Today at work, I did absolutely nothing productive.  Now some of you might think, “Yeah, right.  It just feels like you did nothing productive.”  But, truly, I did absolutely nothing at work today.  Everything I touched turned into waste that I threw out at the end of the day.  So to pass the time of this interminably long day, I came up with an idea for the post that I am now making.  (And yes, I do realize that a similar question was posed on “The Office” in Season 2.)

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island for the rest of your life, and were allowed to take five movies with you, what would those movies be?  Ground rules being that any mode of movie is allowed be it VHS, DVD, reel-to-reel, etc, and compilations or multi-disc movies count as a single movie.

My personal TOP 5 (“High Fidelity” geeks are enjoying this) are as follows:

5:  Sahara
Matthew McConaughey...need I really say more?  However, I will humor you.  This movie is excellent in my opinion.  The relationship between McConaughey and Zahn (Al in the movie) is hilarious, and neither of them is bad to look at for two hours over and over again.

4:  Anne of Green Gables Box Set
Ok so there really isn’t a box set, but it is a movie divided into three parts (the last one being absolutely fictitious and not from the books), and I want all of them.  It’s my list, so I make the rules.  It is a wonderful story, and has sentimental value between Kip and myself.

3:  Legally Blonde
We all know that deep down inside, we all wish we were blonde.  The movie is so funny, and cute, and corny, and great that it has to be on everyone’s’ list.

2:  Pride and Prejudice  (The A&E version only, any other version is a sheer abomination.)
This movie is by far one of my favorites.  I love the book, and this is the most accurate adaptation I have ever seen.  The acting is phenomenal, the clothes are classic and accurate, and the actors themselves really fit the parts (can you say Colin Firth is Mr. Darcy).  The music is excellent as well.

And at the top of my list...

1:  Kip and Stephanie’s Honeymoon Video from Hawaii
If I’m going to be stranded on an island for the rest of my life without my husband there in person, I at least want to be able to see the two of us together while we were both very happy, in a beautiful location.  I would miss him too terribly to not have some part of him there with me.  I’m sure all of you are thinking that is the dumbest, corniest pick yet, but I don’t care.  I love Kip!!

Now it is your turn.  Post your lists if you dare allow the rest of the world (or at least our readers) know exactly what kind of person you really are.

Recently a few friends of mine have posted their top 20 or top 25 favorite games of all time on their blogs.  Not to be outdone, I have compiled this list of my top twenty-six games of all time.  :)

