World News Wednesday: New Years

It's New Year's Eve. Go pop open a bottle of bubbly and enjoy the end of the year.

Or, if you are super awesome, enjoy some time in Amsterdam. That's what makes today World News Wed... the fact that Roger and Rachel are globe-trotting. Be sure to check their site for updates on their trip.

Bookish Tuesday: Slaughterhouse-Five

I finished my first ever Vonnegut book, after years of hearing others sing his praises, and I'll admit that it was a very good read. I will also admit, that it took me about half of the book to really understand what was going on and what it was actually about.

For those who haven't read Slaughterhouse-Five, think of "The Constant" episode of LOST, and you'll have the basic plotline. Billy Pilgrim is unstuck in time, and is goes through various parts of his life outside of chronological order. It's hard to follow at first, but once you get the hang of his different episodes in his life, it makes for an interesting story.

There probably isn't much that hasn't already been said about the book, since I learned yesterday that even my mom had to read it for a class at sometime in her schooling, so it's been analyzed since the Enlightenment by my count.

That said, it was an impressing start to my Vonnegut reading, since I have received two more of his books for Christmas and will be delving into them soon. First though, I have a special book that I'm finishing up in order to put next Monday and Tuesday's posts together in a very special way.

Movie Monday: King of Kong

I watched bits and pieces of a number of movies over the last week, but only one all the way through. Sadly, it was a movie that I had already watched earlier this year. Happily, it was a good one that I was glad to give a second viewing.

The King of Kong is a documentary about Steve Wiebe, a man who is very good at Donkey Kong, and subsequently thinks that he can get the world record high score. The only thing standing in his way is the current record holder, Billy Mitchell. The documentary plays out almost unbelievably with heroes and villains, twists and turns, and a climactic showdown (sort of). What makes it so good is that with all of these things, you have you constantly remind yourself that these are real people and not just a made up story.

I know that a lot of the drama built into the movie is derived from smart editing, but it's so well put together that both times I've watched it, I feel myself being emotionally manipulated so perfectly that I wind up not caring and throwing everything I have behind Steve Wiebe.

The good thing about it is that even people who don't care about video games (like my wife and her sister), they both completely enjoyed the movie and got caught up in it as much as me. Rumor has it that they are already working on a scripted adaptation of the movie, and while I'm sure I'll be out to see it, I don't think it will be able to capture everything in this documentary.

Christmas Week

Since it is Christmas week and I don't know how often I'll have access to a computer or time to think up posts, I thought it would be a good week to take some time off. I might pop up a random post or two, but probably not on topic.

Enjoy your Christmas week!

Religion Friday

As part of my job, I have to read through Police Reports every day, and every so often I come across some funny stuff. Other times, I find things that are truly upsetting. A recent example of this (and the focus of today's post) was a report in which Officers were called to a church over a case of criminal trespassing. When they got to the church, they met with a member who told them that the pastor had told him to call the church if homeless people came by looking for help/shelter. Being a good parishioner, the member called the police who came and arrested the man for coming to the church for help.

Now because I was not there for any of this, I can't say how much of what was said was true, but I can say that when I first read the report I was pretty pissed off. I understand that there is hesitation and fear when someone needs help and you aren't exactly sure what to do, but to be a pastor (someone who is called to be a leader of the church) and to specifically tell someone not to help... I don't understand. I don't know the full story of the church or the pastor, so there may be circumstances that led to this decision, but I can't think of any that would have someone believe that God didn't want them to help.

I admit that I am nowhere near perfect or a source of knowledge for this subject. I (stupidly) don't seek opportunities to help and rarely do situations come knocking on my door, but I would like to think that if the opportunity presented itself, I would be a willing servant.

What is this fear that prevents us from helping? Why do I not go out every night seeking people who need shelter? Is it right to go with the standby answer of "you can't help everyone all the time"? What can be done?

All of those are questions that have been flying through my head, and I have yet to come up with a satisfying answer to any of them. Is something obvious just escaping my thoughts? Let me know what you think.

