Without End

Chi-Mark has posted another salvo on the videogames-as-art debate, so get over there and read it.

Also, I just realized I never linked to his blog. Dick! Problem to be resolved shortly.

Blog Post of Obfuscation

Anybody else find it strange that the next Bond movie is apparently a sci-fi Castlevania game?

The Two Great Tastes

Sarah Michelle Gellar owns the movie rights to American McGee's Alice. Today, scifi wire posted a lil' interview with her in which she describes some of the issues she has run into getting the thing airborne.

Calling the movie "the frustration of my life," Gellar joked: "I'll do it if I have to get down and write it myself one of these days. I may have to."

Dear Ms. Gellar -- call me. I live to serve.

Seasons Greetings from Paramina Rift

Not many pictures taken in the B A Start household this holiday season. Since I know, gentle reader, that this troubles you, I have included below instructions for a do-it-yourself picture of Alex's Christmas.

Step 1: Get a picture of Alex's face.

Step 2: Get a picture of a Nintendo DS.

Step 3: Place the item from step 2 on top of the item from step 1.

Step 4: Imagine the sounds of festive music and the children's-toy smell of Swiffer Wet-Jet fluid.


Finding a place for oneself in the finely-tuned clockwork that is Her Worshipfulness's family Christmas can be a challenge for a clumsy laze-about like myself. I can stand around in the kitchen and wait for orders, looking all the world like a geeky Jack Ryan aboard the Red October as the gruff officers of Christmas step over and around me as if directed by some silent language I was never meant to learn. Or I can stay out of the way, which is sure to lead to some spat about my perceived inertia.

This holiday season I tried a new tack: "honey, I'll be right here playing DS. You just let me know if you need any help. ANYthing. Opening a jar, picking up a dropped spoon, whatever. Just call me." It worked out fairly well, I believe, but the ubiquitous stigma against video games earned me few points if any with in-laws.

Go!

Everything is funnier with seventies-style music.




There's a single synapse in my head which insists there's some pac-man glitch that allows for the kind of switcheroo the protagonist in this video pulls in the alley. That synapse, I fear, is wrong.

It Is Absolute

Obsessive B A Starters may remember I wrote an article for the Buffalo Spree holiday guide stating that the strip of Delaware Ave from Target to Kenmore Ave is the city's video game corridor. Gamecrazy, EB Games, Gamespot all within walking distance -- add in Target and Blockbuster, and it's the major industry for the block.

Yesterday, driving back from the heinous suburbs, I passed a new game store on Delaware a block up from Kenmore. Oogie Games, LLC -- or at least that's what the tarpaulin/sign says. I can only assume the owner read the article and decided to jump on the wagon before it gets too crowded in Buffalo's Akihabara.

Grinding

Avid B A Starters will remember the Final Reality post, in which we discussed using experience points to track one's progress in real-life goals. Here's the idea in webcomic form: