I'm going to try and update this as much as possible. Been slackin' lately.
Tomorrow marks the first time I'll be signing up for a racquetball tournament. It's for beginners I believe at LA Fitness. If I do well, I may step up training. If I fail horribly...well, I may just step up training.
The wife and I are looking for houses, and of course the closer we get to that, the more it seems that the housing market may be getting stronger. I'm hoping that's just a slight growth until we can move in.
Update after my LA trip. I did in fact meet Ben Stein. He's honestly the nicest person I've met. Incredibly down-to-earth. And for someone in Hollywood and prominently displayed in the media, it's nice to see someone so adamantly sharing his belief on Intelligent Design. I just so happen to agree with that belief.
He arrived pretty early to the convention as our keynote speaker. As he was waiting, I decided I'll just introduce myself. Not 20 feet away, four other people surround him and decided to talk to him as well. I just stood a ways off pretending to fix my camera while I waited. Meh...
Well, his time before his speech was spent with those four, so I decided to wait until the photo op. He was a little under the weather. Apparently, he traveled back to LA just before his speech and was drinking tea throughout the speech.
Anyway, during the photo op, my turn came at last. When I walked up to him, Ben asked for my name. I proceeded to tell him that his documentary, Expelled meant very much to me as a fellow ID believer. His eyes opened a little more and he began to talk of evolution not explaining anything like the theory suggests. It only raises more questions. I agree, but I won't get into that on this post. Maybe on later posts since I'll be focusing less on games...
We briefly discussed that, took our photo and he was again sucked into other conversations since he wanted to leave and rest. Fifteen minutes went by, he walked to the exit for his driver. At the exit, he looked at me and yelled over everyone, "Thanks for the kind words, Kyle."
Pretty cool that he was able to remember my name. And, I'm glad that I was able to offer any encouragement I could. I can only imagine how much flak he receives for his belief.
Sad.
That was my first meaningful brush with a celebrity. I do hope to speak with him again sometime in the future.
If I could meet 10 people, I'd like to meet the following:
1) Ben Stein - DONE
2) Denzel Washington
3) Seth Rogen
4) Will Ferrell
5) Kirk Cameron (after Fireproof, I just had to put him on this list)
6) Ben Stiller
7) Mel Gibson
8) Michael Cera
9) Steve Martin
10) Mathew Fox (and the cast of Lost)
I'm sure I'd exchange a few of those for someone else, but those are the first 10 that I thought of. No women. Funny. Honestly though, I don't think I have a favorite actress.
1.26.2009
Yikes!
It's been over 20 days since my last post. Crazy.
I had my second 360 die this past week. That's nothing compared to some other people I know. Eight times? I'm not sure if I'd be that patient.
Having that die, I realized I should probably evenly distribute the games between PS3 and 360. But...but those achievements! Seriously, Microsoft totally knew what they were doing when implementing that simple idea.
In other worlds, my wife and I are about to take part in Buckhead Church's version of Greek week. Since we are married, we'll be going to this event on Friday night to mingle with other married couples and find a "group" for a weekly or biweekly Bible study.
I'm not sold on this event. Seems a little too hectic and stressful. When you hear stories of past events with people trying to have a conversation and one person's eyes are darting around the room searching for someone else to talk to, that seems disheartening.
Should I go in wearing a shirt with my likes on the front and dislikes on the back?
Likes: Games, Movies, Trivia nights with friends, Racquetball
Dislikes: Babies, Hippies, Global Warming lie
Would that work? Now that I read over what I wrote, I may just do that.
I had my second 360 die this past week. That's nothing compared to some other people I know. Eight times? I'm not sure if I'd be that patient.
Having that die, I realized I should probably evenly distribute the games between PS3 and 360. But...but those achievements! Seriously, Microsoft totally knew what they were doing when implementing that simple idea.
In other worlds, my wife and I are about to take part in Buckhead Church's version of Greek week. Since we are married, we'll be going to this event on Friday night to mingle with other married couples and find a "group" for a weekly or biweekly Bible study.
I'm not sold on this event. Seems a little too hectic and stressful. When you hear stories of past events with people trying to have a conversation and one person's eyes are darting around the room searching for someone else to talk to, that seems disheartening.
Should I go in wearing a shirt with my likes on the front and dislikes on the back?
