A Video Game About Wandering...No, wait, hear me out!

Let me start this game by saying: I'm sick of the same old stuff! The gaming industry spits out war games like television networks spit out cops shows, like YouTubers post videos about babies, etc.

Now check out this game:

PC Games - E3 2012 - Journey

Journey is absolutely cool because it focuses on something so difficultly achieved and so easily ignored in most modern games: the setting! Sure, the Uncharted franchise makes use of the scenery (as well as some others), but not like this game. 

This game is exactly what it says, a journey.

I remember exploring the water in the jet-ski game Slashdown when I was a little kid. In the Free Play mode, players could ride at their own pace. However, you could also ride outside the race boundaries without it placing you back on the path. I found out the terrifying way, though, that if you go too far away from the path a monster will eat you. (I had to pause the game and catch my breath.)

But I digress...

The environment of that game was spectacular. It took place all over the world: Florida, Ireland, Hawaii, etc. And it looked great!

Journey is a great game, too, because of how zen it is. It is a short game that encourages you to take a closer look at your surroundings, and I think, in this fast-paced world, that is a valuable lesson.

Pins, Pins, Pins!

I joined pinterest a while ago, and I currently have 437 pins on 9 boards! I love Pinterest for more than just the mindless pinning of random internet images. (Seriously, if its a time-killer.)

Pinterest brings to mind the amount of information that we come across everyday. Of course, Pinterest deals mostly with images and video, but we see a large amount of stuff these days.

We read articles, hear stories and poems, make clever tweets and posts, see awesome images, and watch fantastic videos. However, we can't possible retain all the knowledge that gets stuffed into our heads each day!

Sites like Pinterest that allow you to capture images you've seen online (with a link to get back to where you found them), do us the fantastic service of allowing us to revisited things that we found interesting before.

Cheesecake-stuffed strawberries; I don't want to forget this!

Also, in the case of the photo above, you can also find new things on Pinterest. Pinterest is almost the image equivalent to Wikipedia in that it is a collective knowledge of everyone on the site. I found those under the "Food & Drink" category and my mouth has been watering ever since. 

People post other cool things like tattoos they'd wish to get or Fitspo/Thinspo (inspiration to slim down or work out). There are also encouraging quotes and funny things on that website.

Check this out! One of the best tattoos I've seen: "Love never ends"

It all comes together in this zen, indie feel - like anything you see, you can acheive. There aren't any (at least that I've seen) trolls discouraging anyone or starting unnecessary chaos. 

It is a truly inspirational website that encourage all my friends to use!

Something New Everyday...

Recently, I've been playing with Photoshop using tutorials on YouTube. Suddenly, it dawned on me...

When advising someone about how to do something, us techies like to add on the tag line: "You can probably find a tutorial or something on YouTube." We say this because it's true; you can find instructions for just about EVERYTHING on YouTube.

But are we taking advantage of this knowledge? Not nearly enough as we should be.

Instructions on how to professionally retouch photographs in Abode Photoshop, how to tie a tie, cheap crafts, recipes, make-up tutorials, and what are we looking at? A dramatic gopher.

With the rise of reality television shows like Jersey Shore and asinine news reports, society often complains about the lack of intellectualism. "Nobody reads anymore! No one wants to learn anything new."

However, there is so much to learn for free in the on one of the most popular website on The Inter-Webs. I recently watched a TED Talk about a guy who tried something new for 30 days. He found the experience to be very rewarding. YouTube could be your start to a new hobby or career!

As for me, I previously stated that I learned most of my Photoshop skills from YouTube tutorials. (What do you think?)

I'm also interested in learning about the other elements of the Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, etc.) and a fighting style. I've always been enthralled by Israeli Krav Maga, but there are also clips from Fuel TV's Punk Payback that are very entertaining, too.

Hulu + Facebook?

Hulu, if you haven't heard of it, is a website that allows you to watch television shows. It differs from most television watching sites in that is clean (no annoying pop-ups or slapdash advertisements , legit and this website actual works with television networks to display their programming. Recently Hulu integrated with Facebook. So, now you can see what you're friends are watching... At first, I was baffled. Why do I care that Guy-I-Never-Spoke-To-In-Middle-School is watching "Alf"? Also, do I want people to know what I'm watching? It seemed like an invasion of privacy on both ends, but I connected my Hulu account to my Facebook profile anyway (for the free month of HuluPlus). [HuluPlus, by the way is AWESOME!!! Commercial-free, full seasons of Law and Order: SVU?! Why isn't everyone using this thing???] However, I must say the Facebook integration did pay off when I noticed one of my friends was watching this show I was curious about. I decided to try it, too, now knowing I had a friend who had also seen it; it was good! Big #Win for "Huluface". Then I followed a show on Hulu. The action was made public on my Facebook wall, and a few friends indicated they also liked that show. Awesome! In conclusion... I stand by the thought that Facebook is slowly taking over the world, and my grandchildren may not ever leave home because all communication will be through Facebook (and future generations of social networking). More and more websites and services are using Facebook (and Twitter), and some Facebook/Twitter inclusions are unnecessary. However, before we call out a web service for jumping on the social networking bandwagon, we should assess whether their is an actual use for the technology. Post-Script: There is also the option of posting a comment from Hulu to Facebook about something you're watching. A clip is posted along with the comment, so there is a "spoiler" checkbox to alert your friends. No one likes to be a ruin-er.

On the subject of blogging...

I'm currently in class and we're talking about blogging. So it's only natural that I blog.

What to blog about on the subject of blogging? It's a bit profound to blog about blogging. I couldn't possibly criticize the "art" of blogging as I obviously have a blog. However, I will make the statement that blogging has its place in this Twitter world. Sometimes 140 characters are not enough to express certain emotions and ideals.

The End of a Semester

So, class has ended for this semester. No more Java, no more analysis of eCommunities, no more models of information processing, and no more history of computers and the Internet. (At least as classes.)

I've learned quite a bit this semester. The Java was really the best part. I have a greater understanding of object-oriented programming now, and I'm ready to use it!

An earlier post mentioned this card game, Tunk, I wanted to code. However, I didn't think about the 2-player aspect, and I am clueless with regard to AI rt now.

So, my new ideas are:
I've been into classic game shows lately

• 2-, 4-, 6-player Newlywed Game
• Blackjack
• Hangman/Wheel of Fortune
• Card Sharks
• A To-Do List

More ideas to come...

Also, my web design skills seem to be improving. (I should really get an outside judge for that.) I can design quicker and have a better understanding of some things! More to come with that, too, but until then...

Check out my own personal website!

Programming Prose

When the night is long,
I don't cling to a cup of Java.
Rather I hit the subway rails
Draped in the finest Rubys and Perls.
This is my
High-Level Life.

I am not just object-oriented.
I travel to the darkest jungles
to play with pythons.
I sing with the greatest symphonies in C
Sharp.
Now to do get the Basic Visual?
This is my
High-Level Life.

I may be a PYT,
But I'm more proud to be a PHP:
Pretty Hot Programmer.
My efficiency is Big-Oh of Amazing.
For our founding fathers and their COBOL and FORTRAN:
I stand for transcendental programs.
And even my pure, small, basic, idealistic thinking...
Can one day change the world.

This is my High-Level Life.