Category Archives: Assorted Geekery
I’ve been looking for a way to discuss why I’m unlike most other bloggers. This is in the sense that I often write without taking sides on a particular issue, or in other cases write something simply to point out inconsistencies or other points of view that I can think of related to that particular topic.
Then my friend Bianca emailed me a link to this 18-minute video from TED Talks, which I think everyone should watch.
Go ahead and watch. This post will still be here when you come back.
Done?
Okay.
Now it would probably seem appropriate now to make an assumption that I write without taking sides because I accept that there’s often more than one side to a story and that people can oftentimes have both categorically correct, reasonable points, or categorically wrong, unreasonable points in their rhetoric.
You would be correct in that assumption… 49% of the time. If you’re wondering about the other 51%, it’s a matter of the exact opposite idea.
Approximately 51% of the time, I write without taking sides because I do not wish to be wrong. By not taking sides and accepting that most things are relative or free to interpretation, I can write opinions without having an opinion and without getting objections to my ideas.
Of course, I could be wrong about the percentages: I do not stop to count which write-ups I’ve done have been made out of acceptance of opposing views or the fear of being wrong, but I can be sure of one thing: I am also uncertain of that uncertainty, as strange as that sounds.
It’s also highly possible that I write the way I do because I see both the fear of being wrong and the possibility of more than one side having merit, but cannot determine how much of the mix is there when I write. In fact, thinking about that possibility now, it seems to be the more likely bet.
That said, I’m writing this post to remind myself that it’s okay to take a side and to be wrong. I just have to accept my misconception, learn from it, and improve myself in the process.
The problem, I would suppose, is that not everyone is as open as regards being wrong. Without naming anyone, I do realize that some people are set in their ways. Still, there’s no reason to become enemies over differences in opinion, so long as everyone can learn to mellow out and talk diplomatically.
It’s alright to be wrong folks. Just saying. 
While this is specific to America, it does set a wonderful precedent for video games in general. Icrontic reports that the National Endowment for the Arts has added “digital games” as a form of art that will be eligible for grants from the US government.
Here’s the pertinent portion of the text from the link Icrontic got:
The Arts in Media builds on the success of The Arts on Radio and Television. All project types that were previously eligible remain eligible. In addition, the expanded category now includes:
- All available media platforms such as the Internet, interactive and mobile technologies, digital games, arts content delivered via satellite, as well as on radio and television.
- Media projects that can be considered works of art.
What does this actually mean for developers? It means that if a developer wants to create games for people, doesn’t want to charge money for them, but still wants to be able to eat, there is an option. One can apply for a grant, and potentially get paid by the government to be a creator, just as painters and sculptors have been able to do for many years.
And for the public it means that we may begin to see some video games of the ‘public’ works’ variety, games which are released for the world to enjoy, which may have good production values, but which are also not part of the commercial video games world. What these games will look like, we have no idea at this point, as it’s a completely new thing. The projects that receive funding are chosen by the agency, and there are not many guidelines or descriptions for what kinds of projects will be accepted.
Of course, that means that while grants are available, video game proposals may still not get chosen. The point, remains, however, that it is a step towards having society see video games as a new form of art, and that should give us pause.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME3Qs0HlseM]
I’ll keep this simple and straightforward.
Part of the list of things I want to do in my life is to record a song and to make a podcast… even just a one-shot.
I’m partway through that goal, as I’m learning how to record and use Audacity for my needs.
My problem is that I personally think my voice needs a lot more work for singing, though that hasn’t stopped me from trying. I just can’t hit super high or super low notes very well.
Anyway, below are links to two short songs I’ve recorded.
The first, which has already been listened to by a couple of folks on Twitter, is called Reach Through the Screen and Punch His Lights Out, and is basically a dramatic re-singing (does such a thing exist on the internet?!) of the opening line of Beau Hindman’s write-up on Massively of Star Trek Online.
