TZU, Racing, and Starcraft Ep. 1
Jul 28th
So this is my new favorite band that I am telling everyone about, and just as all my other favorite bands they are a bit off the beaten track. TZU, pronounced T-Z-U, is an Australian hip-hop/rap group. It threw me abit at first too, and I still giggle a little when they say Australia and try to be gangster about it, but they are really are a great band. Sorry any Australians out there offended by that, but when I think crime or political strife, my first thought is not Australia. It isn’t even my second. Maybe the thirty second, but that’s a bit of a stretch. Anyway they are a great band and make sure to check them out. Unfortunately you can’t find much of their music on Youtube and the only music on their Myspace is remixes, which is rather disappointing. Adding to the difficulties if you live in the states like myself, getting their albums in anything other than digital form is far too expensive. If I remember correctly one album was $40 on Amazon. I would definitely suggest heading over to iTunes. Luckily for me I took the plunge and bought their album Smiling at Strangers. Great music and a lot of bang for your buck, 19 songs for 10 bucks. Unfortunately someone at iTunes goofed and all the songs are mislabeled, and finding the actual song names is a pain. Through all these difficulties they are worth the buy, if you like different music, and music that kind be trippy and relaxing, or heavy and bass booming, you really should check them out. They definitely deserve the support. So TZU you receive the Zamic seal of approval.
Now to explain the Ep. thing. I heard some words of wisdom from a friend of mine, telling me that they were going to chop up their blog posts because the average reader only has a small amount of time to committ to reading an article. That’s basically the nice way of saying that the average person browsing the internet has the attention span of a gnat. Now don’t think I’m not including myself in that, I am guilty of running into something good only to be turned away by its length. So since a lot has happened recently I have decided to split it into three parts, so keep checking into the site to see the next two! My drawing should also be done soon, just have to re-draw his forearm, and I’ve been far too brain dead since I got back from the track to do so. Anyway, this is Zamic, signing off.
On my iTouch!
Jul 20th
Hey everybody, just giving you guys an update from my new iTouch! Well an iPhone changed into an iTouch, but you get the point… Anyway I’ve got my new keyboard so after I make a few changes to my drawing you should see a post soon! Well unless I can’t get it done before the races this weekend… But you’ll see it by next week at least! Sorry! This is Zamic, signing out.
Quick Update
Jul 18th
Will be posting more once I get my new keyboard and start working on my normal computer again, that way I can scan my most recent drawing. Should be Wednesday that I get it, so hopefully you will see me then. Though if it is any later I am off to the races this weekend, so may be next week. Anyway I apologize for the delay.
Silly Technology
Jul 14th
The technology gods seem to have cursed me. First my xbox. Now my keyboard. Currently I am sitting in front of my desk, my laptop perched where my keyboard would usually sit with enough cords sticking out of it to make a fireman nervous. I have basically adopted it as my main computer until I get a new keyboard because of how annoying the point and click virtual keyboard on my normal computer is. Though to be honest, this time the failing was more on my part rather than on the technology. A few days ago I spilled some water. Thought only a few drops got on my keyboard so I simply wiped it off. When it totally died on me two days later I picked it up and it drained. Yes that’s right. It drained water. To those of you who aren’t too computer savvy, when your keyboard drains water, it’s usually a bad sign. So currently it is laying on the floor, face down. It served me well.
Though on the bright side after some UPS shenanigans where they never told Microsoft they had even shipped my Xbox, my Xbox is now currently being repaired. Woopee! Who knows if they are actually going to fix it this time or just send me a new one. Fingers crossed that if they send me a new one, it’ll be one of the slims!
So yeah not really much more to say, I apologize but mostly all that has been going on is my technology mishaps. And a lot of Mass Effect. Which in case you are wondering I have been playing on Ulaaran’s Xbox, which he is letting me borrow. He is such a giving soul when he gets addicted to Guild Wars. Unfortunately I won’t be able to end this post with a drawing. Yes yes I know you are just SO dissapointed, but my laptop has made it very clear that him and the scanner simply don’t get along. Rather than paying for appliance therapy I’ll just wait to scan it. Anyway look out for the next post, you’ll get to see a zombie/vampire/thing hanging off a wall! Yep. You are so excited.
Anyway I’ll just end it off instead with a link to my latest work on Protag. Enjoy.
Cough Drops, Plastic Beach and The Guild. Oh my.
