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Friday, February 28, 2014

South Park: Stick of Truth Launch Party Irvine March 4

If you want to drive for a few hours you can head to a launch party for South Park: Stick of Truth all the way in Irvine. That's a good drive from LA. The GameStop store manager claims that about 30 game developers and artists will be there to sign your game. No cake or treats were mentioned.

South Park: Stick of Truth launch party! 
Tuesday, March 4, 2014, 6:30pm - 9:00pm
71 FORTUNE DR, Irvine, California 92618

Free Code Friday Feb 28, 2014

Want some free games on Steam? Answer these questions from the past couple of posts to win some games from the latest Humble Bundle. You can answer only one question. E-mail conteststtdila (@) gmail.com your answer. Only the first person to answer each question wins the game codes.



1.What type of "member" is missing from the Final Member?  
You'll win:
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams
The Swapper
Guacamelee! Gold Edition
Update:
Question 1 Answer: A human male dong
Tim V. has won, with his answer
the genitalia of a human male

  2.What company is re-releasing the original Godzilla film this April?
You'll win:
FEZ
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians
Starseed Pilgrim
Question 2 Answer: Rialto Pictures
Update: Carlos C. has won for Question 2, many of you thought I wrote about about the new Godzilla film. The other games are still up for grabs, what member is missing?

Murder LA 000043

So Miranda Barbour claims to have killed at least one person in Los Angeles. But, of course, she claims to have lost count of all her victims, able to confirm only that there were more than 22 and less than 100.

The 19-year-old's ridiculous claims emerged during a Valentine's Day jailhouse interview which conveniently fell directly in the middle of February Sweeps.

In a nutshell, she gave herself an episodic prequel story. But first the basics: Barbour and her husband, Elytte -- pronounced “Elliot” -- were arrested last December for the murder of an electrical engineer in Pennsylvania. They had only been married a few weeks before the alleged homicide and were apparently living temporarily with Elytte’s best friend.


Police became involved on November 12th, when a resident of Sunbury went to her refrigerator for creamer and spotted a body through a window. It was 42-year-old Troy LaFerrara. He had been stabbed 20 times. The last communication on his phone was with Miranda Barbour, which is pretty sloppy work for a veteran serial killer.

LaFerrara and Mrs. Barbour met through craigslist, where, according to her husband, she would sell her “companionship” for up to $850. Companionship only -- no sexual contact at all.

The always-very-honest Ms. Barbour at first claimed that she was assaulted after picking LaFerrara up in her SUV and blacked out before killing him. Then Mr. Barbour, whose ex-girlfriend called him a “bad liar,” confessed to hiding in the SUV and strangling their victim while his wife stabbed the man.

Then she claimed that after the deed, she went shopping for cleaning supplies for the SUV before picking up her husband to take him to a strip club for his birthday. Elytte said he got the supplies and police confirmed his version through surveillance camera footage.

LaFerrara,
via Daily Mail
The Barbours both pleaded not guilty of the murder during their separate arraignments last December. But on Valentine’s Day an unsuspecting reporter was treated to Miranda’s bizarre new claims that caused her father to publicly decry her as a lying heroin addict.

Among them, that she was molested as a child. Her mother backs this up, confirming that Miranda’s uncle was imprisoned for this. She also claims to have joined a satanic cult that performed an “in-house abortion” after she got pregnant. After hearing this, her mother took her to a doctor that found no evidence of such a procedure.

It should be noted that Elytte’s ex mentioned that he was interested in satanism and that a copy of the Satanic Bible was seized by police during a search of a roommate’s home -- presumably Mr. Barbour’s aforementioned best friend with whom the couple were staying after eloping. The ex-girlfriend seemed informed about the Church of Satan, which isn’t the form of satanism commonly invoked in popular media. Miranda, on the other hand, sounds like she’s describing satanists straight out of a horror movie or urban legend, performing home abortions and indoctrinating her to a life of murdering dozens of “bad people.” She claims that the deceased father of her 1-year-old baby was high up in that satanic cult and police are apparently investigating his death so we’ll see if the Satanic Cult Planned Parenthood Center pans out.

The LA Times enquired as to the supposed Los Angeles murder and was told it was a vague comment on her part that hadn’t been investigated yet.

