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Dec 15, 2013

YTP Vid: It's a Wonderful Loaf - Part 1

Merry Christmas! This took forever, but it was a ton of fun to get to know some of the ins and outs of YouTube Pooping. I also notice that there aren't any other YTPs of It's a Wonderful Life online, so who knows? Maybe it'll get more views than my other vids.



Dec 9, 2013

Fun with Song Lyrics

I come from a family with a sense of humor. The thing I miss most from them when I'm away from home is their individual laughs; When we're together we're always quoting lines from What About Bob?, Galaxy Quest, and ¡Three Amigos!; Our earliest family videos show us being silly and joking with each other. It seems like there's always an unspoken contest to see who's next to make everyone laugh.

One of the things my brother and I like to do on the fly is make fun of songs that are playing. I realized that there are at least three ways we like to do this.

Nov 26, 2013

A couple of surprises

On Hearthstone, there are special "golden" cards that are animated with special effects. Besides that and their higher worth/cost, they're just the same as normal cards. But I like them. Anyway, I decided to try my hand at making my own on Adobe Premiere. These are three gods from the Argae mythos. They're really low resolution because I wanted to use them on my Argae forum, but it turns out they're too big to put as avatars anyway. Go figure. Oh well. A fun idea and a nice gateway experiment for making GIFs.








Nov 17, 2013

Battle of Finnsburg Reading

I decided to try my hand at reading Old English aloud. Here's a passage from the poem on the last post.


Nov 14, 2013

Anglo-Saxon Translation: The Battle of Finnsburg

I'm learning Old English! And what better place to preserve my translations than Pretzel Lectern? This particular piece is an intense epic battle poem, but sadly only this fragment survives.

Nov 4, 2013

Blog Design overhaul?

So... what do you think of the new Pretzel Lectern? I thought the old version looked a little juvenile and flashy, so I tried to streamline it a bit and improve the overall appearance. But what do you think? Do you think it's boring now? I welcome your input as followers of my blog, so if you like the other way (or something more similar to the old way) better than this style, I would appreciate your feedback.

Oct 29, 2013

Abelhawk's Final Smash

I've been meaning to make this for a long time. I came up with the idea years ago for if I were a Super Smash Bros. character. I took it in this shirt so that I could use it as my YouTube cover picture to match the avatar I drew.
Geeky? You bet it is. That's how I roll.

Oct 21, 2013

Story: The Bridge

The Bridge

One day while lost hiking alone, Jack came upon a thicket in the forest that had leaves of strange colors. He entered a small archway in the brush and came upon a bridge. The bridge spanned a large chasm, the bottom wreathed in black shadows too deep to see. On the other side of the bridge was a land unlike Jack had ever seen. There were fruit trees as far as he could see, rolling hills, and mountains decorated with blue waterfalls. He began to cross the bridge, intent on exploring the beautiful land, when suddenly an immense humanoid being with wings flew out from beneath the bridge and perched in front of him.
            “I am the guardian of the Bridge. You are fortunate to have stumbled upon this place.”
            “Bridge to where?” asked Jack, “I don’t even know where I am.”
            “The lands beyond are the Realm of Happiness. The people who have passed before you were wise and brave, and have built a perfect city where there is no disease, no crime, no war, and no pestilence. If you pass, then you will die only of old age, full and happy.”
            Jack thought of his life. He had little to live for back home. He had no family, no wife or children, and his job was nothing to be proud of anyway. He looked at the lands beyond, seeing a rainbow gleaming over a field of wheat. He thought he saw a glimpse of golden buildings near the horizon.
            Jack took a breath. “I wish to pass, Guardian.”
            “Very well. But to pass you must prove your wisdom. I will ask you a riddle. If you answer correctly, I will give you leave to cross the bridge, and your new life will begin. But if you answer incorrectly, I must instead end your life.”
            Jack was taken aback. “Are… are those the only options?”
            The being blinked its almond-shaped eyes. “Once I ask the riddle, your life will never be the same. However, you are free now to leave the way you came. But you will never find this bridge again.”
            Jack thought, looking out over the beautiful land. Then he looked off the side of the bridge at the blackness beneath. He opened his mouth to speak, then swallowed. He took a step backward. Then he walked through the multicolored leafy arch, never looking back.
            He soon found his way back to the trail, and made it home safely. He fell asleep that night peacefully, but in the morning he felt troubled. He had expected to forget what had happened the day before, but it was more vivid in his mind than the dreams he had had that night.
            Eventually he could go days without thinking of the strange bridge, but he never forgot the look in the winged being’s orange eyes.

Oct 18, 2013

An Ode to Blizzard


A couple of days ago I was invited by Blizzard Entertainment to be a part of the beta for their new game Hearthstone. I don't know how often they take aboard new beta testers (I even asked on Yahoo Answers), but it is a great honor nonetheless. Not only do I get to play the game before it's released, but I also get to see it in its beta stage and help the company work out bugs.

Sep 29, 2013

KnightmareGames logo

I'm in a design class right now. It's required for my major; otherwise, I might not have taken it. Still, I'm glad I was able to learn about certain tactics in alignment, contrast, etc., which I may not have figured out on my own. It's always satisfying to learn more about something that you've always known about innately, finding out there's a science to it.
Anyway, if I ever market Corridor, Epic Chess, or any of the other board games I'm coming up with ideas for, this is definitely a pretty good looking logo and name for a company.