Gaming Thursday: The Symposium

No, sadly, The Symposium (as awesome as it sounds) isn't a game but instead a group of games journalists that Shawn Elliott has brought together in order to discuss the industry and specific topics that come up consistently when games journalism is discussed. The first part has been posted on Shawn's blog here, and I have to encourage anyone who is interested in game reviews to check it out. It's extremly long but incredibly fascinating.

Now, since I'm not a professional game reviewer and only do it for fun, I can't offer much insight into the industry. On the other hand, I can say that when I began writing about games for this updated version of my blog I knew that I was going to have to decide what the end product would be. Would I offer a score for the game or avoid that? As you can tell from my previous gaming posts, I decided against that.

This was for the reason that I knew that giving a game would make me feel restricted in saying how much I liked it or disliked it without having to eat my words later on. For instance, I know I crapped on Mirror's Edge, but that doesn't take away from the fact that there were still some things I truly liked about it, and if I were to give it a grade (say a "C"), I would have the problem of always feeling that I did wrong. Instead, I just decided to talk about pieces of the games that I liked and disliked and let you (the reader) decide whether the game interests you or not.

So, for those of you that are still here reading my words, I urge you to go back and click on that link and read. I really can't wait for the next edition to come out.

World News Wednesday: EGM

News link here... I know it's a week old.

This story may not mean too much to many of you, but for me it's a pretty big deal. As I've mentioned before, 1up.com is my favorite site for gaming. The editors are incredibly good, and their podcasts are the only gaming podcasts I listen to now.

So, what makes this news? Well, if UGO buys out 1up (it's probably explained a lot better by former 1up editor Jeff Green on the newest Gamers with Jobs podcast - which I had to listen to because it had both Jeff and Shawn Elliott on it), they could theoretically dump everyone associated with the site and just take the name for their own use as part of their network. While that may not ever happen, even if they cut a few people, it would definitely hurt the games journalist industry. 1up has an amazing staff of writers, and should any be let go the site would suffer at any number of levels from their lack of presence.

I guess it's a similar to changes happening throughout the world as the economic climate worsens. We are learning how to adjust to the many changes that have been happening, and we can only hope that our favorite things survive. That's how I am with 1up, I know that something big could happen, but I just have to hope that it all works out for the best.

Bookish Tuesday: Naked

Thanks to This American Life, I decided to pick up a David Sedaris book.

For no particular reason (outside of the fact that it was the first one I saw), I got Naked a couple weeks ago and even though I knew before I even started that I'd like it, I've been surprised by how much. From his stories on This American Life, I knew Sedaris was a funny guy and Naked is filled with some really funny stories, but there is a lot more to these essays than just humor.

Sedaris has led an incredibly interesting life (at least by the way he tells it), and it's pretty great to read about everything he's experienced and how he's grown from those points within his life.

The other thing I love about the book is that since it is a collection of essays, it is easy to break up and read in chunks, although I have to admit that even when I plan to only read one story, I normally wind up reading two or three.

So, I've added one more author to my list to keep reading. Vonnegut is next.

Movie Monday: A Few Movies for One Week

In an attempt to make up for time lost during football season, I watched 3 movies this week. Well more two and a half, since the last one I didn't pay too much attention (which is sad because it was probably my favorite of all three).

First up came Dan in Real Life, which even though it had Steve Carrell starring, I honestly wasn't expecting much. Turns out I got even less than expected. There were a few funny lines, but Carrell is a fantastic comedic actor, and they used less than none of his strengths. The script was predictable after the 15 minute set up, and the resolution for the film left me displeased. They never truly resolved the main conflict of the movie and that deserves a punch in the face.

On Friday I went and saw The Day the Earth Stood Still, but not the new version with Neo. Instead we watched the original 1950's movie and even though it wasn't my favorite old movie, it was actually really good. My only problem with the movie came with humanity's stupidity. Why the Hell can country leaders not put aside a conflict when faced from an outer space aggressor?! It's irrational and stupid... oh wait, that's the point of the movie. At least it can be said that I'm interested in the remake, if only to see how bad they screw this up.

