When the twins Masa and Mune in Chrono Trigger form together to create Melchior’s sword it is one of the more rememberable moments of any video game. When Sephiroth slays Aerith it is unquestionably one of the most emotional points of any game as well. What ties these events together other than being in two of the greatest RPG games ever made? It has a lot to do with history, admiration, legend, an impossible rivalry and lots and lots of swords.
Japan’s greatest swordsmith is unquestionably Masamune Okazaki. The master swordsmith created katanas and tantÅs of unsurpassed craft and beauty during the 13th and 14th centuries. He has since grown into a national hero of the Japanese people for his skill. His swords are said to possess ‘the mark of an internally peaceful and calm warrior.
Another swordsmith from 200 years later known as Muramasa Sengo was also a master of his craft. His blades are best known for their sharpness. When a certain nobleman joined the shogunte he forbade his samurai to wear Muramasa’s blades because he had lost many friends and family to them. This, although a testament to the swords abilities, attached a stigma to the blades that they were cursed, evil or blood-thirsty.
There is a legend about these two swordsmiths and the types of swords they were known to create.
A legend tells of a test where Muramasa challenged his master, Masamune, to see who could make a finer sword. They both worked tirelessly and eventually, when both swords were finished, they decided to test the results. The contest was for each to suspend the blades in a small creek with the cutting edge facing the current. Muramasa’s sword, the Juuchi Fuyu (10,000 Winters) cut everything that passed its way; fish, leaves floating down the river, the very air which blew on it. Highly impressed with his pupil’s work, Masamune lowered his sword, the Yawaraka-Te (Tender Hands), into the current and waited patiently. Not a leaf was cut, the fish swam right up to it, and the air hissed as it gently blew by the blade. After a while, Muramasa began to scoff at his master for his apparent lack of skill in the making of his sword. Smiling to himself, Masamune pulled up his sword, dried it, and sheathed it. All the while, Muramasa was heckling him for his sword’s inability to cut anything. A monk, who had been watching the whole ordeal, walked over and bowed low to the two sword masters. He then began to explain what he had seen.
“The first of the swords was by all accounts a fine sword, however it is a blood thirsty, evil blade as it doesn’t discriminate as to who or what it will cut. It may just as well be cutting down butterflies as severing heads. The second was by far the finer of the two, as it doesn’t needlessly cut that which is innocent and undeserving.”
That, my friends, is a good story. Muramasa is also a fun Japanese ska band who’s lead singer is both cute and mullet-headed. I guess what I’m trying to say with this post is buy me a Masamune.
Randall Munroe is a genius. The best part of this comic is that i reminds me of one of my favorite games of all time, Chrono Trigger.
I have played through this game 3 times and it never gets old. The basic tale is that the world is hit by a being name Lavos 16 million years ago that has been sleeping and gathering strength. Once it becomes powerful enough it pops up (in 1999 A.D.) and begins destroying the world. It is your job to travel through time and stop Lavos before the world is destroyed. Is it sweet, you betcha. If you haven’t played this game then you should be ASHAMED of yourself. After you’ve completed that you can start on Super Metroid.
I am a little late jumping in on the bandwagon but you can still get in on the action! There is a bug vs bug deathmatch happening right here in our own back(internet)yard! At http://www.japanesebugfights.com you can see all of the epic battles while you watch from the safety of your own Tube-Interpreter.
My favorite fight so far (I’ve watched half of them) has to be fight 25. This fight pits a hercules beetle and a scorpion. The beetle starts out by pushing the scorpion off the log and then maintains dominance until the sneaky scorpion (while underwater) sneaks around the beetle and pushes him off. Who’s kind of the hill now, bitch?
There are 30 fights total not including the user-submitted fights. The last fight will be shown January 30th. There will be a follow up on this blag including an award ceremony, stay tuned.
Rez, the classic PS2 and Dreamcast title is being remade for XboxLive. I have always wanted to play this game. It is known for being an emersive game that puts you into a trance-like state. It is basically a rails shooter by design but the shooting is not the main purpose of this title.
