Another Update to the CRL

So rather, going all the way back to January 2014's entry post highlighting my updated Comprehensive Reading List (compare this list with the original from Jan. 2013!), I decided to just create a new post instead (and it'll make it easier for me to go back in case I add (0r subtract books in the near future, which probably will happen quite soon). Without further ado, here is my current (and updated) reading list:

Color-Code:

Books added Pre-2013: Orange

Books added in 2013: Green

Books added in 2014: Fuchsia

Reading in Progress: Blue

Finished Title: Black/White (in published form)

001. This Bridge Called My Back - A Feminist Anthology
002. Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
003.-004. The Iliad and Odessy - Homer

005. Tuesdays With Morrie - Mitch Albom
006. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom

007. Borderlands (La Frontera) - Gloria E. Anzaldùa
008.-010. The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri

011. The Long 20th Century - Giovanni Arrighi
012. What You Have Left - Will Allison
013. Invitation to Sociology - Peter L. Berger

014. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

015. The Social Animal - David Brooks

016. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
017. The Stranger - Albert Camus
018. The Rebel - Albert Camus
019. Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus
020. Notebooks - Albert Camus

021. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

022. Jurassic Park - Micheal Crichton

023. Next - Micheal Crichton
024. Dancing in the Dark - Morris Dickstein
025. Room - Emma Donoghue

026. Drudge Manifesto - Matt Drudge

027. A Tale Of Three Kings - Gene Edwards

028. The Lost Witness - Robert Ellis

029. Dead Space: Martyr - B.K. Evenson

030. Then We Came To An End - Joshua Ferris

031. The Unnamed - Joshua Ferris

032. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

033. A Thing or Two About Curtis and Camilla - Nick Fowler
034.An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
035. The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
036. Looking For Alaska - John Green
037. Paper Towns - John Green

038. Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales (On A Break...)

039. The Books Of Rachel - Joel Gross

040. Policing As Though People Matter - Dorothy Guyot

041. Retribution - Jilliane Hoffman

042. Prince of Thieves - Chuck Hogan

043. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

044. The Know-It-All - A.J. Jacobs

045. The Year Of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs
046. Drop Dead Healthy - A.J. Jacobs

047. Shining Like Stars - Douglass Jacoby

048. Survivors - Zion Ben Jonah

049. What Technology Wants - Kevin Kelly
050. Angry White Men - Michael S. Kimmel
051. Masculinity as Homophobia - Michael S. Kimmel

052. Flowers For Algernon - Daniel Keyes

053. Cell - Stephen King
054. The Walking Dead Compendium I - Kirkman/Adlard/Moore/Rathburn
055. The Walking Dead Compendium II - Kirkman/Adlard/Moore/Rathburn

056. Getting The Most Of The Bible - G. Steve Kinnard

057. Frankenstein - Dean Koontz
058. Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau

059. The Satanic Bible - Anton Szandor LaVey

060. Fresh Kills - Bill Loehfelm

061. Our American King - David Lozell Martin
062. The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx
063. The German Ideology - Karl Marx,  Friedrich Engels
064. The Gift - Marcel Mauss

065. Sin City: The Hard Goodbye - Frank Miller

066. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For - Frank Miller

067. Sin City: The Big Fat Kill - Frank Miller 

068. Sin City: That Yellow Bastard - Frank Miller

069. Sin City: Family Values - Frank Miller

070. Sin City: Booze, Broads, & Bullets: Frank Miller

071. Sin City: Hell and Back - Frank Miller

072. The Complete Guide to the Bible - Stephen M. Miller
073. The Sociological Imagination - C. Wright Mills

074. V for Vandetta - Alan Moore/David Lloyd

075. Watchmen - Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons

076. The Will to Power - Friedrich Nietzche

077. 1984 - George Orwell

078. Animal Farm - George Orwell
079. Damned - Chuck Palahnuik

080.Three Dollars - Elliot Perlman

081. Seven Types of Ambiguity - Elliot Perlman

082. The Reasons I Won't Be Coming - Elliot Perlman

083. 01-01-00 - R.J. Pineiro

084. Bahgavad Gita (As It Is) - His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

085. Where The Red Fern Grows - Wilson Rawls
086. Save Your Marriage Ahead of Time - Jacqueline Rickard

087.The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin

088. The Book Of Vice - Peter Sagal
089. Cosmos - Carl Sagan
090. No Exit - Jean-Paul Sartre
091. The Wall - Jean-Paul Sartre

