Saturday, December 31, 2005

Miles to Go Before I Sleep

Last day of the old year, let's make it count. Anyone know what my title's from? Comments: Kout3uka It is a lot to go through to evaluate, and I'm already running into . . .unique complications that are preventing me from doing that effectively. Caprice DON'T BUY IT JUST YET!!! I can't in good conscience recommend the Art of Otaku CD right now. I went to do a test print as part of my evaluation procedure, and none of the pictures are printing. They show up in the PDF itself and on the print preview, but they don't come out on paper. I don't know if my computer's just being stupid about something, or if it's an issue with the PDF itself, so wait a bit, at least till I can find out what the problem is and how to correct it. I'm working with the support people at Velegant Media on it. Hopefully we'll figure this out soon, and hopefully it's not a more widespread problem(that would be a first for me, wishing I'm the only one being affected by something). I left these up here so people would get another chance to see my camera work. Image table removed, January 5, 2006, due to Imageshack's unjust removal of my account. Anime Dreams! Edit Note 5:47 am EST Caprice, It wasn't the Art of Otaku CD that was the problem (And I'm relieved to report that), the newest version of Adobe Reader is defective, so don't upgrade to reader 7.0 (7.0.5). If you do, you won't be able to print the images embedded on the tutorial pages, you'll get freaky blank boxes. I had to find Adobe Reader 5.0 (5.0.5) and install it to get the tutorial pages to print correctly. That goes for anyone who's bought the guide, if you have trouble getting the images to print out, downgrade your PDF reader, and make sure you let Art of Otaku Support know you're having that problem.

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Friday, December 30, 2005

A Do Something Day After All

Got my copy of Art of Otaku today. It's going to take me a long time to go through that one. Eight hundred fifty two pages, what have I gotten myself into this time? Comments: Caprice The few bits I know about it are hearsay, so I probably shouldn't say any more on the matter until I know the truth. You can bet I'll beat the drum for my art where ever I put it online. I'm too stubborn not to show it off. I'll stick to blogging here, I think I do that okay without stepping on anyone's toes. I could have done a little more research into those programs myself, but I was pressed for time, and not in the best of moods either. You do have to check them out and decide which one will suit your needs the best. As with all software, one person can work wonders with the same program another calls trash. I'm glad to have been able to help out even in the slightest. Ah, you've started on your way to something very dear to my heart. I will tell you that a lot of who I am can be seen in that animé, but I won't tell you any more than that. Try to figure it out as you watch, let me know when you think you've got it. Consider, the first time I saw Escaflowne, it was the badly edited Fox Saturday Morning version. My DVD box set is unedited, and I've watched the whole thing at least five times already. I was stuck on the way everything looked back when I first saw Escaflowne, it wasn't the usual flat 2D Looney Tunes or Disney stuff I was used to seeing at the time, the story caught me later. It sounds like you're with Trigun like I am with Escaflowne, and that means you understand the passion. When you see episode seven of Escaflowne, let me know so I can describe my hook scene to you in detail. I sent you a PM with the first episode's title as the subject line, I'll tell you what amuses me in the first episode when you respond to it. I'm taking too much heat for pointing out that Napster doesn't carry animé soundtracks. Forget I even mentioned it, the arguments are not worth it to me. Outlaw Melfina: I'll explain what I know in PM, I can be more open about it there. Image table removed January 5, 2006 due to Imageshack's unjust removal of my account. Images Hosted by ImageShack Hosting. If an image doesn't load the first time you click it, keep trying every few minutes. Image Shack is playing with their servers and the images don't always want to load the first time. If the thumbnails aren't there either, it's same thing, Image Shack server tinkering. Anime Dreams!

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Thursday, December 29, 2005

From Hidden Desert Well, Deep Thoughts

Things seem to quieting down now. I can't believe TheO is doing that Napster thing, considering Napster doesn't have anything anime related, no J-Pop, no J-Rock, nothing that's appropriate for an anime portal site. I guess I have to take up the flag again and challenge them once more to offer what anime fans want. I've been reminding them of their losses every time someone else (like AOL and iTunes Music Store Japan) begins to offer the music they claim they can't (but it's more apparent they're just too lazy to) get. Oh well, who'se ready to help me go at Napster for Round 3? We'll get `em one these days if we coordinate our efforts and lobby this thing the right way. Comments: Mamma Vash: The book (what I read of it) was very good, but I will warn you it delves a lot into the paranormal (not ghosts and stuff like that, but some very strange things). The excerpt I linked to in my last post actually covers a slightly amusing (though morbid to an extent) part of the book, and is worth the read by itself. It's not so interesting on the part of thinking about the stuff actually happening, consider the Mothman is a silvery gray seven foot tall creature. It's actually unsettling because the town where I live is mentioned by name in that book (If I recall what I read correctly, you'll never get that town's name out of me though!) relating to some of the UFO stuff, and I have first hand UFO sighting experience right from my own front porch. But being able to walk the same ground, to look at the floodwall where the Silver Bridge once crossed the Ohio River (they have a nice plaque, and the names of the people who died in the collapse engraved in the bricks of the sidewalk. When I get to Point Pleasant again, I'll get a picture), to be in the very town that was the center of the phenomenon, is thrilling beyond comparison. You get to experience the air that was filled with mystery, wonder, and fear so long ago. It's the best. I've been getting some assistance from whtdragon and Caprice on the dragon front, and I got a book on drawing manga style monsters for Christmas, so I think I'll be good to go for now, but I'll keep the announce up there, just in case another artist or two (hundred) would like to dispense their dragon drawing depth. As long as the camera isn't like my family's Fuji (FinePix S3000), which takes 4 AA batteries and eats em up. I have to replace them every time I want to use the thing, and it just sits in its camera bag most of the time doing nothing, so I don't get why it goes through batteries so fast. The time and date stamp shouldn't drain that much. I still have to get fully acquainted with the Fuji, I haven't learned how to do a lot with it yet. but I know how not to get a motion blur from the impossible shutter lag on the thing, and that's the important thing to know with any digital camera. I hope yours isn't too complicated. My days will be brighter, now that I've gotten one major load off my shoulders. I only wish I could have been more effective in getting something accomplished with the effort I was putting out for that. Caprice I saw the dragon pictures, very nice. You missed quite a bit coming from me lately. You'll have to read a few posts back in my archive to understand today's Editorial, but I assure you it is very important to me. You're better off seeing everything in context, so check my archive. Everything relating to it should be on the first page. If I tried to retell everything here, it would be jaded by my personal opinions and experiences from the past few days. Editorial: I have made the decision regarding my fan art here, and that is to not submit any more. In the spirit of honoring those friends of mine who've left, or were removed from, this site, I do not think it would be appropriate for me to continue submitting my lesser quality work than was lost to petty accusations, and inappropriate, unjust conduct. I will continue to work on my art, and I will host it myself, elsewhere, so that I may show it on my terms, without worries. It is not right that good artists can be accused of plagiarism to the point they no longer feel welcome in a community. It is not right that an artist's work can be stolen by someone then be accused by the theif of stealing "their" work. And it is not right that the word plagiarism, which should be handled seriously, is so willingly and meanglessly tossed about like the RIAA's "Copyright Infringement" claim they use to intimidate and monopolize the digital music market. Anyone using the word plagiarisn should do so knowing it could damage the honor and reputation of a great artist, and shouldn't use it over petty nonsensical arguments, or for spite. I will not submit any more artwork to this site which allows it's members to bully great artists with the word plagiarism. When it becomes apparent that they are taking the spirit and meaning of the word seriously, and not just acting on the whims of their online friends, I will reconsider my decision. Anime Dreams

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Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Oro

I have a season of Rurouni Kenshin to go through on DVD, so I'll skip to the comments and axe the Editorial for today. Comments: Mamma Vash: I'm always content around the Holidays, but this year I've been fielding more stress so I'm not noticing it quite so much as I used to. Maybe that means I'm finally growing up. Did you click the links to see the pictures? The last two are of the Mothman statue in Point Pleasant. The book I referred to was the one the movie borrowed the title and little else from calle The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel. The link is to the Tor books excerpt they posted when they repinted the book in paperback to coincide with the movie's release. It's an interesting read, telling not only of the Mothman and Silver Bridge collapse, but of the UFOs and MIBs that were witnessed throughout the area in the late 1960's and early 1970's, some even pretty close to home where I live now. It also covers some other things, but I haven't read the whole book myself, and I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I haven't tried to get a colored sketch down to 200k yet, and at this point I don't think I will try. I don't post art anywhere else yet, I host some of it myself through ImageShack, but even that's not a lot. I am blogging over on Yahoo! 360 and sometimes I put up a picture with my blog, and you can check out my photo albums there, one has the Mothman statue pictures in it, I haven't gotten the Lakin building in that album yet that I can recall, and I don't have my art in one yet either, but I think I will open a new photo album for my artwork, and put it up there too. Just my originals, no screenshot work. As for Deviant Art specifically, I don't think I'd fit it there. Like here, good people get hard times from other users there, and I don't have time for that petty, ignorant trash. My art's too valuable to me to deal with that. Stress is the one thing that adversely affects my art because when I'm too stressed, I can't sit down and make myself draw anything, even a stick figure. Anime Dreams!

