Gaming

Holy crap Veej! What're you doing? You just put a post up! Yeah well, this is substantially different, and just so cool that is warrants another post.

One thing that comes out of having Zach here as a roommate is that the intense videogame conversations are rampant around here. The industry is evolving and changing so much, it's always interesting to riff interesting ideas off of one another. After seeing Zach go through the entire Jak and Daxter series and chipping in my input when I could (such a great bunch of games!)



We got to chatting about how spectacular some of the voice acting and cinematography was in those games, and soon god on the topic of other games that acheived the same. Another example that came to mind (primarily because we were looking for a PSP copy of it) was Valkyrie Profile, which told a huge array of compelling stories in a sprite format - excellent RPG.



And of course, one of my personal favorites was Shadow of the Colossus, which is easily one of the most gorgeous pieces of art I've ever seen. Just talking about it has made me want to play it again. Right now.



But the really compelling one was a little game well known as one of "The best games noone played", Beyond Good and Evil, an absolutely astonishing game that really is different than a lot of the other games out there (especially for its time period, given that it was released in 2003). Not only does it have a compelling storyline unique from many of the trivial game plots out there, it's a game where you can genuinely care about your characters and motivations. Jade is a powerful female protagonist (whose breasts aren't the sizes of watermelons! *gasp*!) that is a joy to play. It really is the closest thing I've seen to a movie, game, and art piece combined. I sit here, watching Zach play it again (for the 3rd time, I believe), imploring and begging you to go to your closest game store and buy a copy for the 10 bucks they're selling it for, since not enough people buy it (and trust me, it's there - we stumbled across about 20 copies while looking for Valkyrie Profile). It's a game that at least starts to prove where video games have been trying to head for a long time.



In fact, the reason I started typing this whole thing up was because of this really interesting article about why Beyond Good and Evil didn't succeed that I highly recommend reading.

It really is games like these last two that are really what excites me about being in the industry and where we're going. I hope that one day, before I leave the industry (in one way or another), that I can say I've created a piece of art that is as compelling and unique as one of those games. I know there are some people that want to work on similar things, and I hope I get the oppurtunity, because it seems like too many people don't realize what games could and have become. I wish that more people could appreciate games like Shadow of the Colossus and Beyond Good and Evil than the small groups of people that have played them.

"Let them know the truth about gaming: innovation hasn’t died; it just doesn’t always share the same amount of shelf space as mediocrity."

Food

Food really is a wonderful thing - it's quite a bit more than just fuel. On that note - if you haven't already, go see Ratatouille - go see it right now, because it really is pretty damn wonderful. I'm already thinking about going and seeing it again I enjoyed it so much. The ending portions of it were so ridiculously funny and cute I was nearly crying from laughing so hard :p


Remy and I, we love cheese :)

Anyways - back to my point. Something I've realized again recently - food is not only delectably delicious, but also a powerful form of expression and 'social glue', as it were. The most fun times I've had in the last few months have been in the random times when me and my friends have all gotten together at someones house and either BBQ ed, or just kicked back with a home cooked dinner and a movie. Few things are as nice as a summer night out on the porch with a glass of wine, friends and fresh Indian food (I have my folks to thank for that night of deliciousness). On the other end of the spectrum, throwing together, seasoning and cooking a giant steak with a bunch of friends and some beers is just as much fun :p


Giant Chateau Brianne steak - SO good it was eaten off the cutting board

Just cooking at home has been a lot of fun too - homemade food just tastes so much better and is damn fun to prepare. I had forgotten how satisfying it is, since I haven't really done much since college. I've even started to furnish out my kitchen with more appropriate tools to cook with :) Most recently, I tried out a few new recipes (thanks Zach and Ciri for tasting!) which included: Gouda and artichoke bruschetta, stuffed chicken with a spinach and Gouda blend, lyonnaise potatoes, and a caramelized fruit cup parfait. Yum! They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach - I just didn't expect to be winning my own lol.


I have a soft spot for artichoke. Yum!

