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Jun 30, 2009

Leroy Jenkins Origin

I have found the origin of Leroy Jenkins. The famed WoW adventurer. In the book, "Fire and Ice" by Clive Cussler on page 21 there is a sub-character named Leeroy Jenkins. The book was published in 2002, which means it was written in 2001. Leroy has finally been exposed.

Below is a scan of the page.


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Jun 28, 2009

Billy Mays - King of the Pitch

I don't know why, but I've been addicted to watching Pitchman, staring Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan on the Discovery Channel. There was something about Billy Mayss goof ball bigger-than-life personality I found hilarious. Billy even had a nemesis, the ShamWow guy, Vince Offer.

So, it came as a shock to find out that Billy Mays died today. The cause is still unknown, but may be related to a plane crash he was involved in yesterday. In any case, I will miss him and his Oxiclean. I wish his family all the best.

God's speed Billy Mays.

Well after this supreme bummer, I found this cute little video that cheered me up. I hope you enjoy it too.


Jun 25, 2009

Pig Brains - Ultimate Zombie Food

I love bad food. I don't know why, but the worst the better for me. Here are some of my favorites, plus a ultimate new entry.

Jimmy Dean Flapsticks: This lovely item is basically a hot dog wrapped in pancake and sprinkled with chocolate chips. What could be better for breakfast?

The worst burger goes to Carl's Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger. Only 1,520 calories and 111 grams of fat. Figure the average guys needs around 2,000 calories and about 40 grams of fat, you get about a two days of food from just this one burger.

Worst appetizer goes to the Australians ... it is the authentic Sydney special, Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing. This wonderful item has 2,900 calories, 182 grams of fat and 240 grams of carbs. As "Eat This, Not That" puts it. "
This weapon of mass construction is the caloric equivalent of eating 14 Krispy Kreme doughnuts, before your dinner arrives." - Awesome.

But nothing beats this wholesome food item, I came across at the Consumerist. It's yummy pig brains in milk gravy. Not only does it break every Kosher rule in the book, it has a whopping 3,500 mg of cholesterol and 550 mg of sodium. It's like a stroke in a can.

Jun 20, 2009

Star Wars Dance Off

The geek in me loves this ... but is it art?

Vegas Bachelor Party - Baby

As a third generation Las Vegan, I'm often asked about Vegas bachelor party advice. I've tried to write about this subject a number times, but never seem to get it right. ... but here it goes.

I've been married sixteen years and of all of the memories I carry around with me, my bachelor party is not one of them. Not that I didn't enjoy it, I had a great time. It's just ... not that important.

So my first piece of advice is this: You have your whole life to screw up your marriage, why do it before it begins? You need to have a fun but recoverable bachelor party.

  • Plan your party at least two weeks before the wedding. This will give you time to heal that black eye, recover from the sunburn, get rid of the disease, ect ...
  • You need a trusted older male to supervise and maintain control - this is not meant to be a spoiler, but a limiter. Preferably a good brother-in-law, your father or a very cool headed father-in-law. He is the ultimate law enforcer. All must respect his "Authoritay .." This will also calm the frazzled nerves of your beautiful bride.
  • Do NOT hire an escort or stripper to come to your room. It never goes well. If you want that sort of entertainment go to a strip club. It will cost a whole lot less money for a lot more entertainment.
  • Have something more than just a stripper. I recommend a poker tournament. It is fairly inexpensive, it provides about 2 to 3 hours of entertainment and who knows you could win some big money. Stay away from slot machines.
  • Do NOT drink and drive in Vegas. The DUI laws are strictly enforced. This is a good activity for your supervisor. Another good idea is to rent a van so that designated driver can take you bums in one vehicle.
  • There is no humidity in Las Vegas and you will become dehydrated. Plan on drinking at least four 8oz bottles of water a day. I would drink at least 6 bottles of water before you start drinking alchohol.
  • Do not hire a prostitute. Prostitution is not legal in Las Vegas or Clark County. You will probably get rolled - if you're lucky. Also many prostitutes are guys in disguise. If you must engage in this activity then go to Pahrump where it is legal and the girls are tested. It will cost quite a bit of mone and will probably make your future bride angry.
  • Do NOT bring anyone back to your room. Your room is your sanctuary - safe zone. The person who wants to go back to your room probably just wants to rob you, cut your throat and leave you to bleed out in the bathtub.
  • Do NOT get seperated from your group. Stay with the team. Watch your drink.
  • Have a meet up place the morning after the BIG event. I suggest a breakfast buffet at your hotel around 10:30 am. That way you can find anyone who is missing. Also, it encourages your friends to end the party before 4 in the morning.
  • Watch your wallet - keep it in your front pocket.
  • Video poker is the best type of slot machine to play. Try to find IGT's Optimum poker. It has a pay rate of 99 percent. Figure on spending about 50 to 75 bucks an hour playing slot machines.
  • If you don't know how to play a hand in blackjack, ask the dealer. They'll tell you optimal strategy. Follow the rules when gambling, the security guys don't like rule breakers. Big Wheel, Flip-It and Let It Ride are some of the worst odd games in the casino.
  • Don't try to pretend you're a poker pro when you're not. The sharks can sniff the fresh blood a mile away. If it is a slow night, tell the poker room manger you're a noob and he will find a shark-free table for you to play at.
  • If you're going to gamble, get a player's card and start getting rated. You can get all kinds of free things with just a little bit of play. However, unless you're a big fish (2k a hand) then don't bother getting rated at the Venetian, Mirage, Belagio, MGM, Mandalay Bay, Palms, or the Hilton. The Golden Nugget, Wynn, Paris, Tropicana, Sam's Town, Gold Coast and the Oreleans are good places to get a card no matter what your play is.
  • If you're in Vegas on a Monday night, then I recommend going to the Hush Puppy for all-you-can-eat crab. There is nothing like it in Vegas. The Hush Puppy is out of the way and you should arrive early - the place is always packed.
  • A bachelor party is what your make it. You don't have to live up to anyone's expectations. Relax and have fun.
Anyway, there it is. You know how this works .. just keep your wits about you and use common sense. I hope you have a fantastic B party and if you have any questions feel free to drop me an email.

Jun 18, 2009

What is Art?

A long time ago I took a theater class at UNR (University of Nevada, Reno). For our midterm we had to do different scenes from famous comedy plays. I played Oscar Madison in Neil Simon's, The Odd Couple.

The scene we chose was the "It's not spaghetti". You can see the original production bellow. Basically, Oscar and Felix get in a fight and Oscar takes a plate of linguine and throws it against the wall.




I decided in our production, I would take the plate and instead of throwing it against the wall, I would throw it into the audience - It was a paper plate with colored fabric that looked like Linguine with sauce.

It went off without a hitch. I threw the plate into the audience and the reaction was perfect. Everyone started screaming and then there was laughter as the ones hit realized it was only fabric.

My professor gave me a big, fat "C". He said what I was doing wasn't art, it was a practical joke.

What is art?

National Public Radio
recently did a program on the NEA's finding that over 78 million of us Americans create art. This includes traditional artwork like painting and singing to non-traditional artwork like building models or creating a blog page.

Is this Art?



The study also found that our viewing of traditional arts is going down. Not only are fewer of us attending art shows and plays but those who are attending are older.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Is their more "Art Value" in attending a Broadway play than there is attending a comic book convention dressed as Princess Leah? What is a professional artist these days? I think it is just as difficult to answer as who is a journalist.

I think accessibility has really changed the paradigm here. If you take painting for example, an artist in the 17th century was a painter, a chemist, a tailor and a carpenter. There was no buying paint from the Dick Blick.

I feel very lucky, I can go to Home Depot and pick up a pint of discarded paint for about fifty cents. A good tube of acrylic paint can cost about three dollars and if you buy the craft paint it is about seventy five cents. A whole package of brushes only run you about four bucks and stretched boxed canvas is around ten dollars.

When I started painting, I got into it for less than a hundred bucks.

But is this accessability a good thing? Does it make the artist community stronger and more diverse? I say both yes and no. I've seen a lot of poorly drawn horses, barns, lighthouses and dolphins lately. The crap has overloaded the channel. I mean just go to Ebay and type "art". It is Dodge City all over again and there are many bloody bodies in the street.

I recommend that professional artists be a little more professional. I talked to many professional artists who have no idea what abstract, impressionism or cubism are. They are not familiar with great artists like JMW Turner, Gerorgia O'Keeffe or even Andy Warhol. My feeling is that if you do not understand the foundation and movement of art through time it does not matter how talented you are - your work will still be craft oriented.

Also, an artist must have an intricate knowledge of the materials and chemicals they use to create art. One should know at last the basics of the different paint types, varnishes, canvas and brushes. Presevering a work is almost as important as creating a work.

Jun 15, 2009

Star Wars - The Myth

This is what happens to all great stories.

Jun 14, 2009

Rick Parks

Many years ago ... I'm talking ancient history here, I worked for Westwood Studios as a video game designer. It was a great job, although I was too young and stupid to realize it at the time.

At Westwood, I got to know a fantastic artist named Rick Parks. The hand painted artwork he was doing on the Amiga was absolutely stunning. You have to remember this was in VGA (256 colors 640x480). His traditional work was just as good.

He also pioneered some of the first 3D animations in computer games. I worked with him on Dune II. He created a flying ornithopter using the first generation of Lightwave for the Amiga and Deluxe Paint.

I've not been successful finding any of Rick's traditional artwork on the Internet and quite frankly it's hard to find much information about him. But Rick was a great guy ... funny and witty with a good heart. He was also one of the best artist I have ever met.

I miss ya Rick.

Joseph Hewitt - Ode to Rick Parks

Jun 2, 2009

Art of the Bot

I love robots - especially the very large, tall, destructive kind. Machines consumed with some overpowering rage fascinates me.

If computers could experience emotions it certainly would not be the same as us, humans. We fear the unknown - future events that cannot be predicted. To an artificial intelligence the most fearful thing would probably be contradictions.

A man with two watches may never know what time it is, but a robot with two watches goes on a rampage destroying all watch factories.

I just ran across an amazing artist of the bot, Eric Joyner. Joyner went to the Academy of Art in San Francisco and started creating fine art after commercial art became to tedious. He did a stint with Electronic Arts, working on such games as Archon and Bard's Tale. He worked a few years before I got into video games - back when there were only two colors (green and black).

In an interview with Fecal Face, he was asked to describe his art to a stranger,

"I would describe my work as narrative, painterly & realistic with a pop/sci-fi twist. But the truth is, I would never tell a stranger anything. Momma told me not to talk to strangers."

I would describe it as pastoral art of mechanical toys. Of course, it is all very comical, but in a strange way, these cute, Japanese toys convey a truer sense of real human emotion than to paintings of the organic kind.

Interview with Eric Joyner




I do not own nor do I have specific permission to use any copyrighted artwork. All artwork presented here is the original creation of Eric Joyner and he maintains all rights and privileges. Any use of copyrighted material in this post is under the guidelines of "Fair Use".


Tin Robots
Fecal Face

About Me

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I'm a designer and a writer, but rarely design what I write. I like games - all kinds of games and have always made money at everything my father said was a waste of time.

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