judyonthenet

Maybe… make the PSP a sexy red color. Then put a picture of a hot, angry, tattooed bald man on the back. Include said man’s game for the PSP and a UMD of one of the most popular crude humor movies of 2007 (Superbad). Stick $199 price tag on package.

Tempting. Very tempting. It’s coming out in June.

Also tempting (and coming out in June) is the Metal Gear Solid 4 PS3 bundle. It includes an 80GB PS3 that has partial PS2 backwards compatibility. (Yes, BC is a very important feature for me.) It’s going to be $499, which I think is still more than I want to pay for. Maybe I should just get a used 60GB PS3 (with full BC) from GameFunk for < $400.

Anyway, I approve of Sony’s strategy of putting sexy manly video game characters on their console bundles.

New thing I learned today: In Greek mythology, Kratos was the son of Pallas, the Titan of warcraft. Kratos was the personification of strength.

Generally, I don’t buy games at retail on release day, but the cheapie freebies that Capcom has been giving out with their games have compelled me to do so a couple times. I missed out on the first (and probably the best) pre-order freebie for the Ace Attorney series, which was the pointing-finger stylus for Justice for All. I made sure I got my pre-order in for Trials and Tribulation in November and Apollo Justice this month.

For Phoenix Wright 3: Trials and Tribulations (got it through Gamestop), the pre-order bonus was a Phoenix Wright plushie keychain. Sounds cool at first, but it isn’t really. The plush is small, maybe a little more than three inches tall. And it’s like the cheapest three-inch plushie I’ve ever seen in my life.

Phoenix’s face has no dimension (and no nose). His awesomely spikey hair is cheapened into a piece of felt. His head position is like Lestat snapped his neck. His tie and badge are tiny, tiny pieces of felt. (I remember seeing early pictures of plushies missing their tie and/or badge. I guess I got lucky.) The worst offense though: his hand looks like a freaking cameltoe! Couldn’t they at least make one bump smaller than the other to at least hint towards a pointing finger? And of course, his other arm is just a nub as big as his finger.

I thought this plushie was pretty weak sauce, and I don’t see the point of the keychain loop. It’s on the small side to be a decent plushie, but its size makes it too big and awkward to be any sort of decent keychain. But free is free, and it’s still Phoenix Wright, regardless of how deformed he is. 5/10

I also pre-ordered Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney through Gamestop to get a keychain freebie. Still available through the Capcom store, the Apollo Justice pre-order bonus is a metal keychain that is a silhouette of Apollo Justice doing the signature Ace Attorney pose.

This freebie is much better in terms of keychain functionality. It’s made of metal, so it’s durable, though I suspect it gets dings easily as mine already has a couple. There aren’t any soft, moving, or particularly snap-off-able areas. The longest part is about two inches long, but it’s narrow and doesn’t take up much space. The silhouette actually looks like Apollo, so people aware of the series should be able to tell what it is immediately. Both sides of the keychain are the same: no details except the mouth. The side that matches the shape of Apollo on the cover of the game has the Capcom copyright imprinted; I think it would have been better to have on the other side.

It’s not the most interesting promo, but I think it serves its function and doesn’t have flaws that immediately stick out. 7/10

New thing I learned today: Apollo Justice’s name in Japanese is Odoroki Housuke. “Odoroki” means surprise, astonishment, or wonder.

I went to my first bridal salon on Saturday. I looked at Yelp reviews, trying to find places that don’t have annoying salespeople but were still possibly within my budget (<$1k). J’aime Bridal had positive reviews for service, quality, and pricing, and they’re one of the few salons that allows cameras. They were also having a San Patrick trunk show last weekend, and after looking at the San Patrick website, I definitely wanted to check out their latest dresses.

J’aime Bridal is located in downtown Pleasanton, not far from 680 and fairly easy to find. There was plenty of street parking, plus the boutique has a small parking lot. There is a counter next to the entrance, where I let the lady there know I was there for my 3PM appointment. I think we were the last appointment of the day, allotting us two hours (which turned out to be more than enough for me). There’s a dressing area by the entrance that I think was for bridesmaids dresses. The store was a bit crowded because of the racks of poofy dresses crammed in the small space. Walk past the racks, and you get to the bridal dressing area. Three or four rows of three or four chairs face two circular platforms (where brides stand on in their dresses) in front of two mirrors, sandwiched by four dressing rooms.

