How to Make Twilight Better

I have said on numerous occasions that the Twilight universe would be so much better if you took out Bella and Edward. I'll even settle for just Bella. Keep her dad, her mom even (she doesn't do much) and the high school "friends" but just drop the lead chick.

Honestly, I think even Edward would be a totally cool, mind-readin, twinkly-ass heart throb if he wasn't hung up on emo-tween-wench. (Don't get me wrong, I like emo's, they're cool, but Bella is one emotional chick.)

What happens to the story without Bella then? Don't worry, I thought about that. Edward, suddenly falls for Jacob. (stay with me, or not, I warned you long ago) Now THAT is some hot supernatural on supernatural action. Not only do you pull in those who like the pasty, affluent type, those who like the tan, outdoorsy cultural type, you get those who are hot for supernaturals and even the furry element. Aint seen Romeo and Juliet till you've seen this story, no? And Underworld KIND OF did this, but my version is better because both of them know what they are, what the consequences are, but their man/wolf/bloodsucker/gay/nibble/suck/love can not be stopped.

This reminds me of something that came up while I was loitering in the Green Room at the institution of learning I attend. There was a stray cosmo magazine cluttering up our discarded fliers, posters. and Peanuts (a restaurant) food cartons. So, one of my male associates bravely dared to crack it open. Within we found horrible and wondrous things. Among them included a "erotic story for true ladies." (I'm not making this shit up.) It involved some chick who worked in an office with problems with a male co-worker and a guy doing an interview of her at a "dinner meeting." The only reason I recall all of this is because we actually read a fair amount of the story, AFTER implementing some simple rules. Replace all men names with female names, and all "he"/"him"/"his" with female pronouns. The resulting story was much more . . . stimulating. And akward after much giggling.

SO!

Edna & Jackie? Yeah? Forbidden lovers? THATS some romeo and juliet action, more like ROMIE and Juliet, awe yeah.

S.G.I.S.Con 4 update 1

People have already started registering for Sad Geek In Snow Con IV!

Space is limited in the Cabin, please contact me so we can get your payment dealt with.

Core registration will end January 11th!, After that, the price goes up to $30/whatever embarrassment or derision we decide to inflict upon you for making

things suck. Please keep our suck to a minimum.

If you need transportation, or are willing to supply it, also contact us as soon as possible. seats in the Shenanivan are already being claimed and we don't yet have other large vehicle conveyances. Be aware.

H47 Really Does Exist

Due to those pesky "Real Life," or RL, concerns, such as School, employment, employment projects and people dying(Yeah, somebody died unexpectedly. we're all okay, thanks for your thoughts &/or prayers, OR NOT, it's cool. but yeah) I have been lax in my bloggering. . . blagedness . . . blogeren-ning?

Worry not! Once the Seasonmas Wintoliday's have passed around our fetid carbon pile once more I should have some more time to dedicate to slathering the intartubes with my depraved obscenities.

I have a few things in store. Like what? you may ask?

"Mercutio Complex"

"Sexy Ideas"

"Geek of a Certain stripe"

and, MORE MEME-ORABLES!! many of which will be WoW-centric. WOOHOO!!

Stay tuned!

3rd 4 t3h nrrd, Dec. '09

I know, it's not the 3rd. Get over it. moving on . . . .

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, the King of Nerdcore, an innovator in NerdRap, YTCracker!

This pale poet is among the most hard of the nerdcore element. Actually prosecuted for hacking crimes, he is a true Digital Gangster.

For detailed accounts you can go here, heyer, and NYAH!

Musically, YT is a rapper extraordinaire. A very -true- rapper, his content is always straight forward and practical. The subjects are just as telling about his life and times as mainstream artists, they just happen to be from a very nerdy G. While more well known performers will speak about tough times on the streets and their illicit activities, YTCracker has just as many songs about his hacking days, his struggles as a musician and is a prolific member of SpamTec Crew.

His samples and beats are excellently crafted. Whether producing original loops, borrowing from police station sound files, or Pirating from well known entertainment (turn this one up LOUD, i roll to this ALL the time) houses, the sounds slam you hard, and keep thumping till you can't take anymore.

As a wordsmith, he holds it down with a practiced and confident flow. I don't often hear anything overly complicated or lighting fast, but I don't think he needs to spaz through a song to keep it going. I believe he has an excellent sense of timing, pitch, and tune, and the songs are sick every time.

Currently he has been touring nationwide with MC Lars and Kay Flay, and is always producing more content.

Here's to YTCracker, stay l337, please don't hack me!

2 pigs, 2 families, 1 rock, 1 boat, 7 days, 1 question, & 1 BIG ANSWER!

And that's not even the half of it.

At some point during summer '08 a conversation consisting of T1nk/theatreg33k saying "You know, we don't have to get married very soon, but an extended engagement might be nice."

I let these words ferment, stew, roll around, and otherwise haunt me for about a month until in September of the same year I resolved to ask the big question.

Now, not many people may realize, that there are certain institutions and traditions that I think should be approached with utmost sincerity. In short, I aint fuckin around at this point.

Early October we went to Blizzcon and it was there that I threw down the idea to some trusted confederates and began researching ideas for where and how I would Take A Knee.
In case you missed it, Blizzcon '08 was held in Anaheim, which is conspicuously close to Disneyland and we spent quite a bit of time there that weekend. I had heard about the "free B-day pass" promo that year and a plan began to formulate, grow, nay, INFEST my brain.

So, as of mid-October, Thee Plan, was to propose as we got off the jungle cruise ride with all friends and family I could finagle into coming as witnesses. This all under the guise of a "Big B-day week" because she was turning *incoherent mumbling of an age between 15 and 200 years old* and I usually have a big weekend party for my own birthday. It was only fair. This was the story I kept telling close friends so that on the off chance I had to call it off they would be understanding. Yet, telling people made me feel it was doable, and it gave me some time to hear it out loud and really consider if it was the step I wanted to take.
Fast forward to late November, I started saving up a chunk of cash, and committed to calling The Mouse and seeing if he could "huho" hook me up.

