joe randel's art dump

So over the past two days E3 has been going on and Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, Capcom, Ubi and other developers have been talking the talk. So what as a gamer do I have to look forward too? Not a whole lot. That’s not to say I’m losing interest in games… oh heck no. I just find that I’m not at all interested in the these online, multi player, download movie abilities that the 360 and the PS3 can do. I just want games.

Most of the games they showed we’ve been expecting to come down the pipe line soon. E3 just gave us official trailers of when we’ve been waiting for. Gears of War 2, Sims 3, Animal Crossing Wii, God of War 3, Final Fantasy IIIV, more Street Fighter 2, more Prince of Persia, more Resident Evil 5, etc, etc…. Although FFIIIV being on the 360 is quite the shocker and I’m sure that Sony fans are crazy pissed about that. But yeah… nothing there gets me excited.

The Wii’s new add-on that makes the Wii-mote have 1:1 movement is neat but a little late. I don’t see me picking it up until I really need it to play a game. Wii Sports Resort looks fun too, but I still have fun with regular Wii sports so I’ll wait on it too, and Wii Music just looks… meh.

If anything has me jazzed it’s the announcement of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for DS. Not that I’m a huge GTA fan but it was mentioned that Rockstar has made it’s own original engine for the game. I would really like to see what they can do with this engine. Will it be a 3D game or just a top down. How will they make a whole city in the DS? The DS is no PSP. Maybe they’ve just made a small section of a city. Could they be doing some sort of seamless loading for the city so it’s just done in chunks? Oh I so do want to see. More from a developer standpoint then anything.

So yeah… no real big news this year. I know everyone I’ve been talking to is bummed that there is no big shocking news this year.

What about you? Is there big E3 news that get’s you moist?

For anyone that thinks that graffiti isn’t art… I say this was a whole lot of work for something that isn’t art.

o_O

So I got thinking the other day about all the toys I played with as a kid.  Which ones where my favorite and which ones are still around today for my kids to enjoy.  I seem to have memories of some that I think are a little obscure as well.

He-man:  I had a lot of these.  I even had Castle Grey Skull and Snake Mountain, although I never used the speaker in the mountain because it was too loud.  I put them all up on auction a long while back and scored about $100 bucks or so.  They guy that bought them commented on the fact that I kept all my toys in excellent condition.

Mico Machines:  Man did I love these little guys.  I would play with them for hours.  I even had a few of the little play sets you could unfold.  My favorite was the fish and chip shop.

Battle Beasts:  I did a whole post about these guys a while back, so I won’t go in to them too much.  But man I still dig the designs on them and I actually kept all mine to this day ^_^

Transformers:  I don’t think their is a kid out there that didn’t have any of these.  My claim to fame was I had all the pieces of the Constructicons to make Devastator (generation 1, 1985 version).  I actually still have them all too. ^_^

M.U.S.C.L.E.: I had quite a few of these little pink figures too… and some of the coloured versions as well.  Not as cool as Battle Beasts (whom my M.U.S.C.L.E. guys usually fought) but neat and strange at the same time.

StarCom:  Anyone remember these?  They had a cartoon in the 80’s but I never watched it.  I just loved the toys.  They where little space marine figures with a small visor and vehicles that could be compressed in to a sort of cube shape and then could “transform” sort of to a propoer military vehicle.  I thought they where so cool!  Oh, and they had magnets on their feet too… pretty spacey ^_^

Army Ants:  Not the best toy figures around, but I do remember liking them.  Nicely sculpted too.

Lego:  I don’t think I need to say more then that. I loved the space ones.  I got this for Christmas one year and I loved it!

No G.I. Joe for me.  I never cared for them.

What toys did you play with?

I make the best damn sandwiches. Seriously. The. Best. My wife says so and she’s one to tell you to your face if something isn’t right.

Why just today I made a great sandwich. On two slices of whole wheat bread, toasted, I put down a small pile of black forest ham, romaine lettuce, marble cheese, cucumber slices, sliced dill pickle, tomato, and topped it off with some Miracle Whip and some Beer and Chipotle BBQ sauce.

Just awesome.

What’s my secret? I’ll tell you some of my tips.

