Extra! Extra! The Lettuce is out of Control!

The garden is doing great so far, but the lettuce is taking over! It's a hostile plant which has finally shown its true bloodthirsty nature... Random lettuce patches attacked in various parts of the garden. We gathered them up and got them back in line, but they are growing. Their power is astonishing. Do not anger the lettuce.

The radishes are all done and I'm happy to say we got a decent amount, but did lose a lot of them to some hungry hungry bugs. (I'll find you pesky bugs, and I'll politely ask you to go eat someone else's plants thank you very much). The power hungry lettuce army has since taken the radishes spot in the garden.

The hot peppers are shortly trudging along after a month or two of slow growth. They are still growing and I can tell they are getting bigger. Still no peppers though... Sigh. I just want to put spicy things in my mouth.

We've also been getting some handfuls of strawberries lately which is exciting! They taste delicious and awesome and yummy in my tummy! Ooo ya! Go strawberries! Mathematical!

Rayman Origins

I got this game a few years ago now, and as I've mentioned before... I'm a little behind, but I finally got some time to take a crack at it with my girlfriend!

It was an absolute blast! Both of us thoroughly enjoyed Rayman Origins. It was my first time really playing a Rayman game that wasn't simply Raving Rabbids and I was very delighted with the game - so much so that I fully intend to buy the follow-up game, Rayman Legends, when I get a chance.

We're coming for you next!

What most people will probably notice first is the wonderful art in the game. The hand drawn levels and characters are all highly polished and exquisitely detailed. I often found myself just looking at its beauty. I'd notice some sort of detail and just stop and oggle at it like I was in some sort of art induced trance...

It's so pretty!

The levels themselves are all also intelligently designed and crafted for enjoyment and challenge. Me and my girlfriend found a few of the levels pretty hard, which is great, and it took both of our skills and co-op tag teaming to triumph them!

Weeeee!

The music was also really fun and catchy. For instance, when flying on a mosquito the music heavily features the glorious instrument that is the kazoo! It fits perfectly.

Some of the levels are more difficult with two players, but some of the levels are definitely made easy and in our experience made possible to beat with two players. The game allows up to 4 players and If imagine it would be pretty fun with a full load of people, but also maybe a lot more difficult with everyone hitting each other.

It was an amazing game and we had a blast. I can't wait to try the next one on the WiiU!

Toys R Us Amiibo Restock Madness!

This last week Toys R Us across Canada, slowly from west to east, have been getting restocked amiibos of a whole range of characters! There seems to have been a large amount of Lucario amiibos, but some stores have also been getting 4 or 5 of Marth, Little Mac, Wii Fit Trainer, Pit, Captain Falcon, Villager, and Fox. Pretty much all the ones I missed out on in the first wave.

I have to give an awesome wicked shout out to the Reddit Amiibo Canada community for the initial news of the restock - because without their help and hints I would have missed out again. I don't have a regular posting account on Reddit, but I do tend to lurk among the various threads a lot. I first caught wind of the restock from reddit in the middle of the afternoon. I was at work all day itching to get out and finally got to a Toys R Us around 6:00 pm. My girlfriend met me there and asked the cashier and manager about the Amiibos... THEY HAD THEM.

It really was like our very own Christmas!

From what they said it sounded like the regular processing guy was sick and that they were all still boxed up in the back. Our eyes lit up. They were here. We hadn't missed them, but, but, was it even possible to get any? The manager said they wouldn't be up for a couple hours, but our politeness and excitement must have won him over because he was kind enough to go look for the ones we wanted in the back. He was in the back for about 45 minutes (there really must have been a ton of boxes) and brought out almost all the ones we asked for! Now our eyes REALLY lit up! Literally the first ones to get in on this store's restock, and we were stunned with our luck.

Here is the fabled haul of a few nights ago...

I'm still riding the high of the successful amiibo hunt motherload.

The stars seemed to align that night, but it wouldn't have happened if not for awesome reddit communty, the Toys R Us manager, and that sick employee. Thank you all, and I hope you feel better sick employee ;)

Lego. You so Cool.

I went to my local toy and game store the other day (which is totally rad and deserves its own post one day) and found some of those Lego minifigure packages. I've seen them in a few different stores and was always wanting to get one or two or some, but the price always deterred me. They're about 4 dollars for one guy!

These guys are so cool!

Last weekend I caved and bought two of them. I was so excited to see which figure I got! My girlfriend helped choose one from the basket and I chose the other and when we opened them we saw that I found a very dashing snake charmer and she found the hot dog costume guy!!

Looking good little Lego people.

The hot dog guy was one of the one I totally wanted and I could hardly believe she picked it!! Does the hot dog guy still like hot dogs or maybe he's sick of them by now and his smile is all part of the sell... It's hard to tell when Lego people are being genuine or not, but I believe this guy loves hot dogs! Delicious round cylinders of meat (or in my case veggie meat, mmmm).

There's so many!

The are 16 different figures of all sorts and kinds and there are different series and sets of them. It's really sweet to have such a unique character. I really want to get the unicorn girl next... We'll see...

I also would love this dinosaur guy.

Sketching Away

I've still been plotting away at my Joseph Sheppard Anatomy book... And now I'm all done with it! Not that I wouldn't revisit and use it again in the future, but I've reached the end of it and it's time to move on. Like some weary traveler it is time for some different horizons!

Here are some heads and necks and bits and bobs from the end of that journey!

Banjo-Kazooie! I mean... Yooka-Laylee!

I love finding neat things on Kickstarter. Well, to be honest I think someone else posted a link to Yooka-Laylee so perhaps you could say it found me! Or maybe you can say neither of those things and I simply came across it... but I'm not here to debate about that - I'm here to tell you about this super cool awesome new game on Kickstarter!

Remember the golden aged yester-years of the Super Nintendo and N64. Memories filled to the bring with Donkey Kong, Banjo-Kazooie, and other Rare titles. It's been an extremely long wait, but perhaps a kind of Rare-vival is happening. Members of Rare have started their own game studio called Playtonic. Their first game out of the gate looks an awful lot like a certain bear and bird duo. WOO!! The new game - Yooka-Laylee - features a Chameleon and Bat instead!

This game is one of the largest funded games on Kickstarter and there's still time to pledge! Please go support the talented team as they create the spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie games we all loved! It's already reached nearly all of it's milestones so they've promised to simultaneously launch the game on as many platforms as possible - that means PC, Linux, Mac, Wii U, Xbox One, and PS4!

Some super "cool" concept art.

If they reach their £2,000,000 mark they'll make even more content free for backers! Head over to their page to watch the video and get all excited like me!