NYX/Mario Badescu/Victoria's Secret Ultimate Makeup Kit Reviews

This is going to be one huge post because I've been putting the first part of it off for...I don't even know, three months now? NYX had a huge sale and since everyone raves about how great and affordable their products are, I decided to buy a bunch of them. And it only cost me $60. Well...I say "only" but... 

I don't love it quite as much as Dinosaur Comics

It's still pretty amazing though. <3

http://lovecraftismissing.com/

Are there any other webcomics inspired by Lovecraft?

Just spent an hour and a half watching Resident Evil: Afterlife

And the only reason I did it was so that I could confirm my suspicions of how terrible it is to Ryan.

(There are no spoilers for Afterlife since it's new and I don't want to ruin it for anyone, it's bad enough to ruin itself for you. But there are spoilers for all the other movies, which everyone has probably seen by now if they were interested in them.)

The first movie...Was okay. Sure, it wasn't based on any particular Resident Evil game, but it still felt like it could fit into the RE universe. And Alice wasn't insanely overpowered. Yeah, there's that whole..Jumping off a wall and kicking dogs in the face thing, but she was probably trained to do that.

In every movie since that one, she's been WAY too powerful. And it's annoying. Look, I know Paul W.S. Anderson was sleeping with Milla Jovovich (and I'm assuming he still is since they have a kid together and they're married), but that doesn't give him an excuse to make the Resident Evil series center around a woman who never existed in any of the games. And to be honest, there's no place for super-human protagonists in this series, whether they're infected with the T-Virus or not. The games feature regular people trying to survive a zombie outbreak. They can't look at a security camera and make a man's eyes start bleeding.

And someone will probably say the movies don't have to follow the games, it's an original story, etc. If you've noticed, I said the first movie was fine. It's everything that came after it that's an issue.

We can start with Carlos. Oded Fehr is an attractive man, he was enjoyable to look at. And that's about it. Carlos...Was nothing like his Resident Evil 3 counterpart. Neither was Nicholai. If I recall correctly, Nicholai was awful in Resident Evil 3, yet for some reason, they decided to turn him into a decent human being in Resident Evil: Apocalypse. And I have to ask, why? Why not just give his character a different name? It doesn't make sense.

Then there's Jill. I never really cared about her one way or the other in the games, but she kind of struck me as a bit of a bitch in Apocalypse. (Sorry for the language, but she did.) She had a completely different personality. Why would you do that? Because Alice is the heroine of the movies and she's the only one who can be nice and perfect and save people? Again, I know you're sleeping with her, but enough is enough.

I can't even find the words to describe what happened to Claire. Chris and Claire are my two favorite Resident Evil characters, and what I saw in these movies was not Claire. Giving her red hair is not enough.

The biggest issue I've seen so far is Nemesis. Nemesis was sent to Raccoon City to destroy STARS members, which is why he's so hard to get rid of in Resident Evil 3, he chases Jill down constantly. But in RE: Apocalypse, for some reason, he was stalking Alice instead. That's not even the part that bothers me. What bothers me is that Nemesis actually HELPS Alice at the end of the movie. You can tell me that this is all fictional and Nemesis wouldn't do or not do something because he's not actually real, but the fact is, in the world of Resident Evil, there's no way that Nemesis is going to become an upstanding citizen. I should know, I was killed by him many, many times in Resident Evil 3. (I know, I know. He used to be Matt. Sorry, but I still don't buy it. Nemesis in the game used to be a human, too. That didn't give him a conscience though, did it?)

Paul W.S. Anderson took a lot of liberties when making these films. I have trouble understanding why he didn't just give them a different title and change the characters' names. They're completely unrecognizable from their counterparts in the games, anyway. It's a shame these films turned out the way they did, I know he's capable of making a decent movie. Event Horizon was great. (Sam Neill is in it. And when I played Dead Space, I immediately thought of that movie. That's a good thing, because Dead Space is incredible.)

I think the only way we'll ever get a decent video game movie (because let's face it, they're all terrible, including Silent Hill [just because it's the best out of all of them, that doesn't make it good]) is if a fan of the game actually makes it. Some low-budget, uploaded-on-YouTube-in-seven-parts movie. Something like this:

Here's a list...Basically, so that I never have to answer these questions again. 

Legally: Blonde The Musical (and some other pictures)

These were all taken with my phone, however...Next time I go to the city, I'm bringing the digital camera and my Flip, so there will be a lotttt more pictures and videos. Because no matter how many times I go there, I still act like a tourist. 

Pictures of the Palace Theater, when Legally Blonde: The Musical was still playing there: 

Toys R Us in Times Square:

Satan's House:

Citi Field:

Long Island:

Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days (PSP)

I know I have an entire post on here regarding everything I hate about Disgaea 2. However...It's still a Disgaea game, you know I'm going to get it anyway. 

And here are some excellent reasons why: 

Axel Mode - I love Axel. He's pathetic and slightly irritating, but I love him anyway. And I think it's amazing that he now has his own scenario. Now just give me Mid Boss Mode and I'll be happy! (I wouldn't mind a Prinny Kurtis mode, either, NIS.) 

Mao is playable. I don't think I need to elaborate here, right? ...This probably should have been my first point, I don't know why it's coming after Axel Mode. 

The only thing that doesn't interest me is the fact that they implemented the Magichange system from Disgaea 3 into this game. I never used Magichange in D3, so I won't probably won't use it for D2 either. (Don't hold me to that, though. I could easily change my mind.) 

The official release, according to the website (http://www.disgaea.us/d2psp/), is September 2009.

"They all want to be James Dean. I want to be James Cagney."

I really like Michael J. Fox. I love that quote. 

I'm watching Little Caesar...It reminds me of Sleepers. If you've seen Sleepers, you should know why. 

But anyway. I need to get an orange cat now. So I can name it Robinson and have all my little Warner Bros. gangster cats. Although, that's not the reason I named my cats Cagney and Bogart. 

Cagney was given her name because James Cagney was, in my opinion, the greatest actor ever. People think of him, and they think of Rocky Sullivan. Well, while Angels With Dirty Faces was an incredible movie, I think of James Cagney and Yankee Doodle Dandy comes to mind. 

The first movie I ever saw him in was Angels With Dirty Faces. I'd enjoyed old movies before that, but mostly just the ones starring Abbott and Costello and Vincent Price. AWDF sort of opened up the doors for me. I thought James Cagney was good in it, but I wasn't amazed or anything. The next movie I saw him in was White Heat, and it floored me. This scene in particular: 

I realized what an incredible actor he really was after watching that film. However, I didn't realize just how talented he really was until the next film I watched him in. Yankee Doodle Dandy. Cagney started out as a song and dance man, and you can see how much he loved making that movie. He was the perfect choice to play George M. Cohan. I believe Cohan said, "What an act to follow," after seeing the film himself. I wish Jack Warner had been smart enough to allow Cagney to make more musicals (he made only a handful while on contract at Warner Bros.), rather than throwing him into so many gangster roles, not that he didn't do an amazing job with every single role he had. 

The real proof of his talent is in Mister Roberts. I couldn't stand him by the time that movie was over, that's how well he did playing the captain. And just a note, The Strawberry Blonde is also a wonderful movie, and it doesn't get the attention it deserves. 

As for Humphrey Bogart, the first film I happened to see him in was also Angels With Dirty Faces, but he wasn't terribly important in that movie, so I didn't pay him much attention. The next film I saw him in also starred James Cagney (and of all the gangster movies Cagney made, it's my favorite), The Roaring Twenties. Again, he wasn't that important. 

I didn't particularly care for Bogart after the first two movies, I had no sympathy for the characters he played. Which is why when I was told to watch Dark Passage, I was a bit hesitant. He was decent in it, and I decided to give him another chance. This time, with the Maltese Falcon. That was the movie that did it for me. Bogart's version of Sam Spade is the reason that Spade is my favorite fictional character. Not only did that movie open me up to watching Bogart's other films (I'm sure I don't need to tell you I've seen Casablanca since then), but it introduced me to Dashiell Hammett who has since become one of my favorite writers. 

Now, it's nothing against Edward G. Robinson, but I've yet to find a movie that he's starred in that really caught my attention. I've seen him in Smart Money, Bullets or Ballots, A Slight Case of Murder, Brother Orchid, The Stranger (I don't blame the fact that this movie didn't impress me on him, I've never been able to sit through a movie Orson Welles has starred in yet, not even The Trial, and I love Anthony Perkins), and now, Little Caesar. So the fact that I want to name a cat after him has little to do with the work I've seen him do. But I'm always open to suggestions, if anyone has one.

You probably think the pink one is my favorite, right?

Well. It's not. The green one is. 

And they sent me this Laharl thing...Last time, they sent me one of these, and it was Flonne. And...Whatever. I don't even have a point, except that if they'd get the order right in the first place, they wouldn't feel the need to keep sending me these things. (RosenQueen Company.) 

The Dazzle finally works, and I was going to record an entire playthrough of Disgaea 3, but I said screw it. I don't feel like restarting that game when the file I started back in October/November has 210 hours on it at this point. Too much time goes into it. And there's an insane amount of grinding, which means I'd be editing the videos forever. It's just not worth it for an RPG. Not until I figure out a better way to go about it. 

