Wednesday, August 22, 2007
August 22nd update of Internet, Real Life, TV, and Videogames
It’s 8:38 AM, and I’m not at work… I’ll continue this blog post when I’m in the office :)
Okay, it’s 10:32 AM now… so now I can blog! Anyway, I haven’t blogged for a while, so it either means I’ve been really busy (with work, or with lots of fun), or nothing has been happening, and unfortunately, it’s the latter. The summer is coming to an end, the relatives are gone (Jan is here though), and we’re not going on anymore cruises or around-the-world vacations. But, I still found a few things to blog about, but they’re mostly about videogames, movies, tv shows, internet stuff, etc… so in some hand-picked order of goodness to badness… sentence over…
Internet Stuff
I’ve been interacting more with Facebook lately, with two applications in particular; the first is Facebook video, which you can think of as YouTube, but with the target audience being your friends. The other day we were looking for home videos (the ones on VHS) and we found some, and I started uploading some embarrassing (yet memorable) videos onto facebook, and it’s causing quite a stir, although a good one. I’ve been getting lots of comments, and it’s fun!
Most of you (except maybe Ambrose and Duy) have Facebook, so most of you can access all of the below. Come check out some old videos, like the parties, which I’ve tagged some of you in already… but also check out my other videos, like the famous home video of Jurassic Park, home video of “The Drunk Dad”, and home video of “Godzilla”.
It’s like, this is what I was meant to do on Facebook. Back then, we were the geeky nerds that take video and pictures at parties; I mean, nowadays, everyone has a digital camera and it’s no longer geeky or nerdy to take pictures. Back then though, it’s rare to have a camera at a party, unless it belonged to the parents’, which, in our case, was true. So we hold all the pictures and videos that nobody else has, and now, over Facebook, is the time to share these embarrassing moments. Bwahahaha!
The second Facebook application is Scrabulous, which is just Scrabble. I love scrabble, so I’ve been playing it more and more on Facebook. It’s a turn-based thing, where I use my tiles, and then my opponent uses their tiles, except it’s like e-mail so you don’t both have to be online at the same time and stuff. Sure, it usually takes a few hours in between turns, so you’d probably play a few games simultaneously. Anyway, if you love scrabble, I suggest you get the application, and I’ll challenge you!
Anyways, even though the Miami pictures are done and up, I’m working on Miami videos now. I’ve taken a lot of video footage on our trip, and I’d like to put my video-editing skills to some good use and make some neat music-video-montages. I’ve already done a surfing-video, which I’ve posted on Facebook (check that one out! Aren’t I an awesome surfer? :P ), and I’m working on a Miami-Streets video (although it’s kinda boring), and soon on a Touristy-video, which you won’t want to miss, bwahahaha.
Real Life Stuff
I hear a few people might be going to Waterloo on Sunday, to clean the townhouse up a bit before we let it go forever. I’m not sure if I want to go yet, so we’ll see.
Also, sometime next week (probably a weekday), we might be going to the EX! I haven’t been there in a while, but Jan, our German friend is here, so we’re gonna take him for some fun. Actually, I think I might’ve been there last year… but whatever. Anyone wanna come?
TV and Movie Stuff
Haven’t gone out to the movies in a while… ‘was gonna see Stardust but we copped out, might see Bourne Ultimatum but haven’t seen the other two yet… but that’s okay, with TV shows like “On The Lot”. I caught a couple of the later episodes, and it just ended yesterday, but I really love the show. If you don’t know about the show, it’s about 16 filmmakers in a contest to win a million-dollar movie deal with Dreamworks. So every week the filmmakers have to churn out a short-movie based on a theme of the week, and every week someone gets eliminated until someone wins the big prize.
So imagine going to the Film Festival and watching a few 60-80 minute indie films, some artsy, some very creative… which is pretty cool, which is what I’d like to do… but now, instead we can watch a dozen movies a week, each about 2-3 minutes in length, each from independent filmmakers who are just starting out. “On The Lot” is like a dream come true, if you’re into that sort of stuff.
