Damn, it?s been well over two, almost three weeks since my last update! Once again, a lot has been going on, though it?s also been kinda quiet at the same time. Let?s see…
Give It Up For Those Crazy Kids And Their Loud Game Boys
When I last wrote, it was the eve of Blip Festival 2007, a four day long love affair with chiptunes, and holy shit did it kick my ass. The entire thing was, basically, the greatest video game geek fever dream/disco ever. And I was there for every single beep and boop, at least the heart of it, as well as the after party, which sadly was what tipped the scales against me. That Friday I got only three hours of sleep, due to the previous night?s seven plus hours of music, had work during the day, barely had time for food before the show, danced away what little energy I had left during the second seven plus hours of music, and went to the aforementioned shindig in Williamsburg, plus it was wicked cold that day and night. So aside from completely missing out Saturday afternoon?s workshops and open mike, the day before totally wiped me out, and by weekend?s end, I was full-blown sick. But with shit to do, I couldn?t afford to take any time off, so I trudged on the rest of the week, though in the end, I still didn?t end up doing that much work sadly. Cue my “man, I am getting old” sentiments…
Hence why my report on the event came out so late, just recently actually. Though given my recent track record with GameSetWatch, I bet some are surprised that it came out at all! Anyhow, here?s parts one and two. And additional coverage have been available via the forum thread, but for those who missed it, or are too lazy to check out any of the links, basically, the highlights were:
- As noted in the report, pretty much every single performance was simply amazing, and overall, the festival exceeded expectations. Last year?s was a milestone, and it?s not that this one was better, or worse, since it simply had a different feel; while I missed some of the Japanese acts from before, there was a bit more variety this time around, which in the end was a strong positive. Plus the whole scene, for lack of a better term, just felt more ?mature?. Though it did suck that there were some rather extreme technical difficulties in some instances, but everyone trudged on the best they could.
My favorite performer? Very hard to say? it was great finally seeing Hally, who I had to miss last year, and he actually lived up to the crazy amount of hype. Saskrotch was perhaps the biggest, completely out of left field surprise, though I would have to say, overall, my absolutely favorite moment of the entire thing was supplied by this guy…
Dear God I wish I could see that looping clip again of him smiling and blooding oozing out of his mouth, or the one of him getting punched in the face and sweat flying all over the place, or the one where he has the evilest looking sneer, and flips off the viewer (in that way that they in Europe, in Italy I believe), in grand gesture of “I shall make you move, you shall bask in my glory, fear me.”
- As also noted in the report, the hot item at the merch table was actual, real-fucking-deal Little Sound DJ carts, which I almost got, but I?m kinda dead broke these days, and figured that $75 was too much to pay for something that, while ultimately cool and leet, would probably just collect dust. And when Dave (Maruo) mentioned, yeah, it?s hard to use, plus that guy actually knows music, I said screw it. I asked Jeremiah, and he was all, it?s not that hard, and I figured he was just saying that, besides of course it?s not hard for him, so I pissed. But after coming across this tutorial that he authored, I?m now kicking myself since it is indeed not that difficult after-all.
- Once more, the after party Friday night was pretty intense, as well as pretty weird. At one point, upon re-entering the dance floor, I felt a bit of string, something light and black, which I tried to find the source off, and kept pulling, and pulling, and pulling, and pulling, to the point that I was afraid I was unraveling someone?s shirt. Next thing you know, I?ve got a ton of string on my hand, others are getting caught, and all of a sudden, Jeremiah has a spool of thread in his hands, helping me to collect it. Guess you kind had to be there.
Sorry it’s not as interesting as how Colin and crew, on their way outside to take a leak on the street due to the bathroom being tied up by some guy doing coke (hey, it?s Williamsburg, so that?s par for the course) and were invited by the creepy folks downstairs to use their facilities, and after they were done, said creepy folks would not let them leave (“Hey man, what?s the rush?” was what they apparently said), but I decided to wait in line. Though I did try following almost immediately after they left, and was befuddled how they seemingly vanished into thing air, and thought I saw a foot I recognized go into a door, yet the creepy guy waiting in the empty hallway 4 in the morning insisted that he saw my friends walk out the front door, despite it not being visible from his angle. And yes, I also know this all sounds very movie like… At the very least, I got to share a ride home with a chiptunes guy from Italy, Finland, and Germany (meaning, yes, one half of Bodenst?ndig) and got to hear them all do Arnold impressions the first part of the trip, which then segued into how America should deal with our immigration problems, south of the border, since there was a Mexican guy driving the car). Later on, I was asked where one could get a gun, and I mentioned how its not exactly easy to get a gun, especially in New York City, and for folks who were out of the country, but I did know people who could supply a hot firearm for a reasonable price (hey, its good to know people), only to discover that they were talking about the Wii Zapper. Oops!
