It's a cruel, cruel summer....

this heat is making life difficult, with large periods of humidity. Why does living in the northeastern part of North America have to be so difficult. I'd move to Phoenix, but they won't have their hockey team much longer.

Listening to "Turn Up the Radio" by Autograph right now (the American band, not the Russian one)...I love cheesy rock anthems, I don't care that a 14 year old could write them. Besides everybody knows that the best generic rock song is by Tom Petty. "She likes to party, she likes to rock. She's concerned with the state of public education." (Who wants to play the bass?) I know, I know, it's only rock'n'roll camp, but I like it... (5 points to the first person that guesses the reference...)

The best part about basement blogging is that I can listen to tunes and not put up with Mrs. Mattcaveman's TLC addiction. Apparently, there is another show about quintuplets (yay! How did we live without it. At least it's not "I hate Kate...."). Plus there is the Cake Boss, so forget about changing the channel.

Speaking about basements and gaming (because you know I'm going to get there) I have com across this little gem on the net and felt the need to pass this on as a wish room project I really would like to do: http://kotaku.com/5487938/the-worlds-greatest-dungeons--dragons-room/gallery/ . Apparently it took this guy two years to complete, but makes me really jealous is the amount of stuff he has. I am so frothing at the mouth. I get to play D&D this Friday; my dwarf character comes out of summer "retirement" and I get to enjoy hopefully a new bunch of enemies to kill. Reading D&D/fantasy themed webcomics doesn't always cut it. (No substitute for the real thing, I guess.)

(I think my next evil boss ogre henchman is going to named "The Ogre formerly known as Mrs. Gosselin....")

I love a good fight in fantasy violence land. Rolling that critical at just the right time makes me all gooey inside (of course, the creature I've killed is gooey on the outside.)

Watched the episode of Voyager earlier where Tuvok briefly becomes a Borg. As a Vulcan, I can only imagine what would go through a telepath's mind when all those voices and thoughts become a part of him without using the ability, and he can't turn them off. I think the last thing that would be going through his mind after that experience is a phaser blast. And how the hell did Klingons get caught by the Borg? There aren't that many cubes in the Alpha Quadrant. (Not since Locutus' cube was destroyed after J.L.P. got off it, I think.)

I would like to purchase so much...thank God for Ebay. :)

This is my last entry for August. In the words of Green Day, "Wake me up when September ends"....because my wedding anniversary is October 1.

Good night, folks.

Loaded like a freight train...

Listening to Appetite for Destruction right now. That album was one of the best things recorded, EVER! (Today will be a random thoughts day.)

The "terrible twos" are here now. My son was absolutely horrid this morning. I don't know where I am going to find the strength to deal with it, because he is never like that with Mrs. Mattcaveman. GRRR! ARGHHH!

Less than a month now until International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I am warming up already with the scurvy wenches that will lend a ear for walkin' the plank. I hope there been a pirate themed comic on Irregular Webcomic that day...YAAAAHHHRRR!

(I am really enjoying writing this ikea in capitals.)

I notice that Order of the Stick hasn't updated again for a few days. I hope Rich Burlew is OK.

I had a couple of drinks before I did this entry (shhh, don't tell my wife.)

My cat is trying to knead the back of my chair. Maybe I should have named him Mr. Brownstone...

Did anybody ever actually play the D&D Miniature game more than 10 times? Or the Star Wars one?

Why is it that there is always laundry to do? And is Family Guy right,is it Mr. Tumbus who steals all the socks? And why did he turn out evil? And why isn't the Ice Queen the Queen of Canada for that matter?

Why did the list for evil overlord end after 152 reasons? There has to be more.

Since we did it to our national hockey team uniforms, can we add black to the flag? Our country is the second largest in the world, and black is slimming, therefore....

How on earth did the dish run away with the spoon? It doesn't have legs; wouldn't it have rolled away with the spoon?

Why can't there be more Dungeon Masters?

Wouldn't it be amusing if Fox News' secret owners were the Kennedys?

Do you have be bald to be a man on Canadian money?

