Just like Gallagher

Went and saw this saturday night and lemme tell you, it was everything I expected it to be and more. This movie has feeling and it envokes you to care about stuff. Rambo III didn't really make me care about something, this one does.

Now that the mushy stuff is done, holy crap. He fishes with a freaking compound bow. He gives you the thousand yard stare if you try to agitate him. From the opening sequence of a mine blowing body parts everywhere (would have been awesome in 3-D) to the ending shots of them picking through the body parts, there is a lot of action and a lot of carnage. Not for the feint of heart or the usual movie critic. It's a blood and guts action movie, straight from the 80s. You love the good guys and you hate the bad guys. There is no redeeming quality at all about them, you just straight out hate the bad guys and you cheer when they die. It's awesome.

Things I wish would have happened -
I wish they would have played up his crafting the knife a bit more (hopefully in the extended edition).
I had hoped they would have shown more of the "give him to the pigs" action.
I had hoped that they would have blew up the stage area in the baddies camp.

Overall, I thought it was awesome and got me reinvigored to see the rest of the Rambos again. This might make my top 100, I'll have to re-evaluate it. If you are easily sickened by body parts/blood, etc don't go see the movie. It was a shame that it lost to a spoof the opening weekend.

I get goose bumps

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MsMoonlight

Marnie's FigurePrint came in yesterday. I must say, I think it's cool, but up close, I was disappointed with the grainyness of it. Her hair isn't completely black (it's dark grey and purple in spots). With all that aside, I think it still looks pretty cool.







And for reference (her figure print outfit is different)

Killing my neighbors...softly

So back when my sister, Heather and her family, visited in Arizona, they brought a playstation game with them. It was called Singstar (don't remember which version it was). I had a blast playing it, despite the fact that I'm a horrible singer.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. Marnie and I are in a Gamestop checking out the new stuff (we haven't bought a new game since WoW) and I noticed a Singstar game on the shelf. I convinced her that it was awesome, so we got it and a used microphone. The Gamestop staff wasn't very friendly and they weren't very convincing that the microphone would work. But alas, I have a compulsive personality so I had to have it. We took it home and it didn't work, so we returned the game and the microphone the next day. A couple days later we went to Toys R Us and was looking around there for what was new and hip. We checked out the video game section and lo and behold, there was a packaged Singstar game with two microphones. We couldn't buy it fast enough.

We took it home and played for multiple hours. There was one major issue though, it was Singstar 80s. Marnie crushed me. And it only got worse on Madonna songs. Luckily a day or two later we found the Singstar Pop version. Well, new game, same results. There are only two songs that she can't seem to beat me at and those are Tricky and I Write Sins, Not Tragedies. Everything else, I get slaughtered. Our House? Nope. How about Take on Me? Not a chance. We are still having fun with it. This just makes my hatred for REM grow.

Oh yea...that's the stuff

So I dragged my almost 30, overweight ass to the movie theatre at around 10pm last night because I thought that with all the hype there might be lines and the whole nine yards. I was the only one in that particular movie theatre screen room thing until about 20 minutes before the show started (11:59). It filled up pretty quickly, but wasn't completely full. I had the middle seat in the front row of the second tier (where the bars are to rest my feet).

The Star Trek Teaser was great. It didn't reveal any of the plot points, it showed some dudes building the enterprise. And it had a Leonard Nimoy voice over with a flash of the Starfleet symbol to cap it off. I was significantly teased.

As for the movie itself...I was very satisified with my experience. I had expectations going into it and those expectations were met. I didn't mind the motion blur or the camera angles. There were several times where I actually felt that I was there running with them. They did a great job of not running the monster out on the screen to start the movie. I think it was a brilliant job of releasing little bits here and there and then showing some great shots of it in the middle and last half of the movie.

The actors/actresses didn't ruin it. They didn't over or under act IMO. They felt like they had development and there was just enough comedy in it to get a laugh here and there, but it wasn't overly goofy. I think almost all of the "decisions" were real enough for me (in terms of deciding what to do in a panic situation, etc).

I think the thing that really put it over the top for me was the fact that they did a couple scenes that, before the scene concluded I thought to myself "it would be cool if they went this route, but of course they won't". Well they ended up going that route several times and I was pretty impressed. They pulled it off with class as well. The other great aspect about this movie is that the sound is just as important as the visuals. There were times where I could shut my eyes and listen to what was happening and still be able to picture what was going on. I think that is a great tool to use every once in awhile for a movie. Also, the overture at the end was pretty epic (done by Skywalker sound)

I don't have any beefs with this movie. I know that not everybody will like it, there were even some "geeks" that were there that seemed to scoff at it. It is pretty artistic, especially with the start of the movie and the end of it. I didn't leave feeling unsatisified with the ending.

