Nestor's Cola

One thing I’ve always been a fan of is World’s End Girlfriend, a pretty respectable band (though I use that loosely, as it’s just one dude according to wikipedia) that mixes rock, electronic and classical music into this sort of irreverent yet rocking style.

My favorite albums to date are “Hurtbreak Wonderland” and “The Lie Lay Land”, though I’ve got a special spot in my heart reserved for the track “All Imperfect Love Song” from the “Dreams End Come True” album.

Today, I’m going to talk to you about “Seven Idiots”, WEG’s latest album.

I’m not going to do a song-by-song analysis, but I’ll touch on some points: the pre-release tracks ‘Virgin Babylon’. Anne, and Green Greem are fucking amazing. If you can listen to them before actually listeing to the rest of the album, I recommend you so so. It’s got a sort of ethereal feeling to it in the beginning, like you’d see at the start of a fairy tale movie, but there’s some jarring inconsitencies towards the end that make it that much more awesome. It’s subtle and yet jarring. It paints an almost entirely different picture of how ‘Seven Idiots’ will play out. So, like I said, if you can, listen to those three tracks, and then listen to the rest of the CD.

The first track of the CD, “The Divine Comedy Reverse” starts out a lot different than what we expect a WEG album to start out, given his track record, but when it breaks out into the full classical just after the initial tease, you can’t ever think it’s done by anyone else. It keeps going with this electric energy through every succeeding track.

My personal favorite, the one I keep coming back to, over and over again, is ‘DECALOGUE minus 8′ it’s got this feeling like you’re in this jazz club that’s illuminated with blacklights and splashed with gaudy colors and not all the patrons are entirely human. It’s got this dark vitality that makes you want to move… like you’re being chased.

An offhand track mention goes to: ULYSSES GAZER, this aggressive track that plays like an opening to a series. It’s got these mellow pieces, aggressive strings, and this guitar and drum overlay that drives it in and carries it through. There’s this part a couple minutes in where it breaks off into this piano and you’re like “oh shit, okay, I get a break”, and then it’s right back in.

Overall, this is a very strong album and I think it’s deserving of all praise it can get.

Nestor Dissertation, Music, Quick Post

One of the things I’ve observed is that since 9/11, everyone’s been tiptoeing around muslims. “Don’t piss them off or they’ll fuck up your shit!”

Honestly I think that’s what they want. They want us to buy into their hate-mongering fear-machine.

You know what a terrorist is? They do violent, unpredictable shit so that you will respond out of fear and terror.

So… fuck that.

If there happen to be any crazy, off the wall irrational radical muslims incapable of reason out there, then here’s something I drew just for you:

Since drawing muhammad causes you to shit yourself in apoplectic rage, I have drawn him. It’s not “draw muhammad day”, but I felt like it.

Also, I recently shit ALL OVER the Qur’an. Just saying.

Edit: Before you (or anyone else, for that matter) says I’m being culturally insensitive, I would prefer it if you had a objective perspective on this. I’m against oppressive religion in all its forms. Radical muslims are just the vocal tip of the iceberg. And yes, I am trolling.

Nestor Quick Post, Rant, Religion, Sociology

So I just had this awesome fucking shit.
cube some potatoes.
pray to your gods
roast the potatoes while raging at the blind, impartial nature of the universe.
mince some fucking onions.
weep over fallen comrades… and onions.
cook some fucking sausage
remind yourself that even though you’re cooking sausage, you’re still hetero. Really.
Make some sausage fucking gravy. make innuendos about creamy white gravy and sausages at the top of your lungs.
grate some cheese. Cheese is grate. (these aren’t your ordinary puns. These are turbopuns.)
fry up the potatoes with the minced onion and sausage. glare sullenly at the potatoes.
Scramble up some eggs.
Serve on a plate. Sprinkle liberally with cheese while chanting “Simsalbimbamba Saladu Saladim”
Smother in sausage gravy and cheese.
Scream like a girl before eating.

Nestor Imported piece, Quick Post, Rant, recipes

So the histrionic and reactionary media, in its infinite desire to expell whatever vomitus it can hork up, has landed in a very large, obtrusive, and international way on some reverend in Florida. See, he had this idea called “International Burn a Koran Day” where everyone’s supposed to (ostensibly enough) burn a koran.

This of course has caused a great deal of uproar, primarily from the narrow-minded, short-sighted individuals who see this for something that it is not. You see, it’s believed to be some sort of dramatic demonstration, mud in the face, an insult to muslims everywhere, etc. On a certain level they are right, because that’s exactly what it is, but in a larger picture, with a broader perspective, it’s not about that at all. They also think it’s “against the law” or instigates future acts of violence. In this they are wrong.

Firstly, it doesn’t matter at all if a koran is burned or not. A terrorist will do what he is compelled to do. Secondly, it’s not illegal. you can burn a koran, a bible, a Mein Kampf if you were so inclined and no one can bat an eye at you. It’s your right. You can burn whatever you want. It’s when you do it specifically to send a message, that’s when it changes from simple combustion to an imflammatory demonstration.

