Currently, I’m reading City of Bones by Cassandra Claire. I came across this one while browsing ebook titles for free on my nook during one of my many visits to Barnes and Noble. The first chapter intrigued me and I immediately put it on my wish list, where it sat for months until I had the scratch to throw at it. But now that I have it, I’m wondering what about it I found so interesting to begin with. Maybe my reading preferences have changed since last year, but were I to pick this up now, I likely wouldn’t plunk down the cash.

See, the problem I’ve noticed is that everyone in this book speaks in the exact same manner: rigid and waspy. Am I really supposed to believe that these two Brooklyn teenagers talk like NPR hosts and have amazing vocabularies, probably provided by a New York public school? No, sorry, I’m not buying this story.

And what the hell is with the constant bombardment of classic literature, art and, of all things, anime references? Miss Claire seems to want to show off her geeky knowledge of pop culture and books. But the references get irritating, at least for me.

I’m about 40% through with the book, so I’m hoping this will come together and really compel me to read on, if not download the next one. As long as it turns out to be better than Cinda Williams Chima’s piece of tripe The Warrior Heir (which I didn’t even bother to finish), then I’ll be satisfied with the purchase.

I was a lonely child.

Yep, that is what is left of my old virtual pet collection. Over the years about 4 or 5 have gone missing, some of which I was very fond of, including the Buzz Lightyear 3-in-1 virtual pet. I’m still hoping might turn up one day. You can see a video of it here.

The green and blue Tamas on the top right are the most recent additions, having been purchased around ’06/’07 when I worked at Toys R Us. They are Tamagotchi Connections v1 and v3, and the two that I decided to put new batteries in. However, the green one only lived for about a day because I realized how crappy the v1 Connections were and yanked the battery. The v3 was a vast improvement, so I decided to raise it exclusively. And today I was made the proud parent of an adult Pyonkotchi.

I know, you’re thinking, “Why the hell did you need so many virtual pets?” Well, I was a generally unhappy kid and my family tended to reward my good behavior and grades with whatever crap I was into at the time. Granted, a number of these were my brother’s, but the majority were mine. Hell, I have 3 versions of the cat, including: original, 2nd gen and KFC (yes, as in chicken) special edition.

But the one I obsessed over most of all was this:

Sabrina was one of my few girl crushes.

Yes, Salem the cat from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I LIVED for TGIF (unhappy kid, remember?) and Sabrina was not to be missed in my house. So when they turned Salem into a Giga Pet, I couldn’t rest until it was mine. Actually, it’s pretty amazing just how many Sabrina toys I had, none of which were meant for boys.

At some point I’m sure I’ll buy those damn button batteries and resurrect him for a week, but until then I’ll be seeing how long I can keep my Tamagotchi alive.

Filed under: Gadgets, Toys Tagged: 90s, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, tamagotchi, Toys, virtual pets ]]> http://hexijosh.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/virtual-pet-insanity/feed/ 1 hexijosh Virtual Pets adult-pyonkotchi Salem Giga Pet IMAG0142 http://hexijosh.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/random-tamagotchi-update-by-guest-blogger-stevo-punch-go/ http://hexijosh.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/random-tamagotchi-update-by-guest-blogger-stevo-punch-go/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:30:44 +0000 enamouredslave http://hexijosh.wordpress.com/?p=697 Continue reading →]]> Let the Tamagotchi Extravaganza BEGIN!

The chances are that if you’re reading this particular blog, you already know what a Tamagotchi is. If, however, you don’t, I’ll give you a little bit of a refresh.

REFRESH-ACTIVATE, GO!!!

Tamagotchi is the self-proclaimed “original virtual pet,” released in Japan around 1997. The Tamagotchi turned out to be a hit with not only girls but also boys.

Other companies jumped on the bandwagon and began releasing their own version of virtual pets. I divided these into three main categories:

1) Tamagotchi

2) Mainstream, which included brand name pets such as GigaPets and NanoPets

3) Knock-off Brands (including the Dinkie Dino and Dinkie Penguin which were actually not bad)

Anyway, the Master- er, I mean, Josh, has agreed to my suggestion to post blogs about Tamagotchi.

Now, let me say, Japan has had SO many consistent releases of Tamagotchis. You could literally make a hobby out of collecting JUST Tamagotchis- not including the merchandise that’s come from them, but just the pets themselves.

Another big issue I have is that, for whatever insane reason, the American releases have almost invariably been a parody of the Japanese versions. Instead of just taking the same electronics and translating them, someone gets the bright idea to remove features or change characters.

