Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Where the heck have I been?

I have no idea.

I know I was in Ohio for some reason. Round on the ends, hi in the middle.

I'm switching jobs.

I'm consciously spending more time with Wife-Lady.

Status of current projects:
- Content Police 3 and 4 have been recorded and are undergoing cleanup.
- Untitled comic strip issue 1 is agonizingly close to being finished. As in, I feel physical pain every time I think about it. See? Agonizing.
- Kate is undergoing intensive speech training in our home, and she is no longer terrified of potty-training.

Did I leave anything out? Man, that looks like a short list. Part of me wishes the list was longer, the rest of me is so glad it's not.

I can't wait for the job switch, just so I can have a normal schedule. I don't even remember what not being on call 24/7 is like.

I'm most productive when I'm regular.

Wait.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Not blogging the Emmys.

I promise, I'm not blogging the Emmys.

But Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert just made Jolene laugh until she cried. I've never seen that happen before.

Thanks guys, that was awesome.

"KNEEL BEFORE YOUR GOD!"

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Congrats to the Kneilien!

So, Neil got hitched to his sweetheart Eden today!

Not that it matters, but Eden receives my full endorsement and approval as a bride.

I guess Neil's sort of okay, too.

Best wishes to the newlyweds.

Sometimes I have a really hard time believing my version of reality is really happening. Why, it only seems like yesterday when Neil was jury-rigging Nintendo controllers into footpedals so he could jump-hack Megaman 3.

Our little buddy is all grown up. Sorta.

Congratulation!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Ferris Bueller's Doomsday Off

The Introversion guys are at it again.

Check out the vids for their new game DEFCON.

The cool Global Thermonuclear War game from Wargames is finally a reality. And it only took 23 years.



In case you haven't heard me rant and rave about these guys yet, here it comes again. Introversion is the last of the basement game programmers. Their product is pure, untarnished gaming fun. No publisher-tweaked elements to fit a demographic. No flashy graphics. The beauty is in the simplicity of their projects. Their stuff is uncluttered and elegant, like pixelated haiku.

Play Uplink, and immerse yourself in paranoia as you crack corporate networks while your connection is traced.

Play Darwinia, and feel that spooky sense of loss as a group of AI constructs hold a funeral for a fallen brother.

And now, witness Mutually Assured Destruction in the sterile glow of a vector-traced display.

I'm optimistic. I trust these guys. I'm a very picky consumer, and my consumer-sense is tingling.

The only way to win is not to play, but I wanna play anyway.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Just flew back from SLC...

... and boy, are my arms tired.

Good trip, long hours. Brother Troy came down and we hung out. Threw a rated-G bachelor party for Neil, who is to be wed in a week or so.

The kids missed me, which is nice. For two or three days after every business trip, Kate makes me her personal servant. She wants nothing to do with Mom, and demands my every waking moment. It's fun, but unnerving how dictatorial she can be.

Good to be home.

Friday, August 04, 2006

The Secret Origin Story...

Been thinking lately about the manner in which I was inculcated (or, more generously, indoctrinated) into comics, and how it has influenced my tastes now.

My first comics experiences had nothing to do with superheroes. I had a friend in second grade, in upstate New York, who got ahold of his father's comics and brought them to school. It was a cardboard box, full of them. The day he happened to bring them in was my birthday. I was probably six. Him, being in a generous mood, gave them to me. I'm sure his Dad was thrilled to find out that his beloved collection was passed off to some random kid at school.

It was a box full of treasures. Old Gold Key Magnus: Robotfighter issues, EC horror comics, Frankenstein, Dracula, war comics.

And maybe one or two issues of Spiderman.

The Spiderman stuff wasn't what stuck in my head. It was the horror comics. Dracula, hovering over another victim. Frankenstein, stomping away from raging mobs. African headhunters, summoning gigantic monstrous ant-gods to devour whitey explorers. Trench warriors, bayoneting German enemies in a muddy field of some unnamed European country.

It was awesome.

I spent hours with those things.

My mom burned them, promptly.

It was like burning my dog alive. I was pretty upset. I don't know if I cried, I don't remember.

Anyway, I wonder why I feel so strongly about non-superhero comics, and I can't help but think that my first exposure to them has a great deal to do with it.

I wasn't completely in love with capes and costumes, although I thought they were kind of cool.

I was looking for more giant man-eating ants.

Come to think of it, I think I still am.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Darth Dump

Darth Vader being a jerk

Channel 101's Chad Vader 1

Channel 101's Chad Vader 2

Displacement

I'll be two states over in Salt Lake City this weekend.

Email me for invites to street brawls and building demolitions.

Not sure if podcasting recording will occur tomorrow. Greatly dependent on how work goes on Saturday.