JakeyPen

The End

2009-06-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

Somebody pooped in my sandbox.

I never thought of myself as the blogging type. In fact, my constant, repetitious overuse of the word "blog" comes from my discomfort with with the very idea. Or, more accurately came from that discomfort. You see, I've grown to quite like this blogging thing.

JakeyPen began as a way for me to keep in touch with the friends and family I left behind when I set off for DigiPen, and that's all it was ever meant to be. It started adventurously, with tales of leaving my old life behind and photographic tours of my new city, then quickly petered out. I didn't want to be the sort of person who fills the Internet with accounts of all the mundane banalities that make a day, but I found that it's these little things that are perhaps most important to who a person is. Keeping touch is not simply about the big, spectacular events, but the trivial thoughts and even the stretches of boredom.

Looking back at the last two years, it's been... something. Okay, I've hated it. There have been good times, certainly, but overall... yeah, I hate this place. I feel like I'm gaining nothing, losing plenty, and the entire experience has been shallow, empty, and isolated. This dumb little blog, though, has given me some connection to the real world. I've made a few friends, maybe communicated to a few people I already knew in a new way, and, if nothing else, the acts of thinking and writing something - anything - has had a certain soothing effect.

And now, it's over.

When I started this blog, I was given a choice - private or public. Would I require any readers to sign up for an account, be personally approved for readership, and login each time they wanted to learn my opinions of which cereals had the worst box designs? No. I made that choice, knowing that anything I wrote would be available for all the world to find and read. I made that choice, knowing that the one person in the world I didn't want to have any part in my life would one day find it. I knew this venture was doomed from the start, and I did it anyway, so I only have myself to blame if things didn't go the way I would've liked.

Everything happened as I knew it would. I don't know how long ago I was found, but I decided to stick to the commitment I'd made and finish the Blog-Off! Today is the end of the challenge, and so it is the end of JakeyPen.

A cliché sentiment, but a true one: I knew it would end one day, but I didn't expect to be so sad to see it go. I never knew I would grow so fond of blogging. The were plenty of times when I didn't want to write, but, as a whole, it's been fun.

It was fun. Now, it's just uncomfortable. For the majority of my readers, thank you, and I'm sorry to end it like this. I can't keep this up, though. It's too weird. What was a pleasant way to let you know what was happening in my world, or often an excuse for me to ramble all these words out of my mind and hands, has turned sour and awkward, though, and I'm done.

Endings are strange things, though. In real life, they don't happen. After I post this to the Web, I won't go anywhere, and there will still be words and pictures and songs inside me, as well as the need to let them out. JakeyPen is over, but Jake will live on. Even under different circumstances, I think I might be a little burnt out on blogging after two years and two long challenges, and I'm ready for a break. Don't you cry. Maybe I'll be back again someday with a private blog or under an untraceable pseudonym. Maybe the blogging chapter of my life really is done, and it's time for me to find some new angle. I don't know. At the moment, I don't care. Can you picture what will be, so limitless and free? I'll figure out something.

To the loyal fans and the occasional readers alike, thanks for the support. You've been the flaming wreck to my bent metal. It's been much nicer talking to you than it would be talking only to myself. Even here, at the end, the goal is the same as it was at the beginning - keep in touch with family and friends. If you're a new friend and you'd like to keep in touch when I re-emerge wherever and whenever that happens to be, leave a comment and we'll work something out.

Much love,
Jake

2009-06-29T22:19:00.000-07:00

When I wrote my last post about Michael Jackson, I went back and forth on exactly what to say because I hadn't yet come to the conclusion of what to think. I ultimately settled on the few things I knew with certainty - he was one of the greatest entertainers of all time and he was unusual.

Now, time has passed and I've had time not only to think about it myself, but plenty of chances to talk to others and read their thoughts. It's left me with quite a few thoughts of my own; so many that I feel compelled to return to this subject; so many that I haven't quite sorted them all out, so my apologies if this gets a little messy and disjointed.

The most interesting viewpoints I've heard so far are not those that try to capture what Michael Jackson meant to the world, but to the individual. My own experience with Michael was probably not uncommon for people my age until recently. By the time I was born, he was already heading for his denouement, and by the time I was old enough to care, he was a surreal fantasy and easy punchline. Save for a few "Weird Al" parodies, the music had been lost in my concept of the man.

Make no mistake, Michael Jackson was bizarre, and an easy target, and I was content to leave him at that. I heard the hits, of course, but I paid them little mind. In fact, for much of my life, I was so swept up in the scandal that I would get uncomfortable at the very sound of any of his songs. You guys know me, though. You know I'm pretty big on thinking for myself. At some point, I thought I'd put aside all I knew and just listen to the music. I was blown away.

Over the past year or so, I've rapidly grown as a fan of the music, and beyond that, I've begun to reevaluate my relationship with Michael Jackson, the person. I'll state it once more, in no uncertain terms: Michael Jackson was a loon. He was crazy, but it's unfair to dismiss him as being only one thing. He was complex, to say the least. Certainly we can all agree that the man had more than one side.

Going back to my pre-fan days, I got really into ABC's "Living with Michael Jackson" special. Regardless of how things may or may not have been skewed to tell a dishonest story, that was some fine entertainment. To this day, it may be the most amusing television event of my lifetime. How long was that thing on? Like, a week? I was so excited every night, just dying to see what sort of madness Michael would have in store for me. That's the great thing about Michael Jackson - love him or hate him, he could find some way to entertain anyone, even if it was unintentional.

Maybe that comes across as a little mean. People say you're supposed to respect the dead, but I disagree. I'll get back to this a bit later.

Anyway, whilst undergoing my transformation into Michael fan, I looked the special up on YouTube, along with other interviews from across the years. I watched it again, and what I found was a very troubled person; someone who didn't seem quite like he was on the right world. Listening to him speak about diregarding age as a basis for friendship, or about how he had no greater pleasure in life than climbing a tree, and observing the interviewer's disbelief, discomfort, and disgust, mixed with a sort of restrained awe and jealousy made me think that maybe Michale Jackson was someone less bound by convention; someone who could see further, dismissed as an idiot and a freak in his time, only to one day be revered as forward-thinking and ahead of his time.

Still, he came across as a very troubled individual, and deeply damaged. As I said, in my introduction, though, I'm not terribly interested in pontificating on a distant figure, and I'd like to bring this back to Michael as he relates to my own life, though that, of course, warrants some mention of a holistic view. (If you want my take on Michael Jackson, the person, see the South Park episode, "The Jeffersons" - it's hilarious and spot-on. He wasn't a bad person, and people treated him too harshly, but he may have let his own personal problems get out of hand, probably at the expense of the people who were important to him.)

When news of Michael's death began to spread around the office, it was met with immediate jokes, and I have no problem with this. Once you enter the public eye, you are going to be subject to ridicule, and even if you're not, I think it's the idea that everyone has to be totally serious and respectful just because you're dead is... stupid. Death itself doesn't bother me. I'm not ready to die, myself. I don't believe in killing because I don't think I have the right to determine whether someone's life should end. Death itself, though? It happens. I'm not going to get too upset about Michael's death. He hasn't done anything in life that's affected me in years, so the act of his dying means nothing to me.

Obviously, though, I have a lot to say, and I've been doing a lot of thinking.

The picture at the top of this post is of Michael's iconic glove and jacket, worn during the live Billie Jean performance/Moonwalk debut atMotown 25.

The glove and jacket are on display at the Experience Music Project museum, and I didn't really know what Michael's death meant to me until seeing them. Outside the EMP, the ground was covered in sidewalk chalk messages and flowers, and inside were tables covered in paper and notes of sorrow. In the middle of it all stood a jacket and one white glove. Behind that, on an enrmous screen, played the above video. All around me was a crowd.

The death itself didn't get to me, but this did, watching all of those happy, screaming fans on the screen, and being surrounded by a captivated audience in a more bittersweet setting. I know from talking to them that my roommates aren't Michael Jackson fans, but they stood there, too, and I got the feeling that the moment meant something even to them. The connection, the solidarity - it was... moving.

There have been a lot of celebrity deaths over the past week, but I overheard someone at work talking about how this was different that events that have come before. This news seemed to travel faster than anything else ever before. Everyone knew within minutes. More amazing than that, though, was there was no question of "Who's Michael Jackson?" Farrah Fawcett died the same day, and though the name was certainly known, there were people who weren't quite sure why they should care. Not so with Michael.

This is an interesting point in history. With all of the blogs and Twitter and text messaging, news spread as quickly as it ever has before; not just pop-culture/celebrity news, but news of any kind. I take it as an indicator that we, as a society and species, have now crossed a line, and there's no going back. We know everything exactly when it happens. That's weird.

It's this same culture and technology that unifies us and grants us limitless knowledge which may have a very different effect. It's the end of mass media. We all know Michael Jackson because he dominated TV and radio. He was the King of Pop, and the last big star. This idea of a person completely dominating music is relatively recent, I believe. We've had Elvis and the Beatles and Michael Jackson. Has anyone else, ever, been the cause of such hysteria? With the fragmentation of the market and the democratic approach to finding fans over the Internet, trillions of cable stations, satellite radio, and MP3 players, will we have another? It's tough to say.

All of these things have, however briefly, turned back to Michael for now. A week ago, calling yourself a Michael Jackson fan was dangerous. His albums have continued to sell, and his upcoming tour had sold out, so obviously there were plenty of fans, but it seemed many were afraid to admit it. How often did you hear a Michael Jackson song on the radio in the past decade, even on '80s stations? How drastically things have changed in the last few days.

What I'm writing is not about Michael Jackson' death. It is not, despite what I said, about my personal connection to his music and life. This is about stories.

Life is not like most stories because it has no ending. Regardless of what happens, something will continue. The universe moves on. The closest we come to an ending is death.

I have to go to work in the morning and this is getting lengthy and unguided. I'm going to have to wrap it up tomorrow.

Breaking News! All Racial Tensions Solved Forever!

2009-06-28T21:27:00.000-07:00

Thoughts From the Grocery Store

2009-06-28T19:34:00.001-07:00

The checkout line seems like an odd place to make out.
The robotic voice of the shelf checkout scanner greets people with the line, "Welcome valued customer," and this is so eerie.
I want to buy every copy of the latest issue of Globe and wallpaper my room with the cover.

No, Blog, No

2009-06-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

I have not stopped moving all day with the exception of 45 minutes spent waiting for a bus.

Attention Smokers

2009-06-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

Please don't smoke at bus stops. It's dumb.

Better yet, don't smoke anywhere where I am, or might be.

Or just don't smoke.

Ooh, on the subject of dumb things, I discovered a movie the other day called Gamebox 1.0, and you don't even know how dumb it is. It's about a video game tester (just like me!) who gets a new game system in the mail. He tries it out and it all seems too good to be true - it's the most realistic game console in the world! What he doesn't know is that it is real - if you die in the game, you die in real life! I've only watched the beginning so far, but I think I might watch the rest of it tonight. It's on YouTube, and I don't mean a pirated copy that someone illegally uploaded to the site; it's one of the select movies that YouTube has acquired the rights to legitimately host. Most of YouTube's movies are documentaries, public domain garbage, or movies so bad that the rights holder is willing to give them away over the Internet. This falls into the latter category so hard, and I love it for that.

Gamebox 1.0
This ain't no game!

This Is the End of Your Life

2009-06-25T21:28:00.001-07:00

Michael Jackson was one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Listen to his music. Watch his videos. Play his games. Speculate about his personal life and comment on his appearance if you must, but remember that regardless of his weirdness - and, yeah, he was a weird guy - he earned his place in history.

Attention Screenwriters

2009-06-24T21:06:00.001-07:00

Please stop having your characters order "the usual." It's dumb.

Drugs Are Bad

2009-06-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

Funny things I shouldn't have even tried describing to my mom over the phone:

Oh, You Make Me Dizzy

2009-06-24T17:27:00.000-07:00

Of all the things in the heavens and earth, is there any other as disgustingly named as "Honey Bucket"?

A Fountain of Blood in the Shape of a Girl

2009-06-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

I wrote a thing about how I'm becoming a Björk fan, but I didn't like how it turned out, so I deleted that and wrote this in its place. But, yeah, Björk's pretty cool. Listen to her.

The week is still fairly young, so we'll have to see how this goes, but I'm getting the feeling this is going to be a bad writing week for me. Shame, since the blog challenge is will be over next week. Hopefully things turn around before we reach the end.

Also, there are sick people all over my apartment, and I'm not sure any two of them have the same thing. I'm not the type that gets sick often, so I wasn't too worried about this, but I've been sneezing endlessly today.

I haven't read over what I wrote above, but I have fixed some typos. I bet there are a bunch more.

When you have a bad writing day, the best thing to do is keep writing. Bad writing loves company. The company of more bad writing. IT's in abundance here/

I'm done.

Reveresed Assumption Comics

2009-06-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

I keep re-reading this comic from last week and it keeps making me laugh.

LakeyPen

2009-06-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's adventure was averted. Tiffany has a few friends visiting from Texas, so we all went to the improv show together in his car, which is good because the bus I had planned on taking, in spite of what the Internet told me, wasn't running.

Today, all of us went "hiking." That was Robin's word for it. I'm not sure if it's my own naïveté or a matter of Robin's characteristic faulty lexicon, but "hiking" puts me in the mind of metal-harnessed backpacks, walking sticks, cargo shorts, and cranberry-filled granola bars. This falls more in line with my understanding of a picnic. We walked around a lake on a flat asphalt trail for thirty minutes before stopping at a wooden table to eat sandwiches. Still, the mountainous scenery was picturesque, getting to the locale required an hour drive each way, and the trail was positively rotten with the poop of various animals, so it felt like an Important Event, which I guess means Robin can call it whatever she pleases. I get the feeling that if Robin walked to the mailbox she would report the journey as a "hike," though.

