To Japan or Not to Japan Well that's certainly the frickin' question, hey? I really, Really, REALLY want to go. So many fun people are going to be there and it would rule to cause so much trouble in another country with my pals. The only problem is my main outlet isn't providing any travel so it's going to be tres expensive. I can afford it, but there are so many things I want to buy (DSR11, PD170, a TV with HDMI) that I'll need for current/future projects. I'm not sure what kind of work I can get out of TGS yet either. *sigh* In other news, my Nintendog (Shane Bettenhausen, female sheltie) is now wearing a Mario hat! Yay!

Monday Night Raw Before I get to that, here's the scariest thing I've seen in the last 38 days. So last night reminded me of that part in Anchorman where Ron says something like, "Wow. That got out of hand quickly. I mean, it really escalated there." I innocently went to a Codemasters event (to support my pal Laura, not to play the game). After several free pints of Newcastle, I got way too honest, ratted out Shane, and totally invited someone to his party this weekend. It mostly stems from the fact that I'm missing out on an excellent drunken time while I'll be sober in Kentucky. Yeah, I got totally bratty. I fully own up to it. I was acting out and threw a tantrum of sorts. Anyway, things moved on to Buddha Bar. There was lots of dice, more beer, and more silliness. One of the guys was a short developer from Codies. He was short and British (I suppose he still is) so I kept calling him Davy Jones and kept singing "Daydream Believer" to him. The name totally stuck. The whole evening was a little crazy and out of hand, which was a stark contrast to my original plan of stopping by the event and going home to capture footage for the show. Oops.

IV So episode IV is up. There's a lot I don't like about it, but I'm really hyped about the Midway package. It was really fun and random and cool. Let's to a binary list for this episode. Bad: The studio stuff was filmed before we started editing. I hate doing that since you only have a rough idea of what you're introducing, but schedules required that it had to be done this way. I'll hate the throws in the next episode too, since we filmed them the same day. Bad: The Atari is a bit dull. I really wanted to have editors talk about the games too, but the event schedule was tighter than a frog's ass (see Gung Ho). Good: Both Kyle and Dave really salvaged the Atari piece. It would have been much more boring if I included bits of the other three interviews (two guys having a dull day and one Japanese guy being translated). Yay for dynamic personalities. Good: I think the Midway package is the best thing that's ever been on Reset. It could have been better, for sure, but it was a totally random idea that turned out pretty frickin' cool. Bad: My video blog was such a pain to edit and it's not really funny unless you know at least 25 percent of the people in the segment. Good: There's a good idea there, but I really don't want to do it again (unless they pay me more).

Shifting Yay! My first interview on 1up is...uh...up. Check it out (download please) and lemme know wucha think. It was a totally random thing. I wanted to see what it would be like working with their new cameraman and get used to working together. I wasn't really prepared so I'm not expecting much, but hopefully it looks good. I better watch it, right?

Breathe Yay, I finally got to take a break! After a week of shooting on the road and a week of local shooting plus editing, I got to kick back for a bit. Ted came up for a weekend + visit. That's always dangerous. We hung out, visited local friends, had lunch with Aletheia's dad, and finished up Episode IV. Speaking of which, that sonovabitch turned out nothing like I thought it would. One of the packages is probably the best thing I've ever done for the show, one of them is pretty standard, and one of them was such, Such, SUCH a nightmare to edit. Oh well, I guess I'll see how it goes when it's up on Friday. The important lesson I've learned: I shouldn't do three shoots in a row. I simply don't have the personality for it. Too bad I did five in a row. Kindly excuse the next two episodes. Tee-hee. The 40-Year Old Virgin is the funniest thing I've seen all year. The new Google Desktop absolutely owns me. Some of the plug-ins totally rock. Google Talk might be interesting in the near future. Hmmmm, it's funny that I love Google so much but get the bulk of my pay from Yahoo!

