Chrisss profile picture

Chrisss

Woooooliganswoooooo

About Me

Starving Artist, without the starving part. I used to be an introvert, then California turned me inside out. Bowls of Cheerios center me when in strange places. I like to write books on the inside of books, which prevents me from borrowing books from most of my friends. I think American Indians had the right idea and people's deeds should dictate their name. Chai tea runs through my veins. I keep wondering if Pandora really did a bad thing or not. I like to lift heavy objects repeatedly and ride bikes that go nowhere in an oddly ironic place called the "gym." I love the sun so much I think I was a lizard in a past life. I tend to have lots of questions for people I meet because people are a big mystery to me. If you excrete, I have etiquette requests. I have spent a large part of my subconscious life trying to figure out the proper way to greet cats, and am nearing a breakthrough. I get addicted to music and tend to mainline a good song non-stop for about 2 days before moving on. There are many things I like ...and other things I dont care so much for. Around 7PM onwards, I feel the growing need to go out and do SOMETHING, or else boredom starts crawling in. Talking on the phone can drive me crazy, since I feel physically paralyzed for the conversation.

My Interests

I like to write about you when you're not looking. I am addicted to exercise, lifting heavy things, and playing with Legos. Sometimes I am consumed by fits of dancing, drinking, followed by more dancing. Occasionally, I represent my emotional states with two-dimensional balloon people who are much better at expressing themselves than I am. I used to like to walk around at night in the middle of the Santa Ana winds and dream of cooler days, but then I kind of got irritated at the Santa Ana winds for all those fires in late 2007 that devoured all they could get a hold of. Bad winds, bad bad winds.

Also, I run sometimes when the mood hits. The mood is usually "fear."

I'd like to meet:

Storytellers. Game development nerds. Cartoonists. Sarcastologists and trash-talkers. People without stories, but are looking for new ones. Readers with cool book recommendations. Relationship vets with war stories. Musicians, non-musicians, and music aficionados with cool music selections. Funny blog-writers. Anyone with a twisted perspective on the world and can show you how to twist with it. Health nuts. Pet lovers. Linguists who have made up their own language and wouldn't think twice about describing a loud person as a "Shouty McLoudface." Word bartenders and mixologists.

If you are a left-brained sarcastic trash-talker who likes to dance, paint, or write - and do any of them badly but STILL do them because you don’t give a shit, then drop me a line.

Music:

Just about anything is cool. Except operas. If you like opera, more power to you, but it drives me bugfuck. Sitting there in the chair, watching people caterwauling while my ass starts to hurt and my mind wanders I am convinced is some kind of specially-devised torture that became an art form. Then again, I used to hate musicals until I saw Team America and South Park: The Movie, so I could be convinced otherwise if the right opera came along.

Some bands I'm currrently listening to: West Indian Girl, Supergrass, Rachael Yamagata, BT, the Darkness, The Music, Tony C and the Truth, and others - it changes on a weekly basis, there's too much cool music out there. I'm also a big fan of Two-Time Prom Date, but don't get them confused with Two-Timing Prom Date.

This week I'm listening to some old school Trashcan Sinatras. Those guys are so twangy.

Movies:

No Country for Old Men
Serenity
Amelie
Napoleon Dynamite
The Big Lebowski
Rushmore
(and the Royal Tennebaums)
3 O' Clock High
Dancer in the Dark
(when the soul needs scrubbing)
Magnolia
Punchdrunk Love
City of Lost Children
Rear Window
Spirited Away
Grave of the Fireflies
Chasing Amy
As Good As It Gets
Election
Barton Fink
Memento
Clerks
Welcome to the Dollhouse
(yes, I know it'll make you feel completely miserable)
Swingers
Raising Arizona
Miller's Crossing
The Breakfast Club
The Usual Suspects
LA Confidential
Real Genius

...and just about every Pixar movie ever made.
Porn's also good, but the acting is terrible and the premises are ludicrous.
There are also certain movies I never want to see... at least on a date. Ever been burned hard on a "date" movie? Add the movie to the Shittiest Date Movies Ever Blog List!

