The new Syndicate Trailer

After banging my head to a wall a-la- Dr. Cox from Scrubs, because some people can be so frustrating when they don't understand...

... Oh, where was I. Oh yes. I just watched the Syndicate Trailer (the 2011 edition of course from Starbreeze Studios).

One word: Awesome.


Although I was quite skeptic about it being a FPS, I now kind of like it... in a "Mass Effect" kind of way.


Syndicate vs. Fallout 3

Just like Fallout 3, Syndicate was a RPG game taken from a third person perspective and put into first person. Unlike Fallout 3, the new Syndicate might be less of a mockery.

Until I have played it I can't say for sure, but I have a better feeling about this one than I had about Fallout 3: a game that never should have been an FPS. Syndicate is harder to retain as a third person game and with the right people behind it, it might actually still be "Syndicate" all the way through.

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Enjoy...

Top three laughs

Today's one of those days where I just happen to find funny old clips by mistake, or see a favorite scene in a sitcom I like. Well, here is a top 3 of funny characters that made me ROFLMAO today:


Sheldon Cooper from BBT

This is my favorite clip ever. Sheldon gets a very much appreciated Christmas present from Penny. His reaction in the end is priceless <3.

Alan from the Hang Over

Just saw both of the movies tonight, but this clip was probably one of my favorites, except from when he peed in Mike Tyson's pool, lol.

JD from Scrubs

Saw this one like 15 minutes ago. One of the funny songs they've done, but it's ridiculously funny.

A trip to Ronda and it's amazing views...

I didn't think much of Ronda when I heard people talk about it. I thought it just had a couple of old cool houses and stuff. No one really got into details about the views. Amazing. One of the most beautiful places I have seen since I moved to Gibraltar.


I could live here

Honestly, this is a town I could picture myself living in. Watch the pictures below and you will see why. Although I doubt it will happen anytime soon, since I kind of have to go where the jobs are. I have started to look outside of Gibraltar now. Applied in Sweden and another place. If the companies here doesn't go to the next step of their recruitment, I will soon have to consider even wider options. I do want to stay here a bit longer if I can.


Even the Pizza was nice...

Why the FUCK is this blog post so interesting?

Ok, enough!

I'm getting really pissed off that I can't figure out why THIS blog post has gotten so many views. Still, this month, it is my highest ranked blog post and I posted it like a YEAR AGO! It is not really THAT interesting. It is as a matter of fact my number one ranked blog post EVER.

I'm guessing it is unintentional smart SEO. I guess most surfers or beach guys are accidentally getting into this post when they are googling "wake board" or whatever.


SOE test: Wake Board, Knee Board, Beach, Water, Buy, Sell

Let's see if this post manages to get a lot of hits. Let's, for the sake of it, attach a few pointless pictures as well...

Looking for jobs through an agency or not?

I have recently started to doubt the profit of looking for jobs through an agency. I mean, it will be much more expensive for a company to hire me through an agency than if I applied by myself.


Good parts

+ They help me find vacancies.
+ They handle salary negotiation for me.
+ They can push for a quicker response without me getting shit for it.
+ They are very nice and good at spreading buzz about me.


Bad parts

- It will cost more for the company to hire me.
- Sometimes the agency's personnel is incompetent and might ruin your chances.
- They put forward a lot of people and of course always says good things about them, which makes them lose credibility. I mean, it's their job to get their candidates hired. They will say anything to make that happen.


Summary

I think that if you already have a good contact net and know a lot of companies, try to contact them yourself instead of using an agency. If you are fairly bad at finding jobs or negotiate a salary for instance, you might benefit from using an agency.

The choice is yours!

Game Design: The most natural level-up system!

I was thinking, while sitting in the bathroom (isn't it amazing how bright you get sometimes, like when you are suppose to sleep or do... something else?) about how game developers deal with their leveling systems. I wonder if they are thinking about the same aspects that I am...

To make things simple, I'll just explain the key levels...


How you level up as a human being

Level 0: You are born. You got no skills other than being able to exist (eat, cry, sleep, shit etc.).

Level 1: You are experienced enough to try out your first few skills: Crawling and Grabbing.

Level 2: You are advancing in your crawling skill and can now walk around, although in a limited area. You are also practicing more advanced communication.

Level 3: You have mastered the skill of movement and advanced communication and for this you are granted more privileges and trust from your masters.

Level 5: You are now ready for a training program in order to develop your more advanced skills. You now measure the results in attributes (Mind and Body).

Level 8: Your Mind and Body attributes are now high enough to grant you freedom (to a certain limit) to go on your first adventures, together with a fitting party of companions of course.

Level 13: You have now earned the privileges of managing your own free time. The first chains are broken from your masters and you might even get your first paid job, by securing a low level humans safety and well being for an evening or so. You are also introduced to another gender and all what comes with it. Although, you also learn of rules and ethics in this area.

Level 16: You have much greater freedom and are even allowed to use a vehicle for transportation. You also now have a private life that your masters will respect, to a certain degree. Partnership with the other gender is now allowed. You are also introduced to more advanced jobs/adventures, but expectations in your ongoing training program is also getting higher.

Level 18: You are now 100% free from your masters and can decide your future as you see fit. Congratulations, you have finished the main campaign of your life. You can still level up, but how you do it and what privileges you earn is totally up to you.


Do you agree/disagree?

Samsung Galaxy S2 + Job interview = Win!

The mist of confusion and frustration is starting to dissipate. Things are starting to become more clear for me. I have looked into my options, searched my soul and found something I think I was looking for. To cut the bull crap, I bought a new phone... and went to a job interview.

I am half thinking about posting a funny video from friday night, when we were playing drinking games... let's see through the writing of this blog post if I do it or not :P


Samsung Galaxy S2

Amazing phone. I bought a really nice cover for it as well, which I am so incredibly satisfied with. Also, my Phone to HDMI cable just arrived. Means I should be able to stream videos from the web to my TV. Win.

My only problem is getting Spotify to work on it. I upgraded from Spotify Unlimited to Premium, to see if that will let me install it (it worked on my HTC!).


The job interview

I cannot tell you too much, since nothing is final yet and as I'm still not 100% sure if the things we discussed at the interview are for public ears or not, and I don't wanna ruin my chances by blogging something stupid ;)

Long story short: It went quite well, but the final decision is now resting at my possible future employer. Keep your fingers (and toes, as well as your pets paws) crossed for me!


And... no, I'm not posting the video. 

How to trick you!

Most of you have heard of the iPhone4, the HTC Sensation or the Samsung Galaxy S2. All awesome smart phones, right? Isn't it amazing how they can create new phones so fast with so many new cool features?

It's not.


Look, that brick looks prettier than mine, I want it!

The iPhone, for instance, was not created to its full potential. It was created as a nice smart phone, but without any of the REALLY fancy things. This way, Apple could introduce their already prepared special feature in the brand new iPhone 2 (which they release to the market once the original iPhone has dropped too much in price).

Actually, the real difference between a smart phone and its predecessor model is very little. It has a new look, a new new features, but the differences are ACTUALLY so small that you are very gently being tricked into buying almost the same phone for a much more expensive price than the current market value of the original unit.

Mobile Phone manufacturers knows how to market their products, which is why these companies impress me quite a bit. They know how to keep the value up to the top, without really doing much else than changing the name, the look and a few minor details. Remember that much of your smart phone is actually software, which updates for free on your current phone. Old phones not "being compatible" with the latest version is simply a trick to get you to buy the newer model.

Ca'ching! $$$$ - Good job!


Admittedly, I fall more many of these things as well, but I'm trying to get better ;)

Top 5 ways to gain social respect

I have recently been thinking about the different ways people act in order to feel important, or to feel that they can gain respect from people around them. Here is my top 5 of the most common ways that people do this. 1 is obviously the one I am most okay with, while 5 is the one that attracts me the least.

Before we start judging others, let's judge myself! Probably 1, 3 and 2, in that order. I'm always trying to be a good friend, but I really like to show off and sometimes I might do something crazy, just to give someone else a good laugh. :)


1) The Friend

This is the strategy I admire the most. In order to gain a high social status, this guy works hard at being a good friend, doing favors, without asking anything in return.

He or she of course likes to make people aware of how good friend he or she is, but in the end people see this person as a really nice guy that they could trust.



2) The Crazy Person

Who doesn't love the crazy guy who jumps over the fence and steals a chicken, or says inappropriate things to his teacher in front of the class, for a good laugh. This person risks himself in order to gain respect.

People would probably see this person as a funny guy that you could have a laugh about, but maybe not invite to your wedding.



3) The Specialist

This person is someone that always keeps pointing out that every movie sucks, except if it is a movie you obviously haven't heard of and cannot judge yourself, or that he/she is always right and know "a little bit" more than you about a subject. If he or she (gah, let's just say "he" from now on, ok?) might realize that he is the less wiser kid, he will Google your brains out until he can show you ONCE AND FOR ALL that he knows everything.

