I just figured I would give a small "shout out" to some friends who also have their own little blog;
The Things Beneath the Fridge and The Timely Howard
So, go and look! Do it now, quickly! Give me some time to think about something to write about on here!
This may take a while...
"Your a sight for sore eyes! I thought you'd be stealing bases down in Burmingham." -Michael Jordan, Chaos in the Windy City.
-PlayerOne
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Follow Up
I feel slightly ashamed... Coming back here after so long, with my tail between my legs... I would like to have an excuse, and I could say I've been busy but that would be a slight lie. I have been busy, but there's always time for Slices of Cake Inc.
You should see the offices though. Personally, I had no idea interns could survive off coffee grinds, expired vending machine chocolate and those little yellow sticky notes for a month. Smart little buggers.
On a brighter note, I'm going to be in a web-based commercial for a local teen outreach program called Youthspk, or something like that... I won't give too much away, but I'm supposed to be a drug addict pressuring other people to do drugs. Apparently it's the cool thing to do, and lord knows I want to be cool. Maybe I'm getting the message the commercial is getting across wrong, though. Anyways, I'll try to link it here as soon as I can. Seriously though, these series of commercials are trying to help kids relate to this program, and hopefully they will make a difference with the kids who need help.
Surfing the internets yesterday, I came across this picture that just felt right. You know the feeling, when you see something that is simply perfect for something that's been lying in the back of your mind. I'd like to add that I don't take any sort of credit for the picture, all I did was crop it a bit. So, I present you with a picture of what my idea of what The Players would look like.
I'm the one with the suit!
You should see the offices though. Personally, I had no idea interns could survive off coffee grinds, expired vending machine chocolate and those little yellow sticky notes for a month. Smart little buggers.
On a brighter note, I'm going to be in a web-based commercial for a local teen outreach program called Youthspk, or something like that... I won't give too much away, but I'm supposed to be a drug addict pressuring other people to do drugs. Apparently it's the cool thing to do, and lord knows I want to be cool. Maybe I'm getting the message the commercial is getting across wrong, though. Anyways, I'll try to link it here as soon as I can. Seriously though, these series of commercials are trying to help kids relate to this program, and hopefully they will make a difference with the kids who need help.
Surfing the internets yesterday, I came across this picture that just felt right. You know the feeling, when you see something that is simply perfect for something that's been lying in the back of your mind. I'd like to add that I don't take any sort of credit for the picture, all I did was crop it a bit. So, I present you with a picture of what my idea of what The Players would look like.
I'm the one with the suit!
Well, if we want to get technical, the one with the black suit. Do you want to get technical? Do you really?
Yeah, that's right. Now we be gettin techical. Word.
-PlayerOne
Yeah, that's right. Now we be gettin techical. Word.
-PlayerOne
Still Alive
Beep
"Happy Canada Day" - A lot of Canadians
Edit:
Because... Well, why not? Sure, not as good as the original...
"Happy Canada Day" - A lot of Canadians
Edit:
See more funny videos at CollegeHumor
Because... Well, why not? Sure, not as good as the original...
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
It's been a while, I know, but I haven't been able to really think of anything worthwhile to say on the blog. Lately all the writing I've been doing has revolved around a little project that I've been working on for a little while now, using a program called "RPG Maker 2003". As you can probably tell, it's a program for making Role Playing Games on the computer. It's pretty user friendly, though there are newer versions of it out now that seem far better, the only problem is that I've used up my 30 day trial for one of them, and the other... well I can't figure out why, but it stops downloading at around 89% every time I try. So 2003 will have to do for now, and I don't mind, it's still a pretty sweet program.
Personally, I think that Video Games are a great way to portray a story, and some of them do an amazing job of bringing you into it. Allow me to give you a couple examples of games I thought were very well done when it comes to story and bringing the player into the game.
Shenmue I & II (Dreamcast and Xbox, in that order) - I was introduced to the Shenmue games a while ago, when I first bought my Dreamcast. I can't remember why I bought it, when I bought it, or where I bought it (I'm assuming Microplay) but I do remember my "older brother" Justin saying something like "Oh, you won't like that game, you'll probably think it's too boring", but I bought it anyways and never regretted it since. I can't really describe the genre of the game... It's a mix of adventure, puzzle solving, mystery, and a bit of acting and fighting. The story is focuses on a young Japanese man named Ryo Hazuki, who's father (a martial artist who created the Hazuki style of fighting, which Ryo is a student of) is murdered at the beginning of the story by a mysterious martial artist named Lan Di, apparently a past acquaintance of Ryo's father. The rest of the story plays out as Ryo swears to find out who Lan Di is and extract revenge on him, a story which by the second game is still not finished. From what I've heard, a long time ago, it was originally supposed to be about 5 games long... from what I can remember.
