Healy's Journal

So some of you might be wondering where that make-up review I promised by Sunday at the latest went. Well, the truth is, I lost track of time this weekend and spent most of today writing Gravity Falls fanfiction. (Technically I also wrote a fairy tale fanfic, but, well.) So! For this Monday, I think what I'll try to do is get two reviews in today. If I can't swing that, I'll try to get in an extra on on Tuesday or Thursday. My goal is to get at least 4 reviews done this week, maybe 5. We'll see if I can swing that.

Hey, I wanna read the Gravity Falls fanfic you did! Somehow I doubt that anyone's thinking this, but just in case, these two fics are the ones I feel can be best enjoyed with minimal knowledge of the show. All you need to know is that Dipper and Mabel are staying at their Great Uncle (or Grunkle) Stan's Mystery Shack for the summer, there's a lot of weird crap in their town, and Dipper has a mysterious journal that is sometimes helpful. Here goes:

( Glam Cookies, starring Mabel and Stan )

******

( Werwolf Date, starring Dipper and Mabel )

******

And there you have it! Of course, while you don't have to watch the show to enjoy them, I think there's a certain richness and-- dare I say it-- character that's added if you've watched the whole series through. Anyway, I'll see you guys later, hopefully with a review or two.

The past couple of weeks I have just been lazing around, not doing much of anything that would prevent me from updating my blog. And I'm sorry about that! BUT: I do have an excuse for last week. Kinda. Sorta.

For it was right around then that I was putting the finishing touches on... Juni in the Haunted House! *lightning crash*


Anyway, JitHH is another Knytt Stories level, this time a harder, mazier level about exploring (and maybe escaping) a haunted house. It's got thrills! It's got chills! It's got 4 endings and a They Might Be Giants tune you can listen to, if you play your cards right. Finishing up this level was a pain and a half, and it really drained my energy towards the middle of last week, when I was working on it final areas. But it's done now, and you can download and play it! Provided you already have Knytt Stories, of course.

Anyway, this week I hope to put this blog back on a normal schedule. Hopefully I can get Currently Reading Wednesdays on time, too. See you then!

Sorry I've been away so long; I've just had trouble gathering the energy to update it or do much of anything besides playing old RPG Maker games and making snarky forum posts. So, what have I been reading over the past week (or two, or three)?

You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When it Monsoons by Mo Willems: This is a book of one panel cartoons the author drew, one for each day, when he took a year-long (give or take) trip around the world. The subjects range from locals to fellow backpackers to bad detours the author took and more; there's usually commentary under each cartoon, which can actually be pretty informative. It's a really nice look at different countries and cultures, I thought, especially those in Southeast Asia.

Oishinbo: The Joy of Rice by Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki: Another entry in the venerable Oishinbo series. It's a little weak in parts (the three-part rice ball competition at the end is pretty boring, for instance), but most of it is still pretty good.

The Last Night by Will Eisner: It's an adaptation of Don Quixote by the late, celebrated Will Eisner. It's a little simplistic; it started out as a children's introduction to Don Quixote, and it shows. The plot is stripped down to the bare basics, and it rushes through events with an alarming speed. I can't say I enjoyed this one; maybe it's better if you have a kid you could give it to?

Explorer: The Hidden Doors, edited by Kazu Kibuishi: It's an all-ages anthology of short comics that deal with secret doors in some way. I was a little disappointed in this one; I liked the earlier books in the series, The Mystery Boxes and The Lost Islands, but most of the stories in this one felt dull and unimaginative, in ways I'm still trying to shake out. Maybe the artists were struggling with the title subject. The stories by Jen Wang and Johane Matte are pretty good, though.

Video Classics: A Guide to Video Art and Documentary Tapes by Deirdre Boyle: Mostly I picked this up because there was an entry on Jane Veeder, who has the same last name as a guy I know, Ryan Veeder. Anyway, I don't think they're related, but I was struck by the coincidence, especially since her video art has a glitchy, early video game feel. The book itself I thought was rather too snobby. Perhaps I'll go into it in a later post. Anyway, I guess if you want an entry point into the early world of video art and documentaries, you could do worse than this book.

I need to put some hustle in my Shufflecomp game, and that means taking some time off from here. That means putting a hold on Currently Reading Wednesday and other blog entries. Don't worry, I'll still check in from time to time, but it likely won't be as frequent. This should stop around May 6th, when the final versions of Shufflecomp games are due. Until then, goodbye, folks!

I updated my laptop yesterday (Windows Vista, in case you wanna know), and now it's acting up in the strangest ways. When I booted up today, the standard Aero theme was gone, replaced by the Windows theme from '98. (Here's a good example of what I'm talking about. There was also a message about non-admin users not being able to log-in, but I didn't catch all of it.) I tried to fix it in the personalization menu, but, well, the Aero theme wasn't loading properly there, either. I think I may be using up too much memory on this machine for Aero to load, as sites are loading kinda slowly too. I'll shut it down tonight and boot it up again tomorrow and see if it fixes itself in the morning; if that doesn't do it, I've got a diagnostic test that a friend showed me that I can run, and if that doesn't turn up a solution, we'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, this unfortunate turn of events has caused me to delay Currently Reading Wednesdays to Thursday. Don't worry, folks, I got a real doozy of a post planned for you guys. Also, because of this, my computer may be in the shop for a while (perhaps a month), so my internet presence here and elsewhere may drop off suddenly. Thank you, and have a great rest of the week.

Due to some difficulties getting my pep in gear, my weekly feature Currently Reading Wednesdays is being postponed to this Friday. Fortunately, I plan to make up for my lateness by reviewing not one, not two, but three different books! One of them is the book about adventure games I mentioned last time, but the other two are a mystery. In the meantime, you can watch this video:

(I've watched this so many times today, you have no idea.)