World of Goo - Comment and review

So I was putting it off for a while, but, bored with my current selection of games, I decided to download World of Goo for my Wii, an indie game produced by 2D Boy. I had read an enthusiastic review of it a while ago and researched it a bit more from there and it seemed like most people were of the opinion this game simply rocks. I concur.

I feel like if Dr. Suess were to make a video game, it would turn out something like World of Goo. A mix of Lemmings and build-a-house-of-cards, World of Goo has you using adorable goo balls to help them help you bridge a gap, traverse a spikey cavern, orbit a planet, destroy a huge robot head, and accomplish dozens of other amazing feats of glory. There are several different types of goo balls, but mainly you'll be working with basic, common goo ball that stick to each other. Now, I'm not a huge puzzle fan, and for a game in this genre to hook me, it's gotta deliver a little bit of action and strategy along with the puzzles. This ones got both. Anchored by a rock solid physics system, these cutie-pie rolly-pollys will test your logical thinking and your reflexes and even offer up some nice explosions along the way.

There are several things I just loved about WoG. First, the balance, length and price is outstanding. It's about $15 on WiiWare - can't beat that. It took me about one week to beat at the bare bones level playing about 3 hours a day, and I find for this type of game, it turned out to be the perfect length, and if I want more, I can go back and master every level, and work toward building the biggest tower in the meta-game at the end. I think what happens alot in the gaming world is that designers make games too long, and I for one get really bored and end up shelving or just neglecting the game before I finish. I think I get bored because they designers run out of fresh ideas and resort to rehashing the same thing again and again until tedium sets in. I like Goo's paradigm: Low price, short game, fantastic content, done. It leaves me wanting more and eager for the sequal. Finally, the balance, or difficulty was just right. I rarely beat a level on the first try, but always, as I watched my darling goo balls tumble into the abyss, or burn to a crisp, I knew what I would do different next time and usually it worked. The best levels had me shifting my tactics every time until finally I figured out what I needed to to. Point being: no cheap shots. The was one level I had to do about 15 times to get the timing just right for, but in all fairness I probably could have beaten it quicker had I thought through my strategy a bit more.

While solid play mechanics make this game a joy to play, the atmosphere is what really makes Goo shine. From the whimsical graphics, to the hilarious Signpainter tutorial/instructions to the exciting and chilling music, WoG really does feel like a conhesive world, with charm to spare. I tried to introduce it to my husband, and while he was into it for a while, he quickly requested we go back to Smash Bros. or Mario Kart, deeming WoG too "plodding." Still, I maintain anyone can play this game as well. There is one button. Really. World of Goo is a concise, brilliant game, with surprises at every new level. Definately worth a easy $15 you'd spend on a hooker anyway. What? Nothing, Mother.

Last week I had an 8-hour meth fuelled sex marathon involving slings and organic dildos

Just kidding. I did watch the inauguration though. And it was wonderful. My friend Natalie host a lil' Obama day party at her pad in the West Village for all of us students, out-of-workers, and peeps who could sneak out of work. I mean really, how many people were working from noon to one that day? Nat had a nice bagel spread, Obama hats, pencils, and signs (you can't tell in the pic, but I'm rocking a Big O hat there). It was mostly Nat's friends from grad school who I don't know at all, but Devon was there and so we hung out for a bit until the proceedings began.

The entire time I was incredibly nervous that Obama was going to be assassinated and don't tell me you weren't thinking the same thing. Even with all the crazy security they kept saying was in place, I was thinking of all the nuts Patriot Games and 24 type spy movies where assassins bring in wooden gun n' shit. I just kept thinking about all of America watching our greatest hope get his brains blown out in front of the world in hi-def and how devastating it would be for everyone. Truly horrifying. Anyway, that didn't happen thanks be to jebus.

One of the most amazing unsung heros of the day was Aretha Franklin's hat.
That thing is frackin amazing. Not much more to say about that, but I urge you to just take a few moments to consider that amazingness of this hat.

