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July 2001 |
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Friday, July 27, 2001 |
...more weirdness! I've become a devote HBO fan. Oz,
Sopranos, and now Six Feet Under. I was just watching this week's episode and Lauren
Ambrose (a fellow native of New Haven, Connecticut;) made two references to Carlos
Casteneda. Not many of you know about him or his books, not many of you care, but he
was bigtime for my generation of recreational and, hopefully, educational psychotropic
adventures. I was just thinking about Don Juan, The Yaqui, Ixtlan, and being a
warrior during my entire high school re-union, ...weird! |
Thursday, July 26, 2001 |
Along with my new laptop, I finally got a cell phone.
Actually, as I see it, the cell phone has me. I have always vowed to never have one
of these trappings of modern society. The last thing I want is another phone, let
alone one strapped to my very body.
Now that we're traveling alot and preparing for our Ritual 2002 World Tour,
Steve "I Don't Know Any Fleetwoods!" Nix, our Biz Wiz, has forced the Ritual
Cheiftans to have one.
This all has a point, and it relates to a rented Mustang and Robert The Atkins. EA
had a nice `Stang waiting for me at the airport when I got here. Remember, I drive a Yoter
Van back Texas way. A Mustang! Give me the wheel! ...now!
By the way, I have my cell phone set on "silent" so as to not interrupt meetings
and such on my first day back at EA. That means it vibrates instead of ringing.
I had a great day yesterday at EA. At the end of the day, I headed for the Mustang
on a beautiful Californian day. It's 100+ degrees in Texas and horribly humid.
Here? ...72 for a high, cool breeze, and bright blue skies. Into the car I
went, windows down and throttle opened. Speeding tickets are like paying for a ride
at an amusement park if you have the right perspective ;)
I'm about high way to the hotel when I hit the radio button. To top off a perfect
day, ...they're playing Pink Floyd. I crank up the volume and then go for the bass.
Just as I peaked the bass setting, my nuts started vibrating! I thought
"Jumping crickets! ...this is some kick ass sound engineering! They must have a
woofer under the seat or my gonads have become resonant!".
No, Richard, it's Rob calling you on your new cell phone in your front pocket. |
Wednesday, July 25, 2001 |
Reporting LIVE from San Fransisco!
Weird shit, ...weird shit has been happening lately. Well, I am in California, ...so, you
know.
I'm up at EA working on stuff for the PS2. It's my first console work. Last
week I made my first level. Tom was here, too, making a level. Everything is
the same as what I've been doing for 6 years, ...casting the geometry in QERadiant and
compiling the map with the Quake tools.
There was something strangely nostalgic about loading the level onto the console, though.
Both Tom and I loaded our levels onto a devkit at the same time. The levels
appeared on the screen, and we both looked at each other with the same look of childlike
awe. "Holy shit! Look what I did!". It was the exact same feeling as
when I did my first DEU level for DOOM in 1994.
It's so cool being a level designer! ...most of the time, anyways ;)
The weird shit, ...oh yes, ...I finally bought my first laptop while I was home in Texas
last weekend. These babies are so cool, but they have always been too pricey for me.
Being away from home and needing to make page updates for His Lo-ness Industries,
...I had to get one. What a tool! ...128 megs of RAM, 20 gigs of hard drive, GForce2
with 16 meg, DVD/CD-R, ...and it all fits in a neat little carrying case.
Anyhow, ...one of the things I remember about DOOM was getting on a plane to go do some
work for Northwest Airlines back when I first started doing contract levels for BLOOD in
1994. A guy next to me opened his laptop on the flight and started playing DOOM. I
remember thinking it was so cool because although I couldn't afford a portable gaming
platform, I was going to be a big game developer someday like that Romero guy, ...maybe
even as big as A****n C*****k!
Guess what I did on the flight back here to San Fransisco last night? I whipped out
my new laptop, did some De-ICING, and played DOOM on the plane ;) DOOM, DOOM, DOOM,
...what a great game! ...and it seems to re-appear over and over again almost as
frequently as Monty Python skits. |
Tuesday, July 24, 2001 |
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It's always strange how things turn out in life. I always feel
strange, anyways, when I see Ron Howard. This is a picture of Rance and Gene Howard
(Ron's parents) with my Mom. Dad took the picture only a few months before he blew a
gasket, actually. Rance and Gene were tooling around the country on their 50th
Anniversary and stopped by Tolland, Connecticut to visit. Dad and Rance were best
friends in the Air Force. Both were artists, ...Dad into visual arts, Rance into
theatrical, ...and their two disciplines meeting on stage productions for the base.
They stayed in touch throughout life, ...Christmas cards and occasional visits like this
one.
It's just weird to think Rance got Ron and Clint, ...and Dad got me and Charlie, ... ;) |
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Monday, July 23, 2001 |
| Well, it looks like His Lo-ness may be in California for a while. Just got back
from a week's visit to EA in San Fran. I loved it! I miss California!
We all like to make fun of Californians, ...the cost of living, the smog, the congestion,
the quakes, the wacky lifestyles, ...why would anyone want to live there! Then you
go there and are quickly reminded ;) This is the kind of shit that happens when you
leave town, too...
http://www.ritual.com/newsphotos/robhead_impaled.html
...we've lost one hell of a President! Anyone interested in filling the position,
please send your resume to tits&hashish@ritual.com.
I have another Pigeon Perplex, if anyone can help answer this, it would be graytly
appreciated!
Gray hairs! I have been watching for a few years now and am completely convinced
that individual hairs turn gray in one foul swoop. That is, instead of the gray
emerging from the follicle and slowly progressing down as the hair grows, the entire hair
turns gray from root to tip, usually at night.
I can't testify to the hair on my head because there are way too many to keep track.
