These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of Gamers’ Club. I am playing through Cave Story with three other Idler writers.

 I would say the key to any decent platformer is a variety of fun power ups. Be it turtle shells, rocket launchers, or leaf shields–power ups can make or break a game. And as Kevin points out, my being 100 years old means I have seen quite a few in my time. Much to my delight, the weapon power ups in Cave Story are half the fun of playing the game. Maybe more.

But first, a quick aside. Gavin said you do not have to fight Balrog, the “Oh Yeah!” shouting baddie, in your first meeting. He asks if you want to fight, and well, I selected ‘No,’ just to see what would happen. Balrog said, more or less, “OK, see you later,” and left. Interesting.

Back to the power ups–Cave Story has you collect items which increase the power, or Level, of your weapons. With each Level, the weapon takes on new abilities. It is a double-edged sword, however. Each time you take damage, so does your weapon, and after several hits, your weapon Level drops, making you weaker. This was an unique mechanic, which added a bit of extra drama to boss battles

I had a lot of fun powering up the weapons to their maximum Levels, just to see the difference it made. Missiles became larger, rates of fire were increased, and so forth. My favorite discovery of the game was when I realized I could propel myself skyward using the powered up Machine Gun. Just press Down and Fire—no more pit deaths or trying to make difficult jumps. Granted, one must exercise caution—the Machine Gun’s ammo needs to recharge after a lengthy burst.

The variety of weapons keeps the game fresh too, as each weapon has its own advantage or disadvantage. For example, the Fireball just bounces along the ground (not unlike in Super Mario Bros., just larger). This makes the weapon pretty much useless for ground-to-air attacks, but the Fireball can plow through herds of enemies on hills or slopes. The Bubble weapon was also fascinating, as it doubled as a shield (handy for running through a cloud of baddies).

It seems I get a new weapon every few levels or so, and I look forward to seeing what the rest of the game offers. I just hope I don’t end up having to use jelly beans.

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Daniel J. Hogan’s webcomic and humor blog, Clattertron, is nearly jelly bean free. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of Gamers’ Club. I am playing through Cave Story with three other Idler writers.

I do not even want to know how many hours of my life I have spent playing platformer/side-scrolling video games. Heck, months would be a better unit of measurement. I grew up in the Golden Age of side-scrolling games and built up my thumb muscles thanks to the likes of the Mario Brothers, Mega Man, Master Higgins, and Simon Belmont, to name only a few. I am also well acquainted with Kirby, Samus Aran, Sonic the Hedgehog, Earthworm Jim, and the guy from Shatterhand.

So, when Andrew suggested the throwback title Cave Story for our next Gamers’ Club adventure, I was eager to give the ol’ thumbs a much needed workout. I downloaded the Wii Ware version for 1200 points (roughly $12), and I was hooked the moment I saw the title screen, in all of its pseudo 8-bit glory.

In an era of overly complex and ‘realistic’ games, it is nice to go back to something simple: Run. Jump. Shoot. Repeat. No lengthy tutorial stages, no over-long exposition-filled cut scenes, and no listening to characters tell you how to play the game. The gameplay reminds me of Metal Slug, and in two very important aspects: you can shoot up, and you can shoot down.

Not being able to shoot up (or down) was always a criticism of most side-scrollers of my youth, mainly the original Mega Man games. I was also happy to see Cave Story didn’t feature one of the most annoy platform devices ever (at least so far): death or injury by falling from great heights.

Don’t even get me started. Yes, I realize injury or death by dropping from several levels up adds a bit of realism, but it is super annoying, and a cheap kill. I was disappointed to see this device was still in use for modern games when I played Epic Mickey. Pit deaths, and the like, sure. I accept those. If I timed a jump wrong, and fell into a hole, I deserve to be punished. But loss of health, or life, just for dropping a few screens (or less)? C’mon.

I am only about a couple hours into the game (far less if you factor in all my pit deaths), but I love the world and the characters. The Kool-Aid Man referencing Balrog gets me every time he shows up with a jovial, “Oh yeah!” I really enjoy the cartoonish and quirky WTF factor of the game. I don’t see enough of that these days.

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Daniel J. Hogan’s webcomic and humor blog, Clattertron, has a high WTF factor too. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Because I have all kinds of creative projects (writing, podcasts, comics, dumb jokes), I use a ‘utility belt.’ It is not a physical belt, as I can only find them in white, and Kat told white belts are a no-no.

I know better than to debate with a fashion blogger.

My symbolic utility belt is an assortment of gadgets, tools, and concepts. Each helps me with my creative projects and some, most importantly, help keep me on task.

My Smartphone – As you will read, most of this list contains phone apps, so without my phone, I am in trouble. In addition to apps, I use my phone for quick research if I am away from a computer. For example, I needed to know what a deer skull looked like for a comic strip—hello Google Image search.

Wunderlist – I use this free Android app daily. You can make lists for tasks (ex: Writing, Website Updates, Airwolf Episodes to Watch), and flag certain tasks as important. It is versatile and easy to use. The widget feature displays my daily list on my phone’s home screen, and acts as a constant reminder. Plus, there is nothing more satisfying than tapping the Done box. (I first learned about this app via an article about time management on Lifehacker.)

Evernote – Another free Android app, Evernote lets you keep notes on your phone. You can have multiple notes too—mine are Comic Ideas, Sketch Ideas, Blog Ideas, and so on. Evernote, like Wunderlist, can sync to its website too, making it easy to read your notes on any computer.

Timer – This is just the ‘came with frame’ timer/clock app on my phone, but I use it religiously. Here is how I use it: I look at my Wunderlist to-do list, pick one of the starred items, and set my timer for 25 minutes. If I get the project done in 25 or less, great. If not, I take a short break (breaks are important), and get back at it for another 25. This is how I chip away at large projects. I also set a timer when I am making my social media rounds, or reading blogs and comics. It is easy to get sucked in and lose an hour (“…How did I end up reading about Punky Brewster on Wikipedia?!”).

Keep a schedule – This is a fairly new addition, and is an idea I picked up at Penguicon: schedule certain tasks for certain days. A schedule helps me juggle a variety of different projects. For example, let’s say on Monday I write blog posts, Tuesday I work on podcasts, Friday I update my websites, and so on. This keeps me from getting overwhelmed, since I know “OK, I am only worrying about writing today. Website changes can wait.”

Wake up early – While this may not be for everyone, waking up early helps me tackle my list. Yes, I even get up early on the weekends. I like having extra time in the morning, and it also gives me time to draw (hello non-digital creativity).  I’d rather work from 7am to 8am on something, than 11pm to 12am, because I am sharper in the morning. And, nothing is better than killing half (or more) of your to-do list before lunch on a Saturday.

A pocket notebook and a pen – I don’t care if you use a fancy Moleskine or a 50 cent notepad–write stuff down. I will repeat this: write stuff down. Inspiration is a fickle mistress, and you never know when she will swing by for a visit. Evernote helps when I don’t have my notebook with me, but I prefer writing things down, or drawing. Stories, blogs, jokes—whatever, they can all grow from one single concept or idea, no matter how off the wall. I get an idea, I write it down. I may not use said idea for awhile, but it is there. When I am stuck, I go back and skim my notebook. Don’t trust your memory—write it down.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. His webcomic and humor blog is Clattertron. If there’s a task list, yo he solved it. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Well, that settles that.

Taken on MSU’s campus in a parking garage.

Image © Hasbro, via Wikipedia.

The headline does not lie (at least not today). Yes, since I deemed it pop-culturally significant, I decided to watch the first episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Being on Netflix Watch Instant helped too.

I have seen evidence of the show’s popularity online and in person (incarnate actually, as Bronies wandered around Shuto Con). I read up on the show and its appeal some time ago, and decided I should give it a viewing when I had a chance (if only so I could make better jokes about it, “Information is ammunition” as they say).

A preamble: I am a big fan of animation, even kid shows, and I studied animation in college (although my own drawing abilities would suggest otherwise). I am willing to give any kind of cartoon a chance.

So, it probably comes as no surprise that I rather enjoyed the show.

Looking at the show in a vacuum, taking it for what it is—a kid show—I thought it was well made and well written. It had some very impressive world building in the first episode, with a fun creation myth (I have played with sun and moon myths myself). Sure, some of it was too cutesy for me, but I know I am not the target audience, but the rest of the show kept me interested.

Poor Twilight Sparkle. No one cares about her Cassandra-like warnings, as Nightmare Moon is set to return after 1,000 years in her lunar prison. The message here is, clearly, pay attention to scholars! Respect their thirst for forbidden knowledge! The other ponies are not concerned with studying and reading, and don’t heed Twilight Sparkle’s warnings. For shame, Ponyville! Now, suffer for your hubris, as Nightmare Moon plunges Equestria into endless night.

Or the message is to go outside and make friends, because it makes you a better person and you help each other grow. Either or, I guess.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. Somewhere his dad is sighing. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Image via and © Shuto Con

Lansing’s premiere anime (Japanese animation) convention, ShutoCon (3/16 – 3/18), starts today. It will be at the Lansing Center all weekend, and feature plenty of fun for anime fans. Stefanie and Joe Shall, those responsible for the con, were on the podcast this week, and gave us all the details.

I plan on swinging by on Sunday, and I must say I am excited to have such an event in downtown Lansing. I’m a fan of animation in general, but I also enjoy anime quite a bit (especially if it has giant robots).

This is only the second year of ShutoCon, and it has quite the act to follow. Last year, the con brought 1,300 fans to downtown Lansing. That is impressive for a first year event, especially one with such a niche audience. ShutoCon 2012 is off to a good start—they sold out the Radisson, and needed an overflow hotel.

What’s there to do at the con? Plenty. The guests are well-known faces (or rather, voices) in the anime and gaming community, including Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Ghost in the Shell), Richard Epcar (Robotech, and many more), and Doug Smith (Goldenboy) to name only a few. Megatokyo creator Fred Gallagher will there, so will Lansing’s own Year 200x—they perform heavy metal versions of video game themes.

Cosplay, costume play, will be very prominent at the con too. ShutoCon encourages ‘interactive cosplay,’ where cosplayers can act out their characters with each other. There are sure to be some impressive costumes walking around downtown this weekend.

If you are an anime or cosplay fan in Lansing, make your way to ShutoCon this weekend—there is something for fans of all ages.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He likes his robots giant. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

The wrong kind of petting zoo. Image © Disney.

People are either going to love Disney’s latest live action sci-fi adventure John Carter, or hate it. And its metascore of 51 (at the time of writing) probably speaks to this. I fall into the former category. I felt the film was a bit of well-crafted fun entertainment.

Expecting a serious film in John Carter is like expecting the next Metallica album to be a smooth jazz tribute to The Sound of Music. The original novels are over-the-top sci-fi pulp fiction, and helped mold the genre. Translating the novels into something serious, or believable, would be a mistake.

The film captured the pulp-fiction fun of the novels rather well. Thanks to director Andrew Stanton for not going the ‘let’s make this serious, gritty, and realistic’ route, which seems to be more and more common place these days. I think John Carter was closer to the original Clash of the Titans than 2010’s remake, at least in tone.

The Titans remake is the perfect example of the ‘serious’ approach to adventure films as of late. The fun, charm, and whimsy of the original Titans was stripped away, leaving us with a brooding, angry Perseus who wants nothing to do with magic and the gods. Yeesh. Where’s the fun in that?

There is no such pretension in John Carter (he hesitates to take up a cause at first, but that is basic storytelling—Refusal of the Call). Yes, the plot is ‘beat the bad guys and marry the princess’ which most folks seem to be ho-hum about today. But, that is the POINT. It is an early 1900s adventure story. Pulp fiction stories paved the way for comic books, with their action, fantastic situations, and super-powered heroes.

To compare to another recent big-budget adventure film, I enjoyed John Carter much more than Captain America. Hands down. Even though Taylor Kitsch wasn’t my ideal John Carter (I would have liked someone a bit more Josh Brolin-y), I enjoyed his performance more than Chris Evans in Captain America. Kitsch’s Carter at least had some spark and grit, while I felt Evans’ Cap never had much of a presence.

