I don’t know how Pixar does it. I truly don’t. Somehow they manage to make three films in the Toy Story series and they’re ALL AMAZING. I never, ever would have expected the third to be as good as it was. I don’t know why I always seem to doubt them. It’s clear they know EXACTLY what they’re doing. Man… So, so good…

Plus I was crying my eyes out at the end. They were just plucking heart strings left and right there. Simply fantastic.

I found a copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum for extremely cheap (had a coupon) so I picked it up because of the great things I’ve heard about the game. It’s true, it’s really very amazing. The quality of the title is top notch, it’s interesting to play, and it’s just got that something that makes a video game great. What it doesn’t have is a younger version of me sitting at the end of the controller cord.

I would have LOVED this game a few years ago, when I was fully immersed in video games. I probably would have tracked down every last Riddler question mark and trophy on the island, too, because it’s that engaging. These days, though, my time is more limited, and I find myself walking through the game as quickly as I can just to see the story. It’s a shame, because the game certainly isn’t at any fault. I’m just not as invested as I used to be in these sorts of things. So I’ll continue to play as long as I don’t run into anything remotely difficult or taxing. If I do, I’ll probably just quit. After all, I have Mario Galaxy 2 sitting next to it and while that game can be punishing, it’s just more relaxing and entertaining. Batman is a game where you have to try a lot of the time. Combos matter, and upgrades matter, and generally there are a lot of buttons to handle. Galaxy is simple. And simple is really what I’d rather spend my time on. Pure enjoyment, no thinking and learning and working to play a game. It would be AWESOME if they’d included a mode in Batman where you could get by without all the combos and such. Simplicity Mode or something.

Still, for anyone out there who IS still invested in learning a new game, you can do much worse than picking up Arkham Asylum. It’s terrific.

Yesterday my wife and I were walking home from church and came upon a couch sitting on the sidewalk. It was by far the nicest sidewalk couch I’ve ever seen, so I proceeded to knock on the door of the house which owned the sidewalk to ask if it was being moved or gotten rid of. I was quite surprised to find out they were really throwing it away. Firstly because it was a REALLY nice couch, and secondly because it wasn’t trash day for quite some time.

So we jogged back to the church and someone helped us load it into their pickup truck and take it home. It will need cleaned, because it has pet hair on it (and Q is allergic), but it’s in fantastic shape. So that brings our total number of couches to FOUR. FOUR COUCHES. And our house really isn’t that large.

One couch we got very cheap at a Goodwill center because we were moving into our house and owned no couch. The second couch we also acquired cheaply, through a family member’s friend who wanted to sell theirs because they got a new one. The THIRD couch we obtained for free because an older family member was moving to an apartment and had no room, and now this fourth couch also falls under the “free” category, except it is nicer than the three previous couches put together.

I think it’s time to get rid of at least one. There is no room for this many couches in a small house.

Today is a cool day. First, my new iPhone just arrived in the mail. I’ve never had a fancy phone before, up until now I’ve settled for the type of cell phone that makes phone calls and… makes phone calls. That’s about it. This year Q treated me to an iPhone for a birthday present (or at least a pre-order because it didn’t come out until today) and so now I’m playing with my fun new toy- I MEAN, “tool”… Yeah… I’m not just downloading games… Honest.

Also tonight is the season premiere of Futurama! After years off the air, it is finally coming back, and considering it is one of my all-time favorite shows (perhaps even my favorite animated show ever) I’m really excited. It might not be as great as it was before it went off the air, but honestly that’s okay with me. Another season to enjoy is enough, even if it’s a little lacking. I hope it’s good, though. The show has such amazing potential, and awesome characters. I want to make characters that are as cool as Futurama’s.

It just happened. Oh. My. Gosh. It was INSANE. INSAAAAAAAAANE. The US needed a goal to advance in the World Cup. We GOT one early on, but they called it back because of some BS call. We had a dozen other chances, but to no avail. Four minutes get added to extra time, and in the 92nd minute WE SCORE! WOOOOOO!

I was in tears. This game is so freaking magical, I don’t know how I used to hate it because it’s amazing. Awesome awesome awesome. I’m psyched! Even if we go no further, wow, what a game!

Here is the rough version of my final project for my art class that I finished up last week.

For the final, colored version click here!

This was a fun project. We had to take a piece of text that featured two characters and a location and do a scene that focused on the characters. My scene was from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I decided to set it on the moon. (Actually I had several ideas, including making them floating eyeballs on a soapbox and starfish sitting on a couch. The moon won out.) I redid the scene in rough form about twelve times before I came up with this layout for the shot. Perhaps I’ll post the other rough drawings if anyone is interested.

Today I tried my hand at some charcoal drawings, just to practice in different mediums. Man does it get EVERYWHERE. I love the black line it produces, but I don’t think it’s the medium for me. It’s too messy, and I can’t even scan in my drawings or it will get dust all over (and into) my scanner. Still, it was a fun experiment, and I would try it again.

