Wyvern

Nicely done, Patrick. :-) My favorite lines in this poem were definitely "Your life on the bottom of a glass,/ You slowly sip it all away," as the metaphor there was an interesting one and the image had a real feeling of finality and desperation to it. The subject matter of the poem was also very heartfelt, and the angry tone showed the concern of the narrator for the person the poem was addressed to. My only quibble is that the structure of the poem didn't always compliment its content in my opinion, as the strict rhyme scheme of the poem felt a little forced to me at times. Should you ever choose to revise it, my recommendation would be to focus less on fitting the poem into a pattern and to let the words and imagery speak for themselves.

Anyway, this is a nice piece Patrick. :-) Thanks for sharing it.

The static clears once again as Wyvern taps a claw on the crystal ball and shakes it a bit to recapture Ashtonblades' image on the screen. He grins towards the cameras, grinning further when he notices the rising ratings for the show, then pats the crystal ball on the back as if Ashtonblades were standing there in person.

"Welcome back to Unsolved Mysssteries of the Rash and Arrogant, hosted right here on the Almost Report - yer one-stop muckraking spot!" Wyvern raises a claw in the air to cue up an applause soundtrack, which amounts to the sound of one troll clapping. "We're just about out of time for the evening, but wouldn't want to leave you viewers without a bit of live beef, brought to you exxxclusssive courteousy of current freestyle rivals Ashtonblades and Mardrax! The cryssstal ball has been glowing off the chain this evening!"

Wyvern turns towards the crystal ball, its image now split three ways between Ashtonblades, Mardrax, and Peredhil. The overgrown lizard rubs his claws together and lets his forked tongue flick out with a cackle.

"To address a few thingsss - this ain't my Pen digs I'm standing in here, Ashtonblades, though I tend to end up crashing all over the place while scheming, so I may have slept here once or twice in the past. As for your accusation that I'm trying to sssabotage you, it's completely unfounded." Wyvern shoves a can of pink paint that's slightly visible on the floor with his foot so that it moves off-screen. "Completely unfounded, yesss."

Wyvern wipes the spots of neon daisy paint still visible on his claws onto his pants, then clears some of the ashes from his throat with a loud cough.

"As for not believing in ghostwriting, you might want to consult with one of our spirit communicatorsss at the Pen so they can reveal the truth about ghosssts being invoked through verse. Just be careful 'bout the libel thing." Wyvern tosses on what looks like a gnarled twig hanging on a necklace, and raises a price tag hanging from the accessory that reads "Almost Dragonic Brand Petrified Wood Bling™ - 30 geld." He then poses with a claw in what still looks like a klingon greeting. "And I wasss unaware of the 'AB' hand sssign thing... I'll be sure to add a rapper sign language dictionary to the Almost Dragonic Brand Ashtonblades Kingdom Fanclub™ entrance fee!"

Wyvern bows to the crystal ball, then turns to the cameras.

"That'sss about all the time we have for this evening, folks. Remember: only lisssten to hip hop rappers that have gone multi-platinum, that's where the real money's at." Wyvern raises a claw as he remembers something, then slowly turns back to the crystal ball. "Oh, and Mardrax, my sssales of Almost Dragonic Brand Steamy Gorgon Manure™ ended several years ago. Sssorry to disappoint."

The static clears after a few minutes to reveal Wyvern sitting next to a large crystal ball. The overgrown lizard adjusts the cuff of his grey suite as the image of Ashtonblades finishes speaking with the line "... sending Mardrax after me." Wyvern flashes a toothy grin at the cameras, then twists his one-size-fits-all-horns hat to the side to make it more "hip hop." He cocks a claw back at the crystal ball.

"Mad. Knowledge. Yo." Wyvern nudges the crystal ball with his foot, turning it so that Ashtonblades' image is facing the cameras. "To thossse of you just joining us on 'Unsssolved Mysssteries of the Rash and Arrogant,' we've got our first caller on the line - none other than Mr. Pwnage himself, Ashtonbladesss! Indeed, this could end up being the easiest sssolved mystery we've come across on the show yet..."

Wyvern raises a claw and poses it in what looks like a poor attempt at a klingon greeting. A troglyodyte cameraman rushes on-screen for a moment in order to readjust Wyvern's pose to make it look more like a legit hip hop gang sign... but fails.

"Now, before we get down to business and possse some serious questions, I'd like to answer Ashton's inqueries." Wyvern slaps his claws on his chest twice in the hopes of communicating "respect" in rapper sign language. "Concerning the law of libel and when it entered into freestyle battle rapping, I believe it was around the same time that ghostwriting became the hip-happenin' thing to do. You see, when the spirits of writersss such as Lord Byron and Edgar Allen Poe were summoned through verse, they took offense when incanters used lines such as 'Couldn't stand the heat, couldn't take the pain,/So I'll keep this short, come bring your best,/And you see poetic justice at its best.' Lines such as these fell far below the admittedly high standards of the ghostwriters, and the way the M.Cs attempted to claim that the ghosts wrote them made the spirits file for libel. I hope that explainsss things."

Wyvern pauses for a moment to lift up a sign advertising Almost Dragonic Brand Petrified Wood Bling™ for 30 geld, then turns towards the crystal ball once again with a frown.

"Anyway, to anssswer to the other comments: I would like to publically apologize to Ashtonblades over the air for claiming that his kingship was dethroned. I was mistaken, and I ran my forked tongue far too quickly. Indeed, Ashtonblades continues to hold the crown for 'Freestyle King.'" Wyvern glances towards the image of Ashtonblades in the crystal ball with an apologetic expression. "I hope you'll forgive me for the slip-up, Ashton. I was merely under the impression that you had lost the crown because of the obvious superiority of Mardrax's verses, both in terms of writing and content. I forgot to take into account, however, that the freestyle battle jury consssists of Judge Ashtonblades and nobody else!"

Wyvern raises a claw to his snout to stifle a snicker, then pulls a blank sheet of paper from his Devil's Advocate folder and begins to scribble.

"In the hopes of healing any woundsss caused by the slip-up I made on the air, I am inaugurating the first official Almost Dragonic Brand Ashtonblades Kingdom Fanclub™, which is available to anyone who wants to join for an entrance fee of a mere 350 geld (plusss tax). Once in the club, you'll get your very own mini rhyme-writing notebook, your own bottle of Johnson's Baby Shampoo, and your own Tyco toy boombox with cassette tapes for recording demos. Advance from Freestyle Pauper to Freestyle Prince in a matter of minutesss! No flow or rapping ability required... jussst have yer money ready and call 1-900-ICANONLYBEATMYSELF!"

