Andrew WK Live!!!!
FUCK YES!! Andrew WK plays The Showbox Market March 3rd!! Playing his entire first album I Get Wet!!
Going Dark Against SOPA/PIPA
Politics are a big part of my life and I enjoy being socially active in causes I believe in and against causes I think would be damaging. Recently the House (SOPA) and Senate (PIPA) have been discussing two bills for to strengthen anti-piracy laws by wrecking the way the internet works and providing almost unregulated power to intellectual property owners. While I agree that piracy is a huge concern, as the industry I work in can be hit hard by piracy, but the way that SOPA/PIPA go about solving the problem is all wrong.
These bills have the ability to cause catastrophic damage to the way we currently use the internet today and could potentially stop progress and innovation. If either SOPA or PIPA were law these sites would have been closed or gone bankrupt before becoming part of our lives today.
- YouTube
- Vimeo
- MySpace
- eBay
- Craigslist
- Twitpic
- WordPress.com
- and countless others.
Amazon S3 and WordPress
As I stated in a previous post, I moved all my images, theme files, and js files over to Amazon’s Simple Storage Service or S3. The process was fairly simple with the right mixture of WordPress plugins. I’ll give you a basic guide on how I moved everything over to S3.
First things first, S3 is just storage. When creating your ‘bucket’ (we will talk about that in a bit), you select the location in which it will be stored. S3 isn’t a content delivery network (CDN), but Amazon does offer that with Cloudfront. Even though this isn’t a CDN, it will probably speed up your website as well as reduce burden on your web host, only costing you a couple cents a month (depending on your audience).
Read more →
I’m In The Clouds!
I’ve been messing with WordPress for a while and I thought I’d take a shot at Amazon’s S3 service and move all of my assets to the cloud. With the type of traffic I get, it will be pennies a month, if that. It is pretty neat and fairly simple to setup. I don’t know if I really improved how my website loads, but a fun little project.
While I was working on moving assets to S3, it started to snow! Seattle covered in snow is pretty awesome!
Database Crash. Rebuilding.
My WordPress database died while trying to do some minor upgrades. Some images might not work correctly, but everything else should be 100%. I’ll get everything working ASAP.
In the meantime enjoy this sunset from my office window at work.
Retro Gaming Art Show
Tonight I got to check out some talented Seattle artists at Retro Gaming Night at The Piranha Shop. With over 30 artist participating there were all types of styles to pick from. The selection in games was great, Mario, Donkey Kong, Punch-Out!, Ghost ‘n Goblins, Battletoads, Dragon’s Lair, and more. Some amazing items all which made my pocket book hurt as there were a couple I would have loved to own. Here are some photos from the show.
2011 in Review: Movies
2011 is over. Here are some of the movies I enjoyed.
Moneyball is about baseball and one of my favorite things is baseball and sports movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. Moneyball tells the story of the 2002 Oakland A’s and their General Manager Billy Beane and his use of Sabermetrics. While the movie has a baseball theme, the movie really explores Beane’s attempt to have some type of success after being a failure as a baseball player.
Drive is a beautiful mess. The cast is top notch, filmed in a style that keeps you watching, and violent. Drive is violent, very violent at times, but done in such a way that it almost operatic. Ryan Gosling is brilliant in the cold calculated stunt drive and Carey Mulligan is gorgeous. Drive is so good at times, it is easily one of the best films. It does have some awkward dialog at times. Mmmmmhmmmm.
Action. Action. Action. That is pretty much what Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol has going for it. That isn’t a bad thing, the action is great, especially if you see the movie in IMAX. The sequences filmed at the Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world) in Dubai is amazing and vertigo inducing. The entire cast is top notch including the always great Simon Pegg. Go see it in IMAX and buy some popcorn and enjoy.
Source Code came out a while ago, but still provide a great experience. Source Code plays out as a interesting present day sci-fi film by Duncan Jones (David Bowie’s son). Some parts The Matrix and Run Lola Run, it has you repeating the same sequence in attempt to solve the puzzle.
I’m a huge Conan fan, but this movie kinda change my opinion of him, for better or worse. The guy is crazy and kind of a jerk. I’m sure if you are in his inner circle, you understand his humor, but Conan is somewhat delusional and sad. Always putting himself and his staff down. A very interesting look as one of the funnier comedian of the last decade.
My only foreign film on the list, I Saw The Devil is a violent, gory, revenge film. Much like Drive, this film if gorgeously shot, each shot is brilliant, but the film is easily one of the more violent movies I have ever seen. Add the fact that the main villain is Choi Min-shik known for his role in the movie Oldboy, it makes it even more creepy. Well worth watching, but you have been warned about the content.
