I'll Be Seeing You, In Two Months

I'll be more forthcoming later on but for now, here's hoping your New Year will start out better than ours. From the Eriksson family, Happy New Year to all of you!

Another Christmas In Pictures

Another Christmas has gone by and with that, here’s this year’s December in the form of an slide-show. Everyone loves a slide-show, right?

Enjoy.

Santa Goes Medieval On Everyone’s Asses

It’s Christmas Eve and the evening when we—Nordic people—celebrate Christmas, because well… why exactly should we wait another day if we don’t have to?

‘Twas The Night Before Christmas (1)

1 days until Christmas. The countdown ends tonight.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (2)

2 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (3)

3 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (4)

4 days—but actually 3 days—until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (5)

5 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (6)

6 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (7)

7 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (8)

8 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

The 15 Minute Post (9)

9 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

My Weekend At Beije’s (10)

10 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (11)

11 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (12)

12 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (13)

13 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

40 days and 40 nights, with Duolingo

Or, 40 jours et 40 nuits, avec Duolingo, as I would say if I spoke French well enough to do so. Which I suppose I actually kind of do. I say “kind of” because I did use Google Translate for that translation but that’s mostly because I have yet to learn how to say the word “day” in French. Everything else, I totally knew.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (14)

14 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (15)

15 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (16)

16 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Munching On Too Many Mince Pies (17)

17 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

As the expression “When in Rome…” goes, I thought I should try something new this week. But as we all know I’m not in Rome, I’m in Britain. And whilst I honestly couldn’t tell you what people in Rome eat, thanks to many co-workers I’ve discovered a “thing” the British like to eat during this most festive of season.

“What might that be?”, you might be asking yourself. Maybe.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (18)

18 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (19)

19 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (20)

20 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (21)

21 days left until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (22)

22 days until Christmas. The countdown continues.

Carlos’ Countdown ‘Til Christmas (23)

Remember last year, when I wrote a post—almost—every day for the last two months or so, in hopes of filling a magical imaginary quota that I had set for myself?

The “Could Have, But Didn’t”

Where’s the book you might be asking yourself?

A Rainy Night on Drury Lane, Part VII — A White Blanket Of Forgiveness

It’s taken us nearly a year to get here but we’re finally here, the final instalment of “A Rainy Night on Drury Lane” is here, the hardboiled noir story about a very softboiled detective by the name of Richard Wentworth comes to its conclusion.

He does die by the way. Because sometimes people die.

For any newcomers I would usually tell you to start with Part I — With Sensual Red Lips but seeing as next week I’m releasing the whole thing as a FREE eBook I almost want to recommend that you wait for that instead. Come next week, the novella “A Rainy Night on Drury Lane”— including two never-before-seen chapters—will be available for download in a variety of formats from ebook.carloseriksson.com. If you visit now you can sign up to be notified when it’s available.

Doucebags, Donations And Dinosaurs

Riddle me this: When is 15 the same as 46? The answer may surprise you.

Like A Batpunch™ To The Dick

My original plan for this—sort of—review was going to be a new fresh take on both Batman and the very idea of reviewing a game by ignoring the main character—that’s Batman—even the game itself and instead tell the compelling story of Alfred. The butler who has to put up with a PTSD-ridden and rich manboy who insists on dressing up like a bat to “fight” crime.

Read more to find out why I didn’t.

The Horribly Haunted Update

So, Halloween came and went by pretty quickly. The real spiders and their webs were cleaned up—yeah, really—to give way to fake cobwebs, the pumpkins were carved into Jack-o’-lanterns using good tools as well as “unorthodox” tools and children guised as various nefarious creatures of Satan walked around asking for treats with threats of tricks.

Nothing Beats A Little Fisting In The Evening

It feels like only a year ago since I last carved a couple of pumpkins. Oh how time flies when you work, shit, eat, sleep, rinse and repeat. But yeah, it’s that time of the year again. That unmistakable time when shops are eagerly replacing their Halloween decorations with Christmas decorations the second Halloween is over.

The Batbominable Batly Batdate

This week’s update will be the shortest ever for two reason; 1) I made cupcakes this week, again and they were quite decent but not the “OMFG” that last week’s cupcakes had been. And 2) Because “I’m Batman!”.

