Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Do not give me Monopoly

I am likely to do one of these things.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Yet another bandwagon

Okay, okay. I joined LiveJournal so I could post a comment on a friend's LJ thing. Sadly, because I'm late to this party, my choice usernames have been claimed by impostors. I'm rossumcapek over there.

Never fear, loyal readers! The real action will continue to happen at this address.

Monday, November 27, 2006

National Games Week

I just found out that last week (November 19-25) was National Games Week.

At least I did my part; By my count, I had 40 sessions of some 16 titles played. w00t!

Sunday, November 26, 2006

New Orleans is still everywhere

Cat and I just saw the new Denzel Washington flick, Deja Vu. I didn't know going in that the movie is set in New Orleans. The movie was in pre-production in New Orleans before Katrina and nearly didn't happen in the aftermath.

Like any New Orleans film, this one has problems, between bayous n' gators minutes from downtown and the lack of drunks and costumes on Mardi Gras (though they got the amount of trash right).

I'm glad that we saw this one so close to returning from New Orleans, and not in a week or three or whatever- it was easier being reminded of the city with fresh memories.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Hook them, Longhorns; Hook them, I say

We're back in Austin.

Driving out a week ago, I slept fitfully the whole way, recovering from a touch of food poisoning from Denny's. "Moons over My Hammy" indeed- more like Moons upside down and out My Hammy. Driving back in today, I woke up a little congested from allergies. Again, Cat did the lion's share of the driving while I used up pocket tissue and allergy meds.

Sick out, sick in. If this were a novel, I'd have a clever metaphor for you.

Driving to/from home [fixed]

Posting via cell, between Baton Rouge and Lafayette. Picked us up a muffaletta for the drive. Cat says: like a mouthful of heaven. I agree and savor mine because I already miss the garlicky olive relish. Hard to sleep last night-cried and thought about the future and the past. Home is good but different and familiar and strange, more than any homecoming has the right to be. I know nothing stays the same and nothing should; I know it more now.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Food

I've woken up from a nap after Chinese buffet for Thanksgiving and Cat's watching the Top Chef marathon on Bravo; I am overwhelmed with food.

We had a list of places on the must-eat list. Whenever you come to New Orleans, there's never enough time to eat everything you want, and I knew we were overbooked to begin with. Our meal schedule was nearly done on the drive in. So far we've hit almost everything. Props to Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Menu site- now 709 restaurants open, and only one hundred left to go before we hit the pre-storm number!

The list:


  1. Lebanon's: Chef's special: hummus, taboule, labne, spinach salad, baba ganoush, kibby, falafel, grape leaves, Lebanese tea, and burma.
  2. Lee's hamburgers: A works, hold the lettuce, fries, and a Dr Pepper.
  3. Franky & Johnny's, sort of. Zeke's is now open by F&J's owners with their menu: Roast beef poboy, dressed no lettuce with Tabasco. Cat had a half-dozen oysters and boiled shrimps.
  4. Memphis-style Barbecue -> Corky's: Pulled pork, beef brisket, roast turkey, damn good barbecue beans unheard of in Texas, and potato salad.
  5. Dot's: L1 with cheese; mini burgers and fries made with crack and black magic.
  6. Five Happiness: Beef teriyaki with peanut sauce, sizzling chicken, bean curd and beef, and white rice.
  7. A poboy w00t!
  8. Zea: Rotisserie beef, sweet potatoes, the best corn grits in the world (no lie), tomato basil soup.
  9. A muffaletta
  10. Crazy Johnny's
  11. Roman Pizza
  12. Rue de la Course
  13. PJ's Coffee: Pumpkin pie chai, a granita, vanilla tea, cafe au lait, and a white hot chocolate.
  14. Angelo Brocato's: Florintine, some sort of light cookie with icing and apple filling, tiramisu ice cream, and praline gelato. I cried a little, being here.


Coming home to New Orleans has been wonderful, as if a great pressure of unfamiliarity has been removed. Like the man who kept hitting himself on the head because of how good it felt when he stopped, it's good to be home again. I've spent this week back at home, surrounded by my friends and family, playing games and eating.

New Orleans is evocative and emotionally charging, even before the storm. I don't want to go into the negative now- this holiday season is about focusing on the positive.

