Never stopped to think just how brutal Kirby is.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Golems of Amgarrak
New Dragon Age Origins DLC announced! James and his team have been working hard!
Due out August 10, Golems of Amgarrak sends the player character and his party deep into the underground in search of a dwarven expedition that went missing while searching for the secrets behind golem creation. It's a high-level adventure that promises great challenges, great rewards, and a new terrifying creature to stab, beat, and spell to death.
Progress
I’ve been seeing some pretty motivating results lately at the gym. I’ve foregone weight training for cardio. Hour and a half, 7 days a week, with a good diet all week. 40 minutes of interval, then the rest is a sustained pace, and the odd high-intensity sprint. I burn AT LEAST 600 calories of cardio a day. Usually 700. I’m currently losing about half a pound a day! I can see a visible difference now. My face is thinner and I have less of a gut!
I started at 176 about 2-3 weeks ago.
Goal Setting Recommendation: To move to the next weight range you need to weigh 159 pounds to be in the NORMAL weight range.
I’ve lost 8 pounds since I started, and need to lose 9 more to get into the healthy range. So 2-3 more weeks. My current goal is 155. Once I reach it though, I’ll probably just set a new goal like 145.
Pretty soon I should be able to fit into all the clothes I have from Winnipeg. And my goal is to be in even better shape than I was then. Once I have lost my gut and at a body-fat percentage I’m happy with I will start re-introducing weight training and bring my caloric intake up a bit to get a bit more muscle and definition. By next summer, I’m hoping to look the best I’ve ever looked!
It’s so awesome to finally be seeing results and have a clear plan on how to proceed. I’ve been trying to lose weight for about a year now, and it used to be so shrouded in mystery, and felt out of my grasp. But it’s a simple math equation. End the day at a calorie deficit and you lose weight. Simple as that. Plus a bunch of handy tricks for keeping your metabolism up, like taking the stairs at work, drinking ice-water, tea, spices, etc.
I have before pictures from 3 weeks ago. When I reach my goal of 155 I will take new pictures. And if I’m feeling confident enough, maybe I’ll post them on here to show the difference!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sucker Punch Trailer
James pointed me to a cool trailer for a new movie, Sucker Punch, from the director of 300 and Watchmen, Zack Snyder. Granted, in my opinion, he has a habit of making better trailers than movies, but none the less, here’s another great trailer.
First Look At Dragon Age II In Motion
Game Informer was here a few weeks ago to get an exclusive look at what we’re working on and the video just went up! Go check it out! This is where I work and what I’m working on!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Tron Trailer
Another trailer to add to the list of trailers that do it right. I wasn’t even looking forward to this movie until this trailer. Also, Daft Punk doing the OST? Bought.
140 BPM
I’ve finally found a workout program that works for me. I’ve been trying all sorts of different things over the past few months, focusing heavily on weight training. But my main goal is to lose my gut so I can fit into all the nice clothes from 2 years ago. So I’ve done a ton of research and found the most effective use of your time when trying to lose weight is cardio. I’ve figured out my BMR, and through a combination of diet and 7 day a week cardio (elliptical at the gym), am on a 750 calorie deficit. I’ve been on this for just under 2 weeks now, and I’m losing 1 pound every 2 days! So far I’ve lost about 7 pounds!! This is more results than I’ve seen in years and it really has me motivated. At this rate, in 1 month I’ll be visibly thinner, and in 2 months I should look pretty damn good!
My cardio is one to one and a half hours on the elliptical every day. I tend to do half an hour of interval, then an hour of sustained. I’ve actually really started to love it. It’s a great way to work out any stress of the day, and when I’m done I feel fantastic. I just put on my iPod and get lost in the music until I’m done. And for that reason I made a playlist explicitly for using while doing cardio. With this in mind all the songs are around 140 bpm, this way if I go the beat, I’m getting about 140 strides per minute, which keeps my heart at about 125 bpm which is the weight-loss zone. The playlist is about an hour and half as well, the perfect length for my work out.
