Global Vocals are anemic, dry, maybe off-axis, often muffled (bad EQ?) -- need something to juice them up. Warm verb? Bass is way too powerful Big gang vocals need cleaning up Emmy Bass! down ~1dB Drop tambo ~1dB What happens right after verse chorus? Guitar noodling is good at that level P's guitar solo needs to go up Drop bass even more at 3rd verse Tambo going into last chorus is a bit off-- copy and paste? Turn down g3 in coda Holly Hills Bass down ~3dB Someone is a bit too loud on chorus-- maybe Erin-- especially on last rep! Need to separate Peter from backups during chorus (verb on everyone?) CH guitar solo sounds great Turn down mandy when it gets high and keep it low to the end Like a Winner Bass down ~1dB Vocals sound muffled-- high end? Change EQ? Turn down the Peter harmonies-- focus on the main line! Put Doug's "ahh"'s through some sort of envelope EQ to separate from the rest Good levels for guitars between verses Turn down CH guitar solo on coda-- give it a reverb send! -- Cut out to the pick up note. Mix it more down for the last rep. Love it or Leave Me Bass down ~1dB Fade the guitars up before the last riff to build tension Simple = good Reasonable Amounts K's shakers down ~2dB Bass down ~1dB Bells down ~2dB and maybe add some reverb? Erin down ~2dB EQ Doug to make him stand out The Hero City Bass down ~2dB Vocals sound anemic-- needs EQ + reverb Jeff makes clipping sound twice before last chorus Maybe duck everything except drums before last chorus for the fill
- Pajama Party mixing notes
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1)
vrbtm- September 13th, 2009
Between initial and final mix. In case you care.
- Pajama Party is Live
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- vrbtm
- August 31st, 2009
http://www.verbatimband.com/pajamaparty/
Please pass the word around.
- Pajama Party Post-mortem
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- vrbtm
- August 30th, 2009
First, this was not a party. The last week has been trying, and it was decided that a "party" was inappropriate. Music-making, though, doesn't have to be gaudy, and it always feels good. We didn't have a bunch of folks over to laugh, and I think a grand total of three beers were drunk. But good friends did show up, and we did have a good time. And we made music!
Christian was unavailable Friday night, so I set up what I could that night. We got up early Saturday and set up. I couldn't find everything I needed though-- not enough SM57s or XLR cables. I didn't have enough to mic up a 5-piece drums set the way I like (2 OHs, hi-hat, kick, 2 snares, tom, tom, tom). That's when I thought of something: The Glyn Johns Technique! Glyn used only a few mics and got a better drum sound than people who use dozens more. The upshot is that one overhead looks straight down on the snare and the second one looks sideways at the snare from above the floor toms. Anyway, limitation is opportunity, and that's the exact idea of this sort of project. So we went a more spartan route. You can decide the results tomorrow.
After setup we got to tracking. We got 6 songs down-- all first takes with a couple pick-ups. I think we might have avoided some of the more sophisticated songs on our candidate list, but the selection is still pretty great. I really wish we could have hit more, but our time was very tight. Right after wrapping drums, I put down three or four guitar layers. CH and I shared bass duties. We set up two electrics and did some solos in tandem. Christian played my Fender Aerodyne, Elsie, through Max Lollar's Fender DeVille (no, I will not give it back), and I played my old Micro-Frets through an amp modeler and the KAOSS pad. His stuff sounds a lot better than mine.
We took only the shortest of pizza breaks before moving on to keyboards and vocals. Christian did some wonderful stuff on the piano, B3, Hammond. You'll have a good time with it when you hear it. Doug Orey let us use his lap steel. We had no idea how to play the damn thing, so we had to ask Wikipedia for everything. My vocals were another rush job. There are significant issues with them as of the current mix version, but I am confident I can sort them out before release.
Today I patched up some vocal stuff, did dubs, tried out some harmonies, and conscripted friends to sing. I've got Nicky, Erin, Doug, and even Brindie on there. I spent a full hour working with Stevie K on some cool percussion gags and our dear old friend Thingama Jeff. I employed the Kaossilator for the first time on one of my records. This record more than others employs acoustic guitar, and I was lucky to borrow Doug Orey's Martin for that purpose. Great machine, that. I think very last thing we tracked was Nicky Frye on a few bars of mandolin. A small part, but crucial.
Our method of recording is peculiar. All the projects exist as a single ProTools project file, with the song breaks demarcated across one timeline. I keep all instruments used on multiple songs on the same track. Some tracks are unused for some songs, but I never have to look far for something. I also can EQ a single instrument across many songs with one tool. I've found that this adds some cohesion to the collection for a listener. As helpful as this technique is for our slap-dash recording style and my particularly manic attitude towards new ideas, it does make mixing difficult. I have manage volume levels and panning separately for each, being careful not to alter another song with an edit to the one I'm working on. I have to be wary of songs that carry a barrage of guitars, for they might sound anemic unless I do some tweaking of the reverberant space-- usually using aux input reverb sends. Mixing eats up a few hours, more than I really had today since much of principal recording was not complete until the afternoon. Still, I have very advanced draft mixes that I am sharing with CH now. We will compile our mixing notes, discuss if we have time, and I'll make my final pass tomorrow.
I think record will sound better than the previous two. Whereas Pizza Party was gloriously lofi trash and Pool Party was polished slop, Pajama Party (is that really what we're calling it?) is organic and loose, with maybe a few hard edges here and there. The drum sonics are naturalistic, the guitar sound is deliberately broad, the vocals are unpretentious. We use no synth sounds and only two samples. Except for the keyboard there is only one direct-input instrument: my lead guitar. It's a straight-from-the-hip recording. As much as the songs it contains are like a journal (albeit not really a confessional diary thing), the record too is a testament to the moment of its creation. It says, "Here I am. This is what I see from right here and from right now. This is what it's like to be here now."
I'm still deciding where the appropriate level of dynamic compression is for something like this. I'm still struggling with some discord in some group harmonies and a pernicious bass that is clobbering everything above it. I'm thinking these struggles won't be resolved before release, and they'll just become artifacts of the final document. Not every note is right. It shouldn't be. If it were, it wouldn't be a record of a song. It'd be a simulation. We don't want that; we want the real thing. That's why we dig music.
Pajama Party will be released on Monday, August 31st. For free.
- VotD: Legend of Neil, part 2
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- vrbtm
- August 25th, 2009
See if you can pick out why I posted this.
- Tarantino's 20 best since 92
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- vrbtm
- August 23rd, 2009
Great list. I'm astonished that OLDBOY didn't make the cut. And it's terrific to see someone with the same love for SPEED as I have-- funny and terrifying, and a great visual sense (de Bont was a DP on fims like DIE HARD before taking the director's seat).
Tarantino is just the coolest. I feel like he and I could be buddies, chatting about John Wayne's mythopoesis, how to do a good carotid blood spray, and frozen daquiri recipes with equal vigor. Maybe we could hang out with Piebald together.
Alright, off to D&D.
- Pajama Party Candidates
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- vrbtm
- August 19th, 2009
I think I'm about ready to leave LiveJournal behind. I'm doing a lot of other writing, and I've got web presences elsewhere. For example, peterhassett.tumblr.com, twitter.com/peterhassett, and FYBD.
I'll keep this rocking through PJ Party, and then close up shop. I'll have a lot more music and photos on the tumble log.
In the meantime, here are the songs I'm considering for next weekend. I'm playing with CH this weekend, and I imagine we'll be whittling this down. I've already trimmed a lot of the fat off, so most of these are freaking gems. Weird thing is-- many of these songs are less than 2 minutes long. But if it makes sense for the song, that's how it goes.Taco Night Suite
Love it or Leave Me
Drink Like a Winner
What Time Is It?
Bannack
Speed Trap Town
Reasonable Amounts
Cigarette and Ash
The Hero City
Change / Time
Pixy
Emmy
Holly Hills
AKA Marianna
Please drop me a line if you're up for Pajama Party.
- VotD: The Variants
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- vrbtm
- August 11th, 2009
- VotD: 5 tones
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- vrbtm
- August 10th, 2009
- VotD: Super Hero Squad
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- vrbtm
- August 7th, 2009
Oh, I am SO waking up for this.
