Pantheon of the Gods

Originally posted: Jul 27, 2006 on MySpace

Event Description - Bring your 3 most powerful figures to the table:
one feat card per character.

Universe - HeroClix

Event Date - Thursday, July 13, 2005 12:00pm

Participants - Armando, Bryan, Joe, Robert
_____________________________________________________

All hell broke loose on the grounds of the Xavier mansion as Dark Phoenix rose again with the help of the trickster Loki! The same powers that brought back the dark entity also ripped a hole in the dimensional fabric, allowing him to also recruit the young and impressionable Mary Marvel. The Shi'Ar, immediately aware of this threat dispatched the Gladiator who also pulled assistance from the alternate universe but from completely different points in time, as the top contenders Superman and Shazam came to his aid. The god of war himself recognizing the threat this dimensional rift could cause made to close it and was mystically torn into two versions of himself. There could be only one god of war and a rivalry began with that creation. Again the rift spit out aid as Green Lantern followed Shazam from the future, intent on stopping him and a befuddled Tick was thrown into the fray, trying to stop an imposter god. Meanwhile the conflict on The Raft out in New York was put on hold as The Sentry and Count Nefaria recognized a greater threat, joining the god of war in trying to stop the Phoenix.

As the duplicate gods battled the Gladiator's efforts were valiant and his comrades proved their strength against the mighty Phoenix, suffering terrible injury along the way until Count Nefaria slipped in and destroyed the risen body of Jean Grey. Loki, his plans temporarily thwarted withdrew, leaving Mary Marvel to fight the Tick and Superman. With the Phoenix gone, the hero hating insane Shazam drew his teammates to battle with the other super powers that had converged, leading to the fall of both instances of the mighty Ares. Taking advantage of the confusion and the weakening do-gooders, Loki slipped back into the fray and eliminate the worn heroes as they battled amongst themselves. The Green Lantern finally fell under the final strain of effort he used to obliterated the devastating Gladiator, leaving only the mighty Shazam to deal with the nefarious scheming of Loki. As the power of two gods pounded at each other pushing themselves past fatigue into horrendous strain, Shazam finally broke the power of Loki, dispelling him from this dimension! Alone on a desolated battlefield, surveying the destruction their immortal battle had wrought, Shazam collapsed, succumbing to the grievous wounds he had earned in the bloody skirmish. There are no winners. Only heroes.

The Pantheon of the Gods was a HeroClix scenario that we've run a couple of times for absolute kicks. There is no play balance, since the figures are all over the board in terms of power, abilities, and shear scale (we also allow Robert's excellently crafted custom figures). This particular game turned into a major epic as the four of us duked it out into an effective four way tie that ended with a double KO.

Joe quoted it well: "All and all, that was probably one of the best HeroClix matches I've ever played guys, simply awesome"

I can only hope we have many more matches like this one!

Quick Quotes

Originally posted: Jul 6, 2006 on MySpace

Me: The only way to enter a relationship as absolute equals would be if you were to marry yourself. And... um ... ew?
Maria: yes...EW does sum it up. Besides it'd be rather hard to call in domestic abuse.
Me: Me - "Hello? 911? I'm beating myself."
911 - "Um... ew?"
Maria: HAHAHA

Bryan: The girl in Superman Returns was an alright actress, she just didn't look the part. The voice actress from the show was a perfect Lois Lane: a ball buster! And then there's Teri Hatcher, who was just a man.

Joe: Yeah, but she was pretty hot for a guy! I've got no problems with that.

Superman is a DICK!

Originally posted: Jun 30, 2006 on MySpace

Well, as SuperDickery.com has illustrated, the Man of Steel is freakin' dick to everyone, and the closer he is to someone he's being a dick to, the more he seems to enjoy it. So, going to see Superman Returns on Wednesday we couldn't help but keep noticing the little telling moments where, given the choice between doing nothing and seeming rude or abusing his powers and being a dick, he always erred on the side of dicketry. I mean, look at the guy! His buddy "The Flash" comes up to say 'hi' and...

What a dick. Anyway, Superman Returns. Yeah, good movie. I was particularly pleased with how they eased it right back in with the original two Christopher Reeve Superman movies. From their use of the old footage of Marlon Brando as Jor-El to the streeking 70's style in which they did the credits to even the mimicing of Reeve's Clark Kent mannerisms, Returns fits right into the Superman movie continuity as if there had been no break at all. This is also evident in Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor portrayal wich is almost exactly like Gene Hackman's version, but here, alas, I had hoped Luthor's ingenuity and intelligence would be played up as much as his cold determination and cruelty. I will also admit my dissappointment in the super action scenes. They were awesome, don't get me wrong, but after the thing with the plane, every time Superman did something amazing it just kind of seemed like the same scene over and over again...

I'm pretty sure this comes from him not having an opponent anywhere near his power level in this movie. We saw him handling emergencies he was well above and all his super powered act were against innanimate objects. I was probably ruined when I saw screenshots of the video game where it looked like he was fighting a giant robot. It could be that I got my hopes up for something that would be able to smack him around a little bit. I really just wanted to see Superman haul off and slug something with current day special effects behind him. All there were, however, were natural phenomenon and human opposition. Though, I like to imagine that when the camera cut away from that guy who tried to shoot him in the face Supes turned around and 'slapped that guy skinny', Panther-Style:

So, it was a good movie, I guess I just had my hopes too high on the 'super hero' side. Maybe by the next one we'll bring in somebody like Brainiac or Darkseid to mess with (I'm pretty sure Bizarro, much like Venom, is going to require at least one more sequel before we're willing to accept the comic logic). On the dramatic side, this story was a real winner. Asking how Superman, the aforementioned dick, can deal with coming back after a five year absence to find the woman he loves is engaged to someone else and already has a child is a challenge that super strength and invulnerability weren't meant to handle. Again, the use of Marlon Brando's old role as Jor-El really helps to paint an image of solitude for Supes.

Well, lets hear it for the summer of sequel blockbusters! Next up: Pirates!

Whoa! O_o

Originally Posted: Jun 26, 2006

Just stopping by to share some amusing tidbits from the weekend. I also think I'm going to write up another summary of entertainment at the end of the month to quick recap movies and games. For now, enjoy:

Street Fighter Vs Mario! (Watch it, its short!)

And as a bonus: T3-Katamari!

Quality vs Technology

Originally posted: Jun 14, 2006 on MySpace

I've wanted to share this for a while, though I'm sure most of you have read it. This was a post by Gabe on Penny-Arcade back on May 15th regarding what he saw with the new Indiana Jones game at E3:

"Instead of animating Indy they essentially taught him how to behave and react to his surroundings. They said this was better because it means youll never see the same canned animation over and over. What it means is that I see different stupid looking animations all the time though. Im not sure thats an improvement. Ill take God of Wars beautifully animated special moves over Indy looking like some kind of retarded marionette any day."

This is something I feel very strongly about, regardless of its ramifications on my life as a game artist. I like my games like I like my cg movies and animated features: with style. This is the same problem I have with motion capture animation. I'd rather see over the top, far beyond believable animation than animation that looks like somebody having trouble walking in a rubber suit. I HATE it when they try to recreate reality and all I can think the entire time I'm supposed to be enjoying myself is how wrong it looks, and how much money they wasted! I WANT to see fictional creations and things that are impossible (or nearly) to duplicate in reality. That's what I paid for. Plus, the closer and closer CG or even hand drawn animation comes to reality, the more exponentially expensive it ends up getting, and the more expensive the end product. Notice which 360 games are $60 or higher?

Case in point: Can anyone out there honestly say that Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was better than The Incredibles?

So where exactly am I?

Originally posted: Jun 13, 2006 on MySpace

Sometimes its hard to figure out where I stand...

