Here's a topic I don't often get on
but i still love making fun of:

PIERCINGS.

Honestly,
i understand ears
(to an extent)
I even (kind of) understand lips
(everyone likes to look like a caught fish SOMETIMES.)
but anything past that and you've lost me.


for example:
SEPTUM PIERCINGS.
('septum' just sounds nasty, doesn't it?)
every time I see people with this it just reminds me of cows.
don't they use those rings in bull's noses to control them or something by pulling it?
does that mean we can do that to any idiot mall-stalking scene kid we see with this ridiculous excuse for 'self-expession'?
Like, just yank on it?
Because to be honest,
i really REALLY want to.


another:
TONGUE PIERCINGS.
not cute.
not even trendy anymore, actually.
just kind of pathetic.
(and have you SEEN those things when they get infected?!
it's like Oscar the Garbage Monster from Sesame Street has taken residence in your mouth.
and I doubt you can taste anything for months.)


also:
SURFACE PIERCINGS.
first of all: OUCH.
haysusmothertrucker these beasts must hurt like hell.
arm ones probably get caught on shit all over the place and eventually rip out,
(you don't even NEED me to yank on this one for you)
and i don't know if I'm being naive,
but when people get them on the backs of their necks it just creeps me out.
like the piercing is really a radio chip for a robot-cyborg or something
(I read too many silver-age comics)
and also, what would happen if they missed on your neck?
there are some important vitals there that you don't really want to poke a needle into.




.... but then again, I'm belonephobic (fear of needles), so maybe I'm a little biased here.

people aren't pin cushions.

go buy one of those bean-bag tomato things or a heroin junkie if you need a place to put your needles.

Being a 'nerd' in 2009 is getting dangerously close to having a bro-hawk in 2002.
what's up with that?
why does everyone want to be a nerd now?

I'm sorry, but if you're all like:
'I played D&D once & I was a half-elf lawl'
without even stating a LEVEL or a CLASS,
you're not a nerd.

If I lose you in a conversation halfway between Alan Moore and 40k
(if you don't know who Alan Moore is you're already in the hole)
you're not a nerd.

that shit is weak and you get no points in my book.
MORAL OF THE STORY.
don't call yourself a nerd.
I don't call myself a nerd.
(because I'm not)
no one should call themselves a nerd.



... and stop wearing those stupid glasses. you look like an idiot.
thanks.

Umm...?

why flip off the camera if you're taking the picture?
obviously you want the picture taken if you're taking it.
it's not badass to just give the finger for no reason
it's kinda.. like saying 'fuck' every other word for no reason.
it just makes you look like an idiot.


sorry about that.
dang truth.

So I've been trying for the last couple weeks or so to fashion myself a studio in my basement, but I've thus far been unsuccessful. I think I'm giving up.

I was about done with a makeshift AB800 (that would be, for me, a painted reinforced umbrella with a deer-shining flashlight duct taped to it. Yep. Duct Tape.), but I got stuck when I discovered I needed something to hold this beastie up. (If all else failed I supposed I could recruit a friend. I briefly thought of hanging it from the cieling, but scrapped that. It would be dangerous and the angles would SUCK.)

Then I tried to get to work on reflectors (made of tin foil, fabric, and--here's a genius idea--hula-hoops. I'm a friggin red-neck Einstein here.). Thankfully I realized my methods weren't going to work BEFORE I spent all my money on this useless junk.

I didn't even think about backdrops. I didn't have a clue when It came to backdrops. I was probably going to plan something with cardboard. That would have been horrendous.


... so, yeah. I guess I'm sticking to outside shoots for now. Bummer.

This one's a flashback to, oh, about six or seven years ago for Curse. This is actually what kicks off his whole story, kind of like the Prologue. Anyways, here it is;

CURSE'S CURSES.


It was unseasonably warm outside in the forest landscape of Italy, especially for February. The sky was dark, clouded as if in anticipation of the activities of the night. Paul Beckett's eyes were to the sky as he moved through the trees, waiting. Tonight was their night. Everything had to be perfect, which meant the clouds would need to clear out enough for the scheduled lunar eclipse to be seen.

Paul came up on the small clearing in the trees where they were meant to meet. One of the others in the trio was alerady there. He sat cross-legged next to a softly-glowing silver circle he had drawn in the grass, and was staring down at a bottle of bright orange liquid in his hands. He looked far too young for the magic he was going to perform, with his shaggy black hair and skinny young body. His emerald eyes flashed up at Paul as he approached, and a twisted smirk pulled at his mouth. Though he himself was young, Curse Kameren had a face about him that spoke of knowledge beyond his years, but that never managed to heal Paul's doubts about him. "Hello Beckett. You have the runes ready I presume?"

"Naturally," Paul extended his left hand towards the boy, who took it and directed it towards the light of the silver circle. He laughed harshly, letting go of him.