I’ve included the playlist. You can hear it by pressing play on the playlist to the right, but for those of you also working out, or planning to start, give my playlist a shot for your cardio! For a limited time you can download it from this link! Just chuck it on your iPod! The order is somewhat important, as there is peaks and valleys for interval, and it starts with a warm up song and ends with a cool-down song!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3206439/140%20BPM.zip
And the playlist:
- MCP – Grid Runners
- Innerpartysystem – Last Night In Brooklyn
- Midnight Juggernauts – Safari World
- Mimosa – Get ‘Em
- La Roux – Tigerlily
- Grafton Primary – Relativity (Tommy Trash Remix)
- Royksopp – Tricky Tricky
- The Presets – My People
- She Wants Revenge – Tear You Apart
- Hot Chip – Ready For The Floor
- Zero 7 – Mr. Mcgee
- Hercules And Love Affair – Blind
- Grafton Primary – Telling Lies
- Royksopp – The Girl And The Robot
- The Presets – A New Sky
- M83 – We Own The Sky
- Tiesto – Elements Of Life
- Van She – Kelly
- Imogen Heap & Tiesto – Hide & Seek (remix)
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Dragon Age 2 @ Comic Con
DA2 is giving a sneak peak to press at Comic Con. Laidlaw looking pretty spiffy on the showroom floor!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Vindication!
Even though I’ve been a console gamer for a few years now, I’ve always held that the PC had higher potential. And to this day, I can’t really enjoy competitive FPS games on console due to the fact that controllers just can’t compare to a keyboard and mouse. I’ve argued this position for years to console gamers and finally the console makers themselves admit it!
I have yet to figure out why they chose that picture for the article…
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Change
Check out that sexy piece of clip art! So I’ve been keeping a lot of this under my belt, and even now I can only say so much, but change is in the air. 3 BioWare fulltime QA positions have opened up, internally, 2 in Edmonton and 1 in Montreal. I applied for all 3 and there was a written test that 40 or so people took. LOTS of people were hoping to get one of these jobs! The test was used, in conjunction with manager feedback and work experience/ethic to create a short-list for interviews. I did the test, and felt pretty good about it, except for one question. After leaving the room I realized I’d messed up that one question and started to feel discouraged.
At around that time an opportunity presented itself at a studio in Halifax, Longtail Studios. They contacted me, looking for a QA Lead for their expanding studio. They used to do their QA remotely in Quebec, but were looking to create an in-house QA department, and if I got the job I’d be the lead of that department. It’d be a huge step forward in responsibility, however it is a smaller studio, so the department would probably only be 5 people max, and they don’t make AAA games, more things like Wii dancing games. None the less, a great opportunity. I had a 45 minute phone interview with the producer there which I think went well. I find out either Friday or Monday if that job is a possibility. Halifax would be a big change though. Cost of living is low, but taxes are a bit higher. I hear it’s a beautiful city though.
Then yesterday I got an email telling me I’d been short-listed for the Montreal position. I was really surprised because I’d been pretty certain the one question I messed up would be a deal breaker, but I guess I did really well on the other 3 questions and my managers all like me. I was pretty psyched that I had a chance to stay with BioWare, a company I love which has treated me so well. It was a shame it was Montreal though. It meant either way I’d be moving; Montreal or Halifax.
AND THEN an hour later I got another email telling me I’d been short-listed for the Edmonton Dragon Age fulltime position! Of the 3 positions available, I was short-listed for 2! Obviously the Edmonton position is my priority. Moving from Winnipeg to Edmonton was a great adventure, but I’m not looking to make it a lifestyle. This feels like home now, I have friends, I know the city, Chad just moved out with Olga coming down soon, and I love my job here.
As the day went on I found out a lot of VERY talented people didn’t even get short-listed. So I’m very grateful I’ve gotten this far. From the sounds of it, the short-list is very short indeed. Earlier today I got an email telling me my interview would be this Friday. One interview for both positions. I will be bringing my A-game.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself. It’s entirely possibly of the 3 positions, Edmonton, Montreal and Halifax, I won’t get any. But after 2 years of hard work, and wondering if I had it in me, or if it’d ever work out, to suddenly have 3 career opportunities feels very validating. And thankfully I don’t have to live in limbo forever. By then end of next week I should know what the plan is for my career, my life.
It’s a scary and exciting time. Change is in the air.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Kristina & Olga’s Visit!
