Zhalloween is such a boss title.

Day 1: MineCraft/Enderman/Herobrine - Song: "3AM" by Eminem
Day 2: Lavender Town (Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow) - Song: "Waking the Demon" by Bullet for my Valentine

Good day my fellow friends and lurkers! Today marks the third day of my Halloween spectacular, 15 days of Zhalloween. What do we discuss today? We discuss a fan favorite!

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You knew he was coming...

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(I apologize for this entire part being centered, but GameSpot's blogs have hated me recently...)

Yes, you all knew I might've talked about this son of a biscuit! Giygas of the Mother/EarthBound series! I mean, look at him... gaah! We all know he looks scary, and his boss theme(yes, I can post links into words again) is damn disturbing. But... is there more to that that makes him creepy?

Well... not really. He's sure creepy and scary-looking, but anything else isn't that scary. Let's look at his backstory.

He was an alien found by Maria and George (who have no last names), and was raised by them. In the early 1900s, he and his family got abducted by aliens with PSI powers. When he was grown up, he was tasked to not spread these PSI powers to Earth, but this didn't end well. Giygas left Maria and began an invasion on Earth. Soon, he found the Apple of Enlightenment, which foresaw his demise at the hands of Ness. He attempts to attack the Earth 20 years earlier to prevent this from happening.

But once the invasion has begun, the great-grandson of Maria and George, Ninten, takes Giygas on and attempts to stop him. Upon realizing he and his friends could not defeat Giygas, he begins singing a song that Giygas and Maria once shared, which weakens him to point of surrendering. However, he promises to return...

...and after multiple years, he does, in EarthBound (the previous events occured in Mother). Trying to stop this prophecy, he brainwashes Pokey Minch, Ness's neighbor, to help him. Due to his massive amounts of power, his being is destroyed, making him non-describable. He becomes the Embodiment of Evil. Pokey steals the Devil's Machine for Giygas so he control his power and mind. So he launches the Apocalypse, about 10 years after the beginning of EarthBound. Going back in time to warn Ness is a friendly bee-alien named Buzz Buzz.

Once Ness collects the Eight Melodies, he confronts Giygas, who is in the Devil's Machine, and Pokey. Pokey turns off the machine, unleashing Giygas's full power, surrounding the heroes in a dimension of darkness, where he has random attacks and messed up speech ("I'm... h... a... p... p... y..." and "Ness Ness Ness Ness (repeatedly saying Ness)" are well-known). Paula's prayers are able to stop him through his weakness, which is emotions, most likely caused by Maria. He disappears, and the apocalypse never happens.

What did we learn? Giygas has a damn good backstory, but other than that, appearance and his theme are the only creepy thing about him. Well, and the fun little theory that he is a fetus, which has been proven false on mutliple occassions, and a coincidence. But yea, that's it.

Song of the day:

"Nightmare" by Avenged Sevenfold

The song speaks for itself.

That is all! Tomorrow, I shall do Day 4! Excitement!

Zhalloween has such a nice ring to it, wouldn't you agree?

Day 1: MineCraft/Endermen/Herobrine (Song: "3AM" by Eminem)

Welcome to the 15 days of Zhalloween! Today, we take on a famous little town of a famous little game...

Why not celebrate Halloween with the fun little creepy town of Lavender Town from Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow? Not only does it have some creepy music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fYam4QKnsM) (GS, why can't I post links into words anymore?) that reportedly caused weird things to happen to the Japanese children who had the game, but a creepy backstory.

The town of Lavender is where the dead Pokemon are laid to rest. So, lots of ghosties and creepy things. One in particular is the ghost of Cubone's mother, who was killed by Team Rocket and has returned from the great beyond to seek revenge. But that's not really important... DAT MUSIC!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fYam4QKnsM

Creepy Pasta of the day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK2iLnTR9V8(WARNING: THIS MAY DISTURB YOU)

A tale based on the music of the town. There's a story in the description. I'll post it here for ya.

I met my best friend in elementary school. We had both brought our Gameboys to school one day and sat together at lunch once we realized what we had in common. I had Blue version and a Venausaur, he had Red version and a Charizard. He and I battled whenever we could and became great pals. As the years went on, we continued playing Pokemon, even through high school. Throughout all of the Pokemon generations and versions we went though, the battles never became dull.