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Monday, December 26, 2005

Sand Art on the Desert

Looks like the page is fixed, it was down for a while earlier. today. Comments: Kout3uka I still don't know what's going on with this, and I'm viciously livid about it. Since it would be hearsay for me to go into the few details I know, I won't say anything more on the matter, not publicly. I'll take a look through your portfolio again so I have the points of reference I need, then if you have any problems, you let me know. I'll stand by you, that's a promise. Mamma Vash: I've only been studying Japanese since late last year, so I've got a long way to go with it. I'm glad you can use the Kanjii. I learned just about all I know computer wise from the now defunct Tech TV. It was a great cable channel devoted to all things technology, and their shows like the Screensavers and Call for Help were a benefit to many a computer novice who just needed to know how to tell the computer to work correctly. G4 bought out Tech TV and turned it to pure trash, even butchering the anime that Tech TV ran. Without that resource, I know I'm slipping with what I know. One other thing, I have a knack for beating the search engines. I seem to know how to tell them to find what I'm looking for. Sometimes it takes a few tries, but I almost always find the right information. Maybe confusion is the word your looking for, or possibly chaos? You could use my standby for disarray, which is pandemoniom. Gene Shepherd, I think that's the name you were going with. Senitmental stories and movies do little more than annoy me. The family dynamics are false, and in the case of first jobs, they are unrealistic so, I'm not interested in that kind of thing, reality is frustrating enough for me (maybe I should write a book on my experience with the Job Service, I can do sarcastic humor). I will take a look at those names however, because I can't really say I don't like something based on a description, that's wouldn't be right. Sorry, but I had to do ths with links and not thumbnails. I was getting some very weird formatting glitches with the thumbnail table (my table coding may be full of bugs I'll troublshoot it later) so I just went with the easiest way to do it instead. Just click the links and the pictures will open in a new window. Okay, in Lakin WV is a building sitting along State Route 62. Back in the early 1900's it was an industrial school for minorities (that's the polite way to say it without sounding discriminatory), it was intergrated in the 1920's I believe, and later taken over by the state to use as a mental hospital(I want to get a picture of the old mental hospital in Weston too, that is one freaky building. Another trip for another day). Now it is abandoned. The significance of the area goes back to the 1960's when the Mothman sightings occured, he was dominantly seen in what is now the McClintic Wildlife Management area, on a piece of ground that was used by the military in the 1940's to produce and store TNT. It's not too far from Lakin. The front steps of the Lakin Industrial School give you an idea what the three story building looks like. It must have been a beautiful building when it was kept up. Most people who see the property believe this building to be either a pool or a gymnasium, but no one can (or will) go inside to find out. And lastly, I have the Director's house, which is also abandoned. Now I'll point out that the state of West Virginia still owns this property and tresspassing to take pictures of the interior of the buildings is not advised, nor appropriate. I took these pictures from the side of the road sitting in a car, not on the property itself. I just mentioned the Mothman, which has been the subject of books and a (very badly portrayed) movie. What does he look like? Well, no one's gotten a picture of the real one that's good enough to tell by, but an artist made a statue for Point Pleasant, and I got some pictures of that. The plaque on the statue tells the Mothman story better than I can, and is an intersting read. The statue itself is a nice silvery color that will startle you if you happen to look over at it while driving through downtown Point Pleasant. It looks even better at night, though my camera's night mode does weird things and turned the statue gold in appearance. Now, I took the night shot on a different night than I did the day shot, but I stood on the same crack in the sidewalk so it looks like I stood there for hours to take the shots at the same time. I don't have any of the hiking trail/abandoned railroad spur yet, it's been too cold and windy to walk it. I know of a tunnel I want to get to in the spring, it's not to far from where I stopped and turned around the last time I walked that stretch of the trail. I'll get some of those up here as soon as I have them. No, absolutely not. She's better off staying away from here if people are going disrespect her art and treat her that deplorably. No one needs that kind of aggravation when they're just trying to exercise their passion to create. It's not worth it, and it poisons the creative process. Tell the parrots "Chirp" for me. Most of my days are good, they're a mix of highs and low, but a lot more fun that way. Editorial: Recent events have inspired me to put things into perspective for a moment. Fifty percent of my pictures posted here are hand copies of screenshots (sans BG), seventeen percent are shamelessly referenced from screenshots. According to recent articles on theotaku.com on the subject of reference work, that sixty seven percent of my art portfolio, here on MyOtaku.com, could fit the definition of plagiarism. My picture "In Human Form" was referenced from a screenshot, but not one hundred percent copied, right here in the archived Inuyasha site on theotaku.com. "Sleeping" is from a screenshot I made myself myself (click here to see the screenshot), "Getting Stronger", my Yahiko picture, came from a screenshot posting on animegalleries(dot)net. They don't allow direct image linking, so you'll have to look for it from the main page. Find the Rurouni Kenshin album, go into Miyoujin Yahiko, and it's right there on page one, and "Jim Hawking" once again, the screenshot I used came from the archived sites here, only this time from Outlaw Star. The other thirty three percent of my pictures are my own creations. "Dan" I can show anyone who asks for it, the original art on paper. He's in my physical art portfolio, but if they want to see the original "Envelope Sprite", they'll need to take that up with Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia directly. He has the envelope with the original art on it. I was not joking when I said I did that one as envelope art, and I was not joking when I said I sent it to a US Senator. Just some food for thought. I'm not on staff here, I'm not a "Senior Artist", and I'm not a high profile member, but I do my best to be helpful when I can, and promote the site in a positive manner when and where ever I mention it. I use my blog here as the URL in my profile on message boards, not my Geocities web page. When I see another member being given a hard time, it hurts, friend or not. Now, considering what I've determined about my art posted here, I have to decide if it will be worth the time and effort to make any more of my works submission worthy. I'm not comfortable with that kind of pressure, the threat of plagiarism accusations, just to submit a few fan art creations to show off my passion for the art style, and the anime which inspired it. The emotional cost is very high, but the rewards of seeing people like a picture make up for the stress, so it's hard for me to make a final determination. I have a lot of weighing options, and soul searching, to do this week. Anime Dreams!

