Twin Peaks + Silent Hill + GTA3 = ?

My sister told me about this game called "Deadly Premonition." Although the cover of it looks like some gruesome scene out of Resident Evil or somesuch, it's apparently closer to an adventure-game type thing. A really surreal adventure-game type thing. This made me think about why there isn't more surrealism in video games. I guess people are only just starting to think of games as an artistic medium, and surrealism doesn't exactly lead to commercial success. I think it's pretty cool, or at least amusing.

The FBI agent you play also talks to his invisible friend named Zach.

Apologies to you if you're a gun'sbraster

I was in my Japanese class when we got on the topic of gun control laws. (My teacher is the token liberal professor at BYU, and he favors tighter gun control laws. It didn't have much to do with Japanese.) One student said "Well, maybe a lot of Church members think guns are a good thing because they were important to us historically when we were being persecuted." Another said "It might also have to do with geographic areas." I tend to lean left, and since most of BYU, and by extension my class, is pretty conservative when it comes to the right to bear arms, I started to wonder what would be the most inflammatory thing I could say. I didn't end up actually contributing much to the conversation because I started giggling like a schoolgirl, but I immediately came up with "Maybe it's because of repressed sexuality." (Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if that were the case for a lot of people who like guns.) Then later the potentially more inflammatory thought of "Maybe it's because of repressed homoerotic urges." Then as I was biking home, "I know! Maybe we could classify gun ownership as a paraphilia!"

See, it'd be really funny if I said these things out loud in a classroom full of gun nuts. Right? You yourself can try them at home or on the job.

half-visible, half-baked, half-naked

In my Environmental Biology class today, we watched a bideo about climate change 'n' stuff. It was kind of America-bashing, because of our culture of excess. We've got ridiculous amounts of wealth in this country--people spend more money watering their lawns than India's government collects in income tax--but all we can think about is getting more. It's as if there was some machine saying "consume...consume..." in our rooms as we sleep, like "remember...remember..." from Flowers for Algernon. Well, maybe we need a new cultural mantra? I thought about it a bit and for some reason, this really struck me. "Hey, people are obsessed with getting more for its own sake. Our world economy more or less depends on it. What if we changed that to innovation for its own sake? Money would still get spent, and stuff would still get made." I guess the reason this hit me so hard is because a)I have never taken an economics class and b)I think a change like that in the national character appeals to me, who favors individualism(which engenders innovation) in most cases over collectivism (which engenders keeping up with the Joneses and blind following of trends and routines).

I haven't really thought this through, but it made me think "I should start doing more innovation. And encourage others to do same."

...what

Would you buy this video game? I would then say I didn't.

(expletive deleted)

I like creative things. Lately I've been hooked on the website tvtropes.org, which is about more than simply television, and it makes me want to do many creative things! In fact, it kind of makes me want to write fiction. But what medium should I use: film, television, literature, songs, comics, video games, live performance?
At any rate, this is me trying to think of what sort of legacy I want to leave as a human being, but as for you, reader (possibly readers?), I suggest going to the website. It's fun.

"Hey Ladies Fans"

I'm feeling good-o. Over the last month or so I've found that physical activity is ridiculously, ridiculously good for my mental health.

The title of this post is the title of an Ill Mitch track. I tried to look Ill Mitch up on Wikipedia, but apparently the closest article is "The Sexorcist." Uhh, right.

Here's another installment of "Why Does This Song Affect Me Like This?": I just listened to "Waterslides" by the Aquabats, and I guess I've tied it to certain emotions and times of my life...It makes me feel somewhere between pensive and nostalgic, if that's possible at 23 years old. At any rate, it's really a pretty song and somewhat of a departure from the rest of the Aquabats' oeuvre. Listen!

To bring this full-circle, I also like the song "Hello, Goodnight" by the same band. I just read on a website that: "Whenever I saw them live, before they played this one, MC Bat Commander started saying how if you're really depressed to just call somebody, anybody, that it'd be alright."

I really like the Aquabats, largely because they strike me as decent people. What other bands are like this?

What?