- But I still wished that I made an early exit at the party since the Chibi-Tech/Hally set that was scheduled had to be canceled for some non-chiptune DJ that absolutely had to be on at 5 am, plus as awesome as x|k?s set was, it was pretty much identical to what I had heard the week before at BITMAP. And of course, what did I miss during the open mike the following afternoon? A set from Chibi-Tech & Hally, but at least Dave was there to capture a bit of it.
- And here?s some footage of Jake with Chibi-Tech dancing on stage (which for whatever reason would not upload on YouTube, hence why it?s on vimeo). Sorry the sound is pretty much crap, but Dave?s camera was super close to the speaker.
- Oh, and here?s Colin getting ambushed by G4 TV. Actually, it was Dave who was approached first, but he passed the buck over to Colin. LOL. Hopefully, the Rocket Cat-Bat shirt he was wearing was visible.
- Got to meet Dave?s friend Youri, who had told me that if I mentioned to her that I was getting Rock Band (for review purposes, or at least that was the plan? but I haven?t heard from EA these past couple of weeks? I wonder if they?re pissed at me for my anti-Burnout Paradise comments?), and that she would not only get a chance to play it but be part of our ?band? (I will be taking Katie?s suggestion by adopting the moniker Anime Pussy Hound), I would be her new best friend. And, Dave was right!
- Dave also helped supply me with the pictures for my report, as well as Brian, aka click (once again, click-stick RIP). Here?s a favorite of mine, featuring Pete from Anamanaguchi, myself, Dave, and Colin, simply because of the wide arrange of emotions on our faces…
? As well as this one of me and Josh (whose Flickr page was also a good source of visual aid? thanks man!), striking a pose…
- As noted in the forum thread, my Pedo-Bear slashing animu Ronald McDonald’s face impressed some folks for 4chan enough for them to ask to take a picture (again, I love the somewhat mysterious nature of the calling card I was give, which was the button they gave all attendees to the Otakon panel last year), but Katie has yet to spot it.
- The reappearance of the annoying guy from last year was I guess the only real headache of the entire affair. Actually, I only realized a few days before the event that he had read what I had to say about him, via GSW, which had completely reposted what I wrote in this here blog. Needless to say, he wasn?t too happy.
Nor was I happy to deal with his antics yet again, but… and I know this is weird to say… at least I wasn?t the only person who?s nerves he got on, since I was afraid that I was looking like a curmudgeon (Dave early on suggested that I try my best to ignore the guy and get into the spirit of things? much like annoying guy, who clearly was? till he got kicked in the head by him, due to his incomplete inability to crowd surf properly). And by the end, everyone was sick and tired of the dude, which results in folks dropping him like a sack of rotten potatoes when he came their way, when he attempted to surf for the twelfth time during a single song (no joke), and I myself got back at him when he tried to do some idiotic break-dance-ish headstand, and just knocked the guy over (please dear God tell me that the documentary crew caught that).
- And the one thing I forgot to mention in my report was… remember me mentioning how at a certain point, everyone got super sick of the constant crowd surfing? Well, at one point, this one dude was carried over to where Mark DeNardo was standing, and as Mark grabbed a hold of a guy, everyone else decided to let go all at once. And I have no idea how it happened, but next thing you know, Mark is supporting this one dude, all by himself, and with his back! It was the craziest fucking thing ever, and I really wish I had a picture to capture both Mark?s Herculean effort, as well as his “What in the fuck!?” look on his face.
