In around 6 hours the worst year of my life will come to an end...

FUCK 2008! It's even ending on a fucking down note, that's fucking perfect.

Here's to '09, it can't be worse, it would be a statistical anomaly.

-James

COMICS!!!!

I didn't get out this week to pick up comics, but I did get a gem of a Christmas present that should fill this week nicely. I finally got my hands on a copy of The Killing Joke. There are dozens, if not more, things I could say about it, but it's all been said. It's one of the best books I ever read, it's a must for any fan of either Batman or the Joker. The ending draws the perfect line between the two characters, showing their integral difference, then following it with a Punchline. Batman and the Joker share a short, thunderous laugh as the police cars come rolling up and the story ends.

The version I got was the hard cover deluxe edition, so in addition to the recoloured art there's also the short story at the end, An Innocent Guy. I can't stress enough, I loved this book, from cover to cover.

-James

A great tide of filth.

Okay, I just have to start today off with Real Life Super Heroes, courtesy of today's Whitechapel Newskrusher. Here's a great argument in favor of hybrid cars. I haven't plugged it in a while, so, Bleed, go, vote, drag your friends and family kicking and screaming to do the same. Watchmen May Be Delayed, which seems like better and better news every time someone talks to the media about it.

This one made me laugh a few times over the weekend, and This makes many senses and looks like progress to me.

That's all I got, I'm off, don't spill your drinks on the desk.

-James

Happy Holidays.

Yeah, I skipped this weekend, sorry I waited until after to tell you.

I'll be back tomorrow with your tide.

-James

COMICS!!!!!

Let's start with X-Factor #34, So, um... part two of this story was in an issue of She-Hulk, I don't read that, so I was a little lost. Longshot's still a Skrull, She-Hulk smashes things, that's about it.

X-Men: Legacy #216*, Emma Frost and Professor X talk about his past, Cyclops and Professor X shake hands and part ways.

Deadpool #3, Wade whoops on a Super Skrull, the Super-Skrulls modeled on him explode, Norman Osborn screws with Nick Fury some more.

Avengers: The Initiative #17, featuring the Shadow Initiative fighting Skrulls, Skrulls, and more Skrulls.

Uncanny X-Men #503, the New Mutants get pulled off the bench to fight Empath, most of the team gets knocked around, Pixie saves the day.

That's what I got... if the issue numbers are wrong I'll be editing them when I get home, merry Christmas.

*Issue number fixed.

-James

No tide this week.

I'm taking another week for myself, Here's a little holiday cheer, care of Warren Ellis.

I'll be back tomorrow with a comic post.

-James

Everybody must get stoned.

Found on Grinding.Be


-James

Still behind on COMICS!!!!!

It's that time again, another week of comics for me... it feels good to say that so often these days.

Doktor Sleepless #10: Another Dok-less issue, and another issue of insight into the seedy workings of Heavenside. Police Brutality Beach Party, add some surfboards, sharks, and a bonfire and I smell a hit mini series.

Uncanny X-Men #502: Wolverine and Nightcrawler kick ass, Cyclops is a dick, Karma's a bitch, Pixie can't make up her damn mind, and "hey look, it's Dazzler!"

Deadpool #2: An army of Super Skrulls modeled on Wade, yeah, that was a fucking brilliant plan. Hey, better yet, let him train them too! Knock, knock.

Avengers: The Initiative #16: Skrull burgers, yum. Also, Crusader continues to be the most interesting of the characters added since issue 13, and that's not saying much.

That's all I've got, see you Friday.

-James

A great tide of filth.

Here we go, This I found on Warren Ellis' Site, after a few minutes of laughing at it I started poking around through the other news stories linked on the page and found This. I nearly died laughing. This Kid may be my hero one day, who am I kidding, give the brat a medal now. This is kind of ironic, but is most certainly serious-face news. In other serious-face news, Rioting continues in Greece.

Leaving on a different note, Here's some technology for the future from Grinding.Be.

-James

A long cold walk.

I took my thirteen year-old brother downtown to do his Christmas shopping last night. The trip started in a fairly standard fashion for when I spend time with my younger brothers, we sat and talked about comics, only this time it was on a streetcar across town instead of in the backyard.

Getting off of the streetcar at Younge and Carlaw we started walking south, ducking into a game store along the way so we could look for something for our youngest brother, debating between getting him cards and an action figure I suggested that maybe we should hit another store or two first. David, my brother, agreed, and we were back out into the cold. Still moving south we hit the gigantic record store north of Dundas, if you live in the city you know the one, if you don't it has a big pink sign with it's initials over the doors. We weren't in there for very long, I had wanted to order something but since all of the staff seemed lost in helping someone or doing something I supposed that it would be best to come back if I can't find it elsewhere first.

Walking past the north end of the Eaton Centre David got stopped by one of the guys selling the Black History Month pamphlets and before I could get my brother away from them he'd already given him a five and we were back on our way south. David was still staring at the four sheets of paper he'd just paid five dollars for, and I tried my hardest not to laugh, but told him it was a lesson and that the best of us can be hit by people trying to talk us out of a few bucks at his age. I told him about how when I was fifteen I once gave someone five bucks for what they said was for a charity, I didn't care what it was for I was trying to get them to leave me alone, a few weeks later the same lady I gave the five was on the news. She'd been keeping all the money she'd collected that way, and was living in a better place then I was off of it. I also added that my best friend, who had been there, got a good laugh out of it when the story ran.

A few minutes later we were walking down a flight of black and white stairs and David was seeing the Black Market for the first time, and he didn't seem quite sure what to make of it. I'd already told him on the way we were going to a vintage store, and then explained what exactly that was. After we had been browsing for around fifteen to twenty minutes David said to me "I get it, it's like Value Village.", I laughed and said "Yeah, but with punk music and better clothes." The dawning I saw in his eyes clued me into the fact that the music playing, and I can't for the life of me remember who it was, was the first punk he'd ever heard that wasn't from a Green Day album recorded in the last ten years.

After the Black Market we went across the street, I had coffee, he had hot chocolate, and we sat and warmed up. The sun had gone down while we were underground and the cold had become a little more unbearable. Feeling sufficiently warmed we ran down the block and into the Silver Snail, inside David found the exact same toy he'd been looking at over an hour ago, for a few dollars less. He snatched it up, then started looking around to see if he could find something for our little sister.

There were a few more stops along the way, but from there out the pattern of going to a new place and giving the awe a few minutes to wear off before the conversation resumed, after the surplus store, the skate shop, the book store and the "anything with a band logo" store we went underground, into the PATH. Wandering through the network of tunnels lined with shops we made our way to where our Dad was finishing work in a few hours. We found a good place to sit and hung around until security kicked us out so they could close the food court up. With ten minutes to go we wandered out onto King to stand near Bay and wait for Dad to finish up work. For the millionth time I told David, "Anytime you want to go to any of those places again, just call and ask." then we were in the car and our trip was at a close.

TL;DR, I hung out with my kid brother.

-James

Still catching up on my COMICS!!!!

Since it wouldn't be a catch up week for me without the Blue and Gold, let's start there:

Blue Beetle #33, Jamie, Peacemaker, and the Teen Titans run interference on death threats, gun and drug smuggling, and improvise Wonder Girl into a large Degausser.

Booster Gold #13, Booster battles Starro, who has latched onto Rip Hunter and gone hopping around the time line.

