Ah, good to find fellow fans

A webcomic that mentions Xevoz.

An extra life

Think Geek is selling grow-your-own Mario Brothers 1up mushrooms. I'm not normally profungus, but I'll make an exception for these guys.

Crush.

The Cover is Done!

June 1, 2007 can't come fast enough!

pikamac.com as a graph

pikamac.com
Originally uploaded by nekosoft.

Here's what pikamac.com looks like as a graph, flickr keyword websitesasgraphs.

Announcement

Slow news day today: traveling, and no pictures of anything interesting... I'm ready to officially surrender on the Nanowrimo. Too much going on this month: one book is enough. But... in lieu of daily bloggin' in 2007, I'm going to announce sporadic bloggin' and a daily ASBM webcomic. Daily as in seven days a week! It's a bold claim, to be sure, but I think I can do it. What I need is a webcomic service like blogger: a website that I can log into from anywhere and upload a jpeg: no html, automatic archiving and all that jazz. Anyone have a lead on something like that? Comments are open.

The Peaceful Party

11-25-06_0811
Originally uploaded by nekosoft.

Seen chalked on the back of a car window:
"To hell with all muslims"
then a Bush/Cheney campaign sticker
"The peaceful party"

I Did My Part.

I was going to Walmart today (you would think I'd learn) and I saw three people holding signs across from the Wal-mart parking lot. Too cold for a car wash, I thought and took a closer look. It said: By shopping at Walmart you are promoting sodomy. Yep, Rev. Flip Benham (the gentleman who chairs Operation Rescue) has organized an effort to save Walmart from the radical homosexual agenda. He says that "Every executive at Wal-Mart that allowed this to happen needs a good old fashioned spanking".

And how, exactly, does Walmart cater to this agenda? Well, by working to not discriminate against LGBT suppliers. And Walmart carries books about gay marriage. Gasp! In addition, Walmart also carries Plan B (the morning-after pill) which, ironically, I can't imagine a homosexual agenda having any use for.

I'm not sure what Rev. Benham is calling for: his followers are handing out fliers, but it isn't a protest. And it's not a boycott, as one of the field reports clearly indicates:

I got to the store just before 7:00 am and wore my “Wal-Mart Promotes Sodomy, SaveWalMart.com” t-shirt into the store while I purchased posterboard and markers to make our signs. And then again because I needed a cheap pair of gloves. And then again because the built in battery for our sound system wouldn’t work properly when we got it out on the street.

Walmart is a lightning rod for these kinds of actions because of their high visibility, but most of the knee-jerk criticisms are because of their online book distribution deal with Ingram Book Group. Everything in Ingram's catalog is on Walmart's web page, from sex-ed manuals to a book that advocates the murder of thousands of Wal-Mart employees.

Certainly there's plenty of reasons to avoid shopping at Walmart, but Rev. Benham's reasons are ridiculous. His calls to action are against Walmart taking steps in the right direction: ending discrimination. I guess that makes me part of the radical homosexual agenda too.

I gave a friendly wave to the sign-holders as I left the parking lot, with my new car battery and 2 new keys.

All You Dolphins, Otters and Sharks

The traditional Thanksgiving blessing in the Sweeney household is an adapted form of Daniel 3:57. Here's from what we read, gathered around the table holding hands:

(click for larger version)

Not being biblically inclined myself, I never gave too much thought to the story behind this passage (beyond being a beloved part of family Thanksgiving experiences).

The deuterocanonical Book of Daniel chronicles the story of Daniel, one of a number of Jewish nobility who were captured from the kingdom of Judah and taken to serve under Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. Daniel and three other Israelites (Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah), although ostensibly captives, rose in influence in the pagan court of the king, although each held fast to their Jewish beliefs. Nebuchadnezzar renamed Daniel's companions with Babylonian names and they became Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. These three insisted on keeping kosher and refused to worship an idol of the king, which infuriated Nebuchadnezzar and he cast the three into a fiery furnace. And by "fiery", I mean 70 foot flames (or 49 cubits). Old Testament God will have none of this: rather than a more-characteristic smiting of Nebuchadnezzar, an angel is sent to drive the flames away.



The three youths rejoice and sing a song of thanks. That song (with some changes) is the blessing we say before Thanksgiving.

