Gamefly

(This image is from http://www.cybersharings.com/puerto-rico-earthquake-shakes-the-city/.)

I have been renting games from Gamefly for the past few months. It has given me the chance to play so many games for my Nintendo Wii that would have cost me more to buy them. I own multi-player games for my Wii because it allows me to play with other people when they come over. Single player games are the only games I rent from Gamefly because I know I probably won't ever play them again if I own them. I learned that from owning the Playstation 1 and the original X Box.

(This image is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_More_Heroes_%28video_game%29.)

One of the games I really enjoyed was No More Heroes. It is a game about an assassin named Travis Touchdown who is trying to become the number one assassin. From what I heard, the Japanese creators of this game were spoofing our American culture, and we can see that just by the weapon he uses is pretty much a more realistic version of a light-saber. Even if it was spoofing our culture, I still really enjoyed the obscure storyline and the game play. This game uses the motion control of the Wii mote very effectively. I would have kept this game for nostalgic purposes. I also rented the second game, but it was not as good.

(This image is from http://digitalbattle.com/2010/06/05/super-mario-galaxy-2-review/.)

Super Mario Galaxy 2 was another game I rented. I started to play the 1st one on my friend's Wii, but I didn't finish it. I heard this game was pretty much the same except for the addition of Yoshi, which I liked playing with. Some of the characters and storyline didn't seem that interesting though.

(This image is from http://supplements.thephoenix.com/supplements/2010/50games/battle/?a=943&b=939&intro=1.)

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was another great game. I heard it was very similar to Ocarina of Time, but I tried playing that game and I didn't care for the annoying fairy Navi who kept pestering you while you were playing the game. Midna was a much better replacement since she is much more part of the story and has a dark persona. I really liked the game play since you could transform into a wolf and as a human you have so many useful gadgets that are awesome.

(This image is from http://nerdsontherocks.com/drunken-dialect-interview-with-link.)

I just finished playing this game. It was alright, though flying on the back of the bird was annoying at first because they didn't mention in the game how you fly higher. I really didn't care for Fi, the replacement for Midna and Navi. Fi just sounds like a computer who calculates all the time. The gadgets were very similar to the previous game, but I did like how you have to upgrade them. What I liked most about this game were the characters in the storyline. Link seemed like a more realistic boy, Zelda was a more interesting character though she wasn't a princess this time, and I even liked the flamboyant villain Ghirahim. I have mixed feelings for the final boss though... (SPOILER ALERT: it isn't Ganandorf, it's someone called Demise. He looks cool in his final form, but he looks ridiculous as that monster called "The Imprisoned" and he doesn't seem to be able to do that much as you face him. Even Ghirahim has more tricks than he does.)

There are some other games that I have rented like Donkey Kong Country and Kirby's Epic Yarn. Those two games were alright. I tried to play Red Steel, but I returned it before I could ever finish it. I liked the shooter aspect of it at times, but the swordplay stank and I felt dizzy at times when the smallest movement of the Wii mote made the camera spin.

I'm going to stop my subscription to Gamefly soon. There aren't any other single player games out right now that I feel like playing. I want to play "Kirby's Return to Dreamland" and "Rayman Origins," but both of those are multiplayer so I will just add them to my permanent collection. Maybe I will start up Gamefly again when the next Nintendo system comes out, which should be this summer. I heard there will be more games for gamers than the Wii had. Besides, I want to start up Netflix on my Wii and watch some movies and Anime series I have not had the chance to see.

Carrie Moyer Exhibit

There is a new installation of artwork in the Contemporary Gallery at the Worcester Art Museum. It features paintings done by Carrie Moyer.

Her work is obviously abstract, with odd shapes and vivid colors. I find it weird that she uses acrylic paint. My teachers from college had us paint with acrylic only because oil paint would ruin the galleries. The teachers all suggested that when we leave college to try oil paint instead, and they told us we would get better results. I have also noticed many more paintings in museums done with oil paint than any other medium. Alas, there are artists who can use anything in order to make great art. I once saw beautiful scenes of nature done entirely by Crayola crayons, and I mean a full grown man used the type children use.