The story is really great, but the best parts are this game is the freedom, exploration, and interaction that it gives you, especially in the second game. As you walk around the town, or city, you see people walking up an down the streets doing their daily routines, going on walks, shopping, eating, playing at the arcade... I seem to have it a block write now, so I can't explain everything as well as I want to, but the game does an amazing job at making you feel as if you are living out Ryo's life, you can speak to passers by on the street, work, play games, eat, get into fights, gamble, sleep, buy little miniature Sega toys from those machines you see everywhere, buy pop from a drink machine, examine so many different little objects around you... It's really one of my favorite games, and I supposed how I can understand how people don't like it, or may think that it's slow... While it does have it's action, there are huge spaces where all you do is walk around the city/town, which doesn't bother me at all, with all the things you can do in it.
Perhaps today wasn't a good day to start writing on here again. I'm going to head off now, probably take a nap before I take a bus downtown for rehearsal. My last wisdom tooth is coming in, and it's at the part where it's just about to push through my gum, but it doesn't hurt. All it does is swell my gum so it's very irritating to do basically anything on the left side of my mouth right now. Fun fun, I wonder if I will have to get them removed?
-PlayerOne
"(Insert Shenmue quote in here, as I cannot find a good one)" - Shenmue
Personally, I think that Video Games are a great way to portray a story, and some of them do an amazing job of bringing you into it. Allow me to give you a couple examples of games I thought were very well done when it comes to story and bringing the player into the game.
Shenmue I & II (Dreamcast and Xbox, in that order) - I was introduced to the Shenmue games a while ago, when I first bought my Dreamcast. I can't remember why I bought it, when I bought it, or where I bought it (I'm assuming Microplay) but I do remember my "older brother" Justin saying something like "Oh, you won't like that game, you'll probably think it's too boring", but I bought it anyways and never regretted it since. I can't really describe the genre of the game... It's a mix of adventure, puzzle solving, mystery, and a bit of acting and fighting. The story is focuses on a young Japanese man named Ryo Hazuki, who's father (a martial artist who created the Hazuki style of fighting, which Ryo is a student of) is murdered at the beginning of the story by a mysterious martial artist named Lan Di, apparently a past acquaintance of Ryo's father. The rest of the story plays out as Ryo swears to find out who Lan Di is and extract revenge on him, a story which by the second game is still not finished. From what I've heard, a long time ago, it was originally supposed to be about 5 games long... from what I can remember.
The story is really great, but the best parts are this game is the freedom, exploration, and interaction that it gives you, especially in the second game. As you walk around the town, or city, you see people walking up an down the streets doing their daily routines, going on walks, shopping, eating, playing at the arcade... I seem to have it a block write now, so I can't explain everything as well as I want to, but the game does an amazing job at making you feel as if you are living out Ryo's life, you can speak to passers by on the street, work, play games, eat, get into fights, gamble, sleep, buy little miniature Sega toys from those machines you see everywhere, buy pop from a drink machine, examine so many different little objects around you... It's really one of my favorite games, and I supposed how I can understand how people don't like it, or may think that it's slow... While it does have it's action, there are huge spaces where all you do is walk around the city/town, which doesn't bother me at all, with all the things you can do in it.
Perhaps today wasn't a good day to start writing on here again. I'm going to head off now, probably take a nap before I take a bus downtown for rehearsal. My last wisdom tooth is coming in, and it's at the part where it's just about to push through my gum, but it doesn't hurt. All it does is swell my gum so it's very irritating to do basically anything on the left side of my mouth right now. Fun fun, I wonder if I will have to get them removed?
-PlayerOne
"(Insert Shenmue quote in here, as I cannot find a good one)" - Shenmue
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Forbidden Blood
Hey again readers! Player One here, at Slices of Cake! Were you expecting someone else? I hope not, I wouldn't want to bore you so intensely that you would begin to think of your own imaginary blog writers! That's just ridiculous, and besides... Those imaginary writers and I have never really seen eye to eye. Mostly because they aren't real and I can't really... See their eyes.