Vanilla and White Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting and Macadamia Nut sprinkles.

I’m not sure what cupcakes I will make next. I have a few ideas in mind but nothing established yet.

Batman cupcake with Batman Frosting and Batman sprinkles. Batman!

Yes. Last Friday Batman: Arkham Origins was finally released and I had it pre-ordered for £22.49 and since I haven’t done much else — of any interest — this week that’s pretty much it for this week’s update. Once I’m done playing through the entire game I thought I might do a humorous take on reviewing it.

Psst, did I tell you that I’m Batman? Okay good, just making sure. Don’t tell anyone though, ‘cos I have to keep it a secret.

Washing Away Those Years Of Filth

Another week has gone by and once again I feel as though I haven’t accomplished very much. But then I start writing and shit just comes out. And then I publish that shit and call it a day.

Cupcakes, Crysis 2 and Caressable Contraptions

A few days later than usual but nonetheless as delicious as it always is.

A Rainy Night on Drury Lane, Part VI — Dem Dee-licious Golden Pancakes

Things take a turn for the hallucinatory in the sixth instalment of “A Rainy Night on Drury Lane” as Detective Wentworth finds himself on the verge of death. Will he persevere or perish?

As always, those of you who have missed the previous instalments can catch up here.

“Part I — With Sensual Red Lips”
“Part II — The Brown Note”
“Part III — Underneath A Turquoise Sky”
“Part IV — Leering Pale Green Eyes”
“Part V — Nothing But Yellow Newspapers”

Some Songs I Thought You Might Like

You know how they say that no song is ever better than when performed by its original artist? No? Most people don’t say that because there’s so many examples of songs which have been improved by being covered by another artist?

Dreaming of a Dozen Dead Ducks

Why, hey there stranger. You like ducks, right? Good, ‘cos I like ducks too. We have so much in common, we should start a duck-club together. We could bring our ducks with us and play with each others ducks. You would like that wouldn’t you? Yeah, I know you would.

The Great Reveal

I should really never promise anything because in the history of promising things, I’m not good at keeping those promises. We all remember that “Christmas song” I started writing that then turned into an “Easter song” as time went by. Only to vanish into thin air, never to be spoken of again.

The Abominable Creative Update

No. Don’t. Turn away. Please for once heed my warnings and…

Never mind. Go on, you know you want to.

You Only Wish For Death Once… Maybe Twice

Seeing as it has been months since I last talked about coffee I feel it’s pretty okay that I talk about coffee a little. Besides, it’s not every day I order “Death Wish Coffee” the worlds strongest coffee, drink and review it, now is it? Or to put it another way, it’s a good thing I don’t have a pre-existing heart condition.

Instead Of Being Sneaky And Shit

Unlike last time where you actually had give something — money — to get something — t-shirt — this time you don’t actually have to give me anything. In fact, I’m the one who is going to do the giving. Why? Because I’m such a nice* guy, that’s why.

* Not legally binding.

Sleeping Around With My Creative Mistresses

I thought — for a change — that I wouldn’t overstay my welcome. Which means, I won’t write more when I could be — should be — writing less. Despite struggling to get posts that are “long enough” I constantly struggle with the feeling that my posts are in actual fact “too long”. In essence,  I’m struggling with feeling like I’m overstaying my welcome.

2 Things I’m Ashamed To Admit That I Like

Failing to think of 5 things I’m ashamed to admit that I like… I settle for a measly list of 2 things.

Ye Merry Medieval Update

Hear ye, hear ye! By decree of his royal majesty king Carlos, son of Erik, all ye who hath cast thy putrid gaze upon these words of holy proclamation shall gaze no more lest they be forever thrown into the pits of hell, where they shall burn in fire and brimstone. All ye hath been warned and so forth and such, mumble mumble…

A Rainy Night On Drury Lane, Part V — Nothing But Yellow Newspapers

Welcome back dear readers, to the fifth instalment of our awesome “A Rainy Night On Drury Lane” series. You know the drill by now, where is Detective Wentworth taking us today? Only two parts left after this, things are getting pretty exciting.

And of course for those you who are new, I suggest you check out the first 4 parts.
“Part I — With Sensual Red Lips”
“Part II — The Brown Note”
“Part III — Underneath A Turquoise Sky”
“Part IV — Leering Pale Green Eyes”

Standing Erect To Ones Failures

So the time has come to come clean about those challenges — The Re-Return Tour Of 2013 — I set myself earlier. Because as you might have noticed, I haven’t really mentioned them since. Well, there’s a reason for that.

An Autumn Of Animation

Undecided what to watch this autumn? Feeling like there’s so many animation films out there and you just don’t know where to start? Well, you curiously specific demographic, you’re in luck because I just so happen to have a bunch of films up my sleeve that you should see.

In Defence Of Ben Affleck

As the world turns their back on Ben Affleck I figured I could take a more defensive stance of the casting choice to make him the next Batman.

How Long Can You Stay Positive?

Our minimalistic game about the transience of life returns as beije develops it into a native game for the Windows Phone.

Home, Sweet Home (With Pictures)

I hope you weren’t eagerly awaiting a post back when I was in Finland because as I’m sure you could can figure out, I was busy doing stuff. Not just any kind of stuff either but important stuff.

Yeah.

Let’s go with that. Important stuff.

Let’s Try That Again

Tonight’s “Abominable Weekly Update” comes with an extra special message and in the spirit of that, there won’t any public warnings pleading you to stay away, imploring you to read no further and so on. It’s not like you listened to them anyway, right?

The Carbonated Cola-War Conclusion

After a decade of delusions of grandeur, I finally — or do I? — put to rest the pressing question of whether or not I can tell the difference between Coca-Cola and Pepsi?

The Re-Return Tour Of 2013

The time has come. Tomorrow we’re going on our vacation but not to some exotic — and Mediterranean — place oh no. No, we’re going to a place which is colder and harsher than where we’re now.

I’m of course talking about The Land of Thousand Lakes, and Ten-Thousand Mosquitoes per Lake, Finland. Finland, you cold inhospitable bastard. Or maybe I should say “kylmä ja karu paskiainen”?

Buying A Bad Bag Of Briquettes

We all know how this goes by now. I tell you to avert your eyes, warn you of the horrors that await if you don’t heed my advise. But you of course never listen. Ignoring my threats of face-melting and sterility you muster onward like the little reader that could. So, I’m not even going to bother.

I Really Want To Be A Dirty Pirate

As you might remember, I wasn’t very impressed with Feet-tickler’s Assassin’s Creed III. The ham fisted exposition and severe lack of actual assassinations — too few and far apart — made me feel like I was playing something… less assassin-y than the title would suggest. Which is like if Farming Simulator 2013 was a game about watching crop grow and nothing else.

Our Remastered Hero Of Oakvale Returns

Wow, it’s been — soon anyway — 10 years since the first Fable game was released. Remember? The one they actually released for PC as well. Not that I’m holding a grudge or anything. No really. I mostly played it on the original Xbox but I’ve heard rumours that they’re making the re-mastered edition an Xbox One Exclusive.

I remember the original Fable game fondly and in honour of Lionhead Studios impending release of the re-mastered Fable: The Lost Chapters, titled Fable Anniversary I though I would play the original, except on PC this time. Steam’s — by now infamous — Summer Sale is on and you can get Fable: The Lost Chapters for a measly £3.49.

A Not Review Of Man Of Steel

I was originally going to write a — sort of — review about “Man of Steel”, or as I would like to call it, “Meh of Steel”… because… well… I thought it was kind of “meh”. But then I got bored of that and decided on not writing it. I also figured that there’s plenty of reviews out there and I really don’t have anything further to add to it.

Warning: Spoilers!

And Another Thing…

“Apparently” some readers where disappointed by my “Living From A Suitcase” post. “Apparently” I didn’t divulge enough information. “Apparently” some people are just never happy. But one aims to please, so here I am again.

The Weavers Of Nightmares

I’m sure we can all agree that some things are better left unseen. But since I’ve seen them I think it’s better that you see them too, since we’re such good friends, right? It’s like that saying, “A problem shared is a blah blah”, I forget the rest.

But here I am, sharing my problem anyway.

Living From A Suitcase

I want you to imagine the following scenario; Someone drops a suitcase in front of you and tell you to fill it with your most priced possessions. Whatever you can fit into that one suitcase, you can take with you as you move to a new life, in a new country. Everything else, you have to give/sell or throw away.

