Wall of Twine and Post-Its

For the longest time I was not much into comic books, graphic novels, sequential art, or whatever they are called nowadays. However, I’m quickly becoming interested, and this new comic released by Valve is really piquing my interest. I thought it was quite well done, with an interesting art style (though perhaps just a little too stylized in some parts). It is packed full of great little references to the actual game (as well as Left 4 Dead 2), and also includes a reference to Team Fortress 2 and possibly Portal. I’m hoping for a “GRABBIN’ PEELZ!” in one of the three remaining comics.

Ahh…nostalgia. I loved Myst growing up. My sister and I got it as a joint Christmas present one year, and I was SO excited because the graphics were SO COOL and 3D!!(!!!!!). Myst was really something new, because up until this point my parents had limited our computer gaming to Oregon Trail and other educational games (and I loved Oregon Trail, don’t think that I am bashing it). I of course didn’t know that Myst was an immersive puzzle game, I thought it was my VERY FIRST PERSON SHOOTER. Oregon Trail had more FPS in it than Myst, and yet I was not disappointed at all. My sister never really got into it, but I spent HOURS exploring Myst Island and the various other ages. I took pages and pages of notes, transcribing every little detail. The story, the settings, the soundtrack, everything drew me in. I can proudly say that I solved ALMOST every puzzle by myself with no walkthroughs or cheats. There were only two instances where I had to consult online: the Selentic Age train that was guided by sounds, and the final fireplace puzzle. I am still a little ashamed I had to resort to hints. Oh well.

Unfortunately, I haven’t played Myst in years. The game was rendered unplayable when the family iMac was upgraded, and then in the years after the disc has disappeared. I’m sure I will purchase a new copy eventually.

This is what Left 4 Dead would be like if moral guardians didn’t freak out about killing zombie children. This awesome illustration is by Jason Chan.

Ignore the still image, just listen to the awesome music. I can’t believe I haven’t heard the soundtrack to The Magnificent Seven before (no, I haven’t seen the filming either, SHAME ON ME!). I first discovered this soundtrack when my sister Bethany shared a new album, “The Greatest Movie Themes” by the Golden Age of Hollywood Orchestra.

Well, here I am on another social media site. I already have a blog, and a Twitter, so what could I possibly need a Tumblr account for? Well, my blog is mostly for “serious business” stuff - long posts about graphic design, and maybe later filmmaking and other topics. No matter the content of the posts, the posts will be fairly long. In contrast, my tweets will never be longer than 140 characters, which is good for a quick thought or a link, but not much more. So Tumblr is here to fill the void between my long, in-depth blog posts and my rapid tweets. More fleshed out, but still concise thoughts will end up here. Also, while my blog is for graphic design, and my Twitter is generally split between graphic design, LEGO/brickfilming and typical status updates, I have a feeling my Tumblr will house a lot more random stuff, like maybe what I thought of a recent film or TV episode, or a look back on a favorite book, or a snapshot of something I thought was interesting.

Stay tuned for more musings!