: "Grandma's Kisses" (Season 2)

SUMMARY: SpongeBob goes through a "coming-of-age" story and is ashamed of his relationship with his grandmother when the Krusty Krab crew sees him get a kiss from her on his forehead. Bob tries to grow up and be a man, which becomes harder than intended because Patrick refuses to accept manhood.

WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: This episode has been very dear to me. It shows the challenges of maturity and the struggle to grow up, and you do have to feel a little sorry for Bob when he starts to miss his childhood.

#19: "Big Pink Loser" (Season 2)

SUMMARY: A trophy is mistakenly delivered to Patrick, which actually belongs to SpongeBob. Patrick is discouraged about his life in general since he has no trophies or honors - mainly because he doesn't do anything except sleep under his rock. At the end he realizes that everyone has a sort of special talent, whether they do anything worthwhile or not.

WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: Ah. Back when the episodes had morals. This is one of them. This episode really does teach a valuable lesson and it really holds up as one of the better episodes of the season. And pretty much all of Season Two was great.

#18: "Krab Borg" (Season 3)

SUMMARY: SpongeBob watches a scary film in which robots take over the world and he becomes paranoid of everyone in Bikini Bottom having an affiliation with robots. He suggests Mr. Krabs as the prime suspect, and eventually he coaxes Squidward into thinking so as well. The two plot to prove that their employer is a robot.

WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: This one was downright hilarious. SpongeBob screaming "I SURRENDER!" as soon as an alarm goes off from the kitchen is golden.

#17: "Krusty Love" (Season 2)

SUMMARY: Mr. Krabs falls in love with Mrs. Puff and loses track of his money and his mind when he starts to buy things for her. Overwhelmed, Mrs. Puff explains to Mr. Krabs that he doesn't have to buy her many unecessary items for a good date.

WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: This really is a sort of childish view on love and relationships - one that kids can understand and relate to. Well, not just kids, but you know what I mean.

#16: "Sailor Mouth" (Season 2)

SUMMARY: SpongeBob and Patrick learn a bad word when they notice graffiti written onto the back of a dumpster. Oblivious to the fact that the word is obscene and shouldn't be used in public, Bob and Rick mistake it for fancy talk and begin to use it regularly in public. Mr. Krabs catches wind of this and teaches them a lesson on the evils of swear words.

WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: Again, this episode teaches a lesson. It's also pretty funny too, and experienced swearing experts can pretty much interpret every single "bleep" sound used in the episode. I mean, I can too.

#15: "Sleepy Time" (Season 1)

SUMMARY: SpongeBob falls asleep and somehow gains the ability to wander and interact with other peoples' dreams. He ends up screwing everyone's dreams up.

WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: This one's a classic. Not only does it really expand the human mind and the train of thought itself, but this episode just makes your imagination run wild before you hit the sack.

#14: "Ghost Host" (Season 4)

SUMMARY: The Flying Dutchman fancies scaring SpongeBob and so he proceeds to freak him out wherever he goes. However, Dutchie overdoes it and Bob gets so used to it that he isn't scared by him anymore. Dutchie's self-confidence as a scary ghost is then shattered and he tries to find ways to become scary again.

WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: This is a prime example of some good old laughs with the show back when it was good. Even if the show went a little stale during the fourth season.

#13: "Just One Bite" (Season 3)

SUMMARY: Squidward is disgusted by the food on the Krusty Krab menu but is constantly pestered by SpongeBob trying to get him to take a bite just to experience the taste. Eventually Squidward gives in and takes a bite and secretly discovers his love for Krabby Patties. Ashamed of ruining his own ego, he hides his newfound love from SpongeBob.

WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: Definitely one of the best episodes of Season Three. There's plenty of laughs and the irony in this episode of how Squidward actually likes Krabby Patties just kills me.

#12: "Naughty Nautical Neighbors" (Season 1)

SUMMARY: SpongeBob and Patrick are simply playing a game in which they use bubbles to communicate. Squidward, annoyed by this, begins to secretly join in the game and insult the two, making Bob and Rick think that they're insulting each other. However, this backfires on Squidward when Bob and Rick are desperate for a new friend.

WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: This is a classic example on the values of friendship. Not only that, but you could really see the emerging talent of the scriptwriters at the time.

