So I’m still alive. Didn’t run fall off the face of the earth or anything. Though for a while I did have to fight off the urge to spend whatever money I had left to buy a bus ticket to Canada and start my life over there, by living in a trailer park, perhaps Sunnyvale (that’s a Trailer Park Boys reference for the 99.7% who didn’t get it btw). Oh, and fort90.com still lives!
This whole week I’ve been busy trying to “take care of business”. Hasn’t been easy in the least: as indicated, there’s been a million little things that could have gone wrong, and I didn’t pay attention, it would have spelled disaster. The whole process has also been one big “one step forward, two steps back” song and dance, but as of today, a resolution you could say has been achieved (though it could seriously blow up in my face on Monday… but I’m just too damn to worry about anything else at this point). Also, the resolution isn’t much of one, and its actually so hilariously insane that I almost can’t wait to tell friends about it; when I told my roommate about (she returned last night, which means she wasn’t obliterated by a volcano, thank God), her jaw literally dropped.
At least things things got ironed out just in the nick of time, as far as this website’s concerned; the bill from my web-host is due tomorrow, and I will be able to pay it. Though for a while I was thinking about something Ed suggested, which is basically a “Save Fort90.com” campaign, by setting up a donation via PayPal button or something. I like that better than cluttering up the site with Google ads personally…
Anyway, despite all the nonsense, I have been able to go on with my normal life, at least a tiny bit. For example, on Tuesday night, I finally saw Snakes on a Plane with MK and Robin. And I liked it! As far as B-level disaster flicks goes, it was pretty spot on: great introduction of characters at the outset, primarily folks you want to see die, and the satisfaction of the pay-off, as well as the ramping up of dangers and obstacles. To be totally honest, it was far more cohesive and even more logical than a majority of the “serious” films I’ve seen from Hollywood as of late. Oh, and the snakes and the havoc they cause was pretty awesome; I never had an aversion to them; but now I think I’m kinda freaked out by them! My only disappointment was that the kung-fu guy didn’t roundhouse any snakes, but overall, well worth the $4 I spent (I had $6 left over from a gift certificate I got from Jason during Xmas).
And as I’ve stated before, I’m starting to do more freelance now (though I sorta have to). On Wednesday night I attended IGDA‘s Demo Night 4 on the behalf of Gamasutra. Though I primarily wanted to see Dave Gilbert show off his game, The Shiva. Some might recall me talking about his game a few weeks back, which is very much like Monkey Island, but very Jewish, back when he showed it to me on the last day of class. I believe I was actually the first person to bring the IGDA to his attention when I first met him a few months ago, and there he was that night, in front of all his peers, showing off his handy-work, and I sorta felt proud for some reason. You’ll have to check out my report for the details, but I will say that everyone in attendance was super impressed; it was my favorite game of the whole evening, though the shmup that was also in attendance was also very very nice; not only is it based on Time Pilot, which is a very excellent game to take from, but its built for OS X!
Also… and I know this sounds so insane, given that I’m extremely spread thin these days, but… it would seem that I will becoming more heavily involved with the NY chapter of the IGDA in the near future. I was asked to lend my talents personally by the new head of the chapter, Wade Tinney, one of the head guys over at Large Animal Games, and I’m pretty excited by what Wade can bring to the table, and wouldn’t mind being all for the ride. Also, Wade’s smart; getting folks to do stuff on a voluntary basis is extremely tricky, but he knows the real key is to ask folks to do stuff they were already doing. Hence why he asked me to be the official chapter reporter. Hell, I attend all the events, and write reports on them, so I’m basically going to do what I was already going to.
I also found out that I’m heading to Philly in a few weeks. For the Philadelphia Zine Fest, which I had never heard of, but MK uncovered. I’ll be there, along with MK, Robin, and I believe Liz and Laura. And it’ll be the debut of RMK Book, which is a new imprint which MK came up with; we needed something to call ourselves at shows, that would encompass everyone’s stuff (there’s a website on the way, which means one convenient place to buy everyone’s books). So what does RMK stand for anyway? Well… Reed, Mary-Kate, or Robin, Matt, and Katie, or… a whole bunch of stuff, really. That also means that Katie’s books will be at the show as well!
The original name btw was going to be Super Cool, or something like that, which was what my boss back at Ubi Soft used to say whenever she saw what I was working on. Invariably she would be less than impressed, and her chief complaint/suggestion was always that it needed to be “more super cool!” At first I tried asking what the hell that meant exactly, but I never got a clear answer, just some stupid/dumbfounded look as if I was missing the obvious. And I guess I was to a certain extent: she was an idiot.
On, and I since I forgot to pass this along a whiles ago, there’s not better time than now I guess: here’s a pretty lengthy, and pretty awesome interview with my girlfriend, about her books and a whole lot of other stuff.
And despite my shortage of time, I have been able to sneak in some time to surf the web here, and there, though nothing substantial (again, I know it may seem stupid, but I have to blow some steam off and allow myself just a little bit of opportunity to goof off, especially in the face of soul-crushing bullshit). Though I’m pretty out of the loop…
I know this is really old news (hey, I’ve got a legit excuse!) but for those who don’t know yet, here’s what the new Optimus Prime looks like (its not the best picture I know, so when I find something better, I’ll replace the pic). And here’s the new Megatron….
And I know exactly what you’re thinking: what the fuck is this bullshit?! So it would seem that the good guys, the Autobots, are human-like (sorta), and the bad guys, the Decepticons, are more bug like in their appearance. They all look vaguely Terminator and Guyver-esque in their appearance. And naturally, the first real question is, given how ultra complex each character looks, how in the hell are they going to transform? And I know I risk getting a ton of flak for saying this, given where I work during the day, but the answer, to me at least, is somewhat obvious: given that the designs seem to be heavily influenced by the current state of computer animation, the transformations will in all likely hood be completely extravagant and needlessly showy. In the end, it’ll be a complete fucking eyesore.
The names of the characters was also released, or leaked, and one of the Decepticon, Frenzy, transforms into a stereo. Some might recall Frenzy being the name of one of the cassettes that was associated with Soundwave, who was the original boom box, but is now a a motherfucking HELICOPTER so now the change officially makes absolutely no goddamn sense.
As for video games, once again, I really haven’t been able to keep up, so I can’t comment on any truly hot topic issues, but I will mention the last truly amazing thing I’ve seen: a video that shows the first ten minutes of Senko no Ronde for the Xbox 360. And goddamn… this along with Dead Rising (which I know EVERYONE is playing right now), really makes me want a 360 (that and Silpheed 3 and all those revved-up Simple Series games coming out, like Oneechanbara X and Earth Defense Force X).
And here’s a thread that I ran into during my ten minutes at the Gaming Age Forums from the past entire week: a great deal of info on the booming DS homebrew scene. Just the idea of playing old LucasArts adventures on the go is SO exciting; I can maybe finally finish Grim Fandango. I’m not clear on all the details (to be totally honest, I simply haven’t had all the time to check out all the available info), but I believe you have to “flash” your DS, which I hear can be sorta dangerous for the Lite, but totally safe for the original. Hence why I’m really glad I have both!
Also, just discovered that there’s a Penny Arcade video game in the works. This news is going to either make people very excited or furiously annoyed, depeding on one’s view of the comic strip, naturally. All I can say is, hey, at least it’s not VG Cats! Though I personally would like to see a Perry Bible Fellowship game eventually.
Plus, Jeff Minter has a new game on the way for the 360, and its called Space Giraffe…
Okay, now there’s yet another reason to get a 360. Oh man…
Back to the internet as a whole, Dave (Mauro) alerted me to what I ‘m guessing with be the next “big thing” online: preved. And what is it? Its apparently a meme that originates from Russia of all places. You can read up on the whole story here, but basically, its based upon some watercolor painting of a couple having sex in the woods being surprised by a bear (kinda NSFW). So now a bunch of folks in Russia have been Photoshopping bears in all sorts of photos for comedic affect or simply playing around with the character. Here’s a taste…
Man, the internet. And Russians…
Anyway, I better get back to work. Right now, MK is off at some drawing party with Robin, and Liz I think. Better get to that Gamasutra article and get as much doen before she heads over. Though I might try to read the Fart Party mini’s that MK left over a few days ago… As for my plans for the rest of the weekend, more work, which means I’ll probably have to miss out on the Anamanaguchi new album release party/show tomorrow night at the Tank. Looks like it’ll be fun, so I’m bummed out that I’ll have to miss it, but responsibility becons. And besides, maybe one of you folks can take my place!
