Fun fact: Irrational Games' Ken Levine once was asked to write a romantic comedy vehicle for Christian singer Amy Grant, probably best known for her hit single, "Baby Baby."
Long before Levine was working on games like System Shock 2, Freedom Force, and BioShock, he had aspirations to become a Hollywood screenwriter. When Hollywood came knocking, asking Levine to rewrite a script called Devil's Advocate (not to be confused with the 1997 Keanu Reeves film of the same name), he grudgingly obliged. Levine says the final product, a story about "a devil who comes to Earth to corrupt an incorruptible human" (to be play by Grant), was "f*cking terrible."
The film was never produced, but Levine got his check and went on a spending spree, which included picking up a VCR and the Sega Master System.
This amazing tidbit was part of the latest episode of the "Irrational Behavior" podcast, where the studio's finest reveal past employment horror stories. I'd suggest you share yours, but it's pretty hard to top "I had to write a romantic comedy for Amy Grant."
Contest:
9:30 PM on 03.03.2010
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Me thinks me turn 22 today...will somebody...get me a present
2 internets to the person that can name where that came from
I'd just started working in a pathology lab in a hospital (its generally small bits of tissue, like tiny bits cut off tumours, getting dissected and looked at under microscopes). Any tissues are kept in formalin in a plastic pot on these sliding shelves. I saw these massive terracotta pots on the bottom shelf and decided to take a look, they looked so out of place and "un-clinical". They also said brains on, scribbled by hand with an exclamation mark, so obviously a joke right?
I opened one of them and there was just this dry brain lying there, and it fucking stank. Turns out you can't keep them in fluid or they fall apart. I quickly closed the pot, but was convinced I could still smell it so I opened a window and a door to get rid of the smell.
I got on with what I was doing and the head pathologist came in, sniffed, and just said "Who opened the brain jar?" I tried to deny it, which probably didn't help. Needless to say he asked me not to come back the next day, for tampering with his research.
A friend's dad who became a dentist had to examine a cadaver with the skull sawn off during grad school for some reason. He said the brains sort of smelled like Fritos. I've always wondered it that was true.