Ask an Intern

It just occurred to me that most of you only know me as "the guy who posts trailers", and that's not right. I want to be known as "Intern Perry, the guy who awkwardly introduced himself one month into his internship... and also posts trailers" and I suppose the only way to do that is to awkwardly introduce myself. Hi! I'm Perry, and I'm one of the fall interns for Whiskey Media. Like many of the interns before me, I am a mass communications/journalism student whose dream is to write about games for a living. As of now, I’ve pretty much completed all the general education courses required to graduate college, and can now focus on classes that required for my major.

Along with uploading trailers, I'm also the guy in charge of creating quests, wiki tasks, and community promos. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t promote the Free to Play series that Matt, Steve, Dan, and I will be doing during the duration of our internships. After all, you can never have too much witty banter!

Dragon Nest Is Worth Playing - Free To Play - Gameplay

Hellgate: London Resurrection - Still Not Very Good - Free To Play

Vindictus is Vindiculous - Free to Play

I could go into greater detail about what I do, but I figure most of my predecessors have already done just that. So instead of writing a long story about my experiences here at Whiskey Media, I’d like to hear what you want to know about. What are some questions you’ve had floating around in that beautiful mind of yours that have yet to be answered?

To make things go a little more smoothly on my end, I’ve created a formspring account where you can dump your inquiries. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer every question (chances are I won’t), but I’ll try to answer as many as possible. And if for some reason you want to hear more about my crazy hijinks, you can follow me @ http://twitter.com/#!/PerryVandell

http://www.formspring.me/perryvandell

Thanks for reading!

It just occurred to me that most of you only know me as "the guy who posts trailers", and that's not right. I want to be known as "Intern Perry, the guy who awkwardly introduced himself one month into his internship... and also posts trailers" and I suppose the only way to do that is to awkwardly introduce myself. Hi! I'm Perry, and I'm one of the fall interns for Whiskey Media. Like many of the interns before me, I am a mass communications/journalism student whose dream is to write about games for a living. As of now, I’ve pretty much completed all the general education courses required to graduate college, and can now focus on classes that required for my major.

Along with uploading trailers, I'm also the guy in charge of creating quests, wiki tasks, and community promos. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t promote the Free to Play series that Matt, Steve, Dan, and I will be doing during the duration of our internships. After all, you can never have too much witty banter!

Dragon Nest Is Worth Playing - Free To Play - Gameplay

Hellgate: London Resurrection - Still Not Very Good - Free To Play

Vindictus is Vindiculous - Free to Play

I could go into greater detail about what I do, but I figure most of my predecessors have already done just that. So instead of writing a long story about my experiences here at Whiskey Media, I’d like to hear what you want to know about. What are some questions you’ve had floating around in that beautiful mind of yours that have yet to be answered?

To make things go a little more smoothly on my end, I’ve created a formspring account where you can dump your inquiries. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer every question (chances are I won’t), but I’ll try to answer as many as possible. And if for some reason you want to hear more about my crazy hijinks, you can follow me @ http://twitter.com/#!/PerryVandell

http://www.formspring.me/perryvandell

Thanks for reading!

What are your thoughts on Banjo-Kazooie?

Who drinks the most coffee? Or who has the most of a singular beverage?

How much do you enjoy your job?

Other than posting videos, and getting the regular staff lunch, what are some of a WM interns responsibilities.?

@PerryVandell: Now following you on FormSpring! Be prepared for some really dumb questions. But not from me, I only come up with moderately dumb questions.

I have just orded the signed bomcast poster what i would like to know is are there a lot of them allready signed or do you go round and sign one each time an order comes in?

Why are you so terrible?

Also, write me some damned Quests, dude. They don't make themselves.

What's Ethan really like?

Should Miyamoto die?

@Daniel said:

Also, write me some damned Quests, dude. They don't make themselves.

Now we know who to shout at next time it's ask for a platform game with a plummer and Mario doesn't count.

This is more of a location/area kind of question.

I'm about to drive out to the bay area to knock on doors/job hunt for a video position in new media. Are there any hostels around that aren't incredibly dangerous/rodriguez-y that I could stay at for a week or two while on the hunt? Also, assuming I find a job, where's a decent place to live in the area that is commute friendly, but also kind of affordable?

NOTE: My question isn't "Should I do this?". Of course I shouldn't. Nor should I sell my camera to finance the trip. These are known.