As we approached college, we had to go separate ways. We didn't speak much after that; we had such busy lives to follow in college. I didn't think we would ever regain the friendship we once had. Then, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were released in 2007 and we once again enjoyed our common interest in the series. We battled and talked over Wi-Fi nearly every day for a few weeks after its release.

My friend told me that he planned to play through his old Red version again. Since it had been about three months after the release of Diamond and Pearl, we didn't play them as much as before. I asked him why he wanted to play that dusty old cartridge, and he responded, "I don't know, maybe I'll find something that no one has found before."

Despite my unwillingness to run through my Blue version with him, he played his Red version anyway. After he started his journey, I never talked to him again. About three weeks later, I received a call from my friend's parents.

Even though he never had any similar problems before, he died from what was speculated to be an intense seizure. He was alone in his dorm room until a roommate, who was unfortunately too late, found him lying on the ground, lifeless, and strangely wearing his favorite headphones. I flew out as soon as I could to attend his funeral. His roommate, who was going to attend as well, informed me that just days before the incident my friend was becoming obsessed with Lavender Town and its music. My friend had aspired to become a sound engineer after graduating and had a wide range of audio skills at his disposal. He could always hear quiet sounds vividly while I failed to even recognize them at all.

As soon as he rediscovered Lavender Town, he ripped its audio to his computer and began experimenting with it. Interestingly, he bragged about finding a rare rip of the music from the first distributed batch of the Japanese-exclusive Green version. Not specifically referring to the special Japanese version, he had told the roommate that, "The frequencies in this song are different; they blend together in a special way. But there's something missing. I think something was meant to be mixed in, but it never could have worked on the Gameboy. It was so limited in terms of sound bandwidth." I had the chance to go through his laptop one last time, so I visited his Recent Items list. At the very top read "lavender.wav". Along with a few photos of us together, I copied this to my flash drive. Caught in my sadness over my best friend's death, I ignored the audio file until a few weeks before writing this. I somehow recently decided that I needed to retrace what had happened.

Driven by my desire to know what caused his untimely death, I opened the properties dialog box for the audio file, without opening the file to listen to it. Within the comments section of the metadata, he had written, "binaural tones, i added the necessary frequencies, i know why lavender town sounds so sad, and i know the part that was missing". Even eerier, I looked in his default audio program (still without listening to the file) and found the playcount for this file. One. I chatted with a sound enthusiast online in hope to decipher these cryptic comments. He gave me some special software which would analyze the audio in real time and said that was the most that could be done. This video is a screen recording of me running the aforementioned software with the original audio file. To this day I have not listened to the actual audio, as I am too emotionally disturbed by my best friend, Anthony's, death.

Creepy, eh?

Song of the day!

"Waking the Demon" by Bullet for my Valentinehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2I0ulTZWXA&ob=av3n

If you saw my Top 25 Artists, you may recall I don't like screamo music. Well, this band is an exception. This song has Werewolves (not gay ones though), and it involves some rather Halloweeny themes and such. Just listen damnit.

See you tomorrow for *insert what I'm doing tomorrow here*.

Something Halloween. I'll figure it out eventually. Also, yes I said I was gonna do an album review, but I speak in Valve time, and I thought of something more fun...

*mhmm*

Welcome one and all to Zman's 15 Days of Halloween! What is this event thingy, you may or may not ask? Well, this will be a series of blogs focusing on Spooky and Scary stuff in Vidya Games. They can be characters, areas, even entire games! And each blog also has a song at the end which I find Halloween-y. This is in no order at all, meaning the last day won't have what I think is the scariest thing in video games, so just letting ya know.

So, why not start off with a favorite game among many?

Whaaaaaaat? MineCraft is CREEPY? Yes, it is. And Day 1 of Zhalloween (ooh, that works) is the entire game in it's entirety. Let's talk about it.

OK, so the game has two modes: Survival and Creative (and soon enough Hardcore mode). Creative is a fun one, where you just build whatever the hell you want. Survival, however, is where you build to live. You want to thrive and survive. Of course, you can play the game on Peaceful if you want it to just be like Creative but you have to collect resources instead of having it at the start. But for those who wish to try harder difficulties, you have to deal with the dangers of dark places and nights. This game is basically saying "Be Afraid of the Dark". Zombies, Skeletons, and Creepers will spawn and attempt to kill you, and newbies to the game will be horrified. When it comes to Mines, you'll never know what's at each corner, and enemies can surprise you and creep the hell out of you. Sometimes they make noise, sometimes they don't... fortunately, they only spawn in dark, so using torches to light areas prevents them from appearing.