This is just the first draft, so obviously it'll get better, but I really think the logo picture itself is very aesthetically pleasing. It's drawn with vectors, as well, so the curves are perfect and scaleable. If I change anything it'll probably be the arrangement of the text or something.
Speaking of board games, I've been making great progress on Corridor's new look of cards. I've hit a snag, however, and need to further playtest the game to see how I can expand the skill sets and balance stats with monsters. I'll also need to figure out how I'm going to procure the art needed for the new cards. The items are easy, obviously, but skills and creatures... yeah. Those'll either take a lot of time or a lot of money to make.

Sep 24, 2013

The Year

January is like the Monday of the year. The year’s weekend holidays are over, and it’s kind of a bummer, but you’re relaxed and energetic and ready to get back to work. For a while. But the weather is gloomy, new annual reports need to be filed, New Year’s resolutions and goals need to be made, numbers need to be crunched. And the early months’ saturated Mondayness make the weeks drag on and on and on until you find yourself thinking “If I can just make it past February, I can survive.”

Sep 6, 2013

Argaenothruzil Classic

Today I stumbled upon an old email in my archives that was a message to myself containing a single link: http://pub45.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3860195469&frmid=6335.

This link leads to Argaenothruzil Classic, the original forum that my friends and I used to start our stories. It's been really fun for me to look over how the somewhat vast mythos of Argaenothruzil began as the simplest of universes. The races seem cliché simply because they began that way as meaningless lists of adjectives. Now at least they have backstories, cultures, and geographic locations.

Sep 4, 2013

Dustin better feel honored to be featured twice in a row on my blog!

Dustin, the antagonist of the last post's comic strip, is currently coming up with ideas for movies. I YTP'd this home video of his to show him my (and Adobe Premier Pro's), so it was a fun little YouTube Poop exercise.

Sep 2, 2013

Comic: Cupid

This comic is dedicated completely to my best friend Dustin.
This is the longest comic I've ever lettered and colored digitally! It took me a lot longer than I thought, especially given that I didn't care at all about the panel shapes and did a half-bummed job on the shading/coloring. But either way, it was fun to make. and really fun to have something long enough to have to organize and outline. If ideas like this grew on trees, I'd plant an orchard and actually have a full-out comic blog! I'd also have a lot less free time. :D

Aug 26, 2013

Corridor Cards Update

While thinking of fun things to customize, I decided to look up how much it would cost to make a deck of custom playing cards. Not only was what I found affordable—it had more creative capabilities than I had thought! Some sites I found even allow you to design the back and front of each individual card. This gave me an idea for something that would definitely be worth putting time into: revamping Corridor completely!

Aug 22, 2013

The Spider's Doom

Audio mixing is harder than it looks. But sometimes videos just somehow magically fit to the already-recorded music track.

Aug 17, 2013

End of the summer update

Well, now that summer is over and I feel like I've gotten all the computer-game playing and vegging out of my system, hopefully I'll be able to buckle down and work on some projects again. It seems like in the summertime I'm lazier, even though I'm working more than doing homework. I think the intellectual stimulation of school inspires me to work on personal projects more. I just hope I don't get stuck in a permanent rut after I graduate.

Aug 7, 2013

Abelhawk the Archmage


This one didn't turn out as good as the other one color-wise, but I liked doing it just the same. This is the fictional character whose name I use in everything, as I best imagine him in my books. Strictly speaking, this drawing is based on his Argaenothruzil incarnation in the present era.

Jul 26, 2013

Vilhellm Xonafitii


I got in the mood to draw today, so I drew the protagonists of the current story I'm writing with my cousin. This first one is my character, Vilhellm "Will" Xonafitii. One thing you should know about my own mythos, Argaenothruzil, is that though it uses lots of cliches (such as elves, dwarves, and vampires), it does so so that I as the writer can interpret them in my own way. In a sense, it's a sort of my fanfiction of classic fantasy.
Will is a wampyre, a recently discovered race (for mainland Argaenothruzil) from Nerolanth. Wampyres in my universe are not bloodthirsty monsters. They are simply another race in the world. They are a nocturnal race, mainly because their skin is sensitive to the sun; their eyes can range from red and orange to pink and magenta in color; they only drink blood from animals, and some even drink the juice from fruits. They are a vain race who value their family lines, ingenuity, and written works.
Will himself spent some of his childhood in mainland Argaenothruzil, so he learned to speak Argaen without a Nerolanthian accent. His main goal in the story is to travel to Argae and become a part-time diplomat and a full-time artifact hunter. He meets Zenaeron, my cousin's character, and they set off together to go on adventures. You can read the story as it stands thus far here, and it's a work in progress, so we're adding to it almost daily.
I'll upload other pictures soon!

Jul 19, 2013

The Creation of the World

I've been slacking on projects due to an especially enthusiastic playthrough of Oblivion, so here's a filler: A look into the world of Argaenothruzil (my play-by-post forum RPG) and its creation.

The Creation of the World 


Before the world existed, there was only Void. Matter chaotically flowed through the infinite Void with no reason to do anything else. The only life in the entire universe were the Intelligences. The Intelligences were beings that resembled what humans would later become. They knew the balance of the cosmos and how, more or less, to control it. There were many Intelligences, but nine in particular had great leadership skills amongst the rest

It became meet in time for the Intelligences of the cosmos to organize the matter in the universe and pass on their lineage to lesser beings, mortals. All of the Intelligences agreed that the population of mortals they created should appear in their own image, but before they could create life, they would have to create a world on which their denizens could live. From the matter scattered across the infinite Void, they sorted out five important elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Quintessence.

