It would come in pretty handy for camping: inflating rubber rafts and air mattresses, followed by providing backup for campfire songs.
Categories
Categories
One of Toronto’s Top Tweeters
I’m honoured and flattered to be among those listed in Saturday’s Globe and Mail article, T.O. Twitter Smackdown, as one of Toronto’s best tweeters. Thanks to author Lisan Jutras and the Globe for considering my Twitter account worthy!
Here’s how I got written up:
Name: Joey deVilla
Handle: AccordionGuy
No. of followers: 5,420
Natural habitat: Patios, karaoke bars
Topic: The funnyA self-described bon vivant, this developer is like the guy at the party everyone wants to talk to. He spreads joy in the form of amusing links (from a Bacon Space Kitty screensaver to an erotic falconry website) and funny updates. But don’t let his sunny disposition fool you: the man has clout. He’s got mad followers, and shows up at everything from Bombay Sapphire’s penthouse barbecue to Mesh U, Canada’s web conference. He’s also a rock ’n’ roll accordionist who left the Philippines during Marcos’s reign. Respect.
Sample tweet: We should let that World Cup
octopus pick the method to stop the BP oil leak.
Also listed in the article:
- Jonathan Goldsbie (@goldsbie)
- Taylor Wilde (@TaylorWilde)
- Lisa Tant (@LisaTant)
- Shawn Micallef (@shawnmicallef)
Once again, my thanks to Lisan Jutras and the Globe!
Categories
Kate Beaton’s Superhero Comics
Kate “Hark! A Vagrant!” Beaton does great historical send-ups in her comics, but she’s ready to tackle all sorts of subjects, including superheroes:
Click the comic to see it at full size, or click here to see it on its original page.
This isn’t her only foray into superhero spoofing; she’s going to be one of the artists featured in the upcoming Marvel Strange Tales, along with many alternative, underground, indie and web cartoonists. Congrats, Kate!
Categories
“Inception” Timeline
I’m sure this will make more sense to me once I see the movie…
Click the image to see it at full size – click here to see the source.
I’ve got to hand it to Canadian telco Telus, who tell it like it is on their web page:
(Click here to see the page, and scroll down to the “Why do I need a credit check?” section to see it for yourself.)
I like their forthrightness. My only complaint with their explanation is that “deadbeat” is one word, not two.
Update: Wow, that didn’t take long – they’ve excised that section.
Categories
Not Everyone Can be Don Draper
I love watching Mad Men, and I love this e-card. Send one to a friend, if you like.
Categories
Limbo
I’ve been spending summer playing a couple of Xbox 360 games situated in dark nightmare worlds. One is Microsoft Studios’ and Remedy’s Alan Wake, which could be described as an homage to Stephen King (so much so that they name-drop him in the opening credits); the other is Limbo, an Xbox Live Arcade game:
Calling Limbo a “2-D side-scroller game” does it as much injustice as referring to Red Dead Redemption as “a cowboy third-person shooter”. Limbo is the most gorgeous and haunting side-scroller I’ve ever played.
The world of Limbo is a monochromatic one, shrouded in gloom and fog and nothing but the game itself. The screenshot below shows what the game actually looks like while you’re playing:
No heads-up display, score or distractions of any kind: it’s just you and Limbo’s world. The controls are minimal – you just use the left thumbstick to move, the A button to jump and the B button to perform actions on things (typically push or pull objects). Where Limbo goes deep is gameplay – this game really sucks you in.
You control your character, a young boy who wakes up in a dark forest, with no idea what’s going on. There’s no opening cinematic, no explanatory text, no little pop-up hints, but somehow the game manages to convey a sense of what to do next solely through the way the game reacts to your actions. The developers, Playdead – an indie game dev shop in Copenhagen – did an amazing job in programming Limbo to communicate just through gameplay.
With its black-and-white graphics, smooth animation, minimal sound (you only hear things you need to hear) and the many, many ghoulish ways your character will die as you learn to navigate the game’s many deadly puzzles and traps, Limbo feels like the sort of ghastly-but-addictive game that Edward Gorey might have conjured up, had he decided to take up programming rather than becoming an illustrator.
As of this writing, Limbo has a Metacritic score of 90, placing it just below Super Street Fighter IV and Red Dead Redemption, having earned heaps of praise from all sorts of reviewers, including this one.
Limbo may just be the best Xbox Live Arcade game ever released, and I suspect it’ll be in my “Top 5” for 2010. If you’re looking for a stand-out game for your Xbox 360, Limbo is well worth the 1200 Microsoft Points.