Musings of a Geek

Now, on to what I originally set out to do.  My old friend Kevin (aka Fhearl in WoW) works at Microsoft in gaming peripherals development.  I met him waaaaay back when I was leveling my first character (Kromdorr) on Emerald Dream in 2006. I remember we were both in the same guild at the time <Hit It Like You Mean It> and we both just happened to be questing in Desolace and by happen chance we met and grouped for questing and have been friends ever since.  So, basically we got the chance to meet IRL (‘in real life’ for the netlingo disinclined) at LANfest 2k7 in Ontaio, CA while he was working the Microsoft booth.  It was at that time that they’d just released the original Sidewinder mouse, which was Kevin’s pet project, so we (Garrett, Austin, Tim, and Demetre) all got to drive out to try out his new mouse. Needless to say, it was amazing and we all went home with some special SWAG from Kevin.

So after using the original sidewinder (and loving it) for a couple years Kevin decided to let me playtest Microsoft’s newest mouse and keyboard:  The Microsoft X6 Gaming Keyboard and the Sidewinder X8 Gaming Mouse.

Upon trying out the X6 my initial reaction was surprise at how the tactile response of the keys and the ergonomics of the keyboard itself were so comfortable.  Obviously one of the cooler features of the keyboard lies in the magnetic detachable numpad that can be placed on either the right or left side of the keyboard (presumably for lefty’s and righty’s).  I found this to be a cool feature not only because it’s basically new technology, but also because if you need some extra space on your desk for more mousing room , or a graphics pad you can just take off the numpad and store it elsewhere until you need it again.  Another great feature of the board is all the different macro buttons.  I know it’s been said to death but you can never have enough macros.  Be it for graphical design or gaming, more macros equals more productivity.  For example, if you’re playing World of Warcraft and you’re already using 1 through 0 for all of your main attacks you can choose to use s1 through s12 as kind of an overflow for attacks you might not use as often, but still need to be on your action bar.  Another example that I personally use on my warrior is during combat if I need to switch stances to use a particular attack I just hit ’s1′ which is mapped to an in game macro that tells my character to switch to ‘berserker’ stance and then to use ‘pummel’ to interupt an enemy attack.

My only complaints with the keyboard are the fact that it doesn’t have risers (which is explainable because it would be hard to do so with the detachable numpad) and the fact that it only lights up red as opposed to the Saitek keyboards which you can choose from 3 different colors at will. Other than that, the keyboard is perfect and i’d reccomend it to anyone needing a new keyboard for gaming or graphic design.  [Overall 9/10]

Now, onto the X8 Gaming Mouse.

My initial reaction to the mouse, not dissimilar from my initial reaction to the keyboard, was that the mouse was designed with ergonomics and ease of access in mind.  If the microsoft gaming peripheral department has one thing absolutely right, it’s ergonomic comfort.  One thing I immediately noticed was different from it’s predecessor was the fact it has a tilting scroll wheel as opposed to the traditional stationary wheel, which is a major improvement already in my book.  Another huge improvement I noticed were the side macro buttons on the left side of the mouse.  The original sidewinder’s macro buttons were useful, albeit a bit obtrusive in nature.  The X8 seems to have seriously fixed that flaw with it’s new contoured side macro buttons.  They’re so unobtrussive that sometimes you kind of forget they’re there (until you need to use them, of course).  Like the original model the X8 comes with swappable feet for gaming on different surfaces, which is usefull if you’re going to a LAN party and don’t know what sort of surface your mouse will be used on.  The one feature of the old mouse that didn’t make it into the X8 that I do miss are the adjustable weights which seem to have been ommited in order to make room for the new BlueTrack technology, which I have to say, is a fair trade.  Having tested out both the wired and wireless modes of the mouse in games like World of Warcraft, Half Life 2 Ep.2, Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Team Fortress 2 I can truly and unabashedly say that there was no difference in play quality at all.  When the mouse was wireless the 2.4ghz really does make for lag-free play.  Ultimately I have no complaints about this mouse and I would even go so far to say that it’s easily the best gaming mouse on the market right now. [Overall 10/10]
So there you have it, two amazing products that are essential for any prospective or current gamer.

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(originally drafted last month.  Oh procrastination, how I love you so)

It’s a word, look it up.

It’s about that time again for your obligatory bi-monthly dose of Remy.

