Last Gen Favorites, Part 2: 15-11

So continues my countdown of my top 20 favorite video games of last gen. Today is numbers 15 through 11.

15. LittleBigPlanet 2

(Honorable Mention: LittleBigPlanet)

Play, Create, Share

There aren't many games that can put a smile on your face quite like LittleBigPlanet 2. Everything, from your loveable protagonist Sackboy, to the toy-box and scrapbookesque level design of Craftworld lets you know that you're in for a fun time. Yet beneath the adorable facade is strong platforming game with a extensive level creator that can extend your playtime for months if not years after you complete the main campaign. LittleBigPlanet 2's campaign has Sackboy bounding across Craftworld in a story reminiscent of something out of a children's' storybook. The evil Negativatron is turning Craftworld into a living nightmare, and it's up to Sackboy to save the day. The story gives you sufficient context and reason for what you're doing, but what will keep you going forward is the level design and gameplay. LittleBigPlanet 2 is a 2d platformer, so you'll spend most of your time running, jumping, grappling and sometimes shooting and racing you're way from one end of the level to the other. Each part of Craftworld that you visit looks and feels unique, and the game does an excellent job of slowly but steadily increasing the challenge as you progress. Beyond the main campaign in LittleBigPlanet 2 is the second, and arguably more defining part of the game; the level creator. The original LittleBigPlanet had its own level creator and helped popularized the concept of "play, create, share" whereby you would play the game, create your own levels and then share them with the LittleBigPlanet community for them to play (and repeat the cycle). LittleBigPlanet 2 expanded on the level creator from the first game and added much more functionality to it, even to the point where you could create not just your own levels, but full-blown minigames. While I never put much time or effort into the level creator, I spent quite a few hours playing other peoples' creations and was impressed by the quality of what people were creating. The sheer volume of content that exists beyond the main campaign makes LittleBigPlanet 2 a game truly built to last.

14. The Last of Us

"You make every shot count."

I don't like zombie games. Or movies. Or TV shows. I've never understood the appeal of the whole zombie/infected genre, and it was with a certain unease that I started playing through The Last of Us with a friend of mine. But right when the game started, I realized it was not going to be what I thought it would be. After one of the most memorable openings of any game I have ever played, you fast-forward to the main story of The Last of Us, which takes place in post-apocalyptic America where a fungal infection has devastated the world and turned much of the population into reckless, animalistic freaks (known simply as "the infected") who attack regular humans on sight. You play as Joel, a bitter and tired survivor who is living in a quarantined part of Boston, which is one of the last bastions of what's left of the American government. Joel is contracted by the Fireflies, a mysterious anti-government resistance group, to escort a young girl named Ellie out of the city and the story follows Joel and Ellie's journey across what's left of America. While you get bits and pieces of what happened during and after the fungal outbreak, the story of The Last of Us is not so much about outbreak itself as it is about the relationship between Joel and Ellie. As is fitting for story about survival, the gameplay of The Last of Us is desperate and brutal. There is no regenerative health, stealth kills are not clean, combat in general is quite ugly and utilizing your inventory and crafting are done in real-time, so you better make sure the coast is clear before you take your eyes off your surroundings. Stealth is usually advisable, and while I've played a few stealth games in the past, The Last of Us is the only game I've played where I actually felt tense as I tried to quietly eliminate or slip past foes. Joel's survival usually means someone else will die, giving a certain weight to your decisions, especially since the other survivors are not evil just because they're bad people, but they too are trying to survive by any means necessary. Yet, for all the despair and brutality of The Last of Us, it also has the distinction of spawning the most hilarious gaming in-joke so far in my gaming life, which unfortunately I cannot post to this blog. Have I changed my mind on the zombie/infected genre? No. Is The Last of Us a great game? Absolutely.

13. Prince of Persia (2008)

A beautiful world.

