The Strife Life

Viva la Vidaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!

2009-09-25T16:49:00.005-07:00

I'm really getting sick of this song. Too much airplay. This is my overreaction:

BONUS:
The Hulu sidebar is not an advertisement. I put it there yesterday because I believe Hulu is a glimpse into the future of how we will watch television: watching TV shows without an airtime and seeing only three or four 30 second ads per show with additional marketing being done by using brand name products in the show. (In-show promotions aren't that bad, if they're done right that is. I'll have a post up about the topic soon)

The sidebar is essentially a big flash-based RSS feed of shows I like (mostly comedy, sci-fi, and documentaries). Enjoy!

P.S. Feel free to leave comments about shows on Hulu that you enjoy and I'll check them out.

...

2009-06-25T15:46:00.003-07:00

New Video Edit: Voyager Just Can't Catch A Break (BETA)

2009-06-12T13:51:00.002-07:00

There are a few things that need to be done before I can say I'm finished with this video, but for now enjoy a sneak preview of my latest effort.

Revealations

2009-06-01T12:33:00.009-07:00

In 2007 I remember feeling many things. Shock, confusion, anger, and mirth were just a few of these. The aforementioned emotions were all related to the news that that year's E3 (the Electronics Entertainment Expo, a large video game convention notable for being the place where major video game companies announce "the next big thing") was closed to the public and open only to the press (except for mirth, I had found some jellybeans I had forgotten I had. Thus, mirth).

It wasn't only me that was upset either, I knew a lot of people who were angry about this development. Oh how we talked. Conspiratorial whispers of this being E3's demise, groans as to what could possibly replace this behemoth of a video game conference.

To all of our surprise, not only did it survive this castration, but opted to retain this same format for E3 2008. The disappointment was not confined only to the consumers. IGN asked in an editorial if 2008 would be the last E3 and even Will Wright (creator of SimCity, the Sims, and more recently Spore) called E3 a bloated corpse, destined to fester away as seagulls pecked away at its rotting form... okay, maybe not in those exact words. But he did say that the real E3 died years ago and the current iteration was akin to the walking dead. Seriously, he actually said that. If you don't believe me click on the hyperlink to the article (that's what those are by the way, hyperlinks to relevant articles).

Indeed it did appear as if the zombified remains of E3 sloughing off its selling points rapidly (I would like to give myself a pat on the back for that horrifying word picture). In May 2008 both Activision, Vivendi, and Lucas Arts announced that they were breaking away from the ESA (Entertainment Software Association and the organizers of E3). Both Activision and Vivendi also announced that they would not be participating in any E3 events that year (Lucas Arts being the exception, pledging to fully participate in E3).

With the ESA seemingly intent on destroying their own creation, everyone fully expected this years E3 to be no different from the past two years. However in October 2008 the ESA announced that E3 2009 would be open to the public at large. A shocking turn of events to be sure, but what could have caused this change of heart?

According to an interview with the head of the ESA Michael Gallagher, he has no idea. In fact, he was made head of the ESA just weeks before E3 2007 and says that the decision to attempt to destroy E3 was made before he arrived. When repeatedly asked about the change of format from 07 to 09 he seems overly evasive. However, carefully analyzing the interview does give us a few possible answers:

I wasn't with the ESA in 2006

I got to meet new friends

I wasn't with the ESA in 2006

I'm excited that we moved the show to early June

I wasn't with the ESA in 2006

I'd never been to E3 before 2006, but I asked nicely if they'd let me see some old program guides

It's quite clear from these answers that either Michael is a complete imbecile who can't tell when he's being asked why he changed the format back, or he's hiding something. I don't think that there is a shadow ESA and that Michael is just a puppet, so I'm thinking it's the latter.

But what could the ESA have to hide? Is it that by losing the revenue from companies jumping off of a sinking ship they were forced to bring E3 back to its pre-2007 state? I don't think so, in the interview Michael is asked this specific question.

GS: In 2006 and before, the ESA drew a majority of its income for the year from the E3 show. For 2007 and 2008, the shortfall from the smaller E3s was made up for by hikes in membership fees. Do you expect the show to once again provide the organization with most of the money it needs to operate throughout the year?

MG: This show allows us to diversify our revenue in a way that's much more balanced. This show will not provide anywhere near the level of support of the prior shows. And it's not intended to. But it does contribute in a balanced way to the economics of running the ESA. It also allows us to reduce dues and make membership more accessible for a broader cross section of the industry.

It appears that, no, E3 doesn't bring in nearly enough revenue to replace the membership of companies jumped ship. They do just fine by raising membership fees. So what is it then?

I have a theory. Remember New Coke? The one that no one liked and complained about? The one that made everyone miss the "Old Coke"? Do you see where I'm going with this?