Walking in poop is a weird thing. As for myself, I'm not down with it. Backtracking across the path, however, I couldn't help but notice how much flatter some of the piles seemed to be, and not on my account; I was quite careful with my steps. I pointed this out and was met unyielding defense and treated like I was the crazy person for not wanting to have the grooves of my shoes filled with beaver dookie. It made me glad that we don't wear our shoes in the apartment.

Oh, we had to be sure to be back to the apartment by 6:00 - Robin and Tiffany had a very important raid scheduled in World of Warcraft. Their guests have been exiled to the living room to watch a movie. By the way, Robin and Tiffany, to my knowledge, don't know that I blog, but they are quite aware that I ridicule them every chance I get. I mock because I love.

Overall, my thoughts on hiking: whatever. It was definitely pretty. No question. The thing is, everything is pretty out here. I see mountains and trees and rivers every day. I'm always happy for a chance to get away from Redmond and nerd-life for a little while, but driving an hour to see a pretty area seems strange when I see beauty all around me. Again, not a bad way to spend an afternoon, but as I write this, I'm sitting in my room, looking out my window, and seeing a far more beautiful sight:

The guy across the street took his Christmas lights down!

*I saw other Christmas lights on the drive to the lake.

I Remember Searching for the Perfect Words

2009-06-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

The reason I took a ride with strangers last night is the the bridge over Lake Washington, the bridge which connects Redmond and Seattle, was closed for an annual inspection. As it turned out, the buses stopped running early, before the bridge had been closed, which was why I was left stranded in the rainy Seattle night.

I'll be going back into the city tonight (I'm scheduled at the improv place), but this time I know for sure that the bus will not be going to my usual stop because the bridge is to be closed for the rest of the weekend. There's an alternative route, but I'll have to go to a different bus stop to get there. Naturally, I went to the local Metro Web site to plan the trip. I would expect the closure of a major freeway bridge into Seattle would be fairly important news, but, no, I've been searching the site and I can't find any mention of it. The site does have an automated "trip planner" - type in your starting point, destination, and when you'd like to leave or arrive and it will tell you which buses to take. The only problem is that it's telling me to take buses over the bridge to bus stop which are closed.

Fantastic. I get to have an adventure.

Leo, Kim, and Claire

2009-06-19T23:41:00.001-07:00

These are the names of the people with whom I rode back to Redmond when the bus didn't arrive, but it's okay - I know their names know, so it's not like I was getting in a car with strangers. Besides, they offered me some awesome candy.

What a Week

2009-06-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

Guhhhhh. All I want to do is lie in bed and watch a dumb sitcom. I must thank the library yet again for making that possible.

I can't wait to watch the Shredder throw DJ Jazzy Jeff out the front door! Man, that's gonna be hilarious. By the way, did you know that the seventh episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a clip show? It's especially good on a DVD set when you might watch several episodes in a row. It's fun to nostalgically reminisce about the episodes I watched the night before.

If You Need Directions, I'll Be Your Guide

2009-06-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

If you read this blog or know me in real life, you're likely aware that I want to make video games, but gamemaking is a big field, and it's quite possible that you've missed specifically which role I would most like. Really, my desired field is not just video games, but entertainment as a whole, and video games are my top priority at the moment. Anyway, within the wide world of entertainment and video games, among the many jobs I'd love to try, my first choice would be directing. Oddly, it seems directing is a largely ignored part of gamemaking. When I tell people that I want to direct, I'm typically met with quizzical looks and questions like, "Huh?" "Why?" or "Directing video games? Is that a real job?"

It exists, but is not the kind of thing anyone teaches, so I'm left picking up what I can from notes on directing in other fields, which leads me to a book I just finished, entitled, Notes on Directing.

It's incredible. I almost left it on the shelf at the library, but I'm so glad I didn't. I'm thinking about getting a copy of my own for reference. It's this tiny, condense, plainly-written book that makes so many difficult, abstract concepts and methods that have always impressed me about great directors into little tips and reminders. I can't believe how much I've learned in about 100 pages. It's an astonishing book and one I highly recommend.

I know that's a weird recommendation - how many of my readers want to be directors? - but while it is very specifically written about directing for the stage, the skills of a good director can be carried over into acting, teaching, coaching, management, and plenty of other jobs. Even if you'd just like a bit of insight into how a play is created and what a director does, it's worth reading. It has me really pumped for teaching my improv class again when summer ends, which is weird, because I don't want summer to ever end.

Amazon will allow you to read the table of contents (click "LOOK INSIDE!"), which should give you some idea of whether or not this would be of interest to you. I was totally sold before I even finished that much, so I'm probably on the right path with the choice to pursue directing.

Sing, Sing a Song

2009-06-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend was all about spending money on musical stuff. Rather than relay the entire drawn-out affair today, though, I'll get straight to the point. After what must've been a few years of looking, I found some audio recording equipment for super-cheap, so now it looks like I better make some music.

No video here, just the sound of my guitar.

Being able to record audio is extremely useful when you have some need to record audio. I, unfortunately, do not have such a need at this time, so I'm just messing around right now. The above is almost entirely improvised, which is why it sounds as messy as it does; it was only a mindless test to see what I could do with my new toys, recorded this weekend. There are a few chords in there from an unfinished song I wrote, too, but this is in no way representative of what that song might sound like if I ever do finish it.

Songwriting is one of those things to which I haven't devoted much time, and, as a result, I'm not great at it. I've played around a little, but never gotten very serious about it. Having the means to actually record songs now has awoken some urge to write, but the results are, so far, nonsense. My general approach is to let my subconscious take care of the lyrics and leave the music to my fingers, leaving me with weirdo gibberish. For instance, here's a bit of another song* I started writing last night at an hour when normal people would be sleeping. In this case, I was thoughtlessly strumming my guitar and came across a fairly pleasing sound, then started mumbling along until the following placeholder words fell out of my mouth.

Chocolate-lover, movie-lover, peperoni pizza lover
Pillow, mattress, sheets, and covers
Paper, Scissors, Rock

*The word bit, that is, not the music part. I haven't recorded it, so there's nothing for you to hear.

Snow Dream

2009-06-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

I replaced my dearly departed CD player this weekend (R.I.P.). I ended up going with a simple red Sony Walkman, just $4 at Value Village - what a steal.

I didn't want to make such a hefty purchase without properly weighing my options, though. First, I looked at the local department stores, expecting that the near domination of the personal music player market by MP3 players would reduce CD players to insignificant prices, but, no, instead it's just made them harder to find. Even online, the costs and selections are pretty weak, so it was off to Value Village, then back to my apartment to look up reviews of the CD players I'd found at the store, then back to the store, this time with my headphones and a pair of batteries so I could test all of the players firsthand.

Jeez, I'm a freak.

Whatever. I got a classy CD player for four bucks.

Anyway, I needed a CD with which to test the CD playing capabilities of the available CD players, so I went to the CD shelf and grabbed the album with the prettiest cover. I found a picture of it online, but I assure you, the case is much, much prettier in real life.

If you were wondering, no, this story isn't going anywhere. See, this is the trouble with forcing yourself to blog everyday.

Oh, wait - something interesting did happen today - a guy at work made an Opti-Grab reference. I laughed. It was the best pizza in a cup ever.

Back to the story: While testing the stack of CD players, I heard this ridiculous song many times and now it won't leave my head. I can only hope I have the fortitude to resist the urge to go back and buy the CD.

Blogs are stupid.

Regarding the Winking Emoticon

2009-06-14T21:16:00.001-07:00

Also known as "semi-colon close parenthesis."

I can't remember the last time I winked at anyone, and I don't receive many winks, either. So why do so many people on the Internet feel the need to pictorially represent a smile and a wink?

Communication!

Buy All Our Playsets and Toys

2009-06-14T00:38:00.000-07:00

I just had an idea for a toy-type thing. This just popped into my head, so it's not yet fully formed, but I wonder if the concept could go somewhere.

My initial thought was to team up with LEGO, but there's no reason it couldn't be it's own thing. Assuming that it is LEGO-like, though, here's the idea... What's a playset, really? Some of the cooler ones do stuff - they have trap doors that action figures can drop down, or they shoot cannon balls or something - but, essentially, they serve as a sort of backdrop for the adventures of action figures. Playset - the set for the play your action figures perform. So you have the architecture and the visual theme. Generally, these tie in with the theme of some specific set of action figures. Most kids I've known had a bunch of action figures (or dolls), but only a few playsets. So, for example, let's say you're really into the Turtles, and you get a bunch of Turtles action figures, and for Christmas, your big present is the Technodrome. Then, let's say a few months later, you get a Bucky O'Hare figure for your birthday. Well, that's fine, they're both big, green, antropomorphic heroes, so you stick Bucky in with the Turtles and they all battle Shredder together in the Technodrome. Great. Now a few years go by, and you have Turtles and Bucky O'Hares and G.I. Joes and Trasformers and Little People all jumbled together, but the only place they every get to go is into the Technodrome from the Turtles' universe. That playset was really expensive, too, so you can't expect your parents to get you something new every time you get a different kind of action figure in your Happy Meal. It's the predicament of every middle-class 3-10 year old in Western society, but what do you do?

Making your own environments out of other materials is an option. You can make something out of... hmmmm... Legos. The trouble is, though, that things made out of Legos tend to either look like some specific LEGO theme (City, Space, Harry Potter, etc.) or like the generic LEGO theme of red, blue, and yellow bricks. Playsets made in this way may work architecturally, but they'll be second-class visually. You can make a playset out of something like cardboard, and draw on it and paint it until it looks right, but that can be a lot of effort and the results are generally not as arcitecturally sound.

So here's my solution: LEGO "What's Her Face". Basically, dry-erase Legos. Now, for all I know, Legos can already be used with dry erase markers. Not a problem. As with so many LEGO varieties, it's all about marketing. Put a bunch of white Legos in a box, throw in an assortment of dry erase markers and an eraser. Add in a few "gimmick" pieces - hinged pieces for trap doors little see-saws to use as catapults - and package additional gimmick sets in smaller boxes, along with additional markers. Produce a decent commercial. Make a trillion dollars.

Again, this could be any kind of sturdy, simple construction toy. They key is the ability to draw on it, erase it, knock it down, and create something new. Market it as the last playset parents will ever have to buy, and a creative, imaginative toy in it's own right.

Please don't steal my ingenious idea. If you do, at least give me a few billion dollars when you're rich. Thanks.

When God Closes a Door, He Opens a Window

2009-06-13T22:45:00.001-07:00

Wait a second...

Windows open from the inside. So... God is shutting himself in a room? And he still wants a breeze, I guess?

I think I've been misinterpreting that saying, unless the lesson is that you should sneak into God's room through the window when he's not looking, in which case I'm still confused.

Religion, you so crazy.

Whale Magic

2009-06-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

I'll try to get a real post up later today, but for now, here's something cool:

Life size blue whale image.

Every Day Is an Ordinary Day

2009-06-11T22:18:00.000-07:00

My big accomplishment for the day was that I made it to level 3 in Donkey Kong for the first time. I was pretty proud of myself.

My department only has a half-day of work tomorrow, but I'll be working at the improv place during the night, and Saturday night, as well.

The dude across the street still turns on his Christmas lights every night.

Here are some exclamation points: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whatever Happened to Dear Old Lenin?

2009-06-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

In case you've forgotten, we, as a species, are freaking weird.

How Do You Own Disorder?

2009-06-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

I really shouldn't have to tell you people this, but apparently my particular brand of common sense doesn't come so readily to everyone: Quit buying things you don't want or need. To be a little more clear, just because something is cool and trendy and popular doesn't mean you want it. That's something you should decide after thinking about this hot new item. Remember thinking? It's back, and it's groovier than ever. Try it. Remember, thinking should come before buying.

My beef (for today's blog post, at least) is with "High Definition." Let's start with HDTVs.

You don't need one. First of all, can you really tell the difference between standard definition and high definition? I'm not saying that there is no difference; just that most people are not sensitive enough to television picture quality to justify the added expense of an HDTV. As a freaky geek, I do notice such things quite readily, and, honestly, standard definition TVs look better in many cases. There are times when HD is undoubtedly better, but generally it either looks similar or worse. Your computer monitor is "HD." This is good because you sit right by it and need to be able to make out fine details like little words. This paragraph would be tough to read on a standard definition TV, but you know what? That's okay. Most people sit across the room from their TVs. The minor blur gives the picture a more organic look. Video games, especially, benefit from having their harsh digital edges smoothed out.

The other thing is that so many people who have HDTVs don't know how to use them. They don't buy the right cables, the don't set the TV up correctly, and they don't have access to HD content, all of which invariably mean the picture looks worse than it would if they would just use a regular TV. I love people watching low-resolution, stretched-out shows, remarking about how great their new LSD flat screen is. People buying things they don't need and that they don't understand. God bless capitalism.

Worse still are HD-DVDs and BluRay Discs. The progression from VHS to DVD was meaningful. While DVDs have their problems, compared to VHS cassettes they tend to have significantly superior picture and audio quality, they're cheap to produce, they take up less space, they don't wear out due to normal usage, and they have enough capacity to hold a full movie and an assortment of bonus features. When was the last time you saw a VHS with director's commentary?

HD-DVDs and BluRay Discs have... slightly better resolution than DVDs, which is unnecessary, since DVDs are pretty much the only things that look decent on an HDTV. Oh well, at least the discs and their players are more expensive than DVDs, and the selection of available movies is smaller. Hmm. Still, the great thing about HD and BluRay is that they have far more capacity than DVDs, so we can have... commentary on director's commentary? Really fancy interactive menus.

HD-DVDs aren't really around anymore. For a while, there was a lot of talk amongst people who care about such things over whether HD-DVDs would win, or BluRay. The manufacturer (I can't remember who it was) of HD-DVDs soon gave up the fight, and people started telling me that BluRay had won. I was confused. The only definitive conclusion I had reached was that HD-DVD had lost. BluRay, I argued, simply hadn't lost yet. If there was any winner, it was the DVD.

That was several years ago, and so far, I've been right. Do you know anyone who watches BluRays? What's the point? Sony keeps insisting, even now, that sales of the PlayStation 3 are going to explode any day now and surpass the Wii because the PlayStation 3 has a built in BluRay player, and that's what people really want.

In this case, BluRay provides us with a fine example of what we should continue doing - not buying inferior, worthless things that we don't want. For those of you who did get suckered into an HDTV, can I ask: Why?

2009-06-08T20:21:00.001-07:00

I have this kind-of friend type person at work - a work-friend, really. Not the sort of person I hang out with on the weekends, but someone with whom I can idly chat while at work. You know the type.

Anyway, he and another of my work-friends were talking and it came up that he writes and makes funny videos online, so I looked him up today. To my surprise, his videos really are funny, and so is his writing, and beyond that, they're both done well. To be perfectly honest, we're talking about him recoding himself talking about video games on a personal digital camera, and his writing has a few lazy blogger tendencies - the personal pronoun "I" being written with a lowercase letter, and the like - but you get the impression that if he was doing more professional work and making an effort to polish all the details, he could do a fine job, indeed.

I know from talking to him that he does have a bit of moviemaking and editing experience (you may have even seen some of it), though he's obviously working with me in product testing at the moment. However, his site reveals that he's actually an aspiring screenwriting, and he's currently fixing up a feature length script.

It got me thinking about how how it's possible to make smalltalk with a person for a month and still know nothing about who they truly are or what talents they hold.

It also reminded me of something I mentioned a few days ago; that I am a much better writer than you'd suspect from reading my blog, but I never do anything to prove that, to you or to myself. Another few weeks of this challenge and maybe, after a little break, I'll start to think of some other way of employing the written word.

Bonus Fun Fact: My spell checker claims that "today" is not a word. Overruled, spell checker.

JakeyPen: The Greatest Blog on the Web

2009-06-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Nicole lost yesterday.

You might think that makes me the Shiny Buttons Blog-Off! winner because you are a know-nothing ignoramus. No offense. While Nicole's loss does make me the last remaining contestant, the challenge is to continue blogging everyday for the rest of the month. So, just to be clear, I will win, but I have not yet.

Everyone else has lost, though.

Yaaaaaaaaaay!

2009-06-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

I just spent an hour waiting for a bus! Woooooooo! Bus stop benches are perfect for long periods of sitting.

So I watched The Toxic Avenger earlier today, and let me just say, you know you're dealing with a good movie when the DVD cover boasts a claim like "Featuring the full 'HEAD CRUSHING' scene." You know you're dealing with a great movie when you finish watching and have to wonder exactly which "HEAD CRUSHING" scene they meant. In fact, the only thing that could make a movie like that better would be if it had spawned a Saturday morning cartoon. Oh wait.

Stop Making Sense

2009-06-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

Though I haven't been writing about it, I've still been on my library kick lately, thought it's now returning to the state of being a standard part of my week, as the library should be. Anyway, in my latest stack of check-outs was a DVD of Pee-Wee's Playhouse episodes. Along with being one of the greatest shows ever on television, it has one of the greatest theme songs, which I shall now quote in full:

Come on in, and pull yourself up a chair (like Chairry!)
Let the fun begin, it's time to let down your hair!
Pee-wee's SO excited,
'cause all his friends have been invited (that's you!)
To go wacky, at Pee-wee's Playhouse!

There's a crazy rhythm, comin' from Puppetland (what that?)
Dirty Dog, Cool Cat, and Chicky Baby are the Puppet Band (yeah!)
He's got a couple of talkin' fish,
and a genie who'll grant a wish -
Golly, it's cuckoo at Pee-wee's Playhouse!

Globey's spinnin', Mr. Window's grinnin',
'cause Pterri's flyin' by (hello!)
The Flowers are singin', the Picture Phone is ringin',
and the Dinosaur family goes, "Hi!"
Mr. Kite's soarin', Conky's still a snorin',

there's the flashing Magic Screen,
The Cowntess is so classy, Randy's kinda sassy -
A nuttier establishment you've never seen!
Spend the day with Pee-wee and you'll see what we mean! (Come on!)

Get outta bed, there'll be no more nappin'! (Wake up!)
'Cause you've landed in a place where anything can happen -
Now we've given you fair warnin'!
It's gonna be that kind of mornin' -
For bein' wacky!
For getting nutty!
Golly, it's cuckoo!
At Pee-wee's Playhouse!

(Thanks to Paul-Reubens.net for the lyrics)

Now, obviously, the song is riddled with direct references to characters from the show, but beyond that, what a great way to start your Saturday morning! What a fantastic message for kids or anyone else! It's a message that's carried throughout the whole show - life is fun, so spend some time with your friends and go crazy. That is a real positive message. It seems like all the Saturday morning shows these days try so hard to be serious and tell dramatic stories and teach moral lessons, but what message is better than "let down your hair... anything can happen"?

* * *

To close out E3 week, here's a game I don't think I've ever mentioned on this site, but one that I've been following for quite some time. It's called Scribblenauts, and I'm incredibly impressed by it. For all the talk lately of 3D cameras and "Vitality Sensors," it appears the thing that's impressed me most on a technical level is a game with a keyboard and simple graphics running on the DS. It's a type of puzzle game in which you must help your character reach... something. I don't know. How do you accomplish this goal? Anyway you want. Type in almost any noun and that thing will appear on the screen for your character to use. You might wonder what "almost any noun means," and it means just that. There's nothing which might be considered innapropriate for some age groups, and no copyrighted items, but short of that, you can seriously write almost anything. Apparently, the big challenge at E3 has been to try to stump this game. Not easy:

It's Too Hot For Clever Titles

2009-06-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

I accidentally broke my CD player this morning. Also broken: my heart. At least I broke it close to the end of the week, as I'm not sure I could get through a full work week without it. Looks like I'll be buying another one when I'm out this weekend.

I'm really upset about this. That CD player lasted a long time. I don't know if I've mentioned it here before, but I lost half my CDs a few months ago (a polite way of saying they were stolen) and I haven't been the same since. Is it time to get an MP3 player? Not now, but I'm not happy with my recent CD luck.

- - -

A thought I had today: I haven't seen Steve Urkel in any goofy/retro commercials. What's the deal? Doesn't he seem like the type who should be selling us cell phone plans alongside Mr. T and William Shatner and Alf? So my question is, has no one else thought of this, or does Jaleel White have enough integrity to turn down offers?

What Am I Blogging For?

2009-06-03T22:47:00.001-07:00

It's a question that's been on my mind. How much longer will I keep doing this? I don't know. For now, I'm blogging because of goal I've given myself with the Blog-Off!, which concludes in less than a month. On thing I've always said about blog challenges is that I like being motivated to write something, anything, every single day, but lately I've found that rather than necessarily improving my writing abilities, it's made me far more sloppy. Perhaps there will be a net-positive effect from this in the future, but for now, I'm disappointed in the bad habits that have become the norm in my writing. The meandering sloppiness is probably indicative of more things in my life, but I still don't feel like, at this moment, anyway, daily writing is helping me much. I won't say that I'm a great writer, but I'm better than what you see here.

Just something that's on my mind. I'll be finishing up the challenge (in first place, no less), and I doubt I'll enter full bloggy retirement after that - I may even do another blog contest someday - but I feel like I need to reconcile my relationship with writing. We'll see where this train of thought goes.

Chill Out

2009-06-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

Sun, you know you're my boy, and we's tight, you're too freakin' hot. It's summer; I get that, but please cool down.

Continuing with my E3 obsessing this week, there weren't any big announcements today, so I've had some time to wander the Internet and read what the kids online are saying about all the upcoming games. Reading blogs and Internet comments always leaves me a bit exasperated, but there's something about the stuff I've been reading today that just leaves me depressed. I just can't identify with the vocal, enthusiast video game players anymore. The "hardcore gamers" as they call themselves. Anyone who would willing, proudly assign themselves a title like that is not okay with me.

They're the ones who most likely to follow E3 video game announcements and write about video games. They're the types that are going to speak the loudest, the ones whose opinions will be most prevalent online. They're obviously not the only ones playing video games, but they like to think that they are, and they do a great job of convincing many game developers and publishers that they are. As someone entering this business (and it's rapidly looking more like a business than an artistic field), it truly bothers me.

I was thinking about explaining in detail what sort of popular thoughts are floating around that are bringing me down, and maybe I will some time, but not now. I feel weird enough about turning this blog into "Nerdy Video Game Rant Central" for the week without boring you with the details of paradigm shifting in this industry.

I know I'm not leaving you, dear readers, with a very compelling read tonight, but I know that if I get started on this stuff, I'll be up all night ranting, and the resultant hastily-written, stream-of-consciousness nerd-speak won't be any better.

To put it as simply as I can, I'm very pleased with what Nintendo is doing - mostly creative, lovingly-made, diverse games and software (and hardware). There are some things coming out of Microsoft and Sony which, while absolutely unappealing to me, will make somebody happy. That's great. I want nothing to do with any of it, but I'm glad there are games for tastes other than my own. What does bother me is how much there is that's unoriginal, focus-testing-driven, generic, and/or ripped-off from other games and hardware. What's worse is the masses that swear these are the only kinds of games that deserve to exist. It's selfish. It's ignorant. It's shallow and philistine, and from what I'm hearing, few people - fans, journalists, or developers - seem to care that their being swindled. On the contrary, they delighted welcome the fall of creativity and fun.

There are as many brilliant, amazing games coming out as ever before, and the companies I like best are mostly sticking with the sort of philosophies and games that made me think so highly of them in the first place, but it's the people who claim to be video game fans who have been on a long decline, and I think I've finally hit my tipping point where I must step away and say I'm not one of them. I don't what that means, exactly - I still obsess about video games, I still want to make games, and I never called myself a "gamer" - but I've been feeling gradually, increasingly distanced from this crowd for so long that I didn't notice how far from them I'd drifted. Or maybe I've stayed in the same place and they left me where I've always been. That seems more likely.

Oh, Snap!

2009-06-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

To the great surprise of absolutely no one who keeps up with things like this...

So, I'll admit it - this is pretty impressive. Very early, very rough, but there's potential here. It's doing some things that Wii isn't, and while they're not showing any real games, or even solid ideas for games - there's nothing as flashy as Milo, for instance - I get the impression that Sony's thought a little more about the application of this technology within video games than Microsoft has. It's still not going to make a dent in the sales of Wii, though, and for the same reason Natal's going to flop.

Free business tip, Microsoft and Sony: Learn to innovate.

Meanwhile, Nintendo proved to be the worst employer on Earth. Ostensibly, I give Nintendo fourty hours of my life each week in exchange for money, but today they've told me that I have to give back all my money. They didn't exactly put it in those terms, but they did announce a bunch of games that I will have to buy. I have no choice. Some of these games are essential to my survival.

Like I said, I won't comment on any specific games, but I will say generally, well done, Nintendo. There's nothing like a camera (there's the Wii MotionPlus, which will significantly increase the accuracy of the Wii Remote, but that was announced last year). There's nothing truly innovate, which is perhaps disappointing, but not really necessary, and a safe move in a rough economy. What Nintendo does have over the competition is a selection of games that I want to play; games which I will pay real money to purchase. Fun games. I'll take fun over sci-fi technology any day.

By the way, "Oh, snap!" is the dumbest phrase I've ever heard. I want to punch myself for using it.

I Don't Like Milo, Not at All

2009-06-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

"Science-fiction writers... filmmakers... They haven't imagined what we're able to do today," says gamemaker Peter Molyneux in the video below. I used to think Molyneux was one of the greatest in the field of video games until I noticed that none of his games were actually that good. He's developed a reputation as someone who over-hypes his own games. There's a common argument that he really does make great games; they just can't live up to the impossible expectations he creates. I disagree. He makes decent games. They tend to be sort of fun if you can get around the fact that they're always overly ambitious, poorly designed, and unfinished. To give you a point of reference, if my readers have played any of his games, it would probably be Black & White, which fits all of these descriptions.

Today, he was onstage at Microsoft's E3 press conference. E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is the biggest annual video game trade show, where all of the biggest upcoming video games are announced. Microsoft's biggest announcement today was "Project Natal," which is some stupid camera/microphone thing that I hate.

"Science-fiction writers... filmmakers... They haven't imagined what we're able to do today." Yes, Pete, they have. The difference is that they usually skip a few steps ahead in their stories to a few years later, when the last band of free humans is desperately struggling against the repressive robot overlords. I don't know; maybe he's never seen a movie or read a book like this before. Spoiler Alert: There's usually a message in there about how we shouldn't build creepy robots with thoughts and feelings.

Even putting aside that this is the first step in the extinction of our species, does anybody actually want that? Is that not seriously freaky? Does it look fun or desirable in any way?

This idea of a direct communication game is nothing new. The Project Natal camera looks very similar to the Sony EyeToy, which was nothing new either (you've probably played around with a motion-sensing camera at a museum or someplace). The idea of talking to a virtual friend via microphone has also been done plenty of times, and, as far as I can tell, in more compelling ways. Hey You, Pikachu! was a good idea (though, I'll admit, a bad game) because it was made at the peak of Pokémon hysteria. Between the games, the toys, and the TV show, half the kids in my generation wanted nothing more than a Pikachu of their own. Nintendogs has become one of the best selling games of all time because it offers you an adorable pet with none of the hassle of a real dog. Seaman is beyond creepy, but it's a game that accepted and embraced its creepiness.

This is just some kid who's supposed to trick you into treating him like he's real. Pure Uncanny Valley.

Also bizarre is that they're trying to pass this video off as if what you're seeing is totally unplanned. Bragging about how Milo is so affecting that Claire "felt the need to reach down for those goggles." "This wasn't acted." What? First of all, yes, it was acted. No one would speak so natually to a video game if they weren't acting, and even if she wasn't an actor, if you lnow you're playing a game that uses a camera and a character in the game throws something at you, you'll try to catch it. If you watch a 3D movie and the character starts jabbing a stick in your face, that doesn't mean the technology, or, more importantly, the movie, is any good.

