HAY GUYS

Although how lazy is it to write two films in a row that basically end the exact same way? Also annoyed with the tv spots basically giving away the most satisfying aspects of the end of the movie, holy crap.

Edit: Whoops, my bad, for some reason I'd made the assumption that the director wrote this film and The Wrestler, which was incorrect.

Things start out just fine.

But then this happens.

Followed by this.

So, I have a dream that there's this group of people coming into work on a Saturday, but I have the day off. But I don't sleep in and I'm bored and restless not knowing what to do with myself, so I head down to work to see if everyone's getting along fine without me. They seem to not be getting much work done, taking it easy. I leave and get some coffee, read a paper, I'm not really required to be there anyway, so why not.

On the way back, I notice a door into the building I've never seen before, I go in through it. All the lights are off in the building now, all but a few dim ones here and there. Everybody's dead. I hear the sound of something approaching, loud but slow and steady thuds, I turn around and here comes my boss encased in a red robotic armor suit. He's lost all his hair, his skin is pale with veins showing across his scalp and he has one of those eyepieces like Vegeta's OVER 9000 scanner. Kinda like a borg but more like a red master chief.

Well, Jim starts shooting lasers out of his eyepiece as he skulks towards me. When they charge up to fire, they sound distinctly like a certain enemy attack in Phantasy Star 4. I run for the exit, not the one I entered the building to, this is the one I normally enter and exit from, and outside, as you may have guessed, is a ruined world, rubble, abandoned buildings, burning cars, ufo like crafts in the sky firing at whatever moves or will explode on the ground below.

So, I take off arunnin' and I am zooming, I'm running a long distance at a fast pace and not tiring at all. Usually in my dreams when I attempt to run away from something, in feels like I'm running underwater and seemingly in slow motion. I mean, like, everytime, so I found that part really strange. Anyshit, I take a look over my shoulder and there is Jim, he has rocket boots, naturally, and he's pretty much right there on my ass.

I turn a corner and before I'm back in his line of vision, my sleeve gets tugged and I'm yanked into some building, saved by a member of the resistance movement. She leads me into the stairwell and to the top of the building, up about 4 stories where the rest of the army is stationed. Almost immediately, a large section of the ceiling crumbles in and multiple red master chief/borgs drop in and there's machine gun fire and lasers and lots and lots of yelling. And for some reason I have this cup of liquid in my hand suddenly. I drink it and pass out and wake up in the coffee place. The outside world has returned to normal.

I drive back to work and get all up in Jim's face about him being an evil intergalactic conqueror. He looks pretty pissed off and puts me on a performance improvement plan. He gives me some forms and tells me I have to gather 600 signatures from coworkers as votes of confidence from them that I shouldn't lose my job.

So I leave in a huff, but fast forward to Monday and I totally buckle and do it and I'm being a big brown nose so I won't get fired.

Speaking of boring, my preliminary list for the VGM song contest nominations, it has no balls, none at all. All I want to nominate are the leftovers that haven't made the cut in years past, or songs I didn't have room for, or songs from games I've nominated in past years but barely chose one representation over the other and to top it off just about the entire thing is orchestrated.

I am without a doubt going to nominated Seere's Happiness, Sky from Drag-on Dragoon which I had in my list forever last year but I pulled it at the last minute for a Children of Mana track that went reasonably deep but was criticized all to hell. This one would have the opposite effect I believe, go out early but get some praise from certain people. Regardless, it's been a personal favorite of mine for awhile and it's at least seeing the light of day this time around.

A song I knew I'd be nominating first time I heard it in game is Super Paper Mario's Staff Credits. Pretty repetitive but a highly fun song.

I think for the past two years I've been trying to get Endless Mine from Sonic 3 in there. I completely blanked on it during the chiptune contest (particularly stupid as my list in that was entirely Sega, too). I don't want to cheat this one out of a spot again. Though I doubt it's going anywhere.

I can't go a year without nominating something from a PSO game. I definitely want to take a crack at nominating something from Phantasy Star Universe again and there is this piece I really love but I know it doesn't have broad appeal. The track is RELICS - Sleep -. I also wouldn't mind nominating the very lovely Ohtoku City - Neudaiz - which would surely be more of a success, even if I don't prefer it to the former. Decisions, decisions.

I'm still sort of mad over how FFXII has received mostly lousy representation in the contest thus far and am debating between A Land of Memories or The Skycity of Bhujerba to put somewhere in my list.

I'll probably put Gusty Garden Galaxy from SMG low in there. I anticipate that one being high on someone else's list for some reason.

I want to nominate The Meditation of Many Years again from Valkyrie Profile 2, but I know it won't get in without a high slot, and I'm afraid I just have too many others I'd place above it (and no one's going to boost it). Same story with Under the All-Powerful Divine Protection, which is sublime.

Links to all the songs mentioned here if you're curious.

Drag-On Dragoon - Seere's Happiness, Sky
Final Fantasy XII - A Land of Memories
Final Fantasy XII - The Skycity of Bhujerba
Phantasy Star Universe - Ohtoku City - Neudaiz -
Phantasy Star Universe - RELICS - Sleep -
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 - Endless Mine
Super Mario Galaxy - Gusty Garden Galaxy (hopefully find a higher quality version should it make it into the contest)
Super Paper Mario - Staff Credits
Valkyrie Profile 2 - The Meditation of Many Years
Valkyrie Profile 2 - Under the All-Powerful Divine Protection

Opinions?