"Why can't our game look like our concept art?" That, apparently, was the question posed by the development team of the 2008 entry in the Prince of Persia series. What arose out of this inquiry was a visually striking Prince of Persia game that broke away from the arc of the past several games in the series and established itself as something truly unique. In Prince of Persia you play as an unnamed protagonist (whom I will just refer to as "the prince," even though we never learn who he is) who has stumbled upon a mythical land that serves as the prison for the evil god Ahriman. There he meets Elika, a woman whose tribe is sworn to keeping Ahriman locked up. Unfortunately, but predictably, Ahriman gets loose and corrupts the land, and the prince and Elika are forced to work together to stop Ahriman from infecting the rest of the world and put him back in his prison. As you work your way through the world of Prince of Persia, Elika will be your constant companion; teaching you the history of each area, using her magic to help in traversal and combat and providing conversation when you just want to talk with her. In fact, Elika is one of my favorite companion characters in any video game. She never gets in your way, is easy to control, has a likeable personality (unlike the prince, who is kind of a jerk) and is always helpful. Elika will even save your life if you miss a jump or are about to die in battle. This particular game mechanic, that, with rare exception, you never die in the game, means much of the challenge of the platforming and combat is gone. I know many people did not like this, but for me this was not an issue, because the lack of death encouraged me to attempt to explore every last corner of the world. The world of Prince of Persia itself looks somewhat like a fantastical watercolor painting, and the desolate but beautiful landscape reminds me of the feel I got when playing one of my favorite PlayStation 2 games, Shadow of the Colossus. Sadly, I must be one of the few people who actually liked Prince of Persia because it did not sell well and there has been no word of a sequel since its release in 2008. There was an Epilogue DLC released a little while after the game came out, but this truly is game in need of a full-blown sequel.

12. Red Dead Redemption

Yes, you can fight bears.

Red Dead Redemption is a game that seems almost as big as the American West where it takes place. You play as John Marston, a former outlaw who left his gang to start a family and go straight, but has been dragged back into his former life by federal agents who use him to hunt down his former partners in crime. This sort of setup, with a former criminal returning to his past life for one reason or another, is not particularly original and has even been done in other games by Rockstar, the developer of Red Dead Redemption, (and the Grand Theft Auto series) but the story that unfolds after this somewhat cliche beginning is well worth your time. You'll be taken across the American West and even into Mexico as Marston pursues his former friends, interacts with an interesting cast of characters and explores the massive open world. The world of Red Dead Redemption is an achievement unto itself and probably the game's greatest feature, being both the best depiction of the American West that I've seen in a video game and full of sights, wildlife and scattered bits of humanity. From early on in the game when you acquire a horse, you can look at almost anywhere on the map or in the distance and go there. Without playing a single story mission, you can spend hours upon hours just wandering around and taking in everything, and as you do you'll also find plenty of side missions and random events to be distracted by. As you complete various tasks and missions you'll become increasingly famous, or infamous, depending on what you do, and the world will adapt to this with other outlaws attacking you if you're a particularly upstanding citizen and posses of bounty hunters pursuing you if you gain a large bounty on your head. This ever changing world and all the random encounters and events that go on it make Red Dead Redemption one of the few games that can legitimately claim to have a living world.

11. Transformers: War for Cybertron

(Honorable Mention: Transformers: Fall of Cybertron)

Time to scrap some Deceptacons

Much like Batman: Arkham Asylum was the game that showed just how good a Batman game could be, Transformers: War for Cyberton was the game that showed how awesome a good Transformers game could be. Transformers: War for Cybertron (referred to hereafter as just War for Cybertron) takes you back to Cybertron at the height of the war between the Autobots and Deceptacons.You play as both sides in the story and learn the details of some parts of the Transformers lore that were previously obscure, such as Optimus becoming a Prime, Starscream's defection to the Deceptacons and how Cybertron was ultimately doomed by Megatron's quest for power. Cybertron itself has been beautifully realized as a fully mechanical world, albeit a world devastated by the ravages of war. The various characters of the Transformers universe that you play as have also been given cool new looks that help the game feel like a fresh take on Transformers, but at the same time are close enough to their classic looks that you'll instantly know who they are. But as interesting as the story and visuals of War for Cybertron are, it is the gameplay that really stands out. As you've probably guessed, one of the main components to the gameplay of a Transformers game is that your character can transform back and forth between humanoid and vehicle forms. While we've seen this mechanic in other Tranformers games before, War for Cybertron really outdoes itself in the level of tactical gameplay that the game allows you to pull off. You're encouraged to maximize the respective strengths of your character's forms; superior speed and maneuverability in vehicle form and superior firepower in humanoid form. Stay too long in one form or in one place and you'll find yourself running out of ammo, or worse. That said, even if you played this game in a slower, cover-to-cover style like Gears of War and don't take advantage of what the game has to offer, it is still a good time. Choosing between Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron for this list was extremely difficult and had the narrowest margin of any entry on this list between a chosen game and its honorable mention. In the end, I gave a slight edge to War for Cybertron because I enjoyed its campaign just a little bit more than the campaign in Fall of Cybertron. Both are outstanding games and if you're a Transformers fan you can't go wrong with either one.


With numbers 20 through 11 now covered, we are now ready to crack the highly anticipated top ten. Stay tuned for the post in this series which will cover numbers 10 through 6.

