ADHD Morning

There's a guy in a seat in front of me on the train. He has his laptop open. His wallpaper is a shot from the Portal 2 comic. He's trying to watch a ripped copy of Game of Thrones, but he can't seem to concentrate, keeps popping out of it, opening another window, closing the window, going back to the video. ADHD morning, I guess. I've had those.

Portal 2, Single player mode completed.

Portal 2 is pretty much as good as everyone is saying it is.

Portal 2, part of the Half Life universe, and the sequel to Portal, is set in the underground testing facility of Aperture Science. You, a young woman named Chelle, gifted with an ability to fall from incredible heights unharmed (as well as smacking into walls) and rapid healing from bullets and lasers, are the plaything of GlaDOS, a crazed AI who is using you as a "test subject" to determine the usefulness of the Portal Gun, a device which can tear two holes in the fabric of space/time, through which your character can fly/jump/walk to get to distant positions. Portals can only be made on reasonably flat surfaces. Each round consists of a series of puzzles which involves figuring out where to place portals in order to reach your intended destination.

The original game consisted of twenty such deliberate tests, followed by an escape from GlaDOS's sadistic test facility and an equally long and difficult trip through the Aperture Science laboratories to reach GlaDOS and shut her down.

Portal 2 picks up somewhat after that. You're Chelle again, and GlaDOS is back, and there are three times as many puzzles as last time. Not all of them belong to GlaDOS, though; you find out that testing is in the blood of Aperture Science, and that tests like the ones GlaDOS is putting you through have been a staple of the business since Cave Johnson, founder of Aperture Science, founded the business in 1949. The tests are hard, the revelations surprising, and the commentary, delivered by a variety of ancient recorded messages and by the two AIs (the sadistic GlaDOS and the ridiculous Wheatley) absolutely hilarious.

There is also a mystery: Who are you? ( Spoilers. )

I also completed all of the single-player achievments. Some of these constitute mini-games in their own right, such as "Smash every video monitor in the fifth set of test chambers." It's a different set of requirements to use the equipment in the room to shoot, fry, or crash something into a monitor, than it is to press the buttons, re-arrange the furniture, and power on the laser stations needed to open the EXIT door, and they are quite a challenge. "Overclocker" (complete a certain very hard room in under 70 seconds) was a nightmare. I also found several easter eggs: rat man lairs, the Secret Society of Opera-Loving Gun Turrets, and (yes) ( Half-Life 2 Secret )

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A hint: start a new game. During the "calisthenics portion of your assessment," look at the painting. Then, after the wake-up, look at the painting a second time. That's your first clue, and it is to your last act.

Portal 2 successfully takes Portal, a throwaway amusement put together by a very small team at Valve, and makes it a first-class game with more surrealism, more fun, and more sadism than the original. It incorporates itself completely into the Half-Life universe, while adding its own collection of mysteries. Both the script writer and the puzzle masters deserve the accolades: Portal 2 is a first-person shooter where you never get to shoot anything, but instead must solve fiendishly difficult puzzles, all the while uncovering the deep weirdness of Aperture Science, Cave Johnson and his unfortunate crew. It is that effective narrative that makes it worth your time.

Ira Glass on why My Work Disappoints Me

All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good. It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit.