evolution

Just realized that I haven’t done one of these in a while, and it saves me for having to produce actual content for one more day. The song listed is the last one that triggered the alert.

• Hum (song: Stars)
• Depeche Mode (song: Enjoy the Silence)
• The White Stripes (song: Seven-Nation Army)
• Arcade Fire (song: Rebellion (Lies))
• The Killers (song: Smile Like You Mean It [naturally])
• Wilco (song: still Impossible Germany)
• Editors (song: All Sparks)
• Bright Eyes (song: When the Brakeman Comes My Way)
• Johnny Cash (song: Ghost Riders in the Sky)
• She Wants Revenge (song: Save Your Soul)
• Led Zeppelin (song: Houses of the Holy)
• Oingo Boingo (song: Just Another Day)
• Kaiser Chiefs (song: Ruby)
• Kings of Leon (song: Knocked Up)
• Sevendust (song: Prodigal Son)
• Jose Gonzalez (song: Down the Line)
• Doors (song: When the Music’s Over)
• Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble (song: Crossfire)
• Motorhead (song: Killed by Death)
• My Morning Jacket (song: Librarian [in honor of the job I'm leaving])
• Sufjan Stevens (song: Chicago)
• M83 (song: Kim and Jessie)
• Alice in Chains (song: Down in a Hole; fact: Layne Staley lived for a short time in Lawrence, after AIC made it big)
• The Raconteurs (song: Steady as She Goes)
• Pantera (song: Walk)

I just got the most awesome phone call from my buddy. He’s starting a week’s vacation tomorrow, and is staying up late tonight. He’s playing the 8-bit classic The Legend of Zelda on his old NES, and he called me to inquire about the location of the sword upgrade early on, because he couldn’t remember.

I, of course, did.

He ended our conversation by saying that he was “going to take a dump”, and then was “going to slay the fuck out of some fools with my new sword.” My heart is warm with nostalgia.

… and it looks like Guild Wars again tonight. Sheesh.

Because any other reality is saner than this one.

Yeah, so I picked up the Guild Wars expansions Factions and Nightfall, thus completing my collection of the Guild Wars oeuvre.

Praise the Lord and pass the social skills.

I took the plunge and picked up a copy of Guild Wars: Platinum Edition, which is like World of Warcraft in that it is massively-multiplayer, but it is unlike the latter in that all the things I would find annoying — kill stealing, spawn camping, and skill grinding — have been eliminated.

If you’re into the game too, I’m currently using a character called “Turlang the Hunter”. Look us up.

I listen to a lot of comedy, both in my early-morning entertainment (the Bob and Tom show) and on the satellite. Here are ten that I am listening to a lot right now:

• Gabriel Iglesias
• Ron White
• Kathleen Madigan
• James Johanns (a Paola, KS native)
• Daniel Tosh
• D.L. Hughley
• Drew Hastings
• Reno Collier
• Henry Cho
• “Comedian Bob” Marley

Found entirely by accident — a Wichita-based role-playing gamer’s guild.

Just to prove to you what a dork I am — and to test out some software — I have created a comic based on screenshots from my current playthrough of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

 The Road to Oblivion issue #1: “Paved with Good Intentions” (225kB PDF)

Tell me what you think.

Chris de Burgh is doing a show in Iran — the first Western artist to do so since the 1979 revolution.

The bright side: Unless everyone at the concert has just eaten, he won’t possibly offend anyone.

Or… will he?

Lady in red is dancing with me
Cheek to cheek
There’s nobody here
It’s just you and me
It’s where I wanna be
But I hardly know this beauty by my side
I’ll never forget the way you look tonight

That’s your friendly neighborhood sharia violation right there.

A video follow-up to yesterday’s mention of Zeppelin:

And of course:

Rock.