| For comparison. |
[15 Nov 2009|06:09pm] |
In context with a quick phone conversation about ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) asathena about the potential negative correlation between game size and strong game narrative (because the focus shifts from story to exploration), here's the number of named areas in each of the three Fallout games:
Fallout 1: 12
Fallout 2: 23
Fallout 3: 163
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| Oh My God Jon Graef Got Married |
[16 Nov 2009|02:00am] |
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Sorry for my absence the last few weeks, internet. I've been traveling and dealing with some illnesses but I'm all un-jetlagged and feel quite healthy and happy, despite a persistent and annoying cough. 'Tis the fate of a teacher, I fear.
At any rate, two weeks and one day ago my friend Jon Graef and his wonderful lady Autumn (née Notter) got hitched. I was extremely happy to take part in the celebration as a groomslady. I have to say that being a woman on the groom's side is kind of the best of both worlds. I got to take part in all of the girly things (got my nails and hair did) but still got to be "one of the guys" and wear a suit jacket and boutonniere and drink out of a flask. B-) The Graef affair had an additional layer of awesome: it was held on Halloween. They rented out the entire Goose Island brewpub for their amazing reception and guests were encouraged to dress up, and most people did.
Being back in Chicago was pretty surreal. Riding the El in from O'Hare, I felt like I had only been gone for a few weeks rather than several months. I know I haven't really been gone *that* long but I was surprised at just how little had changed. It's like everything and everyone were right where I left them 10 months ago, which isn't far from the truth. I guess it will take a while for the differences to sneak up on me when I move back, since life is never static and many things have happened in the past few months. But that is something I'll have to revisit at a later time.
My trips to and fro were mostly fine. The flight back was particularly nice because no one was sitting next to me. Having the luxury to actually lay flat and stretch my legs out is a very precious luxury indeed on a 13-hour flight. The road *to* Chicago, however, was a little more trying. As usual I left all packing to the very last minute and ended up getting to the train station right as my train was expected. I ran as fast as I could with my heavy luggage, but my luggage had other plans. My duffle bag dislodged itself from its position atop the massive rolling suitcase, swung around and tripped me. I fell on my knees. Hard. I was stunned from the fall and the pain in my knees for a few seconds but knew I had to make tracks to make my train. I picked everything up and made it to the escalator just in time to see my train arrive . . . and then leave with me still on the escalator. :'< I then had to stand at the platform and watch the Narita Express fly past my station, knowing that the next wouldn't make its stop at Yokohama Station for another hour. I was very worried that I would miss the cut-off time to check in but I ended up making it with about 20 minutes to spare.
Oh, did I mention that I was sick with a cold this whole time and was worried that I wasn't going to be allowed on the plane? Yeah, that too. Thankfully there was no fever involved so everything worked out.
So that's what I've been up to. I will upload photos of the wedding as soon as I buy a new cord to connect my camera and computer, since I seemed to misplace it somewhere between Chicago and Yokohama. And my phone charger. And my camera battery charger. I obviously misplaced my mind as well.
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[14 Nov 2009|11:02pm] |
While most of the Internet was abuzz with the cancellation of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse this week, I was far more interested in this brief interview with Maggie Friedman, the executive producer of ABC's Eastwick. Eastwick also got the axe this week. I've never seen the show, but I found Friedman's comments about the cancellation are very telling about the nature of television these days. She opines how upset she is that the show is cancelled and how disappointed she is that they will not be able to give the fans closure on the show, given that Eastwick received the cancellation at a point where all the ordered episodes were in the can.
I love how Friedman couches the cancellation into terms of how the premature cancellation of a TV show is a snub in the face of the fans of said show. I mean... is there anyone out there who is a RABID fan of Eastwick? Anyone? She makes it sound like Eastwick fans are legion and they're going to storm the corporate offices of ABC if they don't make more episodes. Certain shows do inspire an insane amount of fan loyalty. Hell, Dollhouse sort of is one of those shows... although I do think when it comes to Dollhouse, it's less about people liking Dollhouse and more about people liking Whedon's previous shows and holding on hope that Dollhouse would eventually get better.
Still, this is a tactic that has worked in the past with marginal shows like CBS's post-nuculear Jericho. Get the fans vocal and they'll show the networks that your show has potential. The problem is, I feel like the ship has sailed on that kind of thing. The viewing audience is so fractured these days that a TV program is always going to have some audience... and even in those instances where networks have given those marginal shows a stay of execution, it hasn't really helped matters. I was actually a fan of Jericho and I didn't think much of its abbreviated second season.
I find it so interesting that higher-ups are starting to be clued into using this kind of language to talk about their shows.
.........
Thought I'd mention a nice value for fans of holiday movies I noticed this week. Turner Classic Movies has been releasing these inexpensive DVD four-packs over the past year under the banner "Greatest Classic Films Collection". They're bare bones releases with no special features to speak of, but they're a great value for the money. For example, in their Best Picture four-pack, you can get Casablanca, Gigi, An American in Paris, and Mrs. Miniver... four great flicks for under $20 bucks!
Last week TCM released a Holiday four-pack and it's got some really good movies included. For only $15.99 you get Christmas in Connecticut, It Happened on 5th Avenue, the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol, and The Shop Around the Corner. Now, I haven't seen It Happened on 5th Avenue, but even if you took that movie out of the mix, $16 bucks for those other three movies would be a steal. The '38 Christmas Carol is not my flavor (for those playing at home, when it comes to Scrooge, I worship at the alter of Alastair Sim, thanks much) but it's not a bad adaptation. Christmas in Connecticut too is a fun movie... but really, the best reason to get this DVD collection is for The Shop Around the Corner.
