Game Review:  Assassins Creed (2007)
     Publisher:  Ubisoft
     Systems:  PS3, Xbox360
     Plot:  In 2012, a bartender named Desmond Miles is kidnapped by a multi-billion dollar company named Abstergo and put into a machine called The Animus - a machine specifically designed to pull memory from DNA.  And even more specifically, ancestrial memory.  The ancestor of Desmond that Abstergo is interested in is that of Altair, an assassin during the Third Crusade who reported killed off the last of the Knights Templar.  Something to do with this secret historial assassin has piqued the interest of this futuristic corporation - and Desmond is the key to unlocking its secret!

Throughout the game you juggle between your assassination missions as Altair - which makes up the bulk of the gameplay - and your investigation missions as Desmond - which takes place between the different memory blocks that you are trying to unlock.  As Desmond digs deeper into Abstergo and their ultimate motivations, he stumbles upon a conspiracy reaching back to the 1100s and the Third Crusade - a blood fued that has lasted for centuries between the Templars and the Assassins, and a mystical artifact that could hold the key to the future of our world.

The gameplay in the game is refreshing and fun.  The game requires you to master free running - running over rooftops and over structures - to evade and naviagte giant cities filled with tons of people.  Climbing buildings is fun, and seeing the draw distance from the top of tall structures can be rather breathtaking.  The Leap of Faith - doing a nose dive from the top of a building into a straw pile - is certainly an appeal of the game.  I could do that for hours and not get bored with it. 

The graphics are rather impressive, and the lack of lag in a sprawling street mixed with all of the textures and details in the game make for an emersive experience.  The combat is fun too - instead of a button masher like most games, this game requires you to finesse your moves by timing them appropriately to pull of combos.  The combat can get rather difficult at times, especially for what should be a stealth game.  Especially at the end, where all of your moves are required to pull off your final mission.

The game does suffer from a number of glitches (at least on the PS3), such as randomly freezing your system - or restarting itself for no reason what-so-ever.  There are also some glitches with the gameplay, as not all of your moves will work every time.  These flaws would normally be something that would keep a game from coming out at the levels that I've personally experienced them, as they happen almost every time I play the game.  It's a little frustrating, and takes you out of the experience rather quickly.  It's unfortunate, because this game would otherwise be stellar.

Produced by the very lovely Jade Raymond (host of G4s Electronic Playground and one of the leading women in video games), Assassin's Creed was aparently created to be a series of 3-4 games in total.  And while I haven't beaten the game yet (damn last battle keeps kicking my ass), the fact that Jade Raymond is attached to the rest of them does insure that I'll be back for more - especially if you can get them at a decent price point (I bought mine when GTA4 came out, and they cut the price in half). 



Plus, Jade Raymond is freakin' gorgeous!  Anything that keeps a smile on that woman's face is a good thing in my book!

In summary, if you enjoy a good stealth game that adds elements previously unseen in video games (free running and a rythmical combat system), be sure to check this game out.  It's totally worth it!

My Site and Drunk Duck

A little cliche, I realize, but tons of fun to do nevertheless.  I really just wanted to play with some blur effects for this page, and try to give the illusion of depth (even though we were practically right next to each other in the studio).  However, due to a lack of time on my part, the background in this page is a little lacking.

In other news, I'll be posting pictures of Waffles post-surgery pretty soon.  I just got them put onto the computer, so now I just need to find 5 minutes to upload them to the web.  I also have some pictures for you Susie fans out there, of my friend that looks like her (only blonde).  Should be a fun treat, and I'm trying to figure out a way to turn it into a little strip....

Be patient, though, as I'm going to be out of state this weekend.

And I know I don't normally like to jump from one story arc directly into another, but I think I may do another black and white storyline for Trevor's birthday in the comic.  I've wanted to do a Susie / Laura team-up story for quite some time, and it's evolved into this story idea.  I think that two birthday stories in the same year is probably not the best planning on my part, but I think it's a fun idea and should be entertaining. 

