Uncharted 3 - A Modern Indiana Jones With Guns

November 26, 2011

It started off slow, but has been steadily building up steam.

I already escaped a burning building, warded off crazed spider swarms, and took on a bloodthirsty pirate crew.

#funsofar

1up.com Review - A

AV Club Review - C

Reaction to AV Club Review

I have played “Uncharted 3″ and I do think it’s one of the best games the industry’s produced recently. But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect or beyond reproach. Is it art? God, who the hell knows. Would you call the word “OOF” painted on a blue canvas art? The Museum of Modern Art would; they’ve got a piece just like that by Edward Rusha in their collection. Would you call an intricately designed interactive world that required hundreds or thousands of man hours from dozens of artists and technicians art? Some would say no, because a video game is something you play rather than experience. Art will always be in the eye of the beholder.

In the eye of this beholder, “Uncharted 3″ isn’t perfect, but it is awesome. On an emotional level, it represents a real achievement for video games. After three “Uncharted”s, the characters of Nathan Drake and Victor “Sully” Sullivan have evolved into an unforgettable buddy combo. Actors Nolan North and Richard McGonagle deliver creative director Amy Hennig’s witty dialogue with brilliant timing and charm. It is a little weird to care about the fates of two characters who are not only fictional but immortal — since you have unlimited lives in the “Uncharted” games, there’s no way to lose — but I genuinely do. “Uncharted 3″ pays particular attention to Drake and Sully’s relationship, how it began and developed, and it pays off in an ending that is about as poignant as any in any game I’ve ever played (or, for that matter, any movie I’ve seen in the last couple months).

Linkage:

Uncharted Interview with Nolan  North

So how does it feel to be Indiana Jones in the minds of everyone born after, say, 1987?

If only that were true! But it's funny you mention this. I don't know if you've seen the commercial of Harrison Ford playing Uncharted 3.

I did.

I was sitting with my son watching it. My son turned to me — you know, I was in awe — and said, "Wow, Dad. Indiana Jones is playing you." Harrison Ford has always been one of my favorite actors. I grew up with Han Solo and Indiana Jones, and Regarding Henry is one of my favorite movies of all time. So, yeah — if that were true, it would be really cool. Just to be mentioned in the same sentence as Harrison Ford is cool.

Watching the Harrison Ford video, I thought his eyes were filled with a strange kind of puzzlement as to why the last Indiana Jones movie was not nearly as good as what he was playing.

A lot of people weren't sure about that one.

How Game Make Kids Smarter
and why we haven’t recreated “Carmen San Diego”.

Walking Dead - Season One Marathon

November 25, 2011

Walking Dead Season One is on Netflix Streaming.

Official Walking Dead site

Entertainment Weekly "Walking Dead" Central

Episode 1 Stats:

BRAIN-SPLATTERING, BLOOD-SPURTING ZOMBIE HEADSHOTS: 12
TOTAL ZOMBIE KILLS: 13
ZOMBIE-RELATED HUMAN KILLS (DEPICTED): 0

Jeff "Doc" Jensen is all over this coverage of the series.  You might remember him from his obsessive recaps/philosophy lectures about "LOST"

Alan Sepinwall Review of the pilot

When you ask the creative team behind AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” which debuts Sunday night at 10,  what differentiates their series from every other filmed zombie story, they’ll point to the fact that it isa series - that, like the Robert Kirkman comic books that inspired it, it is an ongoing, never-ending nightmare, as opposed to two hours of scares and out...

But it’s also possible that there’s a reason there’s never been a zombie TV series before that goes beyond the technical difficulties of pulling it off. Maybe the zombie apocalypse is a horror that’s better off in brief glimpses than as a story with no end in sight.

Linkage:

Desert Bus for Hope

Desert Bus is actually a mini-game from the never-released Sega CD game Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors. In it a player controls a virtual bus that drives an eight-hour-long strip of highway between Tucson, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada, on an endless loop. The difficulty is that the bus lists slightly to the right and must be constantly corrected or it will crash. It’s the worst video game ever made, and we play it for as long as donations come in. In order to maximize the pain and suffering for the Desert Bus team, we have five drivers who must play Desert Bus for 24 hours at a time. In order to keep things interesting for our viewers we have live and silent auctions, celebrity guests and a lot of silliness.

