But if you aren't afraid yet, you should be. For, L and I will soon unleash our greatest weapon of doom upon the hapless citizenry of the world. Prepare yourself, if you can, for... LOLBILBOZ:
Whatever, the reason was that people weren't showing up in droves to see this movie, they were really, really missing out. It's been a few years since I listened to the amazing audiobook production of the series (His Dark Materials), but I was not disappointed by this adaptation. The acting was phenomenal and the special effects were beyond impressive -- I'm still not sure how they pulled off all those deamons as well as they did. The movie suffered a little for an incredibly rushed storyline (but at least it didn't bog down) and some of the music was simply atrocious in a movie of this caliber.
I'm eager to see how the second and third books are rendered into films and I can't wait to see how they'll deal with some of the more challenging issues that crop up further into the series. I'm also looking forward to rereading (or perhaps re-listening to) the books, to see how they really measure up with their movie counterparts.
Speaking of the movies, have you all seen The Spiderwick Chronicles trailer? I haven't read the books for that series yet, but it looks like fun. Plus, a gryphon! (What more do I need in a movie? I mean, I suffered through Narnia for just a few gryphon cameos, proving that I will watch just about anything for some sweet, sweet gryphon action.)
Two "legendary" games have been simultaneously occupying my greatest video game console for the past month. I picked up The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass primarily on Matt's recommendation in a comment on one of my earlier posts, though if I hadn't have bought it then, I definitely would have after Jay's positive review. Though I didn't like the Twilight Princess installment on the Wii (and hadn't experienced any other Zelda incarnations), the Phantom Hourglass has quickly become one of my favorite DS games of all time. Hardcore gamers might complain that it is too easy or too short, but those are both aspects I appreciate. I still haven't quite finished the game after playing it on and off for the past several weeks, but I'm still loving it. (If only I could get all the Demon Ship parts, my heart would be filled with joy.)
The other "legendary" game I picked up was The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night at the urging of one my favorite gaming blogs, DS Fanboy. I steered clear of the purported crap that was the DS version of the game and went straight for the super special awesomeness that was the Gameboy Advance version. This game has been touted as possibly the "last great GBA game" and I find nothing lacking in the game's greatness. The gameplay is just awesome fun, with a cleverly designed one-button combo attack system that is gorgeous to see and enjoyable to play. I beat the game on "normal" difficulty with a little bit of a challenge and now I've gotten myself stuck on "hard" difficulty, but I haven't thrown in the towel yet. Definitely some of the best thirteen dollars I ever spent for a game.
I need to follow in Matt's footsteps and post my own autobiographical retrospective on (video) gaming, so look for that when I have time to take 20. In the meantime, let me share my recent good news: a video game grant I wrote for my library was accepted. This means I get to buy SIX more Wiis for my library (along with six digital projectors) along with SIX copies of Mario Party 8, Super Smash Bros Brawl, and Mario Kart Wii. We'll also be giving away a Wii and DS (among other things) next year for this program. Gametastic, right?
Anthony and I hit our first ever Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day yesterday at Empyre Games and we surprisingly had more fun than we would have expected. We were a little worried at first when we found out that we were the most experienced D&D 3.5 players in the group (except for possibly one other player), as the DM had only run 1st Edition D&D games. However, the one-shot adventure designed for the event (The Fall of Frostsilver) really turned out great for what it was. The DM in particular did an awesome job at keeping everything moving along and staying fun.
One of the best things about the event was the diversity of players there. There was a four person family (a dad, mom and two teen/preteen boys) who all came to learn D&D 3.5 together that were completely hilarious. The two boys were completely bloodthirsty and in it for their own characters (as they tend to be at that age), which made for some pretty hilarious exchanges. The younger one that was playing a half-elf rogue/sorcerer kept wanting to search all the bodies of everything we killed (even while a combat still raged) and the older one who was playing a dwarf paladin (ostensibly the brother of my dwarf cleric of Moradin) threw away his paladin class abilities when he kicked his mother's halfling away from a corpse he wanted to loot instead (and he only got 30 gold pieces in exchange for all his paladin class).
Because Wizards of the Coast sent more free stuff than there were players at this event, we managed to walk away with some pretty good loot as well. I managed to add an assortment of new miniatures to my collection and got another set of dice for the wife. One of the most interesting things was the 4th Edition preview stat card of the Spined Devil promotional miniature. The stats look much more streamlined than 3.5, but I'm more wary than ever. Will Dungeons & Dragons turn into a tabletop MMORPG experience? If so, I think I'll be sticking with 3.5.
