The cool art that I bought from my friend, Nick Callihan.  Got a frame for it at Michael's for $5 (I used a 40% off coupon).  But I'm digging it.  It's now on my wall next to the Beastie Boys concert poster (transformers style art) and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit calendar from 1989 (hey, it was a very good year for SI swimsuit models). 

Anyway, Mr. Callihan participates in the live art show at the Movie Tavern (133 N Locust Hill Dr., Lexington KY) so maybe catch him there and say howdy.  Or tell him "yo mama" jokes.  Your choice.  

Jack N The Box is in Cincinnati!  This picture, taken Memorial Day Weekend, is proof of that (okay, so it's kinda old news).  But I'm still excited.  I'll list my Jack N The Box "eatage" from the past five years: October 2008 (trip to Hawaii), May 2013, August 2013, (and hopefully November 2013 and December 2013!).  If you couldn't add, it had been nearly FIVE years since I had the sweet sweet taste of Jack N The Box.  Yup, I think that's a valid reason to still be excited.

Oh yeah, and I guess I'm back on this blog of mine (for the time being).  

UPS LAND Jr: Update

Pictured above is the title screen for UPSLAND JR. And below is a screenshot of the actual gameplay.
It looks a lot better than the earlier version. The sprites are crisp and clean. The UPS shield border looks sharp. And, of course, the background looks very kick ass! The game music is from the NES game, Kung Fu (grabbed it from here). And the know-how to make a title screen was learned from this youtube fellow.

As I said before, it's a simple game. Grab the goodies, avoid the baddies. But I'm proud of it.

Next up on the polish list: Fix the Kung Fu music to loop without a fade out.

If I can find a site that allows uploads, I'll upload UPSLAND JR on it.

UPDATE: Signed up for an account on MegaUpload.com and uploaded the game: UPSLand JR. Link will take you to my file for UPSLand Jr. No account is necessary to download from MegaUpload. I have to warn you though, this is an uncompressed file. So the download may take awhile.

UPSLAND Jr

This is a game I created with a program called GameMaker 8.1. The object of the game is to click on the boxes, hotdogs (safety dogs), gold coins, and Mystery Box. These items earn the player points. Avoid the poison sign (hazmat) and the anti-money sign. These take away points. And avoid clicking on the dark polo shirt, as this ends the game (you're fired!).

The GameMaker software was easy for me to use. No programming knowledge needed! It was easy to understand, yet still customizable. All of the game graphics were put into the game by me. I fully customized the sound that each piece makes (Homer's "D'oh" is played when you click on the poison sign; the hotdog sounds like the power-up mushroom from Mario Bros). It's a simple game (try to click on the pieces as they fly around) but I liked it. I think the software shows promise.

It might be what I need to create UPSLAND.

Roms in progress

This is the start screen to the NES game, Super Mario Bros. Using a text editor, some of the text has been changed (unless you remember playing as Gonzo or Duke).
And this is the Game Over screen with modifications from the same text editor.

Making modifications with a text editor is as simple as knowing how to spell. You simply substitute "Game Over" with "UPS Wins" and you've modified your game. There are a lot of rom hacks out there. A rom hack is a video game that has been modified. This can be anything from a lightly modified game (Mario without a mustache for example) all the way to a heavily modified game (basically a brand new game). Serious modifications usually involve a lot of programming knowledge, something that I don't have.

But I want to make a rom called UPSLand. I want to change the Mario and Luigi sprites (game character graphics), the enemy sprites, some of the background, and maybe the music. Of course, I'll be happy with the first 2 out of four. But that's my new project. Learn some programming. Make a game.

Taco Biff Baseball 2011

Revolting Youth

It was damn good. Sorry, that's a piss poor review. But my shoulder hurts and I'm tired from work, so...it is what it is. Damn good book. Ordered Young and Revolting on ebay. It should be good.

And see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. It was a damn good movie.

Spoiler Alert!!! Don't Read This If You Haven't Seen Inception Yet!

Okay. Now I'm going to talk about Inception and I didn't want to spoil the awesome movie for anyone. Seriously, if you haven't seen it and want to, please don't read this post. SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Okay, hopefully if you're still reading, you have already seen it (or don't plan on seeing it). As you know, the movie has an open ending. Dom spins the little metal top and just as it seems like it might waiver and fall, the credits roll. So is he still in a dream or not? Of course there is no way to tell for sure. The movie ends before anyone knows. But here are some clues that I've gathered after my second viewing of the great movie.

