Ever been within inches of a passing semi truck on a busy freeway, whipping past at 70 mph? Even in your car, you get thrown around like a leaf? Yeah, that was SDCC for the remainder of the weekend.

While I’d love to share pics, I’m still on borrowed time — my flight back home departs TODAY, thus I can write to you all, but I have roughly 500 pictures to sort, weed out and organize into a functional blog. In the meantime, let me tell you all — California rolled out the red carpet, and I had THE BEST — excuse me, *ahem* THE BEST time at a convention since the Blizzard of 2003 during Katsucon. That’s no small feat.

This was geek Mecca. Direct your prayers of Dr. Horrible and new episodes of Eureka just south of the setting sun, folks. While no show is perfect, and Murphy’s Laws prevail, I will say that the positives of the experience far, FAR outweigh the negatives. In other words, don’t feel bad. Everyone else is broke too.

So, in the meantime (while I’m 30,000 in the air for several hours) here’s my take on:  FIVE THINGS I LEARNED FROM SDCC.

(1): No one in their right mind should ever move an event or convention from San Diego. It’s PRIME real estate. I’m not the man behind the wheel, so there’s no telling what the future holds — but I will say that San Diego embraced the convention with open arms, and there was PLENTY to do and see beyond the convention walls. Go to lunch at the Tin Fish restaurant. Get around on the trolleys. Check out the best damned reuben ever at The Field.  Speaking of fields, the Padres play at Petco Park right up the street (say what you like about the Padres.)  Even the train station is a photo op waiting to happen!

(2): Your Mileage May Vary.  And oh, did I rack up a few.  Now, you can actually stop and get a breather throughout a good portion of the con, you just have to be… creative about it.  And not have any hangups about sitting on cold floors, corners of huge displays or just around the corner of an artist table.

(3): You have to be extra special, determined or crazy (or maybe a heady combination of the three) to actually get the Rare Collectable Merchandise Given Out Only At The Con Wherein You Must Stand In Line For Several Hours For The CHANCE To Get It.

(4): Besides, there are scores of people hired just to hand out free flyers.  Save the earth, collect them all!  I bet you could fill a phone book with all the mini posters, cards, flyers, and extra bits.

(5): Some personal tips to share with you all:

-Bring a camera, and break a bank book on batteries.

-When you’re done packing, open your bags again, take out half the stuff you packed.  You’re not going to need it.

-Say “yes” to whatever absurd means it takes to get there, short of risk to person or possessions.  This place is worth it.

-Water.

-Plan ahead.  There is for even the regular attendees, four whole days worth of events to attend and people to see, things to buy (or have a conniption over whether TO buy) and while you CAN do it all in a day, if you’re around for the whole thing, space it out.  Get some rest.  Eat hearty.  Because TONIGHT WE DINE IN — *ahem*

I’ll be back with photos, folks!  Sorry for the delay, but right now it’s time for me to say goodbye to perpetually sunny San Diego!

(Oh yeah, and there was an earthquake yesterday.  Most bizarre damned thing I’ve ever experienced.)

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OMGOMGOMG Thunder Force VI for real, no lie! October is the revival of THE synth butt-rock shmup!  “I saw the messenger of the new god there.”

But thinking about that, consider there’s been announcements at the start of summer of TWO Bionic Commando games for the XBOX360, a Castlevania 2-player versus fighting game in the works (what?!), and a classic style 8-bit side scrolling Mega Man 9 for the Wii — and the last 8-bit game of the series (MM6) was fifteen years ago! 

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Waugh!  Yesterday was Wednesday wasn’t it?!  Don’t you hate it when one day transposes itself over another?

Anyways, quite a few things going on worth mention:

 -The Demon Mages, Issue #2 is on the threshold of completion.  Took a little extra time, but significantly less OT than before.  Look for that in and around the time of…

 -SAN DIEGO COMIC CON!  I’ll be happy to give you readers the extended post-con coverage (August 2nd.  Let’s be fair; jet-lag) , but in the meantime, a few lead-up articles will get passed around, starting next week.  There’s not much to say here, except that packing for ten days in two bags will be… interesting.

-Almost directly afterwards is Otakon 2008.  This blogger lives moments away from it, so like the event horizon of a black hole, it seems many individuals may be drawn into it’s vortex.  Convention roundup on that one as well will be posted, come August 13th. 

-Pixiv.net & Nico-Nico Douga are neat!  Even if your Japanese is lackluster, it’s easy navigation & content abounds!  I’m there most every day!  Google searches readily turn up non-native registration instructions, so there’s little chance of getting lost.

-BONESAW IS REA-DY!!!  Tough as heck with a keyboard, a little imprecise, but still an impressive game and I chuckled at most of the humor.  A cool homebrewed time waster.

-In the spirit of our nation, I watched Paul “John Adams” Giamatti in probably my most favorite role I’ve seen him play — as the whip smart, buck-nasty Mr. Hertz in Shoot ‘Em Up.  Funny to me to see commercials for his HBO special, and super-impose Mr. Hertz’s cellphone ringing.  Or maybe an extended gunfight with Ben Franklin. 

And now, some new art!  Both done by hand, with markers & pens — the second from back on June 13-15th for the Anime-Mid-Atlantic weekend.

That’s all for now!  See ya next week!

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Greetings, Centurions!

Today’s installment is going to be a little shorter than you’re used to.  My sincere apologies.  I’m still dealing with things right now in regards to my friend Scot, and it has put me slightly behind on my other obligations.

Be that as it may, I’m still going to give you something, dagnabbit!  Oh man.  Sorry about the harsh language.  Stress can really wreak havoc on a person.  Sometimes a guy – any guy, but maybe one with a beard and long hair who looks a little like Silent Bob – just needs to find him something to help him relax and relieve the tension of the long day.

(Here’s where I use that clunky bit of exposition above to segue into my topic for today’s installment.)

You all know that I have a PS3 now.  I have some good games for it:  Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto 4, The Incredible Hulk.  But there is one game that I can’t seem to get enough of…

To make a long story short (too late), I love me some Lego Star Wars.

I mean, I already bought both the first and second Lego Star Wars games for the PS2 when they first came out.  I’ve beaten both of them.  When I got my PS3, I immediately picked up Lego Indiana Jones, hungry for more Lego misadventures.  But, though I did love Lego Indy, it just wasn’t as expansive and diverse as Lego Star Wars.

So, when my friend Eric decided to pick up The Complete Saga for his PS3, his tempting offer to play the co-op online mode was too sweet to ignore.  I went out and picked it up for myself.

Holy cow.  I haven’t played any of my other games since I popped this in.  I love this game!  It has quite a number of changes to make it worth purchasing even if you already bought the first two.  The game play is extremely fun.  It’s challenging, but not too hard.  You can get through it quickly enough.  Thing is, there is just so much more game to play in The Complete Saga.  I’m swiftly taking this game in whole with a voracious hunger.  There’s just so much to do and so many cool new unlockables to get and use.

If there was one thing that was off about this game, it has to be the online co-op mode.  It’s not easy to just get online and play with a friend.  But, after some research, Eric and I were able to make a few small tweaks that allowed the online mode to work really well.

Despite its minor flaw, this game never ceases to be an enjoyable experience for me.  I’m addicted!

Crap.  Now I have another problem to stress me out.

The Don is a Lego brick… house.

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This past Saturday was World Wide Knit In Public Day (no I am not making this up.) The point, I think, is somewhat dependent on the person who is knitting in public, but for many people it is a way to get others interested in knitting. It’s a way to start a dialog with the public, many of whom stop and ask questions and comment on the work.

I started pondering this as I prepared my projects for Saturday (I decided on my lace shawl, if anyone’s interested,) and I started thinking how impossible this sort of thing would be for video gamers. First off knitting is a bit more portable. Also it doesn’t require electrical outlets.

Sure there are handheld game devices, but they seem to somewhat defeat the point. It would be nigh impossible to drag a big enough screen out into a public square to ensure that the public could see the game in question, thus hopefully sparking conversation. Then there is the insanely wide variety of games to showcase- ranging from Old School Super Mario Brothers to Grand Theft Auto to Dance Dance Revolution. And, naturally, no matter what game one chooses others are sure to have extreme objections to that game.

It’s kinda sad, I think really. There’s a great capability for common ground and community for this sort of thing, if it’s taken out of the scary (and loud, and often dark) arcades and brought into the sunshine and the public, but the very things that make it so powerful and interesting and varied are the very things that make it impossible to ‘take out to the people.’ I guess I’ll have to stick to knitting video game inspired sweaters, and explaining them to anyone who asks.

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Greetings, Browncoats!

Some of you may be aware that Anime Mid-Atlantic is this weekend in my backyard of Virginia Beach. Some of you may be excited to go. Me? I’ll be there on Saturday, but I have a different reason to be excited.

Tomorrow I am finally joining the rest of the Next-Gen Console folk. I’m getting a PS3.