092. Married To Murder - Robert Scott

093. Derailed - James Seigel

094. The Dark Room - Rachel Seiffert

095. Hamlet - William Shakespeare

096. Much Ado About Nothing - William Shakespeare
097. Forces of Labor - Beverly Silver
098. Coping with Crisis - Gustave Simons

099. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ - Joseph Smith

100. Mostly Murder - Sydney Smith
101. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket
102. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room - Lemony Snicket
103. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window - Lemony Snicket
104. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Miserable Mill - Lemony Snicket
105. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy - Lemony Snicket
106. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator - Lemony Snicket
107. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Vile Village - Lemony Snicket
108. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hospital - Lemony Snicket
109. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Carnivorous Carnival - Lemony Snicket
110. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snicket
111. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Grim Grotto - Lemony Snicket
112. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket
113. A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End - Lemony Snicket

114. Baseball In April And Other Stories - Gary Soto

115. Of Mice And Men - John Steinbeck

116. AMERICA (The Definitive Guide) - Jon Stewart

117. Mr. Clarinet - Nick Stone
118.Brief Interviews with Hideous Men - David Foster Wallace

119. The Purpose Driven Life - Rick Warren
120. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - Max Weber
121. The Methodology of the Social Sciences - Max Weber

122. I Am The Messenger - Markus Zusak
123. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

124. A+ Guide To Managing And Maintaining Your PC 6th Ed. (Textbook)

125. Criminal Justice, Citrus College Custom Ed. (Textbook)

126. Electronic Technology Fundamentals (Textbook)

127. Psychology 2nd Ed. (Textbook)

Total Books Read: 60 of 127 (47.24%)

Wish I Was Here...Already Married

"What do you mean you want to be married already?! You're young! Live life, make the most of your youth, and don't worry about girls until your older...much older! I kid on that, but seriously, why worry about marriage now? It'll come in time. You just have to be patient."

Almost ubiquitously, I get such reactions whenever I mention that I would have liked to be married already. When I was 14, I had hoped that I would have finished university, began my career, and have wedded a lovely, intelligent woman. All by the age of 22. Instead, I'm now 25, still fighting for my undergraduate degree, and single. Not even a girlfriend. We're talking "forever alone" type of situation. Actually, that's not entirely true. If pretty girls didn't make me so damn nervous...!

...

Actually, we're derailing here. You're probably thinking, Why do you want to be married already? What's the rush?, and if you weren't thinking it, you are now. To answer the question (that I imposed upon you - sorrynotsorry about that), the answer is quite simple: security. See, I'm not the kind of guy that just relentlessly pursuits women; I'm not the kind of guy that's constantly seeking for the next girl to smash (euphemism); and I'm not the kind of guy that constantly has some ulterior sexual motive for interacting with people of the opposite sex and gender (I was that person, but I've come along a way since then, but I digress). Perhaps, and embarrassingly so, I have no game (also euphemism) nor have I an interest in playing "the dating game." It's through marriage that I bypass this cruel and, at times, illogical farce of social interaction that juxtaposes bizarre human personalities with other bizarre human personalities. 

The notion that I'd have some special lady to go home to, to give and receive any and all comforts has always been appealing to me. No games, doubts, worries, or other pointless bull. Just an ethereal security of knowing who's waiting for me (and who I'm waiting for) at end of the day. This is why I want to be married and avoid having to spend precious years carrying unnecessary emotional baggage and wear painful battle scars as we desperately search for our other halves like chickens with heads cut off.

In all honesty, I don't know why I'm feeling pressured to be married already. Is it just me playing some distorted mind game with my own self? All I know, at this point, is that I'm feeling all too self-aware of this. Is this just me being emotional or is it something more inherent within me that I'm not attending to?

P.S.: On an unrelated note, Zach Braff recently released Wish I Was Here and it looks interesting, similar to Garden State over a decade ago. If anything, this film just may be Garden State 2.0.

Maybe.

"SO! THE LEGEND IS TRUE!!!"

