World of Warcraft

Well it's been a while since I posted. But it's also been a while since I talked about Warcraft.

I think my last post involved a rather negative forecast, the C word (cancellation) was mentioned. But now I'm loving it as much as ever.

A few friends have joined our server, so our guild may grow a little, we have a good affiliation with my old and first guild Amazing Squad to get some bigger instance runs going, and the people I regularly play with have actually really gotten our tactics down well. We have the LBRS Mother Smoulderweb / Gizrul run sussed. We can pretty much do it without wipes (we may wipe, but that can usually be attributed to a Leeroy moment or somesuch). Also Scholomance was surprisingly easy (at least, as far as we could get) with only 4 of us. So with a full group we can do well, and with 10, well, they better watch out.

I'll see how my Shaman Alt does. Since I want to join the 'newbies' and play with them a bit, I'll have to use my Shaman because Cowfields the Druid pwns all. At least in Mulgore he does. The totem system seems interesting and holds enough appeal as something that is totally different from a Druid.

Plus there is now talk of the expansion pack. Though it's still a long ways away, it only helps stoke the fire of interest in the game.

If you don't play World of Warcraft, then that all makes no sense. Just know that Druids are great.

Weekly Music Review

Except it's not weekly. It's just, in the last couple of weeks 3 albums came out which are overall quite good. one of them really really really good. And they're all by people who are fairly important to me, so here's my little review:

Arab Strap - The Last Romance


6th Studio Album. By now many of my mixees will know how much I love Arab Strap and this album really blew me away. I was expecting to love it, but not expecting to love it for the reasons that I do.

Basically it's Arab Strap's most sunny and upbeat album. That's saying something since they're generally very downtempo and super-depressing. But this one has, like, pop anthems! It's still pretty sombre but by Strap Standards, it's poppy. Lyrically it's evolved quite nicely from just talking about bad breakups to talking about, well what seems like rocky relationships finally resolving with a happy ending, at least, as happy as could be given the circumstances. Something like that anyway. It's recommended and possibly one of the most accessible arab strap albums, especially for people that bought something like Elephant Shoe and just thought it was far too depressing but prefers their more upbeaty songs like "The Shy Retirer" (i.e. Frosty, iirc).

Production is a bit different because it's a bit more real-instruments and less drum-machines. And horns even. Horns on an Arab Strap album? crazy.

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The Cardigans - Super Extra Gravity



I go through phases of being really into the Cardigans but Life will always be one of my all time top albums. Gran Turismo did a lot less for me, even though that's the one that most people would know because of the singles on it.

I don't know how much of a splash "Long Gone Before Daylight" made but I thought it was a beautiful album. It felt a lot more personal and even though there was nothing particularly unique about the way it sounded, the melodies and production was tightly crafted, it just worked.

Super Extra Gravity feels like a nice progression, especially as one track is a "sequel" to a track on LGBD. Still it's not got that certain something that LGBD had, and hasn't got much to make it stand out. So in a way it's a little disappointing, but all that said it's better than most music out there and it's still a very enjoyable album. I just don't think it'll stand the test of time like Life or LGBD do. Nina has a lovely voice though.

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Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase



There isn't a whole lot to say about this.

If you don't know Boards of Canada, then they make lovely etheral electronic music, quite downtempo and fairly ambient. Sometimes a little creepy, but usually beautiful. Like being washed with sound. Or something.

Anyway, if you liked Geogaddi or Music Has The Right to Children then this is, at the end fo the day, more of the same. It does what it says on the tin, so depending on your postion on BOC, that's a good or a bad thing. For me it's a good thing. It's different enough to feel like a new album so it's not like they're 'stale' or anything.

One thing to comment is instrumentally, some of it seems a bit more 'acoustic guitary'. There's actually some lovely use of real guitars in the album (what sounds like real guitars anyway) which does make a bit of a difference to the other albums, it sounds a bit less sampley and a bit more performed. That's a good thing I think, because it's enough to make the album feel like something seperate, and not just like an alternate take of another album.

In short: Everyone go and buy The Last Romance by Arab Strap.

Models Wanted

For my next painting, I want to paint other people. Just because I'm not Frida Kahlo, and I don't wish to explore my own face much further. At least, not until I've finally had a haircut.

It's hard knowing where to go next. I mean, not wanting to blow one's own trumpet but I feel the self portrait was enough to get my skills back, and enough to know that I can still do the observational thing, so now it's time to actually start thinking in terms of composition, and actually looking nice.

I guess the logical step would be to take my camera out. I can use photoshop to play about with things, make a maquette of a painting if you will. It's a useful method that I never tried back in college.

I'm not really concerned with conveying a message or any sort of social commentary, but I like the idea of making an image that implies there's a story behind what you see. A bit like Edward Hopper did.

