It's the time of the year when an aura of creepiness pervades all and grocery stores sell tubes of fake blood for $3.99 each. It's also the time of year that I try to cram as many horror movies, new and old, into my schedule as possible.
For those who would care to join me, I'll be systematically be posting my picks for the best movies featuring several iconic creatures between now and Samhain. First up will be the ubiquitous Zombie flicks. Keep an eye out for that one some time tomorrow.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saga of the Star Werewolf Barbarian Lords!
Legendary. Fearsome. Ruthless. All of these terms have been used (specifically by me) to describe the mighty Star Werewolf Barbarian Lords! Their Endless Solar Death Legions have been the doom of one thousand worlds! Or, hopefully they will eventually.
What, you may ask, are these ferocious creatures, and where did they come from?
The answer is simple: they evolved from a really badass cell (teejirius friggenawesomensus) on the harsh world of Teejiria... in a little game called Spore.
For those not in the know, Spore is the latest creation from game design genius and The Sims creator, Will Wright. Spore is part 3D-Art studio, part evolutionary model, and part civilization simulator. You, as the player, begin with a single-celled organism in a tide pool collecting DNA points to advance your creature until you can eventually reach land. At this point, you go from feral, foraging beast to a pack or herd that eventually becomes a tribe... then a technological civilization... and eventually, a galactic empire interacting with races created by other players in a model galaxy with thousands upon thousands of planets in orbit around an equally daunting number of stars.
It would be impossible for me to accurately describe Spore in writing. If you want to see it in action, I recommend looking it up on GameTrailers.com, or the official site, Spore.com. Other than the scope, the most truly mind-blowing thing about Spore is the myriad editors open to you. From cells to creatures to buildings and vehicles, everything is player-generated from dozens of morphable, rotatable, resizable parts. The game even has a system for adding custom color schemes and a variety of textural finishes to everthing you create. It truly is a 3D art program in its own right and, even more amazing, the game can take pretty much any crazy ass thing you can make and animate it in a variably realistic way.
Spore is immediately engaging and very gripping. I took two different civilizations from cell to space in the three days after the game's release: The aforementioned SWBLs, and the scientifically-minded quasi-centaurs known as the Astralith. I plan on posting of both civilizations and their mainy adventures in the future.
If I have one criticism of Spore, it's that the gameplay can get tired very quickly. Even going from cell to space first as bloodthirsty, warmongering carnivores AND as peacable, religiously-motivated ominovores, the progression experience wasn't that different. At the civ stage, it's only a matter of shooting music at cities until they give up rather than shooting bullets at a city until they give up. The space stage also reaches a simmilar point where the novelty wears off and you realize you're just doing the same "Save this species from a deadly disease," "Save us from evil cyborgs," and "Go get this thing and bring it here" missions over and over. If the actual starship combat were a bit more complicated than "Hold the right mouse button to fly, hold the left mouse button to shoot," things might not have started to feel repetitive so fast. A cockpit view with WASD controls could have gone a long way.
The game does a good job of awarding you with achievements no matter what you do-- from the surprisingly addictive terraforming to just declaring all out war on everything in sight (guess which one the SWBLs prefer...)-- which eventually stack to allow you to "Rank Up" RPG style and unlock new toys for your ship. There's also a quasi-storyline involving evil cyborgs called the Grox who seem to be hell-bent on keeping you from reaching the center of the galaxy, which has a pretty cool pay off. Still, it only took me a week after reaching the space stage to get the final rank (Omnipotent), tear through the Grox blockade to get to the galactic center, and even go out of my way to find Earth. Yes, it's in the game right where it should be. Astronomy nerds rejoice!
It's true that I kind of rushed my way to the galactic center instead of taking my time to build my empire in that direction, but the point is that you quickly start to feel like you're trapped in an endless cycle of repetitive missions once you claim the big prize and move on. The other problem that starts to crop up in a game so open-ended is that it starts to open your mind to other possibilities, and you soon get bogged down thinking about all of the things you can't do. I would have loved to have been able to go back to creature controls in the space stage to walk around my cities and colonies. Even better would have been the ability to land on a hostile world with just a ray gun and your wits and try to recover an artifact on foot. Alas, the nature of Will Wright's games is that they take you to the moon, and then you get disappointed that you can't quite reach the stars.
Spore is a triumph in game design, and enjoyable from start to finish- if not exactly as replayable as one would imagine in the Space stage.
Spore gets a 4/5.
And if you accuse me of stealing X-Play's rating system, let me remind you that Adam Sessler did not invent the base10 number system. Also, G4 has been dead to me for years.
See you next time.
What, you may ask, are these ferocious creatures, and where did they come from?
The answer is simple: they evolved from a really badass cell (teejirius friggenawesomensus) on the harsh world of Teejiria... in a little game called Spore.
For those not in the know, Spore is the latest creation from game design genius and The Sims creator, Will Wright. Spore is part 3D-Art studio, part evolutionary model, and part civilization simulator. You, as the player, begin with a single-celled organism in a tide pool collecting DNA points to advance your creature until you can eventually reach land. At this point, you go from feral, foraging beast to a pack or herd that eventually becomes a tribe... then a technological civilization... and eventually, a galactic empire interacting with races created by other players in a model galaxy with thousands upon thousands of planets in orbit around an equally daunting number of stars.
It would be impossible for me to accurately describe Spore in writing. If you want to see it in action, I recommend looking it up on GameTrailers.com, or the official site, Spore.com. Other than the scope, the most truly mind-blowing thing about Spore is the myriad editors open to you. From cells to creatures to buildings and vehicles, everything is player-generated from dozens of morphable, rotatable, resizable parts. The game even has a system for adding custom color schemes and a variety of textural finishes to everthing you create. It truly is a 3D art program in its own right and, even more amazing, the game can take pretty much any crazy ass thing you can make and animate it in a variably realistic way.
Spore is immediately engaging and very gripping. I took two different civilizations from cell to space in the three days after the game's release: The aforementioned SWBLs, and the scientifically-minded quasi-centaurs known as the Astralith. I plan on posting of both civilizations and their mainy adventures in the future.
If I have one criticism of Spore, it's that the gameplay can get tired very quickly. Even going from cell to space first as bloodthirsty, warmongering carnivores AND as peacable, religiously-motivated ominovores, the progression experience wasn't that different. At the civ stage, it's only a matter of shooting music at cities until they give up rather than shooting bullets at a city until they give up. The space stage also reaches a simmilar point where the novelty wears off and you realize you're just doing the same "Save this species from a deadly disease," "Save us from evil cyborgs," and "Go get this thing and bring it here" missions over and over. If the actual starship combat were a bit more complicated than "Hold the right mouse button to fly, hold the left mouse button to shoot," things might not have started to feel repetitive so fast. A cockpit view with WASD controls could have gone a long way.
The game does a good job of awarding you with achievements no matter what you do-- from the surprisingly addictive terraforming to just declaring all out war on everything in sight (guess which one the SWBLs prefer...)-- which eventually stack to allow you to "Rank Up" RPG style and unlock new toys for your ship. There's also a quasi-storyline involving evil cyborgs called the Grox who seem to be hell-bent on keeping you from reaching the center of the galaxy, which has a pretty cool pay off. Still, it only took me a week after reaching the space stage to get the final rank (Omnipotent), tear through the Grox blockade to get to the galactic center, and even go out of my way to find Earth. Yes, it's in the game right where it should be. Astronomy nerds rejoice!
It's true that I kind of rushed my way to the galactic center instead of taking my time to build my empire in that direction, but the point is that you quickly start to feel like you're trapped in an endless cycle of repetitive missions once you claim the big prize and move on. The other problem that starts to crop up in a game so open-ended is that it starts to open your mind to other possibilities, and you soon get bogged down thinking about all of the things you can't do. I would have loved to have been able to go back to creature controls in the space stage to walk around my cities and colonies. Even better would have been the ability to land on a hostile world with just a ray gun and your wits and try to recover an artifact on foot. Alas, the nature of Will Wright's games is that they take you to the moon, and then you get disappointed that you can't quite reach the stars.
Spore is a triumph in game design, and enjoyable from start to finish- if not exactly as replayable as one would imagine in the Space stage.
Spore gets a 4/5.
And if you accuse me of stealing X-Play's rating system, let me remind you that Adam Sessler did not invent the base10 number system. Also, G4 has been dead to me for years.
See you next time.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Some Things About Me
Alright, so posting twice in a day makes me seem kind of like a douche bag. Seeing as I never claimed that I wasn't, here is a list of things you should know about me if you plan to read this blog regularly. I'll start with a basic bio:
Name: T.J. You may also refer to me as "That One Guy," "That Viking," "Supreme Mega Overlord Mk V," "Your Awesomeness," or "Prince of the Star Werewolf Barbarian Lords."
Age: 19. My birthday is September 12. I live in the only country on earth where I cannot legally drink at my age. I'm sure to write a full "WTFism" about that at some point.
Birthplace: Colorado Springs, Colorado. I attended Frontier Elementary School up until the fourth grade. Anyone who can prove they were there at the same time I was gets put on my list of "People Who I Might Send A Cookie." I also lived for nine months in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before moving to my current place of residence in Kansas City, Kansas.
Ehtnicity: I am, to varying degrees, English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Danish, Anglo Saxon, Jewish, and even a little bit Cherokee, so I am told. Other than the last two, you might notice, I am white to a quite extreme degree. Aptly, I find a large percentage of the items on stuffwhitepeoplelike.com to fit me very well. You might see some of them on the list below. I am also, as you may have ascertained, a self-styled Viking, which is what I write in the "Race" box on most forms.
Religion: Straight up, I'm a Heathen. To be more specific, I'd describe myself as an Asatruar. Go look it up. I can say that religion won't be a primary topic on this blog as I'm pretty strongly against evangelism of any kind, but I may use it to make points in explaining my opinions and world views. I'm always open to answering religious questions as long as they are not overtly hateful.
Politics: Most would describe me as liberal after hearing me talk about the issues, but the fact is that I hate the Democratic and Republican parties with a fiery, burning passion. I just happen to hate the Republicans a lot more right now. Essentially, I'm conservative from the standpoint that I'm very pro-limited government, pro-balanced budget, and pro-responsible spending. I am however quite the left-leaner on issues like gay marriage, stem cell research, campaign finance reform, and the like.
Bush is the only president I've lived under since coming of age, so I feel biased and uninformed saying he's the worst president in history. Let's just say I'm not a fan.
I'm a strong Obama supporter, but I'm not a member of his cult of personality and I don't agree with all of his views. Of the people running, he's the only one I'd be proud to call my leader.
Now that all of that is out of the way, and assuming there are a few people still reading rather than coming to find me and throw a brick through my window, I'll take a bit of a more light-hearted approach. Here is a quick A to Z of things I like. It's not really "my favorite thing for each letter," as I'm sure to remember something later that would have fit better, as well as several things I am a rabid fan of that were left out for some reason. All of it is written purely off the top of my head with minimal pre-planning and minimal revision. Still, it should give you a fair idea of what I'm into.
#: 24. One of the few shows I watch religiously, this is probably my favorite show ever that is not a comedy and does not involve the supernatural. No season so far has been able to match the first season, but it's still a great show. Jack FTW.
A: Alyson Hannigan. I know her only as Willow from Buffy, so it may be more accurate to say that I'm in love with that specific character. Never seen American Pie, and I don't ever plan to. I'm afraid it would ruin my perception of her as a cute, shy wallflower. Hannigan currently shares the top spot on my list of "Celebrity Girls That I Find Most Attractive" with Jewel Staite, Firefly's Kaylee (also Dr. Keller on SG:A.) Whedon sure knows how to pick 'em....
B: Battlestar Galactica (The New One.) Far and away the best sci-fi show I've ever seen. It really shows that you can have a great character drama not in spite of but in addition to an epic space opera. I'm only dissappointed that I stumbled onto it about a year ago, and now it's almost over.
C: Colorado. It's my home state, and I plan to head back there some day. You really take the mountains for granted when you grow up in plain sight of them. I can even discard my usual apathy for televized sports when the Broncos are playing.
D: Dr. Pepper. I don't understand why Coke and Pepsi are always the leading brands. They both taste like battery acid.
E: Everything on Comedy Central between 10 and 11 pm. Alright, I'm sort of cheating on this one. Still, I had to give a shout out to Stewart and Colbert.
F: Falcons. Next to wolves, they're my favorite animal. That's about it.
G: GFFA (Galaxy Far, Far Away.) I'm a huge Star Wars nerd. The movies have been a part of my consciousness as far back as I can remember. The only thing that's a bummer for those of us born in this era is that I never remember being shocked by "I am your father!" It's just kind of been in my mind by osmosis from a very early age. Now here's where I usually get thrashed: My favorite incarnation of the Star Wars universe is the original Knights of the Old Republic game. I liked it even more than the original trilogy. You may now throw me to the Rancor.
H: Harry Potter. If you think you're too cool or too manly to like Harry Potter, you're a douchebag. Granted I never got into the series beyond the books themselves.
I: Iceland is the most metal country. It's also the most Viking-like country... which makes sense, because the Vikings were the most metal people in history. Iceland is SO metal, I am currently attempting to learn Icelandic, which is supposedly the second hardest living language on earth to learn (after Navajo.)
J: Joss Whedon. When I discovered the works of Joss Whedon, I had a "Where has this been my entire life?" moment. It all started when I saw the movie "Serenity" on an airplane flight to Africa. I enjoyed it so much, I watched it about six times on the way there and back-- not much else to do on a 20 hour flight. I got into Firefly not much later, and just this year I've been making my way gleefully through dozens of Buffy and Angel DVDs. And if you haven't checked out Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (www.drhorrible.com,) I order you to do so immediately. Everything this man touches is amazing. Except Titan A.E. That movie sucked.
