FTW FRIDAY! BIRDMAN SAVES SKYRIM FROM MOCHI'S BUTT!

ULTIMATE SKYRIM!

1st World Gamer Problems #1 Game Backlog.

Currently Playing: GTA V

On Hiatus: Metal Gear Solid Collection, Skyrim (I still haven't beaten the main story or completed the guild quests), Octodad: Dadliest Catch, Halo: Combat Evolved (360 version), Dishonored, Sniper Elite V2, Legend of Zelda: Windwaker HD, Super Metroid

Games to be Played:
Nintendo Wii-U- Pikmin 3, Super Mario 64, Megaman X, Megaman VII, Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Nintendo 3DS- Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. 3, Shovel Knight,
PC- Saint's Row 2, 3 & 4, Far Cry 4, Alien: Isolation, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Elegy for a Dead World, Fall Out: New Vegas, Hotline: Miami, LA Noire, MGS V: Ground Zeroes, Shadowrun: Dragonfall, Super Meatboy, To the Moon, Valiant Hearts: The Great War, Walking Dead
Xbox 360- Sleeping Dogs, Witcher 2, The Raven, Red Faction Guerilla, Darksiders 2, Monaco, Dark Souls, Gears of War: Judgement, Wolfenstein,

I am gonna start a 3DS game and another full game today. I am leaning towards Super Mario Bros 3 and Far Cry 4.

How do you wind up with a game backlog like this? A most likely incomplete backlog? Well, I wait to buy games when they're cheap and tend to buy several at time. So, I have a ton of games. I also get free games thru xbox live gold. So, that explains why I have so many games but why haven't I played them? The biggest barrier to starting a new game for me is how much time I have to invest to get past the introduction/tutorial of the game.

After a long day, if I have the choice between playing League of Legends with friends or playing through a long tutorial, I'll usually pick the option that lets me be somewhat more social.

WHEN NO ONE GETS YOUR COSPLAY (or the unexpected value of ignorance)

Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance is one of those films that is an impressive film on all fronts: with fantastic writing, design, and execution from top to bottom, great performances from a cast that really gels with meta humor/drama of the concept, and delivery of a rather original, evocative, and clever concept. The film's meta concept-- basically having Michael Keaton, an aging actor most famous for donning the mask of Batman in the 90s, play an aging actor who is most famous for donning the mask of Birdman in the 90s-- is something that could only work with the self-awareness, talent and craft present. The film is a bit on the unusual side for a casual audience and, be warned, it has a lot more to do with theater than super heroes, but it certainly deserves the accolades it received as one of the best films of 2014.

Also, I would like to cosplay and have actually thought of doing a Harvey Birdman cosplay. Because that show is a Hanna Barbera cartoon fan's dream come true.

GAME GRUMPS (D)ANIMATED: MOCHI LIKES BUTT PATTS!

MOCHI STORY- GAME GRUMPS ANIMATED! 

This week's FTW Friday ends with an appreciation of two very different takes on a hilarious anecdote from Game Grumps.

I love the way Brandon Turner draws his characters. So much so I want to buy one of his shirts!

And Kidd Cosmos animation has fantastic motion. Who else would animated such an impressive badonkadonk onto Mochi?

WTF WED! MAGIC MAPS, DANCING SNAKES, AND GAY FIRE-NINJA INFERNOS!

THE MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED WEAPONS IN VIDEO GAMES!

Time to dump out the last of the contents left over from last year's WTF Wednesday folder by looking at three videos I couldn't quite get rid of nor could I find the perfect article to share them until just right about now:

First up, we've got a pretty funny bit of commentary in the form of pointing out that, thanks to the modern map system in adventure/open-world games, things are a lot easier than they would be otherwise because the map system: provides detailed locations of people, places, things, objectives, etc., allows for fast travel, tracks enemies, can be zoomed in and out, has practically no limit to how many areas, biog and small are mapped, and is convenient to use.

Are we better off with or without the map?

MICHAEL JACKSON? NO! BOB FOSSE! (THE LITTLE PRINCE, 1974)

Many people rightfully credit Bob Fosse as the sole engineer for Michael Jackson's dance choreography as the Prince of Pop copied almost all of his trademark moves from Bob Fosse's performance from the 1974 film, The Little Prince.

