Fresh Fish Served Daily

You are just so, so over the top. I don’t even care that half of your stuff doesn’t make any sense. Don’t ever change.

Well, it’s time for the yearly Dragoncon rundown post! It’s much later than usual because I came down with some form of con crud this year despite my best efforts. I blame the AC and dry air in our hotel room for my massive head cold.

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Hoo, boy. First off, if you have heard me talk about comics before you’ll know that I am not fond of Wolverine. He’s basically the Superman of the Marvel universe: healing powers and heightened senses mean that he’s practically impossible to kill, and to top it off he’s a right asshole about it. I do however enjoy him in the movies, because, HELLO, it’s Hugh Jackman. That man is so charming and opposite what Wolverine is actually like (in looks AND personality) and enough of that leaks through into his performance to make the character likable. This plus Ryan Reynolds playing Deadpool and that Gambit was finally in an X-Men movie was enough to make me want to see it.

Here’s the short, no-spoiler version of my review: “The canon version of Wolverine’s origin is too boring…let’s change it around, add some characters who are either completely absent from the original story or are completely different from what they should be, and throw in as many slo-mo ‘walking away from an explosion’ or ‘screaming at the sky’ scenes as we can. Oh, and don’t forget the kicky one-liners.”

After that review, you might think that I didn’t like the movie. You would be mistaken! It is gloriously cheesy, and there are fights and things blow up. Hugh Jackman runs around naked. There are like eighteen different twists, and you can see all of them coming from a mile away. Gambit makes some cards glowy. Deadpool is awesome. There are even three different scenes after the credits, depending on where you see it! It’s absolutely lovely, as long as you don’t think too hard. Or at all, really.

Also: someone give Ryan Reynolds a Deadpool movie! You can just pretend that Origins didn’t happen when writing the script for it.

So the craziness of SXSW is finally over. I have spent the last few days sleeping and re-hydrating myself, and I think I’m mostly recovered now. As I mentioned before this was the first year I’ve actually attempted to do some stuff for the festival (not including tagging along to a free day party last year). I had a relatively large list of things that I was aiming to do but ended up doing much less, mainly because I didn’t want to spend a hojillion dollars while (f)unemployed.

Wednesday I dragged Dane to the Datapop Party for some chiptunes. I’m not really familiar with the 8 bit music scene so I figured this was an excellent chance to hear some new stuff. Plus, it was free. The sound balance was off giving me a hard time hearing the band names when they were announced and the vocals for the band that did showtunes covers. The venue is sort of weird and echo-y, too. It’s an old Salvation Army, which means it’s basically a warehouse with concrete floors. Half of the floor space was blocked with fabric barriers. Maybe fire code means that the maximum allowed amount of people make the space look empty and they were trying to make it look more full by condensing the crowd? It could also be partly for reducing the echo, but they could have been set up further back if that were the case. At least there’s plenty of parking and they gave us free Red Bull. (Too bad the bartender gave me a sugar-free one. Pyrrhic victory FTL.) I liked everything I heard and had a great time bouncing around. I also discovered later the name of my favorite act of the night: Sievert, who has a bunch of music up for free. Please to be checking it out. It’s basically extremely upbeat drum and bass with Gameboy musics.

Friday night was the “official” Nerdcore showcase at Prague on Congress. Since it was listed as an “official” SXSW show I didn’t know if I could get in, but they didn’t seem to care that I was sans badge and wristband. They happily took my $8 and ushered me in. Man, that venue was wildly inappropriate for the type of show, but that’s a whole different story (or, more likely, Yelp review). There were a couple of non-Nerdcore rappers on the bill as well, and we walked in during the first (Phranchyze, for those who are interested…not really my style, as it was mostly straight hip-hop. Nice beats, though.) Up next was Terp2it, Austin’s local nerdcore artist. His stuff is more silly than most of the other nerdcore I’ve heard, but it’s definitely funny and charming in it’s own way. Especially the part where he did a freestyle rap using someone’s VW owner’s manual. I hadn’t heard any of Jesse Dangerously‘s solo stuff (just his stuff with Lars and Front) so it was cool to see him perform. I’m definitely picking up his albums on emusic as soon as my downloads refresh. Frontalot was next and, naturally, put on a great show. I was expecting Lars afterwards but he wasn’t scheduled to go on till 1am, and it was only about 12:15. I also started to notice that the bar was getting really crowded. And most of the people coming in weren’t nerds. No, they were of the popped collar/miniskirts with cowboy boots persuasion. Curiouser and curiouser! Well, imagine my surprise when a gold-painted man with curlers and a Rococo pimp took the stage and started rapping about their limousine. Zuh? I found out later they were Lord T and Eloise, who apparently combine crunk and the 18th century in Memphis. I cannot tell you if they were any good as they were absolutely DEAFENING and I had to jam my earplugs in as hard as possible so my ears would be undamaged enough to hear Lars when he came on. I can tell you that the people scheduling these things at SXSW probably need to do a bit more research. ANYWAYS. Lars came on after the craziness and put on a lovely show, despite the fact that his drummer was sitting in an airport on standby. We had the excellent luck that Jaret Reddick (of Bowling for Soup) was also at SXSW and was able to sing his chorus for “Download This Song”.

I’m pretty sure that SXSW officially ended on Saturday, but the nerdcore dudes played again on Sunday night at the Spiderhouse Art Authority. I liked the show much better as it was more relaxed and I was actually able to hear. Plus, by virtue of my Blue Sun shirt, Quani and I got introduced to all of the artists and got to hang out ridiculously late with them. All of them were super nice (especially Jesse) once I managed to get over my fangirl stuttering.