1 – Pile on the main attraction to your sandwich (eg: black forest ham) but don’t over do it. It’ll just take over everything else and you don’t want that.

2 – Place the lettuce next and then the cheese. If you put cheese on the meat it’ll slide around and it might come apart after a bite or two. If you’re using hot meat then you can put the cheese on it as it will act a a glue for the rest of your ingredients.

3 – Adding dill pickle can add a nice saltiness to your creation. Cucumber adds more crunch. Think about the texture you’ll bring to your sandwich.

4 – Don’t cut/slice your tomatoes, cucumbers, etc… too thick. This will pile up your sandwich too high and make it hard too eat.

5 – Using two sauces can add extra flavors to your creation. Experiment!

6 – Butter, bologna and a cheese slice isn’t a sandwich. Don’t fool yourself in to thinking it is. It’s an insult to sandwiches.

7 – Don’t hold back on what you make. Look in your fridge and see what you have that you can put on it. You might surprise yourself.

8 – Every ingredient is important. When you can, use fresh stuff. Buy special breads and meats. Your sandwich making skills will sky rocket.

9 – Read sandwiches are cut from corner to corner. Not across. This way you’ll create a small point for you to start eating at and make things easier if you’ve made a large sandwich. You won’t have to bury your face in to a long side on your first bite.

10 – Put love in to your sandwich. No, not like that you sicko. Really care about what you’re making. Whether it’s you or someone else, trust me… it makes a world of difference.

I remember long ago I just made peanut butter and jam… and that’s fine. Then my Mom brought home a real deli sandwich for me. I fell in love with the art of making a real sandwich. It pays off. My wife used to have crappy sandwiches at her house before I met her. When we where still dating I made her one of my sandwiches and, well… the rest is history.

No fooling, making a nice sandwich takes thought and planing. All around the world people screw it up everyday. Don’t let yourself be one of those people.

Thank you.

I woke up this morning to see that the third mouse didn’t make the night. I buried him nest to his/her two friends.

I don’t know what exactly happened to them. My wife and I suspect that they ate some poisoned food or maybe something ate the Mama mouse and they couldn’t survive with out her. I wish I could have done more for them but by looking at them yesterday I pretty much expected this end.

It all makes me think of death once again and all that comes with it. Animals seem to have a better handle about death. It would seem to be more instinctual to them and they’re more accepting of it. Where people, like myself, fear it. Animals, I’m guessing, don’t have a concept of heaven or hell or maybe even what happens to them after their gone. I wonder how they really view it. How they cope.

At least the mice aren’t suffering anymore.

Rest well little mice.

I got home from work today and my wife told me that supper was going to be a bit late and that I should go out back and play with the kids. No problem I say, so we all get our shoes on and go out back.

We got out there and to my surprise I find two baby mice laying on our patio looking not so good. They weren’t injured, but the where laying there, breathing, but not moving. They were small, about the size of my thumb from the tip to the first knuckle and they’ve yet to open their eyes since we found them. I called my wife out to watch the kids while I went and got a small box for them to lay in so they wouldn’t get hurt. I scooped them up with a plastic play shovel and my wife got them some water and some bread to eat if they got some strength back, although we had our doubts.

My daughter asked when we where going to do with them. We’ll me being me, I just can’t leave them unprotected in my back yard so I said that I was going to put them in the empty aquarium that we have in our basement until tomorrow. We then watered the flowers in the yard and I noticed a third mouse in the grass trying fight his was through it. I scooped him up too and placed him in the box with the others. This one had a bit more energy and tried to crawl a bit but then mostly rested.

Just before dinner we put them in the aquarium and I checked on them from time to time during the evening. During bath time I took another quick peek on them and saw that one of them had passed. After books before bed, I went and noticed that the other had passed as well. Only the third mouse was still okay. I removed the other two and placed some cotton stuffing for the last one rest in. I just checked on him a few moments ago and he’s still sleeping. I hope he’ll be okay.

As for the other two, I took them to a part of our yard where we have lots of trees and I buried them under them and wished them well on their next journey. I feel sad that I couldn’t do more for them, but at least I gave them a safe place for their final moments.

Good luck little mice, and best wishes for you beyond this world.