This past weekend as I part took in Paul’s Basement League, Week 2, I went into the event knowing that I was trying things that were out of my comfort zone.  I was taking a bevy of new units that I had never used before, including Gargoyles, Hive Guard, a Tervigon and the mighty Trygon Prime.

I was also playing Pedro one on one for the first time in 3 years.  The last time we played, different armies represented us.  He was protecting his rune priest as he rolled with his Space Wolves, and I was attempting to out Close Combat him with my Chaos Space Marines and their upgraded Chaos Lord.  He beat me on that day oh so long ago, but the match was close.

With all of that in mind, Pedro and I strode up to the snow table at Paul’s and the match was setup for Dawn of War deployment, with a mission type of Capture & Control.  With the exposition out of the way, now I can get into my specific thoughts on how the new units did, and how I feel like my Hive Fleet is doing through three games.

I did two things that I don’t normally do.  I used Deep Strike with the Trygon, and that worked out ok.  I’m not necessarily sold on the concept.  He came out and fired 12 times at the closest squad and did some damage.  He was also tough enough to survive small arms fire and some close combat, even with his average initive 4 going last against the fast Eldar.  I just would have prefered fleeting him up I think.  I think he would have done more damage.  Then again, the effect he had with being that close to the enemy, is pretty good as a psychological factor, not to mention that it is a fire magnet to take off the heat from my many other figures.

The second thing I did, was use outflank with a brood of Genestealers coupled with a Broodlord.  That entire squad worked out perfectly and I can completely understand why Josh and his Imperial Guard use it so much.  They came out on exactly the right table edge, kill a group of Pathfinders in front of them, held the enemy objective, and were able to kill off a weakened Harlequin unit gunning for them.  I feel like I will be doing this a bit more often in the future, and feel like it can most certainly help me out against other opponents.

The biggest thing that this new balanced list has going for it, is that I am able to make an opponent go on the defensive very quickly, and it’s tough for them to prioritize what they should take out first.  By the time the Genestealers and Trygon had come out in the enemy backlines on turn 2, I already had Gargoyles, Flyrant and Carnifex starting to take pot shots at the front of the army.  Add to that, my Tervigon which spawned a total of 34 additional Termagaunts when the game was over, and it’s insane to try and figure out what to shoot at.

Speaking of the Gargoyles, I really felt like my change from Hormagaunts to Gargoyles for the same amount of points worked out really well.  They offer consistant speed with their 12 inch movement, and also have automatic wounds (AS allowed) on to hit rolls of 6.  Plus from a fluffy standpoint, they really work well with my Flyrant and give the army a really great look.

The list has a bit of swarm, and a lot of monsterous creatures to keep people occupied for awhile.  The hive guard which I tried out, didn’t get a chance to do much as the Dawn of War deployment really had them moving a lot more than they should.  I still believe in them and feel like they can give me the necessary tank busting that I need.  With them, Carnifex with Venom Cannon, and the Flyrant, I feel like I can take out tanks when needed.  I haven’t had too much of a problem, but we shall see as I face more mechanized armies in the future.

Overall I am pleased with the codex and feel like it is a very balanced effort from Games Workshop.  I can only hope that the rest of the codex releases this year are as on point as this.

If you’ll excuse me now, I’m off to think about the potential for an all Tyranid Warrior Brood.  =P

I have been going nuts with the new Tyranid Codex, trying to maximize efficency, while at the same time staying fluffy / balanced.  Yes I could make a ludicrously cheesy army list, but what’s the fun in that?

What follows below is my second attempt at a list for the second weekend of Paul’s Basement League.  I’m hoping that I have enough fluff, tank popping, redundancy, and new fun models to keep the games close and me happy.

As always, comments are of course welcome but a few notes so you know what I was thinking when I put this together.

