The Dark Side

Well, I finally bought a PS3.  It has a ton of exclusives I’ve always wanted to play, with more announced at E3.  And I had a ton of old games to trade in.  With the trade in and some other lucky promotions, I got one of the best deals ever.

• PS3 160 gb
• Call Of Duty: Black Ops
• Killzone 3 Collector’s Edition
• Infamous
• Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Little Big Planet & Wipeout HD (Sony’s Welcome Back promotion, since I technically had an account from when I briefly had a PS3 in Edmonton)
• HDMI Cables

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  Total after tax: 200$

Now THAT is a deal!  The Killzone 3 Collector’s edition came with a cool dynamic theme for the PS3, all DLC, the OST and Making Of vid, an art book, an action figure and a cool bust of the Helghast.

I spent most of the weekend on Skype with Chad playing PS3.  Felt like old times having a videogame night with Chad.  I miss when we lived together in Edmonton, those were good times.

My PS3 experience hasn’t been perfect however.  The first night it started beeping and making really louds clunking sounds.  I returned it the next day for an exchange and the new one is working fine though, thankfully.

Also, Oliver was quite happy to see I finally got a PS3.  He’s an admitted PS3 fanboy (and Kanye fanboy for that matter…)

It’s been a lot of fun so far, and easily worth the cheap price I paid!  So far I’ve been playing Infamous and Little Big Planet.  You may have noticed I’ve added a PS3 ID badge to my blog now too.  Now I can be an achievement AND trophy whore .  Now back to playing!  If you have a PS3, add me:  notme2000

Friend Times

Is drinking with friends on Skype technically drinking alone?

I’ve been working out a lot and eating less, trying to lose weight, and it’s been since the Dance On Broadway PS3 release party since I drank.  So ya, I’m pretty drunk right now, chatting with Brett and Linda on Skype.  Good times.  I miss my group!

Dancers

Playing Dance On Broadway at the SMU Career/Science fair a few months ago. My co-worker Clifford posted pics on Facebook, followed soon by a video…

The Countdown Begins…

This billboard is just a few blocks from my apartment.  Can’t wait to see what it gets replaced with on the 22nd… 

Return Of The Crushes

Yes, it’s been a while.  But alas, some more celebrity crushes!

Anne Hathaway

She’s very pretty, no question.  I have a female friend who looks a lot like her, and we’re just friends, so this crush is mixed with weird feelings of guilt.  But the best ones usually are.

Emma Stone

She’s got a quirky look and a quirky personality.  And she seems like the kind of girl who’d actually have opinions, which is a big turn on!

Keri Russel

She’s not in many things I watch, though she was good in Mission Impossible 3.  But every time I do see her I find her very attractive.  I think her looks are under-rated.

Mila Kunis

She’s pretty popular these days.  I will go on record as saying Black Swan was the ONE Darren Aronofsky movie I did NOT like.  But watching her make out with Natalie Portman was pretty nice.

Natalie Portman

Speaking of Natalie Portman, I go back and forth with her.  But every so often she has some scenes like this one in Closer, or her nude scene in Darjeeling Limited, not to mention the aforementioned infamous scene in Black Swan.

Tiffani-Amber Thiessen

And who can forget Kelly from Saved By The Bell!  One of my first celebrity crushes ever!  Used to watch this show with a few other kids and my brother after school at the babysitters.

The Cake Was NOT A Lie!

Today Longtail gave everyone cake!  In honor of Portal 2 coming out this week and stealing everyone’s lives!

-75% Wisdom

Got my wisdom teeth out yesterday.  I’d been dreading it for a while.  I bussed to work in the morning, and at noon I walked down the street to the dentist.  I was really nervous.  I knew I was being sedated with laughing gas, but the dentist gave me 3 Ativan to calm the nerves.  I took them and sat in the waiting room.  By the time I was up, about half an hour later, I was high as a kite.  When I stood in the waiting room to walk in, I almost fell flat on my face.  They led me to the dentist chair and gave me the gas…

Man, I was GONE.  I remember they had a radio playing but to me it sounded like the same 2 second loop getting louder and quieter.  I was awake for the entire procedure, but completely wasted.  I actually remember feeling my wisdom teeth being broken in half and slipping out of my gums.  I remember thinking “Wow, this really hurts” but I was so high I didn’t care.

I don’t remember much after that.  Around 9:30 I found myself watching Arrested Development in my bed, drinking an Iced Tea.  I don’t remember how I got home, putting on the DVD or anything.  This morning my downstairs neighbors told me they’d witnessed me get home yesterday.  Apparently the cab had pulled into the driveway and the driver had sat there for 5 minutes waiting for me to get out.  I guess I was so out of it the driver finally got out of the car, opened the back door, unbuckled my seatbelt and practically carried me to my front door.  Then, according to the neighbors, I took over a minute to unlock the door.  I don’t remember any of it, but when I looked on my phone this morning I did find this video:

I don’t remember this at all, but I guess I had the hiccups!

Now begins the healing process.  It’s not so bad, the pain isn’t bad unless I don’t take some ibuprofen.  A few weeks ago I went grocery shopping and picked up a ton of pudding, yogurt, jello and ice cream.  Still, I’m really missing real food.  And smoking.  I can’t smoke for at least a few days.  I’m going to try quitting since I can’t smoke for a few days anyway, hopefully it sticks!

Magicka Sprint

A friend at work got the game Magicka and played it at work today.  As soon as he launched the game her burst out laughing.  One of the first things he saw was this:

This game was clearly made by a bunch of people who love the industry they work in and have a sense of humor.  For those who don’t know, that’s a sprint board behind them, used in Scrum, a form of Agile Management used religiously in game development.  As someone who uses this every day, I found this a great nod to others in the industry.

Dance On Broadway PS3 @ HMV

One of my user-stories for my sprint was to get a picture of our game on retail shelves

Status:  Completed

Career Fair

Yesterday I went to St Mary’s University to represent Longtail Studios at a Career Fair.  I went with 2 co-workers Clifford and Kerri.  It was a really fun day, and a great way to break up the week and do something different. 

We brought a copy of Dance On Broadway PS3 and I ended up dancing with several university students.  It was a lot of fun, and got to play our game with some really cool people.  One guy had no issue belting out the lyrics to the song while he danced.  Several of the girls let loose and got high scores.  It was a really fun day of explaining how awesome the job is to interested students and hanging out with some cool co-workers.

I never went to University, and every time I find myself in one I realize I missed out on a great experience.  So many young people working towards a brighter future.  Everyone with their own ambitions and plans.  It’s an inspiring environment to be in.  Fortunately I eventually found something similar.  It reminded of the feeling of being in an industry where everyone is passionate about their work, proud of their accomplishments and has plans for their futures.  I love talking about career pathing with colleagues, plans to build a future and learn more skills.

It was a beautiful day out and once we were done we went to Spring Garden, near work, and walked to a cool pub called Your Father’s Moustache.  I had what was without a doubt the best sandwich I’ve ever had, and on the way out made a pit stop at the bathroom and was presented with the funniest urinals I’d ever seen.  A good day.

Yes, that’s a tape measure in her hand.

Hobo With A Shotgun

This movie was shot in Halifax by a bunch of Halifaxians (?).  The other day there was a long line at one of the local indie theaters for its premiere.  I’m hoping to see it myself at some point.  It’s totally over the top and silly, but in a good way!

:F

Ryan and I went by a local candy shop the other day and I picked up these awesome fake teeth.

Google Is Not Your Friend

Can’t Stand To Be Apart From You

A nice weekend.  Caught up with some friends on Facetime, went and saw The Adjustment Bureau with Ryan, coffee, texting with a lady friend whom I had coffee with on Friday, relaxing at home, etc…  But the whole time I’ve been counting down the minutes until I can return to work to see this hideous piece of studio decoration:

Mind: Blown

Engage!

So.  Valentines Day.  Two people at BioWare I kind of knew had an interesting way of celebrating it in Minecraft!

Congrats to them both!

Winnipeg Trip Video

Just finished uploading the collection of videos I took while in Winnipeg.  I love that this video was shot and edited on my iPhone 4, and all the photos from the trip were taken on it as well.  It’s better than the point and shoot camera I used to use.  Technology has come a long way!

Good times!  Was a great visit.

Oops

I spoke too soon…

Halifax:

December 17th aint bad for the first real snowfall though!  And it’ll probably melt by the end of the weekend.  Supposed to by +6 on Monday!

Heh

Edmonton:

Halifax:

Goodbye Edmonton!

Finally got around to making a video of my last days in Edmonton.  Made me really nostalgic.  Edmonton was the best time in my life so far, it was really hard to leave it.