superdunner

a flickr photo recap of 2011

2011-12-18T20:42:00.002-06:00

Hand selected photos from 2011, chosen especially for you ;D

super travels across the globe

2011-06-30T18:18:00.002-05:00

I crafted a nifty little Google Maps map to keep track of all the lovely places I have traveled to and lived in. Clickity-click!

View SuperDunner's Travels in a larger map.

these words

2011-06-19T21:48:00.000-05:00

These words are placed here to make it seem like I'm still actively blogging and not ignoring this magical space.

oscar picks: 2011 edition

2011-02-27T16:27:00.001-06:00

Best Picture - The King's Speech
Actor In A Leading Roll - Colin Firth
Actor In A Supporting Roll - Christian Bale
Actress In A Leading Roll - Annette Bening
Actress In A Supporting Roll - Melissa Leo
Animated Feature Film - Toy Story 3
Art Direction - Inception
Cinematography - Inception
Costume Design - The King's Speech
Directing - The Social Network
Documentary Feature - Exit Through The Gift Shop
Documentary Short Subject - Killing In The Name
Film Editing - The Social Network
Foreign Language Film - Biutiful
Makeup - Barney's Version
Music (Original Score) - The Social Network
Music (Original Song) - Toy Story 3
Short Film (Animated) - Day & Night
Short Film (Live Action) - The Crush
Sound Editing - Inception
Sound Mixing - The King's Speech
Visual Effects - Inception
Writing (Adapted Screenplay) - The Social Network
Writing (Original Screenplay) - The King's Speech

a year at ska

2011-01-04T12:30:00.000-06:00

Wow, has it been a year already? Why yes, it has been a full year since I left the frozen Minnesota tundra, moving to New York to join Mr. Silva as Ska Studios' bestest employee! (Employee of the Month twelve months running. Just saying ;)

Looking back on 2010, I can't help but feel a bit accomplished by all the industry firsts I've experienced and the sheer amount of awesome projects I worked on throughout these last twelve months. Obligatory list of some of these projects is as follows:

- Re-launched Ska-Studios.com with a new design and a new blog.
- Kick-started an online store.
- Announced Vampire Smile with the help of Fervor Shine!
- Edited together a magical Vampire Smile launch trailer.
- Planned for and exhibited at PAX East.
- Learned how to use the map editor and crafted a few Arcade levels for Vampire Smile.
- Wrote a bunch of press releases.
- Worked with and met a good many awesome press folks.
- Celebrated Z0MB1ES selling 200,000 copies.
- Helped with Charlie Murder's transition to Xbox LIVE Arcade status.
- Tried my hand at game testing.
- Ran the ESRB rating marathon.
- Attended E3 2010!
- Did cross country planning for Ska's showing at PAX Prime.
- Celebrated Z0MB1ES' one year anniversary.
- Helped bring Z0MB1ES' musical awesome to the Rock Band Network.
- Wedged my way into a bunch of Microsoft conference calls.
- Got Z0MB1ES merch into Hot Topic.
- Crafted a handful of ZP2KX multiplayer maps.
- Put together the masterpiece that is ZP2KX.com.
- Attended Eurogamer Expo!
- Visited London to give OXM UK a hands-on Vampire Smile preview.
- Made a ZP2KX launch trailer (which is epic.)
- Gave Silva a bunch of game advice, even when not asked for ;D

And there we have it. A full year at Ska Studios completed and even more excitement to come in 2011 *cough* The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile *fake cough*. Excite! Yay! w00t!

metrodome roof collapses in minnesota

2010-12-12T13:53:00.000-06:00

After an intense blizzard made its way through Minnesota, the cumulating snow was just too much for the Teflon roof of the Metrodome to hold, so it collapsed. Like, literally collapsed. Watch the insane footage and get more information on the craziness over here.

Oh how I miss Minnesota weather ;D

i made a game trailer with pterodactyls in it

2010-11-25T17:51:00.000-06:00

For the Xbox LIVE Indie Game "ZP2KX". More info at www.ZP2KX.com. BLAM-O!

yes, i am the traveling man

2010-09-11T08:35:00.000-05:00

Let it be known that September 2010 is the month that I, Dustin "SuperDunner" Burg, traveled the most in my entire existence on this planet. Check out my pending (and somewhat already completed) travel schedule for this month:

09/02 - 09/06 in Seattle, Washington
- For PAX Prime 2010
- ALB > SEA is 4,700 miles RT
09/13 - 09/18 in Maui, Hawaii
- For Personal Stuff
- ALB > OGG is 9,760 miles RT
09/30 - 10/05 in London, England
- For Eurogamer Expo 2010
- ALB > LHR is 6,700 miles RT

BAM! BLAM! HUZZAH! That's roughly 21,160 miles traveled in a month (nearly that of the Earth's 24,901 mile circumference) which I'd categorize as crazy sauce with an extra side of crazy. Now, about that jet lag ...

halo: reach controller packaging is suhweet

2010-07-28T22:40:00.001-05:00

Click to super duper uber size.There is only one word needed to describe the packing of the Halo: Reach Limited Edition controller: Suhweet.

e3 twenty ten photos

2010-07-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

new threadless threads

2010-05-16T21:09:00.000-05:00

Purchased new Threadless tees thanks to a birthday gift card from Jamezila. Behold: Rain Bow, Southbound Pachyderm and The Morning After!

summer box office guesstimates

2010-05-14T11:31:00.007-05:00

Summer movie season 2010 is here, which means it's time to make a random wager with Demolition Elmo and attempt to win said wager by guessing the domestic opening weekend box office numbers for eight summer flicks. The person who comes up with the closest cumulative domestic box office total to the actual total wins eternal admiration and cookies.

Listed below are the eight movies, along with their release date and my best guess at their opening week domestic box office. Feel free to play along :D

MacGruber - 5/21: $18 million
- Actual: $4.0 million - Difference: $14 million
Sex and the City 2 - 5/27: $42 million
- Actual: $31.0 million - Difference: $11 million
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - 5/28: $59 million
- Actual: $30.1 million - Difference: $28.9 million
The A-Team - 6/11: $27 million
- Actual: $25.7 million - Difference: $1.3 million
Toy Story 3 - 6/18: $115 million
- Actual: $110.3 million - Difference: $4.7 million
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - 6/30: $92 million
Salt - 7/23: $15 million
Charlie St. Cloud - 7/30: $12 million
TOTAL: $380,000,000

pax east 2010 avatar hoodie codes!

2010-03-29T19:21:00.000-05:00

Clickity click, redeem and get lucky!

xbox 360 qwerty keyboard activate!

