New site skin for Halloween

I was a tad bored yesterday, so I decided to give my comic site a new color scheme. Check it out!

Saw this on the bus today

Apparently someone ran their car into a fire hydrant.

That’s a whole lot of water. Sorry the pic is bad, the bus was moving!

Dude, fuck phones. Also, I want phones.

I’ve been having phone issues lately. Well, not just lately I guess. But recent events have turned it into a damn SAGA.

So about a year ago I switched from Sprint to T-Mobile. Wait, I think I need to take this story back even further.

About 3 years ago I switched from Nextel to Sprint, which had just merged. Even though it was technically “one company”, it still required me to switch to a different phone since they operate on different networks. No biggie, right? HA! You wish, bozo. Not only did it take 2.5 hours in a Sprint store to switch, but they made me change my number for reasons they were unable to explain. But ok, I got down with that. Nextel just plain didn’t work where I lived in Henderson, NV, so I had little choice (and I was in the middle of a contract, so I couldn’t switch providers).

So I finally get on Sprint. Phone service is pretty good, but not great. Whatever. Initially, everything was going pretty smoothly. Then they decide to change up their website. Now my billing is screwed up. I get charged like, way way way more than normal (i.e. over a years worth of service on one bill). So yeah, that was a problem. I call them, talk for a hour or so, and it gets solved. Awesome. But since they changed their website, I no longer have an account on their site for some reason. And since that’s how I was paying my bills, it becomes a problem. I get that problem solved after some more phone time. Problem is, my password is always rejected when I try to login, so I constantly have to reset it each time I want to pay a bill (oh, and the auto-pay didn’t work for me, otherwise this wouldn’t have mattered). I finally get this fixed on the last month of my contract, at which point I was fed up.

So I switch to T-Mobile. Dude, it was awesome. No hassles, surprisingly helpful customer service, and the goddamn website actually works. I’m in heaven, right? Well, turns out the phone I got is a hunk of fucking shit! It was actually kind of expensive too, and at the time had pretty much the best camera a phone can have (it still is top 3, easily). The problem is, the damn thing turns off all the fucking time. And with no apparent rhyme or reason. Some days it’s perfect, others it turns off constantly. Sometimes a slight bump will do it, others just talking be enough to turn it off. Awesome!

Looks pretty great, but in reality it's just pretty crappy.

So I finally decided to just say “fuck it” with this phone and get another one, regardless of the fact that I still have a few months left on my contract. I shopped around, and found a Palm Pre for super damn cheap (i.e. $20 after rebates). The problem is, the service is through Sprint. I decided to try to give them another chance. I mean, this is a brand new account and everything, I’m sure my past problems wouldn’t happen again. Right?

This thing has potential, but I wish it wasn't with Sprint.

Well, holy shit was I wrong! Turns out, Sprint owes me $0.12 from my last account with them. They never bothered to pay me this, but rather closed the account. That’s fine, I don’t want their 12 fucking cents. The problem is, they are reporting this account as delinquent to the place I tried to buy a pre from, which means they won’t start a new account with me. Now, I’m no wordsmith, but I’m pretty sure the definition of delinquent has something to do with having not paid a bill to them, not vice versa.

So yeah. I decided once and for all to say “fuck Sprint”, but this time I’m making it permanent. I’m permabanning Sprint from my damn life, and I’m pretty ok with that.

So this morning I looked into some phones that work with T-Mobile, since they have been pretty great to me. I’ve decided that I’m going to get a myTouch android phone when I am able to do it with a new contract (because the price without that is just frankly ridiculous). While browsing the site, I found that you can customize these things with any image you want. Dude, I draw and edit shit all the time, so this seemed perfect. I fired up their application, and came up with this badass phone that will eventually be mine:

I’m not sure if I would get black or white. I tend to like black better, but the image looks way better in white. I’ve got various other dinosaurs doing cool activities too, so I may go with one of those….

Anyway, that’s the cellphone journey I’ve been on the last few years. A lot of my friends have told me to “get an iPhone”. And while, yes, I do like the iPhone, I am not a fan of AT&T or their damn network. I’d have to pay almost $35 more per month to have an iPhone with a dataplan/lowest amount of talk time/textmessages. And of course, AT&T’s 3G network is well known to just not be the greatest. The app catalog is a lot more mature than android’s marketplace, but I really don’t like how the Nazis Apple is running things on that end. So that’s where I stand on the iPhone. It’s awesome, but it’s just not the right time in my opinion to go that route.

This damn thing is scary

Seriously.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/jersey/8246001.stm

It will eat the damn tongue of a fish and then hang out there in place of the tongue. Dude, that’s fucked up.

But it does look kinda cute there, kinda like it’s smiling

Musings on the final frontier

So one of the benefits of my Star Trek The Next Generation marathon is that I’ve been able to more objectively compare every episode against one another in a very short time span. So, here are some of my favorites!

Top 10 Episdoes (not in order)
So2E06 – The Measure of a Man
S03E26-S04E01 – The Best of Both Worlds
S05E18 – Cause and Effect
S05 E19 – The First Duty
S05E25 – The Inner Light
S06E10-11 – Chain of Command
S06E15 – Tapestry
S06E20 – The Chase
S07E19 – Genesis
S07E25-26 – All Good Things…

S02E06 – The Measure of a Man
I’ll just get this out of the way now: This is my favorite Star Trek TNG episode. I’ll grant you that my opinion of “favorite” changes pretty much monthly, but as of this writing it’s my favorite! Basically it deals with whether Data should be considered a sentient being or simply property of the federation. Throughout this episode the ideas of life, consciousness, and self-awareness are explored rather thoughtfully. As is a common theme throughout the series, the issue of Data’s status as an “equal” can easily be transposed to current and past arguments of race and gender.

S0326-S04E01 – The Best of Both Worlds (1&2)
This is probably one of the more popular TNG episodes, as it’s the one where Picard gets captured by the Borg and is assimilated into the collective. Patrick Stewart’s chilling performance as Locutus is fantastic, but it is equally matched by his later recollections of his time as a Borg. Indeed, my favorite moment of the second part of this episode comes at the very end, when he is simply alone in his ready room about to drink his earl grey tea. This episode should really be immediately followed by “Brothers”, where he goes back to France and his family, and breaks down about his experiences as a Borg. It’s pretty powerful stuff, especially for a sci-fi show!

S05E08 – Cause and Effect
I really dig this one because of it’s uniqueness: You see the main events of the episode over and over, because the Enterprise is trapped in a temporal loop. The crew eventually becomes aware of their situation, and of course are able to resolve the situation. Though this probably isn’t one of the more popular episodes amongst fans, I really like it! And even cooler, it’s got a brief cameo from Kelsey Grammer at the end, donning Star Trek II-era Starfleet attire.

S05E12 – The First Duty
I always liked the Wesley Crusher-focused episodes, but I’d be lying if I said he was anywhere near my favorite character. This episode is great not only because it gets the show off the ship and showcases some of the relationship between Picard and Wesley, but because it’s just a really “universal” story of the difference between right and wrong. The moral conflict Wesley faces throughout the episode is portrayed wonderfully, and though there is not really a “happy ending” like many episodes, it is still hopeful nonetheless.

S05E25 – The Inner Light
One of the great Picard-focused episodes. In this one, Picard is mentally trapped in an alien probe, where he proceeds to live an entire lifetime on a planet with a family in the span of a few minutes while unconscious on the Enterprise. I think the most compelling thing about this episode is that it’s just downright touching in the way it portrays Picard’s interactions with his family during the “dream”. And not only that, but over the course of this lifetime he learns to play the flute, which is shown at various times through the rest of the series.

S06E10-11 – Chain of Command (1&2)
Here’s another one that sometimes is considered my “favorite”, because it’s just so damn intense and good. Chain of Command is one of those episodes that really is disturbingly relevant in today’s world. The jist of the story is that Picard is captured on a covert mission in Cardassian territory. He is then tortured extensively for both information and the apparent sadistic pleasure of his capture. This episode has always been pretty intense, but what with all the stuff going on here in America nowadays about when and what torture is “appropriate” makes this one a little more powerful. Picard at one point has a rather poignant line about torture, which goes “Torture has never been a reliable means of extracting information. It is ultimately self-defeating as a means of control. One wonders that it is still practiced.”. This is without a doubt one of Patrick Stewart’s finest performances on the show.

