I like this song...

Michael McDonald - I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)

Quite a revelation from my last SingStar acquisition: SingStar Legends. The song might be 27 years old, I think it's brilliant.

Playtest time.................NOT!

This week was going to be awesome. Both Ubisoft and Electronic Arts contacted me to go try out some new game they were working on. Playtesting is pretty cool, you get to give feedback on games nobody else played yet. Gives you the impression you can help the game suck less, you know? Plus, they give you a free game for all your “hard” work.

Well, it didn’t quite work out the way I thought it would. It started with a call from Ubisoft. They had to ask me a few questions to see if corresponded to their target group. The conversation went along these lines:

Ubisoft guy – I’m going to name you a few games, tell me if you played them.

Me – Alright.

Ubisoft guy – Prince of Persia?

Me – Yup.

Ubisoft guy – Splinter’s Cell?

Me – Yeah.

Ubisoft guy – God of War?

Me – Oh yeah.

Ubisoft guy – Tomb Raider?

Me – No...uhhh...well, like just the older ones, PS1 era.

Ubisoft guy – Uncharted?

Me – Nope.

Ubisoft guy – Assassin’s Creed?

Me – Yeah.

Ubisoft guy – Um, you played Assassin’s Creed for how much time?

Me – Well, I beat it pretty quickly, so about 20-22 hours.

Ubisoft guy – Oh. You beat it. Okay. Well, that focus group is already full, so...tell you what, we’ll put you on top of the list for next time, alright?

Me – Yeah, no problem, bye.


And so the first deception was over, but I said to myself “hey, at least you have another playtest with EA tomorrow, right?” Right... So the next day, I go to the place, had to get there early to get my monthly pass for public transportation. As I came up to the lady to buy my pass, she looks up to me, as I ask for a specific one. Then she kinda started yelling at me for some reason. I didn’t really understand what she was saying, because she had this huge accent. I ended up showing her some ID. That seemed to calm her a little bit. I ended up buying the damn thing, finally.

On my way to the building, I passed by a few stores, and since I was early, decided to check out some of them. SingStar bundles are 30 bucks at La Source, might have to get one of those, as one of my microphones is dead (yeah, I sing a lot, got a problem with that?). Checked GameBuzz, saw used copies of Bust a Move 2, Bust a Move 4, Resident Evil 2 and a few others priced between 200 and 300 bucks each. Ridiculous. I took a mental note to never buy games there.

Arriving at EA’s suite, I took a seat, waiting for them to come and take me to the testing room. Well that never happened. A guy came up, told the secretary they had some computer problems and to refuse people who came for the focus group. Great, they were supposed to give us pizza. There goes my dinner! I went back home talking to this other guy about how lame the situation was. We were told we’d be called first for the next playtest though. Like that compensates for getting us to travel all the way there.

DENIED. Twice. Dammit.

Party time!

Yo, danced and got drunk.

Pizza experiment

This is probably the site that inspired me to try this experiment. I wanted to mix two foods I enjoy eating. One of them is pizza, which I didn't bother making it, since I had a frozen one I could use. So I started by ripping all the healthy ingredients off the pizza. Then, I decided to cook my second ingredient, Pogos (corn-dogs, you silly Americans). But I only half-cooked then, since I wanted to put then on the pizza while it was cooking, so they both could integrated each other's flavor.

I started cutting slices of Pogos and put then on the pizza, then put the whole thing in the oven for a while.

This is the result.

This is the result, half-eaten.

I couldn't even eat everything and didn't feel very well after having done so. It was tasty though, you just can't eat tons of it. I give this experiment 3.5 out of 5. I still prefer eating both separately.

Chocolate madness

Chocolate. Who doesn’t like chocolate? I like chocolate. I enjoy all kinds of chocolate. Dark chocolate is my favourite, it’s like classy chocolate. Well, unless it’s extremely pure...ever tried 99% pure dark chocolate? If you did, you’ll agree with me that it’s disgusting. The packaging even tells you to eat it with something else, like tea or coffee. I only like chocolate with milk, or maybe fruits, which might be why I like chocolate fondue.

Milk chocolate is so overrated. The sad thing is most people refer to milk chocolate when they talk about “chocolate”. I consider it cheap chocolate, the one you always get for Christmas or Easter, and you get tons of it, it’s not even a treat anymore.

White chocolate is the unsung hero of the chocolate family. It has lost popularity in recent years. I remember getting some when I was really young, and it was always the special chocolate, the one you wouldn’t eat too much because it was so rich, also because you only had a few of them, next to the huge pile of milk chocolate.

[random food]-flavored chocolate is overdoing it. You know those chocolate oranges you have to hit on something before eating them? Yeah, that’s not so good. I’ve had raspberry-flavored chocolate too. The concept it good, because chocolate is usually good with fruits, but the flavors mix up too quickly, and it ends up ruining everything. I don’t recommend it.

Kinder Surprise. Admit it, it’s awesome. I think I asked for one every time I went shopping with my parents, as a kid. This one isn’t so much about the chocolate though; you get a free toy inside! Oh my god! Although Kinder chocolate is still milk chocolate, I have to say it’s really tasty. As I grow older, the toys also get lamer, but you can’t beat the nostalgic aspect of this one.

Oh, I almost forgot about chocolate covered food! For example, when you get an ice cream and decide to treat yourself with something special? Yeah, dip it into the liquid chocolate and you have upgraded your ice cream from good to great. Also, the chocolate-covered cherries they give at Pacini with your bill? Genius. That’s a tip booster right there.

On a side note: PK, chocolate eggs are okay, but as long as the eggs are made out of chocolate. If that’s real egg covered in chocolate, that’s just gross, dammit!

(The picture if from a chocolate hotel room where everything is made out of chocolate. Godiva and The Bryant Park Hotel in New York teamed up for this. Madness.)

Exploring foreign sounds

Voler de ses propres ailes

I’ve been a college student for almost 2 years now. Having to travel a few hours just to get there makes one wonder: is the comfort of your parents’ home worth all the trouble? Of course, some might say it’s just a bad moment you have to endure, but then again, aren’t college years supposed to be one of the best parts of life? I feel like I’ve been missing out because of the current situation. Example: I can’t hang out until 4 in the morning because public transportation ceases all activity after 11:30pm. Sure, Kevin will offer me his couch once in a while, but I can’t always rely on that.

So I’ve been thinking of moving out for a while now. Just the thought of not spending 3 hours a day in the bus/metro gives me the impression I’ll have so much more time on my hands that I won't even know what to do with it. Yet the parents don’t seem to think it’s that simple. It’s kind of ironic though; after getting yelled at for years, threatened to be kicked out if I didn’t help out around the house enough, suddenly, when I became serious about the idea of moving out, they confronted my ideal with everything they got. Their arguments ranged from the economic situation of our country to my tendency to procrastinate. I don’t blame them; I can understand being worried about someone who has never had to deal with complete autonomy, but god dammit, I wouldn’t be the first idiot to dive into unknown responsibilities.

Anyway, I think my parents just don’t want to be responsible if I fuck up and can’t pay the rent. They seem pretty confident that I can’t make it on my own. I guess I’ll have to prove myself. We’ll see.

In other news, I just finished Tales of the Abyss. That took a while!