Australian Adventures

New Zealand

Justin — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 02:27:17 +0000

Today is my first full day in New Zealand, and things are going well. I’m in Christchurch right now (southern island) and will be taking a train to Wellington (northern island) tomorrow morning. I’ll be able to see all the scenery that NZ has to offer, as well as many other activities that I can do. I probably won’t post again until I’m home (Nov. 19th).

N3wton

Justin — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 01:20:54 +0000

Wow. I can’t believe all the attention my latest game, N3wton, has been receiving. I couldn’t have asked for a better start. It’s been made popular on Digg, featured on one of my favorite gaming blogs Game|Life, and has been getting around 50,000 views a day. In a week I should get a big fat paycheck to help me pay for a bunch of things when I get home.

Bored on a Tuesday Night?

Justin — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:12:33 +0000

I sure was. Did I go out anywhere? Nah. Did I watch a movie? Nope. Did I study for my upcoming exams? Hell no. Did I do anything remotely productive at all? Nuh uh. What did I do?

I made the most badass rubber band gun ever! Complete with comfortable grip and fully functional trigger.

Materials:
-7 Post-it notes
-7 Toothpicks
-2 packs of four batteries
-1 Rubber band
-A shit load of duct and scotch tape

This baby can fire a single rubber band a whopping 20 feet. Completely made from anything within arms-reach. Here’s a closer look at the trigger mechanism.

So, if you ever find yourself bored some night, try making one yourself. You know you want one.

Winding Down

Justin — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:59:37 +0000

I’m closing in on the final couple weeks of the semester. It’s hard to believe I’ve been here for nearly 4 months now. I still remember dragging my ass to the airport for the flight coming here. Now I’ll have to do it again before too long.

In the month remaining here I have two weeks of pretty much nothing to do. The school gives us one week of study followed by two weeks of exams. My exams are the final two days of the exam period, which means the time leading up to that is free time more or less. Once the semester is done it’s off to Middle Earth, aka New Zealand. I’ll be there for 8 days, traveling around the country and whatnot. The scenery is supposed to be amazing. I’ll take lots of pictures.

On the flash front, I’ve recently completed N3wton, a physics based shooter of sorts that really started off as an experiment. Before that I was working on a top-down shooter, using a very similar art style (can you even call it art? It’s just shapes…). I made the first level of it, which I’ve turned into a demo. Maybe I’ll post it sometime later. Hopefully I can get some money for N3wton, which will go toward the myriad of things I need to pay off (New Zealand expenses, car repairs, next semester’s text books, videogames, computer upgrades, etc.). Man I hate being poor.

Aussie Commercials

Justin — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:54:51 +0000

If there’s one thing you can’t deny it’s Australia’s awesome sense of humor. Often times I’ll see things on TV that would cause an uproar in the States. The whole attitude on offending people here just doesn’t exist since everyone knows not to take these things seriously. You’ll get TV programs that say “shit” and “fuck” during primetime airing on local channels. Hell, “shit” and “fuck” can’t even be said on cable TV in the States until after midnight.

Here are a few TV commercials that shows their humor:

Solo
Lemon flavored soft drink. Haha, man cans…

Snickers
This one may be playing in the states, I’m not sure.

Pure Blonde
Aussie beer. Not that great, I prefer to drink…

Carlton Draught
One of the most epic ads ever made. I’ll never get sick of watching it.