You know what, Jack? Forget about giving this struggling new medium a hard time at every turn. That's bad, but it doesn't even come close to using a tragedy, a disaster in which young people lose their lives to further your own twisted agenda. It makes me sick. And then you threaten to sue the school if they don't humor you by sending you some information to support your little argument, which everyone knows is absurd in the first place. Let the people grieve, you twit.
Just a note, the sidebar link to my class blog, "Dave Studies Media" is now functional. The opportunity to keep a blog for big marks is a welcome novelty, and I'm really enjoying the community-aspect of it. Remember, the class blog is not an exclusive club! Feel free to jump in on the discussion. I'm moderating comments on it so as to keep the quality up.
My dad bought this laptop recently. Another one to add to the growing trend of laptops and portability in general becoming more mainstream. I think we'll see laptops become dominant, at least in the realm of computers for personal use, especially now that they've become so much more affordable. More discussion on this is going on over at my Apple Anorexia post.
This weekend is a pretty low key one for me. Preparing my seminar presentation for Monday is at the top of the priority list but pretty easy to do. The window in this room faces west and it's that time of day when the sun streaks in here and lights up my white microwave like a magic cube that contains the secrets of the universe. You know...a la 80s sci-fi flick? Not referencing anything in particular, just blabbing. Incidentally, all my microwave actually contains is some dried up tomato sauce that spattered out when I didn't bother putting a cover on the mini ravioli.
I went to three classes today. My profs all seemed to be taking the attitude that, "This is probably the most difficult/most work-intensive course you've ever done. We're not kidding. This is serious business."
Anyway, for my Media class I've been asked to keep an academic blog for the purpose of reflecting on course content, (readings and lectures alike). It's no small potatoes-task, weighing in at 50% of my final mark. The idea is to have the class maintaining our own little blogosphere. Posts on the academic blogs are expected to be done in academic way, with formal citation and the like. It's going to be a time-consuming project that I expect to take away from my posting here, but I'll maintain both as much as I can afford to. In fact, I predict the posting I do over there will fuel my fire to update here more often than I have been lately.
Important note: I specifically asked my professor if it'd be alright to link to the class blog from here, with the idea to get more people in on the conversation. He said it would be great to get some voices from outside the ivory tower, and by all means everyone is welcome so long as I'm vigilant at moderating incoming comments. The content will probably be difficult to relate to for people unfamiliar with our course material, but I'll do my best to make it accessible.
As of now there isn't much there, but more is on the way. Here it is.
My situation right now reminds me of that old adage about a wooden ship in which you replace every part of it over time, until none of the original parts actually make up the ship. Is it still the same boat?
I'm typing on my MacBook - whether or not it's my "new" MacBook is up to you I guess. This puppy's sporting 2gb of RAM (667mhz) and a 160gb drive (5400 rpm). In English, that means I now have triple the temporary memory I had. That temporary memory is what allows the machine to handle more commands at once and "remember" more. Additionally my storage capacity has doubled.
But here's the feature that didn't occur to me: as you may have guessed from the title, my new hard drive has Leopard on it. This makes a lot of sense, since Apple's new OS comes standard on their computers now, but for some reason it didn't occur to me that a new hard drive would come bearing it as well.
So yeah, it's a pretty sweet deal, but I've got a lot of learning to do. For some odd reason I take pride in maximizing everything my computers offer - from using features that improve my own efficiency, to maintaining a healthy system. (Cough.) I haven't read excessively about Leopard since I had no plans on ever getting it, so I feel like I've got a lot of catching up to do.
An aside: in an ironic twist of fate, my old PC, which I'd been using exclusively in this computer's absence, decided to do a faceplant last night itself. Interestingly, it happened as I was plugging in my iPod to charge it - poof, the computer shut down. Permanently. No, it's not unplugged, and yes, my peripheral hardware works fine. The best news about it is that I don't think my hard drive in that rig will be effected. After thinking about it and talking it over with a couple people, I think the most likely culprit is the PSU or the motherboard. In that case I'd scrap the old system, keeping the drive in a safe place and whatever else is useful, and eventually building myself a new rig from parts I'd probably pick up online. (So much cheaper than retail.)