Super 8 was one of the more enjoyable movies I saw all year. It is a 80′s homage taking notes from classics such as E.T., Stand By Me, and The Goonies. As someone who grew up on these movies Super 8 hit all the same notes of silly kids doing crazy things under unthinkable circumstances and in the end triumphing over impossible odds.
What were some of the movies you enjoyed in 2011?
2011 in Review: Games
Continuing with my 2011 in Review posts, this time with my favorite games of 2011. I’ve been quite bad this year as I really didn’t pick up many of the games you will see on others lists including Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3, and I have a nice stack of games waiting to be played including RAGE, Resistance 3, Batman: Arkham City, and some others. Out of the games I did play this year, here are the ones that made lasting impressions.
The king is back and DICE and EA have returned with an amazing return to Battlefield with Battlefield 3. Packed with a strong single player and amazing multiple experience, it just brings back great memories of Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2.
Orcs Must Die is the perfect game for me these days. Quick and addictive fun. Robot Entertainment have perfectly combined a tower defense game with a great feel of an action game. For those that like to plan and place traps you have that, and for those that just want to kill Orcs, you have that. The comical nature of trap development just makes you want to be more creative. Well done Robot!
I’m getting older, but blowing up stuff never gets old. The good people at Avalanche Studios have created just the game for that with Renegade Ops. This game combines two of my childhood favorites in Jackal and the Strike Series. Take your vehicle and blow shit up, that simple. Big huge explosions! Great looking graphics, and just fun to play.
What can I say about Uncharted 3 that hasn’t already been said. Go play it. It is great. Well done Naughty Dog, can’t wait to play The Last of Us.
Dead Space 2 was great. Perhaps a little more action heavy over suspense, but beggars can’t be choosers. Everything about it is polished and well designed. I’m looking forward to what they do with Dead Space 3.
It is very rare that I finish a game in just a couple days, but Portal 2 had me hooked. Smart, creative, funny, and just darn right great from start to finish. The only thing that could have made Portal 2 better is Valve to finally upgrade their streaming technology. LOADING…
I remember seeing Deus Ex: Human Revolution years ago at GDC and was blown away by the art direction that they were going after. I followed the game and it didn’t disappoint. Amazing in every regard, thrilled to see what Eidos Montreal does with Thief 4.
2011 in Review: Albums
As many of you know, I listen to a lot of music, so I though I’d share my favorite albums of 2011.
Thursday from The Weeknd was easily one of my favorite albums of the year. Another electronic pop album that has punishing beats, crazy singing, and it is FREE! The title track is probably my favorite song of the year.
Each year a metal album comes out that is the one to listen too. Epic facial tattoos, a crazy singing drummer, and a sick album cover, Mastodon returns this year with The Hunter and reminds us that a good rock metal album is pretty freaking awesome. Black Tongue will rock your face off.
A late addition to the list, but has been on constant rotate on the car drive to work. This all started with the new REI commercial which uses Chapel Song by We Are Augustines. This song is just so darn catchy, I had to listen to the rest of Rise Ye Sunken Ships (how awesome is that album name) and I was rewarded with a strong album. If you like Interpol, The National, and countless other bands, you would probably enjoy this one.
This list wouldn’t be complete without some local flavor and with that spot is Campfire OK. I have heard the name Campfire OK for a while, but didn’t hear them until the Nevermind 20 Year Anniversary show where they played Polly. Campfire OK first album Strange Like We Are combines all types of flavors of music into a nice mix. They also rock the banjo! I’m sad I haven’t been able to be around for one of their impromptu shows here in Seattle, including this one at Oddfellows.
The Kills return after a couple years off with Blood Pressures is pretty darn good. I was actually able to see them live at The Showbox Market, which just reminds me how awesome of a hot rocker chick Alison Mooshart is. With a different sound, The Kills still have it. Just listen to the first single, Satellite. Also Alison Mosshart is freaking hot.
While Drive the movie was hit and miss, the soundtrack is freaking amazing. The heavy flavor of electronic-pop is the perfect mood setting score. Each song fits perfectly and an amazing album to just chill out too.
I found out about Kurt Vile’s Smoke Ring for my Halo via good people on NeoGAF has this listed on the monthly rotation, and it is great. Mellow singer song writer brings a nice change of pace to the other albums I listened to this year. This really came out of nowhere for me.
While Crazy for You technically was released in 2010, I didn’t start listening to it until 2011, so I’m listing it in this years group. I have a soft spot for female singers and Best Coast hits it on every chord. The surf inspired music paired with the almost juvenile pop song makes my hear bleed. Even though the songs are from the female perspective, I think anyone can relate to the lyrics, example When I’m With You and Crazy For You.
