The 2001 Christmas Card

Greetings once more, loyal reader! I apologize for the lack of posting last night but as most of you know, I often end up crashing at a friend’s place on Saturday nights, so I beg you to bear with me once a week or so.

 

I certainly did not waste today, however. I have officially started my Christmas 2007 card I mentioned a few weeks ago. I had done a lot of conceptualization in my head but I had yet to put anything down. Well today I fired up the ol’ Flash and started building up the scene. Over the next few weeks, I will be toiling away at it on a daily basis until its official unveiling a few days before Christmas.

 

To tide you over until the big day, I have decided to sporadically show cards from previous years. Many of you whom I befriended only recently have never seen them. I am proud to present them to you and I hope you’ll enjoy playing with them as much as I enjoyed making them.

 

The tradition of making an animated Christmas card started when I was working at STEM~Net in the late fall of 2001. My boss, Bill Jameson, heard that I was rather adept at Flash and ran by me the idea of making a Christmas card for the company that we could put on our website. So I spent about two weeks working at it and even though my skills were much more rudimentary back then than they are now, I think it still holds up quite well for its age.

 

The card shows STEM~Net as a cozy cabin on a snowy patch of land, with spruce trees behind it and, far off in the distance, Signal Hill and Cabot Tower with the Christmas star lit up. There are 8 clickable spots that trigger cute little animations. The one associated with the company logo is a crowd-pleasing favourite.

 

And so loyal reader, as I continue to develope the 2007 Christmas card, I invite you to enjoy the one that started it all!

 

TV Review – Prison Break “Bang And Burn”

Welcome to my first TV review, loyal reader. As many of you know, I’m a big fan of Prison Break and have been since Day One. The story of Michael Scofield’s daring rescue of his wrongfully-convincted brother Linc has thrilled me for three years now. Tonight I would like to review the latest episode, Bang And Burn. If you haven’t seen it yet, I kindly suggest you skip this post to avoid spoilers.

 

For those of you still reading, I think you’ll agree Bang And Burn was a great episode to go on hiatus on. Not only did it contain a great action set-piece and a climactic fight between Michael and Whistler, it ended on a great cliffhanger when Michael was dragged out of Sona. Poor LJ, it seems like he’s out of options.

 

The series is very good at leaving many questions unanswered. It’s exciting because you know that elements that were introduced without explanation (what is in the cooler Lincoln buried at the beach? Why did he and Sucre record the sound of gunshots on a boom box?) will turn out to be significant later. After three seasons, it’s amazing how much the show has kept a constant level of quality.

 

And what of Bellick? The C.O. that we all hated back in season one has been undergoing a good amount of character development in season three. I think that we will be seeing the redemption of Bellick. He’s gone from being a petty tyrant back in Fox River to being the lowest rung in the inmate ladder at Sona. His situation in the season three premiere was pathetic as can be, and as viewers we couldn’t help but be sympathetic to him, even though we remember how he was.

 

Stripped of his power and authority, Bellick has seen what it is now to be a victim and it brings out the humanity in him. His sneer has completely gone. One of the most striking changes for me was what he said to Michael after he heard Sara was dead: "I’m sorry, Michael!". On top of actually showing compassion and feeling sorrow at the death of a good person, what is also significant is that it marks the first time ever, as far as I can tell, that he has called Michael by his first name. I’m willing to bet that by the end of the season, Bellick will have willingly helped in the escape and will have been redeemed. He might even sacrifice himself to help the others.

 

Whatever happens to our heroes, one thing I know for sure is that I can’t wait until January for the return of one of the best shows to come out of television in the last five years.

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

Today was a special day for a special little girl, loyal reader. Kathy’s daughter Brooklyn turned 6 years old today. I went over to visit her and Kathy after work for some cake. It was good to see her again, I had indeed missed her very much.

 

I did really enjoy being a father figure of sorts for her while Kathy and I were together. It was great to help her with her homework, teach her numbers and practice writing, especially to see her improve. Tonight I saw her do some homework and her wrting has gotten really good. I’m very proud of her and how she’s turning out. She was a bit of a terror back then, but she has passed that phase mostly and is now a very intelligent, well-behaved little girl.

