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Sunday, 1 February 2009
Ideology of Madness is HERE
Topic: Personal Commentary

Me and my buddies have put together a new site... Ideology of Madness.  We're blogging everything we're passionate about: comics, table top role playing games, music, movies, TV, books, cigars, beer, etc.  If we geek to it, we're writing about it.

This is the first stage of the wonder that is Ideology of Madness.  There's lots more to come.

Come and see!

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net
Twitter + AronHead

Original artwork provided by Jamie Kirmser.

 


Posted by Aron Head at 8:38 PM CST
Updated: Sunday, 1 February 2009 8:42 PM CST
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Tuesday, 6 January 2009
The Last Couple of Weeks in Pictures
Topic: Personal Commentary

Still closing out a little bit of 2008 business.  Here are some images captured over the last few weeks...

On my deck, watching the night sky.

Homer joined me for a little fire.  He enjoyed warming his backside.

After having our traditional Xmas Eve dinner at Joe T's, we then embarked on Xmas Eve Xmas Light viewing...

...After Xmas lights, we went to midnight mass.  We arrived at All Saints Episcopal in Fort Worth a little early...

Suzanne's tree on Christmas morning.  We're a two tree house.  Mine - the one with the Hulk, Spider-Man, and Star Trek ornaments - lives in the dining room.

Uncle Jimbone showed up on Christmas morning.  Dig my bed-head!

Iron Monger wants more mimosa!!!
 

Bup's provides the same eye for detail and quality that their signmaker does.

Happy New Year!
 
Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net
Twitter + AronHead
 

 


Posted by Aron Head at 9:52 PM CST
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Monday, 5 January 2009
Rolling into 2009
Topic: Personal Commentary

Yesterday, I highlighted a few of my favorite things about 2008.  Now it's time to preview a bit of 2009 for you. 

  • I have rededicated myself to art.  The Wife gave me a new set of Kohinoor Rapidograph technical pens for Christmas.  I have FINALLY organized the ManCave allowing me the space to draw.  I've laid in supplies of sketch paper, bristol board, etc.  I'm already tinkering with some sketches for a "masterpiece" I have in mind.  Really and truly, I think it will be STUNNING once complete.  I need to do a lot of studies on it, sketches, and tests just to get my arm loose and my "eye" working again.  I'm excited.  And - Dammit - this Bachelor of Arts is making some ding-dang art again!
  • I am continuing my work with Mark on the Mark Andrew PopeCast.  We've got some great topics lined up.  I get more and more jazzed about what we're doing there every week.
  • Later this month, fingers crossed, I will be running my first scenario in my sandbox, homebrew setting This Empire Earth.
  • I am in the process of coordinating the DFW V3 event for this February.  V3, or Veni Vidi Venatus ("I came, I saw, I gamed"), is the Podge Cast created/sponsored one-shotter-day.  The first V3 was held in December.  It was an event held in several states with rather positive results.  Dallas-Fort Worth doesn't have the dynamic RP community that St Louis and other areas have.  It is my hope that with some coordinated events, maybe that will change.  I've got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to find a home for V3 in north Texas.
  • I have discussed ad nauseum how much I enjoyed last year's Fear the Con.  It should come as no surprise, then, that I will be attending Fear the Con 2 in March.  I will be running two games... A follow up to the All Flesh Must Be Eaten one-shot I ran last year and a one-shot of my homebrew setting This Empire Earth.  My AFMBE game already has a full table!  Woot!  I also plan on getting in on some other cool games such as a little Don't Rest Your Head and Dread.  Should be a whole lot of fun.
  • I'm getting a new puppy!(*)
  • Something I and others have been working on for several weeks, and planning even longer than that, is a new website.  The new site will be the home of a multi-author blog in which we discuss all things geek with the intent of providing - at a minimum - daily updates.  Comics and movies, table top role playing games and TV shows, console gaming and books... if you can geek on it, we'll be writing about it.  We'll be podcasting, too!  I am proud of the talent we have pooled together in this endeavor.  It is my hope to launch the new blog this month with the podcast to follow soon after.  Watch this space.  Formal announcement to follow in rather short order...