When asked on Valentine’s Day as to why she pleaded not guilty, she said she didn’t intend to but her lawyer interceded and did so on her behalf.

Contradictorily, she stated she had no regrets about all the supposed murders, but is speaking about them now because she’s worried she might go on killing if she’s released from prison.

Game Hype: PS Vita Anniversary Sale

Until March 3rd many titles are on sale for the PS Vita in celebration of it's one year anniversary.
Get the deals while you can, I finally picked up Flower. Get the games here.

via Tiny

Zombie LA: Zombiesravaganza March 11, Humans Vs. Zombies March 22


Walking Dead fans you have another chance to meet the creator, some of the writers, go Gimple and some of it's stars at Zombiesravaganza at the Writer's Guild.

Attending:
Comic creator ROBERT KIRKMAN
Showrunner SCOTT M. GIMPLE
Star LAUREN COHAN (“Maggie”)
Star STEVEN YEUN (“Glenn”)
Moderator Chris Hardwick

Zombiesravaganza
Tuesday, Mar 11
7:30pm - 9:00pm
Writer's Guild Theater
135 S Doheny Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
$35



Humans Vs. Zombies is like a game of tag, just with zombies. The zombies are trying to stop you from completing specific tasks to save humanity, so it might be a little bit more complicated.

In a big park area you may run, run so fast to escape zombie trying to get to you sweet, sweet brains/flags. For $10 for 3 hours of gameplay it's a good deal for any health enough horror fan.

Humans Vs. Zombies
Saturday, Mar 22
11:00am
Pan Pacific Park
7600 Beverly Blvd
21+
$10, gets you in and t-shirt, possible prizes and drink specials after at GYM Bar.

Wes Anderson: An Artists Tribute To The Film of Wes Anderson

The Budapest Hotel comes out the day before a tribute to Wes Anderson in the "comedians cage" of the NerdtMelt room at Meltdown comics. Wes Anderson: An Artists Tribute To The Film of Wes Anderson will have a limited run at Meltdown with an opening reception filled with opportunities to say quotes from Wes' films and perhaps dress up like the characters from his movies too.

Wes Anderson: An Artists Tribute To The Film of Wes Anderson
Exhibit Run March 8-15
Opening reception
Saturday, March 8
7pm-10pm
Nerdist Showroom
Meltdown Comics
7522 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles
 
"Enjoy free beer and wine, along with Wes Anderson-themed entertainment, decor, and photo-ready backdrops! If you’ve got some lightning in you, or even if you’ve just always wanted to be a Tenenbaum, then you’re not going to want to miss this fantastic evening."

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Twitch Plays Pokemon Propagana Posters



Artist Truman Lesak has captured the spirit of Twitch Plays Pokemon in posters he created reminiscent of  war time propaganda. Check out a few more here.

The Essentials: 6th Annual Food & Wine Event Mar 9

The Essentials: 6th Annual Food & Wine Event 
Sunday, Mar 9, 1pm-5pm
LA Mart
1933 S Broadway
Los Angeles, CA
$45 - $65

Damn you LA Weekly and your food events that seem so very tasty. Over 30 restaurants will be showing off their entrees, starters and sides for you to chow down on at The Essentials: 6th Annual Food & Wine Event. This local cuisine smorgasbord is a chance to try so many wonderful places around the city at one location.

Kickstarter LA: Inkstuds Interview Roadtrip Bonanza, LA Cat Cafe "Catfe?", Nuts & Knockers



Inkstuds 500 Interview Roadtrip Bonanza

Inkstuds in LA with a tour interviewing some of the best known indie comic makers out there. Robin McConnell and Brandon Graham of the Inkstuds podcast have been interviewing all sorts of comic artists now they want to take a tour of LA and have a live interview with three of the top artist in the area. Jamie Hernandez of Love and Rockets fame has been revealed as one of their guests already. The tour of the LA area will allow them to interview even more comic artists along the way and it will all be documented with multiple podcasts and The Tour SketchBook. The Tour SketchBook will feature sketches by Brandon Graham and photos and info by Robin McConnell. The book will only be available as a reward in the Kickstarter.

There's more rewards the higher you go up including a T-shirt and more signed goodies.