Deadpool #1! Wade kicks some Skrull ass, even managing to win their respect and employment. The voices in Wade's head argue with him about what plan working for Skrulls is a part of. Also we get a Skrullese translation for "Oh shit", thanks for asking them for that one Wade.

Uncanny X-Men #501, Pixie is severely beaten by a group of thugs in Hellfire Club masks. Cyclops builds a crib for when Nathan comes back from the future with the baby Mutant Messiah. When Pixie makes it back to the safety of the team in the morning they go into full on kick-ass mode.

Bleed has slipped down a rank on Zuda, I want you to command people you know to vote, anyone you know with an internet connection, threaten them with a stick if you have to.

-James

A great tide of filth.

To start this week off, this is Bleed, a little comic by some friends, if it gets enough votes it will contine, go, now, vote, I command it! Next up, I think This, Is a pretty good explanation of what it can feel like having ADD, mix a little ADHD in there and you get impulsive behavior coupled with it.

I killed a whole afternoon watching The Map linked in this thread last week, I just thought I'd share it around.

Finally, Here's an awesome article I read last week, I couldn't disagree more with the quote at the top, but, you know, I just play video games, it's not like I'd have any qualification to tell people what's good or bad about them... wait a second...

-James

Friday's post, early.

I really wanted to write about the state of politics here in Canada, but honestly couldn't come up with anything that didn't boil down to childish name calling and mud slinging when I first sat down. I want to remain as neutral as possible while I'm writing this, because honestly, I don't have the answer. I have only heard from two people who's opinions on the subject I trust, who both seem to have enough of a handle on things that they have decided where they stand.

Unfortunately they both wear their bias somewhat on their sleeve and have fallen more or less right where one would expect, not to say they're not informed, they are. They're not mindlessly yessing because that's what good little supporters do, they've made their decision, and they're ready to fight for it. They make me wish that I had.

I am not opposed to the Coalition in principle, and I do think that the electoral system needs to be overhauled completely. My issues with putting the NDP and the Liberals in charge of the country as a group come down to trust, I don't trust them any more then I trust the ass who MUST go. Think about this, amongst themselves, in a few months time, two thirds of the Coalition will select the person leading our country, without our input.

I'd also like to ask a question of anyone reading this, can any of you cite a piece in support of the Coalition that A) Isn't more about getting rid of Harper then it is about the suitability of the Coalition to lead, and B) Does not have a Liberal, NDP, or Bloc logo right fucking on it? I'm still trying to find one, I haven't read the paper as much in the last year as I have in the last few days.

If I push that last point any further I risk invoking Godwin's Law and invalidating my own argument, but it's important to see propaganda when it's right in front of you. The job of the parties involved is to convince us that what they want is right, that's why we need independent bodies that we can trust to be involved in the process.

I want my country to be strong, I really do, and come January the shithead will be toast, no two ways about it, but if the Survey I read earlier is any indication the Coalition does not have the support of the majority of the country. I'm not interested in having another election either, but despite the cost and the waste, it may be what is best for us... If we can get rid of the Current Electoral System in the process.

Pensively, dejectedly, and ambivalently yours,

-James

I'm how far behind on my COMICS!?

Booster Gold #12, His Sister is impersonating the Silver Age Batgirl and Booster fights himself impersonating Killer Moth while dressed as... Elvis? Booster, I'm about ready to take your time travel license away.


X-Men: Legacy #215, Professor X and Cyclops stand in the woods and talk. Rogue sits in the desert and talks to The Last Voice left in her head after Messiah Complex.

Blue Beetle #31, Jamie gets duped into working for the INS, Doctor Mid-nite appears to save lives and dole out wisdom.

Astonishing X-Men #27, Abigail Brand and Hank McCoy give us way too much information, Hisako complains about her codename some more, and Cyclops swears!

Doktor Sleepless #9, an issue without the Doktor, the issue starts the second arc of the series and lets us see the the impact the Doktor has had on the world around him.

Gotta run, time for work, damn day shifts.

-James

A not so great tide of filth.

Play with This, find a gem, Share it, Amuse yourself, maybe Learn something.

-James

It's another week without comics for me...

So I give you Watchmen - Condensed, with Extended Commentary.

Normal comics posting should resume next Wednesday, even if I can only afford one damn book.

-James

A great tide of filth.

This week, highlights from my Saturday night trip to Upl8.Tv, starting with Chainsaw Maid, an awesome little stop motion short about, well, a maid with a chainsaw. Next, an animated gem that makes me smile every time I see it, Mutilator, it's post-apocalyptic fun. This has to be the coolest piece of furniture I have ever seen, and I want one. This last video is from a DS game that is probably the first game that ever made me want to buy a DS. Here's the home page for the unreleased game.

See you later in the week.

-James

WTT for beer! Offering snark, PST!

I'm not sure what annoys me more about Friday night-shifts, watching people who are having fun come and go, or knowing that even if I had the night off that I wouldn't be one of them. Hey, come back! See, while I was working I kept having the same thought, "I'm way to sober to listen to this music for eight hours." If I was home I'd be bored and sober but that sounds better than annoyed and sober any day, doesn't it?

I'd also have the internet, which dulls the boredom with something mindless to do. If I have to be bored I'd rather be talking about abnormal brains or two headed cats. I've always found a mantra can get you through a painful shift, I have a supervisor who uses "I love my job." occasionally throwing a "Fucking" in there, so I just kept reminding myself "think of the booze and drugs you'll be able to buy next week when you have money." ... Hey, you know what would have made last night better...

-James

Work, work.

I'm working the register tonight, so I should have time to put something together for the morning, in the meantime, Do Want!

-James

You have got to be fucking kidding me...

This is why I'm not level 80 yet, I don't have the commitment to play until I have a fucking seizure.

Normal posting resumes soon, no comics post this week.

-James

I was going to post yesterday, really I was...

But I got distracted by This, best Quest Chain EVER.

-James

Still in Northrend, and I'm too busy fighting to take pictures.

This weekend you can blame Dragonblight and Azjol-Nerub.

-James

Gone Scourging.

I'm busy in Howling Fjord, amuse yourself with This.

A great tide of filth.

Let's start with This, I just thought it was neat. Here's one that worries me, worries me immensely, and another One I'm undecided on. I came across This last week, and I understand, but as a Mortal Kombat and a Joker fan, I was not pleased.

Now, courtesy of Whitechapel and Warren Ellis, Space And Robots!

-James

I got nothing...

I've been trying to come up with something for the last two days, I'm sorry, I just have nothing for you this week. I promise Monday will be funny.

Not an edit, it was here all along: Words Of Wisdom.

-James

COMICS!!!!

Deviating from the format, like I've never done that before, I'm sharing a webcomic with you this week. Wasted Talent is a little webcomic that makes me smile. I'd try harder to sell it too you but I think it can do that quite well enough if you give it the chance.

It's written and drawn by Angela Melick of Vancouver, so support some Canadian talent while you check your webcomics every couple of days.

-James

A great tide of filth.

Ah, fuck, another Monday. Well, let's see about slapping together a tide for you.

Let's start with This winner, I'm sure you've been told kid, but, you're doing it wrong. Here's a good reason to keep your pants on, and Here's hope for the future. This one's a win, you can't tell me otherwise. I'm trying to come up with something clever for This one, but I think it speaks for itself.

That's it, I'm done for the week, out of the office.

-James

A tough call.