The Rules of Desert Bus

Penn Jilette Explains Why Desert Bus Was Created
In this video, promoting a charity event that utilized the videogame to raise money, Penn says that Desert Bus was created to hit back at Janet Reno, who not only demonized fantasy violence in games, but also said that games should teach people real-life skills. Thus, the epic drive from Tuscon to Las Vegas was born and in Penn’s words a “game that was very real-life” was created. 

Thanksgiving 2011

November 24, 2011

We played Settlers of Catan for the first time together.  

I crushed these fools.

Just kidding, Dad almost won.  

That would have been disastrous.

#momwouldratherreadhermurderbooksthanplaywithus

#maybenexttime

Linkage:
Someone IS making Thanksgiving songs...

and one more from Jimmy Fallon

Epic Meal Time
(only if you think you have the stomach for it)

Turbaconepicentipede
A human centipede themed thanksgiving.

Elf

This movie will be on TV for the next month.
We live in fantastic times.

Gift Raffle

November 23, 2011

50 prizes.  80 staff members.  

May the odds be ever in your favor.

Winning is exciting.

I wouldn't know.  I got nothing.

Laser pointers, whiteboard cleaners, and bumper stickers were the most common prizes.

#laserpointersaredope

#wasmynameinthedrawing?

#mynamewastotallyinthereichecked

Linkage:

Twilight, All Night

There have been plenty of efforts to explain the franchise’s appeal—please, tell me more about these “Twilight moms”—but rather than theorizing from afar, I thought it would be more revealing to examine the films in situ, amid the fans who turned out for an eight-hour marathon of the first three films, leading up to the midnight premier of the fourth. What follows is a minute-by-minute record of the experience, interrupted only by bathroom breaks and a mild case of the sniffles. Beware: Spoilers abound.

Kitten Covers

Album covers re-imagined with kitties.

Circle Time

November 22, 2011

Domo.

Our Class Meeting "Talking Stick".

#kidslovetotalk

#kidsstrugglewithlistening

Linkage:

Awesome People Hanging Out Together

Freddie Mercury and Darth Vader in the same picture.

Fitocracy Reviewed

I LOVE Badges

Burning Balloons

November 21, 2011

Showed the kids this demo today.

Exploded some minds.

#iwanttodosciencedemosallday
#therearenocoolmathdemos

Linkage:

Real Time WWII

Livetweeting the Second World War, as it happens on this date and time in 1939, and for 6 years to come.

She and Him Christmas
(The video embedding is being wonky.  You can click the link to find the video.)

It's not too early for Christmas music.

Think about it, there's not really Thanksgiving music, is there?

She and Him Christmas is awesome and cheap on amazon. 

Or you could buy it from their website and get a hat, gloves and wrapping paper.

You win either way.

335

November 20, 2011

Suck it, nerds!

And I got a sweet T-shirt too!

Linkage:

The “I” Formation
Though pro football has never been more popular on television, attendance in NFL stadiums has decreased for four straight years. The arguments in favor of watching at home are plentiful: It’s cheaper, easier to park, and the view on your HD flat screen is better than from your stadium seat. Despite all of those obvious advantages, attendance has been similarly pitiful at my apartment this season. If my football get-togethers were games, they'd be blacked out more often than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Why can't I get anyone to watch football with me?

Christmas Music That’s Not About Christmas

Including Fleet Foxes, The National, and Beach House

I'm A Helper, You're A Helper, He's A Helper, She's A Helper...

November 19, 2011

Natural Helpers

There are tons of great pictures of this weekend.  I just don't have any of them because I was participating.  Maybe they'll find their way here in the future.

Sky High

Give the video a minute to warm up.  

We had kids pulling off these tricks with style.

#wealsohadpeoplecrashingintothings

#iwasacrasher

After all that bouncing, kids could focus on important things. But that only lasted for a few hours.

Then they were crazy again.

#boysstayedupuntil3am

#ericneedsnaps

#doijustneedtoeatmoresugar?

Linkage:

Tales of a Musically Dependant Exerciser

When they don't play music during our soccer games, I'm completely useless.

