| Sad Masquerade |
|
|
| 12:33am 11/11/2007 |
| |
mood:  tired
|
So, a little over a year in London and someone finally tries to mug me. In a way it feels overdue; an initiation to the local neighborhoods that somehow passed me by because I was too busy with simply wondering where the hell I was.
But I need to correct myself. It wasn’t ‘someone’ who tried to repossess anything of value I may have had on me so much as it was a pack of idiot teenage boys and girls. I’m somewhat intrigued, and equally annoyed, by the whole experience. It’s the disservice at large that such a confused act of cowardice propagates that grates the most. Perhaps I should start at the beginning.
Train arrives and I get off, change the album I’m listening to, trudge through the gates and exit at the best point to walk home from. Getting a bus won’t set me back anything, but I’ve taken to making the last phase of the journey on foot. A matter of seconds after getting up the stairs and a complete stranger is putting his arm around me and taking a peculiar interest in what I’m listening to. There are two possibilities here: either he’s a bit of a nutter, or he wants something. The fact that he’s telling me to ‘relax’ before I even have a chance to tense up – heaven forbid my body be given a chance to vindicate his apparent concern – and pulling me along at his own walking pace suggests the latter. Some not-too-clearly-recalled dialogue follows.
“What’s that you’re listening to?”
“… Music.”
“You don’t seem to understand. What’s it you’ve go there?”
I procure my PSP from my jacket pocket, bundled up in its no-frills carry-case and happily streaming a few Crowded House B-sides, and hold it at a safe distance.
“Lemme see it.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Why not?”
“I’m happy enough listening to my music and keeping to myself, and frankly don’t feel any need to pass the device to anybody I don’t know.”
At this point he’s moving in front of me and has grabbed a mixed tuft of my jacket and bag-strap. A quick panoramic observation shows that he’s brought along a good amount of company with him, probably somewhere between fifteen and twenty extra pairs of hands, and they’ve been quite happy to walk up behind and surround me. I turn back around, fully aware of my situation but more peeved at it than anything else.
“Hand it over!”
I put my PSP back in my pocket, and receive a punch to the head from a guy standing just to the left of me for my troubles. I’d honestly expected worse, and from as far as I could tell none of them were actually armed, and as a result I’m completely unphased by this. This seems to confuse the lot of them. It’s as if they expect people to either topple over, cry or shriek out in pain from one little bit of violent physical contact as sort of default response – generally I’ve always thought that your average human can take a bit more than that. In any case, at this point an anti climax is reached as I somehow manage to wrestle myself free, turn around and simply walk away. And that was that. I simply turned, and strolled (although I imagine that I strolled briskly) off.
Now for why this annoys me. I live in Canada Water, one stop away from Canary Wharf on the Jubilee line. It’s a fairly docile place, and while not as monotone as some particularly pompous parts of the city, it’s certainly not the most culturally diverse. There’s a small Asian sector to the area population, but that’s mostly it. While personalities and attitudes come in all shapes and sizes, I can’t help but feel that a decent number of locals – consciously or not – probably see the area as a nice, safe, white community. I also can’t help but feel that the fuckwits I ran into a couple of nights ago probably expect this to be the case, and through certain nuances in how they spoke and carried themselves, were intentionally trying to play up the fact that their skin is much darker than mine – as if a different colour could somehow become an endorphine that would carry the personification of fear itself. The only result I can see here (and I’m assuming that they’ve pulled this stunt before) is that they’re intentionally embracing negative stereotypes in a way that is only going to reinforce them (especially if sensationalist local media ever gets involved), simply because they see it as an easy means to a ‘see, want, have’ attitude. I’d rather them have been white simply because I could then write it off as and blame it on chav culture in general, and not give people an excuse to go home with an extra layer of racist perception.
All told though, I guess this is the most interesting thing to have happened to me in these past couple of weeks. That and seeing Stardust, which is really imaginative and wonderful and not at all unlike watching a live-action Ghibli film. |
|
| |
|
Read 3 - Post |
| |
| Emergence Bulldozer |
|
|
| 04:47pm 25/07/2007 |
| |
mood: tired
|
So I’ve not updated this thing in a while. That’s pretty normal.
Okay – so it’s been somewhere in the vicinity of a year. A year!
And I’ve also moved to a city half the world away.
Aside from that it’s all pretty normal behaviour on my part.
It was back sometime early or mid August, either the 13th or 14th if memory serves correct, that I landed in London last year. I was supposed to return to Sydney back in early February. Stuff happened, things changed, flights were put off. Et cetera.
People still ask me why I came to London in the first place, and I’m still fairly sure that the reason is simply that I got bored with being in Australia. I had kind of wanted to go to Japan and try my hand at ALT work, but Universities working to different semester structures meant that I’d have to wait out until the end of 2006 to go over, and bumming around Oz just didn’t seem to be the best way to spend my new found, post-University free time. So I booked myself into a quickie bartending course to ensure I’d at least be able to find a job of some sort, and then, after much hollow talk over how I was eventually going to do it, quite spontaneously took the dive for an airfare to the UK.
The flight is a back-breaker. Over 20 hours in the air; it doesn’t help that I seem unable to sleep while sitting up, no matter how desperately tired I become. Only a couple of times during the flight did I suffer sudden rushes of panic as I started to grasp at the idea of just what it was I had gotten myself in to. Setting down in London early in the morning only made matters worse, as I was going to have to force myself to stay awake until later in the evening if I didn’t want to completely destroy my body’s internal clock. Somehow I managed to meet family connection, Beka (I even got asked for directions while finding her workplace in Westminster, in spite of my excess baggage and the rings that I’m sure were around my eyes. How anybody could have mistaken me for local then will elude me for life), got given her spare key and even found my way back to her flat where I managed to stay awake until almost nine in the evening. I woke up much earlier than I expected the following the day, and felt completely fine.
Then a day or two later it turned out there was some trouble with the place I was supposed to be moving to in Tooting, which gave me until the weekend to find somewhere new to stay. I ended up in a shared room in a share house of 12 in Nunhead, a stone’s throw away from both Dulwich and Peckham (two completely different worlds) depending on what way you walked. With rent as cheap as chips and a minimum stay contract of only one month, it seemed sufficient as somewhere to stop over and continue my search as anywhere else.
As it happens, my Birthday was the last day I was able to spend at Beka’s, and the day was most memorable for meeting with Wil in person… and a little girl getting hit by a bus in Leicester Square. That probably would have been more traumatizing had she not somehow gotten away completely unscathed, at which point it became incredible instead.
So back at me new share house, where I would go on to stay for much longer than originally intended, I found myself needing to actually get out and search for a job. That bartending course I did actually came in handy, until I realized a fortnight later that I simply wasn’t happy at all and pulled my last shift just a week after that. Even writing freelance for Hyper and Total Gamer, while trying to get the odd piece into a UK mag or two, and essentially barely making enough money to survive seemed a better option. Then after about a week after that my mobile did an odd thing and actually rang. All I can say is thank fuck that HMV sell games over here.
Called in for an interview based entirely on a promise of product knowledge in my CV, I fortunately kept entirely down to earth and once it became apparent that I wasn’t an arrogant know-it-all I was offered the temp Christmas contract there and then, without having to wait on a phone call (it was only later that I found just how much hinged on me acknowledging that there would always be someone who would know more about something that I do). It was perhaps a little foolish to stall on accepting the gig, but after a couple of days and messy phone calls I got back in touch and accepted the position.
