So much for that all-nighter.

She's done. Damn, she's quick.

Dropping Ac!d (and other bad habits)

I forgot to mention I finished Metal Gear Ac!d last week. I was a little skeptical about the game but was pleasantly surprised. The plot, graphics and presentation were everything you'd expect from a Metal Gear game, and the card-based tactical strategy gameplay was less gimmicky than I feared. The early levels feel a little awkward, but near the game I was getting really into it and found it hard to put down. The turning point in the game for me was when I had an ally, as that really opened up a lot of possibilities. After that, both the plot twists and the action really picked up and the end result was pretty satisfying.

However, my real addiction remains Lumines. This game is pure gaming crack. A relatively simple concept for a puzzle game, the game really comes to life in the interaction between your button presses and the music. I don't think it's a stretch to say this is the best puzzle game since the immortal Tetris, and that includes Capcom's Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. And it's not a stretch to say it's testing Rhonda's patience.

You could probably surmise I am really enjoying my PSP. It's also nice having a 512 MB Memory Stick and being able to encode, say, Kung Fu Hustle in a pretty watchable format and carry it around with me.

Next on the agenda is Bioware's Jade Empire, their wuxia-inspired follow-up to the fanboy wet dream, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. KOTOR set the bar pretty high, but JE manages to bound over the bar and then unleash a furious assault on any game daring to call itself an Xbox RPG.

Everything about Jade Empire is top-notch. The combat gameplay is deep and engrossing. The story strikes the right balance between fun and cheesy. The cut-scenes are gorgeous and reminiscent of Pixar. The groundbreaking item and weapon system is perhaps the greatest breakthrough, as it allows you to play the game without needing to sift through menus in order to micro-manage your supplies and possessions. Like the film genre that inspired it, JE is breathtakingly beautiful, wildly entertaining, and wholly ass-kicking all at once. Highly recommended.

All-nighter

Not for me, for Rhonda...she has a project due tomorrow, and slightly miscalculated the due date. I am lending moral, and occasionally, technical support.

We spent the weekend in Tahoe, which was fun even if we couldn't exactly say it was relaxing. A leaky air mattress and some boisterous drunks (you know who you are, heh heh) led to two nights of restless sleep. Neither the dealers nor the hangovers were kind either, and before you know it the weekend was over. Thanks to Lou for hooking that up. I'll post a couple pictures once I unpack.

Lousy morning

It's been a pretty crappy Wednesday so far.

Two days in a row now, I've had 8 o'clock meetings.  Some days I'm just waking up at 8, and most days I'm hopping in the shower or eating breakfast and watching the news.  So the fact I have to get up at 6, fight traffic, and rush to my desk to be there by 8 is not a good start.

So I make pretty good time today, and decide to stop at Starbucks. (Why? Because it's friggin' early and I need caffeine, I thought I explained that.)  I get a "grande" (aka "medium") coffee and a scone.  I had already realized I left my MegaTokyo bag at home (which has my iPod and Clie in it, virtually assuring the day will pass at a lethargic pace and that I will be completely disorganized) and had come to grips with it, until I realized that my ID badge was also in that bag.

The lobby at work opens at 8.  I would normally call Ellen or Brian, but Ellen is out today and Brian only works in Santa Clara on Tuesdays now.

I park my car at about 7:45.  I run over to the building to see if there's something that will let me in.  There's a button to call security, so I push it.  They send a guy over to verify I'm who I say I am and not some corporate spy or national security threat, and I haul ass up the stairs to get there at about 7:58.

Then my call to Tel Aviv won't go through.  I try the lead in India who is also supposed to be on the call, and no luck there either.  By 9 I've spoken to the person I needed to in Tel Aviv and we'll try again next week (with a conference call number) but the entire reason for getting to work early was this meeting.

My coffee and breakfast are still in the car.

I go downstairs and out to the car.  I pick up the cup and notice it's not very sturdy at the top and coffee is dripping from the rim of the cup near the seam.  This happens all the time when the cup is too full and you've hit a speed bump and coffee has sloshed around inside the cup,  so I think nothing of it.  I try to adjust the lid...

and all of a sudden coffee is trickling out in a steady stream.

I look more closely at the rim of the cup and the cup is literally coming apart at the seams.  I immediately start drinking.  It turns out I got a faulty cup and the rim was not sealed correctly.  When I took the coffee out of the cup holder, the seam in the cup actually opened a little at the top, and coffee came pouring out.  I have no idea if my Scion has new coffee-stained interior because I didn't notice the coffee coming out until after I closed the door.

Here's a picture of the damage from my phone:



I've bought a lot of cups of coffee in a lot of different places, and this is a first.

I guess things could be worse, and they're bound to get better. That's a way of seeing the cup as half full.  Unfortunately, this cup is half empty because the other half is all over the parking lot.

Uno, Dos, Tres, Catorce!

As I alluded to previously, tonight was the night of U2's first of two shows in San Jose as part of their "Vertigo" tour.



Here's the stage set-up before the show began. If you saw the "Elevation" tour (or, like me, you saw the DVD), you'll notice the similar stage design that allows the band members to walk out into the crowd.

We missed the opening set by Kings of Leon, because we spent the entire time in line to buy merchandise. The shirts do look really cool though, as does the program.

The show lived up to all expectations, as lofty as they were. This might be the best concert I've ever been to, about the only complaint I have is they didn't play "Walk On". They did, however, play "Running to Stand Still", which I wasn't expecting and was extremely grateful to hear live. The band put a lot of emotion and energy into their performance, and the San Jose crowd was generally responsive (although the section we were in only got up for the oldest hits).

Bono held a stirring tribute to Pope John Paul II and told a story about meeting the Holy Father and giving him a pair of his wrap-around sunglasses. I liked how Bono said he is accused of having a "Pope complex", and that the Pope had a "rock star complex". He said, "I didn't always agree with what he stood for, but he stood for something," and it was obvious that he had great love and respect for the Pope from the affection in his story. I feel like he really summed up how I felt about the Pope and his legacy, and to me at least, it was really touching. I liked "Miracle Drug" anyway, but now I will always associate that song with the Pope now (the same way I associate "Walk On" with the aftermath of 9/11).

The cool text message campaign Bono talked about before singing "One" is something I knew about beforehand, since the technology behind it is powered by Sun. It was pretty neat too, how the names of some participants were flashed across the video screen after the song (although neither my name nor Rhonda's showed up).



Finally, here's a shot from the performance of "Where the Streets Have No Name", which was clearly the highlight of the show. People went nuts over this song. It was an electrifying, fiery display in a satisfying and memorable show. Highly recommended if they are coming to your town.

Holy crap!

That's a lot of people. Over a million, so they say.

I love Japan

Homemade Mecha Walks in Japan

You might be able to see the video here.

It's friggin' Metal Gear! Someone hit up Snake on the codec!



I guess it's only a matter of time before they're recruiting teenagers to save the galaxy from an invading force. The Japanese government will need to act quickly to approve funding for NERV.