woohoo!

Well, it might not be a winter wonderland covered in snow and resembling some kind of Thomas Kinkade calendar, but winter has finally come to San Francisco. And I don't just mean this year has moved into a colder phase. I mean that in all of the years I've been living in CA, this is the first year that I really feel like I've experienced anything approaching an East Coast winter. This morning, for instance, I'm blogging while I wait for my windshield to defrost.

Frost.

I haven't had a need for an ice scraper in years. Next up, snow!

adventures in home

Last night I downloaded and checked out the public beta for the new Playstation Home, Sony's online community hub for the Playstation 3. Basically, it's a system much like Second Life (or LucasArts' old "Habitat" for that matter) where you create an online avatar and then wander around "town" talking to other people's avatars, playing games, or shopping at the Mall.

I've never played any MMOs, or online multiplayer games like Team Fortress, Halo, or Counterstrike. As such, this was my first real experience with any kind of online community socialization since the days of AOL chat rooms. It's weird. Very weird. The addition of human avatars hasn't actually changed much, if any, of the strange anonymous online behavior that exists.

There are still people who will meet, chat, interact civilly, and then move on whenever they feel the need. I spent some time talking to a high school English teacher and we chatted all about how they are finding that teens are typing text speak like "OMG" or "lol" into English papers they turn in. Fairly interesting.

Then there are still the trolls who will run around like hormonal 13 year-olds (probably because they're hormonal 13 year-olds) and pester any of the female avatars, threaten to beat up any of the male avatars, and yell things like "I SMELL PUSSY!!" over voice chat.

It also took about one full minute before I saw one avatar walk up to another and say "Hi there, I'm from Sony Online Technical Assistance and there's a problem with your account. I need you to give me your password so that Sony IT can fix it." When the person they were talking to said "There's no problem with my account," Sony IT then proceeded to say "ROTFL ROTFL ROTFL" and started dancing.

Speaking of dancing, there also seems to be an odd way of acting like a jerk in Home. Lots of people were running up to other people, standing directly right in front of the other person nose-to-nose, and then making their avatar dance. Trying to imagine this in real life is ridiculous. If I were ever at a real park where groups of people ran through yelling "I SMELL PUSSY!" and then started to dance in my personal space, I'd never go back there again.

Thinking of it in those terms, I makes me wonder if I ever really want/need to go back to Home again. Should the promise of online communities be held hostage by douche bags? At least the AOL model presented people with the ability to hang out with other people with similar interests. I wonder if things like avatar book clubs, avatar theater troupes, or avatar bands will eventually evolve in Home as they have in Second Life.

this was on facebook

So, there's probably a virus hidden in it somewhere. But, apparently, if you've seen more than 85 of these 239 movies, you're supposed to have no life. Since everyone needs to evaluate their life every now and again based off of a random list of crap generated by some 14 year-old web monkey, let's see how I do (I already know what the answer will be):

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
(x) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 9

(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(x) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 15

(x) Scream
(x) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
( ) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
( ) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 18

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
(x) Resident Evil 1
(x) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
So Far: 27

(x) Finding Nemo
(x) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(x) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original 1974 edition)
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
( ) Robots
Total so far: 32

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(x) Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
(x) King Pin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
(x) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
( ) KING KONG
Total so far: 40

( ) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
(x) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween (old version)
(x) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
(x) Flubber
Total so far: 46

(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
(x) Ghost Ship
(x) From Hell
(x) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
( )The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 51

( ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
(x) Gothika
(x) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
(x) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 56

( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Sleven
( ) Ocean's Eleven
( ) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
(x) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled (Original)
(x) Predator I
( ) Predator II
(x) The Fog (Original)
(x) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
Total so far:62

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 65

( ) Best Bet
( ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
(x) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
(x) Event Horizon
( ) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
(x) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 75

(x) X-Men
(x) X2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
( ) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
( ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 84

( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
(x) Old School
(x) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf's Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old-virgin
Total so far: 87 (I officially have no life)

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 93

( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
(x) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
Total so Far: 95

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
Total so far: 99

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(x) Hulk
(x) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicle Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
(x) Waterworld
Total so far: 105

