Sonic Generations

I know it's been about two weeks or so already since Sonic Generations got released on PS3, Xbox, NDS, and PC... but, hey! I haven't gotten my copy of Sonic Generations yet.

Now, with all the spiffy game releases at the moment, Sonic Generations is probably the last thing on the mind of most gamers. For me, however, I played Sonic platformers way back when I was a young little kid. And I really loved those times as a kid—the little hedgehog leaping around, landing on Badniks, and whizzing away in an a blue ball of awesomeness! That, was childhood.

I wouldn't call myself a die-hard Sonic fan, because honestly, after Sonic graduated from the 2D platform, it just didn't cut it anymore. I remember when I was playing Sonic 3D Blast—sure, the controls were hard, maneuvering was not simple task—at the end of the day, I made it though. Then came Sonic Adventure DX, which wasn't really all a bundle of fun, but seeing the cool hedgehog getting the better out of everyone else was quite satisfying anyway...

Then there was Sonic Riders, and honestly, I really don't like this game, as much of a Sonic fan I am. It doesn't give me the thrill of a racing game, and neither is it satisfying in any way. It just didn't appeal to me in any way.

But hey! I've never really given up on Sonic. I still remain a Sonic fanboy deep within me. If any one of you out there actually played Sonic the Hedgehog 3, you'd probably remember this...

Yeah... that's the Sonic fanboy I am, remembering the little funny things that I really enjoyed as a kid... ;) I'm so looking forward to giving Sonic Generations a go!

Oh, if you haven't checked out OCRemix, do give them a go. Click here to pay them a visit. Basically, they give game soundtracks their own remixed renditions... with all the funk and iffiness to go. It's pretty cool; I mean, just listen to the following track, and you'd understand what I mean.

I'm so looking forward to giving Sonic Generations a go!

French vocabulary

I won't try to deny it, but French vocabulary is probably more important than grammar. Fluency, on the other hand, is how someone carries the whole package together. Grammar is like the architecture—without it the whole building falls. Vocabulary is like the materials: the better materials you get, the better buildings you can build. Fluency, then, is how the whole thing is put together, and involves the intricacies—the nuances, of the language.

I wouldn't say that learning French vocabulary is easy. It's probably far easier than Japanese, or Korean, however. When learning a new language, I subconsciously try to find similarities between my strongest language (English) and the language I'm learning... and boy, I've got to say that similarities between Asian languages and English are few and far between.

Now, I'd like to ramble more and pretend to be the language master that I'm not, but I'm gonna try to talk about certain things I've noticed...

False cognates
libraire—bookshop
actuel—current
monnaie—small change (yes, it's money, but we use argent to refer to money en general)
chair—flesh (fauteuil, or chaise is used to refer to chair)
course—races (not really a false cognate, because it also refers to course; faire des courses: do grocery-shopping)
robe—dress
sang—blood

Similar words
toilette—toilet
épouse/époux—spouse
amour—love
morose—gloomy
lieu—place
soudain—sudden
lien—link, bond (doesn't alien mean somebody without bonds?)
ligne—line
sang—blood (sanguine anyone?)


Direct translations (sort of)
surtout—above all (sur: above; tout: all)
parfois—sometimes (par: by; fois: time, occasion)
malheureuse—unfortunately, unhappily (mal: bad; heureuse: happy)
en general—in general (en: in, preposition)
en ligne—online (en: on, preposition; ligne: line)
longtemps—long time (temps: time)

Words that have hardly any link
bibliotheque—library
pécheur—fisherman
magasin—store
pomme—apple
vert—green
apitoyer—pity

There are probably many other words, but these are stuff I can write off my head (and bien sur, with the help of Google Traduction). I'm definitely not a maître de langue, but there many things that interessent moi—the fact that langue means both "language" and "tongue". Now, when you talk about mother tongue... and speaking in many different tongues, it makes a lot more sense, doesn't it? ;)

All the best to any language you're learning. Wish me all the best, too. Would trade French fluency for my left nut.

Elle me dit

Here's Mika's first French single, entitled "Elle me dit":

I'm sure many of us here has heard of his song Grace Kelly. It's another fun, light-hearted song that gets him sailing breeze-like past his falsetto, and back down. It's nice, actually! just not my cup of tea. All the while I thought he was an English-only singer, but, well, this song proved me wrong.

"Elle me dit" means "She tells me" in French. When I first heard the song, and read the lyrics, I thought it was a song about a naggy girlfriend. After all, the chorus goes "pourquoi tu gâches ta vie", very much like an irritating hoe trying to change her boyfriend's direction in life.

I was wrong though! In his life performance, he said that "it's about all the horrific things a mother could say to her son to get him to fuck out of her house".

Whatever the meaning behind it, it doesn't really matter. This song is great. It has a very colourful melody to it, light-hearted lyrics, accompanied by a dynamic beat. It has so many flavours to it, it's actually hard not to like it! ;)

Man against the virus

Now, this man Timothy Ray Brown, a HIV patient, received a bone marrow transplant from a guy who was immune to HIV. Soon after that, the HIV virus inside Brown disappeared.

Take a look at this article.

Magic? Perhaps not. The bone marrow is a flexible tissue found in our bones that produces red blood cells. While I'm no expert at viruses or medicine, it's safe to say that the blood the new bone marrow produced triggered this cure. In rare cases of a bone marrow transplant, the blood type of the person changes.

HIV is a worldwide epidemic that especially affects the poverty-stricken. HIV has no known cure. HIV will eventually lead to AIDS, and AIDS will eventually lead to death. The virus demolishes a person's immune system, such that even the slightest flu bug can be fatal to him. AIDS isn't exactly the harbringer of death, but rather more of a messenger.

While this piece of news is probably not much of a cause for celebration to HIV patients worldwide, at the very least, it brings the human race a glimmer of hope against this dangerous virus. At the very least, we all now know that the virus is not invincible, and there is perhaps some way to counter it. That, is some cause for celebration for humankind.

In Man's battle against the virus.