Speaking of things, there's this SXSW thing going down in Texas in a couple of weeks, and Front's three shows are announced as follows: first, Mar 13 is the io9 party at PureVolume which is free with any kind of festival credential. And maybe without? Try your jedi mind tricks at the door. Next up, Mar 15 is a public show at Flamingo Cantina with Megaran and Terp2it. And finally, Mar 17 is the official showcase at Karma Lounge with STD, ytc, terp, Ran, K-Flay, Jesse Dangerously, and more.

Before any of those things happen, the New Haven (CT) show at Cafe Nine is on Mar 11th, with Brandon Patton.

In other news, pay to get ytc's fool head shaved down here, Front would do the same but... well.

Did you see Jhonen Vasquez's masterful album cover for Zero Day? There is a picture of it on internet now.

Also! Skip that stupid Superbowl nonsense and come see Front and band rock Pianos in NYC on Sunday evening. And then Monday evening, Boston is rocked. Okay!

Front, The CI, Gm7, and Blak Lotus journey to central MA to play the Meat For Tea shindig with old pals The Mathematicians on Saturday night. Attend. Next weekend it's the Frontalot plus Brandon Patton Non-Superbowl-Related Celebration at Pianos. They will provide some kind of sporting contest to entertain you. Perhaps fisticuffs. Then on Mon the 8th you are expected in Allston (which is like Boston but with an "All" sound at the beginning) at Harper's Ferry for some more Patton on Frontalot action. Tickets here.

Weirdly at odds with this report of agentlessness, we bring you another new performance date: Feb 20th at the NC Comedy Arts Festival.That one's going to be an extra big, extra wonderful show, so get your tickets locked down right the heck now. Not on the calendar yet, but happening: South By Southwest! Probably Mar 17th. Stay tuned.

Here's a very nice new music video of Front and Lars rapping about video games, from Lars's latest full album, which you should already have. The clip was shot late one night at Nerdapalooza, and it has almost every nerdcore person in the known universe in it somewhere, bobbing, nodding, or looking bored. Take a look. You will not look bored while watching, promise.

Frontalot performances occur in Northampton, Boston, New York City, and San Francisco, all between January 30th and February 15. Such globetrotting! See gig calendar for details.

Front takes the evening off to see Zoe Keating and Imogen Heap do their things in Brooklyn. A fine time is guaranteed.

I don't like to talk about Quitting Smoking. It sounds so final, and it turns the inevitable backslide into a major failure event. But I do Stop Smoking from time to time, which lasts anywhere from a few weeks to three years. I am in process of stopping right now, in fact. Usually I stop by not smoking, which is a pretty okay way to do it. This time I'm trying to make it more interesting by gradually diminishing intake with the help of a couple D&D rules.

You can play too! Here's how.

1. Name your character. Mine's Breathorr Inflatagon, a level 2 Lung Elf. You don't have to roll up stats. If you're a real stickler for form, go get your lungs x-rayed. The x-ray film is your character sheet.

2. Keep a d20 in your pack of cigarettes. If it doesn't fit, keep die, lighter, and pack together in some kind of totable container. May I suggest a pouch?

3. Whenever you feel like smoking, that means the GM (you) is trying to poison your character (also you). Time for a saving throw! I decided the DC (Difficulty Class) for my save vs Poison is 15. Roll the d20. 15 and up: I am saved from that cigarette I wanted! Hooray? 14 and under: oh darn, I get to enjoy another satisfying and flavorful cancer treat.

4. If you make the save, you really can't have a cigarette. Rolls have to be at least an hour apart. If you haven't rolled for two hours, that does not mean you get to roll twice. Be strict, or the GM Regulatory Cabal will revoke your authority. (I assume? I haven't GM'd since like 1988.)

5. Every day of the campaign, your Wisdom increases slightly. You're using Will to save against Poison, so increased Wis modifies in your favor (well, in your character's favor — your GM prefers that the poison attacks land). I'm using a mod of +1 for each day, so on day two rolls of 14 and up are successful saves, on day three it's 13 and up, etc. Fifteen days into the campaign, I will only be allowed to smoke when I roll a natural 1.

6. Rolling a natural 1, of course, is a critical fail. Thus, no matter how wise I get, I will always be able to sneak a cigarette if I can roll a 1. But after fifteen days I'm going to limit myself to one poisoning attempt per day, instead of one per waking hour. The game logic behind this is: fuck you, I do what I want.

You can design your own system, of course. The DC of 15 and the minimum hour between rolls seemed suited to how much I was already smoking. If you go through two packs of Chesterfields a day you are probably not going to survive on so meager an allotment of poison.

I realize also that this system is nowhere near complicated enough for some gamers. Feel free to adapt much more sophisticated rulesets. Probably "internet" would be a good place to post them once you've got the kinks worked out.