Stuff I Did This Week 12/30/2011

This

Donkey Jump Review


It isn't very good.

Pie Planet 10 The Anniversary

Seeing as Pie Planet was originally spread across three distinct books, book two and book three both start with arcs that are meant to be "clip shows" of the previous books and help readers deal with the increasing importance of the plot. Is this arc a little irrelevant now that that the whole thing is being archived. Yes but here it is anyway. VOLUME II STARTS NOW!

Kwanzaa Starts Today

That is all

Happy Holidays

Stuff I Did This Week 12/23/2011

I did things

Tweens HD Review

MotherKnows is a Pocket Pediatrician

iStopMotion for iPad Lets Us All be Animators

Turn the Tables with Misunderstood Pigs

Mystery Manor: Hidden Adventure Out Now for iPad


Happy holidays and whatever

Pie Planet 9 The Storm Emperor

To make up for missing last week what with all that hard drive nonsense, here's the entire two-part finale to the first "volume" of Pie Planet. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

I'm back

Sorry for the little hiatus but the hard drive on my laptop crashed and iPads are not suitable blogging replacements. Everything is mostly good now though and it's time to get back to it. Also, during the blackout I went a little crazy on Twitter so check that out. That's the only real update for today. Actually one more thing. Making videos is hard, so the "Game Baby Dialogues" series I teased a while back probably won't happen, at least for a while. Movement is starting to happen on my projects though so look out for that. Plus, if you get your hopes down, it'll be a pleasant surprise if any Game Baby stuff does happen. That's a good way to view life in general.

Stuff I Did This Week 12/9/2011

I'm going to be here for a while thanks to Xmas

So I'll probably have more time to write stuff like this


Mystery Ball Review

Galaxix Review

Google Currents, Google’s New Magazine Reader, Arrives on the App Store

Pie Planet 8-2 Colada Alone 2

The secret is a cloning machine.

So I Saw the Muppets

(The Toy Story short in the beginning of this is worth it just for the puns alone like Tae Kwon Doe, a fighting female deer)

This will be even less of a review than my other "sort of reviews."

Weirdly enough, the first time I remember seeing The Muppets they weren't in their original puppet forms. Instead, I grew up loving the "Muppet Babies" cartoon of all things. Eventually though I learned to love Kermit and company in their original felt forms.

I think part of the appeal of The Muppets, and puppets in general, is that they are like cartoons that actually exist. Kermit is a talking frog who can light a real match. That's that crazy Jim Henson, hippie social change stuff right there.

Stuff I Did This Week 12/2/2011

I was in this movie

Also I wrote this thing

Make 'Em Laugh with Laugh Sync

Pie Planet 8- Colada Alone

What if Peggy Olsen were to a talking beverage?

Call me Janet Jackson

This is my 100th post.

Too busy to write anything else so just enjoy that reference.

Stuff I Did This week 11/25/2011

Isn't it great that the Muppets are a thing again? Especially this guy?

What's also great is the stuff I managed to write this week


Bagatelle Pinball Review

Manage Personal Data with Venticento Studio's Apps

ROAD., A Digital Auto Museum for iPad

voidScapes Review

Pie Planet 7-2 The P.T. War 2

Home for the holidays.

On Holidays

What with finals and plane trips happening, coming up with an original post for this week has proved to be somewhat of a challenge. Then I went to a Christmas party in the middle of November and it all clicked.

Christmas celebrations start way too early these days.

Stuff I Did This Week 11/18/2011

So many new words written by me...

Battle Group Review

PlayUp, a Social Network for Sports Fans

Snappy Dragons Review

Save Money this Holiday with ShopSmart for iPad

Get Album Flow for Free and Bring Cover Flow Back to iPad


frosted

Pie Planet 7- The P.T. War

Get your politics out of my Pie Planet

Uh Oh Politics: Andrew Breitbart

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this but the circumstances of my life have forced to me to have a somewhat decent familiarity with politics. It’s not that I mind. Politics are fascinating and it’s fun to go from thinking about games that ultimately don't matter (video games) to games that do (elections). What with the spectacle of idiocy that is the Republican search for their presidential candidate continuing to… continue, this is as good a time as any to maybe start writing more stuff about this nonsense.

Also, everyone should know that I’m incredibly biased. I’m not going to pretend I’m not liberal. I’m not really going to try to be fair. What else is a blog for than to just write down your opinions anyway? Just know that going in.

What’s the actual topic of this post? The speech given by Andrew Breitbart, a reverse-Michael Moore-ish figure and creator of conservative blogs like "Big Hollywood", "Big Journalism" and "Big Government", I had recently had the pleasure of listening to.

Pie Planet 6-2 Pie Fighter Tournament 2

Anime is a thing you guys

Stuff I Did This Week 11/7/2011

Complications arose that kept this from going up last Friday but here it is now. Expect the next one next Friday.

