Coming into our 15th episode (holy cow, that went quickly), we were a bit rushed.  We had taken a nap, and woke up with just enough time to start doing our show notes and get our equipment set up.  We were still working on the tail end of our show notes as we started the show!  We had a great time with this episode.  After having lighter content episodes for the past few weeks, resulting in shorter shows, we returned to form with over two and a half hours of us chatting about stuff that nobody cares about!  We had some new viewers, which we were, of course, very glad to have.  One viewer even came all the way from Spain (and only spoke Spanish).  This resulted in a fairly large derailment of the show, as Lindsey and I tried to remember our high school Spanish classes and some of our viewers tried translating through Babelfish!

One of these days, we’ll go back and try to recover our older show notes (if we kept them) and put up a new section containing them all for people to peruse (if people even give a crap about that kind of thing).  We’ll probably have to watch some of our own episodes and take notes, which should be a blast.  You know what?  How about this: If anyone reads this, let us know what you think about the show notes idea.  We’ll take our little audience poll and let that decide!

-Because I said so

Shortly after we wrapped up episode 15 of the MehCast, I fired up the Wii and got into a new set of Super Mario Galaxy adventures.  I mentioned the Prankster Comets in my third progress update, and I have some more details now due to experiencing two more last night.  I gained another star from the Terrace Observatory via the Good Egg Galaxy using a Speedy Comet, as well as completing the Fountain Observatory’s special galaxy, the Sling Pod Galaxy.  Within the Fountain Observatory itself, aside from completing the Space Junk Galaxy, the Hurry-Scurry Galaxy (a one-star galaxy), and the Battlerock Galaxy, I gained extra stars from the Daredevil Comet and the Cosmic Comet.  I had very few details about these two comets in my third update, having had no experience, but now I can verify some of my assumptions.  With the Daredevil Comet, you go through the boss fight with only 1 piece of health.  Sustain a single hit, and it’s time to retry.  After a couple of tries, I finally got through that one.  The Cosmic Comet was much easier, consisting of a special race (this one was on foot) through the level to a special star.  First one to the star wins.  Very straightforward, very simple (so far).  I have not yet experienced the Fast Foe Comet, but am looking forward to it.  I now have every star from the first two observatories except for the Bowser star from the Fountain Observatory.  I just finished gathering all of the other observatory stars, so Bowser is up next!  I’ll let everyone know how it went in progress update 5.

-Because I said so

In my third progress update, we continue on our path of conquering the Fountain Observatory galaxies, having completely conquered the Terrace Observatory galaxies by the second progress update.  Currently, I stand at 17 stars and over 1,000 star bits.  I have completed the Space Junk galaxy, and when next I play, I will be challenging the Battlerock galaxy.  I beat the special Rolling Green galaxy in my second progress update, but didn’t go into very much detail about it.  It was very interesting, and consisted of Mario keeping balance on top of a large hamster-ball containing a star, which had to be navigated through the course into the hole at the end.  Very fun, but difficult at times.  I currently have enough stars to battle Bowser in the Fountain Observatory, but as the game will become progressively harder, and stars will be more difficult to come by, I prefer to stockpile as many of the easier stars as I can in order to alleviate future frustration and fury.

Last night, I encountered a new feature of the game. I was informed that “Prankster Comets” had arrived.  Each type of prankster comet has a different effect on the galaxy it happens to be orbiting.  These comets can provide special bonus stars that would not otherwise be available.  The four types of prankster comet were explained:

Speedy Comets:  These comets limit the amount of time you spend in the galaxy.  They put you through a star course that you have completed already, but with a time limit.  If you complete the course within the time limit, you get a bonus star.  This is the only one I have experienced so far.

Daredevil Comets:  These comets leave you with low life in a level.  I have not experienced this one further to give more details, but I assume you start with 1-2 bars of life (out of 3), and are most likely unable to replenish beyond that limit.

Cosmic Comets:  These comets make you race a cosmic mirror version of your character.  From what I’ve read, if you hit a galaxy with a cosmic comet in orbit, you merely have to beat your doppelganger in a race to win the star.

Fast Foe Comets:  These comets make your enemies move faster.  I assume this works in the same way as the speedy comet, in that you complete a full star course, but with the added hurdle of faster enemies (instead of a time limit).

So far, I’m very intrigued by this feature.  I can’t wait to try out the other comet courses to gain extra stars, as well as the bonus galaxies I have gained outside of the Observatories (I have uncovered two, and beaten one).

Progress Update 4 will be coming soon!

-Because I said so

Last night, in between watching the Food Network, Scrubs, DVR’d episodes of WCG Ultimate Gamer, and the season premiere of Dinner: Impossible, I found time to squeeze in some more Super Mario Galaxy.  I’ve completed the first set of Galaxies completely (both of the full three-star galaxies, all three special one-star galaxies, and the Bowser, Jr. boss galaxy), and have started in on the second set of Galaxies, completing one of the special one-star galaxies so far.  There have been a few “figure it out” moments for completing certain areas, but overall it’s been a lot of fun.

I do have one returning gripe from Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS.  I give due attention to building my number of lives by way of gathering coins, star bits, and 1-up mushrooms whenever possible, generally getting well into double digits.  However, the next time you start up your saved game, no matter how many lives you have built up, you always return to only 4.  I find this to be ridiculous, because I do put a great deal of effort into gathering the items necessary for building my reserve of extra lives, apparently only to have that effort completely wasted the next time I play.

Humbug, I say.

