WORD OF THE DAY! 9/8/12.

filial rivalry [fil-uh-eel-rahy-vuhl-ree]
noun
1. The competition between a parent and child or between inventor and invention, in fiction or non-fiction, to live up to, surpass, to redeem, or to defeat one's creator or creation.

EX.

RELATED TO STAR WARS & X-MEN

The best example of filial rivalry in science fiction, of course, is the relationships of the Skywalkers; specifically, Darth Vader AKA Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke, to a lesser extent his daughter Leia and to an even lesser, but still significant, his grandchildren as is set up in the Star Wars mythology. Luke, initially, wanted to destroy Darth Vader (Obi-Wan Kenobi's murderer and the man whom he believed had killed his father) but after discovering that, in fact, Vader was what his father had become and meditation that brought him closer to the truth-- the truth being that forgiving his father and seeking to help redeem his father was the best course. In the end, Darth Vader fulfills the (rather obnoxious) prophecy of restoring "balance to the force" or "saving the galaxy" by throwing the Emperor to his death, in order to save Luke. This final act of sacrifice and ensuing death scene, where we see his human side for the first and last time (discounting the prequels) is a beautiful and artful way for Luke to begin his quest to undo the "sins of his father". The relationship between Luke and his father is perhaps one of the best stories in film fiction and has become a part of modern mythology.

Also worthy of note is that, in some versions of the X-Men mythos, Mystique is Nightcrawler's mother and Rogue's step mother. The quest for these two people to discover their origins lead them to find things in their past that they'd rather not know but, for their own sake and those of the readers, was a path that needed to be explored.

Such relationships and such parallels between stories across the history of fiction have created some of the most engaging stories; after all, most of us have families or, at the very least, loved ones that we simultaneously love and yet still have conflict with; conflict and resolution are the two opposing and working parts of any story.

TABLETOP TALES: TEMPERED GLASS DECK!

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS:

A DECK OF BLOOD & PORCELAIN: TEMPERED GLASS EDITION

To check out my other decks, hit the links below:

ALL OF MY DECK ARTICLES

This article serves two purposes: To share the nerd entertainment around with anyone who might find it interesting and, in this case, to prove how taking the theme of an intro pack, especially a more recent intro pack, can not only make a passable deck, but also a powerful and fun deck.

Its been a few months since I last shared this deck with you guys and I like showing small changes, occasionally, to show you how a few small cards can change the tempo of an already efficient and effective deck. Today's deck is the bloody result of fiddling around artifact creatures, phyrexian mana, and lots of cruelty. This is the main component:

Intro Pack: New Phyrexia, Life for Death, Cost: $13

Note: You can see the original deck list HERE.

I have probably spent about $10 dollars on singles for this deck (some of which don't even appear in the deck). MISCELLANEOUS COST: $10

TOTAL COST: $23

You can find Magic Cards in super stores (Ex. Walmart, Target) but the best place you can buy your cards, meet other players, and play in events is at your local comic book store or hobby shop. I buy most of my cards at The Comic Cellar. Here is a link to its Google Maps location at 3620 Austin Peay Highway #2 Memphis, TN 38128.

Without further ado, with these purchases, I built...

THE PHREXIAN MANA DECK:

BLOOD & PORCELAIN: TEMPERED GLASS

 To quote the decks initial premise:

"This deck follows theme including, but not limited to: artifact creatures, artifacts, and phyrexian mana. This deck is ultimately a Red/White artifact creature deck and I've taken the challenge of doing what I can with the cards limited to the mechanic and, more importantly, the cards limited to me.

[Excluded]

Also, I only try to build and present decks that I can afford, this deck is still in a prototype phase, and I hope you will be able to enjoy it. [Excluded] This version of my RW Artifact deck has gone through a lot of changes. It has been an Equipment Deck and a Myr Deck."

The changes to this deck are few, but I can proudly say there are effective or at least pretty damn interesting.

Please leave comments and suggestions.

Please leave comments.

To check out the contents of the deck, click "READ MORE" below.

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/7/12.

pugnificent [puhg-nif-ih-suhnt]
adjective
1. A splendid display of the contradictory balance of ugliness versus cuteness in pugs (a breed of small dogs known for their bug eyes, breathing problems, and flattened snouts).
2. Extraordinarily cute and ugly, simultaneously; as in, so ugly that it is cute or so cute that it is ugly.
3. A description for something whole imperfect, and even ugly, but still, somehow, magnificent.

EX. The image above, as well as the awesome animated gif below, is simply pugnificent. There is something simultaneously liberating about the idea of humans finding something likeable or affable in ugliness, but what makes it even more inspiring is the idea that the light that makes pugnificence shine is earnestness and affection.

Pugs may look like they've been hit by a shovel, may sound like they are chain smokers, and you can't usually tell what they're exactly looking at, but you know that they make up for it with a beautiful heart.