2010-03-20T18:06:00.001-05:00

Do you use the Xbox 360's onscreen keyboard but dislike its default alphabetical layout? Well, there's an easy (but semi-hidden) solution that'll take your ABCs and convert 'em to QWERTY keyboard awesomeness!

To change the Xbox 360's onscreen keyboard layout to QWERTY style, simply:

1. Navigate to: System Settings > Console Settings > Language and Locale > Language
2. Select: English (QWERTY Keyboard)
3. Bam! Insta-QWERTY!

yes, it's a shiny black laptop

2010-02-27T19:32:00.000-06:00

Never did I think that I'd be penning a blog about purchasing a new laptop less than two years since my last "new laptop blog", but here we are. Yay me!

This past week, I had the displeasure of having my 2008 purchased (and now out of warranty) laptop's motherboard decide it wanted to end its life. So, it did just that and I was left to deal with the aftermath. Luckily, I got a lift over to the local Best Buy and found myself a new toy for the low, low price of a few hundred bones. Specs wise, it has an AMD Turion X2 RM-75 processor under the hood along with a 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 250GB HDD and a 15.6" LED lit display. Geeky fun!

My only hope is that I will not have to post a similar "new laptop" blog come 2012. Fingers crossed and rabbit's foot rubbed.

fake locke

2010-02-23T14:48:00.000-06:00

Just don't make him mad.

grammy predictions!

2010-01-31T14:21:00.015-06:00

I made a wager with one @RichardElliott to see who could best predict the 2010 Grammy winners. The loser must update their Xbox Live profile with the text "I have poor taste in music." and their Xbox Avatar is restricted from wearing any music related items up until the start of the Halo: Reach beta. Below are my Grammy winner picks and over here are Richard's. Let's win this for the Dunner!

(Wrong and Right)

Record of the Year: "Poker Face" Lady Gaga

Album of the Year: "The Fame" Lady Gaga

Song of the Year: "Single Ladies" Beyonce

Best New Artist: Silversun Pickups

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: "You Belong With Me" Taylor Swift

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: "All About The Love Again" Stevie Wonder

Best Pop Performance By A Group "I Gotta Feeling" The Black Eyed Peas

Best Pop Collaboration: "Breathe" Taylor Swift & Colbie Caillat

Best Pop Instrumental Performance: "Phoenix Rise" Maxwell

Best Pop Instrumental Album: "Potato Hole" Booker T. Jones

Best Pop Vocal Album: "Funhouse" Pink

Best Dance Recording: "Poker Face" Lady Gaga

Best Electronic/Dance Album: "The Fame" Lady Gaga

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Michael Bublé

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance: "Working On A Dream" Bruce Springsteen

Best Rock Performance By A Group: "Use Somebody" Kings of Leon

Best Hard Rock Performance: "What I've Done" Linkin Park

Best Metal Performance: "Set To Fail" Lamb of God

Best Rock Instrumental Performance: "Playing With Fire" Brad Paisley

Best Rock Song: "Use Somebody" Kings of leon

Best Rock Album: "No Line On The Horizon" U2

Best Alternative Music Album: "The Open Door" Death Cab For Cutie

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance: "Single Ladies" Beyonce

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: "Under" Pleasure P

Best R&B Performance By A Group: "Blame It" Jamie Foxx & T-Pain

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: "At Last" Beyonce

Best R&B Song: "Single Ladies" Beyonce

Best Contemporary R&B Album: "Thr33 Ringz" T-Pain

Best Rap Solo Performance: "Beautiful" Eminem

Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group: "Crack A Bottle"

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: "Run This Town" Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West

Best Rap Song: "Run This Town" Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West

Best Rap Album: "Relapse" Eminem

Best Country Album: "Fearless" Taylor Swift

Best Comedy Album: "Suckin’ It For The Holidays" Kathy Griffin

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Score Soundtrack Album: Up

Best Song Written For Motion Picture or TV: "The Wrestler" Bruce Springsteen

Best Short Form Music Video: "Life In Technicolor II" Coldplay

Best Long Form Music Video: The Beatles Love - All Together Now

my xbox died (again) and i lived to share my story

2010-01-29T19:53:00.000-06:00

Just tonight, my fifth Xbox 360 red ringed and died. More precisely, it diagnosed itself with a fatal case of E74 "general hardware failure". Now, while one's natural reaction to such a catastrophe would be to scream obscenities, be furious with the world and put all the blame on the last game that was being played (in this case, it was the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 demo), I instead manned up and had a good cry. After my brief sob, I did what any Xbox addict would do when their Xbox dies; I wiped my tears, hopped on a bus, braved the frigid weather and picked up a replacement Xbox 360 Arcade from Target. I figured it'll last me for the time being while I figure out my warranty situation. Yup, that's my story. Curse this evil world.

Oh, and look at the pic above that illustrates how adorably ~~tiny~~ ~~little~~ small'ish the new Xbox AC adapters are. You almost want to pinch its little plastic cheeks. *pinch* *pinch!*

missing in action, action, we want action!

2010-01-22T18:14:00.000-06:00

I need to be around here more. This is just embarrassing!

ska studios + dustin = major win

2009-12-28T12:26:00.001-06:00

After a short period of free agency, it's with great joy that I'm able to inform the world that I'll being joining the one person "team" over at the too cool for school game development shack at Ska Studios.

As I'm sure you're well aware, Ska Studios is an indie Xbox 360 developer that's responsible for the insanely difficult Xbox Live Arcade title The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, the one dollar Indie Games hit I MAED A GAM3 WITH ZOMBIES IN 1T!!!1 and many other violent masterpieces. All are games that contain magical wonder, bloody bits and a heavy smearing of secret awesome sauce.

Seeing as Ska Studios' HQ is based in Schenectady, NY, I'll be moving to the east coast early next week in what I hope will be a smooth transition with absolutely no lost luggage. My "Marketing Coordinator" role at Ska will last many months and allows me the chance to wear various hats in a supportive, creative environment. Some of these projects will be apparent immediately, while others will remain ninja-secret for some time.

