Sunday, June 25, 2006

Waking Up to Caffeine Withdrawal

I still haven't gotten to Howl's again yet, I'm doing that today period. I've had a lot of rain come through here, so much I haven't been able to finish that sidewalk yet, and it's probably grown over again so I'll have a time of getting it reigned in. Anyway, that's a project for another day. Also still waiting on the main compute to get back up and running to scan that picture in, but oh well, what's a little bit of time? Now the good stuff: Comments: Mamma Vash: Ah, that was just incidental on my part then. The tunnel's facade kind of filled up the viewfinder but it made for good shooting. I think I like the number 19 shot myself, that one speaks a lot with so little. It's actually two separate downloads, Irfanview the image viewer is the main dowload, but you'll have to install it, then download and install the irfanview plug-ins to get the sepia filter. A little tedious, but worth it in the end as you'll have an image viewer for just about every image file format that's out there right now. Well, I used get a channel called Movieplex, which was actually an Encore channel that featured their different "premium" movie channels (Westerns, mystery, drama, action, and a few others) on expanded basic cable. Once in a while they'd run an anime movie, but for the most part Cartoon Network has been my primary source for anime programming (not something I care to brag about), and now that I'm on a lesser known cable provider, even requesting channels like ADV's Anime Network, or the Funimation Channel won't be as easy, I've already done that but don't expect to see either in my line-up anytime soon. I've done that a little, and I'm into Sony's MiniDisc thing now too, you can get over two hours of music on one disc (80 min) less than three inches across, and the sound is comparable to that of music download services, so there's no real issue with sound like you may see Sony bashers online trying to claim. Much of my anime music collection I can't discuss because of legal technicalities, but I'm working on correcting that as best I can. I can say that I've recorded onto MD most of the themes from the anime DVDs I have (I don't have the software to rip them straight to MP3 format, that stuff isn't cheap anymore), and like to listen to those, especially the theme from Whisper of the Heart, but I've always like John Denver's original of that so hearing a Japanese reversion was like a little bit of harmony for me. Unfortunately, I don't see myself traveling to Ft. Lauderdale FL any tiume in the near future. Aside from not have the finances to do it, my family (who would have to take me) has an aversion to that state (I don't know, so don't ask) so it would take a lot more than I can muster emotionally to be able to convince one of them to take me. I'm still struggling with CG myself, though mostly for want of time to sit down and work through some practice. If you need a good free program that can contend with Photoshop, try out Pixia for that. I can help you along with the basics of that program if you decide to use it. I also recommend getting a tablet to work with. Drawing on a computer is so difficult with a mouse, but one of those WACOM tablets (Pixia supports tablet input by the way) is just like drawing on paper to a degree. And I know what you mean, being ambidextrous, I make twice the mess with my hands, from pencil smudges to everything else. I have joke for myself that I can't draw without getting a little bit of something on my hands, and it never fails. When I'm done a picture, somehow I'll have pencil, ink, and whatever else I've used, stains all over my hands. Except when I do digital art, the pixels can't rub off onto my hands :P Oh, if you didn't pick it up, the first link is to the original creator's (Isao Maruoka) web page, the second one will get you the English version of Pixia. kout3uka Let me tell you, I didn't fully appreciate the meaning of that phrase until I was standing about halfway through the 1,376 foot tunnel in pitch black with a little bit of light behind me, and a tiny glimmer of light peeking around the bend in front of me. Next time I'm there, I'll set the camera up for low-light (night mode) photography, and maybe get a half-decent shot of that view, it's both creepy and exciting at the same time, and maybe I'll be lucky to get a shot of the ghost too, she was there, but I guess a little camera shy last time. That's what they call them here in WV, but in Texas they called them "webworms" Those silky webs you'll see on trees where the branches come together, and the leaves will be eaten through full of holes, those things. The only way to get rid of them is to take one of those hand torches (like you see chefs using on TV to caramelize sugar or light a flambé) and burn them out, the trick being not to torch the half dead, dried up, leaves on the whole tree in the process. On Appleseed, I was surprised to see it too, considering Spirited Away and several others (this was before Howl's was imported I believe) were [cough]deliberately[cough] overlooked. On FLCL, like I said,I wish I could find someone from the Tech TV message boards (Even the Mod who wrote it himself) who has that thread saved somewhere because I'd like to read it, it was well written from the little I skimmed of it in late 2003. I'm sure if you look hard enough, you can find fan sites that cover the hidden stuff, and deeper meaning to all that silliness, I just haven't taken the time to do it yet myself, and I still haven't seen that whole series yet. Only two episodes? Here I was thinking it was a more traditional 26 episode set I had to look for, but that'll be easier on the finances. Well now, I'll have to make a concentrated effort to find it as soon as I can. Oh, I should point out that Movie Gallery, Blockbuster Video, Hollywood Video, and all the regional/local video rental stores really, REALLY suck when it comes to animé titles, so forgive my cringing at the rental suggestion, but I will try my hardest to buy a copy somewhere. Outlaw Melfina If you mean the ALT tags for the rail trail pictures, I have an unusual wit about me that makes for some interesting captions. It was an experience I thought I'd share with my regulars, how often do you get to walk an hour and a half out of your way to find a famous haunted tunnel on a rail bed abandoned by the railroad and turned into a state park? It's probably the only 70+ mile long yet no more than 10 feet wide park in the state. So far, the only thing GONZO is animating that I don't particularly care for is the latest incarnation of the Transformers franchise (That show's getting to be worse that certain animé shows which will remain nameless), but I'm what you call OG and can remember the early years of that show in the 80's so I'm kind of biased toward a 2D animation look for those famous bots. Other than that, GONZO blows me away with everything I've seen of theirs. The visual styles are breathtaking. I've heard of the "Tate", it's supposed to be one of those "If you ever get the chance to visit you'd be a sucker not to" places, of course they say that about a lot of international places here in the US just to make those of us who can't travel the world feel left out I guess. I have relatives working in the security field, so I can appreciate what the guards and officers do, it's a matter of safety for everyone even if it's a bit inconvenient. Well, I just really don't like to have my picture taken, I'm kind of scary to look at to be honest. I think that's a direct reflection on how I feel about myself actually, since I don't feel all that good about myself right now, having my picture taken just doens't seem to be right. When I am in higher spirits, I'll probably be more open to it, and more willing to let it be done. I agree with that quite a bit, the intrigue of experiencing something not native to your own language and culture is fascinating. I've seen movies in French, Japanese, Spanish and German, and would like to see stuff in other languages just for the novelty of it. Of course, I also listen to the short wave bands, and once in a while pick up a (non religious) program or two, a really good one out of Taiwan that's done in English and Chinese. To me there's no such thing as "culture shock" I'm in awe of all the world's cultures, and want to know as much about all of them as I can learn, and I do mean ALL cultures. To me there's very little that's more intellectually amusing that seeing Gérard Depardieu delivering the page long monlogue from Cyrano de Bergerac where Cyrano is "teaching" someone how to properly insult his (Cyrano's) rather large nose. If you can keep up with those lines as they flash acros the screen, you can handle anything (I've read the play translated to English and I can't keep up all the time). It's also amusing to watch Jeopardy and see Alex Trebek fly through the clues with French in them and I can just picture the producers sitting there going "So THAT'S how to say it right." Sometimes I think they try to stump him with those things. I'm still learning Japanese, and all I've got to work with at the moment is a CD language course, so it's not going to be the best. I wish I could find a complete Kanji chart (all 1,945 characters) so I could learn those too, but that will have to come later. For the record, that "scary" guy with the sword is me, and I do collect swords, knives, and the like. Anime Dreams! Picture Requests Pending Complete Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice [Upload Pending] Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka Project Closed Upon Completion The Silver Run Tunnel All images in the table hosted by Photobucket.