Monday, November 20, 2006

For those of you watching from home

Yes, Cat and I are safe in New Orleans. Family, food, games, friends, food, games, family, food, friends, friends, coffee, games, friends, food.

Details to follow.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Voyage

It's that time of year again; the time for the ritual devouring of our national bird, the turkey.

Also for road trips. Next week we'll be back in New Orleans.

New local boardgame- Now, with terror!

Two Austin sisters have self-published a boardgame, Where on Earth is Osama bin Laden? For the low low price of $19.95, you too can roll-and-move for a fifty-fifty chance of jumping ahead or moving back two spaces. Judging by the few images on their site, there's not much to the game itself, and the hilarity comes from reading the cards. All in all, it doesn't look that interesting. They did get some local press, so more power to them. I bete they get sales at their target demographic and for gag gifts.

It does ramp up my anticipation for getting my copy of the War on Terror boardgame, direct from England and complete with Evil ski mask!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Inspiration

Steve Pavlina provides some compelling reasons for remaining unemployed- Mom, pretend I said "freelance."

We're seeing more and more strange and wonderful situations due to the non-physicality of the net- Successful virtual businesses in Second Life; the Long Tail for retail; individual people forming communities based on ideas and interests rather than geophysical space.

Everyone else is doing it, why can't I?

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The Future is Now

In one of the deleted scenes from Aliens, we see the robot sentries emptying their ammo into hordes of swarming aliens.

Now, for the low low price of $200,000, you too can own your very own automated robot machine gun sentry robot, by Samsung. ED-209, hold on to your pension.

Bonus points if you can name the rousing Korean music played during the video.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Optics mishap

I had an awesome weekend. To balance that out, I had a bad thing happen to me. While demoing Zendo to some folks at BGGcon, I took my glasses off to clean them and the frame snapped under my hamlike fists, popping the left lens out onto the floor. Panic.

As luck would have it, the lens was undamaged by its traumatic journey and easily recovered by one of the company. Cat (via the hotel gift shop) also came to my rescue with superglue.

Now I can see again, but my prescription is so damn bad that the optometrist needs to order the lenses. I hope they come in before we go home for Turkey Day.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Back to Austin

Back in Austin after four days of nearly twenty-four hour gaming. I got 3-4 hours sleep most every night.

Just finished unpacking the suitcases. I'm about to put food in my mouth and fall asleep, hopefully in that order. One of these days I'll learn to take an extra day off after con for recovery.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Eighty-something plays of forty-odd games

Since I've last blogged a board/card game sessions, I've played quite a few games. That's forty-one different titles in forty-two days, and eighty-some games played. (Kudos to Ian for helping me start keeping track of my play data.)

I want to post my thoughts on these before I attend BGG.Con in Dallas tomorrow. I have no idea how many game I shall play over these next four days. I better get snapping with the old plays.

Here's the list, sorted by number of plays:


Category 5 (BGG, BUY ME!) Still fun, still awesome, well-recieved and high on my list of go-to games. Successfully playing it at work during tea time most days, but the best moment was when one of my coworkers asked me if I had brought it in for play. I still feel good about that. I can say for certain that it plays well with three, four, five, six, eight, and ten. I prefer five or six, though. My record-scoring 47 points has yet to be beat, though. (Points are bad in this game.)

Jungle Speed (BGG, BUY ME!) Still awesome. I'm going to need to buy extra copies to bring home to NOLA over the holidays as gifts. At Dragon*Con, we played this for six hours. I wonder how much table time it will see at BGG.Con? Introducing it with only four players is less fun, though.

Oh Hell! (BGG, GET A DECK OF CARDS) A new go-to game for me, very popular at the office, playing with four or five. I'll need to grab a second deck for six, I think. Not sure how that would play out- maybe I'll just limit the hand size. At work we play with "English Rules Consolation Points" where you still score if you don't make your bid. Clive alleges that this has to do with their socialized programs. (Interestingly, this does appear to be a legit variant depending on which side of the puddle you live on.)

Zendo (BGG, BOX SET OOP BUY TREEHOUSE STASHES AND RULE CARDS) An impromptu get-together by the Renegades found us playing with pyramids instead of roleplaying. Working out a way to play Zendo with not many stashes of pyramids ("don't use specific colors; use 'same or different') and scraps of paper for Buddha-nature or not prompted me to snap and buy Icehouse pieces. I now have a complete set. Wahoo! Zendo is nicely compelling, has a fascinating interplay between simple and complex, and exercises good brain muscles. I'm looking forward to this at BGG.Con.