So, that's it. That's my exciting life news. Wish me luck and be on the lookout for some pretty ~~damn~~ darn badass gaming goods coming from the not so small town of Schenectady.

halo: reach video screenshots

2009-12-13T04:32:00.000-06:00

Check out this collection of eight (1280x720) Halo: Reach screenshots that I gathered from the just released Reach premiere trailer. And, yes, the Elites are pretty darn badass.

trent don't need no lights

2009-12-07T10:29:00.000-06:00

trent don't need no mic stand

2009-12-06T17:52:00.000-06:00

pax 09 avatar tees

2009-12-03T16:46:00.000-06:00

Here be a few Xbox Live redemption codes for PAX 09 Avatar tees. Male and female apparel, of course:

Male PAX 09 tee
VB9M8-B98JJ-99B8G-JDFVT-K8PRD
VM4DC-794QP-VPRJJ-PHHJY-TJYVY
P6YKP-RWP78-KPVDF-2Q4X4-DVRM8
WKP8B-P97V2-C62JY-KVCYK-HK6H8

Female PAX 09 tee
GB4WV-TTWHM-226F8-MHV4C-WT4P3
VDCHJ-Q9RFH-B9624-2T9F7-W8J9M
QT6PW-WC8QT-XJJCT-Y8GBP-WPTQD
F9474-BRD6R-P74VB-T8HKK-JQQTT
BKB6V-76Q42-H8J2T-C3Q9G-7P4TW

hey, netflix, where's my lost?

2009-12-03T04:12:00.003-06:00

Update: As of 12/8/09, LOST Season 5 is now streaming on Netflix! My numerous complaints, angry attitude and fish biscuit bribery seems to have paid off. Enjoy the show!

Dear Netflix Dudes and Dudettes,

I want to point your attention to this official blog entry you posted back in August. In it, you promise to add LOST Season 5 to your streaming service, yet you have not fulfilled your pledge. (You also assure the release of the fifth season of Desperate Housewives, but those chicks are a bore and so I really don't care.) Today is December 3rd and I'm still waiting for LOST Season 5 streaming to grace my Xbox 360. Now, can you understand the emotionally precarious position I'm in?

I fully understand that business deals change, release dates shift and that the LOST Season 5 DVD has yet to make it to retail. I get that, but couldn't you at the very least update LOST fans on the delay or the content's updated release info? All said, I'm still holding out hope that you'll make good on your streaming promise sooner rather than later. You see, the series finale starts in February and not being able to watch the fifth season through your service would be considered a major inconvenience and an "epic fail" on your behalf.

I don't mean to be pushy. I really don't. I just really need to see what happens to my LOST cast in the fifth and (from what I'm told) the most fantastical season. Now get to it, pull whatever magical Netflix levers need to be pulled and upload the content as you were about to months ago. If you complete this task before December 8th, not only will I forget about this dreadful delay, but I'll also throw in a fish biscuit to sweeten the deal.

Sincerely,
Me

a few recent photos

2009-11-19T00:57:00.009-06:00

superdunner.com is really superdunner.com

2009-11-05T09:33:00.001-06:00

Look up there. Way up there. Up at the place where you type in URLs. See anything different? You should, because it now reads "www.superdunner.com" and not that ugly "superdunner.blogspot.com" sickness. How 'bout them apples?

After messing around with some DNS and Blogger settings, I've successfully setup my blog to retain the "www.superdunner.com" URL, including deep links to specific blogs (like this).

I'm now on the cusp of world domination.

halo waypoint milestones

2009-10-30T12:59:00.004-05:00

With today's preview release of Halo Waypoint, lots of folks have been asking what Halo Gamerscore equates to what Career Milestone. Being the people pleaser that I am, below you will find a rundown of the Gamerscore requirements (the sum of your Halo 3, ODST and Halo Wars Gamerscore) for each of the 40 Halo Waypoint Career Milestones.

Milestone 40 = 2900+GS
Milestone 39 = 2800GS
Milestone 38 = 2700GS
Milestone 37 = 2600GS ...
36 = 2500GS, 35 = 2400GS, 34 = 2300GS, 33 = 2200GS, 32 = 2100GS, 31 = 2000GS, 30 = 1900GS, 29 = 1800GS, 28 = 1700GS, 27 = 1600GS, 26 = 1500GS, 25 = 1400GS, 24 = 1300GS, 23 = 1200GS, 22 = 1100GS, 21 = 1000GS, 20 = 900GS, 19 = 800GS, 18 = 700GS, 17 = 600GS, 16 = 500GS, 15 = 450GS, 14 = 400GS, 13 = 350GS, 12 = 300GS, 11 = 250GS, 10 = 220GS, 9 = 190GS, 8 = 160GS, 7 = 130GS, 6 = 100GS, 5 = 80GS, 4 = 60GS, 3 = 40GS, 2 = 20GS, 1 = 0GS

faqs: 360's fall 09 dash update

2009-10-19T14:36:00.004-05:00

Here are a few quick facts about the soon-to-be-released Xbox 360 dashboard update featuring Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm and Zune Marketplace:

Facebook
- Requires a 6MB install.
- Accessed Via: My Community > Facebook
- Sections: Home, Profile, Friends, and Photos.
- Features: status updates, info profile, feeds, photos, comments, liking, and viewing friends with Gamertags.

Twitter
- No install required.
- Accessed Via: My Community > Twitter
- Sections: Profile, What are you doing?, Search, and Trending Topics.
- Features: status updates, searches, refresh option, replying, re-tweets, favoriting, profiles, following list, follower list, update count, unfollow option, viewing direct messages, and sending direct messages.
- Animated blue Twitter bird is awesome.

Last.fm
- Requires a 6MB install.
- Accessed Via: Music Marketplace > Last.fm
- Sections: Your Recent Stations, Your Last.fm Profile, Start a New Station, Gamer Stations, Tag Stations, Popular Stations, Your Recommended Stations, and Your Library Stations.
- Features: artist info, artist photos, artist stats, artist search, tag search, station listening, skipping tracks, favoriting, disliking, and library adds.
- Watch out for annoying advertisements.

Zune Marketplace
- Requires a 5MB install.
- Accessed Via: Video Marketplace > Zune Marketplace or Music Marketplace > Zune Marketplace
- Sections: Movies, TV, Music Videos, Party, Video Library, and Independent Videos.
- Features: party viewing, search, numerous sorting options, movie rental, movie purchases (SD, HD, 1080p), and music video purchases.
- Netflix-like party allows for ANY media viewing in a party with friends.
- The sexy black and purple color scheme is, well ... sexy.

getting lost in five seasons of lost

2009-10-16T07:24:00.020-05:00

To get ready for 2010's sixth season of LOST (which is also the series finale), I'm watching all five previous seasons with the aid of Netflix. Yes sir, all 103 episodes that'll take up roughly 72 hours of my life.

Now, I'm well aware that I'm late to the LOST game (by my calculations, about five years), but I find no better time to start a LOST addiction than now. Thus far, I've made it about half way through the first season and figured it'd be fun to keep track of my LOST viewing quest on a handy (and completely text based) bar graph as seen below. While the graph isn't graphically appealing, you can follow my episode viewing progress, left to right, through all five seasons. Yeah!

Wish me luck ... I'm a LOST addict in training.