First, I had to do it up all proper, I asked her folks if I could take them out to dinner for a "Christmas Present" and ask for their blessing. They said yes. I then called my folks to see if they approved, they did. Parents averted!
I then started telling MORE people because it was kind of awesome. Finally in February '09 I called Disneyland. IT WAS GREAT! The people at the park were totally cool and ready to help however I needed. Next thing I knew, I had a private boat on the jungle cruise set up, a section reserved for our family for lunch at one of the restaurants and Dinner at the Blue Bayou for later.
"Dude H47? how much did you throw down for all the special services?" Not a cent! We even got one of our old college friends who works there part time, to be the skipper of our boat. (Did I mention our Friend is a big time Hollywood Voice Actress? If you need an awesome voice let her know . . )

So, as of February, the plan was get our crew on the boat, get to the backside of water, drop to the knee, Bob's your uncle, we're engaged! I drag T1nk to the Blue Bayou, I'm awesome, Disney Land IS the happiest place on earth (unless you're a small child between the hours of 3 &5 pm, cause that shit is nap time.)

I get the ring from Shane Co., I get it "future Maid of Honor" approved, I'm showing it off to everybody, telling everybody the scheme, this thing is getting big. I keep the ring hidden in my Special Edition Burning Crusade box, the big ass one? fit perfect. it was creepy.

At some point T1nk's Manager decided to be cheeky and say "hey, wanna know what hes getting you for your birthday? . . . Pot Belied Pig." Even more horrifying was T1nk's reply, "Awesome! They're so CUTE!"
What else could I do? I verified. "Yeah, the trouble is gonna be sneaking it in to the park as a "seeing eye pig."
She wanted to name the fictitious pig Wilbur, I suggested AndEggs. Later that same week, we were out at a bar with a bunch of other friends, I was recounting the story so far and somehow it became TWO pigs.
Now I've got my friends harboring pork at various locations so as to keep T1nk off the trail. I know, we're so clever.

At some point I asked T1nk what she thought it really was, and she guessed it BUT she was like "but I don't want to think that's what it is in case it's not." So, this wont be a huge surprise apparently, but it still was, just watch.

The week of her B-day rolls around and it's time to get to Anaheim. I have the stinkin thing hidden in a compartment in the Shenani-Van, praying she doesn't decide to look for the roadside kit. (what?! I'm paranoid.) We get to the hotel and a week of vacation starts off without a hitch.

(I love to stand in front of the train station and look out upon the park. Very nostalgia/inspiring/romantic[not in the sexy sense, as in the movement])

The day came for it all to be set up. The jungle crew knew what time we we're supposed to be there, private boat and all. we had a section of one of the restaurants all reserved for our group for lunch before hand. We got a birthday gift card for T1nk (you had an option of three items for b-day, it was cool) and I was like, Until noon, its all you! We rode some rides, ate, and we hit the jungle cruise at 3pm! The total group was my mom, my g-ma, my sister, my cousin, her mom, her dad, our friends Epyon Avenger, The Blave and two of his female friends, PievuhG, L1 and L2, with Voice Actress as our skipper. Apparently there was a boat mishap and Voice Actress had to hijack a boat that wasn't hers (we're so pirates) and off we steamed/motored/rolled. Voice Actress laid down a great string of horrible jokes that the ride is famous for, we get to the back of the waterfall, and she says "and now, the moment "H4773r" has been waiting for (all his life? i dont remember exactly, cut me some slack, I was stressing soooo hard right then.)" I dropped to my knee, pulled the box, T1nk was like "WTF" then I asked . . . .

(Video border in "obnoxious-puke green" in T1nks honor)

The boat took off again, cheering and incoherent congratulations accompanied us to the dock, Voice Actress valiantly tried to lay her best jokes on us for the end of the voyage and we disembarked.

Pics were taken in a very convenient alcove I had not noticed till then, and PievuhG had a special gift for us . . .

T1nk and I split off from the group to giver her some time to recover form
the shock, text/tweet everyone we knew what had happened. We wandered
over to the Blue Bayou in time for our dinner, and did whatever she
wanted the rest of the trip.

Once more, I'd like to thank all our family and friends for helping me make
this happen and for all of your support. We will be setting the date
for the big day on T1nk's NEXT birthday, and it will most likely be a
year-2 years from then.

semi-meme-orable

Taking a short break from academics to recharge metal batteries, my usual net trolling has dredged some fantastic things I wish to present here.

Thanks to the people I follow on Twitter (like The Front), Topless Robot (a wonderfully geeky blog with outrageously constant content), as well as a few other places I've seen them linked and referenced.


SLINGERS
dude, for reals, this looks cool. I'm not entirely sure it has the potential for longevity, but the hook is clean, the ideas look concise. watch it, please.

SLINGERS from Mike Sizemore on Vimeo.

Panic Attack
(yet another -in developement- video. So, why some superior race/alien force, would attack some South American city, that may or may not pass a as a regional capitol, is the only question that haunts me, but other than that. very cool. stick it in your eye hole)



The ONLY Team Edward for me.
A while back Battle Star Galactica was having some sort of contest to have dinner with him and one of the ladies from the show, or some such. I wanted to enter, but the whole time I'd be like "Oh, ma'am, you look pretty. *rapid refocus on EJO* Dude, you were El Pachuco, and 'chemo.' You are my ethnic/proffesional hero. teach me your SECRATS!!!"










And last but not least. Remember to educate your elders and less-tech-savy members of your family on what things are and how they work . . . or else . . . .

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b84_1259716791


And crap, half an hour later, I finish my 5 minute post. Maybe I should just sacrifice today and post 3rd nrrd, and a new Blog. hope this holds you over.

A Geek of a Certain Stripe

I know in the past I have discussed the labels of Nerd, Dork, Geek, and even within those labels, which I have heard used interchangeably as well as set in stone definitions, there are many variations. I have tried my best to break down and define these for others as well as give concise addendum where necessary, and very rarely, I am asked, "what kind of Geek/Nerd are you?"

My usual short answer is a table top, gamer, fantasy - geek, and I think that is the type of nerdery that holds the most influence in my life, but like most things this is by no means the sum of all my HP.
I know many geeks who partake of SO MUCH more table top than I do, board game obsessed heathens, as well as, I am by no means a h4rdcore l337 e-p33n console gamer, and, ask me to rattle off more than 10 fantasy authors without using any from more than 50 years ago and I would be hard pressed (I'm working on it though).

By now you might think, "h47, WhereTF is this going?" well, it stems from a little blurb I wrote a while back as I was musing, as I am wont to do.

"I am an odd -geek/nerd- I'm a humanities Nerd, not a Science geek. I am very much an arts geek, not a "science is a verb" person. But I like to think I appreciate those beautiful mechanics, perfect complexities, are lovely too."

Maybe what this ramble is trying to go on about is not only what kind of geek I am not, but that even though all of us have some nerd proclivities, we need to remember that almost all nerdereys are valid, not just our own.
I think there is a definite reason I hear the term "nerdrage" bandied about so often as of late. We do get very worked up and angry, but we need to remember what is worth getting riled up for.
There are appropriate reasons to be passionate but remember to use some critical thinking, make sure your arguments are worth presenting, and then cohesive.

Sorry if this is a little heavy or muddled, I'm getting a headache and ready to call it a night. Don't Worry, a new 3rd 4 t3h NRRD is primed for Oct. and next week's post should be a lot more light hearted.
Stay Nerdy my Friends.
...[+]
H4773r

whu-huh?

Regularly scheduled programing is interrupted for the next week or so, due to school. Maybe while I am at work I can get some blogging done, but as for right now, I apologize for the lull, but please feel free to read some of the old posts, I do try to make them relevant, regardless of time reference. See you on the flip side. I do have 2-3 regular Blog posts planned and as many Meme-orables, so there is content, just not finished. please feel free to comment or email if you NEED content, finished or no. Any sort of communication between myself, and you, the reader(all 8 of you) is appreciated (so far).

Humbly,
H4773r

Meme - Orable: memeet the . . .

DAT! DAT! DehDAH!!! duhnduhnduhn DOW!

Meet the "Meet The . . . " Series! From one of my favorite press campaigns ever, Valve's promos for Team Fortress Classic 2 are definitely a staple in most gamer-geeks quotable arsenal.

I was going to post my 2 favorites, but all of them are my favorite.

GO HERE! OR HERE!!! for info & the movies.

Dear Valve, release "Meet the Medic & the Pyro" KKTHNXBAI

(apparently, Rumor has it, the Pyro is a chick. geek superstition. Samus, style. yeah.)

"ITS CALLED A TSU!! UNLESS ITSA FARM!!!"

"If you were from, where I was from? You'd be fuckin dead."

You smarter than bullet?

"Pransin aboot wit yer hed fulla eyebulls . . *maniacal laughter*"

okay, maybe post one. here, stick this in your piehole!

Warmth for the Cold

Oh Hai guys! Termenus here again, be right down.

Last week I told you guys how I was hanging out on the Public Test Realms, testing the changes to frost spec.

While I was there I joined 3 different guilds, saw a ton of content, new and old, experienced a couple epic stories, and experienced true joy and yet nerdrage in all its WoW glory.

Result? I'm a Frosty, and I'm staying that way, baby!

While on Broxigar, the normal test realm, I randomly received a G-invite to a "meh" guild, and felt fairly safe as an anonymous person in a semi-non-asshole-non-hardcore Guild. I was running the new 5 man Instances
( Forge of Souls[FOS], Pit Of Saron[POS], Halls Of Reflection[HOR] and you need to be attuned to POS, from FOS, and then POS attunes you to HOR. PLUS!! theres a questline that gives you an "event" in HoR. Fun dungeons, great loot, but the attunement thing is gonna be a bit of a hassle so everyone will most likely run them all a ton of times, just to finish HoR once. You get to say Hi to Arthas[AGAIN], see Frostmourne up close and personal in HoR, and you get to spend quality time with the Lady of your faction through all 3[Jaina or Sylvanis])
I never finished HoR, it was disappointing, but I had other fish to fry . . . my damage output! Although some cool stuff did drop . . . .

(That sword is called "Seethe" yes, it's a caster main hand, Aint it cool?)

I specced frost, obviously, and the only enacted changes on the PTR I saw for frost were Deep Freeze and a Glyph for Frost Elementals. (yeah, no sign of a ice lance crit making frostbolts 1 second quicker to cast.) Deep Freeze, the last talent in the mage frost tree, will now do about 2k damage to targets "PERMANENTLY IMMUNE TO STUNS." That's who? Bosses! Yeah damage output increase.
Glyph of Eternal Water makes your water elemental permanent, like out all the time. The trade off is that with this glyph your water elemental loses its AoE freeze. A detriment to PvP in almost every ones opinion. Although that is more damage in pvp, 99% of frost mages rely on that mobile/extra freeze. On top of that, you're still locked down by how often you can summon him, so make sure your not zoning in and out of areas, porting, or dying or your cooldowns will be hurting. Blizz has made changes to elemental pets to make them more mana efficient and I was pleased with my new friends performance.
I even had the idea that maybe Deep Freeze could be a DoT. I like the idea of it "being so cold it burns." But then, Blizz doesn't pay me. And with the new perm. pet some people are saying that Frost is the new Lock. To be honest, I don't care anymore. We've been so underpowered in instances for so long I welcome any change.
Although the changes did not blast me to the top of the damage meter, I saw a definite improvement and feel these changes are an awesome step in the right direction, and I will take them over nothing. I HOPE Blizzard has a bit more in development, but I think I can stand this till Cataclysm.

So one night I jumped into a pugged ToC 10 man with some real jerks and some real pro's. We wiped a couple times on Gormok, no big, communication wipes, we got it together and moved to the worms, wiped a few times as our tanks had two different ideas as to how to tank the worms. lost a few people, gained a few people. We got through gromok, used all the B-rez's at the beginning of the worms, downed the worms with 3 dead, and Icehowl hit. 1 person died from the leftover damage of the worms and there weren't enough heals to keep the lock and the rogue alive, and the priest went into spirit healer. We we're down to me, a DK and shammy healer. Cause the priest had just died we we're all at max hp when Icehwol decided to charge me, he was down to 68%. We lived. the three of us managed to down that ugly beast. After Icehowl the raid fell apart, but not to worry!