Likes: Games, Movies, Trivia nights with friends, Racquetball
Dislikes: Babies, Hippies, Global Warming lie
Would that work? Now that I read over what I wrote, I may just do that.
1.02.2009
2009. Yay.
It was a pretty relaxing holiday at the end of '08 and beginning '09. Lazy is another good word for use here...
Met some new people via old friends for New Years. All were surprisingly cool since I was feeling a little antisocial before the night began. Does anyone else feel like you're proving you're not a weirdo when meeting new people? That was the first night the thought ran through my mind when driving two of them to dinner. I had to try extra hard since the car smells like sulfur, almost running over a pedestrian and driving on a one way street all in that one trip to the restaurant.
Meh.
In 2009, I've set a goal for myself. It's a fairly high goal, and I'm currently 70% or less sure on how to achieve it. Win the state championship for racquetball. Like I said, it's a high goal, but I feel like I have enough talent to compete.
L.A. Fitness has a small tournament coming up next week that I'll be entering. Should be a good indication on how much improvement I'll need.
- Games I'm playing now: PS3 - LittleBigPlanet and Crash Commando / 360 - GH World Tour and World at War
- Movie recommendation: In Brugues
Met some new people via old friends for New Years. All were surprisingly cool since I was feeling a little antisocial before the night began. Does anyone else feel like you're proving you're not a weirdo when meeting new people? That was the first night the thought ran through my mind when driving two of them to dinner. I had to try extra hard since the car smells like sulfur, almost running over a pedestrian and driving on a one way street all in that one trip to the restaurant.
Meh.
In 2009, I've set a goal for myself. It's a fairly high goal, and I'm currently 70% or less sure on how to achieve it. Win the state championship for racquetball. Like I said, it's a high goal, but I feel like I have enough talent to compete.
L.A. Fitness has a small tournament coming up next week that I'll be entering. Should be a good indication on how much improvement I'll need.
- Games I'm playing now: PS3 - LittleBigPlanet and Crash Commando / 360 - GH World Tour and World at War
- Movie recommendation: In Brugues
12.09.2008
Video musings.
Video is intensive.
Meaning, there is work to do in videography, editing and effects.
Like, it's not as easy as people think.
I'm not sure why people think my profession is easy. Maybe it's the availability of soccer mom cameras. Maybe it's Youtube and the ease to publish your crappy as crap videos. Again, I'm not sure where this typical thinking began, but it needs to stop.
Do they not know the difference in quality from their videos measured against professional quality?
It's appalling and it's disrespectful.
I'm venting here, but this occurrence happens frequently.
In the past, I've received scripts that are pages long. Pages. That's not abnormal. Scripts are, generally speaking, pages in length. BUT! When a script is, say, 3 pages and you say it's supposed to be 30 - 60 seconds...
That's. Not. Happening.
Meaning, there is work to do in videography, editing and effects.
Like, it's not as easy as people think.
I'm not sure why people think my profession is easy. Maybe it's the availability of soccer mom cameras. Maybe it's Youtube and the ease to publish your crappy as crap videos. Again, I'm not sure where this typical thinking began, but it needs to stop.
Do they not know the difference in quality from their videos measured against professional quality?
It's appalling and it's disrespectful.
I'm venting here, but this occurrence happens frequently.
In the past, I've received scripts that are pages long. Pages. That's not abnormal. Scripts are, generally speaking, pages in length. BUT! When a script is, say, 3 pages and you say it's supposed to be 30 - 60 seconds...
That's. Not. Happening.
Getting the girl into gaming.
Does the following ring true for you? (If you're a dude.)
Dude is gaming. Girlfriend / wife enters room, flustered. Dude's tongue is hanging out 'cause he's focused and obviously havin' fun.
Girl: Can you focus on me and not the games?
Dude: Sure. Lemme just get to the next save point. (Does not show any indication of quitting.)
Twenty minutes later.
Girl: Ummm. Stop playing, please.
Dude: Almost there.
Girl: Okay.
Girl gets up, walks over to the console nonchalantly and hits power.
Dude thinks to himself, "Whore."
Okay, maybe not quite as bad, but maybe your girl isn't into gaming, which leads to less game time for you. First of all, is it really that important? For me, it's relaxing. In the past, I'd watch movies rather than game. That became too time consuming after graduating college, so I slowly went back to gaming.
Now I prefer gaming to movies. Luckily, I introduced my wife to gaming in a good way.