Because we were early and were waiting for Anna and Chris, my mother and I browsed the racks. The San Patrick dresses had their own rack in the middle, so I looked at those. While the San Patrick dresses didn’t have price tags, all their regular dresses had tags on them. I found the two San Patrick dresses I had hoped to try on: Broche and Baltico. The lady I talked to over the phone plus a different woman who approached me as I browsed stated the San Patrick dresses ranged from $900 to $1500 (prior to the 10% off from the trunk show). Anna arrived, and she joined me in looking at dresses on the racks as we waited for Chris. I tried to find dresses on the racks I wanted to try on, but honestly, everything becomes a white blur after a while. I don’t think I’m built for dress shopping.

After a while, we decided to start without Chris. My consultant, Marin, had introduced herself to me earlier, and she asked to get an idea of what sort of dresses I liked (simple, not too much beading, but lace is okay). I also gave her my budget, and with this information, she started grabbing dresses and putting them in my designated dressing room. Aside from the San Patrick dresses, she picked out all the dresses I tried out. In the dressing room, I’d put on each dress myself, then stick my hand out the curtain for Marin to come in and clip me into the dress. With each dress, I’d give her more input, and she’d narrow down my options or bring more dresses. My mom took pictures the entire time.

The first one I tried one was the one I liked from internet surfing, and that was Broche from San Patrick. I know people who know me are probably a little surprised I would go for such a detailed dress; I make an exception with lace. People always say you need to try on a dress to know if you really like it, since pictures of the dress on models isn’t accurate to how it is in person. My expectation was that the dress would look pretty terrible on me, but I looked okay in it (not as a good as the model, but not bad). I also liked how the dress felt. Mom and Anna liked it, too, so I definitely wanted it on my “approved” list. Based on what she knew from the trunk show, Marin’s estimate was that the dress was around $1200. Boy was she (along with the other girls I asked about the San Patrick line) wrong. Apparently, this dress was an outlier. She looked up the price to make sure and discovered it was actually $1900. Me = pwned.

Nevermind the hanging straps, weird bunching
from the clips, and my lack of height.
I sort of wish I hadn’t tried this totally-outside-my-budget dress first; I really liked it and it sort of made the following dresses not seem as good. Marin was very good about sticking with my pickiness and budget. After ten dresses, I discovered I don’t like taffeta or stiff silks (though in hindsight, they look pretty good in pictures), while I actually like the feel the slightly-less-expensive charmeuse. I don’t like sweetheart necklines, but I like pleated busts. I want at least a chapel train. I like lace overlays, and I want a dress that hugs the waist and hips. There were a couple others I thought were decent, like the Baltico dress and Maggie Sottero’s Vienna. Both were in the $1200 range, though other than that, Marin was very good about sticking to the budget.

I finished my dress session in less than hour. I asked Marin to try to think of some other random dresses to try, but I shot down everything she brought (mainly because of heavy beading), so she certainly tried. I was disappointed my session ended so quickly, but Marin can only do so much with their selection and my many restrictions. In hindsight, I should have tried more San Patrick dresses or whatever dresses, since I drove all the way to Pleasanton in a big storm. (Though, it turned out the trunk show didn’t have every dress [i.e. Bremen] in the current collection for some reason.) There was one other bride booked the same time as me, and she seemed to be having better luck, as one of her companions said one of the dresses was about to make her cry. *sigh*

As we were on our way out, Marin gave me a J’aime Bridal postcard with a list of all the dresses (brand, model, price) from the approved list. Throughout the entire time, she was patient, helpful, never snooty or annoying, and understanding of my budget. She never shoved her opinion on us (though, I wouldn’t have minded a little input, as I was pretty clueless). And most importantly, she never once suggested we buy anything. Absolutely no pressure for purchase. The experience overall was disappointing for me, only because I liked the first dress I tried on best, and it turned out to be way, way more expensive than the rest. This has nothing to do with the store and its service though, so I highly recommend visiting this store if their lines are within your budget. They seemed particularly stocked in Maggie Sottero, so if you like that line, J’aime Bridal is definitely worth a look.

