I was reading the Calvin & Hobbes book "It's A Magical World" recently, and when I reached the last comic I felt a little depressed. I thought this was the end of my adventures with Calvin. I would not watch him grow up. Then I realized Calvin did not truly end with Bill Waterson's retirement. Other comic writers, whether intentionally or not, have resurrected Calvin and helped him grow up with his loyal readers.
    During elementary school, Calvin was under Waterson's penmanship. When Calvin entered high school, Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman helped Calvin "grow" and become Jeremy Duncan from "Zits." The two comics share similar characteristics. Jeremy is a blonde rebel that disrespects authority. These traits were seen in the young Calvin. Susie also shows up as Jeremy's girlfriend Sara (c'mon, you knew they were gonna date). The parents have also gotten older and share similar traits. Unfortunately, Jeremy/Calvin, by this age, has grown out of Hobbes. I know that's a bitter pill to swallow.
    I'm not too sure about this next point, but I'll take a stab at it. In his adulthood, I think Calvin grew into the main character in the comic "Frazz." Here, Calvin returned to his famous haircut. That is really all I'm going by because I really haven't read much of this particular comic. A Susie-like character still seems to hang around with him alot. I think she's a teacher, so that sort of fits Susie's character. He is also a lot more mature. He has transformed into the obligatory wise-janitor. He imparts his lessons from the past unto the new generations.
    And this was just a glimpse at the inner workings of my cognition.

Only one of the coolest guys ever:

For those of you who are new to my blog, here is a list of some topics that have been covered in my posts. Some of them interlap, and it is probably innaccurate to some degree, but it is pretty darn close.

Video Gaming: 30
Video Game Reviews: 3
Harvest Moon: 11
Current Events: 5
Complaints: 18
Anime / Manga: 9
Surveys / Quizzes: 4
Posts consisting of only one emoticon: 1
Award Extravaganzas: 4
Favorites Lists: 6
P.S.A.s: 3
Movie Scripts: 1
Song Lyrics: 2

Note: I had intended to put in a "Mindless Drivel" category, but quite frankly there were too many to count.
Post-Note: Dude, they're coming out with a Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories! AWESOME!

Lets see what's in the ol' postbox today. Oh, a letter to "current resident." Wait! That's me. But it could also be for one of the other residents currently residing at the residence. How do I determine which "resident" this is for? I know. I must eliminate all of the others. Then I will be the sole resident; therefore, the letter will be mine. Yes, this is clearly the most logical option. It is obvious these 13-some years of education have made me a highly rational thinker.

And now, a stream of consciousness. Here we go...

What would happen if all of the people in the U.S. just spontaneously, arbitrarily, and unanimously decided to support our troops? If they all just said, "y'know, I think this war is a good idea." This will never happen, but I'll bet all of those yellow-ribbon car-magnet companies will go out of business. The same goes for a cure for breast cancer. And why is it only breast cancer? Why don't they find a cure for, say, testicular cancer? Okay, I grant most guys wouldn't want to stick a pink ribbon on their bumper, but it doesn't have to be pink! How about a nice olive drab or rust colored ribbon? Y'know, some really masculine colors! I'm sure guys worry more about their marbles than women worry about their melons. This reminds me of a commercial I recently heard on the radio. Okay, maybe "reminds" is too strong a word. I just wanted to post my thoughts on it. It was for a new Philly cheesesteak thick burger from Arby's. To advertise it, they had a true (cough) phone call from a customer, who happened to be, what sounded like, a teenage girl. The girl asked if they could serve her a hamburger with a Philly cheesesteak on top. When asked why, she responded, "I like meat." When I heard this, my male gutter-based mind thought, yeah, I'll bet she likes meat! At that moment, I realized I am 18 and legally an adult. I am no longer supposed to be attracted to teenagers. What made me think yowza less than a year ago is now supposed to make me think, and this is our future generation dressing like a prostitute? Oh, such trials and tribulations involved in the maturing process!

Video Game Review Time!

Today's title: Sonic Riders (PS2)

Verdict: Crap

Okay, I recently bought this game as sort of a "reward" for finishing my finals. I thought it would be good, but was I wrong. Lets do a quick run-down. Vocals suck, music sucks, graphics sub-par, controls suck, game-play sucks. This game is just all wrong. The vocals always suck for these 3D Sonic games, but you at least had the option of switching to Japanese. Not in this game. You are stuck with the dreadful dub that grates at thine ears. The music is also pretty lame.

The graphics. What can I say? I wasn't too impressed. They were pretty basic. I hope they fix it up when they make the new Sonic game for Next-Gen consoles. Also, it was tough to decipher where obstacles and borders were on the tracks because they were all basically the same design.

