Correspondence 11/5/08 14:11 - 17:49

Eltern question

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 5, 2008 2:11 pm

In working on the Eltern article it has come to my attention that its principal religion has gone as of yet unnamed. I'm not sure what to name it, but I was thinking about the religion itself, and what it would be like. Here's what I've got so far: It will consist of a god and goddess as objects of worship, but the two will be nigh indiscernible from one another, and will form something similar to how the Holy Trinity works. Basic stuff, but I thought it would be interesting.

Re: Eltern question

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 5, 2008 2:13 pm

Oh wait, wouldn't that mean that they would view hermaphrodites to be of divine origin? Actually that could be kind of cool, it'd add a uniqueness to the faith. Also, Akkash would have a similar religion, I assume.

Re: Eltern question

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 5, 2008 3:34 pm

LOQ!

Re: Eltern question

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 5, 2008 4:32 pm

"LOQ"?

Re: Eltern question

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 5, 2008 4:50 pm

It's like LOL, except I Laughed Out Quiet.

(I just made it up.)

Re: Eltern question

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 5, 2008 4:54 pm

oh, okay, I thought you were recommending a name, that was an acronym.

Re: Eltern question

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 5, 2008 4:57 pm

Also, do you like the way I set up the homepage?

Re: Eltern question

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 5, 2008 5:22 pm

Is there a difference in text sizes?

Re: Eltern question

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 5, 2008 5:49 pm

(bashfully)

Yes...

Correspondence 11/3/08 19:59 - 11/5/08 13:38

   I'm not sure if this idea amounted to anything, but here it is, another idea from early-days PoM history.

Team PoM-pedia!

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 3, 2008 7:59 pm

How do you feel about anyone coming in to help on "Project Persistence"? Could we add anyone, or would you feel it would intrude on our personal pet project? In saying this it makes it seem as though I already have someone in mind, but I don't, just asking ahead of time, I guess.

Re: Team PoM-pedia!

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 3, 2008 8:01 pm

Also, I just realized this Wiki's been up for only three months, less than that actually, but still, we've done quite a lot of work in that time.

Re: Team PoM-pedia!

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 3, 2008 8:22 pm

I dunno. Brenna seemed really interested in it...

Re: Team PoM-pedia!

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 5, 2008 1:38 pm

I'm typing this from Astronomy class right now. And yeah, I think she may have wanted to try writing a part of it, because she showed interest in the ghostwriting thing we'd do. I'd like to get someone else in on this, if only for a fresh view on a project we've become very accustomed to, new eyes could be quite the help.

Correspondence 11/10/08 21:12 - 21:25

   We try our hand at being existentially philosophical, as is the custom, but crash and burn. You could totally see me and Cailin as the only two characters in some kind of existentialist drama, though, couldn't you.

Now What?

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 9:12 pm

Now What?

Re: Now What?

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 9:13 pm

What do you mean exactly?

Re: Now What?

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 9:14 pm

There's nothing to do but go on in pointless conversation.

I know! Let's be philosophical.

Re: Now What?

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 9:15 pm

We could do that, but there's no point...

Re: Now What?

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 9:15 pm

The world's just so complex and in shades of grey that it's almost impossible to function without seeing things in black and white.

Re: Now What?

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 9:19 pm

Well, that's true, I try to cope by not thinking of myself as a moral compass of any sort, or an indication of the norm, makes me see a bit clearer.

Re: Now What?

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 9:16 pm

Exactly!

It's cold.

Re: Now What?

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 9:20 pm

It's only been cold for as long as we've been able to feel it.

Re: Now What?

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 9:21 pm

Being philosophical sucks. We should leave it to the professionals.

Re: Now What?

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 9:22 pm

Yeah, that'd be good. I think I'm going to go lapse off into sleep now.

Re: Now What?

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 9:23 pm

I though vampires slept during the day...

<<horrible uncontrollable shudder.>>

G'day ...Er... Night.

Re: Now What?

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 9:25 pm

Day and night are in constant occurrence, using this loophole, I can be awake or asleep whenever I please, going beyond my vampiric limitations. Good night.

Correspondence 11/10/08 18:56 - 20:26

   Continuing the conversation of naming OREM (we did a lot of discussion over names in the early days, and sometimes later on, as you'll see with the naming of the Mad General, introduced in book 2.) I broke this one into chunks, because as you see, some of the conversations, even on the same topic, get pretty long. So the conversation previous was before we settled on a name, and this conversation is after I realized what it would be (Lynx, now since given to OREM's rival resistance group, Lynx.)

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 6:56 pm

Oh oh oh oh oh!

Link, which suggests bonds, is also Dutch and German slang for sly, cunning, or dangerous! Plus it's another Matrix reference!

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 6:59 pm

Oh my yes!

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 7:22 pm

Link, Linker, Linken Park, L.I.N.K., Lynx? I really like Lynx. Lynx? L.Y.N.X.? No, that's stupid. Lynx? Lynx is the name of a very faint constellation in the northern hemisphere... The only star to have a name in it, 31 Lyncis, is called Alsciaukat, meaning "The Thorn", and Mabsuthat, meaning "The Outstretched" or "The Extended". These are Arabic names...

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 7:24 pm

Lyncis maybe?

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 7:27 pm

The lynx's urine was said in medieval times to harden into the gem carbuncle, which today we call garnet, which derives its name from the Latin word for Pomegranate...

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 7:28 pm

And this all means what...?

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 7:39 pm

You know, like PoM? Persistence of Memory? Dude, you still there?

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 7:44 pm

Yep, I thought it was kind of neat too. And sorry, I'm kind of only sort of here today.

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 7:46 pm

Lynx then?

Lynx, Lynx, Lynx...

You know, the scientific name for the Eurasian lynx is Lynx lynx? You probably already know about gorillas... And the Manx Shearwater, whose calls sound like the cackle of the devil, is called Puffinus puffinus. They aren't even related to puffins! (Besides being birds, of course...)

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 7:48 pm

It's OK. It makes me feel smart...er.

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 7:49 pm

I think Lynx would be a little too... I dunno, something? I guess I just don't like animal names, but it could work.

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 7:55 pm

Yeah, I know...

Lynx, lynx, lynx...

Did you know that in the rest of the English-speaking world, Lynx is the name of Axe body spray?

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 7:59 pm

That's true. I put Lynxes in my armpits once. Didn't end well.

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 8:00 pm

LOM!

(Laugh Out Medium!)

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 8:20 pm

The Lynx? Maybe if they were a larger organization. Lynx...ers. Lynxing. Lynx Resistance, Incorporated. Lynxx. Lyynx. Lynxes. Lynx. Lynx? Lynx! "Lynx." Lynx* Lyn*. L*nx. Lynx... .

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 8:21 pm

Lynx Resistance sounds pretty good to me, actually! Not too wordy, so it doesn't seem pompous or anything.

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 8:25 pm

The Lynx Resistance.

Are they resisting against Lynxes?

Hmm...

Sounds good. Secretive. Clandestine. Cool.

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 8:26 pm

It's a classy name!