The enemies of the game include Zombies, which moan and just are creepy, Skeletons that will shoot arrows at you, Creepers that explode on your ass, and Spiders. Zombies and Skeletons burn up in the sun, while Creepers and Spiders won't (however the latter becomes friendly in sun). But the worst of any enemy you'll encounter... are the Endermen.

Oh Christ. Not only can these guys survive in sunlight, they are pure black with soul-less eyes that stare into your soul... They can easily defeat you, but what's creepier is how they approach you. They won't attack you unless you were to stare at them. Then they shake, open their mouths, and charge at you. They can see you look at them from a distance, and they will teleport often to catch you by surprise or just avoid your attacks. They will make you paranoid.

There is also an interesting creepy-pasta fanfic about MineCraft, which focuses on a character named... "Herobrine".

Here's the story. Don't worry, it's short:http://imageshack.us/f/839/1282562318477.jpg/

Pretty creepy, and it certainly can make you paranoid also...

Anyway, thank you for reading this part. Tomorrow will be something else.

Creepy song of the day:
-"3AM" by Eminem:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAuo8IOFNuE(damnit GS, let me insert links into words)

So, this is the music video. The lyrics are about a pyschotic murderer, and the video is damn creepy and fits perfectly. A great song as well.

Fun fact: I accidentally backed out of this page when I was making this. Fortunately, I haven't even finished #12...

So, this the second part of my special series of my favorite musical artists! Again, like last time, all other links should open in new tabs/windows. So... here is my Top 25 Musical Artists, part 2, consisting of numbers 12-1!

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#12: Foo Fighters!

Favorite song: The Pretender

They have awesome hippie hair (though not in this picture) and are PURE HARD ROCK YAAAAH! I think these guys are simply winrar. The lead singer, David Grohl, was the drummer for Nirvana (who won't appear on this list, as I don't like their music). But anyway, awesome band, recently released an album (back in April), check 'em out yo. Cloud is satisfied.

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#11: Shinedown!

Favorite song: Sound of Madness

Oh bloody 'ell. These guys are schweet. Their strong themes, lyrics, and sound (which varies between stuff like "Sound of Madness" to slow, not-hard songs like "Second Chance"). My friend got me into these guys. I guess there isn't too much to say, but definitely a good band.

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#10: Ozzy Osbourne!

Favorite song: I Don't Wanna Stop

The King of Metal! Ozzy Osbourne! His intense vocal prowess, awesome guitar riffs, insane lyrics... this guy is SO. AWESOME. You cannot hate him. I dare you to. You can't? YEA I thought so. Ozzy Osbourne: He's DA BOSS. All of you shall obey the King of Metal!

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#9: Tech N9ne (lol epic coincidence)

Favorite song: Worldwide Choppers (ft. D-Loc, Twista, Busta Rhymes, Ceza, JL B.Hood, Twisted Insane, U$O, and YelaWolf)

This guy is a bloody awesome rappers. Sweet lyrics and an awesome sound makes him an awesome rapper. When I first heard of him, it was in school, when I saw noticed some friends who would normally listen to metal and such listening to him, and I was confused; there had to be a catch. When I did check him out, it was worth it. One of the best rappers out there now.

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#8: Lupe Fiasco!

Favorite song: Words I Never Said

Lupe Fiasco's songs have some of the most powerful meanings I have ever heard. They are crazy. Plus his wordplay and rapping skills are quite impressive. With strong lyrics, amazing emotions, and awesome beats, he has every quality of a good rapper. Nay-sayers be damned! :x

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#7: Avenged Sevenfold!

Favorite song: Afterlife

OH GOD YES. These guys are filled with win. Metal with WIN! WINtal. The awesome intros within most of their songs, the awesome guitarist and singer, the awesome everything... I shall not explain further: too awesome.

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#6: Skillet!

Favorite song: Savior

Kinda hard to believe this is a Christian rock band, considering how popular they are and the some of their songs, eh? But who cares: these guys are so bloody awesome. I feel as if I'm repeating myself at this point, but their lyrics are great, sounds are great, and everything else I can think of is great. Still can't believe this is a Christian rock band...

