Nothing To See Here

I thought I might have more to say today, but I'm knackered. So here's a picture:



I'm actually not that happy with it, as it didn't turn out nearly as well as I'd hoped. I've realised that when I draw, I undermine my own talent. I don't let the drawing happen. I try to force it, with disappointing results. Something to work on, I think.

Dicing With Death & The Irony Of Chocolate Bars

One thing that I won't miss about the US is the constant fear of a violent and messy death. Coming from a country where the most dangerous things are semi-poisonous near-extinct snakes and the occasional shotgun-wielding farmer, this place strikes me as a death trap.
As a pedestrian, I don't fancy my chances of living long in the land where The Car Is King. Especially since the medical system is based on how much cash you have (as is the political system, funnily enough). Recently, they passed a law in Minnesota making it legal to carry a concealed firearm, which is of course the best way of defending yourself from Muslims, er, terrorists. Well, that's how they marketed the law, anyway.
And now Minnesota's genius Governor, Tim Pawlenty, is shamelessly exploiting the kidnapping (and probable death) of Dru Sjodin to try and get the death penalty reinstated.
This is a ridiculous country. I've got to get out.

I've just seen an advert for this as I was typing up this entry, and I still can't believe it...


British readers may be interested to know that Snickers have released a new high-energy, sporty, variant of the chewy chocolate/peanut/cement hybrid, called... Snickers Marathon.

Master, master, where’s the dreams that I’ve been after?

K got himself a Master System emulator! Finally, I'll be able to finish Phantasy Star!



Games really were better back then.

Pull Up! Pull Up! Bugger...Has Anyone Got 10p?

Many thanks to Rob for this one!

I am a Thrust-ship. I am small and tricky - where you think I am, I probably am not. I can work very fast, but I tend to go about things in a round about way, which often leaves me effectively standing still. I hate rocks. Bloody rocks. What Video Game Character Are You?

I seem to be getting into a rut with these things. I promise that I shall blog properly at some point.

Nicked this from Hannabella who I don't think I've visited before, and who has a lovely white, grey and blue blog. I also got the same result as Hannabella did...


What Classic Movie Are You?



Anyone who knows me is probably chuckling away to themselves right now. Easy Rider indeed. I'm not sure I've even seen that film all the way through. I know I tried to watch it on BBC2 one night, but I think I fell asleep. On a somewhat unrelated note, I really miss BBC2.


Liam has set up a new communal blog-type-thing called One Thing I Learned Today, based around the theme of...er...well, I'm sure you can work it out. It's an interesting idea, and it'll be fun to see how popular it is. Already, I've had to resist abusing the system...


There was a brilliantly-miswritten headline on the Guardian website yesterday concerning cloning which I've tried to find, but haven't managed to yet. The article is about regulating cloning, but the headline makes it seem like there's a secret industry somewhere out there, churning out genetically-engineered clones of Clint Eastwood and John Wayne...

Casualties Of War

So, it looks like the world of blogging is going to lose Kev. Actually, he changes his mind (and website) so often that it may not be the last blog we see from him, but for now it looks like he's going to spend 2004 concentrating on his art, which you can see here. I love Kev's art, although there's just a smidgeon of jealousy there, because he's better than me. I'm a decent artist, but I've yet to find my style, leading to a lot of scrappiness. My style remains elusive (although predictably, I can see it in my mind's eye, and it looks like John Romita Jr and Bruce Timm fell into Seth Brundle's teleporter), but Kev seems comfortable and confident with his. So while it's sad to see Kev leave the blogworld, at least he's doing it for a good, nay excellent, reason. I hope to see some great things from the pen of Kev, even if the quality of it will slowly erode my soul. For some reason, there's been a personal tension between me and Kev for a couple of years, and while neither of us have apologised for it (I suspect because neither of us knows what, if anything, we did), I do feel that Kev warmed to me, or at least thawed, over the past year or so. Even so, I don't think he's ever visited here so this won't reach him, but good luck to you anyway Kev!

