6.30.2007

About My Favorite Sites

I added several of my favorite, often viewed websites on the side column, and thought I would give a short explanation about why they're so interesting.

1. GoodReads is a website for people who love to read. It's sort of like Myspace, except for books. Basically, you make a profile by selecting books you've read (or want to read). Then, you can rate the quality of those books, write reviews of them, or recommend them to others. It's also a great way of sharing books you like with other people (strangers or friends), and the interface is very simple and cool. I'm a pretty avid reader, so I've put quite a few books on there already.

2. Kotaku has recently become my favorite gaming blog/news/information site. Besides having all major game announcements, they also have a lot of news from Japan, which is strange and interesting, to say the least. They have a lot more humor than other sites, sort of like a Daily Show for video games.

3. Blogging Zelda is a fantastic blog about one man's journey through every single Zelda game, most of which he has never played before. He's up to A Link to the Past, which is my favorite. It's really nostalgic to read along as he plays through Zelda, since that's one of my favorite series...ever.

4. Blogging Final Fantasy. The same thing as Zelda. Except their updates are less of a step-by-step walkthrough, and more random, strange screenshots from the games.

5. Blogging Dragon Quest. Same as above, except I'm a little less interested in this one because I never played the DQ games. Still a good read, though.

6. Reelviews is my favorite movie review website on the Internet. Since many movie reviews are at least partially dependent on the tastes of the reviewer, I really like this site because I think the author (James Berardenelli) has similar film interests as me. Plus, he's a good writer and his reviews are always interesting to read. An excellent website.

The First Post: Always Awkward

Welcome to You Are Lose! This is a very simple blog, from a very simple man. I've been living in Japan for the past year, and was looking for a way to make better use of my time. What better way than to post my thoughts on the internet? In Japan, I'm an assistant English teacher in a high school. But, my job requires little plan and even less responsibility, so I have a lot of free time. In planning this blog, I want to (hopefully) make three different kinds of posts.

1. Video Games. I've been playing video games since I was very young, when the NES was still around. Ever since, playing games has always occupied a big chunk of my leisure time. So most of my posts will be video game related.

2. Movies. Like most people, I've seen a fairly large number of movies. But since a course on film that I took in college, I've become much more intellectually interested in movies. Specifically in what makes a good film, the process behind film-making, and the messages they can convey. Plus, watching movies is a whole lot of fun.

3. Japan. Japan is very different from the US. So different, that strange, bizarre, hilarious things often happen to or around me. Or, daily life in Japan can be very awkward and rage-inducing. I think it would be worthwhile to share some of the more interesting stories.

Probably, this blog will evolve well beyond what I have planned it to be. Regardless, I'm very excited to use this blog as a chance to write something everyday. I hope. I've never posted anything online before, so this should be a huge learning process for me. This blog should be most satisfactory.