Hello all, August is going to be a great month here in Richmond, VA.

I personally am moving to an awesome apartment with 3 others tomorrow (3 360s, A PS3, 2 Dreamcasts, a Wii, 4 DS's, 2 Snes's, 2 Nes's, etc etc.) Needless to say we're going to get our game on over this next year.

But back to more pressing matters.

August 11th at Gallery 5, Anamanaguchi, Ki: Theory, and Starscream are playing. If you are into chiptunes at all you should know these names. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area.

go to Gallery5arts.org for more info.

here's a little sample of them from the Blip Festival held in New York City:


On August 21st, The Protomen will let hope ride again, playing Plaza Bowl.
I have devoted a couple of blog's to them, and I highly recommend seeing them live, they are amazing!

The Music Video for "The Will of One":


Hope to see some Dtoiders out there!

Zombies. They come in a variety of flavors. Magic-based, or science-concocted? "Romero" or "28 Days Later"? Scary... or humorous?



This is for all the moaning, shuffling (or running), rotting undead that creep the dark halls and cities of so many video games. The zombie has become a staple of almost any game's bestiary, and in more recent cases the main or only creatures at all. The zombie has evolved to more than just a rotting mess looking to eat some brains, into something that we both loathe and love at the same time.

My first infatuation with the idea of a zombie came with my first viewing of the 1990 remake of "Night of the Living Dead". Imagine a 13 year old me watching this movie and being scared shitless while at the same time loving every second. This began my descent into the undead. I was intrigued by the idea of the dead coming back to life. The dead were already disturbing and frightening in my mind, but them coming back to life? That was a new degree of horror. Not to mention the idea of post-mortem cannibalism, which should (hopefully) be a taboo in any case. Movies, books, comics, and then video games. The first zombie game for me, and many others, came in the form of the Resident evil series, and this mess of digital flesh hasn't stopped rolling since. Dead Rising 1 and 2, Left 4 Dead, and various other avenues of undead re-deadification have risen to the challenge to sate our need to kill those who must feed.

Why are we as gamers, so enthralled by the idea of obliterating these flesh heaps? What makes them such enticing targets for destruction?

There is a simple answer, in facing the "zombie" we face what most living things fear, death itself. Sure there are other creatures that may certainly lead to death, but none exemplifying this fear as much as a zombie. A walking vision of death that exists only to feed and spread it's existence to others. Killing indiscriminately only to feed on flesh. In destroying one, we give a big fat middle finger in death's face.
Sure there are Vampires and Werewolves, etc, but it is the zombie that remains king. If you were armed with a bat, and faced either a Vampire or Werewolf, or any other wide range of typical monsters, you wouldn't have a chance in hell of besting them... but a single zombie, now there is a target that you may have confidence in. Shoot another monster dozens of times to no effect... shoot a zombie once in the head to make them dead. It never gets old.

There also no guilt in killing a zombie. For the most part they are mindless flesh eaters with no semblance of humanity remaining. There is no moral qualm about whether or not you should "kill" one, it has to happen. They don't feel, they don't think, they just feed.

Whether you kill the feral ghouls in Fallout 3, massacre waves of zombies in Left 4 Dead, or even play as the undead in World of Warcraft, zombies are here, and here to stay.


Just think back on how many zombies you've killed in your gaming career.
Did you get the Zombie Genocider achievement in Dead Rising? Perhaps the Zombie Genocidest in Left 4 Dead? Look back and smile. If they were alive the would have done the same to you.

So I have made posts in the past about the Protomen, well they are coming back to RVA to play another show.


April 29th, they will be playing the Czar, which was formerly known as the Nanci Raygun. It's all ages, and from what I've been told should cost about 7 bucks. They're a great group of guys and I've always had a great time at their shows. I highly recommend any Va dtoiders that live in the greater Richmond area come out, It should be an awesome time.

For those who don't know, as one can guess, it's a band about megaman... specifically a rock opera about the conflict between Protoman and Megaman. It's an amazing band, check them out here

To those of you who don't know what Scott Pilgrim is... go out right now, find a copy, read it, buy it, love it.

The basic story of Scott Pilgrim is about, well a guy named Scott Pilgrim. He encounters a wonderful woman named Ramona Flowers... but little does he know that in order to be with her he has to defeat her 7 evil ex-boyfriends.



The series is dripping with geek references, with Scott's band named Sex Bob-omb, and their rival, Scott's Ex-girlfriend's band, Clash at Demonhead. Honestly, it has been perhaps the best comic I have personally read in the past few years.



There are references to many little nuances of games - save points, leveling up, skills, etc. etc.




Volume 5 was just released about a week ago, they are going fast, I know the local comic shop here was sold out first day. If you can definitely pick up the series, it's a great comic.

I know I've posted about them before, but The Protomen are having a show in Richmond, VA this upcoming Sunday, at Empire - 727 W. Broad Street (Broad & Laurel). The price is $5, and it is a 21+ show. Every time I've seen them has been quite the experience and I recommend that any Virginia D-toiders try and come out for the show. It will surely not disappoint.

Not sure if this was posted, but it's definitely a load of bull. Wow so electronics can contain toxic chemicals or materials... oh really? Didn't know that, now I know why I get sick all times, guess I gotta stop rubbing my opened up consoles all over my body... dang.



Definitely check out this episode of Penn and Teller's Bullshit, definitely opened me up a little more about the whole environmental movement.



I love how a founding member and former president of Greenpeace calls the majority of the environmental movement elitist crap.






I mean I don't usually go low enough to call something hippy bullshit... but most of what is shown here is.