Sunday, April 30, 2006

Trying out a new template.

I'm getting sick of my blog being completely borked in Firefox, plus I was going to change it around last year anyway.

Be prepared for some changes around here!

Reaping the Whirlwind

 
The other day I was sitting in the computer room while Garrett was wandering about when I heard a bunch of banging and crashing. I went over to see what was going on and found this scene of madness and destruction. Of course, Garrett's couldn't have done it... nooooo.... Posted by Picasa
 
Prime Suspect #1 Posted by Picasa

Beware! Demon Baby On The Loose!



Whilst on my trip to Thornbury a week or so ago, I found out that Garrett can not only get his leg up over the side of the playpen, he can get himself out quite quickly and easily. It's a good thing he hasn't tried this on the crib, although we should probably get the toddler bed (that our babysitter gave us for free!) set up soon. Posted by Picasa
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Garrett: Future Fry Cook

 
I love the big junk pick up day in Acton. We were arriving home from church today when I saw this across the street. Garrett is in love with it. He already freaks out when we drive past McDonald's. Now he just has to go out in the backyard to pretend he's slinging burgers and dishing up drinks.

It even makes sounds, plus we have a little calculator/cash register that was in the pile with it. Gotta love free toys for the wee ones. Garrett also found a tractor big-wheel thing but he hasn't mastered the pedals yet. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Mario Meets The SCITS Revue

Why couldn't they have had a skit as awesome as Mario Live when I was doing stage crew on the SCITS Revue waaaay back in the day.

Sigh. This is an awesome reenactment of the first level of the original SMB though. As is this.

Friday, April 28, 2006

What's your AQ?

Wired has a nifty little test to help determine one's level of autistic tendencies. I scored 21, which means I'm trending slightly towards the autistic side of the control group which scored 16.4.

Of course, I tend to like to do things on my own and loathe human contact (great traits for someone in the social work field, eh?), so I'm not terribly surprised that I exhibit some of those less than social tendencies.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Want to come over and play with my Wii?

It's official. Nintendo has just changed the name of the Revolution (which I always liked as a name) to the Wii (pronounced 'wee').

Ug. It might catch on and it does have a much different name than the generic Xbox or Playstation type game console name, but yeesh. I can see the people who already decry Nintendo as being a kiddie company just going crazy with this one.

I still really like the entire concept behind the system and can't wait to see how it performs once it is released. I just think the name stinks.
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What I'm Reading: Ghosts In The Snow, Head First CSS/HTML
What I'm Playing: Dreamfall, Gothic 2, Oblivion, Silent Hill 2, Tomb Raider: Legend, some other stuff
What I'm Watching: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (now on DVD!)


Monday, April 24, 2006

Anyone up for a trip to Pennsylvania?

I just found out today that there is actually a town called Centralia in Pennsylvania that is essentially a real life Silent Hill.

Well, sort of. It's a ghost town that you wouldn't even know was there with vacant storefronts, abandoned schools and a coal fire that has been burning for over 40 years and may keep burning for another century. There are a few nuts who haven't left yet, but hopefully they're all that's left.

I'd be more than happy to visit this place, but I'm kind of worried about it getting foggy while I'm there...

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Long Live Pyramid Head

Last night was quite an interesting night. I went out to see Silent Hill with my friends and life was imitating art to a certain degree.

First off, it was an insanely foggy night to drive out to Guelph. Silent Hill is a town that is defined by its pervasive fog. Coincidence?

Then, on the way home, we saw a huge bonfire (also in the fog) which eerily mimics the theme of witch roasting that was present throughout most of the film's plot. Again, coincidence?

Then we stopped for Subway and when I got a spicy chicken bacon ranch sub the hot sauce, it was a thick, goopy red, much like the vast quantity of blood that was spilled throughout the movie. Freaky coincidence #3, me thinks.

And lastly, we arrive home to find Julie giving us the evil eye for coming home late, much like the evil eye that the insane church lady gives the main characters in the movie. I tell you, it's a day later and these are starting to wierd me out!

We got a chuckle out of seeing a trio of people in their 70's or possibly older making their way out of the theatre near the end of the credits. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that this was a possible demographic for a rather hardcore horror movie based on an incredibly creepy videogame of the same name. Did they not realize what they were in for? Are they the mythical Octogenarian Gamer written of in the lore of old? Or does Guelph have an underground community of elderly horror fans? Some mysteries will never be solved.

If you like frightening and creepy movies, go see Silent Hill. If you liked the games, definately go and see Silent Hill. It's a fantastic movie on its own right and is by far the best translation of videogame to film that I have seen so far (which isn't that hard concidering it's about the only one not made by Uwe Boll). It's not a "BOO" kind of scary though. It's more the type of creeping dread that worms its way under your skin. There are a few things that were a little 'meh', but they were minor quibbles compared to the overall presentation and experience of the movie.

