January 24, 2009

Avoiding housework

Today was supposed to be Happy Laundry Day, but I just couldn’t do it. Avoiding housework is a fine art that, when mastered, can prove extremely effective against chores that demand precious hours of your life. Or so I’ve heard.

So, instead of doing laundry, here I am writing about whatever. The subject, I’ve just decided, is “what I did yesterday”. Not a particularly special day, but here it goes: Woke up at 8am sharp (not a second too late!), had a hot chocolate/coffee, boarded a thankfully-not-full Morning Bus, had to class from 9 to 10, took another bus back home, went out to pay bill, returned home, typed a few thousand words of a paper due next week (stress!), had lunch while watching the new episodes of Lost, listened to some Django Reinhardt, played Team Fortress 2, studied some more until 6pm, got dressed, went out with a friend to a comics festival, was kind of disappointed by it, had greasy “food”, returned home, read some reviews on Actionbutton.net, went to sleep thinking about Happy Laundry Saturday and how to avoid it.

In other news, I just played a scrumptious little game I would like to write about on my other, sadly neglected, blog. Oh, and Another World? I loved it. I think I’m going to have a late cup of coffee now. So see you.

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January 21, 2009
1UP Show producers launch new show "CO-OP"

The first part of the premiere episode is up, more coming next week. Lots of familiar faces in there.

Also! Don’t forget to check out these two podcasts, both by former 1UP employees:

Rebel.fm

The Geekbox

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Just played the (impossibly short) demo of Another World and whoa. I like this game. I’ve always enjoyed games that create a rich, mesmerising world for the player to get lost in and this one seems like it fits the description. This week I devoted my video game time to other such games: The original Metroid, Knytt and Knytt stories (loaded with a bunch of extra levels). The official site for Another World is here.

Just played the (impossibly short) demo of Another World and whoa. I like this game. I’ve always enjoyed games that create a rich, mesmerising world for the player to get lost in and this one seems like it fits the description.

This week I devoted my video game time to other such games: The original Metroid, Knytt and Knytt stories (loaded with a bunch of extra levels).

The official site for Another World is here.

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January 19, 2009
No idea where this came from or who made it, but that doesn’t make it any less cool.

No idea where this came from or who made it, but that doesn’t make it any less cool.

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January 12, 2009
Hidenori Maezawa: King of the Konami Sound

Post on 1UP.com’s Retro Gaming Blog about the composer behind such games as Castlevania III, Contra and Gradius II. If you’ve played a Konami game from the NES days you should be able to recognise that particular “Konami sound”.

This interview comes at a very appropriate time, as I finished Castlevania for the NES earlier today and have already played some Castlevania III, both the US and the Japanese version. The latter sounds different and probably better because of an extra chip included in the Japanese cartridge that produced a much richer sound.

This is an interesting read if you’re into game music or golden-era Famicom games.

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I find this funny. Now, I’m not really a fan of David Lynch, since I’m not into midgets, velvet curtains and masks or surrealistic sequences that include all the above, but I have to admit he’s right on this one. You won this round, Dave. Just know that I won’t mind watching your films on a phone.

The description on YouTube says this is a DVD extra on Inland Empire. I tried to watch that film once. It was the worst, most confusing, most harrowing 15 minutes of my life. That’s when I realised I simply don’t like David Lynch and should stop trying to watch his films.

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Today is a Public Image Ltd. day for me. But remember, they’re not a band, they’re a company. Doo-dah.

Today is a Public Image Ltd. day for me. But remember, they’re not a band, they’re a company. Doo-dah.

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January 9, 2009

Retronauts Episode 62

The final pre-buyout episode of Retronauts is out and it features the regular cast of five discussing the years 2008, 1998, 1988 and 1978(!) in gaming. This is a special episode, because it’s the last one recorded before the recent changes in 1UP, by which I mean its acquisition by UGO and the subsequent firing of… mostly everyone, really, as well as the cancellation of the 1UP Show and a few other podcasts. Listen to this and remember the good old days. Get the episode here. Read some more info about it here.

The final pre-buyout episode of Retronauts is out and it features the regular cast of five discussing the years 2008, 1998, 1988 and 1978(!) in gaming.

This is a special episode, because it’s the last one recorded before the recent changes in 1UP, by which I mean its acquisition by UGO and the subsequent firing of… mostly everyone, really, as well as the cancellation of the 1UP Show and a few other podcasts. Listen to this and remember the good old days.

Get the episode here.

Read some more info about it here.

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Changed theme. It’s a bit busier than the previous one, but it looks and functions better. Didn’t lose any comments!

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The Humorless Humor of Brian's Smiley Smile

In-depth review focusing on the use of, you guessed it, humour by Brian Wilson. The reviewer reads way too much into the autobiographical and psychological aspect of the album, but in doing so makes some very important observations. Pay more attention to the part where he examines individual songs, especially Heroes and Villains, Vegetables and She’s Going Bald.

As much as I’d love to have the complete original Smile playing on my speakers right now, I’m much more fascinated by its byproducts, Smiley Smile with its multiple layers of meaning and Smile 2004.

PS: White text on black background = eye death.

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