#11: "Hooky" (Season 1)

SUMMARY: Patrick shares his greatest past-time with SpongeBob, which is getting caught on fishing hooks on purpose and letting go at the last second for a free-fall. Bob joins in on the game but Mr. Krabs catches wind of the game and warns him on the dangers of the game "hooky". However Bob doesn't listen and is desparate for Mr. Krabs' help when his pants are snagged by a hook. Bob takes off his pants to save himself, only to find that he is now naked and is embarrassed.

WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: Peer pressure can be seen in this episode and the badness of it can be seen here as well. This was one of the first SpongeBob episodes that I saw and I must say that the episode is still fun to watch.

#10: "Help Wanted" (Season 1)

SUMMARY: SpongeBob needs to get a job and he notices that the Krusty Krab might be a good place for one. However, he is discouraged, but when Patrick comes along to encourage him via pep talk, SpongeBob feels like he's ready to take up the occupation. When Mr. Krabs and Squidward see him, however, they don't think he's good enough for the job, and so they tell him to find a "Hydro-Dynamic Spatula" (both Krabs and Squid assuming that it doesn't exist so it'll keep Bob away forever). Unfortunately, this backfires on both Krabs and Squidward when they receive loads of customers (anchovies, actually) and need help cooking Krabby Patties. SpongeBob jumps in to save the day and he satisfies every single customer. He's then awarded the job of fry cook.

WHY THIS MADE THE LIST: Why not? It's the first episode of the whole series and the season. It's also one of the best ones since it explains Bob's origin as a fry cook and it introduces Patrick, Squidward, and Mr. Krabs as well.

Look out for Part Two of this list - #9-2!

Surely you've heard of the band, "Electric Light Orchestra".

Oh wait - you haven't? Well, if you've been searching for the perfect blend of The Beatles and Pink Floyd, then these guys are who you're looking for. It's why I've compiled this Top five list of ELO love songs.

#5: Sweet Talkin' Woman (Out of the Blue)

#4: The Diary of Horace Wimp (Discovery)

#3: Telephone Line (A New World Record)

#2: Midnight Blue (Discovery)

#1: Need Her Love (Discovery)

I'm reviewing v0.9.6.

(I posted this also as a review, but apparently clicking it leads you to a 404 Error page, so might as well post it here on my blog)

"Slender" (retitled to "Slender: The Eight Pages for v0.9.7) is a minimalist horror game that's quite different from the rest of the crowd. It's got no blood, no gore, no cliche screams, and especially no guns. It doesn't have all of the bells and whistles of the standard horror games of today and in the recent years, but "Slender" does a fine job of creeping the hell out of you.

The game throws you right into the middle of a dark, fenced-in forest, with you armed with only a flashlight and a video camera. Your objective? You must collect eight pages that have been scrawled in by a recent victim of Slender Man, a supernatural, skinny entity that happens to have taken a liking to capturing people in forests and killing them with his tentacles.

Not only has Slendy taken a liking to people wandering aimlessly in dark, shady forests, but he seems to have special knowledge of formal clothing.

If you're not familiar with the mythos, then you should know that Slender Man has a pale, white, faceless, and featureless face and that he wears a big and tall suit, along with a tie. Slendy happens to like photographs too, because in probably every single photograph of him that you'll find, it'll be him staring straight at the camera standing ominously in the background, usually behind a group of people posing for a shot - all of which are oblivious to Slendy's appearance (and even the photographer doesn't seem to notice before taking the shot).

But that's all you need to know. However, what you should know is that "Slender" is a great horror game. It's different, as it takes a minimalist approach to the horror genre - paying as little attention to detail and realism as possible, as long as the main, central idea is out there. What you should also know, is that the game is not for the faint of heart. It will scare the crap out of you if you let your guard down even for a second. One jump-scare and you'll be afraid to even step into a bathroom ever again.

The forest that Slender takes place in isn't your typical boring, copy-and-paste-tree-after-tree forest. It has ten landmarks, with eight pages. That means that there will be two landmarks with absolutely no pages at all. The catch? This means that you'll never know if you'll run into the bathrooms (a four-roomed building with ridiculously narrow corridors), run into a room expecting a page there, and finding out that there isn't a page. Then you find out that the room leads to a dead-end, forcing you to turn around and go through the corridor again, then turning the corner just to find out Slendy's right there waiting for you. Cue the piano slam. And you wetting your pants.

