Hooo! Firstest! So, I must pose the question, in light of Bill's RABID ATTACKS on an innocent non-Gont cartoonist; what's the deal with that economy you got goin', there? Corporate investment giants toppling must be the work of TERROR or at least worries about a Black/Female Democratic president, since they couldn't possibly have sown the seeds of their own downfall with lunatic loans.

I'm the only one who reads The Flakes, so I'd like to inform you that their entire roster now consists of Stick Figure Artist and Davey. And Davey hasn't posted his scribbles in, I think, a couple of months. And they consider him the crown jewel of their collection.

Goodbye, crazed right-wing bigoted assholes of Snowflake Studios! And I say that with both the deepest regret and high-fivingest of schadenfreude.

Hey, Bill!

I love your series on Chuck Asay's toons, but I think it deserves its' own blog, ala Duck And Cover. Just my two cents.

It is my sad regret to announce...

NEW LACKADAISIES!

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=57609

It's cool when interests overlap-- Zippy the Pinhead lives in a fountain pen, now.

From HERE, which is a great read:

"In Russia at that time (and even today) it's hard to find canned food, good one. But everyday I would buy new cans with different food. Once I bought a can which said "dinner." I cooked it with potatoes, onions, and garlic-it was delicious. Next morning my friends ask me, "Viktor, did you buy a cat?" It was a can of chicken-based cat food. But it was delicious! It was better than canned food for people in Russia today. And I did test it. Last year I brought four people from Russia for commercial project, and I set them up. I bought nibble sized human food. I installed a pâté, and it was cat food. I put it on crackers. And they did consume it, and they liked it. So the taste has not changed. By the way, for those who are not familiar with American cat food. It's very safe; it's delicious, and sometimes it's better than human food, because of the Humane Society."

Wow, Chuck's brought back the good ol' Hammersicle. I always enjoy it when someone doesn't catch the difference between socialism and Marxist Leninism, and declares that the upfuckery of the latter proves the dysfunction of the former. That's humour us socialists can really enjoy-- I wonder if anyone from Sweden (a far more functionally socialist state than my own little province) ever looks in on this happy place for a larf.

Wow-- two neologisms in one posting! Chuck's good for the creative parts, it seems.

Edited by author 03-27-2008 09:53 PM
Hey kids! I've been having a problem that I was hoping maybe some of the smart folks on this page might be able to help me with.

I'm generally the gizmocrat in my family (which tells you how technologically non-advanced the rest of the crew is), such as correctly diagnosing a tv/vcr/cable problem for my dad over the phone last month, but I currently am trying to figure out something...

See, I've been watching a major amount of BBC-derived DVD's lately (you know you're watching way too much British stuff when you find yourself yelling, "Oi!" at people instead of the more customary American, "Hey!"), and on several of them, when I want to access the 'special features' I'm not able to do so via the usual methods (i.e. inputting its number in the queue, or hitting ffwd).

And to me, the whole purpose of DVD's is accessing the extra stuff! I subsequently hit every single button on the remote, then tried several combinations of same, all to no avail; I can only access the 'play' option. I even dragged out the manual to check (which I'm enough of a guy to have never looked at before), but since it refers to the original remote that came with the DVD player--which died long ago & was replaced with a universal remote--the manual wasn't terribly helpful.

My question is, do I need to get a different kind of remote, more similar to the original? Or is there something else I'm not thinking of? I thought about going to Best Buy or some other place like that, but then I remembered that I have this kompyuter thingy where I could maybe ask someone before I take that long bus ride out to the mall. Has anyone else had this problem, and/or surmounted it?

To quote from the ancient Bartles & Jaymes commercials in the 80's (because like Dr. F. & Frank, I pride myself on being topical and current), thank you for your support. :)

Speaking as someone who spent Easter weekend in Jeebustown, South Carolina, I would like to say that I'm enjoying the Chuck snarkage. Keep up the good work, Bill!

I went to an Evangelist church on Easter morning. Yes, it was crazy. The preacher kept shouting and waving his arms around. He was excited enough that I started to think that maybe we should give him some time alone. Also, my grandparents are incapable of pronouncing "Obama," instead prefering to call him "Obammer." I have no idea why. I think there might be some kind of "r" surplus in the South and they're trying to use them up.

Edited by author 03-28-2008 08:10 AM
Obammer sounds more German/Dutch and less Menacingly Foreign? You know, like Rooseveldt and Eisenhauer (sic).

The DVD issue befuddles me, as I've never tried to work a DVD player without its original remote, but if you can't convince the menu highlight thingy to move around, it's probably the remote that's the sticking point.

Edited by author 03-29-2008 10:01 PM
Thanks Ernst! (I'd actually been thinking, "I bet my buddy in Saskatchewan will help me out with this one..." :)

Owing to my usual all-forest, no-trees approach, it took me ages to remember that the up and down channel buttons on the remote stopped working ages ago, so I went and got a replacement, then actually looked it up in the manual, and badaboom, badabing! (You have to hit 'menu' and *then* have working up and down buttons.)

Now I can watch the all-important 'extra stuff' on my Doctor Who and Bleak House DVD's, woohoo! (Unfortunately I hadn't known that Anthony Ainley had died, so now I'm all sad and death-obsessing even more than usual.)

I must apologetically report that it was 62ºF/17℃ here today. Both my parents laughed at your line about going above and below room temperature, though. :)

BTW, Bill, thanks for the kids' pictures. As many as you take and feel like putting up, we'll always want to see more!

Hey man -
I'm gonna steel the squobo dream... that's great that it's so detailed and dream-logical. You should submit it to slowwave.com !

I agree with you TONS more than I agree with Chuck, but sometimes I kind of sort of see some of his point. For the most part I'm anti-anti-PC talk, but sometimes you do hear criminals and thugs being portrayed as "victims of their environment", that kind of thing. Of course, sometimes there's a case for that, not that it excuses violent behavior. (If he had guts, he would have made the "People Making Wrong Choices" black, because that is where you see more legitimate justifications or explanations for behaviors that are of course unacceptable.)

Edited by author 04-03-2008 11:31 PM
I'm gonna steel the squobo dream... that's great that it's so detailed and dream-logical. You should submit it to slowwave.com !

My first thought when I awoke was "This is the first dream I've had that could be edited to 4 panels with a punchline!" so of course I sent it to Slow Wave.

How long did it take for your comic to turn up? Were you told you were chosen, or did you just see it on the site one day?

edit:
Kirk's Slow Wave appearances, for those unfamiliar with the strip:
Future Phone Call and Yak-Men.

Ernst: Your dreams officially freak me out. Especially the yaks.

Don't brame me! I stub my toe!

ARE YOU STEALING MY DREAMS BITTERMAN?

(Bill: I think a few weeks to a few months, and I think he emailed me)

Ernst:
Screw you, taxpayer!

Oops, I meant Kirk! Really! My brains not working very well lately. I blame it on my lack of cool dreams.

Um, if anyone's got any spare good vibes, or prayers, or whatevers, one of my kitty cats is pretty sick and could use them. His name's Sadie and he's about 14 years old. We don't know what's going on with him and neither does the vet, but we're giving him lots of meds and hoping that will do the trick. Thanks everybody. :)

Rabbit, no hard feelings ;-) and good vibes for your kitty...

Bill: I'm not quite satisfied with that explanation for dreaming. I mean, that kind of sorting function might lay a necessary groundwork for the narrative aspect of dreams, providing the raw material, but the dream itself doesn't feel like a sorting process, you know?

I dunno if kisrael.com has more google juice than thoughtviper. At least based on the message board, you seem to have more regular contributors here than I do on the comments section. One thing is, my site might get polled more often because it "looks" more like a blog from the front page.

I still kind of miss the InExOb days!

Happy Birthday Your Dramatic Splutness!

May you win the lottery and live in a giant mansion filled to the rafters with cats.

Hapy barfday, Billy Boy! May you never develop allergies to cat dander!

Happy Birthday, Bill!

May in a strange twist of irony Indian Food be the mystery cure for Young Syndrome.

Dude, like, Feliz Cumpleaños.


IF you DO get the cat mansion and need a butler to clean the litterboxes, you know who to call. It'd be one of the best illegal alien jobs ever, I'm sure.

Merry Belated-- may you never accidentally swallow someone's entire music collection (it's the iPod ref)

Two new Lackadaisys. Hot damn, check out that Dusenberg!

not the AKs, MAC-10s and Glocks

It might be because i read too much the gun subforum of SomethingAwful, but aren't these just specific models of guns that the media loves to name drop because of their (unwarranted, AKs are not accurate at all, MACs suffer from the same and are extinct, and Glock is no different from any other gun) fame as killing machines? I mean, sure, it's good support gun control, but it's kinda tiring to hear always the names of the same guns, over and over again, when they aren't really being used in crime, are they? (Virginia Tech used guns available, nothing 'cop killer' or the like.)

As Bill said once, guns don't kill people, people kills people. Since i'm already on the soapbox, i'll also say that if videogames are training kids to kill, it's not really very good training, all of the shootings in schools and so show a great difference between the number of casualties and the amount of weapons/ammo the shooter was carrying (luckily).

I guess that one thing i can say for sure is that we have some really stringent gun laws, we can't have anything bigger than .22 or anything smaller than a rifle, yet i've never had a day without seeing someone murdered in the news. Ironically, it is here where i've seen more AKs REALLY used in crime.

Whoa! Davey's updated!

Nothing exciting, unfortunately. Although I like this opening paragraph that just screams "Me write pro one day!" Fave bits italicized:

If some of you have a more eagle eye, you’ll noticed that I’ve updated a good chunk of my site’s packaged wings. This is happening alongside a much needed upgrade to the main site, which is not neccessarily a complete overhawl–I’m still using the basic layout and design–as to work on a better navigation and making the book wings more uniform (lostboyfound and scarletpi [dot foxfirestudios dot net] will be getting remade into more basic formats, and the bloodandmetal wing will be set up with a cover bit.) How on earth will I be able to work the forum and this blog into the same standard still elludes me, but that’s a minor glitch.

Wow...he spelled "glitch" correctly!

"Packaged wings"--man, those Tyson ones are just gross when you microwave them. Buy some fresh chicken wings Davey!!

Synopsis: I've given up an pretense of creativity in favour of aimless busy-work which I can claim is progress in my grand design.

A brave choice-- he's making his life into the thrill-ride that once was purely fiction in the pages of Hotwire Latte, or whatever the title of that fifty-part job interview comic was.

Davey weighs in on the Orphan Works brouhaha... well of course he WOULD.

Like ever other time govt legislation even breaths in the direction of Intellectual Property, the Internet shits itself in panic.
Storm in a damn teacup and utterly groundless. JUST like Davey to buy into the righteous indignation of crappy Internet artists everywhere.
My "copyright Amy Mebberson" is all I will ever need.

Edited by author 04-14-2008 01:30 AM
Well hello, an increasingly rare event - New Scarlett
"Bloddy Hell" indeed. Yes, it's CUTE watching Scar crush every bone in Melody's little growing body.
Last time I checked, a theme park suit actor has to be extremely careful how they touch a little kid for fear of molestation lawsuits.

Oh how precious, he wants to get a tablet. Seriously, like THAT will help.
Mind you, soon as I can afford it, I'm getting me one of those sweet little Wacom Cintiq 12WX jobs. I want to be able to digitally doodle on the couch. Difference being, unlike Davey, I can write it off as a legitimate tax deduction ;)

On its own, that first panel sure looks like child rape. How cute!

I can write it off as a legitimate tax deduction

Do you file your taxes using "artist" as occupation or something?

Comic artist or animator. I'm a freelancer and work from home, so any computer or art supplies are legit deductions because I need them to work.

I work in a liquor store. Can I deduct my beer? ;)

Feel free to not answer, but do you have a day job? Do you make money off of your art (besides commissions)? There aren't any ads on Thorn, so I don't see how you could generate any immediate income from that. Divalicious! sure, I understand how that could.
Again, feel free to not answer. I'm not nosy, just curious. Getting paid to do what you love, damn! That's sweet!

Since we're on the subject, any Divalicious-esque publishable projects in the near future?

Edited by author 04-14-2008 08:48 PM
Basically, I earn almost all my income as a freelance cartoonist/animator - that's my day job. I get animation work from LAIKA here in Portland (which I do at home and which takes up the most time) and Tokyopop still feed me short stories now and again.
I only do commissions occasionally and Thorn is currently just a hobby. If I could get it syndicated, that would still be awesome, but I know I can't really count on that because syndicates are idiots judging by the crap they DO accept ;)

As for more graphic novel stuff... not right now. I'm not happy with how Tokyopop completely neglected to promote Divalicious! and that's something a LOT of the American creators at TP have gone through. Bust our chops doing our best work and then have our books cancelled because the publisher can't be bothered to promote it and market it like they're supposed to. I'm sorry, moving on...;)

I'm just your ordinary self-employed artist. I don't make much, but it's enough to live on(which is about 90% of freelance artists). Hey, I'd LOVE to have a salaried job where my employer does all the taxes for me, but those are pretty rare any more in the art world.

good god... I understand the feeling of wanting to get fancy new drawing materials but judgind by all the amount of complaining Davey heaps on his paper, scanner and art supplies, blaming them for the crappy quality...

I dunno... you've got to understand that until you learn how to USE supplies they really aren't going to improve the quality of your work...

I get all starry-eyed at the Art Shop but I'd rather save my money until I actually know HOW TO USE whatever I'm getting starry-eyed over -_-

Well, I'm convinced. I'm getting a Theramin for my cats.

you've got to understand that until you learn how to USE supplies they really aren't going to improve the quality of your work...

When he mentioned getting a tablet, I thought "....what FOR, dumbass?" He rarely does anything in colour and certainly nothing more complicated than 'fill bucket'. If he can't draw with a simple pencil and paper, tablet-drawing is going to be dire(and utterly hilarious if he posts it). I rarely draw directly into the comp with my wacom, I use it almost entirely for colouring and toning comics.

I rarely draw directly into the comp with my wacom, I use it almost entirely for colouring and toning comics.

*___* Aaaaaah how infinite is the art wisdom of Mimina! I remember trying out Zefiel's tablet once, I wanted to see what it was like and whether I should buy one for myself, but I didn't seem to get used to it. At least not for the sketching and lineart. XD And now of course it makes perfect sense! I always have such a hard time coloring with the touchepad... Of course I suppose I'd better get a scanner first!

It IS possible to sketch with a tablet and some art bloggers do (like here), but most of them are drawing on Cintiqs and using a more sketch-oriented program like Alias Sketch Book Pro or Corel Painter.
Painter's ink pen function IS very nice, but it takes me a lot longer to digitally ink something than slapping it on my lightbox and using a real pen.

For me anyway, still nothing beats hand-drawing and scanning - tedious though the scanning part is ;)

Edited by author 04-24-2008 08:08 AM
I'd meant to comment earlier on the mileage-quest, Bill. If you've got a standard transmission, you can shut down the engine a block or two ahead of a stop sign and drift in, then use momentum rather than the starter to relight the engine. It's no good in the winter (too slippery) but since the snow's gone it's saving me a ton of gas.

(edit; current local gas price-- $1.28/liter = $4.76/US gallon)

This brings to mind an ancient quote in which our Billsplut compares driving a stick to churning your own butter, but I have NEVER figured out how to do the thing where you roll it down a hill and it starts on its own so am shutting up.

My ex-cat Miyu is making my mother nuts because he has become more bulimic and is now wetting on things too. He stayed at the vet for three days and didn't do it at all, so she thinks it's behavioral. I am going to have to volunteer to take him if she puts him out because he was my baby first, but neither do I want the kittenen to have a bad role model for litter habits. Have your cats done this and why.

One of our cats piddled on the bed after a claw was removed (she started the job, so we had to get the vet to finish-- very accident-prone cat). Another... well, she's smart enough to get bored, apparently, and uses ill-directed urine as editorial comment.

For stuff coming out the other end, I'm at a loss. Needs more grass?

Miyu might've not done it at the vet because of SHEER TERROR. I think that I'd clench up, too.

Byron inappropriately peed a lot for a coupla years--I never did find out why, but I think it was part of his frustration about not being the Top Cat in the house. I really don't know; he knew it was wrong, and he frequently did it when I was home. Which was weird, as I'd always retrieve whatever he'd pissed on and hold it up to him. He'd run away, and I'd follow him with it. I never did anything beyond that--It's hard to say "BAD BOY!" to a nearly deaf cat. He seems to have stopped doing it.