It's funny, there's a very filmic quality about Hopper's paintings which I love, but perhaps part of that is based on the fashion. The clothes and settings are very 'early hollywood'. So it somehow feels less interesting in my own work to see people wearing clothes of today.

But the thing is, they were "clothes today" when he was painting them. So if I was to paint someone in adidas tracksuits and a baseball cap, 80 years down the line, would someone feel that the paintings created a sense of place and a certain nostalgia for the turn of the 21st century?




Probably not.

Anyway, I shouldn't worry about it at first. The problem is I feel too eager to make something meaningful now, when really I have done 1 painting since my art-restart, and I have a long way to go.

I'll leave you with probably one of my favourite Edward Hopper paintings:


(I knew more of his work I'd probably choose a less obvious one)

Self Portrait Finished

I think. I was going to do more in the background but I'm not sure if it'll work, and I'm scared of ruining what I do have.



Actually taken with a proper camera this time, but I'll try scanning it one day when it's actually dry.

Self Portrait Update

Still lots to do, but it looks a lot more complete. It's too squished, somehow I've managed to paint my head shorter, when I stretch it vertically in photoshop, it starts to look a bit more like me. I'm not really sure how that happened, but I think it's clear I need to think a bit harder about measuring. I tend to forget.




I look moody and grumpy which I like. And podgy; whether I like that or not, but it's true to life.

It'll be fun doing the background, as I can see, amongst other things, the box for my Dreamcast, donkey konga bongos and my PSP box behind me in the mirror. It'll add a bit of colour actually and help the composition I think.

Self Portrait In Progress

If you don't know what I look like then you won't know how accurate it is, but I think it's getting there.



Spent far too long on the eye, but I think it's a good thing I'm attempting it now. The eyes often make or break a painting, if you fudge them up, you can't really ignore them. So it's a bad thing to leave them till last - if you do there's too much pressure to get them right.

I've also fudged up some other parts that were going really well by doing the eyes, because of resting my hands on the canvas. The left nostril (from the viewer's pov) was great, but now it's smudged.

Lots to do, but it's time for a break. I'm starting to 'remember' my talents though, like with this painting the dormant art skills just woke up.

The eyetoy photo doesn't really do it justice, but my hands are too dirty to use a real camera.

Paper Mario

It's quite an easy game. Battles aren't that tough and the threat of game over isn't often an issue.

But when you do get gameover, oh my god it is like being violated in a place I don't like to be violated.

I just got to floor 80-something of the pit of 100 trials. I don't mind having to do the trial part again, it's just I had gotten mario up 3 or 4 levels in the time and just spent a couple of hours doing it - hours of my life down the drain, with nothing to show for it.

This is the sort of thing that makes me forget about games, becuase I'm too disgusted to even look at my gamecube at the moment.

In other news I seem to be 'back into' World of Warcraft. We'll see how long that lasts, but it's quite a therapeutic change from some of the other more intense games I've been playing lately.

Logitech Playgear Pocket

It's my recommended PSP case. It's armour plating for the PSP. Pictures on the web don't really get across what it's like, I though it was just a crappy grey case but it's very solid, and makes it feel like a nintendo Console - chunkier, and more likely to survive a drop.

After Dr Boggis posted images of his Katamari Damashii modifications, I'm posting pictures of my much simpler method. Rather than print out a whole design, I got some white paper, and cut it into some shapes to put between the plastic and the rubber inside. Hey presto, instant cow print.

Now it looks like a whore's glasses case, but whatever:

Lumines

It's late and I want to go to bed but there's no way I can close my eyes and think of sleep when my brain is buzzing this much.

I finally got to the last skin of Lumines which has been something of a gaming holy grail. Videogames almost never create that anxious fast-beating heart when you get to a significant point anymore. Because almost all games save progress so that you never have to repeat levels, there's no real consequence when getting to a new section or level. Death in such a game means going back maybe 5 minutes.

I remember getting to the last level of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. (I remember the first game too but 2 was a much grander experience for me). I mean there were times when I would die on Hill Top Zone, and run out of continues. But when I got to Metropolis Zone...wow I had gotten so far in! And getting to the final boss, and dying...

...see dying was after over an hour's worth of play (or something like that) so it was real time you'd invested, it was a genuine loss to actually get game over.

It's funny though, I can complete sonic 2 every time now and probably not even need any continues. I don't know if that's just because I was crap then, or because I'm good now.