"...that thing in our hands, that thing that's evolved in our hands, and got more and more complex, and got more and more buttons actually has been the biggest barrier to what we want to create." This is... sad. This is the same exact thing that Nintendo said (more eloquently) years ago, while developing the DS and the Wii. They said video game controllers had gotten to complex for most people to use, that they had too many buttons, and that they'd evolved in a way that excluded all but a select group of enthusiasts from playing video games. They said there were more opportunities for what a game could be and who could play games.

When Nintendo said these things, the video game industry laughed. Believe it or not, most video game fans, journalists, analysts, and developers said the DS would be unsuccessful; that it would be outsold by the PSP, while, in fact, the opposite turned out to be true, and by a large margin. Before the release of Wii, the same prediction was made, this time that the PS3 would be the best-selling home system, followed by the Xbox 360, with Wii in a distant third. This prediction was so very wrong.

If people like Peter Molyneaux really believed that simple, intuitive, interactive controls were the most important possible advancement in gamemaking, why didn't he try making Wii games? Even the DSi, which has been out for more than half a year in Japan, has a camera and a microphone built in, as well as a screen which allows direct interaction and tactile feedback. Why didn't Molyneux make a DSi game, or an iPhone game? Because he didn't really think that. Why did it take Microsoft 3 1/2 years to announce motion controls for the Xbox? Because they never thought anyone would want motion controls.

It's incredibly cynical. The industry turned against Nintendo. Nintendo was wildly successful. All the while, the industry is ripping off Nintendo at every possible chance. The big difference is that cynicism. Nintendo released the Wii with WiiSports, a great game that benefited from a new control scheme. It was hugely innovative. Project Natal is a disingenuous imitation, and Microsoft still has the gall to take shots and Nintendo. If I haven't lost you yet - and there's a good chace I have with a post this long - check out the video below and listen for the crowd response when the arrogant jerk onstage takes a not-so-subtle shot at Nintendo's "waggle" controls.

Video Games - E3 2009 - E3 '09 Live

The whole thing is an attempt to get a pice of the Wii Sports/Wii Fit crowd, but you know what I think? It's no secret that a lot of the Wii audience is composed of people who either stopped playing games many years ago, or who never played games. I don't think those people bought a Wii because it has motion controls. I think they bought it because it was a system designed with them in mind. The motion controls weren't the selling point; it was the philosophy, the idea that someone was making games with you in mind. Games that weren't about fairies or muscle-bound dudes with huge guns. Games that are fun for anyone, whether you've played games all your life or you've never tried one before.

The technology behind Natal is impressive, and not without potential, but it's ultimately going to fail because it's not being created with any true philisophical reasoning or understanding or even any innovation from a business perspective. It has no Wii Sports, or any other compelling software. Most of all, it has no heart.

Forgive today's length. I feel like I always write too much or too little, and E3 week is a time when I like to let myself geek out. Tomorrow morning is Nintendo's press conference, followed by Sony's. As someone working at Nintendo, it's probably safest for me to decide right now not to comment on what Nintendo shows, but I'm sure Sony will announce something stupid. There's a lot of buzz about a PS3 motion-based controller/camera, and given Sony's inability to keep a secret lately, I'd be surprised if that doesn't turn out to be true.

I'm Super Cereal

2009-05-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

It looks like I'm ahead of the Internet. I was going to write about the current promotional box for Post "Just Bunches!" cereal is the worst looking cereal box I've seen in my entire life, but I can't find a single picture of it online. I'm thinking about sneaking a camera into the grocery store next time I go. How often do I get the chance to break a story on the Internet, particularly a story about a hot topic like poorly designed cereal boxes? Yeah, I have to do this. I know I'll regret it for the rest of my life otherwise.

On the subject of cereal boxes. have I ever linked this site? I know I've been looking for an excuse for a long time, possibly since the time of the last blog challenge. Click around for a minute or two and you'll start to see why I get so worked up over the hideous design of most modern cereal boxes.

Shiny Buttons Excuse-Off!

2009-05-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Today's excuse: Nintendovertime. I got to work all day, which is fine, 'cause I like my job and they were paying me more than usual, but I did not enjoy the part where it was hot today and the air conditioning was broken.

You See? Excuses!

2009-05-29T06:37:00.000-07:00

This one's almost legitimate - I start at Jet City Improv tonight, right after I finish my other job, and I don't think I'll want to do much blogging when I get back, assuming that I even make it back before midnight. Sorry, kids.

Observations About Public Bathrooms are Hilarious

2009-05-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that in public bathrooms, hand-washing turns into a competition? Start using the sink at the same time as another person and watch how they bury their hands in mountains of soap, scrubbing and rinsing endlessly, afraid to be the first to shut off the water. Of course once they do make their way to the paper towel dispenser, the act is done. Does the paper towel land securely in the trash can, or does it bounce of the precarious stack of discarded waste and fall to the floor? Who cares? At that point, looking like a slob is no longer an issue. What if there is no paper towel dispenser, but rather one of those useless blow dryers? No matter, just wipe those meticulously cleaned hands on your pants, because, let's face it, cleanliness may be next to godliness, but showing off is more important still. It's the same reason you'll regularly find public toilets unflushed - if no one's watching you, there's no one to impress.

While I'm on the subject, I'd like to send an open message to the guy in the stall today who was having a long, serious conversation on his cell phone - that's gross, man.

The Shiny Buttons standings have been updated:

#1
Jake

#2
Nicole

Flush!
Nora ♥ Phil ♥ Joanna ♥ Taylor ♥ Jaime ♥ Vera

Yes, with not much more than a month to go, Joanna has missed her second day. So close, but now we are down to are final two contestants. Obviously I'm going to make it to the end, no problem, but does Nicole have what it takes? Stay tuned to The Shiny Buttons Blog-Off! to find out.

How Bad It's Gotten

2009-05-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

I've caught myself, rather than thinking of topics to blog about, habitually brainstorming excuses for why I won't be properly blogging, when in fact, there's no reason I shouldn't.

Don't think anything's going to change just because I've said it.

By the way, California is an idiot.

Taking Care of Business

2009-05-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

After a fourteen hour workday, I don't want to blog. I hope you'll understand.

Two Thumbs Up, Ten Toes, One Knee, and Pro'ly a Couple o' Elbows

2009-05-25T19:53:00.001-07:00

More movie watching. Last night I ended up going with Run Lola Run, followed by You Don't Mess With the Zohan. Lola was good, a very cool movie based on a very cool concept. The editing was a little twitchy and over-caffeinated for my tastes, but the awesome techno soundtrack made up for it. If you're not familiar, the movie's rooted in chaos theory. Lola's boyfriend has 20 minutes to get 100,000 marks or he'll be killed. (This is a German movie, by the way, and a little older than the Euro. My assessment of Germany based on what's presented here - I wouldn't mind visiting the country and listening to the language, but I much prefer France and French.) Lola runs to him and tries to get the money along the way. She's too late and she doesn't have the money. So we rewind and watch things play out again, but with the slightest twist, which ends up changing everything. Nothing great, but worth watching.

You Don't Mess With the Zohan is absolutely as stupid as it looked in commercials. I rented it 1. Because I was amazed to find a recent, mainstream movie at the library, and 2. Because I generally like Adam Sandler movies. Don't get me wrong, the man has made some terrible movies (Click, Anger Management, Going Overboard...), but some of his dumber looking movies have managed to surprise me (did anyone expect Little Nicky to be good?). This one's pretty harmless and I got a few laughs out of it, but I can't really recommend it to anyone. It's American, but most of the characters are Israeli or Palestinian. It didn't make me want to visit America or Palestine, or speal in their languages. I might consider visit Israel based on its portrayal here, if not for the fact that I'm not a big fan of seeing Adam Sandler's naked butt, and apparently that's pretty common there.

Then we come to the movie I watched tonight. Funny Games. German director. There was an American version made a few years ago, but I watched the original Austrian version, and I can assure you that if this is what Austria is like, I never want to go there. The may be the most intense, brutal movie I've ever seen. It's hard to watch. It is not enjoyable. It's a work of genius.

Almost the whole time I was watching it, I was asking myself why. You just feel sick and disgusted. I wondered why I didn't just turn it off, but I didn't move, and I didn't know why. I kept trying to make sense of it the whole time I was watching, and I couldn't. I knew it had some meaning, but I couldn't figure it out. A few minutes after it was over, it all clicked.

It's a deconstruction of violence in movies. Maybe more. I think I'm losing some of the meaning again. The moment of clarity has passed. Jeez, this movie is crazy. One thing I did notice while watching it was that, while it is, as I said, one of the most intensely brutal movies I've ever seen, very little of the violence happens onscreen. What you do see is the build-up and the effect. The emotions of people affected by violence; the emotionless people who inflict it. It's a strange movie to write about. I don't want to give anything away in case any of you want to see it. It's so amazingly intelligent and meaningful and crafted, but it's also not consumable entertainment. This is not an easy, fun movie to watch. I'm so impressed by it, and glad I stuck around through the whole thing, but can I recommend it to anyone? I don't think so. I can tell you that it exists. If you choose to watch it... Your choice. I can't recommend it, and I can tell you that there are reasons you might not want to see it, but I also can't recommend not seeing it.

In other news, I bought a real bed today! No longer will a poorly made futon mangle my spine and cut off circulation to my legs!

Godzilla Against Lola

2009-05-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

The movie I checked out last week were due today, but the library was kind enough to give me a new stack. Trying to decide whether to watch Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla or Run Lola Run.

By the way, has anyone noticed that I've written something about the library almost everyday for the past week, but I still haven't picked up where I left off with my library thoughts from last week? My blog is awesome.

Oh, and when I was walking back to my apartment today, a goose started walking toward me and hissing threateningly. It was weird.

Also, I bout a bike tire tube yesterday with the following warning printed on the label: "WARNING: Harmful or fatal if swallowed. Do not induce vomiting. Keep out of reach of children."

So there you go, blog audience. Blogdience. A personal anecdote and a some wacky packaging. I am the greastest blogger in the world.

PS: I'm mad because I spent too much of my weekend, that time when I don't go to my video game testing job, playing a stupid computer game, and when I got to the end, the game crashed. It's like doing a puzzle where the last piece is missing - I know I'm not really missing anything, but come on.

Boring!

2009-05-23T21:54:00.001-07:00

I owe you kids an apology. It's not as though I don't have anything to say lately; just that I don't have much of an urge to bother with all that typing. I'm blogged out. I will make it to the end of this bloggy challenge, though. Just a little over a month remains, and hopefully I'll put aside my blogging ennui often enough during that period to result in a blog that's at least intermittently interesting.

Tonight, though, I'm just not feeling it. Thank you, whatever loyal readers I have at this point. It's nice to have an audience, though I can't help but wonder what it is that keeps you coming back during my lazy periods, and sorry I let it get this way.

I'm Sick of Symmetry

2009-05-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

At last, it is time to reveal the answer... Why did I rent The Phantom of Liberty? Are you ready to learn the truth?

There's an Of Montreal song that alludes to the title.

So, yeah, no real reason beyond my recognition of the name, but I'm quite pleased with what I found. It's a funny, absurd bit of experimental French movie-making, and it's very good. In terms of plot, it's tough, perhaps unnecessary to describe. The whole screenplay is a deliberate attempt to break the conventions and principles of cinema. Rather than telling a full story, you'll see a scene of people, but once you start to understand their situation, some incidental character will pass through and suddenly become the new focus of an unrelated scene.

To quote my mom, who was quoting some other, unnamed source, "In the 'film' or as you would say movie, Bunuel attacks society's false pretensions to freedom, and its distorted ideas of liberty..."

This is true. That's a fair summary, but for me, this movie has left me with three thoughts:

1. '70s cameras rule.
2. The French language is très magnifique.
3. I want to visit France.

Also, it has this:

You Won't Find Me Living For the Screen

2009-05-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

I've gotten into the habit this week of watching a movie each night. Last night was Planet Terror (great, but watching it alone on a small television is nothing like opening night on the big screen); tonight was There'll Always Be an England: Sex Pistols Live from Brixton Academy, which consists of a full concert shot two years ago and interesting documentary-type thing in which members of the band wander through different parts of England and share thoughts and memories. It's the sort of thing I only got because the library allows me to take as many DVDs as I want for free, but most of the good stuff has been reserved for the next three years. Regardless, I enjoyed it.

Even with all the members in band in their fifties (with the possible exception of the bassist, though I really don't care about him, since the real bassist is dead), those boys rock hard. It's insane. Johnny Rotten completely stops singing on multiple occasions after forgetting the words to his own songs, and they still rock as hard as any other band I've ever seen. The people in the audience are all lunatics, and they're delightful to watch, tirelessly jumping around and passionately shouting along to every song. It's fun to watch, and I know it'd be even more fun to be there.

I think what I like best about the DVD, though, is watching Johnny Rotten ride around on a double-decker bus and shout at poor people, yuppies, and architecturally displeasing buildings. It's both hilarious and thought-provoking.

Tomorrow I'll be watching The Phantom of Liberty. I have absolutely no idea what it is. So why'd I rent it. First, obviously, because libraries let me take things I don't care about for free (and yes, I will finish talking about libraries someday), but there's another reason, as well, which I'll reveal tomorrow, but there are bonus points available to anyone who can guess the reason now.

No One in the World Ever Gets What They Want, and That Is Beautiful

2009-05-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

If you think my blogging has been lazy lately, just wait until next week when I start my volunteer work at the improv place.

Is it really Wednesday? Don't worry, I'm still loving the job, but there's something about this week that I just don't like, and I want it to end. Urgh. Whatever. I didn't watch Gigantic today, but this post needs something, so how about another TMBG video? Watch it. Or don't. I don't care.

Fibber Island

2009-05-19T21:57:00.000-07:00

Ah, poop. Did I mention that in addition to hours of other bonus features, the Gigantic DVD includes a feature-length commentary track. Sorry, kids. I know you've been waiting patiently for my thought-provoking views on libraries, but I don't have time for that stuff tonight.