I recently applied for a MasterCard with my bank, (you can do it all online), and got brutally shot down for being too honest. Let's take a step back. As soon as people hear that a young person wants a credit card, they start shaking their heads as they envision the kid lining up at a checkout counter, armed with their magic plastic, to put themselves in debt and make their parents' hair fall out. And I say to you: Please. Haven't you more faith in me than that?
The reason I'd like a credit card has nothing to do with wanting more money, and has everything to do with wanting more access to the money I already have. Why? Because the internet doesn't do debit. That's right, the internet. I'm sick and tired of not being able to shop or do anything online because I don't have a magic number to feed those little white input fields. I'd like to be able to conveniently buy tickets to a local show, or a birthday gift for a friend, or order a pizza.
((BY THE WAY: This will seem very random right now but it'll become clear in a moment why I brought this up now. Something kind of big that happened in my life that I totally forgot to mention on this blog is that I quit my job at Sears last month. The only real reason is that it was going to be way too inconvenient and expensive to commute every weekend, and it also conflicted with my Technical Theatre course which requires my presence on Saturdays. I left on good terms though, so it's all good.))
Now, if I ever want internet liberty, I guess I'll have to try a different angle. Here's a little synopsis of the digital dialogue with my bank. I guess I can see why they'd be concerned.
What is your occupation? Student.
If Student, are you studying something practical? No, B.A. Are you currently employed? Nope.
What is your current living situation? (Own/Rent/Live with parents?) Rent.
If renting, what is the monthly rate? $425.00
What is your current yearly income? Well...like, nothing.
Sorry for the lack of interesting posting recently. I haven't read about much interesting stuff going on, aside from the release of Halo 3, which the mainstream media has covered. It seems like just about everyone I know has at least tried the new Halo, and after talking with my buddies tonight and watching some game trailers, I think the sleeping gamer in me is awake again - and he's hungry. Some day I'll have a 360....you know, in about 20 years, when people are talking about Halo3 like they talk about Space Invaders today.
The other reason I've been relatively quiet on here is because, for the last couple days, I've been suffering from an intolerable cold that I was bound to catch with everyone around me being sick. So far my free time this weekend has consisted of sleeping, napping, catching some Z's, and snoozing. Being sick takes the vigor right out of me, which is why I'm unable to attend either of the two things I was invited to tonight. One of those things is "Nuit Blanche" in Toronto - some kind of tour which takes groups around to different venues to look at modern art. The venues are everything from regular galleries, to alley ways, to Squash courts. Tomorrow sometime I'll probably use Technorati to search the blogosphere for any info about what I'm missing.
Yesterday I clued into some very old news that I've been waiting to hear for years. If you're completely out of the loop like I apparently am, then this could be the best piece of news you've heard since they announced the next Zelda game for the Wii. When are they going to release that, anyway? Sheesh.
I think it was a few years ago that I first thought to myself, "Y'know, some computer genius could make a killing off a program that could integrate contacts from all the main chat clients. Then there would never be the need for multiple accounts and running multiple programs to be in touch with all your people at once. When I grow up, I'm going to get a patent on that idea and hire a computer wiz to design it for me - and then I'll retire."
Well, a bunch of people beat me to it - probably before I'd even had that lovely inner monologue in its most primitive form. What's comforting is that those people probably aren't sipping pina coladas in Aruba just yet. Why? Because the applications in question are freeware. What could be more awesome? Last night I stumbled across Adium, immediately closed Messenger and removed it from my Dock, and haven't looked back. Before I talk about Adium, which is only compatible with OS X, there are three Windows-friendly apps that do the same thing: Trillian, Pidgin and Meebo. I'd be lying if I said I'd done more than a tiny amount of research on these programs, but I believe the general consensus is that Trillian is the most popular, while Pidgin is probably the most reputable. I was planning to say that I highly recommend giving one of these programs a try, but after I thought about it, I realized that there isn't nearly as much benefit for the average Canadian Windows user as there is for me. Unless you're sick and tired of Messenger like I was, or it's giving you problems that can't seem to be remedied, it probably makes more sense to stick with Messenger for now.