• I went with a Trygon Prime, to maximize my Synapse network, and to get more firepower.  He is 40 points more expensive, but his gun shoots 12 times now, and increases to 18″ range.
• It was a tough decision to get rid of my beloved Acid Tyrant but the reasons are a few.  Namely, at this point people have started to ignore him, and I need people firing into him for no reason at all.  Next, he and his guard cost 350 points.  I felt like I needed more options and I can do his job with a Carnifex for cheaper.
• Hormaguants suck now.  Gargoyles rock and can provide a cover save to my Flyrant.
• I like the idea of the tarpit Tervigon, but I couldn’t bring myself to use anymore than one.  Points wise and fluff wise, I just think more than one is lame story wise.  None the less, a toughness 6, 6 wound MC that counts as a troop and can hold objectives just rocks.
• Hive Guard look so amazing!

Hive Fleet Cerebus

HQ

Cerebus DNA Strand Tyrant (230 points)
Hive Tyrant
- 2 Scything Talons
- Psychic Scream
- Life Drain
- Wings

Elites

Hades DNA Strand Zoanthrope (60 points)
Zoanthrope
- Warp Blast
- Warp Lance

Anubis DNA Strand Hive Guard (50 points)
Hive Guard
- Harpoon Cannon

Anubis DNA Strand Hive Guard (50 points)
Hive Guard
- Harpoon Cannon

Troops

Corporal DNA Strand Warriors (90 points)
3 Tyranid Warriors
- Scything Talons
- Devourer

Corporal DNA Strand Warriors (90 points)
3 Tyranid Warriors
- Scything Talons
- Devourer

Spartan DNA Strand Genestealers (140 points)
10 Genestealers
- Infiltrate
- Rending Claws

Master Chief DNA Strand Broodlord (60 points)
Broodlord
- Infiltrate
- Rending Claws
- Aura of Despair
- Hypnotic Stare

Inferno DNA Strand Gaunts (60 points)
12 Termagaunts
- Fleshborer

Brood Mother DNA Strand Tervigon (170 points)
Tervigon
- Thorn Volley
- Dominate
- Toxin Sacs

Fast Attack

Whelping DNA Strand Gargoyles (60 points)
10 Gargoyles
- Fleshborer

Heavy Support

Raiden DNA Strand Trygon (240 points)
Trygon Prime
- Enhanced Bio-Electric Field
- 2 Pairs of Scything Talons

Ripley DNA Strand Carnifex (200 points)
Carnifex
- Heavy Venom Canon
- MC Devourer

Total: 1500 points

One week ago I claimed that I did not like the new changes made to the Tyranids in their new codex which has been released just about now.  I downloaded a leaked copy of the codex and proceeded to play my owning two matches in Paul’s Basement League with the new list.  How am I feeling about it right now?  Well, let’s just saying that when you are winning, everything seems perfect.

I played two games last weekend, first game against Paul’s Space Marines, and the second game against Jonathan’s Chaos Space Marines.  This was a interesting matchup, only in the fact that when I play games against the North Jersey crew, we really don’t have any Marine players, which of course is not the norm.  So for me, it was the first time I had played against the well rounded squads of the Emperor in awhile.

I won’t go into a turn by turn analysis, if you want that GO HERE, but I will offer some ideas on what changes I like and which I don’t.

First off, I like how much Dakka we can take.  Monsterous Creatures can unleash a ton of shots per turn, not to mention the three shots each for Tyranid Warriors.  Overall, we have a lot of shooting options, and they can really put a hurt on someone, especially when we can shoot well and be dangerous in close combat.  Genestealers getting infiltrate for free, is amazing.  I utilized all of their skills in both games and they were easily the most valuable squad I had on the table.  Can’t wait to add a Broodlord to the squad.

The Mosntrous Creatures not having invulernable saves is annoying but understandable.  I will have to factor that in.  Also, now that the units are just fearless, the fact that they take extra armor saves in close combat if they lose, is terrible.  This means that instead of tarpitting people in close combat like my Hormagaunts should, they are simply dying far too quickly to be effective.  Walking Tyrants with Guards are so difficult to kill, it’s almost unfair.  Give a Tyrant 2-3 guard and he’ll be around all game.