Jul 9th
As I sit writing this, there is a good chance I will hack up a lung only to quickly stuff it down my gullet. Some people have bad sneezes. I have bad coughs. Scratch that I have terrible coughs. They aren’t little wimpy things that could be confused as an exhale of air. They are full out, body heaving, rip up my throat kind of coughs. It is just as fun as it sounds. Unless it is a really small cold that is basically my cough default. Today I’m not even sure why I’m coughing. I have actually now come to the conclusion that my lungs hate me. You heard me right. Or read me right I suppose. For the past few weeks, I will randomly have two to three hours of coughing at least one day a week. I don’t have allergies so that’s out. I originally thought maybe keeping my window open for hours on end with a fan pumping in air may have just literally filled my lungs with pollen to the extent of needing to cough regardless of allergies. But proved that wrong today. Window hasn’t been open in more than a day… Damn my spiteful body parts.
Anyway onto slightly less painful and annoying topics, just recently Gorillaz, no relation to the site, released another music video to compliment their album Plastic Beach. Now I love Gorillaz, and from what I’ve heard I love this new album, but I have been too lazy to get up and actually go through the process of buying it. But this music video may just make me get off my lazy ass. I was amazed when I first saw this music video, not just for the video itself because Gorillaz videos are always great, but by the song. Not to sound too namby-pamby, but I love this song ALOT. I have listened to it for hours on end and I still love listening to it. So for your viewing pleasure here it is, though keep in mind the story isn’t going to make much sense unless you have seen the previous video Stylo, so if you want to totally understand it, go watch it now. We can wait.
Good right? Now I know there will be at least some of you out there who will not like this. Some of you will even be Gorillaz fans. Well, previous Gorillaz fans. While looking through comments on these videos it seems that a lot of people think Gorillaz has gotten worse. Now for those of you who don’t follow Gorillaz you can probably just skip to the next paragraph, for those of you who have, enjoy the following rant. People. You clearly you do not understand the concept of a virtual band. If you ever thought a band that interchanges members with every album was going to repackage and re-release the same sound in every album, you were mistaken. And even with that aside, Plastic Beach is a great album, at least from what I have heard. Yes it isn’t as dark, there isn’t as much bass and there isn’t as much rap. But those aren’t bad things. They are going in a new direction. And the new direction is great. If you can’t open your mind up to new music go back to your generic emo rock and stop ripping on bands with actually creativity. As John Stewart would say, Zing!
So next, The Guild. By the way these are basically mini reviews. I will probably do my full thoughts of Plastic Beach when I get it, and this is just a short thing about The Guild. So first off, if you have never played an MMO you will probably not like The Guild. And if even if you do like it, you probably won’t be able to fully understand some of lingo and jokes. As someone who had poured a lot of time into the oh so famous game World of Warcraft, I quite enjoyed the series. The classic stereotypes are taking a little far but it’s good to know that the woman who is writing the script actually plays WoW. Overall it is filled with awkward moments, and moments that will make you roll on the floor laughing, and if you are like me you won’t be able to stop watching them till you’re done. And just as a special treat here’s the first episode.
So that’s basically it for today my internet friends, and below is the usual fare. Enjoy your weekend everybody, best wishes from Frantic Gorilla!
Warlock by ~Zamic on deviantART
Newest chapter of Hell Can Wait:
Silly Xbox
Jul 2nd
So I’ve been spending a lot of time relaxing lately, not the sort of relaxing where I get any work done, but the unproductive relaxing. You know the kind normally incorporating watching many mindless videos on Youtube and playing some sort of game system. As a proud owner of an Xbox I spent the better part of…Tuesday I believe, playing through the original Mass Effect, just for the hell of it. Unfortunately that was cut short by the fact that I seem to be cursed by the almighty gaming gods. The next day I start up my Xbox after taking about an hour break and it proceeds to give me the message “Open Tray” every time I put a disk in its unforgiving gullet. For those of you who don’t own an Xbox, that basically means not only is not loading the disk but it isn’t even recognizing there is anything in the tray.
Just for the kicker I had a nearly identical problem before, causing me to send it in for $100 because the warranty had run out. Ended up being a pretty good deal for me since they simply sent me a new Xbox along with a month free of Gold membership as some sort of apology. I was happy with the service but it left me uneasy about the hardiness of the Xbox. Don’t get me wrong I still love the damn thing, but having this happen again is a little more than annoying. Thankfully since it is actually a new Xbox it is still under warranty, so free repair for me, but I am finding myself at a loss in my free time. I mean it’s good for me, and it will get me to work more, but at the times where my brain is fried and I can barely think let alone do any sort of art, there isn’t very much to do other than stare at the wall.
Well as a consolation I actually have something to post today guys, if you’re interested that is. Check it out down below, this is a disgruntled gamer, signing off.
