Over recent years, we've seen a massive increase in super hero movies. For approximately 10 years (from the mid eighties to mid nineties) Batman and it's subsequent sequels were the only real thing on the scene. Superman had been and gone, and while superhero cartoons and comics were being churned out with wild abandon, the movies weren't quite there.

It seems as if the 2000s are showing a new boom in superhero worship. The last one being back in the cold war when superheros were invented. It's believed that the reason super heroes took off so well was that people needed something to believe in, given the global climate of the time. And it's seeming that the situation is repeating itself.

Though, perhaps, it wasn't specifically started by the current global climate. I shudder to admit this, but 'The OC' played a big role in the reintroduction of comic books into pop-culture.

The release of X-men in 2000 kicked off the new era in superhero films, but the flood gates didn't burst open. It was two years later, that we were graced with the beginning of a plethora of Superhero films. Be they good or bad, they were made.

Spiderman, Daredevil, X2, League of extraordinary gentlemen, hulk, etc, were the first boom in superhero movies of this new generation.

And with the release, and subsequent box-office cleaning by Batman Begins, we began to see the true scope of just how popular super heros are becomming.

We got; Fantastic 4, and a sequel, we got more spiderman movies, we got Hellboy, more X-men, Ghost Rider, the list goes on.

And then This Year, we were graced with The Dark Knight, Hancock, Ironman and The Incredible Hulk. As well as numerous announcements of coming superhero movies.

Wonderwoman, Superman: Man of Steel, Green Lantern, Flash, X-men Origins: Wolvering, AND X-men Origins: Magneto, we have Ironman 2, Thor, Captain America, AND, the Ironman, Hulk, Captain America and Thor movies will culminate in an Avengers movie. We're also looking foreward to another Batman movie, featuring possibly a Riddling Johnny Depp, and an Aging Catty Cher.

With a potential depression looming, it's quite possible that Marvel and DC will be able to ride the coat tails of these films, and the resulting comic boom for quite some time. Not to mention, that the current state of art and storytelling in the comics themselves will make them remembered for years to come. (Marvel Civil War, I'm looking at you)

What's the point of this hardcore nerdrant? None really, I guess I'm just trying to justify the massive piece of fanart I'm working on.

Okay, I'll set the scene.

I was engaged in discussions on the OT forum, and I really enjoyed writing this particular Topic post. So I decided to put it on my blog as well.

So, let's have it, Were you polite enough to say hello the last time you were about to be abducted by aliens?

Now, having said that, I want to assure everybody here, that I have absolutely no education or training in theoretical biology. I can tell you that biology exists, but everything I say here can be taken with a grain of salt. We are, quite completely, entirely in the realms of uneducated speculation.

That being said, my opinion is that life probably does exist at least somewhere else in the universe. I will be entirely unsurprised to find out that I'm wrong, and that the universe is empty except for us, but still, I think that somewhere, 'life' is probably happening. Somewhere ELSE, that is.

However, that stated, I also feel that it is highly unlikely that said existing life is advanced enough to be sending space ships to Earth to freak out hick farmers and conspiracy nuts. My feeling is that's the province of the US Government. (Or other governments.)

It has always fascinated me that when people say "UFO" everyone always thinks aliens. When literally, a Balloon, that freaks out some "'gator hunter" out in the "bayou" could be, quite appropriately, termed a "UFO". UFO as nearly everyone knows, means Unidentified Flying Object. This quite literally means an object, that is flying, that has not been identified. Now, every single day, all across the world, millitary installations, universities, and private sector science nuts are working on means of arial and celestial travel. Do conspiracy nuts really find it so much easier to believe that an Alien, has flown thousands of lightyears to come and say 'Hello'?

OR, and here's the good bit, is it in fact these CONSPIRACY THEORISTS, who are creating UFO sightings? After all, conspiracy theroists need something to theorise about. They need things to write in their home printed magazines, which they write from a basement lined with chicken wire so that the 'Man' can't listen in.

Or maybe, you've been staring up into the sky so long waiting to see a UFO that your brain finally says "Y'know what? FINE! I quit." and BAM there's your UFO sighting.

What do you think?

So here I am.

The setting: Work. I work at an ISP, I'm in the reception office, answering phones. (I'm a call centre monkey.)

Normally, I'd be in the call centre, impatiently waiting for people to call. But today, I'm in the reception office.

So, what's led to this STAGGERINGLY UNCANNY TURN OF EVENTS?

I arrived at work at 4:45 pm. Right when I'm supposed to. Strangely, I parked out the front today. I don't normally, as out the front of my ISP offices is a main street. On the other side of which is a Pub, Bowling Alley/Night Club, and a Motorcycle store. The patrons of which I do not trust to be around my car.

However, if I had driven my car around the back (involving travelling out of the CBD, turning onto a dirt track, then driving all the way back to my store) I would have arrived late. Which is rather rude to the person supposed to finish at 5.

So anyway, I parked out the front and came in the front door.

I enter the reception area and... Strangely... my coworker, who should be in the call centre with his feet up on the desk generally looking lazy, is sitting behind the reception desk. Quite un-strangely, he's on the phone. (This is not strange but it IS rather important, in part because it is his job to talk on the phone, and in part because it leads into the next bit.)

