Cowboy up.

I've been working on a piece for the Super Awesome Art Challenge, a fun group blog Adam started (and named). I also helped him tweak a bit of the html to make the blog a little nicer.

Basically, every month there's a topic, and we all do a piece based on said topic.

I should be posting the finished piece soon, but I did post a sneak peek already.

Oh wait, I took a break from writing this blog and "finished" it. I'm not totally happy with it, but whatever. With time I'll forget about all of my nit-picks.

My car broke down today. Almost. Close enough I turned around on the highway and brought it into the shop. I had to have Lindsay drive me to, and pick me up from, work. That's crappy.

But after work we went to Best Buy and bought a new Nintendo DS. That brings the total to 3. But I broke one, and have been using Lindsay's. We also picked up My Spanish Coach, so Lindsay can practice her Spanish, and Dragon Quest IV, because she wanted a role playing game, and I already have Chrono Trigger.

I came home and Ryan was setting up his Xbox 360. Finally. He resisted for too long. He's finally in the shadowy cult of the 360. We played 2 campaign missions in Left 4 Dead before I decided to get some work done.

Christmas Trigger.

For Christmas I got Chrono Trigger on the DS. It's a remake of a Super Nintendo game from around 1995, I think. I didn't have a SNES and I don't really play JRPGs very much, so I've never played it before. But I've been looking for a new, hearty game to play on my DS, and this is perfect.



I started it up, just to see, yesterday. And I've had a hard time putting it down. It's super fun. It's must easily be the most fun JRPG I've ever played (although I'll admit, I haven't played many).

It's totally awesome so far, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a quick-paced, fun game for the DS.

Home again, home again...

I'm back in Minneapolis. It feels damn good.

On Thursday, Christmas day, I guess, we saw Bolt.



It was awesome, actually. Much like Kung Fu Panda, the trailer didn't do much for me, but the movie pretty much blew me away. It's good fun, and I actually laughed out loud a few times. For me, that's pretty rare.

That night my brother took me to the bus stop. My bus was scheduled to leave at 1 AM. So we arrived at 12:30 and waited. And waited. The thing that sucks about a bus is that there is no people or screens or anything to tell you if your bus is late, or has been canceled outright. And the weather was crappy, so after about an hour we started to get worried.

But it came. Eventually. I feel bad that my bro had to wait, since he had to work the next day, but at least I did end up getting on a bus. And it was a double decker bus, which was cool. The trip back was a little painful but quick.

I got back into Minneapolis at about 7:15 AM or so. Lindsay picked me up, and we did the Christmas morning thing when we got home. She got me a bunch of sweet loot, so it was nice. This Christmas back home there was a lot of crap and drama going down, so gifts were kind of forgotten about. I didn't mind, but it was fun to come home the next day and have a tree full of gifts to open.

I finally went to bed at around 8:30 and got up a few hours later at about 1.

We went out to Yum!, a restaurant that's quickly becoming one of our favorites. We spent most of the day shopping for pets. Food, litter, IV liquids...

When we finally got home I logged onto Xbox LIVE and Josh was waiting to play some Left 4 Dead. I had received the replacement pieces for my Astro Gaming A40 Headphones that I had been waiting for, so I tested out the surround sound, voice enabled headphones and they are pretty darn nice indeed.

After we finished a couple missions, Lindsay and I watched Ratatouille. I didn't end up getting to bed until around 2 am, and by then I was so, so tired. But it felt real good to be sharing a bed with Lindsay, Twink, Atari and Olivia again.

Home for the Holidays.

I barely remember what happened last weekend. We cleaned and we got ready for the holidays and I dealt with the weather. Probably played for Left 4 Dead with Josh.

I took the bus home for the holidays. It's a fairly short trip, about 5 hours, but I was doing it alone and I'm sick of the drive from Minneapolis to Madison. I've done it so many times...

This year is weird. Over all, I"d say it's been a bad year. For a lot of reasons, and for a lot of people. I really hope that 2009 is better than 2008 was.

Anyway. The bus. Besides waiting in the sub-zero temperatures for nearly an hour to get on, it went smoothly. I was hoping to read or draw or something, but it was too crowded. So I put on my iPod and started out the window.

