Alfred Deleted Scene: The Crusade

My cousin and I have been working our tails off prepping Alfred Shortstaff and the Cavern of Time for publication after almost ten years of writing and editing and development hell. This was a scene that I wrote describing an event canonical to Argaenothruzil history, which was included in the original draft. However, we couldn't make it work with the way the story turned out, so we had to cut it. Still, I like the way the prose turned out, and it's been a while since I was able to explore the Argae universe since it died months ago. So, for your reading enjoyment, here is the cut prologue of Alfred Shortstaff.

The Wonder of Magic

I thought that this document had "gone down with the ship" when the Argaenothruzil site vanished, but I luckily saved a copy on my computer! Thank you, past self! It's a description of how magic works in Argaenothruzil, which was something that I wrote with a lot of thought put into it.

AustinCraft 8.1!

The past couple of weeks, my three brothers and I have gotten back into Minecraft a bit. We decided to make our own server to play on for the first time, and have been wondering why we never tried it before. It's been a blast to have a dynamic world to log on to whenever we want and see the changes that the other players have made.

Anyway, I realized as we played that some of the icons weren't to my liking... potatoes looked stupid, you could barely tell when one was baked or not, and there were these two stupid new rocks called "diorite" and "andesite." Who came up with that anyway? I also realized that the previous AustinCraft! hadn't lived up to its full potential as a resource pack rather than just a texture pack. So I got to work!

Vid: Desert Music Compilation

This was an unusual project, and a really fun one to make. Inspired by such YouTube videos as this Tavern Music Compilation, I really wanted to make an online music compilation of my favorite desert songs. Desert settings have always been my favorite genre of fantasy. Arbiter's Grounds on Twilight Princess and the Spirit Temple were my favorite dungeons on Zelda; whatever the desert quest on Runescape is was the funnest quest on the game, and Aladdin has always been one of my favorite Disney movies.

Anyway, rather than showing scenes from the games like the aforementioned tavern one does (no way I can do that much work, FRAPS is finnicky anyway, and some of the games I don't own anymore), I wanted something one-of-a-kind for my compilation. I commissioned my brother to make some artwork for it with some basic suggestions, and after he drew it, we decided that it would look even cooler if it was "golden"; that is, faux-animated like the golden cards on Hearthstone. He made the cape flap in the wind, and I did everything else. It was a ton of fun to tweak it and make it work, and I'm really pleased with the final product. The desert music along with the animations of the mirages and dusty wind make for just the mesmerizing experience that I had hoped to create. I feel like it really embodies the mystical, mysterious, dangerous feel that deserts have. Enjoy!

Austin's Thoughts #1

I went through my old status updates on Facebook and, not to brag, but I seem to be my wittiest when communicating in that form! Some of the statuses I found were borderline Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy. I'll be sharing them in droves here now and then, showcasing my favorites. Some of them might not make sense unless you know me or the time I was going through when I updated, but others will hopefully be universally enjoyed.

On Food:

• Dang, I'm hungry. You know that sucking sound toilets make the second all the water stops spinning and rushes down? I think that's what my stomach just did.
• I nearly fried my eyelid this morning... but the sausage omelet was totally worth it.
• If anything edible wants an upgrade, just add a flavor made of any combination of cheddar, jalapeño, bacon, and/or ranch.
• For lunch today I took two microwave burritos and wrapped them together in a tortilla. It was a Double Burrito Burrito.
• The only thing that would make me like Spitz® Sunflower Seeds more is if I had hamster cheek pouches.
• My dream has always been to go to a restaurant and get a drink, appetizer, entree, and dessert. (sigh) But I'm being ridiculous.
• Sometimes I like to read cookbooks just for fun.
• I am never Google image-searching "Steak dinner" on an empty stomach again.

Disney Droppings: Kuzco Does Something

Another Disney Droppings YTP short. For some reason this one had been popping into my head for weeks. I'm glad I had the footage to make it. I was in the process of making an Emperor's New Groove "The Reward" tribute, but it may be over my head. Still, glad I could at least make this in the meantime!

Vid: Turbo-tastic!

The helmet was a deal breaker when I saw it.