First let me begin by saying I am so glad to be a child of the late 80’s. Times seemed a little simpler back then in retrospect. I mean, sure, we had the Sega Genesis to keep us occupied while at home (or the Super Nintendo if you were one of those weird kids). Nickelodeon was genuinely inventive and hardly ever boring. Hell, I can’t remember any other networks running a Saturday night lineup that catered directly to kids. However sad it might be, SNICK (Saturday Night Nickelodeon) was always my highlight of the week because I knew I was always in for a laugh with ‘All That’ or a scare with ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’.

I don’t want to speak for the rest of my generation, but I think we were one of the luckiest generations in terms of growing up when we did. It was basically a time when advertisers figured out that you could buy ad time on a kids network and your product would just magically sell. While that can be looked at in a negative light, I also see it as something good in that kids basically ran the show in the late 80’s and early 90’s, but not so much that we were spoiled (keep in mind we were going through a recession in that era). Information back then wasn’t just a click away; we had to buy cheat code magazines if we wanted cheats for our games, or go to the library if we had to research something. It was only when dial-up became more readily available that our society started it’s eventual instant gratification fixation.

Which brings us to today. A day when I don’t care about giving social commentary on our current societal situation as it would just give me a gigantic headache. So instead of saying how our children are spoiled, or how our women have been given false ideas of self image from TV and media, or how the internet is killing the newspaper (which, actually, i’m glad it is) I’m just going to give you this quote that really hit home with me (paraphrasing here since I can’t seem to find the actual quote from The Watchmen):

“As you get older the future keeps getting darker, but when you look back everything is bright, even the grimy parts.”

This is of course referring to Sally Jupiter’s quote from The Watchmen. Speaking of which the movie was amazing, as was the graphic novel.

Another movie I had the pleasure of watching recently was the new Star Trek movie directed by J.J. Abrams.  The story serves as a kind of prequel to the events of the mid-60’s tv show.  It follows the life of James Tiberius Kirk as he’s growing up in some rural farmtown.  He eventually meets Captain Pike (the original captain of the enterprise) who convinces him to join starfleet because he thinks he has was it takes to become a captain like Kirk’s father (who was only captain for 15 minutes before he kamikazee’d his ship into a giant romulan mining vessel to save the rest of his crew and his pregnant wife).  So he joins starfleet and ADVENTURE ensues.  I don’t want to give away much else of the story because I think this movie truly deserves its 96% rating on rottentomatoes.com.  Go see it, Sylar makes a perfect Spock.

That’s all for now, I have a tech review coming up immediately after this because I promised a friend i’d review his product.

Below is a sweet game that I found a while back.  If you unlock everything in the game you’ll unlock a mode where you can upload your own songs and play the game with whatever song you want.

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So, i’m sure you’re all just bummed that I haven’t made any art updates lately.  Well today is your lucky day because i’m finally done with my Hoff Ironhall masterpiece:

Armor Line Art

Armor Pen Over

First Color Pass

Second Color Pass and Background Addition

Final (maybe) Version!

The reason I say maybe is because I might at some point decide to tweak the background or add a little more detail to his armor or skin or something. Anyway, that’s all for now and I hope you enjoy it Jeff.

So, as has been broadcast elsewhere I introduced Los Lloyds to the movie “Taken” which stars Liam Neeson in arguably one of his most “stone cold badass” roles he’s ever portrayed. The premise of the film is him trying to find his kidnapped dumbass daughter and her dumbass friend all the while killing and torturing people in order to get information he wants. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand look at the time. I have to go to extreme bootcamp. Man, what rotten timing.

Till next time folks!

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[edited to provide more art]
So, as dictated by my new years resolution post, here’s your second monthly installment of Remy goodness.

Lucky you.

So, shortly after making my new years resolution my wonderful mother recommended to me a program that would help me loose weight, while watching what I eat.  I admit at first I was reluctant to follow a strict regimen of exercise and diet, but in time I’d learn it’s not all that bad.  The name of the program is “Extreme Bootcamp” and like it’s name suggests it’s extremely challenging; both mentally and physically.  So far I’ve been attending the program for a total of two weeks and some change, and I’ve lost a total of 10 pounds.  I feel a little more energetic in the morning and i’ve grown increasingly more resillient in the face of heavy exercise.  So in short, it’s a good thing.

