Thursday, June 28, 2012

Hammock Anger

Due to my height, things like a hammock haven't been comfortable since I was a pre-teen.  I've also never fallen asleep in one, as I imagine (or fear) that I'd wake up twisted like the pictured pretzel.

Do you guys get how excited I am to escape into nature? It's pretty much been the single thing getting me through my work days this week. Wait, I mean creating these little cartoons for you guys is what got me through. Totally.

If you like the Warhammer 40K series of PC games, they're all on sale for 75% off on Steam for the pre-holiday weekend.  I snapped up the single title I'd yet to play since it was something I was interesting in and played a beta for a year ago.

August 28! August 28! Guild Wars 2 has a release date finally! With little in the way of preamble, ArenaNet announced that the extremely anticipated sequel to their initial outing in Tyria will come out right before most kids are going back to school.  If you don't hear much from me around that time, just wait a week and then poke me.  I'll most likely be otherwise occupied with my Guardian class.

Punch it, Chewie!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Sugar Rushing

So it's clear and firsthand knowledge to most of the people that regularly read my posts that camping is something that I regularly like to go do.  To clarify, by camping I mean going to a state park and parking at a site and hanging out in the woods near other people doing likewise.  If I had to sustain myself without any amenities in nature, I'd probably have a less than stellar opinion on it were I to be missing any gear.


We'll be dragging some people with us to go stay at a state park this coming weekend, and this particular park has a few frisbee or disc golf courses which I'm super excited to get out and enjoy.  Now if only I could get wifi while out in the woods, I'd probably quit my job and become a hermit.


I just want to take a moment to thank the people that have made the transition over to Ink & Pixels with us the past few months.  We're still a work in progress over there, adding in an easier RSS feed and email functions and the like takes time when doing it as a hobby after a full-time job.  Creating a much more dynamic space over there where we can hopefully get into creating things together is the goal.  I hope you'll keep that patience up to the point where we can all start playing together!


Punch it, Chewie!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Blood-Sucking Legislation

Tonight's comic came pretty easily, since it's nearly the same pose as the cover to my copy of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Obviously it's easy to imagine our heroes as something more than heroes, possibly even fighting back fantastic monsters like Abe did in this super entertaining piece of fiction.  I liked the idea of taking monsters and fantastic creatures and making them do things that other people might find pretty boring.  In this case it's just a simple reversal, but keep on the lookout for my Mummy: Insurance Adjustor.

Seriously though, try a few chapters of that book! I found it to be much more entertaining than I thought it would, since it's written in the form of journal entries as a historic accounting of a President's battle against the forces of darkness.  I will say that I felt the narrative felt much more focused in the earlier chapters, but as Abe aged he lost much of the edge he was developing over the years.  It was very Beowulf in that respect, but it was still a solid read.  I recommend, and my recommendations are always solid! You should trust that because I use exclamation points!

Punch it, Chewie!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Time Warpin'!

Exaggerated true fact about tonight's comic: in a massive meeting, I was fighting valiantly (and losing) to stay awake in the second row.  That blessed bit of adrenaline that jolts through you once you slip near that void was enough to keep me embarrassed until lunch break Huzzah for natural defenses!

I'm not sure how to make a good segue for this, so I'll just go.  There was some sad news on the Radiohead tour recently.  While they were setting up for the evening's concert in Toronto, the stage buckled and pinned a drum technician under the wreckage.  They weren't able to get to him in time and he lost his life, and a few others were injured.  No word yet on if the collapse was due to structural integrity or skirting regulations.  It's a somber note to add to the end of their North American leg of the tour.  Condolences to the family, band and loved ones.

Keep yourself safe and enjoy as much time as you're able. A little bit of silliness keeps the drudge of the world at bay.

Punch it, Chewie!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Fog Of Rock

Most people enjoy concerts. I think that's a fair assumption to make. There's even a good amount of people that enjoy a great outdoor show.  However, that does not mean you have to bring every combustible, legal or otherwise, and let 'er rip.

By no means am I complaining about people trying to enjoy a concert in their way. My annoyance was more that I also had to be subjected to their method of enjoyment.  Fortunately I didn't find myself in an altered state, only trying to defend the assault on my senses.

