Dead Island

                      So. Dead Island. Bad accents and bad character modeling galore, but that's okay. I'm also seeing elements of Bioshock but that could just be me. Lots of searchable containers and drinks and snacks for health lying around that are consumed as soon as they're picked up. A voice over the intercom that tells you what to do. Crazy attack mobs. Steam has a surprisingly heartbreaking trailer for the game that shows the deaths of a vacationing family. You can see the couple in their room in-game.
                The action takes place at a resort on the island of Banoi in Papua New Guinea so the scenery is quite pretty and relaxing, only spoiled somewhat by the ravening undead. You can play as one of four characters, two male and two female. Their stats don't seem to differ much though and even if you play a woman the NPCs still refer to you as "him".
                       The game opens with a cutscene where your character barrels their way, drunk, through a party, completely oblivious to the signs of the impending zombiepocalypse. Somehow your character manages to stumble into all four of the playable characters which would suggest this is actually someone else but when you wake up it's in the same hotel room with the spilled bottle of Jack Daniels from the end of the opening cutscene.
                     Let's see who we have to play. First we crash into a failed American football star named Logan. Next we attempt to take the stage from one-hit rapper Sam B from New Orleans who is apparently used to this kind of behavior from his audience because pushing you back into the crowd doesn't break his stride in the least. This is where you meet Officer Purna, from Australia, in difficulties due to her shooting of a child molester. She offers her sneering take on your state of affairs before two helpful security officers attempt to take you back to your room. They, however, are unceremoniously jumped by the undead and, unfazed (or just plastered) we trundle off to the ladies to wash the blood off the camera lens that passes for our eyes. There we find Xian Mei, a Chinese spy (obviously) working undercover as hotel staff, trying to rouse a blood spattered woman. She scolds us for being in the women's restroom (which is seriously confusing if you've decided to play as a woman) so you swipe some pills off the floor to wash down with your JD and head on to bed.
                        I decided to play as Xian Mei because I like quick, agile characters and I was intrigued by her skirt which looks sort of like a sarong with an extremely ineffectual belt. I ultimately chose her because when you get to her character selection screen she narrates her entire life story at you and you can't scroll ahead and there was no way I was listening to another three sorry sack tales.
                        You wake up to the sweet sounds of chaos. It's the same room you passed out in which means you met yourself last night and not in a lifetime movie sort of way. I'd say it was the pills but you didn't down those until right before you blacked out which seems sort of a waste because they were a pretty red color. Once, when I was little, I took pills of my mother's because they were a pretty blue color but then she freaked and called the doctor. Anyway, maybe the zombiepocalypse is your fault by way of a time paradox, so it makes sense you get stuck doing the other survivors' scut work because you know you will.
                   Your first instinct in an emergency is apparently to loot everyone else's luggage for cash, soap, deodorant, and alcohol which I know I would be doing only I'd also pull candy and porn. Your second move is to follow the instructions of a disembodied voice as it guides you through the hotel with its endless supply of abandoned bags.
                I still might be imagining the resemblance to Bioshock. I mean, in that game you're led through a luxurious ruin piled with loot able containers and enough snacks to feed a soccer team by a man who can miraculously track you wherever you go but in this game he's Australian.
              This particular disembodied voice isn't as helpful as Atlas because almost immediately he nearly gets you killed by both an elevator and a horde or zombies. A group of survivors saves you and drags you to their safe house on the beach. You have to assume you've been bitten because a seriously hysterical man purposes to do devastating things to your head with a boat oar. Another man, this time with a wicked facial tattoo and his very own terrifying accent, gives you the zombie or not-a-zombie test which you pass with flying colors by nodding your head whereupon the threat of having your anatomy re-arranged is removed and, indeed, everyone seems to lose interest in you completely. You learn that this means you're immune to the zombie-virus and everyone expects you to put yourself back in the way of anatomy-rearrangement to do their errands. They do have a bottomless supply of cash with which to reward you.

Third day of job

Now in note form.

Need to check my email a lot apparently even though there are long periods of time when I don’t get anything. Had to fill out a faculty form but I’m not a teacher! Nor have I gone to professional development seminars or joined any organizations yet. I just finished school. Gotta join SLA. Did a lot of pricing on Amazon and through Google Books. Amazon is so much cheaper and the marketplace is a bargain sometimes. Other times people sell stuff at weird prices. Who’d pay 285 for something that goes for 135 new? Examined EBSCO and ebrary. Hunted down articles on faculty-library collaboration and information literacy. Wrote mission statement, vision, core values, blah, blah, blah. They’re mainly bs but I suppose they help with identity and a sense of legitimacy. I mean, most of these things say that the library is dedicated to furthering educational goals and providing users with resources pertinent to their interests, that their core values are honesty and excellence and accuracy, which is great I guess as who wants a lying, misinformed, mediocre librarian? But eh. Got a few recommendations in from staff. Very helpful. The Physician’s Desk Reference is an obvious choice but I wouldn’t think of it on my own. Not my area of expertise. Got introduced to a class. Everyone seems pretty excited about having a library. I’m starting to make lists of resources, just have to get them approved and bought. Need to find out how the purchasing will be done. DCT 2011 is available next Wednesday. Want it now. It's an electronic resource for crying out loud. You don't need to wait for the printers. Populi's version of an ILS is handy as the school already uses the company and I think it can work out quite well only you can't delete items out of the library at the moment which seems like a serious over-site. Nor can you change a copy's status between available and unavailable. They say they're working on it. I sincerely hope so.

