Canvassing for Guests...

So, I just bought Dragon Quest 9. I know. It sounds nerdy. It IS nerdy.

Shut up.

There's a hotel in the game that you help start, and there's a feature called "canvass for guests". You just select that option and close your Nintendo DS without shutting it off. It goes into sleep mode, and anyone else you pass withing 30 feet of who is also canvassing for guests will make contact with your game and become a guest in your hotel. They may even share treasure maps with you.

Do you know what this does to me? I want to take my DS everywhere. I want to go into the city and wander the streets, Chinatown, the mall. I want to take the damn thing to work with me just in case some kid comes through the drive who may be canvassing for guests. It's a little obsessive. I took it grocery shopping yesterday. No results.

I'm thinking of looking into groups online that meet to play, to trade, etc.

This thing is going to eat my life. And that's just ONE of the many, many amazing aspects of this game that doesn't even have ANYTHING to do with the story!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzWojUQcBkg&feature=player_embedded

I'm pretty much doomed.

Out

Internet Video Tuesday: Moby Edition...

Today, after checking my email and visiting my routine Internet haunts, I don't really have much to say.  That's not a bad thing.  It happens about once a week, especially now when I'm stuck at home (ish) and pretty much doing the same thing every day.  The only news at the moment is that I'm still working on my script.  I just passed 57 pages yesterday, and although the goal as of this calendar day is ten more than that, I'm catching up.  I think the problem is that I can write three pages in fifteen minutes, so I just assume it doesn't matter if I skip a day.  And then I'm 20 pages behind and I go, "I'm never going to make it.  I should give up."  And then?  I write 14 pages in a day and realize I'm not out of the race yet.  In fact, I'm over the halfway point!

Anywho, back to not having anything to say.  I found this video yesterday, courtesy of my amigo free, a.k.a. halcyon_vesper.  It's just fun, and after all the fun is over, it's especially poignant.



I'd play that game!  I'd have an extra heaping helping of fun beating the crap out of that boss who fires him.

Catch you all tomorrow.  I've got a 3:30 interview today.

Out

Renege...Uncut Version...

So, I know I said yesterday that I was so sick of talking about jobs.  And I am.  But.

I applied for two bank jobs today.  A friend came through with an unexpected recommendation that went ALL THE WAY to the BANK OWNER!  So, I sent an email with my resume to one, filled out an application for another, and Ka-BAM!  I'm applied.

Let's just hope I'm employed soon...

***EDIT***

So, I applied at a different bank today thank the one I sent my resume to, because a friend of mine told me (when I ran into him and his girlfriend at Target last night--random!) that they were hiring.  So, I got an email to take a pre-recorded telephone interview...so I did.  Then HR calls me and asks about my termination from National City (ugh)!  THEN!  The bank manager calls me and asks me to interview on MONDAY!  Woot!  So...maybe something WILL work out!

***EDIT AGAIN***

And then I got a call from the bank I sent my resume to asking me to fill out an application, so I went to a branch and did just that!  It's like I hit the jackpot today...with that and yet ANOTHER Water Guy sighting (he waved at me first!).  Crazy...happy birthday to me!

***END***

In other news, it's turning out to be a lovely day!  I got my new T-shirt, and I got my prize from Club Nintendo...maybe I'll model them later.  Sweet.

***ANOTHER EDIT***

So, I got all nice and showered (second time today) and put on my cute new shirt.





Yes.  That IS Super Mario sushi.  Frog Mario on one end, Blooper on the other, and Cheep Cheeps in the middle.  Amazingly morbid and cute stuff!  Anywho...there's that.  And my Club Nintendo Prize?



It's a game/stylus holder for the DS, which is LOVE.  And the best part?



Rainbow stylus collection!  Yessirree!  And now you know what a big dork I am...if you're just joining us.  If you're a long-time reader and you didn't know that...shame on you!

***END***

And!  I think it looks nice enough outside that I might be able to slip in a bike ride.