During my surprise visit to Winnipeg a few months ago Kristina surprised me and promised she’d visit me in Edmonton. I was super excited, and after a month back in Edmonton she booked a flight. We counted down the weeks until it was time for her to visit and we were psyched! Olga happened to plan her trip to visit Chad on the same week, so it was shaping up to be a great week.
And great it was! When I picked her up at the airport it was great to see her again! It sucks we don’t get to see each other more often! I picked up Olga the same day and Chad was ecstatic to see his girlfriend again after over a month.
We spent the week having a great time. From West Edmonton Mall to Southgate, from a BioWare tour to a mattress adventure at Ikea. Music festivals on Whyte Ave, cruising downtown, running in the rain, Toy Story 3, shopping sprees, Kristina-made dinners, 30 Rock and Pickup Artist, sunflower seeds and skittles. Was the best week I’ve had in a long time, and it was so great to see Kristina again. Olga too!
For the week she was here we sorta played husband and wife, and I’ll admit it was quite nice. I could do worse! It was a fun week! Now that she’s gone I really miss her! X-mas will be the next time we get to hang out, when I visit Winnipeg. Too long!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Dragon Age 2 Box Art!
Ouuu, Pretty! I particularly enjoy the blood drooling from the wings forming silhouettes of people behind Hawke.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Dragon Age II
The latest issue of Game Informer had a pretty cool surprise in it…
So Dragon Age 2 has officially been announced, and I can finally say that this is the project I’ve been working on for a few months now. I can’t really say anything more, but I’m really excited about it. Here are the first 2 screenshots released!
And some concept art:
The release date is slated for March 2011. Be excited!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
WTFRandom
A new playlist, very random. Playlist is all over the place, and includes several songs which are not my normal cup of tea, but I’ve been listening to lately none the less.
- Coco Rosie – By Your Side
- Dan Bull – Generation Gaming
- B.o.B. – Nothin’ On You
- Cut Copy – Far Away
- Oasis – Wonderwall (Questions Remix)
- MGMT – Kids
- A.C Newman – Prophets
- Jay Z – Empire State Of Mind ft. Alicia Keys
- Miike Snow – Black & Blue
- Miike Snow – Silvia
- Eminem – Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna
- Eminem – Not Afraid
- La Roux – Bulletproof
- Erasure – A Little Respect
- Chromeo – Fancy Footwork
- Cut Copy – Out There On The Ice
- Chromeo – Rage!
- La Roux – In For The Kill (Skream’s Let’s Get Ravey Mix)
- The Bloody Beetroots – Ezekiel Eats Red Hood
Enjoy.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
I’ve Got My Orange Crush!
Ok, more crushes! You’d think I’d run out, but one of the few good things about mass media, is there is no short supply of attractive ladies.
MichelleTrachtenberg
She’s never been in anything I’ve watched. Buffy was not my cup of tea, except for one time with my friend’s mom when I was under the influence (there’s a story there), but none the less, I’ve always been aware of her and how attractive she is.
Katy Perry
It’s been said that God did such a good job with Zooey Deschanel he made another.
Mary Elizabeth Ellis
For those of you with taste, you will recognize this girl as The Waitress from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia! Fun piece of trivia, her and Charlie are married in real life!
Sandra Bullock
What’s to say? She was hot in Demolition Man, and she’s still hot today, at least from what I gather from all the chick flick trailers I see.
Paris Hilton
I know, I know. She is one of the ugliest people on the planet when you consider her personality. But this is a crush list, so no, I do not consider her personality.
Leliana’s Song
The trailer for the newest piece of Dragon Age DLC, from the PRC team I used to be on, which James is still on! Looks great!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Full Force
Earlier this summer/spring, during my 3 months off, I started eating healthy and working out. It didn’t last as long as it should have, mainly because I didn’t entirely know what I was doing, and didn’t have the proper equipment and wasn’t willing to go to a gym. Well Chad has a good history with working out so we started working out again and I’m learning from his experience. I’ve sucked it up and started going to a gym. We have one in the building at work, and it’s a free membership! I’m back to eating extra healthy and on a schedule. My goal is to look great by winter. Shame it won’t be fast enough for this summer, but next year I should look (and feel) great!
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