 

I also enjoyed playing with her. We used to play the Harry Potter games on the computer. That got old fast for me, but still she had a great time and it was quality time between the two of us. I also greatly enjoyed introducing her to Star Wars, which is a moment every father should share with kids. I’m very much looking forward to doing it again with my own son or daughter.

 

Speaking of which, I know that Brooklyn will be a wonderful half-sister. And I am very very proud of her for it. Happy birthday, Brooklyn, and I’ll see you again at your party on Monday!

 

A Father’s Eyes

Good evening, loyal reader. I hope you’re having an ejoyable one. My own night was spent at the movies with Andrew and our friend Josh. We went to see Gone, Baby, Gone, a movie about child kidnapping and murder. And while watching the movie, it really hit me how my impending fatherhood is changing the way I look at the world, and how I watch movies with children in them.

 

Had I seen the movie 6 months ago, I would probably have been more detached, but seeing the picture of the missing little girl at the beginning of the movie just reached me much deeper than it used to. Beforehand, a missing child was terrible, but on a more abstract level. I could even conceptualize what people must be feeling in those situations but I never imagined feeling it myself, so intensely. It was easy and kind of badass before to say "If anyone took my son or daughter, I’d kill them!", but it was missing a lot of the emotions involved. We my child gone, missing or kidnapped, what I would want most would be to have him or her back, revenge be damned! I would even gladly give everything I owned to the kidnappers in exchange for the child’s safe return.

 

Child abduction, of course, is a horrible but thankfully rare and extreme situation, one that is not likely to happen. My outlook at everyday life has changed. Kathy si right now planning a birthday party for Brooklyn, and I think to myself itwill be my role as well soon to think of those things, organizing celebrations for special times. And so many details will have to change. Right now when I do the groceries, I pretty much buy easy-to-prepare food that’s not the most nutritious, but that will all have to change with the baby when he or she starts eating "real food": plenty of fruits and veggies, easy on the sweets (well, okay, that one’s not hard for me), making sure that he or she eats what’s needed for a good health. Babyproofing the apartment will be another task. Beyond just thinking of having a baby in general and the huge significance of it emotionally, I’ve already started thinking of all the practical aspects. Sometimes the road ahead seems like a wealth of rewarding challenges, other times it looks like a minefield.

 

I have also found myself looking at people with children when I see them on the street or at the park or at the mall. Babies in strollers, children running around, parents trying to control them as best they can. In a few short months, that’s gonna be me. The closer I get to it, the more real it becomes, especially emotionally speaking. I can only imagine how I’ll be feeling in just over a week when Kathy and I will have the ultrasounds, the very first picture of my son or daughter.

 

All those thoughts are sort of inundating my mind, loyal reader. It’s funny how everything now seems pretty trivial compared to the thought of having a baby in just three months. Still, I must try and get some sleep, as it’s rather late. But I want to thank you for reading some more of my random thoughts about fatherhood. I know most of you reading this are also excited to help me through this journey and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support and your encouragement.

 

Stress Management

What interesting times I live in, loyal reader. Or rather, hectic, frenetic, chaotic, no-picnic times. It’s been hard to keep my head for the last week and a half. Work is mostly responsible, with a huge workload and limited resources. But I also feel pulled in tons of different directions, none of which are the ones I feel like going in.

 

All of this is rather stressful, as you’ll imagine. And I must admit recently the tension has started getting to me. I’m a lot less ready with a joke, frowning a lot more than usual and even prone to sudden flashes of anger. I’ve even ended up getting angry at someone who’s very dear to me, something that I really regret.

 

I suppose we all have those crazy phases. Still we must keep on trucking, as the saying goes, and stress management is an important part of this modern world. Even when opportunities to relax are few and far between, I find it helps to find quiet moments in every day life. Riding the bus is perfect for that. I usually read the paper or watch the news on my cell phone, but lately I’ve taken to simply looking out the window and admiring the scenery on the way in to prepare my mind to confront the day. Same for the way out, to rest my brain from the fast and furious thinking it had to do at work.

