New Super Mario Bros. Wii Multi-player Mode Is for Experts
Thursday, 4 February 2010
The other day, somebody mentioned on Twitter that the multi-player mode on New Super Mario Bros. Wii made the game play really difficult. Agreed. The fact that you can push and bounce off other players, and hit them with shells and their ilk can make things a bit frustrating. On one level, I lost about two dozen lives because I kept getting pushed around by my bully family. But, I find the chaos part of the fun.
Last week I watched some of the hint movies available in the game. I quickly realized that multi-player mode is for experts and gamers who can communicate very well. The multi-player movies are performance art.
My favorite so far is from Level 1-3. Luigi touches the ground for maybe ten seconds throughout the two minutes it takes to complete the level.
Here’s a list of all the hint movies.
You can also try searching YouTube.
Your Money or Your Life
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Lowdown:Loved it. I don’t want to call this book a program, but in the end that’s what it is. Its nine steps are designed to change your relationship with money. I haven’t started the program yet, but it’s already started working for me. Highly recommended.
Wolverine
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Liked it. Nothing new or original here. I’m sure that wasn’t the case when it was published. Always fun reading about Ninjas and Wolverine.
The Life and Times of Martha Washington
Saturday, 23 January 2010
Last year, Dark Horse Comics published the oversized, hardcover The Life and Times of Martha Washington in the Twenty-First Century, by Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons. It collects every Martha Washington stories. At $99 list price (usually available for around $65), it was out of my price range.
Fortunately, a trade paperback, priced at $30, is being released at the end of June. You can pre-order it from Things from Another World for $24. Not available on Amazon yet.
If you’ve never read any of the Martha Washington stories, make sure to pick this one up. They’re some of my favorite.
The Lost Symbol
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Lowdown: Loved it. I certainly don’t judge this book on technical merits. Brown will never win Pulitzer or Nobel literature prizes. But for engrossing, pick-up-and-read-until-you-finish pleasure, he’s hard to beat. This one even had a surprise for me at the end.
The Barefoot Serpent
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Lowdown: Really liked it. A short biography of Akira Kurosawa, the great film maker, is divided by a beautifully minimal and poignant story that pays homage to Kurosawa’s films and the themes of those films. Moving and magical.
Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Lowdown: Liked it. This is a beautifully painted glimpse into Morse’s thoughts on his life and family. The prose gets a little abstract at times. Its subtitle accurately describes the book: “a collection of scattered thoughts and moments that somehow equal a whole”. This was a pleasure to read. The art should be absorbed and studied instead of just casually enjoyed.
Jeff Smith's Favorite Comics of the Decade
Thursday, 31 December 2009
Jeff Smith has published his favorite comic books of the decade. I’ve only read two, 100% by Paul Pope and the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels. I placed requests for all the rest at my library, except for the Peanuts anthologies and the web comic Rice Boy. I’ll have to read some of Rice Boy online to see if its worth purchasing the dead-tree version.
Barf It Out, Then Clean It Up
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
Colin Marshall, on the heuristics he’s picked up in 2009. My favorites:
“Barf it out, then clean it up.” A friend quoted her journalism teacher as saying this, and I’ve since adopted it as a pithy reflection of the broader phenomenon that the sole path to non-suckage winds through the treacherous woods of suckage. I must therefore make peace with producing something sucky and then iterate that initial product until it achieves decency…
“What’s the hardest thing I can do?” Again, my hat tips to Paul Graham: “This is a good plan for life in general. If you have two choices, choose the harder. If you’re trying to decide whether to go out running or sit home and watch TV, go running. Probably the reason this trick works so well is that when you have two choices and one is harder, the only reason you’re even considering the other is laziness. You know in the back of your mind what’s the right thing to do, and this trick merely forces you to acknowledge it.”
I’m trying to live the first one by writing faster; by not re-writing endlessly, or telling myself I’ll come back and polish something later. Write it now, and give it to the world.
I need to remember that second one. I’m horribly lazy and would much rather sack out on the couch to last night’s Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson than actually work at producing something. Produce more, consume less.
