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!
Work has been hell of busy, but I've been doing a lot...Everything must go!
Games
Orcs Must Die! 2
I dig tower defense games, but they are usually top down, mobile and solo affairs. Orcs Must Die! takes the tower defense concept and puts into the third dimension. Instead of towers you place traps and control a war mage that is part of the battle as well. The controls are a lot like playing WoW and by that I mean I jump unnecessarily every two seconds. The later levels get hard and thankfully there is two player coop to solve for that. It is part of the latest Humble Bundle (which tomorrow). You get the first game too, which I might up playing as well.
Magicka
I jumped on this game when it first came out in 2011. It was awkward to control (but fun), quirky in it's presentation and a good laugh to play coop. The initial group didn't make it far. I'd call them casual gamers and mean it in the nicest way possible. I tried to continue playing it on my own, but the game gets brutally hard pretty quickly. Jump to this month in this year. The most recent Humble Bundle came with Magicka and all it's DLC. I got Skip and my brother to get copies and we've been playing it every night. The challenge for three players is perfect. We struggle through boss fights and laugh our asses off when we blow each other up.
COD: Ghost
This
franchise feels like it is on it's last leg. It is the tenth proper
game in the series that remains a cash cow, so they keep making one a year. The multiplayer is still fun,
but it might as well be a map and gun pack DLC. Save the fact that
the leap frogging developing cycle sees gaps in the feature set every year.
They made a huge deal out of the pick ten system in BLOPs 2. It was going to revolutionize the game. So of course Ghost made their own watered down/less good version this year. I still enjoy playing COD with my buddies, but there is nothing new or special about it anymore. Titanfall can't get here soon enough.
Tilt to Live 2
Tilt to Live was the first mobile (smart phone) game I spent an extraordinary amount of time with. The longest a game would take, if you were really crushing it, was 3 minutes tops. You control an arrow that is trying to avoid and destroy red dots. It plays a lot like Geometry Wars, but replace the dual sticks with tilting your phone. Your next high score is only a game away so keep playing forever! Or as long as you are in the bathroom. Sadly the follow up game doesn't introduce enough new stuff to make me want to play it like the first. That or I had my fill the first time around. If you've never played it, give it a shot. If you played and liked the first, this is more of the same.
Max Payne 3
The matrix and more importantly the public's introduction to bullet time came in 1999. Sadly the movie tie in games that followed were shit. In 2001 Max Payne released with a gritty noir story and game mechanics that captured bullet time in a way that was fun. Not a small feat. The sequel that followed in 2003 only added to that formula. Nine years, a terrible movie and a troubled development cycle later and Max Payne 3 came out. Gone is the noir feel, the semi understandable story and the bullet time. Cover mechanics killed what made the first to games distinct. Now when you jump out from cover and slow down time you will very likely land on the ground and get shot to death. Without interesting game play one would hope the story did some heavy lifting. Nope, the story has got better things to do.
Music
Clipse
After really digging the new Pusha T, I went and bought all three of the Clipse albums. I was late to the party, but now understand were all the admiration comes from. There is some incredible music to be unearthed here. A lot of Neptunes produced tracks that I was already familiar with, but didn't know were Clipse songs. Bravo!
Action Bronson - Blue Chips 2
My first listen to Action's new mixtape was mixed bag of good tracks and some stuff that was really off putting. I stuck with it though and it grew on me in the past month. Party Supplies produces tracks that are just plain fun. The result of which is Action taking that fun vibe and putting together raps that are creative and light in their flow. A great pairing. Starting out thinking I'd remove it from my phone and taking a turn to liking it has been great. It is somewhere in my mixtapes of the year now.
Reading
Storm Front (Dresden Files)
It is a bit daunting to start up long running fiction series. The Dresden Files will be up to fifteen books next year. Thankfully the first book is only 300+ pages, which for me is only 8 hours of audio. In audio Storm Front plays a bit like a radio narrative. The first person hardboiled P.I. story blended with the super natural (magic) world played great in 20-40 minute chunks. I can't wait to start the next one.
Avengers Arena
Another great comic recommendation from Ethan. AA stands on the shoulders of Lord of the Flies, Battle Royale, and Hunger Games to tell a similar story in the Marvel universe. It is a silly premise that is well executed. I wasn't familiar with any of the characters on offer, which I think made it better. The characters get quick, but meaningful introductions and then are set to surviving and killing each other. The writing is on point and it looks great too.
Showing posts with label apps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label apps. Show all posts
Monday, December 16, 2013
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Weekend Review: Nov 2nd & 3rd
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!
Sawbones
Last years late September weekend review, included a podcast called Satellite Dish. A show about television from a husband and wife duo I was already familiar with. The show was rough around the edges and inconsistent when TV was inconsistent. Which was often. Thankfully the pair is back with a new podcast about medical history. This time around the humor is still very high and they have the content to match it. Focusing every week on a new subject they poke fun at often wild path that we have taken to get to modern medicine.
Pusha T - My Name Is My Name
Probably the biggest gap in my hip hop knowledge and appreciation is the Clipse. Their music is a total blind spot and they are from Virginia Beach. After just under a month of listening to the fantastic debut album from Pusha T, I am bound and determined to get up on the Clipse now. It is that damn good. Lots of great featured artist and an all-star listing of producers and beats. I posted the song Nosetalgia back in September and the full album lives up to it's potential.
Cycloramic
It is extremely rare these days for me to be surprised by technology. I'm increasingly becoming a cranky cynic in the space, especially when it comes to phones. Sure I will get a wow moment from the latest Boston Dynamics video, but what is surprising about more cores and higher megapixels? This weekend I saw something that actually blew my mind. If only a little. Cycloramic is an iPhone app for the 5 and 5s. It takes panoramic photos/videos and can do so completely hands free. Set your phone vertically on a smooth surface (e.g. dinning room table) and it will use the phones vibrate feature to rotate it around 360 degrees snapping photos along the way. What you get is less impressive. There have been apps for stitching together panoramas for years now. The novelty of seeing your little phone come alive however is totally worth sharing.
Sawbones
Last years late September weekend review, included a podcast called Satellite Dish. A show about television from a husband and wife duo I was already familiar with. The show was rough around the edges and inconsistent when TV was inconsistent. Which was often. Thankfully the pair is back with a new podcast about medical history. This time around the humor is still very high and they have the content to match it. Focusing every week on a new subject they poke fun at often wild path that we have taken to get to modern medicine.
Pusha T - My Name Is My Name
Probably the biggest gap in my hip hop knowledge and appreciation is the Clipse. Their music is a total blind spot and they are from Virginia Beach. After just under a month of listening to the fantastic debut album from Pusha T, I am bound and determined to get up on the Clipse now. It is that damn good. Lots of great featured artist and an all-star listing of producers and beats. I posted the song Nosetalgia back in September and the full album lives up to it's potential.
Cycloramic
It is extremely rare these days for me to be surprised by technology. I'm increasingly becoming a cranky cynic in the space, especially when it comes to phones. Sure I will get a wow moment from the latest Boston Dynamics video, but what is surprising about more cores and higher megapixels? This weekend I saw something that actually blew my mind. If only a little. Cycloramic is an iPhone app for the 5 and 5s. It takes panoramic photos/videos and can do so completely hands free. Set your phone vertically on a smooth surface (e.g. dinning room table) and it will use the phones vibrate feature to rotate it around 360 degrees snapping photos along the way. What you get is less impressive. There have been apps for stitching together panoramas for years now. The novelty of seeing your little phone come alive however is totally worth sharing.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Weekend Review: Oct 26th & 27th
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!
Gravity
I've never had a fear of space before. It is such a foreign concept, so abstract when presented through the lens of a book or television, that it never really occurred to me. Gravity is a fictional take on space that presents story first, but also uses visual effects and sound to make the vast emptiness of space tangible. Bullock and Clooney do a great job in their roles, but the third character is outer space. We saw the film in 3D and for the first time I felt like it actually added something. More stunning spectacle than zero calorie novelty. It was amazing and deserving of the stellar reviews it has received.
