Monthly Archives: April 2009

Apr 30 2009
Games

Zombies

I’ve been playing a lot of Left 4 Dead and really itching to play Call of Duty: World at War’s Nazi Zombies mode.  Also looking forward to Dead Rising 2, which appears to be zombies in Las Vegas.  Dead Space was essentially zombies in, well, in space.

I don’t actually know what the appeal is.  I’m not what you would call a hardcore zombie enthusiast, although I have read World War Z and I enjoyed Bruce Campbell versus the Army of Darkness.  I’m not a huge fan (although I have watched) the Romero movies.  I know about the zombie flash mobs in San Francisco but I’ve never participated in any sort of zombie themed get together.

I’m trying to figure out the appeal.  It may be the general fascination with Robots, Pirates, Ninjas and Zombies, the four internet food groups.  The great rivalry, the debate over which apocalypse is the most likely scenario is just so hard to avoid.

It may be the “camp” factor, although neither Left 4 Dead nor Nazi Zombies is very campy.

Ultimately, it may just be the gameplay in those games that’s appealing.  Cooperative gameplay at its most fun.  The idea of people coming together and failing repeatedly and trying again against an unfeeling tide of undead.  What’s interesting is that you canot “win” or beat either of these games.

You can only survive longer than last time.  So people are, in short, returning to games where they lose repeatedly against the undead.

Apr 29 2009
Uncategorized

Chess, The Musical!

It exists, and has existed, for a long time.  I’ve wanted to see a production of it, but I’ve never been able to catch it anywhere.

Involved: Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson formerly of ABBA and Tim Rice.  Yes, those guys.

What most people don’t realize is that they’ve most likely already heard music from it.

One Night in Bangkok and I Know Him So Well are both from Chess.

I’ve  been listening to the double album for well over a decade now and didn’t realize that there’s a “new” supposedly official version that premiered as a concert DVD.  I’d like to check that out once it comes out.  Gives me some hope that I’ll be able to catch a production at some point.

Tagged
Apr 28 2009
1 Comment
Uncategorized

I feel like doing

Something musical.

Well now, this sounds like a project.

Apr 27 2009
Uncategorized

Twofer

For a while now, the air conditioning convectors in the condo have been adequate, but they suffered from a poor air distribution model.  That is, one side of the condo would end up extremely cold or hot, and then the other side would gain no benefit at all from the cooled or heated air.

I’d prefer the entire condo be one uniform temperature, but since it comes from one vent, it was going to take some work.

Or so I thought.

I had a table laying around, doing nothing.  More accurately, it was a tabletop and two legs, sitting in a closet unused.  A quick trip to IKEA for some four inch stands and I am now the proud owner of a very western version of a kotatsu.  The four inch stands sit directly on top of the convector, which is very securely embedded in the wall.  The treated air now shoots directly into the bottom of this table and is channeled into the center of the living room.

Where it now cools a good portion of the family room instead of shooting directly upwards at the ceiling.  I’ll have to stop by the hardware store tomorrow and pick up some magnetic vent covers to more adequately control the flow of air to directly underneath the table.

Air circulation aside, with the two storage benches that were already in the condo, there is now a table right next to the window that can act as a breakfast nook or breakout area for laptops.

Overall, a win-win.

Apr 26 2009
Uncategorized

The new ways. Same as the old ways.

The plaster walls are off white, the color that white gets when a last minute paint job has been slapped together to sell a house, or in this case a condominium.  The dappled sunlight leaks in through the windows from over the trees, the windows barely bring in enough air in this too short spring, the one week period that Spring graces the District.

I look at my laptop, an aluminum piece of jewelry.  It barely fits into a backpack but the AC adapter is tiny.  I can only edit photographs for a couple of hours before it complains to me about being on reserve power.

I flip open the lid and connect to my wireless network.  There’s a server, somewhere, but damned if I know where it is.

One of these days, I’m really going to have to purchase a color calibration system.  Photos may be coming out just a little over saturated.

I adjust the equalizer to classic as Freddie Mercury hits one of his upper octaves and listen carefully as the changes subtly alter the performance over the music streaming to the home theater system.  My bookmarks load, tab after tab, flickr, YouTube, Google Reader, and a host of other sites.  I am assaulted by images and video and music and text.

I open up GameFAQS and read what strangers have written about Street Fighter IV.  Then I watch some tournament play videos.  I do a couple of searches and read up on what people have said about a couple of games that I’m interested in.  I read my email in a different application.  Then I read up on what my friends had for breakfast.    I make a few comments to no one in particular, although I like to think that everyone at least listens a little bit.

I think nothing of it.

Tagged
← Older posts