Then?  Tonight my friend Katie is throwing a party for herself and me in celebration of our joint birthday (Sunday the 11th).  So...it's all kinds of great stuff!

OH!  And as an early birthday present, I ran into the Water Guy at Wal Mart last night.  He was browsing video games.  SCORE!!!  Did I say hello?  No...my brain went to mush and my only thought was "FLEE!!!"

Bah...I'll get it right one of these times.

Out

The Horror...

Here's a poem I wrote this morning. I'm not sure where it came from. Can you pick the horror (ish) movie titles out of it?

The Horror

I know what you did last summer, he'll say.
And I'll scream and run to my panic room.
It will be 28 days from hell
And he'll scream, too.
We'll stay up, like night of the living dead,
My jaws tiring from talking it out.
It will be the omen I've been looking for
With the eye that's full of twilight.
And I'll know it's the end of days.

I think there's 12 in there. I don't know why I wrote this...it's so lame.

Out

Jump Drive Dump...

I was clicking through my jump drive and I came across some great photos.

Defective signs are one of my guilty pleasures.  Any time we're out I look for them.  We once saw one that was supposed to say Randy's Market.  It said "Randy's Ma."  Love it!

And then there was "Road anger."

And this one:



That's right.  The Abbott Ho.  That's in the north side of Chicago, sort of near Boystown.

So great! 

And I don't know if I'm the only person to love these buttons, but I take pictures of them all the time:



I just love that it's two men.  Maybe I should sell this image to some kind of gay gaming blog...it would be pretty much perfect.  I've got about eight of these pictures (from all over the country), and they never stop amusing me.

And lastly, here's a picture of me squinting in the sun...in my old glasses...after not having shaved for three days.  It's not pretty.



Yikes.  Why do I do this to myself?

Anywho...there's that.

Out

Disappearing Act...

I'm trying hard not to disappear. Fighting the urge.

We got a new computer, as you know. And I've just found out how amazingly fun Spore is. Let me tell you: There's something magical about creating creatures. Maybe it feeds in to humanity's obsession with playing God, but seriously...it's maybe the funnest game I've ever played.

And I haven't even installed The Sims 3. That'll be this afternoon after work (I still have a job. No new developments there).

The urge to disappear is strong. Just devote myself to Spore for a few weeks.

Let's hope I don't get fired. This would make job hunting seem REALLY difficult.

Out

Art Vs. Entertainment...

It's the age old question:  Are video games art, or are they merely entertainment?

When you think about games like the latest John Madden game, it's easy to say they're entertainment:  Because really, what's artful about a bunch of guys on a football field who all look relatively the same.  There's no sweeping story.  There's no character development.  There's really not much to look at, right?



I don't know...the fog effects, the field, the mannerisms of players.  When an artist sculpts a lump of clay to look like a real person, we call it art.  These players look pretty lifelike to me.  Madden might even lean towards art just a bit.  But mostly, it's entertainment.

How about a better example:  Doom.



Eh...there's really not much to look at.  It's mostly about blasting demons.  There's very little story, per se.  Granted, it sort of defined a genre, but the art value of such a thing I think is pretty low.  This one I'd chalk up to evidence of games being purely entertainment. 

But then, if you look at a game like Grand Theft Auto IV, it's the same kind of a game, really.



You're tasked with shooting, finding, etc, just like Doom.  But these people have personalities, stories, and they're a heck of a lot more believable.  Scenery that looks like some of the best landscape painting you've ever seen?  Check.  Except this stuff you can walk right up to, examine, perhaps even climb on top of in between bouts of blasting drug lords and beating up on hookers.  It's kind of a blurry line.

Further blurring the lines are games like Shadow of the Colossus.



This, in my opinion, is art first and foremost and entertainment second.  Maybe that's just me, but I found myself stopping to stare in awe more often than I was climbing and shooting and stabbing.  It elicits an emotional response with its melancholy missions and its brilliant bosses. 

