Photo 'a Go Go!: Yet, even MORE of my 365project

Yes, it's that time, again, folks. Time to shake and shimmy to the photographic stylings found only right here in the Pop Circus "Photo 'a Go Go!" gallery. Well, actually you can also view them on the official 365project website, but it sure sounds more cool and exciting the way I said it at first. Anyway, let's carry on with the show...

Kaleidoscope ball 

I really dig this water-filled bouncing ball with its

myriad of colorful little balls floating inside. I had

a feeling that it might make an interesting photo subject.

Super Mushroom 

I couldn't believe it when I walked out my front door

and found THIS sprouting out of the lawn! I sure did

a double-take. I even looked all around a bit furtively,

half expecting to see Mario or Yoshi peeking through

nearby shrubs!

I'm quite tempted to take a little nibble, just to see if
this real version of Mario's magic 'shroom provides
the same super-growth powers as the ones you find
in Nintendo's virtual worlds. Oh, heck! What's the
worst that could possibly happen, anyway? It always
works for Mario...

Water's edge 

I'm grateful to be living close enough to the ocean

that it's only about a half-hour's drive from home.

That's a real good thing since I'm using my camera

a LOT more, now, and there are so many different

types of photo ops to take advantage of at the beach.

Like my previous shot of the Balboa Pier which I

photographed several days ago, this too was taken

in the late afternoon sun. Do you find it as hypnotizing

as I do to watch the waves come rushing up the sand

and then slowly drift back out to sea, only to repeat

the cycle again, and again?

My mother's
"handsome" cat

This is Handsome, my mom's friendly little
feline companion. As you can see, he's an
attractive long-haired kitty with piercing eyes
and wonderful markings on his coat.

I miss having a cat of my own, so it's nice to
be able to visit with Handsome whenever I go
over to see my mom.

(Psst! It's also nice never having to clean out
his litter box, since I'm not his owner!)

There's our Matt, again!

Ya gotta love this guy 'cause he's just so
odd in all the right ways. Here, Matt is
proudly modeling his 'They Might Be
Giants' fez that he got at one of the band's
concerts, years ago. Interestingly, Weird
Al Yankovic was at the same show, and
for some admittedly strange reason, Matt
felt compelled to buy a second fez that he
could personally give to Mr. Yankovic
with his compliments... so that's what he did.

The End.

Premonition

Once I was able to excuse myself from the
others, I immediately went upstairs to the
attic so I could take another peek through
the window that was not there before. What
I saw when I pulled back the little curtain
was disturbing in ways that I cannot fully
describe. I knew about the alternate
dimension that lay just outside this mysterious
window because I had already made that
jarring discovery the first time I peered through
it. No, this was something entirely different.
What I saw and felt as I strained to focus my
gaze out amongst the pine trees in the darkness...
well, it was... WRONG. Somehow, I just knew
that deep within my bones. But this wasn't the
only knowledge I had gained that night.

A delicate-looking green insect landed on the
window pane before me, and I swear it was
actually whispering something to me. As I stood
there entranced, and concentrating on every tiny
whisper from the strange bug, it suddenly
disappeared. It was only a moment or so later
when I realized the damned thing had actually
reappeared inside my head! Once it was digging
around in there, it was no longer a struggle to
understand what it wanted me to know - Evil was
coming to pay us ALL a visit, soon. Very soon...

Knothole

I've always felt that one of the best aspects of
photography is how you can focus in on what may
seem like an everyday boring subject/object, such
as a knothole in an old wooden fence, and the
results can be fascinating. I like these rough textures
and subtle colors, but most of all, I like how you
could almost (maybe?) be convinced that this was
an entrance to a cave, somewhere...

If you didn't already know better.

Kewpie doll bubble jar

Here's another shot inspired by something I made
(assembled, really) and gave to my husband as a gift.
The subject matter is a clear glass jar filled with
dismembered Kewpie doll parts floating in blueish-green
liquid. All I did was simply shook it up a bit to create the
bubbles, and then turned the jar on its side so I could
see this little cutie looking back at me. She looks fresh
and clean... and happy to indulge my (slightly twisted)
photographic tendencies.

