{nerd alert}

a few months ago (99 days ago, actually, according to my character page) my brother turned me on to this magnificent online rpg called kingdom of loathing. i'm a level 13 disco bandit. i'm about to beat the game by defeating the naughty sorceress and ascending. it's going to take me a few days though, because she's using a barrrrnacle as a familiar, and the only familiar that can beat that is a goat (which i had to make myself, by combining some goat cheese with some anticheese), and my goat doesn't have enough experience yet to take down a barrrrnacle.

i don't think i've had this much fun with a game since the zork series. :D

i read this story on a message board, on a post about hte bros. grimm movie. i liked it so much i thought i'd share it with you. :)

it's apparently a very old slavic folk tale, called "the silent couple".

***

In a village not too far from here, there once lived two stubborn young people. She was beautiful but arrogant; he was handsome but unruly. As the gods would have it in their infinite wisdom, they fell in love, to their parents' relief - for no one else would have them - the entire village agreed that they were made for each other.

The entire village got together to joyfully prepare the coming marriage, and the couple forgot their previous headstrong manners in order to cook and clean, and hunt game and build their new house. The village wedding was one of the most beautiful ever. there was an entire week of feasting and dancing and music to sing to, and many wellwishers gave the young couple precious gifts of gold and salt.

Eeventually the music died down, the guests and pagentries faded away as everyone gave the young couple some space to private time to spend as they wish. The young couple, feet throbbing from the incessant dances, stomach aching from the feasts, tired of the thankyous and the seeyounextyears, finally entered their own house and they both immediatly collapsed on their feather bed.

"Close the door, there's a draft." murmured the sleepy husband to his new wife.
"My dear, why should I do it? I'm the one who cooked and cleaned and even made this comfortable bed, I deserve to rest. You close the door," yawned the wife.
"What kind of married life is this? The second the ring's on your finger, you turn into a lazy good-for-nothing?!" the husband was getting upset.
"How dare you!" snarled the wife. "We haven't even spent a single night together and you're already calling me names!!"

They stood up, facing each other in white anger, seething through the teeth, when suddenly, the wife got an idea.
"My dear, since neither wants to close the door and since we're both tired of each other's voice; I propose a contest. I say, first one to make a sound will close the door, so."
"Fine," replied the husband testily, "Let's begin immediately".
So the young couple, still glaring at each other, comfortably installed themselves in two opposite chairs, in total silence.

A few hours later, some forest robbers were chancing through the village when they saw the newlybuilt house with its wide-open door. They peeked in, but couldn't hear a sound. They entered, and began stripping the house of its silverware and gold goblets, taking away the furniture and rolling up even the fine carpets.

"Won't he stop them?!" fumed the silent wife.
"Won't she say something?!" fumed the silent husband.

The robbers went round to the back, and found the couple, but in the dark, they mistook them for lifelike statues. They stripped the rings off the wife's fingers, the gold chains off the husband's chest; and yet, neither made a single sound.
The robbers left with their loot.

The couple still stayed silent, growing more and more determined as the dark hours of the night turned to the wee hours of the morning, when the village's most venerable seer - came by their house. Seeing the door open, he feared for the worse, and he entered the barren house with his sword drawn. All he saw were the wreckage left by the robbers, but no couple nor blood to be found. He came to the bedroom where he finally noticed the silent couple.

"What happened here? Where is all your furniture, and your wedding gifts? and the rugs??"
The couple continued staring at each other in defiant silence.
"Answer me! I demand an answer!"
The couple didn't oblige.
The villager drew back his sword, and yelled to the husband: "If you don't answer me, you must be bewitched and I shall kill you!"
"NO!" yelled the wife, rushing to protect her love.

"Hahha, I win", the husband clapped his hands together, "Now, go close the door."


:)

"I also really recommend that everyone go to Sarah Becan's site and pick up her "Ouija Interview" books. They're fucking gorgeous."

