Education Reform

This is just a really quick, shoddy thing I whipped up this morning, I was watching my little brother try and solve a Rubik's cube and it just kind of hit me. It's not necessarily saying that schools are becoming easier (though the tests are made to be passed, which I kind of agree with) it's just that there isn't much intelligence required, it's all memorization, if you can memorize the answers then you're the smartest kid in class, it doesn't matter if you have advanced understanding of the concepts behind those answers, just how good your memory is.

Mother 3

I just started playing the fan translation of Mother 3 and it's awesome, I love the way it knows it's a video game, like when it teaches you how to dash: "Imagine there's a big thing called a B Button, now imagine pressing that" or how to look at your map "focus all your power in your right index finger, so do something kind of R-Button-ish".

It's quirky fun and brilliant.
PS The translators say to buy the game and rip your own before using their English-erizing patch but that's unreasonable, just import the game but don't open the box, instead download a ROM.

Crysis

So I've found myself on the "crysis is overrated" bandwagon (and yes, I'm still talking about crysis because I'm poor and I haven't got around to checking it out yet). I started playing through the first level and decided that I much prefer Far Cry, oh well, Far Cry 2 still looks good.

Dead Space

I'm a total sissy.
I'm really caught up with all this Dead Space hype and the game sounds great but I scare REALLY easily. I can't stand to watch even the tamest of scary movies and I couldn't get more than 5 minutes into Bioshock (my all-time favourite game) without someone there to hold my wimpy, shaky hand.

Dead Space looks great but I don't think I'll be able to make myself play it, *cries like a baby and embarrasses himself on the web*.

Continuous, Partial Attention

I was listening to an old episode ofEdPod when I heard something I liked the sound of.

An expert on literature and child development said that this generation (my one, the teenagers) thinks in continuous, partial attention. It seemed correct and worth mentioning, one of those quotes that makes me think for a bit then gets filed into my subconscious so a month from now I'll be hit with some small increment of profound understanding.

-Marlon

Mega Man 9

So nerdy me made a special trip into the city yesterday to get myself some wii points (credit cards are maxed out) so I can play Mega Man 9.
I've gotta say, I can't decide whether the hype is justified or not, the damn thing has my heart in a vice.

I've spent about 45 minutes on it in which I've beaten one level and died hundreds of times, and when you're winning, it's great (only because it happens so rarely), when you're losing, it's still great; and that's the beauty of the level design.

Of course the death appreciation can only last so long until you start wanting to throw your Wii-Mote through the TV, but then you win and the International Space Station wonder what that strage noise was as you shout at the top of your lungs in triumph!

When it's good, it's great, when it's bad, it's good and when it's horrible it's hellishly frustrating, for $15 I heartily reccomend it, just don't let yourself get obsessed or every death will be a shudder of agony.

-Marlon

Friday Night Magic

I'm really excited about going to FNM, I've never been before and I just found a store that hosts it. I'll have to travel to the city (Melbourne)(about 45 minutes for me)but it looks like fun. I've been playing on Magic Online for a while but I hate the fact that I don't actually own the cards, the terms of service says you're just leasing them.

I don't have any cards in standard though so I'll have to buy a theme deck and a bunch of boosters to start off; looks like it's gonna be fun.

-Marlon