The time spent in Madison has been good. It's happy, then sad, then slow and boring, then happy again. We had our family Christmas on the 23rd, thanks to scheduling problems, and today we had a Christmas eve at my cousins house.

Tomorrow we're going to just have a slow day an see a movie or something. I leave at 1am on a bus back to Minneapolis.

It's my birthday soon. The day after I get back. I kind of want my party to just be a long nap.

That is the definition of a bad Kitty.

Yesterday I was minding my own business, playing Dorito's Presents : Dash of Destruction when Chris C calls me up. He, Sara and this dude Ryan were playing Left 4 Dead, and were willing to kick out their 4th if I wanted in. I accepted. It was the first time I have played the versus multiplayer, and it was fun. Being a zombie isn't as hard as it's been made out to be, and I did my fair share of maiming.

We did not win overall though. So sad.

Today I felt totally sick. I got a sore throat and all-around gross feeling sometime yesterday, and this morning it was worse. I went to work, hoping to go to a meeting I needed to go to, and then take off. But the meeting was postponed until nearly 4, so I was there all day. Which is fine.

I got a text at work from my friend Josh. He was about to buy an Xbox, and needed a little help making sure he was getting what he needed. We went back and forth, and finally the deed was done. He picked up Left 4 Dead, naturally, being a huge zombie fan.

After work I came home and crashed in bed for a few minutes. I got up and cleaned for a bit before Lindsay and I wet to Yum!, a restaurant that I've been to once but wasn't hungry so I didn't try anything, although it looked good. But today it was closed. Oops.

So instead we went to Tum Rup Thai. Which was awesome, anyway.

When we got home I jumped on Xbox LIVE and played L4D with Josh. We were chatting and playing for about an hour when all of a sudden, it seemed like he stopped listening. I looked down and realized Olivia had chewed my mic cable right in half. That little poopstick.

It was 10:30, and I was like "total bummer." I called Josh and told him and we decided to keep playing. But no voice chat? What's the point?

Then realized that Target might be open until 11:00 thanks to the holidays. I was right, so Lindsay and I ran out to get a new headset. They only had wireless, so I didn't get to use it much, since it had to charge. Curses!

But by then Chris C was on and we all played together. All in all, we beat the first 2 scenarios. It was good times. Now I have a headache. Still, I guess.

The new wireless mic seems to work pretty nicely. I didn't use it much, though, for fear of screwing up the battery life over the long haul...

Powered Up for a long time.

The other day I bought Powered Up Forever on XBLA. It's basically a mix between Geometry Wars (control-wise), Schizoid (aesthetically), flOw (thematically).

Even though it's similar to all of those, it does differentiate itself. I like that it's less intense than Geometry Wars, doesn't demand two players like Schizoid, and isn't as brief and abstract as flOw.

Actually, maybe the game it shares most in common with is Spore. At least, the first level of Spore; the cellular stage.

You start out as a tiny ship in an almost petri-dish like atmosphere. As you destroy certain enemies, you enrage the Guardians. Destroy enough, and the Guardians come out to fight you. They are basically just like you; fancier weapons, more complex AI, much more maneuverability than the other obstacles and enemies. Defeat a Gaudian and you gain his power (new weapons, shield, etc) and you morph into a new, larger form.

The camera pulls back and what used to be large enemies become tiny and insignificant, and what was land-mass turns out to be a giant enemies. It's kind of a chill game with peaks of intensity, and I just liked the way it's "survival of the fittest" gameplay all came together.

From what I've seen, I don't think it's getting great reviews, but this is a case where the demo (which I almost just deleted without even trying) did a good job of winning me over.

you should be able to sit anywhere.

Today there was a Christmas Party at work. It was kind of lame, because there was assigned seating... But that's ok. I had to dip out for a lot of it to help my former boss put together some stuff for a portfolio.

Wednesday night I had to go over to her house to help prepare but things weren't quite in order, so I had to finish it up over my lunch hour (aka the Christmas Party) today. I really like to work with her, and she likes me enough to keep hiring me, so maybe if I help her get an awesome new job, karma will come back around my way...