The second song is actually an excerpt of a four minute song that I have the instrumentals to called Heart Breaker, performed by Maki Ohguro and Koji Kikkawa. It’s been repurposed (for lack of a better term) to talk about bloggers and readers and is now titled Blogger x Reader, though this excerpt is the blogger side of the song. When I improve my recording techniques, I’ll go and release the second half or the whole song on Mediafire.
After the break are the lyrics to Blogger x Reader Part 1. Enjoy! 
One of my Google searches for upcoming games in 2011 had me stumbling back into the NSFW recesses of Sankaku Complex, where one article they had was a huge 1.2 MB picture of a list of multiplatform and exclusive games to the PC, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. While Sankaku Complex said it asserted the dominance of the PS3 over the two other consoles, it seems fairly evident that the PC would be the place to go if you really want a lot of games.
I can’t seem to find the original author of the picture but I’m guessing that this listing is perhaps incomplete to a certain extent as well, seeing as it’s a day or two old and something new must have happened between the posting and now that would require a minor update.
Added to the picture above is a link to a blog by Adrian Werner, who also has another extensive list of PC-specific games to look forward to for 2011 and beyond.
Anyway, the point of this post is that there are a ton of great games to look forward to, and it’s an exciting year for me, for a lot of reasons. I’m hoping 2011 will be much better than the year before it, and I pray that good things happen to all of us, regardless of our gaming preferences.
As Stargrace of MMOQuests would say, “Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTysXITBCmk]
Here’s a little dose of awesome for you today, courtesy of the Overly Positive blog. The man in the video above, Ted Williams, used to be a homeless man.
According to this report on the Today Show, it seems someone representing the Cleveland Cavaliers has offered the fellow a job and a house as a result of the above video going viral.
Definitely some good news.
EDITED TO ADD:
More Ted Williams coverage-
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIWWbsT43o8]
Full Playlist of the Ted Williams Interview: http://www.youtube.com/user/Bunomous
This is an automatically generated post made by the code masters on WordPress for the benefit of average joes like me who don’t know how to read web statistics and who have no clue regarding the stats behind the Taj Mahal.
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
Crunchy numbers
About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 34,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 4 days for that many people to see it.
In 2010, there were 323 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 385 posts. There were 49 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 5mb. That’s about 4 pictures per month.
The busiest day of the year was November 29th with 713 views. The most popular post that day was Mount and Blade + Mount and Blade Warband Steam Sale Gives Wrong Key?.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, Google Reader, everquest2.com, biobreak.wordpress.com, and ffxivcore.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for ffxiv level cap, dante’s inferno beatrice, arcade gannon, recettear tips, and ffxiv updates.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Mount and Blade + Mount and Blade Warband Steam Sale Gives Wrong Key? November 2010
17 comments
FFXIV Updates Include Hardware Mouse, Level Cap, and a Video September 2010
4 comments
Beatrice Portinari is Not the Whore of Babylon January 2010
1 comment
Square Enix: Making Playing FFXIV More of a Hassle Since 5 Minutes Ago August 2010
31 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,
FFXIV Updates: Market Wards to get Changes September 2010
6 comments
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdh7x3qc1EA]
Thanks to the Hunter of Hunter’s Insight for finding this clip on YouTube. I saw it two days ago and was hoping someone would come along and record it.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucrcb7ZjYFU]
There’s been 45 years worth of Ultraman goodness in the world, so Tsuburaya productions decided to commemorate this with a special promotional video. Enjoy!
I’m a music lover at heart, and one of the things I did when I started a general blog for myself was to make a write-up on Japanese Enka music featuring Jero. Recently, a post on a Philippine anti-Cosplay blog (The trolling attempts are hilarious in their failure to get the authors to become angry, and some of the anti-Philippine cosplay posts have some justifiable basis) made me take notice of how some Philippine songs actually have a Japanese basis or are potentially ripped off.
I did a bit more digging, however, and found that some songs really do have foreign covers with different lyrics, so I suppose a little artistic license is alright. Let’s take a look at one song from Japan that has made its way into American and Philippine culture. It’s called Itoshi no Ellie in Japan, and is otherwise known as Ellie, My Love in America and Honey My Love (So Sweet) in the Philippines.
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