real life, and the escapes thereof.

So, we recently happened upon some beautiful and cleverly-crafted, highly imaginative games which help keep the doldrums away.

The first of which is the Graveyard, which i found through Hip.Young.Thing. Very slow and thoughtful and beautiful... more of a short "scene" than a "game", but a virtual reality which i found extremely relaxing and a bit hard to leave. Truly realistic atmospheric sounds (dog barking, birds chirping, wind rustling) and a gorgeously realized bright-then-dark cloudy sky. Only wish there was a bigger area to explore. i could go at that pace forever! Shifts your brain into a different gear. Definitely hang in there for the macabre ditty that comes out of nowhere at the midway point.

Next up was Windosill, another amazing visual journey from Vectorpark. i cannot recommend this game enough– lots of intuitive problem-solving, simple but unique artwork with hushed and dreamy tones, and a pretty spot-on physics engine. Very captivating and wondrous! Just like being a kid again. Makes me want to say "sublime", even though i (recently, eep) discovered that i've been using that word incorrectly. i always thought it meant sort of subtly amazing, or possessing an understated brilliance; turns out that the word is a little more overt than that. But either way you slice it, it's still the word i choose here. Fun, fun, fun. The first thing we'd seen from these folks was Feed the Head, which is a decidedly sillier game, even though the overall tone is similar. There is a head. On the screen. Click it and see what happens! With Vectorpark, please don't hesitate to click absolutely everything, more than once, even. You won't be disappointed.

Lastly, the super-cute platform game Paper Moon. Graphically, it resembles a cartoonish pop-up book brought to life. The music fits well, and the game itself is fun enough. i mostly enjoyed it for the art and the genius interactive effect (the spacebar!), and hopefully you will too.

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Unrelated: It's Mother's Day week at the shop. When i take my clothes off at the end of the day, little bits of eucalyptus and rose petals fall onto the floor, from don't ask me where. i can't open my hands all the way because they are so tight from being wet all day, and also covered with painful cuts and pricks. i can only imagine what our farmer friends are going through. Good luck to you all.

In addition, today was Cinco de Mayo, the most recent Excuse-for-bored-and-overpriveleged-people-to-drink holiday 'round these parts, the last being St. Patty's Day, of course (green beer!). So the sidewalk this afternoon was filled with drunk idiots in sombreros careening by on bikes and shouting at their friends as to when and where the next Happy Hour is. i saw a 50-year-old guy wearing a shirt that said Strippers Love My Pole, and witnessed another older man ask some ladies to "show [their] tits", because "it's Mardi Gras! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!", while motioning in a painfully awkward "raise-the-roof" fashion. The clouds of cologne were practically deafening, and the click of high-heels ever-present. Garnet Avenue has become wearisome, indeed. It's fuckin' sordid, really. Apologies for the language. i'm working on my sailor-mouth, but old habits die hard, don't ya know.

In the end, it was Cyndi Lauper and the Everly Brothers who saved the day. Thanks, guys.





and a bonus, from Tommy James and the Shondells:



'night.