The type of thing I like writing about.
“Write about insurance,” they said.
“What about dragons?” I very quietly asked.
“Why not both?” I imagined hearing.
Admittedly the title of the post makes me feel like I should be writing a guide called “how to insure your dragon” or something.
I’m sure a lot of you have been saying “gosh, you’ve been awfully quiet over there haven’t you?” and you’d be right, I have been quiet, at least on this particular digital outlet.
I have been writing on a very regular basis at my old haunt Bit-Tech. I write something news-like over there pretty much every morning and even have a regular column on their blog. You can click here to see  the David Hing Bit-Tech blog archives. Not only am I writing there which is of course a massive draw for anyone,  but the other guys writing for the site are uniformly excellent.
I’m also no longer working at M&M and am instead working in digital marketing for an insurance company. Although I was initially reluctant to cross over to the “dark side” that is marketing, the work’s pretty good, the company is Not Evil and they let me write crazy things like this from time to time.
I’ve got a couple of projects in the works once again, most of which gaming related, and I’m tempted to write a little bit about them although I find actually writing about a project is the fastest way to kill it off for good, so I’m a little reluctant to talk about the game that I am making and have got quite far with. All I shall say is that it is set in space and I no longer recognise half the code I’ve actually written.
Additional Notes:
Fun fact: It’s really rather difficult to post something on a blog that has been dormant for as long as this one has. If you go through my archives, you’ll find quite a few posts that basically make excuses as to why I haven’t posted for a while.
There’s even a sub-category of that type of post whereby I comment on the fact that there are a lot of posts where I apologise for not posting for a while.
I have a belief that anyone trying to create anything will inadvertently create self portraits of themselves over and over again without even realising.
I have started working on some pixel art for a new project and was very proud of some alterations I made on my ‘Ding sprite’ from Ego to make him a low level dungeon-crawling adventurer.
I thought that looked pretty good, until my girlfriend noticed the following things:
1) That’s probably closer to my actual hair colour anyway.
2) I appear to be wearing that particular tee-shirt today.
Right down to the V-neck.
Score one for extra confidence in a theory, lose one for falling back into artistic self-insertion habits.
I dislike resolutions. I dislike what they do to my brain the rest of the year. If there is something worth making a resolution about then you probably shouldn’t have to wait until you start writing on a new calendar and you should instead just start doing it and the idea of New Years Resolutions makes me not want to start doing something until I get to a neat round number of a date.
It’s probably the same reason I strongly dislike Valentine’s day. Someone can be a filthy scum-weasel to their significant other all year round and get a free pass if they take them to Paris on Februrary 14th. Similar with “Christmas spirit” (as in good cheer, not drinking before noon), you should be a good and cheerful person all year round, not just when the world tells you to buy a few cards and presents.
With that being said, with 2012 rolling around, it got me thinking about what I would like to change about myself. I considered that maybe doing a bit of exercise might be a good idea, drinking less would also be good and possibly being a little more generally organised in terms of diet and lifestyle, but to be honest I’m in a good place with all of that. The thing that I really want to change is my attitude towards things. It’s not that I have a particularly bad attitude towards life in general and I consider myself optimistic and irritatingly chirpy at times, but when it comes to media and entertainment, I have been passively brainwashed to hate and despise everything without giving it a fair chance.
For anyone subscribed to my site through an RSS feed, my videos sadly don’t show up in there. Â I’m trying to work out if I can fix that or if it’s a quirk of the blip.tv player, but in the mean time, you’ll have to have to click through to the site to see them!
Oh, and there’s no video in this post. Â So you”re ok with this one. Â You can stay where you are.
The guys behind my favourite web show, Extra Credits, have recently done a two part episode on the issue of game addiction, the second part of which is a wildly different format to their usual set up due to the fact that it’s a subject that’s close to home for show writer James Portnow, and consisted of a very heartfelt retelling of his own personal experiences with game addiction/compulsion.
They make the point that games aren’t addictive in the medical sense as they don’t create a chemical dependency, but that they can be remarkably compelling and grown adults can turn away from real life to sink themselves into a virtual one.
