I bought and watched The Legend of Zorro. It was entertaining, though they were obviously trying to make a statement about the current status of the country which I can't say I enjoyed since it was so blatant. Still a good movie, but not as good as The Mask of Zorro, not by a longshot.

Alright since we've been having a discussion on poetry and all I figured I may as well post one I wrote not too long ago. I don't really remember what the inspiration was for this, but something along the lines of playing Grandia III and listening to A.F.I. played a big factor in it. I tried to keep it pretty formal, hell, I even tried to keep it metered even though I did fail miserably.

Constructive and Destructive criticism is welcome, so feel free to tell me I fucking suck and not to quit my day job.

This Digital Eagle

Softly soaring through these cyber-spaceways,
A digital eagle quietly came
Casting a somber shadow on the waves.
Looking from above with digital eyes,
Some digital scales it did spy.
The eagle tucked its wings and dived.

Quickly it falls, gathering speed,
Readying its talons to do its deed.
Seeing the danger, the prey tried to flee,
but with a splash of zeros and ones
This grand eagle's deed was done.
The cyber-fish in the water was won.

It then made its way back to its nest,
Flying high, it believed it was the best
As it neared the end of its quest.
But from out of nowhere closed a door,
and the eagle entered a dark storm,
Sending it reeling like never before.

Flying hard, it entered the eye.
Two clicks, and the eagle died.
Its data lost, never to be found.
Broken binary upon the ground.

ZOMG! Hilarious, haha.

I really like your presentation of growing older, as looking in the mirror and noticing the ageing is something I'm sure many people do as they get up in the years. And since I'm an advocate of, "Just because it is saying something doesn't mean it can't be funny," I like it even more.

There's also the ambiguity of the last two lines. Is the little girl doing this out of caring? Or is she basically saying, "You're flippin' old grandpa."?

Nicely done.

1. They do use compressed language though. They would most likely be a lot longer if they were in prose. But what I said about the shortest way possible may be moot for the fact those examples are epic length poetry.

2. Agreed.

OMG! Hilarious! This reminds me of a movie with Chevy Chase in it (can't remember the name) where he is eating Rocky Mountain Oysters, not knowing what they are, at some little restaurant place. Only difference is here you at least should have some idea of what they are...

I think a lot of the typical amateur poets lose sight of who and what their audience is; namely themselves. Just because they spewed it out onto a piece of paper or a computer screen and it is in stanzas doesn't mean it is the alpha and omega of great poetry. Other people may in fact find it to be quite the opposite. The problem is they think other people will find it profound when it really is only profound in their own minds, as it should be.

I won't profess to being a "good" amateur poet. In fact most of the poetry I write would be considered emo, but that stuff has a tendency to stay in my notebooks, where they belong, for my viewing only.

I guess, to sum it up, I think the amateur poet should first be writing to please themselves, while realizing it may or may not please others. If they do share it with another person they need to keep an open mind. Just because another person doesn't find it profound or entertaining doesn't mean they are stupid and have no eye for poetry, because they may have a better eye for it than the writer themselves. Taking another's criticism, whether it be constructive or destructive, is what makes writers grow.

*phew* now with that out of the way:

What do you guys think is a good way to define poetry? Though I tend to be a post-modern thinker myself when it comes to reading I don't necessarily agree with the post-modern critics who call every text, whether it be a novel, a movie, or billboard, as being a poem.

Personally, I like the idea of defining poetry as "compressed language." Telling a story or giving a message in the shortest, and yet most effective way possible.

But that's just me. What do you guys think?

Played Grandia III for about an hour today. Isn't it sad? I've had the game for like, three weeks now and I'm only seven hours in. Though I suppose it's even worse I bought Dragon Quest VIII back in November and haven't even played it yet...

Anyway, I just made it to Dragon Valley. ZOMG we didn't crash this time!

I bought Tales of Phantasia and played it for about half an hour last night. No clue on what to say about the story or anything. I thought it was kind of bold to kill off a whole village right at the beginning of the game though. The battle system is surprisingly fun and I can see a lot of where Tales of Symphonia's battle system came from. My only real gripe is I can't understand some of the VA stuff.

Just read the story on MSN.com. This is really awesome. The possibility that it has liquid water just around 10 meters beneath the surface of the ice is amazing to me. I really hope they get a mission plan going to explore this moon (or Jupiter's Europa) in the next 15 to 20 years or so because it is just such an amazing possibility.

EDIT: Cool image of how big Enceladus is compared to Earth and our moon on this page. Just scroll down a bit.

Just finished reading RuroKen Vol. 24. I was impressed Watsuki was bold enough to show such a gruesome scene involving what appeared to be a main character. But as much as I enjoy happy endings, I do find myself thinking that Watsuki perhaps should have continued with what he started, making Kenshin a true genre bender. I'm not saying he absolutely should have, but perhaps.

Now onward to Naruto Vol. 9.

Dancing Through Sunday - A.F.I.

I really like the music for this song. The lyrics are pretty good, though you can tell A.F.I. was pretty much the creators of the crap emo genre (post-punk as the MTV sheep call it). But unlike the regular crap emo band that writes piss poor lyrics and plays predictable music A.F.I. is actually, ya know, good.

Well apparently a lot of Japanese gamers and myself don't agree on what the bestest damned game evar is. But seriously, Final Fantasy X? For the love of all things sacred, WHY?!

I just finished the second quest for a Lem Fruit on Randoto Island. The two minotaurs were easier than the first one due to the simple fact I didn't have six Fishman Captains to bother with. The game is still fun, but the story is going nowhere fast.

Just recently read DeathNote Vol. 4. The series is really enjoyable but I found this volume to be the best so far in the plot twists and funnier scenes. It was hilarious how Light was just annoyed by Misa chasing him around. I was also impressed by L's trick at figuring out who the second Kira was. Great fun.

As for anime, I've only been watching Full Metal Alchemist and Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. on Adult Swim recently. I'm really looking forward to seeing how FMA ends since, if I heard correctly, there are only 50 something episodes and next week is episode 50.

I am very much looking forward to the two new Seiken Densetsu games. While I usually agree that the story and characters can be a little bland in the series, they are fun games to play and look at. I'll most likely be picking it up if it becomes available.