Introduction Topic

[Grave Wisdom]

Well, I might as well write something here. I'm Grave Wisdom, oldschool gamer since 1886.

Wow you are really old!  I didn't know people over 100 could still play video games. haha

Yeah, Satan granted me eternal life in exhange for my unquestionable servitude. Pretty fair exchange huh?! 

[Markliujy]

I'm Mark (should be kinda obvious  ) I've been mucking around with emulation for only 5 or so years, started with pokemon :p Only really started lurking around the scene in the last year when I tried to do some rom hacking, then I realized how hard it was and really admired you guys, still do cause I can't get anywhere with it :p But yea, I guess I'll be around...trying to rom hack and failing for some time :p

[Grave Wisdom]

Just out of curiously...what system did you try to start hacking with?! GB and NES are probably the easiest choices for somebody who's just starting.

[KaioShin]

I'm Mark (should be kinda obvious  ) I've been mucking around with emulation for only 5 or so years, started with pokemon :p Only really started lurking around the scene in the last year when I tried to do some rom hacking, then I realized how hard it was and really admired you guys, still do cause I can't get anywhere with it :p But yea, I guess I'll be around...trying to rom hack and failing for some time :p

Good luck and try out our getting started section

Honestly trying and failing in the process is much, MUCH better than sitting on your butt and wait for others to hack the stuff you like to see.

[Syntax]

.

[DankPanties]

I had to drop out of this coming semester due to lack of funds.  I often find myself devising get-rich-quick schemes to make life easier

I read about another guy in the exact same situation.  Check out what he did.

[RedComet]

^I'm not sure about where you are, but there are a LOT of scholarships and grants available here in the US for students. Have you looked into any grants and the like?

[Syntax]

I read about another guy in the exact same situation.  Check out what he did.

"The idea: turn his home page into a billboard made up of a million dots, and sell them for a dollar a dot to anyone who wants to put up their logo. A 10 by 10 dot square, roughly the size of a letter of type, costs $100.

So far they have bought up 911,800 pixels. Tew's home page now looks like an online Times Square, festooned with a multi-colored confetti of ads."

Jesus Christ.

^I'm not sure about where you are, but there are a LOT of scholarships and grants available here in the US for students. Have you looked into any grants and the like?

I keep excellent grades, so I do receive some scholarships and such. Before the fall semester, I received around $2500 total (though I should've asked for more in retrospect). Along with some of my own money, that covered me up until now. This time they were reluctant to give me anything, though I was able to ask for $700 towards books. I really wish I had one of those five-year scholarships that gives you a certain amount of money per term until you finish your degree; now I'm really kicking myself for not applying. Maybe I shouldn't have bought that iPod for my sister for Christmas... nah who am I kidding, the look on her face was worth it.

As a fairly new university, it is always putting lots of money into expansion (we've built three new wings in the past two years) and not enough into student financing. I also heard that they are putting a lot more emphasis on graduate scholarships, with several new graduate programs, and not enough into undergraduate studies. They keep advising me to take out a student loan, which future scholarships would cover. But I'm reluctant because I know that backpaying loans will make it impossible to afford anything else. Either that or the loan will grow into a festering monster that will eat me alive when I finally graduate. I kind of desired a break anyway, but I had enough fuel to carry me through to summer, which makes it disappointing.

If people knew my plans for the world and what I could accomplish, help would be pouring in. But I guess nobody cares about your potential, at least not enough to put their wallet behind their words. And I'm sure I'm not the only one... there are probably lots of people who could have made a difference in the world but never got the opportunity. Thinking about that makes me depressed. So I better stop for now.

[Nightcrawler]

You know.. I just have to say it.  You really sound extremely egocentric.  People should just give you money because of your potential? Please.  What makes you think you have anymore potential than the rest of us?

You have some big aspirations and that's great, but that doesn't make you better or more deserving of help than anybody else. You're going to have to either get a loan like everybody else who was unable to afford college or wait until you have the money. College loans are not the evil you think they are.  If you get the enormous amount of money you seem to think you're going to get, you can pay them back pretty quickly with not that much interest.

For 23, you seem to be detached from reality quite a bit.

[RedComet]

For 23, you seem to be detached from reality quite a bit.

Must be a GTA fan. :p
(Just kidding. )

[Eien Ni Hen]

Everybody I have ever known (teachers, parents, friends) has told me I am a genius capable of big things, really big things.

