New in my life

The first week of November I’ll be going with Kevin to San Francisco. Two stores are getting renovated, and He and I get to work on the computers. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun, since I’ve never been there before. The two locations are across the Golden Gate Bridge from each other, so I’ll get to see that. I’ll get home just in time to be in my sketch show! So come see that if you can. We decided on the name ADD: Attention Deficit Disco.

Fable: The Lost Chapters

I was weak and bought Fable: The Lost Chapters for PC. I wasn’t disappointed too much. I’ve read that the story has a little bit to be desired, but I don’t think it’s terrible. Maybe this edition of the game goes into further depth than the original. One that that truly annoys me is that, although it is a console game ported over to the PC, it totally lacks any joystick support. I ended up downloading a program called JoytoKey, which maps keyboard and mouse controls to joystick buttons. Now the game is 10 times more managable.

Civilization IV

It’s not all that much of a surprise that I bought this as soon as it was released. This game has been so severely retooled, it’s great. I’m a big fan, all the way back to Civ I on the Tandy 1000.

I’ve almost played all the way through one campaign, but this is a learning curve game, so it doesn’t count. So far no one has hurt anyone, and in my next game I plan to change that. The graphics are gorgeous and the game is extremely intuitive. To top it all off, Leonard Nimoy reads quotes and the opening.

***I’m going to update this with more quality and details, but I just ate a huge lunch and am going into a faaaaaaadeee…

I “need”:

• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Civilization IV
• Black and White 2
• Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends
• Fable: The Lost Chapters (PC version!)
• World of Warcraft
• Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Light Speed, Rage of the Wookies, and Trials of Obi-Wan
• City of Villains

There are also some games I need to keep my eye on:

• Spore
• Chrono Trigger for GBA (need the GBA as well)
• Final Fantasy VI for the GBA
• Sim City 5
• More Expansions for The Sims 2

New Job

I know it’s been a while since I updated. It’s been hectic because, as I’ve said, I got a new job. I like it a lot. It’s so nice to have an intellectually stimulating job again. Playboy only stimulated other areas, heh. On Oct 3, my first day, they made me clean up the office. This is because there was NO floor. Just jumbles of wires and machines. If I didn’t clean, I didn’t get a desk. Then they asked me to to come back that night at around 11pm because a renovated store was reopening and they wanted me to see how everything worked. That was a lot of fun and I got four hours of overtime my first day. Not too shabby. At this point I’m starting to get all the basics down and am answering the phones. By next week they’ll start putting me “on call” and having me work off hours from home. We also need to figure out the new schedules, cause I mess everything up. Yay me!

Sketch Comedy

I forgot to mention before that I was asked to join a group for a sketch comedy show. We’ve got about 20 scripts so far and they’re pretty funny. We go on next month, so wish me luck with that!

Games

There are way too many games coming out and I need to make a list of the ones I “need”:

• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• Civilization IV
• Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends
• Final Fantasy VI for the GBA (need the GBA as well)
• Fable: The Lost Chapters (PC version!)
• World of Warcraft
• Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Light Speed, Rage of the Wookies, and Trials of Obi-Wan
• City of Villains

There are also some games I need to keep my eye on:

• Spore
• Chrono Trigger for GBA
• Sim City 5
• More Expansions for The Sims 2

What a bastard.

Why do we all have to be weirdos? Anyway, wish me luck on Monday!

Job Interview – Update

So I got a call back from the Pure Beauty people, and they want me to come in Friday for a second interview. This is very positive indeed! My boss, Belen, says that from her experience that almost guaruntees a job. With its nearness and excellent benefits, this is perfect for me!

I also got a call from a recruiter the other day. He was hired by Harmon Kardon (JBL speakers, etc) to look for someone. He said the job could pay up to 50K a year (w00t!), but that there wasn’t any guaruntee because they’ve been pretty picky, and he’s been trying find them someone for a week and a half now. So wish me luck everyone!

Ebay Retards

So apparently Ari was trying to find me a nice anniversary preasant and found, on Ebay, what looked like a decent priced PSP. She later realized (after saying she would bid up to $50) that it was one of those “how to get information on how to get a piece of paper about possibly finding out how to get a mildly cheaper something-or-other.” Obviously she was upset. Now, it does say that’s what it is in the body, but the title says “Sony PlayStation Portable – Game console – black,” even specifying color. Below it is the description of the product itself, before going into talking about how it’s not for the actual PSP. Ari didn’t know what to do. I told her to try to contact the seller (fat good that it would do), but also contact Ebay, for a retraction. She said she had no reason for a retraction and that she was screwed. I did a little digging on Ebay’s help section and found this:

Sellers are not permitted to create titles for their listings that do not accurately describe the item for sale.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including:

• Listing cancellation
• Limits on account privileges
• Account suspension
• Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings
• Loss of PowerSeller status

Some Examples:

• The title “Louis Vuitton Handbag, Cartier” is inappropriate and not permitted on eBay (even if a Cartier item is included as a bonus gift with purchase of the handbag) because it is unclear as to whether the seller is offering one or two items from the title.
• If a seller lists an auction simply as “Apple iPod”, the seller must be selling an actual Apple iPod – not accessories to an Apple iPod – or items related to or unrelated to an Apple iPod.