Wyvern sets his detective hat back on straight and turns to the image of Ashtonblades with a sly grin.

"Now then, back to the program at hand. Ashtonbladesss - did you choossse the wallpaper of this room, or was this pink stuff an act of sabotage from one of yer many competitorsss?"

;-)

Sneaky edit by Patrick: those with Tower access, check this post.

The cameras move across what appears to be a wall covered in pink wallpaper and neon daisy patterns, which both look worn from age and lack of use. The cameras wobble away from the wall in order to focus on Wyvern, who sits perched on a box of Almost Dragonic Brand Hissy Mardrax Freestyle Cassette Tapes™ with a little black book raised to his snout. The overgrown lizard snickers to himself and tosses the tiny volume to the side. He freezes up as the fragile spine of the tome snaps, and lets out a nervous laugh as the pages fall loose and become lost in the coat of dust that spans the floor.

"Eheheh*EHEM!* Welcome to another episssode of the Almost Report." Wyvern's voice echoes a bit as it travels through the abandoned chamber. "Reporting to you live from the old Pen hauntsss of Mr. Pwnage himself, Ashtonblades! That's right... in an effort to sell more Almost Dragonic Brand Freestyle Mini-mall™-based products, we've decided to host thisss report at the ruins of Mr. Pwnage's former Pen abode. I'm sure the recently dethroned Freestyle King has a far more pimped out Pen pad at the moment, but it'sss always important to go back to one'sss roots to discover how one rose to infamy! Especially when the rise to infamy involved pink wallpaper with daisies on it."

Wyvern clears his throat and blows his nose on a sheet labeled 'Prize Rhyme Journal Index' that had fallen from the broken book. He then pulls a small page of news items from his left wing tip and glances over it with a grin.

"In thisss week's news, Almost Draconic Recordings seems to officially be ssseeking story track submissions from Pen members for the upcoming Mighty Pen 'Narratives' mix project. Rumor has it that story tracks involving Wyvern in harems are 50% more likely to be included on the final mix. Ssstay tuned over the course of the next few weeks as we investigate this intriguing story in further detail..."

Wyvern winks to the cameras, then licks a claw and moves it down the page.

"In further newsss: remnants of Mr. Pwnage's old quarters can be yours for the keeping when you shop at the Almost Dragonic Brand Freestyle Mini-mall™. After all, who needsss wack M.C battling when you can buy all the ghostwriting material you need for half the price? C'mon down!"

Wyvern pauses and turns towards the wall, lifting a claw to his chin.

"And now, we bring you 'Unsssolved Mysssteries of the Rash and Arrogant.'" Wyvern coughs and quickly tosses on a Rod Sterling jacket and a one-size-fits-all-horns detective cap. "The question for tonight's program: was the wallpaper an act of vengeance carried out by Salinye, or did Ashtonblades actually choose it's quirky and feminine design? Join usss as we delve deeper into the-"

Static.

I've been catching up on quite a bit of anime in the past few months. Here are some thoughts on the recent film/series that I've watched through:

"Paprika" - This is an anime movie about a psychiatric institution that developes a device called the DC-mini, which allows doctors to enter into their patients dreams to study them. Of course, things go awry when some of the DC-minis are stolen and power-obsessed psychos start using them to manipulate people's dreams. Plus, things get even more complicated when a massive dream parade starts reappearing throughout people's dreams, and seems to merge dreams together while gradually breaching the barrier between dreams and reality. Despite this description, I thought that the plot was the weaker point of this movie, as many elements of the film are only half-explained and there really isn't much character development throughout it. While the film might lack in a really intriguing and cohesive plot, it sort of makes up for it with some really awesome animation sequences. The entire premise of the film is almost like an excuse for the animators to go all-out with their animation style and to do whatever they please to fit the dreams, and the result is one scene of eye candy after another. It plays out more like an action-packed roller coaster ride than a complex thinking man's anime, but in my opinion the spectacle was worth the price of admission. Check it out if you want to see dream logic done slick anime style.

"Monster" - This anime series was very, very highly recommended to me, so I decided to give it a go. It's by far the longest anime series I've ever watched through, clocking in at 74 episodes. I must say that it was worth watching, however, as it was a very tightly written and compelling crime-drama type series. The plot sort of grabs you after the first three episodes, and continues to reveal one layer of depth after another as the series progresses, always keeping you at the edge of your seat with another twist. It starts under the guise of a hospital drama, but quickly swerves into the realm of detectives, fugitives and criminal conspiracies. The large cast of characters in the series was also very well-developed, with plenty of memorable traits and interactions. The main villain of the series, Johan, is one of the more interesting and original villains I've seen in any anime... he's deadly, but not in a conventional way. The children's book element of the series was also brilliant, and it had the best set of closing themes I've ever seen in an anime. Having said this, the series wasn't perfect... Dr. Tenma was a bit too much of a goody-two-shoes for his own good at times, and the comic relief crook buddy character that appeared in a few episodes was annoying as hell and a stupid addition to the show. The series was also not free of filler, as there were at least ten episodes that I didn't feel were necessary to the central plot and which sort of took things over-the-top at times. Still though, "Monster" definitely ranks up there as one of the better anime series I've seen, and it's possibly the most mature I've watched through. It's not out in the U.S yet, apparently (I watched it via the miracle of the internet and a visiting friends computer), but hopefully it'll find its way out here soon... I noticed that there are already a few volumes of the manga available in local comic shops, which means the anime will probably follow soon.

"Golden Boy" - This is a short anime comedy series about a young adult that drops out of Tokyo University after mastering the curriculum, and spends his time getting part time jobs at various spots to learn more about women. He has an unhealthy obsession with toilets that women have sat on, and girls tend to seriously underestimate him and then fall for him after it's too late. I found the first two episodes of the series absolutely hilarious, and was roped into watching the rest of it because of them. The rest of the series was good and had some touching moments as well as some really funny ones, but didn't quite live up to the first two episodes in my opinion. One thing that I cannot praise enough in this series is the faces that the animators tend to draw for the characters, as Kintaro's facial expressions were side-splittingly funny at times. Not a bad series, worth checking out for the first two episodes if nothing else.

"FLCL" - HMMM... Not really sure what to say about this one, except that I don't really think it was my thing in the end. It's a short anime series involving a young boy who has robots coming out of his head and a giant iron used for erasing galaxies. Think "Excel Saga" meets "End of Evangelion" on speed and you're halfway there. Don't get me wrong, I like "Excel Saga" and its ilk as much as the next guy, but there's a fine line between over-the-top comedy and complete nonsense in these sorts of animes, and I feel that "FLCL" crossed that line one too many times. There were points where the animation moved so quickly and there were so many random things going on at once that it felt more headache-inducing to me than hilarious. The series did have its redeeming qualities though - there were a number of original takes on animation per episode, and the commander guy with the fake eyebrows was hilarious. There were other very funny parts of the series as well, but ultimately I think that it should have taken a few muscle relaxants prior to being aired. Still interesting, but not really my thing in the end... Orlan's theory about GAINAX and marijuahna seems very plausible after watching this.

Are there any recent must-see anime series I'm missing out on? :-) I'm not really into the "Dragonball Z"/"Naruto" stuff, but other than that I'm pretty open to suggestions. Also, thanks for the review of "Sicko" reverie... I haven't been that big a fan of Michael Moore in recent times, but I've heard everyone say that this is his best movie and will probably check it out this week on your recommendation. :-)

Nice poem, Zadown. :-) The subject matter is very interesting, and the I like the way that the messy writing is given a sense of mystery over the course of the poem. I also really like the reference to the instructions left by the mother in the fourth line, as it had a personal feel to it that gave the poem an element of introspection. My only disappointment was that the beauty of the smudgy lines wasn't elaborated on a bit more... "organic" was kind of a vague adjective there to me, and I wasn't as entranced as the narrator with the image.

Anyway, thanks for sharing this Zadown. :-) It's nicely done.

Alright... So this project has been in the works for quite a while now, but I finally feel that I have enough of a base to publically announce it here. The Mighty Pen "Narratives" is the latest mix CD from Almost Draconic Recordings, which is home to such mix projects as "Poetic Justice" and "The Chronicles of Terra." This time around, the mix is a collection of diverse story tracks, with each song telling a different story. This compilation is going to be VERY different than my past mixes, however, as this time around the tracks are all chosen by different members of the Pen. :-D

Now, I'm sure the prospect of this project sets off warning alarms in at least a few of your heads. Rightfully so. After all, there's a lot less certainty when it comes to compiling a mix CD of tracks chosen by others rather than a mix where you choose everything yourself. For starters, there's no telling if anyone will actually contribute to it after its announced. Throw in the rather inactive state of the Pen boards at the moment, and you've got a serious problem. Furthermore, even if people do end up contributing to it, the mix is likely to sound like a mess, with a bunch of random songs that don't work together to form a cohesive whole. To these worries, I answer: don't sweat it! Wyvern's got you covered, baby.

This project has gone through a bunch of different phases over a long period of time. Initially, I thought it would be neat to just get a bunch of tracks from a bunch of pennites and slam them together on a mix. I went so far as to actually start collecting random tracks from different Pen people before I realized that the project was kind of unfufilling and abandoned the idea. Eventually, the project reemerged with this story theme and a couple of extra rules attached. I started collecting selections of three or more tracks from people to choose from while strictly adhering to the storytelling aspect of it. And once I started getting into the groove of requesting tracks, The Mighty Pen "Narratives" mix slowly began to take shape.

I now feel that it's safe to publically announce the project, as even if nobody contributes to it after this announcement, I still have enough story tracks from different pennites to make a very solid mix CD. I currently have submissions of three or more tracks from Appy, The Big Pointy One, Canid, Gwaihir, Happybuddha, Kikuyu Black Paws, Merelas, Mira, Patrick, Peredhil, Tralla, Venefyxatu, Whisky in Babylon, Wrenwind, The Portrait of Zool, and myself. That's about 58 songs from pennites in my iTunes Library - certainly enough to make a mix with.

Having said this, I would now like to open the sending of story track submissions to the general Pen public. You can read the rules about sending me the story tracks below. Please note, however, that just because you submit three or more tracks to me does NOT necessarily mean that you'll end up having a track on the mix CD - this goes for the people listed above who have already submitted tracks to me as well (I'll probably contact you soon if I cant use any of your tracks). I'm being extra-picky about story tracks fitting within the larger context of the mix, so please don't take it personally if your song selections don't make it on there... I've gotten a number of excellent tracks that I can't use as they don't fit what I'm aiming for, and I can only include so many tracks for purposes of time. Having said this, the more submissions I recieve, the more cohesive the project will be as a whole when it's finished. That, and I always love hearing the musical tastes of other pennites, regardless of whether or not I end up including the tracks. So please, send your submissions! I'm already considering the possibility of a side project with tracks from people who submitted songs but didn't get included on The Mighty Pen "Narratives"... might be called the "Epilogue EP" or something like that. Anyway, read the guidelines below and holla 'atcha boy!

---

Guidelines for Submitting tracks to Wyvern for The Mighty Pen "Narratives" mix CD:

1.) All of the tracks submitted must tell a cohesive story in English (sorry, Euro heads!). Each of the tracks must be a seperate story - no three-part stories spread over three songs, please. Also, the story must be told vocally - instrumental pieces that tell a story through their music unfortunately won't be considered.

2.) You must submit a minimum of three story tracks if you'd like to participate, though you can submit as many story tracks as you want. Keep in mind, however, that I may eventually be choosing ONE of these tracks for the "Narratives" mix, so the larger the selection you give me the less chance you'll have on getting a specific track. Also, please remember that I unfortunately cannot include everyone's selections, regardless of how many tracks are submitted and how good the stories are... I may host a side project later that incorporates them if they aren't used for this, however. :-)

3) Each of the story tracks must be under 8 minutes long.

4) Please avoid sending me tracks by artists that have had a huge influence on generations of musicians. Some examples of such artists would be: Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, etc. They're some truly great song writers, but would feel out of place in the context of this mix (and besides, it's a lot more fun to expose other pennites to musicians they may not have heard of!).

5) You can send me the tracks through http://www.yousendit.com using elitwack(at)gmail(dot)com as the e-mail address to send them to, or you can attach the tracks as e-mail attachments and send them to that e-mail address. You can also get them to me by other means, but I need to have the tracks on my computer as MP3 or m4a files before I can consider any of your selections.

6) All submissions must be sent to me by August 14th 2007, at which point I'll close this to submissions and move on to the next stage of the project.

---

That's about it. The songs can be any genre or style of music you desire... I look forward to hearing new things from some more of you pennites. :-)

On a side note: there will be no contest for this mix after it's finished. Instead, I'm planning on distributing it digitally with cover artwork and hosting it as a downloadable .zip file on the Pen, so that everyone can have access to it. More on that later.

I agree with Appy that this piece is nicely written, Nyarlathotep, with a number of good details and well-phrased paragraphs. :-) I thought that the strong hateful tone of the piece was the major driving force behind it, as the consistant jaded outlook of the narrator made for a very interesting read. :-) The way that you started things off with the burning of the books was also a strong image and a very intriguing intro to the narrator's life. Like Appy, I'd be interested to see where the piece goes from here, particularly since I feel that the major conflict of the story is introduced at the end of this segment... I actually wonder if it might be possible to introduce or hint at that conflict a bit earlier in the piece, since it might add a bit more tension if we're aware of it earlier on.

Anyway, this is very nicely written.. just further proof that some of the best writing can occur in the most ungodly hours of the morning/night. ;-) I look forward to the mini-continuation you have planned.

Wyv~

P.S: perhaps you might consider moving this to the Scarlett Pen, since the content is pretty mature?

Tonight, I went and saw Zeph & Azeem and Blu & Exile do free in-store performances at Amoeba Records in Berkeley.

Amoeba let this show take over their Country and Bluegrass section for a change, which resulted in a much larger stage than usual... a welcome switch from the information counter that they've used for previous live events. On the downside of things, the crowd was definitely not as large, with only a handful of people in attendance and only me getting hype and cheering the acts on. Which is a shame, since it was a very good show, particularly for a set of free in-store performances.

Zeph & Azeem went on first, which was probably the wrong order to present the acts in since the two of them really put it down once again. When I saw Zeph & Azeem open for Lifesavas and Strange Fruit Project a few weeks back, they stole the show from the very beginning as the opening act. This time was no different, as they killed it once again with an incredible amount of energy and style. They brought along a reggae friend of Azeem's named Luvfiyah to help out with some of their tracks this time around, and he really gave it his all as well and added to the set. I'm guessing that Zeph & Azeem bring these kinds of excellent sets on the regular when they perform, which leads me to believe that they're one of the livest local Bay area acts available. Great stuff, check out the video I put up at the end of this post if you want a better sense of how they bring it live.

Blu & Exile took the stage next. They played some quality music, but lacked the stage presence and bravado of Zeph & Azeem. I had never heard any of Blu's music before, but knew Exile (the one in the tasteful rainbow face shirt) for his production work in Emanon with Aloe Blacc amongst other things. Blu ended up bringing some proper rhymes to the table and is probably an act to look out for in the future, I liked most of his rapping. Exile also provided some pretty great production for Blu to spit over... It seems like Exile's got beats for days, he even played a new exclusive track he did with Snoop Dogg after the set was over.

So in short: hell yeah this was worth the zero dollars I paid for it. You gotta love the Bay area for always hosting stuff like this.

Here are some videos I took of the show:

Zeph & Azeem with Luvfiyah:

Blu & Exile:

Wyvern hisses to himself as he reads over Parmenion's poem, his forked tongue flicking out more forcefully with each passing line. The overgrown lizard whacks the page with a claw once he's finished, then turns towards Parmenion with a knowing look in his beady eyes.

"Yeeeeesh. See, that's the problem with these dragons nowadays: they're all slavesss to their stomaches and haven't mastered the art of thinking." Wyvern sets the poem down on the Banquet Hall table where it had rested prior to his arrival, admiring the appropriateness of the quarters given Azmodan Dragonlord's fate. The overgrown lizard scratches his chin for a moment, then slowly raises a claw to his snout. "... although, jussst between you and me, I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Bunny was somehow implicated in this incident. Don't quote me on that."

Wyvern spares a moment of silence for another reptilianoid past, then immediately begins jotting down notes on the kinds of clothing accessories that might work with dragonhide.

"Ah well, as least *some* of us lizard types know how to do things in moderation." Wyvern glances at a clock on the wall, then strikes a claws-up in Parmenion's direction. "Now if you'll excussse me, I need to go and manufacture another thousand Almost Dragonic Brand Barbed Carrot Fishing Lines™. Rabbit hunting ssseems to be in this season, after all!"

;-)

Last night, I went and saw One.Be.Lo, Blitz the Ambassador, Public Radio, Nate Krooks, and Construct Existence at the Poleng Lounge in San Francisco.

One.Be.Lo was the only artist that I knew in the lineup, but he's a very good M.C and I thought it'd be worth checking the show out just for his set. This was my first time visiting the Poleng Lounge in San Francisco, and I really dug the atmosphere of the venue. It's a sushi bar and tea lounge hidden across the street from a large market, with a small stage and dance area located in the far back.

The opening acts ended up delivering a surprisingly good set of performances. Construct Existence had a bit of trouble motivating the crowd to respond as the first opening act of the evening, but they more than held their own with a very solid set of good beats and well-written hooks. A highlight of their set was when one of the M.Cs started beatboxing, and then sampled it using a foot pedal device and started adding more stuff into it to create a song. They should have gotten more appreciation from the crowd, in my opinion. Nate Krooks was also good as the next act, and had a number of positive tracks about loving everyday life along with some very solid beats to back him up. The crowd seemed to be much more responsive to his performance, though it seemed like he knew many people there personally and that his friends were really helping him out. Public Radio also delivered a pretty solid set after Nate, with a very traditionalist old school feel to their beats and rhymes... probably the least memorable performance of the evening, though. Still, in terms of local Bay area acts, these three groups surprised me by the way they kicked things off very nicely... I'll have to listen to some of their recorded material if they ever end up putting out anything official.

Blitz the Ambassador came out from Brooklyn to join One.Be.Lo for the show, and did a quick set before Lo came out. He had a very interesting voice and cadence, and explained to the crowd that he was raised in Ghana before moving out to Brooklyn, which might account for his unique style. He also had some pretty exceptional lyrics, including a track about the US that mentioned American flags being made in China. The downside of his set was that he seemed a little too hard on the crowd at times, as he wanted people chanting his hooks at the perfect moment and actually started a track over when they weren't all in-sync. Still, it was a good performance and I'll be on the lookout for recordings from him.

Finally, One.Be.Lo came out and put on a solid though somewhat disappointing show. He was technically the best M.C of the evening and had some really good new material to perform, but it seemed like he wasn't really sure how to interact with the crowd and he talked too much between tracks. He said some interesting things about hip hop as an artform, kicked some ill acapellas, and performed some really nice tracks, but I think that ultimately his smooth style may come through better in his recordings than it does live. That, or maybe he just needs to improve his live act a bit. I meant to get a shout out from him to the Mighty Pen after the show, but the time frames unfortunately didn't work out... hopefully next time!

The cameras wobble to the tune of two troglyodytes crooning the Almost Report theme, which mimics the original recording fairly well given the low budget that the melody was made on. The cameras pan across what appears to be a room of moving stones until they catch sight of Wyvern, who sits in an unstable rocking chair reading a torn leaflet from the most recent issue of Almost Dragonic Brand Poetry Indigestion™. The overgrown lizard plucks a bubbly booze pipe from his mouth and turns towards the cameras with a grin, ignoring the manner that the room shifts its shapes around him.

"Greetingsss and welcome to another episode of the Almost Report, reporting to you live from Castle. That's right, THE Castle! After last week's fruitful invasion of Peredhil's quarters, we thought it would only be right to invade reverie's personal space this time around. Apparently, his personal space has personal space issues of its own, as the ssstones seem to be getting kinda peeved over our intrusion."

Wyvern watches as the stones on the right side of the room cave upwards, sending the troglyodyte cameraman that had been injured twice on the show before flying out of a tower window. The reptilian reporter sipuffs on his pipe and keeps his cool, raising a news sheet to his snout in order to block his view of the situation.

"Ssspeaking of reverie, the Pen poet and ssscholar would like your input on the Pen poetry class that he's planning to host through a multiple choice exam vote. Jussst drop by the Muse and Quill Cafe and fill in the blanksss, plus feel free to leave other thoughts as well. I also wanna remind folksss that cheat-sheets are still available from yours truly, and that they just might come in handy for this initial quiz survey. That's 1-900-OGREOUIJABOARDPOETRY4CHEAP!"

Wyvern's claw trails down the page as the walls of the chamber begin slowly closing in.

"In further newsss, the ssstreet cred of the Pen has once again been threatened by freestyle battle crusador Ashtonblades. Feel free to counteract his foul claims with some Pen sssyles to match, even if the styles end up being expensive. Note that no actual battle lyrics are needed to enter this competition."

Wyvern grunts as the stones under his tail begin sucking it in like quicksand. He hops out of his rocking chair, tosses his booze bubble pipe to the side, and a stomps a foot on the ground.

"Alright Castle, that's enough. BOYSSSSS?!"

Six goblin construction workers carrying jackhammers and drills pop up at different corners of the room, positioning their equipment at demolition angles.

"Not a move, Cassstle. One more tranformation from you, and these goblin henchmen will start busting away with their tools. And if there's ONE thing that goblin construction workers are good at, it's destroying things."

The stone and room tranformations promptly come to a halt. Wyvern breaks into a sinister grin.

"That'sss enough for the Report." Wyvern waves a claw at the cameras, which flicker to black. The audio lingers for a few moments longer. "Now, let's see if I can find reverie's mossst expensive stash of poetry..."

;-)

"Trallaaaaa!" Wyvern races into the Cabaret Room and gives the veteran pennite an almost dragonic huggle. He clears his throat of a few ashes and takes a step back in the hopes of maintaining his machismo, flashing Tralla a toothy grin. "Muse or no muse, it's always great to see ya around these parts."

Wyvern glances in both directions, then pulls a blank sheet of paper from his Devil's Advocate folder and raises his snout to Tralla's ear.

"Psssssssst." Wyvern snickers and lets his tongue hang loose. "Speaking of mussses... while I'm sure the BSc helps in convincing your muse to cooperate, you might want to consider investing in one of these Almost Dragonic Brand Bottom-of-the-Class BSing Degrees™ to dupe her into getting a work out. Trussst me, these degrees are so potent that I even use their BSing abilities when thinking up ads for them!"

Wyvern flaps the blank sheet of paper in the air.

"80 geld, cheap. This one was only used once by a carpenter-sailor-ex-wannabe-gangsta."

;-)

Wyvern paused to catch his breath in the hopes of screaming his lungs out some more as he sailed down the airduct in style (hey, he was tossed by Orlan). Taura's deathly white robes caught up to Wyvern's back just as he rammed into Kikuyu Black Paws and the rest of the gang, sending them tumbling full speed ahead. Yue the ferret yelped, Degorram's thin form was yanked into a knot, Ryu kicked, Kikuyu kicked, Taura kicked, Miho kicked, Wyvern... got kicked a lot. The search party braced for impact as they made contact with another airlock grate, and the seven of them fell headfirst into an ancient cobwebbed chamber.

*coooouuuugh, hack* Ugh, ssssssorry." Wyvern wobbled his way back onto his feet and checked to see if the others were alright, only to perk his head up as he noticed the surrounding quarters. They were in the old Pen, with all its rarely accessed antiques and fragile story tomes. Not the best spot to be hunting for mischief-makers.

"To answer your quessstion, Taura, yer massster is prolly somewhere under Miho's left leg." Wyvern grunted as he helped untangle Yue's tail from Degorram's knot. "Lisssten everyone, be careful 'round here, we don't wanna break anything. This place is flooded with priceless memorabilia, best to keep your hands off anything that looks ancient."

"Hey..." Kikuyu Black Paws raised herself to her feet and lifted the carcass of the stealth sprite they'd been chasing from under her shoe. "Mission accomplished?"

"Lemme see that." Wyvern extended a claw and took a look at the remains of the stealth sprite, then twitched his snout and frowned. "Hmmmm."

"So that's the thing we were after?" Ryu stretched and shook his head in disbelief. "That was *way* too easy!"

"Hmmm..." Wyvern poked at the stealth sprite with a claw, then lifted it by its tail for all to see. "Doesss anyone here know how to perform stealth sprite CPR?"

The rest of the search party stared at Wyvern in disgust.

"Wha-?"

"Well, sssee, to get rid of stealth sprites, you're supposed to catch'em and scold'em." Wyvern and the others froze up as several tiny glowing eye slits began appearing around the dust of the ancient chamber. Wyvern loosened the scruff of his neck where Orlan had been tugging earlier and let out a *GULP.* "If you end up killing of one of'em, I think you kind of peeve off the rest of the sprites and get'em to focus on nassstier tricks. So either we get this little sprite back in good health, or we're gonna face the imminent ninja-related consssequences!"

As the surrounding stealth sprites began incanting a circle of numerous ninja minions, nobody noticed the faint sounds of meowing that grew closer and closer to the chamber...

As if I hadn't seen enough shows this month, I went out to catch Zion I and Pigeon John perform live at the Shattuck Downlow in Berkeley last night.

The doors for the show were supposed to open at 8:00 PM, but I arrived there at 9:00 and they still hadn't opened yet. That was just a prelude to the extended wait before any of the real acts performed... I have no problem with waiting for around an hour after the announced starting time for a show to commence, but a two hour DJ set from E da Boss lasting until 11 when you announced the show at 8 is kind of ridiculous. Still, E da Boss had some interesting soul mixes and the Downlow is a pretty great venue to chill at, with some very cool art and a nice atmosphere.

Anyway, despite the long wait, it was a very good show. Pigeon John came out and put on another of his trademark great sets, and was the best performer of the evening. This is the fourth or fifth time I've seen Pigeon John live, and I've noticed that he seems to be perfecting his fun sets with every show, as each one has felt a little more energetic than the last. While his performance this evening was not as good as the time I saw him perform with a live band as an opener for Subtle (one of the best shows I've ever attended), it was vibrant with energy and loads of fun. He got pretty much everyone in the front row dancing, which is a rare feat at concerts nowadays. He also performed a few tracks that I hadn't seen him perform live before, such as "What is Love?," and they worked pretty well. PJ always puts on a good show, so go see him live if you get a chance.

Zion I took the stage once Pigeon John had finished his set, and they also put on a good set with a lot of energy. This was my first time seeing Zion I live, though I'd seen a really quick set from Zion I & the Grouch for free at Rasputin's earlier this year. Zion I didn't quite live up to the hype that some reviewers have attributed to their live shows, but still pulled off some very impressive MCing and beat making. They brought out their friend Deuce Eclipse and another rapper who's name unfortunately I didn't catch but who was very impressive in terms of flow, and they both helped Zion keep things hype. The clear highlight of the set was when the producer of the group, Amp Live, picked up a Playstation 3 controller, moved to the front of the stage, and crafted a really good beat using the controller while Zion and co. rapped about it. He'd improvised beats throughout the set, but seeing pump out music on the Playstation controller was a brilliant thing to watch. Very nice performance, and a good show.

Wylliam strokes his moustache with a quick flick of his glove as he watches the zombie's futile attempts to lumber forward. He exchanges glances with Stick, who has a rather disgusted look on his face and seems to be preoccupied with trying to remove his hand from a newly-made hole in the zombie's chest. The zombie continues to groan in its attempts to lunge forward, but finds itself equally stuck in place due to the position of Stick's hand. All of which makes for an utterly undramatic situation, of course.

"Do not worry, my Big Pointy Associate... I shall have this being of the undead ssslain in a moment's time." William begins to stroke his moustache again, only to pull the entire thing off and twist it into a boomerang-like shape. The "Akashan" clears his throat and pulls an ancient tome entitled "Yee Biggeth of Eyes, Smalleth of Mouth" from his back pocket. "Hrrrm, according to this old gaming rulebook, my moustache should deal 1+[(5 - 2Y)/4] x 2 damage when tossed in combat, where Y is equal to the number of sneezes in the opponent's allergic reaction to horse hair."

William continues reading as he takes several steps forward, carelessly tredding over several fine doodles of gnomish tinker-poetry in the process. The librarian then narrows his eyes and focusses all of his attention on the stillness of the zombie and the stillness of Stick, tilting his head at just the right angle to envision a perpendicular trajectory for his projectile. The sharply twisted pointy ends of the moustache glint in the morning sun as William raises it in the air. He grits his razor-sharp teeth as a bead of sweat drops from his brow.

"HeeyAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

Pompousissy's girlish war cry is cut short as the moustache manages to float half an inch forward before it falls straight down to the ground. The moustache falls apart in the grass and is lost as a light breeze blows by.

"Blassst." William grumbles to himself and turns to the floating Pen with a sigh. "I don't sss'pose you could scribble me a new moustache when you have a minute?"

Wyvern hums the melody of The Psychotic's Song to himself as he twists the last leg of the wooden merch booth into place, pausing in his whistling at the "remain" of the tenth line before managing to continue on with the catchy tune. The overgrown lizard pushes the stand a tiny bit to the right so that it rests just adjacent to the doorway of Kikuyu's room, then dusts off his claws and stands back to observe the booth with a grin. Satisfied with his minimal effort, Wyvern darts behind the merch stand and grabs a handful of products. He tosses them into the air with a piercing jolt of maniacal laughter.

"Joat paraphernnnaaaalllllliiiiia!" Wyvern waves a flimsy cardboard doll with the word 'Joat' written on it in the air. "Get yer (Almost Dragonic Brand Bootleg) Joat paraphernnnaaaaallllllliiiiia(™)! Mini-Joat cut outs, 10 geld! 'I <3 Joat' wristbands, 10 geld! Immitation Joat masks, 10 geld! Immitiation Joat immitation handbooks, 10 geld! Oatbran with a 'J' scrawled in front of it, 10 geld! No psssychotic should live without this fine line of reasonably priced products!"

;-)

Static shrieks over screens across the Pen, only to be replaced by a "No Signal" image with a little stick figure wyvern shrugging its shoulders and an ear-piercing *beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.* Pennites remove their hands from their ears once the image disappears, and watch as a scaly hand taps at the camera lens with a little too much force to be professional. The shakey camera swerves upward and focuses on an almost dragonic figure dressed in an outlandish crimson tux with cheap plastic flame jewels. Wyvern leans casually against a non-smoking torch that rests on the wall of the room, nearly displacing it.

"Welcome to another episode of the Almost Report - back in ssstyle with a new gimmicky slant, 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Exploitable!' For this evening's report, we bring you live to Elrond Peredhil's personal quarters."

The cameras pan out to reveal more of the stylish chamber, which indeed fits the description of Peredhil's Hall of Fire to a tee. The cameras continue panning out and move to the right, only to pause as Wyvern frantically waves a claw in the other direction. Half of a broken wall fixture is briefly seen on the far right of the screen as the cameras focus back on Wyvern.

"Yesss, that's right. Due to the impossible conditions of the pirate broadcasting basement after that TNT incident, we here at the Almost Report have decided to start broadcasting from the private rooms of various noble pennites. It'sss a simple process where we break- err, eheheh, get consssent to use the rooms *SNICKER.* And then, we usually scout for expensi- uuuh, I mean, new designs *SNORT.*"

Wyvern steps forward, only to notice a basin of sweet water at the mud-room down the hall. He freezes and backs away, grimacing at the way the liquid sparkles and dragging his tail stinger along the classy carpet.

"*Ahem* In current news, voting Pen members may want to consider commenting on reverie's recent poetry class proposal. Have any ideas for sssubstitute teachers or recess activities? Drop on by and leave yer thoughts, essspecially if they involve spying on girl's locker rooms as a potential activity." Wyvern picks a bit of ash from his snout, then sprinkles it into a nearby brazier where noone will notice. "In further news, anyone needing cheat-sheets for the inevitable poetry tests should call 1-900-OGREOUIJABOARDPOETRY4CHEAP. Just remember: any tattling to professor rev will resssult in severe dodgeball pummeling on the blacktop. You've been warned."

Wyvern turns as a kobold soundman walks on screen, his sewage-stained boots leaving visible footprints on the carpet. The kobold whispers something into Wyvern's ear, then turns and rushes back off screen. Wyvern nods and rubs his claws together, turning towards the cameras with a trademark sneer.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a freezer-kitchen or two to raid." Wyvern winks and begins slithering off-screen. "Oh, and if ya don't want yer personal nook invaded by us reptilianoids, please feel free to mail me a letter via PM on the sssubject, and I'll try n'be extra careful to not catch yer attention when I break in."

Static.

I like this poem, purple shadows. :-) Your uses of detail give this piece a personal feel that's evocative and easy to relate to, and the subject matter is really heartfelt. I particularly like the refrain with its original reference to the loved one being "7 countries, 16 days" away, and am curious to hear what the poem would sound like when read as a spoken word piece. The reference to the thunder making people "clean" was also an interesting use of language, and the image of the downpour was nicely incorporated. The last two lines of the poem were the only thing that irked me a little, as they seemed a bit more direct than the rest of the piece to me and broke the tone a bit... perhaps they could be expanded into a slightly larger stanza that fits in with the tangible details of the rest of the piece?

Anyway, it's great to see you posting around here again purple shadows. :-) Here's hoping that the bout of creativity lasts for some time to come so that we can see more of you!

Very nice poems, Kee. :-) In your "Home" poem, the lines "From the smells of the stove/ Stirs the warmth of two" really stood out to me, as they felt fitting in describing a homely setting. I thought the choice of "two" as the number there was particularly interesting and effective, and the lines were both very nicely phrased. I also agree with reverie that the form of "New and old..." was well-done, especially with the repetition of "New" and "Old." I definitely relate to the concept of kindred souls sharing old words, and thought the incorporation of "words" in the poem was a very nice touch.

Very cool stuff Kee, I look forward to reading more of your work. :-)

I saw a number of live shows between June 14th and June 22nd, but haven't had a chance to do any write-ups for them until now. Here's a short summary of each of them, with a couple of pics and a few videos to boot:

On June 14th, I went to see the Lifesavas, Strange Fruit Project, and Zeph & Azeem perform on the Urban Legends Tour at the Mezzanine in San Francisco. Out of the three shows that I attended, this one was the most rooted in traditional hip hop, and it ended up being a live set of performances. Zeph & Azeem really kicked the show off correctly with the best set of the evening, combining charismatic energy with a very well thought-out set involving plenty of interesting approaches to rapping. One moment of their set that stood out to me in particular is when Azeem relayed a story about a police officer stopping him on his way to the show and asking him for his nationality, which ended with Azeem kicking a comic accapella detailing the most outlandish nationality imaginable. Strange Fruit Project put on a nice set after Zeph & Azeem, though it took a couple of tracks for them to really get started up. They have some bonafide crowd-movers, with "Get Live" immediately coming to mind, but they saved their best tracks for last. Finally, the Lifesavas (a group comprised of Vursatyl, Jumbo the Garbageman, and Rev. Shines) put on a very solid show as the headliner of the evening, performing mostly tracks from their new album but not ignoring their older material. The best moment of their set might have been the track "L.I.F.E", where Gift of Gab of Blackalicious showed up as a special guest and performed a verse with them. Good show, highlighted by Zeph & Azeem's set.

Next on the list was the Human the Death Dance Tour, which featured Sage Francis, Buck 65, Alias, and Buddy Wakefield. I saw the show on June 20th at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Buddy Wakefield started things off with a set of spoken word poetry, which included an occasional beatboxer backing him up and a minute or two of soulsinging. Apparently, Mr. Wakefield has won several prestigious spoken word competitions, and he invited an older spoken word poet who had formerly been imprisoned as a member of the Black Panthers on stage to read a poem. It was a fairly interesting set, but I wouldn't call any of the poetry mindblowing. Alias came on to perform next, and though his set had its moments, it was probably the weakest of the evening... I like some of his stuff, but the set felt a little too gothic for my tastes. Fortunately, Canadian rapper hero Buck 65 fully restored my faith in the show with a fantastic performance, easily the best of the evening. I'm a fan of Buck's work, but had no idea that he had such an excellent stage show. He came out wearing a fake neck cast, and proceeded to alternate between awesome story tracks, amazing turntable work, and intriguing weirdo antics. He even threw in a slick oddball dance move or two! Definitely an act to catch live. Sage Francis came out with a live band to wrap things up as the headliner, and put on a very good set. I hadn't seen Sage live prior to this show, and he seems to have his set well-mastered. My only regret is that he only performed one Non-Prophets track, "Damage", and I was hoping for a few more tracks from that album. Still, he did manage to fit "Makeshift Patriot" into the mix, and he was quite clever in his use of props... There was a point when he tossed his shoe off and caught it on a microphone stand, only to spit on it and lick it clean to accentuate the lyrics of one of his tracks. Very good show. I think that Buck 65 put on the best set out of all three shows that I attended, and I highly recommend catching him live if you get a chance.

