Redesign…denied! (Also Scott Pilgrim, and a tentacle where one should not be)

Hey, folks.  This isn’t quite the post I had in mind.  In fact, I wasn’t going to post at all, as I’ve been working all night on a swank new header for this very blog.  Unfortunately, it costs extra to be able to change things in the theme, and, frankly, I don’t really want to pay.  So, it’s back to the old-timey theme that I do like.  So this wasn’t all for naught, I present to you the Banner of Doom!

So what do you think?

In case that’s not enough for you greedy little infowhores, here is the trailer to ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. The World’, the movie you’ve been waiting for all your lives:

And because I do not love you, there is this:

You cannot unsee this!

Be seeing you.
Brian.

Metamorphosis 2.0 – a 200 word story

Wide awake, Gregor lay paralyzed in bed. Moonlight fell across his body. He watched the skin on his chest wriggle unnaturally, bubbling up, finally splitting into an inch-long gash. Blood flowed across raw flesh. Pain filled him utterly. As the cockroach pushed its way out of the hole and crawled across his chest, the screams echoed loudly only in his mind.

\\ Test unit 5yk77 has moved off mission.  Report.
// 5yk77 has left post, is not found.
\\ Continue without unit.
// Understood.

Gregor woke that morning changed. There was no wound, no evidence of anything but nightmare. Yet he could not shake the feeling that he was not alone in his skin. He went about his days feeling things moving inside him. His muscles would move of their own volition. His bones itched. His blood slowed. He felt madness growing inside him pushing his passengers to the surface.

// Mission compromised.   
// 5yk77 has caused presence fugue in subject.
\\ Abort.
// Understood.

Gregor stumbled and fell into an alley. Limbs shaking uncontrollably, his heart skipped, then slowed. His jaw locked open. As his life faded, roaches poured out of his mouth, scattering into the darkness.

Abandoning the ship.

Fear and Loathing on Sesame Street

Hello, folks.  It’s time for another ‘just behind the curve’ internet artwork extravaganza.  This little slice of awesome has been working the photo blogs for a couple of weeks, waiting for yours truly to stumble upon it like the guy who got into Nirvana by watching their videos on MTV.  Nonetheless, I bring it to you proudly, and wallpaper sized (upon making with the clickety).  For bonus goodness, see this quasi-related story on The Fed.

C is for crazy, that's good enough for me!

Be seeing you.
Brian.

The thing that should not be…

Since the dawn of mankind, when the first caveman dipped his chocolate in another one’s peanut butter, mixing things has been a time-honored tradition. We combine flavors, sounds, images, and sometimes the mixture transcends the sum of its parts. But we know, deep in our lizard brain, that some things are so fundamentally opposed to one another that the merest hint of contact between them could bring us all to our doom in a fiery, screaming cataclysm.

Had you asked me yesterday, I would have said that a cappella and heavy metal was without a doubt one of those combinations. It is a failing of mine that if someone says “this is horrific, you must not look”, then I am COMPELLED to click that link. I have to see it for myself. Because hey, if people really do win the lottery, then maybe it won’t be a mind-flaying dose of psychic horror THIS time. I’ve never won the lottery, but today, I discovered Van Canto. They’re a 6-piece German group featuring a drummer and five vocalists who do a cappella covers of heavy metal songs. And I’ll be damned if they don’t rock that shit out. It doesn’t hurt that each singer is good enough to front their own band. They cover songs by the likes of Metallica, Iron Maiden, Nightwish and MANOWAR! Yes, they are the Kings of a cappella Metal.

Behold, Metallica’s “Battery” by Van Canto:

Be seeing you.
Brian.

ps. Because not ALL combinations are good, and because I do not really love you, there’s this: