|
|
|---|
Showing posts with label Abraxas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abraxas. Show all posts
I have no idea what Playboy bunny costumes have to do with New Year's--I only know they show up in nearly every Anime/Hentai pic that has a New Year's theme. Must be a Japanese thing.
(FROM THE FUTURE: My girl informs me that 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit, and even though that's from the Chinese Zodiac, it's apparently "trendy" to recognize it in Japan--Thanks Scout! (^3^) )
I know I've been away a little while--my fault. I've been lazy. But the Holidays are over, and I'm resolved to bringing you lucky people the best Nerd/Comedy/Current Events material a free, not-for profit blog can offer in 2011!
Arright, now I know I haven't technically been here for an entire year, and I didn't build up any signifigant momentum as far as readers go until late September. Regardless, I thought I'd share with you the top ten posts of 2010 (okay, technically the top ten posts of 9 months of 2010 and 4 days of 2011, but close enough, dammitXD)
I was as objective as possible: I personally did not choose any of these, instead, I just looked at the Stats. So these are the ten posts you folks visited the most often, for whatever reason.
Yes, I'm afraid most of these are mine--just worked out that way. and there are a lot of great writers here who aren't mentioned at all. Unfortunately, most of them are either too new, haven't written very much, or both--I'll give them their due in another post soon--Promise! <3
Follow me to the Top 10--after the jump!
Ok, for perspective's sake, the website itself has received 31,281 views since it started. These are the individual posts which have received the largest number of views, starting with #10...But first, have another one of these:
I just like 'em is all...^///^
(my girl taught me Asian Emoticons--wonder if I can list them on a job application as a second language)
10. SCOOTER'S HALLOWEEN MEMORIES: THE COSTUME SHOP 226 Pageviews
This was the first post I ever left the house to get pics and info for--almost like real journalism!XD
God, I love this place!
9. A FIELD GUIDE TO COMMON FANFICTION AUTHORS, PART ONE 240 Pageviews
The first in my series of exposes (imagine the accent my keyboard can't provide: ex-poe-saays) on the various bizarre species of writer that populate Topless Robot's weekly Fan Fiction Friday segment
8. Know Your Meme? Lighten The Fuck Up! 245 pageviews
One of the very first things I wrote for this blog was this rant against KYM for their sanctimonious rejection of the Topless Robot spawned meme: WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS? It was relatively ignored until recently when KYM's snubbing was brought up on TR, and I offered the Roboteers a link to this diatribe.
7. CONGRATULATIONS, COLLEEN! 328 Pageviews
Frankly, this is nothing more than me showering accolades on TTOS contributor/babe Colleen Seelke after her very first post, back on the old SOHB.
I'm guessing the popularity involves the pic of a semi-shirtless Robin Dunne I posted as a way of thanking her.
6. SCOOTER REVIEWS SOMETHING! A LOOK AT COMEDY CENTRAL'S UGLY AMERICANS 359 Pageviews
The first review I ever wrote...That is all.
5. Anti FFF "The Kikyo Effect" 359 pageviews (5 and 6 are technically a tie)
The first of Dr. Abraxas' brilliant series showcasing the other side of fanfiction (the well-written, mature, and interesting side...yes, there is such a thing)
4. A FIELD GUIDE TO COMMON FANFICTION AUTHORS, PART THREE 415 Pageviews
Apparently this series has been fairly popular, and there are more entries coming in the new year. Some of you may be interested to know that this very post is where I christened the TR Superfriends!
3. POLL RESULTS: TTOS SETTLES THE INTENSE, DIVISIVE DEBATE CONCERNING EMMA WATSON'S HAIR! 612 Pageviews
Multiple pictures of Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame are likely the source of this post's popularity...Sure, I can pretend it's my acerbic wit or superlative vocabulary--but why live in denial? I'll ride the wave of folks who want to bang Hermione Granger--doesn't bug me! XD
2. COMICSNIX! WISDOM FROM BEYOND TIME! 662 Pageviews
My insane theories about insanesier fanfic scribe ComicsNix.
1. Chuck's Mom Kicks Ass 772 Pageviews
Yep...Numero Uno ain't one o' mine! This is Colleen's synopsis of the first episode of Chuck, Season 4. And I actually haven't read it!
Now everyone here knows how much I love Colleen and her work, but I'm a Chuck fan and I've been unable to see any of it since the end of Season 2--ergo, I don't want any spoilers. So the most popular article on my blog is an article I can't read!XD
Thanks to all my lovely readers and contributors for making all this (such as it is) possible.
Have a great 2011, Peoples!
Scooter's Shiny New Year
That nifty little sketch was done by Fräulein Fabi, TR poster and Superfriend in absentia(she's the disturbingly attractive automaton in the middle).
Many moons ago, this talented German lass offered her services to the crew here in capturing their personalities as works of art. But real life intervened, as I'm told it tends to, and she's only recently been able to work in earnest on this auspicious project.
As I understand it, Fabi's self-portrait is flanked by a quite literally "foxy" Myriam, and good ol' Abraxas(I shudder to think what exactly's in that so-called laundry bag).
Many more of us are in line to be immortalized by Fabi's hand--I hope to have more pieces like this to share with you folks before too long.
Oh, and Team Scoot has just signed a new rookie--once again plucked from the Bush League that is the Topless Robot comments thread. Everyone: join me in welcoming Boredlizzie!
I know literally nothing of the young lady, so I'll let her introduce herself properly when she sees fit.
Well, that should do it for tonight--readers and comment-surfers should expect a profoundly slow weekend. For it is Halloween, and people with money and social lives will no doubt be having a grand old time.
Ok, so I'm a little bitter--I'm sorry, but this is my favorite holiday, and it pains me to have nothing to do and nowhere to go.
Ah well--enjoy yourselves, ya bastards!
Happy Halloween!
Scoot(trapped in Waukegan)
(blowing into conch shell)
SUPERFRIENDS! ASSEMBLE!
Hmm...not that simple, huh?
This article is directed at a very specific group of people--a collection of like-minded souls who found my little blog and made it their virtual second home. They came not only to shoot the shit and occasionally comment on whatever nonsense I happen to post, they started to contribute, sharing their unique perspectives and talents with my dear readers. They became almost a family.
And then...They disappeared.
Where did they go?
Now for some of you, I know the answer:
Colleen is still here, we just spent 7 hours straight chatting. She's been here almost every day, and we love our conversations, but we greatly miss the rest of the family.
Robbie, along with being absurdly busy, has been without Internet for the past few weeks--completely understandable.
Myriam and Abraxas are busy as hell with school--Ok.
Joltess recently touched base--she's been occupied with her horses and Canadian Thanksgiving. That's cool. She should be back if we don't lose her to World of Warcraft.
Differences in time zones make it diffficult for many of the Superfriends to communicate at the same time, I know:
I've no idea where our Imperial Ambassador, George, is hiding himself.
FadR has apparently FadEd into oblivion.
I've seen Fabi on the TR boards, but she hasn't graced us with her presence in some time.
I really hope my theory that Aussie Superfriend Doctragon was eaten alive by dingoes is false. You've got the best taste in music of anyone I've met in years--we need you!(you're also kinda cute, I'm not sure why that's important--but there it is)
New Superfriend, but longtime fellow Topless Roboteer Rickicker finally caved in to my repeated begging and showed up at SOHB--and then disappeared. WTF?
And Zorrt1! Where the hell are you? You live like two hours from me!
Look, I know you guys have jobs and school and lives outside of the online world. I'm not trying to get on your cases here. My goal is not to pester or guilt-trip anyone into coming back to the fold.
I just want you all to know: Colleen and I love you and miss you! <3 As much fun as the two of us have chatting, we'd rather have you folks with us when we're having a 7 hour bull session--there's only so much two people can do!
Come back as soon as it's convenient for you:
You guys will always have a home at SOHB. We're not going anywhere.
I'll let Joey Ramone speak for us from the beyond...
See you soon.
The Family Scoot
Scoot here,
Somehow, I managed to survive what will henceforth be known as "Black FFF" here at SOHB.