-Since we don't know how much time has past between the last time Dom saw his kids and the present time, we have no way of knowing how much the children have aged. Maybe only a few months. Maybe a few years. About 30 minutes into the film, Dom talks to his children over the phone. His son sounds like a little kid (muppet-ish voice, asking kid-like questions). But his daughter sounds like she is 10 or 12. In Dom's memory, the children look like they are between 4 and 8 years old. They also seemed close in age. So the daughter couldn't be 10 or 12 and the son still a muppet sounding toddler. But at the end of the movie, Dom sees his kids again and they look exactly like they did in his memory. It makes it seem like a dream and since we can't see what happens to the spinning top (it only topples in reality), I guess that's the point. POINT: Not sure.

-Michael Caine plays Dom's father. At one point Dom has presents for his children and asks Michael Caine to send it to them. Caine says something about how stuffed animals aren't going to make Dom's children forget that they don't have a father. If Dom's children were a lot older, stuffed animals wouldn't be an appropriate gift. So the fact that his gift was stuffed animals makes it seem like they are still little. POINT: Ending was reality.

-At the end of the movie, Michael Caine is waiting at the LA airport for Dom, seemingly out of the blue. The Michael Caine parts in the movie go like this: Dom goes to Paris to see Caine, dropping off gifts for his stateside children and seeking new talent for this one last job. Caine recommends Ellen Page's character. 2 hours of movie go by and then at the end, Caine is there to pick up Dom at the airport. Granted, Dom could have called his dad and said, "Hey pops, I'm coming back to the states. I might be going straight to jail or I might be scott free. Either way, can you pick my ass up?" I mean, they don't usually show characters going to the bathroom or eating breakfast. It could have happened. And I know Christopher Nolan didn't include such a scene because it would have ruined the open ending. But I don't think it's likely that Caine's character was there at the LA airport. When we last saw Caine, he was in Paris. Dom flew into LA on a 10 hour flight from Australia. Is that enough time? And why didn't Dom's mother (or whoever is watching over his kids) pick him up instead? POINT: Ending was a dream.

-The little metal top is a talisman that Dom uses to verify that he is back in the real world and not still dreaming. When Dom spins it in the real world, it spins for a while, waivers, then falls down. While in a dream, the top spins endlessly. At the end of the movie, Dom spins the top, then sees his children and runs out to them. The top continues to spin while Dom is hugging his children in the background. Then the top starts to waiver and BOOM, the credits roll. From what we saw in the movie, the top wouldn't have waivered at all in a dream. The fact that it does start to waiver is a clue that gravity is in effect and that Dom is in the real world. POINT: Ending was reality.

After all that, I'm still not sure what it is. If it is a dream or reality. But Inception is a kickass movie. That much I know.

Water Jug (or The Sweaty Worker)

I had been taking a 20 ounce water bottle to work, but that wasn't going to cut it. Pictured above is the upgrade. It holds one quart and it's an Igloo so it should stay cool.

The heat at my new job isn't so bad. It's nothing compared to delivering phone books at 2 in the afternoon with a 90 degree sun beating down on you. But it is kind of hot in there and you work really hard. So it's easy to get dehydrated. Hopefully the Igloo will help. I'm excited to try it out.

Inception Rocks!!!

I just got back from seeing the latest Christopher Nolan masterpiece and it kicked my ass and took my name, but in a good way. Certain keywords indicating movie awesomeness include: masterpiece, Christopher, Nolan. It was great from start to finish. Since this is a sloppy sort of blog, I'm not going to give it much of a review other than the acknowledgment that it was great and I will verbally provide a Reg Lee's Stamp of Approval. Here it is: Reg Lee's Stamp of Approval.

Also the fact that I want to see it at least 2 more times should be an indication of Inception's greatness.

Pictures of Triumph!!!

The green salsa recipe was a success! Actually it was more than just a mere success. I think it's the best green salsa I've ever tasted. Fresh, flavorful, with just the right amount of kick, it's good enough to eat straight from the jar. Pictured below is the sample "bowl" and one of the jars. If you're not jealous, you should be. I'm going to make another batch over the weekend. A typical batch only yields one and a half jars. And frankly, that isn't enough for a salsa guzzler like me.

One Pound of Tomatillos

"Wow! A whole pound of tomatillos? This fool must love eating tomatillos raw or something."

Nah, it's nothing like that. This is for the best tasting homemade green salsa that ever existed. That's right! EVER! Recipe courtesy of The Sister-Machine. We made a batch the last time in Pittsburgh. Click green salsa link if you want to see the Pittsburgh batch. It links to The Sister-Machine's blog page. Hopefully my batch will be just as good.

Pictures of triumph or sorrow to follow.

