One wouldn't expect a little white box and a couple of remotes to bring out the competitive nature in some people, but the Nintendo Wii has this power. I have a couple of friends who get pretty intense when playing certain games, specifically the fighting type. It started my freshman year of college with a 3D fighter where you can fly around the arena. You have to actually use the Wii-mote to do the super moves in the game as well as shaking them up and down trying to out-shake your opponent. This can get heated at times, often we will get up off the couch and be borderline roaring at the screen
My friend and I started playing the game in the common room in our dorm and at a certain point we began to amass an audience. The battles were entertaining like an action TV program and there were over 100 different characters to play as.
Recently Capcom has released a new 3D fighter that is on a 2D plane. So it plays like old school Marvel vs Capcom, if you know what that is... only it has old Japanese cartoon characters instead of Marvel ones. It is very very addictive, you can choose two characters and tag in and out working with the unique talents of each. Its nice too because you only have to use the Wii-mote turned sideways and two other buttons, which makes it very easy to just pick up and play.
As it turns out this game has caused my friend and I to play it repeatedly until we got good enough to just click random and be able to play with whatever character we received. Although the initial heat has died down after having the game for a couple weeks, but its only a matter of time until the next new competitive phenomenon appears.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Recent Break. . . a little too late.
Due to my trip to Charlotte to see my family over the short break we had, I was unable to post my blog in time. But now I have the opportunity to talk about my long weekend back in the Queen city.
I worked Wednesday night and didn't stay up too late afterwords. I yet somehow managed to wake up later than I wanted to. My birthday was on Tuesday so my parents wanted to celebrate with me and go out to a restaurant when I arrived. I had planned on getting up fairly early and packing before driving to Charlotte to make the 6:00 dinner reservations. I instead woke up an hour late and rushed my packing to make it to my girlfriends apartment to pick her and her sister up. My girlfriend was staying with me and her sister was hitching a ride to hang out with some friends up there. I didn't fully account for time and the short errands we would have to run before leaving. The decision was made that I would not drop off my girlfriend's sister at her friend's at UNC-C but instead they would pick her up at my house to save us an hour plus extra driving time in rush hour Charlotte traffic.
We made it there with a bit of time to spare and we did our unpacking. I found that I had forgotten some of my things before leaving such as a phone charger; within a day, I was without a mobile phone! But it was fine, I made a list of my Charlotte friend's numbers and used other people's phones. The first night we were there we went to Kabuto a hibachi restaurant. It was delicious as always. That evening we just hung out around the house and watched a film on the dvr, wonderful technology.
The next day my girlfriend and I went to some of the many parks in the Charlotte area due to it being such a nice day out. I also drove her around Charlotte and showed her some of the major landmarks and some of the interesting architecture. Later in the evening we went to the South End area and went to an art gallery crawl and saw some great local paintings and sculptures. We also had a nice diner down there as well.
The next day we went to see Shurlock Holmes at the $2.00 theater in Matthews. I enjoyed it, as I do many of Guy Ritchie's films. Later that evening we had a great flank steak dinner and went out to hang out with some of my old friends from the area.
This morning We woke up and packed our things. We had a nice pancake and bacon breakfast and hit the road back to Wilmington, as usual later than expected.
I worked Wednesday night and didn't stay up too late afterwords. I yet somehow managed to wake up later than I wanted to. My birthday was on Tuesday so my parents wanted to celebrate with me and go out to a restaurant when I arrived. I had planned on getting up fairly early and packing before driving to Charlotte to make the 6:00 dinner reservations. I instead woke up an hour late and rushed my packing to make it to my girlfriends apartment to pick her and her sister up. My girlfriend was staying with me and her sister was hitching a ride to hang out with some friends up there. I didn't fully account for time and the short errands we would have to run before leaving. The decision was made that I would not drop off my girlfriend's sister at her friend's at UNC-C but instead they would pick her up at my house to save us an hour plus extra driving time in rush hour Charlotte traffic.
We made it there with a bit of time to spare and we did our unpacking. I found that I had forgotten some of my things before leaving such as a phone charger; within a day, I was without a mobile phone! But it was fine, I made a list of my Charlotte friend's numbers and used other people's phones. The first night we were there we went to Kabuto a hibachi restaurant. It was delicious as always. That evening we just hung out around the house and watched a film on the dvr, wonderful technology.
The next day my girlfriend and I went to some of the many parks in the Charlotte area due to it being such a nice day out. I also drove her around Charlotte and showed her some of the major landmarks and some of the interesting architecture. Later in the evening we went to the South End area and went to an art gallery crawl and saw some great local paintings and sculptures. We also had a nice diner down there as well.
The next day we went to see Shurlock Holmes at the $2.00 theater in Matthews. I enjoyed it, as I do many of Guy Ritchie's films. Later that evening we had a great flank steak dinner and went out to hang out with some of my old friends from the area.