Points of Contact

Comments (1) | Permalink

Thursday, June 22, 2006

The Hurrier I Go, The Behinder I Get

I got nothing today, I'm playing catch-up with things The title of the day is actually a Pennsylvania Dutch saying that I have on a trivet hanging up here at home. Comments: kout3uka Yeah, I finally got there, and it didn't take as long as I thought. It's about an hour and a half hike from the Cairo trail head West to get to Silver Run Tunnel (Tunnel 19), and the hike is so easy going you're there before you know it. I'm thrilled that the photos turned out as good as they did, but nothing to write home about in terms of "paranormal" stuff, nothing came up on the DVR either, so I'll have to go back out there again with better equipment and do some more investigative work. I will say that I've been to some creepy places, Moundsville penitentiary, schools, churches, the hotel I worked at, an old bank, cemetaries, but by far the creepiest place I've ever been was tunnel 19. The next time I go, I'm going to have one of them 1 million candlepower 12 volt spotlights, just to get through it. Some facts about the tunnels straight from the Rail Trail Map and brochure: The longest tunnel on the trail is Tunnel 6 at 2,297 feet (not named), the second longest tunnel is Tunnel 21, the Eaton Tunnel, at 1,840 feet, then comes Tunnel 19, the Silver Run Tunnel at 1,376 feet. There is another long tunnel, Tunnel 2 (Not named) at 1,086 feet. Now I had trouble going through the third longest on the trail, since the longest is about twice that length I don't think I could get through it without a bright light and maybe the escort of a tempermental half demon quick on the draw with his sword. Regal Cinemas doesn't show Studio Ghibli films when they go to wide release (or as a limited release theater for that matter), and I've written them about it, but it's not an anti-animé bias, they showed Appleseed when it went to wide release. I stand behind my conviction to not set foot in a Regal Cinemas theater until I see a Studio Ghibli film on the marquee, and I told them that. Well, all I can ask about then is if you've ever had to deal with tent worms? FLCL is actually a series that's deeper than the silly shell it's presented in, and I wish the TechTV message boards were still up, one of the Moderators wrote up a really good in depth study of that animé and I haven't been able to find anyone from those boards who's saved it to read through the whole thing. If I happen to stumble upon a DVD of Dragon Half, and it's not beyond my budget, I will check it out. The problem I have with animé is if it's not on expanded basic cable, I have to get the DVD to see it, and most often I can't even do that. It does sound like a fun series though. Mamma Vash: It's a beautiful place to be, I know I'm going back. Not sure what you mean about the mono color style, I just point and push the button, the camera does all the real work. I couldn't get the pictures to turn out right but there are some mini stalactites dripping down from the curved ceiling in that tunnel, and the brick and morter facade is one you have to really see up close to appreciate (I need a brighter flash for my camera). Speaking of color styles, I remember talking to someone who was wanting to get the look of older style photos (that yellowed look) and my sister pointed out to me that the plug-ins for gthe latest build of Irfanview now have a sepia filter to give images that yellowed look. Howl's Moving Castle does have some great visuals to it, which is something I expect from any Studio Ghibli film. The character designs are all well done, and the looks seem to fit the personalities of the characters (at least the English personalities). Having had a hamster I know what you mean, but mine was actually smart enough to cram his bedding under that thing real tight so he could climb up on it without spinning off, so follow his example and "stop that wheel a movin'" to get caught up. I look forward to those pictures, it sounds like a place I'd fit right in with no problems. I took 100 of the hike to Silver Run Tunnel, but the ones I've posted are by far the best ones out of the bunch (there are a few others, but I don't feel like tweaking the table to fit them in). Anime Dreams! Picture Requests Pending Complete Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice [Upload Pending] Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka Project Closed Upon Completion The Silver Run Tunnel All images in the table hosted by Photobucket.