The game makes good use of ambiance. There aren't any swooping orchestras or any corny techno beat that pumps you up for this game. There's only... ambiance - the sounds of crickets chirping, and the blowing of the wind. However, there is music in this game that escalates after every two pages. Upon collection of the first page, you'll hear the sound of beating drums. On the third page, you'll begin to hear the sound of wind. Later on, you'll hear this really freaky growling noise in the background, and then the song will make you think like you're hearing footsteps, giving you that forsaken urge to turn around. And then it'll be too late.

Slender Man's method of attack is simple: If you look at him for too long at a close distance, he'll whip out his tentacles and grab you, with the last thing you'll see and hear is static filling your video camera and static filling your ears as you (as the player) will probably scream with your dying breath. It's this kind of thing that freaks people out - myself included. The only way to escape? Running for your life. The game gives you the option to sprint, but sprint too long and you'll find yourself huffing and puffing, which will result in you walking/sprinting at a slower rate - leaving you prone to Slendy's attack even more.

Since you've got only a flashlight and you haven't gotten the slightest reason on why you even wandered alone into a forest and jumped in through the gate to save your life, you have to make best of what you have in-game. As a note-to-self, your flashlight doesn't last forever. It'll go out if you take too long, and the worst part is, is that it won't go back on no matter how hard you try. It all adds to the scare factor. The sheer desperation of you trying to get at least one last page, watching your flashlight beginning to flicker and dim - the feeling is phenomenal. Never have I felt so desperate in a video game before.

All of this comes together on why "Slender" is such a great horror game. It's one of the most unique games I've ever played and while it might not have those cliche jump-scare moments or those bleeding chainsaws that some horror game fans might be yearning for, it still gets the job done. Parsec Productions has done a great job on ensuring that "Slender: The Eight Pages" freaks the hell out of you.

Don't get any smart ideas for this Halloween. Just saying.

SCORE:

8.5

Greetings all.

Fuse is back after a long series of maintenance, fixes, and "BOINK!" issues. As of 22 August 2012 where I'm at, people are rejoicing. Why don't you come join?

The Super Smash Bros. series is one of Nintendo's most prominent video game series in the fighting-game genre. It's one of the most popular series of fighting games out there and to date millions probably still play it. Let's go over a short recap of the series.

In 1999, Super Smash Bros. made its debut with its self-titled game, "Super Smash Bros", developed by HAL Laboratory - on the Nintendo 64. People could now duke it out with their favorite video game characters, and the game became very popular. It was pretty darn unique for its time as well.

Following it up in 2001, HAL Laboratory released "Super Smash Bros. Melee" on the Nintendo GameCube and was met with extremely warm reception. The characters were balanced and the physics were responsive and fast-paced. It wasn't long before tournaments were held for the advanced and experienced players to show off their prowess at the game.

In 2008, "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" was released, and was instantly popular. Tons of hype were present prior to its long development and eventual release, and sold like crazy. It was probably the most important title on the Nintendo Wii. With its good reception, "Brawl" was also met with criticism from the fans. Things that made "Melee" so perfect were nerfed or non-existent in "Brawl". Things like pratfalling (AKA tripping) and the horrid character balance were particularly met with criticism and dislike.

At 2011's E3, Nintendo announced that a new Super Smash Bros. title would land on the Wii U and the 3DS and that development on the game would begin once Kid Icarus: Uprising was finished by Project Sora - a development team formed shortly after the release of "Brawl". In response to this announcement, several rumors were beginning to come forth and hype and skepticism were felt by fans and developers alike. Would this new Super Smash Bros. game repeat the mistakes of "Brawl" or be a little too much like "Melee"? Millions of fans wait in anxiety.

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Sorry to bother you with that probably depressing and hopeless paragraph on how the next SSB game could be a total screw-up but now it's time to get to the point. Each and every Super Smash Bros. title has been met with good reception and a huge fanbase, and this time around, things probably aren't going to be any different for the next entry in the long-running series. I've compiled some ideas on how the next title could probably succeed if done with perfect timing and execution.

