Withdrawals

So, I have not played a game of D&D in almost a month or more and it SUCKS.
I should be back behind a screen or a P.C. sheet within a couple weeks, but UNTIL THEN, and even when I usually get my fix, I love to hear about other groups who have A LOT of fun.
I was debating about whether to do a Meme-Orable for this but decided to against it.

Nerd Poker
Hosted by Brian Posehn, quiet nerdy comedian.
New, fun, mature & alternative, with nothing but notable entertainment geeks. As of the 2nd or 3rd episode they start telling stories from past games, it seems many of them including other L.A. nerds like Patton Oswald & Chris Hardwick

Acquisitions Incorporated
Many adventures from these characters, not to mention no shortage of reference comics in the Penny Arcade Archives. Most Recently The Vault of Winter
Penny Arcade, PVP & Wil Wheaton
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/podcasts.aspx
Oh yeah, and this happens fairly regularly as well . . .


Table Titans!
Headed by Scott Kurtz of PVP (of the above groups), not up yet, but can't wait. apparently in association with Wizards of The Coast. Not sure in what capacity, but cool.
http://tabletitans.com/

Zak & the Porn Crew!
I have mentioned how much I love this blog, not to mention ConstantCon!
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/
and the sadly defunct web series if you want to see what it looks like when you DO have a group full of females (oddly enough, very similar to any other game, go figure).
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/i-hit-it-with-my-axe?page=2

Give them a look over and I'm sorry if you now have some hundred hours to catch up on, it is HILARIOUS!

Zelda Lightsabres Potter Caine

First and foremost, early last week I saw this and it made me cry. I think my jaded has grown back since then, but its really cool. It's like 10 minutes, watch it, it restores nerd soul points. At least it did for everyone I know, don't be a soulless dick, this isn't PvP combat.


   

"Okay H47 but why is your post 3 days late!?" Well, I'm working with some potential interns for the light sabre fight I'm Directing later this summer. Stay tuned for details. I was at the high school I teach Stage Combat at annually, interviewing and talking with the kids to see who was interested, had the schedule, who's folks said it was okay, waiting for their teacher (my friend) to deal with the 300 other things he has to daily till he got around to pointing me to the specific kids.

The OTHER reason is because I have started playing Ocarina of Time again and am exhibiting SERIOUS force of will just sitting down to write this filler+ amount of a post. BUT!, to not leave you hanging, it has inspired me to attempt to run a Pathfinder game(s) set in Ocarina/Majora Hyrule and build playable races and all that good sh-t. Stay tuned, I will most assuredly post anything I build, or I will  . . . LINK . . . through, oh ho, I know, if I find anything already made out on the intarwebs.

GAH I WANT THESE SO HARD!!! AHAHAHAHhahah!!!

And the OTHER OTHER reason it's taken me so long, is because I have really nerdy friends who keep tweeting about their Pottermore experience. As well as T1nk was poking around on it too. So I'm hearing about my male AND female friends "wands" and what house they got sorted into, so my brain goes "I like Facebook quizzes even though I hate allowing the applications access to my account, this could be cool and quick." NO! I spend like, 2-3 hours on it because I'm reading everything EXCEPT the bit about how your supposed to find your shopping list, I finally find that and then it's all "choose wisely as you can not change what is chosen for you based on your answers which feed into our previously determined algorithms." So I sit there and belabor over some silly not-psych profile test that will probably never effect anything in my life ever, but it was fun. Just look at my tweets from that evening . . .

"CHESTNUT WITH DRAGON CORE, TWELVE INCHES, HARD! 7g" I'm all on that. p.s. Vineblood, crimsonblood, silverpurple, chose Patronusquest2090
— tony elfson (@h47) April 19, 2012

There are many "winners" for your potential user name. The idea is there but the execution is a little left wanting.

"I like it. textured grip, small hilt, bowie clip." "oh. you." "Yes I just described my wand using knife terminology, what!?"
— tony elfson (@h47) April 19, 2012

As a note, the pic for the wand is the same across the board, I'm a little dissapointed, I don't think that would be that hard. Especially considering you geta few options for your avatar, even IF only owls, cats and toads are "approved." WTB other obscure PETS/FAMILIARS PLZ!

