Mystikk Tales

The Tale of Mad Matt and the Union

2012-01-16T21:31:00.001-06:00

Listen my child and you shallhear...of how “Mad” Matt made some IRK members lives a littlemore interesting. We all have met those players, the ones who don'tseem to pay attention to the chat channels and rush into troublewithout preparing for it. Some of us have even done it ourselves,before we knew better. I've been gaming online with Matt since early2009. On Anarchy Online, we belong to The Independent Rubikans org,now being run by our friend “Namiru”. Nam encourages us to helpout others in the game and strengthen overall relations with the restof the community.

This story came about as we were inthe middle of leveling our paid account characters in the Temple ofthe Three Winds static dungeon. Nam was on his Temple services toon,“Keepdafaith”, when a team of people from the Union org came tous in need of help gaining the Stygian Desolator.

A marvelous, blade this thing is! Itis the size of most people's toons (about five or six feet in gamespace), with a bright orange-red, curved blade. The description forit reads thus:

“...the path back to Paradise islined with the bones of my enemies. Their screams soothe me duringthe long nights, when I dream of what I have lost. I laugh when Irecall their writhing anguish, their groveling to please me, the hopethat their suffering will be put to an end. But I feed from theiranguish and the begging look in their eyes as they grovel at my feet,hoping for a cessation...“

It is dropped by Aztur the Immortalin a room deep within the Temple. However, first, we had to fight ourway through the bosses who spawn before Azi: Uklesh the Frozen andKhalum. And before them, we had Gartua the Doorkeeper, the Guardianof Tomorrow, and other enemies agging us. Which was everything. InToTW, even if it's grey and several levels below you, it will attack.A lot of people don't even bother killing on the way out, but rathertrain all the minor enemies (and some bosses) up to the exit.

Now this was the first time Matt and Ihad ever heard of the Styg (as it is affectionately called). Iremember Nam telling us about it over the Skype call we were on. Hemade mention that we were to let a specific person from the Unionloot Azi's corpse when we were done, but a certain person didn't seemto be paying any attention. Matt was on his Martial Artist and wasbusy killing his way through the corridors with the other teammembers.

We broke into the room and killedeverything, then turned our attention to Uklesh. After the first twobosses fell at the alter, we found ourselves face to face with thebig bad, himself. This was actually the first time Matt and I hadfaced any of the final bosses for the Temple. Nam and the other IRKmembers had warned us of trying to take them on. We managed to makeit through Azi, but it was a close call.

Then Matt rushed forward. Then Mattopened the corpse. The Nam and I heard Matt say, “Ooooo! What'sthis? Well no one's going to be using it, so I guess I'll take it!”In the chat window, the team saw the phrase: “looted Stygian Desolator.” The Styg is, of course, “No Drop”and ”Unique”, meaning that once you pick it up, it's yours.There's no trading it to other players and no selling it to a shop.

Our escort proceeded to flip out inthe chat, “A MA?! Are freaking kidding me?!” Matt and I werepromptly kicked from the team, and Matt's toon went on to commitobligatory seppuku. It was one of those Oh-Shit-What-Have-We-Donemoments. We'd seen their members running around, so they were adefinitely an active org during a time when even the biggest orgs laybarren, gathering dust. The last thing we wanted to do was make 'emmad. Fortunately Nam was able to run the Union members through again,after waiting for the lowbie escort to run back from the Shadowlands.In fact, one of the guys apologized for the escort blowing his stack,and said the guy was a bit of a n00b. Eventually Nam was able to killAzi again and the Styg was gotten by the appropriate player and allended happily ever after

Later we discussed the incident withour friend Bob, another IRK member. “What?! Oh man, we shared achat bot with them!” he exclaimed in despair. However, IRK hasn'tsuffered from any severe fallout from the event. We still see membersof the Union around along with quite a few orgs that are stillhanging in there. Perhaps if the graphics update goes through, we'llsee a resurgence, if brief, in the ones that have shut down in recentyears. Matt and I are now playing on our fr00b Enforcers, which havefar surpassed our paid mains in levels. Matt has also been doing areview show on Mad Matt Reviews bliptv and Mad Matt Reviews Youtube. I'm sure he'd appreciate politeconstructive criticism. Don't forget to say hi to the IRK on Rubi-Ka!