K: King Dodongo! Ok, not really. I had to cheat again to fit in my favorite game series: The Legend of Zelda. I couldn't really picture how to fit "Lost" into the K slot. Again, sure to be covered more in the future.
L: Lost. Yes, I know this is one of the most manipulative shows in history. I know that the first two and a half seasons were essentialy stringing me along from paradox to paradox. Still, the most recent season was fantastic and this stands as one of the few shows I watch religiously.
M: Marvel comics. I've always been a Marvel guy. Spidey and Thor are my all-time favorites. Currently I'm following the Strycinsky run of Thor, The Ultimates, New Avengers, and Mighty Avengers. As far as other companies go, I'm into Dark Horse's Star Wars books-- specifically Dark Times and Knights of the Old Republic. There are probably others I'm missing, but I'm sure I'll do an entry about comics in the future.
N: Nix. As in Garth Nix. After Tolkien, he's my favorite fantasy writer of all time. Seventh Tower remains my favorite fantasy series to date, and it holds up despite being written at a Jr. High level. You owe it to yourself to check it out.
O: The Office. The American version. Go ahead and yell at me you Brits, but I got started on the Amreican version and for whatever reason I have no desire to watch the British one. I've seen Ricky Gervase in other stuff, and he's undeniably hilarious, but I just don't plan on ever trying to get into it.
P: PC Gaming. I play a lot of video games, but 90% of them are on the PC- the only TRUE hardcore gaming platform. It comes down to this: I will never get used to using thumb sticks to play shooters and strategy games. They are simply inferior to a mouse and keyboard. Anyone who wants to challenge me on this is free to, but it's up to you to prove you're using a controller and I won't buy a game I don't want to facilitate the duel.
Q: I'm really at a loss here. I like Quaker oats... and Quest64. Actually, any game with quests tends to amuse me. Likewise, I enjoy stories about questing or quests.
R: Roleplaying games. This is a big one for me, as this is my favorite leisure activity. I'd rather be playing Scion or Exalted or Dungeons and Dragons or SWSE than watching TV, going to the movies, reading, playing video games, surfing the web, playing sports, or any other type of passtime that so-called "normal people" enjoy. I like them so much, I do a podcast about them.
S: Strong Bad. I've been following Homestarrunner.com for at least six years now, and as far as "Other People That Understand My Sense of Humor," they're right up there with Monty Python and Invader Zim (which couldn't fit into their own slots...)
T: THE METAL! I tend to judge things based on how Metal they are, rather than how cool they are. More than half of my iPod is metal (and most of the rest is classic rock and movie soundtracks.) My favorite genre of metal is Progressive Viking Folk Metal, a niche dominated almost solely by my all-time favorite band, Tyr. Some other favorites of mine include Eluveitie, Turisas, Korpiklaani, Freedom Call, Hammerfall, Manowar, Amon Amarth, Blind Guardian... the list could go on.
U: Uhhhh.... pirates. Yeah, that's sort of cheating. Pirates are cooler than ninjas. If someone legitimately wants to hear my long argument explaining why, I might post it at some point. The whole debate has become something of a cliche in my opinion.
V: Vampires. I'd put Vikings here, but that's already obvious. In general, vampires are awesome. They can become lame, as in the case of "Emo/Goth Vampire Posers," something I'm sure to write about in the future. Still, I have seen more than my share of Vampire movies and have dabbled into the works of Ann Rice. As I'm sure I'll be asked: No, I haven't read Twilight yet, but I might if the movie interests me enough. In any case, vampires aren't nearly as cool as...
W: Werewolves. Werewolves are kind of like the coolest thing ever. Ok, they ARE the coolest thing ever. 'Nuff said.
X: X-Men. This is a bit of a narrow category (it was basically between this and X-Com UFO defense,) but the X-Men are still awesome. I grew up on the 90's cartoon (Dana nanana na na,) and Wolverine has always been my favorite. Comic-wise, I like the run of Astonishing written by Joss Whedon. Surprise surprise. Oh damn, looking back over this I should have put the X-Files here. They beat out the X-Men by a hair. Meh, I'll write about that later.
Y: Yetis? I guess they're pretty cool. This is one of those where I'm pretty sure I'll think of something better as soon as I click submit.
Z: ZOMBIES!! I've seen every Romero movie multiple times, and I can quote Evil Dead/Army of Darkness withthe best of them. I've read the Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z cover to cover. When I enter a new structure, I often find myself thinking about how I would defend it from an impending zombie apocalypse. I have sat and discussed plans for survivng said apocalypse at length with friends and strangers alike. Always remember: Aim for the head.