This was due in no small part to the heroic efforts of our own Abraxas, who posted a literary antivirus that counteracted the effects of that dreadful little slice of Hell.
Good work, Braxman! If I paid you guys, you'd definitely have a raise coming.
Anyway, I thought to further my own recovery I'd write about something good and pleasant and life-affirming. Something that always brings a smile to my face:
 |
| ZOMBIES! |
The other day, TR did a piece on a new Star Wars novel featuring, apparently, Zombie Jedi. This collision of popular nerd subjects led to a spirited discussion, where more than a few Topless Roboteers voiced their frustration at the oversaturation of the Geek landscape with All Things Zombified.
I understand completely where these people are coming from. As regulars may remember, both myself and The Joltess have voiced our feelings about the encroachment of Anime upon nerd culture. We pointed out that things were approaching the point where Geek or Nerd would soon become synonymous with Anime enthusiast. A situation we find disturbing as we, and many other card-carrying nerds, have no interest in the genre, and resent the assumption that we are any less true nerds for our opinions.
Thus, in the interest of fairness, I felt it was important to remember that this principle applies equally to things typical of nerddom that I do enjoy--like Zombies.
Fellow nerds who do not share my enthusiasm may indeed feel a bit left out, as the Walking Dead have carved themselves quite a niche in our community.
Point is--All people and all nerds are unique, and have their own particular likes and dislikes. Despite what some overenthusiastic fanboys/girls may think, there's no nerd litmus test, no standard all nerds must measure up to in order to be worthy of the appellation.
So, don't like Zombies? That's kopacetic. Feel free to skip the rest of this article.
Come back to us tomorrow or the next day--we're an eclectic lot here, I'm sure eventually we'll cover something that tickles your fancy.
All right--COMMENCE WITH THE ZOMBIE LOVE!
Before you ask--yes, all these pictures will be of hot Zombie girls(it was a really bad day).
So what's the deal with Zombies? What's the appeal?
They're not as sexy as Vampires. Not as deadly as Werewolves. They don't have badass powers like Witches or Warlocks. They don't look half as cool as Demons, Monsters, or Aliens. All they are are shambling, moaning piles of dead, brain-eating flesh.
(Yeah, I said "shambling and moaning". Far as me and this article are concerned--the fast-moving, well co-ordinated, virus-infected pseudo-zombies of Resident Evil or 28 Days Later DO NOT EXIST.)
So why the enormous outpouring of nerd adoration?
Zombies are like a force of nature. Most zombie movies more closely resemble disaster films than traditional horror flicks. What makes them terrifying is while one Zombie is slow, weak, mindless, and easily destroyed or avoided--1000 zombies are practically unstoppable. They don't get tired, they don't get discouraged, they can't be reasoned with or influenced, they feel no pity, mercy, pain, or fear.
They just keep coming until they are destroyed, or you are consumed--nothing in between.
Add to this the definite psychological edge they have over their prey: Zombies come in all human shapes and sizes. They can be men, women, children, infants, the elderly--they may have once been your neighbors, your friends, your family or loved ones. Undead or not, most people will find themselves a teensiest bit hesitant at the prospect of blowing a hole through the head of their three year old daughter--even if the price of their reticence is being dismembered by flesh-eating ghouls.
Ok, I think I made a pretty good case for why Zombies qualify in the terror arena, but why Geeks specifically?
In the case of Horror's other denizens, generally, if they want you dead--you're SOL. Unless you happen to have a wooden stake, some silver bullets, or some holy artifacts handy--the smart money says you're toast.
Zombies are different: They can be defeated by clever thinking, proper planning, technical acumen, and logical reasoning--all traits that many nerds have in spades.
The Internet is overflowing with descriptions of various plans for dealing with a Zombie uprising, all intricately detailed and exhaustively researched.
Probably the most famous of these comes from The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks, who would later write the World War Z series.
I purchased this book a few years ago expecting a tongue-in-cheek parody exploring the dos and don'ts of surviving a Zombie movie. Instead, the book is written completely straight and presented as a serious, practical manual for preparing for an assault by the shambling hordes. It's eerily logical and perversely reasonable.
(And yes, that's the book advertised at the top of the article--hope you buy it!)
Ahh...Zombies!
I feel loads better. Thanks for reading and sharing my appreciation for the Ambulatory Deceased. I'll leave you with one of the first Diva videos I ever made: "The Un-Dead Diva" Cassandra Graves!
Btw, there's nothing wrong with the sound, I made this before I'd figured out how to add sound effects to my videos.
Enjoy, friends! and, of course: BRRAAINNS!!!!
Scooter's Re-animated Corpse
I need to apologize to my fellow TR SuperFriends for being out of touch this week. Suffice it to say a lot of school related work came to a head and needed my attention. Anyway, today I am free...to torment Rob...er...yeah.
Speaking about Rob.... YAY, I got my shirt! :) It's too bad I do not have a camera. It would be my entry for that Nerd in Nerdom thread Scooter wants us to do.
I promise good FFF as opposed to typical FFF. This week's column features a work that I love immensely. (Or, in WalMart-terms, I want to mix DNA with it all over teh place.) Yes, I love it. It inspired my own "Somebody Who Loves Me" a fluffy/fuzzy/warmy feeling story. And that's not a place I venture into ordinarily. It's also (hold on to your lightsabres!) Sam/Bumblebee.
Yes, Sam/Bumblebee!
Electrosexuality - with a twist. It's about romance not sex. It's not a ComicsNix joint. It examines the emotional side of the Sam/Bumblebee ship and does so in a very touching and realistic (!) manner.
In The Wake by Piscaria
A few notes about the story. It relies on a couple of bits of fanon. Namely, that the "spark" is like a soul and that the Transformers are able to project realistic 3-D holograms of themselves. This is referred to as holo!Bee (or holo!Prime, holo!Megatron, etc). Myself, I only ventured into that holo-territory once (see above) as it's not my favorite way to approach human/bot ships. I like to keep bots as bots! (Now, admit it, machines can be ubber-sexy - you know it!)
In other news - I re-watched Avatar last night. It's officially out of the theaters :( yet I managed to watch it 5 times during its re-release :) I've completed, in first draft form, two Na'vi related stories. And! I'm trying to learn the Na'vi language. I leave it to your imagination to figure out why. >:D
'Sup
Man, the fact that I remember that Pee-Wee line(pre-Big Adventure, even)is the second thing today that make me feel absurdly old.
Hi Folks! Been enjoying the work of my new contributors?
That reminds me: I didn't give Abraxas a proper shout-out when he joined the gang. Yes, the Prince of Preversion himself has deigned to share his talents with SOHB's readers. Usually, I'd use the word "talents" somewhat ironically when describing a fanfic writer--not in Abraxas' case. The twisted bastard really can write, and he's sharing with us the other side of fanfic, where talented authors and fascinating story concepts dwell. Best of luck, and many thanks to him.
Spent most of last night designing the Meditation Chamber, an arduous and demanding task--I hope everyone appreciates my selfless and painstaking efforts here in bringing them this bastion of peaceful serenity.
I also fine-tuned the Divas Page--all the names are now properly placed. Yay.
About my contributors--man, you guys are making me look pitiful!
I'm gonna have to work twice as hard now to post interesting and entertaining articles, or the inmates will take over the asylum!(this isn't one of those interesting an entertaining articles--it's a space-filling, state-of-the-blog type article)
My first SOHB Poll ended yesterday. If you'll remember, I asked you guys if the blog featured too many nerd-babe pics: 76% of you believe I either have the right amount, or not enough of such pics. So I don't think I need to worry that I've overdone it.
The new Poll asks which Sci-Fi/Fantasy series has the most attractive cast--Firefly currently has 100% of the vote. Make of that what you will.
(btw, Battlestar Galactica refers to the most recent incarnation, I'd put in a note, but you can't edit a Poll once someone has voted, you can only delete it)
Tomorrow I'll have something big and momentous for ya. Tonight, I leave you with a video inspired by a question Colleen asked me earlier, enjoy!
P.S. Colleen and Joltess successfully won their TR shirts for their tireless work on the Haiku Contest. The Halls of SOHB will be graced with their sublime forms clad in said shirts within a few weeks.
Fortunate Halls, they!
Scooty B. Goode
Welcome to the very first instalment of my anti-FFF column! It won't be like FFF as I won't focus on MST'ing or commenting line-by-line. Rather, I'll mostly talk about fandom and link to works I feel go against the FFF-grain. I'll make an attempt to keep it clean, although...who knows what may slip in from time to time!
On TR and, let's face in fandom in general, I'm a bit of a controversial writer. I don't look at the world the way others do (to say the least) and I'm not afraid to explore those depths writers fear to tread. I've got a penchant for horror with the occasional moments of comedy. And, of course, the erotic stuff. I write to please myself and my friends - those who appreciate my twisted sense of humor - and that's that.
I like to think I'm difficult to pin as the kind of writer who works with one and only one genre. I don't believe writers of any stripe should be pigeonholed. That extends to my belief that in fandom people ought to be free to explore any pairing (termed 'ship') they like regardless of popularity, canon, etc. I'm of the philosophy that, if it makes a good story, why not? The works I post, whether by me or by others, will be quite of mix of styles, characters, fandoms, and everything I get my hands on. I may also talk about original published works.
Like any writer I've got favorite subjects and interests and they bleed into my work. For example, the theme of grotesque biological experimentation. It appears in my Thundercat story "Bengali's New Art" then resurfaces in my Inuyasha fanfic "Against Nature".
One of my favorite topics is the occult. I look at stuff like conspiracy as fodder for fiction. On a few occasions I figured out ways to marry occult with fanfiction. This anti-FFF is just such an example.
- The Basics -
It's an Inuyasha AU fanfic. (AU is alternate universe). You do need to know your Inuyasha canon to understand this work. In case you are unfamiliar with it, though, I offer these facts:
1) the anime is set in Feudal Era and Modern Japan; a well at the Higurashi (shinto) temple connected the two timeframes; Inuyasha and Kagome were able to travel back and forth through that well
2) the demon, Naraku, was a shapeshifter who took the form of a Feudal Era nobleman named Kagewaki; Naraku was obsessed with Kikyo (Inuyasha's Feudal Era GF and Kagome's past-life); Kikyo died in the very first episode then gets resurrected as a living clay doll by a demon
3) Kagome Higurashi, lives in a temple in Modern Japan, and is recognized as a shinto Miko (or priestess) in Feudal Japan; while it's never said explicitly I always took it to mean that she came from a long line of Shinto priests/priestesses
4) Hojo is a classmate of Kagome's who may or may not have been in love with Kagome.
Now, aside from the facts, there's another thing to know. It's not 'canon', though, it's mostly fanon. Inuyasha's family, the Tashio, is a very powerful dog demon clan. When it's portrayed in Modern Japan, invariably it's always Inuyasha's brother Sesshoumaru who's alive and in charge of a great industrial empire or something of the sort. I borrowed that fanon in the making of the story.
The story itself is pretty self-explanatory about its plot and backstory. To summarize - an American occultist and investigator of NAZI-centric conspiracy theory becomes obsessed with what the Japanese may have been working on during WWII. Along the way he uncovers experiments that could have been related to 'the Bell' of NAZI fame. I throw into this story a lot of stuff from a lot of places. The Montuak and Philadelphia Experiments. Alternate theories involving NAZI-UFO's and what the Rosewell incident could have been about. I manage to work all of this into a story involving demon Naraku's attempt to bring Kikyo back to life while working with the war time Japanese government in their quest for superweapons. It's also a horror story very much in the flair of HP Lovecraft. I consider it one of my best. Enjoy...if you can!
Over 400 comments last night--bravo!
Your reward is above, the lovely Jewel Staite--man do I wished I'd used Google when I first started searching for images. The stuff I got from Yahoo wasn't half this awesome.
Ta,
Das Skoot
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
