Halo Diehards Spotlight: Sal, HaloFanForLife (HFFL)

Posted by CHa0s:

You’ve got your Halo fans, and then you’ve got your DIEHARD HALO FANS. Our next guest is of the latter. Anyone who is familiar with the Halo Diehards website knows that most of our articles here are cut-and-paste (all referred back to the original source, of course). Sal over at HaloFanForLife takes it one step further, adding personal commentary, breaking down and pulling images from videos, creating custom content like the Starship Comparison Chart, doing critiques on Halo figures and more – – we don’t know how he does it all!

In his spare time, Sal collects Halo and other space paraphernalia and grows a vegetable garden, making fresh sauces and salsa from his garden. If he gives half the attention to his salsa that his does his website, get me some chips – I’m diggin’ in! Included in his collections is a three-foot Halo 2 Master Chief made of foam that freaks out the family dog, Annie.

Please join me in welcoming Sal, one of the diehardiest Halo fans I know.

 

 

10 Questions with Sal (aka HFFL aka HaloFanForLife)

 

Approximately how many hours of Halo do you play a week?

I live Halo, I don’t play it, LOL. Seriously though, way too much. I figure I play Halo about 30 hours a week give or take. I used to play even more, but now that I’ve achieved most of my goals in Halo Reach, I don’t play it as much. All of my commendations are either Onyx (most of which are Max) and the rest Gold…except one which is Silver. That’s one of my two goals remaining. Get that one to Gold (it’s the Small Arms commendaton in Multiplayer of which I’m less than 150 kills away from as of this writing) and the other is have 50 million credits in my Reach bankroll before Halo 4 comes out. Technically I’ve already exceeded that as I currently have 46.3 million creds and spent more than 9 million getting all the armory stuff. However, I want to see that “50” in the actual credits. Now THAT is one “50” I can achieve. Never did in Halo 3… :(

 

 

Where did you get the idea for halofanforlife.com?

I had been toying with the idea of having a blog for awhile. My wife suggested it to me again and gave me some info on how to create a blog. I had a page once a couple of years ago and did nothing with it. Then I found I had more time on my hands and really wanted to get more involved with Halo and the fan community, so I started HaloFanForLife.com. I just had my one-year anniversary for the blog on September 25 (yes it coincides with the release of Halo3). I held trivia contests, 10 to be exact. It was a good day for the blog.

 

How do you go about coming up with your ideas?

Part of the reasoning is that I liked what some others had done with their Halo blogs, most notably BS Angel (aka Jessica Shea) now of 343. I’ve been an art director for some time and a graphic designer for years preceding that, so I already had experience. Though that was all print related. The blog was an opportunity to get my feet wet and my hands dirty in the realm of digital website design.

 

What’s the most memorable thing that has happened while you were playing Halo on LIVE?

Wow, now that’s an answer I could go on and on about for a LONG time. Most memorable though? Well there is one thing, but that kind of answer might not be appropriate, so I’ll refrain from stating it, LOL. I’ll just have to site several very memorable instances. First and foremost over the last 3+ years being a part of a gaming group. More on that later. Having been able to game with Bungie folks on a map I made in Halo 3 was awesome. As well, I’ve had the pleasure to game with several 343 folks in Reach. BS Angel for one, and Vic Deleon is another that comes to mind. Good folks.

 

 

Have you created other Halo content?

I’ve been a writer/moderator/toy reviewer for a Halo collecting site.

 

 

If you knew Earth were going to get glassed one year from today, what would you do with that year?

Assuming everyone else knew as well? Well, I’d just go on living life normally. There really isn’t much we could do about it as we don’t have the technology to combat something like being glassed. I’d certainly spend more time with my wife, family and friends. Probably less time playing Halo…maybe.

 

 

What are your thoughts on – – Cortana?

“I’m a married spud, I’m a married spud.” Okay, she’s another in a great line of hot sci-fi blue chicks. As far as the character goes, I think it’s a fantastic character. She’s the humanity behind Chief, yet she’s not human at all, well other than having Halsey’s cloned brain imprint. She’s of course smart, yet still seems to have a certain innocence about her. From the looks of Halo 4 footage, THAT is going to change dramatically. I really, REALLY hope 343 does not kill her off. Chief and Cortana go hand in hand. A big part of Halo would die for me if she were permanently erased.

