Monday, August 24, 2009

Bosun Trent's Two Haul

(Yet another sampling of my nautical themed verse, penned at our weekly Pub outing.)

"Bosun Trent's Two Haul"

Attend, ye dogs, call back, one and all!
(Callback) - Timmeh whey heave one and haul!
Think of the girl you left in port, for good or for foul,
- Timmeh whey, pull m' boys, till the winds howl!
We need to get home lads, put your backs IN
- Timmeh whey backs into it, or we'll have to pull agin!
Keep on it, buckos, steady and true!
- Timmeh whey, HA! Easy call for you.
Till we all get there, or till we all die!
- Timmeh whey, to the deep blue then, says I!

Update Inadequacies

Meh. School has begun once more for me, my schedule has filled up and now I will see if my blogging career will stand the test of academics.

As som of you may have noted I update randomly if it is a song or snippet, but try to post every tues. guaranteed. SO! I will strive to post SOMETHING every Tuesday. but, dont expect too much. But, you knew that already.

Later kids.

EEE|>:-] <-- evil h4773r smiley

inadequacies

Friday, August 21, 2009

Jace's Lullaby

(I cooked this up for a D&D campaign. My character sings it at night before bed when they make camp, or each night while hes on ship, after the changing of the first eve's watch.)

Jace's Lullaby


My pretty lass, my pretty lass, how I miss your lovely face

You know not who's singin' lass? Tis your darlin' Jace.

My pretty lass, my pretty lass, I long for you to be near

bless my bones my pretty lass, my song can you not hear?


Ahoy my darlin' how have you come to me?

Ye' shant be here, yet I you've found, out upon the sea.

What is wrong my pretty lass? Out of sorts you seem

you gaze off into the distance as if in a dream.


What is that my dear, you have found me at last?

But you were safe in port while I followed the mast.

Oh heavens no, it can not be true.

You threw yourself into the blue.


Alas my dear you know not what you've done

because you've drowned yourself my dear we can not be one.

For when lubers die, they go to heaven or to hell,

And when I pass the Blessed Ilse is where I shall dwell


So, now my love, travel on and take heart

Though forever we must now be apart,

One shall sing for you, your darlin' Jace,

My pretty lass, my pretty lass, keep a smile upon your face.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

WoW: Cataclysm & 2 cents

Holy cow . . no really. Tauren priests! Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.


This particular post feels like I am spitting into the wind in the middle of a hurricane, but, as of right now, that's kind of what my blog is anyway. But that's okay. I feel that my opinions and topics are interesting or entertaining and believe others would like to hear and discourse, so here it is . . .

If you play World of Warcraft, and, at least walk into a capitol city, and then actually look up at trade chat . . okay, never mind then, I'm losing people . . .

Officially, Patch 3.2.2 is revamping old content, and unofficially the WoWers wait with bated breath to see if the rumors are true . . again . . .

So, with Blizzcon basically tomorrow we wait, nails in teeth to see if its all true. Some wait nervously because they wish it to be, others, because they gripe and flame. Me? Both.

I would love to see the race expansions, seeing Gilneas opened (read the third post down, typo on YEAR, but I was in line inside the con for the Blizzstore they have [who wasn't? ask t1nk sometime] at the '08 Blizzcon when the entire con groaned at that quote.) Will be bomb, getting goblins as a playable race has been a dream of mine since seeing THIS VID (that's right, Manager Rob breaks it down, uh! / dance for bustin moves! ). As for playable race/class combo's, I always wanted to play a Hunter Forsaken, as well as I'm of the RP school that believes that if it can be explained it should be possible, so, I'm okay with expanding the race/class combo's.

My problem, with the official as well as the unofficial, is what about the classic situation? they've done it once with Naxx, they moved it from above Strat to northrend, BUT, its the same instance, just revamped, and I'm okay with these, just uneasy.
If the Cataclysm actually rips Azzeroth a new one and twists, changes, even DROWNS an entire zone, I don't wholeheartedly support it. I have a number of toons at various levels across a few different realms, and although I have been concentrating on my main, I know I enjoy leveling a character and being able to pick and chose what zone and how, and I enjoy every zone for one reason or another (yes, even barrens).

