Comics! Games! Anthropology!

Anyway You Want It

2008-07-23T14:54:00.004-05:00

"Here’s a YouTube tale with a happy ending: Filipino singer Arnel Pineda (pronounced “pin-eh-da”) posted footage of himself performing Journey covers with his band the Zoo and was discovered half a world away by Journey guitarist Neal Schon, who was trolling the site for new blood. Schon got in touch with Pineda (and convinced the vocalist he wasn’t pulling a prank on him) and voila: Pineda has been named the band’s latest frontman, replacing Steve Augeri, who left last year." --Rollingstone.com

If Hole needs a new singer, look me up! Post topic jacked from JoshNichols.com btw. =)

Miscellany

2008-07-14T18:11:00.007-05:00

It's hard to imagine that in less than twenty four hours I'll once again be jetting off to San Diego to visit the family. Here are updates on recent goings on before the San Diego/Comic-Con stuff fills the blog.

Over the weekend I did Rock Band's endless setlist on hard. I was both guitar and vocals. Endless setlist is where you play all 58 songs in a row. Luckily the game can be paused! I started around 7PM and belted out the finale, Won't Get Fooled Again, at around 1AM. Everything was hurting by then, my fingers from guitar, my torso and throat from singing, and my feet from standing the whole time. It was totally worth it though, and now I have gold icons representing me when I go online, lol.
Speaking of Rock Band, lots of Rock Band 2 news came out today, including the new setlist of 80 songs (not looking forward to endless setlist in this one!). The game sounds amazing and it's only two months away.
I thought I would get more reading done if I did it at Stephens Lake Park. Unfortunately I brought my camera and spent much of the time taking pictures of animals at pond-side. Link to Flickr.
What I attempted to read (and later finished) was textbook on evolutionary psychology. I've been taught the basics before but it didn't take hold. In fact, I was very opposed to the concept because it seemed so deterministic. Now, maybe with a more open mind, I totally get evolutionary psychology and I see it everywhere.
In preparation for Comic-Con I had a few copies of Keeley's comic issue 2 printed. Hae Eun from Planet Tokki was kind enough to let me attempt to sell them at her table. One tidbit: the night scenes were so dark that the toner used caused paper jams at the university printers!

Diving into the New with Dr. Wadley

2008-06-30T12:31:00.004-05:00

MU lost one of its best faculty members last weekend. Dr. Reed Wadley had been fighting cancer for the past few years all the while doing what he could for the department.

Dr. Wadley and I arrived at MU in the same semester. As I ran around trying to make sense of grad school, I saw him adapt to his new office and his new class in Middlebush. Because of our mutual newness he kind of became my anchor: if hey can work this out (being in a more high-pressure position), then so can I.

On September 11th, a month after we started our first semester and hours after the event, I sat in his class and we discussed the breaking news and he reminded us that facts are scarce compared to speculation-disguised-as-fact.

Dr. Wadley's class was lighter on other days. He told us about his research in Borneo and the Iban friends he made there. He told us about the battle for indigenous rights. He told us how he sacrificed a pig to increase his social standing in a traditional society. Some things were a mystery with him: the tip of a large tattoo could be seen on the back of his neck peeking out over the collar of his dress shirt but I never got the nerve to ask its story. In a way I didn't want to know: it spoke of a life of unique experiences that cannot be distilled into an answer.

Here's to six years of knowing Dr. Wadley and his impact on the lives of me and all of the students he advised and taught.

2008-06-25T20:18:00.002-05:00

Any one else find it odd that the iMacs at Ellis Library boot into Windows? I mean why spend the money to get Macs when they'll just mimic a PC?

Mission Accomplished

2008-06-20T17:38:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was my last day of work at the Assessment Resource Center. I've been there since March (a fact which shocked me when one of the higher-ups mentioned it). I can rest easy knowing that I've graded thousands of exams and my part in all of the projects I've been doing is done. Also, I've met a lot of cool people and I have most of their emails and facebook profiles.

Now it's back to being a doctoral student full time. The extra money is wonderful, but I rarely had time to work on my studies after coming home from work. Right now I'm still staring at the same page of a pdf article I've been trying to read for the past week.

And then in a month it's off to San Diego and its Comic-Con! Wooohoooo!

Singing, Strumming and Standing Still Games

2008-06-17T17:00:00.000-05:00

My birthday wish came true when my family conspired to get me Rock Band and an Xbox 360. Kind of... it's almost a month later and I think the statue of limitations on hijinks has expired. Well, what really happened is that I couldn't take it any more after my Illinois trip and ordered Rock Band a few weeks early. Then my family said they were going to order it for me. I quickly calmed down and told them I was already on the case, not really mentioning that I've been playing Rock Band for a week by that point. =)

Rock Band is as incredible as I remember it from Anna and Anthony's house. Unfortunately Kristin and her boyfriend were very unimpressed by it so I'm pretty much playing this party game sololy with me trying out every position. I've taken to vocals and I'm actually doing the best in that area at the moment with a firm grasp of expert mode. Guitar is a close second with me in the last set of hard (curse you Flirtin' With Disaster, Train Kept A-Rollin'' and Green Grass and High Tides!). Drums is giving me trouble and I'm struggling at medium difficulty in the drum tour.

There's a subculture of Rock Band players who play "voxtar" or sing and play guitar or bass simultaneously... like Jewel does in real life. I've taken up voxtar, even buying a real life mic stand to make things a little easier to manage. Voxtar is really fun, and makes doing vocals or guitar by themselves kind of empty-feeling. It's a challenge though as you can guess: I'm working on simultaneous hard vocals and hard guitar at the moment and some songs are very troublesome. It helps if I know the words already like I Think I'm Paranoid or Sabotage.

Rock Band was not all that happened around my birthday. A mysterious package from my family had arrived a little before the date. Since Rock Band was well out of the bag, I kept the box sealed until May 28th so I'd something to open on my birthday. It was a rather large Amazon box and very evenly dense and heavy. I had absolutely no guesses what it could've been. When I opened it I was completely stunned because out slid out Wii Fit!

Wii Fit is another unique Nintendo game. Jokingly I call it The Scale Game, or Standing Still: Hyper Turbo Championship Edition. While there are a lot of active things to do in Wii Fit, many minigames just as yoga or the balance tests simply asks you to hold a pose perfectly still. It's certainly a different gaming experience than the norm of pushing buttons as accurately as possible, and therefore quite a challenge.

With all these new games, a job, and research my plate is so very full. I haven't played Warcraft in almost a month. I wonder if my guild hates me.

Hero in A Half Shell

2008-06-14T19:30:00.004-05:00

One morning started off ahead of schedule (point A on the map). I needed to go to the supermarket (B) to pick up a lunch for work so I woke up early. Maybe too early. I was half an hour early as I left Gerbes with a sandwich from the deli section. I got in my car, started my car, and looked behind me to back out. On the ground was an odd small object. It took me a second but I realized it was a real live turtle! I got out of my car and walked over to it. The parking lot of Gerbes didn't seem like a great place for a turtle so I picked it up by the shell and took it to my car. I put it on the passenger seat next to my sandwich and thought for a minute. Where should I take this turtle? I decided the nearest park was the newly renovated Flat Branch Park (C) which is near downtown. So off I went! I put the turtle down on a rock near the stream that runs through the park. It looked up at me uncertainly as I watched it. I was running out of time so I went back to my car and made it to work (D) with two minutes to spare. So much for starting half and hour early!

The AMA Alliance Sounds Stressed, Maybe They Should Smoke A Cig

2008-06-12T16:36:00.003-05:00

"Shame on 'The Incredible Hulk' for unnecessarily adding smoking to a sequel that would have been just as exciting and believable without it," said Dianne Fenyk, President of the Alliance. "Universal Studios and the other Hollywood studios should be especially embarrassed for using comic book movies, which they market to children and know youth will want to see, to promote tobacco."

The above quote pretty much sums up a press release by the American Medical Association Alliance, which is riding the coattails of a big budget movie into the news. Saying that a character promotes cigar smoking by simply having one is as sensible as saying that the Hulk (the protagonist lead) is promoting running from the law by... running from the law. Maybe the cigar in the movie shows something about the character, like how he is old fashioned and inconsiderate of others' well-being.

In a related note, I have a theory about why crazy people are often in leadership positions of otherwise sane organizations. Maybe I'll share it sometime.

Rainy

2008-06-08T23:12:00.004-05:00

It's about time for me to sleep but I'm on the internet searching. For what? I don't know, but I think I'll go to bed disappointed that I didn't find whatever I was looking for. I have some blog posts to write, about my past birthday and the wonderful things I got. Work too, though a lot of it is still a secret. And the turtle... that's a good story.

Come On, Come Out

2008-06-02T16:02:00.004-05:00

Just for you here are two, possibly three, new pages of Keeley: Comic Hero Extraordinaire! I had page 14 up a few months ago but didn't publicize it because it's only a one page transitory scene. The following two pages up the challenge to my drawing skills a bit with a busy outdoor scene and five new characters. You can conveniently start issue 3 from the top here.

Enjoy!

2008-05-27T01:48:00.002-05:00

I can't sleep right now because earlier today I made a kinda-important scientific discovery and now the race is on to get it published. Does that make me a geek?

Urbana-Champaign and Back Again

2008-05-20T22:21:00.012-05:00

Two weeks ago Anna had her graduation party in Urbana-Champaign. Just three short years ago she started at the University of Illinois's law school and soon she'll be on the gilded road to endless riches. I'm clearly on the wrong career path. Anyway, I had a mini solo roadtrip adventure there and back. I drove straight there for the afternoon party. I've been to too many graduation ceremonies to have hope that the next would be exciting. I actually arrived an hour early. I planned for the faux pas though so instead of ringing the doorbell I whipped out a pre-printed Google map from Anna's house to the UI campus. I had read about the Spurlock Museum is something the budding anthropologist should see. They had a lot of (presumably) replicas of artifacts and modern items from around the world. Some of it I recognize from my own department's museum. Spurlock is what we could have if we had around a hundred times the funds. They had a bright exhibit of the Calypso craze of the 50's. It's funny how fads just explode into all media then fade to nothing but museum pieces.

{The lighting in the museum was wonderful.}

I spent and hour and drove back to Anna and Anthony's house to make my entrance. A lot of their relatives were there, as well as some friends who have scattered across the Midwest in the past few years. Anthony treated us to his homebrews, which you can read about here. I'm not much of the a drinker due to my amazing "Asian flush" ability, but his beers were really good and unique.

They also had Rock Band playing on a giant HDTV. It's fun!! I'm not usually into rhythm games. Sure I've tried out a few: Parappa the Rapper, Um Jammer Lammy, Space Channel 5, Donkey Konga, Taiko: Drum Master... but they've always been too difficult and ultimately frustrating for me. I even tried Guitar Hero in an arcade once, which was a waste of a dollar. For some reason Rock Band clicked with me. I was getting high 90%s on easy guitar after a few tries. Drums is a lot harder for me partly because my foot won't cooperate, and when it does cooperate my left hand forgets what it's doing. I didn't try vocals but it looked fun. Playing Rock Band at the party pretty much sold it for me. I spent the night sleeping in their entertainment room. I snuck in some Guitar Hero III in the late night. =)

{Anthony rocks the drums.}

I had big plans for the next morning. I wanted to visit Dickson Mounds (one of only two archaeological sites in the new world with a triple entendre in its name* (or one really long one**)). I also wanted to swing by Springfield to see some of their Lincoln sites. My plans were literally blown off course when a storm hit with some intense winds. I didn't have a jacket either because I didn't bother to check the weather before I left my house. Dickson Mounds was also a little out of the way so I went straight to Springfield. By the time I got there it wasn't windy but still cold.

I went to the Illinois State Museum first. They had a nice section on regional natural history through time, hampered only by the fact that no dinosaur fossil has ever been found in the state (which they kind of play up for laughs before skipping to the Paleocene). They had some great dioramas of different ecosystems.

