Walk the walk...

"Even more curious than that, and maybe more brave, we are proven something about Wally West here that has been starting to become distinctly clear since the second half of the Cadmus arc. The Flash is a superhero. He does good. Why, you might ask? "Because it needs to be done" is about the most reasoning you’d get from this Flash. That’s very square-jawed a concept, isn’t it? Well, couple that with his good-natured hedonism, or at the least, fun-loving. One might be tempted to get cynical when these personality elements join, but save his few youthful overindulgences or poorly-worded/timed comments, there is nothing contradictory about this union of characteristics. The real trick, it seems, is that it’s hard to look past his goofiness and see the hero within. That’s the problem that the other core Leaguers suffered under earlier in the show’s history, as the Flash’s complaints in The Ties That Bind attest to. But if the goofiness has no contradiction, why should it be so hard to bypass? Ah, the fault then lies with the beholder (that is, us), and not Wally. This is modern fatigue with idealism at its finest, ladies and gents. The idea that it is easier to accept an anti-hero with a scarred past and a difficulty telling right from wrong than it is to accept a happy-go-lucky guy who does the right thing because people would get hurt otherwise and then goes home to his modest apartment in satisfaction. Wally West, as Flash and Substance shows, has devoted his life to the people. It’s in his day job. It’s in his superheroics. It’s in his community service. Why? Because he can, and because it needs doing. “Because I can” has been a sad excuse of those who do bad things for years. Shouldn’t the do-gooders get to say it once in a while? Flash and Substance, in its own gentle and amusing way, reminds us that the only reason we would question a man like Wally West is that we are trying to justify our own inability to do the right thing when we know we both can and should. Wally seems to fit in a fence-painting into his busy schedule. When’s the last time you helped your neighbor when you saw him needing some assistance?"

This is taken from a forum poster who reviewed the Justice League Unlimited episode "Flash and substance", and it is... strangely thought provoking. We do get a lot of anti-heroes nowadays, but seldom do we get someone like Flash, yes?

Dragon Age: Origins is epic.

That is all.

A forum poster on 'What exactly IS Hand of Reckoning?' (A spell in World of Warcraft)

"Blizzard wanted to name the spell Hand of Reckoning, The Grip that Strangles all Evil with the Power of the Light.

But that wouldn't fit so they had to shorten it. "

I find cats generally adorable. Not sure what else to say on that topic, but I will link this instead.

I love Rath. His tendency to go '...' makes him such a cool stoic. He is even cooler than a wall 8D

That is all.

So, as I was waiting on a friend, who would be late, I decide to go to a nearby bookstore. Found Arthas, Rise of the Lich King, and read through it in about 30 minutes. I think my reading speed had improved without me knowing.

A few interesting notes:

Jaina and Arthas definitely have an active sex life. Well, most of the times they were together in the book either ends up in a make-out session or the former.

Jaina is clearly not over Arthas yet. Be it after Stratholme, or just before Wrath of the Lich King.

Arthas continues to think about Jaina a few times, even after becoming a Death Knight. Though it has more to do with how she 'broke her vow' of never denying him anything, and walking away after he decides that Stratholme has to be purged.

Kael'thas is physically perfect, supposedly, according to Arthas, when he was jealous/curious about how Jaina views the elf.

Sylvanas is far from being just a vengeful Forsaken. She got a little homesick when she smelled some herbs. And she definitely did not intent for the plague to be used on everyone. Just the scourge, and possibly the humans. Her hatred for the latter seem to stem from them being responsible for Arthas.

Arthas' steed is named Invincible. It retains that name when Death Knight!Arthas killed and reanimated it.

Flamestrike was reforged by Kael'thas to be used against Arthas after the original broke when his father died defending Qual'thalas. He lost again, but was able to momentarily stun Arthas and teleport away by telling the latter that "...she hates you now." Which was probably untrue, but Arthas did not know that.

Arthas regrets killing the citizens during the Culling, and it did not become easier even after the first few deaths, so that pushed him up a little on my sympathy list.

Teleportation (aka mage's blink and perhaps teleport) is a proper lore ability. Jaina was in Dalaran just before Arthas attack it, and Antonidas urged her to leave before the anti-teleportation wards were put in place. Kael'thas also teleported away to escape in his failed fight with Arthas.

I still do not understand his motivation from revenge against Mal'Ganis to killing and wiping out his own kingdom. Kael'thas descent into madness is much more.. logical? Even at the end, his only attack on Silvermoon City was to grab the Naaru.

That said, reading it makes me look forward to what happens in Icecrown Citadel more. And I hope both Jaina and Sylvanas survives.

I think the latest Naruto chapter is supposed to be some kind of epic reveal.

It just send me past facepalm straight into head-desking territory.

"I stand by my claim that physics students and physicists look at circuit diagrams in the exact same way other people look at pornography."

