the robots are coming to control your brain

weather it is through controlling the air that you breathe (read: bernoulli's principle, damn fluid dynamics, always gave me problems...) or melting your mind by forcing you to sit in front of the stupid box (yay for those cool looking 3D glasses), the robots are here to control everything. even now they are working to replace the very parts of your weak, fleshy body (another cool thing developed at my workplace). who knows? maybe we've already reached that technological singularity. don't get me wrong, its not that i dislike robots, they help me do many things. like break other robotic type machines. mmm, breaking machines...

so far the coolest thing about google wave is the firefly/serenity references. maybe its because i don't have that many people to collaborate with (read: no friends), but so far i really don't get what all the hype is about. i suppose if i had a D&D group to play with, such a forum would be very useful. we could use it to fight illithid (read: Mind Flayer) in the deep, shadowy, secret places under the earth. that would be fun, about as fun as fighting the devil himself. until then, though, i think i will side with the drow and pound it out on the football field.

and speaking of that beautiful sport, the time of year has come where college students play to make millionaires more money (note: not the institutions they actually play for). its the time of year where we celebrate our Savior's birth and we will be retreating to the land of enchantment. hopefully the two feet of snow that buried our nation's capital doesn't follow us.

peace,
ko

crazy drivers

when i first moved to the DC area, i was blown away by the traffic. seriously, 4+ hours to travel 15 miles? however, after enough time and lots of hard lessons, i was able to learn the correct ways to transverse the diverse (you see what i did there?) pathways of the district. there is, however, one thing that i will never be able to get used to; car fires. we have a car on fire every day here in the district. an exaggeration you may think? hardly. let me give you two small examples to provide but a taste of the insanity that is driving here in our capital. it is something only delicious food can alleviate.

thankfully my wife is a crazy good cook. and by 'crazy good', i mean she is certifiably insane. behold, her entire weekend:

peace,

ko

you know what would be really cool?

If you could crash things for a living. Wait... no, if you could crash cars for a living! Wait, wait, wait, no... I got it, if you could crash HELICOPTERS for a living.

yep, that would be really cool. then you could be featured on sites such as engaget, popular science, redorbit and NASA. if only you could be that guy, like one of the guys seen in the video. that sure would be sweet.


peace,
ko

married games

the buckeyes beat michigan, won the big ten outright and are going to the rose bowl. the universe is in perfect harmony. time to look for other things besides football till january.

that's why friday night is going to be game night for chinh and i going forward. i'm not sure what games we will be playing, but hopefully none of them will be played in divorce mode. this is actually a small *cough* problem that i have; i'm incredibly competitive, and this competitiveness tends to make me hard to play with. this is especially true if you might be married to me, thus being forced to endure my unpredictable bouts of competitiveness. so... you know... watch out for that. on another note, we also have a fairly regular exercise routine that we are implementing soon. this is not in reaction to the things we might be eating, more because it feels like the right thing to do. well, i guess i lied a little, this way i get to eat more chipotle burritos. yum.

i often work with high speed cameras in my job and you can film some pretty cool stuff with technology these days. unfortunately, i wasn't smart enough to start my own television show or film the invisible forces of nature, but i'll keep working at it. if nothing else, i'm learning a lot of cool techniques while unlocking the secrets of the universe (read: simple physics, aka. engineering). maybe i could share my knowledge of physics with future presidents, being that i live so close to the whitehouse and all. till then, i'll keep finding approximate solutions to exact problems.

peace,
ko

so many video games...

xbox (aka. microsoft, aka. the evil empire) has found so many ways to extort more money from my pocket. from quests to defeat dragons to entertaining a crowded club, nothing is beyond their power. now, with the most recent update to xbox live, they are exerting their mighty power over your very procreation. what a crazy world we live in.

i have often thought about the problem of how to power a nation. while i think that water, wind and solar (heck, i came from new mexico) all have a place in the grid, there are probably some other options that will have to be considered. however, converting russian nukes to energy probably wasn't first on my list. that being said, i'll take the energy wherever i can get it, just find a place to dump it for the next million years (note: new mexico is off limits). truth be told, i don't know what the answer is, i just hope it turns out to be the right decision.

i'm full football mode now that its officially hate week. having lived in the state up north (and making some wonderful friends up there), i can say with no reservations that i hope we beat the crap out of michigan. o, and yay for the rose bowl.

peace,
ko

sickness

i have a cold and that is the suck. it is the suck in the sense that i almost never get sick, but when i do it is usually painful. plus, it gives my relatives an excuse to pick on my habits saying that those habits are the reason i'm sick while totally discounting the majority of time which i feel fine. awesome. even my boss is getting into the act which dissolved into the following link being sent. and, no, for those who are wondering i don't have a third nipple. anyway, this means that i will spend my day not watching the buckeyes (thanks big ten network) and looking at giant trees and lego kitchens.

