They're everywhere. For the last two (or more) weeks I've been plagued by zombies. Every where I look, everywhere I go there a dismembered shuffling corpses tearing my one another apart. It all started when I was rummaging through my miniatures, for something new to paint, and came across a half converted zombie guardsman. Naturally I thought it only proper to pull him out and begin work on finishing him off.

Next came the rediscovery of the How Stuff Works podcasts - kicked off with a 'Are Zombies Real' topic - and the return of my xbox (yay! I finally got it fixed ) and Left 4 Dead with it. From there things just escalated. Zombies are permeating every facet of my life, from politics (a fresh campaign has formed to oppose one of our Attorney General's insistent blocking of and R18+ category on video games - kicked off by the refused classification of Left 4 Dead 2) to recreation (one of my local TV has decided to have a special 'zombie month' ), hell even the crappy games I play on Facebook seem to be developing a zombie theme (I even have zombies eating in my restaurant in Restaurant City).

In the course of all this there have been some pleasant, and not so pleasant discoveries. Dead Set was a bit of a gem and is well worth a look if the zombie genre of horror tickles you. Resident Evil: Extinction is crap - ok so I wasn't expecting much, it isn't supposed to be brilliant, just Resident Evil, zombies and action. I suppose it had all those but was somehow a lot worse than the previous two movies, there was no real plot, the zombies were crappy and didn't maul people enough, the mutation (the traditional big bad guy in these movies it would seem) was crap compared to the other ones AND it somehow stripped Milla Jovovich of her hotness (yes I've thought she was hot ever since The Fifth Element - but who hasn't). On the upside it did have zombie birds

Now all this could just be one long string of self-propagating coincidences...or the dead could honestly be out to get me Once I get through Zombieland I think I'll be all zombied out for a while. Sure I still have a unit of infected guard to convert but that can always wait. Yes. Instead I will have to work hard to stop the good ol' ninja from taking over instead. I still have Ninja Gaiden II to play through (a game so frustratingly hard I fear for my controllers safety whenever I play it ), just over 100 episodes of Bleach to watch (then I will be up to date), some Skaven assassins to paint (they are very ninja-esque), and some physical activity (probably Aikido or something close) to get my ass back into shape.

Of course this will be balanced out by a fair smattering of other juicy stuff I'm eagerly awaiting. Particularly CoD: MW2. It's just been released but I'm going to try and hold out from getting it until I have the money I need saved for a trip I have planned at the start of Feb. There is also the movie 9 being released here in December, that looks worth a watch. Plus there is a host of other summer releases I wanna check out (I'm too lazy to list all of them here). Plus I just found somewhere that stocks Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (or When they Cry - rough translation minus Higurashi ). I'll repeat: that series is AWESOME and will be purchased immediately.

As a side note it is almost summer and there are cicada shells everywhere, all over one of the walls of the building I live. Now for a lot of people this might seem foreboding, but I'm really looking forward to the mind-numbing drum, drum, droo - it is a large part of what makes summer summer. The other thing is mangoes. I don't know if you have them overseas but they are quite possibly the best fruit ever. And simply impossible to each without making an epic mess of oneself (so much so I reckon the link between man and monkey was made while someone was eating a mango, people never look more like a monkey than then they are sucking on a mango cheek). It's a good mess though

Um...oh and as far as actual life news goes there is not a lot to report. End of semester has been hectic. I haven't even had time to log into dA But it's almost over, just two more exams to go and then a three month break And absolutely nothing to report on the creative front. I just haven't had the time to get anything done. There have been a couple of nice ideas but they have all faded before I did anything with them. About the only thing that is close is by miniature painting....but I'm not good enough to bother posting any of that online yet.

Done because I have no news and I was too lazy to read through *Verdokai's answers....so I read them as I did it. Hence the references interspersed with the answers.

Oh, the guy called me today telling me my lounge is ready. I just have to pay the balance and it should be delivered next tuesday! Which is my birthday. So, in a bizarre kinda way it's like I ordered myself an unexpected birthday present like six weeks ago

A
- Age: 22 (as of this Tuesday )
- Available: Depends...who and how much?
- Annoyance: People...money, definitely money more. Economies shit me.
- Animal: I prefer the term critter. It's more inclusive for those poor little spiky venomous dubies that get left out.
- Actor: On the stage of life! Um....no I don't really know who anyone is

