31 August 2006

In St. Johns

So. Here it is. My last day NOT living in St. Johns.

I'm not feeling anything incredible, to be honest. I was supposed to do something with Jillian tonight, since my cousins are both out, but that seems to have fell through. Sometime the weekend, perhaps Saturday, we'll do somehting.

I'm in a bit of a spot. On one hand I'm feeling a sense of duty, or something to the CB crowd that I'm living with, but I also feel like I desperately need to get into contact with some friends from St. Johns. I wouldn't mind [scratch that, I'd LOVE to] do something with all them, maybe even introduce CB crowd to SJ crowd, but I'm not sure how the family'll take that. The parents of all three families will be around, and I don't want to make them feel like we've dumped them. Maybe it's best if I just go with St. Johns kids? But then what's mom going to do? An akward spot.

Zack won't be as hard to get into contact with as I had expected, seeming as several mutual friends abound. Also, contacting Brad won't be difficult, so I'm already feeling like I've broken in to St. Johns.

The bus route I'm looking at right now goes right past my new house, to Water Street, the University, and Avalon Mall. Everywhere I was/am excited to go. I've done the math on my money, and I'm not going to have to live as much like a monk as I had feared.

I've got books for three of my subjects. Physics I'm getting tomorrow, and Object Oriented Programming doesn't have a textbook or anything listed yet. I can't wait to do German.

I'm getting giddy.

Tomorrow can't come fast enough.

29 August 2006

Corrugated Life

So my entire life right now seems to be represented by Corrugated Cardboard. Everything I'm looking to bring to St. Johns is in a box, except for my computer, and stuff that's too big to fit into a box.

I got the CD yesterday that I'd been waiting on for months. Veggie Rocks. Let me tell you, that listening to Rebecca St. James sing the Veggie Tales theme song, moved me. I was half disgusted, half delighted at the absurdity.

Favourite tracks, and artist's names:

I Love My Lips - Stevenson
In the Belly of the Whale - Newsboys¹
The Water Buffalo Song - Superchic[k]
I'm So Blue - Paul Coleman
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything - Relient K²
I Can Be Your Friend - O.C. Supertones
His Cheeseburger - Tait³

1-Newsboys are actually coming to YC this year. From this song alone, I'm excited.
2-This song alone was the reason I decided to buy this CD. The song has lost it's shine, but it's still very fun.
3-Michael Tait (where the band gets the name from) played the Jesus character in "Hero! The Rock Opera." Hearing his voice singing a love song to a cheeseburger made me pee myself laughing.

I really have the urge to play some X Box 360 right now, but as I alluded to earlier, it's packed up with everything else. I'll have to wait until Friday. In the meantime, flashgames will have to tie me over.

28 August 2006

Deleted Scenes: Grad Bio

As I was searching for bits of my life to put into boxes, I came across a scrap of paper, where Meagan had happily written me a Grad Bio. It didn't make the cut, but I thought I would post it here.

=-Clip-=

Thus far, Josh has lived by the motto, "Joshua Thomposn is cool." Josh's high school years have been characteried by world travels, exciting adventures with his super cool friend, Meagan, and failing his driving test twice [Editor's note: As far as the record is concerned, only once]. Thereason why Josh did not win the Govenor General's Award is that he does not study.

In conclusion, hot dogs, and cool whip, and Meagan White are cool.

=-Clip-=

Well, that clears everything up, doesn't it?

Personality Tests

I found this on Chris's blog. I love doing these things. I can't belive I don't do these more often.



I haven't seen this movie, but if this is me, than I probably should, eh?



I'm not sure about the "Sexual Options" thing (JFK was a pimp?!) but I've got no problems being related to this dude. I was sort of hoping to get Joseph Stalin though. EDIT: Wait, doesn't this conflict with the last one? In the movie one I seek to avoid danger, and on this one I don't shy away from risky behaviour? I guess they're fun, but inacurate.

Also, I hope to do one or two of these once I get in St. Johns. Even if I don't have an album that needs a cover. And Natale is so obviously very cool. I hope I have friends like you!

27 August 2006

Wash

Has anybody heard how awesome Firefly is yet today? I was just reminded of my favourite line in all the series a minute ago.

A bit of background:

Wash is the snarky pilot of Serenety. Zoe is the 1st Mate, and Wash's wife. In the scene, the whole crew is discussing the possiblity of anothe character, River, being a sort of "psychic." Of course, Firefly is Science Fiction.

Wash: Psychic though? That sounds like something out of Science Fiction.
Zoe: You live in a space ship, dear.
Wash: ... So?

I think Wash might very well be my most favouritest character ... ever.

26 August 2006

When Giant Robots Fight ...

So I did a bit of fantasy shopping there today. While ripping DVDs I remembered a pile of old TV shows that I love to watch. About giant robots, and the fighting of said robots.

To purchase legaly, all the DVDs I'm interested in, would cost $473.15. And that's American. Yikes.

I understand why people resort to piracy in these matters. It's virtually free, and you get what you want. Without some special features, perhaps, but you do still partake in the media. And what good stuff it is.

Ugh, things are made much worse with University. If I was staying home, I could afford to waste money on some DVDs here and there, especially if I was still working. But alas I'm not working, and not staying home. I really need to budget my money, because I've only got "X" dollars to spend between now and Christmas.

I need a "Get Rich Quick" plan ... Any ideas?

Dark Days In My Blogosphere

So I've been noticing a certain theme with blogs I've been reading lately. "Doom and Gloom."

This is understandable. People are leaving home. People are being fired for religious beliefs. People are in countries where Christians are pesecuted. People are undergoing big changes.

It's very easy to get down. Especially since my weather widget is telling me that it's only cloudy, while I hear the fall of raindrops. Not even my computer is honest with me.