Brandon Graham, you might recall him from his ongoing ever-changing comic sci-fi drama of Prophet and Multiple Warheads.

The Kickstarter alread reached it's goal, but you may want to get on board with the goodies still available. Here's a few tweets by Brandon Graham hearing about the success.





Cats! Cafe! Let's Bring a Purrfect Combination to LA!
Meoo-what? The sight that has made many American jealous of the Japanese might soon becoming to LA, a cat cafe. You might one day be able to play with cats as you drink a latte at a cat cafe or catfe for short.

Created by Carlos Wong, the Kickstarter for an LA based cat cafe might end up in Little Tokyo or Santa Monica, but Wong is still searching. Mr. Wong has already gotten approval from the LA Health Department as long as the play area for the cats and the kitchen is separated.

The plan calls for sheltered cats only, giving them another chance to get picked up by prospective owners.

TTDILA has many concerns including: not already having a real location scouted out, what skills Carlos Wong has to run the business and the sheer hell of getting the place Ok'd by LA's many different organizations. No matter what location, the plan of 6 months after getting the money having an opening is a dream as adorable as a kitty.

*Hey, whatever happened with LA Game Space?

LA Weekly got the drop on this one fast



Nuts & Knockers: A Hilarious Party Game for (im)mature crowd


Billed as a take on Cards Against Humanity, we have a new game making fun of the opposite sexes. Nuts and Knockers features a new card game where your questioned and your answers depend on what sex you are. Get the male-centric blue cards if you're a guy and the pink ones if you're a lady and find yourself laughing to the responses of each sex. Then vote on the best answer.

This is not an LA based endeavor, but still worth a mention for a new battle of the sexes. Oh, I hope the add a transgender deck as an extra for preorders.

The Zombie Run Extreme/Black Ops SoCal Almost Full

Run for your life at another planned zombie run off the side of LA. Two different times of zombies running after you on an obstacle course of fear and the hungry damned. Will you choose night or day? The Zombie Run Extreme/Black Ops SoCal is almost packed with runners, last TTDILA looked it was at 91% capacity.





The Zombie Run Extreme/Black Ops SoCal
March 22
Acton Movie Ranch (Map)
3840 Crown Valley Road, Acton, CA 93510
March 22nd, 2014
$35 - $75

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme Song Created By Chuck Lorre?



 It's kind of scary to think that they guy who created the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song also created Two and Half Men. In the above clip we learn how the TMNT voice actors flaked on coming up with the song and it was up to Chuck Lorre to make it up 48 hours.

Short Peace Anime Anthology Film Plays LA

Not since the days of the 90's have anime  shorts been complied together for feature length anime film, especially not with the likes of Akira's director, Katsuhiro Otomo. Now a four piece collection will have special showings on March 3 in 13 cities one of which might be in LA with a wider release this April.


Short Peace features the work of four different directors. Possessions, an Academy Award nominated animated short is about a lone traveler confronted by spirits and an abandoned shrine, directed by Shuhei. Gambo, a red demon wants to hunt a royal family, but a mysterious white bear defends them, directed by Hiroaki Ando with character designs by Yohiyuki Sadamoto of Evangleion fame. A Farewell To Arms, men battle robotic tanks in Tokyo's apocalyptic age, directed by Haijime Katoki known for his character design work on Mobile Suit Gundam. Combustible, what was it like being a in ancient Japan dealing with fires love and honor, Katsuhiro Otomo shows us as director.

Here's Eleven Arts schedule and info page for Short Peace with LA's date TBA as this is written.
Update: It's playing short notice this Monday March 3, at 7pm and 8:30pm at the Downtown Independent

Weekly What To Do: Axe To Grind? Forget About It and Chill

Film
ArcLight Presents The Modern School of Film Series
Feb 27-March 27
Arclight Hollywood

ArcLight teams up with the Modern Film School with special showings of films with celebs and crew going over the films including Wes Craven and Brian Posehn. Brian Poshen's event includes a Pajama Party for the horror film Near Dark making it TTDILA'S top pick for the event.




