Please excuse me as I pick my jaw off the ground. For those of us who cannot ever get enough of Mario, check out what some very creative contestants on a Japanese game show created. Its a live action Mario Brothers puppet show submitted by Chunnel.tv. At the end of the puppet show, the contestants cheer with excitement, because they somehow already know the magic they have just created.

I wrote this the other day and KNEW I wasnt going to to post it here. Why? Because I knew I would get ripped to shreds by a select few. Upon getting so much response and support for it on other sites, I changed my mind.

So to the few that want to rip anything I post to shreds just because Im a girl, Ill be smiling at your comments. The following is what I wrote about Women in Gaming.

:)

When I decided I wanted to start writing about my passions, sports and video games, I knew that there are going to be people out there who obviously know more about the categories than I do. But something that troubles me is when I post a video game article on "video game sites", I get completely torn apart by all the males that seem to know everything there is to know about the industry. Every video game player always thinks they know more about video games than the next person. Insults about my gender quickly follow any post which always seem to include the line "go make me a sandwich". These statements no doubt anger me to the point I want to shove that sandwich they speak of somewhere that is not appropriate to state. A sense of anger would overwhelm me when I would read comments about my posts.

After numerous hateful comments, I started googling the behavior towards women in the video game industry and found out I was not alone. Though not everyone is an ignorant chauvinist, cruel comments and "ganging up" on females during online video game play is quite rampant. I have recently become a strong supporter of women's future in the gaming industry when I ran across a video about the original women in gaming. To be honest, I had no idea that women have played key roles in many classic games since the 80's. Women like Donna Bailey (programmer of Centipede) and Carol Shaw (first video game designer) that are talked about in the video seemed to comfort me. I thought about how much these women have been influences and broke into a completely male dominated industry and paved the way for women to have a future. Though the gaming industry is very slow to adapt, more and more of Corporate America is opening their doors to women.

Thankfully Web 2.0 has come along and open the door to social communities where girls can gather and not feel so hated and alone in the video game world. Sites like GrrlGamer.com, GamerVixens.com (still in beta) and WomenGamers.com are all sites that create a welcoming atmosphere. I look forward to the day of posting a blog article to a "hardcore gamer" site and having a legitimate debate with someone about the topic without being terrified to check the comments.

When I feel frustrated about the way other women are treated, I watch this video and it makes me hold my head up and be proud for writing about what I love and what women have done for the industry that I love so much.




If the video doesnt work (not sure if embed button is compatible with that particular video site) click the following and it will take you my blog article where the video can be viewed.
http://imaguysgirl.blogspot.com/2009/01/women-in-gaming.html

My First Video Game Review: Bonsai Blast



Name of Game: Bonsai Blast
Platform: Iphone/Ipod Touch/Android
Game Developer: Glu Mobile
Game Publisher: Glu Mobile
Link: http://www.glu.com/noram/pages/product.aspx?pr=Bonsai+Blast
Reviewed by: Blythe Brumleve
Word Count: 612


When I first heard the game titled "Bonsai Blast", I pictured a plant with a mean set of scissors that I would have to take care everyday Ala a tamagotchi game. Much to my surprise, Bonsai Blast was an amazing adaptation of one of my favorite games, bejeweled.

Bonsai Blast is a puzzle game that uses a stationary position to shoot colored marbles to the matching color. For every 3+ marbles that you match, the snake line of marbles decreases to avoid the spinning death hole. The stationary position you shoot from has another location you can warp to at the press of a button while trying to navigate the marbles through various chutes and timing your ricochet shots off the walls for bonus points. The music of the game was very impressive. I have read that many of the songs were original scores created specifically for the game. Its almost Zelda meets a Japanese zen garden.

At the start of the game you can choose either "Adventure" or "Survival" mode. Adventure mode starts off more like a quest. Immediately the colors of the game catch your eyes with bright reds, yellows, blues and greens. The scroll through map function has the look of a console game having 3 levels with 30 games on each of your quests. Mixed in are various bonus levels where you can practice your shots off multiple walls to earn bonus points for every wall you bounce the marble off of. The best way to handle the walls is to think of it as a pool table with an obstacle course. The Survival mode is a way you can play a quick game of some of your favorite levels and practice some of those tougher shots. I had a huge problem with the chutes and getting the timing down but after practicing in the Survival mode, it became much easier while still remaining challenging enough to keep my attention. Think of the Survival mode as a time trial that keeps your top scores and times per level.

To combat the chutes and walls in your obstacle course you are armed with various weapons when you reach bonuses in the level. The themes to your weapons are earth, wind, fire and water. Some of these power ups allow you shoot a tornado to make the marbles disappear and roll the strain of marbles backwards. My personal favorite was the fireball that every time it was loaded I would start shooting like a madwoman and end up with a rainbow of colors all over the strand and ultimately screw myself! I have since learned to practice pyro patience when I feel the urge to blow things up!

I was very surprised at the addiction of Bonsai Blast. I find myself pulling out my Iphone while waiting in line or even tailgating to get a quick game in. The game is so addiction that soon after playing, I imagined the shooter function while I was channel surfing on the TV and I was shooting colored marbles everywhere. Weird, I know, but you can only understand after playing it for hours on end! This game is definitely worth the download and is great for curing long bank and grocery lines that can make you go insane. Just a fair warning that if you download, you will probably be playing it at many other times other than just waiting in line.

stumbled upon this video and how quickly within a couple frames childhood excitement overwhelms me.