A jumped into a Black Temple PuG (great idea, right? I know.) and met a fellow "character copy" player - Crim - an Orc Fury War rocking the purple banana helm! (you know, the new one from Ony. Its a green bobba fette wanna be but all they could afford was a football helmet with a purple dildo strapped to the top. Thats how I rememebr it anyway.) He recognized a kindred spirit in me as one who was looking to actually test the new content as a realistically geared player, not some OP l337 XBox live reject who cant get gear on live realms so you rolled a copy so you can feel like you accomplished something, GET A LIFE AND STOP BEING A DOUCHE BAG AND READ THE TRADE CHAT POST, DONT ASSUME!
( i was trying to get some enchants I'd been meaning to get on live. I tried asking EVERYONE ON THE SERVER WHO HAD A PREMADE CHARACTER WHO AUTOMATICALLY COME WITH EVERY ENCHANT IN THE GAME AND A SHIT TON OF MATS!!!, and all I got was "noob, u have enchanting, duh!" I even got into group with a guy, ported to Ogrimmar and he whispers me "I know what you do" I'm like, whuh? "piss off" he says, and puts ME!?!? on ignore!?!?)
Anyway, Crim and I saw each other in action and acknowledged our "pro" gaming style. He helped me get into - The Non Premades - a guild of, you guessed it, copy characters. Started by 2 interesting female characters, fairly sure they were legit females IRL. Cool people.

I saw an increased dps in my spec, so I came back to live realms. continued to be arcane for a day, literally, then respecced back to frost, and my dps increased by about 300. Familiarity, and devotion to the spec make a huge difference.

To all you people who think Frost can not raid, a dead mage does not put out damage, and a good, alive one, can help you get through the most difficult content. Most fights are strategy fights and require movement, survivability, and technique, not just to be a glass cannon, we do that, but most frosties I know, we do it, and make it look good. Its too bad we cant put out the same numbers as arcane. I respect good fire & arc mages, but this mage is staying frost, for everything.

Meme - Orable: memeow

A couple of my friends linked this around for about a week and I thought it was particularly inspired.

Sultry, sexy, dark and macabre. I'll even forgive the fact that cats are the main cast.

For more information head to http://www.thepra.com.au/ (yes, its form Australia. that makes it better right?)

Without Further Adieu, I'll let the film do the rest of the talking.

S.G.I.S.Con 4 is ON!

Yeeeeeaaaaahhhhh. I'm just gonna let that one sit for a second.

Aright then, on to business, Its almost that time of year again! Sad Geek In Snow Con!!!
A weekend of blatant and unadulterated geekery in a secluded location somewhere on the western seaboard! There's even a possibility you wont be able to leave the entire weekend nor a few days thereafter! Oh yeah, you proud veterans of this valiant event, you remember!

If you hadn't figured it out yet, *looks up pointedly* This year is Star Wars themed. Plan accordingly, and I'm counting on someone to find a copy of the Christmas special. Eh? So, In case you didn't get enough of that goodness up top, here you go, the flier . . .


And now a message from your friendly mentor Jedi . . . .



AND, if you wish to help promote knowledge of this event, (like to your buddies who cant remember anything but you want them to come along) I whipped up this, just print, cut and distribute . . .

Meme-Orables: Memeingful Interactions

Around May/June '09 I decided to increase my net presence by joining a bunch of social networks. Since then I have been reminded why I disdain many people and their issues. I have discussed this phenomena with some friends and I think many might share my view that if you're going to post your soul for everyone to see . . . . .
*looks down at soapbox* balls, where did that come from? Um, short and concise . . . I have some of my soul up here. I've read it a few times and am prepared for whatever comments might come up. I feel they are entertaining/give an insight into the mind that is blabbering around here, and they have not scared off any of my readers. (the whole handful of you!) Maybe I will go into this more later, somewhere else . . .

The POINT! Oh, there it is! Back when I used to frequent less than savory forums and message boards where the cruel rule of schoolyard logic and bullying ruled, we developed harsh yet concise manners of conduct and if they weren't followed, everyone let you know what you did. Blathering, Flaming, generally being a whiny, stupid noob was not only frowned upon, but attacked. To be honest, I miss some of these times and as such, got nostalgic about some of the relics from that time. I have dug them out and present them here. Two of my favorite standbys. As well as a catchy song to get you into the mood.

Light for Frosties?

Hello, My name is Termenus, and I am frost mage(yes, I know, one is arcane spec, but let me explain). Since just before the reopening of the Dark Portal (less than a few months before Burning Crusade) I reawakened as a Forsaken and have been Frost ever since.

As far as putting the Hurt on some Alliance, us Fridgeomancers are more than adequate. I'm horrible at PVP so, I don't really care, so long as I have fun.

My issue for some time, has been damage output in PvInstances. (Raids, dungeons.)
Going back a few steps, until very recently, both my pvp and my pve spec, were TOTALLY frost. I just loved it. Faster casting, survivability and control of combat like none other. Honestly, If I had three more talent points I would love to just fill up the tree. I originally speced it for leveling and fell in love. It was FUN no matter what I was doing. Grinding, farming, 5-mans, raids, questing, world pvp, bg's, helping lowbies. I had "tanked" some old instances at lower levels and even managed to pull & survive fel reavers at lvl 56 while NPC's dropped it.

(WHA!!?? NORLY! I did it for a few friends, they were all very impressed. I was l337. You see, you stand near Thrallmar and wait for it to pat towards the caravan. You use frost barrier AND mana shield and tag it at max range w/ any instant spell. Then, you RUN! Turn around and run straight towards the group of mages and the large orc. Blink to get distance. You SHOULD be able to survive one hit as it breaks the bubbles. Then, ice block, let him thump on you till ice block wears down, and blink again immediately. Double bubble as you run straight into the group. hit cold snap if the group doesn't pull the Reaver right away and keep blinking/bubbling/Ice Block into thrallmar till NPC's pull him, and, watch the show. I used this trick to help my 70 S-priest friend get his kara key. Good times.)

I even raided with a couple guilds in BC, Kara, Mag, even a couple jumps into SSC & TK. Full frost, nobody said anything. The only complaints I got in raids were to not sheep the Healers when they got MC'd. I still believe polymorph should be castable on anyone at anytime, it is a passive aggressive heal. Those were happier times, simpler times, when demons were bad and we could kill all of them we wanted. Alli's stayed on there own damn side of Outland and you didn't have to like them, just not kill them inside Shatt.

Then, with the march upon Northrend, new abilities became available and FREE FIREBALLS!?!?! yes please! I hit 80 and started to get serious about some raiding again.
Two patches later, I'm starting to get into some SRZ BZNZ, Ulduar, ToC, Ony. And no shortage of WoW friends and even fellow mages have been asking/wondering/hinting/threatening, when I was going to respec Arcane for raids.

