"You won the race, AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP!"

Another week, another broken computer part. No joke. And this time, it's the hard drive. Luckily, not the one on my personal machine - it was the work rig. It was acting odd all morning, then after I did a restart after the blue screen of death... The system32 folder was empty. And Documents & Settings for my account as well. Maybe it was just a failure, maybe it was a virus... Either way, I spent practically ALL day Thursday reinstalling everything. Windows, Photoshop, Corel Draw, Firefox, Foxit, FinePrint, Thumbs Plus, IRFanview, etc etc. And just for the record - I LOATHE serial keys that combine letters and numbers and dashes and odd spacing. Gah. It's ridiculous how much work it takes to get a program installed, running, and registered especially for a legit copy. It's really sad when you get treated like a possible software thief installing something you own, especially when it's easier and quicker to install a warez version. Sigh.

I beat Grid this weekend. I've said it before, I'll say it again - I hate final/boss levels where it isn't just more challenging, but the computer/opponent cheats to make it difficult. In this case, the car I was racing against had superior traction control, acted as a metal wall during collisions (so I bounced WAY off, while he stayed on course, even at the lightest tap), and could magically accelerate faster than me. Even though we had the same car. Like, we go around the bend and I have a 50m lead on the guy as I floor it into the straight. And he SOMEHOW manages to get up onto my bumper after 30 seconds. It made no sense. He only had one weakness though - he would do everything he could to avoid hitting you from behind. So when he accelerates faster and harder while doing tighter corners than you can do while coasting, it takes some special tactics to get in front of him. Something along the lines of plowing straight through the dirt fields that surround an S curve. Doing 300KM/H. In 6th gear. Needless to say, after finally getting past him I drove like an absolute ass, taking advantage of his zero-contact policy. For the rest of the race I did nothing but watch my rear-view and stay in front of his path. Good times. The most satisfying part of many games, for me, is finding the best way to bend the rules and find cracks in the system to beat unfairly enhanced opponents. I find this happens the most with RTS games though.

Annnd... I don't have much else to say, really. I went to the Calgary Zoo with my grandmother this morning, and saw all manner of creatures. The river otters were pretty hypnotizing to watch. Oh, and it's only when you actually feed the giraffe that you realize how long and slimy and gross their tongue is. Some quick Grid fanarts, then maybe some gamin' before bed.



Oh, speaking of which... I had a look at my Steam profile and had the stupid idea to pull a calculator out. So far, I've spent some one hundred and fifty hours playing Team Fortress 2. Holy crap, that's almost an entire work month. My most played class, the Demoman, has about 40hrs unto himself. Yiza.
-Cril

PS- More lazor goodness here.

From the deepest, darkest depths of...Whitby!
Comes this sordid tale of speed...
Murderous mayhem...
Cataclysmic combustion...
Picturesque powered pistons...
Accelerating automotive alarms...
Stunningly stupefying stereo stunts!
One man... a dream... a car... a 1984... Plymouth... Horizon...

Arrogant Worms - Horizon

Watch as I make this pencil disappear...

Grid, you know I loves you baby. I never meant those things I said.

Ok, I meant them. I really meant them. But all is forgiven. I've discovered that a game, such as the superb racing simulator Grid, can be incredibly more manageable and easier to play when you have a constant FPS above 20. I dunno what it was at before the SLI 9600's, but now it's super smoother. As is CoD4 and Assassin's Creed. Can't say I've seen a huge improvement in Team Fortress 2, but it's playable as is. I can't wait until, down the line, I get a new processor and new RAM. Oh, the FPS's, they will sing.

Moving right along - The Dark Knight. I knew I was onto something big when I arrived at the IMAX theatre on Friday night and there was a sign that read 'All showings booked until Monday'. And, as I entered this was put into perspective - the showing that didn't start for 45mins already had a veeeery long line. Luckily for me, there was a open linksys router with wifi goodness. It's situations like that that make me glad to have purchased an iPod Touch. Even though it's company's management are the spawn of the devil. But onto the movie itself - WOWZA. I can't believe it actually stood up to all the hype, and excelled it. What an AWESOME movie. Very very dark though, as well as tense. It's not quite the same category as Batman Begins - the first one was a bit more of an easy-to-enjoy action flick. This one was gritty, deep, and dark. So very dark. Gotta say the dialogue was excellent though - some scenes were down right poetic. Heath Ledger performed perhaps the creepiest movie character I've ever seen, and Christian Bale delivered a Christopher Reeve level performance for splitting apart Bruce Wane from Batman. Oh, and the action was great too. And the visuals were absolutely incredible. Mr Nolan, you would kick George Lucas' sorry arse up and down any field of cinematography. One helluva ride.