The game is notable for replacing the typical sound effects found in most rail shooter games with trance music, with sounds and melodies created by the player as they target and destroy foes in the game, leading to a form of synesthesia.
Pretty soon the levels and the images onscreen were just a faint blur to me. I knocked off my glasses and leaned back. I was in a daze. From far away, it seemed, I could hear Justin saying things like, “I made it to the next level!” and “This is cool!” but I was lost in my own little trance vibrating world.
–GameGirlAdvance.com
Either way, I’m excited about this new version of the game even if it will be missing the vibrator attachment. The in-controller rumble will take its place. I’m excited, and you should be too.
Since as long as I can remember I have had an aversion to clowns. You know, they’re the guys with their awful face paint and huge shoes. It seems that our good friends at the University of Sheffield have completed a study of 250 British children and found that all 250 of them are scared of clowns. Go figure, right?
I’ll kill you all! Ha Ha! I’ll drive you crazy and I’ll kill you all! I’m every nightmare you’ve ever had! I am your worst dream come true! I’M EVERYTHING YOU EVER WERE AFRAID OF!
The report goes on to say that it’s not the clowns the kids are afraid of, just their mask and, “the fact that it doesn’t change and is relentlessly comical”. Yeah, I can agree with that. Who do these clowns think they are?
There is no evil clown that is as famous as John Wayne Gacy, he’s the king pimp daddy of evil clowns. He liked to use “trick handcuffs” from his clown act to keep his victims from running away while he slit their throat. It’s a lovely thought to be sure.
According to accounts in Killer Clown, Gacy informed investigators that his first killing took place in January 1972, and the second two years later in January 1974. He further confessed that he lured his victims into being handcuffed. Gacy would tell his victim that he wanted to show him a “pair of trick handcuffs” he used in his clown act, claiming there was a special way to unlock the cuffs and daring the youth to break out of them. Once the youth was securely manacled, he would kill him by pulling a rope or board against their throats, as he raped them. Gacy admitted to sometimes keeping the dead bodies under his bed or in the attic for several hours before eventually burying them in the crawl space
Later on in the article the good professor postulates that it isn’t the clowns themselves but that it has, “more to do with being unsettled by something as unusual-seeming as a clown.” This might be the case but I think that the evil clownsmighthavesomethingtosayaboutthat. Fucking clowns.
Lady goes off the deep end at a coffee shop. Then… then…. it gets so much worse. I like the guy following her with the camera being all calm and saying “don’t touch me”. Is it just me or is that girl kinda cute when she’s trying to block the crazy lady from yelling “In the name of Jesus stop it!” at the poor “mexican” kid? The barista goes “oh, no…”. Priceless.
You PEOPLE from Mexico will not stop with the whole thing.
I think I wasted a good hour or two messing with this 909 simulator. The trick is that the orange words along the top are clickable. I didn’t notice that for a while. This guy’s webpage is actually pretty cool. He has made a bunch of flash applications that are well beyond any programming ability I ever hope to possess.
Engadget has a post about another beat related project called BeatBearing. There is a ton of other projects on there that make me stupid jealous as well. When am I going to take that microcontrollers/microelectronics class?
When the twins Masa and Mune in Chrono Trigger form together to create Melchior’s sword it is one of the more rememberable moments of any video game. When Sephiroth slays Aerith it is unquestionably one of the most emotional points of any game as well. What ties these events together other than being in two of the greatest RPG games ever made? It has a lot to do with history, admiration, legend, an impossible rivalry and lots and lots of swords.
Japan’s greatest swordsmith is unquestionably Masamune Okazaki. The master swordsmith created katanas and tantÅs of unsurpassed craft and beauty during the 13th and 14th centuries. He has since grown into a national hero of the Japanese people for his skill. His swords are said to possess ‘the mark of an internally peaceful and calm warrior.