Going to finish Six Geese A-Slaying soon. It's cute but it doesn't have as much pep as the previous books in the series.

Resident Evil 4 is so much fun. The plot is fairly standard take over, maybe not the world, but at least Spain. Maybe the world, I don't know. Infected people mindlessly doing their master's bidding in his attempt to right some long ago wrong or possibly that's just an excuse and he really likes guys in robes. Leon is the most pleasant character I've had to follow around since the Prince in Prince of Persia 3. Considering that there seems to be an entire team in Japan that does nothing but program breast physics on female characters it's a refreshing change of pace to be playing a good-looking male protagonist in tight pants. Adds to the game value, you know?

Have gone through several bosses, onet of which was a large bearded man with a fetish for strangling Leon. He eventually turned into a giant bug which I then set on fire. There was a giant cleverly name El Gigante that I shot repeatedly in the face and a gigantic fish that I took out with a harpoon. Ashley is your escort for most of the game and she's one of the least annoying I've seen. When you swing your gun towards her she ducks. What a radical concept.

I'm actually going to miss my old place of work

One week left until I start my new job. They want me to come up with a budget before then which is bugging me. First, because I'm eager to please like that but second, because I'm still working elsewhere and I'm not being paid yet. So, we'll see. I'll come up with something but I'm not sure they understand how expensive reference books are.

And it's really muggy right now. I can deal with that though, it's the waiting that I can't stand.

I finished The Shape of Water and I think I've found a new series to enjoy. The writing was easy and the plot was different. The dead man died of natural causes but how he ended up where he was and the background shenanigans were the real mystery. There are cultural notes at the end which help with understanding Italian references.

I'm reading a number of things at the moment because when I get nervous or stressed I surround myself with books. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller, The Widow Killer by Pavel Kohout, Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews and others. Donna Andrews Meg Langslow series is very funny. Meg is a blacksmith who lives in Virginia two hours south of D.C. and her family is what one might call 'wacky'. Each member brings their own brand of ridiculousness to the plot and she has to deal with extreme croquet and temperamental birds in order to solve the mystery of the day. For easy fun these books are great.

I've watched several movies as well. Infection, a Japanese horror movie about a dying hospital and a patient with a mysterious illness that begins to spread throughout the building. It's tense and the actors do a good job. The fully infected people are not shown because the directors of this movie understand that our minds are much better at the job of scaring us than make-up or CGI. The infection also seems to bring out the insecurities of the victims, making for some interesting self-reflection. Of course while they're reflecting about their weaknesses they are also often sticking themselves with dirty needles and such. The end had an interesting twist which then managed to subvert itself. The only thing I didn't get was why there were several shots of possessed swings.

Re-Cycle, a Chinese movie, had some amazing imagery. It started out as a typical Asian horror movie and ended up entirely elsewhere. An author is transported to a world where forgotten things end up and must find her way out with the help of a little girl. The settings are fantastical and dreamy and the people who inhabit them are bent and horrifying. The ending was bittersweet and then kind of confusing/scary. It was a journey movie, almost a fairytale. With zombies.

I saw John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness. That was all right. Disturbing, freaky, okay plot. A writer's fiction coming to life in an attempt to what? I wasn't quite sure of that. To be God? To destroy. Eh. This movie makes the mistake Infection didn't. It shows the ultimate horror allowing you to laugh a the '90s special effects. Oh well.

Mad Detective, a Chinese movie. A detective goes to a retired colleague for help on a case. This colleague seems to have the ability to see people's inner selves. This is somewhat marred by the fact that he is insane. The inner selves concept was fascinating (and confusing) to watch play out although in the end it didn't really go anywhere. The ending was a bit odd but the ride as a whole was satisfying.

And now I'm playing Resident Evil 4 on my wii. The dialogue says the village Leon goes to is "somewhere in Europe" but it's totally Spain. Right? The villagers speak Spanish. To my great amusement the infected villagers seemed to be just repeatedly saying "cabron" and "mierda" in the background. The woman droning "mierda" does appear to be cleaning out a cow shed so maybe she's just commenting on her work. Also, the village is apparently named "pueblo." The controls are a little iffy. Turning is not easy and you can't walk around with your knife out. I am enjoying shooting the crap out of anything that moves and exploring the village. We'll see where this goes.

Nothing really happened today

But I'm trying to write here more often so I'm doing an entry anyway.

Still reading U is for Undertow and watching The Dead Zone. Am I supposed to be impressed when the high level executive calls in security to escort the minor annoyance out of his office? It's supposed to show power, right? Personally I've never needed armed intervention to win my own arguments so why is it a mark of status to be able to call in the guards? Once you make money you no longer need to be intelligent?

Wow, I'm tired and that probably makes no sense. I did something entirely new at my internship today and I'm not sure if I actually did it right so either next week I'll get kudos or have to complete the task all over again. I think for the most part it went well but there are sure to be certain issues that need ironing out.

I have left over fries for tomorrow and that's a nice thought.

Playing Dark Fall 3: Lost Souls. Atmospheric and creepy but lacking in content. I've decided that the main character is having some sort of hallucination after OD-ing on vodka and clozapine. It's much more non-intuitive than the other games in the series, but the sound effects are really rather disturbing. Well, these things can be hit or miss.