Ok, to my startling amazement there are TWO birthdays on Monday - my Mom's and my no.1 reader, Mr Frank. So, I had to spend like three hours doing art today to try and get some kinda mediocre prezzie lined up for each of 'em. Here's what I dun fer mah momma:



The plan is to add some lazor goodness, and send it off. It'll be late, but it should turn out pretty well. Speaking of late, the order I placed with Amazon for some comic books has FINALLY shipped, but sans Watchmen. Gah. I think I'm going to cancel it from the order and then find some place within Canada to get it from. I guess I let The Man win and cave to the ridiculous CAD pricing. Oh Amazon.com, you'd make so much monies if you made it just a little cheaper to ship from the US to up here in the North. $4/book? REALLY? How can you possibly justify that? Probably the same way you justify having all the Amazon.ca book prices ~20% more expensive. Sigh...
-Cril

You might be a big fish
In a little pond
Doesn't mean you've won
'Cause along may come
A bigger one
And you'll be lost

Coldplay - Lost! (Acoustic)

My friend the communist holds meetings in his RV

Ok, so like a SPECIAL IDISHUN, MID-WEEK UPDATE!

Woo! How exciting!!

Ok, a few interesting developments thusfar. Most significantly, I've bought two new Galaxy 9600GTs to replace ye olde 7800GT. They've arrived (along with the SLI bridge I got Rob to send out), and have been installed. And I think they're working just fine. To be honest, I haven't seen that huge of an improvement in Team Fortress 2 - I average between 30-50 FPS, which well good, it's quite the explosive increase I was hoping for. I'm guessing that my processor and RAM are currently the bottleneck in performance. I guess I'll have to wait until I do a full upgrade this winter/next summer before I get the big graphical awesomeness. Although, I have not yet crashed playing a game, so I can probably safely conclude that my old card had reached the end of its life.

In other news, Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies fame done got himself busted for possession of cocaine. It's a shame, really. Part of the reason why I am such a BNL fan was the fact that all of the band members seemed like such cool, normal dudes. I rather liked Page in particular, but... This one's a lil' hard to swallow. Maybe the whole thing is a misunderstanding and he's guilty, or maybe some of the band members aren't quite as 'average dude' as I'd hoped. In any case, my stereotypical view of the group is most likely naively flawed. I'm not sure what to make of the whole mess.

And last, ALL HANDS BRACE FOR EPIC. This Friday, at 7:00PM at the Calgary IMAX theatre, I will partake in that sweet ambrosia that is the Dark Knight. I cannot wait - it will be... Epic. So very epic.

And some obligatory art:


For the record I have two monitors, but SLI only supports one at a time. Go figure.
-Cril

Every time I turn around
I'm looking up, you're looking down
Maybe something's wrong with you
That makes you act the way you do
Maybe i am crazy too

Sheryl Crow - Soak Up the Sun

Picasa-crap

Looks like I've gone over my total image limit in Flickr, and they want me to pay or or they'll bust my kneecaps. To escape this, I've been fartzing around with Picasa this pass week. 1GB of free space? Compatible with Blogger? Sounds good! But the more I use it... The more I discover that it is pretty inferior to Flickr in every way (except for the 'for free' part). Turns out it isn't compatible with Blogger, and that when you upload an image to your blog, it just dumps it in a Picasa folder. There isn't any great features for doing it the other way around. Argh, I'll have to rethink the $25/yr Flickr subscription, even though I don't need/want any features aside from more files.

During the week, I have fried TWO video cards. How? By not even touching them. I was at work plugging away at a project when the display just died. I didn't even do anything significant - it just stopped working. Luckily we had a spare vid card on hand, and I swapped it out. The other card... Is the one in my machine. Dunno why, but all of the sudden my system hangs and displays all sorts of flashing multi-coloured patterns when I play a game for longer than 5-10mins. Unfortunately, I do not have a spare video card in hand. So I ordered two 9600GTs, and I'll throw them into SLI mode. Not bad for $200. On the plus side, the 7800GT still works fine for normal Windows tasks.

