ZOMG PICTURES FROM THE SHOOT. I WILL DO A WRITE UP LATER TONIGHT OR TOMORROW!

[Show as slideshow]

Okay, so James has been bugging everyone for a while now to do desk pictures. I kept delaying because I wanted to wait until I had a chance to clean my desk before I showed it to you all. I now realize that this mythical time when I will have a clean desk will possibly never come. I have, therefore, decided to submit this picture of my desk in its natural state. Unlike some of the other desk pictures you will see on this blog, I did not do any cleaning or rearranging before taking the picture, so this is a perfectly accurate representation of what my desk looked like on April 6th, 2008 at (checking EXIF data…) 4:02:22 pm. Note that this is my home office desk, I also have another desk where I do a lot of work during the week but it isn’t very interesting.

I apologize for the quality of the picture since my only digital camera is a 1.3 MP Fujifilm from 2001 (which is still a little better then my cell phone camera).

[Show as slideshow]

1. iMac - This is one of my two main computers at the moment, an 24″ iMac 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. It is very pretty. I also have a Windows box that I do Windows specific development on (ASP.NET 1.1 I hate you so) at my other office.
2. Flatron 775FT - This is the monitor from my very first Windows box. It is very old and somewhat temperamental, and only displays 1024×768, but it works pretty good as a secondary monitor for email/im/bittorrent.
3. Sunglasses (in case) - My current pair of glasses has magnetic clips on the temples so that I can use this pair of stylish sunglasses over top and look like one of the cool kids. These are the glasses I put on at the end of “Daylight Savings”
4. D-Link 5 port Router - Standard wired router to replace the wonky Netgear one I used to have. Currently covered by a Soltek motherboard driver cd because the flashing status lights were bugging me.
5. $240 in Counterfeit Money - Leftover 20 dollar bills from “The Deal” - only printed on one side. For some reason a bunch of them ended up at my house. Come to think of it, maybe I should get rid of them as I believe they are technically illegal.
6. Video Game Jockey - Composite/S-video to VGA converter box allows me to play my Playstation 2 on the external monitor.
7. Logitech Optical Mouse - Replaces the Mighty Mouse that comes with Mac computers. Something to do with the way I naturally use a mouse means that it kept thinking I was right clicking at inopportune times. The Mighty Mouse is currently enjoying a nice life over at Graham’s place, since he likes the 2 dimensional scroll ball-thing.
8. Windows 2000 Professional textbook - Left over from my days at college. Does an excellent job of supporting corner of monitor.
9. Guide to Linux Installation and Administration - Left over from my days at college. Contrary to “Installation Anxiety” I am not really a big fan of Linux. This book has helped me more by improving the ergonemics of my workstation then it ever did by teaching me Linux Installation and Administration
10. Motorola V360 cell phone - I really don’t like my phone. It works, but everything is more complicated then it should be and Canadian cell carriers suck. Will be replaced by an iPhone IF THEY EVER FRICKIN’ COME OUT IN CANADA.
11. Wallet - I’m thinking of having the seams let out as I am currently having trouble carrying around my huge fat stacks of LRR royalties.
12. Logitech 2.1 Speaker system - Same vintage as external monitor, used for audio from Playstation 2.
13. Portable Fan - Used for 2 purposes: 1. it keeps me cool in the summer and 2. for some reason the resolution that the Playstation 2 wants to run at makes my external monitor overheat and shut off after 20 minutes unless the fan is blowing on it.
14. Shaw Cable Modem - Seems to work for what I need
15. Playstation 2 Games - These games are currently on loan from Graham. They are (from top to bottom) Jak II, Viewtiful Joe, and Bully. For my opinions of these games, listen to the “what we’re playing now” part of the LRRcast.
16. Playstation 2 - Leaving aside technical considerations, and evaluating its performance on “number of awesome games”, I feel that the PS2 is pretty much the best game console ever. Also, because I came to the PS2 party so late, now I can just borrow all the best games from my friends (see #15)
17. Spindle of Blank CDs - Currently covered in a layer of dust, which proves how much I use blank CDs these days.
18. Spindle of Blank DVDs - I am so looking forward to when 40+ GB Blueray discs are available in 50 disk spindles. 2 TB on one spindle!
19. Pilot V5 - My favorite type of pens. These days is used almost exclusively for doodling and signing checks.
20. My Desk - Actually composed of two desks put together. The main desk (left) was built by my dad as a gift when I moved out of residence at college and is designed to be relatively simple to disassemble for transport. The auxiliary desk (right) is a refugee from some friends of the family who were throwing it away and was added after I got the 24″ iMac and realized that I no longer had any desk space.
21. Camera Cable - Really stupid proprietary USB download cable for the aforementioned Fujifilm camera. Why do people keep making proprietary cables!

So many of you have been hounding me to update this thing. WELL HERE WE GOOOOOO!!!

Last i wrote you, we had just shot Fun with Microwaves. Since then the Videos have gone something like this.

FORMAT WARS: I had so little to do with this shoot. So unfortunately I can’t really let you in on any cool secrets or pictures. From what i know. It was penned just after a brunch with Graham, Paul and Kathleen where the idea was born. We needed a video to replace a now dead video idea we had been working on for a little while and it just wasn’t happening. I suppose they figured we never did touch on the subject of the Format Wars and although they were weeks past the end of the war, its always easy to make something topical again. TIME TRAVEL! And of course by time travel i mean they just shoot scenes that took place back in January. They are a crafty bunch.

ASSESSMENT: After format wars there was another video that I had almost nothing to do with, other than my brief and lineless cameo. There is however a pretty humorous story behind that. Which of course you all know cause you all listen to the podcast….. Oh you don’t, well then what are you still doing here. GO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST.

FINE! I WILL TELL YOU THE STORY!

Graham called me up and asked if i had about 15 minutes of my day to spare for this weeks video. I figured sure, why not, should be tons ‘o fun. So after waiting for them to finish up at UVIC i hit the road and met them at one of the elementry schools to shoot a quick scene in a jungle gym. At this point i still have no idea what the video is about. All i was told was to stop by Morgan and Bills place to pick up the Mexican Wrestler Costume. So got down there, shoot my bit, while being extremely cold in the costume and after they were running back to the car, I timely yelled “So whats this video about anyways” They didn’t answer me and I had to wait until monday to see what the hell i had just contributed to. While hilarious, I think I could have looked far more unattractive in that dress.

UNNATURAL RESOURCES: This was a pretty straight forward shoot. We all met up at UVIC to get the meeting scene done and then after that was finished with they went and shot Paul’s Bits. I would have taken pictures but lent my camera to Morgan and forgot to ask him to bring it up with him.

In other news we won the M Award for best Local Film Makers. So for all that voted for us Thanks very much!
And until next time, this is James saying “Don’t eat what your mama cooked for you”*

*Seriously, I heard she poisoned it.

[Show as slideshow]