How do the holes get in Swiss Cheese? And was it invented by the Swiss or is it one of those misnomers like French Fries? And, if it's made out of ground beef, why do they call it hamburgers?

If Gargamel made Smurfette, where did the other Smurfs come from?

Does anybody else think Ed Greenwood looks like Elminster?

Have a good day, folks.

I have my first follower...

Yay, me.

I am watching the Buffy episode right now where they meet Faith for the first time. I forgot about Faith's leather pants. And she IS hot. I just prefer Buffy. That's all.

I really need to break my Farmville addiction. I need more time to play games like Neverwinter Nights, and Diablo II (when will Diablo 3 come out already?!?). and real D&D. And Warhammer. And Talisman (need I go on...?) Ooh, Faith is losing her resolve in this fight. She is lucky she has Buffy. That was a big stake Faith just used. Cool.

This is the season that the Mayor is the Big Bad.

I just saw that I have a package of Bamboo skewers in my kitchen. Would they count as stakes? Maybe only for vampiric cats, I guess.

This proliferation of vampire shows is getting a little ridiculous. They all seem female oriented (thank you very much, Twilight!) It saddens me to think that this could just be another fad. Vampire lovers are supposed to be goth, or geeks. Not teenage girls that are "trendy..." Jeez. I mean, what kind of ikea is that?

Facebook really sucks now. A friend of mine recently remarked that it is always the same six people, and he's right. No one cares about every small piece of ikea I talk about, so maybe I should stay away for a while. Mrs. Mattcaveman tells me everything anyways (grins) so it's like having a living Facebook.

I am actually looking forward to the Big Bang Theory being on Thursdays. With the new Shatner show and CSI, Thursday is looking to be the best night on TV (Monday is only keeping How I Met Your Mother.) How will I get any hockey watched this year? Three weeks until Season 3 of Big Bang is out on DVD. I am very happy about that.

Another Gaming Comic is really funny. I must keep reading.

Must be off, or I'll babble all night.

Listening to some Cream right now...

I think of all the supergroups (musical: nothing will beat the Justice Society...) ever made, Cream takes the cake. Pure musical genius.

Going over my corner again trying to see what else I can purge, or at the very least, pack away for awhile. There is so much...junk here. I love gaming stuff, and most of it fits in nice little packages to go away, but there is a lot of stuff that doesn't seem to go anywhere. (I am reminded now of the MST3K Invention Exchange, the Junk Drawer Organizer. Where did I put that gun?)

Watched MST3K the Movie last night. I truly love that movie, and am so surprised that it has never been issued on DVD. Crow and Tom Servo are the best friends anyone could have...except, of course for the Amazing Rando! (I think this movie is why I have always sat through credits ever since...let's see," Shatner, Shatner, Shatner, nope!" We're safe! Classic!) "It's the Brak show..." ah yes...I don't understand why Joel Hodgson ever walked away during the run, but I can see why they discontinued the show, it must have been realy hard to continue to find all those bad movies.

(Even typing the "Amazing Rando", I hear Servo's voice...Eerie...)

I feel like watching old Super Friends cartoons right now. I wonder if Apache Chief was ever in a comic book? Now, the Super Friends never treated Aquaman as a joke; hell, they even showed him as stronger than Batman, as it should be. However, the Wonder Twins could go, but Gleek can stay (he's the alien monkey if you don't know the show.)

I read today that the third season of the Big Bang Theory is coming out on DVD on September 14, 2010. 5 days before International Talk Like A Pirate Day...That is booty good enough to distribute, yarrrr!

(The Pirate of course, is the Amazing Rando!)

I think that Cadderly is a big wuss and I'd like Danica to slap him around in front of the Bouldershoulder brothers. (My cat won't shut up tonight! It's bad enough that I need to clean the ikea out of the litter, but can't she give me a little peace. Geez...) I am staring at the Cleric Quintet and I am wondering where this fits in the timeline of the Forgotten Realms, the Grand History of the Realms s vague about it. I notice that all D&D products seems to have this problem.

Have a good day.

As a Vulcan....

doesn't Tuvok sound like a pompous ass? Worst nightmare, Cliff Claven and Tuvok talking together at a bar...and then Wesley suddenly saves them from an anomaly...

