Otakon Wrap-up!

Back home and exhausted! My book dress surprise ended up falling apart, but luckily enough, Ganondorf was still in working condition.  Otakon on a whole was great, as per usual, but I can't help but feel the events were lackluster.  Bandai and Sunrise were missing, and all Aniplex and Funimation had to offer were already existing DVD announcements. As for good things, cosplay on a whole was great this year! The average quality of costumes was better, and I'm seeing many more niche characters.

I would have to say the highlight of my weekend was the Wii U press event in DC.  I made the extra hour trip down there with friends and it was worth it!  It truly felt like a VIP experience.  While I wasn't too impressed with the Wii U, the video controller really changes the game play.  If only I could have that controller with one of my already existing systems, I'd be set.  The price point has yet to be decided on, and none of the Nintendo people could say anything about a hard drive.  They just didn't know.  Check out the video for a look at the demos!

~the Captain

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Night of the first day

First day of Otakon down! I've seen alot of quality costumes this year.  Dealer's room had a different feel without Bandai or Sunrise, but there were others to take their place.  One big regret of mine is not having a charged phone when I walked by the Star Wars shoot ;____;
All in all, a very fun-filled tiring day! I'm hoping to catch the Steampunk panel in the morning, costume willing!

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The Story So Far...

Otakon so far has been amazing! Lots of great cosplays, both from Eastern and Western cultures.  Had a great Zelda gathering at the indoor fountains and hung out with some great cosplayers!
Just got out of my Wind Waker Ganondorf outfit.  I plan on sniping some pictures other than LoZ this evening, and attending a few panels.
~the Captain

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So little time, so much to do!

I've been lucky enough to attend two concerts in my lifetime that feature video game music, and the Legend of Zelda Symphony was simply amazing.   I wasn't able to live-blog it because of a dead phone battery, but hey my GPS held out long enough to get me in the area!  The care that was put into the composition was apparent in every song.  There was even a surprise Wind Waker baton for the second part of the overture.  It was truly a concert by fans for fans, and it did the series justice.  As soon as I get a link to the Wolftrap performance, I'll add it on.

In other news, OTAKON!  Biggest anime convention on the East coast, and I'm there!  Luckily enough, I met up with some other Otakon goers at the concert, and they informed me about the Zelda group meeting up today!  I've painted furiously through the night to finish my Ganondorf outfit.  (Sleep is scheduled for sometime later today.)  Saturday I have a big book-murder-esque surprise to wear around the convention :3

On Saturday, I'll be attending the Wii-U press event in DC, and I hope to have plenty of pics and video, phone battery willing!

One last item on the agenda:  a giveaway!  Share & like this post on Facebook, and you could win a book purse!  Winner will be announced on Wednesday, August 1.

Better nate than lever!

So my planned "weekly carnage" post is on the back burner due to some unfinished issues. Who knew glue didn't dry in 10 minutes?! I was very surprised when I discovered this small but incredibly important fact. Anywho, busy weekend! Not only do I get to attend the Legend of Zelda symphony in Wolftrap, Va, but I've also been invited to the Wii-U press event in DC! Live blogging and tweeting from both. There are also a few other surprises this weekend, and a giveaway to be announced! That is, when the glue dries ;___; For those that cant catch the symphony, here's some Zelda to keep you trucking, here's a fantastic website to help you keep up with all Zelda comics EVER. http://www.zeldadungeon.net/Manga.php

Murderer of the Week!

In my internet travelings, I came upon Guy Laramee, an "interdisciplinary artist" who happens to maim and mutilate tons of very large books.  He specializes in the "erosion of culture."  His "Great Wall"  installment is based on a post-apocalyptic America that China eventually takes over, thereby discovering Ancient China, and securing their own undoing through knowledge. 

I can see my house from here!

 If only I had enough time on my hands to destroy books through such meticulous detail! 

~ The Captain

A note on copyrights!

I feel that starting off with this blog, I should give a mention to the single line at the bottom of the page: "All works held under a Creative Common License (CC) unless otherwise noted."  The creative common license was first proposed by Lawrence Lessig, a big advocate for copyright reform.  

The idea is that as long as you attribute to the original poster/artist/writer, that anything under this license is free to use.  The only stipulation is that others are then able to use it and attribute it to you.  I like to share, and I like it when others share with me.  For more info, here is the actual Creative Commons page.

I include this tag line because I get most of my images from Wikimedia Commons.  It's a great resource tool, and I'm happy it's there!  It would make it much harder for websites and other media outlets to do what they do if the whole Wikipedia franchise didn't exist. 

Another great example of sharing and open-source freedom is the Ouyah.  It's a gaming console, powered by Android (ooooh delicious kool-aid), and it's $99.  It is currently in the Kickstarter stages, originally asking for a mere $950,000 to help build more than just the prototype.  It broke Kickstarter's record by earning $2.5 million in 8 hours. 

What's all the buzz about?  Well, for one thing all the games are streamed live and are free initially, with added paid content.  It's totally open-source, and in fact encourages hackers, and every Ouya comes with a dev kit.  Best part?  Taking it apart doesn't void the warranty! 

So in summary, a $99 game system, with free games, and an established indie following.  So far, it's earned $4.8 million in 5 days up to $5.2 million now!.  Hopefully it sticks around and doesn't go the way of OnLive.

