Jade Empire

I play computer games quite a bit, and it's rare that I actually frighten myself by just how much.

I played Jade Empire for 10 hours, 17 minutes yesterday. Certainly not a world record by any measure, but it's enough to make me feel incredibly bad about myself. I've held off the urge to play today; I figure if I average just over 5 hours a day for two days, that's a little better, at least in theory...

Also: Mr. Zach Braff was at Northwestern this evening for a Q&A session. I went (along with a few hundred or so other people) to see him. I've always been more of a J.D. guy than a Zach Braff fan; he just rubs me the wrong was when he's not in character. I haven't seen any movie he's been in, so maybe I'm not allowed to complain. To put it bluntly, he just seems like a bit of a douche.

But he hooked up with Sarah Chalke, so he gets props. Mad props.

Syndication Marches On

Johnny Hart died. You may remember him as the man behind B.C. and Wizard of Id, two very long-running, very baseline comic strips.

Despite the small problem of, y'know, his death, the comics will continue. Does this seem bizarre to you? From the article:

Richard Newcombe, the founder and president of Creators Syndicate, which syndicates both BC and The Wizard of Id, said both cartoons would continue.

Family members have been helping produce the strips for years, and they have an extensive computer archive of drawings to work with, he told AP.

That's right. In the tradition of Sir Laurence Olivier, death is apparently not a huge handicap to creative works. I'm not what you'd call a huge fan of either of those strips, but I still think that they deserve more respect than that. Maybe I'm missing something, but this article makes it seem that these comics are going to be zombified for the sake of syndication. A computer archive of drawings? They're turning his life's work, the work of 49 years, into the newspaper equivilent of a clip-show? Does this really, honestly, truly seem like a good idea to them?

The man died. It seems to me that it would be more respectful and sensible if his creations remained as he left them.

The Continuing Adventures of my Tablet

Dear Game Developers,

Please stop taking away my fucking guns. Seriously, guys. What makes you think people like that?

Another issue: The Natalya Syndrome. If you decide to give your main character a sidekick/person to guard, make sure two things are true:

1) That person's attacks actually do something, and
2) The person knows not to fucking walk right in front of you while you are firing an automatic weapon. I mean, christ.

Love,
Bob

P.S. I like your games.



I just played through Infernal, and these two issues came up. Fortunately, the game is worth it. If you are into the 3rd person shooters (a niche genre, sure), you will be mighty pleased.

I drew this for some reason

Yes, that is a little person wrestling an alligator. I don't know why the alligator insists that his name is Karl Rove.

Yes, mild intoxication may have had something to do with this.

SO MANY SUAVES

Hey kids, it's been a little while since my last music post, so I'll make this one thick. Don't worry, though, because there'll be plenty of pictures.

(Disclaimer: I'm used to writing about jazz music, which is a little pretentious to begin with, so I apologize if I butcher writing about rock music, a subject I know fairly little about.)

First up is a band named 25 Suaves, which I picked up because. . .well, because the band is named 25 Suaves. It was just sitting out on a shelf at the station, like it was meant to be.

The music itself is very guitar and drum driven, to the point that there's really no bass to speak of. Lyrics are there, but are damn hard to distinguish, even more so than most rock music. When you can hear him, the vocalist seems very similar to Blood Sweat and Tears, but with more yelling.

The guitar and drum work is quite heavy, almost industrial, but never without energy. The instrumental parts seem darker than the lyrics, when you can actually make them out.

While this stuff certainly isn't bad, I'd say it would be unremarkable if they weren't named 25 Suaves. Oh well.

Back to jazz, with Urban Reception, a release from the Aoki/Wong/Pavkovic trio, a local Chicago group. I've been a fan of Tatsu Aoki, the bass player, since my first day at the station when I randomly picked up a CD of him because he had an asian name. He has an impressivly diverse range array of recordings, from upright bass and laptop duo to a full japanese taiko drum section.

Musically, Urban Reception is another great album. The tracks are accessable enough to be listenable by the public, and experimental enough to be interesting. Instrumentation is varied, featuring mostly sax, with touches of violin and clarinet.

While not related to the music, per se, I also like the badass cover. Imagine it without WNUR JAZZ scrawled all over it with a sharpie, an attempt to prevent people from stealing the CDs. You can't really tell by the picture, but the paper is a sort of matte graphite color, like dark gray clay with irridescent particles suspended in it. The inside cover also features a poem, which I originally thought was just a really cool artistic addition, but then realized it contains all the track names, like "Rice Cake," "Welcome Home," and "Wheat Thin." What I don't know is whether the track names or poem came first. It's a mystery.

I haven't listened to these next two albums, but I feel like I have to say something about their covers.
Any band named Menstruation Sisters deserves a mention, especially if they're Australian.

Art Ensemble of Chicago is pretty badass, in general, and this cover supports that finding. Two things stand out to me: I never want to get on the third guy's bad side, and I really want a pair of glasses like the first guy.

Damn, that is one thick post. Ok, Bob out.

Most Unpleasant

For some reason, my attempts to complete my differential equations homework at 2:14 in the morning are hampered by this nagging sensation in my brain that says somewhere, probably somewhere close, people are having sex. I do not know if these people exist, nor do I know for sure if they're even having sex, but still the feeling lingers. It's thoughts like these that make me really hate differential equations. Plus, it's TOO FUCKING HOT.