Wade Garret's World

By Kyle Daly @dalykyle Since Super Mario World came out for the Super Nintendo on November 21, 1990, war and famine have taken untold millions of lives, nations have risen and fallen, and some dudes in an obscure corner of the Internet have dedicated countless hours to making insane obstacle courses for Mario and then beating them. As we all know, every single conceivable thing in all possible worlds has its own Internet subculture dedicated to it, almost invariably complete with a 1999-era forum to bring enthusiasts together. No exception, Super Mario World hacking has a new hero in YouTube user PangaeaPanga, who spent three years assembling and now beating “Item Abuse 3,” a custom creation touted as “the hardest Super Mario World level in existence.” The results are oddly hypnotic: PangaeaPanga accomplished the feat using a Super Nintendo emulator that allows for tool-assisted speedruns—video game pla...

A great science fiction book   Andrew I received a free copy of the book through goodreads first reads. 3.5/5 stars. A good book filled with interesting characters and a rich, full world that is massive in scope. It was a little hard to get into the book in earlier chapters because of all of the references to places/words/events/etc. that you have no real knowledge of what, where, or who it is talking about. Once you get farther in the book, however, all of it begins to come together and you have a better understanding of how deep and complex the world in this series actually is. Another thing that was difficult in the beginning was how the perspective kept changing between the characters, told from one characters perspective in one paragraph, a different character in the next, and back again to the first character in a third paragraph. Once you get used to it, however, this approach was actually fairly interesting as it ...

All work and no play makes Jack psychotic:  Jack Nicholson in The Shining (1980)   Photo: Warner Bros This week, a YouGov poll found that people in Britain would prefer to be an author than have any other job. Of 15,000 people surveyed, each of whom were offered a variety of 'dream careers', 60 per cent said they would like to be an author. In comparison, only 31 per cent said they'd like to be a Hollywood film star, 41 per cent opted for interior designer and 29 per cent wanted to be a chef. I’ve been a full-time author for the last nine years, writing dozens of books on sport, celebrity, politics and dogs. And let me tell you, it doesn't always feel like a dream career to me. Let me explain why. 1. The money ain’t what you think it is When you dream of being an author, you probably imagine the million-pound advances co...

I absolutely loved the hook and the writing style , February 17, 2015 By  Andy.P This has been a very difficult book to read and review. To begin with, I absolutely loved the hook and the writing style. From the characters dialogue to the quotes at the beginning of chapters, I very much enjoyed the author's skill at constructing a complicated world with interesting people. The downside is that there's little or no explanation or back-story given for anything. Right from the beginning, we are told it is the “third age”. OK, the third age of what? Why is this the third age? What happened to the second age? These questions and more are never answered. This author has great potential and is probably a terrific lecturer or essay writer. This book has everything it needs to make it a great story except the story itself. It lacks both narrative and description. I finished reading it because I enjoyed the style. The read...

Frankulstein was done in cooperation between the Volda University College animation department and ULSTEIN. Click link for behind-the-scenes footage.

Whenever someone questions the logic of a film, book or TV show, it's almost inevitable someone will trot out Alan Moore's 'This is an Imaginary Story' quote from Superman #423 in response. But they're using it wrong - and in the process, completely missing the point of what Moore was saying. First off, it's ridiculous to pass off a critique of a piece of fiction with the comeback of 'it's not real, so it doesn't matter'. There's a place in science fiction for stepping away from 'competency porn' and breaking into fantastical scenarios that might fall apart the moment you pick away at the surface (but offer something compelling upon a first viewing), but it doesn't make something not making sense any less valid, just because it's a piece of fiction. That's not how things work - otherwise, what would be the point of any logic in storytelling? You could just have something made of complete nonsense and ...

Charles Bukowski's poem, "So You Want to Be a Writer," doesn't exactly fall under the category of inspiration. Yet it's a piece that writers will likely identify with, struggle with, and perhaps eventually embrace. Bukowski doesn't mince words. His poem is sharp, caustic, merciless. All that, and yet it manages to get down to the nitty gritty of what it means to be a writer.   Bukowski himself was a published author by his 20s, but dropped writing shortly thereafter. He spent the next 20 years working a string of dead-end jobs around the country, eventually settling into a position at a Los Angeles post office. Bukowski claims he returned to writing the day he quit his job with the U.S. Postal Service.  He was prolific during his writing years, publishing more than 40 books. What impulse drove him to write, and what kept him silent for so long? Perhaps this poem offers a bit of insight. If nothing else, it begs the reader to question the strengt...