| FRIED SHRIMP |
[Jul. 3rd, 2009|08:12 pm] |
What the hell is wrong with Japan?
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| A LOOK BACK |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|11:02 pm] |
Ten years ago, I was still in art college, computing on a Apple PowerMac 8500, and driving a rusting hulk of a 1978 Toyota Corolla, living in an apartment under the flight path of Sea-Tac airport full of criminals and lunatics. Playing Baldur's Gate, Dune 2000, Myth, Starcraft, Alpha Centauri, Quake 2, and Shogo on the PC. Playing Panzer Dragoon Saga on the Saturn and Abe's Odyssey on the PS1. (which were good memories, the gaming at the time really was kickass) The difference a decade makes!
Visual aids:
(mine actually looked WORSE, but it was bright yellow)
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| BY CROM |
[Jun. 20th, 2009|12:46 am] |
So much fun right here as Hodgman roasts Obama. :D Go John Hodgman! |
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| THE ELDER SIGN |
[Jun. 17th, 2009|10:54 pm] |
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth for $12 on Steam. I know this game has its quirks and weird bugs (just keep the FAQ handy and save often, you'll be fine) but to this day, it has two of the most stunning boss fights I have ever seen in a FP game. It's still intensely moody and engaging, and kept me up all night in 6 hour benders to finish it. It's probably the only Lovecraft game that's gotten it right to date. It's impeccably researched and has all kinds of fan-service love for those of us who grew up freaking ourselves out with Lovecraft books late at night.
And don't googleimage it unless you want spoilers. :P |
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| WORLD'S DEADLIEST |
[Jun. 15th, 2009|12:49 am] |
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Infomania is totally awesome. This is a show on Current.tv that is eating the Daily Show's lunch. And I looove the Daily Show. A furious deconstruction of mainstream media with an evil internet perspective. I LOVE IT |
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| FREE ADVICE FOR REPUBLICANS |
[Jun. 10th, 2009|11:55 pm] |
(Political crap follows. Feel free to ignore if you don't revel in this stuff like I do)
Republicans starting to figure out that maybe not so good to give their pulpit to guys who aren't running for office and who have approval ratings about in line with the BTK killer.
This is the only right wing blog I like, because it's intellectually honest, Charles is quick at smacking down idiots, and lately, he's not afraid to point out the right-wing connections of the Holocaust Museum shooter. If the Republicans are to be a viable party again, they're going to have to follow this guy's lead, and exorcise some of their demons. They created a monster by giving their power away to nasty talk radio and Fox News guys, and now they're having trouble getting the tiller back. News flash to Republicans: Their interests are not always your interests. When these guys say insane, racist things and incite people to violence, they win. They make money and captivate audiences by being interesting. Your party loses, because reasonable people don't trust crazy people to run government.
Exhibit A: Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck is the lamprey of right-wing media. He does well in direct opposition to his party's fortunes. He is a former morning-zoo coke fiend radio guy, and now that energy is on Fox News. The more desperate, depraved, and out of power Republicans are, the more his star rises. Which is, ya know, great for Democrats! Perhaps after he's sucked the GOP dry of it's blood with his lunacy, he'll spawn upstream and lay little Glenn Beck eggs.
As a bonus, the Oregon senator we just elected last year calls out a GOP strategist on the floor, trying to strangle health care reform. Good on you, Merkley! I sorta assumed you were a weak-chin milquetoast, but I'm impressed.
Also, have some metal: TESTAMENT RULES
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| OH RADIO |
[Jun. 4th, 2009|05:05 am] |
Bigotry and calls for violence against transgendered kids: alive and well on American radio! I remember The Rob, Arnie and Dawn show when they replaced Twisted Radio on KISW in the 90s. They were a terrible, generic morning zoo show then, but they seemed harmless enough. Guess I was wrong!