After the party they said everyone could go home. Big talk. I had a meeting later in the afternoon that couldn't be avoided, so I stayed along with all of my art dept co-workers. But once that was over, I did take off a little early. My throat hurts and I was mighty tired.

I got home and just crashed. Lindsay was out Christmas shopping, but I fell to the bed and didn't get up for an hour or two. I realized how sick I felt once I was down. My head hurt, my throat was painful and dry, and my body ached. But a little nap went a long way.

I got up to deliver some prints to Chris S, over in Uptown. We all went out to Fuji Ya and got some sushi. It was pretty awesome, and it was fun to go out with those guys. I rarely see them, which is odd. But I think their lack of a car, our over-abundance of pets (which makes it hard to go hang at anyone else's place for too long) and the crazy freelance schedule of all of us make it tough.

When we got back I played some games, just jumping around from game to game a lot. I have to go to bed, a wave of exhaustion just swept over me, so maybe I'll follow up with a post on some game impressions tomorrow. I need to get some sleep if I'm going to function tomorrow...

A whole 2 inches.

Last night I left work about 15 minutes early to try to beat the traffic a little bit. Sure, it's not much, but it was lightly snowing and I knew that equals a lot of stupid people on the road.

I got to the on-ramp, and it was backed up bumper to bumper. Which lasted the entire way home. I pulled up to my house at around 6:30. So... 1 hour and 45 minutes later. Man, I was pissed. It wasn't even that bad. We got a couple inches. Maybe three.

So that sucked. But I did level up in World of Warcraft. 32. Whoo, 80 or bust! Just kidding, I fully acknowledge I will probably never break 50.

So I did the grind at work, I did the grind on the way home and then I did the grind in Azeroth. It was a grind-heavy day.

Today might be the same. I have promised to help my former boss build her portfolio, so I have to go all the way home to grab my computer then go all the way to her place. Which is fine, but I kind of want to sleep a little more.

No More Heroes Pro-Tip.

I've been steadily working my way though No More Heroes. I'm 1/2 way up the leaderboard of Ranked Assassins, and since the point of the game is to become the #1 Ranked Assassin, I figure I'm about 1/2 way through the game. Go figure.

Here's my No More Heroes Pro-Tip: in each play session, only play up to and through one Boss character. Once you beat a boss, turn off the game for the night.

The game works like this: you do a job (like picking up coconuts or mowing lawns) which gives you money and the opportunity for a small-scale assassination. Do the small-scale assassination and you get enough money to pay for the entry to your next Ranking Assassination.

The Ranking Assassination parts are where the game gets really good. You go to the chosen location, battle through an onslaught of thugs and goons (who are all the same character model, albeit with different weapons in some cases) until you get the the boss, who is a wacky character with interesting attack patterns which involve a little bit of strategy. You best the boss, and you're done.

At that point, if I were to start the cycle again, it would get grating quick. The game itself, outside of the insane boss battles and bizarre story, is pretty darn... pedestrian.

All the pre-boss fluff is like paying a cover charge and waiting through a crappy opening band to see the awesome headliner. It's kind of a grind.

So I endure the grind and finish with a bang, then I'm happy. The boss battles are what makes me feel like I'm not wasting my time. It doesn't take long to complete the cycle, and at this pace, I'm really enjoying the game a ton.

But if, for some reason, I had to sit and play huge chunks at a time, I think I'd find a lot less to like.

Rock this, rock that.

Last night Lindsay and I made a lot more progress with our cleaning. It was awesome. We put on the jams and went nuts scrubbing, trashing and organizing.

As we were winding down, the living room area was looking mighty fine. All this open space! I noticed that I could finally move my Rock Band drum set out of the corner. And that made me realize I haven't played Rock Band in months. I've barely even began to unlock all the songs from the Rock Band 2 set list.

So I set up the drums and mic so we could rock out. But then I decided to dip into the Music Store to see what DLC I've been neglecting over the past few months. I bought a 2500 point chuck of space-bucks and spent it all (and then some) on new music, mainly No Doubt, Nirvana and the Offspring.

And it was totally, 100% awesome. Rock Band (1 or 2) is still the best game ever. I jumped back in with the drums on Hard, fully expecting to be lost, but I actually found my groove in the first 30 seconds and beat everything we tried with flying colors, and I sang a bunch of songs with unusual passion and ferocity.

