Steampunk Exhibit at Muzeo, originally uploaded by theuser.

Today we set out to see the steampunk exhibit at Muzeo in Anaheim. What we ran into first was a Black History Month parade. We saw bits of it while we walked to the museum, and then we got to see gears galore. Pieces ranged from walking sticks to weapons for hunting supernatural creatures courtesy of the League of S.T.E.A.M., who we had seen at Anime Expo 2010. There was also a section on fiction, including Jules Vernes, H. G. Wells, Sir Arthus Conan Doyle, and Mary Shelley. It made me want to go read some of these books!

There was also an exhibit on the bible. I looked at this too, but it was far, far less interesting than steampunk.

Then we checked out the street fair for Black History Month. It didn't have any ethnic food. I wanted something out of the ordinary. Sadly, there wasn't anything, so we went ahead with our original plan of having Indian food. And that was quite tasty!

Co-op platformer Ibb and Obb takes both high and low roads to PSN in 2012 | Joystiq

This is looks absolutely gorgeous and amazingly fun. I'll definitely pick this up right away when it's released on PSN later this year. A PC version is also in the works. Ibb and Obb will feature local co-op with online co-op added in the future.

How Toshiba Uses Social Media to Make Products Its Customers Really Want [VIDEO]

Mashable posted an interesting little interview with Mark Simons, CEO of TAIS.

I finished up a few different TV series recently. Most recently I watched Party Down. This witty comedy follows a group of caterers, most of whom want to break into the entertainment industry in some way (as an actor, comedian, writer, or musician). All the action takes place while the crew is working with each episode featuring a different party. You could watch any episode and still have a few laughs, but the series definitely has an overarching plot that's best absorbed sequentially. After Better Off Ted and Party Down, I need to find another intelligent comedy. The Deadline reported on 1/8/12 that Megan Mullally, actress in Party Down, confirmed a movie is in the works.

Like Party Down, Better Off Ted is another quirky yet smart comedy that spanned two seasons. It follows Ted's struggles to work for evil corporation Veridian Dynamics while still behaving ethically. While both seasons were enjoyable, the first was absolutely fantastic. I stayed through the second because I enjoyed the first (and I'd recommend you do the same), but it definitely lost a lot of the magic. It just wasn't as witty anymore.

I also finished season three of Breaking Bad. I know there's more, but it's not on Netflix yet. Wow, what a great show. Season three ended amazingly, I can't wait to find out what happens in season four.

Now, what's next? I've been catching up on The Office with gem, and we've started Glee as well. Still, I like to have something to watch alone. I tried an episode of Workaholics today, but it's not doing it. I suppose the problem might just be that the shows I watched were too good! I'll keep looking.

The last time I made a large Game Journal post, I was playing Sonic Generations, Ocarina of Time 3D, inFamous 2, and World of Warcraft. I was also thinking about starting Gears of War 3, Ivy the Kiwi?, Sonic Colors, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Epic Mickey, and Kirby's Return to Dreamland.

World of Warcraft

Of course, I'm still playing World of Warcraft. I have a separate blog to talk about that, but we're now 5/8 in Dragon Soul.

Mario Kart 7

Mario Kart's always been one of my favorite series, and 7 is no let down. As usual, there's a Mirror mode unlocked after 50cc, 100cc, and 150cc. I'm working on it now.

inFamous 2

I'm so close to that damn platinum trophy! I really need to put some more time in it!

LittleBigPlanet 2

I actually just started playing this today, but I bought it for gem for Christmas. We're playing through the game in co-op! Unfortunately, after every play session, we have to login as the other person and start the game again to sync trophies to both accounts. So much work. Fun game though, and I'm glad she's enjoying it!

Plants vs. Zomibes

More content was added to the iOS version, so I'm playing that off and on a bit as well as the PC version ocassionally.

Super Mario 3D Land

I stopped playing this because of Pilotwings and Mario Kart, but I'll hopefully get back to it soon. It's amazingly excellent. Great level design. Every element is there for a reason, and when I die, it's my fault. Perfect. Wonderful use of 3D as well.

Game Dev Story

I started playing this again just a little bit. I'd like to get a perfectly reviewed game.

Pilotwings Resort

I played this a lot of while! Alex let me borrow it, and it's pretty fun. I didn't manage to get perfects on everything, which keeps me from unlocking some bonus missions, but I did beat the main game!

Sonic Generations

I finished this and loved it. Thankfully Sonic Team didn't make it super long by adding too much worthless content.

Zeno Clash

Zeno Clash is a weird first-person fighting game with a really bizarre story. I got stuck for a little bit, put it down, and never came back. I might be done with it. Maybe I'll just switch it to easy mode and plow through it.

Grand Theft Auto

I don't even know which one I'd like to play. I suppose I'd like to finish the first one, but it crashes when I alt-tab. I have the third on Android that I could play, but I'm not sure how much time I'd want to devote to an Android port. What if I get stuck later because I lack good controls? Of course, I have all the pre-4 games on Steam as well.

Co-op Platformers

Lots to choose from after we finsh LBP2. Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn, and Kirby's Return to Dreamland come to mind.

More

Gears of War 3
Ivy the Kiwi?
Sonic Colors
Epic Mickey
The Binding of Isaac
Sequence
Cthulhu Saves the World
Psychonauts
The Old Republic...?

New Year's Eve, originally uploaded by theuser.

For New Year's Eve, we went and saw Wicked! Sadly, gem had to work in the morning, but at 2 PM we were at the Pantages watching the start of Wicked! I love that show. I've seen it before, but it's stil excellent to see again. I also bought her an overpriced Wicked shirt!

For dinner we went to the Stinking Rose. So. Good. As usual. I had an amazing filet mignon (although it should be redder than a bit pink when I order it rare). She had a prime rib. All in all, an excellent last meal of the year!

It was super foggy that night, but we made it home without dying. That's always good.

For the first meal of 2012, I wanted Chipotle. Unfortunately, Chipotle was all stupid and closed. Wing Stop had to suffice.

Christmas, originally uploaded by theuser.

The holidays were pretty exciting this year! The biggest thing, in my opinion, was that I bought a tree for the first time. It was great! We put up lights and decorations, including custom-made decorations made by gem. (I'll put up photos of the decorations later.)

We went on a gondola ride with my parents in Long Beach as well as a boat tour of Balboa. They were both really fun! I saw both Edward and Antonio before Christmas. We bought Edward a steak dinner with sides. Each part of the meal was wrapped individually and in our fridge. It was fun! He gave me a Nerf gun, but inside the box was also an annual pass to Disneyland! Pretty cool. Antonio came over the next day. We traded gifts, but he didn't want to open them until Christmas Day. He received Skyward Sword and Super Mario 3D Land, and he gave me a Logitech G930 wireless 7.1 gaming headset. It's super awesome!

Christmas Eve I went to my aunt's house. I hung out, playde Pass the Pigs, and talked to my brother while waiting for the rest of the family to get home from church. We had delicious ham, watched Christmas Vacation, and exchanged gifts. I gave some games to my cousins and a Farts Around the World book to Pete. He loved it. I gave Hyperion and American Gods to James. Both were excellent books. Hyperion was recommended by Taylor, my manager at Barnes & Noble, to both John, a Head Cashier, and Gabe, the Newsstand Lead. All three of them recommended it to me. I thought it would be nice to pass it down to another B&N employee, especially because it was one of the best books I'd ever read.

On Christmas Day I went to my mom's house. This time it was beef instead of ham, and it was also delicious. I spent a lot of time chatting with my brother, which was really great. It was nice to catch up with him. We also did our holiday singing of the Twelve Days of Christmas, complete with signs you hold up when it's your turn created by Pete.

It was a fun Christmas!

This is so weird, and I really like it.

Curio for iOS | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Action/Horror, Platformer

The Justin McElroy Institute

Recently a bunch of folks left Joystiq, including three of my favorites - Chris Grant, Griffin McElroy, and Justin McElroy. I was worried about what was happening but hopeful that they were all leaving together. It looks they were! I can't wait to see what they build.

Ludwig Kietzmann, the new Editor-in-Chief of Joystiq, better kick it up a notch! (Luckily I love him too!)

Steve Jobs action figure - Boing Boing

This looks so realistic. I kind of want one. Is $100 too much? It's not 100% perfect, but wow, it sure does look realistic. It would go well on my bookshelf in my cubicle!

Terra Noctis | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Platformer

Funny Hell | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Strategy

What a fun song =D

Judy Garland - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - YouTube

Stop disabling embeds!

Duncan posted this on Facebook, and I had to repost it here.

this bear rules. via Jake Nickell on Facebook

The Grinch Song - YouTube

No embedding! Argh!

WHOT! Free | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Card games

inFamous 2 | Blog | Game Boyz

Guy gets crazy cell phone; Hollywood calls | gray, number, party - Life - The Orange County Register

When a man gets a celebrity's old phone number, he begins to get calls and texts from famous people. He uses this to his advantage for party invites and networking. The article's a fun read!

DISNEY MERRY CHRISTMAS JINGLE BELL ROCK - YouTube

But I like embedding :(

SK Gaming and Toshiba to cooperate | SK Gaming

Why didn't I know Toshiba was sponsoring SK Gaming? They should, uh, pay me to Battleground.

Wait, what?

You have to be good?

Ahh, crap.

GTA III mobile out next week for $5 on select devices | Joystiq

Adorable Zelda fan video will fill up your hearts | Joystiq

So cute.

Postmortem: Addressing reviews. « Bent Spoon Games Blog

The creator of "Girl with a Heart of" provided some feedback on the reviews he read of the game. It's an interesting read, and I think a good practice to address concerns and commentary.

Timeline: 50 Years of Hard Drives | PCWorld

Fascinating read about hard drive advances from 1956 to 2006. It was brought to my attention by a forum member who worked for them back at the beginning!

Pickpocket slips a Toshiba's new ultrabook, the Portege Z830, into a woman's bag.

THE aMAZEing Labyrinth | iPhone/iPod, Reviews, Board

First Proud Owner of Galaxy Nexus in US is Steve Woz!

Steve Wozniak visited Google to receive a Samsung Galaxy Nexus recently. Looks like he got to pose with Google staff and the ICS statue as well. I like that he seems to really love technology and not just Apple.

Girl with a Heart of | Reviews, Adventure