ghostcat’s blog

I held a sketch party this weekend with a couple of friends, and here are some of my results.

Check it out, I made this

Here's one for all you psych majors :)

Sixthsynesthete

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Something I drew for a fan. Rob's ultimate dream:

Robunicorn

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I discovered that taking rap songs and converting them into quotes from the Victorian era is no ends of fun. Observe!

"I am not insinuating she is a carpetbagger, but you shan't observer her consorting with with those of lesser means."
 ~Honorable K. Westington Esq., 1893

"Who in blazes released the hounds?"
 ~Thomas P. Bahamen, 1868

"Confound the constabulary!"
 ~Nigel Warren Autumnbottom, 1882

 "The Matriarch bids thee surrender thy consciousness."
 ~Lucius Lineaus Coolman Jr. 1875

If you know me, you will know how impossible this next statement will sound. I just bought a Mac. I haven't had a Mac since the Apple IIc, and I have never wanted one. I was perfectly happy "trapped in my Windows world" as their ads so coyly stated. I've never been a fan of Apple's elitist advertising, overpriced products, and their general incompatibility with things I enjoyed, (gaming, for instance). I resented the implication that Macs were somehow inherently better for graphics programs like Photoshop (a total myth), and that any real artist would choose a Mac over a PC. As far as I knew, artists weren't flush with cash to spend on a brand. Was I a Mac-hater? No, but I definitely had my preference, and I was perfectly content to build my own PC for the rest of my days, and never touch a Mac again if I could avoid it. Then Apple did something I never thought would happen in a million years.

They switched to Intel.

This singular event erased almost all of the problems I had with macs. Suddenly, they weren't the underpowered machines I always knew them to be. I even heard rumors that in some cases, they were the better value for their specs. Better value? In a Mac?? Unheard of! When I heard that the new Intel Macs could run Windows, my fate was sealed. I was to become one of those "Mac guys".

But let me go back a little. Before I could become a Mac guy at 10:30 pm today, I had to stop being a home-built system guy. Since my 3rd year of college, I've had a home-built computer. I like getting the best possible value for my money, and getting a $1500 computer for $1000 was like being a part of a secret club. Let the rubes buy their computers pre-built! The fools! I was living off ramen noodles at the time, and it was the smart choice. Unfortunately, since then, I've had the worst luck with components failure of anyone I know. Since my first computer, Ive had 3 chips, 3 motherboards, 3.5 gigs of ram, 4 power supplies, and a hard drive crap out on me. Most recently, the ram slots on my motherboard went bad, so I can't add more than 1 stick of ram, and that one stick has to be ninjaed into position with the precision of a Swiss clock maker. If I were to breathe hard my ram, my computer would shut down. A lack of ram chokes the hell out of Photoshop and merely opening a Rob and Elliot or Cosmobear psd file can take upwards of 3 minutes, non-exaggerated time. I reached the end of my patience with home-built, and finally figured that the extra cost of a pre-fab computer was worth it to keep from having to deal with crap like that.

Now let me state for the record, that I stuck to my PC roots, and checked out Dell's site first. The fact that the site was not working correctly in firefox notwithstanding, I got some prices on the system I wanted, and was less than impressed. On a lark, I checked out apple.com just to see how much more they were charging, and to get a good chuckle about it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that a comparable Mac cost $50 less than the Dell! If I were to stay true to my penny-saving nature, the Mac was the only logical choice. My world was turned upside-down.

So am I going to start wearing a black turtleneck and sipping on Starbucks? To Mac-enthusiast's chagrin, when I get it, the first thing I'm going to do is install Windows XP. I'll give OSX a shot, but all I can say is, I was forced to use OSX for a time a few years ago, and I wasn't impressed. I'll give it another go, but I'll be surprised if it replaces Windows as my home base. On the other hand, It sounds like Vista has it's own batch of problems, so only time can tell if I'll make the switch. I'll tell you this though, if I wasn't able to run Windows, buying a Mac would never have crossed my mind at all, no matter what the value is.

So that's the story of my most recent internet purchase. Tivial? Yes. Boring? Probably. But to me this is a pretty big deal, so I thought I'd share it. In case anyone cares, I've ordered a Mac Pro with the 2.66 ghtz quad core, and I'm very excited :)

So, having had a Wii in my possesion for over a day. I've mostly figured out what I like and dislike about the system and some of the games. Here are my impressions written out in a convenient "bullet" form.

The Wii's "OS" and channels

Like:

• Very intuitive and easy to navigate.
• Virtual console works flawlessly
  
• Photo channel works flawlessly with a digital camera photos and movies.
  
• Typing is very quick and easy.
• The shop channel is very easy to use.
• The music in the shop channel.
  
• Did I mention it's all very easy?
  

Dislike:

• Miis could use more attribute choices and some clothing selections.
• Photo channel only plays MOV files, would have like some more format support.
• The shop channel is a little TOO easy to use. Points can make you forget it's real money.
• You can't do much with the Mii's when they are in the common area
  
  

Like:

• Tennis is an excellent mix between real tennis and video game.
• Bowling is just like the real thing.
• Boxing is more fun than I expected.
• Daily Training option will keep me in shape :)
  

• Golf is too touchy, controls aren't very good
• Baseball's outfield is way too simplistic. they catch or miss the ball at random, it's not determined by how good your shot is.
• The pain in my arms
  

Like:

• Graphics look pretty nice
• Aiming is accurate.
• Storyline is pretty good

• Movement controls are way too touchy. This is only worsened in split-screen multiplayer mode.
• Cursor jumps a lot. Pretty glitchy.
• Turning around takes forever.
  
