Ahoy! Shots in the Dark IS the official podcast of Shotgun Reviews, so we thought we’d hit you up with an all review episode (after the Gatling Geek news segment, of course). We went a little outside the box, though. First, Janelle reviews The Sims 2: Freetime, the likely final expansion pack to The Sims 2, and even gives you a sneak peak of The Sims 3, due out next year.  Then we take a deep look at the first 7 “episodes” of Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield’s FreakAngels; the completely free webcomic. Head over, take a listen, subscribe through any and all podcasting services, and be a better human being. Or Warren Ellis will send the arse eels. It’s your choice.

 Listen Right Here!!

by John Stvan AKA Halcylon
Edited by Vince Scalabrino

Much like the fabled unicorn, Achronos is elusive, majestic, and beautiful.  Well, we assume he’s beautiful.  Regardless, the Shot in the Dark crew managed to track down this mythical man and cornered him.  He agreed to grant us three wishes.  The first two were wasted on Lucas’s wish to have Spider Man’s super powers and Vince’s wish to have Codemaster’s “Overlord” become a reality.  With Spider Lucas out the window and The Dark Lord Vince safely within his evil tower, the rest of the crew were left to have their final wish granted: that Achronos answer a battery of questions.  The following is a relatively exact representation of what ensued.

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We held off on an individual spotlight for a bit so we could bring you a HUGE spotlight: it’s the Shots in the Dark team! In the shot above, pictured clockwise from left, are Vince, Janelle, Imoticon, Lucas and Michael Madsen. Yes, the REAL Michael Madsen. The Shots in the Dark crew doesn’t mess around. Read on to meet Lucas, Janelle, Vince, The Viceroy, Imoticon, and John after the jump, or watch the latest episode right now!

Name: Lucas Siegel

Shots in the Dark team position: Co-Producer, Booking

Specialty: Comics, tech, anime, random knowledge

Things I do: Newsarama.com, ShotgunReviews.com, Truman College Newspaper Arts and Entertainment Editor, Generally kick-ass, Get linked to by Rolling Stone

Interests: Comics, video games, writing (creative and journalism), all the geeky stuff we talk about on the show, Da Bears, making fun of Vince, trolling/giving negative karma to JB on our forums (found at shotgunreviews.com/shots/forum)

Name: Janelle Siegel

Shots in the Dark team position: co-host/token girl

Specialty: smart assery, comics, saying “your mom” at inconvenient moments, video games (The Sims 2 in particular), manga, and using my boobs to get my way.

Things I do: copy-edit Newsarama (can I say that? I think you know the link but might want to clear with Matt), Shotgun Vlog (http://www.youtube.com/user/SitDShow), write for Shotgun, and co-host SitD. To pay the bills: office administrator for fashion designer Andria Lieu - website still in development.

Interests: Your mom. Ha. Seriously: comics (love Fables, X-Men, Birds of Prey, and Suburban Glamour), manga (Fruits Basket, Ouran High School Host Club, Nana, Vampire Knight), video games (The Sims 2, Final Fantasy 2/4-8, SSX, Burnout, Smash Bros.), books (favorite authors include Stephen King, L.M. Montgomery, and John Irving), my husband, animals (especially our cats Monkey and Chicken!), TV (favorite show ever = Veronica Mars, favorite show currently on TV = Lost), movies (Empire Records, Gone With The Wind, and Lost in Translation), music (I <3 U2), and editing (I hates the bad grammars).

Name: Vince Scalabrino

Shots in the Dark position: Co-Producer, Marketing

Specialty: Retro video games, Non super-hero comics and pop culture obscura: Dr. Who, 80’s animation, vintage computer tech and games, robots, etc.

Things I do: Digital marketing (www.icrossing.com), voiceover acting (www.voiceofvince.com - Coming soon!), audio and video production (www.shotgunreviews.com/shots), writing (Right here on www.shotgunreviews.com).

