I accidentally dropped my iPhone 3G at a gas station outside of Utah during the course of my 2009 Roadtrip. Apparently, my phone, keys, sunglasses, credit card and gas cap were just too much to handle. Face down, the glass screen exhibited a couple of noticeable cracks when I picked it up, but it was otherwise functional. Eight months later, wear-and-tear built up and the cracks enlarged, so I purchased a iPhone screen replacement from Amazon.com and tested my do-it-yourself skills. This $12 alternative sure beats a new $200 iPhone when a new model is two months from being unveiled. But I must caution you: this is not for amateurs as many things can go wrong and result in a more-broken iPhone.

Luckily, I’m good with my hands and was able to replace the cracked iPhone while recording the entire process in HD. The video above is sped up so that it’s only 60 seconds long and set to the fast-paced classical tune Sabre Dance.

One of the advantages of moving out to LA is that I can now report from more videogame events events without having to travel far and wide to get there. Case in point, videogame publisher THQ is based in Agoura Hills, CA and invited me to check out the company’s upcoming game Darksiders on December 10. I got a chance to play through much of the game at the Four Seasons hotel and film a video interview with creative director Joe Madureira. You can hear what the well-known comic book writer/artist and game developer had to say in my first-ever on-camera interview below.

Sony also invited me to cover an LA-based launch event, this one to promote the impending release of God of War III for PlayStation 3. This Greek mythology-themed media opportunity featured appropriate lamb appetizers and divine ale, but I was too busy filming another video interview with a game developer to partake. You can watch me question project coordinator William Weissbaum below and read my launch event coverage by clicking here.

I’ve never talked to someone who didn’t understand a word I was saying until today, when I was lucky enough to interview the team behind the upcoming videogame Final Fantasy XIII. At Square Enix’s offices in Los Angeles, I talked to Yoshinori Kitase, who has been with the company since the first Final Fantasy on the original Nintendo, Motomu Toriyama, who has been there since the most memorable Final Fantasy, FFVII, and Yuiji Abe, who is the new battle director.

The best part is that I wasn’t told about the interview opportunity; I went to the offices that day only knowing about the playable demo. When I was offered a chance to talk to the team, I said, “Sure,” thinking it’d be the usual American-based dialogue editor or marketing manager. After playing the game for 20 minutes, then jotting down a few questions in my notebook while waiting in the lobby, I was led into a board room. There, Mr. Kitase, Mr. Toriyama, and Mr. Abe were sitting on one side of the long table. Shocked, I slowly sat down on at the opposite side of the table and clutched my notebook. At the head of the boardroom table was a Japanese translator. She would help conduct the interview.

Talking with someone who doesn’t understand English was a mind-blowing experience. There’s significant lag between between body language and understanding what the other person is saying. I found this most striking when I asked my third question. “One of the PRs said that we were having trouble getting past the Behemoth King during our demo. Do you have a trick to help us get beat the Behemoth King,” I asked in a very funny way. It’s not everyday that a journalist asks these giants of the videogame industry for gameplay tips, so the three people fluent in English in the room laughed… none of the three game developers thought it was funny. I was crushed! About 30 seconds later, all three burst out laughing. I must have had the biggest smile on my face. I felt like the conversation really picked up from that point forward.

When the interview wrapped up, I said thank you and stood up to leave. That’s when battle director Mr. Abe motioned to my pen, the LiveScribe Pulse, and questioned me with the simple phrase “Your pen? Your pen?” I explained that it recorded conversations and allowed me to write down notes with normal ink on specialized micro-dotted paper. Later on, I’d be able to go back and touch my notes and play back what was said at the moment I had initially touched my pen down onto the paper. It’s a journalist’s best friend. The Japanese translator told them what I had said about the pen and all three at the same time expressed amazement with, “Ooooohhh!” I had her translate, “That’s the first time anyone from Japan was impressed with American technology.” Ten seconds later, when the translator finished reciting my joke in Japanese, all three men let out another laugh.

You can read my preview by clicking on Final Fantasy XIII: 7 Reasons to Wait in Line for it Next Month and read the text interview here.

The short-lived Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien was ending within seven months of its debut and NBC was replacing the redheaded talk show host with his predecessor, Jay Leno. This almost made me want to watch the captivating Letterman-Leno made-for-HBO drama “Late Shift,” but there was no time! Knowing that only three episode were left until Conan’s Tonight Show finale, I woke up at 5:30 AM and left for a nearby cold, wet and rainy Universal Studios and received standby ticket #33. A couple of hours of waiting led to disappointment on this day as the NBC pages turned away everyone above number 30. Even more disappointing was when I found out via Twitter that they eventually let in a couple of additional standby ticket holders and I could’ve made it into the third-to-last Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. Drats!

This reminded me of the half dozen times my friend George and I took the train to New York City to wait in line for standby tickets to Conan’s previous show, Late Night. We didn’t make it into that show every time either, but I’ll never forget the first time we successfully saw Late Night live: the day before the start of our senior year in high school and the first time we toured New York City as adults – on September 5, 2001. A life-changing experience.

Well, what’s better than seeing the third-to-last episode? The second-to-last episode, of course! Better yet, I was joined by a friend, who is also a writer at Gaming Target, and we got to see the taping in all of its splendor. Truly an awesome talk show set and, even as a Leno fan, I’m sad to see this underrated show get canceled.

I went back again two weeks later after Thanksgiving for Christmas and New Year’s, only my parents weren’t hope to greet me this time. They were on vacation in sunny Florida for two more days. That meant I was responsible for shoveling the 23-inches of snow that fell the day after I arrived. From California’s 70-degree weather to almost two dozen inches of snow. What timing! The snow and the house sans my parents meant that I got to play with my dogs outside. Here’s a short HD video of Molly playing in the snow.