I got in on the new iPod Touch 2.0 firmware upgrade. Through less than official means. I mean, really, it's $10 so you can spend more money on applications. I guess I wouldn't mind spending the cash so much if a) Other iPhone devices didn't get this upgrade for free and b) They just lowered the price of the iPhone to $50 cheaper than the iPod I just bought. What a load of crap. I've said it before and I'll say it again - I like the iPod device itself, but I hate the company and policies behind it. Screw you, Apple.

Ugh, I think that's all for now. If you wanna see some of my laser-engraving goodness, head this way. If you want some art, head down. If you want to send me your money... Head to your desk and write me a check.



-Cril


With life just begun, my sleeping new son
Has eyes that roll back in his head
They flutter and dart, he slows down his heart
And pictures a world past his bed
Its hard to believe
As I watch you breathe
Your mind drifts and weaves

When you dream,
What do you dream about?
When you dream,
What do you dream about?
Do you dream about
Music or mathematics
Or planets too far for the eye?
Do you dream about
Jesus or quantum mechanics
Or angels who sing lullabies?

Barenaked Ladies - When You Dream

Screaming eagles!

Quick! Media roundup!

Day of Defeat Source: Think I've caught the bug again, I find the game strangely addictive. I also found a dod_charlie remake, which pleases me greatly. I'll prolly play some more this next week, much to the dismay of the new FNF TF2 server.

Grid: Although I still enjoy this game (when I win) I'm finding it increasingly annoying. The AI is sooo cheap, and I swear the vehicle physics give them the edge in collisions. Not only do they block my path when I'm going fast enough to pass them, but when we hit I go flying off the side while they remain on course. Getting around the track isn't my biggest problem - getting past the competition is.

Gotham Knight: Great set of cartoons. I love the obvious references to the old Paul Dini animated series, and the fact that they brought back the same voice actor. The story didn't really strike me as anything really unique, but some of the art was good.

Terminator: Finally saw the first movie, which seemed pretty decent. I tried watching the second installment, but the file was messed up so I had to... Get ahold of it again. I may watch that tonight, I also have Terminator 3 on hand.

Top Gear: Hella awesome show. I've been watching it with my sister during summer, it's so hilarious.

Wall-E: GREAT flick. Pixar keeps their high standards of film making (never mind the horrible plot from Cars). Two things put me off a bit from their latest movie that kept me from scoring it higher than my current Pixar favourite, Monsters Inc. I found the live-action parts didn't quite fit in to my liking, and that it was a bit too preachy on environmental awareness and how lazy of a species we humans are. It was pretty good besides that though. Every time Eve cried 'Wall-E' while he was injured brought a lump into my throat. Good stuff.

Let's see, aside from that... I want to look into art schools in Vancouver this week. I just need to get the ball rolling - figure out what institutes there are and maybe request some info. I have a photoshop battle I need to also put some effort into, and some sketches to upload. Annnd... some art:



Drawing TF2 characters as female has been quite the thing to do (it seems), and I'm not exception. Hence, a lady-soldier. I may or may not do more of the cast, but I wouldn't count on it.

Well, happy belated Canada Day and Independence Day folks.
-Cril

I found my Soldier Girl
(She is my soldier girl)
She's so far away (so far away)
(She is so far away)
She makes my head spin around (spin around)

Polyphonic Spree - Soldier Girl

In a funk

Sometimes when you're working away at something... Something straight-forward and repetitive, you're mind starts to wonder. And I'm not talking about wondering over to gaming or the weather or cars... No, I'm referring to evaluating your life, decisions, where you are and where you're going. Y'know, the kinda stuff that you really don't need to be thinking about 45mins before you get off work and head home.

So there you are, cutting wire and winding them into sensor springs, listening to some mellow tunes for an anime soundtrack. And deciding that in the big picture (or small one, for that matter) you're really not that pleased with where you are. And even worse, you don't know what to do, or how to change it. It puts you into a bit of am unquenchable melancholy mindset.

Funny how that works. You think you're just sitting there and plugging away while you wait for the day to end... And all of the sudden, you're left with so much more than sensor springs.
-Cril

All I see is not for me
What I want you have not got
Tried to use things you sold me, no matter what the cost
Tried to go the way you told me, but each time, I got lost
The stairs didn’t lead me anywhere

Blue Man Group - Up to the Roof