Now that our new house is somewhat in order, I thought I’d take a moment and invite you into my home theater room (or as my wife refers to it: my “nerd lair”). It’s definitely not the geek cave that I had in the past, as I’ve decided to only display some of my more useful or favorite items – leaving the real nerdy stuff (action figures, 15 cartons of comics, etc) in my corner of the garage where it probably belongs. This time around, I went for more of a design element, creating my ‘FrankenShelf’ from Ikea’s BESTA line and its high gloss white cabinet doors. This view is only of the media wall, which my 20mm lens makes look way farther away than it is in real life – the reverse angle would show two giant, black recliners where I “sit away the calories playing video games”.
This morning I took a break from my php coding and internet strategery to save the world (yet again). Diego was out sick, so instead I teamed-up with Kai Lan and Dora The Explorer to go on an adventure. We did some counting, organized shapes and colors, and then KILLED THE LAST UNICORN. All of this ended with a cheerful music number, followed by shots of Barenjager.
Ok, not really. Dora and Kai Lan actually came by the Daily Buzz studio this morning to promote their touring Nickelodeon show. We brought in Eliza, so that she could meet her idols. They were super-friendly (as expected) and were accompanied by a large bouncer/stylist. My daughter waved goodbye to them from inside our office as I snapped a final shot of them getting into a towncar – not onto a Pegasus, which is banned from the Full Sail parking lots. It sorta looks like TMZ was following Dora around town, right?
This weekend, while unpacking boxes, I came across one of the many “nerd boxes” (as my wife calls them) containing various “collectibles” (which I like to call them) including my Star Trek dolls. So I decided to grab the entire crew of the U.S.S. Voyager and let my little toddler monster play house with them. I dumped them on the floor in front her, strategically timed to distract her while I assembled a mammoth Ikea entertainment center. It didn’t work, since she ended-up having a million questions about each doll. You know, typical stuff like, “Why don’t they have the same uniforms as the DS9 crew since they were active during the same stardate?” and “Shouldn’t Lieutenant-Commander Tuvok be wearing blue, rather than yellow?” So I had to take time to explain to her that the ship was out-of-contact in the Gamma Quadrant before Starfleet went to war with the Jem’Hadar and switched to the newer uniforms, and that Tuvok was a science officer earlier in his career, but wore yellow because the was a Tactical officer now.
Even when you cross off the imaginary items off the list, I still have plenty of work to accomplish around the new LLR headquarters. Eventually, I’ll be posting some shots (once the home renovation is done).
My next step is to get the wireless cloud improved, before I get back to the real physical labor stuff. Luckily, I don’t have many meda devices hooked-up yet, so techno distractions are still minimal.
Yesterday morning, the sensational off-Broadway starlett and Tupperware pitchlady, Dixie Longate stopped by the Daily Buzz studios to hawk her plastic wares and show off her kindly Southern charm. I pulled her aside for an impromptu video interview (which is crazy-hilarious; can’t wait to start posting it in a few weeks), but not before we posed as two sassy Tupperware divas. (Am I working that bowl or what?) In case you’re interested in getting something from her online store, just follow the link on her homepage titled, “buy stuff, hookers!”
A sure sign of the impending nuclear holocaust is when you start seeing “Pip Boy” the Vault-Tec logo appearing on industrial machinery, like this generator in West Orlando. I noticed the large sticker on this industrial generator on the way home during our boring-ass commute last week and made a mental note that I absolutely had to take a photo before it was gone or vandalized. I’m crazy fanatic about the Fallout games, so to see some random thing like this is pretty rad.
Taking the photo was a real pain. It was off the road, in a place where parking is wholly impossible. I trekked through high, grassy weeds that were crawling with lizards, in ninety-degree heat. Then I found that I had nowhere to stand that wasn’t on an ant hill – which gave me a ninety second window to snap some shots before the little bastards started biting my ankles. It’s sorta funny, considering that in Fallout 3 one of the first things I did after leaving Vault 101 was murder dozens of irradiated mutant ants. Virtual karma is a bitch.