Last Gen Favorites, Part 1: 20-16

With the recent launch of the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, many people have been putting out lists of their favorite games of the last console generation. I'm arriving a bit late to the party, but I thought it would be a good and fun exercise to create my own list. I had originally planned on doing a top ten, but after much agonizing I realized that keeping the list at just ten entries would result in cutting too many games that I loved but just missed the top ten, so I decided to expand the list to a top twenty.

Now, there are a number of parameters that I've decided to impose on this list. From the title I hope it is clear that I am limiting this list to games I played on console (PlayStation 3, Xobx 360, Wii). This is because I haven't done much in the way of PC, mobile and hand-held gaming. I am also not including on this list any games that are currently multi-generational (available on both last gen and current gen). Anything out now that is available on both current gen and last gen I intend to play whenever I decide to buy a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Lastly, I have decided to use only one game per game series, in order to keep certain game series from dominating the list, but I have also given honorable mentions to other outstanding entries series that have games on the list.

One last thing I need to reiterate, in case the title of this post is not clear enough, is that these are not necessarily the best games I have played, (in terms of overall quality) but the ones I enjoyed the most. While all the games on this list are good, you'll note there are a few games in the list that are arguably "better" than the ones above them. This is a reflection of the fact that sometimes our favorite games are not always the ones that would be considered the highest quality in game reviewer circles, but the ones that struck a chord with us for whatever reason.

In the end, of course, this list is completely subjective and means absolutely nothing. With that long introduction finally over, I give you the first part my top twenty favorite games of last gen. We'll start with numbers 20 through 16.

20. Wii Sports

(Honorable Mention: Wii Sports Resort)

It begins.

Starting off this list is the game that kicked off the motion control insanity of last gen; Wii Sports. Packaged with the Nintendo Wii console, for me and many other people Wii Sports was our first gaming experience on last gen. A simple package of just five minigames, two of which that didn't even work all that well, Wii Sports became the go-to game for party play and some epic gaming sessions. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Wii Sports is that it is arguably more a tech-demo for the Wii's functionality than a full-fledged game. Although Wii Sports Resort made a number of improvements to the formula and added many more minigames, I have decided to give this spot to the original Wii Sports for being the spark that set off many days and nights fun party play. Many other games would come and go on my Wii, but Wii Sports (and its successor) was the game my friends and I kept coming back to.

19. Batman: Arkham Asylum

(Honorable Mention: Batman: Arkham City)

It's going to be a long night.

A great Batman game that actually makes you feel like Batman? Up until the release of Batman: Arkham Asylum, most people would dismiss such as thing as a myth. Batman: Arkham Asylum starts with Batman having captured Joker and bringing him to Arkham Asylum for imprisonment, only for Joker to turn the tables and take over Arkham Asylum. Batman must then uncover and thwart Joker's plot, and along the way he crosses paths with several members of his famous rouges gallery, including Scarecrow, Bane, Poison Ivy, Zsasz, Killer Croc, Harley Quinn and (indirectly) Riddler. With so many bad superhero games out there, it is impressive how well Batman: Arkham Asylum works: combat is simple but gratifying, Batman's gadgets are cool and fun to use, the "predator rooms" (where Batman must stalk and take down gun-wielding thugs) provide interesting and challenging puzzles, Batman and Joker are voiced by Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, respectively, (the same persons who voiced the characters in the iconic animated series in the 90s) there are plenty of collectibles and the art and level design of the asylum evokes a dark, Gothic ambiance, which is fitting for the Batman universe. This is game made for Batman fans, and even if you're not a Batman fan it still a great game.

18. Spec Ops: The Line

This is all your fault.

Do you feel like a hero yet? There are very few games that question your character's motives and morality as effectively as the criminally under-played Spec Ops: The Line. Although on the surface, Spec Ops: The Line appears to be a generic, military-themed third person shooter, it actually follows the descent of Captain Martin Walker into madness as he and his squad pursue his former commander through a sandstorm-ravaged Dubai. Based on Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, Spec Ops: The Line slowly gets into your head and asks if what you're doing is really the right thing. As you progress, you are confronted with the fact that Walker is a deplorable human being whose attempts to right the situation in Dubai have only made things worse, and that his obsession with finding his former commander has lead the the horrific deaths of everyone around him. Every decision Walker makes results in something bad happening and ends in regret. Lots of games have you committing acts of violence, but Spec Ops: The Line forces you to face the reasoning and consequences of your actions and asks what it all means. In doing so, Spec Ops: The Line does what few video game has done; it makes violence meaningful.

17. Flower

The field of dreams.