The Stanley Parable
What this is, is hard to describe. It's a game for the PC that spawned from a source mod in 2011. That much is easy enough. What the game actually does though is much harder. It is not a puzzle game, as much as it is a mind fuck. Most "gamers" have played enough to know the tropes, language and mechanics of a modern video game. This one turns all of that on it's ear. It constantly breaks the fourth wall and does so in clever and humorous ways. You explore the ins and outs a world that is masterfully narrated and never what you expect it to be. You should play it and will love it when you do. Very much like portal, but not like it at all, it's strange and wonderful.
Boson X
I've spent a surprising amount of time with the endless runner genre. Almost exclusively on mobile devices. Subway Surfers has been my on again off again sweetheart for a year now. So when a new kid shows up on the block I'm willing take a look. Boson X sets you running down the center of a particle accelerator, represented by swirling polygonal shapes. You jump left and right to keep moving and collecting enough research ("collisions") to discover a new particle and finish the level. It is harder than most runners and very akin to Super Hexagon in it's pace and sometimes brutal difficulty.
Gravity
I've never had a fear of space before. It is such a foreign concept, so abstract when presented through the lens of a book or television, that it never really occurred to me. Gravity is a fictional take on space that presents story first, but also uses visual effects and sound to make the vast emptiness of space tangible. Bullock and Clooney do a great job in their roles, but the third character is outer space. We saw the film in 3D and for the first time I felt like it actually added something. More stunning spectacle than zero calorie novelty. It was amazing and deserving of the stellar reviews it has received.
The Stanley Parable
What this is, is hard to describe. It's a game for the PC that spawned from a source mod in 2011. That much is easy enough. What the game actually does though is much harder. It is not a puzzle game, as much as it is a mind fuck. Most "gamers" have played enough to know the tropes, language and mechanics of a modern video game. This one turns all of that on it's ear. It constantly breaks the fourth wall and does so in clever and humorous ways. You explore the ins and outs a world that is masterfully narrated and never what you expect it to be. You should play it and will love it when you do. Very much like portal, but not like it at all, it's strange and wonderful.
Boson X
I've spent a surprising amount of time with the endless runner genre. Almost exclusively on mobile devices. Subway Surfers has been my on again off again sweetheart for a year now. So when a new kid shows up on the block I'm willing take a look. Boson X sets you running down the center of a particle accelerator, represented by swirling polygonal shapes. You jump left and right to keep moving and collecting enough research ("collisions") to discover a new particle and finish the level. It is harder than most runners and very akin to Super Hexagon in it's pace and sometimes brutal difficulty.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Weekend Review: July 6th & 7th
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!
Ginormous 4th of July long weekend wrap up incoming I've been heads down on work and home projects for two weeks now and dipped out on writing here as a result. So without further ado, the weekend review...and most of June too:
Games
Dead Ahead (iOS)
Another game I fell in love with in the endless runner genre. I get really wrapped up in the repetitive nature of "just one more run". Dead Ahead is a 2D side-scroller set in a zombie apocalypse. You play a protagonist on a dirt bike running from a zombie hoard. The only way to keep them back is to accelerate or shoot (risky) them (limited ammo). The obstacles ahead of you include more zombies (that will slow you down) and cars (that will end your run). The mechanics and controls are solid. The pixel art and animation has a chibi look and is quite pretty. All that and it is free. It is ad supported though, so I dropped the $0.99 required to remove them. Well worth the price.
Deep Dungeons of Doom (iOS)
Triple D looks a bit like the combat portion of a JRPG. You control a hero on the left side of the screen and the creatures you face appear opposite you. It is real time and all you can do is block and attack. That sounds basic and it is, but the beauty is in the timing. Creatures can block and attack as well and learning their tells is a big part of the game. That is made easier by the fantastic pixel art and animation (noticing a theme?). This is a another free one, but unlike Dead Ahead the model for profit is not based on ads. After 5-6 dungeons D3 presents a pay wall. Pay $1.99 for 6 additional dungeons in not one, but two instances. Each dungeon took me maybe 4-5 minutes to complete. At that rate, I was good with the hour I spent with the game, but did not continue.
Block, Block, Block (iOS)
Block x 3 is a simple and beautiful concept. It takes the match 3 puzzle genre and places a hard emphasis on the puzzle element. You presented with multiple squares in pastel tones and are asked to solve the puzzles by matching three. The challenge comes in when you are presented multiple colors and a limited set of moves to complete the puzzle. Crystal and I both spent multiple hours stumped on various puzzles over the weekend. Another free one by the way.
Don't Starve (PC)
Klei Entertainment, makers of Mark of the Ninja (ma jam!) made ma new jam too. Don't Starve is a 2D-ish (it's a 3D engine with 2D assets) open world game in the vein of Minecraft. That is to say it is a survival game where the environment you are in provides the materials you'll need to survive. What makes the game intriguing beyond being another open world survival game is the amount of trust placed in the player. The game opens with an unnamed man who instructs you to find food before night fall and poofs away. From that point on there are no instructions. The tool tips provided for left and right clicking different things in the world are all you have. What is good for you and what can kill is a trial by error process. The reward is mastering the consistent systems in the world, not starving and ultimately thriving. Bonus content: Great article and video about Klei
Card Hunter (PC)
I got into the beta of Card Hunter mid-last week and spent two plus hours with the tutorial and a handful of encounters. The game's concept is a novel one. RPG video games originated from the tabletop and quickly did away with any of the tangible elements related to it. Dice rolls where under the hood and the character sheets turned into UI elements. Card Hunter is a game that brings the tabletop back to the screen. Your powers are actual skeuomorphic cards and your party looks like character tokens stood up on a grided map. The narrator is a geeky DM who makes references to snacking while laying the story elements on really thick. It is great and the beta is free, after a short wait to get in of course. How long I play it will hinge on how much the multiplayer hooks me though. My kingdom for some co-op.
Music
Run the Jewels
Killer Mike and EL-P are two artist I can take in small doses most of the time. Too much and I go elsewhere with my musical taste. Combine the two though and you get a Reese's Cup of hip hop. Beats and raps from EL-P that are less experimental and a Killer Mike that is more consistent. I've listened to it on repeat for two weeks now and there is still a ton to love about nearly every part of this record.
Yeezus
My first listen to Kayne's much hyped and long anticipated new record was a good one. It was mostly listening to the beats and less so the lyrics. That is typical of how I usually consume music. I really liked what I heard at first. After three to four more plays though I started to focus in on the lyrics. What some might call controversial lyrics I found to be whiny. At this point he is a person of privilege. He certainly didn't start that way and he worked hard to make himself what he is now. There is a lot of complaining on this record for someone who has much more than probably 99% of those listening to it.
MMA
UFC 162 (Spoilers)
Anderson Silva finally got caught fucking around. He is an amazingly talented fighter. Arguably the GOAT in a very young sport, but he likes to openly mock his opponents. Most have no where near the talent as him, but instead of putting them away he sometimes extends rounds and whole fights just screwing around. It was disrespectful for sure, legitimately impressive and made for some awful main cards. Either age (he is 38), the level talent or luck caught up with him Saturday night. A moment after he pretended to be wobbled by a punch, he bobbed and weaved his way back into left hook from the young and talented Chris Weidman. The now former champ went limp to the mat, eyes rolled back in his head and saw an embarrassing end to his 10 fight title defense.
Ginormous 4th of July long weekend wrap up incoming I've been heads down on work and home projects for two weeks now and dipped out on writing here as a result. So without further ado, the weekend review...and most of June too:
Games
Dead Ahead (iOS)
Another game I fell in love with in the endless runner genre. I get really wrapped up in the repetitive nature of "just one more run". Dead Ahead is a 2D side-scroller set in a zombie apocalypse. You play a protagonist on a dirt bike running from a zombie hoard. The only way to keep them back is to accelerate or shoot (risky) them (limited ammo). The obstacles ahead of you include more zombies (that will slow you down) and cars (that will end your run). The mechanics and controls are solid. The pixel art and animation has a chibi look and is quite pretty. All that and it is free. It is ad supported though, so I dropped the $0.99 required to remove them. Well worth the price.