Hobbit

   Ha, I guess I'm missing the Hobbit movie. One week after I go out. Drat. Not that I was excited for it or anything. I'm okay with missing that, because that film doesn't look that good anyway. (Not that it looks awful; I just said it doesn't look "that" good. I still plan on seeing it. In maybe a decade or something, say the distance from right now from when the original Lord of the Rings movie came out.) So, um, I really don't care.

   The Denny's Hobbit-themed meals are pretty good, though.

Correspondence 11/10/08 18:32 - 18:44

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 6:32 pm

I was looking up a name for Rem's group. Haven't found any yet, but did you know that Heimlich is a German word for Clandestine?

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 6:34 pm

Really? I've never heard that before...

And I am deferring responsibi-I mean leaving the task of naming his group up to you!

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 6:37 pm

Mistikos is pretty good. It's Greek. Something like that. Mystics, Mystix, Misfits...

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 6:39 pm

Of course it'd be written μυστικός, but still.

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 6:40 pm

Awesome, I sat and thought about it for a bit, and though I was not certain at first, it seemed oddly quite fitting afterward.

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 6:40 pm

Clam is a form of it in Latin. Clam!

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 6:41 pm

How silly!

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 6:43 pm

I'm now going of the "mystic" idea, but Wiktionary only has the Croatian translation.

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 6:44 pm

Well, get back to me on that then.

Correspondence 11/10/08 17:41 - 20:16

Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 5:41 pm

I have begun to download a program that should help me make a truly epic map. If it doesn't work, I'll have it done by tomorrow anyway.

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 6:15 pm

Tomorrow there is no school for Arbor I mean Veteran's day. And I am familiar with the program of which you speak. (I am a dabbler of the constructed worlds, as I am majo-torially into the sci and the fi...)

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 6:28 pm

Which program then?

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 6:29 pm

The one... with... the... globe?

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 6:30 pm

Maybe? I'm downloading it as a torrent, so it'll be a while before it's done, so I don't know if what you're saying is accurate or not.

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 6:30 pm

I dunno. It's just that I've read the Wikipedia article on making fictional maps.

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 6:32 pm

PS. I did some arting a while ago, and I may have come up with a possible T shirt design.

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 6:34 pm

As long as it's in, like... Not those garish colors. White on Black would be pretty cool. And change the typeface Kite's name is written in.

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 6:35 pm

I agree with you, and I'll get around to changing it.

Re: Maps

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 10, 2008 8:15 pm

You got that thing downloaded yet?

Re: Maps

From Persomem to POMegranate   Nov 10, 2008 8:16 pm

Nope, it's only a fourth of the way done, torrents take forever.

Correspondence 10/28/08 19:48 - 11/2/08 13:23

   So, uh, here we go. We'll start with some Persistence of Memory stuff, but it won't all be that, for reasons of it's mostly spoilers. But this one isn't spoilers, so I feel comfortable sharing it. In this one, we don't know what to call the capital of the Persistence. Steinway, it's called now. But back then, we didn't know. Naming in this series is very important, and we needed to come up with something good. (Steinway doesn't really have any real symbolic significance, but it sounds cool.) But, anyway. It's kind of short today, but these do get a lot longer. (Well, obviously the conversation is ongoing, but I'm arranging them into posts based on the subject matter we discuss in each one. Today's subject matter is the name of the Persistence capitol.)

The Capitol

From Persomem to POMegranate   Oct 28, 2008 7:48 pm

What is the Persistence capitol called? I'm not sure what to call it. Also, for a denonym, would Persistants work?

Re: The Capitol

From POMegranate to Persomem   Oct 31, 2008 8:45 am

Neither am I...

and very cute.

Re: The Capitol

From POMegranate to Persomem   Nov 2, 2008 1:23 pm

I'm thinking a ''the'' name would be good. Like "The Prague" or something. Even though Prague doesn't have an article in front of it.

Correspondences

   Shoot, I don't have much new stuff. Well, I do, but it's not going to go as far as I need it to go to cover two years. I do have a bunch of old archived correspondences with Cailin. I think I'll start to share them here, as

1. It'll give you some insight into our creative process
2. Cailin and I are just two great tastes that taste great... together
3. It's fun to go through other people's correspondence
4. I just need something to post, and a lot of this is good filler.

   A lot of it is spoilers, so I won't be sharing those with you. A lot of it is also pointless ramblings. I will share those with you, not only because it fills up a lot of space but also because it showcases how both of us are too clever for our own good...s. A lot of it will be edited for spoilers, and to make conversations easier to follow since often we had more than one thread going on at the same time. And sometimes we misspelled stuff, so I corrected most of that. So now, it'll look like we're smarter than we actually are. Revisionist history is a-okay.

Robin Hood Challenge

   Come to think of it, how am I going to do the Lion King thing, when I do get around to it? Rewatching Robin Hood, which is almost exactly the same length as The Lion King, just from watching it once I think I got about a good half a month's worth of posts. I'm truncating it here, of course, so you don't see all of them now, but all of that's just from one watch-through. I'm not sure what a year of Lion King would do to me.

1. Sheriff has five fingers in certain shots
2. The raccoons- I see what you did there. They are sparsely used, but effectively.
3. Trigger is the one with the helmet, Nutsy is the one in the hood.
4. Sir Hiss is a pervert!

   Also, this one, which is by far my favorite. Little John reaction shot to Robin's apparent death:

How Much is That in Blog Years?

   So, uh, here I go through with it. Two years. Yep. Just one year of Lion King is a lot of Lion King. Two years of posts is exactly one more "a lot" of a lot of posts. Two years, 365 times 2, 730 days. 730 posts. If I could crank out one post a minute, that would be six hours just to do a year's worth. 365 minutes, a little over six hours. Six hours, five minutes, yeah? Pretty simple math.

   Alternatively, think of that as 24 months. 24 hours in a day. If I were to schedule two years' worth of posts in a day, that'd be one every two minutes. Six hours again, doing twice as many, in twice the time. Also simple math. There's any sorts of ways I could break this down. No, what's really going to be difficult is deciding not what but when. When which post will go where. The jostling of the scheduling.

The Most Wonderful Year of the Time

   Huh. I realized that I've been just so anxious about this thing, counting down the days until I go out, I've had no time to count down or be anxious about anything else, like, for instance, the impending Apocalypse. Now it's my first day, and I'm out, but that's probably the only thing that's been on anybody else's mind. Except for Christmas, maybe. Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays just keep getting bigger and bigger. Though maybe that's in anxiety of our impending doom.

   Well, that's not what I've been anxious about.

DECEMBER 2012: THE PERFECT TIME TO GO OUT ON YOUR MISSION.

And So It Begins (New Profile)

Here I go out today, and the prescheduled posts have begun. To reflect this change in status, I have decided to update my profile information. Exciting, I know, right? Old profile (you may be familiar with this one): I am as of yet a professional student... of life. In my spare time, which is roughly all of it, I like to arts, crafts, and wonder what the heck the existence of Christopher Nolan means for the rest of us. New profile (for the next couple of years): Amateur everything. Daily blogger. I'm on my mission now, but new posts, scheduled beforehand for the most part, will keep on chugging on out.

Well...