S06E15 – Tapestry
This episode is not only in my top 10 list, but it frequently becomes my “favorite” after I watch or think about it (though at this time “The Measure of a Man” takes the top spot). The point of the episode is basically to give Picard more of a backstory, via an intervention of Q when Picard apparently “dies” at the beginning at the episode due to his artificial heart. Picard informs Q he regrets the foolishness of his youth, which is the cause of his artificial heart. Q gives Picard the chance to relive his past, only with the “wisdom” and attitude of responsibility he has gained over the years. Long story short, Picard does things differently, and he doesn’t become the man he is during the course of the show.

S06E20 – The Chase
The Chase is a perfect example of what TNG does great: It mixes science and philosophy to make a thought-compelling episode. In this episode, the foremost archaeologist in Starfleet finds a link between all species in the galaxy in their DNA. Though most aliens on the show appear humanoid and appear to have roughly the same physiology, prior to this episode the “coincidence” was never really touched on. After much shenanigans amongst the major species on the show, basically they figure out the puzzle in their DNA and unlock a message from an ancient ancestor, who genetically seeded many worlds billions of years ago when life was in its infancy in the hope that one day they would all be able to work together to figure out their common ancestry. Pretty rad!

S07E19 – Genesis
You know why I like this one? It’s simple: Monsters! Well, kinda. Basically the Enterprise crew “de-evolves” rapidly, and you get to see the various alien species in rather primitive forms. Though the imagination (or budget) of the show writers didn’t go too crazy with the “monsters”, it’s still a really cool concept and has always been one of my favorites. One of my favorite visuals from this episode is seeing Data’s cat Spot as an iguana. Too awesome!

S07E25026 – All Good Things…
Now this is how you end a series! It’s got all the elements of a fantastic episode: Time travel, Q, Picard-centric, and you get to see Data in a smoking jacket of sorts. The story also echoes back to the very first episode of the series, where Q puts Picard on trial for the “crimes of humanity”, though this episode is not just a rehash of that by any means. Basically Q informs Picard he is going to be (or already has been) the cause of humanity’s demise (or failure to arise…yeah, temporal stuff is confusing sometimes). This episode does a great job of showing us scenes from the past (including dead crew members), the present, and the future paths everyone will take. Though I’m fairly certain that this future is decidedly “non-canon”, which is kind of a cop out but really rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Overall this one was just a fantastic reward for fans of the show, and was a fitting end to a fantastic series.

Now here’s a breakdown of some of my favorite episodes from each season!

Season 1
E06 – Where No One Has Gone Before
E25 – Conspiracy

Season 2
E31 – Loud as a Whisper
E32 – The Schizoid Man
E34 – A Matter of Honor
E35 – The Measure of a Man
E41 – Pen Pals
E42 – Q Who?
E47 – Peak Performance

Season 3
E01 – Evolution
E52 – Who Watches the Watchers
E61 – Deja Q
E62 – A Matter of Perspective
E63 – Yesterday’s Enterprise
E64 – The Offspring
E67 – Captain’s Holiday
E71 – Sarek
E74 – The Best of Both Worlds (1)

Season 4
E01 – The Best of Both Worlds (2)
E02 – Family
E04 – Suddenly Human
E08 – Future Imperfect
E13 – Devil’s Due
E14 – Clues
E15 – First Contact
E20 – Qpid

Season 5
E02 – Darmok
E09 – A Matter of Time
E17 – The Outcast
E18 – Cause and Effect
E19 – The First Duty
E25 – The Inner Light

Season 6
E04 – Relics
E07 – Rascals
E10-11 – Chain of Command (1&2)
E15 – Tapestry
E20 – The Chase
E24 – Second Chances

Season 7
E4-5 – Gambit (1&2)
E12 – The Pegasus
E19 – Genesis
E20 – Journey’s End
E25-26 – All Good Things…

The most awesome ESRB description. Ever.

