Category : Games

in Games

Bioshock…

So I finished Bioshock – as far as game goes, it is a veritable masterpiece: gorgeous, atmospheric, creepy, well-written…

EXCEPT THE ENDING SUCKED.

It’s like after all the effort they put into making the game, and at the 11th hour, they were like, “Oh, whatever, man, just finish it.” Both endings sucked, although the “evil” one sucked less. A real shame. Still, despite that one big flaw, it was amazing. There are rumors of a movie. If it comes out, and it’s anywhere close to as gorgeous as the game was, I say see it!

in Games, Life of Giang

The importance of being

I got in at least three hours of Fatal Frame in this weekend. I was a fine spectacle: bright daylight out, flooding the apartment, and I nearly had to call someone to stay on the phone with me while I explored the second twin mansion. Every so often, I would go outside to do laundry, just to confirm there was still life (in the form of somebody’s screaming, pouting child) about.

Inevitably, this got me thinking about death. My own, specifically. The husband, the wedding, the honeymoon, the finances, the housing, the pets, the everything-else – I plan everything to death (haha), but the prospect of dying: blank. Who wants to think about themselves not existing anymore?

For awhile (maybe two minutes), this got me feeling better about the game. The ghosts, after all, were just people who had died – just like me someday. Granted, they were trying to kill people. I am convinced that given the chance, I would not be one of those ghosts, but a terribly useful one: you know, one that picks up litter and reminds you to take your cookies out of the oven before they burn and such.

This is, of course, just wishful thinking. I don’t believe I will be a ghost. I don’t believe anything will happen at all. I think one day the light will just turn off, and suddenly this blog becomes owner-less. I worry about what that will feel like, but it will probably feel like nothing at all.

If I had been born in a cave, and only known the one cave, all my life, and no people, or animals, or really anything to keep me company, perhaps then I would not be terrified to die. But, as sometime-misanthropic as I tend to get, I believe the last moments of life will be sad, and terribly worried that someone will not take out the kitty litter, someone will not fold the towels right, and someone will forget to pet and feed and love my soon-to-be husband.

Curt’s mother, who is a nurse, says most people panic. I will probably be afraid, as well. Here’s to hoping, when the inevitable day comes, that I will have the presence of mind to be just a little snarky, a la Oscar Wilde in his deathchamber: “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to death. One or the other of us has to go.”

in Games

A Tasket

fatalframe2.jpg

We meant to go to explore the area around Curt’s new route on Sunday, but since it rained we spent most of the day watching the Super Bowl / Puppy Bowl, and I played a whole lot of Fatal Frame II. I had to stop once it got dark. That game is no good for the nerves. It’s terrifying. I spent the whole time on edge, scared some ghost would come popping up out of the woodwork – which happened quite a bit. I screamed when the Fallen Woman ghost slammed down in front of me and started scrabbling for my feet.

Well, Mio’s feet. Same thing. / shudder

Anyway, let’s see:

Here’s a game Friend Dodds emailed me the link to a game about a(n orange) Fancy Pants who gets his prize ice cream stolen by the purple bunny thief, which is excellent: Fancy Pants 2.

And here’s a meme from Ai (although I am going to cheat and it’s going to just end here, because I cheat!)

List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.

1) I neaten my desk at least five or six times a day, even when what I’m neatening is something I actually need out.

2) My first name means “River”. My last name could mean “Phoenix”. Therefore, I am River Phoenix. ;)

3) I’m a recovering packrat.

4) I don’t like moths.

5) I wear flip flops when it rains because I am lazy about putting shoes on.

6) I am a Mastermind!

7) Right now, there is a snake staff in my car.

:)

in Games, Movies, Music

Weekend report

My brother gave me his old Xbox with some games – among them, Fatal Frame II. This game scares the crap out of me. I wasn’t able to finish it last time I played, since I got too creeped out and then my brother took the console.

