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Party Down - Your new favorite Instant Netflix watch

Party Down is by far my new favorite thing about Instant Netflix, and it should be your new favorite thing too. Recently granted a second season by Starz, the comedy show features an all-star cast with the likes of Ken Marino (The State, Childrens' Hospital), Martin Starr (Freaks and Geeks), and my personal favorite, Jane Lynch (Glee, Role Models, shown above wielding two super soakers like a total badass). Each episode the Party Down catering company is tasked with supporting a new and often elaborate party in Socal, which eventually boils down to placating the likes of spoiled sixteen-year-olds, Mob men, and George Tekai. Add a dash of some Arrested Development-esque humor, and the writing of Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars), and you've got yourself a damn fine show.

In other words, it's great. I've watched each episode at least twice, so if you have the chance please don't miss out!

Text Adventures - Game Typography & Maniac Mansion Censorship

 At least once every few months or so I slip into the world of ye olde forgotten adventure games (at this point, even Google's wonder wheel can see this coming). This last week the adventure bug's bite has gone pretty deep. If you check my "Games Recently Played" Daytum you'll notice a significant increase in the Legend of Kyrandia: Hand of Fate pie piece, which altogether lead me to getting knee deep in ATMachine's House of LucasArts and Sierra Oddities once again.

This step back into nostalgia-land hasn't been an entirely fruitless adventure mind you. Between old Loom and Monkey Island screenshots, I was inspired to collaborate with my good buddy Brilliam on Text Adventure, a blog that archives some neat videogame typography from over the decades. It's on its first legs, but we've assembled a pretty decent collection so far. Suggestions for improvement and submissions for the site are happily taken!

Meanwhile, I got a real kick out of reading Douglas Crockford's article "The Expurgation of Maniac Mansion for the Nintendo Entertainment System" (also found via ATMachine). Crockford, who managed Maniac Mansion's port for the NES, outlines the various changes that were required to make the game appropriate for a younger NES audience. Suggestive dialogue, mummy playmate posters, and other content was removed from the original version, but I thought this tidbit was the most interesting:

 Howie Rubin of Jaleco (the company that was going to publish the game under license) advised us the that the baddest bad word is Kill. The central activity in most Nintendo games is killing things. The image and the act are good, but the word is bad, even if the word does not suggest the image or the act.

CO-OP Review - Plants vs. Zombies

CO-OP put up their 11th episode, "Drop and Give Me E3", this past Monday night. The episode is a lot of fun and has a little something for everyone, covering Sway, Bionic Commando, Zeno Clash, and PopCap's Plants vs. Zombies. I had the extreme pleasure of adding my critique of P vs. Z alongside the distinguished Jeff Green, Jay, and Cesar from the Area 5 team. It's the first segment after the CO-OP song, so check it out!

I feel pretty lucky that all the games I've reviewed on CO-OP have consistently turned out to be great, and Plants vs. Zombies is definitely no exception. It's a terribly addictive puzzle game with a great sense of humor, what with all hose Michael Jackson Zombies and neighbors like Crazy Dave. Be sure to download it off PopCap's website if you haven't already!

Finally, a fun fact! If you couldn't tell from my fri-dazzled, messed up hair in the segment, at the point that we were filming I was clinging on too two hours of sleep from the night before. Fortunately I ended up sounding decently sane, but my coincidentally zombified state was the reason for a lot of those wacky keyboard gestures and what not. Laffs!

Kiddy Critique - Tiny Art Director

  

Bill Zeman is an artist who creates a range of paintings and illustrations on commission, but his toughest  client by far happens to be his own daughter. Over the course of the last three years Zeman has documented his daughter's evaluations of his triumphant and failed works on the blog Tiny Art Director. Now available in book form, Tiny Art Director features adorably scathing reviews of the loving and creative attempts a father makes to appease his daughter. Not to mention, most of his daughter's requests feature a ton of dinosaurs, crocodiles, and poo-poo airplanes (shown above), which are all pretty awesome and hilarious.

Thanks Sasha!

Creatures, furnishings, and odd objects by Donna Wilson

Donna Wilson's  craft work is made of magical stuffs. While I have the feeling that I've seen bits and pieces  of her pillows and throws before, visiting her online store revealed a whole collection of detailed hand-knit scarves, plushes, and other lovely trinkets. Her personal description of her work (found on her Flickr) best encapsulates what you'll find there:

Enter the world of Donna Wilson if you dare. Be prepared, because you may be eaten by a Cannibdoll, dwarfed by a gigantic Doily or bored by a bigheaded boffin. It’s a place where your conceptions of shape and size are toyed with. A place where you could stretch out on a sea of pom-poms, have a picnic with a poodle or get grumpy with a ginger man.

Seen on It's Nice That