Alright, now that's out of the way, and you probably have eye strain. Look for a decidedly more coherent entry in the days to come. See you then.
Name: T.J. You may also refer to me as "That One Guy," "That Viking," "Supreme Mega Overlord Mk V," "Your Awesomeness," or "Prince of the Star Werewolf Barbarian Lords."
Age: 19. My birthday is September 12. I live in the only country on earth where I cannot legally drink at my age. I'm sure to write a full "WTFism" about that at some point.
Birthplace: Colorado Springs, Colorado. I attended Frontier Elementary School up until the fourth grade. Anyone who can prove they were there at the same time I was gets put on my list of "People Who I Might Send A Cookie." I also lived for nine months in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before moving to my current place of residence in Kansas City, Kansas.
Ehtnicity: I am, to varying degrees, English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Danish, Anglo Saxon, Jewish, and even a little bit Cherokee, so I am told. Other than the last two, you might notice, I am white to a quite extreme degree. Aptly, I find a large percentage of the items on stuffwhitepeoplelike.com to fit me very well. You might see some of them on the list below. I am also, as you may have ascertained, a self-styled Viking, which is what I write in the "Race" box on most forms.
Religion: Straight up, I'm a Heathen. To be more specific, I'd describe myself as an Asatruar. Go look it up. I can say that religion won't be a primary topic on this blog as I'm pretty strongly against evangelism of any kind, but I may use it to make points in explaining my opinions and world views. I'm always open to answering religious questions as long as they are not overtly hateful.
Politics: Most would describe me as liberal after hearing me talk about the issues, but the fact is that I hate the Democratic and Republican parties with a fiery, burning passion. I just happen to hate the Republicans a lot more right now. Essentially, I'm conservative from the standpoint that I'm very pro-limited government, pro-balanced budget, and pro-responsible spending. I am however quite the left-leaner on issues like gay marriage, stem cell research, campaign finance reform, and the like.
Bush is the only president I've lived under since coming of age, so I feel biased and uninformed saying he's the worst president in history. Let's just say I'm not a fan.
I'm a strong Obama supporter, but I'm not a member of his cult of personality and I don't agree with all of his views. Of the people running, he's the only one I'd be proud to call my leader.
Now that all of that is out of the way, and assuming there are a few people still reading rather than coming to find me and throw a brick through my window, I'll take a bit of a more light-hearted approach. Here is a quick A to Z of things I like. It's not really "my favorite thing for each letter," as I'm sure to remember something later that would have fit better, as well as several things I am a rabid fan of that were left out for some reason. All of it is written purely off the top of my head with minimal pre-planning and minimal revision. Still, it should give you a fair idea of what I'm into.
#: 24. One of the few shows I watch religiously, this is probably my favorite show ever that is not a comedy and does not involve the supernatural. No season so far has been able to match the first season, but it's still a great show. Jack FTW.
A: Alyson Hannigan. I know her only as Willow from Buffy, so it may be more accurate to say that I'm in love with that specific character. Never seen American Pie, and I don't ever plan to. I'm afraid it would ruin my perception of her as a cute, shy wallflower. Hannigan currently shares the top spot on my list of "Celebrity Girls That I Find Most Attractive" with Jewel Staite, Firefly's Kaylee (also Dr. Keller on SG:A.) Whedon sure knows how to pick 'em....
B: Battlestar Galactica (The New One.) Far and away the best sci-fi show I've ever seen. It really shows that you can have a great character drama not in spite of but in addition to an epic space opera. I'm only dissappointed that I stumbled onto it about a year ago, and now it's almost over.
C: Colorado. It's my home state, and I plan to head back there some day. You really take the mountains for granted when you grow up in plain sight of them. I can even discard my usual apathy for televized sports when the Broncos are playing.
D: Dr. Pepper. I don't understand why Coke and Pepsi are always the leading brands. They both taste like battery acid.
E: Everything on Comedy Central between 10 and 11 pm. Alright, I'm sort of cheating on this one. Still, I had to give a shout out to Stewart and Colbert.
F: Falcons. Next to wolves, they're my favorite animal. That's about it.
G: GFFA (Galaxy Far, Far Away.) I'm a huge Star Wars nerd. The movies have been a part of my consciousness as far back as I can remember. The only thing that's a bummer for those of us born in this era is that I never remember being shocked by "I am your father!" It's just kind of been in my mind by osmosis from a very early age. Now here's where I usually get thrashed: My favorite incarnation of the Star Wars universe is the original Knights of the Old Republic game. I liked it even more than the original trilogy. You may now throw me to the Rancor.
