All posts in Geek

Live diggnation

by Drey on March 13, 2010 in Geek, What I Did Today with No comments

I’m not a big diggnation fan, but I am a fan of Alex Albrecht and since there wasn’t a live Totally Rad Show this year at SXSW, this was the closest thing.

The line to Stubb’s stretched from Red River down to I-35, but, being Stubb’s, we all got in. While there is a lot of overlap between a TRS and digg crowd, I got the impression that, like the actual site, diggnation had a broader appeal. The whole scene was more rock star 2.0 than a panel at a tech conference.

The whole show was really fun. Local celebrity Brian Brushwood warmed up the audience with magic tricks, Scam School style. We participated in a Twitter hoax, broadcasting the news that Conan O’Brien was joining Revision 3. The digg CEO came out and talked about some new features coming to the site. Then Alex and Kevin did the show, which was really funny and alcohol fueled. Leo Laporte showed up with his mobile webcasting rig and ended up crowdsurfing (while webcasting the whole experience). Surprise guest Robert Rodriguez came on stage to talk about Predators. And then Alex and Kevin did some crowdsurfing.

Calvin and Hobbes

by Drey on March 9, 2010 in Comics with No comments

I’ve been working my way through the complete Calvin and Hobbes, three huge tomes containing the entire run. It has aged well. After 20+ years, Calvin’s antics and Hobbes’ witticisms still amuse. I had forgotten, or perhaps not realized, how profoundly the strip had affected me. It celebrated imagination, making up your own rules, and overlaying reality with your own template. As an adult, I don’t look back and say to Calvin “Oh, you naive boy, you have no understanding of the world’s complexities.” I find myself saying, “You are right, Calvin. That is true, but adults pretend it isn’t.”

When I was a kid, I was bothered by Watterson’s seeming inability to stay on model with Hobbes. Sometimes he drew the tiger like Hobbes was just a stuffed animal. But now I know better. The stuffed animal was a metaphor for how adults just can’t deal with seeing the tigers all around them.

Parties

by Drey on March 5, 2010 in Comics, The Stork, What I Did Today with 2 Comments

I was holding off on posting in my blog because I am going to be moving web hosts, but that has been delayed due to a mixup.

The STAPLE pre-party was neat. I had forgotten how many comic books there were at Austin Books & Comics. It felt like an ark for comic books, a backup vault in case civilization fell. I didn’t really know anyone there besides Chris, but my “Team Linus” shirt served as social currency. I also got to meet Goatboy, the artist who did the interior art for The Stork. I had only worked with him online.

Then I went to Reed’s housewarming party where I talked to cute girls about Doctor Who. Cory brought New Age and fruit, pretty much sealing the deal on the fun party situation.

March Marches On

by Drey on March 4, 2010 in Life, Music, The Stork with No comments

So, starting tomorrow, my Google calendar looks like a blocky cross section of the Funtime Mountains or the EEG readout of the Busytown heartbeat. Lots going on. Planned soirées and the like. It resembles a social person’s schedule, as opposed to a Netflix hermit. Continue reading →

Detuning

by Drey on March 3, 2010 in Music with No comments

I’m deleting all the music from my iTunes collection which exists only because someone else was into it. I had the habit of downloading an entire discography if a friend mentioned some music I should check out. Or maybe I had the music because a girl I liked liked it.

I’m just over 100 gigs now, which is still a ton of music, much of which I may not have even heard.

A Post Not About Internet Celebrity

by Drey on March 2, 2010 in Television with No comments

I had this whole post mentally queued up about the nature of internet celebrity re: Penny Arcade vs. Jordan, Jesse, Go! but I’ve had a bit of wine, so it will need to be tabled for later. Instead, let me tell you about the fantastic Monte Cubano sandwiches I made tonight. As is tradition, we gather at Nick and Amanda’s to watch Lost. But first we have fancy sandwiches. Tonight I faced the challenge of preparing the sandwiches. I’m making a note here: Huge Success.

What is the recipe, you ask? Look no further than the wonderful Epicurious: click here for awesome sandwiches

Also, have you seen that amazing OK Go video for This Too Shall Pass?

Status Quo

by Drey on March 1, 2010 in Board Games, What I Did Today with No comments

Not much to report today except I discovered there is a new large expansion for Talisman coming out. Plus Adobe CS5 will supposedly get released in April. The new features of Photoshop CS5 look crazy.

Tired from errands. Bye now.

Back from the Dead

by Drey on February 28, 2010 in Geek with 2 Comments

This weekend I was going to take my dead computer in to the shop to see what was wrong with it. I decided to plug it in and turn it on just to double check that it didn’t boot up. But it booted up! It took about 5-10 minutes to boot to Windows. I had forgotten how slow it was. Then I moved it and plugged it into the UPS, and it wouldn’t boot up, just like before. So I plugged it straight into the wall. So I’m transferring all my files off it now. I think I’ll try to sell it and put the money towards a new laptop of my own.

What a Great Day

by Drey on February 27, 2010 in Board Games, Movies, Video Games with No comments

Today I woke up early, showered and played a bit of Broken Sword on the iPhone. It’s a really well put together adventure game.

Then I went over to Nick and Amanda’s where I and their friend Ryan were meeting to go out hiking. We stopped and grabbed yummy kolaches first and then went to the park. I can’t remember the name of the park, but it was a great hiking trail.

Then we went to see Cop Out at the Alamo. Pretty silly movie. It could have been directed by anyone. As Kevin Smith didn’t write it, it didn’t seem to have anyone signature on the film.

After the film we went back to their place and watched Amanda play Heavy Rain for a few hours. Totally different game than what I experienced in the demo. I’m really looking forward to playing the game on my own. I can see what changes by making different decisions than Amanda.

I had to leave and go to Great Hall as I was playing in a Dominion Tournament. This was a slick operation. Everyone got personalized name badges to wear. We played three rounds, with three different load outs. They had these funky tournament rules where you played until 45 minutes were up or you ran out of *all* Victory cards. At first this sounded crazy, but it totally worked. You totaled your scores from each game and that was your tournament score. I ended up in 3rd place with 121 points. 1st was 125 and 2nd was 123, so it was close. Plus, the guy who got first place was taught by a guy that I had originally taught to play the game. Overall, it was a blast to play. It was like being in a geek poker tournament. Everyone was standing around, talking strategy, how each game had gone. Super fun.

Player Freedom vs. Narrative Cohesion

by Drey on February 21, 2010 in Video Games with 1 Comment

Having recently played the Heavy Rain demo, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Uncharted 2, I’ve been thinking about linearity in video games and the impact on game play and narrative. As I have already written a piece on the subject, this is more of an addendum.

I have come up with a Theory of Player Freedom vs. Narrative Cohesion (working title): The scope of a player’s freedom to explore a game world and choose courses of action is inversely proportional to the cohesiveness of any overarching narrative structure. Continue reading →

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