Is totally the quote of the day, attributed to =avancna , who commented here: http://e1n.deviantart.com/art/WAITT-nerd-taunts-88038972

"There seems to be some runaway ability inflation in Bleach. Soi Fon has that two-hit-kill shikai, so Barragan received an ability to neutralize it that basically left me completely at a loss as to how to explain how anything could have sparred with him to determine ranking. Just the idea that Starrk shot wolves at Barragan at some point in time in order to be at the top of the food chain makes my head hurt. To compensate for that ability, Hachi, of all people, pulls out an ability that could kill any other character by simply teleporting Aizen’s ego into his target’s body. To rein that whole enterprise in, instead of Starrk getting an even more ridiculously-powerful ability he smacks around Shunsui, Ukitake, Love, and Rose with ceros and spirit wolves, to make it seem like he’s powerful even though his abilities seem lame by comparison to Barragan’s morning breathe. However, if I really understood it, Shunsui’s ability was overpowered. It seems that he could have just walked over to Aizen, played reality-distortion tag with him, and that would have been the end of Bleach. Unless Orihime suddenly returns from Hueco Mundo, changes her name to Haruhi, and uncreates everyone that annoys her, I’m not sure how things are supposed to escalate on the power treadmill. Are we headed toward the end of Bleach, or is Aizen going to pull out another few years worth of new characters with a secret new scheme to start us back at zero?"

Lol, posted by a commentor over @ http://randomc.animeblogger.net/2009/09/26/how-did-he-get-to-be-number-one/

The Mentalist is win. So there. Simon Baker really acts well.

And Bleach. Really. Bleach. What crack are you smoking, Kubo?

Finally got around to watching Resident Evil: Degeneration. The graphics is just... amazing. Granted, I was watching it streamed, but even with that, everything just look great. Voices too, were well done, I never felt as if I was watching a movie where it was dubbed. Nice that they retained Leon's VA from RE4. However... no Ada, even in the Racoon City flashbacks. Very fail on that.

And earlier this afternoon, was at the library reading a few of the novels from The Legacy of the Force arc of Star Wars. Every time I read Mara's death it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Still, Wedge was win, as usual, and Luke did pwn Jacen quite nicely in their fights. Even Jacen acknowledged it, somewhere along the lines of 'him being the best swordsman in the galaxy, except possibly Luke, who might be the best ever'. Then again, just a few chapters before he fought Luke who was in BATTLE RAGE.

As for Naruto. Lololol. Absolute defense? I have a BETTER absolute than you! I might be following it now the way qieru is following Bloody Monday.

Annnd finally got another time card for WoW. Sub had ran out earlier this week.

Oh another note, I may start a writing month of my own, just to see how much I can write, since it is unlikely I will be able to take part during the official month.

So, I was playing SRW Original Generations, at the desert where Lune and Masaki sortied by themselves for a few turns. They got surrounded, and all the enemy mooks decide to go for Lune. Being in a relatively dodgy mech, and generic enemy pilots, they all had 25% chance to hit her.

4 of them hit her consecutively in a row. She dies. I did a soft reset. 3 out of 4 him her this time, so she survives.

So... 7 out of 8 attempts hit her. A quick calculation puts the odds of that occuring at 0.0045776%

Maybe I should go buy lottery tomorrow. Or I just used up the odds.

And that is the China Post right there.

Fried rice!

Eggs, minced meat, some sauce. It was pretty decent. First time too. Perhaps I should cook more.

Inability to obtain a job is proving to be a constant annoyance though.

Seriously, I think my top pet peeve with novels are authors who kill off characters for the fun of killing off characters. Not minor characters, mind you, but quite well developed ones.

Or even better, kill them off so they do not have to deal with resolving a love triangle (lulz the third one is dead), or so that they can avoid doing some kind of romance resolution.

Even better, doing so in a way that boggles my mind. For example: two pilots held prisoner by a very, very disturbed enemy general. He is so apt at torturing people that he can beat them up enough so they do not die immediately, but with fatal wounds.

He subjects both of them to beatings. Different beatings, mind you, since he wants them to die and recognises that the male has stronger constitution. What happens? The female dies, but the male somehow survives.

At the end of the book, there was about... a single paragraph discussing about her at her funeral. That was it.

Ugh.

Hmm. Looks like the death toll of the village may be 300, give or take, out of 1600.

Super typhoons are really bad.

Oh boy. A few minutes at the Robotech forums can be really... 'uplifting'. I actually got into Macross due to Robotech: The Macross Saga. First the Robotech novels, then the DVD, and then finally into Macross proper (the series, DYRL etc etc).

So, apparently Rick/Hikaru is the best pilot, because he had the most kills on-screen (never mind that as main character we see him the most?), the hottest streak, and, to quote 'got the hottest girl'. I am not too sure, but many of his supporters sound like... they are projecting themselves on to the main character of the series. An inverse of a self-insert, if you will.

And Rick will win against Miriya/Milia 'hands down', because Max beats her, and Rick is 'definitely' better than Max. What?! Or the even more laughable excuse, Max is better in Veritech, Rick will beat him with an aircraft. Hello. The better pilot is the one who can push his/her machine to better usage. And Max does that, changing flight forms when needed to deadly, deadly efficiency. Even in Robotech it is quite obvious, not to mention in Macross. It reminds me, sadly, of some Naruto fans, where he must be the beeeeeeeest because he is the main character (and that is before the time skip).

And finally, Max is a terrible womaniser, and is even worse, a total lech in M7 because he has the bridge crew going after him and yet does nothing to stop them? Eh. From what I remember, they do not make their fawning obvious in his presence, ~and~ the only time it was obvious is in the short story 'Seven Bridge', and even then they only dare to do it when he was asleep. How do you stop people from going after you if you are not aware of it in the first place?

*facepalm*

And in other news, disaster relief crew from all parts of Taiwan are heading to the South, because the south alone cannot handle it. According to my mother, that is a first, and shows how bad it supposedly is. Well. I know it is. Hopefully there are good news later.