-Because I said so

Lindsey and I were up very late a few nights ago, and we noticed something on the Sci-Fi channel called “WCG Ultimate Gamer”.  Both of us being avid gamers, this piqued our curiosity, and we switched over.  What we saw was a re-run of the first episode of WCG Ultimate Gamer, a “reality” competition show with video game challenges.  It’s a very interesting show, and the subject matter is being handled very well (although neither of us are fond of the female presenter).  The “real-life” challenges are fun to watch, as are the “isolation” challenges.  The face-off elimination at the end of each show is also very entertaining.  Of course, with any “reality” competition type show like this, they all live in the same house, so a portion of each episode is dedicated to drama and conflict between the gamers involved (shock!).  However, while the conflict and drama (see how I switched it up there?) can have an effect on the elimination portion of the show, it generally takes a backseat to the gaming and the competition, which I find to be very nice.

Now, Lindsey and I have played video games all our lives.  I remember as a child playing Airlock, Tanks, Frogger, Pitfall, Pac-Man, Breakout, Pong, and more on the Atari 2600 my parents received as a wedding gift way back when.  Lindsey got her first NES when she was 5, and loved it.  Both of us continued purchasing new systems as they came out, always looking forward to the next great game.  Lindsey, however, outpaced me in the field of online play (something I never really got into).  In her experience with online gaming via Xbox Live, as well as her attendance of MLG events and tournaments, she became very familiar with many of the great “pro” gamers and top contenders.  Imagine her surprise when she saw one of her very good friends from that scene as one of the competitors on WCG Ultimate Gamer (Robert, aka Prodigy X)?  Then imagine her surprise when she saw someone she despised (MrsViolence), and someone she disliked (Athena) on the show as well (the despised one was sent home when she lost the Virtua Fighter 5 elimination face-off).  It’s always fun to see people you know on TV.  It’s even more fun when they’re someone you don’t like and you can watch them fail in front of millions of people.

-Because I said so

We were sitting here watching TV with the sliding glass door slightly open so that I could listen to the rain (it was coming down very heavily), when suddenly we see a bright flash of lightning, followed by a loud blast of thunder.  Suddenly, a shaking Donnie jumped up on us like a child looking for safety from the big loud scary noises.

And here I was under the impression that we had a dog, not a scaredy cat.

-Because I said so

Over a month ago, Chris and Kelly (http://www.themarriedgamers.net) were kind enough to lend us their copy of Boom Blox for the Nintendo Wii, claiming that it was a great game that we just had to try.  After letting it sit on the shelf for so long, we finally put it in and gave it a try yesterday afternoon.  We were very impressed with this game.  Neither one of us has played the single player game, so we can’t comment on that, but we did enjoy playing multi-player.  At times, the controls can be a bit unweildy, but once you get used to the physics of the game, you learn to find ways around that.  The game physics are very well done, actually.  Gravity, inertia, leverage, kinetic energy, energy transfer, force, etc, are all designed cleanly and realistically.

The game consists of, for lack of a better word, mini-games, or challenges, that tie together into larger sections.  Some challenges are similar to Jenga, with an added twist (don’t let the penalty block fall!); some are more akin to Duck Hunt, with much more to shoot at; some are like the carnival games where you throw a ball at the stacked milk bottles, but with certain bonus fields for you to try to hit them towards.  It’s a very interesting game, with a lot of great applications of the Wii controller’s functionality.

We definitely recommend this game (except for that damn Jenga part).

-Because I said so

Ok.  Last week we rented a few movies, one of which was Sukiyaki Western Django.  We just finished watching it this very moment, and I could not wait to provide the internet with my review.

It was ass.  There were some cool bits, but it should have been done in Japanese, because the actors were very awkward speaking in English, and it affected the quality of their performances.  It’s supposed to be a parody, or an homage, or something else, but it ends up just being not very good.  Some of the cinematography was interesting, and the plot was nice(ish), but it was painfully obvious that the actors were uncomfortable speaking in English.

On the plus side, we got a huge laugh out of just how bad this movie was, so maybe it wasn’t a complete waste of time after all?

Let me put it this way…You’ve heard of movies so bad that they’re good?  This movie is so bad that it’s good, and what it’s good at is being really bad.

We totally recommend it.

-Because I said so

Today, for the first time in almost two months, I spent some time with Super Mario Galaxy on our Wii.  I had played through the first star back in February when we first got it, but put it aside for a very long time in favor of Animal Crossing, since it is such a relaxing game.  For some reason, though, Mario caught my eye this morning, and I decided to give it some love.

Having spent more time playing, I have been getting more accustomed to the unique (and, at times, impractical) camera angles of the game.  I’ve been enjoying the gravity features of the game, and I had a great time during my brief stint as Bee Mario!  I’m up to 4 stars and over 600 Star Bits now, with quite a ways to go!  I’m looking forward to playing more and letting you all know how I’m progressing.

-Because I said so

Right before our show tonight Chris and I got instantly aggrivated courtesy of our dog, Donnie. Chris had taken him outside to use the restroom prior to the show and apparently Donnie thought it would be cool to go behind the couch and piss on the carpet.

After putting Donnie in his kennel, and after trying my best to get it up and out of the carpet, we started the show.

We discussed our wedding in more detail, how Chris and I are looking around for a new car, and more.

Chris’s song of the week was from Propaghandi while mine was from A Perfect Circle.

As a joke, Chris picked Dragon Ball Z as his movie of the week. I chose Wedding Crashers.

My video game of the week was Battle of Olympus for the NES. It was the first game I had ever played and owned. Chris chose Mad World for the Wii.

I was stupid and picked Heroes again for my TV show of the week, and Chris picked Chopped that airs on the Food Network.

My iPhone App of the week was DoodleKids that can be found in the Apple App Store. Chris chose Scrobble which can be found in Cydia.

Hope you guys enjoyed the episode and we will be seeing you next week for Episode 15!!

- She Who Has The Last Word