USC Free Screenings
Feb 25- March 5
USC
Free

USC's SCA has free screenings filling their calendar and anyone may attend as long as they RSVP. New docs and indie films to see before major release such as Enemy, starring Jake Gyllenhaal playing Adam Bell who finds a background actor who looks just like him leading to dark ideas in this dramatic thriller. Richard Ayoade's The Double, coming out later this year, has a similar story to tell.


Los Angeles Lantern Festival 2014
Saturday, March 1 Noon-10pm
El Pueblo Historical Monument
425 N. Los Angeles Street,
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Free

Ending the festivities of the Lunar New Year bask underneath a plethora of colorful lanterns with family activities and live entertainment. 
 
Art


Gas Giant
March 1-June 8
MOCA Pacific Design Center

A new installation from artist Jacob Hashimoto.















Cuddly Rigor Mortis
"I'm Not Hungry"

Opening Reception:
Friday, February 28, 7-10pm
February 28 - March 22 
Gallery 1988 East



Yoshitomo Nara
March 1- April 12, 2014
Blum & Poe

Making A Living With Your Webcomic$
Mar 1, 1:00PM - 5:00PM
Gallery Nucleus
210 East Main St, Alhambra CA 91801
$80
Hear from Jason Brubaker, Jorge Cham and Ethan Nicolle all webcomic masters. These there wise men will make you the Jesus of webcomics or at least provide you the gifts to make you better than them in the same field they're in.

The event is FREE from 4 -5 pm during the signing period.

1:00 - 3:30 Workshop Seminar
3:30 - 4:00 Q & A
4:00 - 5:00 Signing


Saturday, March 1 5pm-10pm
828 South Main Street 
The event will feature artwork from the CONS Project Los Angeles Workshops that took place over last weekend this includes zines, a skate video, screen printed merch and street art.


Saturday, March 18pm-2am
Club Nokia

Celebrate Carnaval in the comfort of LA in the theme of the upcoming 2014 World Cup in Brazil. An all night party with Brazilian dancing, DJ's, music and food.













Sunday, March 2 12:30pm
We'll have a nerd with that. Eat burgers and play games. Simple and filling.

Jodorowsky's Dune Ties To Giger's Panasonic Commercial


As though something possessed me, I needed to show a friend Giger's Japanese Panasonic Commercial. Immediately after, I showed the same friend the trailer for the upcoming documentary Jodorowsky's Dune. These two very different videos were connected. How did a Japanese commercial for a sound system connect to an un-produced sci-fi film?

Let's start with some back story. The artist H.R. Giger is best known for creating the design from Alien/s and the xenomorph itself. You can thank him for both the disgust and lust you have for the oddly erotic creature. Alejandro Jodorowsky is a eclectic director known for his bizarre and outlandish work that can be found mostly in the Criterion Collection. Watch Holy Mountain, it's the one film where Jesus eating himself makes the most sense ... for films in that criteria.

As the upcoming doc reveals in the trailer above, H.R. Giger worked on the unproduced Dune, but it seems he took his designs with him and possibly the model he created of a hideous moving palace and used them in a Japanese commercial for Panasonic for a new sound system at the time when the film fell through.

Why Panasonic chose such strange imagery is not known, you would have to ask the marketing of the time, which was 1985 and in Japan. The music playing for the ZONE Panasonic system commercial is also representative of the National Anthem, which begs more questions.

Jodorowsky's Dune will be out March 21 for consumption.


Tuesday, February 25, 2014

DWP's Ongoing Saga of Failure

The DWP has been in hot water well before the start of 2014 with it's scandal of an unaccounted 40 million for "safety training"; what is meant by "safety training" has still not been explained. One of many problems including overcharging customers on their bills. The latest problem is with "Estimated bills" around LA. Some DWP payers might notice their bills have been estimated and could have jumped up in price. This comes from a recently put in new billing computer system that seems so deplorable it estimates your bill based on your location with very minimal data. You can fight the DWP on your bill by calling them up and telling them your bill is wrong.

It's ridiculous the DWP is estimating how much you have to pay and leaving themselves open to a major lawsuit for their unfair business practices with new technology made to make it simplier and easier on everyone.

via NBC4

TCM Classic Film Festival Gets Original Godzilla


The 60th Anniversary of Godzilla will be marked by a restored release by Rialto Pictures with a special showing of the classic monster movie at the TCM Classic Film Festival April 12th then in select theaters. This revised version will lose the beloved Raymond Burr as a news reporter sent to cover Godzilla and constantly saying, "Yes, I see.'