 

I find watching movies and/or TV shows on DVD also soothes me. And of course, nothing beats a good night’s sleep.

 

But the best anti-stress I know of is an evening with my friends, which I’m looking forward to enjoying this weekend. I hope they know how much they help me in my day-to-day life simply by being there.

 

How about you, loyal reader? What are some of your favourite ways to combat stress? I hope I’m not putting too much pressure on you by asking. Now answer! Answer right now, come on!

 

Movie Review – Mad Max

Over the course of the weekend, loyal reader, I finally had the chance to watch Mad Max, that old Mel Gibson movie that spawned two sequels, unseen by me. I was quite looking forward to it, as it’s not every day I get to watch a movie pretty much everyone and their mothers had seen except me. I must say that Max Max was not worth the wait.

 

The story takes place in the not-so-distance future. Society has somewhat dilapidated and the law is enforced by some souped-up police force based out of the Halls of Justice. These highway enforcers chase around random 80s-futuristic punks in muscle cars. You know the kind.

 

During one such pursuit, a crazy freak manages to evade most of the police force until our hero Max (Mel Gibson) revvs up behind him and nudges the perp’s car with his bumper. This makes the perp swerve and hit a truck, exploding in the manner of all movie cars.

 

The criminal’s gang, the Night Riders, a motorcycle band of yet more 80s-futuristic punks vows revenge. Mind you, the crazy freak was driving a car when he was killed but let’s just pretend that he belonged to a motorcycle gang anyway. Maybe his cycle was at the shop. The Night Riders terrorize a town until our hero… uh… ‘s partner comes and gives them a good fight, standing up to them and getting himself torched in the process. After seeing his partner severly burned in a hospital, our brave Max… uh… runs home, thinks about it and quits the force to go on an extended vacation with his wife and baby boy. A very heroic vacation,  no doubt. So far, Max is the futuristic version of Sir Robin from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

 

After the Night Riders terrorize his wife, who manages to knee their leader in the groin, take off in the family car and grab Max on the way (again, way to get your behind saved by your wife there, hero!), our brave and noble champion finally decides to… be even more worried.

 

Eventually, the Night Riders do manage to kill Max’s wife and baby. Note that this happens 15 minutes before the movie is set to end. This is what finally motivates our hero to suit up, grab a cop car and go after the thugs. He manages to kill two or three before getting his kneecap shot off. Eventually, he manages to struggle and finish off the leader of the gang and the last, snivelly gang member.

 

My main complaint about the movie was that the titular character, the very hero the movie is named after does absolutely squat until 15 minutes to the end. I’m really surprised the movie managed to spawn two sequels. Even as a postapocalyptic road-warrior movie, it’s not a success. Apart for a confusing extended chase at the beginning, you don’t get to see much car action.

 

I’m still going to check out Max Max 2: The Road Warrior, if only to see if the series improves from then on. But I must say it’s off to a disappointing start.

 

I’ll let you know if it picks up, loyal reader. Stay tuned!

 

A Post Of Silence For Remeberance Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catching My Breath

Hello again, loyal reader! I hope you’re enjoying a good weekend. I myself had a quiet day at home, doing nothing but watching movies, special features and playing Vice City. I needed a day like this after the madness of the last two work weeks. It’s good to recharge the batteries, once in a while, you know?

 

I’m proud to report that I’ve finally finished the Vice City story. I’ve eliminated my former boss (who was trying to get a piece of my action in Vice City) and am now truly king of the underworld of the Miami-like burg. But I’ve still only finished 66% of the game. There are still tons of things for me to do: stunt jumps to perform, dirt bike races to win, remote control races to win, stores to rob and hidden packages to discover. Despite "finishing" the game in the traditional sense, the open-ended concept of the game will keep me occupied for quite a while still.

 

I’ve also finished watching all the special features on the Reservoir Dog DVD. They were fascinating. I especially liked the tribute section, where Tarantino and key cast members relate crazy anecdotes about the now-deceased Lawrence Tierney. Tarantino also introduces us to some of his greatest influences. It made me discover new filmmakers that I’m looking forward to sample. Mostly directors from the French New Wave of the 60s.