The special effects by Pixar were outstanding. The Tharks, the four-armed green people of Mars, looked better than anything I saw in Avatar (and there was no heavy-handed social commentary too). Pixar is great at nailing two things with its characters: expressions, and the eyes. The latter are the most important. Dead eyes in CG characters are an instant turn-off for me. The settings were gorgeous too, and I loved the airships.

I was thankful there was a bit of humor here and there in the film. It helped develop some of the characters rather well. I especially enjoyed how John Carter’s tenacity was showcased early on. But, don’t think it is all laughs–it has some brilliant action scenes. John Carter finds out he has super-strength on Mars, and the film had better super-powered fights than Superman Returns. One scene in particular, when John Carter faces an oncoming horde of foes alone, was nothing short of inspired. Heck, when you get right down to it, John Carter was a better Superman film than Superman Returns.

Case in point: he fights two giant four-armed gorillas. Yes, please.

As much as I enjoyed John Carter, it is not free of flaws: It drags here and there. Some of the jumping scenes don’t look quite right. When I saw it, I had difficulty understanding a lot of the dialogue in the non-action scenes. That may have been a theater issue, however.

I think John Carter will be viewed as a cult classic, sooner than later. It has charm, fun, and adventure. I see John Carter finding its audience after it leaves the theater, which is a bit sad. This is a big film, and it deserves to be seen on the big screen (I already have plans to see it a second time).

Plus, it doesn’t star Sam Worthington or Chris Evans.

(OK, OK. Evans was pretty good as Lucas Lee in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I’ll give him that)

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. Why are you still here? Go buy him ticket. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

"Man, I am gonna have to make SO many new Google+ Circles." Image © Disney

Disney’s John Carter opens this weekend, and like someone on their last day of house arrest, I cannot wait. I am a big fan of the original novels—there are eleven novels set in the John Carter universe, and the first was published all the way back in 1917, which makes John Carter slightly younger than Maggie Smith. If you enjoy action-packed sci-fi adventures, look no further. Edgar Rice Burroughs helped spark pulp fiction with his John Carter and Tarzan stories (among others).

If you are in the dark about the film and the character, I wrote a John Carter Cheat Sheet for Cinema Solider. I tried to keep it fairly spoiler free, so give it a read.

I think the age and influence of the John Carter character (and universe) is something that was left out Disney’s marketing. The guy is pretty much a proto-Superman (who was created about 24 years later): after traveling to a different planet, John Carter finds out he has superhuman abilities—just like Superman on Earth. The desert-like setting, and population of Mars in the novel (called Barsoom by the locals) is very similar to Tatooine in Star Wars.

Heck, even Avatar draws from the John Carter waters—both are about human guys on an alien planet, who get absorbed into the society/culture, and help the locals. On Earth, John Carter is an average man, similar to Jake Sully (who also can’t walk). But, put the pair in their respective alien worlds, and their bodies change (in Sully’s case, he actually takes over an entirely new body).

I didn’t point out the above comparisons as a‘Hey! All these things ripped John Carter off! For shame!” No, that is a silly argument. I did so to show the influence the character, and novels, have had since 1917, either directly or indirectly.

I’ll end with this final blurb from my Cinema Soldier post, because the info below should be all the convincing you need:

There is a lot of talent behind the camera, too: Pixar is doing the digital effects; Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E) is directing; and the screenplay was written by Mark Andrews (head of story for The Incredibles) and Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Gentlemen of the Road, and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union). There is a lot of potential here, despite how lackluster the marketing has been.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. Why are you still here? Go buy him ticket. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Wednesday night was the mysterious Vacant Lansing event over in REO Town. Now that the event is in the books, I can share what I saw. The concept, as mentioned in a previous post, was an event with little-to-no information being made available, other than random hints and puzzles. You bought tickets without knowing what to expect. As the slogan warned, Expect Nothing.

At least it wasn't a deaf leopard. Image via and © Vacant Lansing

The secrecy created opportunities for jokes on Twitter, using the hashtag #vacantlansing, since only those in attendance (a little over 100, I think, give or take) would know the truth.

MITT ROMNEY?!?!#VacantLansing #fb

— Daniel J. Hogan (@danieljhogan) March 1, 2012

Dumb jokes aside, what of the event itself? We stood in line outside an unassuming building in REO Town, and had to speak a password to the doorman (a fan of the show, no less. Yes, like dry land in Waterworld, they are not a myth). Window were covered up, blocking any attempts at peeking inside ahead of time.

Beyond the door, an empty building space was decorated in the style of a Prohibition-era ‘blind tiger‘–a place which sells illegal booze. In fact, a blindfolded tiger was the logo for the event (see above). Ticket holders had been told ahead of time the event was BYOB (Booze, not Bieber)—but, mixers would be supplied. Said mixers used recipes from the popular-favorite, Soup Spoon Café (and at least one of their skilled bartenders was on hand).

A stage took up one of the far corners, and we were entertained by the The Lansing Unionized Vaudeville Spectacle throughout the evening. Lansing’s own DJ Rachael closed out the evening, and whipped the crowd into a whirlwind of motion and energy with her hot tracks and thunderous beats.

If a speak easy ever had a DJ, it would be @DJRachael. Nice work! #VacantLansing

— Daniel J. Hogan (@danieljhogan) March 1, 2012

When I was able to break away from the fun, I continued planting (obviously) false information on Twitter.

The gorilla butlers are my favorite. #VacantLansing #fb

— Daniel J. Hogan (@danieljhogan) March 1, 2012

Nice work, #VacantLansing. Especially the robo-raptors. They were delicious.

— Daniel J. Hogan (@danieljhogan) March 1, 2012

To be clear, I was not may aware of any information about the event ahead of time, save for the BYOB factor, and a suggested dress code. There was plenty of fashion on display that evening, as ladies and gents put on their best Prohibition-style look. There was plenty of speculation about what the event was going to be, but I took the chance to make jokes about it WAS NOT going to be:

I can confirm #VacantLansing will not be me performing my one-man show about Curly Howard thinking he is Napoleon, “Waterwoo-Woo-Woo!” #fb

— Daniel J. Hogan (@danieljhogan) February 29, 2012

And, in case someone decided to call my bluff and pull me on stage, well, I had a short Waterwoo-Woo-Woo! sketch ready to go. Yes, is would have been terrible, but I never promised otherwise (which is also the mission statement of Ginger and the Geek).

As it turns out, the event was a fund raiser for the Reach Art Studio, which was a nice added bonus. If such an event were to happen again (fingers crossed), I would do my best to be there.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. His Shemp isn’t any better. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

As discussed on Podcast 043, Vacant Lansing is this week. Wednesday night, the 29th to be exact.

"Expect nothing? Sounds like my prom night!" GROAN

What is this event? I don’t know. But, since Podcast 43 ran, I was able to buy tickets for Steph and I. It took some wheelin’ and dealin’ (“With the hippin’ and the hoppin’ and the bippin’ and the boppin’”), but it happened. Thanks to those who were able to part with their extra tickets.

The mystery of this event has caught the attention of many, at least those in the social media circles of Lansing. I have not really seen much mention of it, other than on Twitter, but I think that was the idea: use social media to create enough word of mouth to make any social media ‘guru’s HootSuite crash with envy.

We all know, people want what they cannot have (brilliantly showcased in the Cartmanland episode of South Park). This is the same reason certain websites are invite only at first. Remember how crazy people were over Google Wave invites? Yep.

Regardless of what the event turns out to be, I would say it was a successful experiment so far. I will have a write-up on the event after the fact, and Wednesday night cannot arrive soon enough.

Having an overactive imagination, I can’t help but conjure up a scenario in which Vacant Lansing is some sort of elaborate “Gotcha!” prank: Those assembled, dressed to the nines, mouths frothy with expectations, and fingers aching to Tweet the first details they see, are led to an empty room, with a lone figure playing a sad trombone. A large arrow points to the single Exit, past a barrel of burning money, with the words #VACROLLED painted in red, dripping letters over the door.

If this is made flesh (and Batman help us if it is), I will bow at the feet of the arrangers for duping Lansing’s alleged ‘social media elite’ like the Andi oysters in The Walrus and the Carpenter.

But, do I think Vacant Lansing will be a prank? No, of course not. There would be a riot, to say the least. REO Town would be reduced to cinder and ash. Dogs and cats living together, and so forth.

Since I have a vague idea of the shadowy figures pulling the invisible strings behind the scenes, I know this event will be, to invoke the overused epitaph of our time, Epic. Bold tags intended.

And I cannot wait.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He was #vacrolled once. ONCE. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

The Capital City Film Festival returns to Lansing in April, and I cannot wait (full disclosure: I am once again a member of the film selection committee). Last year’s was a blast, and I know this year’s will be even better. As I mentioned on yesterday’s podcast, CCFF is upping the ante this year with the Fortnight Film Contest.

Image via and © Capital City Film Festival

As the name would suggest, contestants have two weeks (a fortnight) in which to produce a short film. Here is the skinny, via the CCFF website:

Contest begins March 23rd at 6:15 pm and final edited entries are due by April 6th at 6:15 pm. Contest will begin and end at the Lansing Public Media Center, which is located at 2500 S. Washington Ave Lansing, MI 48910. Teams must have at least one representative present at the contest kickoff on March 23rd.

•  Contest is open to all Michigan filmmakers. The entire team does NOT have to be made up of Michigan peeps as long as at least one of the following key creative positions are Michigan residents: Writer, Director, Cinematographer, or Editor.

•   Entries must be shot and edited in Michigan during the contest Fortnight. That means you must shoot and edit your film only between the dates of March 23rd and April 6th.

•  Entries must have a maximum total running time of 10 minutes including credits. Minimum total running time is 31.4 seconds.

•  All music used must be royalty-free, licensed by participants, or an original work by participants.

•  Any film that fails to live up to all these rules and requirements will be disqualified from the competition. There will also be required elements that will be announced at the kickoff of the contest. Films must include those elements, as well as abide by any new requirements announced at that time, or they will be disqualified. (Genre will not be one of the required elements.)

•   Any film that is not submitted by the deadline will be disqualified from the competition. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Easy, right? If you answered yes, then sign up. I like that the focus is on Michigan filmmakers, too. The $100 entry fee also nets you a pair of full festival passes, which get you into EVERYTHING. Said passes are worth $50 each normally, so unlike most contests, you at least get something for your entry fee, even if you do not win.

Now, go and make a 31.4 second short with hand puppets. The world needs laughter. Do it!

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Daniel J. Hogan is the Geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He feels that everything can be improved with hand puppets.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Image © and via Frost Fest.

Want to hang out in downtown Lansing and sample some microbrews? Check out Frost Fest, which starts tomorrow night at 6PM and goes until Midnight.

If you don’t care for beer, hard cider and wine will be on hand as well. For the beer fan though, there are quite a few options. You can try brews by Michigan Brewing Company, Dark Horse, and Arcadia to name a few. Michigan Brewing Company even brewed a special Scotch Ale for Frost Fest, called Plaid Penguin.

Even though the blah days of February are greatly suited for a drink or two, there are other parts to Frost Fest. A few bands will be playing, including Company of Thieves. You can sign up for the Cold Butt Euchre Tournament too.

Don’t let the weather keep you from coming either, a heated tent will keep the Snow Miser at bay (which is good, because he cheats at euchre).

So grab a scarf, pull on your favorite tuque, and head to downtown Lansing for some frozen fun. Don’t worry, those episodes of Swamp Moms Downton Abbey will still be on your DVR when you get home.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the Geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He also cheats at euchre, but poorly.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

No show this week, due to Valentine’s Day. My better half strongly suggested I take the night off, and I can’t say no to a lady wielding a cricket bat. A little over a year ago, I had my Top Five Date Movies, so, consider this a sequel of sorts. And like last year, expect this to be just as ridiculous, if not more so.

5. The Iron Giant – Yes, it is about a boy and an intrepid, alien robot, but if you are lucky enough to have a significant other who loves animation and science fiction, like I do, this is a good pick.

[video link]
Plus, I earn Sensitivity Points, because the ending makes me weep like Tom Mix at Wyatt Earp’s funeral—which leads me to my next pick.

4. Tombstone – Love and bullets are plentiful in this Western. And if your lady loves mustaches, this film features some of the best to grace the silver screen.

3. True Romance – A) It has Romance in the title. 2) The cast!

2. The Adventures of Milo and Otis – It stars a pug and an orange kitty, so I can’t lose.

1. Drive – Brutal, yes. But, so is love. Especially when it blindsides you, makes you re-evaluate your life, and changes your routine, which is what happens to Ryan Gosling’s Driver in the film.

Uh. Right?

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Daniel J. Hogan is the Geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He will probably be spending Valentine’s Day alone as a result of this blog post.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

I am a fan of the “sequential art” and of “conventions.” So when I can partake in both at once, like an even more inedible Double Down, I am  overjoyed. Especially when the event is FREE.

As mentioned on yesterday’s podcast, the MSU Comics Forum is this weekend (At Michigan State University, duh). It is a free comic book convention of sorts, although you won’t be able to meet the guy from Buck Rogers, talk to 60 year old Playboy Playmates, or take a photo of the General Lee.

But, you can meet artists and writers (many of whom call mid-Michigan home), attend a Keynote Address with Jessica Abel (Fri., 7PM), and check out the Artist and Scholar Panels (full schedule).

From MSU Comics Forum website:

Held every year on the beautiful campus of Michigan State University, The Michigan State University Comics Forum is an an event that brings together scholars, creators, and fans in order to explore celebrate the medium of comics, graphic storytelling, and sequential art.

The Artist Alley is always worth checking out, and I find it a challenge to leave without buying at least a few items–and since there is not an entry fee, that is more money to spend on comics or swag. Last year I met, and bought comics from, David Petersen (Mouse Guard) and Jeremy Bastian (Cursed Pirate Girl).

Do yourself a favor, and go check out the MSU Comics Forum, it is a great deal–a show like this would normally have an entry fee of around $30, if not more.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He has an entry fee of three installments of $19.95.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

The NHL All-Star Game is this coming Sunday, and even being the hockey fan I am, I could care less. Granted, the new Fantasy Draft aspect for the teams makes it a bit more interesting. A bit, but not much, because in the new format it is no longer the Western Conference versus the Eastern Conference, which was kind of the point–each conference’s “best” play against each other.

I find the Winter Classic (usually) more worth my time. I have watched every Winter Classic to date, and I couldn’t tell you the last time I watched an All-Star Game.

A possible approach, is to have the All-Star game during the off-season in the summer, when I am so hungry for hockey action, I happily watch a game on NBC Sports (formally Versus). It would be more of an event that way, I think.

But, there is an issue with an off-season game, mainly the long, brutal post-season. I doubt many All-Star Selections would want to play in a meaningless game if they were in the Stanley Cup Final, and I am sure plenty of players look forward to the All-Star Break during the regular season (a few vets who were selected this season asked to skip so they could rest).

Something could be put on the line for the team which wins the game, and then the All-Star Game ventures into the area of gimmicks–but then, this is the same league which decided the shootout was a good idea to decide regular season ties, so it would not surprise me if this happened.

But, a couple of new story lines from yesterday might make this game slightly more interesting. Tim Thomas chose not to attend the Bruin’s meeting with President Obama in honor of their Stanley Cup victory, citing his political beliefs. He gave his reasons on his Facebook Page and said that would be his last word on the matter.

Right.

Something tells me the media in Ottawa (this year’s ASG location) won’t let Thomas (a member of Team USA in the Winter Olympics and the World Championships, and only the second American-born player to win the NHL playoff MVP award) off that easy. If Thomas shows up for All-Star Weekend (he was voted in by fans) and is grilled by the press, it could make for some interesting television. This situation could either be dead by the weekend, or blow up to Stay Puft Marshmallow Man proportions and force Thomas to stay home. A lot can happen in a few days.

The other story going into All-Star Weekend is the three game suspension of  superstar forward, Alex Ovechkin. What I have read indicates he can still go to the events, but he may choose to skip. If AO does skip, is a considerable blow to the All-Star Game, as #8 is always fun to watch–especially in the skills competition.

What to do? I don’t know, but what I do know is, I won’t be watching the game, at least not on purpose. If I happen to turn on my TV Sunday afternoon and it was left on the correct channel by random chance, then maybe I will catch some of the game (which is likely, as I only watch hockey on my cable—the rest of my entertainment comes via my Roku box and Netflix Watch Instant, and coloring books).

My guess is young fans enjoy the game, I know I did as a youth, which is a good a reason as any to keep it around.

But seriously, can we get rid of the shootout when it comes to deciding ties? Please?

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He watches a lot of stuff by accident, like the Oscars.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

I am an unapologetic fan of the film Drive.

I own the soundtrack and I will, very soon, own the DVD (it comes out on the 31st)—which says something, because I rarely buy DVDs any more (thanks to Netflix).

I decided I had to read the original novel by James Sallis on which the film is based.

Like most novels which become films, I went into Drive expecting major differences. There are differences, yes, but they are minimal (and in the film’s case, logical)—and the novel is about as brutal and violent as the film (if not more so), which surprised me, as the film’s violence inches close to grindhouse/exploitation levels.

The novel is short—only around 160 pages. Don’t let the length fool you, the novel puts those limited pages to great use. Drive is a good study in, as some of my writer pals like to say, “economy of words.” I am a fan of non-linear storytelling, and Drive makes use of it—although, I will confess to getting lost at times, and I had to go back and reread a few parts.

Like in the film, the main character is never named, save for the title “Driver.” Also like the film, Driver is calm, reserved and quiet—until he is forced to lash out, which he does, plenty of times. Driver makes for an intriguing, sometimes confusing, anti-hero with plenty of layers who echoes the likes of The Man With No Name or pre-Thunderdome Mad Max.

Drive moves with fast, crazy action—and it works. I could not put the book down. If you are a fan of the film, give this one a read.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He is also an unapologetic Cabin Boy fan.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Are you a fan of Potter Park Zoo? Do you enjoy sharing information about some of your favorite critters with total strangers? You are in luck. On January 14th (10AM to 12PM) you can attend Docent Recruitment Day at Potter Park Zoo and share your animal know-how with folks who actually want to hear it.

This event is free, and is a great volunteer opportunity. I am hoping to attend and finally sign up to be a docent. If there is one skill I have, it is the ability to remember trivial information, like the difference between venomous and poisonous, or ALF’s real name. Some docents even get to handle the education animals.

Signing up to be a docent is quite the commitment too, as you have to go through a few hours of training. But, all that training will be worth it the first time you get to tell a school group what “reticulated” means.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. ALF’s back. In pog form.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Image via Amazon, ©Wildstorm

I confess I am a fan of certain character archetypes, one of which is the ‘forced out of retirement professional.’ At least, I think that is an archetype. Regardless, Red, written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Cully Hamner, features one such professional—Paul Moses, a retired government killer.

The story moves quick, as it is only three issues long, but it is packed with intense action and panels dripping with blood. In short, it ain’t a comic for your grandma—unless she subscribes to Guns & Ammo.

Paul Moses is in quiet retirement after years of service, when the new Director of the CIA decides his solitude and silence are not enough: he wants Moses dead. The result is a crash course with wackiness, by which I mean Moses survives the would-be assassination, and the bodies and bullet shells pile up.

In some ways, Moses’ blood soaked return to the field reminds me of Batman in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns (and to a lesser extent, Shepherd Book in Firefly). Miller’s Batman and Ellis’ Moses are suffering through quiet retirement and are haunted by the ghosts of their pasts. An event, or Call to Adventure if you will, forces each man to shake off the rust and take up arms.

While Red is mainly a “sleeping giant” story, there are more than a few jabs at political appointees, and how they are not always the best person for the job. The new Director of the CIA, who ordered Moses’ killing, was a political appointee.

If you want a quick, action packed, blood-soaked read, then spend some time with Red*. And remember, just because someone carries an AARP card, it doesn’t mean they can’t use it to slash your throat.

* = Yes, it was made into a film, but I have not seen it. Yet.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He is as dangerous as a baby degu.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Image via Wikipedia, © Nintendo/Disney

Even at 30, I still enjoy receiving a video game as a Christmas gift, especially when I didn’t ask for the game in the first place (with one exception being, the year I got Henry Kissinger’s Diplomania for the NES).

This year, I was given Epic Mickey for the Nintendo Wii. Loyal listeners may remember one Dan Hartley talking about the game on the show roughly a year ago. Everything has come full circle.

Epic Mickey is an action/platformer which reminds me of Super Mario Sunshine—Mickey must use a paintbrush and thinner to paint, or erase, the world around him.

The real charm of Epic Mickey is how it draws on old and forgotten Disney characters, mainly Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (a proto-Mickey of sorts). As a fan of Disney and animation history, there is a lot to take in. The game also utilizes a “morality system”—it tracks how you interact with enemies and the world as a whole. It also throws choices your way. In one case you are given this choice: do you hang on to an item to clear the name of an alleged baddie, or do you trade the item for something cool?

The world in which the game takes place, Wasteland, is a sort of “bizarro” version of Disneyland—rides are deformed, buildings are falling apart, and there are interesting changes to familiar Disney landmarks.

As amusing and pretty as Epic Mickey happens to be, it is not without its shortcomings. The camera system is very annoying, and can lead to many quick and easy deaths caused by bad jumps. Epic Mickey uses a “quest” system, which is fine, but on some levels the quests and sub-quests are piled on like the movie references in Paul.

Plus, the Steamboat Willie levels cause the titular song to be stuck in your head for hours.

Despite the flaws, Epic Mickey is fun and a must play for any hardcore Disney fan.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He wishes he could whistle as good as Mickey.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

After watching the trailer for the first of the Hobbit films (An Unexpected Journey), a favorite quote from Ghostbusters came to mind: “Yes, have some.”

Indeed.

Jeffrey Van Camp from Cinema Soldier, who we had on the show this week, broke down what we did and did not see in the trailer, with the biggest missing piece perhaps being Smaug, the dragon:

We still don’t know what Smaug the dragon (a main villain) looks like[.]

I am very curious what Smaug will look like–or if he will even be in the first film. Regardless, I am excited about these films (the book is a favorite).

Even in the trailer, Martin Freeman looks like a great choice as Bilbo (he’s the uncle of Frodo in the Lord of the Rings films). Freeman has had quite the career portraying literary characters: he was Arthur Dent in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, then he played Dr. Watson in the modern (and quite excellent) Sherlock Holmes.

Speaking of, Freeman’s Holmes co-star, Benedict Cumberbatch–Holmes himself, provides the voice for Smaug the dragon. Better still, most of the gang from Lord of the Rings is back too.

As /Film reminded me, the first Lord of the Rings film, Fellowship of the Ring, came out ten years ago this week. Ten years ago! Man, time flies like a Nazgûl, amIright? I still have a Burger King light up LOTR goblet somewhere.

And by somewhere, I mean my desk at work. I use it as a coffee mug. Sure, it took a few years for folks to adjust to the sight of me walking around with a glowing goblet, but now they couldn’t imagine me without it–and it goes great with my warg-fur coat.

For a bit of inspired Fellowship of the Ring hilarity, I recommend skimming a friend’s liveblogging of the film (warning, it contains a fair amount of grown up language). A sample:

11:06AM: YES! The Nazgul!  Sorry I got caught up in the actual plot there.  So Gandalf is telling the story (for the third time because it is a little confusing) about the Ring and Sauron.  Then he mentions that the “Orcs are multiplying.”  Which, like, wtf does that mean?  How do orcs multiply?  I know this is an age old question.  We see no lady-orcs.  Are they like the Smurfs?

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He spends a lot of money on goblet batteries.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

I go out for a burger or a steak about as often as North Korea changes rulers (edit: I guess I am due), so I try to make such an indulgence worth my time, and my tens of cents earned from Google ads. One of my favorite sellers of beef in Lansing can be found downtown, at the Knight Cap.

While the fancy interior and cloth napkins can be a bit intimidating for Clearance Rack-prone folks like myself, the Knight Cap is well worth a visit–especially during lunch (11AM to 4PM).  Even though the price of a meal can soar into the double digits for dinner, lunch is a surprisingly affordable, and tasty, affair. For around $6 to $7 (depending on the style and extras), you can have a burger that will make you glad you were born with a mouth.