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#5: Eminem!

Favorite song: Till I Collapse (ft. Nate Dogg)

C'mon, this is really to be expected... Eminem is an awesome rapper. He has amazing lyrical ability, and his songs show strong emotions and feelings. Interesting fact, is that this dude had #5 on my last list as well, so while his surrounding artists were changing positions, he didn't. But doesn't matter: awesome guy.

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#4: Linkin Park!

Favorite song: Bleed it Out

Combing rap/hip-hop with rock and alternative metal (according to Wikipedia, they are), these guys are quite popular and appear everywhere: pop stations, rock stations, alternative stations, and even light stations. Bloody love these guys. They are awesome. THEY ARE. They are not posers, you nubs.

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#3: Hollywood Undead!

Favorite song: Been to Hell

Pay attention Limp Bizkit: this is how you make a rap/rock (or metal) band without sucking at it horribly. These guys manage to successfully combine the two genres for something of pure awesome. PURE AWESOME! Sadly, they are a bit underrated, so listen to them. One of the best bands evaer. I've recently been addicted to them (so addicted, I wouldn't be surprised if some people are shocked they aren't #1!)

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#2: B.o.B!

Favorite song: Beast Mode

This guy is a boss. Why? His lyrics, his music, his themes, his styIe, his everythign, his awesomeness, his skills... etc. One of the best rappers to rise to fame in the past couple of years, and for good reason. My favorite rapper is this awesome guy. Listen to him, rap fans. Listen to his win!

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RECAP:

2) B.o.B

3) Hollywood Undead

4) Linkin Park

5) Eminem

6) Skillet

7) Avenged Sevenfold

8) Lupe Fiasco

9) Tech N9ne

10) Ozzy Osbourne

11) Shinedown

12) Foo Fighters

13) Metallica

14) Theory of a Deadman

15) Rise Against

16) Paramore

17) Seether

18) Three Days Grace

19) Zebrahead

20) Busta Rhymes

21) Evanescence

22) The Offspring

23) Airbourne

24) Slaughterhouse

25) Asher Roth

Yes, it's backwards, but who cares lolz.

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My number 1 favorite artist of all time is...

Aerosmith!

Favorite song: Dude Looks Like a Lady

You saw it coming. I've gone on about them multiple times, I've told many a people they were my favorite band, and they #1 last list as well. But when you think about, they don't have those serious lyrics like other artists on the list, there songs lack emotions sometimes, and they aren't always serious. But why #1? Simple: their songs are just "fun". They don't have to have meanings to be good songs, they don't need to take on serious issues, as long as they are great to you and sound awesome, they are good. And so, even if they lack Lupe Fiasco's wordplay prowess, or Rise Against's strong meanings, they are still an amazing band.

And so, those are my 25 favorite artists. Here are some honorable mentions:

YelaWolf:Eminem's protege, also having awesome songs.

Bad Meets Evil/Fort Minor: Bad Meets Evil is the duo of Eminem and Royce Da 5'9" (Slaughterhouse), and Fort Minor is Mike Shinoda, or the rapper of Linkin Park. I did not include them for a reason.

Travis Barker:The awesome drummer of Blink-182, not included because he never really did much other than make the music on his solo album. But he would've made the list if I did include him.

And that is all. Tune in to the 12th for an album review!

Good day, gentlementlemen! Zmanrwks brings you a special blog to celebrate 100 blogs (well, 101... blog 100 ended up being me saying Steve Jobs died). Back a while ago, I did my Top 15 artists, but didn't really like it. It felt rush, and since then my musical tastes have changed a bit and a discovered new artists. Here is the updated, awesomer, and more considered list!

List requirements: I have to like it, and you have to deal with it. Just a heads up, the genres I listen to are Rock, Metal, and Rap, so don't expect anything else. Especially country. I despise country. So... let's begin! Also, I will note all links should open in a new tab/window. Also (again), some of these are explicit, so you are warned.

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#25: Asher Roth!

Favorite song: Be By Myself (ft. Cee-Lo Green)

Starting off the list is a rather underrated rapper. Also he's white. He really only has had one album out so far, but a good amount of mixtapes. What I liked about him is his lyrics, being well-rhymed and having astounding word-play. Some of you may know one of his songs, "I Love College"... that song isn't what most, if not all, his songs are about. They are quite different than that.

