Something I will shamelessly steal from reddit.com!

Every year kids go trick or treating, and you normally see the same costumes over and over again. These kids got pretty creative with their costumes. I especially like the vending machine/Mike Tyson combo. according to the person who posted:

"I told them they won Halloween, split the rest of my candy between the two of them, and turned off my porch light. Bonus: The kid in the snack machine costume "turtled" into the costume and would only accept the candy through the "receptacle". A tad awkward, but cute."

Video Games: A Retrospective Artist Date

I have not played video games since school started. This has been quite a record for me. I normally play online video games such as Team Fortress 2 to pass time. I enjoy it because it's social, challenging, and a lot of my friends from my undergrad play it so it allows us to interact together and have a conversation over voice chat.

Since school has started I quit playing. Most of my friends are in the same boat as well, and we'll play again over the break. Today however I am breaking my rule. It's the worst day outside. So dreary, and cold. I will play a video game... but not just any video game, an old one! I have a list of games from my childhood that I have been wanting to replay for a while now. Among them there are Super Mario World, Mega Man X, Final Fantasy 7, and Chrono Trigger. For times sake, and difficulty I decided to play Mega Man X. I may be able to beat that one in an afternoon. What follows is a journal of events and screenshots from the game.

Right off the bat I am greeted with old school 16bit music, and the Capcom logo.

So you're Mega Man... A robot boy. You have a gun for an arm and you shoot robots. I like this because you shoot robots. Anyway, you run through a city for a little while. All the while you're establishing the story. Not bad. It's something about Renegade robots not being very neighborly, and Mega Man has to stop them. Rather than get all Gandhi and fight passively, Mega Man takes the Bruce Willis route shooting the hell out of the bad guys. But then he bits off more than he can chew when he encounters a robot in an even bigger freaking robot!

He's two robots!

 Wow, really? Can they do that? Capcom I think you're just blowing steam on this one --but for the sake of amusement I'm letting it slide. As it turns out this is one of those fights you can't win. This type of story development killed myself esteem as a kid. No matter how good I was, I was never good enough to change the plot! Anyway, a more flamboyantly dressed robot boy who sorta looks like a robot girl comes along and saves me. Then tells me I am not as strong as him, but if I work hard I can maybe surpass him. Once again I am not good enough for this game. I think that is the message so far.

After this drama is established and it is clear that I've gotta go stop these robots from doing whatever it is they are doing I am greeted with a selection screen. From here I can choose who I am going to chase after. I like this. It gives you the sense that you ultimately have control over your experience. This is typical of Mega Man games. The trick is to figure out which character to go after first. Every enemy has a different weakness. If you kill them you take their weapon to use on the next guy you chase down. If you're lucky that guy is weak to its effects. Generally just use common sense like fire melts ice, but once in a while you might need a weapon to fight a guy that you normally wouldn't consider.

 The gopher is cute.

I'm going to start with the gopher looking guy, and go through the entire game this afternoon. I will post an update as to my overall opinion.

Okay, so I never actually beat the game. I got about three levels in before I realized I had to get other stuff done. Overall though, I would say this game is really addictive. It stacks up against a lot of the games that I have played recently, but you cant judge it by the same criteria.

Games now are more about storytelling and visual art. In some cases they are just interactive movies. Back when they first started making them, up until the early 2000's game makers had to rely on a sense of urgency. The music in this game helps that, as well as the constant presence of enemies in each stage.

I really enjoyed playing through this --as far as I got. It was a nice trip down memory lane, and reminded me of why i liked video games in the first place: they're fun.

Why Do We Cry?

Everybody, whether they like to admit it or not, has probably shed or choked back tears in the past year. Whether or not any one saw you do it ultimately depends on where you were, and if you wanted to be seen. I've often wondered why we cry, more particularly, why do our faces contort, why do our throats close, and why do we shed tears?

I read an interesting article today by NPR that explained the evolutionary benefits of crying. It went on to explain that it may have served to signal other humans that there was something wrong without giving away that you're in distress to nearby predators. It also went on to explain that natural selection probably favored babies that cried the loudest because it was unlikely that they would be left behind or lost.