The burgers in question are thick, juicy, served on a pretzel bun and, like someone’s personal information on Facebook, easily shared. A full burger is capable of inducing a full-on post-lunch food coma, so sharing with a friend is a good way to go. Treat yourself to a cup of coffee, too.

The Knight Cap’s lunch menu is one of downtown Lansing’s best kept secrets (second only to the location of the Maltese Lugnut). Drop in for a tasty burger today. Don’t worry, that peanut butter sandwich you packed will keep for another day–just don’t blame me if it ends up missing.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. More like couple of cents earned from Google ads.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Poster via Wikipedia. © Original Source.

I am not a fan of 3D films (being far-sighted and a wearer of glasses, the viewing experience is not always enjoyable), but when Martin Scorsese said he was going to shoot Hugo in 3D, I was curious what he would do with the format.

Was that enough of a run on sentence?

While Scorsese had some great use of 3D in Hugo, I did not feel the extra dimension added much to the film, or even the story. Thankfully, Scorsese did not go out of his way to over-use 3D. Save for a few really beautiful deep depth of field shots, I would have been just as happy to see Hugo in 2D (and let’s be honest—studios and theaters love 3D films because they can charge more for tickets).

3D aside, I enjoyed Hugo. The art direction, sets and costumes were superb. The film has more going for it than just looks, too. I never read the original novel, so I cannot say how the film compares, but the story is charming and captivating. I shall not be surprised if Hugo will be forever mentioned in the same breath as other classic films for kids like Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, The Goonies, or Death Race 2000.

Not wanting to spoil much, fans of film history will not be disappointed: Hugo is Film History 101 in two hours. Steampunk fans will enjoy the look of the film, too: there are plenty of clocks, gears and brass to go around.

The two young stars, Asa Butterfield (the titular Hugo) and Chloë Grace Moretz (the well-read Isabelle) were heart-warming, and Butterfield packed plenty of emotion into his role. You felt for his character.

To say Ben Kingsley was great is redundant. He is always great (especially in Sneakers, “No more secrets, Marty.”). Who really surprised me was Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G, aka Borat, aka Bruno), as Hugo’s foil the station inspector (and to some extent, he is also Hugo’s adult shadow: both are orphans suffering from loss and searching for their place in the world).

Yes, Baron Cohen was mostly utilized as a source of physical, slapstick comedy, but given both his own body of work and Hugo’s references to the works of silent film comedians Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, Baron Cohen was a great (and funny) fit. I enjoy seeing him do comedy which goes beyond trying to shock people.

I will confess I got a bit misty toward the end (but then, I also did at the end of Short Circuit 2). The themes of Hugo pull at the heart strings for creative types who never want to give up their passions, or never want to ‘grow up,’ despite the world around them doing so. Hugo, without dishing out any spoilers, is a celebration of imagination and creativity—one cannot help but feel inspired to pick up a paintbrush, keyboard, or yes, even a camera, after the last frame plays.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He cries at the end of shampoo commercials.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of Gamers’ Club.

"This means Something. This is Important."

EarthBound Revisited, pt. 12:

It took longer than I expected (I blame Thanksgiving, and Mysterious Cities of Gold being on Netflix Watch Instant), but I finished playing through EarthBound over the weekend. This was only my second time completing the entire game, and the first time since I was in my early-mid-lower-teens.

Now, the big question: When will ALF get a new show? What did I think of EarthBound this time around?

First, let’s compare to my Final Fantasy VII play through.

I noticed a lot more subtext and thematic elements while playing FFVII as an adult, which is why I think the game still holds up very well. The plot, while a tad complicated, is filled with themes which still ring strong in 2011: availability of natural resources, terrorism, powerful corporations running the world, and yes, even cross-dressing.

But what of EarthBound? Did I notice more subtext and themes? Not really, save for the final battle (I will elaborate below). Something I did notice this time around, were aspects of the game which drove me bonkers:

No multiple save slots. Yes, you can have different “games,” but you cannot save the same game in a different slot, allowing you to backtrack if you screw up.

The static battle screen. While I am usually a fan of simplicity, the battle screens in EarthBound were as visually engaging as a postage stamp (although I did enjoy the character design and names). Battles became a chore, and by extension, so did the game.

The item system. Sweet Batman-on-a-crutch, this was perhaps the most infuriating aspect of the game. I spent too much time juggling items between characters and Escargo Express, the “storage locker” business.

The very linear, hand-holding, deus ex machina-filled plot. The game goes out of its way to tell you where you go and what you should do.

I could nitpick EarthBound apart for another thousand words, but I still enjoy the game. I enjoy EarthBound because it is so different—it is not the typical role-playing game of that era (the early-mid-lower 1990s).

Now, on to the final battle. Here be Spoilers.

Spoilers Start Here

In order for the gang to battle Giygas, they must travel back in time—but, the time machine cannot send back living tissue (the opposite of The Terminator). What’s a hero to do?

Dr. Andonuts transfers the “minds” of the heroes to robots, which are sent back in time. This is done by way of a scene of each character laying down with their eyes closed, while sounds of chainsaws, drills and hammers play in the background. Creepy.

Speaking of creepy, theories abound that the final battle against Giygas is some sort of thinly veiled abortion: You go back in time, before Giygas is a threat (fetus), enter a cave (vagina), travel up a fleshy path to the Devil’s Machine (uterus/cervix) and kill him–with metal, robots. Ahem. You can watch for yourself, here.

Yes, you do go back in time and kill Giygas when he is weaker—not unlike the plot to kill John Connor’s mother before he is born in Terminator (called “retroactive abortion” in the film). I found an image online which points out a fetus-like image later in the battle, and connects the dots of the theory. Part of this theory also suggests Giygas is only attacking Ness and the others in defense, and he was not evil during the fight (he was just a fetus, or at least not evil ‘yet’).

Do I buy into this theory? Not really. I am a firm believer in “if you go looking for something, you can find it.” I once wrote a (terrible) film theory paper on how The Breakfast Club represented the American Revolution, and another (even worse) on how Gremlins can be seen as an allegory for Western Capitalism run amok (I can lay on the BS when needed, as you have learned by now) .

Final Thoughts

While EarthBound can be frustrating, it is none the less a very original, genre breaking RPG. Yes, playing became more of a chore toward the end, but I am glad I finished. Despite the game’s annoyances, I am happy I took the time to replay this quirky Super Nintendo classic–because, all of my friends are in there.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He has the worst film theories.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Part two in my series on Self-Publishing.

Self-Publishing a Novel, pt. 3: Royalties and Conventions

Ah, royalties.

When I self-published Magic of Eyri via Print on Demand, I had dreams of raking in a bunch of royalties, because I was the publisher.

Great, right? Not really.

Not a King’s Ransom

If someone ordered a copy of my novel through my POD publisher, I received about $8 per copy sold, but I would rather get $4 or less if it meant the book sold for $20 or less.

Now, if someone ordered the same book through Amazon.com or a bookstore (for the full $25), I received about 23 cents. Yes, CENTS. $8 or 23 cents. Quite a difference. That was the price I paid for having my novel available through other services (and the ability to reach a wider audience).

POD? You are SOL (Maybe).

When it comes to bookstores, good luck getting one to order your POD book. I was fortunate enough to have a couple (including a big chain store) take a chance on my book, but that was quite the exception (and took a lot of work on my part). A buyer at a bookstore told me they normally would not order POD books because they cannot return any unsold copies.

That’s right–if a book doesn’t sell, the store sends (or sells, perhaps) the left over stock back. With POD books, the store is stuck with the stock forever–which is not a risk every store wants to take.

Face to Face, Hand to Hand

Another issue is ordering POD copies to sell at a show or convention (which is where I sold the bulk of my copies). Yes, you can order as many or as little as you want, but it will cost you.

One POD copy of Magic of Eyri cost me $16-$18, depending on shipping and how many I ordered. I would sell them for $20 at shows (my logic was most folks have $20 bills).

This worked great, except it was too expensive (I had to buy all those copies up front each time), and I wasn’t taking enough in to set aside for taxes. Long story short, I stopped selling copies at cons, which was a bummer. I enjoyed selling books at conventions and signings. Plenty of folks at conventions like to support independent publishers and artists.

The Money Pit (Minus Tom Hanks)

I actively sold copies of Magic of Eyri at conventions and shows for about a couple years, and I sold around 300 copies (which I’m told is pretty good for self-pub/POD). Did I make money? Technically, yes. I had money coming in, but did  I make a profit? Hell no.

Since most of my sales were hand to hand at cons, after factoring the cost of a hotel room for a weekend (around $200), food/drinks, gas, and a con badge ($30-$40), my profits were slim to none (mostly the latter).

A Sample Con Weekend:

Costs:
x7 copies of the book: $126 (7 x $18)
Con badge: $30
Hotel room: $200
Total Cost: $356

Gross:
7 novels sold: $140 (7 x $20)

Net Profit: $140 – $356 =  – $216 (crap!)

And this does not include gas, food, and drinks.

This was the only time in my life where I had credit card debt. It is all paid off now, thankfully. My debt was getting scary back then, and if I had not decided to stop selling copies hand to hand (and spending money on promotion), it could have been much worse (note: many artists attend cons knowing they will not really make ‘a profit.’ It is about the exposure, meeting new fans and making connections).

I miss one thing about selling books at cons: the people. Meeting folks and my fellow fans of speculative fiction was great. Once in awhile, I would get an email from a reader saying how much they loved my book, and that made all of the hard work worthwhile.

Next: Marketing

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. I coulda stayed home and made myself a profit. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of Gamers’ Club.

EarthBound Revisited, pt. 11: Location, Location, Location

I will say this about EarthBound, it has no shortage of curve balls and it does take you to some strange locations. In a different role-playing game (RPG), some of the locations may not stand out so much, but given the ‘suburban’ look and feel of most of the game, the more ‘unique’ locales can be filed under What the French Toast?

After leaving the desert, via a yellow submarine (yes), the party comes to a swamp area known as The Deep Darkness.

Now, if the party was one of leather clad warriors wielding insanely huge swords, then Deep Darkness would not stand out. But, the party in EarthBound is one of suburban kids with baseball bats and frying pans. In this case, trudging through a swamp, beating up baddies with said bats and pans draws attention to the fact this is quirky game and nearly knocks the player out of the game.

You’re thinking “Why am I reading this?” “What?”

Let me explain. Or at least try.

The other RPGs released for Super Nintendo around the time of EarthBound had more of a fantasy look (Final Fantasy II and III, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, etc). In such a setting, a dark swamp filled with strange creatures fits—we expect such a thing, like a spooky dungeon or a strange forest. Such settings are ‘stock characters’ for RPGs because of the ‘fantasy’ setting in which they (usually) take place.

But, when you throw a stock setting like Deep Darkness into a game like EarthBound, it sticks out. Why? Because the characters are different than those in other RPGs of the time.

For example, Crono and the gang fighting their way through a vine filled, snake infested swamp fits in Chrono Trigger, because they complement each other. Whereas in EarthBound, the characters are such a contrast to the setting, it nearly knocks the player out of the game. Crono, a talking frog, and a lonely robot traveling through a poor man’s Dagobah? Sure. Gamers buy it. Three suburban teens armed with household items beating up crocodiles? Uhh.

This is why EarthBound is a “love it or hate it” game—it breaks molds and plays with what the player expects from a 1990s RPG.

Is this a bad thing? No. EarthBound is unique, which is why it has legions of fans. If we look at the game as a satire of other RPGs of the time, then all of this makes sense.

I think.

Where You At?:  Winters (Stonehenge)
Sanctuary Songs Recorded: 6
Party: Ness, Paula, Jeff, Poo

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He knocks players out of the game.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Part two in my series on Self-Publishing.

Self-Publishing a Novel, pt. 2: Print on Demand or Small Press?

When it comes to self-publishing your work, there are two options (not counting e-publishing, which I will cover later): Print on Demand (also called vanity publishing or vanity press) and Small Press.

