This blog has had several goals in the past, so for now I'll be focusing on talking about E-sports with a focus on League of Legends and Starcraft II. I'll occasionally blog about my own life as well.
When
people use common phrases incorrectly it bugs me. Today I heard a guy use talk
the talk and walk the walk like they were the same thing. They are not. Walking the walk means that you back up what
you say with actions. Just silly.
People who
think gaming is just Mario and Call of Duty. You’d be upset if I said movies
were just Bond and chick flicks wouldn’t you? It’s just annoying, nothing
serious though.
When a person
thinks rap is only about violence, drugs, and sex. Go listen to Macklemore. Do
it.
I guess
I really just think that stereotypes are pet peeves. There has got to be
something else that bothers me… Puns. Puns piss me right off.
Girls
that know they are leading on a guy and continue to do it. Same goes for guys
to.
Lastly
there are try-hards. These people have their place. In my opinion that is
Ranked play in whatever game they are playing. If you are playing unranked.
Relax. People are not there to win, they are there to play and have fun. I’m a
super try hard in ranked games, I’ll admit, but unranked/ not serious games,
just have some fun.
Ok, I’m going
to address the three most important girls in my life with this.
Samara,
honestly you can just keep on doing what you are doing, like for real. You are
showing significant growth as a person and I’m really proud of you. Scott’s one
of the coolest guys I’ve ever met and I am super happy for you two. Maybe play
a little less Sims though. Just for your sake. Otherwise keep being cool. Also
the new hair it pretty good.
Kim, you
have got to get over your insecurities with boys. You are a kickass girl and
people know it. Just because you have seen some people do things that make you
question how you can trust a person doesn’t mean you get to hide the best parts
of you from the world does it? Trust people. Get hurt. Learn from it. It’s good
for you. I know I’ve told you this before, but I feel like I have to keep
telling you until you do it.
Lysa, it
makes me sad that I haven’t seen you since you’ve been back in town this
holiday break. I’ve tried twice though to get a hold of you and I’ve felt
somewhat blown off. That sucks. You are my best friend and I want nothing but
the best for you. You occasionally have to put a little time in maintaining
friendships though. If nothing else I’d really like to hash out some details
about me coming up to Edmonton. I’d tell you this in person, but that’s proven
to be difficult.
I swear
if any of you comment on this rather than talking to me about it, I’ll be disappoint.
No, I
used to read a bunch, and when I did I read quite a few John Grisham novels,
Lord of the Rings and Calvin and Hobbes. I plan on reading some more Calvin and
Hobbes next year. Gosh that was easy. Well, cya tomorrow!
Nah, I’m
just kidding. I’m gonna tell you all why you should go see Django Unchained. It’s
absolutely incredible. I went in expecting a typical Quentin Tarantino movie.
Well played characters by good actors, cool action sequences, foul language and
well-timed humour. What I got was possibly the best movie made this year, which
is saying something with films like Globe Atlas, Avengers, Skyfall, Dark Knight
Rises, Ted, Spider-man, and Pitch Perfect all giving 2012 a really good
showing. (Remember this is entirely my opinion.) Leanardo DiCaprio gives arguably
the best performance of the year as Calvin Candy, who for lack of a better term
is the textbook definition of evil. Jamie Foxx gives a great performance as
Django as well. Will Smith was originally intended for the role, but frankly he
wouldn’t have really fit it in my opinion. If you can stand the insane levels
of profanity there is an exchange between Samuel L. Jackson and Mr. DiCaprio
that is just incredible, and also pretty funny. Overall, great great movie, go
friggen see it. SKIP LES MISERABLES. GO SEE DJANGO!
Maybe I shouldn’t
be so harsh and Les Mis. I haven’t seen it yet so I really don’t know if it’s
good or bad for sure. I do know that it would have to be the surprise of the
century for it to be better than Django though. My only pre-viewing bias that I’ll
be going into Les Mis with is that I think Amanda Seyfried is a terrible choice
by the casting. Why? Because Amanda Seyfried is really bad at acting. Even Anne
Hathaway, who I’m not terribly fond of, is a good choice when compared to
Amanda Seyfried. She’s just awful. The only movie with her I’ve ever liked is In
Time, and frankly Justin Timberlake carried that movie. When the Boy Band star
turned actor carries is totally outshining you, it’s time to re-evaluate your
skills.
