Ludus Challenge #3: Myst

Shuuki finally finished the video and it looks great! Enjoy. "Ludus Challenge #2: Game Center CX" should be edited by Tuesday. We'll be recording a fourth one this coming Thursday.

An open letter to my beautiful wife...

Dear Jennifer,

I know how much you love to dance. I wish that I could join you but I have two left feet. I apologize for taking you out to dance two years ago for your birthday and spending the whole time talking with my friends while you danced by yourself... but the fact is that I just can't dance.

Please watch this video as it demonstrates more to the point than I can express in words. I love you. Very much.

Sincerely,
Your dexterous husband,
Justin


P.S. I'm joking. I'm much better than these guys.

Zoo, zoo, zoo

So Jen and I took a visit to the Will Rogers Shrine this weekend and really had a blast. We also visited the zoo on a very blustery day and got to feed the giraffes, pet bunnies, and search for the otters (which have been relocated, I guess).

The Budgie Buddies exhibit was a GREAT let-down as the "feeding sticks" are just popsicle sticks with about (not exaggerating) 10 pieces of seed glued to the end. And, regardless of what the commercial shows you, you cannot go 'amongst them'. There are more birds in Memorial park than there were there. BIG let-down.

But Jen and I are planning on doing a "Colorado Thing" every month. Will be fun. I'll post pics of our zoo excursion tonight.


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Professor Layton, Myst, and Riven

So for the past several weeks I have been playing three games. One, for the Nintendo DS is: Professor Layton. The other two (for the PC/MAC) are Myst and Riven. I have really been enjoying them as I really like puzzle games.

All three are also games I never thought that I would like.

Professor Layton at first glance is a cartoony boring story game... but it, in fact, is filled with puzzles. ALL SORTS of puzzles! Playing five minutes into it got me hooked... and I knew it would become one of my favorite games on the DS. It is an adventure game with puzzles, murder, intrigue, mysteries... and great DS animation. Yes, animation.

Don't walk... RUN to get it. It is worth $30.

As for Myst and Riven... I love them both, but I can see why people don't...

For one thing, you are not told what to do. No rules, no goal. Nothing. So part of the game is trying to figure out what to do. That's actually not as hard as it may seem... it just takes time.

But Myst and Riven are both unforgiving in that they rarely tell you if you have done something right. You have to search and deduce... and many people have started Myst and never played too far into it for that reason. So I can understand being frustrated.

Luckilly, I LOVE puzzle games and am pretty good at them, and so I fell in love with the series. I have just started Myst III and was pleasantly surprised to find one of my favorite actors playing a role in it: Brad Dourif!

I would really suggest these games as well as they are thinking games that let you take your time and not rush. They're also fun games to play with others as you can all suggest ideas and wrap your minds around them.

To help you all play (those of you that never got too far out of frustration) I give you this help for MYST... without spoilers:

IDEA: You have found a strange book and have been transported to this new island. Inside of the library on the island are two books~ a red and blue one. Both tell you to find pages to add to them. There are other books that link to other worlds (called 'Ages') that you must find to get these red and blue pages... but you must find these books as they have been hidden around the island. Touch paintings, read journals, push buttons, be curious, and keep notes of everything you find. When something changes... look around. Something may be different and the island is small enough to discover even small differences without too much work.

The game journal I made during game play is below... but it is LOADED with spoilers.

SPOILERS ABOUND

MYST
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I didn't know what I would need, so I left room for as many Ages as I could. You can see that I didn't need all of it. That would change with the Riven game.

RIVEN
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I don't care what anyoe says. Mr. Rogers was wonderful.

Jen gave me a book when he passed away in 2003 and I still have it. This is my favorite quote from it, and I still try to remember it whenever I feel bad about myself.

"The toughest thing is to love somebody who has done something harmful to you... especially when that somebody is yourself."

The show aired 40 years ago today.

Curtains

Oh, draw the blinds
We can shut out the night
Pull up the blanket
Pull the blankets up tight

And there are angels on our curtains
They keep the outside out
And there are lions on our curtains
They lick their wounds
They lick their doubt

We watch it float away
With all the memories of the day

And there are angels on our curtains
They keep the outside out
And there are lions on our curtains
They lick their wounds
They lick their doubt

Close your eyes
Go to sleep

MP3

More great music from a commercial

Saw the Dell commercial the other day (well, several weeks ago)

...and finally found the song.


They also did a song from Mr. Magorium's Wonder Imporium (still a great movie in my opinion).

Some of you may have heard... and some of you may have not...

But Jen was in an automobile accident this Saturday. She's ok. She's fine, as a matter of fact, but the car is totaled.

Just to let you know the facts:

* I-25 in Castle Rock coming home from Denver
* @$$hole pulls out in front of her
* Car + concrete barrier = bad
* @$$hole drives away without a scratch or a care
* Nice people stop to help my pixie
* Nice people get @$$hole's car make and license plate number
* Father-in-law and Justin are pissed and wait to see if @$$hole gets caught

So there you go. She's really just fine... just a few scrapes. I'm just thankful it wasn't more.

On a lighter note Derek, Heather, Jen and I went to get some good German food at a restaurant that closed down a few hours later. No kidding. We were almost the last customers... and they had VERY good liver and onions.

And for your Music Monday...

Jojo Card Game Sleeve-Ready Translations

This is the supplemental video for the card game translations I have been working on the past several weeks.

