Q's & A's - #1

A year and a half ago I told my friends to ask me a bunch of questions, which I answered in this post. That was a lot of fun, so I decided to do it again. So, here are a bunch of questions, from slightly relevant to completely random.

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What is your favorite season?
Season 3 of Hogan's Heroes.

What is the worst book you've ever read?
Anything written by Dan Brown.

Windows, Mac, or Linux?
I am content to stick with Windows.

Do you play an instrument?
Piano. Sorta.

What kind of animal would you want to be if you were forced to be an animal?

Probably some kind of cat.

What animal would you own if you could tame anything?

A lion would be pretty awesome.

Which is your favorite Star Wars trilogy?

This may be surprising, but I might actually go with the Prequel Trilogy. Outstanding music and VFX, even for today's standard, and I love Ewan McGregor in the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. I'm hoping that the Sequel Trilogy will be as amazing as the first two.

If you could magically teleport to any time and occupation, what and when

would it be?

That's a tough one. I know I would never travel to the past, because that would alter time, and I don't want that to happen. Maybe I'd go ten years into the future, just to see what life is like then—the gas prices, who's president, what's the latest technology, etc. It'd also be sweet to see where my favorite YouTubers will be in ten years.

What are three (real, alive today) people you would pick to join your zombie apocalypse team?

Narrowing it down to three is super hard. If just picking from among my friends, I would probably pick Justin Fisher, Thomas Cook, and Steve Scott. Yeah... with that group I would definitely be the first person to die.

White chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate?
I'm allergic. Go away.

What does conforigurious mean?

It's when you're so angry that you want to marry someone.

If you were shrunk down to a miniature Rueben and you had to live in someone's navel, who would you pick?

1. That's not how you spell my name.

2. That's gross.

Where's Waldo?
I don't know. I actually haven't spoken to him since the Missing Apocalypse of 1997.

What is the square root of a flexnard?
Whatever times itself equals a flexnard, of course.

What have I got in my pocket?
A ring, you fool of a Took.

What question have you wished someone asked but hasn't?
Why so serious?

What is your favorite color?
Pink*.

*this definitely isn't sarcasm.

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Stay tuned, because someday I'll do another of these. Feel free to ask questions in the comments, and maybe they'll get on the next one.

Thursday Impressions: Glowfish

Glowfish is an underwater, side-scrolling adventure starring an aquatic creature named Glowfish.

The evil Dr. Urchin has no friends, so he goes and kidnaps all of Glowfish's friends, including his girlfriend Coralline! Glowfish sets out on an adventure to get his friends back—and he makes quite a few new ones along the way.

First off, this game's presentation is spectacular. The story segments are cool, and no doubt a lot of very hard work was put into them. The gameplay, while not entirely original, is fun and definitely enough to keep you going. While the music doesn't necessarily stand out, it's still really good, and it complements the entire atmosphere of the game.

Speaking of which—the visuals. Glowfish is full of beautiful environments that make you want to keep playing just so you can see the next one. In addition, there are many, many different kinds of creatures you can come across, including some friends that become full-time helpers. You can upgrade the abilities of these friends, and they help you a lot in your journey.

I spent an hour and twenty minutes with this game before telling myself that it was enough for my impressions piece, so I should stop. Needless to say, I had a lot of fun with it.

Verdict: Keep playing.
I'm loving Glowfish so far, and while the previous games in this blog series weren't really my kind of game, this was. I'll keep playing, and perhaps even review it when I'm done.

Thursday Impressions: Bullet Candy

I sat down with a game for half an hour, and this is what I thought of it.

Bullet Candy is a 2D space shooter, and though it has that "instant fun" sort of feeling that most space shooters have, that feeling is not what makes or breaks a game.

You start out with one mode unlocked: Arcade Mode. This mode is where you fight through numerous waves of enemies and try to get to the end. If you lose all of your lives, you can start up at any wave whose number is divisible by five. You earn combos by picking up little ships that are littered everywhere and apparently in need of help. You can also pick up various power-ups that help you greatly along the way.

Though the game really is fun, I found it hard to truly enjoy. One reason has to do with the fact that, with the amount of hostile bullets flying everywhere, it's almost impossible to complete later levels without dying several times in each. Another downside is that there's no proper tutorial, so it took me a while to figure out that power-ups are power-ups and not things you have to avoid.

I couldn't get all the way through Arcade Mode, but somehow along the way I unlocked Survival Mode, which is exactly what you'd expect it'd be: You have one life, and you try to survive as long as you can, with more and more enemies appearing as time goes on.

In conclusion, it's a fairly fun game, but I've certainly played better space shooters of its kind.

Verdict: Keep playing, but only if I ever get around to it.
I had some fun, but the game was nearly impossible even in the easiest difficulty. I'll probably play it again, but it's unlikely that I'll get around to it anytime soon.