I mentioned before about breaking up with Megan, but now I think I need to extrapolate if, for nothing else, just to try and get my position straight. The break up was no surprise, in fact it was an almost exact mirror of a conversation we had had over Thanksgiving when she had just returned from Iraq. The short version went something like:
- We've been 'going out' for almost 2 years but had only ever spent a total of maybe 3 or 4 weeks worth of time together during them.
- When we're together, things are fine, but the longer we're apart, the less interested she is.
- We (I in particular) can't afford to fly across the country to visit as often as either of us would like.

While this makes a very difficult relationship, we decided to keep at it a while longer now that she was back in the country and see how well we could make it now that we'd be able to visit, talk, and IM more often than when she was stationed overseas. It worked pretty well: we got a couple good weekends in, we're both T-Mobile subscribers, so we can talk to each other for free, and now that she was only 2 hours ahead of me instead of 9, I could talk and chat with her at reasonable hours for both of us.

However, fast forward about six months and we're still on the same boat. I'm always at the computer at work or at home, but her interest in signing onto a messenger program fades. Our phone calls dwindle day by day as we don't always have enough to talk about to warrant more than a few minutes of dialogue (neither of us can fully disclose what we do at work, nor is the other more than passingly interested in the first place). Its even more difficult that our hobbies don't exactly overlap when she's trying to tell me about Brokeback Mountain and I'm trying to explain Kingdom Hearts. Then, of course, I don't know about her finances (though I suspect they're getting tight as she just bought a house), but my own debt is starting to go back into the negatives as I'm still scrambling to pay off the past few months worth of trips and tickets. So, yeah, when she was sick and miserable and irritable the other weekend, I'm not surprised it was finally time to have this conversation again.

Now the thing is, though we've officially broken up, we're now back to talking and IMing more often than we had been in the couple months previous. This could be the result of our recent visit, so once again her she's thinking of me more often before her interest fades after more time apart. It may be a similar circumstance to my situation living with Maria where our relationship had ended some time before we officially called it off, so when we finally did put it to bed we could be that much closer and more open as friends. Or maybe Megan is having second thoughts when actually faced with the prospect of losing me and is making an extra effort. I have a lot of trouble guessing what the case may be, particularly when I'm guilty of similar ambivalence. I understand that we're a hard pressed match, but I'm not exactly anxious to let her go, either. Then again, is my heart really in it for the long hard road she and I are inevitably going to have to face to stay together? Together we fit, and rather well, I might say, but apart, our lives seem wholly incompatible.

This is most definitely a 'follow my heart' situation, but what do I do when my heart is looking at me like, "wtf?" I guess I just wanted to think things through. If you read this far, I appriciate your interest in my love life! Wish I had some cooler stuff to share. We'll see about that next week. I think I'm finally tired enough to head back to bed. G'night.

The answer is "No."

Originally Posted: May 29, 2006 on MySpace

Alright, then, the abridged version of the birthday weekend. Everything cool was marred with some disappointment:

- Got a HeroClix Dark Phoenix and promptly tried her out in a game where I got my ass handed to me.

- Talked to Megan when she arrived in Portland but found she wouldn't be coming down to Eugene until the next day.

- Got an awesome amount of work done almost in time for the unofficial deadline when the J-tool goes crap-tastic on me, loses half my work, and generates a visual bug that makes work take twice as long to work around. This results in being later than we should have been to X-Men III so if anyone else was there, I sure didn't see them.

- Saw X-Men III, but sat next to a couple of underage drinkers who were flirting with each other louder and louder as the movie progressed.

- Thought the day was a bit disappointing and spent about an hour writing out what I thought was a fair analysis of the whole thing and questioning if I could still be happy about the good things that day. Computer/Banner-Ad error causes me to lose both the blog AND the back-up file I copy/paste to, specifically in case computer/banner errors cause me to lose blog.

- Found out I was griping prematurely as I drive to Portland the next day to meet Megan and her family for breakfast only to be in time to take her to the emergency room for a rash that's only been getting worse for the past couple days. Manage to subsist the rest of the day on a tiny slice of pizza and a bit of Starbucks carrot cake until 10:30pm dinner, where I buy everyone pizza.

- I get to spend pretty much the rest of the weekend with Megan, but she still has this strange allergic reaction that leaves her itchy and irritable. Physical contact almost completely out of the question during my first visit with her in almost 2 months.

- We finally break up because its becoming hard to maintain a passionate long distance relationship (and I choose not to mention that I couldn't afford it as it was, anyway).

So, at the end of my birthday/holiday weekend, I have to look back at how amusing it was to ask if it was a good birthday.

Mr. Sandman

Originally Posted: May 20, 2006 on MySpace

I guess this would be a literal "sandbox" style game.

http://ishi.blog2.fc2.com/blog-entry-158.html

Lasers n' shit!

Originally Posted: May 17, 2006 on MySpace

As some people already know I've had about a week to recover from my LASIK corrective eye surgery. A few thousand dollars and a bit of discomfort and no more glasses for me! This, of course, now makes my augmented eyeballs my most expensive body part. Its really strange being able to attach an actual price tag to specific anatomical pieces...

For those that asked, yes they told me exactly what they were going to do (and somehow I still agreed to do it), talked me through it as it happened, and even gave me the video tape of the procedure afterwards, so its pretty easy for me to break down my personal:

After numbing my eyes with drops and then writing something on them with a weird purple pen, they sat me in the chair under the big freaky machine and told me to just look at the little flashing light.

- First, they pop in the clamp that forces my eyelids open all Clockwork Orange style.

- Next, they place the circular metal orienting tool right on my eyeball (on the purple marks) and press down just hard enough to squash my eyeball and make my vision go black (a freaky experience).

- Then they slip in the the other half of the metal tool and actually slice my cornea.

- At this point they pull those things away, vision returns, and I can see the little flashing light again.

- Now the doctor slips a little metal tool under the incision and flips the flap that is my cornea like he was pulling back a bed sheet exposing the now flat surface of half cornea that they're about to hit with the freakin' laser beam. (this is where my vision went from as fuzzy as it usually is without glasses to the point of feeling like I was submerged in Jell-O).

- Activate LASER! And try REAL hard not to move my eye as parts of it are incinerated. (also try not to be distracted by what smells like burning hair, its really just burning eyeball).

- Put in a little bit of whatever was in that eyeball super glue and re-flip the cornea flap, gently rubbing it with a little swabby thing to make sure there are no bubbles or folds. Then sit and wait about 30 seconds as it seals and heals.

- Remove clamp, and proceed to the other eye.

All in all the procedure takes maybe 5 minutes per eye excluding the pre and post op procedures. It was a really unnerving event in general, but particularly for someone like me who has to realize that my eyes are the basis of my entire personal and professional life as an artist. The point where they squished my eye and I went temporarily blind was probably the most frightening experience I've had in my adult life. I told them I was glad I was getting both eyes done consecutively because given the choice, I don't think I'd have come back to get the second one done later. Turns out that might have been a better idea, actually because by the time they'd set up the second eye for surgery, I think my numbing drops were wearing off. I'd like to be able to describe how it actually feels to have your cornea sliced half way off, but it really is kind of a unique experience... Thankfully something like that doesn't actually hurt for very long, and if you can't blink, it doesn't really itch very much until later either. Though, until the numbing drops completely wore off, my eyelids were as numb as my eyeballs and refused to open, thus I look totally stoned in the post op shot with Dr. Karren and Gina his coordinator

Since then I've had to use the lubricating drops (artificial tears) less and less often and should be able to forgo them completely in another couple weeks. Since then I've only had to deal with a discomfort similar to wearing contact lenses (which I attribute to whatever kind of scar a cornea forms from being sliced open) and one accidental eye rubbing that felt like I'd shoved a knife into my brain. Needless to say, I haven't repeated that. Vision is supposed to fluctuate for the first month, as are the halo effects I see on bright lights at night, but after a week, I've learned to deal already. My monitor at work still gives me a little trouble if I'm trying to read fine print, though. Otherwise, I guess I've come away successfully cured of my eternal near-sightedness. Its a pretty good feeling. Though I admit I still go to push my glasses up on my nose from time to time, and invariably reach to take them off before I hop in the shower. Its strange how 20 years of subconscious behavior will stick around, no?

