Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Blue Man Group and Montreal
Hi guys! It's time for another blog update. Well, this afternoon I posted pictures on Facebook, so if you have Facebook, go ahead and look at the pictures, while I write some stuff here that I didn't mention on Facebook.
(interesting… I'm typing this on my mac, since the keyboard is hooked up to the mac; I'm using TextEdit, which is pretty much notepad. Anyway, it's interesting because when I type Facebook, it recognizes it and capitalizes it for me. Interesting, eh?)
Blue Man Group
Anyway, this past week has been pretty cool. Last Wednesday, we went to see the Blue Man Group in Toronto, as my mom got tickets to see them ($89, ~12th row, in the middle at the bottom (orchestra) ). So the seats were almost as good as you can get. To be honest, I didn't expect much from the show; from what I know from youtube or whatever, I expected a lot of music on makeshift/odd instruments, as well as a bit of paint splattering while playing said music. But what we got was a lot more…
The show was great, from the start to the middle to the end. If you plan to go sometime, well, spoilers ahead, if not, I guess you don't mind reading spoilers. I mean, I assume the show changes from time to time, but the basic concepts would be the same.
So before the "show" starts, it's already pretty good. While the curtains are still there, the marquee comes up, tells everyone that the show will start soon, and tells everyone to cheer, and so we all cheer. It goes on to say that photos are prohibited, but sketching is allowed. lol. Also, texting during the show is not allowed, as it makes old people feel inadequate. The marquee introduced some famous people in the audience, so in unison, the audience would read the marquee and say hi to them, or congratulate them on winning the gold (an olympian was here) or having a birthday. Similarly, one woman in the audience was having a headache, so all of us, in unison, told her to feel better.
Hehe, so yeah, some pre-show comedy to start the actual show. Anyway, I'll skip the more regular parts of the show, such as the music parts. I'll just say there are a few parts involving food and audience participation. Half-way through, to replace intermission, there was an interactive segment where they had a rock concert, and the screen taught us the important "Rock Concert Movements", things every person should know, including the one armed fist-pump, the wave, and several more. One particular section I enjoyed was a scene where they were at a dinner table, the 3 blue men and a woman from the audience. I don't really want to spoil much, but it was pretty funny, as the blue men are really socially awkward and quiet and clueless.
There was another part where a couple in the audience came in late, and the show paused and the camera zoomed in and focused on them, and the words "LATE ARRIVAL" flashed on the screen. Was this part scripted? I dunno, but it was pretty cool that they had it. I'd imagine it was scripted, or else they couldn't do it every time they perform.
The final part… well, that was just amazing. It was another interactive segment, and in it they sent huge balloon balls into the audience, as we jumped and bounced them all over the place, and as they shot toiletpaper/ribbon rolls all over the audience (see the picture on Facebook). It was like being at an awesome Tiesto concert. Overall, great night.
Montreal
After that, on Friday morning, Vinh, my dad, Alex, and my mom took the day off, and we were off on our way to Montreal. There, we went out to a nice ice-cream place (twice), had Poutine, met up with Wen, went to a card store to play EDH (unfortunately, they decided to do inventory that night so they cancelled EDH night), went to a Friend's house to play Smash, and ate a fair amount of Vietnamese food. There are a few pictures on Facebook if you're interested. Anyway, now Mai has gone to NY and Connecticut, and then to Europe and she'll be gone until November.
iPhone
So, what am I doing currently? Well, a few weeks ago, I was learning to program iPhone apps, by trying to clone an existing app, NinJump. After that, I learned about cocos2d, which is an API made for the iPhone programming language (cocoa Touch, based off of Objective-C), so I started using that a bit… previously, from Isaque's BBQ, Isaque mentioned Adobe Air, so I checked that out and it seemed pretty cool.
