JAREDRYANLEE.COM

Timelapse shot from my backyard of a thunderstorm dwindling and moving northeast.

Remains of Thunder from Jared Lee on Vimeo.

So I’m pretty sure my last few entries have begun with “Sorry I haven’t updated in so long” so I’ll just skip that part and assume it’s understood. To be honest, nothing has really happened aside from work.

As I type this just before bed, my wife is on the other side of the planet in India, probably about to have lunch. She’s halfway through a two week mission trip where she and several others are putting on an academy for some grade school teachers there. She’s having a blast; making new friends, seeing the Taj Mahal, riding camels, and having fish nibble dead skin off of her feet. Oh, and there’s that really awesome part where she gets to share the gospel with the people of India. I’m so proud of her.

This is by far the longest we have been apart since we started dating, but we are holding up. Thank you Skype and webcams.

While I was definitely not looking forward to being apart from her for two weeks, I was looking forward to some good bachelor time, and I have not disappointed myself. It’s been a full week of video games, board games, fast food, homies, and several excruciatingly hilarious episodes of Wipeout. I do need her to come back soon though. I keep oversleeping and need someone here to kick me to let me know that my alarm is going off.

I took both of these from my backyard on Saturday and Sunday. The first is just some clouds moving across the sky and the second is a thunderstorm building to the west.

I thought I’d try my hand at making a time lapse video, so here we go.  This is Toby and I hanging out at my house (Ariel is in India for two weeks) Friday night, watching the Rangers game for a couple of hours (there’s a spot where no one is there when we went for ice cream and then Tanner and Krissy came over at the end).  For the technical details, read my photography blog. Be sure to watch it in HD. I put it in 720p.

I’ve started a separate blog about photography.

Check it out at:

http://photo.jaredryanlee.com

My house is currently a wreck.  Among the numerous Christmas decorations, are an expensive cardioid microphone, an 8 channel mixer (neither of which is mine), numerous cables, guitars, amps, effects pedals, etc.  Why is all this here?  My wife and I have been asked to record an album to give to my family for Christmas.  We were going to do it last year, but for whatever reason, we didn’t.  We’ve laid down three tracks so far, and it’s been a blast.  We’ve chosen a pretty awesome set list:

Come Thou Fount
Window -  Damien Jurado
Yankee Bayonet and Shankhill Butchers – The Decemberists
Killing the Blues – John Prine
In Spite of Ourselves – John Prine
When the Stars Go Blue – Ryan Adams
Casimir Pulaski Day – Sufjan Stevens
Moonshiner – Uncle Tupelo
To Make You Feel My Love – Bob Dylan

Yeah, I know.  They’re all over the place.  The only theme holding them together is they are mostly duets (with the exception of Moonshiner).

The Christmas season is upon us, which means my favorite time of year is here.  Work is slow.  Lights are up.  It’s cold.  And presents are coming.  Christmas takes me back to my childhood.  I used to lay awake at night, wondering what wondrous gifts I’d be receiving.  Not a lot has changed, aside from the fact that I now realize why we have this wondrous holiday and I try not to let the presents overshadow that.

If you haven’t in a while.  Check out my photostream at Flickr.  I’ve been doing a little urban exploration.  Let me know what you think.

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post.

I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas.  God bless.

After playing a couple of weeks ago at the Nat (see the video below) I got an itch.  I’ve been playing guitar for 15 years, but can I rock out like Cousin Chris?  Not even close.  I decided it was high time that I start getting serious about learning to play lead.  So what did I do?  I went and bought these:

That, my friends, is a Fender ’72 Thinline Telecaster Reissue and a Fender Blues Junior Tube Amp. My poor wife has been having to endure me learning the opening licks to Ryan Adams’ “Cold Roses.” Unfortunately, my tiny pinky finger doesn’t like to cooperate…but it will come in time.

I would be remiss if I didn’t give credit where it’s due.  The reason I was able to rock out a few weeks ago was because of the backing band.  All of their last names are Smeaton so I’ll just give their first names.  Cousin Chris on guitar, Cousin Mike on Bass (he’s 15 and 100 times the guitar player I am), Cousin Jake on the bongos, Bro-In-Law Ben, the drum prodigy, and last but not least, Bro-In-Law Sam on Tambourine, backing vocals, and general bouncing aroundedness.  Thank you guys, for making me look good.

In other news, I, like everyone else I know, haven’t slept in a week and a half since the Olympics started. If you have any doubt as to my addiction to the Olympics, know this: I watched an entire Badminton match the other day…and loved it.

For this Weekly Nerdery, we’re going to delve into the world of nerdy videogames. I’m not talking about the more generally accepted games such as Halo and Call of Duty. I’m talking about more obscure games that are often complicated and not appealing to your average “I wanna blow stuff up” gamer. Now don’t get me wrong, I love blowing crap up just as much as the next guy and love getting online and talking trash to 13-year-olds, but occasionally, I want something a little more involved…something to make me think. Most of these games are overwhelming at first, but after spending a little time with them, you’ll get the hang of it. So here, in no particular order, are my picks for nerdy videogames.

• Galactic Civilizations II (PC) – Galactic Civilizations (or GalCiv as it’s referred to by nerds) is a turn-based strategy game. The short description is that players pick a race, then conquer the galaxy. The longer description is players pick a race and attempt to conquer the galaxy by force, subterfuge, diplomacy, or by converting everyone to their culture. There is a lot to keep track of, including taxes, production, industry, your people’s happiness, and of course, your supply of money. A little humor here and there makes the game very enjoyable.

