I can't believe this is news. The typefaces in question aren't interesting in the least.
<USGovernment> uh oh sound the alarms time to break out Times New Roman !!!!!!!!!!!!!
That part was sort of gratuitous.
Deep Springs College is poised to give UC Davis a run for its money. But not in a good way.
It would be easy to cut down on the amount of garbage in the world's landfills if manufacturers would just make more products out of eraser. I mean, I probably brush millions of little eraser shavings per year onto various floors—in classrooms, my own room... probably more classrooms—and where do they all go? It's not like they ever had to move a lecture because the lecture hall was overrun by giant piles of eraser shavings.
Just imagine: You're opening something in one of those indestructible plastic clamshell containers. It's probably something like a single battery, or maybe a pen, where the packaging is about 50 times the size of the actual item. Now, once you wrestle the item out, just pick up the container's remnants and erase them away!
My personal favorite of all the crazy Howard Dean remixes over on MTV's page is the one (James Lileks's "Yeagh" (ministry-alarm call mix)) with the Star Trek red alert klaxons. It is the ultimate in ridiculatude. If anyone has a saved version (i.e. non-streaming, embedded, whatever), I would definitely love to have it.
Here's something fun I ran into: Pirated Sites!! It has a lengthy list of Websites which (usually blatantly) rip off of other sites' designs. Check out the Apple and eBay ones — it's amazing what people think they can get away with.
I'm in the midst of ironing out a design contract with this New Canoe University place, so I was quite surprised to see not only a news article about them on Reuters, but a link to them on Fark.com, the Last Stop for Boredom1. I think that's a good sign. Although... It's Fark, I dunno.
Anyway, so weird.
1 © Palidor Kimbel
Whenever I begin to lose my faith in Something Awful, something comes along that restores it.
This one's pretty good, too.
Today's Crazy CSS Effect of the Day Award goes to NSLog();. See if you can find it.
Update: I just checked it in Internet Explorer and it does indeed break it. You should use Firebird instead.
I have an art history lecture at 9:30 in the morning Tuesdays and Thursdays, and, well, it's not very interesting. I mean, it's art history, and the professor is one of the types who tries to be humorous but ends up eating a lot of uncomfortable silences. My attendance rate is currently an even 50%, and that's counting the 20-minute introductory lecture.
So here I am writing out another entire page of Chinese characters. After that I'm hoping to retouch some photos for Wednesday's crit, prepare an invoice for some banner ads, and then hopefully start hacking away at transferring last quarter's share of Chinese vocabulary into a new notebook. Oddly enough, staying up late working actually seems appealing when the alternative is a morning lecture.
I don't really know what my point is, although I'm wondering if I'll ever go to art history again.
After a long and fierce struggle, the pirates have emerged victorious, even over such ferocious opponents as ninjas, Solid Snake, and Batman. Early on, it looked like either ninjas or Batman would be the favorite, but then both the pirates and Snake enjoyed surprising comebacks along the way. The battle ended up pretty close and was about to go into overtime between Snake and the pirates, until Snake unfortunately lost some votes because some guy voted multiple times. Alas.
Personally, I had the most difficulty choosing between Snake and Batman. In all likelihood, if they were ever in such a battle they would probably just team up and completely dominate both the ninjas and the pirates. Then they would probably go brood for a while.
Let me know who you'd like to see pitted against one another next time around.
Final results are here.
The previous entry reminded me that I meant to do a post not unlike my 5 Movies in 2003, but for games.
First of all, I would like to disqualify The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, because if you own any sort of console you've already heard too much about them.
Here we go.
#5 - Wario Ware: Mega Microgame$
Many times I've played an addicting Flash game and thought it would make a killer Gameboy game, although it would be wasteful to use an entire cart just for something like the worm game. Nintendo's solution: Put 200 on one cart. The result is the quintessential GBA game: Quick to pick up and easy to put down, but with enough to offer to ensure it's not put down for too long.
#4 - F-ZERO GX
While the first two F-ZERO games were pretty nifty, F-ZERO GX is the first time it feels like the concept of the series has been truly realized; the controls are tight, the tracks are inventive (and insane), and, for the first time, there's a real sense of speed. Although the game can be cruelly unforgiving, there's a lot of stuff to unlock with enough practice. That's another great thing about this game: It never feels like the difficulty is because some some cheap trick the game is pulling. Everything feels achievable with enough work. Also the multiplayer is ridiculous.
#3 - Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht
In case you missed my many previous Xenosaga thoughts, I'll recap: While its lengthy cutscenes made the game infamous, they were at least exceptionally well-directed and with top-notch voice acting. The story, if a bit pretentious, was genuinely compelling. Other highlights included refreshing tactical elements in battle, a degree of character customization, and some truly amazing and expansive environments. My biggest gripe is that, due to the game's short length, the vast majority of mysteries and questions raised along the way were left unanswered after the ending. Nevertheless, I eagerly await Episode II and hope it can pick up some of the slack.
#2 - Soul Calibur II
I never played Soul Edge or the original Soul Calibur, and I've never been too fond of 3D fighting games in general. It must be saying something, then, when I say that I feel just as comfortable playing SC2 as I do playing any of the Street Fighter or The King of Fighters series. It may have a steeper learning curve than other games, but once I became familiar with the different characters and moves I understood why everyone praises these games as two of the best fighters ever made.