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#24: Slaughterhouse!

Favorite song: The One

The group consisting of Royce Da 5'9", Joe Budden, Crooked I, and Joell Ortiz, these 4 rappers provide excellence in lyrics, and music in general. This is how a rap group should be.

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#23: Airbourne!

Favorite song: Runnin' Wild

Remember those 80s? It had some good music. For the past 30 years, though, rock music has changed a bit, and never really sounded the same (not that that's a bad thing). Airbourne comes the closest. Mixing an 80s styIe as well as a modern styIe Airbourne is a band of bosses. Pure rock!

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#22: The Offspring!

Favorite song: Gone Away

These guys... bloody awesome. Their songs... bloody awesome. The sound... bloody awesome. Bottom line is that the Offspring is a bloody awesome band. Something about their styIe and the songs they make is just so appealing and catchy, you will be getting thses songs stuck in your head once you hear them.

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#21: Evanescence!

Favorite song: Sweet Sacrifice

New album coming out the 11th after 5 years, woohoo! Anyway, what makes Evanescence awesome? Is the amazing voice of the lead singer, Amy Lee? Is it the difficult (for me at least ;-; ) to pronounce name of the band? Is it their gothic-ish styIe No matter, their music rocks, and shows that you sexist brats who think women can only make crappy pop music can make rockin' tunes.

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#20: Busta Rhymes!

Favorite song: Don't Touch Me (Throw Da Water On 'Em)

This guy. THIS GUY. He is faster than Sonic with his insanely fast rapping. He kills any track he makes or any track he is featured on (he gets featured on quite a couple of tracks; people wanna work with this guy!). His awesome lyrical prowess and insanely speedy rapping just make him all the more better.

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#19: Zebrahead!

Favorite song: Sorry But Your Friends Are Hot

Be honest... how many of you know them only because of Sonic the Hedgehog (lol I already made 2 references to Sonic... let's see how many I can make in total)? Well, I'll be honest that's how I discovered them. But these guys are WIN. Combining punk rock with rap? Crazy, but it works. These guys tend to have awesome guitar solos, awesome party songs, and awesome everythign (mispelling intentional, inside joke none of you will understand). Anyway, awesome band. If you liked 'His World", listen to these guys.

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#18: Three Days Grace!

Favorite song: Pain

Hard rock at it's finest (even if my song thing doesn't really show it to it's full extent). These guys have strong emotion in their songs, with great lyrics, sounds, instruments, these guys are crazy yo. I love these guys, no homo.

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#17: Seether!

Favorite song: Sold Me

I still don't know how to describe the genre here... it's rock, but combined with metal. Post-grunge propably... some of their songs manage to have screamo parts, like this song, which is unusual as I dislike screamo. Ugh. Something about the way it sounds... too much of a mess and just plain... ugh. So... oh yes, Seether. Ummm... I like them.

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#16: Paramore!

Favorite song: Ignorance

Heads up: THEY AREN'T BLOODY POP OR POP ROCK. K, done with that. Paramore is awesome, the songs being awesome and punk. Lyrics are sweet, music is sweet, and Hayley Williams is so hot-- I MEAN good at singing. I said nothing... disregard this.

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#15: Rise Against!

Favorite song: Prayer of the Refugee

Rock-metal... not sure, somewhere inbetween. But these guys rule. Not only having good music, but having powerful lyrics and meanings in their songs. They show differences can be made with music and won't stop until everyone gets their message! And even then they'll keep going! Ahaha! Rise Against!

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#14: Theory of a Deadman!

Favorite song: So Happy

So much rock! o3o Anyway, these guys are pretty awesome. Their songs focus on sounding like rock, and lyrics that fit that. With a sound similar to Nickelback (at least when I first heard them, not so much after you listen to them for a bit). I guess at first I wasn't too big a fan, mostly because when I first heard them popping up on mainstream radio, the songs were not their best and some of the slower-y songs. It was meh, but after hearing their other hits, I found these guys rules.

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#13: Metallica!

