Time for a quick mid-week update…
First off, for those who might be wondering about my new GameSetWatch gig, my movie review column is going to run bi-weekly and on Wednesdays, so everyone can expect the next installment this time next week.
As for what its going to be, I maybe shouldn’t say, but why the hell not: I’ll be covering 8 BIT, the new documentary about art and video games. I actually got the chance to talk with Justin Strawhand, the producer and co-director recently, and also met the director Marcin Ramocki, who not only dropped off the movie but also the film’s poster (“Fresh from eBoy’s press!”). So maybe it was a good thing I was still feeling sick last night and decided to stay home; the original plan was to attend some IGDA NY social mixer, but I just wasn’t up for drinking, especially after last weekend (more on that in a moment).
The funny thing is, I always knew it would be a challenge to find movies that most of the world doesn’t know about (yeah, I could do a scathing review of Bloodrayne, but that would be too easy… though that’s not to say I won’t do one eventually, since I’m gonna have to do a Uwe Boll movie sooner or later), but tracking them down has been made somewhat easier thanks to friends. I’ve got Robin who says he’s going to send along something I’m pretty sure no one else has heard of either, and K. Thor is also passing along something special, as a “bonus” of sorts along with my recent purchase. K Thor recently decided to unload all the Evil DVD source tapes, and I picked up a bunch. Mostly cable access and backyard wrestling stuff, naturally. Believe it or not, Turkish Star Trek is included in the package, but it’s not even the highlight!
Anyway, back to this past weekend, and…. the Philly Zine Fest. Which was alright I guess. I hate to be mister negative, but virtually 97% of all the zines on-hand fell into one of three categories: A) how much college sucks (well, duh), B) how much President Bush sucks (once again, no friggin’ duh), and if it was from a girl, C) how much having periods suck. And the crowd was… not my crowd, so I don’t think I really fit in that well, and same with my comic, hence why I didn’t do so well sales-wise, but considering how cheap the tables were, I still did well enough to cover the cost of being there. Most folks were pretty nice, except for this one table manned by three Suicide Girl wanna-be’s who had a bunch of zines that were all women’s lib, which had really nice covers so I picked one up to check it out, and one girl gave me a stone-cold “what the fuck would you do with a book like that?!” state, which was so retarded, and most certainly not the best way to handle a potential customer (hey, I could have been interested getting it for a friend, so whatever).
I did make two new friends, a couple who ran a neat little arts and crafts table (and website), who also each had zines that were breathe of fresh air from everything else: the girl had one that was all about robots, and the guy?s was about jug bands. I also picked up a neat little zine called Steve’s Guide To Shit Jobs by some guy names Steve Please who I was told is a drummer for some local Philly band. Also. MK, Robin, Liz, and myself weren’t the only ones with comics… there was at least one other available, from Nate Powell! His latest book, Sounds Of Your Name, which is a massive collection of assorted comics he’s done over the years, was there at the Microcosm table (the book’s publishers) and naturally, MK & I snatched up copies the instant we saw them. And as happy as we were to finally get our hands on it, the book unfortunately has a number of printing errors and issues, though we were given slips to receive the corrected edition later this fall. Though I was just happy to finally get the guy’s email address!
The only other big downside is that I caught a nasty cold that afternoon. Actually, I’ve had one brewing since last week and had been keeping it at bay, but because I hardly got any sleep the night before the show due to a very rambunctious evening of boozing, my defenses were lowered, which gave the cold a chance to finally take over. Which has really sucked since I’m SO busy right now and my schedule is more screwed up than ever (hence why I’m here at home at my computer… taking a break from work… and not at movie night). Case in point: I’m supposed to check out Final Fantasy XII at some press event tomorrow and I haven’t had a chance to put anytime into the demo that came with Dragon Quest 8 at all. EDIT: It’s actually next week. Phew.
That also means that I haven’t had any chance to check up on any of Tokyo Game Show coverage from over the weekend or any other bits of news since then. Though I do know that MTV bought Harmonix, the makers of Guitar Hero 2. I have no idea if will affect the release of that game (maybe it will and the details have been announced… again, I’m really out of the loop news-wise), but I highly doubt there’s enough time for MTV to do anything… thank God. Not for nothing, but if the sale had gone down a year ago, I’ll be you anything that 75% of the songs that are on GH2 would not be there. I’m fairly sure that MTV could give a rat’s ass about songs from Cheap Trick, Rush, and Dick Dale.
But even though I haven’t had any chance to check out gaming related items at the “usual places” I did get a heads up about a thread over at the Gaming Age Forums. Basically video game/internet forum humor + cats = this.
Still no idea where that image originated from (I thought it was the creation of Kevin Gifford’s now defunct video game blog, Video-Fenky).
And speaking of animals, the internet, and all around awesomeness, I normally don’t link to porn, but this shit has to be fucking seen to believe. It?s basically one woman screwing a bunch of dinosaurs. Seriously.
Yes another reason why I’m so please with the internets today is that Slonie gave the head’s up that a super high quality version of Monster Squad is floating around the web! Apparently they’re playing it on one of the HD channels, hence where it comes. Anyhow, I’m currently BitTorrenting it, and since its so hot and fresh, its coming along quite nicely! Wish I could say the same for the Idiot Box torrent that I’ve had up for days… You know, that old Alex Winter MTV show he had? And who’s Alex Winter? You know… Bill S. Preston from Bill & Ted?
Oh and a couple of things that MK passed along. First, check out this crazy guy’s “free ideas” for the rest of the comics world to run with. My fave has to be: “Uncle Scrooge and Captain America team-up in a WWII adventure (naturally predating Christmas on Bear Mountain), wherein it is revealed that Flintheart Glumgold made his fortune as an arms manufacturer for the Axis powers. Meanwhile, Donald is trapped behind enemy lines and only Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos can save him.”
Second, check this person’s absolutely amazing artwork…
Third, MK passed along a link to yet another girl’s work, and also mentioned in the email: “This is who you have to marry if I die in some sort of horrible car crash or freak cake factory accident.” Why? Because, “She does comics about hot dogs & robots & apparently lives in Seattle.”
Make sure you navigate her site with the sound turned way up and with headphones.
And finally, earlier today I had a very interesting business-related lunch and some upcoming plans were discussed. Unfortunately I really can’t go into too many details at the moment since everything is still up in the air, BUT, there is a very good chance that I might be going to Japan sometime next year! And doing what you may be asking? Again, I can’t really say, at least not right now, though I will mention that it might involve me running around on a stage in front of 15,000 screaming Japanese kids, dressed in a suit made out of cheese and throw blocks of cheese at the audience. Stay tuned for details…