That's a lot just for the first quarter of the year, don't you think? 

2009 is gonna be big, bold, and badass.

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net
Twitter + AronHead

(*) Not really.  I just threw that in to see if The Wife is paying attention.

Posted by Aron Head at 9:45 PM CST
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Sunday, 4 January 2009
Closing out 2008
Topic: Personal Commentary

After taking off the last half of December from the blog, I sat down today to write about some rather big things I have cooking for 2009.  It occurred to me, though, that I really oughta close out 2008.  So here you go... here's my list of ten things I appreciate the most from 2008.

  1. I became officially famous.
  2. I attended the Ben Folds concert.  One of the best acts I have ever seen live.  Excellent from the opening act (Missy Higgins) to Ben's final encore.
  3. Jackhole Justin Farmer left WFAA.
  4. I blogged a lot for Newsarama.
  5. I got an iPhone.  Mock me all you want, but this 'phone' completes me.
  6. I traveled to St. Louis last year for Fear  the Con.  It was a small, single day event coordinated by the fine folks at Fear the Boot.  Without a doubt, the best gaming con I have ever been to.  Sure, there were no celebrity game designers on hand and only one vendor.  But this con was all about game and building community  I met people there with whom I have maintained friendships throughout the year.  In fact two of the guys I met at FtC are now regular members of my local gaming group.
  7. Energized largely by such RPG podcasts as Fear the Boot, The Podge Cast, and Bear Swarm, I ran and played in and wrote more role playing games in 2008 than in any of the last eight years.  These shows have had a direct impact on my desire to game, rekindling that flame.  Based on their feedback and commentary, I have also bought more games this year than in any other recent memory (e.g. Savage Worlds, Burning Wheel, Houses of the Blooded, etc.).  I have written dozens of pages for my This Empire Earth setting and even ran my players through a sandbox brainstorming session.  One might say, for me, 2008 was the year of the game.
  8. I was asked to write for The Outhouse Wall and was published in the first issue.
  9. Mark and Libby moved back to town.  The Popes were out-of-state for several years.  Shortly after returning, Mark and I sat on his patio sipping beer, chatting.  We brainstormed a few things and the next thing you know, the Mark Andrew PopeCast (a podcast about music, worship, and points in-between) was born.  The first episode (episode 0) went live to the feed on November 30th.  Today, our ninth full episode  (Politics from the Pulpit) rolled out onto the internets.   The podcast  scratches a number of itches for me not the least of which is a regular, weekly man-date with Mark, one of the finest people I know.  
  10. Suzanne and I, after eight years of marriage, moved into our dream house.

2008 certainly sucked in a lot of ways, but a lot of good things happened for which I am awfully thankful.  I'll chat about plans for 2009 tomorrow...

Happy New Year, y'all!

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net
Twitter + AronHead


Posted by Aron Head at 9:34 PM CST
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Sunday, 23 November 2008
Last Week In Pictures - Week Ending November 23, 2008
Topic: Personal Commentary

I've got a lot of pictures from this past week, most of which were captured Saturday night.  I'm saving those for tomorrow's entry.  So you get some pics now, and you'll get some pics later.

The dogs REALLY wanted to come in for dinner.  Pearl, on the chair, seems so earnest in her interest.  Neat thing about this picture is how the kitchen is reflected in the upper left of the door.  Weird effect.

At the office, we had our Thanksgiving luncheon.  Let me tell you how I was not at all thankful for the plenteous bounty of the kitty litter kake.  Bleagh! 

"Did you have some?" A co-worker asked.

"No," I answered.  "I try not to eat things that resemble poop.  It's a rule that has worked out well for me through the years.

Mark and I have been working for a couple of months on our podcast.  This week, we built the RSS feed and uploaded our first promo. Woot!

The Mark Andrew PopeCast debuts on December 1st. 