I have a love/hate relationship with the revamping old content, I know, I'm repeating myself a bit here, I guess what I really mean, is that I wish Blizzard would set a precedent and stick to it.
Okay, Ony, Naxx, got revamps and the overall integrity of the storyline and instances themselves were maintained. What about the other old, and not-so-old raids? Are all of them going to get a buff? Is this something we can expect from Blizzard? If so, I hope it is in order to maintain the experience of the raids, not just to recycle content.
But what about "progressing" zones and instances? Instanced zones in Northrend are interesting and fun, but can be very annoying when you have lowbie friends or friends who don't level quite as fast as you and you cant help them or relive the same areas with them without leveling a toon in tandem. More to the point, Clearing Gnomer and giving it back to the gnomes?!?! WHOA! I know everybody makes that joke at some point in WoW, but honestly, if you clear it and give it back, do the darkspear trolls get a whole new "city" off the coast from Sen'Jin village and the entire Echo Isle/Zalazane quest line disappears, not to mention the quest line that leads Horde into Gnomer and gives them fun and exciting quests and some gear any leather wearer can use for a good 20 levels. Crap, tangent, but at least its a supporting tangent. (why does that sound dirty? just me? very well, moving on!)
*researches and rereads info*
I guess I am just an old salt player, well, no, I AM an old salt player. "Friggin blizzard dropping mount requirements and gold prices!? GAH!" I have uttered this phrase many times and many like it. I just like the idea of always being able to go back no matter what and doing the old stuff, unless of course, the world will become a CONSTANTLY shifting and living world, whereas, right now, its a bouncing in and out of comma's with signs of life in some places yet regression in others. I mean, look at Outland, It was the BOMB for like one year, than Northrend hit and it was forgotten. At least the old 50-60 zones had a couple years to establish themselves and have sentimental value to most players. At this point, Outland is just kind of sad. I would like to see revamps there as soon as this patch is live. Heh. I feel bad for outland.

Alright, do I have anything else I want to say about Cataclysm: The Myth, so far?
Yes, but all of it is even MORE knee-jerk reaction and I can hold it till we find out officially. Here's hoping, for what I want to play.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Optimus Rhyme: P.S.

If THIS!!! filled your ears and your soul as it did mine . . you might wanna see/hear/osmose THIS! (Supercommuter)

*edit 8/18/09*

*hits dead horse with large 2X4* What? this is fun. what more proof do you need of how awesome Optimus Rhyme was?

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Comic Con 09 Part 3rd (for real)

Consciousness came, it was not entirely welcome, but alas, there it was. Upon what was really the last day of our adventure.

I dropped the gals off at the Con and sought free parking, found some, approx 2 miles away (no joke, if it had been, the number would have been higher, I assure you.) and strolled over. Whilst I walked I encountered a young couple who inquired if I was attending AwesomeCon, which they explained was a free "Con" being held at the Hilton which was "Tim and Eric Awesome Show" themed. I was wary of them at this point, but they did not display any other signs of retardation so I continued on walking and conversing with them and parted ways about Hall H.

I then made my way into the depths of the dealer hall, the subterranean underbelly of ComicCon, to find my Fiance. Short phone tag later, I located her about 1/8 the way down from the Hall H side of the hall. I followed her for a few rows and finally inquired what her goal was, "to go from one end of the hall to the other!" Ah, so this was to be my punishment before tonight was it? So I reshouldered the backpack and two swag bags she had on her person and began to channel my inner mule, well, mule with a grin, didn't help me much around row 3000, or so, I don't remember. We grumped at each other for a few moments, I went and watched anime for a few minutes, than met T1nk again when she offered me Frank Beddor and bribes. I took them of course and we then headed for the panel situation.

We saw Scott Kurtz, Brad Guigar, Dave Kellet, and Kris Straub. They talked about what it was really like to exist as a webcomic and T1nk took copious notes. Correction, Kurts partook of some shenanigans, offered to suck someones dick, THEN spoke of the webcomic industry with the two to his closer left, while the gentleman at the far end seemed to be mute, I don't recall rightly. to be sure, ask someone else who was there. AH HA! Brad was the mute (t1nk and I just puzzled it out.) good times, back to the dealers hall, for pics, go HERE!!!1!LOL (I told you I would link her eventually, so there!)

Yeah, She takes more/better pics than I do, so see hers there. I hope that I will be able to supply as awesome pic quality (not content, this is me we're talking about) once I acquire a new mobile electronic device.

Told Front to break a leg that evening (which he did), donated to Ms. Bredeen's Alcoholic habits, and managed to stalk GeekGirlDiva successfully. For finding this rare spawn, we acquired +1 Rare Shirt ( A Chuck Buy More Supervisor Polo) I'm not a huge fan myself, but I know good swag when I see it. Many thanks to the Lady from EE. ( dont click that EE if you value your savings.) To GGD; may your l00tz be phat, ur dps high, and you're absolutely right, THIS is a diva, not . . this . .

After T1nk got her stalk on, we all met up for dinner. after food, we headed off to The Casbah For AfterCon09!!!

FRONT!! LARS!! YT!!! C&H!!! SMBC!!! AND ZEALOUS1!?!?!? SNAP!!! I just nerdgasmed all over myself. It was the shizznizle.

They attempted to start with SMBC, but due to technical difficulties . . . .

YTCracker Kicked it off, Lars jumped in on a couple songs with him.
YT was good. He was all set, and as he likes to tweet #dothedamthang , which he did. good times.

Tech Krew got their gear together and we watched some Cyanide & Happiness shorts, as well as the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal shorts.
Greatly amusing, nothing that made me pee my pants but definitely funny, and great filler between sets.

The Front brutalized the stage along side The Categorical Imperative(his drummer) and his trusty laptop. YT & Lars helped out when needed.
My first time seeing Frontalot Live, but from the other shows I've watched (all of the Nerdcore Rising special features as well as all his site's vids) and he busted it out and laid it down. There was point where he got a lil crazy with his moves, looked like he tweaked his back out, but one "Yellow Lazers" later and he was back to his spastic choreography.

Couple more shorts . . .

MC Lars and Co. hit the stage with a vengeance and threw down. He informed us Zealous1 was there, and proceeded to rock the Casbah. (oh yes, I went there) Front helped out with "O.G: Origional Gamer"which part of was composed by Jonathan Coulton (whole lotta geek musician up in these things). After pouring his energy into the audience Lars invited Zealous up on stage to rock a song, as well as two lesser known MC's who laid down some lyrics, kudos to Lars for lettin the little guy bust one out, and after it was obvious Lars was done, T1nk and I had to bounce.

We missed Doomtree, and maybe one day I will find them and listen to them, but that day has not yet come, and we we're tired, and I felt guilty bout dragging T1nk along, so I told her we could leave.


Next morning, we dropped PievuhG off to grab some last second swag, picked her back up, ate at a Denny's nearby ( I had been jonesen for Chicken Fried Steak and Biscuits and Gravy since Thur's night, I was disappointed) and made the trek back up . . I-5 *shudder* and made it home before 11 PM. GJ team, hi fives all around. Here's to a better one next time. *Holds up a bottle of B33r Bawls*

Sunday, August 2, 2009

San Diego Comic Con 2009 Part 2


Next morning, got off to a late start. rolled down the hill, took a left at Albuquerque when we should have turned down at Timbucktoo. (If you dont know that joke, grow older by five years or more, watch some loony toons, or GTFO mah bliggity blawg!) but still rolled right into downtwon San Diago(yes, Anchorman jokes were in full swing from celeb tweets and beyond)

By this time T1nk was in full "im-late-and-i-will-kill-if-i'm-not-on-time" freak out mode, so I dropped Pievuhg and the better half at the first good looking stop, and moved my way up to $15 parking lot that was a good mile away. hopped a bicycle taxi, tipped the poor guy with a roll of quarters (do not underestimate my brokeness) and schlepped up to get mah badge.

As I was herded like an animal of the field among a multitude of other geeks attempting to get into the convention center, I began to feel that familiar sensation of elation. These were my people, and I immediately began to judge them. But elitism aside, I never feel more at ease than at a con. this is where my kind, the geek, the nerd, the outcast, the goth, the Trekkie(wow, spellchecker corrected that for me, yikes), the weird guy, the gamer, the hacker, the candlestick maker, this is where we congregate and only our own judge us, not the entire locale. And if they're our own judging us, we at least feel the comfort that, they have an understanding, and don't come of their opinion blindly but from a mutual understanding that most of us know, we're still not considered "normal." And I don't know if I'm getting soft or just have gained more wisdom, but now I often think before I pass judgment, assessing the previous thought as well as playing devils advocate for a second. A good example of this is actually from a panel I missed entirely.
(for the extended version seek out Kevin Smith Q&A from Hall H Comic Con 09, there should be a link here somewhere . . . there's a good one, for shorter, try this, But I suggest starting at the top and writing off your next 2 hours.)
Kevin Smith effectively said GTF-OFF Twihards, they are the geeks of the future, they are girls w/Vamp hard on's, WTF is wrong with you dude?"

Oh look, a tangent, never had one of those, or sarcasm for that matter *false belly chuckle* Oh ho ho ho . . moving on . . . .

Grabbed my badge for Fri, was told I could grab my badge for sat after 4 pm, was tossed a swag bag (very literature heavy, less on the swag) and really started taking in the sights (see pic, the 2 Astromech droids in the general Lobby. Fear the SW fans!) , the sounds (general cacophony with strange snippets, and of course, the smells [if you are, know, or have interacted with any sort of social deviate for longer than two days, we don't smell the prettiest, no, not even some of the girls. It's unfortunate, but we are making strides towards change[its here that I wanted to link to a flyer/handout/thing by Something Positive about using a shower at conventions specifically targeted at geeks. i.e. undress, we know it's embarrassing, get under the water, we know, its cold, turn it towards hot. use the soap, no those aren't demon creatures eating your flesh, they are bubbles, and normal, then rinse, dry, and dress again.] Unfortunately I cant find said pamphlet, if anyone else can, please notify me). I then hustled to get to some hall where T1nk was already in line even though the panel was about to get out in less than 10 minutes. To be fair, it was a Coraline panel with Niel Gaiman. while waiting for Pievuhg to recover me, (I was a bit lost, but she had explored the con the day before) I am very confident, I saw Stan Lee. I heard the voice, looked back, there was a white suit upon an older gentleman wearing glasses, all attached to a mustache, and surrounded by an entourage. Liz found me, and took me to T1nk. ( ComicCon Nazi's/Elite's are, well, doing there jobs, to them; "please stop being dicks," if you encounter one; "they are doing their job's, don't bug them more than twice, don't be dicks to them, they're trying to keep the Con form being lame. If you have a problem, join staff and fix it." gee? sounds like cops.)