For my last show, I went to see Tortoise, Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow on June 22nd at the Independent in San Francisco. Unfortunately, this show was a disappointment, as Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow ended up having to cancel at the last minute and weren't there to perform. I'd reserved the tickets with the specific hopes of seeing them live, so it was definitely a let down to learn they weren't performing. An instrumental rock band called The Fucking Champs opened for Tortoise in their place. They were decent, but they had the volume of their instruments on way too loud... I was afraid I might blow an eardrum or something. On the plus side of things, Tortoise did put on a very good set as the main act. It's hard to describe what type of music they do, but I'd say it's kind of half jazz and half alternative rock with a bit of electronica and a lot of xylophones thrown in. They had a really strong rhythm section, with two drummers pounding away on various forms of percussion, and their guitarist Jeff Parker made all sorts of interesting sounds come out of his instrument. The lack of Fonky Dudley and Georgia Anne made this show a disappointment, but it was still sort of a nice way to close out a series of heavy concerts.

Anyway, here are three videos - one for the strongest act of each concert:

Zeph & Azeem performing a track that name references a number of rappers. Apologies for the blur, the lighting at venues can make things tricky at times:

Buck 65 doing a bit of turntable work, and then going into the track "Stella Q":

Tortoise doing their thing:

And finally, here's a pic of me chilling with Buck 65: http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c196/elitwack/DSC01097.jpg

I've been on somewhat of a self-conscious B-horror comedy binge as of late, as I recently watched "From Dusk Till Dawn" and "Shaun of the Dead" on DVD with a friend of mine.

"From Dusk Till Dawn" is an early Robert Rodriguez film starring George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino amongst others. It features the typical Rodriguez/Tarantino brand of genre film parody, and definitely delivers in the laughs and hardcore action department. The movie starts out as an outlaw-on-the-run film that's already over-the-top, only to eventually twist its way into a fullscale splatterfest involving vampires, automatic stakers, and super soakers filled with holy water. I found myself entertained the whole way through, and enjoyed the loads of hilarious bad-ass moments and desensitized gore it had to offer. That's not even mentioning Salma Hayek's infamously hot dance scene, which certainly didn't hurt the film in my book either! Those who enjoyed "Grindhouse" should be sure to give this one a shot.

"Shaun of the Dead" is a more modern romantic comedy from the U.K involving zombies. It deals with an electronics store clerk played by Simon Pegg (known from the British comedy show "The Office") who has a stessful social life but happens to have good strategies when it comes to evading the living dead. The film plays off of a number of zombie film cliches to hilarious effect, and seems to present the way that a zombie invasion would probably go down if it occured in real life. There are no bad-ass heroes who can take out zombies by using anything as a weapon... instead, characters mostly screw up in their survival attempts and end up looking like your average human beings. To give an example of one of the many funny moments: the main character walks out to the supermarket to get a beer, and is so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he doesn't realize the zombie invasion has begun. He walks all the way back home without picking up on the invasion, and it's only after he turns on his TV that he starts to become aware of it. The humor throughout the film is definitely quirky British-style humor, but it's funny through-and-through and worth checking out if you don't mind some zombie gore.

The news cameras shake and rotate at angles nauseous enough to make the Blair Witch Project look like Lawrence of Arabia. Pennites capable of stomaching the camera work squint as they briefly spot a crimson wing tip in the corner of the screen. They raise their brows as the main camera lense suddenly presses against Wyvern's snout, twisting his features and causing the lizard to gag and fall back for a moment. Many loaded carts of news equipment and wounded troglyodytes on stretchers rattle forward in the background, passing down familiar halls of the Pen.

"Greetingssss." Wyvern's face appears upsidedown on the screen for a moment, blurred by the moving ceiling lights above and a generally unproffesional-looking demeanor. "Welcome to the Almost Report - bringing it to you in mid-location-transfer, without all of the boring doodle mapping and illegal leasing info!"

The rustling of a sheet of paper is heard somewhere in the background under a harsh bout of static.

"Jussst a brief report this evening since we're kinda in the process of switching thingsss around." An expensive-looking vase falls somewhere in the background while a stretcher moves past it. "Asss you can see by the shapesss of these halls, the Mighty Pen's latest enchantment upgrade has been a success. Feel free to note any kinks on the Cabaret billboard, and be sure to thank Patrick for all his hard work in the meantime!"

The camera picking up Wyvern's voice suddenly falls out of focus. It nearly hits the floor, only to be tossed back into the air while spinning in every direction imaginable. The lense flashes a tail stinger and a troglyodyte's left leg before finally zooming in on Wyvern's left eye.

"On a different note: yoursss truly will be mossstly inactive until June 23rd. Apologiesss for the absence, I'm missing ya folks by the second... be expecting plenty o' new almost dragonic hijinks upon my return."

With that, the camera once again swerves out of focus, only to be followed by the image of a scaly foot. Only to be followed by the "image" of static.

William finally managed to remove his horns jagged toupee from the Zenbu soil, cursing with a rather reptilian hiss in spite of himself. The Akashan "emissary" rolled over to examine the murky skies, then lifted himself to his feet just as Ran Yoko posed her question. He dusted a few loose blades of grass from his librarian robes as he answered with his snarky reply, then immediately dug into the front of his pants and pulled out a large tome that had been strategically placed there.

"Let usss see here." William flipped through the pages of the book until he arrived at the backmatter. He set a gloved claw on the letter 'Z'. "Ahhh yes, here we are, the Kingdom of Zenbu. Known for its lush greenery and vibrant energy, Zenbu is widely regarded as the 'Life' city, and is always found bustling with life of all shapes and si-"

William was interrupted as the nearby zombie requested arm help from Minta Rose. He twisted his thick moustache to a curl and shut his tome with a loud *SNAP!*

"Well, there goesss my marketing lifeline." William grumbled and shoved the book back into his pants, squinting to examine the other approaching zombies. "Say, could someone dupe these sophisticated zombies into thinking there's a flesh-quilt convention on the other side of that fort? I'd really like to get right down to digging for treasu- errrr, excavating valuable Library artifactsss!"

Thank you for providing these links to your older works, Mark. :-) I read through them all this evening, and "The Life, The End" and "Numbers" were my personal favorites of the bunch. The former's use of colors and family imagery really intrigued me, while the latter's interesting ordering of numbers and thoughts on expectations were well done. I'm glad that you like the layout of the Pen site, and hope to see more of you around here in the future. Feel free to make yourself at home, and welcome!