Anyone out there live in Moncton? I can't be the only fur in this town :P

Edit: Apparantly, I was mistaken. O_o

Wait, the Dragonball movie came out? I totally didn't notice. With as bad as it was looking, I expected some epic flaming, but I guess people didn't care even that much.

Wait, the Dragonball movie came out? I totally didn't notice. With as bad as it was looking, I expected some epic flaming, but I guess people didn't care even that much.

I got addicted to Mentats. You'd think they'd make me smart enough to stop taking them :P

“Critics who treat "adult" as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adults themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence....When I was ten, I read fairytales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

- --C. S. Lewis, On Three Ways of Writing for Children


Hell yes.

Just to prove that Americans don't have a monopoly on wingnuts, here's an ad from a regional Cragslist equivalent, inviting you to pay to live in prison.

http://fredericton.kijiji.ca/c-hous.....AdIdZ116085323

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wRkzCW5qI

*runs off and wins a football game/frees the slaves/wins an epic battle against impossible odds.*

I find this to be ridiculously entertaining. I'm not certain why.

http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Human

I finally downloaded The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, partly because I heard it was good, mostly to see where all that lovely porn was coming from.

First off, yes. Cynder is entirely spankable (in both forms, for my money). I imagine you'll be seeing some new... content of her shortly. The guardians aren't bad either. More confusing is why anyone would make porn of Spyro, with his horrifying expressionless crocodile mouth.

I didn't have an XBox, so I don't know how the graphics hold up, but they're certainly serviceable. My only real problem with the game is Fake Difficulty. The hardest parts of the game are the parts with pointless timers, or enemy attacks that are times to hit you again just when you're getting up, or bosses who's attack fills the screen with effects so you can't see them beating the crap out of you. Luckily, there's almost no penalty for death.

Elijah Wood upscales every one else, proving he does "determined but uncertain young hero" better than anyone :P

Now, to find a copy of the sequel.

Further proof that there is no bad programming on the Discovery Channel, even if you think it's going to be stupid :D

http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/#clip1624

1. Forward by unspecified narrator, or told in the omniscient third person, introducing minor characters that have a catalyst effect on the plot, setting the book into motion.

2. Enter Hero, a stoic, salt-of-the-earth character. This character is a) a farmer living an idyllic life or b) a transient warrior seeking some greater purpose. Usually male, almost always a mouse or squirrel, occasionally a badger, hare or otter, very rarely a hedgehog. Males are more likely, though females are not uncommon.

3. Enter Villain. Villain is a) An ambitious pirate or b) a greedy warlord, but is always a leader and never an underdog himself. Villain may be any of the standard "villain" species, i.e. fox, rat, stoat, ferret, assorted other weaselly thing, in which case he will have a unique speech impediment/physical characteristic/weapon, usually relating directly to their name. En lieu of these unique characteristics, Villain may be a standard representative of a more exotic species (ie, an intensely aggressive wolverine or covetous raven).

4. Villain instigates the plot through a usually brief, always random encounter with Hero, during which Villain wrongs Hero in some way, usually killing any nearby loved ones and leaving Hero with deep, driving scars both literal and figurative. Alternately, Villain and Hero have no contact whatsoever until the very end of the book.

5. Hero sets out on a quest for one of a variety or righteous goals, seeking revenge/help or chasing a Plot-Convenent Prophetic Dream bestowed by at least one dead military figure. He is joined shortly by a sidekick or three, who may or may not actually have reasons for tagging along.

6. A minor character dies violently.

7. Food is eaten, and discussed at length.

8. A song or poem is recited. May or may not be about the food. May or may not inspire others to sing other songs.

9.Villain deals with mutiny/relations with rival Villains, almost always violently, to remind us of how horrible he is.

10. Repeat steps 6-9 until book is of comparable length with other Redwall novels.

11. Anywhere between steps 5 and 10, Redwall Abbey itself is come across by Villain. Villain will have a vague knowledge of the abbey, believing it to be a fortress full of treasure. He will lay siege to the abbey, prompting an impromptu arming of the perpetually-unprepared Redwallers. Despite Villain's extensive combat experience, and that of his minions, a combination of luck, pluck and incompetence will prevent him from making any but the most temporary of infiltrations.

Very rarely, Villain knows ahead of time that attacking the abbey is a good way to get himself killed, and will attempt to avoid confrontation. Unfortunately, in these cases Villain is usually looking for something he believes the stubborn and unfriendly Redwallers possess.

12. Hero, or more rarely a sidekick, gains the sword of Martin the Warrior, and instantly becomes an expert in its use.

13. Climax. Typically a large-scale battle, more rarely a straight-up duel between Hero and Villain. Villain will either die violently through his own ineptitude or cowardice, be killed attempting to flee the unstoppable might of Hero, or accidentally fall on something sharp Hero put in the way. Hero usually receives severe but nonlethal injuries.