A Rainy Night On Drury Lane, Part IV — Leering Pale Green Eyes

The plot thickens as Detective Wentworth is shot at by a mysterious German who then invites Detective Wentworth to meet his mitarbeiter. Where are they going? Who is he going to meet and why? And most importantly, why does everything smell like figs?

Find out this and more as you read the next instalment in our “A Rainy Night On Drury Lane” series entitled “Leering Pale Green Eyes”.

For those of you joining us for the first time, I implore — yes, implore even — you to read “Part I — With Sensual Red Lips” here. “Part II — The Brown Note” here. And “Part III — Underneath A Turquoise Sky” here.

Otherwise, feel free to continue.

A Summer Of Sci-Fi

Whilst I suppose you could consider this post a bit of a filler — or Fluffer, if you will — I will comfort you with the knowledge that I have been wanting to write this one for a few months but never felt like I had a good enough excuse to do so.

Well, now I do. I want to squeeze in another post before the end of this month — because you know, quantity before quality — and my only other option was talking about my morning coffee endeavours. And I’m sure you’re all getting pretty sick of that. So instead, I’m giving you a list of 5 Sci-Fi films you should watch if you haven’t already. Trailers included because I’m such a nice guy, right?

Playing Feet-Tickler’s Creed III

I have finally gotten around to playing Assassin’s Creed III, one of the many games I had on my list of games to play. Having played a few hours — surely enough to pass judgement, wouldn’t you think? — of the game so far I have a few concerns I would like to discuss, if that’s all right?

I’m kidding, of course. I want to rant about it… but boy, where do I start?

The Man Of Steel vs. The Man Of Bats

Don’t you just hate it when the TL;DR summary is at the end of the post? Surely, that should be the first thing, in case your wonderful reader — you are wonderful, right? — doesn’t feel like reading the whole thing even though it’s only like ~700 words long.

Having said that, I will of course not hold you dear, wonderful — right? — reader in suspense. I think Batman is awesome and Superman is a snoozefest. There, now I’ve said it but stick around anyway and find out why.

Let Them Eat Cake!

I once knew a woman who said “Let them eat cake!” or something like that. Actually I didn’t know her, it was Marie Antoinette whom as we all know didn’t live when I lived. I live now and she’s… well… pretty dead last time I checked. She also never actually said “Let them eat cake!”.

So all of that were lies. Delicious lies. Except for the cake part. There is cake, would you like to see it?

Life Is A Game With Permadeath

I was originally going to call this post “Anachronistic Aging And Preventing A Paradox” but who are we kidding— even for me — that’s stretching title creativity to its limits. So… I’m getting older and well… we all know what that means, right? Cake. It means cake.

About Muthafuckin Paper Planes!

I feel like these weekly updates are becoming an — actual — weekly thing. I don't like that. I'm going to have to do something about it. Next week. Not this week, because this week finally marks the launch of our game Monorun! There's also going to be a lot about muthafuckin paper planes.

Corvo's Journal Of Awesomeness

Corvo's Journal of Awesomeness has been given a new home.

An Oral Fixation

Avert your eyes! Do it, do it now! Your puny brain is not capable of comprehending the text and images that are to follow. For your own safety and the safety of your — present and future — children you must not read ahead. Like that Ark opening scene in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark when the Nazis melt and shit, you too shall melt and shit… if you read on.

Breaking That Special Habit

Today marks the 251st day I have gone without smoking. Hurray and for me and whatnot, but that's not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about what actually motivated me. And more importantly what didn't.

Don't Be A Dick In Denial, Watch Damsel In Distress Part 2

Here's the thing. I would love to talk about this a lot. And I will. Soon. But not yet because I'm not quite sure how to approach this subject yet. And I want to approach this subject with the same curiosity and critique that Anita Sarkeesian is approaching it. Until then, I'm simply sharing Part 2 of her Damsel in Distress.

Embracing The Everyday English

Surprise! It's another post. Yeah, sometimes I spoil all of you. But don't worry as this isn't one of those times. This is the post in which I talk about the things I did, drank and ate in the last week. As you can probably tell, it's exciting stuff all around.