And I still need to come up with some kind of post for Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? as I've completed it twice and it deserves its own post.

88 Warm Palette and other palette pictures that I've yet to put up here

This is the 88 Warm Palette...Obviously. :) And I really like it because it's matte, unlike the other 88 palettes (the original ones), so you can't see fingerprints all over it. I also like that it tells you what it is on the front of the palette, because I have two other palettes from Coastal Scents that are the same size, and it saves me like...Five seconds if I don't have to open them to find out what they are. 

These are the other two palettes that I have from Coastal Scents (the other 88 palette has completely fallen apart since I originally got it, so you can tell these are old). 

88 Shimmer Palette: 

56 Blush and Eyeshadow Palette: 

And you can get all three of those palettes at coastalscents.com, I definitely recommend them. 

Onto the next three palettes. These can be found at sillyfarm.com...I rarely ever use the Mehron palette, but I use the Ben Nye palette a lot, and I always use the colors from the Kryolan palette as a base for my eyeshadow. 

Ben Nye 12 Color Lumiere Palette:

Kryolan Interferenze 12 Color Palette:

(Paradise) Mehron Tropical Palette:

Ohhh, what is this?

Yeah. I got the Dinosaur Comics book today. And that's a copy of the...2004? Dinosauria underneath it. 

I almost said, "I never thought I'd see the day..."

Cross Edge

...But then I remembered this: 

Disgaea Anime

Coastal Scents mica powders

I just thought everyone should see a comparison shot of the mica powders and MAC pigments so you can get an idea of how huge these jars are: 

My old computer started hating me right around the time DLC started being released for Disgaea 3

I've purchased all of it (and all the DLC for Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?, which deserves a review post at this point, as I've completed it twice and I have no reason to keep putting it off), and while I've yet to take full advantage of the new characters, ranking modes and new scenario, I would just like to say... 

Prinny Kurtis! Mid-Boss! Kurtis! Hero Prinny! Marjoly! (Amazing due to the fact that she can learn Omega spells for all three elements.) 

Those are my favorite characters released as DLC. In order...Except, really, Prinny-Kurtis and Mid-Boss are tied, as I love them both. I know I've said some horrible things about Mid-Boss in the past, but I eventually grew to love him, after repeatedly dealing with him in Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness and Disgaea DS. 

As of right now, I've only had time to complete the first chapter of the new Raspberyl scenario. The new chapters have several maps each, so it's worth the money to buy them. I'm somewhat disappointed because you can't play as Mao, as if I can complete a map using only one character, he is always the one I use, I love him. Still, the first chapter was enjoyable, and I'm sure the rest will be, too.

The Amityville Horror

Not very scary, is it?

The last Resident Evil 5 post I will ever make

I've had Resident Evil 5...For about a month now? I've played through it on every difficulty, received all of the trophies for the main game, and half the trophies for Versus...It's time for a [real] post about this game. 

There's something that has been bothering me about Resident Evil 5

Many things, actually, but this is the main one, and no one I've discussed it with seems to want to acknowledge that this interview exists:

So it's a year old and whatnot, but the whole thing about your eyes needing to adjust to the light/dark depending on the environment...That's not in the game at all. And as I understand it, that was supposed to be a pretty huge element of the game. I'm just wondering why they decided to take it out.

Oh yeah?

During the final fight in Resident Evil 5, I had to do a button prompt for what felt like a minute straight. James laughed at me because he didn't think I could do it for that long.


What the people at Capcom don't know is that I did that for three minutes straight (like, 72 times) with Sir Sweet in Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero.


Give me a real challenge.

In the Mouth of Madness

Movies generally don't scare me. Suspiria does, only because of the incredible soundtrack. And Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein used to scare me when I was little, because I always thought something was going to change during the scene in the woods with the wolfman, and that he would actually kill Wilbur. (Not that I would care if he got him now. I love Abbott and Costello as a comedy team, they were genius. But I'm not particularly fond of Lou. Bud was great, though.) So when I say that In the Mouth of Madness makes me lose sleep at night, it should be taken seriously. 

The film, as many people would agree, is mostly a tribute to H.P. Lovecraft's work, from the title (a play on Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness) right down to the Cthulhu cutouts you'll notice scattered throughout the movie. 

