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Mar. 8th, 2007 @ 11:15 pm
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my wordpress blog can be found here: http://etherstar.wordpress.com/ |
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Oct. 4th, 2006 @ 01:24 am
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Just in case anyone actually reads here, my actual blog can be found by clicking here.
or, copy-paste:
http://www.thinkingimpaired.com/smitty/blog/ |
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Nov. 18th, 2004 @ 10:41 am
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For my first fantasy football experience, I'm doing the NFL.com's 4th quarter fantasy which in my league is just a short 6 game season. Figured I'd just post my lineup.
J. Plummer QB
S. Alexander RB
C. Dillon RB
J. Horn WR
J. Walker WR
E. Johnson TE
J. Brown K
D. Patriots DST
Obviously I've got some really big strengths and a couple of iffy things in my starting lineup. Yeah my QB might not seem like the best out there, but he's a solid fantasy pick, and he's having a career season. My backup QB is Tom Brady, but since the Broncos are playing NO which has the worst defence in all the NFL, I think Plummer's my boy.
My running game could not be better. I have without a doubt the TWO best starting RB's in the NFL as far as I'm concerened. The pats will definitely ride Dillon as much as possible to keep the KC offense off the field. Shaun Alexander...best running back in the nfl right now, you really can't argue that I'm wrong there.
Solid WR's I think. They play for strong pass oriented teams and will get plenty of balls thrown at them. My Tight End is slightly above average, there are definitely better out there, but I know he will put me up some solid fantasy points. My kicker is well...not Adam. He should get plenty of attempts though playing for Seattle.
My defense is stronger than people will give me credit. My backup right now is the Bills defense which some people may argue is a little better considering the pats injuries. In Bill I trust, and I'm sure the Pats will find a way to stifle the KC offense, but I do admit it might be tough goings against the explosiveness of KC at their stadium. |
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I'm posting because I'm pissed. That's generally the emotion that gets me heated enough to actually update my journal. It's an abusive relationship we have, me and LJ. I blow up all over it and only come back when I need some one to dump on. By hey, it's just too damn stupid to say no to me so it's got it commin'.
My guitar is dying. That's right, dying. The tension of the strings has nearly pulled out the saddle (thats the part on the body of the guitar that holds in the base of the strings). Now that wouldn't be so bad, unless you consider what else the massive force did that wrenched the saddle off the guitar. Usually you could unstring the guitar, and with a little minor wooodwork resecure the saddle. Unfortunately the wood around the saddle itself has been warped up and out, because I, like a tardbucket, didn't notice and fix the problem earlier. Now warped wood also isn't the "be-all end-all" or a guitars demise. Even wood can be molded back with enough effort. The problem here is that...the wood has several cracks splintering the surface now because of the stress. So it now dies a slow and agonizing death as each day as those cracks get a few hundredths of a milimeter longer, as the wood's surface warps a few thousandths of a milimeter, as the saddle pulls away further and further from the body.
I noticed it when I released I could not get the B and high E strings in tune with each other and the rest of the guitar at the same time. It seemed worse lately than normal. Asking my father he quickly pointed out the cracks which I thought just went through the finish (a minor aesthetic blemish), alas no, they went into the wood itself. I noticed the saddle and warped part of the wood soon after.
I guess I should unstring it, and maybe bring it to Zack down at frets to see what he can do, but it's an old guitar, like 35+ years old. The years it spent in my musty basement were not good at all for it, no doubt contributing to its demise. The frets are word down pretty bad by the nut. The neck is bowed. There are scratches and dents all over the thing. There is a severely messed up tuning key. The fact that you can't get it in tune with itself is a supreme annoyance. Maybe it's about time I started thinking about buying myself a guitar. Would you beleive I've never bought a guitar for myself? EVER? That guitar was my mom's, when she was in college, and even then it wasn't NEW new. It's like being dumped and having to find another boyfriend/girlfriend. You want another one, but you know it will never be the quite the same (sound) .You just gotta realize you won't ever find the same thing but you might find one that's better, in a different sorta way.Current Mood: angry Current Music: Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (album) |
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Oct. 19th, 2004 @ 04:35 pm
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Lately? Well, Schoolwork mostly. I really just need to do enough to graduate at this point. I was concerened about trying to pull of a 4.0 so I could graduate with a 3.0, but that's basically a fleeting thing for me. I'm applying for this job (which I hope doesn't start until after I graduate) that pays decently. Who knows though, it's worth a shot. Bottom line is all I wanna do is pass my classes, and there's a couple that I have provoked some legitimate concerns.
