Posted by puzzlehead | 12 Comments

And we’re back…sort of.

As you may well have realized, smashy.net has been incommunicado for almost a year. It has been quite the experience. The original site used bblog. According to their site:

NEWSFLASH: bBlog is dead! Long live bBlog!

After a number of years of the bBlog project, with the last couple inactive, it is time to call it a day.

bBlog is no longer activly maintained, and there are no plans to carry on with development.
There was an attempt to resurrect the project, but after a year nothing has come of it.

For this reason, it is not reccomended to carry on using bBlog, instead I suggest you try
Other Blogging Software

That was in 2005.

This led us to convert the old site from bblog to WordPress last year. Almost everything was migrated and we had smashy.net up and running for about 3 months when all hell broke lose. Our Pimp-In-Charge, Smash, ran into a bit of a quandry when his ISP had an internal bitch slapping session amongst its owner and staff which ultimately led to the company disappearing. This, in turn, stranded a lot of site owners who had no way of getting back their content. Luckily, we at least had a partial archive of the site.

So here we are. Up and running again but with a few glitches. Please be patient with us as we try to salvage as much as possible and fix what we can. Or don’t be patient. Put your big boy pants on and take a walk. Maybe when you come back we’ll have most everything fixed or new content.

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Posted by Bart | 0 Comments

Comic posts are taking over Smashy.net! Hooray!!

I occasionally get a San Diego Comiccon update magazine in the mail and flip through it with little interest in the superhero-focused articles. But as I was flipping past the various Watchmen related fanboy crap in the most recent one, I found an Interview with one of the scheduled guests that actually piqued my interest.

I’ve been reading Stephan Pastis’s comic strip, Pearls Before Swine, in the local newspaper for a few years now, but I’d never heard of Richard Thompson or read his strip, Cul De Sac. And to be honest, Pearls Before Swine is a clever and often satirically funny strip, but it’s not really one of my top ten favorites. But I’ve read it with a new eye since reading the above article and I actually find it a lot more entertaining now, for some reason. I wish I had the opportunity to read Cul De Sac in the local paper because it looks like a strip that would easily be in my top five favorites, but…well, it’s not there.

So what’s so great? For those of you who refuse to read the six pages above, just read these strips (from the article) and tell me you don’t find them brilliant.

Maybe they’re not as great as I think…but even if you’re not impressed, I am. And I’m looking forward to seeing both of these guys in about four months.

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Posted by puzzlehead | 0 Comments

Speaking of Comics & Video Games: Port Sherry ...

The tag line for Pedro Arzipe’s Port Sherry web comic is "When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man…". The  March 4, 2009 comic titled "The Obsolete Add-on" so deftly illustrates how far we’ve come with video games as well as how much we’ve lost.

In this era of next generation consoles we are able to celebrate ‘the next big thing’. For those of us who were born and raised on Atari 2600 home arcades, ColecoVision, Intellivision, the Odyssey and the Commodore 64 we can only marvel at how much detail and raw computing resources are required to produce the modern video game.  Whereas we were used to 16 color sprites sporadically moving across the screen today’s PC & console games regale us with things we only fantasized about: particle physics, bump maps and texturizing, variable light sources much less worlds which did not require linear play and environments that allowed you to interact with them.

"The Obsolete Add-on" captures the innocence of those early years of video gaming and pretty much nails the generational differences between gamers of yesteryear and today.  Whereas back in the day we relied on our imagination to pretend that we were driving the Formula 1 racers in Activision’s Grand Prix these days were drifting through corners in games like Gran Tourismo or the Need For Speed series.  We played Atari’s ‘Combat!’ and hid behind blocks on the screens which were buildings and bunkers, ricocheting our shells on certain game settings while these days we’re reliving almost every military campaign imaginable in gritty, realistic detail.  My Samus from Metroid looked like a gingerbread cookie; today she is rendered with muscle tone, flowing locks and ample boobies.

Are we spoiled these days? In a sense, yes. For a good portion of the video gaming experience we no longer have to think and players can concentrate instead on the game play. Do I regret the marvelous advancements that have been made to bring the games industry where it is? That’s a toss up. I can’t wait to see where we end up and how advanced the system and the games become.

I whole heartedly recommend reading through Arzipe’s comic for some interesting commentary on gaming.

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Posted by Smash | 0 Comments

Fall In for Fallout 3

Playing Fallout 3 was an unique and wholely rewarding experience. Bethesda Gameworks, know for it’s immersive, robust storyline, delivers all that and much more in this fantastic RPG, available in the Xbox 360 and PC game formats.

An unusual twist on the standard “Dungeons and Dragons” RPG, Fallout 3 places the player in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, and provides a background that leaves the character, as well as the player, enthralled and confused about the bizarre world around him. The main character is born and raised in “Vault 101″ one of several underground dwellings meant to survive a nuclear fallout; while also providing the designers some demented scientific experiments. Your character, leaves his home for good one day, in pursuit of his missing father and is exposed to the strange and fantastic world around Metropolitan Washington D.C. set in the not-too-distant future.

Bethesda’s developers masterfully craft this world that seamlessly blends 1950’s kitsch public service announcements with the most gaudy of modern pop-culture to produce a wonderfully garish result. Just one example of this are the retro bobble heads, featuring an in-game collector stand where players can proudly display all 30 collector items within the game

The bobble heads represent just one of the many aspects of the game that allow such a detailed, rich experience. Conforming to the standard RPG characteristics, players have 7 basic attributes: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck (S.P.E.C.I.A.L.) as well as 13 skills: Barter, Big guns, Energy Weapons, Explosives, Lockpick, Medicine, Melee, Repair, Science, Small guns, Sneak, Speech, and Unarmed. Players must configure their character tailored to their individual desires. Personally, I chose a weaker character who excelled in charisma, bartering and luck. While this afforded me more goods, it weakened me by being less capable of wielding all of the equipment throughout the game. Finally, as players level-up, they also can round out Perks; specialized skills/talents ranging from animal friend, an ability to befriend animals, to a sniper ability, improving the chance of executing critical hits. My personal favorite is “Mysterious Stranger” giving the player random encounters from a mysterious man in a trench-coat who appears to finish off enemies during combat. Each visit, logged in a stat screen, produced a “Hell Yeah!” from me each time.

All of these vast player attributes can easily provide gamers with untold hours of game play as one explores the various skills and how they change the interaction within the game. But this is Bethesda, known for its vast side-quests and immeasurable worlds. By the story’s end, I had uncovered over 120 unique locations within the game map, and easily had dozens more left to explore. Even more fascinating are the random character encounters, such as a friendly mutant known as “Uncle Leo”, perhaps homage to the infamous Seinfeld character of the same name. Rounding out this world are the incredible graphics, especially the monsters. Good luck when you encounter a Behemoth; I wasted 3 mini-nukes, 4 missiles and about 5 lives the first time I crossed paths with one.

After all is said and done, the weakest part of Fallout 3, lies in the main story quest itself. A thin premise, searching for your missing father, leads the player through the world but ultimately completes the game with a defined ending. With this, the player has no ability to return and continue exploring the amazing world, except by loading a previously saved game. Similarly, players who want to enjoy Down-Loadable Content (DLC) must play those add-ons from previous saves; a somewhat disheartening experience.

All in, this game is a thoroughly rewarding experience which allows a player to lose themselves in 50 or more hours of game play. Bethseda Gameworks created an immersive experience in a world that you can’t get enough of. Learning about this world was equally enjoyable as exploring and learning about one of my other favorite Xbox 360 games, Bioshock.

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Posted by Bart | 0 Comments

The Wizard of Geeks

With a tagline like “reviews for geeks,” one would expect more than just rambling about movies, tv shows, books and video games. While those things can be pretty geeky, there’s nothing more clearly associated with pimply-faced, overweight, socially maladjusted misfit geekboys than comic books. So I think it’s about time that the uber-geekness of the comic world invade Smashy.net and bring this bitch to all-new lows of geekdom.

Sadly, even my geekiness knows limits. I not really a fan of the ambiguously gay, spandex-clad, super-powered style of comics, so if that’s your geek-passion…you’ll need to look elsewhere. What I do love is a good adaptation of a favorite novel (or series of novels) to the sequential art format. Tolkien, Pratchett, Gaiman (though as a comic writer, I don’t know if his books count), Douglas Adams…I love having that alternate look at characters/locations from stories I love.

Which brings me to a Marvel production that has been out there since the end of 2008: the adaptation of L Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Funnily enough, I’ve never read any of the Oz books – I’ve only seen the old Judy Garland movie. And while it did cause brief nightmares populated with flying monkeys, it was never a life-altering experience or anything cheesey like that. It’s just one of those “classic” stories that I’m happy to see being given another shot with a new generation of readers. And who knew there were further adventures of Dorothy in Oz (at least 14 of them)? I only discovered this fact upon picking up the Sketchbook issue of the new series.

