ihavefivehat

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Posts posted by ihavefivehat

  1. Posted

    I remember reading somewhere that Miyamoto designed the original Legend of Zelda with the idea that kids would be talking about it with each other on the playground. He wanted to foster a sense of community and create real-world friendships among people playing his game. That's the reason why some of the puzzles and secret locations are so tough for one person to figure out. Personally, I think that he's a genius for that.

  2. Posted

    You should check out the works of Joseph Campbell as he's probably the best-known writer on that subject. He was writing in the mid-20th century so I'm not sure all of his ideas still hold up in the face of newer archaeological evidence. His books are still worth reading, though.. Look for The Hero with A Thousand Faces or one of the books from The Masks of God series. The Masks of God books seem more academically sound, but The Hero With A Thousand Faces is a better read.

     

    And if you want to look into it more on your own, the field is called comparative mythology.

  4. Posted

    I just found out that David Lynch directed a series of Twin Peaks themed commercials for a Japanese coffee flavored drink using a bunch of members of the original cast. Weirdly, they were filmed in 1993. I guess the show's popularity lasted longer in Japan. They're pretty hilarious and well done!

     

    SPOILER WARNING: The last two ads contain references to episodes from late in the second season.

     

     

    The spoilers start now!

  6. Posted

    That was one of my favorites. It reminds me of how I had a fly problem once, and eventually I realized that I could cope with them more easily if I thought of them as pets rather than pests. This eventually led to me pretending that all flies in the world were the same fly who I would run into occasionally and catch up with. Of course I never verbalized this to anyone, because it seems insane, so it was purely a game that I played in my head.

     

    This game also suggests some type of coping with poverty. Your apartment is totally empty and filled with mice, but the mice are treated like friendly co-inhabitants rather than invaders. Maybe this is some sort of psychological distancing mechanism for the protagonist.

  8. Posted

    Just got hired somewhere and while my income won't be as good as with the meat department job, I'm still really glad I decided to keep looking. Thanks again for the advice, guys.

  9. Posted

    It's funny, I've always considered myself to be a pragmatic vegan as well, but faced with the prospect of taking this job, I've had to admit that there is a strong emotional / revulsion-based factor in my choice of diet.

     

    I decided not to pursue the job, although I may regret it if I haven't found anything by the end of the month. The way I'm looking at it, though, is that the stress produced by having to handle raw meat for 40 hours a week (and having to pretend to enjoy it), is probably greater than the stress of working a menial part-time job and having little-to-no spending money. I've done the second before, and I know I can handle it.

     

    edit: I don't think I qualify for unemployment because my last job was temporary. I thought they would give me some notice before letting me go, but I guess that was naive of me.

  10. Posted

    Ethical quandary time:

     

    I'm currently unemployed and have been looking for a job unsuccessfully for the past 3 weeks. The money that I have saved up will only last me until mid-October. Recently I went to a job fair for all of the Whole Foods in the city. Today the hiring manager who interviewed me called and said that they like me, but that the only position open in the city is in a meat department. The problem is that it's in a meat department at Whole Foods... and I'm vegan.

     

    Working there would be agonizing mentally, emotionally, and ethically but I really need a source of income. My room mate is urging me to go after the job, but I'm having severe doubts about it. I need to call the guy back by today to let him know. So far, this is the only place that has even responded to me, so I feel like there's a good chance I might not find anything else before my money runs out.

     

    Actually, as I type this it's becoming more clear to me that I can't take that job. Oh well, time to get back out there and lower my standards.

  11. Posted

    Cool, just out of curiosity are these games in chronological order?

     

    This game was interesting, it seemed like it was totally random as to whether a particular item of clothing was going to raise or reduce your fashion bar thing. 

     

    The text was just inane enough to remind me of internet quiz writing, which was amusing.

     

    The game refuses from saying anything negative about your performance. Because there is no possibility of doing badly, nothing that you're doing matters.

  13. Posted

    Also, the original Digimon, which were just Tamagotchi basically, but you could fight them if you connected two cartridges together at the top. The battles must have been determined the instant they were connected, because you could then separate them and the fights would play out the same on each cartridge.

     

    In first grade, a friend and I would take turns getting up in class to "grab a tissue" or something, and surreptitiously connect our Digimon to fight. We thought we were so clever.

     

     

    I remember getting in trouble in fourth grade because I was using my Digimon under my desk during class and got so excited when my dude evolved that I shouted out "I got ice-cream head mon!" while the teacher was talking. (I had the Japanese version 2 so I had to make up my own names for them.) Some of my friends back home still laugh at me for that.

  15. Posted

    What is this vibe. At first. I think it's the accessibility of unrefined technique, but then I play some other games that may have the same amount of scope (MS Paint or whatever) and they don't resonate with me. I find the effortless style and lack of polish to be deceptive. I feel the same way about haikus and abstract expressionism; it looks like something anyone can do, but then I try and realize that a high level of technique is there. Some types of technique is easier to identify than others perhaps.

     

    In a certain sense, thecatemite's technique is very highly refined. That unpolished / broken style must not be easy to wield so confidently and with such success. I'd imagine that it took a lot of thought and practice to get to a point where he could do so.

     

    In the fine art world I'm reminded of Cy Twombly, who also uses a crude aesthetic in a deceptively complex way:

     

    twombly_the_italians.jpg

  16. Posted

    I have been playing these games and enjoying them, but I'm not great at writing insightful things.

     

    However, I just played Criticism Roundup and I want to take a moment to acknowledge how great the phrase "I gibbed Romero!" is.

     

     I imagine that this speech is taking place maybe 60 years in the future. Gaming is now universally recognized as a Serious art form and this character is receiving a lifetime achievement award of some sort. But I imagine that in the intervening years there was some sort of crisis in gaming culture that resulted in real-life death matches between video game developers and this guy along with his school of followers emerged victorious over the old guard, after he literally blew Romero up with a rocket launcher.

     

     

     

    edit: Also I just went ahead and played the rest of these games. At first I found thecatemite's work a bit grating but tonight something clicked for me and I now totally love them and actually find them quite inspiring.

     

    Also, I definitely get a bit of a Pokey the Penguin vibe from these, but I think thecatemite's work is a lot more substantial.

  20. Posted

    I have stopped buying games recently, even from Humble Bundles, because of the large list of un-played games in my steam library.

     

    For me, guilt is the primary factor in motivating me to choose which games I play. For one, there is the feeling of guilt that I get from the illusion of wasted money, and secondly there is the feeling of guilt from playing games that don't challenge me or force me to think in a meaningful way.

     

    It's not very pleasant to spend my leisure time wallowing in a pool of shame, but I can't help it. I blame it on catholic school.

  24. Posted

    I liked this game, but I started to get annoyed by how much it encouraged compulsive replaying. I'm really starting to sour of that 'addictive' quality that a lot of developers go for.