   Well, frig. I thought I was over Friendship is Magic, but... The third season is really really good. Quite possibly the best so far. While the bronymoon continues being long over, there's something new and interesting here: they seem to be making more references to, not the older fans of the show, but... the toy line of all things. Drawing those twin properties closer together, I guess, as perhaps they've drifted too far apart. Well, it's not like they're doing that so much as the exact same thing they did to the bronies: winks and nods and references. Or, at least, that's what I see in it. Sweetie Belle covering herself in luster dust in One Bad Apple clearly(?) represents glitter pony toys. What else could it be? It only makes sense. So the third season is good. Great. But...

   I am not a fan of My Little Pony. Let me make that clear. My Little Pony is a fan of me, is what's going on there. And now they're airing it alongside Littlest Pet Shop, which is more embarrassing to admit you watch, but I like it. I don't know what the verdict is on that, and I don't care. It's... sexy. (In the way that poodles are sexy, don't arrest me.) It's exciting. Though it lacks the audioporn of the voice casting (Eric McCormack!) in Pound Puppies, which I guess I'm also (admitting?) I watch, it's still really... I mean... but I... sigh. The entire thing is an exercise in not being ashamed of being a fan of good television. You don't see this kind of thing for Adventure Time.

   I've got a theory, though. The very popularity if it is tied to the fact that it is what it is. Not popular because people start watching it "ironically" at first but then discovering its quality. (That seems bitter, putting that in scare quotes, but it's not bitter and that's the only way I see fit to describe it. Not irony. A sense of... curiosity? No, that's another reason entirely.) It doesn't draw viewers because it's My Little Pony- now pay attention, this is a fine distinction- it draws viewers because it's good, because it's My Little Pony.

   Back to the SWAT Kats thing (full circle?)- a fine distinction in how the show wasn't cancelled by the network for being violent, it was cancelled because it wasn't selling toys by the network because it was violent so they didn't want to push the action figures (remember, this was back in the '90s, when everyone had to find something new to be paranoid about after the fall of Communism so they focused on entertainment for a little while.) So here we've got the opposite situation, since obviously not only is it selling toys but it's based on toys, so the show sells the toys instead of vice versa and it's not being cancelled by the network.

More Bedding Stuff

   I talk about that a lot. Perhaps I should make that a new category or something. There was my bedsheet...

Bowser...

...well, never mind, that's pretty much it. But I had a wonderful (early Christmas?) yesterday, and got a new quilt I customized myself.

   Isn't it handsome?

Namaste

Aside from my own news, there's a bunch of other news that's not about me and not about what my own news is about. It's all on the same topic, which my own topic can't even be about for a couple of years, and even though I'm getting ready for something, that's kind of superseded by all the other news all in the same vein and all to everybody else. I mean, it's like everyone is getting hitched and popping out babies now except for me. Sometimes doing both.Which brings to mind...

I wonder if Cailin's really going to wear that traditional Indian wedding garb she said she wanted to. Namaste, future wife, indeed.

Wow. I'd make a list here, but I'm afraid I'll leave somebody out.

The (Final?) Countdown

Yeah, it's coming up, pretty quickly, isn't it. I'm almost good on my promise. I mean, I've got the major chunks planned out. The tough part is maneuvering the chunks around the other chunks, as the features can either smack into each other or mesh together like cogs. But it's frightening how easily this is snapping into place. Maybe I should talk about something else. Fair enough.

My parents had kind of (jokingly??) suggested doing one last 24-hour comic this week, and now that Cailin's at least still alive and with a less busy schedule, who knows? I was going to watch DKR on the DVD (it comes out tomorrow) with subtitles on. Yep.

Emissary

   I had questions about the book all throughout November, but Cailin has been sort of insanely busy lately, and couldn't get to me in months. She broke her silence just in time for the end of NaNoWriMo, though. It's nice to see her back among the realm of the living. Congratulations, by the way, I suppose, are in order while I'm on it. I think the post I was originally considering posting today was an imploration for her to contact me, but I guess I don't have to do that anymore.

   But with a little under a week left, that kind of puts me in an awkward spot. I'm not sure wht questions I still have for her, or she has for me. But now that she is herself back in the land of the living, she shall be my emissary for it while I am out of it.

Wow

   Just a week now. Y-yikes. And I'm leaving the day before that. Heh. I'm going to miss you guys, I guess? Hopefully, though, by Monday, you won't have to miss me. Yeah.

Yeah...

   Okay, so that's a nix on that podcast, as instead they're (?) planning on going onto other people's podcasts to spread the good word. I told you about the podcast yesterday so I wouldn't have to do that today, but now I have to tell you about it today because the news has changed, so if I wanted to avoid having to tell you the news I could have done that yesterday. Something something something IRONY.

   I guess instead there's this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXMZ7deMDO8 which is just a video saying the same thing that I said yesterday (and yes, it is "just" that- there is literally no new information there. But, uh, hey, the IAmA is tonight. I guess. That could, you know, clear up any lingering questions.

   Am I... Am I done? I should really move on, but I've reported all of those things and felt the need to follow up on them, because all of the information I've given you has been incomplete, or incorrect in some way. This is ongoing, so there's been a lot of follow-through I've needed to go through with, but I think I've told you enough for you to be able to make you own decisions. I guess that I'm saying, I'm done.

   This'll teach me for making a coincidentally timely reference while talking about bronies.

   EDIT: New video to replace the other video, about the new, old petition which is old but it works better so it's the new one (yeah, pretty complicated. Do you see why I have to make so many updates and corrections in the first place? Anyway, the new video for the old petition is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdQuDXOgtb0&feature=plcp

Re: SWAT Kats Petition

   Maybe I spoke too soon. There is a petition that came out (yesterday, after I had said that this isn't a petition, so maybe not,) but I'm alright with it because that's really only in coordination with the official Tremblay-brothers bits, and is not some independent kid-from-his-garage thing. The petition and the names thereon simply are meant to signify that there's quite a widespread group of people who are interested in seeing SWAT Kats return. In case any major studios (namely, Warner Brothers) are interested in picking it back up, they know they'll have a built-in fanbase.

   There's no contractual obligation to WB there by the Tremblay brothers, but, I suppose the new show is going to need some producer/distributor, so why not the original network. I would prefer not to have Turner involved in the revival since they're the ones who screwed it over in the first place, so there's that. And I had thought that SWAT Kats was being resuscitated anyway, regardless of whether WB carries it or not? Hmm, maybe that could be a question for the IAmA tomorrow.

   This could go nowhere, but that's the news I'm obligated to report. You can check it out for yourself, here:

http://www.change.org/petitions/time-warner-inc-get-new-episodes-of-the-swat-kats-produced

   Also, keep your eye peeled for the SWAT Kats Revival Podcast, which I'm telling you about now so that I don't have to take the time out to report on it later.

Radical News

   Sweet, sweet, sweet, exciting news. You know how just a few days ago I told you about how the SWAT Kats fandom is still healthy after all these years off the air? I might have been wrong about that. Not about its health, I mean, but about how SWAT Kats has been off the air. Well, it has been off the air, too, so not that either. I guess it's both of those combined. It's healthy, in spite of being four years off the air.

   Ha ha, no, wait. Not four years. I'm not sure where I got the number four, it just flowed out of my fingers. Freudian typo. I think it's from the presidential term length, as, in between composing this post, I was just reading some old posts of mine that I never got around to publishing and that now I can't post because the election season's over and they're old news. Four years, yeah, right. (Obama's been president for four years now. That's, like, several lifetimes internet time. So far. I don't know. The internet's slowing down, right?) 

   Anyway, no, it's been far longer than four years. It's been, what, seventeen years now? Seventeen years. Wow, has it been that long. Thirteen more years since Obama's been in office. But! It's healthy, the SWAT Kats fandom, in spite of the show being seventeen years off the air. That healthiness transpired to be a good thing. (Looks like the Big Bird thing didn't pan out (whatever that even was in the first place.)) I had done all my research on the SWAT Kats fandom previously, and wasn't really in a position to know any of the latest news on that front when Bro... Pony? was published. But, boy was the latest news exciting.

   Yeah, you can probably guess what the news is, from all of that. Even if you hadn't already heard the news, you probably could have guessed. After seventeen years off the air, they're trying to bring it back. Officially, I mean, trying to bring it back. This isn't some kid drafting up petitions out of his garage. (I love how you can get as political as you want on Facebook and have absolutely no one call you out on it. It's a place for friends (no, wait... that's... some other thing,) so even if you disagree with someone you still see them as a person I guess?) It's the actual creators of the show, those with the actual rights to it. The only question (besides when) is how.

   There was a Reddit IAmA last night 10:00 Eastern time, here, discussing possible plans, but (luckily?) SWAT Kats co-creator Christian Tremblay is sort of new to the whole Reddit thing and had some technically difficulties with it (again- he couldn't even figure out how to show up for the first planned IAmA,) so they broke it off prematurely in order for him to maybe gain some practice with it and not waste so much time fiddling around trying to figure everything out like he did the first two times (the first one time?) (Is it irony or destiny that Obama used Romney's "47% of the population wouldn't vote for me" dig as almost a guarantee that 47% of the population wouldn't vote for him?) This lack of Reddit prowess is, like I said, a blessing in disguise, because now they're doing a second 90-minute IAmA this coming Thursday at 10:00 Eastern, which I can report in time for you to experience live. That's twice the SWAT Kats goodness. And, you know, hopefully you can check this one out in time.

   Isn't it great that whenever I'm late reporting for something like this, it doesn't matter because something goes wrong anyway? (see: the Chicon 7 live feed thing.) They're doing a Kickstarter sometime... soonish, to get funding for whatever it is they decide to end up doing. Really, if you've got any other questions on it, just check out the IAmA.

Alright

   Lincoln is out, which is about the ratification of the thirteenth amendment; during the trailers of which one for Django Unchained coming out soon, which is about a slave-turned-bounty-hunter; and having recently rewatched Holes, which is about digging for the buried treasure of a woman who turned outlaw after they killed her boyfriend for being black... I'm thinking God is trying to tell me not to be racist. Well, thanks, God. I wasn't planning on it.

   The year is 1863. The Civil War has just ended; a new battle has begun: The Reconstruction of the United States itself. The Union had broken up during the Civil War by separatist states, forming the Confederate States. When the Union won, the nation had to be mended, in an era known as the Reconstruction. But, right as this is beginning, the President was shot. Would Southern Reconstruction been more successful if Abraham Lincoln had not been assassinated? It’s pretty clear that Andrew Johnson was a bad president (he was impeached,) but would even Lincoln be good enough for the enormous task?
   If Reconstruction had been done by Lincoln, would we still have quite as much racism in the South? Would blacks not be restricted by segregation later on? Would we still have the black power movement? 

Hot, Fat, and Link'd

   Surprising news. That Red Dawn remake actually doesn't look too bad. Not good like Lincoln good, but good like "ha ha awesome stuff blowing up get those commies!", except slightly more cerebral than that. You know, fun. It's got Chris Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson... is that Josh Peck? I... I guess that's Josh Peck. That is Josh Peck. I hardly recognized him. Hey, that's Josh Peck.

   Yeah, I knew he did voice work in Ice Age, and so that he was still acting. But, seeing him here is still surprising, as now he's all... skinny. Skinny Josh is weird. Josh Peck's looked kind of weird ever since he lost all that weight. But, uh, Moviefone ranked him the nineteenth hottest under-25 actor in 2008. Josh, hot? I suppose you can see it if you try not to compare him with "fat Josh." I mean, let's try looking at it, shall we?

Josh Peck.

   Josh Peck. Okay, trying to picture him as hot. Ignore "fat Josh." It's now, "hot Josh." Alright, hot Josh. I guess I can see it. In fact, he kind of looks like...

Link Neal.

   Aargh. I can't unsee that. Seriously, what the? Just... They've got the same hair and everything. I don't even...

Bro... Pony?

   New pony stuff today, you say? I'm okay with that. I'm kind of okay with being defined as "that brony guy." Oh, man, in fact that's probably making it up on my Wikipedia page. But I've got no investment in the third season. It's probably just as enjoyable as ever. I don't know, I haven't seen any of it, even though I said I was anticipating it. Holy crap, though, that's little girl stuff. Something's changed. Maybe. The Bronymoon is over.

   Don't get me wrong. It's still, you know, good. And I think it's going to continue to be good.

   It's not a fad like some say. I don't think bronies are going away. SWAT Kats has been off the air for twenty years, yet there's still a thriving internet culture dedicate around that. It didn't even make it past the second season, and Friendship is Magic is already well into its third with no signs of flagging. And as sad as the SWAT Kats fandom may or may not be (it was an awesome show; come on) you can't deny that it's quite healthy.

   There's a bit of a (fallacy?) there that humor comes in "layers" for differing age groups, and there need to be different layers for everyone to enjoy for everyone to enjoy. On the other hand there are those who would find it- trying to remember the exact phrase, it was something like "wrong and twisted"- to throw in more mature humor.  It's true that different age groups might prefer different deliveries of their humor, but outside of basics like timing it right there's not much behind that theory.

Tommy Westphall

"I don't understand this autism.  I talk to my boy, but...I'm not  even sure if he ever hears me...Tommy's locked inside his own world.  Staring at that toy all day long. What does he think about?"

   A lot of people only seem to remember St. Elsewhere for its ambiguous ending, like the entire thing might have been fake. But St. Elsewhere also broke ground in other places. For instance, it had one of the first butts to be shown on prime-time television. So, you know, that's something. Not that that's anything too shocking. It was, like, Fred Willard's, or something. We all expected it from him sooner or later. But, anyway, the ending is also important.

   This is one of my most favorite subjects. It combines television with confusing canon-y bits with meta stuff. Basically, the ending of St. Elsewhere revealed the entire thing to (possibly) take place inside a snow globe owned by Tommy Westphall, a young autistic boy. St. Elsewhere often crossed over with other TV shows, and those shows crossed over with other shows sometimes, and so on, until a good 80% of everything on television may or may not take place inside the elaborate imagination of an autist. Yes, including that show you're thinking of right now. (It was NCIS, wasn't it? It's always NCIS.)