But just because a classic story is rendered in sequential art panels, it isn’t automatically rendered worthy of praise (or my hard-earned cash). This incarnation is, though – because, in addition to being very closely based on the novel’s narrative, it’s also illustrated to perfection. The characters are cartoonish, but emotive and seem perfect (much more so than their live-counterparts in the film – very similar-looking art can be found in the Alice in Wonderland comic adaptation by SLG entitled Wonderland). The settings are surreal and vibrantly colored (or not, as need be). And the scenes/dialogue flows well. As I said, I’ve never read the book, so I can’t really say how closely anything in this adaptation follows the original, but it feels authentic. And it ’s not quite the mad dash to the Wizard that I remember from the film. It’s more like the Sci-Fi channel’s slower-paced character-developing attempt to recreate the story with Tin Man (just without the sci-fi elements or Zooey Deschanel).

Here are covers and a few interior pages from the sketchbook and the first three issues of the series (issue #4 should be out next week).

If you’re a fan of sequential art or even just classic stories, you should check this comic out (buy it, don’t be a dirty pirate). Being a Marvel publication, it’s probably available at most book stores, though their comic racks are generally battered and the books are usually pretty worked over. It will undoubtedly be collected as a trader paperback soon, too – if you want to wait and save a little dough.

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Posted by Smash | 0 Comments

Cockeyed!

I have long wanted to complete a review of one of my favorite sites on the internet: Cockeyed. Always entertaining, whether it be nerdy science features like How Much is Inside?, where you can learn just how much beer is in a keg or Science Experiments, one of my favorite is where he made a phony speed trap in his neighborhood, Rob Cockerham, site creator and mad scientist never fails to deliver the goods.

I first found Rob’s site after watching the movie “Cast Away” where, apparently Rob had the same thought I did; “How hard is it really to make fire?” Except Rob did what I, and most people, are far too lazy to do- actually try it! On his site he chronicles a six day adventure of trying (and mostly failing) to make fire without matches.

One of the best bits you’ll find in Rob’s site is his ‘Fake Found Money’ test- seeing how (dis)honest people really can be. But perhaps his most noteworthy achievement is that he now has the attention of Cash4Gold for exposing their scam.

More recently, I had nerd fun taking his “One Page Fiction Quiz” Part 1 and Part 2. Take the challenge and let me know how you scored. On the first, I got 5 out of 7 and on the second I got 6 of 7. Apparently I picked Danielle Steele twice and Ayn Rand not at all! Either way, if you enjoy your blend of humor and geek, be sure to check out Cockeyed.com periodically like I do. Even his Halloween costume stories are entertaining!

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Posted by Bart | 1 Comment

Little brother

I seem to be reading a lot of books targeted for “young adults” or even children lately. I’m not sure if this is due to those being the types of books my favorite authors are writing or if it’s because I’m just a juvenile putz. Either way….

Neil Gaiman mentioned a book on his blog several months ago, so I picked it up and did eventually (after abandoning it on my “reading shelf” for a few months) get around to reading it.

But I’d recommend Little Brother over pretty much any book I’ve read this year, and I’d want to get it into the hands of as many smart thirteen-year-olds, male and female, as I can.
Because I think it’ll change lives. Because some kids, maybe just a few, won’t be the same after they’ve read it. Maybe they’ll change politically, maybe technologically. Maybe it’ll just be the first book they loved or that spoke to their inner geek. Maybe they’ll want to argue about it and disagree with it. Maybe they’ll want to open their computer and see what’s in there. I don’t know. It made me want to be 13 again right now and reading it for the first time, and then go out and make the world better or stranger or odder. It’s a wonderful, important book, in a way that renders its flaws pretty much meaningless.

It is a “young adult” novel and, even though it tends to exaggerate a little here and there, it is frighteningly realistic and does make a good case about the dangers of sidestepping the US Constitution in the name of national security (or for any other reason).

This scene, the immediate aftermath of a terrorist attack in San Francisco that actually occurred a few miles from these events, is frightening in its completely accurate portrayal of most people being no better than frightened sheep when push comes to shove.

“Don’t mace him!” I shouted over the din. “You’ll get us all, too.”
At the mention of the word mace, the guy looked scared and kind of melted back, though the crowd kept him moving forward. Up ahead, I saw someone, a middle-aged lady in a hippie dress, falter and fall. She screamed as she went down, and I saw her thrashing to get up, but she couldn’t, the crowd’s pressure was too strong. As I neared her, I bent to help her up, and was nearly knocked over her. I ended up stepping on her stomach as the crowd pushed me past her, but by then I don’t think she was feeling anything.
I was as scared as I’d ever been. There was screaming everywhere now, and more bodies on the floor, and the press from behind was as relentless as a bulldozer. It was all I could do to keep on my feet.
We were in the open concourse where the turnstiles were. It was hardly any better here——the enclosed space sent the voices around us echoing back in a roar that made my head ring, and the smell and feeling of all those bodies made me feel a claustrophobia I’d never known I was prone to.
People were still cramming down the stairs, and more were squeezing past the turnstiles and down the escalators onto the platforms, but it was clear to me that this wasn’t going to have a happy ending.