It's been pretty quiet here at Slices of Cake Inc... The phone rug today, but it was a false alarm. I was also reminded of my inability to give blood to anyone in North America. Long story short, because I lived in England for more than 3 months when I was about... a couple months old, from what I can remember (which is nothing at all), I can't give blood because of the whole mad cow scare they had over there. The woman who was screening me told me that I may carry the Mad Cow in my blood, and I could transfer it to someone else if I gave them my blood. If I had it, which, I'm pretty sure, I don't. But what do I know about my blood. Nothing, apparently. She also mentioned something along the lines of "If you do carry it, it could show up in your system in the future" as in I may come down with Mad Cow eventually.... Or something. Goodie. If they don't want my blood, so be it.
The funny thing about that story is that I have given blood previously, and on the previous screening I wasn't stopped at all, even though I had filled the from in the same way as I had previously. Hmm... I suppose it isn't as funny as it is confusing... and possibly very, very, alarming.
To sum it up, I'm not suffering from the aids, so please don't worry. Slices of Cake Inc is still running like a well oiled machine! But we're not "All work and no play" here, oh no! We (me) had a, "Pants: Optional" day last week. Feedback was pretty good and I plan to have it again soon. I've never really been a fan of wacky tie day, it always ends the same way. Two people end up coming with the same, guitar necktie and the results are not pleasant. Coffee flies, cover sheets are converted into airplanes, staplers are misused, outside food and/or drink is brought inside and some one always makes an improperly placed office joke. The whole ordeal is extremely unpleasant... and it really makes me wonder what I really have against wacky tie days. Maybe I should give it a shot, I had second guesses about Pants: Optional day, but I've never regretted it since.
-Player One
"What sauce!" - Plok
It's been pretty quiet here at Slices of Cake Inc... The phone rug today, but it was a false alarm. I was also reminded of my inability to give blood to anyone in North America. Long story short, because I lived in England for more than 3 months when I was about... a couple months old, from what I can remember (which is nothing at all), I can't give blood because of the whole mad cow scare they had over there. The woman who was screening me told me that I may carry the Mad Cow in my blood, and I could transfer it to someone else if I gave them my blood. If I had it, which, I'm pretty sure, I don't. But what do I know about my blood. Nothing, apparently. She also mentioned something along the lines of "If you do carry it, it could show up in your system in the future" as in I may come down with Mad Cow eventually.... Or something. Goodie. If they don't want my blood, so be it.
The funny thing about that story is that I have given blood previously, and on the previous screening I wasn't stopped at all, even though I had filled the from in the same way as I had previously. Hmm... I suppose it isn't as funny as it is confusing... and possibly very, very, alarming.
To sum it up, I'm not suffering from the aids, so please don't worry. Slices of Cake Inc is still running like a well oiled machine! But we're not "All work and no play" here, oh no! We (me) had a, "Pants: Optional" day last week. Feedback was pretty good and I plan to have it again soon. I've never really been a fan of wacky tie day, it always ends the same way. Two people end up coming with the same, guitar necktie and the results are not pleasant. Coffee flies, cover sheets are converted into airplanes, staplers are misused, outside food and/or drink is brought inside and some one always makes an improperly placed office joke. The whole ordeal is extremely unpleasant... and it really makes me wonder what I really have against wacky tie days. Maybe I should give it a shot, I had second guesses about Pants: Optional day, but I've never regretted it since.
-Player One
"What sauce!" - Plok
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Lesson Learned
I'm finding as things are finally starting to settle down, I'm getting more and more stressed out. The main cause of this... are books!
A friend from university and I took out a few books from the school's library and later on that day I found that I no longer had any use for them. My friend said that he still might have use for them, so I said he could borrow them as long as he returned them on time. That was the big mistake I made that day. About a month later, and I get an email from the library, telling me that I have overdue books.