I thought about not posting at all today, just taking the day for myself and never explaining it. Last night at work I wrote something on my break, then spent all night debating posting it or not. When I started writing the blog a friend asked when I was going to get to writing about this, I told him I started a blog not a livejournal. I'm going to put it up anyways, and after you've read it I'd like the office to myself, Happy Halloween...

If life had gone to plan today would have been a very special day. Because of that I'm taking the day for myself, but first I wanted to share something with you, a song.



The first time I heard this song it made me decide I had to increase my efforts to find common ground with someone I had been drifting away from. She had liked the earlier albums from the same artist so I decided to start there. The day I tried I noticed that when I looked into her eyes all I could see was the distance that I had been pretending I hadn't seen growing between us for what turned out to be far too long. Things ended between us soon afterwards and from then on that moment was all I could think about when I heard that song.

Last night, of all nights, when I got to work I found out that my supervisor was spending her night building the first of the Christmas displays.(That makes more sense if you know the girl I'm writing about.) All I could do was laugh, I was in for a very long day it seemed. I started up a playlist I hadn't listened to in a long time because it the song in question was near it's end and got to work. A few hours later, the song started and for the first time in I'm not sure how long I thought about a snowy night in November.

That beautiful moment when you stopped fuming about the phone call you had just finished, smiled that wonderful smile, and I caught my first glimpse of the future we would talk about building together in your eyes.

I know you're never going to read this, but, I'm sorry I forgot, and I hope you're happy.

-James

COMICS!!!!

Now, I know what your first thought is going to be, "Fuck, he found a way to mix the two, we've lost him." but you're wrong. This week I'm gonna tell you about World Of Warcraft: Volume 1, by Walt Simonson and Ludo Lullabi(Who has no wiki to call his own.).

The story follows a trio of gladiators, a Human, a Blood Elf, and a Night Elf, as they fight for their lives, their freedom, and to reconcile their pasts. I enjoyed the ever-loving hell out of this story, so did the lady reading it over my shoulder on the streetcar, if you're looking for something to read pick this up... and long live King Varian!

-James

It's zombie-tastic!

So, I spent my whole weekend running from zone to zone fighting the Scourge pouring out of the Necropolis overhead. When I wasn't fighting at the necropoli I was trying to pull Lowbies out of towns overrun with Zombies. Kinda like This, but less funny.

Here's a song from over at OCReMix, and as always, if you like it there are torrents available for nearly all the content of the site, save them some bandwidth if you can.

-James

ZOMBIES!

I'm gonna let This take the blame for the latest slump in posting, yeah, it was all this. The zombies are here! Grab a Blade, band together, fight the living dead!

See you Monday, I swear I'll get right back on posting and count Wednesday as another miss.

-James

November 13 will mean I'm busy for weeks...

Don't worry, I won't forget you.

I'll Just Be Doing Something Else.

Come on, come back, it was a joke.

-James

A great tide of filth.

I'd like to start this tide by saying "Oh my god! There's a Treehugger.com!" Senseable adults discuss Overdrinking and life in the Future.

Cutting this week short, here's your last link for the week,There Will Be Brawl, enjoy.

-James

Big Damn Superhero Fight!

This weeks Big Damn Superhero Fight is The New X-Men V.S. Nimrod.

This was one of the team's last "Big Damn Fights" and a few story lines later they were disbanded.

It has the things that a "Big Damn Fight" requires:

Property damage? check, the fight starts with a jet crashing and ends with a building being demolished.

Body count? Almost, four members of the team are nearly killed over the course of the fight.

If this sounds like your kind of mayhem pick up New X-Men issues #28-32 or find them collected as Childhoods End: Part 3.

-James

Morals and Zombies: The closer.

After getting all dressed up and doing her makeup, she had fallen asleep waiting in bed for him to get back. All in all, he was surprised to find her there, and was already panicking quite loudly when he woke her up.

The Fangirl is sitting up in bed, while Johnny is in the doorway, screaming.

All the noise had attracted the neighbors, and the lady at the hotel check in desk... and the police. Johnny hardly even noticed them, he was too busy curled up in the corner screaming, "You're dead! You died! I killed you!" and crying over the poor dead fangirl he'd brained with the old rotary phone when she'd scared him.

Johnny is sitting in bed clutching a rotary phone, hints of gore and dead Fangirl creep in on the periphery.

The police took Johnny away, the judge wasn't very understanding, it seems that "devil music" had been the end of his own little girl. Johnny was put away, he's now recording his tenth studio album... from jail.

Johnny is sitting on a wooden stool, a microphone hanging overhead. Iron bars sit in the foreground.

The End.

Late again already!?

Sorry, last night I got sucked into a Heroic Crypts, and everything went wrong. The Tank couldn't go two fights without getting Mind Controled and then the Arms Warrior wouldn't stop hitting him long enough for me to Stunlock him before he killed us all... I was not impressed.

So, this week since I didn't get out to pick up my books I'm going to tell you about Spider-Man: Blue by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.

Spider-Man: Blue is written as a tape recorded letter from Peter Parker to Gwen Stacy. The story retells the events of how they met, as well as how Peter met Mary Jane Watson, became friends with Harry Osborn, and how Peter and Gwen fell in love.

The book is a personal favorite and I'd suggest it to anyone looking for something to read.

I'll be back tomorrow with your usual Friday post and a second comic post, I figure if I start to run out of steam for ideas later it'll be a little easier if I can at least do two different types of posts on a given day.

-James

The tally.

So, I owe you twelve posts starting with a comic post, I'll be starting Wednesday and coming up with something to throw in as a second, related, post each day until I'm caught up.

Since this is a Monday post and should be a tide of filth I'm throwing you a funny little link but still counting this one as a miss.

Behold, The Monkeysphere.

-James

I'm not dead!

I'll be popping in with a tally on the missed posts Monday night, time to get back to work.

Here's a cookie.



-James

An applogy.

I've been sick and haven't felt up to posting. In the next few days I'm going to catch up on all the posts I've missed.

-James

COMI... what?

Comic post will be coming tomorrow with the Friday post, I need a chance to get something to read.

-James

A great tide of filth.

As always, we start with Loss, Rick, you will be missed. From there we'll lighten things up a bit with some "Lulz", followed with some Nostagia.

A little while back a friend asked me to ask all of you what you thought would happen if Chuck Norris fought Walker: Texas Ranger. I told him I thought that sounded a whole lot like the plot to The One, what do you think?

-James

Morals and Zombies: The Second Act.

Before we start there is a comics post bellow this one, sorry it was late.

Act 2 Start:

Johnny prayed to his Dark Gods to fix his problem, to do something about the dead girl still laying in that hotel room bed. He probably should have been more specific about what he wanted them to do.

The Girl lays on her side, her neck at an unnatural angle, clearly broken. Her eyes glow a sinister shade of green.

Johnny made his way back to the hotel, quite sure that when he got there the dead girl would be gone and that he would never have to worry about her again.

Johnny is driving along in a convertible sports car. He hugs closely to a corner hanging over a cliff.

When the girl awoke back in the hotel room she didn't know where Johnny had gone, but she was sure she wanted to look her best when he got back.

The Girl sits in front of the washroom mirror, applying makeup, her neck still askew and her head lolling to the side.

Act 2 close.

-James

COMICS!!!!

Sorry this one is late, I overslept yesterday and had to book it to work before I could post.

This week all I've got for you is Transmetropolitan Volume 10: One More Time. I needed something for the ride home to and from work yesterday and since I picked this up earlier in the week it seemed to fit the bill. Now, it goes without saying I'm a big fan of the series, so it was with a heavy heart that I read it's final chapters. I'm glad that the series got to close out the way it did instead of being simply canceled and left unresolved. I can't think of anything more that could be added to it's story either without treading back over things that had already been done.

I'd advise anyone with time to read should start with Back on the Street and work their way up to this book, you won't regret it.

-James

Sorry, and now your tide.

That weekend disappeared on me, sorry, normal posting resumes now.

Here's a Few links to aid in your survival of the inevitable zombie apocalypse. This is the best Keylogger ever.

Lost Zombies comes courtesy of a friend, since I'm feeling a little tapped out I'm gonna invite him to post a link when he gets the chance.

Floor's yours man.

-James

COMICS!!!!

This is another week with no money for comics so fresh*cough* out of storage for a ride to and from work is Daredevil: Visionaries Frank Miller Volume 1.

The collection starts with Daredevil #158, Miller's first issue as artist on the series. These are the earliest issues in what was a defining run for the character. To this day the motifs established here are still heavily used in the ongoing series. It also heavily influenced the Feature Film, which had an excellent director's cut.

-James

Enjoy your day off.

Happy Labor Day, I'm taking this one off.

-James

Morals and Zombies: a play in three acts.

Act 1:

Narrator: Johnny was a rockstar, and he liked his fangirls something fierce. Johnny's fangirls liked him back, and because of that they did some questionable things for him.

Johnny and Fangirls are sitting on a bed, surrounded by drug paraphernalia.

Narrator: The drugs were just the start, they also had deviant sex and worshiped the devil. Johnny believed that these things were responsible for his success and wasn't likely to stop. One day things just plain went wrong.

Johnny and a fangirl are in the throws of passion. A large "SNNNAP!" sound effect is placed in panel over the back of the girl's head.

Narrator: Johnny didn't know what to do or who to turn to, local law enforcement would blame him for sure. He ran to the room where he and his fangirls would hold their satanic rites, lit a single black candle and prayed for guidance.

Johnny kneels down, black candle in hand.

To be continued...

This idea got stuck in my head after watching that short film last weekend. This is my, mostly silly, take on the concept and since I can't draw for crap this is what you get instead.

-James

COMI...What?

Not a comic this week, but a short film.

At last weekend's Fan Expo I picked up a short film on DVD called The Last Days of Rik Mortis. According to The New York Times blurb on the cover it's a "glam rocker-meets-zombie morality tale." Maybe I'm just jaded but I saw very little in the way of a moral.

While this wasn't exactly what I was expecting I was none the less amused. The Last Days of Rik Mortis is a mildly entertaining look at what is likely the result of a lot of drugs on a paranoid mind, god bless those revenge zombies that live in my head.

Here's where the official website of the production company redirects to.

-James

Another late tide of filth.

Here goes.

This is great, This makes me laugh. Here's a great reason to keep your jokes to yourself, and Here's a cute one. I'm spent, sorry, now, office is closed, shoo.

-James

The day after Fan Expo.

So, this weekend was exhausting. Since I was busy I don't have a tide for you today.

I'll try and toss something together for tomorrow.

-James

The first day of Fan Expo.

I'm home from my first day of Fan Expo, it is nearly midnight and between today and the previous night's night shift... I'm very tired and will be short. The first day of a convention is a primarily social exercise. You establish your territory, greet your neighbors, locate your friends, and encounter your regulars. This year we've found ourselves with enough space that we're adding a body and planting a flag.

Find us in the games section, tucked away in the back corner, and we will entertain you some.

-James

COMICS!!!!

This week all I got for you is Batman: Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. The story revolves around Batman's search for the serial killer Hangman who's crimes are similar the recently released Alberto Falcone, Holiday from The Long Halloween.

Pieces within the story besides grisly murder include Bruce Wayne's floundering early romance with Selina Kyle, a Halloween raid on Arkham Asylum, Bruce's adoption of Dick Grayson after the murder of his parents, and a retelling of his first appearance in costume as Robin.

One of the reasons I tracked this one down was because it and the Long Halloween have been being tossed around the internet as potential sequel material for The Dark Knight. The biggest issue I could see with adapting them is that they require a living Harvey Dent.

Now, out of the office and next time use a coaster.

-James

Another late tide of filth.

Sorry about this, thing is, last week I gave my two weeks notice at one of my two day jobs. My nameless employer decided that meant I wanted a weeks vacation in the meantime. I got distracted trying to enjoy my time off, sorry. So, your tide.

This has had me laughing since it made page one of one of the local papers. This old broad just wins, someone send her a prize. In Turtles And Skateboards news we have this little gem. I'm linking This one for it's top story, but there are some gems buried in there.These Too, I think I like this News of the Weird.

This one comes in under the headline of Fascism, it's another one of those slipery slope cases, how much farther can this go and people will still be fine with it? If it got worse would they even notice? This guy comes in on a lighter note, have a good one, I'm out.

-James

I was out.

I worked 12 hours through the dead of night Friday, I spent the weekend sleeping it off.

Sorry, this has been a bad week for that kind of thing.

- James

COMICS!!!!

I didn't get out again this week and that means I got nothing, sorry, I'm canceling this one. I'll be back here next week with something.

-James

A missed tide of filth.

I got a new computer over the weekend, the time I didn't spend battling with Vista I spent in Warsong Gulch or Arathi Basin, as such I didn't manage to gather you a tide.

I'm sorry, the pickings have been a tad slim lately anyways. I'm gonna let Upl8.tv entertain you for me this week.

-James

I hate shock tactics.

Sorry this is late, to combat this trend I'm widening the post time for the next little bit.

This has, of course, been closed down from further comments because... well, the tactic fucking worked. We were talking about it, now imagine it wasn't a group of high thinking adults simply astonished that someone would stoop so low for out attention.

A while back a friend posted a comment about Pro-Lifer's using a similar tactic on him, in person, while he was on his way to work and like magic I singled PETA(No traffic for you fucks, link your homepage somewhere else.) out. I know they're trying to win support and not friends but if we have any sense we won't give them either, the same goes for the Westboro Baptist Church who are also mentioned in the thread above. You want a reason to hate them? They like to picket things, things they say support the rights of "The Gays". They're a hate group hiding behind a bible.

Now, I'm no biblical scholar, but I'm pretty sure there's something in there about loving each other and letting god sort it out.

We have better ways to learn to get along then scare and bully our way to it. Read a book, listen to someone tell you about themselves and what they believe, DON'T TELL THEM THEY'RE WRONG! Factually wrong is one thing, 2+2 is not 5, but don't be a dick.

Get along.

-James

COMICS!!!!

I didn't get out this week, so here's one from my great big pile of comics.

Transmetropolitan: Tales of Human Waste is a collection of two one-shots and an eight page story from a Vertigo special. I Hate It Here and Filth Of The City are stylized as books collecting articles written by Spider Jerusalem. The most important thing to know when reading "Spider's" writing isn't that he hates you, it's why. He hates you because you love him blindly. He hates you because you're happy staying ignorant. He hates you because you don't want to be more. It's very easy to paint the character in a negative light if you look at his habits. He's violent, he's foul mouthed, he's mentally unstable, and on top of all that he's on drugs. But he's also telling you that you can be more if you care, all you have to do is try.

If we had more journalists like Spider Jerusalem I might read the paper more often.

-James

A great tide of filth.

This is equal parts disturbing and entertaining. I would most definitely label it as not work safe. This made me laugh like hell. Now, Rednecks, Crazy People, and Fat Criminals. This is too funny, I think I'm spending far to much time looking through the strange news. This is ballsy, too bad it's coming from a cat-lady, no one takes them seriously.

I came across This earlier today, I think it speaks for itself.

-James

Sorry for the very late post.

Sorry this is late,

I've been working on a story of sorts, it's medium is... strange and I intend to post it in it's completed form as soon as possible. So, your post.

Worlds of Darkness, Part 4.

Skipping ahead, all of the players were now working together, in theory. During the afternoon the werewolves harassed the cop, who was trying to get the keys to the houses involved in the mystery at the time, while the mage conducted a search of the nearby houses, matching the behavior of several characters, who were missing players, from the night before.

As the sun set the players made their way to the vampire's haven, the mage shared his findings with the Ventrue, who shared the findings of the two vampires who spent the previous night searching. They both learned the same thing, the houses were abandoned with no sign of struggle. Each house had a mage's sanctum in it somewhere. All that really confirmed was that what they'd been told by their respective leaders was the truth, they treated it like a revelation. The Deava notices he's being followed and when his stalkers stop, opening fire on him with machine guns he reverses the car right into theirs. One of the attackers becomes pinned standing up between his own car and it's door, which is being pressed down by the Deava's car. The other attacker stands and opens fire on another vampire, the Gangrel, who is charging at him with two swords drawn.

I asked the player "You're carrying swords?"
GANGREL"Yes."
ME"Two of them?"
GANGREL"Yes."
ME"...and no one noticed, you didn't mention it?"
GANGREL"They're under my coat."
ME"When I asked for a description of your character 'a coat big enough to hide my twin swords.' was not a part of your anwser."
GANGREL"Oops."
ME"So... your charging at him with your swords?"
GANGREL"Yeah, and.."*Dice are rolled*
ME"Okay, he's dead."
GANGREL"Now I'm gonna feed on him."
ME"In the middle of the street?"
GANGREL"I drag him behind the car."

The police officer, werewolves, mage and remaining vampire all gathered on the noise from the gun fire. The Gangrel wiped his mouth and let them know there was another one over with him. The vampires, mage and werewolves all made for home. The police officer waiting to be the first responding officer, having been in the neighborhood on police business anyway.

The vampires slept all day, the mage got up at around noon, and the werewolves got up around one. The police officer slept until five pm, when he got up for work. The werewolves accosted him at the first opportunity. The mage hit the doughnut shop and got into an argument with the the doughnut kid. Seems the kid wasn't aloud to work the cash register and the sandwich station at the same time. Since it would be a health code violation to let the customers make their own sandwiches they were at an impasse. The mage wouldn't accept it, he pressed on. The kid threatened to call a cop and the mage took his business elsewhere. He had some thing alcoholic and something grilled.

This was the night I was waiting for, okay, the Gangrel goes out hunting while everyone else shifts about listlessly. He gets to the bar and asks me, "What can I see?"
ME"Three people out front, two down the alley to the side, the alley is blocked off on it's east side by a chainlink fence, country and western music pours out from the bar."
GANGREL"Are the people out front drunk?"
ME"Yes, the people in the front of the bar are very clearly drunk."
GANGREL"I'm gonna head down the alley and approach the people in it."
ME"The people in the alley are a man in a trench coat and a girl in a short, bright dress."
GANGREL"I grab the girl by the throat and intimidate the man."
*Dice are rolled.*
ME"Take five aggravated damage(What this means will become clear in one second.)."
GANGREL"From what?"
ME"It might have something to do with the muzzle burn on your left cheek."
GANGREL"I intimidated him."
ME"... And he got scared and shot you in the face, the back of your skull is completely gone. Good thing you're a vampire or you'd be dead."
GANGREL"Okay, I let go of the girl and take a swing at the guy."
*Dice are rolled.*
ME"You hit, and then take two lethal damage."
GANGREL"He hit me back?"
ME"No, you let go of the girl, she went at your throat with a knife."

The Mekhet and the mage arrived at the same time, both of them launching themselves down the alley, guns drawn, they each fired once, the Mekhet hit the man and the mage missed and hit the woman.

Sensing things going south the mage decided to hightail it, straight into the responding police officers. He was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, he legally possessed the firearm. The Gangrel launched himself over the chainlink fence and used one of his powers to turn to mist and hide in the ground. The Mekhet convinced the police officers that he had vanished into thin air. The man, a drug dealer, was killed in the firefight with police, his girl friend was recovering in the hospital, the mage charged with the shooting.

The campain didn't end there, but maybe it should have, maybe one day I'll tell you all the rest of the story.

-James

Running late again.

Sorry, I'll have a real post up as soon as possible.

-James

COMICS!!!!

Let's start with X-Men: Legacy #214, let's see... The many deaths of Charles Xavier, Sebastian Shaw blows stuff up, Mister Sinister is... wait? What?

Blue Beetle #29, okay, so drugs, super-powers, and immigration?

Teen Titans #61, Blue Beetle/Kid Devil team up issue, line up to hit the big guy together at the end and... GO!

Avengers: The Initiative #15, MORE SKRULLS!

Robin #175, I don't quite understand where this issue fits into the Batman R.I.P. story, and I'm not really sure how I feel about the issue itself, over the next few issues this has the potential to either wow me with a well written plot, or hurt my head with it's faulty logic, it can go either way.

Uncanny X-Men #500... Wait? What? Magneto seemingly appears for no real reason, Sentinel's as art.

Okay, that's all I got... Crap, gotta run, I'm late!

-James

A great tide of filth.

I'm gonna start with This winner, way to build a stereotype pal. This has got to be the coolest hockey story ever. I think I like the category for news, so let's just keep going with it, check out This.

This just makes me like Quebec even more. Here's a great reason to be safe at work. If only more people were willing to be as mad at an inanimate object as This man, the world would have much taller grass. As our last bit of real news, Here's a video from a crazy old dude.

From over at Whitechapel Here's another one of those stories that just kind of galls me. This made me laugh like hell, and finally, Redbull Makes You Fucking Awesome, SCIENCE SAYS SO.

That's all, see you later in the week.

-James

Madrox: Mulitple Choice.

I know I said I'd be back to WoD after a few weeks, but the game is on hiatus so I'm gonna keep writing about other things until I need to get my brain back into the game's twisted little space in my head.

Yesterday I came across a hard cover of the Madrox miniseries that came before the current volume of X-Factor. I'd already heard good things about it, and I'm a fan of the series that spun off from it, so I thought "What the hell, this can't be worth less than $10."

I'd have paid more. X-Factor has it's own focus on keeping the stories in the vein of Noir, with Jamie specifically trying because it's how a detective acts to his mind.

In the mini Jamie travels to Chicago to investigate the murder of one of his dupes, while Guido and Rahne stay in Mutant Town to run the detective agency, at the time know as XXX Investigations.

During his investigation Jamie encounters a mob boss, his gorgeous girl friend, who seems to have "encountered" his dupe, and the mob boss's super powered hitman. Meanwhile back in New York the same hitman tries to kill the dupe Jamie left in his place.

It's a great little piece of detective fiction, I enjoyed it, you should give it a read.

------------------

Oh, and www.stopc51.com.

-James

COMICS!!!!

Since I didn't make it out for comics last week here's the bottom of last week's stack.

