#ive never taken a full collection pic so here we go!

[furbygone]

Me when I'm a normal girl with normal hobbies

[pixelgrotto]

Nostalgia nitpicks

The Super NES Classic was announced a day ago, and the emotions that I feel towards it are much the same as the ones that I harbored towards the NES Classic: “I’m glad this thing exists, but it’s not really for me, and I have nitpicks that I want to complain about.”  To address the “not for me” thing, I feel this way because playing retro games, whether on the original consoles that I grew up with or via emulation or eShop downloads, is something I do on a regular basis to fill in the gaps between new titles. So while I can appreciate the appeal of a little handheld version of a Nintendo Entertainment System or a Super Nintendo, particularly one that contains legal copies of games and can be hooked up to a modern television, the “exotic/reminds me of my childhood” factor just doesn’t exist for me, because in my eyes, old school games never went away. Heck, it wasn’t that long ago that I was writing about my first complete playthrough of Super Metroid. (Also, if you’ve spent any amount of time following the retro gaming scene and/or emulation, you’re bound to know that there are similar devices that do everything that the NES and Super NES Classic can do and more - like the Retro Freak. I’m the sort of person who would rather buy one of those.)  Next, there’s the fact that even though the announcement is barely two days old, the darn thing is already sold out for pre-orders on plenty of online retailers, and I simply don’t trust Nintendo to produce enough machines to fend off the scalpers and keep these suckers in stock for a prolonged period of time. To be clear, I have a love/hate relationship with the Big N - while they’re responsible for plenty of childhood joy and can still pull a rabbit out of their hat with stuff like Breath of the Wild, they’re also a bizarrely backwards bunch who can’t maintain a decent online architecture and are extremely guilty of re-bottling formulaic nostalgia over and over again until it becomes painfully obvious. They also have the tendency to intentionally produce limited quantities of certain products - especially the kind of stuff that is going to attract hardcore fanboys and fangirls, like Amiibos and the NES Classic. While I don’t think they’ll do the particularly dickish move of discontinuing the SNES Classic 6 months after it was released (like they did with the NES Classic, thus creating freakish demand for the product and increasingly higher scalper prices on eBay), I do think it’ll be darn hard to find the thing for its 80 dollar suggested retail price, and simply not worth it, at least for me.

And then we come to the games contained within the Super NES Classic, which is where my nitpicks become admittedly more shallow. The lineup is good - much better than the questionable inclusion of Ice Climbers and Balloon Fight for the NES Classic - and I’m quite happy to see stuff like Secret of Mana and Super Castlevania IV represented in full. But there are also omissions that painfully irk me, and I would rather Nintendo include all games of a series rather than one or two. For example - Donkey Kong Country 1 is fine, but why not toss in numbers 2 and 3 for a more complete package? Final Fantasy 6 is certainly the superior game, but why not put 4 and 5 in there too? Lord knows it isn’t because of a lack of space. And lastly, the exclusion of Chrono Trigger borders on sacrilege. I suppose there might be some sort of licensing issue keeping the game from being put on there. Or maybe Square Enix are just being dicks, which is likely, because if there’s another Japanese company as putzy as Nintendo sometimes is, it’s definitely Square. (I still remember the days of Chrono Break, a time when all of us had hope...)

But at the end of the day, I will give credit where credit is due. It’s a great thing that these officially sanctioned retro consoles exist, because anything that helps the preservation of older forms of gaming is lovely, especially in an industry that is so quick to forget the past in favor of the here and now. I also have to toss Nintendo a round of applause for finally releasing Starfox 2 to the world. That is a HUGE bone to offer the retro gaming community, who can finally play a proper version of an unreleased game that previously only existed in semi-complete ROM format. Part of me is damn impressed, and daring to hope that we might see the Big N spearhead the release of formerly cancelled and untranslated retro games on a more regular basis...perhaps for the Switch? God, there’s already a Seiken Densetsu Collection out for the Switch in Japan, with Seiken Densetsu 3, the crown jewel of Squaresoft’s SNES RPG catalog, on it. If Nintendo helped fund a proper localization and English release of that masterpiece, I would forgive them for all of their sins. All of ‘em. (Well, temporarily, anyway.) 

But the cynical side of me knows that Starfox 2 was a finished game when it was unfairly cancelled, so including it in the Super NES Classic actually doesn’t require much work on Nintendo’s part. Kinda like when they released Sin & Punishment on the Virtual Console and everyone crapped a brick only to discover that the game was already mostly in English anyway. I guess what I’m saying is, the Super NES Classic is OK, but we’re still not getting Mother 3 anytime soon, and that’s that.

Pics taken from the Super NES Classic press release. That Starfox 2 art is dope.

[shoecartel]

The 12 best memes of 2015: Runaway llamas, The Dress, Adele …

The internet in 2015 has given us a lot of giggles a vigil to a raccoon, Drake playing tennis and the duck army but which memes construct our cut of the best?

