Hooray for American Foot Ball!

Today I had a tough beginning of the day. I got a call from the vet at 7:00 am. I went to work. I tried to make Lindsay feel better at lunch.

When I got back to work, some co-workers were getting set to play a game of touch football. So I joined in.

We played for an hour, 4 on 4, and it was great. I don't play football, and I don't know football. Luckily, I learned the basics when we played at my brother's bachelor party a couple months back, so I at least knew what a "Down" was.

But love of the game aside, you can't deny the fun of outdoor, physical activities on a warm fall day. I wish every day of work was punctuated by a pick-up game of some sort.

Even though I did get a little bloody. But that's what you get when you play with girls. They have long fingernails, and their two-hand touch is that much deadlier. And sexier.

And even though only 8 people played, there was a constant crowd at the sidelines, ranging from 1 or 2 all the way up to a whopping 7!

Good thing they were watching, because I was looking good. I think my shining moment was when the team captain called a play, I nodded, got to my position and ran like the wind.

But I was somehow unaware we had switched possession the play before. Oops. I don't understand football talk. No one noticed that I ran for a pass instead of blocking the other team, amazingly.

I did some good artwork at work, I think. Then I went to the gym, headed home and cleaned for3 or 4 hours.

Also, here is this awesomeness (the song more than the video).

A couple of demos.

Yesterday I tried out two demos, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts demo, and Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Both were very visually impressive. And both were more interesting that I might have given them credit for.

Nuts and Bolts revolves around collecting bits and pieces and assembling them to create crazy vehicles to navigate the levels. I had fun building and testing my creations, like a one-winged plane that flew in dangerously chaotic circles.

But the collect-a-thon platforming combined with my general distaste for the main characters means I'm not likely to buy the game. It is amazing looking though, and it does play really well, too. I'd be tempted if there wasn't a glut of games on my plate.

I loved the first Tomb Raider on the Playstation. Since then, the series hasn't done much for me. Underworld might change that.

It's pretty gorgeous, the controls are much, much improved, and ever since Uncharted re-ignited my interest in cave exploration based action/adventure games, a really well-made Tomb Raider game has sounded great.

But the best part was the puzzles. Specifically, the last puzzle in the demo. It's long, complex and not super obvious or easy. Good puzzles are one thing I thought Uncharted was missing.

So given the time, I'd love to find the time to pick that one up. I probably won't have time for a while, though...

Good games and bad luck.

The Halloween stuff I'm working on is turning out really cool. Right now it's still in the concept and preliminary art phase, so I'm doing all the fun stuff. Like character design. Later I'll be doing the boring product stuff.

But there's a few different directions we're looking at, and mine is only one of three or so. If mine doesn't get picked it's fine. The characters are pretty awesome, and that's good for me.

I picked up Fallout 3 today. I'm not going to start playing it until I beat Fable 2, though. Both games are too engrossing and huge to play at the same time.

I am far enough in Fable 2 that I could beat it at any time, really. I've only got a couple missions left, so I could be on the fast track to the grand finalé, if I wanted.

But I want to make sure I have done everything I want to do. I got married and had a kid, but do I want another family in a different city? Or a sexy fling on the side? I bought a house, but I do I want to buy more real estate and businesses? Do I want to level up my magic and powers further? Do I want to find all the secrets and hidden treasure? I don't know. Yes to some, no to others.

I was hoping to get in some time with that tonight, but Andy, the cat, is very ill. Lindsay took him to the vet, and we had to transfer him to a 24-hour emergency clinic. So I had to leave the office (in Eden Prairie), drive out further to pick up Lindsay who was on a trend-shopping trip with a client, drive to the Vet in Uptown, grab the cat and talk to the Doctor, drive back to Eden Prairie and spend a couple hours waiting at that vet.

All in all, it sucked. We were commuting to and fro and sitting in waiting rooms from 4:30-9. And it's going to be pretty hugely expensive. Sigh.

And now I feel like crap. I've felt like crap all week, but now I really feel like crap.

Jiff's Kittens.

I don't feel so hot today. I'm concepting characters for Halloween, so that's pretty fun. I just wish I didn't feel like fainting at my desk.

