So I’ve recently discovered Zero Punctuation on The Escapist. Yahtzee, you devilishly awesome game reviewer, great job! I found that after watching all of his submissions one right after the other, my thoughts started to sound like Yahtzee and talk like Yahtzee. Well, that’s just messed up. It’s like when you play too much Diablo II and when you blink you still see it. You could also replace Diablo II with any highly addictive game. How about, for the sake of popularity, World of Warcraft or Guitar Hero. All you WoW/GH fans know what I’m talking about! (I’m not a WoW player myself, due to not wanting to be pay for an addiction for something other than the oboe.)

Anyways, back on topic. Zero Punctuation, by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, reviews video games and posts them on the web (The Escapist). They are absolutely hilarious and I totally agree with the Halo 3 statement near the end. (you’ll understand once you watch it) Yahtzee is a British-born Australian, making the review sound that much better. My current favourite reviews are: Tomb Raider Anniversary, Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Psychonauts, and Halo 3. Keep up the great work, Yahtzee!

Speaking of great work, Locoluis, awesome fanart! See XKCD? That’s how Ren looks! Locoluis get’s the idea =D

Anyways, I’ve been invited to add a really awesome Stargate application on Facebook for all those Stargate obsessed fans like me. Now THAT’S PURE AWESOME.

–Moy–

Your donation was successful, and now a couple of struggling students will be able to pay our webspace-rent. Hooray for you!

Yep. It’s still there. The Curse of the Flappy Sides.

For those non-oboists who read this blog, the tip of my reed is incredibly thin,

but unlike this image (posted below, nabbed from a Google search which led me

to Cooper’s blog), the very tip of the tip is flapping open. Basically, it makes the

sound bright, and forces me to bite to ‘control’ the reed.

These are both bad things. I’ve been working through it with Jim–he’s

had me shaping, tying, and scraping while he watches to see if I’m doing

anything wrong. Neither of us can figure it out. He says, somewhat

frustratingly, “Oh, this happened to me for about three years when

I was in my twenties, and no one I asked knew what to do about it

either.” Well, classy.

I figure the best thing to do is get other opinions–so I asked Patty

what she thought, and she suggested something is wrong with the cane

I’m using–which I *think* is mostly Ghys cane–so I’m going to get my

hands on some different stuff and give it a shot.

In other news! I went to see Wintersleep on Wednesday night, and it was

great, only the crowd was packed, and I didn’t want to have to drag David

behind me in my bid for the front–so we sat at the side, where at least we

could see. Sitting down in a dark corner was not the best idea, though,

because my eyes kept sliding shut. I wasn’t bored! I love Wintersleep!

They played almost all of my favourite songs! Roar. Anyway. It was a

good concert, and I’m glad I went.

My other other news is that I now know more about Bach’s Musical

Offering than I ever wanted to know.

And finally: Brian Seaton was here! Yay! Whenever Brian comes we

get awesome “this is how your oboe works” masterclasses. We’ve had

them on acoustics and undercutting, and yesterday’s was on cracks. I’m

so glad my oboe has never cracked. *knock on wood*

Ren out.

I’ve made comics about him, and blogged about him, and now he’s in a commercial.
Check out Alex Klein: A real Geico customer.
(The comment list for this video is not bad, either. A bunch of oboists going, “Whoa! Crazy!”)