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PAX 2010 is on!

Phoenix Comicon 2010

I have family and friends in Phoenix and lived there many years before moving to California, so deciding to attend this year's Phoenix Comicon over Memorial Day weekend was an easy one.

The variety of interests at the Phoenix Comicon this year was quite broad, though the main themes were pretty clearly comics (characters, art, artists, authors, accessories) and science fiction (authors, movies, books, costumes). There was a smattering of gaming-related events like freeplay sessions of Rock Band (and Wil Wheaton's Rock Band all-nighter), but gaming was not a main focus.

Phoenix Comicon has been around for nine years, but has not seemed to be very visible until the last several years. None of my friends who still live in Phoenix were aware of it when I told them I was going. I think with the explosive growth and commercialization of the San Diego Comicon, more people are aware of cons in general, and some people may want to find a less crowded, less in-your-face and less commercialized version of the con experience. The Phoenix Comicon provides that alternative and has become more visible as a result.

There were a ton of people in all types of costumes. It was obvious a lot of people were having a lot of fun:






There were writers, artists and actors there whom you could talk to, have your picture taken with, and whom would probably sign something if you brought it to them. Some pretty well-known people were there, including Stan Lee, Levar Burton and the previously mentioned Wil Wheaton.


Unicorn Pegasus Kitten ("UPK")
Wil Wheaton and John Scalzi had a "Super Happy Fun Time" panel wherein they discussed various Internet-related items (as you do), a little about their respective backgrounds, and revealed a certain fan fiction writing contest (deadline for entry was June 30) and subject painting which I have to say I am glad I was witness to. Phoenix Comicon 2010 will likely be remembered as the beginning of the epoch of UPK storytelling. This was the scene just moments after the unveiling:


Here is a closeup of the painting taken after the panel:


There are a number of crazy Internet-Wheaton-Scalzi memes going on here, my favorite being the Wheaton infamous clown sweater. You can read about that, along with what else is going on in that painting, at the link to the writing contest above.

Levar Burton
I'm a big fan of Levar Burton from watching Reading Rainbow as a youth, and also Star Trek: The Next Generation. I had hoped to see him at this event, but hadn't planned to have my picture taken with him. There was a portrait service there that scheduled photos with various of the celebrities who were at the con, and I just happened by the photo booth right at the end of the session with Mr. Burton. I thought I probably wouldn't have another opportunity to have a professional portrait taken with him, so I decided to do it. The portrait is on the portrait company's flickr site, linked here. I elected to provide that link instead of posting the portrait here directly as the portrait company has reserved all of its copyright rights.

Next Year
Overall, this was a really fun event to attend. It ran the entire weekend, starting with Thursday evening preview events. I attended only on Sunday, but it looked like there were plenty of things to see and panels to attend if one were to go for the entire show. The price is right, too. I believe it was only $35 for a full event pass. I'll probably go again next year as it's a great bonus to a summer trip to see family and friends.

Artie's voice on the radio

Last week The Howard Stern Show was on break and played a special collection of clips called "Wasted Week." It was a showcase for funny bits and the recounting of drunken misadventures of several of the Stern Show staff, former guests of the show, Wack Packers and others.

Some of the stuff was pretty funny but what I noticed most was the presence of Artie Lange's voice on many of the clips. One would think some of the stories would have been about Artie, but I didn't hear any. He was just part of the show, one of those making observations and participating in interviews and bits. I was reminded of how much he brought to the show with his observations, jokes and laugh. The show is still funny now, but hearing these clips reminded me that it is missing something.

I think I express the sentiments of many Stern Show fans when I wish Artie the best and hope that he takes whatever steps he needs to to get better. Hopefully he can someday return to comedy and maybe the Stern Show.

Phoenix Comicon 2010

I will be attending the Phoenix Comicon tomorrow, May 30. I have been to several Penny Arcade Expos, but never a comicon, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's going on there. Plus, I want to see authors Wil Wheaton and John Scalzi. I just signed up for Twitter so I can keep up with @wilw, @scalzi and @PhoenixComicon. My Twitter username is @Kev_aru. The tag for tracking Phoenix Comicon-related info is #PHXCC. I will post pictures on Flickr.