LOST Progress Bar of Viewing
||||| S1 ||||| S2 ||||| S3 ||||| S4 ||||| S5
Season 1 Completed: 10/24/09
Season 2 Completed: 11/06/09
Season 3 Completed: 11/15/09
Season 4 Completed: 11/23/09
Season 5 Completed: 12/19/09

another dose of dunner

2009-09-30T14:54:00.004-05:00

After successfully conquering my self imposed Daily Dose of Dunner challenge this past spring (and gushing over the lovely photography that was taken), it's time for season two of Daily Dose of Dunner photog shenanigans.

The challenge is the same: take one completely random (yet interesting) photograph each and every day, then upload the visual goodness to its virtual Flickr home. This time, the challenge will be a bit shorter in length (30 days, in fact) and will begin this Thursday, October 1st.

Interested? If so, feel free to follow the daily updates over on my Twitter page (or search for #dailydunner) and visit my Flickr page often. Here's to capturing 30 fantasmical photos of awesome! CHEERS!

trent reznor interview - the 'lost questions'

2009-09-24T16:50:00.016-05:00

Here are a few questions that didn't quite make the editorial cut over on my Joystiq published Trent Reznor interview. Enjoy!

You made headlines when you quit Twitter. Seeing as the service is coming to the Xbox 360 this Fall, will you be Tweeting again?

Trent: I can tell you exactly why I left Twitter. When Nine Inch Nails became free from a record label and we went on our own, we decided not to go indie. Why? Because it's the same structure. They have the same agenda, which is to sell plastic. That's not what we want to do. So, we decided to go completely independent and directly market to our fans and interact directly with them. What labels used to hold over your head was distribution, where we needed them to get into stores physically.

For us, we went online and so Rob and I spent a lot of time realizing our store front and our portal, which is the Nine Inch Nails website. We asked ourselves: how do we make a site that really engages fans and not in just a cursory way. We decided to actually read the comments and interact with people to see what they think, because we're trying to solve a riddle that's hard to solve: how do you make a living selling something that people want to be free? Something they're going to get free whether you like it or not, because all music is free. A person can get any piece of music ever recorded for free, instantly, and nobody is going to take you to jail for that. Yet, how do you sell your stuff to these people and how do you interact with them?

Then we spent time on social networks and spent time thinking about how to correctly orchestrate and build Nine Inch Nails as a portal. We took to heart lessons on how people steal music, watched how people steal music and interacted with people who steal and learned why people steal music. People aren't stealing music to make money. They steal because they love music. They want it as soon as it's out and that's a good thing. It isn't like people are boot-legging the music and making lots of money off your record, they just want it.

This all led to us getting very much involved and listening to the community, so that's why we released our recent records for free. That's why we came up with the pricing tiers that we did, giving people something that had value for their money if they wanted it. But we gave it away for those who aren't going to pay anyway and figured that maybe we can at least get their email address and let them know when our next record is coming out. Or, maybe, we can let them know when our next concert is coming up.

Rob turned me onto Twitter as it was kind of a curiosity of mine, to see what would happen. Unexpectedly, I let more of my personality out than I normally do. The reason that I normally don't do that is because, coming from the era I came from when I was a kid, you didn't know what the band you liked even looked like. There was no MTV and no websites. You might see a picture of that band, but there was a mystery involved where you wanted to seek that information out. You might catch them on a once-a-week Late Night show, but you weren't bombarded by info. Pink Floyd was one of my favorite bands, but I didn't care what they looked like, I just wanted to read between the lines. I wasn't seeing them in commercials or videos or other bullshit. You found out band info on the actual album or listened to the music a million times.

There's a lesson to be learned in having a degree of mystique in a band like Nine Inch Nails, where the less people know about me, the more the core audience wants to know. I'm not on the cover with my chick and I'm not hanging out at Hollywood premiers doing whatever you're supposed to do. Well, okay ... I went to one. It was Star Trek, but you would have gone too [laughs].

The point is, with Twitter and knowing I was going to shut down Nine Inch Nails, I just started being myself and that's being a smart ass. Then it caught on in some ways, where it bummed a lot of people out and suddenly I got a lot of followers. A lot more people than were following me on NIN.com and it kind of crept out in a mainstream way. A few of my snarky comments made headlines and I realized Twitter was a powerful marketing tool. Then, I came across someone who needed help with their health and figured we could raise money for him. We raised a million dollars in a couple weeks in an attempt to save someone's life and that made headlines.

Soon, I learned that Twitter and really everywhere on the internet the power of being anonymous. The boldness and coward in people comes out, where they say things that they'd never say to someone's face. Under that mask of the persona they create online, it allows people to start talking shit. There was a particularly grotesque camp that decided they were going to attack. They came up with the rudest, meanest shit you could possibly come up with and blasted away. If they got their Twitter account thrown out, they'd just start a new one. Twitter doesn't give a shit, they just want numbers. Being a person of fame, a person who is being watched, I discovered a lot of people read those replies on Twitter, because they want it to feel like a bulletin board and feel like they're seeing what other people are saying. All I was doing was providing a platform for some of these assholes to get their opinions out there and there is no way I can stop them. I can block them myself so I don't see their posts, but you and everyone else sees it.

I called this out to Twitter's attention, but they're just trying to keep their servers plugged in. They aren't too concerned about a meaningful, truly collaborative experience. They got that adrenaline rush going to their head where they're the biggest thing since the last internet craze. It's an interesting means of people sharing information, but the way I was using it became flawed. I'm not going to empower these fucking cowards to be able to slander me and the people I love around me, because they're exploiting a hole through Twitter's security. So, I just said "fuck you" and that's that.

What does the future hold for NIN Access?

Rob: We have a million ideas and we can't develop fast enough to do what we want to do. We've hit some road blocks where we reached this version and now it's "X" amount more money and time to do the next version. But now that the tour has settled down, we just need to re-group and figure out where we're going to take it from here. More importantly, figure out how it can expand out beyond just a NIN iPhone app. There are bigger ideas there, where it's more than just Nine Inch Nails and just the iPhone and we have to figure out how to make the most of that.

Trent: What we run up against, without a label, is that every penny comes out of our pocket, including our website. What we're particularly proud of is the effort we put into the backbone of the website and it being very open and modular. We tried to address the issues that one would run into when going independently, things like bandwidth and housing lots of data. So, rather than trying to build a good video player or audio player, we just API'ed it out and use Youtube, Vimeo, whatever. We made our place, the whole user database and all the essential information, then just meta-tagged and funneled everything out. So, if you want to come to NIN.com you can see every video on YouTube, because we tagged them properly. For our insanely completest fans, we made sure there's a way it's navigable and usable versus going to YouTube and dealing with that clusterfuck.