I also find it funny that she uses glitter in some of her artwork. Glitter just seems like a cheap craft material, but she uses it sparingly mixed with the paint.

Check out her work at the museum. This gallery will only have her work for a few months.

Evil Wind Dragon Sketch

Here is a sketch of an evil wind dragon from my Zheph Skyre series. I started drawing it the exact same way I drew it before, but then it hit me. I did the same thing of combining the beak of an owl with the mouth of a rabbit with this creature. I didn't have that much of badger features for this dragon as I did for vulture features, so I added the badger's nose. I think it is an improvement.

Also, I've uploaded more content to my website. I still have more to finish, but it is getting better.

Raven Queen

Happy Valentine's Day! For today, I will post a sketch of an evil antagonist from my Zheph Skyre series. She sort of ruins the idea of love, but whatever.

I was thinking of calling her Bestillia, but I am not entirely sure. I do like the name a little bit. For a while I was wondering what to make of this character's origin. It seemed a little odd to me at 1st just to add a female character to the group of main antagonists, but I believe she will fit perfectly. I was going to make her the third species of immortal monsters that pass on their genetic traits by biting victims like vampires and werewolves, but I'm now thinking of making her similar to RA Salvatore's "Spider Queen".

In the world of Drizzt Du Orden, the evil dark elves, the drow, worship a deity that created them from her image, the Spider Queen. This deity called Lolth is feared as a bringing of chaos and destruction even in the alternate dimension where she lives. Spiders are mainly her symbol, and her punishment to drow who don't follow her rule is turning them into a half drow half spider creature called a drider.

In the world of Zheph Skyre, things are different. This character's element is wind, and spiders aren't associated with wind, so I'm thinking of making her the Raven Queen. There will be dark elves in my series, though I don't think I'll call them drow, have them live underground, and worship spiders. This race of evil elves will follow the Raven Queen though.

The Raven Queen has quite a few abilities including flight, unmatchable speed, the ability to produce any weapon she wants, taking the form of others, wind based magic, regeneration from drinking blood, and more. She is also a seductress. I think she's the only female evil character of mine who is.

Rock Music

I recently ordered 3 CD's online because I can't get them on ITunes. All three of them are Japanese bands that I had heard from specific Anime shows and online. It has just gotten me to think about my taste in music.

My earliest exposure to music was very weird. Since I have autism, my mother and my speech pathologist helped me speak through many methods, including "Hooked on Phonics". One method my mom took was having me listen to two CD's from my dad's and her's music collection. Mostly she played "The Beach Boys" and "Meatloaf: Bat out of Hell 2" to me on noise canceling headphones. I am not entirely sure if I liked the two bands equally or not, but I can say that the CD cover for Meatloaf has always been awesome to me. Few covers have such dark, epic illustrations.

(This image is from http://spazio.libero.it/geniolibero/.)

My taste in music did eventually expand, though I was still very sheltered when it came to these sorts of things. I recall really liking "I'll be There for You" by the Rembrandts just because it was played at the beginning sequence of "Friends," but that was back when "Friends" was worth watching. I also recall liking Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping" since they played that song on the radio often. I never tried to get a CD of either one of those groups though.

My first CD, besides a few burned CD's from my brother, was System of a Down's "Steal This Album." I began to like them after seeing their music video for "Chop Suey!" on MTV back when they actually showed music videos. Mostly System of a Down was my favorite band of all time. Of coarse my taste in music has been expanding since then.

I also like Slipknot, Disturbed, Static X, Gorillaz, Evanescence, Rammstein, Enya, Dido, Unsun, Within Temptation, Damone, Delain, Maximum the Hormone, Girugimeshi, High and Mighty Color, Curve, MDMFK, Godsmack, Blueman Group, and Kidneytheives. Yeah, my taste in music ranges from Metal to New Age.

Artists require all sorts of things for inspiration, especially music. My taste in music generally has to make me imagine fantastic fight scenes, explosions, magic, machines, and spectacular adventures when I feel pumped full of energy. I have my relaxing moments when I want to hear some music that calms me, but it still has to sound good to my ears.