First, it was the DS. For her graduation, I bought the DS with Clubhouse Games and Elite Beat Agents. Two games that are fun and cooperative.
Then she noticed UNO on the 360. Not only are most girls familiar with playing UNO a lot when they were younger, but it requires no clean up and you can play together or by yourself along with others through Live.
Another thing happened as she played on my profile for the first time. It was a sound we all know and love for 360 owners.
The achievement blip.
"What was that?" she asked. I told her she accomplished a challenge in the game. Achievements sucked her in. Now she plays Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Halo, Madden and most recently Left 4 Dead.
Yeah. Left 4 Dead. She hates horror films, but loves LOVES shooting zombies cooperatively. She even had a blast playing multiplayer as well.
Mostly, make it a rewarding experience for her. Don't just hand her a controller, and definitely don't shut her out entirely either. She may just enjoy it, which will also guarantee more game time for you too.
If you own a PS3, LittleBigPlanet is a huge draw for her as well. I believe we have our most fun gaming with moments like swinging from one ledge to the next as she is clinging to my character for dear life.
Dude is gaming. Girlfriend / wife enters room, flustered. Dude's tongue is hanging out 'cause he's focused and obviously havin' fun.
Girl: Can you focus on me and not the games?
Dude: Sure. Lemme just get to the next save point. (Does not show any indication of quitting.)
Twenty minutes later.
Girl: Ummm. Stop playing, please.
Dude: Almost there.
Girl: Okay.
Girl gets up, walks over to the console nonchalantly and hits power.
Dude thinks to himself, "Whore."
Okay, maybe not quite as bad, but maybe your girl isn't into gaming, which leads to less game time for you. First of all, is it really that important? For me, it's relaxing. In the past, I'd watch movies rather than game. That became too time consuming after graduating college, so I slowly went back to gaming.
Now I prefer gaming to movies. Luckily, I introduced my wife to gaming in a good way.
First, it was the DS. For her graduation, I bought the DS with Clubhouse Games and Elite Beat Agents. Two games that are fun and cooperative.
Then she noticed UNO on the 360. Not only are most girls familiar with playing UNO a lot when they were younger, but it requires no clean up and you can play together or by yourself along with others through Live.
Another thing happened as she played on my profile for the first time. It was a sound we all know and love for 360 owners.
The achievement blip.
"What was that?" she asked. I told her she accomplished a challenge in the game. Achievements sucked her in. Now she plays Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Halo, Madden and most recently Left 4 Dead.
Yeah. Left 4 Dead. She hates horror films, but loves LOVES shooting zombies cooperatively. She even had a blast playing multiplayer as well.
Mostly, make it a rewarding experience for her. Don't just hand her a controller, and definitely don't shut her out entirely either. She may just enjoy it, which will also guarantee more game time for you too.
If you own a PS3, LittleBigPlanet is a huge draw for her as well. I believe we have our most fun gaming with moments like swinging from one ledge to the next as she is clinging to my character for dear life.
11.22.2008
Twilight was...
Surprisingly not bad.
I know.
Shut up.
I think it helped entering the theatre with no hope. No. Hope. Whatsoever.
As the reel began to spin, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the story. Yes, it had cheese at times, but not much. Some of the actors seemed a little too serious at times, but it was better than being lifeless.
I hate admitting my fondness for the film, but I'll be willing to see the next three. With it's smashing of the box office right now, it will surely have a better budget. That's good. Hopefully there will be a new director too.
I know.
Shut up.
I think it helped entering the theatre with no hope. No. Hope. Whatsoever.
As the reel began to spin, I couldn't help but be intrigued by the story. Yes, it had cheese at times, but not much. Some of the actors seemed a little too serious at times, but it was better than being lifeless.
I hate admitting my fondness for the film, but I'll be willing to see the next three. With it's smashing of the box office right now, it will surely have a better budget. That's good. Hopefully there will be a new director too.
Excited.
So, take that and this:
And, somewhere between the two is my excitement level about this. It's been a while since I've made a personal video. Throughout the week, I'm in front of the computer hammering out graphics, animations and videos for work. It's fun since I love to do that. But, it's for work.
A friend of mine and I, along with some other people, have been creating something behind the scenes. (per se)
Along with that something will be a few videos. One will be the straight forward video. The others will be...more fun. (per se) Especially the commercial. It will be reminiscent of an 80s commercial. That's all I'm sayin'.
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