It was a party. A tiny, two-person party...

it's messy to the core.

Friday was the opening for our Tea Garden show. Lack of effort on our part resulted in a small turnout. "Lack of effort" basically means send out one email weeks ahead of time, never follow up and never mention to anyone in person.

But I did sell some stuff. So that's good.

Adam followed us home from the opening and we watched stupid videos online and played Street Fighter. He stayed way late, kind of.

On Saturday Lindsay and I started to get in the cleaning mood. We started to clean our house in a slow, methodical way.

Before we touch the superficial, we are gutting closets, clearing dressers, packing up junk and getting things ready for change.

We took a break and went to Maggiano's with Chris C. He came over for a bit, but then we kicked him out so we could keep cleaning all night. It feels good.

Today we had to sit at the Tea Garden for a couple hours to exchange prints with people who bought them a couple days earlier. Chris C, Ryan, and Vån joined us. We went out to Salut, a new-ish place on Grand. It was good.

Now we're home and about to clean a little more. Go go go!

mirrors and animals.

Since I'm on a roll with posting videos today, why not one more?

we're the scatman!

My friend Adam and I played some Street Fighter yesterday. Here's the video of the match. And a duet we sang...



I don't know how he threw that blue business...

One More Hero.

I got two games in the mail yesterday: No More Heroes and Trauma Center: New Blood, both for the Wii. It's not often that I get a game for the Wii, period, so getting two in one day is rare indeed.

I actually got them because there was a holiday deal on Amazon that I just couldn't refuse. I've always wanted to at least try both, and since the Wii doesn't do demos, I just had to wait until they were dirt cheap.

To be honest, I kind of expected to play both once or twice, then never touch them again. And I really only got Trauma Center to qualify for free shipping...

I was able to give No More Heroes a fair shot yesterday. And I like it. So far, I like it quite a bit. I've always been a sucker for games with style and strong artistic design, and No More Heroes has got it by the truckload. It's obviously a singular vision that just oozes imaginative ideas.



The game is filled with creativity and humor and the core game mechanics, mainly running around and fighting, are really fun. It's very simple, but so over the top and frenetic that it's always entertaining.

I can already see how I might/will get annoyed by all of the problems the reviews constantly pointed out: the sparse and pointless overworld, the repetition, the (mandatory) side jobs...

Plus it's hard to look past the fact that, despite it's art direction and inspired visual style, it's a Wii game. Which means it doesn't look as good as it should. I can't help but feel that if it was on the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360, it would look freaking amazing. But as it is, I feel like the description is always "it looks good, for a Wii game." And that's a shame.

But despite all that, I want to play more, and I might actually play it to completion. No promises.

I did not even crack open Trauma Center. But I figure Lindsay loves to perform (small scale) surgery on me and the pets, maybe she'll love a surgery simulator.

you should play auditorium.

First of all, this is phenomenal. Audtorium.

Edit: Ok. Well. Lindsay didn't like it. But she also is stressed out and doesn't have the patience for meditative musical puzzles...

It's been posted up and down the internet in the past week, but I finally gave it a chance today. It's very, very cool.

I finished my City Page illustration in a timely fashion last night. It's pretty good, I think. They liked it, but I always need some hindsight in order to actually know if I like anything I do. So ask me again in a few days...

I'll post in on Wednesday, once it hits the newsstands. I'm sure they don't care, but I don't want to jump the gun or anything.

After that I went to Micheal's with Lindsay. I hate that place. I'm not a middle aged woman in sweatpants, so it's just not for me. Obviously, that must be a pretty appropriate description of Lindsay...

Then I played a bunch of Fallout 3. That's about it.

Today I couldn't get up. I just couldn't. I didn't feel terrible, but I felt bad enough and tired enough I just had to call in to work.

So I slept in and went to the gym and came to the Tea Garden and that's about it. It's really crappy out, it's snowing just enough to make the roads slick and gross. People go too slow. Or too fast. Anything but the right speed.

I should have but I didn't...

Yesterday I should have spent all day working on my City Pages Illustration. I should have...