In other news I’ve been trying to draw Jeff’s DnD character, Hoff Ironhall(FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-).  My first attempts were poor at best:

Version 1.0

Version 1.5

Version 2.0 Lineart

Version 2.0 Pen-over

Version 2.0 Color Pass 1

Version 2.0 Color Pass 1 (cont.)

Version 2.0 Color Pass 2

So, that’s basically my progress thus far. I imagine my next step will be basic coloring followed or perhaps preceded by giving him some armor/clothes. I’ll provide updates as they arise. Also, feel free to critique or give suggestions.

So, now that I have an XBox 360 I’ve been playing much of the Halo 3 and Call of Duty with my cousin Kyle who lives in the aptly named “Poopy Smell State” (Arizona).  We tend to have a lot of fun pwning the noobs since he seems to be some sort of noob pwning guru.   On top of the gaming I’ve also managed to network my box to my computer’s video stash. So now I can play all my pirated movies on my TV without even having to burn them to DVD’s. OH JOY!

Anyway, that’s about it for this time. Cheerio.

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That’s right people, we’re going to take a look into the future.  All the way to the year 2000 ….. and 8.

So, another year has come and gone.  The year, that most numerologists were saying, would be a time of peace and prosperity (seriously, they were).  Instead of their prediction we were given a year of increased violence in the middle-east and recession that can only be compared, at least by politico’s and mediaphiles, to the great depression.  Funny, how something so terribly sad in our nation’s history can be called a “great” depression.  That’s like saying the “Fantastic” Hollocaust or “Marvelous” 9/11.  I know the adjective great was used to convey the vast and far spread effect it had on our nation’s economy, but the point i’m trying to prove here is that it was a poor choice of words.

I think our nation at this point in our history needs to reflect on the wise words of Franklin D. Roosevelt:

“I do not look upon these United States as a finished product. We are still in the making.”

I could elaborate on why these words are so profound, but I wont.  I find it’s better to let people see for themselves the meanings behind words.

So rather than doing a truncated year recap, a la Signor Chasington, I’m going to do something different.  I’m going to sum up each of my posts in no more than 5 words:

January 2008

Procrastination.

May 2008

Best Buy Sucks Donkey Nuts.

Job at Microcenter Shoot Myself.

Garrett Job Microcenter New Computer.

June 2008

Bitchy Mom Stress.

Medal of Honor Well Received.

21st Birthday Fuck Mr Rogers.

September 2008

HOLY SHIT BLACK HOLES.

October 2008

Chuck Set Met Celebrities.

Police Love Zombie Makeup.

Music Widget Is Awesome.

November 2008

DnD Rocks First Black President.

December 2008

Arizona Kenny Poopy Smell.

Gruk Backstory.

Well, there you have it folks.  That’s all of my posts for 2008, which makes me realize I need to update more often.  Which brings me to my resloutions:

-Stop Drinking Soda, You Fat Bastard.

-Lose 40 Pounds, Fatty.

-Update At Least Once A Month, Lazy.

I think those are all reasonable.  Anyway, shit be mad late.  I must slumber.

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((This is meant to be part 1 of presumeably 2 for Gruk’s backstory.  This is also my first attempt at writing something like this, so, be gentle.))

“EY YOU, GET YOUR SORRY GREEN ARSE UP!” yelled the portly bearded slaver in the giant’s tongue.

A young Gruk Razormaw had managed to fall asleep the night before in his horse drawn prison, despite the incessant clopping of the horse’s hooves, the constant rocking of the cart, and that damned slaver’s drunken antics. Begrudgingly he opened his eyes and struggled to stand up, only to feel the weight of the heavy chains running through his collar and shackles pulling him back down.

“Now how do ye expect me to fetch a high price for ye if you keep looking so damned weak?!” the dwarven slaver mouthed sloppily while chunky bits of his saliva landed on Gruk’s feet; some sticking to his beard. “Up ye go, then!” he said while hastily jerking Gruk by his collar up to his feet, looking around to see if anyone had noticed.

He had heard very little of the city of Fallcrest from his elders, and only in a way that seemed to bring grimace’s to the faces of those who spoke of it. There were many tales told of the greedy Humans who inhabited the city and of the corruption and hatred that seemed to drive them to expand their influence over every living creature in the realm. They also spoke of arena’s where bloodsports would take place on a daily basis, and although this would seem like a good thing to every other orc, it did not sit well with the Razormaw clan. The Razormaw clan was revered amongst the Orcs living in the former Nentir Vale; now the Sword Barrows. A powerful and dangerous clan they were, however, they would only ever fight if they were first provoked, or payed off by the Dwarves to do their bidding. This is why the Razormaw clan was viewed as pacifists by a lone few bloodthirsty orc clans who cared for nothing but pillaging, and revered by the rest as potential leaders of their kind. Although he was much too young at the time to understand, his kind didn’t seem to get along with many other races, much less their own.