Tell the Inspector by ~Zamic on deviantART
And here are two links, the first to a humorous sci-fi thing I am starting, and the second once again to Hell Can Wait, in the upper left hand corner you can go and read whichever chapter you want:
Hey Hey!
Jun 22nd
Hey everybody! Unfortunately still not much has been going on, which is basically my explanation why there hasn’t been a post in three days. Mostly I have been on that new social writing site I joined, very interesting, nice to have my writing out there. Also had to delete a spammer off the site, registered under what appeared to be a legit name and e-mail, then proceeded to spam, what fun. But I suppose we could always just do some small talk like we are on some sort of awkward date. That sound good to you? Good. So um…how bout that oil spill? Yeah little too morbid for me too. World Cup? We Americans done pretty well so far considering, nice to see some interest in soccer in America finally. Yeah I got nothin to talk about here guys, I very much apologize. Also don’t have a drawing so ya know what, here’s a link to the first chapter of my story. Also make sure to check out any of our content you haven’t read. This is Zamic signing off.
Also here’s one of my favorites from the guy over at 3mims, just wanted to give ya guys somethin to listen to since ya didn’t have to much to read. Enjoy.
Protagonize
Jun 18th
This is Zamic here, just here for a real quick announcement. I mentioned in a post a little while back that I had been working on a story, and I have mentioned a few times that the two major things I am focusing on this summer is my drawing and my writing, both story-wise and in here. Today, I took it upon myself to find a place that I could put some of this writing out onto the interwebs, and I ended up deciding on a site called Protagonize. Writing sharing sites don’t seem to be as popular as art sharing sites, probably because it is easier to fake someone else’s work as your own. Anyway I made an account on there, and just posted essentially the first “chapter” of what I have been working on. If you are in the least bit interested in my other writing, or are just bored, go check it out. And keep checking back, as long as the link is there in the sidebar, I am probably still posting. Just wanted to let you all know, oh and make sure to check out Ulaaran and my latest posts here on FranticGorilla, we sort of had a surge of them. This is Nick signing off.
Privacy. Facebook. WTF.
Jun 18th
Yep another title tie in. Live with it. Embrace it. Anyway making this post in response to a recent happening on my Facebook that has left me slightly disturbed and weirded out. Kinda like the guy in that video. So I was just scrolling through my Facebook looking at updates, you know what we all do when we are bored silly, when I come along some photos posted by this one girl, not one I know very well, you know one of those people you add cause you have seen them around school or work but have never actually socialized with. So I see these photos that look a little odd, so being both bored and curious I click on them only to find something that is bordering on porn. Basically it was what you would call a “wild” party if you were going to not share any details, but a more fitting description would be a bunch of people in a room smoking, drinking, and doin the nastay. Subsequently I de-friended her. This sort of situation brings up a few things in my mind which I will go through methodically.
First of all, not even calling out the act of you know, 16 year olds smoking, drinking and funkin up that living room, why the hell would you post that to your facebook? Seriously?! Why?! You know I just got these pictures from my friends who was taking pictures of my boyfriend and me doin’ it but I’m not sure what to do with them…I’ll post em to Facebook so that anyone who vaguely knows me can learn far more about me then they ever wanted or needed to know! I’m a genius! Seriously. What. The. Fuck. I mean we already share enough of ourselves throughout the realm of the internet, do we really need to post pictures of ourselves when we are makin’ it? I know, I know, this coming from the guy who is writing in a blog right now, but you get my point.
But now, the other fucked up bits. Drinking. Smoking. And procreating. I know at least one of these people is my age, in other words 16. I don’t know about you guys but does anyone else out there find it a little messed up that someone of that age to be in that sort of lifestyle? I don’t want to sound like some old puritanical guy but that is seriously messed up. Don’t get my wrong if they procreating when they weren’t drunk and weren’t at a party with a bunch of other people, I would have no problem with it. Not that I would want to see pictures, but I’m not an abstinence believing sort of person. Not that I have any experience in that field, but I ain’t no abstinence believer.
On the other hand, smoking and drinking? Screw off. Smoking is horrible as is, everyone knows that, it gives ya cancer and rips up your lungs, no explanation needed. Drinking? Seriously there shouldn’t be an explanation needed but I feel as though I need to defend myself against all the people my age who do drink. Other than being illegal, it messes with your head, makes people do things they will regret. At our age where we literally have our whole lives ahead of us, do you really want to get arrested or be a parent because you drank too much one night? Plus if you drink at that age it’s peer pressure plain and simple, there isn’t another reason. “It helps me relax.” Bullshit. Same thing with pot. There are ways to relax other than drugs, especially at our age. If your doin’ it, it’s cause your friends are doing it, and you want to be accepted and be cool. If that is an acceptable cost to you for being cool, fine, but you really gotta look at yourself if you are willing to sacrifice your health for popularity. I’m not going to get after people of an older age drinking with friends or maybe going to a bar after a bad day, but especially at my age drugs are really damaging. It’s building habits, such as taking a drink or lighting a joint when something goes wrong in your life instead of actually dealing with it.