B
- Beer: Preferably dry lager
- Birthday: 15th September
- Best Friend: silly concept
- Body Part: big buxom bottom, bum, butt
- Best feeling in the world: those moments when all those little things melt away and the one your in is that that counts.
- Big Words: usually come from small people.
- Best weather: clean, crisp spring day.
- Been in Love: No, I'm tempted to say silly concept but deep down I'm a bit of a romantic
- Been on stage: Yeh, all the time in primary and secondary school.
- Believe in yourself?: Depends who I'm reading. Plato? Sure makes sense. Descartes? Then the absence of a omnipotent 'other' makes it difficult. Spinoza? Er....still trying to get my head around that one. Kant? Same again
- Believe in life on other planets: Yes, our present conception of the universe makes it (statistically) inevitable. Sentient life? Not so much....though again all things are inevitable and it they occur once they have and will occur again.
- Believe in miracles: Not in the way you mean.
- Believe in Magic: Nope.
- Believe in Satan: No.
- Believe in Santa: No, I like the idea for family though.
- Believe in Ghosts/spirits: In this regard I'm somewhat agnostic. I don't think such a thing is likely but I cannot prove without a doubt otherwise.

C
- Car: Nope, and not likely to ever have one. I might get a bike licence eventually though.
- Candy:
- Colour: Any and all. Depends how and where it's being used.
- Chocolate/Vanilla: Vanilla...Chocolate...no, Vanilla
- Cheerleading: Has resulted in some nice light hearted movies
- Cake or pie: Yes. Homemade is best.....though I can't manage to make any Asian style cakes at home. So they are usually better from the shops. I like the purple Japanese ones, they look sweet but they're not....yet they kinda are
- Country to visit: Sweden...then Japan, China, Russia, England, etc. (As soon as I fix my camera I'm going to up load a tonne of photos that will hopefully balance Jenny's view of Oz )

D
- Day or Night: Little bit bit o' both!
- Dream vehicle:
- Dance: Yes, but only when inebriated
- Dance in the rain: Sure....maybe, I don't really remember
- Do the splits?: Hell no, I can't even touch my toes. Though that is more super tense calf muscles which I never bother to stretch properly

E
- Eggs: Totally beat the chicken to the punch!
- Eyes: Are the best part
- Ever been in a hospital?: Admitted no, visiting yes
- Ever committed a crime?:
- Ever been suspended?: Yup, I used to do a heap of indoor rock climbing - your suspended from the roof all the time! Oh, no not from school

F
- Full name: Joshua Luke
- First thoughts waking up: I like to take a couple of moments and enjoy an empty mind
- Food: Is a fun and necessary part of life!
G
- Greatest Fear: Isolation, madness and derangement
- Giver or taker: Giver....a little too often
- Gum: Occasionally, if I'm out for ages and won't be able to clean my teeth after eating I tend to chew sugarfree gum just to get the old acid levels back down.
- Get along with your parents?: More of less
-Good luck charm: Yup. Me!

In Girls/Guys:
- Eye colour: Light. Black or really dark eyes creep me the hell out.
- Hair Colour: Doesn't matter, so long as it suits the person.
- Short/Long hair: As above
- Height: Preferably my height or a touch shorter.
- Clothing Style: Covered yet smexy. Bugs me when people go around with naught but their underwear on

H
- Hair Colour: Light Brown/Blond it depends who you ask and how much time spend in the sun (it bleaches itself quite easily). I usually just say sandy-brown.
- Height: I don't remember 5'10"-ish so like 178cm or there about.
- Happy: Hard to tell. Yes, but in a strange sort of way.
- Holiday: Yes please! Somewhere familiar yet totally disconnected where I can hang loose and not care what anyone thinks!
- How do you want to die: With the biggest possible impact on the poor bastard who's gonna find the corpse Blood, guts, pain and a touch of what the fuck?!
- Health freak?: No....well I'm conscious of my health and worry about it a lot, but I don't do anything beyond trying to eat well.
- Hate: Life, people, reality, experience, take your pick. (I balance it with love though )

I
- Ice Cream: Yes, but as a rare treat now and then.
- Instrument: One or two songs on a violin (maybe....I think I still remember them) Same with a piano.

J
- Jewelry: Bugs the hell out of me. Biggest turn off ever! Well....almost

K
- Kids: Sure if they situation is right
- Kickboxing or karate: Hmmm....I prefer the eastern martial arts (mostly because of the discipline) but both of those suck. The amount of hard crap you have to pummel (learning traditionally that is) in Karate sucks ass....holding pads and having the crap kicked out of you, in kickboxing, also sucks. Having said that I like them both. Right now, I would probably go in for some kickboxing mostly because I want a good hard sweet and a nice cardio work out.
- Keep a journal?: Your reading it I do have some private writings, but I wouldn't call them regular enough to be a journal.