GQ Holiday Gift Guide

including:

80’s Style Cell Phone

Tarantino Posters

Life Size Mario Karts

But we already did this better.

National Board Delays

November 18, 2011

This is not what I expected to see this morning.

#5amwakeuptocheckscoreswasabadidea

#whydidyouhavetotellmethreetimes?

After waiting HOURS with no word, I get a half a$$ update telling me to "just wait a little longer"

#alreadywaitedsixmonths

#iknowtheyaretryingbutimsuperfrustrated

umm... so now you are giving up?

#donotsayscoresarereadywhentheyarenot

#icouldhavewaitedlongerifyouhadnotsetadate

Linkage:

We Could Shoot A Russian Unicorn

Read the link before watching the video.  It explains:

You know the Kuleshov Effect, illustrated by the famous Soviet montage experiment in which an actor's performance seems to change, depending on whatever image (a bowl of soup, a child in a casket, a beautiful woman) appears before identical footage of his face in close-up. Performances in the movies only begin with what the actor does on the set. They are created and re-created every step of the way, from editing to final sound design and mixing (effects, looping, punching, music, etc.). There's also what I would propose we call the "Russian Unicorn Effect," after the amazing music video parody by Bad Lip Reading.

The real video is an abbreviated "meet-cute" story, and the Russian Unicorn video is the exact same footage but feels completely different.  (Also, the song is a JAM!)

Other News:

I added a new feature to the blog on the right hand side of the page.  A list of upcoming events I plan to attend or want to attend.  

Visqueen Final Show

November 26 - Neptune Theater

Plan 9 from Outer Space Live Riff at SIFF

December 9 - SIFF

Portlandia On Tour

December 28 - Showbox at the Market

Candy Turkey

November 17, 2011

After all our brainstorming, we went with Candy Turkey.

#justanexcusetoeatcandy?

#doesnotmatterturkeylooksamazing

Just looking at that plumage gives me a cavity.

#whyaremykidsobsessedwithsugar?

#ohyeahbecausetheyarekids

This group is so much fun!

Linkage:

10 Time Lapse Videos

See the path of the stars and rotation of the Earth over ancient temples and old structures in Greece. This time-lapse collection took Chris Kotsiopoulos two years to assemble.

Top 10 Batman Graphic Novels

Just got "Year One" which is called the best Batman comic.  It also has a movie that is streaming on netflix

Feline Agility Competitions

from NYT

I love that this made the sports section

Hello Giggles Editor

November 16, 2011

A fun morning surprise!!

#adultscanhavecupcakesforbreakfast

Linkage:

Women Working To Do Good: Ateqah Khaki

My friend (Lauren) wrote a profile of another friend (Ateqah) for Hello, Giggles.  Since I proofread some of Lauren's essays in high school, that makes me an editor for Hello, Giggles!  The article is a great piece about Ateqah's blogging endeavors:  

Flashing forward ten years to a post-9/11 New York City, Ateqah, who works in the social justice field, was witnessing yet another “wave of bigotry and xenophobia” toward Muslims. For Ateqah and her best friend Lindsay Arbuckle, this culminated in a news story about Muslim travelers detained at the Canadian border. Both women were outraged, but not surprised, by this fresh slap of racism. “Do you think we should start a website called, ‘My Best Friend is Muslim’? Just pictures of you and your best friend who is a Muslim?” Lindsay asked. “I thought it was a brilliant idea, and a minute and a half later, I had created a Tumblr page for the project,” Ateqah recalls.

Today, MyBestFriendIsMuslim.com is full of smiling snapshots and real stories of true friends, all assuaging the rising tide of Islamophobia in America. It is a tender, but forceful shout of frustration, of hope, of heart. It’s just another example of Ateqah’s ability to create a positive, welcoming place in what can be a dreary, hurtful world.

She is currently working on "A Day In My Shoes" on her facebook page.  And yes, all her blogging adventures make me feel like I'm being totally frivolous on this blog.

Walking Dead Marathon on AMC

Sweet! Now I just need to watch all of season one before Thanksgiving Sunday

Sour Candy = Battery Acid

No wonder I never liked warheads.  

I mean, who wants skirmishes going on in their cranium?