WTFBLARGH BLARHG Hufflepuff!?!?!?!? REALLY? Is it cause I felt bad for the thing in the box instead of going for the sexy silver one?
— tony elfson (@h47) April 19, 2012

And then this happened. And my fiancee was like "what? Youve never considered what house youd be in?" And I was like, absolutely, I'm an RPer and actor, this shit haunts me, but I was always like . . . I could be in Gryff cause I' think I'm such a strong personality, but then I could also go slytherin for the same reasons plus being a jerk sometimes, or back to Gryff for same reasons. Ravenclaw cause I pride myself on my smarts and think I'm better than everyone else, but then of course I could go Badger cause, well, I'm just weird enough. Well, fine. Funny enough, T1nk thought she would claim to be a Ravenclaw, but end up in Puff, but GOT SLYTHERIN! I think they're doing something clever on this part, and I'm okay with that. As a matter of fact, I tried creating a couple more accounts just to shiggle my way through and see what I got. Well, I only managed to do it once because I actually made an account that claimed I was 11 (if my new character is attending Hogwarts he would be 11 right? But I guess they have a different protocol for emails to younger players, which is fine.) but the other one I did . . . gave me a cool wand, not as awesome as my first one, but then . . . different sorting hat questions, and HUFFLEPUFF AGAIN! I think someone is watching my IP and trolling me. Either way. Entertained. And I think the site is cool as there are quite a few gems from Rowlings "not for the books" content and I think this is a great way to share it if you read through the books again. I'm not sure if I will, but, with this setup, I might.

Gary Oldman is a BEAST, Sirius Black is a PIMP. SO pissed when he died. Word up to the black sheep of the Black Fam.

Seven Years Waiting for Style

I be waitin for Transmogrification! Fuck Deathwing, I mean, it all looks cool, I wouldnt mind that legendary staff even though I'm a Snick&Stick mage. But I want to get some snazy drapes.

"SnickNStick" meaning a main hand & an off hand.

Blues Be calling it "Mogging." I'mma Mog my gear to look like tier 5. hell yeah.

I could only find a "Mogger" in Ogr across from the cooking dailies guys. (currently under construction, the building will be finished after the patch to house the etherals. its the construction hut where you kill one of the food theives. The one thats NOT near the Tauren area, if that helps. I've parked a few of my toons there.) And of course, one in Stormwind, not sure where . . . lemme check . . . canal side of cathedral square. between Mage section & trade section heading towards docks. Most likely visible due to the cool void warp banners etheral's usually have (remember man tombs & the encampment in Nagrand? yeah, those.) )

Found these creepy critters north of Thunder Bluff between Stonetalon. True story. A herd of them live up there.

Hook it up to my homie Necrus who WAS a Forsaken War, we we're trying to outfit with Lightforge so he could run around in front of stormwind popping his defiler trinket bubble. Check it!

But I'm siked about FINALLY cureing the "skittles puke" issue, PLUS, being able to pick my own style, not look like every other dude.

True story though: Figureprints. Ribeyejack, my FIRST toon who I still have, I had to go buy cheap greens & farm LOW gear that had cool looks because I DID NOT have any that looked cool.

 I'm sure other sites will be doing guides and what-not, but I like Wowhead for all my "cheat" needs and am always surprised by how lite the troll community is on there, I can actually read conversations 9 times out of 10
Get your sets by "sets"
Part 1: How to get em
Part 2: Nifty items & more sets
Part 3: "look alike" tiers
Part 4: Green quality "sets"

As I dig through all the options and choices and try to reason with myself as to whether or not I'm going to compile any of these outfits, I realize how much MORE this is going to suck my life away. GJ Blizz, I wish it was sooner, but now its one less thing haters can complain about.

3rd 4 t3h NRRD: Nov. '11

Way back at the beginning of this blog, over two years ago, I did a post about Optimus Rhyme which would begin what I now call 3rd 4 t3h NRRD. In the comments below that post I typed up a short follow up mentioning - Supercommuter.
Well here we are again.


Two albums deep, Childs Play proceeds gig with Penny Arcade and a solid track on Nerdcore Now means these cats are steady and strong. You can check them out All Over The Internets, except, strangely Wikipedia. Can someone please take a few to make a worth-while page for them. Apparently the last one was deleted for "lack of relevance" or something like that. They have a link and are referenced on the Opt. Rhyme page, but then you get the deleted page.


Why should you listen to them/buy their albums? Duh. I know a lot of nerds who love some clean chip-tune/chip-hop work, so you get that. I have covered how AWESOME Wheelie's vocals are before, see the link above, I can't put enough of his vocals in my earhole. All of that combined makes for silly-good tracks, and the added vibe that the bulk of them were written & composed during the actual COMMUTE up in WA makes it even more fun.
So, click through those links, find that playlist up on youtube and get chipped off these beats & rhymes. I wanna hear those beeps, boops, thumps & spits out on the asphalt while I'm stuck in that gridlock!