To quote one of my favorite lines from the old Batman cartoon: "If you're so smart, then why aren't you rich?"Ã,  Seriously, though, life has a tendancy to ream geniuses and free-thinkers up the ass.Ã,  You might consider going into the research division instead of being a doctor.Ã,  Doctors have very little leeway in what methods they use to treat patients, and "unorthodox" doctors usually end up getting sued when something goes wrong.Ã,  (I work for a firmÃ, here in Austin that deals with medical malpractice, so I see a lot of this sort of thing.)Ã,  I'm not trying to discourage you, just give you a healthy dose of reality.

I'd recommend taking out a student loan or applying for scholarships.Ã,  Here in the US, student loans are based on income, so I'd wager you can get a nice size loan if you're only working a part-time job.Ã,  Having debt on your head can be scary, but it's something you should at least look into.

I like movies a lot; my favourite director is Japanese indie film director Takashi Miike. He is the man!

I watched "Ichi the Killer" awhile ago, but most of his movies are so violent that even I can't sit through them.Ã,  As a director, he really likes his violence.Ã,  I do like Japanese film on the whole, though.Ã,  Do you have any other favorites besides Miike?

[(wraith)]

You know.. I just have to say it.  You really sound extremely egocentric.  People should just give you money because of your potential? Please.  What makes you think you have anymore potential than the rest of us?

You have some big aspirations and that's great, but that doesn't make you better or more deserving of help than anybody else. You're going to have to either get a loan like everybody else who was unable to afford college or wait until you have the money. College loans are not the evil you think they are.  If you get the enormous amount of money you seem to think you're going to get, you can pay them back pretty quickly with not that much interest.

For 23, you seem to be detached from reality quite a bit.

I put myself through two years of school on a Dunkin Donuts salary! And if I go back now, my employer has tuition reimbursement for the rest. NC is absolutely right, on that point. If you have the drive to go and if you want to get a jobby-job (even a crap one), you can get by.

Also, he's only half right about the loans. Stay away from Sallie Mae! My friend has to pay them back 1200.00 a month!! And he didn't go to a super-expensive school or anything!

[Nightcrawler]

Many student loans for schools around here(tri-state area NY,PA,NJ) will give you loans with NO INTEREST until you graduate and then up to 12 years to pay it back after that!

A student loan is among st the BEST loan you can possibly get from anyone.  I'd imagine there are some bad deals such as (wraith) described, but geniuses should be able to spot those a mile away.

[DankPanties]

I watched "Ichi the Killer" awhile ago

That movie made me wet.

[KingMike]

Hello.
I'm KingMike. I do ROM hacking on translations for Famicom and Super Famicom games nobody's heard of, mostly. Studying computer science in college. An interest in Japanese, though I don't know when I'll be able to get back to that (as I've done the two years my current school offers).
And I occasionally attempt to actually play the mountain of games I've bought. Right now, taking on Dragon Quest 8, and taking another stab at Secret of Mana (love it, but I've always gotten tired of the endless magic and weapon experience building).

[Syntax]

You know.. I just have to say it.  You really sound extremely egocentric.  People should just give you money because of your potential? Please.  What makes you think you have anymore potential than the rest of us?

Even though I am a fairly arrogant person (I won't deny it), I was mostly asserting the reality that I'm NOT going to get any money merely based on potential. Nobody will. I guess it came off really big-headed, but I was basically just ranting at how much of a disadvantage I am at based on my choice of career. Not only is it the most expensive degree, but it's also arguably the most challenging, has the highest competition, and employs the strictest guidelines.

Go to the Wiki for homeopathy and try to change one sentence. You can literally count the minutes until somebody reverts it back. That's the kind of resistance to change that exists in this field. You have to be a fairly egocentric person to believe in yourself and make a difference in such a lucrative yet obstinate field like medicine. Altruism only gets you so far, I've already learned that lesson a few times.

I'm not comparing myself to anybody else; I know there are lots and lots of bright young minds who all deserve the same opportunities. I don't know if you've noticed, depending on your perspective, but society (at least North American society) is gradually entering a slump with progressively stupider leaders and a progressively sicker and more incapable population. Less and less is being accomplished at a time when the capacity for accomplishment is at its highest. A new generation of leaders from all walks of life could dramatically shift this decline into something positive, but reality is that most of us won't get that chance, which is very disappointing. We burden our youth at the time when they have the weakest foundation to carry such a burden. The odds are piled in such a way that it seems that we are more willing to see people fail than succeed. I'm not talking about you or me or anybody else in particular. I'm talking about our countries as a whole.

