Albums I'm Looking For

For my own reference - I've put together a list of albums that I'm interested in hearing and potentially picking up.

Cage the Elephant - Cage the Elephant
Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted
Crush 40 - Crush 40
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
John Frusciante - The Empyrean
Jurassic 5 - Power in Numbers
Muse - The Resistance
Royksopp - Junior

Thoughts on other albums I should look into?

My Brother's Killer

I am uncertain how to write this into a detailed story - but here's the idea for a Civil War era story entitled "My Brother's Killer."

Two brothers from Maryland end up on opposite sides in the United States Civil War. The story follows the Union brother, James Davis. James felt that the war needed to be fought to end slavery. His brother felt that slavery was a red herring and that the real battle was between the rights of the states and the power of the federal government.

James joins the 1st Regiment Cavalry out of Baltimore early on in the conflict. In his first battle, James kills a number of men in battle. As he charges forward with his unit and finds that one of the fallen Confederates in the battle is his brother.

After the war, with a heavy conscience, James leaves Maryland and in 1866, he ends up in Oklahoma territory. There he sees attrocities performed by Union solders. He defends local Native Americans and after joining them one night discovers that their tribe sided with the Confederates in the Civil War.

The story follows a man torn and confused. He feels pain and disgust in himself and no longer supports the cause that led him to kill his brother. I'm unsure how to end this story. Part of me had the idea of him joining the Native American tribe and dying with them in a guerilla attack on a Union barracks, but I'm unsure.

Thoughts are welcome. Again, this is only the beginning and bare skeleton of a story.

Random Music Video Ideas

Recently I've been coming up with random ideas while listening to music - about how I would present the song in music video format. Here's a spattering of ideas I had for a few randomly selected songs.

Katy Perry - One of the Boys
The video would be a classic teenage girl falling for the popular boy music video...except the girl would be played by a dude and the popular boy she's into, is actually Katy Perry dressed as a boy with a very bad fake moustache. Preferably have other male musicians that she's close to / worked with (FOB, Gym Class Heroes) to play other girls in school. The video would be mostly a daydream of the tomboy about how she (played by a he) is a tomboy, treated like a sister, but wants to be treated like a girly-girl.

Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal
I would make this actually a realistic depiction of what's going on in the song. The song would open with a girl sitting at home watching TV in her living room. It then shifts over to a window being forced open, then comes the intruder into the apartment. A friend of hers is on his way to visit when all this is going on - so, it goes back and forth between him looking at the apartment from the outside, to her struggle / attack from the intruder. He then realizes as he's trying to call her from outside that something isn't right and gets in the apartment just as the intruder is jumping out the window. This could be a very scary video with realistic depiction of Annie getting struck by the intruder and her friend trying to save her, but coming just that much too late. It ends with the friend comforting Annie as the police arrive.

My Chemical Romance - Cancer
Video would begin with the intro tune playing very quietly and see a younger, but obviously sick lead singer of the band lying in a hospital bed asleep. Two people are standing next to him, one holding his hand and the other rubbing the one person's shoulder and just looking at him. One says to the other, "I don't know if he'll make it." That's when the lyrics begin with the person slightly waking up and singing. When he gets to the line "favorite colors" it goes to him in his gown watching the events happening and singing, with the version of him in bed just laying there and the family members crying. The next verse will go back and forth between the ghostly lead singer singing the song in the hospital to the family members wearing all black in mourning, and in the funeral procession. The video would end with the ghostly version of him walking over and pulling a plug out from the wall, with the version of him in bed dying. The music stops and the machine's flatline. You see the family members begin to cry and a happy ghostly version of the lead singer walk off into a bright light.

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Begins by showing a speech by John Edwards on a television screen, then back off to show someone dressed as John Edwards walking past a television store. He's lip syncing the song. As the video progresses, it goes back and forth between flashbacks and John Edwards walking sadly down this road. The flashbacks include meeting Rielle Hunter, telling his wife about the affair, and watching his Presidential hopes crashing and burning through a flurry of news coverage. This video would almost serve as a chronicle of the fall of John Edwards from the good graces of the mainstream / liberal media and his continued denial to be the father of Rielle Hunter's baby.

