I am a 37 year old, Canadian guy who enjoys music like Radiohead, Three Days Grace, Pink Floyd, Steve Miller Band, etc. I have never heard a Justin Bieber song in my life. Well, I once heard 15 seconds of a song, but that's about it. I've never even heard a parody. I just know that I am light years away from his demographic and would not enjoy his music if I were to sit down and actually listen to it. But what if I were to listen to it a lot? Like, 30 days of Bieber playing non stop? I have decided to risk my sanity in the hopes of answering the question, "would a man far outside of the intended demographic learn to enjoy Justin Bieber's music after hearing it continuously for 30 days". Here are the rules... ~I will purchase all of Bieber's music (yes, purchase) and listen to it from the moment I wake up, to the moment I go to sleep from April 1st, to April 30th (I'll have to stop during showers). ~To spare my family, I will listen to it on headphones. ~I will play his four albums in order, repeatedly (My World, My World 2.0, My Worlds Acoustic, Never Say Never-The Remixes). I cannot skip any songs or listen to them on random. ~I will post a short video blog once per day during "The Month Of Bieber" and describe my reactions and feelings. I'll link to these videos from my twitter account. ~I will remain sober for all of April. ~I will keep an open mind and remain honest about my findings. If I actually start to enjoy his music, I will say so. If I start to go mad, I will probably start wearing a dead squirrel on my head and declare myself the king of Jello Island. ~I will not sample any of his music until April. No, this is not an April fools joke. As always, thanks for reading. ~Thunt

New sneak peek "inside" the vote button. Check it out. As always, thanks for reading. ~Thunt

Patrick Rothuss' sequel to The Name Of The Wind has finally arrived! His new book, The Wise Man's Fear is available now and I recommend that you all either buy it at a store or save Patrick's life in "the nick of time" so he'll give you a free copy in a fit of panicked gratitude. You can also check out his website to get more info or to figure out how to send him gushy fan mail. As always, thanks for reading. ~Thunt

People have been asking for a "wallpaper" version of the panel that (at least partially) shows fifty five of the two hundred seventeen alternate realities that are currently in the comic. While I'm not really happy with the idea of releasing it as a wallpaper due to the messy art style (remember, I drew those guys at a VERY tiny size so they look pretty messy when blown up) and I'm certainly not going to redraw it with even more detail, I can show you a blown up version that'll let you guys take a better look at it. You'll find that big version of the panel under the vote button. I also removed the glare from the window pane to keep everything clear for ya. Each of the two hundred seventeen alternate realities were numbered and written out years ago. Some of them have sketches, some of them have lengthy paragraphs detailing why they are what they are and a few of them even have character sheets. Many of them just have two to five sentences that briefly explain who they are. As always, thanks for reading. ~Thunt

(This blog post is in reference to my previous post. It contains subject matter that may be a trigger for individuals who've experienced extreme stress.) Since I wrote my blog post apologising for my hypnosis joke, I've had tons of emails pouring in. I've read a lot of them, but I still have many more to go. I'd guess that about 60% of the emails have been supportive. Many, many women (and some men) have taken the time to explain in a friendly, welcoming manner, what a rape survivor has to go through. I'd like to thank these people. Some of you took offense to my He-man/Goblinslayer questions, thinking that I was trying to make light of the whole thing or make fun of rape survivors. This is not at all true. I was genuinely curious about what someone like that might do in that situation. Here is an excerpt from one of the more enlightening emails... In your blog you asked why someone who could be triggered by a rape joke be okay with the comic.  It comes down to the fact that in the joke that was interpreted as a rape joke it could be very seriously interpreted as you making light of rape, there are a lot of rapists and rape apologists that do just that through jokes, but in your comic you treat it very seriously.  In the comic it's very obvious that you don't take rape as light subject matter and don't support rapists.  Someone who is triggered by mentions of rape might be in serious trouble at first mention of the rape, but when they calm down and come back to the comic and see you handling the subject seriously they will appreciate it and it might even help them.  It is probably also even more helpful that the character you have who is a victim of rape is still a very real person(in characterization) and isn't someone who just occupies the story to be a token victim or damsel in distress.  It is very nice for and appreciated by victims to see a character survive and continue on with their lives after something horrible has happened to them. These sorts of emails have been very helpful. The more that I can learn about the subject matter, the more I can avoid accidentally offending anyone again. However, I've also gotten more than a few nasty emails. I've been called a "rape apologist", a "supporter of rapists" and some other names. I've also been threatened by someone who claimed that someone else will one day "find" me (at least I think it was a threat, that email wasn't very clear). Some people took offense to my referencing my own values, such as a right to uncensored comedy. Some took offense to the fact that my apology contains a personal request for respect. Let me be clear that although I value my own rights, that blog post was about others that I may have hurt with my joke and I was not placing my own values above the pain that rape survivors go through. I do not want to laugh at anyone going through pain. The tweet was a failed attempt to laugh at myself in an exaggerated manner and NOT an attempt at to laugh at rape victims. If someone online thinks my comic sucks or thinks that I'm annoying/unfunny during my live feed, I can easily deal with that. It comes with working on the internet and after almost six years, I've gotten pretty thick skin. But this... this being lumped into the same category as someone who laughs at something as painful and horrific as rape... this is different. I'm not that kind of man. Please stop telling me that you see me as such. As I mentioned, many of the emails have been supportive and I'm very thankful to all of you. To the people who are angry at me, let me reiterate that I regret making that joke. Not just because it's caused me to go through what I'm going through now, but because I have clearly hurt some people and that's never something that I want to do. I also want to point out that the majority of rape survivors who have contacted me have been very helpful and communicative in a constructive way. So please don't let this blog post paint a picture of rape survivors as a bunch of monsters. I believe that the truly insulting (and the one threatening) emails were just sent by people who've let their emotions cause them to see me as someone that I'm not. Finally, please do not take this as an invitation to debate. I ask that you do not argue these points in the forum or email me about how I've further offended you or how offended you are that others are angry at me. You can either label me as a villain or accept my apology. Either way, let's all move on and get back to our geeky comics. As always, thanks for reading. ~Thunt