L
- Longest Car Ride: Sydney to Cairns see it here
- Love: Paradoxes
- Laughed so hard you cried: All the time. I don't laugh too often but when I do I snap and go all out
- Last person who:
1. Slept in a bed beside you?: I dunno, no one has slept in a bed beside me since I was like 10ish
2. Saw you cry?: I was probably too worked up to remember
3. Went to the movies with you?: My little brother
4. Went to the mall with: Er...Ben I suppose.
5. You went to dinner with? out to dinner?: I don't remember. It's been a couple of years since I've gone out anywhere socially.
6. You talked to on the phone?: A guy from a warehouse this morning telling me my lounge was ready
7. Made you laugh?: A girl at uni with some wrongly sent, inappropriate photos

M
- Milk flavour: Vanilla milkshake, or just plain milo at home. Though I prefer milk plain by itself. That's the best flavour.
- Mooned anyone?: no
- Marriage?: Is a silly idealised institution...but if I find the right one then I'll bite my own hypocrisy
- McD's or BK? Do you mean McDonalds and Burger King? Neither they are both shit.
- Music: Every now and then. It is something I use to achieve an end.
- Movie: Is going to watch the Cthulu movie Jenny mentioned here
- Number of Siblings: 4
- Number of Piercings: Yuck. I don't even like ear piercings

O
- Overused Phrases: The cake is a lie <----is not used enough. Generally though I think far too many people use a whole range of phrases without ever really thinking about where they come from. Like "Oh! That's so cute!" Every looked up the origin of the word cute?
- One wish: Splack!
- One phobia: See, nuclear war is another perk Oz has. You try picking a sensible target away down in the middle of freakin nowhere. (again at Jenny). Oh....cause too much to the above mentioned splack!
P
- Place: transient
- Perfect Pizza: all the toppings used to make a tastier and all round better fish. Pizza sucks! :blek:

Q
-Quail: reproduce like freaking crazy in domestic aviaries

R
- Reason to cry: splack! splack! splack!
- Reality T.V: The very first ever Survivor was cool...horrible for the evil it unleashed upon the world! I don't mind Masterchef but otherwise reality tv is teh evil!
- Radio Station: Nope
- Roll your tongue in a circle?: Uh yes. But I think what you are trying to ask is can I curl it into a tube shape. In that case no.

S
- Shoe size: 10-11
- Salad Dressing: Should be used sparingly
- Sushi: Is awesome fresh and traditional. I don't like the Americanised recipes so much.
- Scent: Fabric softener, aftershave and deodorant
- Skipped school: Not if I could help it
- Slept outside: Yeh I've been camping.
- Seen a dead body?: Yuppers, on display many a time.
- Smoked?: No
- Skinny dipped?: Hellz no
- Shower Daily?: Twice in fact
- Song?:
- Sing well?: Yeh, if your deaf
- Sing in the shower?: No, I more hum and what not
- Swear?: No...oh, wait, yes. Half the words that are trivial here, like crap, frig, bastard, blood, etc. are not so much overseas
- Stuffed Animals?: (er...hygiene 101 Jenny) Are a bitch to make well
- Single/Group dates: Meh, whatever
- Strawberries/Blueberries: Both, alone, smashed together with cream and meringue. However they come!

T
- Talents?: Many and none
- Tattoos?: Not for me, though they do suit some people
- Time for bed: Varies wildly and dramatically.
- Thunderstorms: Hell yeh, the bigger the better. They are a pain when assignments are due. I have trouble focusing on anything productive in a storm, but otherwise I love massive pane shaking, earth rumbling awesomeness.
- TV: Kills time. I watch most of the programs I like one dvd. They don't air what I like to watch over here, and when hey do I hate that whole "I have to get this done by X so I can watch Y."
- Touch your tongue to your nose?: Am I allowed to stretch it with my fingers.

U
- Unpredictable: Yes, the more so the better!

V
- Vegetable you hate: The one's my mother cooks! Otherwise I don't mind most things. I don't like squash or zucchini though.
- Vegetable you love: Broccoli, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrots, and pretty much anything else yummy.

