Offbeat Geek

Sorry Joe!

In a heated battle against the X-Factor winner Joe McElderry, “Killing In The Name” clinched the #1 spot on BBC Radio 1’s Official charts show this evening. In fact as I type this I’m listening to it live on BBC right now.

What started as a facebook group sick of X-Factor domination of the Christmas charts turned into an epic battle of music!  Personally I am delighted Rage took the number 1 spot.  This makes UK chart history by being the first ever download only Christmas #1.

Rage have confirmed live on radio that they will indeed honor the free thank you concert in the UK some time during 2010.

Update:  The BBC are now reporting the full story.

Local stocked lake

My girlfriend’s brother came down from Alaska to spend Christmas with us this year.  We decided to take a bit of a break and head down to the local pond (seen above) and catch some fish.  This time of year it is usually stocked with rainbow trout but there are a few catfish still lurking about.   It would be satisfying to land a couple of nice ones for the BBQ!

When we return I’ll update this post with our success, or lack thereof

Jaw hits floor

Oh my! Rock am Ring festival is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary in 2010. As seen in the image above, the line up is shaping up to be quite epic. Over the next couple of months more bands will be added.

If it is to be anything like the 20th anniversary there will also be a special and very famous guest band who will not be announced.  It is times like this that I wish I were back in Germany.  If you are thinking of going…. get your tickets NOW!!  Mark my words this years RaR is going to sell out fast!

You can check out all the juicy details here

Old Pic New Map

For the last couple of days I have been locked away working on the bits and bobs for DM-HOLP-Takk. It has been a VERY long time coming but the wait is almost over.   I am hoping to have it done before a certain game is released this month. The video footage is also progressing along nicely and will be ready in time for release too.

I took a whole new approach to the way I built the level.   You will get to see it as I release the VTMs about the map’s construction.  Hopefully they will prove useful to some of you out there.

For those of you here for Industry news, I know I’ve been lacking somewhat. Sorry. For now this map gets all the free time I have. I’ll be back with more industry updates and news again soon!

My ears are still ringing from last night’s ‘rockin’ concert at the Marquee Theater in Tempe, Arizona. Overall a fantastic show with great performances from most of the bands. Below, in order of appearance on stage, are my thoughts on each of last night’s acts.

The Asylum

First on stage were the local, full on, metal five piece known as: The Asylum (Myspace).  These guys were most definitely the hardest band present.   On paper they looked like a very odd choice for an opening act especially taking into account the other openers.  They did not let that interfere with getting the crowd motivated.  A giant mosh pit opened up center stage within minutes of their arrival.

The only thing that seemed to hurt them was the loss of a lot of the intricate guitar work present in the recordings.  I couldn’t tell if the audio settings were quite set up right or just lost in the overall barrage of metal slamming into my chest at the time.  Closing with a re-imagining of “Eye Of The Tiger”,  which you can hear on their myspace profile, was just wicked.  The perfect song to finish up on. (continue reading…)

Looks like double dutch to me

I was shown some basic car maintenance jobs.  Air filter replacement, changing oil and other such handy D.I.Y. car things.  So yesterday afternoon I attempted my first solo oil change.  I went out with high hopes; they were promptly dashed…

My first mistake was leaving the car on the inclined concrete driveway. This would lead to a problem shortly after commencing the draining process.  In my enthusiasm to get started I neglected to remove the splash guard under the engine. This lead to a rather comical attempt at trying to remove the drain plug from the oil pan. After a fair amount tugging the bolt finally came loose.

(continue reading…)

On my return journey from the Cardinals game Sunday night I experienced a toothache unlike any other I’ve ever had the displeasure of enduring.  Dealing with that pain and trying to continue the two hour drive was a genuine trial.  Naturally, the next morning I book an emergency appointment after not having been able to sleep most of Sunday night.  A couple of x-rays later reveal that my bottom right wisdom tooth decided to grow diagonally and over the course of the last year and a bit slowly erode the tooth in front of it.  The inevitable appointment to remove the culprit was arranged for tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.  In the mean time I was given a prescription of Tylenol 3 and Penicillin to manage the pain. The rest of Monday continued with  varying degrees of pain.  This morning I awoke to even worse pain.  Despite maxing out all my doses of medication over the course of the day nothing has eased the headaches/nausea and pain. My face is starting to look a little the Michelin man!  What scares me is the fact that tomorrow, once the tooth has been removed and the cavity filled, the pain is meant to be worse!  It has to be said that I’ve a very low pain tolerance but I am genuinely freaking out about the next couple of days!

A good mate of mine arrived to Tucson this evening.  I will be playing host for the next week and a bit to Landa2.  Here’s hoping he finds this neck of the woods interesting!  Thinking the Titan Missile Silo, Desert Museum, Old Tucson or Biosphere 2 might be on the cards.  Now that I think about it, there’s actually quite a bit to do here in Tucson.