Anyway this was supposed to be a post about Lumines. It's hard to say what I'm feeling about this game right now without having the sun come up on me, but I think I can sum it up:

See at the left hand side I said this Blog was mostly about "Videogames, music, and art"? Well Lumines is a prime example of all three. As a videogame, it takes a tried and tested genre but manages to stay unique. Only having 2 colours, and having to make only squares gives it an elegant simplicity, but it's the sweeping bar that clears squares you've made that sets it apart. Most games will remove blocks as soon as the block falls, but the mechanic of waiting to land squares is a deep experience.

As music, it's an eclectic mix and it ties in with the gameplay. The fixed order of tracks means it's like an album with a defined tracklisting, and it's a battle to hear more tracks. It's even a battle to hear more of a particular track. There's nothing like wanting to hear the chorus of "Lights" but panicking that you may die before the verse is through. It's good music as well. I already had heard "Lights" several times before even owning a PSP so I knew what was coming. But that just made the anticipation greater, knowing what a treat I was in for and trying to imagine controlling the song like you do with the game.

As Art, well I'm talking about the visual side of things here. The video backgrounds add cues for the music - when a song is reaching a crescendo the background is doing so too, and that all contributes to that feeling of excitement and desperation that I was saying was missing from a lot of games. Mizuguchi could have gotten away with leaving the blocks and layout the same all the way through, it wouldn't have been a crime. But each skin has it's own style and the game is a fine example of graphic design.

It's not often that a videogame, nay, multimedia experience gets every element so right, but manages to marry several things like this together so well.

I love Meteos. The fact that Mizuguchi created this at pretty much the same time, and managed to cater it for the DS specifically just like Lumines only works on the PSP, it makes me admire the guy so much for getting it so right. But the complaint I now have of Meteos I suppose is more a complaint of the DS...I wish the sound on the DS was a bit better and less tinny. The CD quality Music of Lumines really makes the game, and Meteos used sound really well, but it lets the game down with its lo-fi compressed-ness. Generally it's not something that bothers me for DS games, but when Lumines got gameplay, lovely design*and* the sounds down so nicely, it's a shame that meteos only got 2 out of 3. It has brilliant design, brilliant ingenious gameplay, it just doesn't use sound in the same way.

I don't want to come across as too complainy of Meteos because I think it's my favourite DS game. It really is an accomplishment and I love how Meteos is a 10 minute game and Lumines is a 100 minute game; It's so considerate of Mizuguchi to cater to both my moods like that.

I can't wait for Every Extend Extra now. The gameplay was already quite fun, but really I think Mizuguchi has proved he's the king of integrating music with gameplay in a unique way (I mean, I haven't even made a comparison to Rez, yet) and there's just not enough of that touch in games. I know he'll do a good job.

nihongo no kurasu wa nijyuppun made desu

I probably said that wrong. I've got 20 minutes till my Japanese class, so it seems like a good time to write something.

Can't wait. Tuesdays are the highlight of my week again (this is the second year, I had a year break in between because the college didn't run the phase 2 course last year, but started it up again in september).

It's fun having lessons in something again, school was fun from time to time and generally if you are learning something because you want to (and not becuase you feel you need to as a career) and it's in moderation (like, 1 lesson a week) then it's a lot of fun feeding your brain. I'd like to do it more than once a week, but perhaps it's better this way, I can really drill in what I do learn each week.

I also did a painting today. Well started one, it's quite a ways from finished yet. A chance to truly break in my easel, there's bits of paint on it now and everything. It's nice to be painting again but I had a funny feeling that I had something else to do. However, I take that to mean that I'm getting lost in it, and could do it for hours. Feeling like you have something else to do is just a reflex reaction to stop you feeling too engrossed.

On My Shiny White PSP

Yes, I should put a videogaming post in. Having recently bought a white PSP (looks better than black, but only because it's the one I own), I have been playing...

Lumines
I can't gush enough about the greatness of this game. You have to like the music that plays, you have to Hear the Music in Your Soul to like the game I would have thought, because in a way it's like an album. An album you have to fight your way to get to the end. An album where you are teased with great music, and know there is more around the corner if only you line up those squares...

Everybody's Golf
Me and a golf game? With my reputation? That's why I'm enjoying it, it's a gaming concept I never experience. I hear that it's a good golf game, as such things go, but I wouldn't know.

Riiiiiiiiiidge Racerrrrr
It's so much better than the DS version. People have said that you can't compare the two as they're different games but bollocks to that, you can, DS version is an old inferior iteration of the series and Ridge Racer PSP takes the gameplay and fixes it. Exhilirating stuff.

Mobile Train Simulator
Strangely addictive, even though you can only do forward and backwards. That's about it, but that's harder than it sounds. I think this is a game where you need other deeper games to compliment it, like the above three. It's a perfect comedown after 40 minutes with Lumines, for example

Wipeout Pure had the odd race but I'm saving it for when I'm done with Ridge Racer, so as not to over saturate myself. What I have played, I have really enjoyed.

