No Go Before I get to my postiliciousness, watch Episode II of RESET!!! I'll do the director's commentary thingie later. The most obvious criticism is that I look like a frickin' cow. Crazy training starts Tuesday. So I'm not going to Singapore. I'm doing the smart thing--finishing the next episode and preparing for my three-city tour. I'm a little bummed, but it's the wiser thing to do. I just wish it didn't make me feel like such a grown up. Yuck. On the plus side, I got out of going to QuakeCon. It would have been okay, but I really didn't want to go to Texas twice in a week. More importantly, I'll be filming the the segment I really want to film. So after Austin and Chicago, I'll be going to Vegas to play at this silly thing. The QuakeCon content would have been more substantive, but this will pull in more traffic. Plus I'll get to ask models questions like these: A caravan of wood elves, traveling 70 miles per hour, leaves Velius heading toward Kunark, 260 miles away. At the same time a caravan of gnomes, traveling 60 mph, leaves Kunark heading toward Velius. When do the two caravans meet? How far from each city do they meet? Hmmmm, I'll need to rethink this. I'm pretty sure EverQuest uses the metric system.

Ah Singapore I love that Shonen Knife Song. So yeah. I'm trying to convince myself that it's a good idea to go to Singapore next week to film a mouse launch. It's not the most practical thing in the world to do...but when do I do what's practical? It would be such a cool experience and I really want to do it, but it would delay the next episode for a few weeks, which in turn delays me getting paid for the next episode, and I'd be on the road for two weeks straight (Austin, Chicago, and maybe Vegas or Mesquite)...plus it would be raintastic down there...but it's Singapore! I've only been there once and I didn't get to look around at all. It would be an adventure. Perhaps I'll reward myself with Singapore for agreeing to suffer through the disgusting weather of Mesquite (QuakeCon). Damn, I need to make a list. It's time for an Augustine Chan Binary List (yes Steve, I know the binary system is yours, but it's funnier to me if it's Aug's). Good: I get to go to Singpore. Bad: The next episode is delayed. Good: I get to film a segment nobody else will have (I believe I can make a mouse story informative and entertaining). Bad: My next check will be delayed too. Bad: I'll be on the road for two weeks straight. Good: I'll mostly be living off of someone else's tab for two weeks straight. Good: By pushing out the next episode, I increase the chances of Best Best being able to do stuff ergo making it a much better product. Man. Opportunities like this don't pop up too often...I should go...or I should grow up. I'll figure it out tomorrow.

Rayphoria '05 So that was fun! I got to catch up with a lot of old friends, meet some new ones, steal some shades (thanks C!!!), and get into a little trouble. My time at the show was spent socializing, networking, drinking, ignore The Bravery (kinda wish I didn't), and watching the Black Eyed Peas. I didn't pay any attention to the awards (I'll just watch it on TV) and I didn't play any games (kinda wish I did). Some random thoughts: - Since G4 had The Bravery does this mean they'll team up with them to fight The Killers and Microsoft? - The Black Eyes Peas were really fun live. Great energy. Fergie's hot. Apl.de.ap is kind of weird, but I must support him for being Pinoy. - Melissa was adorably giga-drunk, which makes her amusingly opinionated. Even I winced at some of the things she said. Tee-hee. - Way too many G4 people have watched Reset. I felt really embarassed/sheepish when one of them would mention it to me. In my head it doesn't seem quite real and I feel uncomfortable that real TV people have seen it. And I don't mean to insult the Yahoo! Studios guys, Zoe, and Kat; it's just my own silly issue in my own stupid head. - I hung up on Cliff because Seamus wanted to talk. Sorry man. Priorities. Tee-hee. - Oh, I told a company I'd go to their launch event in Singapore next week. I'm not sure I can get a shooter though. Oops. Better go sort that out now.