X-Force #5, oooo, I gots a variant cover. Archangel's back, The Purifiers look like they're about to have themselves a little civil war, and after three issues Wolfsbane finally seems to get the heroin she was dosed with out of her system.

Amory Wars Volume 2 part 2, read this book, now. If you like fighting, aliens, and super powers, read this book.

Secret Invasion #4, Carol's a Skrull, any team lead by Nick Fury is bound to kick a lot of ass.

Bomb Queen Volume 5 part 3, you know what I'm gonna say about this book by now. Violence? Check. Sexual content? Check. Excesses of both? Check. Yup, it's an issue of Bomb Queen.

That's all I've got, now, shoo, out, go, I'm locking up.

-James

A great tide of filth.

I think I have to start Here. If you haven't seen Dark Knight yet, go now, the blog will be here when you get back...



For everyone waiting Here's a comic to entertain you, and a Song from over at OCReMix.Org. Here's some pretty art from Brandon Graham, who's comic, Multiple Warheads, I should plug more.

Now that everyone should be back, you can all go Here and discuss the movie civilly. Since I'm already at Whitechapel, Here's Your Flying Car.

-James

The Watchmen trailer.

The Trailer for Watchmen is now out and so I thought I'd say a few things about a story some of you may not be familiar with.

It's not an action story. It's not set in the future. It's a serious drama about flawed characters. It's set in 1985. Charlton Comics characters provided the base inspiration for the characters in the story, my Favorite included.

The story is deep and layered, one of the elements of the story is going straight to DVD since they couldn't squeeze it into the movie.

There's really not a lot more I can say without stepping on the plot, but the story isn't linear, there are flashbacks to explain elements of the plot set in it's present, Watchmen will make you think.

-James

A notice is posted on the office door.

I'm off on friend duty today, I'm remaining scarce with the details but I apologize for the short notice of absence, I promise a Saturday post to make up for the lack of today's.

Your tyrannical Overlord,

-James

COMICS!!!!

Okay, I noticed most of my books this week fall into One Event Title or another, so I'm gonna break things up that way.

Starting with Divided We Stand:

X-Men: Legacy #213, the Gambit/Sebastian Shaw team-up issue, fuckin' a! I'm sure many people are happy that Gambit's not a bad guy any more... again... for now.

Uncanny X-Men #499, aw, no more X-Hippies. Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Colossus battle Omega Red.

Young X-Men #4, it was Donald Pierce all along, you don't say, I'm shocked, who would have guessed? *Yawns* I just want to see the original New Mutants kick his ass, as usual.

Next up, Secret Invasion:

X-Factor #33, Longshot's a Skrull! Also, there's She-Hulk.

Avengers: The Initiative #14, Hank's a Skrull, Crusader's a Skrull, and the 3-D Man can see you.

Wow, event tie-in books break down real easy don't they?

Teen Titans #60, Kid Devil, he's the heart of the god damn team these days, they just don't know it because they don't listen to him. Miss Martian too. I want it stated here and now, anyone who ever calls this team a fill-in lineup is dealing with me, you can e-mail me if you want to argue about it. Ravager leaves the team, New Book starts soon.

Runaways #30, it's a bit cheesy at times, but Runaways has always been a superhero book that breaks your heart. This issue ends Joss Whedon's run on the book and the next issue is a new #1.

Ultimate Spider-Man #123, way back when we were promised that the Video Game based on this book was going to be Cannon and we all thought they'd forgotten. While there are going to be some obvious changes from the content of the game it looks like it's going to be an excellent adaption.

Blue Beetle #28, Jamie fights a retroactive villain of Dan Garret, and makes a different choice on how to handle them. Jamie is also a member of the current Teen Titans line up and is one of the characters we've gotten since Infinite Crisis that I demand you love as much as Superman or Batman.

Finally, Booster Gold #1,000,000. This is the end this story deserved, Booster Gold, the A list hero no one has ever heard of, I like it.

That's it this week, it's amazing how many of those event comics I can fit into a single entry, isn't it?

-James

A great tide of filth.

Friday my brother showed me Upl8.tv, this is the result.

Like Crazy Dancing Midgets? How about Decepticons? Tetris as performance art? How about This? Metal Slug wishes it was this cool. This reminded me of every time someone has asked me to fix their computer, it's why I love tech support people.

This one comes from a friend.

I wanted to make sure This made it up here. On an unrelated note, because I haven't mentioned it in a while, www.stopc51.com.

There's an E-Mail address in the sidebar now, I doubt it's gonna see much use but, hey, what the hell.

A scattered collection of thoughts.

I don't have a full post for today, so instead I'm going to assail you all with the half formed trite that infects my brain.

This is likely one of you being punished by some cosmic force, don't worry, I'm not naming names.

-------------

A while back Alexander was on TV and for whatever reason it was playing in the background at my apartment. The following is an exchange between my mother and brother, this came back to me last night at work and I thought I'd share:

Mom: They have sleeves on their shirts why aren't they wearing pants? I think they're going to lose if they keep fighting in their bare legs.

Brother: Nah, if they had Bear Legs they'd be in business.
------------------

I picked up the first issue of the second volume of The Amory Wars last week. Now, if the connection to Coheed And Cambria is just a little too blatant for you, ignore it. This is an excellent little piece of Space Opera.
------------------

When I told a friend about the latest issue of Cable on Monday he joked, "What if it's not Jean, what if it's Rachel, just to fuck with people?" I've had This song stuck in my head since, dick.
------------------

There, I'm done, see you Monday.

-James

COMICS!!!!

So, I didn't make it out to pick up comics again, so I'm gonna start this week with Cable #5, which I picked up on the weekend. When Messiah Complex ended I started joking that Cable had traveled forward in time to raise Jean Grey because the cyclic implication made me laugh.

Elsewhere this week I said that "Michael Bay's" Dark Knight should be nominated for Best Screenplay, in a universe that features even one just god, it should fight tooth and nail for both it and and our box office dollars with a feature film adaption of Paint The Line.

A great tide of filth.

I'm gonna start with This, my brother showed it to me and I haven't stopped laughing at it since. Next, Elk Spread Bison Bourne Disease, wait? What?

I got through the final mission in GTA IV over the weekend, it kept me busy for more than a few hours and is the reason this week's tide is so damn short.

This is just too awesome not to share, I smell an Oscar.

That's all I've got for you, sorry.

-James

My return to Warcraft.

I know what you're thinking, "he's been back to playing how long? And he's making us hear about it?"
Well first of all, you can't start a sentence with "and", it's worse grammar than the contractions that pepper everything I write.

One of the things about my coming back to the game has been that my friends had started characters for the opposite faction that I usually play, so I rolled my up a Gnome-Lock, because I like 'locks. After I rolled the character I jumped back over to my Rogue with the Knights.

I spent most of the next half an hour knocking the dust off of him, and just as I'd started running quests with him one of my friends asked me over MSN when I'd be Alliance side next. I jumped at the chance to chat with my friends again and switched back to my Gnome. It was as if I'd never been gone, things were exactly the same, well, except the scenery, that was new.

The biggest difference in the environment from what I was used to was the lack of earth tones in the local pallet, everything was very cold. To be fair it was a snow covered mountain, I'm just used to working my way up to the snow, not starting in it.

All this talk of scenery has reminded me how much I've missed riding through Quel'Thalas, I think I know where I'm starting tomorrow.

-James

COMICS!!!!

While this isn't a comic I'm starting with it:

Baby's First Mythos, best kids book ever! I got to meet C.J. Henderson back in January and he happily shared advice about his craft with me. His writings amuse me and I thought I'd share them with you.