After watching this video, I curse that my mom sold all the games once "the kids moved out"......blasphemy I tell ya. I mean, who could throw away such titles as Earthworm Jim, Battletoads and Buster Busts Loose?

Now Im forced to use my time googling where I can get copies of these games instead of watching LOTR this lovely Saturday night....

It started with an email and several bottles of the infamous E6000. Me and my best friend Sam decided to be Mario and Luigi for Halloween. But not ordinary, slap on some overalls with a faded red shirt type Mario Brothers.....we wanted to girly it up a bit and make a legit overall-skirt combo.

First we went to Joannes to pick out the fabric. We got 4 yards of somewhat stretchy royal blue material, sewing string that was elastic, over-sized yellow buttons, some velcro (was on sale!) and a hot glue gun. The only problem was getting some fabric glue for "added security". I saw the name E SIX THOUSAND, and thought "hey this stuff must be good or Im gona be pissed".

Once we had all the supplies, we started making the straps. We cut our 4 yards of fabric in half, each taking 2 yards for all you math wizards out there. Cutting the long way, we estimated the thickness we wanted in the straps and started pinning. After we cut off the straps, we cut that in half again (for 2 straps) and pinned each strap to the same thickness. folded the fabric on both sides (so the fraying doesnt show, and ironed the strap. Once the strap was ironed, we used the hot glue gun on the inside of the fold, close to the iron crease. I used the hot glue gun for about an hour until I burned my thumb so bad that I had a huge blister on it for days! (tear...)After I cussed out the hot glue gun, I opened the package of E600 and put the glue in the same spot. I used the iron over the fabric to help the glue dry in the right spot and I discovered that the glue dries almost instantly after you use an iron. (imagine that...heat makes things dry quicker..) After folding the sides and gluing, we repeated the fold/glue/iron (FGI) process at each end of the strap.

After the straps were completed, we moved onto the top piece. First we quickly measured the skirt length and cut more than we needed off to work on it later. With the top piece, we knew we wanted it look somewhat similar to a kitchen apron top. So with remaining piece of fabric, we cut it in half, loosely measured a "U" to cover where we thought the top piece should. Once measured, we used the E6000 to glue the two pieces together, iron it so it would dry faster, cut off the excess and turned the U shaped piece of fabric inside out. We iron it again, to give it more of a look of a true piece of clothing. With the top part complete, we connected the straps to the edge of the bottom of the "U". While we are working on the costumes, Sam suddenly leaves the room in a hurry and comes back with an ORIGINAL Nintendo plastic game case. She starts to cut away and it and immediatley I shout "GENIUS!!". That is how the Nintendo piece ended up on the costume. Not true to the Mario Brother's costume, but there was no way I turning down attaching an original Nintendo piece to the costume.

Once our first night of costume making neared 10pm, we decided it would take alot more hardwork to get this done. As as result, I began to start ordering the rest of the accessories that would be needed. I found the hat, mustache and white gloves on Amazon. There were some pretty awesome purses on Ebay that I ended up buying for $2.50 each from Hong Kong, but make sure you check the shipping! Cost me $32 just to ship! We probably could have made those too if we thought of it. The red and green shirts we got a week before Halloween for $5 each and I got some red polka-dotted shoes at the mall on sale for $10. Sam took an old pair of black shoes, primed them with spray paint and then painted the shoes the same bright green color as her shirt.....again genius. You should probably start to notice that shes the creative one out of each other, Im just the determined/stubborn one! :)

When all the items were shipped, we had our 2nd costume making night. A bowl was used to cut out a circle on the piece of white felt picked up at Joannes. The backing on the letter had a super sticky tape to it but we still used our security blanket with E6k. On the gloves, we thought it looked alot better to have the finger tips cut off so we chopped them off just below the middle of your fingers.

The skirt was the hardest part to figure out. once we fitted the skirt to our specific size, we folded the ends and attached a zipper with the glue. To insure that the zipper would not come off, we loosely sewed it to the skirt for added security. To make sure the skirt fit both in but area as well as the stomach, we had to dart the material. To do this, we pinned where the fabric was loose, iron it and glued just under the folded material, this turned out to be a bad idea to glue it all through-out the dart line because the material came apart at the end (but not the top-my advice is to just glue at the very top-inch area of the dart). After darting the material, a piece of yellow ribbon was glued to the bottom of the skirt to pull the whole outfit together. The top piece was then connected to the bottom with E6k.

At last, all we had to do was attach the back straps with some E6k to the skirt and our costumes were good to go! For added effect we bought chocolate gold coins and atomic fire balls to throw at people. Though there was only a small glimpse of "Toad" in some pictures, I brought my brother into this mess which forces my mom to make a giant toad hat out of a piece of foam, white fabric and red circles placed on the white fabric. He had some white shorts, along with a dark blue pillow case that was cut up to resemble a vest. I must say our costumes were a huge hit and people could not believe we actually made them. Spending for the costume ended up costing about as much a brand new costume, but we had one advantage, NOBODY had our costumes on Halloween.

To see all the pictures
http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s232/salesbybb/Halloween%202008/?action=view¤t=743db3ea.pbw

Ok so I have already put waaaaaay too much into my glorious Mario Brothers costume for this year but this is DEF my choice for next year