Guess we'll SEE what they have to say when I go in for my post op check up on Friday.

The coolest thing I've ever heard somebody's mom say:

Originally Posted: Apr 27, 2006 on MySpace

"Be careful who you talk to online. Some of them are adults (cops) who try to be teenagers. Obey the law."

Seattle Way

Originally Posted: Apr 25, 2006 on MySpace

Friday:

Will and I took a road trip back up the old Seattle way this weekend to catch up with the hombres in particular, for the opening weekend of Silent Hill. We made phenomenal time on the drive up there, even with the Portland congestion, but, alas, we arrived too late and even though we saw Peter at the theater, he was holding the last available tickets for the evening's final show (at 10:45?!?) for his co-workers. Forced to reschedule, we returned to Mike's apartment from which Will quickly disappeared (to watch movie's with Katie) and where I got to check out the beginning of DreamFall. DreamFall seems interesting, although it looks like a slower kind of Indigo Prophecy, the impressive impact Indigo Prophecy had on me means I'll be willing to give it a shot at some point. (Note to self: Indigo P has hit the $20 mark, its time to add it to my collection).

Saturday:

The next morning we were better organized as Will Fandangoed the entire groups' tickets a couple hours in advance. As everyone was getting ready to go out for breakfast, I got a call from Maria that she was finally off work, and was cool to come hang out for the movie. Unfortunately, she'd never been to Mike or Katie's new cribs, and like me, was unfamiliar with the Alderwood mall, so I headed down into Redmond to pick her up. It had been a while since I'd done this drive, so it was kind of cool to see how Kirkland and Redmond had changed. Nothing drastic, just the funny feeling of wondering where this or that landmark had gone, and realizing that I'd been away long enough for certain retail giants to have moved in and taken over certain areas. Anyway, before we headed back up North, Maria hooked me up with some of that awesome Apple Crunch bread from Great Harvest Bread where she works. That stuff is so awesome...

Back in Bothell, we pulled up to Patty's Egg Nest (such an awesome breakfast joint) hoping to catch the rest of the party still there (since I couldn't reach anyone on my cell). Again alas, they'd gone, so I missed out on breakfast. This was particularly disappointing because it was noon now and the last time I'd actually eaten was exactly 24 hours before when Will and I nabbed Taco Bell because it was cheap, fast, and would let us get back to work in time to play D&D (I'll tell you later). Perhaps the delirium I was suffering from lack of food was affecting my judgment, (or perhaps its proof that I have the world's calmest nerves, but slowest reflexes) but as I was backing out of Patty's parking I noticed the black car behind me start to back out as well. You may or may not know that I drive a reasonably big truck, and having a mismatched shell, I don't imagine its a terribly difficult vehicle to miss, but apparently the sun was just right or his windows were too tinted because as I was sitting motionless, trying to decide if I should pull back into my parking spot to get out of the way or lay on the horn the black VW bumped me.

Rubbing my rumbling tummy and hoping this guy would be cool (or at least NOT be 350-pounds of steroid induced irrational rage) I got out and went to go see if he was as willing as I was to just walk away and pretend nothing happened. Dude was actually pretty cool about it, but the complication came from both of our inexperience with mutual impacts (my only accidents had involved fences or shrubbery, oh, and that one light post, but I don't think Country Club Apartments will ever find out about that one) and the fact that his VW was brand spanking new. It didn't even have plates yet. Now, I don't know what kind of plastic new cars are made out of, but whatever it is, when it crumples, it cracks, and that's exactly what he had along the bumper line right under his trunk: a thin white crack about six inches long that stood out pretty well on a solid black car. The bigger problem for him was that this bumper wasn't so much of a bumper as it was a single solid shell that encased almost the entire car. Yeah, I can imagine THAT would be easy to fix. So he wasn't sure if it was worth reporting such a small thing, but we both agreed to trade insurance information anyway. He was going to deliberate and talk to his wife before making a decision, but promised to actually let me know if he was going to file any form of claim. I appreciated his concern, but being a bit of a pessimist, suddenly had some of my own. Though he seemed cool, what if his wife bit his head off for scratching their new car and demanded he report massive damages and a neck injury or some such because of my reckless, and probably alcohol afflicted road rage. So I decided to cover my ass. I called my insurance to make an early statement and give them a heads up in case a claim was brought against me.

Skipping ahead a bit, I felt a little better when he called me the next day and said he wasn't going to do anything about it except hope we could both be more careful in the future. That sounded good to me, except that now I feel like a heel because my insurance agent gave me a call today to take an official statement and to get the other guys number so they could call HIM, just to make sure he wasn't going to claim anything against me. I tried to brush it off and let them know what he'd told me, claiming I'd like to drop the whole affair as well, but he was adamant about their policy and starting to make it sound like they would end up doubting my common sense as an insurable driver. So, yeah, now I feel like a jackass because my company is bugging him during a work day. Ah, well. Picky bastards.

So finally catching up with Will, Mike, Zulema, and Katie we soon headed for the theater and met up with Steak who had been anxiously saving us seats (he'd apparently stopped by Patty's earlier and had turned purple with his inability to say anything about the movie to Will, who'd promised him a foot up his ass at the slightest peep). Still starving at this point, a hot dog commercial on the big screen finally put me over the edge and I rushed back to concessions and shelled out $11 for a movie meal of a hot dog, some pretzel sticks and a mega drink. Not really worth the price, but so filling. Although, even with food, or perhaps because of the quality of it, my stomach continued to make the strangest noises throughout the movie, especially at moments of implicit silence. Somewhat embarrassing, but perhaps I'm lucky enough that it was mistaken for ambiance?

Two hours later as we're watching the credits roll (and I'm hanging on to the sliver of hope that if I wait until the end they'll have a UFO ending) I'm listening to the clamor of disgust, confusion, and absolute adulation Silent Hill elicited from the audience. I think the entire gamut of available responses was represented in just our little row. Steak was stoked to finally be able to talk about the movie with Mike who, as a sound engineer AND fan of the games, was impressed by the range and skill of those who had managed to capture the uneasy ambiance from the games and transfer it over into glorious 5.1 Surround for the theater goers. Katie was also impressed (not an easy task on a literature major who is particularly fond of horror) and Will was combing some of the details over with her. Maria seemed to be the only one who hadn't fully enjoyed the experience citing (although she thought it was kind of nifty and did what it did well) that it was far to gory for her tastes. That statement made me realize why I HAD enjoyed the film so much: It was a true HORROR movie. It wasn't a frightfest or suspense thriller or a real psychological intrigue anything. The setting, the situation, the reasoning, and result, and the repercussions were truly horrible to conceive and behold. Silent Hill is unkind, and it it unforgiving, and I realize there are a lot of people who can't handle (stomach?) the kind of brutal torture. The scene on the steps of the chapel was the selling point for both of us. Maria later told me that was the point where she really couldn't handle it any further, but that was the point my jaw dropped and I was utterly shaken by what I had just seen. Just like the unnerving senses that creep up my spine when I play the games in the wee hours of the morning: it was not a good feeling, but it was an INTENSE feeling, and THAT is what has always had me hooked on Silent Hill.

