My animation fascination continues. Someone recently posted a link over in the PA:AC to a music video done for a Canadian band called “Pilate”.
While the music is “emo”, which may not be everyone’s bag (I liked it, but I have indie/emo leanings), the video is interesting and well crafted. For those not on broadband: it’s an animated music video of a little ghost riding around in the back of a taxi, taking pictures. You can find it at: http://www.pilate.com/media/qt_alright.html.
Enjoy.
Found this both over at Little-Gamers.com and also at Mock_the_Stupid.
1. Type “Miserable Failure” into Google.
2. Press the “I’m Feeling Lucky” Button.
Now THAT’S Comedy!
As some of you are aware, I am not overwhelmingly happy with my website right now. My website is, in a lot of ways, a reflection of who or what I am. It is a metaphor for my life. If I am unhappy with the content and presentation of my site, it is highly likely (and certainly has been in this case) that it is indicative of my self-image and self-worth.
This is not a complaint, however. This is, after all, a two way street: by cleaning and improving my site, I improve my personal self-worth. My previous design honestly could have lasted quite a while longer: it was not a bad design, not in the least. It felt stagnant to me, though.
I apparently gave the impression that I took the feedback on the redesign pretty hard, for which I apologize. While I was slightly frustrated that some of the feedback had not come sooner in development, I was glad to have the feedback at all. The relatively poor response I received about the new design was not devastating, merely a bit of a bummer that happened to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. I guess that’ll teach me to make major changes and call for feedback when I’m feeling fragile emotionally. ;)
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America, by Simon and Garfunkel.
Road Trippin’, by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Take Me With You, by Morphine
Sleep Alone, by Moby
Thela Hun Ginjeet, by King Crimson
Life is a Long Song, by Jethro Tull
Postcard Day, Ian Anderson
Ride Across the River, by Dire Straits
Space Oddity, by David Bowie
Five Years, by David Bowie
#34, by Dave Matthews Band
Where Do I Begin, by The Chemical Brothers
No Distance Left to Run, by Blur
Please, add your favorite “travel music” to the list. Feel free to argue some of my choices, too.
Well, it only took a few days of being obtuse, but I’ve finally got a reasonably up to date mirror of my site, functioning with a MySQL backend (unlike my actual BerkeleyDB… something I plan to remedy soon), on my local machine. I just barely finished importing all the files necessary and making sure everything works, so hopefully tomorrow I’ll get an opportunity to actually start futzing with stuff a little.
I’m starting to feel drained from this trip. I haven’t been sleeping well, and have been constantly surrounded by people (even though they are my friends). This is quite the change from the hermit-like nature I’d been exhibiting in Seattle, and the change has been a bit more draining than I’d like. I also miss my wife (imagine that!), which is exacerbated because I feel like neither of us are communicating very well lately. Something to work on when I get back, I suppose — just keeping in touch when you’re 3000 miles and 3 time zones apart is tough enough, without trying to work through new stuff.
Anyway, I just wanted to make a quick post to announce that the “geek issue” that’s been absorbing my time and energy the past few days is finally done, so now I’m going to in theory try to post a bit more regularly. (No more excuse of getting absorbed into the localizing problem!)
It’s been a few days since I last posted, and I am in fact planning to remedy that in a fuller fashion than just links. That will be later, however. For now, some links worth noting:
My old English teacher/theatrical director, Alan Haehnel, has a website up at www.alanhaehnel.com. It’s primarily about the various shows he’s had published, serving as a contact point for people who are interested in producing them. His plays are invariably delightful, so I’d highly recommend checking it out.
My friend Adam has a website up and running. www.adamhadlock.com will get you to the primary site. He’s also got a weblog running, and is (as of his post a few hours ago) debating whether he wants to make it the main page or not, so until he decides that here is a link direct to the weblog.
Uri is finally up and running from his move, and has begun posting on his website again, with a vengeance (four new posts in the past two days). I enjoyed his “Create!” post in particular (www.mellowafternoon.com, in case you forgot).
In the realm of photography, I highly recommend checking www.terragalleria.com. Mickey’s father sent her the link, which she in turn passed on to me. It’s the website for QT Luong, who is a rather respected photographer. His National Parks collection is really impressive, and one of the most complete I’ve seen.
And to round out the links, a geek-worthy item from a company called Crumpler. Jason O’Grady raved about this new backpack company. They have some truly remarkable new designs that will hopefully revolutionize the computer bag industry. You can check out their (funky/bizarre/cool) website at: www.crumplernyc.com.
More of a real post later!
This is hardly a full list of games I wish would be created, but it is certainly a start.
1. Mega Man as a console first person shooter, ala Metroid Prime and Halo. Think about all the cool weapons and interesting enemies that could be done with this franchise. Far better this than the current rehashed dead-end currently being developed.
2. Starship Troopers as a MMOG. Universal ranking system, platoon “clans”, a combination of rpg elements, FPS, and RTS (at the command level). Something similar is being done currently called “Planetside”, which looks decent, but there is always room for improvement, and this universe is a perfect choice to build from.
3. Third Person MMORPG with graphics and gameplay reminiscient of Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. The graphics in that game were non-photorealistic, which is part of what gave the game its charm. The drive for “realistic” graphics (lots of detail, dark gory characters, ala Warcraft, Diablo, EverQuest, Quake) is in my humble opinion a poorly thought out fad on the part of developers, and needs to go back to being A graphics methodology, not THE graphics methodology.
4. A reassessment and revamp of the concept of “role playing game.” There is a difference between console-rpgs, and pc-rpgs (this is a generalization, there are console style games on the pc, and pc style games on the console), and the difference primarily lies in the design philosophy applied. Originally in console-rpgs, you were essentially playing an interactive book or movie. You were essentially starring in a story, and the steps you take (with the exception of a few optional side quests) are both predetermined and storyboarded. PC-rpgs tend to leave a lot more ambiguity as to the progression of the story, leaving the player with a lot of freedom to develop as he so chooses, doing (at least in theory) what he wants. The PC-RPG seems to be in the lead in terms of number of games coming out, with really only a few (the Final Fantasy series, Xenosaga, Wild Arms, a few others) operating in the console arena. I want to see more games where the emphasis is on the story and characters, cut scenes and all. I have a suspicion that if we want the console-rpg style to survive, it needs to be redefined and delineated from the pc-rpg style.
Heh, ranted a bit more than expected on that last one. Wasn’t even a particular game I’d like to see made… it’s more of a general “I wish THIS would happen in the gaming industry!” So I guess it’s close enough to be on the wishlist.
It is official: I’m a geek. I now have all three of my consoles connected to the internet. Not only that, but it’s WIRELESS. Here’s how:
The three consoles (my GC broadband adapter just came in today) are plugged into a switch which is plugged into my ethernet converter, which communicates wirelessly with my airport station, which also acts as my router for my cable modem. Ta-da, no running cables all over the house.
Of course, I haven’t tested the Auto Modellista online capabilities yet through this set-up… I was on the beta and had connection problems, which they said they were going to fix. So when the actual game gets released, I’m like “woohoo! Online cell shaded racing at its finest!” Flip open the manual to discover that it (supposedly) requires a direct connection to the cable modem, and will not work over a NAT’d router.
What the hell kind of shit is that? Who pays for broadband in order to SOLELY connect it to the PS2? BAD Capcom! No biscuit!
I’m going to test that after I get back from my residency… too busy at the moment.
Okay, so I got my new drive (thanks LaCie!). It is the same size as the old one, but slightly better… the previous one had been FW&USB, this one is FW&USB2. Hey, I’m all for it… especially since the recovery attempt failed, so the unexpected bus upgrade helps cheer me up.
The recovery attempt cost me $200. When they opened the drive, they discovered that the reader head had broken off and physically shredded the platter, completely eradicating my data. Nothing to be done. At least now I know. If another drive fails in the future, I’ll probably use DriveSavers again… they were expensive (most are), but they were cool enough to not treat me like an idiot.
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