My mind goes in odd directions sometimes. Over the break, I had a lot of free time and "nothing" to do. So I would have some days where I didn't even get out of the house, which led to a general, not-easily-put-into-words sense of dissatisfaction with myself/what I've become/what I'm doing. This was a hard problem to solve, but today I started thinking about my married brother, and how he and his wife have been caring for their newborn and not really getting out and about. I had been thinking that maybe I was disappointed because I wasn't being social, but my brother and his family haven't been doing much of what I'd call "social" in the normal sense. So I revised my opinion into "You need to make somebody happy." This sounds really people-pleasing and unhealthy to my ears, so maybe I should revise it again to "You need to show love for somebody."

Unfortunately, now my brain has started asking me to fill in the blank: "If you show love for somebody, then finally you will __________."

I think the only thing stopping me from being an emo kid is that my mind likes to be more confusing than straightforward when I'm having issues. ...Also, I'm not skinny enough, and I'm too lazy to grab any Dashboard Confessional or whatever is emo right now.

(P.S.: I wrote one time in my journal about an emo-lookin' kid in the college concert band I played with right after high school. He bleached his hair or wore a different sweater or something, so I wrote that he went from "sensitive black" to "weepy orange." It occurs to me now that these would be possible "threat level" colors if Michael Chertoff (yes, I had to look his name up) went emo.)

(P.P.S.: The emo kid played euphonium, or "emo-nium.")

A treasure

ooooo.

Destroy!

I put up another comic. I noticed that I've only put up five (I think?) comics since I started my stripgenerator account. I don't think it's for lack of ideas; I think it has more to do with the fact that I go through this kind of Choose Your Own Adventure thing with each idea.

If you DECIDE TO WRITE A SONG ABOUT THE IDEA, turn to page 65.

If you WRITE A COMIC STRIP AND FORGET TO TELL ANYBODY, turn to page 24.

If you ARE ONLY GOING TO BLOG ABOUT IT EVEN THOUGH THAT'S KINDA BORING MAYBE, turn to page 112.

If you TRY TO BRING IT UP IN CONVERSATION SO AS TO IMPRESS AN ATTRACTIVE WOMAN-TYPE, stop reading Choose Your Own Adventure, dude--it STARTED being uncool in fourth grade.

If you PAINT A PICTURE OF THE IDEA, learn how to art first, duh. (P.S.: Can you place the "duh" in that clause anywhere else besides the end? "...learn how to art, duh, first." "learn how to, duh, split infinitives.")

If you BLOW IT OFF AND PLAY VIDEO GAMES INSTEAD, turn to page 32 for the umpteenth time.

destroy

I played this video game recently. To be completely honest, the reason I actually played it all the way through will be clear to anybody who watches 4:30 to about 6:20 and 8:10 to about 9:40 of this video. Again, oh my gaaaashh.

Also, I got a free synth today wooooo

Challenge and fighting

Item the first. The best thing to do when people hand you a flier with the expectation that you'll take it is to take it without looking at them, barely reacting at all besides grabbing it. Then wad it up and stick it in your mouth. Disappear around the corner. (This item is not based on something I did. I promise.)

Item the second. Do you know how people often find their phrase du jour and won't stop using it? For example, overuse of "awesome!" or "need more cowbell." Yeah, it's really annoying and everybody who does such a thing should be shot.

Mine is replacing "is it" with "it is" and vice versa. Maybe you'll like it too!

Destroy

I'm trying an experiment today. "What will happen," said I, "if I stare directly into the souls of the people I walk past today via their eyes?" Well, not too much. I feel mighty, though, because like nobody is brave enough to meet my gaze, even for a split second. NOBODY!!

What experiments do you try, friends?

Also, I've noticed that if I want human contact, most people aren't going to contact me, so I have to initiate everything. This is something I've noted before, and I've accepted it as my lot in life that I'm not the charismatic leader-type, but the notion's been really reinforced lately and it irritates me, making me take out my anger by giving passerby the EVIL EYE, I guess.

However! On the first of November, the band I joined will be performing at a sandwich shop...or I guess they have a more concert hall-type thing next door. Sammy's! In Provo! Be there, aloha.