A fact of life right now for every frost mage is that you do crap for dps. Blizzard is VERY aware of this and did nothing for almost a year or more. I started doing serious research on output and optimization of talents. The truth is that frost puts out 30% less dps than all other raid mage specs. For allot of timed fights this doesn't cut it. On top of this I find it annoying that every spec dips into arcane for Torment the Weak, but whatever.

I respecced my pvp tree to what it is today to accommodate the TTW necessity and starting looking at arcane rotations. I wanted to be a HARD hardcore raider! even at the expense of my beloved, cold love.

So, less than two weeks ago, I made the change to Arcane (see? peer pressure kids). As I lamented my betrayal of the chilly path to my friends and guildies two of the champions of my demise decided to deride me by telling me tales of changes to come making Deep Freeze a pyroblast-like damaging spell. I dismissed them and spurned them for mocking me. But, they are reliable sources, and I had hope. So, I sought ought the information, and lo and behold, they were right. Assholes.

In the next patch, the one currently on the test realms, if a target is PERMANENTLY immune to freeze effects(Bosses), Deep freeze deals some set amount of damage. ALSO, there is a Major Mage Glyph that makes your water elemental permanent at the expense of his frost nova. (100% up time in raids, increasing dps. this COULD be a pvp buff, but almost every pvp frostie LIVES for that extra freeze) AS WELL AS, there are rumors of a change to frozen core that when ice lance crits, your frostbolt's casting time is reduced by 1 second. This is not likely to last or be useful. most of us frosties are already stacking haste and have a really short cast time for frostbolt, with a bloodlust and an icy veins, not to mention any other thousand haste enhancers, its probably going to be thumping against the GCD and becoming overkill.

SO! the first two are currently on the test realms and I have rolled to learn if my dps can become viable once more in raids.

Some people might complain that with a frost elemental up all the time, frosties have started to look like a lok. I call shenanigans, loks look like us. Jaina was there first. Frankly, Raid frost has been so gimped so long I'm not sure any of us care anymore. I approve, it changes the use of the elemental and is potentially a buff for raiding frosties. It also has become apparent that ooming out might be a problem for the pets and that has been worked with.

Deep Freeze as a big damage spell. I approve. Initially I had always wondered why it couldn't be a "cold DoT", you know, "so cold it BURNS!" anything that is permanently immune to stops/stuns. some might argue that's Fire's realm, or once again, a Lock's expertise. but, whatever, honestly. The mechanic is different and you have a very different skill set and raid role in your spell set. You CC differently, you drop aggro differently, you dps differently. I see no huge issues. I will be raiding and instancing on the test realms to see if the spell change & the elemental have a large enough impact to make frost viable again.

I'll report back with more after some raiding & 5-mans, maybe some pvp, on the PTR's and lets keep our cold, clammy, fingers crossed.

Termenus, The Incredible Tanking Mage, Frost Imp extraordinaire, Mage of the Grave Chill, Ambassador, Explorer, Crusader, Sergeant, of Sen'Jin(I'm a raptor whore). Shadoweave tailor, Goblin Engineer -Lords of Ancient Sin- Cenarius, U.S.

3rd 4 t3h nrrd, Nov. '09

This month, we bring you a lady of Nerdcore, A chick of geek chic, a hotty of N-Hip-hop!

NURSEHELLA!!!!


Throwing down hot rhymes, this slim siren has a distressingly short set list as far as I can find. She has the speed and the smarts for some fantastic verses, and she's in good with numerous big names in Nerdcore. Just a few are YTCracker, Badd Spellah, and Ultrakystron.

Riding Rhyme Torrents her talent became obvious to me and I've enjoyed all of her work since. She is aware of her power as an attractive female geek, and has fun with it.

Musically, she holds it down. when She's on stage she is confidant and accurate. Whether live or recorded her energy translates to the listener. She has a decent ear to rhythm, pitch and tone which is maintained in the live videos I've seen. Also, her content is deliciously fun in it's geekyness. Ranging from Harry Potter fetishes to using leveling metaphors for getting it on to just plain pwning lil'boy geeklings.

From my research, she seems to have some personal issues and I haven't found hide nor hair of her on the webs for months now. This is unfortunate. Nursehella? Get better and come back? You're a rockin chick and as far as I'm concerned worthy of the Nerdlinger mantle.


She pops up in "Nerdcore Rising" as well as "Nerdcore For Life." Both of which are documentaries, I have a copy of "Rising," and "For Life" has not been released yet. Often touring with Ultra, I now await too see if she's gone the way of Optimus Rhyme, or has just been laying low to throw out a geekgasmic bomb of beats upon her unsuspecting fanboys.

Halloween 09

Great, I spent one of the coolest holidays in The Valley (do streetview, its inspiring, NOT) without the aid of my fiance. The better half got sick, most likely the flue and she was actually looking forward to coming along and doing some pumpkin carving. Oh well. I managed to crack one of my own out. Wow-heads, look familiar? Eh?

All was not lost. My little sister was entertaining as I dragged her, her 2 friends and my other through the streets of the small burg harassing people for candy. I also managed to pull out a neat costume thanks to Theatreg33k by way of GeekGirlDiva. GGD gave Theatreg33k a present at SDCC09 and then T-g33k allowed me to create this rockin/easy costume . . . .
I was a "Buy More Ass. Man." After extensive research of the show Chuck, the best I could gather was that these shirts don't actually exist in that world. (they were an Entertainment Earth San Diego Comic Con Exclusive) The management in at Buy More sport slightly fancier duds than their peons. Minus of course, the Nerd Herd (shout out to my boy Moose, rockin the little car)
So, I whipped up a lame nametag in Paint and- BAM! instant amusing anecdote and costume for use in the future.

Happy Halloween, hope yours was better than mine, cause it could have been much worse.

A Melody That Folded

My first reference to this Anime was hey-are, and I have since finished watching it.

I had not finished more than three quarters of the series when I realized I had never heard much about it, but I was enjoying it and anxiously awaiting some killer exposition.
It was at this point I decided I was going to look up some reviews, maybe look up some cosplayers, because I was really getting into the world and symbols and concepts, and was jonesin to write a fanfic or develop my own stories from the world.
I found very little, and the little I found was not comforting. One review I found was merciless swearing and bashing of the anime, and frankly, I could see where all of the arguments were formed and found the criticism valid and amusingly graphic. One other review I found was also lamenting of the anime, same emotions without the cursing. And the third and last review I found was was very "meh."