Unlike with a certain bar job, proper training was given here, and nerves were eventually ironed out. Just as well really, as the work isn’t utter hell, the pay’s quite good by retail standards, and in general the vibe in the store was awesome. It was also manically busy, as I was working in the second largest store in London, located on the Bond Street end of Oxford Street – a magnetic hub for ritual shopping.
Some time throughout all of this I came to the conclusion that I could quite easily deal with staying in the city for a full year extra. Eventually I went through with staying, and was then somewhat crushed when I wasn’t kept on after Christmas. None of the Games temps were. Hurrah.
This wasn’t a total disaster, as I had a few hundred pounds in the bank at this time and was getting or organizing spots of work from the likes of Official Playstation, Neo, Edge and n.Revolution, and had also discovered that being a ‘correspondent’ for Oz mags can be pretty sweet at times. My funds dwindled, though, despite somehow living on a food budget of around 5 pounds a week – something that mostly involves eating garbage excuses for food. A couple of failed interviews later and I was getting to the point of desperation, when my phone went off while I was wrist deep in soapy water since I had nothing better left to do than wash up the dirty dishes of 11 other people. Again, thank fuck HMV sell games over here.
I had to await a phone call after the interview this time, which left me as a nervous wreck for the weekend. Thank fuck that the manager at my old store would have kept me on had he gone in for any games staff. And while I could swear that the Troc store has the most tatty staff room in the West End, the vibe is again awesome, and at the moment I’m simply having too much fun to say that I’d trade it in. Would have been nice if I wasn’t left running the games section practically solo during the peak of the Summer sale, though.
So that’s work stuff covered, at least in the day job sense. Freelancing has been going well for the most part, although more reliable net access from my new housing (located in Canada Water, and a massive step up from my previous digs in all respects other than net access) would work wonders. I’ve been sent to both Chernobyl(!) and Poland since moving, and have also made visits to Eidos and Rockstar.
As for other stuff, well, seeing the likes of Maximo Park and the White Stripes live has been very awesome (I even surrendered doing Neo’s lead review on Earthsea for the Stripes!) Surviving front row Queens of the Stone Age is something I will be forever proud of. Final Fantasy XII is astoundingly good, a total reinvention of the wheel and easily the best the franchise has seen since VII (or VI, depending on where your reverence lies – in either case, it’s the best one in ages). Crowded House have actually released a new album, much to my unrestrained delight, and it’s neither more nor less than I expected: heavily understated, gently lyrical and in possession of a slow burning hook. Oh, and that new Transformers movie? I could nitpick, but when the last half-hour or so proved to be some of the most awesomely stupid fun I’ve had in a cinema in a long time, I really can’t be bothered. It’s stupid, explosive and totally awesome – a perfect rose-tinted asset for my childhood, as well as seemingly half the people I know.
Not exactly had much in the way of visitors, with the exception of Steve and Chris, who showed up at my work a day early by surprise. Strange how I can actually notice accents on those guys now. That aside, it was cool to see them again, and hopefully they survived the running of the bulls intact.
Not long until I make a return visit home at all now. Must remember to stock up on CDs and anime while I’m there, and meet up with craploads of people, too. This could well prove to be the most exhausting holiday of my life. |
|
| |
|
Read 2 - Post |
| |
| Black and White Fireflies |
|
|
| 10:29pm 25/06/2006 |
| |
mood: exhausted
|
Time to update this LJ again, methinks.
So, what's been going on of note? A lot, I think, but I'm not so sure. Hopefully I can sort it all out. Dream's Image Video screened twice at the Sydney Film Festival last week, which was rather cool. In all honesty I wasn't as spun out by seeing it as I thought I might be, but I guess that's because I was simply spun out by the idea of it a long time ago now. It's a little creepy that it's already come and gone, though.
The inclusion of my own work put aside, I think that the collection of Oz Digital Shorts is probably still the best thing that I've seen at a cinema all year. There was some really good stuff in there, a couple of pieces that were aesthetically brilliant, and it was very diverse but still managed to get the right audience reaction each time. I think they plan on podcasting the collection, but I'd love a DVD to be released, if only because I want a copy. As it happens I can probably just ask for a copy anyway. Answering questions was a little uninspired. There were two screenings and at the first I was simply told to introduce myself and explain a bit about the making of Dream, and then when the option was thrown out to the audience, nobody asked any questions. The second time we were given the option of speaking straight up, and both myself and the other dude down front declined, but I still had to point to a random person in the crowd and tell them to ask something of one of us before the questions started. Beyond that it was pretty generic: How long did it take; what was the budget; what software did you use. Fair enough, I suppose.
The answers above are just under a year, there wasn't one, and lots of Adobe stuff if anyone's interested. Beyond the second screening, I didn't get home until comfortably after midnight, and since I didn't want to go to bed only to get up again at four in the morning, I decided to just stay awake and slug it out until the soccer. Watched half of a really good French movie called Nikita while I was waiting, and I really must finish that off the next chance I get. As for the game, the results kinda say it all. It was a tense experience with lots of shouting coming from the swath of bodies that were collected together in Dil's garage. Then I got home again, and eventually went to bed where I would sleep for a poultry four hours before waking up again, unable to return to dreamland. As a result, my body clock is still a little messed up.
A week before the second screening, I got down to some Glasshouse recordings for the first time in nearly two years. Still having trouble comprehending how hard it is to get tickets these days, it used to be so easy before the show became popular. In early and spoke to Wil Anderson briefly as he was on his way into makeup, and damn - I never would have guessed just how much gel that must be put upon his head. The man's hair was curly. Curly! The second show was better from the first, and the group of us (which included a certain someone who knows who he is who didn't show to Dream's second screening, and if he doesn't know who he is then I'm talking about you Jacky!) found ourselves reflecting upon the experience of actually being worn out from laughing while eating KFC. It hurts the ribs. Then I went home and played some of my uber-cheap copy of Baten Kaitos: a game that I like more than I thought I would, but has an inevitably annoying element of chance in battles that can be troublesome in boss fights. Having to wait for a healing item to become available isn't the result of perfect game design.
Back in the present and I'm now writing this. I guess I may move into watching some Escaflowne or Train Man now. |
|
| |
|
Read 2 - Post |
| |
| Shiny Plastic Things |
|
|
| 01:03pm 30/05/2006 |
| |
mood:  indifferent
|
I wish Garage Games would talk to me. I've emailed them a couple of times now and gotten absolutely no replies one way or the other, and I've heard no word from Cam about them contacting him first, either. Jeff Tunnel has some pretty interesting bits and pieces going on in his blog that I'd like to follow on from, and by and large the company's role is more suited to the indie feature that I'm trying to write than a more immediate developer's would be. I'll probably have to just wait out until the end of the week, and then move on to contacting the Chronic Logic guys if I still haven't heard back. Gish is pretty cool, incidentally, and anyone who is reading this who hasn't played it should go download the demo. Then you should buy the full version, realizing that I have told you that the demo isn't the best representation of the games overall quality, and by comparison is actually fairly ordinary.
Went to get my eyes checked today. Routine thing that I hadn't done in over two years, and I was in and out in ten minutes. No problems there, although when I got home I found a 'first in best dressed' offer to preview Lego Star Wars 2 in my email inbox, and I'm now kicking myself because I was far too late to stand half a chance at getting the code. Bugger. I really could have used that distraction, although it may well be better in the hands of somebody who has actually played the previous game. Perhaps I should just sit by the letterbox and wait for some DS review code to arrive, although I must admit that I'd be more excited about it if I weren't told that it'd 'probably be pretty crappy'. Other than that I've been going mad trying to get a Craptastic piece right, which is proving strangely difficult, but I'm determined to get some passable sulfurous bashing of Road Avenger out before my hair turns gray.