The oath gaffe by Roberts was unfortunate, but I don't understand the vitriol toward him. There have been comments such as "you ruined what would've been a stupendous moment in history." Huh? Who cares? It is something of a shame that the oath was garbled, but it really takes nothing away from Barack's historic day. Roberts was nervous, who wouldn't have been?

Everyone in the room sat in rapt attention as Obama gave his speeck. I thought it was really amazing. I took a moment to look around the room and many people had tears in their eyes. Tears of joy? Tears of hope? Maybe just raw emotion to see such a wonderful thing happen in our country. I almost always feel proud to be an American, but that day was certainly one of my proudest moments. After the innaugeration Devon and I headed home, in a bright new Obama day.

The Divine Ms. C does it again

So it's only what? The third week of the year and we already have an amazing contender for song of the year. That's right, while all the drama of this season's American Idol is just getting started, the original Idol is poised to dominate the dance floor this year. My Life Would Suck Without You is Awesome. That's right, capital A. I know, it's basically Since U Been Gone part deux, but really, is there anything wrong with that? Since U Been Gone is one of my favorite songs of all time. So what if the beginning sounds exactly the same as SUBG? The middle is kinda different? People are complaining this is pop radio trash but you know what? It's what I enjoy. All those music snobs can go and ohh and ahh and cry over Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver. I want music that makes me happy. This is it.

The gay boys are going to eat this shit up. I can just picture myself losing my shit at The Ritz or The Boatslip when this song comes on. It has an amazing, soaring hook that just begs you to get up off your ass, sing along with your best friend or fag hag, and flair about and/or play air guitar. Basically what I did every time Since U Been Gone was played. Plus, the lyrics are so generic people can relate to the song in hundreds of different ways. I've already applied it to my hubby, by friend, and my dog. I mean, my life would kinda suck without any of them. Imagine the unbridled joy of screaming this song into your best friends face - it'll be alot more fun than "shut your mouth I just can't take it." You can play SUBG when you break up with your mean and MLWSWY during the makeup sex. Loves it.

MLK weekend or: Will BU be me?

So after my Freelancers seminar at CUNY ended on Friday, Rick and I hightailed it up to Boston for some family, friends, and potential schooling action. The drive was pleasant, with the obligatory stop over in Sandy Hook for some Subway. I had a information session at BU at 3:30 and although the weather was bitter cold, we told Kippy on a walk downtown to Lexington, and then took a nice nap until it was time to go.


So here's the pros with BU's journalism program:

More right for me than Mario Lopez in a speedo
It's highly respected and academically rigourous. Rick thinks I would become the best writer at BU, and although I would probably agree, there is no way to know that. It's very large, and the college of communications has lots of different programs, so the ability to work together across a range of disciplines is there. The alumnai network is very large. Boston is pretty fly and we would enjoy living and working there.

Ok, sounds peachy right? Let's get to the cons, several of them major.
As unappealing as eating out an underage Chinese gymnast
BU is expensive as FUCK. It's $18,500 tuition per semester. For three semesters thats $55,500. So, if I go to CUNY instead of BU I would be saving $43,500. That's pretty much an entire year's worth of work. Thats a major consideration. Secondly, they do not have an arts/culture/entertainment track, which is what I want to focus on. Hmmm. I asked about it, and they said students can easily focus on it, they just have to put their own program together. Fun. Those are really the only two major cons, but how major they are.

So what to do? I'm going to apply, and see what happens. I obviously hope to get into all my schools, to be able to play them off each other, but I see BU as a long shot, even if I get in.

After the info session, we went home and Kasim came over for dinner at 41 Woodland rd. It was really a fun night, with lots of wine and laughs. We stayed up late playing hearts and then Rick went to bed and somehow we figured it would be a good idea to go to 7-11 and buy cigarettes. I was pretty shitwreacked at the time, and it was really fun. We drove down to Fiske, our spot, and I chain smoked, (Kasim had a couple) and we shot the shit for a while. Finally Kasim took me home and headed back to Lowel.