Deep Dungeons of Doom (iOS)
Triple D looks a bit like the combat portion of a JRPG. You control a hero on the left side of the screen and the creatures you face appear opposite you. It is real time and all you can do is block and attack. That sounds basic and it is, but the beauty is in the timing. Creatures can block and attack as well and learning their tells is a big part of the game. That is made easier by the fantastic pixel art and animation (noticing a theme?). This is a another free one, but unlike Dead Ahead the model for profit is not based on ads. After 5-6 dungeons D3 presents a pay wall. Pay $1.99 for 6 additional dungeons in not one, but two instances. Each dungeon took me maybe 4-5 minutes to complete. At that rate, I was good with the hour I spent with the game, but did not continue.
Block, Block, Block (iOS)
Block x 3 is a simple and beautiful concept. It takes the match 3 puzzle genre and places a hard emphasis on the puzzle element. You presented with multiple squares in pastel tones and are asked to solve the puzzles by matching three. The challenge comes in when you are presented multiple colors and a limited set of moves to complete the puzzle. Crystal and I both spent multiple hours stumped on various puzzles over the weekend. Another free one by the way.
Don't Starve (PC)
Klei Entertainment, makers of Mark of the Ninja (ma jam!) made ma new jam too. Don't Starve is a 2D-ish (it's a 3D engine with 2D assets) open world game in the vein of Minecraft. That is to say it is a survival game where the environment you are in provides the materials you'll need to survive. What makes the game intriguing beyond being another open world survival game is the amount of trust placed in the player. The game opens with an unnamed man who instructs you to find food before night fall and poofs away. From that point on there are no instructions. The tool tips provided for left and right clicking different things in the world are all you have. What is good for you and what can kill is a trial by error process. The reward is mastering the consistent systems in the world, not starving and ultimately thriving. Bonus content: Great article and video about Klei
Card Hunter (PC)
I got into the beta of Card Hunter mid-last week and spent two plus hours with the tutorial and a handful of encounters. The game's concept is a novel one. RPG video games originated from the tabletop and quickly did away with any of the tangible elements related to it. Dice rolls where under the hood and the character sheets turned into UI elements. Card Hunter is a game that brings the tabletop back to the screen. Your powers are actual skeuomorphic cards and your party looks like character tokens stood up on a grided map. The narrator is a geeky DM who makes references to snacking while laying the story elements on really thick. It is great and the beta is free, after a short wait to get in of course. How long I play it will hinge on how much the multiplayer hooks me though. My kingdom for some co-op.
Music
Run the Jewels
Killer Mike and EL-P are two artist I can take in small doses most of the time. Too much and I go elsewhere with my musical taste. Combine the two though and you get a Reese's Cup of hip hop. Beats and raps from EL-P that are less experimental and a Killer Mike that is more consistent. I've listened to it on repeat for two weeks now and there is still a ton to love about nearly every part of this record.
Yeezus
My first listen to Kayne's much hyped and long anticipated new record was a good one. It was mostly listening to the beats and less so the lyrics. That is typical of how I usually consume music. I really liked what I heard at first. After three to four more plays though I started to focus in on the lyrics. What some might call controversial lyrics I found to be whiny. At this point he is a person of privilege. He certainly didn't start that way and he worked hard to make himself what he is now. There is a lot of complaining on this record for someone who has much more than probably 99% of those listening to it.
MMA
UFC 162 (Spoilers)
Anderson Silva finally got caught fucking around. He is an amazingly talented fighter. Arguably the GOAT in a very young sport, but he likes to openly mock his opponents. Most have no where near the talent as him, but instead of putting them away he sometimes extends rounds and whole fights just screwing around. It was disrespectful for sure, legitimately impressive and made for some awful main cards. Either age (he is 38), the level talent or luck caught up with him Saturday night. A moment after he pretended to be wobbled by a punch, he bobbed and weaved his way back into left hook from the young and talented Chris Weidman. The now former champ went limp to the mat, eyes rolled back in his head and saw an embarrassing end to his 10 fight title defense.
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.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Weekend Review: May 4th & 5th
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!
Assassination Vacation
On a weekend where my body was riddle with sickness, it was nice to catch a few moments to myself and listen to a new book. Sarah Vowell's work is not new to me, I read Unfamiliar Fishes last summer and The Partly Cloudy Patriot ages ago. I've been meaning to catch up on the rest for a while, so when my new Audible credit dinged it was an easy pick. Though probably not the most efficient use of my subscription. It is short, but full of the humor, interesting facts and true tales that I love about her writing. It covers the three assassinated presidents (Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley) and admittedly I knew nothing of them, save Lincoln of course.Fun Gruesome fact: Robert Lincoln (the oldest son) was present at all three assassinations.
Star Command
FTL was fantastic little indie game that came out last Fall. It was a roguelike in space, with pixel graphics that was fun to replay over and over again. All that and I put in for maybe four hours of it. It was a PC game that should have been a mobile game. Every time I sat down to play there were a handle full of more substantial games waiting to be played. Star Command beat them to the punch. Making their own pixel game in space. It is not a roguelike, it actually has a story, but the game play mechanics feel very similar. How much replay value there is I have yet to see, but all it takes is 10-15 free minutes on the couch to have a go at it.
Guacamelee!
Another indie game and another piece of gaming vocabulary for you dear reader: metroidvania. Guacamelee is just that with 2D vector art that pops off the screen. A labyrinth to explore and conquer with a hero brought back from the grave by a magical luchador mask. It has a certain charm that my four year old son and I love. You learn new combinations from a giant chicken and get new powers from an elderly man disguised as a goat. Plus the controls are tight and the difficulty is hard, but not bone crushing. Worth a play if you have a PS3 sitting around collecting dust.
Assassination Vacation
On a weekend where my body was riddle with sickness, it was nice to catch a few moments to myself and listen to a new book. Sarah Vowell's work is not new to me, I read Unfamiliar Fishes last summer and The Partly Cloudy Patriot ages ago. I've been meaning to catch up on the rest for a while, so when my new Audible credit dinged it was an easy pick. Though probably not the most efficient use of my subscription. It is short, but full of the humor, interesting facts and true tales that I love about her writing. It covers the three assassinated presidents (Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley) and admittedly I knew nothing of them, save Lincoln of course.
Star Command
FTL was fantastic little indie game that came out last Fall. It was a roguelike in space, with pixel graphics that was fun to replay over and over again. All that and I put in for maybe four hours of it. It was a PC game that should have been a mobile game. Every time I sat down to play there were a handle full of more substantial games waiting to be played. Star Command beat them to the punch. Making their own pixel game in space. It is not a roguelike, it actually has a story, but the game play mechanics feel very similar. How much replay value there is I have yet to see, but all it takes is 10-15 free minutes on the couch to have a go at it.
Guacamelee!
Another indie game and another piece of gaming vocabulary for you dear reader: metroidvania. Guacamelee is just that with 2D vector art that pops off the screen. A labyrinth to explore and conquer with a hero brought back from the grave by a magical luchador mask. It has a certain charm that my four year old son and I love. You learn new combinations from a giant chicken and get new powers from an elderly man disguised as a goat. Plus the controls are tight and the difficulty is hard, but not bone crushing. Worth a play if you have a PS3 sitting around collecting dust.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Weekend Review: Apr 6th & 7th
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!
BioShock Infinite
I never played System Shock, maybe I'd be going deeper into the origin of the Shocks if I had, but the first BioShock game holds a special place in my heart. It is nearly a perfect game. Great storytelling, both directly and through it's rich world, interesting game play and stellar art design. It had flaws, but they were easy to look past. So Infinite had a tall, as tall as can be, order looming over it. Be better than it's best in class big brother.
Thankfully it did, it took the depth and lived in world of BioShock and made it feel open. You are still mostly on a rail, literally in fact, but the open skies and floating world of Columbia create the illusion of an open environment you could go anywhere in. Some of the story is still delivered in recordings, but the major change is an ever present companion in Elizabeth. She has is not an escort quest, she pushes the story along and you can live through her well acted emotion (though thankfully your character has a voice too). The whole game is a masterpiece, high praise, but not hyperbole, it is seriously that good.
Ridiculous Fishing
The same day I picked up Super Stickman Golf 2 I also picked up Ridiculous Fishing. SSG2 has been a household (my brother, my 4 yr old and me) and trip (Pittsburgh last week) favorite, but Ridiculous Fishing is pretty good too. Part bullet hell, shooting gallery and all around weird, it is glued together with a minimalistic art style that just works. Like Super Hexagon you can start and end a round in under a minute usually, unlike Hexagon a less than world beating performance is still a net gain. Earning you cash toward gear upgrades that should make the next run just a little easier.