Overall, this movie will make it into my top 100 and I will probably see it more than once this weekend (I feel there were a bunch of background things that I missed).

PS - in the First Look portion in the beginning (before the previews) they showed clips of the new Knight Rider. It too looks watchable.

Believe the Hype!

I am thoroughly engrossed in the hype for this movie. There is so much viral marketing for this movie right now, it's ridiculous. There was even a Rickroll'ed trailer for it.

I have heard everything from it's the Deep Ones from Lovecraft, to it's a reboot of an American Power Rangers, to it's Voltron.

I'm so excited for this movie that I'm going to see it tonite at midnight. Also check out 1-18-08. I don't think I could be disappointed at this point. I love apolocylptic movies and the only way that this could fail is if all the action is in the trailers, they never show the monster ever, and if it turns out that I was "jerry maguired".

Only 35 days...

until you know what happens.

Tom should get this.

Mag is coming for you!

This past Tuesday, Magtheridon's Lair released for the World of Warcraft TCG. Why is this significant? This was the first product that I was Lead Design on for the World of Warcraft TCG. It was fun to design, but stressful as well. Each Raid has a new game engine and it's a challenge to find the right balance between enough "newness" without too much of a departure from the regular game mechanics so that players can still learn/play it relatively easily.

There are some very cool card designs that I'm particularly proud of in this set. Fiery Pits deals 15 damage for just 2 cost, but the way that we could get away with that much damage for such a small cost was that the raiding players got to choose where the 15 damage went. They could spread it out amongst their heroes and allies. Giving players the choice of how they take the punishment is a common theme throughout the raid deck. This type of design usually doesn't work in a 1 on 1 match because there aren't that many decision points, but in multiplayer, it's interesting to see the raiding players work out what the best case is for the damage. Another card in that vein is Swath of Destruction. The boss player just wants to get an ally threat off the table. He doesn't care much about getting the bonus from the rest of the card, but the raiding players have to decide which player can afford to give up the correct resources without being hamstrung to much by the outcome.

Another thing that I'm proud of is the design/look of the channelers.
Summoner Channeler x2
Dark Mending Channeler
Shadow Channeler x2
If you notice, they don't have borders on some of the cards, that's because when you have all 5 out at the start of the game, they form -

I had this vision from the very start and I was glad that everyone could pull it off so well.
So that's it, I'm neck deep in Set 8 design, but it's nice to see something that I was lead on made it to print and it's good to see the reactions of players. Also, thanks again to those that helped me during design, you weren't forgotten (I suggest picking up a rulebook).

My Daily Comic Rotation

Being a creature of habit, I like to come into work early so that I can get my daily webcomic viewing out of the way and actually start my day. I do this so it doesn't distract me throughout the day. Yea, I'm working on my OCD tendencies a bit. Anyway, here is my rotation -

Questionable Content - This is about a bunch of 20somethings and their daily lives. It has some musical references that I don't get. They were touching on some emotional issues for awhile that I took an interest in. It is a pretty funny comic.

Penny Arcade - This is a pretty common webcomic among my age group. They have plenty of game references and are funny. They poke fun at the computer gaming industry a lot, especially when corporations make questionable decisions.

Least I Could Do - This comic can get lewd sometimes, but the main character is funny and sometimes I wish I could be as brash and uninhibited as he is. There is a lot of pop culture references, especially to 80s toys/cartoons. Sometimes reading this makes me feel like I was hanging out with the boys back in AZ.

PVP - This is about employees of a gaming magazine and their exploits. This is another one that is chocked full of pop culture references and jokes. It tends to go on long story arcs which can get boring sometimes.

Looking For Group - A Dungeons and Dragons/Roleplaying comic. This is the newest in my rotation. It has some good comedic relief coming from the warlock. It really makes me miss DnD'ing with the boys from AZ.

Dilbert - This is probably my only mainstream comic. I have worked in an office setting before (game company withstanding) and this continues to be fairly accurate as to how things go down.

Non Sequitur - This is a funny comic from the point of view of a young girl. She has adult thoughts about politics and mannerisms of adults often talking to her stuffed horse that she thinks comes alive. It's a nice dose of high-brow humor.

Sinfest - This is probably my 'guilty pleasure'. It has a lot of lewd humor and pokes fun at organized religion.

XKCD - I don't know how to explain this comic. It's tagline is "A webcomic about romance, sarcasm, math, and language." I don't think I could explain it further. I know a lot of people won't get the jokes/humor coming from this comic.