{If these prehistoric fish existed today, and could fly, it would totally bust through the wall like this.}

I almost left without seeing their anthropological stuff if it weren't for reading a random brochure. Nothing really pointed the way to the elevator or escalator hiding around a corner but it lead to the other half of the museum. The second floor had a really cool exhibit on households through the centuries, showing how common material goods have changed. The last diorama had a bunch of Springsteen paraphernalia: just before my time. Still, it made me feel old.

The next stop was the Lincoln Library and Museum. I only saw the museum part. It's hard to not repeat myself, but the museum was very impressive and modern. A docent pointed out the highlights for me at the entrance. It turns out she is an MU graduate as well! I went off to see one of the shows first. It had cool effects like a 2(?)-layered polarized screen that gave a sort of 3D effect. For example, the narrator will be on the front screen and the back will have a backdrop so it looks like the figure is walking around on a stage. The seats also had a force feedback mechanism which was pretty much unnecessary.

After the show everyone went to the nearby early-Lincoln exhibit. I went to the presidential-Lincoln exhibit which had far fewer visitors at that time. There were some very cool displays. There were lifesize dioramas throughout dramatizing different episodes of Lincoln's life. There was a large animated timeline of the Civil War showing how the frontline moved with each real second being one war week. The early-Lincoln section was also very well made. It looks like a simple and small log cabin at first but upon entering it turns into a very large exhibit that is invisible from the atrium. I'm glad I went through Lincoln's life in reverse order because his adult life was really sad while his early years were... less sad.

{"Go back, Sam. I'm going to Mordor alone."}

From Springfield I drove to St. Louis. I arrived on Delmar Boulevard just in time for early supper at a Thai restaurant Kristin and I used to go to. I also went to Starclipper because it's a cool store. It was getting dark by then and I drove to Columbia to get some rest before work on Monday (spoiler: I didn't rest enough).

* Lake Titicaca is the other one.
** Ba-bump-ch!

From Zero to Awesome in 3.5 Minutes

2008-05-07T21:37:00.003-05:00

After X-Men: Evolution, I wasn't exactly thrilled about yet another X-Men cartoon, but there were a few glimmers of hope. Stephen Jay "Spike-Guy" Blum was reprising his role as Wolverine (he's Wolverine in videogames), and Kari "Fuu-Girl" Wahlgren was, of all people, Emma Frost. Then they released this trailer:

Hooooooly smokes! Sentinels! Genosha! Spiral! Hulk! Mojo! New X-Men! People I'm not hardcore enough to recognize! It's all quite overwhelming.

68,000 BC

2008-04-25T10:13:00.005-05:00

CNN had a headline that caught my attention: "Humans nearly wiped out 70,000 years ago, study says." Now that's news! The gist of the Associated Press article it uses can be summed up by two quotes:

Paleontologist Meave Leakey, a Genographic adviser, asked, "Who would have thought that as recently as 70,000 years ago, extremes of climate had reduced our population to such small numbers that we were on the very edge of extinction?"

And:

"Dr. Spencer Wells, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and Director of the Genographic Project, said ... "Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA.”"

My suspicio-meter immediately hit the jackpot. That's a pretty tall order for a study on genetics. The mention of climate also sounds like an attempt to make the news by linking this study to global warming. I followed a link to the Genographic Project which was the source of this story. Being the responsible researchers they are (after all being part of National Geographic), they had a free link to the actual scientific paper that is the root of these findings. Of course I read it immediately.

It's a good paper. And this is coming from someone who, let's say, doesn't have that much faith in genetics research. It's highly technical of course, but the introduction and discussion are very clear. And I'm glad to report, the article is very non-sensationalist. It does contradict the popular digest of the source material on several key points:

Humans were Near Extinction
The AP article states that populations might have been as low as 2,000 around 70,000 years ago, citing another scientific paper not referenced. I tracked it down!* It actually does not say that the human population dropped to 2,000. Instead, the human variation we see today can be projected to exist in around 2,000 people 70,000 years ago. Is there a difference? Yes, because there could be untold number of people living 70,000 years ago whose unique genetic markers did not make it into our modern population. Unfortunately one of the flaws of genetic research in anthropology is that these hypothetical extinct lines cannot be detected, measured or accounted for, though they are likely to have existed. The scientific paper clearly states this, though that didn't make it into the Genographic or AP articles.