Point of
all this, Django is really good, I don’t think Les Mis will come close to being
as good as it and it makes me really sad that nearly all my friends are going
to disagree with me and dismiss this because Django is “Violent and has bad
language.” This is why I don’t trust your opinions on movies.
Seriously, if he doesn't win an Oscar for this I'll be pissed.
Day six:
What musician/group has Is most important?
What
the? Is this real? Like holy moly, the first five were like super easy and then
it just opens up and hits you with the big guns. Seriously the first four were
pretty easy things honestly. This is legitimately difficult. Do I go with the
classic rock groups like Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd because they are the first
bands I listened to? Maybe I go with something a little more modern perhaps? It’s
hard to say something like that because maybe it’s just a person/group I really
like right now. It’s not an electronic artist for sure though, I really like
it, but I do not feel influenced by it. Which I feel is necessary to qualify as
“most” important to me, that’s fair right?
I mean,
music is easily has easily had the most influence in my life about the way I
think out of any other form of media. Even gaming hasn’t had the level of
impact on my thinking that music does. That’s perfectly ok. Music really is probably
one of if not the biggest influence on most people. Sure there are the film
guys and game people and bookworms who would say the film, game, and literature
influence them more, but they are the minority. Music simply speaks to the
soul. It’s so easy for a person to connect to some kind of music that it’s
simply commonplace for it to be SO influential.
As a side
note, I’m pretty much going to say the music that has the most influence on me
is most important. Makes sense right?
Alright, I’ve been thinking for hours now and
just can’t come to a definitive answer. So screw you, I’m giving two.
Macklemore.
This guy is a totally sick rapper, and I’ve only really listened through one
album, but man oh man does he make you think, songs like Otherside, Wings,
B-Boy, Contradiction, Ego, My Language, Remember High School, Soldiers, and
White Privilege just blow me away. This ish makes me think. A lot. My personal favourite
is Contradiction, and I recommend everyone listens to it, and really listens to
it. I don’t care if you really aren’t into rap or anything, just think about
what he’s saying and think about it.
Keane,
I
connect to this music. I just feel like I can relate to their songs so easily. They
get a huge boost for having Bad Dream in their repertoire because it’s my
personal favourite song to this point in time. What makes me really love that
song is just how I always mind myself drifting into this cool stupor of thought
whenever I listen to it, like every time I listen to it I feel like I have a
good idea. Unfortunately I don’t always right these down so a lot of them get
lost.
I really
got to hand it to Lysa on this one though, when she first introduced me to
Keane I kinda just brushed it off. They were ok, but not really worth my time
then. Then I actually listened to like more than 2 songs and suddenly I
realized what a terrible mistake I had been making by not listening to them.
Seriously one of the best bands I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to and
hopefully I’ll get the chance to see them live someday. I`d also really like to
see Macklemore live, but that`s slightly off point.
Simply listing five places I
would like to visit is slightly boring to me, so this is going to be a Top five
places I want to visit for sure and since the challenge doesn’t say I can’t use
fictional places I’m going to. Suck it Internet.
Number
Five! The Shire. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be all fictional places, just
a couple that I’d really like to be able to see and experience. So no, going to
New Zealand isn’t good enough. I would want to actually spend time with Hobbits
and such; they just seem like really laid back and fun loving people. It would
be like the perfect place to just kick back and escape the world for a little
while. Plus there is the off chance you’ll meet a wizard.
Number
Four! Italy. Like, come on! It’s Italy!
Tonnes of culture, good food, art, the friggen Vatican! Despite what anyone
thinks of the Catholic Church, the Vatican is just incredible, or so I’ve
heard. Other countries in Europe would be cool as well, but if I were given the
choice, I would go to Italy before any of the other ones.
Number
Three! New York City. A lot of people I know aren’t really city types. I am, I
love the city, and New York is THE city. Go see a play on Broadway, (We’re
assuming money is no object in this right? Because if not, the whole
teleporting myself to an alternate dimension and finding the Shire is a bit too
expensive for me.) Go to a concert at Madison Square Garden, maybe even see a
Yankee’s game just to say I did it. Plus there are a lot of really cool museums
and things to see educational and culturally. Plus, I have to find out if there
actually is a bar name McLarens. I just have to know. Then there’s the UN,
Ground Zero, places where some incredibly important events in modern history occurred,
who doesn’t want to see that? Also Hot Dogs from a stand on the street, I want
to eat that. Yes.
