pcal.net

I’ve been doing some re-arranging here to separate my private and professional lives. This blog, such as it is, is now going to be exclusively for personal, non-technical stuff.

From now on, typical items appearing in this space will be of the form:

  I went to a movie and it sucked

or

  I found a shiny thing on the internets

Anything technical or plausibly professional will be posted on my company’s blog:

  http://www.sutrotech.com

That is all.

I thought Guitar Hero was the lamest thing ever - until I actually played it the other day. I loved
Parappa the Rappa and GH is just another take on that idea.

Then I discovered Frets on Fire: open source community, people contribute hundereds of songs. So I did one of my own - I attempted to transcribe a short song by one of my old bands. It was not easy onaccounta the tools are not very good. (Apologies for the solo in the middle Ralfie - I just couldn’t figure it out).

Anyway, here it is: ninepin.zip

 

I’m not truly lame until I buy the guitar controller thingie and hook it up to my MacBook. Which is possible with a PSX/USB adapter. Not that I am going to get one.

The mac port of
DEFCON
is finally out.

It basically takes the last scene from

WarGames
and makes a real-time strategy game out of it. I’m still figuring out how the game part of it works (I played the Windows version a while ago), but the unique mood and aesthetics alone justify the purchase - it simply looks and feels like nothing you’ve ever played before.

My friend Michael’s startup launched this week:

http://www.pitchwire.com

It’s half a PR service for publicists and half spam control on steroids for journalists. I’m not either one but I think it’s a really great idea. Anything that gives people more control over what information gets thrown at them gets a thumbs up from me.

Michael did a great job on the app. It’s all in Ruby. Even if you’re not journalist, go bang on it and give him some feedback - he’d love to hear from you.

by Lou Ye

1. Find an attractive female lead who is willing to take her clothes off.
   A lot. Also, make sure she knows how to French inhale.
2. Shoot various cast members having sex.
3. Shoot various cast members brooding.
4. Shoot various cast members smoking.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 until you have no more film.
6. Edit the footage into the following sequence: brooding, smoking, brooding, brooding, sex, brooding, smoking, sex, brooding, sex, sex, smoking, sex, sex, sex, brooding, brooding, smoking, brooding, sex, brooding, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, smoking, sex, brooding.
7. Add voiceover to the brooding and smoking so that the audience understands
   that the sex is just an expression of how deep and pained the characters are.
8. Watch test print of movie. Realize just what a
   
   steaming pile of panda shit you have made. Panic briefly.
9. Go back and splice in random news clips about Tiananmen Square in 1989. Do not be surprised when you and your film are banned from China by the Communist Party.
10. Watch as resulting controversy carries your film to acclaim at Cannes and
    other festivals. Try to contain laughter as festival promoters declare
    your work a masterpiece.

No, I really don’t hate everything. I actually liked his two previous movies.