I still ended up having a fun, spontaneous adventure tonight, and was completely floored when I got back home and realized that there’s a perfect robot shadow on the right side of the photo!
The chance of me actually starting a band is unlikely, since I really don’t play any instruments, apart from depeche-mode’n around on the keyboard. And while I tear up the stage at karaoke, I can’t really sing. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
But, I like to keep the dream alive by updating my list of possible names for my future indie rock-electro band. Here’s the list I have currently loaded in my iPhone notes application. My friend Audio (the editor of Android Delight – which would be another wicked-cool band name!) said that “the closest we’ll ever get to forming a band will be on Xbox Live in Rock Band.” Yeah, he’s probably right. Maybe it’s a good time to finally start the search for Emotional Laser’s new drummer.
This past weekend, I packed up my Xbox 360 and an LCD monitor, and cruised over to a coworkers house for a night of playing Modern Warfare 2 with “the guys”. (I don’t really have my own “the guys” but for the sake of this post, we’ll sort of pretend that I do.) I learned two harsh realities that evening, the first being that you can’t system link Call of Duty for a house full of dudes, as the game only permits single player xbox link-ups. Lame.
The second thing I learned was that I’ll probably always be a noob when it comes to playing MW2 and online first-person shooters. These are the main five reasons:
1.I don’t spend enough time practicing online. Seems rather obvious, right? My problem: I had to get over the reasoning that simply because I played a lot of first-person shooter games, I should be good at any of them, in any setting. It’s sorta like a bunch of nerds playing D&D or World of Warcraft and assuming they’d have have a chance against an Orc, if they were to suddenly face one in real life. That’s not to say that all of my single player skills are wasted, at the very least they taught me how to move and aim.
2.Simply moving and aiming is not good enough. To survive in the fast-paced world on online warfare you need to MOVE! and AIM! But, you also need to know when to stay put and wait. My problem: I’m always in one place too long, or not long enough. And I really don’t have the finesse that it takes to be a killing machine. When watching the playback of my murder on the killcam, I’m amazed at the twitchy and jerky movement of my opponents. They move like a brutal, killing insect while I seem to really take my time aiming and lining up the shot. Much like my golf swing, I’ve been practicing mostly bad habits.
3.This isn’t my story and I’m not the hero. The problem with playing so many co-op or single player campaigns is that you tend to believe that you’re special. Enemy troops always rush at you from convenient locations in a perfectly timed rhythm. You should know your objectives and which way you should be moving on the map. This is all flipped upside-down in multiplayer. The maps are closed and death is your only exit. Players don’t come at you in a linear way, but punish you sideways with all sorts of inventive maneuvering. My problem: I tend to be to too cinematic. I picture myself running about, taking down enemies with the help of my friendly comrades and everything I do is part of some sort of blockbuster action sequence. When in reality, the better players aren’t even thinking, but rather moving, shooting, moving, grenade, explode, die, respawn, moving, shooting…
4.I don’t know the maps. And to be honest, I’ll never know the maps. I just know the places that I always die on the maps. My friends try to show me the prime spots to hang out and snipe at people, but when I finally get up into the roost someone is already there, ready to rock my face with a shotgun. My most successful moments are when I find a decent location, and can keep dropping enemies as they come through my bottlenecked area until I get stabbed in the back by a ninja person or humped by a guy holding a riot shield.
5.I’m a bit of a carebear. That’s gamerspeak for, “pussy”. Although if you play shooters on Xbox Live for any amount of time, you’ll realize that is one of the milder terms of endearment. My problem: I just like having fun, casually shooting at people. I don’t have the heart (nor skill) to constantly be at the enemy spawn point machine-gun raping the same guy over and over again. (Because usually, I’m the guy respawning.) I suppose that’s why I’m making this list. Not to make excuses, but rather to embrace my noobness and try learn from it…one horrible agonizing death at a time.
Four Rivers Smokehouse
Full Sail 2
NYPD Pizza
Aveda Institute
TrenD