G.I. JOE: Cobra Civil War
If a future-me showed up in 2012 to let past-me know that I'd be burning through G.I. Joe comics at a ravenous pace and enjoying every moment. Past-me would first ask for the Super Bowl winner, but then he would walk away from future-me in disbelief. I am absolutely loving this run of Joe comics. Throw out the childhood memories and franchise recognition and it is just fantastic military and espionage writing. In this arc IDW used three different books (Snake Eyes, G.I. Joe and Cobra) to tell one huge story of multiple character arcs and overlapping story lines that ended in a new Cobra Commander being picked. The numbering was mildly confusing, but the whole thing was great.
BioShock Infinite
I never played System Shock, maybe I'd be going deeper into the origin of the Shocks if I had, but the first BioShock game holds a special place in my heart. It is nearly a perfect game. Great storytelling, both directly and through it's rich world, interesting game play and stellar art design. It had flaws, but they were easy to look past. So Infinite had a tall, as tall as can be, order looming over it. Be better than it's best in class big brother.
Thankfully it did, it took the depth and lived in world of BioShock and made it feel open. You are still mostly on a rail, literally in fact, but the open skies and floating world of Columbia create the illusion of an open environment you could go anywhere in. Some of the story is still delivered in recordings, but the major change is an ever present companion in Elizabeth. She has is not an escort quest, she pushes the story along and you can live through her well acted emotion (though thankfully your character has a voice too). The whole game is a masterpiece, high praise, but not hyperbole, it is seriously that good.
Ridiculous Fishing
The same day I picked up Super Stickman Golf 2 I also picked up Ridiculous Fishing. SSG2 has been a household (my brother, my 4 yr old and me) and trip (Pittsburgh last week) favorite, but Ridiculous Fishing is pretty good too. Part bullet hell, shooting gallery and all around weird, it is glued together with a minimalistic art style that just works. Like Super Hexagon you can start and end a round in under a minute usually, unlike Hexagon a less than world beating performance is still a net gain. Earning you cash toward gear upgrades that should make the next run just a little easier.
G.I. JOE: Cobra Civil War
If a future-me showed up in 2012 to let past-me know that I'd be burning through G.I. Joe comics at a ravenous pace and enjoying every moment. Past-me would first ask for the Super Bowl winner, but then he would walk away from future-me in disbelief. I am absolutely loving this run of Joe comics. Throw out the childhood memories and franchise recognition and it is just fantastic military and espionage writing. In this arc IDW used three different books (Snake Eyes, G.I. Joe and Cobra) to tell one huge story of multiple character arcs and overlapping story lines that ended in a new Cobra Commander being picked. The numbering was mildly confusing, but the whole thing was great.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Weekend Review: Mar 23rd & 24th
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!
Skyfall
It is rare that we get to catch movies these days (I repeat this a lot). 2012 is a laundry list of movies we missed on top of the stuff I have not seen from 2011. I decided to tackle Bond first, because I love Bond. After swooning over Casino Royale and taking a swift gut punch from Quantum of Solace, I was ready for another great one. Skyfall is that by a mile. The story moves, but not without giving itself room to breathe. Javier Bardem is an ultra creepy villain, though I already knew that. All around it is a fantastic movie and also a great addition to the Bond series.
Super Stickman Golf 2
I never got down with the first game from Noodlecake Studios. Nothing against them, but "stickman" games are usually throw away flash novelties and just the word golf makes my eyes do back flips. Luckily a drought of iOS games had me looking last week for something new. SSG2 just so happened to come out and get great reviews. It is a golf game, but it is a golf game with a complete disregard for reality. Upside-down swinging from a rotating platform with a magnetized ball kind of disregard. It is great, a perfect fit for the iPad and a lazy afternoon of March Madness watching. There is asynchronous multiplayer too, but I have yet to try it. Get at me!
G.I. Joe: COBRA
My childhood was filled with G.I. Joe toys, shows and pajamas. Outside of the rare return from the past though, I don't have much time for dem Joes these days. Nor would I think to read a comic series about them. The COBRA series is barely Joe story though. After five trade paperbacks I can't remember one red or blue laser. It is set in the world of G.I. Joe, but the story is fully self serious. It focuses on Joes going undercover to infiltrate Cobra and the messed up twist and turns that they face along the way. It is superb writing laid on top of great art, definitely worth a read.
Skyfall
It is rare that we get to catch movies these days (I repeat this a lot). 2012 is a laundry list of movies we missed on top of the stuff I have not seen from 2011. I decided to tackle Bond first, because I love Bond. After swooning over Casino Royale and taking a swift gut punch from Quantum of Solace, I was ready for another great one. Skyfall is that by a mile. The story moves, but not without giving itself room to breathe. Javier Bardem is an ultra creepy villain, though I already knew that. All around it is a fantastic movie and also a great addition to the Bond series.
Super Stickman Golf 2
I never got down with the first game from Noodlecake Studios. Nothing against them, but "stickman" games are usually throw away flash novelties and just the word golf makes my eyes do back flips. Luckily a drought of iOS games had me looking last week for something new. SSG2 just so happened to come out and get great reviews. It is a golf game, but it is a golf game with a complete disregard for reality. Upside-down swinging from a rotating platform with a magnetized ball kind of disregard. It is great, a perfect fit for the iPad and a lazy afternoon of March Madness watching. There is asynchronous multiplayer too, but I have yet to try it. Get at me!
G.I. Joe: COBRA
My childhood was filled with G.I. Joe toys, shows and pajamas. Outside of the rare return from the past though, I don't have much time for dem Joes these days. Nor would I think to read a comic series about them. The COBRA series is barely Joe story though. After five trade paperbacks I can't remember one red or blue laser. It is set in the world of G.I. Joe, but the story is fully self serious. It focuses on Joes going undercover to infiltrate Cobra and the messed up twist and turns that they face along the way. It is superb writing laid on top of great art, definitely worth a read.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Weekend Review: Mar 2nd & 3rd
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!
Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66
I know I am getting old. My kids have slowed me down by making me hell of busy and my hair is escaping from the top of my head at an alarming rate. When my two year old Asics gave up the ghost a month ago, I decided the best move was to just get the same exact shoe again. Cause I'm old. I couldn't find them anywhere online, granted I did not look very hard. So I had to pick out something new. Hence the kicks linked above. I dig them hard.
Bourbon Sidamo
Saturday was the celebration of Mike's birthday and of the release of Hardywood's bourbon barrel Sidamo coffee stout. Mike was kind enough to host the events in the same venue. We raised our glasses to the man of the hour, drank our fill of craft beer and munched on food truck treats.Where the regular coffee stout has a strong, but not over powering coffee flavor, the bourbon aged one makes room to mix coffee and bourbon. It is well matched blend that tasted delicious at 10.3 ABV.
Mailbox
Admittedly, when Ethan told me about a new mail app for iOS I turned up my nose. The Gmail app Google put out a while ago is pretty great. Clean and a more applicable interface than the built in "Mail" app from Apple. Mailbox also came with a cheap marketing trick in the form of a waiting list to use it. You can download the application, but it will throw you in a queue. I had 300,000 people in front of me. I buried the app on the back page of my phone, checked it once or twice and forgot about it.
A text from Ethan two weeks later let me know he got in. Which meant my time in the queue would be short lived. When I did get in I decided it was worth trying out. Turns out it solves a problem I hardly knew I had. I use my inbox first as a way to communicate and second as a make shift to do list. Always starring emails I need to take action on and leaving them in my inbox until I do. It means I sit at around 10-15 emails usually. Inbox zero is a rarity, only showing it's face once or twice a year when the stars align. Mailbox has changed that. I can send away to-do emails, to only return at a time of my choosing. I have been at inbox zero for a week and it is like a pressure lifted off my shoulders.
Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66
I know I am getting old. My kids have slowed me down by making me hell of busy and my hair is escaping from the top of my head at an alarming rate. When my two year old Asics gave up the ghost a month ago, I decided the best move was to just get the same exact shoe again. Cause I'm old. I couldn't find them anywhere online, granted I did not look very hard. So I had to pick out something new. Hence the kicks linked above. I dig them hard.