*blush*

ego-trip. :D :D :D

except, if anyone's come here from tlchicken looking for ouija comics, don't hurt me, but i'm sold out. wizard world ate all my ouija interviews. i'm printing more, so in the next week or two i'll have them available again. :)

i forget if i told you guys that i finished elanor's band's site or not.

becoz i totally finished elanor's band's site, and it's totally up and posted and stuff.

so you should go have a looksee at elanor's band's site and gawk at how pretty it is. :)

love and rockets,

sarah

dyed my hairs last night:




elanor's band's site that i drew and then internetted is officially up and running. how you like me now, internet? (pretty good!) goin' on, feelin' strong. :)

i _didn't_ do a new bucket and dog this weekend, or any new gag panels. sometimes i think i am just not a very funny person, these funny-type ideas do not come to me so easily.

i _did_ finish elanor's band's website, which i'll prolly link to tomorrow or something. it has some pretty illustrations on it.

i _did_ buy a new copy of lynda barry's cruddy, and start to re-read it. the first time i read this book it left me sobbing in a fetal position in the middle of my bed. big, sloppy, heaving, gaspy sobs. that's how fucking great this book is.

and we're going to see the aristocrats tonight! i hear that bob saget guy has a filthy, filthy mind. naughty boy!

i posted some photos from the convention over at shortpants. this is the only photo that really matters tho:

here's the first comicon story. i'd be posting my photos today, but i can't find my usb cord for my digicam.

on saturday, this guy approached us and asked us if we'd like to take part in a project. many years ago he found a copy of this comic book called "neutro", and its sheer horribleness amazed him. he now collects as many copies of neutro as he can find, and gives them to comic artists if they'll draw a page in his sketchbook about neutro.

the story of neutro, synopsis: 1000 years ago, aliens buried a bunch of boxes in the american southwest. mr. scientist guy hears native legends, tracks down the burial site, and digs up said boxes. he finds electronics inside, which he uses to build a robot. this robot is so awesome it could do just about ANYTHING, and a good three quarters of the book is spent talking about all the things he COULD DO, which he never actually gets around to doing. then some evil scientists get wind of neutro, and THEY start talking about all the things neutro could do, but they don't get around to making him do that stuff either. oh, and you sort of find out that the aliens are bad guys, waiting for someone to build neutro so they can use him to take over the planet, and that they've even done this before, so i guess it works pretty well for them.

anyway. saturday night, we weren't done with our neutro sketches so we took the book home, where i scanned them. here's jason's:



and here's my almost finished one; i added a title and a little epilogue thingie after i scanned it. most people did a picture of neutro, but i wanted to focus on the mysterious aliens, who took the trouble to make robot PARTS and robot INSTRUCTIONS and fly to every inhabited planet and bury them, but couldn't be bothered to build the robots themselves:




in short, as the cover proclaims, neutro is THE MOST ASTOUNDING SUPERHERO OF ALL. only he doesn't have a brain, and he doesn't understand the difference between right and wrong. AWESOME.

crossposted!

# posted by sarah, princess of power : 8:44 AM

someone stole my bike wheel yesterday.

it's kind of my fault ("how is being victimized YOUR fault?" demands jasna, and she has a point) because i didn't lock up the wheel. it was broad daylight in the parking lot of a busy grocery store and i was going to be inside for all of five minutes. i thought i was being paranoid that i was considering getting out the big chain that loops thru the front wheel and connects to the U lock, so i left it in my bag, and just locked the back wheel and frame. five minutes later, the bike wheel was gone.

i started dragging the now half-a-bike back home, and as i passed the coffeeshop where jasna works, she noticed me and came running out to say hi. i turned to tell her what had happened, and immediately started crying. no, not crying. SOBBING. with the shaking and the sucking in breaths and everything. she immediately dragged me and the halberbike into the cafe, made me some tea and sat me down. we talked for a few hours about what i really crying about, which wasn't really the bike wheel, with a quick break for me to run to the bike store across the street to buy a new wheel and make friends with the owner, who promised to buy me a drink the next time he sees me at the honky tonk bar next door.

here are the things i have learned, in order of importance:

1) jasna is fucking awesome, and it is vitally important to have as many fucking awesome people in your life as possible.
2) if you love your bike, it is never paranoid to lock up both wheels, no matter how much broad daylight there is.
3) if you do not deal with little bitty sadnesses and frustrations when they show up, they will all get together and hit you like a giant crusty brick when someone does something stupid like steal your front wheel.

i have photos and stories from the comic book convention. i will post them soon. :)

so, for those of you that haven't been around me lately, listening to me prattle on and on about this for the last few weeks, here is an announcement:

once again i will be vending my wares in artists' alley at the chicago comicon. i have twice as many books this year as last year, plus some tee shirts, hand-made serigraphs and linoprints, and some limited edition 1" pins JUST FOR YOU. so come out, nerd it up, geek it out, and see me sometime august 4-7 in rosemont!



also, if you are all eastcoastified and can't make the trip to chicago just to play some yu-gi-oh and argue about who could beat up aquaman, i will also be selling at the Small Press Expo in maryland at the end of september! huttah!