Blame Sally back in Sacramento

Blame Sally will be back in Sacramento next weekend, May 22, 2010. The venue is one I've never been to before, a yoga studio called fusion yoga studio. I've written about Blame Sally before--their style is hard to categorize, though the general category that is closest is probably folk. Throw in the accents from a Fender Strat and beautiful vocal harmonies and you are getting warmer.

You can check out some of their music here and here.

The show starts at 8:00p, hope to see you there. The more people who attend, the more likely it is the band will be able to travel to Sacramento more often.

Hello, Sacramentonians!

I went with my friends Holly and Chad to see Conan O'Brien's "Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television" tour last Thursday in Sacramento. The place was packed and the show was really funny. His band from the show (minus Max Weinberg) played a few introductory songs, and at one point all of the horn players walked out among the audience on the floor and played their solos using their wireless mics.

Conan did a monologue with some choice local material, including his impression of our governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sadly, but not unexpectedly, mention of the governor's name garnered mass boos from the audience. He's not a popular guy in this state right now, primarily because our budget is such a mess, but I digress. Conan used the Schwarzenegger impression and the associated booing to good effect, though, bringing it back several times and throwing in a faux-behind-the-scenes impression of Schwarzenegger talking to Conan on the phone about mention of his name and how it went over.

There were a couple of prerecorded videos which were really funny. I won't spoil it for those still waiting to see the tour, but one documented Conan's life during the post-Tonight Show funk prior to his putting this tour together and another involves a certain comic canine with which any fan of Conan's will be familiar.

There was more music than I expected. Conan played the guitar, and took center stage quite often, both singing and strumming, playing with the full band and two backup singers. Mr. Andy Richter also appeared, adding to the comic mix. They play off of each other well and Andy complements Conan perfectly.

Overall, this was a really fun show that exposed the audience to more of Conan's forthright genuineness and humor. He poked fun at TV network executives without being cruel, and made light of his own situation and his struggle to recover after losing his dream job.

Conan's recent interview on 60 Minutes was good, too. Nothing particularly groundbreaking was revealed, but he made it clear he was disappointed in how the late night situation happened and how he would have handled it differently had he been in Jay Leno's shoes.

This is great, too: Conan's recent appearance at Google, which happened on this tour the day before he appeared in Sacramento.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

What I am looking at:



What I am listening to:





Pink Floyd's 1977 album "Animals." One of my favorites. The guitar work of David Gilmour is simply superb--it conveys the feeling of the theme of this album perfectly. Great bass work on here too, by Roger Waters. Heck, everything is terrific. I love the drums, keyboards and synthed-out vocals and sound effects, plus the various farm-inspired metaphors conveyed through the lyrics.

A little self-promotion--Scenic Brews

I am a contributing writer to a new e-magazine published by a friend of mine out of Southern Arizona. It is called Scenic Brews and the general theme is all things brewed, from beer to coffee to tea to whisk(e)y and back to beer. Accompanying food and photography of the same is also an emphasis.

I am writing the "Beer & Pizza" column and this first column is an introduction and then discusses a recent beer tasting I went to at a great local restaurant here in Sacramento called OneSpeed Pizza. The e-zine will be published every two months with occasional updates inbetween. I hope you enjoy it.

Reference guide for Halo 3 ODST Audiophile achievement

I'm not often a "completionist" when it comes to earning every achievement in a game, but sometimes a game is interesting enough, and the achievement tasks are realistic enough that it can be fun in itself to see if I can do it. To this point, I have earned all of the achievements in Halo 3 ODST except for the ones associated with the Firefight co-op mode. This "Audiophile" achievement was not difficult, but it was time-consuming, so I thought I'd post the references I used and the experience I had earning this one to hopefully save someone time if they want to do this.