The Wells quote is very dramatic, mentioning how ancient humans had to band together after a long split to repopulate Africa and then the rest of the world. But, the scientific article portrays this split differently. The split isn't between caves, huts, villages, or other small groupings. The split is between the entire south Africa and east Africa! At this continental scale, there is really no personal drama as the quotes suggest. If one of the two groups had gone extinct who is to say that the other group wouldn't have taken over and populated the world? Did the people living back then even recognize an intracontinental split between populations?

Climate is the Culprit
Even the AP article says "It is possible that this climatological shift contributed to the population splits," (emphasis mine). In fact, there is absolutely nothing linking climate to low population in the scientific paper. The paper does mention droughts as an event that kind of coinicides with the period of low human population (actually according to the paper the droughts ended 20,000 years before the populations merged, making me wonder if they even correlate). In this case, both quotes about climate or the environment as the cause of these populations shifts are just pure speculation and "wishful thinking" if you can call it that.

It is very important to remember that correlation does not equal causation. Just because two things seem to be happening together, doesn't mean they are related. It's 70 degrees this fine morning and I had Chex for breakfast, but it doesn't mean I ate Chex instead of Trail Mix Crunch (which is really good by the way) because it's 70 degrees.

---

Considering material from the scientific papers, the popular quotes above exagerrate a few key points. Human population has not been determined to be around 2,000 at that time, nullifying any talk of near-extinction. Climate has not been determined to be the cause of the misinterpreted population estimate. There was a large split between two African populations, but not between individual bands. The groups eventually fused before humans crossed into Eurasia, but at such a scale of time and space that the lay-term of reunion is meaningless. So there you go, scientific research from paper to popular press and all of it's varying forms. *sigh* if only I can write my dissertation proposal with this much speed and energy.

*Zhivotovsky LA, Rosenberg NA, and Feldman MW. 2003. Features of Evolution and Expansion of Modern Humans, Inferred from Genomewide Microsatellite Markers. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 72:1171–1186

Spring Cleaning Around the Home(page)

2008-04-20T11:53:00.004-05:00

One of this weekend's goals was to clean up around the house. I vacuumed the downstairs area and wiped down the fixtures in my bathroom but then I got distracted and started working on my website. It's tangentially related I guess. I fixed some of the alignments so things look a bit more orderly. I shrank the margins between the sidebar and blog (while widening the sidebar). The long list of archives is now in a menu. I can't believe this blog started in 2006. I uploaded a few flickr photos and the flickr sidebar is now mashed up against the links bar. That was unintentional but I'll see if I like it. The random box of minibanners is now wider to match the rest of the page. Next up is the professional page. I'm adding a sidebar with a table of contents so one can zip to their favorite section of my CV. And after that, the comics page will get a makeover as well. Top of that list is to remove the PayPal buy buttons. That experiment has officially failed.

Declassified Story from Work and Other Notes

2008-04-04T22:25:00.003-05:00

I was in the breakroom and saw that someone had left some Diet Pepsis up for grabs. I desperately needed the caffeine so I took one. It tasted awful! Thinking quick, I grabbed a packet of sugar from the coffee bar and poured its contents into my soda. "Success!" I thought as I tipped it towards my mouth. It erupted into a growing mass of brown foam which went all over the counter. I turned and saw a few coworkers as they just entered the room to see me make a mess.
Netflix finally sent me Justice League: The New Frontier. My brief review: it's incredible. I totally have to buy the DVD for my collection.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii is also incredible. Pretty much an encyclopedia of all things Nintendo disguised as a fighting game. I'm especially pleased by the super old-school Mr. Game & Watch, based on the silhouetted star of various primitive LCD handheld games from the early 80's. My brother and I used to play one in particular a lot, Octopus. Lo and behold, Mr. Game & Watch transforms into the titular creature for his final smash move. Ahhhh the nostalgia. Now if only I had some Brawl friends to play with...