- The Google Homepage (I think this would be pretty hilarious to wear at work, i.e. the library)
- Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple (since I've gotten just about everyone I know an iPod)
Please comment and let me know which idea you like best! Also, if you come up with a different geeky costume that you think would be great for me, please suggest it in the comments as well. I promise that whatever gets chosen, I'll post photos of myself in my costume on Halloween.
My crazy exciting intense busy super special awesome week-long residency for my first week of graduate school at the University of Washington in Seattle is near the end. Right now, I'm chilling in the iSchool computer lab, tuning into Pandora and surfing the Web on one of the brand-spankin'-new 24" iMacs running Windows Vista. It seems like a fitting end to a busy week full of long school days and exploring a little of Seattle via death marches and mass transit.
Outside of class, hitting the Seattle Public Library was at the top of the list of things to do for Anna, Melody and myself. We hopped a bus to downtown on Tuesday evening and with a little walking, we soon found ourselves confronted by a futuristic glass-and-steel structure. On the outside, it sure didn't bear any resemblance to any other library I had seen. After we entered, it turned out the interior was even more confusing, with minimal signage and bizarre layouts. After trekking from bottom to top, we were all rather disappointed with this public library that could have been so much more (with less money even).
I've had some great food while I've been here and met some great people within my graduate program. In a way, it's been like a combination of work and vacation, experiencing the best of both worlds all week long. But, as the saying goes, it's good to go, but even better to come home. And so today (as it does change day by day) the aspect of my distance graduate program that I'm relishing most is that being on campus is only a fleeting thing. It's been a great trip, but I can't wait to be home, hitting the books and coursework in my pajamas on my own time while enjoying the comforts of home.
I just finished my first day of class for graduate school and to paraphrase a certain song, damn, it feels good to be a student (again).
However, I don't know if I'd be feeling that way if I hadn't taken three years off from academia. The (approximately) thousand day break gave me plenty of time to recharge my personal batteries for another stint at formal education (along with other important things, like nabbing my first full-time library job and getting married). Because I took some time away, it's great to feel like I can (and want to) hit the books on my own terms.
I've got to say that another huge plus to this program is that I get to share it with two great friends and fellow first-year graduate students, Anna and Melody. I feel extremely lucky to have my very own support group to brave this whole experience with (not to mention the support of my other friends, my family, and especially my wife).
Sure, it's going to be hard work and stressful at times, but because library and information science is one of my intellectual passions, it is also going to be totally worth it. No pain, no gain. All the blood, sweat and tears (and fistfuls of cash and loans) are going to be a small price to pay for what I'll come out of this program with.
My school is the iSchool. What's yours?
What's the greatest video game console on the market? Do you own it or is it on your wish list?
Nintendo DS Lite for the win! I purchased my Polar White DS Lite on the first day it went on sale (June 11, 2006) and I've played the heck out of it every day since then. (I must give mad props to Matt for first introducing me to the original DS.) My first three games were Brain Age, Mario Kart DS and Advance Wars: Dual Strike. I don't own any of those games anymore, but my current lineup consists of:
- Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
- Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
- Nintendo DS Browser
- Pokemon Diamond
- Puzzle Quest
- Super Mario 64 DS
I don't have any DS titles on my wishlist right now, though I'm curious about Mario Party DS and the Viva Pinata project for DS.
Though my wife is a staunch Xbox supporter (and will be for as long as Halo is exclusive to that console), I've gotten her to tool around with the DS some too. With all the console choices available, now is one of the best times to be a gamer (except maybe if you're a Sony fan).
What about you gamers in my Vox 'hood? What do you all think is the greatest video game console?
Can practicing Zen save me from being iSad for the next month?
Wait, let me back up for a moment. My first iPod, a refurbished silver 4GB mini purchased two years ago, started showing signs of battery deterioration a few weeks ago. (Which didn't surprise me too much, since I use the thing like crazy.) It wasn't completely dead however, so I was determined to squeeze as much life out of it as possible. That is, I was until the following four seemingly unconnected events occurred:
- Apple announced their latest "refresh" to the iPod lineup where the Nano got fat, the Classic got more storage, the Jesus Phone got cheaper, but most importantly, the iPod Touch was announced. Music, video, the Internet and YouTube all in one super sleek and touchable device? Activate technolust!
