The Wind Waker

2003.03.31

I picked up "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" last week. So far I've probably put about four hours into the game, which isn't much, but that doesn't make the game any less amazing. The biggest accomplishment is simply the artistic style.

While most male prepubescent gamers tend to be excited by realistic graphics, scantily clad women, and bloody dismemberment, Zelda is clearly made for those of us with slightly more mature taste. The game looks and feels entirely like a cartoon, while almost completely avoiding that horrible "3D cartoon character" feeling. The cel shading used in this game is completely convincing, mostly because it doesn't surround every object with a thick black line.

I'll most likely post a full review of the game once I've completed it. Until then, I look forward to every new environment the game has to offer. It's wonderful to get away from reality!

New remix today!

Time Travel

2003.03.28

'Time Traveler' Busted for Insider Trading

What a wonderful excuse! Not only does he admit to trading stocks with knowledge of their results, he says it's perfectly legal because he's a time traveler! It's amazing that no one has thought of this before.

How would we ever know if someone were a time traveler though? What if this guy actually is a time traveler? His story is so ridiculous that it could never possibly be believed by anyone with half a brain. It's precisely this effect which makes time travel possible, even today. Time travelers could be walking among us all the time, making changes to our history which we cannot perceive, since we will never know a different result. I remember hearing a theory once that the universe exists as one four dimensional object, with its entire history at any point in time locked. Time travelers can never actually change the past, because they are always a part of it.

Give it some thought. This theory will screw around with your mind even more than a temporal paradox.

Interesting

2003.03.27

While watching tonight's horrible episode of Enterprise, CityTV ran one of their "irrelevant interviews with people on the street" segments. There was a young woman, probably about my age, going on about how Bush is wrong, and that war isn't going to solve this problem because it has never solved anything in the past.

I guess she isn't Jewish.

It's simply not possible to argue with this level of ignorance. It's just not.

Laughing Stock

2003.03.26

Every time I see Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, I laugh a little more. Being only twenty one years of age, my entire political life has been dominated by a single leader, although I use the term loosely. Chretien is an embarrassment. It's as simple as that.

Whether or not you agree with the war in Iraq, America is Canada's best friend any way you slice it. If your friends get into a fight, you get behind them, even if they are wrong. That's simply what friends do. Chretien and his sad group of Liberal lackeys don't care about such things however, since they're more interested in voicing their anti-American sentiments in public, then defending their statements and choices by saying Canada is an independent country and can do as it pleases.

Canada really isn't independent though is it? Without the Americans, Canada would crumble under the weight of its moral superiority as fast as a speeding bullet. Without the Americans, our economy is nothing. Without the Americans, we are defenseless. Without the Americans, our country is nothing.

Were something disastrous to happen here, Americans would be stretching out their hands to help before Ottawa woke up in the morning. Chretien's got his head so far up his ass, that lump in his throat's his nose. Everyone knows it but the Liberal party of Canada and the leftists who grovel at their feel. As former Prime Minister Mulroney said, Chretien is a fine example of the principals of "followership". Which ever position the polls say the people support, is the position of the Canadian government.

In the end, it won't really matter. No one will remember Chretien thirty years from now, since he has accomplished nothing of significance, other than transforming Canada from a powerful North American force to an insignificant child nation who isn't even thought of at the highest levels of American leadership. I honestly can't remember the last time Chretien seemed like the leader of a great country. Maybe he never has?

Peacemongers

2003.03.25

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's the idea that nothing warrants war. The idea that war is so terrible, so unjust, and so repulsive that nothing could ever justify it. The idea that war is obsolete. I've got a few things that justify war: genocide, ethnic cleansing, rape, and torture.

Interesting how the Peacemongers cry out for more diplomacy, more talk, after twelve years of UN sanctions and seventeen resolutions demanding Iraq's disarmament. Iraq really wants to disarm, they say, but aren't being given a fair shot by the evil Zionist American regime. It's also interesting how the Peacemongers blast any report coming from CNN or the BBC as American propaganda, yet open their mouths as wide as a twenty dollar hooker and swallow whatever Al-Jazeera feeds them like so much holy wine.

