Cheers

Saturday night Troy and I raided the one of the specialty foreign food markets in the area and then proceeded to consume a large amount of Asian specialty drinks and snack foods. I was looking for either sour or hot drinks - the very idea that these things exist is intriguing. Unfortunately, I wasn't extremely successful finding either of these things, but I managed to discover a few disturbingly awful drinks. I had a purple/brown drink made from something called "Açaí," a Brazilian berry that has some sort of turpentine-like aftertaste. But Troy wins the awful drink contest - he found one that tasted like turpentine and bananas.

For the record, "rice punch" does not mean "sweetened rice punch." It means it tastes like carby water. Fiery Ginger Beer is pretty good - or would be if I was a bigger fan of ginger. It's not hot so much as... just gingery. But Dantzel would probably kill for this stuff. Plum Juice, Orange drink, Cinnamon Punch (personal favorite!), and the hard to describe "jelly drink" all win approval.

I woke up Sunday morning with a terribly sore throat. At first I thought maybe I was having a mild allergic reaction to the ginger drink, but no, it's just my first real sickness of the season. Flu, I think. But thanks to nasal spray, decongestant pills, half a bag of cough drops and the wonders of modern medicine, I am functional. Purchasing Sudafed was complicated quest in and of itself, requiring a cashier to open the locked case, an ID check, and a sign-off sheet. Apparently the recent legislation has made it necessary to keep track of certain decongestants, due to the fact that chemicals in these drugs can be used in the production of meth. Oh, the many things I've learned while in college.

Clay-Mation Monday
Klogg will eat your soul.

We're pretty overdue for Neverhood stuff, don't you think? No, of course you don't. Most of you haven't even played this game, and it's frankly not likely that any of you will do so at this point. That's why I'm here to enlighten you. The Neverhood came out in 1996, and is an adventure/puzzle style game done in complete claymation. It's roughly Myst-ish in the sense that you begin the game as Klayman, who wakes up alone on a strange world and must discover the story and his own history along the way. It's a lot more fun that Myst ever was though. The soundtrack was an appropriately odd accompaniment to the visual style and the humor. Here are some select clips and Terry S. Taylor pieces from one of the greatest nonsensical claymation games ever.

Klayman Shuffle -- The Neverhood's opening theme is as sporadic in melody as the game itself. The sound here is very muted and malleable and... clay-like if that makes any sense. Most of the game is full of similar sounds, though some parts of the game are eerily silent of full of stark horns or tinny sounds (mostly near the end of the game). The game is an odd clashing of things that at parts seems more experimental than purposefully clever, but overall the final product came out as one very memorable game.

Triangle Square -- Another excellent piece that's fun to listen to.

Southern Front Porch Whistler -- A more relaxed sound. Very impressive whistling skills. Ben, if you're reading this, do you whistle? If you do you should totally learn this one on the banjo.

The Weasel Chase

Operator Plays a Little Pingpong -- This type of lyrical gibber jabber is pretty common throughout the soundtrack. The game title/ending theme has the best/worst of it, but wasn't included because it really is a lot funnier after actually completing the game. This one's one of my favorites.

Sound Effects Record Number 32 -- At one point you find a radio that contains several stations with... very unique tracks on all of them - almost enough for an entire soundtrack itself. Obviously Terry S. Taylor was enjoying his job. Perhaps a bit too much.

This is far from the extent of this soundtrack's range. The music's.. different, but so is the game, which is quite an impressive piece of work. I found out that in March of this year, the possibility of a Neverhood animated film was being discussed, and a studio has been named. The theoretical film will probably take out some of the slightly more depressing parts of the game, though I'm willing to bet it won't be aimed at an audience of strictly children. Also, it would probably be several levels of awesome, so I'm going to pre-recommend that you look into it if it ever comes to pass.