Heavy Noire

In mid-May, the highly anticipated video game L.A. Noire was released around the world by Team Bondi and Rockstar Games (most famous for their Grand Theft Auto series). The production studio used a special new state-of-the-art motion capture system called MotionScan to record real actors' faces from 32 different angles, which they used to animate realistic facial expressions for the in-game characters, each voiced and portrayed by their respective motion capture actor. The resulting graphics were astonishingly realistic for a video game, and gamers couldn't wait to get their hands on it.

John Noble, recording motion capture for one of
the game's antagonists.

Hearing all the buzz about this new game, however, I was reminded of another game that was released a year prior, called Heavy Rain. I heard about Heavy Rain last summer when I was looking for some video games that had emotional storylines. The Heavy Rain producers were praised for their use of motion capture technology, but mostly for their involving plot, about a man whose son is kidnapped by a serial killer and must go to great lengths to save him before he's drowned.

Your Sunday Best

People used to wear hats all the time, and up until about fifty years ago, it was practically a requirement for a proper woman to wear a hat when she went somewhere nice, especially to church. Since then, hats have sort of fallen out of fashion, and many people don't know what the hat-wearing etiquette is. In an effort to re-popularize hats, my mom and I have taken to wearing hats in our church meetings (actually, we're really just wearing them for the fun of it).

This started about two months ago, right after the Royal Wedding. I'm not British, but the wedding was kind of a big deal in the world, so we sat down to watch a recording of the 5-hour news event (we fast-forwarded through 3 of those hours). I had fun watching all the hats, which one of the news anchors said was a mandatory accessory for all the women going into the chapel for the wedding.

Don't worry - I will not wear a hat like this. Ever.

Sometime the next day, a friend of ours on Facebook asked, rhetorically, why women didn't wear hats to church anymore, since they're so fun. My mom saw that and thought, 'well, why don't we?' That Sunday, she dug out one of the few hats that we owned and donned it while we went to our church meetings. She wanted to get something started, so that eventually it would be normal for the women to be wearing fashionable hats in church (significantly more modest and less ridiculous than the hats we saw at the Royal Wedding, of course).

Research Essay - Pluto

Last fall, for my final in my English class, I was assigned to write a research paper on any topic I chose. I had to have an opinion about what I found out, so I guess it was a double research-persuasive paper, and after going over several possible topics, I finally decided on one that I felt the most passionate about: whether or not Pluto should still be considered a planet.

I'm no scientist, and my opinion on the matter really has no credence, I understand, but I have done a lot of research on the subject, and I was pretty proud of myself for writing this. We turned our papers in on Finals day, and never bothered to pick it up from his office later, so I'm not sure what grade I got, but I passed the class and my professor complimented me more than once on my writing skills. I know a few people were interested in seeing what I wrote, so I decided for today's blog to publish, online, the final copy of my Pluto essay. Citations have been kept intact, and the photos were added just for this blog.

High-Level Art

I've recently come to realize that most of the comics I enjoy are directed towards demographics that I'm not a part of. I'm not quite sure how this happened.

"Wikipedian Protestor" by XKCD

For most of my life, the only comics that I knew existed were the color "Funnies" that were printed with the newspaper on Sundays. Later, I realized that those same comic strips came out every day in the newspaper in a black-and-white format, which meant more humor throughout the week for me. I've never really read the newspaper, but there was a time in my life when I'd come home from school and read the comics page as part of my daily routine (which meant I always missed Saturdays and government holidays).

Super 8

  Friday evening, my mom and I went out to see the new Spielberg/Abrams movie Super 8. I first saw the poster for Super 8 about a year ago (I think) coming out of one of our local theaters. All I really noticed about the poster was that it was strange, and had both J. J. Abrams' and Steven Spielberg's names, and I was hooked.

Anyone under 30-years old (myself included) might not immediately understand the title reference; my mom had to explain to me that Super 8mm cameras were what she used to make home movies with when she was young. That makes the title of the movie seem a bit more cheery or homey than the poster or trailer would suggest, but after seeing the movie, I completely understand why Abrams choose that as his title.

What's up with...?

...the Diving Bell Spider?
The tiny Diving Bell Spider lives underwater. Seriously. They build bubble-shaped webs that are condensed enough to trap oxygen but malleable enough for them to be able to poke in or out and grab water insects to feed off of. I'm not making this up; here's the Wikipedia article, an article from Discovery News, LiveScience, and the New York Times.

And a picture!

Not only that, but their webs work the same way fish gills do - the oxygen from the surrounding water leeches into the web-bubble while the carbon dioxide leeches out into the water. Over time the spiders have to rise to the surface to restock their air supply, but they're able to live completely in the water.

Discovering that this spider exists was the single-most disturbing news I'd had in a good long while. Spiders are bad enough as it is; their long legs are creepy, and while I don't mind looking at them (preferable in a container), I can't help imagining them crawling over me, sucking my blood dry. Imagining that happen unbeknownst to me while I'm peacefully swimming around at the beach, thinking all is right? I know, logically, that this spider is tiny and would be hiding from me, but I can't help thinking nature has some cruel, evil trick in mind with these things.

...James Tate and the Prom ordeal?

High School Legends

On my High School campus, there was a clock tower that functioned as one of the main campus landmarks (even if it didn't exactly function as a clock). The clock tower is maybe two stories tall at the most, with three clock faces, each purporting a different time, and has a hollowed out walkway underneath it, just for the fun of it (I'm assuming). During most students' four years at the school, the clock tower is a symbol of our power as individuals, the pain we as people must suffer through, and a sort of sheer otherworldly terror.

One of the few man-made objects large enough to be
seen from space! Or from a Google Maps satellite, at least.

The clock tower is a symbol of power because it's so freaking huge. Underclassmen tend to hover around it for a sense of guidance and protection. Before school starts, during lunch break, and when school gets out, there is a huge mass of young 14/15-year-old kids swarmed around there, doing nothing in particular. It's very loud.

It's also visible around the main area of the campus, and it gives all those students under its faces a false sense of the correct time. Whoever designed this campus was wise, tricking us into feeling we were in control because we thought we knew what time it was.

Night-time view of the clock tower,courtesy
of my good friend Christy and her phone.

Because the clock tower is, obviously, a clock tower, it's also a symbol of pain. Clocks remind everyone of the amount of sleep they're not getting, especially at a prestigious IB school where half of the overcrowded population is taking college-level courses. Clocks remind students of every moment they're in class, waiting to leave. Clocks remind people of everything we want to do but never seem to have the time for. It's a painful memory. And that clock tower is on our school logo.

But for most students at my high school, the clock tower is a ginormous mountain of superstition. Who decided we needed a strange looking clock tower on our campus? Why do all the faces say different times, and which of them is right (or all they all wrong together)? How would one get into the clock tower to fix it? And why in heck is there a little walkway arch beneath it all?

The little archway has been the primary source of confusion since the school was opened in 19-Whenever. It's used by clubs as a shady place to set up tables to collect fundraiser money, but when not under the protection of a school-sanctioned organization, few people dare to venture there. A prevailing theory is that, when one is in the clock tower opening, glass panes will suddenly slam shut, and the area will fill with water, drowning the poor unfortunate student. Another theory suggests that bars will slide down, locking the student in there for school-related torture all week.

Few students actually believe these myths, but who would tempt fate by walking under the clock tower unnecessarily, or under a ladder (or tempting any other well known superstition)? Such is the case with the school Clock Tower. Ridiculous graduation speeches aside, the one primary thing all students coming out of my high school will remember is the imagery summoned by the thought of the sketchy clock tower. 

(And how much free time we had on our hands. Man, those were the days.)

The Cake is Magic!

There is a certain dessert dish made in my house; one of the ingredients is magic. My mom puts the rest of the necessary ingredients together, then applies some magic and a few micro waves, and a magic cake appears.

If you've never tasted a magic cake, it might not look particularly appealing, but fresh magic cake, warm and gooey and chocolaty, is delicious. The magic essence fills your soul and gives you powers you didn't know you had, like the ability to fly, or control things with your mind. Regular old chocolate cake is fine, but I don't think anyone would disagree that the magic cake reign supreme.

I can not disclose the full secrets of the magi cake, though I can promise you there are no mood-enhancing drugs, beyond the already admitted chocolate. The magic cake, in all honesty, is magic. It cooks up in eight minutes, and can be ready ten minutes after pulling the magic cake dish out of the cupboard. Years ago, when Marie Antoinette supposedly said "let them eat cake," no one could have imagined that in 2011, the cake would be magical.

Of course, trying to survive on just magic cake is probably a bad idea. As powerful as it is, the magic cake doesn't include all the necessary daily nutrients, and it doesn't help with my pretend diet. I forget that all, however, when I bite into a delicious scoop of magic cake, unorthodox, mysterious, wonderful, magic.

E3 - Nintendo's Presentation

Tuesday, June 7th, Nintendo (corp.)  gave their presentation to those attending E3. Last year their presentation was extremely cool, so when I logged onto the Nintendo website and loaded the video of the presentation, I was expecting great things. I was not disappointed.

The Nintendo Presentation screen

The screen they used for the presentation was interestingly asymmetrical, and they started off with a small orchestra (~20 instruments) playing a medley of music from the Legend of Zelda series while clips from the games played behind them. On February 21st, 1986, the first Legend of Zelda game was released in Japan, and this year Nintendo is celebrating the 25th anniversary of one of their best-selling series. I was pleasantly surprised with Nintendo for starting their presentation off with a huge tribute to Zelda, especially since in February it appeared like they weren't doing anything.

Manual Entertainment

I really need to start writing some more blog rough drafts in advance. I only have one semi-ready, and it would require me to download some pictures off my camera (which of course requires me to find my camera, first).

Today's the third day of Summer Semester at Generic Local Community College. I take the bus there and back (about a 20 minute ride), so I get to experience the great desert outdoors, something that never happens during break, or the days I happen to not have class. I don't have a car, nor do I have my driving license yet (we were all very late with it, in my family), so I'm also getting my exercise, walking home from the bus stop - almost two miles away - while my parents and their vehicles are at work.

The first day of the semester, I left my keys at home. I was in such a rush to get out the door, making sure I had all my books and knew where my classes were, that I decided I wouldn't lock the door behind (left Dad to do that for me) and didn't even realize I'd need the keys to unlock the door later. Luckily, my mom works at an elementary school between our house and the bus stop, and she just happened to be heading out for recess duty when I called her cell phone to ask if she had hers.

When I got home and recovered my complexion (my face gets a bit red when I'm exhausted from exercise), I posted on Facebook:

"Not that I'm complaining, but why isn't it 100 degrees outside? Stupid global climate change means I no longer know what to expect from anything! Next, they'll tell us we don't have to pay taxes anymore, and we'll have a ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!"

In the Southern Californian desert, in June, it's kind of expected to be really hot. I know I've mentioned this in a blog before, but it's been unseasonably cool this year. I figured, if a hot summer is no longer guaranteed, who's to say that anything in life is certain anymore, even death and taxes!? Of course, it's still in the 90s here, with a cool breeze, so elsewhere in the world they'd say it's pretty hot, but in a bona fide desert, we're used to 100 to 110 degrees (Fahrenheit) and hot air blowing.

It was hotter on Tuesday, and I remembered my key. Today, I forgot my key again. I got all the way to the house before I realized I needed to turn back and get mom's from the school. This blog is a bit later than I expected because of how tired and annoyed I was when I finally got into the 82 degree house.

Along with the start of Summer Semester, this week is also E3 - Electronic Entertainment Expo! It's an annual trade show of video game related technology and hardware, and a major geek fest! All the major companies give presentations on the work they'll be doing and releasing in the next year, and tech companies show off some of the newest, highest quality technology for people in the industry to see and get ideas from. Only people in the gaming industry are allowed to attend, so normal geeks who want to go have to get engineering degrees and get hired by a developing company.

Last year was the first year I actually watched one of the presentations; namely, Nintendo's. I was surprised by how fun it was - these aren't boring, 'here's some numbers and things to expect in the future' presentations, they're exciting, humorous, of geeks for geeks by geeks. Yesterday was this year's presentation by Nintendo, where they unveiled their new Wii successor system. Unfortunately, I had a ton of homework to do, so I wasn't able to watch it live.

As soon as I finish this blog, however, I'm going to go over the the E3 website and watch the tape. In case anyone's interested, I'll write my feelings on what happens as a blog post for either tomorrow or Saturday. I may also watch Sony's presentation, depending on how I feel.

Mystery Men

I was shocked to discover a few weeks ago that several of my friends have never heard of, much less seen, the 1999 movie Mystery Men. I wouldn't say this movie featured prominently in my childhood, but I did see it a couple times growing up and I really like it. My youngest older brother actually introduced the movie to me when I was twelve or so. As far as I understand, the very popular Smash Mouth song "All Star" was written for the movie Mystery Men - you can see clips from the movie in the song's music video - so it seems clear to me that everyone who's heard the song should see the movie.

From left to right: The Bowler, Invisible Boy, The Sphinx,
The Shoveler, Blue Raja, Mr. Furious, and The Spleen.

Mystery Men is a comic superhero movie about a group of unimpressive 'heroes' in a futuristic town already protected by one Captain Amazing. It's based on an actual comic series written by Bob Burden for Dark Horse Comics in the 90s. In the comic series, a group of pseudo-heroic misfits get together to try to save the city from supervillains. There were a lot of different 'heroes' to join the Mystery Men in the comics, since the group happened to have a very high death-rate. The movie just focuses on a team of seven, and presents them as unexpected heroes when Captain Amazing is kidnapped by Casanova Frankenstein, an insane, evil genius.