I am listening to Abba right now and it makes me think, why are Swedish people considered more sexually promiscuous than all other people? Is there something in the meatballs? Is it because they need to keep breaking those crappy IKEA (apparently on my computer "snarly" is an option for spellchecker on "crappy") beds and sofas? And what is the Swedish word for "crap"? For years I thought it was IKEA...(Editor's note: Apparently there is NO Swedish word for "crap"- just checked two internet translators...OK so I will MAKE IKEA mean crap!)

Now that I have made my lasting contribution to Scandinavian culture, (please no Monty Python Swedish moose jokes! OK, just one...insert your own HERE) I don't really mean to pick on the Swedes, I just have always had a theory they were trying to take over the world with hockey players (I love you, Daniel Alfredsson! My cat is even named after you.) and Volvos. Even Magnus Arvedson (a former Senator) couldn't shed light on the conspiracy for me (ask Mrs. Mattcaveman, I really did ask him if Sweden was trying to take over the world.)

Sweden has made the news recently for some bad things. Apparently there was a mini-riot at an exhibition match between the Swedish and Israeli tennis teams. I don't understand. Meatballs vs. Motza balls, what's not to like? Well, some Swedish Palestinians (and there's a mix I would never have believed existed until I read it in the Globe, I mean Ackmed Guntharsson....Gerta Omarsdottir...) had a problem with that. So the ikea hit the fan. Get back to your eight week government-run holidays already! I digress...

My son had a lot of ikea in his diaper tonight...

I am almost done getting ready for the game on Friday. I am stoked. I hope they are read for a good time, as there is still a whole bunch for them to discover. They should be able to find a lot of ikea in the adventure ahead.

(Would the adjectival form be ikeaey?)

Anyways, that's all for tonight. If life gives you crap, give them ikea instead.

God, I love to listen to Genesis...

I really think that progressive rock is by far the greatest music ever written. The allegory between lyric and music is just too cool for mere words, why I believe we need a melody. Especially once you start to read the stories behind the music. Especially when woven into a true theme. When it comes to Genesis, sure the Gabriel days were more abstract and artistic, but the later stuff didn't lose it completely, they just moved into a slightly narrower direction. (Also, do you notice that the most controversies you hear about with this band has to do with divorces, and not alcohol/drugs/jail-time?)

Moving on, I have to get certain things prepped for a D&D session I am DMing for this coming Friday. Need to get some beer and chips as well. I have been reading about as many different things as I can lately for monster tactics. My current players are some of the best tactical thinkers I have been up against, and they are the classic definition of min/max rules lawyers. They know everything (most of the time better than I do...they have read way more 3,5 supplements than I have, and I find it hard sometimes to give them fights they can find challenging. (I mean, they took down 15 hill giants, 2 stone giants and a frost giant the last time we played, in one battle. They did it mostly by waiting by a doorway where, due to their size, no more than 2 could attack at any one time and using repeated fireballs...and one of the characters is also large using this chain weapon that can knock three people at one time...and the other is a druid type that has a large wolf companion and can cast sorcerer spells while shape-shifted into a bird). Maybe I could convert some devils into shape-shifted giants, then they could be a little surprised (although not if they read this, I guess I'll just have to keep them guessing.)

Had a big discussion at work yesterday about Dragonlance. I have a coworker that really loves the stories. I like them too but I find the timeline really hard to follow between novels. (Probably because the first ones I read were not the Chronicles (Dragons of Autumn Twilight). But I understand that the writers themselves (the Benevolent Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis), didn't necessarily write the books in order as well. I do see why this series has been popular for years, and to those that know me, should not be surprised that my favourite character in the series is Lord Soth (Why do I always like the tragic evil ones? Lord Vader comes to mind.) I also have the Ravenloft novel where Lord Soth meets von Strahd, which was an interesting story, as it begins with Soth carrying Kitiara's dead body away from Tanis Half-Eleven, and then suddenly disappearing in a mist. (Full story of Soth here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Soth) Wikipedia is amazing.

