I know I’ve said many a time that this is a media blog, but I only end up talking about games. No longer!

Today, I headed over to the Capitol Theatre to watch the premiere of The Van Job, a short film by Olympia’s Mutually Assured Productions. I knew a few of the guys who worked on it in high school, and they’ve always been passionate about making short films and such, so I swallowed my crippling social anxiety and went to support them.

You know, even if I didn’t know them, I’d still tell you to try and buy the DVD if/when they sell it online. For a film that was just made for kicks and practice, there is a level of polish to it that can only come from hard work and a hell of a lot of care. I don’t want to tell you too much more about it (it is only eighteen minutes, and therefore it’d be easy to give up the entire plot), but it’s well-scripted and acted, and the cinematography is great considering their equipment. The sound quality is what really impressed me, though — every piece fit the tone of the film perfectly. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they do next!

To learn more about Mutually Assured Productions, check them out on Facebook (their website is still under construction).

UPDATE! Here’s the whole thing!

What Lor wanted most for Christmas last year was Style Savvy, which was surprising since it was, well, not a Pokemon title. It looked like a kindred spirit to Roiworld’s Fashion Fix on the iPhone/iPod Touch, which Lor adored despite being fairly terrible at it. I knew I was going to like it, but I held off until I could see how accessible it was, and after watching her play through the tutorial on Christmas night, I was hooked. Against our better judgement, we ventured out into the post-holiday chaos in search of a second copy.

As we were in the car, Nick marveled at how utterly obsessed with the game I was, but wasn’t really surprised. “I’ve read some of the reviews,” he said, “and they’ve all said that even though they expected it to be terrible, they’re surprised that it’s a great game.” At first, I just went on gushing about how well the game is structured and the micromanaging of your store and everything, but after a moment, I began to wonder — why would one assume it’d be terrible?

I thought about it for a moment, and you know, it really did make perfect sense, considering the shift in marketplace perceptions. Nowadays, games created and/or marketed toward a female audience are the new licensed games, as far as their perception as shovelware is concerned. (more…)