How should I react? These things happen to other people. They don't happen at all, in fact.

Don't Let's Start

2009-05-18T21:53:00.001-07:00

Whoops. Along with a big stack of books - I'm currently reading Jon Stewart & friends' America: The Book and Tenessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and loving both so far - I swiped a few DVDs from the library yesterday, and I made the mistake of turning on Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns). As a movie, it's not the best I've ever seen, but as a huge They Might Be Giants fan, I don't care.

It's a documentary about the band They Might Be Giants, but not one of those documentaries that's informative or insightful or dramatic, or anything else of that nature. It's composed of fans praising the band and John Flansburgh and John Linnell being witty and charming, with footage of music videos and live performances frequently spliced into the mix. The whole thing is a big, fluffy, pleasant reminder that this is a great band. In addition to a fun movie, the DVD is also packed with so many bonus features. Like, too many. I haven't made it through everything yet. All I know is that I started watching a few performances by the band, and then it was suddenly the middle of the night and I hadn't had dinner.

I've also been having bike problems over the past few days (woohoo!), so I need to be ready to leave for work a little earlier than usual in the morning in case I have to walk. Basically, what I'm getting at is that my ongoing library chatter will be postponed for at least another day.

Nicole, my earlier prophesy has been fulfilled!

Book It!

2009-05-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

You know what's weird? Libraries.

Think about it. There's a big building filled with books, and you can go there and take a big stack of them for a few weeks. You don't have to pay by the book. There's no subscription fee. Aside from trivial fee taken out of your taxes and the occasional late fine, it costs you nothing.

It's an idea that stretches across time and space. If there's a society that's developed enough to allow time for reading and writing, there's probably a library. Most cities and towns have public libraries, and s****ls and some businesses are expected to have smaller libraries, as well. When was the first library created? I have no idea. Shortly after the invention of the movable type, maybe? Probably before that. Were there libraries of handwritten books? I bet so, though not in the same sense as the modern public library.

Whatever the case, we've reached a stage where libraries are accepted and taken for granted. Most people tend to think of libraries as always having been a part of the world. When an author writes a book, do they curse libraries for cutting into their sales? Maybe privately, but I've never heard an author give a lecture, or read an interview in which an author has issued such a complaint. Really, though, it must make a severe impact. I checked out seven books from the library today. If those weren't free, there's no chance I would've done that. I simply wouldn't read these books, but I would still have the desire to read something, so maybe I would've purchased one or two books. As it is, someone is gaining a reader and missing a sale.

As stated, we accept that books are handed out to the world for free. Readers, authors, publishers - no one really questions it or speaks out against it. Think, though, of what it would be like if other media were handled this way. Imagine walking into your local Blockbuster and being able to take anything you want for free, and if they don't have the movie you want, you can add your name to a list and it will be ordered for you from another branch as soon as possible. Imagine getting music and games the same way. People would go nuts!

Remember Napster? The debates (and the lawsuits) over the legality and ethics of taking music for free are still going strong a decade later. No one wants to create art without compensation, it seems. Of course, it is a little different - libraries have to first purchase books before publicly lending them, so there is a sale, first. Many libraries also loan movies and music, but the selection is usually limited enough that they don't pose a significant threat to record shops and video stores.

What about video rentals, though? This is getting longer than I hoped it would, so you'll have to wait until PART TWO to find out.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's thrilling conclusion.

There's Something Very Wrong With My Brain

2009-05-16T22:55:00.000-07:00

Why was this little piece of madness playing in my mind?

Even worse, why do I think that it would so rad if someone recorded a heavy metal cover of the music from this cartoon?

On a different note, here's the coolest question I was asked today: What is my opinion of aging?

I was fairly quick to answer when the question was posed, but the more I think about it, the more there is to think about.

Cheer Up, Jakey

2009-05-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

I thought I found a Golden Ticket in my package of off-brand Oreos, but I was deceived by a bit of reflected light. There's nothing in here except for chocolate sandwich cookies.

Woohoo! Chocolate sandwich cookies!

COMPLETELY UNRELATED UPDATE
Just discovered: The funniest thing on YouTube. Seriously. Make sure your will is in order before you watch this - there's a good chance you will die laughing.

Found on Julia Segal's unfairly funny tumblr page, skull swap, not to be confused with her other unfairly funny tumblr page, !SEGALS! david/julia.

JAKE is confused! It hurt itself in its confusion! JAKE fainted!

2009-05-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

Never let your roommate borrow your hot glue gun and sewing supplies without first asking why, or you may end up living with someone who makes a Pokémon Trainer costume to wear to Super Smash Bros. tournaments.

Not okay.

Guess Who I Saw at Work Today

2009-05-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

Nintendo's Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing and former Yahoo! Chief Marketing Officer, Cammie Dunaway!

I love my job.

No Sir, Eye Don't Like It

2009-05-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

Fun Fact: I just started a job that requires me to stare at a video game for eight hours a day.

The job part is awesome; the eye-strain is not. I did get used to it after a little while last summer, but now, only two days into the job, my eyes are still adjusting. Looking at my computer and typing something interesting is not what I want to do right now, so for the rest of the week, give or take a little, expect me to phone in my blogging.

For instance, instead of coming up with something of my own to say today, I'll direct you to a very funny article by a very funny guy.

Lore Sjöberg's The Craigslist Free-Couch Blues

Enjoy.

My Job

2009-05-11T19:24:00.000-07:00

Is awesome.

That's all I can tell you about it. That, and I got to play Donkey Kong today, because my job is awesome.

"JOIN THE NINTENDO FUN CLUB TODAY! MAC. "

2009-05-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

I'll be going back to my job at Nintendo in the morning. I'm glad. I like that job, and having a bit of income also sounds pretty nice. Cheers all around!

Today, I discovered one more reason to love Nintendo:

Editor's Note: The thing I'm loving here is commercial, though the game looks fine, as well.

The above commercial probably doesn't mean much to you if you haven't played Punch-Out!! on NES, which makes it an odd bit of advertising. Actually, I'd love to knowwhat you think of this commercial if you've never played Punch-Out!!, so, please, leave a comment before reading further.

But, yeah, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (later reworked into Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream after Nintendo decided it would be best not to be associated with Iron Mike) is considered one of the great NES classics. I've been obsessed with Nintendo for most of my life, but I somehow missed out on Punch-Out!! until about five years ago. I was aware of the game, and wanted to play it, but the opportunity just didn't arrive until long after the days of the NES. When I did finally play it, I thought, "Eh." Didn't really do much for me, but I had only played it for a minute or two and an old friend's house, so I assumed I might like it a bit more if I got a chance to play it at a bit more length. Then, a few months ago, I bought a copy and... still didn't love it. I just wasn't getting the appeal.

Now there's a new Punch-Out!! on the way, though, and I've been following it since it was first announced. It looks like it will be very similar to the older games in the series, but it has pretty graphics, so I've been looking at all the new videos that get released and checking out all the still images, and somewhere along the way, I was convinced to go back and try the original again. I'm happy to announce that my initial impressions were wrong.

I don't want to go too in-depth, here - in fact, I doubt many of my regular readers have even made it this far, as my posts where I gush about video games never seem to be too popular, so I'll just go over the basics. Punch-Out!! looks like a boxing game, but it's not really. It's simply a video game-y video game with a boxing theme. The opponents all follow different patterns. You learn their patterns, and figure out how to exploit them to win fights. It's a rhythm and puzzle game.

What I think I like even more than the game part, though, are the characters. They're completely horrible! All of them! Awful! The first boxer you fight is a wimpy French guy named Glass Joe. In the Wii game, croissants fly out of him every time he gets punched. What interesting is that he's probably the most sensitively portrayed character in the game. Next up is German stereotype, Von Kaiser, followed by Don Flamenco from Spain, who dances around the ring with a rose in his mouth before the fight. Great Tiger from India has a turban and magic powers. Piston Honda says inspired lines like, "Sushi, kamikaze, fujiyama, nipponichi..."

Part of the fun is just witnessing what kind of playful racism the game was able to get away with, without raising any controversy. I was surprised to see that the characters are back, and just as stereotypical as ever on the Wii, but I'm not really offended. Ignorance and prejudice in the form of things like racism and sexism generally tend to bother me, but for some reason, this doesn't phase me at all. Maybe it's just that all of these characters are so far over the top. It's an equal offender, though it's worth noting that the protagonist is American, and that the previous games in the series were developed in Japan.

I'm not quite sure why I'm okay with these racist, stereotypical characters, but I do know that they're endearing and memorable. There are probably people who haven't played Punch-Out!! in 20 years who can still remember all the characters, and maybe even give you a quote or two from each.

This post has gone in a different direction that I planned. In short, Punch-Out!! is lots of fun, even if the characters evoke mixed feelings. Also, racism is terrible, but political correctness is taken too far by people who are afraid that others will think they're racist. If you're really worried that other people will think you're racist, maybe you are.

Happy Mother's Day.

One Indication of a Good Game

2009-05-09T22:06:00.000-07:00

Huh. The sun was definitely up when I started playing No More Heroes.

Whatever. I'm nearly to the end, so I guess it's back to the dog race for me.

Check Out the Pythons, Baby!

2009-05-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

Tiffany's been pretty into wrestling video games lately. I was watching him play one the other day which includes the ability to create your own wrestler. You get to change every detail of the character: Change the height, change the default direction their eyes face, give them blue skin, pick their outfit, pick their wrestling moves, pick the way they walk, etc. Within the mountains of menus was a choice that I thought summed up all of wrestling culture fully and beautifully.

The options: "Woman" or "Normal."

My Thoughts

2009-05-07T23:09:00.000-07:00

I watched the last episode of Scrubs today, and I can safely say it was one of the best shows I have ever seen. Definitely in my top five. It was absolutely fantastic.

Excluding one very weak clip show, every episode was at least good, and most were great. It's exactly my type of entertainment. Funny, but not afraid of emotion. It's probably the most dramatic show I've ever watched, but the trademark quirky fantasy sequences rarely seemed out of place.

To me, real life is not a comedy or a drama or horror or any other genre. It's made up of so many different experiences. Scrubs certainly aimed for comedy above everything else, but it wasn't a never-ending series of jokes, smiles, and high-moments. Like life. I've never followed a straight drama for more than a few episodes be constant earnestness and gravity bore me. Life simply cannot be serious all the time. We, as humans, are not equipped to handle it, and I think it makes poor entertainment.

If you want me to care about a character, then that character better make me laugh. Scrubs was one of the few shows that could make me care and laugh. If you've never watched it, now would be a fine time to get started.

It's Not My Birthday

2009-05-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

It's not today. It's also not my mom's birfday, or at least it isn't in my timezone, but according to the clocks where she lives, this is the time for lighting cake-dwelling candles.

Happy birfday, Mom!

Make Like a Tree

2009-05-05T23:41:00.000-07:00

I've lived in two apartment complexes in the last two years, and during the summer at each, a team of lawn care-type people has been sent out every morning in the summer. At 7:00 or 8:00 each morning, a whole swarm of guys with lawn mowers and leaf blowers goes out to have competitions to see who can make the most noise, and it continues all day. They were out there for at least eight hours today. How can one little apartment complex really require that much work? Is that even possible?

Well, no, of course it isn't. The roommates told me that they saw three of these guys outside today sitting in a parking space with their leaf blowers turned on, pointed at nothing in particular.

How Was Your Day?

2009-05-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

Today, I peed in a cup and did not start playing WiiFit early enough to leave time for proper blogging.

That sentence is ambiguous and strange.

Yet More Annoyances

2009-05-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

Jumbo Shrimp: It's not an oxymoron. Shrimp are pretty small animals. "Shrimpy" is an adjective derived from the name of the animal used to describe something as small. Some shrimp are large relative to other shrimp. Even the biggest shrimp are small relative to humans, but they may be large for their species. A jumbo shrimp is larger than a typical shrimp. There's nothing contradictory about it.

Gravity Defying: If, for example, an X-treme skateboarding dude does an X-treme skateboard move where he gets mad, sick air off of a gnarly halfpipe, someone may say that his ability to get said mad, sick air is gravity defying. It is not. Jumping really high is well within the laws of gravity. Flight is in no way gravity defying or it wouldn't work. You can't simply stop obeying physical laws which govern movement. There's no way.

New: What, Do You Own the World?

2009-05-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I offhandedly blogged my disappointment over the popularity of digital film. I hope, if anyone even paid it any attention, that it didn't come across as too critical. I don't hate the look of digital film, but I do love the way life looks through a traditional video camera.

I'll take one more step back from this: I have nothing against the present and future; in fact, I like them both, and the same goes for the past, and the technology of all time periods. What I don't like is the way we follow trends. I don't like one way coming along and dominating the world. Some people are very backwards-thinking, others look constantly to the future, and others live only for the current moment, and I don't approve of any of that. The past has happened, the future will happen, and we living now have been given the luxury of being able to think about both.

I'm always amazed when someone starts telling me that I need a cellphone or I have to get on Facebook. Human life... hundreds of years.... people have managed to do pretty well without cellphones. What benefit does it give me that a phone in my room doesn't? It's easier to lose, I'll give it that. I could give it an obnoxious ringtone or send text messages or something, but those don't sound much like positives to me. I'm not an important businessperson who needs to be accesible at all times, and I'm not so overcome with the fear that I could be the victim of an emergency that could be solved by the ability to make a phone call that I'm going to carry around an expensive toy everywhere I go and pay monthly fees for the privilege to do so. And you Facebookers: Now that you're on the latest "social network," how often do you check your MySpace? Is that still important and necessary? What about your Xanga page?

Now is great; I love now, but it doesn't at the cost of then. Digital cameras exist and they have all sorts of wonderful benefits, but traditional cameras also have advantages of their own. You can apply effects to digital video that are supposed to replicate the look of old film, and the results can be alright (Grindhouse is awesome, for example) but it's never quite true. Financially, it makes sense to shoot a movie digitally, and it makes editing much easier, but there are still old cameras in the world, probably available for purchase. Moreover, the technology for making cameras in the classic way still exists.