To earn this achievement, one has to find all 29 of the Audio Log locations throughout the "Mombasa Streets" portion of the campaign and the final Audio Log within the Data Hive mission. You will only be able to find the Data Hive location after you have found the previous 29 locations. You can do this on any difficulty, so you might as well do it on "Easy" so you can quickly take care of any resistance you meet on the streets as you travel. There are a number of maps of the Mobmasa Streets available online, some with linked video clips showing each Audio Log, and there are also complete video walkthroughs showing the locations of all of the Audio Logs, but there is not one place that puts everything together, including what to do if you have difficulty actually "retrieving" the Audio Logs.

First, you will need a good map. I like this one because it shows the names of some of the "flashback" missions of the campaign (i.e., Kikowani Station) that make it easier to know where you are on the map. I will caution you that the video on that page showing the location of the 30th Audio Log in the "Data Hive" level contains a "spoiler" with regard to the story that is told by watching and listening to all of the Audio Logs. If you feel you must watch the video before doing it in the game, I would recommend you stop the video once you see where the 30th Audio Log is. However, you really don't need to watch the video at all as once you reach the Marine who accompanies you to Level 9 in Data Hive, you won't need any further guidance.

I found this video walkthrough to be extremely helpful. It quickly runs through every location and even traces the route you will need to walk on the overhead map to reach the next location. If all of the Audio Logs are "retrievable" (see "Other Considerations" below) it should take you about half an hour to confirm that you have them all using this walkthrough.

General Approach
Once you pick a map it is best to follow its Audio Log locations in sequence so you don't get lost. I had the map open on my laptop next to me while I played, but you can also print out the map and mark off each location as you find it. One initial thing to realize is that the Audio Logs do not need to be found in a specific order (but, see "Connection With Flashback Missions" below), though as you find them and listen to them, they will be sequential. This confused me at first since I needed to start looking for the 18th Audio Log after I went back to find all of the logs (I had found 17 while completing the campaign), and different maps labeled different locations as "18th."

Just remember that whatever audio log you find is the next one in terms of telling the story, so the numbering on the various maps showing all of the locations is really of no value except as reference within that map itself. Start with #1 on whatever map you choose, and go through to #29. Another thing to remember is that there is no connection between the "solo" and "co-op" campaigns as far as the Audio Logs go. If you find an Audio Log while going through the campaign on co-op, you will need to find the same one again if going through solo, and vice-versa. It's probably easiest to just do this solo, so you don't have to coordinate more than one person to all of these locations.

Other Considerations
The biggest problem I had going through the streets to find these Audio Logs is that not all of them appeared "retrievable" when I found the correct location. You will know an Audio Log is retrievable by two clues:

1. Virgil, the city's computer, will use the environment to clue you in that you are close. Police car lights will flash, crosswalks will operate, phones will ring, etc.; and
2. The location of the Audio Log itself will be outlined in bright yellow if you are using your VISR mode. The Audio Logs are found in such items as pay phones, health pack stations, recruiting stations (in-game advertisements to join the UNSC--you'll know them when you see them) and a few others.
   

If you are not seeing either of these clues when approaching an Audio Log location you know you have not yet retrieved, you will probably need to go back and complete some flashback missions.

Connection With Flashback Missions
It seems that the availability of the Audio Logs to be "retrieved" depends on the completion of a certain number of the "flashback" missions. I believe the reason that not all of the Audio Logs were "retrievable" for me is that I had gone back through to certain of the flashback missions within the campaign in order to earn particular achievements. When you do this, your previous campaign progress is lost. As such, the game believes you have not completed any of the flashback missions after you begin skipping around.

With this in mind, if you have just beaten the campaign you should have no problem immediately going back to "Continue Solo Campaign" (though if your last save was within the Data Hive level this might not work) from the main menu and wandering Mombasa Streets to find the audio logs. If, however, you have skipped around after completing the campaign you will need to re-play the first three flashback missions in order to make all of the Audio Logs "retrievable."

