your-critic.com
Your Critic is in Another Castle: Antichamber, Unhealthy Relationships, and putting Mass Effect in the Smithsonian (again).
http://www.your-critic.com/2013/02/antichamber-unhealthy-relationships-and.html
Your Critic is in Another Castle. Tuesday, February 26, 2013. Antichamber, Unhealthy Relationships, and putting Mass Effect in the Smithsonian (again). Back in December, I got an e-mail that made my day. It was an editor for Smithsonian Magazine. Asking if I'd be interested in taking on a short piece looking at the use of film noir style lighting in video games. My picture is on the Contributors page. And yes, that's the piece that inspired my meditation on light. And I got to review Antichamber. August ...
strawberryspice.wordpress.com
May Daring Bakers: Croquembouche | Strawberry Spice
https://strawberryspice.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/may-daring-bakers-croquembouche
Cooking the spicy and the sweet in a yellow kitchen. Cherry Brown Butter Bars →. May Daring Bakers: Croquembouche. May 27, 2010. Yummmmm. And faaaaaiiiiilll. Those are the two words that sum up my experience with this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge. I sat out last month, because the recipe called for suet, and even though we could use substitutions, just the word “suet” freaked me out enough to turn away. But this month, oh, this month I was excited! This was so easy and delicious that I think I might h...
your-critic.com
Your Critic is in Another Castle: I Am Andrew Carnegie
http://www.your-critic.com/2014/09/i-am-andrew-carnegie.html
Your Critic is in Another Castle. Thursday, September 4, 2014. I Am Andrew Carnegie. I surveyed the land, then built my home exactly where I pleased: just far enough away from the railroad station and center of government, but close enough to them for easy access. Right on the river, with a nice view. Knocked down some old-growth trees and local flora to do it, but the land was mine to command. Then I expanded the mansion, until the gaudy gold-plated curiosity became the centerpiece of the town. Villains...
your-critic.com
Your Critic is in Another Castle: The Surprising Moral Clarity of Mass Effect 3
http://www.your-critic.com/2012/12/the-surprising-moral-clarity-of-mass.html
Your Critic is in Another Castle. Saturday, December 29, 2012. The Surprising Moral Clarity of Mass Effect 3. I've been working on a commissioned feature about film noir lighting in video games. Without going into what I'm writing in that essay, my very first thought was: "Oh, that's easy. I've played Mass Effect 2. No, wait: it's Thane! Of course, we all know where the road paved with good intentions leads. The essay in question will be running in early 2013, and I have been asked to make it current, to...
your-critic.com
Your Critic is in Another Castle: A Combustible Lemon - This is That Post
http://www.your-critic.com/2011/05/combustible-lemon-this-is-that-post.html
Your Critic is in Another Castle. Tuesday, May 3, 2011. A Combustible Lemon - This is That Post. This is my Portal 2 post. ;) I'm going to put most of it behind a cut for the sake of avoiding spoilers, particularly of the single-player campaign. I'm nice like that. Orange wouldn't do that for you, and Blue and I both know it. I honestly have to just make a big fat bullet list, because there are so many things we can all talk about. The first was an all-female cast. Speaking of female casting, in Portal 2.
your-critic.com
Your Critic is in Another Castle: The Game of Life: No Cheat Codes Available
http://www.your-critic.com/2013/09/the-game-of-life-no-cheat-codes.html
Your Critic is in Another Castle. Wednesday, September 11, 2013. The Game of Life: No Cheat Codes Available. You are in the NURSERY. There is a CRIB here. You hear a PURRING SOUND. You are carrying a BABY. Put baby in crib. You cannot put the baby in the crib. There is a CAT in the crib. It is purring in its sleep. Remove cat from crib. There is an INDIGNANT CAT on your feet. Put baby in crib. There are definite elements of Tetris. Sometimes it's a racing game (perhaps the Rainbow Road track from Mario K...
your-critic.com
Your Critic is in Another Castle: The Age of the Dragons, Part III: The Epic of Ser Cullen
http://www.your-critic.com/2015/01/the-age-of-dragons-part-iii-epic-of-ser.html
Your Critic is in Another Castle. Thursday, January 8, 2015. The Age of the Dragons, Part III: The Epic of Ser Cullen. I said on Twitter, as I played through Dragon Age: Inquisition. That I was developing a theory. The best representative of the player, I mused, isn't actually the Inquisitor, the player character. The best representative of the player is, in fact, their advisor Cullen. And now I will try to explain. The same Commander K. Shepard, as seen in ME1, 2, and 3. Even when I play different Comma...
your-critic.com
Your Critic is in Another Castle: Sashaying Through the Normandy
http://www.your-critic.com/2011/05/sashaying-through-normandy.html
Your Critic is in Another Castle. Monday, May 9, 2011. Sashaying Through the Normandy. Did a lot of things right, and famously so. I have. About my experience with the first game. I don't think I know a soul who doesn't consider Mass Effect 2. To be a great improvement on the first. It placed as nearly everyone's. But oh, ME2. One place where your predecessor went so right, you went so very, very wrong. Shep scopes out Miranda Lawson. Right from the start of ME2. Is Jack. Jack who wanders around 80% ...
your-critic.com
Your Critic is in Another Castle: Why I Play
http://www.your-critic.com/2015/03/why-i-play.html
Your Critic is in Another Castle. Monday, March 2, 2015. There is always something worth finding if you go to the farthest edges of the map. I don’t like to play mages or wizards. I do enjoy being an archer, a sniper, or an assassin sneaking through shadows. I value loyalty less than I value compassion. I naturally gravitate toward diplomacy and the resolution of conflict. I worry less about threats to me than I do about threats to the people I love. It is not where I go that matters. See more at: http:/...
your-critic.com
Your Critic is in Another Castle: The Age of the Dragons, part II: The Tragedie of Kirkwalle
http://www.your-critic.com/2012/01/age-of-dragons-part-ii-tragedie-of.html
Your Critic is in Another Castle. Monday, January 9, 2012. The Age of the Dragons, part II: The Tragedie of Kirkwalle. Two households, both alike in dignity,. In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,. From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,. Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes. A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;. Whole misadventured piteous overthrows. Do with their death bury their parents' strife. That the story would end badly. The ...
