Typewriter Ribbons

The version of Final Fantasy VI I've been playing is the old Super Nintendo version that was renamed Final Fantasy III for the U.S. release because the actual Final Fantasys II, III, and V hadn't been released in the U.S. and IV had been released as II. But in recent years, the games have gotten U.S. releases on Play Station and Game Boy Advance under their original names and with improved graphics and sound.

So, last night, I decided to try out the Game Boy Advance version of VI, figuring it would be kind of a pain in the ass tracking down the emulator and rom. Instead, I was surprised to find both, virus free, after two very quick google searches; I got the GBA emulator here and the Final Fantasy VI rom here. The sites don't even have popup ads. Either Nintendo just doesn't give a fuck or these sites are based outside of the country or . . . Hell, I don't know how this works.

Wikipedia has a vague, almost answer for me;

Another legal consideration is that many emulators of fifth generation and newer consoles require a dumped copy of the original machine's BIOS in order to function. This software is a copyrighted work and in many cases not accessible without specialized hardware, often requiring the user to obtain the file illegally. However, several emulators for platforms such as Game Boy Advance are capable of running without a BIOS file, using high-level emulation to simulate BIOS subroutines at a slight cost in emulation accuracy.

The obsolescence of the Game Boy Advance probably has something to do with it, too. Anyway, I still think Final Fantasy VI is the best Final Fantasy game, so I recommend giving it a try. The Advance version also has a much better translation than the version I'm used to, though all the nudity's still edited out.

I've gone back to reading War and Peace over the past couple of nights now that I'm in a place where I don't have to read as much for my comic. I keep having to put the book aside for long periods, but it's amazing how easily I remember what's happening and who the characters are, particularly considering this novel is constantly introducing characters. Tolstoy seems to have not needed much space to make character full and distinct. Last night I read a bit where Rostof, a young soldier finding himself in the heat of battle for the first time, is confused by not finding enemies to "cut down" and how he'd always thought fighting would involve cutting down enemies. The nice thing about this is that, while we believe it, Tolstoy didn't feel the need to establish beforehand that Rostof felt this way--we realise his misconception at the same time he does. It was one of those moments that remind me good storytellers are able to strike chords all the way at the bottom levels of our conscious processes.

I watched the ninth episode of Battlestar Galactica's fourth season last night. What a base ship of missed opportunities that episode was. Instead of having a nuanced dialogue between Baltar and Roslin where conflict emerges from both characters' maturations and unacknowledged pettiness, Baltar becomes a two dimensional foil for Roslin, as his character completely changes, as he often has this season, to suit the individual episode. And now Roslin's got a hallucinatory angel of god companion--it's like they accidentally hit on compelling stuff with Balter, get worried we're liking him too much, and artificially grafted the same stuff to Roslin. Gods, I hope she dies soon. I can't take many more of her typewriter line readings. I don't remember her being this bad in the miniseries--I think maybe the actress is just completely tired of playing the character.

And nice work trying to monopolise Xena Warrior Cylon on a Cylon ship. Yes, let's risk bloody conflict between two already tense groups for very little reward. What the frak does Adama see in her? It's definitely nice to have Lucy Lawless back--she elevated the performance levels just by walking into the room to meet Roslin.

I just got my copy of Watchmen back from my sister. Looking at the end, I see I remembered correctly that Sally Jupiter didn't have the corny line she spoke in the movie about how she couldn't hate The Comedian completely because he gave her Laurie. Once again, we can see the marks of Zack Snyder's big ham hand--gotta make sure we don't have too much moral ambiguity at the end of our movie. Remembering how Carla Gugino talked at Comic-Con about how she saw Sally as someone whose light had gone out a very long time ago, it seems to me she and Snyder had contrary purposes for the character. Maybe she should've directed . . .