Monthly Archives: August 2015

Anime, Geek, Video Games

No Game No Life

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Finished another anime called No Game No Life.  I like it because it’s smartly written and there’s many layers to the story.  For instance, “__” or Blank is the names of urban legend characters in the video gaming world — they are undefeated. The two main characters in the story, the brother and sister team, Shiro and Sora, are those characters IRL.  However, if you combined their name in Japanese, if forms the word “Blank”.  The strength of the two main story characters comes from combining their talents, and their absolute trust in one-another.no-game-no-life

The story itself is set in an imaginary world, inhabited by 16 races and where conflict is resolved by games, and the set of 10 “gaming” rules that govern conflict resolution.  Shiro and Sora are forced into this world, where they set out to win against “Tet”, the god-like being that pull them into this new imaginary world.  And along the way, we learn about game theory, Japanese bathing culture, creepy brother/sister relationship (toned down for the TV show, I understand), and strength coming from weakness. For the few outlandish and “anime” moments it has, there’s a intelligence and well thought out strategies behind every game the main characters take on.  The only disappointment about the series, is that it’s too short and leave you wanting the story to continue.

Video Games

Minecraft

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I’ve been playing Minecraft for a few years now, mostly in survival mode.  Because I’m a fan of LEGO, most of the time, I collect resources so I can build stuff… safe houses, castles, etc.  And the virtual creations do help with physical creations in LEGO, although I’m more limited in the physical.

2011-08-18_00.08.47A while back, I started a blog where I posted screen shots from the game and some of the creations, called The King’s Road.  The idea was, I’d adventure around, building garrisons or forts and connect them all back to a central castle by a road; written from the perspective of the adventurer doing the work.  And I’d post some of the wonderful terrains that the game generates, or the things I build along the way… Nothing too elaborate or flashy, since with almost every major upgrade, I tend to start all over again with a new world; I seem to never find the time to do something as elaborate as build a full scale Enterprise ship or Kings’ Landing.  I respect the people who can have the time and ability to coordinate such builds.

Anime, Geek

Ore Monogatari!!

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For a few weeks, I had been reading articles from an Anime blog about an anime called, “Ore Monogatari!!”  My first impression was, ok, I get it… a misunderstood giant high-schooler falls in love with a cute petite girl and their awkward, inexperience relationship.  Figured I’d watch the first episode to see what the blog was raving about and write it off as silly and unwatchable.  To my surprise, I’ve actually enjoy the show…Ore Monogatari!!

After watching enough animes, the whole awkward, shy teenager and the easily misreading of the situation thing is very cliche.  Once you get past that, there’s a very tender hearted story there, within the relationships of the characters.  The relationship between the two main characters, Takeo and Yamato, is very syrupy, but there’s a innocent sweetness to it, like all young love.  Between Takeo’s giant ogre-like, larger-than-life, socially awkward qualities and his handsome, stoic-like, super-popular friend Sunakawa, there’s a genuine friendship.

This anime is my guilty pleasure.  I like the slice-of-life elements to it.  And I like the small glimpses into the back-stories — I like stories with multiple layers.

Geek, Video Games

MineCon 2013

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So after sharing photos from Tampa Bay ComicCon the other day, I figured I share another geek-achievements.  Back in 2013, a friend of mine and I decided to pick up tickets for MineCon.  Until then, we had been playing on a server he set up — occasionally play as a team with friends, or just alone when we had time… Survival of course.  I mainly focused on building, while he focused on exploring.

Anyway, I got talked into volunteering for MineCon, where basically I wore a shirt and did line/crowd control for a vendor booth.  Not grueling work, but it did teach me how unorganized the convention was.  Now keep in mind, I’ve volunteer/helped organize a few LEGO conventions in the past; although not nearly the attendance nor size of MineCon.  In the end, volunteering was more of an excuse to meet the people of Mojang up close and personal.  Some guys from the Mojang team were friendly enough & thanked everyone for their hard work, but they weren’t as popular as Notch or Jeb.

I even got to see Notch as he made his way through the crowd of volunteers.  He briefly stopped to talk to a few families, then was whisked away quickly.

So this plugin I’m using only displays 20 pictures in its free state.  If you want to see the rest of my Flickr album of pictures, it’s here: 2013.11 – MineCon

Comics, Geek

Tampa Bay ComicCon

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Last weekend I got to go to Tampa Bay ComicCon with a few friends. The line was short on Sunday and I think the rain kept people away until later in the afternoon — the crowds started to pick up around lunch time. I managed to pick up a few trade paperbacks, got a autograph copy of Brat Pack from Rick Veitch, and some comic artwork from a local artist, Brian Reedy.

Here’s some images from my trip to Tampa Bay ComicCon: