So I’ll keep this spoiler free. The new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, is coming out in ’08. Sumer. What’s interesting is the WB has been doing a lot of viral online marketing — lots of little web sites (like Why So Serious) that drop clues leading to other sites which lead to things in real life hidden in a city, etc. They’ve gone all-out. What is more interesting, and the reason for this post, is they just rewarded those keeping up with everything.
In six IMAX theaters across the nation tonight they just showed the opening seven minutes of the film to a small (~200) group of people. I managed to be among them, along with Kiera. You don’t see Batman, but you get to see the Joker. Obviously it’s too early to tell, but from what you get to see I think they just might beat out Jack Nicholson’s performance as the first Joker. Definitely darker, not so "wacky crazy uncle." Just a dark sense of humor and no regard for human lives. Which I’m all for.
The trailer is supposed to come out next week with I am Legend. Can’t wait.
Summer was great and fall has been pretty good so far too. Parties, vacations, turkey, new operating system, fun games. Overall not too shabby.
We had a Halloween party that went really well. The decorations turned out perfectly – lots of fake moss on the kitchen table and lots of spooky-looking candles (took a long time to burn them to look right). Even did the candle on the skull thing. We watched Dead Alive (zombies vs lawn mower — pure bad zombie movie bliss), played some DDR, and pumpkin bowled. Felicity and Ross even showed up.
My Aunt Susan owns a place up in Lake Placid, NY and let us stay there the first weekend in November. Nice little town on a beautiful lake. It was part of a lodge so there were amenities out the wazoo. Valet parking, game room in the basement (with a bowling alley), heated pool. Lots of wonderful restaurants around the place too, one of which served the best Pumpkin Spiced Ale I’ve ever tasted. Really we just tried to do as little as possible all weekend, which was great and just what we needed.
Thanksgiving was way too much food in one day. No offense to mum, but I’m glad she moved to Florida, I don’t know how we would have dealt having to eat three Thanksgiving dinners. Two (Kiera’s parents, Dad) is enough. Lots of tasties though so I guess I can’t really complain about that.
Enough life-stuff though; there are two things that came out in the past few months which I feel are worth digressing about for a bit. Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), and Assassin’s Creed...
Leopard
After a little over two years since the last Mac OS X release, Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) came out in October. Of course I had it the day it came out (yay to Apple’s free same-day delivery). So what do I think of it? Certainly worth the upgrade.
The new Finder alone is what makes the upgrade worthwhile. While I’m not a big fan of the new dock or menubar (I guess they had to show off the spiffy new Core Animation somewhere, but still, meh) the Finder itself has finally gotten an overhaul and feels like a modern OS X application. It’s responsive and doesn’t hiccup when dealing with network shares like it used to. It can generate file-previews for almost any type now (which makes browsing a directory of videos very easy) and QuickLook is handy when one just wants to quickly see what is in a file. Coverflow is a bit flashy and I haven’t found a use for it yet, but it’s a cool way to browse through a directory of images on occasion.
Time Machine is, while not anything amazing, something I’m sure many people will come to forget how they lived without. Built-in easy to use backups - plug in an external hard drive, say yes to a dialog box, and you’re done. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.
Spotlight has been updated, or fixed, depending on how you look at it. It’s safe to say this is what it should have been when it was first released. The speed has been improved so it’s truly instantaneous (used to get sluggish when you had a lot of data). Plus it now acts as an application launcher; just type in the first few letters of the program you want to launch and hit enter - programs are the default "top result" when you search. I now see why QuickSilver users love their program.
And on top of all that, it’s faster. Just like every other Mac OS X release before this one, the OS runs faster on the same hardware. It’s not like Vista where your machine will probably run slower than it did with XP. They added lots of features, but they didn’t add bloat, which is just as important as adding features.
So yeah, if you have a Mac, go get Leopard.
Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed finally came out. When I saw the first trailer for this last year it was the nail in the coffin and I finally got an Xbox 360 (Gears of War had just came out, so I figured why not). I’m a bit torn about how I feel about it. Overall I can safely say it’s lots of fun but not without disappointment.
It’s obvious that the game engine itself has gotten all the attention, all the polish. I love the control interface and it’s a blast to just run around in the incredibly huge world and do random stuff. The combat system is very enjoyable too. It’s not just graphics, far from it, it’s the way you interact with the world. Walking through a crowd you’ll try to gently push people out of the way, running though it you’ll bump into one and possibly trip. It’s one of the most realistic virtual worlds I’ve seen.
Unfortunately it seems like they didn’t put much thought into the plot, specifically missions, in the game. It gets a bit repetitive: go to a new city, climb 10 or so high buildings to get a good view of the place, do 7 or so missions (which are always the same in each city – pickpocket some guy, beat him up, listen in on his conversation, or help some dumbass find some flags he’s dropped) then go kill the "boss" for that area. Your boss tells you good job, you get a new weapon or ability, repeat.
Honestly if it weren’t for the amazing interaction within the world the game wouldn’t have much to offer. As it stands, as long as you enjoy just playing around in the game and you can look past the repetition, it’s very enjoyable. Maybe Assassin’s Creed 2, if they make it, will be better since they already have an amazing engine in place and they can focus on some variety in the plot.
What I Did On My Summer Vacation, By Curtis.
Or something like that.
Indeed, as an adult (god, I’m old?) my definition of summer vacation isn’t as well-defined as the little ones’, marked by the deadline of summer-reading requirements and summer vacation reports, but I’m still young enough (damn it!) to have that feeling that summer is over around the same time theirs is. The sight of those yellow moving roadblocks transporting them to school instills a feeling of ending in me.
Fortunately before this feeling got a hold in my mind, I managed to have a blast. Although frequently busy, I’d be willing to say this was a wonderful summer. A Best Summer, even.
Fast forwarding though some drama at the beginning of summer Kiera and I started dating. But you knew that already; I’m sure I already gushed about it way too much and you’re tired of hearing it. "Yes, you’re happy, that’s nice" you say as you wish to stab me in the eye after hearing about it for the millionth time. Understandable and I’ll spare your ear.
However after said unsaid drama things started to improve, dramatically. Trips to the beach (I still burn easily and get a farmer’s tan without wearing a shirt, how the hell??) and nights of geekery occupied what time we had. Which wasn’t much, considering we were preparing for Otakon. We had decided to go as Death and Dream from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. We stole Mike to be Destiny too. We weren’t going to settle for half-arse costume though, which meant we spent most weekends for two months tracking down fabric and supplies for the costumes. She tacked most of the fabric-related work, and I tackled Destiny’s book, a task taking much more time than we ever imagined (I am a perfectionist after all). We got the costumes done the week of the convention (see, Katie, it can be done!) and they were a hit. We got stopped no less than twenty-five times at the convention, and we only wore the costumes for one day. Other than that Otakon was pretty standard — saw some cool costumes, watched some anime, generally dorked out with friends. A fun time was had by all.
After Otakon the shock came that I’d have my weekends and evenings free, no longer worrying about making kick-arse costumes. Diablo 2 came in to fill a good chunk of this time. I never played it back when it came out, and with Kiera being an old addict of it, I decided to pick up a legit copy off of Amazon and play online with her. It felt like playing World of Warcraft again, only in 2d top-down mode. A very odd feeling.
The end of August marked an event we had been waiting for since the beginning of summer — PAX. PAX is a gaming convention in Seattle Washington started by the creators of the Penny Arcade online comic. It has basically replaced E3 as the biggest gaming convention in the states (30,000 people). And boy, it didn’t disappoint. I got to play Metroid Prime 3 there (it didn’t come out until the Tuesday after), saw an exclusive demo of Assassin’s Creed (the reason I bought an Xbox 360 last year, even though the game comes out this November), got to hear Will Wheaton speak, and went to an excellent concert Saturday night. While we were there we even did some touristy things like the Seattle Underground tour and dining in the Space Needle. That vacation was just what I needed.
Other highlights include some good movies such as Stardust, a film by Neil Gaiman, and Bourne Ultimatum, a dare-I-say-perfect ending to the trilogy. Transformers was the highlight in the category of crap — it absolutely killed my childhood. Don’t see it, don’t even bother pirating it.
I finally got around to reading the Watchmen graphic novel. If you’re into graphic novels you’ve probably read it, but just incase you’re a loser like me here is a reminder.
I picked up Metroid Prime 3 on Tuesday. It’s everything I’ve hoped for. The controls just feel right. I was intending to pick up BioShock because of all the fuss people are making over it (the demo was fun) but I hesitate now that I’ve played Metroid. I just don’t want to use the dual analog control scheme ever again after this. It feels like I’m back on my computer using a keyboard/mouse, only now my computer is a Wii and my monitor is a nice TV. I can’t speak to its length yet but it says I have 25% of the map explored and I’ve been playing for maybe eight hours or so. Not the 40hrs+ I got out of Zelda, but still solid for what’s essentially an FPS. The plot is enough to hold it together, but it doesn’t seem to be anything epic — I’m pretty sure I know where it’s going. However I don’t feel insulted like I did with Gears of War, where I left the game thinking "plot, what plot?"
So yeah, wonderful summer.
I’m now with a truly amazing woman: Kiera. She’s everything I’ve dreamed about but thought I’d never find.
I’m happier than I ever remember being.
No silly little post can do this feeling justice.
I remember a couple months back when Apple first said it’d like to eliminate DRM in music; that they would be willing to take the first step and embrace DRM free music sales if the labels allowed it. Lots of people said they were bluffing, that it was only being said because the labels would never give in.
As of today iTunes is now selling DRM free music. All of the music managed by EMI is being sold DRM free, and at a higher bitrate. It isn’t all the music out there, but it’s a start, and we need to show that it’s a step in the right direction.
I know lots of people who have said they don’t want to pay for music because it’s laced with DRM or because it’s low quality. They’d be more than happy to pay for music if they didn’t have to worry about those. Guess what? They listened and what you want is here. Music with no DRM at basically CD quality (256 AAC format) is now available for purchase.
Time to put your money where your mouth is. Buying this DRM free music is the only way to show the RIAA that this is what we want and encourage the other labels to follow suit. I sure as hell intend to check and see if a track is DRM free on iTunes before I try to get it elsewhere from now on.
No, this isn’t a tribute to a Dave Matthews song I used to like in high school. As much as I wish this entry was driven by an overwhelming desire to be nostalgic and reminisce about my long-forgotten younger years it’s not.
Instead I’ll be ranting about how nothing good ever came out of Texas, and how one of said undesirable things thought it’d be a great idea to run a red light.
From what I can gather from his driving apparently red means go down there. Clearly we Yanks are backwards in our ways. He was in the left-hand turning lane which did not have the green seeing as opposing traffic (among this traffic was me) had the green. This didn’t faze him though — he was determined to get where he was going with the utmost efficiency, even if that meant disregarding our admittedly backwards and confusing traffic lights. Fortunately we both weren’t going too fast, maybe 10mph each, but we were going fast enough to damage my car pretty well — 4.4k in damage. It didn’t look it, but there was some structural damage to the unibody, things had shifted a bit to the left.
He was driving a rental car from Budget. Uncharacteristically Budget’s insurance (typically slow from what I’ve been told) has already accepted responsibility for everything, so I don’t have to pay the deductible and all out of pocket. Quite a refreshing change from the normal horror stories I hear about insurance claims. Progressive has made the whole process as painless as possible. I’m impressed, and much like Amy, can now say I actually like my insurance company.
It’s going to take two weeks total to fix my car — being ready on the 21st of May. Quick, I suppose, for the amount of work they have to do, but still far too long to have to spend in a Chrysler Sebring. Especially with gas prices so high. Ugh.
Contrary to what I’m sure is now the popular belief I do still use this site, and more importantly I am still alive. I have lots of things bidding for my time and somehow updating this site just isn’t high on my list of priorities. I guess that’s what happens when life becomes more interesting to live than blog about. Writing here is no longer a welcome distraction from an endless stream of work but rather something I’d rather avoid doing in favor of more enjoyable things.
Also part of the problem is the site’s layout, I think. While I put a lot of time into it, and I still consider it a wonderful design (perhaps one of my best), it does have its problems. Most notable is the way I present entries. It isn’t your traditional blog-type web site with multiple recent entries on the front page, all easily readable for anyone who has missed out on an update or two. Instead with just the most recent entry on the front page, just a summary of said entry in fact, it feels as if I’m obligated to both update infrequently enough so people don’t miss an update and write nice long worth-while updates. I feel as if I shouldn’t just post quick links to other interesting sites as it’s a waste of space and would possibly prevent people from seeing the more important entry written days before that.
After a year and a half I think it’s time for a redesign. I’ve had the itch to do so for some time, and I think it’s about time I scratch it. I don’t know how long it will take me to make a new design, or even if it will be all-new or just trying to fix the problems with the current design. I just think something has to be done before I accidentally let this site wither away.
Last year I celebrated the coming of the new year in Japan working the graveyard shift by myself watching the glowing red atomic clock on the wall turn to 001:00:00:00 (the clock kept track of days too).
This year I spend it on my couch surrounded by half a dozen friends yelling "get to the choppa!" and "oh, no, Anold’s biceps, take another drink" at each other. Who would’a known that watching The Predator would make such a good drinking game?
I think this year’s festivities win.
Overall I’d have to say 2006 was a pretty good year. Aside from the lame way of starting off the year, spending the first half of it in Japan was wonderful. Coming back to the states and managing to get myself transfered out of MD back home was defiantly a step in the right direction. I’ve read more books this year than I had in my entire life (aside from text books). I’ve gone from not being able to run for more than five minutes without dying to being able to run seven minute miles and go for ten miles (mutually exclusive at the moment) without much trouble. I’ve started sketching again (although not enough).
What does 2007 hold? How could it compete with such an enjoyable and productive previous year?
So far it can’t. It looks like it’ll be filled with boring 0800-1600 days of work in a cube farm. This must be combated, I can’t settle for a bland year. I don’t think I’ll be traveling half-way around the world again (although I would jump at the opportunity), but there are some things I want to do to make sure 2007 is notable too:
Oh, and of course I want to be more social. Part of moving back from MD was the well-known fact that all the cool people live in PA (or at least come from PA). Now that I’m back I need to make sure I take advantage of this.
As I said I quit WoW some time ago, so I do have more free time. However running for an hour or more every day cuts into said time. I need to make sure all of the things I want to accomplish this year don’t get in the way of just hanging out and having fun, as my side-activities have in the past. I’ll be an interesting balancing act of time, but I’m sure with enough people poking at me to hang out with them it’ll work out just fine *wink wink, nudge nudge*.