Maybe that's the crux of it:  Emotion.  Feeling.  Is that what makes a game more art than entertainment?  Is it story?  Beauty?  An emotional response?

Then what about this game?



Flower, for the PS3.  It has little to no story, doesn't really elicit any emotion (at least not for me), and is almost sheerly beauty.  But I would consider this art more than entertainment, I think. 

It really is a difficult question to answer. 

What do you think?

Three Thousand, Nine Hundred Ninety-Three...

Yes. That is how many words I need to write before it's all done. And really, it's more like 3,991 because the last two could be "The End." Although, really...that's tacky.

I think the story is going to go one longer than those last four thousand-ish words. They've still got to break the last four disciples out of their prison island and get out of Hell right proper.

That's...going to take some doing in 4,000 words.

Anywho...I am going to kick back and take it easy for the holidays. I work the day before and the day after (which is a drag, since they promised me one or the other off--goes to show you what a promise from your boss is worth). But on Thanksgiving I'll finally get to spend a holiday with the boy. We never get to spend them together, because he's usually off with his family or working at the ski hill...which is open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Blah.

But I get to spend Thanksgiving with him at my mom's house. And that means more to me than anything else. It even makes me smile despite the fact that we might get snow that day.

What else am I thankful for?

My health,
New Super Mario Bros Wii (which is the most fun I've ever had with my clothes on),
My Marbles Kitty,
The Boy,
and being so close to finishing this novel I can taste it!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I certainly hope yours is festive.

Out

Interview...?

So, remember when I mentioned thatI was featured on Hardest Level for my Top 5 Tuesday post about the top 5 computer games you'd never played?

Well, I get this message the other day after talking to one of the editors over at Hardest Level. It is one of the heads over at Xanga asking if I'd like to be an editor for Hardest Level.

What?!

Am I being punked? Apparently I'm not, because I have a phone call interview sort of thing this afternoon to find out more about what would be expected of me.

It's a non-paying internship, but it's invaluable experience for a guy who would love to be an editor and loves video games. So...we shall see.

And for those of you wondering where Top 5 Tuesday is today, it's running a little late and will be in sometime this afternoon.

Out

Internet Famous...

Hey guys!  I was trying to figure out what to post today, when I came across a message in my inbox from Hardest Level.

Apparently they were going to use my Top 5 Tuesday post from this week on their blog!  Sweet!

Check it out!

I'm thrilled.  It totally made my day!  My week!  And hey, people are READING IT!  That's the amazing part.

In other news...does anyone know how to muzzle a cat?  He's loud.

Out

Top 5 Tuesday: Games Edition...

Alright, this installment of Top 5 Tuesday comes straight from the roaring 90s!  When all of the rest of you were out getting girlfriends or boyfriends and growing up, I was playing these Top 5 Computer Games You've Never Played.

5)  Shadows of Darkness



There was nothing better than the glory days of Sierra's point-and-click adventures (except, of course, our other 4 entries), and this was no exception.  The spooky tone of this game hid some really random humor and may have scared off some younger players.  And while the combat was really wonky, exploring and solving puzzles in this quirky, colorful game was truly satisfying.  I never made it all the way through this one, but if I could find a copy that would run on my PC, I'd give it another shot.

4)  The Incredible Machine



This was another Sierra gem (did anyone else MAKE games back then?) that got too little fanfare.  You were given a goal in each stage, along with a pile of parts you had to assemble to reach that goal, whether that be popping three balloons or shooting a basketball into a hoop.  In the stage from this screen shot, I once successfully stacked two bowling balls on top of each other.  Real physics be damned!  I never did find a full version of this game, but the eight levels from the demo really tickled my brain.

3)  Sim Tower



I know.  I know.  Some of you are crying "LAME!" right now.  But really, once you got past the fact that this game wasn't shiny or easy to play, it was a pretty cool game.  I spent hours trying to place condos in order to garner more rent so I could afford to put in more elevators for my ever-annoyed tenants.  And who could ever forget that roach symbol when hotel rooms got dirty?  They spread like...well...roaches.  It may not have been the crown jewel of the Maxis line up (oh, THAT'S who was making games besides Sierra!), but it was a really reat game that no one played.

