The Beginning (or How I Learned to Hate Madagascar)

For months now I've been talking about putting together a blog/podcast. Finally it is here, well in part. We're not quite set up for the podcast yet, but the blog is here. What you'll find here will center primarily around video games, technology, movies, music and whatever else I feel the need to express my opinion about.

Today, that thing is Madagascar. No, I'm not talking about the movie. I speak of the country and its one lone seaport. Some of you may have played the game Pandemic 2. If you haven't, I recommend you do, so you may share in my hatred for the bane of any sickness's existence. The object of the game is to propagate an illness (either virus, bacteria or parasite) to spread to all corners of the globe. You are periodically given "evolution points" to mutate your sickness to your liking. There's a fair amount of strategy in the game; more than I imagine (or hope) a real virus would be capable of, but the game probably the most fun I've had looking at numbers in quite a while. The x-factor is Madagascar. Unlike every other country in the fucking world, Madagascar does not have an airport. Instead, it has one seaport. As an island, it lacks physical borders with another country. This, coupled with the fact that the people of Madagascar are excessively paranoid about illness, makes it a virtually impossible place to infect. I have yet to actually win this game, in the "destroy all humanity" aspect. At one point a number of us made our own objective of infecting Madagascar. Eventually it became evident that our choice was Madagascar, or the rest of the world, but never both. I will have your blood, Madagascar, just not today.

Onto a more important topic. The Penny Arcade Expo is fast approaching. As some of you know, I coordinate the Cross-Country Supertrip from the eastern states, across the northern states to PAX. This year we have 15 cars with 45 people from 13 states, Canada, the UK and Australia. This is going to be our biggest supertrip yet. On that note, I will be interviewed on Evil Avatar Radio on August 11 at 9pm EDT/6pm PDT. So, be sure to listen in. It's guaranteed to be awesome (guarantee not valid in Mexico, Brazil or Madagascar).

PAX is going to also be bigger than ever. With a projected 50,000 attendees and double the exhibition space than last year, it will be a weekend filled with madness and far too much for two of me to see and do everything I'm going to want. Then again, I never do question the awesomeness of PAX. That's the reason I lead a train of cars over 2,500 miles to get there.

August is PAX time. Our time is now.