The Run

Author's note: This piece was originally a writing exercise at the 2010 National Writing Project. But I liked the idea and eventually developed it into a short story. Since then, it made its way into the Writing Project’s anthology and received favorable responses.

While the story is based on the game, Halo 3, I tried to make it as accessible to readers who are not familiar with the series--or even with video games--as possible. For that reason, aside from a few dialogues, the story has no specific references to the Halo universe. Nevertheless, fans of the series will no doubt find this writing familiar in many ways.

Mass Effect Redemption Review

It does not always give me a good feeling when I see a video game franchise grow and migrate to other mediums. Too many film adaptations, for instance, had turned out to be crappy on the big screen, ruining an otherwise great game universe. Fortunately, not everything is bad, and there are quite a few good adaptations out there. Besides books, I also enjoy video game comics quite a bit. Though, similarly to movies, they tend to fluctuate greatly, there are some really good ones—such as Dead Space, a true masterpiece from award winning artist Ben Templesmith. Recently, this small group of good video game comics grew with a new arrival: Mass Effect Redemption.

Aiptek AHD - H12 Test

The saying “you get what you paid for” describes Aiptek’s latest digital camcorder perfectly. I purchased the AHD - H12 during Memorial Day weekend for the reasonable amount of $200. Even though I had my suspicion that, for this price, the image quality cannot be too good, I went ahead and purchased it anyway. A full HD video camera for this price was just too darn good to let it get away. I figured, if I can get a decent 720p quality out of 1080p, it was already worth it!

Alan Wake Book Review

Before I begin, I have to confess: I have not yet played Alan Wake. Even though I am very interested in this latest Xbox classic, I am an old fashioned guy and not a big fan of downloadable content; something that I am sure Alan Wake will receive plenty of in the future. As much as I would love pick up the controller and get lost in the chilling world of Alan Wake, I decided to wait for a game-of-the-year edition, which hopefully will contain all the DLCs. Nevertheless, not playing the game did not stop me from dwelling into the book based on the video game and getting a little taste of what millions of players are experiencing on the TV screens.

World's Funniest Test Answers?

Well, perhaps. They are definitely funny though... :D

Four States Mustang Show

This morning, on the way back from the store, I stumbled upon a crowd, gathering at the parking lot of the local mall. Since I had some time to spare, I decided to check it out. It turned out to be the annual Four States Mustang Club show, with quite a few hot rides on display. Here are a few pictures I've taken until my camera’s battery gave out… :P

1973 GT

Slooh Space Photographs

For those of you who doesn't know what is Slooh: it is an Internet-based telescope service. Registered users are able to follow the three Slooh telescopes, set up in three distant parts of the world (Spain, Chile, and Australia). Though you can request time with the telescopes, mostly you just follow pre-programmed coordinates and listen to the narrator (Bob Berman) explaining what you see. It is pretty much like an interactive multimedia software, except that you see live feed from real telescopes. If you became interested follow this link; they have a free trial.

In the meantime, here are some pictures I have taken with Slooh's service (click on them for a larger view):

Orion Nebula (M 42)