After getting frustrated with Windows Live IM closing itself due to Kaspersky; I finally decided to get Trillian. Of course, I don't have AIM, Yahoo!, or Skype accounts, which puts those out of the question.
In other news, I know a movie that was made in '07 called Renaissance, which uses motion-captured CGI animation (and great looking stylized visuals to boot). Why watch James Cameron's Avatar while you can watch Renaissance instead? Besides, at least Renaissance has a better story and is much more original. (Avatar = Dances With Wolves + Call Me Joe + Delgo + ThunderCats)

Previous list

A lot of you will be bent out of shape upon reading this or any of the other posts that I've done, but I think this latest list of Flash series I'm sick of is overdue...

1. Arrogancy: Looking back on this series, I used to like it. However, these days, I have to agree with the following:
-Dave Lovelace
-Tomorrow's Nobodies
-Em Kaah
-Phobotech
-Ben Spurgin
-Gel
It may have been hot shit back in 2001, but it hasn't aged well with its weak story, bad directing, tame music, awful sound effects, and shitty voice acting. Look, I didn't like Sith Confrontation or Superhero Slayers, but I would rather take Xennethy over this or Smash Bros. X

2. Minushi: After watching the first two parts of this, I have to say that Harry Partridge has hit the nail on the head. The graphics may be above-average, but they are taken down by the same flaws as Arrogancy. Keegan's Truck, by contrast, had bad art, but the directing, character development, pacing, etc. more than made up for it.

3. Xombie: To be honest, I liked the fights, animation, and the concept. However, I found this to be more hilarious than tense, especially during the conversations between Dirge and Zoe.

4. Contemplating Reiko: Am I the only one who thinks that this series is a case of non-existant comedic timing, choppy animation, deadpan voice acting, and joke material too anti-climatic for its own good? Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who liked Ranma 1/2 Interactive Dojo, made by Tainted Ink's brother, Dekathos. In short, proof that having original characters doesn't equal good; especially if the series happens to be trite like this.

5. Thamesis: What's with the hype? It's funny that certain people here (RTil, Zekey Spacey Lizard, Notorious etc.) complain about sprite movies, but do they complain about motion comics? Hell no. The definition of animation is a series of drawings that simulate movement, not motion tween panels and text. Throw in a dull story, uninteresting characters, and unfitting music and you have Thamesis in a nutshell. I will agree that sprite movies are way overdone, but even sprite movies have Animation.

6. Shades of Grey: Interesting premise, but the creator of this series is in need of directing skills. The pace for this is just way to slow, from the conversations to the fights. In other words, a half-assed execution on a story that had potential.

7. Madness: To quote Doomhammr, "Madness will never be bad, but I'm getting a bit tired."

8. The Little Buzzers: I may be for originality, but it could have been a better. Keep in mind that this series wasn't the first to have synthesized voices, and didn't have the fun stories that Captain Low-Rez had; that series was way cooler (although it could have continued for a few more eps.). It's pretty obvious that Fraser Agar isn't a storytelling talent, but I do like the character designs for this.

1. Em Kaah: If you never heard of this guy before, he created the horror flash Goldilocks. Sure, the animation hasn't aged well, but his directing and creativity are top-notch. Too bad we haven't heard from him in a while; I want another Goldilocks sequel.

2. Brutality (flash cartoon): I've already commented on McFretN himself, but I think he did an excellent job on this Dragon-Ball-Z-inspired movie. However, as Doomhammr mentioned with the Combat Instinct sequels, the Flash 7+ players messed up the backgrounds. It's too bad that McFretN got frustrated with the production of part two called Power Overwhelming and quit; it would have been epic. Personally, he should team up with a Frame-by-frame animator if he does bring it back from cancellation.

3. MaelstormM: Am I the only one who thinks that he's the most overlooked and underappreciated flash programmer on here? Sure he uses sprites and whatnot, but he can make a solid gaming engine when given the chance. However, he needs to work on his 3D modeling and 2D drawing skills for a bit. Then again, I wouldn't mind seeing the MM Next Remix engine used for something geared towards the flash community.

4. Traditional Animation: To me, that term has no real merit considering the fact that hand-drawn animation is not the only form of animation that has existed for so long. What about stop-motion animation in various forms? Doesn't that count as traditional animation? I'm fucking sick of smug, haughty, elitist flash cartoonists who act like they're qualified to run Newgrounds, and would like to see them get lampooned. Don't get me wrong, I may be for originality, but the end product has to be good to great for it to work.

5. Xennethy: I didn't like Sith Confrontation and Super Hero Slayers; but I do like H.E.L.L. and Life's Good. However, I think he needs to work on his comedic timing more because most of his gags aren't funny. Then again, I'd rather take him over Legendary Frog or Fat Badger any day of the week. All I have to say to him is "Work on your directing, Xen!"