Next up, an actual comic, I borrowed One Bad Day off of a friend, and while it was mildly depressing it was quite well written. I'm using it as an excuse to plug Steve Rolston, who's art peppers my comics and CD covers.

That's all I got this week, I didn't get out to pick up my comics this week, last chance, don't make a mess in the office.

-James.

Origins, this one's gonna be a real post.

I'm going to start on an unrelated note, because I don't like the idea of things like This being an after thought. I knew a Michael Turner fan I don't talk to anymore, if anyone reading this still does I'm sure she'd like to know.

So, Origins, it was a standard convention, but on a much larger scale. I was there with Firestorm Ink, selling their Card Game. If you know me and the pretty pictures at the top of the game's page entice you ask me to tell you about Suitors, I'm always ready and willing to shill for a friend.

While we were there the town of Columbus was also hosting it's Pride week and maybe it's because I'm from Toronto but it just seemed down right quaint. While I was trying to cross the road the parade was on I managed to walk right across without having to walk back a block or so to where I had crossed once I got to the other side, and the marchers were clothed.

When the exhibitor room was closed we spent most of our time with the great folks from Slugfest and Smirk And Dagger games. Both companies have put out a string of amazing games and are just plain fun to hang around with.

Ohio was fun, but I'm glad to be back, next stop Gen Con.

-James

Origins, I'm too tired to come up with something clever.

I'm home, I'm dead tired and as soon as I have the energy you'll get your update.

I'm sleeping in the office so keep it down out there.

-James

A great tide of filth.

I think I have to start with This, and if I may say, as More Than One Person surely has, "Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits."

This guy here is already closed but if you enjoyed the post I linked in the thread here's some other perspectives on the same gunk that washed over my brain. Because I can't link OC ReMix enough, here's Snake's Revenge, which spent some time looped on my iPod over the weekend. If you've liked the songs from there I've posted before they have torrents for mass downloading, they're funded by donation, let's all try and save them some bandwidth.

Eight days from now, on the first of next month, I'll be returning to WoW, I'm excited and like it or not you are gonna hear about it every once in a while.

This will probably be my last post before I head out of town for Origins on Thursday, I'm not likely going to post while I'm down there but you can count on me to grunt out a post before I collapse when I get home, even if it's like the first one I did for Anime North.

-James

Worlds of Darkness, part three.

Sorry this one is late,

So the man from the bar in the vampire's safe house was sitting on the police officer's dresser. Lord only knows how long he'd been sitting there, but he's there and this startles the waking officer.
"Hi."
"Hello, who are you?"
"A friend, you got anything to eat?"
"There's spray cheese in the fridge."
"Neat."
The strange man scampers off and grabs the cheese, he returns with two cans.
"Who are you and why are you in my home?"
"I'm a friend, I'm here to help."
"What's your name?"
"I haven't thought about it in a while..."
It kind of degenerated from there as I put some scattered thought into a name. I didn't come up with a very good one, so I'm gonna glaze over that part. The man drops, with little other information, that a kindergarten class will be endangered by the antics of someone or something, tells him where to meet people who can help him, the facts about the residents of the safe house, confirms what the officer already knows about the werewolves and with that runs out the door and vanishes.

The officer got out of bed and got ready for work. He showered, shaved, got in the car and headed for the doughnut shop. The kid behind the counter gave him attitude, as usual, and then three coffees and 2 doughnuts. He took them to his car and drove to work. He got there and was assigned to highway patrol. He drove a few kilometers away and hid behind a sign. In an attempt to gather his thoughts on the last night he read the bible instead of watching the road.

The wolves got another call from their pack leader. "I've made and recieved some unpleasant calls tonight, but I may have found you some back up." They are given a time and an address, right across from the gas station. They split up and made their way across the woods to different sides of town. The female found the cop, the male found breakfast. He came out of the woods and asked, "Hey, is that steak?"
The mage replied "Yes it is."
"How much?"
"How much you got?"
So the mage charged the wolf for the steak and then mixed himself a drink.
"You bastard. How much?"

The female wolf switched back to her human form beside the cop car. The officer is surprised by the woman who threw a car door at him appearing, naked, beside his car while he is on duty. "Can I help you?"
"I want to talk."
"Okay."
"I'm sorry I threw a door at you."
"Thank you... I think."
They awkwardly made peace and agreed to both go to find this help at the vampire's safe house that night.

The sun set and the vampires woke up. I can't remember who, but someone anwsered the phone, the Prince asked if the door had been fixed, they responded in the positive. The Prince said "Good, great, you've got some company coming tonight, remember, no fucking killing. These are friendlies."

---------------

I'm calling it here for today. I'm gonna be going down to Origins next Thursday morning and as such I'm not sure when posting will resume, I'm going to try and post while I'm down there but don't hold your breath. When I get back I'm gonna reclaim my Friday post for a week or two and write about something besides WoD.

-James

Edited to include an link for Origins.

COMICS!!!!

Let's start with Invincible #50! Every once in a while this book heavily shakes up it's status quo, this is such an issue. The Guardians Of the Globe, Invincible's team, seems to be splitting in two, his ties to the government have been severed, and hey, starting next issue, sidekick!

Teen Titans: Year One #5 of 6, Wait, Speedy's a dick? Imagine that, I never would have guessed. Aqualad and Kid Flash provide some excellent comic relief.

X-Factor #32, The fall out from Arcade's attack on the remains of Mutant Town. Jamie appears to be hallucinating Layla, who's either dead or trapped in an alternate future. The issue ends with the team moving states and and a very pregnant Siryn.

Bomb Queen V #2 of 6. This book is sooooo fucked up, I love it, you might not.

Nightwing #145, Nightwing and Talia continue to play cat and mouse, while Talia grows an army, and Ra's Al Ghul escapes from Arkham.

That's all you get, now, feet off the desk, and get out.

-James

A great tide of filth.

I've got to start With This.

I just finally finished The Difference Engine this week. It's a fine little example of Steampunk as a genre. I can't goober about it enough, READ!

We've lost Stan Winston, that's the picture they pick? CBC, you fail at obituaries. Here, These should be better. I hope This lady fucking hangs.

Here's a random xkcd to amuse you since this tide feels a little short.

-James

Worlds of Darkness, part two.

I'm getting really bad about posting these late, I'm sorry.

So, where were we, right, after the shoot out. So, the Daeva pulls up in his stolen car just as the Mekhet and Ventrue skulk off to investigate the disappearances(their player's weren't there). The Daeva awes the Gangrel, takes the building keys, and heads upstairs. When he gets there he finds the direct line back to the Prince in the city, that the others had found off the hook and replaced on it's cradle, ringing off the hook.

He picks it up and is lightly berated by the prince, who reminds(this was a new player, so more like informs.) him of the groups orders. Play nice with the wolves' and mage's representatives, and do not kill.

The wolves were bickering their way through the woods, moving towards their destination and discussing who was at fault over the car door. They got to the meeting point and found that it had been weeks since anyone else had been to it. They call up their pack leader and begin to convey this information to them, he asks how everything is going, "Not so well." He asks what that means, "Nothing, just some trouble." What kind of trouble, he wants to know, "Nothing we can't..." the phone is snatched out of the werewolf's hand. "Don't worry I'll take this." It's the man from the vampire's safe house. Over the course of a few seconds he informs the pack leader about the drag race, the chase, the shooting, and the car door. "Okay, glad I could help, he wants to talk to you." and with that he hands to phone back and runs off. The wolves give chase but he's long gone.