Interestingly, rather than giving a cool nod to my expression of mild confusion and vague interest (at why he is sitting in reception on the phone rather than being in the call centre on the phone), he gestures at me, somewhat frantically, and indicates for me to wait until he's off the phone.

My curiosity piqued, I put down my ribs(delicious, or so I thought, pork ribs from a local pizza joint) and my bag of crap (DVDs, drinks and chocolate to see me through the next 5 hours.), and I sit down, in one of the reception chairs, to wait. Strangely, the door to the call centre is closed. (This may not seem strange, but it is because we normally keep it open.) There is also a printer advertisement on plasti-card sitting upside down, and facing away from me, at the bottom of the call centre door.

Coworker finally finishes on the phone. "Hey." he says in greeting. Apparently, since I'm doing what he wanted me to do, there is no need to be in the least bit frantic anymore.

"So, um..." I say, gesturing to him, the desk, and the closed call centre door.

At this point he tells me "Yeah, there's a bees nest in the call centre roof!"

Normally, this wouldn't be too much of an issue, one simply is not required to crawl into the roof space when one works in a call centre. Where a bees nest does become a problem though is in this particular building, as the ceiling has been artistically designed using a great many (strangley bee sized) holes. These factors resulted in the call centre, playing guest to a large number of rather confused bees. (Confused because they headed towards the light thinking they were going outside, and ended up in a call centre. And that would confuse anyone.)

As it is nearly 5:00, and will soon be getting dark, my immeasurably helpful coworker says "Should probably turn the lights on." And promptly does so.

Within minutes, the bees, emboldened by this new source of light(which must surely be the great outside, in which it did not occur to them to build their nest) begin charging towards the lights (which are down-lights set into the ceiling. Down-lights actually provide quite a bit of light above the ceiling as well as below.) and pushing their way through the holes to get to the light.

It is at this point that my coworker says "Well ****." and then leaves.

I turn off the lights again, and kill the bees who have come into reception. I also go and kill the bee that has decided that the stairway light is a really awesome thing.

So now, here I am, sitting in a dark reception office, pretending it's a call centre, and hiding from the bees who have taken over the call centre and I'm wondering, should I have parked around the back today?

This is a game I've been waiting on for quite some time, mostly because I have a close friend who is one of the lead visual designers. But also because it just seems like a damn cool game.

I love the idea of musically painting my way through a city.

It's the same reason that I like Cowboy Beebop (anime series), it's not because of the deep plot with lots of subtle twists, (which it just plain doesn't have), its because it's pretty and it has awesome music.

As soon as I get this game and play it, I'm going to review the Hell out of it!

Okay, I'm sitting here at work, and I'm so completely bored, and so completely obsessed with Warhammer Online, that I've signed up for this community, just to write up a review of my first impressions of the game, while I wait for 10pm so I can go home.

WAR

First off, I must start by saying just how awesome the collector's edition is for someone like me. (By like me I mean someone who's spent a very large chunk of their very short life being completely obsessed with Warhammer.) For me, even if I didn't like the game itself, I had 2 hard cover books, and a top quality Citadel Miniature to paint. Probably worth what I paid for the lot anyway. So I'm stoked.

Next, I'm installing the game, and, invariably, I'm comparing it to WoW, and again, I'm exctatic. WoW, as I have installed (mostly unsuccessfully) about 4 times, takes roughly 8 hours. And that was before the expansion. WAR on the other hand, I was online 2 hours after I bought the game.

So, I've bought the game, it's installed, patched, and I'm creating my character. I have to say, visually, the game isn't stunning. BUT, I must confess, it's been quite some time since I was blown away by a game's graphics. (By recollection the last 2 games have been LoZ Twilight Princess on Wii, and FF Crystal Chronicals on GCN, and those two are works of art.)

So anyway, I'm playing my new Marauder. I'm running the game on max, and it's just a scootch too hard core for my humble system, so it's a bit chuggy, but that's okay. I'm feeling in a forgiving mood. But then, I start questing. It's great. This game does NOT beat around the bush. 3 quests in, and I'm told to go into a PvP scenario. But what can I, a lowly rank one heathen do in a PvP situation? Answer... pretty much the same as everyone else. The scenarios are apparently level ballanced. This is great. Not only can I PVP early, but I can PVP on equal footing (to an extent) with others.

At this point I'm starkly reminded that in WoW, I hated PvP. Most specifically, all of it. It wasn't enjoyable for me, partly I think, because Fire mages aren't really that useful in PvP in WoW.

Now I've finished my first PvP session, and I immediately sign up for more. And I go about questing and PvPing for a bit when suddenly, in big letters on my screen, I am told I have just entered an area with an active Public Quest.

Good lord, that is the most fun I've had in a PvE event in a long time. And, in addition, ANYONE can join in. This is an awesome choice from the WAR developers. Screw looking for a group, if you see a quest in action, hell, join in! Your chance on winning loot is based on how much you participated, but you are rewarded for joining in whether you get loot or not.

By this point, it's getting late in the afternoon, and I have to pick up my girlfriend, and go to work, so my play stops for a while. But not to worry, I'll be returning to it in about 10 mins.

Huzzah for Warhammer online. I'm so very glad I got it!