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Sunday, December 25, 2005

I Need a Stiff Drink

Before I begin, if anyone out there knows what happened with ParanoidPerson (that's the way she had the username here), send me a PM please, or at least tell her CosmicSailor (she might not even remember me) is concerned okay? I know some people had been giving her a hard time about alleged plagiarism (that's an ugly word, in the likes of terrorist or copyright infringment, to be used so haphazardly. It ruins reputations and people's good names). She may have decided it was better to just leave this site and not have to deal with the stress of having her works approved one day then deleted the next. At last check (in late November) she had over 200 pictures posted here, that's a lot of work to be gone in a blink because of a little petty arrogance. If she is gone from this site (by force or choice), I know I'll miss the pleasure of her company, and the quality of her artwork. She was one of too few artists on here who's humorous images (though she did serious works too), actually made me laugh. No offense to present company intended. I'd better just stick to the comments this time, sorry it took so long to answer them everyone. Comments: Caprice A very lucky guess I promise. Actually, most people I know who've taken college level courses kept the books because they spent $50.00+ dollars on them (usually closer to $70.00 or $100.00), and knew the resource would be beneficial (and you'd never get full price for a used textbook if you tried to sell it anyway). Also, I'm a pack rat of sorts, and I kept a lot of my high school work, notes, handouts, and I even have a few textbooks (collected from used book sales mostly). It just seems to be more practical to hang onto that sort of thing because it will prove useful in the future. All right, here's what I've got for you (and anyone else interested) on the data recovery front. I did find some freeware(I always look for freeware first by the way) utilities for data recovery, if you're interested. Disk Investigator is one, PC Inspector is another one that looks promising to me. Now for the expensive (but I won't lie, possibley more reliable and or able to recover the data) finds: Runtime Software has a $70.00 program, but you'd have to read the site and see if you could handle the way they instruct you to do a data recovery (they have the instructions right there). They also have a free trial, but usually those just show you the data is there, and you have to pay for the full version to actually do the recovery. r-tools Technology specifically identifies several Paint Shop Pro files as the types of image files it will recover. Their undelete utility, (called R-Undelete) runs at about $54.99, and their trial will undelete files up to 64 kb in size (not much but I guess it gives the user an idea how to work the program). The also have a full suite program for data recovery, but it runs at about $80.00. If you'd like to investigate any of the programs I've come up with, check out their sites, or you can check on the S2 Services database of data recovery utilities, they cover both freeware and commercial programs, but I didn't look to see if anything I found on my own was listed there. I'm looking forward to being able to tell someone the specific scene that addicted me to animé, without spoiling anything for them. It gives me an excuse to watch the series again myself (like I need one anyway), so I can be sure the scene I'm thinking of is in the episode I think it is. In fact, this weekend before my brother and his family came over (he's married, and I have two nephews and a niece), I watched the first Disc of Escaflowne myself, that's Episodes 1-4. I'll be watching Disc 2 (Episodes 5-8) today sometime. Take your time with the series though, and do let me know when you've gotten through Ep 1, like I said in the comment the other day, there's a scene in that one I like (it's funny to me anyway) but I don't want to spoil things for you. When you're ready to hear my thoughts, send me a PM with the first episode's title as the subject line, that way I will know you've seen it. Actually for anyone who wants to get my take on Escaflowne, send a PM with the episode's title as the subject line, then I'll know what you want to discuss and limit myself and try not to reveal plot points unless I'm specifically told you've seen all 26 episodes. I have also seen the movie, so I can dialogue about that, but I like the series a whole lot better. With my WACOM Tablet came a software bundle, Correl Painter Essentials 2, and Adobe Photoshop Elements. Those are the stripped down free versions of the multi-hundred dollar image editors that are supposed to impress a person enough to go out and buy the full programs. You know what, I uninstalled Photoshop Elements after having in on my laptop for only one hour. Let