My personal favourite part was the almost shot-for-shot re-enactment of the alley sequence from the beginning of Silent Hill 1. Those who have played the game will know what I'm talking about. Creeeeeeepy.... It was just missing the strangely out of place wheelchair. Had they put it in, it would have been perfect.

Oh, and Pyramid Head is awesome. You'll see....

So yeah, I really liked Silent Hill: The Movie. I'd be interested to know what people who hadn't played the game (and aren't Ebert) think of the movie. Codeboy hadn't played the game, but as Blitzy is a major SH nut like me, he's at least had some passing familiarity with the overall SH universe.

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What I'm Reading: Ghosts In The Snow
What I'm Playing: Oblivion, Kingdom Hearts 2, Metroid Prime: Hunters, Metroid Pinball, Brain Age, Animal Crossing
What I'm Watching: Silent Hill (duh), Battlestar Galactica

Friday, April 21, 2006

Everyone else is doing it

You Are 21 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe.

13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world.

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

I'm somewhat famous (or at least my alter-ego is)

I get back from a few days away to see that a piece I contributed to for Toybane has been referenced by a somewhat reputable gaming site called GameSetWatch.

Yes, that Spigot with the idea for a Blues Brothers game using the Guitar Hero controller is me. It's just cool to see someone else actually taking something I wrote and reporting it as news (of a sort).

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

How to piss off the grandkids.

Not my grandparents, or Garrett's grandparents, specifically. No, these videos are meant for anyone who would be even remotely tempted to buy their grandkids a shiny new POP Station or NE Dual Games system for [insert special event here] when what their loved one really desires is a PSP or Nintendo DS.

Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, do not ever buy these products. Not only are you aiding sweatshops in third world countries, you're also incurring the wrath of your loved ones.

Once again:

POP Station does not equal PSP.

NE Dual Games does not equal Nintendo DS.

You've been warned.

Oh, and the videos are really funny, gaming interest and knowledge aside. It's like having Shaun of the Dead review your tech products.

Monday, April 17, 2006

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Evening

I almost didn't want to blog about this after the initial incident, but the litany of insanity begged that I did. And those of you without kids... be thankful :)

So...

Today was a pretty good day. Garrett & I went out in the morning to do a bit of tricycle shopping (note to Grandma, he likes the Red Rider one, though the crazy green one would be fine too). G-man had a nice snooze in the afternoon and then proceeded to play "Lifeguard at the Waterslide" on the top of the big slide at the park near our place. He sat in the middle at the top of the slide and would give people little pats on the leg or bum to encourage them to slide down on either side of him.

That was all well and good. It was the perfect spring day capped off with the perfect spring BBQ supper of hamburgers and cheezies.

Then it all spiralled out of control.

First off, Garrett got his hands on a little hard candy that I was going to eat. Before we could fish it out of his mouth, he swallowed it. Or should I say, tried to swallow it. Let me tell you, it's not at all fun to watch your little guy struggling to swallow something that's too big for his little throat. He wasn't technically choking (he was crying through the whole process, so his airways were clear) but he was definately not having a good time.

Thankfully, Julie & I are trained with CPR and First Aid and knew what to do, should a baby swallow something big. We were administering finger sweeps and back thumps and encouraging him along when suddenly - POW - the candy went flying out of his mouth, bounced off my shirt and skittered off somewhere under the couch. Unfortunately, it was followed by a wave of second-hand milk, yogurt and hamburger from supper. That didn't bounce off my shirt... or my jeans... or Garrett... It stuck (and stunk) quite nicely.

So that's the start of the evening. Garrett's choked on a candy, we've rescued him and now he and I are covered in a curdled stew of toddler puke.

Wait, it gets better.

Julie has us strip down and whisks our clothes away to the wash while I take Garrett upstairs for his bath. Garrett's still rather upset about the whole ordeal and didn't like the fact that I, Daddy, the guy who was whacking him on the back, was up there during bathtime and Mommy wasn't. He eventually settles down and starts having a grand old time in the bath, soaking me with his little bucket and squishing his little rubber duckies into the bottom of the tub.

Then we hear a scream from downstairs, where Julie is. And the water starts gurgling in the toilet.

Now, I want to let you in on a little secret. Our basement is evil. We have a rubber band tied to the pull cord for the light above the washing machine because I've received nasty shocks pulling on the metal chain. So when I hear Julie scream from the basement, I'm thinking that she must have received a fatal dose of electricty from that stupid lightbulb. And the toilet gurgle is the house laughing at us.

Our calls downstairs are met with nothing but silence, so I quickly gathered Garrett up in a towel and was on my way downstairs to administer more life-saving first aid when I bumped into Julie.

A very wet Julie.

A very wet, very annoyed looking Julie.

A very wet, very annoyed-at-ME looking Julie.

It turns out that while Julie had been trying to wash our disgusting clothes off, the tap on the laundry tub (that was supposedly leaky and that I supposedly had not fixed yet) wouldn't turn off. So she went at it with a pair of pliers, only to have the tap fall off and water spray all over the ceiling, the floor and her. Picture a fire hydrant shooting into the sky after having been run over by a truck. That's what we're dealing with here. Oh, and the gurgle was from her having to turn off the house water supply in order to stem the flood.