First of all, this isn't a rant or some kind of attack on any of the games in the series. Having played Super Smash Bros. titles since 2002, I know exactly what I'm talking about (with the exception of the first game on the N64, which I probably won't be talking about in this blog). Now onto the meat of this blog.

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Firstly, let's get this straight: "Melee" was amazing. It was both a smashing success for HAL Laboratory and Nintendo and the fans were pleased. Gameplay was solid, as were the controls, and it was visually-advanced for its time. "Brawl" was amazing as well, with pretty much the same pros as "Melee", but was criticized for useless and unneeded features such as tripping and had a lackluster campaign as said by the fans.

The next game in the series could succeed if they learned from the mistakes of "Brawl" and if they could replicate the greatness of "Melee", but not exactly doing the copy-paste formula that can be seen in many video game franchises of today. I've created a list on how this next game could succeed. I'm not demanding that Project Sora do this, but these are just suggestions.

1. DON'T REVEAL THE CHARACTER ROSTER: The development team of "Brawl" made a horrible mistake about revealing the character roster. It was a lame attempt to increase the hype in hopes of achieving more sales but to reveal the whole character roster wasn't necessary. "Melee" kept the roster a secret and in turn increased the replay value, giving the player a reason to keep playing in hopes of unlocking new characters.
2. MAKE THE CHARACTERS HARDER TO UNLOCK: Something "Melee" did that "Brawl" didn't do was make each character a challenge to unlock. Because "Brawl" had unveiled the whole character roster, they knew that the only way for the fans to be pleased as playing as the characters as soon as possible was to make the characters ridiculously easy to unlock. In "Melee", excruciating amounts of effort and prowess at the game were required to unlock characters, and "Brawl" basically handed you the characters.
3. KEEP THE FOCUS ON THE FRANCHISES CONSISTENT: Mario is Nintendo's BIGGEST franchise and you know it. But so much emphasis on the franchise was placed in "Brawl" that barely any other franchise got the spotlight. The Mario series has had so much emphasis in "Brawl", from the enemies in the Subspace Emissary (the only enemies in that mode were either Mario-themed enemies or Subspace baddies), to the stages (most stages in the game were Mario-themed with little attention to other franchises). There's just too little variety to be had. "Melee"'s adventure mode focused on each franchise that was present in-game (with the exception of Fire Emblem, but the franchise only got attention via music and characters).
4. BALANCE THE CHARACTERS: "Melee" has been known for having a balanced character roster. "Brawl" has been criticized for it. Characters like Pit, Pickachu, Zelda, Ness, Lucas, and especially Meta Knight (plus many more) can spam one move over and over again and get KO's. Snakes up-tilt (which results in him swinging his foot upwards) can hit people in front of him at a ridiculous distance. Mr. Game&Watch's "Judgement" move can get 9's way too easily. These issues are especially present in "Brawl" 's awful online wi-fi service, but I'll get to that later.
5. BETTER ONLINE MULTIPLAYER: "Brawl" 's online multiplayer was... ugh. There was no way to do one-on-ones without everyone teaming up against you and there were no lobbies or anything - everything was disorganized. The next game should either get rid of online multiplayer (which probably won't happen) or put a little more work on it. If Project Sora needs to take a little more time to polish up the game, then they should take all the time they need.
6. DON'T GIVE INTO FAN SERVICE: The series hasn't made this mistake before to the best of my knowledge but Project Sora shouldn't make this mistake or they're screwed. Like EA did with "Mass Effect 3" 's ending, Project Sora shouldn't give in to the fans' every need and whim UNLESS it is absolutely necessary. This goes for not including every third-party character the fans want in the game. This is going to be quite a challenge for Project Sora.
7. BETTER ADVENTURE MODE: The Subspace Emissary was good at first but once you unlock all of the characters and stickers and clear all levels on the Intense difficulty (which is SUPER hard), what else is there to do? Project Sora should strive to make the Adventure Mode more better replay-value wise. and reasons to keep the player interested.
8. SCREW TRIPPING: Screw it.
9. ENOUGH WITH THE UNPLAYABLE STAGES: Stages like 75m and the Mario Bros. stages are a neat homage to the older NES days, but they need to be playable. Only one part of the stage on 75m is playable and it's right next to a blast line and it's got walk-off edges. The fire hazards and the annoying DK stage attacks render the stage unplayable and suitable for even a fun match. The Mario Bros. stage is manageable, but it's way to hard to get kills there. That, and the Shellcreepers and Sidesteppers have a higher chance of KO'ing you than a human/CPU player can. WHAT?!
10. MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE: The game's gotta appeal to everyone and it needs to be unique while keeping the strong formula at the same time.

