I love pinball so imagine my delight to see a pinball game up on Addicting Games. What is even better is that on this pinball game you can select 2-player and play with a friend like I did. I will say this pinball game is not quite as exciting as playing pinball in person, or even on a game console, but for free and low-tech this is cool.
Click here to see a screencast of my friend playing the first ball in her game.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Everything Bad is Somewhat Good For You
Sure, in some ways pop culture does “sophisticatedly deliver stupidity” There are plenty of mindless forms of TV, movies and games out there. Some pop culture, while visually appealing, is still dumb. Likewise, some pop culture, while dumb, can be thought-provoking, engaging and stimulating for others reasons.
Sometimes I watch movies I think are dumb. Sometimes dumb things have value that cannot necessarily be measured or defined. Sometimes watching, listening or playing things that are dumb teach you important skills that help you become a more well-rounded or creative person.
The other night I watched that new Hulk movie with Ed Norton on DVD. Did I learn anything from it? No. Does it have any intellectual value? Maybe something can be said for it’s take on human nature…ok, so basically that’s a no. But it did have some awesome special effects which led my friends and me into a discussion about computers, graphics, how realistic the action sequences were, etc. etc. When I was a kid watching Indiana Jones made all my friends interested in archaeology. I happen to think The Matrix may have inspired young people to learn more about science and technology. And didn’t I read once The X-Files prompted hundreds of young people to apply to become FBI agents and the CIA wanted Jennifer Garner to film recruitment ads when Alias was on TV?
Pop culture can be educational. Media can bring us to times and places we might not be able to visit on our own. We can watch documentaries about history, travel, home improvement, true crime and many others.
Bad things can be good for you…bad pop culture can be good for you too….in moderation…mixed in with a diet of “healthier” pop culture items.
Sometimes I watch movies I think are dumb. Sometimes dumb things have value that cannot necessarily be measured or defined. Sometimes watching, listening or playing things that are dumb teach you important skills that help you become a more well-rounded or creative person.
The other night I watched that new Hulk movie with Ed Norton on DVD. Did I learn anything from it? No. Does it have any intellectual value? Maybe something can be said for it’s take on human nature…ok, so basically that’s a no. But it did have some awesome special effects which led my friends and me into a discussion about computers, graphics, how realistic the action sequences were, etc. etc. When I was a kid watching Indiana Jones made all my friends interested in archaeology. I happen to think The Matrix may have inspired young people to learn more about science and technology. And didn’t I read once The X-Files prompted hundreds of young people to apply to become FBI agents and the CIA wanted Jennifer Garner to film recruitment ads when Alias was on TV?
Pop culture can be educational. Media can bring us to times and places we might not be able to visit on our own. We can watch documentaries about history, travel, home improvement, true crime and many others.
Bad things can be good for you…bad pop culture can be good for you too….in moderation…mixed in with a diet of “healthier” pop culture items.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Screencasting Best Practices
First, I was fortunate to not have any problems using Jing. Since I don’t fix anything that’s not broken, this blog post applies to my experiences using Jing only. Here's 2 things that have worked for me:
Plan and Practice…With screencasting, I usually find myself recording something more than once. I’ve found it’s helpful for me to write down an outline of what I’m going to say. I wouldn’t say write down everything verbatim like a speech – although that may in fact prevent me from saying um so many times in one screencast – but definitely do a little planning before you hit record.
Keep it short and simple…I’ve found recording in 800x600 or 640x480 like Steve suggests works well. In the past when I’ve tried to record a larger window Jing sometimes gets “stuck” on me. Also, when I’ve recorded something really long Jing sometimes gets stuck transferring the file to screencast.com. I’ve found keeping my screencasts short and to the point has worked best for recording and uploading.
Plan and Practice…With screencasting, I usually find myself recording something more than once. I’ve found it’s helpful for me to write down an outline of what I’m going to say. I wouldn’t say write down everything verbatim like a speech – although that may in fact prevent me from saying um so many times in one screencast – but definitely do a little planning before you hit record.
Keep it short and simple…I’ve found recording in 800x600 or 640x480 like Steve suggests works well. In the past when I’ve tried to record a larger window Jing sometimes gets “stuck” on me. Also, when I’ve recorded something really long Jing sometimes gets stuck transferring the file to screencast.com. I’ve found keeping my screencasts short and to the point has worked best for recording and uploading.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Santa, please bring us a Wii
I’m going to pretend that I’ve been asked to decide what console my local public library should buy with the surplus (LOL) in our budget for 2008. We have held a few game nights where patrons have donated their own personal consoles to the library for one day for the purpose of the game nights. At the game nights we librarians talked to our patrons and we asked them to provide feedback about their experience, including which consoles and games they liked best. We have done some research on different consoles including price, price of games, need for other components or services, peer reviews, expert reviews, gaming websites and magazines, etc. Our librarians are forward-thinking types and we agree gaming has a place in the library.
We do NOT want a lot of violent and adult-rated games in the library. We do NOT necessarily have to get a console with the best graphics because we don’t intend to play extremely intense games. We do NOT necessarily need an online component. We DO have a budget. We DO want a console that has a diverse range of games for all ages, especially younger children due to our demographics.
Because of all of these considerations and the feedback from our patrons that it would draw them to the library (availability permitting), we’ll buy a Wii. Xbox would probably be our second choice.
We do NOT want a lot of violent and adult-rated games in the library. We do NOT necessarily have to get a console with the best graphics because we don’t intend to play extremely intense games. We do NOT necessarily need an online component. We DO have a budget. We DO want a console that has a diverse range of games for all ages, especially younger children due to our demographics.
Because of all of these considerations and the feedback from our patrons that it would draw them to the library (availability permitting), we’ll buy a Wii. Xbox would probably be our second choice.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