26. Metroid:  Should I have included this?  I never truly played the game as it was meant to be played.  I just entered the “Justin Bailey” code and explored to see how far I could get.  This was how I would frequently spend several hours in the afternoon when I got home from school.  But this game was more or less my introduction to video games so I think it must be included.
25. New Super Mario Bros.:  I ranked this game kind of low because it is very recent and may not stand the test of time, but the game was fantastic.  It was a little on the easy side—I mean, I managed to get everything in the game without using any FAQs.  But it was great, and I liked that they resisted the urge to include elements like flying from SMB3 and SMW—you actually want to get fire flowers again!  What I’d really love to see next is New Super Mario Bros. 2, such that NSMB2:SMB2::NSMB:SMB.
24. Half Life 2:  Another one that might be higher if it weren’t for the fact that I am just now playing through it, but it has every indication of being a favorite.  With PC games I don’t mind waiting until they are cheaper and patched.  I consider any PC game straight out of the box to be more like a public beta than a final release.  But I’m a console gamer at heart.
23. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time:  This may seem a little out of place, but it was a really fun beat-em-up game.  Not sure how well it would stand up now though.
22. Mario Kart: Double Dash:  This game was lots of fun as long as you played it the right way—two people to a kart.  I can imagine that I wouldn’t have liked this game so much if I hadn’t played through it with Garrison.  It suffered from the same problem as every other Mario Kart though: once you unlock every track you don’t really want to play anymore.
21. Goldeneye 007:  A classic.  Caverns and Frigate were my favorite levels.  I got all the cheat codes.  That was not an easy task—to get the last one I played the same stage (Facility on 00 Agent) over and over for like four hours straight!
20. Unreal Tournament:  The only FPS that I spent significant time on in multiplayer.  Morpheus r0x0r3d.
19. Donkey Kong Country:  The game that pushed the limits of 16-bit gaming to new levels.  I remember being on the phone with Peter as we tried to figure out where the last two secrets were, in order to get the coveted 101% rating.
18. Metal Gear Solid 2:  The only game for a Sony system that will make it on this list, this game was really cool.  I haven’t played MGS3 yet, maybe some day...
17. Super Mario Bros. 3:  What list would be complete without this game?  This was the upper limit of what an 8-bit system could do.  I have to confess that I never beat the game without Game Genie until I played the Super Mario All-Stars version much later.
16. Banjo-Kazooie:  3D platformers never managed to take hold like they did in 2D, but I liked them a lot, and this one was lots of fun.  I don’t really have a problem with collecting five thousand tokens in every level.
15. Animal Crossing:  I would be remiss as a list-maker if I didn’t include this game, even if it calls my sexual orientation into question.  Non-simultaneous multiplayer!  A game that you never really beat, you just sort of get tired of playing it!  Interesting sidenote: my in-laws love this game and have two avatars each.
14. Final Doom:  For those unaware, Final Doom was the Doom 2 engine, playing two complete, 32-level games (TNT: Evilution [sic] and The Plutonia Experiment).  I also loaded the “Ultimate Doom” levels (the original game plus a few new levels).  Anyway, I remember playing this when I was in high school.  Anytime I hear a song from Live’s “Secret Samadhi” album I think of this game, because I listened to it while playing for a while.  I also had a lot of fun creating a few Doom levels, and playing multiplayer with Garrison and Peter.  Of course, this was back in the day when you had to have no less than four phone lines to do a 1-on-1 death match: one for each computer and one for each person so that you could decide when your modem should call their modem.  Fun times.
13. Mega Man X:  I liked the X games much more than the main series, although I do have fond memories of holding “left” on controller 2 with my foot while playing Mega Man 3.  I remember X2 and X3 being pretty good too, but I never owned them, so only X1 is represented here.
12. Roller Coaster Tycoon:  Countless hours freshmen year of college were spent designing wicked roller coasters.  So much fun.  I’ve recently gotten Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, which is the same thing but 3D and you can ride the rides.  Only difference is I have less free time now.
11. Super Mario 64:  The first thing I did was climb a tree.  The second thing I did was jump in the moat.  So much freedom!  It was amazing!  I’d really like to see a remake of this game with modern graphics (kind of like Super Mario All Stars did with the original SMB games).
10. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest:  The best of the DKC games.  Graphics were actually improved from the first game, and gameplay was expanded, and the difficulty went up a little bit to more or less exactly where I would like it to be.
9. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem:  This game was amazing, with an unusually good storyline.  I went back through it two summers ago and still enjoyed the story.
8. Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time:  An amazing game, with innovative controls that allow you to easily do things that look incredibly cool.  Unfortunately the sequel sucked.  Anyone know if the third one was any good?  I never bothered to give it a try..
7. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time:  Link made a transition into 3D flawlessly.  I can’t wait to play Twilight Princess this year.
6. Metroid Prime:  Another great transition to 3D (despite what Ryan says).  This game really felt more like a first-person Zelda game than a first person shooter.  All the exploration from Super Metroid was still there.  I didn’t like the sequel quite as much because it felt much more FPS-y, even though it was a decent game.
5. Super Mario RPG:  This is the only RPG I’ve ever really played unless you count the “sequels” Paper Mario and Paper Mario 2.  Owning only Nintendo systems has made it difficult to play them..  I really enjoyed watching Garrison play Skies of Arcadia though.
4. Super Metroid:  I remember the day I got this game I played for like six hours straight without a Player’s Guide or anything, made it all the way to that big room in Maridia where you use the Grapple Beam to get across the top of the room to the door going up, and there’s a platform under the door and you can use the grapple beam to spin all the way around it.  I eventually beat this game with 100% in less than three hours to get the best ending.
3. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island:  My favorite Mario game.  The graphics were a nice break from what everyone was used to, and the levels were really fun.  Too bad the “Yoshi’s Story” pseudo-sequels weren’t very good.  But now they’re actually making a true sequel for the DS!
2. The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker:  A lot of people shied away from this game because of the cartoon graphics, which is really a shame.  This is definitely my favorite Zelda game.  I loved the exploration and the vastness of the world (even if it was all water).

