After gorging ourselves on the Thanksgiving fare, it was time to peruse some old family photos. You'll need to make sure you've downloaded and installed the latest Flash Player if you want to see this. I think you may want to...Here it is, in all it's glory
I've arrived home from my big trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Not too cold at first, but that quickly changed into a weather I've only read about in Louis L'Amour novels. Holy Fuck it got cold. A bit of a delay whilst the departing aeropland was deiced...whatever that is, but time was mysteriously made up, and I arrived in good time. I have many thoughts about the work I will have ahead of me, and won't dwell on the finer points of plastination here. I'll save that, and my petty gripes about the trip for another day. It's time to go eat some turkey. 
I'm sitting quietly in the plastination lab at U.M., waiting for a placenta to finish the impregnation stage. This place is pretty damn amazing to say the least. I'll be home, huddled next to Jeri tomorrow night, and will post photos then.
It's going to be nearly a week before I add anything to the magical world of Visceraman1/Joshua Lopez. I'll be experiencing the freezing world of Ann Arbor, Michigan for a few days; studying the alluring field of plastination- so that upon my return I can resume spending money like a fiend. Provided the camera doesn't immediately freeze upon exposure, or fly out of my hands in the 45mph winds, I'll have some pretty pictures to post. I suggest that in my absence, you head over to Ill Will Press and catch up on the latest antics of Foamy.
Now that the bedroom floor is finished, (ok, except for a threshold), it's time to start thinking about the next project I should attempt. At first I thought...A shed!, then A crafting den for Jeri!. Scratch both of those ideas, because a true project looms on the horizon. I do see that someone else has designed something similar, and while I think it's decent, I do find it to be a bit tacky. There were a few other example notable samples here and yet again over here, at deviantart.
It goes without saying that while mine will appear a bit lopsided and far from level at times, it will far superior overall. I brought the Discover Card with me to work, so in between 'projects', I can start buying supplies.
I've always found the Tony Hawk games to be ridiculous, pretty unrealistic, lame, and yet fun at the same time. I began playing back on my Dreamcast, and have played nearly every title in the series. The unfortunate thing about the series, is every title is almost exactly the same game, with the addition of a different soundtrack, perhaps different challenges for the various locations, and obviously, different stories for the Story Mode.
Not being a skateboarder in the real world as Jeri calls it, I'm not sure what the fascination with skating through a mall is. It's present in every title in the series, so it must be a huge thing among skateboarders. It became my least favourite area long ago, and I still dread having to complete various challenges in order to advance to a different area. (Because every skateboarder can leap 50 feet through the air and land on a 1/2 inch piece of pipe, grind it, and pick up a video tape at the same time) (And why are the stairs taller than me?)
The plot line in the Story Mode is as lame as ever. Character X is trying to fit in with Gang X, and must perform various tricks in order to please them, all the while followed around by a pseudo-punk-skate chick with horrible conversation skills. The stunts required to progress through the mode are bizarre and have not semblance to reality. A chore to sit through the cut scenes, a chore to perform tedious tasks over and over. A chore altogether.
So why do I continue to play the series when there are so many faults with it? Because overall, it is a fun game, has it's own challenges, and many things are easily ignored by the customizing the soundtrack.
I did stay up a bit late last night, as I had to maintain my winning streak at I Sketch. A simple premise, just that of Pictionary, but online - and with a mouse (though there are some that are using tablets (similar to the one found on my wishlist - yes, I know it's expensive and that probably makes me greedy)). My mouse drawing skills suck adequately, but with the arrival of my sketching materials from Dick Blick I'll be able to practice. (Perhaps there will be postings of my work?)
Haven't entered any photoshop contests as of late, either I draw a blank when I look at them, or perhaps I've been a bit lazy. I have however, been thinking of a few notions for a redesign. This time there will be a stylesheet swap feature, so one can continue with this, or choose one of their liking. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I haven't kept very many of my old stylesheets, there were a couple that I liked, quite a few I didn't, irregardless, they're gone.
I think it was about a month ago, that my friend Gary was coming to town, and I was going to acquire a baseball game for us to tackle. Instead, I found myself getting the Midway Volume 2 collection (that's another article), because there were too many baseball titles to choose from - and I had no idea what distinguished one from the next. Last night however, I chose to rectify this, and rented All Star Baseball 2005.
So far, I've come away with two things: 1.)I know absolutely nothing about baseball, and 2). I suck at baseball. Go ahead and make it three things, because 3). There are a shitload of games to be played throughout the season. Jesus!
My batting sucks, my fielding is barely adequate, and since I consistently pitch easy pitches, I get my ass beat. Were it not for the ability to simulate games, I would be 0-4 instead of a brazen 2-2. My largest loss has been 18-2 - if that gives you any idea how bad I suck.
Gameplay itself isn't too bad. I haven't tired of the commentary yet, but if I were to keep the game, I know that would soon happen. The graphics are good, someone actually spent time on the crowd, instead of just inserting flat images in the seats. And from what little I know of the real life game, it seems pretty realistic. I chose to play as the Diamondbacks, which meant Jeri had to endure quite a bit of questions regarding the team, as well as what constituted a slider as opposed to a screwball.
While there are a few tutorials about the game, there seems to be an absence of one regarding pitching. This could have come in handy, but I think I've figured things out on my own. Should I find access to the manual, I may find otherwise.
Often throughout the game, I found myself thinking that I should have gone with either hockey, Call of Duty 2 or the latest Tony Hawk release. Baseball doesn't seem to hook me, I'm already tired of it, and the only challenge is my shitty batting.
I won't be keeping this one past the due date, in fact - I may find myself at the store tonight.
So my recent entries aren't faring well. At least, I did receive some positive feedback from other participants, things to keep in mind for future entries. I have quite a few things to do today, updates for my gaming interest page, an eye to keep on the starnet forums, and spousal harrassment. Tomorrow will bring the finishing of the floors, beer drinking, gaming and continued spousal harrassment. Once that's complete, I can focus on my drawing.
There's a new contest theme out there, this one requiring the transformation from day to night in your photo...and it has to include people as well. It's been a while since there was a theme that really caught my interest...the celebrity/zombie one did, but I couldn't find a way to drop my U2 zombies into appropriate surroundings. Since there's a "fee" of credits to enter this contest (no big deal since the credits are free, and I earned when Julia came in 2nd), I thought I would post my potential entries here first, and let the masses be the judges.
Of course, this means this entry will be updated throughout the next day or so.
And I kept my word:
And yet another....I think this one's my favourite so far, I don't know which one to go with...
