Patrick R

I don't get the ascii forest exploration bit at all. I can't click on anything and I can't click back to the town. And nothing seems to be moving.

2/3s? You must get a lot of sleep.

For those who listened to the last episode of the Idle Book Club, the latest episode of the New Yorker: Fiction podcast features a story from Cosmicomics , albeit I believe one that wasn't featured in the edition Chris and Sean read (it's mentioned it's only on "The Complete Cosmicomics" edition, which I think the Thumbs mentioned they did not read). Good stuff.

One of my favorite things in the world is to play Doom or Doom 2 while listening to Bikini Kill's first two albums. Apart from being one of the most 90's things I can imagine (I should say I play while wearing 3D glasses, flannel, and eating an Arch Deluxe) the music is probably the most aggressive punk rock you can get before melodies and hooks start going out the window. Also, Kathleen Hanna's righteous feminist anger is the kind of aggression I can get behind more than most angry music, which is about I guess how angry Satan is at dragons or something. It can be hard to make out the lyrics to most death metal. But Doomguy's smirking marine face isn't really a good fit for riot grrl. So I figure I'd like to take this grrl powered past-time one step further and try to find a Doom mod that alters your icon into a woman. Does anyone know of such a thing? Or where a good place to look for one would exist?

Or, if you make it a broader Roald Dahl theme, you can swap the BFG for the BFG.

Sweet! Thank you JP!

I mean, in Donkey Kong you die if you are hit once. So really, it comes down to being hit 3 times, 4 if you get 20,000 points. Most Roguelikes are more forgiving than that.

I don't see a huge difference between having one life and playing the first level over and over and three lives and playing the first level over and over. Either way, there is no saved progress. Most casual DK players rarely ever get to see the second level to begin with.

I'm not sure I equate "play" and "progress". Games that are fun to play are fun to play, no matter to what level of progress is saved when the play is done. When I start a new game of Donkey Kong, I'm not bummed that I have to play that first level that I've played a million times over again, because I LIKE to play it. I rarely play games I like with the express goal of "beating" them. I replay the first episode of Doom constantly because I love the gameplay. And one could easily argue that quick saves and infinite continues are actually the things that make characters feel disposable. I have no emotion seeing my character in Hotline Miami blasted in the face over and over. That dude is disposable because another will instantly spawn to take his place. But if I'm playing a roguelike, suddenly the character's life has tremendous value, and my investment in preserving it is greater. Basically, the appeal of permadeath is that it raises the stakes, and therefore the drama and emotional intensity. If I like playing a game with permadeath, I'll gladly start over when I die. If I don't like a game, I probably won't play to the end of it no matter how accommodating it's save system is.

It's not transmedia, it's adaptation. For transmedia, see a couple episodes back where they talked about Shadows of the Empire.

Taste may vary, but Diane Keaton is so so funny in Love and Death. Maybe it works better on people who don't have any knowledge of the Russian literature it lightly parodies? I know you know way more about that stuff than I do. "A tremendous amount of wheat."

Woody Allen happens to be my favorite director! Woody Allen Ranked For Recommendation Purposes Early Funny Ones 1. Love and Death 2. Sleeper 3. Bananas 4. Take The Money and Run Dramatic Romantic Comedic 1. Annie Hall 1. Manhattan 3. Husbands and Wives 4. Hannah and Her Sisters Fantasy-Comedy 1. Purple Rose of Cairo 2. Zelig 3. Stardust Memories 4. Deconstructing Harry 5. Shadows and Fog Straight Drama 1. Crimes and Misdemeanors 2. Interiors 3. Match Point Other Assorted Films That Don't Quite Fit On These Lists But Are Still Good 1. Radio Days 2. Broadway Danny Rose 3. Bullets Over Broadway 4. Mighty Aphrodite 5. Vicky Christina Barcelona 6. Sweet and Lowdown 7. Midnight in Paris All these movies are really worth seeing, several being some of the best films ever made.

I work for less than minimum wage as a cook at a pizzeria. It's possible to live on 12,000 a year! You don't need that office job! Get free! You can walk out here any time that you want, you can run out of here any time that you want.

I really really liked this. I actually kind of like the form of dating sims quite a bit (though the content, as satirized here, often leaves a ton to be desired), and I kind of wish that it could keep going. The writing here is so sharp, and it'd be interesting to see the dating sim genre tackle something closer to an actual relationship.

Who are these people who don't hold doors open for other people, regardless gender? Just hold the door open. If more people come, wait. It's nice. When someone holds the door open for you, say thank you. Holding doors open is the fundamental building block of our society. It's what separates us from the beasts of land and sea.

I'll check it out, thanks.

My very favorite rap critic Noz wrote this amazing piece covering the career of Lil Wayne, which will probably give some needed context to people who only first noticed him at Lollipop. I knew he was a crazy child rapper prodigy, but I had no idea he started THAT young. He joined a rap group, accidentally shot himself, and then entered the 7th grade. Insane.

Ok, so I guess if none of that was a joke I didn't really misinterpret you, and I genuinely think that HGH, gay agents, and testosterone are all really bizarre theories for something no one is really agreeing on existing in the first place.

My bad. I figured you were being a little facetious, but when I couldn't tell where in the continuum of "testosterone, HGH, gay agents" it began, I wondered if maybe you weren't. It being the internet and all.

I don't really know where to start here. I guess I'd have to first accept your assertion that Miranda, Nilin, and Morrigan have traditionally "masculine" faces, which I don't really see. Then I'd have to ignore your weird conspiracy that gay men and Human Growth Hormone run Hollywood. Then I'd have to forget that rendering 3D faces is incredibly hard to get right, and that male or female, most realistic triple-A games have faces that look weird and janky in some way. I dunno dude, I think it's just you? I'd leave you with the advice that you really can't determine if someone is male or female by looking at their face, but turning this into a conversation about trans-awareness would probably become a disaster in it's own right.

Jesus, look at those prices. I should have held onto my copy of Grim Fandango for dear life.

Oh man, my cousins and I spent hours and hours playing Day of the Tentacle, but I never did beat it. I should play it again. (Checks Steam and GOG) WHAT? NOOOOOOOO! Now I'll never find out what it's like to win the human show.

I remember a discussion I had with my ex about rape jokes, and I came to the conclusion that there are plenty of good jokes about rape culture, but pretty much no good ones about the act of rape itself. The same way that tons of material can be mined from racism, but pretty much only tasteless jokes can stem from jokes about hate crimes. John Mulaney has a good joke about rape culture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys_Hi8nV7yM

I got it a lot too. I think it's a bit tongue in cheek, but also perhaps Francis didn't want to penalize players for thinking their approaches carefully through, which is why the rating isn't something negative like "turtle" or something. I'm not sure how I feel about beating the game and going back to replay old levels, with all your stuff. On the one hand, it's hilarious to be able to blaze through levels just kicking a billion doors in guards faces (which somehow does not contribute to your violence rating?) but I'd like to be able to go back and actually challenge my past run-through on an equal playing field. It doesn't mean as much to turn a C ranked level into an A+ ranked level when the deck is so heavily stacked in my favor that second time.

I'm sorry. I meant ensure. How embarrassing. No wonder you think me a dickhead.