WORD OF THE DAY! 7/21/12.

evil twin [ee-vuhl-twin]
noun
1. A doppelganger, a copy, a counterpart, a clone, a reproduction, a duplicate, and/or something/someone similar to the original, but in other many ways the opposite in character, function, actions, etc.

EX. Evil twins; Superman has Bizarro, Mr. Spock has Mirror-Spock, and last, but not least is our subject of the day, Mario had Wario. In 1992, in Super Mario World 2: Six Golden Coins, the team working on the title were not exactly pleased to be working on a Mario game instead of making their own original title/characters and, rather than make a bad game or just be grumps about it, they created Wario as a symbol of their displeasure. His name was literally a combination of Mario and "warui" (悪い), literally translated as "bad". The character was used as the antagonist in the title, taking over Peach's Kingdom while Mario was busy in the events of Super Mario World, before Mario returned and kicked his butt out. The weird thing is...Wario isn't technically a villain.

In fact, despite his greedy, gluttonous, selfish, rude, crude, and seemingly jerkish attitude, Wario is an anti-hero that often rises to the situation (especially if it in his favor to do so). He has aided Mario on a few occasions, saved his own home land from invaders, and known to show some generosity when prompted. In the Wario Land series, he is usually the far lesser of two evils, a bit greedy but also willing to save the weak, and in the Warioware series (a persona favorite of mine) he wants to make his own videogames. The best example of his heroism in Super Mario 64, Wario helps Mario defeat Bowser as one of the additional playable characters.

In the end, Wario is so uncool, but that's okay. Every group of friends needs someone who is a little less than goody-goody and a little more contemptible.

WORD OF THE DAY! 7/20/12.

twist ending [twist-en-ding]

noun

1. A twist ending is a plot twist occurring near or at the conclusion of a story, an unexpected conclusion to a work of fiction that causes the audience to reevaluate the narrative or characters.

EX. Its unfortunate that, due to the show basically lasting so long that there was no way to make this idea feasible, that we didn't get the twist ending that Marge was actually bunny person....that would've been a delightful and hair-raising, hair-lairious, or was that hare-raising, hare-larious surprise?

WORD OF THE DAY! 7/19/12.

shuffle [shuhf-uhl]

verb

1. To walk without lifting the feet or with clumsy steps and a shambling gait.

2. To scrape the feet over the floor in dancing.

3. To move clumsily (usually followed by into ).

4. To act underhandedly or evasively with respect to a stated situation (often followed by in, into,  or out of ).

5. To intermix so as to change the relative positions of cards in a pack.

EX. As a chronic Magic the Gathering player, everyday I'm shufflin'.

WTF WED. WORD OF THE DAY! 7/18/12. TOTORO: GOD OF DEATH THEORY

shinigami [shee-nee-gah-mee]
noun
1. Japanese mythology. "Death god" or "death spirit", it is an entity in Japanese folklore that is responsible for making sure a person dies at the appropriate time and guiding their spirit to judgement in the afterlife.

EX. There is a theory that beloved character, Totoro from Studio Ghibli's My Neighbor Totoro (1988), is in fact not the cuddly character we think and the story is far more macabre than first impressions would have you believe; Totoro might be a shinigami, a god of death.

Apologies before we begin to anyone who might be offended by the notion, but I'll try to put my own spin on the notion that might make it more comfortable. Before we begin how about a delightful look at Southpark's delightful Totoro Cthulhu parody.

SOUTH PARK'S TOTORO-CTHULHU PARODY!

CTHULHU & CARTMAN THEME SONG!

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! 7/9-7/15 2012! RETURN OF THE BOOK OF POKEMON!

WEEKLY ROUND-UP PRESENTs

RETURN OF THE BOOK OF POKEMON!

7. WORD OF THE DAY. 7/11/12. Dilluvial.

As part of the tip-off to the practically out of no-where return of the Book of Pokemon, I started my WTF Wednesday with a hilarious pokemon comic that satires the problems involved in mixing pokemon and real-world mythology/history. Only one problem...Mewtwo, Porygon, Porygon 2, Porygon Z, Ditto, and several other Pokemon are artificial and wouldn't exist in Genesis and Deoxys, for instance, is from space.

6. MUSICAL MONDAY! STAR WARS THAT I USED TO KNOW!

Not nearly as arduous as last week, this week's articles tended to be a return to standard form and this funny Star Wars parody of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" was certainly an easy choice.