Is there a difference? You bet.

What is Print on Demand (POD) Publishing?

What it sounds like—copies of your book are printed, you guessed it, on demand. You don’t have a stockpile of copies laying around.  A copy is ordered, it is printed and shipped. You can also order copies for your own use whenever you want (for less than the public pays), and you can order as little as one copy at a time.

With some POD services, it is more or less like a glorified print/copy store—meaning, they just print what you send in, without any editorial oversight. If your pages are not formatted correctly, well too bad–they still get printed. I learned the hard way what page breaks are for.

 What is Small Press Publishing?

You order a small run of copies (a hundred, a thousand, whatever) of your novel through a printer. You pay for the entire run, which usually means a discounted price per copy.

For example, say a printer charges you (and I’m just picking a number here) $5 a copy for a one thousand copy run—the whole run costs you $5,000, which is quite the investment.

I only have experience with POD publishing, so don’t pay too much attention to my small press figures–the cost could be lower or higher, but you get the idea. Usually, the more copies you order, the better the price break per copy (“If you order two thousand copies, I’ll knock 75 cents off per book.”)

 Your Novel, On Demand

I went the POD route for Magic of Eyri. At the time I was right out of college and didn’t have any savings, so a “pay as you go” option sounded great. Was it? Not really. Because copies of my book were printed as they were ordered, I did not get the benefit of a cost break. When Magic of Eyri first went on sale, after the costs for materials and the Amazon/Distribution fee, the total came to $38 for a 500 page book.

Yes. $38 for a trade paperback novel by an unknown author.

The biggest culprit for the final price was the Amazon/Distribution fee, which essentially doubled the price of my book (but increased exposure). I cut my royalties as much as I could, and finally landed on the lower, but still too high, price of $24.95 (Dear 2007 Daniel, when you are this close to $25, make your book $25 or higher so folks on Amazon can get free shipping – Hugs, 2011 Daniel.)

Is one type of self-publishing better than the other?

It depends. If you don’t care about having physical copies to sell in person, POD publishing has its advantages. The biggest advantages are, your book is always in print and if you focus on online sales, you theoretically never have to pay for a copy sell. The biggest con is your book could end up being expensive.

If you go the small press route, the advantage is your cost per copy will be lower. But, you have to buy all those copies up front (can you afford that kind of investment?) and if your book doesn’t sell, well, you will never run out of paper weights.

You know where I sold the most copies? In person at conventions. More on that next time.

Next: Royalties and Conventions

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. His drop case brings all the girls to the yard. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of Gamers’ Club.

Dungeon Man Concept Art. Image © Nintendo

EarthBound Revisited, pt. 10: Dungeon Man in the Sand

I am currently in the Egypt-themed country of Scaraba, and the story gets pretty interesting. By which I mean, strange. No surprise there, right?

Upon arriving in Scaraba, I came upon an NPC on the edge of town and he informed me, “The fat kid did his business over there.” Sure enough, on the sand there are a pair of black pixels. Upon inspecting the pixels, the game says (more or less) “Pokey’s stink still hangs in the air.”

Wow.

A defecation joke in a Super Nintendo Game? Dang.

And this was not even the strangest part of Scaraba. Really. Dungeon Man is perhaps the strangest (but in a cool way). Dungeon Man is, according to the game, “the first fusion of Man and Dungeon.”

Yes, Dungeon Man is a giant walking dungeon. He also joins the party (Poo left for a bit to learn Starstorm). This is sort of like if Metroplex from The Transformers joined the party. I should add, Dungeon Man started out as a very human dungeon designer by the name of Brick Road. Jeff’s father, Dr. Andonuts, made the fusion of Man and Dungeon possible. Again, this foreshadows later events in the game.

Oh, and Dungeon Man also has folks living inside, including a Hospital (where you can heal your party). This reminds me of the Futurama episode where Fry becomes infested with intelligent space worms.

Where You At?:  Dungeon Man
Sanctuary Songs Recorded: 6
Party: Ness, Paula, Jeff

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also the host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He could use some intelligent space worms right about now.  Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

I mentioned my experience with self-publishing a novel in a recent post about my finishing the draft of a new novel, and decided to write a few posts on the subject.

Cover art by Michael Church (drakered.com)

Self-Publishing a Novel, pt. 1: Should I Self-Publish?

In 2006 I decided to self-publish my fantasy-comedy novel, The Magic of Eyri (it was released in the summer of 2007). After making this choice, I embarked on quite the learning experience and it had a big impact on my life for the next few years (nearly every creative project I am attached to currently is tied, in some way, to this novel).

Now, the big question: Should you self-publish a novel?

This is a difficult question, in that it really depends what your goal is when self-publishing your book.

If you want to publish a memoir your grandpa wrote, so the family can have a copy, then yes. Using a Print on Demand service (more on that later) for such a project is just fine.

But, if your plan is to ‘get known/sell copies/make money’ (which was my answer five years ago), then there are many things to take into account.

For starters, self-publishing a book is very expensive, especially if you go the Print on Demand route, like I did. My plan in 2006-2007 was to self-publish Magic of Eyri, see if people enjoyed the book (which they did) and then shop it around to agents.

The feedback I received from the few agents who sent a reply beyond a form ‘Not for us, sorry,’ was they didn’t really want a book which was already published. Granted, there are exceptions, but as I learned more about the business (publishing is a business), I understood what they meant.

When I am asked if I regret self-publishing, I answer “No, but…”

Self-publishing opened a bunch of doors for me (freelance writing, meeting other Michigan writers, nearly being on convention panels with Wil Wheaton). When I decided to produce an audio version of Magic of Eyri, I was forced to teach myself podcasting—a skill set which led to the creation of Ginger and the Geek (via LansingNext).

I also learned a hell of a lot about the publishing industry, which was invaluable. When you self-publish a book, especially the way I did, you are the publisher (duh)—you call the shots, which I loved. I had to design the covers (with artwork supplied by some of my super-talented friends). I taught myself desktop publishing and learned (by trial and error) how to format a book for printing. Everything in my novel is there because of me, for better or worse (the worse being a few spelling errors).

However, the ‘but’ portion of the answer comes down to my wishing I had tried the traditional route first.

Then there is the cost. As I said earlier, Print on Demand self-publishing is expensive. Another cost is promotion. As the publisher, you are also responsible for any and all advertising and promotion (more on this later).

There is one perk about finishing a novel, self-published or not: It impresses folks, and if you self-publish, you will always be able to prop up an uneven table.

Next: Print on Demand or Small Press?

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. The book could have been about 200 pages shorter, too. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of the Gamers’ Club with Gavin Craig and Andrew Simone.

Image © Nintendo

EarthBound Revisited, pt. 9: Oh, Poo

I added the remaining player character to my party this week: Poo.

Yes, that is his name. I read an article where the writer wondered why his Japanese name was not translated as Pu, but given the quirkiness of the game, along with the inclusion of characters like Master Barf, Poo fits.

Poo, like Ness and Paula, can use PSI powers. He is also rather strong, which makes him a great secondary fighter (after Ness).

Since Poo started at out at level 15, and the rest of my party was pushing 50, I had to do a bit of level grinding. That’s always fun. Nothing I enjoy more than an hour spent beating up enemies to boost stats. /snark

Level grinding is something I never really thought about, or spent time on, when I originally played EarthBound as a teen. My original save file is still on the cartridge (and I’m playing on my original Super Nintendo), and I beat the game with Ness at level 59. Currently, I have Ness at level 53 and there is plenty of game left.

But, back to Poo. The prince is not without his own quirks (yes, he is a prince, but sadly not the musician. Image that game).  Mainly, only certain foods will give Poo more than six or so HP. The player’s guide presents this as some sort of commentary on the Standard American Diet (lots of meat, junk food), as Poo is from a country where everyone lives on water and rice gruel.

To sum up, feeding Poo a burger is a waste of money. He will only recover a few HP. So yes, we have a video game character with a particular diet. In some ways, this is a rather ingenious feature. But, in many ways, it is rather annoying. The easiest trick is to just load up on items which restore PP (the game’s version of magic points) and use Lifeup instead of items.

However, I need to back up and mention how the game introduces Poo. Ness and the party consume a Magic Cake in Summers, which induces a psychedelic freak-out-state. The game shifts control to Poo, who is far away in another country. And this is not the first time the game has the characters consume mind-altering foodstuffs either.

Remember the coffee with Mr. Saturn?

Being familiar with the later parts of the game, I now think these two experiences (the coffee, the Magic Cake) foreshadow some of the stranger events to come.

Where You At?:  Scaraba
Sanctuary Songs Recorded: 6
Party: Ness, Paula, Jeff, Poo

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He could really go for some Magic Cake right about now. Go to that place. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

I love...er...GEEK the library.

I finished the first draft of a new fantasy novel.

If you are confused when I say ‘new,’ allow me to point you to my other podcast, The Magic of Eyri. It is based on a fantasy novel I self-published in 2007.

Folks familiar with Eyri (all three of them) have asked if this new novel is a sequel. Nope. It is a brand new book called, Riddle of the White Gun. It is a humorous-spaghetti-Western-urban-steampunk-fantasy.

To break down that casserole of genres a bit:

Humorous – Full of my usual (twisted) sense of humor. Plenty of banter and running gags.

Spaghetti Western – Part of the fantasy world has an over-the-top, violent, stylized ‘wild west’ inspired by films like Fistful of Dollars, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Great Silence and Django.

Urban – Part of the story takes place in a sprawling, congested metropolis peopled with humans and other beings. The city has more of a noir feel.

Steampunk – The fantasy world uses pseudo-1800s technology. Again, it takes place in a world I came up with, so I threw in some of my own (bizarre) ideas. But, there are plenty of brass goggles, trains and clock-work automatons to go around.

Fantasy – Magic, gods, zombies, goblins, vampires and werewolves, to list only a few. Also, there aren’t any horses in my West.

Elevator Pitch:

Inspector Chauncey Riter does everything by the book. Drake, a bounty hunter, never read the book. The unlikely team chases down a gang of treasure seeking bandits in a world filled with vampires, werewolves, and other fantastic beings.

White Gun is actually the third draft of a book I wrote in 2008-2009 called Night of the Lonely Werewolf. After reading through the first draft Werewolf, I wasn’t all that happy with the story. However, I came up with some better character ideas during the last few thousand words (of a 90 thousand word book. It happens).

This prompted my first rewrite, called Drake (named after the main character). The second draft was going strong, but then I took a break to write something different for National Novel Writing Month 2010. Big mistake.  After not looking at Drake for a solid month, my flow was ruined.

This summer, I realized I had not completed a final novel since 2007. Taking my girlfriend’s advice (which I ALWAYS do), I decided to approach novel writing like it was “my job,” even though it is not (yet?).

What inspired me to try again was an article about Michael Moorcock’s adventure novel writing method (first found on BoingBoing). Moorcock’s advice about outlining the story and coming up with lists, etc. helped me prepare.

Two of Moorcock’s rules I used quite a bit were the 2,500 word chapters and shifting focus to a minor character. Both helped keep the story moving.

Getting my eyes on the story every day, until I finished was key. If I wrote one thousand words–outstanding. If I wrote 100 (and those days came), fine. At least I kept moving and looked at the story every day.

Two and a half months later (a far cry from Moorcock’s three days), I finished. It came to about 74 thousand words. That final word count will change as I continue editing.

Now, the big question I keep (honestly) getting:

Will I self-publish again? No. It is too expensive for me to go the self-publish/Print on Demand route. I want to try the ‘traditional’ route this time.

I could (and perhaps, should) write a whole post on the pros and cons of self-publishing (and there are plenty of each).

I am happy with the first draft of White Gun, although there are some areas which need work. Editing is going smoothly thus far, and I would like to have a final draft by the end of December.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He owns a pair of spurs. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of the Gamers’ Club with Gavin Craig and Andrew Simone.

I finally rescued Paula (for the second time) the other night, and I am glad to have her back in the party. I missed her PSI Powers. But, maybe I missed her extra item slots even more (OK, that sounds kind of dirty).

Last week, I touched on some of the heavy handed plot elements in the game, and well, the exposition and hand-holding was piled on again.