Sometimes you don't want to kill aliens, solve puzzles or go on epic quests. Sometimes you would rather relax and escape the stresses of life. Flower has an incredibly simple premise; you control the wind and collect flower petals and then guide them to the end of the level. The game takes place within what you might call the dreams of flowers, strange as that may sound, and it tells a surprisingly emotional tale, even though there's not much of what you would call a story in it. There are no lives, no deaths, no score, no time limit and no way to fail. You only use one button to blow the wind and you control the direction of the wind by rotating the controller. This lack of traditional game systems will turn off some, but for others like myself it provides a unique and enjoyable gaming experience. Actually, experience is probably a more fitting description of Flower rather than a calling it a game. Flower is one of those things that is hard to describe to others and people who play it tend to either love it or not understand what others see in it. Whatever you think about it, you won't find many other experiences like it in gaming.

16. God of War 3

Kratos vs. Poseidon.

Disemboweling his way onto this list is our favorite rageaholic, Kratos. God of War 3 brought a satisfying conclusion to Kratos' blood soaked quest for revenge as he murdered his way through Greek mythology. Continuing the tradition of focusing on gameplay, graphics and mind-blowing spectacle, God of War 3 takes the God of War formula and refines it yet again to create an extremely polished experience. Combat is stellar, as always, and the added ability to cancel out of almost any combo to either block or roll allows you to fully integrated offensive and defensive maneuvers into a beautiful dance of death. Every hit is gratifying, every weapon is useful and every finisher is satisfyingly brutal. Boss fights, a perennial strong suit of the God of War series, are as epic as ever, and you never go too long before you have another one. Every God of War game has opened with an epic boss fight, but God of War 3's opening battle with Poseidon is my personal favorite opening boss fight in the entire series. With great gameplay, over-the-top boss fights and graphics that are still good even today, almost four years after it was originally released, God of War 3 set a standard for actions games that others in the genre are still measured against.



So begins my top 20 favorite games of last gen. My next post will covers numbers 15 through 11.

"I need my hours"

A few days ago I was at the Walnut Cafe while my car was being worked on. I was sitting by myself towards the back, near one part of the kitchen where I think their dishwashers and coffeemakers are located. While eating and reading through that week's edition of The Economist, I overheard one of the kitchen staff speaking with a waitress. He was telling the waitress about his financial difficulties and the various jobs he worked to make ends meet. When asked if he was going to be working a full shift that day, he told the other staffer yes, and that "I need my hours." This set in my mind a quick thought of my own financial circumstances how God had worked in my life through individuals, circumstances and His Word to put me where I am today. I am incredibly blessed to be both debt-free and living a life that could be financed with part-time work. Yet despite this, I am not always grateful for the blessings God has bestowed on me. One area in particular that has long been a problem is my job.

Those of you who know me know that I have a rocky relationship with my job. It's ok overall, but there are a number of things I don't like about it and there have been a few times where I've been disgusted with decisions made by the owners. Needless to say, the thought of quitting has come up on occasion. And yet, over the years God has been working in me through this job and showing me that it is a blessing, in spite of whatever petty grievances I may have about it. He has also shown me, particularly over the last few months, how He has been working through me to bless some of my coworkers. As I inch closer to some major life changes, I can see now that God has been working through my job to prepare me for the next phase of my life and beyond. At some point in the future I will leave this job, but I can honestly say that I am better man because of it.

My job is a blessing. Even if it had more of those things I disdain it would still be a blessing. It comes from God, just like every other blessing; from the standard of living I enjoy to every last breath He allows me to take. How can I not thank Him?

Tejeringos

It's only taken me a full year, but I finally have another recipe to add to the blog. This one is for tejeringos, which are more or less the same thing as churros, but perhaps a bit smaller than your average churro. I learned this recipe from a book about a culinary journey through Spain, though I've slightly modified the recipe.

Ingredients/Equipment needed for this recipe:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon sugar, plus about 1/3 cup for dusting
Pinch of salt
1 & 1/3 cup flour
3 large eggs
1 cup water
Approximately 50 Fl Oz or about 1,500 mL oil for frying*
Pastry bag with large star-shaped tip**
Tongs
Bowl
Saucepan
Large pot
Paper towels
Stove top

Optional items for this recipe:
Latex/non-latex gloves (for protection against hot oil)
Funnel (for cleanup)
Strainer (for cleanup)

* I have made this recipe with both extra virgin olive oil and canola oil and have not noticed a significant difference in the resulting flavor of the Tejeringos. At some point in the future I will make this recipe again with other types of oil and will then update this post. As for the amount of oil, the important thing is that you have enough for the oil in your pot to be at least 2.5'' deep.
** The star-shaped tip I used was about 1.4'' in diameter at the base, about 0.75'' in diameter at the opening and 2'' tall. It was an Aetco Pastry Tube - Star - Size 9. I bought it on Amazon at the following web address: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000VLEFE/ref=pe_385040_30332200_pe_309540_26725410_item


Below is a photo of most of the required items.