   No, I wouldn't be able to explain the entire thing to you. A lot of the shows that cross over just frankly kind of suck, for one. I'm not touching that. It's still great, though.

   Anyway, I'm bringing this up now because I recently stumbled across this, which provides logical arguments to claim that all our favorite fictional shows are not necessarily fictional, and provides six points against that. Which is good. A lot of stuff outright contradicted itself, like who the president was and stuff. Be sure to read the comments section there, as there might be some good stuff down there, too, who knows. Maybe you could tell me what's down there, as my brain just kind of switches off whenever someone uses a little question mark symbol for an apostrophe.

http://tar.weatherson.org/2004/10/04/six-objections-to-the-westphall-hypothesis/

Baby, Baby, Baby

   Had my birthday a couple of days ago. Twenty-first, for those of you who still weren't paying attention. To reiterate: 21 on the 20. That fits. Had it been a day earlier, 21 on the 19. More symmetrical. In more ways than one, apparently; my father wanted me to have been born on 11/19/1991. Now that's symmetry.

   November 19, 1991 is also the day U2 came out with their landmark album Achtung Baby. If I had been born then, then I myself would have been one. An Achtung baby. Well, I still might be one. The day after still counts, though, right? It's within a day, so, yeah, I think we're safe, not even counting the time zones and everything.

u2.com

   So, yeah, 21. Awesome. I'm totally ready for a night on the town. Now that I'm legally old enough to drink, I think to celebrate let's go out and let's get everyone a round of, like, Shirley Temples or something. Woo. That's living large. Okay, maybe not that. Maybe, like, some Roy Rodgerses? That's, like, the male equivalent, right? Shirley Temples are for girls.

   Said the brony.

   ...Alright, fair enough. Shirley Temples it is then.

2014

   When I'm coming back. 2014. That's... in a while. I've still got a mind to keep on updating, though. I don't have very many more posts to schedule beforehand as of now, even. Hopefully this will be a productive week in terms of, like, writing some of those down, and stuff.

2013

   As I'd brought up yesterday, tomorrow marks one month till the winter solstice and some ancient calendar somewhere magically winds down, which has been interpreted to marking the end of the world because of the calendar's unusually good ability to predict other astronomical events. Yeah. But today, it is my birthday.

   Yeah.

   I had a dream where it was my twenty-first birthday (so, today) only I was sad. Since this dream was before it was my actual twenty-first birthday (...yes) that meant that I had skipped all that time in between and gone straight from the day of the night I had that dream to today, missing all the days in the middle. Tomorrow marks the day, one month till the solstice and the alleged end of the world. So, I had gone and skipped ahead through all this time and now only had one more month to live. It was a sad birthday.


Everyday I feel as though I’m done for
Every night I feel my time has come
Although I am still very young.

I dreamt it was my birthday
And the world was ending
I had made it to 21
But I couldn't to 2013

Twenty
Thirteen, thirten, thirteen.
Twenty
Thirteen.

You'd set some trends
among your friends
they'd invented a thing and called it love
Whatever keys to fit whatever locks
When we were still very young
We had just worked out the paradox
Of being half yet whole,
Whole yet incomplete,
Of being two yet one.

(Twenty thirteen.
We're gonna have a war
If you don't tell me no.
Twenty thirteen.)

When we’re old, just marking time until we die
Our children will sing us this song,
And they will still be very young.

2012

   A lot of lack-of-Twinkies-bringing-on-end-times humor flying around. Well hardy, har, har. Though you'd suppose they'd be one of the only things to survive the Apocalypse (in fact, we did that as the scenario for a sketch once for Odyssey of the Mind- a story of a girl being hit by a bus, past, present, and future, with the future scenario being post-apocalyptic and it's cockroaches driving around Twinkies.)

   Yeah, let's talk about that instead. After my birthday, it's just a month until the Mayan calendar runs out of space. Did I say runs out of space? I meant PREDICTS THE END TIMES. I think people don't really believe that, but keep perpetuating it because they need other people to believe it so that they've got somebody to feel superior over. At the same time there's that uncertainty that you can't disprove it, and doubt is a powerful force.

There's a Pun in All of This Somewhere...

   I've still got that Twinkie. But now I'm not sure about eating that Twinkie. Man, I really wanted to eat that Twinkie. I might still want to eat that Twinkie. But I'm not sure that I should eat that Twinkie. Whatever. I am going to eat that Twinkie. I'm sure they'll come back, and cheaper. People are just being stupid, and having no knowledge of business. If there's one thing about Twinkies, it's that they abide. Not because they've got all these preservatives in them or whatever (they really don't,) but because companies don't just disappear from the face of the earth. So I will eat that Twinkie.

   But now I'm not really all that hungry.

Re: Yesterday's Cryptic Twinkies Reference

   Back on the regular schedule again, which means that it's been just 14 1/2 hours since my last post instead of the standard 24. (24 hours between posts- hey, I should totally do a 24 hour comic between my posts one of these days! That'd be so awesome. Like, one post is all, "okay, I'm gonna make a totally awesome comic book now, you guys," and the next post is all, "okay, I'm done, check it out, you guys." Yeah, maybe some day.) Anyway, at the end of that post (which means the most recent part of that post, I guess,) I referred to eating a lot of Twinkies. Let me explain.

   I ate so many Twinkies because the Twinkies were just flying all over. And the Twinkies were flying all over because everyone (meaning- and I guess I'm getting this specific now because of how awesome it is: a man named Brother Whale, pronounced two syllables: "Wally," and that's what's so awesome-) was buying Twinkies. And everyone was buying Twinkies because- hold on and let me stop right there. My mother just discovered my last Twinkie from my lunch bag, and she said, quote: "Oh, a Twinkie! You know that's going to be worth a lot of money one day... When Hostess goes out of business." So I guess I've been preempted to it right there:

    Hostess totally went out of business you guys! Or at least went bankrupt. While that doesn't necessarily mean no more Twinkies, that's what everybody seemed to be acting like. No more Hostess. 18,000 employees laid off. I'm not bothering to double-check that figure, but that's the one that was used when everyone was talking about it all morning, so I feel confident that they knew what they were talking about. Also I won't double-check that figure because maybe this was all a hoax just to have an excuse to buy Twinkies and Wonderbread, I don't know. Go out and buy Twinkies! SO MANY delicious Twinkies buy them all! I'm perpetuating it here because even if it were a hoax, it'd be an awesome hoax! Twinkies are supposed to be right now going for something like $10-$20 per Twinkie on the internet right now. Per. Twinkie. Unbelievable? Probably. Once again, this is all just hearsay, and I'm not gonna look that figure up. Why bother to look up the truth when the lies are so awesome? (You can quote me on that, I guess. (Such a mentality might explain a lot of stuff about the human condition and what's going on in the world right now, but, it's true!))

   What was supposed to have happened, I hear, was this: Hostess, being on the verge of going under, threatened bankruptcy if the unions decided to strike, because they'd actually have to go bankrupt if the unions went on strike. Long story, short: "nevertheless."

   Yeah.

