:: Guy in a Suit Productions ::

Thursday, January 30, 2003

posted by Travis at 11:10 PM

I started playing The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind tonight. It looks like it will be a very good RPG. It plays almost like an online RPG, and it feels that big. So if you are the kind of player that likes to play MMORPGs (Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games - i.e. EverQuest, Dark Age of Camelot, Ultima Online, etc) and play solo, then Morrowind is for you. In short, the graphics are amazing. Next time I play, I'll get some screen grabs and post them. It is good stuff.

More importantly, I finished the first draft of my neverending script tonight. It comes in at just over 92 pages, although, if I were to guess, I'd say it will come out to around 110 finished. There is still a lot of work to do. I already know of several things that are going to get added and some things that are going to get changed. Anyway, I am hoping to push through the 2nd draft with a steady pace and start shopping it soon after that.

Wednesday, January 29, 2003

posted by Travis at 8:39 AM

Not much blogging of late, but Kim and I have been keeping busy. We've been looking at lots of pictures of beautiful women recently. We are going to try to launch a "girl gamer" kind of site and we wanted a host/mascot. Due to our success from our last post on Craig's List LA, we decided to post there again. At some point, Craig's List stopped accepting posts for non-paid work, so now we have to pay one of these women to be our girl. That is fine with me, although, it may cut down on the amount of time we spend with them. We have some big plans for the site, so I'll update you later with how it goes. Once we get the girl, we'll start taking pictures, try some video (this is a "safe for work" site by the way) and hopefully begin posting news and reviews. I'd like to have the whole thing done and ready to launch for E3. I would be willing to spend some money on T-shirts and stickers and that kind of swag to drum up some interest at E3. This could turn into something, more than likely it will just be fun.

Friday, January 24, 2003

posted by Travis at 4:18 PM

This is Super Bowl weekend. While I am not much of a sports person, I am a movie person, and the Super Bowl has, in the past few years, been when the summer movies show off their stuff. It seems that ever since the Independence Day commercial during the Super Bowl, it has become the thing to do. I remember seeing commercials for The Matrix, The Mummy, and Gladiator during Super Bowls. This one will be no different. I understand that there is a commercial for Hulk during the first quarter, some Matrix Reloaded ads in there, and a post-game Matrix ad of some kind. I've read about the Hulk ad, and he is apparently revealed quite a bit. I look forward to it, and I care not who wins the football game, despite the fact that I won the fantasy football league this year.

Thursday, January 23, 2003

posted by Travis at 10:10 AM

I read here that there is a Metroid movie in the works. For those of you not "in the know" Metroid was an action/adventure game that came out on the 8 bit NES in the 80s. It has been through a few iterations on different Nintendo platforms, the most recent being Metroid Prime on Gamecube. Basically there are aliens called metroid that are dangerous and the female-bounty-hunter-in-a-full-suit-of-armor named Samus Aran has to destroy them all. This has been a very successful game franchise, but, in the wrong hands, it could be a disasterous movie. First of all, since Samus is alone in all the games, there is not a big opportunity for dialog. So, that means that they will team her up with some kind of young, hip, counter-culture character as a sidekick. This character will probably reside in the ship until the end of the 2nd act when he/she will be put in danger and Samus will have to rescue them as well as defeat the metroid. Comparisons to Aliens are inevitable; a strong, armed, female character fighting aliens in space. I fear that they may suffer from the Spider-Man casting syndrome for this ("What do you mean I have to wear a mask most of the time?") It is going to be hard to sell this movie to producers if they hire Jennifer Love Hewitt to play Samus Aran, but she has to wear unrevealing armor and a helmet most of the movie. Still...I'm always intrigued when a big videogame license gets picked up for film.

Tuesday, January 21, 2003

posted by Travis at 8:56 AM

I emailed the Stephen King website about the film rights to The Dark Tower series. Not that I thought they were available or anything, just idle curiousity. Here is the response I got:

Stephen has been approached numerous times about adapting The Dark Tower to film. At least at this point in time, however, he has no interest in doing so.

Marsha DeFilippo
Assistant to Stephen King

So I guess he still owns the rights to the series. I just don't want this to be turned into a TV mini-series. I want a film for each book, and I think they deserve it. One of my dream projects is to be involved with the adaptation of The Gunslinger to film. I guess I'll have to wait on that one.

