World of Arcana

Two parts to this post:

1. Last night’s episode of Lost, for those of you who saw it, was pretty incredible. I feel like this episode is the turning point in the season - up until now, conflicts have been set up, i.e. freighter people helping the losties? (hint: no) and whether they were going to attack the barracks (hint: yes). This episode started to resolve the conflicts and answer some of the questions brought up in the first part of the season. So yea.

2. Continuing with yesterday’s post, I’m going to give a list of my favorite TF2 custom maps below:

CONTROL POINT MAPS:

• cp_jailbreak_b3 (or cp_jailbreak_b2)
• cp_orange_x (or cp_orange_x3. Not cp_orange_x4)
• cp_orange_tower
• cp_toyfort (and any variation thereof)
• cp_tron_final

CAPTURE THE FLAG:

• ctf_avantown
• ctf_convoy_v2
• ctf_royal_b3

CHALLENGE/CREATIVE MAPS:

• cp_bestinclass_v2
• cp_highclass_v2
• volleyball

BAD MAPS:

• ANY surf map

I’m currently “working” in my “spare time” on two maps: The first is a one-team capture the flag map (i.e. one team tries to capture, the other team tries to prevent) taking place in a 3D version of Kanto (i.e. The world from Pokemon red/blue/yellow). Red team starts in Pallet Town, and needs to take the intelligence from Professor Oak’s lab to Giovanni’s gym in Viridian City, where the Blue team starts. The second map I’m working on is a “challenge” map similar to Best In Class - except instead of having a separate course for each class, there is only one course per team, but certain obstacles can only be overcome with a specific class, and the whole team needs to work together. Aw, how heartwarming.

So I guess I lied, here’s a third part to the update: I was reminiscing with some friends today of literature that we read in Elementary and Middle School. Here are some recommendations/anti-recommendations:

RECOMMEND:

• The Rats of Nimh
• Bridge to Teribithea (spelling? too lazy to check)
• The Frog and Toad series

DO NOT RECOMMEND:

• Johnny Tremain
• Kavik the Wolf-Dog
• Junie of the Wolves

Because I’m just so excited to crack into the AP Econ review book I purchased today, I also picked up some “lighter” reading at the library, a fascinating new book titled Grand Theft Childhood. I first read about the book through GamePolitics.com, who also led me to an interview of the author’s by Adam Sessler.

I’m just over a third of the way through the book as of writing this, and I heartily recommend it to anybody interested in the video-games-cause-violence-in-our-poor-babies debate. The book’s authors are the first people to actually take a step outside of the debate and to look at all the studies done on the topic. And their general sentiment about them is: WTF. I don’t want to give away all the juicy details, but, for example, a lot of the studies that have “linked” violent videogames to real-world violence have measured aggression using a method that has never actually been verified as valid.

I’m also currently still reading I Am America, And So Can You!, which was a birthday present for me in January… As well as knocking off Brave New World for English Class. Both recommended as well.