Yay for using things and not being sued by copyright holders!

~ The Captain

Weekly Carnage!

So I first encountered the art of killing books (and the inspiration for this blog) when I started joining wedding websites to help plan my own wedding.  It amazed me how many DIY boards were obsessed with ripping apart books for the sake of wedded bliss!  So to start off the first of many Weekly Carnages to come, I submit my own murder!

I have an old 1960's copy of the Odyssey, written in Greek.  Why I bought this, I have no idea, but needless to say I could not find a use for it.  Seriously, it even sucked as a doorstop.  And now the murder scene:

Pomander, Boutonniere, and said Greek book somewhere in my studio

I ripped strips of the pages and just rolled them into roses.  I think it turned out quite nice, no?  It's going to be a Steampunk wedding, so I think these fit in very well :3

~The Captain

Comic Con 2012!

It is my dream to one day attend Comic Con, dressed in only the finest of Spartan armor.  Until then, I'll have to live with the constant coverage of every movie trailer, new comic, new game, and new funny panel posted on the internet.  Even CNN had coverage...of everything there that wasn't comics.  But my favorite news so far is the new Deadpool game, brought to you by High Moon Studios.  I'm excited!  The "kickass teaser video" speaks for itself:

In more Marvel news, I've been researching the Comixology app.  I own very few paper comics (still waiting for my old Battlestar Galactica comics to become collector items), and I like the dynamic views the apps provide.  While Comixology doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the table, it does have a great selection of DC, Marvel, and well, every other comic on the planet.  A quick search yielded over 100 Deadpool comics, and over 1,000 Batman options.  Dark Horse seems to be the only one left out, but that was just a cursory glance.  For anyone who wants to get into the comic book scene, but doesn't want to get their hands covered with nerd, this is definitely a great download for any smart phone or tablet.  Even if you're not a comic fan, download it for the Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover series!  Oh yah, Cybermen AND the borg. 

And for those who still say Nay to the comic book scene, HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS? D'AWWWWWW!!!!

~The Captain

Drinking the Kool-aid...and getting a refill!

As I like to tell everyone, I've drank the Google Kool-aid.  I was a vehement Mac user for years and I owned the holy trinity of Iphone, Ipod, and Maccy Lappy.  Yes, I owned an old brick ipod AND an iphone.  At the time, I was big into photo/video editing and Apple and I had a good relationship.  Then we both started getting older, we grew apart, I had a few open-source relationships...Well, it was just time to end things.  

My first foray into my relationship with Google was when a friend introduced me to Google Wave.  It was neat for the time (you could go back and edit messages--that was AMAZING), but it drug on processing power.  Safari didn't like it much.  Then I was introduced to Blogspot, Android phones, Google analytics.  Match made in heaven!  Damn, that Kool-aid is good. 

The refill?  I've now messed around with two more products under Google's umbrella--Picasa and the Nexus 7 Tablet.  I've always been a flickr user, but I was just tired enough this evening that I caved to Google's prodding.  Use OUR image site.  Go on--one more can't hurt.  So I downloaded Picasa on my laptop and android, and I'm quite impressed.  For the laptop, I really like how it scoured my laptop for photos, images, wallpapers--everything with a .jpg, .bmp, .gif, .xcf, and .psd tag.  It also wanted to tag my photos with names.  May have to mess with that later, but I still find it a little creepy.  I also like how you can do small edits to photos from the program.  I may be a little late jumping on the Picasa bandwagon, but the last "photo sharer" program I used was iPhoto, and that was incredibly annoying.  Hey, have 50 folders with the same five photos!  Turn your sister's graduation sideways?  Here, have another copy!  I'm definitely ready for picasa.  it was easy to upload from my phone as well.  I'm going to investigate the sync between the two's albums later. The sync works great between computer, web, and phone!  You can choose what folders sync to the web, and a quick click for the other direction.

As for the Nexus--it's freakin' gorgeous.  It's a little heavier than a small book with a slightly rubberized back.  It was kinda weird that it wouldn't flip to landscape mode, but I started to get the hang of it.  I've been bugging my friends to get on minecraft incessantly, and I'm hoping the Nexus has enough power to run either a Linux or Windows emulator to run the full version.  (Further posts on our awesome minecraft universe tba).  I think it just might be able to do it!  This thing has a quadcore processor, 16g of storage (8g for the cheaper version), an amazing screen, full Android OS, and it's selling for around $200.  What's not to love?  Well, the only port on the thing is a tiny MicroUSB.  It only runs on WiFi.  It's battery life isn't the best in the world, but it charges quickly.  Thinking of an e-reader?  A tablet?  A smart phone?  Iphone?  Ipad?? Then you seriously need to look at the Nexus 7, because it is a HEFTY contender. 


~The Captain

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The Game Is Afoot!

This blog is dedicated to the ultimate death of books.  Now first off, let me say that I love books, I love reading books, and I love tearing them apart for projects.  So conflicting!  So much carnage to be posted and so little time!  I also overuse exclamation points!  I'm hoping this will be a home for everyone who enjoys DIY projects, cats, comics, and vidya games.  I'm hoping to update twice a week with posts, but we'll see how that goes ^_~

Enjoy!

~The Captain