Weird.

Oh! And there is a new animated film adaptation of the classic French fable coming soon to cinema near you.

BONUS: LE PETIT PRINCE TRAILER!

ONN: FIRE-NINJA INFERNO FIRST OPENLY GAY FATAL MELEE FIGHTER!

The Onion stills brings it.

It is brought.

WORD OF THE DAY! 4/25/14!

This is Tammerlairn the Worst. He is the worst wizard.

peer pressure [peer-presh-er]
noun
1. Social pressure by members of one's peer group to take a certain action, adopt certain values, or otherwise conform in order to be accepted.

EX. So, remember on Monday how I said I wasn't going to pick up Elder Scrolls Online? 

Well, I must admit that I've changed my mind and decided to pick it up today because of peer pressure. And that's okay. Despite the fact that most of us were raised to ignore peer pressure and  one of my stronger instincts that has served me well is to ignore and even oppose peer pressure, some times, when the peers are your well meaning friends, trying what they enjoy isn't so bad. Heck, some times it can turn you onto something you've been missing and, I hope, that's the case with Elder Scrolls Online.

So, despite my reservations, I will give the game a try. Worst case scenario? I spent $45 on an experience that wound up being less than I wanted and stop playing before I pay a subscription fee. That's really not that big of a risk to take if it means getting to play Elder Scrolls with my friends and at least give them the benefit of the doubt in giving it a try. 

That and...well... I suppose I'm...

BACK TO TAMRIEL!

MUSIC MON! TEEMO RUINED YOUR CHILDHOOD & ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE?!

BACK TO TAMRIEL!

All of my friends are playing Elder Scrolls Online and, you may be asking, "why aren't you implejr?"

Well, MMORPGs aren't really my thing. Even though I love Elder Scrolls, the game just doesn't really pique my interest-- especially for the investment of time and money required. Perhaps I'll try Destiny when it comes out (cuz Bungie)?

Still, the latest Harry Partridge animation got me a little nostalgic for running around as a Breton wielder of sword and sorcery.

GOODBYE TEEMO!

What am I playing?

Super Mario 3D World, mostly.

Oh, and League of Legends. I still love League of Legends.

CHILDHOOD RUINED!

And let's end with a delightful little school house rock style animation from ADHD injected with the dreary reality hiding behind the fantasy we so enjoyed in our youth.

I just got done rendering the audio and video for my upcoming Let's Play videos and you can expect to see an episode or two up tomorrow.

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! AUG. 12 - AUG. 18 2013!

WEEKLY ROUND-UP PRESENTS

MEGAEVOLUTION MEGAWEEK

7. POKÉMON OF THE WEEK! #538 THROH & #539 SAWK!

First up, a big shout out to all of the regular readers of Dumbledore Shot First. Every time someone comments/someone shares this blog, it's a big boost to my mood.

6. WORDS OF THE DAY! 8/13/13! Merchant.

This picture was a pain in the butt, for some reason, to get working on this Weekly Round-Up. Just lot a few minutes of my life to it...

5. WTF WED! KIM JONG-UN PRESENTS EGORAPTOR VS. PUPPYCAT!

Yes. I rewrote the theme to Cheers for North Korea. What do you want?

4. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/14/13! Self-Preservation.

I created the Lion King reference meme of the pic to the right of the Dovahbear about to throw down the Horker King.

3. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/16/13! Space AIDS.

This and the next image were a big hit amongst my gamer friends in NuFu. Everybody Loves Malzahar.

2. WORD OF THE DAY! 8/12/13! Lasers a gogo!

And, now, I'm watching Star Trek: Enterprise and I'm "enjoying" some of the hammiest acting I've ever seen out of cult movie actor standard, Clancy Brown.

1. MEGA MONDAY! NERDCULTURE SMACKDOWN! POKÉMON X & Y UPDATE! #2

This article was one of those doozies that takes a little extra discipline to get just right. I'm so excited about the upcoming Pokémon games!