I don't know the magic of the first three missions, but I found a post on the bungie.net forums that confirms my experience. Apparently five or six Audio Logs are retrievable after having completed the first flashback mission. Then after completing the second flashback mission, another 20 or so are retrievable. Completing the third flashback mission makes the last five Audio Logs available (the last five on the Mombasa Streets level), and then the last Audio Log is located within the final Data Hive mission. This apparent requirement of completing flashback missions is another reason to work toward this achievement on "Easy" difficulty.

Audio Log Story
The story that is told through watching all 30 of the Audio Logs adds a cool element to the campaign. You learn about some of the events prior to your arrival in New Mombasa, what and who Virgil is, and meet some interesting characters who provide a backstory to the campaign. The "spoiler" mentioned above relates to how the Audio Log story is tied to the main campaign story that you are playing. It is not something critical, but if you approach it without knowing how the two tie together, it is more satisfying. Once you have found the last Audio Log in Data Hive, listen to and watch it, then remember to look around and explore the room. Also notice the "condition" of the room and the area outside the room. Remember the events of the last several Audio Logs and you will see the connection.

Retro gaming goodness

The classic gaming room is coming together. We are still working on cable and power management, but this is a great start, and everything works, all original hardware:



Be sure to click the picture to go to flickr as there are explanatory notes for all that you see here.

Xbox 360 is back

Just a quick note that my Xbox has been returned, exactly two weeks after I sent it off. I briefly updated my previous post on the red-ring warranty service.

Circuit City brand back in business

When I received an email this morning from Circuit City promoting a new laptop deal, I scrutinized it for signs of phishing. When I then separately (without clicking on any links within the email) visited circuitcity.com, the web site appeared very much as it did prior to Circuit City's bankruptcy.

Apparently another company, Systemax, Inc., has bought the Circuit City brand, trademarks and assets and has re-opened circuitcity.com. It appears they will be offering products for sale only online and not in brick and mortar stores.

According to Bloomberg:

Systemax Inc. is a direct marketer of private label and brand name personal computers and related supplies, as well as industrial products, through branded websites and direct mail catalogs. The Company offers its own brand of Systemax built-to-order personal computers, including desktops and servers. Systemax operates in North America and in Europe.

I guess this is a bit of old news as ZDNet blogged about it on June 12. Apparently Systemax also runs TigerDirect.com and also acquired CompUSA. It will take some time before I'd feel comfortable ordering from the new circuitcity.com, mainly because I don't know much about Systemax and there are many more familiar alternatives, but I wish them luck.

SiriusXM - The Loft

One of my newly-discovered favorites on SiriusXM is The Loft, channel 29. It plays a very interesting mix of music, which I like when I really want something different. On a recent drive into work, I heard the following artists:

• Randy Newman
• Duncan Sheik
• The Temptations
• Ben Harper and Relentless 7
• Coldplay
• Rolling Stones
• Muddy Waters
• Wilco
• Bobbie Gentry
• Jill Sobule (song: "Where is Bobbie Gentry?")

15 years and 168,743 miles...

and we're still going strong in 2009.



Yep, this is me in 1994 with my newly-leased truck:



My truck has probably provided the most utility of anything I've ever owned. Innumerable moves, both my own and others, a trip halfway across the country to Minneapolis and back, transport of a stranded motorcycle, commuting to work, and I believe my brother Brian used it to move an engine block once.

Xbox 360 RRoD #1

Xbox 360 RRoD
Originally uploaded by arukasa

[UPDATE - Xbox returned! See below]

I am now a member of the club, I guess.

My Xbox 360 finally gave in yesterday. It had been freezing more and more frequently with distortion and pixellation on the screen, and finally after taking the hard drive off and turning the unit on, I saw the three quadrants lit up and blinking indicating ... death.

Unfortunately last night Xbox.com's support page was virtually inaccessible it was so slow, so I have been doubly frustrated at not even being able to print out a shipping label to send my box back. It is still loading like molasses tonight...

Well, it lasted one year, nine months (I bought it just prior to the Halo 3 launch). That's pretty sad considering my original Xbox, PS2 and GameCube still work fine. At least it's still under the 3 year RRoD warranty.

