The FuMP

I've been meaning to write an entry about The FuMP for the past several weeks now, but for some reason I just kept putting it off. Which is a shame, because it's a really great thing. The FuMP is the Funny Music Project. I first heard about it from Tom Smith's LiveJournal(he's a member of it).

Every week, The FuMP has two new funny songs that you can download for free in MP3 format. If you want to, you can pay 99¢ to download a song in a higher quality MP3 or pay $4.99 a month to download all the songs in higher quality MP3s. If you're really generous, you can pay $9.99 a month for the downloads, and every other month you'll get a free CD compilation of the past two month's songs (with bonus material!).

As I said earlier, Tom Smith is one of the artists. The others are Raymond and Scum, Ron Balder, Sudden Death, the great Luke Ski, and Worm Quartet (Possible Oscar is an auxiliary member). Besides Tom smith, the only member I was familiar with before The FuMP was Raymond and Scum; many years ago, I got a copy of their Wow! What Amazing Cover Art!! CD off of MP3.com (back before MP3.com sucked). Even so, all of the artists are great, and I've added all of them as friends on my MySpace page--except Ron Balder, because I couldn't find a MySpace page for him (and speaking of MySpace, if you're reading this and you have a MySpace, feel free to add me as a friend).

My current favorite song of the bunch has got to be Sudden Death's Cellular Degeneration, because it's just so damn funny. I also really liked the great Luke Ski's You Might Be a Trekkie (though it's not really funny music), Raymond and Scum's Nothing's Gonna Tear Us Apart Love - Theme From Blood and Guts, Tom Smith's Tech Support for Dad, and well all of them really. The one I liked least was Ron Balder's Don't Shoot, and that was mainly because I'm not really into paintball.

The FuMP is great, and you should check it out. I give it the full five yo-yos.

Memento Mori, by The Bastard Fairies

I love free stuff, so when I heard that this band had full copy of their album available for free download, I thought what the hell. First thought, I did check out their MySpace page, from which I learned that their music was pretty good (and their lead singer is a hottie). Naturally, I went on and downloaded the full album.

It's pretty good. I'm too tired to go into a track by track summary, but I really liked "We're All Going to Hell" and "Memento Mori." You should download a copy, and tell all your friends. The Yoyogod gives Memento Mori five yo-yos.

Sigh

I'm reading Marjorie B. Kellogg's The Dragon Quartet: Volume One, but I'm going very slowly. It'll probably take another couple of days for me finish. That's assuming I don't get my most recent Amazon shipment first. Once I get that, I'll have Repairman Jack volumes 1 & 2, a Charles de Lint, and another book that I can't remember. I'll almost certainly switch when they arrive. It's not that I don't like the book I'm reading, it's just that it's moving way too slowly for my temperament right now.

Anyway, since I don't like go more than two days without writing some kind of review, I'll do an Internet one again. Instead of a web comic, I'll do something else. I'm sure anyone reading this has probably seen it (unless you've been living under a rock or something), but I figure I'll try reviewing Homestar Runner.

Homestar Runner is an animation website, featuring the adventures of Homestar Runner and his friends. By far the coolest character is Strong Bad, a strange, masked wrestle man who answers email. He's just so darn funny and mean and cool. I wish he'd answer one of my emails some day.

Homestar Runner also has games. Some of them are kind of fun. I especially like Peasant's Quest. This is just one of the coolest sites around. I just can't think of anything else to say about it, except: five yo-yos.

Free Filk

I'm very fond of Filk Music. One of my favorite filkers is probably Tom Smith. I've never actually been to Con and heard any actual live filking, but I do own a few CDs. One of which is Tom Smith and his Digital Acoustic Compilation and I definitely plan on buying some more of his CDs when I have some extra cash and don't blow it on books or stuff like the new "Weird Al" Cd that's coming next month.

Anyway, I occasionally like to check out Tom Smith's website (because he has some cool free content), and I discovered that he's started a thing he calls iTom, where he'll be posting a new song every week. The song of the week is going to be available for free download, and all the songs can be listened to for free or purchased for 99¢ in a higher quality format.

So far, he's posted four songs, and I really like three of them: Blue Screen of Death, I Want My Flying Car, and Can't Get The File To Play. I definitely recommend going there now. I give it 5 yo-yos.

