New Zombies...
Monday, June 17, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
Weekend Review: June 8th & 9th
Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!
Gunpoint
I've been following allowing with Gunpoint's development since early 2011. Before it had great art and a smooth jazz soundtrack. The core concept stands up on it's own just fine. 2D stealth and puzzle mechanics. More specifically rewiring the electronics in the building you are infiltrating to remove obstacles. The light switch, you know, the one that turns on lights. Now it opens the door you wanted to sneak through or better yet short circuits the socket next to a guard and murders him. If it was just that it would be a good time, but it also has the art and soundtrack mentioned earlier. Plus a story that is worth reading and interactive dialogue that is pretty damn humorous. It's a great game. I just wish there was more of it, I completed it right at three hours. What you get in that three hours though feels like a new experience in gaming. Maybe? Or maybe it is just Elevator Action evolved. It is a marvelous little game either way.
The Man with the Iron Fists
The Rza writing/directing/acting in his own movie, is a piece of information that would have created no pause in me in high school. I was in a full 36 Chambers spiral. I would have been there for the midnight release. Then came Bobby Digital and the downfall of the clan. When he (Rza) popped up producing the Kill Bill soundtrack though, it seemed like a perfect match. 9 years later, after studying under Tarantino, Rza put out his own film. A small part of me wanted to believe. Then the reviews came in and I knew in my heart of hearts that I shouldn't see it. Well over the weekend I did. It was not good. Bad writing, acting and editing. The only thing that kept me watching was decent fight choreography and illogical devotion to the Wu.
Kingdom Rush: Frontiers
A long anticipated sequel to a game I've probably logged near one hundred iPad hours with. I played through the regular game, then three all levels of difficulty and then finally through the DLC. I wrung it dry. So when Frontiers came out this week and was getting mixed reviews for being more of the same, I signed right up. More of the game I already loved, sure. There are slight changes to the formula and plenty of new towers and enemies, but at it's core is the game I wanted. Heroes now have persistent levels/skills and feel more useful on the map. The harder difficulties and challenges are still tough as hell. It is more like a Kingdom Rush expansion than sequel and I am perfectly happy with that.
Gunpoint
I've been following allowing with Gunpoint's development since early 2011. Before it had great art and a smooth jazz soundtrack. The core concept stands up on it's own just fine. 2D stealth and puzzle mechanics. More specifically rewiring the electronics in the building you are infiltrating to remove obstacles. The light switch, you know, the one that turns on lights. Now it opens the door you wanted to sneak through or better yet short circuits the socket next to a guard and murders him. If it was just that it would be a good time, but it also has the art and soundtrack mentioned earlier. Plus a story that is worth reading and interactive dialogue that is pretty damn humorous. It's a great game. I just wish there was more of it, I completed it right at three hours. What you get in that three hours though feels like a new experience in gaming. Maybe? Or maybe it is just Elevator Action evolved. It is a marvelous little game either way.
The Man with the Iron Fists
The Rza writing/directing/acting in his own movie, is a piece of information that would have created no pause in me in high school. I was in a full 36 Chambers spiral. I would have been there for the midnight release. Then came Bobby Digital and the downfall of the clan. When he (Rza) popped up producing the Kill Bill soundtrack though, it seemed like a perfect match. 9 years later, after studying under Tarantino, Rza put out his own film. A small part of me wanted to believe. Then the reviews came in and I knew in my heart of hearts that I shouldn't see it. Well over the weekend I did. It was not good. Bad writing, acting and editing. The only thing that kept me watching was decent fight choreography and illogical devotion to the Wu.
Kingdom Rush: Frontiers
A long anticipated sequel to a game I've probably logged near one hundred iPad hours with. I played through the regular game, then three all levels of difficulty and then finally through the DLC. I wrung it dry. So when Frontiers came out this week and was getting mixed reviews for being more of the same, I signed right up. More of the game I already loved, sure. There are slight changes to the formula and plenty of new towers and enemies, but at it's core is the game I wanted. Heroes now have persistent levels/skills and feel more useful on the map. The harder difficulties and challenges are still tough as hell. It is more like a Kingdom Rush expansion than sequel and I am perfectly happy with that.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Weekend Review: June 1st & 2nd
Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
I dig unreliable narrators. Usually that comes in the form of a book, comic or movie. It is rarely executed well in a game. Gunslinger is the 4th game in a series that has had a rocky past. Thankfully it is uncoupled from the triple A story line. It follows a retired bounty hunter sitting at a bar recounting the tales of his past. He forgets details, occasionally exaggerates the truth or gets questioned by his audience. All of these elements play out in the game visually. Someone might jump in with a "the way I heard it..." and you play out that alternate past, then the game rewinds and you play what actually happened. The environment shifts and changes in real time to suit the story. All that and it looks pretty too for $15.