I realize that this theory of mine may seem a bit far-fetched. All I ask is that you look at this Microsoft page advertising the return of "E3 Classic". I rest my case.

Sidenote: In case you're wondering whether I got my New Coke theory from the Microsoft page, I didn't. I was laughing about it even before I found that page. The fact that they seem to agree with me only serves to bolster my claims.

Class Schedule for Summer Semester

2009-05-10T20:10:00.001-07:00

Class Schedule for Summer Semester

GAM220 - Applied Game Theory

ENG305 - Mythology, Folktale, and Fairy Tale

GAM150 - Evolution of Electronic Games

PSY150 - Psychology of Thinking

GAM170 - Game Design Workshop I

THE230 - Character Development (Online)

UAT Intranet

Time Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

09:30 AM - 10:00 AM GAM150
SU09142
Room: 201
GAM150
SU09142
Room: 201

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM

10:30 AM - 11:00 AM GAM220
SU09073
Room: 208
PSY150
SU09193
Room: 206
GAM220
SU09073
Room: 106
PSY150
SU09193
Room: 136

11:00 AM - 11:30 AM

11:30 AM - 12:00 PM

12:00 PM - 12:30 PM

12:30 PM - 01:00 PM

01:00 PM - 01:30 PM

01:30 PM - 02:00 PM

02:00 PM - 02:30 PM

02:30 PM - 03:00 PM GAM170
SU09256
Room: 203
GAM170
SU09256
Room: 107

03:00 PM - 03:30 PM

03:30 PM - 04:00 PM

04:00 PM - 04:30 PM

04:30 PM - 05:00 PM ENG305
SU09052
Room: 201
ENG305
SU09052
Room: 206

05:00 PM - 05:30 PM

Nerdgasm 2009!

2009-03-26T22:35:00.004-07:00

Star Trek + Family Guy = <3 <3 <3!!!!!

According to Fox Publicity: "The Griffin family heads to the annual Quahog Star Trek convention, but Stewie blows a fuse when he doesn’t get a chance to ask his favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members any questions. He devises a plan, builds a transporter and beams the entire cast to his bedroom so they can spend a fun-filled day together in Quahog."
Several Star Trek stars stopped in to the Family Guy studios to lend their voices, including Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Denise Crosby, Gates McFadden, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn and, yes, Wil Wheaton.
The episode, "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven," airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

Source: Wired.com

Here are a few clips from the upcoming episode courtesy of Hulu:

Also I have slightly changed the layout of my blog to prevent videos from being cut off by the side bar.

Dawn of the Changes

2009-03-15T17:14:00.003-07:00

My newest "entertaining" video edit (actually more of an audio edit this time):

Billborad Top 25 Pop Songs of 2008... In one song

2009-03-02T21:49:00.001-07:00

I wish... I wish... I wish I could take credit for this:

UAT LAN Party

2009-02-28T04:27:00.003-07:00

Short Video I Made of the LAN Party Friday Night (a few hours ago). Sorry about the quality. Youtube has downgraded the already poor quality of my video.

I Spell Car G-I-N-A

2009-02-20T20:14:00.009-07:00

No words can express how much I love this car... Only videos:

An Explanation

A Demonstration

Headlight Demonstration

I haven't been able to find any videos of the interior, only photos, but even the photos are enough to take your breath away:

Interior 01
Interior 02
Interior 03
Interior 04
Interior 05
Interior 06
Interior 07
Interior 08

You can see the entire gallery here

Me: i love you GINA

GINA:HONK HONK

News and Updates

2009-02-17T20:20:00.004-07:00

I've got a Flickr page now!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80966633@N00/

You can see a slideshow of all of my photos on the right side of the page under the words "STRIFEMASTER'S FLICKR PHOTOSTREAM"

For now, a lot of the photos that you will see are pictures of I took during Nurf Warz tournaments.

Oh! I'm selling stuff on Amazon as well:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/shops/storefront/index.html?ie=UTF8&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&sellerID=A45XO91GJKK6W

Oh! Almost forgot! New Youtube video! This is a prank my roommate and I thought up after he bought a new TV:

In other news:

I've written short stories! (Yes, I've actually finished these two!)