{Rawr.}

I Can Haz Productive Role in Society?

2008-04-02T18:12:00.004-05:00

It's now confirmed that I won't be going to Peru this summer. It looks really good for next summer though; the universities involved seem enthused but we just couldn't get the logistics set in stone in time. In the meantime I evaluated what I was doing day to day. The comics, games, and anthropology routine is nice, but none of them pay the bills, at least not at this time. Being at home most of the time, now mostly alone nowadays, was also starting to get to me. I had played with the idea of getting a job before, but with Peru plans in flux I decided to go for it.

I'll be honest and say I'm a snob about what I want to do. Secretarial work is pretty much out; I don't even want to answer my own phone, as my friends know. I want a job that's out of the ordinary, I suppose. There was an open position for someone to milk cattle at the MU dairy farm. I was around 73% serious about checking that one out, just for the hilarity. I didn't want to take the place of someone who would actually want to do that for the job experience so in the end I didn't apply. I almost applied for a job taking care of lab animals. I totally would've if I didn't find another job....

...which I can't really tell you about because I signed some confidentiality agreements. All I can say is that I grade exams. It's kind of cool being caught up in secret stuff, but it's not very conducive for blogging. So far it's been a great experience, and I've met a bunch of cool people from many backgrounds. Getting paid for doing something that has an effect on society is more rewarding than I had expected. Since I'm late to the employment party I guess you all know the feeling by now, but I'm going to enjoy it's warm glow while it lasts.

By the way I got my job through MU's temp agency, called SOS. Which means that I'm part of the SOS Brigade and will have to learn their dance:

Here's a Stupid Idea: Earth Hour

2008-03-29T20:10:00.002-05:00

I usually don't take a stand in this blog for professional reasons but I'll make an exception for Earth Hour. Who's stupid idea is this?*

Change doesn't happen by suggesting people do something different for an hour.** You fix the world through improving education, and following that by having world-minded people in positions of power: corporations, universities, world government. It'll take decades, but the results will be glorious. Publicity stunts like Earth Hour do absolutely nothing for anybody or anything. It makes the whole concept of environmentalism look like a fad that will go away if you wait long enough.

So what am I doing from 8 to 9PM this fine Saturday night? I'll be working on my computer, posting this blog entry.

*Oh my, I knew something stank. Earth Hour was created by the World Wildlife Fund. I have prepared rant for how idiotic they are, centered around their use of funds for the frivolous bullying of the World Wrestling Federation. I'm sure many pandas were saved by that campaign.

**Indeed, I believe that programs geared toward promoting green living to the individual consumer is a horrible waste of time and money. Convincing one director of a major corporation to "go green" will have more of an effect on the environment than convincing a million ordinary people.

Financial Tip of the Week: Don't Get Caught

2008-03-04T11:06:00.003-06:00

So... it looks like the person at MU responsible for the weekly financial tips newsletter/blog has resigned after being accused of stealing money from the university. I for one am outraged. Outraged that he got caught before he perfected his technique and gave the students tips on how to do it too.

Dog Food Flavored Chocolate Bars

2008-03-01T20:41:00.002-06:00

I thought of it and made me laugh. Who would buy that?!

I Built Myself a Castle on the Beach/ Watching as It Slid into the Sea

2008-02-23T15:30:00.003-06:00

It looks like Perú plans are a no-go this summer. Things just didn't workout between my collaborators and I and our respective universities. We'll try to get all of the pieces in place by next summer, but for now all dissertation plans are delayed a year. Suddenly, I don't feel so bad about playing so much Warcraft.

All of a Sudden, Doves

2008-02-20T16:54:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago I noticed that stuff on our front porch had an inordinately high amount of poo on it. I didn't think much of it because, as they say, poo occurs. One morning I looked out the front door and saw doves. Lots of doves:

They're attracted to the bird feeders that our new neighbors have put up. We don't really mind except that the doves perch over our mailbox and poo on our mail.

