Hanyou

My knowledge of the Adams-Jefferson relationship is limited; I saw a single video on it in History class last year. This looks like an interesting read, and I'll add it to my Christmas list. Thanks for the recommendation, Tim

No, I actually haven't. Do you know the author? I'd like to check it out.

Are you another admin? I noticed your name is green like Mases'.

Sadly, I haven't played any if the Shenmue games, but I will play them in the future.

I plan on it. This is a really awesome community here, you and everybody else are very interesting to talk with! Thanks man!

A bit of shameless self-promotion here, if you'll allow it. In case you've been wondering what else I've been doing with my time, go check out my blog. I've recently started a process of making books out of games (a lofty experiment, I want to see where it takes me), and my first attempt at this is up on the blogs as of now. Comments are always encouraged.

love you!

Congratulations one winning the Most Reputable award! Have to admit that I'm surprised that I placed second, because compared to you and Locke I shouldn't be anywhere near first.

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A Link to the Past, while it offers decent gameplay, is so utterly drab in the visual department that it's distracting, but on top of that, neither Hyrule nor the Dark World ever struck me as all that interesting, seriously inhibiting the exploration element. It gets props for tightly-packed secrets, though, and lots of them; you'll feel compelled to explore even more than you might in Super Metroid, because it at least feels like multiple rewards are on every screen. Unfortunately, the game really is overcrowded with items, and item-switching is never easy in Zelda games. Here, it just feels like too much--I think the original Legend of Zelda struck a much better balance, and Link's Awakening used items more interestingly.

I know this isn't a popular opinion on this site, but A Link to the Past is overrated.
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Hanyou, I must say... I can't agree any more with this. That's exactly how I feel about ALttP. I can understand why it's considered to be a great game, because it is, but I've always found it to have a lot of issues in the gameplay and overworld departments that you just don't find in most of the other classic titles. I'd say it's better than LoZ and AoL in both of these, but LA, OoT, and MM didn't really have these issues, and it's something I'm surprised people constantly overlook.

Just to let you know, I actually think WW and ALttP share quite a few of the same issues in their overworlds.

Hey Hanyou, I know I've said this before but I feel obligated to say it again -- your MD posts are exquisite. When are you going to write your first book?

Why is your name green?

Are you... *GASP* Eco Friendly?!?!?!?

Indeed it does.

The only modern prog rock band you mentioned that I know well is Dream Theater. (I usually listen to the older, 70s stuff). I think I might have heard one song by Spock's Beard, and it sounded really cool. I will go check out some of there other songs. Do you ever listen to Rush? If so, have you heard their new album, Clockwork Angels?

I agree with you on the Kevin Moore front, he really did have such an emotional and painfully personal flair to his work, he really put himself into what he wrote his lyrics in Space Dye Vest were so very honest and not a lot of artists do that. He really was a strong link in DT, it was a shame to have him leave. I tried to follow his career outside of DT but he is hard to come by in stores etc so i got left behind.

Octavarium was their last album that i could listen to every track on it, though it did feel like it was pushing towards whoring itself for MTV with songs like 'These Walls' and especially 'I Walk Beside You' which are both really good songs but felt like *****d single releases to listen to, as if they had been designed to sell the rest of the album, much like Forsaken on the SC album.

Divine Wings of Tragedy, V: The New Mythology Suite and Odyssey are the only Symphony X albums you really need. I have them and Paradise Lost and there are only three songs I like on that and none of them approach the majesty of anything like Sea of Lies, or Fool's Paradise which are two of my favourite Symphony X songs. Kamelot are wonderful, wonderful people, i met them once and they didn't know that one of their albums had be released in four different versions and they were so heart broken to hear of such a thing, another band i have met are Edguy, they've dipped in recent albums but are really swell guys. I haven't heard Theocracy or Galneryus (i'll check out the link) but I do enjoy blind Guardian and i used to like Nightwish, they used to be my favourite band, i thought Toumas was a very humble, scarred artist but recently he is a just a lazy egotistical self-obsessed **** who loves himself and the last 3 albums have sucked, I saw them live a couple of years ago, Dark Passion Play tour i think and they just sucked so bad. Lacuna Coil i kind of like but their last few albums have sucked too and I'm losing faith but they are sliding into something akin to power-metal so i'll only pick up their albums when they're cheap.

Doom Metal, i know i shouldn't like it but... My favourite Doom metal band is definitely My Dying Bride, the founding fathers of doom metal itself and i'm proud that they're british. I've never seen them live but I'd really like to. I hate non-clean vocals especially MDBs but MDB haven't used harsh vocals in years and they're really pushing the rules and trying new things which after such a long career (25 years i think) is a wonderful thing for a band to do. My second fave is a band called Jesu, Justin K Broadwick is a legend he's a one man wrecking crew, Jesu isn't really doom but a sub-genre of it called shoegaze which is slower and more trudging than doom, if you can imagine that being possible. If you haven't heard of him then give 'Conquerer- jesu' a listen. =] I've also seen Cathedral live but didn't think much of them, but Candlemass are wonderful. =]

likewise, i haven't come across one in a while who hadn't discovered them via Avenged Sevenfold since Portnoy's stint there.

With each DT album i'm less interested though but seeing Images and Words live was a beautiful experience, keyboard interlude before wait for sleep blew me away. <3

Nowadays though i'm more of a doom metal fan, my music taste went in the opposite dirction at some point in my life, but i still listen to the likes of Symphony X, Stratovarius, Domine, Power Quest and Serenity. Power metal, i know but close enough in a post Scenes From a Memory world.