Of Anarchy Online and The Future

2012-01-04T00:26:00.000-06:00

As many of you may already know Colin“Means” Cragg recently stepped down as Game Director for AnarchyOnline and has passed the torch to Fia "Lindelu" Tjernberg.Sometime this month, Lindelu will make her first post updatingplayers on the what to expect from here on out for the game.

Some people seem to think this signalsthe end of Anarchy Online; that Means was leaving a sinking ship.Other more optimistic folks, such as myself, feel this could make fora breath of fresh air and will allow new ideas to germinate. I know Ionly post to this and others blogs once in a blue moon, but I foundmyself so excited by this news I had to write something up. My headhas been swimming lately with the possibilities a new Game Directorbrings.

Now that 's not to say I don'tappreciate what Means has done. I started playing AO in 2009 andMeans is pretty much the only GD I've known. According to hisfarewell post, he worked on the Alien Invasion and Legacy of the Xanexpansions, as well as play testing the Crypt of Home static dungeon.For the past 8 years, he has tried his best to please the playerbase, while playing a dual role as Game Director and Producer.

But there have been some less thanspectacular content updates as well. One that comes to mind inparticular is 10th Anniversary event, or what my friends call the“Failaversary” event. You and a host of other players weretasked with hunting down a mob called Desert Nomads which droppedcertain “no drop” (nontradeable, nonsellable) items that werethen to be given to a special NPC called the “The Tinker” atStolts Trading Post in Newland Desert. Once that NPC had collected5,000 of the items, a level 220 boss known as The Desert Rider wouldspawn. Killing him required a large number of level 200+ charactersto gather and work together. However, once he was taken down, therewas no crowd control to make sure by-standers couldn't loot thecorpse. Thus, you had a crowd of 50-100 players of all levels sittingon the corpse, clicking it like mad and coming up empty handed. Theloot included 6 Clio Yalms (a small speeder like ship; the Cliocomically resembled a Prius) and 6 sets of quality level 300 Nomadarmor which requires all of your base abilities to be 750+ in orderto even equip it. In other words, this event seemed more gearedtoward high level players.

I talked to my friends in TheIndependent Rubikans, one of the first Orgs (guilds/clans) founded ingame. “Namiru,” who has been playing AO off and on for the past10 years, had a problem with a lot of the new content being taggedfor end game, rather than creating content to bring in new players.As a consequence, he and the others felt the game's population wasfalling, and they blamed Means and some of the other developers forit. I try my best to see things from both sides. I understand thatthe game can't run on good will alone and that Funcom relies on bothin-game ad revenue and subscriptions to keep things running. And tokeep people who've maxed out their toons subscribed, one of the fewthings I can think of is adding end game content along withbolstering the PvP experience.

On the other hand as someone playingfor free (“fr00b”) with a toon that has reached level 90, I feellike I'm running out of options for gameplay. There are dailymissions, epic daily missions, and the regular mission terminals, andthere are still bosses in the Biomare static dungeon to take out.However, when I and my mostly fr00b team first got to Biomare, Namiruturned to us and said that this was pretty much the end of the funwhen it came to being a fr00b. I mentioned some of the other staticdungeons such as Crypt of Home, Steppes of Madness, the InnerSanctum, and Camelot. He shot down most of them stating that thesewhere simply meat grinders and that you usually only went into themwith the idea of obtaining certain No Drop items. He felt thatCamelot in particular would be a better dungeon if the devs made itstrictly PvE, instead of a mix of PvP and PvE. Not only do you haveto fight the monsters there, but also the other teams camping the bigboss at the end.

