Month: January 2008

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I invite you to watch this video in which scientists investigate how large and complex a single ant colony is.

I’m taking a one day course/seminar at EA Canada tomorrow, so I’ll be at the Burnaby campus instead of Black Box. I rarely go there and though I’m not certain I think I visited last in August of 2006 when SE boot camp ended.

Anyways, I love being there in the mornings because of the breakfast items at the EAt cafeteria. They offer a different featured item every day but I prefer the a la carte options. I usually get what every quantity of scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns I want. I got breakfast every day of boot camp and it was awesome. Even though downtown I’m close to Tim Horton’s and McDonald’s, it’s still not as convenient as the cafeteria. I think if I worked in Burnaby, I’d weigh at least 200 lbs. and probably have heart problems. Or would the breakfast be offset by the dodgeball? Hmmm… that’s hard to say.

Congrats go out to newest Vancouver Canuck Kris Beech who tonight scored his first goal for his new team. I went to undergrad at UBC with Kris’ older brother Ryan. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Kris a few times and was present in Boston in 1999 when he was drafted seventh overall.

With his family in Salmon Arm, I know they are all excited to have Kris playing back in BC. Let’s hope he continues to do well in Vancouver.

I picked up Rock Band this evening from the post office down the street. It took me about 15 to 20 minutes to set up all the components. I wonder whose job it is to design how boxes are packaged for consumer goods. All the Rock Band stuff was neatly bundled and wrapped to prevent damage during shipping. If you want to see an efficient job of packaging, look at how the Wii is boxed up.

Anyways, putting the guitar together is easy while the drums are a little more work. My only complaint about the drums is the cord from the kick pedal to the rest of the drums seems awfully short.

I then did the tutorials for both the guitar and drums. I’m way better at playing guitar than I am at the drums. Using the guitar, I played Orange Crush by R.E.M. on easy at 100% speed and well, it was easy. I then tried Creep by Radiohead on the drums on easy and 100% speed. It started off ok but then during the chorus, things got crazy and totally missed the beats. It’s really hard (at least for me) to coordinate both hands and one of your legs sometimes. I had to replay that one section over and over again to get better at it. First, I slowed it down to 50% speed and then bumped it up to 90%. In the end, I was able to make about 80-90% of the beats but I still found it quite challenging.

Ok, I’m off to try a few more tracks before bed time.

I’m going to use this post to Rick Roll myself. Make sure you don’t get caught in my stupidity. The thing is, I actually like that song.

Are you aware that the largest adult entertainment convention is happening right now in Vegas? Yep, it’s another year and another AEE. This year, GameDaily.com went to Vegas to talk to female porn stars about video games. Here’s a sample (this one is for you Ron):

Jenna Haze

GD: Do you find nerds attractive?
Jenna: [Looks offended] Do I like nerds? I am a nerd. I have shelves full of books at home about vampires and werewolves. And I always have my PSP with me. Right now I’m playing Jeanne D’Arc, which is just awesome. Also, I’ve got a PS3 and I’m dying for the new Final Fantasy to come out. See? I told you I was a total nerd.
GD: I think I am in love.
Jenna: That’s understandable.

Before I read that, I wasn’t that much into Jenna Haze but what she said is pretty damn cool. If she had mentioned zombies I might have gotten a semi but vampires and werewolves is still good. She’s also playing Jeanne D’Arc? Good for her because it’s one of those overlooked games that’s received great reviews but she knew enough to pick it up. Combine that with her PS3 and it’s all win.

Want to read more? It’s work safe and entertaining, so hit this link for the rest.

The Ooh La La show from the previous night opened up our eyes in terms of what type of entertainment there was in Vegas. Thoughts of seeing Wayne Newton or Celine Dion evaporated quite quickly and we looked to see what other shows were on.

Some how, we settled on a production called Fantasy at the Luxor Hotel and Casino. Though the official web site can be found here, it does have some annoying music that plays. Turn your speakers down or press stop on the control before it starts playing. The Luxor web site also has a Fantasy page which is actually a bit more well laid out but it too has annoying music.