The reason I'm so happy about switching to Adium basically revolves around Mac-Messenger being terrible. It only provides the most essential features, and also sports a bland, Safari-like interface that resembles the inside of a tin can. And I can't neglect to mention the biggest problem, which was that you would not receive any kind of alerts while being set to "Busy". Countless times I left people hanging because I forgot I was talking to them, or didn't realize they were there at all.
Anyway, hopefully my friends have been subjected to that kind of treatment for the last time. Adium always lets you know when somebody's talking, but not with the blaring ba-dunk-a-dunka of Messenger that I still hear sounding off someplace in the room at least once during every lecture. Adium's default setting is to display names of people messaging you right on the Dock icon, as well as how many unread messages are waiting for you. It also features tabbed conversations, which I understand is an option on newer Windows Messenger versions, but of course, coming from Mac Messenger this is all new to me. Another key feature of Adium is the massive amount of customization it allows. You can change just about everything about how the program works, as well as all the cosmetic qualities.
The only major hitch I've had with Adium so far, aside from the fact that it sounds like a medication drug, is that there doesn't seem to be a way to invite more contacts to an existing conversation, although you can take part in multi-person conversations if you're invited. I tried to register on the official forums to ask about this but apparently their servers are temporarily down.
By the way, I read about Adium while perusing an old post on Paul S's blog, entitled "10 Apps Every New Mac User Should Download". Although it was published nearly 2 years ago it's still an excellent resource. Some of the other programs listed there like CyberDuck, Text Wrangler and VLC Player are still in wide usage. A definite bookmark for current or future Mac owners. (Looking at you Kat.)
In other interesting news, I got my little entertainment unit all set up today. The table I bought at IKEA was weirdly difficult to assemble, at least until I got a better screwdriver. I also went for a 20 minute run tonight. Hooray for healthy lifestyle and such.
Me as a South Park character. Newest meme out there, I know.
After a long day in crew call, I hopped on a bus to Hamilton last night so that I could spend today buying things for my place. The big one being a table to put my TV on. I'll be keeping busy this week using GarageBand to put together some audio files for the production, on top of all the regular school readings/writings. By the way, the play we're putting on is actually 2 one-acts that go together, collectively called The Indian Medicine Shows. I'll post up dates of shows and such very soon.
The mayor of NYC wants to put a ban on cellphones in public schools. Guess he had an insatiable craving for Public Outcry? (Big kudo-rama to Kat for sending me this story!)
I'm so glad things here in Guelph aren't so ridiculous. All I have to do is worry about keeping my phone charged and on vibrate. Half the reason for Bloomberg's crusade is that ringing phones are a distraction in class. Gimme a break, man! I mean, ok; I realize things are a little different in a university setting, but phones definitely go off all the time in lectures, and it's no big deal. Like Kat said in our conversation, profs tend to make a joke about it, ("Ok now tell the truth! Is that a girl calling to invite you to a party on saturday or your mom calling to make sure you have clean underwear?") or they just keep right on going without a word.
Take a page from our book, Bloomie. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Everyone knows there's no serious issues with phones in schools. You can stab somebody with one of those compasses for drawing pretty circles just as easily as you can stick your phone under a stall door to snap a classy 1 megapixel photo. Punish the fools who do this, not everyone.
Moving goes well. I'm almost finished. I love my BRITA filter, and my cozy new zip-hoodie.
Rockwell's website is up and running. The main Flash intro page is here, and the blog is here.
Apple announced the iPod Touch today. The video iPod will now be called the Classic, and the Nano has received a complete design overhaul. I can't figure out whether I think this is a good change or not. Apple also reduced the price of the iPhone by a third, much to the chagrin of early buyers.
