VH1 STORYTELLERS

When I was in elementary school I knew this guy named Andrew. I used to go to his house to play Nintendo. His parents had an extensive Neil Diamond album collection. They’d also go to his concerts whenever he was in town. I’d make fun of his parents for their devotion to the Diamond.

Alas, I was only a child back then and did not realize that some music was timeless and classic. Many years later, I came upon the realization that Neil Diamond had his place in music history. Several of his tracks are now in my MP3 collection.

VH1 has a series called Storytellers in which artists describe how a particular song was written and then they perform the piece. Good stuff. Neil Diamond did one such show. I’d like to share with you the following clip from that show.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cliq6UcgSlk]

DONE

Friday marks the last day my team will be working on Shadow-Born, the game we’ve been developing for Nokia and their N-Gage “gaming” system. I’ve been working on this game since June of 2005. The months have not been easy.

I’m acutely aware of blogging too much about work so I’ll have to choose my words wisely. I will say that our company is trying to learn a lot from how our project proceeded. A lot of the decisions will be analyzed. If any mistakes were found in how things were done, they will be duly noted. I really hope that the bad parts will be identified and avoided for future projects.

Having said that, I’m actually quite surprised at how the game turned out. I’ll be quite honest and say that during the fall, I had some serious doubts about the quality of the game. I thought it might turn out to be a disaster. Through some sheer determination and hard work though, the team came through turned out a pretty decent cell phone game. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how many of you will ever even see this game. As far as cell phone games go, they aren’t as sexy as PS3 or Xbox 360 games.

Um, I’m not sure if I should say this, but our game will get some exposure sometime soon. If you look at the calendar and kinda have some knowledge of the games industry, you’ll probably figure it out.

Anyways, I’m looking forward to moving on and doing something different. I don’t want to work on any more cell phone games, that’s it for me. Before that though, I’ll be taking next week off. I look forward to getting some rest and relaxing.

One day left!

CLINTON, A PORN STAR, AND A ROCKET

The best news story of the day comes from Las Vegas where former US President Bill Clinton was visiting. Clinton was partaking in a round of golf at the LV Country Club. At the same time and near by, porn star Sophia Rossi was at her five-year old daughter’s birthday party.

Ms. Rossi had arranged for an 18-inch long firework to be launched as part of the festivities. Secret Service agents quickly interrupted the party and prevented the launch. The little girl was allowed to later send the rocket off, presumably after Clinton had left the scene.

A full account can be read here.

Now, I know all of you are thinking that this story is completely without closure unless one can see a picture of Ms. Rossi. If you click here, you’ll see a work-safe picture of the considerate Mom in question.

MORE COWBELL

I was going through my DVD collection tonight when I noticed I didn’t know where my Best of Will Ferrell Vol. 1 was. In terms of my favourite discs, this one ranks right up there, just behind those two specialty porno titles I got in Amsterdam last summer.

Back to the Will Ferrell disc though. I remember I’ve lent it out on at least two occasions. I was wondering if someone else still has it. So, if you’ve got a copy of the above DVD and don’t know how you came upon it, can ya give me a shout?

BEVERAGE CORNER

Last week, I was at Wal-I mean a large, local discount retailer when I saw a 2L bottle of Black Cherry Vanilla Coke. For a dude who has loved Coke for most of his life, I got quite excited about this. Though I dispute the fact, my sister who was with me, insists I even yelled out in the store.

BCV Coke was introduced in the US in January of this year. This is the first time I’ve seen it on store shelves up here in Canada. I enjoyed the vanilla and cherry versions of Coke separately, so I was anticipated this would be right up my alley.

Because I brought it home on a weekday and since it was a caffeinated beverage, I was only able to sample at most, two fingers worth of this new beverage. Upon sipping, I discovered the cherry flavour hits your first and the vanilla follows up behind. Neither, strangely, lingers on for an aftertaste. It’s a clean tasting cola which almost begs you to chase after another shot of its flavour.

As good as it was, caffeine-free Coke remains the best cola in my books. You cannot beat a cola that allows for consumption even at 11pm on a weeknight.

Well, enough about sugary children’s drinks. How about a tale of stray cats and public urination? Yes, you say? Where, you say? Head on over to Tyson’s blog, where a new post awaits!

ANKLE SOCKS

When I was younger, I used to wear low top socks with shorts. Because these socks came up beyond my ankles, I’d get these ridonkulous tan lines. They were very unsightly.

In my university days, I finally got around the problem in a most economical way. Normal length athletic socks come in packs of 12 or so for really cheap, less than $10. I used to cut each pair of socks down to just below my ankle. Problem solved and for much cheaper than the $4 or $5 you’d need to spend a *single* pair of ankle socks.

Of course, just like when your Mom tries to make restaurant food, things weren’t exactly all good. Because I’d cut the socks off so low, there wasn’t any elastic at the cut off area. If my shoes weren’t on, I’d constantly be slipping out of the socks. Plus, I’d eyeball where I’d cut the sock, so it’s quite possible to have varying lengths on each foot. Comments were made about my ghetto socks but hey, it did the job more or less.

The most annoying thing about my homebrew socks was when I went hiking. Whenever I went downhill along a trail, these socks would slip off ankle and bunch up near the front of my foot, inside my hiking shoes. I’d have to stop every once in a while, undo my shoes, pull up my socks again and begin the cycle anew.

A few weeks ago, I was at Old Navy when I saw they had 6-packs of white ankle socks for sale. The cost was $12 per package. Not bad I thought. I was in a hurry, so I didn’t buy them that time.

Yesterday, I wore shorts for the first time this year while I was hiking around Buntzen Lake. I also wore my ghetto socks. During the first descent, my damn socks started to bunch up again. I decided then and there I was through with my ghetto socks. I have a job now, so $12 for 6 pairs of socks ain’t that bad. As soon as I finished the hike, I drove to Old Navy and bought them white ankle socks.

After I got them home, I tried a pair on for size. I tell ya, the elastic is the whole key to the operation. There will be no bunching up the next time I go hiking with these bad boys.

And that concludes my post on socks.

NERDY CAKES

And to conclude another successful List Week (TM) here at et.com, I present for you a list of Ten Nerdy Cakes. I once thought the pinnacle of decorated cakes was an ice cream cake with a silkscreen picture of Hilary Duff on it. I was wrong. The PS2 cake in the list looks real and tasty too!

59 THINGS A MAN SHOULD NEVER DO PAST 30

According to some dude, here’s a list of 59 Things a Man Should Never Do Past 30. Here’s a few that I’m guilty of and/or thought were funny:

9. Ask a woman, “Hey, you got a license for that ass?”

11. Take a camera to a nude beach.

17. Name pets after Middle Earth characters.

19. Give shout-outs.

28. Eat Oreo cookies in stages.

30. Sleep on a bare mattress.

37. Call “shotgun” before getting in a car.

38. Dispute someone else’s call of “shotgun.”

42. Google the word vagina.

59. Say goodbye to anyone by tapping his chest and even so much as whispering, “Peace out.”

ALL KINDS OF STUFF

As first reported by Sarah, Katie Holmes gave birth today to a girl. The future Scientologist was of course, fathered by Tom Cruise. Despite his earlier statements, Cruise stated in a later report that he does not plan on eating the placenta. I really, really, really hope he ain’t lying to us. Hey, did you know you can buy lamb placenta in pill form?

In other news, after a less than satisfying dinner tonight, my sister and I headed off to Wendy’s for a more complete meal. We each ordered a Classic Single combo with chili to go. By the way, I’m not a big fan of chili but the stuff Wendy’s makes is awesome. It also has less than a third of the fat compared to french fries. Anyways, on our way out of the parking lot, I had to stop for this cyclist who was dressed all in black with no helmet or reflective equipment on. He was hard to see in the dark. My sister yelled out the window:

“Hey, put some reflective shit on!”

And to end, as I do every Tuesday night post, here’s a well-made amateur lightsaber film.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq4Ej9KpQhg]