I was a mess the next morning and in a terrible mood. We had breakfast and bid my parents adieu. We had forgotten that the rental place across the street from us closed at 3 on Saturdays so I had to drive the car into Manhattan to drop it off just as my hangover was hitting it's peak. Rick and I got into a huge fight about it and it was just an unpleasant day all around. We did make up though, and we've spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out, watching football and the Austrailian Open, and taking Kippy for a fun dog park visit in the snow.

Until next time, my delicious fruit tarts,
JB

J-School for JRB

My delicate snowflakes, now is when I talk about Grad School. It's about time. I've been struggling with what to do with my life for a while now. Maybe struggling is the wrong word. Perhaps "wrasslin'" is more apt. After the fun and excitement of getting promoted to manager at Rico wore thin, I became a bit complacent. The gig was pretty good. It was 4 blocks from my apartment, a decent salary, and I was the boss. But I wasn't doing anything that I loved. I wrassled with other occupations briefly: A vet! No, too much studying and being a doctor. Plus the pay sucked for the effort put in. A model! Well, I'm getting a bit old and I don't think my delicate ego could withstand being beautiful dirty rich. I think I kept putting of writing because it's fucking hard and you have to expose yourself to the world. Even worse than being a model. People are judging you on your intelligence rather than your looks. I can always look in the mirror and convince myself that I'm rediculously good looking, but sometimes I have crisis of confidence in my intelectual ability. I know one of my biggest challenges will be overcoming this fear and having confidence in abilities.

So, I stopped denying the ineveitable and began looking at J-Schools. My initial list was large and ambitious: Columbia. NYU. Berkeley. Northwestern. Emerson. BU. Temple. Northeastern. CUNY. Ok, so the list isn't enormous, but it is fairly ambitious. Consequently, I've eleminated all of the top schools off the list. I am fairly confident that I can't get into Columbia, NYU, Northewestern or Berkeley. These are the best J-Schools in the country. Not to say that I'm not one of the most promising writers in the country, but my records don't show it. Also, several of these school want established journalists as students and I just don't have the killer resume to show them. I'm still not sure if it was the best decision, but I'm happy with my new list, and it saves me considerable application fees.

So, my final list includes the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, Emerson, Boston University, and The University of British Columbia. I still might apply to Northeastern, but I haven't decided yet.

So my top choice is CUNY. We complete each other. The reasons are pretty simple: It's in New York. It's extremely affordable. It has an Arts & Culture track. It's extremely affordable. It has a "New Media" tract. It's extremely affordable. They have lots of usefull classes that teach in demand skills. It's extremely affordable. It focus on getting you a job when you graduate. This all breaks down to CUNY being a GREAT VALUE. I'm talking $12,000 TOTAL for 16 months of schooling and a Master's degree. Plus there is a large chance I will be awarded a $7000 grant as a gay journalist. So, I look at that and wonder if anything BU is going to offer me will be worth $35,000. Highly doubtful. So yeah CUNY and I are down with each other. However, it's the only school I've visited, so things could change.


After CUNY comes That would be the University of British Columbia. In Vancouver. Um whoa, eh? It's beautiful: Ok I've never been out there but everyone I've ever talked to in my life seems to think Vancouver is the greatest place ever. However, most of these people have never been out there either. Vancouver benefits from really positive, overrated word of mouth. Now, I'm sure Vtown is pretty fly, but I'm sure it's not "the most beautiful place in the known world" and "so cool I'm writing an opus dedicated to its spendor." As far as I know no one has ever actually said these quotes, but this is the type of response I get when I mention I might move to BC. Still the prospect of moving out there is pretty exciting for me. It seems so exotic and idyllic and affordable and Kippy would just adore it. More pros: The Olymipcs are going to be there is 2010. Vancouver is a hotspot for movie and television production, (3rd in North America after LA and New York) areas I want to write about. BC is a center for video game production, another area I want to write about. You'll notice that everything I've mentioned is about the city and not the school. That's becuase I don't know too much about it. I know its a well respected school, and "the only graduate school of Journalism in Western Canada." So, I'm hoping I get in and Rick and I can go out there to explore this spring.

