 |
|
 |
 |
What Did I Just Say??
This is a quick thing to do some day for all you fellow nerds out there. While you are talking to someone take a couple moments to listen to yourself. Try to imagine that you don't know all the ridiculous little details about whatever it is you are talking about. Then reflect on how it must sound to the rest of the world. Even something as simple as "outgoing traffic on port 21" doesn't really make a lot of sense out of context. It sounds like I am directing naval traffic.
When the hell did all these little terms get inside my brain? They all seem so critical at times, and yet so useless at others. I sometimes wonder if all the space that is taken up in my brain by these things would be better used to store information that isn't as time sensitive. Ten years from now all my Macromedia Flash knowledge is going to be worth exactly nothing. I wonder what sort of information I could cram up there that would help me out when I am ninety years old. Perhaps I could start learning more about dentures and depends undergarments.
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
Damn You to Hell
I just read the article that Blogger posted entitled How To Get A Book Deal With Your Blog. Now, come on guys, you can't just run around putting thoughts like that into people's heads. Sure, some people manage to have obsessions that in some ways are pretty marketable, for example Eric Harshbarger builds things out of lego. Cool things, things that make you want to play with lego again. Of course in my case that desire never left, really.
But a large number of obsessions aren't nearly as marketable. Somehow I doubt that my obsession with video games is going to get me signed to a publisher, not a whole lot of people would enjoy reading a two hundred page explanation of every step I took to solve Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Human Territory
There is something fascinating to me about people. In fact. there are thousands of things I find fascinating, but the thing that really gets me today is territory. Everyone has a way of marking their territory. Examine the rather blurry picture below...
Right near the middle, just off to the left, is a man who I see fairly regularily. He stands in that spot in the parkade and smokes big fat cigars at just before eight in the morning. He is well dressed, a businessman of sorts I imagine. He stands there with the cars swirling around him, spewing their own toxic fumes. And as he smokes he glares at them, as if he is offended that they would pass through his domain as he enjoys this guilty pleasure.
My own territory is no less unusual, and at times I am just as possessive of it. This, right here, is the spot that I claim as mine...
When I get on the bus in the morning it is the spot that I get as close to as possible. I am sure that occasionally the people who sit there must be able to feel my stares every time the stop bell has been rung. I look to the spot to see if the person sitting there is showing any signs of getting up. To hell with the cigar guy, I can be pretty frikken creepy when I want to be.
But the truth is that we all need some space to call our own, and not just our homes. For some people it is a night club, or a pub, or a park bench, or a little corner store, hell, it could even just be a certain stall in a truck stop bathroom where you like to jot down your thoughts when you are away from your computer... Ummm... Not that I would do that.
Actually, I think that I might even make this a bit of a contest. I know that nobody really is reading this yet, so I'll keep the contest running for a while. I'll give a $20 Amazon.com gift certificate to the person who sends me a photo of the best spot they call their own. It can be creepy, fun, weird, whatever. I will keep taking entries until January 31st, 2004. You also have to include a brief write up on why the spot fascinates you, and what you do to make it your own. Contest rules are easy, I'm taking this money out of my own pocket so it doesn't matter where you are from or anything. And by sending me the picture you agree to let me use it on my site. Oh, and one last rule, I'm the frikken judge, so of course I'm going to be biased. You want an impartial judge? Save the photo for another site.
All entries should be sent to egoant@egoant.com and the subject should be 'my territory'.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Frikken Fanboy
Okay, I know that a lot of gamers out there will shout to the heavens that the GameCube is only for kids. And I also know that a lot of guys out there would call me a sissy for liking the new Zelda, and for still enjoying Mario games. And you know what, they'd be mostly right. Sure, I like to see the intestines of my victims in a lot of games, but there is a part of me that agrees with the Nintendo philosophy that simple is better.
That's why I was pleased to read that the GameCube sold almost as many units as Playstation in the fourth quarter, and almost twice as many as X-Box! A couple more months of this and the GameCube installed base in North America might even catch up with X-Box. Now, you are probably asking yourself why this even matters to me... The simple fact is that I enjoy playing games on my Nintendo, and if it loses its market share then developers will stop making games for it. I know that it is bound to happen eventually, like my ill-fated Dreamcast, but I would prefer it happen later rather than sooner.
Oh, and of course the Gameboy sales, as always, are through the roof. If the figures are to be believed then it is my estimate that everyone in North America should have three or four of these things lying around by the end of the year. The funniest part about the sales figures is that the only game X-Box has in the top ten is the Grand Theft Auto bundle, a pair of games that were released a year ago on Playstation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Something Made of Wood
 Today is my five year anniversary with my fiancee. Now, according to tradition if we had been married for five years the gift is supposed to be something made of wood. Now, I don't know about you, but to me spending five years with someone and then getting a baseball bat for my anniversary just doesn't seem right. Admittedly, this the tradition applies to someone who has been married for five years. Care and I have only been engaged for a little over three months, so the wood gift doesn't really apply, I guess. Maybe I should send back that Totem Pole.
Okay, I really love video games. I could probably talk about them all day, unless I was busy playing them. But somehow being a professional gamer just doesn't seem like a viable career option to me. Of course, if I lived in South Korea, maybe things would be different. Of course, I would wear that outfit in a heartbeat. I bet I'd look good in an anime bad guy outfit.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bill Bored
I'm actually not bored at all, I just am having a funny billboard day. First I saw an article about smart billboards. These are billboards that actually detect what radio station you have playing so they can change their display to suit the demographic of the majority of passing traffic. And the second is a hilarious billboard that was put outside the Radical Entertainment offices in Vancouver. The billboard is written in ASCII and reads, "now hiring". A funny way to recruit programmers. Hell, I'd check it out if I lived there!
|
|
|
|
|
|
MMOPRG - Massively Multiplayer Online Porn Ring Groups
Okay, I changed the layout a bit because I was finding it a bit hard to read the way it was, hopefully this should make things a little easier on the eyes. Speaking of being easy on the eyes (prepare yourselves for a seque that defies all logic)... I am looking for an artist who is skilled with doing cartoon / anime style military drawings. For an example of what I would like, check out the Rainbow Six comic by the guys over at Penny Arcade.
Now, on to my next little rant... I have known for some time, as have many people, that online games are going to start getting even more messed up than real life. Quite some time ago I read a paper on virtual world legal issues. I wish I could find the actualy paper that was written, as it was a great read. They say that truth is stranger than fiction. Well, it would seem that truth in a fictional world is the strangest of all. Apparently The Sims Online has become a hotbed of online criminal racketeering, prostitution, and all around nastiness. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing at this stage. However, the one thing that does frighten me is the idea that underage girls are servicing men online for virtual goods that can be traded for real money.
This is terrifying to me. I am generally not one to go off on moral quests, but something has to be done about this. Some sort of virtual legal framework should be drawn up to prevent this sort of thing. It is harmful to the girls and boys who are taking part in it, the online communities, and the future of online gaming. Hopefully EA will have the sense to crack down on this before it gets even further out of control.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sunday Projects
Well, today has been pretty good, I went to see my fiancee's choir and have yet to burst into flames for daring to set foot upon hallowed ground. However, I was almost sideswiped by a woman driving a minivan. Apparently she has taken the idea of a merging lane a little too literally. Let me in on a little secret, you crazy bitch, you aren't actually supposed to merge your frikken soccer mom-mobile with our poor little chevette. Apparently she has failed that exam before, because the side of her van was already a crumpled mess. Somehow I doubt our little car would have even made a dent.
Here's a quick list of the things that are on my plate as far as Sunday Projects goes:
- My own website
- A website for Care's brother
- An application I am building in .NET for online project management
- A little application to track when your favorite blogs get updated
- A contest entry for The Game Creators and Alienware
Something has to give, and in this case I think it is going to be the contest entry. It seriously isn't shaping up to be nearly as cool as I had hoped. Maybe I will finish it enough to submit it anyway, but it is going to be seriously distant from the original vision I had for it. I think that in all honesty I have just been scared away by the Roswell Racer entry. It looks REALLY nice. Of course, if I were to tally up every hour I spent this week playing games, and then divided it by the number of hours I spent today working on my contest entry.... Well, I'd get an error. You can't divide by ZERO.
By the way, if anyone is actually reading this and they have any suggestions for the BlogTracker application, be sure to e-mail me. Oh, and just for the record, it's not actually going to be called BlogTracker, that's just the working title for now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
