So, Squarespace has finally released an iPhone blogging app. Color me impressed so far. You can obviously post articles, they include picture uploads as well.

The real gem is that they allow you to view and edit posts from within the app no matter if you posted them on the iPhone or web. Pretty cool. You can also check your web statistics to see the traffic coming to your site Next build looks like they'll have commenting tools built in.

Very good freshman effort so far!

This article's focus is not to speak about the movie Birds, or Hitchcock's genius (that could be a later blog post) but I wanted to share an interesting article and video that had my memory fetch the imagery above.

They say art mimics real life and in the case of the following article I found, Sir Alfred Hitchcock had his finger on a certain pulse. Watch the video below and then read on...

This video was made during previous experiments. In the Brevia section of the 9 August 2002 issue of Science, Weir et al. report a remarkable observation: The toolmaking behavior of New Caledonian crows. In the experiments, a captive female crow, confronted with a task that required a curved tool (retrieving a food-containing bucket from a vertical pipe), spontaneously bent a piece of straight wire into a hooked shape -- and then repeated the behavior in nine out of ten subsequent trials.

Creepy cool, huh?

So, Oxford scientists have been running experiments with crows, all centered on food retrieval, and recorded that these animals are able to use up to three types of tools in procuring their food. The article I read tested the birds in different scenarios and they were able to adapt and utilize up to 3 different tools to accomplish their task. Now, these Caledonian crows are known to use tools in the wild to retrieve food, but the scientists wanted to see if these birds had cognitive skills beyond non-human or primate animals that showed similar cognitive skills. The results were that the crows could adapt and create tools, sometimes as the need arose, without any previous tool training. Though the researchers stated that these results do not prove complex cognitive abilities, it does mark an example of higher cognitive competence above non-human animals.

So, though modern Cinema would have us believe that our futures would look something like this:

 Rest assured it will most likely resemble this:

Hitchcock was so ahead of his time...love this scene:

 All in all, the future doesn't look too bright for us humans...

The first comic I want to recommend is called Y: the Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra.

This Graphic Novel starts in our present world when suddenly all mammals with a Y chromosome die. The protagonist in the story is Yorick Brown who, along with his male monkey, are the lone male survivors of the plague. I will not get into spoilers, but the story unfolds rather quickly through some quick flashbacks (which are introduced at the beginning of each chapter) and bringing you up to speed. The world is thrown into chaos and a very twisting and inventive story unfolds, the first novel being a survival story. There are 10 graphic novels in total for the entire run. I have only read the first one, but I have the others queued up for purchase. A must buy.

The second graphic novel I am recommending is City of Others by Steve Niles and Bernie Wrightson.

I haven't read a Bernie Wrightson comic in a very long time, he had left the genre for the last decade. The one that comes to my mind the most is Cycle of the Werewolf by Bernie and Stephen King. That graphic novel became the movie Silver Bullet. That graphic novel drew me in completely through the visual style- Bernie Wrightson's panels popped off the pages with a surreal realism that breathed life into King's basic story. City of Others follows the exploits of killer for hire Stosh Bludowski who has no capacity for the human emotion of caring. A job he takes leads him into a world full of zombies and vampires. Very cool concept (although not terribly original), but executed well. Niles and Wrightson, who share writing credit, create a very likeable anti-hero and construct a very depraved world. Wrightson's art is spot on and again breathes life into an otherwise thin story. This graphic novel makes me want to track down more of Wrightson's early work. I just hope he stays in this medium for a long while now.

For many years now, Memorial Day has been closer to me than most other holidays due to my previous military career. I was a Field Artillery Meteorologist for the US ARMY throughout the early to mid 90's. I have very fond memories of my time in the military, from my see-saw time in BASIC training at Ft. Sill, OK, to drilling weekends and 2 week bivouacs in the Army Reserves. Sometimes the day to day stuff in the military can be monotonous and you question some of the decisions that trickle down- there are certainly critics of the military and its actions. But, one thing that has always stuck with me is the camaraderie of my fellow soldiers. The bond you create with these guys are long lasting, even though you may not see them for years. People are brought together by a common cause, incident, or experience. We certainly shared many together as soldiers. From Boot camp to sitting in the motor pool playing endless games of spades. It's those days that I remember the most, the laughter and no care that descends around you in the most difficult of situations- it is those times that make life tolerable. It is the most important lesson Uncles Sam taught me- no matter the situation, no matter the outcome, the human will can never be destroyed and will always survive.

So to all my comrades in the Armed Forces, I remember you today. To my brothers who fell in these times and times past, I salute you.

I held it truth, with him who sings
To one clear harp in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things.

                                                                             -Alfred, Lord Tennyson

                                                                                 In Memoriam A.H.H

So, what are QTE's? If you have been a video gamer in the last generation or the current one, these gems have been around for awhile. Known as Quick Time Events, a person playing a game will be prompted with a series of button presses during a static cut scene in the video game. This allows a player some semblance of control over an otherwise static cut scene in the game.

I call it teh suck.

The earliest game I can recall utilizing this was 1983's Dragon Lair. The whole game was controlled by QTE's set in an animated world. At the time it was the most amazing thing to watch, visuals on par with Disney movies. Playing it, on the other hand, was an exercise in patience, memorization, and frustration. There was no skill except to have quick reflexes and hope you pushed the joystick in the right direction- fast. If you missed it, you died and had to replay the entire sequence over. Fun, huh?