So this is what I'm going to do. I might dance today. I'll make a complete fool of myself and dance. I'm going to see who's not working, get together, and perhaps we'll all dance. I'll leave my dining room, and do stuff.

What do I have to be happy for:

I'm going to be a student again. The best job on earth.

I'm going to learn about things that I enjoy. Languages, Computers, and Numbers.

I'm going to be somewhere new. It's going to be an adventure.

I'm going to meet new friends.

I'm going to have more people to sit down and watch. I am a people watcher.

I'm going to have like, 6 pizzareas within walking distance of my home. Gelato will be less than an hour's walk away!

I'm going to be in the same physics class as my cousin, Kayla! If you told me that as a child, I'd never have believed that I would sit in the same class as one of my idols!

I'm going to be in the same math class as my friend Meagan. Which means I'll have somebody to wake me up if my alarm breaks down again, and somebody to steal ... whoops 'Share', notes with!

There is a tonne more, but I'm now, just too happy to think of any more. I think I'm going to go do that dancing I was talking about =D

25 August 2006

Post Count, Staples, and Farewells

PART 1:

I decided I'd do a post count today.

I got my first blog November 22nd, of 2004. Total: 103 posts, over 1 Year, 3 months. My second real blog was my MSN Space, started February 2nd, 2006. Total 92 posts, over 7 months. Between my first and second blogs, was my 1up.com blog, which is now lost. Total: 2 posts, over an unspecific amount of time. Finally, the blog you all know and love, started in July of this year. Total: 26 posts, over 2 months, so far. I should also mention there is one more post made on a re-director blog I made, after changing the URL for this one.

The Breakdown:
103 "The Catchy Title Blog"
92 "King Bob v3 Live"
2 "King_Bob_v3's Blog"
1 "Redirector"
26 "Gibeon Cafe"
=====
224 Total

I never celebrated my centenial post, nor my bicentenial. I'll have to celebrate my tricentenial, which should come in the spring of next year. Thank you for allowing me that ego-stroke =D

PART 2:

Now, today was my very last day at Staples. I didn't think I'd get sentimental over such a foolish thing, but I did. A list of memories:

Throwing printers to other associates. Not one fell and broke my entire year working there.

Learning not to trust built in handles on boxes, unless they are reinforced with tape. Taught by a few tumbling monitors, falling down ladders.

Joking with Wayne and Aaron about customer's mispronnounciations.
Toshiba: TAW-shee-baa instead of To-SHEE-baa.
Linksys: LIN-skeys instead of LINK-ses
Epson: ee-pee-ess-oh-enn instead of EP-son
Lexmark: LEN-marr, Len-MARX, instead of LEKS-mark

Finding excuses to forget working on the sales floor, and go see Garrett, where we would both joke and laugh about customers, computers, and everything else.

Breaking down boxes. You have no idea how fun I found that.

Talking to Brian about everything.

Learning from Aaron how to be an efficient slacker.

Calling the Manager on Duty when I meant to phone somebody else (happened waaay too often).

Speaking to customers who have absolutely no idea what they're talking about, but pretend that they know everthing. And laughing at them later.

Speaking to customers who admit they don't know much, and educating them. Made my day when somebody admitted they didn't know much.

Talking with Corner Brook's resident Mac entheusiest, and convincing him NOT to give in to windows. Also, allowing him, to pretty much sell me a MacBook Pro. (He saved me about $230, by giving me the education tip)

Learning so much about computers, tech, retail, and people.

It wasn't the best job on Earth, but I'd never have asked for such a good first job. I only hope I was a good example of Christ's love, to people indifferent, and some angry, at God.

Part 3:

Last night, I hung with Adam, and Scott. We really didn't do much. I asked scott to bring his computer, so we could try getting around a problem I'm having with ripping a DVD, but that didn't work out. In the end, we just sat around and played flash games, and listened to comedy on Scott's laptop.

After wasting 2 hours doing pretty much nothing, we felt motivated enough to leave the house. We went to Louis-Gees, for potentially my last time ever. Only Adam and I ate, because Scott wasted all of his money (including his X Box 360 money) on candy. Yes, several hundred dollars on CANDY.

We ate, and Scott called Maggs, Curtis, and Becca, and went to hang with them. I did not follow because I had work the next day, and because I didn't care for hanging out with people who are barely grudging aqquaintances. A tearful (not literally) goodbye was drawn out, and I told scott I'd see him in October.

Scott's been one of my best friends since Grade 9. I didn't even like him in Grade 8, because he was good friends with one of my good friends. The jealousy thing. Anyways, we met, and found ourselves friends, and the rest, they say, is history. He got involved with a girl, and drifted. They broke up, we were best friends again. That's how guys roll. In Level 3, he was in 5/7 courses with me, and we constantly worked together, and spent hours joking. I don't even remember where I was going with this. He's a bit of an idiot, but honestly, one of the greatest guys I know. Why are you not going to St. Johns. Sadness.

Adam and I then drove to his house, where he left me until October or December. Adam's an individual. I remember ages ago he was "going out" (oh the hilarity. I snort when people my age claim to be in a committed relationship, let alone then!) with a friend of mine. I harboured an insey crush on said girl at the time, but didn't think for a minute I could ever do anything about it. Adam is just an aweosme guy. I don't know if I could wrest the heart of anybody away from him. Charisma is all I can say. Also, I can say that the girl that was, and any girl that might be, would be the luckiest person alive to be close with a dude like that. Charisma again. Character. A genuine person. I hope his former struggle, he hasn't fallen to. And I pray that he does overcome his struggle some day.

That's all I can really say right now. I might have a few more reminicent posts in the next few days, so watch out.

Also, my post count is now 225. Wewt.

24 August 2006

Our Condolances to the Former 9th Planet

I just tried to call Meagan.

My message was twofold. "If you're looking to become an astrophysicist, your job just got easier. They booted Pluto from the Solar System, so there are only 8 Planets now." and also "Have fun at Music Camp, though I know it'll be hard work. All the fun you had probably originally planned for 2 camps, must now be crammed into one. Also, if it doesn't add to your burden too much, have enough fun for me too."

Nobody answered the phone. Thus I blog.

Tonight it looks like I'm going to do something with Adam and Scott. Adam and I, I've decided, never did hang out enough, despite him being one of the coolest guys I've ever known. Scott's been practically my best friend, and dispite a setback in getting his X Box 360, I see much X Box Live gaming in our future.

I've started packing stuff. I'm trying to install my printer on the Mac so I don't have to do it once I get to St. Johns. I've also stockpiled CDs, DVDs, ink, and all those other consumables. We'll see what else I've got to pack/prepare/explode before I leave for St. Johnsistan.

Also, I wish people would stop saying "Moving to the big city." St. Johns is a biger city, but not a big city. I would set the "Big City" bar at Halifax, and that's, what, twice or three times the size of St. Johns?

23 August 2006

Treadmil Dance and Articles

I found this video on Natale's Blog.



I love the internet so much. Strangely enough, I've discovered that my wireless only works 100% of the time in my Dining room. My room's a bit shaky, as is my basement, anywhere other than next to the router. I hope the house in St. Johns will be better for wireless ...

EDIT: Oh yeah, I was going to post a link to two articles I found interesting.

A Time article on Christians in China, and a Relevant aricle on "The Christian Table."

Seriously, go read them both.

22 August 2006

On My Computer and People

So I've spent a lot of time on my computer in the past few days. I'll excuse it as preparing everything for University, but it's most certainly not what I'm doing.

I'm going about the agonizing process of ripping some DVDs. I ran into an issue yesterday, where on a DVD with 5 episodes, I could only find and rip 2. This is unfortunate, though I suspect it's because of smudges on the DVD. So I'm trying to copy the DVD to the computer and then rip it. It's taking a while.

I've also been a bit pissed reading about Digital Rights Management. I'll be honest when I say I don't really know the law in Canada when it comes to such things, but I belive it's actually illegal to back up or rip CDs, DVDs. I'm not caring very much for the legality of it all, because I'm deeming it fair use. Would that argument hold up if I was challenged? No. Will I be challenged? No.

Copy protection, legal bull, and all that stuff really pisses me off. It's there to stop piracy, but the pirates will always find a way around it. Heck, if I wanted to get a copy protecte CD that won't rip to my computer, I'd set up a stereo system, get an "instant music" package, and re-record the music to my computer. It's a pain in the butt, but pirates will do it, and then put it on the web for free. And yet I, a person who isn't going to mess around with all that garbage, am punished with copy-protect crap that gets stuck on my computer, and un-rippable DVDs. Garbage.

Also, I've been thinking a bit about people lately. I've thought about particular people, and how they seem to be so bitter sometimes. Other people who belive the world owes them oh-so-much. Then I think of people who don't like me, and I wonder why not. I mean, it's not that I care what people think, but if it's a problem with several people, I'm probably being a jerk somehow.

University in 13 days. Be afraid.

21 August 2006

Ripping Some DVDs

So I downloaded a program for my Mac, called HandBrake, which pretty much just rips DVDs to my computer. This is good because I was considering paying for a program that would do the exact same thing.

Upon successfully ripping my first Episode of Gundam SEED, I decided to build a monument to honour the occasion.

I was about to present The Balogna Sandwich, but I decided to think it through. Upon considering the whole situation, I realized the monument would be too great, and would honour such a culture-changing point in time, to allow the monument to stand. After all, with all the wonder surrounding the memorial, future generations might learn to revere and even worship the Balogna Sandwich. I couldn't have this on my concience, so I decided to deconstruct said monument.

To prove I'm just not shooting my mouth of, however, I photographically doccumented the deconstruction, so you could all see it, and belive my virtue.


Warning: Do not Worship the Sanwich.

It's Calling Me ...

There is an entity currently inhabiting my fridge.

I can hear it's calls from anywhere in my house.



Bawls is crying to me. "Drink me Josh, drink me!"

I would have drank you already if you weren't so expensive. And so small.

Why is Bawls only half the size of a small Pepsi bottle, and yet twice as expensive? Sadness abounds.

If I'm going to drink any, it'd better be soon. I don't want to be up all night.

20 August 2006

Sam Jackson's Prank Calls

Wow. I just found this like, three minutes ago, and I've already sent one to Scott.

My phone rang, I picked it up, and scott said "You Jerk!"

I said "Scott! What are you mad for? I just got you a call from Sam Jackson, man!"

This, my friend, has got to be some of the best marketing I've ever heard of. It's word of mouth, plus one.

In case you don't know what I'm getting on with, I'll explain it for you. I found a website that lets me send a message from Samuel L. Jackson to any friend of mine, by telephone. Supposedly this is Sam Jackson intimidating my friends into seeing the movie. Here's a "Transcript."

"Scott! This is Samuel L. Jackson. Now, you may know me for my roles in movies like Pulp Fiction, Star Wars, and The Incredibles, but I'm here today to make sure you go see a movie that holds a special place in my heart. That's right, I'm talking about Snakes on a Plane. I know that sounds crazy, but I don't give a d*** because Snakes on a Plane just might be the best motion picture ever made! It's that good, so listen up: forget about your regular job. Studying all those brain busting school books. And stop wasting all your free time playing those mind numbing Video Games. And for god's sake, quit fiddling with your dorky glasses! Just hop in that tin can you call a "car," go get your friend, Joshua, and go see Snakes on a Plane. The one summer blockbuster that'll take a big nasty bite out of your butt! It's simple: do as I say, and you live. You don't want to mess with me on this one, beceause I will come after you! Ya hear me?"