( ) Kill Bill vol 1
( ) Kill Bill vol 2
(x) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) The Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
(x) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 107

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
(x) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
(x) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 115

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
(x) Evil Dead
(x) Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal
Final Total: 123

So. I've seen 123 of them. Honestly, I think you could have shortened the list down to two items:

If you've seen either of these two movies, you have no life:
(x) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
(x) Ewoks The Battle For Endor

Done. 100% no life. Honestly, I'm equal parts proud and ashamed that "The Notebook" is the one that put me over the 85 movie mark. Damn that movie and its gut-wrenching humanity ...

i'm at it again

There I go again ... not updating my blog for weeks at a time.

I've been busy. Very busy. Unfortunately, it's nothing I can talk about yet. Still, I'm having fun and working at a pretty brisk pace these days.

Other than work, yesterday was Ry's birthday. He's 31 and officially in his 30s now. I wanted to take him out for meatball sandwiches for lunch to this place in SF that he told me has the best meatball sandwiches in the city.

Unfortunately, there was absolutely nowhere to park. At one point I turned onto a street looking for parking and was immediately getting honked at like crazy by the cab behind me. "What the fuck?! Why is this guy such a jerk? I'm going, jerk! Relax!" we yelled at him from within my car. Of course, it was about 30 seconds later that we realized I'd turned the wrong way down a one-way street and the jerk-cab was actually trying to be nice-cab by alerting me to my stupidity.

Didn't work.

Anyway, Ry eventually got out of the car, ran into the pizza place, and picked up the sandwiches while I drove around outside. He's right; the sandwich is very good. Best meatball sandwich I've had in a while. Of course, it wasn't until I'd dropped him off back at home and was halfway to work before it dawned on me that I hadn't treated him to lunch. He'd treated me to lunch since I was driving around outside. So much for my birthday plan.

Oh well. We had an adventure. And really, that's all it really comes down to ... stories to tell your grandchildren.

Old Man Ry: Gather 'round, children. Did I ever tell you about the time your grand-uncle stiffed me a birthday sandwich?

So. Happy Birthday, Ry. :)

little big obsession

Amanda and I have been playing Sony's Little Big Planet for the last few weeks in a fairly heavy rotation. If you don't know it:



I'm totally in love with it. We've beaten all of the single player levels. We've aced (completed without dying) most of the levels. And we're really close to having found 100% of the prizes hidden within all of the levels.

With all of that so far along, I've been turning more to designing my own levels lately. What's interesting is that we're finding that Amanda and I are both really good at different parts of the level design process. She's a fantastic gameplay engineer - able to design the mechanical contraptions behind puzzles, vehicles, etc. I'm more of an environment artist. I have a knack for the visual aesthetic of a level or enemy design.

Together, we've been making some really cool stuff so far. Unfortunately, not much of it is actually finished. So, we really have yet to publish much of it. We had created a really fantastic Jack and the Beanstalk level during the public beta, but didn't publish it in time and it evaporated. One of these days, I hope to redo it.

Anyway. I'm obsessed. Great work, Sony (and specifically Media Molecule). Oh and the music, sound, and voice in the game rule as well. If you have a PS3, you owe it to yourself to check the game out.

$2.63?!

That's how much gas was this morning when I went to go get it. It's down about $2/gallon from what it was about 5 months ago. It also happened to cost me about $20 less to fill up my tank. Craziness.

Don't get me wrong. It's a good kind of craziness. But still ... that's some wild price fluctuations. And if it's at $2.63 here, does that mean it's under $2 in the rest of the country?

it's morning again in America again

President Obama.

Though beaten, battered, and dragged through the filth of 20 months-worth of attacks, the spirit of America lives on tonight across the entire country. All is possible. All is doable. The American Dark Ages are over. Bring forth The American Renaissance.

Welcome back, intellect. Welcome back, civility, dignity, and The American Dream.

It's been pretty rough without you around.

in the entire goddamn universe!

I found this very funny.

what's up, b?

This is brilliant.