Via Ben Casnocha
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Lowdown: Liked it. This seven volume, post-apocalyptic graphic novel is visually captivating, with a wonderful, strong female lead character, great art, and unique story. Well done.
Death Note
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Lowdown: Loved it. This 12-volume manga series, while not original in the art department, has a thoroughly engrossing, fantastically unique story. Once you start, be prepared to fork out at least $63 to get the complete set, or make generous use of your library.
Sesame Street's Yip-Yip Aliens Traumatized Me As a Kid
Friday, 18 December 2009
You know what scares me the most? Not monsters, or horror movies, or vampires, or ghosts.
Aliens.
Scariest movie I’ve ever seen? Signs, followed by Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. (I think E.T. is also responsible for my fear of the woods at night.)
But it all started with the Yip Yips from Sesame Street. Those things scared the crap out of me growing up. I can still feel a little of the paralyzing terror that would wash over me when they would appear. That eerie music would start. There they’d be, floating down from the sky, chanting their creepy “yip yip yip yip yip”, landing outside some window. They were Out There.
Here they are on YouTube:
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review
Thursday, 17 December 2009
The Star Wars prequels were pretty much crap. They got progressively less crappy, but still pale in comparison to the originals.
Red Letter Media has put together a hilarious, scathing, 7-part, 70 minute review. I have a hard time disagreeing with anything in it.
At about 1:15 of part 7, there’s a scene showing George Lucas and producer Rich McCallum after watching the rough cut screening for the first time. Lucas rolls his head and McCallum just stares at the screen. I can see it in their eyes: the realization that they’ve just created a horrible movie. It’s a beautiful moment of Schadenfreude.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review Part 1
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review Part 2
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review Part 3
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review Part 4
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review Part 5
Avatar Preview
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
When I first saw Avatar teaser trailer I thought, “Oh. Dances with Wolves in space.” I wasn’t impressed, especially since the trailer pretty much left no part of the plot a surprise. Gee, I wonder what’s going to happen.
Subsequent previews, however got me a little bit excited, and recent good press has increased it. Roger Ebert gave it four stars. It’s got an 85% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes four days before release. It also just got nominated for a Best Dramatic Motion Picture Golden Globe Award.
Color me surprised.
As much as I hate to admit it now, this looks to be my kind of movie: I go to be entertained and escape from life for a while. My life is serious enough without seeing movies that dramatically show the scope and scale of the human condition. I’m living the human condition and don’t need reminders. I just want to have fun.
Avatar looks like it’s going to be a blast.
Greatest Traffic Stop Ever
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
I first saw this video of a major meltdown during a traffic stop years ago on some reality video show. Over Thanksgiving, my dad mentioned he had seen it on World’s Wildest Police Videos, and yesterday I found it on YouTube.
What would he have done if he got a $300+ ticket for speeding here in Oregon? I wonder.
The Paradox of Choice
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Lowdown: Loved it. Schwartz explains why we do what we do and how modern-day society (the USA in particular) contributes to our general malaise and unhappiness. But what I really loved were all the studies he uses to shed a greater light on human behavior. Bears a second, and more careful, reading.
New Study Reveals Most Children Unrepentant Sociopaths
Monday, 7 December 2009
A study published Monday in The Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry has concluded that an estimated 98 percent of children under the age of 10 are remorseless sociopaths with little regard for anything other than their own egocentric interests and pleasures.
Am I a bad father for finding that hilarious? Is it so funny because it’s completely true?
Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2009
Monday, 7 December 2009
My four-year-old son loves when we read to him, so I’m always on the lookout for a good children’s book. I don’t like to browse the stacks, and I need a big list, otherwise we end up reading the same stories to him over and over and over.
The New York Times recently published their list of the best illustrated children’s books of 2009 . My local library has 9 of the 10, with the missing book currently on order. This should keep us entertained for a few weeks.
Via Playgrounder
MacSlaps
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
These are really cool. I wish they had a design that better fits my personality. Maybe a sack person from LittleBigPlanet