I'm going to try to explain this correctly...In the Mouth of Madness deals with mass hysteria/insanity. After reading books written by Sutter Cane (Stephen King, anyone?), fans of his work become violent and start going insane. Cane goes missing, and John Trent (played by Sam Neill, and I swear to God, that is NOT the only reason I love this movie) is hired to find him. His search leads him to a town called Hobb's End...It's the town Cane writes about in his books, and it doesn't exist on any map. And from there, you really start to see how Lovecraft's work inspired Michael De Luca while he was writing the screenplay. 

This may or may not be true, but you could also assume that Carpenter was making fun of the people who insist books, movies, music and video games are the reason that people commit violent crimes. 

In the Mouth of Madness, in its entirety, is on YouTube. But I would recommend buying it, as the DVD is incredibly cheap for some reason. I guess not many people have heard of it. (There's always the possibility that they're just not interested in it, but I imagine if more people knew of the movie, they would be interested in it.) 

After watching In the Mouth of Madness, you can go to the official website and take a look at what the books Cane wrote were about. No, they aren't real books. However, they're still worth seeing. Click on "The Feeding" first (Cthulhu shows up on the cover), as it explains why there are several scenes in the film where kids are chasing a dog. It's probably not a huge revelation, but it's nice to have your suspicions confirmed. 

Persona 3 FES

Spoilers...Spoilers, spoilers. 

Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero?

This is just the tutorial stage...It's incredibly easy. I can promise you, at least once while playing the game, you'll want to throw your PSP. Don't do it though. It's a great game, and it's worth the frustration. 

(Just a note...Since the prinny doesn't have the red scarf during the tutorial, shouldn't he explode EVERY time he lands after a jump? Or does that not count?) 

The reason I posted the video for the tutorial is because I wanted to point something out. Listen for the prinny that says to hurry up and get to Etna's room, around 5:05 in the video. He's my favorite. :) 

It's not like I'm obsessed or anything

Disgaea 2 - Dark World

I figured I would be nice and warn people against doing what I did with this game...Because I didn't realize that I was really screwing myself over, I just thought I was awesome because I beat a level 100 enemy when I was only level 27. 

In addition to the regular maps, you can also play the Dark World versions of them (they're a LOT harder), if you're able to unlock the Dark World. You're probably thinking, "Well, what's so terrible about that? I can just play the Dark World maps when I level up more." Yeah...That's apparently not how it works. 

I'm very over-confident when it comes to certain games...This was one of them. I was level grinding for a while and I hadn't saved my progress...Then I was automatically drawn into a Dark World stage in the middle of one of the maps I was trying to complete. There was no way for me to win. I got a game over and lost all of my progress. Saddest story ever, right? 

In fact, this whole Dark World thing is so evil that even though I'm close to being finished with the main part of the game, there's a REALLY good chance that I'll have to restart the game. That is, if I can automatically get drawn into Dark World maps of regular stages that I've never cleared before. I'm still not sure how that works. (Edit: As it turns out, you cannot be drawn into the Dark World of a stage you've yet to clear.) 

Here are the stages that are out to screw you over, and the requirements you need to meet on the regular maps in order for them to automatically draw you in, taken from the strategy guide (in case you don't GET it, these are things you DON'T want to do until you're like...Level 100, at least): 

Dark World 1-3: Take at least 1 damage from enemy attacks on Episode 1-3. 

Dark World 1-4: Defeat a Green Skull on Episode 1-4 (you can defeat your own as well). 

Dark World 2-4: Make a tower of two characters on Episode 2-4. 

Dark World 3-1: Spend 11 turns on Episode 3-1. 

Dark World 3-2: Defeat any Geo Symbol Monster on Episode 3-2. 

Dark World 3-3: Make a tower of 5 characters on Episode 3-3. 

Dark World 4-1: Destroy all Geo Panels on Episode 4-1. 

Dark World 4-3: Fuse all enemies together on Episode 4-3. (They even screw you out of being able to power level on that map. Bastards.) 

Dark World 4-4: Spend 30 turns on Episode 4-4. 

Dark World 5-1: Let 1 ally be killed on Episode 5-1. 

Dark World 5-3: Make a tower of 8 characters on Episode 5-3. 

Dark World 6-1: Make a tower of 10 characters on Episode 6-1. 

Dark World 7-1: Destroy all Geo Panels on Episode 7-2. 

Dark World 7-3: Throw an enemy to a character that is already holding one up on Episode 7-4. 

Dark World 8-1: Change the colors of at least 6 Geo Panels. (It's not stated whether you have to do this in world 8-1, or just throughout the entire game.) 

Dark World 8-2: Defeat the Geo Panel Monster on Episode 8-3. (It says 8-3, that's not a typo. At least on my part.) 

Dark World 8-6: Throw an enemy to a character that is already holding one up on Episode 8-1. 