But that’s not what this entry is about.

No, friends, this entry is about the Tamatown Tama-Go and how furious it makes me.

On the upside, I have to say that I shouldn’t be complaining, since I got the Tamatown Tama-Go for free. How did that happen, you may ask? Simple: I had ordered it, but upon watching Youtube reviews, canceled my order: twice. The first time, my internet wasn’t working, and so Amazon.com didn’t send me a confirmation email. The second time, I was able to see both emails had gone through.

Tamatown TamaGo

Then, lo and behold, the company sent me an apology email, saying they had canceled my order, then shipped it anyway, and then said it was their mistake, and so I didn’t need to return the item.

So, what IS the Tamatown Tama-Go, you may ask?

Why, it’s the latest dumbed-down version of Tamagotchi, made specifically for non-Japanese!

Tamatown Tama-Go is a parody of the Tamagotchi+ Color/Tamagotchi iD in Japan. In other words, it’s not in color, and it lacks several features present in the Japanese versions.

Tamagotchi+ COLOR!

The toy itself is larger than an an ACTUAL egg and runs on two AAA batteries.

Now, the “creative” aspect of Tamatown Tama-Go is that it comes with a Tamagotchi figurine that you slide on top of it. The figurine that comes with the Tama-Go contains one game. Other figurines, sold separately, have more games and items, which you can only access when the figurine is slid on the top of the Tama-Go.

Now I know how Sailor Moon felt with her last wand…

Tama-Go has an easy-to-use pause feature that requires just pressing the A and B buttons. No problem there. And when you press them again, you will start back at the actual time and not at the time you left off. So that much is intriguing.

The sound is strange and filtered; you can tell someone put this product out there and was like, “Eh, good enough.” It has an echoing, muffled sound, if that makes sense.

The Tama-Go features several different gray colors in order to create backgrounds and such; your Tamagotchi is mostly hanging around his house.

And of course, the Tamagotchi+ Color’s feature of remodeling one’s house is included- except you can only choose from five different backgrounds, and it costs a whopping 5000 points to remodel the house.

The food is one of THE most disappointing aspects of the entire thing; you begin with the option of Pork and Beans for the meal and Milk for the snack. You can buy more items, but instead of actually expanding your food, you get a limited supply. This is, in a way, more realistic, but at the same time, it’s annoying, since even as early as the Tamagotchi Connection V3, there were four options BY DEFAULT for both the meal and the snack.

Of all the food in the world to make the “default” meal, WHY did it have to be Pork and Beans? Sounds to me like someone’s out to offend our Jewish brothers and sisters. Scummy anti-Semitic greed monsters making knock-offs of their own products…!

And really, MILK? Since when in the bloody hell has MILK been a snack? Milk is healthy; even in that blasted episode of Gumby with his square-boobed mother, milk is what they drink for their break, and his mother decides to bring crackers in as the “snack.”

Because we all know that saltines give our devilish parts a tingle.

Where was I? OH!

The Tama-Go is a step back compared to earlier versions, but this isn’t the first time a step back was taken, either. I recently also ordered a Tamagotchi Connection V4.5, which features five games plus mini-games, a mail system, the Tamagotchi going to school and later work, and “life points” that determine the Tamagotchi’s personality in the realms of Intelligence, Beauty, and Spirituality. The Tamagotchi V5, also known as the Familitchi, removes those features, though it does have other interesting aspects, but they still aren’t as developed.

The Tama-Go doesn’t go to school; it doesn’t go to work; it doesn’t have the mail function; it only has two games within the toy itself and additional games if you slide in a figurine.

Instead, it has the Door Option of going to the Shop, going to play Games, and going to the Park.

The Shop is no big deal; you can buy items or remodel your house. The Park is kind of cute in a way, as the Tamagotchi *may* run into another Tamagotchi, and then they play together.

The Games are the ONLY aspect of the Tama-Go I would even consider to be praiseworthy; Shoot the Bug may not sound exciting, but it’s actually kind of fun, and Long Jumper isn’t as easy as it sounds, but it, too, is more fun than Tamagotchi games of the past, many of which were ridiculously hard and sometimes confusing, since different games will decided that “Left and Right” are determined by “A and B” and others will make it “A and C.”

On a positive note, my first go-ground with the Tama-Go, I got KuroMametchi, who looks like a punk version of Mametchi. Mametchi is kind of the signature character of the Tamagotchi franchise, along with Mimitchi, Memetchi, and Kuchipatchi and a few other adorable Tamagotchi.

