Darkora - Nik's Blog

Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a great and glorious nation. Favourite amongst his subjects was the court painter of whom he was very proud. Everybody agreed this wizzened old man pianted the greatest pictures in the whole kingdom and the king would spend hours each day gazing at them in wonder. However, one day a dirty and dishevelled stranger presented himself at the court claiming that in fact he was the greatest painter in the land. The indignant king decreed a competition would be held between the two artists, confident it would teach the vagabond an embarrassing lesson. Within a month they were both to produce a masterpiece that would out do the other. After thirty days of working feverishly day and night, both artists were ready. They placed their paintings, each hidden by a cloth, on easels in the great hall of the castle. As a large crowd gathered, the king ordered the cloth be pulled first from the court artist’s easel. Everyone gasped as before them was revealed a wonderful oil painting of a table set with a feast. At its centre was an ornate bowl full of exotic fruits glistening moistly in the dawn light. As the crowd gazed admiringly, a sparrow perched high up on the rafters of the hall swooped down and hungrily tried to snatch one of the grapes from the painted bowl only to hit the canvas and fall down dead with shock at the feet of the king. ’Aha!’ exclaimed the king. ’My artist has produced a painting so wonderful it has fooled nature herself, surely you must agree that he is the greatest painter who ever lived!’ But the vagabond said nothing and stared solemnly at his feet. ’Now, pull the blanket from your painting and let us see what you have for us,’ cried the king. But the tramp remained motionless and said nothing. Growing impatient, the king stepped forward and reached out to grab the blanket only to freeze in horror at the last moment. ’You see,’ said the tramp quietly, ’there is no blanket covering the painting. This is actually just a painting of a cloth covering a painting. And whereas your famous artist is content to fool nature, I’ve made the king of the whole country look like a clueless little twat.

Banksy, Wall and Piece (via thedailyblock)

Lego Game of Thrones please!

Daily Discussion: What other movies or franchises would you like to see get the Lego game treatment?

There’s been several Lego Star Wars games, Lego Batman, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Harry Potter and more. What movie, comic book or other franchise would you like to see as a Lego game?

im in love with her

But institutional racism is imaginary, right?

Watch.

My Quest: Buying Terry Pratchett Books in Hardback

I'm currently working on buying the entire Discworld series in hardback after I recently found a few of them in a charity shop (First editions!) So here's the list of the ones I'm still after

  The Colour of Magic

The Light Fantastic

Equal Rites

Mort

Sourcery

Wyrd Sisters

Pyramids

Guards! Guards!

Eric

Moving Pictures

Reaper Man

Witches Abroad

Small Gods

Lords and Ladies

Men at Arms

Soul Music

Interesting Times

Maskerade

Feet of Clay

Hogfather

Jingo

Last Continent

Carpe Jugulum

Fifth Elephant

The Truth

Thief of Time

Last Hero

Amazing Maurice

Night Watch

The Wee Free Men

Monstrous Regiment

Hat Full Of Sky

Going Postal

Thud!

Wintersmith

Making Money

Unseen Academicals

I Shall Wear Midnight

17/38 = 45% done ^^

In Other News:

I've been levelling my Paladin (Lysandre) on WoW recently with Amanda, we've just started doing the Blasted Lands quests after stomping our way through Dustwallow Marsh, Tanaris, Ungoro Crater and the Swamp of Sorrows - With another few hours worth of questing I reckon we'll be in Outlands stomping yet more faces on our way to level 70. Working with another Paladin has been fantastic for levelling - we've not yet found anything we've struggled to kill together and it has impressed me just how competent Amanda has become with her class - she was more than capable of delivering the punishment on multiple opponents when a bug meant that my character was unable to provide any kind of useful support until I logged out and back in again.

Apparently it's the Royal Wedding tomorrow though I've yet to figure out if I actually care... Probably not come to think of it, though at least it's a nice excuse for a bank holiday - not gonna complain on that front.

~Nik.

Nik's Birthday Wishlist (12 Days to go! ^^)

As requested by many many people, I am now making a birthday list... 

PC Games:

Portal 2

Dwarfs!? (Steam)

Magicka (Steam)

Dawn of War II - Retribution

WoW 60 day game time card

XBAWKS 360:

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

Dynasty Warriors 7

Burnout Paradise (my copy is borked :( )

Books: (hardback please!)