A proper meal later and we were parting ways as I began the long trek across no less than four towns to take Maria home. Thankfully she'd already agreed to let me crash on her futon so I wouldn't have to make that ridiculous drive back and we could hang out and watch Constantine (which I'm fond of showing to everyone I know). Sadly, having gotten up for work at 4am, Maria didn't last more than a third of the movie. I turned it off and have left the DVD with her to watch at her leisure and politely prodded her from the floor to her bed, surprised, but impressed that she was calling it a night so early (at about 9:30) when I know that she has a habit of forsaking sleep or making due for weeks at a time with 3 to maybe 4 hours a night. All things considered, I guess it isn't such a surprise that I was woken a couple hours later at 1:30am as I heard her phone ring and she answered it from her bedroom. Eavesdropping on half of a slightly confused conversation later and I was rolling off the futon to try and find my socks. It turns out a couple of her friends were drunk and stranded in Seattle after having missed the last bus home. Maria was proving to be a better friend than I as she told them she'd be there shortly to bring them home. I wanted to roll over and go back to sleep (I myself have a habit of skipping a couple hours of sleep every night, so the thought of catching up over the weekend was pretty tempting), but I wasn't about to let her make a ridiculously long drive into the city alone, exhausted, and right about the time of last call. Turns out I didn't have much choice as when we got to the garage we simultaneously recalled that her car had been parked back in Redmond at Great Harvest.

Not having the room to taxi three more people (legally) in my truck, we drove to Redmond, nabbed her car and headed for the city. Neither of us had ever been very familiar with Seattle, nor did either of us have very much luck navigating the strangely inbred roadwork and drastic elevation shifts. An hour of wandering and u-turns later and we finally found the street we were looking for (although, from the wrong direction), at which point Maria got her friends on the phone and refused to let them off it again until they were in the car. At some point during this evening they had composed a little theme song for Maria that I don't know if I'm allowed to repeat here without her permission, but it was cute and the creativity shone through the alcohol levels. Another hour, a couple of requests for cheeseburgers, and some cheesy techno music later everyone was finally back where they were supposed to be, and I could finally pass back out on the futon.

Sunday

By the time my phone woke me up the next morning Maria had risen and gone to church (she was singing in the choir that morning) leaving me to tidy up and depart to catch up with the boys up North. When I finally arrived (walking in to witness Steak playing Kingdom Hearts II, which I desperately want to get my hands on) they were preparing to head out for lunch at Buca de Bepo, an Italian restaurant that serves groups, not individuals. Every dish on their menu is meant for 2 to 8 people, so with a party of six, 2 dishes and an appetizer were all we needed.

During the meal Steak got a call from the office requesting his presence. We already knew Peter was spending most of the weekend there (Handheld having multiple milestones impending), so were definitely planning to stop by and harass them on the way out of town. He dropped off Will to say good-bye to Katie (and to borrow Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from her for me, "Thank you, Katie!") and dropped me at Mike's apartment where our stuff and my truck were waiting to be packed up. On my way up to the door, however, I noticed something odd about my truck. My camper shell was lopsided. Popping the back and taking a look inside I found the explanation and a reasonable concern... Some months ago, in an attempt to take the shell off Will, Chris, AND I had spent almost an hour removing the four screws that I thought were holding it in place. When they were all out I found the shell still wouldn't come off. Prodding the edges I realized that what I thought had been simple cushioning was actually some sort of film sealant that effectively glued the shell to the bed. Disheartened, I began putting the bolts back but after considerable strain decided "fuckit, this thing ain't goin' anywhere" halfway through the third one. Well, apparently time, weather, and a couple hundred miles of high speed winds had decided that it WOULD eventually go somewhere as only one of the screws was intact, another was bent horribly as the shell had slid, and the third was missing altogether. Suddenly I had concerns about driving all the way back home in such a state. After performing a couple of shoulder checks on my vehicle to knock the shell back into alignment, I moved the bent screw to another slot where it would keep it from sliding (too much) as I drove up the hill to the Wal-Mart and found a couple similar screws and a couple of C-clamps, just as an extra precaution that would take us home. Now that I know its finally loose, I'm going to pop it off sometime this week and finally give the truck bed a proper hosing as I give my poor baby a much overdue car wash. I like the fact that I now have a garage I can comfortably store it in and drive around without it for a while.

Before we finally hit I-5, Will and I did pop over to Handheld games to catch up with the crew in crunch mode, trade some stories, and try to plan our next visit. It was a nice way to cap off a pretty good trip. The biggest shame is what a pain it is to head up and down to Seattle, otherwise I think we'd do it more. Taking my truck means that with the current gas prices, fuel alone is going to cost us $100. I also prefer to drive the whole way because I fear for my poor old truck, and if something should go wrong, I want to be the one behind the wheel when it does. I love my baby, and I hope she lasts me another 10 years, but I'd better be ready for the worst. She's already hurt me at the worst possible time before. You may forgive, but you can never forget something like that. So we'll see how we're standing when Katie and Peter's birthdays roll around in May. I'll be staring down the face of my own, but by then, at least I'll be staring it down with my own two eyes. Again, I think that's a story for another evening. Thank you, Seattle, for a wonderful weekend. And thanks to everyone who made it worth driving 6 hours to be there in the first place. Until again!

Obvious Oblivion

Originally Posted: Mar 27, 2006

So I've been living with Chris for a while now and I'm pretty familiar with his style of gameplay. The chaos that erupted on the streets during any given evening of Grand Theft Auto was likely to yield more explosions than the fireworks on a millennial New Years could ever aspire to.

Recently he got his hands on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the XBox 360, and I knew where this was going to end up going pretty quickly. I've always been more of a fan of the typical Japanese RPG where your character (and/or party) are pretty much predetermined and the path of the game pretty much follows an epic tale that was designed to flow in a specific direction. Chris, however, can't stand these games (though I think it also has something to do with the typical age/appearance of the female main characters) and prefers the sandbox style free-form RPGs more often produced by American developers. He has his reasons. (Here's a hint: The name of his KOTOR character was Dio Chyldekilher)

This in mind, it wasn't a surprise when the quest to cure his inexplicable affliction of vampirism became too tedious and the quest to raise the bounty on his head to six digits began. In short, I've been sitting here with him for the past couple hours and this is what his efforts are 'amounting' to.

Entertainment from 2005 (Games and Anime)

Originally Posted: Feb 14, 2006 on MySpace

So, looking at the amount of time I spend in front of the TV (or monitor) its no wonder time seems to fly so quickly. I guess I get engrossed pretty easily, so with games and anime being my favorite hobbies since pretty much forever, its no wonder I collect so many and try to engross everyone else into them as well. I've started keeping a little better track of my time, and this gives me a better impression of what I'm doing, and what I'm still missing. I could recommend pretty much every game or anime I've enjoyed this year to at least somebody, but not always the same somebodies. If you want to know more, ask. If you'd like to try it yourself, also ask!

My personal favorites are the ones with the box art.
_______________________________________________________

VIDEO GAMES (wow, this really doesn't seem like very many for someone who claims to be an avid gamer... in my defense, I suck at RTS so Impossible Creatures took me forever, and I'm still strongly addicted to playing REO2 with the roommates)

Amplitude - I've become more and more of a beatmania game fan over the past couple years and this is a great example why. Shooting your way down a series of popular music tracks is a thumpin' good time!

City of Heroes - I learned my lesson about MMORPGs with EverQuest, but the concept of creating and playing my very own super hero was too tempting. This game is a lot of fun and particularly action based for an ORPG. I'd like to play more, but I know better than to pay monthly when that's about how often I can find the time to commit to it.

Dragon Warrior III - Beating this game completed a missing piece of my childhood. I started the Dragon Warrior series with part one WAAAAAAAAAAY back when, but could never get my hands on III as a kid. This was a great game, if fairly simple by design.

Donkey Konga - The drum based beatmania game featuring not pop music, but even more classic songs. I borrowed this and had a blast, but I think I'm going to have to buy Konga 2 with a second Bongo set...

