I just beat Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (game 2 in the Layton series). For those who don't know, Professor Layton is a Nintendo DS series originating from Japan. The concept is, a British Professor and his young apprentice wander around solving gigantic mysteries and mini puzzles in the process. It's mostly a puzzle and riddle game. But wait, let that sink in a moment... British characters... voiced by the Japanese...

And not just any voice actors, unlike the American versions, Professor Layton is baited with some pretty big name Japanese actors doing the voices. For example Oizumi Yo does the voice of Layton while Horikita Maki is young Luke (I say young Luke because game 3, which is not out in America yet, has older Luke voiced by Oguri Shun.) and Kamikawa Takaya does a character in game 3 too. And that's just a few of them.

It kills me that it takes America so long to translate games sometimes. Japan is getting game 4 this holiday season and there is no clues about when America will get game 3... but since game 2 came out recently I expect it wont be very soon.

I do find it hilarious though that the Layton series seems to think it's Star Wars. The first game was actually part 4 of the story. The new game getting released in Japan in November will be part 1. So it went 4-6 and they will now do 1-3.

Oh and some more awesomeness from Japan... Following the games November release, just before Christmas they are also releasing Professor Layton and The Eternal Diva... the first Layton animated movie.

Trailer 1
( More trailers... )

Hmmm few comments on this episode.
( cuuuuut )

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Eric is groooooossssssssssss..... and yet... while throwing severed arms at people, spiting out blood, and basically just drenching himself in blood.... I still find him so incredibly hot.

Wow, Bill is an asshole. Yes yes I know he's supposed to be a complete dick. This is why they break up. But it seems a little early and sudden for him to shift into such heavy toolness. I mean, it's like all of a sudden out of almost nowhere he's mean to Sookie and rough with her. It would be awesome if they powered though the plot of Dead in Dallas and made this season a mix of that and Club Dead. However I doubt that will happen since "Bill's missing." would be the best cliff hanger for the season finale.

The fellowship is creepy... the writers sure did make Jason messed in the head...

Wah... I really need to power though the rest of the books. Perhaps I will try to do that this week/next week while I'm stuck in bed. Not like I don't have a long list of shows to watch to keep me entertained too... but then ethidda will stop bugging me so she can talk to me about book 9. lol

I only have a few comments to make about the first episode. I'll put it behind a cut since... ethidda is probably working, and thus on the internet. And I know she hasn't watched yet.

( !!!!! )

I tend to watch more American TV that airs in the summer rather than during the regular season. This is for mostly two reasons. 1) I have the time to watch it. Any shows I watch from fall to spring usually get stored and marathoned on random weekends. And 2) The shows are better. Normal season shows are usually annoying soap dramas like 90210 or Gossip Girl. Summer time shows are usually more fun and unique, like Eureka. I'm a scifi and fantasy girl.

And while thinking of this I totally forgot that True Blood season 2 starts next month too and a new trailer is out.

True Blood is a HBO (read: semi-pornographic ;P) show based off of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse vampire mystery series. The original books are a comedic sometimes raunchy romance (and mystery) that takes a look at racism and other social dividers in a small southern town. However, the twist is, while normal discrimination issues are not ignored (it is the south, so black and gay are words that silence a room), the focus is the fact that vampires have publicly announced their existence and have been granted basic human rights and the vote. While the law recognizes them, they are still treated like second class citizens by most people. It's an upside down look at racism, hate crimes, inter-life-state? relationships, and the moral process that one goes through in deciding what differentiates human from animal and the way all creatures (living and dead) should be treated. Do humans treat vampires like people? Do vampires eat people?

LOL I make it sound so much deeper than it really lets on. It's, for the most part, literary fluff. It is centered around Sookie's relationships with the dead, living, and other supernatural men in her life and the trouble they all get her into... that she makes worse. And the show is not that much different. It's all about the guys. Jason, Sookie's hunky man-whore of a brother; naked for half the show, I swear (human). Sam, Sookie's scruffy but super cute and sweet boss; not as naked but just as yummy (shape-shifter, woof!). Bill, her cool and mysterious boyfriend; my least favorite of the guys but he sort of a tool so... (vampire). Eric, a divine ex-viking who now owns a night club for the fangy type; so not naked enough (vampire).

Taking a small detour from the books, True Blood is the definition of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. And that's probably what makes it addicting.

Old Promo

New Promo

I Spy the bloodletting scene! Which makes me wonder... what delicious nondescript Asian man will play Chow? The book calls him gorgeous, fairly tall... and of mysterious Asian decent since Sookie is sadly stereotypically small town and can't tell Asian races apart. Five bucks says they go with Chinese just because of his name, even though it's speculated that Chow is not his actual name.

After sleeping on it... I realize my inner fangirl got in the way. If not for her suppressing my writer self, I totally would have seen that ending coming. While I still think it's cliched and over used... it at least makes sense. Though I am still royally pissed that they did that.

Grrr... Eureka needs to start already so I can channel this frustration elsewhere. That and Warehouse 13. I have high hopes for that too.

Okay... so coma induced fun house episodes... I can deal with.  It was amusing.
But the build up to... that final line?

American TV networks, I must ask you, why do you hate your viewers?
What is Bones to become?  A daytime soap?

Is it weird that I have always found Seth McFarlane hot?
I'm not even sure he's as hot as I think he is.
It could just be he is sort of cute... but he's also funny... so in my brain that equals hot.
Whatever the case... I still think Seth McFarlane is yummy.

"Midgets are reading my mind."

Or so says the nut job murderer on the news.  As sad as it is... I laughed my ass off at that comment.  I think it's safe to say he gets an insanity plea.  Add to that the huge list of psychological evaluations he had prior to killing someone saying he was out of his freaking mind and a moderate danger to all.  You know, to me, moderately dangerous is pretty high as far as the insane go.  So, why he was wandering around freely, I just don't get it.

Ah, local news is fun.

... But I did see the Twilight movie today.  I admit I read the book a while back.  It was good for creepy teen angst sex dream material.  The movie stayed pretty true to the book.  Which since the book was slow... made the movie a bit slow.  It wasn't boring though.  Kristen Stewart (who I usually love in everything) and Robert Pattinson have very good chemistry.  Most of the time they were holding contests to see who could hold a conversation longest without ever saying more than one sentence as a time.  It was all about the weird ways they would look at each other.  And while I have mixed feelings about Robert Pattinson's attractiveness... he does do some nice dark scowls that make a girl weak in the knees.

Seriously though... am I the only one who finds him funny looking?  Most girls I know seem to love him.  And I can see WHY he's attractive.  But... I always feel like he's off a little.  His head just looks huge and boxey to me.  It's weird.  He makes me think of an alien.  He has an alien head!

After falling off the face of the world in California, Se7en finally shows signs of life with his official myspace. There are even some promo videos with him speaking pretty good English and sporting a new look and style.

( My thoughts on the new *Americanized Se7en* )