#1 - Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
I wouldn't go as far to say FFTA is better than the original, whose epic storyline and five-star score helped to form more of a complete package. Gameplay-wise, though, FFTA is far and away the superior title. With all the countless new abilities to learn and jobs to master, it's no wonder my game timer is so embarassingly high. The mission-based format and quicksave option makes this an excellent on-the-go game as well. A straight-out 6-on-6 versus mode would have been a great addition to the multiplayer options, but that omission hardly detracts from the rest of the experience. Here's hoping we see the next FFT installment before 2008.
And now, runners up (also includes older games that I didn't get around to playing until 2003):
Metroid Prime - Retro Studios actually defied the laws of spacetime when they made this game. This wasn't supposed to be good, let alone awesome.
Ico - Fantastic puzzles and a unique design aesthetic. Also, pronounced ee-ko.
Ikaruga - Maddeningly difficult, but so beautiful to look at. The last chapters have have to be seen to be believed.
Shadow Hearts - An exceptional RPG overshadowed by the tenth entry to a slightly wider-known series, featuring entertaining dialogue, a groundbreaking score by Mr. Yoshitaka Hirota, and a welcome timing-based battle system. Let's have Shadow Hearts II soon, please.
Overall, a very good year for Nintendo systems. I wouldn't say the PS2 had a bad year as it still enjoyed many other fine titles (Silent Hill 3), but it looks like it will fare much better in 2004.
I think the most terrifying moment of the entire Zelda series is that room in the original's Level 2 where you get the magic boomerang and there are blue goriyas and all sorts of statues shooting hundreds of fireballs (or whatever those things are) at you. It gave me nightmares as a kid, and now, thanks to Nintendo's generous Zelda Collector's Disc, that tradition can continue well into the year 3000.
Shadow Link was pretty intense, too, I guess. He can have an honorable mention.
I would like to announce that this will be the final week of the pirates vs. ninjas vs. Batman vs. Solid Snake battle royale poll. May the best tormented superhero/stealthy government soldier win!
<Morgan> I hate this song.
<me> I like it. It's catchy.
<Morgan> It's still an OutKast song, though.
<me> What, do you just have a problem with black people or something?
<Morgan> Yeah, I'm racist. GO CONFEDERACY!
I am about to invoke MovableType's Search and Replace for the first time. I liken its power to that of the Ultimate Nullifier (except much, much less cosmos-threatening).
Courtesy of Richard Ross.
Here is my trendy top five list of movies I saw last year.
#5 - X2: X-Men United
The first X-Men surprised me with how good it was, especially for a comic book movie. I can't recall if X2's title was supposed to imply X-Men squared, but that would have been accurate. X2 had more action, more intrigue and, most importantly, more mutants doing their thing. Hugh Jackman completely stole the show again, even despite Alan Cumming's amazing Nightcrawler. Hopefully in X3 they'll be able to work in a little more of Cyclops and Professor X.
#4 - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Uhaghh longest movie title ever. I have my suspicions that this was actually just an above-average summer action flick, but then I remember: It's all about Captain Jack Sparrow. Klaus Badelt's score didn't exactly hurt this one, either.
#3 - Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns
This was just a very fun documentary on one of my favorite bands. Probably the most amazing part is that, yes, they really are just as weird behind the scenes.
#2 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
This goes without saying: Return of the King is the perfect ending to an amazing movie trilogy. I was definitely skeptical when I heard they were filming all three of them, let alone back to back, but Peter Jackson and his crew (not to mention the fine, fine ensemble cast) really pulled through. And, I think it's telling of just how well everything came together when the longest of the three films ended up feeling like the shortest. Still, I wish they had decided to give the trilogy the Best Picture Oscar back when Fellowship came out, because this year it really ought to go to...
#1 - The Last Samurai
Wow, this is an incredible movie. I can't think of many movies where I've left the theater feeling as completely blown away as this one left me. (Matchstick Men made a similar, yet decidedly different impact.) The entire film is so carefully and beautifully shot, and the final scenes are some of the most powerful to appear on the screen this year, thanks to fine acting all around. If you haven't seen this one yet, you should try to before it leaves theaters. I can almost guarantee it won't be as impressive on the small screen.
And now, a quick mention of five movies I wish I had seen:
Bubba Ho-tep - Seriously, this was supposed to come out somewhere on Earth, right?
Lost in Translation - I loved Bill Murray in Ghostbusters and The Man Who Knew Too Little, and I can't wait to see his antics in Japan!
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - I cannot tell a lie. My primary motivation for seeing this is to hear Klaus Badelt's soundtrack.
Once upon a Time in Mexico - I like action scenes.
Paycheck - Sure, it has motorcycle vs. window, but does it have motorcycle vs. motorcycle??
And that's all I have to say about that.
Actually, I guess these are from last month.
One belief the Chinese have about the new year (although theirs isn't due for a few more weeks) is that whatever you do on New Year's Day is representative of how the rest of the year will go. So, if [Thursday] really is any indication, in 2004 I will:
Also, what I can expect daily from others:
It's going to be an exciting year.
This is probably the most impressive use of QuickTime VR I've seen.