Fantasy is quite different than Ooh La La. First, the show is in an actual auditorium with stadium style, assigned seating and a capacity that is much larger than what we had at Ooh La La. As such, the experience can be less intimate, though if you’re a dude in the first two rows or so, you might disagree with that statement after the show is over.

The venue is also the same stage where comedian Carrot Top performs his show. As a quick aside, I must mention that Carrot Top was my favourite prop comic in the 1990s when he regularly appeared on national late night TV talk shows. Then he got all weird a few years ago by deeply indulging in body building and plastic surgery. Some even claim he used body enhancing drugs to help him build muscle. By doing so, people started talking about his appearance rather than his comedy, which was first and foremost strength. A shame really.

Fantasy has some fairly high production values. The show is choreographed by a fellow named Cris Judd. If that name rings a bell, he was briefly married to Jennifer Lopez at the turn of the century. The show itself revolves around the lovely dancers (of course), a female singer Stephanie, and a male singer/comedian/impressionist named Sean. Stephanie and Sean are kinda the hosts for the show as they are the only ones on stage who speak. Sean actually has a few solo acts where he’s the only one on stage singing in character as Michael Jackson, Sammy Davis Jr., and Tina Turner among others. He’s is very talented.

All the acts in the show are quite slick. The combination of music, lights, smoke, and dancing is impressive. As opposed to Ooh La La where there was a bit of tease involved, the Fantasy girls get right to the point about showing the audience exactly how beautiful they are all over. I think my favourite dance routine with the ladies had to be the one where they were all wearing tear-away business pant suits with matching fedoras and ties. Oh man, I think I’ve worked downtown too long.

There is also a bit of audience participation involved. Stephanie picks one dude from the audience pretty early and taunts him unmercifully for the rest of the show. If Stephanie ever picks you and asks you who your favourite girl is so far, you better answer “Stehpanie”. At one point, the un/lucky dude winds up on stage dressed as Elvis between two of the topless dancers, complete with a guitar. For posterity sake, a Polaroid picture is taken and a Fantasy calendar awarded to the hapless participant. The embarassment is not done there as Sean then takes over and begins a five minute routine where he implies the dude will take the calendar back to the hotel and use it as a pleasure aid.

Overall, the show is a well-oiled machine. The dancers are absolutely gorgeous and talented though there was no antics suspended from the ceiling. I also liked the hosts Stephanie and Sean who break up the monotony of seeing bare breasts for entire hour plus of the show.

Just like the night before, all of us had some how came away with a favourite dancer. Mine was Dar, who had a dazzling smile and a healthy body. Adam liked Sean the best.

If you’re interested in seeing more, there are some YouTube videos about the show. One of them features a sorta behind the scenes look at the production. The other, um, shows footage from the making of the 2007 Fantasy calendar. Though it doesn’t actually contain nudity, it probably isn’t a good idea to watch that one at work. Having said that, here’s the link. Look for Dar in the french maid outfit. Ooh la la!

Sadly, that was the last show we saw in Vegas for this time around. Maybe next time we’ll do the Wayne Newton thing.

Part two of Monday’s post will be posted tomorrow. Until then, why don’t you read ObviousCat’s comments on Digg.com?

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I was going to post part two of my previous post but tonight was the series premiere of jPod, the TV show on CBC based on Douglas Coupland’s novel of the same name. A trailer for the show can be seen above. The series revolves around the lives of a game team developing a next-gen skateboarding game at a Burnaby, BC company called Neotronic Arts. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

When a TV show premise basically describes the last year or so of your life, you kinda have to watch, so that’s what I did. While I watched the premiere, I tried to keep in mind that it was entertainment and not a documentary about the industry. Here are my thoughts on the episode.

First, the jPod dev team works in this basement area that seems like a poor man’s CTU. I don’t know any dev team that works around so much depressing concrete without any windows. Developers are a pretty pampered bunch that’s more used to wood, brick, large windows, and breathtaking views. On the other hand, everyone at NA uses Dell equipment which is exactly how things are at EA.

