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I've enjoyed making these webcomics so much that I'm going to try doing it a few times a week now. We'll see how it works out.
Doom 3 hype is rampant, but that hasn't stopped pundits from criticizing the rather generic character design we've seen in videos (and hacked E3 "demo" versions) of the game.
As for site updates: I've uploaded the final version of my 3D demon to the animation site. That page is filling out quite nicely, I think. |
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After a long adjustment (read: mild freakout) period, I believe I've finally got my post-collegiate life in order. I've acclimated quite well to life in Brooklyn, and more importantly, nearly all of my consoles are hooked to the TV. The K'mputer is still kicking butt, as you can see.
I've been playing a lot of Quake 3 again, pitting myself against the best players
in hopes of one day becoming one of them. If you're ever floating around the
a51 servers, feel free to say hi -- my username is "Wiper". (For the curious,
this name originates from a deathmatch on N64 version of Quake 2, before which
I accidentally altered the factory-set name "Viper".)
In other news, Doom 3 is coming
out in two weeks. Holy crap. If this game lives up to both its history and the
massive cloud of hype surrounding it, August is going to be a pretty awesome
month. Other awesome things happening in August: The release of the new Presidents
album and the first Presidents show in New York in years. Check out the song
of the day below to hear the title track from the new album.
For the first time ever, I've updated the animation site with a 3D piece I did in the fall. Another one is coming up this week, so stay tuned. |
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I'm done, I'm graduated, life is good.
The ceremony went very well. It was great (and weird) to see almost all the people I've met in New York in one room. Congratulations and good luck to everyone!
The primary reason behind this tiny update is the addition of the gallatin graduation song to the songs page. I've got it up there with the lyrics, so you can tell just what the hell it is I'm saying.
More updates soon! |
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So, I vanquished the dreaded colloquium (it was actually kind of fun), and I'm done with class. If you want, you can now read my rationale.
I'm graduating from NYU in ten days.
I've still got two rather massive projects to complete by Tuesday, but otherwise it'll be clear sailing into summer.
I recently found out that my song was picked to be played at the Gallatin graduation ceremony, which is equally surprising and exciting. This means I'll be playing live at the Lincoln center to an audience of over 1200 people -- by far the largest audience I've ever had. I'll put an MP3 of it online after the performance.
It's totally going on the resume.
Other exciting news: I and Ms. Lauren McLaughlin are in the final stages of securing our apartment in Brooklyn. It's huge, cheap, and you can see pictures of it here. Expect an awesome housewarming party sometime after school ends.
With the new space comes plans for the new LAN. Initially, we'll have at least four computers connected and ready to game.
On my current dorm room LAN, we're still playing a lot of Halo. I'm looking for other good multiplayer suggestions for the new wave...
I've also decided to make the web comic a regular thing.
Time to get back to work -- more updates when I reach the other side! |
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It's been a while, but the time hasn't been spent in vain.
Or, at least, I hope it hasn't been.
Right now I'm working on a photo gallery and a downloadable goodies section for the site -- both of which I'd like to have running sooner rather than later. I'm also working on a site-wide comment system so you can all shower eloquent praise on my magnificent work. That'll take a bit longer, however, since I'm writing it from scratch.
Here's a desktop background that'll be among the first items on the future downloads page.
In the real world, I've been making steady progress on Rocktown and reading feverishly in preparation for my colloquium. You see, to graduate from Gallatin, you have to complete a two hour conversation with three faculty members on 25 "great books" that somehow relate to your area of study. It's going to be a bit of a stretch for me, since videogames didn't appear until the end of the 1970s and the bulk of my booklist was written before 1700.
Naturally, I've been having recurring nightmares about the upcoming ordeal.
Oh, and totally check out the song of the day -- Marathon r0x0rZzZz! |
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So I built myself a new computer.
Most computer enthusiasts would be content with the process of piecing hand-picked components together and mounting them in a commercial computer case.
I decided that I wanted something a bit more unique. Something more a bit more profound. Something built out of K'nex.
Thus, the K'mputer was born.
I still don't have enough pieces to fully realize my original case concept, but this build is working quite well for the time being. I'll resist falling into total geek-dom and bragging about its specs, so suffice to say it screams along at the highest of speeds.
Okay, one more sexy shot..
The construction and installation of this magnificent piece of hardware partially explains the gap between this post and the last. The rest of the explanation lies within the fact that I'm kuffin' busy. Give me a break.
I can't let you go empty-handed, though, so there are a few new drawings waiting for you. The last two were my second 3D modeling project.
Stay tuned for photos of the latest addition to my family, the Gibson Flying V. |
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On Tuesday, I went to New York to take care of some business
and catch up with some friends living in the city.
The trip itself went very well, and was more or less without
incident. Leaving the city, however, proved to be rather
trying.
The Chinatown bus is the cheapest and easiest way to travel
between New York and Philadelphia. A round-trip ticket
costs under twenty dollars, and it only takes a transfer-less
two hours to reach your destination.
When you approach the sidewalk where all the buses are
parked, you are immediately beset by an army of tiny old
chinese women desperately trying to shepherd you onto
their particular company's bus. Perhaps they devoted extra
attention to me, as I had my large, trusty traveling backpack
slung over my shoulders.
In any case, I asked a few of them when their busses were
leaving, and I naturally chose the bus that was leaving
the soonest.
I stepped aboard the bus and found it completely deserted.