Previously, Apple had stricter guidelines on how to make apps on the iPhone, and I think in late 2010, they loosened said guidelines. So currently, Flash still doesn't work on the iPhone, but using Adobe Flash and Adobe Air, it is possible to program something in Flash and then, through Adobe Air, have it run on iPhones. I watched a few videos on it, and it looks like it will work really well. So I started learning Actionscript 3.0 (as I only knew 2.0) and it seems actually kinda easy. So now I'm at the point where I have to come up with a good idea, and then start programming it.
To be honest, my first plan was kinda meh… instead of coming up with a great idea, I could just come up with several meh ideas and put them on the app store… since people will still buy them. Quantity vs Quality. Maybe both Quantity and Quality would be better though, so yeah… I'm back to trying to think of an idea. I'll probably start with Tower Defense or something. Oh, and I also have to buy/obtain Adobe CS5.5, which will have the newest version of Flash, with Adobe Air included. But that comes later.
Alex Khoi Pham
So for the past little while, Alex has been under a fair amount of stress; he had to finish his work report, and study for his exam. Now both are over, he has passed, and now he has more free time. Yesterday we went to EDH (Civic Holiday, what's the deal with that? They were still open though) and we played some games, fun stuff, will go again next week. Anyway, just wanted to say he has more free time now, so that means more fun time! Tales of the Abyss, more magic, some more movies, fun fun fun.
Bastion
Recently I bought a new Xbox Live Aracde game called Bastion. It's a "Summer of Arcade" game, so there was more hype around it and maybe the quality of the games should be a bit higher this time of year. Anyway, I heard about it, tried the demo, and I was a bit unsure about spending the $15-20 on it, but afterwards, Duy tried it out, he liked it enough, and so I bought it… and I really enjoy it.
Graphic-wise, I would describe it as a mix of Braid and Disgaea; it's very colorful, and hand-drawn, and very pretty. Musically, it also has some Braid-like qualities to it. The gameplay is action/adventure. It's kinda like Deathspank in a way; it's not amazingly deep, but it's still a lot of fun. Story-wise, it's not bad, and some scenes are actually pretty awesomely done, like one level in the middle and some parts near the end. Also, I do like levelling and customization of weapons, and they have that in this game too. It's enjoyable in that sense too.
Anyway, one of the selling points of the game was that it had a lot of narration, and it also had reactive narration, that is, it would react to what you are doing and then say something. For example, at one point in the demo, the earth was crumbling at your feet and you had to escape, and the fastest method of transportation was somersaulting, so we kept doing it, and the narrator says "Kid goes somersaulting like crazy." So that was neat. Or after I picked up a new weapon, I went to the Armory and switched back to my regular weapons, and the guy would say "Kid really likes his old style" or something like that. I thought that feature was pretty neat.
Overall, I really enjoy the game, even if it's sometimes just a distraction. I've beaten it, and now I'm part-way through of my New Game Plus, a feature which I think more games should have.
Drinks for a Dollar, All Sommar
I've been having so many large iced coffees lately. I love drinks for a dollar, all summer… especially since I've been going to Untouchables on Monday, but otherwise, we've been going to McDonalds a lot too. But yeah, I think I've been having too many large iced coffees… but it's still better than getting a coke, right? Also, I noticed iced coffee gets charged 5 cents tax, while coke and other drinks get more… but in Montreal, I think iced coffee gets the full HST and maybe the other drinks are less.
I could use an iced coffee right about now. It's so hot. Last week, I bought 5 junior chicken sandwiches and an iced coffee as I left untouchables, to eat and drink over the next few days… not yesterday though, but I should've. I could really use a few sips of iced coffee now.
SongViet
Duy and I will be going camping (tents, etc) on the weekend of the 19th-21st. Anyone wanna come? It's a UVSA event, but it's not limited to Vietnamese people. A few years ago, we went with some Vietnamese guys at WinMagic, and then another year we brought our German cousins and another German friend too… so yeah. Should be a fun time, haven't been camping in quite some time.
And… that's it! No plans this upcoming weekend yet, so nor the one after, so we should be free to do stuff. Also, Alex just came home, so gonna go play Worms and Smash and Tota and stuff. Byee!