 

 

List some people who inspire you and why.

My wife as she’s a hard worker and puts up with me. My mother-in-law for the same reasons. Yes folks, some people DO have great relationships with their mother-in-laws. Neil deGrasse Tyson. He’s an Astrophysicist. Someone I’d really like to meet in person one day. I’d have SO many questions for him. Andrew Sparkes, Vice President from Mega Brands. Mega Brands holds the license for Halo related construction toys, similar to Le..o I just hate to say the competitors name… Anyway, I had the chance to meet him on LIVE as well as chat with him on another Halo collecting website. We became friends and I game with him nearly every night he’s on. I was very fortunate to meet him in person at this years New York Toy Fair.

I’ve been a sci-fi and real space enthusiast since I was a kid. Star Wars was what did it for me, so on that note George Lucas is another person I’ve love to meet in person. I came close a few years ago at a convention in Indianapolis. George Lucas and his SW films were what inspired my to go to art school. I have a degree in both Industrial Design and Graphic Design. Through Industrial Design I learned how to create miniature sets, monster masks and make-up design, stop motion animation, props, full on set design, and so much more.

I will say though lastly but more importantly, my own mother. She above all has given me great strength and confidence in myself even when she was faced with diversity during my young life. Some may say it’s mushy to say your mom or wife, etc. Well, here’s an old banana for you. (Now THOSE are mushy). If you can’t find inspiration from those in your personal life, I don’t know if you’ll ever be satisfied with life in general. Maybe, but this is what works for me. While there are many I admire that list would be long to post.

 

 

How long have you been blogging Halo?

Well again, going back to the site I wrote for, it’s been 3 years I’d guess? The blog is my “baby” though. I’m so much more free to post what I want, and how I want to. It’s been a great outlet for me and a fantastic opportunity to connect with folks who are high profile in the Halo community. Beyond Bungie and 343, I’ve met (on LIVE) several community leaders. Be they mods on Waypoint like Nevin D (aka CruelLEGACEY), website owners like Greenskull and mods on his site like Drax122, Pete the Duck, and others.

 

 

Are you in a Halo clan? Why/why not?

I am. It’s called Rated Mature or www.ratedmature.NET (I’m NOT responsible if you put COM… Currently the gaming group’s site is having some loading issues. So if you want to see it, sorry for now. I’ve talked with my bud who runs the site and he’s working on getting it back up and running ASAP.) I was with another group before this when the founders of RM asked me to join them. I didn’t at first, but did help them with some graphics for their site. Then shortly after I had a parting of ways with my then current group, so I hopped on over to “RM.” I’ve been there for more than 3 years. We game nightly with a members night on Tuesdays. Also, since Halo 4 is coming soon, we’ve just instituted a schedule to replay all the currently available Halo games on LIVE. We’ll be playing through the campaigns of ODST, Halo 3, Halo Wars, and Halo CE: Anniversary. For any members needing achievements in any of those games that aren’t campaign related, we’ll be helping each other to get them.

If anyone is interested in being part of a gaming group, shoot me a friend request (GT: HaloFanForLife1) and be sure to say that “Diehard Halo Fans” sent you. You’ll have to get in several games with us first. If you’re sincerely interested in joining, we’ll take a vote on you. The group is mostly mid 20’s to early 40s. Though there are a couple of exceptions. We do our best to play fairly, and won’t T-bag unless done to first. (Then it’s game-on) Also, we prefer not to trash talk and let our gameplay speak for itself. Though of course at times, there are those rare few opponents who just talk so much junk that we may give it back. So while we try to maintain a mature atmosphere and succeed quite frequently, we also recognize that sometimes we speak with “mature” rated words not suitable for kids. So it kind of goes both ways in that respect. We are competitive with most of us taking games a bit serious as we like to win. Though on occasion we do have some fun in certain gametypes and have even had a season of racing in Reach on members nights.

 

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