It also seems that in many ways, we do turn into our parents. Clearly not in all ways, but definitely in some. Why the weird parental comment? It kind of came to me when Zach and Ciri were chilling out at the house playing guitar hero, and the hummus I had made for a party the week before came up, and I decided to whip up a batch. A little while later, there I am, wandering out of the kitchen with a giant bowl of way too much hummus, fresh toasted pita bread, crackers, slices of salami and fresh slices of Gouda... (if any of you know my mother, you understand the point of this story). To top it all off, while relaxing on the couch watching them play, Ciri turns and makes fun of me, stating the obvious - "I love how you're actively cutting up new slices of cheese this entire time." And sure enough, there I am, cheese slicer and a slab of Gouda in my hand, mentally screaming to myself, "Holy freaking crap! I've turned into my mother!" Which, I suppose if this comes with the amazing ability to cook the best Indian food in the known universe, I can live with that :D


Homemade hummus is pure solid deliciousness.

Quotes

Sara: I've always believed in fate. I've always believed that life is more than a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences. But rather, a tapestry of events that culminate into an exquisite plan. I mean, I just spent the entire flight staring into the sky thinking. Not about my fiance, but about this mystery guy I met a million and a half hours ago. A guy I don't even remember except for this vague picture inside my head. It's just a few seconds, a fragment really, and it's like, in that moment the whole universe existed just to bring us together. We spent only a few precious hours together and I never even gave him my last name or my phone number. Instead, I told him that if we were meant to be together, if fate meant for us to be together, we'd meet again someday. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm going to let fate take me anywhere it wants to go, because when all of this is over, atleast I'll never have to think of him ever again. Let's just pray he's a bald Fascist who picks his nose and wipes it under the car seat. - Serendipity

J.D.: Shut up, shut up, shut up and shut up, okay? Who are you people to give me advice about anything? All you do is bitch about your relationships all day long. (to Dr. Cox) And you know what glare all you want Big Dog, okay, because I'm not afraid of you. "Oh no, Jordan's only paying attention to the baby." That must be so hard for Dr. Look-At-Me, isn't it? LOOK-AT-MEEEE. (to Carla and Turk) And you two, you're arguing ever since you got engaged, wow you're probably the first couple that's ever done that EVER. It can't be that you're just scared is it? (to Elliot) And you, you know what, let's just forget for one second that a month ago you told me you couldn't be in a relationship with anyone, because for me, it's actually fun to watch you sabotage a relationship from the outside, it really is. Honestly, the only thing that gives me comfort you guys is while I'm sitting at home staring at the ceiling just wishing that I had someone to talk to, is knowing that none of you idiots realize how lucky you are. - Scrubs

Dr. Cox: Relationships don't work the way they do on television or in the movies. Will they, won't they, then they finally do and they live happily ever after, give me a break. Nine out of ten of them end because they weren't right for each other to begin with and half the ones that get married get divorced anyway. And through all of this, I have not become a cynic; I haven't. Yes, I do happen to believe that love is primarily about pushing chocolate covered candies and, in some cultures, a chicken. You can call me a sucker, I don't care, because I do... believe in it. Bottom line, the couples that are truly right for each other wade through the same crap as everybody else but the big difference is they don't let it take them down. One of those two people will stand up and fight for that relationship, if it's right and they're real lucky... one of them will say something. - Scrubs

Choices

Courtesy of xkcd

Random quote

Too cool to not post.

"As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin."
- Anonymous

On these suuummmeeeer niiiiiiiiiiiiiights

It's been raining here in Dallas the last few days and supposed to stay like that for the next few days. What does that make but spectacular nights to sit on a balcony out under the stars with nothing more than some nature surrounding you and the quiet chime of my laptop speakers pushing out some music only I can hear. It's like camping out :) Absolutely gorgeous - if I didn't have other committments, I'd stay out here until sunrise.