The jPod team consists of six people which in real life would be undoubtedly the smallest dev team working on a next-gen game on the planet. You’d be lucky to make a quality Xbox Live Arcade game with six people let alone a triple A title. As far as I can deduce, the six people include a visionary / executive producer type, a motion capture operator, a character artist, an engine programmer, an environmental artist/modeler, and some guy (the main character) who is either a physics programmers specializing in fluids or a level designer. I guess if you squint really hard, you might be able to squeeze a game out of those six roles, though it be like trying to start a fire with a cup of water, a piece of plastic, and some tomatoes.

The characters themselves are quite interesting. The one actual self-proclaimed programmer, Cowboy, is a chain-smoking, often shirtless, sleazy sex enthusiast who likes to download porn at work. I wish this guy was on our team. I also like the fact that at least one of the characters is American because at EA, there are a whole bunch of Americans.

The one time the show made me laugh was when the visionary guy asked the team to add a new turtle character to the game. Ethan, the main character, protested and said they couldn’t do that because the game was already four months into production. Only four months in! I had dudes asking me for new features less than two months from the ship date for skate.

Overall, the most interesting part of the show didn’t have to do with games. I really liked the relationship the Ethan character had with his parents. It was interesting that Ethan left work in the middle of the day to help his pot-growing Mom with disposing with a dead body. Also, on the same day of work, he helped his Dad get rid of his stoned girlfriend from the house.

I think I’ll watch a couple more episodes because I want to see how these characters develop. Maybe they’ll do months and months of overtime as well.

So when I was in Vegas last month, the boys and I wanted to see a couple of shows because Vegas is good for that kind of thing. Looking through our invaluable Frommer’s guide book, we had a few choices to choose from. We had musicals, magicians, comedy acts, Cirque du Soleil, and topless/nude revues. Though I argued hard that we should probably go see David Copperfield, we wound up getting tickets for a show called Ooh La La at the Paris.

The fun begins even while you’re lining up to get into the show. To help keep order and wrangle the line, the show employs some extremely attractive women in outfits that compliment their very fit bodies. You can never ever go wrong with schoolgirl and sailor outfits Adam told us.

The venue itself is quite small. I’ve read that it seats 300 but I thought it’d be at capacity at 100. Anyways, we were seated in the second row and I got the aisle seat which turned out to be a really good thing. Ooh La La features five talented ladies a night, rotating from a roster of eight dancers total. The show lasts just over an hour.

I have to admit, that was probably one of the shortest hours I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. After it was over, the boys and I decided it was pretty much the most awesome thing ever. Sure the girls are beautiful and yes, they get topless about a quarter the way through the show, but they are indeed extremely talented. Beyond their dancing talents, we saw some amazing displays of athleticism. One dancer was suspended in the air via a large hoop and cable. She did some crazy moves up there. Another dancer was also suspended in the air but she made use of silks just like you’ve seen in some Cirque du Soleil shows. That’s something you don’t see at the Cecil. Overall, from singing to magic to comedy to being in the air, these ladies were all very impressive.

Strangely enough, after the show ended, we discovered each of us had a favourite performer from the show. Mine was Kelly Adkins, who had a nice nouveau ballet number in the show. Perhaps it was that and the red hair that did it for me? Ms. Adkins is also featured prominently in the Fashionistas, another show in Vegas. In 2001, she was in a scene in Ocean’s Eleven where she was helping Brad Pitt’s character get a passcard from a lonely hotel employee. A screencap from her scene can be found here.

If you’re interested in more information about Ooh La La for your own trip to Vegas, please visit this work-safe link here which contains a work-safe video preview of the show and a three second interview with Ms. Kelly Adkins. If you still need more video footage of the show, there’s a 30 second clip on YouTube. It’s YouTube so I guess it’s pretty much work-safe.

If you’re ever in Vegas, think about Ooh La La!