They also make the very valid point that if you have fallen into this sort of lifestyle, you are not alone.
I know there are a couple of people who read this blog who politely (and often quite rightly) complain whenever I write something a little bit more personal than usual, so for you guys, this post might be one to skip.
This week we have talked about games, their potential, and I’ve noodled around with trying to learn some new things.
We started the week with  a recommendation for Desktop Dungeons.
I talk about nostalgia attached to arcades and the problems they face in The Death of the Arcade.
I go through the awe inspiring Swordquest and submit a plea for something similar to happen again.
Revisiting a theme that I touched on the other week, we take a look at Steam and Digital Distribution.
The first in the Learn By Doing series, Sick of Ninjas, a silly short film made with lego.
On Friday, it’s not that I had a bad day, but I did have a rant about something that was playing on my mind with Uninspiring Television.
Finally, another Learn By Doing film with Curiosity Killed The World, wherein I learn about poor sound quality.
Hope you’ve had a great week and see you again tomorrow for more gaming, technology and hopefully some more film making.
-Ding
This picture sums up my personal highlight of this week.
This week we have seen rioting in London, legal wrangling in the gaming world and I managed to find a needle in a haystack. Â This weeks tortoises have been the following:
A little commentary on Bethesda’s trademark action in Trademark Trolls:  Scrolls and Bethesda v Mojang. (I realise that looks like [Scrolls and Bethesda] v [Mojang] now but is actually meant [Scrolls] and [Bethesda v Mojang].  Some inadvertent eats shoots and leaves stuff there.)
My most popular post to date with The Return of the Cat, which makes sense because it’s about a cat and this is the internet. Â I am seriously considering becoming a cat blogger (as in somebody who blogs about cats, not a cat who blogs).
Concern over the way that the media is trying to classify Technology as a Scapegoat with their remarks about how it was largely orchestrated through Twitter.
The aggravating nature of requiring Constant Internet Connections for Gaming and just how far the internet has come for this to be viable.
Another Tortoise Butler film with Portal 2 Music Video – Exile Vilify By The National in which highly talented people achieve deserted London shots by getting up at stupid ‘o clock, film high quality video clips in a short space of time, and I make posters and buildings that aren’t there in Photoshop.
A growing trend in iOS games for Delayed Gameplay Games which tell you when you can play and not the other way around (now with a wonderful comment from someone who I can tell has been deeply wounded by this sort of game).
This week’s iPad/iPhone Game: Â Dream Track Nation, a simple time trial racer with buckets of charm.
We finish the week on two posts about how to make comics, with How to Make Comics Part 1Â making soft reassuring noises that you don’t need a full blown graphic design studio and How to Make Comics Part 2 blowing simplicity out of the water by talking about my method of colouring things in using Photoshop.
That’s all for this week. Â I hope you’ve had as productive and satisfying week as I have and have thoroughly enjoyed the weekend as much as I’m hoping to, as I am writing this on Saturday morning (which means I’m communicating with the future I suppose). Â Also just want to give a small self indulgent plug, but I have now passed all of my NCTJ exams and am officially fully qualified as a journalist, so if you want to employ me for a commission or an actual job, drop me a line at davidDOTofDOThingATgmailDOTcom and we can talk!
-Ding
Being still utterly blown away by the fact that we’ve found our little silver killing machine, much to the relief of ourselves and the resident Chertsey wildlife population, I suspect my blog might take on a slightly bipolar feel for the next few days as I periodically say things like “I can’t believe we found the cat” which is something I stop and say out loud every five minutes or so.
This is the cat and the dog on the boat during a previous holiday.
They break the stereotype and seem to get on quite well, even if it does seem to occasionally be an uneasy alliance.  When we had brought the cat back to my house to feed her, she wrapped herself around my legs, my mum’s legs and much to all of our surprise, dog included, the dog’s legs.
Chaotic Tortoise begins advertising drive
As I’ve started going for a few sub-editing jobs, I also thought I’d practise my pun headlines…