So, yeah. Winter is coming.

Now that's a near-miss! Poor Roger Clark - I don't know if he would have been able to cope with that one. 

If you haven't heard about this yet, my employer, Racer X Illustrated, has partnered with Swedish indie developer Turborilla to release the iPhone/iPad version of their hit PC/Mac game Mad Skills Motocross. It's a really fun take on Excitebike-style side-scrolling racers, with some wildly exaggerated physics and add-on bike parts (glider wings, rockets, something called a Jumparoo).

Before the new version of the game "went gold," as they say, I got to do a little work on the script, which consists mostly of advice and updates from your trainer and personal inventor, Dr. Waldo Holschotz. This is something I've always wanted to take a crack at, and I thoroughly enjoyed coming up with bizarre things for this guy to say. (Pro tip: Some my favorite lines only show up after you've failed certain challenges multiple times. Your suffering will not go unrewarded!)

The game has been selling pretty darn well, and it's gotten strong reviews across the board. I'll tell you, though, it's not easy. I'm still trying to unlock the final two sets of stages, and I play games pretty regularly. Still, it's lots of fun, and you can challenge your friends to beat your best times thanks to OpenFeint integration. The IOS version is only $1.99; PC and Mac versions are $19.99, but a free demo is available here. Check it out!

Yeah, so I'm not exactly Tim Schafer yet.

via (via)

Hey, I don't think I've ever done one of these before!

1. The Love Language – Libraries
2. James Blake – CMYK EP
3. The New Pornographers – Together
4. Mount Kimbie – Crooks and Lovers
5. The Books – The Way Out
6. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
7. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – I Learned the Hard Way
8. Spoon – Transference
9. Four Tet – There Is Love in You
10. Arp – The Soft Wave

That Love Language album has gotten so little attention - I don't think I've seen it on a single end-of-year list yet. Maybe that's what pushed it over the edge for me. Either way, I listened to it as much as anything else on the list, and I'm still really into it. Amazing production. Also, if you haven't heard The Books yet, make it happen!

Honorable Mentions:

Pantha du Prince – Black Noise
Fresh & Onlys – Play It Strange
Allo Darlin’ - Allo Darlin’
How To Dress Well – Love Remains
The 1900s – Return of the Century
Oneohtrix Point Never – Returnal
Sex Bob-omb – Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World OST

The Pantha record was fantastic, but that track with Panda Bear should have been tacked on at the end - it completely kills the flow of the disc for me. Also, I would absolutely buy a Sex Bob-omb album if they released one. My favorite opening credits of the year:

1. Lampard, Rooney, and Gerrard each look like they're in various stages of taking a shit. Which, I mean, if you've seen any of England's games over the last couple weeks....

2. I think ESPN brought in Rob Liefeld just to draw their thighs.

3. Fabio Capello's glasses aren't fancy enough. And he looks like he might be black here.

4. Decoder-ring time: 8104 is actually an iTunes "unknown error" code. Luckily, we know that the error is trying to play Lampard and Gerrard at the same time.

5. That big '66 is just begging to be Photoshopped. Maybe later.

6. USA! USA! USA!

Having been taken prisoner mere minutes before kickoff, Li'l Becks was unable to help England recover after Dempsey's equalizer.

IMG_0981, originally uploaded by jkocan.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is one of my favorite attractions at Walt Disney World - it's pretty gentle as roller coasters go, but the theming really makes it something special, and I always try to squeeze in as many rides as I can when I'm in the parks. I got lucky with this shot, which I snapped during a ride on the Liberty Belle riverboat.

You know how when you were a kid, if your parents weren't obscenely wealthy, you'd get birthday presents that closely resembled the things you'd asked for? Things that were, say, a little less expensive because the manufacturer didn't have to kick any licensing money over to, say, George Lucas? Well, Disney's value resorts seem to operate under similar monetary restrictions. Its lone dining facility, the Intermission Food Court, features an immense, room-spanning mural of musicians who closely resemble many of your favorite stars. And honestly, sometimes the resemblance isn't very close at all. Exhibit A:

This isn't actually connected to the mural--it's on a different wall--but it serves as a nice little amuse bouche (amuse yeux?). The guy on the right could be Mick Jagger's stand-in, if you squint and have a couple beers in you. The woman on the left might be...Tina Yothers? David St. Hubbins?

So now, after picking up our Mickey Waffles and coffee, we get to the main seating area and the mural proper. If you think you know who some of theses people might be, feel free to leave your guesses in the comments.

1. For me, this Marilyn Monroe is the only clearly recognizable celebrity of the bunch. It's pretty unambiguous. This is deceptive, and only serves to enhance your confusion when you see the rest of the Almost-Stars.

2. Some sort of half-rodent Sal Mineo and George W. Bush on shore leave? Seriously that guy's teeth are insane.

3. Liz swears this is supposed to be Michael Bolton, but the guitar--a twelve-string, no less--tells me otherwise. And his hair is too straight. Woody Harrelson in Yes Can Do: The Daryl Hall Story?

4. I don't see how this could be anyone but Milton Berle. Maybe he was Roy Rogers for Halloween one year or something.

5. Sarah Jessica Parker and Ray Parker Jr. at the lowest point of their respective careers?

6. I got nothin'. Bobby Bonilla?

7. That's totally Amanda Plummer on the right. Maybe a lost Reagan cousin on the left. In the middle...Martin Short in half-drag, maybe. This is where my head starts to hurt.

8. Liz says this one's a young Queen Elizabeth II. She sure could swing!

9. Because when you think of Gap ads, you think of Ornette Coleman.

10. I mean, there's kind of a Nigel Tufnel thing going on, but his clothes are way too '80s Springsteen. Or maybe it's David Coverdale in an Eddie Van Halen wig.

11. I think the verdict on this one was "Flashdance in a body stocking."

12. There's no question that this is Yeardley Smith, of Herman's Head and Lisa Simpson fame.

13. These two just look so powerfully strange together, I can't bear to separate them. Again, no idea. Maybe a Bangle? And a miniature Bob Dylan, as portrayed by some lost Turturro brother with a thing for bolo ties?

Well, I hope you enjoyed our little tour of the Intermission Food Court. As a reward for those of you who made it to the end, these little Lucite-mounted beauties adorn the trash receptacles in the same room at All-Star Music. Wrong Cinderella, guys!

Before I take off for Christmas break, here's the last batch of "What Up With That" animations. May they annoy people on message boards for years to come.

It glows for my sorry ass.

Why must you be so awesome? Lots more here, updated regularly.

EDIT: About two minutes after I posted this, I found a link to this new Renee French iGoogle theme. What I wouldn't do for a Gmail theme!

That's Rincewind the wizard, in Terry Pratchett's The Color of Magic, which I'm finally reading and which makes me laugh at least once per page. It's a comedic fantasy novel (the first in Pratchett's sprawling, 37-volume-and-counting Discworld series) that takes place in a world full of treachery, conflict, and catastrophic incompetence, where "the Gods are not so much worshipped as blamed." Grab a copy on your way to wherever you're going this summer!