Article

|

Another Saturday, another convention. This time, it’s Anime Los Angeles, and it’s the second day. This is only my second anime-focused convention, and it’s certainly larger than the first I attended a couple weeks ago.

The main things noticeably different, to me, than a more general or even comic convention is that the vast majority of cosplays making their prescence known are anime-related, and there seems to be a higher percent (just guestimating that) of cosplay overall. A very colorful couple days this is so far.

I’m also making progress in my solo legendary playthrough of Halo 5: Guardians. I’m discovering that I don’t play as badly as I used to, and my “carry” through co-op legendary can soon be forgotten. Finding hidden weapons caches can help as well as careful coaxing of A.I. teammates to either handle threats, or become fodder (sorry) can help speed things along; against The Warden especially.

I was hoping for some writing inspirarion after almost 2 days without a post. Nothing caught my eye this time, so there you go!

Article

|

My voice, it sounds so unnatural when I hear a recording of it. It sounds like it came from a completely different person that the one I hear when saying things out loud. I can totally sympathize with anyone that, lacking training, feels like they don’t like the sound of their own voice being played back.

I don’t feel so bad about seeing a video recording of myself, however.

What do you find more unbearable: watching a video of yourself, or listening to a recording of your voice? Why?

Can’t Stand Me | The Daily Post

Image

|


I wanted to take a moment to say that The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is great. It’s hit that dungeon-exploring, puzzle-solving itch that I get sometimes.
I suppose that waiting to have a small gaming backlog shortening was the real reason for the wait to get a 3DS. 🙂

Article

|

For a change, and because I just received a culinary box from Quarterly, I’ll be trying this stuff that looks like oatmeal, called It was in the latest box, along with a Minnesota mug and pancake mix. Since it’s a bit chilly this morning, I’ll prepare it hot. Protein and fiber, I definitely could use both. 🙂

Had a weird dream, which is quickly fading. In it, I was hiding, for a reason I don’t know, from some group of people, who I think were a rock band that was using my own home for a rehearsal space, and were taking a break. I did eventually speak with one of them, but it was just before I woke up, so I can’t even remember what we said.

Also, I think I get the appeal of the ugly sweater tradition, although I don’t yet have one epic enough. I do, however, have a sweatshirt that wishes it was a sweater. Close enough, right?

Do you like weekends? Had any strange dreams lately? I’d like to know.

Article

|

On my mind: Blizzcon.

Swag from Blizzcon 2008 - the first I attended!
Swag from Blizzcon 2008 – the first I attended!

This conference is a nearly annual event staged by Blizzard, who make some of the most popular PC games. It’s all about celebrating them and the fans like me.

There’s usually some news given about upcoming updates or expansions, panels with questions and answers, game demo stations, and even pro gaming tournaments.
There’s also a bit of pin trading action, but I’m not sure how serious I am about that. If I get some pins, cool, but it seems like some time-consuming work to get all the new pins. For me, if it’s a choice between a line for making an “official” trade of a pin and a panel, I’m going to the panel.

IMG_0115
Excellent Overwatch cosplay

This year, since the game that’s closer to its first release, Overwatch, is in its beta testing stage, I’m expecting more information for it to be released. Starcraft II has its last expansion out this month, and World of Warcraft’s Legion is not super close, but it’s close enough that perhaps not much more than perhaps a gameplay demo might be up, along with panels, but that’s still worth a look.

When I was initially composing this, I nearly forgot the most important, and memorable part: meeting up with, and hanging out with friends. Sure, that’s a highlight of most cons, but especially so for Blizzcon. You know that you’re not just fans of games in general, but that you’re fans specifically of Blizzard. After all, you’re going to see nothing but events, panels, demos, and merchandise that supports the franchise games of Blizzard. Making new friends as well as renewing current friendships, sometimes while unwinding between panels, or at the end of the show floor hours, are really good times to remember.

Those times approach again. Am I prepared? Maybe (say nothing, Illidan!)

 

Illidan ponders my preparedness

 

Article

|

Super Mario Brothers. It was, I think, the first video game I remember staying up really late while playing.

Even though I knew shortcuts to skip levels, warp zones, I was determined to play through every one of its 8 levels.

We (my brothers and I) had received that, as part of the deluxe Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) as a Christmas present, nearly 28 years ago. Before receiving this version, I’d only ever played this game for short periods of time at video game arcades, which I didn’t spend a lot of time in, before receiving the home version. Our parents were definitely more focused on our academic endeavors.

I was more excited to play this game than any other game I’d ever played up to this point, and I’d played a lot since our family also had an Atari 2600 system, with a healthy library. The NES really cemented my own lifelong love of video games.

I knew, even then, that this is something I’d be able to enjoy for a very long time, and even back then, I could not even consider that there would be a time I would not enjoy playing games. I still can’t imagine it.

There are, however, some games with the brothers Mario I have yet to experience. That’s mostly due to a few games being on my plate, as well as the hefty time investment it takes to finish current incarnations. Heck, I still have yet to complete Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii.