My last three schools I group into my Boston Group. The truth is I don't know too much about them except that they are expensive. Emerson, BU, and Northeastern. I'm going up to Boston this weekend to see Mom n' Pop, hang with the K-mas and go to an info session at BU this weekend, so I'm sure I'll have a better idea about that school after tomorrow. Right now I'm off to a Freelancer's Seminar at CUNY. Peace out kids have a good weekend!!

xoxo
JB

Mara made me do it. . .

Dammit Mara, I'm only doing this cause you're pregnant! Just kidding, you're wrong, I love doing self indulgent lists like this. And I haven't done this kinda shit since like Freshman year of highschool. I'm in a really weird mood right now and it's 2:45 in the morning, so this should be interesting. . .

Oh and Rachel Rose. . .you're my only other blogger friend - so I'm paying it forward to you. . .although you're blog is a bit more professional. . .

I AM. . .restless

I WANT. . .to be sitting down for Showgirls in Provincetown and ordering a drink

I HAVE. . .a beautiful husband and dog 

I KEEP. . .playing World of Warcraft incessantly

I WISH I COULD. . .be more witty

I HATE. . .slow people, but not as much as Rick

I FEAR. . .armageddon, seeing the world go to shit

I HEAR. . .the refrigerator running, and Lady Gaga very soon

I DON'T THINK. . .I should play Warcraft tomorrow. . .but I will anyway

I REGRET. . .buying so much expensive furniture

I LOVE. . .dancing

I AM NOT. . .heterosexual. . .by any streach 

I DANCE. . .as often as I can. . .and hopefully tomorrow?!

I SING. . .badly, very badly

I NEVER. . .do enough housework

I RARELY. . .get up before 11!

I CRY WHEN I WATCH. . .just about anything "heartwarming." That includes The Incredibles

I AM NOT ALWAYS. . .ready to party

I HATE THAT. . .I'm not more productive

I'M CONFUSED ABOUT. . .Isreal/Palistine. . .

I NEED. . .nothing more than what I have

I SHOULD. . .really go to bed soon. . .

The Holidays Part Tres - Skiddie Time!

After getting back from the Berkshire, Rick and I had a few days to relax and then - Mello! Lojo came to town! Inspired by her NYC visit, our long lost roomate Noa, who has been getting her doctorate in Southern Florida since college ended, came to Brooklyn for some shenanigans. Noa and Lojo arrived in Brooklyn at around the same time at my apartment, and we took a walk down to the Promenade and into DUMBO. It was a wonderful winter day, and we had a lot of laughs and silly times just walking around and hanging out. We returned to my apartment and played some Guitar Hero until it was time to meet Marky in the hood for some yummy thai food. It was so nice seeing Noa and I wish her luck on all her medical interviews in the near future.

For New Year's Eve, Marky and Matt threw a fabulous party at their apartment! We were so close to getting all five former roomates together, and although we only got 4 (me, Mark, Devon, and Lojo), it was super fun. Everyone was kind of a mess getting ready for New Year Eve, especially me. Whoever made me gay clearly forgot to give me that fashion gene all gay men are supposed to get and I've realized I'm kind of a

