Comments for Candleblog

Comment on The luckiest guitar player in the world by kenny sherwood

kenny sherwood — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 22:02:33 +0000

congrats on your guitar, donny is my cousin and he and I grew up together in our early years. I also have a Heyser guitar, the ACZ5 with an EQ.It is the richest sounding guitar I have ever had, great base tones and great action, as a finger picker it is like “sandles with wings” in my hands. And I am humbled and thankful for the gift that my cousin has given to me. He is trulyan artist and craftsman

Comment on Breakfast in BTV by Having a tough time deciding where to have brunch in Burlington, Vermont? Check out this handy flowchart created by Bill Simmon. Bookmark his blog at Candleboy.com. | Lean Book Marketing for Writers

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 07:20:30 +0000

[...] a tough time deciding where to have brunch in Burlington, Vermont? Check out this handy flowchart created by Bill Simmon. Bookmark his blog at [...]

Comment on Time Guitars by Gary Stearns

Gary Stearns — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:04:43 +0000

I always had an interest in Time Guitars, back in the 70′s i was invited over i think it was by owner.
They were looking into useing my company (New England Paint and Metal now New England Coating)to aply urethanes/coatings on the guitars.
They gave me a tour (the old dairy barn)of how they were made.
I never did know what they ended up doing.
I knoticed that they were at one in Waltham VT I would love to know where.

Comment on Defending and Defaming Watchmen by Chris Roberson

Chris Roberson — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:36:00 +0000

“I have the feeling that if Zack Snyder directs music videos, he’s one of those directors that literally interprets song lyrics – so if the song has a lyric that goes “I’m drivin’ in my car, turn on the radio,” he shoots the singer driving his car and turning on his radio.”

This is sometimes called the “Lord Privy Seal.” Wikipedia says: “In the British television industry, Lord Privy Seal is the practice of matching too literal imagery with every element of the accompanying spoken script.”

Richard Dawkins mentions it here:

http://richarddawkins.net/articles/2394

Comment on 2011 year in [geek] review by Alex C

Alex C — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:53:09 +0000

Sorry to beat a dead comment thread, but thanks to GameFly, I just played Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, a spastic button masher with explosions and XP, which was clearly the inspiration for Dragon Age 2.

(It’s a pretty mediocre game, but at least they were trying to add RPG elements to a 3rd-person action game, not trying to dumb down a real RPG.)

Comment on 2011 year in [geek] review by Alex C

Alex C — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:42:56 +0000

Game Informer magazine agrees with me. From their Top 10 Disappointments of 2011 article:

Dragon Age II

Even as we marveled at the advancements in the Mass Effect series, longtime BioWare fans loved Dragon Age: Origins for sticking close to the company’s turn-based, epic fantasy past. However, the rushed and misguided sequel felt like a slap to that core audience, with its stripped down, shallow button-mashing combat, small world, repetitive dungeons, and poor storytelling. This was the rare BioWare title that felt rushed and – even worse – halfhearted.

Elder Scrolls Bugs

We love The Elder Scrolls V. It’s our Game of the Year for a reason. You know what we don’t love? Having to keep 100 different save files because we spend our time in Skyrim in constant fear of random, quest-breaking bugs. From skeleton dragons flying backwards to giants sending guards hurtling into orbit, we’ve seen it all when it comes to bugs in this game. While patches have helped, your time in Skyrim may always be a buggy experience, and that’s a shame.

(And they must be right, since according to their web site, “Today, one in every forty people in the United States subscribes to Game Informer. With over 7 million paid subscribers, the popularity of the magazine has grown to become the 4th overall largest consumer publication in the United States.”)

Comment on 2011 year in [geek] review by Raedia

Raedia — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:36:41 +0000

Alex – I never played DA Origins, but I got DA 2 for Xbox and I thought it was great. I’m a big bioware fan and I love the stories and personalities they put in there. (I’m playing Skyrim now, and I miss the unique individuals that DA had. Though Skyrim has a more fun and developed world, for sure). With combat, I really took advantage of the tactics system, so that I didn’t have to micromanage during battles too much. YMMV though!

Comment on 2011 year in [geek] review by billsimmon

billsimmon — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:13:25 +0000

I can’t believe I forgot about Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I actually really liked that film. It doesn’t change my best-of picks, but it’s a runner up (despite the fact that, as Emily points out, the title contains a double “of the,” which is way awkward).

Comment on 2011 year in [geek] review by Alex C

Alex C — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:04:42 +0000

Rae – I have no problem with any of your game choices, except one. Dragon Age 2 was a huge disappointment for me. I found the combat to be spastic and irritating — things are either moving too fast or paused at an arbitrary moment either just too soon or just too late to give an appropriate command — and as with DA:O, I continue to find the world deliberately mundane and colorless.

Were you playing it on PC or console? I was on console — do you think that makes a difference?

Comment on 2011 year in [geek] review by Raedia

Raedia — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:01:43 +0000

I scoff at your puny games review! Here are my favorites of the year, in approximate order:

Indie Games:
Stacking
Bastion
Iron Brigade
ilomilo

Big Releases:
Portal 2
Skyrim
Dragon Age 2
Gears of War 3
Deux Ex: Human Revolution
Assassin’s Creed Revelations
Batman Arkham City
L.A. Noire