The A Train Is The Best Train
Another highlight is how, after the first night of the festival, I was in the A train, pretty late at night, going back home, and both Brian and Dave was with me. Now, Dave lives in Greenpoint, and normally doesn?t take the A, but it connects to the G somewhere along the line, and as for Brian, he was staying with his sister, which required a switch to the 1 train. But while we were together, some crazy crack-headed woman came up to us, asking for ten cents specifically (it?s all that she needed, or so she claimed), and I forget the exact exchange (I did all the talking, though it wasn?t much… I also didn?t give her any). Immediately afterwards, some dude gave her a whole dollar, which she was very much thankful for, and without skipping a beat, went back to asking for ten cents, which caused some dude at the other end to yell out shenanigans; she had already received a dollar, so if she only needed one tenth of that amount, why in the hell was she asking for more? And this lead to a very face to face confrontation, which ended with her do a seductive dance for the guy. Dave then noted that he never encounters such stuff on the train. But I do! All the time! To the point that none of it is particularly special.
A second case in point: Katie came to NYC, to spend the following weekend with me, and after Mike?s surprise birthday party that Friday night (noteworthy moments from the evening btw include me asking Dave that he introduce Katie to his pet parakeet Rocco, which culminated in Dave holding his wee pet bird in his mouth, as well as learning from Fitz that Anton Levy, who as most people know is the guy who founded the Satanic Church, was really into robot sex). When a train back to my place arrived, we stepped inside, then for whatever reason, I insisted that we move up a few cars, which was actually more crowded that where we would have originally sat. But the move was a good one, since that placed us in super close proximity to this insane guy on the train that gave everyone a very passionate sermon on the evils of the Mormons (the dude was obviously aware of the current events, in particular the Presidential debates), and pointed out the Osmonds as being the prime forces of evil, and it is true that “You turn on the television and they?re on every five fucking minutes!” (guess he also watches Dancing With The Stars?). The best part was, aside from the fact that no one could ignore the guy no matter how hard they tried, and how he literally had a captive audience, due to the train running slow as fuck was whatever reason, was his very Jimmy Stewart like mannerisms. Guy was MY NEW HERO. And Katie loves my knack for attracting crazies, like how I ended up talking to that one drunk dude during her last visit, about my shoes and Newark.
But also helping is how the A train is, to be blunt, amazing, and the last true vestige of old New York. Where the last of the bona fide crazies still ride the rails, as well as the last source of true entrainment. Not a day goes by in which I the small group of black kids show up and do their break dancing routine, with the best part being about how 50% of the time the littlest one gets thrown up into the air, and his head will smash violently onto the ceiling, with the best part being how immediately afterwards, they all then slap the poor kid and give him shit.
The latest bit of awesome arrived earlier this week: the movie man is back! Last week, on the way home, this guy makes a huge announcement about how “The movie man is back! Ladies and gentlemen, no more waiting in long lines at Best Buy during this busy holiday season for YESTERDAY?S movies, because I have with me today?s movies, still in the theaters, and for just $5! These aren?t filmed from a theater screen ladies and gentlemen, these are direct copies of screeners or direct downloads from the internet; crystal clear, perfect sound. And to prove this fact, my assistant here will play any movie you pick out for you, so you can see what you are paying for, and to know that THE MOVIE MAN DELIVERS ON HIS PROMISES!”
Dude was super effective, as well as efficient; he had with him another dude with a portable DVD player, and as soon as someone showed interest, this other guy would rush to the potential customer, was given a preview of what they wanted, and money was exchanged. And I am totally kicking myself for not asking if he had the latest Resident Evil movie that I missed due so much shit going on (truth be told, I lost all interest when I saw their iteration of Claire Redfield, but Dave later told me about a scene involving Mila?s naked, wet clone, and said it was a must see for me). Hopefully I?ll see the guy real soon… And in case anyone has ever wondered, I wrote most of this journal entry, as I have in the recent past, while on the rail!
And yes, I also know that the A train has been a source of certain controversy, especially as of late. And I know this sounds like famous last words, but given my penchant for attracting trouble, plus the wild, wild west nature of the A train, which I both love and fear, I know that its only a matter of time I get beat up on a subway train. It?s bound to happen sooner or later…
“You?re On The Air”
But yeah, Katie came over last weekend? not this past weekend, but the one before it (yes, I?m that behind). It was fairly laid pack: she finally got to play the Wii. She beat me in Wii Tennis and Wii Homerun Derby, whereas I won out in Wii Bowling and Wii Boxing (though just barely… our first match was a tie). Didn?t touch Wii Golf. Katie also got the chance to check out Super Mario Galaxy. I?m actually still knee deep into it, and it?s still filled with many moments of shock and awe. I?m so in love with the game… it?s damn near perfect IMHO… that I?ve actually become annoyed with some of the criticism. It?s not a perfect game (no video game truly is, aside from Tetris, Ms. Pac Man, and Rez, of course), and while I understand some of the complaints from friends of mine, a lot of the bitching and moaning from online feels as if it’s bitching for the sake of bitching. Whatever. Haters.
NOTE: I haven’t really seen and done everything there is to do, so be sure to bookmark this entry when I have to eat my words.
Oh, Katie also got to finally experience the glory of New York cable access; her first night over, while eating pizza, we tried watching this wretched call in show, with ultra liberal white-bread twerp that tried developing some anti-Giuliani position which involved playing YouTube video live on the air, but did not have his shit together, which meant a solid ten minutes of watching him restart Firefox on his Mac laptop, over and over again, while making stupid excuses throughout. And when he finally did get the video started… which was about how Giuliani went into Ground Zero to nab all the glory, while effectively doing nothing, and how he shat on all the firefighters and rescue workers afterwards… he cut the thing just as it was getting to the heart of the matter, because “Well, it?s starting to get depressing” WTF? I thought that was the fucking point! So I decided to call him, and give him some shit, live on the air, and actually got through. Unfortunately, fission mailed, because he was such a dumbass that even he didn?t know what he was talking about, and even I couldn?t figure out if he was either anti or pro Rudy.
For the record, I am no fan of Rudy, since I was around when he was mayor back in the day, and was therefore not at all impressed by his bullshit Mr. 9/11 shtick, even when the rest of the country was buying it, hook, line, and sinker. But I will say that nothing is more annoying than dumbfucks like the host going on and on about how Giuliani destroyed the cultural fabric of this city, because if it wasn?t those changes, said white dorks wouldn?t have been able to sweep in and gentrify the slums in the first place (whether I liked his methods or not, he did clean up the streets and made NYC a safer place, at least somewhat). They honestly believe they?re doing blacks and other minorities a favor by speaking on their behalf, because “they know their struggle.? Then again, white guilt is pretty LOL.
Anyway, asshat mentioned how he had a conversation with two locals about Rudy on the streets of Harlem, ?his? neighborhood, and how they would vote for the man, despite the fact that he?s the grand oppressor. As he explained the scenario, he had a very subtle tone of “again, black people are stupid and have no idea what?s going on,” which most dumb, hoighty-toighty liberal-types like the host often passively aggressively share. When I attempted to get clarification, he all of a sudden didn?t want to talk about them, and eluded to the fact that they were possibly criminals (cuz they were black, you know). Dude was clearly annoyed, yet kept me on the phone, perhaps due to the fact that I was the only caller to the show! I am no going to call this guy every week, just for shits and giggles.
And on Friday night, Katie got to check out the holy trinity of Alternative Lifestyles (a bizarre foot fetish show hosted by a totally creepy, diehard Stone Cold Steve Austin fan), Concrete TV (nothing but clip after clip after clip of people getting beat up, explosions, oily asses, motorcycle accidents, and the Olsen Twins when they were still kids), and Wild Record Collection (some dude with a massive record collection, who plays songs while stuff animals jump around).
More Narutards Than Usual… But At The Same Time, Not That Many
I guess I should also mention that the New York Anime Con was that same weekend. I went solo since Katie wanted to hang with the friends, and the $30 price of admission for just one day was fucking ridiculous. And it was; the show was a complete stinker. Perhaps this fact has been documented to death already, but yeah, it was a total let-down, as well as a complete shock; the funny thing, some folks, like Hilary, had predicted disaster since it was by the same folks behind the New York Comic Con, and while those shows were fairly put together, comic book people are not the same as anime people, so it was assumed that something similar to the very first NYCC, which was mass confusion would take place. But that didn?t even come close to happening because there was, shockingly, hardly any people there.
