Seriously. If you are too OLD to drive. Please — DON’T. I know people who have witnessed tales such as the above in real life. Perhaps some of my readers have heard of similar situations as well. They aren’t rare enough!

No. This is NOT an acceptible form of C.P.R.! Don’t even think about it!

[View Video on YouTube]

Ya, I’m a little late on covering anything considered “breaking news” here for other artists and Banksy followers. More than anything I just want to take a moment to say Banksy‘s art still excites me even though I thought his stuff and art direction could possibly get old.

Point is, like every artist, he finds a new way to make his social commentary in new and creative ways. I’ve floated around a couple news sites over the last couple years following his stuff and I’m very aware of the trollish art haterz out there under the internet super-highway troll bridges. Actually the web troll comes in many forms and natures, not just the art variety… I digress… this isn’t an evolution story.

For those who “don’t get it” that’s fine; any art isn’t for everyone to “get”. If you are going to criticize something though, use rational discussion to voice your opinion. Anything otherwise doesn’t really have a place in intelligent civilized society. For those who just don’t like out-of-the-norm stuff like Banky’s, that’s also fine–that’s a valid opinion… not a criticism for the art being a piece of shit done by a gay jobless street punk. (None of which is true… as far as I know that is.)

I had a stop-over flight in London for 6 hours summer of 2007. I was determined to find and buy a Banksy book while there–and I did. Yes, I know I could have bought one here or anywhere else. But I wanted on from a London book store. I was half hoping I’d find something in my random speed-tour of London; alas, I did not. I would have settled for even a little London Banksy of my own on film.

Here are some of his latest pieces. The best part about his signature graffiti is the stenciled elements being integrated into their environments.

Anyways, I could go on forever about his other work other than the one the video depicts above. My favourite moments are the ones where he sneaks his artwork into high class museums and hangs them amongst Classical works without anyone noticing. The concept behind that art alone was enough to get a fan out of me.

To me, Banksy is a guy who encourages a redefinition of social values and conformity. This doesn’t mean I get it more than the next guy–I could totally be full of crapazoola, but that’s how art works; you take what you take from it, ponder it, maybe see the world in a different light for a little while at least. I can’t wait to see the next iteration of the mysterious Banksy!

There’s been a project I’ve been working on for about five years now pretty steady in one form or another. If all other projects had to go for this one to exist–then so be it. I’ve finally gotten it to a point where I feel good talking about it publicly and showing some of the work done on it thus far. The project is called World of Hellmouth.

Now that the main logo is pretty much finalized, it’s with great enthusiasm that I drop a blog post to inform any fans to check it out as well. I may in the future highlight other aspects of this project on NunoXEI.com, for now all I’ll do is give you the lowdown on this project.

Firstly, I’d like to thank an artist that I respected greatly back a decade ago when his worked scattered the pages of gaming products from White Wolf to TSR (before becoming Wizard of the Coast). He’s worked extensibly on The Changling setting by White Wolf as well as the Birthright setting for TSR. His art entered into other TSR setting–such as Dark Sun, Ravenloft and Planescape–on the tail end of that company’s demise before being acquired by Wizards of the Coast (the company behind Magic: The Gathering at the time). My respect for him has never wanned.

I was given the pleasure of meeting him in person at GenCon 2005 in Indianapolis, as nothing more than a fanboy of his body of work. I was able to name off products works appeared in as well as the year they were published. Back in the mid-90s I was very much angling my studies to trying out the illustration market before life spun me in a different direction.

I studied works like his from books I enjoyed at that time and thus remembered images and names very profusely. That knowledge (and some say creepy memory retention) was one of the reasons John Dollar and I struck up a friendship that has lasted for the last three years.

This all, of course, led to The World of Hellmouth getting back up on its feet. I hope to collaborate with John Dollar on future projects but also look forward to meeting and collaborating with other artists and writers along the way as I’ve got plenty of directions this “property” can go and need more than just my writing and John’s art to move it along and turn it into a power house. One such project is already listed on The World of Hellmouth website called “Twisted Tales“, a collection of 13 short stories written by different authors.

The World of Hellmouth is an apocalyptic puzzle of timelines and possibilities. In this newly constructed world, half a century after the Great Cataclysm, those who survived are at ripe old ages and now have children and grandchildren growing up in a very different world than the one they remembered.

[Read more about the map of Hellmouth]

The World of Hellmouth entertains the idea of mixing components of literature from the Renaissance, such as books and plays like Dr. Faustus, Macbeth, Paradise Lost, Dante’s Inferno and even the Arthurian legends. It intertwines folk tales, mythology and lore that go back to the times of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Celts and Norse.

Furthermore, it draws on imagery from more modern references: from the height of the high action pulp fiction, to the bravado of silver age heroics; from the retro-futuristic genre of steampunk, to the ultra-futuristic dystopian cyberpunk genre. [Read More Here]

Heroes will have varied experiences. They may encounter overwhelming hordes of fiends from the Hellmouth itself, or reclusive celestials from the protective mega-city of Sanctuary; newly awakened protective dragons of Gaia, or mysterious adapting cultures of Fey from the world Behind the Veil. They may come across golems made of gears and metal running on magic and steam from Cog Town, or they may cross paths with a valiant knight in shining armor displaced from Avalon. They may look out across rocky landscapes at giants from Ragnarok as they roam the land, terrorizing civilized settlements, while mechas from the east fly overhead, piloted in union by five men. [Read More Here]

There are a handful of entries already on the site and literally hundred more offline to be added as time rolls on. I’d like to thank you all in advance for checking out the, until-now, “silent” project site for what I hope will become my greatest achievement.

Alrighty folks!!! The new string of Republic Domain strips have begun! For those coming to the webcomic late in the game, the previous 46 strips had be released throughout 2007 until the strip had to grind to a halt for multiple reasons to long-winded to go into here. They were all re-designed into this current format (and in some cases re-written slightly for the new four panel format).

I’ve been tossing the idea of this being a daily strip in my mind as of late but as with all things XEI-A.D.D. I shouldn’t bite into more than I can swallow! Until that choice is made,

You can continue to enjoy RD three times a week! Tell your friends, use them on your blogs if you wish, spread the word and I shall love you all in life and in death.

I’ll even haunt those who have a ghost fetish.

Seriously. I’ll die again trying if I have to. This offer can only be offered in once life time.

I think this video represent exactly why I left Facebook. It’s not that the service has nothing to offer–I’m sure it does for those willing to invest time in that sort of “connection-making”.

This video was done as part of the Facebook Hackathon by the Palantir Project voiced by Jack Lindamood. This video was created with Java using the OpenSource GME framework. As actions happen on Facebook they get represented by a geo-located motion lines or lights.

If you want to witness how powerful (or time consuming) Facebook as a web application and “social” application is, then watch this video.

For me, Facebook turned into a void, much like a black hole, that ate up the time I spend online. Instead of doing useful, creative, and fulfilling things while connected to the web, I was lost and distracted with the multitude of Facebook game application and conversations with more people than I can manage successfully.

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I was called on my fascination with ninjas in previous times. This WAS my response. Ninjas have it good.