About 4 months ago, I had stumbled across this game through one of the few YouTube shows that I regularly watch. Needless to say, I was blown away (and still am) by what the trailer promises to offer (especially with Goku fighting Kid Buu, ending the fight with the spectacular Spirit Bomb - my jaw just dropped). After looking more into the game (since, lucky for me, there have been gameplay videos on this game), I've learned several things about this game:

1. The game is still incomplete, with the game's developers constantly releasing updates to include more characters (including moves, intros and outros)/stages/music, while also balancing out the game's physics, mechanics, and AI (it's too challenging as of now). As of now, there are only 5 characters (Goku, Vegeta, Adult Gohan, Frieza, and Super Saiyan Goku).
2. The game is incomplete due to the fact that this is all entirely fan-based game! This is an amazing fact considering how much work has been put into the game (this was all accomplished in their free time! They can't monetize this project because of IP stuff).
3. The game utilizes the Mugen fighting engine. This means that the game will run flawlessly on a Windows machine, but it'll take some work to work around the schematics of a Mac (which is what I have, so I haven't had the opportunity to play the game myself, sad to say).

The game, as a whole, is not only an homage to some of the more advanced-skill 2D/2.5D fighters out there (think Guilty Gear,  BlazBlue, Killer Instinct), but it's outstanding that you know that people who created this game have deep love and respect of the DBZ universe. The detail to the sprites and their animations is just gorgeous (just look at Frieza's tail during his standing animation). This DBZ fighter is a must to those who are not only looking for a fun, challenging fight, but every DBZ fan must check this game out, despite the game not being entirely complete. Lastly, here is the demo trailer video that first introduced me to this already awesome game:

"Yukianesa...ACTIVATE!!!" (Late Post #6)

My Mitsubishi Lancer, OZ Rally Edition
Named Yukianesa (Yuki for short)

About a month and a half months ago, my Teggy, whom I've lovingly named Ophelia, had finally given up her last breath (metaphorically speaking). I've been thinking of buying a newer car (thanks to my co-worker letting drive his Mini-Cooper). So I've working hard and saving up extra money for that newer car, and had also decided to sell Ophelia for cheap (since she became barely drivable). 

So, for the past month, with the help of a friend, we had scoured the earth (or 5 cities, but who's counting?) looking for a used car that can be bought for no more than $7,000 cash (I'm a struggling university student, so I don't have the "luxury" of having a lease - not that I would want one, but that's a different story for another day). 

The search zigzagged us from various models of cars. We had begun with MINI Coopers (r50 or r53) but the majority of the vehicles were automatic transmission (this is bad because many MINI's with A/T tend to fail sooner than those with Manual Transmission). So many Coopers were dismissed, with the exception of three we found that were M/T. However, all three had major problems (one had electrical problems, another needed obscure sensors to be replaced, and the best priced Cooper had transmission problems - the transmission keeps slipping out the 5th gear, which would be a major problem on the highway and in my wallet).

After Coopers, we began to search for Scion Tc's and Acura RSX's with M/T, but that search was fruitless. We found a great Tc at a dealership, but in the end, the dealer was such a tool. He was, essentially, more eager to sell the car for what it was, and it just made me uncomfortable to make a sale with him, so I left that dealership and never looked back.

Then, after that, we stumbled across Mazda Miatas. Those little cars looked fun to drive, but I realized that it just wouldn't be practical to buy one. However, when I have the money to buy one, I most definitely will for my weekend trips to wherever. 

And lastly, the Mitsubishi that I now have, was a surprising find. We found this in a hole-in-the-wall used car dealership. We looked at it, we test drove it, and we negotiated the price. It's surprising to realize that I have a Lancer - it just wasn't something I wasn't expecting to own. I'm quite happy with it. As it's my own bizarre custom to name my pieces of technocrap (and a car is technocrap), I've been thinking of what to call my Lancer. Then it dawned on me. 

Jin Kisaragi, as portrayed in
BlazBlue: ChronoPhantasma
Yukianesa is Jin's weapon

Yukianesa. The name dawned on me since my brother and I have been playing BlazBlue: ChronoPhantasma over the summer. The name comes from Jin's Nox Nyctores weapon called Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa, which resembles a Japanese sword. Now here's where it gets pretty cool. Yukianesa's most interesting characteristic is that it can amplify its owner's state of mind, making even the coldest personalities passionate and on the verge of a psychotic breakdown, like Jin Kisaragi himself. Furthermore, unlike a real sword, Yukianesa's blade is made of permafrost from the water particles in the atmosphere fused with seithr. The blade can freeze just about anything in seconds! How cool is that?! I know, I'm a nerd. Hence, why I've decided to call my Mitsubishi Lancer "Yukianesa," since it's such a badass weapon in the BB universe.