npr is something i listen too every morning. i find it more intelligent (usually) than the other talk shows that are on, with reports such on everything from faith to ghosts. i don't mind that listening to such a station puts me into the 'old' category, generally its the only way that i get to hear the news, and news in such a way that someone isn't shouting at me. don't get me wrong, though, i am conservative. i just think the main thing holding back the conservative movement is the republican party and the far right.

but enough of my babbling, i just received windows 7 in the mail! time to update my machine, i've heard that this version is not 'the suck'.


peace,
ko

games

after a visit to our local lego store, i was once again bitten with the desire to collect a complete star wars army. it was a surreal experience in the sense that i saw the same (literally) toys i used to play with when i was a lad. and this experience teleported me to a different time, when i might imagine myself somewhere in the various stories that these wonderful tiny distractions would provide, living a 'normal life' in the sci-fi universe. i think this has given me a new idea when it comes to pumpkin carving this year.

fun. unlike some of the other sci fi distractions that have come out recently. well, maybe 'not fun' is a little strong, maybe 'price gouging' is a better way to describe it. i mean, there are much better things to spend your money on. geeze, i miss gaming.

finally, it is football season and that means my nights are pretty much shot, although i will be making a few exceptions. usually i like to watch the games at home where i can make a fool of myself and most people won't hear about it. recently, however, i've been looking for a local hangout to watch 'the game', mostly because the big ten network is 'the suck' and is not shown here on the east coast. hopefully, though, the rest of the dc metro area will not be subject to my groans.

peace,
ko

better visit while you can

we just got back from the motherland (fatherland?) and it seems that we visited it just in time. you see, there are certain parties that wish the lovely swiss alps would just disappear. what a crazy world we live in... of course, we were able to miss the painful loss that shouldn't have been which was also an added bonus and returned in time to see a much happier game. its a testament to how much i love football that i speak of it after such a trip. in all seriousness though, this was one of the best trips ever and i hope to post pictures soon. if you have a chance, you should visit too. one word of warning though, it is a bit expensive. if you live in the DC area, however, this is obviously not a problem.

we are looking to get a ps3, it being a great option if you want a blue ray player, not to mention being pretty popular now that it got cheaper and shed a few pounds. it might be a little much for us in the sense that we have a Wii, xbox 360, ps2, psp, 2x DS, 3x laptops, desktop... but, in our defense, there is no blue ray player in that list. plus, we would be able to play fat princess.

and, finally, i still think mark may is a moron.


peace,
ko

thinking about weddings or...

...how i learned to stop worrying and enjoy the ball and chain.

i wrote this a while ago, but never posted. please enjoy...

given that it is coming up on the second anniversary of my tricking my wife into saying 'i do' (and that we just recently got our wedding pictures), i have been thinking about weddings and such. maybe we should have had the wedding in albuquerque, it is after all the best place to live. or maybe we should have served some different food too our guests, i mean who doesn't like burgers and fries?

in the end, though, we had one kick a$$ wedding, and i wouldn't change a thing.

back to the present...

we have moved to a new state, a new set of jobs, a new adventure. that is part of the reason that i had not posted in so long. prior too and during the move, i oscillated between huge excitement and debilitating depression, partly because we were leaving such good friends and partly because i didn't really know what i was getting into. it is this fear of the unknown in every new situation, be it a new school or a new job that gives one pause and can destroy any good thing. fortunately, we are nothing but happy here. come visit, we'll show you.

my job is fun, rewarding and generally 'the awesome', read more about it here, chinh will find out more about her job in september. the one thing that is terrible here is the traffic. 45 min is a good commute here, and coming from a place where my work was 3 mi away that is a tough pill to swallow. that being the case, it certainly seems like there are more things to drive to.

o, and super grandmart is much better than h-mart.

i hope to post more in the future. till then...

peace,
ko

tiger resistant laptops

i have to get a new computer (laptop) for work, and i am lucky enough that it will be ordered for me. unfortunately, i immediately thought of my problems with various 'dell' s and begun to quake with fear. on the other hand, maybe i will get a tiger resistant laptop. either way, things could be a lot worse, i mean keanu reeves could be destroying one of my favorite series of all time. now that would be hard to live with...

in other news, my phone is 'the awesome'. "its just an iphone" you say, "you sound like a fan boy". well, does your phone have a super sweet HP calculator? i think not. i mean, if there is anything that will make my father love a phone, it is this app. though, to be honest, i do think that at&t is a pile of epic fail. its just that verizon would fail in so many more ways...

and, finally, i have built a new computer. it is also 'the awesome'. i will try to post pictures when we are settled in our new place.