Anyways, so I missed some videos, but a bunch of them are up on YouTube so you can check some there. I’ll link to some of the good ones if you want.
In Miami, I got a present for me and a present for Isaque. For him, I got a dvd titled “Godzilla vs. Mecha Godzilla”, and for me, a dvd called “Godzilla: Tokyo SOS”, which I think is the sequel to Isaque’s present. Anyway, we watched Tokyo SOS!
It’s… good! Hahaha, it’s still a Godzilla movie, so it’s kinda bad, but it’s also pretty good. It’s too good to be compared to the likes of RobotJox, to say the least. I haven’t seen a Godzilla movie in a while, so this was a great way to watch… sentence over…
Videogame Stuff
In PS2 news, we’ve finally completed Tales of the Abyss. We went back, farmed more Grade, and now we’ve started a new game in the Unknown difficulty. We’ve just beaten the Liger boss (Duy and Jia were playing so far)… only took us 88 minutes. That’s a bit misleading; the part before Jade came took 87 minutes, and then it took another minute after Jade came. Y..yeah? At least we managed to get over 500 grade…
In other PS2 news, my sister started playing Guitar Hero with Vinh. She just finished the Easy campaign and is just starting Medium now. Eventually, she’ll be an expert guitarist like me! … and then she’ll surpass me too… but whatever.
In other news, I’ve been thinking about an electric guitar; not thinking hard, but it’s on the tip of my… brain… anyway, the other day we were at Hawk’s house, and Hawk’s brother, Eagl.. I mean, Issan, he had an electric guitar and he was playing one of the songs from Guitar Hero II (Laid to Rest). It sounded kinda decent, and so I asked him how long he’s been playing, and he says about 8 months. So that’s not too bad! Sure, I could use my dad’s guitar, but I guess it’s a fairly different sound. But I’m thinking about it, but nothing concrete yet.
In Xbox news, I’ve been trying out a few new demos that have been popping up on Xbox Live.
Stuntman – Ignition: Fun premise, not so fun game; you drive a car around as a stuntman, as the director tells you what to do, meanwhile explosions and crazy stuff is happening around you; but it’s so much like a chore, and you have to start over if you do too many wrong things and the director gets mad at you… so it’s too strict.
Project Sylpheed: Turns out it’s like a 3d mech game (with a ship, not a mech), like Zegapain and those games Isaque likes; unfortunately, we don’t.
Eternal Sonata: I haven’t played it, but I watched Duy play it a bit, seems okay I suppose; I’ll play it later, but I don’t think we care too much about it.
Stranglehold: After reading what Penny Arcade said about it, I downloaded the demo and… it’s much like what Penny Arcade says. I too did not have high hopes for this game when I watched some videos a few months ago, but it’s actually quite fun. I would say it’s like an “Asian Max Payne”; it’s kinda like Max Payne, but in an Asian setting; instead of a gritty white cop, you play as Chow Yun Fat; and instead of playing in Subways and Mafia apartment buildings, you play in Chinese alleyways and streets.
Overall, Stranglehold is fun, yet somewhat… flimsy. I used the same adjective to describe Lego Star Wars, where the movement feels kinda weird in its environment. But anyway, it’s a fun game, and it’s pretty stylish at times. If the demo represents half a level, and the full game is 7 levels… well, it sounds tempting, but I think I can manage for a while before I purchase it.
And last but not least… Bioshock.
Ooh, Bioshock. Penny Arcade tells me the demo is out for PC now, so I recommend it if you have the graphics power to run it. Bioshock is a very pretty game, and also a very creepy scary game. The lighting and mood and sounds and atmosphere make the game all sorts of oooh and ahhh. From the very start, you do feel the kinda scary feeling, as you’re escaping from a plane crash in the water and then ending up at this weird castle thing with weird technology.
Overall, it’s a pretty creepy game with awesome graphics and effects. The black and white checkerboard pattern on the floors fit with really nicely… it’s like they did a lot of research on ‘what is creepy’ and stuck it all in this game. As to whether I purchase the game or not, or what system… well, we’ll see.
Anyways, that ends another long update about the many various things.
