Friday, January 31, 2014

She was all dressed up in black

I went to prom in white pancake face make-up and (shockingly) all black.

My date didn't need it. Her face and shoulders were already that same creamy white.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Hauntingly forward

Hauntingly backwards

My Totem Muppet

Simple. Clean. Sadly human.

20 Ways to a Beach Body

1. Work out.
2. Work out.
3. Work out.
4. Work out.
5. Work out.
6. Work out.
7. Work out.
8. Work out.
9. Work out.
10. Work out.
11. Work out.
12. Work out.
13. Work out.
14. Work out.
15. Work out.
16. Work out.
17. Work out.
18. Work out.
19. Work out.
20. Work out.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Sucks that I've been granted eternal life.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Can't find my way to Mariana

(See Tennyson -- or at least that's the way I see it, but then again, I changed one word)

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Grand Theft Auto V: A Populist Revenge Fantasy

Stop talking about what GTA is or isn't.

Play the game all the way through.

Then tell me what it is or isn't.

Grand Theft Auto V: A Populist Revenge Fantasy

Monday, January 20, 2014

Moving Pixels Podcast: All That Remains of The Walking Dead

I personally found this episode of The Walking Dead difficult to talk about it, lacking as it was (at least in my mind) the interesting moral conundrums that the previous season left its players in each and every episode.

Our podcasts on The Walking Dead throughout 2012 were some of the most fun and engaging conversations that we've had over the course of the years on our little show (again, at least for me). So, the inability to solidly sink my teeth into this episode was a bit of a drag. Here's hoping the upcoming episodes return to form.

Moving Pixels Podcast: All That Remains of The Walking Dead

Sunday, January 19, 2014

It is complete now. Two ends of time are neatly tied.

Very lovely. Very brutal.

Saw these guys perform this in '91 or '92 (I think) in Boulder, Colorado. Napolitano was on, as always.

Still a hard song. Hard is worth considering, though.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

And you would sing along with little tell tale staggers

While balancing on daggers
Though they were killing you
You looked so deadly

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Are We There Yet, Batman?

The meaninglessness of movement.

The listlessness of locomotion.

The tedium of travel.

ZAP! BAM! POW!

Are We There Yet, Batman?

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

You must not tear your lovely skin

John Waterhouse, Penelope and the Suitors

All the rage

So don't try to touch my heart
It's darker than you think
And don't try to read my mind
because it's full of disappearing ink

Continue?9876543210: Your Heart Is a Filing System

If you understand why RAM is kind of a reasonable metaphor for the fleeting nature of existence, this is a game that is built for you, both poet and tech geek that you might be.

I am both and neither.

Continue?9876543210: Your Heart Is a Filing System

Monday, January 13, 2014

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are found in your philosophy.

I was recording a podcast earlier and mentioned my disdain for American culture generally. However, I didn't actually spell out the nature of that disdain, and I suspect my listeners wouldn't really guess at what troubles me about America, which has little to do with some political perspective.

Why I hate American culture is that the country is largely made up of materialists. Now, I don't mean materialism in the economic sense, the sense in which it is usually used (though our obsession with buying and owning every damned thing under the sun is probably related to what I do mean), what I really refer to is materialism in the philosophical sense.

Americans are obsessed with objects.

We only see the surface of things. We only touch that which we can wrap our hands around. We only have a sense of exteriors.

We worship function, not significance, because we do not believe in significance (some of us do claim that we do, but those of us who do are usually the worst offenders).

There is something regressive, retrograde, and primitive in the way that we idolize the "security" of the presence of those things that we can only recognize with our senses. We only trust in things.

We are a country of realists, and philosophical realism is a position that is bleak and fatalistic in the long run.

There is no hope in things.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Gouge away. You can stay all day, if you want to.

Chained to the pillars
A three day party
I break the walls
and kill us all
with holy fingers


My band used to cover this.

That was a long time ago.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

When I was born, I was 18-years-old

(I was a very mature kid, or maybe I just saw too much.).
Nearly four decades later, I'm still waiting to turn 19.
And I don't think that tomorrow will change that.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

We're Not Computers, We're Physical

I believe this is about the visceral quality of video games, how they require both a mental and physical component to differentiate them from mere games. I've talked about this before while discussing my own obsession with Ms. Pac-Man.

Speaking of which, I always get the high score on the machine at Polito's, a pizza joint in downtown Stevens Point, but someone else scored 175,000+ on it recently. I can crack 100k, but 175k is a little beyond my own skillz.

We're Not Computers, We're Physical

Monday, January 6, 2014

Moving Pixels Podcast: Our Best Games of 2013

We recorded this a couple weekends ago. I've spent some time since then with Batman: Arkham Origins, which I'm kinda meh about so far. Reminds me a lot of City and why I didn't like City. I've also played through Knock-Knock, which I found pretty cool. It's hide and seek as a video game, not a stealth game in the normal sense of the term, though. It's quirky and thinks about the rules of hide and seek and integrates them into gameplay in smart ways. We'll probably talk about it on a future podcast.

GTA V remains clearly my game of the year. Frankly, I don't sell it as well as I could and should here, but it needs some extended discussion about how the plot and characters develop to really do it justice. Hopefully, a podcast on that soon too.

It is -26 degrees out right now (that is not factoring in wind chill). I can feel the cold emanating through the walls. Charming.

Moving Pixels Podcast: Our Best Games of 2013

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Time to return to ketosis

Smoke, eat meat, work out.

Smoke, eat meat, work out.

Shantih shantih shantih.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Notes on marriage

My wife said to me this morning, "Will you do me a really awful favor?"

I responded, "Yes."