Well, there you have it. Hope I didn't sound too demanding (and these aren't even demands, just suggestions).

I think we've all been at that one point where we've been pressured by ourselves to sell a game or to just leave it in that one secluded place in your house for it to dust. I've been there several times and I've had to go through both situations. I remember selling Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 and regretting it, reminiscing about all of the good times I had with that game. You never know how much you'll miss something until you find out it's gone.

That's why I've dedicated this blog to those of you who have been through this and/or are about to go through this situation in particular. It's how to get the most out of your video games.

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First off, when some people go through a first playthrough of a game (or if one happens to unravel all of the endings within a certain game), they sometimes just lose interest in the game itself. They think that they'll never get a fresh new feeling that they felt when they first popped in the disc, cartridge, etc. - and so the game is left to dust. The gamer then buys a new game, and then plays the living heck out of the thing, before reaching a point again where the game seems to lose its luster.

The cycle repeats again and again, probably what you'd expect, right?

Well, you could be wrong. Surprisingly, there are probably dozens of ways to increase the mileage out of your favorite games, and the games that you don't really seem to be interested in. One way is by trying to challenge yourself constantly, thinking of creative new ways to experience the game from a completely different perspective. I usually challenge my skills at a game by forcing myself to limit my own strengths to discover my own weaknesses, or to just have fun.

One example is what I'd like to call "rampages" - and this term can apply to many games that you may own. I first experienced going through rampages in Metal Gear Solid 3, when I got bored during the game once after I beat it several times. I challenged myself on how many people I could kill in a single room, which was a pretty simple concept at the time. Once I got the most mileage out of that idea, I decided to add in a few challenges to the mix to spice things up. One was using only grenades to kill people, and others involved only using the knife in an alert phase and another involved achieving kills only through crotch-shots. It provided loads of fun - and hilarity.

The concept of rampages carried on to Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, andMetal Gear Solid 4 as well. Eventually, I decided to expand the concept to other video games I owned, such as Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. This then evolved into another concept, which involved having to eliminate enemies a certain way, such as using only melee attacks in First-Person Shooters such as Medal of Honor: Frontline and Medal of Honor: European Assault, or not using the Charge Beam to eliminate enemies in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

This even worked for split-screen multiplayer and online multiplayer games. I tried to incorporate the "Mexican Standoff" concept from Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption into Medal of Honor: European Assault, which was pretty much having four players face each other armed with only pistols, waiting for a certain point of time to pass, and shooting when that moment passed, we'd all shoot the crap out of each other until there was one man standing. It was awesome. Even in Metal Gear Solid 4 I was able to find ways to make the game more enjoyable, such as using the Altair costume in the game from Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed and playing through the game using only a Stun Knife to assassinate people.

By striving to find different ways to play your favorite video games different ways, you can really never get bored of them.

If that doesn't work, you can try glitches to reveal programming errors and goofs in your favorite video games - as long as they're not game-breaking. For example, in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, I try to expose glitches in the game, such as getting characters into levels where they don't belong, just for the fun of it. I also try to find glitches in Sly 3 as well, which ends up with endless hilarity and fun. Glitches are one of the best ways to find undiscovered fun in a game you thought you could never enjoy again.

If you can find ways - or something, anything - to enjoy your video games in a different manner than what you would normally play, then you can get the most replay value out of your video games. So think twice before selling a game you once found amazing but now boring, and try to find and create different concepts to get the most fun out of it. You just might find yourself playing it and enjoying it all over again.

It all starts with how you use your imagination.

...And also "I Want to Hold Your Hand" - I would've included that, but unfortunately I ran out of space for the blog title. Since most of these songs were left untouched, I decided to add in "Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing" and "Gnik Nus".

If you've heard The Beatles' 2006 album "Love", and if you were familiar with many of their songs, you'd be surprised on how many references from other Beatles songs were thrown in to create these songs that transition beautifully and flawlessly. This blog series is going to deconstruct as many Beatles references as I can find in each song and provide a link to each one, just to point out the numerous references. The main song itself doesn't count as a reference.