I mentioned last week how the game dishes out plot driving items without little or no involvement on the player’s part (they aren’t really connected to what the party is doing at the moment).

Case in point, Apple Kid.

Apple Kid randomly calls Ness up to say he has invented X device to help the party do Y. This really sticks out, because he phrases the calls in such a way to suggest he invented the necessary gadget without having any idea of what the party is doing. Coincidence, he has it.

I guess this plays into Apple Kid’s ‘unappreciated genius’ status a bit, but it would probably make for better story telling if Ness went to Apple Kid for help in the first place and the party had to search for the items to build the gadget.

Also, the fact that ‘Apple’ Kid invented a portable phone to help the party is not lost on me. Did EarthBound predict the iPhone? Maybe.  (See: You Can Find Meaning When You Want to Find It).

What I really noticed this past week was how the NPCs (non-player characters) try really hard to tell Ness where he should go. For example, NPCs will say something like “Man, that room behind me looks pretty weird. You should go check it out. Go ahead, I’ll wait here.”

This grew to annoy me a bit, as the ‘go there,’ ‘do this’ text came in a flood during and after rescuing Paula.

Then I thought it over a bit. I figured, EarthBound was (more or less) intended for gamers around half my age. When I played this game originally as a teenager, I was ‘age appropriate’ and did not notice the spoon-fed plot as much.

Let us (lettuce?) not forget the translation factor. The over-obvious plot (at least the text) could be the result of the English translator. Maybe. Maybe not.

I guess the mantra of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is worth noting here:

“It’s just a show, I should really just relax.”

EarthBound is just a video game. An atypical video game yes, but still a video game.

Where You At?:  Winters
Sanctuary Songs Recorded: 4
Party: Ness, Paula, Jeff

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. You should really go to this place and talk to so and so, and make sure to go to that place. Really. Go to that place. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of the Gamers’ Club with Gavin Craig and Andrew Simone.

Andrew is not enjoying the game all that much.

EarthBound Revisited, pt. 7: Problems

Over the past week, my gamer brothers in arms over at The Idler, Gavin and Andrew, hinted at EarthBound testing their patience. Andrew, bless him, even went so far to title last week’s post I Loathe This Game.

However, while I do not plan on giving up, I told the fellas to do whatever they wish. Since this snag came up, it inspired me to weigh in on my feelings about the game over all.

I do not fault Gavin and Andrew for wanting to hang up their controllers. EarthBound can be a challenging game. It is not without its faults. Compared to other classic RPGs on the Super Nintendo, EarthBound is lacking in some areas.

- I hate the item system. It is a constant source of frustration. Yes, on some level, it adds a bit of ‘realism’ to the game: each item takes up a slot, and each character only has so many slots. I suppose I should count my blessings. It could be like the item system in Resident Evil, where you must arrange items like pieces in Tetris to fit inside your ‘backpack.’

- The battles are visually boring. Granted, coming to EarthBound after Final Fantasy VII may not have been the best move. While I enjoy the design and names of the enemies (e.g., Annoying Old Party Man, Cute Li’l UFO), the static sprites and lack of player sprites make battles about as visually engaging as a postage stamp. Compare this to Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger, two other classic RPGs for the Super Nintendo (yes, I know the enemies were also static in FFVI, but at least the player characters moved).

- Character abilities are somewhat lacking. Again, I must refer back to Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger. Each of those games featured characters with a wide array of abilities. Yes, Ness and Paula have their PSI attacks, but few, if any, are as interesting as Sabin’s attacks in FFVI, or X-Strike in Chrono Trigger. Jeff is the most lacking of the three (soon to be four, once I get Poo). He cannot use PSI attacks, but he can Spy to learn an enemy’s weakness. He can also use Bottle Rockets and such, but you can only carry so many due to the item system (see above).

- The game play is very linear. I don’t always hate linear games. The world opens up a bit once you learn Teleport (which I did recently), but it is nothing like Final Fantasy VI or Chrono Trigger. A point Andrew brought up was, essentially, how the party just goes somewhere and then the game rewards them with an item to progress further. I didn’t really think about this until he pointed it out, but this does happen quite a bit. Apple Kid and others supply the party with items to move the story along, without much (or any) effort on the player’s part, in such a way that it is almost like a time release Plot Pill.

In closing, I make these observations as a fan of the game. I still love EarthBound, despite these faults, and I look forward to completing this wacky, quirky adventure. There is no such thing as a perfect video game. Well, except for maybe BurgerTime.

Where You At?:  Fourside (still!)
Sanctuary Songs Recorded: 3
Party: Ness, Jeff

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. His mom is a perfect video game. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of the Gamers’ Club with Gavin Craig and Andrew Simone.

EarthBound Revisited, pt. 6 – Hokey Pokey

I have made it to Fourside, which according to the Player’s Guide, is supposed to be some kind of New York City analogue. Interesting, considering Fourside has some of the least amount of ‘citizens’ walking around when compared to the smaller towns.

But, it does have a Dinosaur Museum. Which is great. However, the main interesting point about Fourside is the reappearance of Ness’ neighbor, Pokey.

Last time we saw Pokey, he was second in command of the Happy Happyist cult. He even arranged, and took part in, Paula’s capture for her use in a human sacrifice. These days, he is an advisor of sorts and right hand man to the businessman who runs Fourside, Geldegarde Monotoli. Running a cult, kidnapping, and human sacrifices: yep, these tie into a career in business perfectly.

Pokey has quite the career going.

In both situations, he is the right hand man of someone in power—but is Pokey the one really running the show? Was he using Mr. Carpainter as a puppet? Perhaps. And when that failed, thanks to Ness’ intervention, did Pokey try to repeat his success with Monotoli? It would appear to be the case.

This reminds me of the Final Fantasy series, where the ‘baddie’ the party is after is not necessarily always the one calling all of the shots. There is usually always someone else behind the scene pulling the strings.

Pokey seems to be the middleman between the ‘adult’ villains Ness runs into and Giygas, the villain Buzz Buzz warned Ness about at the beginning of the game. Is Pokey EarthBound’s answer to Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings? Maybe. He influences others and puts himself in a position of power just like Wormtongue.

Pokey’s young age makes his actions a bit unsettling. He’s thirteen. It is obvious he has no hesitation about doing what is necessary to get power (kidnapping and human sacrifices) or cares whom he sides with (cultists, crooked business men). When I originally played EarthBound as a teenager, I didn’t really think about this fact. But, at the age of thirty, I pay more attention to such details than as a teenager.

Maybe Bill Cosby was right about kids having “the brain damage.” As a kid, I just took EarthBound at face value: a goofy video game. As an adult, I read between the lines (to some extent) and take in what the game is saying or showing.

Having studied film and animation, and created my own works (novels, animated shorts, short films, etc.) I know that everything in a work is there for a reason (usually). Pokey looks the way he does, acts the way he does and says what he says because the game designer wanted it to be so.

However, I think if you want to find a certain meaning in a work, and go looking for it, you can find any meaning you want (“The Care Bears Movie is about drug addiction? It makes so much sense!”).

So what is the game designer, or perhaps the English game translator, saying with Pokey? Don’t trust thirteen year olds? Maybe. Bill Cosby is making more sense by the minute.

But then I remembered Ghost Dad and Leonard Part Six existed.

Where You At?:  Fourside
Sanctuary Songs Recorded: 3
Party: Ness, Paula, Jeff

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. With the hippin and the hoppin and the bippin and the boppin. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

I heard about Voltron: The End on /Film last week, and decided to share it here. You can watch the short film by Alex Albrecht below (or on YouTube).

I love short stories like this, be it prose, a comic or a short film. This short does a fun job of teasing and using ‘less is more.’ The sets and special effects are simple and effective. The acting is great too.

I am a huge Voltron fanboy, so it was great to see the characters and such handled in this way–instead of how Michael Bay handled the Transformers.

My biggest fear regarding a live-action film of Voltron is the characters (and the robot lions) will be brought to ‘our’ universe, meaning present day Earth and the USA. We’ve seen it before (Masters of the Universe, The Smurfs). Instead of keeping the characters in their own world, they are dumped into ‘the real world.’

I saw some concept art for a live action Voltron showing the titular robot assembling itself near the Statue of Liberty. No. A thousand times, no. Thankfully, this short kept Voltron where it should be: outer space.

I would see a full length Voltron movie done in the style of this short (it has a sort of Firefly and Battlestar Galactica feel to it). But, I doubt we will get anything like this, if the property even makes it to the big screen.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He spends all night playing with his lions. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Image © Universal / Links to source

I saw The Thing (2011, dir. Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.) and well, I shall first share my Twitter review:

If you see one prequel to a remake of a 1950s sci-fi movie based on a 1938 novella this year, it may as well be The Thing.

Yes, this film is a prequel to the 1982 John Carpenter film, which was a remake of the 1951 film, The Thing From Another World (worth a watch too), which was based on the John W. Campbell Jr. novella, Who Goes There?

Got all that? Let’s dig in.
I read a review on /Film which pretty much summed The Thing up as a fan film with a big budget.

And I agree. 2011′s The Thing is a spot-on tribute to John Carpenter’s film. The look, the feel–heck there is even a poor man’s Kurt Russel (Joel Edgerton as Carter). Sadly, there were not ridiculous hats to be seen.

While this devotion is a strength, at times it is also the film’s weakness. How? There is very little difference between the two films. This is good and bad. Good, in the sense the story is pretty tight and tense, bad in the sense you know what is going to happen, and that they don’t really do anything different with the plot.

The biggest difference is the addition of CGI special effects. The special effects in 2011′s The Thing cannot hold a lens-flare-causing torch to the 1982 version’s effects. This modern version suffers from the same problem of most present day creature features: they can show everything and anything because of CGI, so they do and/or are just plain showing off (I call this Wild Wild West Syndrome).

Early on, the CGI is limited and there are some great scenes with less-is-more scare tactics and tension building ‘gotcha’ moments (Attack the Block excelled at this). But, later in the film, when the gross gets laid on by the shovel full, we see way too much for way too long of the monster [insert joke about me in a swimsuit].

I’m a die-hard fan of practical effects (see my review of the make-up/puppet filled Arena for Lost Highway), and John Carpenter’s The Thing is more or less a Holy Grail of practical monster-gross-out effects. I was rather disappointed (but not surprised) to see the overuse of CGI in this prequel. There were several parts toward the end where the CGI use was very excessive and did more harm than good (as in effects that had really nothing to do with the plot).

And while Mary Elizabeth Winstead is easy on the eyes, I think someone north of thirty years old may have given the role of Kate Lloyd a bit more punch. Winstead was pretty good, all things considered–but she was no Ripley, which is what I felt the film was going for.

Here is something The Thing did great: the last five minutes. Seriously. And I’m not saying that because it was almost over. How this prequel ties in to the John Carpenter’s film is nothing short of inspired. I won’t give anything away, other than you should stay for the scenes during the credits.

Bottom Line: The Thing is a fun, gross-out creature feature, and worth a watch in the theater (as most horror flicks are). Fans of John Carpenter’s film will have a blast watching this well-crafted (save for the overuse of CGI) tribute–especially the ending. The set folks and art department did their homework.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He has metal fillings. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of the Gamers’ Club with Gavin Craig and Andrew Simone.

Oh boy.

EarthBound Revisited, pt. 5 – They Call Me Mr. Saturn

EarthBound is not lacking in the quirky characters department in the least. This is a good thing, as it is one of the game’s strong points. There are plenty of What the French Toast? moments in EarthBound.

Case in point, Mr. Saturn.

That is to say, all of the Mr. Saturns. Yes, there is more than one. In fact, there is a whole village. The beings known as the Mr. Saturns inhabit a village on the other side of Threed, that town full of zombies. They are short, bulbous pink-things with large noses, beady eyes and a single piece of hair decorated with a ribbon.

Yeah.

Oh, and the Mr. Saturns all have their own font for speech and talk all wacky (adding words such as ‘boing’ and ‘zoom’). But, these attributes are all endearing, even if they are very strange.