Mario Brothers games are also not the only franchise of games I lament being “behind” on. A franchise with another princess, whose name starts with Z, also challenge me to play, and I’m sad, being woefully behind. I would need a 3DS system to work on catching up there. Someday…someday…

Images: Wikipedia

Article

|

Let’s dance to Joy Division,
And celebrate the irony,
Everything is going wrong,
But we’re so happy

I blame T for putting that song by The Wombats in my head. Please forgive me for spreading the earworm.

Anyways, it’s another Friday, and an appropriately gloomy one for Fall. The Dodgers got themselves eliminated in postseason play yesterday against the Mets, of all teams.

Today, I plan to drop off my laptop at a FedEx location to ship for RMA since it seems to have a faulty video card. This is causing system shutdowns and can’t be tolerated. Thank goodness it’s still under warranty.

Been playing a good chunk of Ori and The Blind Forest. It’s a must-play for those who love Metroid-style games. Plenty of exploration and tricky jumping-while-fighting-off-enemies and pretty awesome graphics are featured.

"Ori Kuro" by lanfanarts - http://fav.me/d8w1j7w
Kuro. This owl does not like Ori. At all.
“Ori Kuro” by lanfanarts – http://fav.me/d8w1j7w

I kind of want to see some speed runs of this game after I finish it. This game made my thumbs sweat. I totally recommend a play-through. Anyone want to share their death count? I just want to know how high mine might be at the end and I’m not that good at staying alive.

Article

|

Somehow, I’ve become a bit of a collector of wallets made of paper. Here’s one of them.

Grey Wallet
My current choice. It’s not leather, believe it or not!

 

It’s called a Mighty Wallet, and is made by the folks over at Dynomighty.

At first, I was a bit skeptical of using folded paper as a wallet, but it both grows on one and has some practical use. In a way, it forces a more disciplined use of the wallet. I mean, everybody knows about the “old man” wallet, the one your dad (or other elder wallet user) has that is so massive that it closely resembles a small, leather-bound brick. I never liked having that feeling in any pocket. Since it’s paper and folded (not stitched), you’re less inclined to overfill it since that would push the seams apart. Since I do not carry a lot of cash or cards, this is great.

Also, dropping a bulging wallet can sometimes be quite embarrassing, especially when cards fall out.

A cool thing about the particular wallets I’ve collected is that they can also be pretty good conversation-starters (I have a Batman wallet, for example), but that’s not just due to the fact they’re made of paper, but more due to there being some pretty interesting designs available, of which I have a few.

This post is in response to  5 Days to More Engaging Content – Day #1

 

Article

|

It was Super Bowl Sunday. I think I spent very little of it thinking about the game at all. I am not a football fan, although I do understand how the game itself works. Not having a local franchise, and having not 1, but 2 franchises leave the area during one’s lifetime has something to do with that. I have hope that the stadium under construction will change that, but it’ll be quite some time before any future team (returning or new) will be playing in my neck of the woods.

What did I do instead? It was not involving traditional television. I did a couple things, at the same time. I played WoW, working on one of the newest in-game professions: archaeology. The second, was I “tuned” into a live stream on Twitch, a bit for background, and also for something interesting during the somewhat tediuous grind of scanning dig sites.

A few streams I caught during the day:

  • http://www.twitch.tv/kylelandrypiano – musician and composer. Kyle plays piano, sometimes taking suggestions from viewers. Mostly game music being played, but some classical.
  • http://www.twitch.tv/gamej06 – Big Jon plays classic platform-style games and is pretty chill. Today he wrapped up his 18k follower celebration show
  • (as I type this) http://www.twitch.tv/monstercat – Monstercat is a music label that has stream-friendly music available for use on Twitch (since Twitch will mute the audio of recorded streams just like YouTube does when licensed music is played, this is a pretty popular label.) They’re streaming mostly EDM currently.

Back to the game, though. I have purpose in what I am doing in-game. I’m rather serious in working on adding to my account’s riding mount collection. Archaeology is actually one of the professions that has mounts available as some of its “projects”. There’s a random chance that the next one for specific types of artifacts will be for one of the mounts. My current target is a blue mount that’s a giant bug, which is summoned by an ancient scepter.

The choice of priority is not random. Years ago, I wanted a black version of this mount, but that one was time-limited, and only those able to play on a realm where the event that it is associated with not yet complete would have a chance to obtain it. Truly a legendary item.

This mount is surely a nod to those, like me, who had a fondness for Ahn Quiraj, but couldn’t be the Scarab Lord (the title awarded to those players) or level a character on a new realm that still had the event on it.

Also, I usually take my time going through the commercials since they’re usually available online for a while.

Super Bowl… blog about it. Are you watching? Ignoring? Just reviewing the cool advertisements? What are you doing today?

via Daily Post – 2.1.2015 – Daily Writing – Desk Community.