Bourbon Sidamo
Saturday was the celebration of Mike's birthday and of the release of Hardywood's bourbon barrel Sidamo coffee stout. Mike was kind enough to host the events in the same venue. We raised our glasses to the man of the hour, drank our fill of craft beer and munched on food truck treats.Where the regular coffee stout has a strong, but not over powering coffee flavor, the bourbon aged one makes room to mix coffee and bourbon. It is well matched blend that tasted delicious at 10.3 ABV.
Mailbox
Admittedly, when Ethan told me about a new mail app for iOS I turned up my nose. The Gmail app Google put out a while ago is pretty great. Clean and a more applicable interface than the built in "Mail" app from Apple. Mailbox also came with a cheap marketing trick in the form of a waiting list to use it. You can download the application, but it will throw you in a queue. I had 300,000 people in front of me. I buried the app on the back page of my phone, checked it once or twice and forgot about it.
A text from Ethan two weeks later let me know he got in. Which meant my time in the queue would be short lived. When I did get in I decided it was worth trying out. Turns out it solves a problem I hardly knew I had. I use my inbox first as a way to communicate and second as a make shift to do list. Always starring emails I need to take action on and leaving them in my inbox until I do. It means I sit at around 10-15 emails usually. Inbox zero is a rarity, only showing it's face once or twice a year when the stars align. Mailbox has changed that. I can send away to-do emails, to only return at a time of my choosing. I have been at inbox zero for a week and it is like a pressure lifted off my shoulders.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Weekend Review: Feb 16th & 17th
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!
The Room
I picked up The Room this weekend. A well reviewed iOS game from the Fall of 2012. A 3D puzzle game that creates very elaborate and beautiful puzzle boxes and sets you at them. So far I really like it. Every time I open it up I get the urge to waste an hour on image searches of actual puzzle boxes. The puzzle aspect of it isn't so much of a puzzle though. I never get the squirt of dopamine I have come to expect from finding a solution. I don't feel like I am solving a puzzle, more like I got to see a creative thing someone designed. It is satisfying in a different way and that is still a good feeling.
Pitch Perfect
I wanted to hang out with my wife Friday night. I gave her the stink eye when she got out her laptop to work and suggested we watch a movie instead. My pick was Skyfall, which would have meant I'd be watching it on my own while she slept. So we watched Pitch Perfect instead. In the vein of college movies that has very little to do with actual college (think Stomp the Yard) this film focuses entirely on an acapella club. It started out with just enough humor for me and enough singing for her. The character arcs where pretty hard to get invested in though. So when the comedy well dried up midway through and the singing covered no new ground, we both considered turning this film off.
Apple Genius Bar
The pretentiously named help desk at every Apple retail store is the butt of many a joke. If you know to schedule an appointment ahead online though, the reality is much different. My speakers blew out on my four month old iPhone 5 Wednesday evening. On Thursday I schedule and appointment for noon on Friday. When I walked in the place was a mad house. To their credit, I walked up, checked in and was talking with some the second my appointment started. They diagnosed my problem and estimated it would take 15 minutes to fix, even handing me a laptop to play on while I waited. Ten minutes later they handed me back my phone, speakers replaced, under warranty and a smile on my face. I stay for the app ecosystem (I'm heavily invested), but it is nice to get stellar customer service too.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Weekend Review: Jan 12th & 13th
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!
Star Wars #1
Continuing my 2012 man crush on Brian Wood, I read his new Star Wars book over the weekend. I have had little success in the past with Star Wars books or comics (save a few exceptions), but this seems to be another exception. Wood's Star Wars takes place in the three years between episode IV and V though and it is actually good. Leia and Luke are out hunting for a new rebel base and the emperor is shouting at Vader. All on the back drop of art that looks great and not like it was overly referenced from the movies.
Hundreds (cont.)
Back in October I posted about a flash game that would eventually become an iOS game. That thing happened this week and it grew from it's core concept to something even better. New mechanics are slowly doled out every few levels and then iterated on in cool ways. It is more puzzle than twitch timing. Maybe not worth the $4.99 price tag, but I got it on sale for $2.99. What the fuck am I saying, that is the price of a cup of coffee, just get it already. Then again, is it one cup of coffee or five $0.99 apps? Apple you have both fucked and grown the gaming market place with your bargain basement pricing. I'm so confused!
Eberron
I'm mid-swing on a bunch of my 13 in 13 activities already. Running in January when it is almost 70° out is easy peasy, but scheduling table top time can be the hardest part of the hobby. So I just did it. In late February I am hosting a D&D Next game for 6 players in the Eberron campaign setting. There is no Eberron Next yet, but I am mostly using it for flavor and home-brewing 4e Eberron when I have to. It will be all warforged and airships come the end of next month. Planning it out has got me pumped to roll dice.
Star Wars #1
Continuing my 2012 man crush on Brian Wood, I read his new Star Wars book over the weekend. I have had little success in the past with Star Wars books or comics (save a few exceptions), but this seems to be another exception. Wood's Star Wars takes place in the three years between episode IV and V though and it is actually good. Leia and Luke are out hunting for a new rebel base and the emperor is shouting at Vader. All on the back drop of art that looks great and not like it was overly referenced from the movies.
Hundreds (cont.)
Back in October I posted about a flash game that would eventually become an iOS game. That thing happened this week and it grew from it's core concept to something even better. New mechanics are slowly doled out every few levels and then iterated on in cool ways. It is more puzzle than twitch timing. Maybe not worth the $4.99 price tag, but I got it on sale for $2.99. What the fuck am I saying, that is the price of a cup of coffee, just get it already. Then again, is it one cup of coffee or five $0.99 apps? Apple you have both fucked and grown the gaming market place with your bargain basement pricing. I'm so confused!
Eberron
I'm mid-swing on a bunch of my 13 in 13 activities already. Running in January when it is almost 70° out is easy peasy, but scheduling table top time can be the hardest part of the hobby. So I just did it. In late February I am hosting a D&D Next game for 6 players in the Eberron campaign setting. There is no Eberron Next yet, but I am mostly using it for flavor and home-brewing 4e Eberron when I have to. It will be all warforged and airships come the end of next month. Planning it out has got me pumped to roll dice.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Annual Report 2012: Twitter
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Frequency
There was a steady trend upward in overall use from Jan. to Sept. and then a sharp decline there after. This can be a attributed to a bug in October that broke the link between Instagram and Twitter on my phone. Without sepia tone pictures of hamburgers to bolster my original content there was a marked decline. Daily frequency saw Tuesday and Saturday running neck and neck right up through December. Tuesday edged out Saturday when Christmas day fell squarely on Tiw's Day.
Content
Before the above mentioned Instagram bug my feed was three parts square photos, DailyMile humble brags and the occasional witty comment. I often use Facebook purely for announcing family updates (e.g. "Who had a baby? We had a baby!") and save Twitter for jokes that might as well be balled up and thrown into the ether. It is a great service, but for the most part I consume and do not create. The common relative and family friend do not seem to have an interest in the service. Which is a blessing and curse. Blessing in that I can say some funky ass shit for a select few followers and my second cousins won't see it. Curse in that when I want to share news with everyone I have to do it in two places.
Retweets
One fourth of the tweets I usher unto the web are just recycled witty comments and jokes from other people. Over the past year I have attempted to curate that list to people I finding interesting and who do not spam their followers. My number one retweeted account though is of my own making. Unashamedly self marketing my restaurant review blog once a week-ish. Check out 100 coming soon! After that though there is a solid mix of comedians, video game and sports writers, scientist and a few friends and family too. This curation led to a steady increase in retweets through the year, that I anticipate will continue in 2013.
*Instagram is owned by Facebook, now panic and freak out!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Annual Report 2012: Gaming
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Speaking of Steam, 2012 was the year of the PC. Even for games I would have normally played on the console (e.g. Darksiders 2
). I picked them up on the PC instead, piped them through to my 
. PC ports don't suck anymore and the hardware in my PC is not going on eight years old. It renewed my faith in the platform and even sold me on upgrading this coming Spring. Even with the looming 720 and PS4.Most Disappointing Game: Diablo 3
I made my peace with the disappointment Diablo 3 brought on my house a while ago, but the after taste still lingers to this day. Considering I put 71.2 hours into it before finally settling on "this sucks", there must have been some merit right? Certainly the art direction was great, the nostalgia it preyed upon was welcoming and seeing old WoW friends again was fun times. Then it turned into a grind, maybe it was the same grind in Diablo 2, but in 2012 that shit don't fly. It was unbalanced in the late game, the auction house vs. crafting was junk and nothing about it screamed "play me more". Total bummer!
