Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back
Thanks so much to Marc from the Torontoist for including my rendition of Straight Up in his list of "Better than the Original" cover songs, which led to a mention yesterday on Entertainment Weekly's Popwatch.
Wednesday, November 29 at 5:22 PM
Back in New York
Just got back from the extended Thanksgiving weekend...it was great hanging out with my family, Don, Jeff, Nick, April and Jinsoo. These past few days consisted of getting stuffed with pumpkin pie and peppermint hot chocolate, watching James Bond blow crap up, seeing a play at the Shakespeare Theatre downtown, and catching up on all the Robinson Class of '98 gossip in Adams Morgan. The Wii got plenty of attention as well, and there were quite a few heated Wii Sports matches. Jeff thought we looked like a commercial since our race/gender-diverse group was constantly laughing, taunting, and making exaggerated arm motions while crowding around the television.
Sunday, November 26 at 9:27 PM
Launch Wii-kend
When I was a kid, I remember thinking how cool it would be to be an adult - just because I could buy all the toys I ever wanted. If the local Burke Connection paper route had paid a better salary back then, I would have bought every Lego pirate and castle set, Nerf gun, and Atari 7800 game out there. That feeling has fortunately really never gone away...now it's just coupled with impulsive buying habits and a discretionary income. So I had to be the first proverbial kid on the block to have the Nintendo Wii, the innovative new video game system that is less about pressing buttons and more about wrist flicks and arm motions.
In between destinations last night, I walked by the Toys R Us in Times Square, where Nintendo was holding the official midnight launch party. The place was absolutely packed, and 44th Street was shut down. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime was there to hand out the first console and play a few games with people waiting in line.
I had preordered the Wii at the Nintendo World store in Rockefeller Plaza, so I got up early this morning and headed on over. The line was already wrapped almost entirely around the block. I waited for about an hour there, but at a certain point, I was luckily allowed to jump forward in a special preorder line. The inside of Nintendo World was a maze of lines and stacked boxes. There were a considerable amount of families there, and all the kids were going (rightfully) insane. Christmas was definitely coming a month early.
I pre-ordered the latest Zelda game with some leftover gift cards through Best Buy, so it's been shipped and will hopefully be here tomorrow. In addition to the system (which came with free little Mario and Yoshi plush toys), I got an extra controller (we were only allowed to buy one extra) and the latest Super Monkey Ball game (which came with a free little monkey).
So...a few things to note in the picture above if you've never heard of the system before. The actual Wii system is remarkably small; about the size of three DVD cases stacked together. The "wiimote" control has an optional attachment called the nunchuck, which is only used in certain games for additional functionality. There's a thin sensor bar that you place either above or below your TV, which is what tracks the movements of the wiimote. And the Wii is backwards-compatible with the Gamecube, so you can play all of those old games with the old controllers as well.
One of the first things you get to do is create a little persona called a Mii. It's a pretty fun process, and then you can play with these guys in Wii Sports. That's my little okaydave guy up there. Anyway, enough about the technical details. Let's get to playing...
In my head I always knew it would be cool, but the first time I swung the wiimote to hit a tennis ball, I couldn't believe it. I was sitting down in a chair, but immediately stood up and started whacking away at full force. The controller rumbles and emits a satisfying "thwack" with its built-in speaker upon contact, making the experience that much more immersive. Most importantly, it's fun. I can't wait to bring this home for Thanksgiving and play with everyone (many of the games support up to 4 players at the same time). There's a little bit of a learning curve, and Monkey Ball is still taking a little getting used to, but it's easy to see why the Wii and TMX Elmo are going to be the hottest toys of this holiday season. It wasn't just your typical hardcore gamer types waiting in line last night and this morning. There were all sorts of different people - moms, dads, kids, grandparents - and everyone was smiling and seemed genuinely excited to be there. Nintendo has positioned the Wii as something that they hope will move video games more into the mainstream like books and movies...and as crazy as that might sound, they might just be able to pull it off.
