Just discovered the blog of Javier Grillo-Marxuach, the creator, writer and artist for “The Middleman” comics and the new TV series of the same name. Monday nights. ABC Family. Lots of inside info about upcoming episodes and behind the scenes stuff. Yeah, I know YOU’RE already watching the best comedy SF show on television right now, but I’m just letting those other people who are too good and hip to watch television know about it. ...
I’m not being snide or dismissive when I say I am still waiting for a reason to buy a PS3 as a game machine, as opposed to a media hub, a job it does admirably but no better so than others you could make. I’m just saying that the Xbox 360, so far, does the business of games, better. I could be changing my mind. While browsing through game trailers on PSN this weekend, I stumbled across one called simply, Valkyrie. At first I didn’t know if I wasn’t watching a new Miyazaki movie, aside from its lack of flying things.* That same sort of attention to detail, the same sort of pastel watercolors style that is Miyazaki himself and is seen all the time in his concept art. This was an anime I wanted to see. I have the trailer below – the version I saw was exactly the same, except with all the Japanese removed (and nothing added). ...
Raph Koster today posted an article proposing that the reason people flock to games similar to ones they have already played is because they have no easy way of finding the alternatives. I agree! That’s a HUGE problem! How can I convince anyone Pi Story is a good game when they assume all MMOs must be 3D? How can I convince myself that oh, I dunno, Age of Conan is a game I’d like without going to the effort of buying it and installing it? ...
I just had a thought, while writing the Mythos article. We all know where Mythos came from. Diablo II game play with a Warcraft art style. Diablo II came from Diablo, and Diablo was heavily influenced by the rogue-likes Moria and Angband, I think? Both those games were inspired by Hack, which was inspired by Rogue, which was heavily influenced by Temple of Apshai (I’m guessing), which took its inspiration from Dungeons and Dragons. ...
A long time ago, writer and radio show host Etha Gray visited St. Matthias’ Episcopal Church in Seaside, CA, where I was a lay reader and member of the Bishop’s Council. She was such an inspiration that I… well, I named my favorite EverQuest character after her – Etha Tanglewood. Whenever I saw the name, I thought of her. Because, I guess, I’d mentioned my character in a post, automated comment spammers scraped some search engine for similar keyword results, and so while I was clearing out my comment spam, came across her name in one of the spam comments. I looked her up and found a link into one of her books… so if you want a peak into a book about civil rights and faith, have a look :)
DM Osbon over at Sweetflag, to commemorate the first anniversary of his blog, is gonna be giving the presents to us. He’s got UEFA Euro 2008 for the PS3 – world football action – there’s even a cheat mode where you can let England win, from what I understand – and Boom Blox for the Wii, that Jenga-on-steroids-and-with-exploding-stuff game which is the first result of the collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Electronic Arts. Both have gotten rave reviews. ...
It’s pledge time for public radio here in Hartford, and WNPR is on the prowl for donations. Now, I listen all the time and I am a member, but I can’t help but wonder if they would make ten times or a hundred times the money they make now if there was a way to shut them up and get back to the news once you’d paid. I guarantee I’d pony up the cash every time.
Here’s why you American Idol haters need to take another look. I was an AI hater, but then, I had never actually watched the show. I just hated it in theory; since it was on television (strike one), was popular (oh, definitely a strike two), and focused on people who seemed to bask in songs without a lot of melody (boom, strike three). Then I actually WATCHED it. Since then I have tried to remember, whenever I criticize something I haven’t actually tried, that I could be very wrong. ...
Ryan says one David got 56% of the 96 million votes, the other, 44%. This is about the separation over at DialIdol. http://dialidol.com/asp/predictions/Predictions.asp Hometown crowds are loving their Davids. Top 12 singers on stage singing the Temptations’ “Get Ready”. It’s nice to see them all again. I dunno how I get so attached to them every year. They’re doing some cool dancing. Where’s Amanda Overmayer? Lol… those dance moves are scary. The AI companion show, “So You Think You Can Dance”, starts Thursday. I think it’s a subtle plug. Brooke looks great tonight. David Cook looks hot. Seeing Carly makes me happy. ...
Om Fox last night, we got to see the judges fawn over teen belter David Archuletta and damn indie-rocker David Cook with faint praise. Really. If David C. were a girl, Paula would have told him he looked lovely. However, DialIdol.com predicts that opinions of the judges aside, David C. has won this by a landslide, based on busy signals of people trying to call in. My own thoughts? David A. has real talent, but I still thought his songs were boring. If he weren’t singing them on American Idol, I wouldn’t give them a moment of time. David C.’s songs didn’t reach out and grab me either, but if I were flipping through radio stations and he was singing, I’d probably leave it tuned there. I thought he should have rocked out a lot more. ...