Well, a shitty summer that has been indistinguishable from autumn has finally given way to that actual season. September brings with it rain, dropping temperatures, ever-shorter days, and raking. Oh, the cursed raking. And it really was a terrible summer for the town of Anchorage: we broke a state record for most rainy days in a row (29), and days that weren’t filled with water were overcast. There were four or five really gorgeous summer days, of course, but overall it wasn’t a fantastic season. I did get through a good deal of my gaming backlog, which is always nice. I also stupidly added to it: Bayonetta was on sale and I can’t for the life of me put down Dragon Quest IX. I was slaughtered by the final boss yesterday, so it’s back to grinding for gear, alchemy ingredients, and experience. I might even change vocations, although that would mean more tedious grinding. Just last night, I realized that a single-player expansion for Bioshock 2 was released on PSN, which I now have to buy and play, because I love Bioshock. Have you seen the Bioshock Infinite trailer? Holy frigging crap.
One highlight of the last few weeks has been receiving an early review copy of Metroid: Other M and playing it to total completion, Hard mode and all. I gave the game a 7.0 at Nintendo World Report. It’s not a bad game, it just suffers from control and story issues, and it’s incredibly linear. The post-game content is great, but Hard mode is disappointing in that there is no reward for what’s essentially a lot of work. I also collected all of the Star Coins in Worlds 1-8 of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, then basically gave up on three of the World 9 stages because they’re honestly just not fun, requiring a level of precision that I’m simply not willing to put myself through. In July, my brother-in-law Justin and me played the ever-living crap out of PixelJunk Shooter, an excellent PSN game and completed it to 100%. I’m only missing one freaking trophy, which I’m still trying to nab.
I’ve also started doing Figure Reviews for two reasons. First, figure-collecting is a hobby of mine, and this blog reflects my hobbies. Second, when I’m getting ready to buy a figure, I like to look online for reviews. Sometimes reviews are surprisingly scarce, so I figured (HA!) there’s no harm in contributing. I’ve posted quite a few now, and I have more to cover. After I get done with my girls, I’ll probably start with my other figures, like my NECA TMNT figures.
On the paleo front, this blog’s been pretty quiet on the whole. My biggest “contribution” has been a series of posts about Toroceratops, which has received mixed reviews (check out the comments of those posts). I also did a good post about the semi-aquatic Psittacosaurus theory from Tracy Ford & Larry Martin. I tried to make it semi-serious, and Tracy was a good sport and responded…which I then responded to. Scott and Raven and I also attempted a monthly paleo-themed podcast called “Dino-Rama,” which fell apart almost immediately. In point of fact, we recorded a July episode in June. It’s September, and that podcast still hasn’t been posted. This isn’t really anybody’s fault: Scott is the audio editor but he’s always very busy, and I know nothing about audio editing and don’t especially want to learn how to do it. I do a gaming podcast, though, as you may have heard: the NWR Newscast, a biweekly, Nintendo-centric podcast about news, reviews, and off-track ranting. I’m also sometimes on Radio Trivia Podcast and rarely on Radio Free Nintendo. Actually, you’ll hear my nasally vocals on the upcoming episode of RFN, so stay tuned for that. Dino-Rama may continue in the future, but it will require a major overhaul and probably a fourth co-host who can also edit the audio.
In the coming months, you’ll probably see more irregularly-scheduled Figure Reviews and gaming news, maybe some more book reviews and paleo news coverage. I’ve got several art projects in the slow-cooker, including ceratopsids, Xenopermian critters, NWR avatars, and DinoNoir. None of these projects are on any kind of schedule (when you’re not paid for shit, there’s no incentive to get it done!) but I’ll post progress when I make it.
I’ll also post some updated contact information. A lot of people still use my Hotmail address, but I’m trying to move away from Hotmail for a variety of reasons. My standard email is now sillysaur (at) gmail (dot) com. You can also contact me on Facebook, and if you want to do some online PS3 gamin’ with me, my PSN Handle is Sillysaur.
Also, I’d like to point out that The Boneyard is back! Originally started by Brian Switek a few years ago as a monthly or bi-monthly collection of paleo-related posts, the project fell into disuse for over a year. David Orr, of Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs, has valiantly taken up the mantle. The first edition was just posted, so go check it out! David’s looking for volunteers for subsequent editions and, of course, more paleo posts to link to. All hail The Boneyard!
Excellent picture of Samus Aran by iwaisan, from Kotaku.
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1 comment:
Zach,
time certainly does get away from us all. Sad to hear about "Other M" as I'd been looking forward to it. And I'll eagerly be awaiting the next episode of the "Dino-Rama" podcast whenever it gets out.
Also, despite some of the naysayers, I was a huge fan of the Torosaurus/Triceratops posts. You put a lot of time and energy into them, which is more than I can say for pretty much every media outlet I saw reporting on the story.
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