My beard is different, though, there are an almost countable few and they are in a
small and very visible area of my head. On numerous occasions I have scanned my
beard in the evening and made absolutely sure that there were no gray hairs. The
next morning, ...bang! ...a gray hair from stem to stern.
I have also never seen a partially grayed hair, ...they are either completely gray or
completely brown.
This can't be so. The entire hair can't just loose all it's color and turn gray,
can it? |
Sunday, July 15, 2001 |
| The Reunion, …there were in fact a few really good friends I got to meet up with
again. Max, the Pine Grooviest of Pine Grove, ..the Hornster, …Jim, …Chuck,
who I had been standing next to for an hour without recognizing, …how embarrassing!
Got to see my good brother Joel, too. Joel and I have seen a lot together, that’s
for sure. We spent most of our high school years trying to re-create episodes from
Carlos Casteneda’s books, ...Timothy Leary was a mere misdemeanor. Related,
here is a letter Joel sent to me while I was in boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois.
| If you read it, you will see the line… “I hope that you can do
acid in the army because there is a hit of white blotter behind the (no shit) stamp.
I would do the whole thing if you can accumulate enough time, but half is a nice
mellow buzzzz.” Now THAT’S a true friend!
Although I was in the Navy and not the Army, the sentiment and effort was greatly
appreciated! I did drop the hit in halves.
I did the first half during Graduation and the second the next night during our one
night of off-base liberty. Tripping during Graduation was a rush! |
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The picture is a photo-op of my company parading around the day before.
The actual Graduation, the next day, was a 6-7 hour event during which we stood and
marched around in front of upper brass, parents, and wives. If you can imagine the
August heat and standing on a hot tarmac in heavily starched uniforms with 8 other
companies, …you’ll understand why a nice trip was perfect. By the time
the event was over, more than a dozen fellow squids had dropped unconscious. I was
pleasantly ‘somewhere’ else and didn’t experience any heat at all ;)
Thanks, Joel! |
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Thursday, July 12, 2001 |
| The entire Tribe, except for those who had to stand watch at the Gate, went and saw
Final Fantasy yesterday. Although the story was alright, I was left thinking they could
have gone much further, much faster, …perhaps if they had had more tools, ...more
time. It was strangely like Cast Away, …great opportunity for some really cool
shit (like instead of burying the dead pilot, how about setting him out as bait for
crabs? ...or show us what a real infection looks like and how a person can actually
eat their own puss, ...or maybe, if we HAVE to have romance and relationship stuff, at
least a nipple shot of Helen Hunt!).
Anyhow, the Final Fantasy did have some incredible computer graphics. Some of the
characters were almost beyond belief. I sometimes couldn’t believe characters
were not real. The scenery and such were very convincing, too.
It was really creepy when a well-rendered character like Aki or Dr. Sid (just looked up
the spelling on that name, …I was hoping it was spelled “Dr. `Cid”, of
course;) stood next to a poorly renderd one, ...so you could see how real the well-defined
one was.
Should we mention that the good guy’s name is Gray? …and the bad guy is
General Broussard? I was enamored by Aki, she was absolutely beautiful! ...but I can
not believe they stole Six Of One’s boob scene from Tripping The Rift!
Bottom line? …go see it if you have any interest in state-of-the-art computer
graphics.
I have more to write about that Reunion, but I only have time for a condensed version
for now…
…just as we suspected, the Reunion was sort of a miss. I had a great time,
but the “reunion” part didn’t quite make it. There were a few good
friends met, but basically it was a night of “Who the hell is THAT?!?”
Most of those attending were, of course, the socialites and jocks and people that
actually cared about school and such. Most of my friends were on the "other
side" and are now either dead or just plain still couldn’t care less.
There was a pre-party the night before. No one wore name tags and I couldn’t
recognize anyone. There’s been a lot of water gone under the bridge and that
water made everyone look bloated and wrinkled ;) At one point, I was standing
between two people, one of whom on the right I did remember and had been talking to for a
while. I asked if she’d seen Chuck Byers. She said “Yes, …he’s
standing right next to you!”. Chuck had been standing there for at least an hour.
Such is a 25th high school reunion. |
Wednesday, July 11, 2001 |
| Shit! I wanted to post this two days ago, but one reunion made me
miss this reunion. I mean, this is only posted here for its historical value and not
for the sake of ego or self-inflation or anything. This is a message I posted on the
CompuServe Action Forum 6 years ago related to my first four levels for DOOM. Notice
the company name? Some dickhead named DFG was posting flames about the levels not
running. "We" shut him down fast. Wonder where the fruitcake is now.
The photo is of the Levelord, the Good and Humble, working on BLOOD levels in his
apartment in Unionville, Connecticut on a Saturday morning. Those were the days,
...DOOM, ...making levels for DOOM every chance you could get, ...and NIN in the
background (not pictured here).
The DOOM levels can be found at GrayDOOM, BTW,
and I believe will only run under DOOM I. |
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SPECIAL NOTE of INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE: First Serious Sam, now Wimbleton! Mark
my words, those crazy Croatians are set to rule the world! ... ;) |
Monday, July 2, 2001 |
| It was Bring In Your Banshee Day last Friday at Ritual. Rob brought
in his boy Dylan. I only mention this because this was Dylan's first day as a game
developer and it merits an update if only for its historical value. As a game developer,
you never leave this age and frame of mind. You get paid to think like a child,
casting wars and battles in some imaginary land. Unfortunately, though, you
spend alot of time sleeping in the office, too.
This is how it all starts!
It is also webworthy because here we can see the priliminary stages of becoming a game
developer. You can actually see Dylan fending off his foe with sword in hand.
He'll make a great game developer someday soon. |
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