Kuromametchi

I should also point out something important: on the Tamagotchis of Old, one’s care for the Tamagotchi determined its eventual adult character.

Now, on the new Tamagotchis, this is true- to an extent. From what I can gather, you can basically abuse them in one stage but then bring their health up in another stage to get a better character. I *may* be incorrect about this.

The plan for the Tamatown Tama-Go now is to ship it off to Josh and let him review it as well.

My ultimate plan is to give away most of my Tamagotchis and end up with the Tamagotchi+ iD L 15th Anniversary version. This is THE latest release in Japan, debuting around last November, and it’s by far one of the nicest ones out there, with great characters and features. However, it also costs around $100, so it’s not a purchase to be made lightly or quickly.

Tamagotchi iD L 15th Anniversary

The downside of the Tamagotchi iD L 15h Anniversary version: it’s (allegedly) the same size as the freakin’ Tamatown, but at least it’s in color and has extended features, like being able to take your Tamagotchi to a restaurant, and, after having raised a few generations, your Tamagotchi being able to have dinner with its parents and grandparents. I like the sound of that!

We’ll see how that goes.

For my next entry, provided Josh doesn’t kill me over this one, I’ll try to post about the Tamagotchi Connection V4.5, which is my favorite so far.

Take it easy!

Stevo 

It wasn’t long before I bought my second pair, this time in the form of the ever-popular KSO. I figured they would be the best for every day use, since they hug the ankle and prevent debris from getting inside, unlike the Komodos. Well, I’ve worn them so much that I’ve put them in an early grave.

Somehow, I managed to wear a hole in each shoe, in exactly the same spot. I’m not really sure how I did that, unless this is some kind of defect, but I haven’t heard of this happening to anyone else.

I know you must be thinking, “Why would you want shoes that wear out like that?” And my only answer is that, once you try them you’ll understand. The first loss of a pair of Vibrams isn’t aggravating so much as heart breaking. It’s like watching a beloved pet run into traffic. Sure, I’ve still got my Komodos, but I try to reserve those for jogging or exercise. So until I have some income (thanks crappy Tuscaloosa job market), I’ll be bebopping around in them.

However, I have heard that with a bit of something called Shoe Goo, torn Vibrams can be partially restored to their former glory. For more info this method, check out this post over at Naturally Engineered.

So, it may be a sad day knowing that my KSOs will have to be put out to pasture, but at the same time I’m dreaming of what style I’ll buy next. I’m lookin’ at you, TrekSport.

If you’re interested in getting into the Vibram lifestyle, you have to check out Birthday Shoes. It’s the ultimate resource for all things minimal footwear. Happy walking!

*sniff* Smell that? It’s January. A new year has begun and we’re all looking forward to what new adventures it may hold. And some of us are looking forward to watching television.

January is the time most all our favorite shows come back from a winter’s nap, right as we’re growing bored with our new Christmas toys or spending the last fifty cents on our Barnes & Noble gift cards. Here are a few I’m looking forward to:

First up is Castle, which returns Monday, January 9. Castle became my obsession when I happened to catch the first episode of season 2 after watching Dancing with the Stars (I feel your dirty looks). For once being too lazy to walk across the room to find the remote paid off. I was well aware of the show during its first season, but at the time my list of must-watch shows was too big and I wasn’t willing to take on the extra workload (I’ve since parsed down my DVR’s record list). I became so hooked on season 2 that I ran out, got season 1 and watched it over the weekend.

I honestly can’t remember where I heard the early buzz for this book. All I do remember is putting it on my wishlist and checking the release date every Tuesday for at least a month before I was finally able to download it to my nook. I gotta say, it was well worth the wait.

Don’t Let Me Go is told from the point of view of Nate, a gay high school senior recounting his relationship with Adam, his first and only boyfriend, and the many events that bind them together. When Adam leaves Texas to work off off-Broadway for a few months, things threaten to fall apart and their love is put through some heavy trials.

Let me just say, I had some worries early on, thinking that this could turn out to be some shallow romance story of young gay love (*cough* Boy Meets Boy *cough*), but the more I read, the more I was hooked. There were more than a few nights that I didn’t get in bed until 3AM because I didn’t want to stop reading. I was just that involved in the story, which is a rarity for me as most books have to fight for my attention. I don’t take the world of fiction very lightly, boys and girls.