Drum roll please!

1. Super Smash Bros. Melee:  The best game to have in a dorm, hands down.  Junior year of college was awesome because of this game alone.  Garrison and I even organized tournaments.  I put the tournament posters back up on my site today, in case you’ve never seen them.  I wonder.. will we still be playing this game thirty years from now?  The gameplay is perfect and I think the graphics will hold up (unlike.. say.. Smash for the N64).  I am concerned that Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be unable to live up to this game.  I guess time will tell.

Some honorable mentions go out to the following great games, left out to give the list more variety: The Legend Of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, Metroid Fusion, Metroid: Zero Mission, Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble.

It is now year 20X5 of the history of the cosmos, and something terrible has happened.

Last week as I was driving across the barren expanse they call Central Florida, I stuck in a CD I burned a few years ago which I entitled “A Few Of My Favorite Things.”  This was burned back when I thought of a mix CD as A Work Of Art, the tracks of which had to be carefully and methodically laid out.  Well anyway I was pleased to see how many of those songs had withstood the test of time (albeit only two years).  So I’m gonna list the songs, what they’re about, what they mean to me, and my favorite lyrics from them.  And please note that I am not insinuating that the music I listened to when I was 15-21 years old is somehow The Best Music.  That is a mentality that can lead an otherwise intelligent, rational man to utter a phrase like “Metallica was the last good band” (someone I used to work with actually said that to me, and he wasn’t making a joke).  Without further ado, I’ll begin my long post.

1. Better Than Ezra - Desperately Wanting:  I’m honestly not sure what this song is about, but I know it’s one of my favorite songs ever.  He is obviously recollecting “better times.”  My best guess is that it’s about a childhood friend that died or got separated from him.  Either way, I think he’s talking about someone he was close to and how they both dreamed of better lives, but it didn’t work out for his friend.  Or maybe I’m completely wrong.  Any better Ezrites out there can feel free to correct me as to what he desperately wanted.

I remember running through the wet grass
And falling a step behind
Both of us never tiring
Desperately wanting

2. Linkin Park - My December:  A pretty depressing song about loneliness.  In fact, Jason once told me it made him want to kill himself back when I had it in my AIM profile.  He’s still alive, so he must have been exaggerating.  It’s a shame this song was a B-side, but I can see how they didn’t think it fit in with Hybrid Theory.  It saw some light on their remix album, but I prefer the B-side version.  As far as I’m concerned, it’s Linkin Park’s best song.  Somewhere in the neural network of my brain, this song is linked with this picture--hearing the song makes me think of that picture, and vice versa.

And I’d give it all away, just to have somewhere to go to
Give it all away, to have someone to come home to
This is my December, these are my snow covered dreams
This is me pretending this is all I need

3. No Doubt - Don’t Speak:  Before Gwen Stefani decided to pretend she was a sex symbol, she was in No Doubt and they made some pretty decent music.  Don’t Speak is the culmination of that; a song that (as I recall) is about her and one of the guys in the band having a relationship and then breaking up.  If I’m wrong about that, well then it’s clearly about a relationship ending, which I think we can all agree is generally not A Fun Thing.

You and me, we used to be together, everyday together.. always
I really feel that I’m losing my best friend
I can’t believe this could be the end
It looks as though you’re letting go
And if it’s real well I don’t want to know

4. Foo Fighters - Everlong (acoustic version):  I specify the acoustic version of this song, because it’s a hojillion times more powerful in that version.  I think this song is about how you might feel at the beginning of love, when everything seems perfect but you’re afraid you might do something to screw it up.

And I wonder, when I sing along with you, if everything could ever feel this real forever?
If anything could ever be this good again?
The only thing I’ll ever ask of you-
You’ve got to promise not to stop when I say when

5. Third Eye Blind - Motorcycle Drive-By:  My interest in this song took a while to develop.  It’s tucked in at the end of the album, and for that reason I never realized what a good song this was until two years after I bought the album, after I had ripped all my albums to MP3s and was able to listen to them in no particular order.  I was surprised to find that I had overlooked this really great song for so long.  It’s another one about falling out of love, but on a less depressing note.  More of a “this is over, it was great while it lasted, yeah things are gonna suck for a while, but it’s time to move on, and things will get better soon” kind of feeling.