I kept hearing conflicting reports: the show was heavily advertised, and that the show was poorly advertised. Some stated that it was a poor time of year in general, since anime cons mostly take place during the summer, but that didn?t stop cosplayers who wear next to nothing from showing up (though as a result, the coat check was a total madhouse). Unfortunately, the one thing that all my comic producing friends could agree upon was how there was virtually no money to be made; the bottom-line is that anime fans are pretty cheap (gone are the days they would blow money on tons of books and DVDs, especially with the advent of file sharing, in which not only stuff is free, but comes way before the official release), and when they do spend money, its only on shit they know and like.
Going in, I was once again pissed that I had no camera, but it really didn?t matter; there weren?t that many people, and of those in costume, none were all that impressive. I will say, there a TON of people in Naruto get-ups. Which, didn?t impress me, since I really don?t like the show! Though there was this one girl in a very nice looking (and rather skin tight) EVA bodyplug suit, as Rei. And it would have been nice to capture the scene at NY Jedi; you had a Celtic Jedi, as well as a Predator Jedi. Also, most hilarious/saddest scene was a small group of cosplayers, a mix of mostly Naruto with some random odds and ends, all posing in a group shot, and about five feet away was some chubby kid in some costume I didn?t recognize, looking all sad and dejected cuz he wasn?t part of the fun?.
Oh, and I was once again reminded how obnoxious anime dorks can be. Aside from the roving band of idiots who kept roaming the halls and getting into fights with kendo sticks (and always coming close to hitting everyone around them), I went to a screening room to check out some show that was barely high concept, but which confused the fuck out of almost everyone around me, which led to much heckling and the such; is the YouTube generation is warped by the internet that they can?t even fucking hang in there till the end of the 22 minute episode to see how the conflict set up in act one might get resolved?
Though there was a light at the end of the tunnel; I got a chance to hang with Zack and Stephanie for a bit, which was certainly nice, and Zack told me of a new anime convention starting up next year in Rhode Island that will apparently be both strictly over 21. Interesting!
“Weird, Silent Footage of Santa”
So it?s the holiday season, which means… holiday shindigs! Last week saw the annual IGDA holiday soir?e. I almost didn?t go, due to being sick and having too much shit to do, but considering how fun past IGDA holiday things are, plus I haven?t been around at all the past couple of months, I figured that it was about time I made an appearance. Unfortunately, it wasn?t at the Gibson Guitar Center like in past years, so no getting drunk and messing around with guitars are an ultra tricked-out recording studio, or Guitar Hero on a big screen. It was at some bar, where there wasn?t any food, plus there as a one drink limit. LAME. Though it takes me just one to get tipsy, so I can?t complain too much.
The funny thing about being at yet another big IGDA function is this: as nice at has been, seeing the New York game dev-community grow and thrive, with virtually everyone I know getting involved in some awesome project or another, it was starting to become depressing, since I felt out of the loop. I had made my mark as a game designer for some huge company, back when such a job was unheard of in NYC, and here I am, simply a video game journalist, writing about the process of making games but no longer doing it myself. And it was pretty depressing, to be completely honest. But this time, there was none of that? I guess because I?ve been too busy with a million other things. So I felt kinda vindicated, or validated, or just simply content that night. Though I guess it helps that I might be designing a game very soon, if things fall into line? stayed tuned of course.
Oh, and I forget why, but for whatever reason, I ended up telling lots of folks about this one LiveJournal I used to obsessively lurk, back when I was unemployed/playing video games and watching the video game channel/eating lots of fried chicken/hitting on girls on the internet, all day and night (man, those were the days). It belonged to this girl who was on MakeOutClub that was 17 (hence why I didn?t hit on her), still in high school (once again?), worked at Burger King, and was devoutly Christian (plus she was a hardcore Sega Dreamcast/Jet Set Radio fan, hence why I noticed her profile in the first place). She would go on and on about how much she LOVED working at Burger King, and would freely throw around stupid terminology that they wanted you to use, which she did with absolute zest that it was both amazing and scary. With her love for Jesus Christ being only greater, but by only a hair. God I wish I still had that link?
Anyway, this past weekend saw Dave (Roman) and Raina?s annual get-together, where we all zone out to a mountain of holiday specials compiled on DVD and VHS (hey, remember those?). Since this has been going on for a few years now, most of the classics have been viewed, so now it?s become a chance to check out bizarre shit, just to see what it?s all about. Such as the Cabbage Patch Kids Christmas special, which featured mind-blowingly amazing stop motion animation, but completely wasted on the ultra creepy looking Cabbage Patch Kids, with the creep factor knocked up twenty notches due to the aforementioned, jaw-dropping animation. Half the ?fun? was figuring out if they were kids or not, since there were no adults to be found, let alone mentions of them, plus everything seemed deserted, so perhaps they had all died (presumably of some plague). Scariest of them all were two girls who I guess were the stuck-up, rich bitches/whores of the neighborhood, one of whom had really fake looking hair, even by Cabbage Patch standards, and both wore ?sexy? shiny hot pants at one point, which strongly tested even my normally high tolerance for batshit insanity.
Though the best thing ever of the evening was a disc filled with really old (i.e. public domain) Christmas shorts from the 40?s and 50?s. One featured a really shitty puppet show, to help remind why Jim Henson is so rightly associated with the form. Another just home movie footage from someone?s Christmas morning. Yet another was just some guy dressed in a Santa suit, just lounging around the office, and cooking a turkey (it was literally called “Weird, Silent Footage of Santa”). Both totally felt like ?last known footage? and the lone Santa one felt really creepy, due to the quiet-spooky holiday music playing. Oh, and there were at least two shorts in which a strange/angry/sick/drunk looking Santas visited a pair of uncomfortable/bored/inattentive/clearly not actors children on Xmas eve to tell a story, which was an excuse to cut away to either Max Fleisher-esque animated sequences or, get this, footage of monkeys from a zoo. I don?t know why, but it really got to me that it was taken during the summer time, and not just the fact that some Christmas story involved purely monkeys. But yeah, Santa equated the good kids to good little monkeys, and bad children as… you guess it… bad little monkeys. Cut to footage of a literally 70 little monkeys all fighting over one pretzel. Then it was footage of chimps being dressed up and forced to receive hair cuts. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Aside from crazy crap to watched, there was also plenty of food to ingest, even though I arrived somewhat late. Thankfully, Dave made sure that there was plenty of sausage by the time arrived. Cuz, apparently, I love meat (well, I do).
Afterwards (the evening ended with Emmet Otter?s Jug-Band Christmas, a true forgotten Jim Henson classic, and the best part of the DVD is all the outtakes of one scene, which was shot over 200 times… yes, wacky outtakes involved Muppets, with the actors behind them staying the character THE WHOLE TIME), I went over to Hilary?s, who ended up lending me her favorite hentai manga, Silky Whip (okay, maybe that?s not so holiday related, but I had to slip Silky Whip in somehow).
“Come On! I Want Some Touch? Action!”
And on Sunday, I went and saw some professional wrestling. Where? In DUMO? And who? The World of Unpredictable Wrestling.
I had a chance to go in the end of October (I had heard about it before, but Moony was the dude that had really sold me on it, since he has a buddy who wrestles for them), but had to pass, due to packing. And after hearing what I had missed? specifically, a match involving one dude dressed as a musketeer, and other dressed as SPIDER-HAM, I knew that, no matter what, I absolutely had to make the next match.
And… I don?t even know where to begin. Well, first off, it was awesome. And really good! Even for a bunch of ?sweaty dudes? (that?s a term I learned from Joe for unknown, local wrestlers, the ones that used to be fed to the Iron Sheik or the Macho Man, back in the day) still learning the craft. Hell, they were helluva lot more entertaining than the stuff you see on television… and to a certain degree, and lot crazier, as well as more dangerous; the action took place at Gleason?s Gym, which is right next to the Manhattan Bridge, and has a super low ceiling. There were points in which wrestler at the top rope, about to do a move, or be at the receiving end of one, would quickly look up and have that expression of “Man, this could so easily go so wrong?”
