5 4 5: My Video Game Earworms

So its May, the fifth month of the year, and its time for a new Five for Five (now called 5 4 5, because numbers are kewl)!

My Top Five Video Game Earworms, those songs that I just can't get out of my head, or, if I do get them out, I can get them stuck again with nary a thought!  Remember that, again, this is MY list, not an overall list of all games ever.

5: Main Theme of Final Fantasy

I think it must be said that no self-respecting game could possibly hate this song.  I'm not even the biggest fan of Final Fantasy and I adore this song.  This is the National Anthem of Video Games, if Games had their own country.  I had this on my IPod, before I stopped using it when ITunes became a monster to work with, and when this song came on, I stayed in my truck and I listened to it.  This song is a testament to the genius of Nobuo Uematsu, a veritable God of Music that he is.  I can only think of a few games this song wasn't present in (and oddly enough, those were the Final Fantasies that, in my honest opinion, SUCKED).  This is one of my favorite Video game songs, but, is definitely not one of the one I think are the catchiest to me.

Game: Most Final Fantasies

Systems: You seriously want me to list all of the systems Final Fantasy games were on ?!?

4: Grandia Battle Theme 1

It should be obvious that a game I LOVE would be on this list.  I LOVE Grandia, and the music was one of the major reasons why.  A lot of songs could be on this list, but of them, the first Battle Theme seems to be the one that sticks the most.  It makes an appearance in a lot of things I do.  Background music for D&D, there it is!  My RPG Maker 2000 game, there it is again!  It's replaced until the Final Boss battle by a less memorable song when Disk 2 starts.  The Final Boss theme incorperates this song into it.

Game: Grandia

System: PS1

3: Soviet March

Yes, I am quite aware this is a remixed version, but this is my favorite version

I never played the Command and Conquer series, but I have seen it played.  In fact, I would not have known this song existed if it wasn't for a bored night on YouTube.  First things first (but not necessarily in that order), The World War II and the Cold War are two parts of history that interest me, as much as the Axial Age and the Roman Empire (and the Three Kingdoms period of China), so I found this song during one of my boring-for-you-yet-fun-for-me research binges, and in my head it stuck.  For example, while cleaning up at Dystopia Rising, I gave a cute Red Star girl a ride back to her camp, and then to her car (Red Stars, for those who don't kow, are a Straine of Humanity in the LARP that are basically genetically pre-disposed to Communism).  After dropping her off at her car, I spent the rest of clean up humming this song to myself.  Even things that have nothing to do with Red Alert 3 make me think of this song, damn!

Game: Command and Conquer Red Alert 3

System: XBox 360, PS3, Windows, MacOS

2: Credits Theme from A Link To The Past

A while back I did a blog post on Weddings/Handfastings for a little thing I am a part of called Pagan Blog Project.  In there I mentioned that, music wise, I wanted string and wind instruments.  This is the song I had in mind when I typed that.  This is my favorite song in any Zelda game, and is one of my favorite video game songs (though not the catchiest).  It comes, obviously by the name, at the end of one of my favorite Zelda games, and was one of those moments when, after hearing it my first time, kind of did have a sort of post game cry-fest.  Every time I hear this song I take time to pause and reflect.  This song also does, sometimes, make me think of handfastings.  It doesn't help that its easy for me to think of this song.

Game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

System: SNES, GBA

1: Katamari Damacy (Katamari On The Rocks)

Is it REALLY a surprise, the music from this game was just so catchy.  And I'm ready to be smacked for this, I haven't really played Katamari Damacy, I have played it a few times, but only when I borrowed it, and before my one friend went to college, so its been a few years.  But I will still find myself going "lalalalalalala KATAMARI DAMACY!"  In fact, all the songs on the soundtrack were catchy, but by far this one took the cake for me, that and Katamari on the Swing (which would probably be 6th if I extended the list).

Game: Katamari Damacy

System: PS2

Of Home Made Pizza and Tiesto

So this past weekend was my monthly trip to hang out with Destiny, which was looked forward to so much more than every little kid that looks forward to presents on Christmas.  Not only was I able to spend time with the most amazing woman, nay, person that I know, but I was also able to be in Philadelphia, this city I have come to love so much, in all its little quirks, despite all the dark and festering sins and crimes (and now I am thinking of the song Graveyard Shift from the never-finished Batman musical, lyrics by Jim Steinman).  I guess, despite being born and raised in the country, I think I might be a city boy at heart, then again I am a reviving pool of Greco-Roman faith and the coolness of the the Roaring 20's.

So after parking and walking to where she stays, all the little anxieties (i.e. idiotic and aggressive drivers, if I left my incense burning or my space heater on lol) just melted away.  Friday began for me at that moment, despite waking up earlier and watching Boston Legal with mom.  So we hung out, watched more Sherlock (we polished off the whole series so far.  Steve Moffat, you did it.... again)

Cumberbatch, Moffat, and Smith.  And by again, I mean 
work on a well done series.

 Saturday we went to the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel so she could finish up some work for her one class and to just spend the day walking around especially to see the butterflies.  Was hard to get a picture of them, especially the Blue Morpho, which was her favorite.  The red one flew away right when the picture was taken, but then again, we got a nice picture of a butterfly in flight.  Afterwards we went to the Tiesto concert.  Keep in mind that my usual music is the likes of rock and metal, with maybe spatterings of other genres thrown in.  Do I like techno and EDM (electronic dance music)?  Yeah, I've listened to a bit before, like Deadmau5, but nothing major.  I was once going to go to an EDM/Techno festival with a few friends, including Wallet Girl, but the plans fell through.  So Saturday was my first major introduction to the genre you can say.  I went with an open mind, and I really did enjoy myself.  I danced for almost five hours straight, and the Liacouras Center had a place to get my boneless wings.  By Jove, I got to have my boneless wings!

Sunday we polished off the rest of Sherlock, and she made pasta for dinner, after which I had to leave.  She had plans for that night and I wanted to get home before the special on the Second Doctor came on (made it just in time).  This is, of course, a cursory overview of the weekend.  There are always personal moments that one treasures, and become selfish and not want to share them with others, even if its just words on a web page.  Those written memories are saved for just me and her in our own version of the River Song Journal.

And I'm sure this is what it will look like within a few years

She got me the journal on my birthday and wrote down the memories of the past few times we hung out, and a few other things as well, and I do the same.  Each visit we pass off the journal to the other, having it be their turn to have to read and write in.  This is my turn now and I have begun to write in it.  It is an amazing work this journal, and a birthday gift that I treasure a lot.  And yes, Destiny and I are very close indeed. :-)

One last thing.  I decided to add an awesome page on the side bar there.  Another blog, which should be an answer to just how well done I think Sherlock is.