I couldn't take it, I just had to show ya...
These are a few of the preliminary character studies for the "North 40" comic I mentioned in the last posting. Pretty cool, eh? I'll have even more details about the book soon, as I just finished an e-interview with Comic Book Resources, which should be up for viewing shortly.
In the meantime, the other comic-book-style reading material I'd recommend is the novel, "Soon I Will Be Invincible" by Austin Grossman. It puts me in mind of the best bits of How to Succeed in Evil and the stories from the Union Dues series by Jeffrey R. DeRego. But what makes "Soon I Will Be Invincible" special is that it doesn't overdo the realistic deconstruction that goes with a lot of Superhero literature; it embraces the over-the-top heroes as well as the cliched tropes of comics, which is refreshing for the genre. I'm sure someone out there has optioned it for film, and I, for one, can't wait.
On to other forms of entertainment: Post-apocalyptic games. I just downloaded the newest Fallout 3 DLC, "The Pitt." First off, getting it on a PC via "Windows Live" was quite painful, as I had never used "Windows Live," purchased points with which to buy games, nor installed an add-on via this service. I found that if I wanted to use my old save-games with the new content, I had to copy-paste them from one folder to another (as "The Pitt" only runs when you're logged into Windows Live). Secondly, I neglected to research that the current level cap of 20 won't be raised to 30 until the next downloadable content offering, "Broken Steel." Grumble-grumble-grumble!
The content itself is a decent and well-rendered distraction from my non-radioactive world. However, there were still quite a few bugs, including an occasionally invisible weapon in my hands, clipping problems for some of the NPCs (I was being lectured by a very serious woman who was walking thigh-deep in the floor), and a very annoying audio problem when the guy running The Pitt was giving a speech. It sounded like his dialogue was either echoing, or there were two versions of his audio track that were playing at the same time. Compared to the problems the XBox version had, these were mere nitpicks. I still love the setting and the concept, but I just wish I could level up more and not discover new and exciting ways to make my graphics card divide by zero. :)
And how about that "Supernatural" TV show? I thought the "angel death" aftereffects were quite clever, and I'm constantly amazed at the striking effects this program seems to come up with on a comparatively small budget. My only gripe about the last episode was Uriel taking pretty much the same tack as "Gabriel" did in the still-awesome "The Prophecy" with Christopher Walken. And speaking of Mr. Walken, is there a "Walkenizer" voice synthesis program we could run his alleged Twitter feed through? I'd love... to hear his... 'tweets'... as if they... were being spoken... by the man himself.
Before the primary linkdump, here's a kinda fun secondary one. I'm working on a t-shirt design that involves the ever-lovin' Starship Enterprise, so I fired up Google Image Search for some go-bys of the iconic vessel. I found a few interesting ones:
1. An art show put on for the upcoming film had some interpretations of the latest model. I hope to see more, but the one of the Enterprise "abducting" a road sign is pretty cute.
2. There's a "Vulcan, Alberta" in Canada, and they have their own Enterprise.
3. And so does Riverside, Iowa, the alleged "future hometown of James T. Kirk." I think the new movie alters that, which is bound to make a few people grumpy.
4. An Enterprise you can sit on. There are links to the artist's site for more 1701-oriented objects d'art.
5. This is probably the worst shoehorning of one physical object into the functionality of another, but I'd probably still like one in my collection.
6. And had I my wedding to do over, I know what I'd ask for.
But enough of that, let's have more of that, only different:
- Here's a stop-motion comedy bit worthy of "Robot Chicken": Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee.
- Science is one step closer to bringing us Battletech Mechs with advances in artificial muscle technology.
- The "cave game" continues to evolve as can be seen in The Line Game.
- Make sure your internet meme knowledge is up to date by watching Good Morning, Internet.
- More game concept advancement with Glassworks. It's kind of like "Crazy Climber," but with a jumping feature, and you don't have to wrench two joysticks to make your avatar climb.
- "Random Good Stuff" pointed out that for a princely sum, you could own your own 'human slinky' costume. After watching it in action, I'm reminded of a classic bit from 'The Muppet Show.'
- So what would happen if Mario found a warp that landed him in Chicago?
- And since I so often close with things that break the brain, here's ToplessRobot.com's unveiling of what the movie version of Cobra Commander will look like via photos of the character's action figure.
Addendum: Hang on to your wallets, there's a Woot-Off going on!