Number
Two! The Middle East. So long as I could assure that I would not be “beheaded
on the Internet” to quote the always politically correct Jeremy Clarkson, the middle east has some of the most interesting
sites and cultures in the entire world. That is literally where everything happens. It’s
exotic, I would get to see places mentioned in the Bible (which would be
awesome) and really get a better feel for what life was like thousands of years
ago. Maybe I wouldn’t really know, but I would have a much better idea than I
have now for certain. It’s the most important area for Ancient culture and
history and I really want to see it!
This is in Isreal! Isn`t it Beautiful!??
Number
One! Seoul Korea. OMG he’s really saying that the number one country for
Starcraft is his number one place to travel to. Yeah I am, for several reasons.
Firstly, I’ve always wanted to learn about an oriental culture. Second, I hear
the food is just amazing! Third I could do Gangam Style in Seoul and that would
be hilarious. Fourth, yes I would love love love to attend a huge E-sports
event and really be a part of it. Ideally it would be a Proleague final, cause
it’s the biggest tournament in Korea obviously. I watch online and I hear crazy
fan girls screaming for players, and I just need to know if they’re real. This
is a culture that took a hobby and elevated it to the point of parity with
traditional sports, there has to be something really interesting about the
culture of the whole country to allow something like that to happen, and in
less than a decade! Fifth, Asian girls be fine yo.
Honourable
mentions: Sweden, (Mix between European culture and E-sports, def attend a
dreamhack event. Again, great looking girls there to.) London, (Soccer and
Music and Coolness, plus then I could go to a recording of Top Gear and be made
fun of by Clarkson! Whooo!) L.A. (Movies man, Hollywood) Peru, (Machu Pichu)
France, (Food) India, (Culture+ Curry) Washington D.C (Sites and such)
Side note: I was going to put a picture of some fine Korean
girls here to emphasis my point, but typing “Asian girls” into Google yields no
so safe for work results. Don’t do that. It won’t turn out well.
This is
a two part question for me, mostly because there is the name of the blog, The Critical Canuck, and then there is my Gamertag of NaMeca Because I bloody
well want to I`m going to go through them both. Also neither one of them is a
really long story or anything so It`ll help make this feel like a full post.
We`ll
start with what most people are not so interested in, “NaMeca” (Nah-May-the)
is a simple and short phrase which translated means, “the enemy.” I find it
somewhat ironic that I`m always playing as “the enemy” and a little funny
that my opponents never know that they are playing against “the enemy” sort
of. That`s really it, I just thought it was a nice funny name, and it really isn`t that complicated, unless you ask how to pronounce it, and even then it`s
still not THAT hard. NaMeca.
The Critical
Canuck again is pretty simple if you think about it. I feel that it`s cool and
short alliteration that gives a brief summary of who I am. I am a Canuck who is
critical of things. That was the first thought. Then my gaming mind stepped in
and said, “you know, it`s totally possible to make critical into both a
positive and negative word.”It totally is! You have the simple thinking on
it that critical is negative, but in gaming you can have critical hits and
critical misses. To briefly explain, a critical hit is essentially your
character getting lucky and dealing more damage than they would normally would.
A critical miss is when you are so unlucky that not only does your attack miss
your opponent, but has a negative effect on you. Think about someone swinging a
giant sword and missing their target, then the sword is so heavy it carries
with the guy and he falls flat on his face. That`s a critical miss. When you
meet a girl and things are going really well and you say “Destiny” That`s a
critical miss. Unless it totally works out, then it's a critical hit. It`s really another way of saying, the worst possible thing that
could happen. So really that`s what this blog is about, recording the critical
hits and misses of my life. Highs and lows. That sort of thing. Also the
critical hits and misses of those around me. I hope to record more hits to be
honest, although the occasional miss is pretty entertaining.
EZ PZ!
Unrelated Pic of Calvin and Hobbes, because frick yeah!