Now, if I hadn't already seen the movie, and I got a call like that, I'd be on the first bus down to the theatre. You don't want Mace Windu after you!

2 More T Shirts

I just thought I'd post 2 more T shirts that have been re-discovered and/or found. I like them both.


From my trip to California. I found this in the Air Port as we were leaving. I bet "Aahnold"
could kill me six different ways with this shirt.

Second, this is from FevrentWear, a relatively new T Shirt site. I like planes, and love is cool and all, so why not? I thought those planes were Japanese Zeroes, but apparently I'm wrong.

So there we go. Only 2 more shirts. I'm not going to pull 40 more out of thin air, don't worry. I'm off tomorrow, but it looks as if this might be the first night I go to bed "on time" in a nice while.

I'll watch some DVDs to combat this.

19 August 2006

Just wow

Did I read this article right?

Does that not come awfully close to idolatry? And it's only drippings of chocolate!

This reminds me of that eBay grilled cheese sandwich. Where is the world going?

The CNN title made me laugh. It gives new meaning to the expression "Sweet mother of god!"

I Hate Retail

So I'm off tomorrow. Thank goodness. I'll probably be up a bit late tonight, watching DVDs, and surfing the interweb. Glee.

Tomorrow there's a planned picnic in the park for 1130. After that I'll probably do a bit of shopping for University. After supper I'm thinking I might see if I can round up anyone to go see Snakes on a Plane with me. Just because.

Staples honestly exhausts me. I've only worked two days in a row, 8 hours apiece, but I can tell you: I'll go on welfare before I work retail for the rest of my life. I enjoy speaking with people, and learning about products. I dislike standing. I hate having to meet sales quotas and all that junk. I know that's just how sales is, but I guess that means I'm not cut out for it. Sorry Capatalism, I'd rather create than regurgitate.

I'm going to see who I can speak to about going on leave instead of quitting, but the picture that one manager painted me isn't too good for my Christmas time off. I wanted to see if I could work when I'm home, and make some money for my second term, but that doesn't look like it'll happen. In some ways I'm relieved, but in others I'm not. Especially since this now means I'll have to a) pinch pennies tighter than I was going to (as in, untill my fingers bleed), or b) stress myself out over trying to find a good job for three weeks. I don't think it's going to happen, but I'll question those who know more about it in the coming weeks.

17 August 2006

Sleepyness and Musings

So I've decided not to drink Bawls anymore between supper and bed. Last night I had one at 8, and didn't finally drift off to sleep untill 3! Probably a contributing factor to the fact that I slept in untill 1245, exactly the time I was supposed to be swiping my punch card at work. Whoops.

I was a bit late for work, but not too bad. During my shift I got a call from Colin, asking to change his shift for tomorrow. He'd take my 0845-1700, and I'd take his 1300-2100. I said sure, so those are my new hours.

I've been thinking alot about friends, and community. I had one, but I didn't feel right with them. I went on an exodus, travelling to a new group. Attractions within this new group, and time restrictions didn't allow me to "break in" as I had imagined, so I've never really felt I belonged. I've got a small group I'm moving in with for University, but I feel very outsider-ish with these people too. There are a set of siblings, and best friends. Everybody is connected in some way except for me. Sure I'm friends with them and all, but I'm not close. Maybe I shouldn't be close, or maybe this is an opportunity to become close, but that's not a sure thing. And it's not a very comfortable feeling looking at the people I'm living with next year, and hoping it'll be great.

I think I'm an easy-going dude, so I'm certain everything'll be okay, but that doesn't automatically mean everything will be dandy, I guess. There's just this uncertainty.

But at the same time, I'm moving to St. Johns. My first thought was "I have friends in St. Johns. MY GENUINE friends." but my second thought was "What makes us friends?" C.S. Lewis says that friends are people who stand side by side, looking at a common interest. What common interests do I have with these people?

Her? Music possibly, but that's not as much my thing anymore (as if it really was to begin with).

Him? Not much, to be honest. We both were members of CFC, but there were plenty of disagreements there. I'm still convinced I'm part of the reason he gave up on it and just shut it all down.

Her? Mutual friend of somebody else. Virtually nothing in common.

Him? We have so much in common, and we had such good times whenever we were together. Excelent conversations. I prayed for a friend one YC, and a guy my age came over and placed his hand on my shoulder, and prayed with me. He felt a call one YC, and saw a guy his age, went over, placed his hand my shoulder, and prayed with me. A year later, we "met" for the first time, at Camp Sterrigan, with a familliar feeling. We peiced the YC story together during the week. That sounds like a God-forged friendship if there ever was one, but I still worry. We haven't talked much since CFC shut down.

I'll just have to wait untill University hits in full force. I'll either get so busy I forget all these "poor me"s, or I'll make friends. Simple as that.

There is a plan. All I have to do is wait for it, and be willing to have it executed.

16 August 2006

Thoughts and a Count Down

So right now I'm in a bit of a sombre mood. Part of that could be the music I'm hearing right now, but we'll get to that in a bit.

I don't think it's completely hit me that I'm going away soon. As in, I'll no longer be near everything I've grown up. There'll be something alien about every day life, decreasing unfamiliarity as time goes on, but there will always be something different than home.

I passed my nostalga stage months ago, I thought. Before school even ended, I asked mom if I could take our old family placemats with me. They're an ugly brown and orange, but they're probably the most beautiful placemats I've ever seen. I remember many a meal being spilled on those matts. I remember Jacob falling off his stool more than once, and many fights between the two of us.

