Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Games and Fun: Magic Pen

When I first heard of "Crayon Physics" through Penny-Arcade's 1/11/09 comic strip, I was really interested in seeing it in action. Believe me, there's quite a few videos of it on YouTube. But this particular visual physics engine is as yet unavailable for people without a tablet pc or an iPhone. So I decided to seek out an online version. And lo and behold, there was "Magic Pen". Although this free online game only has 26 levels, it's plenty. You can keep playing to see the fewest number of shapes needed to finish each level.

For those unfamiliar with "Crayon Physics" or "Magic Pen", these are 2-d physics engines which allow the user to draw elements into the world which interact with existing fixed and moving parts. Your goal for each level is to get the red shape to any and all red flags on the level.

Quirky and fun, the user can create circles and polygons and use hinges and pins to create more complex machines and shapes (you can make a car by making two circles with hinges in the center of each and a box over the hinges). Remember to take gravity into account!


You want me to get the ball to a flag floating in SPACE?!??!


You make it look so easy.

You WILL, however find yourself cursing at flags which are obnoxiously higher than your shape's starting point, or confused by flags which appear to be floating serenely in space. It's a solid challenge that kept me entertained for a good 6 hours last night. I didn't even find the music obnoxious!

To check out Magic Pen by clicking here

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Upcoming Film: Coraline

It's been a while since I was last psyched about an upcoming film release. Most notably, I'm seriously looking forward to X-men Origins flick, "Wolverine". But that isn't projected to come out until May this year. So until then, I'm going to have to sedate myself with the variety of twee tween fantastical-romances that are griming up the movie pipeline. And "Coraline", which the trailer promises to be every bit as amazing as Mr. Tim Burton's first clay-mation feature film, "Nightmare Before Christmas" (Burton's first clay-mation short was "Vincent" in 1982).

Careful, Coraline. Curiosity supposedly killed the cat.

What makes "Coraline" so much more thrilling in concept is that the story was created by Neil Gaiman, the same mind who wrote the brilliant "Stardust", and BBC's "Neverwhere". All the trailers I've seen so far indicate that "Coraline" is a very promising film that Burton's dark vision lends itself to perfectly.

Seeing "Nightmare Before Christmas" still imbues me with a child-like sense of wonder, so I'm certainly looking forward to more from both Gaiman and Burton. Not to mention that although I'm not really a fan of Dakota Fanning (or, admittedly, her voice), the voice acting in the trailer seems SPOT ON. I'm very excited for this and the release date is thankfully quite soon, to save us from "Twilight" dregs.

Coraline comes to theaters February 6th. See below for the trailer.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Misti's Link of the Month - Association of Smith College Blogroll

Well, it's a brand new year and one of my resolutions is to blog more and get more connected with the other alumnae from my college. So it was perfect when the I received the Smith College Alumnae Quarterly which contained a quarter-column blurb about the Alumnae blogroll that had been created. I already have a list of about 15 blogs that I read on a regular basis, but I can always make room for more, particularly those written by fellow Smithies.

The blogroll is hosted on Wordpress and the founders are aiming to have at least one blog from every class between 1960 and present. Obviously, more recent classes are well-represented, but the most interesting writing (I've found), comes from bloggers in the classes between 1960 and 1989. These are women who are living their lives well and have made great advances in their careers. They sell houses, they are politically active, they have children, do crafts, travel... There is so much LIFE to be found here.

The Smith Alumnae Blogroll can be found at http://smithalumblogs.wordpress.com

My favorites so far include Mamarazzi, What Not to Buy, and A Girl's Garden of Menopause. So go ahead and check the blogroll out. Let me know what you find! Staying connected is what it's about in '09!