But he pukes. Gourd, he pukes. Most of the time, he vomits food that's still kibble-shaped, meaning that he swallowed it without chewing (he's a skinny little pig). Lately, he'll be sound asleep, then abruptly awaken and disgorge all over the bed. MY bed, and he usually sleeps right by my head. I have no idea why he pukes those times. I've been keeping a "Byron Puke Journal" so that I know how many times he does it. He seems healthy in every other way, so no idea why.
Yes, tis a mystery, cats and their effluvium.

Maybe take Miyu for a week, and see how he acts?

Edited by author 04-27-2008 10:16 AM
When urging your political representative (Senatoid? Congefsmun? Your system confuses me)to write that law about MPG increase, make sure it includes light trucks, because then it'll include SUVs. The whole reason they burgeoned in the first place is because they DIDN'T figure into the auto-makers' average MPG calculation, so it didn't matter if you expressed their consumption in GPM-- "Hey, we can make these things with the engine technology of 1923 and still charge a mint for 'em! We're brilliant!"

I LOVE CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ. I have TWO copies from when Dad retired and we looted his office and can never find either when I want. There was a short story version first that I have in some thirty-yr-old sci fi anthology.

The boy and I are finding a house to rent at the end of June (actually Spook is going to sit for the CPA exam too within the next couple months and then we are going to run away to Oklahoma and go to watch-making school as soon as my leg stops being broken)...maybe we could borrow Mimi then and see if he improves or if Pushkin starts. It's 120 miles and I Don't Go Home, so it would be a semi-permanent arrangement.

Eugenia had some weird eye goop going on that lasted approximately 36 hours and had me in fits. I may just be at the right age for it now where was not before, but this animal IS MY CHILD.

I decided to read a paragraph or two of Canticle to check out the writing, and all of a sudden I was at Chapter Two. That hasn't happened to me since Kavalier & Clay, a book I recommend to everybody in the world. So I expect to get a lot of enjoyment from Canticle, whether I can read Latin or not!

Killsy gets eye boogers all the time. Was Eugenia's some more serious discharge?

One eye was darker than the other, like maybe her nictitating membrane was down, all of a sudden on a Saturday night, and then Sunday was the same with lots of blinking and some discharge and a general malaise (she lay in her box while I ate dinner as opposed to jumping for my fork), and Monday she was miraculously cured or it would have been TEH VETZ.

I went home (even though I Don't Go Home) for a weekend a month ago and visited Punkin's parents' cat, who is the last remaining of our childhood cats. She doesn't get around much anymore.

Alas! The Dalek Voice Changer Helmets are all sold out!

Aw, while we've been discussing kittens, we missed a milestone!
Guess who turned 39 on May 2?
Oh dear, my shy little 13-yr-old god-daughter shares a birthday with a sweaty furry Dangerous Interwebs cartoonist.

Also, some amusing responses from the peanut gallery to Davey's.. 'interpretation' of Godwin's Law.
If anyone wants to take a crack at parsing his Apr 26 comment, feel free. Personally, it makes my head hurt.

...and Davey joins the ever-lengthening list of racists who are mad that they can't give the Real Reason they instinctively hate Obama. Because then they'll be revealed as racists!

He could've dodged that bullet by saying "Well, white people are calling Pastor Wright a racist!" but that would be a thought that would never occur to him. "Racism" is something blacks falsely accuse people with German surnames of. It doesn't really exist in the real world. Not his world, anyway. Nice gut-punch on just that, Irenadel!

Davey: "This oversensitivity is happening way too often, and a lot of people are very tired of it."
Ooh, let me guess...is it a lot of white people?

Davey: "I'm not denying that it happens, I just think that too many people are way too preoccupied with it to the point of paranoia and bitterness."
Hey, Davey! There's this new invention you should try! It's called "a mirror!"

(I always thought that it was his English teacher he freaked out on, not history. Perhaps I am not the Phrack Whore I thought I was)

I would have posted something about this... but I was frothing at the mouth and spasming out of sheer fury. I actually don't know much about the current presidential elections so I don't feel terribly secure talking about it but...

C'mon! Godwin's Law is meant for specific situations when the conversation gets so histrionic that someone feels obliged to stupidly attack everyone else by comparing them to the nazis...

O_O Having admitted my ignorance... who's this Pastor Wright person?

Davey: "I'm not denying that it happens, I just think that too many people are way too preoccupied with it to the point of paranoia and bitterness."
Hey, Davey! There's this new invention you should try! It's called "a mirror!"

Ahahahahahahahahaahahahahahaha!!! XD Yup! You are so right! It's people like Davey who are still racist in many ways but have decided that they are not and everyone else is being oversensitive who make all debate pointless. I mean he has already decided he cannot possibly be wrong, so it's impossible to point out racism when it actually happens, especially when it's the subtle kind.

Speaking of The Dave, The May 2 "Least I Could Do" has something that may amuse y'all. I wasn't sure until I saw the title, but then the artist is Lar DeSouza, who has tweaked DVK before.

Er, in a metaphorical sense. I don't think he's actually set foot in St. Louis.

Irandel: What country are you in? Most of the civilised world is covering the US primaries!
Pastor Jeremiah Wright is the former preacher of Obama's Chicago church. The media, Hillary supporters and Republicans won't shut up about him because he has some inflammatory views and they're trying to tar Obama with the same 'OMG UNAMERICAN!!' brush. They always ignore the fact that Wright was also a former Marine and performed decades of community service through his church.

That guy? Ring a bell?

Negs:
Hahaha! Is that woman with glasses in panel 3 anyone we know? ;)

Irandel: What country are you in? Most of the civilised world is covering the US primaries!

I believe she's in Mexico, and if I hear anymore about Wright, I may move there myself. I wish I'd never heard of him.

Remember 9/11, and Robertson and Falwell not only saying America caused the attacks (by pissing off God by not killing homos), but that we deserved it? That is quite literally "God Damn America." And the same people screaming today about the black preacher never said a word against those 2 holy fools. It's okay if you're white and Republican!

Edited by author 05-06-2008 10:26 PM
I hadn't been over to the Disney Echo in a while so I just ducked in there to kill some time until they call Indiana (the TV is on mute so I don't have to hear Hillary being her usual strident self).

Davey is apparently still Mr Popular there, even though as usual, almost no one pays much attention to him whenever he mentions his own stuff. Someone posed the rather asinine question of 'If Walk Disney came back to life now, what would you show him in the current theme parks?'
Among Davey's replies:
Sounds like just another story idea I had in mind a couple times, where someone from the modern day ends up time-tripping to Walt's Golden Day, with the forethought of bringing along 20 years worth of nicotine patches to give him. By the end of the story, a rather old, but still kicking, Walt puts his own two bits in keeping the time traveling technology from creating an even worse mess than it already does.

Either that or he was pulled forward into time a la "Freejack," mere moments before he got those strokes and was given treatment. Only to have culture shock keep him on those cigarettes. I could just see him now looking at a pack of Lucky Strikes with all those new warnings: "I wish I learn how to quit you."
Oh dear God, there are Pauly Shore routines funnier than this.

Wait til he sees Celebration. "{puffs on his stogie} This'll do for a starter. Hey, Mickey's got his own house . . . where's Min . . . they're living together? (o-O) . . . {Looks at his cigar} Picked a bad week to quit smoking."

Walt wasn't a cigar man, nimrod, he smoked cigarettes. Nor was he Groucho.

Wuh-oh! Johnny Briz Alert! . In true Gont style, he starts a supposed free-for-all Disney story thread and makes sure the VERY first post places Briz right alongside Mickey in popularity. Have we encountered this Amber girl before?
Amber nodded to Rich as she made sure that her digicam is in order. "Tell me about it. Good thing you're hosting my Johnny films. I'm getting a lot of good responses from Classic Disney Fans. They're chomping at the bit for some JB/Mickey teaming up.

Oh wait, here's Amber and Johnny. Poor Annette, she's been turned into a Disney otaku :(
Oh geez, it goes on for 18 more pages. For the truly masochistic, Davey is about every fourth post. By the time you reach the last page, it's just Davey and mod Rich Koster.
If I know fans, the kind of teaming-up they'd probably want would not be suitable for children.

Oh geez, it goes on for 18 more pages.

Not reading that on a work night, I ain't! There are probably some funny and/or disturbing pullquotes in there, but I'd need to put some hip waders on before slogging through shit that waist-deep. I still haven't looked through his last "book," and I do not feel like a less complete and sane human for failing to do so.

Just curious, but has there ever been one of Davey's many "cartoon character arrives in the Real World" scenarios that doesn't start with the chara falling screaming from the sky with no reason ever given? My Davey cherry was lost to Negaduck's version of Sailor Moon USA, and that's exactly how it began. And I'm pretty sure that's how he's begun every other lame variant on the same theme. I could be wrong. I tend to block the more horrifying memories.

(Note: Didn't actually read the new Briz. Does she heroically catch him and then they instantly become best friends? That's how it ALWAYS happens in his stories like this)

Irandel: What country are you in? Most of the civilised world is covering the US primaries!

Ahahahahahahaha, Bill's right I live in Mexico but honestly, I almost never pay attention to the news, unless there's a local election. u_u I'm trying to become unpolitical for the moment, what with getting histerical about stupid comments like Davey's I really don't think I could handle the big leagues.

Yay! Davey nonesense forum thing! Just what I needed for my procrastination streak!

Hahaha! Is that woman with glasses in panel 3 anyone we know? ;)

HOLY SHIT. I did not even notice that he caricatured Wendy and me into that comic! Yes, you guessed right. Wendy was "Ms. Science" from the old "MiST on The Ghost Planet" project.

AhAHAHAHAHA.

The price of cooking oil here has apparently doubled. All that because of the slight biofuels talk. Either that or the owner of the store across the street is trying to con me.

I'm not entirely sure where Amber and Johnny's back-story is located. It may very well be buried in another Echo thread, but I'd have to do some searching.
It's not like he posts much to his own site any more and most 'writing' he does of any length is reserved for his glittering novelist career.
Mind you, I really want to see what this new comic 'reworking' of Scarlet PI looks like. He's making this another lulu release, but I'm hoping he leaks a beta copy at some point...

O_O Of course the owner of the store across the street is trying to con you! That's why you should buy huge bottles of cooking oil at the university store where everything is ultra-cheap!

Yay! Yet another fantastical, magical, creature-kid-thingie of Davey's comes to sweep the protagonist from the Land of Mediocre and into stardom! First it was a budding comic artist, then it was a budding (gay) policeman, there was the psychotic middle-age WendyWannabe and now we have another budding artist, this time an animator. So many stories, all the same formula.

At least one of the protagonists is a girl... and a real one as opposed to Scarlett FurryFantasyCostume. How long do you think it will take him to completely forget about her in favour of self-indulgent fantasies?

How long do you think it will take him to completely forget about her in favour of self-indulgent fantasies?
Well, his self-indulgent fantasy is already present - Johnny Briz. Amber isn't actually the heroine or chief protagonist, she's just Johnny's retainer, like Daveykins was himself in the Mystic Mice story. After all, she was just yet another wannabe animator (I'd love to see him actually try to show her doing real animation) but it's the amazing super marvelous kawaii JOHNNY BRIZ who gives her a reason to exist by making HIM famous.
And by FILMING Johnny Briz, that somehow makes the animation studios come flocking to her. So basically, she cheats. Oh, the fun when they discover she still can't draw a single stick figure.

Bill-- the comments are fascinating, but the Assay is invisible. I'm just seeing those little icons that indicate that the picture is gone off the hosting machine.

Oops! Forgot my web editor shows pics whether I've uplodaded them or not.
Be patient, I'm new at this. I've only had a webpage for 11 years.

New software, same old Gontercrap.

this is the first public strip I made using the new Draw Plus X2 program. The upgrade even includes a spell checker, which will keep most of the errors you'll find at bay.
And yet... I still can't read it! Pippkin's 'accent' is the worst it's EVER been. Looks like he's abandoning all the advice he was given to drop the stupid dialects.

The art is still bloody awful, I fail to see what possible improvement a tablet is supposed to offer.

WOO! The return of DAVEY ARCHITECHTURDS! Man, Davey and Tracy of Lackadaisy--pretty much tied in drawing architecture! In her strips, there is perfect detail. In his, everyone lives in a storage warehouse in the ugliest industrial park on the planet. There are people in 1972 Bulgaria thinking, "Wow, that's depressing!"

And tootling down the magic highway comes what I assume is "a truck." I have only heard of these in myth and legend, so I know not how their mighty visages may appear to mortal eyes! The ancient shamans decry from the visions that they have "Headlights Two, and also Tires Two! And boxy they be! And could look like they're driving away from you, rather than 'twoards' you."
I press the shaman, and he admits "Okay. Maybe it looks like a really sad refrigerator with feet. Maybe it's just some cardboard boxes that blew into the road on recycling day. Maybe the guy can't draw worth shit? Hey, here's a great idea--leave me alone, I got me some shamaning to do, kay, buster?" And then he hits me with his stick.
"Ow!" I say.
Shaman is wise. Best to leave some mysteries be mysteries. Let the ineffable be inscrutable. The inexplicable be incomprehensibl-- "OW!" He hit me again!
"It's just BULLSHIT!" he screams. "Seek ye not the Harlot PI!"
"Yes, oh shaman. From now on I will never--OW! Stop hitting me!"
"Then stop LYING! You are one of the sect that seeks out such misery of the eyeball, such torment of the brain! CONFESS--you are one with--the Phrack Whore Cult!"
"YES!" I sob as I fall to my knees.
He shrugs. "Better to be addicted to shit than heroin, I guess. It's much cheaper!" He returns to his pilgrimage. And I, the student, rub my owies.

So, the new magic software has perspective grids, narration colourizers, and crappy pencil shading? It's very like real crappy pencil shading!

Edited by author 05-14-2008 09:09 AM
Heh, reminds me of something I did, riffing off a similar observation of yours 2 years ago...
http://kisrael.com/2006/05/13/

it's so weird. It's kind of like he took meeting that "Tan, rested and ready" mantra (I couldn't quite google a confirmation of who that was associated with... was it the advisors for JFK? Or Nixon? anyway) as the defining characteristic of his presidency.

Aaah, finally. Davey weighs in on a topic he actually has some experience in: Fast Food. I think...

This is a company that, where everyone else is selling smaller portions because they're afraid of getting sued by the CSPI and other nanny state organizations, decided to give everyone the middle finger and offer burgers that guarantee a clogged artery at one bite.
Oooh okay. Consumer advocacy groups holding fast food giants accountable for skyrocketing obesity in youth is a 'nanny state' is it?
Last I heard, no govt legislation FORCED McDonald's to can the Supersizing, it was one indie documentary and a shitload of bad press.

Au jus is 'daring'? Au jus is just meat juice. 'Daring' in a scary way would be a frigging tub of blue cheese RANCH for dipping.
Subway have had au jus as an option for yonks. Typical, Davey remains about 6 months behind the trend curve.

As a confirmed extremist moderate I find what's his names diatribe against moderation, cooperation, and compromise to be rather amusing. I guess to the right- or left-winger, a moderate is probably more dangerous than the folks clearly on the other side because they might be so damn reasonable.

He tries to wax poetic as he describes the disgrace of the middle ground, because otherwise he literally has NO PUNCHLINE AT ALL.

My favorite quote from Davey's latest post:

When I first saw the Monster Burger--and I had one, just to say that I did--I said to my mother, "That's not a sandwich. That is political speech protected by the First Amendment."

Wow. What can I sat about that?

You can say he felt so proud of his brilliant little quip he felt the need to tell the internet about the conversation he had with his mother, just to include and show it off.

Err, that's not such a bad thing on the Internet. IMO.
Say something smart or funny, save it for posterity.

Of course it helps to actually have said something smart or funny.

The "Food Police." Y'know, "CSI: Lunch."
Someone should comment and tell Davey approvingly about Chuck. Maybe he'll decide to become a political cartoonist! And wouldn't THAT be a greasy cheeseburger with awesome sauce!

Take a burger, add a fsking slice of Prime Rib on it!

Yes, phracking has passed, and sadly, so has smucking. It's fsking for fake toddler swear words now!

