joe randel's art dump

I watch Survivor.

There.  I said it.

I’ve watched every year except the first one and every year I say to myself, “Self, I don’t think I’ll watch this year.  They can’t really do anything different.  It’s pretty much the same thing every year now” and yet here I am watching Survivor… again.

I can’t help it.

It just sucks me in.

But you know what.  You know what would make Survivor better?  Uncensored Survivor.  Already I’ve seen blurred boobies and I think that the show could totally draw in more viewers if they showed unblurred boobs and bums.  I honestly believe this.

Oh well.  I recored last nights Survivor and have yet to watch it so NO ONE SAY ANYTHING!

mmmmm Survivor boobies…

I’m sure that most here know that I hail from Canada.  But what most don’t probably know that I’m pretty damn hard core about where I live.
Most of the music I listen to is Canadain like Barenaked Ladies (from waaaayyyy back), Jann Arden, Blue Rodeo, Big Wreck (signer is Canadian), Big Sugar,  Tragically Hip, Staggered Crossing, Hawksley Workman and Wide Mouth Mason.  I don’t watch a lot of TV but I do enjoy Canada’s Worst Driver, Canada’s Worst Handyman and Corner Gas (when I catch it that is).  But there’s more to Canada or being Canadian then just it’s awesome, diverse music scene and tv (yeah baby… cbc ^_^ awesome documentaries) so I’ve made a list of things about Canada or about being Canadian that others might not know and might help you out on your next visit.

– We don’t say “eh” or “aboot” (about) as much as others may think.  Well, not all of us any way.  I’m actually guilty of saying “aboot” sometimes and I my wife uses “eh” but we’re just two people and not a proper statistic of a whole Nation.

– Newfoundland, Toronto and Ottawa are actually pronounced Noofundlan, Trana (or Chrana depending how slack jaw you are) and Odawa.

– A “Two Four” is a 24 case of beer and is usually consumed in great quantities on “May two four weekend”.  A long weekend in May where we celebrate the Queen by camping out when it’s still crazy ass cold out but are usually too drunk to care.

– Butter Tarts are not made of butter but they are the best tarts you’ll ever put in your face.  Trust me.

– Quebec has pies with filling made of just maple sugar.

– Poutine is not some scatological porn site.  It’s fries with gravy and cheese curds.  Possibly the best tasting and worst kind of food you can put in your body.  Yum!  Did I mention it was the best tasting?

– Maple syrup kicks corn syrups ass any day of the year.  No question.

– Beaver Tails aren’t made of beavers so it’s okay to eat them.

– Canadians consider American beer for children or the elderly.

– Lacross, Hockey and Basket Ball are all Canadian invented sports.

– Robertson screwdrivers are considered to be a better (possibly the best) design for screws.  So much that Henry Ford found that they saved considerable amount of time in the construction of the early cars.  It is actually possible to screw a Robertson screw in with one hand with out holding the screw.

– The light bulb was actually invented in Canada by Henry Woodward.  He later sold the patent to Edison who then took credit.

– Tim Hortons is a Canadian institution.  To see if your town meets the THQC (Tim Hortons Quota of Canada) stand at one Tim Hortons and look to see if you can see another down the streen, then your town is okay.

– We actually have two forms of legal tender.  Canadian dollars and Canadian Tire Money.  The difference is one stays in your wallet the other stays in the glove box or kitchen drawer.

– No those aren’t spelling errors.  The “u” is supposed to be there and it’s “zed” not “zee”

and finally

– We don’t really know what Canadian bacon is.  Could you please tell us.

I think that’s a pretty good start.  There is a whole lot more I could write but should get back to work before someone notices.

G’day eh ^_^

So the word on the street is the Japan’s naughty game market (or eroge industry) is taking a big downward spiral. Why? Dojin games. Dojin games are small teams of fan that make games for themselves and those that like what they like. It’s been a growing community in the past 3 years and some groups even get so popular they can make a living of it.

So with Dojin games putting up the big fight against eroge a restructure in taking place right now to save the boobies. It would seem that the first to get “restructured” is the writers. This really sucks if your company generally make the text heavy games for those who like to read while they fap as the writing will now be outsourced from freelancers rather then in studio workers. Really sucks for the writers too although those writers that have made a name for themselves are now publishing novels and the like. Next is to offer better art then the little guys because if you can’t get the writers you want then you might as well have pretty pictures (who reads these days anyway). But all this is putting a twist on the market as well. Since the restructuring people see the eroge market to be unattractive and so the talent is going else where which makes staffing a studio hard to do.

So what happens next? What happens to your favorite ergoe studio (mine is Soft Circle Correges)? Only time will tell I guess but it’s not looking good. What I would guess would need to happen (in my professional option) is to have someone release something different that hasn’t been the same thing that has been released in the last few years and jump start the industry again. Help turn heads in a new direction. But what could that be? It’s hard to predict what the masses will like.

Hopefully things get better. I’m not learning Japanese for my health ya know.

So I played this game called Half Life 2.

Have you heard of it?  I played it on PC out of a box of oranges or something, I dunno.

I borrowed it from work actually (We have a full collection of games that we can borrow for just about any system) and was quite excited about it too.  I’d seen screen shots and heard reviews and it looked really good.  I should step out and say that I’m not  PC gamer nor am I an FPS fan ether so this would be something different.  I installed the game and was treated to a nice opening, some great environments and an over all great looking game but after a while I began to notice something.  I was getting board.  It was around the water boat thing level that I seriously got so board that I almost quit.  But I stuck with it.  I kept on pushing, but the more I played the more board I got.  I felt that the game just lacked excitement.  I found that I was just going from one story/character spot to another with gun action in between.  Sure they would throw in a puzzle or a mini battle to spice it up but I found I would rush though them just to get them over with.

I can’t say that the game didn’t look nice.  I did that in spades I thought.  It even did the whole dystopia city/corrupt political set nicely but the story and the action just couldn’t grab me.  I’m sure I’ll get mobbed for this but I doubt I’ll even play the next episodes.

I think I played on easy or what ever the default setting is.  Maybe that has something to do with it.  Maybe if I played harder I would have a better grip on the action.  Naw…  I’m sure I’d just get frustrated and stop playing.  I can only shoot the same faceless guard so many times.  Plus when you get the people following you and “helping”… ugh… In the beginning I did my best to try and save them and keep them okay but after they walked in front of my shot for the millionth time I was ready to tell them to all go to hell.  Sigh…  It also saddens me to say that with all the urgency they build up during the game I never once felt like I was doing anything of major importance.  I was just going around shooting faceless guards, stopping and listening to people that would talk to me and then doing it all again.

Oh well, they can’t all be winners.  I wonder what I’ll play next.

Not me this time, it’s my computer.  So the good people at Geeks To Go are helping me out.  It sucks to have your computer infested with the fouls of the internet.

So I’m keeping it short as to not have my computer catch anything else before the cure it done.

Later

Just going to bed.

Not dead today.

night.