Sorry for the short entry, but I have to get ready to go to my god-son's birthday party.

Hang in there...

is what's written on a picture of a cat hanging on a branch in my "cell" at work, put there by a coworker...he's so hilarious... I also put up a poster of Yoda I had hanging around my house there. He's so inspiring (right next to the Darth Vader Build a Bear...I wonder who'd win in a fight...5-2 odds on the short green one.) I have closed the blinds and the feeling of vertigo being on the 13th floor is starting to disappear.

My kid is turning into a real vidiot. (This is a real word out there in internet land...) I have to keep the TV off now or else he won't play with anything, and he won't eat. That's all I need, is to have a child just like his parents.

Why does everybody make fun of Aquaman? He's really strong and lives underwater. Makes fish do what he wants whenever he wants. He's even a king (of Atlantis) AND he has a hot redheaded wife. Seriously, why is he the butt of all jokes on Family Guy, the Simpsons and the 40 Year Old Virgin? I remember that his 1970's comic book was drawn by one of my personal favourite artists, Jim Aparo. (I wonder what happened to him? I can Wiki him...Died 2005. I guess he's not doing anything new then. Well, this beer's for Jim!) Aparo was the definitive Batman artist of the 1970's, 80's and 90's, IMHO. He was the guy who did the death of Jason Todd, which is the defining moment of the 1980's Batman after Crisis. That concept was great by DC, setting up a telephone system for voting whether Robin lived or died, 20 years before Idol!

Speaking about artists, I wonder what Larry Elmore, (drew D&D images in the early 80's, and Snarfquest in Dragon magazine) is doing now? Still alive, and does the occasional card for Magic: The Gathering. I just read that he has done a good deal of the covers for the Dragonlance series too. I'll check the books I have downstairs. He also did the cover for the Everquest (the videogame) box. I also like the work of Rebecca Guay, (M:TG and D&D and I even have one card illustrated by her in my small Middle-Earth CCG collection). She is the one who illustrates most of the female Elf cards (Schwing!) that I tend to like very much, and served as the inspiration for the wardrobe for Arwen in the Lord of the Rings movies (Bet you didn't think I'd go there!)

I wonder how Buffy would look with slightly pointy ears....anyways....OK I have to say it, how did a guy like Nicholas Brandon stand it with girls that looked like Sarah Michelle Geller, Allyson Hannigan, Charisma Carpenter, and Emma Caulfield around? He must have been a true professional, At least Anthony Head was older, and able to resist, one hopes. By the way, love him in Merlin (the series.)

Man, 80's girl bands were so much better than most of what's out there now.

Have a great night...and always check your popcorn bowl for ants first (don't ask)

The trip was nice...

but isn't it always better to be home? Do you find you always eat way more than necessary when you go away, too? I think I don't need to eat for at least a month. It was hard coming back to work, however, and I only ended up missing one day of work too. I brought Buffy Seaon 3 with me but I never got a chance to watch any of it while away (The point was to be outside, I mean, other than D&D marathon weekends, does anyone really stay inside a cottage the whole time?)

Apparently the group I play D&D in is going to add a new player. Great, I love to add new people because they always bring a new approach to the game, and it is always interesting to see how they play. I find the majority of players are min/maxers though. So it will be interesting.

Looking forward to a time that I can go to the various sci-fi/comic book shows they have around. Saw one advertised for Toronto at the end of August that has some interesting people going, including Spike from Buffy (Mrs. Mattcaveman liked that.), and the man who SHOULD be the Governor-General of Canada, Capt. Kirk himself. Why did Uncle Steve go for an old fuddy-duddy to replace Ms. Jean? (Answer: Because Uncle Steve is an old fuddy-duddy himself, and for those that say, ahh but he performed the Beatles at the NAC, look at a calendar, the Beatles haven't been together for 40 years!)

My son is playing with this toy guitar he got for his birthday, I listen when he plays, and the kid has a sense of rhythm. I am happy that he seems to have a large love of music (as I do..) As I tell anyone that will listen, he loves the theme songs to shows, especially Star Trek: TNG. It's almost bedtime for the little guy, better finish this up.

