KILL SPREE

Ok…I’m settling back into the idea that my 360 is back and remaining in working order. In fact, I picked up Unreal Tournament 3 yesterday and gave it a spin. This game just feels like it was made with me in mind. By that, I mean you can die a lot and it doesn’t matter. I’ve said plenty of times: I love playing video games, but I’m not exceptionally good at them. I can hold my own and I can tear through single player stuff with no problem. When I venture online, however, I get killed.

A lot.

Unreal Tournament 3 is all about runnin’ and gunnin’. Pick up a cool weapon, try to fry someone with it, get fried by someone else, lather, rinse, repeat. The weapons are cool. The characters are tough-talkin’ stereotypes. All is right in the world of gaming for the sake of cathartic mayhem. There’s even a bunch of cool monster characters to use for my multiplayer avatar. Needless to say, me likey the monsters. Heh. There’s also a really good video preview on there about Gears of War 2. That game comes out in November not far from SKINNERS #1. Hmmm. Maybe some sort of Gears online, writer/reader fragfest is in order?

Amerrrrrica!!

Happy 4th of July! Freedom of speech and all that. Bar-b-q...light somethin' and watch it go boom. FUCK yeah!!!!

November is SO FAR AWAY!!!!

I just got the sample covers for SKINNERS #1 and, as shown by the happy Ralphie face, they are good. DAMN good! I know it’s my own book, but I may not be as biased as you might expect. In fact, I’m sure most authors are very picky about every little thing where their printed babies are concerned. I’ve already talked about the cover earlier, but WOW. I even got the kind of material I wanted for the cover itself. You know, that paper that isn’t glossy and shiny but kind of rough? Well, that’s what I got and it’s awesome.

Ok, so I’m a little jazzed right now.

In other news, I’ve been playing Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. It’s not as finger-twistingly hard as GH 3 on Expert, but it’s still solid. Plenty of Aerosmith (obviously) and plenty of classic rock. Me likey. I’ve been feeling the urge to shoot some stuff, so I’ll probably drift into some FPS action. Maybe COD 4 or some Rainbow Six.

Fourth of July is tomorrow and I don’t really have any plans. Maybe a bar-b-q, but no traveling or anything like that. There’s work to do SKINNER related and otherwise, plus it’s not a great time for me to travel. Too expensive, too hot, not enough free time, blah blah blah. There’s a science fiction convention in town later this month, so that should be fun. I just like going to those things and they haven’t had many in the Omaha area for a while. It’s always good to go and just let the geek flag fly.

GyyuuuuuAARGH

Thanks to my extensive love of comic books, I am able to sum up how I'm feeling today with a nice, simple word. It's something that starts off as ambivalence, works its way close to depression and then rockets up to aggravation. I don't know why, just one of those things. The weekend was weird with the storm and power outage. People in general are getting on my nerves. It's summer (NOT my favorite season) and I haven't heard anything from anyone where work is concerned. Just a whole lot of putzing around, waiting, shuffling. . .blah.

The house began to twitch...

Ok, so last night THIS hits us. It was something between a tornado and a hurricane. Actually, I figure it was the equivalent of a tornado that had been spread across an entire city.

The storm lasted for about 10-15 minutes, but it was a tough 10-15 minutes! Couldn't see anything through my windows besides flying leaves, churning gray and some old guy in a rowboat. Maybe that last one was from The Wizard of Oz, but the rest was about right. Winds blew through here at over 90 mph!

Trees are down all over and we lost power for the better part of a day. Fortunately, we got our power back and we can all get back to work. Sure the piles of hail look pretty and the smell of broken wood is nice and fresh, but SHEEEZZ!!

Sci Fi Channel goodness

Have I mentioned how much I love the original movies on Sci Fi Channel? Well, I do. It's not because they're well written, well acted or well anything, but they don't even pretend to be concerned with any of that stuff. My wife likes the disaster ones like Atomic Twister (surprisingly, that's NOT about a tragic accident involving tightie whities and a nerd's butt crack). I, of course, enjoy the monster movies.



Now, there are different themes. There's the "giant insect" or "giant radioactive/mutant animal" variety. There's also the vampires, werewolves, krakens, and manticore kind pulled up from our proud traditions and mythology. There's also the regular, yet still scary animals like crocodiles, bears and Komodo Dragons. The effects are cheesy, the acting is horrific, the women are hot (although the naked bits are blurred), and people always get mutilated. Usually, someone gets bitten in half and someone else gets their head knocked off. And, when their heads do come off, it's no surprise since they seemed to have been so loosely attached in the first place. What makes this all so great is that everyone connected to these movies obviously knows they're just making cheese and run with it. Once you sit back, shut the ol' brain down and relax, these movies are SO much more fun than shitty movies trying to be good (cough...The Village...cough...Superman Returns)



This Saturday, I'm setting my DVR for Copperhead. Giant snakes (or maybe just a lot of snakes) are set loose upon the old west. THE OLD WEST!!!! YEAHHH!!!!!!

Chicago food = Ambrosia

I found a little restaurant not too far from home. It’s a place I’d been meaning to try, but was hesitant to actually go to simply because it was supposed to sell Chicago hot dogs. Now, I love Chicago hot dogs. The problem is that I live in Omaha, Nebraska and am very finicky about certain foods. Both of my parents were raised in Chicago’s south side and I’ve been there plenty of times. Used to live in Chicago as a kid, so I know my Chicago staples.

Now, I addressed the whole pizza issue in the first SKINNERS. The Chicago pizza I know is the same as the Chicago pizza my parents and grandparents know. The consensus from damn near every Chicago native I know is that real Chicago pizza is thin crust, spicy Italian sausage and little puddles of grease scattered on top. Sounds gross to health nuts, but TOUGH. That’s Chicago pizza! Not this super-thick stuff that’s passed off to the tourists. Can you get pan pizza in Chicago? Sure. It’s really good. But that’s pan style pizza. Chicago Style = thin crust, spicy sausage (maybe even pepperoni) and grease. End of story.

As far as hot dogs, it goes like this: poppy seed bun, pickle spears, tomato wedges, relish, hot peppers, mustard, NO ketchup and VIENNA beef. That last part is important. I didn’t make the rules. Any hot dog joint or vendor in Chicago proudly displays their Vienna Beef sign on a wall or logo on their apron. That’s just the way it is.

So I go into this restaurant down the street, hoping for the best but expecting a regular hot dog and a bonus slice of pan pizza. What did I get? Poppy seed bun, pickles, peppers, mustard, Vienna beef, and a big sign on the menu saying NO KETCHUP on the Chicago style hot dog. Bless you folks. This place is awesome!! They do it right 100%. Now, all I need is a White Castle and a Jack in the Box around here and I’ll never have to leave. That’s because I’d be too fat to get through the door or into a normal car, but still. . .