TCM Classic Film Festival 10-13


Monday, February 24, 2014

Oscars For Others



The 7th Annual TOSCARS
Wednesday, Feb 26 at 6:00pm
Egyptian Theatre
$35-$100

This award show parodies the Oscars itself with spoofs of real Oscar-nominated films up for awards. Semi-celebs in attendance, so come see TV stars who aren't going to the Oscars make fun of them and dream of attending.



The Art Theatre's 2014 Red Carpet Fundraiser & Donor Party!
Sunday, March 2 at 4:00pm
Art Theatre Long Beach
$25

Dress up like your attending the Oscars and view them from this art theater in style.

Adventure Time Time: Card Wars On the Phone, Your Own Beemo



the currently only Apple app has been under fire for being free at first then needing payment to be played further. The game which could have benefited from being on both Steam and Android devices might not be too sad about lost wages, it's taking in about $71,000 a day from sales.

-Print out a Beemo of your own, because the Third Season DVD of the show comes out tomorrow.

-Paul Robertson, a 16-bit artist of incredible talent worked on Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage?!, check the out the sprites he made.
via MeatBun

-Adventure Time #25 Quick Review

This issue takes us from the Cretaceous period with talking T-Rexes; so weird for writer for Ryan North, right, to the far flung future set some time after Finn and Jake. A secret robohouse, friendship and love lasting eons and of course awesome battles keep making the book fun to read.

Oscars Week Street Closures 2014

Starting yesterday night, Hollywood Blvd is closed from Orange Drive to Highland Avenue. It's one of the many preparations for the Oscars taking place this Sunday, March 2.

Here's a full list of what's going to be shut down in Hollywood over the next couple of days including sidewalks.

Unless you plan on watching what happens at the Oscars from a distance it's best to avoid Hollywood over the weekend. Residence near by, remember to move your car. Every year local news covers how many residents cars are towed to make way for the Oscars.

The Final Member A Non-Porn Penis Film


Drafthouse Films you've done it again. You've found movies from the past worth watching for how good they are at being bad and with your newest piece you bring us another cutting edge documentary. The Final Member documentary is about two men donating their penises to the penis museum, the Icelandic Phallological Museum. This race for the first human penis to be added to the collection looks to be the dumbest and funniest documentary to watch in a long time. The race is on between an elderly Icelandic man and an eccentric American Whose penis will enter the museum first? Can't there be two male penises in there?

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D PaleyFest March 23

For those who still care Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D will be one of the shows featured at PaleyFest this March. The full guest list has been confirmed as:


  • Clark Gregg, “Phil Coulson”
  • Ming-Na Wen, “Melinda May”
  • Brett Dalton, “Grant Ward”
  • Chloe Bennett, “Skye”
  • Elizabeth Henstridge, “Jemma Simmons”
  • Iain De Caestecker, “Leo Fitz”
  • Jed Whedon, Executive Producer
  • Maurissa Tancharoen, Executive Producer
  • Jeph Loeb, Executive Producer
  • Jeffrey Bell, Executive Producer

In addition to a Q&A with the cast and crew Paleyfest events typically include full preview of an episode that has yet to air.

Tickets are still available via Tickemtaster and range from $25-$75 per ticket (plus fees)
Happening at the Dolby Theater, Sunday, March 23.


I hope people just keep asking Clark Gregg if he's Vision, just anger him.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Adventure Time Time: Natasha Allegri @ Golden Apple? Yeah Right

Get-A-Sketch Day at Golden Apple is suppose to have the one, the only Natasha Allegri in attendance. Lies, I say. Ms. Allegri might be a great artist and wonderful cartoon maker, but she is a coward in front of a live audience. My deal still stands

'Get a photo or a sketch of Natasha Allegri making fun of TTDILA and I'll send you free stuff. '

send to conteststtdila (@) gmail.com

She won't be there, I have nothing to worry about. Prove me wrong! I dare you!

Marvel Fan Event All Hail The King

Marvel is having a special fan event Monday, Feb 24, here in LA at the Arclight Hollwood. They'll be showing the All Hail The King short from the upcoming Thor 2 release and director Drew Pearce and Ben Kingsley "The Mandarin" will be there! They'll be doing a Q & A and if I know my free events, I'm guessing free special edition t-shirts for those who attend.

Wanna go? You have to pick up Thor's Hammer, yeah let that sink in.

 Before the screening Thor's Hammer will be outside of the Hollywood Arclight, pick it up win last minute entry, no times given, I'm guessing day of.

The other way.This Saturday, Feb 22 you can pick up passes at Golden Apple, no times given. There having a un-related event between 1pm and 3pm, it might be the best time.

Good luck and I'll try and see if there's any other ways in.

source

Update:
Looks like it was fun and showed of ten minutes of Cap 2

Friday, February 21, 2014

Kickstarter LA: Ear Buds: The Podcasting Documentary


Times almost up on a Kickstarter for a documentary on all those podcasts happening in LA. Ear Buds: The Podcasting Documentary wants to interview the big names of podcasting like Doug Benson and Marc Maron. From the nerdy folks over at Comedy Film Nerds who must love film to be so nerdy about it. They've raised $64,000 so far and it's not enough for no doubt would be hilarious commentary by comedians who won't have good answers on how they make money with casts.

Alison Stevenson Tragic Love Stories

love the hate in this picture of Stevenson
Alison Stevenson did what I couldn't, she attended the terrible sounding Valentine's Day speed dating on the red line event that happened only a week ago.

Her Vice article tells a tale of great sadness on the rails of the red line.

"So I got a number. A number I will never call. Everything was going as I expected.'

I wanted to go for the speed dating with a hidden camera and pretend to have a terrible personality for reactions, but thatdidn't come to pass.

Ms. Stevenson's early love adventures include going to a local Jewish Singles Mixer which ended with her not having a date either.

If for some reason Ms. Stevenson does read this article please continue your tragic love stories and and possibly attend Captured Aural Phantasy Theater presents: Forbidden Love March 9, tales of romance comics reworked into skits with a Hollywood-centric views. I'll totally be your date.

TTDILA COMICS #23 - Twitch Meets M̶͓͘͢Ì̶̷͎̺͕̭̮̫Ş̷̦͍͖̼͕̻̪̩̕Ś̼͖̼̪̞͞I̜̞͓͓͈͕̦͔͠͞N̞̼̯͙̙̬̫G͚̟̭͈̳̯͕͚N̫̙̬͖̗̥͓͠O̻͍̪̳̙͚͞͝.̸̡͈̻͔̕


by ARG


click comic to expand.

With this Pokemon twitch stream being all the rage
It seems like it's people's first time playing Pokemon
I decided to make something pointing out the horrible things that can happen.
strangely hope this happens.
Just for laughs. 

Enjoy the comic.

Takashi Murakami Coming Back To LA For Art Talk Series

After having an amazing show last year at Blum and Poe, Takashi Murakami is one of the speakers of the 2014 Art Talk Series, The Un-Private Collection from the yet unopened Broad Museum.

Takashi Murakami's superflat work has been stunning LA art lovers for years including having a long time exhibit at the MOCA in Little Tokyo held with critical and public acclaim.

Joining him in this collection of distinguished speakers is: Pico Iyer, Eric Fischl, Steve Martin, John Currin, James Cuno, Kara Walker and Ava DuVernay.

These talks will take place around multiple venues in LA.

For a full list of details go here 

The first of these events will be taking place Monday, but has already been sold-out. The speakers will be Jeff Koons, a highly criticized artist and director John Waters, best known to much of the public as the first openly gay character on The Simpsons, Smithers doesn't count because still in the closet.

Kirby Triple Deluxe Trailer




Kirby's back on the 3DS with brand new powers in this brand new trailer. Games coming out May 2.

New features for our pint-sized pink hero blob include: moving from the foreground and background; new abilities like Beetle, Bell, Archer and Circus and two sub games Kirby Fighters and Dedede's Drum Dash. Kirby Fighters is akin to Smash Bros with Kirbys and Drum Dash is a rhythm game.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

New Pokemon Event Sunday Feb 22

Pokemon Sunday 
Sunday, 12:00pm - 5:00pm
Little Tokyo Galleria
333 South Alameda Street, Los Angeles

If I knew how much I'd be wrting about Pokemon this week I would have condensed everything into one long feature article.

