tegan

I'm not sure if this is just supposed to be about life-improving products or what, but I've definitely got a life-improving activity. A few years ago I started the habit of leaving a fifty percent tip at restaurants. I make someone's day better, I almost invariably get better service after doing it a few times, and in the long run I spend much less money at restaurants since I always take into account how expensive it'll be. I make exceptions for special occasions. It sounds bonkers but it's totally worth it. On the subject of food: get a fruit bowl and a banana hook. Fruit goes out in the open, candy and chips go in a cupboard way above or below eye level. If you get a craving for something unhealthy, wait at least ten minutes before actually eating/buying it. You'll probably forget about it.

Oh boy, a comics thread. I got into comics and manga in a big way when I was a teenager, but then it almost completely fizzled out when I came to the simultaneous realization that it's incredibly difficult to find American comics you'll enjoy if you don't like superheroes* and that the public face of manga has turned increasingly to creepy, pandering crap. My interest is being gradually rekindled since I moved to a city with a couple of really good comic shops, though, so I'll have to look into a few of the recommendations here. One thing that has fascinated me over the last few years has been the gradual translation of the works of Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy. I've been sure to grab everything of his that gets localized and it's almost universally fantastic. It's like gradually discovering some crazy alternate world where Walt Disney, Stanley Kubrick, and Mahatma Gandhi were all the same person; and that said person had the world's most insatiable work ethic. *incidentally, if you do like superheroes, I recommend Scott McCloud's Zot! series.

I bought a Wii U at launch (for Pikmin 3, naturally), and I've enjoyed it, but I didn't really "get" it until I sat down and played Metroid Blast with a friend. I played more of that stupid minigame in one sitting than I played of Wii Sports since I bought my Wii at launch. I just have no idea where to go from there. It seems like Nintendo's big, dependable major games have gotten more and more "safe" and disappointing as time goes on, but every once in a while something just comes out of left field that completely changes everything.

I came into work this morning to find that two of my coworkers had swiped a bunch of ornaments from the office Christmas party, used them to decorate my desk, and wrapped up some candy as presents. This is probably the single nicest thing anyone in real life has ever done for me.

The wallet thing just makes me think of the wallets in Zelda. Are there Gold Skulltulas in this game? Come to think of it, a wallet is kind of an odd choice for crafting in general since pretty much every real-life wallet will hold the same amount of bills.

So is this like a book club, but for video games? I would be interested in that. Also, people don't like the horse controls? There was an adjustment period for me, but I eventually wised up and realized that Agro is a character with autonomy and that I should trust her to be able to navigate. Sometime after my second playthrough of SOTC I tried playing Twilight Princess again for the first time since that game was released and realized how spoiled I had become the moment I got on Epona.

UnitNumberFive is always up for some Wipeout HD.

Heya. I started listening to the cast early this year during a period of pseudo-unemployment and quickly became some kind of Thumbs addict. I've gone through the archives five or six times now. I figured this would be a good time to join the forum since my question got read. I don't actually play many of the games mentioned on the cast, but I always appreciate the discussion. In real life I have a fairly boring desk job, but I have a background in art and hope to get to do some serious writing or visual work someday. Looking forward to getting to know the place!

Howdy. I'm the one who wrote in about Metroid Prime. Just wanted to clarify a few things. For starters, I loved Prime's music (especially the BGM for the area mentioned on the cast, Phenandra Drifts). This was my second playthrough and I wanted to try something different. Playing without music makes the game into an entirely different animal. It's most noticeable in the pirate encounters. Normally those fights are telegraphed to you by the distinct Space Pirate theme starting to play long before any pirates actually come within range; without that theme as a tell, you won't know you're in a firefight until you realize you're being shot at. It's particularly intense in areas where you can't see the pirates, but you can hear their occasional idle barks (which I never even noticed my first time through the game). It also completely changes the Meta Ridley fight, which goes from big and bombastic to a very deliberate, quiet showdown in the rain occasionally punctuated by the rhythmic clanging noise made by the stomp attack they gave him in the Trilogy version of the game. Second, the Other M scene in question was I wasn't sure if anyone on the cast had actually played the game or not, since it was talked about only once for the purposes of mocking the trailer; so it may have been a poor point to include. My bad. Lastly, I'm pleased that you pronounced my name correctly, but you got my gender wrong. Close enough! Also, that a capella version of HL2 looks incredible.