Gruk was being towed along towards building that stood out from the rest of the surrounding structures seeing as this one was rounded and considerably larger than anything else in the area. In front of the steps leading up to one of the terraces of this colosseum-esque building was a taller looking humanoid dressed in fancy purple clothing. Gruk was able to infer by what his parents had described humans to look like, that this tall pink thing that now stood before him was a Human nobleman.

“Interesting,” the noble started in a language that Gruk could not comprehend, “I thought his kind was all but extinct as of last month’s raid on the Sword Barrow?”

“Aye Lord Herkl, it seems this maggot managed to squirm away while me’brethren ‘n their stupid machines weren’t lookin’.” he said while thrusting his elbow into Gruk’s ribs making him double over in pain, “I found this’n on me way back from a big trade in ‘Ammerfast.” he continued, “E’must’ve managed to escape to the east’n crossed th’Nentir all by ‘imself, li’l bugger. I found ‘im passed out ‘n barely breathin’ ’bout due east’a Thunderspire. Thought’e would make a nice fighter seein’ them savages love beatin’ things to a bloody pulp.”

“Yes, I’m sure he will” said Lord Herkl with a devious smile widening across his smug face. His head turned toward young Gruk, “How exactly did a scrawny looking thing like you manage to survive such a long trip?” he said half addressing Gruk, half questioning himself out loud, “Mmm, no matter. So how much do you want for this thing Magnus? I haven’t the whole day to endure your dealings.”

Looking nervous Magnus replied, “I’m thinkin’ seventy gold sounds fair, after all e’should grow to be as vicious as th’older ones.”

“That’s assuming he lives to be as vicious as his elders, and by the looks of it, I’m guessing he wont make it past his first match.” Lord Herkl replied with a grimace, “Fourty gold, no more, no less.”

“BU-” Magnus started to reply only to be cut of by the noble.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t want the rumors of you illegally trading ‘magical’ items that end up cursing their users to be suddenly substantiated now, would you?” Lord Herkl snapped while grinning his weaselly grin.

“Ach, fine.” Magnus groaned while taking the payment in his outstretched palm, “One thing ye should know bout ‘im, he in’t yet know Common, so ye might wanna find some’ne who can speak Giant to teach ‘im some Common.”

“Duly noted.” Lord Herkl replied with an annoyed frown on his powdered face, “Come along then worm,” he ordered while beckoning Gruk to follow, “it’s time for me to show you your new home.”

Gruk was starting to feel very weak having to stand up for so long with the heavy chains forcing his neck forward and his arms towards the ground. He was getting delirious and for a terrifying few seconds remembered the scene he had witnessed only 3 weeks earlier. His father Gok, his mother Gremma, and his three older brothers Grak, Grek, and Grik standing in front of their family hut with their arms drawn. He could remember the sting of the fire licking at his nostrils, and the smoke constricting his lungs. He could remember the sight of the machine men advancing on his family, and right before the machines drew their weapons he could remember his father saying, “Run, my son, and may the proud name of Razormaw always bring you glory.” After that all he could remember were the distant screams of his family, the sound of steel, and the dank ((HUR HUR DANK)) scent of fresh blood mixing with dried sweat; the words of his father still fresh in his mind.

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So, I’m sure most of you already know that this past weekend I went to go visit the good Sir Kenny Best III.

What some of you might not know is that Diet Pepsi, in Arizona, is actually Mr. Pibb, and that the air in Pheonix perpetually smells of horse shit.  Seriously.  Everywhere we drove the cloud of aptly named “Poopy Smell” seemed to follow close behind; kind of like a bad cliché that you can’t seem to get rid of.

All bad things aside, the whole endeavor was actually quite enjoyable.  Sure, the drive was intensely long, but I kind of view it as one of those “Achievement Unlocked” deals where if you drive continously for over 6 hours you get yourself a nice gold star to put on your drivers license; right next to the Roadkill Maker and Tokyo Drifter stars.