P.S. Really enjoying Youth In Revolt. Looking for cheap copies of Young and Revolting and Revolting Youth, the continuations of Nick Twisp's adventures.

More Futurama Review

So I continued my Netflix Instant watching of Futurama with The Beast with a Billion Backs and Bender's Game. Let me give you a grade for each before (sort of) breaking down the what and why. The Beast with a Billion Backs: GRADE D. Bender's Game: GRADE B.

Okay. The Beast with a Billion Backs isn't very good. It was probably one of the worst Futurama episodes I've ever seen. The jokes weren't good. I'm not feeling very articulate about crappy episodes right now, so I'll just say that it stunk.

Bender's Game was much better. It would have been great, if not for the Lord of the Rings crap that they did near the end. I kept thinking when did Bender's Game come out? Don't they (futurama writers) know that Lord of the Rings has become overdone? That said, it was much better than Beast with Billion Backs, but not as good as Bender's Big Score.

Next up: Into the Wild Green Yonder (and please, no Lord of The Rings crap in this one.)

New Job, New Shoes, New Harlots

Well, two out of three isn't bad. Start the new job tomorrow. Got the new work boots yesterday. The new boots are great. Very comfortable. And they make me an inch or so taller. Which might lead to some new harlots. Bwahaha!

Youth In Revolt (book)

Found Youth In Revolt (by C.D. Payne) at Half Price Books for $1. It was a great find at a great price. I saw the movie with Michael Cera when it came out and loved it. Knowing that the book would be better (they almost always are), I've been searching for it (at a reasonable price) ever since. Closest I got was a $3 Very Good copy on Half.com, but funds were low at the time and I couldn't get it. Skip to yesterday: I'm at Half Price Books specifically looking for Youth In Revolt (the book) when I find it on the Clearance shelf for ONE DOLLAR!!! The cover is a little worn, but the pages are clean and white and the book doesn't smell like library or smoke or anything else gross and disgusting. I'm very pleased with my purchase. Check your local Half Price Books if you too are interested in such a bargain buy. They might have it for a dollar.

Bender's Big Score (for free-kinda)

Thanks to Netflix, everything Futurama (all four seasons and the straight-to-dvd movies) are available for live viewing on Netflix Instant (or whatever it's called). Seeing how I've never seen the straight-to-dvd Futurama movies, I decided to start with that. And sometimes when you start something, it's good to start at the beginning. Other times, like when reading magazines, it is preferable to start at the end. At least for me.

Anyway. I just finished watching Bender's Big Score, the first of the four straight-to-dvd movies. It started off kind of badly, spending the first 5 minutes or so making fun of Fox for dropping the show. But it got better as it went along. There were two song-and-dance routines for reasons I'm not entirely sure. The first involved The Professor singing about something or another. It wasn't very good. The second musical segment involved Robot Santa, Kwanzabot, and the Chanukah Zombie singing in Santa's toy factory. It was better but still a little unnecessary. I mean, what it this, Mary Poppins?

Overall, I liked it despite the slow start (yes, I understand that Fox is run by a bunch of morons, after all, they wanted George Lucas to include rock songs in Star Wars Episode IV) and the musical segments which felt like someone said "Oh! We have 88 minutes to fill. We can do whatever we want! Bwah ha ha!" It was definitely worth the price of the already paid Netflix subscription. And I might want to own it one day. But not before owning the other seasons (already have Season 3!). It was good. I'd watch Bender's Big Score again. But it's not as good as a full season. Next on the Netflix Instant agenda: The Beast With a Billion Backs.

Hello Kitty Soccer

Japan was eliminated today during World Cup play, but Hello Kitty can never be eliminated (bwah ha ha).

Futurama es Bueno!

I was thinking fondly of the Simpsons and how I missed Phil Hartman's characters and a lot of the old episodes. Later in the day, I was at Best Buy and noticed that all four volumes of Futurama were on sale for $14.99 (USD) (Ha, like that USD part? I thought it was pretty eBay of me). So I bought Vol. 3, which makes sense seeing how my sista has Vol. 1 & 2 and, as siblings, are connected psychically to TV shows that the other might watch. When she watches Doogie Howser M.D., I watch Doogie Howser M.D. Yup. Perfectly normal, I say. Anyway, so much for missing the Simpsons. Futurama es bueno!

Peanut Butter Mochi

We made peanut butter mochi in the 'Burgh. It was great. Recipe available here.

Close up of the mochi.


My smiling endorsement (available for a small fee!).

Pittsburgh Pictures (of me)

Onion Eyes...need I say more?

Me and the Bartman outside a costume shop in the Strip District.
A more civilized picture inside the Oh Yeah! ice cream store.