The heat was more than hungry

I should probably be in bed, it's almost 11:00 and we want to leave on a day trip tomorrow at 9. But no, instead I'm sitting here and banging out a few-hundred words like I do every Sunday night. So I'll try to make it quick.



It's a long weekend, hence the trip tomorrow. Well, we're down to the last third of a long weekend, anyways. I've done pretty well - I set out a list of odds and ends I wanted to accomplish, and I got most of it done. (This list, by the way, was made using the Tasks applet in Gmail. I have to admit that I've been finding it pretty handy.) Did up some art for my sister's lazor project, did up some more art for my grandmother's lazor project, caught up on some sketches, and mapped.

I spent three-and-a-half hours mapping yesterday. Aside from fixing the odd texture and re-aligning the odd prop, I think I have the environment itself pretty completed. From here I need to do the stuff that actually makes the game playable. Triggers, navigation, all that jazz. That might be another three or so hours in and of itself, and then... Closed beta time! I might need one or two more people to test it with me, but that's probably another week away at least. I'd finish it up tomorrow, but I won't be around and it won't get done until during the week. I think my laundry may likewise suffer.

Now of course when I made the aforementioned list, at the top I had "look at registering for class". I use "had", past-tense, for some reason that's beyond me, because I still haven't completed that. Registration opens on the 10th, and I haven't even looked at classes or schedules. Shaaaaame on me. I'm such a slacker. It's just so intimidating - they recommend that I register for both semesters at once. I really gotta sit down and figure that out. Maybe on Tuesday, I guess. Push the L4D map and laundry back a bit further.

Mind you, I probably would have had time to get that done had I not been slacking off. In particular, I'm not half-way through season three of The Wonder Years. Absolutely fantastic show. I think I sung its praises last week, so suffice it to say that the show has aged incredibly well, had fantastic writing, and is just so entertaining and engaging and relevant to watch. I can't get enough.

I watched the original 1974 Gone in 60 Seconds this evening. Terrible, horrendous movie. It's so disjointed and pointless. The acting is terrible, the story is almost non-existant, and the action was so over-the-top it was idiotic. As far as car chases involving a Mustang go, Bullitt is way better. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any car chase better than Bullitt. Chalk this Gone in 60 Seconds as one of those movies where the remake is vastly superior. Right next to Ocean's Eleven.

I finished playing through Zeno Clash earlier this week. VERY unique game. The art direction and story are both twisted. It's such a refreshing break from the norm of Hollywood-wannabe games. It's hard to exactly describe it - it's truly one of those games you need to pick up and play to appreciate. But it's truly unlike anything I've tried before. Well, maybe, just maybe, it has some remote similarities to Psychonauts. The gameplay itself was okay, a first-person brawler is an intruiging way to base a game on. It reminded me of Mirror's Edge, sans any kind of fancy movement (you can't even jump or crouch). But when you punch and connect, it's pretty satisfying. Doing a quick block and lining up with a solid kick feels fantastic. When you get swarmed by enemies, though, it feels like the combat system itself lets you down. It's just not quite intuitive enough to effectively manage two or three enemies at the same time. Also, the voice acting is fairly sub-par, but that isn't a surprise for an indie studio based out of South America. What is surprising is how good the game is, as a whole. $20 is a bit steep, and the $15 it goes for now would leave me right on the fence. At $12.50, where I got it on sale, I think I got pretty good bang-for-buck. If nothing else for the character design, environments, and story. Really cool stuff.



Anyways, it's now 11:17. Time to find some lyrics, wrap up the post, read a book, and call it a night.
-Cril

The air was more than humid
And the heat was more than hungry
And the cars were square and spitting diesel fumes

The bulls were running wild
Because they're big and mean and sacred
And the children were playing cricket with no shoes

The next morning we woke up, man, with a seven hour drive
Well there we were stuck in port Blaire
Where boats break and children stare
And there were so many fewer questions
When stars were still just the holes to heaven

Jack Johnson - Holes to Heaven