Don't get me wrong, I love my 360 and think it offers the best online console gaming experience currently. I'll have it repaired and play again, it's just frustrating.

FYI, my box was manufactured 7/19/2007, has a Zephyr mobo and chipset (with supposedly improved heatsink) and HDMI port.

UPDATE: My Xbox arrived on July 6, 2009, exactly two weeks from the day I shipped it off. Not a bad turnaround time. This new box is a replacement and not a repair of my old box. It shows a "service date" of June 28, 2009. From some searches online, this appears to mean it is a repaired/refurbished machine, just not my original box. I set it up and everything seems to be working ok, so it looks like I'm back in business.

Stern on Letterman next Monday, June 8, 2009

Howard announced on the show this morning that he will be on Letterman next Monday, so be sure to set your VCRs or DVRs. He's always entertaining.

One insider bit of info if you don't listen to the Stern show -- watch for Howard to ask Dave whether Dave will have Jay Leno on the show now that Leno is not really a competitor anymore.

The new Star Trek

What a terrific movie! I went to see it with a couple of friends, one was a Trek fan like me, the other more of a general sci-fi fan, and we all loved it. Knowing the characters from watching several of the tv series and the movies added some subtlety to learning about the genesis of the main characters and their relationships, but one certainly would not have to be a hard core Trek fan to enjoy the movie.

I am still digesting what may be my favorite part of the movie, but I loved learning about Captain Pike and how he came to appear as he did in the original Star Trek series on tv.

When the Germans attacked Pearl Harbor

Tonight was all about relaxing and taking in a few of the gospels of comedy movies. The first was "Life of Brian" by Monty Python, which, all by itself is enough to feed a large portion of modern comedy culture. 1979? Is it really that old? If you haven't seen this one, get yourself a sense of humor, especially about Chrisitianity, and take a look. The lighter side of stonings and crucifixions has never been funnier.

And whatever you do, if approached, join the People's Front of Judea, not the Judean People's Front or the Judean Popular People's Front -- don't be a splitter!

The second gospel tonight was "Animal House." Good lord, 1978, really? The mother of all college/fraternity/misadventure movies, this one never gets old. Besides Mr. John Belushi in his breakout role, and John Vernon as Dean Wormer, this movie can't be beaten. Simply classic in all respects. If you don't know what it means to be on "double secret probation," you have missed something and need to see this movie.

One of the coolest product loyalty promotions ever

I am now a lifetime leaseholder of a plot of land near the Laphroaig distillery:



As a "friend of Laphroaig" and lifetime leaseholder, I am entitled to payment of an annual ground rent of one dram of Laphroaig, payable in person at the distillery. I've had long-term plans to visit Scotland as it is part of my family's heritage, and this is one more incentive and a great reason to include Laphroaig in my planned distillery tour.

All I did to become entitled to this great benefit and handsome certificate is register on Laphroaig's web site using the code I received along with a bottle of Scotch I recently bought. It did not cost me a single cent to have Laphroaig send me, via airmail from Great Britain (really, Scotland!) the above personalized certificate.

I'm looking forward to my trip.

Rock Band 2 triple cymbal expansion kit

This might be the greatest gaming accessory ever invented. I liked playing the drums on the Rock Band games before, but this takes it to the next level. It's still not exactly like actually playing drums (which I cannot, by the way), but the position and different levels of these cymbals contributes greatly to the illusion.




This adds a high-hat, ride and crash cymbal to the kit which not only make it more fun to play, it's actually easier and more intuitive. They are connected in such a way that each cymbal corresponds to one of the drum pads, so you effectively have two ways to successfully hit a beat during play. In addition, hitting the cymbal will produce the corresponding sound of a cymbal as opposed to the sound of a tom, so you also have a bit more control and can choose the sound produced for a particular beat. I understand there is a double cymbal expansion kit also, but you don't want that one -- you need the triple, trust me.

The build quality is solid, and I have not noticed any dropped "hits" during gameplay. I played my first virtual gig a few nights ago as the drummer and held my own on medium difficulty, so I am quite pleased.