6. Kine the Genius: If he kept at flash animation, he could have easily been up there with the likes of Mind Chamber, James Farr, and many of the other Newgrounds all-time greats. However, I think his cartoons could have used some subtitles even though that would distract viewers from the animation.

7. There Will Be Brawl: This is a nice attempt at serious videogame-related stuff and it is much better than most of the VG-related stuff on NG. However, after watching the conclusion, there were a lot of plot holes that didn't get filled. However, the action and the mood partially compensated for any weaknesses in the plot.

8. Disney: My feelings towards the company Walt built up decades ago are mixed. On one hand, I enjoy all of the old Mickey shorts (Giantland, Der Fuehrer's Face) and some of their movies (Popeye, Tron, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?). On the other hand, their new stuff is rather tacky in spite of how original or well-animated. Of course, I grew up on Disney like almost everyone here.

Emi Emi Poemi
Guesscui
Cameli
Nicky Beats
Zhou Peng
Hatton Slayden
Pigeonkill
Hanny Honeymoon
Fliegenpilz
Airuko
Clockwork Bunny

http://www.bluespill.com/?p=17-Blue Spill on the Rotograph.
Here's a little invention that Max and Dave Fleischer created that used actual models built in forced perspective to add a sense of depth in their old '30s and '40s cartoons. It preceded CGI 3D by at least 45 to 50 years. *Personal note: I got more enjoyment out of what the Fleischer brothers did during that time over Disney, but Disney had some good stuff as well at that time.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showt hread.php?t=178370-Environment of the Week: Dawn of a New Decade on a New World Final entries.
If there is one thing that I need to improve on; backgrounds would be it.

Dark Half by Enix and Westone

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This came out the same year as Diablo and lets you play as both the good guy (Roda) and the Devil (Rukyu). If this game has one thing going for it outside of the gameplay; it would be the atmosphere.

Star Ocean by Enix and Tri-Ace

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This is the second Super NES game that used a six megabyte cartrige (Tales of Phantasia was the first); which allowed it to have a good ammount of voice acting, as well as its SDD-1-enhanced graphics. As I said before, Why was it put on the PSP instead of the DS is a mystery to me.

Energy Breaker by Taito

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A precursor to Final Fantasy Tactics that was made by the same company that did Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble.

Treasure Hunter G by Square and Sting

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Aside from using pre-rendered graphics like Donkey Kong Country; the battle system is also worth mentioning because it's range-based as seen in this gameplay video:

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Bahamut Lagoon by Square

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Fire Emblem meets Final Fantasy.

I would have included more, but I have better things to do.

Things NG can do With:
1. McFretN: I think it's time for him to make a much needed comeback here. If you have never heard of him, he created Combat Instinct and Brutality years ago.
2. Dean Packis: I love Rats on Cocaine and Cumbersnatch was one of the most original things I have seen. If you think that's the only stuff he's done, check out Father Tucker, Preenie Petey, and The Dolphin and the Wooly Bear on his site. (Here's hoping that he uploads them here; he makes shock humor into fine art in a fucked up way.)
3. Randy Solem: Even if sprites have become inundated with tripe*, his are usually pretty damn funny and I can credit him for using lesser-known titles from time to time. *=Most sprite movies are usually blammed or recieve low scores, so don't bitch if he makes the front page.
4. More Libertarian-themed flash: Why not? I'm sick of both the leftists and the right-wingers, and would like to see some Libertarian stuff on here.
5. More Popeye stuff: There's so much to cover with that sailor, but Altr did a good job animating that Opie and Anthony bit, which is damn near impossible to top.
6. Mega Man Next Remix completed: If MaelstormM completes this, he could have a Top 50 winner for quite a while. Of course, I don't like the music selections that he has planned for the full version.
7. Morphemon Duelists Ep.2: Although I think PiGPEN is a dyed-in-the-wool fucktard, I enjoyed the first episode (both the separate parts and the whole).
8. Jak Baron King doing actual Flash animation: I really like his art and his collaborations with Denzel Crocker. Now, I'd like to see what he's actually capable of in the animation department.
Things NG can do without:
1. Zekey Spacey Lizard: One would think that by contributing to spam submissions; he would be in no position to criticize anybody without looking stupid. On the other hand, I do like his non-spam stuff and some of his piss takes are pretty funny. Overall, my feelings toward him are, at best, mixed.
2. Portal Detour/NG Sticks wanna-bes: Even though they're worth a chuckle; the idea is no longer original nor fresh enough to warrant more of them. Then again, the same could be said about game spoofs.
3. A third Nin10doh!: Luckily, Kirbopher won't be doing this because most of his post-Rawest Forest stuff has been disappointing even though I liked his Transformers spoof and Jesus Sweets. However, there's a good chance that the Zirbes brothers and Legendary Frog will do that without him.
That's it for the do with/without list, now here are some presents from me.
4. ______ Funnies: Even though I found the Metal Gear and Brawl Funnies to be hilarious, El Cid made a good point about those Back Alleys guys reusing the same jokes. And what would happen if someone like Baron von Brunk were to dig up some nasty secret about (Big Army) Bug, Cool Dr. Money, WPS, Wasim, RTil, etc. I guess they'll start crying about how their credibility has gone down the shitter.
5. James Farr: Even though Xombie was well animated; I found it to be campy* and a bit too slow to generate any dramatic tension. *=unintended laugher
6. A fourth Star Wars Gangsta Rap: After seeing the third revision on Atom Films, it's pretty obvious that Thomas Lee is starting to get a bit redundant. I think it is time for him to do something completely original.
7. Parody videos: No offense to Tomamoto, ]{ombat, or the Fireball 20XL gang, but I think it's time for some video submissions that are original.
8. Ebolaworld and Neurotically Yours: A lot of you will hate me for lumping Sam T with Ill Will Press, but they have one thing in common: Same Shit, Different topic.
Latest ConceptArt.org stuff-Note: I set the post display count on my account to 40, so if that isn't the latest; that explains it. Plus, Egoraptor and Rick Marin also have accounts on there as well.
How Liberty Makes Health Care Virtually Universal