Playlist of the Moment

I decided to randomly post the current "On-The-Go" playlist from my iPod that I'm currently listening to on my rides into / from work -

Drake - The Calm
Drake - Fear
Fuel - Hemorrhage
Fuel - Shimmer
Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
Gym Class Heroes - New Friend Request
Gym Class Heroes - The Queen and I
Hard-Fi - Cash Machine
Insane Clown Posse - Juggalo Homies
Insane Clown Posse - Under The Moon
Insane Clown Posse - How Many Times?
Jack's Mannequin - The Mixed Tape
Jack's Mannequin - Hammers and Strings (A Lullaby)
Kid Rock - Wasting Time
Lemon Demon - The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
mc chris - The Tussin
My Chemical Romance - Welcome to the Black Parade
My Chemical Romance - Cancer
Mötley Crüe - If I Die Tomorrow
Moxy Fruvous - King of Spain
Moxy Fruvous - Big Fish
MC Lars - iGeneration
Darius Rucker - Drinkin' and Dialin'
Tenacious D - Tribute
Tenacious D - Wonderboy
Carly Smithson - The Show Must Go On (Queen cover)
Jay-Z featuring Eminem - Renegade
Brad Paisley - Online
Darius Rucker - All I Want
Katy Perry - Hot N Cold
We Are The Fallen - Bury Me Alive
Coheed and Cambria - The Suffering
Coheed and Cambria - Wake Up
Backstreet Boys - Incomplete

Club Nintendo Game and Watch Collection Review

Club Nintendo is Nintendo's system to promote registration of video games. You get points for each game you register and additional points for filling out surveys related to each game. For collecting 800 points, you can get a copy of a Game & Watch Collection for the Nintendo DS. Those who follow me on Twitter know that I recently did that.

For those of you who don't know, Game & Watch were a series of individually packaged games that Nintendo made in handheld format. Each game was its own unit. This included such classics as Mario Bros and Donkey Kong. This DS collection includes three of those classic games - Oil Panic, Donkey Kong, and Green House.

Yesterday, the game arrived. What followed was about an hour of me sitting while watching TV playing games much older than most of my siblings. The gameplay has withstood the test of time - very simple gamplay for each game composed of using the directional pad and, at most, the A button. It is this simple gameplay that makes it so magical. It provides all manner of fun with just a few buttons.

Now, many people are familiar with Donkey Kong. I personally have played Donkey Kong many a time on many a console. But, before getting this collection I had never played Oil Panic or Green House. Let me tell you a little about each game.

Oil Panic is comprised of a main character on the top screen trying to collect dripping oil which falls at a set time period from random locations. Once his container is filled - he then dumps it out to a person below who must be directly below him to catch it. If you let the oil spill above - a small fire starts and you lose one chance. If you spill oil below, it falls on your gas station customers. The controls are simple to learn, but difficult to master. It is frantic fun trying to collect the oil and drop it so that your gas station patrons are kept content filling their vehicles.

Green House is a game where you protect your flowers from bugs. You have a can of bug spray and need to kill the bugs as they approach your flowers. If your flowers get attacked three times, the game is over and you have lost. It seems simple, but jumping between screens on the DS to catch insects before they take out your flowers can become fastly challenging.

All in all, for the price of free because I had registered my games - this was well worth the price. I would suggest registering products with Club Nintendo - because you never know what promotion they will come up with next.

Video Game Idea

Welcome to my 100th post on Newman's Narratives. For my 100th post - I'm going to post a video game idea that I've had for years...but just now figured out how to make it work.

The game would be entitled Mario and Sonic. It would be an adventure platformer akin to Super Mario Galaxy in gameplay with some intermixed high speed levels. The plot is as follows -

An FMV opens with Mario and Luigi walking with Princess Peach in the Mushroom Kingdom. The Kingdom is at peace and the people are having a celebration akin to the beginning of Super Mario Galaxy. An envoy from the neighboring Robo-Kingdom has come offering a peace treaty to the Princess. The envoy is Metal Sonic and he hands the Princess a letter which, when opened, causes smoke to fill the room. Metal Sonic grabs the Princess and flees the scene at high speed while the Mario Brothers cough and wheeze in the smoke filled room.