The iPhone thing was mainly a way to extend that NIN experience into your pocket and also, because it's location aware, we made the app something that's a cool tool for communicating. It's reaching beyond what I think Nine Inch Nails fans need and what we're facing right now is whether we want to invest more money into these new ideas and super-serve our little community or find a way to branch it out to offer other people. To other bands or other communities, because I think there's a big opportunity there.

And all these development plans are based solely on the iPhone?

Trent: We used the iPhone, because it has a good developer kit, its hardware makes sense and it's just one product. That versus what we tried doing on the Blackberry where it was a nightmare for a number of reason. The libraries suck, the hardware isn't consistent from model to model, they aren't that helpful and from a programming prospective, it isn't nearly where the iPhone is. As far as Android, it has no permeation in the market.

To make a long story short, we are going to expand the service and hopefully take it out of just Nine Inch Nails and offer the technology to others.

Now that you've gone through the iPhone app approval process with NIN Access, what's your honest opinion of it?

Rob: It's a mess right now. I don't know if from their prospective it exploded bigger than they could have ever imagined and if they are still playing catchup. Our submission process was a pain, was very hypocritical and very inconsistent. You even hear about them just pulling apps because of arbitrary decisions, like the Google Voice apps that people made. It's a problem when the message to the developers is: put all this time, effort and money into something and get it out there, but then we can yank it at anytime. That's just a bad message to some of the people out there who are investing a whole lot into creating these programs and it's just not a very good way to treat developers.

I get the sense that someone over there at Apple realizes this and I think they're trying. If you're going to have a closed system, then that's your thing, do what you want with it. But if that's the way you're going to run it, do it in a way that's respectful to the people who are making you money and are making that iPhone worth having. 90% of the iPhone being worth having is because of the apps, so you need to treat those people with a lot of respect and be consistent with the decisions being made. They just really need to get their whole system together.

Trent: I agree with what he's saying. In an unpopular position, some of the service being closed is good by not allowing things that break the system. Being closed allows the phone to work properly and allows their user interface decision to be set in stone. We released a few songs in garage band format, where all you have to do is click and they load up. Before you even upload the file, someone has to convert them into MP3 and I've got to put them into fruity-loops and I have to make sure ... well just wait a fucking second! Watch how it's supposed to work before you fucking break it.

I know that is not the same thing, but I see why they're sticklers about some of that shit. I think where our NIN Access app fell into danger was because it gets content from the internet, so that content might be bad words, pictures of dicks or whatever. So, our app had to be rated NC-17 or whatever it is. Tell the developer the rules and don't leave it a surprise where we ask ourselves "why haven't we heard from them yet, it has been two months?" Tell us clearly and define what the policy is, then let developers know what the restrictions are.

The argument I could easily make, and did make, is the fact that I can look at that same cock on Safari and that comes on my iPhone. Why is it any different if one of my fans' cock shows up on the app versus Rob's cock that I saw on Safari?

Rob: Because theirs would be bigger. [Laughs]

Umm, to be clear, you guys don't really look up cocks for leisure ... do you?

Trent: Well, I'm not saying that I ...

Rob: Yeah, I do.

Trent: [Laughing] Yeah, Rob does!

the collector

2009-09-19T21:55:00.001-05:00

there are times, plenty of times when I wish I could let it go

my NIN and PAX checklist

2009-08-31T09:47:00.008-05:00

Below, you'll find a list of activities that I want to, no, will complete during my Nine Inch Nails and Penny Arcade Expo trip. The plan is to complete each of the eleven activities by September 9th. I'll be regularly updating this post with evidence after I've completed each of my tasks. Red means the mission is a work-in-progress and green means I win!

Got it? Good. Now, let's do this!

NIN / PAX List-O-Tasks
1) Shake Trent Reznor's hand. I shook it twice.
2) Eat a Beard Papa cream puff. It was delicious.
3) Visit the waxed Master Chief at Madame Tussauds.
4) Touch a Microsoft Surface Table. Touchified!
5) High five Six Okay. SLAP!
6) Locate some Halo 3: ODST Superintendent swag. Button'tastic swag
7) Purchase a new The Behemoth t-shirt. And for only $20.
8) Have a coffee break with someone cool. With Litheon, of course.
9) Play Left 4 Dead 2. Zombies have been killed.
10) Get a photo with a tech celebrity. Not with, but of.
11) Spot James Silva on a PAX panel discussion. There he is!
(red = incomplete, green = completed)

PAX and NIN schedule

2009-08-28T11:25:00.000-05:00

Next week, the first week of September, I have lots of plans. So many plans, I felt the need to create a schedule, which you can view below. And before you ask, no sir, there are no typos. The Penny Arcade Expo and Nine Inch Nails happenings are legit and are scheduled to go down. Lovely. Exciting. Amazing.

Tuesday, September 1st
- 8AM: Leave for MSP airport.
- 11AM: Depart MSP for LAX.
- 3PM: Arrive at LAX, travel to Hollywood hotel.
- Rest of Day: Chill in Hollywood

Wednesday, September 2nd
- ?AM: Interview Trent Reznor of NIN.
- 2PM: Get in line at the Hollywood Palladium for NIN concert.
- 7PM: NIN concert starts.
- Rest of Evening: Rock out, sleep.

Thursday, September 3rd
- 7AM: Leave for LAX airport.
- 11AM: Depart LAX for SEA.
- 2PM: Arrive at SEA, travel to Seattle hotel.
- Rest of Day: Chill and do random stuff.

Friday, September 4th - Tuesday, September 8th
- 7AM: Wake up, go to Penny Arcade Expo. Have fun. Etc.
- Rest of Days: Random stuff.

Wednesday, September 9th
- 10AM: Leave for SEA airport.
- 2PM: Depart SEA for MSP.
- 8PM: Arrive at MSP, travel home, fall over, smile.

welcomed into the social

2009-08-12T04:50:00.004-05:00

In preparation for the release of the Zune HD, I've re-organized my music within' the Zune software and have officially been welcomed into the social. Pass the lemonade.

lots of photos

2009-08-09T16:53:00.002-05:00

If you haven't been following my Tweets, you should check out the goods over on my Flickr page. Lots of new photos, some random, some artsy.

Yeah, I'm cool like that ;)

almost lost my perfection

2009-06-23T19:50:00.005-05:00

Figured I'd give the Halo 3 render to video beta a test drive and render out a video gem. Let's just say that I was oh so close to losing my perfection medal in the final moments.

still alive

2009-06-16T08:54:00.000-05:00

It's just that I don't blog here much. While I'm here, take a look at 100 photos of cute animals.

At E3 2009! W00t!