o, you didn't know i was moving? you must not be part of the 'cool club'.


peace,
ko

ps. i should have built my computer like this... i am not as uber awesome as this...

pps. this is an awesome shirt and i think it sums up my general feeling about social networking sites

evidently everything's emerging

and the things that are coming to light are quite impressive indeed. i did not get to go to this year's elitist gathering of the electronic upper echelon (also known as E3), but i still wish to draw your attention to some of the more interesting reports that have come out recently.
first, for those who warhammer 40K means something, there is a new game that is coming out that takes a drastically different look at the warhammer universe. no longer are you controlling large companies of deadly troops, no sir. four will do just nicely.
second, i love rock band, and i have a turntable at home. logic says that the combination of the two will bring me joy unmatched. lets hope that such logic is sound.
third, for those who can't get enough halo, a pair of games to help further satiate your hunger. hopefully these will do better than the middling 'halo wars'.
fourth, and finally microsoft gets rid of something that was a bad idea from the start. so you want me to take my real money, exchange it for some exotic currency you have dreamed up and then give you that said exotic currency in return for a game? right...
fifth, another title from our friends at nintendo is trying to encourage us to use that lump of gray matter perched on top of our heads. next your going to tell me they want us to exercise these fragile husks, o wait...
sixth and lastly, i think i have touched on this before, but i think that a game where you are encouraged to live with your consequences is just awesome.

yay, all done.

peace,
ko

results

the results are in, and the long and short of it is that i achieved my desired time.1:45:02, which equates to an 8.02 per mile pace. i don't know if i could run it any faster if i wanted too, but we'll see. half marathons are much more reasonable to train for when compared to full marathons. in the end, i'm just glad that my timing chip worked because it didn't work for the detroit marathon and i had to get my results added by sending in pictures of me crossing the finish line.

other results are coming in as well. some are the result of someone accidentally posting something they shouldn't. let this be a lesson boys and girls, if you are working on a list of the u.s. nuclear sites don't post such information on the internet. people will find it. i guess this whole thing is a little interesting for me in the sense that i am fascinated by how much is recorded in this current time. i mean, a bridge can't even collapse or a plane land in a river without a couple of cameras pointed their way. i mean, what is facebook but a giant stalker organization? ok... maybe its not that sinister, but it certainly could be used as such. i know i don't have to go to any high school reunions any more...

finally, looks like the results are not quite in for FFXIV, but the 360 seems to have a fighting chance. too bad for sony...


peace,
ko

please read the reviews

before you buy anything. for instance, you could pass up this beauty on amazon thinking 'i don't need another wolf shirt', but if you read the reviews you could become better informed to the lurking awesomeness that lies within such a product. and, don't think that this thinking exists for awesome wolf shirts, at one point earlier this year most 'gamers' would have declared the death of the ps3 (yours truly included). this has been since soundly crushed by the current release of something infamous and the upcoming 'all grown up' game. that's right children, you have to read all the reviews in order to know what you are getting into.

in other news, it seems like i'm not the only one who thinks espn sucks. now, the new york post isn't what i would like to call an 'upstanding media organization', and has been known to sensationalize various articles. However, they are dead on when it comes to the article in question (of course this particular instance is the exception to the rule. that makes sense, right? ...).

i am working on a funny comic, but this week will be really busy. sunday i'm running for 13.1 miles. yes, it makes me nauseous too when i think of it.


peace,
ko

other words

another night slips away/ in other words, i should say/ there are other words, you should say/ there are other words...

a co-worker was let go the other day. this is neither a radical statement, in this day and age, nor is it necessarily an implication about the current state of the company i work for (since my co-worker was a temp.). that being said, it is interesting to see the reactions around the office, how certain conversations are missed, how there is an overall different 'tone'. one gets used to the idea of having people around and therefore we do not sometimes say the words we want to say. because, after all, there is always tomorrow, right? i guess not. i recently found out about this 'third place' that we sometimes create at work. needless to say, such changes in the landscape of people around us has a significant affect on said 'third place'.

at least my co-worker will no longer have to suffer through the michigan commute. i wish him all the best.

i want to say more, but tomorrow comes quickly over the horizon, and there is much still to do.

leave it for another day then, there will always be another day, another night... don't you think?

peace,
ko

embrace your inner nerd

only an engineer could get excited over sites such as this and this. well, that's not quite true. but, i do know that all the bar charts, color graphs, visual comparisons, etc. excite a part of my inner core not usually bathed by warmth. its dark and sickly place, inhabited by creatures that have not seen the light of day for many millennium. i don't know why such beasts would be excited by the performances of new technology, maybe they have watched too much ghost in the shell. they certainly not interested in the recent stories losely connected to their ancient past.

i have recently made a purchase that i only have slight buyers regret for. 'slight' in the sense that there is a digital version coming out soon. that, and the same french studio is going to convert a favorite set of books into something else i can waste money on. maybe this will convince old george to finish his latest book... anyway, since i also got this in the deal and both for under the price for one of it new (which is no longer in print), i think i did alright.

finally, it seems my favorite gadget is getting cheaper. maybe chinh will buy one as well. hope springs eternal.


peace,
ko

upgrayedd...