Also while on the topic of Tyrants, their psychic powers are unbelievable.  The three free ones that you have to choose from are great for either Flyrants or Walking Tyrants and they really can make a difference.  Meanwhile, the additional powers that you can spend a lot of points on, allow you to customize the entire army to a particular playstyle (heavy close combat, heavy outflank / reserves, etc) that you may want to try out.  It feels like the codex takes awhile customizions, but it really doesn’t, they are just done in a different way.

Let’s see what else?  Taking out tanks is still a bit of a problem.  We have the Carnifex which is good, and we can Rend them with the Genestealers, but as far as shooting, the only really reliable option is Zoanthropes.  They by the way, are amazing and I will be fielding a squad of them no matter what game or opponent they are just too useful.

Overall, the army feels very balanced and I feel like my current models are not ideal or perfect, they are a solid base that can absolutely beat any opponent given the right movement and target priority.

[View with PicLens]

I’m not pleased with the new Tyranid Codex.  There I said it!  Now let me clarify …

No matter what the codex was going to turn out to be, I knew that I was going to have issues with it.  Namely, just taking the fact that I spent a lot of time modeling these figures to coincide with the previous codex.  Once this new codex came in, I knew that the majority of what I worked on was going to be changed.  I knew that the models would be vastly different, and in addition the specific rules would be a shade of what they were.

Upon first inspection of the compiled Codex list that I got from Paul (thanks BTW), the major change is in how Synapse will change.  Figures are now no longer immune to instant death while in Synapse range.  That’s fine, I am not surprised.  It makes my Tyranid Warriors now vulnerable and takes me some thought in order to better utilize them.  Before they were so OP that I made sure to tell everyone about it.

Add to that, some weapon options that I had modeled on my Carnifex and Tyrant are no longer available, and I am none too pleased.  Hormagaunts are no longer beasts so no more 12″ charge, which of course is a major part of my strategy … Will I make it work?  Of course I will, because I love my Nids.  It will just be a bit of an adjustment.  I am going into this upcoming weekend of Paul’s Basement League, Season 2 as a chance to learn the new rules and see what I will need to stock up on when the new models are released next week.

With that in mind, here is my 1500 point list using the new rules.

Hive Fleet Cerebus

HQ

Cerebus DNA Strand Tyrant (230 points)
Hive Tyrant
- 2 Scything Talons
- Psychic Scream
- Life Drain
- Wings

Acidic DNA Strand Tyrant (205 points)
Hive Tyrant
- Heavy Venom Canon
- MC Devourer
- Psychic Scream
- The Horror

Royal Acid Guard (120 points)
2 Tyrant Guards
- Scything Talons
- Rending Claws

Elites

Hades DNA Strand Zoanthrope (60 points)
Zoanthrope
- Warp Blast
- Warp Lance

Troops

Corporal DNA Strand Warriors (90 points)
3 Tyranid Warriors
- Scything Talons
- Devourer

Corporal DNA Strand Warriors (90 points)
3 Tyranid Warriors
- Scything Talons
- Devourer

Spartan DNA Strand Genestealers (168 points)
12 Genestealers
- Infiltrate
- Rending Claws

Inferno DNA Strand Gaunts (60 points)
12 Termagaunts
- Fleshborer

Purgatory DNA Strand Gaunts (72 points)
12 Hormagaunts
- Scything Talons

Heavy Support

Grendel DNA Strand Carnifex (210 points)
Carnifex
- Crushing Claws
- Scything Talons
- Regeneration

Hercules DNA Strand Carnifex (195 points)
Carnifex
- Heavy Barbed Strangler
- MC Devourer

Total: 1500 points

While my initial intent will stay, and I will live blog the NBA draft tonight, I must say something before I do.  I would like to send my prayers and thoughts with the families of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett.  Both were icons of their generations, people who changed the world through their actions.  They had such an amazing impact on our lives, and I just want to say thanks to them and to say that it’s sad to see them go.  Everyone do yourself a favor and listen to some Michael Jackson, and look at some pictures of Fawcett soaking in just how beautiful she was.  I know I will be doing both.

Now, with that said, there is more things that I must talk about before we even touch on the draft.  Currently we have 10 minutes before the draft and we have been hit with a barrage of NBA trades today.  The big one, that is taking up the most of the day’s writing space and that would of course be Shaquille O’Neal to the Cleveland Cavaliers to play with Lebron James.