So, Yum Cha happened over the weekend. It was cool, and tasty, and Jacky found some poo in his cup. No, really. It scared me shitless (don't mind the pun) as I already had some tea in mine. He really should have tried to haggle a discount for that. Whatever, maybe he did, I don't understand a word of Cantonese and so didn't really understand a single thing that was said a lot of the time. We all then proceeded to play Tetris at the table, and some more Tetris outside some clothing stores. It should be pointed out that these were very Goth and Emo-like clothing stores, and that entering them was an experience unto itself. People who call me weird have never been in here. I don't spend over $100 on pairs of pants with more pockets than any man would ever need, and in general am a fan of clothing that is in my price range, and that doesn't involve tacky plastic spikes. I also got given some DVD's to watch, containing some Japanese TV and anime, as well as what appears to be a Hentai game. From Jacky? There's a side to that boy that I obviously don't know very well. I hope that he enjoys the far more innocent copy of Pikmin I loaned him in return.
The main show in question on these DVD's is Densha no Otoko which is, as best I can tell, a Japanese sitcom with overtones so soapy that sometimes it makes the screen lather. So far I've been introduced to a very well performed and exaggerated otaku geek, a pretty girl on a train, and the members of an online chat room that support him on his quest to garner her full adoring attention. At least he got a haircut in the second episode if nothing else, as it was honestly painful to look at him. They've really done a great job of casting the lead if nothing else. There's been one major and amusing little plot slip up so far though. This pretty girl, see, well, out otaku lead meats her on a train when she's reading a copy of Angels and Demons (in English, at that). Then an angry drunk harasses her and he steps in and clumsily saves her from a little grief. Later on we learn that she couldn't see him properly because she didn't have her contacts in - THIS WOMAN THEREFORE SITS LOOKING AT A BLURY MESH ON THE PAGE OF A BOOK JUST SO SHE CAN LOOK INTELECTUAL. Honestly, if you're going to go to such boring extremes to garner an image, you should at least choose a book that isn't a simple piece of pulp fiction.
Am I happy with my plot nitpickings? Yeah, I think I'm happy with my plot nitpickings. Good night one and all. |
|
| |
|
Read 2 - Post |
| |
| Baggy |
|
|
| 02:54am 23/05/2006 |
| |
mood:  cold
|
Again, it's been ages, but not as ages as it has been in the past. I have to wonder if I based most of my work and play on the same computer as my net browsing, would this journal be a little less neglected? I dunno', probably not I guess.
Ended up heading into Sydney proper by myself last night, after having only the one weekend to find someone who knew who Neil Gaiman was, had a vague degree of interest in seeing him in discussion with Wil Anderson, and didn't have any prior commitments. It was nice that I got two free tickets and all, but a little more than a couple of days to try and organize someone to go with would have been nice - not surprisingly, it turned out that everyone I knew who held some form of interest was unable to commit at such short notice. Anyway, not knowing exactly what it'd be about, and admittedly not having read all that much of Neil's work, the talk was pretty interesting and probably worth the solo trip into town. It focused more around his life and career, filtered through with stories of amusing or interesting moments, rather than interrogating any of the works themselves, and I felt less alienated as such. Having a reading of a bizarre but quite likable new short story was kinda nice, too. It's a small shame I didn't bring more money with me (or think to scalp my spare ticket off at a slight discount price) though, as I have actually wanted to try reading one of his novels, and the added novelty of being able to get it signed straight after purchase would have been nice.
Beyond that, and on a focus more entangled with my everyday life at the moment, I've discovered the bloody obvious: that trying to research and write a feature on an entire games scene is really hard. While I'm sure that I can come up with something that'll make the grade to get published, I'm unsure I can satisfy myself with it, and fear that I may inevitably end up largely talking round in circles. I have discovered some really neat games during this highly disorganised research phase however, and its nice that not a single one of them is a first person shooter, but I'm swamped at the same time, caught waist-high in a pile of games that I'd be able to enjoy much more if I were only focusing on one or two of them. On that account I can't wait until I get the feature done (which, sadly, probably won't be for a while) so that I can just wipe the slate clean and focus mostly on just playing Darwinia because I want to. My full copy of that game only just arrived before I went out yesterday, so I've only played a demo version so far, but the first impression (& critical praises) imply that it'll be really awesome. It's one of the games I don't feel guilty about getting for free simply because I know it's going to result in me lavishing praises upon it in the article.
On a note of more casual gaming, the sort that is just for my own enjoyment, I've been having mixed reactions to FFX. Not as mixed as I did towards FFVIII mind, and I can say more comfortably that I like X more overall, but at moments it annoys me. One boss was unfairly hard if you didn't have certain items, and it plays much more into the 'gather a bunch of items together for a big climax' plot structure than any other FF game I've played, which is a shame as the general avoidance of this is something that I've generally admired about the series, even when having issues with other things. If I wasn't borrowing it I'd probably shelve it for a while and come back later, but as it is I'm kinda forcing myself through.
For now, I've wasted my lunch and have work to do. With Total Gamer just having lost it's deputy editor, there's a whole bunch of scraps for everyone else to treat as pickings, and I should probably get on with that freeware bit. There's that Eva thingy I need to do, too. |
|
| |
|
Read 5 - Post |
| |
| War and Writing |
|
|
| 12:51pm 30/04/2006 |
| |
mood:  content
|
Negligence seems to get worse with time. My poor LJ, I apolagise. I'd blame it on School Holidays causing siblings to buzz around me and destroy my work atmosphere, but the 'work atmosphere' is more associated with writing for Hyper & Total Gamer, as well as trying to start drawing again and looking into getting Dream out there.
So; news of note: The music video I made out of Dream's footage as a supplementary piece has, as far as is currently know, found itself in an Oz Digital Shorts section of this year's Sydney Film Festival. My first actual feature – coming in at a happy seven pages – got published in Hyper, and I hold the still-unreleased next issue with my Chibi-Robo review in it beside me. That's all rather neat, methinks, even if I did manage to write 'Hiromi' instead of 'Hitomi' in the Escaflowne bit of the Anime & Gaming feature. Hopes to move to the UK for a few months was also expressed to the Gamiko crew, although I'm suffering mild passport problems at present. If all goes well, that stuff will still be sorted out this week. Actually started propper on that website of mine too. Go click it: stuff may come up!
With Anzac day taking place recently, I did my typical thing of not actually realising it until I woke up and my radio-alarm told me. What a true blue bloody patriot I am. I did find it interesting, that when visiting a family friend to have my (British) passport app checked out, I noticed that her kids were holding a Halo 2 LAN. It seems that not much mindset has changes since such wars: teenage males still hail bravado, and see shooting at each other as a great chance for showboating and enjoyment.
God help them: they were only nineteen.
Naturally, I ended up joining the gamer later that afternoon after knocking over some other commitments. Past that, caught up with Dru again on Wednesday, and traveled into the city come Thursday. This saw me at last have cause to drop by the Hyper & Total Gamer offices, which was rather neat. The new issue had only just been printed, so the vibe was quite relaxed, with Wilks watching one-legged DDR videos, and Cam procrastinating on his Tomb Raider playguide. Can't say I blame him – I wouldn't want to have finished that game three times already, either. Got a chance to read the first ever issue while I was there, infamous virtual sex article included. Had lunch with the editor of Total Gamer after that, came to several agreed points-of-view, and then went into town to kill a couple of hours. Somewhere in all of that I also acquired a copy of Ape Escape 3, which I may have time to play some day. Maybe.