Hey! That's My Fish! (BGG, BUY ME!) On my list to purchase for several weeks now. Cat actually wanted to play it when she saw it! (Cute wooden penguins can never hurt.) It's much deeper than it seems at first, and you can actually make your own copy using poker chips and spare pawns if you want to get a feel for how it plays. I've now played this with two, three, and four. All are equally satisfying for different reasons, but three is almost a sweet spot.

Mauer, die (BGG, BUY ME!) Still a go-to game for me, but one guy described it as "more complicated rock-paper-scissors." I've been losing quite a bit lately when playing with strangers, but my rules spiel is improving. It's coming to BGG.Con, too.

Castle (BGG, BUY ME!) Light, cheap, and fun. I think play over time would improve as you learn the character cards and their abilities. I got this as a trade, and it's definitely a trade up for me. After one play, the four of us enjoyed it enough to give it a second go with a fifth player. The game does become a bit too chaotic with more players; I'd really like to see it with three.

Chopstick Dexterity MegaChallenge 3000 (BGG, BUY ME!) I'm surprisingly bad at this one. Or maybe Marc's just a ninja. Eating with sticks isn't the same as nimbly grabbing things with them before someone else does. Either way, a huge fun factor! In the suitcase for BGG.Con.

Drakon (BGG, BUY ME!) Tiles and Tom Jolly, a good combination. Like RoboRally, this is a well-done release of an old classic dungeon crawl. The third edition is well worth playing. Only two plays so far, losing both, but a grand amount of screw-thy-neighbor and bash-the-leader. Hard to say if it's too "American."

Easter Island (BGG, BUY ME!) Another two-player game that will be hard to bring out, as it's not easy to find a singler parter at game days. It plays sort of like Deflexion/Khet in the sense that you have to keep reflections and bounces in mind, and your giant stone Moab statues (er, tiny plastic pieces) can readily be destroyed by a stray beam. This one is fun, and I've won once and conceded a draw the second time. Definitely worth playing if you like two-player more-or-less-abstract strategy games.

Havoc: the Hundred Years War (BGG, BUY ME!) Havoc is an interesting little card game that plays like poker for points with an 18-rank, six-suit deck. I don't know my history enough to tell you about the war, I'll leave that to the Wikipedia. I've only managed to play this as a two-player game. It went over well, considering I lost both times to New Dan. Upon reflection, it seems a little like Tichu (read below) in the sense of trying to lay down a hand higher than the opposition. I need to refamiliarize myself with the rules before it hits table again. I'll bring it to BGG.Con.

Jungle Speed L'extension (BGG, GET FROM FRANCE) Still awesomely brain-breaking, also coming to BGG.Con. Not the best when all 160 cards are shuffled and in play. The next time I bring it out, I'll want to pick and choose which symbol families are in play.

King Me! (BGG, BUY ME!) Serves well as a light filler while people are still showing up. In the last game I played, Beatrice was queen three times out of three. Conspiracy?

Metro (BGG, BUY ME!) This appears to be one of the go-to games for the Monday group I've started to irregularly see over at Dragon's Lair. I need more practice at this one, as I haven't yet learned to maximize all my plays. I like tile games, and it saddens me a little to know that Metro is superior to Streetcar ("The New Orleans Trolley Game"), but similar to Aqua Romana. I continue in my quest for a really fun rail game that doesn't take six hours to play.

Oceania (BGG, BUY ME!) I've played this a total of three or four times now, and it simply hasn't grabbed me. It's hard to find the strategy and in the games I've played, we keep sealing ourself off from the rest of the board, forcing an early end to the game. I've wanted to like this, as it's a tile-laying game by Klaus Teuber, the man who brought us Settlers, but it's jsut not clicked. Maybe I'll give the full game, Entdecker, a go at some point. I got this game as part of a trade and I traded it away already, so that shows you want I think of it. I might play it again with someone who really loves it, but I don't think I'll ever choose it.

Sanctuaries (BGG, OOP TRY THRIFTING) For dollar, I can't complain. I got to add a new game to the database. It plays like a dumber version of Blokus, which I really should own. There's a bit of strategy here, but it's not very satisfying.

Terra Nova (BGG, BUY ME!) I've played with three, and I've played with four. I definitely like this one. The tension of reduced decisions as the board steadily shrinks is a whole lot of fun. I don't need to own this yet- two people in the group have a copy and one of the stores has it as an open demo. One day, perhaps I'll analyze this with Hey! That's My Fish! as the two games have a similar play.

Vegas Showdown (BGG, BUY ME!) Great game, terribly marketed. The gameplay has nothing to do with gambling; it's instead a bidding and building game with some very clever interplay. For some reason, this wasn't moving at my FLGS and I picked it up for 1/3 off almost without thinking about it. At some point, I might replace the plastic poker chips with nicer ones and laminate the player aid sheets. How's that for a sign of a well-liked game?

Wiz-War (BGG, OOP MAKE YOUR OWN AND WRITE CHESSEX) Ah, Wiz-War. A favorite I'll never tire of. This month I've introduced four people to the game, with all of them enjoying it. Six-player game, here I come... This one's definitely coming to BGG.Con.

Bang! (BGG, BUY ME!) Surprisingly not seeing much play lately. One game played, the outlaws won! Go, team! I recently got (German) High Noon as part of a trade, so I'll need to make some paste-ups for play. Maybe I'll do an uber-bang with Dodge City, Fistful, and High Noon. But I hear they're putting together a "Deluxe" edition of the game, so we'll see.

Boggle (BGG, BUY ME!) Yes, for the first time ever, I played Boggle about two weeks ago. I liked it, saw it at a thrift store later- totally worth two bucks. Also a skill I need to improve, and very interesting to observe gameplay between two other players who knew the game (and each other's play styles) well- not a position I'm used to, and not one that's entirely welcome. An important and humbling lesson learned on how to treat new players.

Cheater (BGG, DON'T BUY ME!) Bleh. Better you just imagine a game based on the concept. Better yet, design one.

Chekit (BGG, OOP TRY THRIFTING) Welp, the lead player definitely does not always win. This one's basically hex dominoes with fewer things to match. Gotta love the bakelite pieces and the crazy joker, though. This was worth the three bucks at the thrift store, and I hope to play it again to determine what I'm missing. Anyone play dominoes?

Cloud 9 (BGG, BUY ME!) A lighter press-your-luck game themed around balloon races. Do you trust your fellow players to have the colors needed to score? We played a four-player game with a six- or seven-year old, and she was doing pretty well. Ultimately, I'd want to mashup the two versions of the game; the art and wooden guys from the older game, the board layout and balloon basket from the newer.

Dead Money (BGG, BUY ME!) The one time this hit the table, the shop had about a half-hour left before closing time. I pressed through rules and we had a typical unfamiliar game session, coupled with one slow player, a bunch of kibbitzers, and time pressure. Overall, not a good experience, but I can't say if that's the game or not. We'll see.

Exxtra (BGG, FIND OVERSEAS) Guess what? It's a press-your-luck game. Guess what else? It's Reiner Knizia. Guess what third? I like it and I won! There's not that much correlation, honestly. I think I like it better than Sid Sackson's Can't Stop, but I've only played each once.

Funny Friends (BGG, BUY ME!) Poorly written rules and a late start made this not optimal. I need to get more baggies for all of the tokens. Great stories come out of this game though: Andre married my baby momma who I was desperately in love with while New Dan slept with Dan, broke up with him, then converted Norman's wife to a life of lesbian love. I hope to play this again with people who know how to play and continue the oral learning tradition.

Hex Hex (BGG, BUY ME!) The new edition is very nicely produced; it's almost worth finding an old edition to compare what a relatively young game company has learned in a couple of short years. I'll need to keep this in the game suitcase for more frequent play. Nothing wrong with it except wanting to play new games.

Hex Hex Next (BGG, BUY ME!) Finally, I got to play the expansion as a standalone game. Enough people at games night now know Hex Hex itself such that we didn't need to go into the rules very much, just the few exceptions to normal game play. I tend to win at Hex Hex, and the fashion continues with Hex Hex Next. There's more vicious cards in HHN, and I wonder how they'd mix.

IceTowers (BGG, BOX SET OOP BUY TREEHOUSE STASHES) Brought this out for three in between Zendo sessions to demonstrate other games to play with Icehouse pieces. Fun, but a little too fast and unsatisfying with three. Of course, my first intro to this particular game was the giant cardboard pyramids and playing (losing) with five. I'll try it again later. De facto in the box with Zendo coming to BGG.Con.

Marvin Marvel’s Marvelous Marble Machine (BGG, BUY ME!) Say that three times fast, eh? This ultra-low production quality speaks to the conviction of the self-starter. The board is a bandanna, the bits are wooden hobby discs with stickers. It's a great little brain burner about programming moves and taking marbles. Amazingly, nobody made a "lost your marbles" joke the entire time. It was pretty crazy with three; six would be insano. Coming to BGG.con!

Mission : Planète Rouge (BGG, BUY ME!) Absolutely gorgeous board and theme. Steampunk? Mars? Bring it! I'm there! This has not gotten enough play in the group; I'm the only person who owns it and I simply haven't brought it out enough. Some have criticized this one for being a too-finely honed game engine, but I haven't played it enough to see it. I do see the influence of previous designs: the roles from Citadels, the area control of El Grande. I'm sure there's a few other bits in there I don't instantly recognize, but it doesn't bother me. I didn't bring it to BGG.Con as I figured others would have this relatively new release.

Monsters Menace America (BGG, BUY ME!) Dicefest! Monsters! Rrrragh! I was Crawfish-Man/Lobsterboy! Jeff was the Eye that could not Die! Got to give this a go with four, but I could see how it would drag.

Niagara (BGG, BUY ME!) Spiel des Jahres, colorful gems, nifty sliding plastic river discs. Needs to hit the table again, and I need to pick up the expansion. I get the feeling that we missed a rule or two, but it was lots of fun.

Ricochet Robot (BGG, BUY ME!) I got soundly beaten by someone who was very good at this in a one-on-one match. I know I'm a bit rusty, but Ben is very good at finding those cursed little paths. I'm actually considering bringing this into work as a possible gateway game.

RoboRally (BGG, BUY ME!) My official position is that the new edition is nicer (better produced, more refined rules, etc) than the original, but I miss the expansions and the pewter miniatures.

Scotland Yard (BGG, BUY ME!) Another thrift store find for me- I picked up an unpunched vintage copy of this for two bucks, and got it to the table with a full compliment of six players. We caught Mr. Norman X after around seven-eight moves, but it was a first play for all of us. Everyone said they'd play it again, but not that same night. I also used this to introduce a new-as-in-only-Monopoly-and-Scrabble player with great success. I think the cooperative nature is by definition unusual to the mainstream American player.

Take Stock (BGG, BUY ME!) We only played one four-player round of this, and it didn't click. I hear good things about it, so I'll definitely give it another go. The designer will probably be at BGG.Con, so we'll see how learning it from someone who knows it well changes things around.

The Settlers of Catan (BGG, BUY ME!) Yes, I actually played Settlers for the first time in at least a year and a half or more. Why? I've played a lot of Settlers, and I think I've mostly moved on. However; I saw that my FLGS had a copy of the Deck of Dice, (BGG, BUY ME!), a thirty-six card deck of all possible combinations of 2d6. Some people have suggested using such a deck with Settlers to lessen the randomness without removing it. With forty-five minutes left to play, we knocked out a three-player game of Settlers using the deck. (I won.) I rather liked the predictability and the speed of cards, but JP and Chad didn't- I think they enjoyed actually rolling the dice, and I don't blame them. Still, an interesting experiment.

Tichu (BGG, BUY ME!) I'm not going to say anything about this until I play it again. It didn't go over well with me.

Too Many Cooks (BGG, BUY ME!) Another trick-taking game, this time by the good doctor Knizia. I last played this pre-Katrina two Dragon*Cons ago, and I remember liking it a good deal. I got in on a four-player game after three of the players had played a single round, then dealt me in. Sadly, all of my skill has left me in the intervening years and I lost miserably. I don't own this one, but I likely will in the future- perhaps after a few plays to get better at it.

Treehouse (BGG, BUY ME!) Not such a good game, though there are many more games to be played with pyramids. The designer says this one is "kind of like Fluxx!" In my book, that's not really a good thing. Don't buy Treehouse for the Treehouse games; instead buy it for the 147 other games instead.

