SoCal VF party w/ Myke, YOSUKE, and more!

<span style='font-size: 17pt'>More Shoutouts!</span>
After transcribing the brackets I realised that I forgot to mention a couple of people!

ironzen - it was great meeting you, and I think the Boston scene is lucky to have players like you. I'm not sure how long you've been playing, but I feel like you're relatively new but have come a long way with Lion. In a way, you reminded me of Dobi when I first met him. Keep up the playing and practicing (and kick Shang's ass!) /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Bradermy - aka BradToTheBone, great meeting you man. I wish I had time to watch you play in the Hold'em tourney in Vegas! I enjoyed our games and keep on sharpening that Brad of yours /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

INCIDENT - it was a pleasure to meet you Luis, and great of you to come all the way from FL, compete and hang out with us! Oh, that Nintendo shirt was fucking cool too! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

<span style='font-size: 17pt'>Funny Quotes!</span>
It's become tradition in that in every VF gathering, we come away with famous and funny quotes, and this time was no different. This is just a list of stuff, in no particular order, that made me laugh. And by laugh, I mean in the side-splitting, thigh-slapping, oh-my-fucking-GOD-I-can't-breath way.

"You ain't no denkai!" -- denkai
Made famous by the infamous denkai himself.

"You bestud" -- denkai
It was all in denkai's unique delivery that made this so funny, and probably the most repeated line over the week! And it's still going strong in the shoutbox and IRC!

"Belee dat! Word is born! -- BigBoy
This one came about at around 3am-4am one night when we (well most of us) were still up playing. Some of the commentary BigBoy was providing while playing against him was just soooo hilarious I had to laugh inwards just to inhale! I don't exactly remember how this quote came about, but the emotional value I now associate with it far outweigh my need to know! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

"Save it!" -- Yosuke
So we would be saving replays of matches that we thought were exciting, interesting or just worth seeing again. But when Yosuke would yell, "Save it" after particular matches, his criteria was mainly based on the fact that Denkai lost the match, and it didn't matter how! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

"Fuck that Chinese bitch up Myke!" -- chief_flash
During my finals match against Tokido, I hear this being yelled at some point during the matches. It sounded so gangsta that I was envisaging some big, burly black guy yelling out in my support, perhaps a tad overzealous! I also thought that it was touch racist, thinking the "Chinese bitch" was a reference to Tokido. The room kind went quiet for a second after that /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif It wasn't until the drive back to SoCal that I discover it was flash who said it, and the "Chinese bitch" was a reference to Pai! ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<span style='font-size: 17pt'>Random Stuff</span>

Coach Nuki
For those at Evo, you might recall that whenever Nuki was watching one of his 2D friends (tokido or ino) playing, and struggling, he would often start yelling out advice and try to help them out. I'm not sure how it is in Japan with singles tournaments, but I think we all agree that coaching during a tournament is generally frowned upon.

So I experienced this in my finals match against Tokido. I could hear Nuki yelling Pai moves to Tokido, and I found this unsettling because I could understand what he was saying, and started to falsely anticipate and hesitate.

I also noticed Nuki doing this in other matches during the Semi finals. I didn't think that was cool. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

Starbucks didn't mispronounce my name!
You know when you place an order at Starbucks and they ask for your name? Usually, saying Mike with an Aussie accent gets confused for Mark. A lot! But this time around, they got it right! Weee!

Bioshock!
Talking to PhoenixDth and GoatCheeseBlues made me want to play Bioshock. And the day I returned home, I went out and bought the game. Trouble is, the support for accelerated mouses (mice?) is buggy making the game for me totally uncontrollable, and hence unplayable. /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/mad.gif

Riding in Plague's Buick Gran Sport!
If you've been at THE HOUSE (Plague's house) then you may have seen his Gran Sport parked in the garage, usually under cover. Well, I had the privilege of riding in it, and was this close to taking it for a spin myself. Maybe next time! That car is an absolute beast and I couldn't help but grin all the while riding in it! RARRR!!! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cool.gif

Cirque du Soleil: Love
Saw the show in Vegas. Awesome. Just felt like saying it again /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

Itazan only does single throw escapes
So we were driving to LA Akira's one evening in Plague's van. I asked Itazan how many throw escapes does he usually enter on average. He answered one, and my jaw dropped! In all the games I played against him, he almost always guessed the correct throw escape. It was right then that I gained a new appreciation (heck, call it admiration!) for how high Itazan's skill is in this game. His ability to read his opponent in any situation is scaringly accurate!

One thing he told me about my game was that, as Kage, I would tend to resort to /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/df.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif+/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/g.gif to counter against his throw whiff. I would use this throw because it's Kage's most damaging single-command throw, and when you're reacting to a throw whiff you have to be fast! So whenever he whiffed a throw, he would only ever escape the /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/df.gif direction, and as a result, would always, always, always escape my throw! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif This revelation about a habit of mine was like an out-of-body experience. Just wow!

So later on during some games we played, there were occasions where he'd whiff a throw again and instead of reacting with /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/df.gif/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/p.gif+/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/g.gif I just went for a neutral instead, and succeeded!

The first time this happened, he turned to me with an acknowledging smile. And each time that followed where I would successfully neutral throw him after his whiffed throw, we'd both laugh! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif

Itazan = top tier! He inspires me to be a better player.