Podcast contest

Episode 4 of the podcast is up at the usual place. So, here is a place where you can leave your answers for the contest. Take up comment space or drop me an e-mail.

Podcasting again

Episode 2 is out. Same place as last time. Listen and enjoy. I should be updating this blog coming up soon, I have a few ideas brewing, but nothing concrete enough to write about. All of my rambling has gone into the podcast. Make sure to spread the word about the podcast and drop me a line with any comments or queries.

The first Podcast is up

Trey and I finally kept to our word and made our podcast. If you want to listen/download it, head on over to web.mac.com/treyhockman and click on podcast on the top. Take a listen and let me know what you think. Hopefully we'll have a full site up soon enough and have boards/more posts. Enjoy!
PS again that is http://web.mac.com/treyhockman

Bringing back memories

I have decided that it's time for the Disney cartoon series of my youth to be remade as feature films, just like Transformers and the upcoming G.I. Joe and Voltron. I also know that the best way for these to make a crap-ton of money is to make them a hard R and rip off previously successful movies, and for that reason all of these will sound familiar and cheezy (but that is the point). So hold on to your hats for the upcoming amazing releases of:
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers-
The tone is turned down into a gritty crime drama. Monty is found dead from some poisoned swiss. Zipper is the only witness, but before Chip and Dale get a chance to talk to him, he is found hanging from the rafters. As Fat Cat is the only other obvious suspect, the duo (with random appearances by Gadget) chases him down, only to find him absolved of the crime, he claims that all his dastardly deeds were just a game of "cat and mouse" with them. As the plot continues to twist and turn, more and more characters wind up dead, and the big reveal at the end is that Dale did it all (did you not see that coming? I mean just look at his shirt, it totally screams homicidal maniac). The film ends with Chip bringing his cackling partner (or are they brothers too? I never know) to justice and walks away with Gadget, hoping for a brighter future.
Gummi Bears-
A full on epic on the scale of the LotR trilogy. The bears have been forced out of their forest home by an incoming invasion of the ogres, led by the evil Duke Igthorn. In turn, they are forced to recruit an army of mismatched animals and humans to fight back. Mixed in with the amazing epic battles, the movie takes a hard turn and addresses the bears' addiction to gummi juice, as they go through withdrawals (since they lack the ingredients to fuel their drug-based battle lust) they are forced into learning to battle sober. When Grammi Bear dies from lack of juice (her addiction was so powerful), they begin the huge climactic battle, complete with cavalry and dragons. Of course they win the battle and save the forest and return to their drug-filled lives.
TaleSpin-
Taking a page from Han Solo and Malcolm Reynolds, Baloo is turned into a gruff and charming smuggler. Set during WW2 (as it seemed to be anyway), the Air Pirates are now Nazis, and Baloo and Kit are sent on a job to deliver secret plans to Allied men behind enemy lines. Halfway through the movie, on their way to the drop point, the Sea Duck is shot down, and Baloo is forced to leave a crippled Kit at and an ally-friendly farm house and deliver the plans alone and to exact extreme revenge. Fighting his way through scores of Nazis (funny side note, my notes for this blog read scores of Zombies, I guess zombies and Nazis are interchangable), armed only with his trusty pistol and cunning, he delivers the plans and helps the Allied forces to destroy a plant that produces Super Nazis. At the climax, Baloo gets into a gruesome and yet incredibly awesome and violent knife fight with one of the final Super Nazis, only to have it end with Baloo jamming his knife upwards through the Nazi's jaw into its brain and saying something really witty. The movie ends with and obvious allusion to a sequel as a Super Nazi rises from the ashes of the burned plant and begins to walk towards the camera (this might even happen in the middle of the credits for extra surprise-ness).
Darkwing Duck-
(I had the hardest time trying to figure out how to do this one). But about 20 minutes into the movie, Darkwing gets imprisoned for his vigilantism after being revealed by super-cop GizmoDuck. While there, a la Rorschach in Watchmen, all his previous foes do their best to return the pain that Darkwing so lovingly dished out to them, only to be thwarted again and again by his genius. Years pass and harden Darkwing into a bitter duck (told in a montage, of course), when Launchpad McQuack, who has been working with lawyers on an insanity angle, finally gets a break and gets Darkwing released into his care. Once out, they plot against GizmoDuck (who we learn to be a corrupt cop at the top of the local mob organization) and the rest of the movie is Darkwing creating a new costume and hitting Gizmo where it hurts, ending with a huge showdown on the roof of Gizmo's penthouse in the driving rain. The final scene is Gizmo lying in a pool of his own blood and oil, having been impaled on a beach chair, and Darkwing walking off into the night, leaving a trail of evidence for the cops to put Gizmo behind bars for a good long time.
DuckTales (whooo!, sorry, couldn't resist)-
Even though they've already had one amazing movie - The Treasure of the Lost Lamp (no seriously, it was really good - even though I haven't seen it in years), which almost put them out of this blog, I decided against it, since I got a really good idea for their movie - yes, you are correct, a heist flick (just like the remade Ocean's 11 and Italian Job). The plot is that Srooge's money have been lost through a phony legal suit with Flintheart Glomgold and he and the McDuck family is forced into poverty. However, under the tech guidance of Huey, Dewey, and Louie and the sexy charm of Webby, they are able to crack Flintheart's uncrackable security system and safe, and just when you think everything is going wrong with the plan it turns out that all the "missteps" we see are really part of the plan and Scrooge walks off with this money intact and the movie ends with the greedy bastard swimming back through his gold coins.