Now for the big gripe. The controls. They are just crap. You will bump in to things. A lot. Just count on it. Your attack button is the same as your boost button, which leads to awkward situations. Your jump button is the same as your grind button. This makes it difficult when you're trying to get on a rail while avoiding plummeting to your death (i.e. last place). The gameplay is not only hampered by controls. If you have played a little game called Stuntman (PS2), then you have some knowledge of the gameplay in Sonic Riders. You are forced to run on a track in which you have no prior knowledge, and if you screw up, you may as well restart, because you are not making a comeback. This is enraging when you're on the last lap and you screw one little thing up, costing you the race. The trick system is lousy too. You have to do flips in order to do tricks. And once you start a trick, there is no cancelling out. Since the trick controls are the same as the movement controls, they can lead to some less-than-svelte landings.

Overall, I did not care for this game and do not recommend it. Especially when there are far better games, such as Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (GCN) and The Godfather (PS2). Peace out.

And now... everyone's favorite cooking show...
Cooking with Jimbo!

Today's cooking endeavor: German Chocolate Cake

Step 1: Buy Ingredients
This
step is one of the easiest, yet it is also the easiest ways to lose
your mind. First, look through all of the aisles to locate the
necessary ingredients. These include: Cake mix, coconut-pecan frosting.
You shouldn't need to buy anything else because you should have eggs,
water, and vegetable oil readily available at home. Upon finding out
you are dead wrong, you must return to the store and wait in line for
another fifteen minutes, again with only about two items (not including
the Butterfinger you're picking up for the trouble).

Step 2: Mix ingredients
To do this, you must first locate a bowl that is big enough to hold all
of the ingredients. If you are a guy and have never used the kitchen
before, this can be quite a difficult task. There are, quite literally,
hundreds of bowls, but only one of them fit to serve your purposes.
After searching for an hour, you are ready to mix the ingredients!
To do this pour the proper amounts of cake mix, oil, water, and
de-shelled eggs into your large bowl. Now you must find a whisk. You
should follow the same search procedure you used to find the bowl. I'll
wait... okay, now use the whisk to stir the amalgamation into a smooth,
viscous liquid. Allow about an hour and a half for this if you're using
a hand whisk. Once it is ready, it is time to bake the sucker!

Step 3: Bake the concoction
Now for the fun part where you get to play with fire. Sort of. It's
called an oven. It doesn't really burn anything unless you do something
wrong. Okay, for this next step you need to use some Pam to spray the
bottom of a baking pan. What? You don't have Pam? Fine, I'll wait...
right then, huh? Oh man, you bought the vegetable flavored Pam, stupid!
It'll be fine, lets just get this done. With the pan sprayed, you just
pour the mixture you made in step 2 into the pan evenly. Then, set the
oven to 350° F and plop the pan in there for about 30 minutes. This
part gets a little boring, so I recommend you watch a movie like The
Naked Gun.

Step 4: Watch The Naked Gun
HAHAHAHAHAHA ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!1!!

Step 5: Take cake out of oven
Okay, so you managed to watch the first half an hour of the movie and
you are eager to get back, but first you need to get your cake out of
the oven. Make sure you use gloves, because even though there isn't a
visible flame, the pan will indeed be hot. You should also be aware
that the cake will no longer be a liquid. Don't let this surprise you,
it's supposed to happen. Now you just have to let it cool before you
frost it. Go ahead and watch the rest of The Naked Gun

Step 6: Watch the rest of The Naked Gun
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!@!!

Step 7: Frost cake
Okay, you're almost done! First this, you need to crack open your
little can of coconut-pecan frosting. This is easy because it only has
a pull-off lid. Isn't modern convenience great? Stir it up with a knife
then smear it on the cake with whatever you want. It really doesn't
matter. Just make sure it looks good. When you're finished, you should
have a little left over in the can. Go ahead and take a spoon and treat
yourself to some. You don't want it to go to waste, do you? Now your
cake is done. You can do whatever you want with it.

Thank you for watching Cooking with Jimbo!

NO! Say it ain't true! Soft drink companies are going to stop supplying soda to public and private schools! Those monsters! Oh wait, I go to college. They could care a less about us. HAH, in your face high-schoolers! If you want a soda, you're going to have to bring one from home. BOO-YAH! If you'll excuse me, I have to hit the vending machine and get a...

I think that taking advantage of old people is going too far... in Japan, at any rate. It seems that because of declining birthrates, toy companies don't have many children to appeal to. Know what that means? It's time to make old people feel young again. They designed a doll that is supposed to act like a grandchild:

Unmistakable face of evil

It's a robotic doll that tells the buyer how much it "loves you" and welcomes it home. Those crazy Japanese seem to want to rule the world in more ways than pachinko!

Mmm... peer pressure is goodliness. Assuming that that's how you spell goodliness. Whatever.

"Man you guns!" - High School Ballad