• Sins of a Solar Empire (PC) – Sins of a Solar Empire is a lot like GalCiv (it’s published by the same company) with one catch. Instead of it being turn-based, it’s in real-time. Luckily, the game is perfectly paced, allowing you to build up a little bit before you’re having to defend yourself from your enemies. It’s not a complicated as GalCiv and I think is much more fun. The gorgeous graphics help a lot too. The most incredible aspect of Sins is the scale. You can zoom in on the tiniest ship and then zoom out and view the entire galaxy. Observe:

• Chessmaster (multiple platforms) – Now I wouldn’t say chess itself is nerdy. It’s an ancient game that most people at least are familiar with and have played a few times. The nerdiness of Chessmaster isn’t the chess, it’s the chess courses. You can spend many many hours going through the individual lessons, covering the very basic concepts (which piece can move where), the intermediate concepts (forks, discoveries, pawn structure), to the advance concepts (openings, end-game strategy, studying historical games). A few of the courses are taught by Josh Waitzkin who was the subject of the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer.” If you like chess at all and want to realize just how much you suck at it, get Chessmaster.

• Dwarf Fortress – Now we come to the ultimate nerdy game. Dwarf Fortress. I could do an entire series of posts on the intricacies of Dwarf Fortress (which now that I think about it, I may, so you have that to look forward to) but for now I’ll stick to the very basics and try not to gush like a fanboy. Dwarf Fortress is the work of one man, Tarn Adams, a former Texas A&M professor of mathematics, so you can see right away that it’s probably full of nerdery. The object of the game is to take your initial group of seven dwarfs, build a fortress, and survive. Sounds easy right? Well, I forgot to mention the motto of the game: Losing is Fun. And it is. In fact, it can be downright hilarious. Dwarf Fortress can be compared (with a very long stretch) to the Sims…if The Sims were full of moody, alcoholic dwarfs who fall victim to horrifying tragedy, become possessed and craft bizarre items, and go insane when their cat dies. To truly understand the things that Dwarf Fortress is capable of, you must read (or at least skim through) the Saga of Boatmurdered. There are a few things that keeps people from getting into the game, but which can be overcome by mods or going through a tutorial or two:

1. The graphics are entirely in ASCII. Luckily, there are graphical upgrades available that bring the graphics up to a Super Nintendo level.
2. It’s controlled entirely with the keyboard which can take some getting used to.

Thankfully, there are a ton of online resources to help you get started. I’ve included a pile of links at the bottom. Far and away though, the best thing about Dwarf Fortress is the fact that it is entirely free.

I hope I’ve turned some of you on to a new game or two. Maybe it’s time to stop cursing at pubescent teens, put down the controller, and do a little thinking.

Pile ‘O’ Links

Galactic Civilizations
Sins of a Solar Empire
Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress Wiki
I use this graphic upgrade for DF
The Saga of Boatmurdered

I saw a bumper sticker today (and I’m sorry for not snapping a pic) that read:

Cthulu for President
Why vote for the lesser of two evils?

If you’re not a nerd, you won’t get it.

Maybe this will help.

New Weekly Nerdery should be going up tonight or tomorrow.

If you haven’t seen the Dark Knight yet, then you are a moron.  That’s pretty much my review right there.  Go see it and try not to crap your leg from the all of the awesomeness that pours forth from the screen.  If you know me, you know I’m not one for hyperbole ::cough cough:: so you know my thoughts are sincere.  After the movie, I got to thinking, who will they use for the next villain?  The director, Christopher Nolan, has said he doesn’t want these movies to be too comic-booky or campy, and wants to keep them somewhat grounded in reality (thus the joker goes from goofy trickster to sociopathic, anarchist, nihilistic serial killer).  I don’t really want them to bring the Joker back because I don’t think Heath Ledgers performance can be topped (although apparently they’ve talked to Daniel Day Lewis about taking on the role, which would be awesome if he would yell “I drink your milkshake” every five minutes).  So here are the villains that I can think of that would be good for the next film:

1.  The Riddler – I would love to see a dark take on the Riddler.  I’m not talking Jim Carrey’s unitard-wearing, red-flattopped Ace Ventura version either.  I don’t know how this could be pulled off but I have faith in the Nolan brothers.

2.  The Penguin - A Nolanized version of the Penguin could quite possibly rule all things.  Just make sure he’s not Danny Devito.  Jeez Batman Returns sucked.  Penguins with missiles on their back?  Come on.

3.  Catwoman – Meh.  Maybe.  I don’t think Catwoman could beat Christian Bale’s Batman.  Nevermind.  Catwoman is lame.  Maybe just an opening scene where he punches Michelle Pfeiffer in the face.

4.  Bane – Maybe as a secondary villain.  In the comics he made Batman a parapalegic (he got better).  Just a giant, roided up dude who beats Batman down before he takes a batarang to the face.

5.  Superman – Yeah, you read that right.  Superman.  It’s happened before in what I consider my favorite graphic novel of all time:  The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller (the guy who wrote 300).  Superman has always been a stupid goody goody anyway.  Let’s see a kryptonite encrusted Batmobile run him over and knock that stupid little hair curl right off his head.

Did I miss anyone?

On a site management note.  I may have fixed the spam comments so I have diabled the need to register to leave a comment, but if I start getting spam again, I’ll reenable it.