One more note on this recipe: while this can be done by a single person, there are a few points where it is helpful to have a second person assisting. If you have a friend or family member who is willing to help you out it will make this recipe a bit easier.

Ready? Let's get started.


Cut the stick of butter into about 7 or 8 pieces. Then combine the water, butter, the tablespoon of sugar and the salt into the saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir the mixture occasionally until the butter has melted and everything has combined into a single substance.

The butter in the saucepan.

The butter, salt, water and sugar all together.

Starting to boil.

Reduce the heat to low, add the flour (in one shot), and stir vigorously until the mixture solidifies into a single mass.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, but don't turn the heat off. In fact, I would suggest turning the heat back up to medium (you'll see why later). Add the eggs to the batter and stir vigorously. You can either add them one at a time, or you can mix them beforehand and add them all at once; I haven't noticed a significant effect on the final product between using either method. When you add in the eggs you'll notice that the batter will break up into lots of small pieces. Don't worry about this and just keep stirring. After a minute or two, as the batter slowly absorbs the eggs, the batter will come back together into a single mass of dough.

The dough after it has completely absorbed the eggs.

Once the dough is back to a single solid mass, transfer it into a bowl and place it in your refrigerator for 10 or so minutes.

Meanwhile, pour your oil into the large pot and place it on the stove top. If you kept the heat on as I suggested earlier, the burner will still be warm/hot and it will take less time to heat up the oil. Heat the oil to about 365 degrees. I do not have a cooking thermometer, so I set the burner to 7, which on my stove is at about the 4 o'clock position. I have also successfully made this recipe on the 6 setting, so if you don't have a cooking thermometer set the stove top to somewhere around there.

The oil heats up. In this case it is extra virgin olive oil.

While the dough is cooling in the refrigerator and the oil is heating up, get your pastry bag and fit the star-shaped tip into it. You'll need to cut a small amount of the end of the bag off in order to fit the star-shaped tip into. If you're not sure how much to cut just take a small amount off and then see if you can push the star-shaped tip into it (from the inside of the bag). Keep cutting small slivers off the end of the bag until you can get the star-shaped tip to fit snugly into it. Also set out some paper towels, which you'll need later to drain the tejeringos when you take them out of the frying oil.

In this photo I am using a large, industrial pastry bag. Feel free to use another type.

A closeup of the star-shaped tip.

The pastry bag with the star-shaped tip fitted into the bottom.

After the dough's time in the refrigerator is done, bring it out and transfer it into the pastry bag. You'll find this is one of the times where it is easier if you have a second person holding the bag open while you move the dough into it. Though not required, I like to knead the dough just a little bit while it is in the bag before I start to pipe it out into the frying oil. I really don't know if this does anything, but I like to do it.

The pastry bag with the dough loaded into it.

If your frying oil is hot enough, you can now start frying the dough and making tejeringos. Judging how hot the oil is without a thermometer can be tricky, but you'll find out very quickly if it's hot enough when you start to pipe the dough into it. If the oil becomes very bubbly when the dough goes into it, then it is hot enough. If it's only a little bubbly then wait a few more minutes for the oil to heat up.

Now, before you start adding the dough, I would suggest putting on a pair of latex or non-latex gloves. This is just to protect your hands from drops of hot oil that might splash up when you are adding the dough to the oil. This is not mandatory and if you're allergic to latex don't feel compelled to do this.

Pipe 4-inch-long strips of dough into the hot oil. The strips will tend to crowd together, so don't put too many in at the same time. Use your tongs to keep the strips from bunching up as they fry. Cook the tejeringos for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until golden brown. The longer you cook them, the crispier they will be. The less you cook them, the more doughy they will be. If you're going to make this recipe more than once, try frying one group of tejeringos for longer and another for less and see which ones you like more.

The tejeringos tend to bunch up if left unattended in the oil.

Use your tongs to keep them separated.

When the tejeringos are done frying, use your tongs to remove them from the oil and place them on paper towels to let the excess oil drain off. Pipe more dough into the oil and continue the frying process until you've used up as much dough as you can. When you're completely done frying, turn off the heat on the stove top and move the pot off the burner so the oil can start cooling.

A batch of tejeringos draining on some paper towels.