Quintessence was the same substance that flowed through the veins of the Intelligences. They used this godly essence to construct the countless stars in the sky.

From Earth, the Intelligences created planets, moons and other bodies of rock to serve as the solid representation of matter in the universe. They especially made great care to form the World on which they planned to let their heirs inhabit.

They used the element Fire to create a yellow Sun to warm their new world. Some Fire was also used within the world itself and other planets.

Water was used mostly for the seas and oceans of the world, but some Water was frozen and wrapped around stars called comets.

Air was useless to the Intelligences, but they created with it a bubble of pure Air around the world in hopes that their inferiors could use it to sustain their mortal life.

Having now a mortal world on which to extend their children’s lives, the Intelligences created a race of strong, healthy humans from the dirt on which they were destined to stand. The Intelligences also created many different animals and plants to accompany them. To make the mortal lives begin, the Intelligences inserted into their veins the most special of all their creations, blood. This sacred fluid was the epitome of the Intelligences’ love for their children.

At this time, the Intelligences of the cosmos reached an argument. What would the human race’s objective in life be? The nine head Intelligences each had a different point of view for the mortal race, but they were divided into three main viewpoints. One group believed that the human race should want to help each other and work together. Another believed that they should work only for their own pride and self-accomplishment. Still another believed that both of the others were wrong, and that something in-between should be achieved, something balanced, like the way in which the world was created.

At last, most of the Intelligences agreed that all of the various viewpoints would be present in their world of men, and that a compromise should be made. But some of the Intelligences were deeply offended and demanded that their way should be the only one present. At this point, the Intelligences made a “Great Division” within themselves. Two-thirds of the nine became known as Gods, hoping for the well-being of the world, and one third became known as Demons, hoping for the possible destruction of what they had just helped create. The latter group and its followers were driven out of the council and shunned.

The world was made up of two continents: Argaenothruzil(or “Gods’ Crown”) and Elidethnar(or “Noble Diamond”). After the Great Division, the Demons attempted at once to seize control of the world for their own practices. The Gods and their army of Angels outnumbered the cowardly Demons, and succeeded in saving Argaenothruzil from their evil taint. Unfortunately, the dark grasp of the Demons held fast to the latter continent of Elidethnar. The continent was corrupted beyond the Gods’ control of it. Before the blight could spread, the Gods decided to use their remaining element of Air to thwart the Demons’ plan. With their remaining supply of element Air, the Gods conjured massively violent storms surrounding the corrupt island in hopes that none of their noble children on Argaenothruzil would be touched by its dark influence. The storms successfully ceased the Demons’ invasion, but the humble continent of Elidethnar was lost. The Gods’ children there were no longer in the safety of their influence. Only a small part of their power could occupy them any longer. The Demons rejoiced in their taking of the entire continent to their own. They renamed the continent Eredathios, meaning “Black Possession.”

To this day the Gods extend their help to their beloved blood-children in hopes that they can sustain the order of the world, but not all of their heirs held fast to the feelings of Good in their hearts. Many let their ungodly passions corrupt their own minds and become under the Demons’ influence, and some even lost the love of order altogether, and sought to aid their Demon lord masters. However, most of the blood-children adhere to the standards set by their divine creators, even through the much evolution the world’s population has gone through, to the splitting of races besides pure humans. In many societies, they construct magnificent temples in worship to the Gods. Although, of course, there are those gullible and weak-minded who spill their own precious god-given blood in sacrifice to Demons as well. The Nine Deities and their alignments are as follows:

Vendictes: The most pure of the Gods, Vendictes dwells in the hearts and minds of the blood-children in hopes that he can guide them in their thoughts to what is right in their lives and the lives of others. He is always with those who are Virtuous.

Phroella: Known as the Nature Mother by some, Phroella is always anxious to use her argument-quelling powers to settle the various disputes among men. She is the Goddess of sympathy, regret, and forgiveness, and the Goddess of Peace.

Bezzoan: The noblest God is by far Bezzoan, who puts determination and fervor into the hearts of his blood-children. He is a warrior God, but not a bloodthirsty one. He is revered by those who value their Honor above all else.

Henaeros: The wisest of the Gods and the organizer of the world’s creation, it was Henaeros who protected Argaenothruzil from the steady corruption of Eredathios. Henaeros is the God who never changes, and he believes that the world should be that way as well. Henaeros is the God of Order.

Ezrim: Ezrim, who esteemed the Demons’ actions intolerable in comparison to the Gods’, chose to join their order. He was the founder of the cities and governments of Argaenothruzil and gave the kings of such cities divine right to rule. Those who seek Justice are favorites of Ezrim’s.

Moeki: Moeki was actually one of the Intelligences who proposed a selfish race of humans, but in seeing his comrades the Demons outnumbered in vote joined the Gods instead. He is a cunning, sneaky God, and he still believes deep down that the favor of others is ultimately important. Those who seek Fortune worship Moeki in particular.

Rauroth: Perhaps the most quick-tempered of the Demons, Rauroth’s entire being is consumed in hatred for the Gods and his banishment from their council. Those of the world who find themself in a similar vengeful state of mind will find themself growing closer to the influence of Rauroth, the Demon of Revenge.