Now best known for being the inspiration for the 1999 romantic comedy You've Got Mail, Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner is my preferred Jimmy Stewart Christmastime Movie. Starring Stewart and Margaret Sullivan as rival at work who are unknowingly falling in love through exchanging letters on their off-time, it's a wonderfully crafted movie with great character bits not only from Stewart and Sullivan, but from the rest of their co-workers. Of particular interest is Frank Morgan as the beleagured boss. Morgan is best known to people today as The Wizard of Oz in the 1939 movie, but his role in The Shop Around the Corner is so nuanced and sad and hopeful that it's worth a look for anyone who's never seen him in anything else.
The Shop Around the Corner is a bit of a cheat as a holiday movie (it's one of those movies where it's Christmas only in the last third of the movie) but it rings truer to me than It's A Wonderful Life ever has. Buying TSAtC as a stand-alone disc online is somewhere around $15 bucks and the only special features it seems to boast is a theatrical trailer. If you like romantic comedies... or hell, even if you don't like romantic comedies, you'll probably like The Shop Around the Corner.
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| So what's the point of Fallout 3? |
[14 Nov 2009|08:51pm] |
I'll probably revisit this yet again (because I love talking about games, have you noticed?), but this is a little more serious. I don't know how many of you have played the old games. They have a very different narrative feel from Fallout 3, probably largely because they were created by a very different set of developers at a very different time. The narrative arcs of Fallout 1 and 2 are fairly basic. Your home is at risk. You must venture out into a dangerous world to save your home. As is only appropriate to pastiches of 50's pulp themes, the games are in a way very reactive or even reactionary. You're not trying to make the world as a whole a better place, you're just making sure that the people you care about survive, that the current threat passes you by. However, because the game developers were very concerned about giving the player plenty of choices and attendant consequences, the actions you take to save your home have wide ripples. And these are games where character development is possible, even inevitable. You start out as a sheltered person who has never done anything terribly wrong (or right, for that matter). What you end up as is entirely your choice.
This is not to say that Fallout 1 and 2 are clones of each other. After all, Fallout 1 is an elegant, fairly serious (and quite brief) story about the loss of innocence. The NPCs you can recruit are cyphers, purely utilitarian (and of doubtful use late in the game), but the universe you wander is textured and dark. Fallout 2 is . . . frankly insane. Brilliant, but insane. It takes pastiche to giddy and at times very juvenile lengths. The fourth wall is cracked constantly, you get blatant and joke-y callouts to everything from Terminator to Strangelove, and you're guaranteed to run into absurdities like super mutant magicians, radioactive giant geckos, and exploding toilets. The NPCs are much more fleshed out, the dialogue is more extensive, and the game has a much more exploratory narrative -- and is thus much longer. As a story, it makes less sense, but as a game, it is far more replayable, and perhaps even enjoyable.
Fallout 3 is something else entirely.
( But what is it? )
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| and now we have this...uprising! |
[14 Nov 2009|05:27pm] |
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Happy.Feet[2006]DvDrip[Eng]-aXXo.avi |
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Inhuman update!
i have no sketch page for you this week...again, i had to reboot before saving the scan. woops. oh well. i'll have the donation image updated as soon as i can, but i'm a little swamped right now. it's 5pm and i haven't even had time to eat yet so D: BUT!! we're coming close to 400$ if my number-illiterate estimate is correct. excellent first week, guys!
the charity drive has also been promoted by the anti drama llama movement which is a bit like a community charity group on FA. thanks ADLM! :D
time to get to the meat of this update...
...fanstuff
kep - 1 new
zarla - 1 new
kilo - 2 new
there's also two entries in the wiki, though they're not formatted "right." if a wikifag wants to correct my formatting and email me the right way, that'd be awesome cause i can say right now i don't really grok wiki formatting. both entries are rather trivia-centric. we have external references and cameos. enjoy :v
( pretty safe for work, unless you have some majorly prude coworkers )
alright time to grab some food and get that donation image up. let's rock.
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[14 Nov 2009|04:48pm] |
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nothing.
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[13 Nov 2009|07:12pm] |
Sitting at the island airport, waiting for my flight to New York... never had a delay with Porter before, and although this may yet end up being the day, for now, I'm scheduled to leave 30 minutes early (they rebooked me to the much-delayed earlier flight).
Now that I have some time to killl, I thought it was about time I update the awesomeness that has been the past week. So, onward to my "things that are awesome" list - in no particular order:
- I am on my way to NYC to see one of my most favouritest people ever, and collect some tasty Aussie candy. Sooooo excited.
- I submitted the third assignment for my course, after much stress and hitting my head against a wall. I also got my mark back for assignment just before - 98%. I am awesome. Two and a half weeks until the exam. Nervous!
- Speaking of "I am awesome", my church is doing a series right now on narcissism. It's really fantastic so far, and on Sunday, they're going to be talking about technology (the culture of i). I highly recommend checking it out here.
- Work continues to go well!
- My roomie coloured my hair again, and finally, after what seems like years, it is back to the rich, dark brown that I like. The darkest shade, next to black.
Aside from having way too much on my plate, and being really sleepy most of the time as a result, things are going really great lately.
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| not teaching comics - sketchbook page |
[13 Nov 2009|06:22pm] |
A sketchbook page from a few weeks back- I’ve been considering having more teacher interaction in the comic in the next few weeks, so I’ve been doing some designs.
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| "meep" is apparently a ban-worthy word. |
[13 Nov 2009|02:14pm] |
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http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/21593943/detail.html
rediculous. a principal banned the word "meep" because it was the meme-of-the-month at their highschool.
just fyi, highschoolers? a real teacher? has a sense of humor. i would have freaking laughed myself stupid if a huge bunch of students just started meeping during an assembly or something.
also, come on. meep. seriously. meep. it's so inoffensive it's practically a compliment.
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