busy busy. comic coming tomorrow night or Tuesday morning.

I was going to do a sketch this week, but it sorta turned into a full-blown work. So, I guess its a bonus for you guys then (nevermind the fact that there hasn't been any art for a couple of weeks....). Anyways it's another "alternate costumes" pic, kind of like the 'karate will' one. Go check it out, link on the sidebar.

Hey everyone, just a reminder that there's no comic this week. Been having somewhat of a hard week. On a completely unrelated note, I'm available for work if anyone needs any artwork :). Also, sketch this week hopefully.

So I got Super Paper Mario when it came out, and I'm on the third world. It's really awesome. Even more so given the distinct lack of "killer apps" on the system at the moment. It's a sidescrolling style Mario this time, but with some rpg elements, like levels and abilities. The key is they dont overdo it so you dont have to access the menu all the time during what's really a platformer game. The levels and situations are creative, and the art design is beautiful. Certain things I thought would be odd, like pointing the wiimote at the screen for information, turn out to not ruin the game flow. I do wish there was a single button in-game function i could do to switch characters, kind of rotate through them, but it's not too far away normally that it becomes a gripe. I can't wait to get further in the game to see what some of the later bosses are like. So far theyre really easy, but somewhat interesting in that they fight fairly differently.

I'm bringing up Brave Story now, even though it's quite old, because I just remembered about it. I actually forgot what I was going to say about it already...but anyways its got great animation, good plot, and awesome fight scenes, so go watch it.

I forgot mostly because I saw Hot Fuzz today. Hot Fuzz is a movie from the same guys who made Shaun of the Dead, which if you haven't seen it yet you should do so as soon as possible, even sooner maybe. Anyways Hot Fuzz is completely an action movie, though it's also a parody of them. Great movie for the most part, some weird pacing here and there, and the ending was cool but kind of off I think. Overall, however, it's worth seeing and I highly recommend it.

Next week - Pokemon, no time for console games, and a new comic, finally!

Finally it comes, issue 15 is out. We're reaching the climax soon, hopefully it all works out. This week expect a sketch too, I owe you all at least that much for the two weeks of nearly nothing.

Been watching more new anime lately, just saw the second episode of Hayate the Combat Butler. The manga was hilarious, but it was one of those mangas where if they made an anime you'd expect it would be a low budget, cheap laughs kind of thing (see Kage Kara Mamoru). Not so with Hayate, as it turns out. First, there's nice animation, which once you look at who made this, is expected. It's mainly a company that does animation in-betweens from the looks of it, but the worked on Blood+, GitS: Stand Alone Complex, and Mushishi, among others, and all of which have great animation.

Second there's the comedy. It's a really funny anime, and the second episode is funnier than the first, so things are looking good. The narrator character is hilarious, the characters occasionally break the 4th wall (but do it right), and Santa is awesome(You'll see when you watch...). There's only two episodes out right now, so things could go south still, especially the animation quality, but right now things are looking great.

Another anime I've started watching is Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. This one's gonna be special, I know it, 'cause it's made by Gainax. Other than the of-course-awesome animation, it has awesome character designs and ridiculous robots, as well as crazy action. It's also funny, so it's got everything I like. It's even already starting to show signs of that deep character moments that Gainax seems to like doing, where everything goes from hilarious to serious and deep in a moment. The other crazy part is I heard this is going to be 26 episodes, which is just insane if you've seen the first two. This thing can still go anywhere, quality wise. If it keeps up then they either have mad tricks or mad budget, either way this whole thing is mad and you should watch it.

Update on Nodame Cantabile, it's gotten better since the first episode, as one would hope. In fact, out of all the shows I've been watching, it's been the most consistently good. That is to say, the level of comedy and animation quality and plot I expect from the show is consistent every time, in a positive way. I'm very happy with it, and I hope it continues through the rest of the season.