More Web Comics

Since I got a shipment of books from Amazon, I put Firethorn aside and Started reading The Arm of the Stone, so I'm not finished with any books do reviews on. Hence, I've got another web comic review. It's Inq Tales, a collection of comics by IngaLill Roesberg of Norway. As far as I can make out, these were originally published as regular comics in Norway, and are now being posted on the Web in English. She has two series going on the site, The Knights of Dor and Felina.

The Knights of Dor is a fantasy about seven knights fighting against an ancient prophecy. Every five hundred years an evil wizard arises to rule over the lands of Dor. The Knights of Dor fight against the evil wizard. The comic has a nice mix of action and comedy that I just love.

Felina is, as you can guess from the title, about a cat. She reminds me of nothing so much as Puss in Boots, and all the other fairy tales where a really clever person outwits a bunch strong, but stupid, people (or ogres or giants or whatever). Those were always my favorite kind of fairy tales. Felina is also very funny, and I highly recommend it.

As far as I can make out, Knights of Dor is updated Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Felina seems to be updated daily. I give both of these 5 yo-yos.

McNinja. . .Dr. McNinja

Well, since I still haven't finished reading any new books, and I don't like going more than two days without a post anymore, it's time for another web comic review. As you can probably guess from the title, I'll be reviewing The Adventures of Dr. McNinja.

Just as the name implies, Dr. McNinja is a doctor and a ninja. According to the comic, Dr. McNinja's ancestors were Irish. One day several centuries ago, their village was attacked by pirates, and Dr. McNinja's ancestors fought them off using frozen shamrocks. This impressed a passing ninja, who trained them in the art of ninjitsu.

Dr. McNinja is, more or less, the black sheep of the family. His parents don't approve of his being a doctor. They'd rather see him kill people than cure them. Not that he doesn't kill people, he just doesn't kill enough people to make mom and dad happy.

He's fought many strange adversaries in his comics: Ronald McDonald, a gang of dinosaur-riding banditos, a muscle guy with an organic jet pack, a giant lumberjack, and the ancestor of the pirate who attacked Dr. McNinja's ancestors' village. He also has some odd friends, including a gorilla receptionist and a Mexican boy with a silly mustache for a sidekick. I know it all sounds rather silly, but that's okay; I like silly.

Now would be an excellent time for anyone to start reading the comic, because a new story will start on Monday. The Adventures of Dr. McNinja is second only to Dominic Deegan on my list of favorite web comics, so I'll give Dr. McNinja 5 yo-yos Hopefully I'll finish my next book soon. It's The Touch, Brian Lumley's's latest Necroscope book (this time with no vampires!).

Another Divergence into the World of Web Comics

Since I still haven't finished reading my latest book, I thought I'd take an opportunity to talk about another web comic I like. Once again, I'm talking about a fantasy themed comic. This time it's Sorcery 101 by Kel "Kell Hound" McDonald. While I don't think it's quite as good as Dominic Deegan, I do still like it.

There are a couple of reasons why I don't think it's quite as good. First off, there's the spelling and grammar. While Kel's spelling and grammar has improved, it's still not really all that good. Several of the older strips are just full of misspellings.

There are also a few minor problems with the plotting. Mainly with not knowing when to cut stuff. For instance back at the end of March there was a brief interlude where Seth, one of the vampires, tries to buy a werewolf from another vampire. The scene took several weeks, and really didn't contribute anything to the overall plot as far as I could see.

The main reason I like this is because of the characters. I just think their interesting. The main character is Danny, an apprentice sorcerer/chain smoker/womanizer/blood slave/high school teacher. Then there's his best friend Brad, the werewolf, and his wife Ally, who isn't a werewolf but is a mage, and their daughter Rebecca, who is also a werewolf. Then there's Pat, Danny's sorcery teacher and a vampire. Finally there's Seth, who's a powerful vampire and is the one with a blood bond with Danny.

The current storyline has Danny, Brad, and Seth going to a vampire party to rescue one of Danny's students. The student was bitten by Rebecca and is now a werewolf. He was grabbed by some vamps and is being auctioned off as a slave.