The temperatures dropped to what passes for chilly here in north Texas.  We had our first fire ever in the new house. 

Bettye's knee is finally healing up.  She's walking and running on it a lot more.  Big relief for us (and her).  There was talk of surgery.  Looks like we may be past that.

Contributing to my carbon footprint, I smoked a chicken tonight...
 

...It was teh awesome!  Cooked to perfection.  As you can see, it was a beer-can chicken (love that base) cooked over charcoal and a hickory wood fire.  It rocked.
 
Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net
Twitter + AronHead 
 

Posted by Aron Head at 9:39 PM CST
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Sunday, 16 November 2008
Last Week In Pictures - Week Ending November 15, 2008
Topic: Personal Commentary

Since I was all Wizard World Texas boy last week, I didn't get around to posting the week in pictures.  For all of my WWTX images, please check out my Flickr account. 

In the days prior to Wizard World, I came down with a cold.  As I rested on the couch, I was besieged terriers wanting to nap with me.  Walter watched over me...

...While Bettye and I napped...

...Like any good nurse, she woke me up with kisses.  French kisses.  Phegh!

Fortunately, I was mostly well to attend Wizard World...

My buddy Josh has an amazing sketch book that he has artists contribute to... it has a "mad scientist" theme.  Matt Wagner contributed the above.

Mark and Reid joined Suzanne for an excursion to Costco.

We got some monster rain.

The cat and I shared a beer (he's a mean drunk, BTW).

We had dinner with our supper club Saturday night...

And the dogs tried to stay warm in the chill of the Sunday morning cold snap.

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net
Twitter + AronHead

 


Posted by Aron Head at 9:36 PM CST
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Sunday, 2 November 2008
Last Week In Pictures - Week Ending November 2, 2008
Topic: Personal Commentary

Lots of images captured last week.  Woot!

Reid bought a new house, greeting his visitors at the door.

Suzanne had the piano tuned on Friday.  Cecil, our Maine Coon Cat, kept her company. 

On Halloween, the Wife and I sat out in the driveway with a glass of wine and passed out candy to the trick-or-treaters.  Our first visitor was Sassy, the neighborhood cat.  She maintains a remarkably slight figure for a kitty that takes supper at four houses that we're aware of...

...Sassy sat with us for a bit.

Our next visitor was our neighbor Ryan.  Suzanne and I debated what he was dressed as.  She thought perhaps Hugh Hefner.  I maintained he was that John Belushi hibachi samurai character.  Whatever, he was one grumpy guy.  We were his first house and his last house.

The peacock seemed remarkably relaxed being in the company of mass murdering Joker and a feral lycanthope.

Sonic Car Hop Girl was the best costume of the night.  Suzanne and I are still cracking up about that.  The sack served as her treat bag.  Her bit could have only been improved had she given me a peppermint.

I took Bettye to the vet on Saturday morning.  She'd been limping around on her back left leg.  Needed to get that checked out.  Turns out, she has a sprained knee, likely a squirrel-chasing-related injury.  She's on some anti-inflamatory meds for the next few days.  We have to keep her activity restricted as she's at risk for a more serious injury that would lead to surgery.  Nobody wants that.

She's spent some quality time on the couch with us.

Yeah... rehab is hard!

On Sunday, we drove out to Dallas to have brunch with Jake.  I met Jake at Fear the Con last year.  We've kept in touch via the FtB and Podge Cast forums, email, and Twitter.  We also hooked up with Becca, who I also know from Twitter. 
 
Jake was in town for a meditation seminar.  For 11 days he lived as the monks do taking a vow of silence, subsisting on a vegetarian diet, and meditating in an environment that in a lot of respects resembles a sensory deprivation tank.  No music, no books, no writing...
 
He cheated a bit, though, stealing a pen and jotting some thoughts on paper towels.  He'd do well in prison, I think.
 
For 11 days, he went without meat of any kind.  And wow, did he miss it.
 
We were there for the cheeseburger meatgasm...

