Journals

Big year. Got married and had a kid. Mad decent.

So there was a U2 concert in town. Something like 90,000 people went at over 95 dollars a ticket.

I got drunk and snuck in with two of my friends. We sat in the front row of the lower bowl.

I saved like 300 dollars and had a hilarious time.

Saw Arctic Monkeys in concert tonight in Detroit. It was whole lot of fun.

Was within 10 feet of the stage the whole time. Really close. Really loud. Really fun.

They played a good variety. A lot of old and new songs. I'd write the setlist from what I can remember but I'm on my iPod and it'd be a bitch. I'll do it when on my PC later if I remember.

The opening act was really good too. The Vaccines. Check em out if your an Arctic Monkeys fan. I know I will.

There was some jackasses trying to make a moshpit. But they tuckered themselves out and it got better.

I fucking love this band :3

Recently I decided I wanted to start reading comic books, and started with ones I know I'd probably like, being Batman. I like the modern approach to Batman, so I've been reading the recent-ish adaptations of Batman starting with Batman: Year One.

Year One is fantastic. It covers basically the start of Bruce Wayne's career as Batman, and introduces a lot of the main 'good' characters along the way. I'd go in more, but I just recommend picking up a copy. It's very well written by Frank Miller, and includes amazing artwork.

(I may add that I decided to go in chronological order of the modern comics.)

While I did skip a few issues due to (apparently) not so good story lines and whathaveyou, the next in the series was The Man Who Laughs, which features The Joker's first appearance in Gotham.
While not nearly as well done as Year One, it's definitely worth the read. The Joker is insane as always, and his story (which is very different from that of the movies) is pretty cool.

(On that note, I'll eventually get to The Killing Joke. I'm really excited to finally read it. I've heard nothing but great things.)

After that I got into The Long Halloween, which I'm currently still reading. Just done with the first chapter, and it's already fantastic. They're just getting into the origin of Two-Face. Very enthralling.

After this, I'll be reading The Dark Victory (featuring Robin's first intro), and THEN The Killing Joke.

I also own The Dark Knight Returns, but I think I want to read that last. It's apparently Frank Miller's take on the death of Batman. I plan on buying a few more comics, as well. Being Arkham Asylum (I want to read the comic before I play the game) as well as Batman: Hush, which is apparently also really good.

Has anyone else read, or take any interest, in Batman comics, or even comics in general? I'd like to hear what your reading / have read.
My roommate read a lot of the Punisher comics. They're insanely good, too. I think I'll read those eventually.

tl;dr Go fuck yourself.
tl;dr Batman comics.

New computer is all built and good to go. I love this thing.

AMD Phenom II x4 @ 3.4 Ghz
XFX HD 5850
COOLER MASTER CM690 II (I freaking love this case to pieces)
OCZ 30 GB SSD
Corsair 650 Watt PSU
GIGABYTE 890GX motherboard
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB Memory

Boots up in 15 seconds (from hitting button to being usable).

I haven't been able to try to game on it yet, as I'm currently reformatting an old hard drive, but I know for sure it will play Crysis.

I'm still excited.

The first TF2 comic.

Bricks are being shat.
Also: Double update in the future? I'd say yes.

FUCK ME; MORE:
http://www.teamfortress.com/pumpkinpatch/the_last_will_and_testament_of_Zepheniah_Mann/

WAIT, THERE'S MORE:
http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3019

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/10/29/its-a-mans-mans-mans-mans-world/

Valve never ceases to make me love them so.

College story time:

When going to Chemistry today, I got hit by a minivan while riding my bike.

Remember that TF2 map I was working on? Well, yah, I never finished.

Here are some screenshots:
http://img43.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=cpplowshare0000.jpg

Was going to be a attack / defend, dustbowl styled, map. It became too much work and took too much time, and I have little patience, so I stopped.

The train you see move then explode was supposed to move after a point was captured and advances the map.

Exciting news out of Valve.

http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=2578

Releasing the source files for a lot of TF2's default maps is a great idea. It's gonna result in a lot of variations in the maps and a lot of fixes that the player base has been wanting.

Hopefully it brings life into not so popular maps like Hydro, or fixes problem maps like 2fort.

Anyway, it's just cool that Valve went and did this. I'm excited for what people make of this.

Can someone say: pl_dustbowl?

So, I guess I'm 18 today. Still feel no different.

I kept forgetting my birthday was either coming up, or that it was today, too. I don't know, I've been too busy lately to care.

In order to keep from feeling this was a waste of a journal, I'll post some news on my TF2 map: cp_plowshare.

I got bored, therefore I stopped working on it. I would post pictures but I can't be bothered to compile the latest version.

So much for news, eh?

Countdown to the Scout update: http://www.teamfortress.com/scoutupdate/index.php

I've been looking forward to this for some time. This includes the scout's new weapons, the new payload map, and of course the new game mode.

I saw The Sandman coming from a mile away, and it looks fairly promising, but probably very annoying for the recipient. We'll see how it looks the first day the update comes out, with baseballs flying everywhere.

I'm hoping the gamemode is The Hunted. I really wanted this to come out, and I still am. Payload is nothing compared to Hunted, and it's no replacement.

Excited to see what's in store for the next couple of days. Thoughts?

(Also, I have been meaning to make an update to my TF2 map I showed a little bit about earlier this year. It's come a long ways and I'm getting anxious to show some media. After I finish this particular area you'll see what's up.)

As I posted in this shoutbox, I found an internet-based-game-thing that I think is worth a look from everyone.

http://playauditorium.com/

It's probably the most fun you can have in a browser. Addicting, too.

Check it out.

As I stated in an earlier journal, I was going to start mapping for TF2.

Needless to say, I have. I've probably been working on the following for around 60 hours over the past month or so.

The pictures are a little out of order, but there is a flow to the map, even if you can't see it.

Oh, and say hi to CP_Uranium:









As stated, it is a WIP. Lighting is not final, neither is detail.

You can also see that I don't have any cubemaps, either. Hence the purple and checkered board over displacements.

The gameplay is going to be capture point, but with a little twist. You'll see what I'm getting at in the future.

Still, I'm fairly please with what I have so far. Mapping is a lot less boring that I remember.

Feel free to comment / make suggestions.

I think I might start mapping again.

I'm finally taking the plunge and I'm going to work on this TF2 map I've been dreaming about forever now.

I'm pretty motivated right about now, especially after the maps I've been laying out.

Hopefully it gets done.