Rendez-moi

If you're reading this, you're probably a nerdfighter.  1)  because most of my friends are, and 2) because this is a blog and the majority of blog readers (as opposed to youtube commenters) are generally nerdfighters. 

Whether or not you knew you were a nerdfighter or not, you should know about this project for awesome.

decrease worldsuck today please

theres the first one.  theres lots of others too though.  comment on them all if you want to produce even more awesome.

What's on your holiday wishlist?

Xbox live points to buy rock band songs  and psychonauts with
Another guitar controller
geometry wars galaxies for the wii
Call of duty 4 for the 360
USB signal broadcaster for my laptop to get my wii online

I'm taking biology right now, and it pretty much sucks.  However, there are 7th graders taking biology right now, for whom it sucks less.  because they're taking it from my brother, Jake.  I have to learn about Mitosis and Meiosis and a bunch of other stuff that doesn't interest me in the slightest.  However, I feel a bit differently if my teacher were, like my brother, on youtube doing this:

The day that you died was a good day
The friends on your facebook all wished you on your way
You drank five Jones creme soda cans
And got some new socks, a sweater and new pants

CHORUS
Goodbye 20 year old me
You got a great new job and a giant tv
And though you loved your new nintendo wii
All your rock bands are now belong to me

Boy Matt you sure will be missed
You worked your ass off and made the college deans list
Your Druid became celestial
But you never did find out what made him so freaking special

CHORUS

You worked with some cons in a paint store
You ran a campaign and hung out with piscis more
The pandas and you watched youtube
And you murdered your best friend: weighted companion cube

CHORUS
CHORUS

Modeled after Hank Green: brotherhood 2.0

Okay, so lets hope this is a new trend for me. 

Lauren and I are listening to speaker for the dead (by Orson Scott Card) together and loving it

Super Mario Galaxy is perfect in almost every way i could think to mention.  i squealed like a little girl when i climbed up a flag pole, did a handstand and launched off of it to grab a star.  seriously there was jumping and squealing at the same time.

I just received yet another scholarship for 500 dollars from the school senate.  I'm going to try to be a bit more fiscally responsible with other peoples money this spring. 

Registered for classes.  here 'tis

ENGL 258   Survey of World Literature
PHIL 450     Ethical Theory
PHIL 480     Philosophy Tutorial: Semiotics and Signs, the work of Charles Sanders Peirce
ECON 302  MicroEconomic Theory
ECON 306  History of Economic Doctrines

Should be a doosy, but I'm passionate about three of the courses, only one is a gen. ed. goal, three are required for my majors, and all of them are very interesting to me.  Not a bad semester.  Total credits: 15

Will be arriving in Boise late friday, and I am doing my damndest to get there in time for the video game night.  seriously, i want to be there in a big way.

An exam in the morning, and two on thursday.  If there is demand, I will be running an Anathema session sometime next week.  I am obviously free all of the days, so the scheduling is really up to the players, which probably means Dylan. 

aand.. Im out.

Success

Recent months of my life have been largely (perhaps disproportionately) concerned with the world of video games.  There are several very easily identified reasons for this.

Companion cube

Obligatory Picture of Link

So.  As my thoughts begin to wander, they tend to wander toward pixels and mechanics and skill atoms, and it occurred to me that Video games have had a tremendous impact on my life in both an educational and culturally defining way, not to mention the sheer time investment.   I think thats AWESOME. 

This year has seen and will continue to see some spiritual successors to the so vastly influential experiences of my childhood.  The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Contra, Castlevania and others.

Playing through some of the older versions of these paragons has brought me quite a bit of personal satisfaction and maybe even some closure.

LOZ: Link to the Past

For example, when I was about 5, I asked my brother and cousins if I could play the legend of zelda: link to the past.  However, due to my inability to pronounce the word "play" properly, they laughingly informed me that they weren't at a fairy fountain, but I could pray if I liked.

CONTRA

Or the countless times I failed to get past the first level in Contra without that floobing cheat code

Super Mario World

The hundreds of times I would visit the "secret level"  in order to have yoshi (the coolest mount a child could possibly hope for)  and the Cape that made so many things possible, most importantly: Falling more slowly.    That level became something of a crutch for me, and was often insufficient to compensate for my childish timing, lack of understanding of level structure, and amateur jumping abilities.

ZeldaOOT_Link_Playing_Ocarina

Entire days of my life were spent in front of a friend's 64 attempting to soak up the joy that simply radiated out of this game.  However, no matter how many times I tried to make it through, I would inevitably become stuck with a puzzle that required a tool i didnt know i had or how to use. 




All of these memories contained a great deal of distress along with the triumphs.  However, as I grew older, I grew wise.   Games contained within them the tools to gain mastery, and as I approached my gaming maturity I attained the skills I had lacked all my life.  