Oh Snap So I woke up super early this morning for some strange reason. Something was just...off. So I tried reading The Defenders miniseries to put me back to sleep (never mind that the Giffen/DeMateis bwahahaha humor isn't conducive to sleep). I turn over on my side when I hear a teensy weensy wet snap. My back has been not happy ever since. This has happened once before--right before I left to Cabo in 2003. I bit the bullet and got on the plane since there was no way in hell I was going to miss Cabo. I suppose I'm biting the bullet again because I don't want to miss Gphoria. Hopefully some vodka tonics will make the pain go away.

Normal! I'm actually going to have a pretty normal week, which is odd for an independent contractor (can I be a codependent contractor?). It's lookin' somethin' like this: Monday - Play stuff. Write stuff. Lunch with Ryan/Jane. Tuesday - Finish episode II. Wednesday - Write more stuff. Go to LA. Thursday - Go back home. Play more stuff. Friday - Start edits on episode III. Gphoria should be interesting. Word on the street is that a lot of people are missing it. Still, I'll have fun catching up with Cliff, meeting his sexy 12-year old, seeing my pretend girlfriend before she moves to New York, seeing my fiance, catching up with the G4 crew, and all that good stuff. No black outs this year! Oh, I pray this movie turns out to be cool.

Best Best Break The last three days were giga-fun. Best Best came by for a much-needed break (even though I made her work *guilt*). We worked, played, hang glid (see Eddie Izzard), shoe shopped, drank, saw Les Miserables, and had all sorts of fun. It was really great for me. I've been all over the place the last two months and her visit helped me find my happy place. I hope it was lovely for her too. In other news, a pair of articles on Reset/me went up this week. The first is from SFist (a local SF blog-type thingie) and the second is from Hackenslash (an Asian gaming site). Gordon just AIMed me a horrible pun on the latter article, saying that it should have been called "Game Pinoy Advances." Tee-hee.

Heeeee!!! I'm off to the airport to pick up my personal effects. Yay!

Bar Pics Here are some shots from last week's Buddha Bar outing.

Tee-Hee Sarai sent me this.

Flame On! So the Fantastic Four wasn't that bad. I needed to see the movie since I love comics and aspire to be a superhero one day. My expectations were low and I was surprised at how entertaining Marvel's first family was. All the heroes did a good job and my love for Jessica Alba has only increased. The big surprise was Reed Richards. From the trailers and stills, he looked totally lame, but Ioan Gruffudd did a nice job portraying Richards as a socially/romantically inept genius that harbors guilt for an experiment ruining the life of his best friend. Unfortunately Doctor Doom absolutely sucked. In the comics he's this brilliant, arrogant, and vengeful man that uses technology and arcana to power his evil schemes. He's a complex character...certainly one of the more interesting Marvel villains. In the movie he's this evil businessman that has super powers and stupid motives. You need good villains to have good heroes and the movie totally fails here. Watch my show! Download it again just for kicks. Surprising opportunities are popping up. It's pretty crazy.

July Idiot Tax But before I get to that, watch RESET!!! So my TiVo remote has been acting funny for the last month or so. It would stop working randomly, which is incredibly annoying considering that it has changed the way I watch television--I really don't like being without its features. Anyway, I decided to troubleshoot it last week. I tried changing all sorts of settings. I tried tweaking all kinds of options. I searched a few message boards to see how others have dealt with similar problems. After more experimenting, I consigned myself to calling TiVo tomorrow to see about sending it to be repaired...then I randomly tried changing the batteries--works fine now. DUH!!! I'm actually surprised I didn't try that first. Egon's line from Ghostbusters 2 has stayed with me: "In science, we always look for the simplest solution." So yeah. I skipped the simplest thing and tried out all these other (sometimes complicated) nerd fixes. Oh well. Live and learn.