Destroy.

broseph (the original, from Anchorman)
bro-ham (from Reaper, I think)
brotein
brokaryote (prokaryote; from Ben)
brosephine
brophy (This one actually means "when your brother gets a trophy." From MST3K: "Being from Another Planet.")
broton
jet bropulsion
brofessional athlete
rock 'n' broll
brolo contendere
hybroelectric dam
Broldplay
goin' brostal
Higgs broson
hyperbrole
brobal warming
Ebrola
isobropyl alcohol
Broastal Chill
"Is the Brope Catholic?"

I guess I better pay attention in my GIS class now.

Your song made me say naughty things!

Speaking of "strip," I finally put another one on my Stripgenerator page. I think I'll do another one pretty soon, too.

You always fall for what you desire or what you fear

I was walking on campus and listening to "The Well and the Lighthouse." About the time this line came up, I nearly started to weep.

I want to write music so beautiful that it affects me on that visceral, subconscious level. How?

Also, for sir and madame's consideration

So, last Saturday Andy and I recorded some sweet beats. We wrote, arranged, recorded, and mixed a song in about three hours, which I think is pretty sweet. Listen to "Ashamed of My Game Show" and many other things at his imeem dealie! I'll put the lyrics below because a) it's hard to understand it in the mix and b) I feel like it.

(p.s.: my car broke down, and I didn't get a job. We in the business call this "acquiring songwriting material through life experience." Also, my dog died and my wife turned out to be a killbot.)

"Ashamed of My Game Show" by Prof. Nick Clark and Andy Myers, Attorney at Law
I'm afraid to show my face
My producers called it the national disgrace
Both viewers say "Cut your greasy hair!"
The female guests have to face my inappropriate stare

I'm ashamed of my game show...

I left my wife for my assistant, Denise ("There's no Denise!")
And she left me for some kinda lobster-beast
The prizes cause Lyme disease and Epstein-Barr
And the losers get trapped behind a brick wall

(chorus, including my favorite falsetto backup vocal from Andy, "His game show is a game shame!")

Our money goes to a charity
That takes poor children's lunch money
But for some reason I don't understand
It's huge in Europe, or maybe Japan

Tanks for the memories!

Thanks to the help of the powerful Genuine, I now have a Stripgenerator dealie. Go to it!!!
GO TO IT!!!! Maybe not immediately, though. I only have one strip up.

Thank you, Superman, for teaching us to love...again

Not a comic.

It has come to my attention that I'm moist. Frankly, I don't recall ever being this knowingly moist, perhaps with the exception of the summers I spent in Japan. And when I covered my entire body in flour, yeast and secret hobo spices, it only made things worse as people tried to smother me in gravy, Texas style. Also, the a/c in my aparrrto doesn't really work. Ain't that a drag? Not a J. Edgar Hoover kinda drag, but more of a "I'm going to dump your books and drag you through the mud after gym class, twerp!" kind of drag.

Item!: I cannot tell a lie. My roommates are kinda slobby. As a result, I spend my days fantasizing about how they will someday do their own dishes or at least not culture anthrax and Clostridium botulinum in the half-full bowls they leave around. This is different from my usual fantasies, which, interestingly, also involve flour, yeast and secret hobo spices. (Gross!!) Anyways, sometimes I think about real passive-aggressive ways to handle the problems. I thought I was being really original when I came up with the idea of placing dirty dishes on the bed of he who dirtied them, but this concept apparently originated with the concurrent work of Newton and Leibniz. Thanks for making me creative, MFG 202.

I move back to Orem next month, children. It's been fun living among the bunglers of the urban...ish jungle of Provo, but I think it's time to cut costs and play more Guitar Hero III, so back to Mom's it is!

Update: I forgot to use the word "hobotomy" in this post. I'm truly sorry, everyone.

The continuation!!

I apologize for the explicit violence and frank depictions of sexuality in these next two, entitled "Hired!" and "Hired! Part 2."



P.S.: These are a little old (I drew and wrote them a few weeks ago), and they look weird to me now. Ah, whatever.