Don't get me wrong many games, good or bad, have utilized this game design choice. The alternative was to have the player sit and twiddle their thumbs while watching these little movies with nothing to do. When gamers complained about the length of cut scenes and the lack of interactivity they lost when these cut scenes showed up, game designers leaned on QTE's to fill the need. Hoping to make the cut scenes more interactive, the player can be engaged while the game moves through its narrative and tells it story. 

Now, I don't want to get into the argument over story telling in video games. I think we still have huge steps to take in that direction, but the current slew of games do a pretty decent job of telling a story be it through cut scenes or purely through game play.

Examples of games with cut scenes and QTE's:

        RE5            Tomb Raider       God of War

Those without:

     Bioshock          Half Life 2           Fallout 3

My main beef with QTE's is in its implementation. I had an argument with Beerjedi, a buddy of mine, who loved Resident Evil 5, sinking almost 40 hours playing the game over and over. I enjoyed the game as well, except for the very end of the game where a series of QTE's frustrated the hell out of me, marring the otherwise enjoyable experience I had. I think QTE's are used, more so than not, to cover up sloppy development and/or story. It is a way to get away with lazy story telling or adding artificial padding in a game. Used sparingly, it is but an annoyance. Extensively using it does not allow the player to play and when you penalize a player for not hitting the right button quick enough and starting you over after an extended period of button slapping (I am talking to you Prince of Persia), to start the whole process again can make gamers like me  crazy enough to jump out a window.

When a game spends a ton of time teaching you the mechanics of the game and empowering you through their control scheme and suddenly throws out all of the things you learned so you can now hunt and peck face buttons arbitrarily, can ruin the flow of the game. I don't know what the answer is, maybe keep QTE's down to a minimum or don't use them at all. They really don't add anything since we know we are not in full control of the character during these times. The worst sin is to harshly penalize the player not for misusing the learned mechanics of the game, but because they didn't press B,A,B,Y,LT,RT,X,X correctly and quickly. I think it's bullshit and I for one hate them.

Not that Star Trek...

...But this Star Trek!

I saw this movie last Thursday and then again on Friday- I couldnt get enough. I've been waiting for a real good Sci-Fi Fantasy movie to come along for a long time and the Grand-Daddy of them all delivered. This movie had great effects, a good story, humor, lots of action and half naked green aliens chics- you can't beat that! The best compliment to this movie is how enjoyable it is. Both times watching it, the audience was really into it. It even impressed my best friend who hates all things Star Trek.

For me, it was a great reboot. This movie is what I had hoped the Star Wars prequels could have been. I am one of the few geeks who are fans of both Star Wars and Star Trek. I love the fantasy of the former and the science of the latter. I don't want to fan the flames, but each of these series will be forever compared and fought over. With this fresh start, Star Wars is now looking aged and tired. Enough said about the Lucas flicks, JJ Abrams is a Sci-Fi savant and his Star Trek oozes with a modern sheen.

You can read plot synopsis' anywhere on the net (or better yet, go watch the movie) so I won't bore you with that. My emotions going into this movie were pretty high. I do like me some Trek. I am not a card holding, costume wearing Trekkie or Trekker, but I do own all the movies plus the Original Series and Next Generation DVD's. I am very familiar with the story lines and I am very attached to the characters. From the trailers, blogs, and rumor sites I trolled, I have to admit my expectations were pretty high. I knew it was dangerous, but I had similar aspirations for Nemesis which were crushed when I heard Data singing...yet again...WTF!

Sylar who??

So, after my first viewing, I was blown away. Abrams , Orci and Kurtzman had a daunting task in redefining a waning, some say dying, franchise. Trying to juggle the origins of beloved characters, tying the story together to not alienate a rabid fan-base, and making the usually closed world of Star Trek appeal to a mass audience. As I said above, the story was good (not great), but the writing was sharp and witty, which left the actors plenty of room to breathe life into the characters. The new crew of the Starship Enterprise really gelled and left me wanting more. Even with that, the movie didn't slow down very much. It was fast paced and exhilarating.

It was still Star Trek, but it was so much more. I don't know how the hardcore fans will react as there are many small character changes. I had no problems with them- though I am very forgiving with movie remakes or reboots that I love. But I think most Star Trek fans will agree that the movie had potential for complete suckage but what we got was a fantastic joy ride. I for one, cannot wait for the sequel.

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

I moved from Blogger.com to Squarespace.com because I am intrigued and stupefied as to the power Squarespace gives you over designing a website. I am not a web developer and I don't know much about HTML or CSS, so places like Wordpress or Blogger were the places to go if I wanted to create an easy to setup and use blog experience. I stumbled upon Squarespace through one of the myriad podcasts I listen to weekly (TWIT -This Week in Tech) and checked it out. I fell in love so to speak with the power of their wizards for novice web designers such as myself to easily get a web page up and tweak every part of it if I wanted, from layouts to column sizes to you name it. What is particularly nice is the flexibility you get to move away from a robust blog to a full fledged web site with multiple pages that help you to really flesh out your site. So far, my experience has been good with it.

Squarespace is not a free web client- there are tiered monthly subscription rates depending on what you want to accomplish. I currently subscribe to the lowest tier possible. That may change as my site evolves, which I plan on. Check it out here @ squarespace pricing.

If you are a returning visitor, you'll find my previous posts from Blogger linked at the top right called Imported Posts.