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[Mini Dirt Cupcakes - Madame L.]
[Readymade for disaster - sparktography]
Submit your photos to the Weekly Geek Flickr Pool and get your cool or otherwise geeky photo featured on the site. Prizes are involved. Click here.
I made another custom Mini Munny this week, this time around it's Shy Guy from Super Mario Brothers. His mask isn't formed to fit his head like most depictions, I wanted to make him look a bit more like the slimmer, more agile Shy Guys from Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. Click the pictures to zoom (goes to my flickr).
I think he turned out pretty badass.
What makes a hardcore gamer hardcore? Why does the hardcore gamer have a beef with the casual? Join me, Jinny and Ross this week as we tackle this debate of hardcore vs. casual, and the elitists therein. We also discuss how Peggle inside World of Warcraft is potentially a society-crashing invention, how LEGO Rock Band isn't solely a cash-in game, and much much more.
stream now:
continue reading "Podcast for 04.27.09 | World of Pegglecraft"
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We've set up a Weekly Geek community Flickr pool and we need you lovely community members to fill it up with your photos. Did you try making home made corn dogs? Add a photo to the pool! Did you make your own Settlers of Catan board out of cupcakes? Add a photo to the pool! Add any photos you find especially geeky to our new Flickr pool and have your photo featured here every week. I'll pick one exceptionally geeky (or otherwise awesome) photo a week and send the lucky winner a prize. We've got a ton of stuff to liquidate here, including some Halo shirts, posters, Nintendo Power pins, mini prints, and even some Weekly Geek pinback buttons. All you gotta do is submit photos to the pool, which is not only super easy to do, it's free!
With all of the incredible shit that you can download directly to your consoles these days, there's almost no reason anymore to get off your ass and head to the store. Unfortunately there's a bunch of stuff out there in the cloud, and not a lot of games rise to the surface to separate the great from the crap - just look at all of the horribleness that's on the XNA community games list. The WiiWare lineup is just the same, it's mostly cash-in half-assed crap that's not even worth your time. Heck, I hadn't even turned my Wii on in months were it not for this game. This amazing, beautiful game. This wonderful, glorious, deliciously difficult game. This game is bit.trip beat.
Disclaimer: bit.trip beat is the kind of game that feels catered just for me. I only want to play bit.trip beat for the rest of my life ever. The upshot is that it's PongRez. Or RezPong. RezPongGuitarHeroRockBand. In space. With Atari graphics. From the future.
Basically bit.trip beat is one of those games that seems like some form of therapy made specifically for autistic children. It requires so much concentration as it progresses, my brain started to hurt in ways it hasn't hurt since Braid. Much like Flower, bit.trip beat is smattered with those moments that make you grin a cheshire cat smile. A sort of "I see what you did there" respect for the developer. The best example of this is the death mechanic. As you miss (and you'll miss a lot in the beginning) your life meter goes down until finally you enter the "nether".
When you enter the Nether, the graphics become pure black and white. The music and beats become monotone - and they play only out of the Wii remote speaker. The small, tinny beats are so effective in motivating you to win back your life, it makes me wonder why more games haven't included something like this. It's perfect.
Even the motion controls don't bother me. Normally I'd scoff when a game tells me to control something using only the tilting back and forth mechanism of the Wii remote, but the controls don't feel tacked on like in other games. The controls feel perfectly suited to the gameplay, and vice versa. I can't imagine playing the game any other way.
bit.trip beat is only 500 Wii moon moneys, which translates into about five of your American dollars. It is worth twice that. It has replay value up the wazoo and rewards multiple play-throughs. You'll love whipping it out at parties to show everyone the incredibleness.
Did I mention it also has 4 player local co-op? If you don't have any friends, now's the time to kidnap some.
Did you know we have official Weekly Geek t-shirts? It's true! Not only can you support your favorite podcast (subscribe!) but you can show your love for the best exclamation ever uttered by mankind. These Huzzah! shirts are super high quality from the lovely gents at SplitReason, printed on American Apparel tees and shipped straight to your door. How kind.
I went through a New Wave phase in High School, after listening to nothing but Portishead for about a year I needed a major pick-me-up. One of my friends introduced me to Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys, and it was all over. I went through each of their respective back catalogs and didn't listen to anything but New Wave until rainbows shot out of my eye sockets. The Pet Shop Boys, like any band who was once popular and then faded into obscurity, continue to release albums that frankly just aren't very good. Enter the recently released Yes, a fresh take on the Pet Shop Boys sound. Here's the first track (and first single) off of the album. It's bright and catchy and displays all the attributes that make the Pet Shop Boys great.
The rest of the album feels like returning home. It's the same PSB sound, but renewed. It's familiar yet unfamiliar and interesting at the same time. Even more incentive to check out this new wave of New Wave? Owen Pallett does the orchestral arrangements. Aww yeah.
Check Yes
Every week when I compile this list of actual search terms people have used to get to this site a little bit of blood starts dripping out of my ears. It's not much, but cumulatively I think I have probably lost about 3 liters of blood from my brain in the time since I started this feature. It's a real problem. This week I'm focusing on some of the... more strange terms. Because of the... strangeness, I'm skipping the requisite Google Image Search link.
No Billy, I don't think you can get an STD from a potato. But be sure to wear a condom just to be safe. Join us next week when I *collapses into a massive seizure*
This week's podcast is full of tangents with me, Ross, Ryan and Qais talking about the new Fallout game (and subsequent TV show/movie?), zombie board games and Bioshock 2. Jinny then joins us to talk about Fat Princess, Starcraft II and Drop7. We then give you an update on the race to NINE THOUSAND and crack open the mailbag to continue the fight for the right to be called The Weekly Geek's #1 fan.
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It wasn't too long ago that Chris, Ryan, Ross and I were ranting about douchebag comic artists, swooning over Derek Kirk Kim (Ok, I was doing most of the swooning), and gushing excitedly about purchasing amazing, new art. Yes folks, we dedicated an entire podcast to Emerald City Comicon. If you felt the podcast lacked a certain visual element, you're in luck. Friend of the site, Andrea, put together this awesome video of the event. If you like it, head over to her YouTube site and check out the rest of her stuff. I particularly like the BrickCon 2008 videos.
As a recent transplant to the greater Seattle area fortune quickly dropped me at the doorstep of The Weekly Geek Headquarters. With vision blurred from the incessant bass rhythm pulsing out the door and nostrils stinging from an indescribably foreign yet appetizing odor I gulped a few calming breaths and prayed they wouldn't be my last.
The door opened, reality spliced.
While there are actual people behind the voices you know and love their physical bodies have been duplicated in a hellish mockery of synthetic bone and flesh. They send these mechanical doppelgangers to their day jobs, out to the market, or downstairs to accept shipments of oddly soiled wooden crates and tiny, paper wrapped bundles of hard to find meats.
It's genius really, and appears to be wildly successful as no one has yet uncovered their cosmic ruse.
The real Chris, Jinny, and Qais were sitting on opulent thrones of Persian pillows, each calmly snacking on a a variety of unsavory morsels piled at their feet. Standing behind them, as silent sentries, were their robotic doubles; twin animatronic likenesses staring blankly as if awaiting instruction.
"Play for us, RYAN G. BIV" they cried in unison, "Play for us FOREVER."
Before I could scramble for the door the robots had thrust a Rockband guitar in my hands and computed the password to my gamertag. Terrified, I plucked for the first time the notes that would ensnare a part of me long devoid of Sheer Enjoyment.
Join me in the video above as I play for my life, powerless to resist the sheer force that is The Weekly Geek and their twisted, evil Rockband Bots.
Have you ever had the feeling someone's watching you? Hm... this week's podcast takes an interesting turn as the fight for the Weekly Geek's #1 fan comes to a head. LIOR LAYS THE SMACK DOWN. I'm telling you, it's epic. Join me, Jinny and Ryan this week as we discuss Will Wright leaving EA, Shadow of The Colossus being turned into a Major Motion Picture&trade, Bioshock 2's first footage, ecstasy pills found in a used copy of GTAIV, and the NEOGAF thread with the Criterion covers of video games. We also eat our words regarding Resident Evil 5 and read some absolutely amazingly epic mailbag letters.
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A brand-new month means a brand-new set of crazy things people have typed into search engines to get to this site. Yes, they are real. Yes, they are insane. Be sure to click through to the Google Image Search results! Here we gooooooooo
He sure does. Speaking of weirdness, would you guys be interested in an "I'm too porno for my wimple" t-shirt?
Jinny is known for her random outbursts. Every once in a while, she'll just be sitting there on the couch and say something like: "I want waffles!" or "TEATIME!" And I feel obliged to sate her snack-lust. It's like a challenge for me. The weirder her request, the more excited and inspired I get. A few days ago, while gorging herself on Sour Punch Straws and playing Civilization Revolution on the 360 in a sugar-induced daze she exclaimed "I WANT CORN DOGS!"
Well we didn't have any corn dogs. But how hard is a corn dog to make, really? Turns out it's not hard at all. In fact, I'd say making your own corn dogs at home is one of the most fulfilling things you can do in your life. Screw publishing a great novel or seeing your kids go off to college, corn dog alchemy is the bestest. So, how is it done?
The Upshot:
Take a thicker version of a basic corn bread recipe and dip skewered hot dogs into it and deep fry. Make a huge batch and freeze to microwave later.
The Hardware:
(or a deep pan, oil, and a frying thermometer)The Ingredients:
Basic Corn Bread Recipe (adapted from The Kitchn)
1 1/4 cups yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar (or honey)
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk (or regular milk)
The Process:
Keep in mind that with any fry job, the first couple things you fry may look a little wonky. Your fryer will also perform better if the oil has been seasoned from multiple uses. Don't worry about cleaning your fryer so much. Honestly, the oil won't go bad easily. If it smells off, throw it out. If it smells delicious then yay. Once the corn dogs have cooled (and if you haven't eaten them all by then) you can throw them into freezer bags and save them for later. Pop em in the microwave for a minute or so. They hold up surprisingly well. See how easy it is to make corn dogs at home? There is literally no reason to buy the crap they sell in the freezer section at the grocery store.
Feel free to experiment with batter additives (a dash of garlic powder, or some minced jalapenos would be nice), hot dog brands and dipping sauces. I like to dip 'em in mustard. Ketchup is for children and people with poor taste in things. Enjoy!
Jinny, Ryan and I visited the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this weekend and walked away with some pretty amazing art from some incredible artists. This week's podcast is all about that, with Ross in tow to chat about the good, the bad, and the completely awesome. We tell you about some of the cool stuff we saw at the con, and discuss con etiquette. There's some video game talk at the end, so if that's your thing, we won't blame you. It's there. For you. Enjoy.
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As the end of the semester looms like a freshly detonated whale carcass on a nudist beach, I have decided to do an equally ambitious animation as my previous cel project. This time, however, in digital.
continue reading "The Weekly Filmschool: Animation Numero Dos"
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Before we get to a brand new set of completely insane How Did I Get Here entries for April, let's wrap up March! I scoured the whole set of March search terms and picked out the best of the rest. Let it be known that these are real search terms people used to get to this site. They are not fake. I can't make this stuff up. They are genuinely crazy. Remember to click through to the Google Image Search results for extra crazy.
Strangely, the first entry seems to pull up a ton of images from this site. Magical!
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