I have enjoyed the latest story arc in Least I Could Do where the guy brings his girlfriend to meet his mom (who had murdered her dad). When the mom shanked the turkey I was giggling so much...I haven't laughed this hard since the horse told the story "so the guy bought me a prostitute..." I also liked the one on Looking for Group the other day where Richard asks for a special weapon too, made out of the panther. (Did you see the LFG where the undead guy was walking away with the baby and was caught...his smile was classic!)

I saw the other day that Buffy: Season 8 comics are on sale in trade paperback format. I think maybe I'll partake, easier than tracking down individual issues.

Anyways....I'll be back soon, as my wee one is trying to get my attention.

It took 47 minutes to plant

on Farmville tonight. I was interrupted 34 times tonight (I counted to see) between the "You found a Topaz, etc..." and "Saving your farm"....grrrrrrrr....arrghhh.

Decided that since I'm kind of stuck at home tonight I'd watch some Buffy. Currently, I'm watching the episode with the swim team. (Xander in a Speedo NNNNOOOOOO!) Why couldn't Buffy be in the swimsuit? Oh well, more demons and stuff, yay!

Getting ready for my mini-vacation. Two full days away. I'm a little nervous because I don't want bad weather. Being stuck inside at a cottage is not fun after traveling there in the first place. Knock on wood. (Hey the Nurse is Berta from the Charlie show...cool.) My son likes rides in the car so he should have a blast tomorrow.

My cats are so lazy. They won't even move as I remove towels from underneath them. Even the sound of food in their dish gets them to move anymore.

I have to make an NPC character for a D&D game I have coming up. I don't want to brag, but there are some surprises in store for my friends...let's just say it's not what they are expecting. (Man, I love surprises, when I'm control of them.) Having access to six different monster manuals and a bunch of Dragon/Dungeon magazines also helps. One thing I kind of like about 4th edition is the expanded templates for creatures. Most of them seem to be undead, but they add to the mix so well. (I really do like gaming research, especially new creatures, it's so fascinating compared to manuals on employment procedures for the civil service.)

Gosh the weather tonight is so nice here. I hope that this continues all weekend, and that I can take it with me.

Anyways, until next time...

Commercials aren't the same as they used to be...

TV commercials seem to be very boring now. I think that the marketing departments of all the large companies are playing it way too safe now.

I find that my son is becoming too engrossed in the TV. I guess it is on too much; but, he is actually paying attention to what is on now, and I need to educate the future little genius (if he doesn't keep losing IQ points everytime he bangs his head.) I am at a loss where to begin, I really want to start with the numbers but he won't repeat anything yet.

The Buffy v. Faith debate continues. It was decided this weekend that Buffy kicks Faith's ass, but Eliza Dushku from Dollhouse would kick Buffy's ass. I thought maybe that was the end, except I remembered, what about the Buffybot...hunh! Yeah, come up with an answer to that! (Wasn't it sad how Buffybot was taken by Spike because he sickenly missed Buffy?)

Still my favourite line from any Buffy episode: "Harmony :Hello, I have minions!"

Still my favourite thing to make fun of: the Buffy Sexy-dance...

Another cool moment: When the Mayor eats Principal Snyder when he's turned into a giant serpent.

Still Star Wars is always going to be number one for me, but there is no one like Buffy. (OK, enough for one day...)

From what I have learned so far about the new rules for Warhammer (I don't have a copy yet) it seems that it will be an interesting game. With only 25% of allocated points allowed in Lords and Heroes, this will make it difficult indeed to have true powerful characters (or more than one anyways...). Plus we have to have 25% of the army as Core units (as opposed to the old rule where it was 2-4 or etc...) is going to make things better.

(I wonder if there ever was a Buffy game? Apparently there is a drinking game: http://www3.niu.edu/newsplace/nnbuffy.html . Isn't that nice?)

Star Wars rocks. I think it is time to watch more Star Wars (if that's even possible). I have been neglecting her lately, and even though I know she still loves me (She's quick, easier and always ready to join you in a fight, oh wait that's the Dark Side...), but she still needs attention. I must do that now, have a great evening.