Christmas in Canada

Merry Christmas everyone!

I mean, for a few more minutes. It's pretty much over at this point, but whatever. Happy New Year! Yeah, that works.

Anyhow, this is just an update about what I'm doing this Christmas. The past two years I've gotten to go on fantastic trips around the world to visit friends and family (and family of friends), but this year, I wanted to do Christmas at home, with my family. So, I'm back in Canada. Well, I've been in Canada for a couple of weeks and I'm actually about to leave again, but the point remains that I wanted to have Christmas at home with my family, which I have now successfully done.

Yes, rather than trot around the globe this year, I figured that I'd save some money and visit my family in Canada, and then my family in Indiana (which is next on the agenda). I haven't seen the Indiana folks in quite a while, so it seemed like now would be the perfect time for a visit.

I hope that next year I might be able to go on a short little trip to somewhere exciting and foreign, but for this year, it was nice to come back to the -30 degree Celsius temperatures and snow of my hometown, as well as to hang out with my entire family, some of whom I hadn't seen in a couple of years. Siblings need to visit more than that.

So, this Christmas has been good so far and I look forward to the rest of my break. Maybe I'll actually get around to posting another story in the new year before the break ends... but don't get your hopes up.

Merry Christmas!

Space Debris: A Look at Gravity and Planetes

Alright, let me just get this out of the way, first off: Gravity is really, really good, and you should all go watch it. Right now, if possible. I don't usually recommend this, but if you can watch it in IMAX 3D, do it. The 3D is totally worth it, and I really wish that I could have seen it in IMAX. The screen at the theater where I watched it wasn't nearly large enough. Trust me, it will help with immersion, not distract you from the movie. As a side note, the final shot in the movie is one of my favourite shots of all time. Just the cinematography behind it, it's so packed with meaning and purpose... the way the camera is placed, the direction that it's facing; it was clearly well thought out, and I truly appreciated it.

Moving on, let's talk about the plot of Gravity (without any spoilers or anything). The entire time that I was watching the movie, I couldn't help but be reminded of an anime that I watched freshman year: Planetes. Also 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I haven't actually watched that movie so I feel like I shouldn't make that comparison. Nevertheless, it's a movie that uses its space setting to explore the human condition, so I feel like that counts for something.

Grace Hopper Celebration 2013: It's For Men Too

So, this past weekend I was up in Minneapolis, MN attending my very first professional conference: The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2013. Yes, yes, I know I'm not a woman. It's the celebration of women in computing, not for women in computing. It's totally ok for men to attend.

Nevertheless, I was definitely in the minority. Being a tall, blond haired, blue eyed, Caucasian male made me stand out from the crowd, that's for sure. And you know what? That's not a bad thing. It made me memorable to everyone else attending. I met several people over the course of the conference that recognized me later and came over to say hello, which was very nice because I didn't know anyone there. I came up from school by myself to present at the poster session as part of a group that had never met before, so I felt a little lonely. Not knowing anyone in a crowd of 4,807 can kind of get you down. So whenever someone that I had met previously saw me again and said hi, it picked my spirits up.

5 Dragons Again

So, this past weekend there was another showing of The 5 Dragon Daughter, that amazing stage show that I first saw almost two years ago now. I just figured that I'd take this opportunity to remind people of its existence, and reiterate how amazing it is. Because, even after experiencing it a second time, it is still the best piece of media that I have ever seen. I say "piece of media" because it isn't a play, it isn't a concert, and it isn't a motion comic, but it does combine elements from all of these forms of media to create something amazing. Check out a trailer here.

I don't really have all that much to add to my previous write-up, except for the fact that it stands the test of time. There is definite re-watch value here. If they're showing it again in the spring, I'd go then too.

World of Girls und Panzer

So this isn't exactly breaking news any more, but it's still recent. Wargaming.net, the company behind the free-to-play pc game World of Tanks just announced that it will be launching in Japan this fall on September 5th. In order to help make the launch successful, they will be doing a collaboration with the recent anime Girls und Panzer. The details of the collaboration have not yet been announced.

Let me start off by saying... You have no idea how excited I am! I watched the Girls und Panzer anime back in the spring, and it was amazing! Actually, that show is the reason that I started to play World of Tanks. I was watching one of my friends play the game, and it looked like a lot of fun. Then he said "It's basically Girls und Panzer the game," and I knew I had to try it. I just have my four year old laptop, so I tend not to play pc games because it usually starts crying when I try to run them (i.e. over half of the time I played Batman: Arkham Asylum it was running at about 5 frames per second). But this game looked worth the risk, and it was free, so I figured, why not?