Archive for the ‘ Random ’ Category
Meandering Entertainer is not dead. It is only sleeping. A few articles are going to pop up over the next two weeks, I swear! And in July we will have a video-blog series about travel, so that’ll be full of disturbing just for you!
ETL, signing off, full of promises and allergens!
In lieu of idiot cat picture, here is my favorite bird puppet leaping!
Last night, around 8pm, I was at the back of what looks like an abandoned building, in a courtyard with walls decorated with such aesthetically pleasing implements such as a rusty saw, and coils of rope. Objects strewn around me included tarps, pallets, and huge round boulders. I was watching folks, their forearms covered in gooey tree sap, lifting these monster rocks, throwing ’em around, grunting, shivering in the wind, cracking jokes. Then it was my turn. My hands around the freezing stone, squeezing like hell with my forearms, I heaved, thought nothing would happen, and then felt it move, upwards! Where I wanted it to go! And upwards some more, and then up to my chest, and damnit! But I just lifted a 112lb stone, which two months ago I could barely move. A giggle, turning to mad-scientist-worthy guffaw leaves my lips in slightly hysterical ecstasy. Where the hell was I, you ask? Why, the gym.
aaaarrrggggggh!!!!muahahahahahaha. That's sound effects for you.
If you’re anything like me, you probably love a good scare. You’ve most likely gone to at least one haunted house or hayride in your life, and it was either okay or it simply sucked. I myself have been to a few, but of the ones I’ve visited, Terror Behind the Walls is undoubtedly the best.
The event boasts six different attractions that take place within the dilapidated confines of the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, which has been featured on shows like MTV’s “Fear” and “Ghost Hunters” as an actual haunted place. Cited by various sources as one of the greatest haunted house attractions in the country, my cousin Double K and I decided to test the claim. After our early arrival to the City of Brotherly Love, we spent a little time perusing the streets before finally heading over to the event parking lot, located about twelve blocks from the Eastern State Penitentiary.
I’m going to break my usual tradition and write about something mainstream today. It’ll come as a shock to most of you, not reading about some obscure ROM about gay sex. We’ll be back to that soon, don’t worry.
Like most of you nerds out there, I play video games in my spare time. I read the reviews and see what’s good and what sucks, and throw away all reviews that say “OMG THE GRAPHICS SUCKZ.” I grew up with Atari. I can deal with bad graphics; I could really care less if the main character is a blue dot or a fully rendered 3-D model of Estelle Getty in the nude (which would of course be the hottest thing ever). Sometimes though, reviews are just so wrong that it makes you want to hunt down the person who wrote it and burn crosses on their front lawn. This has happened to me a few times, but there is one game I loathe so much that to this day I still hate those bastards the gave it a positive review.
But when Atari tries to render Estelle Getty, it just isn’t the same.
It’s a well-known fact that a lot of fanboys have hard-ons for the Final Fantasy series. They’ll buy anything closely associated with it, from T-shirts to sex toys. So whenever a new one comes out, magazines and on-line sites hail this as the second coming of zombie Jesus. Everyone eats it up and Square laughs, counting their money. As for myself, I’ve been playing Final Fantasy since back in the days of the NES, before there was even a plot. So I know the games can be good, even with the weaknesses they all share, so there’s no need to e-mail me talking about how the game consists of pressing one button until you win. I know. I hate it myself, but for some reason I can’t stop. Continue reading
Google Reader was supposed to make me read more news and become more aware of the outside world since I don’t watch TV or read hardcopy anything but books. That didn’t really work out because the only time I turn to the internet is when I want a diversion. So the following are the bits of the interwebz that bring weekly happiness to my life, more or less in order of awesomeness:
Sinfest – webcomic that’s both immature, hilarious, and heartrendingly philosophical. Updated daily.
Coilhouse – A blog/magazine focused on the weird and beautiful. Updated at least daily.
lifehacker – useful hacks for your computer as well as your life. Great DIY instructions that anyone can follow. Updated every few hours.
FreakAngels – a new webcomic by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield. It’s set in a steampunk post apocalyptic world and I honestly don’t know if I love the story just yet, but the artwork is amazing. Updated every Friday.
XKCD – “A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.” The guy writing it is a little bit of a genius so I don’t always get where he’s going with it. But it’s often awesome. Don’t forget to mouse over the comic for a little aside. Updated Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Modblog – Not worksafe ever. Offshoot of BMEzine. Focus is on body modifications (piercings, tattoos, scarification, cutting, etc) of often extreme nature. Every now and then there are really great interviews posted. Overall it’s a black hole of disturbing/hilarious/inspiring imagery I generally can’t pull myself away from. Updated at least daily.
I may as well start this thing again! This is a comprehensive outline of Wacken preparations. For last year’s list of things I did as well as a short explanation of Wacken Open Air and why I have to go, click here.
Well, first off, you have to sacrifice something big enough for He-With-No-Name to take note and allow your credit card to be accepted at Metaltix. My Amex credit card kept getting rejected (something about a transfer not going through), and Metaltix did not deign to reply to any of my pleas or queries. Finally, I just used my Visa debit card and within days I got an e-mail informing me that my ticket was shipped. An agonizing month later I got my Wacken ticket (as well a set of bewildering coupons to a German McDonald’s), in the mail. Good thing too, since Wacken has been officially sold out since 3/8/08.
This year is going to be astonishingly good X 2, because I’m not going by my lonesome — fathful d42 got her ticket too. Good things have been happening for W:A:O also. They got the Live Entertainment of the Year Award this year which only confirmed their awesomeness. Now I’m just sorry I didn’t get an extra ticket since selling it on E-bay would probably pay for the plane ride there.
Transportation to Hamburg: So, I have my ticket, great. But that’s only half the battle. Now I have to afford plane tickets from NYC to Hamburg, and finally get from the airport to the festival grounds. The sites that have been more helpful with(cheaper) plane tickets so far are sidestep.com and studentuniverse.com. Continue reading
A surface piercing is one that is done on a part of the body that is not really hospitable to piercings, a place that is not flat and hangy (like the earlobe) or even concave (like the belly button). It requires the creation of a canal underneath the skin where the jewelery is inserted. The particular one I chose for myself is called the “sternum piercing” and is a fun misnomer. I’m not so nuts about body mods that I would put holes through my bones, but I like the shocked look it gets out of a person who knows where the sternum is.