Bottom line: the Wii is fun. Instantaneous, intuitive, addictive fun. This is why I am such a big Nintendo fan. The kid in me is going nuts. Now I'm going to have chocolate cake and girl scout cookies for dinner and play the Wii until 3AM.
Have a happy thanksgiving!
Sunday, November 19 at 5:15 PM
Wiiiiiiiii!
Got it! First impressions tomorrow morning.
at 10:34 AM
Eugena!
Former OKS bassist Eugene Jung is now an official New Yorker. I'm so proud of this guy...it's been his dream to move up here forever. Just look at him now; he can make ridiculous poses in front of loose circuitry and eat at Yum Yum Bangkok all he wants.
Thursday, November 16 at 7:15 PM
Inexpensive Ideas
Sometimes I get emails asking how a particular project from okaydave was made. One subject that comes up often is the mirror wall in Reflect/Respect: it's either asking how the type was placed on the mirrors, how the wall was constructed, if it's a traveling exhibit, or what my friends Katie and Alison's phone numbers are. Actually, the project was entirely conceptual - what you see in the video was a rendering using Adobe After Effects and footage shot in my living room. Using masking tape to mark the edges of the shot, Katie and Alison pretended like they were reading by staring into thin air. It took about 15 takes, but we finally got a few good passes (and a few good outtakes). Like all the other videos, this was filmed using a simple Sony Cybershot digital camera; nothing too fancypants. The wall image was designed separately in Adobe Photoshop, leaving holes in the squares so the video could show through. Finally, in Adobe After Effects, the wall was layered on top of the living room clip, and everything slowly rotated and got a purple overlay tint to complete the animation. One day it would definitely be cool to construct a real version...but as a grad student on a shoestring budget, all it took was a digital camera, Adobe stuff, masking tape and help from a couple of friends.
Sunday, November 12 at 10:17 AM
Okay Media, November 2006
Watching: MacGyver: The Complete First Season. Andrew and I probably saw every MacGyver episode growing up when they were syndicated on the USA network. And there are two episodes that we always remember: the one in medieval times where you learn his first name, and the one where a guy gets eaten alive by killer fire ants. Well, the medieval one was in the final season, but thankfully the killer ants one was in the first. Not gonna lie; I totally went through a Macgyver phase in fifth grade. I grew my hair out longer for the first time and decided my secret code name was Mac (Andrew's was Cam, and we still call each other by these names sometimes). Anyway, it's great to watch and remember so many iconic moments. Stopping toxic acid with chocolate bars? Awesome. I also really enjoyed Monster House on DVD. It's a wildly imaginative story, and the behind-the-scenes features about how they motion-captured and animated the characters are pretty freakin' amazing.
Reading: The Art of the Incredibles and The Art of Monsters Inc. by Chronicle Books. I love storyboard/concept art books based on movies...they always leave me inspired. Environmental sketches are my favorites. As a kid, I remember staring into the detailed illustrated worlds depicted in books like Richard Scary's Busytown series, and getting completely lost in them. These books seem to do the same thing 20 years later.
Playing: Not much, but the Nintendo Wii and Zelda are just two weeks away...I don't think I have EVER been this excited for a game release.
Listening: Gary Jules' Mad World cover (thanks to its excellent use in the Gears of War trailer), Yo-Yo Ma's rendition of Dvorak's Concerto in B Minor for Cello and Orchestra Op. 104 (III. Finale. Allegro Moderato), and of course, JoJo's Too Little Too Late.
Visiting: I'll be home in Burke for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but will also be stopping by this upcoming weekend to hang out with the rest of the samurai. Thank you Washington Deluxe for your ridiculous $35 NYC/DC roundtrip fare. To make things even better, former OKS bassist Eugene is moving up to New York in the next few weeks! I'd like to think it's because of my hilarious spot-on impressions of random people from our high school, but it's actually because of a sweet job opportunity. Oh well...Eugene, you know where to find a solid Mrs. Gonzales impression if you ever need it.
Saturday, November 4 at 9:00 PM
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