I'm a plumber... not an electrician

Liver & Onions

I know it sounds weird, but I love liver & onions.

I bring this up because at the cafeteria today, they were serving liver & onions. I got there 45 minutes before they closed (they're open from 11:00am to 1:00pm).

They had sold only 3 plates... including me. So they gave me an extra piece.

It was really good. I don't know what people have a problem with. For me, it's "comfort food".

Actually... I wonder if it's because it might be related as "poor-food"? I loved it when my grandmother made it... but we weren't very wealthy either (still aren't).

Hmmm... your thoughts?

OGR: Umihara Kawase

So we got to thinking that we could do better video game reviews than the majority of the YouTubers out there.

So we did.

Woot.

Lemme know what you guys think.



And Umihara Kawase is coming out for the PSP March 19th (well, in Japan...)!

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure love

Givin' love where it needs it. Ora.

Jojo Battle Card Game (I am currently translating the rules and cards)

You can still get the first 9 books of the third story from VIZ. The translation is spot on.

And finally, the... Joestar family iPod commercial starring Giorno, Jotaro, Josuke, Jolyne, & Joseph.

Time Crash

And yes, it IS cannon.

Game Center CX love

Some of you know my love for "Game Center CX" and some of you may not. For those of you that do, watch the video. For those of you that don't, let me explain further.

Game Center CX is a show I caught on YouTube a year or so ago and fell in love with it. The whole point of the show is that they get a comedian (Shinya Arino) to play old-school video games and see how well he does. They allow him some passwords and some help from other people, but it's mostly just showing him playing a game.

Sound boring? It's not. Even if you don't understand Japanese I have found that it's incredibly fun to watch him play and see how well he does. If you have played the game before yourself, then you get tense wondering if he will find out things you know about.

For a one-hour show they take 13-15 hours of gameplay (and keep in mind he plays that all in one go) and squish it into 25 minutes. The rest are interview segments and extras such as Arino going to some obscure corner of Japan to play some games in a side-street cafe or whatnot. It's actually lots of fun.

So, a game just came out recently (I pre-ordered it I was so excited) sort-of based on the tv show... but not really. In the game, you play as a kid who plays old-school games. These old-school games are actually made by Bandai/Namco specially for the Game Center CX DS game... it basically means that they look like they were made in the 80's, but they were actually made last year.

So the video below is a pretty decent talk about the game showing some shots and some information about the show too. I also made and update the GameCenter CX Wikipedia site, so there's lots of information there too about the games Arino plays in the TV show.

Way too busy

I'm really enjoying a new book I got for Hanukkah from Jen. It's the first Harry Turtledove book I have read and it's astoundingly good.

"The Two Georges" takes place in an alternate history where George Washington struck a deal with King George III and North America stayed a colony of Great Britain. Now, in 1996 a group of fellows called "The Sons Of Liberty" are causing problems.

Being a fan of a few episodes of 'Sliders' (very few) alternate history in book form is actually quite exciting. Turtledove does an excellent job of skewing history into a very convincing "What If" and serving it to you in a way that I can actually read. I am looking forward to finishing this book and then hopping straight into the World War series.

I'm not too interested in time-travelling as I am in alternate history... but (on Mike's recommendation) I may even give "The Guns Of The South" a try.

On other news, I just got another hole put into my head.

You know that I got my wisdom teeth taken out in September, but you may not know that I had the right nostril get infected and and that I have been sick ever since.

So today I went in and got "endoscopic surgery" to help my nose drain properly so antibiotics can get to the root of the infection.

Unfortunately, the tube they put in my throat for the anesthesia made my throat very raw and actually bruised my uvula and windpipe. I was told it would be a bit raw... I guess that's what they meant... so I am in lots of fun pain when I swallow and I sound like 'Tom Waits' when I talk.

That along with $1000 worth of car repairs is really putting a hamper on our new year.

I am working on getting a "Mario Monologues" Staged Version up sometime soon, but I need to get my throat in working order. I have another one coming up at the end of this month... so here's hoping I'm in good shape by then.

Also note that the comments area is up again, but I am using the Blogspot comments. I'll find the other one again soon.

Ed makes the following note about the blog article below:
"If your really want to get to the root of the whole Interpol/Editors thing, you can always take a look at the band that they are *both* ripping off - from 1991 - Kitchens of Distinction"

I agree.


Newly Acquired Games:
* Super Swing Golf 2 (Wii)
* Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
* Super Real Mahjong PIV Custom (PC Engine/Turbografx 16)
* Star Control (Genesis)
* Buzz (PS2)
* Final Fantasy XII (PS2)

Midweek Music

The Editors: An End Has A Start

I actually heard this tune during one of TCM's popular movie collages this weekend. Sounds too much like 'Interpol' to me, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Well, you tell me... Interpol: "Evil" is the following video.

I'm still working on the lost comments thing. Hang in there.




And courtesy of my dear friend Ed... YOUR HEAD A-SPLODE!

Stop putting stuff on our bodies, David Blaine!

And you know the scary thing? Click this link: HERE.

Blog Woes

AGH! I am working on getting this damn blog back to normal but things are popping in and out and up and down and even going away!

I don't want them to go away!

So I need to work on it some more.

CWAP!

Mario Monologues Part 2

The next one won't be until January.