As you can see, the second example applies to what happened to Ari. This is under the “Questionable” heading on their “can you sell it page,” but with her 93 positives vs his 9 (though one of his says “not entirely truthful listing”, and who the HELL gives a positive with that kind of a description) I think she’ll come out fine.

People, do the world a favor, and sell something REAL. It’s impossible anymore to know what you’re betting on on Ebay. Between copy/pastes and scams like these, life becomes rough.

Hey there peoples. Just thought I’d give you an update on what’s going on in my life. I had a job interview yesterday, woohoo! It’s for the corporate offices of a company called Pure Beauty. I’d be doing IT Help Desk (basically the same thing as I did in college). It’s 13-17 an hour, depending on experience. Benefits include health, optical, and dental insurance, 401k, and paid vacation and sick days. Can we say booyah? It’s also in Encino, which is only a half hour bus ride away.

The Interview

So the interview went really well, I think. It started with me being asked experience questions by a man named Ricardo. He seemed like a really cool guy. We talked about what I did at school and what kind of software I used. He liked that I also know macs, cause they’re going to be bring more of them in, and it’s gonna help. Hehe, I’ma be the mac guy. Never thought I’d see the day. He told me most of the people who call the Help Desk are young girls between the ages of 18 and 24 (giggity giggity) and didn’t really even know how a computer worked, and he wanted to know if I could deal with that. I told him that was a daily routine at the university, same demograhic, AND retired folk. He was impressed.

After that he introduced me to another guy (who’s name I forget, DAMN) that I would be working with most if I got the job. They wanted to get a feel for my personality, cause it’s important that i’m patient and out going. So I started talking about my computer art hobbies and gaming. He told me that most people, when he asked them to tell him about themselves, kind of just look at him and say, “I like computers.” Obviously I passed that test. So when I mentioned games, we started talking about that, and it moved on to World of Warcraft (which I REALLY REALLY want to play). He said I would probably like it. I then talked about Final Fantasy XI. He said he played it at a friend’s house, but never really go into it. He asked me how I liked the game, and I answered truthfully, but, in retrospect, the best way I could have. I told him it was fun and that my favorite part is how you can’t do everything yourself and that if you’re a warrior, you NEED a mage to heal you, and it encouraged grouping. I basically said I prefer teamwork. WOO. They were going to introduce me to the boss, Victor, but he was in a meeting. Things seem to be looking up, so wish me luck!

Pornstar Party

As many of you may or may not be aware, I am currently temping for the accounting department of Playboy TV. It’s an ok job, and I do get to use the internet and watch TV in my downtime from filing and folding. Well, the PBTV show “7 Lives Xposed 5” just finished shooting and they had a wrap party last night. Because I helped so much in the financial end of things, I got invited. I brought my roommate Brad with me.

It was at a place called The Bungalow Club on Melrose and Fermosa. It was a pretty nice place. Brad and I showed up about half an hour late, and no one was there, so we wandered the area a bit, waiting for the party to start hoppin. We got back and there were more people there, so we kinda chilled with free wine and watched people show up.

A major problem with being the guy in the cubicle is that I pretty much didn’t know anyone there. It didn’t help that it seemed kind of cliquey, with groups of people to themselves. Then a little later, I saw Paul Hunter, a guy I talk with alot at work. So of course, HE knows people. So I started talking with him and a guy named Doug, who was basically the runner for the show. He’s working on shows the History Channel does as well, including one coming out soon about the enemies of Jesus.

Through Paul, I met this one lady who was the photographer on set. Brad joked saying he was a big porn star, and she told him no he wasn’t, or she would have taken a picture of him naked already. So we talked shop and it was fun. She said she had also worked for a few days with Howard Stern, when he was in L.A. She said she had met this one really cool guy and they joked about trading jobs, etc. He took a ton of pictures, then after that he flew back to New York. Only he didn’t land at the airport. You see, he was on Flight 11, the first to hit the Twin Towers. Conversation killer? I think so.

After that Brad and I were telling Paul to introduce us to someone, cause we hadn’t met a porn star before. So he called over Autumn, and we started talking with her. She showed us pictures of her in the new Hustler, getting it every which way from a car thief. It was… different. We talked with her a while, and I was suprised how grounded she was for a porn star. You always think of them as ditzy idiots, but she wasn’t. She has no preconceptions of doing this for a long time. She just didn’t do well in school (and in my opinion this is a better choice than being a crack ho). She’s engaged and wants to be a mom in the long term. I wish her all the best! She was a nice gal.

So that’s yesterday in a nutshell, ciao!

So I saw I, Robot recently. I know what you’re gonna say. “Dood! That move like came out 4-ever ago, WTF???!1!” I know it did, but I only saw it recently because I had… misgivings… about it at the time.