Tusstoss? Yeah, I'm still making positive progress. I'm getting pretty excited now that we have a website over at www.tistudios.com for the game. I'm still debating on whether or not I will charge for the game. I just don't know if people would pay money for it, or whether the game is complete enough to be worth something. I'll base it off of beta testing responses I think. |
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How does pi/4 Radians = 45 degrees?
360 degrees = 2piRadians on the unit circle.
360/8 = 2(pi)Radians/8
45 = pi/4 Radians
Sep. 20th, 2004 @ 01:17 pm
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| » Life is Good |
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Lately I feel quite content with my life. Being alive feels more exciting, and every moment of the day seems to be far more productive. Being back at school has been a serious boost to my social life, and I'm definitely happy to leave the recluse life in the dust. I feel like I can think faster and clearer; it's a very strange feeling.
I mean, school is still school. But I feel an extra bounce in my step lately. I can deal with classes, because I am very excited about living, and I have become far more appreciative of what I have. I also feel like some of my selfishness has fallen by the wayside. I am more sympathetic towards people, and am accepting things that normally would have sent me on a tirade. This hardly means that I can concede to people's stupidity; it is more like that I can concede to their ignorance to an extent. I still despise propagandists, fuckfaces and the general degradation of mankind, but there will be plenty of time later for me to rant on about those things.
As for now I will leave you with a Tuss-Toss update. I just concluded adding the ability to alt-tab in and out of the program. Although this does not seem to be an impressive feat I'm sure, but beleive me when I tell you that it was a royal pain in the ass. Cooperating a program with Windows is like trying to have relations in your parents' house while you're in town visiting: You gotta do your stuff there because it's the only place you can go, but if you make too much noise something is going to get thrown from a window. In the former case it would most likely be an exception thrown, in the latter it would most likely be the young male present. Anyway, Kalo gave me a taste of the music he's been cooking up, and boy is it fresh. Content has been rolling in from my faithful friends. Soon it will all come together. Soon.
Sep. 14th, 2004 @ 11:26 pm
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| » Well It's A New Semester |
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So it's a new semester at URI. "What am I doing here?" I do not know. English? Who cares, it's useless. I love it and I hate it at the same time. It's the pretentiousness of my instructors and colleagues. It's the lack of practicality in their scholarly endeavors that pisses me off to no end. English professors and students sit around and interpret the high art literature of various cultures. They write and they discuss Imperialism, feminism, gender identity, revisionist history, ideology in works using various descriptive terms such as modernism, post-modernism, novels, short stories, colonial, narrative prose, lyric, epic and drama. They write down their interpretations which only their colleagues read. In turn other authors write more literature which only the scholars read; and then the scholars discuss and write more papers which only their colleagues read.
Nothing gets solved. People continue to die in war and famine, women and minorities are still discriminated against, people still can't answer what gender means to them, men of ages passed are lauded for things they did not do, and a society still cannot reflect upon their own ideals to get a better understanding of who they are, and who they want to be.
If Percival Etherstar were real, he'd show them the power of popular culture. He'd tell them that you don't help the world by excluding the very people you are trying to help. He'd tell them that their esoteric system of scholarly study is a worthless load of shit. He'd tell them that heroes are the guys who don't hesitate putting their loose change into the chairty bins at the cash register. He'd tell them that heroes were the guys at UBS that packed up a truck filled with supplies to aid rescue workers immediately after the attacks on September 11, and then drove it through all kinds of crazy traffic into the city to bring it to them. They could've cared less if those workers were republican, democrat or anarchist. They also enjoy country music.