Instead I woke up kind of late and went to the gym. I worked a tiny bit just prepping some stuff for the illustration, and then I met Lindsay, Chris C and Emily at the Tea Garden. I bought some pens and paper at Wet Paint, but still didn't start drawing. We all went to Green Mill to get some food.

The service was slow and we were there for a long time. When we finally left it was getting dark and starting to snow. By the time we got home the roads were starting to get really slick.

So now I was home, so it was time to bust a move on the illustration, right? Well, maybe a little Fallout 3 first. And anyone who knows Fallout 3 knows there's no such thing as a "little" Fallout 3.

But the Capital Wasteland is an intense, emotionally draining place. So when I finally turned off the game it was time for a little nap.

At around 11:00 PM or so, I was finally ready to get to work. And I did, until about 4 AM. And I got a lot done. Considering.

Today was a little better, I think. Kind of.

We got up late, since we were up late. We had an appointment to meet a wedding photographer downtown. So we jumped out of bed and drove the 5 minutes it takes to get downtown, and we were just on time.

The meeting went well, and we put down a deposit.

Then we went to Target and Lindsay bought a swimsuit or two. We're heading to Hawaii in a few weeks, so I guess that's a good thing to have. We hit up a couple other stores downtown before heading to the No Coast Craft-o-rama, where me met Chris C.

There was some cool stuff, but it was pretty much the same old same old.

Finally we went to the Tea Garden to work on some stuff. And I got a lot done there, too. The hours flew by, and before I knew it we had been there for 4 or 5 hours.

We went to Sakura for some Sushi. The temperature must have dropped a whole lot, because it was mother-effin' freezing. We ran to the restaurant, and the whole time we were there I never really got warm.

We came home and I got straight to work on the illustration. The deadline is Monday morning, and I think I'm on track to be done plenty early.

But tomorrow I have to get busy right away...

Give the gift of pre-paid money.

Last night I went to the gym after work, and went straight home and did some sketches for an upcoming City Pages Illustration. That took a while, thanks to me being unorganized, and Olivia, the new kitten, trying to swat my pencil every time I put lead to paper.

When I finished up the final sketch and set it off for approval, it was already 10 or 10:30.

I played a game of Catan, which was fun. It's growing on me quickly.

I must have been in a strategy mood (plus, no one was on Live to play Left 4 Dead with me...), because I followed up the strategic board game with an epic battle in Valkyria Chronicles.

It's been a while since I've had the chance to sit down with that game (the battles take a long time and I hate to save and quit half way though because I'll lose track of my strategy) and I was kind of loosing interest. The story, which I pretty much barely tolerate, was sticking out in my mind more than the gameplay.

But sure enough, 5 minutes into the battle, and it all game flooding back. That game is awesome.

Today I went to work and I finalized some designs for next years Christmas line. We've been concepting for a week or two now, so it's fun to finally get around to getting some final art down.

I came home and Lindsay and I ran back out to Target. I got a old man hat and another pair of the fingerless gloves I've been loving since I got my first pair a month or so ago.

My gift cards are available, so I picked one up for me, and a few for my family.


slick, check out that swinging arm.

Check out my blog for a peek at the original artwork, as well.

Now we're home and I'll probably work on the City Pages project for a while. But I know some friends were wondering about some Left 4 Dead tonight... Hmmm.

it started with a "P" I think.

I met Becky and Lindsay for dinner after work. I can't remember the name of the place we went, but it was Malaysian food near MCAD, and I think it just recently opened. So that might narrow it down.

It was not very good. I think the place might be good overall, but I didn't like what I got, and Becky didn't really like hers either. I think Lindsay liked hers, but I tired it and didn't like it. But I don't like shrimp all that much.

But it wasn't terrible, and I got something I've never heard of, so maybe if I got something more familiar that I know I might like, it would be good. The place seemed liked it should be good...

I got home and played some Left 4 Dead with Chris C. We are playing the 3rd scenario, Dead Air. Adam and Sara came in at about the 1/2 way point and we just barely all survived. Which is hard. Usually someone gets left behind. That game is a total blast.