Uploaded by sushi the great

Friday was chock full of nerdcore goodness. First we headed to the Ritz Drafthouse for a showing of Nerdcore Rising, the documentary that followed MC Frontalot on his first tour. The director and Front were both in attendance for a Q&A session after the show. Very cool, very funny. Then we walked across the street to the Flamingo Cantina to see MC Frontalot, MC Lars, and YT Cracker perform. In a word: AMAZING. The club was tiny and cramped but the show was ridiculously fun and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Also Front let me take a picture with him, so bonus awesomeness for that.

Check out the rest of my pictures from the show here. I fiddled a bit with the ISO settings so I was able to get a few decent action shots without the flash.

About a month or so ago Dane and I saw that the Drafthouse had a listing for a Lord of the Rings feast. All three movies (the first two as the extended editions) shown back to back with a seven-course meal served at all of the Hobbit mealtimes. It sounded like it would be really intense but also really fun. The tickets were a bit expensive, but when we considered the amount of food and time involved we thought it was something worth doing at least once in our lives.

It was amazing! Both of us really enjoyed ourselves. Each meal was just the right amount of food so we didn’t feel stuffed, and it was great seeing the movies again. I thought that doing it once would be enough, but I would definitely consider doing it again in the future.

My only complaint is that they showed the theatrical version of Return of the King. Their explanation was that the extended version was never done in 35mm, and they didn’t want to show a DVD after showing the 35mm versions of the previous movies. I sort of understand that, but I was pretty disappointed that I didn’t get the see the Mouth of Sauron on the big screen.

Here’s a short breakdown of the food:

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Wow. Just…wow. This particular issue made me laugh way more than any X-title in a LONG time. I realize it’s probably because of Warren Ellis’ writing, but hopefully they can keep at least a little of that charm whenever he leaves. Here’s my absolute favorite set of dialogue:

Brand: Did you just say ****ing to me?
Beast: Scott, you just said ****ing to my…um. Actually, what are you? “Girlfriend” doesn’t sounds quite…
Brand: “Xenophiliac experimentation partner”?
Beast: Scott, you just said ****ing to my girlfriend.
Cylcops: I wouldn’t say anything like that.
Wolverine: Cyke, I heard you from down the hall. Don’t do it again, ok? It’s like catching a rerun of “Happy Days” and seeing Ron Howard picking up hookers.

You can’t help but giggle maniacally at that.

In the recent past it seemed like most X-titles have been about the newest bad guy and what crazy, earth-changing shit they had planned. I get that it’s a superhero comic so that’s kind of the point, but I still would like to see some characterization there. With Joss Whedon’s run on Astonishing the characters really started to come alive again. I mean, two of my favorite characters now are Cyclops and Emma Frost. Let me repeat that in case you missed it: CYCLOPS AND THE WHITE QUEEN ARE MY OTP. I never in my life thought I would say that. Cyclops used to be the biggest Gary Stu, but then he started sleeping with Emma and has become the resident badass. I ADORE what Joss has done with him, and I’m glad that all of the X-titles seem to be adhering to this new vision of him. (see also: X-Force) Even Emma is no longer a caricature, but a strong woman with interests and flaws just like anyone else. Here’s another bit of dialogue to show you why I love these two together:

Cyclops: Emma? Apparently I said “****ing” to Abigail Brand. Does that sound like me?
Emma: Well done, darling. That snot-haired cow had it coming. I’m very proud.
Cyclops: God, I love you.

You see what I mean? If you have any love for the X-Men at all you’ll go pick up a copy.

Short version: See this.

Long version: Dane and I made just about every point in Yahtzee’s review before we had even seen it. The predictable plot. The twitchy dodge. The Americanized…everything. Look, when I’m playing a Silent Hill game I am NOT playing it for the combat. I am playing it for the puzzles, the atmosphere, the creepy monsters. If I have to aim when using a gun, something is wrong. There are already so many FPS games on the market you do not need to turn Silent Hill into one.

Melee combat is also a total chore. Every enemy is fast, and really the only melee weapon that can keep up is the knife. THE KNIFE. We used a fucking KNIFE for the ENTIRE GAME. This does not make sense. A monster that stands at least 10 feet tall and is as massive as this should not be able to run faster than me. Dodging should work properly. The camera shouldn’t be a complete hindrance.

Oh, and the story? I’M SURE NO GAMERS HAVE EVER SEEN JACOB’S LADDER, GUYS. IT’S ALL GOOD.

And for the last time, PYRAMID HEAD IS JAMES’ MONSTER. I get that he is a really popular monster, but that doesn’t mean you have to put him into everything that has the “Silent Hill” label slapped on it. There was absolutely no reason for him to be in this game. PERIOD.

For all those complaints, I didn’t actually HATE the game, I just thought it was mediocre. I think it’s gotten to the point where I will never find another survival horror game I really LOVE. The industry feels they have to cater to a specific demographic, and I’m not in it.

Ok, here it is: my incredibly long and relatively detailed account of Dragoncon 2008. Enjoy!

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Well, I really have no excuse for not writing up my con report before now. I think this year was the best time I’ve ever had at con.

The biggest and best change this year was the completion of construction at the Marriott, plus the addition of the Sheraton as another host hotel. The Marriott added one new ENORMOUS ballroom, which housed the majority of the mega-panels on Sat and Sun. Finishing the Atrium level made foot traffic really flow, since you can stand along the edge and people-watch from above without clogging up the lower areas. As far as I know the Fire Marshall didn’t have to shut down the Hyatt once during the whole con, and I really believe it’s because the Marriott has become the place to congregate. Even the celebrities seemed to like the Marriott better.

I’m still writing a massive post with a breakdown of the whole weekend, so expect to see that within a few days.