me tell you, I will never go near Photoshop, again I was that frustrated with it. They provide no built in instructions, all the help documentation is online, which won't do me a bit of good because my laptop isn't connected to the internet, and the user interface is overly complicated to the point a person can't figure out how to work the thing on his own without the online help files. I've been using Pixia since 2003, when I wanted to get into making banners and avatars and such, and I've been hooked on it since. They only just added tablet support this year though. Interesting enough, if you can read Japanese, you can get the latest releases of Pixia, which was created by a Japanese programmer/artist Isao Maruoka from the Japanese Pixia web site (You'll need the Japanese language pack to see the page properly). I think the Japanese version may be one or two ahead of the English translation release, which at last check was Version 3. Personal experience keeps me out of those contest things period. I dont vote, I don't judge, and I definately don't participate in them. I know I'm just a sore loser. That comes after being encouraged to take part in "contests" and having nothing to show for all the work I put into it. Oh, don't even go near the "it was a learning experinece", "you should be proud of your effort", and "it was all in good fun" lines. Those are the kinds of things a person tells the losers to try and make them feel better, and believe me, it doesn't work. I guess when I heard from the "contest" sponsor(s) that my "friends," who said they supported me, but actually didn't, left a bitter taste in my mouth, so I stay away from that. I had to take some time to myself, or else I'd have been one crabby person to deal with, and that's not a pleasant thing for anyone. I went back over my previous posts, and could see me getting progressively meaner as it was getting closer to things. Now I have been haunting the comments (even yours) the past few days, I like to do that, just to keep people on their toes. I'm back here early, and that's not a good thing, because I'm looking for answers. I'm already not too happy about some things that are going on here (on MyO), and if I don't like what I find out, everyone who reads my blog will know about it, that's a promise. Mamma Vash: All I've got is a nasty case of Psoriasis, which isn't very pleasant this time of year. For those that don't know, it's like a mutant case of itchy, rashy, dry skin that never fully goes away. It hits my scalp the hardest, but my elbows are seeing it this year too. Scientific recearch suggests it's related to stress among other things, which I can certainly vouch for. I can remember the initial trigger too, 7th Grade. I'm getting to be good with a digital camera myself, don't have too many pictures to show off, but I have a nice hiking trail that used to be a railroad spur right through my town, and it still has some of the old signal lights and bridges and tunnels to go through. When I get some pictures from being on it (it's not practical to walk it in the winter) I'll put them up here and show you what I can do with a digital camera. Photography is a hobby of mine, and back in my archive should be the links to the Mothman statue pictures I took this year. They're pretty much all I've got at the moment because the camera eats batteries. Well, there's the abandoned trade school in Lakin WV, but you're not interested in a creepy old brick building in the shadow of a nuclear power plant, near where the Mothman sightings occured back in the 60's are you? The only thing I can recommend for muscle aches is Potassium (i.e. eat a banana or two). I take it before I go on a hike and I don't get sore and stiff from the efforts. If I know I'm going ot be doing strenuous things, I'll take it beforehand too, but it dulls the pain if taken afterward too. Bear in mind it's not a pain reliever, Potassium is needed by the body, having something to do with muscle control (it's good for the heart too, but not too much!), so when the muscles lack it, they kind of hurt for it, literally. You asked me to find you some Kanji, see if this is what you had in mind. Bear in mind that these are Japanese translations, and I'm still learning the language, so I had to get a lot of online help with this one, and that help may not entirely be accurate. See the notes on the image itself for the details about the Kanji I know as "harmony". If you can use them, by all means do (just cut out my comments first). Outlaw Melfina: If you mean my drawing everyone the pictures last year, it was different and I enjoyed doing it. BlackMagicianGrl Thank you for the thought, I hope yours was (or is) enjoyable and filled with peace and contentment. Well, its not over for me yet, but yesterday was fun, though tiring. Random Anime Quote: "Oroka na mono." - Sesshoumaru Inuyasha (Japanese dub) Anime Dreams.