A Rainy Night On Drury Lane, Part III — Underneath A Turquoise Sky

Right. I'm sure you're all dying to find out what happens next to our beloved Detective Wentworth. I won't hold you for much longer.

In case you're joining us for the first time, you can read "Part I — With Sensual Red Lips" here. And "Part II — The Brown Note" here. If you've already read them then go on, read the next part.

Ladies And Gentlemen, Monorun!

Monorun! is a minimalistic game about the transience of life. As the nucleus of an atom, it's your purpose to stay positive for as long as you can. Avoid those negative electrons.

Or at least that's what it says on the website. I should know, I wrote it. But I'm getting ahead of myself — as I have a habit of sometimes doing — we should take this from the very, very beginning. Which was only last week, so it's not like we have to travel that far back into the past.

That Sour Aftertaste Of Eurovision

After judging and guessing who would win this year's Eurovision and then comparing Finland to United Kingdom which ended in a stalemate I suppose it's only fitting that I finish up this Eurovision shit so we can all get back to your lives. Well, so I can get back to mine at least. After I've resolved that annoying stalemate. Don't worry though, as I'm as sick of this as you probably are, this — unlike those other two — is actually going to be a short one.

The Celebratory Quinquennial Post!

Five years. Five paternally inter-coursing years. I have now had this blog for five years. Time sure flies when one rambles like a madman. By which I of course mean, I ramble like a madman. In case that wasn't already obvious. See, I'm doing it right now, crazy world, right? Many things evolve during the span of five years. So I suppose it's only fitting that I — that means you too — take a look at how I've evolved as a writer and how what I write about has evolved equally much. And then I end it all by looking a bit more into the future as well as my list of Underdog Posts of the Year. On for each year.

First though, let's see where and how it all started.

The 11 Year Eurovision Showdown

With only 2 days left until the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 finals in Malmö and the fact that I already spent time last week familiarizing myself with the whole Eurovision “thing” I thought I would go ever further — too far, some might say — and take a look back at the last 11 years of Eurovision, comparing — what else? — Finland's entries to those of United Kingdom of course. Join me, why don't you? It'll be fun. Not funny “Haha” but more like that sad kind of funny.

A Piece Of Poetic Patriotism

One year. Today, it's exactly one year since we boarded a plane in cold and dreary Finland, having said goodbye to our friends and family, and flew to the island of Britannia to take root in her soil and become a part of her flora. Poetic, aren't I? In honour of this most blossoming of events I thought I would ask you to indulge me in talking about my sudden onset of patriotism? But since we both know I do most of the talking in this relationship I will simply take your silence as a vocal and enthusiastic “Yes”.

The Declaration In The Flask

Joining the ranks of great people such as Theophrastus, Christopher Columbus and the guy who made the Solo Bottle, my son and I have today forever immortalised ourselves with the Mistress of the Sea. Braving through the wilderness, fighting against the elements we have come out victorious on the other side, and boy do we have a story to tell.

What? Too dramatic?

Guessing At The Eurovisiowhatnow?

So, how much do I love you, my dear readers? Well… not very much, but let's put it this way, I still spent an entire evening listening to this years contestants for Eurovision Song Contest 2013, from the Nickelbackesque ethnic soft rock of Albania to the mail order brides from Serbia. Just so I could dole out points to those who were worthy.

Let The Barbecue Season Begin

In my defence, the weather was awesome. I had to go and buy a disposable barbecue and make tonight’s dinner on it. I just couldn't resist any more. But nobody wants to read about what I ate. Unless I ate something like the endangered Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey in which case I suppose that would actually be interesting. But eating endangered animals aside, nobody wants to read about what I ate so I figured I have to make it interesting.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is; “Here's what I ate… in radio broadcasting form”. Now I would appreciate it if you would honour my Youtube links and listen to them when they appear in the text, okay? Excellent, here we go.

Illiterate Pirates

Hilarious video? Yes. Blatantly posting it just to get another post squeezed in before April ends? Maybe…

Following In The Handsteps of Greatness (Hanna-Barbera)

A few days ago I was sitting around and sketching, trying to flesh out an idea I have for a painting — more on that at a later date — when I found myself sketching something that really had very little to do with the painting. But I kind of liked how it looked and the feeling of nostalgia that it woke in me. Segue to today and this morning when I woke up at 7.30 — Children. They're a blessing, am I right? — and whilst I was mindlessly brewing my morning coffee I remembered those two small and insignificant — but strangely memorable — sketches I had made the other day. As I looked at them again, it hit me! I have to draw the Carlos Eriksson avatar in different styles, in homage to the great artists whose work has inspired me throughout my life.