Why do I keep staying up so late? Why don't I learn my lesson. I pay for it in the morning, and all day long, but I'll bet tonight at midnight I'll be like "all I need is another hour or two..."

Oh well. Another few days like this and the realization that I need sleep in order to function as a human will probably dawn on me.

Until then, allow me to introduce C-Plus, the (sometimes) lead signer, (sometimes) drummer of the smash-hit supergroup Jiff's Kittens!


yes, i meticulously recreated the tattoo on my chest in Rockband 2. and yes, you can't see it at all.

It's too cold for October 26th...

Today I got up as early as I could to offset my late nights. Lindsay couldn't quite do the same. I played Socom and Resistance 2 while she slept on my lap with Twink.

More ranked, no respawn in Socom. I played 4 v 4 and it was fun. Each person matters a lot in that mode. It doesn't take too many errors to lose entirely.

I played 8 played Co-Op in Resistance 2. I'm warming up to it, Co-Op makes everything better. But with Left 4 Dead coming soon, and Gears of War 2's Horde Mode looking so damn fine, it's hard to get too excited about Resistance 2.

It definitely has potential, though.

I took the dogs for a walk this morning and it is bitterly cold. Man, it sucks. It was snowing a tiny bit. There wasn't any coverage on the ground, but there were flakes in the air. Too early.

We're at the Tea Garden right now. I should be working, but I'm writing this instead. I'm also helping Lindsay try to get Darklands running on her MacBook Pro. It's a old, old PC only computer game, so we're trying to get DOSBox and Darklands to cooperate on her Mac.

I should get to work.

Drawing at Little T's.

Today started a little tough. I went to the gym right away. Maybe it was thanks to my very late night, but it was tough. I'm glad I did, but I had to work a little harder to get everything done.

After that Lindsay and I went on a quest. To a mall! She needed sweaters, I needed to return some pants I bought a couple months ago for my brother's wedding. Also, I heard I could pick up my copy of the slightly-delayed LittleBigPlanet.

I got LBP. Lindsay got some sweaters. They wouldn't take my pants back...

Oh well. Like Meatloaf says, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

We stopped by the downtown Sawatdee for diner on the way home. And then swung by Vs. Socal Standard to make another return and pick up some new stuff. They had Marvel VS Capcom 2 for the Dreamcast sitting on the counter by the register (Not to buy. There's a Dreamcast hooked up to the wall TV). We talked about it for a bit. That's like my favorite game ever.

Chris C came over and we played the first few worlds in LBP. They haven't turned on the servers, since the game doesn't officially launch until Monday, so there was no user-created content yet...

After a while we went down to Little T's for some late night nachos. I drew a picture of Chris C on the table. I thought it was pretty convincing.


sweet prince is right!


compare and contrast.

Cupcakes make a party good.

Thursday night I met up with an old co-worker of mine. He was in town for a night or two, so we got together to see what was up.

We met downtown and hung out in the bar of his hotel for a while. It was good to see him, even though I wasn't even sure I really wanted to in the first place. But I'm just kind of like that, I guess.

He's quite a bit older than I am. Quite a bit. But he had a lot of questions about the freelance lifestyle; taxes and insurance and stuff like that. He and his partner had just made the switch to all freelance, I think.

When I got home I found I had an email invite to the Resistance 2 beta. Man, I'm going Beta crazy. I played it for a bit, and it is... alright. I can see where it would be awesome, especially the 8 person co-op, but something just doesn't feel right.

Yesterday not a whole lot got done. I spent a lot of the day sleeping and cleaning. Lindsay and I went to Lunds and got some fixing's for crazy cupcake action.

We went home and made a lot of cupcakes. See?


gravestones and cute faces!

I played some Socom in while they were cooking. I finally felt comfortable enough with the game to play the way it's meant to be played: no respawn ranked matches. And it's a whole lot of fun. The pacing is wildly different. When you only get one life, you play a little less like a cowboy and a little more conservatively. It adds a whole lot of pressure knowing that if you're the last one alive, your entire team is watching your every move. And probably talking shit about you on the Dead Channel.

Actually, everyone I've played with has been really nice. Socom seems to draw an older, more respectful crowd than Halo of Cal of Duty. For the most part...