Isn't it curious how these incredibly massive peace marches seem to be populated with new-age hippies pushing Communist literature and posters of George Bush with a Hitler mustache? These are the Peacemongers. People who wouldn't hurt a fly. People who believe that everyone in the world is good hearted. People who would try to reason with their tyrant even as he slit the throats of their children. Have reservations about the war? No problem. Think it happened to early? Fine by me. Nothing is worth war? Go to live in North Korea for one year, then see if you can tell me that.

I leave you with these:

Protest Warrior

Oh yeah, new remix today.

Nuclear Spacecraft

2003.03.24

US Violates World Law to Weaponize Space

The question of nuclear spacecraft and orbital weapons it a tough one. I'm all for supporting nuclear reactors in spacecraft, as well as the nuclear propulsion Dubya recently have the go ahead on, but it seems like sending Cassini on a sling shot course only 500 miles from Earth's surface is a touch risky. The statistics reported in the article are scary, and I think everyone would agree that having the probe miss its target and breakup in the atmosphere, nuclear fuel included, wouldn't be very nice.

Hopefully nothing of the sort will happen. NASA usually knows what they're doing as far as these things are concerned, unless of course a contractor is taking care of the situation. In any case, I'm not going to worry about it.

A law banning weapons in space is a nice gesture, but ultimately unrealistic. Space based weapons systems are far too enticing to the boys at the Pentagon and in the White House itself. If the US could create an nuclear powered, orbital laser cannon, capable of striking ground targets, it would do it. The prospect of being able to strike anywhere on the planet, at any time, with absolutely no risk to American troops or pilots, is simply too good to pass up.

Russia is unlikely to muster an orbital weapon considering they can't muster much of anything these days. The big space mystery these days is China. It should be interesting.

Lazy

2003.03.21

It's getting late and I have no brilliant ideas for a post. Thank God it's Friday!!!

New remix today! Check it out!

WAR!!!

2003.03.20

It has begun. About time. I've been really impressed so far with CNN's use of their infield reporters. They're using everything from videophones to satellite phones to webcams to camera crews to get pictures of anything and everything. It will be very interesting to see what the public is shown when it comes to actual combat, since it seems more and more likely that it will be, for the most part, caught on camera.

The reporters don't say anything particularly impressive, but the pictures are all I'm after!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Thank You For Killing Yourself

2003.03.19

Fatal OD as Internet Pals Watch

I'm not sure if it's genetics, upbringing, or education, but some people are just so stupid that it pleases me whenever they die. I suppose that's a socially unacceptable point of view, but I really don't care. The gene pool is infinitely better off without such idiots.

It boggles the mind how someone could actually do this. There's just no explanation for it. Thankfully, he actually died as a result of the stunt, instead of ending up in some hospital's intensive care unit, sucking up precious resources which have now been used on someone who's probably more deserving.

Thank you Brandon Vedas. Thank you for killing yourself.

Go Bush Go!

2003.03.18

Well it finally sounds like the war is going to start. About time. As my good friend Chris pointed out yesterday, it's been over six months since the US brought the Iraq issue front and centre again. Six months of debates, inspections, resolutions, posturing and cowering. Six months hardly seems like a "headlong rush into war" to me, but hey, I guess things just move too fast for some people to keep up.

The postwar Iraq is going to be a very interesting story I think, and a much greater test of America's intentions than anything else. The wheel turns. At least we aren't bored!

New remix today!

North Korea

2003.03.17

A Survivor: Soon Ok Lee

The above story was published at MSNBC a while ago, and I've been keeping the link ever since. Don't read the story if your day started off well, or if you don't want to be depressed. The article is a poorly translated, horrifying account of one woman's imprisonment in a North Korean camp for "political prisoners". Of course, everyone in prison in North Korea is a political prisoner, so there's really no point in making the distinction.

