The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Taking a major trip down memory lane -- I remember back in high school, counting down the days to this games release. Having been a huge fan of "The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link" for the NES, and "The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past" for the SNES, I could not have been more hyped up for this next gen console Nintendo 64 game; that was until the day I saw the video game trailer for it in theaters! My mouth was dropped to the floor the entire time! I don't remember what movie I had watched that day, but it didn't matter. I had just bore witness to the best video game trailer I had ever seen in my entire life, and it STILL remains in my personal top 3 best video game trailers of all time! I was SO hyped up for this game!

I loved the trailer so much I downloaded it off IGN and played it endlessly! I know I have my own original copy from IGN somewhere on one of my backups of my old hard drives. I literally played this video on repeat a HUNDRED THOUSAND TIMES on my then blazing fast Pentium II computer. I made it my personal screen saver, always playing on my computer when I wasn't using it; having it play while I did my homework and studied for my tests/exams. I just wish there existed a higher quality version of this original, like the one I saw in theaters and played on TV in shorter 30second form. There are a few fan remakes out there, and also an official Nintendo 3DS remake of this original. But something about this original trailer swells up great old school emotion within me.

I hereby present to you the ORIGINAL Nintendo 64 "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" video game trailer in all it's 320x240 resolution glory! 

And here's the only good remake of this trailer, which was made for the release of the Nintendo 3DS version of Ocarina of Time.

- The Temporal Guardian -

The Toyota GT86 / Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ

The FT86 badged as the Scion FRS (in North America) and the Toyota GT86 (in the rest of the world) is the considered by Toyota to be the official successor to the Toyota TRUENO AE86. =) I once owned a Toyota AE86 hatchback. Having driven both the AE86 and the FT86, and I definitely feel the similarities. The FT86 lower center of gravity will allow you to push the car harder with minimal body roll. I have yet to really push the FT86, but I was lucky to have gotten to do donuts and drift it a bit during my test drive of the car. I just wish it was badged the Toyota GT86 here in North America as well. I'm guessing it's because since the discontinuing of the Toyota Supra (the last Toyota sports car), Toyota wants to keep the Toyota group a family-centered car line, and their Scion car line their primary focus for sporty cars, effectively separating the two. From a marketing standpoint, I suppose that makes sense -- the North American next generation will be thinking "Toyota = family vehicles" and "Scion = sporty vehicles."

One other thing to note is that this is a joint-venture vehicle between Subaru and Toyota. The engine is a horizontally-opposed boxer engine, but the overall spirit and feel is Toyota. Having owned both the Toyota AE86 and the Subaru Impreza WRX STI, this car is the perfect lovechild for a possible next car of mine. That or Subaru's BRZ, which is the fraternal twin of the FR-S.

In any case, I'm glad Toyota is getting back into the sports car scene. As one of the major forerunners in the world of sporty cars, their lack of presence was definitely felt. Welcome back, Toyota!

- The Temporal Guardian -

Asperger's Syndrome

Having Asperger's Syndrome, I have always felt like I lived in a world where everyone else spoke a slightly different language than me. And because I subconsciously hid it so well by subconsciously mimicking others, it was always expected of me to be able to read body language, to understand social queues, and to know "the simple things" like the difference between sarcasm and seriousness, even though I could not. This created a lot of countless miscommunications and misunderstandings all throughout my life.

Unless I am directly taught by someone, I always had to learn accepted/expected social interactions through direct experience; Good and Bad. Mostly bad. And it was with applying what I have learned from one event to another event which often resulted in interactions deemed "inappropriate" or "rude" by social standards. How confusing it has been.

Social Interaction/Communication is such a simple yet complex art mostly everyone naturally grasps onto as they grow up. Something that I wish, I too, could take for granted and perform as easily & naturally as breathing.

Learning I had Asperger's Syndrome has explained a lot about my life and it's strange events, and after a couple of years of being "self aware," my only wish was that I had learned about it many years sooner, so that I would be a lot further along into understanding 'the art of social interaction and communication', and most of all, 'relationships' ... with family, friends, and significant others... ESPECIALLY significant others. And it brings tears to my eyes looking back at the extreme difficulty I had gone through, not because I did not love or was incapable of it, but because I was unable to communicate with it.

- The Temporal Guardian -