w00tfest 1.1 live recording

here is a link to download a live recording of the los angeles w00tfest show.

don’t mind the annoying guy who is really close to the mic, who laughs uncontrollably and every other joke.

wil wheaton and w00tfest in san francisco

My friend Jared and I attended the second w00tfest (zeros, not ‘o’s)’ show in San Francisco this week. w00tfest is described as a “…night of songs, readings, comedy, demonstrations, short films, special guests, and other clever widgets born from and dedicated to the enthusiasms, obsessions, trials and joys of geek pride.”

In summary, it’s “3 hours of geeks and music.”

For us, the main draw of the event was Wil Wheaton. Or, as we like to call him, “Wh-ill Wh-eaton.”

Jared and I met up for a couple of drinks before the show, and having done that, our patience for things significantly decreases. the venue for w00tstock didn’t serve alcohol (what kind of san francisco venue is this?!) so that was even worse news. we stepped in an out throughout the show to the bar down the block to get drinks. it was mostly during the musical performances that i had no interest in.

we did catch wil wheaton’s performance, in which he read an exerpt from his book about a childhood memory. it was funny, and highly entertaining.  the story can be found here.

during one of the musical performances, we left, and somehow ended up in the mission at one of my favorite beer bars. we got back just in time for the end of the show. there was a line of folks looking to get autographs. i was looking for wil’s new book, but there were none to be found at the merch table. bummer. noticing that wil wheaton had a free moment, we decided to approach him and ask about it. apparently, there were some publishing issues and he couldn’t get copies printed and available in time. we were all clearly disapointed, including him.

he asked if we had some sort of sticker to paste in the book that we were to purchase. the guy in line (who we sort of cut in front of. i truly apologize.) tossed a 3×5 index card on the table and wil wheaton proceeded to draw some sort of diagram. it actually looks  pretty gangster. jared got his friend’s catering business card signed.

wil wheaton was a super nice guy. i’m happy that he’s embraced his past, found a niche and is staying active.

I really liked the spirit of the show: a salute to geekdom. i wasn’t too much into the music, but the stories, videos, and discussions were quite fun.

however, I did notice a significant diffference in the type of geeks that attended w00tfest, and the geeks that attended blizzcon. i’ll address this in another post.

uncharted 2: among theives

just finished uncharted 2: among theives. it took me just over 11 hours, and i must say: wow. this game is fantastic, and truly a cinematic experience.

naughty dog does a great job making players feel as though they are controlling the hero in a  hollywood-esque blockbuster film. there are tons of cool explosions, chase scenes, and things that make you turn to your friend and say, “did you see that?! i did that! that was awesome!”

the music cues are also spot-on. many of the tracks could easily have been syncrhonized with a hollywood adventure movie. even during gameplay, the perfect track is played depending on the situtation.

everything about this game is seamless. the awesome cinematic scenes blend in wonderfully with the gameplay, constantly switching back and forth from action movie to video game. the graphics and art are also impressive. i found myself stopping a few times during the gameplay to actually enjoy the scenery. the environment is both breathtaking and very realistic.

as for the gameplay, Naughty Dog did a great job with switching between cool melee combat to all out gun battles. the thing i appreciate most about this game is the gameplay for all the climbing nathan drake does. this game could EASILY have been frustrating and horrible. i can’t remember how many games i’ve played where jumping/climbing has resulted in constant falls, misjumps, and restarts. frustrating and quitting ensued. this game, however,  focuses on making the player think of how to manipulate the environment, and what objects to grab a hold of. this makes getting through obstacles actually fun!

as for replay value, hunting treasures and getting the achievements can be entertaining, if you’re into that sort of thing. getting achievements earns you some in-game cash, which you can use to purchase in-game tweaks (for example, “infinite ammo” and “no gravity” tweaks), and making-the-game featurettes with naughty dog. after completing the game, i replayed a few of my favorite chapters. however, i don’t think i will have the patience to re-play the entire story again.

it was a great 11 hours. good work, naughty dog.

another month until L4D2. perhaps, batman: arkham asylum until then?

