Life Update

I really don't know how to go about this, so I'll just list two major points:

• School
• Main computer is busted

That pretty much sums up why I haven't been able to do a lot lately, which is a leading factor in my lack of blogging. No e-mail, no ROM hacking, no access to my idea files, etc. I'll try to suppress the idealist in me and just start posting as if I didn't have some dozens of things I would like to remember and organize first.

So without further ado....

Zelda, Halo Style

I came upon this video a couple of years ago and had forgotten about it until a friend, whom I had shown it to, mentioned it yesterday. Halo Custom Edition, a PC expansion for the first Halo game, allowed fans to design their own maps, character skins, etc., and I like this even more than the Mines of Moria stage somebody created for the Jedi Knight games.

A Typical Kroger Trip

I went to Kroger with my mom the other day. As usual, I did only two things: walk and make picky comments about the products.

"'Baby Peeled Carrots'? It should be 'Peeled Baby Carrots.' They don't grow peeled; these aren't peeled carrots that are still tiny, they're tiny carrots that are peeled."

"Oh, look, next to 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!' they have Yoda's version, 'Butter It's Not.' Except Yoda is actually admitting it's a substitute."

On top of that, while my mom knows the different brands, the price variations for the other quantities of the product, and all the which-one's-cheaper-at-which-store-in-what-size-of-this-brand-with-that-whatever, I turn down the aisle and go, "Hey, we need that! *grab*"

SMB1 By Webcam

This is one of those things I've been meaning to post since ... before I started my blog, sort of. Anyway, this is clever if it's fake and awesome if it's real; such a thing is certainly possible. Judging from the physics of Mario and the behavior of the objects (blocks, in particular), I suppose he coded this mostly from scratch, which is quite impressive.

PS - The related video of level 1-1 in Line Rider is nicely done, too.

Paying Attention? Just Checking.

Two minutes ago I was having a conversation with my younger brother, which ended as follows.

Me: "The meaning of 'geek' has changed a bit since we have the word 'nerd.' Right, dad?"
My dad (on blackberry): "Mm-hmm."
Me: "And if you spill milk, mold grows on the floor, right, dad?"
My dad: "... What??"
Me (laughing with my brother): "I was just seeing if you were paying attention."

Japanese Jump

This is how I jumped into the swimming pool the other day.

What did that say?

Every now and then I see something I would like to take a picture of, but I don't have a camera to do so. Fortunately, all such things that I've seen today are in words, so I can easily share the heightening ridiculousness of them.

First, a sign at a McDonald's building read: "Handicapped Ramp." My reaction: "The ramp is handicapped? It's not in a wheelchair; what's its problem?"

Similarly, I was looking for weed killer in our garage and instead found a windshield washing fluid, which claimed to be a "bug cleaner." My reaction: "No, it's a windshield washer. I don't want to clean the bugs, I want to clean the windshield of them."

And now, the one that absolutely drove me nuts: a LEGO magazine ad for a Bob the Builder show with 3D glasses described it as "4D." My highly predictable reaction: ... never mind, it's highly predictable. I don't need to go on about TV and the dimensions for the second time in a year (the first being about the Super Bowl commercial for a show going 3D in which the guy hits the wrong button and they turn flat, and he says, "Oops. That's 1D." Oh, hey, I should have posted that back then ...).