I rewarded myself by seeing Avatar in 3D and opted for the IMAX Experience version to boot. A week later, I saw Sherlock Holmes. In between these two theater excursions, I celebrated Christmas with my extended family and was thankful to see my neighborhood lit-up with beautiful Christmas lights and luminaries lining all of the curbs. Here’s a quick video what driving through Swan Point looks like on Christmas Eve. I celebrated New Year’s Eve with friends and, the next day, took a trip to New York City. In 2005, friend George and I rang in the New Year by standing in Time Square, so a post-NYE visit to the Big Apple seemed like a smarter idea.

My route back to Los Angeles (really, to Burbank Airport [really Bob Hope Airport, but few people call it that]) went through Phoenix. A layover in Arizona’s capital city meant an hour wait and an extra takeoff and landing, but it also meant a more affordable ticket. Even more cost-permissive is volunteering to take a later flight to a nearby city like Santa Ana and receiving a $300 voucher for the act. That’s exactly what happened when US Air overbooked my original transfer flight from Phoenix to Burbank the day before the 2010 BCS Championship Game in Pasadena. The Phoenix airport was equally flooded with orange and red sweatshirts, as Texas Longhorn and Alabama Crimson Tide fans were on their way to the Rose Bowl.

I was happy to give up my seat for the eager college football fans and receive the $300 voucher. I know that I’ll use the ticket the next time I visit home, probably in the summer. Of course, I was regretting my decision right before landing in Santa Ana – my hands were bracing my knees as the nighttime flight tilted almost 90 degree twice and everyone (not just me) had concerned looks on their faces. Now I know what meteorologists mean by the Santa Ana winds!

With our lease ending at Avalon Media Center, the New Year meant a new apartment for my roommates and me. Two days of apartment hunting led us to Avalon Burbank. Same city and same company, but a much better complex. A large pool, hot tub, newly renovated kitchen, and gym with almost as many TV screens as excessive machines were the highlights in my second LA apartment complex. Such upgrades are naturally more expensive, but we had another roommate join us from Philadelphia, so it worked out to be almost the same price as Avalon Media Center. Having a designated parking space in the underground garage instead of having to resort to street parking and meeting new friends in the centrally located, always-social hot tub were my two favorite aspects of this large complex.

I wasn’t expected to go home for Thanksgiving having returned for the unexpected visit in September and knowing I’d be visiting again in one month’s time during Christmas break. But my mom’s milestone birthday and an ideal roundtrip ticket price made it possible and served as a great way to surprise my mom for her birthday. My dad and sister and her family had arranged a surprise party at my sister’s home the day after I flew into Philadelphia. So, not only would she be surprised about the party in which her extended family and friends were invited, but, seconds after the initial surprise, she’d be shocked again by my presence.

Staying with my sister the night before the surprise party, I was on hand to answer the door the next morning. Three questions dominated the job of “door opener” courtesy of our witty relatives and family friends. They were: “Hey there, Hollywood, 1) Where’s your tan? 2) How many celebrities have you met? 3) Can you surf yet?” Predictable. From predictable to traditional, Thanksgiving occurred as if I had never left except for one tiny change: My sister and her husband welcomed their third child, Brayden. This was the first chance I got to meet my new nephew.

This trip home ended a lot like my last in which my dad and I toured the USS New Jersey. Across the Delaware River on the Philadelphia side lies the USS Olympia and USS Becuna. The Olympia is an oldest steel warship that’s still afloat, having been commissioned in 1895 and, three years later, used as the flagship of Commodore George Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War. The Becuna couldn’t be any different; it’s a WWII vessel, a submarine and, naturally, much more cramped.

Back in LA for a mere 15 days, I got a chance to report on a videogame called Darksiders in Agoura Hills, visit Malibu Beach and have dinner in Santa Monica. Now I’m on a plane back to Philadelphia where family, friends and Christmas await.

The Berlin Wall gave way to revolution that swept the Eastern Bloc in the summer and ultimately resulted in the dismantling of the Iron Curtain 20 years ago today. The communist-controlled GDR is no more and Germany reunification followed this historic event. However, sections of the concrete wall still stand in museums and parks all over the world.

I was five years old and too young to remember the live news coverage from 1989, but I was fortunate enough to observe eight graffiti-filled panels of the Berlin Wall at The Newseum in Washington, D.C., the first stop of my cross-country roadtrip. This experience, along with the world’s remembrance and the media’s replaying of the timeless news coverage, put the pivotal moments into an even greater context.

Interviewing Netflix VP of Corporate Communications Steve Swasey, reviewing games like NHL 10 and Wipeout HD and playtesting yet-to-be releases titles for my Just Cause 2 preview and Star Trek D-A-C preview kept me busy.

Reporting on Star Trek D-A-C was especially interesting. First, it involved a trip to the Paramount Pictures. There I was, driving my roadtrip-dirt-covered 1997 Toyota Corolla through the iconic wrought-iron gates of the Paramount lot and visiting the last major film studio to have its headquarters in a Hollywood zip code. Second, I played the game while wearing 3D glasses and experiencing the benefits of the NVIDIA’s 3D Vision Kit.

“All of [the action] appeared as if it were happening two inches off the screen, thus combining two of life’s geekiest things: 3D graphics and Star Trek. Truly a match made in nerd heaven,” I wrote in my article. (more…)

MLB.com updated its Game 4 news story a little too early, claiming that the Phillies lost. The writers foolishly didn’t anticipate Jimmy Rollins getting a walk-off hit in the 9th to end the game. So, I whipped up this very appropriate “Dewey Defeats Truman” mock photo using their headline.

One more win to go before returning to the World Series.