12. What are thooooose!

A police officer. A cheeky dude( Brandon Moore) hollering what are thooose ? at the officers functional, ugly footwear. Millions of loops and views and copycats afterwards, a meme is born. The first urban dictionary entry for the phrase and practice appeared in 2011, but it was 2015 when the sport of pointing at some awful shoes( preferably Crocs) and shouting what are those ?!! entered the mainstream. The best example is the wonderful take on the Jurassic Park theme tune( see below, 50 million Vine loops so far ), which I like because its less mean-spirited than real life instances. In fact, “the mens” who started the whole thing back in the summer seems kind of rude and is now in jail. Um.

11. Duck Army

It stormed collective internet consciousness in early September. Norwegian Kevin Synnes decided to embarrass his girlfriend in a store by pushing down on a bunch of toy ducks which, when pressed, emitted a loud aaarghh ! noise. The video was then appropriated by Vine star Charlie Murphy and subsequently looped millions of days, spawning multiple variants. There has even been a mash-up with the what are those? meme. My person favourite versions are those which pay tribute to Adele and Taylor Swift.

However, a Guardian investigation revealed that that the toy was not a duck, but a pelican. Listen to our interview with Kevin here.

Read more: How the duck army stormed the internet

10. Hello, its me

It took merely a 30 -second snippet of Adeles new single, Hello, debuted during the advert violate of the UK television show, The X Factor, to have the vocalist trending worldwide on Twitter. And while the haunting piano and hushed, smoky tones beloved of millions of fans induced much excitement among those desperate to hear the full song, the clip also inspired plenty of memes.

Hello, its me is a pretty meme-able phrase, and the internet did not disillusion. When the sepia-tinged video dropped, featuring the vocalist in an amazing coat, using a flip-phone and hanging out in an abandoned home, the memes merely multiplied. Especially re: the flip-phone. One girl even texted her ex the entire lyrics to Hello, without him catching on at all.

Read more: Hello, its me. On a flip-phone. Samsung unveils clamshell model

chuck (@ charlubby) October 23, 2015

you know it’s the emotional part of the song when adele doesn’t stop touching her face pic.twitter.com/ dkQvHRmL7 6

9GAG (@ 9GAG) November 8, 2015

#Hello, it’s me. https :// t.co /8 2PU9WzQHG pic.twitter.com/ 1y7xUrARvQ

9. Miley, whats good?

A lot of people characterised this as Nicki Minaj hurling tint at Miley Cyrus, which is a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept of tint. Minaj didnt throw shade she immediately called Cyrus out, in front of a TV audience of millions. If anything, that is the direct opposite of hurling tint.

The incident happened at the MTV Music Video Awards in response to an interview Cyrus gave in which she called Minaj not very polite. While accepting an award Minaj called Cyrus this bitch who had a lot to say about me in the press the other day, before aiming with the perfectly passive aggressive, Miley, whats good? Cue memes. Plenties and lots of memes.

John Liacopulos (@ john_liac_9 7) November 3, 2015

When Miley Cyrus takes you to her favorite eatery that you’ve never been to before and you ask what to order pic.twitter.com/ qoGDlgHmuQ

KK (@ _ColeHeartedX) October 9, 2015

I hate whoever room this is #iup #MileyWhatsGood pic.twitter.com/ Peh3f 3Yq4b

8. Confounded Nick Young

Nick Young is a basketball player who shoots for the LA Lakers. His internet fame, however, is courtesy of a confused reaction face meme. At one point during a day-in-life-of documentary, Thru The Lens, positioned on YouTube, Young pulls a huh? face when his mother calls him a buffoon. His quizzical expression towards the camera has spawned likely the best reaction macro of 2015 and can be used for disbelief, astonish or a thousand other reactions.

Photograph: Instagram /@ Daquan

7. Why you always lyin?

The 21 -year-old college student Nicholas Fraser became an internet sensation when he decided to perform, in his yard, perched on a lavatory, as one does, a quick cover-up of Nexts Too Close, but with the lyrics changed to why the fuck you lyin?/ why you always lyin ?) Given that people lie all of the time , and we know about it, guys , and we all want people to know that we know, Frasers vine caught on and inspired multiple cover versions of his cover version. Now, when your mate texts to tell she is five minutes away but you know she likely hasnt left the house yet, theres a perfect means of responding. Thanks Nicholas.

Read more: When “theyre saying” Nicholas Frasers vine isnt the best use of 2015: why you always lyin ?

6. Fifty Shades of Grey

After the Fifty Shades of Grey series of volumes sold so poorly , it was a punt for Universal Pictures to have taken on a film adaptation. But oh, brave souls it was brought to the screen in summer 2015 with Sam Taylor-Johnson at the helm and Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson starring. Given that the book had already resulted in a lot of culture cache, it was inevitable that the film would inspire memes and gags. The internet delivered. In particular, the my savors are very singular line( altered to my passions are unconventional for the internet) demonstrated a rich seam.

