The Wind Beneath My Monkey Wings

Happy Birthday, Flying Monkey Joe, my furry, feathered friend. May your grubby little wings beat with happiness as you soar over the castle walls, in unending service to your Ape Overlords.

Here, I got you a banana. Please don't perch over my car to eat it.

USS Crownshend in orbit

My cousin, who is known on SB-S as Crownshend, recently finished a magnificent model of the USS Enterprise. Check out more photos on his blog, Crownshendism!

Triple the prestige

I ranked up to Prestige Level 3 last night in Call of Duty: World at War.

I enjoyed numerous rounds of multiplayer with the SB-S crew as I tried out the new Map Pack 2 on a double-points weekend. Like my friend Bama Breeze said, it was like having a whole new game.

Review to come on the new maps. What do y'all think of them?

Red Faction: Guerrilla -- get hammered

Take a look at my new review of Red Faction: Guerrilla on Techcetera! It includes a description of "Sythbane: The Angry Gamer."

I also pose some questions as to why the evil EDF soldiers look so much like our American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Your thoughts and comments will be welcome, as always.

Also, please click on the "Follower" button on the upper right of this blog, so we can begin to see the faces of our own gaming community.

The D-Day Call

Every year for the decade that I knew Capt. Wallace Swanson, I called him on June 6 and said, "Thanks for jumping out of that airplane!"

I can't call him anymore, but I hope he remembers.

The art of sexy robots

All the years I've been reading science fiction, I've enjoyed looking at the fantastic paintings on the covers as much as reading the novels. The art of science fiction comes alive in movies and video games, and that's part of why I love living in sci-fi games.

I like to keep an eye on the pictures that flow through an artists' forum site called conceptart.org. That's where I discovered this gorgeous painting called "The Showstopper" by Neville D'Souza. It's reminiscent of the sexy robot in the sci-fi classic film "Metropolis." There's also a similar, gleaming waitress who is briefly seen in "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," walking through a room with a sultry sway to her chrome hips.



I contacted Neville by e-mail, and he kindly gave his blessing for me to post his painting here on Sythbane Squadron for my friends to enjoy. More of his work may be seen on his gallery site. Like Senator Palpatine told young Anakin, we shall be keeping an eye on his career!

The great Frank Frazetta is foremost among my favorite artists, and others include Frank Cho and Dave Dorman and Terese Nielsen. I met Rowena Morrill at DragonCon in Atlanta one year and got her autograph on a print, and I was giddy and starstruck!

It looks like D'Souza may be joining that pantheon of gifted artists!