 

I’ve also watched Trainspotting for the first time. It’s a very interesting, very different movie. The story centers around a young heroin junkie and his friends. It’s a hard movie to describe, and a tragic death in the middle of it really punches you in the gut, so it is not for everyone’s tastes, but I did enjoy it.

 

Tomorrow should be another slow day to recuperate and prepare myself for another very busy week ahead. Thank goodness for the weekend!

Gaming Gripes

Good evening, loyal reader, and welcome to another video game-related Friday post! While surfing the net a bit earlier I happened upon a forum discussion of video game clichés and one of the posters linked to a page called the Gamer’s Manifesto. It’s a fun article about things that longtime video game players hate to see or would like to see in future games. A lot of it makes a lot of sense, and some points I had thought about many times before.

 

One of the points I had personally mused on before was the lack of ceativity in the video game industry these days. It seems that every game I see my friends play is either the same old first-person shooter or third-person fighter. It’s been a while since a game came along that actually revolutionized the industry by inventing or at least popularizing new concepts.

 

I remember the early days of gaming, where Nintendo Entertainment Systems and home computers were at the cutting edge. Especially in PC games, there was in the late 80s and early 90s an explosion of creativity. Companies like Sierra On-Line were made up of hungry young developers with new ideas who weren’t afraid to take chances even if it meant a game that wouldn’t sell all that well.

 

I believe that a lot of it is due to the fact that video games are now a bona fide billion-dollar industry. Producing a game nowadays is a massive investment of time, money and manpower. Companies producing the games need to make sure they make a profit on their investment and therefore they stick to safe formulas and concentrate on who will have the better graphics. There is not much innovation. You need a team of specialized programmers, artists, animators, video producers and actors to make a game. Back in the day, two or three guys working in a basement space could come up with a fun game out of pure passion. Where is the modern-day Al Lowe? (If you don’t know who that is, I rest my case).

 

I think video games are evolving as movies did and keep doing. Perhaps, as in movies, it all goes in cycles: formula films of the 50s gave way to a cinema Renaissance in the 60s and 70s as the studio system collapsed and young independent filmmakers and entrepreneurs exploded on the scene with boundless energy and creativity, only to cycle back to formula movies for most of the 80s and early 90s until the new rise of independent cinema spearheaded by Tarantino.

 

Perhaps video games will go through the same cycles. Perhaps there will be a movement of young, hungry, furiously creative video game makers in the next few years. One can only hope, loyal reader…

 

May The Fog Be With You

Top of the evening to you, loyal reader! I hope you had a pleasant day and I’m glad to see you again.

 

Tonight’s weather here in St. John’s is rather typical of Newfoundland: it’s rainy, drizzly and foggy. Now, the rain and drizzle I could do without, but fog is one of my favourite Newfoundland phenomena. It has delighted and fascinated me ever since my first visit over 10 years ago.

 

You see, back in my native province of Quebec, what we call fog would here be called mist. It’s relatively light, little droplets of waters in the air, and usually rises off of rivers when the temperature is right. Here in town, particularly in my downtown neighbourhood, fog rolls off the Atlantic in thick, dense strands that snake through the streets and hills of the oldest city in North America. It often forms the most spellbinding tableaus, such as when it covers nothing but the top of Signal Hill, shrouding Cabot Tower like something out of The Lord of the Rings. It’s also very impressive to see it appear at the top of the mountains that protect the harbour and roll down towards the city. It’s often very, very thick. I remember waking up one morning back in my old York street apartment to find fog so thick, I couldn’t even see the houses on the other side of my one-way street!

 

Fog makes everything look like an old-fashioned movie set. It makes streetlights take on an eerie glow and turns houses and buildings into ghostly apparitions. It stirs my romantic soul and sometimes makes me melancholic, like a lone figure walking the Earth. But it definitely feels special and I can’t help but feel blessed whenever the Newfoundland fog surrounds me.

 

I know a lot of you who grew up on the Rock, have learned to hate the fog, but I hope you will understand my fascination with it. And I also hope I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, loyal reader, ready to start the weekend off with a new blog post. On what topic? I haven’t the foggiest idea…