I have a lot of life-drawing practice to do, because I need to improve my form tremendously. I’ve started getting a good line quality, but that doesn’t do a lot if all the forms are off. So now I need to combine that line quality with form. It’s going to probably be more difficult than getting my line quality to improve. I have to wrap my head around a whole different type of “feeling” my drawings. I can’t just place lines where I think they should go, I have to place them where they should ACTUALLY go. It’s very different, and much more technical. I think if I just do these miserable technical drawings I hate, though, that it will drastically increase my ability to do the free-form creative drawing I love that much better. We’ll see!

Well, grades aren’t official until July, but it appears I have passed my “reason for returning” class with a C+. By no means a huge victory, however considering this is the class that I failed three times and quit my animation major over six years ago, it’s a huge victory for me. My heart is beating very quickly, knowing I finally managed to do it. The sky is now the limit, I am an animator. Well, I was before, but now, I don’t know, I feel like I’ve gotten over some big hurdle that I’ve never been able to jump previously. It feels good.

What does this mean for Fred? Well, not much right now, other than the fact that I can leave school at any time now with the feeling that I accomplished what I set out to do and not look back. That said there’s SO much more to learn, and I can’t wait to see it all. So I will continue for now. But with this class behind me, I’m thinking it’s about time to try balancing doing an animation or two WHILE going to school. I had to focus 100% for this class, but future classes, I think, won’t be quite so nightmarish, and I may be able to do both.

More as it develops.

E3 is a show that generally has a lot of hype surrounding it. If you are a gamer and check it out, it’s hard not to get sucked in. On the first day, when it’s new announcements all over the place, it’s sort of like Christmas morning, and that can cloud your judgment. Later, when things calm down, it might not be as exciting.

But right now, WOW. My jaw is on the floor.

Microsoft showed off a lot of the expected, though Kinect is kind of interesting. I don’t think I’d get it, but I would certainly try it if able. Sony showed a lot of games I have no interest in, but obviously they’re huge games and fans of them will be extremely excited. And of course they had Portal 2 (which I’d get on PC, but it was still a part of “their” conference).

Nintendo, though. Un-freaking-believable.

Never in a million years did I think something would come along that would surpass the DS as my favorite system so quickly. Yet without even trying it, I can see the 3DS will steal that piece of my heart. The game list alone sucks me in, from Star Fox 64 remade to a new Icarus to Mario Kart in 3D to a new Paper Mario (a real one, it seems, yay!) to Professor Layton and that’s all just the NINTENDO stuff. Third parties seem to be securely on board, and this little system seems like it could make everything else I play obsolete. Sure, a lot of that is hype talking, but right now I’m HYPED. I can’t wait for this puppy. (And speaking of puppies, if they add some depth to Nintendogs and Cats I will be there in a second.)

On the console front, the Wii will be getting a new brilliant looking Kirby game, which I can’t wait for. Also Goldeneye remake? Yes please! I’m not a big Donkey Kong fan, but some of the videos of DKC Returns were pretty snazzy. And let’s not forget Zelda.

Zelda. A series that has never been a favorite of mine, yet holds the spot for one of my “All time favorite games” and hands down my “Favorite looking game ever”: Wind Waker. I couldn’t be more pleased at the direction they’re taking this. Gone is the muddiness I thought hurt Twilight Princess, and though they didn’t go full-on Cartoon like Wind Waker, I found myself gaping at some of the screen shots. This doesn’t look like a video game. This looks like a PAINTING. A painting that you PLAY. I absolutely must have this. Must must must. Couple that with the fact that every single person who has walked away after trying it has said they felt the controls were perfect and made you feel IN THE GAME and I don’t understand how a few people (who haven’t tried it) online claim it’s going to suck. You people are MAD.

So while I may have fallen out of love with video games in the past few years a bit, yesterday reminded me why I loved them so much in the first place. I’m going to have to carve out some time and money come 2011, because I have a feeling I’m going to revisit a world of gaming I haven’t been to in a few years. And I can’t wait.

My sweet, sweet tennis racket is no more. The poor thing snapped in half while I was playing a match, and though the string tension remained, it’s not really usable anymore. I was sad. I had that racket for a while now, and it really suited me well. Sigh.

The replacement for it is at my local tennis shop for $110, but I can’t manage that right now, so I’m having our backup racket (that we usually just let guests use if someone doesn’t have their own) restrung and re-gripped to be as close to my old one as possible. If you would have asked me a few years ago if there was THAT much of a difference between two rackets, I’d have said no. Now, though, I feel every little difference when I’m actually playing. It doesn’t seem like one racket being a few inches shorter would matter, but it totally does.

Of course this happens a few days before a tournament, too. So I have some practicing to get on with. So much for my little vacation…