Brütal Legend

Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Rating: Mature

Content descriptors: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes

Rating summary: This is an action adventure/role-playing game that tells the story of Eddie Riggs, a roadie who is transported to a mythical world of heavy metal rock. Eddie is armed with a guitar and a double-headed axe, which players can use to slash and dismember enemies. Players can also perform “face-melting solos” (literally melting enemies’ faces), meet humanoid creatures dressed like dominatrixes and brandishing whips, and liberate an army of rockers from a life of oppression. Although the storyline is often irreverent and whimsical, the depictions of violence are somewhat intense: Undead humanoids are dismembered with an axe (sometimes in slow-motion); a “Steel-Quilled Blade” causes human enemies to explode into gibs that rain down; machine guns, missile launchers, and sub woofers can be used to kill druids and other fantastical creatures. Eddie can also run over dozens of enemies with his hot rod, resulting in blood effects and more heads and limbs getting chopped off. During the course of the game, characters sometimes engage in suggestive dialogue intended for comedic effect (e.g., “Maybe with all your feedback, you guys could just blow me over the gorge” and “Playtime’s over. Now let’s get back to the orgy”). Players will also encounter “Skull Rakers” clad in bondage gear and amazon-like warriors dressed in leather outfits that partially reveal buttocks and breasts. Strong profanity (e.g., “f*ck,” “sh*t,” and “d*ck”) can be heard in the dialogue.

This just seems…wrong.

Now, ok, I’ll grant you the admission that this isn’t really that big of a deal. There is some pretty serious shit going on in the world nowadays, and this is pretty much the opposite of serious when compared to that stuff. But regardless, I find this a little disturbing and disrespectful:

Kurt Cobain’s likeness will appear in Guitar Hero 5.

While I do disagree with his usage, at least they put that bitchin' Daniel Johnston shirt on him.

I’m no Nirvana freak, and I certainly can’t claim to even be one of those people who identify with the whole “grunge” movement. Sure, I liked the music, but I didn’t like, wear flannels or grow my hair out and “forget” to wash it or anything like that. But even to someone like me, I instantly got a feeling of what can only be described as douche-chills when I read this news.

Why? Well, because this dude straight killed himself, supposedly because he was not cool with the amount of fame he had acquired. I’m pretty sure a dude like that would not be OK with being in a game like this.

This isn’t really the first time GH has gone the slightly distasteful route, to be fair. Jimi Hendrix was featured in the last game, but for some reason him being in the game doesn’t have quite the same amount of “wrongness” as Cobain. Sure, he also basically killed himself, with drugs instead of a shotgun. But he didn’t really seem to be all that “against” the commercialization of his image. In fact, I get the feeling he didn’t really give a shit either way. The fact that Cobain was so outspoken about this sort of thing is what makes his usage in a video game just seem…wrong.

DUDES, seriously.

DUDES! I just got a parking ticket from UNLV! Sure, that doesn’t sound like a big deal, until you consider that I haven’t been at UNLV since early 2007. WEIRD. The license plate they list on the ticket is correct, but considering the fact that I have one of those license plates in my room here in Los Angeles and the other is at my friend’s house in Claremont, I’m pretty sure there is no way it was my car they were trying to ticket. And another thing that is weird, I had a “specialty” plate, which means I had a weird short number (it was 4 digits!). So like, how would they possibly make that mistake? Well either way, now I have to deal with this bullshit! I’m curious if they will even believe me, since this isn’t the “real” police, but rather campus parking services. So they really don’t have any way to check that, you know, this car hasn’t been registered in Nevada since 2007, and that it is currently registered in California. *sigh* It’s only $30, so I suppose even if I had to pay it that’s not the end of the world. But dudes, I’ve never had a ticket for anything in my life. Does this like, break that record? There is no way it should count, considering it’s obviously a mistake.

Well on to more exciting topics: I’m almost done with season 5 of my Star Trek TNG marathon. I must say, I’m not really all that sick of it yet. I really dig seasons 5-7 though, so I suppose it’s not a coincidence.

Isn't it funny how when "human" issues of race and discrimination are portrayed with aliens the issues seem to be so silly and clear?

In case you’re wondering: No, I’m not sitting down and intently watching every episode of TNG. Yes, I have been watching them all in order, but I’ve been watching them pretty passively (well, some of my favorite episodes I watch more attentively). I have two monitors for my computer, so basically I put on an episode on monitor two, and do other stuff on monitor one. I played a fair amount of Shadow Complex while watching TNG, and let me tell you, it’s not the easiest thing to watch TV and play a video game at the same time. But that’s how I roll, bitches.