What's That On My Head (BGG, BUY ME!) Ostensibly a children's game, but pretty rigorously logical when it comes to deducing numbers you can't see. Not as silly as I'd like, though.

Wits and Wagers (BGG, BUY ME!) Not so much "do you know the answer?" so much as "who do you think actually knows the answer?" in a sort of The Price is Right manner of speaking. The green cloth and poker chips make for a good vibe, too. This is on my list for party, family, and non-gamer games.

I still haven't played Acquire.

My PDA is full

Full, you say? Why not delete something? Or upgrade its memory? Or simply back it up, wipe it, and reenter what you need.

Well, my friends, I don't have a digital PDA. I have something akin to the Hipster PDA, which is nothing more than index cards and an alligator clip.

Imagine a reaction to the over-digitalization of modern culture. Normally, I'm all about being pro-gadgetry, but I've recently been much more keen to optimize seconds instead of bytes. I went a little high-class for my own solutions and impulsively purchased a small memo book for 79 cents- about a penny a page! I started intentionally carrying it around with me in order to lifehackishly install a new habit, and after less than two weeks I found myself missing my little book if I didn't bring it with me.

One of the handiest things about the little memo book as compared to the oft-lauded Moleskine notebook is its cheapness. I don't feel financially guilty if I jot down a single word or two, or a URL for a friend, then tear the page out with glee and get on with things. I can also use it as a tasklist, I've always got my tool on me, and it has an ink pen, so I'm set and I have one less thing to carry.

In case you have a concern about a calendar app or the like not existing for, well, dumb paper, here's a treeware solution.

Want the pretty pictures? Go look at other people's solutions on flickr.

After about two months, I've used the eighty pages and I'm ready for another little book. That fact alone speaks to the success of this habit.

Grammarian Gripes

A misplaced bit of punctuation or spelling is like a bit of sand in my eye; a constant irritant that needs removal. I readily admit that I'm not perfect, though I do catch a lot of mistakes in other people's writing.

From A.Word.A.Day comes a Canadian story about how a single comma could cost a cable company one million dollars Canadian.

Yikes. Time to proofread.

Election day is over

The polls are closed, and I now know a State Rep.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Discount Didgeridoos

The Didjshop has a holiday special: 25% off select didjes. They also sell gift certificates.

Oh hey, my birthday is in January. :)

I also recently picked up a secondhand didj from a nice lady who didn't play. It's a nice resin/ABS that's been melted and worked some, then painted by Rob Thomas of Inlakesh, so I'm told there's some good pedigree there.





It's a little hard to see in these photos, but the didj is nicely painted with a platypus moving away from its eggs. It has a great loud bouncy sound, and is surprisingly versatile when it comes to vocalizations. YouTube, here I come.

1984 Prime Update

Jackie is running a playtest session of 1984 Prime tonight. The printed version, not the new fiddly mechanics that I'm liking the direction.

Taking a cue from S. John, here's the current incarnation of my playtest feedback form.


  1. Setting:

    • What worked?
    • What didn't?
    • What three things stand out as cool?

  2. System:
    • What worked?
    • What's missing?
    • What sort of feel did the mechanics evoke? (Respond as theory-laden as needed.)

  3. Physical book:

    • What's unclear?
    • What do you think of the cover and the back flavor text?
    • What do you think of the layout, fonts, images, etc inside?

  4. Session/overall:

    • What stands out in your mind as part of the in-game world?
    • What stands out in an out-of-game context?
    • What sucked the most?
    • What was the best?

  5. The missing question:

    • Would you play it again if you didn't know the author?



Also in Prime-related news, I've got the opportunity to run an ad in the program booklet for Nuke-Con in Kansas.



Thanks, Hieronymous!

Monday, November 06, 2006

Order Sweet Order

From this...



...to this!



My apologies for the hiatus, loyal readers.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Code Monkey Make Me Laugh

I know a lot of you sling code or know someone who does. Here's an aural bit of funny for you: Jonathan Coulton's Code Monkey in a variety of media: Artist's site, direct MP3, lyrics and flash-based player. Heck, if you need video with your funny, there's even a World of Warcraft video.

Yeah, I know this is old news for those of you what follow Slashdot. Gimme a break, okay?