Me on TWiT
Back before G4 ate TechTV I used to watch Leo Laporte all the time on Screensavers, so it is with great pride that I tell you I was a guest on This Week in Tech yesterday. It was extra special because we also got the band back together (Leo, Merlin Mann, Veronica Belmont) to discuss our triumph/epic fail in Rock Band at the San Fran show Friday night. Tom Merritt of CNET and Ryan Block of Engadget were on the line too, because that is how I roll now.
Fair warning, it’s essentially an hour of talking about me (and niche broadcasting), which I always enjoy, but which you may have had enough of by now. Thanks Leo!
Nice Work SF
I’m sitting in my kitchen at home surrounded by coffee and pastries and children, which is a lovely way to come back to earth.
But I must tell you all, it was a fantastic show on Friday night. Many thanks to everyone who made it happen: Adam and Jeremiah from Lucas Blank, the awesome crowd, the dedicated crew, the fan cameras, the tireless PAs, the fantastic Great American Music Hall folks, the cake bearers, the Paul and Storm, the Kristen Shirts, Leo, Merlin and Veronica, my new friends at Harmonix (big, mad, ridiculous props to you), etc. I’m not always comfortable asking for help, and I had to do an awful lot of it for this thing – you all came through and made it a really great night.
Hopefully I’ll get to watch some of this footage this week and we’ll have an idea what we’ve got to work with. Don’t know how long it’s going to be before I have something to show you, but it’s likely a final product won’t be ready for months. I’ll certainly post progress updates here. I can’t wait either!
Thank you one and all.
Three Things About San Francisco
1) The Game Developers Conference is going on here this week, and Portal won Game of the Year, Best Game Design, and the Innovation Award – all well deserved. It’s an awesome game, and I’m proud to have been a small part of it. But I’m a little surprised it didn’t get Best Writing (which went to BioShock instead). As I’ve said many times, the song only works as well as it does because of the expertly constructed and subtly conveyed character of GLaDOS, who was given voice by the incredibly talented Erik Wolpaw and Chet Faliszek. If there was a Jonathan Coulton award, they would have won that one this year, I’ll tell you what.
2) I played a short set at the Valve party last night, which closed with me playing “Still Alive” in the game Rock Band with a bunch of Harmonix folks. Yeah, it WAS awesome, you’re right. Plus I got 95% accuracy on the vocals. I guess the secret is out now – the song is going to be available for download in the game sometime in the future (don’t ask when because I don’t know).
3) I can’t remember the other thing. I’m so tired. Oh right, I was on CNET Live today and that was pretty awesome too – they even gave me burritos to eat! If you missed it when it was live, watch it here. Everyone here on the west coast is so nice and their burritos so tasty, maybe I don’t really hate California at all. Maybe I love California.
I’m not just saying that because I have a show here tomorrow night. OK, maybe I am.
NY Times Bloggage
My friend Darin Strauss, who was in a band with me once, and who played the solo on “De-Evolving,” and who is now a famous author, has honored me by including my song in his list of what he’s listening to, posted this week on the NY Times books blog. As it turns out, he’s also a pretty good music writer (with excellent taste).
Not for nothing, but his new, fantastic book is called “More Than it Hurts You” and it comes out in June.
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