8.31.2004

Anime: Fun for all

Wired.com has an article about some history of anime and three of the major players in Japan that make anime. It also talks about three new anime movies coming to the US this fall, hopefully. I can't wait to see them. I don't think I've ever seen anime on the big screen. I can only imagine how much better it is.

8.30.2004

A test of will

Today, I took...well, looked at and cried...a pre-screening test for a game development company I had submitted my resume to on Friday. I looked and looked at this test for 3 hours before giving up. They said I couldn't use reference so there's no way I could have done it. Out of 5 questions, I could only do 2 of them for sure. And they weren't very hard questions. Two of the three remaining questions you would use recursion to solve. However, I could never figure out anything complex using recursion. I could have solved one of them not using recursion but stipulations said I basically couldn't. So now I realize the best position I'll ever get at any software company is that of code monkey. But if I have any more tests like that, I'm gonna be unemployed for a very, very, very long time. :(

Doom Doom Doom Movie

So, there's this movie that is being based on Doom being made. I'll make predictions right now: It Will Suck. Here's my proof.

This is an interview with the CEO of id, Todd Hollenshead. Within in it he says "...we're very happy with [the script]." As we all know id was never known for their specatular plot lines in their games. Hell, Doom 3 is probably the first with a plot line, but I heard not a very good one. So, what this movie will amount to is a dark, visual experience with no plot or a plot where whole ocean liners could sail through.

Yup, that's about it. My name is Keith and I approve this message.

8.29.2004

On Being 29

So, I'm 29 now. It's kind of like being 28, just separated by a few days.

Yesterday we went and turned in stuff at Hastings for store credit. If you turn in books there, you basically get double the cash amount in store credit. CD's, DVD's and games didn't have that great of a bonus for store credit, but it was all good. Anyway, I finally updated myself into the current realm of D&D by getting the 3.5 versions of the Players Handbook and Dungeon Masters Guide. They changed a lot since I lasted played 2nd edition. BTW, if anybody is interested in learning/playing this 30 year old game, don't hesitate to contact me. I would be happy to teach anybody. I've already started to teach my 6 year old son. :)

Later, we went and saw Hero at the Mall. First we had to take Dave to my dad's house for some babysitting. I think it was the first time my dad has watched him in several years, 4 or 5 years. He seemed like he had fun there. Everything but the dog that my dad has. The movie was good. Though I seem like I missed a lot of the scenes because I was reading the subtitles. I found myself reading the subs fast and quickly moving up to the top of the screen to see everything.

Well, that's it for now. Oh yeah, it's worthy of me to say that Seattle will be playing their last pre-season game on Thursday. Watch it on tape delay!

8.28.2004

Seattle brings it to past division rivals Chargers

dateline: Yesterday.

The Seattle Seahawks walked all over the offense of the San Diego Chargers yesterday in a pre-season game featuring a half time firework display. The fireworks were the only things to light up the scoreboard for San Diego up until the third quarter.

Seattle started off with an interception by Ken Lucas which was ran back for a touchdown but was recalled after a pentalty on the Seahawks. But a few plays later delivered Seattle's first score of the night. The rest of the night was filled with special teams hits and misses for both teams. On a field goal attempt by San Diego, Seattle blocked and returned for a touchdown. The second half was quiet for Seattle's offense.

Overall, I think they played a hell of a game and can't wait for the start of the regular season on September 9th.

8.26.2004

WTF?!?

Just cruising my eXTReMe tracking thing and this came up. My site is number two. What the hell? Do you thik I can get Google on slander? How is my blog anyway related to this topic other than Dawn posting about it a while back on her own site? That Elijah Wood site is not in the very least entertaining and I have actual quality things to say. Gah, technology has it in for me.

Paul Hamm, Whiney Bitch?

A few a you might be watching the Olympics. Good for you. I watch the news the next morning to see what boring events got medals for the US. Yay US.