...for a double dose of my pimp love. if you have not seen the movie that corresponds to that quote, you are doing the world a great disservice. i mean that in all seriousness. it is one of the main reasons that i avoid using 'txt', 'thx', 'lol', etc. to express myself. (that, and my genetic makeup has a deep seated love of the english language, despite my many attempts to evacuate that part of my psyche...).

speaking of good movies, i loved the new star trek. i found it a refreshing combination of the old formula and innovative thinking, joined in such a way to keep me thirsting for more. not only this, but the casting was fantastic. who could have thought that my own simon pegg could make such a good scotty? amazing.

anyway, the reason i started this post is that i plan to 'upgrayedd' my computer soon, a task that leaves my palms sweaty both with fear and anticipation. my brother in law mentioned this site to guide me in the ways of the force, and i don't know how i ever got along without it. however, should the worst happen, know that i love you, and our separation from the web won't be forever.

peace,
ko

ps. still working on some new drawings...

the joys of modern technology

i can't really imagine a world where one would have to drive, or walk, from business to business, handing out paper resumes. sure, for the occasional summer job, the time changing oil or cleaning hallways as you realize that maybe school is not such a bad thing after all, such a method of finding a job might be well and good. however, with the advent of technology, this practice has certainly become antique. still, there is something to be said about handing an breathing person a physical resume. it implies, if nothing else, that some stranger has given you the slightest acknowledgment of your own existence, if only for long enough to drop it in the trash when you are not looking. technology has changed all that.

working in the car industry, especially now, you are even more aware of how fleeting one's job is and the soul crushing feeling of filling out countless online applications. makes you want to do something else with all the vehicles scattered about you. that, or look for another line of work. this brings us to the sad little 'comic' above. remember the mantra, 'just get the product out' and keep your critiques to the more helpful. such as, how the heck do i make simple straight lines in photoshop?!?!! i want a tablet...

speaking of things i desire, this was just announced. between that beta and blood bowl's beta, i could become a beta machine. now, to slit that alpha male's throat and take leadership of this pack. that's how it works, right?

peace,
ko

a lego for every day

chinh showed me this site (she usually is the first to notice something 'cool') and i thought that i would share it with you. the dedication that such an endeavor requires is beyond me (obviously) but it certainly has sparked my interest and made me want to strive for 'more'. hopefully, you will reap the benefits like the good Lord has taught us.

oddly enough, i recognized many of those legos, and it got me to thinking how could i better use the things around me? well, i (and maybe you) are in luck. can't run to the bank to deposit a check? have a camera phone? you are in luck. this is the kind of thing that while i was a young pup, playing with said legos, i thought could never exist. this is not to say we have reached some kind of promised land as far as technology goes, however it is nice that there are those who are working hard to get us there. now if only i could get my coffee machine to do my laundry...

i finished the blood bowl beta the other day. 'finished' is another way to say; 'the beta was closed (ended) and now i feel a gaping hole in my chest that longs for some sweet nectar to restore its fire.' needless to say, its not as bad as some people have it, but i do hope that such delights will be returned to me soon. between that and starcraft 2, this year could shape out to be very exciting game wise. till then, i'll just have to chew on less desired cuts of meat.

finally, if a company is failing, they should be allowed to fail. i, as a taxpayer, own planes, trains and now automobiles (and of course, banks). but, i do understand the moves that need to be made. after all, i am a conservative and a pragmatist, and that isn't the same as being a republican. so, with a shrug, i say lets see what the next 100 days gets us. who knows? things might actually get better. hopefully they don't get any worse...

peace,
ko

baby steps

that's what i feel like i am taking in this whole 'photoshop' thing. that's ok though, because i'm spending more time grinding it out on blood bowl than i am drawing. which is a shame, since in the end i feel like i've failed myself, cheated you and done the world a disservice by not trying my best. o well, chalk it up to immaturity. i have acquired some new tools though, maybe i will try them out soon. if you have been following at all, you know that i have several things on my plate.

tycho sums up my general distrust/dislike/disinterest and any other 'dis' you can think of when it comes to forums. i have talked about this before (again using someone else idea's to explain better than i could ever hope too) and i can't help but think that this is a losing battle. maybe not even that; its not that i'm lazy, i just don't care. and this something that i'm going to have to work through.

