Today’s a wet gray day and like all wet gray days I’m tired. When the sun doesn’t break through the clouds my usual energy never rises either and I spend the day perpetually in a state of total uselessness, not motivated to eat, work, think, or act. Often the first wet day I can sleep well for almost 16 hours if I am unhindered, but subsequent days, sleep becomes less appealing and boredom sets in. It is at these moments that that my weather depression is most acute and I pray for salvation, in the form of a change in weather or at least company. Surprisingly gray is one of my favourite shades, but not when nature turns it, then it’s just dreary, dull, and unhappy. Life thrives in the sun and so do I.

The Spotted Pig
314 W 11th St # 1
New York, NY‎
(212) 620-0393‎

I couldn’t tell you from my experience a more charming pub that the Spotted Pig off Greenwich St in West Village. I noticed it one day as I wandered the streets of New York - a perfect 78 degree Monday afternoon, everyone was working, and there I was strolling about, running some gift errands and exploring a great neighborhood. The lower West side, Greenwhich and West Village are filled with charming tree-lined streets with old apartment buildings and crooked intersections. I passed quite a few cafes and wasn’t quite hungry when I spotted the pub on a corner. I really noticed a huge overgrowth of potted plants and only thought it was a restaurant by the couple of tables outside. I kept walking a few more blocks before doubling back to try it out.

The inside was even more charming than the outside. To the right of the entrance was a tiny bar, maybe seven or eight stools long and it looked a century old. Brick pillars adorned with turn-of-the-century old illustrations of pigs stood about the middle of the dining room. A large mirror on the back wall had specials - food, beer, and wine - hand written along its edges. Really excellent music was playing moderately loudly over the stereo. I sat to the right of the entrance where pull-out tables lined a bench running the length of the wall. I was comfortable and cozy surrounded by armies of potted plants amongst the window sills.

I ordered a pint of Old Speckled Hen Ale - one of my favorite beers that I’ve tasted ever. A rich, creamy, very malty, English-style ale with a delicious foamy head and almost textureless micro-bubbles. I had one of the appetizer specials (which they call pub snacks) - a single duck egg, medium boiled, halved, with salt, pepper, chili powder, targa, and really great Italian olive oil. One of the simplest, best appetizers and wonderfully easy to mimic at home (something I do with eggs almost every Sunday morning). For my main I was torn between a baked Caprese sandwich and the Cubano. The waitress recommended the Cubano and it was good, although on a second visit I would have chosen the other, or the burger which I’ve heard is one of the best. The Cubano used a fresh Italian bread, chewy crust and flavorful, with fried pulled pork, a Swiss-tasting cheese, and jalapeno relish. The portion was healthy and came with a very, very, very lemony side of greens which by itself was overpowering but paired with the fatty pork was very complimentary. I got a second beer, an Apollo Brewery Heff. I’m not a huge Belgian beer fan (God forbid!) so I only marginally enjoyed it’s hoppy, well-carbonated flavour and texture. It reminded me of a less sweet Blue-moon although it’s quite highly rated. After the meal I was downright stuffed from the food and beer and it took me quite a few blocks of walking (and a wonderful nap at home) to settle my stomach.

The Spotted Pig was supremely satisfying and I would love to go back again with some company. The prices are a little high for a pub, but the ambience is well worth it. A huge bit of New York’s old pub culture charm is tucked away in that little place and single-handedly made New York a much more pleasant place to be on that Summer afternoon. Not bad for a cozy corner pub.

Fallout 3 is finally what I’ve been waiting for - an RPG with guns - combining the best aspects of a RPG and a FPS. The game combines classic Bethessda gameplay and structure in a future/retro game world based on the fantastic Fallout universe, and it rocks. I completed the game in about 40 hours and felt that I hadn’t explored nearly half of the game’s locations and wish there was an option to continue playing following the end of the main quest line.

What makes Fallout 3 so great is it takes off where it’s earlier distant cousin, STALKER, left off in graphics, game play, and style. Similar elements of radiation effects, post-apocalyptic storyline, and projectile guns are prettied up, easier to use, and given a more interesting retro twist. Unlike Oblivion, the towns I’ve so far encountered aren’t populated by the same generic 15 people duplicated tons of times (at least for the named characters). One interesting new element Bethesda included from their previous titles (not new to the Fallout universe however) is the VATS system of targeting, pausing combat and allowing the player to focus attacks on specific body parts with a limited number of shots. VATS is especially good for players who like to sneak and attack from hiding, since it gives specific chances to hit and sneak attacks automatically give critical strikes. For those players of Knights of the Old Republic, this system will be very familiar. Besides VATS, the rest of game play takes it’s pages straight out of Oblivion, which worked very well then and now. Character AI and movement likewise hasn’t changed much although often I have the feeling that the aiming system is over-defined and a direct shot with many weapons has a high propensity to miss from even short ranges (one of my major dislikes with COD4 and enjoyments in Crysis is the realistic feel of the weaponry). To balance the poor aiming system, Fallout 3 has some very inventive custom-built weapons missing from most modern shooters including: the Rock-It launcher capable of shooting any random debris you accumulate in the wasteland, the Railroad Gun which fires super sped railroad spikes and has a great train whistle sound effect, and the bottle cap mine which causes massive damage upon impact at the cost of exploding bottle caps, Fallout 3’s currency. A note on the custom built weapons is their lack of stopping power at higher levels. If I had designed the game I would have implemented at least a few of the Steampunk inspired custom weapons at higher levels with a wider distribution of ammunition, especially considering the weapons are made from junk parts. Another good improvement from Oblivion is less occurrences of auto-scaling enemies, it appears that most enemies are fixed at a small range of level and even their weapons tend not to change significantly, so if an area is too difficult at first, returning after a level or two makes it significantly easier and less redundant.