So, Thursday night. It's been a while since I'd been to a Glasshouse recording, over a year in-fact, so the ABC Ultimo studio seemed shiny and new and stuff. I wasn't there for The Glasshouse, however, but rather The Chaser. This may have been short, but it was absolutely golden. Picture if you will Sunrise, your typical housewife friendly morning news and chat program. Picture Chris Taylor on it, promoting his show, but taking an opportunity at the end of it. After checking that the show was indeed live, he mentioned his (fictional) partner Jo who never misses the show, and asked if he could send a message out to her. Naturally, with sudsy glee the presenters gave an immediate go-ahead. Turn to camera, stare into it: Jo I'd just like to take this opportunity to say, here on this broadcast, get the FUCK OUT OF MY LIFE!!
Best thing that has happened to Australian television. Ever. |
|
| |
|
Read 1 - Post |
| |
| Murmer |
|
|
| 11:20pm 08/02/2006 |
| |
mood: calm
|
It seems that UWS decided not to send out actual main to inform students of their results this year. Bastards. I had a strange liking of getting real mail rather than just glancing online, but for my last semester it seems I had to make an exception. So, this is how it looked...
Studio Arts 6: 86% - High Distinction
Studio Arts 5: 90% - High Distinction
Studio Arts 4: 90% - High Distinction
Studio Theory 2: 93% - High Distinction
I really can't comlpain about that, although I am still somehow annoyed that Dream failed to outscore its own 'practice' project, First Flicker. Oh well, that project scored much higher than it deserved to anyway, and it'd be unreasonable to expect a mark as high as 96%. |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| Iced Water |
|
|
| 01:11pm 25/01/2006 |
| |
mood: drained
|
New Zealand updates, where art’ thou?
It’s been well over a week since I got back and I haven’t written a damn thing. I guess the problem is two fold: I don’t want to miss anything out, but I don’t want to have to write as much as I’ll have to if I do somehow remember everything of note.
So, flashing back some weeks, I finished up Killer 7, got my stuff together, and armed with a new DS (the first of two I would have with slightly naff screens), a copy of Memoirs of a Geisha, and promise of occasional work doing the game journalism thing for Hyper I headed out onto the ‘last family vacation ever’. Well, I didn’t have to pay anything.
Auckland was pretty straight arrow, a nice enough city, but lacking a little in the unique personality department, and nothing of any real interest happened there. Moving to the Bay of Islands area, however, things got much cooler. Despite it’s way too touristy atmosphere, I seemed to like it much more than anyone else. Being there for a few days was favorable as I was able to knit with the backpacker community at the hostel, and the community here was standout. It threw everyone else somewhat off balance, and I think Christmas day may have been a shock to the parents, but what would you expect from a backpackers place? It was an exhausting double life to lead, as I still had to get up early for the family activities after I had been up drinking and playing cards well past midnight, but it was well worth it and an absolute affirmation that I have to do something like this by myself of with a friend.
Moving away from this, I never got to stay anywhere for more than a couple of days, and was in Wellington for less than 24 hours. New Year’s fell well behind Christmas on the memorable scale. The North Island (and indeed, overall) highlight, however, was Rotorua. At least I think that was it. Whatever. The place kinda stank, but through sheer fluke of checking my email at the exact right time I was able to meet up with Jen. I hadn’t seen her since we were both placed in Saga back in 2002, and then I buggered off to Matsuyama while she stayed behind. Then I got bounced all around Japan and she stayed behind. It was a time of likable envy. I even actually wanted to look at photographs, and I never want to look at photographs. Generally I just endure them as a courtesy. She’s grown up quite a lot, whereas I’ve… stayed pretty much the same. At least visually, which is something I actually put effort into, even timing my shaving practice so as to have just the right amount of stubble. She only had three hours to spare, but I recall just lying down and Listening to Automatic for the People after she left, and then wandering around town feeling completely re-resolute. The hope for that day was the main reason I was there, and it paid off fantastically, shaking me up utterly in a way that was becoming near necessity.
I suppose there was also the late night of playing Twister with three Swedish girls in Waitomo.
Speeding through this, the South Island drifted by a bit more. I still met some cool people and got to speak a little Japanese at times, but never stayed anywhere for long at all. At least I got a couple of email addresses, but I do wish I had accepted Analie’s after I gave her mine instead of saying that I’d probably just lose the piece of paper. Stupid lack of sleep making me say stupid things. Then I found myself in Christchurch, and then back in Australia.
Got home dead on midday and went storming up to my room to put on the radio just in time to catch the end of the news update and launch into Ross and Terri. Only two weeks a year is cruel, and I missed 4 episodes this year of what it the best radio show since Adam and Wil.
Looking at the clock now, it’s just become Australia Day. Time to celebrate an invasion and attempted genocide I guess, but I suppose I at least have the worlds largest music poll countdown to compensate. |
|
| |
|
Read 3 - Post |
| |
| To Make Bliss |
|
|
| 10:27pm 27/11/2005 |
| |
mood: tired
|
Token comment on how long it has been since I last updated this thing.
It’s been a blurry few weeks, and in many ways it feels as though I blinked and missed them. I’m closing in on my article quota for the final Animefringe issue, but of more immediate importance I’ve finished Uni. The Grad Show was Friday night, and it was much more tame than last years… which was a little disappointing. In truth we were utterly dissorganised, the catering committee didn’t have an oven until just before the night started, and depressingly few people showed up to help setup all the spaces during the week leading up to the event. It felt like me and a small handful of others built the entire damn thing. I’d say that the work managed to be a highlight, though, there was more of interest this time around, which almost (and that is only an almost) made up for the fact that we actually ran out of booze. The setup that Dream got lumped with was really compromised by the light, too, and it was only really watchable once the night had well and truly settled in. I changed it from a projector to a TV Monday morning. Monday was the last day, actually, and I’m still unsure exactly how it felt. I sort of lingered around for a bit and left once it became apparent that that was all there was left to do. There’s a slight twinge now, realizing that the simple comfort of returning next year isn’t there. It’s a stepping block passed I guess, even if I didn’t pay it a whole load of attention when it swung by.
I found and purchased a boxed copy of Deus Ex about a week ago and have been really digging it. I last played this game back when it was still a hot new product, and it still seems damn good even if the texture repetition is now more evident. The coincidence that this is the same game I was playing back during my last days of High School has struck me, and there was a brief wry smile, one which was quickly shafted in the face of immersion. I also took a plunge with Vice City, and much like GTA 3, I’m unsure exactly what I make of it. It runs a lot more happily and a get a pretty consistent smooth framerate with high resolution and full draw distance, and the city itself does have a little more character than Liberty did, but I’m still failing to really love it. I can see some of the appeal, but the extend of its acclaim still baffles me a little. For now I just have to resist that new copy of Killer 7 sitting on my shelf for just that little bit longer.
A few days were spent traipsing around the city with Joel and Andrew. Some movies were seen, some wondering was done, and both Kill Bill soundtracks were spotted for $10. I failed to make the purchase, and am now slightly regretting it. I suppose I at least have that Modest Mouse CD and Memories soundtrack to keep my ears entertained.