So their host station is KRXQ in Sacramento. The station manager's email is here:
jfox@entercom.com
Entercom's contact page is here: http://www.entercom.com/contact.php
Won't you tell him/her how you feel about unabashed bigotry on public airwaves? Oh yeah, and pass it on. This may seem insignificant to some, but if a radio station is shamed into making an apology, that's pretty good press that says that this shit is not to be tolerated. |
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| CONVICTED |
[Jun. 3rd, 2009|10:49 pm] |
I think my gaming tastes are becoming French-Canadian. Ubisoft Montreal is whooping all kinds of ass these days, and the new Splinter Cell: Conviction trailers at E3 has just sealed the damn deal. An urban social stealth game with massive innovations in narrative delivery. It gives me chills just thinking about it.
Check out the way the storytelling and player objectives are projected into the environment. So excited. :D |
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| CANYONERRRRO |
[Jun. 3rd, 2009|01:39 pm] |
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Chinese company buying the Hummer brand. Highly amusing and awesome. I wonder if we'll still see compensating with Bush/Cheney and NRA bumper stickers tooling around in their overstuffed H2s now that China is calling the shots on them. :D |
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| BARTERTOWN DECOR |
[Jun. 1st, 2009|08:01 pm] |
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Used tire artwork! WAY WAY cooler than it sounds. Imagine agiant ram's head made out of truck tires gazing angrily down from the front gates of your Mad Max enclave. :D |
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| TURBINE ROCKS |
[May. 28th, 2009|07:03 pm] |
THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
THE NAME OF THIS LIVEJOURNAL HAS BEEN CHANGED. ALERT THE SPIRIT REALM AND UPDATE YOUR ROLODEXES, IT IS NOW
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) turbinerocks
To inaugurate this occasion, here is some ROCK
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| THINKING ABOUT GAMES |
[May. 27th, 2009|11:35 pm] |
Much love to the folks who work in the AAA game industry as concept artists (I know a couple) but I am just so glad I did not go that route. Console games are becoming a blur of frowning guys in jumpsuits and helmets, with increasingly larger and larger guns, designed and art directed by committee. I frankly stumbled into my current game gig half by accident, but it wound up being a perfect fit. Sorta like working for a mom-and-pop restuarant, only instead of searving delicious perogis, it's delicious casual games.
I've become so fickle and so out of the loop. It's all passed me by, I became that guy who doesn't understand the games the kids play, and it's a little upsetting. I used to be HAAAARD COOOORE gamer when I was younger. In college, I was staying up until dawn playing multiplayer Half Life on our 6-computer LAN, drilling through apartment walls to network computers with ethernet cables, playing Unreal Tournament, Total Annihalation, Quake 3, Shogo, Age of Empires, Dune 2000, C&C, Myth...and that was just the multiplayer stuff! Single player was Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate, Thief, Shock 2, Deus Ex, Panzer Dragoon Saga...all sorts of great stuff, games were just THERE FOR ME TO LOVE, and consume, like a feast.
Now...I've sort of run out of gas. I play Rock Band, because playing drums is its own reward, and having a rock solid groove is properly scored and praised by an impartial computer. How cool! I think RB has improved my playing, sort of like a refresher course to bring out dormant muscle memory. But that almost doesn't count as a game, it's something I already did anyway, and now there's an Xbox app to let me do it for points.
But I've lost my patience and most of my taste for sitting down and zoning out and GAMING for hours at a stretch. Persona 4 is gathering dust on my shelf, as I still haven't finished Persona 3 (I'm sorry queenvera and protocat, I'm trying!) after many months, and I haven't even bothered to download the bounty of DLC for my favorite game of last year, Fallout 3. I'll definitely binge on the sequel to Bioshock and the new Thief game, but after that, who knows? My aversion to sitting still for movies or TV shows is creeping into games as well. I'm restless, I'd rather read news blogs or make art most of the time. There's this little voice in the back of my head that always says "time's a wastin'" and now it's getting louder. Or maybe it's the echo from all the incredible and proflic artists I watch and talk to, who are kicking my ass. ;-)
Perhaps these things come and go in cycles, right now I'm cranking out a lot of art, trying to keep up, and trying to sketch personal stuff/studies/practice/etc for myself a couple hours a day. Maybe in a few months I'll burn myself out on being productive, and get back into a groove where I have a bottle of Tripel Karmeleit next to me, playing Xbox until the birds start tweeting and the sun begins to rise. It'll happen for Bioshock 2, certainly. It's almost like I treat games as a vacation. I let myself be consumed by them at about the same rate as normal people go on vacation these days. And then I leave them behind they way my parents leave Las Vegas or Disneyworld behind. Maybe that's healthy for me! But they've been a constant companion, video games, since I was like 4 years old. It's like I'm abandoning my mother tongue. |
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| SILLY GAMES THAT ARTISTS PLAY |
[May. 23rd, 2009|03:26 am] |
Stuff I'm thinking about. Answer any, all, or none of the following, if you are an artist or have any sort of expressive craft.