A couple of days of ago was some sort of men's gymnastics medal round. On that night, Paul Hamm got the gold. But there was a math error which forced another competitor not to get the gold, a South Korean named Yang Tae-young. This gentleman only got the bronze because of the scoring error. Three judges got suspended and the Olympic committee said there was indeed a problem. There went out a petition for the South Korean to get a co-gold for the event. But Paul Hamm believes in his heart of hearts that he is the winner.

I saw him in an interview on the Today morning news show on NBC and he seemed like a pompous little ass. The spirit of the Olympics is not to go and win every gold. It's not to beat the competition into the ground. It's a time of camaraderieship and leaving predefined notions at the door. It's the only time when two countries whom had centuries of disputes with one another can be in the same stadium without killing each other. But not to Paul Hamm. Paul Hamm is The Best. Period. He can't share anything with anybody. In that interview, he said that there was another deduction, only seen in replays, that the judges could have taken which they didn't which is why Yang Tae-young doesn't deserve the gold. I think I might have missed something, but I think the NFL is the only sport that has instant replay. What harm will there be if there are two gold metals? I can only see benefits for all. The South Korean would get his gold. Paul Hamm would seem like a compassionate guy and not a jack-ass.

It's things like this that make me want to go for every team or individual that is not the United States. Another example of bloat on the US team is the Basketball team. Enough said about that.

Anyway, that's it for me. Enjoy your day and please don't be a jack-ass.

8.24.2004

The perils of Job Searching

I'm really tired of all the user unfriendly job websites out there. There's a couple I like which include HotJobs.com cause after you applied to a job it tells you right on the page even weeks later. I hate how you'll go to a main portal job site like monster or worksource.com and click to apply to a job only to be redirected to the company's own website where you have to fill out another resume. WTF?? It's not like I'm suffering enough from not having a job. Why don't you just add more frustration on top of that. There's need to be some resume formal language created and adopted so the main job portal sites can actually work as advertised. Like on the company's website, the information for a position would lay and the job portal would come by and harvest it at some later time period. The tech is there now. It's just too forward thinking for too many people. *sigh* or I could be just a whiney little pansie with no job.

8.23.2004

Another day, another week

Today marks the beginning of the fourth week of me being exercise crazy. Now that I have changed it up a little bit, it's a little less boring. I bumped up my sit-up total to 30 and added a new toning exercise. Don't ask me to name it cause that would require me to find the piece of paper with the names of the exercises on it, which is just out of arms reach.

On Saturday, I will see my 29th birthday come, and go, as soo many had already. The days go by so fast, I'm surprised I not bald with a walking cane. Maybe tomorrow. Anyway, I plan to sit around the house some more, just like the past month and a half. Not having a job sucks...

On the plus side of not having a job, I've been learning more programming crap like XML and MFC. Add some Java in there and you got a tasty salad. Mmmmm, salad.

Welp, that's it for now. May you all make successful saving throws vs dumb asses.

The jokester

Do you like jokes? I do too and here's one to make you smile for at least 30 seconds.

8.19.2004

Do you have ESP?

Man, I can't stop laughing at this one. So, I'm looking for a character generator for Dungeon and Dragons and I came across this site. I don't know why. It was even on the first page of search results. "Exposing Satan's Power". hahahhaha Man, that is tooo funny.

Anyway, I decide that the first page is priceless so I decide to see what other great stuff is on his site. Well, there's stuff about Harry Potter, as much as I dislike the books it's still a story as fictional as some other books that I've talked about in the past. Halloween is bad too. Druids whorships the evil spirits in the tress. Bad, very bad. He also has a special section for John Edwards of "Crossing Over" fame. Man, it's a laugh a minute there! Well, the show that is. And watch out for that Ouija Board!! It's gonna suck your soul away! hahahahahhahahhahahhhahha

Man, still..I find it ironic that he hates Psychics, but yet he calls his site ESP. hahhahahah Oh wow.

