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About Me Member Procrastinator ZaxterMale/United States Recent Activity Deviant for 3 Years
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How obscure

Tue Nov 10, 2009, 2:40 PM
  • Mood: Neutral
  • Listening to: The underlying rythym of reality itself
  • Reading: Minds
  • Playing: Super Homework 64
  • Eating: Delicious bagel
So yeah, I'm not dead (it's only been what, a year and a half since I last journaled?). Haven't been working on anything, but I'm posting here for a good reason. You see, I've been the first to be tagged by the brand new OBSCURITY MEME (created by ~Cassidybat). This needs to propagate, so I'll be the first to spread it around! Without further ado...


THE OBSCURITY MEME dun dun duuuuun

The rules are simple:

(1): Obviously, the things you list have to be obscure. Things that are common and well-known in your own country, but not known in another do not count. However, if the thing you list is well-known in its own country of origin, but almost unheard of in your own, that's okay. It's even better if it's only well-known in its own country(again, as long as it's not your own) but virtually unknown everywhere else. Of course, things from your own country are allowed too-just remember, whatever it is has to be obscure!

(2): It can be pretty much anything. Sure, I listed books, movies, TV series and musicians as the main examples, but you're free to list anything else. It can be an obscure animal that you think is cool, a religion, hell, it can even be a political ideology from the nineteenth century, I don't give a shit!

(3): For the love of all that is holy, please provide some kind of description of why you enjoy the things you list. If you just list a bunch of names with no description at all, you might as well write nothing at all. The whole point of this list is to gain followers for your evil army of darkness-er, I mean show the world the awesome things that hardly get any credit. So give us a reason why this list is special to you. Who knows, you might get a few people curious enough to look up more info on the subject, and these people might even become fans as well. Then you can begin to assemble your evil army of unspeakable terror!

(4): While 3 is the bare minimum of things on your list, you can certainly list much more than that if you want to.

(5): Tag at least one other person.

Here are my picks:

1: Sam & Max: Freelance Police

Sam is a dog. Max is a hyperkinetic rabbity-thing. Together, they form the freelance police, who take on missions too weird for anyone else. Originally a comic book created by Steve Purcell, it was known by few, but generally well-liked by those familiar with it. The comic eventually became a short-lived animated series, and there was even a video game. In recent days, the dynamic duo have been revived as a new series of episodic video games, which have been very well received. Thus, they're not as obscure as they used to be, but they're still awesome. I was introduced to the series through their original video game, "Sam & Max: Hit the Road," whose introduction you can (and should) watch here. It gives you a good feel for the type of humor they employ.

2: Touhou

To sum it up, Touhou is a series of games for the PC that involves magical anime girls shooting the crap out of each other with giant lasers. The series is developed almost entirely by one person, a fellow who calls himself ZUN, who does the drawing, music, programming, and dialogue for a majority of the series. It has a rather cult following in the United States, but I'm not too sure of its popularity in its country of origin (Japan, as you may have guessed); however, the series has a number of very enthusiastic fans, who have created remixes of the music, fan manga, and even fan games -- a number of which ZUN himself aided in making. Another interesting note about the series is that it has an almost entirely female cast. Between the games and the manga (which is semi-official), there are about 100 characters in the Touhou universe. Only four of them are male, according to the Touhou wiki. And most importantly of all, I should mention how the game plays. It's a 2D SHMUP (shoot-'em-up), similar to games like Gradius or R-Type (or even Galaga or Space Invaders, as a bit of a stretch), but with an unusual twist. Instead of shooting down legions of enemies and dodging shots here and there, the enemies are more sparse, and fill the screen with countless bullets -- hundreds at a time in the harder levels -- which the player needs to weave through, like an intricate tapestry of imminent death. It's a little hard to explain, so I recommend watching it yourself to get a feel for it. It's honestly like playing a fireworks display.

Also, the series sparked one of the most ridiculously over-the-top soccer games ever created.

3: Chipscene

A very unique, very distinct, and very obscure genre of music (which I can tell you now is not for everyone's tastes). Chipscene music is inspired by the sounds of outdated computer technology, particularly old gaming systems, such as the NES, Game Boy, and Commodore 64. Normally, music from such machines is referred to as a "chiptune," due to being produced by special computer chips that create sound when electrically charged (called sound chips, fittingly enough). Chipscene artists create their own chiptunes for their hardware of choice -- sometimes emulating the sound with a program, other times using an actual NES/Commodore/etc. Often chipscene music is more than just a custom chiptune. Most chipscene music is a combination of outdated sounds and modern instruments, whether synthetic or live. The band Anamanaguchi, for example, uses live guitar, bass, and drums along the sounds of a hacked NES and Game Boy.