In hindsight, it might have been a better idea to make a simple intro post like "I'm Syntax, I'm 23, and I really like ROMs and stuff lol. P.S. Happy New Year everyone!", but then that wouldn't be very fair, right? In the end you wouldn't really know anything about me, which is the whole point of this topic. Now you know more than you probably wanted to.

For 23, you seem to be detached from reality quite a bit.

Don't worry, I'm fairly in tune with reality, mostly the reality that it's not going to be as easy as I thought to become an M.D.

You might consider going into the research division instead of being a doctor.  Doctors have very little leeway in what methods they use to treat patients, and "unorthodox" doctors usually end up getting sued when something goes wrong.

But doctors get all the chicks. Just kidding...

I know, that is very true. And ideally, I do want to do some research since what I'm intending needs a lot more research anyway. But the truth is, doctors are more respected than scientists, at least by the public. I also want to directly treat patients as part of my research, and only a certified medical doctor can legally diagnose patients and prescribe treatments.

There are already people like Kevin Trudeau who are trying to open eyes and show people new possibilities beyond drugs and surgery. But he keeps getting gagged (not literally) and sued. You know why? Because he's not a doctor. There's a kind of blind credibility that all doctors seem to have, regardless of whether they are doing more harm than good. Even though my ultimate goal is to change the way doctors operate (no pun intended), becoming a doctor is pretty much a prerequisite if you want people to give a shit about what you think.

I'm not trying to discredit doctors at all, they deserve a lot of credit for getting that far. There is a lot of competition in medical schools; something like a percent of a percent of all students who go to medical school actually become M.D.'s. It's just a shame that most doctors quickly lose their free will and become obliged to follow a flawed system that even goes directly against Hippocrates, the father of all medicine.

I watched "Ichi the Killer" awhile ago, but most of his movies are so violent that even I can't sit through them.  As a director, he really likes his violence.  I do like Japanese film on the whole, though.  Do you have any other favorites besides Miike?

Ichi the Killer is probably his most violent movie. And maybe the first Dead or Alive. Yeah, he definately does like his violence, and his yakuza gangs. I've seen probably a dozen movies of his that focus almost entirely on some form of yakuza. But he also makes some more calm and expressionistic films like The Bird People in China and Happiness of the Katakuris.

Korean director Chan-wook Park is another favourite director of mine. His 2003 movie Oldboy is one of my favourites. I've seen a bunch of older movies from people like Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi. And of course, I like almost everything by Hayao Miyazaki. Most other movies I watch I generally don't pay attention to the details. Names like Beat Takeshi and Shohei Imamura come to mind, but I don't remember which movies go with which names. o_O

Many student loans for schools around here(tri-state area NY,PA,NJ) will give you loans with NO INTEREST until you graduate and then up to 12 years to pay it back after that!

A student loan is among st the BEST loan you can possibly get from anyone.  I'd imagine there are some bad deals such as (wraith) described, but geniuses should be able to spot those a mile away.

Canada is definately much different in that respect, especially British Columbia. Maybe I should seriously consider going to school somewhere else...

[sa♥tsu]

Oldboy

[Syntax]

Oldboy

Oh Daesu vs this guy was a great fight.

[Next Gen Cowboy]

The NGC here, I dont know what else to say...Umm Gotta love games, gotta love movies, gotta love music.

Ok that said, musical prefrence is metal, oldschool speed and power, with a little modern stuff, I like classical opera, and ochestral pieces, I love choir work and all things awesome (I hold a special place for irish drinking songs)

Gamewise, I  am still stating (quite falsely) that Gideon Zhi is my unofficial mentor on the Megami Tensei series, after he schooled me about a year back (when I made a mistake on game order, or something like that either way it helped me out), I actually learned quite a bit and since then it has become one of my favorite series.  I like oldschool dungeon crawlers, and traditional RPG's with awesome stories.

Other then that i got nothing I am arogant history major just finishing his first semester at a small ass college in vermont.  That said if ya got questions about tobacco or alcohol I can usualy help (they are my best areas)

[D]

Oldboy

I have yet to see Oldboy or Sympathy for Mr. Vengance, but I picked up Sympathy for Lady Vengance last week. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it--though I hear it's not as violent as Oldboy was.