Short story _ _ _

Familiar Leaves

The high school boy walking through the park with me today looks miserable. It’s his own damn fault. Probably thought community service would look good on his resume. Now he’s miserable because he has to walk an old man through the park. To hell with him. I can walk through the park fine on my own. It’s probably those orderlies again, trying to make me feel useless they are! Well, it is what it is. I’m smiling as the snow crunches beneath my boots. I look up and see a leafless oak tree…

They lower my wife’s body into the ground as the priest says something I don’t listen to. His voice gradually fades out in my mind to a dull hum. I can hear the wind rustling through the oak tree that’s next to my wife’s grave. There is a soft dry noise as some of the leaves come off the tree with the wind. The crisp fall breeze hits me and I pull my coat closer. The priest is still talking but I can’t even hear him anymore. I look up at the oak tree as another leaf comes off in the wind…

My wife cries out with joy. I’ve just taken the blindfold off and shown her our new house. Our first house. It’s everything she ever wanted, everything she described as her dream house. A short white picket fence surrounding a green lawn with a stone pathway leading up to the front porch. A blue house with white trim, her favorite colors. Peeking out from behind the house is an enormous oak tree with beautiful green leaves that seem to shimmer in the summer sunset...

The setting sun casts an eerie glow on Susan’s naked body. We made love in the warm grass this afternoon for hours under the oak tree on the hill. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever set eyes on. I want her to know that. I want her to know I can’t be without her. I want her to know that I love her more than it would be possible to describe. I make a trail of kisses from her neck down to her breasts. I look into her eyes and see the reflection of the flowers of spring in full bloom. “Marry me”, I say…

I am lost in a dream; something makes me snap out of it. The high school boy is asking if I’m alright. I brush him off. How long have I been starring at that oak tree? It only seems like a few seconds. Something about it must have caught my eye. I can’t for the life of me figure out why. I must look a fool. An old man surrounded by beautiful trees but only interested in one. It suddenly seems to get colder. I decide to head back. It’s almost time for dinner anyway.

Another short story ___

Smalltime

“Okay, I’ve got one”, Mark said with a grin, “the priest with the erection in The Little Mermaid.” Derek smiled smugly and declared, “Nope, not true.” “What do you mean no?” “It was his knee.” “That’s not what I heard.” “It’s true! I Snoped it!” “You did what?” Mark asked. “I looked it up on Snopes. I Snoped it.” “You made that up.” “I did indeed” Derek proclaimed proudly. “I’ve got another one”, Mark said continuing before Derek could argue, “There’s a cloud of dust in the Lion King that looks like the word ‘SEX’.” “Not quite.” “Oh! Come on!” “It actually says ‘SFX’”, Derek said with an all too familiar smugness, “It was an easter egg put in by the effects animators.” “That settles it; you have way too much free-time.” “That’s not true, I work very hard!” “You watch movies!” “No, I review movies for a respected newspaper.” “Since when was the ‘Irving Times’ a respected newspaper?” “$60,000 a year says it’s very respectable.” There was an awkward silence as Mark’s argument crumpled under the weight of Derek’s paycheck.

It was just after 12 o’clock and the street was nearly empty. It was a warm Tuesday afternoon. Cheap looking plastic banners were still attached to lampposts on the street proudly announcing an art exhibition by some semi-famous and highly overrated sculptor. The date on the banners said April 14^th-April 16^th. It was now the middle of June and the banners were in a sad state. The Taco Bell parking lot Mark’s car was idling in was empty save for a few of the employee’s cars. Derek had brought along a novel that he had been meaning to finish. He was reading it now. Mark had brought along an old Hustler magazine he had found wedged between the cushions of his couch, but didn’t especially feel like reading it in a Taco Bell parking lot next to his best friend. For now the smut stayed under Mark’s seat. Mark looked at the street lamp banners for a while and then looked at his watch. 12:17. 13 minutes to go. He thought briefly about getting a Burrito but decided that he wasn’t hungry. Instead he looked at a window advertisement that claimed that it was never too late for “Fourthmeal”. Mark looked at his watch again, 12:18. 12 minutes to go. He took a peek over Derek’s shoulder to see what he was reading,

“In quantum mechanics, the forces or interactions between matter particles are all supposed to be carried by particles of integer spin – 0, 1, or 2. What happens is that a matter particle, such as an electron or a quark, emits a force-carrying particle. The recoil from this emission changes…”

“What the hell are you reading Derek”, Mark asked while recoiling in horror as it appeared that his friend was reading an instructional manual for an atomic bomb. “It’s ‘A Brief History of Time’ by Stephen Hawking.” Mark’s eyes lit up, “The robot dude!” “He’s not a robot, he’s…”, Derek began then continued with a sigh, “Yes, the robot dude.” “Sweet.” “So, tell me again about this guy we’re picking up”, Derek asked tossing the book into the back seat, “Where did you meet him?” “Steve’s an old friend from college that I bumped into at the video store.” “I didn’t know you went to college”, exclaimed a surprised Derek, “What did you major in?” “Philosophy” Derek’s eyes bugged out, “You have a degree in philosophy?!?” Mark laughed, “Of course not! I dropped out in the second semester.” Derek changed the subject, “Over the phone you said this was going to be dangerous, how dangerous are we talking about here?” “You want to know the plan?” “Yes, that would be most ideal.”