2009-05-31T17:21:00.002-05:00

Quick note: Dustin is at E3 2009 (OMG MEGATON AWESOMEZ!) and will be posting pictures all week long on this Flickr set. Yup, go here and see pictures from E3. Amazing!

operation: bribe twitter people with free stuff

2009-05-11T11:00:00.001-05:00

I'm not going to lie about my intentions or motives: I'm out to selfishly bribe the internet. Well, not the entire internet, just those who are on Twitter. Here, let me explain:

Everyone likes winning stuff. So, in an effort to bribe my current Twitter followers to keep following me (I'm experiencing an "unfollowing epidemic") AND to maybe court some new followers (yes, I'm shallow like that ;P), I'm giving away Xbox Live redemption codes for various Xbox Live Arcade titles via Twitter. (On second thought, I'm actually doing this because it sounds strangely fun and entirely random. Maybe that's my true motivation?)

This Tuesday, May 12th and Wednesday, May 13th from noon to 5:00PM central, I'll be tweeting a redemption code for a random XBLA game roughly every hour. It's that simple. Just follow my tweets and possibly score a free XBLA game. You're welcome and thank you.

Love, SuperDunner

daily dose of dunner

2009-04-27T16:25:00.000-05:00

One picture, each day, for sixty days. It's a Daily Dose of Dunner. That's the challenge.

I'll be posting one picture each and ever day for the next two months, beginning today, April 27th, 2009. How exciting or interesting this lil' challenge will end up being can not be guaranteed. There really aren't any standards. Pictures of my life, pets, food and even dryer lint are all fair game. There are only two rules 1) I have to personally take the photo and 2) the photo must be taken on that specific day.

You can follow the fun via my Flickr photostream, where the photos will be housed. I'll also be posting a daily tweet on my Twitter page where all posts will be cataloged under the tag #dailydunner. My Facebook peeps can experience a Daily Dose of Dunner via the links in each status update.

That's it. One photograph each day for the next two months. Wish me luck :D

i can haz sweet ride?

2009-04-24T14:29:00.000-05:00

ms e3 press conference, here I come

2009-04-14T22:50:00.000-05:00

i'm $100 richer!

2009-04-08T19:20:00.001-05:00

Moments ago, I had an urge to stop by a local convenience store to buy some Lipton tea. You know, the diet mixed berry kind that goes down smooth. Right when I was about to checkout I had an idea, "I should totally buy one of those new fangled lottery ticket things." So, that's what I did. And instead of buying one of the wimpy $1 tickets, I went in BIG and purchased a $5 "Platinum Payout".

Anyhoo, I just got home, scratched that lil' sucker and I'll be damned if it wasn't a $100 winner! Look for yourself. It's like I'm rich now and can buy everything I've ever desired. Lucky me :D

april fools from nin

2009-04-01T12:33:00.002-05:00

OMG BBQ! It's Trent Rezner's new album, STROBE LIGHT!

close your eyes

2009-03-23T18:15:00.001-05:00

nin|ja

2009-03-20T15:05:00.000-05:00

Go get new NIN here: www.ninja2009.com.

freeze-dried yogurt

2009-03-19T14:55:00.000-05:00

I'm sure it's socially unacceptable that my new favorite snack food is made by Gerber and is targeted towards babies who are in their "crawler" stage of life. But who cares? I'm a food eating rebel that knows no boundaries, isn't confined by society's unfair labels or marketers' generic rules. I eat what I like and these mixed berry yogurt melts are freakin' delicious.

Damn right, I'm a Gerber Graduate!

surviving Kijuju

2009-03-19T00:39:00.000-05:00

After working through about 82% of Resident Evil 5 (that's only a rough approximation of my progress and not an actual algebraic calculation), I must admit, it isn't all that bad. If it weren't for the game's disgusting control scheme, the whole ball of video gamery could be pretty amazing. But it isn't, Capcom muffed it up and you'll never be able to walk and swing a knife at the same time. It's sad, really ...

Anyhoo, I wanted to point out a familiar name that's included as part of RE5's "Kijuju Survivors" list. If you own a copy of the game, flip towards the back of the manual where the survivors are listed. Look about half way down the first column and you should spot a certain Joystiq name listed. (I wonder how that got there? ;D)

babble

2009-03-02T18:19:00.002-06:00

Let me be frank. Blog posts aren't being posted here as timely as in the past. I admit that. But there's a good reason. That reason is Twitter. All my random thoughts are being Twittered and have no creative juices left for my lonely blog.

Please, understand. Please, accept my Twittering habit.

I'll do my best to blog more.

bug embedded in candle?

2009-02-11T15:36:00.001-06:00

There's a god damn bug in my soy candle. Like, Jurassic Park style. I wonder if there's dinosaur DNA to uncover ...

X3F is dead, joystiq is alive

2009-01-27T01:23:00.002-06:00

Just to let you know, Xbox 360 Fanboy is no more and has just been "folded" into Joystiq. But fret not, because you can still get your X3F-style news over at xbox.joystiq.com. Embrace the change. Love the change.

frozen torture

2009-01-13T13:35:00.001-06:00

This is what living in Minnesota is like. Note the -41 degree wind chill. Screw that.

ready for schoolin'

2009-01-08T14:42:00.001-06:00

School starts next week, look at all that reading.

look at those puppy boots

2008-12-22T12:14:00.001-06:00

Buddy loves being fashionable.

soupy for lunch

2008-12-16T12:47:00.002-06:00

Thanks Twitterverse, you helped a catastrophe from happening by aiding in the soup eating decision process. Italian-Style Vegetable is delicious, especially in an IKEA bowl.

take on spike's vgas

2008-12-14T23:03:00.004-06:00

The good and bad of Spike TV's Video Game Awards. Obviously, more bad then good.

The Good
1) Cliffy B was on stage.
2) Jack Black is always hilarious.
3) New Gears of War 2 DLC announced.
4) Opening console "sex sequence" was chuckle worthy.

The Bad
1) Awkward as hell.
2) Tony Hawk's hair color is freaky.
3) Too much advertising promotion.
4) "Celebs" didn't know what was going on.
5) GameStop and Stride gum whored themselves out.
6) Most of the debut trailers were CG.
7) 50 Cent rapped.
8) Too many lame attempts to appeal to Gen-Y.
9) GTAIV won game of the year ... seriously?

you gotta little fight in yah

2008-12-09T01:13:00.001-06:00

Now go buy The Dark Knight on DVD.

why couldn't we have this Mirror's Edge?

2008-12-08T16:05:00.002-06:00

EA just revealed a nifty comparison video of Mirror's Edge PC. Nothing too exciting, except for the fact that the vid is comparing normal Mirror's Edge with a much beefier Nvidia PhysX GPU enhanced version. And it's sexy.

