Don't talk to me, I gotta see this.

While playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl with people online I've encountered what I've dubbed YES moments, after Dane Cook's line in his Struck by a Vehicle routine. The bold and underline are important. They happen when I see a setup and just know what the other person is going to do a couple seconds in advance, letting me counter and pull off a big smash.

The best examples are with meteor smashes, used to spike people into the pit while they're trying to jump back to the platform after I've hit them off. Sometimes I'll see the angle of their trajectory as they fly off and will immediately be able to predict where they'll be as they recover. This is important because most meteor smashes have a delay on their activation and/or they only last a short time, so you have to be very precise in both positioning and timing to hit with them. So, when I send someone flying, I'll get that YES feeling, jump out to intercept, and pull off a perfect meteor smash to KO them.

It's hard to describe the sense of satisfaction I get when I pull off one of these moments but it's totally awesome.

I also have an amusing little SSBB-related story that happened a couple days ago: I was lying in bed, waiting to fall asleep, and was imagining various scenarios of playing Samus vs Wolf and ways to get back onto the platform against his edge guarding. (Yes, I think about these things even while not playing.) One of them ended with me landing right on Wolf's up-smash and being sent flying into the air (note to self: don't jump directly off the edge over Wolf). And then my left index finger reflexively curled, in the same motion as if I were pressing the L button to do an air dodge and slow my flight through the air. It made me pause as I realized what had just happened and then I laughed at how ingrained Smash Bros. is in my brain.

The Ballad of Miku: Verse 2

There's only a couple new finds today, but I have a bunch of older songs that deserve to be mentioned so I'll go through most of those.

Also, for all of the videos that I link here, I download them and extract the MP3 or AAC audio from them. If anyone's interested, I might start zipping up the songs from each post and tossing them on RapidShare or something for people to download.

アンインストール (Uninstall) [Nico Nico]
This is a cover of the anime Bokurano's OP theme and the song that first got me hooked on Hatsune Miku. Both the original song and this version are incredibly beautiful and it's since become one of my favorite Japanese songs, even though I've never actually seen Bokurano.

きっとこの場所で (Kitto Kono Basho de / Surely in this place) [Nico Nico / YouTube]
One of the first original Miku songs that I really fell in love with.

恋は戦争 (Koi wa Sensou / Love Is War) [Nico Nico / YouTube]
Another simply amazing Miku original.

メルト (Melt) [Nico Nico / YouTube]
And yet another, though this one is a little more cheerful. Also, the YouTube version has a nice 3D video to go with it.

ブラック★ロックシューター (Black Rock Shooter) [Nico Nico / YouTube]
Okay, just do yourself a favor and visit this site. It has links to these last three, plus World is Mine, with some extra stuff like wallpapers.

After The Rain [Nico Nico]
I really like the distortion (I think that's the correct term for it) on the guitars in this one.

books [Nico Nico / YouTube]
A beautiful piano piece that slowly builds momentum from a gentle start.

Rainbow Girl [Nico Nico / YouTube]
There's some nice art of Miku in the video for this one.

Caramelldansen (Speedycake Remix) [Nico Nico / YouTube]
You all knew it was coming. The combination of Miku plus Caramelldansen is too cute for words so I won't bother trying to describe the awesome of it. But, for those who don't know, the original version is by a Swedish band named Caramell, and Caramelldansen translates to, "The Caramell Dance."

Heaven Is a Place on Earth [Nico Nico / YouTube]
I'm a fan of Belinda Carlisle's music and this is a cover of her most popular song. Miku singing in English is always funny but they did a pretty decent job of it here.

Dear [Nico Nico / YouTube]

echoes [Nico Nico / YouTube]

Eternal Green [Nico Nico]

A memory I don't want to forget

I finished watching ef - a tale of memories. Yes, already. I completely ate it up and loved every minute. Now I feel a bit of a fool for skipping over it for so long, though I can't quite decide whether I'm glad I at least waited until it finished airing. ef is the sort of show that has a lot more impact (at least for me) when I can watch multiple episodes in a row rather than having to wait a week or more between them.

This also poses a problem. ef - a tale of melodies starts airing next season, but should I watch it week-by-week or wait until it's complete? Honestly, I doubt I'll have the patience to wait at all, but at least it's putting up a struggle.

I also went and re-read Dagger's posts about ef since I actually know what she's talking about now. So: OMG more Mizuki yesssss. I now have a greater appreciation for the picspam. And, while we're on the subject of picspam, here's a screen shot of Chihiro that I took:

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The moe, it's just too much...

I love it when shows include extra art like that during the next episode previews.

Next on the to watch list is Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto, aka Someday's Dreamers. It's another series I'd been thinking about watching for quite a while but never got around to. Funnily enough, I didn't realize until a few days ago that it's related to Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~ which I'm watching as it airs this season.

One more time, One more chance

It took me quite a while but I finally finished watching Gakuen Alice. (Mostly due to the fact that I've picked up way too many currently airing series and those tend to take priority.) It's a bit hard to sort out my thoughts about it, though. I started out really into it and watched the first eleven episodes in two days. Then I got distracted and didn't watch any for a couple weeks until I got back to it and watched an episode here and there. And finally I watched the last nine episodes in another two days. So did it hold my attention or not? I'm not sure.

I did like the series, though, even if I didn't find it particularly amazing. It was a nice departure from the standard magical girl formula.

I also just watched 5 Centimeters Per Second so I'm feeling like someone grabbed my heart and gave it a good wrenching. It was absolutely beautiful, both in its art and animation and its story. The amount of feeling conveyed through some scenes was downright breathtaking; Takaki's cold and lonely train ride through the nighttime snow was especially vivid to me. Though I haven't seen too many other anime movies to compare it with, I think it's my current favorite.

Next up on my to watch list is ef - a tale of memories. I'd been thinking of watching it ever since it started airing during Fall season 2007 but I never got around to it. But, hey, as long as I finish it before ef - a tale of melodies starts this fall I figure it's okay.

The Ballad of Miku: Verse 1

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Every now and then I go browsing around Nico Nico Douga and YouTube for new Hatsune Miku songs so I thought I'd start making periodic posts to share my favorites. Let's see if I can create some more Miku tards fans.

ワールドイズマイン (World is Mine) [Nico Nico / YouTube]
This is one of those omgamazing Miku songs that I listen to over and over again. Also, Miku+Kaito version ftw.

インカーネイション (Incarnation) [Nico Nico / YouTube]
Trance plus Miku is a great combo. I always love it when I come across a good song in this style.

anger [Nico Nico / YouTube]
This one has a 3D video to go with it, though I think Miku's character model looks a bit weird.

さくら並木 (Sakura Namiki) [Nico Nico / YouTube]
I love the piano in this one.

天国は壊れてる (Tengoku wa Kowareteru) [Nico Nico]
This song and its video remind me of Aria, which is kind of an automatic win.

優しい空 (Yasashii Sora) [Nico Nico / YouTube]

Shooting Star -Blue Style- [Nico Nico / YouTube]
There's also a Red Style version with Meiko singing instead of Miku.

SET FREE [Nico Nico / YouTube]

Silence [Nico Nico / YouTube]
Moar trance!

Radical Dreamers ~Unstealable Jewel~ [Nico Nico / YouTube]
This is a song from the game Chrono Cross which I really like. I think Miku's voice is well suited to it.