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Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Once More into the Breech!

The CD version of Art of Otaku is out today, the purchasing details aren't up yet, but they are supposed to be up tonight so hang in there a couple more hours. I point that out because I've been waiting for the CD version to come out, and I'm sure some of the others reading my blog have been too. I'll be taking a few days off this week, I'm starting to burn out from the Holiday thing, and well, I think a few animé movies and mini-marathons will do me some good right now (no ten hour 26 episode Escaflonwe fest though, I'm too tired for that). I'll comment on whichever one suits my fancy when I get back on here. Have a safe and Happy Holiday Season, Merry Christmas, Or a Joyous Holiday whatever you may celebrate, I won't be back till at least December 27. Random Anime Quote: ". . .I just don't like it when people cook better than me." - Kaoru Kamiya, Rurouni Kenshin Comments: Caprice: Technology has always just hobby for me. I don't have any official eductation on anything like HTML, networking, web design, or any of those things. Since you've taken a class on it, there's nothing I could suggest to you that won't be in the material (be it notes, textbooks, or even teacher's handouts) you probably still have around the house somewhere. Check those, your answer is bound to be there somewhere. There are data recovery tools available, but they aren't usually cheap. If you haven't done too much to that computer, the data should still be there (Windows doesn't actually delete anything, it just removes the marker tags that tells it where on the hard drive it put the file) If the data hasn't been overwritten, then it should still be there). I'll see what I can come up with (considering cost and features needed) and let you know what I find out. Like I said, I think it was my e-mail host's doing that ruined that file. Yahoo! does the weirdest things to attachments, and in some cases don't even send them at all. I can't even say enough about Escaflowne, but when you do look into getting it, make sure you don't get the "edited" version, the one they aired on Fox a few years back. There's a noticeable difference in content (not to mention they reduced some episodes into few second "flashback" clips, probably because they couldn't edit the episode enough for Saturday morning viewing). I do think you'll like the series, and after you've watched it (at least up to Ep 8) let me know, I'll tell you then which scene it was that really hooked me on the whole idea of what "animé" is to me. Yep, I can identify the very scene that did it for me. I'd tell you sooner, but I don't want to spoil anything, and to set the scene up (it's in Ep 7 I think) I'd have to give you a lot of backstory of the previous episodes, and while I like to be spoiled(warn me first though), I don't like to spoil things for others after getting my butt handed to me for accidentally doing it on a message board once. That's not something I'd care to repeat. I use one program for my digital image editing, that is the freeware program called Pixia. I don't have the kind of money to spend on Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, or any of those overpriced programs. Why should I do that when Pixia does for me what I need it to do, and it even supports my WACOM pen tablet, without spending a dime. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. If guys can go around all google-eyed drawing practically naked women(I should know I'm one of them myself please don't ask, but none of mine are good enough to submit here), then women should certainly be allowed the same courtesy of drawing men without ridicule or scorn. Not one single picture I ever drew was done by tracing. Jim Hawking, Yahiko, both Inuyasha images, they're all done freehanded. I take great pride in being able to say that. Sure they were done by referencing screeshots, I admitted that when I submitted them. I do that (reference work) to hone my skill which is still in great need of improvement. I'll proofread my comments, and think all is well, it's only after I post and can't make an edit that I'll notice I said somthing the wrong way, or misspelled a word that changes the context of the whole thing. Most of the time people overlook that, they usually just get dumbfounded by how horridly long a post I made just to respond to a simple little thing. All I have to say on that, for everyone who reads my blog here, is, get used to it. I'm only short and to the point when I'm not feeling well. Mamma Vash: Most people fail to realize that the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid (to name a few) were all originally epic poems, they are meant to be orated, not read like the newspaper. The Ancient Greeks put a lot of emphasis on politics, and taught oration, the art of speaking, in their schools. To get the right flow from the stories, you have to read them aloud, otherwise they just don't make any sense, and are very difficult to follow. Everyone in my family is like that, but I'm the one they always come to with the computer problems -_-; which puts a strain on me because they know I don't know nearly enough to handle some of the things they throw at me. When Tech TV went down the tubes, I lost my best resource for information on technology. I just learned about all I know about modern computers from Tech TV. Sure, it sounds nice, but the one we had fell apart about ten years ago. I haven't seen another one like it since, but I still look every year to find a replacement for it. I was never really that close to my grandfather when he was alive. When you live half the country away it's kind of hard to be close to the important people in your lives, so I think it would be a fitting way to honor his memory, even if not with the one he gave us, but with one that carries the spirit of the rail line he worked for, and in some ways, his own spirit too. Well, I'll hit the down phase soon enough. I just remembered I have one more gift to get, and I'll probably be out in the last minute rush of people to get something, and I hate doing that. My family knows I have more than just a little bit of social anxieties, yet they put me through this same thing year after year. It's always let the guy without a job wait till the last minute, then drag him around to and from every store that's still open to find something for everyone. They know I'd feel terible if I didn't do anything for them, but at the same time, you'd think they'd appreciate that society and I don't rightly get along (and won't till it gives me a break and puts me to work), and try to help me get things done sooner rather than later. Yes, a little sleep might just be a good thing for me too. Yes! Another one! Guess I'm better with my words than I realize to get two people interested in Escaflowne in one month. I haven' been able to keep up with S-Cry-ed since my cable was pulled a couple months ago, I don't even care anymore when it was done, but what I saw of it before then looked pretty good, and I have a friend online who's into it and it's not hard to get him to talk about it so I'll be content with spoiler summaries for a while. I've got someone doing that with Naruto for me too, but you know, spoiler summaries just aren't the same as seeing the episodes. The only kind of "Bleh" post I'd ever see is one that's a single incoherent line of nonsense (like the exaggeratingly long YAY!!! posts that seem to frequent the Naruto news bits on the theotaku.com main page). As long as I can pick out the point of the post, and respond to it intelligently, then I'm happy with it. Dream of Anime Sugarplums and Santas!

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Monday, December 19, 2005

Welcome to Christmas.