To say that this trade is huge would be a fantastic understatement to say the least.  We are talking about Shaq, being one of the greatest centers to play the game, being paired with Lebron who is arguably the best player in the league right now at the age of 24.  This trade makes Cleveland one of the favorites to win it all next year, and causes everyone to start to wonder just who is going to be able to win it all for 2010.

Not to be out done, Vince Carter has been trade from my beloved New Jersey Nets to the Orlando Magic to play with the runners up in the 2009 finals and their superstar Dwight Howard.  This opens up their offense a ton, giving them the ability to jump shoot, drive to the hole, and to pound in the paint.  They are going to be very dangerous.

This doesn’t even take into account how the San Antonio Spurs practically stole former Net Richard Jefferson from the Bucks for next to nothing.  That solidifies their team and makes them younger, meaning that they have a good chance to cause havoc on the Lakers out in the Western Conference.

Basically we are seeing a lot of teams realize that if they want to win now, this draft class doesn’t have big movers and shakers.  So if you want to go, then you have to trade for big time players.  Add on a bunch of teams who are trying to cut costs because of the recession, and you have a lot of willing trade partners.  This upcoming season is going to be insane.

Before they play the season though, they have to do the draft, and what follows are my reaction to the draft pics.  If you don’t know the players involved, don’t feel bad … I don’t really either.  Geez college basketball sucks.  =)

7:31 – Waiting on ESPN to start their coverage.  In only a few minutes, the Los Angeles Clippers are expected to take Blake Griffin, the college player of the year, as the #1 pick.  If you want to know how I feel about the Clippers getting Griffin, I think it’s fine.  But Blake … seriously read this column (you too!)

7:32 – David Stern is now starting his opening statement.  The New York crowd loves and hates him at the same time.  I love the guy.  He’s honest, and he’s a smart business man.  I wish he could be in charge forever.

7:34 – Clippers are officially on the clock, not that it really matters.  We know who they will take.  really it comes down to who is taken after #1.  That’s where the drama will come.

7:39 – #1 is not a surprise, and Blake Griffin is your new Los Angeles Clipper!  Congrats to Blake, it’s a really impressive feat to get into the NBA.  Tons of hard work, dedication, and skill.  He’s a very strong forward and he’ll need all of that with playing against the big boys of the hardwood.

7:42 – Of course the second question out of everyone’s mouth is how he feels about being with a terrible team.  Oh the past is the past, and we are looking towards the future.  You know what the future is going to be?  Griffin being traded or immediately leaving at the very first opportunity that he can.  Whether or not he’s a success, that does’t matter.  I hope he is, but he’s out of there as soon as he can.  No way does he make the cursed Clippers a contender in a few years.

7:45 – Memphis Grizzlies are now on the clock and their pick is now in.  Will they take the Thabeet from UCONN for shotblocking?  The answer is … yes they will.  Hasheem Thabeet is now a Memphis Grizzly.  Good news is that he is the first Tanzanian player to ever come to the NBA.  Bad news is, he is playing for the Grizzlies.  He’s a raw talent, much more there for defense rather than for offense.  Can he be any sort of help on the offense end?  Probably not, nothing more than cleaning up the garbage, but hey what else can you do?  Jay Bilis is right though, this guy is scrawny.  For 7′2″ dude, he has no muscle.  267 pounds?  Shit that’s nothing!

7:50 – This is where things get interesting.  The Oklahoma City Thunder now have the #3 pick and this is where people can start to get a bit jumbled.  The Thunder have Westbrook, Durant and Green which is an amazing core of young players.  I personally think they should take Ricky Rubio from Spain since he is a pure Point Guard, but he may not be the best available player.  Their choice?

Whooooooooa this is a bit of a shocker.  Thunder go James Harden from Arizona State, a 2008-09 All American player.  It’s a bit of a surprise to me, but I’ll listen in to what he offers me.  This dude looks pretty stocky … has a decent ball handling skills.  I think what they are going for something where Harden would drive into the paint, and then kick out to other players who can shoot like Durant and Green.  From that standpoint, it’s a good pick.

From what the indicators are, he has a very high basketball IQ, and honestly that is worth a lot.  While he does have a basketball IQ, he doesn’t have a fashion IQ … blech to the bowtie!  Though he does have the Baron Davis beard, and that my friends, is hot shit.

7:56 – The Sacramento Kings are on the clock and they suuuuuuuuuuucked so bad.  They needed the first pick and got the fourth.  Sucks buddies.  This is a pick though that makes the crowd happy as they take Tyreke Evans from Memphis.  This kid can flat out play.  He is a strong, fast, and good all around.  What worries me about him, is that he’s a Freshman so he’s young and immature.  that being said, he played at Memphis which is a fantastic college program, and his style of play really will fit in the NBA.  He attacks the basket, and then shoots or dishes depending on what is needed.  Hopefully he doesn’t ball hog a lot, which is possible.

8:01 – I like what the Timberwolves have done here, which is the next team to pick.  They have the #5 and #6 picks, not to mention that they also have 18 and 28, then 45 and 47 in the second round.  In order to get the fifth pick they got rid of Randy Foye and Mike Miller and traded them to the Washington Wizards.  To me, this isn’t a big deal.  Miller was never going to resign and they need to trade him for something.  Also Foye is ok, but he needs to be with other stars, not try to be the star himself.  Foye is good as a compliment, not the main guy.

8:03 – Here comes their pick.  I hope they take Rubio from Spain … yay and they did!  He can flat out handle the basketball.  This kid is an amazing point guard and I can’t wait to see him play.  He won a silver medal for Spain last summer as a 17 year old.  SEVENTEEN people.  He played well against the best players in the world at the age of 17.  How can you not love this kid?!  Give this kid Kevin Love and Al Jefferson down low in the post?  Oh yeah, this is an awesome pick.  He’s scrawny as hell, but hell they will buff him up.

8:09 – Minnesota is now picking again.  The Draft is in NYC and they are hoping they don’t take Stephen Curry … and they don’t, they take Jonny Flynn from Syracuse.  Not really a fantastic pick since they JUST took Rubio as another Point Guard.  I’m guessing that they are going to pair the two together and let them go fast together.  They just stated that Flynn has a 40 inch vertical leep.  40 INCHES!  That’s 3 and a half feet.  Are you kidding me?  That’s insane.  I will have to see him and Rubio play together, but right now I’m intrigued by the prospect.  Timberwolves are going to play faaaaaast.

8:15 – Right now the Golden State Warriors have 5 seconds left to make their pick.  We have a stadium filled with people hoping they don’t take Stephen Curry.  Pick is … NOOOOOOOOOOOO Curry gets to go to Oakland.  So many booing Knicks fans!  Even Curry doesn’t look happy, he looks so sad right now!  I feel for the kid.  You always have a team that you would love to go to, and for him that was the New York Knicks, but alas he didn’t get to.  And damn I didn’t realize that he was the son of Dell Curry who was my favorite shooter of all time.  Man that’s an amazing thing that I didn’t know, I’m happier now.  Still, I wish he was in New York right now.

If nothing else, we know that Jonny Flynn can play and he has stamina.  He was apart of that amazing 6 overtime game this past year in college.  He played 62 minutes in that game.  This kid is ready to rock!

8:20 Now the question is, what will the Knicks do.  With the Nets being gutted beyond all holy hell, I need something to root for.  Can the Knicks be that team?  Let’s see what David Stern has to say … Jordan Hill from Arizona.  Power Forward with a wingspan of 7′1″ so that’s impressive.  What scares me is that the first thing they say about his offensive game is that he has only been playing organized basketball for a few years.  His basketball IQ is not that big therefore.  He needs to improve his post moves but his rebounding is solid and he can shoot a little bit.  I will say that he has an amazing dreadlock thing going on so I’ll be totally ok with that.

Listening to him talk really doesn’t look like he feels comfortable here in NYC.  The good news for him, is that he is playing for Mike D’Antonio, so therefore since Joran loves to run the floor and is athletic, he should fit right in.