short post tonight. more later this week.

peace,
ko

quick update

i don't think my love of all things 'nerd' is a secret. and if it is, well now you know, and knowing is half the battle. thank you g.i. joe! however, it seems that i am not alone. that such a man would play d&d is nothing but validation for me, and for that i love him. is that bad? its platonic love, i promise. that bald head is pretty attarctive though...

but, enough of that, let me get back to my original point. about 'knowing' and 'half the battle' and such. well, it seems that in addition to being made into a live action movie, g.i. joe has another job. that's right, he's too much of the perfect soldier to be displayed on the big screen. he has to protect freedom on all fronts.

peace,
ko

the new addiction

for the past couple of days, my schedule has been as such:

7.00 am: leave for SAE Congress in Detroit
4.45 pm: return from SAE Congress
5.45 pm: finish shower after running 3 - 6 mi (length of run will obvious shift this time)
6.00 pm: leave to go study for PE
8.00 pm: return from studying and eat
9.00 pm: work on the computer, catch up on emails, etc.
10.00 pm: play blood bowl till my eyes bleed

the last entry is familiar to me although it has come in some other forms (such as this), but the effects of it is generally the same. i'd like to think that i get all the important stuff done first, but such a schedule leaves little time for something i love. like sleep.

however, i'm not going to talk about video games this post. no, i'm going to talk about an earlier addictions. there has been a plethora of information coming out of buckeye land, and it seems mostly good. so much information and openess that they are once again letting you come down on the field (for a small fee, of course). i, for one, are out of said cash until further notice, what with being hospitalized and all at some time in the distant past. i am, of course, incredibly excited about seeing what this new season will bring us. i have already decided that anything short of a mNC would be a dissapointment. too soon? i don't care, deal with it.

sorry, maybe no comic till next week. i got a stomach ache from something i saw....

peace,
ko

just get the product out the door

i dislike that phrase. i always thought (and were instructed) that if you were going to do something, you should do it right. you were demanded to do it right. and yet, i think i now understand it. the silly comic you see took entirely too long and is far form where i wanted it to be, but its finished. one thought i am going to keep in my head from now on is that it is better to get something out than nothing at all. plus, i got a lot more experience in layers, effects and such. i hope you like it, and even if you don't, i hope you keep your comments constructive. i hope to be doing this so long that you're going to want to eventually force me out the door. bumbling and old as i may be...

with all the news coming out, you may have missed this. i think its a good idea, and i work for a car company. a car company that isn't doing so hot. i think that its long overdue and i think that it will fail. but, i hope that it doesn't. after all, a previous great revolution involved trains right? or, we could use the two legs God gave us (with a little help of course). speaking of fast trains and unique technology, you may have also missed the plethora of news about this. one of my top games of all time, if only that ps3 came in an english version... ahh, but i supposed with all the money i'm losing it's better that it doesn't.

finally, can we say 'conservation of momentum'? i hope the news wasn't a shock to any of you out there...

peace,
ko

ps. i've been selected as a blood bowl beta tester, i'll let you know how it goes

give the people what they want

my own mother didn't like the way i drew eva. i guess that just goes to show i don't know when to stop. hey, it worked well enough in getting me a super sweet wife. o well, hopefully some of you out there had a different opinion. (just kidding with you mom, you always taught me the best sarcasm)

while waiting for me to slog through another project, i though i would upload what i have finished so far. the working title is 'the adventures of brown bear'. enjoy. or don't, you'll be in good company.

future projects: hera (you don't want to mess with her), falling cherry blossoms (single frame comic), mac and pc (three frame comic), the promise of 'on live' (two frame comic), images for iphone app (single images)

looks like i have a fair amount of work to do. i should take a day off to get some of it done. that and stop crashing those castles...

peace,
ko

learning about cupcakes

well, maybe not cupcakes, but at least we are learning about something involving food. from personally enjoying said sandwiches, i can tell you that they are by far the best meal between two pieces of bread that you could possibly have. in fact, its at least in the top ten meals of all time for me. that's how you know its 'for real'. similar to those in the article, i have taken my own spin on this traditional-colonial dish, adding a bit of this and that. however, nothing i could ever do could top mrs. nguyen's recipe. it is truly a work of art.

unlike my darling to the left, which is not a work of art. yes, i know there are areas that look unfinished and sloppy, i don't care. right now i'm teaching myself photoshop, so i suppose a few errors are to be expected. that and i am trying to flush out the characters in my mind. for instance, does lancelott like blue shirts? does eva wear lipstick? is that cupcake full of poison? you know, the normal character development. in addition to the acceptance of putting out work that i don't feel is 'perfect', i'm trying to be laid back about the entire process and not force anything. so if any of you are tracking said progress out there, come back every week and there should be something new and 'improved' for you too see. in the meantime, satiate your cravings by following this. insane...

