The Internet in One Sentence

I found this quote in the comments of a YouTube video. It eloquently sums up the vast majority of discorse on the web:

City of Heroes: Veteran Rewards

CoH will soon have a new system where subscribers get in-game prizes based on how long they've had an active account. They revealed the latest batch of them today.

3 Months: Trenchcoat
Folks have been asking for this for a long time.

6: Greek Alphabet chest emblems
This is the lamest reward by a big margin. Guess they can't all be super good.

9: Kilts for males, "belly shirts" for females
I hear reqests for kilts all the time too.

12: Bonus attack power, special versions of the "sprint" power, and some new decorative pieces for supergroup bases
Some fun stuff. The extra attack will help out at low levels and the base items can add that much more dimension and realism to a base. The sprint powers were originally exclusive preorder items. Those who got them with their preorder felt it was a special little bonus that not many people would have. Now a fair number of people will and that doesn't sit right.

15: Wings
These look exactly as I wanted them to look. Well done. They even flap when you fly!

18: Samurai armor
Looks great! Very nice.

21: One-shoulder cape
Eh, kinda lame. I can't think of any of my characters that would look good with this.

24: Teleport power that takes you to your supergroup base, more decorative base items, special titles
Exclusively-solo players are out of luck here. I'm psyched though. My SG base is awesome.

27: New tech armor
Not bad looking, but really not anything special. This doesn't look all that different from the tech armor options we already have.

30: Chest emblems from existing NPC groups, more decorative base items
Seems like another filler milestone to me.

33: Really really cool bonus attack power
The Nemesis Staff is the sweetest temp power in the game. Now I'll get to keep it FOREVER!

36: Non-combat pet, decorative base items
A little critter that follows you around. I hope we'll get to name them. Looks like fun!

Scattered in there are also a bunch of costume change tokens and character respecs. Unfortunately (or not), they've given out so many of those already that they're just not an enticing reward anymore, so I did not include them in my list.

Fertilizer

I killed a bunch of grass.

Those fertilizer application carts have a sliding lever on them that gives the user more control than simply "open" and "closed." The strip of grass by the mailbox is now a healthy brown.

Fiend Folio Art Review Part 1

This D&D monster book has been around for a few years. Like my analysis of the Monster Manual 3, I'm going to go through each creature entry and bore you with my commentary. In this case, I'll only be talking about the art. Click here for WotC's teaser art gallery for the book.

Shining Stars

Abyssal Ghoul - Scary lookin' critter right there.
Bhut - A big scary melted ghost with big teeth. Reminds me of an evil version of Slimer from Ghostbusters.
Blackstone Gigant - Very dynamic image, despite the fact that it depicts a statue.
Caryatid Column - Looks just like a classical marble statue... come to life with a sword. The serene expression on her face sells it.
Crawling Head - Icky, but perfect.
Alkilith - A nasty slime creature, here depicted as neon green and purple lava. Totally alien and wonderful.
Paeliryon - 20 foot tall morbidly obese "devil-clown." I don't think a better visual interperatation could exist.
Ethergaunts - Utterly alien, bizzare entities from a parallel reality. NAILED.
Armadon - Armored bug monser, straight outta Starship Troopers.
Half-illithid Lizardfolk - Shows an example creature with said template. It's exactly as I would have imagined it. Well done.
Hullathoin - An enormous zombified four-legged "thing." Covered in boils that burst forth with swarms of evil locusts. I love this thing so much.
Inevitable - Geometric, clockwork beings that roam about enforcing the laws of the universe. The illustration here is flawless.
Jackalwere - Striking sillouette.
Lucent Worm - Giant gooey, transperent slug. Truly horrific.
Maug - Captures the feel of an enormously heavy and powerful stone-person thing. He's got some momentum going, and he isn't going to stop.
Shadar-kai - A shadowy race of faerie folk. Great use of contrast and angular edges to evoke the mood.
Yuan-ti Anathema - Evokes not only what the creature looks like, but also hints at what yuan-ti society is like.

"As a foulness shall ye know them."

An odor is present here. You know when after you floss your teeth and you smell your finger? (C'mon, everbody does it.) It is the rank miasma of death. Investigation as to its source may prove necessary.

I lit a three-wick scented candle but it is powerless against the funk.

Where in the World is Chris?

My friend Chris is in Japan, teaching English for a year. Using the address he gave, the city's official website and Google's translate feature, I came up with a dot on a map. I'll see how close my estimate was the next time I hear back from him.

Sloar

The 1984 film Ghostbusters has Rick Moranis spew forth the following insane rant:

"During the rectification of the Vuldronaii the Traveler came as a large, moving Torb. Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex supplicants they chose a new form for him—that of a giant Sloar. Many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Sloar that day, I can tell you."

What the heck is a 'sloar?' My inclination is that the writers just made it up, but might it be some sort of kiln or 'death-sauna?'