 fasion disaster. I tried on about 10 different outfits and all of them were terrible. I wasn't happy with what I settled on, but we basically had to leave and I had run out of options so c'est la vie. The party was a big ole Skiddy Reunion with us Gay Catherine St. roomies, Meera, Markland, Kenne, and Dorothy. We missed you Nat and Mikey O!
Some highlights: Rick imitating Drew Barrymore's "big results!" line from Body Fuzion and knocking over his drink, me hiding from this girl behind Dorothy because I couldn't remember her name, Keene introducing "my girlfriend WHO I FUCK ALL THE TIME," question of the night "how old is the oldest person you've ever slept with?" - Aron won that door prize and was the proud new owner of the naked Tony Danza picture, an entire group of people, including Laura thinking Rick said "Laura coudn't get a date to save her life, although right now she's probably getting plowed by some butch dyke" and of course, me rocking out with my Hello Kitty microphone.
Did anyone else watch the "countdown" on CNN? Becuase there was no clock on the screen. We were watching it muted on closed captioning and we were counting down by the script for deaf people that everyone knows has like a 5 second delay. While the screen was showing "Five. . .four. . ." a graphic came up on the screen that said "Happy New Year!" but everyone pretended they didn't see it and just kept couting. It was pretty ghetto but silly and fun. Everyone loves a good countdown. Plus, I really do love those first few minutes after New Years where you go around and hug everyone and kiss them and wish them Happy New Year. Everyone is always so happy and full of warmth; I really do think a New Year bring about feelings of hope and renewal.
After the countdown I got down with my aforementioned badass Hello Kitty microphone, and shoke my grove thing like it was 1999! Everyone was really in a good mood and it was overall just a fun party. While certainly can't say that it was a sober occasion, I was a bit more in control that usual and although I seem to have blacked out right after I jumped on the hood of this ambulence, I definately remember staying up until four in the morning watching Britney videos with Lojo until Nina called. She hooted like a barn owl ("hoot, hoot") when she was off the phone with her, but I was way passed out by then.

Lojo had to leave the next day, so we took a nice walk with her down to the bagel shop and saw her off on the subway. Tear. It was a nice visit, and a fantastic holiday season. Here's to a fabulous 2009!!

Xmas II

So I know you are all dying to find out how my holidays ended, so, I'll tell you. On the 26th we flew from Wisco back to NYC and rented a car right from the airport to drive up to the Berkshires. Apart from a brief squabble while leaving the airport area, things went swimingingly. Now let me preface this post by describing a little bit what a trip out to Tunxis (our Hyannisport, dahling) is like. Its basically hanging out with my parents and playing games interspersed by my mother cooking delicious meals with us. We start drinking heavily around 6 and don't stop until an unreasonalbe time (when my mother starts getting emotional or a log falls out of the fireplace). So, by all accounts its usually a pretty great and unhealthy time. I enjoy it as well because Kippy goes apeshit and has the time of his life up there, so I feel less guilty keeping him in our appartment for 23 hours a day at home.

After a jubilant reunion with Kippy at Tim & Paul's we arrive at the TRout House in the evening to do Le Noel Bathaser with my parents. My mom does 95% (if not 100%) of the Xmas shopping and she still likes to treat me, and now Rick, as if we were 7 years old. This means a stocking stuffed with gum, toothbrushes, candy, socks, and the like as well as about 10 presents for each of us. She went nuts at Tommy Hilfiger and got us all kinds of undwear, jackets, shirts, ect. which I'll actually wear. Probably the most exciting Jesus Day moment was when I sucessfully predicted getting The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo out of the blue. I had never asked my mom for it, and I really wanted it because it was on Stephen King's top ten books of 2008, so it was really cool she got it for me, and even cooler that I guessed it. She also got me a subscription to The Paris Review which I am very excited about as well as nice gloves, an amaryllis (which I definitely had to look up how to spell) and toffee. So we both got a pretty nice haul overall.

A spectacular sunset on the way home from Tim & Paul's place

The rest of the weekend was dedicated to playing ping-pong and getting drunk at cocktail parties. Seriously. The second night we were there my parents organized a cocktail party for the Caldwells (our next door neighbors) and after that I conviced all of us to go over the the Lawler's for his cocktail party. These parties are sometimes a bit stressful for me because I grew up with all these people and I'm expected to remember all of their names. Well, maybe not expected, because I spent alot of summers away in Provincetown and I am just now starting to reconnect to the Berkshires. Often someone will come up to me and say "you may not remember me, but I'm. . ." but also some people say "Jonathan Balthaser! I haven't seen you in 5 years! How are you!" and I have to pretend like I know who they are. This is easier with liquor. There are really alot of fascinating people who live around the lake and it was nice drunkenly talking with them. Rick is starting to get a clear view of the members. Anyway, apparently we were popular as my mother has told us several times since that we "were the hit of the party." I really don't think that we are that fascinating, but when I think about it, a married twenty year old couple is probably a giant gust of fresh air to these 60 year olds who are used to seeing only each other all year at these cocktail parties.