(Warning: This blog post contains possible triggers for those who've experienced extreme stress) A couple days ago, I made a dumb joke on twitter. It went as follows... "I've gotten laid before, but I've never gotten laid using only the power of hypnosis. But one day I will. Oh yes, I will." Is it a funny joke? Meh. Is it offensive? No. At least that's my opinion. However, a couple people on twitter expressed their disapproval for what was called a "rape joke". "A rape joke?" I thought. "This isn't a rape joke, this is a joke about how funny it would be if I actually thought that hypnosis could get me the ladies". Nevertheless, a couple folks were upset. I spent forty-five minutes debating with someone online about whether or not my joke was offensive. Then I got an email. Then two emails. Then three. My stance is that no person on the planet has ever been forced into sex via hypnosis. Ever. It is impossible for someone to make someone else do anything that they don't want to do by using hypnosis. So how can this be offensive when it's an imaginary crime? Well clearly people are offended and if they're offended, shouldn't I apologise? I mean, whether I understand it or not, I certainly don't want to hurt anyone. There is another issue here though. Basically, we've got two potential offenses colliding. You see, there are those who find a joke like the one above to be offensive, but there are others who find the idea of comedic censorship offensive as well. The idea of a joke that might send someone into a tailspin of traumatic memories is certainly not one that I want to tell. On the other hand, if I choose to recant the above joke and apologise, how far do I then allow this censorship to extent? Is it just jokes that could possibly be seen as "rape jokes"? What about the Hamburglar? That little bastard steals food from hungry children. Surely the concept of starving children isn't funny at all. What about jokes about the pied piper? Children are kidnapped on a daily basis and no one can truthfully say that that hasn't left a lot of people permanently traumatised. But again, I don't want anyone to read my dumb, little jokes and be triggered into feeling stressed or upset. It's definitely a complicated issue. Being a dude, I'm very lucky in that I've never had to deal with something as traumatic as rape (EDIT: Everyone yelling at me because "dudes get raped too!" can just back off. What I mean is that rape is very uncommon for a male and that statistic plays a major role in why I or any of my guy friends have been raped). Nor have I had to deal with the tragedy of having someone close to me raped. So I'd be lying if I claimed to understand the kind of trauma that those victims are forced to go through. Therefore, morally I don't have the right to say "it's not that bad" or "suck it up, it's just a joke". Maybe it is that bad. But if it is that bad, what happens to these rape victims when they're flipping through the channels on their TV and they come across that episode of He-man where Skeletor kidnaps Teela in an effort to force her to marry him? Sure, Ol' Skull-face never actually says that he's going to have sex with Teela, but what do you think would happen if He-man died at the end of Skeletor's sword and Teela was forced to become Mrs. Skeletor? You think he'd respect her personal space? Hell no. The implication for rape is there. So do rape victims curl into a fetal position and cry for two hours before demanding that all copies of that cartoon be destroyed? (EDIT: This is a serious question and NOT an attempt to make fun of people in this kind of pain!) My own comic contains a rapist. If the reason for removing my dumb tweet is because it may possibly trigger a victim into extreme stress, then surely I'd have to remove all scenes in my comic that portray Goblinslayer as a rapist, right? If I don't have the moral right to say "my hypnosis joke is okay, let it go", then offended parties shouldn't have the right to say "the tweet must be censored, but Goblinslayer can stay because I like the scene in which he's thrown out the window". They're all possible triggers. So should these victims fight to have any and all jokes, stories, artwork that contain possible triggers destroyed/censored? Or should they accept that (however unfair it is) the world is full of triggers and instead try to learn how to cope with these details and move on? This sort of debate has been going on long before I was born and it'll continue long after I'm dead. I'd be a fool to think that I could solve it here in this blog entry. So instead, I'll just do my own little part... I'd like to apologise to anyone that I've offended with my hypnosis joke. I was being insensitive and I'll take greater care when making jokes in the future. (EDIT: Removed the phrase "It's possible I was be insensitive" because that was further offending people) I'd like to state whole-heartedly that I find the concept of rape and other such crimes to be offensive and not at all funny. The intent with my jokes is to make someone, somewhere smile and I will continue with this personal goal of mine. This may cause me to accidentally offend someone again in the future. If this happens, I ask any offended parties to show as much respect for my right to humour as I believe should be shown toward your own, person pain due to past experiences. As always, thanks for reading. ~Thunt

