Thursday, August 26, 2021

8/27/2020 Music Releases and other updates

     Switchfoot's album last week was really good, I highly recommend "the bones of us" and "I need you (to be wrong)," while the previous week Sheryl Crow released a great live version of "Prove You Wrong" with Stevie Nicks and Maren Morris.  Grace McKagan released her fourth solo single, "One You Love," which was also really good and Rina Sawayama released a cover of "Enter Sandman" (part of the same set that features Miley Cyrus singing "Nothing Else Matters") that will likely join that one and Brandi Carlile's version of "Black Hole Sun" as my favorite covers this year.

 

    At times, I feel overwhelmed, nervous and depressed.  I am very limited in what I can and can't do while so many people are doing destructive and harmful things.  I always worry as coming across as annoying or a nuisance on Social Media and sometimes feel like I'm screaming into nothingness with little response.  In the end, though, I can't control what other people do or how they react to what I do and have to just continue being me and doing what I want/need to do when I get my voice out there.

 

    Halsey has a new album due out tonight, as does cellist Tina Guo and blues-rock woman Suzanne Santo.  A deluxe Beach Boys box set is also being released, this is of the album that contained the original version of "Forever," a song covered by John Stamos with the band for "Full House" in the early 90s.  "Forever" is a beautiful love song and I'm glad to finally have an opportunity to hear the original.

Thursday, August 19, 2021

One of the best weeks of my life

     Not even exaggerating about that.  I got a ton of likes on Tweets I said on Twitter from people I admire.  Just now, I got a like from voice actor Yuri Lowenthal on saying "Bear [McCreary] deserved an Oscar for 'Goodbye Old Friend.'" (from the Godzilla; King of the Monsters 2019 soundtrack)  Also, Tara Platt retweeted an Edelgard fanart I posted (and commissioned earlier this year) last night because I was thinking of her and Cherami Leigh's characters teaming up in RWBY Volume 5 and the fanart depicts Platt's character Edelgard and Leigh's Persona character Makoto Niijima.

 


 

 

    There's one big release I'm looking forward to this week, the new Switchfoot album.  This has been a year of accomplishments for Jon Foreman and I look forward to more.

Friday, August 13, 2021

Last fighting game mains post

 


Yukiko Amagi:

               Yukiko Amagi is the fourth party member of the team in Persona 4.  She has a strong friendship with Chie Satonaka in the same game and is the main healer in-game.  She also commands fire-element attacks, ironic, considering her given name of “Yukiko” means “snow child.”  Her appearance in Blazblue Crosstag Battle features a different voice actress than the one who voiced her from her debut game onward, who I believe was Amanda Winn-Lee.  Personally, I prefer the first voice actress, but that’s why there’s Persona Q, where she’s still voiced by the old one, who gave her a great giggle, one of the character’s trademarks.  Yukiko has special dialogue with Chie Satonaka, I haven’t found any other characters she has it with yet.

 


 

Elizabeth:

 

               Elizabeth is the attendant of the Velvet Room, the mystical zone that may solely reside in the protagonist’s unconscious mind.  It is here that he (or she, if a woman is chosen in the Portable version of Persona 3) creates and orders the various Personas, each based off a religious, mythical or literature character, that they use in battle against the Shadows they encounter.  Elizabeth assists a man with a long nose named Igor in Persona 3, in the sequel, her sister Margaret reveals Elizabeth has gone to assist the protagonist of the previous game, who sealed themselves away defeating the final shadow and may possibly be dead, none of the appearances of the protagonist afterward are canonically after Persona 3.  Elizabeth, however, has become a recurring character in the fighting games, appearing in Persona 4 Arena, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and this game.  She uses the protagonist’s first imperfect Persona form used in the opening Persona 3 battle to do battle in these games.  As an entity from a mystical place, Elizabeth gives elaborate and fantastic descriptions to what she sees on Earth and has a personality like a fairy from Midsummer Night’s Dream, flighty, whimsical and prone to impulse.  Like Mitsuru Kirijo, also from Persona 3, she is voiced by Tara Platt.  She has special dialogue with Mitsuru, as well.  The above picture was liked and responded to on Twitter by Yuri Lowenthal, Yosuke's voice actor and Tara Platt's husband in real life.




Kimberly;

               The original Pink Ranger, Kimberly Hart has two costumes in game, her original (which is only available through online purchase) and one based off her identity as the “Ranger Slayer” from the recent comic book series, where she was a servant of an evil version of Tommy, the Green/White Ranger, named Lord Drakkon.  Kimberly uses a bow in combat, often firing up at an angle to inflict damage on foes not far from her.  She also has a potent dash kick.  Kimberly is good at filling the third slot in teams, being good to finish what others started, but can also do decent damage herself.  I recommend using her primarily first or last in battles and not leaving the bulk work of the battle to her since she does less damage than other options like Trini, Udonna or Chun-Li.