Some things that I find normal in my everyday life seem to amuse and mystify my good friend and co-blogger, Kat.

Today we were discussing end of high school pranks and I mentioned this one prank:
"One year, the seniors managed to print out a school bulletin which stated we had a casual (we wore school uniforms) day the next day. So the rest of the school came in dressed casually and we were told it was just a prank, but we would still have to pay a gold coin ($1 or $2) to charity for coming to school in casual."

Because we wore uniforms every day of the year, the Overlords of the school would sometimes pity us and allow us to wear casual on certain days. But, in order to do this, we had to donate a shiny for the greater good of charity.

To which Kat said:

"So, you have to give a gold coin in order to dress casually? I've never heard anything like this in my life. Thats...gotta be illegal somehow. Making kids donate? What's the point of charity if you're required to?"

Labels: high school, Mate, pranks, WTF

While we here at The Fascination Room in no way encourage, endorse or condone smiting and/or religious vilification, we still like to take a look at interesting events that seem to go under the radar of the major news headlines. Here is an example of how scary fundamental Christians can be. Or if you're lazy, here it is in a nutshell:

" On October 18, 2004, Arthur Shelton, a self described Christian and Eagle Scout, murdered his friend and roommate, Larry Hooper, because Hooper didn't believe in God. " At the trial Shelton refused to speak to anyone who was an atheist, except the police because he felt that "they believed in God." Throughout the course of the trial, the men who wrote the above article (atheists) were constantly harassed by Shelton's family, who shoved crosses in their faces and yelled things at them like "God loves you!" and called them "devils, evil."

Now this raises a couple questions. First, if this man is such a religious fanatic who wouldn't even speak to someone who didn't believe in God, why would he enter into a living arrangement with someone who was atheist? Being the fanatic that he is, don't you think that he would have asked if he believed in God or not? It doesn't really add up. I find it hard to believe that these men could have been friends without Shelton ever knowing Hooper's religious beliefs (or lack thereof).

Second, (this is a real long shot) since this mans family is just as fanatic as he is, he was obviously raised (one can only assume) to believe that anyone that doesn't believe in God is the devil, is evil. Would that therefore make the family partly responsible for Hooper's murder? Hypothetically, of course.

I was hoping that this story was fake, but here's a link to the archived news of the Detroit Free Press that semi-validates the authenticity of this story. I say semi-validates because I'm not about to sing up for an account just to view the article.

But mediatedthought, a digg user, has it all figured out.
“Matthew 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.”
That's a quote from the J-man himself. What Would Jesus Do? Jesus would have used a sword instead.

So that explains it. Jesus was a NINJA. It all makes sense now.

Labels: news, Religion

Someone is selling every single NES game ever made on eBay. There are four days left on the auction and there have already been 100 bids, and it's up to $25,000. INSANITY! - Link

Labels: games

This is WonderRobbie. He has many lip syncing videos, but this is by far his funniest. He's lip syncing to the song "And I am telling you (I'm not going)" from the Broadway show Dreamgirls.

Labels: videos

I heard a rumor that James Brown's body hasn't been burried yet because a family member stole it. I can't seem to find anything on it, so I'm thinking it might be fake (even though I saw on tv that it was true). Can anyone shed some light on it?

Labels: celebrities, news

Most people have gotten their hands on the flash game called "The Crimson Room". Basically, these games stick you in a room/building which you somehow cannot escape from without solving various random riddles scattered around the room which EVENTUALLY leads you to the key which let's you out of the room.

So, for those who like a challenge and are bored at work with nothing to do but read this blog...have fun trying to steal this fancy car and get out of the room.

Labels: games

Now alot of you people probably aren't familiar with Australia.

Fun Fact #1 - We are not Austria.

So now that we have that out of the way, I'd like to bring your attention to a TV show called Chaser's War on Everything. It's a fun show which is on ABC (unfortunately, only in Australia) that resembles John Stewart's The Daily Show. In their sketches, they poke fun at random news articles or "informative" news programs (mainly "A Current Affairs" and "Today Tonight" which are rival shows). Sometimes they just like to pull random pranks.

Here are a few snippets of the show.

Labels: TV

I debated whether or not to post this video...but I finally gave in. It's just too sad/cute to not post. You can just hear whats going on in that poor cat's head:

"Well this is kinda nice, it's much roomier than the regular cages...wait a minute...whats that noise? SOMETHINGS HAPPENING!! OMG LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT!!!! *sobs* let me out...let... *sob*me out..."

