I just finished reading Anime: from Akira to Princess Mononoke by Susan J. Napier this morning. It’s an interesting book that looks at various themes and concepts in Japanese animation. It’s pretty good, though a little dry at times, and didn’t go deep enough into some of the topics I was curious about. On the other hand it did help give me some more background on how anime relates to Japanese culture and history.

Some of the first games I ever played on a computer were the Scott Adams adventure games. They were some of the first IF games I ever saw. Here’s a page that has java versions of all of them. I found this from a page Chris pointed me at that has links to free adventure & fantasy games. Many of the ones there are classics.

Since I didn’t get around to it last week:

1. What are the first things that you do in the morning to start your day? Stumble around, get some water, brush teeth, sit down and grab laptop and browse through mail as I try and wake up a bit. Realize how late it is, jump in the shower and zoom to work.

2. What are the last things you do at night before going to bed? Hmm. Usually brush teeth, grab whatever book I’m reading and read a page or two before passing out.

3. What daily routine have you recently added to your day? I can’t really think of anything. My day is pretty simple. Wake up. Work. Come Home. Sleep.

4. What routine do you wish you could get rid of? Um. Having to take all the medications I have to take each day. It’s just kind of annoying to have to worry about it.

5. What’s the one thing that makes you feel like something is missing if you don’t do it some point within your day? Eating. I keep missing lunch and whenever I do I get all spacey at around 3:30 in the afternoon.

The Friday Five is found at http://fridayfive.org

Robert Byrne. “Partying is such sweet sorrow.”

[Quotes of the Day]

I had never played a video game until recently. Then I bought “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Having heard that vicious mayhem characterizes most games, I’ve been pleased to find that I don’t have to kill anyone as I help Harry navigate his way through a series of non-violent conflicts. Even more delightful is how closely his experiences mirror the game of life. Harry and I sometimes have to repeat a lesson 20 times before we master it. There’s no guidebook to study, so we have to figure everything out through trial and error. Best of all: The rules keep changing. What works to get us through one tight spot isn’t necessarily relevant in the next one. Sound familiar, Scorpio? This is an apt description of your current situation.

<– Brought to you by Free Will Astrology –>

Anyone remember Dark Tower?  That old game from Milton Bradley?

We were talking about it last night online and found a site that talks all about Dark Castle.  I know I had this game when I was a kid, but now I need to go and figure out if it is still around my parent’s place somewhere.  I have a horrible feeling it was probably sold at some tag sale when I wasn’t at home.  My parents even sold the Atari when I wasn’t at home, they should have asked me first.

I’m sick of being single. I try not to gripe about it to people that often, but lately it’s been bugging me more and more. Part of the problem is finding good places to even meet new people. The online dating service thing just doesn’t really do it for me either. I’ve been single now for years and I haven’t really met that many people I’ve even been interested in.

Okay, gripe over for now. I now return you to my normal babbling.

Serious Play is LEGOs for the corporate world. Their site was pretty interesting, but I really do wonder how many people I could actually get to buy into something like this at my workplace. I love LEGOs and keep thinking about buying a few sets to bring into work for people to just play with when they are by my desk.

Yes, I have issues with growing up 🙂

Louise Beal. “Love thy neighbour as yourself, but choose your neighbourhood.”

[Quotes of the Day]

I’d been using DivOSX to view Divx movies on my Powerbook for a while and it worked pretty well. One problem though, was that it hadn’t been updated in ages and ages. For those of us who’ve been looking to see such things improve, 3ivx Delta 4, Preview Release 1 came out recently. This release is really solid so far. Along with this I’d recommend getting Divx Doctor II