Labels: bioshock, facebook, godzilla, on the lot, scrabble, video
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It’s 8:38 AM, and I’m not at work… I’ll continue this blog post when I’m in the office :) Okay, it’s 10:32 AM now… so now I can blog! Anyway, I haven’t blogged for a while, so it either means I’ve been really busy (with work, or with lots of fun), or nothing has been happening, and unfortunately, it’s the latter. The summer is coming to an end, the relatives are gone (Jan is here though), and we’re not going on anymore cruises or around-the-world vacations. But, I still found a few things to blog about, but they’re mostly about videogames, movies, tv shows, internet stuff, etc… so in some hand-picked order of goodness to badness… sentence over… Internet Stuff I’ve been interacting more with Facebook lately, with two applications in particular; the first is Facebook video, which you can think of as YouTube, but with the target audience being your friends. The other day we were looking for home videos (the ones on VHS) and we found some, and I started uploading some embarrassing (yet memorable) videos onto facebook, and it’s causing quite a stir, although a good one. I’ve been getting lots of comments, and it’s fun! Most of you (except maybe Ambrose and Duy) have Facebook, so most of you can access all of the below. Come check out some old videos, like the parties, which I’ve tagged some of you in already… but also check out my other videos, like the famous home video of Jurassic Park, home video of “The Drunk Dad”, and home video of “Godzilla”. It’s like, this is what I was meant to do on Facebook. Back then, we were the geeky nerds that take video and pictures at parties; I mean, nowadays, everyone has a digital camera and it’s no longer geeky or nerdy to take pictures. Back then though, it’s rare to have a camera at a party, unless it belonged to the parents’, which, in our case, was true. So we hold all the pictures and videos that nobody else has, and now, over Facebook, is the time to share these embarrassing moments. Bwahahaha! The second Facebook application is Scrabulous, which is just Scrabble. I love scrabble, so I’ve been playing it more and more on Facebook. It’s a turn-based thing, where I use my tiles, and then my opponent uses their tiles, except it’s like e-mail so you don’t both have to be online at the same time and stuff. Sure, it usually takes a few hours in between turns, so you’d probably play a few games simultaneously. Anyway, if you love scrabble, I suggest you get the application, and I’ll challenge you! Anyways, even though the Miami pictures are done and up, I’m working on Miami videos now. I’ve taken a lot of video footage on our trip, and I’d like to put my video-editing skills to some good use and make some neat music-video-montages. I’ve already done a surfing-video, which I’ve posted on Facebook (check that one out! Aren’t I an awesome surfer? :P ), and I’m working on a Miami-Streets video (although it’s kinda boring), and soon on a Touristy-video, which you won’t want to miss, bwahahaha. Real Life Stuff I hear a few people might be going to Waterloo on Sunday, to clean the townhouse up a bit before we let it go forever. I’m not sure if I want to go yet, so we’ll see. Also, sometime next week (probably a weekday), we might be going to the EX! I haven’t been there in a while, but Jan, our German friend is here, so we’re gonna take him for some fun. Actually, I think I might’ve been there last year… but whatever. Anyone wanna come? TV and Movie Stuff Haven’t gone out to the movies in a while… ‘was gonna see Stardust but we copped out, might see Bourne Ultimatum but haven’t seen the other two yet… but that’s okay, with TV shows like “On The Lot”. I caught a couple of the later episodes, and it just ended yesterday, but I really love the show. If you don’t know about the show, it’s about 16 filmmakers in a contest to win a million-dollar movie deal with Dreamworks. So every week the filmmakers have to churn out a short-movie based on a theme of the week, and every week someone gets eliminated until someone wins the big prize. So imagine going to the Film Festival and watching a few 60-80 minute indie films, some artsy, some very creative… which is pretty cool, which is what I’d like to do… but now, instead we can watch a dozen movies a week, each about 2-3 minutes in length, each from independent filmmakers who are just starting out. “On The Lot” is like a