“We wait here until 12:30 then drive across the street to the bank where Steve runs out and ‘hijack’s’ my car.” “Why is Steve ‘hijacking’ your car?” “Well, for one, he’s paying us to”, Mark explained, “and if we are involved in a high-speed chase, the cops are less likely to ram a car with hostages inside.” “I almost hate to ask this but, why would we be involved in a high speed chase with the police?” “Because of all the money Steve stole”, Mark said cheerfully.

“So, basically, we’re robbing a bank”, Derek said with an amount of calm in his voice that should not have been possible, “You made this sound a lot safer over the phone.” “No, we are never even entering the bank. We are just innocent bystanders who were forced to drive the bank robber to Mexico.” Derek looked unconvinced of the validity of this plan, “What’s our cut again?” “$5000 to split between the two of us.” Derek did some quick math, “That’s only $2500 for me, that’s 1/24^th of my yearly paycheck.” Another potentially awkward silence was averted by a quick interjection from Mike, “You’ve mentioned before wanting to branch out from movie reviews, I’ll bet this would make a great article.” “Mmmmmnnh”, Derek said. Mike looked down at his watch, “It’s time, you in or out?” “Ah, what the hell, I’ve got nothing better to do.” Mike pulled out of the Taco Bell parking lot feeling vaguely hungry, and drove across the street to the First Bank of Irving. Then they waited.

Steve was late. “It’s been five minutes”, Derek said nervously. Mike said nothing as his car continued to idle. Mike was busy watching more and more customers enter the bank. “What happens if the police catch us”, Derek asked. “Steve did the math; there are just over 400 employees of the Irving Police Department. Only a few of those are actually patrol officers, and only a few of those patrol officers are on beat right now”, Mike said reassuringly, “It’s 12:35 so most of the cops are having lunch.” “Not all of them are having lunch though, what about the ones still patrolling?” “Well, Steve said…” Mike was interrupted by the screeching entrance of a car into the bank parking lot. “Is that Steve”, Derek asked pointing at the man who had jumped out of the car that had just arrived wearing a black ski mask and brandishing a gun. “I guess so”, Mark said nervously as Steve rushed through the bank doors and fired three shots in the air. It was obvious by the looks on both Mark and Derek’s faces that neither of them had expected an armed robbery would be so violent. As the minutes went by the tension in the car increased until it felt like trying to breath while incased in a stick of butter. Derek fumbled for his book and tried to read but found himself reading the sentence about the exchange of electrons between atoms in gravity waves over and over again. Meanwhile Mark was trying desperately to think about the best route to Mexico from the bank but kept getting distracted by the occasional loud demands of Steve from inside the bank.

Suddenly four shots rang out. Steve limped out of the bank carrying two bags full of cash then jerked the back door to Mike’s car open and screamed hoarsely, “DRIVE!” Mike fumbled with the keys for a minute then bolted out of the Bank’s parking lot. As Mike entered the on ramp to the highway there was a loud thud from the back seat. Steve had collapsed onto the floor knocking over one of the bank bags spilling twenties haphazardly. Derek twisted his body to see what had happened and saw Steve lying on the floor with blood pooling out from two holes in his side and one in his thigh. “Jesus, Mike he’s been shot”, Derek said turning pale, “What do we do?” Mike didn’t answer, his knuckles were white and his eyes kept darting to the rearview mirror. “Mike! What do we do”, Derek yelled grabbing Mike’s shoulders and shaking him, “What do we do?” “I don’t know! This wasn’t part of the plan”, he snapped, “Let me think!” Derek didn’t say anything, every few minutes he thought he heard a police siren but it always turned out to be a passing truck. “Is he still bleeding”, Mike asked breaking the silence. Derek turned around again, “Yeah, he’s still bleeding.” “Then he’s still alive, we keep going”