Now I'm a casual player who's highestlevel toon is at 92. I've only just barely gotten Namiru and anotherfr00b friend, Matt Winchell (host of Mad Matt Reviews), to tryrunning through Crypt of Home with me. I'm not a dev and I have noidea how much work goes into maintaining an MMO of this age, letalone refreshing the experience for those who feel they've doneeverything here. I guess, though if I were to improve the game, I'dtry to:

Give fr00bs access to at least thebuying portion of the auction house (this is was initially asuggestion made by Namiru).
Another idea that has been brought upto Means on the forums is to add a coherent story/quest line to theopen world experience. If well written, this quest line could reallyenhance the sci-fi aspects of the game and further acquaint theplayer with the three factions we first met on n00b island.
The devs could even offer more uniqueitems encouraging players to experiment with different builds. AO isa fully customizable game when it comes to the 14 classes available,the only limit being how many Improvement Points you're willing toinvest in nontraditional skills for your class. Some players feel itis throwing away IP to make an Adventurer class run around with ashot gun, or a two handed sword, etc. instead of the typical pistols,but the fact that the game takes such customizability into account isunique and worth reenforcing. I admit, that last suggestion was basedon the fact that I have a dual wielding one handed blunt Enforcer.
Or perhaps streamlining some itemswould be better. There are several types of equipable lighting itemswhich could be combined into one. Perhaps more isn't better.
Yet another idea is cheaper, easierto access to vehicles. Even with the fast travel provided by theWampa Network and the even faster Grid, you still will have to runquite a distance to get to mission doors. I was able to purchase aYalm at 2 million credits only because I found a ring Namiru boughtfrom me for $20 million credits. I also had to wait to be able toequip it once my navigation flight skill got up there. An idea wouldbe to keep the jetpack available, if not for free, then perhaps as aquest reward or shop item.
Maybe someone could write a betterguided? Or maybe fill out the AO wiki (I think there's a couple outthere)? Then again there are quite a few guides already put out bysuch fine sites like AO Universe, really a site everyone should readwhen they first start out. I think that if I had taken the time toread it more thoroughly, I could have saved my friends a lot of time.There's so much info associated with this game that I'm surprisedanything coherent exists.
Maybe adding more map variety to themissions might help boost interest in them and boost the variety ofgame play. In fact, varying the writing for the missions themselveswould help. Every other mission seems to be find this person, killthat person, find this object, etc. with of the dialogue in thetransmissions being cloned in the same 4 or 5 selected missions.
More variety in mobs might also boostinterest. There certainly is a lot of unique looking creatures, butthere's others such as some of the mutants in Biomare and the SoMthat Namiru describes as “place holder monsters.”
How about more social garb? I lovedthe Halloween costume pieces for 2011. Also, something that allowsyou to try on clothing without having to buy it first would be muchappreciated. Many times, I thought a pair of boots would fit myensemble only to find they don't work at all with any of my toon'soutfits.
How about improving and adding to thefurniture in apartments? I like sitting on my couches rather than inthem. More furniture of different varieties could be gained eitherthrough shops, crafting, or questing. Another idea would be to giveeach profession a way of taking basic furniture, and crafting it intosomething that matches that profession’s aesthetics.
I keep reading about a balanceproblem. Namiru is always telling me how he thinks Agents are overpowered and Fixers (the computer hacker class) are neglected. Being acasual gamer, I've really only experienced a few classes, the MartialArtist and Enforcer being my main paid and fr00b classes.
Another topic people keep mentioningon the forums is the weak PvP. Now I don't usually do PvP except fordueling with friends, usually with a veteran player looking on to seeif there is something awry with my character build. From what theyare saying, the Battlestations where people can enter PvP instancesaccording to their levels, are very empty thanks to the new daily PvPmissions. I don't know much about it, but maybe there are ways tooffer trophies for one on one, team, and even org PvP battles. I knowNamiru gains Victory points for defeating foes in the Battlestations,but maybe unique or rare items could be handed out to the victors aswell.
Okay, one last thing I can think offor now. I would love to see more books, soundtracks, and othermerchandising for AO. In fact, I was a bit disappointed to see therewas only one book written for the game's mythology. I have no ideahow Shadowlands or the Alien Invasion could be written into acoherent storyline, though it would be interesting to see someone tryit.

To reiterate, these are just suggests,many or all of which may never even come to pass, or they do existand I just haven't come across them yet. I understand the devs arenot some magical little fairies that, with the wave of a wand, canchange the game at will. And again, I have no game developmentexperience, whatsoever. Consider this a wish list for AO, a recordingof my hopes and dreams for the future of the game. If anything, therumor mill is still churning out gossip pertaining to a possibleAnarchy Online 2 (reported canceled a while back) in the works afterThe Secret World wraps up.