Honorable Mention: Assassin's Creed III
Best Broken Game: Hotline Miami
I wanted to love this game. Small indie developer with a vision for a game that it got right in some many aspects. A dope sound track that I spun in my car more than I heard it in game. Graphics that were retro because they felt right for the game, not just because they are easier and cheaper to do.Twitch game play that felt odd at first, but became crisp and tight over time. All the makings for a potential game of the year, but than it ran like shit on my modern personal computer. I was turning off print spool drivers and sacrificing goats over the keyboard, but nothing would raise the frame rates to a playable level. Boo hiss!
Game of the Year: Dishonored
Stealth gets me going. Good, bad or otherwise I gravitate towards the mechanics of sneaking. Dishonored is all the stealth I want from a first person perspective, but what makes it my game of the year is all the other stuff it does. It creates a world I want to return to, rich in implied and direct story telling. The art direction was unified, stylized and beautiful. It was all that and a great stealth game. Standing on the shoulders of games like Thief and Deus Ex and doing them one better. Making the stealth work and the fail state of having to fall back on combat not feel like a fail state. Heres to the story DLC that should be coming in the first quarter of 2013!
Honorable Mention: Mark of the Ninja
Best Multiplayer: Black Ops 2
Every year I tell myself I won't get the next annualized Call of Duty game. That it is a money grab, that the DLC situation on the PC is total bullshit, that it is a tired franchise that needs to be put out of it's misery. And then I end up buying it. I buy it because they make the same game every year, but that same game is a great one. The multiplayer is fast paced, quick and fun. If I die it was because of the poor decision I made in the split second I had to make one. Then I get to try again, over and over and then I usually get it right. If I was no good at them I would quit, but I usually log 100+ hours over the course of the year (post release) and I always get better. The class building, leveling and prestige systems are the added carrot to the stick.
Honorable Mention: Journey
Monday, December 31, 2012
Weekend Review: Dec 29th & 30th
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!
Super Hexagon
Long form gaming on the iPad rarely sticks with me (See: me not playing Walking Dead since I wrote about). If I do log long hours on a mobile game it is usually one that I can chip away at in bite sized chunks (See: Kingdom Rush). Super Hexagon has no progression or through line, but what it has in spades is bite sized game play. My longest round ever was 29 seconds. It is simplicity defined. Minimal graphics, dope sound track and twitch play that you can get better at or totally regress back to square one on. I can fire off 4-5 rounds in under a minute usually. Which is exactly what I want from my mobile gaming.
The Signal and the Noise
Ethan gifted this book to me for Christmas, that was already on my "to read" list for 2013. Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise is about the mountain of data we face everyday and the ability to glean accurate predictions from it, while not getting it all wrong. It covers the origin of FiveThirtyEight, the housing bubble, baseball and much more. I'm not finished with it yet, but so far it has read like a guide of the pitfalls I need to avoid at my job (data analysis) in the coming year.
Spin Drift (NSFW)
Another gift from Ethan. This time in the form of a heads up on a web comic he had not read, but thought I might enjoy. He was right in that I read Spin Drift from start to it's latest release in one sitting. Drawn in by the art at first and then hooked hard by the story. It reminds me a lot of Saga in it's star crossed fantasy lovers. Right down to the he with horns and she with wings bit, but this is a different tale altogether. Well worth a read and something I will keep coming back to in 2013.
Super Hexagon
Long form gaming on the iPad rarely sticks with me (See: me not playing Walking Dead since I wrote about). If I do log long hours on a mobile game it is usually one that I can chip away at in bite sized chunks (See: Kingdom Rush). Super Hexagon has no progression or through line, but what it has in spades is bite sized game play. My longest round ever was 29 seconds. It is simplicity defined. Minimal graphics, dope sound track and twitch play that you can get better at or totally regress back to square one on. I can fire off 4-5 rounds in under a minute usually. Which is exactly what I want from my mobile gaming.
The Signal and the Noise
Ethan gifted this book to me for Christmas, that was already on my "to read" list for 2013. Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise is about the mountain of data we face everyday and the ability to glean accurate predictions from it, while not getting it all wrong. It covers the origin of FiveThirtyEight, the housing bubble, baseball and much more. I'm not finished with it yet, but so far it has read like a guide of the pitfalls I need to avoid at my job (data analysis) in the coming year.
Spin Drift (NSFW)
Another gift from Ethan. This time in the form of a heads up on a web comic he had not read, but thought I might enjoy. He was right in that I read Spin Drift from start to it's latest release in one sitting. Drawn in by the art at first and then hooked hard by the story. It reminds me a lot of Saga in it's star crossed fantasy lovers. Right down to the he with horns and she with wings bit, but this is a different tale altogether. Well worth a read and something I will keep coming back to in 2013.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Weekend Review: Dec 22nd & 23rd
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!
Walking Dead (iOS)
We are still woefully behind on the TV show, but the first episode of Telltale's game is out for free as of this week. I actually bought the whole arc (5 episodes) on Steam earlier this fall. Then COD came out and I never went back to it. So dipping my toe into the iPad version is only problematic should I buy the thing twice. Which seems more than likely given my need for a couch based game in the evenings. My wife with her awful TV and I with my iPad full of zombie nightmares.
Gundam
My desire to assemble a massive Lego kit has been a driving force this Fall/Winter. Only stunted by the sky high prices that have been the sole barrier to my entry. $200-300 for a hobby is nothing to sneeze at. In steps Gundam, $30-40 and nearly as many pieces and time committed to assembly. I have slowly been putting together a real grade kit for the past two weeks. I love having an on going project like this. The end product is also a more desirably show piece for my study than Legos. That's right it's not my office or my man cave or the game room. I'm calling it my study now. Out with the ratty old futon and in with the wood paneling and antique stock ticker.
The Strange Talent of Luther Strode
I picked up this book on a THN recommendation this week and liked it a lot. It has a straight forward premise that ramps quickly into a strong story arc. It is ultra violent and has some of, if not the best, gory art I have ever seen. Blood is everywhere and the human anatomy is destroyed in hyper stylized way that is very pleasing to the eye. That makes me sound like a cereal killer. This book is not for the faint of heart, but it is a real treat otherwise. Right after I picked up the first issue of the follow up, The Legend Of Luther Strode, and now I am on the hook for that monthly.
Walking Dead (iOS)
We are still woefully behind on the TV show, but the first episode of Telltale's game is out for free as of this week. I actually bought the whole arc (5 episodes) on Steam earlier this fall. Then COD came out and I never went back to it. So dipping my toe into the iPad version is only problematic should I buy the thing twice. Which seems more than likely given my need for a couch based game in the evenings. My wife with her awful TV and I with my iPad full of zombie nightmares.
Gundam
My desire to assemble a massive Lego kit has been a driving force this Fall/Winter. Only stunted by the sky high prices that have been the sole barrier to my entry. $200-300 for a hobby is nothing to sneeze at. In steps Gundam, $30-40 and nearly as many pieces and time committed to assembly. I have slowly been putting together a real grade kit for the past two weeks. I love having an on going project like this. The end product is also a more desirably show piece for my study than Legos. That's right it's not my office or my man cave or the game room. I'm calling it my study now. Out with the ratty old futon and in with the wood paneling and antique stock ticker.
The Strange Talent of Luther Strode
I picked up this book on a THN recommendation this week and liked it a lot. It has a straight forward premise that ramps quickly into a strong story arc. It is ultra violent and has some of, if not the best, gory art I have ever seen. Blood is everywhere and the human anatomy is destroyed in hyper stylized way that is very pleasing to the eye. That makes me sound like a cereal killer. This book is not for the faint of heart, but it is a real treat otherwise. Right after I picked up the first issue of the follow up, The Legend Of Luther Strode, and now I am on the hook for that monthly.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Weekend Review: Nov 24th & 25th
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!