Yeah, I know that it's not that good, but it felt good to write it, I hope you enjoyed it.
Godspeed

7 months

It has been 7 months with nary a word from this site. I've been busy, Katie and I bought a house and got a little kitten (her name is Our Mrs. Reynolds, for all you Firefly fans out there). Aside from all that, I haven't thought of much to write about, I've been meeting a bunch of new friends on WoW from all over the US, and it's pretty dang cool to know that I am playing with people thousands of miles away. I even got mentioned in someone's blog! How cool is that?
Anyway, I'm working on deciding what to do with this blog. Should I keep it up with this sort of stuff (as in what's been going on), or focus on features (like my top lists, reviews, and random nonsense). What do you guys think? If anyone is actually still reading this, let me know!
Godspeed

What Class is Jesus?

As I was in church today, we read a certain scripture that caused me to wonder.... if Jesus was in World of Warcraft, what class would he be? Let me refer you to the scripture that was read today:
Luke 4: 29 - 30 (I'll quote from the NIV, since that is what is sitting in front of me) "They got up, drove him [Jesus] out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way." Now, obviously, here Jesus is displaying either the Rogue talent - Vanish, or the high Mage level talent - Invisibility, because he is able to basically disengage himself from combat and reduce the aggro of the mobs surrounding him to zero, resetting them to their place. However, Jesus cannot be limited to just these two classes, because we hear often of the stories of his healings, and neither Rogues nor Mages can heal very well, unless they are using bandages. And for that reason, I will now break it down into paragraphs for each class and make a case. Then we can decide once and for all what World of Warcraft class Jesus is (because I know you all have been wondering).
Mage - Well, as mentioned above, if Jesus were to be a mage, he would have to be at least level 68, to be able to learn Invisibility. Mages are also a cloth-wearing class, and we know that Jesus wore a cloth robe (more than likely with +intellect and +spirit), but his sandals were more than likely leather which could pose a problem here. Although, he could just wear some cloth ones and make do. Also, the Arcane Intellect and Arcane Brilliance spells that grant a boost in Intellect on party members is likely one of Jesus' favorite, since he tried to use it often on his disciples to get them to understand his parables. One COULD argue that Jesus used Blink to get away from the mob back in Galilee, but I find that argument faulty, because Blink does not have an aggro reducing aspect to it. Another argument for Mages is the fact that Jesus was able to feed the five thousand, and since we all know that Mages are only good for conjuring food and water for their group, this is definitely a big plus. The only huge problem that Mages face in their campaign to claim Jesus as their own is the Resurrection. One could argue that Jesus had a Warlock in his party during the last days who gave him a Soulstone, that allowed him to Rez, but I find fault in that, because I think that Jesus' Resurrection was of his own accord, and therefore couldn't have been brought about by someone else (unless it was the Holy Spirit who cast it on him as Ben points out). Anyway, that's the case for Mages.
Shaman - Shammies, on the other hand, do have the ability to resurrect themselves, and they have the ability to heal as well, which gives it already two advantages over the above mentioned Mages. Plus, A Shammie can resurrect others, which gives them a major point in that it can explain the resurrection of Lazarus. Also, they can wear both cloth and leather (as well as chain, but I don't think Jesus wore any chain mail), so that gets his outfit rounded out easily. However, to my knowledge, I don't know of any talent or spell that Shammies have that could reduce the threat level of the mobs and allow Jesus to walk away unharmed in the story presented above. But, Shammies do have some sort of elemental control, which would help in the case of Jesus rebuking the winds and the waves. The only problems I can forsee with Shammies is the use of totems for some of their spells. As much as I have scoured the Gospels over the years, I have not found any mention to Jesus using a totem when healing any of the many people throughout his ministry. Although, it must be said that the totems are used for Healing over Time spells, and it is true that most of Jesus' heals were instant, there are a few that require time (as in the case of the blind man who had to wash himself in the pool of Siloam). The other problem with Shammies would have to be the fact that Jesus was a Human (ok, ok, half God, half Man, but for all intents and purposes, his race was clearly Human in form), and the Shaman class is not available for Humans, but I think this to be a minor flaw in the argument, because Jesus can pick whatever class he wants.