Labels: bastion, blue, group, iphone, man, montreal
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Hi guys! It's time for another blog update. Well, this afternoon I posted pictures on Facebook, so if you have Facebook, go ahead and look at the pictures, while I write some stuff here that I didn't mention on Facebook.
(interesting… I'm typing this on my mac, since the keyboard is hooked up to the mac; I'm using TextEdit, which is pretty much notepad. Anyway, it's interesting because when I type Facebook, it recognizes it and capitalizes it for me. Interesting, eh?)
Blue Man Group
Anyway, this past week has been pretty cool. Last Wednesday, we went to see the Blue Man Group in Toronto, as my mom got tickets to see them ($89, ~12th row, in the middle at the bottom (orchestra) ). So the seats were almost as good as you can get. To be honest, I didn't expect much from the show; from what I know from youtube or whatever, I expected a lot of music on makeshift/odd instruments, as well as a bit of paint splattering while playing said music. But what we got was a lot more…
The show was great, from the start to the middle to the end. If you plan to go sometime, well, spoilers ahead, if not, I guess you don't mind reading spoilers. I mean, I assume the show changes from time to time, but the basic concepts would be the same.
So before the "show" starts, it's already pretty good. While the curtains are still there, the marquee comes up, tells everyone that the show will start soon, and tells everyone to cheer, and so we all cheer. It goes on to say that photos are prohibited, but sketching is allowed. lol. Also, texting during the show is not allowed, as it makes old people feel inadequate. The marquee introduced some famous people in the audience, so in unison, the audience would read the marquee and say hi to them, or congratulate them on winning the gold (an olympian was here) or having a birthday. Similarly, one woman in the audience was having a headache, so all of us, in unison, told her to feel better.
Hehe, so yeah, some pre-show comedy to start the actual show. Anyway, I'll skip the more regular parts of the show, such as the music parts. I'll just say there are a few parts involving food and audience participation. Half-way through, to replace intermission, there was an interactive segment where they had a rock concert, and the screen taught us the important "Rock Concert Movements", things every person should know, including the one armed fist-pump, the wave, and several more. One particular section I enjoyed was a scene where they were at a dinner table, the 3 blue men and a woman from the audience. I don't really want to spoil much, but it was pretty funny, as the blue men are really socially awkward and quiet and clueless.
There was another part where a couple in the audience came in late, and the show paused and the camera zoomed in and focused on them, and the words "LATE ARRIVAL" flashed on the screen. Was this part scripted? I dunno, but it was pretty cool that they had it. I'd imagine it was scripted, or else they couldn't do it every time they perform.
The final part… well, that was just amazing. It was another interactive segment, and in it they sent huge balloon balls into the audience, as we jumped and bounced them all over the place, and as they shot toiletpaper/ribbon rolls all over the audience (see the picture on Facebook). It was like being at an awesome Tiesto concert. Overall, great night.
Montreal
After that, on Friday morning, Vinh, my dad, Alex, and my mom took the day off, and we were off on our way to Montreal. There, we went out to a nice ice-cream place (twice), had Poutine, met up with Wen, went to a card store to play EDH (unfortunately, they decided to do inventory that night so they cancelled EDH night), went to a Friend's house to play Smash, and ate a fair amount of Vietnamese food. There are a few pictures on Facebook if you're interested. Anyway, now Mai has gone to NY and Connecticut, and then to Europe and she'll be gone until November.
iPhone
So, what am I doing currently? Well, a few weeks ago, I was learning to program iPhone apps, by trying to clone an existing app, NinJump. After that, I learned about cocos2d, which is an API made for the iPhone programming language (cocoa Touch, based off of Objective-C), so I started using that a bit… previously, from Isaque's BBQ, Isaque mentioned Adobe Air, so I checked that out and it seemed pretty cool.