Of course, Garrett thought this was hilarious stuff. If he wasn't laughing before, he was sure giggling up a storm now.

It was a quick fix and all seems to be well now. Suffice it to say, we don't want to have anything to do with the basement, cottage cheese or hard candies.

Just another crazy night here at the house. Hopefully the next few weeks will be calm to make up for it.
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What I'm Reading: Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML (great book, really!), Devices & Desires, a huge stack of comics
What I'm Playing: Kingdom Hearts 2, Metroid Pinball & Metroid Prime: Hunters, Oblivion
What I'm Watching: 24, Prison Break, Battlestar Galactica, my house sink into the Hellmouth upon which it is built.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Pow! A sock full of eggs!

Garrett didn't get a lot of chocolate this year. It wasn't because he's too young to be stuffing his face with goodies but mainly because I had to barricade the doors against the menace that is THE EASTER BUNNY!

Otherwise, we had a pretty good weekend away from the bustling metropolis of Acton. Garrett learned how to climb out of the playpen that he usually sleeps in down in Corunna. That lead to a fun evening on Thursday. Thankfully he was much more docile come bedtime for the next few nights. Crazy kid.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

A super special announcement!

I just wanted to be the first to let everyone know that Julie is expecting...


To go on a trip to Calgary for business stuff at the end of the month. Woo! Garrett & I get the house to ourselves. Let the messiness begin!

I apologize for not updating very much lately. As usual, work has been insane and when I'm not at work, I'm busy chasing Garrett around. The upside is that with the nice weather G-Dawg and I have been walking to the library or the other places where we go for the kid's programs that Garrett participates in. Soon I'll be unrecognizable and Garrett will have legs the circumference of small gophers.

Honestly though, I've been stupidly busy at work and usually by the time I get home I'm lucky not to pass out on the couch within an hour of sitting down. The upside is that, aside from a trip up to Orillia tomorrow morning for a one-day conference, I'm off work until the 22nd! Woo! I'll be doing the Easter thing this weekend and then going up to my parents' time-share near Collingwood for a few days with Garrett, Dave & Connor next week. Julie gets the house to herself then!

The other thing that has been keeping me busy is that I've been working on re-learning how to do web design stuff. Those CD-ED courses are looking mighty tempting at the moment. I just don't want to waste time and money on them if they're junk. I'm very far behind on my web tech though. I can tweak a mean bit of HTML, but I've let my skills get VERY rusty. I've also been writing articles for a game journalism site that I'm setting up with a few other people and that has been keeping me busy. I've actually gotten to the point where I'm spending more time writing about games and the industry than I do actually playing them... sigh.

So there ya go. I'm going to be off though and if I can get my batteries recharged somewhat, I should be back in my usual 8-post-per-day cycle instead of the one fluff post every 4 days that I'm at right now. Soon James will overtake me in post frequency, and that just shouldn't happen.

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What I'm Reading: Paths Not Taken, a CSS coding book
What I'm Playing: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Dawn Of War, Kingdom Hearts 2, FEAR
What I'm Watching: 24, Lost, Prison Break, Scrubs, My Name Is Earl

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Calling All Conspiracy Theorists!

Grant sent me a link to this flash video that asks some interesting questions about the supposed plane that supposedly crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11 (supposedly).

It's definately an interesting little video and I'd be interested to know what the answers to the questions raised are.

Now to go back to perfecting my tin-foil hat...

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What I'm Reading: The latest Nightside book
What I'm Playing: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Kingdom Hearts 2 (and Chain of Memories), Super Princess Peach
What I'm Watching: All the usual shows.

Tell me something I don't know...

You scored as Christianity. Your views are most similar to those of Christianity. Do more research on Christianity and possibly consider being baptized and accepting Jesus, if you aren't already Christian.

Christianity is the second of the Abrahamic faiths; it follows Judaism and is followed by Islam. It differs in its belief of Jesus, as not a prophet nor historical figure, but as God in human form. The Holy Trinity is the concept that God takes three forms: the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost (sometimes called Holy Spirit). Jesus taught the idea of instead of seeking revenge, one should love his or her neighbors and enemies. Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross to save humankind and forgive people's sins.

Christianity

83%

Buddhism

46%

Paganism

42%

Satanism

42%

Islam

33%

atheism

33%

agnosticism

33%

Hinduism

25%

Judaism

21%

Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
created with QuizFarm.com

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Awwww...

 
Here's her royal highness, Eve, sleeping the day away. Posted by Picasa

Too tired to be witty today...


Uncle Brock knew he should have stopped at Tim Horton's for a snack. Who knew that he'd be hungry enough to try to eat his new niece, Eve? Posted by Picasa
 
Ah, this is my third attempt to put this up. Hopefully it works this time. Enjoy. Posted by Picasa