"That's a lot of boxes!"

If you are an old Westwood employee you may recognize that saying. If you are a current Petroglyph employee, you should go up to Mike Legg and ask him; because, although it was something said by Marco, it was Mike's imitation of Macro saying it that made it one of the famous "Westwood Quotes."

Other quotes in the Mike imitating Marco series include, "You should shave, you look like Pancho Villa." and "I'm nobody's flunky."

But the purpose of this post, is to point out that I know you can't read the blog if you resolution is 1024 pixels wide. I am sitting in a hotel room in Redlands California as we speak, slaving away in Photoshop, fixing the boxes on the left.

If you are reading this blog at some point after a few hours from now, in a browser window 1024 pixels wide or smaller, and don't see what the problem is; nevermind because I have obviously already fixed it.

If; however, you are reading this at some point after... yadda yadda yadda, and the text still overlaps the boxes on the left... Sorry but I guess one of the following things happened:

• I never got back to it after going to lunch.

• Hotel's internet went out and I wasn't able to upload the new graphic.

• I couldn't figure out what I did last time to link to the new graphic in a manner which the site wasn't scaling it down to fit on screen.

• An attractive woman expressed at least some passing interest in my romantically and I am off wooing her and could care less if you could read this or not.

• My plans for world domination have been moved forward and I am busy trying to take Australia, which as we know from Risk, is strategically important.

• I am still thinking of things to add to this list instead of working on the graphic... DOH!.

I Watched the Watchmen

I liked it. As a fan-boy I don't think it could ever match the original, but as a stand alone movie I enjoyed it. Overall it captures the graphic novel very well and I look forward to the extras and deleted scenes of the DVD.

There was a big line to get in and another big line for the next show when we got out at 10:00. Hopefully it will pull in some big opening night numbers. Of course I happened to pick the same theater and showing that all the Petroglyph guys went to which was kinda cool.

I didn't see anybody else wearing their original watchmen pin from 1986.

Some off the top of my head, non-spoiler, some-what critical comments:

I think the discussion between Jon and Laurie on Mars could have been done better. Her big realization was done much better in the book with the layered flashbacks.

Also Jon's thing with the thermodynamic miracles wasn't set up and explained that well. In the book he talks about the thermodynamic miracles when he is first showing her around and that's when he says he wanted to see one, which him realizing that we have been witnessing them everyday have more impact.

Missed the odd time things with Jon. Him telling Laurie that she is about to revel something to him and then being surprised when she does in her reply. Also his distorted state when the tachyons are messing with him, "excuse me Rorschach, I'm explaining this to Laurie 2 minutes ago."

I think they should have had more narration, like in the book. It would have helped people who hadn't read the graphic novel as well as given them more to work with.

Not enough smiley face references. Or maybe I missed them?

No, embracing Hiroshima lovers silhouette graffiti either even though the one shot from the dinner where you see it getting painted through the window, across the street was spot on in the movie.

Blue penis was 4 times the size it was in the comic. Seriously, it has always been referenced as the little blue dinkle, not the swinging blue pipe!!! Dave Gibbons had said they were worried that DC wouldn't let them show full frontal nudity in the comic so he was very careful to casually conceal it most of the time in the framing and draw it understated like in Roman statues so it was something you would only notice in passing.

Several added things were really good like the beginning credit sequence that lays some foundation and drives home that this is not our 1985. The fight scenes had a lot of impact as well, getting hit hurts.

I've already planned to go see it again at the matinee showing tomorrow.

Showing off to Petroglyph

A bunch of ex-Westwood people that now work at Petroglyph were at the Austin Game Developer's Conference which finished today.

Marty, the CEO of the company I work for, Interzone, had called a car but then didn't need it, so he had Allan, da man, cancel it. Except when he called to do so, they told him that they were still going to charge half price for canceling at the last minute. He asked if any of use were going to the airport, and I said that I was so he told them to come pick me up instead.

I'm waiting on the corner when a few of the Petroglyph people walk up. They asked if I was waiting for a cab and I said, "No, my company had called for a car."

Just as somebody asked how things were going at Interzone, a shiny, brand new, Cadillac pulls up and the uniformed driver jumps out to take care of my bags.

"Yeah, things are going quite well. Thanks for asking."

I did fess up when I saw them at the airport. We were all flying to Vegas on the same plane and it is hard to put on airs when flying Southwest.

Granted, I was only flying Southwest because I was paying for that flight. The other flights I've been on this trip that were actually work related have been a few steps up the ladder including some upgrades to first class. I had an awesome bay view hotel room at the Marriott in San Diego. So yeah, things are going quite well at Interzone. Thanks for asking.

This Just In...

Okay, so there are obviously quite a lot of you out there reading this as opposed to just Bughunter as the comment sections on each post would suggest. How do I know this you ask? Do I have a secret hit counter on the site? No, I’ve just had about a billion people ask or email what happened to the last post that I deleted even though it was only up for a few hours. The announcement email hasn’t gone out at work, so I took the post down till it officially goes out.

As an aside I’ve been wandering around the Petroglyph forums where there are quite a few threads about Command & Conquer and other old Westwood games. Of interest is the details about where the C&C story would have or was going with Westwood before EA’s C&C3. It even reveilles the shocking truth behind the C&C 1 UFO!!! I haven’t actually played C&C 3, still sticking with my EA boycott that I announced in regards to not buying Battlefield 2142. I do have the C&C 3 demo that is on a CD I got from some magazine but I haven’t installed it. I’m told it’s actually fun.

I just found out there is an article about Fury in Brisbane’s “City News” magazine. It’s the one that had the “Show Stopper” banner across the top, and the very cute Kelly Brightwell on the cover. So if you happen to be in Brisbane Australia and wander by a bus stop or convenience store, pick one up. It’s free.