How do you Blog?

On The Topic of Bloggery, one might wonder, where I get my input and research as far as technique, tips, and layout.

The truth?

I learn all my tricks from webcomics.

Yup, I blame the fact that I have been reading them for nearly a decade longer than blogs, as well as T1nk & I have been working on the project of a joint webcomic for several years now. So, all the panels I attend, all the research I do, all the input I process, is from the internet sequential artists.

I have been trying to see what other "successful;" blogs do and identify what I enjoy in blogs, but I think there are some parallels when it comes to sites that continually "produce content."

If the idea is that your traffic comes for something new from your brain each update then you can rely on certain techniques to continue satisfaction, and possibly bring in more traffic.

I also think it has something to do with the geek subculture. we all speak with a certain "web accent" that includes a semi-formal language of "nerd." I love it.

Regaining focus, yeah, Update regularly. It kind of matters HOW regularly, but as long as your readers KNOW you're at least consistent, you can maintain a readership and have a chance to increase traffic.

Filler works as long as you stay consistent . . . for a while.

Let your readers know you're not dead, they appreciate that, unless that's all you do, then you will lose traffic.

Its fascinating to me, I've mentioned in the past how many other blogs inspire me for countless, varied reasons. I guess I should give a nod to Penny Arcade,(originally, I was NOT going to put that link there as EVERYONE who comes here BETTER know who that is, but then, I thought in horror, what if they . . DONT!?!?! GO! NOW!! KNOW!!) because they are "the bar" in my eyes. They are my super stars, my "Super Bowl Quarterback" that I look to and think "Fuck yeah, I want that." The funny thing to me though, is that, I want that lifestyle, not to be THEM, but to even be PART of that operation. I've talked about going home, and every time I watch their PATV episodes, it's ALWAYS, AALLLWWAAYYS an inspiration to me to keep going, to NEVER stop being geeky and pushing forward as an artist. It's amazing to me how these real, tangible (Sort of) Normal people, have created something so incredible and be aware of it, and continue to . . . create and never take it for granted.

So what have I learned after two years of placing my musings up into the aether? Thank the PA's & Topless Robots, & Jenny Breeden's of the world for NEVER stopping and always producing. But also thank, in equal measure, The Megatokyo's, the Chugworth Academy's, & the Vanishing's, for trying, and trying, and not always succeeding, but still being brilliant and amazing, Thank you. I will continue to check in with you, always waiting with bated breath, for that next flurry of output, or that final fair well, when you leave to focus on something more important, I will continue to check your site, even years from now, when your last post STILL reads "may '08," I will give your site a hit, in hope.

Going Home

Today h47's getting a little heavy, but coming straight out of almost an entire work week of Con, I think it a fitting musing.

I've watched Nerdcore Rising and a clip or two of the concert at PAX. I've been consuming everything Penny Arcade for the last 3 years (twitter, PATV) and I want to go "home" to PAX.
What is that? that sense of geek home, where all us geeks are accepted and valid as human beings?
Is that our issue? We have become so accustomed to being "other?" Is it so intrinsic to the nature of nerdery that we be pariahs?

I have been reduced to tears, literally, at least 3 times because of an awareness of that experience, that "home" feeling. Wil Wheaton mentions it, you can SEE Scott Kurtz live it on the latest episode of PATV, I definitely get that vibe from Front when I see him reference the PAX concerts.

It fascinates me.

My buddy Epyon Avenger has mentioned how at Fanime the convention center slowly evolves into a nerd molded shanty-town. Chairs get moved into circles, music jams start to occur and the "community" assembles and reconnects every year.

To be clear, I fully support this and think it is wonderful. The thing that stays with me is why?
I guess I feel the same way about it as I do about Nerdcore. It would be awesome if it became the norm and our world was full of fluffy killer bunnies and school girls. But then I don't think it would be the same. I would guess that an essential part of the experience is the fact that there is a common bond from the shared memory of our exclusion from "the normals." From that, these institutions become havens where we understand each other or at least tolerate and revel in our "off-ness."

Maybe that's it then. I think I knew it in my life meter, but it wasn't in my spell-book. In doing a little mental craft grinding I discovered something. And from this I hope I can foster that emotion in my own corner of cyberspace as well as at S.G.I.S.Con. As long as my readers understand what I just said, or at least get the gist of it, I think the nerd world will be just a little bit better and grow in scope. But not too much, for perhaps that etheral thing, that light, intangible concept might press L2 & R2 if we try to force it.

Thanks for listening inter-natives, see you at home.