Sunday, December 31, 2006

Wow. Blogger + Google = Bloogle? Glogger?

Not quite sure what happened...you know, I barely pay attention to this stuff, and now my blogspot has your google in it...er, you know what I mean.

Anyway, we moved. Away from the drang and sturm of San Francisco to the peaceful anonimity of the Silicon Valley. Pretty much strip-mall-o-rama, but somehow that is oddly comforting to a girl raised around strip malls.

We saw the brilliant Patton Oswalt and Dana Gould last night at Cobb's in the City. I still can't believe my two heroes were in one place together. Strangely, though, they both seemed a bit exhausted, or drunk, or both. Anyway, it was still amazing.

So I'm taking this programming class next quarter. God I had better not suck; other than living in Kyoto, programming is my dream.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Okami shipped!

I hold in my hot little hands a brand new copy of Okami for the PS2! Hooray!

...of course, this is maybe the last game we'll see from the highly innovative Clover Studios as parent company Capcom is shutting them down. :-(

Friday, August 04, 2006

"I <3 the Internet," or "What the hell is an 'Animat'?"

Super cool blog on Intelligence...

Developing Intelligence

...that links to this overview of a device which uses rat cells to create a neural net which draws pictures thousand of miles away...

The Neurophilosopher's Blog

...or maybe you just want to see the art:

Potter Group page of Neuro Lab

The future was yesterday.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Hex,

So you have seen Hex, haven't you?

I wish American shows had the kind of balls that this great British good-girls-versus-evil-man melodrama. I don't want to spoil this for those who haven't seen it yet, but ZOMG! Can;t believe what the Brits can get away with.

In other news:

  • Battlestar Galactica isn't back for three more months. I can't wait!

  • The release date for Okami has moved to September 5, 2006. Checkout the latest videos and screen captures from this stunning new game at GameSpy's Okami page.

  • If you haven't seen Weeds, then you need to run right out and do so. It's on DVD now.


Finally...meet the Future:

  • New technology called "Touchlight" lets you manipulate 3D images with your hands a'la Minority Report.

  • Till "Touchlight" is available (late this year?), you may want to visit the Photosynth site and see 3D scenes built from collections of online photographs. Amazing!

  • And last but not least, news of a device that allows you to draw letters in water, called AMOEBA.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

E3

So I saw a LOT of games at E3. More importantly, I had a great time at the IGDA party!

My favorite games were:

* Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory)
* Viva Pinata (official website)
* Samurai Warriors 2 (KOEI)

Can't wait to go back next year, now that I know how to navigate the crowds (and to bring bottled water with me).

Saturday, March 18, 2006

I survived!

Well, the big release came and went, and I can proudly say I survived!

Boy it was a tough one. I had to delay it once, and contemplated doing so again. But, it's out the door, we learned a lot, and now we're gonna turn right around and do it again. There are lots of projects lined up and ready to hit the streets for the next real release. No reason not to forge ahead, as I see it.

In the meantime, I've joined the swanky gym down the street (and I'm GOING to go because it's so damn expensive).

Oh yeah -- I get to do an interview for a magazine article about software project management practicesin our industry. It's basically going to say -- "Yeah, there are these 15 best practices...and this is how what we do is better!" LOL

Seriously, though, this weekend I plan to review my Best Practices list (thank you, Software Quality Assurance course) to get a handle on what we do "right" and what we do "our own way" so that I don't sounds like a total n00b...

...that and I plan to play lots of Animal Crossing (GameCube).

Thursday, March 02, 2006

LEGO Star Wars, weather, and thee

Okay, so LEGO Star Wars is just the right difficulty level for me to enjoy it AND succeed. I don't have the best hand-eye coordination, and therefore mostly stick to RPG's, RTS'es, Katamari Damacy, and/or Meteos.

Although GTA: San Andreas *is* one of my favorites, I really like to just drive around. Kind of like real life, except for the spectacular crashes across freeway medians that you just get up and walk away from!