Doom 3 - A fun run through Mars and Hell with Chris in multi-player mode, but I'm still missing out on the creep factor and actual story from the single player mode. Oh well, I'll get to it. I bought an XBox specifically for this game, after all (though really to co-op it with Chris).

Impossible Creatures - I suck at RTS, I'll admit that, so by about 60% through the game I conceded and just game myself unlimited resources. That eased up the panic about how bad I was doing and really let me enjoy hand crafting my army of said impossible creatures. The unit production for this game is fantastic and the story is really good, too. Strongly recommended, but only if you like RTS to begin with!

Guitar Hero - This game probably gave me the most FUN play experiences of the year. Even getting my butt handed to me by Will in VS mode, rocking out on the guitar controller is a great experience.

Lumines - Music and puzzles and strategy kept me addicted for hours, and also helped keep me sane during the long nights spent working on Revelations.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within - Suddenly the magical world of PoP went goth and heavy metal (and very, very buggy). The game was alright, but nowhere near as good as it was reviewed. The Sands of Time was much better.

Prince of Persia: Revelations - Hard to review it since the only things that made this different from Warrior Within were the pieces I helped put there. Still not as cool as Sands of Time, but undoubtedly the best adventure game to come out on the PSP.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones - THIS was much better. A return to the feel of the SoT with a linear progression to the game and story. This brings the series full circle and wraps up a great trilogy (even managing to forgive WW a couple sour points).

Resident Evil 4 - The dramatic shift in gameplay aside, this was a great action game. I still miss the tension of hording ammo and being forced to flea from enemies I got from the previous REs, but Outbreak gave me more than enough of that in the meantime.

Resident Evil Outbreak File 2 - The game itself lost a little coherence from the first (which was already a step away from the originals) but provided some really cool online experiences that we're still taking advantage of almost a year later. I love it. I love playing it. I just can't really recommend it unless you're going to be playing with us in the first place...

Shadow of the Colossus - This was a spectacular gaming experience for me, and easily the best one I've played this year or for a while previous. Its hard to sell it based on the pacing and the fact that most of the story and essence of the game come from inference and empathy, but this was an astounding game that's going to be among my absolute favorites for years to come.

Space Channel 5 - Groove-a-licious! I never beat the DC version I had, but having borrowed parts 1 and 2 for the PS2, I had to replay this one first. Conceptually simple, but if your sense of rhythm is even slightly off...

Star Wars: Republic Commando - This was a really fun FPS and a great tie in between Episodes II and III. They really sold the Star Wars world and got the players involved in the war.

Viewtiful Joe - Action-o-rific, and just too cool for words! I still really love 2D platformers and this is a perfect example of how awesome they can be. Totally recommended, and an irresistible price!

ANIME
Now that Will, Chris, and I have a regular schedule and need a little something to watch in the evenings, we've been keeping a couple shows on tap.

Abenobashi, Magical Shopping Arcade (13 eps) - I saw a bit of this series and found it so hilarious, I had to buy it. As a Gainax title it does the usual thing of getting pretty introspective at points, but overall stays wacky throughout.

Dokuro-chan (4 eps) - A spoof magical girl series about an angel from the future who has come back on a (rather silly) divine mission and regularly uses her spiked mace, Excaliborg, to maim and kill the main character when he does silly or perverted things before healing him with her magical powers. Hilarious, but you kind of have to know the stereotypical 'magical girl' conventions, which I am ashamed to admit I do.

Eiken (2 eps) - Its been a while since I've seen a show this dedicated to fan service. The point of this show is boobs and how to make them bounce or get wedged against the main character. We almost died laughing trying to watch this. So bad, but so good.

Elfen Lied (13 eps) - Most definitely not for the faint of heart, this gritty scifi focuses on the emergence of a race of mutants with an incredible power and a particularly violent drive to wipe out humans. The story follows one particular mutant who escapes captivity and is taken in by a strange, but kind, family. I love the opening sequence.

(New) Fist of the North Star (3 eps) - The recent OAV of the classic series about the massive martial artist Kenshiro seeking justice in a post apocalyptic earth where the mighty treat on the weak to take what little spoils they can from what is left of civilization.

Full Metal Panic (24 eps) - The concept was fun and cool, and the series started off really strong, but the end kind of seemed forced and particularly mediocre. Thankfully, it had sequels...

Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu (13 eps) - Apparently much closer to the original manga, Fumoffu is a shorter series of typically shorter episodes that are almost spoofs based on the characters. Unbelievably funny!

Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid (13 eps) - Continuing the dramatic storyline from the original series with a much better plot and more Fumoffu-esque humor elements, The Second Raid finishes off the series with a bang!

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (movie) - An excellent sequel to the first movie and though still a bit convoluted, its not as out of the blue introspective as it was.

Giant Robo (7 eps) - I finally got to see the rest of this classic, and although I have to admit it was cheesy, it was really cool! The super power secret agents and villains and giant robots were all entertaining!

Happy Lesson OAV (3 eps) - This is a really weird form of one guy in an all female cast series. The main character lives with his five female teachers (who are barely older than him, and one is even younger) that are all acting as his surrogate mothers competitively. Really strange and funny.

Howl's Moving Castle (movie) - As a Miyazaki film, the sense of wonder and adventure that come with this movie should be without saying. This is a beautiful fairytale of love and magic.

Interstella 5555 (movie of 14 music videos) - Effectively the movie of strung together music videos to the Daft Punk album, Discovery, directed by Leiji Matsumoto, famous for Galaxy Express and Captain Harlock. This was awesome!

Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (13 eps) - I saw this show was rated highly so I got a hold of it and started it blindly. It started out so stereotypical and mushy that I was tempted to let it go as a fluke, but then episode two ended and the series really began. The first two out of this 13 episode series are a setup before real world drama comes in and kicks its teeth in. This has to be the most human and touching drama I've seen in years.

Love Hina (28 eps, 2 movies) - I may have seen it before, but I had to watch it again after helping Will finish his DVD collection. The wacky tales of a failing student trying to get into college who takes over as manager for an all girl dormitory from his grandmother. The absolute silliness and adorable characters make this a fun show to watch all the way through the movies.

Magical Play - A very charming series of almost individual comedic shorts about the magical world where magical girls are trained and compete for the privileged of fighting evil and righting wrongs on distant worlds. I didn't realize until we were finished with the series, but it was by the same director as El-Hazard and Tenchi Muyo, two of my old favorite animes.

Miami Guns (13 eps) - This series brings to mind the crazy capers of Dirty Pair, so its a lot of fun. Not fantastic, but a good show.

Puni Puni Poemi (2 eps) - The wild and crazy OAV spinoff from Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemi is a fast action, faster dialogued magical girl spoof that pokes fun at just about everything, including itself.

Read or Die (3 eps) - A really awesome series about an organization of unusual super spies trying to stop super soldier historical figures from enacting a mad plot against humanity. This show was great, and the super powers they used in it were a lot of fun!

Vandread (26 eps) - Again, though I watched it when I first bought it, I had a blast re-watching this space sci-fi adventure with the roommates. The pacing and energy of the series are really strong and even though it was on the verge of being a 'harem' anime, all the characters were well developed and not stereotypically after the main character.

Voices of a Distant Star (short movie) - This was a short, and not terribly high budget, but a very touching movie on its own. It struck kind of close to home as a story about a love so far separated by distance and war. I really liked it.

Entertainment from 2005 (Movies)

Originally Posted: Feb 14, 2006 on MySpace

Seeing as most of my time is spent with some form or another of visual entertainment, I seem to see quite a few shows and play quite a few games, so I thought I'd share my impressions. My personal favorites are the ones that get pictures.

MOVIES & TV SHOWS

4400 - A really good series about missing people throughout the past century that suddenly return as if nothing had happened and try to re-enter society, except that some of them are developing strange abilities... I got hooked on USA, so I bought the first season DVDs.

