Monthly Archive for December, 2007

2008

I predict it will be another year; just you wait and see.

Precursor to the Star Destroyer?

I came across this cover (here), for Science Fiction Monthly, volume 1, issue 2, released in February 1974. The art is by one of my favorites, Chris Foss, a science fiction artist mostly known for his outlandish and colorful spaceships. He was one of the artists Ridley Scott brought over from the scuttled Dune project, to Alien. And you might recognize his style from the game Homeworld, to which he was a major inspiration (as thanked in the credits).

Science Fiction Monthly, v1 i2 (1974)

Does it remind you of anything? Such as…

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Google Reader exposes hypocrites

Rikke and I both use Google Reader and its share items freely, not only with each other, but in my case also with the general public. As it turns out, the new ‘Friend’s Shared Items’ is being scorned by a range of people, one of who even goes so far as to say it has ‘RUINED CHRISTMAS’ for him and his family.

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Bad Taste, for free

If you’ve never been lucky enough to indulge Peter Jackson’s first feature film, a thoroughbred splatter flick, Bad Taste, now is the time.

NASA’s lenses in Barry Lyndon

To the people whom I told the story to on friday, consider this an errata, with a complete technical rundown.

The Stanley Kubrick Exhibition

Just learned that The Stanley Kubrick Exhibition is currently in Rome. Rikke and I had talked about going to Rome, and it would have been a great meshing of agendas, had the two coincided with each other. Unfortunately we’re not planning on going until late spring, and the exhibition is ending in early January.

The question is, how do I figure out where that exhibition is going next?

Super Russ Meyer

Russ Meyer's Supervixens

This entry is littered with Supervixen spoilers, and really needs for you to have seen at least this, and preferably more Russ Meyer films to appreciate properly.

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A Guitar Hero

I’m caught on the second-to-last tier in Guitar Hero III, and there are a couple of songs I find to be impossible. If not downright improbable.

And if you’ve played it, regardless of whether or not you’re stuck before or after that point (because stuck you are, or will be), you will be able to fully appreciate this piece.

It’s on!

jrr_tolkien_hobbit_alan_lee003

Yep.

Google Reader disaster averted

My Google Reader account was borked by a post Molly did (non-intentionally of course). Because this caused the feed toolbar to not load, whenever that post was being shown, I couldn’t ‘mark all as read’ or unsubscribe the feed. It took me a while to figure out that there is actually a ‘Manage Subscriptions’ link at the bottom of the sidebar, which let me weed out the problem.

Just goes to show, sometimes functionality redundancy is a good thing to have.

On Uncharted

So I played a few hours of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, which aside from a name that turns me off like a cross does a vampire, and a marketing campaign to match, is actually really really good so far. Looks good, snappy dialog, mostly fun puzzles, great score (Greg Edmondson of Firefly fame) and though the whole lone wolf treasure hunter genre is a bit cramped these days, it’s always nice to play around with a substitute Indy.

Now allow me to clear up a misunderstanding bound to happen. No, the main character isn’t voiced by Nathan Fillion. But really, he might as well have been, because Nolan North, who actually voices him, sounds (almost) exactly like him.

And that’s a good thing.

Entertainment Outlets, or News Outlets?

I want to believe that news outlets are in the business of news, not entertainment, but it’s just not true in most cases. Even more depressing is that blogs, especially political blogs, are even worse in this regard. #

Ambient Intimacy

Rikke and I were heading for the subway in The Village, when we passed by two guys. The bespectacled one was asking his friend what he’d been up to before they met. Without hesitation, the other guy answered: “I was home, facebooking”.

Strangely enough, I too have been drawn into Facebooking, despite my preference against walled gardens. Hell, even Rikke is Facebooking!

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Indy 4 Poster

Though it isn’t bad, it isn’t Drew’s best work either; nonetheless, here is the new Indy poster:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls

On the Gerstmanngate

Though I worked on Kane & Lynch for Io Interactive, which is owned by Eidos/SCI, this entry contains only my personal opinions and viewpoints and does in no way, shape or form represent anyone else’s opinions, include Io Interactive, Eidos or Sci. I’ve often linked to Gamespot and the Hotspot podcast, so it’s no secret that Gamespot has been my go-to site for reviews and what not.

Because of this mixing of my professional and personal lives, I don’t feel able or comfortable commenting on the actual Gerstmann affair itself. Currently, I don’t know much more than any of you — which as it turns out, is nothing.

And even if I did, I wouldn’t write about it.

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Saboteur Films

Is it possible to build a movie production company that is both highly commercial but serves human values and ethics as well as giving high production value??

Headed up by two former colleagues of mine and some other dude, I promised Rasmus I’d drop some love for his blog, where he will be chronicling Saboteur Films as they make their way inland, towards the fame and glory that is Hollywood.

Good luck guys!

Habari Design

Early this year, I spent some time with a bunch of other people setting up a direction for Habari’s administration interface. It was mostly blue-skying, but loving interface design as I do, it felt like time well-spent.

In fact, it felt good.

It was a little early to start implementing stuff like that, when the platform itself hardly even existed at the time. So I went off and spent most of my time on K2 instead. But now that K2 is nearly done, I’ve started working on Habari designs again, and just submitted my first major patch (with no assurance it will be accepted of course).

Habari is like the promised land in terms of the kind of interaction design I’ve wanted to see in WordPress for years. It’s like a digital catharsis to finally apply these thoughts and frustrations.

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