Seriously, you've never seen such joy.  And wow... the brother can eat.  He scarfed the burger, the fries, and a HUGE slice of pie with ice cream and caramel sauce.  
 
Great visit.  Jake's good people.
 
When I got back home, I had time to enjoy a cigar and a couple of beers...

...Walter joined me...

...Homer did, too.
 
The covered portion of our patio has Spanish tile.  The tile is cool for the dogs in the summer, but I've had some concerns about winter.  A few week ago, I built a wooden frame for a dog bed.  Today I filled it with hay.

As expected, Pearl was the first one in!
Good dog!
 
Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net
Twitter + AronHead

Posted by Aron Head at 7:26 PM CDT
Updated: Sunday, 2 November 2008 7:40 PM CDT
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Friday, 31 October 2008
Somebody's Dad
Topic: Personal Commentary

UPDATED with Reid's picture...

Our friend Mark and his little boy, Reid, came over tonight. Reid's a year old and was dressed as a penguin for Halloween.  The adults drank beers, chatting between intermittent runs to the door passing out candy.

Reid frequently joined me, standing to my side as I doled out treats to the ghouls, pirates, and Sith Lords.

"You have a cute little boy," One kid said.

"Thanks!" I instantly grinned.

It was cool, I realized, feeling for a brief moment like somebody's dad.  I smiled down at the boy.  Reid's gaze met my own, knowing something I didn't.  His blues eyes were deep with meaning telling me what he lacked the words to actually say.

This fine boy said to me: "You'd make somebody a GREAT dad."

I looked into the next room where Suzanne and Mark were visiting. Maybe... Maybe Suzanne and I should explore that?

Maybe it's time?

Lord, we hadn't really seriously ever... But maybe?

I took a deep breath.

"Dear God," I nearly choked at the realization.

All too frequently, that which is labeled wisdom is in reality a loaded diaper.

Beware the wisdom of children.

Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net 


Posted by Aron Head at 11:21 PM CDT
Updated: Saturday, 1 November 2008 8:59 AM CDT
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Monday, 27 October 2008
Last Week In Pictures - Week Ending October 25, 2008
Topic: Personal Commentary

This is something that I've had on my mind for awhile.  I take a lot of pictures, you see, and I thought it would be nice to provide a weekly digest of the week prior with the images I captured along the way.  This will likely be a Sunday evening post from here on out, but for this first one?  You get it on Monday.

Rainy Wednesday, working from home.
 

 Mark (Kemosabe to my Tonto over on the soon to be released MarkAndrewPopeCast) and I went to see Ben Folds last Thursday at the Palladium Ballroom in Dallas.  Without a doubt, the best concert I have seen since Oingo Boingo back in the early '90s.  A most excellent show. 
 
Sadly, though, rockin' is for the young.  My Thursday night experience rolled into Friday morning.  I got three-and-a-half hours of sleep before I had to go to work.  Geezle-lou, that was a rough day. 
 
Worth it.  I'm still humming Rockin' The Suburbs.

Suzanne and I went to Nagoya Friday night with the Dewberrys...

I drank Kirin Ichiban...

...while watching the onion erupt!

Ate half of this crappy sandwich at Oliver's on Saturday...

...And built these guys Saturday night...

Don't mess with the mutha-frakkin' Frontier Batallion, yo!
 
Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net 
 

Posted by Aron Head at 9:04 PM CDT
Updated: Monday, 27 October 2008 9:10 PM CDT
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Saturday, 25 October 2008
Sheriff Taylor and The Fonz Want You to Vote for Obama!
Topic: Personal Commentary

I think it's great that characters from some of the whitest white shows in American TV history can unite in their support of Barack Obama.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die
 
This can only escalate.  Next we'll see Archie Bunker and Carol Brady coming out in support of McCain.
 
By the way, Ron Howard has the most unattractive bald head of anyone ever.  Please, please, keep the cap on.
 
Aron Head
www.EvilBastard.net 

Posted by Aron Head at 10:47 AM CDT
Updated: Saturday, 25 October 2008 10:51 AM CDT
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