On a related note, today (I write this at five a.m.) will probably consist of various artistic activities. Lots to do! As well as lots of drawing, I have handed in my first draft of the script to my contribution to ...something I can't mention yet, and am eagerly awaiting the okay to get cracking on the art. I really want to do something productive with what's left of my week. Colds always knock me for six, so I get very little done (but I'm much better now, thanks for asking), and this weekend, we're off to Wisconsin for a Bat Mitzvah. There's not much of my week left, and I don't want to waste it.
Growing up in a decidedly (but not actively) non-religous environment, religious events always both fascinate me (religion really interests me on a number of levels), and slightly terrify me. This one's no exception. My father-in-law's family are very Jewish, although my mother-in-law and her daughters are not. There was a big turn out at our wedding by this side of the family, so Meg really feels that we should make the effort to go to this. To be honest, if it were up to me, I probably wouldn't go, as the fear would overcome the fascination! Still, it's likely to be nothing more than a party, and there's nothing wrong with a party!
Thirsty and hungry now. Tea and Rice Crispies it is then.

Virus

I am the living dead.

Actually, I just have a stinking head cold. Oh well. It's been a while since I've had a cold, so it's like re-acquainting myself with an old friend. Albeit an old friend who infests your home and uses all your tissues.
A while ago, while discussing Orbital's soundtrack album for the vampire-road-movie Octane, I mentioned that the film's premise reminded me of a film I'd encountered (but not seen) that "starred" a bunch forgettable teen TV actors. I couldn't remember the name of the film, or any of the "stars", and you lot were no help at all. Last night, while sneezing tendrils of viscous slime across the room, I watched Forsaken on CBS, which is the exact film I was trying to place. The forgettable teen TV actor? The gay bloke from Dawson's Creek.

Right. Now I'm off to find something I can still do adequately while sneezing and dripping incessantly.

Giant Robotic Text Editors Of Destruction!

Not bad. I would, of course, prefer to be a Transformer, but Calibretto's not bad...



Which Colossal Death Robot Are You?


Thanks to Billy, Snowball and Grace for that!

I've been spending quite a bit of the past few days rebuilding my website. It was okay as a first attempt, but when a prospective employer actually asked to see the site, I realised that it just wasn't good enough for my purposes, so I've set about redesigning it a bit. For big tasks like that, I've been using Textpad, a text editor that does a wonderful job of helping me keep track of what I'm doing. For blog posts and little bits of HTML, then Notepad is fine, but for larger jobs, it's not so good. It has a maximum file size for a start, so big webpages are out, and it has no formatting of any sort, which makes sorting through lines of HTML code very difficult. If you've got one missing tag in a whole page of code, Notepad is not the easiest way to find and fix it. What I like most about Textpad is that it displays HTML code in blue, URLs in green, and plain text in standard black. As a result, it's much easier to see what you're doing. Unfortunately, Textpad also has a tendency to lock up the computer, especially if you have anything else running at the same time. So, if anyone has any good alternative text editor suggestions, then do let me know!

This Week I 'Ave Been Mostly Drawing A Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic Future...Again

More Oryx and Crake pictorials. I did these because Meg's sister Karen is doing a presentation on the book in school today, and she wanted some pictures to liven things up a bit. As apparently the only person in Minnesota who can use a pencil, I was recruited for the job. It's actually been quite fun doing the pictures (although reading the book was not-it's awful), and it was interesting to have an actual deadline to do the pictures by. I've got a number of projects in the works, but since none of them really have a deadline attached, I'm very bad at getting my head down and working on them. It was refreshing, and probably very good for me, to have that pressure this time around.
Saw Underworld today, and I was rather pleasantly surprised by it. It's really quite fun, and had more depth to it that I would have thought. Definitely recommended, and not just for Kate Beckinsale in PVC!

Election 2004

This year brings a chance to usurp the Thief-in-Chief, Overlord Bush II, but many people are confused as to which hero will rise up and save the world from the evil of Dubya. If you are one of these people, then do not despair, as this site will tell you all you need to know about those who are set to challenge the forces of darkness.