howling at the moon

It's no secret that I'm somewhat of an insomniac.

I'm not exactly sure when I acquired the tendency curse to stay up late, but sometime between college life, post-college life, unemployment, Japan, grad school, teaching, stopping teaching, and back to work... well, it just sort of happens. Usually when I'm up late, I'm surfing the internet, reading, or watching movies, but lately I've taken up some new activities.

...

For the past couple of weeks, I've been staying up late wandering vast plains and exploring mysterious forests, searching for clues, and helping lost souls. I stalk evil spirits and demons, smiting them with my furious vengeance... all so I can cleanse the land and bring back "da good-ness". yo.

Oh, and I help trees to grow, flowers to bloom, I feed wildlife, and I hug small furry animals.

...

Yep, I've become hopelessly addicted to playing Okami.

I enjoy playing video games and my knowledge of them approaches level of geek-ness not healthy for a soon-to-be-married man, but I wow... I can genuinely say that Okami is definitely one of the best games I've played. Period. The child-like wonder and joy I experience from playing this masterpiece harkens me back to my childhood days when I first played classics like Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, ChronoTrigger, or even the original ORIGINAL classics like Legend of Zelda or Final Fantasy.



With an original storyline that borrows heavily from traditional Japanese folktales, innovative gameplay (painting is a game play mechanic!), great music / sound effects, and of course, beautiful artwork, stylized to resemble sumi-e. I salute the creative daring of Okami's creators.

It's nice to have a distraction during these strange and busy days...
posted by G at 11:56 PM   |

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33