Jun 24 2013

Prometheus in Frankenstein

I wrote this essay during my second year at Virginia Tech. I received a 95% for the paper, but the professor docked 10 points because I never wrote a rough draft. Well excuse me! I didn’t realize that I was only allowed to be brilliant on the second attempt.

Prometheus in Frankenstein

The alternate title to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel Frankenstein is The Modern Prometheus. The novel itself is not a retelling of the myth, but instead is inspired by it. Shelley works the story into her novel by associating her protagonists with the titan Prometheus. It is the amalgamation of the myth’s classical and modern incarnations, as well as the social Promethain-esque events which form the basis for her novel, and it is through association that her characters take on certain titanic qualities.
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Jun 17 2013

Sonnet # 3 in B flat minor

Sonnet 3
John Everett

Two words are used to describe the same thing,
When man is without any company,
Opposing, though, are they in their meaning.
Has he solitude? Or is he lonely?

The first shows happiness without one’s friends.
In the second, sadness creeps in instead.
How can one root grow two different ends?
Any plant that did that would end up dead!

And yet one wants to put himself away,
Happy that time by others is not bound.
But then when Night comes to relieve the Day,
His heart aches that he has no one around.

We must cherish what we have that moment
Lest we by day or night be malcontent.

– Written November 12th, 2012

Jun 10 2013

A Selection of Sonnets

Summer Nights
The fireflies blink in the summer night
while crickets chirp by the riverside.
None has on his face the pallor of fright,
for the only sound is the trickling tide.
I relish these ev’nings; I always have.
I sit here with my loved ones next to me.
The soil is cool, the earth a dark enclave.
Our respite: to huddle with family.
I love the summer nights, the trees in bloom.
Golden wheat waves in the breeze slowly.
Death of fall has yet to rise from his tomb.
Leaves which Spring gave to trees drift mellowly.
I love these nights and the sweet things they share.
If they never ended, I’d have no care.
-Written April 2010
Just as Summer dies and gives way to cold,
we must surrender our youth to the young.
For some it is disease, some are just old,
but all give way and to our kin are sung.
Forever to live is not granted us.
For our progenitors lost it for all.
They ate the fruit; of God they were jealous.
Now we must toil until sleep in the pall.
And toil we do. From birth until our death
and watch those who came before go
to far lands and take with them their last breath.
Are we lucky? We will venture also.
Each comes here and at his time each departs.
They are gone but they live on in our hearts.
-Written April 2010
Jun 4 2013

Galaga (HONORABLE MENTION)

Original version: Galaga, released in 1981 for arcade

 

Welcome to my new category “HONORABLE MENTION,” which is reserved for games that just barely fall short of being timeless classics. Perhaps a game has a technical or gameplay flaw that holds it back, or perhaps a game’s core gameplay is completely eclipsed by a later game. Nevertheless, a game with the title of “HONORABLE MENTION” is still good and is deserving of an article; and if you were to play it you would probably have a great time. In the interest of fairness, only one game per year can receive this title.

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Jun 3 2013

Kaboom!

Original version: Kaboom!, released in 1981 for Atari VCS
I discussed in my review of the 1970s that Activision was the first third-party developer in video gaming. They took advantage of their new-found license to make games by producing a slew of titles for the Atari VCS, some of which were even good. OK, that’s a little harsh. Compared to the standard fair Activision’s games were better than average–well, most of them. Some games were still shovelware.

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May 27 2013

Guide to Emulation

Here’s a guide I wrote three years ago when I should have been writing essays for my classes. Classes that I eventually failed….. Anyway, I sure did put a lot of work into this!
I know this has some inaccuracies in the technical details. If you know the correct details, please point them out so I can correct this.
To skip to the next article, click here.
May 13 2013

Frogger

Original version: Frogger, released in 1981 for arcade

It’s not easy being green. Or yellow, for that matter. Frogger centers around the titular tree frog who needs to get to his home on the other side of the river. Seemingly the only part of Frogger anyone remembers is the first half of the screen with the cars, even though the river is the main course.
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Apr 29 2013

A Gaming Decade in Review: 1970s

Wow, is it already the end of the decade? It seems like such a short time that I have been covering the games of the 1970s, although a contributing factor may have been me covering only a few games from the whole decade. Well, at any rate we can take a look back now and see what has led us to this point. As we welcome the 1980s let’s appreciate the triumphs and (it is hoped) learn from the failures that came to pass.

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