Mechanical spider

The guy in here is half spider, half robot. This takes place on Pellistair.

"Now, what were you saying about this being your fault?” He asked, staring at her with his piercing gaze.

"I was one of the scientists at the laboratory where the technology was created that turned you half robot," she started reluctantly. "In fact, I was one of the main scientists working on it."

"The technology was stolen from the laboratory you worked at. It wasn't your fault it was used to experiment on me", he interrupted, staring at her puzzledly.

"No, you don't understand! I helped them steal it. It's my fault they got it in the first place. And what's more, I'm the one they asked to find the subject for their first tests! After weeks of searching, I decided you were the best candidate, and told them when and where to abduct you and bring you back. If it weren't for me, they never would have found you, and probably wouldn't have gotten the equipment in the first place!"

He stared at her in shock, before moving with lightning speed and pinning her against a rock. "You're the one who did this? You're the one who's responsible for the revulsion on everyone's face when they see me?" He asked, shaking her.

"Yes! I've been trying to tell you! All this time, teaching you and talking to you, I've been trying to make up for it!" She cried, staring at the ground.

He let go of her and stepped back. She was unable to meet his gaze. "You're the reason I've kept going, the reason I haven't just crawled under a rock somewhere and given up, and now it turns out that you're fake, that you've had your own reasons for helping me, all along" he stated bitterly. "Everything I've believed in has turned wrong, or been flung back in my face. I don't know what to do with myself now..."

She heard him walk away, and someone coming running up to her. "Miss! Are you all right? I saw what that monster did to you!" A brown tabby cat looked at her in concern. She stared after him, and said, half to herself, "It wasn't entirely rational. I took everything away from him. It was a natural, and completely expectable, reaction". The tabby cat looked at her in confusion, as she thought, Why do I always have to be like this? So cold, and logical, thinking scientifically about everything? That's what got me into this mess in the first place. And what got him into this....

I'm a happy person, really. I don't normally write such dark things. I blame it on Nidhiki (who I shall always think of as a belly dancer), and on Depeche Mode, bucause I had "Suffer Well" in my head all day, and I think this comes from that.

Redone songs

A few weeks ago, I heard a redone version of "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper. I love the original version, and was slightily appalled (but also slightly intrigued) by the redone version, by Quietdrive.
I forgot about it, until yesterday, when I heard a rap song, "I'll be Missing you", with the same background music, and the same music for the refrain, as "Every Breath You Take", which as I've already mentioned, is one of my favorite songs ever, and has been since I was eight. I was horrified, and extremely angry, about it, until I looked it up. It turns out, it's a song about losing people, and how, as it's put in the song, "I know you still living your life, after death". Well, I couldn't be angry after that, although I still wish they hadn't used the same music as "Every Breath You Take".
All of this reminded me of Quietdrives version of "Time After Time", so I went looking for it, and find several interesting preformances of "Time After Time". These were my favorites:

Dilana, on Rockstar Supernova- She gives it a sort of country twist, and she's got a lovely voice.

Brandon Rogers, on American Idol- It's nice to hear a guy sing this song, and he sings it so sweetly, and with so much emotion.

Tracet Thorn and Ben Watt, of Everything But the Girl - She's got a gorgeous deeper voice, and I love the way they only use one guitar for musical accompniement.

And, the best for last -

Eva Cassidy - She has such a beautiful voice, and her version is probably my favorite of all these.

I feel differently about people redoing songs, after watching these.

Meme

I love Memes! I got this one from Moomin Light.

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
My parents found out about my name from a character in a book, but I wasn't exactly named after her. At least I hope not.

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Hmm. Yesterday, maybe? I've a been bit overly emotional lately.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
No. I plan to work on it eventually, but I haven't really done anything with it yet.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Turkey, I think oven roasted, but I prefer Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly.

DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No, not unless you count a few hundred stuffed animals.

IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
I don't know. I'm never sure what to say to this question. In some moods I would, in some moods I wouldn't.

DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
No, I find it a bit anoyying (I can't spell that word. It's irritating) ocasionally.

DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
I think so, unless someone stole them last night when I was sleeping.

WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Maybe. I'd probably have to eat lots of chocolate or sugar beforehand.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Honey Bunches of Oats, which is the only cereal I eat. I eat it without milk.

DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
It depends. Not on my sneakers, but I have to with my jazz shoes, because they're pretty tight.

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
I can dance for thirty hours in five days, and still be able to walk around. That seems pretty strong to me.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Something with lots of chocolate and carmel in it.

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Their hair. I notice peoples hair before I notice their gender, or even if their alive or not. (There are some really realistic statues around here)

RED OR PINK?
Both! As long as they're bright.

WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
My depression, and the way I don't always think things through.

WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Several friends I haven't seen in awhile.

WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Denim shorts, and black sneakers.

WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Two brown sugar poptarts.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Something obnoxious on Cartoon Network. My brother is watching it in the other room.

IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Orange!

FAVORITE SMELLS?
Anything lemony or orangey.

WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
A next dor neighbor, asking me to take care of their cats. (They're so cute! The cats.)

FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
The Olympics, where I like the figure skating, speed skating, snowboarding, and skiing. And gymnastics and racing.

HAIR COLOR?
Brown.

EYE COLOR?
Hazel?

DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No, my eyes are fine, wlthough my right eye doesn't see as well as my left eye, which is weird, and you really didn't need to know that, I guess.....

FAVORITE FOOD?
Anything orangey or lemony.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy Endings.

LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
The last movie I watched was "Dragonheart" but it started to pixelate, so we had to stop watching it, which was a shame. The last movie I watched all of, was, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End" which was reallly good, except they killed two of my favorite characters! Curse the writers! And Bootstrap Bill!

WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
A purple t-shirt, with pink letters that say the name of one of the places I dance at.

SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer. I hate the winter.

HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs.

FAVORITE DESSERT?
Hmm, that's hard. Anything orangey or lemony.

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
The Last Command, by Timothy Zahn, the Cestus Deception, by someone, Haters, by someone, and that regency that I can't remember the name of or the author.

WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
The mouse pad in my room is grey with black letters on it. I don't know what the black letters say.

WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT?

Dragonheart, although that's a movie, not tv, and we didn't finish it, so I guess it doesn't count.

FAVORITE SOUND?
The sound of dancing feet.

ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
The Beatles, although I prefer their songs when other people sing them, like Earth, Wind, and Fire. The Rolling Stones scare me, especially Mick Jaggers tongue.

WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Maine. I want to go back there.

DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I can dance, and I have an excellent memory for choreography.

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
A hospital somewhere.

Weird song lyrics

There are some songs with lyrics that always make me scratch my head, because they don't make sense, or are just weird, or are redundant. Here are some.

"Let's talk this over
It's not like we're dead"
Avril Lavigne - My Happy Ending

There's nothing wrong with the lyrics, they're just sort of odd. It's an interesting way to put it...

"I gotta whisper 'cause I can't be too loud"
Hinder - Lips of an Angel

Why else do you whisper?

"You see you were born
Born, born
(Born to be alive)"
Patrick Hernandez - Born to be Alive

And what else would you have been born for..?

I'll post more when I think of them. Post any weird song lyrics you've found in the comments!

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories review

About two weeks ago I ordered Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. I had been thinking of ordering it for a long time, because it was supposed to have a wonderful story and great graphics. Unfortunetly, it was set between two other video games that I don't have, so I had decided not to order it.
About two months ago, my younger brohter found the comic book version of it, and he suggested it to me. I read it, and was intrigued by the characters and the world. I then started watching parts of the other two Kingdom Hearts games on Youtube and I finally decided to get Chain of Memories.
It came in the mail about a week ago, and I immediately started to play it. I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy it, because it had several negative reviews on Amazon, but I needn't have worried. It had great music, great graphics, great characters, and the gameplay was fun. I was hooked.
The premise of the story is that Sora, the main character, and his two friends, Donald and Goofy, are looking for their lost friends, The King (Mickey Mouse) and Riku. One night, while they're sleeping, Sora wakes up, to see a mysterious robed figure, who says, ""Ahead lies something you need. But to claim it, you must lose something dear." Sora and his friends come to a large castle the next day, and they go into it, in hope of finding their lost friends. Once inside, the mysterious figure appears again, and tells them that, "To find is to lose, and to lose is to find". Sora and his friends start forgetting some things, and remembering others. The figure gives Sora some cards, which will allow him to go to different worlds, created from his memories of them. Sora and his friends set off through the castle, hoping to find their lost friends and memories.
One of the unusual things about this game series is that it combines Disney and Final Fantasy characters and worlds together, so you end interacting with characters like Ariel, from the Little Mermaid, and Cloud, from Final Fantasy VII. It's a lot of fun to meet your favorite Disney characters, and, in some cases, fight them.
The grpahics are unusual for a Gameboy game, because instead of little pixel graphics with no shading, or computer generated graphics, all the graphics are fully pixel shaded, and the characters are pixel sprites, and they're extremely well done. Being a pixel artist myself, I spend a lot of the game going, "Oh, wow! Look at those lovely folds!", or, "That hair is very nicely pixeled!"
The music is by far the best music I've ever heard from a video game. The theme you hear in the castle floors is very pretty, and the music in the title screen is gorgeous. The music in the Disney worlds is great, too, becuase they all have music that reflects the world, and in some cases, is from the movies. I especially love the music for Atlantica, because it's a version of "Under the Sea".
I was worried about the battle system, because people either really loved it, or really hated it. It's actually turned out to be one of my favorite things about the game so far.It's very unusual, in that it combines cards and the typical run around and bash things system that most games use. There are many different things you can do with the cards, and a lot of strategy, and it's really fun.
The characters are so much fun! Hades was particularly well written, and I could hear James Woods (who does Hades voice in Hercules) saying all the lines. The original characters, like Sora, and Axel, are very interesting and funny. They did really well with writing all the Disney characters, who all seem very realistic, and a lot like they do in the movies.
Overall, it's been a really fun game so far. At the moment I'm stuck on Captain Hook (I have decided that I hate Captain Hook. Except when he's played by Jason Isaacs). I would definetly recommend this game to people.