The anime is called Melody of Oblivion, its a semi "monster of the week" with the ever favorite "boy is normal, suddenly becomes bad ass, must save world now" and a decent amount of fan service. If you decide to watch it, be careful, there are constant discrepancies in different translations.

I personally want to give this anime a good review, but the best I can give it is a C- overall.

For anyone who likes their anime to be all put together and be all self contained, explaining the whole thing by the end of the series, (too much to ask, I know) it's not a good deal.
However, I read a lot into the symbols and references and really enjoyed the IDEA of magical/mystical physics/mechanics, for how the combat works, how the abilities develop.

Maybe I should track down if there is a manga, or just forsake it and start my own fanfics or something.

Honestly, as I step back and look at it critically, it is not an AWESOME anime. The hero is lame, the world isn't TOTALLY explained, and, a very Gainax (even though Gainax was the finishing house, not the parent developer) ending makes little sense. BUT! I can not totally discount an anime that inspires me to want to run an RP game set in this universe, write stories for the universe, and cosplay a character of my own design that would make ALOT of sense from that universe IF I understood, the anime correctly.

Also, the soundtrack was AWESOME!, If you can find the whole thing, lemme know, I'd love it until I can afford to buy a real copy.

Anyway, I say snag it, it's worth taking a peak. If you hate, you were warned, if you LOVE, I wont judge.

Meme - Orable: meh meh

A new feature In The H47. Meme-orables!

Randomly I will post odds and ends found around the world-nets that perhaps you've seen, or that I've mentioned, but that I still feel should be compiled and noted here. Maybe for reference later or for my own amusement.

"H47! WTF R Meme?" Pronounced "meem" (rhymes with "cream") it is an idea, concept or occurrence that is transferred through a culture. For a better explanation try here and here.
For net-centric examples, HERE is a good place to start.

Just a heads up for future content.

Fake Bands

(Hatter & The Lost Boys: Yours truly -in the H47-, Mario -guitar & back up vocals-, ferret -token starving Asian-, Gilliam -grizzled mayor of Drunktown-, & Moose -wetback in Black[not me]-. If we talked it out I'm sure we would have a different name. These shots straight from S.G.I.S.Con 2.5)

Rock Band & Guitar Hero have inspired innumerable made up "living room" bands, but what about the good old Fake bands we know and love?

In order of my preference:

1: Spinal Tap - If you don't know who this band is go educate thyself, heathen! They're my #1 because they're classic, the loudest band in England (they really turn it up -a notch-), and they have a long and distinguished career. (mostly based off others)

2: Dethklok - So very metal! From the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse, this most hard core of hard core bands has actually toured and released albums that really do rock.

3: Gorillaz - They only rate 3 because they are a"legitamite" band that happens to be fake, but otherwise, great music.

4: LvL 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain - previously known as Lvl70 Elite Tauren Chieftain, previously, Lvl60 Tauren Chieftain, prev. Tenth Level Tauren Chieftain!(on their "on and on south of northrend world tour" T from Blizzcon 08 the "Chieftain" is crossed out and it says "Death Knight" above it.). They make my top 5 because I do enjoy their music, their content AND I've attended their concerts IRL & in Virtual Life! win!

5: IS A TIE OF!

DR. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem - Muppets FTW! and any time they're amalgamated tributes, it gets better. AND because the muppets are very musically oriented, the music is rockin!

&

"The Crescendolls" or "Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem" - The band from the Daft Punk movie of the same name, I'm a succker for house/techno/rave music and this movie is a great film for what it is.


Those are more or less my top 5/6, but I do recall some other great -fake- Bands, like the band from the old cartoon JabberJaw "The Neptunes", a shark version of Scooby-doo, as well as Josie & The Pussycats who were developed by the same guy.

Would you count Sgt. Pepper's Loneley Hearts Club Band? Or, in a similar vein F.V.B. (Future Villain Band)?

So now that I have linked the hell out of a post and hopefully either rekindled or educated you on some awesome faux-phunk, GET DOWN! *dances*

Common Vocabulary

As you hang around you might notice certain proclivities within my vocabulary. Today I think it might be nice to define and clarify some things that might confuse or just generally help give insight into some of the madness running around here.
Also, don't feel afraid to look up any word I use, even if you know the word, I often twist and have my way with meanings. Something I know I enjoy sharing with some of my closest friends. I.e. the inordinate amount of food metaphors for things that are distinctly NOT edible in any way.
(Me being geeky at a LAN party. ol school, no flat screens. back in HS days)

Definitions:

Geek: A self identifying term I use constantly. To me a geek is CAPABLE, not necessarily comfortable, but capable of social interaction and more often than not, enjoys it, especially when in the company of other geeks. Common interests can range from anime to movies, to music, to zoology. He (I use the male tense because frankly, its from a male perspective, but I know many female geeks, I'm engaged to one.) may not be born a geek, nor may he even realize what he is, but will more often than not become aware at some point in his pursuit of things geeky. Such as conventions, D&D, Renaissance Faires, reenactments, video games.

Nerd: In its potentially negative form, a nerd is one who is socially retarded, wallows in his outcast state and resentful of a world that does not understand his obsessions, nor his singular focus on ideas that many might find trivial.
In its more mundane definition and in both situations a Nerd is smart and often a specialist in what ever subject his fanboy heart clings to. By result, his knowledge usually surpasses that of the geek, but at the cost of being less well versed in other things.
(as this very guy would often yell at me, "NERD!!!")

Trekkie vs. Trekker: As I understand it (and I'm not sure I entirely do, as I am a Star Wars fan first, but my fiance is a ST:NG fan so I have sampled it as well and enjoyed it.) Trekkie/Trekky is someone who is a Trek Nerd. A sad creature who speaks klingon, has SEVERAL starfleet uniforms and has an opinion on who the better captain was that would rival religious fervor in the middle east. They are numerous and not to be trifled with, use caution when interacting with them. As well as be kind, they know not what they are. A Trekker is a Trek obsessed geek, very similar to a trekky in most habits and collectibles, however, will only THREATEN to cut off your head with a Bat'Leth if you disagree with their chosen captain.