- Beach list
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- vrbtm
- July 30th, 2009
- beach chairs
- books: fun, smart, fiction, non-, or combinations thereof
- mexican flag guitar (re-strung)
- guitar picks stolen from Erin
- song notes
- bicycles, if possible
- car rack
- chain oil
- eeepeter
- usb charger for phone
- stereo, preferably mp3 compatible
- scrabble
- SPF 666
- bulldog
- food for a week
- wipes for face
- toys
- blankets for car ride
- bagel
- driving music
- zombie survival guide audiobook
- The Bendis Tapes podcast
- The Promise Ring
- Mastodon
- Jagermeister
- cold ones
- groceries
- sandwiches
- things that can be grilled
- grill supplies
- VotD: Children of Earth
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- vrbtm
- July 26th, 2009
I cannot believe how good this is. Instead of producing a season, the BBC made 5 full hours telling a single story. And it's a stunning story. Starts of slow, picking up speed in the second hour, and never slows down. By hour four it's a steamroller.
I think BBC America is airing it sometime soon.
- Clear your schedules
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- vrbtm
- July 24th, 2009
This is not yet certain, but it shows the signs of a plan coming together.
Make no other plans for Friday, August 28th through Sunday August 30th. We're throwing a party.
And not just any party. It's a gosh darn PAJAMA PARTY.
Oh snap. It might slip a week back or something. I'll keep you posted!
- PotD: Gas line leak, kids hold hands.
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- vrbtm
- July 21st, 2009
My old neighbor, Bill Green, takes a great photo:
Here's the story from the News-Post: 100 evacuated, gas line struck
- BDA update
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- vrbtm
- July 18th, 2009
Achieved today:- low harmony on chorus of "Cops in Your Room"
- high harmony on chorus of "Cops in Your Room"
- double vocal on chorus in "Cops in Your Room"
- re-take main vocals on "Four Fresh Tires"
- gang vocal on "Julie"
- clean up bass on "Keep in Touch"
- gang vocals on "See Ya Around"
- harmony on bridge of "See Ya Around"
- harmony on pre-chorus of "Sure as Hell"
- Peeking behind the screen, Part 3
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- vrbtm
- July 14th, 2009
Where were we? Ah, yes. Justice Has a Name, saviors of the city, had been invited to a big banquet in their honor. They see the city is a mess, they fight some leftover zombies, and then they go to a carnival. Weird that there's a carnival in light of all the misery, eh? Alright, let's resume.
The herald Pseudolus brings the party in to a reception room. There's a bunch of people there they recognize: the head of the port guard, the leader of some griffon riders, a prominent businessman, among others. These are all NPCs that the team has met and helped over the course of the last campaign. Some have even fought alongside the team. More big time diplomats from all over the world of Aurdir (the setting invented by one of our players, a passionate cartographer). I made it a point to to namedrop some of the cities represented and describe, even in light detail, the folks from each. There were some "ahh!"s and nods, marking appreciation of the world being depicted coherently. A couple of the characters took this moment to do some more playacting, acting cautious about the reception room, pristine and filled with wells flowing crystal-clear water. Pseudolus triea to calm them, and promise drinks as soon as they entered the dining hall, which is now ready for them.
Before entering the dining hall, the party is approached by guards who demand their weapons. At this point they must have known something was coming. The guards make a reasonable case for security concerns given all the VIPs present, and the party hands over everything. The dwarf tricks the guards and me into letting him keep his totem, the wizard keeps a cane, the rogue uses sleight of hand to hide her dagger. Everyone else gives up everything. Soo, the dragonborn paladin, (my PC) holds onto his shield. Looking around, the party sees a big room, dining tables, a crystal-clear pond, some fonts, and the king's dais. The room has a 15-foot trellis on all sides that lead up to a balcony, lined with ceremonial guards armed with longbows. The ceiling is open to a clear, sunny sky.
At this point some of the party starts hitting on women. Others take their seats. The herald introduces-- not the king, but the prince-- a man called Sheep the Royal. Sheep speaks effetely, in flowery language, about troubled times and acts of honor. He stutters for a bit, and then asks for the leader of Justice has a Name to stand. The team looks at each other awkwardly. Sheep waits, and then restates it, asking by name for Edwin Richter. This is the character who turned evil and died. Actually my character decapitated him. There's some mumbling about who should accept the gift in his place. I'm eating this up because they are forced to have a pretty intense negotiation quickly, discretely, and in character. Finally, one of them accepts the prize. It's an ornate fleece, pearl and platinum, emblazoned with some Iokharic script. The party asks the scholar Soo to translate it. He mumbles something like "The dragon kneels." Sheep then asks for a toast. Our host pours everyone a shot and we all take it in character. It's actually an honest toast to our last DM, who sacrificed a pretty cool character for an even cooler character. Everyone takes the shot.