Points of Contact

Comments (3) | Permalink

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

A Walk on the Wild Side

Silver Run All images in the table hosted by Photobucket. Hover the mouse on the pictures to get my captions, it would take too long to explain them all here in detail, but basically, those are some of the shots I took hiking to that Tunnel 19 I mentioned way back when. Yeah, I finally got there, and at over 1,000 feet in length, no, I didn't get all the way through it, I had to turn back halfway. Unfortunately, I didn't get to Howl's this weekend, I'll try to cover it this week sometime, I really want to say a few things about it, the film is that good. I also got to check out the first DVD of Samurai 7, and I have to say visually stunning, GONZO did as great a job with it as they did with Last Exile, I'm in love with that much already, the story is great too. And for the record, I know Edmonton lost the Stanley Cup Finals, no need to rub it in. Comments: kout3uka Mine wasn't really funny, but the others were (I especially liked the Peeps one myself) At least your theater showed it. Since I have to buy the DVDs to see animé films, I get the Japanese language tracks anyway and I enjoy watching them. Turner Classic Movies ran some Studio Ghibli films in May, they ran them subbed which surprised me, but I rather liked seeing them done that way on TV. That's the term I couldn't remember either till I ran that search and saw it. I do remember someone making this overdramatic production about those things when I lived there, but I think that was more "scare the six year old senseless" than factuial information. They were like that in TX, I'm not sure if you remember the recent wildfire they had down there, well, when I lived there (mid to late 80's) we had a fire that actually lept across the main highway, it burned for a couple days. That one was started by lightning I think they said (the one I remember, not the recent one). I'm familiar with pyrophobia in that respect too. Actually I'm embarrassed to admit this but my family almost started a major fire too, dry West TX grass and roman candle fireworks do not go well together. I've heard of Dragon Half, but haven't seen it. Outlaw Melfina I hate to miss the fun stuff too, so I try to check the main page often. You probably noticed that I'm not looking at the camera, well, I don't really like having my picture taken so you won't find too many photos of me where the face is visible, but that's pretty much an idea of me in a casual state (I took that at like 3:00 in the morning which is moot because I'm always up at that hour). I'll never admit any picture of me is good, but I have to say this one is lucky. Seeing films in the native language gives me a deeper perspective of the content, maybe that aura is one of intrigue. The Japanese language uses different emphasis to emote the lines, and in some cases it's better than the English. I can think of a scene from an anime (not going to say what to prevent spoilage) where a character in English is telling something to "move faster", that line sounds kind of forced, but in Japanese, the character's sense of urgency comes out in the line "motto hayaku", it's a dramatic difference in that case, but even the subtle nuances are best observed from the original language. Reading subtitles is distracting, but I don't know that they affect the mood of the language being spoken, Cyrano de Bergerac is a funny play read in English, or seen in the French movie while trying desperately to keep up with the subtitles. Anime Dreams! Picture Requests Pending Complete Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice [Upload Pending] Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka Project Closed Upon Completion