When was the last time you drew something under the influence? (drunk, stoned, etc) Was it a beneficial experience? Did it help or hurt the art?
What was the last "breakthrough" or important event you had in the growth/realization of your artistic abilities? Or if that doesn't make much sense, what was the last thing you made that you felt was significant?
What is the artistic peer (someone you know personally or who is accessible to you) who is currently the largest influence on your work?
What frustrates you most about the art-making process? What do you have the most resistance to doing, craftwise?
(repost these in your journal if you like!) |
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| WOULD YOU LIKE TO READ ABOUT MY SO-CALLED LIFE |
[May. 22nd, 2009|11:45 pm] |
I HOPE YOU LIKE TEXT
This remains one of the most amazing pieces of recorded rock music I have ever heard. its magic has not worn off; it has actually deepened. This is the Master of Puppets for the new millenium.
Allfurfun was pretty sweet! I attended with ixwkir and hung out with old friends octantis and okojosan. ixwkir let me stomp around in her phoenix costume on Friday night, which was fantastic, and has whetted my appetite for doing the full coverage/fursuit thing at future cons. Perhaps a Turbine costume is in the works, perhaps not. 8-) Met people there too who were very nice and threw some money at me to draw them things despite my complete lack of preparation! A great con for the size, a lot more energy than I was expecting, a good dance, some cool costumes.
Our karaoke locus of control on Thursday nights is now the Galaxy Restaurant and Lounge on 9th and Burnside. It's an incredible place, with good food, good beer, great staff and most importantly, a welcoming karaoke crowd and a very Portland atmosphere full of goofy headbangers (like myself) and kind souls. You haven't lived until you've heard the voice of Satan do Singin' In The Rain. If you wish to attend, just show up on Thursdays after 11, we'll be there almost always. And if you ask nicely, my wife and I will do a duet for you (but only if the duet is Love Shack, Feel Good Inc, or The Chain)
Keyboard cat has gotten into my head. Because I'm a political junkie, this one is my favorite. :D
ilthuain has ordered a Acer Aspire netbook which looks to be a pretty righteous bit of technology for $300. I'm excited or it to arrive so I can see how classic PC games run on it.
The latest computer game project I was involved with, Virtual Families, seems to be kicking ass, and doing so at a fraction of the budget of a lot of casual games industry heavyweights. As usual, my game sprites are sneered at by core gamer reviewers, who seem to be whiny know-nothings who no doubt would only be satisfied by real-time inverse kinematic 3d models engineered by half a dozen artists from an AAA studio. Game critics are a lot like rock critics. They want to dictate their own tastes from on high, and they like to review the phantom game they WISH they were playing, as opposed to the actual game that was developed.
Meanwhile, in the real world, the actual target audience of the game is loving it, because it's cute and deep and innovative and surprising and endearing. And that's what matters to me, because I'm a refugee from the days when two or three people sat down and made an amazing computer game on the Commodore 64, or the Amiga, or the Atari ST. See Chris Crawford, see David Crane, see Paul Reiche III. The division between the casual scene and the computer game scene that I remember from 18 years ago as a teenager is beginning to blur. The audience has changed, but the game design conundrums are the same, and the rewards are awesome.
Oh yeah, and both our cars need oil changes. AND I'M OUT |
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