Finally there's this Korean animation, some of you might have heard of it, called "Aachi and Ssipak". I haven't actually seen all of it, but I have seen one of the main action scenes. Despite what the title is, this actually has some of the most ridiculous action animation you'll see. I won't link to the clip I saw, because I'd rather have seen the whole movie first, and so I'd rather you do the same. So, go find it somehow, and watch it.

Later, sketch, maybe some color art, DS games, Mario, and a belated talk about Brave Story.

Turns out I won't have things ready this week, they just weren't, well, ready. Next week will definitely be a comic though, it's almost done now, but I want to post it just next week instead of late this week. Also very important, because of the way things are going right now, the comic schedule will be every other week until further notice. Still Mondays, just every other Monday for now. I'll still do my best to give some art as much as I can though. I also want to do something with this site, but I'm not sure what yet. Anyways I'm real sorry about the delays, I'll try not to do it so often so don't beat me up over it okay?

This will be a first for anyone who bothers to read; this is a second post in a single week, truly a sight to see, possibly to forsee, and brought to you by the mighty powers of randomization of topics and lack of sleep.
Also,  by being lazy and not lazy at the same time.  So in fact, this post is being brought to you by a contradiction.  Your universe is exploding at this very moment, please hang on to the nearest piece of reason. Make sure to assist anyone reading this with you as we spiral out of control.

Let me explain this to you before we continue.  Two days ago, the post below told you of wonderous happenings coming later that day, which consisted of some kind of magic occuring because you were reading something that I somehow displayed to you magically and I you were magically happy, thus magically completing the magic circle that magically magically appeared by magically magical powers. Magic.
Such a magical thing did not occur.  The last part of that day was for some reason (and no raisin) spent in the discussion of things with myself, whilest doing nothing for hours at a time, and otherwise being lazy.  That's not to say that the comic didn't exist, alas, it existed much before any discussion about it arose, and I delayed it's release by being lazy.  And then when I said that it shall be coming, again I delayed the release by being lazy, and so an entire day past of being lazy, me barely even thinking that I needed to put a comic.

Yesterday, the comic did go up, as you will see in lovely bar to the right, thanks to the grand exhaulter overlord to my left, and as such, I should've edited my message to show that I cared.  But this also did not happen, because I was being lazy last night as well, despite the lack of sleep.  I did know that the comic was up and I didn't do anything.   I had planned to edit the original message and so save everyone a lot of reading and me a lot of typing, but it turns out that I'm too lazy.
So instead I wrote all of this.  Kind of a weird way for someone who's been so lazy to finally end up writing something, huh?

Anyway, I figure that I should at some point continue where I left off on the last post...it has something to do with journeying and MMOs and how much nothing has changed and really will continue to completely not change....or some kind of thing like that, I really forgot.
I think I probably ran off topic somewhere.  I do that you know.

My original point had something to do with what game design seems to be trying to feed people recently, something to the point of taking any kind of game and trying to put it to the theme of massively multiplayer onliness. MMOs have slightly been expanded from their genre as people search for magical ways to make their favorite genre and game style into a MMO, and diverge away from the standardness of faking a different style in a RPG or faking the massiveness in Arena style play, or faking the multiplayer by making it pretty much just you doing stuff without any real interaction.  In dropping the roots to try and fly away on its own, some designs achieve some interesting apps, and break walls...and stuff.  (Though I must say, in the world of MMOs that I know of, no one has really ever broken stride.)

Dropping your roots can be dangerous though, and I see it in people's eyes when they dream of the design of their dreams.  I see it in my own eyes when I really think about something and I happen to be staring into a reflective surface. The dangerous thing about dropping your roots is leaving something good behind.  I dont know about you all out there, but when I think of MMOs, one of the first qualifications is persistence.  The world itself does not necessarily have to be persistent; arena games know that well enough and take advantage of it by offering streamlined playing through instancing and direct connections.  Arena games are some of the few MMOs that can still be played over 56k, which is to their advantage.  What persistence am I talking about?  Character persistence.  Now character persistence is a little bit more grand of a concept than avatar persistence.  Avatar persistence means you look the same no matter where you go; that's something most games achieve in some regard, but it's not exactly something so necessary.  Character persistence (to me anyway) means that whatever you are, whatever you become, and whatever you do, it'll stay with you.  And it's not like win ratio or just pure stats; you need to keep your fine tuning, your little things that you've done to your character.  Your character is your story, albeit a pretty bland story, but your past doesn't rewrite ever, and your previous story, abilities, and such aren't immediately thrown out once your somewhere else.