Lastly, take your sugar and dust the tejeringos with as much or as little sugar as you like. If you have someone helping you, they can start dusting the tejeringos as you're taking them out of the oil (of course, give them a few seconds to drain on the paper towels). I used 1/3 cup of sugar for dusting, but you can use more or less to suit your personal tastes.

I used a plate to help with the dusting. Feel free to use whatever works for you.

Place the finished tejeringos on a plate or in a bowl, and then serve them as soon as possible. These little guys are delicious, but will go floppy (like microwaved bread) after a few hours, so no leftovers allowed!

ENJOY!

Cleanup
Since we're working with oil, I thought it would be good to add a little section on the cleanup you'll need to do for this recipe. While most of your equipment can be cleaned like normal, the leftover oil requires some special consideration. DO NOT DUMP THE OIL IN YOUR SINK! You are likely to clog it as the oil solidifies and hardens as it sits in your pipes (in case you didn't notice, oil does not flow like water). Below are your two main options for dealing with the leftover oil:

* Storage and Reuse
Depending on what type of oil you used for frying, you may be able to store and reuse it for future cooking. To store the oil, first let it cool completely. Then carefully pour it into a container for storage (a funnel helps). If you have a strainer, be sure to use it to filter out any food particles that may have gotten into the oil while you were frying. The container you use can be a jar, bottle, the original container the oil came in or whatever you want to use. Store the oil in a cool, dark place (light will accelerate the oil going bad). Extra virgin olive oil tends to become rancid faster than other oils, while Canola oil can last awhile if stored properly. Before you reuse any oil be sure to give it a smell test (and taste test if you're willing). If it smells nasty, then it's gone bad. When reusing oil, be sure to use it on similar foods that it was originally used to fry. For example, you can reuse the oil you used to fry the tejeringos on pastries, but don't use it on vegetables or meats. Oils often take on flavors from the foods they cook, so using the same oil for different types of foods can mess up your cooking.

* Disposal
If your oil has gone bad or you're just not going to use it again, you need to properly dispose of it. Again, do not dump the oil in your sink. After the oil has cooled, pour it into a disposable container (such as a milk carton) and close/seal the container so it does not leak. Some towns have an oil disposal program/service, and if you have access to one try to take advantage of it. Otherwise, place the sealed container in your dumpster, and perhaps label it so your local dumpster-diver doesn't make a mess.

Remembering IGPX

Back in my early college days I watched an anime called IGPX. It recently started rerunning on TV, and I thought I would do a post of my thoughts on the show, now that it has been a number of years since I first saw it.

IGPX ran for two seasons and was another take on the giant mech genre. It took place in the year 2049 when the world’s most popular motorsport is the Immortal Gran Prix, (or IGPX) in which people raced giant mechs. Each race pitted two teams of three mechs against each other, and each mech was piloted by a single person. The race took place on a 60 mile course and went for three laps. While giant mechs racing is somewhat interesting by itself, what spiced things up a bit was that the teams would fight each other during the race.

A pair of mechs go head-to-head

The story of IGPX follows Team Satomi, who have finally broken out of the lower leagues of the IGPX and made it into the highest tier of racers (called the IG-1). Season 1 of IGPX chronicled their progress throughout their first racing season and their eventual victory in the IG-1 tournament, while Season 2 took place a year later and showed Team Satomi’s next racing season where they defended their title and dealt with a number of personal issues amongst the team.

The main thing I liked about IPGX was the racing, which is a odd considering that I'm not really a racing fan when it comes to tv or movies. I've been told that the real reason people watch NASCAR is for the excitement of the crashes. I'm thinking the reason I liked IGPX was something similar to that, in that the races were more than just races and were full of action sequences.

At the starting line

Another thing I particularly liked about the IGPX was the distinct design philosophy of each team. While the overall outlines of the mechs were similar, each team's mechs reflected their personalities and styles. True, the designs were quite outlandish (as is usually the case with giant mechs in anime) but each one somehow seemed fitting for the team it was a part of.

But as much as I liked IGPX, anyone who watched it would tell you the show had a few problems and can understand why it only lasted two seasons. One of the first things that comes to mind is that, in spite of how cool the races were, the rules of the race did not entirely make sense. A number of little things, most notably how next to nothing happens in lap 1 and how fighting does not begin until lap 2, pervade the show. Another major flaw with the show was that the action/storyline off the track was not always interesting. The show explored the stories and relationships of the various persons on Team Satomi, but some were less compelling than others.

This brings me to a completely off topic question: why is it so often that teenagers are piloting giant mechs? There’s always the young prodigy pilot, who is really good, but has emotional/psychological issues that inevitably almost ruin things for everyone else, (or sometimes do) but then he/she has an epiphany/experience that makes sense of it all, and goes on to right his/her wrongs and be an amazing pilot. Stop me if you’ve heard this stoyline in some form or another a hundred times already.

You might wonder why anyone would allow teenagers to pilot giant mechs. You might also wonder why one of them would be allowed to bring a cat along. In the real world these would be sensible questions, but not in anime.

When thinking of other things to compare IGPX to, what comes to mind is the original Fast and the Furious movie. Fast and the Furious was primarily about car racing and crime associated with cars, and starred Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. These two (at the time) were not know for their acting strength, but the movie still worked overall because it never went too long before there was another race or some sort of action sequence with the cars. IGPX was similar to this in that the storyline outside the races was hit-and-miss, but in each episode there was either some sort of race or at least the buildup to it.

Some interesting concept art

Despite its problems I enjoyed IGPX while it lasted. If nothing else it did give me one of my favorite quotes in all of anime, which perfectly encapsulates one of my frustrations with a few other animes that I’ve watched. In one of the early episodes of season 1, Team Satomi is racing against Team Black Egg, and Satomi’s lead pilot, Takeshi, can’t land a hit on Black Egg’s lead pilot. Takeshi does a lot of screaming as he has his mech throw strike after strike and hit nothing but air. At that point the coach of Team Satomi, Andrei, speaks through the radio to Takeshi and says “Why don’t you stop shouting at him and just hit him?"

The Memory Train

Last night I was going over some of the photos from my trip to Europe last year while listening to Nujabes music. As you might imagine, I started thinking about taking another trip. I opened my web browser and visited the website of Deutsche Bahn, the German rail authority. For those of you who do not know, Deutsche Bahn is the definitive source of information on European train schedules. In both Italy and Spain I remember the local train ticket offices using it rather than their own national websites to check information on trains. As the melodious flow of Nujabes played in the background, I started typing in various starting and ending destinations. Paris to Barcelona. Amsterdam to Berlin. Vienna to Venice. I wasn’t searching for anything in particular, and it was only for about half an hour, but something about looking up schedules and examining the maps took me back to those days before and during my trip when I would sit at a computer with my train pass in hand, and the possibilities for exploration and discovery seemed endless.

A Taste of Boulder: the Walnut Cafe

I've been on something of a break from blogging, but now I'm trying to get back into it. My goal is one post per week. That being said, my job sucks up a major chunk of my time these days so it will be much harder to keep writing than in the past.

A few weeks ago I got photos for a Boulder restaurant that I've been wanting to spotlight in this series. Today our journey through the Boulder food scene takes us to the self-proclaimed favorite breakfast and lunch joint of Boulder; the Walnut Cafe.

I don't know if the Walnut Cafe really is Boulder's favorite breakfast and lunch joint, but I can confirm that it had some very tasty offerings. It is also right across the street from where I usually have my car's oil changed, so I sometimes grab a meal while waiting for my car to be ready. Since I'm normally there in the morning, I'll be speaking to the Walnut Cafe's breakfast offerings.

On a recent visit, I got pancakes with a side of breakfast potatoes and a chocolate chai tea.

The Walnut Cafe has everything you would expect in their breakfast menu: eggs, waffles, omlettes, pancakes, a variety of breads, grits, potatoes, meats etc. They also have a selection of vegan, gluten free and even tofu offerings (none of which I like, but this is Boulder, so such things are kind of mandatory). Though there's nothing particularly outlandish or unusual about the food you get at the Walnut Cafe, the focus of the restaurant seems more to be in doing ordinary things well (a hallmark of many good restaurants). I personally enjoy their pancakes and toast, which are actually combined in a menu item that I think is called the Big Dipper (there's a photo of it at the end of this post). Any visitor to the Walnut Cafe should also be sure to give the chocolate chai tea a try. It is quite good.

My friend Ed prefers his food a bit more colorful than I do.

Another thing I like about the Walnut Cafe is that it is not a large restaurant. Being slightly on the smaller side, the Walnut Cafe works well for more personal meet ups where you and your friends don't have quite as much background chatter to listen to. Big restaurants certainly have their place, (they work well for large groups) but places like the Walnut Cafe are preferred by people like me who prefer one-on-one or small group meals.

The inside of the Walnut Cafe

That will do it for this edition of A Taste of Boulder. Do you like simple, but well done breakfasts? If so, the Walnut Cafe might be for you. Pull up a chair, enjoy a filling meal and get your day off to a good start.

The Big Dipper. Yum.