+++

I didn't ever really think about trying to get around the City without a car until it started raining. Don't get me wrong -- I <3 rain. The problem is that when you have to walk alot, your feet get wet and you wind up at work in wet shoes/socks all day.

Maybe I will break down and bring my Crocs and some spare socks to work. :-)

+++

So the folks in the forums posted a "thank you" to me for my hard work at communicating with them and making life easier. It was really nice.

I got an email from the post's author saying "It had to be said" with a link to the forum page. I opened it with MAJOR trepidation, expecting some new and horrible bug...but instead it was a list of folks who'd noticed my efforts and wanted to say thanks.

Yay!

Saturday, February 11, 2006

How incredibly arrogant would it be...

How incredibly arrogant would it be for me to make a custom t-shirt for myself that says


No rest for teh r0xx0r


Everyone *says* I am teh r0xx0r at work (ha!), and I happen to think that this would be a really funny saying...but to make such a thing for personal use just seems kind of weird.

P.S. To comfort me as I broke down in tears for no apparent reason, the HR director told me today "You don't have to do your best every day!" as though that were an option. Hmm. Good thing the guys weren't around to see.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Let's talk about Se...cond Life!

So my favorite moment in Second Life so far has to be the one represented by this screenshot:



It just doesn't get much better than watching the Kool-Aid Man, the Robot Monster and a brain in a jar gettin' down on the dance floor!

Monday, January 23, 2006

Not so bad after all

It's so nice to work for some one with whom you can share your frustrations.

Even if they can't fix all the problems you pose to them, they can look you in the eye and say, "You know, I used to worry about (this or that), but now I know it's all gonna work itself out in the end."

What a nice thing!

I was terribly worried that today would be a huge shit storm, but we talked about some options, and I was able to present a solution to our worst critics, and by and large I think it went over well. I know I should have handled it differently to begin with, and I will next time. The end! :-)

Sunday, January 22, 2006

What am I doing?

I hate to post one of those lame, riddled-with-doubt college rants, but...

...I don't have any idea what I am doing!

I go from loving everything to hating it all; from wanting to stay here and grow and mature to wanting to run away as quickly as possible...it's just too damn much.

Ugh.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Argh! Time for my self-directed review at work!

Well, it's finally happened: I've been an employee for six months now, and therefore can begin my self-directed review. I've spent hours thinking about the six topics I must address, and hope that writing the actual document isn't too painful. Having lots of flashbacks to school and term papers doesn't raise my confidence level much...

So what's new? We saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe last week. I was surprised to like it as much as I did, given my deep childhood attachment to the book. Of course I cried my eyes out when Aslan was sacrificed. Even though it's all okay in the end, there is just something about that whole deal that pushes my buttons. I'm sure the guy next to me thought I was crazy -- sitting in the dark (and packed) movie theater sobbing like a fool! Oh well. It was a good cry.

Bought the new Bad Company UK album Bad Taste (the MP3 preview is here). Why isn't there more drum and bass like that? The best album ever, of course, is Dieselboy's Dungeonmaster's Guide, which you can listen to a snipet of here. If you haven't heard it, do yourself a favor and give it a listen!

I wish San Francisco didn't have such a crappy D'n'B scene. About the only reason to go to L.A. these days is for D'n'B...or maybe to catch a crew shooting The Shield.

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Okami looks to be the most amazing game ever!


Will Okami be the coolest game ever? I'm literally exhausted with anticipation! The website is amazing -- even if you cannot read Japanese, it's definitely worth a look.

I suppose I will have to buy a Japanese PS2 in April so that I can play this game when it is released.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Happy New Year...unless you are a Meteo...

Happy New Year!

I want to start the year off right with some wisdom from Meteos, the Nintendo DS game I am in love with:

Delivering the final blow to Meteo was proving difficult until the Meteos fused into a giant fork!

Using all of its power, the Metamo Ark cut up the well-done Meteos like a delicious steak. Utter victory is ours! Probably.


Need more be said?