But back the whole D&D thing. First he claims that role-playing makes people think that they are what they think, according to some passage in the greatest story of all, the Bible. That's true to some extent. And not because the bible is interpretted to say so. But basically he's saying that all actors/actresses who have played roles as murders and what not are evil. Let's talk to Kevin Spacey to see how evil he is for his roles in great movies like The Usual Suspects and Se7en. I could get more people who are actors that's played bad people, but that would take up too much of my time. And well Ben, you're not worth it.

Here's a passage from his site about the unfortunate death of a young man:

John Torell, with Christian Life Ministries in California, received a phone call from a medical doctor in Seattle, Washington. The doctor is treating a policeman for severe depression caused by the suicide of his sixteen-year-oId son. The son, who had been heavily involved in D&D™ for two years, shot himself with his father's service revolver.

There's a quote from a psychiatrist, named Laurence Johnson, in regards to the case:
"If I had a child who tended toward schizophrenia, I'd never let him near D&D™"

Well, Laurence, if I had a child who was schizophrenic, I certainly wouldn't have a loaded gun in my house. *sigh* I like how people reach for things that are not there. I like it when they fall flat on their face after the fact. Pretty funny.

Ok, well, that's enough "fun on Ben's account" for tonight. Hopefully he'll have something else up later for my amusement.


Of Geeks and Jello-brains

Today starts GenCon, this huge bigass sci-fi/fantasy/role-playing/computers games convention held in Indianapolis among 3 other places in the world at different times. I want to be there, but I have to make due with my mental imaging of me being there. Anyway, I was reading this blurb on The Force.Net about how there's some other major events going on the same weekend, making Indianapolis a very busy place. What made me laugh was that on the 19th(which is today), Metallica <opinion>They suck major ass</opinion> will be playing a few blocks down from where GenCon will be at. Can you imagine the head-bangers and role-players just mere feet from one another? Oh yeah, just like high school.

8.18.2004

This Routine needs a changing

I hate it when I delete one browser for another and forget all my passwords. *sigh*

Well, I thought I'd update you all on my glorious progress on to exercise greatness. I was bad on Saturday and Monday. I didn't do anything! I suck..I know. Now I've changed my routine a little bit.

Back in the days when I was on E-Diets(which worked for me!), I was going by their suggest exercise plan of cardio one day and muscle toning the next. So, I've decided to go back to that. It makes for shorter sessions which will be good when I get a job. And really, I didn't want to feel like I was working all the time, the same ol blah each day, 6 days a week. Yeah, pretty weak but I'm sticking to that. heh

Though yesterday I started with cardio and did 20 minutes on the bike. I thought for sure it was Wednesday, but then Amazing Race came on. So I was off in lala land yesterday. Oh, yeah. I was reading this history of D&D on Gamespy.com and I read the Tuesday article on Monday night. So that screwed me up right there. BTW, that article has so far been a good read. I'm happy. So happy.

So, that's it from Camp Dirty Basement. So long and be happy.

EDIT: CV and Dawn, there's an interview with Stephen Colbert at that D&D page. You should read it.

8.17.2004

Let the Goodtimes Roll and Score!!

The Seahawks whooped some Green Bay ass in their first preseason game. Yes, it doesn't mean much, but it's always good to make the team that screwed you in the playoffs suffer as much as you can. heh Now I'm disappointed that I didn't get to see it. Oh well. There's always next week.

8.16.2004

GRRR

I want to hate bushey-poo (my little nickname for the big man), but this whole military realignment is all plusses in my book. I still won't vote for him. Far too many negatives still. About the only good thing that will come from his 4 year term. Oh, one more good thing, the day he leaves office in January. ha ha

A quicky

Do you like John Woo, Steve Carell, and dodgeball? Well, you'll like this short film. I personally can't stand John Woo movies, but this funny makes it all funny. Uhh..yeah.

Debt Reduction

I gots lots of debt. Due to my free wheeling days of being in school and having no idea what the future would bring me. It's not fun specially when you don't have a job.