We met a friend in Uptown and took him out to Fuju Ya. He had never eaten there, and assumed it was only sushi. I don't know how he's never eaten there, we end up there pretty much weekly, it seems, and it's always with friends. I guess he's just always passed on it. He liked it. Of course.

I barely ate anything, though, because I had only eaten a few hours earlier thanks to waking up way late and not getting into gear very fast.

We headed to an opening at the Tea Garden. Lindsay was in charge of getting the artists together to fill the show. We brought the cupcakes.

It was fun. I mainly just stood off to the side and talked World of Warcraft vs Warhammer, old-ish movies, ideas for art shows of our own and danced a little when someone put on some Daft Punk.

We met up with another friend who followed us home. We hung out until like 2 or 3 am, with an awesome run to Jimmy Johns somewhere around midnight. That sandwich was so good. Then, for some reason, I played Fable 2 until 5 am. That was needlessly silly. I should have went to bed.

"Wario" is "Mario" with the "M" flipped upside-down.

Yesterday I picked up two games; Fable 2 and Wario Land: Shake It.



Wario Land: Shake It is a 2-D sidescroller with amazing visuals. High(ish) res, hand drawn, fully animated... I love 2-D games. Even if the game itself is not exactly my thing, hand-drawn 2-D games are so few and far between these days I go out of my way to support them.

Wario Land is a perfect example. I played it when a friend brought it over and it's pretty fun. It's kind of simple, but it's a really well done old-school sidescroller with a couple gimmicky, Wii-specific features built in (read: needlessly shaking the controller). The only problem is I've got a whole lot to play right now, and I don't really need another game on the pile.

But, I want publishers to know that there's a market for this kind of game. I heard Wario Land is not selling too well, and that's a shame. As one of the (very, very) few Wii games that are actually good, it deserves to be noticed. So I voted with my dollar and bought it. I might not get around to playing more Wario Land right away, but it's a good game that I'm proud to add to my collection.

And check out this amazing bit of advertising... Holy crap. Watch all the way to the end...



Fable 2. I had my doubts about. I've read the previews and interviews, seen the videos, and I wasn't sold. In fact, it looked kind of bad. For for some reason, it really got Lindsay's interest. She loved fantasy themed games, especially Oblivion, and this just struck a chord.

So I checked out the reviews to make sure it wasn't unplayable. It fared well, so I picked it up. And it's good. Really good.

There's a lot of glaring problems. Animation that can be pretty wonky at times, controls that feel a little clunky, especially when you're in small spaces, poor user interface in the menus, somewhat inconsistent graphics (they look spectacular a good chunk of the time, just kind of ugly other times) and the game doesn't always do an awesome job at explaining what to do or how to do it.

I'll admit it. That's a lot of problems. But it totally doesn't matter. Like Oblivion (which I can't help but compare it to) Fable 2 is greater than the sum of it's parts.

The world is huge, detailed, and engrossing. The environments are what really look nice, and they are lovingly crafted and have a lot of character. The whole world was kind of silly at first, but quickly became kind of charming. I easily get lost exploring, shopping, interacting with the locals and doing odd jobs.

And unlike Oblivion, the combat is also really fun and graceful. I'm actually always looking forward to running into some bandits when I'm traveling from place to place.

By the end of the night, I was thinking I might have to put off Fallout 3 for a bit to make sure I really give this game the time it deserves... and that's saying a whole helluva lot.

A couple books and some friends.

This weekend was pretty fun, but there was some drama (not mine).

A couple of our friends have some drama going on, so we wanted to hang with them. It was cool. We spent most of the time working at the Tea Garden and playing games or going out with a bunch of friends. It was a lot of fun, despite the hard times some of them might be having.

I finished reading The Watchmen. I've been meaning to read it since I the Graphic Novel class I took at MCAD. I finally got around to it. It was good, sometimes great. I wasn't ecstatic about the art when I started, but the book is so dense that after I started reading I didn't notice the drawings so much anymore...

I did notice that there wasn't a single character in The Watchmen that I liked. As in, that I liked or related to. Maybe that's kind of the point. It didn't make it any less awesome, but I thought it was kind of strange. I guess. I don't know why.