The Secret World is another beastaltogether, and I might write about it depth some other time, nceit's been released and once I have a computer that can handle it.From what I've heard, it doesn't implement a level or class system.Rather, the selected skills are grouped together into 7 active and 7passive, many of which can be used across the board for eitherranged, melee, or miscellaneous. It's kind of similar to AO, in thatvarying amounts of IP can be invested into any skills you wish onyour toon. However with Secret World, you might not be gimped so muchin return for your creative character building.

So there's the news, and then some ifyou haven't checked out AO in a while. It's showing it's age graphicswise, but gameplay is quite fun. That is, when you have the people tobuff/twink you into your armor, weapons, and cybernetic implants. ButI might get into more about the actual gameplay and socializing inanother post sometime. For now, I'll wait with baited breath forLindelu to post her update, and go forward into 2012 with high hopesfor Anarchy Online.

Possible Webcomic

2011-07-25T16:51:00.004-06:00

I've been thinking about posting a Webcomic for a while. I kind of want to do one that deals my and my friends' experiences playing Anarchy Online and other MMO's. Don't know what to call it. Maybe Anarchy in Anarchy Online, or AiAO for short? But then what about the other games we've played? I'm sure there's about half a dozen webcomics out there that have gone with this theme (Looking for Group being one of them), but this would be my own little story. Something to keep my hand in practice as I search in vain for an art oriented job. Someone on the Geek.Kon forums told me about an Englih fan translation of Paint Tool SAI, so I've been playing around with that. I'll keep thinking about it.

MMO's All Around!

2011-07-25T16:12:00.003-06:00

I've gotten into playing Anarchy Online again along with Hellsgate: Global. I've downloaded and installed Age of Conan, but I haven't gotten around to creating a character. All this is in preparation for my MMO Worlds panel for Geek.Kon. I plan on discussing, well. a lot of stuff. We'll introduce the panelists and the games they have played, a short history of MMO's, and probably some quick discussions on games that have been popular like World of Warcraft (once I find a person who still plays it regularly), City of Heroes, Perfect World, Lord of the Rings Online, etc.

Speaking of LOTRO, I've been rereading Lord of the Rings and logged on for the first time in about a month to check out the Shire and follow the path that Frodo is taking. I never realized how large the Shire was! I ran all the way up Evendim, which is level 30 minimum. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't enter Brandy Hall, but that is made up for by being able to wander around inside Great Smials. That's what I like in the game. With CoH, I'm stuck wondering what is inside the skyscrapers that tower over Paragon City, unable to randomly explore most of them except Police Stations, City Hall, Vanguard Headquarters, etc. In LOTRO there are far more landmark buildings that you can actually enter, many of which contain several quest NPC's. Pretty any major building from a the Prancing Pony, to the Foresaken Inn, and even a Cat-Lady house in Bree have multiple rooms to explore with dinning setups and random NPC's sitting around chatting. I need to play the game more.

Red vs. Blue Lives!

2009-11-29T21:54:00.003-06:00

I've recently rediscovered Red vs. Blue again. I had no idea they were up to season 7 already and working on season 8! That's a long ass series! Even if a few episodes were actually just miniseries. I'm thinking of getting the DVD's for my brother for Christmas, but I don't think he'd understand what they were. In short, I'd enjoy them more than him. Anyway, if you haven't seen it in a while, then now is the time to catch up. The team at Rooster Teeth really fleshed out the whole story surrounding the A.I.'s and the mysterious Director behind the Freelancer Project. In case you're wondering Seasons 6, 6.5, and 7 are:

Reconstruction
Relocated
Recreation

Disgust

2009-11-29T21:17:00.005-06:00

Ever see someone doing something wrong? You try to stop them, or call attention to the act. Then you wind up getting into trouble for it.

Yeah...It's happened to me. I knew this person was a Jerk and that I had to go and call him out on it. Unfortunately I did it on a forum, and now I've landed in semi-warm water for flaming someone. Even though that Jerk was causing trouble for a third party. I still get reamed out for it.

