Tower Records Goes To College: Star Wars & Culture Shock

Last Friday I was given an amazing opportunity by my good friend Scott Cashman to lead a discussion about my passion of passions: Star Wars. It was part of a series of classes/lectures/discussions being lead by former Tower Records employees as part of Harper College's continuing education program. It was an honor and privilege to talk with everyone. I feel remarkably blessed that I get to be a fan of something that so many other smart and eloquent people are also fans of. Thanks to everyone who came and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

As a bonus to everyone who came, I would like to share my work. My Powerpoint presentation, videos and excel spreadsheets can all be found by clicking this link. Let me know what you think, and thanks again.

(the excel spreadsheet isn't entirely accurate i was using a partial list from Wikipedia and another list from Box Office Report, i'll be adding the EPS files for graphs I made later, those are more accurate.)

Uncharted 2: Review

Uncharted 2 is a really, really, really good game. From a technical perspective it is at the top of its game. The modeling, the textures, the animation and sound design are all second to none. I defy you to find a game that looks, feels, and sounds better than this. It is unfortunate then that the one thing that keeps it from being "OMG! THE GREATEST GAME EVAR!" is the same thing that dampens the emotional resonance of many games: Narrative.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - So far, so good

I'm at the beginning of chapter 13. My first major observation so far concerns the pacing. It's really good. I started my first playthrough on hard and though the action is sort of slow in the first few chapters, once you get into it, it rarely stops for long.

VIDEO GAMES RE-VIEW: Blastman: Akron Asylum

I know what you are saying! Finally! A decent Blastman game! Typically licensed video games are bad. Not Blastman:Akron Asylum though. It will make you forget Blastman:Riddlemizers Revenge, Blastman vs. Jokester 64 and Blastman Blastamobile Karts X-Treme.

Special

Here's a case of wasted potential. Special had a lot of really good things going for it. The concept was pretty ingenius, a boring every man wishes he had super powers and he starts taking medication that gives them to him, or does it? It features one of the best lead performances from Michael Rappaport and visually it's blazing some trails with mostly hand held sparsely lit location shooting. It's just that the movie itself isn't any good.