First up — for no particular reason — Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. with creations such as The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Scooby-Doo.

Bad Motherfucker

Be warned. If you are prone to motion sickness, you might not want to watch this. Actually — scratch that — it's so awesome that you should take some Hyoscine and just watch it anyway. Secondly, despite the video enticing you with promises of boobs, there's actually isn't really that much boobs in this video. And I think it's better for it. Because it doesn't need boobs to be awesome.

Now, watch it and sing "Bad Motherfucker" to yourself for the rest of the day. Your welcome!

The Other Kind Of Green

I promise I'll try to make it interesting this time.

Back when I started drinking fresher coffee the idea was always that I would — at some point — roast my own coffee. I purposely put the idea on hold whilst we were living in Finland, partly because it was so difficult to get a hold of green beans and partly because I felt I needed to focus my time on other things. So roasting my own coffee had to wait, and wait it did. Until a few months ago when I ordered my first 2kg bag of green beans. So as you might have figured out by now this post is going to be about coffee, lots of mindbogglingly fresh and awesome coffee.

So if you want to find out how you could enjoy fresh coffee every day, brew yourself a — final — inferior cup of coffee and have a seat.

A Good, Hard Look At Serious Things

Some days you just have to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself those most difficult of life's questions. Questions like "What am I doing with my life?" So with this in mind, I stood in front of the mirror, took a deep breath and asked myself; "Which 5 songs would I take with me to a deserted island"? But let's face it. A post with just a few videos isn't going to cut it — any more at least — so to improve this post I decided to illustrate it as well.

The Worst Assassin In The World

Hitman: Absolution was on sale — on Steam — for £4.99 so I couldn't resist getting the latest instalment in the long running franchise that is the Hitman series. What follows is the recollection of a tale of failure and ineptitude because as it turned out, I am a pretty terrible assassin.

The Abominable Weekly Update!

Happy Easter to all, and to all a good night. That's it. No post this time and definitely not a post about a little of this and a little of that. Definitely not what you would call a Weekly Update. So go away. Bye. Off you go. Why aren't you going? No, don't click the link! Don't do it! Your eyes are not ready for the horrors that await behind that link.

A Rainy Night On Drury Lane, Part II — The Brown Note

Welcome back dear readers and take a seat as we dive right back in where we left off. Last time our reluctant protagonist Detective Wentworth was left standing alone with a cookie cutter ring, an envelope of what might be money and a slight erection… again. Suggesting this was not his first time in this particular predicament.

For those of you joining us for the first time you can read "Part I — With Sensual Red Lips" here. Go do that first. Don't worry, we'll wait.

The Pill To Lower Your IQ Permanently

Yeah I know, I "promised" I wouldn't do any more "Here's a video" -post but this is a really, really good one. Like seriously hilarious. Uploaded only last Tuesday it already has one million views and I imagine it's only going to get more. So, before MinusIQ goes completely viral, see it here.

That means you too beije!

This Post Is Worth 14 000 Words

Today's title is brought to you by the adage that "a picture is worth a thousand words". So by the power of Math — and Grayskull — that would make this post worth one billi… 14 000 words. What I'm of course trying to say is that this post contains nothing but pictures. Well, pictures with "clever" titles but mostly nothing but pictures. Join us — my precious "us" — after the jump, as we take a pictorial journey from July last year to two days ago.

I Write Titanium, Not Tragedies (It's A Sin)

I've finally managed to record a couple of songs and then I also "discovered" a demo song I recorded back when I did The Sittingbourne Sessions that I hadn't uploaded. So I sort of, kind of, "mashed" together the titles of "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" and "Titanium" but I didn't actually mash the songs together. I did however do a little — and horrible — beat-boxing in between the songs. The other song is just a rough demo of a song I'm still writing but I recorded a demo of it back in May, 2012 despite its unfinished state.

I'm sorry for the low volume. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing with my recording equipment and well… I haven't quite figured it out yet.

