-
The “Look at Me” Culture
I came to a disturbing realization the other day – I’ve come to feel that whatever isn’t online isn’t real. This came about thanks to the Wii’s insanely stupid online policy. Everything about playing online with the Wii is an exercise in frustrating the user. Rather than always be connected to the net when the…
-
Tetris: An Introspective Review
Tetris is the first video game I was unable to shut off on command. Players of Sid Meier’s Civilization are familiar with the problem of “one more turn”, similar to the bookworm’s “one more page”. Tetris was my first “one more turn” game. I first played Tetris when I was five or six and received…
-
The End of Braid Part 2 of ?
Don’t worry, this blog isn’t about to become some weird fan tribute blog to Braid. It’s more of a case of trying to make sense of the game I’ve just played. There’s really no reason to make sense of The Beatles Rockband. You are one of The Beatles playing music. There’s nothing to “get”. But…
-
First Look Review: Braid
That a game like Braid can exist is a statement on where video games are as an art form with a well-established history and canon. To make a parallel in the paint world: without a long canon of traditional paintings of tables with fruit and bread, people wouldn’t have really understood the “parody” or “remix”…
-
Photojournalism: When to Withhold Photos
Recently this photo was published by the Associated Press and has been getting a lot of attention on the interwebs. It shows Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard, an American solder in Afghanistan, after being hit by a mortar attack and only hours before death. A lot of the debate participants seem to feel one way or…
-
Otakon 2009
For the first time since moving here, I found out about Otakon ahead of time. Unfortunately, the economics didn’t work out we didn’t buy tickets. But I did go to hang out outside Otakon on Saturday to get some photos. Lessons learned: Remember what you learned in Hawaii and don’t be afraid to approach people.…
-
Photos from Brighton Beach’s Boardwalk
A few weeks ago I took yet another stroll on Brighton Beach’s Boardwalk. This famous boardwalk goes from Brighton Beach past Coney Island all the way to Seagate. This time around I took some iconic photos from the area. In other words, these are exactly the types of photos you would see included in any…
-
Blog Review: I bring nothing to the table
First mentioned in this post , Dan’s been blogging on this server for just over a year. So how has the blog come along in these 13 months? Very well, I’d say. By the Google search results metric, Dan is doing very well. He’s been driving the bulk of our Google search related traffic with…
-
End Game Piracy: Open Source
As 2008 has proven – draconian digital restrictions management (DRM) does not stop people from illicitly using computer games. Spore, whose DRM was so bad they got ratings bombed on Amazon.com, was the most pirated game of 2008. The DRM caused hassles for legitimate users and did nothing to stop illicit use. This is always…
-
Valve To Release Steam on Linux?
I heard this on The Linux Outlaws Episode 42 and I thought it was a pretty awesome idea. Up until now Valve has been pretty hostile towards people asking them to release onto Linux, even threatening to ban anyone who brought it up in the forums. Apparently someone has convinced them of the merits because…
-
Current Desktop Screenshots
Here are screenshots of the desktops I am currently running on each of my computers: Desktop – SuperMario Fedora 36 – KDE Plasma 5 2023: Raspberry Pi IOT Device – Scarlett Music Raspberry Pi OS (Buster) – LXDE 2020 Laptop – Daisy Fedora 31 KDE Plasma 5 2020 Laptop (netbook) – Kuribo Debian 10 –…
-
Influence
When my brothers and I were young, influence pretty much flowed in one direction – from me to my brothers. Whatever music, movies, or video games I was into they also wanted to experience. It’s not that they didn’t also have their own likes and dislikes. They did like some stuff I didn’t and disliked…
-
My computer Experience
Responding to Penguin Pete’s WHY is the transition from Windows to Linux easy for some people?, I had no idea my response would be so lengthy. So I decided to copy it over to my blog. Read his and the other comments and here’s mine. As for me, my first computer was a Tandy T80…
-
A Steve Jobs Fact you probably didn’t know….
According to “Power Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life” (p17) Steve Jobs created Breakout! That’s right, that wonderfully addictive game, second only to Tetris for most, was created by the man who created Apple, NextStep, Pixar (via financing), and the iPod. Is there anything the black turtle-neck clad man hasn’t…
-
Cycles, Vimeo hits, and Vimeo Limits
I’ve written before about how my interests tend to go in cycles. I haven’t played Sims 2 or Civ 4 in ages. In fact, since getting to work after Christmas Break I haven’t really taken many photos either. I became consumed with Blender and getting my animations done. Then Vimeo raised the upload limit from…