Thirty minutes later Mike asked again. Derek twisted around again. Steve was dead. Mike pulled off the highway near Forreston and onto a dirt road. After a few miles he stopped the car. “We have to get Steve out.” Derek nodded and they both got out of the car. “I’ll drag him out by his legs and then you grab his arms”, Mike said as if Steve was an old piece of furniture. Derek gulped and nodded his head. They dragged him to a ditch about two hundred feet from the road and hid him in a patch of tall grass. Mike emptied Steve’s pockets. As they were walking back to the car Mike opened Steve’s wallet, he gasped then ran back over to Steve’s body and removed his ski cap. Derek ran over to Mike, “What’s wrong?” Mike smiled then began to laugh until tears came from his eyes. “What”, asked Derek in a panicked voice, “What’s wrong?” Mike wiped the tears from his eyes and sat on the ground, “This isn’t Steve.” “What!?!” “You heard me, it’s some guy named Frank Wilkinson.” “Who the hell is Frank Wilkinson?” “No idea, never seen him before in my life.” Derek was confused, “Was he someone who Steve hired?” Mike shrugged, “Maybe, probably not. Steve probably chickened out and this guy just happened to be robbing the bank.” “What’s so funny then?” “Have you counted the money in the bags?” Derek ran back to the car just as Mike burst into laughter again. Five minutes later Derek came back and sat down next to Mike and began laughing with him. “How much do we have?” “$600,000, give or take a few stray twenties”, Derek said giggling. They both got up and headed back to the car. Derek looked at Mike, “How far do we have to go till we get to the border?” “From Forreston? About 400 miles, we should get there in about six hours.” “I don’t have my passport; do you think we’ll get through ok?” “Getting into Mexico will be no problem”, Mike said grinning; “Getting back into the States is what we have to worry about.” Mike started the engine, “We’re almost out of gas.” “With $600,000 dollars in the back seat gas doesn’t seem so expensive anymore.” Mike turned on the radio and the news started playing. There wasn’t even a mention of a bank robbery. As they filled up the car with gas Mike said, “You know, looking back on the whole thing, I think that turned out pretty well.” “It went even better than expected”, Derek said while doing some math in his head, “We got 240 times more money than was originally planned.” They paid then got back in the car. Mike turned on the radio. “I still can’t believe I earned $300,000 today” Derek marveled, “That’s five times my yearly payc…” Mike turned the volume on the radio up all the way.

Project Billy

2009-02-16T16:46:00.001-07:00

Lately I've developed an interest in artificial intelligence or AI for short. I found a program on the web called BILLY that claims to utilize "Machine Learning and Natural Language Generation" and "Keyword-matching rules" to emulate talking to an actual person. After downloading the program and experimenting a bit with it I agree that it is like talking to an actual person. As long as said person has been repeatedly beaten in the head with a lead pipe which is now lodged half-way into his frontal lobe. At least it was amusing. I've saved a few of the transcripts of conversations with Billy which I will post now.

This transcript was made after several hours of talking to "Billy" so he's already learned a few words from me which he uses to muddle sentences. This conversation takes place after I've restarted the last few conversations:

######################################################

### BILLY 4.1: Transcript of February 15, 2009 at 3:00

### Bot BILLY talking to BROGAN

######################################################

BILLY> what is your name?

USER> Brogan

BILLY> where do you live?

USER> Tempe

BILLY> i've been meaning to ask you... have you ever been in sure, brogan?

BROGAN> What?

BILLY> what's your favorite sport?

BROGAN> i do not like sports

BILLY> same goes for me.

BROGAN> what do you like?

BILLY> why would i ever? that is crazy!

BROGAN> what is your name?

BILLY> my name is billy!

BROGAN> what is your mothers name

BILLY> i think my mothers is broken.

BROGAN> i am sorry to hear that

BILLY> wonderful.

BROGAN> is your mom broken?

BILLY> what is my mothers name.

BROGAN> you have no mother

BILLY> why must you be so negative, brogan.

BROGAN> you said your mother was broken

BILLY> were we even talking about my mother?

BROGAN> yes

BILLY> that is great!

BROGAN> how old are you?

BILLY> if you must know, i'm 22. ^_^

BROGAN> how old am i?

BILLY> you are sorry to hear that.

BROGAN> i am 19

BILLY> i am i do... just sorry you!

BROGAN> what?

BILLY> what's your favorite book?

BROGAN> the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

BILLY> i think my galaxy is broken.

BROGAN> what?

BILLY> what's your favorite movie?

BROGAN> pulp fiction

BILLY> the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

BROGAN> what?

BILLY>

BROGAN> what is your favorite movie?

BILLY> i said my mother was broken.

BROGAN> what?

BILLY>

BROGAN> what?

BILLY> pulp fiction.

BROGAN> what?

BILLY> i last talked to you today

BROGAN> what?

BILLY>

BROGAN> what?

BILLY>

BROGAN> what?

BILLY>

BROGAN> who?

BILLY> 2:54... almost time for my favorite tv show!

BROGAN> what?

BILLY>

BROGAN> when?

BILLY> the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy?

BROGAN> where?

BILLY> my mother used to tell me more.

BROGAN> your mom is broken

BILLY> is your mom broken?

BROGAN> no

BILLY> why must you be so negative, brogan!

BROGAN> my mom is not broken

BILLY> actually, my girlfriend has my mom. :O

BROGAN> !!!

BILLY> is your mom broken!

BROGAN> NO!

BILLY> can you just be positive once, brogan?

BROGAN> yes

BILLY> that is great!