Sonic and Tails are racing in the Green Hill Zone. The two are just zipping along frantically with Amy following the two of them yelling, "Wait up, Sonic." That's when Sonic trips over what appears to be a small, brown mushroom. The Mushroom then stands up, it's a Goomba. The Goomba whistles and a small army of Goomba's surround Sonic. He goes on the attack (similar to the intro to Sonic Unleashed), taking out a number of Goombas. All the while, a Hammer Brother sneaks from behind and grabs Amy.

We then pan to room with a large, round metallic table. Two shadowy figures enter the room and shake hands - it's then revealed to be Dr. Eggman and Bowser. Eggman then says, "This plan is foolproof and when completed, we will easily capture our respective worlds." The two then laugh as they fade to the intro screen.

The idea for the game would be that Bowser would be going after Sonic and Eggman after the Mario Brothers. Gameplay would go back and forth between Mario and Sonic levels. Starting with Mario (or Luigi allowing the player to pick from the start and freely switch), the levels would be akin to Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Galaxy levels. Sonic levels will be like Mario levels, but faster. Sonic levels will have more straightaways. Halfway through the game - the two meet up and, simultaneously, Eggman betrays Bowser - implanting him with a robotic chip which makes Bowser his drone. The remainder of the game involves Mario, Luigi, Tails, and Sonic fighting Eggman's minions, Bowser's minions (controlled by Eggman), and eventually the two of them. It would make sense to allow the player to switch freely between the four characters - and it would be awesome to allow Co-Op mode where one player is Mario and the other Luigi - or, when the point is reached - allowing one player to be Sonic and the other Mario or Luigi or Tails.

I think there's a lot that can be done in a crossover game, that could be much more exciting than the two sets of characters meeting at the Olympics. Don't get me wrong - I love Mario and Sonic at the Olympic games, but I think that a richer gaming experience could be created with a teamup game. Thoughts area always welcome.

The Templar: Buffyverse Story Idea

After watching a LOT of Angel lately (finished Season 4 and starting Season 5), I had come up with my own idea of a completely separate Buffyverse character / show idea. The show / story set would be entitled "The Templar." Here's an explanation of the world setting.

The main character is Sir James, the Templar knight assigned to protect the Christian community in / around Washington, DC. The Templar knights have survived their official dissolution by the Roman Catholic Church and have been operating autonomously for centuries. They currently have one primary Templar in every major city around the world, each named for a book of the Bible. Sir Thomas Genesis is the Cheif Templar, based on Jerusalem.

The stories would involve Sir James protecting Washington, DC from supernatural as well as human threats. The stories would lead James to a few realizations - the fact that anyone can be a Christian, no matter what they look like; that non-Christians are important at keeping the world safe; and that working as a team helps.

The first few stories I had ideas for were as follows -

• James comes to DC as the official Templar relieving the retiring Sir Jonah II. An Representative (from a made-up district) who publicly claims to be a Christian, has recently been appointed House Minority Leader through an internal coup of Republican leadership. Representative Patterson has been a leading voice for conservatism - and at night has been sacrificing babies to Moloch in order to gain power. James and Jonah in his last mission uncover this demonic underbelly of Congressional pages and Congressmen to prevent Representative Patterson from continuing his hypocritical and evil crusade.
• James is contacted by a small congregation in a DC suburb. Pastor Neiman is a Parasite demon (like Merl from Angel), and much of the congregation are demons / supernatural beings. An anti-demon brigade has been picking off congregants indiscriminantly - ignoring the fact that they were peace loving Christian creatures. James realizes that even non-humans can be Christian and good. Pastor Neiman's son, Marvin, asks to train with him as a potential Templar apprentice - James takes him on.
• James is contacted by a Rabbi in DC who needs help. A man claiming himself to be a Christian missionary had been coming around his Synagogue, congregants have been disappearing since then. This leads James to find this underground group that who uses a warped version of Christianity to justify the murder of non-Christians. James for the first time sees how someone with ill intent can warp and manipulate the words of his faith for evil.

Suggestions for ideas / thoughts on this idea are welcome.