I decided to watch Terminator Salvation last night. And you guys, it was pretty alright. Maybe because it got so trashed by everyone my expectations were low, but it really wasn’t that bad. I mean, have you seen Terminator 3? It’s way better than that steaming pile of shit. It’s funny though, the thing I liked least about the movie was Christian Bale. And he’s like, the star or whatever. I don’t know, I really like him in some movies, and really don’t like him in others. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t his fault in this case, the movie just didn’t really do much with him. The dude that plays Marcus and the other dude who plays Kyle were pretty awesome though, and I think they kind of stole the movie from the bigger star.

The terminators with rubber skin look pretty rad. Did anybody notice that all the terminators look HUGE in this movie? I found that weird.

I just got the most ridiculous email from the damn union I have the misfortune of being in. Apparently there were some elections recently for some bullshit, and of course like 20 people voted in them. The funny thing is, they sent out an email assuring us that the ballots were counted three times, and that the counts were always identical. Like, dudes, I don’t doubt you can count to 20. If you were under 3 years old, then maybe I’d be concerned. But even then, I’m not sweating it that much. So congrats to whomever won that bullshit. Now I get to receive a million emails from some other ass clown instead of the previous ass clown. Yay.

Some more bits of tid

I finally finished transcribing all my comics into ohnorobot. I only had a hundred-ish to do, but man it took a long time. I changed the default search engine thing on my site to the ohnorobot one, so now you can search for stuff pretty darn efficiently on WT! Good times!

Speaking of Wax Turds, the site has seen a surge of viewers recently, for reasons I can’t really pin down. My top guess is “awesomeness”, but it could very well be “radness”. Not sure, but either way it’s sweet.

Also, I made a new masthead for the site:

Las night I went to the Dodgers game with some duders, and got to sit in the all-you-can-eat section. Of course, as lady luck would have it, I really wasn’t super hungry, so I only had a couple of hot dogs and a soda. I don’t think I’ll be in the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest anytime soon..

All you can eat + pretty good seats = good times

I picked up Shadow Complex on Xbox live arcade, and let me tell you: that game is awesome. It’s definitely a throw-back to Metroid like it’s being billed as, but more importantly it’s just friggin fun. This whole “summer of arcade” thing xbox is pushing is pretty damn legit. Viva la side scrollers!

It's rad, guys. Go buy it.

I decided to make a facebook page for Wax Turds! Except, it turns out the word “turd” is frowned upon by facebook, so I had to make the page called “WaxTurds”. Lame! Anyway, it’s there.

Star Trek TNG marathon UPDATE

Well duders, I finished the third season last night. For me, season 3 is where the show really starts “feeling” like TNG, or at least where it starts to really find it’s rhythm.

A little Tin Man for all you season 3 Trekkers out there.

Here are a few of my thoughts about the marathon so far, in bullet form.

• I’ve never really liked Dr. Pulaski, but was always just under the impression that it’s because I do like Dr. Crusher. After seeing all of season 2′s episodes in a rather short amount of time, I’ve come to the conclusion that I just don’t care for the character. She doesn’t gel very well with the cast, and feels a little too much like they were trying to bring in a “Bones”-like person onto the cast (i.e. she is prejudice against Data, similar to how Bones was prejudice against Spock, and she’s a little older and stubborn compared to the rest of the cast).
• Picard was not nearly as cool in season 1 as he is in the rest of the series. He’s much too uptight, and just doesn’t seem as thoughtful as in later seasons.
• Data remains one of the most interesting and compelling characters on the show, or any Star Trek show for that matter. I found him a tad annoying the first season, but then again a lot of that first season was a little rough around the edges.
• I just cannot stand the Lwaxana Troi episodes. I’m sorry, I just can’t. Sure they are usually humorous, but I feel like they slow the show down too much. I’d much rather have all of her episodes replaced with holodeck ones.
• I still want to have Patrick Stewart’s baby. I don’t know how exactly that would work, but I’d be game.

Well, I was thinking about taking a day off from TNG to recharge a little. So season 4 viewing starts tomorrow!