H: Harry Potter. If you think you're too cool or too manly to like Harry Potter, you're a douchebag. Granted I never got into the series beyond the books themselves.
I: Iceland is the most metal country. It's also the most Viking-like country... which makes sense, because the Vikings were the most metal people in history. Iceland is SO metal, I am currently attempting to learn Icelandic, which is supposedly the second hardest living language on earth to learn (after Navajo.)
J: Joss Whedon. When I discovered the works of Joss Whedon, I had a "Where has this been my entire life?" moment. It all started when I saw the movie "Serenity" on an airplane flight to Africa. I enjoyed it so much, I watched it about six times on the way there and back-- not much else to do on a 20 hour flight. I got into Firefly not much later, and just this year I've been making my way gleefully through dozens of Buffy and Angel DVDs. And if you haven't checked out Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (www.drhorrible.com,) I order you to do so immediately. Everything this man touches is amazing. Except Titan A.E. That movie sucked.
K: King Dodongo! Ok, not really. I had to cheat again to fit in my favorite game series: The Legend of Zelda. I couldn't really picture how to fit "Lost" into the K slot. Again, sure to be covered more in the future.
L: Lost. Yes, I know this is one of the most manipulative shows in history. I know that the first two and a half seasons were essentialy stringing me along from paradox to paradox. Still, the most recent season was fantastic and this stands as one of the few shows I watch religiously.
M: Marvel comics. I've always been a Marvel guy. Spidey and Thor are my all-time favorites. Currently I'm following the Strycinsky run of Thor, The Ultimates, New Avengers, and Mighty Avengers. As far as other companies go, I'm into Dark Horse's Star Wars books-- specifically Dark Times and Knights of the Old Republic. There are probably others I'm missing, but I'm sure I'll do an entry about comics in the future.
N: Nix. As in Garth Nix. After Tolkien, he's my favorite fantasy writer of all time. Seventh Tower remains my favorite fantasy series to date, and it holds up despite being written at a Jr. High level. You owe it to yourself to check it out.
O: The Office. The American version. Go ahead and yell at me you Brits, but I got started on the Amreican version and for whatever reason I have no desire to watch the British one. I've seen Ricky Gervase in other stuff, and he's undeniably hilarious, but I just don't plan on ever trying to get into it.
P: PC Gaming. I play a lot of video games, but 90% of them are on the PC- the only TRUE hardcore gaming platform. It comes down to this: I will never get used to using thumb sticks to play shooters and strategy games. They are simply inferior to a mouse and keyboard. Anyone who wants to challenge me on this is free to, but it's up to you to prove you're using a controller and I won't buy a game I don't want to facilitate the duel.
Q: I'm really at a loss here. I like Quaker oats... and Quest64. Actually, any game with quests tends to amuse me. Likewise, I enjoy stories about questing or quests.
R: Roleplaying games. This is a big one for me, as this is my favorite leisure activity. I'd rather be playing Scion or Exalted or Dungeons and Dragons or SWSE than watching TV, going to the movies, reading, playing video games, surfing the web, playing sports, or any other type of passtime that so-called "normal people" enjoy. I like them so much, I do a podcast about them.
S: Strong Bad. I've been following Homestarrunner.com for at least six years now, and as far as "Other People That Understand My Sense of Humor," they're right up there with Monty Python and Invader Zim (which couldn't fit into their own slots...)
T: THE METAL! I tend to judge things based on how Metal they are, rather than how cool they are. More than half of my iPod is metal (and most of the rest is classic rock and movie soundtracks.) My favorite genre of metal is Progressive Viking Folk Metal, a niche dominated almost solely by my all-time favorite band, Tyr. Some other favorites of mine include Eluveitie, Turisas, Korpiklaani, Freedom Call, Hammerfall, Manowar, Amon Amarth, Blind Guardian... the list could go on.
U: Uhhhh.... pirates. Yeah, that's sort of cheating. Pirates are cooler than ninjas. If someone legitimately wants to hear my long argument explaining why, I might post it at some point. The whole debate has become something of a cliche in my opinion.
V: Vampires. I'd put Vikings here, but that's already obvious. In general, vampires are awesome. They can become lame, as in the case of "Emo/Goth Vampire Posers," something I'm sure to write about in the future. Still, I have seen more than my share of Vampire movies and have dabbled into the works of Ann Rice. As I'm sure I'll be asked: No, I haven't read Twilight yet, but I might if the movie interests me enough. In any case, vampires aren't nearly as cool as...
W: Werewolves. Werewolves are kind of like the coolest thing ever. Ok, they ARE the coolest thing ever. 'Nuff said.