Lately, the CC people call me to tell me of overdue stuff. One company that has two of my cards and other company. The first company decided to outsource their debt people to India, I'm guessing. How do I know? Well, the accents and delay in response of a second or more on the phone. That tips that their, their being Chase Manhattan, callcenter is in some part of the world that stretches from the middle east to Korea. I don't know where exactly, but that's not the point here.

I don't like talking to their callcenters because 1) if the person on the other end doesn't understand me, they repeat their last canned response. I hate that. You can't have empathy without understanding. 2) Talking long distance requires waiting for a few seconds for responses. So I get dead air. It's like trying to control the rovers on Mars. I hate that too. These two things alone will, at the soonest convenience, get both of those cards to some other company. They don't deserve my free money. And you all know my stance on offshoring.

The second company, Capital One, just called me not too long ago. They wanted money too. But the person I talked to, though probably reading canned responses as well, could understand me and had empathy. I was more willing to deal with them other than getting angry and slamming the phone down, which I've done on multiple times from CM.

Anyway, I was very pleased with CO and am willing to deal with them more in the future. Hopefully I'll hit pay dirt and pay them all off. Well, that's all I got.

8.11.2004

Hypocritical George

George Lucas, which I tend to call him GL now cause it's easier to type and his name makes me want to vomit, made some comments about the colorizing of old movies. He basically says that they shouldn't do it cause it would take away the time period it was made in. Well, GL, you hypocritical bastard, why in hell won't you release the original trilogy as they first appeared on DVD?

Star Wars: A New Hope began shooting in 1975 with a release in May of 1977. The technology was amazing. It blew people out of their seats. Star Wars was the first blockbuster named cause people were lining up around the block to get in and see the movie, back in the days of theaters that only had two to three screens each. Flash forward to 1997 which the special editions started to appear. The tech used in the late 70s were replaced with current computer graphics. I admit, they looked pretty cool. GL said that the special eds were as they should have been in 1977. I guess that's fine cause it's his movie and his money and all. Though some stupid things were added that enraged fanboys everywhere, including myself.

Han shoots first, period. The end. Luke falling down the shaft in Empire did not need to amplify his whininess by crying like a baby all the way down. Original ewok song, as annoying as it was, should have stayed.

These are the scenes that we, as fans, would like to see as they were. They remind us of our youth, spending sleepless nights watching marathons. For me, I was all but 2 and a half when A New Hope was released and I watched it, as I'm told, at a drive in theater. But I have scene it many times on TV and videotape.

GL said this: "...it puts it in a context where you can appreciate it for what it was." Here I will have to agree with the old man. Though changing the color of a movie is just like changing the scenes of a movie. The movie becomes different, reborn so to speak. I want to appreciate the Original Trilogy as they were. Star Wars is great as it was, no changing necessary.

Since GL owns everything Star Wars, he doesn't need to listen to the fans, the very people that made him, or even the movie studios. He has soo much money, Bill Gates wants to own him. LOL Yeah, probably not. But the point here is that GL can do what he wants. And he is. Which is terribly unfortunate for the rest of us who would like to relive their first experience with Star Wars in DVD quality at home.

8.10.2004

Doom Doom Doom Song

Well, I just got done reading a review of Doom 3 and I'm not feeling it. I read a bunch of reader reviews as well. While most of their scores ranged in the 8 to 10 point range, there were quite a few of less than ideal scores. While I can't trust reader reviews posted by fanboys, I can at least gleam some information from them and compare.

The graphics are great. The gameplay is not so great. I was planning to get it for XBox (BTW, if you steal my XBox I will not come knocking on your door, but I will be really sad. thank you) knowing that they had to put some dullness on the graphics for the three year old console. Reading that the gameplay is the same old gameplay, I will probably skip it. Maybe I'll rent it.

This is disappointing since they worked on it for four years and all they did was work on the graphics. I sense that some bright game designer is gonna take the doom 3 engine and bring it up to par with a great mod. I hope. heh Maybe the guys at id should have t-shirts made saying "My parents worked for 4 years to save up to buy me the computer of my dreams to play Doom 3 but all I got was uninspired gameplay." Yeah, maybe they shouldn't. Or maybe find another quote. That isn't mine.