Down the street from where I live, there's a trail. It's a shortcut, so you don't have to walk around the road-way. Off of this trail are a dozen wooden structures. Flower-boxes, and an old swingset, with the chains rusted off at least a decade ago. The grass is always at least two feet tall, even right after winter, it seems.

Off a trail from that is another even more secluded "lost park." Broken see-saws, more rusted swings. The remains of an old sand-box.

I've never spent any time there, but I'll miss it.

Nostalga's a real pain, I tell you.

Now, to that song I was talking about. I found a Fan-Made music video for Firefly on YouTube the other day. It's really nice, and I love the song. It's pretty haunting. Here it is:



So that's about it, except for an excelent discovery. Gambit. It's an email version of Risk. I will have to start up a game with far away friends once I settle in for university. I also want to pick up a variant of Risk for the house too. Because it's just such an excelent and very fun game.

EDIT: A friend of mine just complained to me about how needlessly heavy Macs are (G5s). My response: "Might be heavy, but that's because it's just FILLED with POWER and INFINITE POTENTIAL!"

I love my MacBook Pro.

15 August 2006

Mass Effect

Every so often a game is scheduled for release, which I'm really excited for. The last one was Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfigter, which came out in the beginning of spring. The shine has since worn off, though it's still an excelent game that I play from time to time.

There were a few coming out over the summer and fall that really caught my attention. Chromehounds, which I bought, is really good, but a bit dissapointing with the X Box Live. My squad's hardly ever online, so it's difficult to find members to play with. I've since left them and started my own squad.

Too Human was an action game from Silicon Knights, which really interested me. However, a low preview score from EGM, and news that they're ditching Unreal Engine 3 (basically they have to rebuild part of the game) means there's going to be a delay for a game that doesn't appear to be as good as I first thought. I'll keep watching, but this one seems to be a bit dull now.

Viva Pinata was interesting for it's quirkiness. Huxley still holds my attention, but it's not looking like the game I first thought it would be. Gears of War looks incredible, but I've never been one for survival-horror.

But then there's Mass Effect. A video on GameVideos.com reminded me of this game's existance, and I almost wet my pants watching it. Slick visuals, a great conversation system, what looks to be great gameplay, and the promise of a fully explorable universe. Wow.

I've read up plenty on the game, and I can only get more excited. It's from Bioware, the company that produced the smash Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. They've got an excelent track record, and I can't wait for their "stunning new vision of the future."

Here are some pretty pictures from Mass Effect. The first few are concept art, which really caught my eye. And the last few are in engine looks at the game. If you've never played many games before, let me tell you: It might not be photo-realistic, but that might very well be the best looking game I've ever seen.

A nice Lava Planet (seems to be a convention of Science Fiction) with a little firefight going on. Interesting building in the background.
A neat looking place. I assume it's from a cruise ship, or some other high-society place in the future. That's a neat fish tank too.

Neat Cityscape. The four other things up top make it look like it's part of a rotating space colony of some sort. Looks like a busy place.

Another city place. Looks very pretty. The way the water curves up there on the left, I'd say it's another space colony. A nice one, too, not as industrial as the last one.

Looks like the bowels of another city. And another firefight.

Nice over the shoulder view. The HUD looks nice and unobtrusive. Very schmoove.


This appears to be in-engine as well. VERY sharp.


I know this is in-engine. Look at that alien person! She has a stinking complexion! It's not just peach painted over a face! Ooh, you have no idea how great that is!

Also, a few videos from GameVideos.com. You know you want to watch them. Especially you, Specker.

The Galazy Map and Vehicle Combat
The Bar Scene from the E3 Demo
The Mass Effect Preview (Includes a bit of both above)

Anyways I'm done.

Skimmer Version:

- Some games aren't looking as good as they used to.
- Included games:
Too Human
Chromehounds
Viva Pinata
Huxley
Gears of War
- Mass Effect looks better than ever.
- I can't wait for Mass Effect.
- The concept art and in-engine screenshots for Mass Effect are incredible.
- The videos of gameplay are absolutely astounding.

14 August 2006

Early Work and X Box Supremacy

Well I'll probably be going to bed a mite earlier tonight, for the simple fact that I'm working tomorrow at 6, which means I have to be up at 5.

It's not so bad. I'm working for 5 hours, and only 2 of those hours I have to really deal with customers, so that's good. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind serving customers, but they're tiring sometimes.

Something else about Staples: We sold our 2nd X Box 360 on Sunday. We got them weeks ago as a promotion to have kids dragging their parents into the store, so we can trap them and force them to spend money on other things. It's actually a good deal, despite it not working in it's intended way. Ten dollars cheaper than even EB Games. Take that Meagan. Staples is expensive my big toe!

Speaking of the X Box 360, I'm glad to report that even Official Play Station Magazine editors are defecting. I have this inherent hatred for Sony, even though I have no reason for such loathing. X Box 360 might not be technically as powerful as the PS3 is forecasted to be, but that only really matters if a developer takes time to put the extra effort in. Simply: nobody does, so 360 and ps3 seem to be evenly matched.

I will eventually want to buy a Play Station 3, so it's not like I'm a die-hard Microsoft zealot. The thing is Sony has made alot of mistakes lately, regarding it's 'entertainment machine,' and I want to be there to point and laugh.

And though I'm no zealot, I am a pretty big X Box fanboy. I can admit to that.

Finally: Because a certain person has informed me that she skims my blog, and I'm sure many do, I will add the following section to longer posts.

