agorman

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Posts posted by agorman

  1. Posted

    One weird game community that I'm extremely glad I got to be a part of was TF2 on the 360. There wasn't much support given to it post-launch, and so it just remained vanilla TF2 as the PC version started getting all the character updates. A few months after the Orange Box came out, the servers were populated by a small group of the same people, and after a while we all kinda just knew each other. I fell off after I built myself a gaming PC, and started playing TF2 there instead. A year or so later, I went back to the 360 version to see if anyone was still on, and I was surprised to find active servers! Recently, someone had discovered how to turn on the dev console, which was not restricted in any way, as it usually is in Valve multiplayer games. All the servers were more or less chaos as a result.

     

    That specific multiplayer community feels pretty unique...I haven't had quite that experience with any other game. 

  3. Posted

    Other than The Sense of an Ending, the only other book I've ready by Barnes is England, England. These two novels also share a fair amount of thematic content, but England, England explores how we revise our history on a more macro scale than Sense of an Ending does. 

    I'm curious if people who have more read more of Barnes find this thematic through line in most of his work, or if I'm just looking at a small sample size of his work here.

  6. Posted

    I just came back from seeing this at the theatre, and am reeling.

    This movie is unbelievably taut. Not a frame feels wasted, and it transitions into becoming a horror movie perfectly. 

    I think I'll need to see the movie again to unpack it more. Felt there is quite a lot to chew on. 
    I'm just joining the chorus of voices here saying this movie is unbelievable....but man.....it is extremely good.

     

    It's probably because it was opening weekend but man, the audience at my theatre was a BLAST to watch this movie with. First movie in a while that reminded me why I love going to the theatre/how seeing a movie with a public audience can really enhance the experience.

  7. Posted

    I never saw these movies and watched the first three with a group of friends and a couple beers last weekend. I can see why some people are super into this series but I wouldn't be able to watch it if I wasn't with a group of friends. It's more entertaining to watch them and be mind-boggled that it somehow spawned what soon will be eight movies and one of the most financially successful film franchises ever made. The first three are so obviously lower budget B-Movies, it's pretty amazing to watch them knowing what the series is now known for.

     

    I'm looking forward to making my way through 4-7 soon...I think I will need friends and beer to get through them again. 

  8. Posted

    I'm halfway through the first season of this show and am way into it. This show is certainly not anything like what I expected it to be, and I don't even really have a show that I can compare it to. It feels really unique so far and I'm excited to watch the rest of the season.

     

    The highlight of the series so far for me was 



    At the end of episode 4 where the Prime Minister Greenland dances while facts about Greenland are shown underneath her.

  14. Posted

    I watched The Handmaiden the other week and was just floored. This was the first Park Chan-Wook movie I've seen, and am planning to make my way through his oeuvre. I had no idea what the movie was about, or even what genre it was going into it and that was absolutely the right way to see that movie. The range of emotions I experienced while watching it was incredible. 

     



    The scene where Lady Hideko and Sook-Hee destroy the erotic novel collection is one of the most cathartic and joyous scenes I've seen in a while. The attention to detail throughout the movie is just staggering

  16. Posted

    I just wrote a huge-ass post about Hillary Clinton then deleted it all, haha.

    I have started doing this about things I care about on the internet and it has improved my life significantly.

  17. Posted

    I am extremely excited about this. I also have extremely strong  memories around reading the first 3-4 books. I was a bit younger (gosh, it must have been around when I was in 2nd grade), but I can recall my mom coming home from the bookstore with these books she had heard some of her friends talking about. My neighbors would come over and we would all read the books together, often times out in my backyard on a picnic blanket eating cheerios (my mom organized stuff like this with my neighbors all the time.) When the 4th came out we discovered Jim Dale's audiobooks (on tape! I did not have a CD player until way later than the rest of the world), and went back and listened to the first 3 all on audiobook. Jim Dale's voice is permanently embedded in my head as the canonical voices of the characters. Also I remember lots of arguments stemming from how to pronounce Hermonie and Dobby.

  19. Posted

    [Edit] - I kept some concepts from my original idea, but drastically changed what the core gameplay loop is.

     

    Concept: This game is a top-down 2D management game where you are in charge of several workers that are used to try and keep alive a computer system that is constantly in danger of being shut down. Inspired in large part by battle screens in FTL. 

     

    Basic Ideas

    • There are several stations workers need to attend to keep the computer system running. 
    • Hackers and viruses come in, workers have to fight them. 
    • Computer in a gross/not well maintained environment - When the code gates are creamy, the system starts to overheat, and workers move slower from station to station. 
    • Considering several more additional systems and threats, but I'm trying to be realistic about the time I'll be able to put into this project and want it to be relatively balanced by the time it's done, so not sure how many more variables I'll get to introduce.

  20. Posted

    I'm definitely down for drinks/food somewhere!

     

    Somewhat relatedly...I've never been to PAX before...does anyone have good recommendations on how to best use my time there?

  21. Posted

    Yayyyyyyyyyyy you got it! Sorry that took so long! I also got mine about a week ago! (pictures incoming, once I figure out how to upload images here!)

     

    Sorry for necroing this thread, but my gift arrived! :D

     

    1618984489aa523ed28b5c74fa8d8f1e0ae243ab

     

    It would have arrive slightly sooner, but Customs were holding it hostage like the Mafia that they are. Also apologies on the grainy photo, when I get this beauty in a frame I'll use the DSLR for a better quality photo. 

     

    Thanks for this! It really is a nice piece of art, and now I have a foothold on getting more Video Game artwork on the walls here. My wife isn't a video game fan, but she likes this, so it'll probably go up in the living room somewhere. 

     

    Thanks again!

  22. Posted

    I finally watched Season 1 of Friday Night Lights and man, what a great show. 

    I could nitpick some parts of it, and personally didn't really care about Jason and Lyla's relationship very much, but it's shockingly refreshing to see a show so full of love and compassion for its characters. 

    This show also made me realize how rare it is to see a mature, committed marriage between two people who deeply love one another. I'm really struck by it and I can't wait to keep watching more, (though everyone keeps prepping me for how bad Season 2 is)

  24. Posted

    I saw Spotlight last night and I think it might be my favorite movie I've seen this year. I have sat here for like 10 minutes trying to cohere my thoughts into something worthwhile but have failed. The whole movie is so understated (the aesthetics are perfect) and resists temptation to be showy or flashy compared to the version of this movie I can imagine being portrayed in The Newsroom or something similar

  25. Posted

    Ive had Dear Life for ages and have tried to start it a few times but other things got in the way. Must go back. Think I got as far as the first 2

     

    Go back! It's really something else. Some passages hit uncomfortably close to home for me. This one from Pride that particularly devastated me.

     

    "There was still that strange hesitation and lightness about her, as if she was waiting for her life to begin.

    She went away on trips of course, and maybe she thought it would begin there. No such luck."