“Why the PS3?” you ask. Excellent! I’m so glad we’re back to our usual conversations! You’ve been quiet for awhile. It’s so nice to be talking again.

But anyway, back to your question.

My reasons for choosing the PS3 are simple. BLUE RAY. Not too long ago (before I moved into my current humble abode), my DVD player decided he didn’t like me anymore and departed for that place that unused Beta recorders and Scott Baio’s career go. And we all know which disc won the most recent movie media format war.

That’s right. Scott Baio.

Wait, what? NO.

So yeah – Blue Ray won. Now, put two and two together, mix with tapioca pudding, and voila! We just made a mess. And I decided that getting a PS3 would not only solve my DVD playing issues, but would also finally give me the ability to play all of the next-gen games I’ve been wanting to play for quite some time.

Not only that, but I have a PSP. So now I can finally download PS1 games to play on my Portable. With that option now open to me, I may actually finish some of those PS1 games that have been sitting on my shelf unfulfilled. What? I said I’d call them. I didn’t say when.

With all that in mind, I’m pretty excited to be picking it up tomorrow, er… I mean my lovely wife will be picking it up for me tomorrow while I’m at work. And the timing couldn’t be better – tomorrow is the day they release the 80GB bundle pack with Metal Gear Solid 4. Between that and the other two games I picked up the other day, I have plenty to be excited about.

Tapioca pudding.

The Don lives in his world, but sleeps on your couch.

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Working on new computer, brb!

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By now, you’ve probably seen the above. Very entertaining. Almost hypnotic with those stripes.

Clearly, the guy is taking video of his girlfriend without her knowing. Now she knows. And while she was apparently fairly pissed off when she first discovered her boyfriend’s indiscretion, she’s now quite comfortable with her fifteen minutes of fame.

Although part of me thankful that he posted the video (now I know Wii fit has a sexy hula hoop game! Maybe my ass will look that hot after hours of Wii), part of me also wonders if maybe our lives in this digital era are a little over exposed. Playing Wii Fit in a t-shirt and undies is something you do in private. It’s certainly not as private as having sex, but it’s not meant for the rest of the world. And yet, even these tiny little moments are exposed to the world.

This is the age of user generated content. We all have opinions. We all do crazy things. And we can all share our ideas in ways never before possible. The crazy thing? There’s an audience! Everyone wants to know what everyone else thinks or says or does. In some ways, it’s a little voyeuristic. But in some way, we all seem to be fascinated with the lives of other people no matter how random or mundane.

In previous generations, posting such a video would have been a one way ticket to single town. These days, hell, even a sex tape might not be enough to break up over.

Anyway, back to gawking at the hula game.

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Hey Spwug readers!  (oh wait — what? — it’s not Wednesday?!  Whoa and last week’s post didn’t post after all!!! Dang it!)  *ahem*

You read that right.  Giant. Robot. Schoolgirls. But I bet she wouldn’t stand a chance against a fearsome looking Maid Guy.  He has x-ray vision, levitation and nightmarish mental projection powers.  In a few days though, I’ll be spirited away to fight devil dogs and collect skulls instead, or at least that’s what I’ll hear.  But wait! Never fear!  George Washington (NQSFW) will save us! 

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Ok, so we kinda caved a bit this weekend and downloaded the new Wiiware Final Fantasy game “My Life as a King.” I might be a bit of a sucker for both the FF mystique and also for a shiny new city builder. And this is definitely both shiny and full of Final Fantasy goodness.

You start out, a child king, walking into an empty city with your two advisers- Chancellor Chime, and Sir Hugh. After a quick chat with the giant glowing crystal in the middle of the town’s main square, you get right to work effectively summoning houses (thus conjuring a population to live in your city) and other assorted buildings. The twist to this RPG-lite is that you can’t go clearing out the dungeons yourself- you must commission adventurers and send them off to do the dirty work for you while you stay in town chatting up the common folks and basically waiting.

The game is divided up by days (Chime also acts as nanny, sending you “to bed” to cycle through the days,) and at the beginning of the day you issue behests, thus telling your adventurers what you want done. I’m only about a ‘month’ into it, trying to collect buildings from the dungeons so that I can find out about the shadowy monster mastermind, and solve the riddle of what happened to the old king who disappeared mysteriously years before.

I’m really enjoying this game, and look forward to the inevitable million or so hours that I will be lost to it entirely instead of participating in “Real Life.” Hell, I was barely able to tear myself away from the game to go out to a Jonathan Coulton concert last night, and man, I’d have missed one hell of a show. I didn’t know that three average-to-geeky guys could remove clothing that fast!

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