Vegas:Play So yeah, my Vegas trip. It was nice to get some gambling and relaxation in before giga-work started again this week. Here are some random thoughts on the fun stuff. - Steve Wynn's new hotel is really cool. You can see the same design elements he used in The Mirage and the Bellagio. What really gets me is the tech. Every room has HDTV, cable television via CAT (not coax), VOIP phones, and more. Your hotel card doubles are your player's club card. And each chip over $25 has a chip in it to help them avoid fakes. - The steak house at Wynn is phenomenal. Brian treated me to a lovely ribeye. It's not the best I've had, but it's up there. There's a cool water show that plays every half hour for your entertainment too. - La Bete, a club at Wynn, is really impressive. The crowd is typical Vegas, but the setting is amazing. The terraces face a facade build to look like a Sierra Nevada forrest. There are tons of trees, a couple of waterfalls, and lots of bushes. It's the most green (the natural kind) that I've ever seen in Vegas. - The Stuff Magazine Casino Weekend was also typical Vegas. There were some celebs around (Shannon Elizabeth and Robert Horry were right by me) and Bone Thugs performed to Kimora Simmons' fashion show. I really didn't enjoy the glitz and the glam. I had way more fun hanging out in Austin with friends. - I suck at blackjack now. I still know basic strategy pretty well, but I can't count cards to save my life. I lost $300 in half an hour. - My video-poker skills are still there. I made some mistakes early on and my speed wasn't what it used to be, but by the end of the trip I was playing pretty close to perfect and at a really nice clip. I ended up winning $250 and earned a ton of comps at the Westin. All that training on Bob Dancer's program has paid off. - Oh yeah, the Westin Casuarina is pretty interesting. It's almost perfect for me. I get Starwood points, the beds are lovely, it's SO not crowded, and there's lots of great video poker (9/6 JOB is my game of choice). The pool is small, but nice. I just wish the spa were better. There's no jacuzzi in the spa and the steam room was too hot for me, so it was sauna city while I rested my eyes for the next video-poker session. The Westin is slightly off the strip, which cuts down on the traffic, but it's a short walk away from Ellis Island, which has the most inredible $5-steak meal you'll find in the country.

Picture This! Austin, part II. Chicago, part I. Vegas, part XXXVI. So Vegas was pretty interesting. Work was cool. Play was cool. I think I need to make seperate work and play entries for this Vegas trip. Yeah. I'll do that later. Can't believe it's time to go home! That was a hell of a trip. It was fantastic for the most part, but I really tuckered out at the end. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Vegas!!! I'm in Vegas now. I'm starting to wonder if I'm too old to do three junkets in a row. I am tiiiiiiiired. Even being surrounded by models (including one totally hot gamer girl) isn't enough stimuli to snap me out of it. Perhaps I'll find my fifth wind after steak at Steve Wynn's new place. Episode III is out!!! Watch it (please)!!!

Lone Star The Atari trip is really fun so far. It's great catching up with old pals and I've met some really cool peeps (and spent time with peeps I've never hung out with before) too. Here are the nice photos. Here are the naughty photos.

Serving it Up Actually, it's more like not serving it up. I played tennis for the first time in...well over a year (Phu, when was the last time we played?). My groundstrokes were okay. My volleys were okay. But man, I can't serve for crap. This is alarming since my game has been reduced to relying on spin and my lefty-acity. I know what the problem is though. I'm taking my eye off the ball way too soon. I can cheat like that on my groundies and volleys, but when I do it on my serve all sorts of things go wrong. Oh well. It was fun to play and I'd like to play more. I'm officially calling out Phu. On a related note, I probably should get some new racquets. The ones I have are really for a more advanced player (what I used to be). I should trade in my mid-sized, modestly-powered sticks for some oversized racquets with a little more pop. *sigh* I'd like to stick to Yonex, but I should probably see what they make these days. Aside from that, I really didn't do much over the weekend. I was a little tired from rushing episode III and I wanted to save my personality for the road trip (have to put on the idiot act for the kids ya know). I'm sure it'll get a little bit crazy so I figured I'd get some peace/slash quiet before it all starts. Plus, kit introduced me to the wonder that is Paul Walker. I swear, it's as if Shane were a Hollywood star--he's just so breathtakingly bad. I should probably send off emails and prep my PC for the road. I have to leave for the airport in less than five hours.

Movie Time I've seen three movies in the last two weeks...might as well review them. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: B- Bad News Bears: 3/5 Wedding Crashers: 83% My women issues are getting worse. Mushy movies don't even work anymore. Filming at the studio tomorrow and finishing edits on episode III on Friday. Then comes the big road trip. Maybe I'll figure something out while I'm on the road. It's good like that.

Hello August Man, summer is totally flying by. This month looks like it'll go by giga-fast too. This week I'm at Yahoo! Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Tuesday I have lots of errands and hopefully an optometrist appointments. Wednesday I have to get my hair snipped for Thursday's shoot. Next week I'm off on a road trip. It's Austin, Chicago, and Vegas. Then I'm back for two local shoots (might be a third too) and more editing. The last week will be all about finishing up episode IV. Somewhere in there, I'd like to fly to NY to see my family (it's my brother's birthday on 8/8). Oh yeah, you're not excused from watching episode II. Click now!!!