Tools of the Trade

Most urban adventurers have a few things they will not leave home without. A pair of comfortable walking shoes. A cellphone with a decent signal. Usually, a variety of keys, at least one of which has a use long forgotten. These are all things that are just a part of the lifestyle. What I want to do instead is direct adventurers to a new tool that is readily available in the urban jungle. What I'm talking about is twitter. While not tangible, this new bit of software is something no adventurer should be caught without.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, “Spirit, what is this wondrous new invention called twitter?” The answer is quite simple really. Our good friend Wikipedia defines twitter as follows: “Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates, tweets, which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can send and receive updates via the Twitter website, SMS, RSS (receive only), or through applications such as Tweetie, Twitterrific, Twitterfon and Feedalizr. The service is free to use over the web, but using SMS may incur phone services provider fees. “
Now, to the naked eye that just might look like twitter is another form of texting people and, for the most part that definition is correct. Twitter however, fits perfectly into an adventuring lifestyle.

Lets get an example on the board, shall we? Say you feel like seeing a movie or having dinner with some friends. Usually the process involved in getting either to happen will involve several phone calls, text messages and hunting down individuals on aim or facebook. This one little program makes it so that a single text message sent to “40404” is relayed to every one of your followers. So, if you talk all the people you want to see on a regular basis into following, then it really saves quite a bit of work and gives you more time to actually go watch a movie. Several problems do exist however. For one, if you have a limited texting plan chances are twitter is not for you as it can get overwhelming quickly.

There are of course some simple alternatives to using twitter. One answer would be to set up a shortcut on your phone to text all of your friends at once. Another slightly more expensive mobile toy available is chacha. By simply texting a question to 242242 you can get a quick if not snarky answer from one of their live workers! Be careful however, over-using their service may result in some fees that you may or may not want to deal with.

Let us end this post with three ways that twitter can make you a more dapper adventurer, because everyone loves lists.

3.- Time is Money- As mentioned previously twitter can work as a great time saver! Every minute spent not calling someone is a minute that could be spent having an adventure.

2. -All the Cool Kids are Doing it- At the end of the day life is a popularity contest. Twitter allows you to be popular in a wide variety of ways. For one, it gives you a list of the people following you. In this way you can see just how many people are trying their hardest to be involved in your every day life. Secondly it constantly fills your text message box. Whether you want to look like you have a thousand girlfriends hounding you at odd hours of the day or just want more excuses to leave conversations over the course of a day, twitter has you covered. For an added bonus, add a nerdy ringtone to your text alerts. I for one am very partial to the power rangers alert tone.

1.Learn to be a Better Adventurer Through Imitation. You can use twitter to follow a variety of noteworthy adventurers in today's times. The following is just a short list of adventurers I recommend following:

-Jhonen Vasquez- Creator of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Also Invader Zim, for those in the know.

-Neil Gaiman- I may have mentioned him a few times before. Go read The Sandman, you shall not be disappointed.

-Sohmer- He runs a few things in the webcomic community. I'll just link Looking For Group , you can do your own research from there on.

-Quotable Buffy- Something different. Not so much a person but a random assortment of quotes from a rather interesting show. It's such a shame that I've come to hate the show in my old age.

-Occultclassic - Honestly I follow 11 people so I rolled a D12. The result was 7 and he is the 7th person down my following list. He's an adventurer to the very end and also a talented artist and modeler, why not check him out?

As for my twitter, kibs1. But, really it's not all that interesting to non-adventurers.

I Watched the Watchmen

*Picture Courtesy piH9 of flickr.com under creative commons.

I have been keeping a secret for the last week. It has been burning me up inside, and kept me from my beloved blog-o-sphere. I saw Watchmen last week. Even more shameful, I saw it on Imax at a midnight showing thanks to Wondercon. I cannot hold this post in any longer, the film premiers in just a few short hours. Before then here are ten reasons you should be watching The Watchmen this weekend.

10.You're eighteen or older- Okay, not really a reason more of a bottleneck before raising your hopes about this film. It is rated R and let me tell you it deserves every ounce of that rating. There is tasteful nudity and not so tasteful nudity. There is also graphic violence the likes of which I'm not quite sure an Imax theater had experienced before this film. If you're old enough or have an adult that wants to see the film with you AND these reasons are not enough to deter you away, read on.

9.Comic book movies are hip- We can blame whoever we want for this phenomenon, but, facts are facts, superhero movies are doing great in the box-office. Franchises like X-men are on their fourth film while re-vamps like Batman break box office records. It stands to reason that even if this film is not amazing in itself if will provide a great conversation at the water cooler. Why? Well lets look at number eight shall we?

8. Watchmen has a following- First off lets look at some solid facts. Time magazine, a respectable company, called Watchmen one of the top 100 novels of all time. That is pretty damn impressive for a comic book, wouldn't you say? Wizard magazine named Watchmen the number one comic book of all time. This combination is nothing to scoff at. Together they make for a moment in history. What is the result of one of the greatest works of our time being made into a motion picture?

7.Product Placement- There is no real product placement within this film. It is downright amazing the level of detail they went into over the course of the picture. Every can of beans or seedy bar has a name or trademark entirely foreign to our world.

6. The best bang for your buck- Watchmen is two hours and thirty-four minutes long. Usually for the price of a movie ticket, you get an hour and thirty minutes of movie. Not here, you get an amazing, if not a bit long, film. The best part is that this film does not come off like The Dark Knight where you feel as if you just sat through two, hour long, films. It's one continuous story magnificently told.

5. The capes- alright my fancy attempt to say superheroes may have failed epically, but, I still feel they are a great reason to see this film. You get a varied cast of characters ranging from the gadget toting Nite Owl to The Atomic, and very blue, Dr. Manhattan. Interestingly in the original storyline only Dr. Manhattan possessed superhuman abilities of any sort. In the film all of the heroes seem to have forms of superhuman strength and stamina. It may shy away from the source material, but it sure does make the fight scenes play out in a more exciting manner.

4. Richard Nixon- The portrayal of this man is amazing in the movie. You will feel as if the real Richard Nixon is talking right to you throughout the film. It's quite interesting to see how Nixon would have potentially interacted with an atomic man.

3. The soundtrack- I'm going to try my best not to spoil this for anyone. But, let me tell you the soundtrack to this film had me constantly whispering to myself, “Damn, I want this soundtrack.” Eighties hits surround this film in a delicious layer of awesomeness. Trust me you're going to want the soundtrack too.

2. The adaptation- Alright, a few things were changed from book to movie. I think part of this must have been due to time constraints. It must be really hard to pack the greatest anything into an acceptable running time. Still, despite the changes this film is true as sunshine to the original and I'm sure even Alan Moore would say it wasn't a disgrace. That is if he weren't still bitter over his previous book adaptations. Though honestly, that bitterness is totally warranted.

1. Rorschach- Not every hero needs to be lovable, this guy is no exception. You ever wonder what would happen if your favorite hero was driven too far? If the vigilante went from being a caped crusader to becoming a heartless killer, working to save mankind from itself? Well, look no further. Rorschach is the man for you; cold, bitter and ruthless in his pursuit of justice. If the dark anti-hero type isn't for you, then there is still hope. His mask is awesome and a great distraction. Constantly moving and shifting shapes it's sure to keep you entertained.