Around the time that the 6th generation of consoles were released, and my newfound talents coming into fruition is exactly the time that worthy continuations of these IPs stopped being produced.  I could play Devil May Cry 2, and Grand Theft Auto.  I could hold my own in Halo matches, then Halo 2 matches, as well as make a considerable dent in final fantasy X before I grew tired of JRPGs in general.  Smash Brothers held no fear for me, and Everquest changed the way I lived with my brothers and imagined games.

Perhaps I improved because my brother owned the consoles necesary to play some of these games, or perhaps I was simply arriving into my own(d?), but the fact of the matter is that my triumphs in these never had the same sort of quality as the games of yore.  and that brings us to the present. 

Its 7th generation. Sony has made the most baffling economic tosser I've ever witnessed, Microsoft is licensing quality IPs into attractive games while cultivating one of the most important indie gaming movements to date.  Meanwhile, nintendo is kicking their asses with their soccer moms and I. 

Zelda_final_GCN

The legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was a nearly religious experience for me, bringing into glorious detail the themes, leitmotifs, puzzles, characters and stories that I yearned to make mine all my life, but was unable to.  The rich religious iconography was nearly as familiar and real to me as a genuine faith's and the conclusion brought tears to my eyes.     I've gone back and played through the Ocarina of time.  Each step I take through the game makes me wish i had my own ocarina, so that i could go back and show young link the way. Link and I are the same age.  Having invested myself in acting out who link was in every legend, it only makes sense that he has shown me parts of who I am.

Supermariogalaxydemo1

Super Mario Galaxy retails this week in North America.  I kicked bowsers ass once more this week in Mario 64, and cannot properly describe how eager I am to do it again in outer space.   For every Z+A long jump failure that sent me off into the abyss 10 years ago, I will feel that much more awesome about the triple jumps that break me free of gravity next week.  Maybe its a platformer for you, but its a vengeance and an atonement for me. Not just with Mario, but to some extent most of the games I'm buying this year.  Damn, It's a good time to be me.


An independant podcast that will get you excited about videogames too: NoobToob

An Academic feeling blog that examines Game Design in abstract mini theories: Lost Garden

An obscene Australian who gives excellent hilarious video reviews:  Zero Punctuation

A charity service hosted by Penny Arcade that provides games to hospital children with your Donation: Child's Play

Hey everyone-

     So I'm in my new building and life is grand.  But thats not what this post is about.  In an attempt to get me excited about blogging again I've given my blog a much needed overhaul.   I cant really call myself a Dyer Sophomore anymore, since I don't live in Dyer hall anymore.  I won't be a sophomore much longer anyway.  My new home, the Rendezvous, is a meeting-place of all sorts of things.  Since it has apartments, classrooms, a student union, a cyber cafe, 24 hour labs, an uber cafeteria, a convenience store and planetarium (to name a few)  I think the name is pretty accurate, if a bit annoying. 

    Anyway, most people know enough english to know that "Rendezvous" means an appointment, or meetingplace, and most people know enough to know that it's french.  but most people dont know that rendez is the imperative form of rendre which means "present", like a command.  Rendez Vous would mean "present yourselves" and was a military term.   In this blog, I am presenting me.  I've been commanded to.  So every time I look at my blog now, it will imperially remind me to show myself once in a while.  This, and I also couldn't remember how to properly decline and conjugate the verb in order to make it say something else, and I liked this better anyway.   So.   Here's to a new year and a new blog, presenting Me.

Okay, so my buddy dylonstarry has facebookedly reminded me that not everyone knows whats going on with me nowadays.  also, Dylan wanted more blogging for his birthday, so this goes toward that too, i suppose.

It's Graduation time.  What superlatives would you give to your Vox neighbors?

this is a pretty piss poor update personally, but it sounded like too much fun to put off till i actually write something.

And so, in alphabetical order, i hereby arbitrarily award:

AnnaPants: best library, best taste in movies

Aurelia: most likely to post something I intellectually agree with

BlueDelt: most unexpected friend

Chrissy: least likely to post, most colorful hair

Dylan: Best children, best taste in spouses, coolest car and bumper stickers, largest dicebag, best Player Character

dylonstarry: Best friend, most likely to say something vulgar, wearer of tackiest shirts, best accent

Ernie:  best taste in men, best in character jokes, most likely to understand, best singer, most likely to use the prefix "circum-", best hair, shortest legs, funniest posts, most likely to have cute neices, least likely to have internet, realest player character

Kahaha Wahine:  coolest nose ring, least likely to have direct contact with me

Lamassu:  tallest husband, best taste in literature, best children (joint), most violent player character

First, apologies for the intentionally gay title.

now, seriously add me and comment with your code

Matthew J: 3470 - 6786 - 9607 - 4752

...yeah thats pretty much it for this post.    peace