We watched The Orphanage this weekend. It was an excellent creepy movie – best in years. I did have some reservations about the ending of the movie, but it is, for the most part, a good, good scary movie to watch.

Went to visit Curt’s folks, who weren’t home, and my folks, who were. I think I need to chill out about the wedding. I mean, it’ll be fine one way or another, even if things don’t work out as simply or easily as I want. Whatever. Whatever: I’ll chill out and go with the flow. It’ll save me from growing another fifty gray hairs in my head.

Curt’s sick again. I hope this doesn’t last for another three weeks like my cold did. That would be poo.

in Cooking, Food, Games, RANT

Gar!

behold.jpg

Dez, beholding the Beholder.

I have solved the mystery of the un-like RSS titles! That’s the good news. The bad news is that it is too much trouble to fix them, so they will remain like that, wretched scars on my otherwise perfect web-self. Ah well.

Prompted by some fun work discussions, I have decided to try my luck at NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month (again). This time, at least one of my co-workers is participating too, so hopefully we will shame each other into sticking it out to the bitter end (we are both Asian, so shame is a powerful motivator). If you will kindly direct your eyes to the upper-ish right hand portion of the site wherein my navigation menu lies, you will see a new link for the soon-to-be-written masterpiece. There’s nothing there now. Rules are I can’t start ’til November. Anybody else want to be writing buddies? Hrm? :)

Sometimes Curt drives me crazy. Right now, I’m squinting irritably at his silly red head, waiting for him to turn around so I can resume imagining that huge red boxing gloves are pummeling his BIG SMUG – he’s turned around now, and he’s squinting back at me. GrrrrrrrrrrrrARARRRR.

He fried bacon in my kitchen tonight. Bacon, in case you all don’t know, leaves a stinks. Of the dead pig. And there is greasy animal fat splattered all over my nice. clean. stove. The bastard was even surly when I asked him to clean it.

/BASH BASH BASH!!

That’s me smashing (or, more precisely: BASHING) his face in, Batman-style.

Relationships are hard when you (I) don’t get everything your (my) way.

(/BASH BASH BASH!!)

in Games

Gamer!

Curt downloaded a couple of demos onto our XBox 360 tonight. First, the scary one:

Bioshock

It’s a first person shooter, and I don’t have any particular love for the genre, but this game just might break that pattern for me. It’s gorgeous, first of all – dark where it should be dark, and light where it should be light (which really was a problem for me in Fatal Frame). So far in 15 minutes of gameplay, I’ve managed to shoot through a whole mob of creepy, blood-hungry mutants and run across a couple freaky little girls called Little Sisters. Oh, and this is all in some weird underwater city called Rapture. Oh, and you’ve got the power to shoot things out of your hand, like electricity and flames.

It’s gotten good reviews so far. We’ll see. It may be something to wean me off PC gaming for awhile, until it scares me too badly. ;)

Ooh: I have a craving for lychees. Stupid girl had to move out to the Inland Empire: where’m I gonna find lychees out here at this hour of night!

Beautiful Katamari

My brother told me about the original version of this game, Katamari Damacy, a few years ago. The premise? Well, it’s Japanese, so it won’t be dull: you roll a little ball around the screen, picking up items until you’re HUGE, and then!…AND THEN!! Weeell, that seems to be it, really. It’s freakin’ hilarious. And oddly engrossing. I want more, now. I want to run over your pool party and roll over your guests and make a big katamari to end all katamaris!

There is some silly plotline as well, which makes it all the more ludicrous (thus, enhancing its appeal) – the King of the Cosmos is having you make these katamari for…some…reason. Does it matter? No!

At the end of the short little demo I played, I was informed that my katamari (a rather proud example, if I do so say so myself) was the size of 700 golfers, and 1600 little dogs. Go me!