Not a whole lot else has happened, really. I’ve had a little time for gaming and anime, which is shocking and I didn’t actually know how to deal with it at first, but for now I’m just undergoing a process of rejuvenation while trying to tie up my last working obligations (Animefringe crunch-time)… and fixing up the audio balance for some of Dream’s dialogue. |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| Lunar Radience |
|
|
| 10:41pm 17/10/2005 |
| |
mood:  relieved
|
This may be my shortest entry ever, but this current moment marks personal significance.
As of today, Dream has entered its post production phase. The closing shot before the credit role was completed early this afternoon.
The world now feels like it's gone topsy-turvey. This is an absolutely massive checkpoint that was but a distant fantasy at the beginning of the year. Now I just have to worry about my other projects and making sure I don't rest on my lurals. I have a month to get everything wrapped up as a total package. |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| Harder to Believe |
|
|
| 05:09pm 02/10/2005 |
| |
mood:  melancholy
|
It’s only now becoming apparent just how much things are going to be changing over the course of the coming months. I’ve been prepared for most of it, even looking forward to it, but the sheer scope is only just starting to hit home. My life is up for total reevaluation at the end of the year, and although I have some idea of what I’m going to do, it’s what I’m going to not do that is of interest at the moment. It’s been so long since I touched this journal that I’m no longer even sure if I was contributing to Animefringe the last time that I made an entry, my guess is that I probably was, but even then I am the newest – and last – staff member the magazine will ever see. It’s been reported on Aoi House and over at Anime News Network that the staff have decided to call it a day. Although a shared decision at the end of the day, this is still something that we ourselves have found pretty hard to take. I know I found myself unexpectedly upset when I first read of the situation, and I’m still dealing with it a few days on, but reality presents it as probably the best move. I’d be a total hypocrite to go against the idea of going out while we’re still ahead, but I do wish that I could have been there for more of it.
So the final issue will go online at the beginning of December, and will probably be absolutely massive. This will all also cross over into being but a matter of days separate from my completion of Uni. I think I can understand Adam’s decision from this perspective, as despite a couple of lectures telling me that I should go on and do Honours, I know that I’ve hit my limit in terms of time, energy, and output when it comes to Higher Education, and that it will be time for me to move on. Equally significant, Dream is coming along surprisingly well, to the point where it may actually get completed. If my current output keeps up, then I will probably get an entire month after completing the main animation with which to go back and fill in the blanks, finish recording voices, worry about soundtrack and sound editing in general, and try to sort out copyright issues surrounding the closing track. I’m a little intimidated by that last one, but I think it can be done. I guess that, with this, I see myself as going out with a bang and avoid the risk og just becoming too bogged down should I go on for another year.
There’s some other stuff too, particularly since I don’t want to live at home without any income of my own forever, but that can wait for another day. For now I have an essay abstract to worry about, one that may prove the trouble as, if it goes as well as (surprisingly) my class presentation did, then the pressure of needing a high mark in the essay will be greatly relieved. I leave this now as my shortest entry in quite some good time. |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| Tick |
|
|
| 06:12pm 07/08/2005 |
| |
mood:  sick
|
I’m getting progressively slacker at updating this. I would blame that on the great Uni Gradshow deadline creeping up little by little on me, but somehow despite that I’ve managed to take on a number of extra tasks aside from Dream, so maybe it’s just generally being slack. I gotta love student culture; admitting you’ve been slack is almost more something to take pride in than it is to be ashamed of. A fair amount of stuff has happened, but I can’t remember much of it. That’s probably a mixture of my usual less-than-perfect memory and the fact that I currently feel a bit head sick, and am having trouble maintaining focused thought at the moment. It probably didn’t help that I spend most of yesterday in the cold further up the mountains. I hadn’t seen Jeremy in some time, probably about a half year, and it felt like an appropriate moment to catch up again, especially since we needed to work a little on some of Dream’s soundtrack. We got one piece fully altered and mostly perfectly down. I’ll have to try putting it to the scene I hope to use it for yet, and some tweaks may be needed, but it was a pretty productive few hours that I feel pretty good about. The rest of the day consisted of watching some John Safran Versus God highlights, finally getting to see a few episodes of Samurai Champloo (which I was suitably satisfied with), eating vindaloo, and playing a little of the now banned Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Ah, now that’s a quality link for a new paragraph. I’m still pretty pissed off that this game got the hard end of the stick over some very stupid looking softcore sex. I’d like to feud over this to the OFLC except for, unlike the hideous and obnoxious rating logos they’ve come up with, I can’t really pin the blame on them. There is no 18+ rating for games in Australia, which means they can’t give it one, and unless the Government does something about that. They’re not going to though; Howard isn’t exactly the liberally minded type (which is rather ironic, given that he heads up the Liberal party). As for the game itself, well, I didn’t really play a whole lot but I was somewhat taken by it. People are probably divided on this, but I personally really appreciated the fact that they really set it up and put things into motion, rather than essentially going ‘here, that’s you, and this is you’re polygonal playground. Now do stuff.’ Plus it opened itself to moments of the more tame and quietly appreciated type. I have run over a lot of people and caused a good amount of general mayhem in GTA 3, but one moment of answering my cell phone, and talking on it while casually walking down the middle of a hazy sunset bathed street in San Andreas has etched itself much more firmly in my mind. The city has character, the characters have character, and the plot balance seems suitably scaffold like, and looks to balance things nicely. Not sure if I’ll ever get past those thoughts now – the game can’t be purchased quite so easily anymore and even then I’d be stuck with the PC version. I blame the keyboard and mouse combo for preventing my proper immersion into GTA 3, because, even though it could be argued to be very practical, it also felt very, very interface like. That's a bad thing. I see the second analogue sticks role in allowing you to just casually survey your environment as integral.
Uni is of course now back and kicking, and it’s going to prove interesting to see just what this does to Dream as the Grad Show committee organization seems quite disorganized at the moment. I really hope I can afford to skip out on most of this, and just be cooperative when it’s necessary. I have one more essay to worry about (but it feels kinda dry now as I was saying that my previous paper was my pinnacle essay before it equal high-scored in the class and got me a $250 book voucher), and deciding to write for Anime Fringe is looking to have further working implications. Granted, that stuff I actually want to do.
Still waiting on my Saturn, I dug up Gabriel Knight 3 and completed it through in its entirety since my last entry. The game is every bit as addictive as I remembered it, although the faults of note were still there. But that would make sense as they’re mostly graphics related and the game was never king of the hill in that department, technically or artistically. IT still has what is probably the best voice work I’ve come across in a game though, and it’s only really rivaled by the likes of Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon and, well, San Andreas. If it were clear where Gamimag were standing, and that the ground it was on was solid concrete, then I probably would have written up a nice little concise review of it by now. As it stands, I’ll just hold my breath and be depressed over how, at my current rate of updating things, I’ll probably be 21 no more by my next update. But that comment is pointless, and is only really there to serve as a reminder for Jacky to drop a message so we can get stuff organized for the 20th. |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| Eyelids |
|
|
| 06:14pm 03/07/2005 |
| |
mood:  lethargic
|
My arms hurt. I blame it on candy. Loose though that connection may be, if all the bits in-between are followed it actually makes a little bit of sense. Having had every packet of chocolate, chips, and sugar by-products in the house unnecessarily opened, I’ve ended up eating far, far too many caramel lollies and m&m’s over the past few days. The day this happened was worst of all, and I must have managed at least fifteen caramels, several bulk-handfuls of m&m’s, and a few other pieces of whatever on the side. Eventually, this resulted in me feeling like I should perhaps be getting some exercise, and since the country had been hit with a sudden bout of heavy rainfall, I took to compromise. Having just sent my Saturn away to Adelaide for a little modding and battery-replacement, a little gaming fill-time was needed: something fun, original, but not too immersive. And so it was that I realized that my floor is clean enough to leave Samba De Amigo set up until my Saturn returns came to pass. It’s been a while since this game saw any regular rotation, and I in turn forgot that it helps to stretch before playing. Actually, it helps to stretch before doing anything much past getting out of bed in the morning, but I have a habit of forgetting that as well. So now my arms hurt, at least around the joint, but at least I was having a bit of fun while I was hurting them. For now I’ll just have to rest them and stick to just playing my sisters copy of Pac Pix for a bit.
