Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Every Day is Exactly the Same First of all, I’ve got to say one thing: I think we have the most awesome community in the world. I can’t tell you how nice it is to come online and see all the well wishes. It really blows me away. So a big thanks to everyone who dropped by; I want you to know that I appreciate the time you take to comment very much. Lately I’ve been thinking about sites again, but not specifically OB (although I have been thinking about that too recently). I was actually thinking about the long-dead ShineGet.com. When I look back at the design and think about the content we actually had, even early on, it was pretty impressive. The fact that the site didn’t launch is one of my biggest regrets. Looking at other Mario-centric sites on the web, it becomes apparent that there really aren’t many great ones. The most prominent is probably TMK (The Mushroom Kingdom), which is like a big encyclopaedia of Mario information. The site literally covers just about every game in the franchise. I suppose that in some ways though, TMK is kind of unsatisfying. I mean, it doesn’t have some of the articles that I’d really like to see and even in terms of artwork and media, it’s kind of light in some respects. It is a good “general knowledge” Mario site, but in some ways I think it lacks polish or uniqueness. The next most popular site that I can think of is Super Mario Central (or something to that effect – at one point I think it was named Super Mario 128 Central but I don’t remember the current name). Again, it’s a site that strives to offer a lot of content but the design is awful – it comes across as very amateur. Something must have happened there, because I remember that its older design was far more professional. Perhaps the designer was treated badly and left. Just goes to show – be good to your graphics people! In any case, the site looks to be largely a shell of its former self. It doesn’t seem to really excel in any particular area. One of the differences with ShineGet – which could be positive or negative depending on your perspective – is that the entire site was to be based around one title, at least initially: Super Mario Sunshine. The visual theme was based on this game. Even early on we had quite a bit of content prepared; the walkthrough was coming along beautifully, there was lots of high resolution non-watermarked artwork and more. Lately I have been thinking about doing something similar for Super Mario Galaxy. I still have a good relationship with Nintendo and I have access to a lot of material that would be really useful (and that many sites either don’t present, or don’t present well). The only problem? The game comes out in the US pretty soon. I suppose that doesn’t really matter in a way, because I’d want any SMG site to focus on walkthroughs and detailed information about the game for game owners. And now, with the advent of YouTube, it’s even easier to produce videos to accompany walkthroughs. I think it could be very interesting. I have already started working on a design, just in case. Only thing is, I’m stuck on a name. Any ideas? I’d love a really cool and unique name, but I can’t come up with anything particularly interesting. Molletta: Thanks much; I hope you are doing well! Haven’t heard from you in a while. I’m happy to see that you’re still around. ^_^ Joshboo: Haha, really? I would like to be around more. I probably should make more effort to be around on weekends especially. I do check in on OB regularly but I don’t post as much as I’d like. Darren: Yeah, I do like being around – but even with work, I hate feeling unproductive. I feel that way a lot with online stuff but if you saw what I did in my actual job, your head would spin. I am very dedicated and anything that interferes with that (especially sickness) really annoys me. Unfortunately real-world work has to come before online hobbies, but I wish there were more hours in the day so I could dedicate the same time to both! And thanks much for your well wishes; I appreciate the thought. Meggido: Wow, your sister worked at the bar? I went down to get merchandise from around there (since the EFTPOS machine in my area was broken), but the security wouldn’t let me do it! So I left empty-handed. That was the only thing that really sucked. I really should have taken cash I guess. Solo: OMG, Solo, you are still around! So good to see you. What are you doing these days? And when are we going to see more Enter the Net? ~_^ Heheh. Mimmi-kun: I was very lucky there; I was doted on muchly. Phew. Haven’t really had that before, so it was a nice change of pace, heheh. Good to see you too. It’s nice to see some familiar faces around again. Minako: Oh yes, a similar thing happened with me. I was due to go interstate on a business trip. It was quite a lot of responsibility. And on the eve of the trip I became terribly ill…you can imagine how bad I felt! I had to ring the CEO on Sunday night at her home to let her know what was going on. I really pride myself on a high standard at work, so you can imagine how bad I felt. Luckily our CEO is very reasonable and she just said she’d reschedule the trip for me. So it wasn’t a total loss. I’m lucky it all worked out. Sesshomarufan: Well, I didn’t eat anything at the concert. But gastro has been going around quite a bit down here recently – although nobody I’ve known directly has had it (that I know of). I reckon I’ve somehow picked it up from work, since our offices are pretty large and there are a lot of people moving around here. But yes, thank god I wasn’t sick for the concert! I would have died if I’d gotten that sick on the Friday night. Crystia: I am still feeling a bit funny in the stomach now and then but I’m mostly okay. In some ways work has been good; it’s distracted me from the discomfort. Having said that, I do think I need further tests. I have the sneaking suspicion that I might have developed a stomach ulcer… Jon: I don’t vomit very much at all, even when I’m sick. This was like…out of nowhere, haha. I have never vomited that much in my life, I don’t think. So I was a bit worried at the time because it’s pretty uncharacteristic of me. I just couldn’t stop – it was weird. Thank god that worst part was over after a couple of days though. Aaryanna: Thanks so much! I hope you are doing well. ^_^ Master Hiko: Haha don’t worry, music is very much a personal thing. It’s all good. Thanks for the well wishes, I appreciate them. ^_^ Hal: Yeah, at first food poisoning occurred to me but then I realised that it wasn’t really possible based on what I’d eaten. I didn’t eat at the concert, but even if I had…I must say, that wouldn’t automatically worry me. Food safety standards are ridiculously strict in Australia. Luckily I’m feeling mostly better now. I feel very relieved! Nehszriah: Ah yeah, Manson was well worth it. Festival Hall is a good venue, it’s very intimate. He was very close to the audience, which was really good fun. When he came to my side of the stage and stood on the edge, I could see him clearly enough to see all the details on his face and everything – he was very close. It was awesome; he really engages the audience. Best of all, the tickets weren’t terribly expensive. Everyone seems to be getting sick lately. It sucks. SunfallE: Thanks, it’s nice to know that someone misses me! It really does feel like a close community here. And thanks again for all your support over the last week, I very much appreciate it. I hope you have a good week. ^_^

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