Tag: Chris

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Of Beds and Backs

Chris

I remember being a kid and thinking life was complicated. It wasn’t. Having to decide between a half pint of chocolate and regular milk in the lunch line was not a tough decision compared to the choices that lay ahead. But there were a lot of things that seemed more important at the time.

Decisions weren’t the only things that were easier back then. Once upon a time, I could sleep anywhere at any time. Stay up until 4 in the morning? No worries; I was up at 7 or 8 o’clock sharp feeling refreshed enough to go for another day. Hell, waking up at that time was almost automatic, regardless of when I went to sleep. And I slept in all kinds of weird places — random couches, an assortment of beds when jumping between staying with family members, even the floor on nights when parties got a little too raucous.

Last night I realized that those days are completely behind me. I have about three beds I can sleep in comfortably. Everything else is broken. Sure, some beds are still adequate for a decent night’s sleep, but there’s only a handful that don’t leave me with a sore back in the morning. And the most recent example was sleeping in Dave’s Tempur-Pedic bed when the ATB crew was in Phoenix this past weekend to celebrate his birthday. Continue reading “Of Beds and Backs”

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Taking Care of Business

Chris

This post is going to be a little shorter than most because I’m devoting most of my spare time this week to our new audio setup.

Going back through the archives, I think there’s a lot to like about what we’ve done with the show. But one of the things that makes me cringe is the huge dichotomy between our HD episodes in the studio in Phoenix, and the quality of episodes when we’re forced to use Skype.

What follows is a somewhat technical look behind the scenes at At the Buzzer. Come with me after the jump.

Continue reading “Taking Care of Business”

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Meet the New Year, Same as the Old Year

Chris

I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s.

My holiday priority list has already been pretty well established around these parts. It’s Christmas first, then everything else way down the list. Thanksgiving’s No. 2. Independence Day’s probably third because of all the good food and fireworks.

New Year’s? It’s somewhere between Bastille Day and Columbus Day. Hell, Columbus Day might be above New Year’s, and it’s a holiday that celebrates an explorer who screwed up just about everything he did. Continue reading “Meet the New Year, Same as the Old Year”

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Number One With a Bullet

Chris

Ah, bullet points. You’re a writer’s best friend. Can’t come up with a coherent column? Use bullet points! Then you can put together a collection of thoughts with no joining thread whatsoever. All you need is a stream of consciousness and halfway decent ideas and you’re set.

Hell, Bill Simmons has made a career out of this. So I don’t think I can take too much flack for dipping into the well once — after all, I’m knee-deep in Skyrim now, and those who have played know what a time sink that can be. So without further ado, here’s a whole bunch of holiday-themed bullets in the last post before the big day… Continue reading “Number One With a Bullet”

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‘Tis the Season

Chris

I’ve mentioned it on the show a couple of times, but this is my favorite holiday by far.

I’ve got nothing against the other holidays. I’m not much of a partier, so New Year’s Eve doesn’t do much for me. Easter and Halloween have lost a lot of their appeal because I don’t eat nearly as much candy as I did when I was a kid. Thanksgiving is always a disjointed experience when you’re a divorce kid, because you never really have all the family together. And while Bastille Day is a close second — I love me some Bastille Day — it just pales in comparison to Christmas.

(Actually, the runner-up would be Independence Day, because I love the setup — burgers, hot dogs, barbecue, picnics, fireworks. Also, AMERICA. Hard to argue with that.

So once the calendar hits December, I get excited. After all, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Continue reading “‘Tis the Season”

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Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Chris

During some of the buzz leading up to last week’s release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, a few gaming outlets dared to wonder the impossible: Could Skyward Sword be better than Ocarina of Time?

At first, I’m sure a few people found that idea to be outlandish. OoT is held up as the gold standard in gaming, after all; it received a litany of awards and perfect 10s when it came out more than a decade ago, and introduced the Z-targeting system found in hundreds of games today. And now this upstart game on a dying console was supposed to supplant what some would call the best game ever?

Well, believe the hype, folks. Skyward Sword is the best Zelda game ever made. Continue reading “Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword”

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Review: Saints Row The Third

Chris

One of the problems with having this Monday blog spot is that it’s nigh impossible to do a quick turnaround on a review, what with everything releasing on Tuesdays (except movies, but the hell with those). The flip side is that it gives me a chance to dig deep into a new title and give it more than just a cursory look.

Saints Row: The Third is no exception.

In the last six days, I’ve put in somewhere around 25-30 hours into SR3, which allowed me to get through the game and also finish nearly all of the activities and other side missions. As such, I can tell you this much: If you enjoy games that don’t take themselves too seriously and are fun to play, you’ll enjoy Saints Row: The Third. Continue reading “Review: Saints Row The Third”

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Goodbye Forever

Chris

Well, the week that I saw coming in an earlier blog post (my first one on the site, actually) has finally arrived. I just wanted to take this time to say goodbye to the majority of my friends and family, because gaming companies have once again conspired to put out pretty much all their good titles in the month of November.

(Disclaimer: Yes, I understand that it’s all an effort from retailers to get in on the big holiday sales season, rather than releasing the next big Zelda game in July when no one cares. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.)

Starting tonight with the midnight release of Saints Row the Third, I might not be going outside for a couple weeks. While that would be an awful strategy in the long run, I’m actually a little bit excited about the prospect for the time being. Continue reading “Goodbye Forever”

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No business like snow business

Chris

It snowed tonight! It’s the second time in three days! Everything is wonderf–

Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m not a huge fan of snow.

Look, snow is pretty. It’s fun for stuff like sledding or snowball fights or whatever. And I don’t really mind the cold all that much. Plus, Christmas has started to feel even more like Christmas with holiday snow around to help set the mood.

But after living for more than eight years up in Flagstaff, I think snow is starting to wear on me a bit. Yes, it’s partially my fault for still living here, and no, I still don’t hate snow or anything. What I think I’ve realized is that the initial snow is great, but the aftermath is where things start to fall apart. Continue reading “No business like snow business”

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Going the Distance

Chris

We’ve been posting four days a week consistently for the better part of two months, and as I look through the stats and such for that period (being the webmaster and all), I can’t help but notice one thing: Nothing posts on Tuesdays.

We’ve got M-W-F covered with our blogs, and every other Thursday is a new episode of the show, but … Tuesday is a barren wasteland.

Not anymore.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll introduce a new feature to the At the Buzzer website called “Going the Distance.” GtD was a concept started a few years ago when our college paper was in need of a filler comic strip to replace someone who had abruptly left. At some point I had seen a similar idea on the interwebs, so a friend and I formatted it for strip purposes and a star was born. Continue reading “Going the Distance”