It’s been quite a while since I wrote up a parody, but this one was stuck in my brain and refused to vacate the premises until I actually put it to paper. Or to a word processor file, at any rate. It’s a song about the final raid instance of World of Warcraft, so, yeah — might not make a lot of sense to many of you, but it’s still fun.

Party in the ICC
(parody of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA")
By Matt Plotecher

I hopped off my mount in Icecrown's map
Stoked! Close to an aneurysm
Welcome to the land of level cap, (boo)
until "Cataclysm"

Just to be honest,
My last raid was Molten Core
Look to my right and I see Jania Proudmoore
This is all so crazy
Gear is all over 270!

My tummy's turnin' cause all the Scourge kinda smell sick
Too much pressure but I right-click
That's when the Vento chat turned on in my headphones
And the leader called our spots
And we skipped the story plots
And the leader said "More dots!"

So I get my buffs up
They're calling out "tank"
And the thunderclaps are set free
Tauntin' the shades like yeah
Pullin' the wraiths like yeah,
And I got my threat up,
They're focused on moi
The restro shaman's healin' me
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC

Get to The Spire as DPS
Everybody's lookin' at me now
Like "Who's that bro, that's drawin' aggo?
He'll get killed like a Goldshire cow."

So hard with my guild not around me
It's definitely not a Outland party
Cause' all ore drops are saronite
What happened to adamantite?

Bone Storm is spinnin' and I'm bleedin' from that Coldflame
If we wipe now it'll be a shame
That's when Marrowgar dropped 2 Emblems of Frost
Now it's time for Deathwhisper
Then a Gunship Battle tour
Finishing with Deathbringer!

So I get Thottbot up
I'm searching my class
Also hittin' up WoWWiki
Readin' 'bout Rotface, yeah
Checkin' Festergut, yeah
And I got add-ons up
With my cooldown times
Tracking my threat will be easy
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC

Feel like hoppin' in a PuG (like a thug)
Gather lots of loot to lug (bags are snug)
Something tells me it's worthwhile (in style)
As long as we don't get all wiped by Defile!

So I put my heals up
All on Dreamwalker
Here comes a Blistering Zombie
Floatin' through orbs like yeah (Emerald Vigor!)
Stackin' buffs up like yeah (Healin'!)
Now Sindragosa's up
Battle for survival
Damn Blistering Cold, time to flee (that damn icy grip)
Yeah (brr cold), it's a party in the ICC (ouch)
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC

And now there's the Lich King
Just chilling in his throne
But then summons Horrors with glee (and Drudge Ghouls)
Quakin' the floor like yeah (collasping the floor, yeah)
Plaguin' the raid like yeah (stacking us up like yeah)
And I got those DOTs on
of Plague and Infest
I hope we reach Phase 4 quickly (Where the hell is Terenas?)
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC
Yeah, it's a party in the ICC (Party in the ICC!)

So the whole Tiger Woods infidelty is ancient news by now, and I realize that there have been plenty of “Tiger Woods endorses condoms” parody ads on the web for a while, but after a discussion with the guys at work today, we came up with a few slogans that I liked too much to not do anything with. Hence, I whipped up some quick and simple ads for Trojan brand condoms featuring Tiger Woods. I know, highly original, right?

So, some of you may remember my reaction to an online game that was going by the name of Empire Craft. Well, I had meaning to try a somewhat dramatic reading of that “intro” blurb that they had on their site for a while (looks like it’s down by now). A quick reading followed by some classic background music, and taa-da!

Nothing like some half-and-half in the morning....

Took the above photo this morning at the train station. You have to imagine, too, that this was honestly a sky that was split in half: everything on the right was overcast, while everything on the left was clear. It was like the whole sky was overcast until someone just ripped half of the cloud cover away, like “Heck, it’s a lovely day, let’s open the shades, eh?

Friendly political discourse

I have to admit, this one actually made me laugh.

Something to keep in mind, ladies, the next time you're out at a bar.

I wonder if Ben Roethlisberger could use this as part of his next night out on the town?

For those not aware, this is Diesel’s (a trendy clothing maker) latest ad campaign. I can’t say that I think it’s all that great of one, personally. True, I’m not probably not the market share this is aimed out, but ye gads, are they really trying to encourage people to be stupid? If so, how about some more straightforward ads like, “Be Stupid. Buy Our Stuff,” “Only The Most Idiotic Morons Would Spend Money Here,” or even “You Braindead, Mindless, Dolts! Get Away From Us!”

Then again, maybe they are trying to turn “stupid” into a compliment. But if so, they’re about a decade behind the times: back when she had a show on ABC, Ellen DeGeneres covered that in an episode. Sorry, Diesel, but you’re not worthy of being called “stoopid.” But keep on tryin’, ace!

Just a typical day at Penn Station

Ah, the joy of commuting….

Stylish display stand, eh?

So, who exactly loses a shoe in the subway and doesn’t realize it?