Having been on holidays for a week now it’s amazing how easy it is not to notice. Uni break is clashing with the school one for a couple of weeks, but since my siblings managed to collectively spend what feels like half of their past term not being at school, it doesn’t really feel a while lot different. I still have the same work schedule, minus the train travel, also. It really can’t class as a holiday, and although I have lesser hours on the weekend (Sundays are generally only three), I can’t now remember the last time I took an entire day off. I suspect I won’t be able to again until Dream is done, and that’s still a very heavy slog of work away. Train travel will likely come back into the equation soon also, as I’ll have to travel to Uni in order to have Darren on hand for 3D graphics assistance. I’d like to moan about this, but I’ve chosen to do the car and fountain in 3D, and a little more 3D experience, as well as some practice at integrating it into an After FX composition, would probably be of overall benefit to me.
Although I missed out on the last actual Howl’s Moving Castle, I still managed to get down to Sydney for the public forum with Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki. This may actually have proved to me the more rewarding experience, even if I do wish I had been a little more sociable with the other people around me. The man himself proved to be quite a character, and as my prior impression had been, he displayed an amazing ability to get sidetracked from the question or topic on hand. Actually, I probably shouldn’t call that amazing as I seem to have the same habit myself. It could be put down as an inability to stay focused on one thought when you have twenty others floating around the place. Not a whole lot new was learned in the insightful sense, but the stories and trivia told made the trip down well worthwhile. I really, really wish I had thought to take down a DVD to get signed, however. My limited edition Spirited Away discs could have come that little bit more precious had I been thinking straight that day. As it stands, well, I now know that Miyazaki apparently eats sideways and tried to an extent to design the father character in Totoro after himself.
I finished watching my Someday’s Dreamers DVD’s yesterday and it proved to be pretty much what I was expecting. A modest but likeably gentle series with a modest scope that, while not an earth shattering experience, was very relaxing to watch. I particularly appreciated that it took to getting sad before it took to getting dark and sinister, and that everything retained the relaxed pace, even in the more dramatic moments. With this, and a His and Her Circumstances boxset tucked away for August added to my collection things are feeling a little more varied and balanced out now, and it may just be time to allow myself to look into something darker and more high-tech. Heck, Texhnolyze or Ghost in the Shell: SAC may well be out in boxset form by the time I decide to spent money on TV series’ again. I’ve added three this year, and it’s time to again focus on feature films (both live action and animated) again. |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| Standing Alone while Blinking |
|
|
| 09:37pm 19/06/2005 |
| |
mood: sad
|
It really hasn’t been my week. There have been a couple of highlights, but these have been somewhat overshadowed. To speak of something first so as to safely assume that someone is still reading since he didn’t have the sense to obligingly send me his phone number when I asked and instead extended my wait time – this person should take note not to bother showing at any cinemas later this month. In a more clear sense, having delayed a couple more days that desired while making a call to clarify something that wasn’t making complete sense on a website I managed to be informed in person that I had missed out on the last ticket to Howl’s Moving Castle by a grand total of two minutes. Two. Fucking. Minutes. Add to this the ten minutes I spent on hold and the half hour of engaged attempts at calling beforehand and you have a recipe for frustration. Secondly, while moving computers all over the place just over a week ago someone managed to break the scanner. It seems that part of the plug just sort of stayed behind in the USB socket, making it effectively useless. As such I’ve been running regular trips next door in order to continue getting my Uni shit together for mid-year assessments, which is both slower and impractical, although I should at least be thankful that I have an alternative means.
Thirdly, these computers were all getting shuffled around because dad spontaneously decided to clean a couple of them out. This included the machine that, up until late last year, I had based all my work, both academic and recreational, on and as such had a lot of stuff stored there even though I didn’t use it very much. This was all wiped without first asking me if I wanted everything backed up. Almost two years of Uni work documentation, the finished designs for my website, no less than ninety percent of the intended content be it artwork or pieces of writing… all erased without any sort of heads-up. It took a few days for this to click, and when it did I very nearly snapped and with everything else that came before it I honestly wanted to cry. Of course, I seem to be incapable of crying, so I instead just had to shoulder the brunt of it without any means of venting the frustration as past experience has taught me better than to go around punching brick walls. It’s a little ironic that I recently picked up a copy of Out of Time… I may have wanted it for ages and finally found it at a reasonable price, and my collection may have been in need of something a little more upbeat, but that doesn’t stop the CD from being a bit too happy for the present moment. Even if, against all purism, I actually like Shiny Happy People.
Outside of this I had some happier times re-visiting the underdog masterpiece that is Beyond Good and Evil, and reminded myself of certain atmospheres of creative magic in the process. The save points are perfectly dispersed to allow the game to break into perfect slices should you be in for a long or short sitting, and somehow it has an ability to make you happy to simply be playing it. Unless I can borrow anything of significance then I expect my Cube will be going quiet for a while now as I want to turn my gaming attentions towards missed classics and Dreamcast revisited until I’m done with Uni. No more cube games until Twilight Princess or Killer 7 most likely. I’m hoping to move into a bit more anime, taking advantage of Gamesmen while it’s still open to pick up the newly released Someday’s Dreamers box set and putting a paid order in on His and Her Circumstances, and to focus my gaming on getting to play stuff like Panzeer Dragoon Saga, Little Big Adventure, and Burning Rangers. Maybe I’ll resurrect Dreamcast Ecco as well if I get the time. |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| So High and Denied |
|
|
| 09:49pm 07/06/2005 |
| |
mood:  pensive
|
My, my, my – doesn't time just fly by when you're having fun. Really, I doubt you could put together a sufficient expression with just a keyboard to give that comment the weight that I'd like for it to have, so I'll have to make do with putting out shortcomings in the art of typing instead. The last time I wrote anything in here I was just getting into a re-playing of Skies of Arcadia and trying to figure out what my essay question was actually asking me. Both of those have been finished now. Although I had forgotten its full charm and simple cinematics in parts, I had also underestimated the occasional random battle tedium, and as such I think I've come away from Skies feeling much the same about it as I did before. It's very much classical, and openly plays to formula, but it does this well and with character, and although it drags through what start feeling like motions at points in the middle, it comes together well enough to be forgiven. I did get all but two members in for my ships crew though, which made the ending a little more rewarding. The essay I don't really feel like talking about. I know what I want to think of it, but I'd rather wait and find out the other opinion before I start to ramble. For now my film studies is over, along with certain associations. I wonder if I'll see the likes of Hanika and Leo ever again? Unfortunately I'll probably just get over such things with frightening ease and move back into my regular routine while simultaneously all but forgetting everyone I'm not in regular contact with.