The police officer is being debriefed back at the station house. Everything checks out on his end, there's something strange on his dashboard cam, he's hurt, and there's still a car door embedded in the side of his cruiser. From the looks of things he did a textbook job and got injured for it. He's told to go home and rest, then report tomorrow for duty. He's given a drive because he's hurt and winds up playing along in some sort of benign hazing ritual.

The werewolves stalk around the woods to try and find the officer, and maybe retrieve the dashboard cam's tape. They find trees and the gas station, then insist they should be better at tracking someone they interacted with, I pointed out that combat, in a gas station, is hardly the best place to pick up a scent other than gasoline.

The vampire's finished up their searches and prepared to turn in for the day, they had a lock smith coming during the day to do something about the front door. Well before his alarm was going to go off the police officer was woken by the man from the bar, who was sitting on his dresser, but I'm running a little long, I'll pick it up from here next week.

--------------------------

Tomorrow, Queens Park, North side, 11am
www.stopc51.com

-James

COMICS!!!!

I know, I picked it up late, but, first up, Giant Sized Astonishing X-Men #1, holy crap! Holy crap! I've been waiting for this to come out for a while, but that's because I have no patience. I liked it, it's what an annual should be. I recommend it if X-Men books are what you like.

Uncanny X-Men #498, the X-Hippies amuse me, I'd like some more.

Blue Beetle #27, Blue Beetle fighting conjured devils.

Titans #3, ironically I like to comment on the chemistry these characters have had, so right up until the last panel this issue makes me look like an ass. I loved it, I'm waiting for the next one.

Teen Titans #59, the odd New Gods names on the villains in this issue left me scratching my head. No, seriously, what the fuck was that? Clock King, the Terror Titans, those I can get, they fit the mold, but, what the fuck? Since a majority of the issue's focus on the battle with the Clock King and his Titans I liked it.

That's all I got for you, I'm locking up for the night.

-James

A late tide of filth.

Sorry, between my weekend and my exhausting day at work I came in and crashed. Here's your tide.

Jonathan Coulton's songs have been making me smile all week. His Thing a Week blog is still archived on his site and is a great source of amusement. New Neurotically Yours at Illwillpress. I was reading through Multiple Warheads #1 when I finally got online and stopped to update here, I like it enough I'm not waiting until Wednesday to tell you to read it.

From Whitechapel, where I spend a good deal of my misbegotten time, we have a Neat Bust, This decision is every gamers dream come true, take that Jack, and finally, I'm glad I'm not the only person excited for This.

That's all I got, I spent my weekend Killing Zombies, how about you?

-James

Bringing nerds and goths together since 1991.

After a long break from running games I have found myself running a World Of Darkness game, not just one of it's sub-games, a cross world game, because apparently I'm a masochist. My group consists of 4 Vampires, one human, one Mage, and a mated pair of Werewolves. The human is playing an OPP officer, the mage a university professor, the werewolves are drag-racing ner-do-wells, and the vampires are a Gangrel witch, a Ventrue information broker, a Mekhet assassin, and finally a Daeva man of mystery.

The first session started with the troops being gathered.
The mage found a rotary phone ringing at the foot of his bed. The voice on the phone told him his instructions would be waiting in his car. He showered, ate, and loaded his car with camping equipment, booze, smokes, and a full cooler. His instructions were to head north to a planned suburb that the local supernatural "community" was using as an experiment in non-aggression. Two weeks earlier all communication to the mage's council from the suburb had ceased. He was to investigate, determine the cause and report back before acting.

The werewolves got a similar briefing but in person instead of with a magic phone and a pad of documents. They loaded into their awesome sports car and headed north. The police officer attempted to stop them for speeding on their way into town, they booked it up the highway and lost him when he decided not to push his squadcar until it rattled apart. When they got to town they went to the local bar and grill and got smashed and stuffed them selves with steak. The officer's next target was a rusted out hunk of jeep driven by our mage. First he ticketed him for speeding, then he started writing him a ticket for operating an unsafe vehicle, since his rear bumper was held on with duct tape. They argued about the strength of the tape and in an attempt to prove his point the officer kicked the bumper, the tape held. He tore up the ticket and asked the mage to have the bumper properly repaired and to stay bellow the speed limit. When he got into town he hit the local bar and grill and proceeded to get smashed, I began to sense a pattern.

The vampires, waking after dark, were all summoned to the Prince's court, where they were berated and given almost identical orders to the other groups, they were to report to the small town's local vampire safe-house, owned by the Prince and operated by a group of four vampires who had ceased to report in on schedule. They were given a car to use and strict orders about the condition it was to be returned in.

The vampires made their trip to town at the speed limit. When they pulled up to the five story safe house they found the steel front doors kicked in and a man in a leather jacket and a fedora sitting at the bar idly playing with a ring of keys.
"you're late." He blurted, jumping off his stool. The Ventrue pipped in with "Did the Prince send you too?" The man asked "The who?" Every other player groaned, fifteen minutes into the game and we have our first breach of the Masquerade, the system of deceit that protects vampires from public exposure. While the Ventrue player picked up on his little slip the man asked with a snicker "Did he send you with a copy of Purple Rain?", and it was my turn to make the table groan.

After much back and forth the vampire deduced that this man knew more than he was letting on, that he had the only keys to the upstairs of the safe house, and that he was bored of talking to them, since he wanted to get outside to the drag races. The cop and werewolves both perked up on that note. The Mekhet physically moved the Ventrue, allowing the man to leave. In return he left them the keys.

The race started up and it was the wolves in their sports car against a trio of Honda PoSs. The race started and a police car pulled into the path of the speeding cars. The cars all veered around him and kept right on booking it. The mage stumbled drunk down the street, following the action. The cop turned on his siren now, and the Honda drivers, already panicked, were all spun out or stopped while the officer continued chasing the sports car.

The chase went through a gas station, one of the vampires watching from the parking lot of their safe house, across the street. Skidding out the male werewolf gets out of the car when the officer shouts at him to stay put and keep his hands visible. The wolf tries to intimidate the officer, who only gets sterner in his instance that the large man surrender. When the man continues to threaten the officer he opens fire in self defense, I asked him "in the middle of a gas station?" he said "yes". The shot missed, the wolf started backing up but his mate hung out the car window and opened fire on the officer, who took cover behind his car door. Then the wolf failed her rage check and transformed. She was now wearing the car door she was hanging out of like a belt, she took it off and flung it at the cop, embedding it in his car and injuring him.

The officer radioed for backup, and the mage stumbled closer, asking "what the hell is that?" his eyes refusing to focus. The man from the bar dropped his fedora onto the mage's head and told him, "That, is a werewolf." and then promptly vanished. It took the drunk mage a second to notice it but when the man vanished so did his two packs of smokes. "Son of a bitch!"

The male wolf grabbed his now calming mate and they made for the woods, bickering about the damage to the car. As they got out of town and into the woods every cop for several jurisdictions came flying towards the gas station. The mage stumbled up to one of them and yelled, "Hey, that bastard stole my smokes!" and got arrested on a drunk and disorderly.

The vampires split up and began their investigation, the Daeva finally pulling up in his own car, saying nothing, and Aweing the Gangrel, who had stayed since they only have the one set of keys and the front doors don't close, but that was the start of the second session, and a story for another week.