I was in Chapters today looking around for a recipe book, since I'll be preparing a lot more of my own food this year. I wasn't having much luck, but as I was browsing through the stacks I was listening to the latest CommandN podcast on my iPod and Will Pate recommended Chow.com for exactly the kind of information I was looking for.
Remember when I wrote about Mahalo, the human-powered search engine slash encyclopedia? Well, I'm now a part-time employee with the Panasonic result page reserved for myself. If the results pages I write for them, (which are more HTML-oriented than anything else) get enough hits, I'll start getting royalty checks in the mail. Awesome.
Highly-regarded blogger Paul Stamatiou published an excellent article about a month ago that's meant to be a realistic back to school guide for college/university students. It was in direct response to all the articles put out by folks like Wired who seem to feel that our schools are paying us for enrolling. Yeah, right. After reading Paul's guide I feel like I'm doing pretty well, but I learned a few really handy things such as the ultra-cheap price of an HP laser printer available on Newegg.com. If you're a student, read it. If you're not a student, read it anyway.
Yes, I am moved into my new place in Guelph, and no, I won't be posting about it until later. I plan on posting photos and such once everything is in place. Aiming for next week sometime. That's it for now.
Exploding Phones and China's Spot at the Lunch Table
By now everyone knows that the iPhone's been hacked so that it's no longer bound only to the powers of AT&T. (Seventeen year-old hacker George Hotz is practically set for life.) But what you might not know is that Apple's new darling is set to self-destruct when tampered with!
Ok, so that's completely untrue. But it did happen - not because of Apple or the iPhone itself, but because of the dangers of lithium-ion batteries. Here's the Wired article, and here's an image of the wreckage:
iSore
This story reminded me of something my dad told me he read in a magazine yesterday about another exploding phone incident. As it turns out, the above-linked article also links to that story which Wired covered back in July. Basically what happened in that case is that a 22 year-old welder named Xiao Jingpeh was killed when his Motorola exploded last June. The handset was in his shirt pocket when it happened, and the concussion sent fragments of his ribs into his heart. It's believed that the heated environment of the factory Xiao worked in is what set the phone off.
Incidents like this have brought scrutiny to those cheap knock-off batteries in particular, as well as other imitations of potentially dangerous products. It's no secret that walking down the street in a Chinese city like Beijing will present you with numerous opportunities to purchase cheap goods like DVDs, video games, and any manner of electronics in addition to other products. I own a Japanese Wakizashi that my brother bought for me as a gift on one of his travels to China - probably from a street vendor. The widespread knowledge of these products, and now, the growing awareness and concern about their under-par quality will probably spur China into some house-cleaning action. It's in their best interest after all, considering the whole 2008 Olympics situation. The adventures of Canadian/Tibetan blogger Lhadon Tethong, who was kicked out of China in August for trying to uncover evidence that China was using the Olympics to conceal their occupation of Tibet, are proof that the communist nation is already worried about her reputation with the rest of us.
So basically, if you want your one dollar copy of Transformers, better board a plane, (or find a really big shovel!) and get it now.
As you can see I'm working really hard packing for my big move. I'm able to do this because I stole Dr. Octopus's omnipotent arms.
I blame that prissy-sounding title on the fact that the main theme from Return of the King just came on my iTunes. Not my fault! (But who am I kidding...I'm still in love with Howard Shore's soundtrack to this day.) Once you're done reading this post, the title should at least make sense.
Part One: Rondeau Last weekend my crew went camping at Rondeau, which is, I guess, an hour or so outside of London. I drove down with Paul and Alex, and we met up with Jeremy, Pete, Beth and boyfriend Andrew in London for a bite to eat and a trip to the LCBO. We arrived at our campsite around dusk, just a hop and a skip away from Lake Erie's shoreline. For some reason we decided it would be a good idea to cram 5 of us who were not accompanied by significant others into Peter's 4-person tent. Fun times. Sara and her new boyfriend Ryan showed up later on in the evening. The next day we spent a lot of time at the beach and got significantly cooked while fooling around in the water and building sandcastles, (read: sand empires). We also took a lot of fantabulous pictures that day. I'll post a couple of my favourites here, but if you've got any brains you should definitely check out Peter's whole set, because some of them are really nice! Each and every one of those has been carefully retouched in Photoshop with Pete's skilled hand, but I actually took several of the original shots with his camera. Man, I love what that thing is capable of! Also, make sure you view the pictures in their full-sized glory because it's just not the same otherwise.
