Inspired by Berin Kinsman’s Wall of Awesome, I’ve made my own. These are a few of the people and other entities who’ve inspired me artistically or had a major impact in my life. Some are role models and some are the opposite: they’re what I don’t want to be. Some, in their various aspects, are both. I’m a complicated guy, just like everyone else.

Click to embiggen. Mouseover for names.

Working under the gaze of this semi-august assembly is, in itself, inspiring. They remind me what I can accomplish if I ever persevere for more than two hours in a row.

Not included at time of publication: Don Herbert, Douglas Adams, WG Grace, Dracula, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Vladimir Suvorov, Lu Xun.

Who would you put on your wall?

This is for Berin Kinsman over at UncleBear Media, who has an aesthetic appreciation for the vanishing neighborhood dive bar.

Lead on, adventurer. Your quest awaits!

This is the Dragon’s Lair Bar on old Route 66. They don’t have a liquor license so it’s more of a beer joint, and they book a lot of bands so it’s not a quiet hangout, but look at that wall art. Savor the stairstep cinder block construction and the filled-in windows. It’s a classic dive bar.

I’d like to drag my gaming group to the Dragon’s Lair for a session. If they’d let us play, just for one evening, I almost wouldn’t mind having my teeth kicked inevitably in afterward. The next time your party needs to meet in a tavern, send them there.

Update

As of November 2010, the bar has changed its name to “Reverb” and the building has been painted solid red. It’s the end of an era. On the bright side, the dragon no longer threatens to breathe fire on you if you park a car in the motorcycle area.

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