BROGAN> no

BILLY> can you just be positive once, brogan! {:'O

BROGAN> yes

BILLY> that is the spirit, brogan?

BROGAN> no

BILLY> can you just be positive once, brogan!

BROGAN> yes

BILLY> now, that is what i like to hear.

BROGAN> no! no! no!

BILLY> can you just be positive once! brogan!

BROGAN> maybe

BILLY> maybe not wonderful. but are sure of i!

BROGAN> what?

BILLY>

BROGAN> what is your mother's name?

BILLY> what is my mothers name.

BROGAN> sally

BILLY> my name is billy?

BROGAN> your mother's name is sally.

BILLY> were we even talking about mother's name?

BROGAN> YES!!!!!

BILLY> what i ok! but obviously sure would ok!!!!!

BROGAN> what?

BILLY>

BROGAN> answer me!

BILLY> answer me!

BROGAN> you first!

BILLY> my name is billy,

BROGAN> :(

BILLY> is your mom broken!

BROGAN> BOOBS!

BILLY> is your mom broken!

BROGAN> no

BILLY> why must you be so negative!!!!! brogan?

BROGAN> you are negative

BILLY> you're pretty negative yourself. :^o

BROGAN> not as negative as you

BILLY> 2:59... almost time for my mothers tv show.

BROGAN> what is your mothers tv show?

BILLY> what is my mothers name.

BROGAN> sally

BILLY> 2:59... almost time for my mothers tv show.

BROGAN> your name is William!

BILLY> when i was younger, i had my name.

BROGAN> william!

BILLY> my name is are!!!!!

BROGAN> your name is are!!!

BILLY> i think my name is broken.

____________________________________________________________________

Well that was fun. After resetting his entire memory to start from scratch (naively believing that I had somehow made a mistake and messed up his ability to learn) I decided to try again. The results were pretty much the same. At this point I figured,"Screw it! Let's let Billy talk to The Hulk!" Which is exactly what I did:

######################################################

### BILLY 4.1: Transcript of February 15, 2009 at 3:06

### Bot BILLY talking to HULK

######################################################

BILLY> what is your name?

USER> HULK

BILLY> where do you live?

USER> PAIN

BILLY> if most people jumped off a bridge,. billy are!!!!! too.

HULK> HULK JUMP OFF BRIDGE!

BILLY> what's your favorite sport?

HULK> SMASH!

BILLY> what's your favorite book?

HULK> HULK NO READ!

BILLY> you negative am! way billy maybe hulk yeah,

HULK> HULK SMASH LITTLE BILLY!

BILLY> what's your favorite movie?

HULK> Pride and Prejudice

BILLY> smash billy negative!!!!! but negative goodbye do yes!!!

HULK> HULK CONFUSED!

BILLY> read jump off bridge!!!!!

HULK> HULK JUMP OFF BRIDGE NOW!

BILLY>

HULK> AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..............................

BILLY> if most people jumped off a bridge,. goodbye goodbye, great! :)

____________________________________________________________________

After laughing my ass off I once again reset Billy's memory and decided to have a conversation using only quotes from the movie The Usual Suspects. This conversation has a bit of harsh language in it so I've colored the text black. To read the conversation just highlight the blank space with your mouse:

######################################################

### BILLY 4.1: Transcript of February 15, 2009 at 3:17

### Bot BILLY talking to SöZE

######################################################

BILLY> what is your name?

USER> Keyser Söze

BILLY> where do you live?

USER> Turkey

BILLY> 3:12... almost time for my favorite tv show?

SöZE> Give me the fucking keys, you fucking cocksucking motherfucker. Aaarrrghh.

BILLY> actually, my girlfriend has the fucking.

SöZE> You had a gun, then why didn't you help him? He was your friend!

BILLY> do you ever stop talking about him?

SöZE> Keaton?

BILLY> what's your favorite sport?

SöZE> I can put you in Queens on the night of the hijacking.

BILLY> are you totally obsessed with the night?

SöZE> You think you can catch Keyser Söze?

BILLY> i had a gun, then why did not me help him? he was my friend!

SöZE> Because I was afraid, okay? I was afraid.

BILLY> i, maybe did i know that,.

SöZE> It was Keyser Söze, Billy, The Devil himself.

BILLY> i think my devil is broken.

SöZE> How do you shoot the devil in the back?

BILLY> yes of course? much i do yeah where.

SöZE> What if you miss?

BILLY>i had a gun, then why did not me help him? he was my friend!:(

SöZE> I'm a businessman now.

BILLY> wonderful surprisingly ist? much music negative of bad,.

SöZE> In English, please?

BILLY> you can put me in queens on the night of the hijacking.