I started reading a book called Bloods: An Oral History of the Vietnam War by Black Veterans. I picked it up a couple weeks ago when I picked up the Watchmen, but I wanted to finish one before starting the other.

It's really good. And terrifying. I've read books on Vietnam and I've seen movies and documentaries about Vietnam, but I don't think I'll ever be able to comprehend what it was really like. It's fascinating and horrifying and unbelievable.

I'm particularly enjoying the book, though. It has a very personal and conversational tone (being an oral history and all) and the extra layer of talking to the racial tension adds a lot to the stories.

It's great, but I'll be honest, I have had a couple restless nights after reading Bloods before going to sleep. It can be pretty affecting.

Sunday Lindsay and I started to clean and move stuff around the house. We actually put a good dent in the mess, and started to make sense of our front room. Again. Finally.

We seem to always get into the mood to turn our messy life around, but then the week comes back around and everything falls back apart.

The circle of life.

6 years is not very long...

Today was Lindsay and my 6th anniversary. It's probably our last anniversary as a dating couple; by this time next year we should by married.

So it's a special day. Unfortunately, I worked all day and when I got off work, Lindsay had to teach. So we didn't get to see each other until about 10:30 or so. We're going to do something more fun this weekend...

I got her a owl-shaped purse and a werewolf-shaped cupcake. Along with a bunch of other single-ish-serve deserts. I couldn't hep it. Some were cute, some were funny and some just looked tasty.

I downloaded two new games: Art Style: Orbient, and Art Style: Cubello, both for the Wii. Which is the first time I've used my Wii since... I don't remember. I guess I downloaded Super Metroid, so since then.


Art Style: Cubello

Both games are continuing the heritage of the Bit Generation series from the Game Boy Advance, which is known for taking one simple idea and executing it stylishly, for cheap.

And that's exactly what these do. I've only played a few minutes of each, but both were immediately fun. I couldn't play for long, but I'm already looking forward to playing more.

Last I played some Socom. Once again I had limited time, but I was really impressed by the size and scope of all the levels. It was a lot of fun, and I was doing well.

I tried again today, but I couldn't connect to the servers. Since it's a multiplayer-only game, that means I can't play at all. Which made me really mad, for a minute. I just spent 60 bucks for a game that I can only play online, and the second day they're servers act up?

Actually, I don't really know why I expected anything different. It's is Sony, after all.

Haircut?

I met a friend at Kinhdo's for lunch. Chinese isn't my favorite Eastern food, I usually look for Thai or Japanese if given the option, but it had been a long time since I have eaten Chinese so I was down. It was good, but there was too much food.

After that we headed to the Tea Garden, and I worked a lot but didn't seem to make a dent. That's okay. This project is really time-consuming.

I picked up Socom: Confrontation today. I was in the Beta last month and I had fun for the most part. I hope some of the problems have been addressed, but I really was swayed by the swank Playstation branded bluetooth headset included with the game. I need a headset for my PS3 so this was too good to pass up.

I should probably work a little more, but I'm really tired. Maybe I'll read for a while, instead.

Also, the other day I got sick of my hair so I had Lindsay cut it off. Viola!


Haircut? I got them ALL cut!

Nap time with Rakim.

I'm working on a project at the Tea Garden today. All of a sudden exhaust overwhelmed me. So I shut my computer, folded my arms, laid my head down and slept for a few minutes.

Then I got back up, wiped away the drool and got back to work.

I occurred to me after I looked around that maybe most people here probably would have just went home if they were that tired.

But I don't have the time, I'm looking to get paid in full.



Or not.

TV Make-Out Party

Yesterday we worked at the Tea Garden most of the day. I got a project done that I've been working on for months now. I wrapped up and sent off the last thing on my checklist. It doesn't mean that I'm totally done, things always come up, but it's a big milestone.

Then I immediately started a new project I'm super excited about, and did a good chunk of it.

I can't share either right now, but someday I'll have some details, images and product shots or something.

We walked around Uptown after I finished up working. It was so nice out it was ridiculous. There was a homeless guy with dogs sleeping under some stairs. He had three large dogs and they all were all heaped in a big pile and and around the dude. He is awesome, and I was slightly jealous.

