Ms. Farsad gets ready for PAX, by forcing MC Frontalot to appear with her in this amusing video. Its essential message is this: don't miss the documentary's west coast premiere at 4PM on Saturday in the big old convention hall. The band gets ready for PAX, mostly by rehearsing numbers from the new record (Diseases of Yore, Shame Of The Otaku, Tongue-Clucking Grammarian, plus the title track). The new record! The new record! Presales begin shortly. Until then, drool over the cover art by Scott C.

Speaking of PAX, did we mention that Front and band blow the roof off the sucker on Saturday night? Do what you must to secure your wristbandy goodness. If it is impossible for you to attend PAX, but you're going to be in Seattle that weekend anyhow, come see Front's secret appearance at the high-caliber nerdcore show Thurs night. It's so secret that we have failed to put it on the gig calendar -- but not so secret that we'd actually go without mentioning it. Thu Aug 28, at High Dive, doors around 9p, with Optimus Rhyme, The Goondocks, and from what we hear, MC Lars and YTCracker. Front will be oiling up his whole PAX set, so stop by to catch all the missed lyrics and off-key singing before they are banished forever.

What other exciting things are new (and exciting)? How about this badass Wordburglar video? What say you to the brand new Random album, with a guest appearance by Frontalot (on the track Reset Button)? How about an XBOX 360? What, you're not getting a new xbox? Oh, right. Front is! He's waited long enough. He needs to be primed and ready to play Rock Band in a couple weeks when Dude & Catastrophe gets released for it as DLC. Also, his PS2 is old enough to drink in some countries and it no longer reads discs without daily dissassembly and laser alignment massage. If you want to help him into the now, join Front's VSP.

Start getting excited, people! The new album is called Final Boss and it drops from unreachable elevation to the very depths of availability on November the First. Just in time for the new national tour with MC Lars! More on both topics soon.

Does our good MC return from San Diego ComiCon relatively unscathed? He does! Does he come bearing many a sordid tale of off-hours tomfoolery, and assurances that these tales feature more comic-book-creating superstars than one might comfortably shake a stick towards? No comment. Well, some comment. Let's find out how much.

We'll cut straight to the glamour: on the Tuesday night prior, Front arrives in San Diego and proceeds to fold tee shirts for about five hours. The Japanese two-second method aids greatly in this, even though it is more like a twelve-second method when translated through Front's ninjitsu-deficient fingers.

Wednesday! Front oversleeps, missing 99% of the laborious booth build, but the Dumbrella crew pretends to forgive him. Speaking of Dumbrella, there is not a finer bunch of ComiCon veterans from whom MC Frontalot could have hoped to score an invite. Andy Bell, r stevens, Sam Brown, Meredith Gran, Jon Rosenberg, and Mr. Karlsson treated Front (and his SDCC co-n00b Chris Yates) with wondrous generosity. By the time doors open for "preview night," Front feels as comfy as a longstanding Dumbrellist behind the glittering silver countertop.

Thursday. Our MC forces several talented comics artists to dance behind him while he ruins the end of their panel by performing Indier Than Thou. Scott at Mimobot hooks Front up with a lovely Gary Baseman designer thumbdrive. Then, in the eveningtime, it is off to Jade for the G4 party where he shares a tantalizingly brief trio of sets with Lars and YT. In the audience: the inimitable Baddd Spellah, the Kingdom of Loathing crew, Zealous, Nomad, Scott Campbell (who is nearly done with Front's new album cover), and a couple of high-rent Slave Leias, who Front, in a moment of shameful boy-osity, goads onstage for dancing during guess which song.

Friday. Hangover number one! Wil Wheaton and Scott McCloud are guest-starring at the booth, and their fans swarm so thickly that it becomes difficult to see PVP and Penny Arcade across the aisles. Frontalot escapes occasionally to visit the Dayfree crew (hotel-roommate David Malki, doctoral ninjamaster Chris Hastings, king of post-physics stick figuration Randall Munroe, and the questionably spelled Jeph) and to nap fitfully under a XXXL shirt at the KoL booth. Later, MC Lars rocks a packed House Of Blues for his pre-Aquabats set, with YT guesting. Front's heart cockles get warmed. Further warming is provided by round after round of The Glenlivet, courtesy of a Chico Heights entrepreneur who wants Spellah and Front to explain the comic book industry to her. For free Scotch, Front will explain industrial adhesives, string theory, the history of clam farming, anything you want. Veracity of info obtained in this manner is not guaranteed.

Saturday. Hangover number two! Luckily, Rich stocks eight kinds of brain medicine and a flat of warm energy beverages. One of these two things makes Front feel better. Near the Flight booth, our MC is quite deeply flattered to be recognized by Jhonen Vasquez. Turns out Twitter is good for something after all. Front does Pr0n S0ng at The Comic Book Club's panel. In the later hours, Kurtz, Tycho, Munroe, the Dumbrella posse, various other titans of webcomix, and the lowly MC Frontalot all arrive at an undisclosed hotel bar for the annual ComiCon VIP Scotch Tasting. In the corner are Sisko and Riker, drunk as hell, grinning, hoping all these ComiCon kids aren't going to cause a scene. Or at least not before they've had the opportunity to cause one. They take command of the bridge grand piano and spend about 45 minutes doing showtunes and jazz improv, causing a messy swell of multiple nerdgasms across the room. Comixers must eventually escape to the lobby for the Scotch, where Al (the benefactor) provides education, libation, and cigars. Not too late for the afterparty: Keith Knight, Steve Notley, and Nick Gurewitch (upon whom Front goes a little fanboyesque, sorry). It is the late late part of the night when our MC discovers that he has had too many drinks. In the task of comforting rappers thusly enfeebled, Randall proves himself to be more adept and patient than any sufferer could hope. All parties concerned pass out comfortably on the floor.

Sunday! Final hangover! Gabe rocks the new Final Boss shirt over at the PA booth. Whaddaguy. Both of Front's video directors (Jasons Scott and Thomas) visit Dumbrella. Other things probably happen, but at this point Front's ability to organize new experiences into memories is pretty much shot. Booth striking, pallet wrapping, and fatigue-ridden farewells ensue. Write this down for next year: booth 1335/1337 is the place to be. Assuming you're already in the larger cartographic envelopes of ComiCon, San Diego, California, USA, Earth. Make it so.

Hopefully this longest-ever news post will in some small way make up for Front missing out on HOPE and Connecticon, which fell/fall as victims to the new album's mixing schedule. See you instead at PAX!