Drawn out
If there were a single lesson to be learned from the collective knowledge unleashed at University of Chicago’s Comics: Philosophy and Practice conference, it would be that drawing is deeply democratic. To hear many of the 17 world-famous cartoonists in attendance tell it, no other action exists that retains as much validity without the burden … Continue reading
Cave Story: Choices matter in the end
I finished Cave Story just minutes before I sat down to write this, so the impressions I’ll be sharing are fresh, but not entirely settled. First and foremost, I feel like I just blew up a lot of shit. At the end, you have to fight Misery, The Doctor, The Doctor after the red crystal … Continue reading
Summer reads
Although it got cold and rainy for a few days here in Mid-Michigan, we are expecting temperatures in the 70s and 80s for the rest of June. That means it’s summer books time! I like my summer reading to match the summer movies, light, funny, and full of action. For the past several years Janet … Continue reading
An inconvenient truth about convenience
I have always been picky about when to buy and when not to buy a copy of a film. In the days before Netflix streaming, before Redbox and OnDemand, I would be so bold as to pick up a bargain bin film that I had never seen, but looked interesting. I am so old as to … Continue reading
Drawn in
What the %$#! Happened to Comics? With these five words (and four cleverly chosen symbols) began a fascinatingly unique event in comics history. Under the shadow of the massive NATO conference that overtook the Windy City for the weekend of May 18-20, the University of Chicago mounted a historic meeting of the minds entitled Comics: … Continue reading
Unpacking loss, unpacking Nox
You can’t know grief until you experience grief. Its pain is ineffable. It socks your body and mind and ruins all sense of reason, meaning. Anything you’ve believed or held true becomes subject to question when someone you care for passes away because something impossibly ridiculous has happened — a living breathing someone gives up … Continue reading
Cave Story: Small, but not simple
According to my notes, I’ve spent a little more than six hours playing Cave Story so far, and I’m not quite done. Speaking of notes, while spending six hours in a game isn’t particularly notable — if this were a JRPG, I’d still just be getting my toes wet — the fact that those six … Continue reading
Return to Edgewood
When I was growing up, my dad spoke fondly about the time in his life when he reread his favorite book, Crime and Punishment, once a year. “On an exceptionally hot evening in July,” he would quote in a funny voice, imitating a friend who didn’t get his love for the book, “a young man … Continue reading
Cave Story: Just some robot I used to know
I’m about to get into spoiler territory here, so You Have Been Warned. Ready? I mean it. I want to focus on one of Cave Story’s charms: the characters. Cave Story is rife with quirky, odd-ball characters. Some are talking rabbits. Others are crazy robots. And still others are people in Cthulu costumes. Each one … Continue reading
Instead, dinner sort of sucked: Polenta
A month or so ago, I bought a tube of pre-cooked polenta (which, if you don’t know, is a sort of cornmeal) in a fit of optimism and adventure. I had no idea how to cook polenta. I had no idea how I was supposed to eat polenta or what I was supposed to eat … Continue reading