Watch It!!! The first "real" episode of RESET is up. Watch it! It's okay. There are eight-million things wrong with it, but it's a step in the right direction (all things considered). So download it, stream it, stream it again, and love it so I can remain gainfully employed. Here's a sorta kinda director's commentary on the whole thing, just for my special friends. EA Sports Going into the event, I was worried that the producers would be boring so I decided to interview some editors to add some energy. Originally I was going to be in the shoot with the editors, but I cut myself out. It was the right decision but the angle kind of sucks. Next time I'll have the editors shot the same way as the producers (which makes it a total Filter rip off). Also, I shouldn't have led with something that wasn't host driven. Also (also), I will boycott publishers that give me 40 seconds of b-roll per game. Yuck. Hmmm, what else. Oh yeah, initially I was going to only include print editors since I didn't want to put the competition on Yahoo! I've changed my mind about that and will just grab the most dynamic person around (that's not me, of course). Besides, I can then post on online editor's Forums and mooch traffic from their fans. Conker Party It's the usual Raymond-as-an-idiot show. This was a really fun shoot and a total bitch to edit. There was so much stuff. A lot of it got censored to keep it a family-friendly show. I totally understand why it was cut, but I threw my little creative tantrum anyway. The two girls at the end were so much fun. I got them kissing and feeling each other up (I would have cut the latter part anyway). The original outro had them sitting on my lap giving each other a secret handshake that was a little bit naughty. Hopefully Yahoo! lets me use an age gate so I can put up the cooler version in the future. Marc Ecko Zoe's interviews are so much fun to watch. They're totally bouncy, fun, and conversational. I like the piece overall, but wish we had more interesting b-roll. What the hell was with that clip of Trane climbing the ledge. There's an entire minute of that on the tape. It's kind of fun to watch Ecko speak very deliberately; you can totally tell he wants to speak all street, but is very mindful on how he comes across on camera. I miss Zoe. *sniff* Studio Stuff This will get better in the future. Kat was a bit nervous initially, but she did totally fine at the end. Her voice is so strong--commanding, yet approchable. She should slip into her South Carolina accent more--it's super cute! Kat's going to get better each time she's in the studio...which means she'll be exponentially better than me as a host around episode III. I was pretty stiff. Part of it was that I was being really mindful about not being too fruity (lots of people told me I was totally ghey in the E3 special). Part of it I was being distracted by the Geoff/Kat dynamic. I think Kat totally thought that Geoff hated her, but he's just a really gruff guy. Actually, he comes across as gruff and condescending, but he pretty much likes everyone. Oh well, Zoe thought he hated her too.

Eep! I totally forgot that it's Popfest this week. I really want to see The California Oranges and My Favorite. I'm curious about Remedy 'n' Wren. And The Autocollants are getting back together just for Popfest!!! Anyone want to go with me? Saturday's show looks boss.

Weirdo Dreams I almost forgot! I had the 17-hour flu on Sunday. It was really weird. Around 10PM, right before we were going to leave the hot tub, I just felt really weak. I was pretty much floored until 3:00PM the next day. The really weird part is when I tried to sleep. Despite the comforts of the Westin Heavenly Bed, I slept horribly. I had a half-awake, half-asleep dream that the Yahoo! crew was in the room shooting b-roll of me sleeping. Why they would do this is beyond me, but I kept having to change positions in the bed for different shots so I kept tossing and turning. I'll chalk that weirdo dream up to the 17-hour flu.

Adventure in SoCal My SoCal trip was really fun and really productive. Tommy, Kat, and I did three shots in three days. I got to see a Justin, Kate, and Peter. I had a really fun adventure with Melissa. And I got to do all my favorite OC things (visit Steve, hang out in the hot tub, eat at Shin Sen Gumi and Taco Mesa, etc.). Like Kit, I felt all kinds of nostalgia for The OC. I'm not thinking of going back or anything, but I miss the pools, the weather, the BBQs, and all that good stuff. Don't worry, if I run away again it'll be to Maui (right Steve?). Here are some pics from Acme Games Store. Here are some random OC pics. And here are eight-jillion stalker-ish pics of Melissa.