I was playing the sound file I have, "Welcome to Christmas" from Di Gi Charat (I got it from a group I'm signed up with that has sort of drifted away from Yahoo! now), and there's something about hearing a medley of familiar songs done in another language that puts me closer to the spirit of the holidays. I've heard Silent Night done in Gernman, French, English, Japanese, and Spanish, and I like every single version of them. I guess there are truly some universal things, because I never realize when I'm hearing the song, that I'm hearing it in another language. Anyway, with the holidays looming closer, I think I'm starting to get the feeling. My family put up our tree today (I should have helped, but I wasn't really feeling well), and we've got one of those lighted villages that sits underneath it. (I should get a train set with the bright blue Conrail engine to replace the one my Grandfather gave my mother, he was an Engineer). It's a pretty sight, I'll take some pictures if the camera will stand it (It eats batteries). Comments: Outlaw Melfina I shop when people in my family hand me money and say "here, get me something." Actually I'm joking. My family is very tolerant of my being unemployed and helps me out, knowing I would feel terrible if I didn't do anything for them at all. I drew them all pictures last year, but I got the sense that many of them thought I was being "cheap". My sister is the only one who asked me if I was going to draw everyone pictures again this year. I'll probably draw one for her, but no one else, she's one of the two most supportive people of my art in my family, the others just humor it. Caprice Back in 2003 when my family got DSL, I had to install the NIC in my Windows 98 computer myself, and that was a hassle. Installing the card is kind of complicated. You have to have a free PCI slot on the motherboard, and that slot has to be a "Master" slot, not a "Slave" slot (who names those things anyway?), and of course the computer case has to have an available spot that lines up with the correct PCI slot. Once that's in and the computer recognizes it's there (that was the problem I had, I couldn't get it to recognize the card at first, but it took it after a while, I think some of the network stuff has to be installed and enabled for it to see the network card the first time), you're all set. The card itself ran somewhere around $25-30 (may have been a little more, I don't remember now), not too much considering what I was expecting it to cost, and if you have a router, you won't need the crossover cable, you just connect it to that, and if all is right with the network, it should see the Windows 98 computer and say "Hello, come join the network!" I have to use a crossover cable because I don't have the money to set up a home network right now. I'll warn you the audio files might not want to go by way of e-mail. I tried that once, and couldn't save the file to my computer. It may have been the e-mail host's doing to "protect" the content, but since I had the song on CD, I just re-ripped it (:P). I'm weird about learning things, so complex or simple doens't really matter to me (except in Origami, still can't get that x_x paper dragon to come out right). I'll be able to use those resources you provided for me as well as whtdragon's reference sheets, and any tips from any other dragon artists out there who'd be willing to share them. So I don't keep referring to them surreptitiously as "the resources" here's the links: Dee Dreslough's Art Gallery I would have put his banner up, but the way he's got his link code written is horrible! It would never have worked anyway. I have read through them briefly, and I do believe I will find them extremely useful. The one with the banner link even has line art ot practice coloring with, so I know I'll be all right. Escaflowne is the series that hooked me on animé, so I love to talk about it and get more people to see it. I had to go a whole hour out of my way to the nearest Best Buy to find the box set (Perfect Collection, it has the eight discs of the series, and Disc Nine is the movie - One of the discs has the FMV sequences from the playstaion game on it as an extra) I've got, but it was worth it. I'm trying to learn to stick to the point of things, but I'm a textbook example of the Psychology concept called "Stream of Consciousness" where my mind flows from one idea to the next seemingly randomly without any kind of rhyme or reason to it. That makes it hard to really stay on task though. Anime Dreams