Television:

Don't watch much TV, but that's not some snobbish choice, it's just a time thing and the fact I'm the only primitive I know who doesn't have Tivo. Or T-VO. Or Teevo. Or however you spell it. So mostly I buy DVD collections and watch them until I pass out with the TV screaming static.
Generally, any HBO compilation is awesome - Deadwood, Carnivale, Six Feet Under, Sex and the City (sue me),Sopranos and probably a bunch others. I also enjoy The Shield - it's like watching a 12-car pile up in slow motion.
I wasn't a big fan of Aqua Teen Hunger Force until the second season, then started laughing my ass off until it rolled under the couch and I had to coax it out.
The Office (British version) is also cool, like watching a really funny train wreck.
I am also in love with the short-lived sci-fi series Firefly, which features not one, but TWO hot nerdettes.Oh - and Venture Brothers. And I finally warmed up to the American version of the Office by season 2 when they started hitting their stride.

Books:

1st half of Catch 22
Charlotte: Light & Dark
The Screwtape Letters
Choke
The Tao of Pooh
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Phantom Tollbooth
Fight Club
and anything else by Chuck Palanhiuk
the Princess Bride
Childhood's End
Galapagos
Bluebeard
Dune
Lord of Light

Almost anything I read in The Onion.
Snow Crash
Ender's Game

80% of everything by Terry Pratchett and George R. R. Martin.

My favorite short story ever is "The Eyes do More Than See," but I wasn't expecting it when I read it. Other good short stories include "They're Made Out of Meat" and "The Shawl," both of which you should save for a bad day - one will make you laugh out loud, and the other which will make you curl up in a fetal position and pray for death.

Heroes:

You, so hurry up, I'm drowning over here.

My Blog

Morality and lightsabers.

Because I am lazy, I am posting two game reviews I recently did. One is about lightsabers 4000 years into the past of Star Wars. Cue lightsaber noise :: Vmmmmmmmmmmm ::The other is about morality in g...
Posted by Chrisss on Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:19:00 PST

Lessons from Virginia.

Aside from teaching my niece some pre-emptive lessons about men, I learned many other things in Virginia.One was, the narrow carpeted stairs in my friend Thuy's house were designed to kill me.Very cle...
Posted by Chrisss on Sun, 01 Jun 2008 05:07:00 PST

The Price of Vacation.

Vacation has a price. Your temporary detachment from work comes due.When you return to work - the tasks pounce. Sometimes they swarm.Sometimes they pile on your back and demand rides.And at other time...
Posted by Chrisss on Sat, 24 May 2008 03:11:00 PST

Rediscovering playtime.

At first, I wasn't sure how to play with my niece.But I eventually got the hang of it....
Posted by Chrisss on Thu, 22 May 2008 12:00:00 PST

Happy B-Day to my Niece.

My niece is 2 today....
Posted by Chrisss on Sun, 18 May 2008 09:25:00 PST

Cell Phone Pre-Mortem.

My cell phone is nearing death.I am not sure what cell phone to get, although I'd like to stay with Sprint, and I'd like to be able to text more easily than my clunk phone does now. I'd also like one ...
Posted by Chrisss on Wed, 14 May 2008 05:34:00 PST

Public Speaking + Me = Terror.

...
Posted by Chrisss on Sun, 11 May 2008 12:00:00 PST

What I do all day.

Sometimes it's hard to explain what I do at work to people outside the game industry, so here are some pix.One, I help conduct the flow of the design team and the game. I work with our superhero assoc...
Posted by Chrisss on Sun, 04 May 2008 07:08:00 PST

Cats are ideas.

Designers can get attached to design ideas, like a pet. But sometimes you can't keep them.But even if you can't keep them, it doesn't mean you love them any less....
Posted by Chrisss on Fri, 02 May 2008 09:58:00 PST

Paranoid changes at work.

We announced our new action role-playing game, Alpha Protocol. We're all really excited about it.But to be honest& it has caused some changes at work. Especially in design meetings.Here's our Game In...
Posted by Chrisss on Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:15:00 PST