The story of the three Hebrew youths was made into a VeggieTales episode and is referenced in songs by:

the Beastie Boys


Johnny Cash


and bluegrass legends Hot Rize.

Lumines 2 Video List

Longtime pikamac.com readers are probably already tired of hearing about how much I like the Lumines series on the PSP. I fixed the dirty laser on my system and scored a copy of Lumines 2. The main difference between Lumines and Lumines 2 is the inclusion of music videos behind the playfield. Not too big a deal, as the action on the screen insures that one will not be able to pay attention to the video at all. So after unlocking all the videos I looked for the option to watch them outside of the game. This option is inexplicably absent. The game's website has snippets of the videos, but they're all encumbered with the bleeps and bloops of gameplay. I wanted more... especially the colorful, catchy Junior Senior song. The internet to the rescue!

There's some great videos here, Michael Gondry and Spike Jonze, as well as some less desirable ones. Lumines 2 enables the player to "disable" the tracks they don't want to hear, a feature the first one lacked.

Here's all the music videos that appear in Lumines 2:

Junior Senior - Take My Time
New Order - Regret
Heavenly Star - Genki Rockets
Fatboy Slim - Gangster Trippin'
Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar
Hoobastank- Born To Lead
Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl
Missy Elliott - Lose Control
Beck - Black Tambourine
Black Eyed Peas - Pump It
Go! Team - Bottle Rocket

Brownie, Kit and Kittens

browniekitandkittens
Originally uploaded by nekosoft.

Circa 1997?

Normal Secret agents Surprised Scared

Normal Secret agents Surprised Scared
Originally uploaded by nekosoft.

Rollercoaster Hoods Pointing Paparazzi

Rollercoaster Hoods Pointing Paparazzi
Originally uploaded by nekosoft.

Seven links filed under "T"

Cleaned out my bookmark menu today and send a armload of links to the "Saved Links" folder. Here's seven that if I alphamatized my links could be found under the letter T.

Amazing full body tattoo-looking body art (NSFW)
Video game tattoos
Truckers, don't be fooled.
Theater, Mystery Science Simulator
Tall buildings in Duluth (and other cities)
Make underpants out of T-shirts
Wired's Table of Malcontents

Less than Three: Warren Ellis

This is Warren Ellis. In addition to being a fan of arm's length photography, he's a self-proclaimed genius. I tend to agree. At the very least, he's a prolific author of high-quality reading material. Transmetropolitan (try it free), Planetary, Global Frequency, The Authority, Orbiter and so many more. Wiki says: According to a comment made in the first issue of Fell, he has more trade paperbacks in print than anyone else in the American comic industry. He writes a lot and I can't remember the last work that he did that I didn't like. He spends a lot of time in pubs and drinks a lot of Red Bull. I heard about Second Life from him too.

I mention him because I had an unsettling dream the other night in which I woke up in his bed. Dammit Warren, get out of my dreams!

Pikamac.com's 420th Post Extravaganza

In honor of the the 420th post to pikamac dot com, I'll take this opportunity to explain what that little picture is up by the web address. It's a favicon, and if you c can't see it, it may be time to upgrade your web browser. The image in the favicon is this:

It's my old 1969 Volkswagen, with a factory Grateful Dead sticker. I had taken the rear fenders off to fix them and had to affix the taillights to the bumper. This made it difficult to drive in the rain, particularly for those driving behind me.

I soon learned that metalwork was not my "thing". However, I was more adapt at woodworking, and replaced the back seat with a wooden cargo platform.



You'll note the hole in the center for accessing the battery and spare tool, part and fluid storage. Ironically, removing the backseat made it far more comfortable for sitting and other backseat Volkswagen activities.

The other wooden enhancement was this nifty console.



One of the criticisms of the VW Bug was that there's no place to place one's beverage while groovin' on down the road. Other criticisms included the seats smelling like fish (they were held together with fish-based glue) and easily-rusted floor panels. However, these problems could not be solved with wood solutions.



Note the cup holes for both can and Nalgene-sized drinks and a storage tray for spare change and fuses. Also, note contour for the handbrake and the duct tape holding the floor together. Now that makes for a quality driving experience!