The article also went on to explain (much to common knowledge) that tears elicit emotional responses from humans. Whenever you see someone crying you are likely to ask what's wrong or if you are crying someone is likely to try and console you. It also works to signal that "you've beaten me, back off, you win".

I know people who use tears to their advantage. These people are usually liars, and will con people by manipulating emotions. A certain relative of mine (as well as some...we'll call them business associates) is well known for this, and despite the knowledge that she will cry to get what she wants --everyone always caves. She has two kids now, is older than me, and it pisses me off to no end...but I digress. That's not to say I don't love her (she's pulled it on me before... I put her in her place) but she is an excellent example of people using basic human emotions to manipulate others into gaining what they want. As terrible as it may sound, this is not too far off from advertising. We can use emotions as a call to action to trigger a desired response. Maybe this is why people are always saying my cousin and I are two sides of the same coin.

Mixing Old With New

With all of the electronic music become popular nowadays, it's no wonder we are beginning to see musical acts such as this. They employ traditional instruments to play grimey dub-step music. It's fairly amusing!

Artist Date

Being low on funds and ideas I set off on a walk to a place I had no idea existed, or no idea where it was. I left my apartment, and walked for a few miles. I kept looking for something interesting. I walked to the downtown area, then over the Charles river into Cambridge. Nothing caught my eye. That isn't to say there wasn't anything to look at. I'm easily amused, but nothing was new.

As I was walking along some train tracks, past what appeared to be old warehouses and some type of facilities buildings I came upon a lonely lawn chair sitting on the side of the railroad bed.  Its back hunched over a bit and its legs stood thin and brittle. In front of the chair a flock of birds congregated around the puddles and mud holes chirping wildly. I stood there, feeling alone yet calm.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a text from a college friend. My friend James died. It wasn't suicide, drugs, or foul play. As far as I know it was natural cause. I looked back at the chair, then at my phone again. I slowly wheeled myself back around the way I came. This wasn't an artists date. It was just a bad day.

It's October!

October has always been my favorite month. Ever since I was a little kid I enjoyed carving pumpkins, eating massive amounts of candy (which would later be replaced with beer), eating pumpkin seeds, and watching horror movies.

Thanks to the wonder that is the internet, there are a whole slew of spooky films that can be watched on sites such as YouTube and Vimeo.

I'd like to share two movies. The first one is Polydeus. Polydeus is a legendary video game that appeared sometime in the 80's around Portland Oregon. The urban legend has been bouncing around the internet with much speculation. Some claim it was a CIA operation and noted men in black suits taking data from the machine. Others say it was a prototype of a soon to be released game, which had to be scrapped due to the frequent seizures the game caused. The acting in this film is a little over the top, but it wasn't a bad job altogether.

Next is a short animation by The Animation Workshop. The short really speaks for itself, and has awesome atmosphere. Like the last one however, some of the lines are a little "meh." Overall however it's quite original, but draws its animation style from the well of Gorillaz.

Consumerism

Outside of Starbucks on Boylston. They have a strong presence in the coffee market.

Artist Date: Occupy Boston

As Occupy Wall street grows, other cities are joining in demanding a larger voice for the U.S' working class.

Today in NYC they clogged up traffic on the Brooklyn bridge. The protests here in Boston are a little more tame.

People are making signs as per peaceful protest decorum:

They Chant:
"the people/united/will never be divided"

Passerbys beep in support of the protesters.

15:31 counter protests begin to gather.

To elaborate it was two people, carrying signs in favor of the current economic system. It was nothing too inflammatory and they left shortly afterward.


15:35 hassled by a cop for taking a picture.

This is the picture in question that made an officer upset:

The cop approached me, upset and hollered at me for "sneaking" a photo of him. He said he was a working man, and that after this he was gonna go see his kids. I did not reply. He left me a lone from then on.

The protest began to grow.

Protesters begin to file out of Dewey Square to march through Boston