Interests: See specialties. Vince is also a casual harmonica player, snowboarder and unabashed Karaoke lover. He blogs on very rare occasions @ vscalabri.livejournal.com. There are rumors he is also in the early stages of development of his very first novel.

Little Known Fact: Vince once got up in front of 500-some Motorola employees and their former CEO, Ed Zander, and sang 12 bars of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day”, in the style of Ol’ Blue Eyes. In case you were wondering, he no longer works at Motorola.

Name: The Viceroy

Shots in the Dark team position: Co-Founder, on-air talent, and random odds & ends support

Specialty: Video Games, Tabletop & Board Games, Collectible Card Games, random facts of nostalgia (Like Vince only more extensive & random!), as well as general geek-ese and geek-isms. Oh, and making everyone wonder who is the man behind the mask…

Things I do: Senior System Designer at an unnamed “super secret” video game company, part-time entertainer at Chicago Bulls basketball games, and Voice Overs if he ever has the time (demo tape is just about done!), typically speaks of himself in the third person

Interests: See Specialties & Professional sections above. In addition to those, The Viceroy also has an analyst streak in him and follows most of the Chicago pro teams (Bears, Bulls, Cubs). The Viceroy also dabbles with building with LEGO and has a fond appreciation Cartoons & Animation. The Viceroy would like to write again at some point as well…

Little Known Fact: The Viceroy could have been one of the ‘contestants’ on the TV Show “The Pickup Artists”, but decided against it.

Name: Imoticon AKA Steve Scalabrino

Shots in the Dark team position: On-Air Talent

Specialties: Movies, TV, Games (FPS,Action,Fantasy)

Things I do: Acting (stage, print and TV), retail gigs to cover the gaps (Starbucks and the like).

Interests: Airsoft, Movies/TV, All things of 80’s, good sushi restaurants, know any?

Name: Halcylon AKA John Stvan

Shots in the Dark Team position: Graphic Designer / Cinematography Lead, On-Air Talent

Specialties: Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3, Call of Duty Series (Any First Person Shooter, really), Star Wars (Movie and Book form), Graphic Art, Digital Art

Things I do: Graphic design (www.gravityforcegraphics.com), Video producing/ editing (www.shotgunreviews.com/shots), Bungie.net user/abuser (Halcylon’s Profile).

Interests: See Specialties. Anything involving the color blue (It’s the only color I can truly see well). I have read almost every book available regarding String Theory, partake in skiing in Colorado and have acted in plays and movies since high school (almost a decade of work in all). I have a fuzzy kitty named Sierra who is a dog in disguise (she barks and plays fetch). In case you didn’t already guess, I enjoy long drawn out conversations regarding anything to do with myself. =)

By John Stvan

On February 20th, Shots in the Dark found, tied up, and guerrilla interrogated a current Forum Ninja (see: Moderator) from Bungie.net. Moderating a bunch of rabid Halo fans is no small feat, and he told us of the ups and downs of one of the largest gaming communities around. To protect his identity, we shall simply call him by his tag of Yoozel.

Shots in the Dark: Yoozel is an interesting name. Does it come from anywhere or anything?

Yoozel: It’s a mystery really… there is some truth out there about it… but all I’m willing to say is that it came from an artist I went to school with and she’ll get mad props always. Not to mention it was an inside joke back in the day….

SitD: Has that always been your gamer name?

Yoozel: Well… in the Bungie realm of things, yes. Over the years I have assumed countless identities to game under… but I was never really into competitive online play until Xbox Live came out.

SitD: Nice shameless Microsoft plug! Have to make the bucks somehow, right?

Yoozel: Will moderate for 401K and benefits!!

SitD: You’ve been a part of Bungie.net for how long?

Yoozel: I’ve been apart of Bungie.net for almost 5 years now. Still going strong and continually pissing a lot of people off. And despite public opinion it’s not over until my liver explodes or the Webmaster gives up!

SitD: Are you telling me that the fans, the forum community, cause you to drink?

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