Freak: A horrid beast akin to a nerd but without any redeeming values. A freak doesn't know how to wear a trench coat, wears black faded jeans with said trench coat, and is rarely a viable expert on any geeky/nerdy subject, but believes himself to be one. Often names his characters after main characters from whatever realm he cherishes at the time thinking he is the first to do so, but stubbornly refuses to be creative when confronted with the fact that several hundred have come before him. So, left to his own design forces names such as "xStriderx3285" or "neofromthematrix" upon the world. Trolls, noobs, flamers, reprobates, the filth of our sub-culture. Often they will attempt to perpetuate the idea that others believe they are actually witches/vampires/werewolves/aliens/not virgins, no matter how solid any argument is otherwise. Take the high road and either ignore them, or try to be generous and tactful in your recommendations about being less of a dick and maybe try creating an awesome character of their own. . . . . which brings me to a theory . . .

In Live Action Role Playing:
-LARP by yourself- Masturbating. But you're doing it by yourself, so no harm done.
-2 person LARP- If it's out of normal campaign progression there shouldn't be any need to dress up, SO then its naughty
As soon as you get a third person or more in on the action, SOMEBODY, somehow, one of the participants will get too into it, get a little out of hand, or try too hard and turn into a freak. Ruining the experience altogether, or worse in my opinion, making things JUST uncomfortable enough to distract from play and then letting everyone dwell on the idea that things might get out of hand.
If you can not identify who this person is, step back, asses the situation and I can only offer 3 solutions; 1, YOU"RE IT! I'm sorry, try not to reproduce. 2, you're all it, in which case cease and desist, you are a danger to yourselves and society, go play a console game or seek counseling. 3, a miracle has occurred, you managed to find an assemblage of geeks who not only trust each other, but realize boundaries, follow rules and put just enough enthusiasm into it to make the game great, but not at the expense of their real lives. Cherish this, for in my decade plus of geeky experience I have never even heard rumors of such a thing.

Pass the Test - J!nx on Nerdcore

My homepage is http://www.rhymetorrents.com/ and one of the latest posts was THIS and of course, I had to go check it out!

The TEST is here.

My score was 10/10, I felt like a Nerdcore Pimp, and yet, so sad. Heh, Win!
(Not my leg, if you Know This Guy, you might recognize the significance)

Hatter Day (U.S.)

Being that I am a Hatter myself, I love the idea of not one, but TWO (10/6 in other countries is June sixth. different calender abbreviations) days of the year (not unbirthdays, those are different) set aside for all things Mad, Hat, and/or Carol.

For real inspiration, read one of the books, either Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, where the Mad Hater is most prominent, or the brief mention of Hatta in Through the Looking Glass.

Extra Credit: The Looking Glass Wars or Hatter M by Frank Beddor. (If you know me IRL, ask and I will lend you copies of any of the above. They're not the best things in the world ever, but they are good at the very least, and if you share the interests[which if you're here, well, I have a hunch] then the content can push it into the 'very cool' realm)

Watching the Disney version is okay but saying anything to me about the new Johnny Depp hatter will only get you a look of disdain, or worse, derision.

Seeing a play or any of the other movie incarnations count. Highest marks go to actual dress tea parties!

So, get a little mad, wear a hat, move down, and have some tea!

Gamer Superstitions

(Persevere my brethren! Together, we shall confirm!!)

If you know, or are, a tabletop gamer, you know that there is something . . . odd, about their relationship with dice.

For some of us, its simple. We get mad when we roll poorly and excited when we roll well. For others, we spurn and embrace the little polyhedrons as the winds favor certain combinations.



For some of us though, an animistic view becomes prevalent and we find ourselves test rolling dice, feeling bonds with dice, selecting them from a balance of aesthetic, balance, "rolls" and even materials (ty to JBJ for my pewter dice set, they have served me well!).

I find every approach valid and as long as it is fun and healthy (I use the term loosely, especially in the mental arena) I think it has become an essential part of the tabletop culture. (Picture? see Commandment #8)


Although I have recently discovered THIS GUY (He seems kind of odd at first, and yes, he is VERY passionate about the dice, I believe it and recommend them to any who are even slightly interested) thanks to Gilliam, and fully intend to purchase some dice and use them (Gilly has a set already and they are very crisp and clean, they feel very exact) I still like a little "mojo" to dice and think it adds to the overall experience.


I've heard rumors that the longer you play, the better you roll, but I find this to be invalid.

Some members of my group have used dice rolling software for ease and simplicity, and to further my geek cred, we can tabletop on the fly by keeping our character sheets on digital copy. How many times have you seen a group of geeks playing D&D at a park WITHOUT pencils or dice? Done it! BUT! I shy away from it. Much like music and books for me, having a digital is nice, but having a tactile object, something that cant run out of power, is always preferable to me.

This is just my opinion, but I think there is more to it than just convenience and economy. Whether you're feeling out the "right" dice at the local comic shop or hand painting numbers onto your new razor-sharp-verticesed d4's, keep rollin' kids. Here's to those sweet rolls that make a great story years later, that only other weirdos like you can understand. Those great opening lines "this one time in-game . . ."

P.S. House rule I like, If you roll Yatzhee on more than 3d, you deal double damage if its greater than average, and roll again if it's less than.(True Story, J-explosion did this. I still hate him. "Pics or it didn't happen" right?)

3rd 4 t3h n3rd!, Oct. '09

(H47, Front & T1nk @ SD CC '09)

Lets get something out of the way. MC Frontalot and Nerdcore Rising have affected me in ways that I just can not explain. To hell with it, they have changed my life, OHNOS! cliche's!?

"This here's The Front . . alot and I expect, that yall" should know who the hell this guy is by now, OR, conversely, that he is the godfather of Nerdcore hip-hop.
&
Thar be a ridiculously nerdgasmic Documentary film by the visionaress Negin Farsad, featuring The Front, perhaps you've noticed I've mentioned it a couple times.

Enough commercials (for now). "Gee H47, WTF w/ur hard on about this dood?" Honestly, he is the ultimately balance, FOR ME, of references, beat usage, lyrical content, as a label all around, he is the most put together to me.

After seeing THIS TRAILER I started investigating the genre and Front was not the FIRST Nerdcore "artist" (I use the term loosely, because some of them are NOT) I encountered. I think MC Chris and MC Lars were the first guys I found. Chris being more well known (ATHF) and Lars being more local (live105[scroll to bottom of page], CA bay area). But as soon as I found Frontalot's page and started listening to the feed on the main page, I was hooked.