Sidenote: Frick yeah is totally a legitimate reason to do anything. See here for explanation. (Only watch the first 40 seconds, the rest is Day 9 random stories.)
I’m not sure if I should try and
describe today in great detail or maybe just describe a regular day for me. I’ll
do today, it’ll be way easier to remember.
I woke up at about 10 am today, or
something along those lines, I really don’t remember. It wasn’t important,
because it’s Christmas Eve so I don’t have to go to work. My dad made me some
eggs after that I sat down at my computer to do my daily check of sites.
Facebook, Reddit, Twitter and Team Liquid. Nothing interesting really going on
and still no word on what’s happening with Polt so we move on to double
checking what the challenge is for the day so I can think about it. Nothing
much to think about with this one, just try to remember what you do.
Next I talked over with my brother
about what games we are going to play over the next few days in our super hardcore
best of seven show match to see who`s really better at gaming… show match. I
think we settled on League of Legends, Smash Brothers, Halo, Starcraft 2, Mario
Kart and a Super Mario brothers speed run. That`s only six games you say? I know, the seventh match will
be another speed run that will only be played if necessary due to the extensive
length of the game. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. We chose Wind Waker of
Ocarina of Time because neither one of us have played it in a while so it will
be less about who remembers the puzzles better and who is actually better able
to play the game. I feel favoured in 3 of the games and two of them I am pretty
sure Sam will take me down in, the speed runs though I have no idea who is
going to come out on top there. Unfortunately Sam became quite ill today so we
postponed the matches because he did not feel `` at his best`` so hardcore.
The change in art style helps Wind Waker feel a little more light hearted, which I thought was a welcome change to the Zelda Franchise. Easily Top 3 Zelda game.
Next
we opened up presents for my Sister Katy`s birthday, then I made the drive into
Lethbridge to go get some things I forgot at my house there, it was my brothers
Christmas gift so I felt pretty obligated to go get it. Chug down a Red Bull
while I`m out and I get back just in time to start the Tollestrup Family
tradition of watching the entire LOTR trilogy (Extended edition of course) I
grab my comp and play a few games of League of Legends while doing this,
because frankly I really don`t need to focus all my attention on the TV to know
exactly what’s going on in those movies anymore.
At
about four thirty I begin making deep fried chicken wings, we`re about half way
through Two Towers at this point as well. I`m not so sure why I always get
charged with making the wings, it`s really not hard at all to put chicken in
flour and then in a vat of super-hot oil. I like it though so I don`t complain.
That
pretty much takes us to the present point in time, still half of Return of the
King to watch and eat some cake. Then off to bed to prepare for the event that is
Christmas. Going to be super awesome. Somewhere along the line I`ve had 2 cokes
and a Red Bull. Slightly above average day for caffeine intake. Still have to
wrap a couple presents though. That`ll be great, mostly because I have no idea
how to wrap things right. Like I know it isn`t even that hard, but I manage to
mess it up so much! Also there is another TL-EG proleague match. Thorzain hwaiting!
Both of
these present similar challenges, it’ll be hard to list 10 things I like cause
I dislike most things, but since I dislike so many things it’ll be hard to specifically
list 10 of them. Oh first world problems. We’ll go with likes first.
First
thing I like is birds. EZ son.
Second we have Sushi. This is my favorite food, its tasty, and somewhat exotic. I think Foreign would be a
better word for it. Best sushi I've ever had was at Ginza, a small sushi bar in
downtown Salt Lake City. Super good. If you haven’t tried Sushi yet, stop being
a pansy and go eat it.
Third on the docket we have,
Coca-cola. This is the best soft drink. No arguments. It’s somewhat bittersweet
taste combined with a healthy amount of caffeine make it my drink of choice.
Although Red Bull has been making a strong showing for itself as of late.
I like Music, almost any kind
these days. It just has to be good. Like it has to be apparent that the person
making it has talent. Even country, a genre I used to despise I've grown
accustomed to. I can appreciate the talent of it for sure. My favorite stuff
would still be lighter rock, I’m no offciando on genres or stuff so whatever
Muse and Keane are my favorites right now. I also really like Rap. Macklemore
and Kid Cudi have been dominating my phone lately. Gotta love Kayne, Jay-Z,
Lupe, Childish Gambino though. Also Snoop Lion in the latest Epic Rap Battle of
history was awesome. Somewhat sacrilegious, but funny.