Points of Contact

Comments (2) | Permalink

Friday, June 16, 2006

Pass the Cayenne Pepper Would You Please

If you all remember, I said a little while ago that I had something semi-important to say here when one last little thing was finalized. Well, now that it has been (just yesterday afternoon), I can be the bearer of good news for once, to make up for my grump and groan the past week or so. Back in April, TheO announced a contest that had MyO and TheO users send in a picture of themselves using the site. Well, the winners were announced a long while back and if you want to see a picture of yours truly, take a look at the randomly selected winner, that rather unflattering photo is only a small look at the real person behind this somewhat abrasive personality you get all the time. Because it's on the right side, you can't see the earring, and for the record, I was cueing up "Green Bird" in the juke on the main page when that one was taken. Oh, that's also the computer that's still in need of repair. The reason I didn't want to say anything sooner was, well, I'm supersticious about certain things, and didn't want to jinx anything at all, so I waited till the prize was delivered. I was going to say a few things about Howl's Moving Castle, but I want to see it again (the benefit of DVDs) before I go all psycho in-depth on you about it, and that'll give me the chance to watch it in Japanese too so I can comment on the original as well. Comments: kout3uka Oh yeah, Billy Crystal made the English version of that character, I think Calcifer was my favorite in the movie. All round that movie was cast great for the English dub, the voices all fit the characters very well (Voice wise I think they were spot on with Lauren Bacall as the Witch of the Waste and Blythe Danner as Madam Suliman). John Lasseter (from PIXAR - and somehoe involved with the Buena Vista dubs of Studio Ghibli films) is obviously a serious anime fan, at least when it comes to Miyazaki's and Studio Ghibli's films. I'll watch it in Japanese over the weekend so I can comment on the original too, but I really enjoyed the dub, and now I want to find that book so I can see what the original story is like as well. It's too bad that disc is the only one that won't play on my laptop which has the widescreen monitor to run the 16:9 ratio stuff. Maybe I need to think about saving for a real widescreen TV. I knew someone who was raising a couple of raccoons so I've seen them pretty close (they act a lot like cats actually), and my mom and sister have seen live foxes along the roadside too, so we've got fox here as well, I've heard about boar and bear living in these woods as well as moutain lions, but thankfully I've never come into contact with any of those. The creepiest thing I have to say I've run into here is the screech owl, man those things sound like something out of a horror film, and take you by surprise if you're not expecting to hear one. ALERT: TPA STATEMENT TO FOLLOW, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ATTEMPT! But it's so much fun to have three and a half foot flames wreaking their havoc on those little devils, even Calcifer would agree with that. I can't remember any of the chemical concoctions that were supposed to work, but I do remember hearing something about salt and some others that I won't repeat because they're not environmentally friendly. END ALERT: RESUME NORMAL ACTIVITY. The green ones (stink bugs) smell worse than the brown ones in Texas. You can even try to dig one of those sand lions out, and you'll never find it, but you know it's there because the dirt kicks up. Dig out the crater, fill it in, no matter what it'll be right back where it was in a matter of minutes like nothing was ever done to it. Ah, they're(windscorpions) the brown ones, I thought so. I had a vague picture in my head, but I can't for the life of me remember what they called those things in Texas, but I have seen one or two I did a quick image search (I didn't remember those things looking so - ungh! Guess I never saw a full size one of them either), and the term "sun spider" struck me as sounding familiar. My sister's friend has a tarantula, that's the biggest one I've seen to date, but it was interesting to watch crawl around it's habitat. I'll add that definition to my list (you should see the margins of my dictionary, all annotated up with things Random House left out - go figure they don't have the useful stuff there). I only stumbled across the hair meaning when I saw a review for an anime series "Gin-iro no kami no Agito" (Don't ask me if it's coming to the US, I just read the [translated]Japanese paper every day and it was there a while back) in an online Japanese newspaper, and I cross checked their translation of the title and found out they were right. No wonder people get paid good money to translate all that, eh? Anime Dreams! Picture Requests Pending Complete Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice [Upload Pending] Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka Project Closed Upon Completion