Historically speaking, book burning has been a form of information control. It’s about power and the propagation of propagandist messages. If you control the flow of information, you control everything else. Concurrently, it’s about oppression or the desire to oppress. From Wikipedia: “From China’s 3rd century BC Qin Dynasty to the present day, the burning of books has a long history as a tool wielded by authorities both secular and religious, in efforts to suppress dissenting or heretical views that are perceived as posing a threat to the prevailing order.” This is a twofold act: One, you’re condemning one form of information. Two, you’re aggressively enforcing your own information.

Where do I stand? Don’t burn books. Don’t attempt to control information. In an abstract sense, information is far more powerful and exists on a higher level than religious dogma, political ideologies or even geographic borders. It persists as an insubstantial yet tangible achievement of mankind to rise above our trappings and create something above our own limitations. Destroying books, censoring information and regulating ideas is more damaging than any terrorist act because you’re crippling the future enlightenment and intellectual development of humanity.

If you really wanted to do something substantial, book a flight and hunt down the people that want to destroy your way of life instead of grandstanding for media hype and celebrity status. Be a hero, not a retard.

You can do more good for your society, for your beliefs, and for your social situation by being active and supportive and creative, rather than being petulant, destructive, and ultimately damning.

Nestor Dissertation, Quick Post, Rant, Religion, Sociology

I came back from my sabattical from the world of japanese games when a buddy of mine told me about Swan Song. He initially billed it as a game that was made by the same people that gave us Cross†Channel. I really enjoyed Cross†Channel, so of course I really had to give it a try.

Swan Song bills itself as taking place in some form of winter apocalypse on an island, arguably Japan. There’s a huge blizzard and some form of huge earthquake. The story revolves around a couple of groups of people trying to survive in a wasteland.

Patch/ Patching: It’s a breeze.

Menus: Easy to navigate, though the main menu bar is a disappearing one at the top of the screen. It can get a little annoying.

Story: I feel like I’ve got to talk about this in parts.

Firstly, the world.  Whoever wrote this has absolutely no idea what winter is like. First off, it takes place in a wintery area. a place that’s used to getting large volumes of snow on a consistent basis every year. So where are the snowplows? Snowmobiles? Snow Blowers? or even at the very base-bottom scraping the barrel, where are the snowshoes? Skis? Shovels? One big thing I’ve noticed and irritates me to no end is there doesn’t seem to be public service equipment like backhoes, bulldozers, etc. Hell, there isn’t even trucks with snowplow blades. In this light, it was clearly written by someone who only has a basic, academic understanding of winter- that winter is cold and there is snow and that snow is inconvenient. There’s no sense that the writer knows at all what he’s talking about. Because it’s so discordant with what winter and snow are really like, I could not get immersed.

Secondly, The overall attitude of the people in the game. I’ve never actually seen this in any of the other games I’ve played. There’s this sniveling passiveness that permeates the game. No one wants to accept personal accountability for themselves and everyone is looking for a leader. Even their leader is abdicating responsibility… and looking for a leader. Disgusting. Nobody wants to do anything at all because it might possibly, theoretically in the unforeseeable future inconvenience someone else that may or may not happen along in said theoretic future. It’s this whinging, cringing passivity that leads to the persecution of people who do the right thing. Hello, they’re doing the right thing, don’t punish them for doing what’s right.  This ability to be disinclined with everything that’s going on because it’s “not their responsibility” and “they shouldn’t get involved because it’ll be troublesome” is fucking retarded.

Thirdly, The Ends:

Normal End was forced and ham-handed. Good End was too saccharin-sweet. The Bad Ends were varying degrees of win and hilarity.

The girls:

Aroe: Aroe is fucking dumb, stupid, and a fucking annoying bitch. Also, running around in the snow naked, bitch should have DIED. Refer back to my earlier statements about the author not knowing about winter.

Sasaki Yuka: She sounds like Yua from Chaos;Head. got the whole gentle cultured ojousama thing going. Sasaki is definitely cute. Throughout the whole game she was pretty shallow and two-dimensional until the Normal End, where she revealed a startling depth of personality. It’s a shame you have to go through the whole game to find that personality.

Kawase Hibari: I didn’t like her at first, but she sorta grew on me, like bread mold… or cancer. (hahaha) She gravitated from a caustic little bitchcunt to a sort of… I dunno, genki tsundere? And towards the end our patience was again rewarded.

Nogi Taeko: She was by far the best girl. At turns honest and enigmatic, girlish and wise beyond her years, passionate and impulsive. She alone captured my heart, and I’ll tell you one of the main reasons why: She took responsibility.

Overall the game was poorly written and largely a disappointment. There were individual elements that were good, but no one thing could elevate the whole beyond the level of mediocre. This gets a 5/10 from me. Here’s a picture of Taeko.

Nestor Adult Games, Games, Japanese Games, Rant