Man this is going to be a long
post isn't it? Fifth is Calvin and Hobbes. I could literally read these all day
and never get bored.
Sixth, The middle earth universe.
Normally I would just say LOTR, but with the hobbit movie being a thing now I
kinda realized that just saying LOTR doesn't really encompass everything. Tolkien
is an absolute genius who created an entire world through his books. They’re
timeless.
Seventh is movies. I really enjoy
watching movies and I hope in the near future to learn a lot more about them so
I can really appreciate them better. I also should start watching older movies.
Like made pre-70’s I’m thinking. I just have a hard time getting into them when
there are simply so many good movies coming out or have been made in the recent
past.
Problem solving is fun for me.
Not like doing countless word problems in math, but more along the lines of
talking to people about their worries and helping them find solutions to their
concerns. I find that (In the least sexist way possible) that girl tend to be
more willing to talk about things like that so that’s mostly why I hang out
with them over guys. Also girls are a hell of a lot easier on the eyes.
I guess I can use that as the ninth one as well. I like girls, no homo.
They’re pretty awesome actually. I find them to be smarter, prettier, and more OK with you giving your opinion about what they should be doing about a said
circumstance. I find them significantly easier to get along with.
Lastly we have games. I really do love these. I hope that as time goes
on that they’ll become a more socially accepted form of media and we won’t have
to deal with idiots telling us that violent games cause tragedies. If a person
commits a massacre and leaves a note quoting a famous book, absolutely no one
is going to stand up and say, “We need to censor literature!” it’s just stupid.
No need for rants though here.
Previously mentioned Vid, just enjoy.
Well that wasn't too hard was it? Oh shi… I still have half of this to
go. *Puts on some Skrillex.* let’s do this.
Things I do not like! Bad drivers for one! That doesn't even need an
explanation.
Two: Whenever a person takes a predetermined judgement they made and
refuses to allow new context to change that. You need be flexible enough that
if new information is presented to you that you can change your position. I
know I’m guilty of holding on to an argument that is already lost, but I am
working on that.
Third, the fact that some companies continue to push out absolutely garbage
sonic the hedgehog titles rather than let the series die with what honor it
has left. I know that you’re still making money (not sure how) but please oh
please just stop it.
Fourth, People forgetting that I’m lactose intolerant. Come on now. Let’s be
serious.
Fifth, Puns.
Sixth,
anyone that all-in’s every ladder game of StarCraft. I know pulling all your
workers and just running up my ramp wins a lot of games, but it doesn't make
you any better. It’s just frustrating.
Seventh,
The league of legends community. I really like playing this game, its fun,
engaging and competitive. Playing with such toxic people though makes it pretty
hard. If you start playing badly, the wrong thing to do is call the other team
f’ing fags and tell them to kill themselves. That’s just horrible and you are
part of the reason that people can’t take gaming seriously. Grow up.
Eighth, High
School mentality.
Ninth, Fanatics.
Beliefs of any sort cannot be forced upon a person. Discussion is awesome,
debate is good to sometimes. Forcing ideas on a person is not good.
Last,
People who do not like Calvin and Hobbes. Don’t talk to me, or else I’ll be
forced to go all fanatic on you.
It felt a little dark at the end there so here's the most awesome picture ever to make you feel happy.
OK, I’m
copping out. Like hardcore. I’m doing a stupid ole’ blog challenge thingy. Why?
Because I honestly think that it’ll help me actually write here consistently if
I have pre-determined topics to talk about. So let’s get this going. For anyone
who’s interested the link to said challenge is here. So let’s
get into it.
Basic
things about me.
Name: Jonathan
James Tollestrup
Age: Twenty
Citizenship:
Canada/USA
Date of
Birth: October 30th 1992
Height:
5 feet 9 inches
… I
could go on like this for quite some time, but seriously everyone that reads
this knows me already. So let’s to something a little less basic. Just in case
any of you dorks forgot though…
I’m a competitive
person, I think everyone knows that. Even in a game as silly and not serious at
all as Mario Kart. I’m there to win. That’s one of the big things that makes
things fun for me. Having something to measure myself up against to see where I
am. Winning is also fun. In case you were wondering, it’s a lot of fun.