8:26 – Now Toronto is picking and they take DeMar DeRozan and this is where I’m starting to check out.  Well looks like he can dunk … good for him.  Jay Bilas would like to remind that he really can’t shoot well but that he could upgrade that.  Well to be honest, I am not jazzed by the pick, not because of how he plays, but because I’m bored now.  I will stick around though until my lowly New Jersey Nets make their pick.  After that I can’t take anymore dissapointment.

Commercial break … with Shaq being interviewed in one hour.  Maybe I’ll keep watching after all …

8:33 – Milwaukee Bucks take Brandon Jennings who decided to play in Italy rather than play in college for a year.  I actually like that a lot, because he plays with better competition I feel.  He plays against men and not boys while in Europe.  While he’s a project, which is a scary prospect, but hey I like it.  Seems like a tough kid with a chip on his shoulder.

8:37 – My stupid New Jersey Nets.  I knew they were going to trade Vince Carter, but it still stings.  I love Devin Harris, but it’s so hard to do all of that on his own.  I want some help for the team, and I don’t want them to move to Brooklyn.  Impress me boys … Another forward?  Terrence Williams from Louisville.  I like that he is a senior from Louisville, so he got a degree.  From what Bilas is saying, he has a good balance of strength, vision and defense.  While he has to improve his shooting, doesn’t everyone?  Looks like a very high character kid, which to me is something that should be applauded.

He gets one question?!  That’s it!  Man they must really want to talk to Nets President Rod Thorn.

Well I have exhausted myself and honestly, after the Nets picked, I don’t care anymore.  will continue to watch, but for now I will leave you patient souls who have read all of this.

Have a wonderful night, and prepare for me to talk a lot of Basketball while I wait for October to come back.

I promised tQ a proper Tuesday post, and for the most part I am a man of my word!  What transpires below, is something that I have been thinking about for awhile now and finally just wanted to get off my chest.

In 2004 when American Idiot was released, it was a calling out to the country.  A declaration that the country was in a bad spot, and it took a gang of punks in order to let this generation know about it.  The themes were obvious;  the war in Iraq, a President and leadership specializing in fear mongering, and the youth of the country falling into waste and ruin.  No one can question how good the album was, nor will I spend any part of blog trying to tell you how I feel about it.  You all know that I feel like American Idiot is one of the best albums ever made.  The question now becomes … was it really necessary to make ANOTHER rock opera immediately after such a perfect album?

Green Day has just released 21st Century Breakdown their follow up to Idiot and a completely new rock opera narrative.  You won’t find old Whatshername coming back to make a cameo, nor will St. Jimmy be magically brought back from the dead.  No Jimmy is still dead with a gunshot to his head, but what we have in Breakdown are the characters of Gloria and Christian.  Whereas Idiot was content on talking about the problems of raising a family in the era of the “W” and Iraq, watching as communities are torn apart by children not coming home (whether it be the army or via drugs), Breakdown takes a more active approach at spitting venom at modern technology, prescription drugs, and organized religion to name a few.

The subject matter has changed a bit, but the style in which Green Day tells the tale is pretty much the same.  This is where my first issue with the album comes in.  It’s not exact, but it’s damn close enough.  The opening song is essentially filler, but it is followed by the title track, a 6 minute song that changes styles as you go on, describing the world that we live in.  Sound familiar?  It should, it’s what they did with “Jesus of Suburbia” on Idiot.  The rest of the album is filled with songs that don’t sound the same, but fit the same build as songs on American Idiot.  They even seem to come in the same order, so therefore you are stuck making direct comparisons to the albums.

Idiot talked about hard drug use, whereas Breakdown talks about abuse of prescription drugs and over diagnosing.  Idiot attacked the government, and Breakdown attacks the catholic church.  The back and forth with the similarities continue throughout and while it’s not a terrible thing, it feels very cookie cutter.  It might just be that I have listened to Idiot too much, but I don’t think I’m alone in that.  I’m sure others have noticed that at similar points in both albums, as you are listening you might be expecting them to go in a different direction, but they take the safe route instead and give you something similar to what you heard in 2004.