Under the vote button, you'll find a partially completed panel from the long overdue Tempts Fate conclusion. There are four famous (and zombified) webcomic creators in the panel. Can you spot 'em? As always, thanks for reading. ~Thunt

You're going to see multiple pages uploaded in the RSS feed today. That's because I went back and corrected a Thaco colouring error that was in a bunch of pages. Sorry about that. And as always, thanks for reading. ~Thunt

Alright people, I was dancing gracefully through the forum and saw more than a few people talking about how the rope shouldn't be going through Kore, so let's have a look, shall we? Over the years, I've had a few intangible items show up in my D&D games. These items often get dirty. So what happens when a magic sword that's supposed to pass harmlessly through, say, the dude standing next to you (and his clothes, etc) is covered in mud? Does the mud refuse to pass through that guy because it's not part of the sword and therefore stop the item from passing ghost-like through the guy? What if it's not mud, but a thin layer of dust? Can this powerfully intangible item be rendered impotent simply because it was left on a shelf for a couple days? What if that dust isn't on the item itself, but instead on Mr. Dude? Would the sword pass through the dust on his shirt without any problems but be stopped by dust that had been on the blade? What if the dust or mud was on the blade, which cannot pass through Mr. Example-dude, so the sword wielder wipes the dust/mud onto dude-guy's shirt, which technically makes it dirt 'on the guy', but not on the blade and therefore the sword passes through the mud-dust AND the guy? And does this mean that someone could destroy the item's power simply by painting it? After all, the paint wouldn't pass through the confused dude, right? It all gets very specific and believe me, players will delve head-first into these specifications. My ruling was usually as follows... The item in question will pass through its target(s) like a ghost. If it is dirty, dusty, muddy, painted, dyed, wet or on fire, then the item still passes through its target and carries with it the added material. That means that the dirt, droplets of water, etc. will also pass through the target in a ghost-like fashion. While this added material is piggy-backing on the item's intangible state, it clings to it's host and will not easily fall off. That means that the weilder of the ghost-sword cannot coat it in mud, 'phase' it into Mr. Dude and shake it to make the mud fall off while inside the poor guy therefore becoming solid within him (certain players have tried this. You know who you are). As any seasoned dungeon master knows, players have tried to add ropes to everything their character's do. Seriously. Everything. Most of us have seen the scenario in which someone drinks a potion or something that allows them to walk ghost-like through a stone wall. This of course, is done with a rope tied around his waist while a buddy holds the other end and promises that "this'll totally work". The rope, along with the adventurer's equipment passes magically through the wall as long as it is in contact with our hero. However, most potions, spells, magic rings, etc. will not allow the magical trait to be shared with other people. Clothing and small objects only. So if we look at the rules established in many text books as well as my own, personal methods of handling the specifics of incorporeal magics, it seems logical that the rope, while attached to the axe, would pass through Kore. Cutting the rope and separating it from the axe caused it to instantly become solid and suddenly occupy the same space as Kore's hunky body which fused the rope to Kore and his armour. Yes, this is possible. Yes it is. Shut up, yes it is. Think of light passing through glass. Sure, that's not two molecules occupying the same space, but the atoms do interact to the point where someone could point at a beam of sunlight shining through a window and say "hey look, that light and that glass are occupying the same space". In this case, Kore is the window and the axe and rope are the beam of sunlight. Hello, my name is Tarol Hunt and I have 24 years of near-constant practice arguing the physics of magic with hundreds of D&D players. As always, thanks for reading. ~Thunt

Under the vote button (it's the picture of the goblin with the shield), there is a sneak peek of Friday's update. Check it out. As always, thanks for reading. ~Thunt