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that if you buy your dress here, your bridesmaids get 20% off their dresses if they get them here.

New thing I learned today: A bustle is what holds and gathers the train up close to the wedding dress so it doesn’t drag behind you, preventing people from stepping on it and allowing more movement for the wearer.

There’s been some positive buzz all over the gaming blogs about this new DS game: Professor Layton and the Curious Village. At first glance, it looks like an adventure game, maybe something similar to Phoenix Wright.

I keep hearing non-stop praise for the game, so I got it a few days after it came out. Well, technically, Kelvin got it at Best Buy, using my Best Buy gift card. He didn’t even know what the game was called when he got to the store. He asked the sales associates for “Dr. Lamppost”, but they couldn’t find it on the racks. When they went to the back to look for the game, Kelvin gave me a call to find out what the name really was. And of course, there were 20 copies on the rack right in front of him. He then went to checkout, leaving the Best Buy dude in the back still searching for Dr. Lamppost. Even though Kelvin was doing me a favor getting me the game, he didn’t use a 10% off coupon like I asked him too! He was too lazy to print out a stinking coupon! As a result, I had to nag him about it for 10 minutes when he got home :P

Anyway, in Professor Layton and the Curious Village, you follow the footsteps of the main character, the puzzle-master-not-a-detective Professor Layton, and his annoying sidekick, Luke. I don’t get why Luke follows Prof. Layton everywhere, and I seriously wonder where his parents are. He’s probably an orphan, since all little English boys are orphans, right?

They arrive at a town called St. Mystere, where they have to figure out the mystery of the Golden Apple (some dead guy’s hidden treasure). They walk around town, talk to random people, touch random objects, and there’s even freaking pixel hunting. Sounds like an adventure game, right? It’s not; it’s a pure puzzle game. And I mean, REAL puzzles like matchstick puzzles, slider puzzles, riddles, yada yada. It’s puzzle after puzzle inside a strange story of a mystery in a mysterious town. Even though Professor Layton and Luke go around and do all this stuff, all it ever brings is more puzzles that have NOTHING to do with whatever you interacted with. Penny Arcade summarized it best with their comic:

The puzzles in the game are greatly varied both in difficulty and type. The DS interface works superbly for these puzzles with heavy usage of the stylus to move puzzle elements around, draw lines, or write words. Three hints are available for each puzzle, and these hints are unlocked by using hint coins that you find throughout St. Mystere. The difficulty of the puzzle is shown through their picarats (points basically), and when you beat a puzzle, you get that many picarats. You lose picarats from the puzzle with each incorrect answer. I still haven’t figured out what the picarats are for, but you get random collectible items when you beat certain puzzles. Some puzzles require logic, and some require thinking outside of the box. Most puzzles and their solutions are logical, though there were a few I found obscure, ambiguous and open to interpretation. (Three that stick out in my mind are #45, #53, and the last puzzle in the storyline #100.)

The meat of the game is the puzzles, and the story is almost kinda throwaway in how silly it is. Despite this, I found what kept me playing was actually the narrative. The game is just absolutely charming. The animations are very well done, with its tone reminiscent of quaint Studio Ghibli works (i.e. Totoro). The voice acting is also excellent; Professor Layton sounds just as I expected him to sound (English and intellectual), as does Luke (English and obnoxious). If you took out all the gaming portions, I’d feel like I was watching an animated short. This game was supposed to be my play-during-bedtime-until-I-pass-out game to replace NY Times Crosswords. Instead, I got hooked last weekend and stormed through the game. It’s the first time in months I actually spent a day just playing a game. (Hey, I’ve been busy!) By the end, you’ll think Professor Layton is a badass, and by the end you’ll still think Luke is annoying.