North Korea is next, that's for sure. In the world of today, a world which has seen Hitlers and Stalins, it's a wonder that it's still allowed to continue. As bad as someone like Saddam Hussein is, every time I hear or read a story about Kim Jong Il I can't help but think he's got to be one of the most evil people alive today. Hopefully someday we'll live on a planet which tolerates human rights abuses about as much as it tolerates cop killers and child molesters. It's simply something that should not be permitted to exist, even if the cost of dealing with it is high.

I hope someone has the guts to go after North Korea once Saddam is out of the way. It would be a shame to keep looking for a diplomatic solution in the face of such revoltingly inhuman behaviour.

Unions

2003.03.14

I'm really not a big fan of unions. Oh, I'm sure they serve their purpose in some limited way, giving the poor, oppressed employees a united front from which to fight, but most of the time it goes too far.

Unions are the reason a BC Liquor store cashier makes over $20 per hour. Unions are the reason it takes 10 construction workers to do the work of 3, not counting the two stop sign ladies who also make well over $20 per hour to stand around and smoke all day. Unions are the reason teacher's assistants at UBC, which has some of the lowest tuition costs among North America's hundreds of universities (thanks to the BC government), have been allowed to strike and virtually shut down the learning environment while screaming for wages higher than the ridiculous ones they're already paid, all for a job that shouldn't even be allowed to become a career in the first place.

One of the worst aspects of unions is the picket line. Film projector operators go on strike and all of a sudden anyone, anywhere, who belongs to a union can't see movies anymore. UBC TAs setup a picket line and bus drivers won't even drive people to the university. Unions get what they want by taking the employers and the public hostage until their demands are met. Sounds awfully familiar to me.

People should be paid a fair amount of money for the job they do. I don't know about anyone else, but being paid over $20 per hour to run the till at a liquor store hardly seems fair to me.

The Best Page in the Universe

2003.03.13

The Best Page in the Universe

For those of you who haven't visited Maddoxx's page, I highly recommend it. Chances are there are plenty of things which will offend you, since this guy literally hates everything and everyone, but it's all in good fun. At some point while reading the page and its various rants, you will agree with Maddoxx. It will feel wrong to agree with such a person, but it's simply unavoidable.

Have fun.

Eyes Open

2003.03.12

Before I got into computer graphics, and before I spent a year at the Vancouver Film School, I never paid much attention to the world from a visual point of view. Seems strange, I know, but it's true. Sunsets were just sunsets, and scenery was just scenery. Spending the last 4 years trying to recreate those things has given me a new appreciation for them.

These days I can watch an entire sunset without feeling the slightest bit of boredom. The colours and shapes of the clouds, and the way light plays across them, are to the eyes what music is to the ears. Even something as simple as light passing through a glass of water is worthy of constant visual study. Anyone who works in 3D will know what I'm talking about, and so will some artists, but it seems like most people can only understand what I mean, instead of really knowing what I mean. Maybe it just seems that way.

Learning 3D graphics not only allows you to appreciate the visual world, as most people do, but to consider what actually goes into making the myriad of visual miracles we see every day. It will be interesting to see when we'll be able to create completely convincing images of any environment from scratch. As real as some film industry visual effects seem today, we're still a long way off from a lifelike virtual world. Still, when that day comes, there will be a revolution in the visual effects industry. All sorts of people who are only good at copying reality, instead of creating art, will be out of a job. For me, the real interest will lie in what the artists can do with such technology.

New remix today!

Boooorrrriinnnngggg!

2003.03.11

Hasn't the war started yet? What's taking so long? I'm bored.

"If you're in a peace march and the guy next to you has a sign that says 'Bush is Hitler', forget the peace thing for a second and beat his ass."

- Dennis Miller

Outbreak

2003.03.10

I happened to catch the film "Outbreak" last night, and while most of the plot and story is ridiculous, the military lockdown of the small Californian town is quite interesting. As Humvees and helicopters pour through their city streets, the residents are seen screaming "we have rights" and "you can't do this". One group of men tries to escape the town in their truck, but are promptly destroyed by an Army chopper.