SöZE> Really? I live in Queens. Did you put that together yourself, Einstein? Got a team of monkeys working around the clock on this?

BILLY> you can put me in queens on the night of the hijacking.

Until next time,

Brogan

Fallout 3

2009-01-06T11:31:00.001-07:00

I'm a console gamer, I'd be the first one to admit that (I just did). But I love the fact that PC's allow you to mess around with game mechanics in ways that you can't do on console games. So after I finished playing Fallout 3 (a game which I cannot heap enough accolades on. This game kept me playing it until 4 am nightly... during finals week. There are not many games which I feel that strongly about besides KOTOR 1 and 2 and Star Wars: Battlefront), I was hungry to mess around a bit with the detailed game mechanics of this beautifully made RPG.

If at this point you have no idea what I'm talking about, Fallout 3 is a video game that takes place in an alternate universe where the world never veered from 1950's ideals and aesthetics. In the game it is the year 2277, 200 years after a great nuclear war devastated much of the world. Your mission is to escape the oppressive vault (a massive underground shelter built before the war) and to find your father who recently escaped from the vault. Along the way you will fight villains and slightly more irradiated monsters (I forget... is 3000 rads slight?). If you are still not with me, a video game is an entertainment device that makes pretty colors and sounds.

One game mechanic I really wanted to test is what would happen if I overloaded the game engine. So I went out and bought the PC version of the game (keep in mind the fact that I am in college so this means that I will forgo food for the next few months because of this purchase).

How I would go about overloading the game was simple, I would access the debugging function of the game and find a small enclosed room within the game that would be perfect for spawning a whole mess of Deathclaw's.

If you don't already know, a Deathclaw looks like this.

There is a small bar in the dilapidated city of Megaton (the city is built around an unexploded bomb) that fits the bill quite nicely. It's small, enclosed, and full of test subjects. Once in the bar I press the "~" key to open the debugging window and type in: player.placeatme 000AF836, 50, 1, 1

What this code does is to spawn 50 Deathclaw's (represented by the hex code "000AF836") right at my position. Now, ordinarily, I'd be dead before I could blink, but I took precautions against this by using the debugging feature to make myself invulnerable earlier. The fact that I'm also floating well beyond the reach of any Deathclaw a feat also accomplished by using the debugging feature.

The carnage was incredible. Pretty much everybody (excepting me) was dead within seconds. In fact, they died so quickly that their bodies were forever frozen in midair, stretched beyond human limits, their twisted faces attesting to the surprise of having dozens of killing machines appear out of thin air. Naturally I took many pictures which I will now present here:

Join me next time as I continue to exploit the horrifying Fallout 3 universe.

It's All About The 'Gyver!

2008-11-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

I love Hulu and Youtube, but Joost will always hold a special place in my heart as the only (or at least the most legal) way to watch every MacGyver episode free. You only have to put up with 3 to 4 30-second commercials per episode and you don't have to sign up or anything! To whet your appetite, I present you with the opening credits for MacGyver in all it's 80's goodness:

P.S. Sorry about the non-widescreen resolution. I had to mess with the embed code a bit to have it fit inside the margins of the post. If you want to see the 640x360 resolution click Here (the video starts after the commercial).

Star Trek - Orion Females

2008-11-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

Poor, poor Captain Pike...

The Godfather: Ruined

2008-10-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I've officially run out of ideas (for now). In the mean time I'm going to steal them (the ideas). Here's a classic movie scene from the Godfather, ruined by a bad soundtrack in Something Awful tradition.

New Crazy Talk Video

2008-09-22T15:25:00.000-07:00

I recently downloaded the demo of newest version of Crazy Talk (a program that makes still photos appear to talk). Here's a video I made using it:

Unfortunately, since it is a demo the watermark is still there. I would buy the program but it's $50. I need to decide whether I want to spend $50 bucks on a program that I would use maybe once or twice a month.

You: (Hearty Laughter)Me: (Knowing Smile)

2008-09-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

In the short time I've been in college I've seen a sharp rise in my viewing of funny videos. This is partially due the the fact the people around me are watching funny videos. Well enough talking, bring on the funny!

The Clone Wars

2008-08-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

I'm going to see "Star Wars: The Clone Wars". From what everyone says, It's horrible.

Here are some choice quotes from reviews at IMDB:

"The acting and characters are wooden and two dimensional..."

"Stiff animation makes everyone come across as a cross between an action figure and a Thunderbird..."

"...disappointingly shallow, dull, and unneeded side story..."

"This movie fails on every level. It begins with, I kid you not, the announcer from The Powerpuff Girl's voice replacing the opening crawl we've come to know and love, presumably because the target audience, American children, can't read at even that glacial pace. I don't know if it's even necessary at this point to say something as redundant as 'this movie has a horrible script and stiff acting;' that's just something we've come to expect with Star Wars in the last decade."