following up on that link, seems like some retailers are not doing so hot. i have a significant amount of a&f merchandise, primarily gifted to me, and i can say that on the whole its not too bad. then i look at the prices for my shirts with holes in them and something inside of me dies. that's ok though, i didn't need that bit of compassion anyway. besides, i will always have tiny ninjas to teach me things like compassion. who knew that ninjas actually liked pandas?

and, finally, i know that this is not news to most of you who follow our Lord, but i just wanted to let you know that dark days are coming.


peace,
ko

some explaining to do

maybe you noticed. maybe you didn't, and maybe you don't care. but, i thought i might explain the pictures that will (and are) coming to this site. first off, i want to make it perfectly clear, i never took steroids *wags finger*. this guy obviously did. i did, however, start to make good on the promise i made to myself a long time ago. the picture on the right is lancelott, in all of his photoshop 6.0 glory. it took me at least an hour, if not more, to produce that marginal character. i hope that further attempts not only look better, but also take significantly less time. all in all, i'm not hating the result completely.... yet. ask me tomorrow.

this does, however, bring up a good point. i'm developing a girl character and need name ideas. your input is appreciated (read: desperately needed). it is, after all, not a bad time to come up with some neat graphics to spice up one's site. lets say you want to learn about inflation, a neat flow chart with snazzy graphics might help. or, how about 27 diagrams, images and such showing where all the money went, would that hit the spot? i thought so.

so keep those ideas coming, and stay tuned. maybe something sweet will show up.

peace,
ko

ps. espn, you can't deny the magic any longer

day in and day out

its the same old grind, another day another 75 cents. makes you with you were working on something 'cool', like this. i see a lot of future for this kind of device, and the video shows the first, painful, baby steps into the brave new world.

other than that, not much to report. more snow for the midwest. love the spring out here...


peace,
ko

we, who are about to die...

who knew that crawfish races were such an intricate endeavor that it would require several engineers to come up with rules summed up in the following diagram:

yes, this truly is progress. when one can dream up games involving the use small animals, shortly before consuming said animals, then one has achieved a level of sophistication and civilization that will be studied in text books for centuries to come. and, why stop at small animals? why not also take a harmless child's game and bend it to the will of one of the original hardcore shooters? yep, you guessed it, contra.

news of this magnitude might kill a lesser publication, but that is not the case here. no, dear readers, we make like andrew bird and soldier on.

in the past, we have might poked fun at the plight of those friends who might own a ps3. this overly expensive, non game carrying device that screams elitism has long been the butt of many jokes. however, a new day might be dawning, and it should strike fear into the hearts of microsoft and sony alike. the upside of such a system is obvious and mindblowing... although, i would tend to agree with those checking for scars on wrists before crowning a new messiah, but i've always been a bit of a thomas. the problem that comes with everything from vehicle simulations to online videogames is the amount of stuff you have to cram down that pipe, the bigger the pipe is required to become. a smaller pipe only leads to sadness and shit everywhere, and unfortunately a small pipe is all that most are available to afford. like i said, if the technology can overcome this semmingly impossible obstical, all the better. personally, i'm going to wait to crown a champion. after all, this isn't the first time we've heard this song and dance.

sheading the nerdy image

that's right boy, i'm making like the syfy channel (not to be confused with the scifi channel) and changing up my image to something that truly reflects my life and personality. from now on, 50 and i will be sipping our own personalized drinks down at the club before we go out and put some blood on the sand. it will truly be ill...

...and by that, i mean i will be sick. seriously scifi? that's as lame as petsmart (pronounced 'pets *pause* mart') changing their name to petsmart (pronounced 'pet' *pause* 'smart', notice how they are both spelled the same way....). this was one of the integral parts of my childhood. i learn wisdom and courage from jean-luc picard, i enjoyed comedy and laughing at one's self from a guy and two robots, i watched immortals battle and men make giant leaps. then you go and drop this on me? i guess its high scool all over again and you've gotten too cool to hang out anymore.

its cool, i'll just go kill zombies on my xbox (sorry ps3 friends).

and, in conclusion, it seems apple has done at least one thing right.

peace,
ko

evil

no aig employees here, just giving up to the latest local trend. to be honest, though, i feel like a small part of my soul was ripped from its cradle nestled deep withing the beating warmth of my chest, carved out by own weakness in resisting the pressures of my peers. looking through that lens, i guess if i had a multi-million bonus coming, i would do the same thing... then again, i still have at least part of my soul remaining to warm this broken husk, to direct me in the very most basics of 'right' and 'wrong'.