X: X-Men. This is a bit of a narrow category (it was basically between this and X-Com UFO defense,) but the X-Men are still awesome. I grew up on the 90's cartoon (Dana nanana na na,) and Wolverine has always been my favorite. Comic-wise, I like the run of Astonishing written by Joss Whedon. Surprise surprise. Oh damn, looking back over this I should have put the X-Files here. They beat out the X-Men by a hair. Meh, I'll write about that later.
Y: Yetis? I guess they're pretty cool. This is one of those where I'm pretty sure I'll think of something better as soon as I click submit.
Z: ZOMBIES!! I've seen every Romero movie multiple times, and I can quote Evil Dead/Army of Darkness withthe best of them. I've read the Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z cover to cover. When I enter a new structure, I often find myself thinking about how I would defend it from an impending zombie apocalypse. I have sat and discussed plans for survivng said apocalypse at length with friends and strangers alike. Always remember: Aim for the head.
Alright, now that's out of the way, and you probably have eye strain. Look for a decidedly more coherent entry in the days to come. See you then.
First Things First
Welcome one and all to what will surely go down in history as the greatest gift to humanity ever bestowed by a single person. From this day forward, this blog will host the day-to-day thoughts of yours truly, everyone's favorite Heathen viking werewolf narcissist, T.J.! Now let's hit on some basics.
Reasons why you might be here:
1. You met me on the internet and I bugged you to check out my stupid blog, or perhaps you got curious and clicked on a link in a forum signature. If that is the case, you may know me as AsaTJ, Farnul, AnubisTJ, or going back even further, Tsumari. Yes, the same Tsumari that used to troll Yahoo chat roleplay in the good ol' days. Anyone form that community that can prove they knew me can e-mail me, and I'll send you a free cookie! Maybe. I'm also listed on Facebook as "Njargrad the Red."
2. You know me from my podcast, Wolf-Blooded Gamer (wolfbloodtj.libsyn.com, or find it in the podcasts directory on iTunes.) If that's the case, you might be bored as hell by this blog as it will have a lot more to do with my personal adventures, with a little bit of gaming stuff thrown in. Alright, probably a lot of gaming stuff-- but I'll cover that later.
3. You know me from World of Warcraft. I played WoW beore it became cool. I was a closed beta tester, and I've played on and off for the past four years. Anyone who does not play, just keep scrolling down. I'll try to cover all of the names I've used in a more than passing fashion....
-Trathas (Human Paladin - Dalaran)
-Tsumari (Human Paladin - Whisperwind)
-Grobhal (Orc Warrior - Whisperwind)
-Trathas (Human Paldin - Formerly Emerald Dream, Transferred to Moon Guard - MAIN)
-Wulfgrath (Orc Shaman - Moon Guard)
-Syrandaen (Blood Elf Rogue - Ursin)
-Rythorim (Blood Elf Mage - Ursin)
-Grolgar (Orc Warrior - Ursin)
Which characters I play actively shifts depending on my mood, but the majority of my /played is on Moon Guard Trathas, and I consider that to be my home server. RP forever!
4. You *gasp* know me in real life! If that's the case, you'll probably see a new side of me here. There are many things I feel comfortable writing that I wouldn't normally say out loud. In all realtiy, about 98% of my real-life acquaintances are not the target audience for this blog. More on that later.
Things I will talk about on this blog:
1. Random shit that happens to me. Everyone has those interesting stories that pop up out of every day life, and I plan to publish the ones that are worthy of sharing.
2. Shit that irritates me. Often I come across something so completely rediculous that I want to jam my face repetedly into a cement highway divider. I will present instances of this phenomenon here, along with my suggestions on what should be done about it.
3. Stuff about games. I already do a lot of this on the podcast, but let's face it: games are a constant factor in my life. I couldn't really do a blog about me without the occasional update on my adventures in Azeroth or a recap of a recent World of Darkness session. The podcast format also lends itself more to casual back-and-forth, so this blog will differ in the sense that you'll see more "essay style" reviews of games and things like that.
4. My opinions. I think my opinions matter. As a matter of fact, I think they're better than your opinions. And yours. And you in the back there: come on? You call those valid opinions? I've eaten sandwiches with more informed opinions. Anyway, expect to hear a lot of that, and feel free to post your futile dissenting points. Just be aware that: a) If your argument is not well supported, I won't waste my time responding to it and b) I am writing a personal blog, and there's only so much long-winded argumentation I can put up with on a regular basis. I reserve the right to respond to any and all criticism with: "Whatever, I'm going to go watch Lost and pretend I didn't see that." In short: feel free to disagree, just don't expect me to care 100% of the time.