Down but not Out

I'm writing this in my text editor of choice while blogger is down for maitenance. This is another Art Post. So maybe I shouldn't call it a videogaming blog. Anyhoo, I did my very first bit of art. Seems really insignificant in what it actually is, just a crappy self portrait charcoal sketch that is all wrong. But it's the first step.

It's all wrong because it looks a little too cartoony, and not enough like my face. Mind you my face didn't look like my face when I was looking at it. Because I am so futuristic (and don't actually have a mirror in my room, and am not about to sit in the bathroom drawing) I used my webcam and went fullscreen on my PC monitor with it.

I actually think that's better than a mirror. When you look at yourself, you see yourself looking somewhere else. If you look at a mirror, your eyes stare right back into themselves. It's quite distracting, and probably has all sorts of soul-searching connotations that I don't think I want to deal with right now.

Boards of Canada go really well with ArtMaking though.

This is an Art Post

Third post already! Well second real post. Start as you mean to go on.

I almost subscribed to Frieze Magazine but I chickened out. I could really do with some sort of regular update to the art world, I figure something like this is a good way because it has, you know, pictures and stuff. Also with a magazine (as opposed to just looking on websites) you can have it lying around ready for when you need inspiration, or need reminding that the art world is full of wankers. Know your enemy, that sort of thing. But that's the thing that made me hesitate: if it's going to be pretentious columnists licking or biting arses depending on their mood that morning, then it'll be annoying paying £30 for 8 issues.

But I think the art dept in school had a subscription and I remember them being quite good reads, but I was less cynical then. It's just annoying that you can't buy one issue anywhere to try it out. That said, I haven't checked WH Smiths yet. I feel like I shouldn't worry so much about soaking up what other people have done, but it's a good way to see where you stand in visual terms, and also to make sure you're not repeating what someone else said better. Yes I'm going to be painting for fun more than anything else, but it'd be nice to feel like it meant more than that.

They actually had an article on machanima, bringing things back to the subject of videogames. I think they put too much stock in them really, which is surprising being as they're an artsy fartsy magazine. Red Vs Blue was funny, but most other ones have just stunk of someone being unable to actually create a proper animation.

World of Warcraft

I think I should just cancel my account now. Stop the payments, and give myself some closure on the game.

I used the C word in my Guild's forum and I got a range of reactions from an indignant "Fine! be that way!" (but in a jokey way) to a lot of reasons why I should stay. Basically I was the first in the guild to reach 60, and had done quite a few end-game instance runs that they hadn't. Then one by one they have gotten to 60, they weren't far behind, but as that happened, I found less and less reasons to play.

It's true the gameplay does change at endgame, one could argue that the gameplay truly starts when you max out your level. It's true, there are more tactics, and it's more challenging. At endgame, it's got to be about the gameplay because there's no point getting ph4t l00t for ph4t l00t's sake - the only reason for better armour is so you can fight harder to get better armour.

I was really looking forward to waiting for my Guildies to reach 60 so that I could do these hardcore dungeons with them and not random people from internet-land with no social skills anymore.

Now that I have had a few runs, I'm not so sure it's going to inject any more fun to the game. No offence to them but I've found myself getting frustrated at the fact that we don't have polished tactics: namely the mages have itchy trigger fingers that won't wait for the Tank (sometimes me, as I am a druid) to get aggro. If I'm not tank, I'm healer, and it's equally annoying because it's me having to desperately heal a cloth-wearer because they didn't let the tank lay the aggro-building smackdown with the MOBs.

It's fine if you want to play more casually and the problem is I won't complain when people do things I think were wrong for fear of sounding like an anal rules-obsessed geek. But when I'm letting these things get to me, when I should just be having fun, I think that's a good sign that I'm done with the game. I like the social aspect, but I don't think they care as much about perfect tactics as I do. Like I say, it's about gameplay, and it's my desired gameplay to focus on tactics and control 'aggro' properly within the party. If the rest of the team aren't on that wavelength, then I should just play another game.

It's just hard to Cancel The Account when a) you've invested so much time in building this virtual character and b) your mates want you to join them "For The Horde".

First Post

Hopefully the slightly complicated template doesn't break in everyone's browser.

This is a general blog. The concept of Blogs is such a self indulgent one, however enough people have them these days that one doesn't feel so arrogant.

Though I'll write about general things in life, mostly this blog will be filled with posts about videogames, and I'll probably start updating it with my artistic exploits as well. I got an easel for my birthday and a general top-up of painting supplies. Now I'm armed to the teeth with equipment, there's nothing left to do but actually paint something. I should probably do some sketching first, I think I'm quite rusty.