Leaving Eden

Sooner or later the dream ends. The last 13 months have been some of the best in my life, and 2012 might go down as the best year ever. I quit my job, spent 3.5 months traveling overseas and got done so many things that simply were not possible while I was employed. I made significant gains in both intellectual and spiritual progress and even slimmed down a bit. But alas, my financials, as good as they are, cannot sustain me forever in their current condition, and the need for a source of income is upon me once more.

I am going back to work, but maybe for the last time. One thing that has occurred to me is that I did very well in planning to leave my job and travel, but I did not have as much preparation for what came after that (the "end game" as I call it). This next time around I will not be committing the same oversight. Within the next few months I plan on paying off the last of my debts. Then, preparation can begin in earnest.

DBZ Syndrome

I watch a bit of anime. Not much; mostly stuff that runs on Adult Swim and a few things on Youtube and Netflix. While I've enjoyed a number of shows, there have also been several that have frustrated me because of a thing I call DBZ Syndome. If you haven't guessed, DBZ stands for Dragon Ball Z, the name of a famous anime from the 90s. Simply put, DBZ Syndrome is when you have an episode of a show where a whole lot of nothing happens. Usually this involves a lot of stare-downs between characters, shouting, power-ups, narration, inner monologues and more time wasters that are intended to build drama or suspense, but utterly fail to accomplish anything but fill up time. I coined the term DBZ Syndrome after watching a number of episodes of Dragon Ball Z. At one point there was a fight between two characters that lasted five episodes, but everything that happened in those five episodes could have been done (far more effectively) in two. Reflecting on this needlessly drawn-out fight scene, I came to realize that the problems found therein were also present in several other animes that I had seen, and thus the concept of DBZ Syndrome was born in my head.

I'm guessing people more familiar with anime might say that what I call DBZ Syndrome is just a Japanese way of conveying emotion and building drama. I'm not saying they're wrong in that regard, I'm just saying DBZ Syndrome sucks.

A Taste of Boulder: Beau Jo's

It’s time for another entry in A Taste of Boulder. Today’s featured restaurant is a pizza establishment called Beau Jo’s. I’ve been meaning to do an entry on this place for a while, but it wasn’t until recently that I got the photos I wanted to showcase for it.

As said earlier, Beau Jo’s specialty is pizza, though not just any type of pizza. What Beau Jo’s is best known for are “mountain pies” which are slightly smaller but very dense pizzas. Mountain pies look much like a regular pizza, though with a large, thick crust. See the photo below for an idea of what I’m talking about.

You can order a specialty pizza, or create your own. All the various cheeses, sauces and toppings that you would expect are available. There’s even a substantial gluten-free section of the menu. You can also order a pasta or sandwich, but that’s not the reason you go to Beau Jo’s. Your drinks are served in glass jars manufactured by Ball, a Colorado firm that also builds satellites. One more nice touch, and one of my favorite things about Beau Jo’s, is the honey you are given with the pizza. This may seem like an odd thing, but the purpose of the honey is that you put it on the crust of the pizza, so you get something akin to bread and honey when you get to that part of the pizza. It is of course completely optional, but I think you’re missing out if you don’t take advantage of it.

Ed (left) and Shawn (right) ponder the possibilities.

The last time I was there with my friends Ed and Shawn, we ordered one of their specialty pizzas that was called the Motherlode, and I can only describe as meat, on top of meat, on top of meat, on top of meat. I remember it had pepperonis, sausage, ham, salami, and meatballs. Needless to say, it was delicious (but if you are vegetarian or vegan I imagine you would find it horrific).

Digging in. You can see the complementary honey in the bottom center of the photo.

I cannot stress enough how filling these pizzas are. Their appearance is deceptive and you might think that you should have ordered a larger size when they bring your pizza out. Beware, these are not the sort of pizzas you get from the likes of Dominos or Papa John’s where a young male can easily devour a medium size pizza in a single sitting. Beau Jo’s pizzas are not the biggest, but are very filling. The pizza shown in the photos above that my friends and I ate was packed with toppings and it was a team effort by all of us to consume the whole thing. For those of you who scoff at our small stomachs, you can always prove your manhood by taking “the challenge”, which is an actual menu option. If you choose to do so, you will be served a 14 pound pizza and given one hour to eat it (you are allowed a partner to help, which is recommended). Successfully consuming the whole thing within one hour means the pizza is free and you get recognition for beating the challenge. Failure results in you having to pay for the pizza, which I believe costs about $80.

Congratulations, you completed “the challenge” of reading this blog post. More will go up in the coming months as I can get proper photos.