Since it wasn't leaving for another ten minutes, I figured
it might take some time for the rest of the passengers
to show up, so I took a seat towards the back and began
reading a newly-purchased book. Here's a drawing of me
sitting in the back of the bus. You can only see the top
of my head, because I'm reading intently.
Eventually, the driver got into his seat and started the
engine. The bus was still empty, save for me and my pack.
I found it slightly amusing that he would have to drive
all the way to Philadelphia with just one passenger.
After about 15 minutes of Manhattan's trademark stop-and-go
travel, the driver turned off the engine and stepped off
the bus. I looked up from my book and saw the river, bordered
by a long chain of busses. I got up and walked to the
front, hoping to inquire why we had stopped in this place
that was so obviously not Philly.
I was greeted only by a closed door at the front of the
bus -- he had locked me in. I watched the driver walk
down the street, get into a minivan, and pull off. He
had locked me in the bus, and now he was gone. He never
even noticed I was there.
I was rather annoyed, to say the least. Not only had the
driver left me a fair distance from my boarding point,
he had also wasted a good chunk of my time. I searched
the control panel for a way to open the front door, but
none of the buttons worked with the engine off. After
a closer inspection of the door itself, I noticed an "EMERGENCY
DOOR OPEN" knob. After a good minute of twisting,
the door fell open with a WHOOSH of liberated air and
I was free again.
Of course, I couldn't just leave like that. No, this guy
had wronged me, and I needed to find a way to get him
back. Unfortunatly, there was nothing on the bus worth
stealing. All I found were some magazines laying on the
driver's seat.
I grabbed them, threw them into the toilet
at the back of the bus, and continued on my merry way.
Several hours later, I arrived in Philly. I went to the
Reading Terminal's Dutch Eating Place, and ordered
a cheese burger from the cute amish waitress. It was $2.50,
and it was delicious. |
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The cereal ran out yesterday, so I was forced to look
for an alternate source of The Most Important Meal of
the Day™.
Hunger can cause you to behave illogically. The first
place I looked for breakfast was the freezer, and, like
most freezers, ours is a wasteland of ancient bread and
petrified peas.
Fortunately, the gods of shopping trips past were smiling
good fortune upon me -- I found a package of Aunt Jemima
frozen waffles hiding behind a bag of tortellini. While
searching the box for an expiration date, my eyes couldn't
help but be drawn to a big medallion printed on the upper-right
corner of the package:
Apparently, an organization called the "American
Tasting Institute" had awarded Aunt Jemima with the
prestigious TASTE AWARD back in the frozen-food golden
age of 2001. What an honor!
After some quick online research, I was able to verify
that the American Tasting Institute DOES, in fact, exist.
If you need to see it with your own eyes, you can find
them at www.qii.org.
Apparently, the ATI is composed of a bunch of people who
like to sit around in front of networked computers and
have gigantic TASTE-OFFs, where they eat all day and choose
which brand of frozen waffle is truly a king among waffles.
These people get paid to have catered LAN parties.
I want in.
As for updates: I just posted a Dark Tower-inspired drawing.
I've been making steady progress on The Next Big Thing,
as well, so look for that in the upcoming days... |
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Yet again, I apologize for my recent dearth of updates.
This time I have a very specific and justified reason:
I've been, uh, busy.
I am now posting via my brand-new DSL connection, which
is quickly opening my eyes to just how good dial up connections
are at slowly sucking your soul out of your body piece
by piece and leaving a quivering mass of soulless jelly
in front of the monitor.
The Internet situation here gets ever sweeter when you
consider the wireless network I've set up in the house,
which unifies all three computers without the hassle of
threading LAN cables through hammer holes in the wall.
Now anyone with a wireless card can come to my place and
start an instant LAN party (Yes, I have actually had fantasies
of such a get-together, and yes, I realize how that lowers
my social standing another 30 points).
Shortly before setting up my network and spending all
my time inside the house, a discussion over a family dinner
raised a very pertinent point: the block that my grandparents
live on is insanely huge.
Ever since I was a little kid, I've wondered just how
big my grandparents' block was. It seemed expansive; I
had never traveled all the way around it, and due to it's
constantly curving nature, it was impossible to see where
it lead.
We used to play kick-the-can at my grandparent's house
every week. It was a game we held in very high regards
-- a sacred mental and physical challenge, passed down
through the ages from our ancestors to us. We spent entire
Sundays devising strategies and scouting new stealth routes
to prepare for the event. You didn't fuck around with
a game of kick-the-can.
There were some kids in the neighborhood we deemed worthy
to participate in our weekly tournament, and others who
wouldn't have cut it we had given them a decade to practice.
Whenever a member of the latter group asked if they could
join our game, we issued the "standard" initiation
challenge. It was simple: If they wanted to play, they
merely had to walk around the block. Generally, the foolhardy
initiate would begin the task without dispute.
After they rounded the fire hydrant on the far corner,
they were never seen with human eyes again.
Years later, estimates of the block's size have maintained
their mythic proportions. I have decided to get to the
bottom of the mystery by obtaining an aerial photograph
of the neighborhood. Thus, I am able to witness the shape
of the entire block once and for all. Below is what I
found; the green area is the block and the red area is
my grandparent's house.
As you can see, the "block" resembles a gargantuan
"L." Using this photograph, I've calculated
the total length of the sidewalk: It is 1850 yards long,
surpassing a mile by nearly 100 yards.
If you look closely, you can see the piles of dead children
who tried to join our games of kick-the-can. |
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