Labels: videos

I got this ring for a couple of my friends for Christmas. I hear that it takes a little practice to use it, but they absolutely love it. Get your own from Think Geek. It's only $7.99!

Or if you can't afford the bottle opener ring, make your own bottle opener from just one piece of paper. - via Gprime.net

Labels: gifts, videos

More fun cat pictures at I Can Has Cheezburger.

Labels: images

Those were some Tetris loving vandals. - Link

Labels: art, comedy

From the home of Nokia: Finnish man Hannu Luntiala wrote a fictitious story of a man who traveled Europe and kept in touch with his family and friends through text messages.

The thing that I find charming is that the book is rife with spelling and grammatical errors.

Could this possibly be the birth of a new genre of books?

Link - From Neatorama

Labels: articles, books, electronics

I found my first Uglydoll at Tower Records one day and I had to take it home with me. I just couldn't resist. Since that first doll, I've collected 7 more, and I'm going to keep collecting until I have them all!

The fun thing about these Uglydolls is that they all come with little personality cards. Like this little green guy here, Ox "...is great at magic, and his best trick is turning your stuff into his stuff. His best buddy Wedgehead calls that stealing, but OX just wants to borrow things from you for a few hundred years. He promises to put everything back when he's done."

How can you not love that?

Labels: dolls, gifts, toys

One website that I frequent very often is Postsecret. The idea of this blog is very simple: Frank Warren challenges people to send in their deepest, darkest secrets to show the world. Simple, yet so hard to do.

The blog has garnered such popularity that Frank has also published the secrets into books. Currently there are three:

PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives

My Secret: A PostSecret Book

The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book

I haven't sent anything in myself, but I did make a secret once. I just never got around to sending it. Yeah, yeah that's it...

Labels: art

Atlus is famously known for it's hit and miss rpgs. Not in terms of gameplay but overall rating of their games. Etrian Odyssey is one of those hits.

Overall, this game is a dungeon crawler. You start the game in town (the one and only town in the game), and you sign up to the adventurer's guild. From there, you are able to assemble your party of five army from a various assortment of classes.
Paladin - Defenders of Justice
Swordsman - Mercenaries for hire
Dark Hunter - Emo warriors
Ranger - Men/Women in tights
Medic - Heal slaves
Bard - Karaoke Kings/Queens
Alchemist - Mages with the "Urge to blow up the world"
And a bonus class which you unlock later: Bushido/Samurai - The Wandering Swords

When you create a character (max limit:20), you can choose between 2 guys and 2 girls profiles. No no, there's no difference which one you choose, it's purely whichever character design you like. You don't have to have 5 people in your party either, but the more the merrier of course.

There's the Inn for your resting and saving needs, a store which you buy your equip/items from and sell items for unlocking more gear, Doctor's if you need healing items and to revive a member, a bar for Quests, Adventurer's guild to arrange your party and make new characters and the Government centre for your missions and to see what monsters and items you've collected.

Now the dungeon itself, apparently it's basically a huge tree which has over 30 levels. Your quest? To defeat whatever evil lurks within yadda yadda. So the story's not that original but it's still a fun game.

You wander around the dungeon in first person view on the top screen, while the bottom screen acts as your Map. With stylus in hand, you draw up the map as you go along. While this is an interesting feature, they could have used the touch screen for other things such as a camp option or something. Getting into battles is notified by a small semi circle to the bottom right of the top screen. It alerts you if there's a monster near by or if you're going to encounter a random battle. No, you can't avoid the random battles either.

So in battle, it's your standard RPG system with turns. Attack, Defense, Use Skill, Items, Boost and Escape. Boost basically just doubles the effectiveness of the next attack/spell.
Now skills, basically you have a huge list of useful/less skills which all have a max level of 10. You only have a limited amount of points so you really need to consider what the skill does and whether if it's worth investing in, because you won't be getting those points back.

Overall, the game is enjoyable but can become tedious as you crawl from level to level as certain monsters (mainly the ones you can see on the map) are broken as heck. You can alternate your party members so can experiment and make the perfect team or attempt to beat the game with just medics and so forth. The graphics are great with anime-ish monsters/characters with a 3d background. But you might get tired of seeing green all over the screen (well, you are in a tree after all) and this game is a bit of a time sink, since you need to spend some time leveling up to gain access to certain skills.

Labels: DS, games

So now that the new generation of console wars has begun, I'd like to cover the more unconventional games that are coming up. Why? Because not a lot of people know what the heck they are and consider them either stupid or for kids. Frankly, more often than not, people are missing out because there's not much information on them.

