Okay, SEVERAL things on the burner right now.
1. WE ARE WYLD STALLYNS! I wrote/co-wrote the music for two songs for the evil metal band in New Millennium Theatre's play. You can find out more information about the show starting off at the KICKSTARTER page for the show. Please check it out and donate a few bucks! I showed the metal band how to play the new stuff and they picked it up right away and are making it their own bad ass of bad assery that I can't wait to hear the finished product and see it performed on stage this spring!
2. HIRED GOONS show! We'll be performing at a fundraiser for New Millennium Theatre on Sunday, April 15th, at Fizz. Details once I have them.
3. HIRED GOONS show! Friday, April 20th @ Ye Olde Town Inn in Mt. Prospect. We had a blast at Poochie's bday party and they seemed to like us so they asked us back.
3.5. I might do something Kickstarter-ish for the Goons. Will let you know.
4. Am working on finishing the latest script and there will be a table read for the other script soon.
5. I drew a strip for The Heckler but I'm not sure if they'll use it.
6. I'm sure I have some other things that I'm doing but as I think about it, really I'm just in the process of trying to get the Goons booked this spring and finishing this script and maybe getting back to drawing.
7. Oh, Everyone Loves Gears #14 has been recorded, but I still have to take pictures and edit the whole thing together. Soon.
Um, this may or may not seem like a lot. It's not a lot to me, as far as volume, though it means a lot. I really feel like I should be doing more things. That's my own fault that I'm NOT, of course. Like drawing.
Sadly, my laziness has been a result from those damn video games you've been hearing about.
The mrs. picked up Batman: Arkham City and though I'm a guy who shouts "Make Mine Marvel!" instead of "Amen" during church, I gotta say that I have more love for the Batman. Or The Goddamn Batman. It's surprisingly...vulgar. The word "bitch" gets thrown around a lot. Other than the non-stop swearing and such, the voice acting is great (except for Talia; holy crap what an annoying character). The Mrs. is even shocked by the amazing graphics.
I played the game on "Easy" because let's face it, I die a lot in these games Usually in the opening menu. And i want to get through the game and not cry myself into a curled up fetal position because all I want to do is beat up Mr. Freeze or whomever. That said, the fighting portion of the game is just kinda pointing Batman at whomever you want to punch and pressing the fight button and he punches them. Again, I didn't play it on the other difficulty level (yet) but sheesh, getting through the legion of goons hiding out in Arkham City is brutal....FOR THEM!
I will say that several times, I was eaten by a shark.
And me with no Bat-Shark Repellent!
So it's really just flying from hither to yon around the city courtesy of a grappling hook and your cape and beating up oblivious goons. Fortunately ascending levels to open up unlockable weapons and attacks is pretty easy (again, I admit now that I was on the "Easy" level of difficulty) which I'm grateful for, as opposed to ever-widening level upgrades that would make having to beat up a ton of similar goons with fewer challenges seem painfully redundant despite being necessary. So, thanks, gamers.
If you think I'm a wimp for praising that aspect, please note that this is a video game. I don't deserve more respect for beating it because the level-ups are simple. I would deserve respect if I did something real, like become a real medical professional and saved real people's lives. I doubt there are real life lessons in Arkham City I could learn and apply in these situations, aside that I am going to ask some of my female friends to wear similar Catwoman suits (along with the same amount of lipstick).
So, anyway, I enjoyed the game. It's easy to get around Arkham City, the side missions are fun, there's only a few frustrating moments. I hate the kinds of games where I have to go BACK in an open free-exploring world and it's a zillion miles away. In Arkham City, it's easy to get around, even if the objective's at the other end of town, and thus I don't feel the need to reset the game because of so much time even MORE pointlessly wasted having to retrace my steps from the last save point (seeing as how I'm already pointlessly wasting my time playing the game in the first place).
"I am not really a gamer," says the guy who just spent days playing a video game. I have been pretty picky about the games I've purchased. "Oh, get Skyrim/Uncharted! You'll love it!" No, you don't know me, I probably won't love it. I'll love a movie that has a beginning, middle, and end. I won't love feeling like I'm PLAYING a movie. You don't play a movie. I like playing War For Cybertron not because I feel like I'm involved in some interactive art presentation that I need to defend against Roger Ebert's dismissal of video games being art; I just like to pretend I'm a robot smashing the crap out of other robots. So for a few hours I liked being the Goddamn Batman.
"WHERE ARE THEY?" the wife shouts randomly from another room.
I enjoyed the living heck out of the Ghostbusters game because I got to be a Ghostbuster. I would enjoy the game over another forced movie (without Bill Murray), but this is only because of my obsession with Ghostbusters. I would not recommend it as a work of art to be compared to the movies or discussed at a book club. I am enjoying the "Ratchet & Clank" series because I enjoy the gameplay, I think the characters and even the enemies are cute, and the presentation done very well. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing it but I admit that I wouldn't have picked it up if not for it being bundled with the PS3.
That is not an admission that I'm wrong about video games, even though I'm enjoying that particular game that I wouldn't have otherwise even given a thought about. Now it's it my life at the moment and I'm enjoying it. Score one for video games.
I would just be doing something else with that time, and it would produce something that would exist that I could call my own and even with my shoddy workmanship I could share and maybe be proud of. That's how I feel about video games, and about what I really should be doing with my time.
But, still, I'm the goddamn Batman.
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