There are over 120 puzzles, plus more downloadable via Nintendo’s Wi-Fi service (which I have yet to try as Kelvin immediately stole the game from me when I beat it). Aside from a few irksome puzzles, I don’t have very many bad things to say about this game. It’s got the challenge and production values gamers expect from their games, but at its heart, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is just a collection of puzzles, so casual gamers and non-gamers can easily get into it. I really, really enjoyed this game, and I’m anxiously anticipating for the sequels to come to the US. 9/10

Anyways, get this game. It’s awesome. If you’re still unsure, there’s a demo at the official website for the game.

I’m tired of these assholes pointing at me!

(Images mostly stolen, but linked to their sources.)
btw, here’s a link to another cute and funny comic about the game from 2P Start.

New thing I learned today: Professor Akira Tago, who researched psychology and is the author of the best-selling Japanese puzzle book series “Head Gymnastics”, is the creator of all the puzzles in the game.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Kelvin and I had a certain restaurant in mind for the wedding banquet, and that restaurant is Hong Fu Gourmet Chinese Restaurant (AKA our favorite Chinese restaurant). Last, last Monday, we finally put down the deposit to save the banquet room for our wedding date. The girls behind the counter always look at me weird when I ask about November because I guess it’s way earlier than when other people book with them. When I asked about it back in December ‘07, one girl even said, “November of this year?”. (Yeah, smart cookie, that one.) But, better safe than sorry.

We made sure to drag Robin and Robin’s dad, Fred, who’ve dealt with Hong Fu for banquets on more than one occasion, to prevent any blatant swindling on our American behinds. (Yeah, I’m not exactly the most trusting of Chinese restaurants, even my favorite places.) It turns out all we needed to book the date was to pay the $300 non-refundable deposit. Booking the date is separate from the contract, so I still have to deal with all the contract stuff later. Though, the manager (DJ) seemed slightly more flexible than last time we saw him.

The sole banquet room isn’t very big, and its shape is more long and narrow. The maximum capacity is 130 people. If it’s any more than that, you’ll have to use the main restaurant area (which has a minimum order of $6000). It has a room-divider to split the room for smaller parties. It’s well separated from the main area, with its own entrance and a full bar in the front. It’s not the classiest or most grandiose banquet setting. The ceiling isn’t high, the wallpaper is pink with pastel flowers on it, and there’s plastic flowers all over the place. (I think the main area is the same deal, but it somehow seems to look much better.) I’m sure the tacky decorations are easily remedied, though. They offer two choices in table linens: pink or red. I think it’s the same deal for the napkins. The banquet contract includes use of their audio equipment, which I’m told includes a sound system with microphone and CD player. Their checklist thingy lists a (projector, I’m guessing) screen and changing room, so I guess maybe they have those also. There’s no room for a dance floor in the banquet room if you have more than 70 guests, but thankfully my friends are indifferent to dancing.

So we’ve still got to talk to the manager about specifics for the contract, mainly menu substitutes and such. (Their menus aren’t too weird for Westerners. There will still probably be shark fin soup and jellyfish appetizers, but hopefully enough tamer stuff for the non-Chinese. While I’m not a fan of it, there’s going to be plenty of seafood. To show wealth or whatever :P *grumble*Mom*grumble*) He also gave us the disclaimer that they’ve been considering upping the banquet prices. Even though he emphasized there weren’t final plans, I’ve still got to get the contract settled ASAP so they don’t pull anything. Currently, wedding banquets are either $338 or $398 a table, depending on which menu you choose. It includes two bottles of soda and a bottle of champagne for each table, and the price doesn’t include gratuity. There’s a cake cutting fee of $150 as well as a corkage fee (for when you bring your own booze) of $15 a table, though DJ said he’d waive that if we pay with cold hard dollah bills. I’m not sure if the discount is worth bringing in wads of cash. When we talked to him back in December, he said if we wanted hard liquor we had to use stuff from their bar, though during the most recent visit, he said we could bring our own. (I’ve been told by my friends that people tend to bring their own booze to Chinese banquets “under the table”, regardless of restaurant policy.)