I think that the game industry has spent too much time on the prettiness of games. It's time to dig deep and find some great AI and story design that will make gaming fun and entertaining again. Multiplayer with real people can only go so far cause there are always the idiots who sole reason for existence is to cause pain to other players who are online. That's no fun. I've had my run-ins with those players. They probably got cracked versions too. I hate those people too. It's interesting that I call them "people".

Game designers and game programmers need to step up to the plate. Consumers are always willing to spend $40-$60 for a game. But when consumers are forced to play crap that's not worth an hour of their time, consumers will let publishers know. I read an article/editorial about a possible future of the games industry a while back. The author was pointing out how a lot of games coming out are the same old thing, over and over and over again. He was comparing it to the video games crash of the early 80s. I want to disagree with his view of impending doom (no pun here people), but it's looking that way. Publishers have dollar signs in their eyes and those signs grow with each passing financial quarter. They only want the sure-fire hits. However those hits are all the same. We'll see. Maybe the guys at Valve will bring gaming out of it's funk with Half-Life 2. Then again, it might be the same ol stuff, rehashed in a new shiny box.

Well, that's all I got, for the short term. So until the next time.

8.09.2004

Seattle...

...plays on ESPN next Monday night. Is that not fair? Yes!! Goddamn it! Well, I almost want to go to a bar or something to watch it. Hmmmph. Maybe I'll get a job before next week and they'll give me an advance. hahaha I think winning the lotto is a better chance. *sigh*

Warp speed now, Mr. Scot!

Yeah, I know. It's a star trek quote. I couldn't think of a Star Wars quote that I could use. Oh well. If you know of a Star Wars quote, please leave it in the comments of this post.

So, once again, I was cruising my fave websites and got to Blue's News and found an interesting article about the uses of quantum entanglement. Quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and now...drum roll please...deep space propulsion!!

Now, is that cool or what? It's basically teleporting power to space probes through the quirky uses of quantam entanglement. Instead of having nuclear material on board a rocket that could go boom, you have a device that recieves power from earth. The author also mentions some other uses for teleportation including "beaming" power from solar arrays in close orbit abound the sun to the earth's surface.

It would be really cool if this technology comes of age before I die of old age. heh

Well, that's it for now. So until next time.

8.07.2004

An End of a Week

I just finished up my last exercise session for the week. Tomorrow I will take off and begin again on Monday. This morning I was a little stiff and sore, but I think it's because I ran around yesterday with the kids (Dave and Henry). Then I tripped over the soccer ball and landed on my back. Don't worry...nothing broke. heh

On Monday, I've decided to up my sit-up count to 25 and increase my bike time to 12 minutes. Here's the pattern I will be using. Every two weeks I will up my sit-up count by 5 till I get to 50. Every 3 days I will up my bike time by 1 minute till I'm up to 20 minutes. So I will be a couple of months before I top out. That is one of my goals on this quest, get to my pre-ordained maxes. Cool eh? I have lose weight on that list too, but at the moment I'm more concerned that I'm eating. I won't be picky until I get a job.

Well, that's it for now. See y'all later.

8.05.2004

too good to be true?

Here's a quote made by our great president. Quote. Isn't he just soo cool? Don't you just want to love him? Oh, I gots the audio mp3 to that too. But here's a link to a mp3 off of Al Franken's radio show.

Exercise is good....FOR ME!!!

Imagine CV saying the "for me" part. Ahh, yes.