5. WORD OF THE DAY. 7/12/12. Partheogenesis.

Hayao Miyazaki is on the most fantastic living story-tellers and has undoubtedly touched the hearts and minds of people all over the world with his brilliant work. My favorite Miyazaki films, if anyone is wondering, are Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and probably My Neighbor Totoro (for personal reasons).

4. TABLETOP TALES: MY M13 PRE-RELEASE!

I think that M13 has generated a less than jubilant response from the fans of MTG, but maybe its a bit deeper. After playing through Innistrad set (which was my first ongoing block), I think a lot of players are a little burnt out; heck, even though I was excited for Avacyn: Restored, several other players were belly-aching about it at the time. On the upside, Return to Ravnica looks AMAZING! (I am a huge fan of urban fantasy and guild rivalry)

3. SUMMER OF 51 FILMS: July 1-July 15

And I finally got around to posting the first ten reviews of my newest film challenges this week. The stand-outs were The Adventurers of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Sonatine, Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil, and the simply sublime visual masterpiece, The Fall. It remains to be seen whether the next ten films will be as enjoyable as the first ten generally were and, knowing me, they will probably be awful.

2. MIXED BAG. KYLE'S B-DAY CARDS

This Summer, Magic the Gathering has really become one of my fondest hobbies; whether I am playing with friends, building decks, or working on my own card set, it has allowed me to combine my interests and skills in new ways that I consider to be pretty damn special. The cards I made for Kyle were mostly silly, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some of them return in someway in the future sets to come.

1. WTF WED! BOOK OF POKEMON PT. 3 THE KANTO TESTAMENT

Holy crap! I don't even know how to express the rush of completing the third part of the Book of Pokemon, a series of WTF Wednesday that I did in my first month of blogging. In fact, the first two are so old that they were numbered as the "WTF WED 2" and "3" before I realized how seriously silly it would be to number them all. They were a couple of my early successes and shaped the philosophy of the entertainment I put on the blog; be true to myself, be fair to the material, and always try my best to show you guys what I got.

The third installment was originally intended to be the finale but, after getting into it a little bit, I decided I would like to continue and extend the series, and embellish as much as possible to create not only my understanding of the Pokemon lore, but what my 8-year old self wanted and my 80-year old self will assuredly want the story to be. Thank you and smell you later.

WORD OF THE DAY! 7/16/12.

free boat [free-boht]
noun
1. Slang. A trick, a trap, a ruse, a scam, etc. In reference to the classic, "you won a free boat" trap; in the U.S., the police have used this trick to perform several stings against dads skipping out on child support. The scam works by sending letters or calling the men to tell them that they were entered in a contest and have won a free boat. To get the boat, they must come to a specified location, and wait to be given their prize. They call the criminal fathers into a room and then arrest them to press charges.

EX. Never trust a free boat, but always trust Jon Tron.

DID YOU KNOW GAMING: ZELDA

MUSICAL MONDAY! SKYRIM BARD RAP!

MUSICAL MONDAY PRESENTS

DAN BULL'S SKYRIM BARD RAP!

"Excuse me, outlander. A word in your ear, if I may.

Well met, stranger. Elated to make your acquaintance.
Now may I entertain you with some quotations over cadence?
You see, I bare some rare, amazing information,
and you look like someone who is used to strange situations.
There is a hidden portal within the Bard's College.
I was brought through, an immortal, to impart knowledge,
about an other-worldly form of Redguard sonnet.
They took a thumping drumbeat and said bars on it.
I wandered through Solitude, departed Haafingar, past Hjaalmarch,
through The Reach, east of Markarth.
I reached the Whitehold
I preached in rhyme and told
the people that the need to speak was higher than the price of gold.
Nothing can beat soul.
Not even sweet rolls.
I've got it locked like a pick stuck in a keyhole.
I leave you wee trolls wishing that you re-rolled.
By the Nine Divine's my rhymes are a sight to behold.
My freeholds are three fold.
I rock the property chain,
because I'm the top bloody Thane
in this Monopoly game.
So you better watch the throne Stormcloak,
because you're getting overthrown by an ordinary bloke.
It's high-time Skyrim had a new High-King--
and I like hiking--
it's quite exciting.
I'm descended from the Vikings back in my kingdom,
but my lyric writing's better than my skill at fighting.
My pen is mightier than swords; its the right choice.
They call me "MF TH'UUN" when I use my voice.
With each rap, my speechcraft keeps stacking.
If you could see the graph you'd actually be laughing.
You'll never sound as fresh. I'm a rock star.
I climbed the seven-thousand steps to High Hrothgar.
Like Jurgen Wind-Caller, my words will bring more disorder
than mixing Skooma in an Orcish brigand's drink order.
A bawdy bard that raps, my Voice'll cause your cart to crash.
Your horse's armor cracks under the awesome force of Paarthurnax.
But here's the serect I needed to tell:
You can be an MC with me, as well.
Forget the Blades, me and you don't need the Greybeards.
Who are Mehrunes Dagon and the Daedra to an athiest?
Mages, take your spell tome and go the hell home,
because who needs boots of speed when we've got shell toes?
And so whether you drink Honeymead or Alto,
be sure that Dan'll smelt flows, 'til all of Tamriel knows.
You should use the bars of the bard deep inside you, and 'til we meet again friend:
Talos guide you. Talos guide you."

WORD OF THE DAY! 7/16/12.

propane [proh-peyn]

noun

1.  A colorless, flammable gas, C ₃ H ₈ , of the alkane series, occurring in petroleum and natural gas: used chiefly as a fuel and in organic synthesis.

straight man [strehyt-man]

noun

an entertainer who plays the part of a foil for a comic partner.

EX. "I sell propane and propane accessories."-Hank Hill, King of the Hill

SUMMER OF 51 FILMS! 2012! July 1-July 15

Last Summer, as part of a reply to a challenge, I watched 101 films I had never seen before in around two months. I want to write movie scripts but have missed out on a lot of classics and blockbusters over the years. It was in that moment that I decided to challenge myself to expand my pallet and discover what the big screen could do for me through DVDS, Bluray and Netflix!

Every time I watched a movie I posted a status update and once a week I posted a weekly roundup including all of the movies I had watched that week and a short blurb about each one.

This year, I decided to repeat the feat on a smaller scale by watching 51 films in the same amount of time. Unlike last year, I will be able to post my review blurbs on my blog (which didn't exist at the time) and share them with you.

Here are the first ten...

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT MY REVIEW SCORE SYSTEM

1. Best Worst Movie (2009). 3/5. This was a clever concept for a documentary; the star of the cult-classic Troll 2, one of the worst films ever made, decided to make a documentary about the experience of himself and his co-stars becoming some-what famous in cult-movie circles for something they had been slightly embarrassed by for decades. Some of the actors get the joke and love the film's new place in cinema history, others seemed to be confused or didn't care, and then some like the director had mixed feelings; pride that the film has touched so many but angry at the jokes. In the end, its a bittersweet affair and I would've liked to see some more introspection of why this film has become a cult-classic film and what is the appeal of such a film.

WORD OF THE DAY! 7/15/12.

mash-up [mahs-uhp]

noun

1. Music Slang . A recording that combines vocal and instrumental tracks from two or more recordings.

2. Slang . A creative combination or mixing of content from different sources.

EX. A 3-D Pokemon game that mixes the personalities of hundreds of Pokemon characters that we've grown to love shrunk down into chibi bodies and the joy of collecting/customizing to be had in the delightfully laid-back world of Animal Crossing? Sounds like the easiest mash-up Nintendo would ever pull off and far more obvious than some of their more recent Pokemon mash-ups.

BONUS:  And how about a mash-up of a popular Summer hit and Star Wars dialogue?

STAR WARS CALL ME MAYBE!

MIXED BAG. KYLE'S B-DAY CARDS

I found this awesome trading card game generator that allows you to make your own cards, like the magic card above, for fun. I made 9 special cards for my friend's birthday partu and, if you've been checking out Planeswalkers of Midgard, you'd see the set I've been working on this summer.

If you're interested in making your own cards, check out the link below.

MAGIC SET EDITOR

You can check out the rest of the cards after the jump. If you're curious, the cards are based on various parts of my experiences with Kyle through Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, and other gaming over the year I've known him.

WORD OF THE DAY! 7/14/12.

blood-brothers/blood brothers [bluhd-bruhth-er]

noun

1. A person's brother by birth.

2. A male person bound to another by ties of great friendship.

3. Something usually associated with or thought to exist inseparably from another thing, quality, circumstance, etc.: Humility is often the blood brother of patience.

4. A male established in a close relationship with another male through the performance of a specific ritual, as the commingling of blood.

EX. Pets are rarely brothers by blood but I they tend to become blood-brothers, despite rivalry and shared contempt, in order to survive their confinement.