And then I make them roll fortitude. The dwarf is immune, everyone has pretty good defense, but Lucan the elf ranger is poisoned by Ground Thallis Root. He is slowed. A quick look around the room reveals that some people are whispering and gesturing towards them. The servants hurry out the service exit. A good look reveals that Pseudolus is hurrying them away. Some of the party follows the conspirators, the others continue hitting on women or are slowed. The dwarf shaman makes a distracting by summoning a crazy onyx bulldog in the center of the room.
Psuedolus is nowhere to be found, there is a beautiful woman in the hallway. A short confrontation leads out to a courtyard, where the party meets three strangers. And there's a knife to the throat of the dragonborn ranger. The group introduces itself as F.F.P.A.H.- families for peace and against heroes. Each of the folks takes turns talking. A man explains that his wife had her head bashed in my a dwarf after she was bit by a dwarf. A woman tells of her husband who was murdered by a rogue after he had become a werewolf. A husky dwarf tells the story of his little son, who after being given a frost hammer by a paladin, was killed by a subterranean monster. The lady with the knife, who is now clearly a changeling, identifies herself as the widow of a man who hired Justice Has a Name to clear out his house of gobs and kobolds. Apparently they didn't do a great job. Each of these persons is tied tangentially to the first dozen or so adventures of the party. I made sure that even my character was on the hook, too. My goal was to impress upon the players the consequences of the decisions they make, and hopefully convince them that everything they do can and will have a reaction. I thought the best way to do this was to introduce a villain that was basically a group of community activists that hate heroes... for valid reasons. Before combat can begin, FFPAH escapes in a cloud of smoke. I was prepared to have a full battle in the courtyard, but I knew we had a big chunk of action left. Everyone rolled for initiative, but FFPAH won big time. Since the main villain (the changeling) was a master of disguise, it made sense to have her disappear. Before returning to the courtyard, they find the body of Pseudolus Pavayne, dead for more than a day. A-ha's abound!
Returning to the banquet hall, the clear water in the fountain and pond starts growing cloudy. Then a thick, black oil. A rumbling comes from below. Everyone looks cautious. The party doesn't know how to react. Suddenly, a black dragon erupts from the murky water. Roll for initiative.
Next time: Sloptoth the Graboid
- VotD: Clubhouse
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- vrbtm
- July 14th, 2009
Don Was, discussing The Band's eponymous second album, recalls how guitarist Robbie Robertson characterized its recording:He said it was like a kind of clubhouse mentality. This is a place where you went to shoot pool and hang out with your buddies. And if you got anything done during the course of the day, what a worthwhile day! You go to hang out, and you got some music recorded for posterity. That's a really radical approach to making records.
Anyone up for a party?
- Peeking behind the screen, Part 2
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- vrbtm
- July 13th, 2009
Alright, here's the story.
Last time the city of Fabrelle Port was attacked by a bunch of evil dudes. They opened a portal in the city, loosed a bunch of zombies, and tried to take an NPC the party liked a lot. The party stopped the attack, followed through the portal, and killed the aggressors. In the process one PC was killed. Begin.It is a sunny summer morning in Fabrelle Port. It is early, but the sun is already burning: scalding the streets, casting lean shadows in some places, but revealing everything else. It has been only a few days since Justice Has a Name halted the attack from the undead horde, closing a portal in the heart of town, and saving the city at the cost of their leader's life.
Perhaps to distract themselves from the horrors they faced up north, the team busies itself with quotidian tasks. Some are cleaning the house--repairing a broken window or sweeping out sut and ash. Some are in the stables, tending to horses, who must have been quite spooked from the chaos. Some busy themselves with training-- blade work and target practice. And some pray, thanking the gods for sparing their lives and mourning the life that was bargained in their stead.
Although focused on the banality in front of you, you can still hear the bustling outside. Wagon carts roll by the street regularly, stacked on them are headless bodies, casualties of the zombie horde. A fire brigade rushes in the opposite direction-- 3 young men followed by an elderly gentleman with a long beard waving a wand in one hand and frantically reading a scroll in the other. You can smell smoke and cinder, and an acrid aftertaste you distinctly identify as remants of necrotic eldritch energy hangs in your mouth like oil. Peeking out a window, some of you see businessmen and women slovenly walk past without any urgency, dragging their feet. The Fabrelle markets have not yet reopened, and the port is nearly empty of ships. The merchants have vacant looks on their faces and are muttering to themselves. Some are sobbing. These are the sounds of a city repairing itself.
Through the din a bold trumpet calls out. It grows louder, nearer, louder again, and then stops. There are FOUR LOUD KNOCKS on the door.
The party meets Pseudolus Pavayne, the herald of the king. He's a loudmouth-- pompous in a Shakespearean way. He invites the party to a reception, where the king will present them with an award in thanks for their help in saving the city. Pseudolus also promises drinks and food and merriment. I was worried at this point that the party might not take the hook. I had a few sweeteners and other angles ready, but they took the first one eagerly! I think they were going easy on the first-time DM.
The party expressed a little bit of anxiety about their host, but they followed him through town. I should point out that no one made an insight check. Around town they see some pretty sad sights: an old woman scrubbing dried blood from her doorstep. The streets are otherwise empty. Rounding a corner, they pass a hospital. There are screams and sounds of breaking glass. They enter without delay. There's a reception room. A few players listen at the door: shambles and groans. Making zombie sounds is probably the best thing about being DM. The party breaks down the door in an assisted strength move we call "The Blurple Maneuver".
Big surprise. The healing room is filled with zombies. The former DM's new PC rushes in first, and gets completely dominated by a couple of Dread Zombie soldiers. A couple of Corruption Corpses lobs goo at the rest of the group. The room is otherwise peppered with minions and dead bodies, including a bloated one in the pool at center. I use a classic move the older DM used first-- wait for the party to enter the room before revealing two more monsters hidden at the room's side.
As the first round of combat closes, that bloated body in the pool? It stands up. Minotaur Zombie Hulk!!! The omniscient narrator tells the party that this is Munkin Mufftassle, famed Minotaur healer of Fabrelle port. One of players at this party asks me at this point how he knows this. I scramble: "EVERYONE KNOWS OF MUNKIN MUFFTASSLE!!! HE'S THE ONLY DAMN MINOTAUR IN TOWN!" The fight goes well. The party isn't used to non-standard zombies, so the Rise Again feature and the Corruption Corpse's death blossom come as a fun surprise, reducing one PC to 0. By kismet, each of the zombies "dies" (or re-dies) on the same turn -- falling victim to some ongoing fire damage they could not save out of.
This being my first combat encounter, I think I should have gone for a simpler setup. I had 4 different kinds of monsters and my own PC. Keeping track of the different monsters, their respective HP and attacks, lasting effects, and the story's narrative-- it gets overwhelming. I should have started slower. The party forgave me for my slowness in getting started, but once we got moving, it was fine.
As the encounter concludes, a bunch of soldiers storm the hospital. Their leader says, "We'll take it from here." There's some terrific role playing here, as one character chides the soldiers for not clearing the town. The boss yells back, "We're doing the best we can, lady! The damned king has moved all my men to guard the banquet. These conscripts here are hardly qualified to carry a sword!" I'm hoping this was said with enough gravity as to underline the theme I was drawing. The party heals the Dragonborn Ranger who was knocked down in the fight and returns to Pseudolus outside.
Outside the banquet is a carnival. Pseudolus gifts the party some gold to enjoy the festivities and asks them to meet him in an hour. The party checks out the games: ball toss, shell game, weight guess. This was my favorite part of the module. Some of the team stays on the sides, establishing themselves as wary and/or awkward in social situations . The rest use the complimentary gold to try out the games. The shell game is a 1-out-of-3 chance of guessing the correct item, but can be made 50/50 with good perception (or improvised skills). A couple folks lose some money before moving on. The weight guess is a bigger disaster. After stepping into the light, the guy behind the tent has a fantastic talent to guess weight to the pound. I made it a point to record each player's weight before the game started. Each time the players stepped out of the light, I checked passive perception. The wizard uses cantrips to make himself look obese, but the carny still gets it. The party checks for magic, but finds nothing. No one investigates too closely. Finally, the wallflower gets frustrated and enters the tent. After threatening the carny, he finally looks around. He sees a set of threads connected to weights. No one was perceptive enough to notice the weight plate. The carny offers the ranger 20 gold to walk away. The ranger complies.