Favorite song: Battery

Final one for Part 1 ;-; But let's end with some METAL! YEAA! Get your long hair and begin headbanging with some METALLICA! When I think metal, I think these guys. This band truly has the definition of metal: rock, but harder, more upbeat. I lurv these guys. Can't wait for their Lou Reeds collaboration album coming soon.

And that's all. Next part (tomorrow) will feature the rest. You may or may not be surprised.

I like trains.

What a way to make a 100th blog post.

Anyway, that guy who made Apple or something died today, according to Yahoo!. I mean, go to the first page, says he died.

w00t.

(PS: I'm making a review of another album on October 12th)

I know I said I was gonna make a part 2 of the internet leaking thing... but I didn't feel like it. So instead here is a review of an album. This is my first album review, so it isn't perfect, but I hope you enjoy it.

And no, I will provide links to any song or download. Look it up yourself.

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Neighborhoods ~ Blink-182
Release: 9/27/11
# of songs: 10 (14 Deluxe)

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It has been 8 years. 8 years since Blink-182 released their last album before what was supposedly a permanent hiatus, but after a reunion tour in 2009, they returned to the studio with their latest effort, Neighborhoods. Now, I'll admit to never really actually listened to their stuff before this album, but I did like the few I have heard, and I thought this was a great place to start. Plus with my recent obsession with drummer Travis Barker (who released a solo album back in March), I felt like I needed to check out the album. So, here is my first album review on Blink-182's Neighborhoods.

Track 1: Ghosts on the Dancefloor: The album opens up with a catchy tune and an overall great song. The song is an upbeat song about seeing a loved one while hearing a song. The fact that it's both somber and cheery makes it all the more lyrically and emotionally great. It's a great song to start the album with.

Track 2: Natives: The album continues to stay upbeat with "Natives". The lyrics are about the singer who feels like he needs to release himself, as on the inside he is trapped. Again, upbeat, strong, a good follow up to track 1.

Track 3: Up All Night: The lead single from the album was the first taste of Neighborhoods. And it was delicious. The song is dark lyrically, and tones it down a bit to fit a more serious tone. The lyrics have a focus on the "demons" of addictions giving him no rest. This song left us wanting more, and is again a great song. 3 for 3 so far!

Track 4: After Midnight: The second single, and is a slower song. The song talks about troubles with a relationship, however the singer still has his feelings and doesn't want to break up. The lyrics and beat work together great in this song, and the drums especially stick out. This is definitely one of the best songs on the album.

Track 5 (Deluxe bonus): Snake Charmer: The first deluxe song of the album. The song sounds similar to "After Midnight" just a bit heavier. The song is about a cheating or sinner girl, comparing this to the story of Adam and Eve. ("Good girls they like to sin way back at the starting line when Eve was on Adam's mind"). A good song, nice beat and lyrical content.

Track 6 (Deluxe bonus): Heart's All Gone Interlude: If you have the deluxe version, I'd recommend listening to this first for a better experience with the following song. The interlude is a piano with a guitar, playing softly, giving the feeling of a slower song on the way...

Track 7: Heart's All Gone: ...but PLOT TWIST! You get the best song and an incredibly upbeat song. It's possibly the most upbeat and hardest song on the album. The song is about a girl who is cruel and has no heart ("You say you speak from the heart but your heart's all gone"). The song is so hard, and the power and emotion is very strong within the tune. The interlude just makes it all better and adds to it. Great song, incredible song!

Track 8: Wishing Well: Again upbeat (this is a very upbeat album). The song's lyrics... are somewhat unclear to me in this one. The song's lyrics and beat don't mix too well here for this reason, making this one of the weaker tracks. Still OK overall.

Track 9: Kaleidoscope: This is a happy song in beat, and in lyrically it's half happy, half somber. It shows struggles and accomplishments, and "Kaleidoscope" is a good song.

Track 10: This is Home: Happy song! Again! The song compares the current life - good and bad - but is still home. The song has a great beat and lyrics that are positive.

Track 11: MH 4.18.2011: Originally titled "Hold On", called this for no reason whatsoever. The song is fastpaced, and lyrically is about keeping your strength and keep moving on, forgetting the past. Great lyrically and great beat, the song is simply great.

Track 12: Love is Dangerous: The final track on the standard edition of the album (deluxe has 2 more tracks). The song is about someone who basically says love is dangerous. With both lyrics that infuse break-up songs and dark tones with a pinch of insanity as well as a nice, serious beat, it's another stellar track, and a good ending song (for standard albums).