I'm thinking about quitting the group now. Thing is, I don't want to give in. I don't want to give up. I don't want this Jerk to get his way by making me doubt myself. He may have the Boss backing him up, but I think he doesn't have much support other than that. So I'm backing down. It's not a shame to do so. I'll wait and see if he's dumb enough to try anything....well....really stupid. Like actually try to get someone fired, or something. He can't, but he likes to throw his light ass weight around. The Boss assured me he can't do anything on his own. You have to have proof that someone isn't doing their job and a consensus of the other staff members in a vote to throw them out of that position.

I have lost a lot of respect for the Boss; not that anyone there gives a crap about respecting me. Maybe I should quit. Just to see them flounder and cry about how the hell they'll be covering my area. The Boss and the Secretary kind of made fun of me, too, I suppose for making that post on the forums. Couple of fucking sheep. Maybe I should quit. The more I think about it the angrier I get.

I got scolded for being a "senior member"of the team and acting so poorly. The Boss said I should have handled it via PM, and if it got to be too personal, then I should bring it to him. The problem is, I don' trust the Boss. He's a little too friendly with the Jerk. The Secretary complains that I should let up; that the Boss is the only person supporting the Jerk and that everyone else on staff gives the Jerk a hard time. I say then that the Jerk should stop being a jerk, and start behaving himself.

It's perfectly fine for her to say that, since she usually just sits and waits for someone else to handle the situation. Very passive aggressive.

Anyway....Say this blogging thing is a great way to get crap off of your chest. I can see why so many people use blogs to complain about work and relationships. You'll probably be the only person who ever reads this entry, and probably not in it's entirety.
But...thanks for listening.

The Buzz

2009-11-13T09:35:00.002-06:00

Don't really feel like gaming tonight, since I have to wake up at 5am tomorrow. Might try to make it anyway. I always lose. Like last place on the board, man. That's another thing, we started out learning how to do RPG's, but a few people stopped coming because of school. Now the few who are left, along with some new ones are doing boardgaming. It's all right, but I'd rather be able to use the $80 in D&D 4th edition books I bought. I have gotten to see a glimpse of the immense boardgaming world.

I've been obsessed with Tem Fortress 2 lately, and I don't even own the game! I've been watching the various machinima for it, particularly this one. I liked the song, Sound of Madness, so much that I went out and bought it on iTunes. I also enjoy the "Meet the...." series Valve has put out for it. As someone else described them: "they're like dirty Pixar cartoons." I've asked my mom to get me the Orange Box (PC) for Christmas. However, I'm a little nervous about entering into this arena. Unlike my anime hobby and art, gaming is a bit more aggressive. It demands better technology, more time, more money, and an especially thick skin. Some people take it seriously and get frustrated with us more casual gamers.

Coincidentally, this is also the reason I'm hesitant about getting into costuming. Despite the fact that everyone I know has sewn a costume for some kind of cosplay before.

PC gaming in particular requires upgrading or out right buying or assembling a new computer just about every 2 years, or so. I try to make my machines last as long as possible. You gotta remember, I'm living int the Capitol City of Wisconsin, thus I have to pay high rent and prices. My first concern is keeping a roof over my head. That's one thing I hate about modern fandom. If you don't keep up with the herd, you get lost in the dust. Maybe boardgaming isn't such a bad thing. Yeah, there are collector's editions and stuff, but in the end, it's usually all the same game.

Some other machinima you may want to check out are:
Freeman's Mind
Ignus Solus (Team Fortress 2 Day of the Pyro)

Off for Sunday

2009-11-08T11:54:00.002-06:00

Haven't had Sunday off for a while. Metcalfe's is having their Holiday Demo fair through the weekend, but I had to work late. By the time I got out, the vendors had already packed up for the day. I'm going to walk around with my friend Carol, who gives voice lessons.

Then it'll be off to the Geek.Kon meeting at Humanities. We've gotten a few rooms reserved with projeotrs for presentations on the big move. The Sheraton is unavailable for September or October for 2010, so we'll have a decision to make between the Marriot West and the Alliant Energy Center. If we choose Alliant, we'll have to be careful no to be on the dates Madcon has it reserved. I'm just looking at their at the door rate. $75 for the weekend...Damn! They have some good Sci-Fi guests, though. I'm sure Geek.Kon can beat them at pricing, but if we can get different dates, we shouldn't have a problem.

