Where Did I Go? (tl;dr)

Not news for the most part. Skip if you need to.



So, what happened to me? Well, life got in the way in a major way.

First my Dell laptop died right after the warranty expired. They wanted 300 dollars to extend it a year and I thought that was unreasonable. (I still do). After that I ended up in a long process of trying to get it repaired, in the end after lots and lots of driving to the repair shop an hour away, the Dell breathed it's last. It has since been replaced by a wonderful (knock on wood) little HP G60 120US Notebook PC (with a two year warranty from Office Depot). In other news, there's been some illness in the family (which I'd prefer not to go into detail about) as well as flu season deciding to kick my butt. Twice. I am currently fighting Round Two of a sinus cold. Round one was about a month ago. Additionally, my classes are a bit of a pain right now as well. Very intense. I am attempting to graduate and was told on Monday that there was a class that they will not waive, after they previously said they would. I am going to continue to fight this.

So, that's the personal crap. Regarding the blog itself, an industry insider was on Twitter, tweeting about how many blogs are useless because they just repost news found elsewhere. He wasn't talking about me specifically, but it definitely applies. However, I have no inside sources so I can't really give you any original news. I am more of a spaghetti strainer of geek information. I try to bring you stuff that's relevant without wading through all the stuff that's not as interesting or fun. Does the world need another personal blog? Should I change my format? I am still not sure. I will probably keep it as is for now. However, it's always in the back of my mind.

In geek news, it's really been a wonderful time. Comics have been great recently, with the notable exception of Greg Land working on Uncanny X-Men. Ugh, that guy. It's a shame because there is some really wonderful writing going on and the return of the Hellfire Club makes me one happy fangirl.

I'm broke as a joke, but I found the amazing PaperbackSwap.com and traded away some novels and used my points for my manga fix. I've found new series that I probably would have skipped over in the store and got started on the Trinity Blood light novels. I recommend this site HIGHLY. It has been a great experience.

I go through geek phases and while my SO tells me I am firmly lodged in the 'comic book geek' category, I have really come back into being a gamer lately. This is in no small part to Izuna 2 and Lego Batman being made of pure win. Also I got an original X-Box for my birthday. I had missed that console entirely so I am going back and checking out all the exclusives (on the cheap!) that I missed. It's so cool to walk out of Gamestop with 4 games and only having spent 12 bucks. (plus 5 credit). A friend told me about a website called The Backloggery – it tracks what games you are playing, what you've beat, and the like. I am hanging around there a lot these days. They run live streams on Wednesdays and Sundays. So far the community is very cool and not clique-ish. Also highly recommended. My personal backlog is woefully incomplete, but I work on it when I can.

So, that's where I have been and where I am. I expect things to stay pretty intense/interesting through December. I will do my best to be more vigilant on my blog. For those that hung around, thanks for your patience.

- EG.

Birthday!

It's mah birthday. Time for dancing!



(real post later)

Luigi's Revenge!

The Japanese Super Mario Strikers Commercial. The ending makes it great.

Just Pee in the Closet

...with confidence!

No Fay, No Rain

Fay has decided she can't be arsed with Tampa Bay. No rain, but I'm staying at home and messing around in the kitchen anyway.

Back...with a small delay

I've returned, but now I'm in a bit of a holding pattern, watching to see where Hurricane Fay is going. More posts later (possibly tomorrow). Power willing - I'll likely be stuck at home surfing the internet.

Away From Blog

be back Sunday evening. Yall be good. :)

X-Men Arcade Game

Got to play this the other day at a local arcade (yes, there are one or two left).Good times.

Izuna 2 poster - posted

Put up my Izuna poster. (with a little help from the Ogre ears I got at Universal)

I really need to Windex that mirror 0_o;

Oh Mah Gah!

Click on the image for a larger version.

Found at a local parking lot. Good times.

My mom told me not to talk religion

buuut....why start listening now?

For the record, my stance on religion is this - Let's all just get along. You're a Pastafarian? Enjoy the flying spaghetti monster? That's fine. As long as you don't jam your beliefs down my throat, let's go out for a Ramune together and binge on Twizzlers. Forsooth, it will be good times.

Moving on....

There have been a lot of religious nutjobs in the X-Men end of the universe recently. Specifically - Christian nutjobs. This could set a bad precedent and often times just leads to bad, lazy writing. I think it's a bad idea to lean on overused, negative stereotypes. (Yes, I'd say the same if it was any other religious group).

Picking religious groups as villains is as stale as picking out Nazis as the bad guys. The only notable exception in recent memory is Atlus' new game, Operation Darkness. They're not just nazis, they're werewolf nazis. And that is silly and amusing on multiple levels. But I digress.

From the beginning of X Factor, the Purifiers (spoilers ahoy!) capture Rahne and torture the ever living snot out of her and as of issue 4, seem to have brainwashed her. I am hoping that the book expands to show that while she shares a religion with the Reverend Craig, they are completely and utterly different in how they use religion and/or faith in their lives. Wolverine made a point to X23 about Rahne saying that she is the only one on the team that has something that everyone else has lost - hope and innocence. I'm on the edge of my seat, sincerely hoping that this story continues to unfold in an equal parts moving/disturbing manner, rather than take a 'Hur! Religion bad!' manner. I won't ruin the end of issue 4 - but the religious theme is likely to expand exponentially with the inclusion of Warren/Angel and the army that the Purifiers are building.