There are other options in the Cupertino area, but considering how Asian-infested the area is, the options for wedding banquets are surprisingly lacking. Our wedding isn’t very big, so we could be more flexible. Generally, you’d probably have to go to a dim-sum place like Dynasty or Joy Luck. These two weren’t options, considering how I don’t 1) like their food that much, 2) want to hear my maid of honor telling me about how we’re dining in Dy-NASTY all night, and 3) want service that makes me feel like I want to strangle somebody. (Joy Luck Place: go f*ck your-asshole-FOBy-selves. Seriously.) Not only was Hong Fu a slightly more affordable option, it’s one of the few Chinese restaurants that Kelvin and I love and eat at regularly. The service is on par with non-Chinese restaurants, and their food is decent, even to many extra-particular Chinese folks (like my mom). It really made sense for us to have it here. I hope we actually get to eat some of the food.

Last, last Saturday, Susie was thrown a baby shower by a couple of her friends and Greer. Since this was for her second child (ETA: early March!), she wanted a small get-together that only included her closest friends and family (which I’m considered a part of, I’m assuming). None of my friends have made babies yet, so this was the first baby shower I’d ever been invited to. Because the baby shower was just an atypically small affair, it was decided that it would be a tea party. Like, a party where you sit around and drink tea in fancy cups and stuff. Another first for me.

Being the procrastinator that I am, the morning before the baby shower I went (dragging Kelvin with me) to a local baby boutique near downtown Campbell called Tiny Tots. (It got good reviews on Yelp.) Instead of being a typical upscale-looking boutique, it’s housed in some old warehouse-ish building a few blocks away from downtown across the street from some railroad tracks. Aside from being a baby boutique, it’s also known for its cloth diaper services, apparently for the environmentally conscious. Walking in, the store has a lot of open space, as ceilings are pretty high. Fancy wooden racks of adorable little clothes are all over the place. There were three ladies hanging out behind the counter offering assistance, which I declined because I wanted to check out all the cool baby stuff without ranting in their faces about how expensive everything is. (I’m sure I was loud enough without them following me around.)

Susie had a very specific list of things she wanted (3-12 mo. cute clothing, sun hats, and blankets), so I looked for those things. Right in front of the entrance was the rack of new arrivals, and it included this super-cute red, Asian-ish outfit. It included a top and red, striped pants. Later, I looked up the brand online. The company is called Sckoon, and they specialize in 100% organic cotton clothing and are known for their monkey pants. (What’s so great about 100% organic cotton clothing? I don’t know, but it sure sounds pretentious.) Seriously though, isn’t this outfit friggin’ adorable?

I got this outfit, minus the cap. (If baby #2 is anything like Naomi, she’s going to have a ginormous head that no cap can handle.) I did get a little sticker shock though; $40 for less than half a yard of cloth! I’m indifferent to price when it comes to a gift, but I can’t believe some people pay this sort of money regularly for baby clothing. I found a decent Kissy Kissy baby gown from the “clearance” rack and a white eyelet Flap Happy floppy sunhat that I also thought was totally friggin’ adorable. After spending a good half-an-hour ooh-ing and aah-ing all the high-end baby stuffs, I checked out. They offer a free gift wrapping service where they stick your stuff in a box and wrap it really nice with cute wrapping paper (you choose from several) and ribbon. The ladies working were very friendly and courteous.

The tea party also happened to be in Campbell, more specifically the Pruneyard. Despite living literally down the street from the place, I was still several minutes late because I didn’t realize it was in the Pruneyard. The place it was held in is called Lisa’s Tea Treasures, and aside from the small store area in the front, the main purpose of this place is to have tea parties. Honestly, I never knew such places existed. There are several rooms in the backs with tables of china, and you book time slots of these tables to hold your events. Everything is fancy and pink and flowery and girly, and there’s fancy teaware all over the place. The waitresses are dressed in these frumpy, English maid outfits. Everyone was dressed for tea, which made me feel like a dumbass, walking in with t-shirt and jeans. (For some reason, I thought it’d be like chilling at Starbucks or something.) The tables have fancy teacups, creamer containers (with doily covers), napkin holders, etc., plus a bell to ring for your server!