2009-11-08T11:51:00.001-06:00

On Gaia Again

2009-11-05T10:13:00.002-06:00

I've poked my nose in on Gaia today, just to check out what was going on. I'm tempted to come back, but if I do so, it's going to have to be without purchasing online items. I guess the main reason why I quit before, aside from not getting anything important done, was that I was spending far too much money on the monthly collectibles. It used to be that I could spend maybe $25 and get a couple of the MC's for my avatar. When I was last on, I was dropping $100 or more for the aquarium items, MC's sets, and Evolving Items. All this just to furnish a fake world for myself! Without another word, I dropped it and didn't look back for a good 6 months, or so. Out of curiosity, and probably a desperate need to connect to others, I checked up on my main account.

It's been a couple weeks now since the Geek.Kon 09 convention ended. I've gone from being a somebody involved in an entrepreneurial endeavor: strolling the halls of the con, checking up on vendors and Geek Theater, and beaming over the success of Iron Butt Challenge, to a nobody working in a grocery store, passed up for promotion time after time. Working on Geek.Kon, especially the 2009 con, proved to myself that I can do better. That I'm worth more than some kitchen drudge job. Granted at $10+/hour plus benefits, this is the best job I've ever had, but I can do even better.

Anyway, off topic again. Other avenues of socialization are opening up for me. I'm on City of Heroes again, contributing to the House of the Wayward Soul (more on that later), and I'm still on staff for Geek.Kon. I've stopped going to the UW Anime Club, since the guy running it isn't really what the club needs to survive. Talking during the show, then chastising people who tell you to shut up does not a good president make! I also might be doing stand up comedy again at the Open Mic on Comedy Club on State Street on Wednesdays, too. I just have to get over my fear of crowds.

Geek.Kon 2009

2009-11-05T10:06:00.003-06:00

Well, Geek.Kon '09 was another great success. We were expecting 500 people, and got 1,036 instead! We're looking at possible locations for next year, so stay tuned!

Geek.kon Collectible Buttons!

2009-04-10T17:09:00.003-06:00

Now you can collect a Geek.Kon 2009 button when you pre-register for Geek.Kon 2009 at the No Brand Con room party. This is a button that will be given out exclusively at the room party and only to those who pre-register at the party. More designs will become available for volunteers, giving donations, and many more! So keep your eyes peeled!

Geek.kon 2009 is also on the following social networking sites:

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/prof ... ef=profile
myspace - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =435743207
gaiaonline - http://www.gaiaonline.com/profiles/17877328
livejournal - http://community.livejournal.com/geek_kon
friendster - http://profiles.friendster.com/user.php
myyearbook - http://www.myyearbook.com/?mysession=cm ... IxMTQyNTQx
twitter - https://twitter.com/GeekKon
bebo - http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=8986529282
habbo - http://www.habbo.com/home/Geek.Kon
blogger - http://geekkon.blogspot.com/
ning - http://geekkon.ning.com/

Now you can connect to us where on the web you happen to be. You can also visit our forums and participate in a variety of discussions on topics on Gaming, Anime, and Science Fiction. See you on the web!

To Stand Up or Not to Stand Up

2009-04-10T12:57:00.003-06:00

I've been trying stand up comedy for a while, with my second attempt going really well. But sometimes I'm just not in the mood. I hate bars and, usually, the people in bars thanks to some bad past experiences and kind of a traumatized childhood. I've got a friend who's really into it, though, which kind of puts a bit of pressure on me to keep going with it. I've had new material for the past three weeks, but no urge to really get up there and do anything with it.

In other news, I've rediscovered Facebook, but you'll still see me on Gaia Online every now and then, too. Especially since I'm in charge of a guild. I've also gotten into Metalocalypse. I haven't had cable since 2003, so I missed a lot of the newer Adult Swim cartoonslike Frisky Dingo and Venture Bros. Thanks to Netflix, I can catch up. I've been into Metalacolypse so mch that I went and bought the Dethalbum Warner Bros. put out for the cartoon.

I'm also thinking of getting an animation program, but I'm not sure which one. I don't know if I should get Flash, since my last project with it didn't go so well. Tons of them are out there, though, maybe I'll be able to find one. Kind fo looking for something like what Disney or Don Bluth might use, although the Flash they use for Metalacolypse looks pretty good.