"You wrote it down on your hand? And in the right shape, too. You really are an idiot."

Paul looked back up at the sky, ignoring young Kameren's insult. "Where's Novello? We need to get things started in time for the eclipse."

"I'm here, Beckett, don't get your wand in a knot," a third man appeared from the trees, glancing between the two before inspecting the silver circle. "Curse, you're sure this will hold it?"

"Of course it will. The fiendfyre will be harmless unless you choose to cross into the circle," Curse sighed, sounding almost bored as he explained the circle; like he was tired of being doubted. "I've got the fire here. We need to start preparing. We only have a few minutes until the eclipse, anyways." At Novello's nod, Curse threw the bottle into the center of the circle, where it broke on contact and the fyre roared into life before them.

Paul approached the circle, pacing around it as he relayed the runes on his hand into smoke runes around the fire. Novella was muttering incantationd under his breath, and Kameren simply stood with his hands in his pockets, watching and waiting. The fiendfyre did not spread outside the circle, true to Kameren's word. Curse glanced up at the sky. Yes, the time was almost near. "Thirty seconds..."

The eclipse came, and the spell began.

The Clouds seemed to disappear from the sky to reveal the lightened ring of the lunar eclipse, matching the ring of fiendfyre. Kameren joined Novello in his chant, and Paul continued pacing around the fire, his pale blue eyes reading the dark runes over and over. On his third orbit around the fyre, however, something changed. One of the runes started to burn a bright orange. Paule stopped to examine it, but realized quickly that he was being pulled toward it and the fire behind it. Closer and closer, he could feel the fiendfyre's intense heat.

"Beckett, what are you doing..." Kameren asked warily, taking a step towards the man, "Paul, you can't get too close..."

Paul ignored Curse's words and took a step towards the burning rune, a step into the circle. In the blink of an eye he was sucked into the fyre with the force of a vacuum, screaming in pain as the fyre devoured his body. "Ah, Novello! KAMEREN!"

"Beckett!" Curse called back, reaching into the fyre to take the man's hand. Novello stopped now, taking Curse by the torso to keep him from getting pulled in himself. The fiendfyre was an odd feeling for Curse; his arm was entirely numb, save for his palm. Beckett's ink runes imprinted onto Curse's hand, where they burned with white hot intensity. The pain caught Curse off guard, and he felt his hand slip away from Paul's. Paul Beckett disappeared entirely into the fiendfyre.

Curse's arm was burning up to the elbow in black fire, but the only part he could feel was the white circle of Beckett's writing burnt into his palm. Curse fell to the ground, writing in the burning pain of his cursed hand. He didn't notice, but the rest of the fiendfyre was now black as well, and the glow of the silver circle now surrounded him. His young emerald eyes were terrified as he turned them on Novello, the heat of his burning arm causing sweat to bead on his pain-stricken face.

"Novello… What-what've we…" Curse flexed his burning fingers, and the fired behind him waned. Novello raised an eyebrow, examining the young wizard.

"Kameren... make your hand into a fist." Curse gave Novello a questioning look, but obeyed the man's order. As soon a his long pale fingers closed around his burning palm, the black fire behind him snuffed out. the seventeen year old jumped to his feet in surprise at his new ability, startled beyond comprehension.

"What've we done?"

"We've created an all new spell, son," Novello grinned, taking a step towards the boy and taking out his wand. Curse took a step in retreat, hiding his still-sizzling hand behind his back. Novello stopped, raising his wand. It glowed faintly red at the tip. "Give me your hand, mudblood."

"No, Novello. We're done here. Beckett's dead, and Merlin only knows--" Curse waved a hand in front of himself just barely in time to block Novello's stunning spell. "Novello. Listen to me," he growled, getting into a defensive position for dueling.

Novello had no interest in a traditional duel, however, as he advanced again. "Kameren, don't test me. You're only a kid, after all." He grabbed Curse hard on the shoulder, poking his wand into the boy's neck. "Now give me your bloody hand!"

"NO" he bellowed back, using his burnt hand to push Novello away. A shock ran through the both of them when Curse's hand came in contact with Novello's chest, and before they knew it, Novello fell to the ground, dead.

Curse held his hand away from him, disgusted by the burning curse. It was his fault that these two men were dead. His fault that this kind of evil magic was brought into the world. His fault.

What have I become?

Top ten Albums I would take with me on a desert Island in no particular order:

1. De-Loused in the Comatorium- The Mars Volta
2. Siamese Dream- Smashing Pumpkins
3. Elephant- The White Stripes
4. Nix Naught Nothing- Stiffs, Inc.
5. A Night at the Opera- Queen
6. The Black Parade- My Chemical Romance
7. Two Lefts Don't Make a Right... But Three Do- Relient K
8. In Rainbows- Radiohead
9. Combat Rock- the Clash
10.Wolves- Idiot Pilot

...if I had these, i could probably spend the rest of my life there.