What J.H. Trumble managed to do here was capture that teenage passion and emotion so accurately, it was almost unnerving. Multiple times in the book I would catch something all too similar to my own experiences 10 years ago (sometimes less, but let’s not go there), whether it be fights with boyfriends, that dramatically unyielding desire to be with someone or simple interactions between former friends. I could see pieces of myself in Nate, Adam and Luke (a closeted gay boy in Nate’s school) to the point where I actually felt embarrassed realizing my own past actions were mirrored on the page. I know so, so many readers, gay or straight, will see themselves there too and it’s one of the things that make this book such a valuable read regardless of age, gender or orientation.

These characters are so honest and real that their actions can make you sting or your heart melt. I liked these people and enjoyed learning their ins, outs, desires and motivations. Hell, I, the self-professed anti-romance cynic (newly appointed as of Summer 2011) even got misty eyed over moments between Nate and Adam. Granted it didn’t make me want to run out and start dating again, but it did remind me of what it felt like to throw yourself into someone heart and soul (read the book, you’ll get it), regardless of consequence.

If Goodreads allowed half stars, this would be a 4.5, missing the 5 star mark only because I’m stingy with the stars and I have some minor issues with the last 2 chapters. But hey, that’s only due to the fact that I’m a cynical bastard with just a few blocks’ walk to Thirtiesville.

But don’t let my curmudgeony attitude deter you. READ THIS! I absolutely loved it and will be pushing it on my friends startinnnnng…now.

View all my reviews

But guess what, kids…I did it!

That’s right. On my second year trying, I actually crossed that finish line with 24 hours to spare. And none too soon, as motor functions were all my brain was able to manage by November 30th.

I called my story Bound, which is actually an idea I’ve had for years, but never took the time to sit down and write. Trying to explain it usually leaves people confused, so let’s just say it’s a gay sci-fi/horror/mystery. And the most miraculous part is that I don’t absolutely hate the final product. In fact, I’m pretty pleased with it, with a few exceptions. There are definitely some things I want to change or throw out completely, but that’s normal.

Along with this accomplishment I gained a new boldness. In the past, I never let anyone read any of my writing until I had slaved over editing it to the point where I felt less ashamed of it (I think I’ll always have a little bit of disgust with whatever craps out the back of my brain). But this time, before I even took the time to go back to dot the i’s and mind my q’s, p’s or any other consonants, I used the magic of Google Docs to upload the file and send sharing requests to some of my more trusted homo buddies. I figure, what better way to gauge the changes I need to make than to get instant feedback from my friends? And so far it’s working fairly well. I’ve targeted a few choice chapters that will soon get hacked to pieces, then reform bigger and better like those magic brooms that gave Mickey Mouse grief.

As a bit of a morale booster, my sexy friend and all-round awesome guy, Donn Kinney, created a cover art to put with my manuscript.

Any time I felt like I was on the verge of insanity, I would look at that and think “Well, if he can go to the trouble of doing that for me, I can at least finish this crappy thing.” Donn is an incredible artist who specializes in doll making. You can check out his work on deviantART and his online store, Bishonen House.

Without his help and the support of friends and my small, but amazing, local group of NaNoWriMo participants, I know I wouldn’t have accomplished it this year. I even bought myself a little memento.

And you know what? Looking back at it, I don’t know what I was so afraid of. Yes, writing 50,000+ words in a month is a strain on the creativity gland (yes, it’s real. It’s slightly uvula-esque. Go ahead, look it up), but the sense of satisfaction you get once it’s all over is worth taking the month of December to recuperate.

I’m actually looking forward to next November, not just because it could be the last NaNoWriMo before the zombie apocalypse, but because I’m hoping to do even better next time. I hope some of you will join me.

Check out NaNoWriMo.org for more information on how to participate and get involved with a local group.

Oh, and a gratuitious photo of me last night, pre-Spice Girl zig-a-zig aah dancing (don’t ask).

Last week Nintendo quietly launched a little downloadable app for the 3DS called Swapnote (Nintendo Letter Box for the UK), and since then I haven’t put my 3DS down.

The idea behind Swapnote is to create 3D postcard-like doodles and photos to send to friends registered on your system through the SpotPass feature. You can select a few or all of your friends to send messages to, which will be downloaded to their systems the next time they’re around a wifi connection. Recipients can then respond to messages (either visible to all fellow recipients who are mutual friends, or just the original sender). The end result is community driven fun!

The first day I received about 5 dick drawings (some much better than others), which is to be expected when all but 1 of your 50+ 3DS friends is of the queer persuasion. Unfortunately, no one has taken the initiative to just take a 3D wang shot and blast it out. What’s taking so long, boys?

However, a few very sexy shirtless photos have popped into my inbox, so I guess I shouldn’t look the gift horse in the ass.