Adding to the strangeness of the visit to Saturn Valley is the next stop: taking on Master Belch–a living pile of vomit. Yes, vomit. With a face and capable of speech. He uses burp attacks against the party, perhaps marking the first time I ever heard a burp sound effect in a video game (which was pretty high-tech in the mid-1990s).

Better still, Master Belch commands smaller piles of living puke in his Fly Honey factory (where a few Mr. Saturns are enslaved and need rescuing). They also use burps and stench attacks against the party.

I ran into a bit of a snag while fighting Master Belch–Ness became Homesick, which renders him nearly useless in a battle. Not what you want to happen in a boss fight. It was especially challenging, since Ness carried the Fly Honey I needed to distract Master Belch during the battle. After a few tries, I was able to use the item, but I cut it close–and had I died, I would have had to start the factory all over again (EarthBound’s lack of a save system similar to the likes of Final Fantasy causes a lot of frustration).

After besting the pile of puke, I returned to the Saturn village, where I was treated to some kind of mind-altering, psychedelic coffee. This game gets stranger by the moment, and that is why I love it.

Where You At?:  Saturn Village
Sanctuary Songs Recorded: 2
Party: Ness, Paula, Jeff

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He stinks. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Image via Wikipedia, image © Def Jam

Hi, my name is Satan, and I’d like to tell you about my favorite album, Reign in Blood which turned 25 last week!

I don’t normally deign to listen to your human music.  I mean, once in awhile I will kick back, open a cask of virgin blood, and pop on some Bieber.  The pitiful cries of the damned as they boil in my pits of hellfire are all the entertainment I need.

That, and my Friends dvds.

1986 was a good year for me.  I was making a killing on Wall Street.  All these Ivy League grads working in finance thought they could out-negotiate the Lord of Lies.*  Also The Oprah Winfrey Show premiered.**

Anyway, my new buddy Cliff comes up to me and says, “Yo, Mephistopheles, you need to listen to this metal album Reign in Blood by the band Slayer.  It is all about you and how awesome you are!”

Cliff was a nice guy, and I felt sorry for him because I had forced him to listen to an album his band would record 17 years in the future called St. Anger on repeat to his eternal torment.

I am not given to be merciful, but even I had to admit that was pretty harsh.  So I acceded to his request and listened to Reign in Blood.

The cover was amazing, a glorious bloody Heironymous Bosch nightmare.  It was like someone snapped a Polaroid of my living room.

The album starts like the world will sound when it ends.  A high pitch scream.  At first I thought it was the guitarist abusing the high E string, but the noise descended another register and I realized that the scream came from a human voice!  The drums fell on top of me like the blast of an avalanche.***

The riffs are contradictory — simultaneously sludgy and fast. The songs flow together like a symphony.  Each movement a more vicious tribute to all of my favorite stuff: blood, dead things, and me, naturally.  I AM the most beautiful, after all.

The album ends with the single greatest song about the end of the world ever written, falling apart in an atonal orgy of mutilated guitar solos and the sound of thunder and bloody rain [Raining Blood - Ed.].

Since Reign in Blood there have been many extreme metal bands, more br00tal and kvlt than Slayer, who have tried to pay tribute to their lord Lucifer.  They have not succeeded to my satisfaction.

Those crazy Norwegian black metallers can go ahead and kill each other in a misplaced quest for evil credibility, those meathead death metal guys can carve upside down crosses in their foreheads, and those dumb Swedes can impale goat’s heads at their concerts and smear their bodies in blood, but they will never record a timeless work of art as sincere and insane as Reign in Blood.

As someone who is very good looking and possesses ultimate power to seduce men into the vagaries of sin, I find it difficult to empathize with those less powerful.  But I can understand the appeal of Reign in Blood to someone who is not Satan.

Say you are a chubby, unhappy kid, picked on at school.  You live in a conservative town that values conformity over tolerance and individuality.  You discover Reign in Blood.  You have never before listened to music that fast and violent.  Although it is less than 30 minutes long, you feel drained, abused, exhausted, and excited.  Your head is in immense pain, but there is a smile on your face.

When you listen to Slayer, I understand you aren’t really worshiping me.  You aren’t a Satanist.  People like music that they relate to.  If you are a kid who is different, but you are told to be normal, you aren’t going to relate to the same popular music the “normal people,” the jocks, the brains, the cheerleaders at school, listen to.  You want a personal place where you can be different — where you can stage a private rebellion.

Slayer is something so different, so extreme, so NOT normal, that you know everyone else — your parents, teachers, or peers — will not understand it.  Sitting there, on the floor, surrounded by comics and horror movies, with Altar of Sacrifice playing on your headphones, you are accepted for being unusual.  That safe place where you can be different gives you the power to be yourself.

So, even though most kids who had Reign in Blood change their lives will become programmers, artists, bloggers, lawyers, and doctors, and will not actually end up serving as thralls in my Army of Hell when I make war against the Old Man and his precious world, I am not insulted or disappointed.

Slayer have flattered me with some sick, twisted riffs.  So thanks guys.  And if you are one of those kids who never had anything to rebel against, and led a perfectly happy life, well…I’ll be seeing you on Wall Street.

PRAISE HAIL SLAYER!

* The more things change… AMIRIGHT?

** I have no outstanding contractual agreement with Oprah, I just like it when she gives away the free cars to the audience because they have to pay taxes on it.

*** There is a popular misconception that I personally played drums on the song Angel of Death, so demonic and intense is the drumming.  I can assure you I had no part in the production of this masterpiece, as I was busy inspiring the album Fore! by Huey Lewis and the News.

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Satan divides his time between overseeing the legions of Hell and taking his dog Monty for walks in downtown San Francisco. He also attended undergrad with Daniel J. Hogan, where they hosted a heavy metal/post-punk radio show which no one ever listened to, not even by accident.

Image via whartoncenter.com, © original source.

The hit musical Jersey Boys has come to Lansing (well, East Lansing. But we’re all in this together), and I took in a show last Friday at the Wharton Center (located at Michigan State University). Now, I need to have a bit of a preamble here.

My favorite musicals lean more toward Evil Dead: the Musical, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Phantom of the Opera, Blues Brothers and Cannibal! The Musical.

[video link]

 But, that is not to say I won’t go see a live musical. Far from it. Why I may be hesitant to spend the time watching a film version of a musical (exceptions: Sound of Music, Doctor Dolittle with Rex Harrison, and the aforementioned Rocky and Blues), I will not hesitate to see a live show.

Why? Stage shows are different than film. There is the energy of the moment, the crowd sharing the experience with you and so on. A film can not recapture such a thing, and therefore I will gladly go see a live musical, regardless of the subject (related: the girlfriend and I have tickets to see Swan Lake this winter).

Case in point, I went to see Hairspray! here in Lansing a few months ago (featuring everyone’s favorite ginger, Kat Cooper). But, I’m not in a rush to see the film version of the musical version of John Waters’ original film (got all that?). I don’t see the film version of the play capturing all of the fun I experienced with the live show (and plus, Kat ain’t in the movie neither, so what’s the point? Amiright?).

So, when Jersey Boys came to town, I was happy to go see what all the fuss was about.

Jersey Boys (which will remain at the Wharton Center until Oct. 16th), was a lot of fun. I’ll confess, the oeuvre of the Four Seasons ain’t exactly “in my wheelhouse” but, I enjoyed the show none the less.

I am, after all, very much aware of their catalog, via the frequent use of Four Seasons songs in pop culture (e.g., the Howie Mandel vehicle, Walk Like a Man, and the use of Big Girls Don’t Cry in Big Trouble–”The benefits of a cable education.”).

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He wears short shorts. OK. Not really. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

Image via bbc.co.uk, © original source

Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computers, has died. He has ceased to be. He is no more. I would be remiss if I did not write about his passing here, as the Ginger and the Geek blog and podcast are brought into existence via my iBook and GarageBand. Don’t tell Steve, but I found out about his passing on my Android phone. Sorry about that.

I could go on and on about all the great things Steve Jobs has done, but it would be, in a word, redundant, as there will be no shortage of words written about his importance in the coming days, or even hours.

I will just end with this geektastic montage. RIP Steve, and know that I was writing up a blog post about Jersey Boys (coming soon) on my iBook, while taking part in Funky Mug Night at Michigan Brewing Company when I first heard of your passing (where I was enjoying, perhaps appropriately, a draft of Screaming Pumpkin).

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of the Gamers’ Club with Gavin Craig and Andrew Simone.

"Why yes, that IS a ray-gun in my pocket."

 EarthBound Revisited, pt. 4: Zombies!

I love it when a game takes a funny approach to something I deal with on an everyday basis, like escaping the clutches of ghosts. Case in point, EarthBound has a scene where Ness and Paula hitch a ride with the Runaway Five to Threed. Now, the tunnel to Threed is filled with ghosts, which cause a normal bus to turn around in fear.

Not the Runaway Five’s bus though. Since their bus is “too loud,” the ghosts flee and allow the band (with Ness and Paula in tow) to travel safely to Threed. Why the volume of the bus scares the ghosts is never explained in detail: is the radio really loud? Is the band playing? Is their bus so junky it omits horrendous amounts of noise pollution? Or does it just terrify ghosts with the threat of a carbon footprint the size of Giant Step?

I dunno. Methinks it is something to do with the band’s music–because if pterodactyls can’t stand the sound of an electric guitar, perhaps ghosts feel the same about the Blues (it must be all those notes you don’t play).

Threed is found to be infested with zombies. Yes, zombies were popular even in the early-mid-1990s, and Ness and Paula are tasked with freeing the town of these cantankerous cadavers. But, trouble befalls the duo, and Paula uses her shining psychic powers to ask Jeff, the next member of the party, for help.

Jeff, last name: Andonuts, is a student at a fancy private school somewhere to the “North” in Winters, located in the country of Foggyland (Ness’ hometown of Onett is in the country of Eagleland). Winters is a mashup/analogue of England and Scotland, complete with Stonehenge and Lake Tess (filling in for Loch Ness).

Jeff is a fun character, as he is an inventor, an ability which allows him to fix “broken” items and create new powerful gear–which makes up for his lack of PSI powers. His weapons of choice are guns and bottle rockets. The game switches to Jeff in Winters and you gain control of him as he escapes from school. One complaint: Jeff starts at Level One, which requires a bit of grinding in the woods of Winters to make him somewhat usable. Watch out for those Gruff Goats. They’re jerks.

But, Jeff’s weakness is made up for by one of my favorite parts of the game: riding Tessie, based on the Loch Ness monster. I don’t know why I like this part so much, as there is next to no animation while riding the beast (it is just a static sprite of Tessie which moves through the water). My fondness may be a link back to the articles and ads in Nintendo Power showing the scene in my youth, and being a teenage boy fond of dinosaurs and mythical creatures at the time, I was excited for that part in the game.

Where You At?:  Winters
Sanctuary Songs Recorded: 2
Party: Jeff, Bubble Monkey (for the moment)

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He walks the dinosaur. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

LoveLansing is a blog series on what makes the Lansing area a fun and unique place to live.

There was a fair amount of Improper Dancing going on.

Recently, I went to the Electric Six show at The Loft in downtown Lansing. The last time I saw the group was at the old Temple Club in Old Town (I still have a flier from the show). What was great about seeing the band this time was Stephanie and I could walk to the show, since we live downtown.

But, The Loft was not our only stop of the evening.

Our evening on the town started with dinner at the Waterfront Bar and Grill at the Lansing City Market (we both had the special for the day, a black bean burger). Post dinner, we had a bit more time to kill than I had expected, so we opted for a pre-show drink at the Tin Can, which is next door to The Loft.

One can of Keweenaw Brewing Company beer later (we visited their brew pub in July), we were next door waiting for the opening acts to start. I really enjoyed the second act, Kitten. I even bought their EP after the show. They opened with an amp’d up cover of my favorite Joy Division song, Transmission.

This was only my second time at The Loft, with my first visit being last Spring for the Capital City Film Festival shows. I really enjoy having a space like The Loft downtown and I will certainly go there again if another act I like plays a gig. Makes me wish The Loft had been open during the thirteen minutes I was a drummer in a band a few years ago–I would have liked to play a gig there.

