Adrenaline Rush!!!

I have to admit, I was being pretty lazy. When I first started my blog, I promised myself, along with numbers of people, that I am going to write about Mario Kart. I never knew it was going to take a whole month to do so. Mario Kart is actually one of the most addicting games I have ever played so far in my life. Well, personally, I believe all the Mario games are like that, but this one is particularly more so than those others. What makes this game special, you may ask, and I would gladly answer "adrenaline rush."

Mario Kart isn't simple racing game, where you would only accelerate, decelerate, and turn; of course, you accelerate, decelerate, and turn, but drifting, items, and different characters and carts add more fun to the game. And playing with a friend, rather than computer, adds even greater fun (it's always so much better to play with a real person). There are 4 different levels; 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, and 150cc mirror. 150cc mirror gets added on eventually when you beat all the cups in 150cc. 50cc is the slowest, in other words, the easiest of the 4, and 150cc mirror is the hardest of all. I heard depending on which level you play, the items you get are also different, but I have not experienced that yet while playing the game.

There are 8 basic characters to choose from. Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser. More gets added on eventually as you play the game and win different cups in different levels. Each character has different abilities; for example, Toad is the easiest to drift (in my opinion), and Bowser has the fastest acceleration. Also, abilities may differ according to which cart you choose. Eventually, a lot more carts get added on to the game.

There are numbers of different items that you can use while you are racing for Grand Prix. 

here are the lists and descriptions...

Banana peel: this item will let other carts spin around when they step on it. You can also use it to block incoming shells from hitting your character. It can come in threes as well, and it can be avoided if you dodge it well.

Blooper: This little guy will come and spray black ink all over your screen. The screen can be cleared up after awhile, or you can use any boosts to clear the screen.

Blue Shell: This shell tracks down only the first place character. Directly causes damage to it. If you get unlucky and your character is too close to the first place, you might get hit by this as well. CANNOT be avoided, except in special cases.

Bob-ombs: This is the bomb. It times itself until the next character passes by it, and it explodes by itself. If you use it well, it's a very powerful weapon.

Boo: This guy is a THIEF!!! it takes away any random character's item, as well as making the character invisible and invulnerable for a short amount of time.

Fake Item Box: self-explanatory. It looks like an item box, but it's fake. Other characters can hit this and stumble. Can be avoided if you dodge it well.

Green Shell: This shell will not track down other characters, but it bounces off the wall several times. It's a projectile weapon. may come in forms of 3. Can be avoided by dodging well, green shell, or banana peels.

Golden Mushroom: You can use this mushroom constantly until it runs out. It'll keep giving you boost, as long as you have it, and you use it.

Mushroom: This item gives you boost for short time. I mean, very short time. It can come in threes.

Red Shell: This shell tracks down the character who's going right in front of you. It can come in threes as well, and it can be avoided with green shell and banana peels.

Star: Who doesn't know star? You will be invulnerable if you have star. Just don't get hit by whoever has coming your way with a star.

Thunderbolt: This item will strike every characters in the race, shrinking them, and making them weaker and slower.

I think that's about it for the items.

To share a little bit of my own favorites, my personal favorite character is Toad, and my favorite cart with Toad is Mushmellow. I'm not sure why, but I think it's because I'm just so familiar with it; when I first played Mario Kart, I used Toad with Mushmellow. He's really light, so if he bumps into any other characters while racing, he bounces off, but I still love the way it drifts and accelerates. I have couple of favorite courses; one of them is Tick-Tock Clock, and the other is Waluigi Pinball. I especially find these two courses enjoyable because there are just so many places to drift! 

When you play, you'll know what I mean by Adrenaline Rush. You just cannot experience it without actually playing it. Oh boy, I think Mario Kart is calling me for another round of cup! Time to go and win it all!

yeah, it can get this intense... but never this detailed...

Valentine's Day

so... the time of the year when chocolate sales will top the roof has come back. I personally do not really have anything better to do, so I should write a little bit about Valentine's Day.

The origin of Valentine's Day came during the time of Emperor Claudius in Rome. Claudius, all of a sudden, restricted people of Rome from getting married. Of course, there was reason behind it; he wanted young men to join the army, not to get married and carried away, giving excuses to "take care of his family" when time for war came. So everyone feared getting married because it was strictly against the law to be married. However, there was a bishop during the time who was actually against this, and was promoting people to get married despite the law. He eventually was caught, and was executed according to the law. And that day happened to be February 14th, 207 A.D. (I think it's A.D.), and his name was Valentine. Well, that was the long story short. And that's how Valentine's Day came about to be.

So, how did chocolates came along in Valentine's Day? Well, it all started with a Japanese Salesman during 1970s. His job was to boost the sales of chocolate. He started researching what he can do to make the connection between chocolates and some special occasion. Then he discovered something; something that will definitely raise his sale - he found Phenylethylamine... Yeah, you read it right, Phenylethylamine... Okay, so what the heck is this? It's a neurotransmitter in your brain. Phenylethylamine (I know, I gave up pronouncing this word) is released when a man and a woman falls in love. In a marketing stance, that was the most brilliant connection, but not so much in any other ways; it just seems like the company found this to raise up their sales. But, whatever the history behind it, it does seem a little empty when we don't see chocolates during Valentine's Day. 