Ok ok...back to reality. I was going to continue this rant on how much I hate Michael Moore (because I really really hate him, that fat friggin' slob), and how my instructors feel as though it is their privilage to impart their political views on me: How I should hate the fact that I'm an American, and I belong to a dirty and deceitful country that tries to colonize the world with democracy and enlightenment because it's leaders are selfishly following a mandate from God.
Many of them idolize a man who just had quadrouple bypass surgery because he sat around eating mass produced food while South African warlords were highjacking Red Cross releif supplies to save starving families.
But then again, what the hell do I know? I'm just a middle class Christian white boy from the capitol of Suburbia, USA. I should be ashamed and be loathing my very existance.
Sep. 10th, 2004 @ 03:17 pm
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| » Is anybody flying this thing? |
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That's what goes on through my head when I'm making Managed Direct3D API calls. I understand a lot of it, like what those functions do, and what information those nifty data structures hold. But all too often I was asking myself. "how does it work?" With all the functions dealing with the math semantics, and what the API doesn't fill in, the book I'm reading did the rest. When I read "(Math.PI / 4) will give you a viewing angle of 45 degrees because Math.PI / 4 is a measurement in radians..." I decided it was time to brush up on my math.
I know that pi / 4 will give me a 45 degree viewing, I just don't know how it does. I don't feel like I'm in complete control of what's going on if I don't understand how everything works. So I just placed an order on Amazon.com for a 400 page 3D game mathematics primer. Why? I have no idea. I could always ask my friends how to find a larger or smaller viewing angle in terms of radians using pi. There's something that drives me to learn everything I can, and have a complete grasp on any concept. When I don't fully understand something, I find it bites me in the ass down the road. Why do I care so much to learn every minute detail? Maybe it's because I always like to be good at what I do, and I want to be respected. Even back when I was working for UBS, I always asked my boss/coworkers/professional masons what some things were or how you used them. I learned so much, I was a go to guy out in the yard for masonry info, and it earned me a nice cool air conditioned office there for a summer as a salesman.
Well...my triangle rotates now around all 3 axis. So in another week when my book comes in I should be able to tell you why Pi/4 equals 45 degrees.
Aug. 30th, 2004 @ 08:20 pm
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| » Of nuts and...nuts. |
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Passed few days have been pretty non-eventful. Workin' and such. Carla should be back soon, so my major venue for a social life should be back in full swing. (You LJ stalkers won't call me ever).
I've been dipping my toes into managed direct3D. Yesterday I drew a triangle...so look out Carmack! I'm a little scared though to be truthful. I saw some functions in a code example which involved a measurement using radians. This 3D stuff is going to be a bit rough, and I'm definitely going to have to brush up on my linear algebra. Maybe I'll get a book, or try to just audit a class here, I'm not really sure. Basically I don't need to brush up yet, but I will soon enough...I fear matrices.
The Red Sox have been on a complete tear lately, destroying all comers and gaining 5 games on the Yanks in only 2 weeks. They will prolly break my heart in the end, but hey, suffering is part of the deal about being a Sox fan.
Surprisingly, I've been eating a lot of nuts lately, pistaschios(sp) to be exact. My mommy says they are good for me. I've actually been eating a lot less lately, and trying to DDR at least every other night. I've lost 2.5 pounds this week. Hooray. I think. I know I still have muscles somewhere underneath my fat from UBS, we just gotta dig deep enough to get 'em out.
Tuss-Toss is still in the level building stages. Hopefully that shouldn't take more than another couple weeks. By then I hope to have some music to Toss in as well for a full fledged beta. Kelso's got a sweet web page coming soon too. I really want to move on to my next project though, can you tell?
Aug. 27th, 2004 @ 03:03 pm
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| » Just another update |
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I am a cloaked agent of nothing.
