phoenixblaize

I'm late. My apologies. This week has been among the worst I can recall having so that's all I got on account of my lateness. The upside is that Batman: Arkham Asylum is fantastic. There are minor quibbles (but hey, doesn't every game?) but overall it is the absolute best experience at being Batman to date. Despite what some of the reviews state, the final segment isn't all that out of character. Some boss fights are frustrating, I will admit, but it doesn't detract from everything. I just love this game.

Now, on advice of my doc, I'll be taking a week off to really dedicate to healing my body. That means no writing/drawing/pretty much anything that I do ever. For you that means no Caliban Cove. Yeah, crushing, right? Not to worry. I got another chapter for you tonight and will return when I'm in a better state.

This installment of Caliban Cove is a drastic change of pace; Becky is nowhere in sight for the whole chapter. Does that mean that things aren't wacky? Heaven forbid! Here we get introduced to the big bad of the story, a low-rent Herbert West in some ways, and he makes William Birkin seem dignified and mature.

( Chapter Five )

SSDD, but the hand/arm is slowly getting better. Batman: Arkham Asylum is freaking awesome and I just beat the main game earlier tonight. Be on the look-out for a proper review at the site once I've wrapped up everything that I can manage to do with the game.

Feeling weird from the bad sleeping schedule/pain, and it's making me a bit emotionally loopy. Not fun. I seriously underestimated how bad off I was to start with. Yikes.

Well, here's hoping that I'll be back to fighting shape soon, or at least drawing shape. :) Before it got too bad I had some sketch pages I was working on that I'd like to finish.

In the meantime, here's some Caliban Cove.

( Chapter Four )

I am still having a hell of a time getting to sleep. To get rid of the pain in my forearm I tried pressure points, but I apparently pressed too hard and bruised myself. That's pretty amazing since I don't bruise easily to begin with. Still, this is a frustrating phase of discomfort on several fronts.

At least I have Batman to keep my company. The game is still good, though I'm not really sure just how far into it I am.

How about some Caliban Cove? That's right, if I had to read it, the least you can do is read the summary of it. ;) In this chapter something finally happens, however confusing it is.

( Chapter Three )

My Xbox360 controller just broke on me. I don't know why it just decided to stop working now. I've taken great care of it (to the point where the guy at the store who double checked to see if it worked remarked that it looked like "it was hardly ever used") and haven't used it in months. Imagine my dismay and unmitigated rage when I popped in fresh-off-the-shelves Batman: Arkham Asylum, only to find my controller unresponsive after three changes of batteries. It's been a bad weekend, and all I wanted was to relax with the one game that I could afford to buy this year.

Long story short: my parents are awesome and bought me a new controller from the Gamestop ten minutes from the house. Batman: Arkham Asylum is awesome so far and worth all the games I turned in.

I'm also a bit better today. Sleep was hard to get to (it took until sunrise before I was comfortable enough to fall asleep), but between the neck cracking and changing my pillows around, I feel a little better. We were also able to eliminate some more serious reasons why my hand and arm hurt so bad today, so that's also good.

Getting close to the end of Duma Key as well. I slowed down during the weekend since I was getting to a really heavy part of the book (the kind where things "get real") and I wasn't in the mood for anything depressing. It still is standing as on of my favorite King books.

So, to paraphrase Edgar Freemantle, I can do this even when I think I can't.

Back to Caliban Cove, gang! This chapter is all talking. That's it. All talking, all the time.

( Chapter Two )

This weekend was a wash for me. In fact, it was downright painful and sucky. My left side is killing me.

Allow me to take my mind off that with some mental pain in the form of our next book in the Resident Evil series, Caliban Cove. To my knowledge, it was released in October 1998 so we can still only judge its adherence to the series to the point of Resident Evil 2. It's billed as the "first all-original novel" that will bridge the gap between Resident Evil 1 and 2. What do you bet that nothing from this book has any real effect on the rest of the book series? It'll be one of those events that get mentioned every now and then in later books, and introduce us to some wacky original characters (mentioned from now on in summaries as "OCs").

