Just as a sort of reflection and a semi-productive activity, I wanted to make a list of my favorite video games of all time. These games are somewhat in order of how much I like them, starting with my favorite (subject to change). This isn't a meme or anything, just something fun to do.

( So let's get started! )

I wrote a brief story to be told at this year's Halloween party. Here it is:

The time: ancient Rome. The place: somewhere along the northern borders of the Empire.

Claudius led his infantry unit through the woods, moving quickly toward the area where he had received reports that the locals had been planning a gathering. The barbarians should know better by now that meeting to plot against the Empire so close to the border was a terrible idea.

In the back of his mind he remembered the other reports that he had heard about these woods. The bloodthirsty demons who attacked without warning, ghosts and goblins who could not be harmed, and came for only one thing: the heads of their victims. Claudius felt a chill go down his spine, but it must have been the cold breeze whispering through the trees, because a true Roman would never shiver in fear.

Up ahead in the forest, the men could see the light of a campfire in the distance, and they knew that they were getting close. But as they kept walking, the light from the campfire grew brighter and brighter, until they knew that there had to be a towering inferno just ahead!

Suddenly, falling from the trees and erupting from the ground itself, an army of demons and monsters appeared around them! Their horns were long and curled, their eyes seemed to shine red in the light of the fire, and before long, their faces were dripping with the blood of their enemies. The Romans screamed in terror and began to run back the way they had come, some of them catching axe blows to the back as their reward. Claudius stood frozen in place as one of the demons grabbed him by the top of his helmet. With a slice and a pop his head was yanked free, and these Celtic warriors had a fine new drinking cup for tonight’s Halloween feast!

Comment to this post, and I will list five things I associate with you. They might make sense or they might be random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your LJ (or just add a reply back at me).

Answers from kihanna:
Comics
PC games
Science Fiction
Economics
History

This is an overly philosophical essay, and you don't have to read it if you don't want to waste your time. It's just here for my enjoyment.

( My essay on motivation and the end of human society. )

There are quite a few exciting things coming up this year in the comics world, and I figured that I should make a post about them so that you could be aware of them all!

First, as I'm sure many of you who follow Jamie must know, the Justice League International is returning this year! Written by Keith Giffen and Judd Winick, it should be very entertaining. The cover to the first issue doesn't impress me at all, but hopefully it will have a different artist for the interior. Either way, it will be fun to have another JLI adventure, and it appears that this one will take place in current continuity, as opposed to the last couple that they've done which were "untold" classic stories.

DC is going to be doing a new edition of their Who's Who in the DCU series this year! It's been quite some time since they've done an update, and it sounds like it will be a massive undertaking. For those who don't know, Who's Who is a series where DC gives background information and a lot of fancy new art for its characters. It's kind of like the Marvel Handbook, except better quality and with less pointless diagrams. Didio says that it will be some 800 pages long with over 1000 characters by the time it's all said and done. It should be great!

In non-DC news, Valiant Comics is making a return, but in the strangest way ever! Apparently Dark Horse has taken over the properties, but don't worry, they won't be doing anything strange or disrespectful with them, because Jim Shooter, the creator of most of the characters and of Valiant itself is coming back to write them! The first issues coming up are relaunches of Dr Solar: Man of the Atom and Magnus: Robot Fighter, but hopefully there will be more.

One more thing, just because I always have to mention it: Savage Dragon is hitting a new high in its story, and if you aren't reading it you should be. Erik Larson is a great storyteller and I personally love his art, although I know his kind of style not for everybody. Regardless, you should be getting this book! 2010 looks like a great year for Savage Dragon, and for comics in general!

I'm mostly posting this so that I don't forget about it myself when it's time to make my order at the end of the month, but you're welcome to read it if you'd like.



Tom DeFalco is co-writing a new series with Chuck Dixon called Airfighters through Moonstone publications. Airfighters is an old team of heroes from the 1940's who, surprisingly, fought evildoers in the air with their fighter jets. It's kind of a different concept for a comic book (at least in the modern comics market), but with DeFalco on board, I'm willing to give it a shot. Obviously, the cover posted above is from the old 1940's series.

Tom DeFalco, for those who may not know, has worked at Marvel for decades now, and at one time he was their Editor-in-Chief. He wrote Spider-girl for over 10 years without missing a single issue, until it was recently cancelled due to low sales. He is also currently rewriting the Clone Saga for Marvel, a Spider-man storyline that is nearly universally hated as one of the most drawn-out and pointless in the history of comics (in its original form). What I'm trying to say is, he is a good writer with plenty of experience.

I have written a fanfic. This will be entertaining for those of you who are in the D&D group and are familiar with all of our goings-on, and quite possibly undecipherable for anyone else. Enjoy!

( Epic Sasha )

Do you watch the Daily Show? If you do, then you may have seen the interview last night and thought that it was as interesting as I do. If not, then you should watch this:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/100943/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-william-kamkwamba

Sometimes he's a little hard to understand, but it's a cool story nonetheless. Watch it and then come back, I'll wait here.

What the guy did was cool and resourceful, there's no doubt about that. What really blows my mind though is the fact that he was in some random African village a couple of years ago and then last night he was in America and doing interviews for his new book. Just think about what that must be like for him. Man. Crazy.

Disney to buy Marvel for $4 billion.

Comments? Let's discuss.

Wednesday Comics? What's that? I posted about this awhile back before the series even came out because I was excited about it, and now four weeks into the series I'm even more excited. It's just as perfect as I imagined it would be.

Those of you who aren't obsessive comic geeks who hang around the comic book store waiting for the newest issues to come out may not know that comics arrive at the shops every week on Wednesday. Thus, Wednesday comics is a tricky way to say "weekly comics", which is what this series is. Every week a full newspaper-sized issue arrives at a comic book store near you, and for only $4 you can walk out of there with a nice hefty book full of the greatest artistic and literary talents DC could find.

( Click here to read more...you know you want to. )