T1nk was still in line and concerned we wouldn't make it into the "9" panel at hall H because, well, it's Hall H. So, I told her, as her Man-Pack for the weekend I was gonna head over there and get in line. ( I had attempted to establish a couple times, that since I would be attending Aftercon, and dragging her along, AND since she paid for my tickets for ComicCon, I was there at her whim to carry swag [ill-gotten or otherwise], supplies, and hold spots in lines)
Pievuhg led me down to the bottom level and we popped into the dealer hall. What a ridiculousness. To say this hall is large, crowded, or noisy, is to call an ocean wet. Picture a pulga(that's flea market for you non-ethnic's) and put it under a large concrete ceiling and sink it about 5 feet under street level, and you've got an idea of how this place looked.
Pievuhg stopped at the ComicCon booth (not as awesome or impressive as you might think, very simple, one booth) to buy a sexy ComicCon shirt. I took the opportunity to find, as Scott Kurtz put it, The "Penny Arcade Elbow" which he was in, and it seemed, so was most of the rest of the WebComic Industry. MC Frontalot was holdin down a Corner of the PA booth as their official . . um, something fancy sounding, as Tycho likes to do, that effectively means Front is their official Rapper. I stopped, saw MC Frontalot in the flesh. Got my copy of Nerdcore Rising signed, Front regaled me with the fact that my copy was early run copy and superior to the merchandise in front of him. I was pleased. I then rolled around to the other side of the booth and had Gabe of Tycho and Gabe sign my "I roll twenty's" Shirt with the phrase "I thought you were supposed to get better at this" If I could get Wil Wheaton to sign that same shirt, I may end my life as a geek in peace.With geek/fanboy Nirvana almost attained I unerringly head to find THE LINE TO H! Found it, stood in it, T1nk showed up, stood in it. Met two groups of people, one groovy, one annoying, none worth more note than that.

Then, finally made it into the SUB-FUCKING-LINES INSIDE HALL H!!! which are there to further torment those who have endured the outside for 3+ hours. Apparently other situations have been explored and I pray and keep myself ignorant of the truth in the hopes that Comic Con higher ups have assessed other options and find that this is the most effective.

Once inside Hall H we find that the end of the Disney Panel is underway and find seats.
Disney panel: Tons of Fun. Beauty and the Beast in 3D this coming Valentines day ( I know what T1nk and I are going too).
But the one I am really excited for is The Princess and the Frog. Oh yeah, all hand drawn, full blown musical numbers performed by the characters. Good jokes, a nod to more mature audiences than just kiddy fare, a gator named Louis who solves problems with sharp sticks and plays jazz trumpet(after my own heart, I assure you) and a Cajun firefly named Ray who thinks as disjointed and quickly as he talks. I laughed my ass off at the 3 min clip they showed. I'm seein that one. Only down sides I can think of, the first black Disney princess isn't actually a real princess from the start, and as if New Orleans square in Disneyland wasn't crowded enough already, with Fantasmic, Haunted Mansion, three or so restaurants, one of the easiest to find bathrooms, the train station, and of course The Cpt. Jack sparrow ride, sorry, Pirates.
Also, Miyazaki, or, J-colonel Sanders, was there to promote Ponyo's release in the U.S with full Dub, and was awarded the g">Comic Con Inkpot award, those things are metal, I want one. Paton Oswald came out, made the Disney panel a little PG13 with the Q&A, awkward geeks were awkward cause it was friggin Miyazaki-san, and the panel ended.

There was than a lull in between panels and t1nk and I moved up for a better seat and settled in for an awesome panel. Some dude I didn't recognized was moderating but introduced the director, Shane Acker, as well as Acker's two "mentors" on the project, Tim Burton, and Timur Bekmambetov (the director from Wanted). Hrmm . . Tim Squared helped shane, lol. And two huge names working on the movie, Elijah Wood, and Jennifer Connelly. In Short, "9" looks awesome, and even if it's not the deepest movie, it will have a crazy nifty hook and be very pretty to watch. After this panel, T1nk and I left to locate Pievuhg and wander the Con Some more.

We wandered the dealer room, apparently Amanda Palmer(lead singer of Dresden Dolls) was doing a book signing that afternoon/evening and T1nk had to stalk her, we ate Con food, and were charged too much for it.

Around 5 PM was a lil in booth concert by MC Frontalot and the Categorical Imperative (his drummer) at the PA Elbow! (see Pic above, I know, its a shitty pic from my cell phone. I will get a better phone and try to take better pictures, never guarantees.)

Finally, due to the fact my parking pass was only good till 8:30 pm, we all decided to call it a day and headed back up the hill.