Cthulhu
Chuck's birthday game night is becoming a bit of a tradition now that we have rolled dice for two years running. This year he picked Cthulhu in a modern setting. Two drug enforcement task force agents (Wayne and I) set against a synthetic drug slowly eating away at Chicago. There was only three of us at the table, but we had guest NPCs throughout the night. Two on an iPad in the center of the table via FaceTime and another answering questions as an informant via text message. It was a really fun way to get folks who could not attend in person involved. The game ended with the end of the world, as any good Cthulhu game should, but the real take away was more remote players at the table is a good thing.
Sweet Tooth
A recent lunch time conversation brought me to the conclusion that I value good writing and story over art. Art might get me in the door, but it soon becomes secondary to a good yarn. In the case of Sweet Tooth, I had heard the swell of praise from the internet, but had been put off by the art. Long weekends tend to exhaust media stock piles though. So Sunday I picked it up and devoured volume one and two. The story is fantastic, building interesting characters right out the gate and growing them at a quick pace. The setting and premise help to. A deadly virus has left the world in shambles and all children born post virus are animal hybrids (read: mutants). It is solid stuff.
Gingerbread Stout
What beer is worth waiting in line for on a chilly Wednesday afternoon? Hardywood Park's Gingerbread Stout. The right mix of locally grown ingredients and know how produce not just the finest beer in Richmond for my money, but also a bronze at the 2012 World Beer Cup. It is a sweet beer, but more of subtle taste of honey and ginger than the saccharin finish I hate about some sweet beers. I picked up a four pack of twenty twos Wednesday after 30 minute wait in line and they are gone already.
Micro Miners
I need more games like Kirby: Canvas Curse in my life. Not that Micro Miners provides that exact style of game play, but it sure does scratch a similar itch. The mechanic is simple. Drawing with your finger (or stylus) on a screen to manipulate an environment. Micro Miners presents lemmings style creatures in a vertically scrolling mine. You draw their path and they follow devouring any deposit of gold, silver or coal they come across. It is a simple concept, but gets difficult quickly as new miners are introduced and you are multitasking your way through the earth.
Cthulhu
Chuck's birthday game night is becoming a bit of a tradition now that we have rolled dice for two years running. This year he picked Cthulhu in a modern setting. Two drug enforcement task force agents (Wayne and I) set against a synthetic drug slowly eating away at Chicago. There was only three of us at the table, but we had guest NPCs throughout the night. Two on an iPad in the center of the table via FaceTime and another answering questions as an informant via text message. It was a really fun way to get folks who could not attend in person involved. The game ended with the end of the world, as any good Cthulhu game should, but the real take away was more remote players at the table is a good thing.
Sweet Tooth
A recent lunch time conversation brought me to the conclusion that I value good writing and story over art. Art might get me in the door, but it soon becomes secondary to a good yarn. In the case of Sweet Tooth, I had heard the swell of praise from the internet, but had been put off by the art. Long weekends tend to exhaust media stock piles though. So Sunday I picked it up and devoured volume one and two. The story is fantastic, building interesting characters right out the gate and growing them at a quick pace. The setting and premise help to. A deadly virus has left the world in shambles and all children born post virus are animal hybrids (read: mutants). It is solid stuff.
Gingerbread Stout
What beer is worth waiting in line for on a chilly Wednesday afternoon? Hardywood Park's Gingerbread Stout. The right mix of locally grown ingredients and know how produce not just the finest beer in Richmond for my money, but also a bronze at the 2012 World Beer Cup. It is a sweet beer, but more of subtle taste of honey and ginger than the saccharin finish I hate about some sweet beers. I picked up a four pack of twenty twos Wednesday after 30 minute wait in line and they are gone already.
Micro Miners
I need more games like Kirby: Canvas Curse in my life. Not that Micro Miners provides that exact style of game play, but it sure does scratch a similar itch. The mechanic is simple. Drawing with your finger (or stylus) on a screen to manipulate an environment. Micro Miners presents lemmings style creatures in a vertically scrolling mine. You draw their path and they follow devouring any deposit of gold, silver or coal they come across. It is a simple concept, but gets difficult quickly as new miners are introduced and you are multitasking your way through the earth.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Weekend Review: Nov 3rd & 4th
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!
The Book of Basketball
Last seasons NBA playoffs and stunted regular season were fantastic. So many teams, players and rivalries that were worth watching. Setting up this season as must watch TV for me. Perfectly timed with the arrival of our second son too. I am great at half watching a basketball game while calming down a newborn. At the center of this new found interest is Bill Simmons. I read all his stuff at Grantland, listen to his podcast every week and his basketball fandom is rubbing off on me. So I dropped the second Theft of Swords book cold turkey (spoiler: it was not better than the first) and picked up Simmon's The Book of Basketball. I have barely cracked the surface, but so far it is great reading.
Punch Quest
The next revolution in iOS (read: mobile) gaming seems to happen every week. At a dollar or two a slice it is easy to see if the fuss is worth fussing about. As a part of that revolution my three year old son goes snooping into my game folder on the iPad periodically. If he sees something new he will snatch it and move it to his own folder. Punch Quest was a game I picked up mid week and spent very little time with. Saturday afternoon I found him playing it on the couch and sat down to see how he liked it. It is an endless runner in the vein of Jetpack Joyride (a favorite in our house), but with greater depth of game play. Different combinations of punches allow for more survivability and ultimately more interesting mechanics. We ended up trading it back and forth for an hour before it was nap time. Oh and it is free and good, so give it a try.
Gelati Celesti
Soccer season ended with trophies and farewells on Saturday morning. Our son was offered a treat in celebration of said season and what I expected the answer to be was "Sweet Frog". What that answer says to me is "I want to eat candy delivered on a bed of sub-par frozen yogurt". I was surprised and a little proud when instead he said "Gelati Celesti". In my opinion the best ice cream in Richmond hands down. Our family has been going there since they opened in 1984. I was the same age as my son then. The years that followed were filled with banana splits for honor rolls and the location of the first date with my now wife. Saturday night I had a scope of the pumpkin ginger snap and chocolate decadence in a waffle cone they make at the shop. It was still just as great as when I was a kid.
The Book of Basketball
Last seasons NBA playoffs and stunted regular season were fantastic. So many teams, players and rivalries that were worth watching. Setting up this season as must watch TV for me. Perfectly timed with the arrival of our second son too. I am great at half watching a basketball game while calming down a newborn. At the center of this new found interest is Bill Simmons. I read all his stuff at Grantland, listen to his podcast every week and his basketball fandom is rubbing off on me. So I dropped the second Theft of Swords book cold turkey (spoiler: it was not better than the first) and picked up Simmon's The Book of Basketball. I have barely cracked the surface, but so far it is great reading.
Punch Quest
The next revolution in iOS (read: mobile) gaming seems to happen every week. At a dollar or two a slice it is easy to see if the fuss is worth fussing about. As a part of that revolution my three year old son goes snooping into my game folder on the iPad periodically. If he sees something new he will snatch it and move it to his own folder. Punch Quest was a game I picked up mid week and spent very little time with. Saturday afternoon I found him playing it on the couch and sat down to see how he liked it. It is an endless runner in the vein of Jetpack Joyride (a favorite in our house), but with greater depth of game play. Different combinations of punches allow for more survivability and ultimately more interesting mechanics. We ended up trading it back and forth for an hour before it was nap time. Oh and it is free and good, so give it a try.
Gelati Celesti
Soccer season ended with trophies and farewells on Saturday morning. Our son was offered a treat in celebration of said season and what I expected the answer to be was "Sweet Frog". What that answer says to me is "I want to eat candy delivered on a bed of sub-par frozen yogurt". I was surprised and a little proud when instead he said "Gelati Celesti". In my opinion the best ice cream in Richmond hands down. Our family has been going there since they opened in 1984. I was the same age as my son then. The years that followed were filled with banana splits for honor rolls and the location of the first date with my now wife. Saturday night I had a scope of the pumpkin ginger snap and chocolate decadence in a waffle cone they make at the shop. It was still just as great as when I was a kid.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Weekend Review: Oct 6th & 7th
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!