the other day i had the opportunity to regret the purchase of my awesome, l337, super sexy car. and, while this new contender is certainly doing well, i still have no regrets. i would, however, say that if one was looking for a good hybrid that this new insight is a good bet. this does, however, create a small conundrum when one works for another automaker who produces a popular hybrid. ahh, well, strong competition is good, right?

in other news, for those who know castle crashers, this is where they grew up:


peace,
ko

why do churches fall down?

this is on the wall of a church in lausanne, switzerland. pretty, yes (larger picture available by clicking on said image)? well, maybe not pretty but at least it seems interesting. you might wonder why they have such a diagram, with its various arrows (forces and moments) drawn in a seemingly random way. if you could read french, you might gather that the church is falling down and the diagram is discussing the various forces that the arches of the church must support. after long moments of staring at the picture, marveling at its beauty, it's genius, you might wonder why someone would have taken a picture of a diagram of an arch. well, don't look at me, seems like people are taking pictures of all sorts of crazy stuff these days. turns out that if your are taking the picture, that's manufacturing. if you are sending the picture, that's distributing. and, if she is under 18, that's called child pornography. crazy, indeed. i'd much rather look at force diagrams, but both pictures might make you think of falling churches.

in other news, related only in the sense that it also involves engineering, the new insight looks freaking cool. don't believe me? seems like you'd be in the minority.


peace,
ko

america, where you're punished for saving...

(...and get a bail-out if you spent too much on your house or are the head of a major bank)

i just finished my taxes, can you tell? if it was uncle sam's goal for me to buy a house in the next couple of years, he failed. he failed real bad. well, old boy, i hope you enjoy spending my cash bailing out your buddies and those 'poor' people who did not bother to read the contracts they were signing.

in other news, watchmen came out this weekend and has received mixed reviews. although i have not seen the movie, i think that if you enjoyed the 300, you will have no problem with watchmen. what i find really exciting/interesting about these type of movies is the physics that go into it. yep, you heard me, physics. i watched a special on einstein the other night and was struck how many ideas were born from daydreaming (read: 'thought experiments', but evidently you need to be a great physicist in order to call your wandering imagination a thought exeriment). the special theory of relativity, energy is related to mass, the curvature of space and time, all these were born of this imagination. so remember kids, the next time your mother or father tell you to put down that comic book, tell them you are studying your physics.

in other, slightly related, news, it seems that it has also been known that gamer's faces are much different than everyone elses. surprised? don't be.

finally, there is some more fun coming to us from the evil empire (read: espn). this is a bad idea, reeeeeeeal bad.

edit: evidently doing drugs affects your ability to game. surprised? i thought not, but the idea is still a very cool one.

peace, ko

bumps and bruises...

there i was, hitting the jump perfectly, 160 degrees though my 180 degree old man trick when i realized that i was not going to make it. naturally, i stick out right had to catch my fall, breaking my wrist. fortunately, i write with my right hand... next time i'm going to use my rear to absorb the impact. on the flip side, maurice and i can spend more time blogging now. he seems to have matured quite a bit, i wish i could have seen that kind of progress in my own life.

all the best, old buckeye, all the best. i hope you continue turn a new leaf. me, on the other hand, have been cursed with "the knack" and therefore am doomed for life. fortunately, my mother did not give up on me, molding me into a human being capable of interacting with others without immediately being stoned. well, not immediately anyway...

on the flip side, i've found a comic that explains my relationship with chinh:

peace,
ko

continuing economically (or a discussion on videogames)

car companies are doing poorly, like everyone else, but it seems like there are some bright spots. hopefully this means that i can sometime move back to the buckeye state.

but i don't want to talk about that, instead lets talk about killzone 2. overall, the game has gotten great reviews. what i have gleaned from interviews and most of the reviews, you will find that visually killzone2 is considered a great game. story wise, it has some ground to make up, that and some people have been saying that the ps3's controllers are not made for fps. i tend to take all reviews with a grain of salt, positive or negative.

that being said... basically the makers of killzone2 have run into, once again, the halo problem. how do you create depth in an fps? gears of war (1 and 2) certainly didn't do it and it seems like killzone2 might fall short as well. conversely, the halo franchise is so rife with spinoff options that they are even creating a starcraft based game (halo wars, i've played the demo and it is a lot of fun. the controls are terrible for this type of game, but still its fun), a prequel halo3:ODST and who knows what else. while none of the sequels (except maybe Halo 3) is expected to match the success of the first, the game as a whole has been proven to be able to be stretched well beyond its initial release. this is also what made (makes) the final fantasy series so compelling. fairly consistently they are able to create believable worlds with rich back-story that most players don't even scratch and the 'hard core' tend to devour. (hence the ph34r of the franchise going to microsoft) the problem now for other fps developers is that halo has already been there, done that. without a significant leap forward, everything else will be considered cliche.

