My dad wants to know the best way (or even a way) to record from vinyl to CD. Thoughts?
As an added bonus, you can watch the entire “The Collect Call of Cathulhu” episode of Real Ghostbusters online right here. Oh and The Octopus News Magazine Online released their latest octopodcast–this one a little different than their usual fare, as it’s all-Cthulhu and includes “The Innsmouth Look” by a certain Lovecraftian band.
What’s new? Well this is my first week without work. Very exciting. Today I played badminton with Sheri & Stephane and worked on my Samurai technique. I’ve finally written up a “to do” list to make this being on my own recognizance, work-wise, stay afloat. All the things I’ve been putting off for–yes I’ll say it–years will get done in the next couple of months. By Odin’s beard, I swear it. Starting with eBaying a bunch of things that have been piling up, like old Crypt of Cthulhu zines. Also, here comes another Mutants & Masterminds/Power Enterprise character I drew up. His name is Brimstone and he’s got a good gimmick. He looks like a whacky D&D character, and what’s more – he acts like one. In the Power Enterprise universe, there is no magic, but Brimstone is very showy about making arcane gestures and shouting impressive incantations to make his powers work, which involve summoning up demons and rust monsters and casting Obscuring Mist and so forth. Truth is, he’s a very powerful illusionist.
In the drawing, I made his outfit way too conservative. I wanted him to come across as a sort of Todd McFarlane demonic action figure, but still staying true to the tenets of classic D&D design. He is basically a young nerd who gets a kick out of using his powers to freak people out (and steal things). Yeah, he’s a bad guy in case you couldn’t tell.
CBS Paramount Domestic Television has officially announced that they are releasing digitally remastered episodes of Star Trek, with all new special effects and music….
Does this mean the Klingons punched Scotty first?
Here’s Rhinosferatu and a new version of Elephantom giving Dynamole some grief. In an alternate universe this would be in color. I did the drawing in ink while I was at The Vancouver Comic Jam at the Jolly Alderman pub on Cambie & 12th Ave a few weeks ago, and then I filled in the tones in Photoshop. I meant to submit it to The Art Blog Challenge before the 31st but I never got around to it until just now. Maybe it’ll get up, maybe it won’t.
Here’s what’s wrong with it:
The composition balance is off.
The character design isn’t solid.
Knowing that I was going to Photoshop the tones, I didn’t give the outlines enough weight.
Could use a shadow or a floor line to put the characters in context to a semblance of reality.
Some other finicky flaws like eyes and other details too numerous to mention.
If anyone is interested in playing some badminton before the summer is over, let me know and we’ll work out a date!
If anyone knows anyone who is looking for a place to live, I know of a couple of rooms open in a very nice house in a very nice Kits location with some very nice friends of mine for a very nice price! Email me and I’ll pass you on to Mike.
We go through a lot of pop bottles and cans at our domicile. Being a good recyclist, and usually buying my groceries one day at a time, and enjoying solidarity in the hobo community, I usually bring a bag of them (bottles, not hobos) to the Sunshine Market when I visit them 15 minutes before they close (and it’s impossible to get any produce because they’ve stowed it away in the back room by that point). Can someone tell me why the “thank you come again” lady keeps giving me flack for bringing back empties from brands they don’t sell? I mean we’re not talking wine bottles here, but I thought that a few years back when they reworked the pricing structure so that the 2L bottles became 10c instead of 25c, part of the deal whas that the brands didn’t matter–all merchants were obligated to take Pepsi, Coke, President’s Choice…whatever. Was that just something that I made up in my head? I never fight her when she refused to give me my nickels, but if she’s actually disobeying the….let’s say covenant because that sounds ironic with bottle deposits…then I’m going to start ‘sampling’ a lot more grapes there.
Look, I’m a fan of independent business. I really am. I set foot in a WalMart if I’ve been feeling overly sanguine and need a reality check. So I am willing to pay that extra $5 so you can put your vegan pot brownies in your holier-than-thou hipster hole. But if you’re not going to have the common clemency to stock Tenacious D, then we are done. I’d love to stay and chat, but I hear my mommy calling, and by mommy I mean amazon.ca.
Ive probably posted something like this before, but it bears repeating. Pursuant to my recent post on who reads my blog and why, I often think about what makes a blog worth bookmarking. Lets go through the points together, shall we?
1. Updated regularly. And by regularly, I mean once or twice a week. Even I dont update daily, but I try to get something out once every few days. A lot of leeway is given depending on the type of posts. See below.