SKIMMER VERSION:

- I'm working early tomorrow.
- X Box 360s are cheaper at Staples
- Staples is not overpriced
- OPM Editors like the X Box 360
- I dislike Sony
- I will probably eventually buy ps3
- I love X Box
- Skimmers make my life harder (=P)

12 August 2006

T Shirts

I have an addiction I am too poor to explore. And it's not heroin.

I love T Shirts. I'm going to post a few of my favourite ones that I've found, and why I love them. Just because.

This is the first of several designs from Randomshirts.com that I love. I don't even know if I can explain it. It says "I'm a fan of military aviation, and I'm buff."

Another one from RandomShirts.com. I remember when y2k was a big deal. I was 12 years old. The zone on YTV was all about how penguins would take over the earth. Good times. And I actually did survive y2k, so there!

This one is so incredibly lame, you have to love it. It also reminds me of Sarah W.

Because breaking up is so difficult. And Pangea rocks. It didn't look like that though, I'm pretty sure, but the point is made.

Just because everybody seems to love Ninjas. It's also pretty geek, but there it is.

These shirts from A Different Direction are all of a more serious nature. I love the designs anyways. I'm not sure I entirely like my theology being reduced to a T Shirt design, but the designs are pretty nifty. This one reminds me of Elvis.
A great design, with a bit more subtle a Christian message. I think this might be my favourite from A Different Direction.

This one is awesome, despite being a pony. I love the book of proverbs, and I love King Solomon. Appropriately, I love this shirt.

Another great one, with the scripture verse right on it.

This one's a good one too. Not much to say about it though.

Another great one. I think I like this mostly because I like peanut-butter cups. And orange is my favourite colour.

The next 22 (No, I'm not kidding, nobody said you had to read it all) T Shirts are from ThinkGeek.com. Because they are inherently geeky, I cannot garuentee you'll understand it all. Like this Geek Love Poem. If you don't already get it, you probably never will. I actually have this T Shirt somewhere, but I can't find it.

I want this shirt, because I know what it means. However, it'd be stupid of me to get it before I actually saw the movie Soylent Green. I'll have to track it down when I go to St. Johns.

I belive this also comes from a movie I need to see. But I forget the name of it. If I remember correctly, a computer is in charge of America's national defense, wielding Nuclear weapons. However, a young programmer sets it up to play chess against itself in it's downtime. These chess matches against itself teach it that "The Only Winning Movie Is Not To Play," and the computer doesn't start a Nuclear Holocoust. I think that's how it went.

Just 'cuz. If I ever get lost in the universe, then aliens will know what I am.

Also just 'cuz. If an alien gets lost in the universe, and sees my T Shirt on Earth, they'll know where they are. I also have this shirt somewhere. I need to find it, it's so awesome.

I just love the Power Symbol. I want to get a bandanna with this on it too. They do exist.

Maybe not somethign I'd wear, but still a neat design. I laughed when i first saw what the acronym "Stood" for.
Not the greatest shirt, but I thought it was funny. Maybe I'm wierd.

"Frag" is a term coming from "Fragmentation," in such contexts as "Fragmentation Grenade." To "Frag" someone in a Video Game, is to kill them. Even though the original context suggests explosives, "Frag" today is nonspecific as to how the death is achieved.

Again, if you don't get it already, you probably never will. Though I aim to serve.

The pictured person is Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo fame. Creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, and many, many, many others. He's generally regarded as a cultivator of innovation, and thus a revolutionary in the Video Game Industry. Great shirt. Great shirt.

The text says "Play Old Games" if you can't see. Aah, remember cartridges, that would get dusty? I want to get an old school Nintendo now.

NPC stands for Non Player Character. The text in the top right says "Ask me about our Chain-Mail and Broadsword sale." It's a Video Game thing.

Because I do. And you should too. (Jack Thompson is a Miami-based Anti-Video-Game-Zeallot. Quite honestly he might be the biggest moron I've ever heard speak, and that's not just my bias speaking)

Because Gordon Freeman uses a Crobar.

Because Pong rocks.

Apparently it says "Respect the Emperor, Expel the Foreign Barbarians." But I don't know Japanese, so I can't say for sure.

Because Einstein just rocks oh-so-much.

Because they do, and you have the right to know it.

Because Penny Arcade rocks.

Because he IS! (Joss Whedon is the man behind Firefly)

Aah, the greatest band that never was. (a PvP joke)

And that's about it. I think I'm just going to link a few things and go to bed. It's 0018 right now, and I have to work at 0900!

Risk!-ey

So last night, since I had nothing to do, I called up Scott, and Matt. We all went to Devin's to conquer the world.

Risk is such an awesome game, I have to say. I enjoy it thouroughly, despite Scott cheating all the time. He laid 10 extra armies at the beginning, rigged the deck of cards you get for conquering nations, and constantly swapped enemy armies for his own.

The beginning of the game saw everybody grabbing different continents. As soon as I saw I started with one Australian piece of land, I put all my extra armies there. Scott was too slow to essentially call first dibs on Australia, so he re-enforced his European nations. Devin placed his armies throughout Asia, and Matt distributed his throughout North and South America.

We used some rules I had never played by before. You had to hold a country for one full turn before you attacked from it, but you could attack an unlimited amout, from which-ever territory you had the turn before. Basically this slowed the game down a bit, because it meant that only ajacant countries were threats. Also, for movement, you could move any army into any ajacant country. I liked this alot better than what we used to play with "only one move per turn."

Within 2 turns, Matt had most of the Americas, despite the Alaska incident*. Scott had all of Europe, Devin had all of Asia, and I had all of Australia. Nobody bothered with Africa, untill I stationed a few armies to harass Scott and Devin. On my second turn, I took one country of Asia, and one of Europe (from Africa) just so Scott and Devin wouldn't collect their bonuses. In retaliation, Devin ammassed an army in China, and Scott wiped out my entire northern half of Africa.

