John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Monkey business: How a balloon game can pop away a day

[Surf's Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009. Click here to read more Surf's Up.]

I’ve been trying to clear a few hurdles with my work this last week, but have been falling prey to a little vice that’s hard to resist. I can keep my hands off the cookies, can resist the call of a trashy TV show, but have had a hard time ignoring a bunch of little monkeys with darts, bombs and glue-guns.

Bloons Tower Defense 4
“Bloons” is a well-established franchise on the web, at least among cheap (i.e., free) and easy-to-play games. This is the fourth iteration in the series, and it’s pretty sophisticated. If you’re new to tower defence games, they follow a pattern: you establish towers, or weapons, along a route to defeat some kind of invaders. In this case, the invaders are balloons – hence the title – and your weapons involve monkeys. And darts, bombs, planes, glue, tacks and all kinds of other fun stuff. This series is more complicated and varied, with more patterns, skill levels and upgrades.

And, as I said, it can become a major drain on your time. I think I’ve invested (I can’t bring myself to say “wasted”) a few hours over the run of the last week or so. Because the games can run on for dozens and dozens of turns, I recommend registering (it’s free) so you can save a game for later resumption.

A final point: I was loading Bloons the other evening when my son took notice. “I didn’t know you knew this game,” he exclaimed, evidently unaware that grown-ups can definitely compete with the kids for mindless online fun. I don’t know whether my stock had risen with my son, or my credibility as an adult had sunk. I didn’t worry about it, and got on with my game.

Elsewhere this week

Santa parade
The Downtown Santa Parade in St. John’s is this Sunday; click here for route and bus information, photos and more. A suggestion for the sponsors: let parade users post their own pics to the galleries, or create and then link to a feed at a service like Flickr.

Starbucks Drinks Simplified (Kinda)
Ever been dazzled or confused while overhearing the sometimes-complicated drink orders at a Starbucks? This unofficial page collects the many, many drinks you can apparently order from a barista. (Good luck getting a ristretto, evidently.)

50 Most Important Recordings
Year-end lists are one thing, but we’ve already been seeing a lot of decade-recapping lists, of movies, cultural points, etc. In its review of music in the Oughts (it says something about a decade when people don’t even agree on what to call it), NPR opted not to list the best, but the most influential. How else could you explain the inclusion of both Arcade Fire and Britney Spears?



Best commercials
In a similar vein: From AdWeek, an interactive feature on some of the best television advertising – that is, the ones not created to appear on Super Bowl broadcasts. Some very clever work here; my vote went on Cadbury’s fascinating ‘Gorilla’ spot, featuring a gorilla drumming along to Phil Collins. This is just feature among many; click on the banner to go to an index to explore other materials.



Aldous Huxley vs. George Orwell
Here’s a thought-provoking illustration about the dystopic visions of Huxley’s Brave New World and Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, with a compare-and-contrast text borrowed from media critic Neil Postman’s still-relevant 1985 work, Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman, who died six years ago, published the book long before many of the technologies depicted in the pictures shown here even existed, but his message is as clear as ever.



Star Wars status updates
From College Humor, a set of five faux Facebook status updates, with comments from various characters in the Star Wars universe. See why Obi-Wan Kenobi, for instance, jumped in with a rapid comment when Luke Skywalker got stoked with romantic thoughts about Princess Leia, or how a stormtrooper had remorse after a battle with the Ewoks.

John Gushue is a writer in St. John's, and is currently on leave from his job with CBC News in St. John's. John is on Twitter right here.

When you absolutely, positively need to get obliterated

 

When I was a university student, Extra Old Stock was the beer of choice for a lot of us - perhaps for the flavour, but more likely for the stupor. Extra Old Stock had six per cent alcoholic content, which gave you more blotto for the buck, as it were. (Hey, when you're on a budget, a 20 per cent alcohol advantage is nothing to sniff at.) 

Admitting that, I was astonished to read of the launch in Scotland of a special edition beer called Tactical Nuclear Penguin, which is - seriously - 32 per cent proof. It gets bragging rights, if that's what they are, for the world's strongest beer. 

Britain has a notorious record with binge drinking (closing hours at the pubs don't help; neither do pubs offering dirt-cheap promotions to get people in and quickly tanked). A brewery going out of its way to be obnoxiously provocative - the managing director told the BBC, "This beer is about pushing the boundaries, it is about taking innovation in beer to a whole new level" - almost seems like satire from within. 

Spice post

Our kitchen is a busy place, but a small one, which has meant we've had to be practical with fitting things into tight spaces. The Kitchn (yep, that's how it's spelled) has a how-to on making your own magnetic spice holder, which is an option I'd pursure - if I had enough wall space.

Planning meals

An interview with Ruth Reichl, who edited Gourmet magazine for its last decade, before its plug was pulled earlier this fall, in the Seattle Times caught my eye. Reichl has been making the rounds, promoting both a new PBS series (which is good, though I prefer its predecessor, Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie) and a new book.

Reichl made an excellent comment about why so many people are opting not to cook, but to buy so many of their meals prepared or ready to be heated:

"When people tell me they don't have time to cook, I tell them no, no, no; what you're telling me is that you don't have time to shop. If you took 30 minutes on the weekend to plan what you were going to cook all week, you could make sure you had everything on hand. If you knew what you were going to cook, you could cook dinner every night in less than 30 minutes."

My wife, who is much more clever than I am, has been pretty much doing things this way since I've known her. We plan most of our meals well in advance, although things get derailed from time or time - or, to be more charitable, just juggled. In any event, we've been able to make use of our pantry and freezer and make decent meals most nights, without breaking the bank nor spending too much time at all.

Maki your own sushi version of Barack Obama

My wife sent me this link, to an article about a sushi chef who made "maki masterpieces" featuring U.S. president Barack Obama. Click here to see more of how a pretty spectacular platter was composed.

Want to see more sushi that looks like faces? Why, there's a Flickr group for just that ...

A thought on trust

"Trust no one unless you have eaten much salt with him."
- Cicero

Burger list

I'm curious about the research that went into this project, but GQ has compiled the 20 best hamburgers in America. Clip, save, enjoy. (Thanks to Mike Browne for tip.)

Daily Dot: Holden that thought

The Catcher in the Rye was published July 16, 1951, giving millions of future teenagers the fodder they would need for book reports, and giving a smaller number a literary role model for angst-fueled behaviour.

My confession: I didn't get around to reading the ultimate adolescent novel until my 20s, and when I did, I found it ... underwhelming. ("That's it?", I recall, was my impression when I wrapped it up.) This may well be because Catcher in the Rye is one of those household-name books whose reputation is better known than its actual pages.