Fallout 3 does a great job gearing the player up for the game through a graduated learning process experienced by living through important periods of the character’s development as a child. This is a great way to get the player into the gameplay without the usual “Good, now crouch under that ledge by holding shift. Good, now aim down the sight with right click” common in every other first person shooter. The game starts with the designing of the character at birth with a gene projector, the options are numerous but the face looks pretty similar no matter what although choosing from the beard selection of about 100 styles is a formidable time consuming event. Then learning movement and discovering the base stats in a toddler’s book is a simple but imaginative twist for a RPG. Even learning to shoot as a boy with a BB gun draws on a classic stereotype derived from the retro 1950s-era style style of the game.

Then there’s the scenery. There are numerous breathtaking scenes I’ve experienced starting with the emergence from Vault 101 and the view of the Wasteland from a small mountain top. It’s startling and epic, a huge change from the rolling hills of Oblivion and the gray flats of STALKER. The Wasteland design is bleak and expansive and right from the start the player is not given instruction as to the direction to head. My first move upward on the mountain led me into a horrible clash with a mutant Mole Rat, and I was so unready for the outside world I quickly reversed directions leading down into an obliterated town of framework houses and an odd Sputnik looking orb. Game design is key in fantasy RPGs and Fallout 3 excels. The trenches filled with Super Mutants on the Washington Mall and the half demolished national monuments and Capitol Building are the ideal location for Fallout 3 to take place and I loved the immersion.

What makes Fallout 3 really great is the immersion and story. You get to be Mad Max, complete with spiky shoulder padded leather jacket and sawed off shotguns. I’ve gotten a canine companion a la A Boy and his Dog, and I pretty much am free to reek havoc in the Wasteland of Post-Apocalyptic America, nuking towns of innocents to feed my evil doing and saving children from savage Slavers to keep it balanced-ish. The most disturbing bit of evil gameplay in any game I have ever played comes during the main quest when you are asked to fulfill the role of “The Pint Sized Slasher”, an urban legend that terrorizes an ideal simulated community. In many games it is often acceptable, even fun, to indulge in homicidal behaviour, but this really went to far past the edge of bad taste and evilness. For that I applaud Bethesda. The final battle at the end of the game comes rather abruptly and I recommend holding off on the main quest line until you’re completely satisfied with exploration. Once things start rolling there’s little time to slow down the action and if I had only followed the main quest I doubt the game would be longer than 20 hours maximum. The required skill level to access downtown DC does slow down the game and require a little more exploration, but the main quest line is very short and rather well done.

But not to sing complete praise for the game, the graphics are good, but they could be quite a bit better since the Oblivion engine is now getting long in the tooth. The aiming of some of the weapons seems more engineered than realistic, and the radiation effects are barely negative (in fact I gained the ability to regenerate blown off limbs from a bout of advanced radiation sickness and didn’t have any negative setbacks on a permanent level). As a big fan of Oblivion I feel that Fallout 3 is similar enough to draw good aspects from the gameplay and adds some significant enough changes to make it a completely new and interesting game I might actually play again.

Ti Couz
3108 16th St
San Francisco, CA‎
(415) 252-7373‎

A simple place to eat that excels in every way. Ti Couz doesn’t do much besides crepes and salads, but what they do make is simple, delicious, and stands out as one the best amongst the many crepe places I’ve tried. One distinguishing feature are the buckwheat crepes that appear depp, dark brown, with a striking texture and toasty, sweet taste. Another great thing is the cost, a 3 flavoured crepe costs about $10 and is gratuitously sized for a healthy eater - leftovers are a cinch for light eaters.

On my visit I sat in a big bay window with views of Mission Street, very conducive to my favourite activities: lunching, people watching, and conversing. I ordered a tomato, cheese, mushroom, sausage crepe and loved everything about it but the sausage which was sparse and lacking in flavour. The mushrooms were particularly amazing having a wild flavour and texture which can only meean quality ingredients. I also had a delicious chic pea soup which was thick and hearty, a meal in itself.

Ti Couz also has a full bar and an enticing drink menu. I ordered their house special blueberry puree, mint, and vodka mix. A very refreshing drink on a hot day and complimentary to the crepes. I recommend going to this resautaurant for anyone that calls themself a crepe lover and has time on in the Mission district.