You can tolerate him, at a certain degree. I, myself, would not be able to hang around with this type of person for more than maybe a week without exploding of frustration, but many people see this person as a smart guy, but very annoying and would consider choosing other people as friends/girl or boyfriends. No one wants to argue about every single topic just to know that you have to forfeit your opinion in order to avoid world war 3.

Yes, this type annoys me, so it deserved some more text than the other types. :P



4) The Rich Guy 

The second worst is the guy who think he can buy anything or anyone. "Money is power, money is respect!". This person will spend more than he or she can just to look like the cool rich guy who can get what you never could.

The only people that really likes (or fake likes), is the ones that are trying to parasite of this persons wealthy life style. Misery.



5) The Bully

The topic says it all, doesn't it? Well, if you don't have brains, you have to use your fists right? Although I have to disagree with myself there, since some bully's actually use their wits to f*ck people over. All this mental or physical violence just so that people would respect you out of fear. Yay, great way to go. Road to happiness! Yeah!.. not.


EDIT: Maybe there is another one that should be mentioned. The "Talent". I'm not 100% sure about this one, but some people do get a lot of respect simply because they are good at something, really, without bragging around about it (like the specialist would do).

Failing on National Day

Many people failed and triumphed yesterday, on the National Day of Gibraltar 2011. Håkan got home at 6 in the morning and has been a zombie all day. No clever comments... no nothing! Amazing. One person I know, but for obvious reasons wont mention the name of, had a little drunk adventure at his workplace. Too bad I didn't get to see it, lol.

I had a really great time yesterday. First I went bare feet in search of Rebecca, the keeper of my shoes AND my new Samsung Galaxy S2 (!!!). After that we visited Craig at the Cannon Bar, totally took over the place. Then we moved on to Gibraltar Arms to receive our glorious National Day Hat (together with a shot each). The next stop was the Star Bar, where they gave us a diamond lighter when we ordered our drinks. The owner first refused to let us in... since he recognized Rebecca. The last stop of the first part of the party crusade was Lord Nelsons, to recieve our Corona T-shirts. Ironically, they didn't have Corona at the bar.

After checking out All's Wells and eating nachos at the Casino, we went home to recover. Later in the evening we enjoyed the sunbeds at the local pool area watching some amazing fireworks. Managed to capture some on my new phone!


Let's capture the finalé... fail!

As I said: Never pass out at my place!

... or fall asleep for that matter. You might get brutally abused.

What the fuck am I talking about? Well, find out here!

See you soon Qixiang!

Qixiang, my flat mate and friend, is going back to Argentina now for a while, on a quest to finally become Argentinian. I will miss my little boy, but he will soon be back cooking noodles and chicken wings for me!

88!


Fingers crossed for RIP Stefan Liv

It seems like the KHL Ice Hockey team Lokomotiv just crashed now somewhere in Russia. It is not clear yet if the Swedish goal keeper Stefan Liv was on the flight or not. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he was not on-board, and if he was, that he in that case is one of the two survivors...

UPDATE: It seems like Stefan Liv, an amazing goal keeper, was one of the people who died. Rest in Peace.

- Read more here! (swedish!)


A list of the victims: http://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.izvestia.ru%2Fnews%2F499821

I've got an interview!

Finally some things are starting to happen. On Saturday I am going for an interview for a position where I would work with marketing and PR (viral marketing!!!!) for a limited time based project. It feels very exciting and it is definitely something I could pull off. Although it would feel good to have a couple of options.


Companies recruit in the autumn...

The thing is that most companies make public quite early what they need, but don't start the recruitment process until much later. For the company, this is a brilliant strategy. You get lots of choices and nothing is rushed. For the person who is looking for a job and currently is unemployed, this is a pain. It is how it works, but still, a pain.

I am estimating some feedback during September-October, but if it takes longer I am going to consider moving on maybe to another country. I can't wait forever. There is opportunities elsewhere as well.


Is having a choice good or bad?

But what happens if/when I get some options? Let's say more than one company is interested in hiring me? Well this is a luxury problem that is very unlikely to happen... but I have been in this position before. Fortunately I did the right choice back then, but will I make the right choice this time?

One possibility is that I get to choose between one job which is much like a "gamble", while the other one is a safe shot. Should one gamble with jobs or go safe? Honestly I have no idea. Going safe always feels good, but taking a chance might be a awesome shortcut to a very successful career.