On the DVD of The Ring in one of the scenes that was cut from the theatrical version, the babysitter is shown watching a few seconds of the first episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (“Rabbot“). I just noticed that, and as you can tell, am quite proud of myself and felt like sharing. Perhaps that’s already common knowledge, but I’d be surprised. Feel free to use the above fun fact to impress and amaze at parties, sporting events, and parole hearings.

Comments

Comment by Posko on 2004-09-08 19:39:06 +0000

I used that little tidbit at a get-together and was set on fire. Thanks Will!

I got back from Ohio yesterday to find an email notifying me that as a subscriber to Fileplanet I would be guaranteed a spot in the imminent Worlds of Warcraft closed beta stress test. So hopefully within a few days here I’ll be getting my first look at what is quite likely the most anticipated MMORPG ever. Of course like most stress tests it’s going to be brief, lasting just 7 days but I’m just eager to finally see everything I’d been enviously reading about from the initial closed beta testers.

Comments

Comment by Tobin on 2004-08-30 19:53:56 +0000

nerd

Comment by Phil on 2004-08-31 10:30:20 +0000

I’d probably be a bit more excited about this if I’d ever played a MMORPG. As it is, I’ve got too many things to do and not enough time or money.

Give me an RPG I can beat in a few weeks… something like KOTOR.

Comment by Posko on 2004-09-01 12:34:27 +0000

Yay! Seven days of lag and unplayability… I’d still take that over no WoW.

PS: I haXXord your web d00d!

Comment by Ben Lewis on 2004-09-03 22:16:04 +0000

Im with you Will all the way!

Ok, so I admitted that I was a scaredy-wuss while playing Doom 3, but at least I never did this (that often). (Windows Media, 7.8MB, screeching junior high boys)

Jolayne and I are off to Columbus on a ridiculously early morning flight tomorrow. We’ll be there just for the weekend for her grandmother’s 80th birthday party and also to work out some of the details for the wedding plans.

Comments

Comment by Neal on 2004-08-29 13:23:20 +0000

If you hide behind the pillow, maybe the monsters can’t get you!

One of the things I did last month was to finally complete the TV recording computer that I’d been collecting parts for forever. I’ve been using it for over a month now, and overall I’m thrilled with it. The software I’ve been running on it is Beyond TV which has a very good if not as good as Tivo user interface. In addition I’ve been using the Firefly RF remote from the same company, which can also be used as a mouse (somewhat, as you control the cursor with arrow keys which is fairly clunky) and the buttons can be customized to control just about anything. The remote came with software called Beyond Media that serves as a decent Media PC desktop replacment, allowing you to lauch the TV app, play music and videos, listen to internet radio, view pictures, or launch any app that you add to the menu. Beyond TV also runs a server that lets you control the recording software from other computers and download or stream recorded shows (and even live TV) to other computers on your network. Recorded shows can be compressed down to 600 megs/hour with no visible loss in quality so that means on the 160 gig drive I have in there now I could store an ungodly amount of shows. (And I think we all know its just a matter of time until I slap another one of those in there) I’ve currently been amassing a large collection of Seinfeld and Futurama. If all of the above wasn’t enough I’ve gone ahead and put NES, SNES, and Genesis emulators along with MAME to handle all my nostalgic gaming urges. So that’s the good stuff. On the downside, the image isn’t quite as sharp as with regular TV (or even a Tivo if my memory serves correctly). Very light colored parts of the image look a little washed out, and I haven’t been able to correct that with any of my video card’s settings. Also I’ve found that it will probably require defragging on a monthly basis to keep performing well. Finally, I wish I’d gotten a much smaller case. To me though, those are just minor issues. For all the flexibility and control I get by going this route rather than a set-top box I’m more than happy with it.

Comments

Comment by Sarah on 2004-08-26 19:55:23 +0000

Rocking your world: Fred’s last day is next Friday. Oh yeah, I have some good news too, call me back and I will tell you.

Comment by Brett on 2004-08-27 09:22:42 +0000

I use Tivo at home and I love it, but this definitely sounds like an option. You have any cost figures? Is there any monthly service charges or anything? I would be happy to put forth a larger initial investment if I don’t have to pay $6.00 a month for Tivo service.

Comment by Will on 2004-08-29 17:43:33 +0000

Brett,

My cost figures wouldn’t be a very good estimate, since I used a lot of parts I had sitting around already. I would figure though if you picked up a super cheap low-end prebuilt system, the only additional expenses would be about $150 for the TV capture card, $60 bucks for the software, and probably some amount of money for a second hard drive. I’d say it’d be pretty tricky to build one for less than the initial cost of an actual TiVo, but then again there’s no montjly fee so that’s a bonus. Still, its definitely more about the freedom to do what you want with recorded shows and the expandability than it is the cost.

I just noticed today that I finally have some invites to give out for GMail. I know its pretty late in the game here and we’re well past the point where having GMail was any sort of geek status symbol whatsoever, but hey who can turn their nose up at a free gig of email storage. By now probably everyone that wanted an invite to use GMail has one, but on the off chance that’s not the case mine are available, first come, first serve. Just leave a comment and tell me where to send it.

