Spike video game awards
I enjoyed the Spike TV video game awards. That is, I enjoyed attending the awards ceremony, seeing celebrities (go doogie!!), and seeing Todd, Istvan and Emil go up and accept the award - can't say I enjoyed watching it, per se.
It is, in short, not a good show. The writing is juvenile and lame (though to be fair, pretty much all awards show are pretty lame when it comes to the writing), and they only gave out a small handful of awards. Even video game rock star Hideo Kojima was limited to a quick wave before cutting to commercial break. As for the objectification of the ladies - well, I can't complain personally - however, it was a bit disturbing to see it in person, rather than on teevee.
Sexy Videogameland's take on it works for me:
The female body is practically an art object, so I didn't even mind the trotting-out of vacant Marisa Miller or the gyrating argentine archangels (who may or may not have been Argentines). Like the subject heading says, I wasn't sure whether to be horrified at the gaudy display, or jealous that I wasn't there. Everyone looked wonderfully drunk, which might have been a fun way to block out the pain and be less anxious about all the aggressively hot women.Anyhoo, my point.
Needs better award categories. Best XXX is boring and a wasted opportunity for creativity. Here are some awards they should give out next year:
Best Death (Gears 2 and Fallout 3 would've have some good ones for this!)
Best Loading Screens
Best Kiss, sponsored by Hersheys!
Best Start Menu
Best Opening (GTA4 would be my pick - it has a great cinematic opening)
Best Use for DX 10, sponsored by Microsoft!
Best Interface
Best Achievement/Trophy
Best Box Cover
Best Weapon
Best Creature
Best Boss Battle
Best Vehicular Crash (Burnout would win this every year)
Etc... This list writes itself. Cool awards that I'd actually enjoy watching.
Hi to 2009
For 2009, I decided the ol' blog needed a new look. I also removed some of the extra stuff that was in the side bar. I'll be adding some links back, but I felt for the most part, much of the side bar wasn't interesting and just made the site load slower.
Anyhoo, hope you had a safe and fun new years, and a wonderful 2009 to come.
Slumdog Millionaire
Go see Slumdog Millionaire. I saw this in Raleigh while visiting family last week. This movie deserves to win best picture at Oscars. Wonderful film.
Holidays
I'm done with work for rest of the year. Just burning off PTO now. I wasn't able to much time off this year (other than the wedding and honeymoon). I worked pretty much 7 days a week for most of the year, and worked most holidays, as well. I'm going to have to work on that work/personal life balance someday. Fortunately, we don't ship a game every year :)
After spending holidays in Raleigh with my family, we're heading to NYC to spend a long weekend of TKTS, the Met, Central Park, chinatown, soup dumplings, bubble tea, Craft, hope to find a ramen place, bagels, a good slice of pizza, and FAO Schwartz. Christmas in NYC is pretty fun. Cold, but fun.
Holiday cards
"OK, all the cards are done," I say. "Um. What's that? The embossing tool?"
"Yes."
"I wasn't aware there was going to be embossing involved."
"There's always embossing involved, honey."
They forgot one thing....
According to article,
In exchange for the money, the car companies would be barred from paying dividends to their shareholders or bonuses to their executives as long as the loans are outstanding. They would have to give taxpayers warrants to buy their stock, and submit to an audit by the Government Accountability Office and the special inspector general for the Treasury's financial bailout program.Where's the part about making safe, reliable cars with good fuel economy that people want to buy? You know, like their foreign competitor's cars. If you look at crash tests reports from the gov't and from insurance companies, or Consumer Reports best buy lists - foreign cars crush American cars all the time in regards to reliability, quality and safety. In fact, US automakers are notorious for fighting and lobbying AGAINST advances in safety and fuel economy.
Honda has one of the worst warranties in the industry (3 year, 36K miles) but, in general, their cars are reliable, safe and maintain their resale value so well that the warranty is the last thing Honda owners have to worry about.