Valentine's Day was never a really special day for me, personally. Although I had several girl friends (:x), I never had one during the times of Christmas, my birthday, and Valentine's Day. I did end up receiving chocolates from people around me during Valentine's Day (yes, I did receive them from female friends), but i never got one from someone that I had in mind. Whenever I see couples going at it, building a competition see who can make their gifts for Valentine's Day bigger, I dreamed of getting a chocolate from that certain special person in my life, and walked home from school. So it never really remained as a good memory for me. 

In Korea, there's two Valentine's Day. Well, not really, but Valentine's Day is for females to give chocolates to males. There's another day for males to give something for females, and it's called "White Day" (Gee, now that I think about, it really amazes me where they come up with all these different kinds of names). "White Day" come exactly a month after Valentine's Day, March 14th of every year, and during this "White Day", males will be giving candies, not chocolate, but candies, to females that they admire, love, like, or however you want to put it. Well, it's another marketing promoted day, but hey, it worked right? (:

That's all I have got to say about Valentine's Day. I think celebrating Valentine's Day with a little background knowledge will make it a little bit more special this season. To all the loved ones, and to all those who will be celebrating Valentine's Day with whom day love, I guess there's only one thing to tell them...

♡ HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY ♡

ehehe... make it double heart just for fun.  eat chocolates and get fat! hahaha jk. (;

the Dark Age Emerges Once Again...

so... while I've been away to San Francisco, a lot has happened. seems like the dark age is coming with a huge second storm in baseball history...

as some people know, the first storm came together during the era of "Black Sox" scandal. back then, it wasn't steroids; it was gambling. players in the game would gamble to win money and have total control of the game. even during the playoffs! as far as i know (i might be wrong here), all, if not most, players who were involved in gambling was banned from MLB for good.

as we are here, we are literally living the history. it all started with Barry Bonds. well, not really, but things got really bad by the time it got to bonds. Barry Bonds, who broke the record of 755 career home runs, was tested positive for steroid use. and then it started. everyone was getting checked up, list of players' name released who used steroids, confessions and court hearings of different players, and things just got out of control in baseball market. in fact, because of what happened, Barry bonds couldn't even find a team to play during the 2008 season. and now, A-Rod, who is right behind bonds in home run, and who is most capable of overcoming bonds later in his career, admits that he used steroids. i think this disappointed the fans more, not because he was such a great player, but because fans had high hopes and expectations from him to bring back pure baseball. and just today, Miguel Tejada has been convicted lying to the court. i don't know if it's just me, but i get the feeling that more players are going to be convicted using steroids, and the game won't be the same anymore. the way players play, the way players practice... maybe, in the future, players will be so ridiculously fit, MLB just might consider steroids being part of the game. i don't know. my imagination is running wild.

well, hopefully, players won't be banned. i think some competitions among one another isn't so bad. when players can take that pressure off from them, and just play with whatever talent that they have, i believe they'll be loved more. i guess it's just time to watch and pray for MLB.

oh and btw, signing Bobby Abreu was a dumb move. i guess the angels were pretty desperate to have a batter... but i still want my favorite player in my favorite team... we want Garret Anderson! Garret Anderson! Garret Anderson! oh come on! he's been on angels for 15 years! can't we just keep him for couple more years? until he retires??? pleassseeee??

Barry Bond's 755th home run ball. with an asterisk on top to indicate his fault of using steroids.

Super Bowl XLIII Commercials

so... the best TV rating moment of the year has just passed by and i thought i would talk about how companies made their $10 million worth it or just simply let to waste.

BEST COMMERCIALS:

1. POTATO HEADS (Bridgestone)

can't go wrong with toy story stuff. haha and a clever way to show what guys really want when they are in the car with someone else. very nice. (:

2.  Polamalu (Coke Zero)

i'll have to say it's one of my favorite. remake of the old commercial, and clever clever ending. it's just like the original with a little twist... i like twists. 

3. Skier (Bud Light)

so bud light goes on to draw some more stuff. people really didn't like this one, but i thought it was pretty good. i liked it a lot. "it's ok- no one saw that." LOL

4. Chase (Audi)

it's jason statham! audi cleverly compares their car with other names, such as BMW, Lexus, and Benz... really though, i'm sad i don't have the video. go look at it on youtube or something.

some of the honorable mentions are...

Bugs (Coca Cola) - they really used a good imagery... as always. it was one of those coke commercials. i liked it.

Moose (Moster.com) - displayed how people can end up in the wrong side of the office. cleverly. haha

Adoption (Pedigree) - thought this one was clever... "maybe you should get a dog." haha the point really comes in here. although... you really don't know what kind of commercial this is til then.

Global Domination (Hyundai) - to my surprise, Hyundai made it this far! it used its news of "motor trend of the year" award, leaving the best car makers behind them (Japan, Germany). and as always, "it's Hyundai, like Sunday"

What G Means (Gatorade) - thought this one was simple and good. not all that clever like the other gatorade commercials, but still. jabberwockees  sure surprised me when they came out.

Office Meeting (Bud Light) - one of the very first commercials to open up super bowl. i like how the guy gets kicked out of the office... through the window... gets up and says "i wasn't joking!"

and of course, there are those that really disappointed me... just three of them...

Venza (Toyota) - i dont know if it's because it was compared to by Audi and Hyundai, but... this was just a typical car commercial. total waste of money here.

The Birds (Cheetos) - really? birds? cheetos? oh come on! that was like by far the worst one i have ever seen.

Office Ball (Doritos) - mmm... i don't know about this one... funny, but... there's nothing deep to it. so i'll just have to say it's on my list of worst commercials.

well, that's about it. this year's super bowl commercials were overall enjoyable. hopefully, next year will be better. (: