From The Vaults: "Dear World, Re: Halloween, You're Welcome. Love, The Irish"

NOTE: This was originally posted on NeedCoffee last year but learning doesn't have a use-by date so school is back in session today. Enjoy.


What makes you think of Halloween? Pumpkins? Trick or Treat? Michael Myers? Try shamrocks and red-heads because once again, it's us Irish who started the whole thing.

You're welcome.

The Celts had four main festivals a year, mostly coinciding with changes in the season and farming. Imbolc at the start of February, Beltaine around the first of may, Lughnasadh in August and Samhain (pronounce the 'mha' as a 'w' and you'll get it right) on the 1st of November. Of course, we didn't have calendars back then so it was judged on lunar cycles and such but you get the idea. Since the Celts also broke the year up into two periods--the bright half and the dark half--Samhain also ushered the start of the dark half of the year. Our negative outlook on life means we typically start the year with the dark half...so Halloween is traditionally the Irish New Year.

Alternative Halloween Movie Picks

I like Halloween, but I dislike horror films. 'Tis the season to be scared and while I get a kick out of the costumes, jack-o-lanterns and all the other traditions, at the end of the day I'm still a complete wuss.

I hate horror films. Or to be more specific, I hate gory films. I'm a bit squeamish and so seeing someones finger nails being pulled off is not my idea of fun. I do like scary films though. I just need it to be the old fashioned "nasty stuff happens off-screen" kind of horror.

If, like me, you'd like to indulge in some Halloween appropriate films, but don't want to have nightmares check out my list of DVDs you can watch this Sunday that won't have you hiding behind a cushion.

I Heart Graffiti: For The Birds

Another double header this week from the parking lot of the Tivoli Theatre. I'm pretty certain these two are from Maser, a well known Dublin graffiti artist. He has a definite style and it's pretty easy to spot (his font is a dead give-away). He had a lot of pieces in this spot so expect more in the future.

You can see at the bottom of the first picture the roof of two cars, that will give you some scale as to how big it is (although the windows of the empty building will probably help too!).

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Word-A-Week Vocabulary Vlog #9: Abrupt

Big wheel keeps on turning, tired Aaron keeps on burning (the candle at both ends). Rolling. Rolling. Rolling out the words.

If you want to subscribe to the Word-A-Week videos via iTunes click here or if you want to subscribe to my YouTube page go here. If you want to just watch the damn thing, click the video below.

Make The Bad Men Stop

Needcoffee every year hold what can only be described as a celebration of all things Halloween. It's called the 32 Days Of Halloween and does exactly what it says on the tin. In previous years I've only contributed an article (which I'll re-post by the end of the week) but this year I wanted to make a video for it. Oh and stamp all over Edgar Allan Poe's grave.

For all you literary fans out there... I'm sorry.

From The Vaults: Arthur's Song

My second video post from Red Nose Net all the way back in May. This one is slightly less embarrassing if for no other reason than I'm singing with Ken Plume and that usually makes me sound good.

As before, this was a 24 hour straight webcast, so we got a little loony along the way. I hope you enjoy our rendition of this classic as much as Widget Walls did (you can see when he enters a third of the way in just how happy he is)

All Hail Axe Cop

I know I'm late to the game but now that I have discovered Axe Cop I must share him with the world.

Axe Cop is an online comic drawn by Ethan Nicolle and written by his five year old little brother Malachai. That is not a typo, the writer of this comic (which I love) is a five year old kid.

Sometimes a concept is so genius and obvious I wish I had thought of it first. This is one of those times. Of course a comic is the perfect playground for the deranged mind of a young boy. Most mainstream books written by grown-up professionals can often seem like they're written by a child. This just cuts out the pretentiousness.



While his demands were often outrageous they were still better than Joe Q's.


I came across Axe Cop after reading an interview with the artist and became instantly intrigued. To my surprise this strip, despite only being one year old, has gotten massive attention from the likes of Simon Pegg, Rifftrax and countless others. It seems, axe justice is what everyone has been craving. But why is it worth your time? Let me try to explain.

I Heart Graffiti: Nom Nom

This week is the start of a bunch of photos I took in the Tivoli Theater's parking lot. The place is completely covered in awesomesauce so the next few editions of this will feature stuff from that spot.

I thought I would start it all off with two pieces from the same group. As you can see below "The Nom Nom Collective" have a theme and I think it's pretty cool. I took two different examples, the big colourful and busy one below...

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And a more simplified one...

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I have to say, out of the two I greatly prefer the simpler one. Sometimes I think less is more with character designs. I would totally wear a t-shirt with this on it. Banksy shouldn't be the only one merchandising!

Word-A-Week Vocabulary Vlog #8: Qualm

Diet Crystal Pepsi that is over 17 years old. Myself, Brian Fitzpatrick and Ian Cooke had an unopened bottle of it. We decided we could use it in my Vocab Vlog this week. We're not a smart bunch. I hope you enjoy this week's video because my body didn't.

If you want to subscribe to the Word-A-Week videos via iTunes click here or if you want to subscribe to my YouTube page go here. If you want to just watch the damn thing, click the video below.

HANDS DOWN #16

This week I decided to write a bit of backstory for the first time. I plan to do at least one of these for each character as we progress in order to help some folks understand what the hell is going on in this world we have built up in HD.

Go have a gander and let me know what you think. Click the picture below to see the full strip!

From The Vaults: Rufus Hound And The Ass Missiles

So let me set the scene. Its Red Nose Net 2010. Myself, Ken Plume and Widgett Walls (helped by Jon and Serv) hosted a 24 hour live non-stop streaming webcast in order to raise as much money as possible for Comic Relief UK.

Rufus Hound presented our London content that night from a small garage in Windsor. After his stand-up set he got home and watched the rest of the event. He saw the moment below where Widgett gets his giddy hands on a USB missile launcher.



Rufus got himself an idea. He twittered Widgett that he would donate £20 for every missile I can catch between my butt-cheeks. A challenge was made. I don't back down from a challenge.

The next delirious period of the show is kind of insane as we attempt to pry money from a British comedian's hands. Rufus ends up calling in and provides commentary.

I hope you enjoy the resulting madness.

Style Over Image

I follow on Twitter an Irish band called Talulah Does The Hula. They're a five piece group made up of four girls and a boy. They're relatively new on the scene but the band members are seasoned pros to the Irish gigging circuit due to being in different bands before this one. If you don't know who they are, check out this video for a good example of what they do.


Have fun trying to get that one out of your head today.

The reason why I mention them is that recently they played a gig at the Hard Working Class Heroes festival here in Dublin and were reviewed by Entertainment.ie as part of the festivities. You can find that review here. I think we can all agree that it's not the most professionally written piece and it has been responded to by other bloggers already so I won't jump on the bandwagon of telling the writer how stupid it was. But I do want to talk about the band's response to it on Twitter because it brings up an interesting point and has had me thinking;

Fed up with clothes-obsessed reviews. God forbid putting on dresses and suits. Maybe if we wear potato sacks they'll write about the music?

I Heart Graffiti: Double Dare

I am giving a little double header today (easy now) because these are the last of the grafitti photos before I go on to a particular set that I've recently taken from the Tivoli theatre in Dublin. Seems as I am now flush with photographs I may as well start sharing the wealth.

This first one can be found at the back entrance to The Village nightclub. It's simple and a little cheesey but I like those and it's a nice sister piece to the "In a world full of shame and regret" piece from my first article.



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This one isn't exactly amazingly original but it's another good stencil idea and it always reminds me of the film "Dazed & Confused". If you don't know what I'm talking about, shame on you and go buy the DVD.


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Word-A-Week Vocabulary Vlog #7: Loquacious

This week I was a little late making the video (read as; two days) which means that it's going up on NeedCoffee.com late. But, because I have this here internet blog, there is no need for you to wait to get your word "on" in much the same way as you would your groove.

Enjoy!

Weekend Justice #85: Parking Tickets in Latveria

My first Weekend Justice post-Dragon*Con and the first since I've started this blog so maybe I should give a quick run down of what the show is all about.

Chaos.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. 

But hell, don't take my word for it. Click the banner below and have a listen. You'll hear lots about the new shows on TV and what we think of the comic book industry and it's adaptations at the moment.

CLICK ME!

From The Vaults: "A Lot Of Ocelots"

To celebrate it's 3,000th view this week I'm re-posting a video I made for the now defunct band The Tastydactyls. This was made just a year ago.

Anyone who has listened to Cabin Fever knows that I'm good friends with some of the 50 band members The Tastys have had over the years and I was itching to make a video for them. This is one of the few videos I've ever made that I'm still kind of happy with (I'm a big perfectionist and I know none of my videos are good enough).

Anyway, big thanks to Katie O'Kelly and Bruce Garrow for helping me make this.

This Week's Obsession (AKA Guilty Pleasures)

I go through phases when I'll get really excited about something. Partly because it's new to me and partly because it tickles a funny bone of my fascination.

After a conversation with a good friend recently, I was introduced to the idea of "idol" bands. This has nothing to do with American Idol or that brand of competition. Idol is actually a term used for a certain type of person in South Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong and the surrounding area. They're people who are... better than us, shall we say. They're basically adored because they're pretty and talented at something. Not really an unfamiliar concept to us westerners but I guess these folks are on a slightly different level to most celebrities and are put into this category.

Idol bands tend to be made up of really, really ridiculously good looking people who can sing a few notes and dance in unison with about a million other band members. It may sound a bit cynical and crap but they're well executed pop groups and it has gotten my attention.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Girl's Generation. Your new favourite pop band.

I Heart Graffiti: Afrolicious

This beauty is on my walk home. Ain't she sweet?

The stencil has been used a lot around Dublin with different colours so this isn't a unique piece but it's my favourite of what I've seen. It's a bit quirky but cool at the same time. Reminds me of the old 70s Kung Fu films.

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Word-A-Week Vocabulary Vlog #6: Mellifluous

Words! I'm still throwing them at your brain. But don't worry, I'm only doing so once a week so your feeble mind should be able to handle it.

For this week's word I've employed an old reliable friend to help me with the description. Plug in your earphones and crank it up to 11.

Click the banner to see the video. Or this link to download directly.

HANDS DOWN #15

This week the first ever Hands Down competition winner Lee receives his prize and gets a spot in our comic. How do we bring him in? What does he see? Where is my wallet? Oh, there it is, never mind.

But not only is this another new HD strip for your eye holes but also in connection with #15 there is a new place you can find it online. It's called The Website of Doom and not only hosts HD but also a brand new web comic by HD contributor JK Hulon! But wait, there's more! The podcast Riding In Cars With Boys has moved to Doom and has gotten comfy on the sofa too!

Amazing. So this week, why not click on this banner to have a peak around.

From The Vaults: "It Needs To Be Said"

NOTE: This was originally posted back in February 2009. I'm reposting it here for two reasons. 1) Because it makes me laugh and 2) It was from a time before this blog and I'm going to make an effort to get all the things I've done on here after a while.

So, please indulge me in this love letter to the one and only Ben Affleck. (It helps if you imagine this was written by a 13 year old girl... actually, it helps if you read all my stuff in that vein)

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My girlfriend is sick. She has a flu.
I've prayed to Ben Affleck for a speedy recovery.

Then Ben might come over, to see if she's ok.
And then I'd high five him, in way of thanks.
And while she sleeps he'd go "Hey, I'm going to a poker game at my friends house, do you wanna come?"

And I'd be all "yeah sure, I guess" trying to play aloof but secretly inside screaming "oh my god oh my god oh my god"

And when we're playing he'd let me win a hand or two, because he's a nice guy, but then when he's low on chips I'll throw a hand or two so that he doesnt have to stop playing.