dream come true, if you’re into that sort of stuff. Anyways, so I missed some videos, but a bunch of them are up on YouTube so you can check some there. I’ll link to some of the good ones if you want. In Miami, I got a present for me and a present for Isaque. For him, I got a dvd titled “Godzilla vs. Mecha Godzilla”, and for me, a dvd called “Godzilla: Tokyo SOS”, which I think is the sequel to Isaque’s present. Anyway, we watched Tokyo SOS! It’s… good! Hahaha, it’s still a Godzilla movie, so it’s kinda bad, but it’s also pretty good. It’s too good to be compared to the likes of RobotJox, to say the least. I haven’t seen a Godzilla movie in a while, so this was a great way to watch… sentence over… Videogame Stuff In PS2 news, we’ve finally completed Tales of the Abyss. We went back, farmed more Grade, and now we’ve started a new game in the Unknown difficulty. We’ve just beaten the Liger boss (Duy and Jia were playing so far)… only took us 88 minutes. That’s a bit misleading; the part before Jade came took 87 minutes, and then it took another minute after Jade came. Y..yeah? At least we managed to get over 500 grade… In other PS2 news, my sister started playing Guitar Hero with Vinh. She just finished the Easy campaign and is just starting Medium now. Eventually, she’ll be an expert guitarist like me! … and then she’ll surpass me too… but whatever. In other news, I’ve been thinking about an electric guitar; not thinking hard, but it’s on the tip of my… brain… anyway, the other day we were at Hawk’s house, and Hawk’s brother, Eagl.. I mean, Issan, he had an electric guitar and he was playing one of the songs from Guitar Hero II (Laid to Rest). It sounded kinda decent, and so I asked him how long he’s been playing, and he says about 8 months. So that’s not too bad! Sure, I could use my dad’s guitar, but I guess it’s a fairly different sound. But I’m thinking about it, but nothing concrete yet. In Xbox news, I’ve been trying out a few new demos that have been popping up on Xbox Live. Stuntman – Ignition: Fun premise, not so fun game; you drive a car around as a stuntman, as the director tells you what to do, meanwhile explosions and crazy stuff is happening around you; but it’s so much like a chore, and you have to start over if you do too many wrong things and the director gets mad at you… so it’s too strict. Project Sylpheed: Turns out it’s like a 3d mech game (with a ship, not a mech), like Zegapain and those games Isaque likes; unfortunately, we don’t. Eternal Sonata: I haven’t played it, but I watched Duy play it a bit, seems okay I suppose; I’ll play it later, but I don’t think we care too much about it. Stranglehold: After reading what Penny Arcade said about it, I downloaded the demo and… it’s much like what Penny Arcade says. I too did not have high hopes for this game when I watched some videos a few months ago, but it’s actually quite fun. I would say it’s like an “Asian Max Payne”; it’s kinda like Max Payne, but in an Asian setting; instead of a gritty white cop, you play as Chow Yun Fat; and instead of playing in Subways and Mafia apartment buildings, you play in Chinese alleyways and streets. Overall, Stranglehold is fun, yet somewhat… flimsy. I used the same adjective to describe Lego Star Wars, where the movement feels kinda weird in its environment. But anyway, it’s a fun game, and it’s pretty stylish at times. If the demo represents half a level, and the full game is 7 levels… well, it sounds tempting, but I think I can manage for a while before I purchase it. And last but not least… Bioshock. Ooh, Bioshock. Penny Arcade tells me the demo is out for PC now, so I recommend it if you have the graphics power to run it. Bioshock is a very pretty game, and also a very creepy scary game. The lighting and mood and sounds and atmosphere make the game all sorts of oooh and ahhh. From the very start, you do feel the kinda scary feeling, as you’re escaping from a plane crash in the water and then ending up at this weird castle thing with weird technology. Overall, it’s a pretty creepy game with awesome graphics and effects. The black and white checkerboard pattern on the floors fit with really nicely… it’s like they did a lot of research on ‘what is creepy’ and stuck it all in this game. As to whether I purchase the game or not, or what system… well, we’ll see. Anyways, that ends another long update about the many various things. |
Labels: bioshock, facebook, godzilla, on the lot, scrabble, video