• Tuesday, June 28th, 2005
I’ve been quite busy recently. On Saturday my work had a mid-winter Christmas party. It all went well, plenty of good food and good conversation. It was nice to get the chance to get out and dress up. To be honest I kind of wish I got chances for that more often.
On Sunday my brother and his family came over for my birthday dinner. Again, had quite a good time, a lot of it spent playing with their baby who just seems to be a natural comedian. Afterwards we went over to their place and watched some stuff. I spent some time sorting out some stuff on their computer but I can’t say I minded doing it even though it was my birthday party.
I mentioned a while back that I was wanting to fiddle around with more with Garageband. Since then I started working on my game and the idea was I’d compose my own music too. I did actually study music in the past both as secondary school courses and on the side as well with some teachers so I do have an idea of what I’m getting myself into but honestly I think it will be a lot of fun. I have been keen on getting a MIDI-capable keyboard for a long time but just decided to pick one up now. I wasn’t after anything too fancy, just something with all the necessities that was as compact as possible. The M-Audio O2 seemed to fit the bill nicely. The pitch bend and modulation controls are a little lacking compared to similar keyboards, but it’s much thinner and easier to use on my lap with it’s size and I feel I can live with those problems. Here’s some pics.
It also came with a copy of Propellerhead’s Reason Adapted Express for MacOS X and Windows. For those that don’t know much about MIDI keyboards, ones like this don’t come with any built-in sound hardware, you can’t use them on their own. They drive a computer or a MIDI output device using either USB or a MIDI interface. The knobs and buttons are programmable with the idea that you can compose/play without having to touch the computer keyboard and mouse all the time. As it’s designed for sequencing, the small number of keys is not a significant limitation but of course you can change octaves up or down at the touch of a button. The keyboard is velocity-sensitive which means that it detects how hard you press the keys and passes that information along in the MIDI command stream to your music software, etc so that it can make the notes sound appropriate (i.e. Louder/softer, etc) . Because it is so thin, the travel of the keys is about half that of most comparable keyboards but the sensitivity seems pretty good to me and I have no complaints about it. It is also possible to program real-time control features that map to the buttons but I have not had a chance to fiddle with any of this yet. So far, I must say I’m very happy with it, it really seems to do exactly what I want.
As a birthday gift I was given the DVD box set of the classic BBC comedy series, “Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em”. I’ve been watching it whenever I’ve had much of chance. It does feel a bit dated these days but much of it is just outright hillarious. It’s hard to believe the things Micheal Crawford went on to later after the show finished. Yet more badly mastered discs though, the episode selection menus don’t work on normal DVD players (not tried a computer but it should work okay on them using the mouse). You can move around and select episodes, but you can’t then tell it to play. You can’t even go back without hitting the “menu” button to go all the way back out to the DVD title page. It’s funny, rather than seeing less of these problems as time goes on, more and more of these issues are slipping though the net into the consumer’s hands.
Current Mood: Tired
Current Music: Rob Hubbard - Sanxion 97
• Saturday, June 25th, 2005
Had quite a nice day today but I was flat out. Friday lunch out paid by work is always good though.
I saw Star Wars Episode 3 tonight. I’m sure everyone who cares has seen it or heard comments on it already so there’s no point saying much. It was pretty much what I expected and as such I enjoyed it for what it is. Yes, it had plot holes and dodgy acting but focusing on that would only ruin the viewing experience.
I’m glad it’s the weekend, but even then, it’s yet another busy one. I really feel I need a rest.
• Friday, June 24th, 2005
Well another birthday is over. It was a good day overall but I did manage to spoil it to an extent and have no one to blame but myself. It’s hard to understand how you can make the mistake time after time not realising what you are doing and even afterwards still not see it for what it is. I do see it now but it bothers me how long it’s taken me to get to this point. I am a person who learns from their mistakes though and this is one I do not plan to make again.
Current Music: Human After All - Daft Punk
• Thursday, June 23rd, 2005
Seems I’ve been tagged, I’d better respond.
1) Total number of books owned?
Too many to count.
2) The last book I bought?
OpenGL Programming Guide – Shreiner/Woo/Neider/Davis
3) The last book I read?
The Silmarillion – J.R.R. Tolkien
4) 5 books that mean a lot to me?