To get an earful of chipscene music, you can listen to a good variety for free on this album. I'm not a fan of every track there, but I do particularly like the tracks by Anamanaguchi, Nullsleep, and Mr. Spastic, to name a few. If you grew up with ancient gaming platforms like I did, you're likely to find at least one track that resonates with you.

4: Urumi

Is it a sword? Is it a whip? No, it's a goddamn urumi! A weapon originating from India, the urumi is a flat, flexible length of steel that cuts like a sword, but behaves like a whip. It's an extraordinarily dangerous weapon -- both to the wielder and his opponent! Watch it in action in this video (YouTube to the rescue once again!), and read the description there. It's packed full of information, I'd just be repeating things if I tried to tell you more about it!


Well, I can guarantee you that took longer to write than it took you to read. Now, to spread this thing further, I tag (in alphabetical order, 'cuz I'm cool like that):
:iconapril-moon: :iconcielo-eos: :iconmikarabidkitsune: :iconmiyukitty: :iconspiritedlocke:

Go forth, and celebrate obscurity!

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Devious Info

  • Current Residence: Massachusetts, originally from New Jersey
  • Interests: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, D&D, Video games, anime, being such a nerd
  • Favourite movie: Cannibal: The Musical
  • Operating System: Right, next you'll be asking me whether or not my firewall is enabled and what my IP address is
  • MP3 player of choice: Winamp
  • Shell of choice: Adamantium platemail
  • Skin of choice: Oh, there are so many inappropriate answers that could go here, I can't decide which one to use
  • Favourite game: Ill be here for hours before I can decide on that one
  • Favourite gaming platform: See immediately above.
  • Favourite cartoon character: That's three in a row.
  • Personal Quote: Normal is boring. Be weird.
  • AIM: zaxter2
  • MSN: zaxter@optonline.net

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Comments


:iconcassidybat:
Thanks for the watch!
:iconi-club-seals:
I don't expect anything from this Zaxter, but lookie:
[link]

How've you been, anyway? I haven't spoken to you since, well, I was last active on Fantasia. Which was about 9001 months ago.
:iconzaxter:
Hey, sorry about taking so long to respond to this. I'm first noticing it's here, which seems to be a habit of mine. I need to put up a warning of some sort about this. I think I'll make it into my "personal quote"...

I've been doing pretty good. To be honest, the reason I haven't been on Fantasia in forever is just because I got sick of the personal jobs thing. It really wasn't helping the problem too much, and some people just wouldn't let me go over them in peace. What's the situation with those things these days, anyway? Ever get anywhere?

I might come back one of these days...if I have a good character idea, anyway.

--
If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
~George Carlin (Rest in peace)
:iconi-club-seals:
I'm not active anymore, sadly. I occasionally speak to a few of the guys but things seem to have calmed a bit. My life has shifted in a direction that means I lack inspiration most of the time, which is a shame. But you should probably head back there some time. Good to hear you're doing well though.
:iconmiyukitty:
Thank you very much for the :+fav: on my "Feel" pages, Zaxter-kupo. I very much appreciate it! :heart:

Have ya given any thought to that request I owe ya? ;P

--
Commissions closed for the holidays. Merry Christmas!
GS Avatar by ~mokomel / Montblanc Avatar by ~Marriland
:iconzaxter:
First off: I obviously don't check my own page very often. I'm first noticing this is here.

Second: You're most welcome!

Third: I had an idea for the request a while back, but decided I didn't like it (some silly Metroid fanart). Recently, however, a friend of mine has been going through a really rough time in his life, so I thought asking for a picture for him would be something nice. Now if only I could think of something he'd appreciate...I'll come up with something eventually (I think).

--
If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.
~George Carlin (Rest in peace)
:iconmiyukitty:
Tee hee~! :giggle:

:hug: Be sure and let me know - I'd be so glad to help someone out!! :heart: I've been going through some stuff myself, so it would really make me happy if I could cheer up someone else out there.

--
Commissions closed for the holidays. Merry Christmas!
GS Avatar by ~mokomel / Montblanc Avatar by ~Marriland
:iconmadmiko:
Hi!

Thanks for stopping by my page! ^_^

--
"My kids don't think I'm older than dirt, but they do think mine were the first footprints in it." -Me
:iconrobinchopperfan:
thanks for the visit :3

--
"She's a WHORE!"
~Adrian Monk
----
Proud member of ~Mega-Marioclub, ~AVGN-fans, ~Nintendo-Fans, #yoshies, *pikminclub, ~OP-OC-Club, =Chopper-Fanclub133

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