Bubble Tea

It's amazing what a shop in the mall could do to you after all these years. Sorry, I'm reminiscing a bit about Bubble Tea! If you haven't heard of it, trust me try it out for yourself, it's an amazing drink. It's like a usual drink, many flavors to choose from you can have it either warm or cold. It's a milk tea using Tapioca balls to add to the value of the drink. It costs around $2 to $3 bucks and for some strange reason it makes me feel good about myself.

Now, when you grab the drink it will be wrapped with paper which you can poke your big straw through. Yeah, the most noticeable thing will be the BIG straw in which you are required to use to get the balls out of the cup. Now I dunno if you chew it or swallow the ball whole, either way it makes for a good time!

Why do I write about this? A shop in the local mall actually sells the bubble tea and it's in the corner of the mall where shoppers don't normally crowd around. I was very shocked to see such a store in the mall as the last time my encounter with the tea was on Rutgers campus in this little cubby hole shop, you could literally fit about 10 people in there. There I was introduced to the wonderful flavors of bubble tea and it's many ways to taste an amazing product from Taiwan. I believe the trend started there and was later adapted into culture in Japan and now worldwide. It may sound gross but don't knock it off.

Another reason I decided to update today is the unfortunate passing of Wacko Jacko. You know, I was turned on by his music when Weird Al covered his parodys. His hits made it across the radio on some top 40 stations here in the tri-state area and so I was immediately in tune with the songs Billie Jean, Beat It, Gunna Be Starting Something, Thriller. Ah hell, I can't I forget about Thriller. The EPIC video playing on the Box music video channel in October. I wouldn't hear much about him until his music was featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. It was a suprise to hear his music while blasting bad guys in Vice City. It was very fitting and very cool to hear, always sang it. Even though this man has molested children and done weird things, you got to take that out of the equasion I mean beyond all of the shit that he done, here is a man that REVOLUTIONIZED the music industry and changed the game. Dare I speak of his own video game, Moonwalker, that I played in arcades.

Sadly, he is dead. He died a broke man and by broke I mean losing the Neverland Ranch, the support of all his fans during the trial, and his exile from the mainstream. He died much like Ed Mcmahon during his struggle to get his house back. But Jackson's legacy will be heard forever, much like the Beatles, over the radio waves.

Collector Edition Games?

Seriously, I love collector editions for my favorite games. I have a few of them and they really help stand out from the generic game box. However, I'm seeing more and more of them pop up for new games and existing franchises. Now, every damn company is doing these collections and I'm getting sick of it, especially if it's on the level of Halo 3 collectors, a helmet you can't even wear but your cat can.

A problem is the shelling out of money. This would be great to do, especially if the game costs the old school $50, but paying an extra $40 is just bad, just for stickers and a cell art frame so you can post it above your bedroom? Also, increasing game cost has made gamers into smart buyers. Retail now offers great deals on some current and old games. I bought Street Fighter 4 a few weeks ago and I love it (except for Seth......fucker) and I paid $37 for it. Sadly, I have missed good game deals over the past year. I missed out on Mirror's Edge for $37, but I did pick up Mass Effect for $40 and Bioshock for about the same price. I knew we had a collector's edition for that but why would you buy it for a new game? Sure the graphics were stunning but you would go out on a limb and purchase something you dunno if you would like? I don't think there was a demo for it on Live either. Correct me if I'm wrong.

If you're gunna do a collector's edition, make it like the World of Warcraft's boxes. I have the Burning Crusade expansion and it's massive....think I paid $90 for it but the thing comes PACKED with all kinds of shit. An in-game exclusive pet, an art book, a music CD, the game on DVD and CD-ROM, an invite to a wow website, cards from the card game, exclusive promos, and hell I dunno how much more but the box is very nice.
Oh yeah forgot about the amazing mouse pad and the behind the scenes DVD. This IS a collectors edition unlike, oh lets say, Dead Space and their art book with 3-D glasses. All I know is that it probably cost around the same for the dead space game.

Dunno what else to say but they way I say is, if you think you are getting a sweet deal with all the swag you're paying for...buy the collectors but if it's some lame ass shit, just avoid it all together because it's gunna be a trap hole for your wallet.

As far as next post, I think I'll look into some card games, maybe go into some detail about how I made mine or just ideas in general. Card games are the centerpiece of my life and it's great to play them, not as much today, but having all the pokemon or all of the secret rares in yugioh, it was a blast to play and make friends with everyone at a hobby shop. I'm in random mode now, but go out there and support your local hobby store, ask for leagues, get something going becuase these stores are going the way of the arcades.