I gave Catan a shot after that. Since I'm not invested in it, 5 dollars deep, I actually sat around and learned all the rules. And it's kind of complicated. But it seems pretty good. Just as I expected. Too bad I've been too lazy to give it a real chance until now.

Catan involves a lot of interaction with the other players. You trade, deal and steal at a very fundamental level of the game. It's basically the whole game, and it's really cool and well done. Playing with the AI is kind of a gimme, on the easy settings, but you can play it online. However, I feel like the potential for back-stabbery and dirty alliances is so high that I wouldn't want to play with random people. Four friends would be fun and would make the back-stabbing hilarious. But with random, anonymous strangers? Probably more annoying than anything.

It looks like I'll be doing some work for the City Pages this month. I've committed to at least one project, right away, and there's the chance for a couple more before the month's end. That should be fun, they are good people to work with, and the results are always pretty creative.

it's a girl.

The new kitten is beginning to get used to her new home. Lindsay took her to the vet yesterday and found out she in, indeed, a girl. She is also a medium haired cat (I had suspected she'd become a long-haired cat) and that she has ear mites. But no cancer.

So I guess Oliva is her official name. Or maybe Olive for short.

So that's good. The first night she was home, Twink quickly became her #1 fan. He wanted to be right next to her, even though he was terribly nervous about it. She didn't seem to mind him much, as long as he wasn't all up in her grill.

Atari wanted to be her friend, but she had a little more reluctance to go near him. Also, Lindsay was reluctant because every time he's near a kitten, he drools and smacks his lips uncontrollably. She's afraid he'll try to eat it, but I know he won't.

The cats all feel differently. Andy couldn't care less, I think he's got bigger things on his mind. Miles is fine to be near the kitten, so long as it doesn't touch her. And Jeff is a big, fat, whiny baby who gets spooked if Oliva is even within earshot.

So it's basically just Jeff we have to be worried about. Less for the kitten's sake, and more for his.

The first night we kept Oliva in the bedroom with us, and only Twink was allowed in. Poor Atari had to camp out somewhere else.

Last night, I convinced Lindsay Atari didn't have any hidden bloodlust, and so he, Twink and Oliva all shared the bed with us. And it was fine. As far as I know, Atari didn't eat her.

She is still very cuddly and happy, even with all the stress of a new house and a bunch of new animals she has to live in close-quarters with...

Last night Lindsay and I played some WoW. We're both level 31, now, and we just arrived in Stranglethorn Vale, which I heard is a boring zone (quest-wise). But that's fine. All the quests seem to be doled out in abundance, and I hear you can get a quick 4 or 5 levels (maybe more, now that the accelerated leveling curve is in place) just because the quests are so plentiful.

It's nice to have a full quest log and always be near something to kill or do that will actually matter, quest-wise. It feels like we've have to go far and wide to get and do quests lately. So pile them up, I say!

I also played some Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix last night (SSF2HDRM for short). It's so good. I mean, obviously Street Fighter 2 is great, but the added visuals and scale, the rebalanced characters and the super smooth play makes it feel really, really fresh.

I beat the game with Ken, and then went online to play for a couple rounds. I lost terribly. Only twice, but that's out of two. People are good at Street Fighter. I guess they've had like 15 years to practice. I lost to the same person twice, and no one else in the room could beat him either, so I guess that's not so bad the last round was so close it was heartbreaking. Esspecially because your win / loss ratio is permanent.

fight in street revisited.

Remember when I said I I wasn't going to buy Super Street Fighter 2 HD?

I lied. Like a big fat liar.

I was visiting family in Wisconsin when it came out on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, but in the first 10 minutes of returning home I turned on my PS3 and snatched that shit up.

I couldn't help it. Maybe back then I thought I was strong, but in the end, I loves me some Street Fighter...

And it's great. It's exactly what I thought it would be. And that's perfect.

I also went ahead and picked up Settlers of Catan on XBLA, just because it was on sale and a friend of mine plays it all the time. As far as I can tell, it's the only thing he uses the Xbox 360 for... so I figured it was good enough to give a try on the cheap.

I tried the demo a long time ago, but it seemed complicated so I just quit. It's hard to give something your not invested in that much patience. But it's based on a German board game and I really like Carcassonne and Ticket to Ride, so why not Catan?