Track 13 (Deluxe bonus): Fighting the Gravity: Those who have the deluxe album get two more songs. This song has a slow tempo, yet it's somewhat of a nice change. The song is dark lyrically about somewhat who is struggling with depression and love sickness. This is an awesome track, due to it's dark yet strong lyrics and beat.

Track 14 (Deluxe bonus): Even if She Falls: The final song on the deluxe... sad to see an end to this album ;-; It's a basic love song. "Even if She Falls" is followed by "in love", as some may have assumed it to be falls as in fails or enters a struggle. The song basically says "it's better to have loved lost than never to have loved at all". This song succeeds as a great song and the perfect way to end the album.

So, Blink-182's Neighborhoods is a success; an awesome triumph filled with great sounds, powerful and mature lyrics, and some awesome songs. This album should be bought by any Blink-182 fan, and any rock fan in general.

Final Score: 9/10

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Thank you for reading. If there is any other opinions on the album or ideas for a format to use for the reviews of future albums.

The internet: the world of memes, viral videos, and cat pictures. It has rarely escaped into the real world.

The real world: the mainstream world, where we live. It is a whole 'nother place, seperate from the internet. Computers have been a gateway, and the internet and mainstream media hasn't really mingled. But... will it?

Let's do some history. According to Wikipedia, a meme is"an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture." The first use of this idea (not word) was in 1844 in Max Stirner's book The Ego and it's Own, with comparisons to nationalism and religion. The term was first thought of appeared in 1904; meme comes from the Greek wordμνήμη (mneme) which meant "memory" in a book by German biologist Richard Semon titledDie Mnemischen Empfindungen in ihren Beziehungen zu den Originalempfindungenwhich was referred to as a unit of social evolution. The 1921 translation of the book by L. Simon first used the word mneme.

The actual word "meme" was used in Richard Dawkin's The Selfish Gene (1976). It was meant to be a shortening of the word "mimeme" (from Greek word "mimema": something imitated). The word however was meant as something that sounded like the word gene, not the meaning previously used.

Does this have to do with internet means? nope.avi*. An internet meme by definition is a concept that spreads via internet. Now... internet memes usually tend to stay inside the internet, rarely travelling into the real world, and when they do, it's rather subtle. Very few (which include Charlie Sheen and the Rick Roll) have gone mainstream, but for the most part, they are in a whole 'nother world.

But recently, the line that divides internet and mainstream could be breaking. Or maybe they're all coincidental. Let's look into this a little...

I fist noticed this September 17th, during the season premiere of MyLittlePony: Friendship is Magic. This the first season where it is a recognized meme at the start. So, after establishing an internet following, they might have some references to the internet, right? Probably not... wait what's this? CHOCOLATE RAIN?(best vid I could find)

Evidence #1: MyLittlePony. This is where the wall began to come down. Not only becoming an internet meme and gained a cult following, it gathered mainstream attention: teen and adult males watching shows for little girls was sort of a big thing. With ponies invading the internet, they were invading mainstream. There was a second larger internet-related reference, at the end of the second episode of the season (warning: spoilers). As well as a few smaller, more subtle references (such as Discord's trollish ways), the show has definitely been affected by the internet.

What's more important is that other shows have been trying to become memes (the term is "forced memes"), with different results. Adventure Time and Spongebob have recently been gaining attention on the internet, trying to get the same effect as MLP (most likely, I think), but is it working? Well, Spongebob has the Pushing Patrick meme, and Adventure Time has a mainstream following, but neither have much internet power to back them up and tear down the wall further.

Evidence #2: Seth MacFarlane. You know, that guy who made Family Guy, American Dad, the Cleveland Show, and is making a Flinstones reboot? Yea, him. Last sunday new seasons for those 3 shows (as well as Simpsons, but that's irrelevant), and something interesting happened in Cleveland Show and Family Guy (which appeared back-to-back, respectively). At the end of the Cleveland Show, we got this reference to a viral vid, Best Cry Ever. So, probably some random thing, Seth does this. And it's reletively small. BUT THEN Family Guy.