So to answer your questions, yes - the illustrations are coming back.  The photo story arc was just a project that was a lot of fun to do (and I'm going to revist it again in the near future), but it was never going to be what this comic was going to become.  Far too much work involved.  ;)

I do appreciate all of the comments / e-mails I've been receiving in support of it, however, and I encourage you to continue to support the comic and the story.  I'll be coming back to photos again with this - and other - projects.  And no doubt will be tapping Erica to help me with it.

Have a great weekend, everyone!  See ya Monday for some Temple!

Off Hours Guest Strip

So, I signed up a while ago to do a guest strip for the community comic Off Hours, but never got around to signing up for more of them...yet!  However, here's the finished page that I did.  The writing was done by series regular writer Allen, while the colors were done by my friend Amanda. 

It was a fun guest strip to do, and I'd like to do another one soon...after all of the crazy comic stuff calms down a bit.  Too many projects in the works right now, I fear that I've overwhelmed myself a little too much right now.  I just need some time to play catch up, get out the stuff that I'm working on, and then once it's all done, move on to new projects.

Priorities....that's what I'm working with right now. 

     Movie Night 97:  Hellboy (2004)
     Director:  Guillermo Del Toro
     Cast:  Ron Perlman, John Hurt, Selma Blair, Doug Jones
     Plot:  In 1942, The Unided States sent a squad of specialists to an island off the coast of Scottland to stop a Nazi plot to unleash armageddon upon the world.  Upon stopping them, the specialists discovered a demon child with a large stone hand - and decided to name him Hellboy (Perlman).

In present day times, enter the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD).  This is the government organization that Hellboy works for, along with his fishy friend Abe Sapien (Jones), his father (Hurt), and his first caster love interest Liz (Blair). 

The evil that once released Hellboy is back to try to destroy humanity, and it's up to the team of the BPRD to try to save the world!  With various creatues to face - including the Seed of Destruction - Hellboy must keep himself a secret from the world outside while battling the monsters that try to attack it.  And ultimately, Hellboy must unravel his past to understand his destiny - will he be our savior, or unleash the Right Hand of Doom and destroy us all!

The first Hellboy movie is bogged down by a lot of exposition (having crammed 4-5 graphic novels worth of content into a 2+ hour movie), but that doesn't mean that it's not a fun and enjoyable ride.  The characters are a refreshing bunch that you don't typically see in movies these days, and it's interesting how easily you grow to like them and their plight.  Each has unique perspectives on the world that they try to save, and unique motivations for doing so.  The comics are a must-read for people who saw this movie and craved more - but you don't have to have read them to enjoy the movie. 

Watch this flick!

My Site and Drunk Duck

Drunk Duck has been messing up a whole lot lately, and it's starting to get a little annoying....

But on a lighter note, here's the new page where Waffles surgery is under way! In the real world, Waffles just got her surgery done last night - and while I was expecting a sleepy and unconscious kitty when I went to pick her up, she was normal as anything...but with a bald patch on her belly!

Anyone here a cat owner? When you got your cat fixed, did you notice a change in their purr sound, or in their meow? Waffles sounds different to me after her surgery - but she's able to purr, which means she's not pissed at me at least.

Well, maybe that'll change after her pain meds wear off.... :P

I'll try to post some pictures of her post-surgery soon, so everyone can see the funny bald patch on her belly. Because she's a black cat, it sticks out like a sore thumb!

Anyway, have a great weekend, everyone!

###

Now, as many of you know, @$$hole! was nominated for Best Photo Comic and Best Experimental Comic in the 2008 Drunk Duck Awards. But it lost to another photo comic, LOST, and a different experimental comic, LOCOMA. However, I pulled away with a nomination of being on the site for less than a year, and I'm told that I would have won the award had they gone with the popular vote instead of a panel vote (kind of sounds like the Bush election 8 years ago...).

So thank you everyone who reads, who comments, and who voted for @$$hole!. These are for you:

My Site and Drunk Duck

I think most of this is repeated from earlier, but it's always good for a reminder. The gods are mortal, and killing them means that you get their vote. Ergo, if Veno kills his sister, he gets to vote for her. Hence, why she needs the bodyguard.