Bedtime for me. /wave

in Games, Life of Giang, Movies, Music

Show And Tell

We finished Rome this weekend. So amazing, so beautiful, so gritty, so full of boobs. It really was a great series – highly recommended. I can’t think of the last time I enjoyed a female character as much as Polly Walker’s Atia. And Pullo! Oh, Pullo…! ;)

Behold, I am geek: here is my new darling, flying the proud colors of the Horde.

And, as threatened: behold the jousting adventure at Blizzcon!

Bon Voyage to Sheena!

Various trips to San Diego with Curt and Curt kins.

I’ve also managed to finish uploading my photos to Flickr!

That’s all for now. See choo later.

in Games, Life of Giang

Giraffe Hearts

I’ve decided I want my cute little body back, so no more bad, yummy, so yummy foods for me. Suck ass. Why couldn’t I have had a tamer addiction, like crack or meth? GUH.

Speaking of addictions: Curt logged into WoW to level up his leatherworking before work this morning. BAHAHA! I’m creating my own red-headed gold farmer!

I have pictures of fun and exciting adventures!…but they are at home. That means you’ll have to wait until the next entry until I can show you my stint as an American Gladiator!

/ brain pant

It’s hard work just getting my brain to crank out these piddling little words. Any day now, I expect my brain to just leap out of my skull in an attempt to find greener pastures. It’s becoming a no graze zone up there.

/ random babbling

in Games

My Friend Stephen

I think Stephen King and I would make good friends. I said so to Curt, and he said that everyone likes me, so why not Stephen King? YES! Why not, Stephen King?

I have nothing very interesting to say today. I am tired, and swaying slightly in my chair for being sleepy – but as to blog is life (when I feel like it, I live!), here I am, a-blogging. I won a Cinco-de-Mayo themed word search contest today at work. Which means, I found all 12 words first and bragged like a swaggering gigolo over my victory.

Tomorrow is Friday. Friday, already, and at last. We are destined to do nothing very much this weekend – yippee! I am hoping my new DS game arrives, so I have something to do once Curt has melded with the couch to bond with his new games (here, here, and here).

Time for bed. Move along, then – these aren’t the droids you’re looking for….z…..z..z….z…zzzz….

in Books, Poetry, Games, Life of Giang

Fel Priest!

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

What is more resplendent than the act of whoring out Yeats to gaming? ;)

So, the Monday WoW group is back together – new and improved on Tuesday nights! It’s good to be back where everybody knows my name, and it’s Dezember, the Spirit-Loathing Badass Fel Priest Extraordinaire, Wielder of the Mighty Snow Of Woe, The Alt-Tab Bringer of Death and Corpse Runs! Yarrr!

/Insert Segue Here

Exercising is not fun for me. I hate it. I do it because I don’t want to be fat again. I’ve teeter-tottered my whole life, and would like to keep fighting the good fight, so I try hard (some days harder than others) to keep up with it. While I was making the long commute, exercising was relegated to the back burner to make time for cooking, laundry, and errands. Several weeks ago, Curt went out and came back bearing his Joe Weider home gym. He thought it would be a good alternative to running in the dark, or Tae Bo (I feel dumb kicking into the air, especially when the man telling me to do it is in a giant flourescent blue Speedo.) I’ve been working out on it ever since. The other morning as I was shifting my weight in bed, my hand brushed across my leg, and I felt a muscle that I could swear to you has never been there before. I am not sure what it does, but there it was, all the same. Making my thighs bigger. Giving me lethal-dose ostrich legs. What der farken.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and my first night of class. Boy vehemently eschews the idea of Valentine’s Day, so he is most likely (not-so) secretly glad that I will be glued to a chair somewhere far from the reach of any (not-so) surprise Valentine’s Day flowers that I may have bullied him into sending me. It’s not that I care much for the day – it’s just that I have the insatiable lust of the braggadocio in my heart, and love his public adoration. It’s vile, isn’t it? :)

I am going to start that book tonight, and write a page every night until I have finished a story. Maybe I will post it.

Sleepy bed place time.