Sunday, January 19, 2003

posted by Travis at 5:23 PM

Kim and I went to see Gangs of New York today. Here is my spoiler-free review. Also, I keep hearing about The Hours and Chicago. The ads for The Hours sound like this to me: "If you don't see The Hours right now, then the terrorists win." or "Go see The Hours today because it is the most important thing ever, and if you don't...we'll kill you." I get it...it is apparently very good. Now if only the TV would stop making me hate it, maybe I'd give it some of my time. Chicago is probably very good, too, but since I got burned by Moulin Rouge, I'm skeptical about a musical that everyone claims is the greatest piece of entertainment ever. I feel obligated to see them both, but I don't really want to see them. The advertising has done me in. I'll probably be killed in my sleep by the marketing team for The Hours for posting this.

posted by Travis at 2:10 AM

So, I was all prepared to call Dell Saturday morning and give someone the 'shout-at' for losing my computer, when we got a knock at the door at 10:30pm Friday night. The Fed-Ex guy is out there with a couple boxes for me.

Long story short and since it is way past bed time, check out this beautiful score:

More tomorrow...

Thursday, January 16, 2003

posted by Travis at 8:30 PM

I finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. It is completely different from the movie Bladerunner that is based on it, but still very good in its own right. I can't even imagine Harrison Ford as the Deckard from the book. I would like someone to make a movie based more on the book and see how it turns out. As always, the big issue of "is Deckard a replicant" is addressed in the book. Almost every character at some point is accused of being a replicant (actually the book never uses the term 'replicant' or 'bladerunner' for that matter). I know that Ridley Scott came out and said that Deckard was a replicant in the movie, but I have a hard time buying it regardless of the fact that he directed the film. In my mind, there is just not enough evidence that he is, and too much that he isn't. I guess I can attribute it to poor writing.

I've decided to start reading the Dune series next. I only own the first book, Dune, but if I like it I'll pick up the rest of them. Kim preordered Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix today. It comes out on June 21st. However, Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower V) is still tentatively slated for September 2003, although you can read the prologue here. Lucky for Stephen King that he is following it up with Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower VI) in November (tentative). The Dark Tower VII, aptly titled The Dark Tower is supposed to be out around March of 2004. That seems like a long time from now. I'll have to re-read them before Wolves comes out.

Dell still has not delivered my computer and, apparently, they are unable to find any "real" tracking numbers for it. It isn't even that I want to use it so badly, I just want it to arrive so I can stop worrying about it. ...And I want to use it.

Tuesday, January 14, 2003

posted by Travis at 6:23 PM

My new computer should be here this week. Once it gets here, I have a lot of work to do. I have to clean off all the garbage that Dell thinks I should have, I have to run 3D Mark 2001 SE and see how much faster it is than my current computer, I have to install my second hard drive, I have to install several games (Dungeon Siege, Ghost Recon, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Neverwinter Nights, Warcraft III, and the yet to be delivered Age of Mythology, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind) and play said games, and I have to install a lot of other software. Good thing this is a three-day weekend. Message to Dell - my computer HAD BETTER ARRIVE BEFORE THE END OF THE WEEK!

I've been playing Robotech: Battlecry on Xbox. It is a cel-shaded action game based on the anime series Robotech. I'm not a huge believer that cel-shading makes things look like cartoons, but it does have an original look. The game is very good, but very hard (i.e. not for the casual gamer). Definitely worth renting.

Kim and I recently picked up Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 1 and Signs on DVD. We watched some of the extras in Signs and the first episode of Buffy so far. I missed most of Buffy when it first came out so I'm going to buy the seasons as I watch them. It is a better show than I would have thought. We were not able to find The Shield: Season 1 because Best Buy was unable to find the 14 copies they had in stock. Also, Kim has talked me out of buying the $80 DVD set of Band of Brothers twice now, but I think I am wearing her down.

Saturday, January 11, 2003

posted by Travis at 10:50 PM

BIG update. I'll try to catch you up.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was very good, and Clooney seems like a cool guy. I am not a big fan of The Gong show, and I knew very little about Chuck Barris, but I still thought the movie was great. You should catch this when it gets to your town. Clooney appears to have a good eye for directing. There is a scene with a guy from the FCC that is absolutely fabulous. The big news of the night, however, was the announcement of an Industrial Light and Magic and Skywalker Sound tribute happening next month featuring George Lucas, Jim Cameron, and Dennis Muren. Yeah...I will be there.

