New Crystal Chronicles trailer released

Nintendo has released a new trailer for Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. Please, God, talk them out of using that music anywhere in the game.

Purple is the new ZOMG-cute

I downloaded The Maw the day it was released on X-box Live Arcade, and I'm happy to say that this Arcade direct-download indie game has so far outlasted Fable 2 in play time and interest. Yes, a simple $10 arcade game has surpassed a fully-funded big-studio $60 360 title. Someone please give these kids at Twisted Pixel buckets of money, so that they might continue to develop their bundles of epic win.

It seems like it's always the simple-concept games that have the most impact, and The Maw is no exception. The premise is about as simple as it gets: You are a cute little alien. You have a pet alien that is even cuter than you are. It likes to devour things that are cuter than both of you mashed together. It is your job to help your pet, named Maw, to fangoriously devour everything in sight.

Over the course of this feed-fest, you and Maw encounter puzzles that must be solved using your laser wristband and Maw's insatiable appetite. Sometimes that appetite leads to interesting temporary changes in Maw, such as the ability to float or zap things.

Or, to develop a dozen more eyes and the ability to shoot laser beams:


Maw's nom-nom-nom noise gets my vote as the most adorable sound effect in a video game ever.

Related articles

• The Maw getting 'deleted scenes' downloadable content (destructoid.com)
• The Maw Micro-review: A Frank And His Blob [Review] (kotaku.com)

Department of Eagles at the Doug Fir

The Doug Fir was packed last night for the Department of Eagles, Brooklyn's classical and experimentally minded pop group helmed by a few members of Grizzly Bear. The Cave Singers got the night started, Seattle's latest bearded alt-americana group as drenched in reverb. I can't really say I got into them, for beyond the lead singer's vocal affectations,an invisible bass player (do i smell a loop?) and one-trick-pony songwriting style, I can think of at least two other alt-beard-reverb-rock groups from the Puget Sound I'd rather listen to (i.e. Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes).

No matter, the Department of Eagles certainly held it down. Not an offshoot or side project of Grizzly Bear, DoE actually started years earlier, but was sidelined by Grizzly Bear's runaway success. Front man Daniel Rossen has certainly made good use of his time in getting this band back on track, they were as tight and expansive as on their new album, In Ear Park. In other words, despite the lack of one or two other singers (the vocals on the album were padded by the rest of GB, giving it that ethereal, 'this is God's house' sound), all the texture on record was at the show. Rossen opened and closed the show solo, the first song with the banjo, a really wonderfully plucked rendition of In Ear Park.

Phantom Other was the song that really had me blown away, with other founding member Fred Nicholaus playing the samples like it was the last sampler on earth. Not that live shows ought to always sound like their studio recorded counterparts, but I was pretty blown away at them recreating that song almost exactly as it is on the record, and without any lame bass or ambient loops.

The only looping that was done was a Battles style vocal loop from Rossen, which was amazing. On his final solo song, a brand new won, apparently, he made a vocal loop of about 4 layers and played on top of that. Really amazing.

Jeff Guay

John Updike, 1932 - 2009

Acclaimed American writer John Updike, best known for his Rabbit series, died Tuesday morning of lung cancer. The two time Pulitzer Prize winning author was 76 years old. 

"In fiction," Updike writes in a 2005 essay contributed to NPR's This I Believe series, "imaginary people become realer to us than any named celebrity glimpsed in a series of rumored events, whose causes and subtler ramifications must remain in the dark."

To read or hear Updike read the entirety of his essay, go to Testing the Limits of What I Know and Feel at the National Public Radio website. 

Chia Jerry: the seeds of life

This past Christmas our esteemed production manager, Jason Chastain, received a chia pet, modeled to the shape of the popular cartoon character Garfield. Seeing as the Vanguard offices are located deep in the basement of Smith Memorial Student Union, where not but mold does grow and not but rats do dwell, the production staff has embarked on the Herculean of saga enlivening our workspace through the cultivation of a chia pet. This is the story of that chia pet. -Editor

Day 2: The Seeds of Life

While the staff of the Vanguard was off whiling away its weekend at various debaucheries, Chia Jerry was busy growing the gooey paste atop his head into a crown of resplendent/creepy flora.

As the seed paste was applied liberally to all dimensions of Chia Jerry's head, the growth of the chia plant itself has taken on an interestingly warped design. The sheer oddity of this sight has been amplified by a curved mirror that has been placed behind Chia Jerry's head in what one can only assume was a fit of Jerry's emerging vanity.

Certain staff members (read: me) have commented that Chia Jerry looks like an Aztec ruin, overgrown with vines after years' exposure to the elements. Heaven only knows what mysteries the next day will bring...

Well, this is weird: Fucked Up on Fox News

If you weren't aware, Fucked Up rules.

The Toronto hardcore band has released dozens of records, and last year's great The Chemistry of Common Life was in my top 10 of the year.

What they're doing on Fox News, which isn't exactly known as a paragon of the punk rock aesthetic, is unclear, but here's the very surprising video evidence:



(From: brooklynvegan)

Chia Jerry: the saga begins

This past Christmas our esteemed production manager, Jason Chastain, received a chia pet, modeled to the shape of the popular cartoon character Garfield. Seeing as the Vanguard offices are located deep in the basement of Smith Memorial Student Union, where not but mold does grow and not but rats do dwell, the production staff has embarked on the Herculean of saga enlivening our workspace through the cultivation of a chia pet. This is the story of that chia pet. -Editor

Day 1: The Seedening

Today the seeds were applied liberally to Chia Jerry. Though the box suggests placing them on the backside of the chia pet, Jason decided to think outside the box (HA!) and slather the seeds onto all sides of Chia Jerry's bulbous head.

During the slathering, a staff member (read: me) commented that the chia seed paste looked remarkably similar to dinosaur snot, as portrayed in the movie Jurassic Park. Thus life does spring from the grossest looking places.

There has been no noticable growth as of yet but expectations are high for the lush greenery that is about to spring from Chia Jerry's head and turn the production cubicle into a latter day eden.