Points of Contact

Comments (2) | Permalink

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Many Destinations, One Door

Sorry for the lack in updates for a while, I've been busy, and well, too tired to actually post things here. I'll try to get things going regularly again soon. I finally watched Howl's Moving Castle on DVD, so I'll probably have a few words about it sometime. Oh an NHL note: Go Oilers! Comments: kout3uka In my case, I'm the one who's having to clean up several years of neglect to the sidewalk which isn't fun or easy to do. It was supposed to be a simple trim back the hedge and clear the vines thing, it wasn't supposed to turn into dig out the whole herringbone laid brick sidewalk thing. I have to haul the dirt I dig out up a set of steps and around the whole house which is why I've been slow going at getting it done, I still have a long way to go. I don't have to worry about SP2, that was preinstalled on the laptop so I'm golden there, but I don't run "beta" software (too much of that garbage is released prematurely, when basic operation bugs need to be ironed out first.) so I'll wait till it's officially released to try WMP 11. I'm not sure those results I got are accurate because I've never heard sora applied to a "look out" type exclamation either. I can tell you the possibility is there, I only recently learned that kami also means hair, so it's hard to say what other well known words have more than one meaning, but this is another expample of why Japanese is so hard to learn. Oh! I used to live in West Texas so here's a bit of nostalgia from my stint in the "lone star state". I probably did come into contact with those things, but may know them by a different name, there were a lot of freaky bugs with pincers, legs, feelers, and whatnot down there, so I won't rule out the possibility. Are they the dark brown or blackish ones? We also had a relative of the tarantula in Texas, I was told they got to be big, but I never saw one who's whole body was bigger than the tip of my thumb, and I heard rumors of scorpions but never saw one of those either. Do you have those sand lions (may be called something else) out there? You may never actually see the bug itself(I never did). Look at the ground (soft dirt or sand) for conical indentations, then watch those for a while, the center of the funnel will kick up little bits of dirt. Then there's the red fire ants, man alive does it hurt to be bit by one of them, and all it takes is one anthill then your yard will be overrun with those little[Censores]s. The only way I know of to get rid of them is to soak the anthills with gasoline and torch it (I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS METHOD FOR ANYONE - IT'S FOR TRAINED PROFESSIONAL IDIOTS ONLY!!!). I could probably go on for hours about the other intersting stuff down there, horned lizards, rattlesnakes, cacti and everything else. Oh, I've got to ask about the stink bugs, you get them too? By contrast, here in WV we have to watch out for copperheads (poisonous snakes with no rattles) and we have crayfish (freshwater mini lobsters that live in the creeks - they're supposed to taste good, but I haven't tried them yet o_O;), I've seen deer (had venison once, it's too gamey for my liking), raccoons, wild turkey, pheasant, I've got a woodchuck living in my backyard now (he eats the mulberries that fall from the tree onto the sidewalk so he's welcome - I'll try to get him to pose for the camera next time I see him), an opossum or two wanders across the road now and then too. The bees here sting as bad as the fire ants bite, but they're easier to avoid. Anime Dreams! Picture Requests Pending Complete Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice [Upload Pending] Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka Project Closed Upon Completion

Points of Contact

Comments (1) | Permalink

Saturday, June 10, 2006

   Sleepy . . . Sleepy . . . Sleepy

I found the sidewalk in front of my house. I was supposed to just be clearing the vines and grass away from the brick, but I found the rest of the sidewalk that was buried under roots, vines, and dirt. The job I thought would take a day or two will probably take three or four to completely finish. I'll be dead tired when I post here if I do at all in that time, and that means I'll be irritable, so Apologies in advance for any ills I bring. Comments: kout3uka Funny thing about WMP is, I don't use the skin mode too often either, but I like to have it as an option just for fun once in a while. Actually I fell in love with the Windows Media Player Toolbar when I started working with XP (can't do it in 98), so most often I use the player that way because it keeps it out of the way and still accessable (a miniplayer right on the taskbar when minimzed). I'll see what comes up in a search on WMP 11 and decide based on that if I want to upgrade or not. A lot of that depends on Microsoft's attitude about the player. The over-reliance on web features is a major turn off for WMP 10, so I hope they've made some of those things more optional (the ability to turn off that annoying "Music Store" tab would be nice, I don't use it). But so you know I'm not just MS bashing here, iTunes is the same that way, it's reliance on web based features makes for a very frustrating user experience. If we happen to be talking about the same things, yeah, I'm getting the hang of them okay. Sorry for coming at you suddenly like that, thank you for your input, I like your answers better than the ones I came up with. My online source came back with, of all things, "sora" and "hora" for the phrase look out, but I don't think those are right. I need to find a second source to check them against, but I don't even know where to look for one of those, the first one I found by accident. You'll have to forgive my ignorance, but the windscorpion reference is way over my head. Mamma Vash: There was a reason I said I'm the worst person in the world to be asking those questions that started my rant on that whole thing. Blue does take a strong voice, and if this informatin is correct, Mai Yamane provided the powerful vocal chords for that one. There's a lot of truth to that, getting away whether it's for business or pleasure does the body and mind some good. You get to travel once in while, even though it's for business, it's still travel. My issues and stresses come from being couped up in the house all day not going anywhere. I don't have the money to go out locally, and there's not a lot to do her anyway, and my amaxophobia is a curse of the worst kind because that restricts the distance I can take myself. In humid weather it's just not smart to try to bike to something further away. It'll probably be too late to wish you well on your trip, if you happen to see this while you're away, I wish you the best and hope things are going well for you. If you don't see it till you're back home, get some rest, things will look less tense after a good night's sleep. Anime Dreams! Picture Requests Pending Complete Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice [Upload Pending] Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka Project Closed Upon Completion

Points of Contact

Comments (1) | Permalink

Friday, June 9, 2006

Perched on Saturn's Rings

Slow day today, I'll get to the good stuff now. Comments: kout3uka Well, it's not something I developed myself or anything groundbreaking like that, I'm just switching from colored pencil to other mediums, for the Sanosuke and a couple other pictures the dominant color elements will be done with those "brush tip" markers or whatever you want to call them (I've seen them called so many different things over the years it's not funny). So far the results are looking okay, but I'll let you guys be the judge of that. Maybe you could field this one too, Mamma Vash asked me the other day how to say "look out" in Japanese, I presume as an exclamation, what can you tell us about that? Mamma Vash: If I'm not careful your repeated praise of my art will go right to my head! I do appreciate all the feedback more than I let on. As for the over the shoulder glances, well, it's human nature to be curious, and West Virginians are by far the nosiest people I've ever known (no offense to anyone else from this area intended) so I kind of expect it. The funniest thing is, most of the time it's not the people there for patients, it's the doctors, the nurses, even Transport (my hospital pays people just to wheel around people in wheelchairs and beds - what the volunteers used to do for free) and Security officers who have to take a "covert" look. Now, I may look downright frightening (or just plain weird), but if you see me doing something and want to know about it, just come up to me say "Hi, I see you're working on something, may I take a look?" and nine times out of ten I'll let you see it. I'm a shy person by nature, but I love the attention too and if I'm passionate about something that shyness goes away (which I am about my art). Catch me in a really good mood and I'll give you one of my quick sketch works (My record is a rough chibi done on a napkin in less than five minutes for a friend of my sister's). I fell in love with Blue the first time I heard it probably back in 2002-2003 when Bebop ran on Adult Swim for the first time. The song is deceptively uplifting, and that surreal quality is one I like in music (I think my favorite all time animé theme is "Cloud Age Symphony" from Last Exile which fits that description to a "t"). At any rate, this result is not the more reserved, and somewhat depressing piece that I got the last time. I know what you mean about excessive tiredness, I've got that too, I wake up exhausted. In my case I know this stress of job hunting is taking its toll on me, and there's nothing I can do about it until I've got that steady source of income. I can keep it in check with meditation, and my art, but that's the most I can do right now. In your case, it's probably the coming business trip, you'd be surprised how things weigh on the mind in unexpected ways. Take comfort in the knowing that the hotel you'll be staying at wasn't built on top of a graveyard (There's a long story behind that odd piece of wisdom, and I'll have to tell it later, but I warn you that the noble of spirit or faint of heart won't want to hear it). Well, I'm the worst person in the world to be asking this, but if people would take issue with a tired friend not wanting to go out to dinner, they're not very good friends are they? The idea of going out is to relax and have fun isn't it? I don't know about you but I'm one nasty little SOB when I get tired, and that means I don't have fun. I wouldn't make a big deal out of you staying home because you're tired, in fact I'd insist you did if I were in the shoes of your friends, and since cooking is a hobby of mine, I'd offer to bring the dinner to you instead. Sorry about the rant there, I get carried away some times. I've never flown anywhere, so I don't know what it's like beyond bad comedy sketches and ill researched news reports. I imagine my first flight would be a bit uncomfortable for me IF I ever had to take a plane somewhere, though, I'd probably fall asleep in flight too, long car trips put me to sleep easily. As soon as I can scan it, I'll try to have it up here so you can see how I'm doing it. Anime Dreams! Picture Requests Pending Complete Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice [Upload Pending] Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka Project Closed Upon Completion

Points of Contact

Comments (2) | Permalink

Thursday, June 8, 2006

Corralling Them Loose Titles

I'm still waiting on that "important" thing to get finalized so I can discuss it. On the job hunt note (not the important thing), I did find the source of funding for WorkForce West Virginia, and sent them an e-mail. They haven't had the decency or nerve to respond yet, that's why I'm posting their names here. Ross Innovative Employment Solutions (IES), a division of Ross Learning Inc. which claims "We enjoy an ongoing record of quality customer service. . ." funds AND administers the workforce programs here in West Virginia. Check with your state's workforce programs (Outside the US you probably don't have to worry about this, they aren't international) and find out if they're being influenced at all by Ross Learning Inc. If they are, tell your state officials if they want to keep your votes, drop the garbage and find a workforce investment source that works, and doesn't lie about its customer service. Remember, slander and libel only apply to false statements, and I'm telling the truth. That out of my system now, I'll move on to pleasant things. I'm going to be spending more time on my art in the coming days, hopefully I'll have a few pieces to share when I can scan them. I have been experimenting with a different way to color to go beyond the basic colored pencils that I've been using, and I think the results are good (you'll see it in the Sanosuke picture). I'll also be doing some work with my WACOM tablet, trying to get a hold on digital art, particularly coloring. Those are pictures I'll be able to upload more readily, if I feel they're good enough to try, but I can't worry about stuff that hasn't been created yet. Anyway, I do plan to be busy while my net access and scanability (is that even a word?) is restricted, and I'm setting a goal to have some art ready for upload when I get the main computer back online. If I'm going to try to make a livelihood out of my art, I'm going to need to throw myself into it full tilt. Comments: Outlaw Melfina It's even better news for the artists, who will be getting a royalty payment out of this bit of news. Actually, I'm still working on the logistics and details of being able to ship the CD overseas. I did promise I would try, and getting shipping costs figured out just isn't enough for me. Hopefully I'll be able to present something feasible here by the end of the year. I'm sure there is a simple solution, I just haven't seen it yet. Keep in mind that I'm just another member here, and anything I come up with wouldn't be an "official" solution. Mamma Vash: I hear that, I was pleasantly surprised by its depth and quality when I skimmed through the full version myself. It's become a valuable tool on my "shelf" in my continuing efforts to enhance my art style. The news is important, but I don't want to reveal too much about it right now. I'm still standing by for one little thing to get finished up with it, then I'll be able to talk about it in full. It's good to hear you'll get a job done that you'll be satisfied with the results. That means on less worry in regards to quality of work being done. I have a small art kit I take with me everywhere, it's got a roughly 4"x6" pad of paper, and 12 colored pencils, I took one out (white) and slid a normal #2 pencil in it's place, so I'm usually good to go when inspiration strikes, though I hate to work in public areas. The last time I was sitting in the hospital waiting room doing some sketch work (My brother has issues with taking potassium suppliments that he knows he needs), just about everyone deliberately walked close to the chair I was sitting in just to look over my shoulders and see what I was doing. I think next time I'll draw up a freaky skull doing an akanbe just for laughs. I like the rain, it's very soothing to me, nothing beats a gentle shower standing on beach looking out at the Atlantic Ocean. I was born in Santa Barbara (California), but moved away when I was less than a year old, so I can't speak on the Pacific Ocean, I've never actually seen it when I was mentally able to appreciate it. Well, I got my instruction permit when I was fifteen years old, the date on the permit (I still have it even though it expired) is 1996. In the course of the year that followed, I drove all told, 1 time, probably somewhere around 15 minutes, the most unsettling, uncomfortable 15 minutes of my life. That means I've known the fear for 10 years, though it wasn't until 2001 that I did the research and put the word "amaxophobia" to my experience, and I've not been officially diagnosed with this either, I'm just assuming based on my own research this is what's wrong with me. Yes, being able to travel would give me a different outlook on employment, because I would be able to look beyond the barren local jobscape to areas of the state that might just have something to offer me, or even into other states that I live semi-near enough to be able to travel to regularly if I could. "Fairs are for tourists." (from Oliver and Company a Disney movie) The Fates have aspired to teaching me the lesson that life rarely is fair to good people, and I'd like to think I'm a good person. Granted no one's perfect, and I'm the first to admit I've got a long way to go in that department, but I've learned the lesson, and probably deserve a bit of reprieve. Of course it's not a fair burden, but it's one I have to carry right now. Complaining about it won't make it go away. I know my art is good, that's what the people around me say, and that's all I need. I don't talk about my art and writing from how I feel about it personally, I base my statements on what other people tell me. In the Chamber of Commerce office building, second floor corridor, is a 3-D diorama in homage to "The Desert Wasteland of My Mind". Open the glass case and look in the water tower next to the "HO" scale train tracks. There should be a half dozen chocolate chip double fudge rounds in there, and the other half dozen is under the Old West style saloon, then there's the two dozen frosted chocolate chip cookies cleverly tucked into the coal mining section of the display (what you think the lumps of coal really are? Chocolate chips of course!). If they're not there, look for the big black with blue polka-dot house on "Dancing Inda" Street (second left off the southbound Crazy exit), I always keep a few cases of assorted cookies in my mailbox for the solicitors, but they won't miss them, they rarely come by anymore. Humor is what you make of it, and I've learned that NOT trying to be funny yields better results than having to think about "will this get a laugh?" Thanks for saying so about my sense of humor, I'd tell you I try, but, seriously, I don't! My research points to two different single word "expressions", so I'd have to see them in context to be able to tell you which one is correct, but "sora" and "hora" are what comes up in terms of an exclamation, and I think that's what you were wanting. I didn't bother with the kana this time, too lazy to make it work on my end. Since you know someone from Japan (and I presume speaks the language) you might want to ask him (or her) which is the best way to say it in the context you want to use it. I do strongly recommend getting a second opinion on this one. Oh, if you didn't notice, I finally retook the Bebop song quiz, I like the new result better, it's my featured quiz for the time being at the bottom of the page. Anime Dreams! Picture Requests Pending Complete Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice [Upload Pending] Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka Project Closed Upon Completion

Points of Contact

Comments (2) | Permalink

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

Another Title Escapes on The Desert

Congratulations are in order, according to Adam's blog, the 500th copy of Art of Otaku sold recently. That's great news for the artists who co-wrote the guide. They deserve kudos for a job well done. I say, shoot for another 500! I've got something semi-important to say coming up, but I won't elaborate on it until the time is right. Just wanting to give you all a heads up on it, so you don't get hit over the head with anything unexpected. Comments: kout3uka There's a line from Star Trek, the movie First Contact that says what I want to say the way I want to say it, it's credited to Zephram Cochrane, the "creator" of the warp drive. "Don't try to be a great man, just be a man, and let history make it's own judgements." I don't strive to be a driving force to others, I don't strive to be noticed (well, maybe a little *^_^* ), I don't strive to make myself an icon, I just be myself, and I'll let history decide what that means later on. Right now I have close to $1,000 in credit card debt, and around $700 in other unpaid bills that need my attention so I have to come up with a source of steady, guaranteed income to take care of those. I can't afford the luxury of being as picky as I once was about using my talents for money, but on that note, there aren't a lot of "artsy" jobs available in the foothills of appalachia. The problem West Virginia employers have is they want too much for too little, they aren't going to find natives with the experience they want for one thing (most jobs in this week's paper are wanting Masters degrees + [number] years experience), and at the substandard wages they want to pay (minimum wage for $6.00+ dollar an hour jobs), they certainly aren't going to lure sensible people from other parts of the country to this social and cultural cesspool (and that's the polite way to put it). I'm not even taking that chance. I would rather wait and scan it when I know the computer is okay than risk physical, irreparable damage to the processor and other internal components just to get one picture uploaded to the site. It's just one piece of artwork, it can wait a couple weeks. Patience is a virtue right? Since I'm still less than a year into my Japanese study, it helps when someone else who knows a little more answers a question like that. Not only do you help the people like Mamma Vash who ask me those questions, but you're helping me with your answers too. I value that highly, passing on knowledge to other people is something everyone should be willing to do if they have it. You've seen me answer technical questions as best I can, because I know a thing or two about tech. I'll point out that I'm good with effects make-up (makes Halloween fun), theatre, and cooking too, but I don't get asked a lot of questions in those areas. Anime Dreams! Picture Requests Pending Complete Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice [Upload Pending] Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka Project Closed Upon Completion

Points of Contact

Comments (2) | Permalink

Friday, June 2, 2006

Kind of Rushed

Kind of in a hurry today, I'll get straight to business. Comments: Mamma Vash: I'll answer your question on the Japanese first, well, actually I'll just repost kout3uka's comment on it because it's worded so much better than I can explain it. I took the liberty of doing some formatting enhancements but the text is unedited. On Thursday, June 1, kout3uka Wrote: ...To Mamma Vash, 'desu' indicates a state of being. It's formal, and is usually dropped amongst friends and close relations of sorts. For example: 'Sore wa neko DESU' means, 'That IS a cat'. The Japanese word for 'train' is 'densha' (I'm assuming that we're talking about the things that carry people around on tracks, not training to be a ninja or something). ..If you were asking a question (and in this case about something's being-ness), you would put 'ka' at the end of your phrase (it's like a question mark): 'Nani DESU KA' means 'what is that?'.< br /> Hope I make sense there... Thanks for having my back kout3uka, I appreciate the assistance. I'm not keeping the details to myself for personal or creative reasons, I'd tell you all in a heartbeat what my plans and efforts are involving if there was nothing at stake, but this is different. Since I'm going to try to use this project for financial gain, I have to protect it at all costs while it's in development. I can't afford to let even the smallest bit of it get out before the time is right. I can't comment on employer related matters. I would actually like to hear the song, but Napster didn't have it readily available in a search for me so I'll try later. I did dig up the lyrics to it and I have to say that this portion particularly struck me: I've loved, I've laughed and cried I've had my fill, my share of losing And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing To think I did all that And may I say, not in a shy way, "Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my way" I haven't been posting my random searches like I promised, so I put three in this post for you. Hope they find you some amusement. Not to sound like an overused animé cliché but "Believe it!" Art has been a great source of serenity peace in times of turmoil over the past year or two for me, so it does soothe and conquer, even the savage beat is hypnotized by it's simple brilliance. kout3uka I'm happy to hear you got something out of it and enjoyed yourself. An odd coincidence I'm sure. I have to do something on my own because no one who is supposed to be helping me is actually doing it. It may not seem like much to you that I've made this decision, but I promised myself a while back that I'd try my hardest not to let my passions turn into my career, because I didn't want to lose the sense of enjoyment I get from them through having to produce for "work". That's not really a choice for me anymore, I can't afford the luxury. I have to use what I've got, the skills I have, and hope for the best, that's all I can do. If nothing else, I'll provide myself a trickle of income that I might be able to work into something better. It'll bother me that I had to break that promise to myself, but even that is something I have to put on hold until I can afford the room to rethink things again. And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more, People talking without speaking, People hearing without listening, People writing songs, that voices never shared. . . Something said isn't always better than nothing said, but I understand what you mean. It's always the simpler things that get my attention first. I communicate from the heart, that's as simple as it gets, and sometimes that amounts to saying big things, sometimes it doesn't. I don't try to say big things, I just say things. Still I could pop over to your page more than I do, maybe I'll get there this weekend sometime, I can't promise anything. The scanner's not the problem, it'll run fine, the computer it's installed on is another story, it'll most likely overheat before the scan was complete. I'll get it up here as soon as I can, and that's a promise. If I have to pay to have it professionally scanned (some print shops will do that kind of thing I hear) I'll do that, I've got a few dollars saved up. Anime Dreams! Picture Requests Pending Complete Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), for Caprice Melfina (Outlaw Star), for Outlaw Melfina Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing), for kout3uka Project Closed Upon Completion

Points of Contact

Comments (1) | Permalink