As the party walks away, a group of kids run up to them cheering. The kids surround the heroes and clamor to get autographs. Everyone who agrees to sign an autograph then checks perception. All but one PC is unburdened of 25 gold pieces by the pickpockets. The party's rogue has a backstory of being very protective of kids, and as dissappointed as she was with the theft, she was a bit proud, too. I love that. As the party realizes the carnival has been mostly a bust, they see Pseudolus gesturing them over.
NEXT TIME: The party and unwelcome guests.
- Peeking behind the screen, Part 1
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- vrbtm
- July 11th, 2009
On Thursday night I ran my first adventure as a dungeon master. I've been playing 4th edition somewhat regularly with some friends since winter, and as our normal DM finished off a big arc he had been working on, I volunteered to try out my own.
I played DND a handful of times in middle school and high school, but I'm by no means a lifer. Still, I have a great time with the storytelling and the joking around, so I leaped at the chance to spin my own yarn for some friends.
Our characters are all around level 5-- the middle of the "heroic tier". We've been fighting lots of undead creatures, some gnolls, some werewolves, some kobolds, a hydra, and one low-level dragon. Our party is a diverse group of rabble-rousers: changeling wizard, tiefling warlock, changeling rogue, dragonborn paladin, dragonborn ranger,gnomedwarf shaman, elf ranger, and human warlord (RIP). The human warlord, our former DM's character, had been corrupted and turned into a death knight. My character, Soo Banebath-- a zealous dragonborn paladin, had the dubious honor of beheading him after he turned on the team. Also on that same adventure, the port city our party calls home was sacked by a zombie horde. That's all you need to know for now.
My adventure is called Meet Sheep the Royal, or Toast to the Immortal Memory. In my next entry I will document for you how the story goes, how the characters reacted, and what I learned.
- QotD: White Fight
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- vrbtm
- July 1st, 2009
I've really gotta stop writing about comics.Watching a billionaire Batman disarm poorly-trained, poverty-stricken muggers effortlessly or beating up skinny junkies might be fun for a scene or two but does tend to raise thorny issues of class and privilege that the basic adventure hero concept is not necessarily equipped to deal with adequately.
-- Grant Morrison
Grant and Frank's Batman & Robin #2 is on shelves today. It's great. I'm so glad to be reading Batman again.
- PotD: Storytelling
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- vrbtm
- June 30th, 2009
Frank Quitely and Grant Morrison on All-Star Superman.
There is no such thing as character, only plot. Character is what is revealed about people through plot.
- PotD: Spidey 600
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- vrbtm
- June 29th, 2009
The cover of the 600th issue of Amazing Spider-Man is drawn by none other than the living legend: John Romita, Sr.
Romita drew some 60 issues of Spider-Man in his formative years. Taking over for the iconoclastic Steve Ditko, JRSR brought a romantic aesthetic to the once-offbeat book. JRSR drew half of the death Captain Stacy, revealed the identity of the Green Goblin, and introduced Robbie Robertson (one of the first black characters in comics, the guy who secretly runs the Bugle, and the guy who has obviously known that Peter is Spider-Man for 40 years). Romita drew Spider-Man when Spider-Man was revolutionary. The book under Romita addressed drug abuse, the surveillance state, protest culture, racism, Vietnam.
John Romita's son (and namesake) is now one of the most dynamic artists in comics and a terrific storyteller in his own right, but he is most famous for his uncanny hatching-- like the world's foremost authority in it.
ASM 600 is out in a couple of weeks. It better be awesome.
- VotD: Ice Cream
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- vrbtm
- June 27th, 2009
- PotD: Capybara
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- vrbtm
- June 25th, 2009
Read about this animal today. The capybara, the world's biggest rodent -- from Peru!
They're basically Emmy, except they're awesome in water. Here's a picture of a capybara lounging in some shallow water.
Someone procure this animal for me. We shall name him The Honorable Mr. Tumnus Applebaum, professional scrivener of toilet humour. He'll respond only to his FULL NAME, and he'll sleep in the bath like George Harrison. We will love him.
- PotD: Runaways semi-spoiler
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- vrbtm
- June 24th, 2009
Oh, no. Poor, Chase.
Very happy to have the immensely talented Kathryn Immonen on the book. Very sad to see her destroy the fictional things I love.
- Quesada + ????