Aren't these gorgeous?! These are probably my favourite two of the whole set, and not just because I took them. It's pictures like these that send me into starvation mode for a quality camera of my own so I can take shots like this all the time.
So anyway, later on that afternoon Katelin showed up, (legitimately late due to a piano exam) and joined us for a scrumptious dinner of spider-dogs around the campfire. She also became the sixth member of our 4-man tent party. Tip for sleeping in overcrowded tents: Never get suckered intoThe Edge. That is, unless you want to be awake all night.
Sunday was overcast, and we spent the morning slowly cleaning up our site and then driving the packed cars over to the lake to soak up that last bit of beachy-goodness. After a last lunch together we went our separate ways, Alex and I in Jer's standard transmission car of Awesome. (You guessed it, I've been inspired to learn how to drive stick, even if I'll have no occasion to do so.)
Part Two: Pad The very next day, Monday, my dad and I drove up to Guelph to start looking for an apartment for me. Unfortunately, all the places that you could actually call apartments were way out of our budget. Out of our league. Like the kids from The Sandlot versus Barry Bonds. Not cool.
But the good news is, after a few hours of pouring over the listings, making several phone calls, snooping around in people's basements and my dad trying to set me up with the ridiculously pretty grad-student secretary at the Off-Campus housing office, I actually found a place. Yeah that's right! I have a place to move to in Guelph next month, woo!
My home for the next 8 months is an upstairs apartment-type-thing in a semi-detached home in a small survey called Wilsonview. This little nook is just around the corner from Edinburgh plaza and Stone Road Mall. Suh-weet! Everything I need is a short walk away, including the grocery store and Rogers video. (I like Blockbuster better on principle, but meh, can't have everything.) The bus stop is about 80 meters from my doorstep, and about 3 or 4 stops from campus. Solid.
The place itself is nice. My new landlords...erm, lord and lady? Haven't decided what I'll call them. "Land dudes" will suffice for now. My new land dudes are a retired couple named Doug and Mary Tonner. They seem especially nice, and are great about keeping a clean house. They have one small dog that will be leaving with them anyway when they go on vacation. "Vacation?" you say, eyebrows raised in sincere interest, "you didn't mention this before!" I know, I've been saving it. Doug and Mary travel a lot. They're planning to be in Florida for a good part of the time I'm living there. So, aside from occasional, (probably bi-weekly) check-ins from their grown son and daughter also living in Guelph, I am going to have this whole place basically to myself. I have access to their kitchen, which is neither ruled by angry felines nor located in a cold dungeon overrun with small children and clashing bright hues. Thank God! I didn't bother to look at the laundry room, but I have no expectation that it'll turn out to be a swamp that smells like a graveyard of soggy sleeping bags. Also, shouldn't forget to mention that I have a bathroom (again, so far shiny and hairless) to myself regardless of whether the owners are present or not. Wonderful! Last fall I promised I'd take pictures of my place and never got around to it. This time around, please, hold me to it. (Because I know you all care so much.)
Part Three: Whatev The rest of the week wasn't that eventful, although in between working I did get up to some things that I'll talk about in another post. And speaking of work, I've arranged to keep my post at Sears - but, alas, it's going to involve coming home every weekend. That's actually a pretty huge "alas". Doesn't quite do the dilemma justice. I mean, I like my job a lot, but I'm trying to detach myself here. Well, we'll see what happens over the course of the year, won't we?
Last night Pete and Paul and I attended a charity fundraising event at Quarters, McMaster University's bar that is both pit and patio, to hear some live music performed by doctors, professors, and even Spectator journalist Jeff Mahoney. Most importantly was Katelin's performances with her dad and brother, which was the real reason we were there. It was a good night though, we had fun.