Stubbornness
is another word I’d use to describe myself. A stubborn competitor can be one of
the worst kinds of people to have around when you’re playing games of any sort.
If they (me) start off poorly and are losing, you’re going to see something
called tilt. This is where I get really frustrated with a game but refuse to
simply quit, I keep playing until I win. The longer that takes, the more
agonizing it is for everyone around me. I am working on that though, accepting
losses is an important part of life. I mean, even Pro-gamers rarely boast a win
rate of 60% and up, so they have to accept loss as well.
I speak
three languages, one quite well and two pretty terribly. I speak Sarcasm extraordinarily
well, but English and Fijian are pretty tough for me. Still I feel pretty comfortable
saying that I have a larger vocabulary than 70% of the people I interact with. Right
now it doesn't show so much because I've been stumbling over my words an
absolute tonne lately. It’s mildly frustrating, but I just laugh at myself, because
if you don’t know how to make fun of/laugh at silly things you do, you are
going to be one sad panda.
Looks
wise I've always considered myself average to slightly above average looking,
and I’m going to keep thinking that of myself until I’m like really old, so
like 26 or something. Seriously though, thinking this about myself is super
smart, it gives me enough confidence to be like, “Well I’m not BAD looking.” But
keeps me from ever feeling overconfident about myself. Balance, perfect
balance.
So
far we have a competitive, stubborn, sarcastic and completely 100% average
looking person. That all describes me pretty decently I suppose, but the one
word I really think sums up my personality is reactive. I react to situations,
I rarely initiate things, and unless I’m around a crowd I feel very very comfortable
with. Generally though I find that reacting to things is the best way for me to
go about stuff, I’ve always felt more comfortable with wingin things rather than
taking time to carefully prepare a set plan for things. I just think I think well
when I’m reacting. Take this blog challenge thing for instance, it gives me a
topic, I react and write about it, EZ PZ.
I honestly didn`t plan on talking
a whole lot about Pro Gaming on this blog, but in the last couple of days two
HUGE things have happened that I simply must mention.
The Tyrant Cometh!
First off we have Lee Jae Dong
a.k.a JaeDong (Super creative name I know) is moving over to team Evil Geniuses
for the next year. Now Progamer contracts typically only last one year at max
so this is pretty long. More impotantly it`s JAEDONG! This guy is an absolute
legend from Brood War, the game that elevated E-sports to the same level as
traditional sports in Korea. Words
simply cannot describe how excited I am to watch JaeDong come out to all sorts
of events under the EG banner. This means that he’ll likely be attending at
least MLG’s. so awesome! I mean come on, JaeDong is in my opinion the scariest
and best player to ever play Starcraft that never received the title of Bonjwa.
(To clarify, Bonjwa is a term given to certain Starcraft players who reign over
the scene for an extended period of time. Kinda like a dynasty for a regular
sports franchise.)
The signifiganly larger piece of news
that comes out is the teaming up of the two largest Non-Korean based Starcraft
teams to play in the biggest and most prestegious league in all of starcraft,
and maybe E-Sports. SK Planet Proleague. Evil Geniuses and Team Liquid. Pure
Nerdgasm. The best part? Looking at the line-up, they could win it. The team is
pretty strong on its own, but it has the inherit advantage of all the other
teams playing in it having only played SC2 for a few months. This could be so
incredible. It’s actually on right now so I’m gonna go watch it and then we’ll
talk about what happens after.
….What. What just happened? First
match of Proleague, EGTL facing off against KT roster and loses 4-0. KT roster who’s
only notable player on the roster right now is Flash. Who is a big deal cause
he’s the best player to ever play the first starcraft, and he’s playing SC2
really good as well. I actually expected him to win his match, but other than
that I thought It’d be a stomp in the other way with EGTL coming out like 4-1.
Wow. That is just embarassing. This could be a long year for these teams. On
the plus side the four of the best players on the teams roster didn’t play
tonight, three were out of the country and one was reserved for the sixth
match, which wasn’t played because it was over before then. It’s a good thing
they just hired a coach, cause man oh man are they going to need one if they
want this to work. I really wanted to watch HuK play man…
I just wanna watch this Canadian Nerd play some games