After researching what I could about Nerdcore, the musical genre of geek rap, MC Frontalot kept coming up and his music was consistently good quality. Last time I checked he was the undisputed champion of Song Fight! and every collaboration I've heard him do has been very awesome (INC LINKGASM!!!1!). Jonathan Coulton, MC Hawkings, Dr. Popular, MC Lars, Jesse Dangerously, Rai Kamishiro, Optimus Rhyme, Kompressor, Brad sucks/achewood (sorta), and even wil wheaton. (WHEW!!! was that good for you? it was good for me.)

So Front has been around for a while, hes been doing his thing for some time, and the talent + work has given this incredible result. lil here, and the documentary are my fave places for info. as a matter of fact, if you feel the least bit as jazzed up and geeked out as I do, please host a screening of Nerdcore Rising, even if only at your place with some buddys, Nerdcore could rise up, but only if the geeks get behind it, and more and more these days, everyone's at least a little bit geek.

Geek Ph34r

Do you like ghost stories? A chilling tale around the campfire? Well, in our modern age even the youngest listener can be doubtful of even the most gruesome lake-side myths. So, here I have a fairly modern, geek-centric telling of a terrible occurrence I developed recently. Feel free to use it at your own outings. I think this can be adapted easily to most locals; such as cons, fairs or its native root of the campsite.

------------ -------------------- ----------------------

The hand full of us sat around the campfire as we roasted marshmallows, I know, how wonderfully cliche.
A quiet calm descended over the group as a particularly nipping breeze floated through the woods.
I made an over dramatic sigh and looked about obviously, letting my view linger up at the starry sky.

"Mel loved nights like this," I said wistfully.

"Mel? your ex?" My friend asked.

"No, his name was Melvin, and he was a frie . . um, more like an acquaintance of mine a few years back." I said as I stoked the fire and looked away despondently. "Poor guy," I continued, "I wonder if they ever found him."

Several raised eyebrows met my eyes as well as my cryptic comment.

"Melvin Butram, poor kid, what a name, went to my rival high school back in Stockton, but I knew him through LARPing. Our group used to come up here for our games. We were the Edhelian Larp Fun Society. ELFS? I didn't name it. It was during that time in my life I developed my "Theory on LARPing by the Numbers" and stopped playing shortly thereafter. But I always remember poor Melvin."

I leaned forward, settling into the story and lowered my voice a bit. Something made me nervous.

"He was very quiet, very typically nerdy. Big glasses, big boned, freckles, could not talk to girls, even in character, he'd just stutter. But, he was very talented, he always had the best outfits, armour, weapons. The noobs were always asking for his help, and he did his best to teach what he could. My buddy mike once asked him how he got so good, Melvin's reply was 'lots of free time.' We were very inclined to believe him since as far as we knew he never had any party's, a girlfriend, or anything. On occasion we'd invite him to our parties, LAN's, whatever, but he only ever came to LARP events."

The sound of the crackling fire, the wind in the trees and our slow breaths were all we could hear as I made a concerned face.

"It was funny. well, funny odd, not funny 'ha,ha.' He was a big guy but he was real good at live action, especially the combat. He took it very serious as far as not getting hit, that wounds were big deals. And any time he could help with first aid he would jump right in. He was almost always either the last person in his crew to die or not at all.
One time he 'died' in a melee that was a real bad call by one of the game masters and you could tell by Mel's face he was not pleased about the call. So he lied down and waited. A cleric came by and 'rezed' him and then he kinda snapped for a bit. He jumped up, let out a real 'GEEYYAAAGGGHH!!!' you know, startled a couple people near him, and ran down the guy who 'killed' him, guy's name was Chris. Even after he had returned the favor, he kept hitting the ground next to Chris, sorta as if the ground had been Chris' 'corpse' and then after about a good solid thirty seconds or so went off and slaughtered like four or five other enemy players that were honestly too easy. It was like Melvin . . . I don't know . . . he followed all the rules, I think he just took it too seriously."

A couple of my fellow campers shifted as I looked up with a pensive look on my face.

"Then it got close to graduation and we heard he got held back. Apparently he flunked out of most of his classes because he was skipping a lot of school. Our buddy 'Jeebus,' who we shared a Vocational class with some of the guys who went to school with Melvin, said he had gotten addicted to an MMO. Ever? . . Galax? . . no, it was one of the more gritty ones. Dark ages? I don't remember, but anyway.
Melvin only started coming to the longer outings up here. Nothing shorter than a four day weekend. He became even more quiet and the only time we saw him smile was when we were doing combats."

I gave a slight grin as I continued, " except one week, spring break, we were up here and he was all smiles. When asked what had him so happy he said he'd met somebody. We were all happy for him. Wondering who she was or if she was even real, but he was in a good mood and that was cool." My face then turned to a grimace. "But, about a month later, Melvin disappeared."

"After a week or so rumor got round that they found his room empty of all of his practical weapons and his computer on to a character log in screen. When the investigators logged in they found he had been on an RP server and a chat log where he had confessed his love to another character in game. Initially, the other player played along through RP, about a month earlier, and Melvin's character had mentioned meeting or leaving with the other character to 'the woods of Edhelian'," I said with emphasis as I motioned to the woods around me.
"Apparently when Mel dropped the bomb and gave the other player a real life address to get out here, the other player put Mel on ignore and never replied to him again, even reported him for abuse. So, the cops came out here as this was the only other lead they could find. All they ever found was his bicycle. They searched out here for another month. We all graduated without hearing any sort of updates. His parents were crushed."



"A couple years back though, I was talking to Ricky, one of Jeebus' best friends, and he said they had to stop LARPing out here because the younger kids were getting scared and players of all ages were getting hurt in freak accidents. One kid even died. The rangers said he was attacked by a predator because he had massive lacerations, but anybody who's been up here more than a few times can tell you, the most vicious thing up here is a raccoon. The creepy thing to me, is that the kid was dressed as an 'evil warlock' and Melvin almost always played a 'good ranger.' On top of that, last year they had a couple hikers go missing. They found the bodies a week and a half later, bound, gagged and dead in a cave. The cave had had a basic fire pit, some leaves that resembled bedding, and the plastic of an eyglass lens. Both hikers had twenty-twenty vision."

I looked up in suprise. I lowered my hand to my pocket and reached in.
"W-T- . . . . AAAHH!!!!" I screamed as I pulled the pair of hornrimed glasses from my pocket, they were missing one lense and were scratched and bloodied.