Caliban Cove centers around Bravo team's medic and genius biochemist at age eighteen, Rebecca Chambers. She's undoubtedly author S.D. Perry's favorite character in the series to write about. Everyone will tell us how great she is, something Perry must assume we forgot she told us about in Umbrella Conspiracy. This is her adventure fighting Umbrella's evil monsters. That sounds like fun, right?

To its credit, the book is short. After a somewhat dragging start it pretty much runs to the end, right through the climax and onto the next book. So there you go. That's all you really need to know about it. On with the summary!

( Prologue )

( Chapter One )

There was a huge thunderstorm going on while we were going to my chiropractic appointment today, the kind that have the defined lightning bolts against the darkened sky. Rain poured down in sideways sheets for a few minutes. My mom remarked that it was, "The afternoon Florida thunderstorm."

Getting the neck cracked felt really, really good today. The rest of my day has been spent in more comfort than when I started. Victory is mine, neck pain!

For the first time that I can ever remember, a book actually startled me. Without spoiling anything, there is a certain part of Duma Key that was described in such a way that I was actually freaked out. I've never been startled by any book, or any of Stephen King's books, ever. This is a major accomplishment...even if it contributed to my insomnia last night (thank you shoulder pain). That sense of dread that pervades the book had dropped full force like a sledgehammer. Man, I don't care that it got to me, that book is awesome.

Now, it is here that we finally say good bye to the Umbrella Conspiracy. You took a fun silly game and turned it into a sillier book. When it comes to unintentional humor, you might be tied. Let's say "so long" to your cliched descriptions, your adverb abuse, your weird inner monologues, and your introduction to Rebecca Chambers worship. I'm sure that Caliban Cove will top you in sheer nuttery.

( Chapter Twenty-One )

( Epilogue )

Come back Monday for the beginning of Caliban Cove. Check back during the weekend, where I'll probably update whatever sketchy madness I might do.

Worked out today. Good times, I say. It's nice to finally feel good after physical exercise. Yay!

I was able to fit in some time for sketching and reading today. Makes me wish that I was able to use my scanner. Well, sometimes. Some of the stuff just isn't scan effort worthy. ;)

Anyway, we're almost to the end of Umbrella Conspiracy. So far my reading in Caliban Cove has been less than stellar. No spoilers here yet but, yeah. Oh brother.

( Chapter Twenty )

Very sore today, but I'm icing down so that should help. I probably stayed up too late reading, but, dammit, it was worth it.

I am a little cross with my MacBook still, though. For this chapter of Umbrella Conspiracy I scribbled up two little pictures to accompany it. The whole time my external harddrive was connected to the Mac it kept popping up the "you didn't remove this hardware properly" message every ten-fifteen minutes or so. It warns that if you don't eject it properly, the information could become corrupted. Considering that the harddrive has all of my important stuff on it, this gets me pretty ticked. I'm just sitting there, not touching it, and this stupid message comes up. This is after it decided it wasn't compatible with my wireless router as the hub for the house and it somehow ate several of my art files I had saved on its harddrive. I'm beginning to wonder if this one just isn't a little broken. Arg.

On the upside, nothing got lost this time, I got the pictures, and summarizing shall commence...

Now. :)

( Chapter Nineteen )

Wrapping up a few things lately. My neck has been acting up something fierce today, and I'm sure I know why.

Let's do something fun then. Back to Umbrella Conspiracy!

( Chapter Seventeen )

And because I need more laughs today, here's another chapter.

( Chapter Eighteen )

We're in the home stretch now, folks. Just a few more chapters to go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6jqaA_jeZ8

Now that I've gotten your attention, here's a sort-of-quickie painting from today. Concept art of one of the first locations in Cerost, the snowy mountain town of Geosit. I need to get used to drawing mountains. They're my current art Kyptonite. ;)



Just throwing some ideas out there.