The other day I was feeling pretty uninspired, randomly trying to find some inspiration of what to figure out what to make for my next project. After reading a speech given by Reggie Fils-Aime, I was inspired to really create something innovative and different; a "wow" gaming inspiration. Tuss-Toss is great (and heading down the homestretch of completion), but I really want to do something different for my next project.
So I started surfing the net, trying to connect with the things long ago that really made me want to become an artist (in the modern sense). I stumbled on to www.billycorgan.com. In case you don't know him, he was the lead singer/songwriter for smashing pumpkins and zwan, and he is my personal hero. I envy his passion, his discipline, his faith, and his seemingly never-ending artistic flow. Reading his psuedo blog, I'm reenergized. Also in good news, he should have a solo album out late september, along with his new poetry book. I will definitely be getting both. With a little luck he may swing around here on his book tour, and I could actually meet him face to face. Seeing him in an auditorium was cool and all, but I'd just like to talk to him and listen to what he has to say.
In other news of reconnecting, there is a new spaceharrier remix on remix.overclocked.org. Needless to say, there was gratuitous running at 90mph, flying and shooting of things for an extended period of times. I recommend you get the remix "I Got the Spacebeam." It's halarious. Just watch out for those two robots with their gats that go rata tat tat, rata tat tat.
Aug. 23rd, 2004 @ 01:53 pm
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| » Grab your helmet, cuz you just entered the trenches of the war I'm about to start. |
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Alright, so a couple weeks ago, I realize how much I love Samurai Jack. I decide to check out what time it's one, and find out that it has been cancelled.
"The shot heard round the world...the world inside my brain."
So I ask myself, "how could this have happened?" A show that was heralded by Time magazine, and praised by professional critics everywhere and just been brought out behind the woodshed like Old Yelle. Genndy was forced to put his brainchild down in it's prime. After much thought, I've realized that the problem is twofold:
1) People are stupid.
2) Japanese anime needs to die.
The reason why I have to include these two things, is because they support each other in a circular fashion. Let's start with number one:
"People are stupid."
Let's consider the majority of animation watchers. By default, their targets are middle to lower class veiwers. Wealthy people usually will either spend their time experiencing "high art" venues. People in lower classes probably don't have the leisure time/finances to be sitting around and watching cartoons.
Most Middle Class people live dull, boring lives. Their days are filled with routine and are generally non-eventful. Most of them live in small suburbs, never spending extended times in cities, or around people of different cultures. They view japanese animation as "exotic," and it gives it some form of supernatural connotations to them. They deal with people, places, cultures and creeds which are foreign to them, which has a mystical quality. This "mystifying" ability the Asian culture has on westerners is just an illusion based on the ignorance of middle class America and the rest of the corporate world. In this same way, the cheap gimmick fantasy plots, cliche characters and mediocre stories (at best) are embraced by viewers due to their otherwordly premises. People are dazzled by a smoke and mirror show of deceptively complicated plots, which at their base, are completely pointless. Nothing more than egregious meanderings, miscunstrued as skillfully weaved plot tapestries. And middle class America is just too plain stupid to realize it.
"Japanese Anime must die."
But why do people watch anime? Because it is the only all ages dramatic animation venue, and animation studios and their owning corporations know this. They are the only game in town, and they are here to make a profit. Most anime shows are cheap to produce, and it shows. Japanese anime is rife with redundant frames and terrible voice acting, things the culturally inexperienced don't really notice. Some studios even use cumputer coloring in efforts to make this look more high quality, when in actuallity, this just cuts even more costs. Animation studios are out to make a profit, and they are akin to the fast food industry in the way they force out a product as quickly as possible bursting with medioctiry to merely satiate an audience. They become the standard, and the culture becomes bloated on the cheap, excessively fatty plots which only fascinate for the moment. When people see animation like Samurai Jack, it looks rough, bristly and simple, much like the way a child compares a piled hamburger to a piece of steak. The hamburger is filled with excess condiments and vegetables to hide the fact that the piece of meat in the middle is meager, and of low quality. The steak although plain, is a finely cut piece of meat that can be savored by itself, bursting with flavor. People just plainly don't want to spend the intellectual effort of trying to get a hand-drawn, hand-painted, entirely storyboarded, and smacking of innovated style steak, and instead they settle on a hamburger from the corner fast food joint.