If you are browsing through Blockbuster and you see these movies...

...and you think you may want to rent them...think again. I received a gift card to Blockbuster from my boss for Christmas, so I went to rent some movies yesterday. Kim wanted me to get Austin Powers in Goldmember. We have not seen it yet, and even though I carry a severe distaste for Austin Powers humor ever since everyone started doing imitations of him (much like my distaste for South Park), I was going to get it for her. Well, apparently Blockbuster, when given an option, will stock only the full frame version of a DVD. So I refused to rent it. The same goes for Insomnia. It was full frame only.

I knew that Ballistic: Ecks vs Sever would probably suck, but it has Ray Park (Darth Maul) in it, so I figured it would be good for some good fights. Well, it does suck, and Ray Park gets a very brief but decent fight in it. I have never been bored so much by an action movie.

Wendigo is a small movie we had heard some good things about. I was hoping it was some kind of werewolf/monster movie. It isn't...it sucks. I cannot recommend this to anyone.

Which brings me to Hellraiser: Hellseeker or Hellraiser VI. Now, we saw Hellraiser: Inferno (Hellraiser V), and it sucked. So we weren't expecting much from this one. It does feature the return of Ashley Laurence in the role of Kirsty Cotton from the very first Hellraiser. However, just like Inferno, it is another bad episode in the Hellraiser TV show, having nothing to do with the original story arc. What is even worse is...there is a Hellraiser: Deader (Hellraiser VII) due for 2004. Hey, Clive Barker! Get a handle on this thing! So we have suffered through three shitty movies in just two days.

I don't talk about games much on here, but I am going to recommend a demo for you strategy fans out there. If you are a fan of strategy games, download the demo for Medieval: Total War. I played Shogun: Total War when it first came out, and it was very good if flawed. Medieval looks to have fixed some of the problems with the original and improved the castle sieges significantly. Also, what other game can you have literally 10,000 guys on screen fighting? You can find the demo here. It is big. Here are some screens from the game.

Lastly, we are getting a new kitchen soon. That should be pretty cool.

Tuesday, January 07, 2003

posted by Travis at 10:05 AM

It has been kind of slow since we got back from Kentucky, thankfully. Tonight we are going to see Confessions of a Dangerous Mind at the Egyptian with a discussion following with director/actor George Clooney. I think Clooney sounds like a pretty cool guy in all the interviews I've read with him, so it could be interesting. Also, given the opportunity, I am going to ask him if he has a program for launching the careers of Kentucky natives. Clooney was born in Lexington and grew up in Kentucky, so maybe I can get a writing job or something. Yes, I realize how ridiculous that sounds.

It is very windy in Los Angeles of late. Pajaro has a better story about wind than I could tell, so read this.

My new computer should be arriving on Thursday. I'll probably spend some of the weekend installing my stuff on it and prepping the old one to be auctioned off. We are also trying to clean our guest room so we can move our exercise equipment down there. That is all for now.

Friday, January 03, 2003

posted by Travis at 3:34 PM

Bought a new computer today. I have been holding out for an Alienware and watching the prices, but it seems that Dell is having a post-Christmas sale or something because their prices are way down. Here is what I got:

Dell Dimension 8250
Processor: Pentium 4 2.4 GHz with 533 MHz FSB
RAM: 512 MB of PC 1066 RDRAM
Video: 128 MB DDR ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Hard Drive: 30 GB Ultra ATA/100 7200 rpm
NIC: Integrated Intel Pro 10/100 Ethernet
Sound: Creative Labs Soundblaster Live! 5.1
CD: 48x /24x/40x Max CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive
Speakers: Harman Kardon HK 395 with subwoofer

All of that plus software, floppy, modem, etc for about $1420 with tax and shipping. The Alienware I was going to get had a 550 watt power supply, the Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 Pro, and the Western Digital hard drive with the 8MB buffer. However it came up at around $2100. So, I couldn't turn this price down. I just recently bought a 60 GB Maxtor that, combined with the 30 GB the computer has, should suffice. I don't use a lot of space as it is. It should all get here sometime next week. Kim and I also upgraded our mouse situation. I bought a couple of Logitech MX 700's off Amazon. All of this just in time for Unreal II and Star Wars Galaxies.

Thursday, January 02, 2003

posted by Travis at 11:13 PM

Quentin has a new movie coming out this year. Here is the teaser and official site. View both.