Between Quebec and Greenalnd, there was a constant battle between Scott and Matt. Scott would place all of his armies in Greenland, attack untill he took Quebec, and then retreat. Matt would re-take Quebec, but couldn't retaliate farther, since he needed to hold the country a full turn to get any ways into Europe. Soon, Matt started massing armies in Alaska, to sweep through Devin's undefended Asian north.

I took a bit more of Southern Asia, while re-gaining my African loss. Eventually I attacked Devin, and weakened his hold on the rest of Asia. At that point, Matt came in from Alaska, and swept through most of Aisia. In the meantime he also attacked from Quebec, siezed Greenland, and started pushing Scott back.

Finally, Devin was reduced to 4 countries (despite an excelent conquering spree brought on by cashing in some cards for 10 extra armies), and Scott was reduced to 5. Only a few short turns later, the pink menace was crushed, as Devin's last two countries were decimated by a joint attack between Myself and Matt. Matt then had to leave, and since we were allies, decided to leave all of his resources to me.

Scott held the remaining 5 countries, untill I threw absolutely everything I had at him. I broke his hold, and conquered the world.

A note: since Scott and Devin will NEVER betray each-other in anything, Myself and Matt decided to play together untill they were taken out. It turned out that we ended the game after that.



A picture of the conquered world (the board's from 1959, and is not geographically accurate. Newfoundland is a blob, Europe has ED, and Asia was never that large. Also, the picture is mirrored, and I don't know how to fix it right now)

Good times. I hope I can get my hands on a Risk! board for next year. I love the game oh-so-much.

* The Alaska Incident: A situation where a single army (Scott's) was not conquered by twelve invading armies (Matt's). It happened several times throughout the game, first in Alaska, then The Middle East, India, and Egypt, all including a single army verses at least an opposing 5.

11 August 2006

Mario

Hey, I knew this before, but upon reading an article about Donkey Kong, and finding this paragraph buried within, I decided to copy and paste this bit of Video Game trivia here.

"But Mario's design had to take more than just aesthetics into account. Every aspect of the character came from limitations of the technology -- or rather, from Miyamoto's [Mario's creator and general godfather of Video Games] desire to exceed those limitations. His red cap was there because hair was difficult to animate. He had a moustache because there were too few pixels to show a mouth. He wore overalls with suspenders because it let his swinging arms stand out from his body."

Neat eh?

It's raining outdoors today too. It gives me this burning desire to create something.

10 August 2006

Film Frenzy

So I've been going nuts lately about movies. I want to re-watch some favourites, and seek out some great new films to watch.

Perfect for news of the Halo movie (releasing in 2008) to come out. The director's been identified. Neill Blomkamp. What a name eh? Well I've never heard of the bugger, but I've certainly read alot lately.

He hasn't done any feature-length films yet, so Halo will be his first. But I'm honestly not worried, for what I've seen of his work in the past half hour. Remember that dancing robot car commercial? Our friend Mr. Blomkamp was behind that.

I've been shown three other short videos he's done. The one that excites me most, is probably this one shown below called Tetra Vaal, a fictional ad, for a ficitonal product, made by a fictional company. Just watch and see, I like it alot.



These other two look excelent as well. Alive in Joburg is my personal second-favourite. I can't even really explain it. It looks so gritty, and seems so real. Imagine if this happened to South Africa.

Finally is Yellow, basically a video made for a Nike ad campaign. It looks like it'd make an interesting, if cliched feature length film.

If he can pull the same sort of stuff from those videos out of his butt for Master Chief, I will be a very, VERY happy camper next summer.

In the meantime, videos I plan on re-watching soon: Jurrassic Park, The Star Wars Trillogy (original 3), and 2001 a Space Oddesy. If anybody would like to watch with me, let me know, and we can make a plan. I particularly would like company for 2001 a Space Oddesy, but I must warn whoever is interested, that it is a very SLOW movie. Classic though, and very artsy.

I suppose I'm done for now. Speaking of movies I'm going to see Somethingorother Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby tonight, with Aaron, and possibly others. The trailer I watched has me worried it's going to be a bit crude, and swear-y, but what else am I going to do tonight?

Finally, speaking of swear-y movies and such, I've noticed something. After every curse in Crash, I sort of mentally shook my head, but in Band of Brothers, it was different. With the exception of one sex scene in Band of Brothers, I let everything slide. I sort of understand WHY that is, but I found it interesting none-the-less.

08 August 2006

Bed on Time

So ... there seems to be so little for me to do tonight, it appears I'll be able to make it to bed a decent hour. To combat this, I blog, but nevertheless, it appears I'll be in bed before midnight.

I called Apple customer support today. I couldn't find a support number at first, and the number I finally came up with was for the American Customer Support line. After being on the phone for a total of 15 minutes, the dude I was speaking to realized I was Canadian, and gave me the correct number.

The girl I talked to for Canadian help was great. I could have told her straight up "My CD drive is broken and needs to be replaced." but I didn't, and subsequently spent the next 20ish minutes doing whatever she told me to, in order to figure out the problem. She gave me the number to the MUN service center in St. Johns, to call tomorrow and see if they can help me.

This is what irks me about that: I was IN MUN two weeks ago, looking for said service center. I went to the campus tech help place, and they told me the only place that would service Macs in St. Johns was JW Allen. Not only do I not want to leave my 2 thousand dollar computer in their quite incapable hands, but we couldn't find the shop anyways.

So here I am looking at shipping my Mac back there, at my cost, when I was already in there and told there was nothing anybody could do for me.

Anyways, I'm going to be Mac-less for a little bit, but that's okay. As long as everything's tip-top for University, that's what counts.