The material ripping and tearing effects are unbelievable gorgeous and definitely add to the experience. Maybe I'm just a sucker for fancy material effects, but I have to ask, why couldn't my Xbox 360 version of Mirror's Edge look like this? Humph.

thanks UPS!

2008-12-02T11:18:00.000-06:00

I can haz camera!

new threadless love coming via UPS

2008-12-01T12:41:00.002-06:00

Just ordered two threadfully fun Threadless tees. $5 sale + $3 off Street Team points + $3 holiday coupon = two crazy cheap tees. Check out the deliciousness below and feel free to show me some referral love if you decide to buy ;)

Presenting "Ah Munna Eat Choo" and "Coffee Cloud"!

pro-tip: the NXE has arrived!

2008-11-19T13:26:00.001-06:00

Freshly baked and still bubbly warm out of the oven is the Xbox 360's New Xbox Experience. A dashboard update of awesomeness. Feel free to turn on your 360, download said update and get learned about what's new. Joy! Joy! Joy!

superdunner LIVE round two

2008-11-12T11:24:00.001-06:00

Watch the awesomeness that is Dustin blogging ... when the feed is live.

domo!

2008-11-10T15:05:00.001-06:00

what's this?

2008-11-06T15:32:00.000-06:00

What's this?

meet superdunner, the avatar

2008-11-05T08:47:00.003-06:00

Just got the New Xbox Experience and figured I'd share my avatar likeness with the world. Crazy cool, eh?

superdunner LIVE!

2008-11-04T10:49:00.006-06:00

Watch the awesomeness that is Dustin blogging!

it's time to vote!

2008-11-03T23:16:00.002-06:00

Make a difference. Be heard. Go VOTE!

coffee intake valve

2008-10-24T13:31:00.001-05:00

Focused. Blogging. Homework. Need coffee intake valve ...

a lone tree

2008-10-23T13:46:00.001-05:00

It's Fall, it's chilly and this tree finds it necessary to turn colors. Die tree DIE!

epic fail

2008-10-23T10:38:00.002-05:00

Writing on this here bloggy blog hasn't become a regular activity. I apologize. I'm a bad person. Forgive me?

it's coffee milk

2008-10-14T10:11:00.002-05:00

A product from Minnesota's finest coffee-milk producing caribous.

ups delivery

2008-10-09T13:01:00.002-05:00

Just got a UPS delivery and look what we have. All kinds of Dead Space tasty treats and all coming to an X3F near you. Check your local listings (psst, next week).

this is actually a good psa

2008-10-01T16:57:00.001-05:00

No really, it is. Some celebs even ::GASP!:: swear a bit. Hehe, ha!

my shirt kicks your shirt's ass

2008-09-26T18:10:00.000-05:00

Life has been busy lately, so busy that I routinely forget to sleep and the following day I'm cranky, angry and all around 'bitchy'. Silly me. But one thing that keeps balance in my life is my Bungie t-shirt. Yes sir, my PAX purchased Bungie t-shirt keeps the universe in check and my torso clothed. Don'tcha just fuc*in' love it?

breakfast of x3f champions

2008-09-18T13:16:00.002-05:00

It's the holy grail of breakfast cereals, so bow down before and pledge your allegiance to Frosted Mini-Wheats Blueberry Muffin!

ninja cat

2008-09-15T13:17:00.003-05:00

Too busy Twittering lately, stupid Twitter. But here's a ninja cat. So, enjoy.

have you hard about this twitter thing?

2008-09-04T22:20:00.003-05:00

Okay, I'm ONLY trying this because everyone else and their sister is doing it and because I kinda feel left out. Peer pressure FTW! So, won't you stalk me on Twitter?

still in seattle, still inside xbox

2008-09-01T21:45:00.003-05:00

Hey kids! No really, HEY! I'm still in Seattle, doing a post PAX mini-vacation, seeing the Seattle sites and walking around. I'm currently on a mission to find bottled Jamba Juice drinks around here seeing that they're only available on the West coast and I've seen people with them. Thus far, my attempts at finding Jamba has been a major disappointment. Sad stuff. BUT I did just find out that the latest Xbox 360 Inside Xbox feature titled "Community Close-Up: PAX 2008" (viewable via the 360's dashboard) has my face featured on the main graphic. Quite random, but interesting. Fun! I'll be back home on Wednesday. Tata. Dunner out.

even better at night

2008-08-28T22:42:00.000-05:00

look at that view

2008-08-28T17:50:00.001-05:00

Sitting here, blogging from our Seattle hotel and enjoying the view. Nice!

leaving on a jet plane (to seattle)

2008-08-27T09:28:00.002-05:00

In about an hour, with the help of my big uncle, I'll be heading out to good old MSP and make my jet traveling way to Seattle for some PAX shenanigans. Wish me luck, much love.

valleyfair and a gutted bart

2008-08-23T23:43:00.000-05:00

It's quick update time! I'm headed to Valleyfair later today with my brother and his wife where I expect lots of roller coaster fun to take place. Bunches of fun, almost too much fun in quantities that could actually be illegal in Minnesota. Side thought: Valleyfair's funnel cakes are f-ing amazing. So, yeah, that's what I'm up to this sunny Summer Sunday. And, for the hellz of it and because you all love him, below is a picture I took yesterday that showcases Buddy's uncanny ability to "de-fluff" stuffed animals. Bart didn't have a chance.

it's just business (cards)

2008-08-17T00:48:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd share with ya'll (that's "you all") my new business cards that just arrived in the mail. Simple, skinny, yet very effective. They're blurry too! ;)

sushi, made by me

2008-08-12T22:52:00.002-05:00

Look! It's hand rolled vegi sushi and I made it! Looks scrumptious enough to eat and, funny thing is, I actually did. Num!

pax 2008, here I come!

2008-08-12T02:11:00.002-05:00

After getting back on track after a week long E3 trip out to LA, I'm putting myself through the stressful sleeping ritual havoc creating torture that is traveling. Huzzah! This time my target is Seattle, home of the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) and the Microsoft campus. So, come August 27th, I'll be jetting out (pun totally intended) to Washington state to partake in PAX, do some X3F blogging and see what Seattle has to offer a Minnesota kid like myself. Space Needle, here I come. :D

Oh, and to the person who sent me a message regarding the look and layout of this here blog (of which I have since misplaced), the answer is yes! I edited this darn Blogger template with a pinch of brute force, a hint of HTML knowledge and about three gallons of liquid creativity. Lovely, no?

round of applause

2008-08-03T18:27:00.002-05:00

Congrats to The Dark Knight. Another $40+ million weekend, about to reach the $400 million mark and is on its way to the second highest grossing domestic box office EVAR! Clap, clap, clap.

heath, my man!