You smile and say the world it doesn’t fit with you
I don’t believe you--you’re so serene--careening through the universe, your axis on a tilt,
You’re guiltless and free, I hope you take a piece of me with you
And there are things I’d like to do that you don’t believe in
I would like to build something, but you’ll never see it happen
And there’s this burning, like there’s always been
I’ve never been so alone, and I’ve.. never been so alive

6. The Smashing Pumpkins - Muzzle:  I made it a point to not include two songs from the same group, and obviously that meant I could only include one Smashing Pumpkins song.  I think when both lyrics and music are factored in, this has to be one of the absolute best songs Billy Corgan ever wrote.  I think Thru The Eyes Of Ruby would be in second.  And while Mayonaise (sic) historically holds the Kip’s Favorite Song Ever title, the lyrics just aren’t all that awesome.  To me, this song is about realizing that the world as a whole pretty much sucks, but having hope that everything is going to be all right in the end.  Later, I decided it was also about looking back at the way you felt about Life The Universe And Everything when you were sixteenish, and realizing things were never all that bad.  Since I couldn’t pick just one excerpt from the lyrics, I’m gonna quote two parts of the song.

In my mind as I was floating far above the clouds
Some children laughed I’d fall for certain,
For thinking that I’d last
Forever...
But I knew exactly where I was

And then these lyrics are from the end of the song:

And the world is drawn into your hands
And the world is etched upon your heart
And the world, so hard to understand
Is the world you can’t live without

7. Our Lady Peace - Thief:  A song about watching a loved one suffer and slowly die from a terminal illness.  The closest experience to this in my life thus far is what we went through with August last year, but that was hardly the same thing.  Raine does an excellent job of conveying his emotions through this song.  Especially if you’ve ever seen the video with the heavy heavy rain in slow motion.

I can’t see the thief that lives inside your head
But I can be some courage at the side of your bed
I don’t know what’s happening and I can’t pretend
But I can be your, be your... I’m here
It’s a long, long get away

8. SR-71 - Alive:  A song about a woman finally working up the courage to leave an abusive relationship.  Mitch said this song was about a friend of the band.  Although I myself have never been exposed to an abusive relationship, I still find this song pretty moving.

She won’t talk about it, she’s made up her mind
But as the front door shuts behind her she whispers, “give me a sign.”
And feels the power of the engine as she climbs to sixty-five
Every piston sounds like freedom, every white line says goodbye
She’ll find strength in her anger and the truth in his lies
When the last scar finally fades she’ll have a new life

9. The Nixons - Sister:  I like this song, but not that much, so I’m not sure why it ended up in this mix.  It seems a little random.  Anyway, it’s a song about the guy’s sister, and there are probably more circumstances to it which I would fail to relate appropriately.  I never even had a sister, making it extra strange that this song ended up here.  Oh well.  No need to quote this one really.

10. Jars Of Clay - Love Song For A Savior:  As most of you probably know, I am what some might consider an actively religious person (depending upon your basis for comparison, and the connotation of the word “religious” in your personal vocabulary).  So it shouldn’t shock you that a Christian song ended up in the mix.  Jars Of Clay was labeled “Christian Rock,” but the only song that label could really apply to is Flood, as the other songs aren’t really what most would call “rock.”  In fact, this song is by far the prettiest one on my CD.

He’s more than the laughter or the stars in the heavens
As close a heartbeat or a song on her lips
Someday she’ll trust him and learn how to see him
Someday he’ll call her and she will come running
And fall in his arms and the tears will fall down and she’ll pray,
“I want to fall in love with you”

What I’ve just posted really contains only the “primary” group of songs on my CD.  I’d list some of the “secondary” group, but I’ve already spent way too much time on this post and you’re probably about tired of reading it (assuming you’ve even made it this far) so I’ll end it here.

I’m the first kid to write of hearts, lies, and friends

Saturday, as we were bringing August back from Newton, I realized that it was seven years (to the day) since the first concert I went to.  Which got me reminiscing about concerts, and I thought that would be something interesting to put in my blog.  So here are the concerts I’ve been to that stand out the most (in no particular order):

The Smashing Pumpkins - August 6, 1998 - Oven’s Auditorium, Charlotte:  I was sixteen and this was my first concert.  It was cool that we got fourth row seats, even if they were off to a side.  If it had happened today I don’t know if I would have thought it was such an awesome show, since I am not quite as infatuated with any band as much as I was with The Smashing Pumpkins when I was a teenager (and I doubt I ever will be).