So, after the jump. A few songs to brighten — or ruin, depending on your viewpoint  — your weekend.

The Subliminal Stimuli of Sublime

After years of using Notepad++ I am now officially making the switch to Sublime 2. With some awesome version controlled snippets via Github (still setting all of that up) and everything that Sublime has to offer a part of me is just thinking "Why didn't I do this earlier?! I'm such an idiot!".

The Logarithmic Love/Hate Chart

What started as a moment of boredom turns into a miniature journey into the relationship between Love and Hate as seen through the eyes — search results — of Google. Also, there's charts and numbers because everybody loves charts and numbers, right?

Designer != Artist

Or… "The Designer is not equal to the Artist".

The perfect design. The perfect logo. The perfect… something. We all strive for perfection. Or well, at least I hope we all do. At least I'm "guilty" of this all the time. I firmly believe that if you're going to do something, give it your all and do it awesomely! If you're not going to bother doing it properly, don't bother doing it at all. This belief vibrates through my entire being and it's the reason I get fucking angry when people ask me do less than what I can. But in our pursuit of this perfection isn't it reasonable to think that we made many failures getting there? So why do we make such efforts to hide our failed designs?

Don't Be A Dick In Denial, Watch Damsel In Distress, Part 1

Quite frankly… the title says it all. Don't be a Dick in Denial, watch be video below.

The Three Designs

I like keeping myself active. No, that's not quite true. I suspect some people think it sounds better to say it that way but the truth is; I get bored easily. Like stupidly easily.

Taking Responsibility — Confessions Of A Web Designer

Today I was asked to put blinking text into a website. Today I had to make a choice. Live with the consequences of knowing that I've contributed to making the internet a worse place or refuse.

I refused. But this isn't just a story about just that. It's also the story of a boy waking up to his path.

A Matter Of Subjective Importance

Let's get the important to me — but useless information to you — out of the way first; Coheed and Cambria's conclusion, The Afterman: Descension,  to the double albums Ascension / Descension has finally been released. It came out last Tuesday and it's super-fucking awesome! If I was wearing a hat I would lift it, pure awesomeness boys and one of the few albums where every song is pure win!

There. Now I'm done with that. I'm going to keep listening to their album on repeat for quite some time, because why frankly… it's that awesome. Check out my "This Is My Jam" profile and listen to Gravity's Union to hear what I mean. Oh [deity] that sounds horribly self-promotional. What could I do to counteract it. Nah, you know what, don't check out my current jam if you don't feel like it. Do listen to the song though. It's awesome. Here's a Youtube link if you don't believe me.

Now I'm actually done "promoting" this. Join me after the jump and read more about, well… other stuff too. Like coffee roasting and web design.

The Incoherent List Of Things

Be warned. This is more a list to myself than anything else. I need to summarize my thoughts somewhere in a simple to-do list type schematic so I won't have to keep everything in mind all the time. Should you for some reason still feel like reading it, be my guest. I warned you. This is probably as incoherent train-of-thought writing as it's ever going to get.

Make No Wonder

And here's the single reason why I won't be posting anything today. It's called Make No Wonder and is a procedurally-generated wilderness landscape in HTML5 Canvas and stuff. And quite frankly I didn't think it would capture me so. But it did. Curse you Matthew Hollett! He's also created Onopo which is a thing of beauty.

Now go! Play Make No Wonder and tell me what you thought.

A Revisit To Nostalgia Avenue

Reading about beije's never-ending gaming session got me thinking about how gaming has contributed to shape who I am. Well not just me obviously but then again, this isn't a blog about other people so…

Join me as I go back to the early 90's and look at where and how it all started.

He Did It All For The Beans

Yeah, this one is about coffee. Again. But to be fair, it has been awhile since I last wrote about coffee and thanks to the power of "the jump" you can actually choose not to read it. How cool is that? It's pretty cool, that's how. But you're going to want to read it, aren't you?

Back To The Regular Broadcasting Schedule

Welcome to the new year. It's just like the last one, except you're quite likely hungover whilst I'm not. Now that I've completed my challenge of besting the number of posts for 2011 — by one but that still counts — I thought I would reward myself by doing something some people have been doing for years and I'm… well… just behind the curve in that regard. Time to play the catch-up game.