W
- Weakness: Touch of inferiority complex. A complete inability to meet my own expectations.
- What do you want to be when you grow up: awesome!
- Which one of your friends acts the most like you: None, people are still trying to work out my day to day behaviours after twelve years of friendship
- Wedding song?: Pachebel Cannon(Sp?) because I'm a traditionalist and I really like that music. Besides, an eva overtone ones wedding can't be too bad
- Wanted to be a model?: Yes! A model of morality, honour etc.
- Where do we go when we die: The real question is how do we go? Splack! splack! splack!
- Worst weather: Wind! Wind is horrible! I dislike crazy 40C+ heat too.

X
- X-Rays: Yeh, when I had to have a tooth removed. Also one of the most bizarre conversations I've overheard on a train was about the mishaps people have when learning how to take them. You end up taking shots of some really bizarre stuff if you muck up one tiny little parameter thingo apparently
- X-Men?: Meh
Y
- Year it is now: 2009
- Yellow: Is awesome in summer.

Z
- Zoo animal: a pampered one is the only way to counter act the nastiness of caging them in the first place. Oh, and I like the monkeys and the tigers, and the elephants and the rhinos and the Cheetahs, oh especially the Cheetahs sprinting across their enclosure
- Zodiac sign: Leo

Yup, a quiz for the gals I like some of the questions in it when I was reading it in *Lienwyn's journal. So I stole it....but that's mostly because she twisted my arm and I am halfway through an essay I need to take a break from.

1. What colour is your bra underwear?
Black! But no psychoanalysis damn it. Telling people the colour of my underwear make me feel vulnerable

2. Do you ever lie about your age?
Not intentionally, but I always say I'm the year that I'm turning without really thinking about it. For instance I'm currently twenty-one but I tell people I'm twenty-two because I almost am

3. Do you prefer "sensitive boys girls" or "tough guys gals"?
lol, well I like girls who aren't afraid to get dirty or take a swing at you....though they still need to be girly. Yup I like paradoxes too.

4. Do you prefer blond or brunette guys gals?
Both! I don't mind. Brunettes sometimes blondes others. Technically I like halfway in-between

5. Are you currently single?
Yup, but that's neither here nor there. I suppose you could say I'm agnostically single

6. How many things in your past do you regret?
1 - but I'll never tell

7. Do you have a best friend?
No, I think that's a bit childish to view your friends that way. Though there are some friends that I will do more for than other friends. But that more comes down to who they are as people not how well I know them.

8. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Happy! Lame....but true.

9. Have you ever kissed two people in one night?
No

10. Where do you shop to buy most of your clothes?
The internet....I bought about half of what I own from dA and the other half from splitreason. Then I realised that neither sells pants or underwear (I really think dA should release a line of underwear and some sort of cargo or jeans ) so I bought the rest from random mall-type clothing stores.

11. Who was the last person you hugged?
I don't hug people. The only time I am hugged is via a real life ninja glomp

12. Have you ever had your heart broken?
No...see look I'm still typing. If my heart was broken then I wouldn't be. Unless you mean that disorder where the heart distends....in which case that is also false

13. Have you ever thought about suicide?
Yes, but I think about most things. It's a bit hard to help someone through that sorta thing if you don't know what they are feeling. So I have really tried to place my mind that that sort of condition before with moderate success. The trick is remember not to do whatever it is that you're emulating

14. Have you ever wanted someone but you knew you couldn't have them?
Yes, yes I have.

15. Have you ever felt like killing somebody?
I've never had a great desire to actually kill anyone. If I had I probably would have. Though I do think that there are a lot of people who deserve to die....or rather don't deserve to be alive. But taking that brand of justice and trying to exact it on a personal level is both foolish and morally bunk....and as someone who considers themself something of a hard line moralist, well that just wouldn't do.

16. If you could change anything about your past, what would you change?
Perhaps I would live a little more, take a few more risks when they would have been more beneficial. Though all that is socially driven and I have no idea how that would turn out even if I did change the things that I would change. Honestly I would rather focus on embracing future change.

17. Do you like your life?
Not particularly, but that is what change is for.

18. Do you shop at Hollister?
I'm not even going to bother googling that

19. Has one of your friends ever stolen a boy girlfriend from you?
Nope, and none of them would

20. Did you forgive them?
Hmmm....probably not. Though it would depend upon the circumstance specifically. But I suppose if they actually stole and didn't just end up with an ex then no.

21. Who was your first best friend?
That's hard to answer. There are three possible people. But I don't think any of them were really 'best' friends. Just people I spent a lot of time with.

