Favorites - 10 Favorite Tekken Characters

When the 2010’s rolled around, I don’t know what happened between me and fighting games. For years, I was more or less an avid fan of fighting games. There was the Street Fighter series, Mortal Kombat, Virtua Fighter, and of course, Tekken. I guess I got burnt out on the franchise since I barely played any of Tekken 6. I barely touched the modern MK games. I think the only fighting franchise I gave any attention to was Netherrealm’s Injustice series.

Let me get back to Tekken, though. I had gotten the latest game, Tekken 7, some time ago. I hadn’t cracked open the case for months until we got to the holiday season. I had more time off for work than I realized, so I popped that baby in. I guess I needed to get some things off my chest, and honestly, it had been too long since I’ve kicked butt as Eddy Gordo. I don’t know what happened, but it felt like going home for the first time. Anyway, I thought I’d just off my favorite characters from the franchise.  This is just me gushing on my  faves. These are the ones who got the coolest moves, got good backstories, and just look pretty cool. It’s also not in order, but the best are up top.

Movie Talk - The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Movies

Next up for the month is a look at a kung fu movie that’s critically acclaimed. Not many in the genre can say that, but this one can. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a movie I’ve heard things about but never saw it until this year. Yeah, I’m kinda lame like that. I think I may have said “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Negro” at some point in my life. I know one reason I didn’t watch it was because it wasn’t dubbed. Also, I know I wasn’t the biggest fan of the wuxia style of martial arts films. It took me a while to get there, folks. I think movies like Iron Monkey, Hero, and Fearless helped get me there.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was released in 2000, and it was directed by Ang Lee. It was based on a novel of the same name. It ended up getting nominated for some major awards. It was even nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and it won four of them. The movie starred some big names like Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh. It also brought acclaim to actress Zhang Ziyi. A sequel was also released a couple of years ago called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. It wasn’t as critically acclaimed, but it did bring back Michelle Yeoh in her role. It also stars recognizable names like Donnie Yen and Jason Scott Lee.

TV Talk - Teen Titans: "The Quest"

Well, I’m starting a little late, but better late than never!  Every January, I look at media that features martial arts in some capacity. You got movies, comics, video games, and TV shows that revolve around the art of butt-kicking. Today, I thought I’d look at a show I haven’t talked about here yet: Teen Titans… and I’m not talk about the “Go” variety either. No one wants that crap around here.

Anyway, this show was airing while I was in high school and college. It looked weird since we had DC characters in pretty weird anime world,but It was fun and especially funny. We had the overly serous Robin, the gothness of Raven, the macho-ness of Cyborg, the oddness of Starfire, and the hilarity of Beast Boy.  While it was pretty funny and quirky, it could get pretty dark at times. Today’s not one of them, but maybe I’ll talk about the show later this year. Today’s episode is “The Quest”, the second episode of Season 4.

Random Thoughts #53 - "Toss a coin to your Witcher!"

It's one of those nights. No, I haven't been an accessory to a war crime... I'll save that for that other dude with the weird hair cut.

I just realized that it's been a while since I've done one of these posts. Oh well... at least I got it ready for the end/beginning of the year. So, sit back and I'll spew some Random Thoughts out... oh yeah, The Witcher on Netflix is pretty good. Just know that it is pretty gritty as well, folks.

2019
Well, 2019 has come and gone... yay? This year was an interesting one to be sure. It's had its share of good and bad like any year. Even though its had it's weird points, I can say that I've made it most intact. I even got to do some things I planned to do. I ran/walked an 8K in Thanksgiving. I got my car and some other debt finally paid off. I got some fixing around the house done... mostly. It's still a work in progress. I've also haven't gained too much weight either. I haven't lost much though. I'm actually more or less where I was at the end of last year: 227. Not bad. The family's good, though we've had some losses this year. Also, old age is rearing its head with others.

As for the love life... eh. It's a bit weird right now.  I won't go too into detail with it here, but there was something that happened this year that really threw me for a loop. While it happened earlier in the year, it's still throwing me a bit. Let's just say that things aren't great between me and someone I really care about. Right now, I still feel like crap, though it's probably because it's around the time where you want to be with that special someone. Still, I'm grateful for the time I spent with her. I've learned a lot about myself and where I need to improve.

Alright, enough of that. I ain't going to get too dour on this night!

If there is anything that'll bring a smile to my face... it's those skits.

Plans for 2020
So, what are the plans for 2020? You might be shocked that they are more or less the same from last year. Still, I think I got some new ones as well.

• Be a better person (throw son, boyfriend, co-worker, and other titles under that belt)
• Continue to get out of debt - Now that I've gotten some bills out of the way, I think it's time to center on one of the big ones and kick its keister.
• Lose weight and get healthy - I think this will be one of those continuous goals. I think 181 is an attainable goal, so I gonna start shooting for that. Besides, I know I can get down to 200 eventually.
• Run a 5K - I actually waited till the end of the year to run and I only did that to get my mind off of other things. I ain't waiting till Fall for this one!
• Continue to fix stuff around the house - 'nuff said. I'm also trying to do some things at my parents' house as well.
• Get back into some coding - I've been messing around with Python a bit. I'm learning and I might add a couple more languages.
• Communicate more - Well... 'nuff said.
• Actually get this box of books by my bed read!
• Live life to the fullest
• Finally, actually blog on these sites I have... oh yeah, I was preoccupied

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I think that'll do it for this post. I did another post this evening for Star Wars, so I'm outta here. Besides, there's Martial Arts Month to think about. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and have a good 2020.

Five Pros/Five Cons - The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

Well, we’ve come to the end of the year and the decade… whew. While the year (and decade) had it’s share of ups and downs, I can say that “I Maaaaade It!” I’ll do a year-end post later, but I thought I’d touch on the latest topic of these Decembers: Star Wars. Yes, I bet y’all are pretty tired from hearing about the franchise. I honestly thought I’d post more after the Rise of Skywalker, but I kinda didn’t. While there are other things on my mind, I just didn’t know what else to write about. So, I thought about starting a new thing here: 5 likes and 5 dislikes.  Yeah, I know other sites do this, but I wanted to do something new especially when a now-complete trilogy is on my mind:  the Star Wars’ Sequel Trilogy.

I bet we now all have an opinion on the Sequel Trilogy. I’ve touched on the last two movie a bit here, but I haven’t gone into detail about them yet. I think this post should do it! So, the plan is to talk about the six things I liked and the six things I didn’t like about the Sequel Trilogy. If you’re new to Star Wars or this new trilogy, Wikipedia should help you out. You could also watch the Original trilogy since these movies are more or less revamps of those movies… guess what might show up on the Dislike list. Let me get the good stuff out of the way, though.