Hello Liefje » Videos

Alienware challenge 2011 Kicks off

Liefje — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 13:55:40 +0000

If you were an avid reader of my website last summer, you’ll know that I participated in the Alienware Backpacking Challenge, where 4 bloggers were sent out to the big bad world with the bare minimum, a minimal budget and a sweet M11x laptop. We had to endure weekly challenges for 8 weeks, followed by a final public vote for the $5000 winner. I won by the skin of my teeth, which was the icing on the cake. I had so much fun and it was such an incredible experience so I was delighted when I saw that they would be doing the challenge again this summer.

Introducing the contestants

You can follow their weekly challenges and adventures on the Alienware Challenge website. This week they’ve got to make a tourism video about London! That’s pretty cool since there are soooooo many places that one could use in the video. At the end of the week, you’ll be able to vote for your favourite submission.

For those who may be interested in backpacking around Europe or are following this years Alienware challenge, here are some travel tips from last year:

1. Be wise with your money
This point had to be made on video.

2. Be with your friends
As the only female in this contest, I did not travel alone anywhere. These days it’s not safe and I really didn’t feel like being taken advantage of. So I have not really spent a single moment alone in the past 7 weeks as I have been surrounded by my friends.

The only time I was with someone kind of random, I got touched when I fell asleep in the car That was weird.

Not only is it a lot more fun to have someone to share your experiences (and expenses) with, but i’m very humbled by how nice they all were about the weekly challenges. Every single week I have had help from my friends to complete the challenges; wheather they were filming, calling up MMA gyms, helping me with ideas and just generally being supportive.

I felt sorry for the other guys, especially during the sports challenge week as 2 of them didn’t have anyone to film them really doing the sport! So while they had to get creative to show the challenge in other ways, i’m sure their submissions would have been much cooler had they had someone to film them

The best times from my trip (and there were so many, I can’t pick one) were all shared with someone and these people were the ones to help make my trip that much more amazing, special and incredible.

3. Double check EVERYTHING
Normally i’m pretty thorough with checking all the bookings but I think this lesson has been learned by both Ben and I. Earlier in the challenge (maybe around week 2) remember Ben was homeless? I’m sure it could have been avoided by double checking the train station his train was leaving from.

For me I learned this when leaving the Netherlands for Istanbul. Remember the first blog from there? Well it all started when I said to Ed at the airport “Please don’t be mad but… we’re going to another airport than I originally thought”. In my defense I only selected the main airport when booking the tickets but somehow we ended up booked to another airport anyway.

I had no idea where this airport was so when we landed I had to ask exactly where on the map we were. Turns out we were over an hour away from the city. Fantastic. This is where we got scammed into paying for a non-existant shuttle, followed by a “private cab ride”.

4. Research places before you go there
There are so many amazing places in Europe to see and depending on what you like; beaches, archaeological sites, museums, monuments, clubbing etc

Do a little bit of research beforehand to make a rough “plan of attack” about what you want to see and do. Don’t do what I did and think “Hmm this place looks cool from google image search, and it’s sunny… let’s go here!”.

This method CAN work out for you as it’s pretty adventurous to stumble upon places that you’d never expect to, but it’s also really nice to know the history behind everything.

A good website to use is wikitravel.

5. Bring an M11x!
Everyone who i’ve been around has loved this laptop, if only for the disco setting i’ve put the keyboard on. In all seriousness, it’s been my home away from home for the past 7 weeks. Right now I’m in Turkey and I’m enjoying QuakeCon as if I was at home!

Best SC2 Parody ever

Liefje — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:50:56 +0000

Banelings, banelings, banelings… ooooh!

You know how parodies usually are kinda funny.. like, the smile gently tugs at the corner of your mouth but you don’t really laugh or anything? This one is actually good and had me smiling the whole way though.

This is a parody of Justin Bieber’s “Baby”… except better. I love it.

You can find info about video game design classes from this list of online colleges.

Guy ditches wife in labour to play WoW

Liefje — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:41:53 +0000

I found this funny video today, about a girl who went on ‘Tyra’ to seek help for her husbands World of Warcraft “addiction”:

I’d like to point out that the APA has rejected to add “video game addiction” to the new DSM in 2012 (unless further research permits it). It looks like this guy is just escaping his situation through WoW… that or he’s gettin some serious loot in those raids.. (is that what it’s called? hah).

All these documentaries looking at gaming in a very bad light are becoming an increasing issue, because people are starting to believe them. With these “video game addiction clinics” opening up and stories like this one being aired, it’s really no wonder that people really believe gaming is a serious addiction, perhaps instead of looking at the underlying problems (if any) that may cause someone to want to play games for hours a day.

To couple video gaming with a word like “addiction” always puts a negative spin on it, because anything you can get “addicted” to can’t be good for you, right?

Despite this guy being a tool for ditching his wife in labour, it did sound like he made it back in time for the birth!

If you want to know more about the popularity of the game World of Warcraft, check out the infographic below:

Click to Zoom In

Don’t you wish they all could be geek and gamer girls?

Liefje — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:41:16 +0000

Actor / ~~short guy~~ writer Seth Green participated in a funny parody video to the tune of Katy Perry’s “California Girls”. I don’t think I need to say more:

WUT UP N00B!

Video game music

Liefje — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:01:03 +0000

While on my travels for the Alienware Backpacking Challenge, I came across the “Play me, I’m yours” piano at St. Pauls cathedral in London. While waiting for my turn to play (our week 2 challenge was street performing) I was delighted when all of a sudden I started hearing Mario music. Followed by Tetris. Followed by Zelda.

Brilliant! I love how you can find ~~nerds like myself~~ talented gamers all over the globe. Anyway, after making an interview with the guy, we kept in touch and he’s now uploaded a bunch of his music on youtube.

For you guys who love yourself some killer video game music, check out this rendition of the Super Mario Overworld theme:

Like it? Feel free to check out the rest at Fabian Gulde.

All good things must come to an end

Liefje — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:51:46 +0000

I knew that I would type WAY too much to summarize my experiences this summer, so I decided to mash together a bunch of out takes which none of you saw before. I’ll admit, there’s still HOURS of unseen stuff but this was taking way too long and if I wanted to have it finished before the voting was over, I had to cut it short.

I travelled a total of around 12,000+km! I also visited 2 continents as I went over to the Asia side of Turkey. Darn, I should have taken the boat from Sicily to Tunisia (Africa) and made it 3!

My route map involved travelling from Rotterdam -> Antwerp -> Paris -> London -> Rotterdam -> Amsterdam -> Sicily -> Bologna -> Rotterdam -> Istanbul.

Thank you all so much for following my journey with the Alienware Backpacking Challenge. Now my site can return to normal

Gamers fight back

Liefje — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:04:22 +0000

Some guys tried to rob a LAN cafe but the gamers wouldn’t have any of it. You want my DS? HELL NO…

Quake Life

Liefje — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:10:35 +0000

For this weeks challenge, I bring you Quake Life:

The funniest part about this is that it started with the roommate of Videl, who isn’t a gamer, but follows what Videl does. When we were walking home she all of a sudden said “lets play Quake” and started strafing down the street.

Vote here!

Pimp my laptop

Liefje — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 10:36:50 +0000

I’m in Italy now with the beautiful Quaker Videl and she has a little message:

You might also like to see Bologna by scooter, since i’m here now for the Alienware Challenge:

Alienware Challenge Week 1

Liefje — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:53:50 +0000

Since I never really had time to post on my site about this, for those of you who don’t know I am doing the Alienware Backpacking Challenge, hence the lack of updates lately. If you’re interested in my travels, make sure to read my blog on the Alienware site as i’m updating it almost daily.

Week one is over and the submissions for each challenge is in. My stories of interest were the interview I made with Justin Wong, plus I have also interviewed Hawr1x, an incredibly passionate Czech gamer. Check it out below:

If you liked what i’ve done and think that it’s good enough to win, please take 2 minutes of your day to vote for me. You go into the draw to win the Alienware M11x. I’ve been using it for the past week and once I got over the disco lights, I actually realized its a beastly machine! It’s better than my desktop

Anyway, to vote for me, click here (psst, I’m Livia!).

On a side note, i’m really sorry but i’ve had to make it so that you must register to post comments on my website. The spam is currently overwhelming and I can not deal with it when I am on the road.