Terriers

Terriers
Terriers on FX

From the “Best TV Shows You Probably Aren’t Watching” file comes Terriers.

The show isn’t full of flashy action sequences.  It isn’t full of sex.  It’s about solving crimes, but it isn’t a procedural.  It has no teens, no supernatural elements, no super spies or super powers.  What it does have is excellent writing, great stories, and fantastic performances.  There is action, and sex, and crime solving, but the show is really about the characters.  In just six episodes I’ve gotten to know these characters better than some shows manage in entire seasons.  The style of the show is like an old noir detective film.  Scrappy underdog characters with huge character flaws.  And snappy dialog.

Terriers is about Hank Dolworth.  He’s an ex-cop and recovering alcoholic.  He flushed his career and his marriage down the toilet, and now with his best friend Britt Pollack, a reformed criminal, the two of them are making ends meet by running an unlicensed private investigation business.  Basically what you’ve got is an ex-cop who knows the law and where the edges are, and an ex-con who is good at breaking and entering and other less than lawful pursuits trying to do the right thing, even when they aren’t exactly sure what that is or how they should go about doing it.  It begins with an old drinking buddy of Hank’s asking for a favor.  This leads them into some dealings with corruption in local businesses and forms the story arc for the first five episodes.  One of the best parts about the show is that it doesn’t divide it’s focus.  Many shows like to have a case of the week for the episode and fill the background with character arcs.  Terriers manages to actually use the case of the week as part of the character arcs and overall story arc.  It all blends together instead of feeling like each scene is part of one or the other.

It’s just really good.

If you haven’t watched it yet, I’d recommend giving it a shot.  Full episodes are available on Hulu.  If you like it, tell a friend.

Minecraft

Sphere in a Box
The top of the box is pulled back to reveal the construction within.

A few weeks ago, I caved in and bought Minecraft.  It is a fun little game.  The game can be played single player, or multiplayer.  Currently, multiplayer is a little broken – the monsters can’t hurt you, in fact, nothing can hurt you, so jumping off stuff is fun!  Multiplayer servers can also be modified to allow players the ability to summon items instead of mining them.  The picture to the right is what I’m currently building on one such server.  If you want to spend some time, you can go through the map of that server and see all the awesome things that people are building.

Anyway, the one thing I really dig about this game is that it shows what an indie developer can do, and that high end photo realistic visuals aren’t needed if the game is fun to play.  Minecraft is a blast and it has a very 8-bit look to it.

The game is still technically in “Alpha” (the phase before Beta, which is the phase before release), however you can purchase it now for about $15, which gets you the Alpha and free upgrades to future releases.  If you wait until release you’ll have to pay double, at least, and you’ll miss out on months of fun!

Another thing I like about this game, and the buzz it is getting, is the idea that, if embraced, some of the free form creation that exists here might find their way into other games, other MMOs.  Though I do think it will work best on a small scale.  Can you imagine World of Warcraft allowing people to make their own buildings and destroy terrain?  Insanity!

Space… the final frontier

I actually posted this on the D*C MMO site a few weeks back, but I really wanted to repost it here.  Do yourself a favor, switch it to HD and watch it in full screen.

EVE is a game I wouldn’t really recommend to most gamers I know.  It takes a certain couple of specific mindsets to really get into the game (hint: I don’t play either), but you cannot deny that it looks good for what it does and any fan of spaceship science fiction has got to find the imagery breathtaking.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Birds flying high You know how I feel Sun in the sky You know how I feel Reeds driftin' on by You know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life For me And I'm feeling good  Fish in the sea You know how I feel River running free You know how I feel Blossom in the tree You know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life For me And I'm feeling good  Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean Sleep in peace when the day is done, that's what I mean And this old world is a new world And a bold world For me Fooor me  Stars when you shine You know how I feel Scent of the pine You know how I feel Yeah freedom is mine And I know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life hu It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life  It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life It's a new life For me  And I'm feeling good
A dizzy heart...

Just a quick picture for the day… while drawing this, I hit some button in gimp that caused the program to lock up.  Since I hadn’t saved the file I decided to just let it sit.  The program wasn’t responding but it was cranking at 50-60% CPU.  It took nearly 2 hours, but finally gimp came back to life and I didn’t have to start over.  *wipes sweat off his brow*