Finally, we watched most of the documentary Bigger, Stronger, Faster yesterday. I really liked the delivery of this documentary, taking a more light-hearted tone like that of Super-Size Me, all the while dealing with a potentially huge issue - steroids (pun intended). While I'm not a sports person by any stretch of the imagination, there was a large amount of information being thrown around about the issue and I definitely am ready to sit back down and finish the movie, if only to learn what happens when the narrator reveals to his parents that his brothers have been taking steroids (gasp).

So, while it may not have been much of a quality week, I can at least say that it was a quantity week and I finally got some movie watching in.

Religion Friday: This American Life

For today's post, I refer you to last week's episode of the amazing radio show This American Life.

While it wasn't the best episode ever, the focus is on a Pentecostal preacher (Carlton Pearson), who went from friends with Oral Roberts to a man who is convinced that God told him there is no Hell, and it makes for a very interesting story.

It is a hard thing to argue against what people think they have heard from God. Pearson, who is a well-read man, builds his arguments well and truly believes his theology. As such, I don't know what to say against him. I don't necessarily agree with his theology, but I also don't think it is my place to argue and tell him that he's wrong.

Since theology is an incredibly personal thing as is, it's very hard to argue against someone's beliefs, and that's not a bad thing. Instead of reading me ramble on about this though, I recommend you go back and just listen to that episode. Hey, it's free!

Gaming Thursday: Game Music

I love video game music.

I have devoted a lot of hard drive space, phone memory, and memory on my mp3 player to soundtracks from video games. I even pull up Rainwave whenever I can to listen (I'm the #6 top listener). Some people pull up the Mario Bros. ringtone or a bit of Zelda music here or there because they think its kind of funny, but I could honestly spend all day listening to the original Sonic soundtrack.

Some of the appeal comes from the nostalgic value of hearing a song that I remember hearing as I played through a particular game, but I've also found that there are games that I've never even played and have already fallen in love with their music (Cave Story, I'm looking at you). Something about listening to various game themes throughout the day is really calming. I don't know what it is, but I absolutely love it.

Anyway, the point of this post was to direct you to this link. Download that album and enjoy it for the Christmas season!

World News Wednesday: Self-Embedding

First things first, this is the 200th post of the blog, so yippee!!! Now that we have that out of the way, here is today's article.

I'll admit that I'm kind of an emo kid. Partially because I like the music and partially because I like to cry in a room by myself. Okay, so I'm not really emo, nor have I ever been, I'm more of just a geek or nerd (they are two different things). Having said as much, I honestly don't understand the idea of cutting (supposedly the precursor to this self-embedding in the article)... and yes I'm sorry for lumping emo kids in with people who cut themselves, I just like to make gross over-generalizations to make writing easier.

It seems pretty logical that there is something psychologically (or maybe chemically) different about these teens/young adults. If you take the quote from Allie W. in the article: I was just sitting in class. I was kind of getting the urge to cut, but knew I couldn't leave class right then, there must be something that can be done to help the kids. I know it comes down to more than just finding help, since teenagers would be quite reluctant to divulge personal information such as this.

But let's get back to the article at hand. Self-mutilation is nothing new, nor is the idea of sticking things under the skin. I knew that before even reading the article, but then again,I figured it to be a thing of the past and wouldn't be coming up again within today's youth. As I mentioned above, I think that there must be something different within the make-up of a self-mutilator, if only because I don't understand the need for inflicting pain upon myself.

So, what can be done to help remedy this situation? Should we force all kids to attend a class/seminar during school about these dangers? Would that be effective? I'm pretty sure that teachers are required to report such behavior like this, but what else can teachers and parents do to help the kids?

A lot of it, I would think, comes down to the teen's home and schooling situation. Stress brought about from either of these locations (along with the many social stresses of the teenage years) only serve to exacerbate the situation, making them want to inflict pain more. So, I think maybe something could be introduced to reduce stress within the day of a teenager. Maybe mandatory naptime after lunch? I know that would make my day so much less stressful.

I know I'm making it seem way too simple of a solution, but that's only because of my limited knowledge. Does anyone know more who could offer more insight or a solution? Feel free to leave comments, I think this could be a good discussion.

Bookish Tuesday: Writing a Novel

So for years, I've been trying to write a book. Actually three separate ones, two fiction and one non.

Both are really good ideas (or so I think), but my problem comes in that although I know in my head where the plots are heading and the pieces that need to be hit on the way to the finale, but I just can't piece it together in an interesting way.

Plus, even though I find the story ideas good, I also know that I have nothing completely special to set them apart from the other books on the market (that aside from the fact that I wrote them).

So, who has suggestions on writing? I've been doing this updated blog for 6 months, so you've got a good sample of my writing style to draw upon. Aside from that, does anyone know a good book or two for helping with writing?

All suggestions are super welcome.

Movie Monday: The Pixar Story

Upon a recommendation from some friends, we stuck The Pixar Story into my Netflix Instant Queue to watch last week. What we watched turned out to be a pretty good documentary about some of the best moviemakers currently in the business.

While a lot of the more current stuff that the movie goes through is pretty well known, what with the contract issues with Disney and the focus on quality from the studio, the best part of the movie was the beginning. It showed how John Lasseter began his career with Disney by working at Disneyland and then moving into their animation studio. However, his interest in making The Brave Little Toaster a computer generated feature ultimately gets him fired and he is forced to find another way to get his ideas out. Tons of hard work and support from Steve Jobs and George Lucas wind up with Pixar Studios being formed and making a crap ton of money.

Yeah, it winds up being a typical documentary story about a guy who starts from nothing and rises to the top, but there are definitely some really cool things to see along the way. I found it mostly interesting seeing the rise of CGI in films, I knew that Pixar had something to do with ILM, but I never knew to what extent until seeing this movie.

It was also awesome to see the Pixar workspace, and it made me wish I could be creative and go work there. Seriously, the movie is worth watching just to see their office building during the latter parts of the movie.

Gaming Thursday: Left 4 Dead

Ever since I heard of its existence, I have been waiting to play Left 4 Dead. When the demo finally came out a few weeks back, I logged in and played the 30 minute piece nearly 20 times all the way through on all of the difficulty levels. Needless to say, when my copy arrived last week, I peed myself.

It must be said starting out that this game is not meant to be played single player. Although the AI characters do a great job of making smart decisions and healing you (and each other) when necessary, it is nowhere near as fun to play with the computer as it is to play with friends. Friends make mistakes (sometimes on purpose), and friends know how to communicate best with you.

Outside of the horde of regular zombies that you must fight your way past as you move to the rescue station or safe house, the game introduces 5 super zombies to make your journey that much more difficult. Smokers and Hunters are similar, in that they will lurk in the dark and try to either pounce on you (Hunters) or grab you with their tongue (Smokers) at that exact moment that you weren't paying attention and deal out some damage before your buddies can rescue you. Boomers will wait just around a corner just for the chance to either vomit on you, or be close enough that when you kill them, they explode on you. Outside of this being pretty disgusting, it also draws the horde directly to you and you have to fight them off while being temporarily blinded by the green gunk all over the screen.

The final two super zombies are complete bullet sinks and require a bit of work to get past. The Tank is exactly what he sound like - huge and nigh-unstoppable. He requires that everyone in the group focus on him until he drops, because if he gets close to anyone, there is little chance that they can get away without being injured in some capacity or another. Finally, the Witch is best left undisturbed. As soon as you start to hear crying, cut your lights off and keep your eyes open. If the Witch gets disturbed by you shooting next to her or your lights flashing on her, whoever did it, is incapacitated in one hit, and if everyone isn't fast enough to take her down after that, that person is dead.

