Monthly Archives: January 2011

Jan 24 2011
Uncategorized

Lessons Learned

I played another open mic last Friday night. It was pretty good.

Open mics are terrifying experiences for me. I am fraught with worry. Did I practice enough? Will I forget what I’m doing once I’m up there in front of everyone? What if someone picks the exact same song as me? Do I just not have the chops to perform live? Is my hair okay? What if I break a string?

In addition, I am gripped by the most harrowing feelings in the pit of my stomach.

Nerves.

So when I started into the first chords of my performance, what I specifically did not worry about was a certifiably crazy woman making her way into the performance area, precariously sloshing a cup of tea, standing in front of me, and starting to sing a different song.

Naturally, this is exactly what happened. Continue reading →

Jan 21 2011
Games, Technology

Playing Video Games with Audience Participation

I have a couple of friends that absolutely love having over when I play video games. I love them as an audience.

I played through the first Dead Space, which is a fantastic game, by myself, but then I played through it again, with an audience and it is still a great game. In fact, it is my opinion that the audience made it better.

I played Heavy Rain entirely in this manner, and the experience was harrowing, to say the least. There are times in that experience where I had to repeat difficult sections with an audience member screaming or gripping my arm. Overall, there was an additional level of tension not unlike performance anxiety.

But we all got through and my friends, who normally would never play video games, got to enjoy the storyline.

I’m thinking about starting up Uncharted with the same folks, as well as possibly Dead Space 2. I think it will be a good time.