Unfortunately I was too sidetracked with other goings on to get anything in the way of pictures, so without further ado here are the only pictures I managed to snag during the trip (all of which were taken in my car):

Myself in the foreground and Ryan Hoevors in the background.

Ryan taking a nap.

Ashley driving on the way back.

A shot of the ‘ol open road.

So the first night we got there we proceded to go out to dinner at Chili’s which went pretty well until Ryan decided to order some sort of cookie/icecream desert that had nuts on it.  Now, all would have been fine if Ryan had liked nuts on his desert, but since he preffered to eat desert sans the nuts he had to call out to the waitress who had already walked away from across the restaurant, “MISS, COULD YOU PLEASE HOLD THE NUTS”  I think it goes without saying that his sudden outburst elicited a good laugh from everyone at our table and some people in the surrounding area.  I could’ve sworn I even saw the waitress grin momentarily.

So after dinner, and another run in with the poopy smell we were off to Kenny’s house again for a rousing game of “Taboo” with a drinking game twist.  In a nutshell, if you say a taboo word while trying to get your partner to guess the word you have to take a shot for every taboo word you say.  I think it’s pretty safe to say I lost after having lost count of how many shots I had after about 5.  I definitely remember one round having to do a double-shot which was kinda harsh since it was good Patron Silver we were drinking.  Poor Ashley, who preffered Rum over Tequila had to take a few shots of Rum, which I imagine would be just as unforgiving.  So after playing Taboo for a while, and later switching to “Scene It” we decided to call it a night.

The next day was pretty uneventful.  We got to go see the clubhouse for the golf course Kenny lives on, and were eyeballed by the elderly people who frequented the place.  I mean, it was like we were lepper’s or something to them because most of the people that were eyeing us didn’t look very friendly.  After touring the facilities we had breakfast/lunch at IHOP, and uh, it was good.  Well, good except for the fact that I ordered Diet Pepsi, and I know I ordered Diet Pepsi, and the lady with pubic hair on her scalp brought me Mr. Pibb.  Without elaborating too much, our waitress was pretty ugly.  So later on we decided to head out to the very first Camelot Golfland ever built out in Tempe, AZ since Ryan works at the one in Anaheim (and we were promised discounts).  After a brisk drive we arived and proceded to merrymaking. We go-carted, lazer tagged, miniature golfed, and arcaded for all of 3 hours or so, and after Ryan met with the owner of the Camelot Golfland franchise we decided to head back to home base.

Once we got back I decided to show Kenny ‘Left 4 Dead’ to which he took a great liking.  So much so that I guess he’s going to buy it when he goes to work next, or something.  After shatting brix for an hour we moved to the giant TV to watch a couple episodes of South Park, and afterwards, went to sleep.

The next day we decided it was time to go, and with no poopy smell to be found, we agreed it was an optimal window of time to go seeing as it would have to work overtime to catch up with us in California.  Overall I think the trip was a great success and a learning experience.  The lesson learned, being, is to not wear shoes while driving long distance becuase it makes your foot hurt after a while, and it makes your feet smell horribly bad once you take them off.

Oh yeah, I promised you new music….

I LIED.

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So, how ’bout that new president (elect)?

I’m not racist, you just have an overactive imagination.

Glad that’s out of the way, now on to more pressing matters.

So I got Wrath of the Lich King along with the 11 million other lemmings today. I plan on hitting 80 ASAP, and it should be pretty easy….considering I’ve already done it once.

We finally got back to playing DnD, and I must say i’m thoroughly enjoying myself. The fighter class deals out a ton of damage, and my (orc) racial allows me to attack and use a healing surge at the same time once per battle. Although the racial is nice, i’m often the focal point of our attacking enemies, at least when Garrett doesn’t have them taunted, and I rely heavily on heals from Jeff and Garrett during longer fights.

I’m not sure what the barbarian class will entail once it’s released, but I’ll definitely have to give it a look-see once it drops *nudges Chase*

That’s about it for me this time.  New music next time, I promise.

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Just a short little update here.

The kind Sir Chase Super Chase was able to help me get that music player-majig up on my blog.  So now, you can listen to a rediculous variety of music.  I believe i’ve represented all the major music food groups; from classical to rap to rock to 90’s spanish electro to movie themes.  So if yer wonderin’ what mister Remy listens to when he’s hankerin’ for some ear food, well then look no further than at the top right corner of this page.

Also, Jeff, the last song is just for you.

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