Boy do I have a headache. I can't tell whether it's the neck or allergies.

I spent most of the day drawing but my neck and jaw are pretty sore now because of it. Worth it, though. It would be nice if I could recover my missing .psd files that somehow magically disappeared from my Mac. Nice is an understatement.

The 'h' key is still sticking on the keyboard. The 'g' is doing it a bit too. If this laptop explodes in my face, I wouldn't be at all surprised.

We're getting closer to the end here. I've been commanded to do this process all over again for the second book in the series, Caliban Cove, which I can only imagine is at least twice as bad. It's about Rebecca and a bunch of original characters. Yeah...

Last time, Jill and Barry found out that Hunters suck while Becky and Chris were oh-so-precocious.

( Chapter Sixteen )

There's this French chocolate cake my folks got for their anniversary today that was just delicious. Chocolate mousse, white chocolate, dark chocolate and some hazlenut praline at the bottom. Filling while light at the same time. Tasty. :9

In between some general drawing (hopping between projects, creative mind a little scattered), I have been researching free art programs that have collaborative capabilities. I know Open Canvas does it, but it has no support on the Mac. There's been no luck in that area, actually. Are there any programs that allow for collaborative drawing on a Mac? I'm feeling a little suckered by my Mac at the moment.

Watched some footage of Batman: Arkham Asylum in lieu of playing the demo (thanks again Mac). Between the footage and chatting with my friend, I'm looking forward to getting it someday. I'm a sucker for anything Kevin Conroy/Mark Hamill to begin with.

Back to Umbrella Conspiracy. Last time, Jill and Barry watched Enrico bite it, Chris and Becky were precocious and stuck in a house with Audrey II, and Wesker was hilarious.

( Chapter Fifteen )

I don't have anything particularly interesting to write about today, except that the sticking h button on the keyboard is pretty annoying. I spend spare minutes reading Duma Key, which I'm over half finished with. Good stuff.

Right. Undead monsters, outrageous supervillain, Mary Sues. It's back to Umbrella Conspiracy for us.

Last time, uh, stuff happened. Jill read a letter, Chris and Becky bravely ran away from tiny snakes after duking it out with ridiculously large one, Chris was meta. Yeah, something like that.

( Chapter Fourteen )

Didn't sleep much last night and my eye is annoying. The 'h' button on my old laptop's keyboard is inconsistent right now. It's a bit frustrating overall.

Good thing we have summaries to ease the pain of wayward keys, eyeballs and ignorance, right? Damn right.

( Chapter Thirteen )

Drawing's getting more fun. That's the wonder of Sokka and Suki. ;) Planning to spend as much of the day tomorrow drawing some more. Comic strip that I haven't done yet, maybe whatever else pops into my head.

I keep seeing commercials for Rob Zombie's Halloween 2. Tyler Mane as Michael Myers...I can't get used to that. I keep thinking of the fake teeth growling of Sabertooth in X-Men. Raar. Considering that Halloween 2 should feature more Laurie Strode this time, I'm definitely not interested. She was written as kind of a bitch in the last one, and Taylor Scout-Compton just played her in an annoying screechy manner. It just didn't work for me. In other words, pass.

As for these Umbrella Conspiracy summaries, I'm thinking of finishing them, posting them all at once and moving onto Caliban Cove. We're over halfway through the book now anyway.

Now, let's enter the world of survival horror hilarity...

Last time, Barry shoved Jill back into the mansion, Chris almost got pecked to death by crows and then screamed like a girl when Becca proved that she's oh-so-helpful, and Wesker pretended he was a classic comic book villain.

( Chapter Twelve )

Wesker needs a cape. A flashy, fancy cape. It'd be marvelous.

My eye is acting up a little bit again. I must have scratched it something fierce. Ah well.

