Thursday, September 29, 2005
what i did for love.
(it had nothing to do for love. but like some things one does for love, it was something i did not initially want to do, but did anyway because i wanted to be a stand-up guy.)
so, without violating my NDA, i can tell you that my dayjob company works with games--computer games, x-b0x games, that stuff. usually when a game is on the table, they're given cheat codes from the game publisher so that they can advance through the levels without having to cultivate a lot of game-specific skill.
but not for the new karaoke game, in which you get points by singing on pitch. the controllers come with headsets and microphones. so they asked for volunteers to do some actual singing. i was volunteered by my boss, who said, hey! actors sing!
if you know me, you may recall that my previous failed attempt at gradschool was punctuated by lots of bad, drunk karaoke at the memories lounge in s@rasota, FL. it was awful and sort of fascinating. and this experience notwithstanding, i am very uncomfortable singing in public. i would rather get naked.
getting naked, though, was not an option. i went along gracefully and did not get in a strop, and at six p.m. sat in a conference room with one of the project managers and attempted to sing stevie wonder's superstition.
oh, my friends.
this game has a little monitor on the screen that tells you when you're off pitch. which was oddly traumatic. apparently i am constantly flat. things were not much better by the time we got to the duet of i've had the time of my life from dirty dancing.
the project manager will not look me in the eye now.
which makes me feel like i was naked and pitchy *both*, and didn't even get overtime.
so, without violating my NDA, i can tell you that my dayjob company works with games--computer games, x-b0x games, that stuff. usually when a game is on the table, they're given cheat codes from the game publisher so that they can advance through the levels without having to cultivate a lot of game-specific skill.
but not for the new karaoke game, in which you get points by singing on pitch. the controllers come with headsets and microphones. so they asked for volunteers to do some actual singing. i was volunteered by my boss, who said, hey! actors sing!
if you know me, you may recall that my previous failed attempt at gradschool was punctuated by lots of bad, drunk karaoke at the memories lounge in s@rasota, FL. it was awful and sort of fascinating. and this experience notwithstanding, i am very uncomfortable singing in public. i would rather get naked.
getting naked, though, was not an option. i went along gracefully and did not get in a strop, and at six p.m. sat in a conference room with one of the project managers and attempted to sing stevie wonder's superstition.
oh, my friends.
this game has a little monitor on the screen that tells you when you're off pitch. which was oddly traumatic. apparently i am constantly flat. things were not much better by the time we got to the duet of i've had the time of my life from dirty dancing.
the project manager will not look me in the eye now.
which makes me feel like i was naked and pitchy *both*, and didn't even get overtime.