Some friends came over to play LittleBigPlanet and Buzz! the quiz game. You can make your own quizzes and together we all made one called "TV Make-Out Party." You can play from home by clicking that link.

Hot stuff.

Everything is Borrowed

I've picked up a few albums lately. A couple new, a couple I've been meaning to grab for a while now... I'll probably write my impressions about them over a few days. Or maybe not.



First up, The Streets Everything is Borrowed.

I've liked The Streets since Original Pirate Material but I've loved The Streets since the second album, A Grand Don't Come For Free, which is easily one of my favorite albums of all time.

The third album, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living, was more instantly catchy and had some excellent stand-alone songs, but as an overall album left me a little flat.

Everything is Borrowed seems to fall in the "a few good songs, but ultimately disappointing" category.

The range this time around seems to have expanded a lot, with more instrumentation and warmth. The whole album is surprisingly calm, reflective and even soothing. But it also borders on eye-rolling-ly mushy and uplifting. It's especially surprising considering the rambunctious, almost belligerent tone from The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living.

The instrumentation is nice, if not slightly less interesting than the distinctly British electo-beats of previous albums. But I think more bothering is tone of the album overall. A lot of The Streets charm has come from it's rough edges, and this album comes off a little more generic.

There's a handful of tracks that stand out, like the dusty piano-themed I Think I Love You More (Than You Like Me), and The Sherry End which combines a simple funk-ish groove with an overly dramatic chorus, but overall it's a more forgettable album that get's a little too generically heartfelt at times.

The Streets albums usually benefit from repeat listening so I'm curious if it will grow on me a little more.

Either way, it's not terrible by any means. It's a pretty good album that, once again, shows enough promise that it just leaves me wanting more.

I should say that, despite my complaints, I've been listening to it a lot.

Take on me... to bed!

All of those concepts I mentioned went over really well. Everyone was excited and responded really well to them. I was even approached and thanked outside of work a couple times. That was nice. But I also had to spend most of the day in meetings. Boring.

I'm so tired right now it hurts... I wish I could go back to bed. Maybe in like 12 hours or so. Maybe.

This if dumb but kind of funny. Maybe it's funny because I'm so tired.

Play is sometimes better than work.

I've had to do a lot of concepting this weekend. It's not very exciting for a lot of reasons...

It's just sketches, notes and very rough stuff. Nothing is post-worthy, even if I were legally allowed to share it.

...and Photoshop just crashed. I didn't loose a ton, but I was working in about 10 different windows, so I'm sure I lost something, and it's going to be a pain to figure out what.

Crap. Photoshop is crashing a lot. I think I just figured out it's because I opened it in Rosetta Mode to use an ancient scanner. I have restarted out of Rosetta Mode and it seems to be doing fine.

The LittleBigPlanet Beta is fun. It's kind of too hard and time consuming to make anything with the creation tools. Every time I try it, I think about how I could be making things in real life and get frustrated.

Maybe that parts not for me, but seeing the things other people have made is amazing. Some people have been so smart and clever when making levels and objects. That's what really makes the game great.

Maybe, once it's out of beta and some of the more frustrating bugs have been ironed out, and I know I'll be able to keep my creations forever (beta levels and objects don't transfer to the final game) it might give me some incentive to put some effort into it...

Labels and Entertainment.

We got around to making labels for our artwork that's hanging at the Uptown Tea Garden. Oops, a little late. We hung the labels on Friday. We sat and worked for a few hours, and by the time we left all the labels had fallen. The walls must be different than the St. Paul Tea Garden.

I finally watched the last episode of Freaks and Geeks. It's a great show and I was genuinely sorry to see it end, and I felt like the characters were so well realized, I was sad that I wouldn't get to see them anymore. I'm also Netflix-ing Undeclared, which doesn't seem to affect me at all in the same way.

It's alright but Freaks and Geeks really hit close to home or something.

The same day I saw Tropic Thunder. It was alright. Lindsay loved it. Another friend hated it.

Busta-bust-down.

I'm LittleBigLucky.

Big ups to 1up for hooking me up with a code for the LittleBigPlanet beta.

I haven't even booted it up yet, thanks to the PSN's ridiculously slow download rates, but I'm super excited to try it out.

Don't beleive me? Maybe you didn't see my Fan Art.