Now, all of these super zombies (except the Witch) are controllable in the Versus mode, but since I haven't had enough time to sink into that mode, I can't comment much on it yet (I've been spending my time trying to survive the story modes).

Speaking of story, although it isn't necessary at all since all you do is try to survive from point A to point B and call in the rescue, Valve has done an awesome job with telling the story just through the environment. Any time I get to a safe house, I have to hang around for a good 5 minutes to read everything that is written on the walls. Sometimes it provides some hints for gameplay (like avoiding the witches), but largely it just gives the entire world some depth, as you read about people who couldn't wait any longer for a loved one or people who have left their theories on the time it takes to turn into a zombie.

Valve is all about making quality games, and Left 4 Dead is no exception. It is the best zombie game I've ever played.

World News Wednesday

I only have two things to really say about this article.

1: We need to spend more money on our education system. Our kid's deserve the best that we can give them, and looking at some schools recently, it seems as though we aren't paying them too much mind.

2: Teachers deserve to get paid more. This is so obvious. Why are actors and athletes paid so much, when we barely pay those who we expect to raise the future (at least that's what some parents think)?

...That is all.

Bookish Tuesday: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

Vacations are always the perfect time for a good Pratchett book, and last week was no exception. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is a book taking place in Discworld, although it isn't really a part of the main series of books, since it is an off shoot kid's branch like the Wee Free Men series.

Like a lot of other Discworld books, Maurice pokes fun at the idea of kid's stories and particularly that of the pied piper. See, Maurice is a talking cat who hangs out with a group of talking rats. They, along with a dumb-looking kid, go from town to town "removing" the terrible rodent population. As they move on to their final heist in the town of Bad Blintz, things begin to go wrong in a way that only Terry Pratchett can do. Maurice is a fun character to read with all his little cat habits and ways of thinking and I really hope that he (and the rats) get some more appearances within Discworld.

The book is just as funny as the adult Discworld books, if not moreso than some of them, and was awarded the 2001 Carnegie medal (although I don't know what that means, it sounds pretty good). Let's just say that The Amazing Maurice is definitely a good stepping stone for getting into the Discworld books, something that everyone should be reading.

Movie Monday: Perfume - The Story of a Murderer

I put Perfume on my Netflix queue as kind of a joke. We had seen the preview with some friends, and one of them was quite creeped out by the trailer, so I decided that we'd have to watch the movie. Things fell apart when the movie actually arrived, so I wound up just watching it with Katie.

Altogether, it wasn't a bad movie at all. In fact, it was an intense ride that I really enjoyed, right up to the last 20 minutes or so. The movie is focused on Jean-Baptiste Grennouille, who was born on the ground of a Parisian fish marked in the 18th Century. As he grows up, he learns that he has an intense sense of smell, and after spending some time working at a tannery he encounters a woman with an intoxicating scent. Grennouille follows her smell into an alley where, in an attempt to smell her more, he accidentally kills her.

It's hard to say what exactly they are trying to make of Grennouille throughout the movie. Opinions I have read place Grennouille as a spawn of the devil due to his lack of scent, but while watching the movie, I felt that he was just an autistic man who was driven by his infatuation with the girl's scent. Either way, be becomes obsessed with learning how to store the scent of a human, and after an apprenticeship with a perfumer in Paris, where he learns that the best perfumes have a 12 note "chord" of smells, followed by a 13th grace note, he travels to Grasse, where he finally learns how to preserve the scent of a human. The only problem is that he kills the girls everytime he obtains their smell.

Without giving away too much of the rest of the movie, it's fairly obvious where the movie heads, and remains an intense ride, right up until the last 20 minutes. At that point, the movie kind of lost me. Not that it didn't make sense, but it just seemed to lack the credibility and realistic grittiness of the rest of the film. I will say that the final scene almost makes up for the preceding one, but I really wish that they had just skipped directly to it.