Musically Green Day have really hit their stride though.  They sound good, and are incorporating their full arsenal of additional performers.  Violin’s, acoustic guitars, timpanis and much more can all be heard in full effect.  That’s the good thing, but unfortunately Billie Joe Armstrong decides that the album should have a song dedicated to one topic per additional instrument he uses seemingly.  If the album was just shots against the things that I have mentioned above it would be similar to Idiot but at least it would be focused.  Not so on Breakdown.  The album hits religion, politics, the war, drugs, detorating conditions in major cities, and the nasty influence of mordern media and technology.  That’s a lot of songs to get through, and it would be fine if it was just a normal album.  Green Day though wanted Breakdown to be a rock opera and as a narrative, there’s just too much stuff that they are talking about at once.  The storyline starts to breakdown (haha, get it?), and as a result you either forget about Gloria and Christian or simply don’t care by the end.

Finally, the last problem that I personally had with the album is the timing of the album’s release.  This is a two pronged complaint.  From an easy spot, I mean it’s the next album after Idiot.  Breakdown brought upon a direct comparison and unfortunately it’s almost impossible to make a better rock opera back to back.  I don’t care how talented you are it’s tough to keep that momentum up.  Not even The Who did that, instead elected to follow up Tommy with Who’s Next, one of the band’s biggest commercial successes.

The last part of the problem is the timing with where the country is right now.  In 2004 the country, specifically young democrats such as myself were still in college and needed an anthem to rally behind to show their displeasure with not only George Bush being re-elected, and not only with the Democratic party giving us no good candidates, but also with our friends fighting in Iraq.  American Idiot was that album, as it stood for everything that we wanted to say to those in charge.  All I remember is playing the album in my dorm room with Katie, Pedro and Sundeep with me.  What started as harmless background music while we talked, turned into an epic listening party as no one said anything after the second track in an effort to absorb all that was coming out of the surround sound.  All we could say at the end was … “wow”.

With 21st Century Breakdown the problem lies in that right now Green Day want to spit some more venom at the world, but the things they are yelling at I don’t necessarily feel like we have to be campaigning for so much.  Sure the economy is in the tanks, but we have a new President in office and love him and hate him it’s a time of change and hope.  Now we don’t need to be hearing about every single one of our problems with no suggestions for what can be done.  Instead now we know the issues, and we want to tighten our belts and get to work.  Unfortunately for Green Day they want to start a revolution, and the revolution was already started.  It ends up sounding like they are late to the party.

Does this mean that 21 Century Breakdown is a bad album?  Not in the least, it’s a very good album.  Green Day just shot themselves in the foot by making such an iconic album before hand.  It’s a tough legacy to live up to, and one that they don’t ultimately make.  I can listen to selected tracks off of Breakdown but if Green Day was hoping that I would get goosebumps after every song like I did with American Idiot … well I’m sorry to disappoint guys.

For the past few years, LOST has been a staple show in my viewing rotation.  Many times, it has been the only thing that I felt was worth watching.  Now for some people, their intrigue for LOST is something that just spawned after watching the first season and seeing all the weird things happen and how people tried to deal with it.  Some might have even been enticed by the flashbacks and the connections that people had to other characters.  All fine reasons to like the show, but I know for me my obsession for the show was tied to one very specific moment.

Watching Terry O’Quinn in the first season was something that made everything click for me.  Honestly, the flashbacks and episode were fairly standard fare.  Here was a guy, with a boring job, no significant other, and someone that got picked on by many people.  Sucky of course, but by no means tragic.  That all changed for me, and my attention was cemented in place once the music kicked up in the background and the grand reveal was that John Locke was bound to a wheelchair.  This was the first of many “OH SHIT” moments that I have had with LOST.

Here was a man that was crippled in the real world, yet on this island he is able to walk.  Would certainly give faith and conviction to anyone put into that position.  Still to this day that scene envokes such emotion in me, that I can’t think of anything else overtaking it as my favorite scene ever, in any format.