@Daniel, I'll throw this one at you too, you've been a big help the last couple of weeks (this is @rob_steffen's new wm account)

EDIT: Also, perry, if for some reason your internship hasn't provided you with intimate knowledge of the bay area hostel scene, i can accept that. though it does make me question the value of a career in web media as a whole.

@Hizang said:

What are your thoughts on Banjo-Kazooie?

It was a great game when it first game out, but many of the game mechanics are so outdated that it's difficult to enjoy it as much as I used to.

@Dany said:

Who drinks the most coffee? Or who has the most of a singular beverage?

The big coffee drinkers are Brad, Ryan, and Norm.

@Athadam said:

How much do you enjoy your job?

I couldn't imagine working anywhere else now.

What does Kessler smell like?

Specifically.

@Bonsai said:

Other than posting videos, and getting the regular staff lunch, what are some of a WM interns responsibilities.?

I upload stuff to Facebook and Youtube, promote community content, and create quests. I also do free to plays with Dan and company.

@Daniel said:

Why are you so terrible?

Who knows, maybe you've rubbed off on me.

@Psycosis said:

What's Ethan really like?

A man of quiet intensity.

What made you choose Giant Bomb for internship?

Sorry for the boring/generic question :P

@videorob said:

This is more of a location/area kind of question.

I'm about to drive out to the bay area to knock on doors/job hunt for a video position in new media. Are there any hostels around that aren't incredibly dangerous/rodriguez-y that I could stay at for a week or two while on the hunt? Also, assuming I find a job, where's a decent place to live in the area that is commute friendly, but also kind of affordable?

NOTE: My question isn't "Should I do this?". Of course I shouldn't. Nor should I sell my camera to finance the trip. These are known.

@Daniel, I'll throw this one at you too, you've been a big help the last couple of weeks (this is @rob_steffen's new wm account)

EDIT: Also, perry, if for some reason your internship hasn't provided you with intimate knowledge of the bay area hostel scene, i can accept that. though it does make me question the value of a career in web media as a whole.

I don't live in a hostel, but I imagine there are some cheap places you could find on craigslist that weren't stained with blood at some point. If you're looking for a job in the city, try to live somewhere near a bart station. It costs me about $60 a week to commute to San Francisco, which is pretty good when you consider the parking rates. They have a map of the stations at bart.gov. Hope that helps, and good luck on your job hunt!

@EuanDewar: He's been playing a lot of Condemned so I'd say fear.

Perry the Platypus

What college do you go too? And how does this work into your school schedule?

@Fizzy said:

What made you choose Giant Bomb for internship?

Because I've been following these guys since the Gamespot days and love the work they do, so being able to learn from them is a huge plus.

@SSully said:

What college do you go too? And how does this work into your school schedule?

Las Positas College. I'm taking a semester off to do this internship.

@PerryVandell said:

@Psycosis said:

What's Ethan really like?

A man of quiet intensity.

Except without the quiet part.

@PerryVandell said:

@Fizzy said:

What made you choose Giant Bomb for internship?

Because I've been following these guys since the Gamespot days and love the work they do, so being able to learn from them is a huge plus.

Probably looks good on a resume too!

Are you hoping to become a permanent feature at Giant Bomb or are you going to move on after the internship?

@PerryVandell said:

@Daniel said:

Why are you so terrible?

Who knows, maybe you've rubbed off on me.

You should tell Melissa about that, that sounds like sexual harassment.

1. What was your least favorite film? (Mine was "Sleepaway Camp 2, FYI.)

2. Also, do any of you know that you have the power to change your username to include spaces and dashes (as in "Glenn Tennis" or "Perry Vandell" ) now?

Who gets the same thing almost always.

I'm thinking Jeff.

This has probably been answered before but how did you become an intern?

This has probably been answered before but how did you become an intern?

Rusty Hearts could be so much better if you didn't look like every single other person in the entire game. I mean, you kind of have that in games like WoW, but at the same time, there is NO customization in this, so no personality.

@Fizzy said:

@PerryVandell said:

@Fizzy said:

What made you choose Giant Bomb for internship?

Because I've been following these guys since the Gamespot days and love the work they do, so being able to learn from them is a huge plus.

Probably looks good on a resume too!

*Employer reads resume*

Internships:

Giant Bomb

*Employer calls FBI*

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@Fizzy said:

@PerryVandell said:

@Fizzy said:

What made you choose Giant Bomb for internship?

Because I've been following these guys since the Gamespot days and love the work they do, so being able to learn from them is a huge plus.

Probably looks good on a resume too!

*Employer reads resume*

Internships:

Giant Bomb

Whiskey Media

*Employer accuses him of alcoholism*

@MooseyMcMan said:

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@Fizzy said:

@PerryVandell said:

@Fizzy said:

What made you choose Giant Bomb for internship?

Because I've been following these guys since the Gamespot days and love the work they do, so being able to learn from them is a huge plus.

Probably looks good on a resume too!

*Employer reads resume*

Internships:

Whiskey Media sites including the following

Comic Vine

Screened

Tested

Giant Bomb

*Employer accuses him of alcoholism and calls FBI from screening bombs to be tested. Also comic books are for nerds.*

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@Fizzy said:

@PerryVandell said:

@Fizzy said:

What made you choose Giant Bomb for internship?

Because I've been following these guys since the Gamespot days and love the work they do, so being able to learn from them is a huge plus.

Probably looks good on a resume too!

*Employer reads resume*

Internships:

Whiskey Media sites including the following

Comic Vine

Screened

Tested

Giant Bomb

Anime Vice

*Employer accuses him of alcoholism and calls FBI from screening bombs to be tested. Also comic books are for nerds. And anime is for jerks.*

@MooseyMcMan said:

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@Fizzy said:

@PerryVandell said:

@Fizzy said:

What made you choose Giant Bomb for internship?

Because I've been following these guys since the Gamespot days and love the work they do, so being able to learn from them is a huge plus.

Probably looks good on a resume too!

*Employer reads resume*

Internships:

Whiskey Media sites including the following

Comic Vine

Screened

Tested

Giant Bomb

Anime Vice

*Employer accuses him of alcoholism and calls FBI from screening bombs to be tested. Also comic books are for nerds. And anime is for jerks.*

We don't talk about Anime Vice.

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@Fizzy said:

@PerryVandell said:

@Fizzy said:

What made you choose Giant Bomb for internship?

Because I've been following these guys since the Gamespot days and love the work they do, so being able to learn from them is a huge plus.

Probably looks good on a resume too!

*Employer reads resume*

Internships:

Whiskey Media sites including the following

Comic Vine

Screened

Tested

Giant Bomb

Anime Vice

*Employer accuses him of alcoholism and calls FBI from screening bombs to be tested. Also comic books are for nerds. And anime is for jerks.*

We don't talk about Anime Vice.

TOO LATE! THE DEED IS DONE!

I'll make up for it with something so American it negates it.

How much for a bag of Premium Egypt?

What are you most proud of, Whiskey Media or otherwise?

@Dany said:

Who gets the same thing almost always.

I'm thinking Jeff.

Jeff won't get the same thing all the time, but it's always only bread, meat and cheese. It's the same as my sandwich only I have mustard.

@Fizzy said:

@PerryVandell said:

@Fizzy said:

What made you choose Giant Bomb for internship?

Because I've been following these guys since the Gamespot days and love the work they do, so being able to learn from them is a huge plus.

Probably looks good on a resume too!

Are you hoping to become a permanent feature at Giant Bomb or are you going to move on after the internship?

I'd love to have a permanent feature on the site but I already know that's not happening.

@GlenTennis said:

@PerryVandell said:

@Daniel said:

Why are you so terrible?

Who knows, maybe you've rubbed off on me.

You should tell Melissa about that, that sounds like sexual harassment.

There's a file sitting on Shelby's desk as we speak.

@Hizang said:

What are your thoughts on Banjo-Kazooie?

It was a great game when it first game out, but many of the game mechanics are so outdated that it's difficult to enjoy it as much as I used to.

@NekuSakuraba said:

This has probably been answered before but how did you become an intern?

I interviewed with Ethan for about 20 minutes or so, then talked about games and movies with Jeff, Alex, and Rorie. After they deemed me to be sane enough for the job, Ethan had me come back a couple weeks later to run chat for the screening room, and after that offered me an internship position. Originally I was going to be a summer intern, but ended up starting in the fall, which was fine with me.

@nrh79: I'm pretty proud of getting this internship as I worked hard to become an active member of the community and make videos like this:

I can also drink large quantities of diet coke if that counts.

How does the dream compare to the reality? Any one specific thing stand out, whether it's production, work load or otherwise, that you didn't realized you'd be doing/went on behind the scenes?