Everybody has something they do when they're down or depressed or sad or mad or whatever the case may be... boredom, per se. Me, I listen to Linkin Park, and I recently came across their Minutes to Midnight album (yes, I'm very slow).

I've fallen in love with this band.

Shinoda is a perfect rapper.

Chester has the most amazing voice ever. It's... mysteriously soothing to me even when he's screaming.



Now I need to find some downloads of Minutes to Midnight, I'm obsessing over this band now.

Oh, and I've heard that they're absolutely amazing live. Is this true?

Not sure how it happened, but I must be doing something right. Not that it really matters, what matters is what people think of my work. I no longer have access to a scanner, so all my work has been space art.

My latest, Ethereal, is the culmination of some study and good, solid work. I need some more work on realism, I think, but I'm getting there.

Thanks everybody for sticking with me since April of last year. That's pretty awesome. And thanks for putting up with everything I've done to freak people out...

lol. Hahaha.

Did anybody see Jeff Dunham's Christmas special on Comedy Central a while back? That's some funny stuff right there!

I NO LONGER HAVE A LIFE.

Until sometime between January 1 and 31, that is. Then I do.

After watching so many gaming sites with an eagle eye, I have grudgingly, finally accepted the fact that Tomb Raider: Underworld, my most anticipated game since... Oh, probably its predeccesor, Anniversay - has been pushed back to January 2009 for a PlayStation 2 release.

First they pushed it to November 21.

Then early December.

Then December 25.

Then January 1.

Then, "somewhere between January 1-31".

Some sites are even saying February, for Pete's sake!

I am, to say the least, a little angry. Just. A. Little. ANGRY.

I am a complete Tomb Raider geek. I have been ever since I played Tomb Raider III way back when. And when I heard soon after the Tomb Raider: Anniversary release that there was an eighth game on the way, I about had a heart attack of happiness. I thought maybe they'd ruin the series when Core Design handed the torch to Crystal Dynamics, but on the contrary, they made it even better!

And I've been following all the Tomb Raider: Underworld press releases, renders, screenshots, etc. since they first started appearing on Tomb Raider Chronicles late last year. I've watched all the vignettes and trailers as they've been released as well. The CGI teaser was great, the gameplay trailer even better.

But the launch trailer is the best of all.

The music is great. The animation is perfect. The environments are beautiful! This game will not disappoint newcomers, nor diehard fans of the series!

See the official launch trailer here at the TRC site. It's a Flash application, and takes a bit to load, but I promise that it is worth it!

You can also find the launch trailer at the TRC YouTube channel if you're too lazy to wait for the Flash to load.

Tomb Raider: Underworld will be released simultaneously for the PS3, PS2, PC, Xbox 360, DS, and Wii on November 18 in the US, and November 21 in Europe.

And when I head into GameStop Wednesday to pick up the game, I'm taking all four of my Jak and Daxter games and my two Final Fantasy in to trade in for credit. I have a feeling that this game will be more than worth it!

I'm terribly sorry, all of you, but all my accounts - humanbeldot on YouTube, humanbeldot on livejournal, etc. - have been inactive for so long because I have had no desire to draw or make anything on Photoshop, and all of my fanfiction is on the back burner as I fight writer's block to finish my full-length novel. Look, I haven't forgotten about the fandoms and everything: they're still heavily on my mind. But for specifics, you'll have to read on.

And on a side note - I can't wait for the release of Tomb Raider: Underworld on November 18! I have actually saved up a lot of money to buy it, even though the PS2 version costs a lot less than the others at only $29.99. I don't find it necessary to buy a PS3 UNTIL, IF, or WHEN they create and release a Slimline PS3. Then and only then.

ABANDON THE FANDOM?
Jak and Daxter: Yes, I have wholly and utterly abandoned the fandom. To me, no matter how good your writing is - yes, this goes for the J&D BNFs out there too - the fandom is childish. Mary Sues swamp the place. It's severely out of date. Too many people are trying to make it serious when, in all actuality, it isn't that serious of a series. I'm not bashing anybody: it's just that, now that I am creating an entire universe that is wholly original, I see no point in it.

Aliens/Predator: No, I haven't abandoned this fandom. It might be largely dead and focused on these ridiculous Predator/human relationships, but I hope to bring it to life again one day. I think stories in this fandom should be focused on the millions of possibilities, canon and AU, that exist in the films and books: for example, someone seriously needs to explore Leona Cantrell's pregnancy, or what would happen if certain characters hadn't been killed off when they were. Or write stories centered around canon characters. OCs are okay; they just get boring after a while.

Tomb Raider: Without this fandom, I wouldn't be so fascinated by ancient cultures and everything else mentioned herein. But I am not going to write for it. Draw for it, sure, but I see no point in writing for it.

South Park: This is one of the few fandoms that, I believe, can easily be taken seriously: Parker and Stone could easily make a drama film out of this series, and it would be perfectly believable. Most of the newer episodes are less funny and more epic, which to me is almost more attractive. I have a fiction planned for this series, but don't expect anything until I have my novel heavily completed, if not 100%.

Doctor Who: The series is officially dead until 2010. You won't see anything Doctor Who-related out of me. Ever.

WRITER'S BLOCK
My novel stands at roughly sixteen pages at this point, which will probably be exceeded once I return to writing it in a few moments. Because it takes up all of my thought processes, involves my every waking moment, and causes me to fill pages of sketchbooks and notebook paper with sketches and ideas, this is truly my baby. I have breathed life into it, researched many different topics ranging from bushido to the geography of Nepal to various stars and planets, written in it at my every opportunity, and poured my blood and sweat into it. If this novel fails to be completed, then I have failed in my endeavour to become an author. It's going to take a lot committment.

TWILIGHT
Okay, last thing: everybody stop bugging me about the Twilight Saga - and if you haven't bugged me yet, DON'T. I don't want to read the books. I don't do vampire romance deals, anyway, the only exception being the film "Near Dark" (Severen/Diamonback, baby). And don't even mention this part of my journal if you comment, because I would really like to keep it minimal. My friends and sister have already threatened to hurt me many different ways if I don't read it. So please, if you can help it, don't mention it to me.