All this to say that we were very lucky to be able to go and see Radiohead on the tail end of their American tour.  They've been one of my top ten bands for a long time, with such a unique sound that can sometimes test my preferences with some of the longer electronic riffs they go into.  So after listening to this for all these years, I was expecting more of a new-age jam band session.

I could not have been more wrong.  With a really interesting group of around a dozen screens that were re-positioned over the crowd during and in-between songs offered them a lot of great options to enhance the performance on the stage.  Along those lines, Radiohead are some great musicians.  They were able to swap out their guitars out for percussion or electronic instruments, and everyone was able to do this.  Front man Thom Yorke obviously kept the songs tight in order to accentuate the different visuals.  It was a fantastic show, and I'd strongly suggest you check them out live.

Anyways, I've got to go recover from the later night and longer day today.

Punch it, Chewie!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Comedic Sticks

I love comedy, I love jokes, and I love the different twists and turns a great joke can take you on.  It doesn't matter how much I love them, it doesn't really improve my retelling of these little gems.

I have found, however that I'm more of a short-form joke teller.  When it comes to the longer forms, short stories with clever turns in them, I'll invariably forget a crucial detail or let slip the punchline a bit too early.

The secret to joke-telling is really not caring if they're received well.  If the recipient enjoys the joke and hangs around for more that's fantastic, but most of the time telling a joke is for the person telling the joke to try and relive the memory of that first time they heard it.  If you look at it like that it seems like a fairly selfish thing, but most of the time the negative reaction to a joke gives the recipient some kind of joy and I'm willing to set the bar low enough to call that a victory.

The second Beta Weekend Event for Guild Wars 2 was this past weekend, and after spending another several hours exploring Tyria I am getting more and more excited for the actual release of this game.  I've never played a game where I'm excited to help people I don't know, explore the environment for all the different vantage points or try to manage my items so that I can improve my crafting skills and benefit a larger team.  It's going to be a good fall and a great winter, almost entirely from this game. To steal a quote from a great book series and TV show, "Winter is coming".

Punch it, Chewie!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Rain Make Sad Face

Pretty self-explanatory tonight.  I like reading in the sun, and was thwarted by Mother Nature.  I'll try to figure out my transgressions so I can make the appropriate apologies.

If you could influence nature through actions, it makes the argument for rain dances as actual practice.  Of course, you'll have to do so knowing full well that the practice makes you effectively the court jester of the animal kingdom.

This would normally be the section where I'd talk about a show or movie, etc. that I'd consumed recently, but it's time for a little change.  On Ink & Pixels, we're glad to announce that these movie reviews will be coming at a fairly regular frequency from my wife.  This is due to an unfortunate arrangement that we entered into involving rings and promises and whatnot.

Recently she posted up a review on Men in Black III, I think you guys should definitely check it out and give more feedback.  For an initial outing and even with my obvious bias, I think it's a great take on a regular person's movie-going experience.

Punch it, Chewie!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Digital Gladiators

It was only after finishing tonight's comic that it hit me that there could be a few different ways to describe what I was thinking as my pencil very awkwardly depicted it.

The intention behind the comic was a nod to my current alliance's battles in the web-based game Ikariam.  It's a very medieval, Greek and Roman-based island colonization game that puts groups of players or individuals against one another.  The interesting thing is that you also don't have to fight anyone, instead climbing the highscore chart as a merchant or by having the best defensive scores.  Our alliance is waging war on a single player (mildly hilarious) while the rest of his alliance has given us a pass to bloody his nose a bit.

The other thought that came to mind was that it's really hard to have inspiring pep talks before going into battle if you're then going to sit down at a monitor.  Directing forces by proxy in a fashion makes things a bit less visceral and more detached when firing missiles towards targets.  Now that drones and digital warfare are so integral with battle strategy, it's difficult to wrap your mind around the idea that a person can run a mission, then grab their coffee break before lunch.

Anyways, though my thoughts seem helter skelter that's less to do with tonight's comic and more to do with the kind of week it's shaping up to be.  It's just that time of year when things will speed up and it's a necessary evil to justify the other weeks when the work moves a bit more glacially.

It's almost officially summer, we're nearly there!

Punch it, Chewie!