The comic usually updates three times a week, but right now it's being updated five times a week because Kel got $300 in donations last month. If she gets $500 this month, she'll update five days a week again next month. So, why don't you head over there, read the comic, and donate.

While it's no Dominic Deegan, I do like Sorcery 101, so I'll give it 3.5 yo-yos. Next time I'm late with a review, I'll do another web comic, most likely Doctor McNinja or Ganalath the Extraordinary. I also read VG Cats, but since I'm not a big enough geek to get all the video game references, I don't feel qualified to write review of it. If anyone knows of any other web comics they think I'd like, please leave comment.

I See

I've decided that updating my blog about once a week or so isn't really often enough, and since I can't read much faster, I've decided to do more reviews in the "Stuff I Like" category. Today, I'm going to talk about my favorite web comic, Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire.

This is one excellent comic. Mookie, the writer/artist, must be some kind of genius. He does an excellent job of creating believable characters and story lines. While I'm no art critic, I'd have to say that his artistic abilities are on par with those of professional comic strip/comic book artists. Not only that, but, unlike many other web comics, his site updates every day (unless he's at a convention, it's a holiday, or he's spending time with his lady friend).

As you might guess from the title, the comic is fantasy themed. The older strips tended to be more comic. Often Dominic would be asked to use his seers abilities to answer stupid questions, then he'd make fun of the client. The stories became more serious after the introduction of Luna, Dominic's girlfriend. Since then, he's gone on to save a dryad from an Infernomancer, battle an evil called the Storm of souls, rebuild a small town, and lots of other stuff.

This is one of the best web comics around. I definitely recommend that you go and start reading it right now. I give Dominic Deegan: Oracle For Hire 5 yo-yos. There's also a print book containing the first 100 strips available. I've ordered it from Amazon, though they are taking a Hell of a long time to ship.

Adventure Quest

Today, as I’m well ahead of schedule on my “update-once-a-week plan,” I’ve decided to write a quick review for the “other stuff I like.” In this case, an online game, and not even one you have to buy. That’s right, this is a free game.

The game is called Adventure Quest (I‘ve put a link in here, but if Google puts an AQ banner at the top of the page, please click there instead). AQ is a role playing game. You are an adventurer in the land of Lore, operating out of the town of Battleon. Your mission is to go out and kill the rampaging hoards of monsters. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

Actually, the gameplay is pretty simple, but it’s addictive. You can spend hours a day fighting the weird monsters, doing quests, and just having fun. You can become a vampire, werewolf, or werepyre. You can train as a fighter, mage, ninja, rogue, dragon slayer, or vampire slayer (with more classes coming soon). You can take part in wars and special events. You can collect rare armors, weapons, spells, and pets. There is quite a lot to do.

Unfortunately, not everything in Adventure Quest is perfect. There is no PvP, and there never will be, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, since PvP often equals “experienced player kill newbies for fun.” Also, since the game is free, and server space costs an arm and a leg, there are only a limited number of free slots. New players can bypass this, because when you make a new account you get a certain number of free logins. Once those are used up, it can take hours to get in, unless you become a guardian.

Guardians are players who have paid a one-time donation (currently $14.95) to help support the game. In exchange, they can log on anytime. In addition, they can fully access the game. Guardians can fully level up in all classes (non-guardians can only go halfway). Guardians can get special temporary items to help them during battle. Guardians get special permanent items when the sign up, like the Ultra Guardian Plate and the Guardian Sword (which can be upgraded to the mighty Blade of Awe by collecting chests). All in all, guardianship is well worth the price if you like RPGs.

Besides the game, Adventure Quest also has very good forums. It has, what I have been told, are very nice RPG forums (I don’t use them much myself). The main forums are full of interesting people, like the thief Magicdog, the joking Grand Councilor Skyboy, or the deranged mod Vephoma. Just be sure to read the rules before posting, because quite a lot of people will jump down your throat if you spam, flame, ask questions in the GGD forum (hint: try the Questions and Answers forum instead), or complain about the server cap. Oh yeah, and never, ever, ask someone to make you a guardian.

I give Adventure Quest 4.5 yo-yos.



Note 10/06/06: I stopped playing this game several months ago. Also this page is by now hopelessly out of date about the games features. To the people who leave comments: I don't work for AQ or know anyone who does, so I can't help you with the game.