The Crysalids – John Wyndam
The Aneid – Virgil
The Last Battle – C.S. Lewis
The Odyssey – Homer
Superscalar Microprocessor Design – Mike Johnson (No, really, it’s cool 
5) Tag 5 people and have them fill this out on their ljs:
Of the six listed friends I have listed on LJ, three have already been tagged. That’s just not going to work.
Current Music: I'm Still Remembering - The Cranberries
• Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005
It’s the birthday of a friend of mine, Liz (aka libbybun), on Thursday the 23rd. A strange and probably little known fact is that it is my birthday too. I’ve always been somewhat secretive of my birthday, not because I have any issues with my age but I don’t like people making a big deal of it. It may sound kind of dumb, but in my “younger years” (Ooooo! Now I feel old) I had some shocking suprise “parties” that were anything but pleasant and it kind of put me off the whole thing. I am in a different position today which is I guess why I’m happy to say this, but I’m still uncomfortable with a big deal being made of it all. My family arranged a little party on Sunday night which is apparently the only day they can do but it clashes with Liz’s planned get together. Can’t be helped I guess. It does feel kind of cool though having a birthday on the same day as someone you know though.
I picked up the first two seasons of “The Family Guy” cheap on DVD the other day. I’d been considering getting them for a while but the price was just too high I felt. I’m certainly glad I waited for bargain basement prices because the video quality is absolutely horrible. Really, I have seen better VHS tapes. I tried two other players too so it’s not my setup. Artifacts everywhere, huge pixellation and it flickers like crazy. Definitely a good example of how not to produce a DVD.
Current Music: Placebo - Where is My Mind? (Pixies cover)
• Monday, June 20th, 2005
It’s been a busy few days for me. Had an old friend from Auckland staying and much time was spent gaming, watching movies and galivanting around the place. We tried a number of games before settling on one. Tekken 4 was too boring (Tekken 5 remains to be seen), Soul Calibur 2 is too much of a mashers game (Thanks Namco for messing up the perfection that was Soul Calibur on Dreamcast) and neither of us could be bothered even starting the PS2 Streetfighter he’d brought down. As is often the case, Super Smash Bros Melee saved the day just by being original and just plain fun. I’ve never liked most first party Nintendo titles but this game alone has more than warranted the purchase of my Gamecube many moons ago. So far we know nothing of the Nintendo Revolution but if they release another SSB game of this calibur (pun accidental but I’ll run with it) for it then I’ll certainly be taking a look at it.
I picked up a cheap copy of No Doubt’s greatest hits the other day as I figured there’d be a few songs I’d like on there. Pretty much as expected, there’s some stuff I didn’t like so much and a number of tracks I already had but there were 3-4 goodies on there I didn’t have. I said a while back that sometime I’d post a mini review of the recent Gorillaz album, Demon Days. As it turns out, I don’t really have a lot to say. It’s not great, it’s not terrible and really when it comes down to it, just isn’t that interesting to me. I suspect this one is just going to dissappear with little fanfare.
Current Mood: The right side of my brain isn't telling me (Hey, I'm a guy)
Current Music: No Doubt - It's My Life
• Friday, June 17th, 2005
Well my good mood didn’t last much beyond my last post but I can’t say I’m too worried. I’ve noticed in recent time that I’ve been seriously lacking patience. I don’t mean patience in every day situtions, i.e. I don’t go mental at people over silly things and I’m never in so much of a hurry that I feel the need to push my way or anything. I really can’t see I’ll ever be like that. I’m meaning more in terms of my interests and hobbies. I start something and even make a certain amount of progress but soon the amount of effort that would be required becomes clear to me, my mood starts heading down and I stop before I get too depressed. I feel that’s why working on this game is a good idea. I get to switch between, writing, art, music and programming depending on how I feel at the time but all help me work towards a goal of creating the game. I know there’s no way I’d just sit down and do any one of these on their own for any amount of time, but this way I can just switch as I see fit without feeling guilty about lacking patience. I realise the core problem I have lies elsewhere but sometimes working to cure the symptoms can help.
A thing I have learned through blogging though is that I enjoy writing. It’s kind of amusing considering how much I hated it at school. I have at times been hit by the thought of writing a book but I’m also enough of a realist to know I’d have to have something worth saying and an audience willing to listen on the topic. So far I’m just not ready for it.
