I know I’ve written about this game and its ‘real’ life counterpart, but when I saw the news that it just turned 10 years old, I just had to comment some more.

Considering its on sale for a buck, there really is no excuse not to buy it.

And as par for the course - I had to follow up on the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) and see what they’ve been up to…

We’re planning a trip to NYC in December.

It’s freakin’ cold here.

We’re thisclose to sending out the Save the Date reminders.

Trying to get the Fletcher Studios 2009 calendar finished up and on the market.

We went registry registering, its fun zapping stuff you want people to buy for you.

It’s still freakin’ cold.

and cute animals rule:

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a post-apocalyptic zombie fetish that borders on frothing. So when Valve announced they were putting out a game in that theme, my interest was immediately stoked.

Then they said it was going to be multi-player co-cop and I thought the concept went straight down the abattoir drain-grate.

Seriously? CO-OP MULTIPLAYER? This is what get people KILLED in zombie movies! Didn’t they research this?

There is always ONE FOOL who must open that door, try to rescue the adorable dog, save his mother, etc. who ALWAYS ruins it for the other survivors. Except for David in ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ he was an ass and deserved what he got.

Anyway, when the demo hit the PC’s yesterday, I still decided to try it out - just to justify why I wouldn’t be saving up my spare change for this game - and instead save it for ‘Mirror’s Edge’.

Dammit Valve - I hate you.

The opening cinematic just sucked me in - in addition to snarky dialog, fast pacing and hints on new zombie types, they simply had a look, rendered in the game engine, that drew me in. I mean seriously - as soon as the words melted onscreen, I was hooked:

So, after playing around a bit in single player mode (which I might get the game just for solo play) I bravely loaded up the multiplayer component to see if my fears of everyone running off and our ‘team’ getting slaughtered in the first 15 seconds were justified.

I was pleasantly surprised - we stuck together, sorta - and people were genuinely helping each other, if you have extra health packs, you can heal teammates, if you get overwhelmed, a team member must help you up. A neat little trick was how they handled ‘dead’ players. At one point our team was on the street and a team member was swarmed and overwhelmed in a feeding frenzy. I thought, oh well - we’re done lets hang it up now; but then I heard a muffled voice from the downed player saying, ‘help - I’m trapped in the closet’ and had to wait for an available player to let him out. OK, he’s not dead - just in the closet…

The one other feature I wasn’t happy with was a ‘team awareness vision’ that even if I was around the corner or on a different floor, I knew where the rest of my fellow players were because I could see their silhouettes from any vantage point, even thru walls. That’s lame, I thought, if they really wanted to make it frightening, don’t do that, because if you go exploring without the group, you might get lost - alone - in zombieland, and well, that’ll learn ya’.

All in all - I prolly WON’T get this game (altho’ I will not say ‘never’) simply because my gaming budget has been limited by upcoming wedding, but still - that urge to grab the shotgun and blow away the undead hordes will always be with me.

Murdoch did not provide many details on the company’s cost cutting, but said one example was the merging of back-office operations of his two high-profile New York holdings, The Wall Street Journal and tabloid daily the New York Post.
He also plans to close 10 of the 17 U.S. printing plants that produce the Journal.

I can only imagine the mix of stuffy WSJ folk mixing with the Post’s motley crew of degenerates…

In other interesting tidbits - I just wrapped up the Laurel Films demo reel:

in addition - The Director called and left me a voice mail - we might have a very interesting project in January…

Our first such foray was collaborating on a video shot in NYC around Christmas time - showing off the elaborate store windows and ice skaters and just how beautiful the city can be. We made it into a DVD to give to friends and family (and it was a big hit) BUT it also showed how well we could work together.

Our latest couples effort is  a bit of graphic design to announce our upcoming nuptuals.

Expect yours in the mail soon.

Expecting a battle and a long night with the promise of legal ramifications. A repeat of 2000 and ‘04.

I fired up the computer and played some videogames.

Stopped when I got too tired of it and decided to check the headlines

McCain concedes. 338 to 155.

I felt a groundswell of emotion. 8 years. Wow

It feels like the insanity has finally given way - the promise of a brighter future.

The Director and I just hammered out a demo reel for Laurel Films (YouTube link shortly) and if features some of the best graphics work I’ve done to date. It features both trailers for ‘Sovereignty’ and ‘The Look Away Life’ plus some jazzy titles that I came up with.

On the art side; I’ve got one mini- painting almost done, a large experimental piece (Rambleshack II) well underway and a huge watercolor city scene that I just sketched out:

This link would be an appropriate example.

I noticed that this was in my old hood of 3rd Ave. and St. Marks…

Why, oh why can’t we have stuff like this here??
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So, I’ll have a couple of these - good thing my girl has a steady hand, there’s no way I could possibly get steady reference photos.

I’m giving myself ONE day to wander around aimlessly, goof off, eat poorly, skip showering and sulk.

Then, back to work.