Rainy story

This is just a little thing I wrote for the sake of writing something. It takes place on Pellistair.
Cassandra is a Ring Tailed Lemur, Kringo is a Raccoon, and Malig is a Muskrat.

"It was raining again. The new mail box had floated away. 'Another one?' Cassandra asked. 'That's the third one this month!'
'At least the chimney hasn't fallen off yet', Kringo said. "And the roof only has a few leaks in it."
There was a knock at the door. Kringo opened it. 'The Duplents house floated away', Malig said, standing in the rain with water dripping off his whiskers.
'Again?' Cassandra asked."

Pellistair

I'm going to be posting parts of stories I've written. All of these stories take place on Pellistair, which is a planet I came up with last summer. This is an introduction to Pellistair, which was written by my brother, Moose.

"In a galaxy far, far away (no, not that one. A different one), there is a planet called Pellistair. It's a small and obscure planet, a peaceful little place most people in the galaxy haven't heard of. A quiet, unassuming planet. However, Pellistair's inhabitants - and any visitors that stay for long - know that it is different from any other planet in the galaxy. Pellistair... changes people.

All different kinds of people visit Pellistair. It's a small planet, but the galaxy is a large one. Humans visit, drawn by the quiet peace and beauty of the small world, and so do many other kinds of creatures. Those that only stay for a day or two don't notice the changes. Anyone who stays longer, though, can't help but notice.

For instance, say a human or other creature visited Pellistair. It would seem normal enough at first, a peaceful place inhabited by a wide variety of different species. Over time, though, the visitor would start to change. If they headed in a reptilian direction, scales and a tail might grow, if the alien didn't have them already. Warm sunlight would seem much more comfortable than before.

The changes vary from person to person. Some visitors would start spending more time in the water, perhaps become better at holding their breaths. Others would grow furrier and start resembling cats, dogs, armadillos, et cetera. Some grow wings and become more like birds or bats, though that takes longer than more minor changes. People can end up resembling any animal in existence - or out of it.

The speed of the changes also varies depending on the person. Some people take years to develop claws or proper fur. Others only stay a few days before they're flying through the trees or learning how to use extra limbs. No one can tell until the changes start.

No one on Pellistair ever completely changes. There are no birds or fish that used to be human. The inhabitants generally look like humanoid animals who can fly, or swim, or breathe underwater. They live fairly normal lives otherwise. The world is a happy, peaceful one. That's what all the inhabitants say, at least. Any visitors to Pellistair will be assured by everyone they ask that it is a peaceful world, that all the people on it love each other equally, regardless of species. Nevertheless, there are subtle tensions here and there. Dog-like and cat-like inhabitants of Pellistair are polite to each other, but rarely do much together.

The deer can never completely relax around the pumas. Some of the horses might - very discreetly - look down their long noses at the donkeys. The tensions between species are never mentioned, never acknowledged, but they exist deep under the surface. The inhabitants all agree on one thing, though - no outsiders are EVER going to find anything but peace and happiness on Pellistair.

There is also another tension, this one much less subtle. Every so often, two people of different species will marry each other. ("Species" is a looser term on Pellistair than it is on Earth, so that's possible here.) Their children are almost always unusual, more so if the parents are dramatically different from each other. A mouse and an alligator are bound to have interesting children. These hybrids are not treated with the same equality as everyone else. To the inhabitants of Pellistair, there is just... something WRONG with a creature that can't seem to decide what species it is. The hybrids are outcasts from the rest of society.

If discovered, they are almost always insulted, beaten up, arrested, banished, or worse. This is the one part of Pellistair's society that is NOT so peaceful. Because of this, the hybrids often try to hide the fact that they are hybrids, keeping their scales or gills or long ears carefully covered.

Not many people leave Pellistair, as it is (for the most part) so peaceful and happy. Those who do, though, change in the other direction. They lose their scales, or fur, or tails, reverting to the forms they - or their ancestors - had before they arrived.

The animal traits only stay if they seem to be needed. For instance, dedicated swimmers might manage to keep their gills - but only if they spent a lot of time underwater every day. It's possible to keep the changes Pellistair gives them, but it's hard work."