NNOOOOOO!!!

2008-12-04T08:39:00.003-06:00

They've done it again, those bastards! Those wonderful men (and women) and their marvelous internets have done it again. I'm hooked on two sites now. One an old favorite, the other is a new discovery, although it's been around for a while. I'm usually a late bloomer when it comes to popular sites.

I recently discovered Fail Blog, which is makes use of the popular phrase "fail" when it comes to expressing failure now adays. I was suffering from insomnia one night a week or two ago and stumbled upon it while looking up internet memes on Wikipedia. It's got a hilarious collection of pictures and videos featuring stupid mistakes and random ass-holery.

I've been on Gaia Online for over a year now, and there's been talk of a Gaia Battle System for about as long. Every Gaian was gearing up to play the new MMORPG, and Gaia even held a naming contest (resulting in the name "zOMG," speaking of epic fails). It's now in rather buggy BETA testing and open to all Gaians to play. If it weren't for the lag, I'd be completely hooked. As it is, I've had to use Adblock to turn off the avatars, attack animations, and drops inorder to get it to run smoothly. Even then it's a bit glitchy. But lag and glitches and all the blocked graphics, I still went and played it for around eight hours yesterday.

All this comes when I'm supposed to be working on paintings for Christmas presents for my family. I'm going to go with more flower motiffs for them using watercolor pencils as the medium. I also want to do a portait for a friend using Photoshop Elements 6.0.

Window Live Spaces

2008-11-21T15:49:00.002-06:00

So I can't seem to get into my Windows Live Space where the original Anime Impressions Blog is housed. I'm hoping it's just a glitch and they haven't gotten rid of the Spaces, or for some reason, locked my Spaces account. I keep mostly to myself, so I don't think I've caused anyone any trouble....

Speaking of the Anime Impressions blog, I did update it last week, but because I decided to organize my pictures in photobucket, now all the links to the screencaps are broken. So I have to go through all my entries and reinsert the pictures. Fortunately, I haven't posted that many entries. Still it's gonna take a crap load of time to fix, plus I have to take the thing off hiatus and add the entry on Robot Carnival.

In other news, I'm working on more of the Miss Popular comic. I've also created a LiveJournal community and a Facebook group for the UW Madison Anime Club. I've upped my Netflix account to 4-at-a Time, which will help me crawl through the new version of Doctor Who quicker.

Miss Popular on the Web!

2008-10-30T21:59:00.002-06:00

Miss Popular is available now via my Deviantart account and comicspace !
It began as a doodle in a notebook I used for my high shool Psychology class back in 1999. It just kept getting bigger until it ballooned into 110 "Issues" (pages). I came up with three rules to follow as I went along:

1. No penciling in any characters or other artwork beforehand. Everything had to be inked, with minimal use of white out.

2. No thinking ahead more than one "Issue". As with the artwork, all storylines and plots had to be as spontaneous as possible.

3. It had to be done in a notebook. Preferably the same one that it was originally drawn in, but the story continued, I had to move it into a second book.

It's hardly high art, and I tried to refrain from making drastic changes such as actually adding panels (God forbid!) to the thing while digitally lettering it. Still, I'll try to get the rest up here. I've only ever been able to get the first eight pages published (once for Touche magazine at UW-Manitowoc, and then a self-publish of only 10 copies). I hope you get some enjoyment from reading it.

2008-08-07T19:53:00.008-06:00

Hello everyone!
Geek.Kon 2008 is fast approaching, and we need your help to give it some finishing touches. Here's a list of what you can help us with:

Volunteers Wanted!
The sign up form for volunteers can be found here.
We're looking for responsible young adults, preferably 18+, who are willing to sit and watch some of the rooms and make sure people don't walk off with stuff. These rooms include Sci-fi Viewings, Boardgames, Anime Viewings, Video Gaming, DDR, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, CCG room 1, CCG room 2, and our 4 panels rooms (three of which contain AV equipment).

