Alpha Core

I already posted about escape games earlier, where I stated that Escape Game [Vision] was maybe the best of this kind I played until then. Well, I think I must add another one to my list:

Casual Gameplay Escape was released yesterday in Weekday Escape on Jay is Games and hooked me completely with it’s new approach to the topic ‘escape the room’. The game is the result of a collaboration between Jay is Games and Sean Hawkes, who is – until now – better known as the developer of puzzle games, such as the clack series (Clack, Clack 2). And maybe this is also the secret why I love Casual Gameplay Escape so much.

You are locked in a room as usually, but instead of clicking around for tools, which might help you in your task of getting out of the room, you solve puzzles. And with puzzles I don’t mean these old ones that reoccur in every third escape game. No, the puzzles here are challenging and refreshing at the same time, think outside the box and work with the hints in the sparingly equipped room. It goes without saying that you find the walkthrough at Jay is Games.

The only drawback in regard to Escape Game [Vision] is that Casual Gameplay Escape has absolutely no background story whatsoever.

If you’re not a software developer, this article will bore you immensely and it is therefore ill-advised to continue reading. If you are a software developer, it will most likely bore you as well, but at least you’re used to it then. Read more

Putt Base is a well designed physics-based puzzler in which you try to putt a golf ball. This might sound easy enough, but the play field slows you down a lot and there’s not exactly a straight path towards the goal. That’s why in most levels you get some parts (like bumpers, corners, etc.) which you can place on the field to help you to get the ball to the hole. I espacially like the artwork, which gives a very comfortable feeling to the game. Thanks to Jayisgames where I found out about this one.

Most people are quite familiar with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), but have you already heard of OpenOffice.org?

It is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose. And yes, you also can open and save Microsoft Office files with it. Read more

In Orbitrunner, you control the Sun with your mouse. Use it to manipulate the planets’ paths. The Sun’s pull gets stronger as planets get closer. If the gravity is at a right angle to the direction of travel, an orbit can form. Make sure planets don’t leave the screen or collide!

It’s an OK game, but it starts getting on the nerves after the gazillionth attempt to keep a bunch of planets with colliding tendencies on the screen. The first few levels are the nicest actually, because you can draw some nice patterns on the screen with them.

Tom already went to Paradisio with some friends last year, when I couldn’t join. Since then Tom promised to visit the park together with me again, and that’s what we did a few days ago. After his last visit Tom posted quite enthusiastically about how amazing everything was and I really have to agree with it! We had a lovely day with lots of beautiful, friendly, funky and sometimes also a bit scary animals. Read more

This picture was taken during our stable fest at the beginning of August 2008. In the course of this the riders, and amongst them Noli and me, sported a short show for the audience.  I’m carrying the German flag, representing the dressage riding, whereas the riders in the background, riding western, are carrying the American flag. The audience was thrilled by our performance and Noli, me and the other riders and horses had a lot of fun as well.

The Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing are already in progress since August 8th 2008 and will continue until August 24th 2008. As I enjoy watching other people doing sports a lot, I normally can’t even be stopped by the seemingly most boring kinds of sports. Just this time it’s different, because competitions take place during the prime viewing time in Beijing, which unfortunately is during the night here in Europe. Anyway, if you happen to have nineteen sleepness nights just now, you can spend those with watching all competitions online on the live streaming video portal of the European Broadcast Union (EBU), which delivers online Olympic images to audiences across Europe and beyond. The EBU video portal provides twelve live stream channels from the Olympic Games with Live Event Sound (needs to be opened with Internet Explorer).

If you still missed something be sure to check out the medal count on the official website of the Beijing Olympic Games 2008.

Update (August, 22nd): EBU video portal and medal count page now require authentication and are no longer available it seems.

I recently watched The Number 23:

a psychological thriller starring Jim Carrey as a man whose life unravels after he comes into contact with an obscure book titled The Number 23. As he reads the book, he becomes increasingly convinced that it is based on his own life. His obsession with the number 23 starts to consume him, and he begins to realize the book forecasts far graver consequences for his life than he could have ever imagined..

I found it to be a quite satisfying movie. The most bizarre thing however happened right after, when I quickly went out to buy some items before shops close and the cashier informed me of the sum I had to pay. Check out the picture of my shopping bill to the left. No, I didn’t freak out and ran out of the shop or anything, but still, strange isn’t it? I thought it was rather coincidental. Hope the number doesn’t start haunting me now.

For those who are interested, here’s the official website and the trailer of the movie:

Vanaf april 2008 tot juli 2008 nam ik deel aan een gevorderdencursus Nederlands aan de universiteit van Hamburg. In juli hebben we daar een examen geschreven, om ons voor de volgende cursus te kwalificeren. Op de dag voor het examen, heeft een van de andere cursusten aan iedereen deze link gestuurd, zodat we allen nog vlug ons ‘innerlijk midden’ kunnen vinden, voordat we het examen schrijven. Op die pagina kan je grappige filmpjes bekijken over het klussen en verder informatie krijgen over de veiligheid bij het klussen. Mijn favoriete film is die over ‘de kunst van het hout bewerken’.

Het blijkt alsof ik mijn innerlijk midden nog juist op tijd gevonden heb, want ik ben geslaagd!