Dark World 9-1: Move a character to the highest point (64dm) on Episode 9-1. 

Dark World 9-4: Move a character to the highest point (84dm) on Episode 9-4. 

Dark World 10-2: Destroy all Geo Panels on Episode 10-2. 

Dark World 10-3: Get the "Total Damage" counter past 500 on Episode 10-3. 

Dark World 10-4: Increase the Bonus Gauge up to Level 3 on Episode 10-4. 

Dark World 11-3: Get the "Total Damage" counter past 1000 on Episode 11-3. 

Dark World 12-1: Fuse all enemies together on Episode 12-1. 

Dark World 12-3: Make a tower of 9 characters on Episode 12-3. 

Dark World 12-4: Make a tower of 3 characters on Episode 12-4. 

Dark World 12-6: Get the "Total Damage" counter past 2000 on Episode 12-6. 

Dark World 13-2: Get the "Total Damage" counter past 2500 on Episode 13-2. 

Dark World 13-3: Destroy all Geo Panels on Episode 13-3. 

Dark World 13-4: Get the "Total Damage" counter past 3000 on Episode 13-4. 

There are other extra stages that you can unlock, but you actually need to enter them yourself, they won't just pull you in like the Dark World stages will. :(

Disgaea 2 (I can talk forever about things that I don't like)

This will probably seem overly critical...Okay, this will DEFINITELY seem overly critical. 

[MASSIVE SPOILERS for all three games.] 

Disgaea (Still not very in depth)

First I would like to say...I prefer Disgaea 3, but Disgaea IS an amazing game (and its story is just as complex as the third game's). 

Again...There's a clipping issue. Laharl's head tends to disappear into the walls. I've also noticed that when I walk up the stairs in the castle, he'll sometimes get stuck, and I'll have to make him walk back down the stairs and climb up in a different spot. However, as I rarely ever go up/down those stairs (except for when I go to check Etna's diary), it's not too terrible. 

I would attempt to explain the story here, but it gets so complex...Let's see. After a two-year-long nap, Laharl wakes up to find that his father, King Krichevskoy, has died. The demons of the Netherworld are now fighting for the title of Overlord, which belongs to Laharl. There's betrayal and a huge conspiracy involving the Netherworld, Celestia and the Human World...I'm trying not to spoil the entire game. 

With that said! MASSIVE spoilers.

Disgaea 3 (I've never gone into less detail about this game)

This isn't a "review" because I'm not qualified enough for that. 

The only complaint I have about Disgaea 3...And it's not even a complaint, really, because it doesn't ACTUALLY bother me...Is that there's a door that clips Mao's head in the Academy. Minor detail, really, and you have to be standing RIGHT next to it for it to happen. Who cares. 

When you first start the game, you're introduced to Mao, an Honor Student at Demon Academy, and the Overlord's son. You learn that Mao wants to defeat the Overlord because he broke a video game he had spent 4 million hours playing. (Who WOULDN'T be upset in that situation??) The story progresses from there, and you're introduced to a bunch of new and equally interesting characters. 

If you think it sounds stupid...Give it a chance. Disgaea 3 has a very deep story. No, that isn't a joke, nor is it sarcasm. In fact, I'll even say I prefer Disgaea 3's story to Super Mario RPG's story. Whether or not that makes Disgaea 3 my new favorite game or not, I've yet to determine. Super Mario RPG has held a special place in my heart since I was a kid, and I'm not ready to let a "new" game come in and take over. I do love it though. 

I completed the main story...I'm going to say in about 47 hours. On my save file, it says that I've played for 59 hours so far, but that's 2 hours of post-game play, and I also left the game running several times while I got distracted by other things. The 47 hours I played it includes a lot of level grinding as well. Mao is still only at level 92...Out of 9,999. 

That time also includes time spent in the Item World, Class World and trying to pass topics in Homeroom. Post-game, there are extra maps you can play through as well, if you can get the representatives to pass the topic, either through bribery or force. There are many other features of the game that I've yet to try, as I did a blind run of the game. I'll be looking through a guide soon so I can go back and try everything I missed, and from what I can tell...There's a lot that still needs to be done. 

As I understand it, you can also play through the game again with the characters you've already acquired if you talk to the Time Traveler. (I haven't attempted this yet, so don't hold me to it.) Regardless, you can play through the maps in chapters 1 through 7 anyway. It's probably worth it to talk to him, though, because Disgaea 3 has several different endings. 

Overall, it's a fun game with an amazing story and if you have a PS3, it would be the first game I would recommend to you. And if you don't have a PS3...I would suggest getting one for Disgaea 3 alone.