Monkey Bongo Review

Cooking Dash Kicks it up a Notch with Emeril Lagasse



SPICE WEASELS

A Blog Post About Blog Posts

Here's the deal with this post. I was going to write it for one website but by the time it was finished they decided they didn't want it anymore because what they were focusing on had changed. Journalism. Then I kind of halfheartedly tried to get this onto other places so it wouldn't be a complete waste and now I'm just posting it here for you lovely people to enjoy. Please excuse the somewhat professional sounding language. That's not what this blog is about.

Pie Planet 6- Pie Fighter Tournament

I think this is where it crosses the line from dumb thing to dumb anime thing.

Love Me Some Lovecraft: Hypnos and more

Halloween, it’s the perfect day to end our short and strange journey through the works of H.P. Lovecraft. With the final entry “Hypnos”, the emphasis is on the short as the version I read was only about a dozen pages. As such, telling too much about the story would just give the whole thing away. All you need to know is that it involves dreams, statues that are sometimes people, and of course bizarre monsters. The quick pace at which it moves heightens the bizarre, frightening, and dare I say, dreamlike tone. Plus, it is so short that one has very little to lose by reading it.

Stuff I Did This Week 10/28/2011

Bird's the Word HD Review

THAT'S IT

Pie Planet 5- Pie Planet History Lessons

The mythology gets denser...

Love Me Some Lovecraft: At the Mountains of Madness

The inter-dimensional terror gets slightly longer and more snow-filled this week with the 12-chapter novella At The Mountains of Madness.

Stuff I (octo)Did This Week 10/21/2011

OMG I WROTE THE FIRST HANDS-ON PREVIEW OF OCTODAD 2 READ IT HERE IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY.

I wrote these things too

Mixr Review

SlideShark Brings Easy PowerPoint Viewing to iPad

Hope's Quest Review

but

OMG OCTODAD, OMG OCTODAD RETWEETS! OMG HOPEFULLY MORE GAME STUFF FROM ME COMING TO NBN (North By Northwestern, the premier Northwestern magazine/website)

BRAP BRAP!

Pie Planet 4- Club Citrus

This week stuff ramps down before the big big plot starts up. Absurd, I know.

Love Me Some Lovecraft: The Dunwich Horror

When someone tries to unleash a demon, you should take him seriously even if his name is Wilbur Whateley. That's the lesson of this week's story "The Dunwich Horror."

Stuff I Did This Week 10/14/2011

Halloween is about to be a thing isn't it. I should probably start looking for an ironic costume. In the meantime here's what I wrote this week.


Monster Madness HD Review

Isle of Tune HD Review



diamonds

Pie Planet 3-2- Microwave 2

And now, the conclusion to the beginning of the beginning of the end... of the first part.

Love Me Some Lovecraft: The Shadow Over Innsmouth

Sorry for the lack of a "stuff I did this week" post last week but I honestly didn't do anything. At least, nothing on the internet. But now I'm back for another one of these. Fish people and bizarre race metaphors abound in this week's HP Lovecraft short story review type thing.

Pie Planet 3- Microwave

This time, stuff gets real

Love Me Some Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulhu

For reasons that you should hopefully discover in the coming months, I read several works by classic horror writer H.P. Lovecraft over the summer, despite my stance on reading. What with this being October and Halloween and stuff this is probably as good a month as any to share my short thoughts on these weird tales.

Stuff I Did This Week 9/30/2011

Only the chosen people can know what that image means.


But the rest of you can read what I wrote this week on the internet.

Grouptime Combines Messaging and Social Networking

PocketCloud Update Brings a New Kind of Storage to iOS

Ball Towers HD Review




massacre

Pie Planet 2- Living Together

This is still happening. Spelling mistakes are too. Lost already? Just click that "pie planet" label at the bottom to get caught up.

Mind Dump 7- Incorrect Opinions

I believe very strongly that certain things that are technically subjective opinions can be objectively wrong. This can range from views on some games to certain aspects of other cultures. However, the key to having this opinion while not becoming a hypocrite is recognizing one's own incorrect opinions like eating cereal without milk or the posts below.

Stuff I Did This Week 9/23/2011

Only one review, Running Sheep HD, and one news post, Formspring for iPhone, but this week I also helped start a wonderful Tumblr, Yeast Fairchild. Bread People is one of the good kinds of Tumblrs I was talking about and Yeast Fairchild is that but with people in my dorm, East Fairchild/CRC, turned into bread instead of celebrities. Please to enjoy.


Bread

Pie Planet 1- The Beginning

A while ago I mentioned this comic I made back in high school called "Pie Planet." Well, here at Northwestern it has developed a small, quasi-ironic following but only three physical copies of the entire three-volume series exist. So I'm giving into pressure (and lack of time to produce new content) and will be putting out one story arc each Wednesday, straight out of 2006, no context, HORRIBLE HORRIBLE SPELLING MISTAKES and all.

Enjoy

Big Stupid Things with Big Stupid Plots

Who else thinks it's ridiculously awesome when franchises with no right to have stupidly dense mythologies, have, stupidly dense mythologies. That's the topic of this post where we'll be taking a look at The Fast and The Furious and the Saw franchises.