Warlock - Now before you get all uppity on me for even mentioning that Jesus could have been a Lock, I advise that you remember that this is all written in humor, and if you can't handle it, please navigate to a safer website like www.family.org and have fun on your own. The case for Locks, in my opinion is a flimsy one anyway. The only thing that they have going for them is the Soulstone, which Jesus could have cast on himself, that and the fact that it is a cloth class just like Mages. Aside from this, there seems to be nothing else going for it, since it is not a healing class (at least not one that doesn't require afflicting pain to others in order to heal). If I am missing anything here, please make sure to let me know in the comments section below, because I think I'm going to have to end here.
Druid - I would have to say that Jesus would be a Resto Druid, due to all the Healing abilities mentioned earlier. Jesus would not use the shapeshifting abilities, because it would have been unnecessary to his goals. The only major hurdle for Druids is similar to that of Shammies and is therefore thrown out - the fact that Humans cannot pick this class. Sad to say, but I can't think of anything that would separate Druids from Shammies in this battle, and since Shammies also have the elemental control, I think it does give them the slight edge (even over the nature abilities of Druids, which could explain the withering of the fig tree, but I find that to be minor, since most classes could easily cause enough damage to the tree to cause it to wilt).
Paladin - He would definitely be a Holy specced Pally, but there is little here to support this class above the other healing classes (which brings a tear to my eye, as this is my home class). The one thing that can be said here is the Blessings that Pallies can bestow upon others. The Blessings of Wisdom, Light, and Salvation come to mind first off, for the obvious reasons. Sadly, I cannot think of any other reasons to support this class as Jesus'.
Priest - A Holy specced Priest on the other hand, brings us into one of the most famous of all Jesus' miracles - the ability to walk on water. A Priest-only spell, this is a huge argument for this class. This added to the Healing abilities (all mentioned in the Shammy paragraph), gives the Priest a big run for the top. Plus, the Prayers that can be given to party members and to the Priest himself gives it one more big push as it is mentioned multiple times throughout the Gospels of Jesus' love to pray. However, when we look back to the story that brought up this whole subject, I can't find a talent/spell that takes a Priest out of combat and allows them to walk unnoticed through mobs.... although they do have Divine Shield, this wouldn't allow them to go unnoticed.
Rogue - Definitely a Subtlety specced Rogue. Jesus has the ability to Shadowstep behind everyone mentally in all of his parables in order to get the jump on them so that they never really know where he is going to be next. Added to this the leather wearing, and the aforementioned Vanish ability gives Rogues a pretty strong run for Jesus.... However, the inability to recreate any of the healings without the use of bandages does bring a big detraction to the class.
Warrior - Aside from the Protection aspect of Wars, I can't really find much to give them a good run for Jesus. Am I missing anything?
Hunter - Same with Wars, I only find the affinity to nature an aspect that could bring any validity to a Hunter's run.
And there you have it. Am I missing anything for any of the classes? Seeing as how I've only really played a Pally, Rogue and Mage, I probably am missing a lot of talents or spells from each class, so feel free to add anything to the comments section and I can update as information comes in.
For those of you who have been waiting for a real blog to come in, sorry. Christmas was a good time spent with both Katie and my families and we got to go to Medieval Times, which was SPECTACULAR! Then, we came back home, and went back to work, and nothing happened until Burning Crusade came out, and since then I have been spending what time I can on the wonderful grind to lvl 70 (currently 2 bars from 66). Anyway, I thought about doing another few top ten lists of 06, but I haven't really decided yet. If you want to see those, just let me know and I'll get to work on it. Anyhoo, that's all I've got. Godspeed.