will killzone2 sell ps3's? will the game itself sell? i, for one, hope so because sony is in it deep and i would hate to have microsoft be the only developer for this type of game. furthermore, i do think that it does look stunning and i hope it is a fun game to play (sad that there is no co-op mode).

why bring this all up? because i have become addicted to my new super sweet game.


peace,
ko

the problem with people

let me preface this with saying that my religion requires that i love people... all people, no matter how terrible, nasty or annoying they are. this is because all people are made in the image of God, and being so they have intrensic worth. that being said...

i have never made my love of penny-arcade a secret. they are often coarse, irreverent, and generally abrasive. that being said, i think they have a lot of smart things to say. specifically, i completely believe/endorse John Gabriel's greater internet theory:


never mind the 'unreal tournament' part, the equation is what i want you to focus on. if you have spent any time online, any time at all you have run into the above individual. it's not that these people are inherently bad, if you examine the equation carefully you will notice that input 'A' is as normal as you or me. it is the addition of 'A, B and C' that creates the result 'D'. observe my most recent run-in with result D and realize why I avoid most online forums. (side note: if you don't have enough time to scroll to the end of the conversation, know that it ended well) this is why i find the following video both refreshing/validating, please take the time to view here. note: he gave killzone 2 a 5 out of possible 5!!!1!

penny-arcade has talked about this kind of reaction before:this kind of insight gets me to thinking... why was 6 afraid of 7? because 7 ate 9? seems to me that seven is the one to watch... or maybe 8 because he just apparently just stood around and watched the whole thing happen. i am, however, fairly certain that 7 can't ever become 9... unless of course he ate 2, but then he'd really just be a sum and not really a 9... unless i have couple of beers, then there are lots of 9s... or maybe after 5 drinks a few beers then 7 might get a little 6 that night... i could go on, but i think you get the idea.

needless to say, out of the hundreds (millions) of opinions out there, only a few are worth hearing. this, of course, brings up the question; why do so many people think their opinions are so important that everyone should know their inner most thoughts? the answer is that we (and by 'we' i mean the current generation of twenty something year olds and younger) were raised by hippies and children of hippies, and thus were raised to believe they lie that we are all special. yes, as stated before we are all made in the image of God, but to also quote a recent movie, when everyone is special, then no one is. all this means that although one might be a fantastic artist, mathematician, burger flipper, engineer, taxi driver, etc. it does not mean that your opinon on anything from video games to college football is relevant or wanted. translation: you are not special enough that everyone should hear your every thought. this is the reason i find 'twitter' so distrubing... but i digress.

note: in all this negativity, i would like to again bring up the ending of the video i directed you too above where steve invited people to an inteligent conversation. i also believe, and hope that this is possible.

in other news, our basketball team keeps doing well.

peace,
ko

girls and video games

chinh is addicted to castle crashers. she will play for hours, the same level over and over again, just to level up her character. she plays with or without me, to continue the story and to find new weapons. i love it. i love it primarily because this is not our relationship (picture c/o penny-arcade):
or, more specifically, the roles are reversed. envy me, my friends.

in other news, nader abdallah, besides being the only Palestinian (i think) in college fbs, is an american bada55. just ask the boys over at our honor defend. he's won an 'award' and stuff. but seriously, i love his story. everything this country is all about.

finally, our buckeyes are not doing so great on the hard court. short story, we need to beat michigan tomorrow. if nothing else, beating michigan again will feel good.

peace,
ko

basketball season

with football over, now starts the long wait. while we wait for the harvest season, we have a nice distraction that's played on a hardcort. this is basketball. and even though the buckeyes look like a long shot to make the big dance, it is our duty too root our beloved bucks. (the boys over at eleven warriors seem to think we'll get in if we are in the top 5 in our conference)

that being said, i'm excited about next year. with lebron in cleats, who wouldn't be?


peace,
ko

let me start of by apologizing

yes, i know. i have been bad. i have not posted and that is number one sin of all blogs, be they large or small, well read or mine. i apologize and ask your forgiveness. i hope that you don't start fearing me because of our lack of contact. as smart people point out, that would be stupid. we are clearing out our space here at lancelot, though i guess we should have started in the kitchen. maybe we will get back there eventually, we are the kings and queens of organization.

in other news, this is the time to buy a car. most of you know that i work in the auto industry and have heard my opinion on modes of transportation, and for the rest of you who have been living in caves know that the auto industry is struggling. i took this to heart (see picture), and my family evidently did as well. three new cars in one year? crazy... be jealous.

of course, you could always buy a tablet and crayon physics instead (it would only be marginally less expensive).

finally, i love this house and you should too.


peace,
ko