Voicing Pirates

So I volunteered to help with voices and audio on Pirates of the Burning Sea, and yesterday we hit the studio to record incidental dialogue and what the sound engineer calls "exerts"--sound effects that play during avatar combat (duels, swordplay, and the like). And as is often the case, I didn't *just* get to skip a day of work to hang out in the recording studio and eat a free cheeseburger--I also learned a few things, too.

1) I only have the one pirate voice, and he's a combination of Steve the Pirate from the movie "Dodgeball" and the sea captain from the Simpsons.

2) My "proper English" voice bounces back and forth between Patrick Stewart and Jeeves.

3) Improvising in a Spanish or French accent is really hard.

4) The sound you make when you toss sand in someone's eyes is very similar to the sound you make when you get slashed across the cheek.

5) Everyone's favorite sound effect was the "I've just been stabbed in the eye" sound.

MTGCast Interview is Live

Hey, all y'all (my friend from Alabama says that's the appropriate way to refer to more than one person, y'all being singular) Dom has got the interview up on the newly revamped MTGCast site. It's an hour and a half of pure Cory goodness. Enjoy, won't you?

And if you dig the Magic cards, check out the rest of the MTGCast podcasts, which feature charming people who are much better at playing Magic than I am.

Iced Cream Review: Ben & Jerry's American Pie

I've enjoyed my share of fine iced creams (as should be apparent) and rarely have I been let down by the two Gentlemen of Vermont. Now on some level it's impossible to be truly "let down" by ice cream, I mean, it's ice cream, and Ben and Jerry do it well. But there's something(s) literally missing in their American Pie limited flavor.

It's exactly what it says--apple pie-flavored ice cream with chunks of apple pie--but come, Ben, Jerry, you're Ben and Jerry. You don't just put apple pie and ice cream together and call it a limited edition. Humankind has been doing that for at least three years, if not longer. I guess I'm looking for more. Crunchy cobbler-type stuff mixed in with the pie. Swirls of cinnamon-caramel. I dunno, Frosted Flakes. The carefully-rationed ashes of Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Okay, not that. But something.

Apparently, a percentage of proceeds from the American Pie flavor go to a reading program or programs, so by all means buy it for that if you like, but if you're looking for an iced cream worthy of the Van Gogh-like creative madness that gave us Chubby Hubby, you'd be better off sending the kids a check and hitting that Phish Food.

MTGCast Interview

Dom over at MTGCast interviewed me this morning about the Ravnica books, writing, deadlines, and keeping cinemas open on Christmas, among other things. He said it should be up on or around Tuesday, September 12.

Hit the MTGCast link over on the right to see what Dom and his gang of scrappy, troubled loners get up to.

It Means "Helmet Lizard."

Welcome to Corythosaurus. I'm Cory Herndon, and when I was five years old I discovered I was named after a dinosaur.

I write things, and I intend to write more things here as time allows. During the day, I write about pirates for this game, and put words in their mouths. You'd think it would be all Yarrring and Yo-Hoing, but it turns out pirates say things between those words occasionally. Until a few months ago, I did much the same thing on this other game.

By nights and weekends, I write fiction, including the Magic: the Gathering Ravnica trilogy, and this, and this, and some other things. I've got a website where you can find links to all of those, as well as leftovers from when I was trying to do all of this with clumsy tools I didn't really understand. This is so much easier.

I'm not sure what this blog's going to focus on yet, but I'm thinking I might ramble on about comic books, what I'm working on, what I'm watching, what I'm playing, and if you're very unlucky, what I'm eating.

Speaking of which, today was a Dick's Deluxe and 2 cheese for lunch, and then S.P. cooked sole and green beans for dinner washed down with a Fat Tire. I don't usually eat breakfast.

Tonight's feature was The Ladykillers with Alec Guiness and the evening will soon conclude with some Enchanted Arms. Fine game, if you enjoy the classic, linear, Japanese RPG style, with all the weirdness and turn-based hijinks that come with it. But funny as it is, it can't beat the Ladykillers. Yet.