Bad News for Wii Emulation Fans

Widespread news reports state that titles owned by the company Rare will not be made available for download on the Nintendo Wii system. These include a great many games on my "wish lists", including Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Blast Core, RC Pro Am, Cobra Triangle and, last but not least, GoldenEye 007. Because Microsoft owns a controlling interest in Rare, these games are not available to be licensed. Games Rare developed featuring Nintendo properties, such as the Donkey Kong Country series, are not affected. Darn, there goes a bunch of the games I was most interested in. Maybe they'll be available through the Xbox 360's online service instead.

In other GoldenEye news, a trailer for Goldeneye Source, a modification to the Half-Life 2 engine, was released last week. It's available here. Ah, so many memories!

A Turtle with a Cell Phone Taped to its Back

Hannah, the turtle, has a cell phone taped to her back so her owner can find her after dark. Also, the actual picturesofturtles.com domain is already taken by a squatter. However, videosofturtles.com is available...

via Make

Top Seven: Sega Genesis

Wii coverage draws to a close today with the top seven Sega Genesis games to play on the Nintendo Wii.

1. Sonic the Hedgehog - Sure, this won't be the hedgehog's first appearance on a Nintendo system, but it's awesome that Mario's bitter rival is earning money for Nintendo now.

2. Herzog Zwei - The first modern Real-Time Strategy game, Herzog Zwei, appeared on the Genesis and no one knew quite what to make of it. It went on to be one of the most sought-after games for the system.

3. Phantasy Star III - Back when I was a littler boy, Phantasy Star III was the most anticipated role-playing game for the Genesis. I saved all my birthday money to buy the game, which retailed for about eighty dollars and sent away for it mail order because no store in town carried it. Six to eight weeks later I got a response back: the game is no longer available, would I like to buy a different game instead? I chose the far less popular and less good Sword of Vermilion and always wondered how much better Phantasy Star III was. Now I shall know!

4. Earthworm Jim - "Looks like you hit the tree there, Jim." A brilliant and oft-overlooked platformer.

5. Joe Montana Football - The only sports game I've ever loved. On offense - long pass and on defense - blitz. Beat the computer at an difficulty with ridiculous spreads.

6. Michael Jackson's Moonwalker - I'm quite certain Nintendo won't be offering this one for download. It featured Mr. Jackson rescuing kidnapped children using the art of dance.

7. X-men - Sniktity snikt! A very difficult X-men themed adventure game with a diabolical puzzle at the end. Since the game's thirteen years old, I don't mind spoiling it. Before beating the final boss, the player faces a monolithic computer and is told to reset the computer to progress. A generation of gamers searched the level in question trying everything to reset the computer, but to no avail. The solution was to press the "reset" button on the Sega Genesis itself. This was absolute last thing that a player was willing to do right before a final battle and no other game had broken the fourth wall so completely until Metal Gear Solid's Psycho Mantis came along.

Top Seven: TG-16

I know everyone's getting the point: the Wii will be able to run a lot of games. Well today I'm talking about a system Nintendo left for dead in the marketplace... NEC's TurboGrafx-16. This was an oddball system with an 8 bit main processor and a 16 bit graphics chip. I traded one for a spare Sega Genesis I picked up and played the heck out of it. Now it's back, on the Wii.

1. Devil's Crush/Alien's Crush - two great pinball games. Strange and biomorphic.
2. Veigues Tactical Gladiator - a forgotten shooter/platformer hybrid. A giant robot you could upgrade to battle your enemies in this side scroller. This was the TG-16 game I played the most.
3. Galaga '90 - Galaga, but updated for 1990. Retrofuturesque!
4. Darkwing Duck - There really was a Darkwing Duck game for the TG-16. Who knew?
5. Splatterhouse - an early Survival Horror game. Scary.
6. Military Madness - popular and addictive strategy game,
7. Keith Courage in Alpha Zones - originally the pack-in game for the system. Not so great that one doesn't need to buy more games, but good enough to show the system doesn't suck.

Top Seven N64 Games

It's possible that I may not be able to find seven good Nintendo 64 games, as the system was known for clunkers. In any case, here's what I look forward to playing on the Wii.