Also - amazingly, a new band has taken the top of my "best performers" list. And that is Switchfoot. I saw them at the Gypsy Tea Room this past Sunday - I've never seen a band so passionate about playing, about pulling the crowd into their story, about making the whole night an 'experience', not just a show. I think they honestly were having more fun than everyone else there (and we were all having a blast!) On top of all that - the music they have is spectacular. The lead singer's voice is totally amazing. I've been listening to their music a lot now. AMAZING. Check out my flickr set on them: Switchfoot. It really is a shame I didn't bring my actual camera, so my phone pics have to suffice. Needless to say, it was spectacular, and I'll be catching them next time they tour anywhere around here. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Brought to you by xkcd.



...

Oh, plenty to blog-blog-blogity-blog-blog - jeez, have the Valentine's day start off with a rejection from Olivia, (which, as it looks, at least won't ruin our friendship - I hope). Toss on the fact that work comes crumbling down in a little sense. It's not too bad, it leads to some great prospects with the team and personal goals / success. I think it's really time to sit down and meditate on the ramifications and where it'll really take me. Or rather where I want to go with it. And then, instead of just sitting at home, I ended up hitting the town with Shan, which turned out to be a fun drunken debaucle - with FAR too many references of him getting lucky that night with me... kinda terrifying if he didn't have a girl coming up the next day and I was SO sure he was straight haha. Add on once more, some strangely homosexual repsonses from Justin after telling me that Sarah had sent me a letter on myspace that she was regretting about how wonderful of a catch I was (joking... but still creepy. Which of course, led to me dishing out a rejection to Sarah, because well, I wasn't interested. Fucked up.

So tell me, what kind of a meeeesssseeedddd up Valentine's day leads to getting rejected, giving a rejection, having a huge upset at work, and two streams of creepy homosexual comments from your straight friends?

To the strangest Valentine's Day ever - someone upstairs has quite a sense of humor - haha :p

I <3 the web

There's a really interesting video on Web 2.0, and its potential to change how we use the internet. Really fascinating stuff - well worth the 5 minutes.



It's this kind of stuff that's really inspiring about what we can do and how we will soon be able to share information. As more and more sites start adopting it, the results start to become pretty remarkable really quickly. Take for example these three sites (linked on my sidebar for a while now): Flikcr Tag Browser - a site that allows you to search through millions of flickr photos via a tag surfing interface, We Feel Fine - a site that searches the internet for 'feelings' and indexes them together in a variety of ways - ever wonder what other people around your age feel like in your area?, or Love Lines - where the whole spectrum of emotions ranging from "I love..." to "I hate..." are gathered together from the internet in one place.

Proof of all of this? Because the Flikcr Tag Browser always has new pics first, I poke around it every few days. While chatting w/ Paul about this Web 2.0 stuff, I fired it up and searched for "Love". Guess what came up in the first few pictures?



That's awesome stuff.

Musings. Dreams.

My oh my, what a bizarre month it's been. Honestly, thinking back to the beginning of January breaking in the New Year in a bar in Keystone seems like a lifetime away.

A month jam packed with concerts, work, road trips to Houston, trying to help a friend through a divorce, going out with friends occasionally, and what feels like everything in between. The real thing that hurt was the amount of anguish that I found. Not in my personal experiences, but with the people that I care about (and grew to care about). In virtually everyone that I knew trying to find happiness with someone, all I saw was people getting hurt. And even then, that ranged from a friend in his thirties all the way to a friend who's twenty, from a serious marriage falling apart to the emotional scars of a college relationship. Just seeing so much of it happen all at the same time can be incredibly disillusioning. It's just odd - a part of me really feels like I'm filming the first half of a cheesy romantic comedy (because it really does feel like I'm a spectator) - where everyone involved gets hurt horribly in their current relationship, and cries their tears. Only to wait for the seond half of the movie, where each of the multitude of stories intertwine, and every person involved finds their happiness (think Love Actually). So... why isn't the second half coming?

Something that's been really strange this month is that I've started to dream again. Not the deep, vivid dreams that previal through the night and vanish as the daybreak comes - which, if you've ever spoken with me about it, you know that I almost never remember my dreams. Poof - the morning comes and they're gone. So why - I wonder - have I all of a sudden started dreaming vividly and remembering virtually every moment of them days afterwards? It's incredibly strange and something I'm not used to at all, especially because it literally 'turned on' one day, and has just stayed that way since. In a lot of ways, it's incredibly fascinating - to be able to remember.
I've been meaning to keep a dream journal, out of my own curiousity - I'm thinking of keeping them here - just because, well, what better place to dump my brain?

For some reason I remember pieces of this first dream vividly, even weeks after I had it.

I'm not sure how the whole thing started, but I remember getting a phone call from a friend and talking to her for a while. She told me she was pregnant, in a strangely non-chalant sort of way. That the bastard guy who had done it had lied about being sterile. I remember throwing together a few things into a bag and driving over to her house. I met up with her there and went into her room and I held her and we just laid there and talked until we both fell asleep. Somehow morning came and I remember sitting on a bench seat at a breakfast table with my backpack next to me and her father on the other end of the bench seat and a few other people across the table. She was around the corner in a bedroom, telling her mother what had happened. Her father had a smug ear-to-ear grin on his face that screamed "just you wait until she comes back and kicks you the hell out of here". He seemed very pleased and eager at the thought of me being forced to leave. Amazingly this entire exchange happened without speaking a word. What felt like ages went by, and she eventually came and sat next to me, putting me between her and her father. Slowly but calmly she told him, in something to the effect of, "Daddy... I'm pregnant". His grin fairly suddenly changed to a look of rage directed squarely at me. I don't know if I was caught off guard or what, but the only words I could come up with were, "It wasn't me! I didn't do it!" The kind of statement where you realize you're sounding like you're an idiot before you even complete the statement. She calmed him down and the anger subsided to a "I can't believe my daughter isn't throwing this guy out" glare at me. I remember her talking to him for a while, not in an angry way, but in a lengthy way. The next thing I remember, her father has left and she is peacefully lying on her back on the bench, and I'm sitting next to her, half lying down next to her, with her shirt partially raised, one ear gently pressed against her stomach. Just listening... for something...

And then I woke up to the sound of my cell phone ringing on the nightstand - confused as heck.

I guess really, it's not surprising at all, it makes a lot of sense when you piece it together with what I was doing at the time. It happened to be on one of the weekends earlier this month (the night of the 13th, I believe) when I was in Houston working on the mural I'm painting for a close friend who is pregnant. And before I had gone to bed, I was chatting with a friend that appeared in the dream. So I guess it really was just my brain putting together thoughts into some sense of coherency. But let me tell you how strange it was to wake up from a dream, in a strange bed, trying to figure out why I remembered it all. Very strange. I really do love being able to remember though. Now I only wish I could take some of those memories and put them on paper. Maybe once this mural is all done, I'll start sketching again.

Anyways - speaking of which, many people want to know what the heck I'm actually painting all the way in Houston, and as Sean has always said when he used to read this, "Your posts are always like freaking novels - I get bored unless there are some pictures." Well, here's a picture of what some of the mural is starting to look like - hopefully it'll be closer to completed soon:



And you know what? Just cuz this needs more pictures to compensate for all the text - here's two awesome xkcd comics:



And probably my favorite one, and also the nerdiest:


Wow, if you really read all that, you deserve something for your time. Either that or you're immensely bored. :p

It's pretty much the worst possible news.

I am so pissed off at the world right now!!! Sometimes you look at everything that's going on and it just doesn't make sense! There's not a sense of right, of everything being ok, but the entire opposite! Like any sort of fairness, or karma, or justice, or whatever the hell you want to call it is just non-existent! ARGH! It just makes me want to scream!

And for anyone that may actually read this - I'm fine. This is regarding something a friend is going through, but still is insanely frustrating. Elaboration when I'm at a computer for more than 10 seconds.