Tune in next time for more awesome stuff about my life! Hint: It involves RAM. Don't miss it.
It occurred to me while writing the entry about Blizzard's announcement of the new expansion for WoW that I never gave proper coverage of the first one. Suddenly, I had this overwhelming need to give it justice. The result is this post.
The reason I didn't say much about The Burning Crusade (BC) expansion, which was an enormous deal in the gaming community at the time, is that I wanted to keep the knowledge that I was actually playing on the down-low. Certain people I know, (namely my parents) had issues with me playing a game - that, for some people, can be very addictive - while I was in school, and paying a hefty price to be there. All secrets have been divulged, so now, a whooping eight months after the fact, here's the previously untold tale of WoW's first expansion.
The night before the game was to launch, (which was at some point in January, a date that doesn't matter) stores like EB Games were open at midnight across North America. I didn't really expect there to be anything like this in Guelph. At the time my new town seemed like the last place you'd expect there to be a healthy WoW fanbase. So, when I found out about a midnight launch at the EB Games in Stone Road Mall, (not more than a 20 minute walk from the animal palace where I was living) Pete and I were all over it. We got there fairly early and snagged a good spot in line, with about 8 people in front of us. By midnight a line had formed behind us that stretched about halfway across the mall. This event was a big thing for us, not only due to the excitement of the game coming out, but the very line we stood in betrayed all kinds of negative stereotypes that people apply to gamers every day. In the video clip I posted earlier from the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert makes statements in his usual satirical style that reflect what are still the masses' opinions about games. (He himself, of course, is not so ignorant, thank goodness.) Such opinions are that most people who enjoy videogames are young, socially awkward teenagers, (and some comment about their complexion is always tossed in) or jobless, sexless adults who live in their mothers' basements or garage-apartments. Anyone who has done minimal research, as I have, knows better. For example, the average gamer-age is currently 33, and 67% of American heads-of-households play games. (Source.)
It's one thing to read such things on the ESA's website, or read tales on the WoW forums about whole families who play together and married couples who met ingame. It's another thing to see those people in real life, standing around with you in a mall in the middle of the night because they're just as excited as you. I had a conversation with a forty-something asian man who said he was taking the following day off sick so he and his son could start exploring the new content together. We wondered what the server stability would be like once everyone got home and logged on, all flocking to the same hot locations in the game world. (As it turned out, there were no significant server issues - my first night playing went off without a hitch.) Also in the crowd was a bearded late-twenty-something fellow who boasted loudly for the entire waiting period about his ingame exploits, such as how he kicked a 12 year old out of his guild for being 12. If I'd met him in game, I'd have probably thought he was the 12 year old. And as for the fairer sex? First in line were two girls about my age - I think I heard them say they arrived three hours early.
I was going to write a brief rundown of the game itself, but that seems completely irrelevant now as the newly-announced second expansion is what's got everyone ticking. On a personal note, I played BC a lot for just under two months. I leveled my main character, the druid, to 66, and in doing so experienced much of the exotic Outland. I also started a Blood Elf mage to play as a sidekick to Peter's new character, a Blood Elf paladin. They were fun days, but a combination of playing so much and suffering drastic game-balancing changes to my druid, (what MMO players call "nerfs") made the novelty wear off by the time my subscription ran out in March. I have not played WoW since.
For more statistics and other research-obtained data about MMORPGs, from demographics to potential psychological effects, everyone should check out Nick Yee's thesis work, called the Daedalus Project. It is by far the most comprehensive and unbiased database dedicated to MMOs on the web. Such is the quality of Yee's work that he was recently featured in an hour-long segment on CNN (click for 8-minute cut) about the future of virtual worlds.
On Sunday July 29th, my friends took me out for my birthday. We went to the Thirsty Cactus in Dundas. Upon finding out it was my birthday, the waitress brought me free shots and was especially friendly. It was a good night. We took some good photos too. I'm going to post the current versions here, but I'm planning to put them through some heavy editing, so more fun versions might pop up later on, we'll see.
