Izabael Muses: Ramblings of a Renegade Djinn (Genie,Djinni,Jinn)

What have I been up to?

I haven't been writing much lately as far as blogs, so to break the ice I'm just going to talk about some random things on my mind. 

 

Regarding more "magickal" blog topics:  I'm helping pAmphAge write a small but comprehensive how-to manual on magick (with no "bullshit" allowed).  This has been sucking out my "magickal" writing efforts, but there should be a lot more going on magickally here towards the end of the year as the book nears completion.

Regarding the new Eminem album Relapse:  This is a guilty pleasure.  I'm trying to get it out of my system now so I'm not still listening to it all year with everyone else.  Also, how many dumb celebrities are going to take the bait and get mad at Eminem for the things he says?  Eminem is the motley fool jester of mainstream media.  To get mad at him only makes one look even more foolish (and helps Eminem sell more albums of course!)

Regarding EverQuest:  As some of you know I play fantasy MMOs when I have a chance.  I've been playing since I was a wee tot.  I've played Asheron's Call 1&2, Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, Dark Age of Camelot, Star Wars Galaxies, Everquest 2,  Warhammer Online, Lineage II (where I was a GM for a short while), and of course World of Warcraft.  I can say that after all these years, EverQuest is still my favorite!  If you like any of these games, I seductively suggest you check out the game without which there wouldn't even be a World of Warcraft.  EverQuest is 10 years old and the world is huge now!  Plenty to see and do!  I love it.  If anyone wants to know my EverQuest character names and server, you can email me privately and I might let you know :)

Regarding the new Star Trek movie:  Good casting! I rarely get to say this about a movie nowadays.  But finally...good casting!

 

Guess that's it for now!

 

Kisses & bites,

Izabael

When hemispheres collide...

The Hidden Dangers of Super Mario Galaxy

Never in my life have I been so thoroughly inspired to eat candy and take hallucinogens.

Why? 

I've been playing Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii.  I have discovered that Super Mario Galaxy is a highly informative game especially for children.

 

I, myself, have learned many new & interesting things!!  To name a few:

 

1)  Eating green mushrooms prolongs my life.

2)  Cute, little mushroom people are my friends.

3)  I can "fly" from galaxy to galaxy (in my red, white, and blue uniform).

4) Your mushroom friends travel the universe in a giant red mushroom called the STARSHROOM.  Yes, the "Starshroom."  Can you say Jefferson Starshroom?   Er...Jefferson Starship...er Jefferson Airplane. 

5)  When you feed the star-people, who look like star-shaped Ecstasy tablets, they will eventually get fatter and fatter until they explode and give birth to more galaxies.

6)  You need to collect as many "stars" as possible.

7)  The "Sweet, Sweet Galaxy" is just that.  I gained 5 pounds playing through it.

8)  If you lose too many lives, Princess Peach will send you more mushrooms through the mail.

 

All I can say to parents: If your kids get fat and end up taking hallucinogenic drugs, you shouldn't punish them.  After all you taught them at a very young age what is fun to do.  And don't blame Super Mario, you can go back to Lewis Carroll (and later Disney) to complain about this one.

 

"One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall"

 

 

Technorati Tags: super mario galaxy, wii, drugs, hallucinogens, mushrooms, magic mushrooms, stars, extasy, MDMA, video games, nintendo, super mario, lewis carroll, jefferson airplane, starshroom, starship

I always wanted dozens of Gremlins at my beck and call: Overlord (PC) Game Review

This is my first video game review as I don't play tons of video games.  I like them but except for MMORPG binges where I become something of an addict, I just don't have time.  I've played Everquest and World of Warcraft extensively (I more or less quit after getting my epic mount) and tried most of the other MMOs but didn't like them as much (SWG, DAoC, AO, AC, Vanguard, LotR).

At this point in my life I'm sick of the MMO grind.  It's all the same really.  I just rattled off 8 games and they all have more or less the same gameplay.  You kill a lot of repetitive creatures, slowly gaining levels and powers, only to kill more repetitive creatures.  This continues until you are into endgame where in addition to killing repetitive monsters, you will also need a full guild and have to make a regular raiding schedule, which will most certainly interfere again and again with your real life (assuming you have one.)  The hours put into the game get longer and longer for rewards that make less and less of an impact on your character.  *snore*

So that was my mental state when I bumped into Overlord on GameTap.  Truly this game is the antidote for MMO burnout, especially since the last one I was playing was LotR online where you can't play an evil character (except for in a very limited way for PvP), but instead have to do goody-goody quests ad infinitum.  Blech.

Overlord has  beautiful visuals to similar to LotR, but is fast-paced (you can start making a mess with your 10 "Gremlin"-looking demons immediately.)  But instead of starting out as hobbit, you can instead go crazy killing hobbits ("halfings" they are technically called.)  Let's face it.  Who at this point has not fantasized about being Sauron and laying waste to all the fat, lazy hobbits and smelly humans?  Guess what, you ARE basically Sauron (as he looked at the beginning of the "Fellowship") and can raise as much hell and mayhem as you can handle!!  Talk about a relief from the MMO grind.  This is a blast, and yet it still has depth of play.  The NPCs opinion of you changes completely depending on your actions, and new goodies for my character came at a sprightly pace.  I love that you slowly build up your throne room from a broken-down hovel into something more respectable.

The world and quests are about as equally open-ended as an MMO, but everything moves faster.  You don't have to spend a week or more just getting to the better abilities of your class.  The best thing of all compared to an MMO is that there are no annoying noobs begging for extra gold.

I don't really have any negative points about this game except that it is perhaps it's a little sexist.  (At one point you abduct 10 women to be your slaves...considering their flimsy little cloth garments, the insinuation is that they are also your sex slaves.)    But everything about the game is so tongue-in-cheek that I would have to be really anal retentive to get mad at something like that.

   

I give Overlord an 9/10, and a 10/10 if you've just come from playing LotR online--it will blow your mind just how much fun a game can be.  You'll feel like you are in a similarly immersive world as far as graphics and sound (in fact at some points I thought I was still in the same game), but instead of having to take on endless boring quest chains, you'll instead get to break, smash, kill, and loot everything in sight! After slaying about a 100 fat hobbits in a row like me, you'll probably find yourself saying, "life is good again."

*iZaBAeL

World of Warcraft Epic Mount

Yeah baby!  I got my EPIC FLYING MOUNT last night!!

Satanica, level 70 Warlock:

Screenshot 1, is the full sized screenshot of the cropped pic above
Screenshot 2, is an older shot of Satanica looking pretty hot