And if you're really daring, toss in some Au Jus for dipping. For. Dipping.

What a wild roller coaster life you lead, Tarzan! If they were really daring, they'd give you Au Jus for SWIMMING. For. Skinny-dipping. Although I guess that it would be more like obesey-dipping.

I'll use my freedom of speech and call Davey a lard-ass.

RE: Inquiry about Tablet and political cartoons

"I just got it today, and once I got Gimp to behave, it's working great. Expect to see some action soon.

And I've toyed with political cartoons from time to time. But I don't think I want to step on any of those landmines any more than necessary. At least not until I get through with Blood and Metal"

everything old is old again
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/05/16/kooky-60s-comic-book.html

The potential downside of asking for your own copy of Elrond Hoople's Geocentrics is that they'll then have your address and an assumption that you're on side. A couple of surrey-loads of them may appear once day with sleeping bags in tow... or they may spend a few months demanding contributions and cluttering up your mailbox.

Edited by author 05-20-2008 02:08 PM
Damn you, Thoughtty. Now I'm looking for copies of Not Brand Echh. Why have I not heard of that before?

Lar DeSouza pointed put today's issue of No Reason Comics. Look carefully and you'll find an easter egg.

Negs--
Are you still in contact with Mike Shawaluk? Many years ago he told me that he had the entire run of NBE, and was thinking of scanning them to CD. I don't know if he ever did it. Woulda been a lotta work; the later issues were 64 pages each.

hey Bill have you ever considered getting a favicon.ico file? (the little 16x16 icon that appears in the URL bar and in the bookmark files)

I can help you make one if you want, just let me know what image you want.
I was thinking about a "splat" image from images.google.com shrunk down... obv. it can't be too detailed because it's so small...

(I'm redesigning my main personal links page based on these, and your site is one of the few regular sites I go to that doesn't have one)

Wait wait, under my address bar in firefox and in my favorites, the link to thoughtviper.com has a tiny image of KillKill. Isn't this what you mean? I always thought it was neat Bill had managed to sneak it in there.

Edited by author 05-24-2008 01:01 AM
Yeah, the KK pic has been there forever. Maybe it doesn't show up in certain browsers?
edit: I only put that on the main page, and who looks at that? I just added it to the News, the only thing that updates. Can you see it, Kirk & others?

I was thinking about a "splat" image

Surely you mean "Splut"!

edit edit:
Hey, could I have possibly been any more unintentionally rude?

I can help you make one if you want

Yes, that would be very nice. What do you have in mind?

The Spidey 'toon is no longer available =(

It's working as of right now.

Hey Bill --
http://kisrael.com/m/2008.05.26.splut.ico
is that splat splut I was thinking of. I didn't notice the KK icon somehow!
But here's a version of the Kill Kill
http://kisrael.com/m/2008.05.26.kk.ico
I use firefox, but if you copy that file as "favicon.ico" in your root directory (i.e. so it's at http://thoughtviper.com/favicon.ico ) you'll get somewhat better results.

Also, what's the original photo for the Kill Kill shot? It seems a little oddly cropped , the way one half below the body is there and one half ain't... would you be interested in trying a different crop or is it pretty cool as is?

Also, what's the original photo for the Kill Kill shot? It seems a little oddly cropped

It's on the drive of the old computer that don't boot no more. It was her poking her head out of a cardboard box, and I sloppily cropped it, figuring that at the size it was, no one would notice. But one underestimates the deductive powers of Kirk Israel, Internet Detective!

Thanks for the offer, but it looks okay to me. I've had it for...jeez, not sure. Since the first time I saw other pages with little icons in the info bar. That's why the code is so old.

Hey, Ernst!

I'm on vacation next week, and my only goal is to finally eat poutine. Apparently there's a place not far away that sells the real thing, and, unlike the only other local Canadian diner, is open past 2PM. (I work second shift, so that's almost breakfast time to me) I don't know if they serve creton. Not that I'd order anything from the head cheese part of the food pyramid anyway.

My question, so I don't make a gustatory faux pas: Is poutine a finger food like regular fries, or does its inherent curdy sloppiness require a fork?

Je suis ne pas Quebecois, as my horrid grasp of French indicates, so my poutine etiquette is not all it might be. I'd say anything that will soak you in gravy and stringy cheese protein to the elbows indicates a fork.

You mean you can't get poutine at Burger King or DQ? Weird!

...and referring to the News's horrid tattoos-- I notice that some of the really awful ones are highlighted by some actual technical competence. I guess if you're going to ask for a highly detailed copy of a remarkably ugly photo, it's worth paying extra for a skilled skin colourist.

All Canadians DON'T eat poutine?! IMPOSSIBLE! I suppose next that you'll tell me that you don't all wear hats with earflaps while you ski in July! If you now want to tell me that THERE IS NO TOWN CALLED MOOSEJAW, please don't, head explodery will follow as surely as a Rush song has an endless drum solo.

I've heard that BK has poutine. I'm sure that's really good. Know that Mamet line, "These guys could fuck up a baked potato"? They do.

There is no town called Moosejaw-- it's "Moose Jaw". And I never said all Canadians don't eat poutine, either. It's just that some of us don't know how to eat it with the correct panache.

The truly amusing poutine point-- some of the best available in my far-from-Quebec neck of the (absence of) woods is generated at a chain called New York Fries. Tabernac!

Snake Dream dice:
so how are things going
agreeable times dice:
umm good =) got a new webcam
Snake Dream dice:
hey, yay
Snake Dream dice:
I had a question
Snake Dream dice:
on behalf of an amerikan friend
agreeable times dice:
sure
Snake Dream dice:
do you eat poutine with your fingers, or with fork
agreeable times dice:
fork
agreeable times dice:
fingers, eeew
Snake Dream dice:
hahaha
agreeable times dice:
what kind of pig would do that it's covered in gravy and melted curds
Snake Dream dice:
well he figured it was like amerikan fries
agreeable times dice:
poutine fucking rules but i only have it like once a year because its pretty much the worst thing you can eat
Snake Dream dice:
I see
Snake Dream dice:
we'll see what he makes of it
agreeable times dice:
no they serve it in a bowl
agreeable times dice:
so
agreeable times dice:
fork definately
Snake Dream dice:
alright, cool
Snake Dream dice:
thanks
agreeable times dice:
if i saw someone eating poutine with their fingers i'd assume they were retarded or something
agreeable times dice:
haha ok
Snake Dream dice:
hahaha
agreeable times dice:
have you ever had it
agreeable times dice:
can you even get it down there?
Snake Dream dice:
no, the closest thing we have is amerikan fries covered with cheez whiz

I've only seen pictures of poutine, and it looks pretty damn messy. I figured a fork was the way to go, but I didn't want the diner guys to laugh and then spit in my food as I was eating it.

I described it to a coworker today, and she thought that it sounded damn tasty. The poutine, not the spit.

Your co-worker is insane. The appropriate response is to clutch your chest like you can feel the blockages starting just from the description (which is true-- poutine is THAT BAD for you!), declare you'd never eat such a horrifying thing, and then sneak to a source of it with a set of novelty Groucho glasses on in the belief that if no one sees you eat it, it might not kill you (which is false-- I've been dead for almost two years through having eaten a half-portion).

I love the special idiocy of "WHY CAN'T WE DRILL FOR OIL HERE?"

"Well sir... this is a GAS STATION and while, theoretically, you COULD drill here and find a moderate amount of already processed, ready to use gasoline, that's only because it's brought here by special trucks, so it would kind of be cheating..."

"I DON'T CARE LET'S DRILL!"

(thanks for the shoutout but I see your link-fu is as bad as mine ;-)

I got so ranty over Chuck I forgot to add your url.

Icebergs are a crutch for the weak! Demo-hippies never take oars in their boat! Trout live in TREES!

...and on a less crazed note, Phil Foglio and offspring are bloody genii! The yawning gaps of Tuesday, Thursday and *gasp* the weekend are almost unendurable.

Ahh, more people are hooked on Girl Genius! I've been a fan of Foglio's work ever since college, when a friend gave me a copy of Xxxenophile. OMG, a dirty comic... that's funny, and sexy, and as appealing to women as to men? Whoa! And then I found his Myth Adventures comic (R.I.P, Robert Asprin), and What's New, and Buck Godot, and I've snagged everything he's done since.

I fell off the wagon with Girl Genius for a while. I have the original print issues, and when they stopped coming out on dead trees I lost track of it. It was a while before I discovered that it's now a webcomic. So, every MWF I read the latest page, and because it's a damn good comic and I want to support it I've bought the collections too.

By the way, Kaja Foglio is a fan of bento lunches, and linked to my bento site. I didn't even know she was into bento until someone pointed the link out to me. How's that for serendipity?

Thanks for the shout-out, Thoughtty!

You know, I was thinking about that "I like the geezer... and old people vote" actually wasn't all that bad. I think it IS true that people vote for shallow reasons ("electability" being my personal shallow criteria), and that cartoon kind of picked on everyone in that regard, with only a slight conservative nudge in terms of the way seniors DO form a pretty big voting block.

I know there are PLENTY of reasons to mock this guy, but that cartoon was more or less ok, I think.

Negaduck you have a site on bento lunches? That's really awesome! I really enjoy eating and cooking Japanese food... it'd be reaally awesome to have the URL!

Irenadel:
Do take a look at The Negapage. My Lunch Can Beat Up Your Lunch is on the right. But there's enough on the Negapage to keep you busy for a very, very long time.

Forget that old canard (hah! geddit?) about Al Gore inventing the Internet! For me, Negs did! I joined the Space Ghost ML in January 97, and her nic was the first I ever recognized ("Negaduck9? Her posts are always great!"). And back then, I only had Juno, which was an offline email client only. When the ML inspired me to get real net access, the Negapage was the first truly awesome personal site I'd ever seen. And it inspired me to get my cheesy old Geocities page.

So, you know, if you don't like all the Jerry Van Dyke and Dawn Wells and Super Green Berets and Daveykins and cat posts of mine over the last 11 years, blame her for it.
Especially the Daveykins. That was aaaalll because of her.
In fact, if she hadn't asked me to post that "Sailor Moon USA" comic, the then-named Sailor Kitty wouldn't have read it, and I wouldn't even be a Splut!

How timely, Bill! Here comes Amy with freshly-posted Gontercrap: New journal entry.
In which Davey lists his personal signs of the Apocalypse.
In an effort to be self-deprecating, he of course has himself on there.

I'm not surprised at his 'Hillary loses nomination', although it's not as open with his political affiliations as I'd like. (it would be ten levels of hysterical if he's been converted to Obama. Oh, the racial fauxpas waiting to happen...).
But 'Israel as a Nation State'? Are Republicans known for being anti-Israel? I don't think I've been here long enough to know.

Oh yeah, his ultimate final sign is that someone scored 100% on GH3's hardest song. With a best friend who has beaten all 3 GH games on expert, I say whoopty-doo. 9_9

Timely indeed! Today I left a comment on a post of Kirk's about this Rapture nonsense. (Short version: the latest it could've happened was 2007. I must've missed the news that day)

I think this is Mr The Kins' version of that quip people have been making for decades, i.e., "This is one of the signs of Teh Apocalypse!" in the sense of "What an unlikely event!"

"If you've seen this, you've been Left Behind. Go to some cave and hope you can hold out through the Apocalypse. You don't want to be around a certain Romanian egotist's field of vision."

It is, of course, quite unsurprising that the Reverend Kins is a fan of The Worst Book Ever Written. If that crap can sell millions of copies, can his "Scarlett Goes to Disney World" be that far behind?

Jeez, how'd we all miss this great Davey idea?

"A Star Wars world in Kingdom Hearts.
"Imagine Sora teaming up with Luke Skywalker, as they go through a mission to fight Darth Vader and destroy the Death Star before it blows up Disney Castle? Imagine Sith Lords getting Powned like Jack Bauer by a Keyblade."

...And then--the POKEMONS ATTACK! To my SIDE, GI Joe! ON, my mighty Smurfs, ON!!

Fave comment of his, and so in character for our bestest egomaniac: "If that asshole Lucas even looks at this idea too close, I'm going to show him personally why they should never give the Force to an earthling. Can you say 'Are you ASKING for the return of the Sith?'"
The ability to destroy a planet is nothing compared to the power of the KINS!

Edited by author 06-07-2008 02:19 AM
I didn't miss it, I just thought it a bit pathetically fannish to bother with.
He's doing what he always does - forget he's a terminal nerd in his late thirties and NOT a FICTIONAL CHARACTER WITH SUPERPOWERS.

There's an old fan of As If! who's like that. He posts on the Thorn shoutbox sometimes. Again, in his later thirties but online, acts like a ten-year-old in a plastic cape who will WHUP them bad ol' trolls with his cross-my-heart-no-backsies-real-plastic lightsabre.

Genuinely crazy how some fandom nuts actually think that people communicate like they do in cartoons. Usually guys, too.
The girls are too busy slash-shipping their favourite hearthrobs and trashing each other on Myspace.

Wim het Splut, jij praat Nederlands heel goed, jonge! Long-term after effect of beaver-shoulder, I suppose.

Nr, dat een lijn van de oude post was Geocities die ik heb vermeld. Any Dutch I speak is pure Babelfish.

Pas de poutine?! Tabernac!

Thus, we make the most polyglot comments page ever.

Edited by author 06-09-2008 01:08 PM
ポウチネわなんですか?　美味しいね？

(Poutine wa nan desu ka? Oishii ne?)

Edited by author 06-09-2008 06:49 PM
the most polyglot comments page ever

I'm tempted to turn the Google Ads back on just to see what seizures we're giving it...

edit: No, rest of everybody, I don't know what those two goofballs are talking about either. "Tabernac" only means something to me when combined with "Mormon" and "Choir" and "incredibly boring music." Neg's comment, assuming that it's Japanese, Babelfish translates as "The poutine trap it is?　Don't you think? it is tasty?" which doesn't make sense, even if yelled by Admiral Ackbar.

Everyone should STOPPEN SIE AUFGABE IN DEN FREMDSPRACHEN, is what I say! Otherwise, next we'll be saying "Daveykins' l'arte è impressionante!!" or some other merda!
(or at least mention the languages. German and Italian, as Babelfished)

L'arte dello Daveykins è veramente bello! Io non so perché vuoi parla male dello poor uomo.

Pues, era lo que faltaba, ¿cierto? En todo caso no es la gran diferencia ni nada por el estilo.

¡NO, el mexicano multilingüe está utilizando dos idiomas en un poste! ¡El ESCARLATA es LA MEJOR HISTORIETA!
My brain is beginning to hurt.

My brain hurts just reading all this ;)

Edited by author 06-10-2008 08:13 AM
Poutine wa totemo oishii desu, yo! But it's also really bad for the valves. And, I have to say, Ars Daveykinis putidissimus est, although perhaps better than his storytelling.

edit-- the ad bar is offering me Star Wars figures; some sort of connection to moon-man language?

Edited by author 06-10-2008 08:13 AM
J'ai dit "Qu'est-ce que c'est la poutine? C'est delicieuse?"

Edit: beat me to it! Maybe one day I'll find a recipe and cook some. But higher on my recipe is steak fries with mushroom sauce, AKA "gay fries" (wet 'n' sloppy), like they used to serve at the local Dunk 'n' Dine.

There's a poutine.com that consists solely of the recipe. In French.

Sorry to interrupt the linguistics/Canuck delicacy discussion, but Davey's got in another ED whine. Someone on dA made a journal post declaring that ED-haters should grow a spine, shrug it off and get a life. Not the most articulate post, but I got their point. Of course, guess who chimes in. His comments are pretty easy to find.

I don't mind sites that are intended to chronicle so-called Luls and all.
Unless he's the target of said lulz, THEN:
I consider ED a Porn site and they remain a Porn site until I am proved otherwise. (Which would be when the ED proves me no longer LUL-worthy and pulls their page on me off their site.

The fact that ED is definitely not a site INTENDED for minors is completely lost on him.

they sometimes encourage bad behavior by other assholes with nothing better to do than make their lives better at someone else's expense. I had a Wiki that was defaced by someone who wanted to add their LUL to the ED page on me and let it remain that way for weeks without anyone letting me know about it.
Ooooh, because of COURSE anyone who trolls Davey HAS to be doing so at ED's evil bidding.
And since when is it other peoples' responsibility to monitor YOUR SITE for you, Gont? If you didn't check your wiki for THAT long, it's no one's fault but your own.