Captain Amazing - and
his endorsements

As you might expect, Mystery Men is pretty hilarious. The main trio of heroes are The Shoveler, Mr. Furious, and The Blue Raja (who feigns a British Accent and flings forks). They're joined by Invisible Boy (who can only turn invisible when no one is looking at him), The Spleen, The Bowler, and The Sphinx (who's not just mysterious - he's TERRIBLY mysterious). Not only are the actual 'heroes' and their powers pretty hilarious, but some of the lines that poke fun at the common superhero tropes are great. At one point, the team gets into an argument over whether Captain Amazing is really billionaire Lance Hunt, with one half of the team arguing that he can't be, because Lance Hunt wears glasses and Captain Amazing doesn't.

The movie didn't hit the box office nearly as hard as producers were expecting, so it's considered a flop by most people, but I think the movie's great. It's got just a slight surreal edge to it, with a light enough comedic touch to be pure, escapist fun.

I could spend a long time quoting the better lines ("We are number one. All others are number two or lower"), but that would ruin part of the first-time viewing experience. Netflix doesn't have the movie on instant, but you can rent the DVD online or from a nearby still-open Blockbuster or Video Depot. (In case you want to watch this movie with kids - it's relatively clean, though they do curse a few times, and I always skip the skunk scene). I highly recommend Mystery Men, especially for anyone craving a good 90s comedy.

My Valedictorian Speech

Last year, I tested out of High School early, because my classes were boring me and I wanted to get on with  my life. I felt a bit like a traitor, leaving all the friends I loved because of my own desire to get out of school, but watching them graduate this week, I felt such a nervous excitement for them. I decided that, in their honor, I would write the speech I would have given had I stayed in school and become Valedictorian. Not that I ever would - I'm very happy with my B+ average, thank you very much, and don't see any need in overachieving. But the idea for this speech came to me, so I decided to write it anyways.

Just to clarify a few things

Once again, the blog I intended on posting today looks like it will take a bit more work, and so I'll publish it tomorrow. It's kind of a reply to the graduation ceremonies I got to attend last night. A few of my senior friends left on their grad-night trip (which around here means Disneyland from midnight to sun-up), so I intended on staying up all night and writing while they were there. I petered out around 2:00 AM and woke up around noon.

I do, however, have something I wanted to ask my reader; are there any blogs I should be following? I started this blog in an attempt to improve my platform and start writing more often, but I'd feel a bit hypocritical if I didn't start reading other peoples' blogs as well. Friends of mine who keep blogs can send me the links online or off so I can start following your activity. Also, if there are any blogs you know of that you think I might like, feel free to comment below with a link.

It would be rude of me to expect people to read my blog if I didn't read others' blogs myself. In any case, expect a great new blog post tomorrow! I'm researching Roman history, reading certain articles on Wikipedia, and watching the 'Atomic Shakespeare' episode of Moonlighting to prepare.

Portal 2: "For Science. You Monster."

In case anyone has ever wondered before, and I hadn't explained enough, the reason I like video games is because I like stories. Novels, movies, comics, TV shows, and video games are just different mediums of story-telling, and each medium has something different to offer to the timeless task. When I explain that Portal, and especially the sequel Portal 2, are amazing games, remember that I say this to anyone who has ever enjoyed a good story before, and not just people who are into games.

'Warning, this test
contains weighted cubes'

Portal (the original) was released as a filler game in a compilation set by Valve Corporation, a video game design company. It was primarily designed to test the portal mechanics, which gives the player the ability to create warp-holes to solve puzzles. What made the game an unexpected success, however, was the creative use of dark humor and the subtle plot thread that tied the basic puzzle-solving game together. An average puzzle-solver might interest people for a while, but the tense atmosphere that Portal takes on makes the whole game important because the player cares about what's going on.

In Portal, you play as Chell, the only human character in the entire game. You wake up in a white, sterile room, with no idea of what's going on, and are told by a female, robotic voice known as GLaDOS that you will be completing a few puzzles for a scientific test. GLaDOS's voice-over throughout the puzzles provides a lot of the humor, and establishes the plot of the game; she reveals more about what's going on as more puzzles are solved, and the player slowly learns that GLaDOS doesn't seem to care about your safety. She lies to you, promises you things and doesn't deliver, and is a bit passive-aggressively unkind. She's also the only character in the game besides yourself.