Magic the Gathering

Today after I went snowboarding at Mount Wachusett, I went to the store That's Entertainment to play Magic the Gathering. Magic the Gathering is a collectable card game that was first introduced by Wizards of the Coast, the same company that introduced the game Dungeons and Dragons, in 1993 by the mathematician Richard Garfield. There have been plenty of other trading card games that have been similar to Magic, but few of them have had as much of a success as this one game. Yu-Gi-Oh! by Konami is the strongest competitor.

 This is the back of all Magic cards. They have not changed the design ever. You can see the five basic colors you play with in the game: green, white, blue, black, and red. You usually build a deck around one or two of the colors. Few can use all five...

One of the best feature of Magic the Gathering is the ever changing styles of artwork introduced to the series. Numerous illustrators have been employed by Wizards to create images for these cards.

You can see here an odd picture on this creature card done by Dan Frazier. This began as a card from an old edition, but it was brought back for a later edition. Some of the pictures used on these cards are fan favorites.

Here is a creature card of a terrifying horse creature called a Nightmare, which was illustrated by Carl Critchlow. I like how the horse looks deathly. You can tell this is an older card by the surrounding border being white. They later changed it to black. They have come up with different designs for this side of the card since the opponent can't see it.

This is one of my favorite illustrations on one of my cards. It was done by RK Post.

This is another of my favorites, and it is shiny. They make some cards shiny sometimes which increases their value. This was done by Ron Spencer, and the shininess just helps magnify it's awesomeness.

White cards used to be mostly just pictures of men at arms, beautiful creatures like unicorns, serine, and honorable images. Black was always morbid, green was always of beasts, red was always of fire and goblins, and blue was always about wizards and their academic studies. As time went on, all of the images used for Magic grew darker and darker for all colors. Here RK Post made a white creature terrifying.

Here's an illustration by Scott M. Fisher. Even when women are depicted on these cards, they are not portrayed as beautiful. Perhaps they want women portrayed with more of strength and fierceness instead.

Here is an enchantment card with an illustration by Mitch Cotle. I have used a few of these cards, so they are no longer in pristine condition. I apologize.

Here is a shiny spider card done by Greg Staples. I find it interesting to see only one spider that is of a light color. As you can see, this creature belongs to two different colors. That is seen often now in Magic.

Here is an artifact card done by Tomas Giorello. Artifacts generally have no color. I find it odd that this edition came up with some interesting images with mice, foxes, and snakes combined with people.

In more recent editions, they have began to have artifact with a color in it. Sometimes it is difficult to figure out what you are looking at in these images. This was done by Anthony Francisco.


Magic the Gathering has had an influence on my artwork. I suggest to all to try to play it at least once. It is harder than Yu-Gi-Oh, but it appeals to an older crowd.

Cape Cod

For the past three days, I was visiting my grandparents at Cape Cod. There wasn't much that I did there besides relax, went with them out to lunch at two separate restaurants on two separate days, went with them to see certain sights, watched the movie "The Departed", and played Scrabble with my grandmother. Usually I would go to the beach while I am there, but since it is still winter, we were limited. It was still nice to visit and see them.

One place we decided to go to was the Cape Cod Beer Brewery for a tour and free samples. They are a small beer factory that distributes beer throughout Cape Cod. It is too bad that they only distribute in Cape Cod because their light beer "Beach Blonde" was actually good! I haven't ever had a beer that I liked, but I found one. The others were strong.

 There was a gift shop that had some of their large glass bottles that they reuse and merchandise from local businesses. It was interesting.

Here is a pamphlet for the Edward Gorey House in Yarmouth Port, MA. We didn't visit it this time, but we went the previous time I visited the Cape. Edward Gorey was a children's book illustrator and a etch artist. I liked his work because some of it appeared to be dark like bats, black birds, and other strange creatures. The museum was originally his house. I suggest people to visit when they are in the area.

I also suggest going to the Cape Cod Museum of Art. They have an interesting sculpture collection outside. We didn't get a chance to go in, but I will try to next time.