This morning We woke up and packed our things. We had a nice pancake and bacon breakfast and hit the road back to Wilmington, as usual later than expected.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Spring Break 2010
Spring break is always a time for friends and fun. This past spring break my girlfriend, some friends and I rented a house in Myrtle Beach, well, Pawley's Island, but close enough... It was a bit hectic getting out of Wilmington the Sunday that our rental started, we had planned on leaving fairly early as to make it to the house around 3. The plan changed multiple times and I wound up having to drive back to my house to get something, then I had to pick up my friend at his house. His brother was using the big duffel bag so he had split the things he was taking on the trip into 6 different bags. Upon fitting his stuff and mine in the trunk I was beginning to worry that our other two passengers, my girlfriend and her sister, wouldn't have enough space to put their luggage.
We picked them up and managed to jam everything into the trunk, but just barely. Then we simply drove to Myrtle Beach with relative ease. We pulled over to get some Wendy's on the way and were called by the group of people coming from Charlotte. They were already there and unpacking. We were only about 10 - 15 minutes away so we finished our food and drove to the house to meet with everyone. The final car of people arrived and everyone spent the evening relaxing and talking.
Throughout the week we did several different things, we went to Broadway at the Beach but didn't make any purchases due to our general lack of funds associated with being a college student. We went to the beach, though it was kind of chilly, it was still fun. Thursday it was raining but we used that opportunity to go see the Alice in Wonderland movie with the new style of 3D glasses. The lens for these glasses was rounded and it seemed to have hues of different colors when you looked through them. They were somewhat reflective on the front and also had a new security device to prevent theft. I was skeptical of these glasses seeing the weird colors on them but as soon as we entered the theater with our large popcorn and drinks, we could see that the 3D and picture was flawless. My eyes didn't tire or hurt from trying to see the backgrounds, everything looked amazing. While Avatar might have been the most immersive film experience I have to say Alice in Wonderland with these glasses was the best looking.
We also went to Barefoot Landing, ate at California Pizza and actually shopped, also one of our friends got a new piercing at the 4:20 Store. We ate out a couple times stopping by one of my favorite restaurants from my childhood, Friendly's. It was delicious. Our nights there were quite entertaining as well. The week flew by and before I knew it, we were waking up Sunday morning earlier than I expected, not knowing that the time change had occurred. I wound up driving my girlfriend and her sister back to Wilmington before heading into work at the Calling Center. Rough end to a righteous break. Hope yours was awesome too.
We picked them up and managed to jam everything into the trunk, but just barely. Then we simply drove to Myrtle Beach with relative ease. We pulled over to get some Wendy's on the way and were called by the group of people coming from Charlotte. They were already there and unpacking. We were only about 10 - 15 minutes away so we finished our food and drove to the house to meet with everyone. The final car of people arrived and everyone spent the evening relaxing and talking.
Throughout the week we did several different things, we went to Broadway at the Beach but didn't make any purchases due to our general lack of funds associated with being a college student. We went to the beach, though it was kind of chilly, it was still fun. Thursday it was raining but we used that opportunity to go see the Alice in Wonderland movie with the new style of 3D glasses. The lens for these glasses was rounded and it seemed to have hues of different colors when you looked through them. They were somewhat reflective on the front and also had a new security device to prevent theft. I was skeptical of these glasses seeing the weird colors on them but as soon as we entered the theater with our large popcorn and drinks, we could see that the 3D and picture was flawless. My eyes didn't tire or hurt from trying to see the backgrounds, everything looked amazing. While Avatar might have been the most immersive film experience I have to say Alice in Wonderland with these glasses was the best looking.
We also went to Barefoot Landing, ate at California Pizza and actually shopped, also one of our friends got a new piercing at the 4:20 Store. We ate out a couple times stopping by one of my favorite restaurants from my childhood, Friendly's. It was delicious. Our nights there were quite entertaining as well. The week flew by and before I knew it, we were waking up Sunday morning earlier than I expected, not knowing that the time change had occurred. I wound up driving my girlfriend and her sister back to Wilmington before heading into work at the Calling Center. Rough end to a righteous break. Hope yours was awesome too.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
A Worthy Investment
Earlier this semester discovered something wonderful; my roommate has nextflix. Now live in a house with three other people, students and now alums. We don't have cable at the house so we basically get all of our media from the Internet or from video games. That is until I learned about the true greatness of netflix.
The way that it works is you pay a small monthly fee and you make a queue online on their website. This list is slowly sent to you via mail, and you watch it, then send it back whenever; another movie or dvd disc will arrive in a day or two. Awesome. But the convieniance and fun is just starting.
Having netflix also entitles you to use their instant view online or even on my roommate's Xbox 360 Live. This means in my house the amount of media we are able to enjoy despite the lack of cable is still copious. Between netflixs, hulu and the vastness of the Internet, I can watch almost anything I want, its wonderful.
I have watched some really great films since I have been able to enjoy the benefit of this awesome service, it is quite a worthy investment. Check it out.
The way that it works is you pay a small monthly fee and you make a queue online on their website. This list is slowly sent to you via mail, and you watch it, then send it back whenever; another movie or dvd disc will arrive in a day or two. Awesome. But the convieniance and fun is just starting.