1. GoldenEye - This Bond-themed first person shooter is a major reason for me to pick up a Wii. Fantastic, fantastic game that I can't wait to play again.
2. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Another drubbing: I've not played this one and it's very well regarded.
3. Banjo-Kazooie - Another respected Rare game that I missed when the system was popular.
4. Pokemon Snap - This one I've played the heck out of. A fun little photography game with a Pokemon theme.
5. Paper Mario - Another Nintendo RPG, unplayed by me. Also, I'm hoping the Wii has time-warping powers, that will enable me to play all these role-playing games.
6. Perfect Dark - Uh... not as good as GoldenEye, but I'm running out of good N64 games already.
7. Blast Corps - Blow up buildings so an atomic rocket truck can get through. Mindless explosion fun. Ka-blam!

Top Seven SNES Games

To continue, the Nintendo Wii is able to emulate Super Nintendo games. Here's the top seven I look forward to downloading and why.

1. Super Metroid - Best Metroid ever. Huge world and an explorer's dream
2. Zelda 3: Link to the Past - the last Zelda game I really enjoyed
3. Earthbound - Universal acclaim, but I've never played it
4. Super Mario RPG - See above
5. Super Mario All-Stars - Actually four NES games. Four awesome NES games
6. Desert Strike - Fly a helicopter around and blow stuff up. What's not to like?
7. Uniracers - One of Rockstar (GTA) Studios' early games. Drive a unicycle around and not blow anything up. Also universally acclaimed.

Clock by the Library - Mountain View, MO

Top Seven NES Games

In anticipation of the upcoming Nintendo Wii release, I've compiled a list of the top seven Nintendo Entertainment System games that I anticipate downloading and playing on Virtual Console. Granted, the announced games are all Nintendo first party games, I don't care. Here's the seven I most want:

1. RC Pro Am
2. Contra
3. River City Ransom
4. Kid Icarus
5. A Boy and His Blob
6. Cobra Triangle
7. Hogan's Alley

Here's the ones that didn't make the list: SMB series (looking forward to SMB All Stars on Snes), Metroid (available in Zero Mission), Zelda series (available on promo Zelda disc).

Apologies to all readers to which this doesn't make sense, and apologies in advance, as the Wii can emulate, like, four more systems.

Self Portrait with Abandoned House

Self Portrait with Abandoned House
Originally uploaded by nekosoft.

Nanowrimo: Day 9

Word count so far: Zero.

I'm thinking there's a couple days outside of normal "November" that I can crank out 16k words a day. November Eleventeenth? I'm confident I can accomplish it, but I'm going to have to do a couple marathon sessions. The enhanced daily grind and a potential paying writing gig are stealing my focus.

But I still feel guilty when I see mentions of NaNoWriMo in the media. Daily blog posting continues unabated.

Guitar Hero II

At long last, after many long months of waiting... The sequel to Guitar Hero has been released: Guitar Hero II As good as the first one was (and it was very very good) the second one is superior in every way. It's the highest rated game on Metacritic right now and that just rates goodness. Suffice it to say that no game has rocked harder.

Are there doubts?

Do you doubt me?

Well then doubters, chew on this: the final boss in the game is a Lynyrd Skynyrd song. There's a Police song in this one. Jane's Addiction's Stop is in the game too. Not a cover version, the original master track. Also: Trogdor. And 56 more songs.

Oh, did I mention 2 player? Let me check... no, apparently not. One person plays lead and the other plays bass (or rhythm).

Decades of air guitar culminate in this game. It's exhilarating and immensely fun, and ever more fun in cooperative mode.

For PlayStation 2.

Election Night

Sitting at home watching election coverage (and contracting Pelosimania). I renew my call for a new type of business: people have sports bars to go and watch sports in a social setting. I want a news bar... someplace to go on election night, hang out with like-minded citizens and either celebrate or drown one's sorrows (depending on election results, of course).

It seems like a great idea for one day every other year. I suppose State of the Union address would be a fun event too, but otherwise it would be a lot of lonely nights for the bartender.

Xevoz: Heads and torsos

These are some of the Xevoz-compatible heads, torsos and pates that I mentioned earlier. "Pates" of course are the parts of the body that underpants cover.

William Styron

I've been feeling a bit down lately. Maybe it's due to the weather (which, as our tv weatherperson assures me is "about to do a 360"). And now I've learned that novelist William Styron has passed on. I knew of Styron from reading Darkness Visible, a harrowing memoir of his dealing with Clinical Depression. He was also the author of The Confessions of Nat Turner and Sophie's Choice.

The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's neurosis.