Ohoho... Family Guy. They brought Trololo guy to the spotlight. Now, they've done something like this before (like the Rick Roll sung by Brian), but the complete randomness and uselessness of the scene brings it out, plus Trololo is a huge thing. Family Guy has succeeded in bringing memes or other things to the mainstream before.

OK, so we have this, but what else? That can't change anything... well, stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow where we go over two other factors: Tosh.0 and MAD.

To be continued...

Awwww yea! I got free games! The 10 NES games that were promised have been given out yesterday, and cuz I bought a 3DS before the price drop (first day 8)). So, I'm gonna talk about their impressions and remind you of my Ambassador Challenge I made and will take on! And then an extra challenge for the people who love Pokemon battling.

Super Mario Bros - Being honest, as awesome as the game is, the controls are a bit cramped on the 3DS. The game is still hell of a lot fun, though.

Legend of Zelda - Perfect fit for the 3DS, though I wish I knew where I needed to go. But I think I may enjoy this game quite a lot.

Metroid - The first Metroid game, and the first one I ever played .-. I like it, and am looking forward to Fusion on GBA. If I like it, I may be tempted to obtain other games in the series.

Donkey Kong Jr. - Easier than the first Donkey Kong... but not in a good way. The game is about the same length, but being easier, it feels shorter. Kind of wish there was more, but certainly not bad.

Ice Climbers - Haven't done much with this game, but looks like I'm gonna have fun... ohoho... I like the platforming, but the jumping is difficult to use sometimes.

Zelda II - I want to finish some other games first, so this one is mostly untouched at the moment.

Wrecking Crew - A fun little spin-off where you destroy things and avoid what looks like anorexic Q*berts. This is simple fun at it's finest.

Balloon Fight - OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS GAME. It's so simple, and little to do, but MY GOD this game is epic. You just need to play it. IT'S EPIC. SRS.

Yoshi - This unique little puzzle game is addictive, like Tetris, just not as addictive. It's inferior, but still fun. I played this quite a bit.

NES Open Tournament Golf - HAHAno.

So, those are what I think about the 10 NES games. I'm not blown away, but I'm not disappointed either. I'm pleased. Now, let me remind what this Ambassador Challenge I'm doing is.

You see, this challenge involves me reviewing all 20 games that appear in the Ambassador Program. Why? Cuz I'm bats*** insane. So, one of the games I'm reviewing in a mini-review right now, on NES Open Tournament Golf. Why? Because the review would be too short if I made one. So here it is.

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NES Open Tournament Golf... it seems like an extremely odd choice to put onto the program, and it is. Not a very good one either. I would really prefer any other title, but we got this. And it's just not fun. Maybe it's the fact I'm not a fan of Golf games, but it's not fun. The game could have been great years ago, but today, it's pretty poor. The game involves golfing, and has quite a couple of modes to play in, but not really anything exciting. You aim where you want the ball to go, paying attention to hazards and wind speed/direction, and then hit it. There's not much that is interesting about the game, and it's the worst of the Ambassador Games.

Final Score: 3/10

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Mediocre review, I know, but it's something... I'm not doing this with every other review, but I had too little to say about this game, I'd do it in a quick paragraph.

Ambassador Challenge Progress: 1/20

Yay.

Now, the special thing for y'all PokeBattlers. How many of you like Volcarona? I'm sure quite a couple of you do. Volcarona is the Fire/Bug guy introduced in Gen 5, for those who need a reminder. So... here's what I want y'all to do!

Get 5 kills with a G.A.V.! (Against a human opponent, not an NPC)

Now, what's a G.A.V.? It's a Gimmick Attack Volcarona. It's a physical version of Volcarona. Given it has an Attack stat of 60, this will be a tricky one. Here's a set I suggest, as well as EVs, Nature, and item.

Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 Speed
Item: Choice Band
Flare Blitz, Wild Charge, Zen Headbutt, U-Turn

*Note:Check Serebii for how to learn moves, if B/W.

Will there be a prize? Well... maybe. Actually, yes. The prize? A Porygon2! Level 100, Eviolite, and an ideal moveset/EV spread. Porygon2 is epic, and became so awesome in Gen 5.

This can be done on either Shoddy, Pokemon Online, or on a traditional B/W cartridge.

And that is all, I hope you can succeed if taking the challenge, and adios.

Should I make a new banner? I really, REALLY like this one (I made it, and feel proud for it), but it is getting old.

That is all.