From the monthly archives:

December 2009

Xmas Holidays in Japan

by Jason Surguine on December 31, 2009

Yes, they do celebrate Christmas in Japan. Mostly in a completely secular way. It’s actually very similar to Valentine’s Day in the US. On December 24th, you’re supposed to take your significant other on a romantic date. I went to a bookstore instead.

And was amazed that they have magazines dedicated to everything about being a flight attendant.

Stopped to have lunch at a Mos Burger, which is Japan’s version of McDonald’s…

… with 100% Japanese beef and cheese.

Stopped by a combini (convenience store) to look at the latest Final Fantasy XIII ‘Elixir’ potion they’re selling in the drink section. At 980 Yen (roughly $10), I passed.

And looked at the dessert display. Japanese (especially women) are obsessed with sweets, so it’s no big surprise they have this much variety and quality in a convenience store. Still, I can’t imagine anything this tasty looking in a Circle K in the states. They also had…

Love Bombs? ‘This is a cracker [not the kind you eat, the kind that blows up, fire cracker] from which heart-shaped confetti dashes out’ ‘It is fit loveliness at a wedding and an auspicious party.’

Auspicious indeed.

Headed back to my place in Nakano and saw the most impressive Xmas display in the neighborhood. Which was quite boring. So I decided to take my significant other to Roppongi, which supposedly has a great lights display.

It wasn’t this year. It was about as impressive as this blurry pic you see here. Mostly white lights on trees. But I did find…

Gerbeaud Cafe?! A little history lesson is in order. Gerbeaud cafe is a rich pastry and coffee shop of French origin in the middle of Budapest. Well known for it’s ridiculously high prices and decent burgers (seriously). Don’t believe me, check here. How Japan decided to branch out and open their own Gerbaud cafe in the middle of Roppongi eludes me. It’s eerie actually. It seems I can never escape Hungary :)

Since it was Xmas eve and everyplace was already booked and/or ridiculously expensive, we decided to do Xmas dinner at home, Japanese nabe style.

So I bought one of these portable gas stoves (awesome).

Which run on butane cans (also awesome)

Then you pour some of this (Korean kimchi soup base),

Add some of this (veggies),

And some of this (bag o’ meat!)… and it will magically turn into this:

Which is really, really tasty. And as easy to prepare and make as it was to look at those pictures.

That pretty much sums up my Xmas eve. I’ll do Xmas tomorrow and leave you with a picture of a squid leg hanging out of my mouth.

Note: Don’t do this in public in Japan. They’re sensitive about playing with your food. ;)

Late Night Karaoke in Nagoya

by Jason Surguine on December 29, 2009

Somewhere around 3AM in a Karaoke Booth in Nagoya, Japan I decided to sing 桃色の片思い (That’s momoirono kataomoi~ Translates roughly to peach colored crush) by 松浦亜弥 (Aya Matsuura ~ a female japanese idol) well, because I can…. in a very manly way, of course ;)

I forgot to bring my Flip camera, so all that was available was my Google G1 phone, which takes really crappy video in an old Sony Ericsson proprietary format (3gp… wtf?) which took some time to figure out how to convert and edit and by the time it ended up in something I could safely upload to youtube, it lost even more quality, so… sorry about that. Next time I’ll bring my flip and sing a song that guys normally sing.

Enjoy!

Boxing Days, Get Arvale: Treasure of Memories on the Cheap

by Jason Surguine on December 27, 2009

Didn’t get what you really wanted for Christmas? That’s okay, I celebrate Boxing Day (the day after Xmas when you take back all the junk you didn’t want and will never use and exchange it for money or better), even better, I celebrate Boxing Days.

From now through January 1st, 2010 you can pick up Arvale: Treasure of Memories for 20% of buy simply entering BOX2009 and Update Cart at the checkout.

Go straight to the checkout buy clicking on the pretty blue button below :)

Add to Cart

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas! New Free Games!

by Jason Surguine on December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas! As a gift to you…

Actually, I just updated the Free Games section by adding Anthelion 1 and 2 and Arvale II; Ocean of Time. I also added more information about the games and download/install/play tips.

So you can now spend your bright and cheery Christmas day by celebrating with Duncan and DeMenchev in the world of Arvale, or with the Bedouin Pirates and the Federation in the Anthelion galaxy. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas, New Developments, and Upcoming Articles

by Jason Surguine on December 24, 2009

First of all, Merry Christmas! :)

Really busy these days with moving to Japan and other stuff, so I thought I’d just post an update on what’s happening and what’s coming up.

Picked up my Alien Registration card in Japan today, it was absolutely painless and really easy. This might have had to do with the fact that it was Christmas eve and the office was pretty much empty. I was able to sign up for National Health Insurance at the same time, they gave me the health insurance within 10 minutes. Think on that. And the Japanese Health care system is really, really good.  I’ll post pics of stuff when I have the chance.

I’ve just made contact with a few old developers I used to work with and some new artists, so lots of exciting new games to be worked on may happen…

..and I’m working on plans for Episode II of Arvale: Treasure of Memories already.

I also plan on offering contract music composing services again, once I get the time to set it up.

In addition, I’m working on a bunch of Royalty Free Music packs of with different styles and themes.

I’ll also do a Broken Blueprint play-through video when I get the chance.

There are also a ton of Articles I have written but just haven’t posted up yet, such as:

Update the Incredible Shrinking Studio Article with the Akai LPK 25 and the my portable chair (yes, a portable chair, you’ll see).

Music writing tips on composing and the perception of music styles via instrumentation; with examples on how to write in middle eastern, flamenco, and jazz.

What do to when you feel like a miserable failure.

Listening to traffic reports while driving and having an epiphany about the core issues with your life.

Using the Founding Fathers argument to ruin a good debate.

The hypocrisy of thinking everyone should have the right to believe whatever they want, as long as they want to believe what you do.

How long it really takes to write and record an album.

A post on how to get started using an SRS (spaced repetition System).

Every excuse you give to not travel abroad is nonsense. ‘I have to pay for a $50 for a Passport (which lasts 10 years), I can’t afford that!’ and other stupid excuses.

The state of Arizona has tons of culture, you just don’t know what culture actually means.

A review of the Monkey Island Special Edition.

More funny search terms.

Game design is not difficult, if anything, it’s confusing.

Doing really annoying things that only have to be done once, do them well.

If I ever have offspring…

Doctors are people too, really smart ones at that, so shut up.

The economy is fine according the to JEDI.

A review of Tomodachi 友達 Collection for DS (because it’s an amazingly awesome game).

In any case, I would like to thank everyone for coming and reading my blog, playing my free games, buying my games, listening to my music, using my Royalty Free music, and I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

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