It's a little sad, but my life hasn't consisted of much more than these two things over the past three or so weeks. My Dreamcast has started playing up really badly also, and only a last-ditch effort with a pair of tweezers seems to have fixed it. Time will tell just how well fixed it has been, however, and it may be time to get a converter so I can use my Japanese machine.
Last week marked post-essay time, and it was really quite bizarre. My body took on the attitude of the main horror of the first half of the year being over, and as such decided to start a rest cycle that it wasn't completely welcome to. To be fair, I perhaps should have let myself just sleep in and take a half-day off to recover instead of trying to jump straight back into regular routine. I failed reliably at getting up before six, and had trouble keeping focused for a small handful of days… it probably would have been worth taking time to sleep in properly once and just take it slow for a day instead. Saturday turned pretty hectic, also, although this was from a more recreational perspective. I headed down with Chris to see 2046, which was really cool, and definitely a soul mate for In the Mood for Love. Certainly, I was the more prepared for what it offered, having seen the previous movie, whereas Chris was quite surprised by its slower pace and lingering visuals. Common ground was found in thinking it was worth the effort though, and effort it turned out to be as that one trip into the city took up most of the day and sapped the entirety of my remaining energy. I pretty much collapsed after getting home. Again, I should have rested up earlier – this is what happens if you try to just keep going without a designated break after working a ninety-hour week.
Gamiko is back up, which is cool, even though it missed e3 entirely. Not that there was much surprising shown – just the expected sequels and tech demos. Personally I was happy enough with this, especially with seeing the FF7 intro reborn: it may not signal the remake that half the world has been screaming for, and it may turn out to be exaggerated bollocks in terms of what the Ps3 can actually do, but just seeing it felt special. Rediscovering the simple magic of the game (I ended up loading it up and just letting the opening credits just run for a bit) without actually playing it was terrific stress relief, and also helped eliminate an amount of boredom that came with the essay writing. It was right for the time. In sadder news, my long time preferred games store and prime Sydney anime stockiest seems to be shutting down in about a month's time. I was going to send my Saturn to Sean for a bit of tweaking and supplying of some classics that I never got to play, but I'm thinking I'll have to delay it a bit so I can throw what money I can spare on some anime both to take advantage of the convenience and as my own way of leaving a single rose on a closed coffin. Seems like mid years will likely be spent watching the likes of X or Fruits Basket. |
|
| |
|
Read 3 - Post |
| |
| Mundane |
|
|
| 05:51pm 15/05/2005 |
| |
mood: cold
|
Currently I’m eating generic brand gingernut biscuits and drinking decaf coffee simply because I don’t want to put a jumper on, it’s starting to get pretty cold and I’m pretty not in the mood for bulky long sleeves. Realisticly, I only have a couple of them as well, which serves as a pretty inconvininet way of helping things out.
Part 2 of Dream was completed yesterday, only a fortnight after I had hoped. That hope wasn’t entirely realistic, and I knew it from the get go, but a little sooner would have been encouraging, especially as essay time is now creeping up and as such theory stuff is going to eat progressively more of my time over the next couple of weeks. This isn’t horrifying though, either, and I do have the mid year break for which to work on it exclusively, and the project is currently around nine minutes in, with another month or so to go before the break. Not ideal, and a bit off track, but still achievable under extra grind over second semester.
Beyond this I haven’t really being doing a whole lot, just animation and trying to figure out Miriam Hansen’s comments on classical narrative theory, really. The latter is enough to confuse a man for life in itself. Probably best not discussed here. Ressurecting my Dreamcast for bouts of Skies of Arcadia has filled the free hours, managing to be both more charming and more annoying that I completely remembered. It’s still excellent overall, however, although battles can be too drawn out and as such kinda put a super-soak sponge on the desire to explore what really is a wonderful gameworld at ones leisure. After barely more than two weeks after the last fix, however, my Dreamcast started resetting itself again just a couple of hours ago. Maybe I should have dug up FF7 instead, although it seems unfair, given the care I take of my consoles compared to the distinct lack of my siblings have given their PlayStation. Of course, the comeuppance here is that their first FF7 disc doesn’t work properly, so I actually would have had to borrow another one anyway. I guess I was just after something more focused on light swashbuckling.
Just what does ‘swashbuckling’ mean anyway? Err, and thanks to Jackey for the sample discs. |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| The Friday F**kwit |
|
|
| 10:28pm 23/04/2005 |
| |
mood:  busy
|
Well, this is likely the least obscure header that I’ve ever had. Of course, the chances of it making much initial sense to most people likely to read this are rather slim: you’d lose weight if you tried to feed off that possibility. Basically, about a month ago, which in turn means it’s been longer than that since my last update, I phoned in to Triple J’s breakfast team, Jay and the Doctor, to ask if I could be deemed the weeks Friday F**kwit, a title usually given to things and people news related. Yesterday I achieved that goal, and found myself somewhat dumbstruck. It seems my constant pestering got it for me, and I was at a total loss for words, certainly not having expected it to be so easy to attain merely through a little pestering. I hadn’t so much as thought of the possibility of anything other than arguing to further my case, and as such had no words of acceptance at the ready other than a rather enthusiastic ‘all right!’ It’s amazing though, the amount of people that seem to envy me for it, although it should be noted that such stunts wont attain you any free shit.
Over the past weeks quite a lot has happened. Matt and Ollie dropped by for a fortnight, brought a cheap (but very funky) van, and drove away again. Ayako and her son dropped by, and while I lost a days work escorting them around Katoomba, in return I got the dialogue for Dream translated, and a few lines read. I’ll have to give Matt and Ollie’s brief stay the highlight, however, especially considering how long I’ve been connected with Gamiko folk in one way or another but never really managed to meet up prior to the sudden urge of Babba’s to go backpacking around Australia. One thing that still has me amazed is that Ollie is pretty much the exact same height as me, and I don’t think I’ve ever had such a close eye line match before. That Mr. T haircut stood out, also. Both proved easy to get along with, being remarkably polite and even picking up my copy of Resident Evil 4 for me. Now, Resi 4, this game consumed me. It also provided its share of group entertainment by way of experiments with explosives and trying to kill things in a variety of ways. We also realized you could throw eggs at your foes if you equipped them. It’s really incredible though, all novelty aside, and the pacing is perfect. It does feel like a strafe would have seemed more natural, and there were a couple of other quibbles as well, but you no longer felt like you were controlling a tin of dog food with a can opener, the ammo balance was great, the visuals impossibly good (and practical), the cinematics awesome… as is the game. Really hard to believe I’d ever think so highly of a game of Biohazard heritage.
General progress of Dream has become steadier, although I’d still be happier if I had a minute or two more worth of actual animation complete. I have finished part 1, bar the 3D CG however, and that in itself feels greatly encouraging, especially since only one of the other parts is that long, and as such I at least have the illusion of covering more ground to keep me happy now. Presently I’m up to incorporating a little indie gaming, having put the drawing of the exterior of Taishi’s house on hold deciding it better to call Dawn first. Hopefully this ‘holiday’ week will provide opportunity for catch-up.
I watched Jin Roh on a whim earlier today for only the second time since I got it. Although I’m generally uneasy about watching movies at home during the afternoon because of the generally lazy atmosphere, I’m really happy about following this instinct. The last time I watched this film was a bit of a cock-up, largely thanks to day deciding to allow my little sister in and then distracting her throughout as a result, and this just isn’t the sort of thing you want going on during such a complex film. This time I seemed to click a lot more, and while there are still some loose threads in my mind, I soaked it up a hell of a lot more and now feel glad that I own it. Big smiles all around.