Khlamul: Followers of Khlamul are rarely religious, busying themselves entirely in the workings of science and knowledge, in hopes of dominating others. He was among one of the more missed of the council, as his lust for knowledge was rivaled only by Henaeros. Now he sees no other way to defeat the Gods than to overtake them by making himself more Powerful than they.


D’nethrokash: The most evil of all the Demons, it was D’nethrokash the Corrupter who succeeded in obtaining Eredathios from the Gods’ control. He is the Demon of Chaos, and seeks to destroy everything that he does not control. Many of the citizens living on the Eredathios continent were driven mad with his dark energies, but his influence extends to a small number of individuals in Argaenothruzil as well.
__________________________________

By way of commentary (so this post isn't a complete cop-out), I think it's interesting how I made this up without too much thought, but that certain archetypes seen in other stories apply here. For example, just like in the Elder Scrolls mythos, there are Nine "Divines," though admittedly three became evil. This is also an interesting allusion to LDS theology, in that "a third" of the hosts of heaven chose Satan's plan over God's.
I also, if you notice, tried to add variety to the Deities' names by making each one have a different beginning sound and ending sound.
Bonus points for whoever can comment and guess who the actors are I used to portray them.
I HATE the actor I had to choose for Vendictes, but that is literally the only picture I could find that remotely resembled the god I imagined in my head. If anyone knows of an older actor who has a beard and a benevolent smile, please let me know.

Jul 10, 2013

Story: The Phoenix Suns Coat

And now it’s time for storytime with Austin. Today's story: The Tale of the Phoenix Suns Coat.

When I was in Fifth Grade, I had a Phoenix Suns coat. It was a pretty nice coat, as coats go. It was purple and orange, and had a shining basketball on the back. It was probably a hand-me-down, but I liked it. My coat didn’t have a zipper—it was one of those pullover-style coats with a hood. Basically like a hoodie made of the slick, snow-resistant coat material.

Jul 9, 2013

New Project: Corridor Role-playing Game

I decided just randomly a week or so ago (Literally randomly. I seriously can't even think of what gave me the idea. I was just suddenly there at my computer, with four pages typed up already) to make a handbook for the original Corridor game (previously called "The Hero," and "Dungeons of Doom") that my brother and friends would play as kids.

Jul 2, 2013

Battle Cards Spotlight 3a: Gameplay I

Part 3a: Gameplay

I'm not sure if my friends and I ever came up with a standardized way of playing Battle Cards. In fact, to my memory I can only remember playing about ten full games total. There were some mechanics that we never were able to completely iron out before the Age of Battle Cards came to an end, but I'll do my best to remember for the purposes of this post.

Jun 25, 2013

Comic: Those Darn Pine Trees

It's likely that only people who have had a mowing job will get this, but it was fun to draw anyway. I've been in a real comic-drawing mood lately. I wish I could just force myself to do an epic 12-page fantasy graphic novel using Knight Guys, but that just leaves me frustrated. In the meantime, enjoy!


Jun 24, 2013

Battle Cards Spotlight 2: Design

Part 2: Design

The attributes of our cards evolved over time, just like any project that adds on to itself. But we were able to basically divide the types of cards we manufactured into some simple categories that stuck. Each card contained one of these symbols in the upper-right corner, signifying its element or function:

Jun 21, 2013

The Hero's Journey

When I was taking my Creative Writing course in college two years ago, I learned about something called The Hero's Journey that changed my life. Or at least the way I look at life and stories. Basically, the Hero's Journey (or Monomyth) is a formula that Joseph Campbell came up with that maps out what makes good stories good, and shows a distinct pattern in the sequence and characteristics of every story ever written.

Jun 18, 2013

Writing Center Infomercial

Done! Check out what I've been working on for the past month or so. Most of the work was finding people to cast in it, but it's finally done. I work at the Writing Center and our old video was... lacking in luster, to say the least... so I thought this one would be both entertaining and informative. It was a lot of fun to write the script, direct the filming and voice acting (in an actual recording studio too!), and edit the footage in the end.


A big thanks to all the actors (both willing and unwilling), the Writing Center Staff, Peterzach Power for the logo and color scheme input, my little brother for the wastebasket shot, and the infomercial that inspired me, Orgreenic Cookingware (don't buy it, but it is a convincing infomercial).

Jun 15, 2013

AustinCraft Pics up

I finished revamping AustinCraft after the big update that separated the files, and I just added a bunch of screenshots to show samples of the game. I realized I hadn't really done that much.
So if you're a Minecraft player, go check it out! I really think you'll enjoy it.


And I am working on a project, I promise. It's actually for my work, so I'm getting paid for it. It'll be done later this week and you Pretzel-Lectern watchers will be the third group to see it! (Right after my actual work staff members and the VIP showing for the volunteer actors, and right before Facebook)

Jun 4, 2013

Creative Writing Inspiration

Yesterday, I got to go to a book signing of my second-favorite author of all time, Brandon Sanderson, who signed my number-one favorite book trilogy of all time, Mistborn! That checked off an item on my Bucket List I forgot was even on there! (I really need to actually write down my Bucket List)
Branderson, as I will refer to him henceforth, is an epic fantasy writer renowned for his non-cliché fantasy settings and incredibly clever magic systems. I’ve read most of his mainstream adult novels, and expect to read his teen books as well. Going to his book signing was an energizing experience, because I got to have a taste of the inner mind and soul of the author I have come to admire in the past three years. Branderson is a champion writer; his passion for writing made me remember my own fiery resolve to write stories that has mainly fizzled out. He read some raw passages from his upcoming novels straight from the word processor on his laptop to us. One of the passages he had written that very day!