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Saturday, December 17, 2005

Z_Z

I'm worn out from Christmas shopping, just got back about an hour ago and it's like 7:00AM here now, so I'll get right to the good stuff. Comments: Kout3uka I write from the heart, it's as simple as that. Length is not something I dictate to myself before I begin, I let the communication flow. Yeah, I like Porco Rosso, it's a good movie, everything I've seen with the Ghibli logo on it to date has been exceptional. On dragons, what do I believe? I think it's highly possible that the creatues we call "dragons" did in fact exist, possibly as a species of "dinosaur" or another step in the process of reptile evolution, one that didn't survive to this day. However, we humans either haven't found the magic fossils yet, or we did, but just didn't put them together correctly, as we so often have done in the past with them, to know what we were looking at. There is a saying about urban legends, "where there's smoke, there's fire." Meaning some thing that actually existed at some point was seen by a human, and his attempt to retell what he saw gave birth to dragon myth and legend. There are still thousands of undiscovered species all across the globe, so it is quite possible that we modern humans have missed observing by a few hundred or thousand years, one of the last species of the larger reptilian evolution to walk the earth. There are many depictions of dragons across the globe too, from Europe, to Asia, and Even the Aztecs, and Mayan people had images of "dragons" in their art. So many people, in so many different parts of the word, are not going to accidentally create similar looking and acting ficticious creatures. They had to know, or see something that we today are just too blinded to fully see ourselves. Caprice Porco Rosso is a great movie. If you spot the Ghibli logo when you watch it, let me know in PM, I don't want to spoil the fun of the hunt for everyone else. ~_^ Trust me it's in the movie somewhere. I'm not scared of flying that I know of, I just never had the need to fly anywhere, nor the money to do it anyway. The Lotto tickets I buy just win enough to cover the expendature on the ticket itself. I break even ^_^; all the time, which isn't really fun for me, so I don't play that often. Ah yeah, that one, I do remember it. You know it was Mamma Vash who directed me to your site in the first place when I first posted my Want Ad for dragon artists. I do appreciate your taking the time to send me those links in PM (If anyone asks me for them I'll put them up here). A lot of that reaction has to do with my being tired this afternoon when I posted here. I get a bit grumpy when I've had no sleep for hours, and am trying to think coherently. Actually, I'm kind of amused that people are impressed by the complexity of the content I post in response to things at times, and since I'm getting it frequently, it must mean my standards haven't declined any. The Escaflowne movie was very well done visually, I will not deny that. I do think the story was hurt however by the way the subordinating characters, and even Van himself, were portrayed. So I don't spoil anything for you, I'll just say that in the series they weren't all the rough bunch the movie turned them into. Of course the series also had more time to develope the storyline, which probably gives it a little more depth than the movie has. I'll have to sit down with the movie again, it's been a while since I watched it last, and I just got through watching the whole series again. Escaflowne is a lot like the Tenchi saga, every new release telling the story a different way. The Series tells one story, the movie another, the two different versions of the manga (a two volume shojo tankôbon set, and an eight volume shonen tankôbon set), and the Playstation game all tell the story, with the same characters, in different ways, which is kind of a unique way to look at things. I'm sure there are people out there who have their own favorite version of Escaflowne, mine just happens to be the series. Sounds just like my Windows 98 computer. Do you have an network card installed in it? If you do, all you have to do is get a "crossover cable" and directly network that computer to another one with Ethernet connectivity, copy the files across the network, and you'll be done. Of course, I haven't actually done that yet myself, so it's only a theory that it might work. When I can afford one of those cables, I'll try it and let you know how it works. I've got some files bigger than the 1.4MB 3 1/2" floppies will handle too. Anyone out ther remember Chip's Challenge on Windows 3.1? Random Anime Quote time: ". . .You. . .SQUASHED it. . .?!?!?!" - Zeniba, Spirited Away Anime Dreams

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Friday, December 16, 2005

Of Pigs and Men

There's a lot of subtle messages hidden throughout the film Porco Rosso, much like Hayao Miyazaki's other work (I'll have to get used to citing the works by full name now that I know Miyazaki-san's son is also directs for studio Ghibli). It's a fun movie to watch, and easy to get wrapped up in like Spirited Away, though not quite as fanciful. A lot of the scenes demonstrate Hayao Miyazaki's passionoate interest in flight(I read that about him somewhere, can't remember where), and they are indeed a pleasure to watch. The music fits well with the setting of the Adriatic, and continues to tell the story where no dialogue could fit. It has an airy lift to it, sort of like a person must feel in the cockpit of one of those older open planes (I've never flown myself, so I don't know how it feels to fly at all), hovering over the ocean. I was impressed by the visual depth in a lot of scenes in Porco Rosso, but mostly the one where you see a lot of ocean and islands with Porcos's plain a tiny red spot floating through the picture, very serene, and inspiring by my book. Random Anime Quote Time: "Don't kill us, kill each other!!!" - Unnamed Pirate, Porco Rosso Enough of my ramblings, now for the important stuff. Comments: Caprice: I get that a lot in PMs, comments, e-mails, and message board posts, do I really write too much? Is there such thing as communicating too well? Since I haven't been following your posts very long, I'll take your word that we're that similar, and note that any time I run into someone like me online, I'm automatically freaked out beyond belief, but in a good way. I explained a lot of where my passion for dragons comes from, but I forgot to mention that I don't really remember when it started for me, I can remember really being interested in dragons even before I read the C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia books, and long before my exposure to the Arthurian legends too. I'm still having difficulty drawing dragons even after checking out whtdragon's excellent reference sheets on drawing them. I would appreciate any pointers you could provide me on the subject too, when you have the time. I repeat myself with this, but only to make the point clear. Every time I've tried to draw a dragon it came out all cute and cartoony like a Peter, Paul, and Mary song(I'm surprised no one has called me on this reference yet). There are a few words I like to see people use, correctly, patronize, ignorant, and boorish among them. But those are the negative ones. Words of hope and brightness I never get tired of reading are imagination, fantasy, and whimsey. My first grade teacher described me better than anyone else, calling me a hopeless dreamer, which I take great pride in to this day (:P to you teach! My head's still in the clouds and I like it up here!). I saw the movie after seeing the series(and it's disc 9 of my box set), and because of that, I probably didn't like it as much as I would have without seeing the series. Consider that the Escaflowne series was the very first anime I ever saw, so I'm going to be biased toward it. The move is good though, and visually out of this world too(no that's not a joke about Gaea), but I think I like the storyline of the series better. I'm in the process of doing that, one 128 MB thumbdrive to transfer copies of everything to a second computer isn't very efficient or quick, but it's all I've got to work with so, I make do. Anime Dreams!

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