One area I have been putting consistent effort into is physical exercise. I’ve always been very fit in my legs from all the walking I do but my upper body has always been rather weak in comparison. Of course breaking my leg threw a lot of my fitness way off kilter and I’ve had to pull my way back with a lot of hard work. Physical mobility is such a part of me that I knew I had to get my fitness back. I’m still not there but things are improving slowly all the time. It’s now 14 months since I broke it an I can now run without pain but part of me is still holding back on the bad leg and I have a hard time trying to drop that habit. I really feel I need to try breaking into a sprint. At this point, I know the bones are fine, it’s just the muscles and even they seem 90% of the way there. While recovering from my leg, for the first time in my life, I actually put on a little weight. Nothing serious, but I actually had a slight tummy bulge. It mostly came off after I started walking again but I still wasn’t really happy with it. More recently I’ve been doing some upper body exercise every day and I’m honestly feeling a lot better for it. Just some weights, situps, etc. At this point, my tummy is flat and tight and I can feel the typical “six pack” muscles under that. I have no idea if I’ll ever get to the point of having the supermercialishious (yes, I made that word up) “rock hard abs” but I don’t feel I’m that far from it either. I also find it surprising how much more control I have of my arms and upper body with a little more muscle on my arms, shoulders and chest. I’ve never felt I’ve been carrying round too much extra weight in fat, but it has amazed me how much better I feel and how much more enegry I have like this. It’s certainly something I’m going to keep up. I think the feelings of achievement and positive change give me some beneficial emotional effects too so it’s good all round.
Current Mood: Ponderous
Current Music: Noriyuki Iwadare - Ghost Ship
• Thursday, June 16th, 2005
Well this cold is still clinging on and today (Well, yesterday now) sucked, generally speaking. I’ve been working and on the go in some form or another all day and through the evening. The day sucked in other ways too but I feel no need to go into details. Even with all that, I am in a good mood almost in spite of fate, life and time. I do need to catch up with quite a lot of stuff and I need to be more organised than I have been recently but that can all wait for now. I’m not going to let anything spoil this mood while it lasts.
Current Mood: Surprisingly good
Current Music: Tadpole - World Without You
• Tuesday, June 14th, 2005
Well, the news is out. Not guilty. I never really talked on the subject to anyone but I did watch almost all of the trial re-enactments on Sky. Not all the evidence was shown but most of the important points were as well as some things the jury did not see. The legal opinions were also useful for the view of American law.
Based on the actual evidence, it’s no surprise to me he was found not guilty. The false imprisonment charge was just utterly ridiculous and probably hurt the prosecution case. The main abuse charge was only believable if you could believe the boy and his brother and all the evidence made it clear they were not honest or even consistent and accurate in their stories.
What did make me wonder if the verdict might go the other way was the obvious bias the judge had towards the prosecution case by allowing in screeds of unrelated evidence that served no purpose other than to make Michael look bad. He also kept out a significant amount of pro-defense evidence. He gave the prosecution every opportunity to succeed in their case but even then their evidence was far too weak.
Now if Michael Jackson is smart, he’ll make sure this can never happen again. A few security cameras here or there certainly wouldn’t hurt things.
Current Music: Adagio for Strings - Samuel Barber
• Sunday, June 12th, 2005
I was writing a post earlier but I accidentally quit my browser throwing it all away seconds before I was about to hit the button. I really can’t be bothered rewriting it though so instead I’ll just write a short one.
I’m still sick with no sign of real improvement yet and have spend most of the weekend lying in bed. I’ve come to the conclusion that laptops incredibly great but are also a curse. Having full access to the internet and everything at all times doesn’t give your mind much chance to rest. I’ll have to remember that next time I’m sick.
I’ve been still working on my game a little. The story isn’t complete yet, I’m up to the last 20% that takes 80% of the time. Making progress though so it’s all good. I’ve been investigating engines but so far not a lot has caught my attention. I decided against using a basic tool like Gamemaker or RPG Maker as they don’t have the flexibility or power to do what I want (and I’m not even trying to do anything flashy). I like the look of the Torque Game Engine SDK but the US$100 license fee seems a bit steep for a hobby project. I suspect the best choice is SDL. It seems to do most of what I need, is cross platform, free and there’s plenty of example code around.
Not looking forward to work tomorrow, especially if I still feel as bad as I did this morning. Unfortunately it’s happened at the worst time since a lot is due at the end of this week so I cannot easily take time off. I did end up cancelling on Saturday though. I was just way too sick to think of working.
Current Music: Matt Gray - Tusker