99% Invisible
The guys from Tested made a reference to a podcast they both listened to late last week. It was the story of how basketball went from peach baskets to an open net. I downloaded the episode of 99% Invisible and really enjoyed it. Like really really enjoyed it. I listened to a backlog of 15 old episodes over the weekend. They are short, think 15 to 25 minutes and they cover design. A lot of which is architecture focused,but there are many like the basketball episode too. Ten episodes in, to my random selection, the host (Roman Mars) made mention that his podcast was heavily influenced by The Memory Palace. Another podcast I love, that covers history in a very similar format. So consider that two recommendations.
Warhammer Quest
In the last year I've occasionally day dreamed of a mobile game that captured some of the joy that is table top gaming. Not dice rolls and beers with friends, but at least the dungeon crawling grid-ed maps. Then someone made just that. Warhammer Quest is a top down, turn based, dungeon crawler that lets you control a party of four. It dabbles a bit with a story, but the meat and potatoes is the tactical game play. Enter a dungeon, clear out the baddies and collect the loot. Of course there is an leveling system, loot upgrades and a handful of other mechanics too. It is pretty well rounded, but fells a bit repetitive already. Probably because I've spent too much time grinding on side quest. It is still worth $5 and your time.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
I dig unreliable narrators. Usually that comes in the form of a book, comic or movie. It is rarely executed well in a game. Gunslinger is the 4th game in a series that has had a rocky past. Thankfully it is uncoupled from the triple A story line. It follows a retired bounty hunter sitting at a bar recounting the tales of his past. He forgets details, occasionally exaggerates the truth or gets questioned by his audience. All of these elements play out in the game visually. Someone might jump in with a "the way I heard it..." and you play out that alternate past, then the game rewinds and you play what actually happened. The environment shifts and changes in real time to suit the story. All that and it looks pretty too for $15.
99% Invisible
The guys from Tested made a reference to a podcast they both listened to late last week. It was the story of how basketball went from peach baskets to an open net. I downloaded the episode of 99% Invisible and really enjoyed it. Like really really enjoyed it. I listened to a backlog of 15 old episodes over the weekend. They are short, think 15 to 25 minutes and they cover design. A lot of which is architecture focused,but there are many like the basketball episode too. Ten episodes in, to my random selection, the host (Roman Mars) made mention that his podcast was heavily influenced by The Memory Palace. Another podcast I love, that covers history in a very similar format. So consider that two recommendations.
Warhammer Quest
In the last year I've occasionally day dreamed of a mobile game that captured some of the joy that is table top gaming. Not dice rolls and beers with friends, but at least the dungeon crawling grid-ed maps. Then someone made just that. Warhammer Quest is a top down, turn based, dungeon crawler that lets you control a party of four. It dabbles a bit with a story, but the meat and potatoes is the tactical game play. Enter a dungeon, clear out the baddies and collect the loot. Of course there is an leveling system, loot upgrades and a handful of other mechanics too. It is pretty well rounded, but fells a bit repetitive already. Probably because I've spent too much time grinding on side quest. It is still worth $5 and your time.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Travi$ Scott – Owl Pharaoh
Pretty dope mixtape from Travi$ Scott. He is a producer for Kanye and signed to TI's label as an MC. So far so good, I've been listening to it a lot in the past week.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Weekend Review: May 25th & 26th
Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!
John Adams
Catching up on six to seven HBO series has been on my to-do list for ages. When I finally get around to one it is always worth it. John Adams is any easy pick. Seven parts that run an hour and a half each. It is not 100% historically accurate, but it gets the broad strokes right and gives opportunities to great actors to do their thing with the moments that founded this country. It is hard to steal an hour plus for TV these days, but this series seems like it will continue to be worth it.
Prison Architect
Sim City and EA shit the bed in March. Turns out I still wanted a deep building/management simulation. In steps Prison Architect. A small studio making a dense simulation of a prison. Build from the ground up, house minimum to maximum security prisoners, assign AI routines and try to prevent a riot or escape. The game has been in a public "alpha" for what seems like ages and is largely crowd funded without Kickstarter. At this point it is fun and feels close enough to a full game to warrant the risk of paying for and playing it in alpha.
Metro Last Light
In 2010 Metro 2033
sneaked in to my list of favorites. It was beautiful, dripped atmosphere and had a few bugs. It was flawed, but worthy of affection. Three years later I can say the same things of the sequel. It is prettier, plays in the same world as the original and has less bugs. All of that and some spark is gone. What was novel the first time through feels too more like an expansion than a innovation. Still worth the price of admission, but not worthy of the underground swell of support.