They produce it because you eat it. You eat it because they produce it.
If you are an anime fan, you are probably drunk on medioctrity. You are intellectually lazy. By being intellectually lazy, the world suffers from your lack of genious. It is why mediocrity reigns. Our world needs real heroes to cure disease, help the poor and stop violence. When people strive for mediocrity, they only do enough to help themselves, and the world never gets better, which is why people watch anime.
Aug. 19th, 2004 @ 11:57 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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It's true, no man has ever bested me with a blade. Just ask Matt Thompson.
Aug. 12th, 2004 @ 03:54 pm
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| » So yeah, Zombies and Demons have infected my brain... |
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So lately my time has been spent programming and playing games. Of particular interest to me is the game Doom 3, which I only allow myself to play after sundown.
Of course, I failed to full take into account the consequences of said actions. Last night I had a rather scary dream in which I was stuck inside a random chapel. There were all sorts of zombies and demons outside. I actually was chased into the chapel by said hellspawn. Along the way I beat one with the shovel, and managed to pick up a shotgun with a little ammo.
Once I got inside the chapel they stopped their pursuit. I decided to barracade myself in the chapel, but every time I tried to lock the door a demon spawned inside the freakin' chapel which I had to dispatch a la Ash style. I was running out of ammo though (I think at this point I actually saw a HUD superimposed over my vision showing I had like 6 shells left, and was at 78% health...) so I left the door unlocked, and was left alone for the time being. Then this scientist guy comes out from like beneath the altar and is like "Hey you are stuck here too?" Then when I go to talk to him, he morphs into a really really ugly Demon. I shoot him a couple times, and realizing I didn't have enough boomstick slugs to do the job, I decided to run out of the chapel to find some ammo, fast. I came to a really big field with nothing in it during my search. Then my alarm went off and I got up to go to work...thankfully.
But I'll be playing again tonight, working my way to the communications tower to call for reinforcements in the hope I can get off this red rock they call Mars.
Aug. 10th, 2004 @ 01:29 pm
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| » Holy cwap! |
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That's right I'm posting...but this is just a tease. I just realized how god awful my color scheme is, and I'm fixing it before I post another word.
Aug. 10th, 2004 @ 01:20 pm
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| » Summer? |
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Well I'm done with school, but the poo doesn't end. I need like a week on an island all to myself with just a guitar, pen and paper, and maybe counter-strike. I've gotta go straight to work tomorrow (not even a reach around) and don't even get a break. It doesn't look like I'm going to get a free weekend this entire month because everyone decided to graduate this semester...sheesh. I've also had to make some unfortunate decisions on whose graduations I attend due to work/family/health/other stuff going on. It's my last real summer, and all I want is the world to STFU for a while before I have to face it.
On the bright side I got to see Troy today, albeit by my lonesome. I rather enjoyed it actually and thought the potrayal of Achilles was really well done. The movie did a good job to not portray him as an upstanding role model, as the destroyer of men shouldn't be :-p, but he is a hella interesting character still, no? There was also some badass symbolism between Hector(Horse and Troy) and Achilles (Greek and Lion). The Myrmidons were badass (as a race spawning from ants should be!). The only real complaint I have was the historical accuracies regarding some of the characters' demises which never really occured. Other than that there wasn't much to complain about. Excellent fight choreography, and good characters with a plot that's so good it's survived the ages. Let's hope theres a sequel where Borimir has to find his way back home :D
Dnd has been going well too. The group has settled into their new characters well, better than I thought. I do have to take a little credit for creating role-play conducive scenarios :D. I just hope that they are all enjoying themselves. Can't wait to play this week again.
Ok ok, I guess life doesn't suck THAT bad.