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- vrbtm
- June 22nd, 2009
I’m currently working on a six-page story for “Amazing Spider-Man” #600 with a relatively unknown, upstart writer. - Joe Quesada
Even money that this "unknown, upstart writer" is Stanley Lieber.
- QotM: Hippies
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- vrbtm
- June 21st, 2009
The bottomless font of wisdom, last bastion of sagacity, the comments on the News-Post website:June 20, 2009 @ 10:14 AM: ChuckWillKill81
Wow, these hippies are hilarious!!! They make me sick to my stomach, and im not going to lie. Im glad the Sheriffs Office shut that crap down, cause that's the last thing this world needs is another hippie party. You want to have your hippie pot smoking festival then take it to Iraq....I hear they grant permits to anyone. Better hope the Marines ain't around though, i hear they break events like that up a little different!!
- PotD: Dungeons and Dragons Battle Grid
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- vrbtm
- June 19th, 2009
Check out what Bagel did!
I'll be out of town for the weekend, out-nerding you by a factor of 10.
- PotD: 2 years ago
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- vrbtm
- June 15th, 2009
America needs its Captain. That's all I'm saying.
- PotD: Pigby
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- vrbtm
- June 11th, 2009
Bagel is back, and we're watching our date night TV program. This is our favorite character.
- VotD: Natal on Fallon
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- vrbtm
- June 11th, 2009
- Peter sick
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- vrbtm
- June 10th, 2009
Peter feel bad
Peter still in bed
Peter kaff kaff hack kaff
Peter sad
- Commence irate fanboy rage now
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- vrbtm
- June 7th, 2009
The current rumor is that Captain America 600 will feature the return of Steve Rogers. But maybe not our beloved 616 Steve Rogers, with the quiet consideration and infinite virtue that makes him one of the best superheroes we've had. Word on the street is we may be getting the "Ultimate" version of Cap, who is a somewhat less noble character. He's an jingoistic, pious boy scout with traces of racism and retrograde attitudes that do not befit uniform. Although is costume is much better.
This is a disaster. If Steve has to come back, let it be the Steve that Peter Parker and James Howlett idolize, and not Mark Millar's mean-spirited polemic.
For the record, this was Ultimate!Cap's reaction when faced with the option of surrender:
616 Cap fought with the French resistance in WW2 and would be embarrassed to have been heard saying that.
- VotD: Tonight Show
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- vrbtm
- June 6th, 2009
So glad Jay Leno is gone, never to retu-- what? he is? are you kidding???
- QotD: Regardig Scott Pilgrim film
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- vrbtm
- June 5th, 2009
(2:32:01 PM) Me: it's got to be a huge challenge for Michael Cera
(2:32:03 PM) Me: cause he has only played 1 character
(2:32:25 PM) Steven Kern: yeah, he plays MICHAEL CERA in every movie
- VotD: Nerdery glee
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- vrbtm
- June 1st, 2009
- QotD: Guess who. (no googling)
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- vrbtm
- June 1st, 2009
"I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish. Any kind of arrangement they wish. The question of whether or not there ought to be a federal statute to protect this, I don't support. I do believe that the historically the way marriage has been regulated is at the state level. It has always been a state issue and I think that is the way it ought to be handled, on a state-by-state basis... But I don't have any problem with that. People ought to get a shot at that."
-- ???
- PotD: Flux
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- vrbtm
- June 1st, 2009
- (no subject)
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- vrbtm
- June 1st, 2009
At E3:- Games
- Rock Band: The Beatles
- Final Fantasy XIII will be on the 360
- Left 4 Dead 2 and Crackdown 2
- Alan Wake
- Metal Gear Solid is finally on the 360
- Video
- 1080p instant viewing
- Sky TV
- Premier League SOCCER
- Sharing video over parties
- Live television
- Technology
- Manage Netflix queues
- Facebook
- Binding avatars to profiles
- Post screen captures
- Motion control without a controller: "Natal"
- gesture-based interface (a la The Minority Report)
- voice commands
- facial recognition
- video chat
- video capture of user-generated content
- Last.FM
- Guests
- Felicia Day
- Peter Molyneux
- Hideo Kojima
- Steven Speilberg
- Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr
- Hindsight
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- vrbtm
- May 31st, 2009
When the DHS warned about right-wing extremism at the onset of the administration change, conservative folks got upset. Now that those extremists are gunning down people at church, worries abound of some sort of "backlash".
I am unprepared for the daily absurdities of living in this world.
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