The Beast (@ KrystalSim) February 9, 2015

pic.twitter.com/ m5Tpb21XRf

Photograph: BuzzFeed

5. Hotline Bling

One of the best ways of 2015, the video for Drakes Hotline Bling didnt drop-off until October three months after the ballads release. But it was worth the wait. A minimalist clip, Drake proves off his unusual dance moves against different coloured backdrops inspired by artist James Turell. The rappers moves and pained impression inspired multiple parodies shared on YouTube, Vine and Twitter.

Included below are some of the best: a dancing and adorable shiba inu( aka Doge ), the Man From Another Place from Twin Peaks and perhaps best of all, some tennis backhand action.

Chai Goth (@ Abid_ism) October 20, 2015

The hotline is filled with secrets pic.twitter.com/ 5zS0WZhGCG

4. The Dress

The most viral of viral phenomenons. A young lady took a picture of a dress in a clothes store and uploaded it to Tumblr. Why is this interesting? As the internet was genuinely divided as to whether the dress was blue and black, or white and gold.

The original Tumblr post pose the question racked up an enormous 73m page positions, and a BuzzFeed piece on the dress has more than 38m page positions to date. #TheDress trended for days on social media. Scientists were carried in to explain how people could be seeing different colourings. Rods and cones were mentioned. British current affairs programme Newsnight even offered its own election. The Guardian waded in, with the definitive take.

michael (@ 1975 NIGHTMARE) February 27, 2015

when you don’t know the color of the dress pic.twitter.com/ sQI7YLnjk 1

BBC Newsnight (@ BBCNewsnight) February 27, 2015

A live on screen vote on tonight’s Newsnight – what colour is #thedress? Get out your phone and going to see http :// t.co/ dRffVZfw0P at 10:30 pm

3. Poot Lovato

I dont guess Ive ever chuckled so hard as when I detected the Poot Lovato meme. A Tumblr post featuring an awkward fan photo of vocalist Demi Lovato posited the hypothesi that the snap was not of Demi herself, but her secret twin sister, Poot Lovato, who had been trapped in a cellar her entire life. The fable took hold and soon the internet was ablaze with hilarious and creative Poot memes. Fan-fiction was written, fan art draw, Instagram and Twitter accounts were established and even Demi herself addressed the gag( she wasnt amused ). Then, instead, brilliantly, a sleuth excavate out a paparazzi photo of Demi-as-Poot right at the moment the fan pic was taken. Its still funny.

Read more: Poot Lovato: has the internet detected Demis secret sister ?

A selection of the best Poot Lovato memes. Photograph: Guardian composite

2. Llamas on the run

On THE SAME DAY AS THE DRESS, the internet explosion with one of the great police chases of our time two llamas on the run. The llamas, one black and one white, ran loose in Sun City, Arizona. The whole internet followed, glued to the ABC1 5 live river of the runaway animals and tracking updates on Twitter. The llamas, true heroes of freedom and an inspiration to all, had escaped from their day job in an animal therapy centre. The black llama was caught first, its emancipation ended with a cruel lassoing. The white llama ran on, but eventually, it too was caught. Still, these two were the internets favourite llamas since Serge, the French llama who travelled by subway.

HannahJane Parkinson (@ ladyhaja) February 26, 2015

NOOOO. BLACK LLAMA CAUGHT. STAY STRONG WHITE LLAMA.

Matthew Baldwin (@ matthewbaldwin) February 26, 2015

LLAMA 1: We’re escaping this afternoon. LLAMA 2: Alpaca bag.

1. Dead Raccoon

My personal win for meme of 2015 is the dead raccoon, an unfortunate soul, detected deceased on a Toronto street. After a human tweeted the relevant city authorities to tell them about the raccoon, the poor critter was left for hours in the same place. Over the next 12 hours, a vigil was set up for the raccoon, documented online. A note was left, a framed photo , notes were written. Someone gave the raccoon an unlit joint as a mark of respect. It get dark. Candles were illuminated. The raccoon was named Conrad. Eventually, the authorities turned up and unceremoniously dumped Conrad in a rubbish truck. Such a lack of respect.

Raccoon update: he’s still there. Someone has written him a card .

A photo posted by Emily Taylor (@ emilyjs5) on Jul 9, 2015 at 9:14 am PDT

Shauna Pollock (@ misspollock) July 9, 2015

Don’t quite know what to say about this sidewalk discovery except that it really brought ppl together. #deadraccoonto pic.twitter.com/ BJ7efipLvq

Norm Kelly (@ norm) July 10, 2015

The sidewalk memorial is growing, @311Toronto. H/ T @jasonwagar. #DeadRaccoonTO pic.twitter.com/ 3vTUf9xB7b

Kris Pangilinan (@ KrisReports) July 10, 2015

10: 46 pm #DeadRacoonTO is still here. pic.twitter.com/ D9JbEuxJol

Read more: www.theguardian.com

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