Personally I wouldn’t do drugs, and I’m even unsure the amount I will even drink when I get older because of some of the principles listed above. I also have rather philosophical reasons. My thoughts are me. That is really all any of us can know. Everything else is variable, always changing, always susceptible to being untrue. But your thoughts are always you. Drugs affect your thoughts, change them, make you feel and think differently. That’s why people do them. But I don’t want that. I don’t want a lose of control of myself. All I know is me, why would I want to mess up the only thing I know? But that’s just personal, I value thought and reason very highly, so just the whole idea of drugs is just off-putting.
*Cough* Sorry about the rant there. Feel pretty strongly about this stuff. I’ve had friends who have gone down that road and aren’t the same. Probably never will be. This stuff always makes me concerned for…
Yep that’s right, that was another tie in. But really it makes me worried for my generation. We aren’t all like this, and there are groups like this in every generation, but when you are standing outside and looking in, it is concerning. When high school kids on the bus openly talk about smuggling pot, is it hard too understand my position?
But the moral of this story is…STOP POSTING EMBARRASSING OR REVEALING STUFF TO FACEBOOK! NO ONE CARES AND NO ONE WANTS TO SEE YOU GETTING SCREWED! And shape up. Seriously. This is Zamic signing out. I apologize if that was too intense or if I offended anyone.
My “Adventure” in Sacremento
Jun 17th
Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of posts by me, but it was because I had to go all the way to Sacramento to sit in a hotel all day and watch my little bro. This was not my choice and I was not compensated for it at all except for the delicious food that I had there. So on Monday I went down there with my mom and bro and didn’t do much but go for a quick swim in the pool because we got there at like 8:30. The hotel was actually very nice, considering the only reason we were there was because my mom didn’t have to pay for it because she had agreed to read grants for the state. The only reason I had to go was because my brother went. He dragged me all the way there for three nights so that on one day he could go to the Lego Store and buy one Lego. So the entire point of me being there was so he could spend one hour looking around in a store. I was there for FOUR DAYS so my brother could be in a store for an HOUR. THAT IS RETARDED.
However it wasn’t all bad because the room we were at did have wifi. So with the internet I was able to play Guild Wars for over 10 hours all together. This is a game that you play when you don’t have the money for WOW by the way. Also a little bit of news… I got my first sunburn of the summer! That is the official start of summer in my opinion. So I was able to spend some time outside swimming in a very nice pool and the weather was perfect. If it weren’t for the fact that I had internet and a pool, the last four days would have been very very boring.
Besides the internet and the pool, there were some other good parts of Sacramento. The place we were staying at happened to be very close to the river which had a pretty cool bike path next to it. The path was in this huge area called Discovery Park that was absolutely beautiful. However there was one part about this park and a lot of Sacramento that scared me and made me laugh. THERE ARE TROLLS IN THE PARK. I’m not kidding. These are the kind of people you would see in horror movies chasing people. And the problem is there aren’t enough people in the park to make you feel safe from being attacked by these people. Lucky for me I was on a bike and with people so I wasn’t too worried. As well as the trolls there were a lot of what I thought were gang members hanging in the park. They seemed alright but I wouldn’t want to have these guys walking behind me if you know what I’m saying.
The absolute best part about staying in a hotel is going out to eat for everything. All the food was absolutely amazing but my dad would not be happy about the level of calories. The first night I was there I went to the Cheese Cake Factory where I had a a huge cheeseburger with grilled onions and then a huge piece of carrot cake. The next day, I had French toast for breakfast, Jamba Juice for lunch, and a huge burrito from Chevy’s for dinner. And did I mention I was getting all of this for free? Well yeah, I was. So the day after that I had a bacon and egg sandwich, then a Subway sandwhich, then probably the best Chinese food I have ever had. There was spicy orange chicken, chicken chow mein, and one of my favorites, pork fried rice. It was absolutely the best. And finally today I had French toast again and a lot of junk food for lunch. Then right after I got home today I went to my favorite restaurant, The Russian River Brewery in downtown Santa Rosa. This place has the best pizza ever and right after that I had a double espresso from Starbucks. So in all besides having to watch my bro all week and not getting paid, the week was pretty good. I’l try to keep posting stuff as it comes up but until then see you everyone.
Oh one last thing, this is a very good song but weird video from one of my favorite bands.