All of this is by ear. I didn't use any Wikipedia articles or anything, just my raw Beatles knowledge.

04 - Eleanor Rigby/Julia

References: 0

These two tracks were mainly left untouched, with the exception of the transition between the two songs. The song opens up as usual, but the first verse of the song is omitted and instead is used as the intro of the song, with only the strings playing. At 2:27, the track "Julia" from The White Album is played, with what sounds like breathing from John. No voices in the song are heard and starting at 2:51, you can hear the sound of a siren in the distance. The song slowly segues into "I Am the Walrus". There are no references in this song to other tracks; it's simply one song played after another. Next!

05 - I Am the Walrus

References: 0

This song was pretty much left alone as well. As far as I can tell, I've heard no changes in this song. However, ataround 4:12, a fanfare can be heard and the sound of cheering can be heard faintly as well. They slowly get louder as "I Am the Walrus" fades away, slowly.

06 - I Want to Hold Your Hand

References: 0

No changes in this song, other than it being cut shorter and the sound of a live audience and girls heard screaming. No transitions, changes, edits, or anything of the like. It was just trimmed shorter.

07 - Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing

References: 6

This is a fun one; mainly since there are tons of references and snippets from other songs that can be heard in this track. Some are obvious, while others are hard to notice. Take note: At the beginning of the song, you can hear the main guitar track playing from "Drive My Car", and the main guitar track from "The Word" playing at the same time. Later in the song, at 0:35, the guitar solo from "Taxman" off of the Revolver album can be heard playing, along with a backing vocal at 0:43 from the chorus of "Helter Skelter". The main lick from "What You're Doing" can be heard everywhere through the song.

At 0:51, two verses from "What You're Doing" can be heard. After that, at 1:22, everything cuts off and the opening drum track from "What You're Doing" can be heard. Then, the chorus of "The Word" kicks in at 1:26, in addition to the backing "mm-beep-mm-beep-beep-yeah" from "Drive My Car". The song fades out slowly after this.

08 - Gnik Nus

References: 1

This is a rare case in which the song itself is a reference. The chorus and the verse of the song, "Sun King" have been reversed and played backwards. In fact, the song title "Gnik Nus" is "Sun King" backwards. "Sun King" is a track from the Beatles album, Abbey Road.

Next up!

Something/Blue Jay Way, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite/I Want You (She's So Heavy)/Helter Skelter and Help!

Some people can be a pain. It's primarily the ones who can't appreciate that you're different than them, or you're not as skilled at something as they are. Or your race. Your color. Or your creed. Or any other reason you can think of.

Anyone ever felt this kind of moment before? I'm sure everyone has - in at least in one moment in their lives.

Everyone's tried some way to counter those that try to put you down. Some try to laugh it off. Others listen to music. And this is why I've compiled this list of songs to help you cheer up after a bad day. If someone's ever put you down, here are songs to make you feel on top of the world. If you've got this super-crazy sports game tomorrow, and you need some jives to pump you up, well, then you've come to the right place.

And note this: This probably isn't going to work for everyone. Everyone's got different tastes in music, and I respect that. If you almost never use music as a means for cheering up, then I'd recommend going somewhere else. Try watching funny videos. Just don't use this music for the wrong reasons, like "I'm going to listen to [song title here] so I can get pumped to beat that dude up tomorrow".No. That's just... wrong.

SONGS TO GET YOU PUMPED UP:

Got a football game tomorrow? Need to run a bunch of laps around the track? These are songs that can probably get you into that "I'm unstoppable" mood. If you scroll your mouse over the song titles, you can get a look on how the song will probably affect you. Not all songs may get you pumped up, but they can set you in a good mood.

Fenix*TX - Get Outta' My Dreams (Get Into My Car)

Reel Big Fish - Sell Out

Reel Big Fish - We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful

Scorpions - Raised On Rock

Queen - Under Pressure

Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It

Van Halen - Jump

Van Halen - Panama

Survivor - Moment of Truth

Hot Action Cop - Going Down On It (Non-Explicit)

Hot Action Cop - Fever for the Flava (Non-Explicit)

Pink Floyd - In the Flesh

Eagles - One of These Nights

Pax217 - A.M

Trapt - Headstrong (Censored)

Ra - Do You Call My Name

Rod Stewart - Young Turks

Edwin Starr - War

The Beatles - Revolution

Well, that's all for now - but that doesn't mean I won't come up with more songs to accompany your day. Stay tuned!

http://www.konami.jp/zoe_hd/

Visited this site just now and apparenty they seem to have a release date for the long-anticipated Zone of the Enders HD Collection on the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and the PlayStation VITA portable.