I'm talking old, by the way. Old, if you can consider fifty years ago old, that is. Here's what I was watching when I started thinking about all this:

Beautiful. I don't want everything to look like that, but ignoring the content, the film itself is eye pleasing. Digital just doesn't look like that, and I think there should be room in the world for both, and many more styles, too. Which, of course, I've just sort of proven there are by presenting a clip from the past. There it is, still a part of the world.

Here's what this is really about: I want a '60s camera. Also, a record player. I've been checking turntables out at thrift stores recently. I might get one soon. We'll see. Maybe tonight. I don't know why I've been putting it off. It's not like they're getting any cheaper. Old cameras are tough to find, though, and I bet it's even tougher to find film. What a shame.

Oh, on the subject of shame, have you heard about this?

I don't want to spoil the surprise about what I'm linking, but I do want you to click it, so I'll link it ten more times.

One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten

The Office

2009-05-01T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ever watch The Office? Not the American one; the real one.The American version is alright, I guess. I dunno, I can't watch it. It's not the worst show around, but it does nothing for me. The original British series, though, is absolutely brilliant.

I always feel kind of stupid and pretentious saying that sort of thing. "Oh, yeah, I was into The Office before it was cool. Americans don't know what they're missing." I don't like being that guy, but it's true. Every time I catch an episode I'm surprised to find that my impressions of of the show were dead on. It's one of the funniest shows I've ever seen.

The concept of the series is great and the writing is superb, and it does so many other things well, but for me, what really makes the show is the acting. The direction is fantastic, too. Okay, forget the "one thing;" everything about this show is good. Going back to the American version, though, you see that the execution really does make all the difference. To make a very, very general statement, the British version is believable and restrained, whereas the American version is a wacky sitcom.

I'm straying from my point again. I meant to talk about how the British The Office is a funny show; not about the American version being a dumb show for stupid people.

Alright, this is rambling, even for me. I like this show. You might like this show. It may very well have the best acting I have seen in any TV show ever. I can't even think of another show that rivals it. Ricky Gervais is one of the funniest people alive, and yet all the other actors in the show are just as funny as he is. Dwight Schrute has nothing on Gareth Keenan. Poop - I did it again.

I don't know why it's taken me so long to look this show up on YouTube, but I finally did and there are many clips available for watching. They are hilarious. I don't know how much you'll get out of them outside of context if you've never seen the show, but don't let that stop you. You should watch some.

iRack

2009-04-30T23:34:00.000-07:00

Recommended by Tiffany:

An $80 Value!

2009-04-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

Fifteen Minutes until midnight and I still haven't blogged today. I was trying to think of something to write about but I got distracted my mindless games. I'm a big-time Solitaire junkie, by which I don't just mean Solitaire, but all those types of stupid games that require absolutely nothing but time and a willingness to click on stuff. They're often called "casual games." I like to think of them as Phone Call Games. I like to be doing something when I'm talking on the phone, and these are the types of games I can play without forfeiting any attention to the conversation I'm having.

Big Fish Games is one of the leading purveyors of Phone Call Games, and they're currently giving away four of their games. I haven't played all of them yet, but what I have played has proven fantastically mindless and provided ample opportunity for clicking, so they meet all of my criteria. You'll have to give them an e-mail address, but, seriously, I think you can just make one up.

Go here, follow the directions, click.

Things That Bother Me Way More Than They Should #837

2009-04-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

People who pronounce the absent tai in "Cap'n Crunch."

Job Number One

2009-04-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night I went to see my first Jet City Improv show, but tonight will be my first time to go as a volunteer worker. There isn't actually a show tonight, and I won't be doing any work yet, but there is a company meeting to which I've been invited, so this is my first experience with the troupe in any official capacity; as anything other than an audience member. I'm 'cited.

So, uh, yeah, that's not the most interesting of blog posts, but I do need to go catch my bus to the meeting in a few minutes and I wanted to be sure I had something here in case I end up being out late, so as not to miss my deadline. I'd write about something that happened during my day, but my day was primarily spent not going to s****l or doing h******k, because it is summer and summer rocks, even if I am starting one of my many jobs just a few days into the break.

Oh, I finally tried Rice Dream non-dairy ice cream style frozen treat today. I've been curious about this stuff as long as I've been vegan. The verdict: it's pretty bad. Weird texture, bland taste. Soy Dream ice cream-esque non-ice cream is da bomb, though.

Moving Picture Show

2009-04-26T22:53:00.000-07:00

You know what word I've always really liked? "Movie." It's kinda cute, isn't it? I never call them "films." Obviously, a lot of them aren't. With the unfortunate but understandable digital craze of the modern world, many "films" are more like "memory cards" or "files" or some other term that I can only hope will never catch on, and even the movies that were originally filmed on film are watched on disc or downloaded or ethereally streamed. To refer to an intangible concept like a movie or a song by the name of its physical medium is to ignore the invariability with which recordable concepts will outlast the technology which house them.

Even if films were always films, though, I'd still vastly prefer movie. Why? Three reasons:

1. It's fun to say. Go on, try it. Movie, movie, mooooooovieeeeeeeee!

2. The meaning. What's a movie? Well, it's not a stillie. Modern vernacular may have left "talkies" by the wayside, but movies have survived, and I like that. Not only has "movie" survived; it's fully accepted. Tell someone you want to go see a talkie and they'll tell you to stop being an idiot. Movies, on the other hand, are totally fine, despite the word having the same meaning and being every bit as ridiculous.

3. It makes that one joke about where cows like to go on Saturday nights possible.

Kissy th' Face!

2009-04-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

Something weird? On the Internet? No way!

Lock lips with robots, dogs, and Klansmen in a game that looks like KidPix on acid!

KISSMA

THE FUNKY PLAYER PLEASE PLAY 'KISSMA' AT WORK!!

What a Day For a Daydream

2009-04-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

Jake Grind Radio

2009-04-23T23:32:00.000-07:00

All that's left is to take this to school, and my summer will begin.

Summer... So... Near...

2009-04-22T21:45:00.001-07:00

Done with classes. Still have to finish one last painting. Might go watch Garden State for the eleventy-billionth time.

01/01/00

2009-04-21T23:02:00.000-07:00

The other day I mentioned that I'd had minor computer problems, which I was able to solve today. My computer, I learned, was freaking out because while flipping through the Windows calendar, I accidentally set the date a month or two in the future. The discrepancy between the real date (which my computer discovered by connecting to the Internet) and the date I'd set made my computer leery and cautious, asking me to obtain security certificates before checking my e-mail, and preventing me from logging onto my Instant Messenger.

Anyway, the problem has been solved now, but this was a chilling reminder of the fragility and terror we still face. Sure, planes didn't drop out of the sky and nuclear plants didn't melt down as a result of my calendar troubles, but I was temporarily delayed before being given the opportunity to read spam for cheap prescription drugs and funny jokes that have been forwarded 17 times before reaching me. This was a real wake-up call. I now know the dangers that a misrepresentation of date can cause in a world too dependent on technology. It was enough to scare me into running to the store for a small generator and a pack of bottled water, just in case.

The Final Countdown

2009-04-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

Weird day. Felt strange. The reason? It's finals week.

It's odd how different the world seems today. I didn't do anything extraordinary, but I'm so used to my Monday schedule that the slightest deviation, and the knowledge that my schedule tomorrow won't be exactly the same as past ten Tuesdays, is a shock to my system. Don't get me wrong; I still feel like the walking dead right now, but I have some hope that the freedom that will arrive in a matter of days might be enough to wake me up.

Put Your Hands Together If You Wanna Clap

2009-04-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

This was a team project. I animated Pauline and the hammer, and my partner did the rest. As you may have noticed, the gorilla has funny style, he has funny grace, but this Kong has no face. This is due tomorrow morning though, so this is what we're presenting. The guy who was supposed to draw the face said he'll get it in by the end of the week, which means I'll probably have to go back to school later this week and help re-film all the animation, which isn't so bad, I guess, because this is distractingly cloudy toward the bottom of the video. If anyone wants me to upload the final version once it's finished, leave a comment.

A Fresh Batch

2009-04-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

I finished Douglas Coupland's "The Gum Thief" this morning. Like everything else the man's ever written, it's shockingly brilliant. I'm also in the middle of my eight-gajillionth re-reading of "Microserfs." As always, it's phenomenal. Next time I go to the library, rather than checking out on of the dozens of books on my list that I haven't read, I'll be looking for "Girlfriend in a Coma," because once definitely wasn't enough for that book.

A minute ago, I went to Coupland's Web site and was surprised to find it updated. I visit his every week or so, and haven't seen an update in over a year.

A day or two ago, my computer crashed and wiped my cookies. Apparently, my outdated cookies had been preventing me from seeing his updates all along - I've missed out on a lot over the past year.

Anyway, this made me wonder if there's any real world equivalent to this; to having old computer files block you from seeing current sites, without you even knowing that you've missed anything. And after only a few moments, yes, I think there are plenty of things like this.

I read an article about phantom limbs this morning, which is a great example. Any sort of tragic loss, really, probably gives one an unrealistic perception of the present. Maybe racism, or other prejudices the world has largely passed. When I'm away from the places where I used to live and the people I know, my own mental images have no way of accounting for the ways they must change, but then I visit my family and my house, and I'm reminded that they've still had a year without me.

Then I started thinking about how very odd it would be to wake up after a long coma and find yourself in a new world, and that reminds me that I need to go to the library as soon as I have a chance.

Oh, My, Once, Oh, My Twice

2009-04-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

Look, I don't run to my blog every time some I know here expresses ignorance of culture, but this is unbelievable. I was talking to Tiff and he brought up the movie, "Being John Malkovich,"which, was directed by Spike Jonze. I told him this reminded me of the director's current work, and asked him if he'd heard about the new "Where the Wild Things Are" movie. He said he didn't know what that was. "Like the book," I said. "It's being adapted into a movie."

"Yeah..." he replied. "I don't know what that is. I've heard the name before..."

A little later, I went to Robin, who was in her room with a friend. "Hey, are you two familiar with 'Where the Wild Things Are'?"

"Uhhhhhhh..."

Me: "The book. You know that book, right?"

"Uhhhhh..."

I started sputtering with exasperation. The friend says, "I think I read it once." This did nothing to assuage me.

Out of four people, I'm the only one who knows what this book is? Is that even possible?

Tiffany also revealed that he's unfamiliar with "Go, Dog, Go!" but I'm afraid to survey the others.

Let me just say that "Do you like my hat?" is one of the greatest comedy bits in all of history, and if you do not know what I'm talking about, you are at a great disadvantage.

"Pierre" and the Dresden Dolls: chocolate and peanut butter. As far as I can tell, they never made a studio recording of this song, which is a shame, because their recorded stuff always sounds better than their live bootlegs, and I can think of no better band to play "Pierre."

I Spy a Poppet

2009-04-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

Remember this?

Yeah, so I got the craziest job offer today. The guy who taught my "Acting for Animation" class last year, in which I played a played a puppet, as seen in the particularly awkward outtake linked above, e-mailed me to ask if I'd like to do "some giant puppet performance work" over the summer with his puppetry company. I don't know if I've ever mentioned it here, but I am a dude who loves puppets. No, seriously, I do.

Between Nintendo and Jet City Improv, I don't know how much time I'll have for something like this. The e-mail said 4-6 hours a day, which I don't think will work for me. Maybe I can arrange something if I pull some strings. I said that I'd be happy to do what I can when I can.

I'll post more details when they become available. Until then, hang in there.

Extra weirdness: While checking my e-mail, I was strumming "The Rainbow Connection" on my guitar.

The Silver Lining

2009-04-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

Looking for an upside to global economic ruin? Less money to invest in the creation of things like this.

No, you're not looking at combination headphones/nose-hair clippers. Even better, it's the PediState, the only Game Boy accessory that sedates children with a stream of nitrous oxide.

As you'd expect, the promotional video on the official site is hilarious, featuring smug doctors, smiley kids posing, comparisons of the N2O pump to a toy or fighter pilot's mask, and a kid tripping on the gas, all set to that mellow, ukulele-version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" that was popular for a while, as well as gratuitous, bloody shots of a little kid getting stitches in his forehead.

The video does not mention why this is any better that just using a regular N2O pump while the kid plays video games, presumably because it is not.

Whatever. Still better than this:

Also available in Original, Blueberry, Mini, and Blueberry Mini.

Dear Jimmy Dean

At diners, I always eat a bite of sausage with a bite of pancake, but this is even better – I mean, it’s on a stick! Thanks for making something so fun to eat.

--James, Salem, MA

Take One Step, and Then Again

2009-04-14T22:51:00.000-07:00

In these tough economic times, people around the globe have been left struggling in ways they've never known before, and I think I have just the solution: We need a new dance craze!

Maybe I've been hanging out with the wrong crowd, but I don't recall any dances hitting it big since The Macarena, and that was, what, ten years ago? The Cha-Cha Slide doesn't count because it was, I think we can all agree, tremendously stupid. That's not to say The Macarena wasn't stupid, but everybody did The Macarena. People are still probably doing the Macarena at your lamer weddings / coming of age parties / sporting events. Brooding teenagers would do it alongside their grandparents. It was a bridge. It brought us together.

We need more of that. Where is our "YMCA?" Where is our "Chicken Dance?"

Could this be a summer project for me? Choreographing the next big dance and penning the accompanying single? It's such a surefire get-rich-quick scheme I'd be a fool not to!

It doesn't stop there, though. For the B-side I'm planning the next great musical homage to dancing. Rather than boasting my prowess regarding the Mashed Potat'uh and the Alligat'uh, though, I will let the world know of my ability to do the dances featured in songs which encourage the listener to "Do the [particular dance]," followed by instructions for said dance.

The Twist
The Locomotion
The Bartman
The Mario
The Hustle
The Hokey-Pokey
The Bunny Hop

That's already half a song! Cha-ching!