Comments

Comment by Brett on 2004-08-24 20:19:42 +0000

Hey Will. I got one way back in the beginning of the game and decided never to use it. Well, I thought twice after I deleted the email. I would dig an invite. You never know when you’re going to need an email address with a gig of space. Just email it to brett@bwilms.com, if you would. Thanks.

Comment by Tobin on 2004-08-24 21:43:03 +0000

Hey, I’ll take one. It’s about time a geek like me gets access. Just send it to j u d a y d o t 2 a t o s u d o t e d u.

Thanks!

Comment by Neal on 2004-08-25 12:40:40 +0000

Oooh! I don’t have one yet.

I finally finished Doom 3. That doesn’t explain where I was for nearly all of July but it does pretty much cover August. I don’t think I’ve ever been as relieved to finish a game as I have with this one. I’m pretty much admitting that I’m a sissy here, but that was a nerve wracking game. Screenshots don’t really do it justice, conveying only the obvious fact that it’s really really dark. What they don’t really show is the way that the few sources of light realistically move and cast shadows. When well illuminated, most of the creatures in the game look amazingly detailed but more cheesy than scary. However, the way that they tend to hurl themselves out of the surrounding shadows at you never failed to make me jump. Most disturbing though may have been the sound, which featured no music but just unsettling ambient noises ranging from metallic groans and clanks to demonic laughter, hisses, and cries. The level of atmosphere created was impressive, and more than made up for the somewhat repetitive style of gameplay. The team at id games did a great job, though I figure that they owe me several pairs of clean underwear at this point.

Comments

Comment by Neal on 2004-08-24 07:55:42 +0000

I still think that the scariest thing ever in a video game was when an imp in the original Doom somehow snuck up behind you and started scratching you. That scratching noise was enough to cause nightmares.

If anyone could outdo that, it would have to be the guys at id.

Comment by Phil on 2004-08-24 11:12:51 +0000

Yeah, I agree.

By the way, did you think that the Hell level was kinda sissy? I was expecting it to be the whole second half of the game and was also expecting it to be ten times creepier than it was. There are parts in the Mars base that are creepier than anything seen in Hell…

Soul Cube, anyone? The little noise and animation that thing makes when it’s bored makes me jump every time…

Comment by Will on 2004-08-24 18:53:42 +0000

Yeah, ironically Hell was pretty relaxing compared to the rest of the game. Brightly lit and not a twitching impaled corpse to be found. Also the last boss wasn’t challenging enough. It looked impressive but was too weak. Oh well. Time to wait for some good multiplayer mods to come along.

Ah, fireworks. The great cleanser of the American gene pool. Check out the hilarious fireworks related mishap in this video. (Windows media) Silly doggie! You’re going to need better aim if you want to wipe out your human overlords.

Tonight I registered to vote for the very first time. That I did so in a movie theatre immediately before seeing Fahrenheit ⁹⁄₁₁ should give a pretty good indication of my motives for doing so. After seeing the movie, all I can say is: WTF GWB. Seriously. I mean, Michael Moore obviously made the film to convey a point and as such I’m sure there are things that were slanted toward that point. Still if even half of the material in the film is true as it was presented, well it’s just sad to think about. The film didn’t really influence my existing political views but it did convince me to finally lose my apathy regarding voting and that’s got to be a good thing.

Comments

Comment by Phil on 2004-06-27 10:49:44 +0000

Yeah, when we went Friday night, our theatre was sold out. For a DOCUMENTARY, of all things. I wasn’t surprised when I read in the news yesterday that it had taken $8 mil in ONE DAY.

I didn’t think it was as well put together as “Bowling for Columbine,” but it did its job. I think any film is supposed to make people think and talk about what they’ve seen, and I don’t think any summer blockbuster with lots of ‘splosions is going to do that.

Comment by Will on 2004-06-27 22:55:39 +0000

I’m not exactly sure how I’d place this amongst his other work. It’s rather different in that he steps back and spends a lot less time on screen and just lets the material do the talking. Less wacky, flippant, confrontational bits (the PATRIOT act reading from the ice cream truck was really the only piece like that) which I think is good because that kind of thing would have distracted from the message. So while it was kind of lacking in the juxtapositions and zingers that he usually deals in, I don’t know if I’d say that makes it not as good of a film.

Comment by Carrie on 2004-07-13 22:36:48 +0000

It’s great that you registered to vote, but it makes me sad that it took you so long.

Alright this is definitely the biggest news I’ve ever been able to post, so here it is: Jolayne and I are getting married! How awesome is that? (A hint: it’s between very, very awesome and very, very, very awesome) That’s right, I proposed yesterday, and as you can tell, she said yes! Right now we’re trying not to think about all of the craziness and planning that’s bound to be coming up and just enjoy it. I have no idea at all what it takes to plan a wedding so perhaps that’s why I’m not properly frightened yet. Today was just crazy at work. I had the hardest time concentrating because I just kept thinking about it and smiling. A friend of mine (that I had told about the upcoming proposal, or “P-Day” as we like to call it) brought in two cakes, one of which said “Congratulations, Will” and the other which was blank. He and his wife were planning to have it say “Better Luck Next Time” just to cover all the bases, but didn’t know if anyone would think it was funny. Personally, I thought it would have been great. I’m still just really excited. Wow. Wow!

For those of you with strong stomachs interested in the gooey romantic details, it went as follows: I left work early and went over to her apartment to set up a few things and wait to surprise her when she got home from work. I brought a ton of candles and since it was still going to be light out, some black sheets to cover the windows with. The main part of the proposal was a photo album/scrapbook that I made for her with a lot of pictures of us from various things that we had done together. The next to last page in the book was a written proposal and then the last page in the book was a picture of myself holding the ring in her apartment that I had taken earlier. At her apartment I got everything set up and then began the hardest part: waiting. Dear sweet merciful crap, I have never experienced tension quite like that before. It didn’t help that the air conditioning kept blowing out the candles and so I had to turn it off. So now its 85 degrees outside and I’m in an apartment with about 30 lit candles. On top of that, she got home about 45 minutes later than she usually would from work. I’m sitting on the couch, sweating, rose in hand with my heart jumping up my throat every time I hear some (real or imagined) sound outside. Finally though I heard her keys in the lock and I jumped up to meet her. She just stopped in the doorway, stunned with a smile on her face as I gave her the rose. As soon as we sat down on the couch one of the sheets I’d put up behind the blinds fell down, as if on cue. Oh well. We looked through the book together and when she turned to the last page I pulled out the ring and asked her to marry me. Everything was such a blur up to and including that moment that shortly afterwards we both realized that neither of us could remember what her exact words were then. It was only later when things had calmed down a little bit that we remembered that they were “Of course!” Naturally there was much laughing and one of us was jumping around like a schoolgirl (ok, it was me.) Unfortunately, it was the week that she had the emergency after-hours pager for her work which meant we could have been interrupted at any moment by it. Fortunately, we were able to find someone from her job that was willing to take it for the evening. We ended the evening by eating an amazing dinner at The Melting Pot on the Plaza. Everything just went so well, and that was easily the most exciting evening I’ve ever had.

Comments

Comment by Carrie on 2004-06-09 23:54:46 +0000

Yaaaaaaay!

Such a cute proposal scheme. I’m so happy for you two!

Yaaaaaaay!

Comment by Phil on 2004-06-10 00:00:21 +0000

Congrats, chummer! Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Now, how about that bachelor party, huh? 😉

Comment by Neal on 2004-06-10 09:01:04 +0000

Congratumalations!

Comment by Tobin on 2004-06-10 09:06:24 +0000

Hooray!

Isn’t it amazing that however sure you are she’ll say yes, it’s still the most tense, gut-wrenching, unnerving thing you’ve ever experienced?

Congratulations, Lisa and I are really happy for you guys.

Comment by Dave on 2004-06-10 11:06:10 +0000

Hey, congratulations!

Comment by Brett on 2004-06-10 12:38:00 +0000

Best of luck (not like you’ll need it – you stud!).

Comment by Kimmee on 2004-06-11 14:00:22 +0000

SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP! Congratulations!

Comment by Will on 2004-06-12 17:50:47 +0000

Thanks everyone!!

Tobin – You got that right. I was 99% sure she’d say yes, but when I was waiting for her to turn that last page, it was pretty intense.

Comment by Matt on 2004-06-18 13:36:19 +0000

Damn shorty!!!

Comment by Sarah on 2004-06-19 23:10:52 +0000

Congrats Dude!

Just in case you were wondering, this is how quickly I would die in a cheesy zombie flick. No surprises here really. (via dklegman)

You are dorky, technologically savvy, and really
annoying. You did some important technical
thing, but then were gutted unceremoniously
three quarters of the way through the movie.
Take pride in the fact that without you, no one
would’ve lived.

How fast would you die in a cheesy zombie flick?
brought to you by Quizilla

Comments

Comment by Carrie on 2004-06-08 02:19:56 +0000

I got ‘The Hero’

Hahahaha! 😀

Comment by Neal on 2004-06-08 07:55:15 +0000

I got “Nerd” too.

Comment by Phil on 2004-06-08 10:13:01 +0000

I somehow got “The Sidekikc [sic].” Was sorta expecting “the Nerd” also, but that’s fine.

At least everyone likes me.

Comment by Carrie on 2004-06-08 20:02:54 +0000

Haha! I get to save all your nerdy asses! 😛

Comment by Sarah on 2004-06-25 07:49:54 +0000

I got “You’re the tough guy who gets the most zombie kills. You make it most of the way, but die heroically by sacrificing yourself and taking out hundreds of zombies at the climax.” Hmmm, maybe gender should have been a question?