Shit
After looking at the library's website, and failed attempts at trying to renew the already overdue books, I have found out that I am probably going to have to play a significant amount of money for these damn things I didn't even use in the first place. Oh happy day! Now I dread the day I have to walk up to the librarian, my tail between my legs, and explain my situation. Obviously, the first thing that she/he will tell me is "Well you shouldn't have let your friend borrow the books in the first place". Then I'll nod, apologize and pray that these books aren't worth that much. And yes, I have tried to get a hold of my friend, but I haven't received any word from him yet, and last I checked with him he said he returned them. Chances are I'm going to have to pay this fine, and hopefully he might help out with the charge.
On a positive note though, I'm apparently going to go watch some jazz tonight, so that'll probably help the nerves quite a bit.
"If you're feeling good, don't worry.... You'll get over it" - Bad Street Brawler
A friend from university and I took out a few books from the school's library and later on that day I found that I no longer had any use for them. My friend said that he still might have use for them, so I said he could borrow them as long as he returned them on time. That was the big mistake I made that day. About a month later, and I get an email from the library, telling me that I have overdue books.
Shit
After looking at the library's website, and failed attempts at trying to renew the already overdue books, I have found out that I am probably going to have to play a significant amount of money for these damn things I didn't even use in the first place. Oh happy day! Now I dread the day I have to walk up to the librarian, my tail between my legs, and explain my situation. Obviously, the first thing that she/he will tell me is "Well you shouldn't have let your friend borrow the books in the first place". Then I'll nod, apologize and pray that these books aren't worth that much. And yes, I have tried to get a hold of my friend, but I haven't received any word from him yet, and last I checked with him he said he returned them. Chances are I'm going to have to pay this fine, and hopefully he might help out with the charge.
On a positive note though, I'm apparently going to go watch some jazz tonight, so that'll probably help the nerves quite a bit.
"If you're feeling good, don't worry.... You'll get over it" - Bad Street Brawler
Monday, April 7, 2008
Alive and Well
Well, that last week of horribly long nights which consisted of work I could have done months before has finally finished. Huzzah! Now I'm back in the saddle... I suppose, though I've almost gotten my fill of writing from that last week... But there is important information to discuss!
Some of you, though probably not many of you, may know a few things about the live action Akira movie that has apparently been in the planning. For those of you who don't know, Akira is a great anime co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo (who also wrote that magna the movie was based off of). It was regarded by some critics as one of the greatest animated movies ever made, and it really is a great movie. It's set in the post-apocalyptic future of Tokyo, 2019 to be specific, and stars Shotaro Kaneda and Tetsuo Shima. In 1988, Tokyo was destroyed by what seemed like an atomic blast, and Neo-Tokyo now stands on an artificial island and is where the movie takes place. Teens Kaneda, the leader of a biker gang, and Tetsuo, his best friend, have ambushed a couple of rival gang members. Something happens and Tetsuo is injured... But that's all I will say for now, because if you don't know what happens then you probably haven't seen the movie. Which you should. Right now. Before you read on. Do it.
Now, like I said before, you may have heard about the plans to make a live action Akira movie. You may have seen some Kanye West video that apparently recreated the bike race scene in it. Either way, something is apparently going down, and I have to say I'm a little excited. The first news I heard from it a while ago was that Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio (of all people) grabbed the rights to make the movie. "Oh dear" I thought "I had better gouge my eyes out now in advance" but I wasn't being very fair with it, I had a change of heart recently when I was thinking about it, and now I'm actually looking forward to it. Also, soon after the first news, I learned that DiCaprio is not only producing it, but also starring as the lead character Shotaro Kaneda. Personally, I can't really see that really working out in my opinion, but who knows. Then, a couple days ago, I found this. Joseph Gordon Levitt is playing Tetsuo. The kid from Angels in the Outfield! ...At least, I think it's that was him, I'm too lazy to go over and check to see if it is. From a recent photo of him shown on the linked site, I have to say that he does seem to look a bit more like his character than Leo, but still... Neither of them are Japanese, and I think there is going to be a lot of people complaining about that. Maybe a creative use of tape-to-eye will be one of the things that the make-up crew will use? Of course, that's politically incorrect, so I obviously didn't just suggest that at all.
Not only have they found actors for the two lead roles, but they apparently even have a director on board now too. Ruairi Robinson is his name, and he hasn't done anything major yet, besides a slew of interesting short films, but that shouldn't stop him from doing something big. I also want to remind all of you that I know that a lot of this is probably either old news (or even rumors), but I felt the need to share it with you, since not very many people even know about the possibility of the movie itself yet.