John Adams
Catching up on six to seven HBO series has been on my to-do list for ages. When I finally get around to one it is always worth it. John Adams is any easy pick. Seven parts that run an hour and a half each. It is not 100% historically accurate, but it gets the broad strokes right and gives opportunities to great actors to do their thing with the moments that founded this country. It is hard to steal an hour plus for TV these days, but this series seems like it will continue to be worth it.
Prison Architect
Sim City and EA shit the bed in March. Turns out I still wanted a deep building/management simulation. In steps Prison Architect. A small studio making a dense simulation of a prison. Build from the ground up, house minimum to maximum security prisoners, assign AI routines and try to prevent a riot or escape. The game has been in a public "alpha" for what seems like ages and is largely crowd funded without Kickstarter. At this point it is fun and feels close enough to a full game to warrant the risk of paying for and playing it in alpha.
Metro Last Light
In 2010 Metro 2033
sneaked in to my list of favorites. It was beautiful, dripped atmosphere and had a few bugs. It was flawed, but worthy of affection. Three years later I can say the same things of the sequel. It is prettier, plays in the same world as the original and has less bugs. All of that and some spark is gone. What was novel the first time through feels too more like an expansion than a innovation. Still worth the price of admission, but not worthy of the underground swell of support.Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Hidden Spice Rack
I have been kicking myself for going on eight years now for never making a hidden bookshelf door out of my workshop entrance. I would love to make something like the hidden spice rack above.
[Via: IKEA Hackers]
Monday, May 13, 2013
Weekend Review: May 11th & 12th
Every weekend there are new sights, sounds, and taste to consume. There are other sensory inputs that tickle my brain too, but saying there is stuff to feel sounds creepy. This is a weekly journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!
Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug
For the past three months we have been drinking tea, with splash of honey, every morning and have been doing so out of ultra cheap mugs. They are stained, don't hold their heat and hard to get clean. So this past week I sprung for two really nice mugs from Zojirushi (say it with gravel in your throat). Locking mechanism on the flip top lid, two part spout for easy cleaning, stainless steel body and 6 hours of hot or cold liquid. I had three cups of hot tea every day at work last week and it was fantastic. That is the only downside of course, it keeps the tea so hot you can't actually drink directly from it. So I pour a bit in a cup and enjoy. Which is better than the old mug that would offer up a third of it's liquid as lukewarm swill. Oh and I should have ordered the Japanese one.
Joey Badass
For some reason I slept on this MC for almost a year now. Watching him show up on collaborations I really enjoyed and never following up. This week(end) I grabbed his mixtape and put it into heavy rotation. The title "1999" is apt given how much of a throw back the beats and Joey's flow is. It evokes a lot of Wu Tang and MF Doom (he produced a few tracks) for me. 90's and early oughts staples that scratchs an itch I didn't know I was missing. Really looking forward to his album this fall.
Vice
After catching Game of Thrones every week, I usually stick around to watch a new documentary show from Vice magazine. It is often disturbing, usually covered with some amount of tact and always compelling. Each show is split in to three stories that all center around a theme. From different parts of the world topics are introduced, covered and don't usually get resolved. It is good, but Vice is actually to short. Many of the topics feel important, like they need room to breathe, time to tell all sides of the tale. It is only a half hour of television though and it covers three stories. Still worth a watch.
Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug
For the past three months we have been drinking tea, with splash of honey, every morning and have been doing so out of ultra cheap mugs. They are stained, don't hold their heat and hard to get clean. So this past week I sprung for two really nice mugs from Zojirushi (say it with gravel in your throat). Locking mechanism on the flip top lid, two part spout for easy cleaning, stainless steel body and 6 hours of hot or cold liquid. I had three cups of hot tea every day at work last week and it was fantastic. That is the only downside of course, it keeps the tea so hot you can't actually drink directly from it. So I pour a bit in a cup and enjoy. Which is better than the old mug that would offer up a third of it's liquid as lukewarm swill. Oh and I should have ordered the Japanese one.
Joey Badass
For some reason I slept on this MC for almost a year now. Watching him show up on collaborations I really enjoyed and never following up. This week(end) I grabbed his mixtape and put it into heavy rotation. The title "1999" is apt given how much of a throw back the beats and Joey's flow is. It evokes a lot of Wu Tang and MF Doom (he produced a few tracks) for me. 90's and early oughts staples that scratchs an itch I didn't know I was missing. Really looking forward to his album this fall.
Vice
After catching Game of Thrones every week, I usually stick around to watch a new documentary show from Vice magazine. It is often disturbing, usually covered with some amount of tact and always compelling. Each show is split in to three stories that all center around a theme. From different parts of the world topics are introduced, covered and don't usually get resolved. It is good, but Vice is actually to short. Many of the topics feel important, like they need room to breathe, time to tell all sides of the tale. It is only a half hour of television though and it covers three stories. Still worth a watch.
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