Interesting side note: "Do the Bartman" off of the DJ Jazzy Jeff produced album "The Simpsons Sings the Blues" was ghostwritten by none other than Michael Jackson. I find this odd because the song contains the line, "If you can do the Bartman, you're bad like Michael Jackson." So, unless that line was added to the song later, Michael Jackson was bragging about himself in a song he wrote but didn't publicly claim as his own.

Bonus trivia: Jackson appeared in an early episode of The Simpsons, voicing a character in a mental institution who thinks he's Michael Jackson. His high-pitched voice and talent for writing music convinces Springfield that he really is MJ, until later in the episode it's revealed that, no, he's just a crazy person. So Michael Jackson played a character who played Michael Jackson, but Michael Jackson did not take credit for his voicework in the episode.

Complicating matters a bit more, Bart spends the aforementioned episode proving his limitless adoration for Michael Jackson, and, as stated above, proclaims some love in "Do the Bartman." Later in the series, however, he claims, and I paraphrase, Michael Jackson is just something made up by grownups to scare little kids.

Now you have a story to impress your coworkers next time things get quiet around the water cooler, though, do offices even have water coolers any more? It seems like water bottles would've more or less killed them off by now.

Text it to your coworkers' Facebook pages.

JokeyPen

2009-04-13T21:52:00.000-07:00

Complain, complain, complain... Alright, now my true feelings are out there, but while my net college experience has been negative, there are a few pockets of good, namely this:

While we weren't able to put on any shows this year, and one of our five members will be graduating in next few weeks, we now have a head start on next year, and we had some fun each week. Tonight was our last meeting of the year, but it's nice to have something to look forward to when next year starts.

In the meantime, it looks like I might be doing volunteer work at an improv club in Seattle, so yea.

Spice Up Your Life

2009-04-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

WANTED: R.U. 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance? R.U. streetwise, outgoing, ambitious and dedicated? Heart Management Ltd are a widely successful music industry management consortium currently forming a choreographed, singing/dancing, all-female pop act for a recording deal. Open audition. Danceworks, 16 Balderton Street. Friday 4 March. 11am-5:30pm. Please bring sheet music or backing cassette

- The call which led to the formation of the Spice Girls

In Which I Reveal More Than I First Intended, or Life in the 'Pen

2009-04-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

Not including weekends in my countdown until the end of the year was a great idea, because, hey, it makes the number that much smaller, but it's a bummer because it means that I still have eight more days today and I'll still have eight more days tomorrow. I've tried to shuffle thing around so that I can actually take the weekend off of school (And why shouldn't I? I've certainly done enough work this year and it's Easter tomorrow.), but I'm not good with time off. I can't stop stressing. I try to distract myself with things I enjoy, but then I feel guilty and I'm completely unable to have any fun or even relax.

I've never directly come out and said that I hate DigiPen on this blog because I haven't exactly kept my identity a secret - there aren't many Jakes here and I've posted enough pictures of myself to make me identifiable to anyone who wants to link me to what I write here. Let's face it, we live in the Google age; and member of the DigiPen faculty or, worse, any future employer could find me without difficulty. I've never come out and said that I hate it here, but I try to be honest in my writing, and anybody who reads this site could piece it all together without any trouble.

So although I've never explicitly typed the words, the sentiment has been clear for a long while: I hate DigiPen. Completely and utterly. I've hated my two years here so far and I expect to hate the next two.

If you are considering me for a job and you've stumbled across this blog years after it was written, you now know the truth, and I feel that's better than me putting on a happy face and saying that everything's alright. I don't think this should preclude you from hiring me.

I've always hated school. I hated high school. I hated junior high. I hated elementary. I hate college; all three of the colleges I've attended so far. When I've told people this, some have asked if I dislike learning, and the answer is no, of course not. I adore learning. There's not much I love more. It's the very reason I hate school. School has done nothing so much as get in the way of my learning.

I'm not dropping out, though. This is, as I said, my third college, my fourth major, and I intend to stay here until I'm done. Most people who come to DigiPen leave before graduation. I can't remember the exact statistic, but I believe it's something like 2/3 of the students who enter never reach the end. The freshman always ask why, and the upperclassmen always tell them that it's because they're not tough enough to get through it. They present it like a challenge. They say they're lazy or not dedicated enough. They say they entered with unrealistic expectations. That last part's certainly true for me. I expected an education. Ha!

The upperclassmen are always so smug in this; so proud that they've lasted. We're not superior. Our only survival advantage over those who got out is that we didn't have the sense to do the same. Some great trait that is.

My best friend here - my only friend here, until recently - dropped out shortly into our second year only to learn that DigiPen is "accredited differently" than real universities. In other words, he couldn't transfer an of his 60-something credit hours to another school, much like I couldn't transfer my previous credits in. At the time, they told me that they didn't accept credit from other colleges because their standards were so much higher that they wanted all DigiPen graduates to have taken the classes directly from DigiPen in order to maintain the integrity of the school. What a fool I must've been to believe that. Just another spoonful of their propaganda.

It's too late for me to get out. I've sunk so much time and money in this dump that I feel like I have no choice but to work through to the other side. At the end, I'll have gained an experience, for better or worse. I can only hope it won't have taken too much of a toll on me by then. Even now, halfway, just two years in, I hate the way this school has made me dull and bitter. I've been through some times in my life, though, and beyond that, it's like I said: school's always been rough for me. I'm resilient. I've always bounced back from whatever's hit me, and I hope that in two years I'll see that this was no different. It does feel different, though.

You want to know my fear? That life in the video game industry really is like life at DigiPen. Want to know the hope that gets me through each day? That life in the video game business isn't like DigiPen.

That's largely why I spend as much time as I do studying this field. Not just the games that I like, but what games mean and why they are the way they are; why the business is what it is. I want to know that there are people making these games; people - real, individual humans - putting themselves and their lives and their worlds into games.

DigiPen is so unreal, so science-fiction. Everyone here is the same, and, at the risk of sounding arrogant, everyone is no one. There's no life beyond school, Magic cards, anime, and Dungeons & Dragons. It's like everyone I meet has the same interests. They all have the same ignorance of the world beyond geek culture, the same bizarre fashion sense, the same hygene, the same ego and sense of entitlement, the same mental strengths and handicaps, the same irrational fears and anxieties, the same inflexability, the same desires. There's no place for me.

I've never felt like I didn't "fit in." Not really. At the same time, I don't know that I've ever totally belonged. The smallest group from which one can be an outcast is three, and I've always thought that in a group of three there would be three distinct people. Now I'm in a school of maybe 1,000 and I feel that the only ones here are them and me, and I'm certainly not them. It's a bizarre feeling, loneliness. Redmond's a beautiful town, with dense buildings downtown, secluded parks and forests, amazing wildlife, varied seasons and weather, rivers, valleys, and mountains, but despite the beauty of it all, I feel like I'm in some hastily constructed research facility in Antarctica, an unsightly blemish in a majestic place far outside the world of my own species.

I digress.

Last summer I worked at Nintendo. You could walk between Nintendo and DigiPen in a minute or two at a moderate pace. DigiPen is actually a part of one of Nintendo's buildings, so they look identical from the outside. Inside, though, they're different planets. DigiPen is Pluto: small, dull, far outside the reach of the sun; not even a planet really. Nintendo is Earth. There are people there, and they are alive. I spotted it my first day there. I had never seen people who seemed so happy to be at work.

This DigiPen hate is nothing new. I had admitted it to myself long before last summer. The fear that the entire industry I had longed to join since I was five or six was the exclusive dominion of DigiPeople had already entered my mind by the time I started at Nintendo. At Nintendo, I quickly discovered that my fellow DigiPen students stuck out tremendously from the rest of the employees. With a surrounding of diversity, even the DigiPen people didn't seem as offensive.

Here I am, the school year still going strong for another week and a few days. Even with all of this in perspective, the only thing I can think is how much I hate the whole situation. The semester can't end soon enough, but I know I'll be right back in the middle of this mess in a few short months, and again the year after that. I'll get through that, too. Somehow.

No, I know how. The same way I've plowed through the last two years. The hope that it's going to get better once this rain clears.

The reason I put up with this torture day after day, the reason I force myself into the school each morning, is the same reason I abandoned my life and flew here in the first place: I want to make video games. It's that simple. I do think I would've learned more useful skills and gained more valuable life experience for gamemaking if I'd gone somewhere else and studied something different. I've known about DigiPen since I was in sixth or seventh grade. One of the main reasons I didn't come here straight out of college (I didn't even apply) was that I didn't think gamemaking had reached a point where it could be taught as a college major yet. By the time I did come here, I learned I was right. The people running this school don't know what their doing, and that's not entirely their fault. I commend them for having the bravado to dive in and be among the first to try figuring out how to teach the gamemakers of the future, but the truth is that they're still very much experimenting and they're a long way from getting it right. Years from now I may be proud to have been among the first generation of Game Design majors, but I doubt that that kind of prestige is actually going to mean as much to me as a real education would have, or a real life during these four years. For now, I only feel cheated.

I said that I didn't think future employers should judge me for sentiments expressed here. Publicly deriding my school like this could sour my reputation. To that I say, let's keep perspective and be honest. I'm a kid whining about school. Don't take it as a sign that I will be disloyal to an employer. My mom and I have given a lot to pay for this education, and I don't think I'm wrong for expecting something out of it. For now, it looks like all that will be a is a degree, a receipt, as I think of it, a sheet of paper that will tell future employers that I have worked and sacrificed. It's a sign of dedication; dedication, even, to a school I hate.

Why would you hire someone who admits they've gotten nothing out of school. I don't know. It's funny that I'm driving myself crazy over a stupid degree. I've heard a DigiPen degree is a valuable thing. I've heard companies are often quick to scoop up DigiPen graduates. I've met enough of the people who will be earning them in the next few years to know that they're no guarantee of quality, talent, or skill. I almost want to separate myself from it all rather than succeeding on the merit of a school I don't believe in.

I guess that's something I need to figure out. For now, all I can do is keep striving for that piece of paper and the hope that it will get me far enough ahead that I can put DigiPen and this whole empty, lonely chapter of my life behind me.

Eight More Days

2009-04-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry, blog. I'm gonna go read a book. Maybe I'll care about things again soon.

That's not including weekends, by the way.

Fiction is the New Reality

2009-04-09T22:43:00.000-07:00

Honesty.

I think we're all used to our governments lying to us. It doesn't matter where you are. Your government lies to you, you know it, and even if that bothers you (how could it not?), it's no shock, no true outrage to learn about another lie. A dishonest politician is the standard.

Think, for just a moment, of what the world might be like if the governments of different nations dealt with one another honestly. Not even world peace, just world honesty. Picture it.

I won't tell you what my own vision is like, partly because I hope you'll actually give it some thought of your own with no interference from me, but also because it's a difficult concept to process. My brain rejects it. I guess I'm more at ease with liars and crooks running the planet than with our leaders admitting fault and being open with others.

I received an e-mail this morning that reminded me of one particularly offensive lie, the denial of the Armenian Genocide. In case you're not already aware, in 1915 the Turkish government began the systematic killing of over 1.5 million Armenian people. The genocide was well documented and there are still survivors, but, according to the Turkish government, it never happened. According to the United States government, it never happened.

Obama has said that he'll change that. I hope he will. Bush said the same thing before he was "elected," but changed his mind, and said it would be a poor choice to speak ill of the Turks, who have been an important ally in the War on Terror.

I think it's a poor choice to deny over 1.5 million murders and to allow a lie to pass for the truth. I'm quite aware that the U.S. doesn't need to make any new enemies right now, but it's been nearly a century. We can't keep putting this off. We don't need an ally that's allowed to kill 1.5 million innocent people without consequence, or even having to admit it. We don't need to hold the current government accountable, but we shouldn't allow killers to rewrite history. By allowing this lie to continue unchallenged, we are making ourselves accomplices to genocide, and that's a problem.

I highly encourage you to read this.

We have not always been at war with Eurasia. 2 + 2 does not equal 5. Turkey committed genocide against the Armenians, and genocide remains unchallenged in Darfur today. This is not okay.

What A Ridiculous Lie My Whole Life Has Been

2009-04-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

There was a knock on the door today, an unusual occurrence at our residence, and Tiffany and I both went to answer it while Robin hide from Stranger Danger.

Much to no one's surprise, we were met by people who wanted to sell us stuff we neither want nor need; in this case, a faster Internet connection. Or a slower Internet connection. They didn't really seem to care either way, as long as the made their commission. Tiff beat me to the door, so I stood back in the hallway at let him do the talking.

Ahhhhh!

Here's the thing about Tiffany, though, as he explains it: He doesn't like being rude to people. Huh. Okay, not really my thing, but I guess I can understand. Anyway, he knew our Internet connection was fast enough, he knew our price was pretty decent, and he knew Verizon had nothing to offer us, but rather than saying any of this, he squirmed uncomfortably and answered every question and allowed the salesman to continue their frivolous pitch uninterrupted.

After a few minutes of this, I jumped in, saying that our current connection speed is perfectly sufficient and asking them to skip straight to the price. They asked what we were paying. I wasn't really interested in this game. "If I tell you a price, are you going to try to beat it?" I asked. "Because it just so happens we're paying five dollars... a year." Obnoxious, I'll admit, but after that, they finally revealed the price of their fastest connection. I told them our connection was fine and we didn't need anything that fast. The gave the next fastest connection, priced at more than double what we pay now. I repeated that we already have a great connection speed.

"Why have great Internet when you can have... What's better than great?" One of the salesmen asked. "Why have great Internet when you can have Verizon?"

Then they started cracking up and congratulating themselves on the witty line.

I said no thanks, they pushed a little more, I thanked them and repeated that we were happy with our current service, and they finally left.

Sorry to go into such a detailed account of the story. My only real point with all of this is that I don't think turning away someone who comes to your house to try convincing you to buy something you neither want nor need is rude. Annoying though they may be, they have a job to do, a job that requires them to go door-to-door and bring you this incredible offer. It's a crummy, sleazy job, and tough to respect, but employment can be hard to find, and sometimes good people get stuck in bad jobs.