2008-08-02T03:47:00.001-05:00

I just can't get The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger's Joker performance outta my head. Amazing! Delicious! Yummy!

life reloaded

2008-07-30T01:27:00.000-05:00

So, here is my (deliciously red) ketchup blog where I guess I'm going to catch up with all my life tidbits that I've been neglecting to mention. Which, frankly, is a lot of random stuff including trips, foods, games, concerts, stickers and movies. But I know my writing interest will sustain and, thus, I will not be able to cover all my life topics (not really of a ketchup post then is it?) So, I'll talk about the most important topic of the past few weeks: my trip to Los Angeles for E3.

What really can I say? Seriously? E3 was a mish-mash of fun, stress, entertainment, tiredness, elation and anger. Looking back on it, the entire E3 week is a blur of experiences that an aspiring "gamer dude" got violently sucked into and spit out of in a rainbow of colors. Confused? As was I during my E3 experience. What I can say is that working for X3F and doing the journalist thing from E3 was a gigantic learning experience for me. Lots of interaction with the industry, lots of hands on gaming and managing schedules, etc. It was amazing. And, for now, I'll just leave it at that. Oh, and my goal of meeting Cliff Bleszinski was a huge success. W00tz!

This past week I've increased my The Dark Knight viewing to a total of two times now, the second being even more enjoyable than the first. And after seeing it those two times, watching its box office numbers skyrocket and the praise it has received from friends and critics alike, it's safe to say that The Dark Knight is an epic flick. Oooh! And Joker .. yeah, he's fu*king amazing. Heath Ledger's epic'ness is enough to make the entire movie epic ... epic.

So yeah ... I'm tired of typing now. I should be in bed by now, but my sleeping pattern these past few weeks has been weird to say the least. Truly messed up. But onward I go and I just wanted to update my tiny corner of this webspace. I now leave you with a picture of my feet on the sidewalks of Beverly Hills as seen from my perspective. Nice shoes, eh?

the artsy stuff

2008-07-28T03:53:00.000-05:00

I'll make this short and Splenda sweet. I just uploaded four brand new pictures. In fact, they're four nature inspired artistic pictures that I took while walking around Los Angeles a few weeks back. And wouldn't you know that they're all formatted for easy widescreen resolution viewing and (IMO) are damn cool. Cool enough to warrant the installation of a new Flickr slide show app over on the right column. Smile!

major e3 update? not exactly

2008-07-23T00:53:00.002-05:00

I'm alive. E3 was amazing, tiring, fantastic, stressful and dreamy. An update is necessary and complete details are necessary, but right now sleep is necessary. Until then, me and Major Nelson say hi.

farewell minnesota

2008-07-12T14:56:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update fellow friends, I'm leaving to catch a plane in a few hours and will ultimately be making my way to Los Angeles and E3. Even more exciting is seeing how the next 24 hours will play out. See, I'm arriving in LA a bit too early meaning our hotel will not be ready to check into. So, at around 1:00AM Sunday morning, I'll be shuttling from LAX to a friendly Joystiq blogger's house which is in North Hollywood. I'll shack up there for a bit, chill for a few hours and when hotel check-in time nears, I'll hail a Taxi from North Hollywood to Beverly Hills to our hotel. Once checked in, I plan on falling over, having a brief cry session and taking a hot shower. Fun times ahead. Wish me luck, here I come E3!

e3 is sploderific

2008-07-11T00:55:00.000-05:00

Hey kids, long time no see. Lately I've been busier then I think I've ever been. The source of the busy craziness is the Entertainment Electronics Expo or more commonly known as E3. This year I'll be making the flight down to Los Angeles for a week full of video games, more video games and even more videos games. And wouldn't you know , I'm already heading out on a flight that leaves Saturday evening. Intense. I know. But before I leave I have to finish packing, finalize my E3 plans, confirm my schedules, deal with college homework and handle some personal jazz. All these enjoyable activities that grace my "to do" list are making me stressed ... uber stressed. But it'll all be worth it when next week comes to an end and I fly home knowing that I survived E3 without losing any limbs or losing what's left of my sanity (fingers double crossed). Wish me luck kids!

Oh, and if you haven't already tried the game, go to the Xbox Live Arcade and download the trial of Schizoid. It's a pretty enjoyable experience when you have a friend playing with you and I'm (admittedly) partial to the game's Sploderific achievement. I did name it you know.

Hugs, high fives and all that stuff ... I'm going back to packing.

kaboom goes the fourth

2008-07-05T13:54:00.000-05:00

Take that sky, you'll never survive these Fourth of July fireworks. Never!

ing cafe, my cafe

2008-06-29T18:32:00.004-05:00

Locally, a new cafe opened up downtown, a trendy, hipster, modern cafe that was opened up by an ... online bank? Yup, the online banking conglomerate ING plopped an uber sexy ING Cafe not a mile from my residence. Complete with perky orange and blue decor, they offer free internets, delicious coffee and an enjoyable atmosphere that allows me to get my blog and study on. Click the pics above to take a look for yourself. Aren't you just jealous? ;)

a gears gif

2008-06-25T23:49:00.000-05:00

This is why I'm joygasming, mangasming and fanboygasming over Gears of War 2. Ridiculously sexy ... 'nuff said.

why so serious facebook?

2008-06-22T13:17:00.000-05:00

Oh, I almost forgot! If you haven't already added me to your Facebook friends list yet then you totally should. Because I've been notoriously anti any social networking websites for as long as I can remember, but have finally given in and signed up. And all because of YOU. So, if you don't add me, then it makes me feel like my Facebook joining decision was the wrong one and only causes me lower back pain (though, in all honesty, that pain could be associated to my horrible sleeping mattress). Also, as an added bonus, if you add me to your Facebook inner circle you will be treated to a Dark Knight inspired photograph of yours truly. It's truly weird even by my standards. Damn, I think this Facebook thing has screwed me up a bit ... oh well ...

my new love

2008-06-22T13:09:00.002-05:00

She's my new love. I love you Light Vanilla, I love you more than all the stars in the coffee based energy drink galaxy. Hugs.

one free bullet

2008-06-14T01:45:00.002-05:00

Been playing the hell out of Half-Life 2 recently, beating the original and Episode 1, so next up will be uber pwnage in Episode 2. Simply said, my time with Half-Life 2 has been "good times" and I'm hella proud of my "The One Free Bullet" achievement. Lots of gravity gun and of rockets were used to get that sucker ... take that Combine scum!