"2012. 10. 25 OUT"

I have no idea if that's the release date for the United States, Japan, Europe, etc. but at least it gives us some insight on when we should expect the game to come out.

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http://www.konami.jp/zoe_hd/products.html

This link seems to contain the different editions available for the HD Collection. There seem to be an array of premium packages, along with Z.O.E.merchandise, such as action figures, iPhone cases, tumblers, video game soundtracks, buttons and pins, some key-chain looking things, and the Z.O.E. Delores, i BD-Box (Blu-ray disc). I think that's an OVA. There's a lot of stuff to see here; Z.O.E. fans and mecha-anime enthusiasts should definitely give this place a look.

Ze translation? Thou shall clicketh.

Translated with the help of Bing.

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There's also this:

http://www.konami.jp/zoe_hd/reboot.html

This contains tons of info on what to expect in the HD Collection. Looks like Konami's really working hard on this one. A lot of information on the aspect ratio and more technical details. All in all, it looks awesome. They call it a "Reboot Guide".

I translated it with Bing.

That's all for now; just some info for the ones who don't know about it yet. NightFox313 signing off.

If you've heard The Beatles' 2006 album "Love", and if you were familiar with many of their songs, you'd be surprised on how many references from other Beatles sogns were thrown in to create these songs that transition beautifully and flawlessly. This blog series is going to deconstruct as many Beatles references as I can find in each song and provide a link to each one, just to point out the numerous references. The main song itself doesn't count as a reference.

All of this is by ear. I didn't use any Wikipedia articles or anything, just my raw Beatles knowledge.

01 - Because

References: 1

Coming in early into the song, if you turn up the volume really high, at around 0:04 to 0:09 in the video, you can hear the sounds of birds chirping and the sounds of peaceful nature. I don't know where this is sourced, but it may be a reference to the blackbirds singing in Paul McCartney's song for the 1968 White Album, "Blackbird". The song itself comes from the Abbey Road album, and all of the instruments have been removed except for Paul, John, and George's vocals. For three people, it sure sounds like nine people, right? Well, that's because all of the vocals were overdubbed three times (3 vocals X 3 overdubbed vocals = 9 total). At the end, the song transitions to "Get Back". You can hear some orchestras pulling up their high notes pretty darn quickly as the song transitions into the next song.

02 - Get Back

References: 4

This song opens with the instantly recognizable chord from the beginning of the song, "A Hard Day's Night" from the album of the same name, released in 1964. Right afterwards is Ringo Starr's famous drum solo from "The End", the second-to-last track on the Abbey Road album. During the drum solo, you can hear a crowd cheering as the normal "Get Back" track begins to play, and when that happens you can hear not one, but two of the guitar solos from "The End" at around 0:22-0:26 (on the Love album). During all of this, you can hear part of the orchestrated part between the verse and the bridge from "A Day in the Life", before it halts at 0:31 and finishes. The song is pretty much the same from here, until at 1:32 when the "A Day in the Life" orchestra kicks in again. Then Billy Preston does his epic keyboard playing, and afterwards, the song neatly transitions into "Glass Onion".

03 - Glass Onion

References: 3 (possibly more)

One of my favorite transitions is from "Get Back" to "Glass Onion". The song opens up with a rapid down-up-down set of chord strikes that appears to be from "Things We Said Today" on the A Hard Day's Night album. You can also hear plenty of orchestrated excerpts from the White Album song, "Piggies" (so many excerpts it's ridiculous). I forgot where the high-pitched "Oh!" vocals came from, though. The same "Glass Onion" drum track is kept. At around 0:35 to 0:41, you can hear the horns from "Penny Lane", and after that the song continues like normal, until at 1:03 and onwards where you can hear John making some sort of breathing vocal noises.

Next up!

Eleanor Rigby/Julia (Transition), I Am the Walrus, I Want to Hold Your Hand