That's it. I've dabbled in other ones, but this is my daily rotation. They are all pretty funny to me and I enjoy them. Do you have one that you would like to suggest to me?

A couple of casting calls

In the news, two of the biggest movies that I'm looking forward to have made some more casting.

Joining Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow has also been cast for the new G.I.Joe movie. I have a good feeling about this movie, despite it being made more of an international flair (with GIJoe standing for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity).

Also, Tyler Perry has been cast in Star Trek as the superintendent of Starfleet Academy. This is a small role, but evidently it is a crucial role because Tyler will be speaking to Kirk about a cheating scandal. There was foreshadowing in The Wrath of Kahn about the incident. I still think Syler as Spock was the best choice so far.

And we're back

to the grindstone. Went into work today and found that all the cubicle moves had been done. It truly looks like a cubicle farm now in the main Entertainment area. Luckily we have our own room for WoW R/D. It's funny to hear some people express concerns because they lost space and yet they still have more space than we do for each of our desks.

My set is about halfway done in terms of raw completed design. I still have a lot of concepts up in the air though. Need to nail them down as soon as possible.

Petting the StingRay

at the Zoo

2007 Girard Year in Review

Well, it's at the end of 2007 and these are my collected thoughts on my experiences in the past year.

CAREER

Back when I got my first job, working at Wendy's back in Great Falls, Mt, I made myself a promise. I promised myself that I would make a certain amount of money at a job by the time I reached 30 years of age. I have reached that mark and there are no signs that I have leveled off. I was given my first lead. Magtheridon's Lair is set to release in a week. It is difficult to measure success in this industry. If your product sells out, it could mean it was popular. It could also mean that the print run was small or that there was an additional bonus included in the product and that's why it sold, not based on gameplay? Is the product considered a success at that point? I would think so. I am lucky to have my designs published, there are many designer who aren't as lucky.

I am also Lead Designing my first full set for the World of Warcraft TCG. It will be Set 8 (not yet named). It will be out Spring of 09. I promise that it will chocked full of goodness. No spoilers yet.

I am on a very good R/D team. I get along with everyone on the team and I think they are all excellent at what they do. I hope our product continues to flourish.

Family

Marnie and I are enjoying California. We are moving away from our crappy apartment complex at the end of January. We are moving into a house that was made into a duplex. We will be sharing a kitchen with the other tenants. They are dog lovers so we think it's going to be amazing living there. We are paying the exact same in rent, going down a bathroom and a bedroom, but we are gaining a front yard. We can let the dogs out without having to leash them. We haven't been to Disneyland yet, which I know is a shame. We have been to the beach several times though. Both Melli and Grizzli are doing great and are healthy.

Health

I had a brief stint in a behavioral health facility back in November. This was part of the reason why I haven't been updating my blog regularly. I had some mental issues that I needed taking care of. It has been a long and painful process but I am back on the right road. Getting in to see a shrink has been a pain in my ass. I am on some medication now to help with some old problems and some new ones. Things are going better. As for the weight thing, my new medication is supposed to give me more energy as well as help me to keep focused. I plan on re-embarking on this venture.

WoW

Earnheart has been moved to Icecrown and is helping Dungeon Crawl progress. I changed his name because the joke wasn't as funny as it used to be and this mofo is clearly a force to be reckoned with. I also have Kaniya, who used to be Callyleia, and is now going to be a pvp player. Marnie got her paladin, Addisyn, up to 70 and she went from 800 to over 1200 healing a couple of nights ago in Kara. We still have multiple 70s on the Alliance side of Icecrown as well. WoW is still fun and we haven't grown tired of it yet.

Not much else went on in 2007. Another year gone. None of my sports teams did particularly well. I don't think there was anything really defining about the year that would make it stand out from any other year.

Goals for 2008

Continue to grow as a Game Designer and be more confident in my ability to design. Not have a nervous breakdown when I turn 30 years old. Marnie and I are looking forward to celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary (we are talking about renewing our vows). Lose a ton of weight and meet my goal. Just basically keep on, keeping on.

Page 92

For those of you in the know, you know what is on page 92. This was a very fun weekend and the first time that I was able to meet these guys face to face (I know, how unfortunate for them).

It's a shame they weren't smiling as much on Sunday.

Captain's Log

So it's a couple days late, but here are my thoughts about Captain's Log. However, before I do this, I forgot to mention another important person that helped me out during that time. Justin Beal was an integral part of this time period in Trek and a good friend.

