<Halloween Joke>
Why do demons and ghouls always hang out together?
Answer (highlight to read): Because demons are a ghoul's best friend.
</Halloween Joke>

Had to post this.

Blizz's costume contest was today. Rie dressed up as such:


But there were also some very good other entries:


Some one on one server I was playing on posed an interesting question: why is it the one black character in the game is also the one with a liquor bottle for a melee weapon?

Hope he sapped the turret first.

The Orange Box.
Valve's latest release gets Reviewinated.

Now that I've played through all the Orange Box games and spent at least an hour with each class inTF2, I can use the Reviewinator™ to let you know what to think.

Review for Half-Life 2: Episode 2
Overall rating: 9.71
Content summary:
Everyone's favorite mute theoretical physicist with a surprising aptitude for firearms. (weight 5): 10
Everyone's favorite scientist's daughter with funky hair and a surprising aptitude for firearms. (weight 5): 10
Everyone's favorite giant mechanical "dog" with... OMFG DID YOU JUST SEE HIM TEAR THAT STRIDER APART?! (weight 5): 10
Immersion (weight 5): 10
One more piece of the Free Man story. (weight 5): 10
Most awesome epic climactic ending action sequence, involving you, striders, giant sticky bombs, and a gravity gun. (weight 5): 10
Sense that, in the end, it plays just like HL2 and Episode 1 without breaking any new ground or doing anything particularly innovative, which is okay because HL2 and Episode 1 were awesome and more of an awesome thing is still awesome, but it would still be nice to see them innovate on what's already a terrific formula. (weight 5): 8

Review for Team Fortress 2
Overall rating: 9.08
Content summary:
"Oh, they're gonna have to glue you back together. IN HELL!" I.e., gibs galore. (weight 5): 10
"I'm gonna beat you like a rented mule, boy." I.e. sitting back and playing guitar while your gun turret racks up the kills. (weight 5): 10
"AH-HAHAHAHA! CRY SOME MORE, BABIES!" I.e., mowing down waves of enemies with a gatling gun. (weight 5): 10
"All I can tell you about this next procedure is that it will be EXCRUTIATING!" I.e., putting an uberheal on a Heavy and tagging along as he mows down the opposition. (weight 5): 10
"Mumblemumblemumble." I.e., LIGHTING EVERYONE ON FIRE! AH-HAHAHA! (weight 5): 10
"Your heads a freakin' bat magnet." I.e., running up behind the other guy and clubbing him to near-death before he turns and one-shots you because the scout is the worst. class. ever. (weight 5): 5
"Thanks for standin' still, mate!" I.e., getting 12 headshots and 3 dominations in a row. Also, BOOM, HEADSHOT! (weight 5): 10
"If God had wanted you to live, he would not have created me!" I.e., gibs raining from the skies after you clear out the engineer, his turret, the sniper, the Heavy, and the medic healing the heavy with a few well-placed rockets. (weight 5): 10
"Ugh, I got blood on my suit." I.e., getting the enemy medic to heal you to full health, then backstabbing him. Hehe, sucker. (weight 5): 10
Um, more than 6 maps would be nice. (weight 3): 5
The fact that, in the end, it is still a multi-player-only game and that means *sigh* playing with other people. (weight 1): 5
(Go here for audio clips of most of the taunts.)
(Go here for important tactical information on how to play. Brought to you by the deranged minds of Penny Arcade, which, as always, comes with a strong language warning.)

Review for Portal
Overall rating: 10.00
Content summary:
Deranged, bipolar, passive-aggressive psychotic computer. Which is hilarious. (weight 5): 10
Cake (weight 5): 10
The cake is a lie! (weight 5): 10
Aw, aren't you the cutest little gun turret that's ever tried to smear my guts across the wall. (weight 5): 10
I less-than-three weighted companion cube! (weight 5): 10
Catchiest. Song. Ever. (weight 5): 10
Oh yeah. The portal gun, intriguing puzzles, and all that. (weight 5): 10
It's only three hours long, at best, but strangely, that does not diminish the game in the slightest (weight 0): 5

By the way, check out my new favorite reviewer's review of the Orange Box (language warning).

New season of 24!
*Phew* For a second I thought Chloe wasn't in it...

Recipe for Blackened Catfish.
Written in Ghoti English.

First person to decipher it gets... I dunno. Maybe a recipe for Cajun-style blackened catfish.
(Note: all words are written phonetically, replacing common letter sequences with less-expected ones for the same sound.)

Blauqueant Queaudghoti

Queighgean Queaudghoti cervt ep whoth geuced the rayd deci ev spaycez aunt ghleighfer. Thoce oughntreigh oz pergheaqued far eigh kwoque, eaquesealeand weigh dou deighsd the eweneique ghleighfer ev queaudghoti moquesed whoth the dratoshenal meathot ev taon ceaoth queooqueng, geced whothaod oughl the ghaud. Cerf oughn doughp ev wayd rays.

Ongreiteindce

• 2 deispounz Queighean peaper
• 2 deispounz leamen peaper
• 2 deispounz garloque paoter
• 2 deispounz ceoughld
• 2 deispounz peaper
• 1 paont queaudghoti gholeighz
• 2 deispounz beder
• 1 quep Odaulyean-sdayl ceaulet treaceng

Tereachshunz

1. Preicheid efean dou 350 tegreiz Ghaireanchayd (175 tegreiz Celceiece). Laydlei greice eigh meiteiem beighqueng toti.
2. On eigh tiauleaux, meiteiem beauxl, moques queighean peaper, leamen peaper, garloque paoter, ceoughld aunt peaper.
3. Breti beauxth ceaytz ev queaudghoti gholeighz whoth beder. Reb gholeighz whoth the queighean peaper moquescier oughn beauxth ceaytz.
4. Cheid eigh larghj cheafei squeolod eauxfer meiteiem-chay cheid endol reilei choughd. Aut gholeighz, aunt ghray eproughquesomedlei 2 monedce oughn eici ceayt, endol slaydlei blauqueant.
5. Ereighnj blauqueant gholeighz on eigh ceingle leigher on the preipairt beighqueng toti, aunt queauxd whoth Odaulyean-sdayl ceaulet treceng. Beighque 30 tou 35 monedce on the preicheideat efean, endol ghoti oz eizolei ghleighquet whoth eigh gharque.

Area Man Lovesh Reliability-Centered Maintenance "Shoooo Much". Hic!

FORT WORTH, TX - According to shourshesh closhe to him, area man Joe Belland lovesh reliability-centered maintenance, eshpecially when ushed by the Miller Brewing Company and bottling plant. During a reshent shalesh preshentation, Belland was reported to shtate "and ash you can shee, by implemendering a pretendive maintenananshe polishy with manned plaintenanshe every 62-hundred, 8-thoushan hoursh, and inshpectionsh every 44-hunderd hoursh, we have increashed the avaibalibity of thish compontent and redushed the total lifetime cosht by... I love you all shooo much."

It wash reported that Belland then broke down and began crying for a half-hour, muttering shomething about "you don't look at me when we make love anymore," before pashing out on the floor in a puddle of hish own vomit. Miller Brewing Company hash announshed it will shtop giving free shamplesh to vendorsh making shalesh pitchesh—Hic!

/Random

Transformers Costumes... that transform.

Bet you didn't know a hawk could kill a deer.

From Thorium Knights, with love. (TK is my WoW guild name; one of our members is stationed in the Mid East.)