Cereal Explosion

If I were any sort of fan, I would make a photocomic of this story.
My box of Cereal Explosion arrived yesterday. Our secretary picks up the mail and the nice lady at the post office saw the wish-granting alien on the box (as seen here) and said, "Oh, we've had this box a couple of days. Tell the little boy who's waiting for it that we're sorry."

"The little boy," our secretary said, "is in his early thirties."

"...It's probably better if you don't say anything, then."

Once the box was safely home, I opened the stapled-together bag and smelled. Potent! I poured myself a bowl and was overwhelmed by every bite. Truly a unique breakfast experience. I was a little queasy after one bowl, but I'm sure it was due to the milk (which I rarely consume) and not the art-food that everyone urged me not to eat.

Xevoz: What they are.

Xevoz are posable action figures with a ridiculous degree of customization. Each part can be interchanged with parts from any other figure. Each figure is a archetype: robot, ninja, pirate, zombie, monkey, electric guy, cowboy guy, bug, different bug, dragon and so on. They're based on Hasbro's stikfas line, but scaled up to larger size. They were marketed as an action figure/game hybrid with each figure shipping with a handful of game pieces but most collectors disregard the game.

The figures use a ball and socket joint to connect each piece. This allows each joint a remarkable range of motion. In addition, the average humanoid figure has a minimum of 15 points of articulation and therefore can be easily posed in an expressive manner.

The first wave of figures hit stores in January 2004 and by summer two more waves would be released. Hasbro obviously expected the sets to be a hot commodity, but consumer interest was lacking. Collectors speculate it was the confusing nature of the figure/game hybrid that turned children off. My theory is that most children started with a single figure, but Xevoz require a "critical mass" of parts before they really get enjoyable. The fun of the toy lies in combining the various archetypes, making zombie dragons, and so on. Towards the end of the line's life, the first three waves could be found at a substantial discount at most stores which sparked collector interest and made it cheap to acquire enough sets to reach critical mass.

Currently Hasbro has no plans to continue the line and the production team has been reassigned to other projects. However, it's rumored that molds for a fifth wave of a dozen figures exist. The online Xevoz community remains strong, the forums at Xevolution serving as a focal point. eBay is the primary source of kits now, although two sets are available directly from Hasbro. In addition, the Wikipedia reports wave 4 figures being found in Biglots and Tuesday Morning stores, but my local outlets had none.

A future article will document the custom pieces the author created when no more sets were being produced, including the infamous Barbie Armor.

The Trailer of Woe

Movie Month: Complete

22. The Aristocrats - Way, way funnier than I thought it was going to be. Laughed my ass off.

23. Cool Hand Luke - Another old favorite I like to watch every few years. We like to work "Blanking the blank here boss..." "Blank it on off there" into normal conversation, for varying degrees of blank.

24. Danny Deckchair - a neat little romantic comedy from Australia. Sweet and light and decently entertaining.

25. Team America: World Police - I know this one was panned, but the South Park movie was so good I had to give it a chance. This one's attempting satire, but I was never sure who or what the target was. I did like the montage song.

26. Cannibal! The Musical - A mini Parker/Stone festival. I've been meaning to watch this for years, and it was actually pretty good, in that let's-put-on-a-show way. The writing and songs were memorable too. Plus, Stan Brakhage is in it!

27. Four Rooms - Watched this one in anticipation of Tarantino and Rodriguez's collaboration: Grindhouse. Rodriguez's contribution to Four Rooms was far and away the strongest and it seems like Quentin saves all the best dialogue for himself.

28. Batman Begins - Wow. I've read a lot of good Batman stories, and this film did them all justice. The only minor detail that bothered me was Michael Caine's accent, but everything else was spellbinding. A sequel is in production, and if the franchise continues in this style I'll be a very happy fanboy.

29. Airplane! - Again, drubbing please. Like Young Frankenstein, I'd never seen this one start to finish either, much to my lament. Cheesy in parts, dumb in others, but funny throughout.

30. Shaolin Soccer - I've loved Stephen Chow since I saw a VCD of God of Cookery, and while Shaolin Soccer isn't as comically masterful as Kung Fu Hustle it's still a fun sports movie.

31. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - I ended the month with one of my top five movies, and every time I watch this movie I enjoy it more. Sellers is a master of comedy and the entire movie has me laughing out loud, even though I've seen it a dozen times before.