My good friend Loren, who is one of the people most responsible for this website even existing, is an incredible animator. Loren used to work for LucasArts, and he did animation on a lot of really popular games . . . until he got laid off.
Loren is too talented to be left out in the cold for long, though, and eventually some smart guys snapped him up to work on a game called Bone: Out From Boneville, that just came out today. Loren writes:

Bone: Out From Boneville is the first installment in the episodic series that tells the tale of Fone Bone as written by Jeff Smith. If you or someone you know was a fan of any of the LucasArts adventure games like Sam & Max, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, or Monkey Island… then you’ll definitely dig this game. Many of the same creative heads worked were involved in making it.

There’s a free demo, and the full version is just $20, and Loren says

Seriously spread the word to any of your gamer friends, the advertising budget is pretty much non-existent and we are relying on word of mouth with all the adventure game fans.

I know all about non-existent advertising budgets, and word of mouth is more valuable than anything else, anyway.
So go check it out, tell some friends, and if you’ve got a review, leave it here so I can send it to Loren.
I’ve seen Fone Bone in comic shops for ages. It’s about time he got his own video game, so all the other characters who have games and statues and fast food tie-ins can stop teasing the poor little guy.

Earlier today, I got together some copies of Dancing Barefoot for players in the Katrina tournaments. I sat on the floor in my living room, and tumbed through a copy, and felt like I was looking at baby pictures. You know how you are so proud of them now, but you occasionally miss the simpler times, when they couldn’t talk back?
Okay, that’s a lousy analogy, but you get my drift, right? The important thing is, I adore that little book! Even though the writing is a little rough in places, and will be seriously reworked before I do the audio version (which I’m thinking of as a “bugfix” release. Har. Har. Har.), I am incredibly proud of it. I worked very hard to make it as good as I was able (at the time), take it from idea, to product, and finally to readers. Whenever I reflect back on it, I feel terribly sad that the whole Just A Geek thing was so frustrating, and I am really grateful that that sadness is starting to be replaced by the excitement of finishing Do You Want Kids With That?
Because Do You Want Kids With That? will be a Barefoot-style book in so many respects, I asked my friend Ben Claasen III, who did the illustrations Barefoot, if he’d do some illustrations for The Kids. (Har. Har. Har.)
Readers have consistently told me that they love the illustrations from Barefoot, even the people who didn’t entirely enjoy the writing, so I am very proud and excited to announce that I spoke with Ben yesterday, and today he agreed to come on board for Do You Want Kids With That? His work is going to bring a lot to the final book, and I can’t wait to see what he creates.
Afterthought: I just came upon this review of Dancing Barefoot, at Amazon:

Whether you are a Star Trek fan (which I am not, but have friends who are…), a voracious reader of memoirs or aspiring memoirist (admitted), a Gen-Xer on the precipice of your 30s (which I am), or a fan of Wheaton’s Blog (which I’ve become), I recommend “Dancing Barefoot.”

Wow. Thank you 🙂

A famous satirist is suing an about-to-be-famous comedian . . . for satirizing him. Excuse me while I decide whether to scream or just smack my forehead.
Read my post at Blogging.la for the whole story.

Fifteen minutes before Katrina Relief tournament number three begins, here’s a quick look back at Katrina Relief tournament number two.
The final table included two friends of the blog:

1. darth_forte (Crofton, MD)
2. kkalin (Sterling Hts., MI)
3. 4_2_it (Huntingdon Valley, PA)
4. chico6y (Basel, Switzerland)
5. Saturn21 (Ottawa, ON, Canada)
6. FF07 (Bowie, MD)
7. spurgehogan (Arlington,MA)
8. GoodRev42 (Santa Ana, CA)
9. yestbay1 (Grapevine, TX)

yestbay1 is a longtime reader, fellow actor, and all-around supercool guy. Congratulations, DW! Also, GoodRev42, who is a fellow Metroblogger (he writes for The OC Metblog, but I won’t hold that against him) busted me out, follwing in the footsteps of stardawg, who busted me on Monday, and went on to finish second in the $5 tourney. The moral of this story is: if you bust me out of a Katrina Relief tournament, you will make the final table.
I’ll be live blogging the action in tonight’s $50 event over at CardSquad, for anyone who is interested.
And the whole reason we’re doing this is kicking ass. Our two events so far have raised $51,581.00 for victims of Hurricane Katrina. A whole bunch more will be added tonight.

Anne is /away with one of her friends for a couple of days, on a well-deserved mini-vacation, so I’m pulling Mr. Mom duty with the kids. (So far, we’re having a great time, and I’ve managed to avoid setting any of us on fire. I’m very proud.)
But! This means that I get the entire pot of coffee to myself.
The world seems . . . really . . . clearandsharpandinfocus . . . today, and all the stuff I’m writing will either be reallyreallycool or reallyreallylame.
Bzzzt.