I'd Like to Be...

2008-02-19T14:33:00.008-06:00

Endless Ocean (link warning: creepy music) is one of those non-game games that crop up from time to time to remind people that games aren't all about shooting and competition. At it's core, it's a marine biologist simulator. You dive in the fictional Pacific tropical reef of Manoa Lai and look for fish. Upon sighting a fish you have to obtain information from it. Strangely, this is mostly done by rubbing the fish (waving the Wii remote), though you can also feed them. When they like you enough, sparkles appear and you can read a short blurb. Sounds kind of trite, right? But it's all in the presentation:

{Look, a sea star!}

The graphics are wonderful. It's not real-real, but it's more than enough. Besides swimming around and rubbing fish, there are a few other objectives. You can also lead people on dives to find the fish they want to see. Someone working at a magazine will send requests for photos of certain fish. Your financial backer will point you towards certain features like shark spawning zone. But it's all very open ended and these tasks can wait if you just want to dive.

There are of course some amusing things that crop up in this open-ended game. After a point, fish started to like me so much that they would follow me wherever I went. Sounds cute... until you want to take a picture. Then they ruin every photo I try to take by swimming in my face:

{A nice photo of a hammerhead shark, except for the fish-in-my-face.}

The fish-rubbing mechanism is also questionable in places, like when stingrays are involved:

{Isn't this what got the Crocodile Hunter killed?!}

Petting a lionfish is also a bit weird, since they have poisonous spines and all. And of course, one liked me so much it started following me. Safest. Dive. Ever.

To my surprise, the game has a basic plot involving my fellow researcher's family issues and how they're linked to her work. Also, I branch into underwater archaeology as the obligatory underwater ruins are discovered. It's like I'm working... kind of.

Endless Ocean is one of those "edutainment" titles that is actually engaging. It doesn't take itself so seriously, which keeps its flaws in check. How could you not smirk when "Amazing Grace" starts playing upon seeing your first whale shark?

Update: I forgot to mention, the game can read mp3 files off of an SD card and play it instead of its own Christian tunes. Can you say "Octopus's Garden?"

{This game should be rated Mature because it has boobies.}

2008-01-26T16:38:00.000-06:00

Pages 12 and 13 of Keeley:Comic Hero Extraordinaire #3 is up on the interwebs! The plot thickens, and Keeley follows up on something she heard many pages ago!

This Year is Warmer Than the Last (A True C!G!A! Update)

2008-01-06T10:28:00.000-06:00

Today was unseasonably warm when I stepped outside to attend to the chickens. The cats all ran out and had a good time. I did not really partake in the outdoor activities though and went back to my basement den.

In said hideaway I've been getting more things done. I've been coloring the next few pages of Keeley's comic. The settings are far less complex so it shouldn't take me a month like the 9th street adventure I just posted. The pages I'm working on now set up the second half of the issue, which is another exploration of Keeley's social life.

Sometimes I emerge to the surface world, where my Wii is. I bought Super Mario Galaxy for myself for Christmas. I've heard good things about it, but I really did not like Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine. I was very pleasantly surprised by Galaxy. The levels are all very creative and it really pulls me into the world(s). Playing Mario on an upside down world or running along the surface of a sphere was a lot easier than I had imagined though sometimes I take a long jump out of sight and into a black hole.

This time I am not doing any more work that what is required of me at the step I'm on. I was bitten last project when I went ahead of myself and did a big chunk of research before the concept was accepted. The step I'm on is just a mini-proposal, around 2 to three pages. It's the hardest 2 to 3 pages I've ever written, but dammit, when I'm done it will be the best 2 to 3 page essay ever.

Distressingly enough I was alerted by Kristin to the fact that yesterday was already Saturday. For some reason I had lived my life yesterday thinking it was Thursday. I did find it weird that some websites I visited mysteriously had their weekly posts done, but I did not think much of it. Losing two days in my mind means I've made less progress than I had thought. On the bright side, since the weekend snuck up on me, I can take a break.