"The Hero of the Winds" (Late Post #5)

One of the more subtle highlights of my summer was revisiting a modern Zelda classic, The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker (HD). Since GameCubes are outdated (but totally retro in a die-hard fandom kind of way), my brother got his hands on the Windwaker re-release (since the software came along with his Zelda Limited Edition Wii-U). In a span of 16 days or so (at 2 hour intervals with work sprinkled in between), I completed the game, and it was a fantastic voyage (for both the GC and Wii-U). 

Playing the Windwaker all over again was fantastic. The HD edition really brought out the vibrant colors of the Windwaker world, in such a way that you couldn't help but take a moment to just see the world (or the ocean...mostly the ocean, though). Perhaps the best (and subtle) surprise is the fact that there's now a Swift Sail! The sail allows the wind to automatically change direction as you sail about the sea and the King of Red Lions flies across the ocean, too. Some other changes are minor, such where some treasure maps/heart pieces are found, but nonetheless it's a beautifully restored game to the highest standard.

As far as the story went, it was all a blur in my first voyage. I thought I was rescuing Aryll and now I'm looking for the Master Sword to fight Ganon?! What gives?, would be my overall impression of my first time around. Now, as an adult, it all makes sense now (doesn't always as an adult? Although, there will always be some things that can't be ever understood.)  Since I mostly played the game for fun rather than be complete the game (including a second-run through via Hero Mode), my brother gave me some backlash for not trying to get everything the game had to offer (I was missing 2 heart pieces for a another heart, 6 entire hearts, the Hero's Armor, a bottle, and a crap load of treasure maps), calling me lazy. Whatever. I'm happy to have played the game, for what it is, and as it's often said (or so I think): The journey IS the destination. 

"Blaze" It Up! (Late Post #4)

Key Characters in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

Over the summer, I've had the pleasure of diving into the "BlazBlue" universe, as I call it. So far, BlazBlue has been expanded through 3 main entries (Calamity Trigger, Continuum Shift, and ChronoPhantasma, respectively). With each new game that's released, new character are introduced, as well as both the overall main story and each character's backstory (for both new and veteran fighters) become more elaborated (as it should be). Since the BlazBlue universe has gotten considerably bigger (through spinoffs, an anime series, and supplemental novel and manga publishings), there's just too much info to share on this one blog post, but click here and it'll take you to BlazBlue's wiki page. All pertinent info can be found here.

 BlazBlue, in short, is a 2D J-Fighter, mixing elements from Capcom's classic Street Fighter and Marvel v. Capcom series, as well as a personal favorite series, Killer Instinct. BlazBlue, like KI, requires much time and patience to learn (let alone master), since much of the action is fast-paced.

What I've been enjoying most lately has been the game's soundtrack. It's difficult to label the genre (there's nothing wrong with that - a soundtrack with many flavors is greatly appreciated), but I'd say it's mostly hard rock/speed metal with melodic and symphonic elements infused in each music. However, the Chronophantasma remakes (marked by "ii") are full of surprises. So while, I'm not currently playing the games at the moment (damn you, adult responsibilities), at least I have to the soundtrack to drool over.

Here is Noel Vermillion's Bullet Dance II, from BB:CP:

Here is Jin Kisaragi's Lust SIN II, also from BB:CP: 

"American Psycho" @ Eat.See.Hear. (Late Post #3)

Minutes away from the main show!

On July 19th, I had the awesome pleasure of watching American Psycho on a big screen at the Autry in Los Angeles (I'm close to LA. Obvious, isn't it?). The show is part of Eat.See.Hear's summer-long film festival showcasing some of the cinema's brilliant contributions...or not. It depends on the individual, really. Anyhow, it was great to watch a film outside in a park. It's something that I've been wanting to do since I've seen others do it as well as a setting like this seems to be quite popular in movies. 

American Psycho seems to be one of those films that are inherently difficult to comprehend, even with extensive conversations with friends in trying to interpret the meaning of the movie. While it's satire and providing commentary on the Wall Street culture of the 80's, Psycho follows Patrick Bateman's adventures (so to speak) as a serial killer. Yeah. That's all I've got. I've seen this film twice, and I still struggle to understand the message and meaning of the movie. I'm told that reading the book is more impactful than the movie.