Stuff I Did This Week 9/16/2011

Another week(ish), another recap of stuff I wrote on this internet this week.

ProSel, A Mobile Sales Solution for iPad

Hypnoblocks Review

Shantae: Risky's Revenge Coming Soon to the App Store

Frogger Decades Review

ONE MILLION DOLLARS

On Star Wars

So the Star Wars movies are coming out on Blu-ray or already came out or whatever and people are getting mad because George Lucas added even more terrible/hilarious changes like this one...







Here's the thing. I like Star Wars, a lot actually and definitely more than Star Trek, but since it was never really a part of my formative childhood experience (except for the original 2D Clone Wars maybe but not the horrible 3D one) I'm not so emotionally attached to it that the prequels offended me the way they do some people. Granted, although episode 3 kind of has its moments, they are terrible movies as Red Letter Media so brilliantly illustrates but I've always felt that getting legitimately mad was kind of dumb.

Yes, the original Star Wars were group efforts with input from people who were far better writers and directors than George Lucas. However, at the end of the day STAR WARS BELONGS TO GEORGE LUCAS! IT DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU FANS! That means that although it's kind of sad that he's ruining these movies (although ruin is a bit harsh) and he totally should let people get the originals, they are his movies to do with as he pleases. Plus, he is the single person most responsible for MAKING STAR WARS, so the credit he should get for that alone should trump most complaints. Calm down.

I say this because I know if I created a popular franchise, the last thing that would stop me from changing it would be angry, self-entitled fans. Art belongs to the artist.

if anyone wants to know what I thought about "The Help"

I've been a part of a few lively Facebook conversations about whether or not the movie The Help is good or not. I wonder why they wanted my opinion? Eventually this less than enthusiastic response from the Association of Black Women came out and although I had yet to see the movie that pretty much seemed like a slightly more angry version of what I felt about it.

I've now seen the movie, and although I don't feel like reviewing it (the numerous subplots help and hurt) I will say this. I think it's good. Granted, there is a large female aspect to it that I don't have the perspective to comment on. However, from the racial perspective I will say that, although it totally is a "white guilt" movie, that doesn't mean it's absolutely horrible like The Blind Side. You know what else are white guilt movies? Avatar, The Last Samurai, Last of the Mohicans, Pocahontas and probably the upcoming Machine Gun Preacher. But most of those are at least decent.

Having just watched the latest Tyler Perry movie and realizing how much money he makes selling garbage to people starving for content, I was reminded of how much the white domination of Hollywood really sucks. The slight marginalization of black characters in favor of white protagonists in The Help is the result of that. However, it is also a well-done, very well-acted movie and that still counts for something.



Back to moving in...

Stuff I Did This Week 9/7/2011

Northwestern University part 2 starts tomorrow and I'm so excited but before my flight, here's the stuff I wrote on the internet this week.


Square&Ball HD Review

Ant Raid Review

Robot 99 Review


COLLEGE

IGN: I Went There

San Francisco is a fine vacation spot. There are In-N-Out Burgers, Luchador masks, and this amazing antique arcade museum I hope to tell people more about later. But my main reason for going was to see what it's like to work at a gaming website office, something I hope to eventually. Luckily, IGN.com's First Friday tour was the glimpse I was waiting for.

podcast room

Truth be told, there isn't much to describe. Imagine what an office full of people who loves games enough to write about them professionally would look like and you are probably on the right track. The surreal part was just seeing people like Daemon Hatfield, Peer Schneider and others who, to me, had only existed as voices on the internet, become real. Personally, that was far more interesting than watching Dead Island/zombie Fallout being played in their pimped out demo room.

bad pic of the game library

There were about twenty of of us on the trip but apparently there were over fifty applicants so I guess we were the special ones. However, while I do feel really bad saying this because I have absolutely no right to judge, some of the kinds of gamers who like IGN enough to visit it aren't people I would particularly like to hang around with. HYPOCRISY!

bottom left, Mark Ryan Sallee and Colin Moriarty

But whatever. It was still awesome. I won a copy of Total War Shogun 2 for knowing that the most overrated console of all time, the Sega Dreamcast, came out on 9/9/99. I told IGN Playstation Executive Editor and Mizzou journalism school alumnus Greg Miller (the dude hugging me in the opening pic) that I went to Medill and he said stuff I won't repeat. Their director of Tech Ops, Chris Ostertag, is also from New Jersey and went to Northwestern so I feel I'm still in the right. Plus, HD Starcraft, one of the few Starcraft commentators I watch, was there too so that was neat and unexpected.

Now I just have to make the switch from tourist to employee.

They have this now though so I'm all good

And I'm Off

So after surviving and incredibly mild east coast earthquake and a not-so-mild hurricane/power outage, tomorrow I'm headed off to San Francisco before returning for part 2 of Northwestern University. I might try to write something while out there, hopefully about my trip to the IGN offices and the subsequent skyrocketing of my games journalism career, but in the meantime go watch stuff on Homestar Runner. Almost forgot how amazing that stuff is.