After the Flowers have Grown

After the Flowers have Grown
By Reuben Horst

A change of perspective, a difference of view

Leave it alone, leave it alone

The past is behind; what's ahead will be new

Still leave it alone, leave it alone

Friendship has many costs

Injustice can happen

Why are you still lost

After the flowers have grown

An for ask for forgiveness, a beg to let up

Leave it alone, leave it alone

An assurance of sorrow, a surge of regret

Still leave it alone, leave it alone

Two objects, so much alike

Yet they are far from the same

One tragic, one lost

And neither can finish this game

There is still a chance, a light on the snow
But leave it alone, leave it alone
Still the flowers will grow
Leave it alone

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This poem was originally published on An Einsteinian Approach on November 29, 2012

Thursday Impressions: World of Goo

I recently realized that I own too many games on Steam, and unless I do something, a lot of those games are probably never going to be played. My solution is to set aside an hour or so every Thursday to play a game I've never played before (or at least that I haven't played in a very long time). I'll archive my impressions of said games on my blog because... well... because I feel like it!

I started this out with World of Goo, one of the first independent games that made itself known to the mainstream gaming industry. I've played a demo a long time ago, but I was awful at it and my brother thought it was stupid. Nonetheless it's a classic, so I thought I'd try my hand again.

This is a puzzle game that involves connecting balls of goo in order to get to the end of a given level. It's a simple concept, but it was pulled off with great presentation.

Unfortunately, my very first impressions were negative, as the game runs on a set resolution that you're not allowed to change. The entire game was stretched on my 1366x768 monitor, and since there were no in-game options, I had to use alt+enter to activate windowed mode.

I'm generally awful at puzzle games, so it took me an entire hour and a half to get through the first world, but I had a lot of fun along the way. The graphics are cute, the physics are well-implemented (albeit quite frustrating at times), and the music was phenomenal. Even if the entire game was a boring piece of crap, I would still play it for the beautiful soundtrack.

In conclusion, if you generally enjoy puzzle games, you'll certainly enjoy this game. I found it frustrating and it took me a long time to get through some of the levels I played, but that's simply because my mind doesn't let me figure out puzzles as well as others' do. World of Goo is a great game with great presentation.

Verdict: Keep playing... for a while.
I'm not great at puzzle games, and I probably won't get much farther in this game, but I'll probably go on to see how far I can get.

20 Random Facts About Me - #4

Remember when I used to make these lists? Probably not, but here are 20 more facts that you may or may not have known about me.

1. Some facts mentioned in the previous lists are no longer valid, considering how much time has passed.
2. I've been taking Latin for two years, and I don't plan to stop now.
3. It's cliché, but my favorite food is pizza.
4. I'd pick Star Wars over Star Trek any day.
5. I have some of the best friends in the world.
6. I hate fluorescent lights, but I love streetlights.
7. I've never owned a cell phone for more than a month.
8. I'm a Tolkien nerd.
9. I want to name my daughter Shadrika ("ruler of the shadows").
10. I've recently become hooked on graphic novels.
11. Despite popular opinion of the movie, I didn't like The Dark Knight.
12. One of my life goals is to someday attend E3.
13. I find dubstep annoying, for the most part.
14. I find the rap genre annoying, for the most part.
15. The first real band I ever saw in concert was Sidewalk Prophets.
16. I can play piano... but only sort of.
17. I ended that sentence with a preposition.
18. I'm not a fan of January, and I'm not too keen on February either.
19. I preferred the last Blogger layout, but I'm not complaining.
20. I no longer consider myself a writer.

I hope you learned something highly unimportant today.

Click here for 20 Random Facts About Me - #1
Click here for 20 Random Facts About Me - #2
Click here for 20 Random Facts About Me - #3

The Circle Series: Visual Edition by Ted Dekker

If you know me, you probably know I've been a Ted Dekker fan for a long time. Some of his stories I can't stand, while others are simply amazing. One of Dekker's most well-known works is his Books of History Chronicles, which ties several of his series and standalone novels together. That all started with the Circle Trilogy, released back in 2004. It was the Circle that introduced readers to the wondrous fantasy world of Other Earth, and it set the foundations for many spectacular stories to come.

The Circle Series: Visual Edition contains the complete graphic novels Black: The Birth of Evil, Red: The Heroic Rescue, and White: The Great Pursuit, based on their counterpart novels of the same names. The fourth and final novel in the literary series, Green: The Beginning and the End (or Green: The Last Stand) has not yet been adapted into graphic novel format. This is fine, and actually a good thing, because it works better as the standalone sequel to three of Dekker's series, and should only be read after reading all of its predecessors.

The Visual Edition is surprisingly pretty good. I actually liked the art style once I got used to it. It still follows the same story as the novels, of course, but it feels largely abridged. This is needed, so that it will even fit in comic format, but it doesn't feel like it tells the full story. It would be confusing and probably cheesy to people who have not already experienced the story.

My biggest complaint with the Visual Edition of the Circle Series is that it's not a good place to start the story for those who have not read the novels. Because the creators had to skip a lot of content, the plot feels slightly rushed and confusing. In addition, my favorite scene from the novel White was removed altogether.

In conclusion, it's a fun and cool way to revisit the world of the Circle, but only to those who have already experienced the trilogy. I would not recommend it those who haven't yet taken the plunge.