Teenage Japanese Schoolgirl
My wife had to undergo surgery recently, so she's home and healing now. We often compare her strength to a kitten (usually by saying "as weak as a"). One of my major jobs now is to act as her hands, doing all the heavy lifting, and medium lifting, and light lifting when appropriate.

My wife is a beligerant and proud woman, so she has not taken to her depreciated strength well. That's why I have to constantly remind her that I am acting as her hands. Recently, I said, "I want you to think of me as an exoskeleton. A big, dumb shell that is constantly around you, and does all the heavy lifting so effortlessly, that you don't even realize it's there. Like the shell of a crab. Or better still, like the mech outfit that a teenage Japanese schoolgirl might use to fight crime."

"Basically, I want you to be my Teenage Japanese schoolgirl."

"What? Why're you looking at me like that?"
- posted by BrandG @ 10:18 PM 2 comments

 
What a dreamer can do in a day
At 7:00 A.M. I contacted a favorite author of mine, and asked him if he would give us his blessing to do a radio adaptation of one of his books. He's tentatively interested, but I won't name him until he's decided he wants to be associated with this venture. =)

At 8:00 A.M. I downloaded Nullsoft's shoutcast server. By 9:00, I had it running on my system, and playing Old-Time-Radio Public Domain Sci-fi stuff.

At 8:42 A.M. I contacted some friends about re-working some of these old 30's scripts with me, updating them, and punching them up.

By 10:00 A.M. I had built a stable of actors who are willing and interested in lending their voices to a new set of radio shows.

At 11:00 A.M. I contacted a friend who knows a guy, who has his own recording studio. We have reason to believe that he will lend us his studio for long enough to do the recording.

By 12:00 P.M. I had started discussions with an ex-Acclaim sound guy, who's doing freelance work in Austin, and has already said he'd love to help with FX or music on new projects.

Then, I woke up my wife. She was sleeping late, because she had been up all night working on the taxes. When I told her about my day, she said, "It's amazing what a dreamer can do with just one day."

And the day is only half over.
- posted by BrandG @ 3:38 PM 0 comments

 
Seams
So, I was doing the laundry last night, and I started thinking about seams. You know, the part of clothes where you fold two pieces of cloth together and sew them together.

Seems to me, all clothes are made the same way. You fold the two pieces together, then sew them so that the interior has a rough, unfinished edge, and the exterior has a smooth, sleek line.

However, I've noticed that if I sit cross-legged in jeans (as I often do when I'm coding on my laptop), the seams can get uncomfortable, and leave red lines on the skin of my legs. So, I was thinking, why do we make clothes like that? Psychologically, why do we put the uncomfortable side so close to our actual skin?

The only good reason that jumps to mind is that it looks ugly to have the seams on the exterior. Our basic need for symmetry makes an irregular seam abhorrant. However, this reason only seems to enhance the idea that we are willing to sacrifice comfort for looks. I hate that impression. I actively avoid it.

What's really weird is how innured we are in that method for all of our clothes. It's not a class thing, because we do this to Tuxedos, suit jackets, dress shirts, t-shirts, even sweaters. And I don't understand sweaters being in that list at all. If you're knitting the entire thing as one piece, why would it have seams at all?

We even do this to underwear, which can't really claim that it's done for looks. I mean, why have the seams on the inside, when nobody's going to be looking at the outside?

Maybe I'm just off on a rant at this point, but I don't really see a purpose behind having seams at all. All through history, clothiers have been hindered by the basic premise that they had to work with flat pieces of cloth, stitching them together to make other shapes. However, we have made huge strides in clothing over the last thousand years or so.

We keep seeing stories about "mood clothes" that will change color to match the user's heat signature; or the "stain proof" clothes that use nanotechnology to move foreign matter off of the surface. So how hard would it be, to stitch denim material together in the shape of a pair of pants? How hard would it be to make cotton cloth in the shape of a T-shirt? I mean, if it's that difficult for us, why don't we get those nano-mites working on it?

It seems odd that in one way, we have completely transcended past science, but in another way, we are irrevocably mired in an ancient form of thinking, so ingrained that we don't even recognize it as a form of thinking at all.

Ah, well. Such a lot of thought about such a small, thin line. Never mind.


In other news, I've now completely changed the FlipBall game over to it's new name "Limit", and I've submitted it to PopCap. Hopefully, sometime today or tomorrow, I'll set up a banner ad, and try to start getting some online sales.