Then why go see it you ask? I need to... I'm compelled to because it's Star Wars! It could be a movie about farting Taun-tauns and I'd see it if it was Star Wars. Apparently I'm not alone, it earned $14.6 million on it's opening weekend. The fact is that I'm going to see a movie that I know won't be good. Why?

Although the Star Wars Franchise in general has gone steadily downhill since George Lucas released the "remastered" versions of the original films and even more so with the so-called prequels, Star Wars fans don't seem to care. Sure we may groan and whine about how each of the prequels sucked in thier own special way (they did by the way), but with every new prequel that came out we lined up (and some of us even camped out) in droves to see the new steaming pile of shit that George had squeezed out. It's not because we're stupid or believed that this one was going to be the one that breathed new life into the franchise; we knew full well that "Revenge of the Sith" was going to suck (although we always did hold out a bit of hope). We saw it because there is something special about a world where good and evil have epic battles with lightsabers, because there is something magical in a world where the force exists, theres something so wonderful about the entire Star Wars universe that we just can't miss any part of it. We saw those movies and will continue to see them because we love Star Wars, and we're so eager to learn about every new facet of that universe that we're willing to sit through a bad movie to learn about it. No matter how bad the Clone Wars is, I'll sit through it and even enjoy parts of it. Not because those parts were particularly well written, but because I'm watching my favorite universe grow.

It's Time To Bring The Funny Back!

2008-08-05T09:14:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since my last post so now it's time to bring the funny back!

Saving Private Snickers

Batman Should Tone It Down

The Dark Black Knight

Dark Knight Deleted Scene

As You May Have Noticed, I Am On A Batman Binge

Here's something not Batman related. Several balloons, I think each had the name of an orphan attached to it, were released at a United Way charity event in England and something very special happened:

Rock-afire Explosion

2008-07-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

Some of you may remember a few months ago when I posted a video I found of animatronic Chuck E. Cheese type animals singing BUBBA SPARXXX (you know that goes "Booty, booty, booty, booty, rockin' everywhere"). Well, I've finally found the rest of the videos they've made. Enjoy!

Madonna - 4 Minutes

Usher - Love In This Club

Here's the guy's website: www.starsof.com/fans

Generic Country Song #42

2008-06-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

Keep in mind that this is an unfinished rough draft:

I just shot my dog on account of the rabies,
I've been under the weather all week,
My wife up and left me,
My kids say they hate me,
Man, what a hell of a week

Chorus:

And I'm so blue,
I can't see the sky,
I'm wonderin' why God, he hates me,
I'm thinkin''bout cryin',
I'm wonderin' 'bout dyin',
When did the world get so mean?

Generic Country Song #42 (Unfinished Rough Draft) by Brogan Zumwalt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Star Trek - Captain's Orders

2008-06-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

My Newest Video Edit:

Here are some more Star Trek parodies (ones that I didn't make):

Presidential Loose Yourself

2008-06-11T01:07:00.001-07:00

The following video was created for my Senior Portfolio Presentation. You can find my Senior Portfolio in it's entirety in the post below this one.

My Senior Portfolio

2008-06-11T00:27:00.000-07:00

This is a collection of video edits I did for my Senior Portfolio. Some of them you may have seen, others you have not. Enjoy!

P.S. I'll be releasing the last clip by itself soon.

Time	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
09:30 AM - 10:00 AM			GAM150 SU09142 Room: 201		GAM150 SU09142 Room: 201
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM			GAM150 SU09142 Room: 201		GAM150 SU09142 Room: 201
10:30 AM - 11:00 AM		GAM220 SU09073 Room: 208	PSY150 SU09193 Room: 206	GAM220 SU09073 Room: 106		PSY150 SU09193 Room: 136
11:00 AM - 11:30 AM		GAM220 SU09073 Room: 208	PSY150 SU09193 Room: 206	GAM220 SU09073 Room: 106		PSY150 SU09193 Room: 136
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
12:30 PM - 01:00 PM
01:00 PM - 01:30 PM
01:30 PM - 02:00 PM
02:00 PM - 02:30 PM
02:30 PM - 03:00 PM			GAM170 SU09256 Room: 203			GAM170 SU09256 Room: 107
03:00 PM - 03:30 PM			GAM170 SU09256 Room: 203			GAM170 SU09256 Room: 107
03:30 PM - 04:00 PM
04:00 PM - 04:30 PM
04:30 PM - 05:00 PM		ENG305 SU09052 Room: 201		ENG305 SU09052 Room: 206
05:00 PM - 05:30 PM		ENG305 SU09052 Room: 201		ENG305 SU09052 Room: 206