When I arrived, mostly everyone in the party (about 10 people total) was here already, checking out the tea menu. They serve three different teas and have jars of tea cookies (taste like gingerbread) around the table. There’s cream, sugar cubes, and sugared violet leaves for the tea and a yummy lemon cream for the cookies. We chose an Earl Grey, a fruity green tea, and something called Butter Truffle. Our waiter (unfortunately, he was not dressed in a frumpy English maid outfit) arrived with three, very heavy teapots covered in with funny-looking cozies. Passing them around the table and pouring tea from the teapots was quite a task. I wasn’t a fan of the teas; all of them, including the green tea, were too strong for my tastes. I’m guessing that’s more European-style or something. Everyone seemed to like the Butter Truffle, but it had too much flavor for my mild tastes.

After tea was our “meals”: a sample of bite-sized tea sandwiches. The plate had five different sandwiches (roast beef, cucumber mint, egg salad, pesto, and tuna salad), a fresh-baked scone, and a miniature quiche. The sandwiches were all pretty tasty, despite being five totally different flavors. The small portions seemed appropriate for snacking and sampling the flavors. I was surprised at how much I liked the cucumber mint. The exception would be the tuna salad sandwich (also unfortunately the last one I ate). It had some sort of nut in it that I felt didn’t go with the tuna flavor at all. I ate it all since it wasn’t very much, but it was disgusting to me. The scone was incredibly good; you could tell they were just baked. It was served with Devonshire cream (reminds me of heavy butter), and having a warm, fresh scone smothered in fatty cream really hits the spot. I’m indifferent to quiches, but it was okay (way better than the tuna salad sandwich).

Before cake (Susie’s friends got a guava cake from Aki’s… yumyumyum….), Susie opened her presents. I think her wishes for baby clothes and sunhats were adequately fulfilled, as pretty much everybody got her that. I surprised only one person got blankets; I originally wanted to give a blanket, but I figured a bunch of other people would do that already. Susie got the motherload from Greer; Greer went baby-clothing-shopping-berserk and must have gotten at least a dozen outfits (+ two hats). I don’t think this baby is going to have to worry about being naked… at least not from 3 to 12 months. After presents, we served cake, and that was about it for the tea party.

Random observation: When the baby shower first started, the room across the hall from us was occupied by a large party of old ladies. Based on the song they were singing, it seems like they were a party of (very old) sorority sisters. In the middle of the baby shower, they left. Minutes later, they were replaced by two dozen little girls, all dressed in frilly dresses and armed with their favorite toys and stuffed animals. Apparently, it was for a little girl’s birthday. Luckily, they weren’t too annoying or shrill-ish. It still surprises me how much some kids get to have. Anyway, I thought contrast between the old ladies and little girls was amusing.

Even though it was my first baby shower, I’m told I haven’t truly experienced the debacle that is a full-blown baby shower (with lots of people and random baby games), but seriously, I’m in no rush. The tea party was pretty neat, if kinda odd for someone not-that-girly like me. I can’t say it was my cup of tea (ohhhhhhh!), but it was an interesting experience. And I certainly had a lovely time ;)

New thing I learned today: Devonshire cream is clotted cream specifically from southwest England, primarily Devon and Cornwall. Clotted cream is made from boiling unpasteurized milk until a heavy cream forms on top, which is then collected. Devonshire/clotted cream has a minimum fat content of 55% and doesn’t need to be whipped because of its thickness.

I hope everyone’s having a nice day with your special someone, and if you don’t have a special someone, I hope you’re being productive being bitter about not having that special someone.

Like last year, image stolen from VGCats. His Pokemon one is pretty good too, though the MGS one is kinda weak sauce in comparison. I’d like to add his most recent Cooking Mama comic was hilarious (even if wrong).

Even though somebody claimed to have Valentine’s Day plans, it turns out we don’t have any. Don’t worry, I won’t complain like last year. There aren’t any fancy restaurants near our apartment, and my materialistic needs have been quenched this year by a nice pearl necklace. (Hopefully I can get a pic of it up later.) It’s simple and a design I like; I really like it! Though, I do need an occasion to wear it, so maybe eventually…

Edited to add:

Here’s the necklace.

I realized this morning I didn’t think about getting anything for Kelvin since I had no expectation of getting anything, so I don’t have a V-day gift for him. Shhh… don’t tell him.

New thing I learned today: The name of Captain Falcon’s vehicle in the F-Zero games is Blue Falcon (#07).