HOPE

Our Fake Rockband Group had a Real Drummer

Arun — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:54:35 +0000

So if you’ve been keeping up with this blog you’ll know that we did a Rockband game Battle of the Bands Tournament to raise money for HOPEresearch. The drummer for our band, The Cougar Tamers, one Evan W., was this quiet dude who worked at Gamestop that volunteered at the last minute to help us out. And then a friend linked the following vid to me. Turns out, while Evan was at a concert for a REAL band called Dredg in Tucson, AZ, they asked if anyone from the audience would be interested in playing with the band on a song called ‘Bug Eyes’. Well, I’m proud to say that our drummer stepped in and proceeded to tear the house down.Evan W. of the Cougar Tamers, playing with Dredg

Battle of the Bands 2009 – Success!

Arun — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:44:55 +0000

I am pleased to report that the 2009 HOPE Fundraiser was a stonking success. 6 bands, a packed venue, and over 5k raised to support HOPEresearch in addition to the local United Way charity that provides prescription assistance. The glam rock house band, ‘The Cougar Tamers’, fronted by yours truly, reeled the audience in with our heels, leather and eyeliner. Lots of eyeliner. For Those Who Came and Rawked – We Salute You.

We’re famous at Hopkins!!

Hon — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:04:50 +0000

I forgot to post that we were recently featured on the Hopkins Website and their recent publications. To view the article click here.

From the ground here at Hopkins – October 09

Hon — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:35:49 +0000

Sorry guys for a recent lack of updates on what’s been happening on the ground here at Hopkins with regards to projectHOPE’s research arm. Hopefully, this post should make up for it and bring everyone up to scratch with what’s going.

The major update that’s happened here at Hopkins is that we have recently been given the greenlight by Steve Sears (head of desktop computing) to install our WiFi network to enable System Link Xbox 360 LAN multiplayer video gaming for the kids on the 4th and 9th floor at the Children’s Hospital. This has been a major triumph for us at projectHOPE and the Child Life department and we look forward to using the new WiFi network as a means of providing socialization for hospitalized children. In addition to providing a means of socialization via multiplayer video games, the WiFi network will allow us to implement a low-cost system to stream multimedia content to the bedside of children. This will enable children to access music, movies and TV shows at any time of the day without requiring the presence of a Child Life specialist, kind of like the inflight entertainment systems found on most airlines.

In addition to the recent developments with the installation of the WiFi network, the research division has been given a massive boost with the help of Catherine Craven. Catherine has helped me formulate our literature search strategy, thereby enabling me to start working on the Systematic Review of literature and by extension the background section of our IRB proposal to begin a trial at Hopkins looking to formally study the effects of video games on anxiety levels of pediatric inpatients.

So that’s it for the first half of October. Stay tuned for further updates in the next two weeks when we plan to submit our IRB proposal for ethics approval. Remember, to subscribe to our RSS feed for further automatic updates.

United Way Fiscal Sponsorship Confirmed!

Arun — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:22:34 +0000

Awesome news – The local United Way branch called Faith in Action has kindly agreed to be our fiscal sponsor this year for our second annual ‘Battle of the Bands’ fundraiser for HOPEresearch! We’re huge fans of the work that FIA does for low income patients, and are so excited that they are now going to be a part of our fundraising effort! Our sincerest thanks to the members of the Board and Patty, the exec director who helped champion our cause! Its time to put the old band back together – we’ve got a concert to plan!

NerdcoreLearning AMSA 2009

Arun — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:23:00 +0000

I spell awesome AMSA (american medical student assn). Francis and I are at AMSA 2009, meeting with some super cool med students, who also happen to be awesome at Guitar Hero. Come by our booth and say the phrase, ‘Nerd is the Nu Cool.’ and get a free calendar or t-shirt.

Life is Good

Arun — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:23:00 +0000

OK, things are moving along swimmingly. New site construction is underway, the ‘Thank You’ music video has been well received, our research fellow draws a step closer to starting in earnest – life is good. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Principle Footage ‘Thank You’ Music Video

Arun — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:55:00 +0000

OK, we’ve just finished filming the principle footage for the projectHOPE music video. I’ll be sending off the raw capture to our video editor today. Before we did the last takes, Danny and I randomly checked out the documentary footage shot by Stanley Kubrick’s daughter during the filming of ‘The Shining’. Magical stuff, especially with the commentary on. It was on the now defunct HD DVD for the same, but I think you can find the documentary (sans commentary, sadly) online on YouTube.

23 360’s Courtesy of HOPE!

Arun — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:47:00 +0000

Hey all – my apologies for not keeping this blog up to date. There’s been a ton of news regarding projectHOPE – so much so, I don’t quite no where to begin. My last post detailed some of the issues relating to the installation 23 Xbox360’s on one of the pediatric wings of John Hopkins hospital – well, thanks to the ceaseless efforts of the team, that installation can be chalked up as a success – the consoles are in and kids are playing them, yesseriie Bob! We’re still working out networking permissions, but with an institution as large as the Hopper, this is understandable. I’m going to drip feed the events of the past few months because one post simply wouldn’t do justice. Here are some highlights, tho: new website coming, frikken sweet online graphic novel coming, the mother of all fund-raisers, Comic-Con, and the launch of the HOPE merch store – dewds, this party just got real.

John Steven’s Pub Meetup

Arun — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 22:18:00 +0000

HOPE Install – Jan 13-14th 2008

OK team – nice work with the install. We met up at the always impressive John Steven pub in Fells Point in Baltimore (the curried scallops were unreal!) and worked through the logistics of both the coming year in addition to the particulars of the install on the 9th floor of the pediatric floor at Hopkins. Met up the following day with Bill Bohns who proved pivotal with the particulars of the install. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to meet up with other key individuals that made this install possible – Patrice Brylske, Joe Green, Elizabeth Shaughnessy, Francis Russell, Lisa Huber, Tiffany Button and Steve Sears. Regardless, our gratitude knows no bounds!

For those of you who want the nitty-gritty particulars, we’ll be posting the videos of the install shortly!