Archive for Geek
Birmingham International Comic Show 08
Last weekend Sarah and I attended Birmingham International Comic Show 2008 - hosted at the Think Tank – and had a very good time. Admittedly we were a tad disappointed when we first arrived as it wasn’t as extensive as we’d pictured. But once we’d looked at the list of lectures being given by famous artists and writers from the industry, we realised there was actually a lot that we could get out of it.
1. Sarah sketching on the train. 2. Our hotel room. 3. View from the balcony.
4 & 5. More views from the balcony. 6. The Think Tank.
7 & 8. Think Tank interior. 9. My flash fails me in the main hall.
10. The smaller hall. 11. “God, are you still here?” asks Sarah.
We came away from the weekend with lots of ideas for improving our own webcomic, and as we had only been running for a few weeks we’ve decided to start again from the beginning.
One of the most interesting parts of the weekend for us was talking to independent comic writers and artist who had their own stalls. Sarah and I have set ourselves the objective of returning without our own stall in two years time. Maybe we’ll see you there…? 
The Infection Grows…
That’s a little higher than the last time I took a test like this. Actually, I’m a bit surprised it wasn’t more than that! :p
Well We Thought It Was A Good Idea…
Thursday bought news of a sorry story from America about a student who was expelled for making a map for the FPS ‘Counter-Strike’ based on his school. I’m sure you’ll agree that this is pretty retarded (as the majority of the commentators on the OP do) – when we were at Bay House we theorised about and designed a map for Half-Life (ironically using the same engine as CS) based on our school. It was only a lack of skill with the map editor that prevented this dream from becoming a reality.
So should we have been expelled for this thought crime? As we racked-up a grand fatality total of 0.0000000 between us, I’d say there probably wouldn’t have been any point, it’s just a good job we weren’t born across the pond. This rant isn’t really going anywhere to be honest, I just thought you’d all like to share in my annoyance. 
Geek Chic
I stumbled across this geek and gamer clothing website recently, whilst searching for a present for a friend. If you want a clever T-Shirt that not many other people will understand, then J!nx is the place for you!
Munchkin
I was introduced to a very cool card game this week, called Muchkin. It’s essentially a really funny send-up of Dungeons & Dragons-style games. I highly recommend it, but with the proviso that you’re familiar with the genre, otherwise you won’t really get it.
Cancel the Froth
I received a rather alarming text message this morning, from a closet “Trekker” who shall remain nameless, that read as follows:
“Oh my god. Tom Cruise is playing Spock in a new Star Trek film.”
Now I quite like Trek – I think the pseudo-science angle appeals more than the pseudo-fantasy angle of Star Wars – and I quite dislike Tom Cruise. These two emotional rip-tides combined to form a devastating whirlpool of a scathing post in my mind; a dangerous undertow of geek internet frothing (the very worst kind). Luckily, before posting I checked for some corroborating evidence.
Thankfully (!) none was forthcoming. The actual story – as seen here, here and here – is that Cruise is also a “Trekker” at heart, knows the guy who is directing Star Trek XI, and so has volunteered for a cameo role. There was nothing to indicate that he would in fact be playing Spock.
Panic over, back to your normal life citizens.
Nerd Alert!
Are you infected with nerd? Take the test now!
It would seem that I’m 35.7% nerd. I’m surprised by that, would have expected higher, but the test was damn difficult! Please comment with your results below…
