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August 30, 2005
Tests from the High Seas!
From the OK Cupid test centre…
| Pure Nerd 69 % Nerd, 30% Geek, 34% Dork |
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.
(Is anyone surprised?)
Posted by jenkins at 10:01 AM | Comments (1)
August 27, 2005
You Can’t Go Home Again
So I saw The Brothers Grimm this evening. I’ve been a long-standing Terry Gilliam fan since Time Bandits. Gilliam, to me, usually draws out the essence or mood of a scene, letting these elements echo in my mind long after the scene is done. In light of this, TBG seemed a half-hearted attempt, missing scenes, missing exposition, lacking flair and pushing the jokes a little too long and too hard (which might be more an issue with the writer). I thought Jabberwocky was a miss, too, but a well-played miss, shot honest and true but simply missing its mark. The Brothers Grimm wandered, both in plot and composure, and never really seemed to know where it was going.
Other people may enjoy it. I sincerely hope. We’ll see how Tideland goes.
Other recent disappointments have included the Halo 2 music CD. I like atmospheric game music — such as can be found in Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, Myst/Riven and Halo — but this CD is packed with “inspired by the game” music from modern rock bands (and Incubus) which completely breaks the flow and the theme set by the music. The CD cover also portentously but subtly contains the words, “Volume One”. This one I’ll chalk up to marketing replacing the original content, just like many sequels to unexpected motion picture hits. (I’m looking at you, The Mummy Returns.)
Ah well. Everyone seems to hold onto memories of the past; this seems to be the way it’s coming out in me.
Posted by jenkins at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2005
DVDs and Things
Since this came up we present My DVD Collection. Yes, I know it’s small. I’m picky.
La Femme Nikita (also my first DVD purchase ever)
Red vs Blue: the Blood Gulch Chronicles (vols 1-3)
Black Adder - the Complete Collector's Set
Time Bandits
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (not the remastered version with the Lego Camelot)
Lord of the Rings (all three, plus the collector's box you mail in for)
The Anamatrix
The Matrix
Spirited Away
Farscape - Season One (because I'm not rich)
Galaxy Quest
Invader Zim (all three, but not the house-box or bonus DVD)
Blade Runner - Director's Cut (because it's better)
X-Men
X2 - X-Men United
Dogma (collector's edition)
The Mummy
Firefly - the Complete Series
The reasons I don't have the sequels to The Mummy or the Matrix are because I didn't think they captured the interest or charm of the movies I do have. I really do need more that aren't in the scifi/fantasy category.
Posted by jenkins at 4:45 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2005
It’s a Lulu!
Does anyone know anything about Lulu? I heard about it on a This Week In Tech podcast (you hear that, Microsoft? Podcast!) — the company apparently started by a co-founder of Red Hat.
Thanks!
Posted by jenkins at 7:02 PM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2005
Lost the Spark
Well, today after only three months, I canceled my World of Warcraft account. I’m not going moan about it, but I am going to go into the basic reasons why. There are only two, really.
1. It's a Time-Sink : This is pretty much the core of it. It's not like the puzzles and quests come to you. This is in part some of the draw of the game -- you have to dodge and weave through throngs of violent creatures and enemies. Will you survive? Only skill, cunning, and the powers you bought on gaining that level will tell! But when you take a half hour trying to get to the place you were yesterday, that's a half hour you're not getting back. A half-hour is nothing compare to some of the four- to six-hour dungeons WoW wants to put you through.
2. I Suffered Brain Wan: It's not cerebrally challenging and it often breaks my "why not?" curiosity. Sure, the most challenging puzzle in the game Knights of the Old Republic was Tower of Hanoi, but my brain apparently considered that to be enough of a break from "go there, kill that, rescue this, fetch the other, survive". Also, why doesn't a crocodile rush the feathery morsel that keeps on flying overhead? There's pretty much only one thing on the diets of beasts: You. The place did not seem to be alive, which would, for me, have helped overcome the dearth of puzzles. This ongoing sameness (among others) taxed my ability to be interested.
Things I Liked about WoW: It's pretty and very stylish, it renders quick, there are a lot of good-natured and enjoyable people there, and it's fun at first. Really fun. But like a theme park, there are only so many times you can ride a coaster, so many shows you can see before you have to go home for another year.
Posted by jenkins at 11:38 AM | Comments (2)
August 10, 2005
You Drive Funny
“Visitors are informed that in the United Kingdom traffic drives on the left-hand side of the road. In the interests of safety, you are advised to practise this in your country of origin for a week or two before driving in the UK.”
Questions about culture often come up around me — usually because of me — and so I find it interesting to hear who drives on which side of the road and why.
Posted by jenkins at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)