The last party was thrown by Ron Ronald, my father's best friend from his Denison days. He is related to our neighbors the Caldwells, and likes to throw a large family holiday party that he invites our family to as well. He owns a restaurant in Hartford, so he brought in his head chef to prepare a meal at the Clubhouse. Now, because Ron is best friends with my father, there is even more anxiety about remember who everyone is in his family. He seems to have around 6 daughters, and I can never remember who is who and what they all do. This night I made a concious effort to start to remember some of them and I made some real progress. The meal was nice and I sat next to Ron's sister who was quite interesting to talk to. One of the Caldwell's daughter's, Amelie, got into Denison, so everyone was all excited about that. Rick correctly guessed all the children's grades, and they all guessed he was 26 years old. The evening ended with a heated ping-pong game between Rick and Amelie, my mother and myself. So, 10 pounds heavier and with our livers ravaged, we headed back to NYC for some Skiddie New Year's Even fun. . .until next time!

My Xmas in Wisconsin

Well it's been a while and as I've said before, I hate when bloggers talk about how long it's been since their last post so moving on. . .

The Holidays were pretty fantastic. I almost had a anxiety attack when Tim came to pick up Kippy to take care of him for the three days we would be away in Wisconsin. Seriously, I almost lost my shit. I was getting all choked up and felt like I was going to cry and wanted to hold him close and not let him go. I was afraid that Kippy would be afraid in their small New York apartment and miserable having to deal with their two pugs. However after talking with Tim, it seems like he barely missed us. He dealt with the apartment fine, and once he got up to the Berkshire AKA Dog Heaven, we were but mere remnants of a memory, replaced by the joy of frolicking in snow. Basically he had a fantastic time while Rick and I were pining away for our little Reno.

Wisconsin was a hoot - we drank a lot (Harvey Walbangers and Tom and Jerrys - only in the Midwest) and I was subjected to more forced gambling at cards and pool. It's interesting how Rick's father seems to always clean up. Rick's farther WAS in a jolly old mood though, and although I wouldn't say we did anything on the level of bonding, he was less than his gruff usual self. He also told me kinda out of the blue after we played pool that I could be a great pool player if I played in a league. So that was sweet.
Lori plays Santa during Xmas eve present opening

The was a ton of snow as expected, but none really fell while we were there, and it wasn't unbearably cold. It was my first Christmas outside my own family and it was a very nice experience. On Christmas Eve, the Smetanas like to play cards, drink and then open all their presents. Basically everything I got was a game which was pretty amazing. I got Pass the Pigs (vintage), Guitar Hero III, our third copy of Cranium, Pictureka and a great new dice game called Farkle. On Christmas day we went over to Rick's aunt Linda's house, started drinking around noon, and opened more presents (I only got one gift there). It was nice knowing most of the people there and for the first time I began to really feel comfortable around Rick's family. I got an ear full of gossip as well, and learned a lot about DUIs, school expulsions, failed marriages, and more of the usual family drama. Rick's cousin, who is kind of hot, pulled out a bag of weed while a group of us were playing Farkle and began to roll a joint before his step-mom told him to put it away. So we went out into his car and lit up there. Nice.

We went back to the Smetana household around 8 and played 31 (and I lost more money for quite some time.) Rick's farther was very animated and I drank an entire bottle of wine by myself. It was a lovely way to end a pleasant Christmas. The next morning, we just got up, ate a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes, watched an episode of Cash Cab and rolled on out of there to the airport. Done and done. Back to New York and then immediately up to the Berkshires for Christmas Round 2 with the Balthasers.