Big frowns can follow, thanks to Paul Hester offing himself and being found Easter Monday. I have to admire his sadistic sense of humour in despair, however, as I’m sure he accounted for the possibility of some four-year-old riding through the park and past his dangling body before any adults found him.
… I really shouldn’t admire that. |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| After the Dark |
|
|
| 09:18pm 17/03/2005 |
| |
mood: busy
|
I told myself that I’d write this entry come Sunday. What happened exactly, I’m not entirely sure. I’m not even sure if all the days since actually happened or if I just dreamed them up on the spot just now. Whatever the case, it’s currently Thursday… at least I think it is.
For the most part, pressure with having to hand in project proposals for Uni has faded somewhat, but that’s not to say that it’s gone entirely. Video and Animation now look relatively sweet, although I will need to deviate slightly, but that’s something I should have banked on anyway. Studio Arts is looking much more hopeful after the writing of a splurge of thoughts that conveniently provide a relatively logical line linking the project parameters to aspects of what I’ve been doing anyway. I wish hat such a formal proposal weren’t due next week though, and I certainly wish it weren’t worth the percentage of marks that it is. Twenty percent of the overall grade, just for stating what you’re going to do for the first half, seems somewhat excessive.
Weekend was really busy, largely because of getting messed around with cinema times. This happened twice, causing a total ‘loss’ of some two and a half hours, once case our fault, the other case the cinemas. Despite the confusion of the means, me and Joel eventually got to see the messed up Korean film Oldboy, and it was well worth it just for Joel’s reaction. I warned him that it was supposed to be pretty crazy, and well, extreme, but it seems he perceived that pretty much purely as physical violence. It’s kind of interesting that we watched it with totally different approaches but yet seemed to be on a pretty even ground when a numerical score was eventually pushed out of me.
The reason for the first delay, missing a bus by some ten or so seconds, was because I gave Joel a Dreamcast as a Birthday gift. Granted, it’s a little dodgy, and another friend who was otherwise going to just throw it out gave it to me initially, but it still played the stuff I gave him with it and it seems exploring Mega Drive roms saw a loss of a proper sense of time. Hopefully taking some compressed air to the machines insides will smooth things out a bit, because it refused to play both Shenmue and Jet Set Radio when I tried it out at home.
Getting home late from traipsing around Sydney, I rapidly changed, wrapped a Muse CD and ran my hair under the shower for thirty seconds so I could show up to Heidi’s 21st only a half hour late. The main thing about that night that struck me was actually that they had a door list, this was the first time I’d ever been anywhere with a doorlist, and in general it seemed a pretty strange and extreme, yet oddly cool, precaution. Even Weddings I’ve been to people could just dress up and show up randomly and no one would so much as bat an eyelid. Most of the night was just social, although the volume of music saw everyone shouting to each other. The Salsa theme took a bit of flight, with actual dancing with actual instruction, which I wouldn’t have been fully again, but for a strange pain running through my shins. In the end watching was entertaining enough, as I’d never so much as imagined synchronized salsa dancing before. It was like that synchronized mosh pit in that horrible church ‘rock’ concert I found myself obliged to sit through a few years back. Amusing, utterly robotic, and a bit tragic as well.
I suspect that something is up with my DVD Rom, which may or may not be the fault of a library music CD I had out over the Summer break, although at present I can’t really be sure as I’d need a disc that I know was in spent a good while in there and hasn’t been in since the Placebo CD’s metallic strip things melted free of their sticking and flew into the drive itself. The only discs I can think of for certain would be those of Broken Sword 3, which I currently don’t have. In any case, a lot of my current CD’s now have circular scratches spanning a diameter of a couple of centimeters from where the hole ends, my GTA 3 disc in particular buggered completely. I’d had prior troubles with that game, and it actually stopped working in phases and only recently did I actually think to check the disc itself, which causes My Computer to crash on some computers and isn’t registered as existing at all by others. Thankfully, despite baring the mark all my other discs seem to work (mostly audio CD’s secluding Automatic for the People, Together Alone, Recurring Dream, A Grand Don’t Come for Free and Shenmue Orchestra) for which I am forever grateful. The effect may be weakening a bit though as I have played a little Unreal lately, and the scratching on that disc is actually fairly light.
Last night’s Glasshouse felt a bit week, which in turn was a rather significant letdown as I thought Having Ross Noble on the show would have made it one of the stronger ones. Oh well, at least I’m not regretting not being there. I need my energy now… bit things coming over the next couple of weeks. |
|
| |
|
Post |
| |
| Forever Smitten |
|
|
| 08:44pm 01/03/2005 |
| |
mood:  sleepy
|
It’s that time of year again, Uni goes back, Tropfest denies me of any substantial sleep for the first day, and an unexplained urge to actually watch the Academy Awards continues that trend by making sure that I’m not fully rested and fit for the second.
Now Tropfest, I must say, was well worth the sacrifice. I’ve never actually been before, but given that it’s both free and the biggest film festival of its kind, when I noticed on Saturday that it had come around again I spontaneously decided to make the trek down the following day. Of course, by nature of it being such a last-minute decision it was hard to get people to come along, perhaps especially because Uni went back the following day, but I was going to be damned if I let it slip by, especially considering that the Sunday just past represents the last day of educational Summer Vacation I will likely ever have. It was just me and Chris in the end, which in some ways worked out well as we managed to find a reasonable place to sit only by virtue of there only being two of us. It must be said that the Nova girls who seemed to be hosting the events lead up were utter rubbish, and left the crowd about enthusiastic as a dead horses head by the time they got off. Thankfully, very thankfully even, the first real film of the night, actually the Tropfest trailer, gave a surge of enthusiasm to the mass of people making up the crowd as it successfully crammed more worthy humour into several minutes than the lead-up hosts had in the past few hours! From then on the atmosphere came alive, and I got to feel that my last night was well spent. Getting home around one in the morning and then setting my alarm forward hurt a bit, though.
Why I actually watch the Oscars is something I don’t really understand. Why I don’t instead get the results off the internet or the radio like most other people is beyond be. These bloody awards mark the one time of the year where I will actually watch TV for over three hours straight, and then I get the end of it, just sort of shrug, and go to bed a hour or more later than I’m trying to get myself to and continue to bugger up by sleep plan in the process. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have my body clock more or less sorted and will be close to something of a workable schedule. Watching though, I couldn’t help but feel less buzz than was around last year, l though I’m very happy that Million Dollar Baby won the big one, not because I’ve seen it yet, but because I know a couple of people who would have been pissed off by it and there are certain times where it can be fun to frolic in someone else’s misery, cold bastard that I am. Some of the awards were a bit depressing and really showed up the lack of Lord of the Rings, in things like design and costume, and particularly visual effects. Not to be unexpected, the animated feature bit felt pretty dry with absolutely no question that The Incredible was the only animated film to come out of an American studio to be even vaguely worthy this year. Hopefully Howl’s Moving Castle will be given a release next year so that there can be at least one worthy film again.
And then there was Uni, which has only just started. Only had my video class so far, and although it may be a little tricky, Dream should be easy enough to work into the outline that has been laid out. Today I start watching movies as a part of my study again. |
|
| |
|
Read 1 - Post |
| |
|
|
curious