Nationalizing the car companies might guarantee that GM stays around. But that doesn't mean anybody is going to buy their cars. I've read articles stating consumers won't buy cars from companies in bankruptcy. Isn't this the problem GM and other US automakers have now? Nobody is buying their cars RIGHT NOW. In general, their cars are unreliable, perform poorly in safety tests, do not hold their resale value well, and have poor fuel efficiency -- especially when compared against foreign competitors. GM's hybrids won't save the company either if they don't improve the quality, reliable and safety of their products.
This is the part that irks me the most. Why is the government bailing out the automaker who makes the worst cars? Why not give money to Toyota or Honda so they can do more R&D and make us less reliant on gas sooner?
Democrats Unveil $15 Billion Emergency Loan for Big Three Automakers - washingtonpost.com
O'Connell's
We had dinner last night with Meg's parents in Old Town, VA. Old Town is one of our favorite places to hang out. As we continue shopping for a new home, Old Town is one place we definitely would love to live.
We ate at O' Connells, a great Irish bar/restaurant a block away from the water on King Street (and next to Meg's favorite store - Paper Source). It was one of the places we were considering for our rehearsal dinner. The warm spinach salad is a great mix of fresh spinach and bacon vinaigrette. Hmmm, bacon. Last night, I had the duck. It was fantastic. They also serve this bacon and brussel sprout side dish that I like. For dessert, we had a delicious blueberry bread pudding. Her parents had a tasting plate of cheeses for dessert that looked good, too.
Anyway, its a great bar, too. They have 4 bars, actually. Parts of the restaurant look like they were restored from churches. The servers and hosts, pretty much everybody working there, all speak with an rich Irish accent.
What does it take to get fired?
Why do these CEOs and the other high paid execs still get to keep their jobs? These guys have made tens of millions of dollars for running their companies poorly. Is working for $1 really a "punishment" here when they've already pocketed millions? If they were truly remorseful for the poor job they've done, they would offer their resignations as part of this bailout plan. Not only did they let their companies down, they royally screwed the entire auto industry and related companies and markets in the process.
White House, Democrats Near Compromise on Aid for Automakers - washingtonpost.com
Yum
Pixar's Up trailer
The floating house makes me think of Miyazaki. I'm a big Pixar fan boy. They can do no wrong.
The Shield
Just watched the finale of The Shield yesterday on tivo. What a fantastic show. Sorry its over now. But it never let up, the quality never went down. If you're looking for a show to watch on DVD, get The Shield. You won't be disappointed.
Dim Sum, Dinner Party and Photo Books
Last Saturday morning, Megen and I were drinking coffee, eating scones she had made, and watching tivo, when Adela calls and invites us to dim sum. I turn to Megen to check with her -- or in her words, "To see if I'm going along to dim sum with you..." (Since I was pretty much running out the door. Saying dim sum in my family has the same effect as the ding sound in Southwest commercials)
We went to visit Roscoe, our new doggie friend, on the Berry compound for dinner later that night. Had a great time visiting with friends. Jon is a brave man, grilling steaks on a very cold evening. On our way out of the compound, we suddenly stopped - we were following Njambi, and in front of her was Amy and Brendan. Another car had turned into the entrance and we were trapped. Amy calls and says the other car is stopped so someone can throw up. Good times.
I just made my first Iphoto picture book -- a xmas present for one of my cousins (Nate says he's always wanted a coffee table book full of photos of our two cats...for the ladies). It was ridiculously easy and looks amazing. Hopefully, the book production values are just as good. I'm thinking of creating custom wedding books for our families.
And if Adela buys her digital prints!!, I want to make a Cheng-Steinberg Weddings 2009 calendar for our families. I still might be able to - I bet some of the photos from Adela and Josh's guests are high enough resolution.
Leaked Star Trek Trailer
I didn't get to see this with Quantum of Solace on Friday. Bummer. Trailer looks great. Quantum? Well, not as good as Casino Royale. Action was cool. Story was dumb, just bothered me for some reason.
HBO orders fantasy pilot 'Thrones' --The Live Feed
Love this book series. Perfect for HBO series.
HBO orders fantasy pilot 'Thrones' --The Live Feed
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