22. Have you ever skipped school?
Yes and no. I'm sure I've pulled a sickie (I am Australian remember) at some point. Mostly though I used to ditch one class to work on something in another. Like Maths for Chemistry and Chemistry for English

23. Has anyone ever cheated on you?
No, there has never been anyone in a position to do so.

24. Have you ever _been_ slapped a boy in the face?
Uhmm...this sounds bad saying it randomly on the net, but yes. But it was deliberate. I silly game we used to play when we were drunk...try to get someone to slap you, but you couldn't say anything derogatory about them, or their family/friends, specifically. You had to take it from an ideal or fool them into thinking you were treating a friend so badly they decided they had to walk up and slap you (which is really funny when they get confused a second later when you and your friend are in hysterics )

25. If so, why?
See above

26. What are some of your biggest fears of your life?
Falling down a morally reprehensible path

27. Has anyone close to you ever passed away?
No, no one has died in my immediate vicinity before....oh, no no close friends or relative have died...that I know of. I should probably call some of them and check

28. Have you ever cried yourself to sleep?
Nope, and technically shouldn't that be sobbed? I mean the spasms in your diaphragm kinda prevent sleeping.

29. Have you ever not been able to get someone out of your head?
Yes, once er....romantically, but otherwise I always worry about the people around me. I suppose I could remove them from my thoughts quite easily but I choose not to. Also I like to work at picking up the best traits of usually fictional characters' personalities, when I am doing that I can't get them out of my head.

30. Do you believe in the saying "once a cheater, always a cheater"?
No I believe people change. BUT once my trust is lost it can NEVER be regained. So if I see someone cheating...whether on me, a friend, or some other random person I've never met, their character is immediately and irrevocably suspect. I can interact with them on a normal level but never will I trust them with the smallest thing.

31. Are you a player?
Yes, I have a PC, 360, GC, SNES, N64, GAMEBOYs, SEGA...oh, well no, not when you mean it like that. Though apparently, and I'm quite oblivious to this, I can go into a bar and have couple of people expressing a less than subtle interest and remain blissfully (and frustratingly ) unaware.

32. What kind of cell phone do you have?
Sony Ericsson w760i <----actually I have this one two, I'm not just copying *Verdokai's answer

33. Have you ever had a good feeling about something and it turned out you were right?
Yes, all the time. Intuition governs my life.

34. Do you ever wish you were famous?
Nope, it might be nice just before I die. But otherwise no.

35. Do you ever wish you were a man?
Haha! I am one
For consistency though, I would never want to be a woman. Considering the question philosophically and with no grounding in modern (or ancient) practices or technological ability, and also leaving alone the stupidly complex issues of gender/sex identity (yes they are different, but most peeps reading this I suspect are already aware), I can without a doubt say I would not like to be a woman. Don't get me wrong, women are great (nothing more said in the hopes of avoiding coming across as a sexist pig ) but I don't think inhabiting the body though do is a very pleasant experience...too many inconvenience processes for my taste nor does my manner of thinking fit very well with the expectations (and responsibilities) of the feminine social construct in any society at any point in time (from about 1200BC to the present day).

And on that bizarre not I have an assignment on international relations to finish

A whole lot o' nothin: dusted with awesome

It's time for an update....but unfortunately I don't have much to update with

I have a couple of diorama type deviations that are almost ready to upload. One just needs the highlights added and the other is waiting on dry enough weather to be hard coated. BUT I still haven't managed to get a new screen for the camera I've got. It has a decent macro function so I will actually be able to upload shots of my work. A new lcd screen is relatively cheap on ebay but I keep getting slapped with bills and other nasty, money stealing things. To get around this I've worked it into my formal budget though, so I should have it within three weeks (depending on delivery times).

Same sorta story with my lounge. It's still in a warehouse somewhere being upholstered. But that was expected when I ordered it so I can't complain too much.

Otherwise there isn't a lot else going on. Sure uni is starting to pick up. We're coming into that assessment intensive point of the semester. But that also is expected. I'm presently trying to get my head around T.S. Eliot's Wasteland. It's nice and I really like the idea behind the whole thing. It's just difficult to write an essay and presentation about. I'm tackling it from a creative flow and processes angle. Should be a HD in the bad

And finally if you haven't watched it then I strong recommend Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. I came across it a day or two ago and it's freakin awesome. One of the best anime I've seen in a very long time. It was released for a short while dubbed in English. But that is quite hard to find it would seem. Even if you don't normally watch your anime subbed I really recommend that you change for this one. There's a link to it over in the video bar (somewhere that way------>

That's all for now folks