E3 Vol 2

E3 is the holy grail of trade shows for anyone involved in the gaming industry. It's one of those weird, unreal and almost unbelievable experiences. A true gamer is a slightly odd and wacky character. Craziness and meetings occupy all hours of the day. And parties all night.

Highlights of the show thus far include:

--The orgasmic sounds emerging from the Nintendo fan boys during the Nintendo press conference every time that the company announced a new game (based on franchises we all know) and especially at the point when the exec showcased a new handheld gaming product.

--Seeing the Playboy bunnies emerge from nowhere, and then watching the (male) crowd figure out that they were there.

--Realizing that I couldn't quite identify the components of the sandwiches in the press room, and deciding that a power bar would be a better lunch. Better than previous years, when all press room food would disappear in about 30 seconds, and people would literally be scraping crumbs off of the table.

--Having a martini and beer prior to the Microosft press conference before realizing that there was NO food.

--Firing questions at the poor Sly Cooper 2 developer about why the game had to become more complex and difficult. Poor guy, he probably never had a chance. We parted by telling each other that we'd be the slightly drunk people at the Sony party...

--Dancing to the sounds of Sheryl Crowe at the Nintendo party. Getting ripped off by the cabbie on the way home when he took the very long way to get to the freeway.

--Two days left, definitely more to follow...

E3 Vol 1

Business travel has its good and bad moments. Currently, I'm in LA for the holy grail of game industry trade shows: E3. And, already, the good and bad moments have become glaringly apparent.

I flew down this afternoon. Took a cab to my hotel. Worked. Ate a power bar. I then went to the Microsoft press conference, where having seen trays of food being passed around and being assured by my colleague Aaron that food existed, drank an apple martini, followed by a beer. There was no food...so by the time the press conference started, was feeling drunk.

The highlight of the press conference was Microsoft's announcement that EA would be supporting Xbox Live games, and in one of the nicest gestures that I've seen EA EVER makes towards Microsoft, brought out all of the cover athletes for their major sports games. Muhammed Ali was front and center, surrounded by six athletes (including Donovan, the soccer player and Marshall Faulk), all in their prime. Hopefully, they're taking notes from Muhammed; he has much to teach about life and humility.

The problem with business travel is the aloneness. I am the lone IDCer at the show, which in some ways is good, but also bad. I waited in the cab line alone (finally met up with someone and shared a weird cab ride back to downtown LA). I ate dinner in my room alone. I know that I'll see people that I know at events and meetings and parties...but still, it's me all alone.

thanks Nilay, for being there :)

Single Girl Salmon

For several years, I've read Amanda Hesser's Sunday columns in the NY Times magazine (she's a food critic for the Times). Her writing is solid, usually conveying an interesting story in relation to a few recipes. I picked up her book, "Dating Mr. Latte", which contained her columns written starting with her first date with "Mr Latte" (aka, Tad Friend, who is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker) and ending with their wedding, and everything in between, including relationship tidbits, work, friends and other things about life. Oh yes, and lots of recipes.

Actually, I thought that my relationship at the time was similar to hers: I was dating a guy who wasn't really into cooking, and probably would have ordered a latte with dessert, just like Mr Latte did on their first date (thus earning the name). Sadly, my relationship didn't last, ending the comparison relatively quickly. A girl can hope...

One of my favorite dishes is called "Single Girl Salmon", which was dinner tonight. Lentils cooked with garlic, a bay leaf, some salt and a shallot, then mixed with olive oil and lemon juice and heavily salted. The lentils are topped with seared salmon, fried shallots and parseley (although I subsituted cilantro, better flavor, imo). All in all, a satisfying dish, and unique in that it is designed for one person (although it could easily be doubled).