Banana Mischief

Today, a student stealthily made my banana a happy banana.



I couldn't bear to eat him.

My Bookbag Seems To Be Missing

Hello. If you've recently found some odd books in a blue backpack, and then also spotted my name, and then found this website, then email me. I shall reward you handsomely. And of course pick up the books.

These Songs Be Stolen

I do so love music. In highschool, me and this guy messed around making wonderfully exotic electronic music. I did toy with the idea of linking the ancient website that still somehow has our music posted, but as it involves me rapping that shall never happen. The world is better without it.

My tastes have always been eclectic. Never good, for Chrissakes I started off with Mix Alot and MC Hammer. I actually wore hammer pants in the 90s. No joke. So not good, just eclectic. And I did enjoy the occasional 'phat beat,' so electro was never much a stretch.

But I've only just now been able to re-open my many treasure troves of ill-begot pirate booty. That is to say, my own respective gigabytes. Pining and heartbreak made me allergic. Awe. While I was away from my normal genres, I plugged away at the roots of rock 'n' roll, old soul music, a lot of 80's synthpop, David Bowie, that sort of thing. I made some interesting discoveries. Ok, maybe just interesting to me, because (in no small part thanks to Sex Dwarf) I'm a pretty big fan of Soft Cell.

The first of these 1960's crash and carries was from Diana Ross. Having only heard the Soft Cell version of "Where Did Our Love Go," it was pretty damned neat to see a B&W version broadcast on PBS. The actual youtube is fantastic.



I would later find that wasn't the only black soul singer Soft Cell had covered. Of all things, the very risque 'Tainted Love,' which I felt epitomized the leather-clad icons of novel debauched imagery, was a 1964 original by Gloria Jones.



I have yet to find a 1960's soul singer do an original for 'Sex Dwarf,' though it would be a bit ironic to see it covered by a modern-day black soul singer. I have absolutely, positively, no idea how you'd arrange something like that. And I mean musical arrangement, not emailing Aretha Franklin.

What ultimately spurred a post was realizing that one of my favorite rare Wailers tracks (~1964), which shares a name with my favorite Hawaiian ska band, "Go Jimmy Go," was actually a cover from a 1959 white teen pop star. Having heard the Wailers version...



I'm actually quite partial to the Jimmy Clanton original.

Kids and Gaming Article Live

This morning the Escapist published issue 230, which included a piece I've been working on for them on Kids and Gaming. When I'm not swimming in a sea of deadlines I'd like to say more, and include some notes on my interviews that couldn't make it into the half-dozen drafts I went through to pound that much information into that tight a piece (I've got to thank Jordan Deam at the Escapist for his keen editing).

Particularly, interviews with the ESA's Rich Taylor and my local dungeonmaster both yielded some great quotes, and there were certain issues that wouldn't fit, but the piece seems to do what it should.

Dogstorm!

Just took my dog out into the year's best windstorm yet. Now he's curled on on the bed next to me, all semi-toweled and smelly. Rudy's his name, and he may well be the greatest canine in existence.

I've been meaning to blog it up on a couple counts. Writing has been interesting. I've gone few three casual drafts of this kids-and-gaming piece, doing what I can to add to the conversation while keeping my sanity. To that end I've interviewed a couple folks on opposite ends, the ESA and a games clinician, and have more to work with than I've got room for.

Grandma's getting better at the games. Still beating me at Smash, and still the handicap rating between her and I shrinks. We played a little guitar hero one, and with a little teamwork managed to get her through a song! It might have been "I wanna be sedated," though don't hold me to that. Katamari is what I'm most excited to show 'er, now that I've unlocked the no-time-limits. I also showed her Resident Evil 4, which was a uniquely interesting experience.

Grandma watches TV, so she's seen gore before. Now bear with me, because it's one thing to say that. It's entirely something else to hold the controller and converse with her as Salazar proclaims the might of his "insect friends." I jump my character into the sewer, while bemoaning the writing in games made four years ago. Grandma's hand goes up to her chest as she gasps -- there's the sound of some insect running right up to my character. It has become our character. Calmly, I explain that for close-quarters combat, I may want to equip my shotgun. She watches intently, and jumps when the insects finally strike from on high. Handily, I dispatch them, with excellent banter all along the way. Then I explain some videogame concepts to her.

She's curious to see how this story begins. We restart it, and the intro to the game gives me more opportunities to verbally cringe at the quality of the writing. I offer to show her a little bit of the beginning of the game. Leon, my character in the world, comes across a man speaking in some foreign language. He picks up an axe, then swings, giving me a decision. Do I shoot this man in front of her?

Yes, just not in the head.

Of course, I explain to her later that to do so would have conserved ammo.

Me and my dog say hello to you, whoever you are. For the night is young, and I must now venture forth into the most miserable weather of the year.

Starring my grandma, as Jigglypuff

So tonight, in between a little wheel and antiques roadshow, my grandma beat the crap out of me in smash. She beat me to an exact 2:1 ratio - her 36 wins to my 18.

Now that Grandma's got the skills, we just need to work on her banter...

24-Hour Comic Day, Live MST3K

This last Saturday was 24-hour comic day. It's a neat sort of event where local cartoonists pile into comic shops, trying to compile a full comic over the course of a full day. Below a few members from the Cartoonist's League of Absurd Washingtonians (or CLAW) prepare for battle.



But they weren't the only stalwart artists there. The claw picture and the next are via John Munn, who owns Comic Book Ink (the setting for the thing.)



While there, my pal Al introduced me to Keith Badgley, an artist who attended but didn't want to compete. Instead, he generously gave of his time and talents to draw up some of the D&D characters from a campaign I'm in. Here's his interpretations of Sandy McShamus, my drunkard cleric/ex-paladin. As you can see, Keith expertly captured Sandy's neverending cask of ale, stylized plate armor and battle mullet. To those who have ever wondered, this is what 18 charisma gets you.



Alex was also kind enough to get me a ticket to the re-showing of the MST3K live riffing of Plan 9, Thursday. The satellite got chunky, then cut out almost completely, just as the show was starting. The following resetting of the satellite, with musical accompaniment by some of the most fabulously terrible elevator/porno jazz artists, left we the crowd between 30 and 50 minutes of amateur riffing. Some of it was ok. Some of it was facepalm. All of it was wondrous.

Oh, and I'm also prepping for two Spring courses at DigiPen, while working on an article for the Escapist.