Angry Bananas is now having a Pokemon event Sunday, right after Pokemon at the Getty happening Saturday. You have a full blasted weekend of Pokemon meet-ups, trades and battles. If only Street Pass LA could have taken place this weekend you'd have non-stop 3DS Pokemon loving antics.

Pokemon Sunday will be having a raffle along side warm bodies to play Pokemon with.

Twitch Plays Pokemon Helix Fossil Usurped By False Prophet Flareon

art by indolentjellyfish
There is a false prophet among us and he was once a cute Eevee, but that cute Eevee has grown into a heathen. A blasphemous heathen made from the loins of  the Dome Fossil (Satan). Let us always here the wisdom and greatness of The Almighty Helix Fossil!

It is amazing to see Twitch Plays Pokemon create a narrative and subculture around it changing as the story progresses. Even as I write this the story will change, the stories like the one above  about Flareon have already past in the saga of the Pokemon Trainer controlled by the will of the Internet.

For those who haven't heard Twitch Plays Pokemon is an online version of the original Pokemon game controlled by anyone who enters commands into the chat menu. This causes the trainer to move wildly and make action that would seem insane from a third person perspective.

In this update will be going over what has happened so far, tropes and stories that developed over the course of this game, creating an intimate subculture. The game progresses every day, ever changing the stories that unfold, this is only what has transpired so far.


Flareon's False Prophet saga happens to be my favorite part of the story so far. Getting Eevee changed the game in a way where it had to become a Vaporeon, a water-type Pokemon, so it could learn Surf. Many of the games players did not want this to happen because something could go wrong in the process, as Eevee can evolve into other types by what evolve stone is purchased. The wrong stone was chosen changing Eevee into Flareon, a fire-type. Because of this the game required the player to put a Pokemon in holding in a PC in the game to get Lapras, another water-type Pokemon. When they players tried to put Flareon in the PC disaster struck. They managed to lose two Pokemon who had been on the team for a long time ABBBBBBK a Charmeleon, and JLVWNNOOOO the Rattata, that everyone joked was Jay Leno, more on that in a sec. They collective players also managed to put the Helix Fossil into the PC, but eventually got it back.

This caused a uproar among fans and players blaming Flareon for everything that happened. Many marked him as a false prophet against the already beloved Helix Fossil seen as G-d in the game because of how much the player picks the fossil for no reason due to so many commands going in. He was dubbed a disciple of the other Fossil you could get in the game, the Dome Fossil which is considered Satan.

Many fans were sad to see ABBBBBBK and JLVWNNOOOO go. JLVWNNOOOO already had much fan art depicting him as Rattata with the face of Jay Leno. Now there's fan art of the two leaving the game and Flareon looking demonic betraying them. Yes, there have been comparisons to Judas in terms of Flareon.


Sadly, Flareon was let go a day later. One of the pieces that stood out to me was the "Eulogy of Flareon" you can see below, written in memory of his character. It's actually quite touching about all the players collective actions.


Collective actions have created a new system called Anarchy and Democracy. The Team Rocket Hideout Maze had the trainer stuck in it for many hours, it's filled with tricks and navigating it with so many players makes it almost impossible to navigate correctly. The still unknown Australian creator of the game implemented a new system. In this new system Anarchy mode remains as how the game is played. Democracy changes the game greatly and allows more control over the player in terms of movement and is vote-based, so not every command gets taken. To switch between the two modes you put in either Anarchy and Democracy into the chat and either side needs to gain 75% of the vote to switch while the other mode is active.

This is a huge debate among players who just enjoy the chaos and those who want to actually beat the game. Start9, is a group created out of the dislike of Democracy mode. The term "start9", when written into chat causes the menu to open and close 9 times if put in in Democracy mode. It was a way of fighting the inclusion of this new mode into the game.

Other tropes and problems have been ledges and trees which caused players much annoyance at the start of the game as they are both obstacles and when normally played are easy to overcome. With so many playing at once they became huge obstacles too progress past.

There is now a Google Docs page of the progress of the game that is updated at least once a day. You can find it here. It includes what Pokemon the player has or owned.