   Hostess self-terminated. Like a boss. They made good on their threat, and went out with a bang (of creme filling, probably.) Lessons from this:

1. Hostess, much like Jack Bauer, doesn't negotiate with terrorists. Or, uh, unions. Whatever.
2. Rule number one: Never bluff. No matter how insane the threat is, always make sure you go through with it. Even if it kills you to do it, you'll look cool and you'll just be seen as somehow even more awesome when you do go through with it.
3. Something something unions, some Aesop about self-interest dragging everybody down. Although I'm pretty sure this goes against Aesop's goose-and-gander thing (that was Aesop, right?)
4. Never ever ever do the research, and always rely upon hearsay. You will go far.

Why I'm Late (and Why I'd Be Early in the First Place)

   Ever since I learned that the warmest time for web traffic occurs around 8:30 a.m., I've posted at that time. People, waking up, grabbing a cup of beverage, (going to their jobs I guess? I don't know, what do people do?), checking on any updates at 8:30 in the morning. I guess. I don't know, I haven't really seen very much spike in web traffic since I became more regular in my updates but that's what they say. More regular in my updates. Still daily, but as close to 8:30 a.m. as I can make it. Power outages cutting out my internet connectivity prevented me from doing that today, but, ha ha, that doesn't mean no post today. I've got the entire rest of the day to post. Free to take my time. I'm doing both now. Still posting, still taking my time. Not that I have to, on either.

   But I guess I'm done stalling now. Ending the silence. I kind of liked it, though, is the thing. It was nice. I liked not having to do a post. It's much more fun not having to work than having to work. Which is why they invented retirement, as well as welfare fraud. Who cares if you're being a burden on society, you don't have to work, this is awesome! But that's exactly why I do force myself to post daily. Being faithful in a few things. Having a work ethic, as simple as this one may be. Making promises and learning follow-through.

   Follow-through. That's the problem with dreamers. Dreaming but never making anything a reality. You can still be an idealist. Just try not to flake. But I'm one to talk. (Is anyone still mad at me over the Collapse thing, where I dreamt up an idea but didn't follow-through by contacting one of the biggest modern rock acts and asking pretty please to have some of their music for free for our stupid little indie film? Or had you forgotten it and now I just reminded you? I'm still not sure about that. I don't know what Dave's idea was, or what he would have done. Maybe like cut me up or something. That guy's in the military, man (or at least he gets military discounts at Dairy Queen drive-through; I'm not sure what that would amount to in less practical terms. That thing where he lived through Katrina, that was because he was stationed there, right? I suppose now with Sandy that's topical again. Dang I wonder what's going on with that right now. I guess it goes to show how cut off I am. Not that I was anything but a glorified intern.) But, no, not Dave. But still this just came out of left field. I suppose I could have been a little more involved with music direction to make that less so. And at least now I'm into woulda coulda shoulda instead of making more excuses.)

   But, hey, I've eaten more Twinkies today than I think ever before. That's something, right?

Personal Archeology

   I cleaned/was forced to clean out my room, going through all my old papers and throwing out the stuff I didn't want. Let me tell you, it was hard. I had always assumed that I was just going to keep all of my old school papers, you know, indefinitely. But having all these papers and old calendars and mail offers and stuff clumped together with actually important papers like old drawing and stuff ensured that I would never get to see all those old drawings. Cleaning it all up, with a critical eye, made me realize and rediscover some old gems that I had missed (as well as some depressingly bad stuff I had forgotten about but must have been rather pleased when I had those done.) All in all, the scales are weighing toward "depressing."

Dream Dragon Drawing

   I dreamed that, with Season 3 of Friendship is Magic, Hasbro and/or whoever had introduced another complete redesign of the My Little Pony art style. It was... interesting. A lot... blockier, that I remember it being. But I'm all like, No, all my precious fanarts, now rendered obsolete! This art style looks absolutely nothing like what I've heretofore drawn!

   Spike, most notably, had gone from this:

to... well... this...:

   Whatever the hay that is. The rest of the ponies were still kind of recognizable as ponies, but, well, I don't know what that is. Barney?

Shopping Tangents

   Another weekly Monday shopping trip yesterday. Groceries, mostly. Christmas is coming. A little. I saw Christmas lights already at someone's house? I'm not sure if that's tacky. But when it comes to things like tackiness, when in doubt... So, anyway, shopping. I went on down to the toy aisle for a few minutes, and said to the worker there something like:

   "Didn't you get something new yesterday?"

   And he's all, "Like what?"

   "I don't know. Wasn't there this new thing that was supposed to come in?"

   "We get new things like every day, bro."

   True story, bro. True story. I'm not even sure what I was looking for, so I'm not sure if I found it, but I didn't stay long anyway, as that wasn't my primary purpose of being. I had actually just found a Darth Vader mask in some place where it didn't belong, and so I guess I was looking for a place to put that back, so maybe it was primarily that, aside from the other thing.

   Was there something new that came in the day before yesterday? Maybe the day before that. Mmm. I don't know. But for some reason (for some reason, yeah) whenever I closed my eyes after that, I saw the My Little Pony logo. See, can't you see all the frolicking Generation 3 ponies just looking at those words? It's weird, huh. I don't think it was that, though. That could be something else entirely. Because now whenever I close my eyes, I see Mok from Rock and Rule. It's... it's not a pleasant experience.

   So, I don't know what I was looking for, other than, it was new. It had shipped recently. That's it. Who knows? I don't. Maybe veterans...

Oh, There It Is.

   Another thing whose premier I missed. I guess I was kind of looking forward to it, if only because the trailers were so vague about when it was coming out? So, I guess there's a Where's My Water? show now, based on the continuing adventures of Swampy the alligator from Where's My Water?. I've played Where's My Water a couplefew times. It's alright. Great. It was apparently so popular they commissioned a show for it. This fact first came to my attention tthrough the (hilariously awesome (awesomely hilarious?)) trailer below. I doubt that kids have even heard of David Bowie or even Queen, but this is still great.


Under Pressure (Teaser) on Disney Video

   Facebook's "promotion" feature (whereby not every subscriber to a particular page would automatically get all of its updates, and only a given percentage would, unless the posts in question are "promoted,") introduced right around election time. I see what you did there, Facebook. Good boy, Facebook. And thank you. Thank you so much for that. You can, of course, still view all of the posts by going to the actual wall- timeline thing. But you don't have to pay attention to all of the politics. Awesome.

Awesome Things I Was Looking Forward To (That It Turns Out Already Came Out)

   I guess it's not a bad thing. At least I know that this happened. But, still, it would have been kind of nice to have heard of any of this earlier.

1. Wreck-it Ralph
2. Ruins, the sequel to Orson Scott Card's (even-better-than-Ender's-Game (in my opinion, be what it may)) Pathfinder
3. The return of Dr. Horrible, which apparently happened?

   Well, at least I'm not late for... well, you know. Just in time for that.

Beauty and the Beast

   Yes, the nation's #1 favorite musical about both Stockholm syndrome and implied zoophilia is here (we allowed to make jokes about that? Come on, you know it kind of is...) The nation's #1 favorite musical about just Stockholm syndrome, being, of course, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and the #1 favorite musical about just zoophilia would be Wicked. (wait... what do you mean they cut that subplot out of the show? I used to have the slightest modicum of respect for that...)