The Rincewind Trilogy: A Discworld Omnibus: Sourcery, Eric, Interesting Times

The Death Trilogy: Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music

The Gods Trilogy: A Discworld Omnibus: Pyramids, Small Gods, Hogfather

Any other Discworld books that I haven't already got :P

Roleplaying Stuffs:

d10's, lots of d10's!

Dark Heresy - Radical's Handbook

Dark Heresy - Blood of Martyrs

Death Watch - Rites of Battle

Warhammer Stuffs:

Grey Knights Dread-Knight - must be Orkified.

Ork Battleforce / Boyz Squads - let the green tide commence!

Huge things that I probably won't get but it's worth hoping for anyway

Novatech N-Tablet (With Win7 home premium)

The sleigh slewed around at the end of Money Trap Lane. COME ON, ALBERT. "You know you’re not supposed to do this sort of thing, master. You know what happened last time." THE HOGFATHER CAN DO IT, THOUGH. "But… little match girls dying in the snow is part of what the Hogswatch spirit is all about, master," said Albert desperately. "I mean, people hear about it and say, ‘We may be poorer than a disabled banana and only have mud and old boots to eat, but at least we’re better off than the poor little match girl,’ master. It makes them feel happy and grateful for what they’ve got, see." I KNOW WHAT THE SPIRIT OF HOGSWATCH IS, ALBERT. "Sorry, master. But, look, it’s all right, anyway, because she wakes up and it’s all bright and shining and tinkling music and there’s angels, master." Death stopped. AH. THEY TURN UP AT THE LAST MINUTE WITH WARM CLOTHES AND A HOT DRINK? "Er. No. Not exactly at the last minute, master. Not as such." WELL? "More sort of just after the last minute." Albert coughed nervously. YOU MEAN AFTER SHE’S— "Yes. That’s how the story goes, master, ‘s not my fault." WHY NOT TURN UP BEFORE? AN ANGEL HAS QUITE A LARGE CARRYING CAPACITY. "Couldn’t say, master. I suppose people think it’s more… satisfying the other way…" Albert hesitated and then growned. "You know, now that I come to tell someone…" Death looked down at the shape under the falling snow. Then he set the lifetimer on the air and touched it with a finger. A spark flashed across. "You ain’t really allowed to do that," said Albert, feeling wretched. THE HOGFATHER CAN. THE HOGFATHER GIVES PRESENTS. THERE’S NO BETTER PRESENT THAN A FUTURE. "Yeah, but—" ALBERT. "All right, master." Death scooped up the girl and strode to the end of the alley. The snowflakes fell like angel’s feathers. Death stepped out into the street and accosted two figures who were tramping through the drifts. TAKE HER SOMEWHERE WARM AND GIVE HER A GOOD DINNER, he commanded, pushing the bundle into the arms of one of them. AND I MAY WELL BE CHECKING UP LATER. Then he turned and disappeared in the swirling snow. Constable Visit looked down at the little girl in his arms, and then at Corporal Nobbs. "What’s all this about, corporal?" Nobby pulled aside the blanket. "Search me," he said. "Looks like we’ve been chosen to do a bit of charity." "I don’t call it very charitable, just dumping someone on people like this." "Come on, there’ll still be some grub left in the Watch House," said Nobby. He’d got a very deep and certain feeling that this was expected of him. He remembered a big man in a grotto, although he couldn’t quite remember the face. And he couldn’t quite remember the face of the person who had handed over the girl, so that meant it must be the same one. Shortly afterward there was some tinkling music and a very bright light and two rather affronted angels appeared at the other end of the alley, but Albert threw snowballs at them until they went away.

Hogfather, Sir! Terry Pratchett (via zombeesknees)

why do so many people ignore the entire process of labor when discussing abortion, unwanted pregnancies, and women’s right to bodily autonomy. labor is no trivial matter! it kills! it has killed! for the majority of human history it was the leading cause of death of women! to me there’s something about trivializing adoption by saying “just give [the child] up” and completely ignoring the tremendous amount of physical pain and irreversible bodily damage women go through giving birth that’s even more disgusting than not supporting abortion to begin with!

Love this! Stay safe folks (x)