I’m a big Asimov fan and was disappointed by Bicentennial Man. I promised myself that I wouldn’t let that happen again. Then after all was said and done, I spoke to many people who said I, Robot was really good. All I could think was, “Ignorant bastards know nothing of Asimov.” Then the other day Jay and I saw it at Blockbuster and decided to rent it and Airplane!.

I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was very well written and acted. The CGI wasn’t half bad either. When I first heard about the movie I figured it was gonna be the short story collection somehow turned movie. Then I found out it was basically Fan Fiction, but I wasn’t far off, it did reference other Asimov stories.

The main robot, Sonny, had developed self-awareness and a fear of death. This is very similar in vein to the short story “Bicentennial Man” (which was slaughtered movie-wise), in which the robot developed self consciousness and was emancipated by his owners. He then had to live his life but was still stuck with the 3 laws.

Brief 3 laws recap:
1.) Don’t let humans die or get hurt.
2.) Do what humans say unless it breaks #1.
3) Protect yourself, unless it breaks #1 or #2.

Sonny (the robot) was accused of committing murder, but he got mixed in with many other robots and Detective Del Spooner (Will Smith) didn’t know how to detect him. The trick was to use the three laws. This is similar to another short story, who’s title eludes me. In the story, they had to weaken the 1st rule in robots at a factory, because the minor radiation made worker robots keep trying to save humans. A robot killed a human, so they used three laws to find the one weakened so much it could kill. In I, Robot Del told all the robots to stay. He then shot one. Normal robots would let this happen because the command to stay was stronger than self preservation. So when Sonny bolted, he knew it was their broken one.

Then there’s the characters. The most prominent character carried over from Asimov stories is the Robopsychologist, Susan Calvin (Bridget Moynahan). Calvin was always cold and liked robots better than people. I got that a little in the movie. Problem is Calvin was not the most attractive woman in the world in the stories, which apparently didn’t work for the big screen. Also, Calvin was always the one to figure things out. So, when she played the ignorant robot doctor just blindly doing her duty and ignoring the fact she had a robot with a soul, it was very out of character for the story version. I was glad they didn’t create a romantic relationship between her and Del. That would have been distracting.

I was sort of hoping the revolution that Dr. Lanning spoke about in his little Hologram was going to be Robot Vs. Robot. That would have been awesome. They seemed to imply it in the landfill scene and I think it may have been changed. Rules #1 and #2 would have made it very easy for the old robots to try to overcome the new robots. I just wish Del had gotten on a mega-phone and yelled, “destroy the NS-5s! They’re trying to kill me!” Then both laws would be in effect making the old robots NS-5 killing machines! C’est la vie.

Chicago looked great. My friend, Jay, went to school there and was in love with the city. So when he saw the movie it made him say, “Wow, that’s Chicago!” Even though it was drastically changed, I suppose they kept the same charm.

All in all it was a good movie, and I’d recommend it from both an action and thinking man’s point of view.

Additional Reading:

• I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
• Robot Visions, by Isaac Asimov
• The Positronic Man, A novelization of bicentennial Man

So, very few of you have probably been wondering what I’ve been up to. Well, I graduated college (Suny Oneonta). Hurrah for me! I got honors in my major, Computer Art, and a 3.47 overall. After I graduated I pretty much sold everything I owned and went to Idaho with my girlfriend Ari and stayed there for two weeks. I read for the Seven Devils Playwriting Conference. Ari’s mom had a play that was still being worked on that was in it. It was neat. I met a few famous people (more than I’ve met here in L.A.). One was Craig Wasson, who is a family friend of Ari’s.

Funny side story. Ari had never seen any Nightmare on Elm street movies so we decided to rent a couple. We rented #1 and #3. The first one cause it has Johnny Depp in it (she loves the Depp) and the third cause I had grown up with that being on HBO all the time. Well, turns out Craig has a semi major role in it as the therapist for the Dream Warriors. That was neat.

I also met Fallon Brooking, who was the daughter Kimberly in Stepford Wives. Ari has been baby sitting her for years (Fallon is only little). I also met Sam McMurray, who played Lester Leeman in Drop Dead Gorgeous. All in all it was fun to go to McCall. The area was beautiful (if rainy). After that I flew BACK to New York because my childhood friend Mike Shaver was getting married. Jay and I were ushers and assistant best men. It was a fun time. Mike’s fiance at the time, Laurie, was gorgeous. Her dress was amazing. And I’m starting to sound gay. After that week I FINALLY came out to L.A. Now I’m just trying to get a steady job. I’m currently Temping at Playboy TV in the accounting department. It’s an easy job, just mind numbing sometimes. I mostly just file and staple.

So that’s that! Stay tuned for more updates.

Welcome to the new Lord of the …Dance? As you can see (or not if you’ve never been here) it’s all different now, even with a blog on the front page now! Mac users may notice a lil spacer in the menu, I really wish I could figure out what’s causing it, so if you want a challenge, check it out. So check out my site. The menu is on top and has a lil drop down menus! Check out my movie cameos or videos! Pictures is always a nice place to stop by. Enjoy!