• So far, it isn't terrible fun

Like:

• Controls are very natural
• Monkey target is more fun than ever

• Seems like the single player game will be a little short
• They could keep the cartoony look, but I would have liked to see them flex the Wii's graphic capabilities a bit more.
  

Like:

• 4 hours in, It is the greatest game I've ever played.

• Nothing so far.

So, having had a Wii in my possesion for over a day. I've mostly figured out what I like and dislike about the system and some of the games. Here are my impressions written out in a convenient "bullet" form.

The Wii's "OS" and channels

Like:

• Very intuitive and easy to navigate.
• Virtual console works flawlessly
  
• Photo channel works flawlessly with a digital camera photos and movies.
  
• Typing is very quick and easy.
• The shop channel is very easy to use.
• The music in the shop channel.
  
• Did I mention it's all very easy?
  

Dislike:

• Miis could use more attribute choices and some clothing selections.
• Photo channel only plays MOV files, would have like some more format support.
• The shop channel is a little TOO easy to use. Points can make you forget it's real money.
• the Mii's you can't do much with the Mii's when they are in the common area
  
  

Like:

• Tennis is an excellent mix between real tennis and video game.
• Bowling is just like the real thing.
• Boxing is more fun than I expected.
• Daily Training option will keep me in shape :)
  

• Golf is too touchy, controls aren't very good
• Baseball's outfield is way too simplistic. they catch or miss the ball at random, it's not determined by how good your shot is.
• The pain in my arms
  

Like:

• Graphics look pretty nice
• Aiming is accurate.
• Storyline is pretty good

• Movement controls are way too touchy. This is only worsened in split-screen multiplayer mode.
• Cursor jumps a lot. Pretty glitchy.
• Turning around takes forever.
  
• So far, it isn't terrible fun

Like:

• Controls are very natural
• Monkey target is more fun than ever

• Seems like the single player game will be a little short
• They could keep the cartoony look, but it would have liked to see them flex the Wii's graphic capabilities a bit more.
  

Like:

• 4 hours in, It is the greatest game I've ever played.

• Nothing so far.

Over lunch break I got to try out the Wii at my local EB games. I've been anticipating this moment since they first unveiled the controller for the "Revolution". First of all, a disclaimer: the store's setup sucks. There was about 3-4 feet between the kiosk and the wall, so you couldn't get back the 6 feet they recommend. When you get too close (0-3 ft) to the sensor bar, the cursor becomes pretty erratic. Luckily, the only game they had to demo was Excite Truck, which doesn't use the sensor bar. Unluckily, Excite truck isn't really my cup o' tea. The controls were kind of floaty, but that seemed to be an issue with the game more than the controller. The truck would point in the direction I wanted it to just fine, but it would skid all over the place. I prefer my racing games with a little tighter controls. Still, it was good arcade-y fun, and given enough time, I'm sure I'd anticipate the tracks well enough to correct for this floaty feeling. As far as graphics, they looked pretty nice, but except for a few shaders and lighting effects, It didn't look like anything the (original) xbox couldn't handle. It definitely wasn't as nice as the 360 playing Call of Duty 3 right next to us, but it had enough flash to look pretty. After I played a few rounds, I exited out to the Wii's main menu and messed around in there. As I said before, the pointer was a little erratic at such close proximity, but when I backed up as far as I could (about 4 ft), it seemed to be easier to control. Making a Mii was pretty interesting, but I was more interested in how typing worked, as I plan on using the Wii as a secondary web browser. It was surprisingly easy to hunt and peck my way through the virtual keyboard. Definitely not as quick as a real keyboard, but a lot faster than inputting with an analog joystick. I wouldn't write your thesis on it, but it'll make writing messages from your console much much easier. Still, I hope they include wireless keyboard support in the future so I can more easily write emails and stuff. A neat little touch they added to the menu navigation is how the controller slightly rumbles when you mouse over selections, this little detail makes navigating easier and more satisfying. I'm a little disappointed they didn't have Wii Sports as the demo game, but I'm glad I got a hands on experience with the Wii before it comes out. After this test run, I'm still really looking forward to the Wii, I'm just not sure I'll be buying Excite Truck.

Edit: I'd probably reconsider Excite Truck if it had wifi play. It was a lot more fun to play with someone else than just by myself.

The election is mostly over now, with one small exception. Virginia's race is the only that's still considered "too close to call", and there's a strong possibility that the dust won't settle until mid December. As it is right now, Webb looks like he has a commanding lead coming into the home stretch, which would secure a majority for the Dems in the House and Senate, and effectively put the brakes on Bush's momentum. Anyway, I'm totally caught up in this whole election buzz. Change is in the air, and I'm glad that there's been a restoration of checks and balances to the inflated presidential power. I think our country works best when neither side gets their way too much.