Skullkickers
Back in 2010 I mentioned Skullkickers as a comic I was looking forward to reading. I hunted down the first issue and ultimately ended up with a signed copy care of my friend Chris (TheChort) and the NYCC. I picked up the first arc in single issues and then ended up losing the thread. Now that Ward is here I have been burning through comics I meant to read at a rapid pace. I hunted down the rest of this series and gobbled them up. The art is great and I love the modern comedic dialog smashed up with fantasy tropes. Grade A stuff!
Hundreds
I never played Canabalt on the iPad, which is where I think it blew up. I played it on the webz via flash, where I tend to discount games a few points already. They are a little too throw away and if I am sitting down at a computer I might as well play a whole game. Once in a while a flash game steals away more than a few hours from me. Hundreds is one of those games. It is from the developers of Canabalt and soon to be a mobile game. The art is reminiscent of it's predecessor, simple yet elegant, but the game play is worlds apart. I'm looking forward to Hundreds on the iPad, where I plan to waste away many a hour.
DMZ
I left off at trade numero 7 of DMZ back in late 2009. It was no fault of story, arc or anything else, I had caught up on the trades and then last track once the next one came out. After finishing the Northlanders earlier this month, I realized it was time to return to DMZ. Wood's writing really gets me and I love the premise (America's 2nd civil war). It keeps delivering. I am now half way through volume 11 and a little bummed that the series will end in one more trade.
Theft of Swords
I gave up on this book twice. I came back to it again when comics started to eat my brain and we ran out of DVR shows (it is tough having a second baby!). A tweet from Penny Arcade's Gabe helped. Once I powered through 20% (Pages? What are those?) it actually took. It will be a mixed review when I finish it, but I hope it finishes way stronger than it starts.
Skullkickers
Back in 2010 I mentioned Skullkickers as a comic I was looking forward to reading. I hunted down the first issue and ultimately ended up with a signed copy care of my friend Chris (TheChort) and the NYCC. I picked up the first arc in single issues and then ended up losing the thread. Now that Ward is here I have been burning through comics I meant to read at a rapid pace. I hunted down the rest of this series and gobbled them up. The art is great and I love the modern comedic dialog smashed up with fantasy tropes. Grade A stuff!
Hundreds
I never played Canabalt on the iPad, which is where I think it blew up. I played it on the webz via flash, where I tend to discount games a few points already. They are a little too throw away and if I am sitting down at a computer I might as well play a whole game. Once in a while a flash game steals away more than a few hours from me. Hundreds is one of those games. It is from the developers of Canabalt and soon to be a mobile game. The art is reminiscent of it's predecessor, simple yet elegant, but the game play is worlds apart. I'm looking forward to Hundreds on the iPad, where I plan to waste away many a hour.
DMZ
I left off at trade numero 7 of DMZ back in late 2009. It was no fault of story, arc or anything else, I had caught up on the trades and then last track once the next one came out. After finishing the Northlanders earlier this month, I realized it was time to return to DMZ. Wood's writing really gets me and I love the premise (America's 2nd civil war). It keeps delivering. I am now half way through volume 11 and a little bummed that the series will end in one more trade.
Theft of Swords
I gave up on this book twice. I came back to it again when comics started to eat my brain and we ran out of DVR shows (it is tough having a second baby!). A tweet from Penny Arcade's Gabe helped. Once I powered through 20% (Pages? What are those?) it actually took. It will be a mixed review when I finish it, but I hope it finishes way stronger than it starts.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Weekend Review: September 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 journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy!
The Campaign
Friday nigtht was date night. I made steaks and asparagus on the grill and we went to a movie. The Campaign trailers looked funny enough and it got two friendly recommendations. Good enough for us. We both like Galifianakis and Ferrell well enough and the film was face achingly funny for the first half. The shine came off, as it does with most comedies, in the back half though. It threw a few funny jabs out here and there near the end and managed to be recommendation worthy overall. It may sound harsh, but it remained funny longer than most movies do and that is an accomplishment in and of itself.
Revival
I read the first two issues of this book Saturday based on a recommendation (Ethan) and really liked it. A select group of residents in a small town find they have the ability to return to life after death. Only a little bit crazier every time. The art is wicked good, the story feels legit creepy and the characters are already fully established. Totally worth a read.
The Once and Future King
I started this back in high school and made it through 2 of the 4 books the compilation contains. While struggling to find a new fantasy book post ASoIF
I went back to the realm of King Arthur. I'm not incredibly far into it yet, but the old memories flooding back. I love White's writing style, humor and occasional word I have to look up. Really glad I returned to finish this some 15 years later.Crossroads
I don't think 52L will make it over to southside anytime soon, so this one is not going to step on any toes. Post Sunday ride our skeleton crew pulled into Crossroads for coffee and scones. I have been to the South of the James truck a few times and really enjoyed it, but never to the actual coffee shop. It was nice enough outside and we were sweaty enough that we sat out on the patio. The iced coffees hit the spot after an ultra humid ride and my scone was super tasty. I'll be going back for sure.
Angry Birds
Heck of late to the party on this one, but my three year old recently became obsessed. Which means I end up playing it a fair amount too. I first played it back when it original blew up on the iPhone and was bored with it pretty quickly. Too much of the success seems to be based on luck and inconsistent physics. That said my son loves it and could care less about the pass/fail portion of it. Win or lose he is off to another level. If I had to say a few nice things about it, I'd go with:
- I hate the free to play model and Angry Birds stands as the shinning example of not free to play (mostly).
- Playing Angry Birds has introduced my son to familiarity with the iPad. Which has let me introduce him to more educational games. He spends as much time with dem birds as he does with Letter School and a matching game that escapes me.
Cycling buddy, Hip Hop aficionado and friend o' mine, Mike got his bee-log up and running again. Give it a visit!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Weekend Review: August 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 journal of my weekend endeavors. Enjoy! This weeks post turned into a walk down memory lane.
Liknuts
Tha Alkaholiks
were somewhere down the chain of my Wu Tang phase in high school. I bit hard on their sound and my first car probably has an imprint of the CD art in it. Liknuts is the combination of The Liks and The Beatnuts. Another group I spun a lot in my youth. Tash and Juju kill it on the track above. I hope to see more of this collaboration in the future. P.S. Though their website looks like a late 90's hot mess.Kingdom Rush
Between Iron Brigade and Kingdom Rush I have been getting my recommended daily allowance of tower defense games. It is the best one I have played on iOS so far and looks the best doing what it does too. I beat it this past week and this weekend I jumped into the additional challenge modes. Which go quick, but are brutal.
10000000
Another app that got a fair portion of my weekend. 10m is a match three paired with an Atari-esqe dungeon crawler. The upper half of the screen is a side scrolling adventurer, who encounters monsters, looked doors and chest. The lower half is a match three, where the tiles represent the solutions the adventurer needs to advance. Swords and magic wands for monsters and keys for everything else. You collect resources along the way too. Which you use to upgrade (more time, stronger weapons, perks, etc). Really sinking my teeth into this one.
Day of Defeat: Source
Day of Defeat was a mod for the first Half Life back in 2000, I played it on a 56k modem in college, if that helps date it. I played a lot of it. It was the first game I played competitively. When it became an official game thanks to Valve, I kept playing it. When it was re-imagined on the source engine I transitioned to it and kept competing. DoD in all it's forms is probably in my top 3 games played (hours)of all time. Now it has been ages since I played it though. Over the weekend I installed it (source version) and went back. The nostalgia came rushing on. It still looks great, plays great and is a lot of fun.
Magic
Back in middle school I read a lot of comics and at some point I got into collecting comic cards. Mostly for the the art, they weren't useful for anything beyond that anyway. In 7th grade when I first heard about Magic the Gathering
, I thought cool, cards, art and game. I promptly bought a long box full of cards from a kid on the bus. A week later I realized none of my friends wanted to play it and I sold it back. Not until this past Friday did I play again.One of our tabletop friends is moving away from Richmond and a few of the guys were getting together to have one last game night. The problem, for me, was that it was going to be all Magic. I own no cards and did not want to buy any. Thankfully the host, Chuck, hooked me up with a deck. After two learning rounds we jumped into a free for all game format. It was a lot of fun and by the end of the night I at least understood what my deck was good at and what I might do to make it better. I don't plan to run out and buy a million cards anytime soon, but I'd definitely play again.
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