2. Content! Some blogs I visit because they are written by people who have a very specific area of interest. John Kricfalusis blog is redolent with dark secrets of animation, but if it started to become a journal of what he had for dinner last night, I wouldnt be interested. Then again, some people can write about dinner and make it entertaining. Most people cant, and even the blogs I subscribe to have entries I skip over if its just about food, or similar things that may be personal to them but no one else. Blogging about meals is like reading about liver conditionsif its not mine, why is it trying to monopolize my precious attention span? The same thing goes with photos, especially of vacations, pets, and children. Of course, one persons dinner report is another persons cartoon news, so to each his own.
2.b Links. There are websites like boingboing.net and somethingawful.com that collect links to other interesting stuff going on throughout the wide world of web. You can try to one-up them, but you will fail, so why try? Unless its some twisted zen thing. Blogs that just post link after link especially without any setupare a pet peeve of mine.* If you absolutely must post a link to something, tell me where youre taking me and why. If theres popups and ads or a subscription necessary, warn me. Personalize it for me, or at least include it as a footnote to a real post with some actual meat to it.
3. Degrees of Separation. Some blogs have such fantastic content that it doesnt matter who is writing them, really. I visit Cartoon Brew but I dont know a damn thing about the author, apart from the fact that he publishes a magazine of the same name. On the other hand, I know that some blogs are frequented in part due to vanity, i.e. I wonder if my name comes up this week? My mom obviously doesnt care about Spaceship Zero or the World Wildlife Federation of Justice. She just comes here to see what my hair looks like this month and if Im ever going to have a relationship that lasts more than 2 years.
4. Presentation. You dont have to be a graphic designer or a professional editor to make a presentable blog. Blogger and WordPress and other sites have perfectly decent pre-made layouts, and they work. And theyre simple. I am not interested in graphics, I read blogs for information, not to admire the bells, whistles and flash. Take note, myspace users. That said, sometimes photos and artwork really spice up an otherwise mundane blog (see 3), and in truth I do visit some blogs that are essentially just updated art galleries (see 2), but generally if your occupation is not artist, dont get carried away. If you must design your own site, heres some free advice: dont make your header so fat that I have to scroll down just to read the second sentence of your brand new entry. And by Cthulhus greasy beard, no frames please. PS – spellcheck.
* That said, heres a good one: As seen on Pharyngula,
Wal-Mart has a policy in place to protect its customers from the obscenity and wickedness that writers put into books, yet they still have a few books on the shelves that are terribly indecentone must assume that their censors are simply too busy to have read them to determine the unpleasantness of their content. In order to help them become more consistent, I urge everyone to sign the petition asking that one of these unsavory texts be removed immediately
Why, I was just talking about The Tick last night. And on Tuesday! And now, an announcement that the cartoon is finally coming to DVD (no date announced, and no extras on the discs)
http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=12216
Sunday the 3rd my Birthday Auction 3pm
Friday the 8th Movie Marathon at Torens place (courtesy of Turner Classic Movies) 6:30pm cartoons 8pm Harold & Maude 10pm Arsenic & Old Lace 12:15am The Ladykillers
Sunday the 10thVancouver Comicon at Heritage Hall 11am-5pm. $3. Ill be there earlyish so I dont miss the premiere of Calebs Call of Cthulhu campaign.
Saturday the 16thPlayland!
Tuesday the 19thVancouver Ukelele Circle plays at Our Town at 7:30 (I will probably be in Chilliwack that night writing my own music but if Im not, Ill be there)
Friday/Saturday 22-23–Campycon!
Sunday the 24thWord on the Street: including more ukulele, Nardwuar the human serviette, all day comic contest, zines, bookmaking, webcomics (with my chum Ed Brisson who directed Graveyard, plus Jason Pultz and Jordan Neufeld ) several panels on how to get published in magazines, books, comics, the art of storytelling, and for you kitchen people, lots of cookbook authors.
Friday the 29thThe Darkest of the Hillside Thickets perform at The Vault in downtown Chilliwack 9pm. $5! (plus a trip to Chilliwack)
If we can get quorum well probably do a Music Theory and a Voice Over Slackademics workshop. I bet Stephane & Sheri will have a Wednesday board game night. Plus I think theres an agenda or two on my computer that Ill consult and add to the list when I get home. If anyone knows of any interesting events, concerts, gatherings, Id like to hear about them!