   But, nope, Beauty and the Beast. November 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 at 7 at the CCHS theater, with Saturday showings also occurring at 1. I went to go see it, and you'll probably go see it, so what I do isn't going to change your mind, but, uh... They'll probably iron out the kinks this time around. Not that there were many- just some dropped mics, and, when not that, the occasional feedback problems. The casting was alright. The songs were-- what they were... To be fair, I was never that big a fan of the source material in the first place. Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, Beauty and the Beast? I mean, what on earth is that supposed to even mean? And the magic system always struck me as being ill-defined. I'm not expecting Brandon Sanderson or anything (though how cool would that be?), but if you're going to come up with some magicky thing, you may as well stick with it. If he had an enchanted mirror the entire time (he did have it that entire time, right?), then why didn't he know that the old hag at the beginning might have been an enchantress? She'd have no reason to give it to him afterward. Not even to taunt him with showing how awesome the world he's now cut off from is- it's explicitly stated as being his only comfort.

   But maybe that's just passive aggression on my part. All of those plot-holes were probably present in the original fairy tale (which I read once, but all I can remember is the story of what exactly happened to Belle's mother.) So I guess it's not the adaptation's fault. It just magnifies any flaws that may have been there originally. At least it, for instance, draws attention to the parallels of the opposite nature of Gaston and the Beast. Which was kind of awesome- where the ugliness lay and all that.

   So that was good.

Dum... Dum... Dum... Dum... Duuuummmm.

   Shopping for groceries on my weekly shopping-for-groceries trip (grocery shopping trip??) I saw something I had only heard vague internet rumors about. It's My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Giant Coloring and Activity Book. ...Hey. Don't snicker. This is serious. I've checked out the Batman one, and it's pretty sweet, alright?

   So, I had heard of it, and now know that, yes, it exists. The fabled is true. I've seen it with my own eyes now, and I can tell you that any images you may see of it on the internet (well, maybe not any images...) are completely undoctored in any way (well, maybe not in any way...) But, here, have a look-see for yourself:

Hmm, seem pretty normal... Wait, hold up a minute. Right there on her flank. Push in on that, could you? Zoom... and enhance!

Whoa, what the--? (via My Little Pony Trading Post Forums)

   Princess Celestia has a Derpy inside her cutie mark. Yes, old news. But now I've seen it with my own eyes, and you should maybe go out and do the same, if you haven't already. It's immensely rewarding. Seriously.

   It's a pony... inside a pony. That's, like, Ponyception or something.

"We're gonna have to go another pony derp." (via How It Should Have Ended)

No7ember

   November. It continues to be that. It's the seventh now, which means that there's just one month until the next seventh, which means there's just a month left to get my affairs in order here. Alright. I've got a lot to do... and say... and... AAAH why'd it have to be so close to the political season I can't blog about both at the same time I can't deal with this!

   Calm down. Du calm, du calm. I can deal with this. I am dealing with it. Just... have a separate category for politics, or something. Yeah. More scheduling. You can do this. You can't not do this, at least. When people say they "can't wait" for something, like Christmas or something, they are lying. I mean, they don't mean it. Outside of hijacking the ISS to somehow make Christmas come earlier, Christmas will be waited upon. Which reminds me, shoot, we're gonna have to have Christmas early this year.

   So, uh, yeah. That's happening. Pretty... real.

6 November 2012

   Election day, and the race has never been tighter in an already really tight election. I urge you to go out and vote. For, you know, whomever. Quite frankly I'd like to see what would happen if either candidate wins. That'd be fun to watch. Ooh, ideally, we should split up the timeline so that in one universe one candidate wins and in the other the other wins. I guess you would then have to decide which one to live in? Which is what we're doing anyway, and how voting even works, only now the world exists without the guys who voted the other way. Wow, that's actually pretty high concept. And I don't think that would work because the very idea of an election is to appeal to the masses, instead of doing just whatever with the group that would already support you. You're stuck with whoever got voted in even if your guy loses. That makes sense. Okay.

   But, no, voters aren't suicidal. I guess I was kind of getting into that conspiracy theory mindset when I suspected that. This is a crazy critical time in the election, and both candidates have prepared for it by... playing parodies of themselves. Not like the SNL caricatures, as funny as that would probably be. (How's this year's? Any good?) But you can tell exactly how they'd react in any given situation. Mitt Romney is Mitt Romney. You can expect him to do exactly Mitt Romney things. And vice versa.

Novemberocity Rising

   Huh. Is it really the fifth already? Well, I don't have much to say on that. I'm not saying time for Novembery-ness (Novemberocity?) is passing quickly; after all, that's all I've talked about this month. But there's still Octobery stuff that's ongoing. (It's been about a week since Sandy, right? So it's not too soon to say, I wonder if Gilbert Gottfried has made any adorably insensitive tweets about it yet? Badum-tish. No, alright, that was still horrible.) And there's stuff from October whose sole purpose it is to culminate in November. (Gaar I can't think of any jokes about the election.)

   So, really, October to November is more of a continuum than anything else. We're still in the early, Octobery bits of November. The truly most Novembery thing in November happens on the 22nd this year, and from there it's a transition into December. But, as Octobery as it may yet be this November, it continues to be November.

   Yeah, I guess that was worth saying.

Fourth November

   It's November fourth, and it's my fourth post of November. I was originally going to comment on what a big coincidence that was, until I realized that it's nawt actually a coincidence and I should feel ashamed for even thinking that it was. Aargh and now I told you about that particular bit of stupidity. Wait, that's not even necessary-- this post isn't even about November. It's about how it was going to be about November, but is now on how it's not. I guess that makes it not count? Like, there was no stupidity there? Or does that make it even more stupid? Yeah, probably. Sometimes, stupid things happen, for no reason other than stupidity. I guess is the moral here.

   Oh, wait. I've thought of something. This totally has to do with November. The end of daylight savings time. Already I feel as though the day is somehow longer, somehow. Is it always on the first Sunday of November? Hmm, I've got a funny story to tell about that. Later. Right now, I'm off to go feel foolish I guess. Even after that, there's not even a point to this post...

Novembery Things

   The Days, they are-a tickin' down. I could be using them to accomplish things useful (see yesterday's post,) Novembery things, you know. Instead, I did not spend yesterday doing Novembery things. I spent the entirety of yesterday watching X-Files, reading Penny Arcade, and eating loads and loads of carbs.

   TOTALLY WORTH IT LET'S DO IT AGAIN.

   Maybe not today- I've got things today. Maybe Novembery things, maybe not. But, you know, sometime, ever again.

Still November

   It's (still?) November, which means NaNoWriMo (as well as apparently NaBloWriMo, but since I'm pretty sure I've got doing a blog post per day for a month covered, I'm going to use it to preschedule a bunch of posts- like, a couple years' worth of them.) Chew on it!