- Being a volunteer in SPLAT (for the Idaho Commission for Libraries), I received a "free" 1GB Creative Zen V. (The only catch is that I have to demonstrate the new statewide downloadable e-audiobook service through NetLibrary, which is something I was going to do anyway.)
- I received confirmation that I would be receiving a $500 scholarship from the Idaho Library Association for my graduate school tuition. I'll be receiving the check at an awards ceremony in early October.
- My mother-in-law's birthday is rapidly approaching and the thing she wanted most was an iPod. (And it's just tradition for me to get everyone iPods, since I've helped spread the iLove to my wife, Anna, Drew and Erin so far.)
Using my super special awesome powers of craftiness, I quickly concocted a plan to combo all these seemingly unrelated events together for maximum damage. I shipped my dear iPod Mini to the tech doctors at Apple for a battery replacement so I can give it my mother-in-law for her birthday as a like-new iPod. Then, while iPod-less, I leverage my little Zen V to keep my necessary flow of portable music and podcasts going. Finally, once I receive my scholarship check, I will dub it my "iPod Touch scholarship" and use it to purchase a brand-spankin'-new 8GB iPod Touch.
So, with my perplexing iPod problem solved, now it's on to lesser difficulties that plague humanity. Do you think I should work on solving world hunger next or finding a cure for cancer?
(And how about a bonus question for the audience? What is the device name of your iPod or your inferior non-iPod music player? My iPod Mini was dubbed first Serenity and then Gryphon, while my Zen V is currently known as Dragon.)
Wizards of the Coast has done the inevitable by dropping the first press release announcement for 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons.
What do all you D&D players out there think? Will you upgrade to the latest and greatest(?) when it hits store shelves next year? As for myself, I think that D&D 4th would have to offer substantial improvements over D&D 3.5 to make me even consider moving up. I've already sunk a fair bit of cash into purchasing books and supplements for 3.5 and I'd be really loathe to do it all over again (unless the improvements are really, really good).
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August 16, 2007 (Renton, WA) – Whether you storm a mad wizard’s tower every week or haven’t delved into a dungeon since you had a mullet and a mean pair of parachute pants, one thing is certain - millions of D&D players worldwide have anticipated the coming of 4th Edition for many years. Today, Wizards of the Coast confirms that the new edition will launch in May 2008 with the release of the D&D Player’s Handbook. A pop culture icon, Dungeons & Dragons is the #1 tabletop roleplaying game in the world, and is revered by legions of gamers of all ages.
The 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons game includes elements familiar to current D&D players, including illustrated rulebooks and pre-painted plastic miniatures. Also releasing next year will be new web-based tools and online community forums through the brand-new Dungeons & Dragons Insider (D&D Insider) digital offering. D&D Insider lowers the barriers of entry for new players while simultaneously offering the depth of play that appeals to veteran players.
The 4th Edition rules emphasize faster game play, offer exciting new character options, and reduce the amount of “prep time” needed to run the game. D&D Insider includes a character creator that lets players design and equip their D&D characters, dungeon- and adventure-building tools for Dungeon Masters, online magazine content, and a digital game table that lets you play 24/7 on the internet — the perfect option for anyone who can’t find time to get together.
“We’ve been gathering player feedback for eight years,” said Bill Slavicsek, R&D Director of Roleplaying and Miniatures Games at Wizards of the Coast. “Fourth Edition streamlines parts of the D&D game that are too complex, while enhancing the overall play experience. At its heart, it’s still a tabletop game experience. However, D&D Insider makes it easier for players to create characters, run their games, and interact with the rest of the D&D community.”
Wizards of the Coast will release two 4th Edition preview books in December and January — Wizards Presents: Classes and Races and Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters. The first live demos of 4th Edition will happen at the D&D Experience gaming convention in Washington D.C. in February 2008. The full scope of 4th Edition books, miniatures, and adventures will be available in the spring and summer of 2008.
Since its first release in 1974, the fantasy roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons has taken millions of players on imaginary adventures of epic scale. Today, D&D is universally regarded as the original game that created the roleplaying game category, and the inspiration for generations of game designers. D&D is enjoyed by millions of players worldwide, while countless more remember it with fond nostalgia.
