Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Captain Clegg VS. Maniac Cop


* = Why? Comics THAT'S WHY!

The Preposterous Statement Tournament on the Common Man show on Kfan is starting today, and they’re doing a pre-selection show on the Paul Allen Project. For those that don’t know what this is, is over the case of the year the Common Man show takes nominations for idiotic things said by semi-famous folks. Then the rubes vote to see who goes on in a 64 Statement tournament. It’s really damn funny. I’ve been looking forward to this for about a month. Last year when Sludge didn’t get in for any of his idiotic statements they interviewed him and he was pretty upset. I really can’t wait.

I finished two books yesterday, in one case FINALLY, in the other case it was a fun trip down memory lane;
- Gotrek & Felix Omnibus Volume 1 by William King (*** ½ out of 5)FINALLY! I finally got the first Omnibus, and finally finished it. I can’t help but put this book into the context of the three volumes. It is the weakest. There is nothing wrong with that statement, just like there is nothing wrong with the book. It’s entertaining, it builds the foundation for the tales in the other books that really love, & it introduces characters for which I already read their future. I have to say I’m not a fan of Thanoqual, the Skaven Grey Seerer, who is a constant thorn in Gotrek & Felix side. An ineffectual thorn, but a thorn nonetheless. I just don’t care for the bumbling villain, his arc is a bit drab, and the author seems to rely on him far to often. It seems like he’d rather be writing a Thanoqual book rather than relating to me the tale of the two protagonists. Again it’s not bad, but the sequels are MUCH better.

- Swords & Deviltry by Fritz Leiber (**** out of 5) – I finally decided to go back to Lankhmar and re-visit Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. I hadn’t read this first book of six since early college. It had always held a place in my heart and head as sort of a more snicker worthy Conan. Re-reading it I can see how wrong I was. Sometimes when you read something at an earlier point in life you don’t understand it very well. I didn’t understand Leiber when I was younger. I now feel like I’m better equipped to wrap my head around this, just as I have Howard upon revisiting his characters in the last year. While I like the over the top madness of Gotrek and Felix they are really, character wise, just pale reflections of Fafhrd & The Grey Mouser. The first book is the ‘origin’ of both men and their initial meeting, which sets them upon a bitter trail of adventure. I had forgotten just how sad a tale it turns out to be. It’s sort of a coming of age, loss of innocence tale for both young men, who upon meeting truly lose the things they coveted most before setting off for further & future endeavors. Listen if you haven’t read the Lankhmar Tales do yourself a favor and do so. They really are wonderfully written books, the characters are vibrant, motivations painfully real, & the setting dark and mysterious. I can’t recommend them enough.

So the D&D Group is assembled; Cassandra, Heidi, The Bob, Ant, Char, & Mighty Mike. There might be some additional folks involved, but we have the BIG 6! So I’ve begun to put together the first module, 'The Masks Of Minos Turgon'. I’m rebuilding the Known World on a much smaller scale; especially post ‘End Of The World’.

I’m going for smaller in both scale, and tighter in adventure. That doesn’t mean I’m not looking at potential epic scope, but I’m instead going to try and beef up the detail of it. I want it to be less Lord Of The Rings and much more Lankhmar. If I can pull that off I think it could be brilliant.

Before I give away everything I’m building I’m just going to shut my yapper and give you some

RANDOM CRAP!

- I’m flippin’ starving. I’m serious. I could eat a whole horse right now.
- 2/15/11 can’t get here fast enough. That is the official Wrath Of Ashardalon release date. Now what I don’t get is who some of my nerd brethren in the Great White North already have theirs in hand. I’m not saying I’m jealous, you know what, I AM saying I’m JEALOUS. That’s B.S., why have a release date if you’re not going to stick to it WotC? This game was supposed to come out last November, I pre-ordered it last Sept., and now some dirty back bacon eaters are enjoying Dungeon Crawling immortality while I’m stuck waiting? I call shenanigans.
- We’re doing our taxes this weekend. If there is any justice in the world we’ll get enough back to finish the basement this summer.
- I’d be really excited to see G.S.P. fight Anderson Silva, as long as Silva has to come down in weight. Not a full blown weight class, but I want a ‘catch weight’ fight where both fighters make weight adjustments to make it interesting.
- Neck message? I’d sure like one.
- The Mohawk is going to stay for the foreseeable future. I’m thinking until the end of March. I like it, Cassandra has stated she likes it, I think I’m going to ride this pony. That is until I decide to eat it.
- MANTIC BOARD GAME! I’m still pumped about this here’s another teaser.

- Even though I’m calling shenanigans on WotC & Cananda, it doesn’t change the fact I’m dying to get this game. This weekend Ant and I are going to try and put together some fantastic stuff for the D&D Board Game System. I’m thinking we can really do some ‘damage’. Oh and we’ve GOT to play some Death Angel.
- I really want to do a March St. Patrick’s Day Movie-A-Thon. I just have NO earthly idea what a good theme would be.
- Last night I put together some more of my Alien Conscripts for the Basement Sci-Fi War. I’m going to do some more and change up some of the lower bodies a bit more. I’m really going for an Alien Legion vibe with them.
- The weather needs to do something soon I require, NAY DEMAND to grill soon.
- It was beautiful to watch KU roll Missouri the other night. Even without Josh Selby the ‘Hawks are a threat. I for one am not blown away by Ohio State; I think they are VERY beatable. I wouldn’t sleep on Duke, Texas is a superb team, and the Big East is loaded from top to bottom. That doesn’t even touch upon the potential upsets that routinely take place. This March Madness is shaping up to be beautiful.
- Oh and I can’t stay mad at you Canada, you gave us Jon Lajoie.

And with that…

“You'll take my life but I'll take yours too
You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through
So when you're waiting for the next attack
You'd better stand there's no turning back.

The Bugle sounds and the charge begins
But on this battlefield no one wins
The smell of acrid smoke and horses breath
As I plunge on into certain death.

The horse he sweats with fear we break to run
The mighty roar of the Russian guns
And as we race towards the human wall
The screams of pain as my comrades fall.

We hurdle bodies that lay on the ground
And the Russians fire another round
We get so near yet so far away
We won't live to fight another day.

We get so close near enough to fight
When a Russian gets me in his sights
He pulls the trigger and I feel the blow
A burst of rounds take my horse below.

And as I lay there gazing at the sky
My body's numb and my throat is dry
And as I lay forgotten and alone
Without a tear I draw my parting groan.”



* = See what I'm talking 'bout?

4 comments:

  1. I'm sure there are more Irish movies we can watch. They might not have Piper, but I bet we could find something. Otherwise we could go with a general drinking/brawling theme and watch something like Roadhouse. Or maybe green monsters since we have two epicly bad Scifi movies on the DVR right now.

    My only request is that if we do a movie-a-thon in March, then we may need to consider an April date for the first D&D campaign. Three weekend events in one months tends to not work out so well attendence wise.

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  2. Maybe the often whispered about "Swayze-A-Thon"?

    I'm already thinking early April might have to be the realistic start point for D&D.

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  3. Is that kick butt Swayze? Or pottery making-dancing Swayze?

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  4. Kick Butt. I mean c'mon I don't have a vagina do I?

    ReplyDelete