That's right. V1.0 is out the door, and available here Limit
- posted by BrandG @ 12:00 AM 0 comments

 
6 to 6 the hard way
It's 5:30 A.M. on Sunday morning, and I'm sitting in costume with a bunch of teenagers in prom dresses and tuxes. My costume is a pair of brown courderoy pants, a yellow-brown plaid shirt, and a gray, ratty, patched-elbows, sweater vest.

At 6:00 P.M. the previous day, I showed up to play as an extra in "Gretchen: The movie" a great film that you should see as soon as. . . well, as soon as it becomes available anywhere. When I showed up, they put me in a cafeteria with all the other extras, and told me that they'd call for us when our scene came up.

They had also told us that it would be a full night, meaning that they intended to shoot footage from 6:00PM to 6:00AM the next day. I was to play a disapproving parent in one scene.

The first few hours, we got to know each other, and played cards. After that, we listened to somebody's ITunes and read from a book called "If..." which was a series of questions like "If you could put any one person into prison, who would it be?" So that was pretty fun.

At 2:00 AM, they broke for lunch, and we got to share in some of their food. Have you ever noticed that catered food, no matter where it comes from, always turns into the same kind of industrial fare that you can get at any junior high school or in prison?

So then, it was more of the same. Lots of sitting and waiting, running through different card games, chatting with others. Some people had brought sleeping bags, and others were sleeping on the floor. Somebody had a WebCam for their laptop, so we shot some footage of our own. Mostly people acting stupid. Okay, mostly me acting stupid. Still, I think my version of Christopher Walken's "Weapon of Choice" video was inspired.

Then, at 5:30 AM, we got the call that our big scene was coming up. They bustled us outside to stand in the cold, in a staggered row, and told us to wait again. They would let us keep our coats on, but just before they would start shooting, we would be told to turn the coats in (because the scene was supposed to be in June, not April).

Three or four times they shot footage of us looking angrily at the rebel leading man, then they called it a wrap. I changed clothes, and left there at about 6:00 AM.

Know how much I was paid for it? $1. And I'd do it again. It may not sound like fun, but I got to watch the process, see real professional filmmakers at work, and be a (small) part of the whole thing.

It was awesome.


In other news, I've made some subtle but important gameplay changes to FlipBall, which makes it both easier to play, and much more strategic. Give it a shot, and see what you think. I would really like help determining if this version is better or worse than the previous.
- posted by BrandG @ 12:14 AM 0 comments

 
A little WoW story
In a recent patch, some players of World of Warcraft experienced a problem where the fogging gets really bad underwater, and they can't see anything. Luckily, I have not suffered that problem. I was doubly blessed, because as a Warlock, I can breathe underwater indefinitely. As I was swimming around today, I saw a general chat post saying "LFG Vast Ocean, Deep Sea". Translated, this means that the poster was looking for a group to help with the mission "Vast Ocean, Deep Sea".

I knew that quest, and I knew that it was really difficult to do unless you have a group of three or more. So, I posted saying that I'd join the group, and that I could give everyone Unending Breath (for swimming underwater). Then, right after getting the group together, the leader of the group said, "I'm going to my uncle's place. BRB". I said I'd wait, and she responded with "Great. It'll only be about 30 minutes".

So, I left the group, and told her to call me when she got back. Suddenly, she said, "No. Wait. I'm not going." and reinvited me.

Upon reaching the quest location, I noticed that there were only three of us, and one person bailed out. As I'd mentioned, this quest needs about three or more people. I mentioned this to the sole remaining group member, and she replied, "Don't worry, we can handle it."

So I dived. As I had expected, there were mobs of MOBs down there, and they all converged on us at the same time. I was fighting them as best I could, casting curses and spells on the different enemies, when I realized that the other member of my group was still on the surface, treading water. I sent a message, "WTF" (which translates to Whiskey Tango Foxtrot), and she responded, "I can't see underwater. Good luck."

Grrrr...

In other news, I made $50 on an investment of $2500 today, which brings my 4-day profit total to $309. This represents a 12% increase over four days, or 3% per day. When you consider that most banks will give you one or two percent interest per year, my investment strategy is looking pretty cool.

In Flipball news, Erik McKenney got me some new artwork, which I've employed in the latest demo. I've been really amazed at how professional this project looks. I'd forgotten what incredibly talented people I'd been working with.
- posted by BrandG @ 1:54 AM 2 comments