Yet with the amazing, comes the down turn.  Locke has gone up and down as the series has continued on.  When Locke reaches his lowest, I feel defeated.  When he rises back up again, I personally feel like I overcame adversity with him.  I have had many opportunites to do this, because like a well written character, Locke has a weakness like anyone else, one that I can immediately identify with.

Locke spends so much of the series being told what he can’t do, that once he gains a bit of confidence in Season 1, it’s obvious that he won’t be taken down so easily.  Yet over time what you find out is that Locke has had some stable points in his life, before his crippling.  Exploiting and bringing Locke down is not a terribly difficult plan of action, as you simply need to fill him up with thoughts that he is someone of importance.

Like so many others in this world Locke just wants to be apart of something.  People will go up to him and tell him that he is special, that he is an extraordinary individual.  Once you have built him up to a certain point, that is when you can start having him do whatever you want for you.  After that, characters have simply dumped a now degected Locke because they know that he won’t do anything to them.  He’ll just crawl back up into his shell, waiting for the next person to build him up and crush him.

Why the long post about a fictional character?  Because when I watch LOST, John Locke stands out as a masterfully written character, one that I wish I could create.  What if there was a character that was just so abused and kept trying to believe in something, only to have it snatched away from him every time.  Now for John Locke in the show, each time his faith is tested, he gets one step closer to fulfilling his destiny.  Yet what would happen if a character who kept getting shit on decided to shun his destiny.  Would characters try and embrace him and put him back on the path of faith?  Or would they destroy him, because he could bring anymore destruction on the world?

This is what I’m trying to work on for Scion and while I can’t see anything else that is happening in the story, I have a clear image of this character that I’m trying to create.  I see him, and I see his inspiration that is John Locke.  My only hope is that I can make this new character of mine 1/10 of as impressive as John Locke.  If I can do that, then I assure anyone who plays in my Scion adventure down the road … you’ll be in for quite a treat.

We are on the cusp of something cool here people.  We are officially 2 for 2.

CosWatch, the wonderful idea started by Frega, Dro, Liv, Tee Morris and myself has officially been accepted as Press for Tekkoshocon in Pittsburgh, PA and as of today, Anime Boston in … wait for it … Boston, MA.  What follows after this sentence are my thoughts on the process and why I’m so excited about all of this.

This whole idea got started at Anime USA in Virgina this past November.  As anyone who has followed my rants for the past few years, I am a big fan of Anime Conventions and simply conventions of geekery period.  I think it’s a lot of fun to be in the same place as so many other fans, and have a forum to further your love of the hobby.

Yet this convention in particular, 2008 being our fourth year there, something was lacking.  Perhaps we had simply grown too old for this kind of thing (possible).  Maybe the event was just not well organized (definite).  Whatever the reason may be, the most fun we had was everyone huddled around the couch and table area in our hotel rooms, drinking and talking about things.

One thing that stayed constant, was our love and hate for the amazing and down right disgusting cosplay that we saw.  This is when the idea became a reality and people seriously considered trying to go to a convention and interview people, blog, podcast and take as many pictures as possible.  We wanted to give ourselves a reason to be at these coventions and we hoped that since that is our favorite part of this, that it would enhance what we were doing at the cons.

When I asked for press passes to Tekkoshocon in Pittsburgh, I firmly believed that we would get a ton of passes.  Mostly because it’s a fairly small convention and any press they could get to the event, would be good press.  I ended up being right, even though it took me forever to get in touch with them.  Granted we didn’t end up going to this con because of Dan’s birthday, but that’s besides the point.

When I filled out the press form for Anime Boston however, this is where I began to worry.  Boston is a HUGE convention, one of the biggest on the east coast next to Otakon, and they are known for being real sticklers on a variety of topics.  Yet here we are, heading to Anime Boston free of charge.  This event, since it was in such doubt, is somethign that I’m extremely excited for now.  Tekkoshocon I could deal without, as it was just something to do because I wanted to get this idea off the ground.  Now though we are going to a big convention which is going to be a real blast I think.

I will keep everyone posted on how preperation goes for this event and be sure to keep tabs on www.coswatch.com for the latest news from the convention!