Top Hat Sasquatch

If you follow me on Instagram (and really, why wouldn’t you?), you’ve probably seen me post shots of action figures hanging around a model Asteroids arcade cabinet. Years ago I posted about those G.I. Joe-scale arcades and I ordered one myself from EMDKay.net.

Well, I was having so much fun with my Asteroids cabinet that I wanted to get more of these awesome model arcade cabs, and I knew I had to have the TMNT model. I also figured that you all would be stoked to get a chance to win one yourselves, so when I placed my order I asked about hosting a giveaway, and they were for it.

If you haven’t seen these, they’re incredibly detailed models of actual arcade games from the 80s and 90s. They are to G.I. Joe scale, but they work really well with lots of different action figures, including Ninja Turtles. EMDKay has a crazy-huge selection and eventually I want them all, but for now I’m just glad to finally be able to take meta photos of the Turtles playing their own game.
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To capitalize on the March Madness that will grab college basketball fans this week, StarWars.com has introduced a similarly themed character tournament. The official site has paired 32 Star Wars  personalities in a Light Side vs. Dark Side showdown. Daily, starting on Monday, March 19, you can vote in head-to-head popularity contests. They call it “This Is Madness.” The individual battles lead up to the finale, set for voting on April 9.

Despite all their work, it’s really not that interesting. There is a mildly entertaining video with Darth Vader that pretty much anyone with a costume and a YouTube account could create. Paging Chad Vader. I’ve already turned in my bracket for the office pool betting that everyone’s favorite baddie Boba Fett takes home top prize. Ultimately, StarWars.com did something geeky but didn’t quite make it geeky enough.
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I’ve seen posts like this on a few blogs I read regularly, so thought I would start occasionally mentioning what random movies and TV shows I’ve been watching. If nothing else, you may find something to put in your Netflix queue or you may think of something to recommend to me. I’m going to just number these posts sequentially so I don’t have to think of clever titles each time, because lazy.

Take Shelter – Amazon/Netflix

It may be the anticipation of seeing him portray General Zod in the upcoming Superman flick Man of Steel, but I’ve been on a big Michael Shannon kick lately. That dude is intense, and reminds me of the kind of kid that was held back a few times in High School but always gets put on your team in gym class and scares the shit out of you.

In Take Shelter, Shannon plays a Dad and husband to Jessica Zero-Dark-Thirty Chastain who is plagued with nightmares about apocolytpic storms and starts building a storm shelter in his backyard. He worries he’s going crazy, and the whole movie is done in this very subtle way and it was very cool. Shannon plays a quiet, subdued, average guy, and that makes you hang on every word he says. If you like psychological thrillers, you should definitely check it out.
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I had a weird relationship to PC gaming as a kid. I remember when we got our first computer that had a CD-ROM drive, I played the hell out of games like Wolfenstein and a lot of random point-and-click games I don’t even remember. A few years later games started coming out with 3D graphics, and the old Packard Bell couldn’t keep up. I remember being hugely disappointed when I brought home my copy of The Phantom Menace only to find I couldn’t play it.

That’s probably a huge reason why I played Age of Empires so damned much. Someone installed it on my computer, it ran fine, and I remember playing it for hours. The music and sound effects are burned in my brain. I think I played the first one more than Age of Empires II: Age of Kings, but I know I played that one a lot too.

Even now I think about that game and I get the urge to track down some version that will play on my computer, but I’m too lazy to do it. Luckily, Microsoft is releasing a remastered version of Age II on Steam next month, with all kinds of graphical enhancements and wizardry. I hardly use Steam, but I know I’ll be dropping the $20 on this game and adding to my already huge list of distractions that keep me from working.

I can’t wait to hear those priests Wololoing again.

Via The Verge

For a big portion of my life I’ve called myself an “aspiring cartoonist.” Since I was very young I’ve had a fascination with comic strips and comic books. I’ve drawn cartoons for my family and friends over the years. I was even a cartoonist for my tiny college newspaper. Motivation and a plan of action are the only things that have kept the word “aspiring” in my self-appointed title.

The Kickstarter-funded documentary Stripped looks to have the game plan I’ve been searching for. Cartoonist and filmmaker Dave Kellett is directing this self-proclaimed “love letter to comic strips.” It steps inside the business of drawing pictures for an audience. The 8-bit infused trailer grabbed me hook, line, and sinker. Needless to say I contributed to this project as it enters its final push toward completion.
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