One of the big things that I loved to do to get inspiration was just watch episodes. Just random episodes, during work, at home, anytime I could. I would write down what I thought was a good scene to do a screen pull from and go back and get that as an image. This is some of my favorite images from Captain's Log (For Reference - see this link for all the cards.

A Pattern of Lies - Another great face to face shot from the Trek universe.
Chameloid Chicanery - that's how she got out of the shackles (this was more about the title I think).
Nose to Nose - YEA!!! another cool face to face shot and an homage to other dilemmas that were similar.
Warp-Speed Transfer - it's cool for what it is, but could have been much better if we could show Tucker between them.
Larson - You may think that this is just a relatively lame personnel shot, but you have no idea how many hours went into getting this screen capture and then having art clean it up the best they can. This guy was on screen for a split second and there was just a split second when he wasn't moving. There was a lot of effort put into this one shot.
Worf/Jadzia in Red - This was orginally supposed to be promo cards (not sure if they were the sales incentive or not). This was a great pairing of images and worked really well on cardboard as well. I hope to explore these image pairings more in my current job, i think they look really well and players/collectors are pleasantly surprised when they notice them.
Quark's Treasure - It is really hard to get an action shot with some blur in it. I think this was an exceptional pull and if I remember right, suggested this design back during Necessary Evil or maybe Strange New Worlds. It wasn't the right time for it, but with Quark being the captain, it seemed to fit better in this set.


And of course, images that I wish could have been better, but the Decipher art department did a great job cleaning up nonetheless.

Compassionate Interference - jeez, blurry and was pulled in too far.
Krayton - another horrible image, but this was zoomed in and unblurred as much as possible.


As for the design of the set, the players loved Captains and Ships, so it was easy to give players more of what they loved, including some that they thought they might never see (Enterprise-C). I'm going to be honest here in that I felt that I did a better job on the previous set than I did with Captain's Log.

Next time, I'll talk a bit about boutique sets that were done under my watch.

All Good Things...

must come to an end.

I'm not going to talk about why they did this or how long this has been coming because..well, I don't know. Outside of chatting it up with one of my BFF, I don't really know what's going on there anymore. They still owe me money, but it's been a couple years and I don't think they are going to make good on it.

What I will talk about is the game. During the Black Year (2005), I was left with the task of being Lead Designer for both of Decipher's flagship products, LOTR:TCG and StarTrek2E. I couldn't have done it without the help I received (especially from Plaine, Kirk, Keller). I remember when I was sitting down to continue to design To Boldly Go (it was already partially done). I was thinking to myself, "how was I going to be able to do this without the grandfathers of trek?" It was going to be difficult, especially since I wasn't as experienced as my predecessors. I mean c'mon, my first trek design was this stainer card and we all know how much play that saw. I think my favorite cards based on gameplay from To Boldly Go were -
Go Big or Go Home
I have a soft spot for mini games
They aren't that bad...no really, they aren't
How about my favorite cards from an art/thematic/Girard point -
I love it when the picture tells the story
prettyblatent although, I don't know why I penciled myself in as the dead guy.
homage to Corbin
Wife's maiden name
Mikey makes an appearance
Kicked in the Knee!!!
and the Shoehorn card of the set - Data Chip this was not my finest hour.

I will talk about other sets I was lucky enough to work on tomorrow.

MRIs suck

So I went and got an MRI yesterday. My shoulders were too wide for the regular donut, so they moved me to the open scanner. The problem was the open one took 45 minutes. The doctor strapped me in and we chatted about Williams AFB (he was there in the late 70s). He finished by putting a plastic grid over my face, kinda like a football helmet, only closer to my face. About 30 minutes in, he needed to inject me with something and couldn't find a vein. I could tell he used to be military medicine because he liked to dig around in the arm, rather than start somewhere fresh. After failing a couple times in my right arm, he moved to my left hand. Another 15 minutes and I was done. Those suck.

Hopefully I'll get my results in a week or two. They are checking to see if my low testosterone is something wrong with my pituitary gland, rather than the reproductive organs.

MNF - Girard vs. McGregor

Well, the Dolphins are playing against the Steelers. I don't even know what the spread is. I stopped watching football when I drafted Shawn Alexander and Travis Henry in my main fantasy league (thank goodness I have Romo in that league too). I do know that the Patriots are going off and somehow the rag-tag bunch of Packers are playing well. With all that being said, I'm watching tonite and rooting for the Dolphins to not go o'fer. I think they have a legit chance to win tonite.


And for those that went to Hometown Heroes in VA, yes, I will be clapping/cheering after every first down.

Things are better

for those of you that knew where I was, I am out and am better. Thank you for all of your thoughts. Things are better.

Eeyore knows whats up