So, to get away from all of that business... I have painfully remembered the reason for which I do not enjoy to eat liver and onions. For some reason, I had the idea that I may have "grown into" the taste over the years, as I didn't like it when I was younger either. I actually used to pretend to like it as a child, because I was afraid I would hurt my dad's feelings if I didn't like it. So there I was, standing in my dad's kitchen, staring at this pile of liver on my plate. All I have to say is thank god my dad cooked bacon with it, or I would have had to survive on mashed potatoes and corn on the cob for the rest of supper. That's all well and good, and my dad is a great cook, but I was in the mood for animal. To sum it up, I still don't like liver and onions.
That's about it for me today, I think I'm going to go relax for a bit. Maybe I'll watch Akira tonight, it's been a while since I've watched it last. Take care.
-PlayerOne
"The future is not a straight line. There are many different pathways. We must try to decide that future for ourselves." - Kiyoko (Akira, 1988)
Some of you, though probably not many of you, may know a few things about the live action Akira movie that has apparently been in the planning. For those of you who don't know, Akira is a great anime co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo (who also wrote that magna the movie was based off of). It was regarded by some critics as one of the greatest animated movies ever made, and it really is a great movie. It's set in the post-apocalyptic future of Tokyo, 2019 to be specific, and stars Shotaro Kaneda and Tetsuo Shima. In 1988, Tokyo was destroyed by what seemed like an atomic blast, and Neo-Tokyo now stands on an artificial island and is where the movie takes place. Teens Kaneda, the leader of a biker gang, and Tetsuo, his best friend, have ambushed a couple of rival gang members. Something happens and Tetsuo is injured... But that's all I will say for now, because if you don't know what happens then you probably haven't seen the movie. Which you should. Right now. Before you read on. Do it.
Now, like I said before, you may have heard about the plans to make a live action Akira movie. You may have seen some Kanye West video that apparently recreated the bike race scene in it. Either way, something is apparently going down, and I have to say I'm a little excited. The first news I heard from it a while ago was that Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio (of all people) grabbed the rights to make the movie. "Oh dear" I thought "I had better gouge my eyes out now in advance" but I wasn't being very fair with it, I had a change of heart recently when I was thinking about it, and now I'm actually looking forward to it. Also, soon after the first news, I learned that DiCaprio is not only producing it, but also starring as the lead character Shotaro Kaneda. Personally, I can't really see that really working out in my opinion, but who knows. Then, a couple days ago, I found this. Joseph Gordon Levitt is playing Tetsuo. The kid from Angels in the Outfield! ...At least, I think it's that was him, I'm too lazy to go over and check to see if it is. From a recent photo of him shown on the linked site, I have to say that he does seem to look a bit more like his character than Leo, but still... Neither of them are Japanese, and I think there is going to be a lot of people complaining about that. Maybe a creative use of tape-to-eye will be one of the things that the make-up crew will use? Of course, that's politically incorrect, so I obviously didn't just suggest that at all.
Not only have they found actors for the two lead roles, but they apparently even have a director on board now too. Ruairi Robinson is his name, and he hasn't done anything major yet, besides a slew of interesting short films, but that shouldn't stop him from doing something big. I also want to remind all of you that I know that a lot of this is probably either old news (or even rumors), but I felt the need to share it with you, since not very many people even know about the possibility of the movie itself yet.
So, to get away from all of that business... I have painfully remembered the reason for which I do not enjoy to eat liver and onions. For some reason, I had the idea that I may have "grown into" the taste over the years, as I didn't like it when I was younger either. I actually used to pretend to like it as a child, because I was afraid I would hurt my dad's feelings if I didn't like it. So there I was, standing in my dad's kitchen, staring at this pile of liver on my plate. All I have to say is thank god my dad cooked bacon with it, or I would have had to survive on mashed potatoes and corn on the cob for the rest of supper. That's all well and good, and my dad is a great cook, but I was in the mood for animal. To sum it up, I still don't like liver and onions.
That's about it for me today, I think I'm going to go relax for a bit. Maybe I'll watch Akira tonight, it's been a while since I've watched it last. Take care.
-PlayerOne
"The future is not a straight line. There are many different pathways. We must try to decide that future for ourselves." - Kiyoko (Akira, 1988)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