It seems that more and more, there are ideas where a large portion of it seems to be throwing you out into randomness, where your previous incarnation no longer matters and only what is ahead is any consolation to your previous onsalught.

In any case, this ends here.  It has gone on far too long after all.
And should you ask, no, I didn't get to what I wanted to talk about.

I'm putting myself under a lot of pressure this week, knowing very well that the reason for it isn't all that significant, or even a realistic concern I should have, yet I felt the need for my brain to go into 'academic survival mode', which is slightly different from normal 'survival mode', in that there is no need to struggle to stay alive.  In fact, academic survival mode seems to be something towards the opposite end of the spectrum, like those Japanese workers who (used to) work so hard that they would literally die after working so hard.  I think somewhere along the way I am trying to do something so difficult that not even a caveman could do it. Or a psychiatrist for that matter.
And my reward is calculated at approximately slim-to-none multiplied by the chance that one could actually travel back and forth in time simultaneously multiplied by the off-chance that I'll have drawn something by the end of the week.
Oh crap, that last one is a 1, isn't it. Damn.

As per the grand-exhalted-master-to-the-left's words, I do have something for you, just give me until after it's dark out to put it up.  Somehow you'll either have a good time enjoying it or a hard time understanding it, or some kind of superposition of both.  It's like a Schroedinger's cat problem that isn't about a cat in a box connected to an absolute death device.  Basically you'll only know what state you'll end up in if you attempt to read the thing and entangle yourself with my not-so-brilliant sense of humor.  And I'm sure you'll love that, like flies like being stuck in spider's webs.
I wonder if flies get stuck in Spider-man's webs.

 Now, let's move on to a furtherance topic: journeying.  And not just any journeying, it's a journey through a landscape that's populated by people who look like you, who don't look quite like you,and who are the female counterparts of you and your male dopplegangers, while the landscape itself is filled with trees, grass paths and well place mountains and mountain ranges that have only a few well-placed mountain passes for one to go between and go to a different area of the world.  It's a place of great beauty, if you've spend $900 on a graphical device which stimulates the neurons in your optical nerves through techniques that cause you to believe that this journey is far more realistic than you ever would've thought.  It's place filled with people who, except for looking like you, have all the similar qualities of being an actual humanoid creature who cares and socializes with others, and requires food and sleep to live.

I think I'll stop there since I'm sure you've gotten the point already; journeying isn't what it used t' be in mmo-town.  Actually, I can't say that it has ever been what I thought it would ever be.  The thought that you can create a completely unique character in any MMO is pretty much non-existent.  There are some who come close, and I think we'd ought to emulate things like City of Heroes with it's giant number of character creation choices before the game even begins (many of them inconsequential to anything but having a story), but you are bound to run into a clone, or some fully existing character at some point, and not always by random chance.
Our generation's imagination seems to be entirely intertwined with source: that's to say that a good deal of what we think is imaginative is simply a play-on or a copy-of or a spin-on of something already in existence.  That's not to say this a necessarily a bad thing, and it's also not to say that there's necessarily an alternative; I'm sure most people imagine things like that.  The problem is that we have too much source now, and in some ways we promote this kind of thing by deciding on the limits of popularity in many new ways that provide instant communication in the world.
There are less ways for people to take chances because you may just find yourself scrutinized the next day, even if your chance-taking was a successful inquiry.

Once again, I've gone off-topic too long so I think I'll stop here.  I'll be putting something up at some point so watch for it.