Also, supposedly, the image below is supposed to be of other Pokémon to recieve a Mega Evolution but, as several creatures with Mega Evolutions were left off of the chart, such as Mewtwo, Mawile, & Absol, I find this claim some what dubious.

WORDS OF THE DAY! 8/13/13!

merchant [mur-chent]
noun
1. Elder Scrolls Series. While sometimes they are individuals you purchase commodities and crafting items, most of the time you use them as places to dump surplus loot in exchange for gold, despite the fact that it is inconceivable that they can manage to sell off their inventory.

EX. I think all good Skyrim players try to balance the following process: picking up loot from containers (including the dozens of corpses you encounter during your average adventure) so that you can get the most gold per pound of weight carried, even going so far to use magical items/perks to increase carrying weight, then taking that loot to several merchants in order to get them to buy as much of your useless gear as possible so you basically bankrupt them (I often buy crafting items from them so that I can sell them useless stuff), and then repeat the process ad nauseum.

Pro Tip #3,105: Make sure to pick up arrows that are worth any amount of gold. They have no weight, so you can carry a practically limitless amount, are always useful (archery has and will continue to be broken in the Elder Scrolls series), and are often worth a good chunk of change.

FOR THE REST OF THIS COMIC CHECK OUT AWKWARD ZOMBIE

MUSICAL MON! BRAVE SILVER SAYS "IT'S NO USE" TO GO BACK TO SKYRIM!

MUSICAL MONDAY PRESENTS

BRAVE (SECRET OF NIMH REMIX)

First up on the Monday Menu, I'm serving up a Pogo-esque remix nombre of, one of the greatest animated films of all time, Don Bluth's The Secret of NIMH. Based on the children's novel, the film follows a mother mouse on a journey to save the lives of her children from the monstrous machinations of man. Along the way, Mrs. Brisby finds herself over her head when she seeks out the help of The Great Owl who tells her to seek the aid of the Rats that live under the rosebush-- Rats  entrenched in a political debate between pacifism and violence, between patience and progress, and between magic and science (the boundaries of which seem to overlap in their world).

Besides the beautiful handcrafted animation, the film is flowing with depth and resonance that goes much farther than the average children's movie. Perhaps, more than any of Bluth's films, this film creates a world that is both fantastic and fascinating without softening itself for children.

Perhaps, most extraordinary, is the film's humble, but brave protagonist Mrs. Brisby.

On a sidenote, wtf is up with movies being released on DVD with these FACKIN' TERRIBLE covers? Example above. Did they lose the right to the cover art for the original VHS covers or did they think it would be easier to sell the movies to kids if they made it seem like a completely cutesy little piece of dog crap?

 

GAME GRUMPS REMIX- SILVER'S THEME SONG

And now time to talk about some far less sympathetic vermin in the form of the Game Grumps remix of their improvised theme song for Silver "It's No Use" the Hedgehog. The first time the Grumps ran into him in Episode 7 of the Sonic '06 series, we knew-- WE KNEW that this series would be big for the Grumps. The terrible characters (all of them suck, there, I said it), the terrible story (don't even argue that the Sonic games have a good story), but most important the bad and, even more importantly somehow, BROKEN gameplay has made the Sonic series legendary for its mediocrity and has made Sonic '06 memorable for its sheer miserable design. Can they save this series? My opinion? "It's no use".

SKYRIM'S THEME AS PERFORMED BY TAY ZONDAY

This probably was indirectly responsible for me hopping back on my xbox this last weekend to continue my playthrough of Skyrim (which I probably stopped playing last Summer)  as my Breton heavy armored, one hand weapon weilding, battlemage! You prolly know Tay best from his break-out internet hit "Chocolate Rain" and, while this theme might not be super timely, its better late than never to hear him sing this Skyrim tune!

BONUS: HOBBIT THEME

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/25/13.

rogue [rohg]
noun
1. A dishonest, knavish person; a scoundrel.
2. A tramp or vagabond.
3. A playful trickster or scamp; a mischief maker.
4. Dungeons & Dragons/Fantasy. A thief character capable of stealthy combat, versatile skills, such as sleight of hand and fast talk, and other tricks of sneaky and/or cunning variety.

EX. I tried to make a stealthier spellthief sorta rogue when I played Skyrim, but I always ended up getting distracted and just making my guy an uber monk who beats people to death with his bare hands and uses magic to stay alive longer than he should ever be able to manage.

WORD OF THE DAY! 11/9/12.

detection [dih-tek-shuhn] 
noun 
1.  The act of detecting.
2. The fact of being detected.
3.  Discovery, as of error or crime.

EX. Does anybody else wonder about the metagame of theft detection in role-playing games?

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! 5/8/12.

wyrm/wurm [wurm]
noun
1. Mythology. The Germanic term for a European dragon, literally translated as "snake" or "serpent". Such creatures can take the typical form of a European dragon; the quadrupedal cat-like or bipedal scaly bird-like form with two talons, a long tail, large wings, and a long neck ending in a reptilian head, sometimes with feline features, or it can instead take the form of a great serpent which, in modern fantasy, is more common for this term.

EX. The wyrm rose up over the crest of the next ridge loosing white powder from the snowcaps and let out a bone-shivering roar. Its jaws dripping with a slick grease, the beast swelled as it roared again, "Yol Toor Shul!"

A series of flaming spheres flew from the beasts maw and toward the Dragonborn. Side-stepping the attack, the hero charged toward the creature, sword in hand, and responded in the dragon's own wicked tongue, "Fus Roh Dah!" Stunning the beast, just long enough, for our hero to charge directly at the beasts and take a swing at its vintage hide.

WORD OF THE DAY! 4/30/12.

cuisine [kwi-zeen]
noun
1. A style or quality of cooking; cookery.
2. The foods and methods of preparation to a region or population. Major influencing factors include climate, availability, technology, economic factors, and religious beliefs.

EX. The sumptuous meal presented above is an example of some of the best cuisine that Skyrim has to offer from a hearty beef stew to the grilled lamb shanks to a carefully prepared side of potatos, grilled leek, cheese, bread, and a desert of sweet cakes.

Tune in next week for our ma's recipe for the bacon helmet.

WORD OF THE DAY! 3/26/12.

skald [skawld]
noun
1. An ancient Scandinavian poet, storyteller and/or singer.
2. A bard, a storyteller, a singer, a poet, etc.

EX. The skalds will sing songs of this day. The day that the "Human-Named-Finn" pursued a dungeon delve into the Guyver's Reach and struck down the Queen of the Spiders. One day, Finn would become king.

But that is a tale for another time...

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/8/12

slow poke/ slowpoke [sloh-pohk]
noun
1. A person who makes slow progress.

SYNONYMS: Laggard, dawdler, dallier, slug, sloth, dilly-dallyer, snail, sluggard, idler, straggler, etc.

EX. No character ever conceived has been a more internet friendly slowpoke than the Pokemon Slowpoke.

SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOetc. Poke!

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! 12/12-12/18 2011

WEEKLY ROUND-UP:

MAGIC: THE GATHERING WEEK

7. SCI-FI FANTASY SATURDAY! YOKAI! EPISODE #3 UNCLE.

I finally completed the third episode of Yōkai that I had been working on for a couple weeks. I think the end of the semester stumped me a little bit but I forced my way through to the next narrative point in the story. This chapter introduces several new plot points and characters.

6. WORD OF THE DAY! 12/13/11. Surreptitious.

*Shoots arrow into back of a bandit and then hides behind a rock. Wait ten seconds for the idiot to give up looking and shrug off an arrow wound with "Must've been my imagination?"*

5. WORD OF THE DAY! 12/12/11. Cram

Yes, Virginia. Superman is trying to kill Santa Claus.

4. WORD OF THE DAY! 12/14/11. Sacrilegious.

And a very Merry Christmas to all those Pokemon trainers out there celebrating the day that Arceus left earth.

3. WORD OF THE DAY! 12/17/11. Pomp and Circumstance.

This week was a very big week for my dad, Imple Sr., who graduated with his bachelor's degree. He is the first male in his family to get a college degree and I am very proud of him.

2. TABLE TOP TALES PRESENTS: MY FIRST MAGIC DECK!

As I take on a new challenge in my nerdery, with the inclusion of Magic to my already impressive list of hobbies, I have to reflect on the dangerous of the card games. What? Maximillian Pegasus could kidnap my grandpa's soul and force me to fight in a tournament. Or am I thinking of a different game?

1. WTF WEDNESDAY! MAN's LIFE: SEXPLOITATION!

If the previous week's display of man vs. animal magazine covers wasn't already ridiculously depraved and silly than last week's collection of sexploitative dribble was downright hedonistic of me to show you guys.

WORD OF THE DAY! 12/13/11

surreptitious [sur-uhp-tish-uhs]
adjective
1. obtained, done, made, etc. by stealth, secrecy, or unauthorized activity.
2. acting in a stealthy way.

EX. I've noticed that little has changed in the world of enemy NPC AI in Skyrim. I can still manage to trick a barbarian into thinking he just imagined the arrows in his back by running to the back of his cave and being surreptitious until the eye-ball reticule returns to a slit and notifies me that I am hidden. Seriously, I've killed entire pirate dens and roving parties of Falmer this way. It just seems mean to pick on the incompetent like that.

WEEKLY ROUND-UP! 12/5-12/11 2011

WEEKLY ROUND-UP:

"WEASELS RIPPED MY FLESH" WEEK

7. WORD OF THE DAY! 12/11/11. Trifling.

It has been a month since we dived into Skyrim. I've put a day or more worth of hours into the game and I still haven't scratched the surface of the Nordic homeland. It is the most immersive single player game on the market, right now, and if you don't have it...WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!

WARNING! After a good six hour session of Skyrim you may look down at your hands, expect an inventory menu to pop up, and then expect to be able to equip an Elven War Axe in your right hand and a Conjure Atronach spell in the other.

6. WORD OF THE DAY! 12/7/11. Feat

Captain Strong needs to return to DC Universe tomorrow. If US-1 was good enough for an awesome cameo with a space-traveling semi, than I want to see an immortal sailor man who runs on "sauncha" and fights alongside Aquaman. Steal my idea theoretical comic book writer or artist reading this!

5. WORD OF THE DAY! 12/6/11. Voracious

I always wondered if Link ate the hearts of his enemies to regain his strength, but always assumed the faeries healed him in exchange for being released. I am a big fan of fantasy from the monster or minion perspective as you can see in the little short vignette provided as an example.

4. WORD OF THE DAY! 12/10/11. Dark horse.

You can tell I am psyched about the article writing that I'm going to get back to over break. Its been a while since I wrote entire articles about my words of the day, and the two big ones I did this week were a lot of fun to write. If there are any heroes you'd like to see me research and feature, leave a comment below.

And Booster Gold is the man.

3.  WORD OF THE DAY! 12/9/11. Facade.

The world needs more Superman. The character has received a lot of flak for two primary reasons: he is not as a cool as Batman and he is a big target. The golden standard of super heroism, Superman is as timeless a character as Batman, and deserves to be given the same treatment that Batman has received in his various evolutions. 

Some cynical people out there want gritty and dark super heroes and claim that the altruism of older super heroes is ridiculous. But to quote Superman, "What's so funny about Truth, Justice and the American Way?"

2.WTF WEDNESDAY PRESENTS MAN'S LIFE: THE FRAGILE MALE EGO OF THE GREATEST GENERATION

It really was a lot of fun finding all these ridiculous magazine covers and captioning them for you guys. Perhaps I was a little hard on the men that subscribed to these magazines, because I think if they reissued these into a collection I would buy it in a heart beat. Is it ridiculous, chauvinistic, and basically socially wrong in every sense? You bet. But it's also hilarious.

1. MIXED BAG. MY POKEMON FANART!

I am pretty proud of silly little scribbles that I drew last Thursday. It was a lot of fun drawing pocket monsters in my cartoonish style. If you're wondering why I didn't color them-- its a mix of laziness and a oddball pleasure in grayscale art. I'd like to draw more of these pokemans over break and maybe I'll color some of them. Heck, maybe I'll make it a challenge to post at least one pokemon a day on my blog. Just gotta wait to get a head start. Also, pokemon themed christmas cards for my friends. Huzzah!