Disease is the one condition where people's civil rights absolutely should be revoked. I'm not talking about any disease that currently affects North America, but ones that don't, or do not exist yet. Imagine an Ebola outbreak in a major American city, or imagine some new, even deadlier virus like the one imagined in the film. Perhaps an airborne mutation of HIV, or a new bacteria which is resistant to all forms of antibiotics. Containment is the only solution to outbreaks of disease, and must be maintained at all costs.

People have been saying there will be a new plague one of these days. After all, the virus is always ahead of our medicine.

Never Ending

2003.03.07

Of course, as soon as I mention that I'm nearing the end of my big ticket purchases, I manage to find some more things to spend money on. I suppose it's a never ending cycle, and I try not to fight it too much, since it just stresses me out. These days, I'll do almost anything to avoid stress, especially stress that I place upon myself.

It would be fantastic if people didn't need to sleep. I know there is probably some deep routed need for the brain to rest, absorb each day's information, and get ready for the next, but it's such a waste of time. Looking at the biology alone, our bodies should be able to continue indefinitely so long as they're supplied with energy. It's too bad there isn't a pill people could take that would simply eliminate the need for sleep for a day or a week, with no side effects. It's probably just a dream, but who knows what will be possible in the genetically engineered future.

Of course, if people were able to stay awake for 24 hours a day, the government would probably institute a 14 hour work day. Stupid government.

Evenstrain

2003.03.06

My flight stick base returned to me last night, after I sent it off to Greg Cook in California for its modification. Wow! The difference may as well be night and day. The stick almost feels like the real deal now, and with the new sensor system, it's extremely precise and sensitive. Just like a real plane, small stick adjustments are all that is needed to fly, unless of course you're doing aerobatics.

I'm hoping my Evenstrain Cougar will be the last flight stick I ever buy. It probably won't work out that way, but I have a tough time imagining anyone coming out with a better product. Of course, I sure did pay for it, but it'll be worth it in the long run.

Speaking of which, the arrival of the Cougar means that my string of big ticket purchases is almost at an end. Well, at least for a while. It's been fun.

Have they started the war yet?

Office Space

2003.03.05

Some friends and I watched "Office Space" last night, which has got to be one of the great films of our time, and a testament to the modern workplace. The whole movie is based around that old high school counselor's question: "What would you do if you had a million dollars?"

Obviously, the question is meant to help people discover what they really want to do in life. After all, if you would do it when you didn't have to, you'd obviously like doing it as a job. Unfortunately for the film's protagonist, he answers "nothing". He would like to do nothing, all day, every day. Amen to that!

I did nothing for 6 months after high school, and it was wonderful. If I didn't have to make money, I'd love to not work for anyone. I'd work on this website a lot more, writing more editorials and more reviews. I might even start a web comic or at least an interesting drawing every week, and 3D would only be a hobby. I'd learn to fly, both in real life and in those hardcore flight sims. I've always thought it would be cool to create the world's first professional flight simulation demonstration team. You could travel around to gaming shows, demonstrating companies' newest flight sims, flying formation across a LAN with 6 or 9 buddies. It might actually be harder to do than real formation flying, since there's no feel in a flight sim, and you can't easily turn and tilt your view around. Who knows.

Man, that would be the life.

.....

2003.03.04

No post today. I can't think of anything, and I'm really late for work!

New remix though. Enjoy!

News Flash!!!

2003.03.03

Boys and Girls are different

Wow, what a shocker! Boys actually learn differently than girls! Amazing!

No kidding! What's really amazing is that we're only finding this out now. It is a bit of a catch 22 situation though. Boys and girls will learn in a superior way if they attend separate "boys" and "girls" classes, each geared to the way each gender operates. However, there is something to be said for boys and girls learning together in the same class, creating entire generations of people who see no difference between the sexes other than the obvious physical differences. The last thing we'd want would be to revert to a 1950s social state where men do certain things and women do certain things.

Of course that would be impossible now, but even letting a sliver of it back would be detrimental. The real answer here is to educate the teachers. I can remember several instances where teachers gave me the "best friend" approach and I can remember thinking it was a little strange. I suppose it does depend on the person, but it just doesn't seem to be the right way to motivate some people, which of course is what the article is saying.

I wonder if they'll find a balance.