In other news, I downloaded the Dead Rising demo on X Box Live today. That is an incredibly gory game. Is it wrong I found it oh-so-fun? Well, those are seperate issues, but I've been wondering lately what a true Christian should feel and think about the media and entertainment we partake in.

Case in point: Crash. Excelent movie, all things told. Only black marks against it are the constant streams of curses, and one or two more-explicit-than-it-needs-to-be scenes. Mind you, those are very dark, and very wide marks. Should those marks mean that I as a Christain shouldn't partake in the viewing of the movie?

Some would hear that and say "What? Are you crazy? That is drawing 'the line' back waaaaay too far." Some would say "You shouldn't even WANT to watch those movies." Thoughts?

A Far Away Future

On Relevant Forums, I had a conversation with a fellow Canadian about University and the Future. She's doing Bio-Chemestry or something, after transferring out of Engineering, I belive. I'm not expecting to stay in Computer Science for too long, so we got to talking about where we may or may not go in the future.

This has made me think a bit. I'd love to do missionary work somewhere else. I love Newfoundland, but we're not exactly being opressed here. Then I remember a guy from our Corps who moved to Germany for some time to do ministry. I don't quite remember how the conversation about that went, but I seem to recall him saying he was really running away, by going to Germany.

I'm an advid supporter of the "We're no better off than Vietnam, here in Canada" school of thought. Well, that's not exactly what I mean. What I mean is that so many people have bleeding hearts for third-world countries (and well they should), but here in Canada, and The USA, and other developed countries, we have a certain moral decay. We need missionaries here too, in a way.

So I've been thinking. I'd love to go away, and work in some sort of ministry elsewhere, furthering the church, but why do I want that? Is it because it's exotic? Perhaps. Is that a good reason to go? Absolutely not.

At the same time, I just recalled a statement I found in the War Cry one day. It went something like this (Where X is a large number): "X number of countries have expressed the desire for the Salvation Army to move in and do good works. The only thing holding the Army back is a lack of people." I'm sure it was more eloquent, but you get it.

And in keeping with the theme, I'm going reccomend once again that everybody check out "THE-SLEEPING-GIANT-WILL-AWAKE," the blog of a Salvationist who smuggles Bibles (not FOR the Salvation Army), mostly into China, but lately into North Korea and Vietnam as well. There's a romanticism there as well, which has me interested in that path of life, but again: is this feeling a desire to spread God's word, or just a desire for adventure?

07 August 2006

Weekend at Nan's: Picture-Post Edition

So this is going to end up being a picture post for the weekend. I'm wasting time before I have to mow the lawn.


This is a shot taken down the beach from "Nan's." The wharf in the foreground is the neighbour's, and in the background is "Nan's." The end of the latter wharf looked like it was about to fall off, so I was wary of going out there for the first half of the weekend. It's strong enough to hold me and meagan, though, so it seems good enough. I really like this picture too.

This is a shot of Norris Point from "Nan's." There was a ferry that went across, that I wanted to get on, but circumstances wouldn't allow. In all honesty, I'd probably kick myself for going over there anyways, since there's not much there.

The afforementioned ferry. This one apparently costs $30/ride. There's another one that costs $6/ride, but we couldn't find that one. Besides, by the time we were ready to try it, we would have been 1730 before we got back to Woody Point. Problematic since we actually left at about 1400.

A nice little water-fall-ish thing I found near the neighbour's property. It looks so much nicer in person.

It rained too. Sarah and Meagan got some yellow ponchos for $1.49! I didn't wear mine, but the two girls had a good time petending to be lemons, or banannas, or chicks, or something. I didn't get a picture of them dancing, which is too bad, really.

It was a weekend of much picture-taking, except for Sarah forgot to charge her camera, which died pretty early into the first day. Meagan's and my own cameras died later, but since ours take regular batteries, picture-taking continued.

We decided to have a fire, and found this sign. Below it is a pile of wood bundles. Sarah thought it was so trusting, we took a picture. When I went to PAY for the wood, all I had was a $5 bill. I tried to stuff it through the slot on the "Money House," but it wouldn't go in. Then I discovered it wasn't even locked! So I just lifted the cover, and threw in my money. An old man watched from the shed in the extreme right of the picture, sipping his beer. I like to think he had a laugh at three teenagers taking pictures of something so simple.

Saturday, after supper, Meagan's Nan decided to go fishing. We all expected her to wait for us to be outside to leave, or something (I don't know why we expected this, but whatever). After I finished brushing my teeth, I looked into the girls' room, where they were lazing around on the beds. Something caught my eye out the window, and upon a second look, it was Nan, already 50 feet out in the water! After a shouted conversation with Meagan, she assured us that she wouldn't be going far, since "One of the oars is broken." Well that certainly aleviated Meagan's fear. Not. The picture above, are the spoils of said fishing trip.

This is a picture of Sarah and myself on the wharf, after catching fish. I cought a total of three Conners (spelling?) the weekend, and Sarah, I belive cought two. Meagan didn't catch anyhthing on a rod (she didn't really try, I don't think), but she managed to snag a total of 4 crabs in the Conner trap.

It was overall a great time. My biggest regret is that I didn't get a picture of "Nan" or the house. It was such an aweosme little house, apparently 120 years old. "Nan" was pretty cool too, despite the harassing me while playing cards.

Meagan and I also discovered something the weekend, that we can thank "Nan" and Sarah for. The louder you cheat at 120s, the less people care. Sarah and Nan would be blatantly talking about what they have, and what to do, while playing, and nobody cared, though as soon as Meagan or I gestured across the table, we were labled cheaters! Wait, WHAT?

I should also mention that Meagan has done a post on the weekend, and I suspect Sarah might soon too, so if you want to see more pictures, or another side of the story, check out their blogs.