   I've got the rewrite working, on a scene-by-scene level and on a sentence-by-sentence level, but not on a plotpoint-to-plotpoint level. That sounds boring, but it's a big problem right now, as there are characters doing things that, while it certainly fits their characterization some of the times, they're doing for no reason. Not like "doing for no reason" but still advancing the plot; that'd be doin it for plot reasons. These characters are doing things for no reason at all.

   Naturally, I've got some questions about that, but I'm incommunicado. I don't know what's going on with Cailin. Well, I've got an idea. But would a new child really derail your life so much? Well, besides "yes," but is she really too busy to have checked her e-mails in- hold on now- two and a half months? Not once? Especially in today's world? So either that's deliberate pointed ignorance of me, which it probably isn't because as previous contact would indicate we're pretty much mutual fans of each other (is that redundant?), or she's just more busy than I can comprehend.

   I don't know how I'm gonna get through this.

November

   Just a spooky Halloween story for you there. Based off of some real-life cases of local artists who decide to cash in on serial killer activity in the area, "Fear Her," the X-Files, and really as many related clichés as I could pack into one story. There was that one episode of CSI: NY with the encoded comic books, I think, and that Criminal Minds episode with Frankie Muniz... Anyway, hoping to make it a Halloween tradition. A new spooky story every Halloween. It's not a tradition till, what, the third time? Well, whatever.

   October is over (does that mean there was no Collapse cast and crew screening party? Or was I just not invited, despite being crew? Is this punishment for having no stake in how this project goes anymore, or is this validation?) Well, whichever. It is now November- the month of giving thanks. And, just truly, there's just so much to be thankful for this year. First of all, the end of campaign season, ha ha ha. Crystal Empire on the tenth (!), Wii U on the eighteenth (!!), my birthday, Thanksgiving itself. Wow, that's exciting.

   No, kitty. Off of the keyboard. Off of the keyboard, kitty. Away from my taco. Get away from my tacofgttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                5kb,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkujujujujujujujujikkk 8iuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000009iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiy6767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767676767uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666l,,,,ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

Under the Artist's Loving Hand

   The room is wide, with a low ceiling. It is dark save for the worklamp of an artist at his easel, who is applying the finishing touches to the drawing before him. There is a knock on the door; the artist yells out to come in. The door opens: just a crack at first, to let in a harsh splinter of daylight; and then fully, to silhouette two people standing in the doorway. It is a pair of police officers, federal agents by the look of them. A march hare and a spring chicken; an old grizzled male agent and his young eager female trainee. Mind if we ask you a few questions? They close the door behind them, and it is dark once more.

   They are here investigating a mysterious rash of disappearances, and have targeted the artist as a person of interest in the case. The artist is publishing comic books based around the supposed serial killings. The agents are clearly disgusted with him. They know this type. Scumbag. A local struggling artist who found the oppurtunity to make his big break with the shameless exploitation of his hometown on the news, cashing in and making a quick buck off of others' suffering. They are here to question him because he has something to gain from the disappearances. His alibi is solid, though; he was working in the studio all week, no rests or outside breaks, finishing up the comic based on the disapperence of the victim prior to this one. His voice is low and intimate as he explains the facts. All throughout the questioning he studies the agents' faces intently, as if trying to memorize them.

   He is now working on the comic of the latest disapperence, and was just now interrupted during his drawing of the latest victim. That disapearence had happened not a day ago. She was declared officially missing a few hours after that, which is when the agents got the call to come down from Washington. If the artist was just finishing up, he must have begun drawing the moment he got the news, and must have worked doubletime to get this panel done. Once more, it makes the agents sick that the artist is so quick to jump on the misfortunes of others. He has an airtight alibi, though, so he seems in all other ways entirely innocent of wrongdoing. When it's clear that the agents aren't going to get anything from him, they offer the business card and get up to leave.

   Wait, he calls out. I'm finished with this panel. Wouldn't you like to see my work? 

   He turns the easel around for them. The agents gasp in awe, which causes the artist to smile.

   The drawing before them is of the latest victim in her last known location, waving goodbye to her friends as she walks her bike from the local malt shoppe. His work is actually quite good, his figures have an unsurpassed quality of life and vitality. He is excellent, in fact. The figure of the missing is rendered lovingly, every detail seems to pop out in lifelike splendor. Around her, the figures and the background grow sketchy and hazy, allowing the eye's focus to dwell on the masterwork that is the figure in the foreground, more real than a photograph. It is curious that he could not sell anything before, and that he's squandering his talents on such mediocre comics. Many of the details in the cases are notoriously wrong. A lot of what actually happened to the victims in the comics, the sadistic torture they went through, was lurid speculation, contradicting many publicly-available facts. Sloppy writing, poor research, the names of the friends and family of the victims are almost invariably spelled incorrectly. It would be pure schlock if not for the masterful artwork. It's just a shame the artist doesn't apply himself elsewhere.

   The agents continue to consider the drawing before them; the artist continues to study their faces. The agents scan the drawing in gradually waning fascination. The artist leans forward. The agents lose all interest in the piece. The artist sits back. The agents get up and turn to leave. The artist smiles. The young agent turns back, a flicker of something in her eyes. The artist sits upright and curses.

   The young agent studies the drawing for a few more seconds, as if trying to place something, but shrugs it off. She rejoins the older agent, and they begin making their way across the studio. As they do, the artist looks down at the card, at the names on it. They know too much now, he decides. They suspect something. He sits down before the easel once more and flips to the next panel. The artist carefully writes out both of the agents' names in the top left corner, and begins a new drawing there, spiraling out from the center. The agents, silhouetted there in the doorframe, walking out. The very view that he has at this moment, in fact. In the sun, they are abstract shapes. The larger angular mound of the older agent, the less angular wisp of the younger agent. The artist begins filling in details.

   It is interesting to note that the artist never signs his work. He does not write his own name out on any drawings at all. The only place his name appears in the comic is on the solid crimson cover, which has only that, the title, and issue number card. There is power in names, power in depictions. The artist never puts his name anywhere with a picture, as he dares not bring this power against himself. 

   The door closes, but the artist no longer requires the reference. As he draws, the artist can feel the agent's life energy flowing out of them and into the drawing. Shapes spiderweb from the center, seem to fill themselves up on the canvas, inking in the darkness of the outer edges of the panel. It only pains him that he won't be able to report himself accurately in the next issue. But he will be the last one to see these agents alive. More agents will come after this, more agents will come and question. But the artist feels confident that, after this incident, none will come quite as close to discovering the truth. Now he can play the part, now he can be the hysterical grieving last witness, who has no clue what happened to those poor agents, no clue where they went. Yes, he decides, the attention will be drawn away from him quite sufficiently. Quite sufficiently indeed.

Groceries: The Budgeted

   Mmm. Of course budgeting is a word. Stupid, stupid. What did I think I was saying, budgetening? Budgetening. That's not a word, so that works.

   Also, where did I think I would get a waffle maker?

   I thought this would be an exercise in independence, but it only goes to prove my lack of ability to do basic independent things. So, I guess it succeeded there. As an exercise, at least. There was an exercise there. Also, food costs way less than $5, so I bought a lot more stuff than I thought I would. So now I've got my own meals and stuff, so that's good.