Let's look at Cooking Mama.
Now this game is quite the gem and it has been fortunate enough to be released locally in America. Unfortunately, European and Australian release is yet to be announced (most likely we won't get it for months after). Here's a link to a demonstration video at a gaming convention. Now laugh at all you want at the game or the hilarious comments, but the game itself is damn fun.
It's not going to make you a better chef or anything but the mini-games is pretty addictive. I played the DS version of this game and enjoyed it, even though it's short.
Pros:
- Fun mini games
Cons:
- Short lived. Multiplayer probably not available.

Coming out soon
04/03 - US
02/08 - JP

Labels: DS, games, Wii

If you've ever seen the movie The Godfather, you remember the scene where the movie producer freaks out when he finds his prized horse's head in his bed. The props and costume makers of Kropserkel have made a really great stuffed horse head plush/pillow that you can discreetly (not really) slip into the bed of any unsuspecting jealous movie producer. Mental breakdown ensues!

Labels: gifts, movies, props

Came across this fun magnet set a while back. Tetris on your fridge! Just looking at it makes you wanna hum the theme song in your head. -link

Labels: games, gifts, magnet, tetris

Since having joined the forces of evil, I wanted to somehow disguise my shame. istyles.com offers some pretty nifty skins for ipods of all shapes and sizes, as well as skins for your PSP, Nintendo DS, DS Lite, Gameboy Micro, Gameboy Advance, and Gameboy SP.

It also offers many different clips, cases and socks. Because, you know. Ipod's feet do tend to get cold sometimes.

Labels: accessories, electronics, gifts, ipod, skins

I haven't watched this show (nor do I intend to), but the topic of Maui Fever has been too hot a topic to ignore. Almost every other bulletin on my MySpace is someone's own opinion on the show, or a link to a petition to get the show off the air. It's been on the air for less than a week and it's already generating a storm of protest from local residents who are concerned that the show is an inaccurate depiction of "true" local life.

The show depicts the lives of seven 20 something's living in Ka'anapali, Maui. In a nutshell, it's just eight episodes of them partaking in acts of belligerence and debauchery. The first episode even focuses on the boys and how they scope the beach for hot tourists for one night stands. One cast member, Anna, sums it up best: "I think everybody needs to be single and we all just need to party."

I stumbled across an article from The Maui News highlighting the reaction that Maui/Hawaii residents have about the new show. The thing that most locals are mad about is that the show does not represent "real" local lifestyle.

"Personally, it just makes local people look dumb," [ Ivy Huerter, a Lahaina mother of two] said. "It's not a true perspective of how people here are."

Given, not all local people are idiots. But also given, many local people are. Especially the people that are protesting this show just because there are only "stupid haoles" on it. I agree that the cast lacks the diversity that Hawaii represents (it is the most culturally diverse state, after all), but that is an extremely ignorant and racist view and a poor reason to protest the show. Whether we like it or not, haole's are a big part of our culture. Without them there wouldn't be Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Filipino's or Portuguese; the people that make up our diverse culture that we are so proud of.

Many of the people that are upset about the show are the people whose age group is targeted.

"I thought it was kind of insulting. . .They just show partying," said Abcde Shibao, 16, of Lahaina. "But (young people are) active in school, community and sports. We do other things besides partying."

Of course they do other things besides partying, and MTV knows this. No functioning adult is going to believe that the only thing Maui kids do is party. But going to school, doing community service and playing soccer isn't going to get ratings.

Maui Fever is not deliberately designed to show the world what Hawaii residents are like. If it was, there would have been a much more diverse demographic. It's a reality show: meaning it's meant to entertain, not educate. This negative interpretation of locals is an unfortunately unavoidable byproduct.

Of course, who am I to say what MTV's intent really is? And either way, it doesn't change the fact that people are getting the wrong idea about locals. But I would like someone to give me an island-wide accepted definition of "true local life." Parties in the garage with good food, good music and good friends? Working hard, going to school, and then hanging with friends in the parking lot of Safeway at 3am? Surfing all day, then getting stoned and drunk at a friend's house? There are great things about our culture, and there are bad things too. That's just life. It's ridiculous to think that we're going to be able to hide the negative forever. The bottom line is: what kind of image do we want to convey to the world?

People believe that signing that petition is going to get Maui Fever canceled. Heck, I even signed it. But if you really want to get the show off the air, just change the channel. Don't watch it. If nobody watches it, it gets low ratings. Low ratings means it won't be picked up for another season. And that means you won't ever have to see our culture being defaced like that again...at least until Living Lahaina airs.

Labels: articles, TV