Another aspect from this game is the spin-off available on Twitch including Tetris and other games from the Pokemon series.

At the time of writing this, the trainer has 4 badges. Now I wonder until we see some sort of flash cartoon based on the series when the game is beaten.

Here is the opening of what the game might look like if it was really released




Here's some new fan art.




South Park New Game Enemy Ginger Kid Nazi Zombies

South Park: The Stick of Truth has been revealing more details and video as its imminent release this upcoming March 4 draws ever closer.

Check out new screens and artwork for the game here

 In the video below we learn of a new game enemy, Ginger Kid Nazi Zombies!

WonderCon Anaheim 2014 Badges On Sale

You can now buy badges for this year's WonderCon. WonderCon takes place at the not too distant Anaheim and is filled with fan love and a huge exhibitor list. Last year Joss Whedon was in attendance, he was one of many great guests that can easily make it out from their Hollywood homes.

Think of it as a much easier to access Comic-Con.

*You can no longer by badges at the event, only online.

Get them here

WonderCon Anaheim
Anaheim Convention Center
800 West Katella Ave.
Anaheim, CA 92802
April 18 - 20, 2014
Friday, Noon - 7pm
Saturday, 10am - 7pm
Sunday, 11am - 5pm

BADGE TYPE Adult
(age 18 and up)
Junior
(age 13 and up)
U.S. Military /
Senior*
3-DAY BADGE - Best Value $50 $25 $25
1-DAY BADGE Friday or Saturday $25 $13 $13
1-DAY BADGE Sunday Only $15 $8 $8

The Punisher Drives the PCH

Continuing in TTDILA's new series of covering where The Punisher goes in his new comic book series by writer Nathan Edmonson and artist Mitch Gerads; transplanted to LA following a Mexican cartel, the Dos Soles, The Punisher finds himself on the PCH with shocking results.

Spoilers

In The Punisher #2, our favorite killing-is-ok hero is driving his merry way on a uncluttered Pacific Coast Highway, better known to locals as the PCH when an "old friend" with a new look; like out of a yet unreleased Spider-Man movie, shows up and totals his vehicle.


The PCH is set across the coast line of California leading to some of the most beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and hillside splendor. It's a route to countless beaches to soak up the sun. Tourists are found on it exploring the beauty of California. If you travel beyond LA's beautiful adjacent beaches you'll end up in San Francisco if you go further down it until it becomes different named highway.

The prominent Getty Villa with a boundless amount of art and artifacts is own it's path with man opportunities for extravagant seafood.

What many don't talk about is how long it is and at some points nearly impossible to turn around at. There's just you two lanes in opposite directions the ocean on one side and mountain on the other at certain points. You ain't making a U-Turn.

For those who just want to experience the drive and the sun it can be its own journey.

Punisher's journey has only just started. AIM, those band of evil scientists, have sold the Dos Soles cartel a new weapon for a fight for control of the city. Punisher might have been found out about by Dos Soles weapon's deal, he was watching it unfold, if not for a wild coyote taking a bullet for him. To pay him back he made the coyote his pet. The Punisher now has a pet Coyote, named Loot, short for Lieutenant. Did this series just get a little adorable?

In El Segundo, the Dos Soles cartel start causing trouble and Punisher shows off his new look. He's wearing a ski mask with a skull on it, probably to hide from his new lady cop friend he keeps chilling with at The Nickel Diner. However, The Punisher's face is known to most cops. He doesn't have a good secret identity, people know who he is, but hey, he does have a new laid back haircut which might fool them.

El Segundo doesn't have any prominent locations shown in it in the comic, the cartel and Punisher do go through some undetermined movie set, which is a constant occurrence here in LA.

Other than a new dog, new ski mask and new old friend coming back the only other stand out of the issue is that Punisher's weapon guy has been tagged by a new version of the Howling Commandos, an American special ops unit, who have been sent to take out the Punisher.

Let's hope the Punisher visits some more downtown locations next time readers.

*Punisher is wearing a T-shirt with a Hawkeye logo on it. A girl Hawkeye, happens to be in LA too in the Marvel U, battling Madam Masque. I wonder if will see a team-up later on or some sort of a story connection.