Actually, I like to pretend this was some MFA Grad Student’s thesis project; cryptic, unintuitive, and vague enough that they can BS about it for the entire thesis year.

(Why, yes, I am a MFA Grad; why do you ask?)

Mind the gap

As someone who was hit by a car, I admit this thing always makes me wince.

Gaze into my eyes, helmet....

This is not my photo, but I love it because it looks like Mike Holmgren is hypnotizing the Browns Helmet. “You will install components of the West Coast Offense….”

First off, the link for my “officially completed” UT3 level:

Engine Room

This was a bit of a relief in that I was finally able to wrap things up. As I mentioned in my previous post, being able to test on a separate machine was, indeed, very handy. And, it’s also one of the biggest pains as a game developer — getting playtesters and ways to beta test your work. In this case, not having a separate computer to test on really slowed me down. Consider: if I was not able to test the game at work, I would have had to wait for either someone from the forums to download and test, or one of my friends. in both cases, that could take weeks, if it happens at all. Being able to “cook” the map last night and upload it to the file site, then come in this morning and really quick test it on my work machine was sooooo much better.

This has also been hanging around my “To Do” list since the summer; I last really worked on it during October of last year. Boy, that feels good to strike it down! Smote the sucker! Boom!

Anyway.

I have ideas for a couple of other maps, but I think I might hold off starting anything until I wrap up a number of other creative projects that are floating around; like, for example, the Madness board game. There’s another thing that needs playtesters to fully complete, and hence, that’s why it’s be so friggin’ slow at moving forward.

Much like the ancient Romans, Target employees who fall asleep while on their shift are beaten to death with carts by their coworkers.

It’s a good sign that I am ever more mindful of my cash flow when I’m actually following up on returning items that don’t work.

Earlier today, I had picked up a universal remote from Target to replace the one that had succumbed to the deadly battery acid corrosion disease. I selected a Sony brand one, as given that I had a Sony brand VCR/DVD combo, I figured that it would most likely have the needed code to operate the component.

I am but a naive babe in the woods.

After getting it home and spending about 90 minutes trying all of the code combinations in the book (I had a bad feeling when I realized that while their were codes for DVD players and VCR players, no codes were listed for VCR/DVD combos), scouring the Internet for any types of leads I could find, and finally calling the support line for Sony — which first told me to call another number, then hung up — I find reached the bummer conclusion that indeed, the remote would not work with my VCR/DVD player. Oh sure, it could turn on my PlayStation2, but apparently the VCR/DVD combo players are the shunned crossbreeds that no respectable Sony remote will touch with a 10-foot infrared beam.

So, for one of the few times in my life, I returned it to Target to get my $15.50 back. In the past, I would have probably just written off the loss as a learning experience, but hey, I’m a bit more economically-minded these days. And this is a good thing, really; I hope that I maintain such tightwad–er, pragmatic sensibilites going forward.

Besides, the money I recouped will just be going to getting a replacement remote direct from Sony online.

What sucks about all of this is that the combo player works fine. It’s just that about 9/10 of the functions are tied into the remote. And I never liked that, for expressly this reason.

When are we going to just all be cyborgs and not have to worry about losing remotes? Not soon enough, I say!

A lot to post about today, but let’s start with a series of photos I snapped with my Blackberry over the past week or so:

A plant grows in Brooklyn... actually, a Manhattan subway ticket office.

Do you recognize the assilant that ran over your grandma?

The bathroom door this sink was in was off its hinges and resting against the wall of the bar. I have to wonder about the story behind it all....

So I have returned from Wisconsin — the flight and train ride back was smooth enough, and I was delighted to return to find that my apartment had not caught fire, nor was burglarized. I spent a few hours unpacking, running some errands and taking care of some rather important things (call you say “Unemployment Benefits,” kids? Ah, I thought you could), and now have to get to work on some various projects.

But, I thought I’d share this family photo that I took last night, just because I think this is the first full “family” photo that we’ve had taken in, well, ever, really.

(going clockwise from top left) Dad, me, Casey, RJ, Erinn, and Mom

For non-shutterbugs reading this blog, this was literally a last minute affair: my mom was not home until Sunday, and then we had to wait until late Sunday night after my sister’s birthday dinner and after my sister’s boyfriend and his kids had left. The good news (for my dad, especially) is that I managed to get it right on the first shot, which was as much of luck as skill, really.

For the shutterbugs, this was taken with a tripod at 800 ISO, 1/10 shutter speed, and 3.5 f-stop. Yes, this means that the impossible happened and my niece and nephew held still longer than 1/10 of a second. Keep in mind that there is no lighting set-up at work here aside from the regular lights of the house. What really helped was that I took the photo in RAW format, and was able to then make some important adjustments for the incandescent lighting. Then, in Photoshop, a little bit of tweaking with the Levels tool to bring out the darker areas, and Viola! A rather nice image all the way around, I think.

I also got some shots of RJ & Erinn, as well as my sister and I with the kids. But this one is sort of like getting a photo of Lorenzo Music; very rare.