The Smashing Pumpkins - May 2, 2000 - War Memorial Auditorium, Greensboro:  I’m mentioning the two Smashing Pumpkins shows first only because they are the first to come to mind.  And no, I didn’t need to dig up my t-shirts to remember when and where these shows were.  This show was better than the other SP show, but we had much worse seats and the ushers were jerks (they told us to sit down--at a rock show!).  They closed the show with my favorite song (Mayonaise).

Our Lady Peace with American Hi-Fi - April(?), 2001 - Cat’s Cradle, Chapel Hill:  This show really stands out in my mind because I had one of those moments where it felt like Raine Maida was speaking directly to me.  It was during “Are You Sad?” actually..  it was during one of those relationship-turning-bad times..

Athenaeum - 2000-2004 - Raleigh/Chapel Hill/Winston-Salem/Charlotte:  We saw Athenaeum dozens of times during college.. those shows will always have a special place in my memories.  If any single show stands out in my mind, it was the one at Ziggy’s in Winston-Salem, sometime during Christmas break of 2003-2004 I think.  I believe that was also the bass player’s last show with the band.

Thursday - late July/early August, 2004 - The Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh (I think):  One of the best shows I’ve been to, hands down.  I don’t remember any one thing that made it so great.. there was just lots of energy.  My inability to describe how awesome it was is really downplaying it.. so just trust me, it was awesome.

Blink 182 - ? - Alltel Pavilion, Raleigh:  We saw Blink twice here (or maybe one show was in Charlotte?), once during the “Take Off Your Pants And Jacket” tour, with New Found Glory, Midtown, and Mest; and once during the “MTV Pop Disaster” tour (or something like that), with Green Day and Jimmy Eat World.  Both times they put on great shows.  Definitely the funniest concerts I’ve ever been to.  Nothing beats a giant flaming F-word for pure comedic value.  If you’ve ever heard any of their live CD, you’ll know what I mean.  Unfortunately, New Found Glory was the only one of the other bands with them that was any good.  Not that I don’t like Green Day and Jimmy Eat World.  But I didn’t like either of them live.  And the guy in Mest took off his pants and walked around in his underwear.  That wasn’t so cool.

SR-71 - October, 2002 - Dorton Arena, Raleigh:  Almost forgot one of the best!  This show was at the State Fair, in a pretty small arena.  Everyone was sitting on floor seats, but there were about as many people there as you usually have in a club show, so Mitch very quickly told everyone to just come up closer and stand in front of the stage.  So we had the intimacy of a club with the acoustics of an arena, which worked very well.  It was just SR-71, no crappy opening band to sit through.  You could tell the band was enjoying the show, which made it even better.  I remember Mitch saying it was the longest set they had played in years, I think over two hours long.  If I really had to rank the concerts I’ve been to, I think I might give this one the number one spot.

Jimi Hendrix - August, 1969 - Woodstock, NY:  Just making sure you’re awake.

This has turned into quite a long post.  I’ve been working on it during spare moments at work since yesterday.  If you actually read all of this, congratulations.  Originally I was going to list some concerts that I felt most let down by, but I think I’ll save that for another post.

Ah, nostalgia

Okay so my last post was really lame.  I decided I’d make another post today to make up for it.  The purpose of this post is merely for me to pick the way I think Survivor is going to end in the last two episodes.  I wanted to get this post in before tonight’s Survivor episode so that I can have bragging rights if I’m right!

My Survivor Picks
5. Julie - I think it’s pretty clear that Julie goes home tonight unless she wins immunity.  I don’t see it happening.
4. Chris - This will be the most difficult call, but I think Chris will end up not making it to the final three.  Eliza may need an immunity to make this happen but I kinda feel like it won’t be necessary.
3. Scout - I think Eliza will win this immunity, and it’s a toss-up between Scout and Twila as to who she takes to the final two.  I think she could win against either person, but I think her chances are best against Twila.
2. Twila, leaving..
1. Eliza as the winner of Survivor 9.  It won’t be easy for her though.  I’ll find out if I’m right Sunday (or tonight if I’m way off...).