Dear Esther (Interpretation)

I gave the mod a link in the previous post. I had played this mod a few years ago and I admit that I didn’t give the game much thought. I played it because it was arty, somber, and different and I really just wanted something to play through. Last night I played through Dear Esther again and this time I noticed and realized much more than I had previously.

Since the game is ambiguous and well, “artsy” it must have a theme that’s “open to interpretation.” I’ve enjoyed the mod so I suppose I’ll give into the trap and give what I took from the game. Beware, spoilers ahead!

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Day[9] Life of Starcraft

To meet the post-a-day goal I’ve set for and broken already, instead of a thoughtful, extremely hilarious, and thought provoking post you get a link to an awesome inspiring video.  Sean “Day[9]” Plott is a fine gentleman that competed professionally a little game called Starcraft: Brood War.  Sean grew up with the game and it became an integral part of his life.  Day[9] has made me proud to be a gamer through his cheerful attitude and awesome personality.  His web show, the Day[9] Daily, ranges from analysis of high level Starcraft play to dinking around and just having fun on his special Funday Monday episodes.  Sean’s motto on the show is to “Be a better gamer” and by watching him, I’ve learned not only to be a better gamer, but to be a better person.  Enjoy this video where he recounts his experiences and the roller coaster of emotions that you would almost never expect come from a video game.  Don’t start this unless you have some spare time.  Once you start watching it, before you know it 2 hours have past and you’ve gained a new appreciation for Starcraft and just living life.

Dear Esther

Dear Esther is a Half-Life 2 mod from The Chinese Room, a group from the University of Portsmouth in England.  I had recently played the game and I think it deserves a little bit of loving.

The mysterious island.

The game, if you could call it that, is primarily walking around a mysterious island.  When you first arrive, the narrator begins as if he were reading a letter to Esther (hence the name).  As you find other audio cues he might explain something about your surroundings, or it could be unrelated whatsoever.  It was designed to cause a sense of confusion until later, so be aware.  Part of the enjoyment comes from sorting out what the narrator is talking about, while the other part is exploring the setting and realizing the brilliantly constructed atmosphere.

The game is what one could consider “artsy” and for some, that might be a turn off.  If you’re not into that, don’t worry, don’t play it.  For those who might give it a chance, it’s only about an hour long and quite an interesting ride.  I recommend a download.  There are even 2 download links, you have no excuse now.

OC ReMix

I’m really suprised I haven’t linked this yet!

OC ReMix is a wonderful little website where I found my inspiration.  The website is filled with re-imaginings of video game music.  They make the background music into actual music, and do it well!  On top of that, all the music hosted there is free to download (which made it quite a large chunk of my collection).  There are some really talented artists who dedicate their precious time to pay tribute to these games we’ve all loved.

The site has a large amount of variety, from Metal to Solo Piano (which I might add are absolutely beautiful pieces of work). Euro Techno to Hip-Hop.  Electronica to plain Rock ‘n Roll.  Orchestral to Big Band.  OC ReMix exposes those talented artists who just love music and video games.

Someday I’ll be joining the OC ReMix artists but you don’t have to wait for me to check ’em out.

Oh, and I’ll probably be doing electronica with lots of piano.  It just seems to work for me.

The 4th Dimension

I posted this on my FB page, but I’ll post it here too.

The 4th dimension is hard to grasp, and it hurts your brain to try.  It sure is interesting though!

Hello world!

Hello World! This first post should hopefully explain what you should expect from my blog in the future.  I made this blog to be sort of a journal, sort of a way to communicate to whoever the heck might be interested, and sort of a way to organize myself.

Future plans:

-Commentary and subtle hints on songs that I’m currently working on.  I don’t know how long this will last, but I’m going to try it out.

-Possible Free MP3s of my songs just to be nice.

-Blogging about my music in general

-Blogging about things I care about I suppose.

Well, it’s probably going to end up as a journal, but we’ll see how it goes.