Angel Heart - An exceptional and subtle supernatural thriller.

Batman Begins - This was great! I've ranted about it before, so lets move on.

Beyond the Sea - An interpretation of the life of Bobby Darin, I enjoyed the strange format and, not knowing much about him beforehand, I was really impressed by how they handled the dramatic elements that threw his life into turmoil.

Boondocks - Based on the comic strip, we've really been enjoying the almost outlandish racial humor Boondocks presents us. We catch it every week.

Brothers Grim - I really enjoyed the mystical and storytelling aspects of the movie, but the character interaction just seemed weak...

Chicken Run - I love Nick Park animations. He has a fantastic way of giving claymation characters neurosis.

Constantine - Having never read the comics, I was really impressed with this movie. Now that I have, I see how its not faithful, but its still a really cool movie.

The Corpse Bride - This was a really fun fairy tale, but I think I was expecting more of the Nightmare Before Christmas magic than was actually in this one. The animation was fantastic, though.

Crash - Racism and bigotry are really sore subjects for me, so this movie managed to make me very upset which, I guess, means it was a successfully strong drama.

Cronos - Decent concept but I wasn't so fond of the overall effect. I also wasn't sure if it was trying to be a horror movie or not.

Cursed - Very teen horror, but an amusing monster flick. A couple priceless moments save it from being weak.

Darkness - The concept, story, and ending of this movie were really cool, but there was something lacking in the execution that weakened it as a good horror.

Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle - Sometimes I can't believe how funny I find stoner comedy, but then there are examples like this one. Off the wall hilarious!

High Fidelity - Really good romantic comedy. I actually enjoy breaking the fourth wall.

Elektra - Daredevil wasn't that great a movie, but it at least had some redeeming qualities. This one, though...

Fantastic Four - Comic movies seem to be getting cheaper. This wasn't half as bad as Elektra, but it was still pretty weak as a movie.

Fever Pitch - I find the Farrelly brothers' work amusing, but never that impressive as either movies or comedies. Fever Pitch was different. This one was a truly touching romantic comedy.

Final Cut - So-so sci-fi. It wasn't bad, but I can't recommend it, really.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - I can't actually describe this movie. Just see it when it comes out. This has to be by far the best movie I saw all year.

The Forgotten - A completely unexpected thriller. Not great, but fun.

Frida - A fantastic biography of artist Frida Kahlo and a really strong drama by itself.

Garden State - Really cute kind of self discovery movie. Very Ordinary People.

God of Cookery - It took me a while to track down this Stephen Chow film and it was worth the effort. Its hilarious, but also very Eastern culture, so I don't think it will ever translate well on its own.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - I've seen all these movies before reading the books, so its a different experience for me. This movie was great and a lot of fun, but I still hold Prisoner of Azkaban as my favorite. After reading the book, I see what Will meant about them omitting almost half of it. I think it stood up just fine without most of the explanation. It gave me more drive to breeze through the books for the 'full story.'

Head of State - Amusing, but most of the material was better as Chris Rock standup. Bernie Mac makes a great co-star, though.

Hide and Seek - I thought this was a pretty good, if drawn out, thriller.

Hotel Rwanda - A very intense and touching historical depiction.

House of Flying Daggers - High Flying Kung Fu action! Good movie, but I still put
Hero and Crouching Tiger before of it.

House of 1000 Corpses - Creepy and deranged horror. Bloody fun!

The Interpreter - I liked the characters presented in this tale of intrigue, but it didn't really flow well as a movie.

Jackass: The Movie - I never really liked the show, and didn't even want to watch the movie, but then I caught the very beginning while channel surfing. Now either my tastes have changed dramatically, or there really is a special kind of magic to the idiocy they put into the feature film that I just could not stop watching and laughing my ass off!

Johnny English - I think I prefer Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean. I really don't have much fondness for this kind idiot protagonist. I like Rowan, but not Johnny.

Kung-Fu Hustle - Stephen Chow makes some fantastic action comedies, and this one is no different. I just wasn't expecting it to be as wacky as it was at times. I guess he's really enjoying integrating CG.

Land of the Dead - We weren't quite sure what type of zombies we were in for after the remake of Dawn, but Land returns us to the shambling but partially intelligent monsters from the original Night, Dawn, and Day. Accepting that: its a nifty post-apocalyptic type.

Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - I really seem to enjoy Bill Murray's recent movies a lot. Something about the black humor in the face of otherwise emotionally devestating events just seems appropriate.

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe - Much more epic than I remember the book being, but very true to the story and a great adventure movie.

Margaret Cho: I'm the One That I Want - Normally I like Margaret Cho, but I guess this wasn't my favorite of her stand-up.

Master of the Flying Guillotine - This was entertaining, but I guess my appreciation for old Kung Fu movies has waned over the years. Oh well, it was still fun to watch with a group of friends.

Meet the Fockers - I normally have a problem with uncomfortable comedy and really didn't like Meet the Parents that much. Meet the Fockers, however, came off a hundred times better in my book, I think because Ben Stiller wasn't the only subject of discomfort in this one.

A Mighty Wind - Fantastic mocumentory about a folk band revival.

The Missing - Pretty decent movie about family and frontier life.

The Polar Express - A very good Christmas fairy tale.

Primer - Excellent movie about friends, mystery, and bend your mind science. Fans of Donnie Darko should love this.

Rambo: First Blood - Much better movie than my 8 year old self remembered. Great drama and action. I'm going to have to re-watch the sequels now to see if they were this good.

Ray - The story of the life of Ray Charles comes together really well in this movie. I can see how it got Ray's own endorsement.

The Ring Two - This was just... bad. Its a shame considering how good the first one was.

Robot Chicken - Stumbling upon an episode of the hilarious sketch stop motion comedy that is Robot Chicken, we quickly procured the entire season from the internet. SO much fun!

Robots - Much better use of talent than Shark Tale was and I was really enjoying it, but it really didn't feel like it resolved well.

Sahara - I put this one off because of really lackluster sentiment I'd heard about it, but when I finally watched it, I really enjoyed it. It brought me back to the old Indiana Jones adventure type, which always entertain me.

Scooby Doo 2 - Part one was much better. This movie wasn't even really as good as one of the cartoons.

A Series of Unfortunate Events - I really am a sucker for a well told fairy tale and this adaptation of a couple of the Unfortunate Events books came through perfectly for me.

Sex and the City: Season 1 - Megan showed me the first season of the mega-box set I got her for Christmas. It is a really good show, but I think I enjoy watching it with a girlfriend the most. It makes the context sensitive conversations much easier.

Shark Tale - Its no Finding Nemo. The humor is too cute for the voice talent they chose, and the animation is too stiff for the cartoony style they were shooting for.

Sideways - A very good drama dealing with human relationships between friends, family, lovers, and victims. It struck a nerve with me, but I can't mark it down because it did it well.

Sin City - Dark, brutal, and violent. Fantastic translation from comic to screen with style and each of the short stories came off great.I just wouldn't advise going to see it with your parents...

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - I love good stylization and this movie really captured the old serial show essence, but everything else about it was pretty bland.

South Park - Granted I'd seen them on air, but having just bought the six seasons of South Park on DVD, we had some massive screenings of them over the course of a month. Great fun!

Spongebob Squarepants Movie - Amusing, but I think I appreciate it more in single short episodes.

Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith - Much better than I and II and a pretty cool adventure movie, but still doesn't seem to feel as complete as the originals did...

Team America: World Police - Obviously with my love of South Park, I have a fondness for offensive humor. No surprise why I found this one funny.

War of the Worlds - An obvious summer blockbuster movie, but I enjoyed it a lot for its perspective of a single (not completely stable) father trying to survive the war with his kids. I was surprised that no one I talked to about this movie knew how the "war" ended before seeing this version, though...

Without a Paddle - I expected a fairly stupid comedy out of this, and I wasn't disappointed, but I was also really amused. This was a more touching buddy movie than I thought it would be and a lot more fun.

The Story of the Snow

Originally Posted: Jan 11, 2006 on MySpace

I've had a number of opportunities to try skiing over the years in a number of different places but I've always managed to miss out on them (the one I regret the most was not going to Germany while I was in high school), so when the chance came up with a couple of guys from work, I finally had the time and managed to get the cash to afford it as a Christmas present and was finally ready to try this new sport. (for those of you who know my personal web site, you can find pictures there to follow the story)

Now, Megan's family lives in Bend and her brother, Spencer, actually works at the lodge on Mt. Bachelor, so while Megan was back for Christmas she gave me some pointers and we even considered going out to the mountain for a day to give me a beginner's course. Come the morning of, we backed out, deciding instead to just spend the day together comfortable and lazy. So when I finally did head out there with Simon, Forest, his wife Anna, and her friend Christina I was still the newb.

The cabin we'd rented for a couple days was fully furnished with a full kitchen, fireplace, and hot tub. Very comfortable. While there I got to try Simon's tasty spinach souffle, play his "Lord of the Rings" board game (*) and then Forest's new "Across the Desert" board game, and I took a little time to finally beat "The Secret of Monkey Island." All great experiences. I also got to find out that Simon was not exaggerating when he said he snored. I swear I thought he was trying to inhale golf balls at one point. I did manage to get some sleep though and bright and early the following morning we went for the slopes.

In case you didn't know, my truck has never had a working defrost. This usually doesn't bother me on my own, but with more than one person in the car, it fogs up quickly and the only solution for it is to open the windows and chill the cabin. However, with three people in the cab and freezing rain falling outside, even that wasn't enough to keep the window from sweating. This also wasn't so bad until we hit the snow covered road leading up the mountain which was completely white making the curbs almost indistinguishable from the road. It was a long, slow, cold drive during which I got out to scrape the ice that was forming on the window as we drove and dropped my brand new, unused goggles half way up the mountain.

A new (overpriced) pair of goggles later and I was ready for my first lessons. Much as South Park explained it to me, I spent a lot of time in the "pizza" position trying to keep from sliding down the mountain. At one point during these first lessons I failed to make a turn correctly and spun around 180, landed flat on my back, feet in the air, and continued to slide some number of feet farther downhill. It was great! I was also exceptionally grateful for the waterproof pants I'd borrowed from Forest at that point.

About 2 hours and two trips down the Sunrise slope (read: Bunny Hill), it was time to take a break for lunch. Hot chocolate never tasted so good as in that crowded lodge as I was waiting for my pony tail to thaw out so I could take out my hair tie. Feeling a little more confident I headed back to the Sunrise hill alone, leaving Forest and Simon to attempt more difficult runs, and put in about seven more trips down before days end. I only had two more wipe outs that afternoon, both of which sent at least one of my skis flying, and one that twisted the knee of the foot that still had a ski in a fairly unnatural direction. By the time I met up with the guys again to leave, I was soaking wet, freezing cold, and completely exhausted. I had had a blast!

A short adventure of digging out the truck later and we were on our way. Once again the issue of my malfunctioning defrost came up, this time making the return trip exceptionally uncomfortable for three damp men. This problem was exasperated by being almost completely out of gas by the time we made it back down and getting to learn what my engine feels like when its trying to run on fumes. Not fun and it cost us an extra 15 minutes out in the cold trying to find and then use a gas station. I think it took me a total of 45 seconds from the time we got in the cabin door to be stripped of my ski gear and thermal wear and be in the hot tub. It burned so good by that time!

With the weather only getting worse we decided not to make another run at the mountain in a complete white out and braved the blizzardy mountain pass to head back to Eugene. I'm was glad we decided to call it in early. The trip home was no picnic, so its good we did it early, plus my knee was still sore from that wipe out.

Now I can say I've finally been skiing, and I got out over the holidays with some friends and coworkers. Good trip, but an expensive hobby, so I doubt I'll be up to doing it again any time soon. Maybe sometime with the Morgans... we'll see.

________________________________________________________

(*) Lord of the Rings: The Board Game - I was at first confused by the strange rules associated with this, but after an introductory (and lost) game I was thoroughly impressed. What I enjoyed the most was the fact that it was a co-operative game. The point of the game is to help support each other to survive through strategy and self sacrifice. We lost the game, but we lost it as a group, so it was really satisfying.

REVELATIONS!

Originally Posted: Dec 13, 2005 on MySpace

Wow, ok, so I let that go for a little while. I guess things have been kind of crazy and hectic since I was last on here. Some good news I'm particularly proud of is that I've shipped my second video game with the recent release of Prince of Persia: Revelations for the PSP.



Doesn't that look spiffy? Its been out a week, and reviews are slow coming in, but so far the players seem to like it. There's no argument that it isn't about the best looking game available on the PSP, but a lot of people are getting hung up on the little bugs, many of which shipped in the original console, a lot of those we managed to fix.

Problems are inevitable, but the average score so far is about 8/10, so good times!

I've also been up to Seattle and raided Rob's apartment for goodies. I'm thoroughly enjoying said goodies, but have yet to pay him for them.

Got to visit Megan in Texas for Thanksgiving and welcome her home from Iraq. I helped her move into a new house and outfit it with new furniture and accessories. Shopping is fun. Its even more fun when I get to help somebody else with a larger budget than I have!

This past weekend saw the introduction of Guitar Hero into the house, which was a massive robber of time, but a great giver of rock, so it was a worthwhile weekend spent with the PS2. Will and I both have copies, so the dueling has commenced. So far, he's proven to rock harder than I. This will have to be remedied...

We also breezed through the entire series of Love Hina. Will had had most of the TV series on DVD for years now, but was always missing volumes 2 and 3. This upset me. It just seemed... wrong, to have such a glaring empty space in the middle of a DVD shelf, so, for his birthday this year, I filled in this space for him. Then, to further my own ends, and perform the much hated combo December birthday/Christmas gift giving, I got him the Love Hina movies as a Christmas gift. With the entire series now available in full high quality DVD format, there was much Love Hina to be had this past week. Chris didn't take the whole 'romantic' comedy thing terribly well, but there were enough random acts of violence to keep the entire house happy. For this week, we've moved on to Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid. Again, much fun to be had.

My love for you is like a truck...

Originally Posted: Oct 18, 2005 on MySpace

I really wish this game would come out.

Anybody want to sign a petition? (scroll to the right)

So it LOOKS like I'm finally done with PoP for a while. If any emergency issues come up, obviously those take priority over anything else, but in the meantime it looks like I'll be working on Rampage again. I may still be tired out of my mind from working mega-overtime this weekend, but it still feels good to be doing actual artwork again.

Yesterday was cooler than just finishing a game, too. Having Rob come to visit was pretty awesome. I love having old friends over, and its always fun to catch up. In an effort to clean up a bit and catch up on some missed housework, I found myself at Wal-Mart looking for flood lights when I came across their bargain bin DVD rack. I can never refuse a chance to flip through cheap shit, what I came across made my entire year:

aka: Hajuka-den

I have been searching for this cartoon for literally years. The thing is, I only remember it from when I was maybe 4 or 5 years old and we came across a copy in the Philippines. We managed to tape a copy of it, but the title never survived the grand battle that always was my brother and I vs the VCR. I always knew it was an old one, but I never realized how classic it was, being a 1958 title and the first anime exported from Japan. Considering my current hobbies, that really strikes me as pretty cool. So, seriously: stoked! Needless to say, I now own it.