While I've said already that I acted obnoxiously, I make no apologies for being direct or asking the salespeople to do the same for me. If they truly had a good deal, I was willing to hear it. If not, there would be no sale. What reason do I have to waste their time in this case? Saying no - that is, being honest - is the most polite thing you can do in a situation like that. Playing along with their questions and games, which will only waste everyone's time and will result in either no sale or wasted money, is far more rude.

Once again, this isn't about salesmen; it's about the perception of polite vs. rude. I'm sick of this idea that everyone a unique and beautiful butterfly that needs protecting. If someone says or does something stupid, call it out. You don't have to be rude. You don't have to tell the person that they're an idiot, even if they are. You should be honest, though. What kind of world is afraid of honesty.

Sorry again for rambling so much, but, seriously, keep that point in mind if it didn't get too lost in all of that. Honesty is a good thing, and I've seen too many people to each other and lying to themselves lately.

Oh - totally unrelated, but, Mom, this is Beat, and he is awesome.

Which Describes How You're Feeling

2009-04-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

I've been playing musical instruments for quite a long time now, but I only really started getting into it in the last few years. If I'm in my room and I'm not eating or reading a book or playing video games - basically, if I'm not doing something that requires the use of my hands - I'm playing my guitar, whether that means my amp is cranked and I'm jumping around like a crazy person or I'm absentmindedly taping the strings while I check my e-mail.

In the days before I'm became an obsessive lunatic, I would hear people talk about how playing music gives them a means to express themselves, and I didn't really understand what that meant. Now that I'm a constant nuisance to all within audible distance, though, I get it. Writing your own music is a very expressive thing, obviously, but it's something I don't do much (though I wish I did it more).

Most of the time, I either idly improvise, plucking out whatever notes and chords my fingers choose, or freely jump around, playing the various songs I know, sometimes being a bit more active and looking up how to play specific songs, or trying to play them by ear. The point is, I either play in a way that's fully loose and subconscious, or I play real songs and play them over and over again, day after day.

It's this repetition that leads to my insight. I might pluck a simple, 2-minute song for an hour. Let's say I do that every day for a week. The logical conclusion would be that by the end of the week, you'd be able to play that song pretty well, but that's not always so. Today, I just couldn't get anything to sound good. Easy songs, songs I know, sound sloppy and weak, and my fingers fumble clumsily. I was particularly bad after returning from an incredibly numbing class. Not coincidentally, I haven't been able to focus very well on anything today. For instance, I should be doing homework, not even difficult homework, but it's tough to force myself. I tried taking a break, but books and video games weren't excused from my apathy. I'm pretty sick of blogging at the moment.

Of course, it's not hard to tell when you're in a mood like this. Like I said, though, the repetition is why I find this interesting. When something is subconsciously bugging me a I try to draw, I end up with a picture that may not be as good as it could've been otherwise, but I never draw the same thing the same way twice, so it's tough to gauge. On the other hand, I do play the same music perpetually. The slightest variation or struggle is strong clue that today is not that same as yesterday. I guess the next step is figuring out how to harness subtle shifts and feelings to work for me. I suspect it's the key to further expressiveness, song writing.

Also, the title of the last two days' posts have been They Might Be Giants references. This was not on purpose.

Home Before the Screen Door Slammed

2009-04-06T23:49:00.001-07:00

Whoa - out later than I expected. I was gonna talk about stuff, but there's not enough time. Fortunately, by utter coincidence, I did write a thing today. It's sort of journal-y, a note to myself, probably of little interest to you, dear readers, but there are a lot of letters in it. You don't need to read it; it's just here to fill space and make me look like a responsible blogger. Enjoy. Or ignore, whatever.

When someone wants to make a book or movie – a good book or movie - they usually want to tell a story. They want to convey some experience or feeling or relationship or event – something human and relatable. When someone wants to make a game – generally speaking, so far – they want to make a game that captures the spirit of a game or movie that already exists, or they want to explore some game mechanic. There may be some humanity, the humanity derived from the already-existing source material, but too rarely is there a distinct, original human touch. That's not to say books or movies or any other media are better than games, or that they're infallible, or that all games are victims of this habit, but it is a trend that's prevalent almost to the point of being the accepted norm. There's talk in game design of building design around “one cool thing,” that one play mechanic that that separates a game from the pack and that receives the bulk of development focus. This certainly has merit, but imagine a movie doing the same. A movie can be shot around an equivalent concept, focusing on one cool cinematic technique, but it would be largely dismissed as shallow, putting style over substance. That's not a perfect comparison, and I must repeat that movies, especially shorts, can be about their cinematography with fantastic results, but even if that were the case, how much more powerful might the message be if instead of being about the cinematography, the movie was about being about the cinematography? Perhaps the desire for mature, sophisticated games is no more than the desire for games to stop being about themselves and to start being about something.

We Can Blog If We Want To

2009-04-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

It's the Safety Post.

Off to work on homework. Hoping I'll return before midnight. Hoping I won't have to go back again as soon as the school opens tomorrow.

Update: The good news is that I got out of school before midnight. The bad news is the school closed four hours earlier than I expected, so I'll heading back at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Will that give me enough time to finish my work? Who knows? I'm excited!

Children of the Corn

2009-04-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

Regarding yesterday's story, here's an excerpt from an instant message conversation I had earlier today:

v|e|r|a hey now! says:
oh I was also wondering . why corn?
Jake says:
Ha!
Jake says:
I was wondering if anyone would ask.
v|e|r|a hey now! says:
So I do!
v|e|r|a hey now! says:
I mean I do the asking part
Jake says:
The entire thing is a lot of meaningless rubbish.
Jake says:
It was an experiment; a test.
v|e|r|a hey now! says:
but it contains a lot of letters
v|e|r|a hey now! says:
what were you testing? I thought you were making allusions to be honest
Jake says:
I thought I'd write a bunch of awful drivel, but with a serious tone, the sort of thing that might almost seem to have some secondary meaning if only it weren't so stupid.
Jake says:
The truth is, there's no allegory, no meaning.
Jake says:
IT's really as stupid and pointless as it appears on the surface.
Jake says:
And I wanted to know if anyone would call me out on it.
v|e|r|a hey now! says:
maybe in the eye of the spectator it isn't that, everyone takes its own interpretation from it . A lonely mother might've cried while reading it, think about it
Jake says:
Hm.
Jake says:
I guess you're right.
v|e|r|a hey now! says:
like usually!
Jake says:
And so it becomes a statement on the way we can project purpose onto anything.
v|e|r|a hey now! says:
yesss ... could be good in so many ways
v|e|r|a hey now! says:
and for me it is good, because it makes me giggle throughout the whole day. I could turn everything said into a joke (okay most of it)
Jake says:
I actually purposely limited my corn puns.
Jake says:
I wanted to keep it somewhat serious rather than letting it grow into an excuse to make as many jokes about corn startch and corn syrup as possible.
Jake says:
That was very difficult for me.
v|e|r|a hey now! says:
classy!
v|e|r|a hey now! says:
I see that
v|e|r|a hey now! says:
are you any good at spider solitaire?
Jake says:
I am fantastic at Spider Solitaire.

And I am!

Baby Corn

2009-04-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, in a field on a farm, a little baby corn was born. It was all covered in sticky mud, but the farmer cut it from the stalk and wiped it off and wrapped it in a towel. The mommy corn was exhausted, but she was so happy to hold her little baby corn. The daddy corn smoked a corn cob pipe and called all the carrots and tomatoes to tell them the good news. Soon the mommy corn was tired and needed rest, and the baby corn was very tired, too, so it was given a spot amongst the other new baby corns, where it quickly fell asleep.

The next day, the mommy and daddy corn were allowed to leave the farm with their fresh-picked baby corn. The mommy corn held the baby corn lovingly in the nursery, but the daddy corn gave them both a kiss and went off to store. He was sad to leave his baby corn, but he knew it was important for him to produce so that he could support his growing family.

The baby corn grew and, in time, was big enough to start school. The young corn, no longer a baby, joined the other young corns on the bus. The mommy corn was sad to see her baby corn go - it was as though the little sprout had been shucked only yesterday - but time, indeed, had passed, and it was time for the mommy corn to return to the fields and support her family.

Before long, it was time for the young corn to go off to college. The daddy corn was proud of his little corn. The mommy corn knew this day would come, but she never thought it would be so soon. She tried to be strong, but she would miss her baby corn.

Then one day, the young corn returned home, but not alone. All the corns were seated for their corn meal when the young corns announced that they were to be married.

The grandma and grandpa corn had grown older, slightly shriveled, they're kernels turning gray and falling out, but they felt young again as they stood in the fields and looked upon the new mommy corn and daddy corn and the baby corn they would call their own.

Another Day, Another Lousy Blogger

2009-04-02T23:07:00.000-07:00

Too much homework for me to waste time being clever or creative, so we'll go with an old standby: metablogging.

I was reviewing the Shiny Buttons Blog-Off! rules to determine whether or not Jaime had technically lost (Vera, by the way, is out now. So long, Kermit!), and rule #3 caught my eye. Did you know I have to keep up this daily blogging nonesuch for 59 more days?! Who thought that was a good idea? No wonder everyone's dropping out.

Yeah, whatever. Now I don't feel as bad about writing stupid filler like this occasionally. Which defeats the point of being in a blog challenge, obviously, but, yeah, whatever.

At least I managed to work in an ultra-subtle reference to a song by an ultra-obscure band.

Birfday Jokes

2009-04-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

Hey did you guys know it's my birfday? Yep, April Fool's Day - it's not a joke, but it is a funny day. I'm gonna celebrate by telling you guys some jokes. Who's ready to laugh?

Okay, so I got some CDs today. What's the deal with the packaging on these things, anyway? They sure are hard to open, aren't they?

That reminds me of airports. Airports sure are crazy, aren't they? What's up with that safety procedure. Boy, that thing sure is a trip! And once you get in the air, they give you strange food. Doesn't taste very good, does it? No, we don't like that airplane food, do we? Except for the peanuts! HA! Airplane peanuts! Funny stuff. And once you're done eating, sometimes you have to use airport bathrooms! Ha! Funny, funny stuff. Those airports are crazy!

And when yo get off an airplane, who do you see? People who are different than you! Some people look different than me or speak in a different way! You know? Ha! Do we anyone here who's a different race than me? Or even someone from a different region than me? Ha, ha! You're different than me. That's funny.

You know who's really different? Men and women! They're so different! Sometimes their differences cause them to approach situations in different ways. Sometimes men and women have disagreements! It's very funny when men and women disagree about things.

You know who else is very different? Jack Nicholson. Can you imagine Jack Nicholson meeting Christopher Walken? It might go a little something like this...

Christopher Walken: "Wow! You're Jack Nicholson!"
Jack Nicholson: [putting on sunglasses and arching his eyebrows] "You can't handle the truth!"
Bill Cosby: "Ya see, the thing about the pudding is it says the darndest things, ya see!"

Cats and dogs are also very different. Cats are so lazy. Dogs bark and poop. So different!

It's almost time for me to go, but before I do, I want you to know that I'm a real, serious person with a lot of important opinions, so I'm going to tell you some political jokes. Man, politicians sure are crazy, aren't they? You know what I mean? They are stupid.

Wow, thank you! You've been great! I'm Jake, the birfday comic. Be sure to check out my upcoming HBO special where I complain about my girlfriend for a while, then fill up the rest of the hour shouting swear words and making funny faces. Don't miss it! Goodnight, everybody!

* * *

The CDs were "The Reminder" by Feist and "Kissing Like It's Love" by The Voyces, and they are both incredible. I also got Wario Land: Shake It! for Wii, which I am loving so far, and a very nice sum of money. Throw in some cards and e-mails, and a bit of cake and Soy Dream later tonight (plus a bit of unseasonal snow), and you get a decent pile of birthday stuff. Probably best not to throw them in a pile, though. No one wants to get frosting on their Wario.

I Painted Fruits and Veggies

2009-03-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

Plus also, it's my birfday in two hours!

The board is a tad warped, so things look a little more misshapen in this photo than they are in real life, and I probably shouldn't have turned off the flash on my camera, but if you have a problem with any of that, I'm gonna have to turn you over to my good friend Whatevs.

* * *

Have you heard any of the new Bishop Allen songs? Are you listening to any of their music? You should. There's a certain ditty that just won't leave my head, and you know what? I'm okay with that. Listen!

If you're the sort who likes moving images, there's a video for this song, as well.

Bishop Allen - New Music - More Music Videos

I like the part where they blow out candles 'cause it's like a birfday.

Presenting Modern Moonlight, Just As Advertised

2009-03-31T00:04:00.000-07:00

BlackBerry's slogan is, "Connect to everything you love in life." The commercials go on to describe the telephony device as "bold" and "beautiful."

This discomfits me.

Blue Monday

2009-03-30T22:43:00.000-07:00

Actually, it's been a very gray Monday (though there was none of the forecast snow), but my guitar is making the sweet sounds and the sweet dreams of New Wave. I think now is a very nice time for some chilling out. The comforting songs of bygone years pouring from my hands, followed, perhaps, by a good book. Enjoy the silence.

Shine On, You Crazy Button

2009-03-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

Well, well, well, I do believe it's time for a Shiny Buttons update. As you may have gathered from my uncharacteristic brevity, I barely managed to sneak in a blog post yesterday. I really thought I might finally miss a day, but I forced myself to make an effort, and as a result, I'm still in the running for the Gold Button.

I mention this because while I narrowly managed not to miss yesterday, not one, but two challengers failed to post. Here are the new standings:

Thrillin'
Jake

Chillin'
Nicole ♥ Joanna

Illin'
Nora ♥ Phil ♥ Taylor ♥ Jaime ♥ Vera

Update: Another on bit the dust.
Update Update: Jaime celebrated her birthday by losing the challenge.
Update x3: Vera lost this friggin' challenge so hard.