Electric Six put on a hell of a show, like always. It was high energy with plenty of rocking. They are band you don’t see as much as you experience.

After the show, we noticed the Dugout (on the other side of the Loft) was still open. Steph wanted to grab a drink just to say we did, as we had never been there before. We also wondered if the Dugout was only open during the Lugnuts’ season (which was coming to an end), and did not want to miss our chance (although we could be wrong about its schedule).

We visited four downtown Lansing businesses within walking distance of each other and our respective dwellings–what’s not to like?

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He excells at improper dancing. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of the Gamers’ Club with Gavin Craig and Andrew Simone.

Money. Root of all Evil, as the song goes.

EarthBound Revisited, Pt. 3: Happy Happy

This latest stretch of the game took a, surprise-surprise, weird turn. I had to travel a town over to Twoson, in search of a girl with psychic powers, Paula (her  weapon of choice? A frying pan).

One problem: Paula had been kidnapped. Who kidnapped Paula? A bunch of cultists, the Happy-Happyists.  Hilarity, as would be expected, ensued.

Happy Happyists are obsessed with painting everything the color blue and they chant “blue, blue, blue” over and over. If this is meant as some sort of commentary on American cults, I have no idea, but it is rather amusing (albeit strange).

Prior to entering the valley of the Happy Happyists, I had a bit of work to do in Twoson. I had to do battle with an interesting selection of baddies, mainly the Cranky Woman, the Unassuming Local Guy, and the Annoying Old Party Man.

Like I said before, this is not your typical RPG.

In Twoson, I also met the Blues Brothers analogue, the Runaway Five, outside the Chaos Theater. Fans of the Scott Pilgrim comic book and film may recognize the name.

When I first played EarthBound many years ago and I arrived in Twoson, I was given a quick lesson in economics, capitalism, and free market blah-blah-blah.

In Burglin Park (a charming bit of wordplay, as the place is run by a crook), you can purchase a Fresh Egg for $12. If you hang on to the egg for a few minutes, it grows into a Chicken. You can then sell said Chicken for $110, a profit of $98. Combo this with the For Sale Sign (bought in Burglin Park), which lets you summon a buyer for your unwanted items, and you can start rolling in the cash very quickly.

Also in Twoson, you meet a pair of inventors: Orange Kid and Apple Kid.

Orange Kid is a playboy of sorts and not a very good inventor. Apple Kid is a slob, but is able to make many helpful items throughout the game. As an adult, I now wonder if Apple Kid was a reference to Apple Computers, and if his slovenly appearance could refer to the problems Apple was having around the time, before the return of Steve Jobs. Maybe. Maybe not.

Whilst in the town of Happy Happyists, I found out Pokey, Ness’ annoying neighbor back in his hometown and now a high ranking figure in Happy Happyism, orchestrated Paula’s capture for her use in a human sacrifice. The game even explicitly says, “human sacrifice,” which is quite the contrast to the cutesy look of the game and its humor.

Let’s rewind a bit. You have kid in his early teens, in a very powerful and important role in a fanatical cult. A kid, who conspires with another kid (who wears a mask) to kidnap a girl from her home to use in a human sacrifice.

Yikes.

Pokey escaped justice after I defeated the cult leader, Mr. Carpainter, and I know this is not the last I shall see of him.

Where You At?:  Threed
Sanctuary Songs Recorded: 2
Party: Ness, Paula

Next: Zombies!

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He knows all about free enterprise blah-blah-blah. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

image ©FilmDistrict, source Wikipedia

If you enjoy films with loner heroes, suspense, and BRVTAL action, then Drive (dir. Nicolas Winding Refn) is the film for you. I saw Drive, starring Ryan Gosling, over the weekend and enjoyed every moment.

Our hero, played by Gosling, is never given a name—he is known only as Driver or the Kid. Driver is a mechanic/stunt driver by day, but a getaway driver for hire by night. Now, this is a film which could have easily been a Fast in the Furious clone, or a rehashed Gone in 60 Seconds (by which I mean the Michael Bay re-make).

Thankfully, Drive is neither of these. It is not filled with explosions, a Top 40 music soundtrack, or three-cuts-a-second action editing.

Drive is filled with mood, tension and suspense.

Yes, Nicolas Winding Refn uses many (many) drawn out dramatic pauses with the shot locked on Gosling, but given that most action films today are filled with super-quick editing, it was an enjoyable change. The lingering shots on Gosling force the viewer to connect with him even more, and to notice his subtle acting.

Then, there is the violence. It is spaced out and sparse, but when it happens, it hits you like a truck. The violence is gory and rather over the top, and contrasts with the drawn out, quiet dramatic scenes. Don’t let Gosling’s charm and track record of romantic films fool you: this is a very violent film.

Gosling is great as the loner, man of few words Driver, and he gets excellent support from Bryan Cranston (the fatherly mechanic, Shannon), Ron Perlman (the tough guy gangster, Nino), and Albert Brooks (Shannon’s gangster connection, Bernie).

Brooks’ performance was against his usual type and, without giving too much away, will surprise you (he was the voice of Nemo’s dad in Finding Nemo, and is a Simpsons regular–not to mention his directorial oeuvre, and that little movie about the news). I always enjoy seeing comedy actors take on serious, villainous rules—something about their comedy background makes these roles much more sinister, and Brooks does not disappoint. My fellow Firefly geeks will be happy to hear Christina Hendricks (Saffron on Firefly) has a brief, albeit important, role.

Lastly, there is the soundtrack. As I stated before, Drive does not have the “typical” action film soundtrack (which is fair, considering Drive is not your typical action film, nor is it really an action film to being with). The soundtrack is an interesting mix of electronic house music and an original score–and I pre-ordered it the day after seeing the film.

If you enjoy films a bit on the Art House side, then go check out Drive. It will shock and awe you. It was, off the top of my head, one of my favorite films of 2011, second only to Attack the Block.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He wants a pair of driving gloves. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of the Gamers’ Club with Gavin Craig and Andrew Simone.

Image © Nintendo. Links to source.

 EarthBound Revisited, Part 2 – A Spiteful Crow Stole My Breadroll

Unlike many other RPGs (Role Playing Games for you Normals), EarthBound (for Super Nintendo) has you name all of the characters at the start of the game, even though you won’t see all of them until later. I indulged a bit and set Ness’ name as Dan, but kept the rest of the names their defaults: Paula, Jeff, and Poo. But the naming fun does not stop there.

Yes, you also get to name your trusty dog, which I named Banjo, and your favorite food. Here is where a bit of sophomoric humor can take place: whatever you list as your favorite food, Mom will use in the phrase “Eat some ___ and go to bed!”

As a teenage boy I saw the comedic opportunity here. I shall let you use your imagination. This time, however, I church’d it up a bit and selected the second “Don’t Care” option of “Pie.” <homer simpson voice>Mmmm, pie.</homer simpson voice>

You can also name “Your Favorite Thing,” which becomes the name of Ness’ powerful PSI attack. Again, this is the opportunity for a bit of low-brow humor. But, I instead came up with METAL followed by a musical note. Too bad “Canvassing for an Election” or “Reading War and Peace” wouldn’t fit.

Like Final Fantasy VII, you are dropped right into the action at the start of the game (sans eco-terrorism however). Ness discovers his destiny via Buzz Buzz, a talking insect from ten years in the future, who is an Obi-Wan Kenobi of sorts (for about five minutes). Ness has to stop Giygas, who has assumed control in the future.

Time travel? Huzzah! That never makes for a confusing plot.

Early on the battles are rough, as Ness is flying solo. I had to do a bit of level grinding from the get-go just to survive the random battles. Unlike the Final Fantasy games, where you can more-or-less save anywhere on the world map, you must use a phone to save a game in EarthBound. That is correct. You have to call Dad. But wait: black phones are free, but green phones are $1/call. Pay to save? Yikes. And phones are only in certain locations (hotels, etc.). Double Yikes.

Another quirk is the item system. Instead of Final Fantasy where you would have “Potion x 50″ in your inventory, each item in EarthBound takes up a slot. That’s right. If you wanted fifty hamburgers, you would need fifty slots. And, each character only has fourteen item slots–which include slots for your weapon and armor. In Ness’ case, you also have to carry the ATM, Sound Stone and Town Map pretty much all the time.

Oy. Item management shall be a challenge.

You know what else is a challenge? Gangs of enemies. While exploring the Giant Step cave, I got my butt handed to me by a squad of Black Antoids. They kept calling for help, and I was overrun. But, once I learned my first PSI attack, I showed them what’s-what. EarthBound is very challenging in the early levels, but I once I get a teammate or two, it will get easier. Right?

Where You At?:  Twoson
Sanctuary Songs Recorded: 1 (of
Party: Ness

Next: the Search for Paula

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He enjoys pie. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.

In the fall of 2011, I decided to play all the way through the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound and blog about the journey. These entries will be cross-posted on The Idler as part of the Gamers’ Club with Gavin Craig and Andrew Simone.

Part 1 – “All my friends are in there.”

I decided to try another play-through blog series, and this time it is Earthbound for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (both of my readers will remember my previous adventure, Final Fantasy VII Revisited). I have many, many fond memories of Earthbound. Sure, the graphics may appear very dated by today’s standards, but I am certain the humor and story will hold up pretty well. I first heard about Earthbound via the gaming magazine Nintendo Power–I had a subscription back in those glory days of the Nintendo Entertainment System, all the way through Nintendo 64.

I remember ads for Earthbound in Nintendo Power really grabbing my attention, there was one ad which discussed the effect on players, as if it were a medical study of some sort. One “player” was quoted as saying “all of my friends are in there” (or something close to it) upon being forced to turn the game off.

For some reason, this bit of advertising worked on me. I had to play this game. Any game so addicting must be good, right? Earthbound was released in the states a month and change before my 14th birthday, so once my coffers were laden with birthday cash, I promptly bought the game.

Earthbound was unique in that it came packaged with a player’s guide (which I still have). I don’t know why this was the case, other than perhaps Nintendo felt Earthbound was such a quirky game, they needed to lure folks in with something. Earthbound certainly was quirky for an RPG: it took place in 1990s America, the main characters were all kids, and it was not the typical fantasy setting for most RPGs of the time (you use ATMs for money and could order a pizza delivery over the phone).

And all of these reasons were why I loved Earthbound from the instant I started playing. I grew attached to the four main characters: Ness, Paula, Jeff and Poo. Unlike some other RPGs, you only used these four characters throughout the entire game. Swapping out party members with different abilities gets old for me after awhile, which I talked about at length during my FFVII play-through:

Maybe that is why Earthbound is another of my all time favorite RPGs: you get a set amount of characters and each has their own special ability. It may seem pretty vanilla to some, but it does help one become more attached to the characters (maybe).

Yes, the graphics were “cutesy” and “cartoony,” but it only added to the charm. It certainly complimented the humor, which spent plenty of time poking fun at American culture. But, any game with a Blues Brothers-like band (The Runaway Five) as supporting characters will always have a special place in my heart.

On the game’s humor, from Wikipedia:

Described by Gamasutra as “a warped, confused tribute to American culture, designed by people who’ve only experienced the country through books and movies” the quirky humor of the game is one of the chief reasons for its popularity.

And this:

Amongst the ranks of absurd enemies in the game Ness must face down New Age Retro Hippies, Pogo Punks, Extra Cranky Ladies, and Big Piles of Puke throughout his quest. Much of the dialogue and plot of the game pokes fun at traditional RPG and sci-fi clichés. Even the advertising campaign played off of its humor, with the slogan “This game stinks”, referring to the scratch and sniff stickers that were included in the Player’s Guide.

I remember those scratch and sniff stickers–and some of the humor in the Player’s Guide was just as fun as the game. It made for an entertaining read.

I am ready–and after playing the super-complex Front Mission 4 over the summer, I am eager for a simpler game to occupy my chilly Autumn evenings. It is time for psychic powers, baseball bats, Apple Kid, and Mr. Saturn.

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Daniel J. Hogan is the geek half of Ginger and the Geek. He is also a photoblogger and host of the Magic of Eyri Podcast. He loves that there Ninten-doo. Follow him on Twitter, @danieljhogan.