RPG Registration Up!
Please note that the registration form for RPG's is now up here. There will be day-of sign up, too, but it might be a good idea to beat the rush. If you are interested in running a game, contact Randy, our RPG Coordinator, at:
geekkon_rpgs@geekkon.net

Panelists Wanted!
We are in need of more panels and panelists! Especially for Sunday. If you would like to sign up to do a panel, please fill out the form here. Again, I would strongly suggest taking a time slot for Sunday, as many, but not all, of the slots for Saturday are taken.

Equipement Request!
We need more equipment for DDR/Guitar Hero/Rock Band as well as games and consoles. We do have many games and even a Nintendo Wii, but we would like to get a little more variety in there, too. If you would like to lend ud any equipment for the weekend please contact Katie, our Video Gaming Coordinator at:
geekkon_videogame@geekkon.net

$$Donations$$
Although the admission is free, this convention costs quite a bit of money to put on. Most of the expense, around $2,000-3,000, comes out of the pockets of the staff members. around $100-400 is paid for by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. However, since we are neither an academic event, nor a sporing event, we are not high on their list of priorities. You can help us by making a donation here, thus ensuring a Geek.Kon for 2009, as well.

If you have any questions, please contact the con-chairs at:
con_chair@geekkon.net

That's it for now, see you on September 27th & 28th!

Martial Arts

2007-10-16T16:15:00.002-06:00

My Meez (large, animated)

2007-10-15T23:10:00.003-06:00

Intro to "Human Harbors"

2007-07-04T16:15:00.001-06:00

I had finished reading Richard Adams's Watership Down, when I wrote this short story. I never really finished it, but hopefully publishing it in this blog will allow spur me into action. I hate starting things and never finishing them. Unfortunately, I do this fairly often.
If you've read Adams's book, then you know he substitutes a different language in for certain words. It's kind of like reading a book from a different country where the translator isn't quite sure of a few of the words, so they leave in the original language. I was snarky and substitute major nouns and stuff with my own language. For example: Vez = Rabbit. But unlike Adams, who had a glossary of terms and their translations, I made it a point to have the reader figure it out for themselves. Hopefully, I've left enough notes within the text for people to figure out what I was describing.
The first few paragraphs should be up within the month.

Geek-Kon Picutres!

2007-07-04T16:05:00.000-06:00

Yay! New pictures for Geek-Kon! If anyone wants to put these in their sigs, that would be great! We've been pimping this Con all over the web lately :).

Geek-Kon!

2007-06-12T21:28:00.001-06:00

Hello!
It's been a while since I first posted. I've volunteered to be on a planning committee for Geek-Kon! Geek-Kon is a convention that will have Anime viewings, Sci-Fi viewings, Gaming (consul, RPG, CCG, Magic, Warhammer, LARP, DDR/ Guitar Hero). I started out helping with PR & Promo, and recently I volunteered to help with the art auction and Artist Alley. I might actually be able to sell some of my stuff :). I want to draw some simple pen and ink drawings; probably get them matted. I don't want to sell the originals, so I think I'll get some prints made. I like to draw elf like characters, but the girl running the AA says fan art sells really well, too. I'm kind of into Star Wars right now (even though I don't believe they should have married off Luke Skywalker to anyone). Maybe I'll draw some generic warrior types wielding light-based swords. Here's a link to the Geek-Kon website: www.geekkon.net.
A picture of one of our cute mascots appears above this post.

Writer's Block

2007-03-14T16:07:00.000-06:00

Already I have writer's block, and I've just started writing. How about a fantasy blog where I pretend I'm someone else in a story? A blog to store the short stories I'm writing? Random thoughts? Rant and Rave? Worklog? Random Poetry? Archiving my art? Entertainment reviews? Now that sounds good! But isn't the web already full of fanboys who rant and rave about thier favorite or most hated anime, manga, comics, movies, TV shows, celeberaties, and music? What can I conribute that would be so interesting? I'm a lowly deli clerk who happened to make enough money to buy a laptop and an internet connection. I have two degrees in art (A.S.A. and B.S.A.) from the University of Wisconsin Madison. I live with a couple of South Korean students. And when I'm not worn out from my daily job, I paint, draw, and write. I had intended to become a 2-D animator for companies like Disney and Don Bluth Studios, but then the crushing truth fell and I realised that no one really does this type of animation anymore. I still want to own an animation studio someday, however, I refuse to do computer animation.