...and this is coming from someone who could draw better than some Mary Sues and is _still_ an ED target.
No. No, you are pretty much the poster boy for the bereft-of-talent Sue artist. NOONE is worse than you.

I had a Wiki that was defaced by someone who wanted to add their LUL to the ED page on me and let it remain that way for weeks without anyone letting me know about it.

I do like that he says "defaced" and not "hacked." "Hacked" implies someone made an effort. He just let anyone log in and change it, despite his claims of Ultimate Troll Martyrdom. He couldn't have made it password protected? It's like complaining that your house got robbed after you left town for 2 months with the front door wide open.

Edited by author 06-12-2008 03:29 PM
I don't get the whole Laura Bush Girl Genius thing today.

Is it her ugly vest thing looks a bit like the guy's barbarian getup?

Yeah, I was thinking that they went to the same tailor.

If hyo follow GG then hyo vould got ze joke :)

Hyu shud ZEE de hat! Is BEEYOUTIFOOL!

but at this point I'd have a lOT of backstory to catch up on.
And I know it's pretty good stuff, I just don't have the time.
Was that the same cartoonist who used to do stuff in the back of Dragon magazine? I know he did Buck Godot, right?

I kept a browser window open just for Girl Genius throughout my vacation. I don't know how much time it took me to read it from the start, but I didn't get caught up until the last of my 9 days. Well worth it, though! I recommend doing that--just keep a window open just for GG, and read as much as you want each day, for as long as it takes. It gets pretty addictive.

Yes, Phil Foglio did the "What's New?" cartoons in Dragon magazine, and he did Buck Godot. All of those are available as graphic novels, BTW, and I recommend them. But then, I recommend anything by Phil Foglio. (Xxxenophile, yum...)

For laughs I drew myself as a Jagermonster. Kaja Foglio posted it in the fan art section of the site. :)

Speaking of catching up on backstory...I *really* hate coming late to the party as I so invariably do. Sorry, guys--those of you who go to my LJ may have some idea of how becoming an inadvertent admin at the Sylvester McCoy Appreciation Society forum has taken over my life to a wholly egregious extent.

But now that I've finally gotten my ass back here to check on my homeys, two things:

1. Bill, your story about seeing That Movie all alone in the theatre reminded me of when I saw 'Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy' and similarly had the entire place to myself; in retrospect, I was glad of this, because it was that much less embarrassing when I involuntarily-if-jubilantly shrieked, "BELLINI!!" at his appearance in the 'Happiness Pie' bit.

2. ::looking up at her 'Klaus Nomi: Encore' album on the wall:: I'm not sure when my immense-Nomi-luv began, whether it was seeing him as a live mannequin at Fiorucci on 'Real People' (yeah, we're kickin it oldskool with the tv refs now!), or the Jagermeister ads he was in (which I still have in a scrapbook somewhere), but the appearance with Bowie on SNL is the reason why even today, "The Man Who Sold the World" will make me cry.

I've had the Nomi DVD in my Netflix queue for a while now, but after reading your capsule review, I've gotta bump it up several notches. (Just don't tell Deb, cos she's already annoyed at me for watching the new Doctor Who eps out of order.)

But how can you say his performance was the only good thing in, "URGH! A Music War"?! The part with XTC occasioned my friend Gregg's immortal comment, "How can you love that guy so much? He looks like he needs to be in a special eduation class!" (Poor Andy...Gregg was right on the money there.) And because I first saw it when I was 17 or so, the part with the Cramps made me simultaneously skaired shitless by Lux Interior and yet unaccountably prone to muse about the effects of gravity on tight leather pants...

I promise and/or threaten to get back here sooner next time. :)

Quote from Daveykinsie's DA blog:

All I could think about this is this: Oh. My God.

Without looking at the link, can you guess what he's talking about?

*shakes fist* you beat me to it. I was going to be all snarky to him about his latest choice of topics, but he's still got me blocked on DA.

Negaduck's suggestion is fun, post here what do you think it's about, then click on the link.

I've already read the entry, so I'm disqualified from guessing.

Frankly, if it weren't so expensive, I'd get one.

I was hoping it was about HORRIBLES GAY FAGZ MARRYING, either in the sense of him freaking about it or, in his new "teh sensitive me ain't no homofobe" phase, trying to tie it in to Scarlett, FCS (forgotten comic strip). Then I saw the 2nd sentence, and thought, Oh man, not AGAIN.
Write what you know, I guess! (And we did spend about a week here talking about poutine...)

Frankly, if it weren't so expensive, I'd get one.

A cruise missile to shoot at his fat head? *sigh* Me too.

Edited by author 06-20-2008 05:37 AM
HOLLLLLYYY CRAAAPS NEW LACKADAISY!!!!!!

BEST Lackadaisy in EVERZ.



P.S. the fact i'm on magical herbs does not make my decision biased, it IS that good of a Lackadaisy.

Damn. Someone beat me to it.

Edited by author 06-20-2008 02:48 PM
I don't know, I can't imagine getting that worked up over a damn hamburger. I'd rather have the raw beef, which I could make into a meatloaf and eat off of for days rather than trying to choke down that big overpriced mass.

Damn you, bill. I can't find farmer cheese for poutine. Am I going to have to resort to shredded mozzarella?

which I could make into a meatloaf and eat off of for days...

That's college student thinkin'

Damn you, bill. I can't find farmer cheese for poutine.

Damn me? Wha'd I do? I don't even know what cheese curds are! This is why I plan to leave my poutine to the professionals.

Hey, who's the prime minister of Quebec, Russia? Vladimir POUTINE! Hahaha--
No, fuck you.

That's college student thinkin'

That's plain old common sense, given the price of food.

No, ramen noodles is college student thinkin'. I make a damn good meatloaf.

Yes, new season of the News, but the same Comments page.

That is one of the most repellent links-to-comment images ever. You must have searched for ages. The little animated sparkles really put it over the top.

That is one of the most repellent links-to-comment images ever. You must have searched for ages.

No, I believe it was on page 4. The sparkles are quite the something, but it was Her that sold it. Is she supposed to be...Goth or something? Or just really into Mary Kay products?

There was actually a worse one, all glittery text that started with "I LUV MY LJ!!" but that would've been even more painful than seeing Cap'n Crunch for a fourth month.

Edited by author 06-24-2008 12:08 AM
I have been using Avast for about a year now, it is free, but like all free things you need to register to get a 1 year key.
No problems so far, but my machine is fairly quick so I may not notice the impact.
Try it out anyway, http://www.avast.com/index.html

PS, Damn this captcha feature, why oh why do they use a character that could be I, i, l or 1, GRRRRR

Edit: I just checked and it is now a one year key, anyway it is still free :)

This AVG news is disturbing. I've got 7.last in my Babbage Box and was always happy to recommend it to others. I guess they decided if Windows can improve itself into crapishness, they can too.

Edited by author 06-24-2008 09:31 PM
If you're still using AVG, it stops updating (in the US, anyway) as of tomorrow. Let me know what happens when you download 8.0.

Thanks, Steve! I'm downloading Avast as I type.

Hey, Bill, guess what I cooked last night? Hint: come down here and I'll be happy to whip you up a batch.

Bill, your second-to most-recent Asay cartoon (asay062608b.gif) isn't showing up. When I try to view it directly I get a 404 error.

Thanks, Negs; it's fixed now.

Hey, gang-- There's a person in the world now who will say "You are" in response to my "Who's your daddy?" As of 1:58 this morning, the dad-hat is clamped about my brow. I am not entirely sure this is a good idea, but apparently it's non-refundable.

I kid, of course. I'm anxious to prove I've better parenting sK1LLZ!!1! than my brother.

Congratulations on the BitterChild! Hope you stocked up on sleep, because you won't get any until your loin-spawn is 18. Remember: nothing calms a colicky baby like good ol' laudanum!

Congratulations on the LittleBitter!!

Let us crack open a case of Mr Pibb in celebration.

Congrats, Ernst! Here's a word of advice from my brother-in-law: when the baby sleeps, YOU sleep.

The trick to sleep: Have bebe arrive at 2am, wait 3 hours for "Is mom going to bleed to death" watch and processing, have a jocular nurse show you all the intricacies of washing, diapering and wrapping an infant, blow up an air mattress because the hospital expects dad to selfishly bugger off, spend two hours lying beside crib and wondering if kid is still breathing, then 19 hours of a Legion of Infant Handling Nurses entering at the worst possible moment to explain why you're doing that wrong, another 4 hours of air-matress, and about 5 hours of "Are you sure you want to go home? Most parents wait for forty-eight hours." We were all PLENTY tired after that lot, so sleep when baby sleeps is exactly what we did.

Now, if only we can find some of the old-fashioned, gin-based gripe water.

Congrats Ernst! To celebrate the lil' canuck's arrival:

Newsesest Lackadaisy

The best gift ever-- tommy-gun mayhem!

Edited by author 07-08-2008 12:25 AM
Is it just me, or is season 3 of the Venture Brothers really weak so far?
edit: To be more specific, I thought eps 1 and 3 were good, but not great, and 2 and 4 just kinda laid there.

Nice sustained riff, Bill. It was like watching CBC at 11:30 on a Friday night in 1980!

Just debunking Chuckles is becoming boring. I feel like I should just stamp "LIE!" on all his idiot cartoons.

Does anybody, anywhere have any clue as to what that Obama Clones cartoon is supposed to mean? I sure don't. Seriously, not the slightest nub of a wisp of a gist.

Edited by author 07-16-2008 04:08 PM
Davey has a new fan/troll(see comments)

He actually fancies himself an expert MiSTer now...
The trick is to parody the text file itself and not attack those writing it. You'll notice that I've never attacked the writer of that Manifesto, but rather kept my sharp wit aimed at the subject matter.

*FNERF!* You couldn't cut butter with the sharpness of your wit, pal.

In fact, if you read along, you'll find me actually _agreeing_ with the writer. You don't have to see just my one MiSTing, you can watch the actual series and find examples of that. Very Rarely to Mike and Joel turn their venom on the people making the cheezy movies, and even then, you don't hear them calling out for their lulzy deaths.
How much MST3K has he actually watched?? The Brains took pot-shots at the film-makers CONSTANTLY! And making fun of bad plot, script and characters is supposed to be COMPLIMENTARY to the film-maker?
Gont, if you AGREE with the sentiment of the thing being MSted, you're not doing it properly.

In addition, a nice little slice of Davey's brain can be picked by checking out his deviantart Stamp collection. Warning: the irony of some of his choices will give you whiplash.

The main tip I would do about MSTing would be to remember that "It's just a show," and that they didn't do anything like crashing planes into towers.

WHAT?! One thing I always say to (normal) people when describing my love of Davey is "He didn't say that people who make fun of his work are as bad as the 911 hijackers. He said that they were worse." I remember us having a conversation about it here when he said it, but I can't think of a search string that would turn it up.
Damn. What a hypocrite. It's one thing to change your mind, but another entirely to pretend you said the opposite.

Oh, yeah his Mysting. I remember not being able to finish that. It had as much "sharp wit" as that comic he spun off of Night Soldiers, the one with the micro-dragon that spoke in l33t in a Gothic font, making it doubly unreadable. You remember, the one that Mr Modesty compared to Calvin & Hobbes...

Mimi:
You've prly been asked this already, but do you have any thoughts on the current Curtis storyline, given that "ex-Disney animator is on your resume? (It only began Monday, and the guy who writes it can be a cranky old man at times)

Bill:
Cartoon Brew is already covering it.. The natives are not happy ;)

Idiot doesn't know what he's talking about. Apparently back in 79 he entered an internship at Disney. A year later he was doing syndicated comics. Sounds like he couldn't cut it at Disney.

I WAS one of the fired artists. We do not blame Pixar, that's just ludicrous.
Even though I have a genuine motive for decrying the near-death of 2D animation, there's no way I'd be so unprofessional or tacky as to use my comic strips as a soapbox for it.

*cough, hack, brush away cobwebs*

All right. I'm back. Mia Chatterjee is once again open for business. I've decided to let that other journal crust over and turn to dust.

I've got some catching up to do.

Congrats on the baby, Ernst! Man, it seems like babies are cropping up all around me lately. Old maid-hood is creeping up on me (note to self: get more cats.)

As for Venture Brothers, I dunno, it seems as good as it ever has. The stories that star The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend are definitely better than the ones about the actual main characters, though.

I also have motive for hoping 2D animation sticks around. Cuz it fuckin ROCKS. You can't get the same kind of visual expression in 3D as you can with actual hand-drawn images. Not that 3D is worse, just different. It doesn't have that same human touch.

Edited by author 07-20-2008 10:56 AM
Wow. Curtis is still going? Haven't seen it in years.

Sigh. Sad that the writer is bitter toward Pixar. Me, I love CGI. I love Pixar's films, but not only because they're CGI - they're just excellent, period. But I also love hand-drawn animation; Fantasia is my all-time favorite film. I'm sad to see traditional animation dying out, but I don't believe that CGI will ever replace it entirely. CGI still has the gosh-wow appeal, after all, but that will fade and people will no longer be amazed to see totally-real-looking, fully-textured, flawlessly enunciating funny animals. There are things that you can do in hand-drawn animation that won't work in CGI. If you doubt that, just watch any classic Tex Avery cartoon.

It seems to me that blaming Pixar for Disney's shift away from hand-drawn animation is like hating Miss Venezuela because she won the Miss Universe over your favorite, Miss Colombia. OK, that's not a very good analogy - it assumes that there isn't room for two at the top - but you get the idea.

CGI still has the gosh-wow appeal, after all, but that will fade

Even CGI only ten years old looks stodgy today.

I always thought that studios made kids' movies not just for today's market and money, but in the hopes that they might make a Timeless Classic a la Disney. I suppose little kids won't mind outdated CGI, any more than I didn't mind crap Hanna Barbera animation back in the day. But all these "celebrity voice making pop-culture references" CGI movies aren't going to age well at all. I'll watch a 15-yr-old MST3K and sit there puzzled, thinking "I know I laughed at the reference the first few times I heard it."

Even CGI only ten years old looks stodgy today.

Hardly news to this ReBoot fan. Even the third season, which was amazing when it came out, looks kind of stiff now. The first season looks like it was made out of plastic. There are movies in production now, though - hope they turn out well.

On livers-- I've a friend whose liver was, for about five years, as opaque to x-rays as though made of metal. Said the doctor, "Whatever you're eating and drinking now... stop." It seems to have worked, as he's still alive and rather more x-ray transparent now.

It is a saying of the Sumerians, who lived in what is now southern Iraq and goes: "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap."

I'm not sure I get this joke. Did women never not fart their husbands? Did ancient Sumeria have an extra-fibrous diet?

Maybe the modern equivalent would be "Take my wife--please, before she farts!"

What's weird is that it's the oldest known joke. Did it get preserved because the stinky-lapped Sumerians thought it was the funniest thing ever? Or was it just random chance, the one clay tablet joke book that didn't get smashed?
Maybe future archaeologists will think the culture of the Ancient Americans was worthless, when the only book that survives is a vanity press-published copy of Davey's "Lost Boy Found."

"That's the dumbest joke ever. Fling it on the midden, where we'll never have to be bothered by it ever again! Once it's covered with heaps of kitchen waste, it will never come to light again!"

Hmmm.. while his main site goes ignored for 6 months and he hasn't done a thing on dA for weeks, Davey loves his Internet girlfriend SO much, he created a whole Johnny Briz RPG JUST for her.

Holy CRAP, that Mousey Stu is now basically Mickey with a mullet.
So bascially, this is Davey whoring that stupid 'Johnny and plucky Disney whore remake classic Disney using Johnny instead and TAKE OVER THE COMPANY!' idea, but letting MarcieMouse get a sentence in every few pages.

6% of population are black women, and they have 56% of the abortions.

HOWEVER I AM PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT BLACK MALES ARE ALSO 6% OF THE POPULATION BUT HAVE.... 0% OF THE ABORTIONS!!!

TA DA!

Edited by author 08-03-2008 09:36 PM
I'M SURE IT ALSO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH POVERTY AND A GUMMUNT THAT REFUSES TO TEACH ANY SEX ED BESIDES "ABSTINENCE"! CONDOMS ARE THE DEVIL'S WEINER WRAPPERS--kaff kaff!

Good news for a long-weekend Monday-- a double dose of Lackadaisy!

so what kind of thinkers are your cats?

Byron would be an environmental thinker, and Killsy symbolic. Even as a tiny kitten, she immediately figured out as soon as I got out of bed whether I had to go to work (which she hated) or had a day off. Work day: brush teeth first. Day off: turn computer on, then brush teeth. Byron still hasn't learned the most basic indicator, that I dress completely differently (khakis on a day off, black jeans and a long sleeve shirt on a work day). She understands the symbolism, he doesn't.

Of course, you could just say that he's of average intelligence, and she's the Einstein cat. It took her about a week to realize that "shoes mean Bill leaves house" and begin trying to stop my departure by untying my shoes. I once had to lace up each shoe four times before I could leave!

On power outages-- three weeks ago last Tuesday, we had an ASTONISHING storm; there was enough wind and rain to push my car's sun-roof down to let water inside. Two days later, our telephone stopped working.

It's still not fixed. Internet and TV, both coming along the same wire, just fine, but no phone. Extremely vexing.

Three weeks ago, and your phone's still not working?
Well, that's what you there Canuckians get fer bein' Socialists! P-TANG!! (spits chaw onto pit bull) I s'pose y'all gets your festering chancres removed by them fancy LASERS yer Commie medicine gives ya! Me, I just whittles 'em off. I make them into little festering knick-knacks for sellin' at the flea market, to pay for the wife's insulin. That's the AMERICAN way! And if my phone was all on the fritz, I'd call my friends by throwing rocks at their trailer windows.
P-TANG! woof woof woof!!

I dunno about you guys, but I'm getting a little tired of the Chiliast-American minority running your political system.

Oh, phone's fixed, by the way-- the Central Committee For Peoples' Telephonic Intercourse sent a labourer out on Saturday.

But Obama HAS chosen a running mate!

But Obama HAS chosen a running mate!

I was kinda hoping he'd go with either The Star Wars Kid (strong on defense) or Tubcat (clearly concerned about rising food prices), but he went with Biden. From that that same page you linked to (which I read every day!):

"There's an even better way to frame Biden's personality, and despite what people are worried about, I think it's his greatest asset: In simplest terms, Joe Biden is an enormous asshole. And frankly, I love him for it. He's the type of asshole who's an asshole because he knows, right out of the gate, that he's smarter than you, that he knows more about a subject, and that he actually has the right idea about something. And damn it people, it's time to finally try having someone who's not ashamed of that instead of pretending to be an idiot just to pander."

Damn straight!

Aw snap! A good punchline ruined by the internet savvy of my audience!

Well, a bunch of total pussy-footing candidates haven't done much for us lately. And anyone who emanates a deservedly smug sense of intellectual superiority is cool in my book.

I can't believe we missed THIS.

I drool at what all the hidden comments must've said.

It's pretty tame and even boring (ED again?!) until KingKento theorizes as to why the money might've been given, and Davey freaks out like it's a personal attack on him. And then acts like the asshole he accuses ED of being.
Sorry, I meant "@$$hole."

I spotted that last week... but it's the same old ED ranting, so I didn't see much point in mentioning it. If more people's comments calling him on his bullshit hadn't been blocked, I'd have mentioned it.

But reading the surviving comments - only those from people who don't 'get' ED and sympathise with him, makes pretty dull reading.

So Not teh Draema, if he writes it, is the new 'NiTro' for Davey.

Pretty much any Davey is welcome in these sparse times. I remember just 3 years ago, when we'd race each other to post the latest finds. Now that he's A Published Novelist, he doesn't post anything but the occasional whine.

And it is entertaining that he complains about how ED will "turn around and decry the victim of being butt hurt for complaining, actually wondering why he's so thin skinned over the grating that person is giving them..." and then removes every comment he doesn't like, almost as if he's a thin--skinned hurt-butt. Pathetic. I wonder if he realizes how much traffic he drives to that ED entry every time he shrieks about it, and how many DA people become convinced that he deserves it.

Edited by author 08-31-2008 11:20 AM
I've been watching some news from down there-- I understand a bit of rain in Florida works out to immediate declaration of disaster relief, so the the lessons from Katrina must have been taken to heart, right? Good thing with impending Hurricane Gustav bearing down on New Orleans as it is, I'm sure if things go bad there again FEMA will be all over it like a well-trained chorus line.

Right?

(edit- slepling reror)

I'm sure if things go bad there again FEMA will be all over it like a well-trained chorus line.

Yeah, they'll dance all around it, accomplishing nothing but a big show.

'Tis grimly amusing (to someone who doesn't live in New Orleans or any other affected area, where it can only be a recurring nightmare) that this occurs during the Republican convention. It will be interesting to see how they spin this one, while simultaneously ignoring the history of Katrina.

It's an ill wind that blows the GOP some good-- Gustav gave the party's dead albatross a reason to not appear at the convention, and perhaps distracted from the news of the not-dead albatross's running-mate's daughter's non-married pregnancy

the not-dead albatross's running-mate's daughter's non-married pregnancy

I don't think that counts as hypocrisy, like having daddy pay for a secret abortion would (which is what Bush Sr did after W got a young campaign staffer preggers back in 1970). It does demonstrate the awesome power of Jesus-backed abstinence-only education.

The funny thing about all this is McCain solely running on Obama's "inexperience," and then picking this ex-beauty contestant as the person to replace the candidate most likely to fall over dead. McCain met her once before choosing her, and the GOP didn't start vetting her until after he chose her. McCain wanted Lieberman as his veep, but since the only liberal policy Joe has left is being not completely antiabortion--meaning, it's okay if it's because of rape--and so he was out. Apparently, McCain picked her in one of his famous fits of pique. There's solid decision-making! Give that man the nuclear launch codes!

God drat, Bill. I just partaked of the ganj, and reading your description of poutine is not making my munchies any easier! *shakes fist*

WHOA, dude, dude! Mellow out! Dude, aren't you like...in Mexico? Don't like nachos fall from the trees there like leaves in the autumn? Like, my friend went to Tijuana or somewhere once, and he said it was like there was this Taco Bell in everybody's bedroom or shit. Seriously! No, seriously, dude. He said that! Something like that. I think.

Man, I could SO go for some poutine raaght now! Seriously! Except instead of just fries, there'd be like nachos. Mixed in with the fries. That'd be awesome! I think I'll go watch YouTube or some shit now.

Also Reese's Pieces. In the fries. Yeahhhh.

Instead of poutine, how about a Revamped Foxfire Studios?
Freah with some stuff we've never seen before. At least I hadn't... unless I blotted it out.
The Magic of Laughter - a sick little embryo fic where Davey tries to rationalise the brainwashing of a suicidal teen girl into a clown as a loving relationship... because clowns are kind of okay and they bring HAPPINESS to the world. yyyyyeah.
I know he mentioned this concept using Copper Mystran before, but this is the first I've seen it expanded to a fic.

Family Materials - the BAM retcon. Go to Chapter 6, scroll just over half way down for a revoltingly-exlicit description of the Roboticising process.

Back from my vacation. I went to Dragon*Con with some friends and nerded it up big-time. It's never too late to have a happy childhood.

So glad you got your poutine, Bill! What kind of cheese was on it? I ask because the recipes I find call for farmer cheese, and as I know no place that sells that I have to make it myself.

"Cheese curds," according to this review, whatever those are. (Maybe Ernst could give us a definition, poutine disliker though he is) They were white, semi-firm and cubed, and they melted more slowly than you'd think. Little lumps at first, but stringy like mozzarella by the end. There wasn't a huge amount of cheese in it.

Actually, the best part was the gravy. They sold it there separately, so it must be locally famous.

Hey, I'm a Maudite Anglais, many thousands of kilometers away from the land of true poutine. I thought that cheese WAS curds by definition, the whey being the horrid clear fluid that separates out of yoghurt, but I've heard people on CBC (the radio glue of our giant nation) say that if you've not had proper cheese-curd poutine, you've been settling for cheese-crud.

Cheese curds are the solid, non-whey part of cheese before it is pressed and aged. Look at cottage cheese - the non-liquid part is the curd. So, "cheese curds" isn't very specific. What kind of cheese?

When making poutine, I use homemade farmer cheese. I have two recipes for that, one involving pressing the moisture out of cottage cheese, the other involving making cheese out of milk, lemon juice, and a little salt. Both work nicely. Put the cheese on some fries, pour beef gravy out of a can - heat it up first, of course - and you're good to go. I know this to be a fact, as for Dragon*Con a Canadian friend came down and visited me. I made him poutine, and he pronounced it good. So there!

I'm still trying to find enough of a suicidal urge to read Davey's BAM...

I hear ya. The first one was toxic enough pre-MiSTing.

Well there are good things to see and experience still.

Case in point, Bill, as someone who likes sleeping so much, because of dreams, you kind of owe it to yourself to watch Paprika. You'll either hate it like the galactic train, love it, or just be reminded of some Treehouse of Horror Episodes.

The first one was toxic enough pre-MiSTing.

Yes, BAD, but it was funny. I skipped to that chapter Mimi mentioned, "half way down," and soon discovered that "half way" was a long way from the end of that single chapter...And the grammar and spelling seemed correct. I made it about halfway through LBF, laughing at his anti-command of the English language. BAM2 seems to have done with the help of his teenage friends. Correct English Davey=BORING Davey. Nobody here made it into chapter 2 of MIMSUSA, or whatever that Scarlett thing was called. (Although I'll try BAM again over the weekend, when I have the time to waste)

because of dreams, you kind of owe it to yourself to watch Paprika

YES. I saw that a few months back, but I never mentioned it on the page apparently. Very entertaining, although I had no real idea of what was happening. In that, dreamlike indeed.

I find it a bit of both.

Ignoring the sad fact that a bunch of kids on Gaia half his age have to HELP him use proper spelling and grammar, I find it less of a headache to read Proofread!Davey, because my brain isn't aching so much to actually comprehend what he's saying. With his spelling reasonably okay, it's a little easier to understand the brain-melting CONCEPTS and still-awful characterisation of his stuff.
Illiterate!Davey was more fun to mock, I admit. But the kids are just helping him spell correctly, his basic subject matter hasn't really changed at all.

What is that thing Joe Biden shot in "He opposed the surge"? I've been staring at it for ten minutes and it still looks like a collection of blobs. (Not bringing up the fact that the current "success" in Iraq is just all the awful horror being not quite as awfully horrible lately.) And how is catching a tire a metaphor for...ANYTHING?

God, that first cartoon. It highlights something that's been puzzling me. Why is a party that usually gets all nostalgic about "the days when men were men and women were women" basically lionizing Palin for being a Lumber-Choppin, Game-Killin, Hockey-Fightin, Moose-Wrestlin, Bar-Brawlin, Tabacky-spittin Man of the Frontier with tits?

What is that thing Joe Biden shot in "He opposed the surge"?

All this political stuff flies way over my head (all i know that there's two parties over there, and only one is crazy, and that it'd be cool to see an 'african-amerikan' president) but i think he shot his horse. or camel. Maybe a llama?

I didn't want to say anything, but... Chuck really can't draw Margaret Thatcher at all well.

...that IS McCain's running mate, right?

Holy Cow, Davey JUST WANTS TO BE LOOOOOVED.
So much that he's contemplating PAYING some site to be his spin doctors and get the mocking sites removed from Google.

Look, I accept that he truly regrets the messes that Piasa, BAM and SM:AK became. And true, he DOES, for the most part, behave himself emotionally these days.
However:
People say I should be happy that I’m famous. Well, with this level of Fame, I should be getting offers to do books and movies.
....nnnnnno, does not compute.
If all the sites mocking his old stuff disappeared, he would NOT magically become the next fucking JK Rowling. He would be merely mediocre and completely unremarkable and would STILL not get a job at this.
There are still countless others with a hundred times his talent who would land the sort of jobs he wants before he EVER could.
The VERY most he can hope for is to just do it because he enjoys it for himself. He'll NEVER make a career of this and it's one remaining vestige of Old Davey that he still believes he can.

What? That Rexxfield's real? I've heard of it, and I always assumed that it was some elaborate joke. They promise to get rid of "Online Allegations of Healthcare & Medical Malpractice"? There's a boon to humanity right there! If your name brings up multiple malpractice suits, why shouldn't you pay to get them erased before you cause another plastic surgery disaster?

it has gravely affected my chances for personal development and even, in general, get over with what happened in the past...I’m sorry for making the original version of ‘BAM’ the quagmire it became.

Then DON'T WRITE BAM II. If people accuse you of wallowing in your own filth, don't jump in an identically-named mud pit. Write something different! Or, in your case, steal someone else's different idea.

I’m sorry for all those half-assed works, both in word and in art, that most people troll me over.

Then...PROVE THEM WRONG!
Write something GOOD! Stop rewriting your ripped-off crap from 15 years ago! MOVE ON. Don't keep doing what you're doing, replacing your incomprehensibly-written insanity with slightly-more-grammatical (with the help of teenagers!) insanity! Because it will still suck! Don't you get it? You have a reputation for sucking because you keep writing stuff that sucks.

it is over a decade old, I need to say–and move on with my life.
Problem is, I’m just not allowed.
Not as long as the Encyclopedia Dramatica...

AARRGGH!
What, you want your entire 15 years of web pollution erased? By MAGIC? You want every last scrap YOU EVER WROTE wiped away?
You ARE allowed! WRITE UNDER A DIFFERENT NAME, you egomaniac! It's THAT SIMPLE.

Except, of course, it isn't. You won't start fresh. You'll restart by writing as "Donaldkins FoxFlame of Other St Louis" and it'll still be warmed-over old Sonic fanfics and foxfuckbots with the names changed.

If you think what they do is harmless and accuse me of whining

YES. YES I DO.

let me ask you this: If I came looking for a job, and all you see in me is the Google search, would you hire me?

Gee whiz, I don't know. Does McDonald's google the 40-year-olds applying for janitor?

Would you think of anything other to do than dress me down–in public for added effect–and see me get thrown out of your sight?

And that's happened? You're so famous, people do that? Or do just imagine that they do, or might do, and then use that as an excuse for not trying?
Seriously, Davey, if you were a co-worker, I'd confront you with that. Unless you seemed so delusional that I wanted no contact with you. C'mon, seriously--"dress me down–in public for added effect"--that's really happened to you? Outside of your mind? You think the average person knows that much about NiTRO?

I want to be known for what I can do, instead of someone else’s lulz.

Did I say "Then try writing under another name" yet? I did? Never mind, then. Then you know that you don't have--

what could be the worst public reputation anyone outside of politics could ever have.

NRRGGH! You--you're not--you're not history's greatest fucking martyr, you do know that, right? You're not Joan of Dork, right?

What I’m asking out of you is something small, but at times would seem easier to rather cure cancer or change the orbit of the earth: I want you to keep an open mind about me. I’m not the David Gonterman of over a decade ago, when I was younger and foolish.

No. No, you don't know that.
At times it would seem easier to rather cure cancer or change the orbit of the earth?
You are history's greatest fucking martyr-complexed whiny-ass titty-baby. Here's your fucking gold loving cup, you middle-aged fool.

But no, go ahead and pay to make the Magic Eraser turn the clock back. Don't prove everybody wrong by actually listening to those 15 years of criticism and actually writing something good. No, just wave the wand and make it all go away.

Because it's not you. It's everyone else. Everyone else in the world.
You don't need to get better. The rest of us just need to get worse.

If you read the comments, I like to think that 'lervoid' is a silent troll - note the attempt to goad Davey into returning to his crazy days, trying to push him into the Ed Wood role.

There WAS a time when Davey seemed okay with this idea - accept being bad and run with it rather than try and argue otherwise.
Judging by past comments, he KNOWS he's not that good and seems to accept it. Why he thinks a prospective employer seeking a competent creator should just look PAST his extremely glaring shortcomings is still a mystery.

Someone should comment with the pseudonym idea, just to see what he says.

Perhaps someone should point out John Travolta's career path to him. Or not... the scientologists would bleed him dry inside a fortnight.

The end of FBOW passed by without any notice here, despite being a point of commentary at some points, but I'd like to link to this cartoon.

I have to say that it was the only response I got that got this way. Everyone else that talked to me was at least supportive, or at least give me good luck in driving the Anti-DVK sites down the Google Listing.