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/6/12.

vice [vahys]
noun
1. An immoral or evil habitt or practice; fault, failing, foible, weakness
2. Immoral conduct; depraved or degrading behavior; depravity, sin, iniquity, wickedness, corruption.
3. Sexual immorality, especially prostitution; wantonness, degeneracy,or licentiousness.
4. A particular form of depravity.
5. A fault, defect, or shortcoming; flaw, blemish, imperfection, foible, weakness.

EX.Alright folks I know this is a vice that some of you're not terribly interested in allowing others to have; mostly because most of the "depraved" bronies out there try and shove this down your throat, but that not my goal here. All I want to do is what I always do on this blog; share things that I found entertaining, interesting, and/or worthy of discussion.

Today, we're talking about an episode of Lauren Faust's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic that not only sums up everything that is interesting about the show but, also, the cornucopia of insane problems in the universe of Equestria; our subject is the two-parter that kicks of the second season, "The Return of Harmony" (guest-starring John de Lancie). Hit below for the first part of the review, the next part will be posted this wekeend.

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/5/12.

melee [mey-ley]
noun
1. A confused hand to hand fight or struggle amongst several people.
2. Confusion; turmoil; jumble.

EX. So, over the last week or so, I've been playing a lot of Super Smash Bros. Melee (Nintendo Gamecube) and I've been thinking a lot about the series up until now, as well as the barely touched sub-genre of platformer fighting games, and about the possible improvements to both.

WTF WEDNESDAY! HITMAN ABSOLUTION IS MADE OF WTF?!

WTF WEDNESDAY PRESENTS

HARRY PARTRIDGE'S HITMAN: HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT!

Harry Partridge has been featured on my blog a lot and for good reason; he makes hilariously weird and awesome animations about a wide gamut of subjects-- most specifically video games like Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (CLICK HERE FOR MUSICAL MON. HP LOVES SKYRIM!). And when several outrages trailers emerged for Hitman, more of said content to be linked below, it seems only natural that HP would take one to its most bizarre extent with the parody Hitman: Hiding in Plain Sight.

HITMAN: ABSOLUTION "ATTACK OF THE SAINTS" TRAILER

And the most instantly infamous and ridiculous of these trailers was "Attack of the Saints" or more commonly called the "Nun Trailer". This over the top and ridiculous scene of bondage nun carnage seems pretty cool...until you realize how stupid it is and how pointless it is-- why are these assassins dressed like bondage nuns and just walking up to his hotel room?!

LITERAL HITMAN: ABSOLUTON NUN TRAILER

I had a feeling that this trailer would get the Tobuscus treatment, as well, do to the awesome music, awesome rhythm of the trailer, and unique content. I'm not sure what the purpose of the trailer was...but it definitely got my attention. Also, if you want to see a more vanilla but cool trailer, make sure to hit the link below. Thanks.

HITMAN: ABSOLUTION DEBUT TRAILER!

P.S. Something Hitmonkey related is coming from Marvel next year. Google Hitmonkey.

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/4/12.

I love posting poorly timed stuff (its like a month after the Olympics..or something)

argentum [ahr-jen-tuhm]
noun
1. Latin. Silver; the reason that the atomic symbol for Silver is "Ag".

brimstone [brim-stohn]
noun
1. Sulfur.

EX. Argentum, or silver, is involved with a lot of fantasy, science fiction, and folk lore, but no creature or myth is more closely tied to silver in the public conscience then the werewolf and lycanthrope weakness of silver-- or more commonly the silver bullet. But what makes silver so special and what biological reasons could silver be the Kryptonite to the Wolfman and Fruitbrute?

The missing member of the monster mash cereal team.

One special quality is that it tarnishes; if left unpolished or protected from air, silver develops a disgusting black crust that ruins its and the element that causes this tarnish? Tiny bits of sulfur floating around in the air. So, how does this kill your average Fangface?

Hanna-Barbara is good at ripping itself off...((WE NEED MORE TEEN MYSTERY TEAMS!))

Sulfur, also known as brimstone (the devil's element), combines with silver to create silver sulfide. Now, silver sulfide isn't poisonous but, if we assume that werewolf blood has a high sulfur content, which matches some myths that werewolves smell really bad, the silver sulfide would block the bloodflow in their body and that is what would kill them (and quite brutally). How else would this come in handy in slaying werewolf Shaggy?

Anyone else remember the two awesome made for TV Scooby Doo movies from back in the day?

This is where things get interesting; werewolves would burn blue because sulfur burns blue, therefore, simply implement the test from the Thing to find out who the werewolf is when their blood or hair burns blue. Also, their skin would secret sulfur, meaning werewolves would have sulfur on their skin and that would also show up in chemical tests. Finally, sulfur smells! As I said before, just look for the smell of rotting eggs and you got your beast.

And there is some useful science on werewolves. Now to discover some useful facts on why Unicorns love virgins so much...

TABLETOP TALES: THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK: MIRROR EDITION!

TABLETOP TALES PRESENTS:

THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK: 
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL!

To check out my other decks, hit the links below:

ALL OF MY MTG ARTICLES!

This article serves to update my Grave Power build deck into Block-Constructed limitations; all of the cards in this iteration of the deck are strictly from the Innistrad Block  The real point of this article is to show how this deck is evolving for my goal to build a Innistrad Block deck and, eventually, a competitive standard deck.

 I had been hoping that Avacyn Restored would do something to help build this decks mechanics but, alas, that wasn't my luck. I've instead resorted to simplifying the deck and changing it up just a bit in a way that, mostly, simplifies it into a consistent machine.

Intro Pack: Dark Ascension, Grave Power, Cost: $13

Note: You can see the full decklist of the original to compare by clicking HERE.

I have probably spent about $10 dollars on singles for this deck (some of which don't even appear in the deck). MISCELLANEOUS COST: $10

TOTAL COST: $23

You can find Magic Cards in super stores (Ex. Walmart, Target) but the best place you can buy your cards, meet other players, and play in events is at your local comic book store or hobby shop. I buy most of my cards at The Comic Cellar. Here is a link to its Google Maps location at 3620 Austin Peay Highway #2 Memphis, TN 38128.

Without further ado, with these purchases, I built...

THE HAUNTED WURMWOOD DECK:
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL EDITION!

 Not much has changed and I can still quote the last article...mostly:

"The deck follows several themes including, but not limited to, : Treefolk, Wurms, Unblockable, and stealing power from beyond the grave. This deck is ultimately a G/Bl Self-Mill construction and, as this is not a popular mechanic, it has been a challenge to pull off.

Also, I only try to build and present decks that I can afford, this deck is still in a prototype phase, and I hope you will be able to enjoy it. This version of the deck only includes cards from the Innistrad Block and only includes cards I own physical copies of.."

The big changes, as aforementioned, were changing the creature pool and, in general, simplif

NOTE: This is the THIRD iteration of this deck. Please leave comments and suggestions on how to improve my deck. To compare it to different versions, check out the link at the top and you will find a summary of all my deck articles.

To read the rest of the article, hit "Read More" below.

MUSICAL MONDAY! BRUCE LEE & BRONIES?

MUSICAL MONDAY PRESENTS

"BE WATER MY FRIEND!" BRUCE LEE REMIX

Alrighty, so sometimes I don't have a fantastic new music video that just wins me over so entirely or, I feel, appeals to a wide audience of readers (all twelve of you have very broad tastes, I'm sure) and, therefore, this week you're getting a double-barrel spray to the face from the bipolar shotgun that is my favorite videos on the web.

First up, linked above, is another tribute song made by melodysheep, the brilliant remix artist behind the Symphony of Science, Mr. Roger Tribute, and Bob Ross tribute -- all of which has been previously shared on the blog. I am not a huge fan of Bruce Lee, but I have enjoyed all of the films I have had the pleasure of enjoying with his name attached. He is one of the greatest martial artists in film history and an awesome individual.

PARRY GRIPP'S "DERP FACE" PMV

And then we have another returning subject of Musical Monday with Parry Gripp, whom I claimed was MADE OF INTERNETS.

This time its not a directly linked video, but instead a PMV (Pony Musical Video) about everyone's favorite tertiary character of MLP, Derpy Hooves. Originally, the character was a goofy character often seen in the background of scenes...with eyes going in two directions. She was first called Ditzy and then renamed as a tip of the hat to fans...until her first speaking scene apparently offended dozens of people...

Well, regardless, I still think it is fun to enjoy Ms. Derp and her friends.

HANK GREEN'S I DON'T HAVE A FAVORITE PONY

Last but certainly not least, I want to share a great song from Nerdfighter extraordinaire, Hank Green of the VLOG BROTHERS. I love watching Hank's and his brother John's vlogs and educational series like CRASH COURSE and SCISHOW. The song is a funny and politely tongue-in-cheek answer to a question all bronies ask but some bronies, like myself, can't really answer with 100% certainty because...

...its hard to choose.

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/3/12.

terror birds [ter-er-burds]
noun
1. Also known by the official classification, Phorusrhacidae (meaning "wrinkle-bearers" due to grooves on the skull), these creatures were large carnivorous flightless birds that were dominant predators in South America 62-2 million years ago.

EX. Terror birds are basically the new Velociraptors-- or they would be if they had a good enough publicist like the raptors had in the form of the Jurassic Park films. Unfortunately, the only memorable appearance of this beast was in the megalithic schlock, 10,000 BC.

Then again, dinosaurs have been losing a lot of street cred thanks to scientific discoveries, ex. dinosaurs probably were covered in feathers and, indeed, T-Rex probably looked like a giant fluffy chicken.

Fun stuff.

BONUS VIDEO