Free Registration Deadlines for Macworld & CES

If you’re a tradeshow fan, free registration deadlines are approaching!

Macworld (February 9-13, 2010) San Francisco, CA – Free Registration ends tomorrow, September 24, 2009.

CES (January 7-10, 2010) Las Vegas, NV – Free Registration ends October 1st! After that, it’s $100 until January 2, 2009, and then it shoots up to $200 from then until the show.

iTunes 9

Just upgraded my Black Macbook to iTunes 9.

First impression: How do I change it back!?!

I have my iTunes in grid view, so I can see all the pretty album cover thumbnails. The background color used to be grey, and now it’s a bright white. Not only is this a major eye strainer, but it’s hideous.

So far, it seems the only fix is a patch available via a third party. But I’m not a fan of installing some third party executable file on my machine.

The other option is to complain (I like that option). Let Apple know what you think of iTunes 9 at their feedback page.

What should I play?

I’ve been in somewhat of a game funk lately. I haven’t really been into a game since the beginning of 2009, when I discovered the awesomeness that is Left 4 Dead.

I did, however, see a few scenes from Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3), and it looked BADASS. It didn’t make me want to play though, just watch. It was a little too Metal Gear Solid-y, with all the sneaking around, gadgets, covert attacks, and whatnot. I’m not really a “sneaking around video game” kind of gal. I prefer running into a room with a loaded shotgun, and leaving that room with holes in the wall and bodies (preferably, zombies) on the ground. But the game was pretty entertaining to watch, and Rocksteady seems to have done a great job.

I gave Fallout 3 a try not too long ago, but after playing for about an hour and a half, and realizing I probably completed 0.001% of the game, I quit. I’m sure that game is awesome once you get rolling, but wow, that game is involved.

pride & prejudice…and zombies

A friend of mine purchased Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for me a few weeks ago, because of my fascination with zombies.

I’ve refrained from reading it because I’m not familiar with the original story, and I imagine the book would be more enjoyable if I knew the characters, story lines, etc.

Rather than reading Pride & Prejudice, I got rented the 2005 film version. I know, lame. But I work full-time, and I do not have the patience to read a 400+ page novel about 19th century romances.

My conclusion? Mr. Darcy = a giant weenie.

A lot of my female friends love Mr. Darcy, and I can’t understand it.  Though, they base their affection on the BBC mini-series, where Mr. Darcy is played by Colin Firth. The 2005-film version is played by Matthew Macfadyen (who?). While I imagine their portrayals of the character is quite different, it doesn’t change that Mr. Darcy completely lack of social skills, and is excessively concerned about his social status.

I hope he gets attacked by the zombies in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I can’t wait to read it!

awesome thing #1 + awesome thing #2 = super awesome

x-men AND star trek?!

i need to read this!

Preparing for Blizzcon 2009

Blizzcon is just a few weeks away, I’m so excited! Some friends and I are driving down there  Thursday evening (we’re in the bay area), just in time for the Friday festivities.

Embarassingly, I don’t play WOW. I admit that I did have second thoughts about attending this event, as I feel most of the event will be WOW-related (though, I hope I’m wrong). Would it be a waste of money? Plus, everyone would wonder why I’m there if I’m NOT into WOW.  I’d be a total poser!

Then  I remembered how much I love Blizzard’s Diablo series. I would consider myself to be a  pretty serious student (I am a lawyer, after all) when Diablo II first came out, but I dropped all things for Diablo II. Many hours were spent in chat rooms offering my best wares for an SOJ. Ah, so many have collected (and horded).

I’m hoping this Con will have some serious Diablo III stuff (beyond what is already at Diablo3.com. I can’t wait!

what’s happening in july?

july is passing quickly. here is what’s going on in my july:

• Watching: X-Men: The Animated Series; Whose Line Is It Anyway (US); Teatro Zinzani
• Playing: Ghostbusters (Xbox 360)
• Working: LLCs, digital jukeboxes, construction defects litigation
• Listening: Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “Let’s Face It” (see previous post); Vampire Weekend – “Vampire Weekend”
• Drinking: Trader Joe’s Simpler Times Lager; New Belgium’s 1554

what’s going on in your july?