And that is the only thing I was being so emo about. This character read too much into it and thought I was putting on a martyr act over the bad reputation I got. Like I said elsewhere, it's not the trolls railing against me that's the problem here, it's the fact that Google ranks them higher than me on the search. That's the problem I'm trying to address, and jumping to an alias will not change the fact that my legal name is still "David Gonterman" and when a future employer or girlfriend research me, they're going to look for "David Gonterman." Online Nicknames aren't going to do butkus for this problem.

Finding a way to drive the trolls to Page two of the results--or at least below the aforementioned 'fold' of the web page--is what I'm trying to accomplish. And this will be a great help in moving forward, something the above speaker is nearly screaming at me to do, probably while perpetuating the bad reputation from behind my back. (Something like back stabbing someone and then telling the cops that he's carrying a concealed weapon. What I'm trying to do here is to yank the knife out my back and get some stitches.)

it's not the trolls railing against me that's the problem here, it's the fact that Google ranks them higher than me

Yes, if that's what he's trying to do, that makes sense. Of course, it assumes that no one will look at Google Page Two...

But doesn't Google work by giving priority to how many pages link to a site? He's never going to get rid of that, unless the Magic Eraser works as promised, and permanently. (and the thing still sounds like a scam to me). And I still don't see how rewriting BAM is going to make it any easier, or his rep any more invisible.

I don't understand what he's whining about with the Page 2 crap.

Foxfire Studios is the forth link on Page 1 when you google his full name.
My stars, the things a potential employer is MISSING by not going to Foxfire first! The still-shitty artwork! Updates to his current stories appearing as regularly as a good bowel movement...
There's nothing there that isn't warmed-over fanfiction.

Even if some magic Eraser removed all existence of his old stuff and the sites still hosting and mocking it.. AND wiped everyone's memory who ever read it... it still doesn't change the fact that he's still a bloody awful writer and shitty artist.
He's pissing into a hurricane, here.

Someone should suggest he go the full hog and LEGALLY CHANGE HIS WHOLE NAME. Dropping the 'Daveykins' crap would be a good start if he wants to be taken seriously in any way at all, but let's face it, his full name is just as tainted.

So who here has access to his forum and which commenter was his statement referring to?

Foxfire Studios is the forth link on Page 1 when you google his full name.

...but everything else is stuff like Commuter Barnacle, so one can see why he wants it all to go far, far away.
Not that it WILL. Not without either a time machine, or the utter collapse of civilization. (But don't worry; Future President Palin's working on that one)

Someone should suggest he go the full hog and LEGALLY CHANGE HIS WHOLE NAME

I suggest "bill young". Even with quotes, that brings up 368,000 hits! MY NAME IS GOOGLE KRYPTONITE!! I am INVISIBLES!

who here has access to his forum

I assumed Gattino Bleu, the Italo-Mexican. But who knows? A mole placed so deeply should not give him/herself away!

Speaking as a person who, like Davey, has a rather distinctive name, it's all about OWNING the traffic.
Google my name, results go as follows:
Website, Thorn, art blog, deviantart, Flickr page, Frederator profile. All mine. Because I don't post stupid shit that warrants an ED entry and don't have a HUNDRED profiles on sites I used once then forgot about.
I don't think it goes by traffic, because deviantart by FAR gets the most traffic. I think more people link to my dA site than my domain, so I don't think it's by link referrals either. I gave up trying to fathom Google long ago.
Maybe it's by frequency of updating. Thorn is hosted on mimisgrotto.com and the blog gets a LITTLE more attention than dA, so that would explain why it's only forth.

Doesn't explain why commuterbarnacle is still top, when it hasn't been touched in seven years :/

I don't think it goes by traffic

Wait, I meant it in the sense of "searches for that string that get clicked through the most." Who searches for "Dxxy Gxxtxrman" unless they already know his rep, and want to read something making fun of him/it? Thus, the many hits for commuterbarnacle! And don't forget: Davey was famous on the net before the rest of us were even born. Website-wise, that is.

I really don't understand the Googles all that much either, but I think it works something like that. Wait, let me ask John McCain...I'll just send some tubes on this truck to him and then he'll write me a letter...in longhand...

I'll bet some damn kid will school us old farts on the workings of the Google machine here soon enough. And probably do it while ON OUR LAWNS!

That last one makes me snicker, and I'll be voting for the man: McCain doesn't do E-Mail because his war wounds in his wrists give him too much grief, but he'll hold a pencil and write on paper for his correspondence. Oy vey.


Way to ignore the point(s), man.

Zef, I'm assuming it's you who's doing the 'David forum' posts, but could you give us some context as to what exactly Davey is responding to with these? If Davey is commenting on the pres race, I want the full story.

(there's no real political discussion, just HEAVILY edited versions of these same points here, that's what he's been 'replying' to, but i asked him this just for you ;)

"Oh really? any more thoughts on the presidential race? That dude Obama seems like pretty much a shoo-in, doesn't he?"

Not quite yet. The die hard republicans have found their Hilary Clinton in Palin. She's not the reason behind my vote, however.

My number one voting criteria, more important than national defense or the economy, is whatever or not the president can unite the country that is uber-fractured thanks to 'The Shrub.' You don't need to have a conservative bone in your body to know that we're going after each other's necks in a world where there are people who would just love to wipe the United States off the map. I don't want four more years of a divided country, where you can't as much as get out of bed without seeing someone spitting vemon at the one American who needs our support the most. (That's why I was saying that, if you really want 'Four More Years of Bush,' you'll vote for Hillary. I guaren-damn-tee you that you will find a completely new definitions of vitriolic political speech.)

With this in mind, the decision between Ombama and McCain seems to be a toss up. Ombama has a Kennedy-esque appeal, and if he were more of a Kennedy and less of a Carter policy wise, I'd be voting for him. (I grew up in the Carter era. It wasn't pretty.) He needs to level up; if he doesn't get the office, let him get some EXP and try again in 2012; he's got promise.

And another factor would be the obvious: Too many people in his camp is invoking Goodwin's Law by claiming everyone who doesn't vote for him is a Racist. No wonder Bush won the election. Twice.

On the other side, provided you ignore 'The Goddess' as it were, you have McCain. No republican will ever claim that they'll get everything from McCain, but when it comes to bridging gaps between right and left he's experienced. That makes him the better man for the job, at this time. I'm sure that things will be different in 2012. We need a Gerrald Ford, and McCain will make an excellent version of him.

And he's got an obvious factor as well: I need to vote for someone to get the bitter taste of what I said about Kerry out of my mouth. ("X million Vietnam Veterans wandering the country, and the Dems had to pick the only one who stood up to a grand jury and _admitted_ to killing a baby! Oy Vey.")

WHOA! That is PRIME DAVEY!
But it's late, so I'm not going to go through THAT crap all at once. But let me point out:

The die hard republicans have found their Hilary Clinton in Palin.

They both have vaginas! THERE ARE NO OTHER DIFFERENCES. AT ALL.
Except Hilary is a castrating bitch and Sarah--ohhh, siiigh...!!! She can kill MY endangered species from helicopters ANY day!

I grew up in the Carter era. It wasn't pretty.

Well, you're certainly not just mouthing something Glenn Beck said then! I mean, you grew up...in...the Carter...era...
(does the math)
1976 to 1980?! And you were born in 1970?!
You were 6 to 10 years old!! THAT'S the foundation of your deeply held political beliefs?! What the hell did Carter do to you, cancel "Land of the Lost"?!

We need a Gerrald Ford, and McCain will make an excellent version of him.

"Gerrald" Ford, the only president to get elected with one vote, and it was from NIXON? And was president for TWO YEARS? The only HALF-TERM president? When you were FOUR or FIVE? Do you base your every adult decision on what you thought as a child? I myself didn't know who the president was, or even what a president was, when I was FIVE.
(Oh, wait--the Santa suit's pants fell down and then the log ladder. Yes, you DO base your entire adult life on your childhood, and it's not like you're fucking almost 40 or anything)

I need to vote for someone to get the bitter taste of what I said about Kerry out of my mouth

(blank look)
Wow, weird. I suddenly need to brush my teeth! With lye!

C'mon--I know I'm the oldest commenter on my own comments page, but what great accomplishments are remembered from the Golden Age of Ford?
I do still have a W.I.N. button!
(crickets)
'Whip Inflation Now"? What, nobody else?
IT WAS A FUCKING GOLDEN AGE.

(Oh, wait, I get it--McCain will just be appointed president by Diebold, not unlike Ford by Nixon)

Holy shit, that's rank.

He's swallowed every GOP talking point hook, line and sinker...

What part Davey's brain switches off whenever Obama's non-stop message of uniting the country comes up?

He's doing what every Repub with chronic cognitive dissonance is doing - taking Obama's messages and points and re-projecting them onto McCain
'THE GOP MEANS CHANGE! AND UNITY!! (but not really)'

Wow. I must digest this some more.

Please report his response if anyone tries to counter him with pro-Obama points...;)

and then David Replied:

"Damn, some people have a serious case of "Why so Serious?" don't they? I put up what I'm thinking at the moment, even if it's a political view, and I get railed on with a personal flame? Come on, people, I might have my presumptions but I'm not _that_ presumptuous.

Oh, and I was born in 1969. If they're going to rag on me, at least they should get the dates right."

Um... do we REALLY want our comments here posted verbatim on Davey's forums?
I'm not to comfy with that idea, we've always operated kind of below his radar as detached commentators...
Bill ranted, that's not to say any of us would actually say these things to his face.

In any case, don't quote anything I say directly, thanks. If I want to say something directly to him, I'll comment on his dA account.

just HEAVILY edited versions of these same points here, that's what he's been 'replying' to

But i'll stop, yeah.

Feel free to pose questions to him based on what we say, but I'd prefer not to have anything quoted that might be Googled back to here. That's why we don't even mention him directly by name.

I note that he didn't answer my question! "Obama is like Carter" has been a widely-parroted right wing talking point for months, but they never say what the connection between them is. Of course, it's really willful stupidity; there is no connection. But they know that they can't compare him to Clinton, and his 8 years of peace and prosperity. And in terms of "historic first [blank] president," it'd make more sense to compare him to the first Catholic president. But they'll never compare Obama to Kennedy...

Edited by author 09-19-2008 04:25 PM
I'm quoting this recent comment on his dA emo rant because there's a good chance he'll block it when he next checks the account.
From dA user "Sage-Freehaven":
"Well, with this level of Fame, I should be getting offers to do books and movies."

You are not famous. "Famous" implies that you're actually known on some sort of mainstream pop-culture level and people actually CARE about your life, whether it's to hate you or love you or whatever. You aren't famous. You're e-famous -- you have achieved some small amount of infamy on the Internet. And trust me, it doesn't really take all that much to become even a little e-famous. (After all, even I have an ED page.)

Nobody really cares all that much about your horrible artwork, your just-as-horrible writing, and your whining about how the ED crew are making things hard for your e-life. Don't delude yourself into thinking all the people laughing at you care about you either way -- the second there's a better target for lulz out there, you'll be dropped faster than Microsoft dropped the Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld ads, and you'll be vaguely remembered and occasionally mocked as the guy who wrote "American Kitsune" and "Rangers of NIMH".

"I wish I could leave it behind–it is over a decade old, I need to say–and move on with my life. Problem is, I’m just not allowed."

You know, as much as I'd like to agree with you...the problem is, the work you're doing now is JUST AS BAD as the works you did back then. You haven't improved -- you've just stuck with what works for you instead of trying to get better. Had you actually made an attempt to improve your art in any way, I might have been forgiving. But no, I daresay you pretty much deserve all the mocking that you get.


I screencapped it as well for the archive, just in case ;)

TESTIFY!!

Awww, we'll never leave you, Davey. We'll be watching... always...;p

Edited by author 09-21-2008 02:00 AM
Yup, called it. The comment below is now deleted and he's updated the journal entry with a magnificent clarification of why he just CAN'T improve while the internet is so MEEEEAN to him!.

Claiming that I deserve to be ED's whipping boy because of a perceived lack of improvement on my talent is rather counterproductive.
Since when has ED EVER been about being productive?
No, you're on ED because of your obnoxious personality and attitude towards ANYONE who doesn't kiss your arse. I swear, his once-enormous ego has migrated to the other end and has now infested his martyr complex.

He claims ED is singularly responsible for not allowing his old works to die when ironically it's the only non-Davey site that is completely up to date.
There's a good concrit comment on the front of his dA profile and amazingly, he responded rather than delete it.

I don't get it. He's delusionally paranoid thinks that the reason he doesn't have a good job or a girlfriend is because the world is Googling his name and finding ED...but he doesn't seem to realize that his nonstop mentioning of it would drive people there when they found his own page or dA account. And every time his butt hurts, ED updates the entry. Hasn't he been online long enough to have learned "Do not feed the trolls"?

And he thinks that if the Magic Eraser makes ED (and a zillion other sites, including part of mine) get wished away to the cornfield, people who see his new stuff will think he's the fox's meow. If you were dating Davey and read Harlot PI, which is about cross-gendered furry fuckbots, would that make you swoon with desire, or change your phone number? Would a prospective employer who wouldn't hire him after reading Piasa Bird snap him up after reading BAM2's roboticization chapter? "Mr Kins, you're just the lunatic we need!"

I wish ED would take his entry down. Then who would he blame for his general nincompoopery? Commuter Barnacle? Jen White? Sailor Moon? He'd have to find someone, as his loserocity couldn't possibly be his fault.

Forget about all that junk, there's new Lackadaisies to see. Threeeeeee in fact.


I want to be in Italy to buy Tracy's book and scream like a little fangirl in a book presentation.

in other non-Davey news your mentioning the rabbits at the market reminded me of that old web chestnut Poke the Bunny...
http://www.platinumgrit.com/poke.html

Ah, spoke too soon! let's go back to the crap.

There's new 'commissioned' art. I've always thought hardcore sonic fans are the worst kind of people, and well, figures they'd pay $10 for something like this.

And from his front page:

"Nah, you're not "Ganging up" on me, which was the term I used. I guess that previous incident was caused by Mini-Na's near constant griping. Some people just can't give criticism right."

HA, you just beat me, Zef.

Dear Lord, that's hysterical. So criticism from a seasoned professional in animation AND comics which other people in comments AGREED with is 'griping', is it?

And yet, he still faves my work. *snerk*

DR EVILKINS: "And I shall call her--Mini-Na!" (puts pinkie to lip)

Wowwee! That's some darn fine gibberish the prospective VP uttered. Perhaps Gontling has a chance as a speechwriter in the Dark Future.

the odd thing about the coattails is it seems more like McCain is trying to ride HER coattails.

I think with Palin it can be a bit about gender, more about all those right winger things, and now even more an anti-elitist thing. Red states worry that blue states think they're dumb, and will rally around figures who seem to need that kind of defense.

So... anyone care to speculate on the new paradigm that's going to replace capitalism? And how many years of MadMaxism it will take to sort itself out?

As long as the microbrew supply holds out, Portland will NEVER SURRENDER!!!

Does that mean my job will be like that Last Oil Refinery in The Road Warrior? I'd better get a crossbow and leather pants!

The Chuck images aren't loading. And danged if I'm browsing though an amerikan Politic satire site just to see them. =/

What? Oh...Oops! Thanks, Zef!
Hey, give me a break! I've only had a webpage for 11 years! Haven't you heard of a learning curve? Mine's like Kansas.

Well folks, it's all over. Davey succesfully got his ED article removed, thanks to some do-gooder on dA. Apparently he followed this guy's lead and got the content removed as 'hate speech'. Good lord 9_9

Meanwhile, back at Emo Moment central, the most recent comment weighs in with some genuinely sincere, honest advice. We shall see if he takes to it.

Davey:
And promoting this bad rep of mine is something I might be toying with in the near future. You've probably heard of WhatPort80, a site being touted as a Work Safe version of ED. I might actually make an act of preemption and actually write the David Gonterman article there, that acknowledges the dirty water--with the necessary links and all--that passed under the bridge and keeps up to date on the current projects.

OH GOD OH YES PLEASE DO THIS OH GAAAWD YESSSSS!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, all! We're going to celebrate by frolicking in the seven inches of snow which landed last night.

Edited by author 10-17-2008 07:54 AM
My favorite McCain photochop is Brian's "A Christmas Story" image.

That was the funniest, but I really liked the Godzilla one. But I'm biased when it comes to the Big Green.

Both mighty monster, Cainzilla vs Obamalon, who will the win?? Only in time will the telling be!

Aw hell yeah, we gots a new essay.

Ohmigodomigod MAJOR Davey news.
He's abandoning Disney and... takin' it to CHINA!.
Yes, he's actually CONTACTED this studio with his idea to Gary Stuify their apparently AWESOMEST CARTOON SERIES EVAR UNTIL HE FINDS SOMETHING NEW!

Behold: Red Cat International. Boy, how could the Chinese RESIST that character design??

"{Insert your favorite cuss here} Kids in China watch THIS after school?!"

Based on my Korea experience, my befuddlement comes from the notion that Chinese kids get anywhere near a TV before 10pm, what with the before school school, the after school school, the after after school school language class and the evening advanced math exercises (or in the case of China, perhaps a super-soldier-serum sports class because Our Nation has Something to Prove).

Edited by author 10-21-2008 10:09 PM
Lordy. It's his stupid mouse that he stole from Bluth wielding that key thing that he stole from that Disney video game, and he tells his prospective employers that he's also based on Sonic and Fievel. Yeah, I'm sure that they'll base a series on a future copyright infringement lawsuit. He doesn't have a single idea that's his own, does he?

"Buddha, I apologize for this..." WTF?

At least kids in Korea have hand-held TVs to watch on the subway. I dunno when the hell they'd get near a TV in China.

Oh yeah, I live in Korea now, by the way. Like I told my family, I'm a rat deserting a sinking ship. Have some pictures.

Lovely, LaGrey! Is there a blog? (You seem to go through a lot of them)

Also, on reading further Davey, I will grant that there are some interesting characters. And everyone is a "collaboration" between him and Ivan. Say, who did the character's backstory, and who only did the crappy drawing? Like Lennon and McCartney, we may never know who did what.

I WOULD tell him that no studio worth its salt entertains outside solicitations on its own properties so he's completely wasting his time, but he'd probably call me a troll again.

Lav-- Beware the bomdigi in the markets, have not more than a teaspoon-full of soju in a month, and you're best to stick with OB beer if you're drinking beer at all. I wish I could remember which milk was reputed to have the least amount of non-food-grade preservatives in it, but in the decade since I've been there that may well have changed.

Also, don't let the bulgogi get to dark when you cook it-- it will offend the hostess.

Oh man, I drank 3/4ths of a bottle of soju in one sitting. Two girls had to practically carry me home and then I threw up in my sink. When I went through my purse the next day, I found a phone number from somebody named "Youssef." True story.

No blog, just pictures. I'm too busy working on this thing. I've broken several fingers and ground off a significant portion of my thumb working on it. So close to completion now, so close...

I still have my bootleg Bill the Cat tshirt from when my chamber choir visited Korea in '96 - 'The Soju Experience, party in Korea' it says.

So there you have it. Soju in quantity reduces you to drooling wreck only capable of saying 'ACK! TTHPT!' and running for congress with a fat penguin running mate ;)

I don't get this soju. It's no higher proof than vodka. 2/3s of a bottle of vodka would kill most people, so I assume that it's a small bottle. Is it like the dreaded Cisco, which no reputable liquor store will sell because it's just got some fundamental weirdness in its formula that makes you crazier than regular booze?

Inquiring liquor professionals wish to know!

It's a small bottle, yeah. Smaller than a beer bottle. And it fucking tastes like CANDY compared to vodka. You can suck down the whole thing before realizing what you've done. Sneaky, sneaky stuff. Suprising to me, as I was expecting it to taste like sake, which is like the rape of a small child being jammed down your throat.

What's interesting is despite how much I drank, I had no hangover next morning. What the hell dragon magic is in these fuckers?

I clearly have stumbled in from some alternate dimension, in which sake is a delightful beverage, and the mass-market soju of Korea is a foul liquor made of equal parts gin and formaldehyde. My experience is that the hangover starts about 20 minutes after ingestion, even if you didn't drink enough to be legally barred from operating a vehicle (in countries where they do that).

Edited by author 10-23-2008 04:12 PM
OMG. GonterrrrNation T-Shirts designed by DVK himself, on sale for ONLY $20.99 - $30.99.

There are no words to describe the minimalistic excellence of these shirts.

Do you like sweet drinks? Cuz I hate em. Only drink dark beer, and only dry red wine. I seem to recall sake is pretty horrifically sweet, while soju is...not. And yeah, no hangover. I'm as shocked as you are.

I drank my way through 3 bottles of Guinness not long ago. Imagine my delight at the end of the evening to find they cost 12,000 won (approximately $12) each. Since then I've been drinking something called Black Beer Stout. I think it's a Korean brand. Sounds pretty Konglish to me, anyways.

Haha, oh man. I remember traffic laws. In Korea, Drive As Thou Wilt is the whole of the law.

The hotel we stayed at in Seoul was a Western-style hotel that tried really REALLY hard to serve us Western-style meals and, I'm sorry, failed miserably. I didn't drink at the time but having a beer was the only way to get through the meal. We just about died when we saw the cost of the beers(and the meal, considering how shitty it was) but our conductor was a good sport and picked up the tab.

From then on, it was Korean food for us. I never got brave enough to try kimchi, though ;)

Phrack! Where is my "YOU DARE QUESTION MY GRAPEFRUITS?!" NiTRO shirt?

I had kimchi once. Tasted great. Everyone who had it got diarrhea.

I think I'd like kimchi better if they didn't eat it at every single goddamn meal. I like it, but damn do I get sick of looking at it sometimes. I used to have horrible potty problems until I started stopping by this pastry shop after work and getting a bran muffin. Man, I had this huge gut implosion the other day, and I'm still trying to figure out what I ate to cause that much damage to my intestines.

But really, I love it here.

Good heavens, you found bran?! Things HAVE changed in the Land of the Morning Calm. Although I seem to recall the price of Guiness was exactly that.

The next brave step forward in the Gonter-verse: A four-panel strip in which each panel contains a single word--
SETUP
EXPANSION
GAG
FUNNY!

Just think how many pencils that will save.

I just read this on J-List:

"The government-approved performance
was the beginning of a major shift in relations between the two countries,
allowing many new kinds of trade to flow across the Sea of Japan (a name the
Koreans hate, by the way)."

What do Koreans call the sea?

Bill, check out what i found. I guess Wikipedia does have an answer for everything, even for questions posed by an InExOb eons ago.

Re: Sea of Japan.
That's...a good question. Maybe it just means they hate the name "Japan."

Re: Blobby animal critters.
Oh Wikipedia. How much you want to bet there's more info there about animal-shaped snacks than about the works of Shakespeare?

Oh Wikipedia. How much you want to bet there's more info there about animal-shaped snacks than about the works of Shakespeare?

Something awful thought of that a while ago. It's called Wiki-groaning.

The amoeba was really a bear? Who'da guessed?

Of the hideous monsters lurking behind Obama, Cradle To Grave Gov't Care is the most baffling. That's meant to be scary? It's like being frightened of a koala that pees fruit punch. Example-- the whole hospital part of bringing our son into the light cost $90, and it only cost that much because we wanted a private recovery room.

Edited by author 11-05-2008 07:07 AM
Good luck wrestling the Diebold into submission today, American Friends!

next morning edit-- Jolly well done. Now if only the loonie assassins can be thwarted....

Edited by author 11-06-2008 05:35 AM
Good morning farmers! And I call you farmers cos who else would be up this time o' mornin?

Bill, I totally thought of Byron today because Alyssa's cat Princess--daughter of Violette--has these giganto-feet, even though she's not a polydactyl, but I did the math and realized that she's two or three years old now, which presumably means she's full-grown at this point and hence isn't going to grow into those feet anytime soon. (Just like her mom, she's another long-haired torty who's teensy underneath all that fur.)

Dunno if you've noticed or not, but Chuck Taylors have become quite au courant again; I give full credit to David Tennant (Doctor Who #10), cos that's part of his Doctor's costume (though he wears white ones with dark suits, which I personally think is a mistake).

And hey to everyone else! I told Bill I didn't want to comment when I was here last time cos it felt like I was interrupting a conversation, but he encouraged me to go do so...so...like, uhm, hey! Dearest Zefster, I think of you often (even if my lack of email may indicate otherwise), especially cos Univision is now repeating 'Amarte Es Mi Pecado' and it blows me away how much I understand what's going on this time. Mi vocabulario still sucks, and probably always would, but nowadays cuando esta blanquita tonta eavesdrops on the bus, she generally gets what's being said. {{huggles}}

Ernst, there's a Canadian guy who occasionally posts at the Doctor Who-related site I admin, and I gotta say, I've found him somewhat of a disappointment; evidently you have created an unfair precedent with regard to my favorable impressions of Our Friends From The North, so I must ask you to cease and desist with this forthwith. :)

Post-edit: Oops, I totally forgot to mention to my favorite Our Daughter's Wedding fan that in listening to my many 80's compilation CD's lately, I've noticed that there's a substantially different version of "Lawnchairs" on my, 'Electricity: 18 Synth Pop Hits' CD--it sounds cleaner, and there's a different vocal take as well, I think. I narrowly avoided doing a Voice Post about this on LJ (like the one I did about Joy Division vs. Interferon).

Also, have you ever noticed that the beginning of that song sounds an awful lot like a speeded-up version of the intro to OMD's "Messages?" Clearly both bands owned the same kind of sequencer. ;)

evidently you have created an unfair precedent with regard to my favorable impressions of Our Friends From The North, so I must ask you to cease and desist with this forthwith.

Dahr... HOCKEY! Unfavourable comparison of watery American beer to watery Canadian beer! 3 DOWN FOOTBALL!

Nope. Can't keep that up. Sorry.

LOL!! 10 points for effort, my friend.

And Bill, thanks for the MST3K interview. That srsly rocked. :D

A SHAWT of my own to offer-- someone called to ask how they might take advantage of a promotion my company has out in the mail. "Send in a cheque for the amount indicated (like it says every third sentence in the promotional clutter)."

"Oh, OK... how do I fill in a cheque?" Honest, I had to explain what was written in each available blank space on the thing.

weird, 236 seems to be blocking embedding now or something....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcvQGeDqKHg works though, and you could embed from there...

It's working now, albeit quite slowly. Too many people linking to it, maybe?

BTW, Kirk has an embed of Olberman on Prop 8. Since that hateful thing was bankrolled by the Mormons, was it done out of pure spite? "Why should gays legally marry when we in the LDS can't practice polygamy or arranged child marriages like we want?"

Hell, why would you wanna protect the "sanctity of marriage" in a country with a 50% divorce rate? That ship didn't just already sail, that ship sank.

Loved the Olbermann piece, and it's going up in ye olde LJ forthwith. And the NY Times article was great, too; the kid I've been watching (I can't say, "babysitting," because he's ten, and as I told him, I think that's more than old enough to stay by yourself, only there's, like, a law against it) is considered mildly autistic, but if anything, he just reminds me of myself at that age, because he's very intelligent, just incredibly awkward on an interpersonal level.

Aussi, saw this, thought of you: http://retrocrush.buzznet.com/costumes/

The first Connecticut marriage licenses for same-sex marriages began being issued yesterday.
That doesn't affect me in any way, shape or form. And that's why it's cool! WHO CARES if gays get married? It doesn't affect you.

Oh, and our version of the "let's legalize putting mob rule bullshit like Prop 8 on the ballot" initiative? It got its ass not just handed to them, but frisbee'd to them! 2/3s against! I LOVE MY STATE!

My entire stance on gay marriage is: If they want to get the tax breaks from being a couple like us not-gay folks can arrange, the have to engage lawyers to end the relationship like us not-gay folks. Seems fair.

...and after a brief Google break, I discover that the California lunacy isn't the result of obscure wording misleading a punch-drunk electorate. Good heavens. This bit from Wikipedia makes me wonder about the whole "Blame the Blacks" deal, though:
African American voters' support for the measure was important to the outcome. An exit poll showed that black voters sided in favor of the measure by a ratio of more than 2 to 1. Further, black turnout, spurred by Barack Obama's campaign for president, was unusually large, making up roughly 10% of the voters.[8]

Churchgoers' support for the measure was also important to the outcome. An exit poll showed that regular churchgoers sided in favor of the measure by a ratio of more than 4 to 1. Furthermore, regular churchgoers made up nearly one-quarter of the voters. [9]

Republican party members' support for the measure was still more important to the outcome. An exit poll showed that Republican party members sided in favor of the measure by a ratio of more than 4 to 1. Furthermore, Republican party members made up nearly a third of the voters.[9] Bush supporters' support for the measure was also important to the outcome. An exit poll showed that of the one-fifth of voters who approve of Bush, 86% voted in favor of the measure.[9]

So... if black people were 10% of the electorate... and only about two thirds of them were in favour... I'm having a little trouble making that into "It's all Barak Obama's fault!"

Race, shmace. It's all about the religious nuts, and their inability to tolerate the thought of somebody, somewhere, doing something they don't approve of. But of course, they'll say that liberals are the party of Big Gummint.

I kind of like Tank Girl as well.

Tank Girl, like Robot Jox, is a movie I've heard people sneer at long enough that I decided to watch and liked it. And it wasn't all diminished expectations, either. I had very low expectations for Eragon and whatever that Dragon Siege or whatever was called by Uwe Boll. (Aside: trying to remember Uwe Boll's name, I first came up with Niels Bohr. And he didn't make any bad movies!)

I also was about to say, re Tank Girl, that I like anything with Malcolm McDowell in it, but now I've decided to say "I always like Malcolm McDowell, no matter what he's in," because, holy shit, Star Trek 7. Where he built that 20 foot tall wooden platform to catch that Space Whatever. What would he've done if the Space Whatever passed by at 25 feet? Jumped?

Aw, I'm sorry you didn't get into Boogie Nights; I recently reflected that I should never rewatch it, because it blew me away so much the first time I saw it. It was a complete and total flashback to my childhood--no, not the porn parts, but just in how well they recreated the 70's. Messed with my head, man! Hell, Alfred Molina is worth the price of admission alone (as he usually is)!

And not only do I still have the Tank Girl soundtrack, but I had a great time seeing it in the theatre as well; mind you, at the time I was seriously cranked out of my head and kept MST3K'ing about the fact that Malcolm McDowell reminded me of Sting, and hence lo, did the Police jokes and tantric allusions commence...the people nearby loved me, but my friend Beth was ready to kill me. (In retrospect, it's not really surprising that she hasn't talked to me in five years.) :(

As I recently noted at LJ, I've gotten into the habit of greeting La Beez by a gentle nose-bump whenever I get home, but I've noticed that her breath always smells kinda fishy; I only feed the girls Iams kibble, so does she have some secret sushi source of which I am unaware? What is THAT about?! :-O

I still have the Tank Girl soundtrack

Moi aussi. I got it as a promo in my record store days, and it was part of the reason I rented the movie.

I've noticed that her breath always smells kinda fishy; I only feed the girls Iams kibble...What is THAT about?!

Because I checked, and pussy always smells like fish! HAR HAR HAR Iams contains fish oil.

The Way of Cats blog recommends Innova, because of the lower carbs. I tried to buy a bag, but the closest store (a pet grooming place) was out.

Hey Phrack Whores, you might recall this blog article talking about the BAM rewrite. Well, Davey responds on his blog. As usual, verbal-diarrhea-paragraph-of-doom ensues.
This is but ONE sentence:
While I’m sure that
turning that Sonic fanfict into a more traditional series of novels
(Novels, instead of comic books or crappy fanficts; and let’s be
honest, fanfiction and crappiness kinda goes together, don’t you
think? I’m just the buzzing fly on that pile of hedgehog doo.) will
raise a lot of stink from parts of the internet community, especially
those who only know about me from sites like the Encyclopedia
Dramatica and the like but thinks that logging onto my own site
would give their computers the Ebola Virus and cause their monitors
to bleed.

And he thinks people should give him the benefit of the doubt that his writing has improved. Oh dear Christ.

You may be completely surprised
how much I’ve progressed from my not-so-humble beginnings.
No, sorry, I don't think my Unexpected Surprise Underpants will be needed.

..wait.. NOT-so-humble?

There's a lot of ripe material in the blog, actually. Like omg he's going to NaNoWriMo parties!!. I wonder if he actually went or he ended up petsitting again?