Green

This is my first attempt at doing a water droplet shot...
I'm pretty happy with it. Not only do I find simple,
natural beauty in the droplets, I'm also fascinated by
the detail seen in the rich green leaf on which they sit.

Canna, or can't I?

Continuing with water droplets, here's another shot
taken of some clinging to the leaf of a plant. This time
it happens to be a vibrantly colorful Canna plant.

One bad penny

I was taking a nice morning walk with my mother-in-law
when I happened to look down toward the ground and
spotted this wonderfully beaten up, scratched, and
repeatedly driven over penny. At least, that's what it
looked like to us.

The first thing I thought, and said was, "Oh! I could take
this and shoot it with my macro lens for the 365project!"
And with that, I shoved poor, defiled Lincoln into my
front pocket, anxious to retrieve him later for his
photographic close-up!

Fiery red

This is a Canna Lily that I found to be exceptionally
vibrant and beautiful in the late morning sunlight.





Are you still with me? I know that was a lot to share, and I appreciate your interest. Truly. Unfortunately or fortunately, however you happen to see it, that is all for today's 'Photo 'a Go Go!' gallery visit. Thank you for coming, everyone! And, please, remember to retrieve your coats and umbrellas upon exiting.


~ All photos were taken by Anthony (AKA antvision), and are not to be used or reproduced without written permission from me. ~

Video Game Fun Time: Nintendo's 'Animal Crossing - City Folk'

When I have the time, I love playing video games! But since I don't really know anyone else that is willing to join me, the majority of my gaming library consists of single-player games. Among those is a game for the Nintendo Wii that I've really been enjoying. It's called 'Animal Crossing - City Folk' and I'd like to tell you about it.

It's actually the 3rd game in the 'Animal Crossing' series. The very first one was for the Nintendo Game Cube system and the 2nd one was for the portable Nintendo DS. This most recent version is, by far, the BEST and most interesting! How do I begin to describe it?



Is that cat talking... to me?!


Well, at the very beginning of the game you meet a talking cat named Rover. He's not the only talking animal in the game, they ALL talk! In fact, the language they speak is Animalese (which sounds very cute when spoken), but it doesn't matter if you're not fluent. Everything said in the game is also subtitled on the screen for those of us who don't speak it. Anyway, Rover will take you on a bus ride to the town that will become your new home. Along the way, he will ask you some important questions such as the current time & date (Everything in the game world runs according to real-time and even has an in-game clock/calendar display. All of our major holidays are included in some way with corresponding special events), your name, and if you're a boy or a girl. You type in all of your answers on a virtual keyboard that pops up. Rover then asks you where you're going, which is strange since HE'S the one taking you on this bus ride in the first place... but it's actually just a way for you to name your town. After typing that in, Rover continues making conversation with you about things like whether you're excited to be moving and what you're planning to do for money. It's not just small talk, however! Each answer you give helps to determine what your character will LOOK like when you get off the bus in your town.



Play as either a boy... or a girl.
And if you're lucky, you'll end up
as cute as one of these two!



The in-game clock/calendar
passes time in sync with the
real world. That is, unless
you time-travel... And you
CAN, in fact, time-travel!



You've ARRIVED! Now, what?


Upon your arrival, Town Hall is the first stop. There, you'll find out about homes that are for sale and get to pick one out. But how will you PAY for it? The loan on your modest little 1-bedroom home will need to be paid back in Bells, which is the game's currency, and you'll earn those Bells by doing various tasks for Tom Nook. This Tom Nook happens to be a friendly raccoon that owns and operates a kind of general store in your town. He's also the man, er, raccoon that sold you the house and that's why you will be working for him to pay off the debt. Does that make sense? It's all really much SIMPLER when you're actually playing!



Stop in at Town Hall if you don't want to be
"sleeping in a van, down by the river".



You'll get a tiny place like this, at first, to call
your "Home, Sweet Home". It gets BIGGER
throughout the game as Nook remodels it for
you. But it's not going to come cheap!



Tom Nook, local shop-owner and task master!
You'd better do what he says or your house
might end up in foreclosure...


In addition to running errands for Nook, there are several OTHER ways to earn Bells. You can take fruit from the trees and sell it to Nook for a handsome profit (100 B each for native fruit, 500 B each for foreign and/or coconuts). There is also a rock somewhere in your town everyday that, if hit with your shovel, will spit out a few thousand Bells like a slot machine! But only ONE a day. And it's always a DIFFERENT one.

Another way to earn some "cash" is to catch fish or bugs with either a rod or a net, respectively, and then sell them to Nook (for an amount which is dictated according to species rarity). You can also go around shaking the trees to see what falls out! Aside from fruit, you might end up with a few Bells or even a piece of furniture for your trouble. Then there's the whole turnip trade market thing, but I won't bore you with THAT!



See the shiny, red apples? They're ripe for
the pickin'... and a-sellin'!



While strolling along the beach, you may find a
coconut. You can either sell it or plant it to get
a palm tree that will bear even more coconuts.
Hmm... what ever WILL you do?


When you feel that you have some extra money to blow, remember there's that new house of yours that's going to need some furnishings! It's time to SHOP, and that's where you'll have FUN letting your inner-interior design talents come out! There are literally hundreds of different items to collect for your home (furniture, wallpaper, flooring, etc.) and NO LIMITS to how you can mix things up. And whenever you grow tired of your current style or theme in a room, just sell those things back to Nook and buy something new! However, the new stuff IS limited to whatever Nook has in-stock on the showroom floor. The good thing is that his inventory changes often. No worries if you want to order something that you had previously because once you have an item in your possession, no matter if it was bought, found, or received as a gift, it is automatically added to your permanent catalog and can be ordered again at any time. You do have to pay for it again, though. While you're into the collecting thing, you can buy all sorts of clothing, too! So, you can make BOTH decorating AND fashion statements.



Nook, using the hard-sell on a hapless shopper.


Let's not forget the neighbors! Tom Nook won't even let you start working for him until you've introduced yourself to all six of the animal residents in town. Some will stay for a very long time while others will get antsy and move out often, being replaced by a completely new animal pal for you to get to know. With a total of more than 200 different characters aside from special event and holiday visitors, you have plenty of socializing to do!


Below, are just a few of the ones you'll encounter.



Clockwise: Mayor Tortimer, K.K. Slider, and Sable & Mable Able



These are a few of the special holiday characters.



Clockwise: Jack, Franklin, and Zipper T. Bunny



There are really so many facets to this game that I could go on for pages and pages! But I must tell you about the main thing that makes this version different. Going into the CITY, of course!

To see the city, you have to hop on the bus again and take a little ride. Once there, you have many choices of what you can do including getting a "new do" at the 'Shampoodle' hair salon, shopping at 'Gracie Grace's' department store, having your fortune read at 'Katrina's', or there's even a theater where you can watch and learn EMOTES. An emote is an emotional expression performed by your character on your command. I've found that they're not at all necessary, but it's still cute to see your boy or girl act out the different emotions!



Steppin' out in the big city, a girl needs to stop
at the salon and get her hair "did".


As lengthy as this little overview has been, it still only BEGINS to cover this fun, colorful and entertaining game! I think, also, that Nintendo has only scratched the surface of the city's potential in 'City Folk'. And I'm sure they fully intend to give us more in a future release, as long as people keep playing these games.

I, for one, WILL keep playing... and playing... and playing...




((( Special thanks to Prima Games and their official 'Animal Crossing - City Folk' game guide for all of the screen shots and info I used in this post. Also, thanks to Nintendo and their artists for creating such a cute, interesting game environment & character designs. )))