Anyone know the story behind it?

i'm inanely rambling on multiple websites these days

And by that I mean that there's a new interview with me up on Tracksounds.com all about being the Music Supervisor for LucasArts' newest release, Fracture.

I think that's just about enough hypertext links for one sentence, don't you?

arming the stupid is dangerous

Okay.

This is driving me nuts. You want to be bigoted and ignorant and hate Obama because he's black? As much as I hate to say it, you have a constitutional right to say so. You want to be xenophobic and ignorant and hate Obama because his name sounds Muslim? Fine. It's an idiotic reason, but it's just as superficial a reason as saying that McCain is too old. You want to consume nothing but sound bites and hate Obama because of his tenuous links to William Ayers? I think you're wrong, but political affiliations have long been scrutinized and this is nothing new.

A big fucking "HOWEVER" goes here, though.

The Republican party has been cris-crossing the country hammering on two completely separate points.

Point 1: Obama might secretly be Muslim because his middle name is "Hussein"
Point 2: Obama might secretly be "anti-American" because of his association with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers

Two separate attacks. The Republican party is relentlessly slinging this mud from their podiums to rabid audiences that are lapping it up. But here's the problem. There's this completely irresponsible disregard for how their dangerous messages are consumed. Watch the video from Al Jazeera of the rally in Ohio that made it's way around the blogs last week and it becomes apparent that the stupid of our country can't understand the separation between the two attacks. The Republican party has now misled people into believing that Obama is an Islamic terrorist.

That's not the point McCain/Palin are trying to make, but their irresponsible, scattershot accusations are combining into dangerous lies. And no one seems to have any interest in clearing up the confusion of their message. To McCain/Palin, hatred for Obama equals votes - even if they get them by turning a US Senator into the specter of a second 9/11 in the eyes of stupid, gullible white people.

The whole thing is disgusting. Dangerous, irresponsible, dishonorable, and completely un-American.

my router-led route home

For those who don't know, whenever you access the Internet from an iPhone your iPhone checks to see if there are any available wifi connections nearby that you can access. A little window will pop up showing you the names of any and all available wifi hubs and whether or not they are free or locked and require passwords to access.

Usually, there's only one or two. Maybe 5 or so if I'm in my apartment. The other day, though, I was sitting at a long red light and fired up the Intarwebs on my phone while in downtown San Francisco. I was amazed at the sheer number of available hubs and realize that if I didn't select any of them or hit "cancel" that I'd be able to see the names of the hubs change as I drove my way through the city.

I found myself fascinated with the names that people choose for their wireless routers. By far, most people don't seem to change the default name so there are lots of things labeled "linksys" or "2WIRE." A number of others are by actual locations(like The Holiday Inn) and they take the time to rename theirs, although the on-ramp to 101 South also seems to have its own router named "On Ramp."

But then there are the rest, the ones that are just random home users who take the time to name their wifi connections with something that means something to them. These are the ones I found myself fascinated with. Lots of people seem to be unaware of the fact that anyone can see the name of their routers. Such as "susan" or Georgina Rice who named her router "georginarice." Then there are the people who name their routers after pet names like "Sweetie Pea," "muffin," "this little piggy," or "stinky." There are also the people like "Team Awesome," "boner," "giggidy," and "FratNetPullsHellaTail" who seem to want people to see the names of their routers.

By far, though, my favorite I've seen so far is the one near the Presidio labeled "this has a virus." I can't decide if it is merely an attempt to dissuade people from mooching off of their wifi or if they have multiple routers and gave them different names while trying to do some kind of troubleshooting. Either way, that name rocks.

If someone wanted to, they could use their iPhone to drive around San Francisco and create a map of the city's wifi connections. Just be careful of the one with a virus.

recent things I like

- Little baby Lucy and her tiny weeks-old self
- The movie "City of Ember" and its beautiful art direction
- The beta release of Sony's "Little Big Planet" for the PS3
- The projected electoral count results and their upward trending
- The downfall of fear-mongering and hatred in US politics within the last month

i think we all had a hunch

Great video up on The Jed Report right now. I'm embedding the YouTube link below. Worth a watch.