2)  Marble Drop



I had one of these sets when I was little, and every time I go home for a holiday, I play with it.  How cool was it, then, when I found this game in a collection of other games I bought on a whim.  It was the marble set you always dreamed of, and you never had to clean it up!  At times I wished I could pick it up, because it was sometimes so frustrating I wanted to hurl it across the room.  But even then, it was pretty fricking phenomenal.  Good learning curve and great challenges nabbed the number two spot on my list!

And now for the number one computer game you've never played:

1)  Baldies



Whoever came up with the idea of pitting different colors of little bald men against each other with traps such as skunks and land mines (my personal favorite combination) needs both detox AND a round of applause!  You took control (literally, with a giant hand) of a tribe of red-garbed bald men, assigning them jobs like builder, military, scientist, etc, and worked to rid the map of whatever other colors were there.  Once your builders had completed a house, you piled your Baldies inside of it and assigned them to rooms (mating by jumping on the bed, researching weapons or new houses and castles, etc.), and then you prayed you'd develop things faster than your enemy so he wouldn't kill all your men.  And with a little help from the F8 key, you spawned a million men and conquered!  It was sick, it was twisted, and you could drop a rabbit in a bear trap.  It was everything I wanted when I was a teenager!  That's why it ends up at number one on my list of the Top 5 Computer Games You've Never Played.

I certainly hope you enjoyed this installment.  And please, if you played it, let me know!  I hate being alone in my bliss!

Out

Rain All Week...

Yup.  That's the forecast around here.  And do you know what I say to that?  Bring it on!

I went out and rode my bike today, since it doesn't look like I'm going to get the chance to do it later in the week.  It was the usual ride, with the trail through trees and the beautiful houses around campus.  I took a short tour of the frisbee golf field in town, too, and let me tell you.  Apparently shirtless frisbee golf is a popular pastime.  And now, so is riding the path through the frisbee golf field.  Can we say hot?  I even got an eyebrow raise from some cute guy...

Anycreeper, it was a nice, long ride.  About an hour all over town, and I didn't even cruise by Water Works.  So there!

The sky was beautiful.



See?

And all that blockage I talked about the other day?



Gone!  (Apparently it wanted to upload this one today and not when I needed it...)  I even saw two guys kicking their way downstream on what looked to be a makeshift inflatable raft.  Cool!  It must have held up, because I saw them again a bit downstream.

All this riding makes me wish I had a better seat...and a water bottle holder.  And a lock.  And a little pouch to carry my wallet/keys/phone/etc so I don't haave these HUGE pockets.  My ass probably looks like a woodchuck...

Enough about my ass, though.  I'm hoping to ride enough to NOT have a farmer's tan when we go to San Diego.  Although, is a wife-beater tan any better?  I can't win.

And now there's supposedt o be rain all week.  Time to stay in and play Chrono Cross on the Playstation.  I never fninshed that old gem the first time through.  Maybe I'll make it this time.

Out

Obligatory Update...

Okay, all. Obviously there's nothing exciting going on in my life right now. If there were, I'd be updating. The last post I actually wrote was for my other blog, and all it contained was a snippet about how sometimes, when I eat peach yogurt, all I can taste is cheese.

It's true.

What's going on in my life?

I'm saving for vacation.
I rode my bike 5.5 miles.
I am sunburned and entering that itchy stage.
Punch Out!! for the Wii is phenomenal. It's every bit as good as the original NES game and maybe even better.
I repeat, "There you are. Have a nice day." seven hundred thousand times a week.
I got bitten by our cat the other day.
My boyfriend is still a gimp, but he's getting better.
I'm off Monday. Bank holiday.

Other than that...there's really nothing going on. So...my apologies for not updating.

Out