It looks like Abraham is receiving some special armor to go with his new sword...perhaps this is important stuff too? :P

###

Now, as many of you know, Temple was nominated for Most Profound Comic in the 2008 Drunk Duck Awards. But it lost to a much more profound comic, Broken Things. However, I pulled away with a nomination of being on the site for less than a year, and I'm told that I would have won the award had they gone with the popular vote instead of a panel vote (kind of sounds like the Bush election 8 years ago...).

So thank you everyone who reads, who comments, and who voted for The Temple of a Thousand Tears. This one's for you:

On Thursday, Waffles goes in for her fixing....She'll probably be saying something like this: 


The poor thing has no idea what's coming.  She was misbehaving on Friday during Movie Night (sliced my hand open with her claws) because we decided to reorganize the entire living room!  Everything has been moved, and since she's not allowed to go into other rooms, her entire world has been turned upside down.  On the plus side, though, this means that she gets to explore everything anew.  Even something as simple as a lamp has become intensely interesting to her again.

However, it also means that her and I are back in a power struggle, because her boundaries have been moved / changed.  She's going behind the TV again, and trying to break new things.  I have to be pretty careful about how I "kitty proof" my living room right now.  Also, she's teaching herself how to jump onto things - and as she gets bigger / stronger, she's only going to have more access to the apartment. 

My weekend was awesome, despite the rainy weather.  Instead of going to Ren Fair on Saturday with Alicia (it was raining something nasty outside), as we had planned, we instead went to the DIA and walked around for a day looking at the artwork. 
  
  




After the DIA, Alicia and I drove downtown Ann Arbor to celebrate Oktoberfest with several of my friends.  Although neither of us are really beer drinkers, we were still able to enjoy some company - and get completely soaking wet from the monsoon rain storm that hit Michigan over the weekend. 

Sunday was spent sleeping in until the wedding that I attended for my best friend since 8th grade!  It was a great time, to be sure, despite the foul weather conditions.  Had I anticipated the weather, I probably would have worn different clothes and ran around in the rain some more.  But it was a fun time, with great people and fantastic food!  I got to see some people that I haven't seen in years, and I was able to meet some new faces as well.  Always a good time.

This week is going to be nuts for me socially and comic-wise, since I'm going to be out of state next weekend...and because I will be spending most of this weekend indoors with my kitty while she recovers from surgery.  I am not opposed to people coming over to see me, but I may not be leaving - depending on how she's doing. 

My Site and Drunk Duck

In the background, you'll notice a poster that reads "Trevor '08." There's a slogan below it, but I'm not a fan of it because it makes fun of a certain political party that I'm not rich enough to be a part of...yet.

However, this means that I can have you - my faithful and creative readers - come up with a slogan for me! Best slogan gets made into a banner, which I'll encourage everyone to put into their signatures and on their websites (at least on one page), with special props to the person who wrote it!

Some ideas include:
1) Black, Old, or Bald - You Decide
2) Vote for Booze
3) A Candidate for Boobs!

Having some difficulty coming up with some ideas? Need a little inspiration? Check out this website for giggles / potential submission ideas: http://thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi?word=trevor

###

Now, as many of you know, @$$hole! was nominated for Best Photo Comic and Best Experimental Comic in the 2008 Drunk Duck Awards. But it lost to another photo comic, LOST, and a different experimental comic, LOCOMA. However, I pulled away with a nomination of being on the site for less than a year, and I'm told that I would have won the award had they gone with the popular vote instead of a panel vote (kind of sounds like the Bush election 8 years ago...).

So thank you everyone who reads, who comments, and who voted for @$$hole!. These are for you:

Movie Night #96 didn't turn out quite as planned.  Originally, there was going to be BBQ, good food and friends, and then some movie watching.  Well, we did some of that....

Having just assembled my BBQ the week previous, I was thinking that it was long past time to try the thing out - I mean, it is starting to get colder out, so the thing should get used while it still can.  Scott and Erin came over and we started grilling some burgers.  I went inside to go make myself a drink, came back out to check the progress, and noticed that he flames on the grill were rather high.

"Strange," I thought to myself.  "I think I'll turn the burners down to low." 

Upon doing do, the flames didn't die down at all.  I waited a moment, and then thought, "Double strange.  Perhaps I'll turn them off...."

Well, the flames still didn't die down.  They were about a good foot off the top of the grill!  Suddenly, my keen intilect kicked in and I realized, "Oh shit!  It's a grease fire!" 

Scott and I instantly shut off the propane and removed the unit from the BBQ, and I took the now flame-burned burgers off the grill.  The flames began to die down a bit, but there was a problem - the grease in the grease catcher, located underneath the BBQ, was on fire! 

With no easy way to suffocate the grease fire in the catcher (in case you didn't know, you have to deny grease fires oxygen in order to put them out.  DO NOT USE WATER!), because as we tried to throw baking soda on the thing it just fueled the flames.  Scott and I sat on the balcony with the flaming catcher until it ran out of fuel (grease).  I moved it so that the wind wasn't blowing on it any more, which helped.

Ultimately, we were still able to enjoy some of the burgers - but many of them were lost, becoming something more like hokey pucks than food.



After dinner, we sat around and chatted (and I played some PixelJunk Monsters), and the evening ended early.  People were tired, and we had an exciting fire experience almost burning down my apartment. 

Thankfully, I gave it a try the next day with some steak, and although the steak became a little burned (these are some high-powered flames, let me tell you), it was still very good stuff!  Scott came over to witness that, yes, I am able to use a BBQ responsibly.  ;)

Things are going to get a little crazy in the coming months for Movie Night, so here's a tentative schedule (subject to change, depending if I go to Chicago in October or not):

September 12:  Movie Night 97
September 19:  NO MOVIE NIGHT - Rock Band Party over at Scott's (Waffles recovers from surgery)
September 26:  NO MOVIE NIGHT - I will be out of state at Pokagon
October 3:  Movie Night 98
October 10:  tentative Movie Night 99
October 17:  tentative Movie Night 100
October 24:  tentative Movie Night 101
October 31:  NO MOVIE NIGHT - It's freakin' Halloween, people.  No doubt you have parties to attend....
November 1:  HALLOWEEN PARTY!
November 5:  BIRTHDAY!  Scott and I will be getting older.  Possible drinking binge outting on this night....
November 7:  Movie Night 102 - BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!  The new Bond movie comes out to theaters, so it might be something to consider for this night....

My Site and Drunk Duck

Action! Olivia does a decent job of leading the eye in this page, and the final blow is supposed to be so powerful that it's ripping the creature in half!

That's some sword, eh...? I wonder if it might be...legendary? ;)

Also, if you guys haven't been following the 2008 Drunk Duck Awards (shame on you), then check out the Best Romantic Comic and Best Political / Editorial Comic presentations for a pleasant surprise. ;)

Temple didn't win any awards (although I'm told that the results would have been very different had they gone with the popular vote instead of panelists voting - wow, kinna sounds like the last presidential election two terms ago), but it did get nominated for an award in the first year of the comic being out on that site.  And that's just fine in my book.



So a very special thank you to all who read, comment, and voted for the comic! 

My Site and Drunk Duck

And here we meet Dr. DePantelones (which, in Spanish, means "The Doctor of Pants!"), played marvelously by my good friend Troy Smith. I'm a little disappointed at how this page turned out because I wanted to show more of his leg - but again, Erica was away and we were having difficulty switching out photographers with a 30lbs+ camera set-up. Your wrist starts to hurt after about 5+ hours of shooting, and that's about where we were here (hint: these photos were not taken in order).

Again, this shoot took a lot of coordination and hard work over the grueling (but very fun) 6+ hours that it took to do it. A lot of help went into it, and I appreciate everyone's contributions (of which, I will be recognizing towards the end of the story arc).

We just make this look easy. We're professionals.... ;)

Anyway, Troy was very enthusiastic when I told him about this role - and honestly didn't wear any pants during the entire shoot! He did, however, have on boxer-briefs. He was my first and only choice for this role, because I knew that he had the look and the energy required to play the part. Overall, I'm not disappointed with my casting choice at all. ;)

Also, if you guys have been digging the photo comic and haven't been following the 2008 Drunk Duck Awards (shame on you), then check out the Best Romantic Comic and Best Political / Editorial Comic presentations for a pleasant surprise. ;)

@$$hole! didn't win any awards (although I'm told that the results would have been very different had they gone with the popular vote instead of panelists voting - wow, kinna sounds like the last presidential election two terms ago), but it did get nominated for two awards in the first year of the comic being out.  And that's just fine in my book.

    

So thanks to all who read, all who enjoy, and all who voted for the nominations!

     Movie Night 95:  Hot Fuzz (2007)
     Director:  Edgar Wright
     Cast:  Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Bill Nighy
     Plot:  Sgt. Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is the greatest police officer in the Met, and has started to make his fellow officers look bad.  As such, they promote him - to a sleepy little town in the country side!  Even before his first day begins, Angel has arrested half of the town, including a drunk who turns out to be an action flick obsessed fellow cop - Danny Butterman (Frost). 

As a series of accidents happen and residents start dying, Angel suspects foul play - and perhaps even murder.  But how to prove it, in a town where everyone knows everyone?  A series of homages to hit action flicks and what you think to be an incomprehensible (but in actuality is a very simple) plot later, Angel will discover what kind of a cop he truly can be....

I remember seeing this movie in theaters with Laura, and neither of us really enjoyed it.  The end gets a little convoluted, and there were many references to action movies that I had never seen before - so I felt a little left out of the joke.  However, I started to enjoy the movie more as I watched it on DVD.  And now that I have watched it a few times, I can enjoy it for the fun action ride that it is. 

Wright has a great way of directing, especially when it comes to violence.  The guy never pulls any punches, and can even turn something like an action movie into something that has elements of horror and suspense.  And gore!  The guy loves a healthy dose of blood and guts, and sometimes it's utterly disgusting - and other times, it's absolutely hilarious!

But again, this flick's probably not for everyone.  It's very different, and very British, and can therefore put some people off - myself included among them, at least the first time I watched it.  But certainly worth watching, none-the-less.

My Site and Drunk Duck

The wooden sword proved to be, as we all thought, useless. However, Artimis has thrown Abraham a brand new sword...could this be the mystical key sword that we saw in the original story?

Debate and discuss.

My Site and Drunk Duck

At this point in the photo shoot, we switched to a black background because someone (ie: a tall, bald idiot) thought that it would be a good idea. I mean, I didn't want the white coats to disappear into the white background - which they wouldn't have. But I didn't think about that.

I also didn't think about backlight color. You see, white reflects light, while black absorbs it. Therefore, the pictures not only got darker - but I had difficulty figuring out where my shirt ended, and where the background began.

Bear in mind, this was not Erica's fault by any means - as she had left for a party by this point. This was 100% my mistake, and it was a lesson well learned. Through some Photoshop manipulation, I was able to lighten the images and edit what I needed to - but I'm less happy with the final project than if I had kept the white background.

Live and learn. ;)

Be sure to check out Erica's website - www.ericahampton.com - for some of the new photos that she's posted recently.

As I mentioned previously, my comics were nominated for several categories for the the 2008 Drunk Duck Awards.  However, what I failed to mention was that I was also helping with some of the presentations!  I was responsible for presenting Best Political / Editorial Comic, and helped concept and "co-star" in the presentation for Best Romance Comic (which, the reader reaction seems to be that people want to know more about the sordid digital relationship between Trevor and Jess...and we might just give it to them!). 

As for the results of the categories that I was nominated for, the results are not all in just yet.  I'll make a post when all of the awards are finished.  Just know that two of the categories did not pan out for my comic as the winner.  An insider tells me, however, that if they had gone with the popular vote instead of a panel vote, both would have won their nominated awards!  The fans really seem to dig the work, and that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  :D  Thanks, everyone!

Now, without further distraction, here are the two presentation pages that I put together.  Enjoy:


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