Today it hit around 95 degrees with a humidity factor that'd turn a simple lawn-mowing chore into a full on shower. By three o'clock, even my ridiculous, tree-climbing cat was too hot to do more than flop around lazily and admire it's own paws. Me? I decided I'd be a moron and go take pictures of the countryside and nearby Oakboro.
First stop, the little train museum. I attempted to get a good shot of the building in question, but the sun was not in my favor, so you'll have to settle for these images, including a caboose! Hehehe, I wonder how many of you even remember what a caboose was?
This was the cart in question! These little tack-ons had several serious purposes back in the day, including watching out for trouble on the foremost carts and engine. There's plenty of info abound here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caboose#Cupola_or_.22standard.22_caboose
Meantime, here's another shot the same one:
I'll be posting more from the train museum tommorow or tonight :)
Edit: I lost the pics after a bad viral infection, sorry to those wanting to see it :(
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Larai Cliffs - Illusion of Gaia
No post this time, just some Illusion of Gaia fanart :)
Click for full image, please!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Bebop a lu Bop
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-07-22/live-action-cowboy-bebop-film-in-development-at-fox
How awesome is this? An anime imitating popular film noir and serial action flicks of the 60s (looking at you Mr. Bond) gets itself a live-action movie from the developers of the Matrix and A Scanner Darkly.
Yeah, it could go horribly wrong. But hell, even if it sucks, we know it'll be better than Dragon Ball Z the live action movie, right?
How awesome is this? An anime imitating popular film noir and serial action flicks of the 60s (looking at you Mr. Bond) gets itself a live-action movie from the developers of the Matrix and A Scanner Darkly.
Yeah, it could go horribly wrong. But hell, even if it sucks, we know it'll be better than Dragon Ball Z the live action movie, right?
Monday, July 21, 2008
Grand Theft Guilt IV
Something odd happened to me today.
I felt guilt over killing characters in Grand Theft Auto IV.
Having spent many hours mowing down nameless, faceless, polygonal populace in past iterations, I'm abit baffled by these feelings. Why now?
Perhaps it's the upgrade in character animations that arose between the gap of last gen and current gen. You don't just ram a guy with a car here and watch him flatten under your car like a pile of squares. Here they have physics. Which means when I hit a guy with the front right of my bumper, he reacts as such, flying off into a spinning drop where he'll then bounce off whatever surface he impacts. It's far more unsettling.
I guess maybe gaming has reached a point where it can mimic life convincingly. All I know is that I spend a full four minutes standing over the virtual body of a dead video game character ripped with guilt. If that's not somehow evidential of gaming's ability to invoke emotion, then I don't know what is.
I felt guilt over killing characters in Grand Theft Auto IV.
Having spent many hours mowing down nameless, faceless, polygonal populace in past iterations, I'm abit baffled by these feelings. Why now?
Perhaps it's the upgrade in character animations that arose between the gap of last gen and current gen. You don't just ram a guy with a car here and watch him flatten under your car like a pile of squares. Here they have physics. Which means when I hit a guy with the front right of my bumper, he reacts as such, flying off into a spinning drop where he'll then bounce off whatever surface he impacts. It's far more unsettling.
I guess maybe gaming has reached a point where it can mimic life convincingly. All I know is that I spend a full four minutes standing over the virtual body of a dead video game character ripped with guilt. If that's not somehow evidential of gaming's ability to invoke emotion, then I don't know what is.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Shadow of the Colossus
My lovely girlfriend heard me prattling on about how I'd accidentally slipped my copy of Shadow of the Colossus into the pile of games up for sale last year. Never got around to replacing the copy I lost, so she took it upon herself to do so for me. Love ya honey :P
It's abit more dated than I remember, with some sharp corners (particularly the horse's ass) and a ridiculous over use of bloom lighting effects. But it's as emotional as I remember, with minimal dialogue and an emphasis on atmosphere. Can't help but think that the developers were big fans of old films set in mythological Greece.
Premise is simple. Vaguely asian-looking boy wants to bring back to life similar looking girl. So he apparently shows up in this paradise forbidden to whatever culture he hails from and asks the sky to bring the girl's soul back. Said sky responds to him that he must kill sixteen giants (colossi) in order to have his request granted, and that's it. The gates blow open and you're off on horseback.
And then you realize the game plays like shit. I'm sorry, it does. I've had an easier time steering a 78 station wagon after a blow-out. You'd think the developers would've looked to something like Zelda for inspiration since it pretty much wrote the book on horse-backing it in games. But no, instead you get the video game equivalent of drunk driving (and walking, climbing, stabbing, etc). And that's when you're just riding around. Try scaling a two-hundred foot walking monolith with a guy who thinks up is a reverse leap to the rear. Gets infuriating.
But really. There's just nothing else like it. And the first time you see a colossus round a corner you'll get chills.
It's an old game at this point, but definitely one I'm glad to have back on my shelf.
It's abit more dated than I remember, with some sharp corners (particularly the horse's ass) and a ridiculous over use of bloom lighting effects. But it's as emotional as I remember, with minimal dialogue and an emphasis on atmosphere. Can't help but think that the developers were big fans of old films set in mythological Greece.
Premise is simple. Vaguely asian-looking boy wants to bring back to life similar looking girl. So he apparently shows up in this paradise forbidden to whatever culture he hails from and asks the sky to bring the girl's soul back. Said sky responds to him that he must kill sixteen giants (colossi) in order to have his request granted, and that's it. The gates blow open and you're off on horseback.
And then you realize the game plays like shit. I'm sorry, it does. I've had an easier time steering a 78 station wagon after a blow-out. You'd think the developers would've looked to something like Zelda for inspiration since it pretty much wrote the book on horse-backing it in games. But no, instead you get the video game equivalent of drunk driving (and walking, climbing, stabbing, etc). And that's when you're just riding around. Try scaling a two-hundred foot walking monolith with a guy who thinks up is a reverse leap to the rear. Gets infuriating.
But really. There's just nothing else like it. And the first time you see a colossus round a corner you'll get chills.
It's an old game at this point, but definitely one I'm glad to have back on my shelf.
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