About half way done wit Duma Key. I love the book, despite the feeling that it is constantly building up to something horrible. Par for the course with a King book much of the time, though, so I shouldn't be surprised. I still am really enjoying it and how well it talks about the more normal aspects of art (as in when Edgar paints with the music on and not feeling any phantom itch).

Anyway, here's another chapter of Umbrella Conspiracy, since I have to get back to drawing. No time for love, Dr. Jones. When we last left our heroes, Jill had gotten a shotgun after not recognizing a trap, Barry found out why it was fun being the Kool Aid Man, Chris did his best Vader impression and Rebecca murdered music. Fun!

( Chapter Eleven )

As far as I'm concerned, the end of this chapter was Wesker's Crowning Moment of Supervillainy. It'll be hard for him to top that. The gauntlet has been thrown, Wesker. What now?

The eye is better today and the crowd goes wild! Looking forward to some drawing time after my chiropractic appointment today. I'm also still chipping away at Duma Key; I'm almost half way done.

Back to the land of zombies and silly people...

Last time Jill did a recreation of the Birds, Chris and Becky were perky, and Wesker got Barry to work for him using tactic #5 in the Super Villainy for Dummies handbook. Now, let's do this like Brutus.

( Chapter Ten )

Isn't that just precious? We got a little solo adventure with the brave little Becky. The lessons of this chapter are Jill is so dumb she was almost 2-dimensional, Barry loves to smash things, and Chris is one panicky guy. I can't wait to see what we learn in the next chapter.

My right eye is blurry and itching like a sonofabitch. Putting some eyedrops and spraying water in it did nothing yet. This is Rebecca Chambers's fault somehow, I just know it. She knows I'm getting ever closer to finishing Umbrella Conspiracy and doesn't want me to make fun of her for the entire span of a book in Caliban Cove. Too bad, rookie! You're gonna get mocked, so help me!

Still working on comic strips, Cerost related drawings, and the like. I'll get back to them as soon as my eye decides to become a team player again. Yes, I am typing with one eye closed...like a pirate. Arr.

Yeah, right, so let's get back to S.T.A.R.S. and their wacky adventures in Le Chateau Monster Mash. I did watch a playthrough of RE1 last night (since breaking out the PS2 to play would have been effort I just wasn't willing to expend) that made me laugh a lot. Wow. It really sheds light on Wesker's portrayal. How can you listen to him talking about wanting to show Jill the ultimate biological weapon, called Tyrant, in the back of the room without giggling? It just gets worse (better?) when Barry questions JIll about it. Outstanding.

Anyway, where we last left off...um, Wesker monologued like any good supervillain does while squatting in a brightly lit main hall. That's it.

Careful, this one's a longun.

( Chapter Nine )

Boy, that was dramatic and thrilling wasn't it? I mean, how will Barry handle all of this? Are you disappointed that Jill wasn't pecked to death by crows? The answer to the questions is Rebecca sucks.

Today was a lazy dog-dangling kind of day so there isn't much to say that would be particularly interesting. Watched Shocker while eating dinner and that movie is hilarious. Okay, it's hilarious because we're riffing it the whole way, but it's still awesome. Plus, Ted Raimi. Yay, Ted!

Oh, wait, here! Have some summary, won't you?

( Chapter Eight )

Wesker, master planner extraordinaire!

Duma Key so far is really great. Most of the time I am not a big fan of first person when it comes to storytelling (Twilight anyone?), but it works here. Edgar is a character I find relating to very easily. Descriptive language hits the sweet spot; just enough to give the mind's eye a vivid picture of the events, but not weighed down with prose. We'll see how the rest of the book goes.

Another drawing done, which I consider an accomplishment. There's a comic I still need to do, long overdue as a collaboration with a friend, but perhaps that will come this weekend.

Moving right along with another chapter of Umbrella Conspiracy, where Jill weirds me out and Chris attempts to put two and two together.

( Chapter Seven )

Will Chris ever stop panicking? Will Jill and Admiral Ackbar defeat the ridiculously locked door? Find out, same RE time, same RE channel.