5. More of me talking to myself! That's right, this is a multimodal blog. In addition to text entries, I'll also be occasionally posting links to mini audio entries. Lucky you!
6. Free speech. I'm not going to censor myself here. All topics are open: religion, politics, baby kicking (I'm strongly against it), Pirates vs Ninjas (*cough*pirates*cough*), etc. I'm also not what you'd call a prolific puruser of profanity, but I want to make it clear that this is an uncensored blog, so if you are bothered by four-letter words beginning with "f" and ending with "uck," this is not going to be the blog for you.
I think that basically covers everything that needs to be covered for now. Next entry: some important things about me. See you then.
Reasons why you might be here:
1. You met me on the internet and I bugged you to check out my stupid blog, or perhaps you got curious and clicked on a link in a forum signature. If that is the case, you may know me as AsaTJ, Farnul, AnubisTJ, or going back even further, Tsumari. Yes, the same Tsumari that used to troll Yahoo chat roleplay in the good ol' days. Anyone form that community that can prove they knew me can e-mail me, and I'll send you a free cookie! Maybe. I'm also listed on Facebook as "Njargrad the Red."
2. You know me from my podcast, Wolf-Blooded Gamer (wolfbloodtj.libsyn.com, or find it in the podcasts directory on iTunes.) If that's the case, you might be bored as hell by this blog as it will have a lot more to do with my personal adventures, with a little bit of gaming stuff thrown in. Alright, probably a lot of gaming stuff-- but I'll cover that later.
3. You know me from World of Warcraft. I played WoW beore it became cool. I was a closed beta tester, and I've played on and off for the past four years. Anyone who does not play, just keep scrolling down. I'll try to cover all of the names I've used in a more than passing fashion....
-Trathas (Human Paladin - Dalaran)
-Tsumari (Human Paladin - Whisperwind)
-Grobhal (Orc Warrior - Whisperwind)
-Trathas (Human Paldin - Formerly Emerald Dream, Transferred to Moon Guard - MAIN)
-Wulfgrath (Orc Shaman - Moon Guard)
-Syrandaen (Blood Elf Rogue - Ursin)
-Rythorim (Blood Elf Mage - Ursin)
-Grolgar (Orc Warrior - Ursin)
Which characters I play actively shifts depending on my mood, but the majority of my /played is on Moon Guard Trathas, and I consider that to be my home server. RP forever!
4. You *gasp* know me in real life! If that's the case, you'll probably see a new side of me here. There are many things I feel comfortable writing that I wouldn't normally say out loud. In all realtiy, about 98% of my real-life acquaintances are not the target audience for this blog. More on that later.
Things I will talk about on this blog:
1. Random shit that happens to me. Everyone has those interesting stories that pop up out of every day life, and I plan to publish the ones that are worthy of sharing.
2. Shit that irritates me. Often I come across something so completely rediculous that I want to jam my face repetedly into a cement highway divider. I will present instances of this phenomenon here, along with my suggestions on what should be done about it.
3. Stuff about games. I already do a lot of this on the podcast, but let's face it: games are a constant factor in my life. I couldn't really do a blog about me without the occasional update on my adventures in Azeroth or a recap of a recent World of Darkness session. The podcast format also lends itself more to casual back-and-forth, so this blog will differ in the sense that you'll see more "essay style" reviews of games and things like that.
4. My opinions. I think my opinions matter. As a matter of fact, I think they're better than your opinions. And yours. And you in the back there: come on? You call those valid opinions? I've eaten sandwiches with more informed opinions. Anyway, expect to hear a lot of that, and feel free to post your futile dissenting points. Just be aware that: a) If your argument is not well supported, I won't waste my time responding to it and b) I am writing a personal blog, and there's only so much long-winded argumentation I can put up with on a regular basis. I reserve the right to respond to any and all criticism with: "Whatever, I'm going to go watch Lost and pretend I didn't see that." In short: feel free to disagree, just don't expect me to care 100% of the time.
5. More of me talking to myself! That's right, this is a multimodal blog. In addition to text entries, I'll also be occasionally posting links to mini audio entries. Lucky you!
6. Free speech. I'm not going to censor myself here. All topics are open: religion, politics, baby kicking (I'm strongly against it), Pirates vs Ninjas (*cough*pirates*cough*), etc. I'm also not what you'd call a prolific puruser of profanity, but I want to make it clear that this is an uncensored blog, so if you are bothered by four-letter words beginning with "f" and ending with "uck," this is not going to be the blog for you.
I think that basically covers everything that needs to be covered for now. Next entry: some important things about me. See you then.
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