There are some drawbacks:

•  Each recipient is only allowed a single response to any message.

• Creators of the original message cannot respond on their own messages.

• Each recipient can only see responses from people who are also registered on their systems (another BS “safety” measure by Nintendo to protect the children).

• Your response to a message does NOT appear in-line with others. For some stupid reason, your response will sit at the top of the list, even if you sent it last.

• There is no keyboard for text, meaning everything must be hand-written. This is a huge drawback if you or one of your friends has crap handwriting. Plus, resistive touch screens such as those used in the DS family can only allow for so much accuracy. This means no matter how perfectly straight you draw a line, it’s still going to look squiggly.

Some of these gripes seem minor, but they put a lot of restrictions on how carry out conversations through the application. This is supposed to be Nintendo’s (long overdue) version of a messaging feature that is prevalent in EVERY OTHER MAJOR CONSOLE. It’s a commendable first effort, but there has to be some changes made, which we all know won’t happen. It just isn’t Nintendo’s style to fix the things they release pre-borked.

Whatever, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun and even though it has a 3,000 message limit, I’m already approaching 1,000.

If anyone out there has a 3DS and wants to do some note swapin’, give me an add: 0301-9783-9629. Just remember to leave a comment with your own code, as adding friends has to be mutual.

Happy swapping!

I downloaded Currents immediately and fell in love. Right off the bat you’re presented with a selection of featured news sources to get you started. These can be easily removed and others added with the press of an icon. Currents launched with a great selection of partners who had already formatted their articles for the app and that list should only grow.

It’s obvious Google is interested in pursuing this new magazine-style format instead of the classic RSS aggregator, which might leave many devotees of Google Reader (such as myself) worried about the future of RSS. I use Reader religiously, pulling together everything from web comics to podcasts to news sites, and while I have begun using Currents just as often, there are still some things I like using Reader for.

For instance, Currents doesn’t have the ability to bookmark or star articles that you might want to come back to later, but that could easily be added in a future update. The other downside is that while Reader is constantly up-to-date and only fetches information when you want it, Currents must be set to sync every 6, 12 or 24 hours. This is due to the fact that currents pulls entire articles and accompanying links and pictures to the device and saves them into memory, ensuring that you don’t need an internet connection if you want to browse a few articles on CNET while on the bus or in a waiting room.

Another downside is that the user apparently has no control over when Currents syncs with the exception of selecting an option to sync only when the device is charging. This is a great feature for phones, as they usually have to be plugged in at least once a day, but on a tablet, which usually doesn’t need a charge more than once every 2-3 days, the option pretty much needs to be turned off. The problem? Currents is a huge battery suck and a major background process. I noticed the life of my Galaxy Tab 10.1 dropped from 3+ days to just barely more than 2. After a glance at the system menu to see what was draining my battery so fast, I saw Currents was number 3 on the list, coming in behind the screen and wifi. That’s pretty massive for an app, especially one set to sync only every 12 hours.

If you’re a Reader user, there is some (very) basic integration, meaning you can add RSS feeds you’re already subscribed to directly from a menu in Currents. The only problem is that, while Currents does a great job converting the feed to articles on its own, it doesn’t sync back to Reader and displays as page after page of articles with no categorization. Hopefully more sites will fix this on their end by using Google’s tools to format just for Currents.

Speaking of formatting, some sources do it better than others. Take a look at ABC News. 

All nice and pretty, right? It looks like an actual magazine and you’re presented with four categories to swipe through. Not interested in reading what Rick Perry has done to make everyone hate him this week? That’s fine, just jump to the Entertainment section!

Here’s a shot of CNET’s format:

Pretty smooth, huh? However, some sources (I’m looking at you, Huffington Post) aren’t so good with the formatting.

So let’s say an article from the Huffington Post has a photo gallery or a video that isn’t supported by Currents and you want to go to the website to look at these. If the appropriate links aren’t put directly in the article you won’t be able to get to them from within the app, leaving the user to back out, open the web browser and surf to HuffPo to search for the article on their own. It’s incredibly frustrating and I’m amazed no one has addressed it yet. However, most news sources don’t have this problem and provide a bevy of links within each article.

Currents has already gained a good following, which will hopefully lead to speedy updates from Google to keep users happy and prevent them from straying to Flipboard (if you’re on iOS). I’ve got to say, I’m sold already, but there’s a lot of work to do before this thing will blow other competing readers out of the water.

For an application that is in its infancy, Google Currents manages to hold its own, giving it a resounding thumbs-up from me.