Obama Knew It Was Coming All Along

how low can we go?

Two weeks ago, I logged in to check my 401k only to find that my Personal Rate of Return for the year so far was at -10%.

This morning it's at -26%. And falling.

See ya', retirement. Good thing I'm young.

it's sweeping the nation!

Or, you know, not. Regardless, here's a little game I thought up called "Star Wars Character or Team Member!" Basically, I'll give you a list of 15 names, you tell me which are the names of characters in the Star Wars universe, or the names of people who worked on The Force Unleashed. And no googling. All names come from either the Force Unleashed credits or the Star Wars wiki known as Wookieepedia. Answers tomorrow.

1. Amel Bakli
2. Rego Sen
3. Brett Rector
4. Cane Adiss
5. Jett Lucas
6. Silas Draver
7. Mirena Rhee
8. Siddarth Achrekar
9. Dru Gifford
10. Dann Yap
11. Tam Azur-Jamin
12. Wil Dimas
13. Lina Mardec
14. Ko Sai
15. Hannah Balmor

i'll bring 'em to ya

There's a site called InterviewPalin.com that takes generic questions similar to those asked my Katie Couric in her interview with Sarah Palin and generates randomized answers in the style of The Governor's answers.

Here's my favorite so far:

Q: What is your foreign policy experience?

I said to him was, if you go back in history and if you really think I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has to exercise all options out there on the side of the earth. It is obvious to me who the bad guys are. The bad guys are the good guys. Through reform, absolutely. Look at the oversight that has much to do things better. But it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the need to reform government. We have got to remember what the desire is in this one and who the good guys.

my ancestors' legacy

Brief history lesson: In 1687, two brothers named George and Michael Harland landed in New Castle, Delaware and began the Harland/Harlan/Harlin family's colonization of America. From those two original Harlands, the Harland/Harlan/Harlin family spread out throughout the country, carrying with it three different last names since illiteracy was rampant and spelling more of a luxurious hobby than a necessity in those days.

Among the various tendrils of our ancestors that fanned out across the West was Silas Harlan, a hunter, trapper, and soldier for the Revolutionary Army, who founded Harlan's Station in what would later be named after him in Harlan County, Kentucky.

Fast forward two hundred and thirty years to this video, filmed on location in Harlan County, Kentucky.



So, I guess you can blame Ry and I if you want. And I know you will.

earth's population is up by one

Well, probably lots more than one. But only one that matters as far as I'm concerned. Yesterday, friends of Amanda and I had their baby, the adorable little baby Lucy, and today Amanda and I got to stop by the hospital for a visit.

As we were walking up to the maternity ward, I had this small voice in my head that just kept saying:

don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby don't break the baby

So, when we got in there and I didn't know how to hold her, that made me nervous. When I handed her to someone and didn't support her neck well enough, that freaked me out. Then when I held her a second time, she threw up. So ... I know it's not my fault. But the joke then quickly became "Great, Jess. You broke her." To which the voice in my head began freaking out a bit.

I remember when I was 13 and was watching my baby sister while no one else was home. I took her out of her playpen and accidentally bonked her head in the process. I was convinced that I had just ruined her somehow that wouldn't be apparent until she was about 18 months older and people started to realized that she couldn't read/walk/spell/whatever.

I have irrational fears.

someone explain this to me

For two years, Amanda and I have been trying to buy a house. We saved our money. We hung up the phone on the predatory lender who asked Amanda if someone at work could fraudulently sign something claiming that she made twice her actual salary. We did budgets. We worked with a financial advisor. We worked with a mortgage broker and three real estate agents.

We were careful. Slow. Deliberate.

Where did that get us? Nowhere. No house.

Now the financial markets are tanking and taxpayers are going to be made to pick up the tab.

Rather than living in our own cautiously bought home, Amanda and I are going to be made to help foot the bill for all of the a-holes who were stupid, careless, greedy, etc. And we still don't have a house of our own.

What is the impact on taxpayers going to be? How is it going to affect me and my wife? Why do the careful and intelligent have to fix things for the stupid and reckless?