As far as new stuff this is promising to be an entertaining week in other respects as well. Today sees the release of Batman Begins which Will is about to spooge himself over, so I'll let him pick up the DVD for the house first, as well as Land of the Dead. Tomorrow should then show us the release of Stubs The Zombie, which I'd really like to try, an Shadow of the Colossus which I absolutely MUST own. So, lunch is probably going to be taken at the mall tomorrow and I'll be out of reach all weekend. I try not to get too excited about games, but some games, it just can't be helped.

Doesn't that just LOOK like its going to rock?

... must own South Park Season 6

Originally Posted: Oct 11, 2005 on MySpace

So, I learned a number of things over the weekend mostly associated with a good run of awesome pieces of entertainment. First and foremost is that Final Fantasy: Advent Children kicked my balls in! That... that was beautiful. It was such a perfect blend of a well executed story along with a reminiscence of the old memories I had from playing the game... I'm really wanting to go back and play it again. The sequel (Dirge of Cerberus) is now on my must own list. I really hope Amazon is lying about the DVD release date being December 31st 2025.



I also nabbed the entire series of Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (yeah, I didn't know either) and was curious why it was the second highest rated title on animenfo.com. So I watch the first episode and it seems to be exactly what it seemed to be. Some kind of cutesy high school drama. Which is fine, I've seen plenty and some of them can be funny. I figure I'll watch an episode every day or so for a couple weeks until I eventually work through the series, so I can at least get to watch an anime on a regular basis, something I haven't gotten to do in a while. Then on Saturday morning, before work, I pop on the second episode while eating my Special K and I almost choke as the episode ends and the series completely reformat. It doesn't quite change as drastically as Now and Then did, but a lot of the same shock at dire circumstances comes through. I'm not going to get into it, but I'd recommend it to anyone who likes character drama. This image was all I knew about it when I started, but is so far off from what I got myself into. Lets here it for unexpected surprises.



Picked up Haunting Grounds as well. I wasn't up to starting it on Sunday night, so I had Will start it for the house. It is full of fan service as expected, but the set up is pretty awesome and the method of handling the dog as a second character is really cool. I loves my survival horror games, so I'm looking forward to starting this one.

And last, as has become common, I have to post a couple of quotes. There was an awesome threesome from three different occasions within two days, but sadly, I can't remember what the second one was. I know Will was responsible for it, but I'm struggling to recall. Maybe he can help me. The other two would be:

Me: "Dammit guys! Stop stripping my nuts!" (watching Will and Chris try their damndest to help me take the shell off my truck)

Me: "You can't compete with the size of Forest's log!" (computer geek only innuendo, there)

Then I got a snippet of another conversation where I just have to wonder...

Will: Thinkin' meatloaf tonight.
Chris: meatloaf in yo azz nutloafe
Will: ...
Chris: HAHAHHAHHAHH

Now, I gotta go shopping because...

There are moments...

Originally Posted: Oct 3, 2005 on MySpace

And then there's the regular stuff that seems to happen around me. Such as conversations like this:

Will: Yo, crap weasel.
Me: I'll kill you! I'll kill you good!
Me: ... er.. I mean, 'what?'
Will: Could I convince you to take Beazle (Moe) for a walk while I'm cooking dinner?
Me: That can be done.
Will: Thank you.
Will: I won't shit in your food, then.
Me: Counter-Thank you.
Will: Er... did I say that out loud?
Me: No.
Me: You wrote it down. Where I can keep proof of it.
Will: Double monkey-fuck damn it!

Stop all the downloadin'

Originally Posted: Sep 29, 2005 on MySpace

This just got Farked, so I have to post the link for posterity. You really should have seen all of these by now.

http://www.thetravisty.com/GI_Joe_Parodies.php

They've also been here for the longest time, but some of the videos are undependable. They are, however, available for download [elsewhere...]

PoP!

Originally Posted: Sep 27, 2005 on MySpace

Yay! I'm finally allowed to talk about it! "It" being Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, one of 2004's Game of the Year titles ported to the PSP.
So... um... yeah... OMG BOOBS!

This is the coolest shirt that I don't own

Originally Posted: Sep 25, 2005

Some days you get more done than others. Some days you just kind of poke at the little things that need poking and it doesn't feel like very much until you step back and count all the little things. That's a lot of things. I start to wonder if I'm missing out on life worrying about the little things, but then I see something like this:

And I just have to laugh a second then get back to work.

And I quote...

Originally Posted: Sep 19, 2005 on MySpace

Been a while since I posted, and since very little interesting has happened as I've been working massive overtime hours, I'll just put up a couple memorable Quote of the Day tidbits from the last couple weeks or so.

Dan (one of the heads of Pipeworks): "I am a walking slapstick machine!"

Chris (to Moe, the dog): "You can't have people food because you can't make it. You can't cook, Moe. You're stupid!"

Me: "You can't beat God. He's smarter than you!"

Chris (when asked whats for dinner): "How about a big plate of good old fashioned American VICTORY."

Me:"I don't know how old these nuts are, but I'm trashin' em."

And for good measure I'll add tonight's conversation of:
Will: What do we have at the house?
Me: Moe?
Will: Things we can eat.
Me: Moe?
Will: Pretend I'm not really Filipino and Chris isn't really Chinese.

Never been mocked quite like this...

Originally Posted: Sep 1, 2005

Shortly after I'd given my verbal approval to a plan forming through AOL Instant Messenger...

Will: Castro says it's all good.
Mike G: our li'l cuban, eh?
Will: Yup
Mike G: so it should be castrito
Will: ...
Mike G: so that it sounds more like castrated too
Will: He's a castrato!
Mike G: maybe castrillo
Will: Picadillo!

I'm rather proud that it ends with a Resident Evil joke, at least...

When your boss wins Quote of the Day

Originally Posted: Aug 26, 2005 on MySpace

He definitely wins with the motivational speech of:

"If you guys are fuckin a dog down here I want him to be able to come up and tell me, 'Byron's fuckin a dog down there.' Then I can come down and say, 'Hey! Stop fuckin that dog!'"

Rampagin'

Originally Posted: Aug 25, 2005

Its nice to finally be able to talk about something like this. We've been working on it for a while, and even though I'm on a different project, I'm still sneaking in animations just to keep in practice. Its also fun, and I do so love those monsters.

Where am I?

Originally Posted: Aug 10, 2005 on MySpace

So I find myself in an odd nexus of personal relationships. Never mind parents or distant family associations, simply referring to peoples' relationships within their own homes, I'm right in the middle of a number of strange extremes and that alone leaves me wondering where I belong...

This occurs to me because I got an e-mail invitation from a friend of mine to a party he's throwing at his house in a couple of weeks. This is all well and good and I like hanging out with him, but the part in the middle that made me pause was "starting around 4pm (catering to those with kids)." I'm forced to realize that a lot of the people I know now actually HAVE kids and that MOST of my friends are actually married. Both these subjects I've thought about, but the inevitable answer is always "someday." Now I know single people. I know married people. I know people who just live together. I even know divorced people. Once again, I realize, I find myself in the middle of a number of different life styles that don't always mesh. I hang out with a lot of people, and a lot of them don't really hang out with each other.

I end up as the lone guy with a missing significant other whose work has pulled her away. I'm comfortable and engaged in activities with other couples, but I still am afforded the time and luxury of single guy entertainment. Its no wonder I never know where my time is, and no wonder I never feel like I have any to myself. I can't really break away from my roommates, themselves on completely opposite ends of the relationship spectrum, and I would rather hang out with them and do some group activity (of at least two people if the third isn't feeling it), but sometimes I miss my own hobbies. A lot of times I miss my girlfriend. Right now I'm just trying to figure out if I should go to a party with a bunch of my friends and their friends and families, or if I should just hang out with my friends alone. Maybe finish off a game or two.

Guess I'll have plenty of time to enjoy my single person activities when I'm alone again.