Having netflix also entitles you to use their instant view online or even on my roommate's Xbox 360 Live. This means in my house the amount of media we are able to enjoy despite the lack of cable is still copious. Between netflixs, hulu and the vastness of the Internet, I can watch almost anything I want, its wonderful.
I have watched some really great films since I have been able to enjoy the benefit of this awesome service, it is quite a worthy investment. Check it out.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
New Job. . . It Sure Beats Unemployment
After a full semester of unemployment and much time devoted to searching for a restaurant job I was beginning to get desperate. The money in my bank account was slowly dwindling down and I began to become concerned. I been to every restaurant that I would consider working at, omitting fast food places, and was starting to look at other forms of employment. It was then when I remembered my long time friend was working at the Calling Center on campus, so I figured "Why not give it a try". I mean, no where else seemed to be hiring, everyone was "accepting applications" but certainly not hiring.
Well let me tell you a bit about the calling center. This is the place where students working for the school call out to alumni and parents asking for them to make donations to different facets of the school. My job is to be one of the people calling out asking for money, which is interesting to say the least. We don't make commissions or anything like that, we are "student fundraisers" but its fine because there is a paycheck, something I've gone awhile without.
The hardest thing to get used to is trying to ask for donations and being faced with comments that it is hard to bounce back from. Comments like "I'm unemployed", "I'm putting two kids through college", "You people have been calling me every night", & "I'm not interested". Its hard to ask for donations when you already have been told that its not an option for them. You'll try to ask again and you can just hear their tone change as they reiterate why they can't donate. I'm not used to trying to talk to people and get money from them, even if the money is for a good cause, EX: the University, but its something I'm trying to get used to... and I have to, for the paycheck. It's a job for now and it sure beats unemployment.
PS: As an update to my previous post, the actor canceled on us... again. So we found a new actor and rescheduled a shoot for this Saturday. If all goes well we will be done completely with shooting after Saturday, then we will be deep into editing and creating the world the film takes place in. Wish us luck.
Here's a piece of concept art for the film just because pictures make posts better.
Well let me tell you a bit about the calling center. This is the place where students working for the school call out to alumni and parents asking for them to make donations to different facets of the school. My job is to be one of the people calling out asking for money, which is interesting to say the least. We don't make commissions or anything like that, we are "student fundraisers" but its fine because there is a paycheck, something I've gone awhile without.
The hardest thing to get used to is trying to ask for donations and being faced with comments that it is hard to bounce back from. Comments like "I'm unemployed", "I'm putting two kids through college", "You people have been calling me every night", & "I'm not interested". Its hard to ask for donations when you already have been told that its not an option for them. You'll try to ask again and you can just hear their tone change as they reiterate why they can't donate. I'm not used to trying to talk to people and get money from them, even if the money is for a good cause, EX: the University, but its something I'm trying to get used to... and I have to, for the paycheck. It's a job for now and it sure beats unemployment.
PS: As an update to my previous post, the actor canceled on us... again. So we found a new actor and rescheduled a shoot for this Saturday. If all goes well we will be done completely with shooting after Saturday, then we will be deep into editing and creating the world the film takes place in. Wish us luck.
Here's a piece of concept art for the film just because pictures make posts better.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Dealing with "the talent"
Awhile back I wrote a screenplay for my screenwriting class; it was a borderline experimental film about a scientist working on a machine. He is working in an attempt to enhance human perception and is on the verge of a huge breakthrough. He is denied funding for his research and is driven to try out his experimental machine on himself. After the machine is activated he is flung into another world of perception where he has a strange journey.
It was an interesting story, so interesting that one of my friends wanted to adapt it for his final film project at the university. Well we went to work adapting it, designing, modeling and drawing out storyboards. Before we knew it we had rented equipment and assembled a cast and crew. We set up a green screen set at my friend's place downtown and made preparations for shooting.
It was all ready to go, actors, make up artist, director, camera man and enough kino light kits to blind them all. Our make up artist went to work making our 21 year old star look like a 39 year old stressed out scientist. He was one of only a couple actors we needed that day so we took care of all of his scenes where he didn't interact with others-- which were most of them. The first day of shooting went well.The second day rolls around and it begins with a bit of trouble. One of the two supporting characters we needed for our actor to interact with was not answering his phone. We had spoken to him earlier that morning and he said he was going to go home and change then he would come to the location. A few hours and multiple calls later we were in a state of panic. We had run out of things to shoot with the talent we had. We were expecting to finishing on the second day of shooting with possible pick ups done later, but now that was just not happening.
Well the equipment was returned to the university, months passed and we were presented with an opportunity to finish filming. Our friend who's house we used as a set was working on his project so we were able to use his lighting and film equipment. The date was set and talent assembled and unfortunately the unthinkable happened... My unemployment ended and I had a job again. My second day of work was scheduled the same day as the shoot and there was nothing I could do about it.
Right before leaving for work the day of I get a call from my friend the director. The actor who had no showed the previous shooting day had called and informed him that he would be unable to make the shoot... It was somehow was rescheduled for sunday, I was back in. So I now look forward to sunday ready for another day dealing with the "talent".
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