There were a good deal of matches, many of which featured great workrate (that means wrestling ability, for you non-wrestling fans out there) and awesome personalities. The Musketeer totally delivered as the perfect, whiny, bitchy heel, and even had with him his own personal ring announcer, a very flaming gay dude that egged on the front row (mind you, this place is small, and the seating only goes about three rows deep). Other standouts include a pimp that went by the name El Shoes, the 8th Street Assassin, your typical hoodlum character that looks he?s going to be a garbage wrestler but is actually quite technically proficient (which happens often, actually), and who suffered a horrible beat down as his posse stood back and did nothing(!!!), a guy that looked like former ECW wrestler Justin Credible, enough to call himself Justin Time, and an older dude that looks like a cop (I bet he is) that had the most kick-ass name imaginable: Brooklyn Jeff. Though it was the managers who practically stole the show (the fact that there was managers, who have been phased out over the years over at the WWE and others, was something to celebrate over); aside from the aforementioned gay dude, that totally played it up by sucking on a candy cane seductively and shaking his ass, you had Vinnie the Guido, who acted just as his name implied (during one match, he distracted the ref long enough to throw a chain into the ring, which his guy used to cheat his way to win).
The interaction between the performers and the crowd was pretty outstanding. Again, in the WWE, there?s hardly any of that these days, whereas at one point Sunday night, one dude who was suffering a massive assault and was flung to the outside of the ring acknowledged the little girl next to me (I was seated by a ring corner, in the front row, as was she) who kept yelling heckling him by going ?I? don?t like little girls,? as he was literally drug back into the center. I suppose I should mention that I had the best seat in the house, and just because I was front row, right next to one of the corners (the ring btw looked super unstable, and kept rocking when even regular moves were pulled off); Moony had previously told me about the old fat Italian guy who just yelled at every single wreslter, regardless if they were good guys or bad. Well he was three seats down (note: there was only four seats in my entire row), and going down was a quiet, elderly Jewish guy, and sitting right beside me was a Hispanic girl who could not be any older than 7 or 8 and had the worst case of lazy eye I had ever seen. Plus she was a TOTAL super fan, and couldn?t keep still or quiet, though her enthusiasm was appreciated. But she was a bit too into things at times, such as her hatred for the gay manager, just for being gay. During the Musketeer?s match, I forget what Moony was asking, but it was about a particular move or something, and the little girl interjected with “IT?S BECAUSE HE?S A SISSY!!!” So it was a steady stream of “YOU?RE GAY!” from the little girl, or “HEY BALDIE!” from the old dude.
Man I wish I had a camera…
Odds & Ends
Real quick:
- My mini-comic, UNLUCKY, is now available at Forbidden Planet! Yay! Also, I?ve been re-stocked at Rocketship and Jim Hanley?s Universe. And as always, if you don?t live in NYC, copies are still available via the store!
- So tomorrow I?m going ice skating with Dave and Raina plus friends. Pray I don?t break my neck or something.
- My good e-buddy from the sunny state of California Slonie is in Japan this very second, and I’ve been getting updates as to what’s shaking over in Akihabara. Get this… apparently, the Miyazaki Museum is apparently not that far from Tokyo! If I had known, I would have tried going there myself! Damn. Plus, get this: they even serve their own wine!
And hey, may as well pass along… you know what… stuff that you might have missed at the forums! Including:
- Note to self: give Ikaruga another shot later tonight
- And after that, I should also fire up that copy of Fatal Frame 2 that I just got.
- Anyone else ever hear of a game called Fez?
- Okay, everyone has had a chance to examine (and cringe at) that first screenshot of Steet Fighter 4, but does everyone know that Mike Patton is doing the voice of Bionic Commando?
- So the creator of Katamari Damacy really is making playgrounds for children!
- And on a totally different note, as well as for those who missed it… topless women, covered in baby oil, playing the Wii.
- Via the hacking thread comes a video of Bubsy 3D superplay.
- The one game I’ve been dying to play, is finally here… THE TOURNAMENT!!!
- Awesome examples of… leet-Lego skillz.
- Homeless people are bloggers as well.
- More amazing cable access… but from Winnipeg.
- Further goodies for folks who are into chiptunes…
- The random videos thread now includes mecha redneck spider!
- And the random pics thread is filled with…
- Meanwhile, in the secret chamber, you’ll find tons of Steven Segal pics, surprisingly well done Alladin porn, and the very future of art… plus a whole lot more, of course. And once again, if you want to get in on the action, or have already registered, please drop me a line so I know that your account isn’t a spam-bot!