Previously, Apple had stricter guidelines on how to make apps on the iPhone, and I think in late 2010, they loosened said guidelines. So currently, Flash still doesn't work on the iPhone, but using Adobe Flash and Adobe Air, it is possible to program something in Flash and then, through Adobe Air, have it run on iPhones. I watched a few videos on it, and it looks like it will work really well. So I started learning Actionscript 3.0 (as I only knew 2.0) and it seems actually kinda easy. So now I'm at the point where I have to come up with a good idea, and then start programming it.
To be honest, my first plan was kinda meh… instead of coming up with a great idea, I could just come up with several meh ideas and put them on the app store… since people will still buy them. Quantity vs Quality. Maybe both Quantity and Quality would be better though, so yeah… I'm back to trying to think of an idea. I'll probably start with Tower Defense or something. Oh, and I also have to buy/obtain Adobe CS5.5, which will have the newest version of Flash, with Adobe Air included. But that comes later.
Alex Khoi Pham
So for the past little while, Alex has been under a fair amount of stress; he had to finish his work report, and study for his exam. Now both are over, he has passed, and now he has more free time. Yesterday we went to EDH (Civic Holiday, what's the deal with that? They were still open though) and we played some games, fun stuff, will go again next week. Anyway, just wanted to say he has more free time now, so that means more fun time! Tales of the Abyss, more magic, some more movies, fun fun fun.
Bastion
Recently I bought a new Xbox Live Aracde game called Bastion. It's a "Summer of Arcade" game, so there was more hype around it and maybe the quality of the games should be a bit higher this time of year. Anyway, I heard about it, tried the demo, and I was a bit unsure about spending the $15-20 on it, but afterwards, Duy tried it out, he liked it enough, and so I bought it… and I really enjoy it.
Graphic-wise, I would describe it as a mix of Braid and Disgaea; it's very colorful, and hand-drawn, and very pretty. Musically, it also has some Braid-like qualities to it. The gameplay is action/adventure. It's kinda like Deathspank in a way; it's not amazingly deep, but it's still a lot of fun. Story-wise, it's not bad, and some scenes are actually pretty awesomely done, like one level in the middle and some parts near the end. Also, I do like levelling and customization of weapons, and they have that in this game too. It's enjoyable in that sense too.
Anyway, one of the selling points of the game was that it had a lot of narration, and it also had reactive narration, that is, it would react to what you are doing and then say something. For example, at one point in the demo, the earth was crumbling at your feet and you had to escape, and the fastest method of transportation was somersaulting, so we kept doing it, and the narrator says "Kid goes somersaulting like crazy." So that was neat. Or after I picked up a new weapon, I went to the Armory and switched back to my regular weapons, and the guy would say "Kid really likes his old style" or something like that. I thought that feature was pretty neat.
Overall, I really enjoy the game, even if it's sometimes just a distraction. I've beaten it, and now I'm part-way through of my New Game Plus, a feature which I think more games should have.
Drinks for a Dollar, All Sommar
I've been having so many large iced coffees lately. I love drinks for a dollar, all summer… especially since I've been going to Untouchables on Monday, but otherwise, we've been going to McDonalds a lot too. But yeah, I think I've been having too many large iced coffees… but it's still better than getting a coke, right? Also, I noticed iced coffee gets charged 5 cents tax, while coke and other drinks get more… but in Montreal, I think iced coffee gets the full HST and maybe the other drinks are less.
I could use an iced coffee right about now. It's so hot. Last week, I bought 5 junior chicken sandwiches and an iced coffee as I left untouchables, to eat and drink over the next few days… not yesterday though, but I should've. I could really use a few sips of iced coffee now.
SongViet
Duy and I will be going camping (tents, etc) on the weekend of the 19th-21st. Anyone wanna come? It's a UVSA event, but it's not limited to Vietnamese people. A few years ago, we went with some Vietnamese guys at WinMagic, and then another year we brought our German cousins and another German friend too… so yeah. Should be a fun time, haven't been camping in quite some time.
And… that's it! No plans this upcoming weekend yet, so nor the one after, so we should be free to do stuff. Also, Alex just came home, so gonna go play Worms and Smash and Tota and stuff. Byee!
Labels: bastion, blue, group, iphone, man, montreal