How many times has this same scene played out whenever massed groups of people are swarming for an exit in the face of some danger? Be watching for more of this in the coming year or two as panic begins to grip the world with diminishing food supplies, shrinking incomes and soaring inflation.
One major annoyance I had with the book was the author’s worship of the liberal San Francisco mindset and the literature that helped spawn it.

I’ve always loved just learning stuff for its own sake. just to be smarter about the world around me. I could do that just by walking around the city. I decided I’d do an English paper about the Beats first. City Lights books had a great library in an upstairs room where Allen Ginsberg and his buddies had created their radical druggy poetry. The one we’d read in English class was Howl and I would never forget the opening lines, they gave me shivers down my back:
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed
by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at
dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient
heavenly connection to the starry dynamo
in the machinery of night. . . .
I liked the way he ran those words all together, “starving hysterical naked.” I knew how that felt. And “best minds of my generation” made me think hard, too. It made me remember the park and the police and the gas falling. They busted Ginsberg for obscenity over Howl——all about a line about gay sex that would hardly have caused us to blink an eye today. It made me happy somehow, knowing that we’d made some progress. That things had been even more restrictive than this before.
I lost myself in the library, reading these beautiful old editions of the books. I got lost in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, a novel I’d been meaning to read for a long time, and a clerk who came up to check on me nodded approvingly and found me a cheap edition that he sold me for six bucks.
I walked into Chinatown and had dim sum buns and noodles with hot sauce that I had previously considered to be pretty hot, but which would never seem anything like hot ever again, now that I’d had an Ange special.
As the day wore on toward afternoon, I got on the BART and switched to a San Mateo bridge shuttle bus to bring around to the East Bay. I read my copy of On the Road and the scenery whizzing past. On the Road is a semiautobiograpical novel about Jack Kerouac, a druggy, hard—drinking writer who goes hitchhiking around America, working crummy jobs, howling through the streets at night, meeting people and parting ways. Hipsters, sad—faced hobos, con men, muggers, scumbags and angels. There’s not really a plot——Kerouac supposedly wrote it in three weeks on a long roll of paper, stoned out of his mind——only a bunch of amazing things, one thing happening after another. He makes friends with self—destructing people like Dean Moriarty, who get him involved in weird schemes that never really work out, but still it works out, if you know what I mean.
There was a rhythm to the words, it was luscious, I could hear it being read aloud in my head. It made me want to lie down in the bed of a pickup truck and wake up in a dusty little town somewhere in the central valley on the way to LA, one of those places with a gas station and a diner, and just walk out into the fields and meet people and see stuff and do stuff.

I read On the Road a book or two before reading this novel.
I was not impressed. Hippie nonsense and at times this books strays a little too close.

Here’s one last passage to explain the book’s title.

But the next morning at breakfast they were both glued to the radio.
“Abuses of Authority——it’s the latest craze on San Francisco’s notorious Xnet, and it’s captured the world’s attention. Called A—oh—A, the movement is composed of “Little Brothers”who watch back against the Department of Homeland Security’s antiterrorism measures, documenting the failures and excesses. The rallying cry is a popular viral video clip of a General Claude Geist, a retired three—star general, being tackled by DHS officers on the sidewalk in front of City Hall. Geist hasn’t made a statement on the incident, but commentary from young people who are upset with their own treatment has been fast and furious.
“Most notable has been the global attention the movement has received. Stills from the Geist video have appeared on the front pages of newspapers in Korea, Great Britain, Germany, Egypt and Japan, and broadcasters around the world have aired the clip on prime—time news. The issue came to a head last night, when the British Broadcasting Corporation’s National News Evening program ran a special report on the fact that no American broadcaster or news agency has covered this story. Commenters on the BBC’s website noted that BBC America’s version of the news did not carry the report.”
They brought on a couple of interviews: British media watchdogs, a Swedish Pirate Party kid who made jeering remarks about America’s corrupt press, a retired American newscaster living in Tokyo; then they aired a short clip from Al—Jazeera, comparing the American press record and the record of the national news media in Syria.

Little Brother may not be “high literature,” but it is worth reading on many levels. Even if you are a little more right-leaning than the author.

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