May 30, 2013

Battle Cards Spotlight 1: History

I found my old Battle Card deck, so I finally get to make some project spotlights and explain what they're all about! Let's start at the beginning...

Part I: The History of Battle Cards

May 29, 2013

Dream: The Mystic Penguin

I've kept a pretty consistent Dream Journal since 2010, writing down my most vivid dreams as I dream them. I've been going through it lately, and I just love how incredibly random dreams can be! I don't even know where my brain gets this stuff! Anyway, I've always loved hearing about other people's dreams, so maybe you'll enjoy hearing some of mine. Heck, you should even post interpretations in the comments!
---

This is... um... the symbol for dreams. Or something.
November 19, 2012

For some reason I knew the outcome of this entire dream. It was like I was watching a movie but couldn’t remember all the details. There was some sort of super rare blue penguin that had a lumpy head and was very smart. It only lived in frozen sewers. For some reason one was desperately needed, so I went underground looking for one. When I entered the sewers, I was daunted by an endless maze of pipelines. I sighed, realizing I’d never find a penguin. Just then I looked behind me and one was right there. I took it up into the subway tunnel and fed it some sunflower seeds. It was basically just a normal penguin, but more humanlike. For example, it would sometimes pick a sunflower seed out of its mouth and look at it if it was having a hard time cracking or if it tasted bad. Someone passed by me and acknowledged the penguin, but I could tell they didn’t believe that was what it was because it was so rare.
Later, on the surface, I had to have some sort of scary operation, but something happened that canceled it. It was something about Denny’s and another restaurant having a competition, or a get-together, or a debate, or a legal battle, or a concert. Some lady was talking about how she and her family were going to go, and that it was a ‘dress-up-nicely’ event, and that they had gone early and won hoodies. I was just glad there was no operation for me. My friend Dustin was in the dream and he had a lisp for some reason. He was involved in the having of operations too or something like that.
Sometime after that encounter, I woke up.

May 22, 2013

Lightning Masta

My brother and I had some fun with After Effects before the trial expired. But most of this was actually put together on Premiere, so hopefully I can come up with more like it soon.

May 21, 2013

Drawing: Techno-Mamn

This was just a doodle while practicing figure drawing that was fun to end up digitally coloring.
Also, it seems spammers have found Pretzel Lectern, so now I have to approve comments. I think they found it because of my game reviews (specifically Path of Exile)... what I hoped would be a way for legit people to come see my site has backfired. :(




May 12, 2013

Comic: Pizza Party

As always, click to enlarge. This one's credit goes to my wife Karen! Happy Mother's Day to her.
P.S... You can expect some kind of influx of comics this summer, because I am really getting into drawing them with this book How to Draw Comics by Scott McCloud.

Apr 29, 2013

Chariots of Water

Hey all! Just finishing up my vacation, and I finally got Adobe Premier Pro! So I'll hopefully be able to put up some excellent videos soon. But until then, here's just a simple video I made with my brothers last year (keeping with my tradition of releasing vids at least 6 months after making them).


Apr 14, 2013

Super Mowing Job 2

I made this as a training video for my dad's mowing business, Brent's Lawn & Leisure. Not bad for having used Windows Movie Maker.


Apr 9, 2013

Corridor Class Pictures Set #3

Here's the next batch!
Attack = , Defense = , Magic = , and Magic Defense = ☯. 

Apr 8, 2013

Inconceivable Logic

I have recently learned a little about Logic in my semantics class, and decided to make a logical diagram of Vizzini's reasoning in the Battle of Wits on the Princess Bride. I have used the film version, rather than the book version.
I know next to nothing about Logic, so if anyone has any corrections, let me know. It was mostly for fun, however, and all we can determine from Vizzini's logic is that he was trying to stall Westley all along and pull a fast one on him. Socrates and Galileo morons, eh? Well, who's the man who poisoned both the goblets and lived? Not you, Mr. Sicilian!

Apr 1, 2013

I got published!!

Hey everyone, I finally finished a ten-minute short film I've been working on with my friends for the past four years, and some people on YouTube actually published it! Click here to watch it!

Mar 28, 2013

Recipe #4: Gringo Feijoada

If I haven't mentioned it before, I went to Brazil for two years. Among the cultural things I learned to love was their incredible cuisine. It is incredible how simple ingredients like beans and rice can make absolutely delicious meals in Bahia, Brazil. The ingredients are sometimes hard to find here in the States, but the following recipe is one that I invented that, while very American, at least does the flavorfulness of Brazilian lunches justice.



Gringo Feijoada
"Uma delícia não-brasileira!"


 Ingredients
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  • ¼½ onion, diced
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 can Bean-with-Bacon soup OR canned pinto beans
  • 2 all-beef hot dogs, sliced
  • 4 slices bacon, cut into pieces and cooked
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 2 tbsp. (or more) cilantro
Directions
  1. Sauté the onions and garlic until sautéed.
  2. Add can of black beans (with juice) and can of bean with bacon soup to pot. Add ½ bean-with-bacon soup can of water.
  3. Add hot dog slices and bacon, then stir in spices except cilantro. I also added Brazilian spices, but I'm sure you won't have access to those. :(
  4. After awhile, when you're ready to eat, throw in the cilantro.
  5. Eat over Brazilian rice (see below) with Frank's Red Sauce and cuzcuz*, farinha†, or farofa‡. It's also good with beef on the side, or chicken, or a fried egg. 
YIELD: Like 3 or 4 servings.
____
Directions for Brazilian Rice
  1. Sauté some onions and garlic until sautéed.
  2. Add a cup of rice, and stir around until the rice turns an opaque white color.
  3. Put in two cups of water, and salt/spices to taste.
  4. Bring to a boil, cover, and let simmer for 10-12 minutes.
  5. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
  6. Fluff with a fork, eat beneath Feijoada (see above).
YIELD: About 4 or 5 servings. Eat the extra serving with chicken or something if you want.

Washes down well with...  Guaraná (Brazilian soda), Sprite, or exotic fruit juice/punch like mango.

___
*Not actual couscous, it's made from corn. Try your nearest Latino store and look for Flocão brand.
† Mandioca or cassava flour. Probably easier to find than cuzcuz.
‡ Farinha that's been sautéed with bacon and onions. It's a Brazilian thing. Don't worry about it if you've never tried it.

Mar 14, 2013

Game Review: Cave Story+

Abelhawk's Game Review of
Cave Story+
  
 Platform: PC (Steam), Wii
Genre: Sci-fi, Post-apocalyptic
Style: Platformer, Adventure, Shooter
Price: Cheap ($10)
URL: http://www.cavestory.org/

Mar 11, 2013

Customized!


My custom mousepad came in the mail today! Now I can get rid of that old nondescript one. I love customizing things, especially with art from my favorite computer games. Can anyone guess which game this one is from?
For the answer, see Abelhawk's Top 5 - Computer Games #2.
Now I just need to wait for the potent "new rubber" smell to air out of it.

Mar 9, 2013

Corridor Class Pictures Set #2

Six down, ten to go! Remember, Attack = , Defense = , Magic = , and Magic Defense = ☯.
To see the first set, click here.

Mar 1, 2013

Data Month Stats

Well, I stuck to it for a month straight... keeping a notebook in my pocket and jotting down whenever one of these things happened. This somehow made February both last very long and be over very soon. Now I have a boatload of statistics of my life! I was hoping to be able to organize it so it's more impressive, with charts and graphs and things, but maybe I'll do that some other day. For now, I'm just really tired of taking down stats, so I'll just barf all the data onto this post. For the record, these data aren't that impressive. I probably would have calculated things a little differently if I did it again. For example, instead of "encounters" with people, I would just count how many people I encountered. I think that would have yielded better results. For now, here it all is plus some definitions for the odd stats in small print at the bottom. Enjoy!

Feb 27, 2013

Random Knight Guy drawings

Sorry I haven't written much. You'd think now that I'm focusing my college studies in editing I'd be more inclined to come up with short stories or something to put on the blog. Alas, but my writer's block has almost reached its two-year mark.

These are a couple of graphic art drawings I made last week, inspired from the drawings of Knight Guy I found. I remembered the four basic Knight Guy types and decided to put them in color for the first time.


Obviously, they're somewhat based on the different genres of armor through history—European, pseudo-Nordic, Groman, and New World(?). I think I've made some mocked-up ones of Oriental armor and even a futuristic style. Perhaps I'll add them later.


The Mirror Armor looks retarded. Maybe I'll fix it sometime and make the gradient chrome instead. At any rate, these upgrades to the basic ones are based on unlikely materials that could be used for armor. I'm surprised that so many video games have cacti but rarely use them for anything but dyes and potion ingredients. Why not make a not-so-durable armor that returns damage to attackers?
Anyway, it's a style thing more than any

Feb 25, 2013

Audiobook practice

I really got into audiobooks a couple of years ago. There's just something about someone reading a story to you aloud that makes it easier to visualize than when you're using decoding power in your brain reading it yourself. I also like hearing professional voice actors use different voices for every character in a way that I like to do impressions as well.
That's why I'm considering doing an audiobook version of a story on my Argaenothruzil forum. Namely, the only story that really has a beginning, middle, and end, Alfred and the Cavern of Time. Here is a sample of what I would try doing if I were to do the entire book.


What do you think? Do I speak too quickly? Are the sound effects in the background too distracting? Since it was my first time, I obviously didn't articulate too well. I'm sure there are ways I could facilitate that for myself while reading in the future. Also, this is not the final cut of the book itself. There are parts in this story that will be changed. This is mostly just a test to see how a project like this would work, if I did decide to do it.
For the most part, however, it was fun to make, and my cousin and I (his blog is listed as Whited Sepulcre Blog on the top right) are going to begin copyediting and cover editing the story so that the real production may begin.

Feb 22, 2013

Relic Comic: Knight Fight

I've saved the best for last this week of uploading Relic Comics, though I have enjoyed every one of them I've been able to share with you. I hope to be able to find more to post on Pretzel Lectern after future visits to my ancient Tablet Vault. This is another comic with Knight Guy, showing him against his nemesis. This is obviously a much more pseudo-friendly situation than was normal for the two, but the presentation in my opinion is excellent.


I hope you got as big a laugh out of it as I did. It's funny how Knight Guy's cape keeps appearing and disappearing. That was kind of a running gag throughout his lifetime as a character, because I could just never decide if he looked better with or without it.

Feb 21, 2013

Relic Comic: The Hero Comic

I made this as a way to illustrate the story of The Hero, the pen-and-paper precursor to Corridor. The story used to begin this way, with King Forseti defeating the Hero and banishing him to his personal dungeon. This comic also shows briefly the second level of the dungeon, the Hedge Maze, which would be encountered after making it through the dungeon (although my friends and I never kept a single game going that long). Thirdly, the Hero would have to navigate through the final 'layer,' Forseti's castle.

I apologize for some of the hard-to-read text. It's a lot easier to read on the pencil copy.






There are a few notable things in this comic. Every game of The Hero would begin with you alone in a room with a sword. You would always get the sword straight off, as well as sometimes a simple spell leaflet. Also, this was when I was obsessed with Norse Runes, so one version of this game had an entire array of runes you could socket into your weapons to give them abilities. The Princess uses the Ansuz rune, which was the rune of wisdom (and thus, the mind, used for telepathy in this case). Any playtesters of Corridor will recognize nearly all the enemies here—the orc/ogre, the ghost, and the stone dragon head, which is what is attempting to kill the hero in the last frames. The boss monster Krakgrag is based off of the giant seen here, and Heimdall the shopkeeper is indirectly implemented in the board game as well.
I have also since done away with the "no eyes" concept of art used in this comic. Though in a future post I will talk more about where I got the idea for the little stick figures in the The Hero/Corridor universe.

Feb 20, 2013

Relic Comic: Knight Guy's Lament

I drew quite a bit of this guy my senior and junior years in high school. The way each part of him is put together makes him not only extremely easy to draw, but very expressive as well. I've tinkered with different names for him, most on puns of the word "knight" ("Silent Knight" was a stupid idea, but somewhat fitting, as he usually talks in punctuation marks and thought bubbles), but I guess for now I'll call him Knight Guy. There are at least four different Knight Guys I made up, each based on a different helmet type. But this guy was always the main protagonist. The wizard shown here was an example of how hard it was to create a universe of same-proportioned beings like these without helmets on.



I tried a different approach on Photoshop to make this one look more shaded. I can't tell if it works or not. It's a shame I drew so much in pencil back then. No, I take it back: it's a shame that scanners can't accurately scan pencil drawings.

Feb 19, 2013

Relic Comic: Reginald the Ugly Hero

While at my parents' house for President's Day weekend, I uncovered a veritable treasure trove of old comic pages that I drew when I was in high school, and will be uploading them this week. They really made me sentimental about the days when pencils were my medium of art, and really made me want to draw comics much more often. I think nowadays I worry way too much about plot and forget how much fun it is to simply draw a comic and let it write itself.


As far as commentary goes on this little gem, I like the humorously melodramatic dialog, the trope breakers of making the hero hideously ugly and making the king extremely jumpy and nervous when he's surprised, the deus ex machina hanging plant and bucket of water, and the hilariously unexpected ending.

Sorry about that panel on the right... The paper I scanned actually seemed to have some sort of burn damage somehow. O.o

Feb 18, 2013

Another tiny pointless vid

My brother and I are considering making a simple computer game or app with some unused graphics he made a couple of years ago. This is the archer.

Feb 11, 2013

Path of Exile playthrough

Hey-lo friends, my friends Jarockajule and Asrenim and I all played a few hours of Path of Exile this past weekend. You can watch our adventures and get a feel for the dynamics of gaming in our friendship on YouTube. This link here will lead you to the first part of the series. It shouldn't be hard to find the others on the same channel.
I hope someday I can afford a nice recording program (not to mention a more powerful computer) so I can do these more often from my point of view and with my own editing touches.
Enjoy!

Feb 9, 2013

Game Review #1: Path of Exile

I've been wanting to do this for awhile, so here goes. I hope you find my reviews of games informative and entertaining.

Abelhawk's Game Review of
 Path of Exile 
 
My multiplayer character, Bezzoan the Marauder, in Lioneye's Watch.
Platform: PC
Genre: Fantasy, Dark
Style: Hack-and-slash, RPG, Online
Price: Free to Play w/ cosmetic microtransactions
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I found Path of Exile purely by chance a couple of weeks ago, while looking for a free-to-play online RPG I could play with my friends. It caught my attention because it reminded me of one of my favorite hack-and-slash RPG's, Titan Quest, and it was free to play. Even though there are microtransactions available, there's nothing that players can buy that influences their gameplay. They're available simply to add horns to your helmet or make your sword glow. I admired this, because almost nothing makes me more disgusted than Free-to-Play Pay-to-Win games, such as Age of Empires Online, and I like the option to show your pride for the game by purchasing outwardly visible effects. In fact, a lot of things impressed me about Path of Exile and the developers at Grinding Gear Games.

My duellist, Aelthur, watches over the sea.
GRAPHICS
 

 I'm not only surprised at the quality of PoE's graphics given the system requirements, but I'm also hugely surprised at the optimization of the game. My laptop's almost three years old and can't play Titan Quest anymore, much less more powerful games such as Magicka and StarCraft II. But at least it can run StarCraft II. Blizzard had enough resources to hire engineers to optimize the performance, allowing various degrees of graphics detail to configure. PoE is the same way. With the graphics set on Medium setting, I can still run the game comparitively smoothly while still being able to enjoy the sunlight on the ocean waves, the gleam of mud and spilled guts, and flashy spell effects. The graphics also reflect the dark feel of the game. The enemies are all disfigured mistakes of nature, and it make you feel only too ready to defeat them as you hack your way through the game.

