Huge Yard Sale BLOWOUT!

We're having a yard sale this week. Check out our Craigslist ad.

Oh, Hello Blog

I see that I've been neglecting you. I'm sorry. See, I just got back from a long trip to South Dakota. My brother's soccer team, Westside, made it to semi-regionals! Unfortunately, they lost just two games from making it to nationals. Oh well. Here's to next year!

I drove through a large windmill farm, which was very impressive, but not quite as majestic as I had hoped. In fact, there's something ominous and looming about the giant technology, but clean energy is clean energy and I certainly don't want to discourage that.



I saw the movie Year One starring Jack Black and Michael Cera and directed by Egon Spangler...err, Harold Ramis. It has some very funny moments, but some of the jokes were such duds that it was hard for the movie to recover. I liked it best when the movie allowed the inherent absurdity of certain Bible stories to play out.



Finally, I'm struggling not to return Ghostbusters for the Wii to pick up the new FPS The Conduit. Ghostbusters was highly disappointing for reasons I may go into later. I did replay it recently and ghost wrangling is kind of fun, but the absence of a dedicated multiplayer component really hurts the game's replayability. And weren't we promised a competitive multiplayer mode, Redfly? What the heck happened?

The REAL Ghostbusters

I've been watching the old Ghostbusters cartoons and they are really good. It makes some sense considering the show was Emmy nominated, but I guess I just expected it not to hold up like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other childhood favorites. I'm getting an anime vibe with a western twist from the series, if that makes any kind of sense.

Ryan asked what big storylines are left to tackle after the first film. This fan favorite episode about Ragnarok, the final destiny of gods, is an interesting start. And Ryan, I think you may even like it more because a romance is central to the plot.

I miss this kind of storytelling in a children's cartoon.

I Should Be a Game Developer

I was looking through my documents and I uncovered this post I made on a message board almost 2 years ago, on November 15, 2007, around the time the Ghostbuster video game was announced.
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In my dreams, the Wii version is divided into 4 play styles:

1) Drive Ecto to place of haunting.

--Nunhuck control stick, wiimote fires proton beam on top of car.

2) Getting Hot/Cold game with PK meter.

--Walk with nunchuck control stick, wave wiimote around to pick up pk readings until you are led closer and closer to the spook.

3) Gunning and Trapping.

--Flip the wiimote behind your back and right-side up again to switch from pk meter to proton gun. (This action mimics how the proton gun is unholstered and would be totally simple to implement and immersive!)

--Fire with B trigger to either obliterate non-essential ghosts with small damage meters (total protonic reversal!) or to ensnare ghosts which must be trapped.

--Once weakened and ensnared, team member(s) add their proton beams to hold ghost. You cut your beam and

[QUOTE]Nunchuck = motions used to throw the trap, Z = uses the trap, [/QUOTE]

4) Boss Battles

--These would have to play somewhat differently. For instance, you're not going to trap the Stay Puft marshmallow man. I imagine Stay Puft has a damage meter and time limit; you must strike his head with the proton beam to burn damage and deflect or straddle to avoid the flaming marshmallow globs he throws at you.

**Also, I think a hub world in the Ghostbuster's headquarters would be cool. After you catch a ghost, you can walk to the basement and empty traps into the containment unit ala Metroid Prime 3 controls for inserting and removing power tanks.

These ideas are free to use DEVS! I think I'd be as happy as a little girl if these controls/game play elements were implemented. (can you tell I'm something of Ghostbusters fan? :D )
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Some of this, like driving Ecto-1 and the trapping mechanics, didn't come true. But the bulk of my design, which I've put in bold, has been implemented! Again, I'm not saying these ideas were stolen (especially since I freely offered them up). I'm just saying that...someone should give me a job in a creative business!

BANAPPLE -- Godless Comfort

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Trailer for Darwin Biopic: Creation

Why aren't they calling it the infinitely more clever "Origins" again? I'm excited for this film, but I have to admit, a wave of nausea hits me every time I think about it. This is the exact movie idea I was practice-pitching in LA only 3 years ago.