14. Epilogue, written by a descendant of Hero and a love interest that either materialized near the end of Act Two or else was completely unmentioned in the rest of the book. Invitation to visit the writer's home if you are ever in the vicinity.

note: While the good animal/evil animal lines are clearly drawn, they are not totally inflexible. Good "Vermin" are generally represented as being too intellectually stunted to be evil, while evil "Woodlanders" Are rarely even given names, even if they feature prominently in the events of the book.

PS-This list applies more to the more recent books. If you feel I've forgotten something, please say so.

Has anyone helped Walter fix the Megaton water pipes? I fixed all three but I can't seem to find him again.

After a full year of trying to beat General RAAM, I finally managed it tonight with the help of  Reveille. For all my clever schemes, all my frantic tumbling,all my judicious use of explosives, all my twelve long months of trying to get to that stupid troica, we just stood still in the light so his kryll couldn't get us and emptied a few clips each into his face.

It frankly never occurred to me that that was an option :S

How the hell did Dr. Grant know how to play a velociraptor's throat-bone like a flute to make the other ones leave him alone?

Ladies and gentleman, the Chatty Grocery Clerk!

You job is to scan the food, put it in the bag and ask me for money. It's late, there's a line, I'm quite deliberately not making eye contact. I am clearly looking to collect my orange juice and toilet paper and go home.

Am I collecting grocery points? Why yes I am, thank you. Would I like a bag? No thanks, save the plastic, I'll be awkward for the thirty seconds to my car. How was my thanksgiving? No! Bad barcode monkey! Just press the damned buttons!

edit: And it's not coming from the higher-ups. I used to work for this particular store. I go there all the time and they are the picture of efficiency. This guy is an anomaly.

It's your one way ticket to midnight!
Call it Heavy Metal!
Higher than high, feeling just right!
Call it Heavy Metal!
Desperation on a red line!
Call it Heavy Metal noise!

If you've approached me for commissions and haven't received a reply recently, please accept my apologies. There are frankly quite a few of you, and I'm having trouble keeping track of who I've talked to and where. On top of that, I've been neglecting my email while I focus on getting through the list.

To keep things from getting worse, I'm temporarily putting a cork on incoming commissions. I'll be working hard on the list, so I ask you all to be patient.

Thanks a ton!
Slate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXIQ.....eature=related

Greatest. Kid's Show. Ever.

Is there anyone out there who knows the basics of Blender? My copy of Max stopped working and I figure I should at least try the free program before comitting further piracy, but I have no idea what's going on. I can't even figure out how to edit polygons :P

edit: And what the heck is the little red and white circle? Is there a way to stop changing the rotation access with every click or should I give up on the idea of using the eft mouse button like a normal person?

I'm hardly the first person to go onto the internet and gush the virtues of Braid. I will hardly be treading new ground by praising the immersive visuals, the challenging gameplay or the wonderfully ambiguous story. If you've seen an XBox review site in the past week, you know about Braid and probably already have your own preconceptions about it.

However, if you value beauty and creativity, if you want to see games mature into a viable art form, if you enjoy stretching your brain and finding new ways to think, Braid will not disappoint you. If you were looking for one last voice to convince you to pony up and play the damn game, I'm happy to help.

Wild SPLICER appeared!

SLATE sent out TOMMYGUN!

Enemy SPLICER used LEAD PIPE!

It's not very effective...

Enemy SPLICER was hurt by STATIC DISCHARGE!

SLATE used ENRAGE!

No effect!

Enemy SPLICER used FLYING KUNG-FU LEAD PIPE!

It missed!

SLATE used ANTI-PERSONNEL BULLET!

It's super-effective!

Enemy SPLICER was defeated!

SLATE gained $3 and BOTTLE OF GLUE!

And now to add my contribution to the flood of journals like these I'm sure most of you are wading through at this point.

Ac Was the weirdest thing I have ever seen, and I loved it. :D I made the boneheaded decision to drive the 19 hours to Pittsburgh, but was awesome enough to meet me in Boston to take some of the load off. Next time this dragon flies.

Thanks to everyone who came up and said Hi to me. It was very cool to feel so appreciated wandering around my first con like that :)

-Slate

PS - Would it be possible for me to get pictures of the commissions I did for people? I didn't bring a camera :P

I'll be driving down to AnhroCon this year, and plan on doing some $20-25 sketches while I'm there. However, I've never done this before, so I don't know how to set it up. Anyone got any words of wisdom?

Accidentally restoring factory settings on your monitor and failing, no matter how hard you try, to get the colours to look anything like what they're supposed to.

...where I could find images of the Okami Brush Gods? You know, the ones that appear in the save menu after you've found them? They'd make kickass wallpapers