Stuff worth Spoofing:
1. Any of Joss Whedon's TV shows: Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and MK Conquest; there's so much you can take the piss out of with master diologue writer, Joss Whedon. Truth is, I think it was time for NG to go after a few TV shows.
2. Infinite Undiscovery (or any Tri-Ace RPG): Sure, the Dinner Dance has been done to death on Youtube, but you can have so much material to take the piss out of from this game. Hell, why not go after Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile as well. Yeah, I know the whole vg parody deal is way overdone, but I think IU is need of it.
3. Sesame Street: I grew up on this show myself and I think a mockery of this was needed. On the other hand, Mad TV (which has been cancelled after 14 seasons) and Robot Chicken have already tapped into that topic. I credit Jak Baron King for bringing this up.
4. Riki-Oh: As badass as the anime and the live movie were; I'm not letting this one off the hook. For those who don't know about Riki-Oh, you can find the movie and the anime on YouTube or Wikipedia.

News and what I think:
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/12 /10/red-team-blue-team/
Oh, the irony of this is just exquisite.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pu b_id=11036
Even though I am opposed to the Minaret ban; the muslim nations are in no position to complain.

Miscellaneous:
http://www.conceptart.org

Working on the next Things on My Mind column, but that won't come 'til later.

Impossible Mission (not to be confused with Mission: Impossible).

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I was looking at NES gameplay videos days ago on YouTube when I found IM2 videos. I decided to do a search and found a complete run of this Commodore 64 classic. I used to play this back when I was four to five years old along with BurgerTime, Spy Hunter, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, and other arcade ports. It's a damn shame that I'm one of the few that has experienced this game on this site. Here's hoping that BoM Toons, RiftMaster, Psycho Goldfish, MaelstormM, or other flash programmers checks this out; this is one game worth giving a Flash update.

Ghosts 'n Goblins C64 port

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This was done by Mark Cooksey and Chris Butler from Elite systems. While the music captures the atmosphere, there's not enough of it and the overall game is too short. Explanation for this: They ran out of disk space. Of course, there's already a Flash remake of this on here.

Katakis

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Manfred Trenz' attempt at an R-Type clone with some Darius and Gradius influence.

That's all for now...

I first found out of Riki-Oh from the Live movie review on I-Mockery, and after seeing it on there, I decided to find out more about it. Truth is, I found this Wall of Hell anime on YouTube without subtitles and sound that's out of sync. Suffice to say, I didn't like it at first because of those flaws. Then, some time later, I found the live movie via UnflinchedTesticle and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Why? One: It was one of the most accurate manga to live-action adaptations around. Two: For a Hong Kong movie, the dubbing was pretty good, but also adds to any unintended laughter one might attempt. Three: Good gore effects. Now, I found a version of Wall of Hell with subtitles and Loved it. It may not be as gory as the live action flick, but it's just as badass. Too bad nobody has subtitled Child of Destruction...

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I'm only showing the first part of Wall of Hell, though.

Vladamir Bukovsky at the Cato Institute

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Edwin X. Berry on Enviromentalism

Mega Man X: Corrupted

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Cencoroll-One man wrote, directed, and animated this. Judging by the trailer, It looks like it could give Adam Phillips and Leafworthy major competition.