The first moments after creating my mage archer Moeki the Shadow
PLOT

I haven't played the entire game through yet, but my opinion of the plot as it stands so far may interest you. Like I said, the plot is dark. You are a prisoner on a ship, framed or otherwise sentenced to exile on the dismal island of Wraeclast. The game begins when you are thrown overboard and wake up on the shore. From the beginning, you can tell the island is a bleak and horrifying place. You begin in an area awash with rain with flashing lightning, with zombies running amuck. Your first quest is nothing more than a brief conversation with another surviving exile who is then brutally cannibalized before your eyes. You can tell right off that you have been abandoned by all the forces of hope into a nightmare. Or have you? You soon come upon a humble settlement called Lioneye's Watch, which consists of all of the exiles from the mainland who have banded together to make the best of their new life. There is no currency in the game, which not only prevents the servers from monetary inflation, but also adds to this feeling of cooperation among the sane ones on the island. Instead, there is a crude barter system consisting mostly of useful items like scrolls, tools and orbs in exchange for the weapons and armor you buy and sell. You are sent off on quests to help the settlement by recovering a medicine chest, defeating threatening monsters, and paving a way for the exiles toward the more civilized part of the continent. The enemies are all brutish monsters or pathetic scavengers. Rather than having to kill animals or a dragon for my quests, I literally felt like I was doing my part for Lioneye's Watch in exchange for their hospitality. I was very impressed with this outside-the-box approach to Path of Exile's plot, and can't wait to unravel the mysterious strands of fate I've been given.
Aelthur using his Cleave ability against some shadow spawn
CONTROLS
 

For the most part I love the gameplay of Path of Exile. It may not be orthodox for those new to hack-and-slash RPG's, but if you've played Diablo or Titan Quest, you feel pretty much at home. Since you have to click on enemies you want to fight, I sometimes find my melee fighter running in circles because I wasn't clicking directly on the enemy's sprite. I've also wasted mana sometimes when I've tried to cast an ability on a fast-moving target. The game would probably have benefited from some sort of a targeting system, but because of the sheer number of enemies, you never worry about it too much. That's another thing that can get a bit iffy about PoE: the ratio of monster difficulty. Rather than having a spectrum of monsters with varying strengths, there seem to be hordes of two- or three-shot enemies (aside from special abilities, anyway) and then the occasional rare mob with good drops that takes a good 20 or 30 hits to kill. Bosses are the same way. Still, I think it's better than Titan Quest, and for the style of game PoE is, I think the developers did the best they could. Also, the dungeons are randomized. So at least things don't get too stale playing through with separate characters!

My witch character, Ezrima, using the Cold Snap spell
GAME MECHANICS
 
 
There are a number of mechanics on Path of Exile I found revolutionary and exciting. The skill system is based on an array of gem socketing, with one gem equalling one skill. If the gem is socketed, it levels along with you, depending on how many kills you rack up. This makes it interesting when choosing new gear, because you have to decide whether to get more armor or attack if the gear doesn't have the right color of sockets for your gems.
The classes themselves are built on a simple but unique system. There are only three main stats, Strength, Intelligence, and Dexterity, which benefit armor and weapons differently. There is a class representing each main stat, as well as three hybrids. The talent or "passive skill" tree is huge and extensive, and allows for a lot of customization for almost any build you can think of. The Strength branch can focus on either damage or armor and health, and at length connects with other branches of the other stats.
Bezzoan playing with my two best friends, Asrenim and Jarockajule.
I was also intrigued by the items in the game. The game does a good job at describing quality through the imagery of the items. On the beach you fight with weapons made of driftwood and glass, which are gradually replaced by actual copper and steel armaments. The game uses Diablo and Titan Quest's same style of inventory system, based on a grid system of the varying sizes of the items.
There are lots of other aspects of PoE I have never found in any other game, including aspects I haven't even tried yet, such as the wealth of alternate game mode leagues available. The game is also massively multiplayer! In towns you can trade with anyone else who happens to be there, but the battle zones are instanced, so only the friends you have in your party with you can be in the same place as you. I've had a blast playing multiplayer with my friends, and multiplayer raises the difficulty and the value of dropped items!

SOUND/MUSIC
  ★★

For being made by a little-known game developer, I am very impressed with the sound score of Path of Exile. Everything just sounds like it should—fireballs whoosh and explode, enemies yell realistically, corpses squish, and the main characters each have personality in their voice acting comments. The music, however, is for the most part unnoticeable. From the moment you enter the title screen, you feel like you're entering a dangerous and gloomy realm, which is great, but during the game and even during boss fights you don't really notice the music. For what it's worth, however, caves have cavelike music, sunny mountain paths have a hopeful serenade, and the main town's music fits well with the drudgery of a forgotten people trying to survive. Music just doesn't play as big a part as in other games I've played.

OVERALL SCORE: 

I am very impressed with Path of Exile, and look forward to beating the entire game, solo and alongside my friends. I enjoy exploring the dreary island of Wraeclast, the dull thumping sound it makes when I clobber monsters with a club, and the humorous satisfaction of the spell "Corpse Detonation." I was fortunate to stumble upon the game, which is in open beta as of a few weeks ago. A game seven years in the making is available for free play, and I heartily recommend it. Try out Path of Exile!