On Wednesday, August 1st, Rockwell, Kat and I went to see Muse in concert at Arrow Hall (International Centre) in Mississauga. Words in my vocabulary can't describe how mind-blowingly awesome this night was. This was the first event I've ever been to that would be considered an official rock concert, but apparently other bands' live shows simply pale in comparison. They played most of our favourite songs, as well as upping appreciation for certain others. One outstanding feature was the heat. I likened it to being in an oven - albeit a very wet and crowded one - and we all left the hall that night soaking wet and totally exhausted. One of the best surprises was running into our friend from school, Stefan Herda, and some of his chums with whom we went back to Union Station.
Here's the official setlist for the show, as well as some media:
Setlist Knights of Cydonia Map of the Problematique Hysteria Supermassive Black Hole Butterflies and Hurricanes Hoodoo Apocalypse Please (short) Feeling Good Sunburn Invincible Starlight Man of Mystery Time Is Running Out Newborn -------------- Soldier's Poem Unintended Plug In Baby -------------- Take a Bow Stockholm Syndrome kudos to muse4fans.com
RAWK ON!!!!!!!!11 don't we look delightfully sinister?
In the Waiting Line
Photos courtesy of Pete, who declined to take out his camera more than a couple times for fear of losing it.
Some video clips courtesy of other dudes and ladies
This is some footage somebody took of the opening number, and needless to say, the video and audio quality are likely to give you a headache. All the jumping people make just about everyone's camera work look like a Paul Greengrass film, but I think this one does a pretty good job of capturing the madness that ensues when the crowd gets excited. This is also pretty close to where we were standing - just a little further back. The back of my head is probably in this clip someplace.
A brief clip recorded during "Starlight", (a big audience favourite) showing the mass of people clapping simultaneously.
If anyone's interested, there's a lot more where these came from on YouTube - search "muse august 1".
Blizzard has announced World of Warcraft's next expansion title: Wrath of the Lich King.
I won't go into a lot of specifics. For those interested, all the information is can be found here. The biggest news bits are the fact that they're introducing the "Death Knight Hero Class" and adding the continent of Northrend. This is a very exciting development for veterans of the series, because it will be picking up the story of the main character from the last story-based game.
Because of that, I have a strong gut feeling that this expansion will spell the end for the Warcraft franchise. Blizzard can, (and may) release another expansion after this, but as far as the plot's concerned, the main struggle will be over. I can certainly think of ways to create more content inspired by existing plot material, but the material's flimsy. Maybe I'm wrong - the game does after all have over 9 million subscribers - it just seems to me that trying to take WoW another step further after this would be trying to milk it one too many times. If I'm right, than this announcement could be the beginning of the end of WoW.
Interesting Dave-related updates coming as soon as I get my media together - aka when Peter feels like uploading photos.
Today was fun. I spontaneously went out for what would be best defined as brunch with Kat, her mom, and her sister Erika. We washed down our pancakes and eggs with a tall glass of Guitar Hero. Work today was uneventful, except for an old man who struck up a conversation with me about my studies and imparted on me his relevant wisdom. I'm working for several hours tomorrow, and again during the afternoon on Sunday - which also happens to be my birthday. The rest of the week was fairly flat, with the exception of my big adventure in Toronto on Wednesday, (subways are so cool!!). I also attended a seminar over at Mac on Tuesday evening about teaching English in foreign countries.
I'm immensely looking forward to some of the things I have planned for the near future. Most immediately is the Muse concert this coming Wednesday. Then on the weekend of the 10/11/12th, my friends and I are going camping at a place called Rondeau. Awesome. I'm also hoping to get out to see the Queen musical in August, probably with Alex who needs to see it almost as badly as me. Nothing's set in stone yet, but the coming week will likely also involve me staying in Guelph for a couple of days while I look for a place to live. There's more, but I'll save talking about it until it happens.
I decided I was going to stop making so many posts like this, but I gave in, hence this entry's title. I'm going to cautiously promise that regular posting will resume shortly, as soon as I get my thoughts gathered up and find the time to write 'em down.