May. 17th, 2004 @ 12:24 am
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| » Sowwy |
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Yeah I know I haven't been updating, but there really hasn't been much to mention. Let's see, I got invitations to my friend Kevin's graduation from the Long Gray Line. I have known him since like first grade I think. I'm pretty sure we were in the same class. It's cwazay. Then my buddy dave sent me an invitation to his wedding (ahh how the mighty have fallen), and I've known that joker since our l337 days in cub scouts. His dad was the scoutmaster, and man I never dared to mess around with that guy watching over me.
In other news I have been playing SWG again. It really is the best MMO out there, so if you are looking to have a real roleplaying experience head on over to the Starsider server in SWG.
Oh ya, its finals, and I have to leave in ten minutes to go take my second of the day. THATS RIGHT! TWO FINALS ON A SATURDAY!. plz shoot me. Apparently URI thinks we have nothing better to do on beautiful saturdays than to go take their awesomely awesome exams. Sheesh.
Tuss Toss has made no progress in a week. I still don't officially have a summer job. My girlfriend is holding my ps2 hostage. Heads are gonna roll! At least the Sox made the most awesome comeback ever last night. I think Mark Bellhorn deservers a cookie.
Now time to go take my Jazz History final and face the music......IM SORRY I HAD TO!!!!! :-p
May. 8th, 2004 @ 02:34 pm
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| » yet another paper |
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So I'm writing another paper, and I'm taking a sanity break. I got to choose my topic, and I'm trying to write a paper on how the fil Casablanca is the quintesential model for this thing I made up called the "American Genre." My last completed paragraph includes a comparison to Humphrey Bogart's character of Rick to Han Solo. Hey, I'm at least going to make papers interesting to me from now until I graduate. It's something I've kind of promised to myself.
So anyway this weekend was kinda meh. The Sox swept the Yanks. /cheer. But in DnD, I killed my whole party. They rerolled characters against what I really wanted them to do, and quite frankly I really don't want to continue the campaign. I really enjoyed their old party. It doesn't feel right anymore, and the amount of metagaming going on is enough to make me want to scream at people. We get a break next week from our usual session, and maybe my frustration will cool off by then, maybe it means I'm a bad DM, I dunno. Shawn needs to be playing. Bleh.
So I got no work done on Tuss-Toss cuz imma huge tool and left my pen drive at work. Oh well not that I had time really anways. Carla had her recital today, and I really enjoyed the peices they did. The recital seemed kinda short, but I had a good time. But I owe Krista a cookie in the face. Right in the face. It was cool to see the URI crew too. I find it tought to balance enough time with the people at URI, the people in Westerly, and then the few who are living outside the greater RI area.
Well I should get back to my paper. plz shoot me.
Apr. 25th, 2004 @ 07:40 pm
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| » Super Mega Boredom of DOOM |
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So I've been HELLA bored lately. No game can seem to hold my attention span for more than 2 minutes it seems. However baseball does a great job of filling in the gap for me. I really love that sport, the intricacies of the game make it so interesting to me. Ahh well. So tonight I finished up adding in most the sounds to free play in Tuss-Toss and tweaked gameplay a bit. Now you can get 7 seconds back by getting three tusses in a row out. Adds more strategy to the whole thing. Now I'm just waiting on a logo saying "cleared" and a full screen "you quitting" thing. Ive got Kalo ready to bust out some beats for the game. I've been experimenting with different types of music, and there is a definite track from Final Fantasy X-2 I want Kalo to listen to, because it really captures the music style I need.
So the weather has been awesome lately. I love getting outside in the morning because I can smell the ocean all the way from my house. It's really a great feeling to get out again. I'd like to drop 5-10 pounds this summer. I plan on doing this by getting out more (God willing) and buying DDR for PS2 once classes are over and I can get my PS2 back from Carla. It won't be a substitute for going outside and doing real exercise, but it should help out for sure.
My mom has been home now for a while. She sold the store a couple weeks ago. I thought that it would be nuts having her home, but to be honest, I can't really complain. Dinner is always ready for me when I get home, and I always have clean laundry. Man what the hell will I do when I have to live on my own?
Apr. 22nd, 2004 @ 12:23 am
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etherstar's journal