I mean, someone gave me good reviews for “Murder in Main Street USA”
Yeah, it was dA user Futaba, who like most Davey 'fans' appears to have the sense of a tubeworm.

...turning that Sonic fanfict into a more traditional series of novels
(Novels, instead of comic books or crappy fanficts; and let’s be
honest, fanfiction and crappiness kinda goes together....

Isn't the great difference, in this context, between novelization and fan fiction one of causality direction? In the latter, the author gets ye auld bugge-up-arse to add to the beloved mythology, while in the former, Sega says, "Hey, you're a writer-- here's some Kraft Dinner money, make up a novel for us."

As always, comment in the message board, if you have any balls.

"...And I'll delete your comments if they disagree with mine. Phrack! I should've put this on DA so that I could get you banned, too!"

I told you about my plan for a NaNoWriMo book (Book 1 of the Blood and Metal series, to be precise. QUIT YER FSKING GROANING YOU /B/CHES I CAN’T TAKE YOUR BUTTHURT!!!111!!!)...I made plans for both, for nothing else but for networking and the rare social contact. (It’s easier for one to be sociable over something that he’s interested in, right?)

Yeah, I sure'd like to go to a party and find myself sitting next to that flaming sack of butter-smooth charm.

I genuinely, seriously hope I cross paths with this guy some day, most likely at a con. Naturally, I would HOPE I'd know it's him in advance, but my tactic, were we to strike up a conversation, would be to totally pretend to have no idea who he is and let him spiel away. I mean, on dA he can't even get a commenter's gender right, despite the fact that it's right there in our profiles, so I am completely confident he wouldn't even KNOW I was that trolling bitch mimina... you know, the one whose art he still favourites.

If he does, however:
Him: I think you know me from online, I'm Daveykins!
Me:..... and?

I genuinely, seriously hope I cross paths with this guy some day, most likely at a con.

Go to all the St Louis cons, especially on "Free Bus Fare Day!"

were we to strike up a conversation, would be to totally pretend to have no idea who he is and let him spiel away.

I tried thinking of a bigger insult (like "Oh, wait, wait--I know that name--You run ED, right? Oh, your site is HILARIOUS!"), but "You're who what then?" would really wrench his Gontocentric worldview. When he whips out his backpack full of autographed MIMSUSAs for sale, add "Hey, didn't I see you at the McDonald's?"

Heh. $10 says he is unable to interact at any level with an actual girl, so conversation would be pretty much impossible.

New Lackadaisy, although not a strip. Pretty evil-looking Mordechai!

Did anyone buy that Italian comic of hers? Not being a speaker of the language, I passed.

Having tried Tracey's method of drawing all the art as separate pieces then comping it all together into panels/backgrounds/whole pages later, I think I know why she takes so long to do them.
THIS METHOD TAKES FOR-FRICKING EVER!!

If she just plotted a page with panels and just did the art within the confines of the spaces ON THAT PAGE, she'd be done a lot faster.

Edited by author 11-27-2008 01:07 PM
Watch Your Head is a very good comic. Today's strip, about Omar's search for a new roommate, will appeal to you guys. Pay close attention to the last panel.
(No, it does not involve a talking foxbot)

Bill, I think I might stop reading your page. It's too depressing and I have enough problems in my life already, living in a 3rd world country where 4800 people have been murdered/gruesomely executed in the year so far.


(Because the government wages a 'war on drugs' they're losing. How many americans have been lost in the total length of the new Iraq war? around 4200?)

I think you've captured my thoughts quite nicely about the latest post-Thanksgiving Sale idiocy. It rather trumps last year's "Old lady beaten to ground by competitor for $25 DVD player," doesn't it. I'm very glad our Thanksgiving is a lot farther from Christmas so we avoid this sort of lunacy (because, alas, I expect my countrymen are capable of it).

Edited by author 11-30-2008 03:02 AM
fffffffffff. No wonder he hadn't posted. He was so busy.

Oh yeah, new journal too.

Oh, good. Bondage enters the mix.

Edited by author 11-30-2008 12:29 PM
Well, to be fair, this was a commission, so it could be the script isn't his, but the person who paid for it.
Nice comments, Zef. Yes, I want to know what they paid for this, too.
If it's over $50, they got ripped, big time.
Hell, I wouldn't pay 20 for that half-arsed shit.
Note that he still blames his tools for its amateurish look. People with talent can do amazing things with Gimp. It's not like it MATTERS what pens he uses, because he bitmaps them to death when he scans them. He may as well have just drawn them with the mouse using a pencil tool, it looks so bad.
Last time my artwork looks as pixelly as that was back in the Amiga days when antialiasing didn't exist and I used Deluxe Paint 4.

But yeah, WONDERFUL pile of disturbing crap thing to wake up to. I never want to see thong-clad mouse buttocks AGAIN!!

Still, I'm amazed he's taking Johnny B back to the Nimh canon. There's bugger all left of the original character apart from the STILL very obvious name. He's spent all this time making JB into The Next Mickey, what's he going to do, just drop it all?
Still, at least that silly Chinese anime idea has been dropped. Blind Freddy could see that wasn't going to go anywhere.

Holy schotz, what the phrack was THAT? And somebody commissioned it? What's with him and the mind controlled women? Is that the only way he thinks he'll get a date?
Of course, if he writes little nightmares like that, it probably would be.

Wow. That was creepy.

I clicked a few links after watching that video, yes I was bored.
I learnt something as well, to quote the couple - "It's an out hole, not an in hole" ---- EEEWWWWWWWW.

Re: Chuck

Have you seen the movie Crumb?

In it, R.Crumb's brother Charles, who helped get R. Crumb into comics, has pretty serious mental conditions. As his state gets worse, his comics devolve into these panels with two characters squashed at the bottom and the rest covered with speech balloons with lots of little lines meant to connote speech, kind of how Woodstock talks in "Peanutes", but more orderly.

It will be interesting if this Charles follows the same route.

I know the exact comic you're talking about, Kirk, but in that the characters actually WERE still using words. Just very very rambly quasi-philosophical stuff.
And like SOMEONE we could mention, Charles Crumb never actually got any better. He didn't WANT to do art other than a corny old Terrytoons style, so he stagnated and died a complete decrepit shut-in while Robert went on to be the perverted genius that he is with a house in France and a music collection worth millions.

Have you seen the notebooks Charles kept later? No drawings even, just page after page filled to the borders with tiny rows of strokes, just like Woodstock speech, as Kirk put it.

FUCKED up family.

Oh, I might have mixed up the dialog of the comics w/ the "woodstock speak" journals.

The thing is, and I know there might be something between the lines I'm ignoring, when you're talking about significant mental unbalance, the concept of "WANT" might be a little misleading; I'm not positive free will works in the way we understand it to in these cases, and you shouldn't imply it's like a moral shortcoming of desire that led R. Crumb to be relatively successful and able to stake out a life for himself while Charles just imploded.

I'm glad the movie Crumb was made; I don't think I would have ANY understanding of what Crumb was aiming for. That said, I like Crumb more in theory than in practice, when it comes to actually reading his stuff.

No, I don't think Charles failed because he didn't 'want' to reach his potential enough. He had serious mental issues which did hobble him beyond his control. Some people can't help that.

I have quite a few of R.Crumb's biographical books (plus whatever he's drawn himself on the subject), and from what I can gather Charles was a serious, creative kid who just wanted to live in and create the fantasy worlds he saw in Disney movies. He dragged Robert along for the ride when they drew comics together but when they hit adolescence Charles just couldn't deal with normal social interaction and withdrew.

I love Crumb's work, even though he's drawn some seriously sick stuff. He's an insufferably bitter, egotistical, fame-hating-but-attention-craving, sexually-misogynistic git, but at least he's honest about it.
'Yeah, I'm a sick, contradictory bastard, but the way I cope with it is just to draw it and get it out in the open'. I can respect that.

I think around 70% of what drove Crumb to succeed was attention and cute hippie tail. ;)

After watching Crumb, I still follow the third brother's colon-cleansing regimen of swallowing a shoelace and letting it pass through my digestive system, before pulling it out of my ass and repeating.

"FUCKED up family." Yes.

...And if you liked Crumb, you might like American Splendor, the Harvey Pekar doc.

{{hugs Zefiel for living in a Third World country...then slaps him for putting that "new journal" link that made me get all excited and think it was HIS journal!}}

Bill, you probably know this already, but with my old tv/new vcr combination, I was able to buy an adapter@Radio Shack (admittedly for $29) that enabled me to hook them up successfully. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do about DTV, whether I want the one-time $10 expense or if I could maybe finally swing getting satellite (though what I saw of it recently at my friend Hilary's house left me less than impressed--I just want BBC America, dammit!).

Because of my newfound fervid interest in Antarctic exploration--oddly enough--I've actually begun to grok the fundamentals of nutrition more than I ever have before, and your consumption of ramen worries me, Billy boy. Just sayin.

Lili, i tried to email you just now, but it bounced. can you send me a quick email so i have your address again?

...from what I can gather Charles was a serious, creative kid who just wanted to live in and create the fantasy worlds he saw in Disney movies.

Apart from the words "serious, creative", which topic of frequent conversation here does that remind me of? Hmmm....

Any consumption of ramen beyond one package a decade is bad news. Lacks nutrients, gots palm oil aplenty (the noodles are pre-deep fried), and some marginal brands are frequently dusted with insecticide at the factory to keep the cockroaches down.

with my old tv/new vcr combination, I was able to buy an adapter

I think I could disconnect the converter from the TV and hook it directly to the VCR and record that way, but there's nothing that I want to tape since Ebert & Roeper went away. I got the converter because I'd rather pay $10 and never use it than find out I need it, and end up spending $50.

your consumption of ramen worries me

I had it twice in a week, but I usually have it maybe twice in a year. I needed soup when I had my cold, and it was the only way I could think to make the leftover turkey tasty. My usual intake of processed foods is pretty minimal.

Edited by author 12-19-2008 09:13 PM
i haz teh yayz re: the KitH news, and that's SO awesome they liked The League of Gentlemen too; like I said@LJ, certain parts of series 3 made me inadvertently shriek, so when you gonna get those DVD's from Netflix, hmmm? [/nagging]

While I haven't done any Leela stuph yet, I thought you might appreciate this (in case you haven't seen it before, or even if you have):

http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk58/LK...urrent=leela400.jpg

And here's what I've done so far of a Peri-centric nature: http://r13-macros.livejournal.com/tag/nicola+bryant

(In the multi-collection, there's an Adric icon that's a MST3K reference that you might be the only one besides Deb to actually get--I've actually been meaning to send you an assortment of the ones only you would understand, actually.)

Gahhh!! They RILLY need a frickin' 'preview' option here at QuickTopic. Anyhoo, lemme know if the Leela link isn't working, cos I can email it to you. Or cease and desist. Up to you, really.

Hahaha!

But shouldn't that one have read "Ass, grass or TARDAS?"

Now you tell me! ::HEAD DESK::

De re antarcticam: This site is a brilliant look at life in the place, provided by those living it. The link goes straight to their page of reviews for The Thing, which is apparently technically flawed but psychologically valid.

Oh, man...thanks for that link, Ernst!! It never in a million years would have occurred to me that I should see The Thing, but now I might have to...plus that link has got loads of other fascinating stuph, not in the least cos it led me to finding out about The Antarctic Dictionary, which I could willingly read in its entirety (though that version being online and over 300 pages, that probably won't happen).

It recently occurred to me how less than a year ago I'd no idea what words like, "finnesko" and "sastrugi" meant, so I love the idea of further expanding my Antarctic vocabulary...and I know I've barely even scratched the surface when it comes to movies about--in Tim Finn's immortal phrase--"the bottom half of the world." (I stopped watching Branagh's Shackleton miniseries after The Incident With Mrs. Chippy therein, cos I was too upset, although now that I just finished reading an excellent biography of Tom Crean and have a far better understanding of historical events, I'm going to go back and finish watching it at some point.)

Ay, me Zeffy boy--it was awesome to hear from you! I will make a sincere effort to write back before I leave for my mom and dad's tomorrow, k? *hugs*

I stopped watching Branagh's Shackleton miniseries after The Incident With Mrs. Chippy

If you want to enjoy the whole harrowing thing via the printed word, you can always read the man's own work. There's pictures, too!

For some reason, the weather the past couple of days has my feeling very... explorerish.

Edited by author 12-30-2008 08:42 PM
This page is a good way to waste half a day alternatively laughing your ass off and being impressed at how many hoops Nigerian scammers are willing to jump to get to someone's theoretical money.

I've got a well-asterisked box of Detox* Tea*. Yes, that's right, there is no scientific proof that the packed of dried plant material meant to be put in hot water constitute "tea." In fact, the only item of text on the box without a * is the one suggesting that you use hot water to prepare the unproven beverage.

One of the reasons I believe that there is intelligent alien life out there is because there's intelligent alien life right here: the Cetaceans.

Don't forget the Cephalopods-- that's yer alien creature, there.

And a happy new year to all.

Don't forget the Cephalopods-- that's yer alien creature, there.

I have a long list of reasons why "Flying Saucers are visiting Earth" is a ludicrous idea, but top among them is that the purported "aliens" never look alien. What animal does a Grey resemble more than a human being? Okay, they have disproportionately large heads and eyes, and tiny hands and feet, which means that what they really most resemble are human babies, which I think says something about the aliencentric. But the only reason you don't think a squid or an elephant is the most fucked-up creature ever is that you've known about them since you were a baby. Something that evolved on an alien world will not look like a human.

There's a Netflixable DVD called "Alien Planet" that was based on a book by a trained biologist and anatomical illustrator. The aliens there are absolutely crazy in their varied body shapes and life cycles, but also very logical. It creates a very real world ecology. Even the one-legged critters seem based in reality.

If there are aliens, they're going to look and act alien, and not just be, in the immortal words of a Kids in the Hall skit, anus-fingering "twisted ass freaks."

Edited by author 01-04-2009 02:52 PM
Yo, dudes, New Lackadaisy, with the lovely and impressive expression work we all love from Tracy.

the lovely and impressive expression work we all love from Tracy.

"GRA-HAHAHA!!" Yeah, that's an awesome panel!
As impressed as I am with anyone who can evoke expression with a lot of linework, I'm equally impressed when it can be done with as few lines as possible.

I wonder when Freckle goes irrevocably insane?

Aw Bill...
Expressions are just a strength, I rely on them to make up for the fact that I am crap at backgrounds ;p

RE: Cat behavior, art, et al.

I'm just going to leave This here. The anime's around too, i just haven't found it, but I'm liking the art in the manga better.

I rely on them to make up for the fact that I am crap at backgrounds

If backgrounds (or writing) mattered in daily comic strips, the most popular ones would be Zippy the Pinhead and Prince Valiant. If actual ANY SKILL AT ANYTHING AT ALL mattered, why would people read inane shit like Cathy or Ziggy?

Of course, the worst drawn strips are Dilbert and Willy & Ethel, but I read those because they're actually funny. I think that you hit the balance point of just enough detail to get the emotions across, without having Zippylike overcrowded art.

Well, with traditional comic strips(as they survive today), you can't really afford detailed backgrounds anyway because of print reduction and the tiny real estate.
Thorn has been designed for papers from day 1, so the simpler style is very deliberate. Animation also teaches you to get the point across in as few lines as possible because detail takes labor and money.

It just bugs me that I can't do buildings very well ;)

Lackadaisy is, of course, optimised for larger web viewing and is best preserved in full sepia coffee-table book glory.
If Tracey had intended Lackadaisy for the papers, I think her character acting would survive intact, but her beautiful shading and background detail would suffer.

Crap, I Didn't get the Bosch connection. I am lame. That said, I did watch the DVD extras and del Toro claims to have come across Church head's design/idea out of wanting something that looked regal, yet clearly bureaucratic. Perhaps they're not that unrelated after all.

Blast it, I need to get at that movie. I can't quite remember if Krauss was dead or just the victim of a horrible mishap from his brief appearance in print, but he was a pretty cool character.

It's a great popcorn movie, even though it has stuff that usually drives me nuts. Such as "the sword that constantly makes metal-on-metal sounds even though it's only being moved around in the air," and "characters that are falling-down sloppy drunk immediately sober up." But that scene features Hellboy and Abe drunkenly singing Manilow, and that's freakin' funny. And they get drunk on Tecate, which is a big step up from the Bud Light of the first movie.