X Force Issue 4 Preview (yes I am aware the book is already out, but I thought you might like this anyway)

Speaking of Angel...

I picked up Angel : Revelations #1 (the Marvel Knights miniseries) which is an origin story - similar to DC Comics Year 1 mini series.

I am well aware that its essentially impossible to do a story about a character named Angel and/or Archangel and not have religious overtones. It's got stigmata in the first few pages for Pete's sake. Warren even goes to St. Joe's, a private boarding school (of indeterminate religion). Your Christian nutjob villain shows up in the first 2-3 pages, wreaking havoc. I'm not going to jump to any conclusions on this one just yet. I don't feel like I have enough characterization for anyone (barring Warren) to make any sort of remotely educated guess on where the title is going aside from bad guy is bad. Again, I hold the hope that they keep it classy, or at least thought provoking in a positive manner.

In a mostly related note, for those that like more stylized art and design, the art in Angel is amazing. Just the cover itself is part Art Nouveau and part Illuminated Text style.

So, 'moral' of the story? (see what I did there?) It's dangerous to tread in religious nutjob plot territory - the possibility that it could turn insulting and hackneyed is very real. However, if the writers treat these plotlines with care, they could stand to be some of the strongest stories in the X Universe in a long time.

Regarding Nintendo Online

I don't have an XBox 360 and Nintendo is just now getting the Wii online properly - so I really do not have any in depth knowledge on how playing online 'should' work, aside from not getting disconnected all the time.

I have heard complaints about Mario Kart Wii not having voice chat capabilities and how that is a sin against fanboys and girls everywhere. (as seen in this VG Cats comic - nsfw due to penis hat reference) I have to say, for the most part - I disagree. I really have no desire to sit there and have a total stranger call me every name in the book. Let's be realistic here - Mario Kart causes large outbursts of profanity. (if it doesn't "yer doin it wrong"). With the giant amounts of items getting tossed at you (my personal most painful was the Blue Shell/Lightning/Ink combo one after the other) you are bound to want to question the lineage of the other players. Loudly.

Nintendo finally seemed to cave in and be labelled the 'family' system and markets it as such. Do you really want to go online to risk your grandma or your little brother getting profaned at? Not so much, then Nintendo would just catch crap about 'Oh, this is terrible, you marketed this as a family system' - when, in fact, they have absolutely no control of what people will say to one another. The only viable option was silence.

Personally, I would have liked an option where I could hear my friends and my friends only. Then, I could call my friends whatever I want (and vice versa) as they have earned the right to be sarcastic and mildly abusive (as that is how we do). This would also work for families as you can see what friends are in the Mario Kart online room with you and deal with them accordingly if they get out of hand.

As it is now, my friends and I are installing Skype on our laptops as a stopgap so we can get on with yelling at each other or laughing at each others misfortunes. It's an extra step, but one we are all willing to make.

Side note: I play Waluigi on Wario's Bike and for some reason his voice seems to be louder than many of the other players, so I often get a kick out of that. He already says plenty by himself, without me adding to it.

Spectrobes

Spectrobes Get?


edit: Spectrobes GET! Too bad the box didn't have any darn instructions included. Will attempt to exchange for a box with a user manual.

Iron Man Line

Looooong line for Iron Man - luckily we were at the front.
(well, purposely, we got there a little over an hour early ^^)

Michael Golden is Good People

Just a quick blurb from my MegaCon weekend that I thought I'd share.

Got to meet Michael Golden, who (along with Chris Claremont) created Rogue. Turns out that Golden, while still a cool guy, is not a 'superhero guy'. He's primarily a graphic designer/commercial artist. Rogue, to him, was essentially a job. Now, this sounds bad, but his goal was to make the readers happy and while he's not attached to her per se, it makes him feel good that everyone loves her. I was very impressed with his thoughts on commercial art and 'the process'. It was really wonderful in an unexpected way. I still told him thanks, job or no job, his work is appreciated. I bought an art book of his (30 clams! oy!) and got him to sign it to me. My friend was worried that I'd be sad that Golden didn't have an attachment to Rogue, but I really thought he was a very interesting person in general. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in his office for one day. He's so professional. Big Dog. *nods nods nods* (oh and he liked manga before manga hit in the US. Respect!) I wish I'd realized he was doing New Exiles covers. I would have gotten issue 2 signed.

BRB

Off to MegaCon - brb Sunday evening. :)

It gives me the sadness...

Michael Golden, the co-creator of Rogue (among various other comic book feats) will be at MegaCon and I cannot find my copy of Avengers Annual #10 for the life of me. *sigh* I'll buy the damn thing a second time if I have to but the prices are going to be disgusting inflated. Dang dude, I would have really loved to get that signed.

Here's a recent article that Newsarama did with him.
Apparently he doesn't talk to the press much.

Apologies for Disappearing

Hey all, sorry for my extended absence from the blog. At first my classes were getting out of hand - so I had to drop one. Problem solved, it seems, but then I promptly got whatever sort of black plague that's running around central Florida and contracted what seemed to be strep throat, followed by some severe sinus issues. Not good times!

So now I'm settled into my internship, have a plan for working ahead in portfolio, and am on the road to recovery. I hope to have the blog back on a more regular update schedule in the next few days.

Thanks for your patience,
EG