My legs have finally stopped hurting. Yay! I can walk around with no soreness. I think I may have lost a pound already! heh I think I have a plan to keep me going on this. I have noticed in the past that if I stop too long, I don't want to do it any more. I hear you're suppose to not work everything everyday. Well,I say pooh on that. This is how I'm gonna work it. Six days a week, I will do the sit-ups, muscle toning, and riding the bike. I won't be overworking myself. I'm doing enough to keep it interesting. Do it often enough to where I won't stop. So, that's my plan. Until I get a job. Then I'll have to wake up at 5am or something and do it. I'm sure Dawn will enjoy listening to the bike at 5am. heh

Well, that's it for now. So until next time.

8.04.2004

It's August. Do you know where your NFL is?

I'm getting some good vibes from the media about the Seahawks. This article is picking Seattle and PHilly for tops of the NFC! Is that great or what?! Of course, I have to wait until the end of the season for it to actually be happy. The forecast is good.

BTW, this weekend marks the beginning of the preseason. Well, Monday of next week, but it's close enough. I'm pretty excited. Football is the only sport I watch any more, with a spattering of Indy car races and Golf. Seattle's first preseason game is Monday, August 16th at 5pm, PST. This almost suggest to be that it's gonna be on Monday Night Football on ABC. That would be cool. They do have one Monday night game in December, in Seattle. Might be a worthwhile trip to see, if I win the Lotto. Yeah, I know, good luck with that.

Well, just thought I'd let you know about the upcomming season of hot football! YEAH!!!

8.03.2004

The evil men must do

*Warning* This post has loads of opinions.

Ok, last week I had made a deal, a deal with the devil so to speak lol, with my father-in-law to get a short term loan until we get some money (hopefully next week). Well, he said he would if I reviewed two of his videos that he mass produces in his basement. I don't joke. Well, these videos are about creationism and the bible. A topic I would rather not view because it's a load of bunk. But I needed the money...So, what can I do? (Get a job, ya bum!)

Well, he wants critiques of the two he lent to me. He wants the atheists view on these recordings and I will give him my best effort on it. Though it's funny. I have seen another video from him, I think in the same series but from another speaker (the first speaker was way uglier). But they both did the same thing. They found one or two years old articles and picked them apart. Not a whole bunch of articles, just one or two. The most recent was from 1986. Another fact they tried to play out is them using a speed comparison from a super computer from 1985 when the video was produced in 2003. The speeds have changed so much between now and then that this is irrelevant.

Also, it's very easy to say anything in hindsight, which this guy was doing, constantly. Saying "That's how the Lord intended it to work", "That's what He wanted" and so on and so forth. What kind of proof is that? That's right, boys and girls, it's not.

I'm just so irate that there's people in the whitehouse that are exactly like this. That's how your run a country, because he wanted that way.

The Hard Life

No whining on this post. So read away!

Last week I decided I would do 20 situps a day and see where that takes me. The first couple of days were painful. The second day I almost stopped after the first situp cause my body rocked with pain. But I endured! I did the full 20, much to the dismay of my abs. Today's situp didn't have any pain, but it was slow at the end. I'm feeling good about it.

A few days back, I thought it would be good to add some more exercise to the 20 so I began riding our exercise bike yesterday for 10 minutes. Today I did more of the same, but this time I added stretching and some muscle toning sets. It's good to do the stretches. The back of my thighs ached for three days and kept me up last night! Well, you may ask, you just started the bike yesterday. What were you doing three days ago to do in your thighs? Well, I won't get into that. wink wink nudge nudge.

I consider this training to kick CVs ass at DDR and for not willing to apply to The Amazing Race with me. LOL If you haven't seen him lately, he could probably hit me once and I'd be a goner. So I gots to get ready for the "Rumble In Richland"! haha

Ok, that's enough. So until next time.

8.01.2004

My First Java Program

Yup, that weird looking thing below this post is a screen shot from my first java program which I constructed from bits and pieces of stuff I learned. Isn't it sooo cute? I would post the byte code for all to enjoy, but I'm sure it will be a pain in the ass trying to get it in a package correctly.

Yeah, I'm happy. Didn't spend too much time on it and the results are spectacular! heh not really. Well, so until next time.


My First Java Program. Isn't he sooo cute? Posted by Hello