To Do List

Notice how all the games on my list are sequels to something? I wonder if I have played an original game in the last year? Doesn't matter, Mass Effect 2 is amazing, God of War 3 looks bloody and great, and Bioshock 2 is so emotionally draining (see previous posting on that one) that I decend into a state of gaming bliss.

OH VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!! Don't forget to vote for the animation at Howitshouldhaveended.com. Click on the HISHE contest link at the right, and vote for thedeathspecial. DO IT. DO IT NOW!

Happy Passover!

Happy Passover, everyone! Eat some Matzah and then wonder why you just ate Matzah. Don't forget Matzah ball soup! That's some tasty stuff.

Passover sedar (big dinner) is tonight, and I am very excited. A big family dinner is just the sort of thing to calm you down, and allow things to slow a bit. Wait, am I thinking of something else? Video games. That's what I was thinking of. BTW, Mass Effect 2 is a black hole made of wonder. Sure, you are stuck in it forever, but the view is outstanding!

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz.........

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...(jostle)...wha? I what now? Hey, if I was sleeping, who drew the comic? Check and mate, my little fictional friend.

Going to Ground Kontrol tonight for a birthday party appearance. Lots of vintage video games, should be fun.

Paranoia

Yes, I did find a mystery box with a solitary donut on my desk today, and it is now in my belly, but no, it was not poison. It did, however have sprinkles on it, which was a delight.

Anyways, views on the animation have hit 500, and reviews are 4 and a half stars out of five. I am very excited, as Friday is the last day to submit, and then the judging begins.

In video game news, God of War 3 is so brutal, I got covered in blood just watching my fiance play it. Soo bloody.

How It Should Have Ended

Today's comic is actually an animation. But... you have to go to youtube to see it! Aha, a twist.

Go to youtube, and search for (how it should have ended - new moon) just like that. I can't post a link because youtube is forbidden at work. you will see what will hopefully be an award-winning animation, and the plot is pretty much self explanitory.

Oh, and KANE LIVES!

KANE LIVES!

To be clear, Bruce Campbell is the greatest actor of ours, or any generation IN MOVIES. Joe Kucan is the greatest actor of ours, or any generation IN VIDEO GAMES. But to be fair, Bruce Campbell usually plays good guys and Kucan is a great villian. Perhaps there is room for both of them in my dreams. Man, I need to accumulate some female actor idols, or people might start a-talkin.

Animation is done, save for a little "post-credits" blip that I will finish tonight. Monday I will post a link to the youtube video here, and everyone can see how New Moon should have ended.

Tradition

Mmmm, corned beef. Had a great pot-luck today at work. Lots of green foods and green colored foods, to varying degrees. Green chocolate=crazy tasty but green ranch dressing=fail.

The animation is nearing completion, but as I get closer to the end, and learn better and better ways of animating, I find myself going back through to upgrade my previous work to match the quality. With nine days to go I hope I stop improving or I won't have time to finish. A weird thing to say, for sure, but true.

Um, It's a Jetpack

Yes, there is a commercially available jetpack now. For all those who asked "Where's my jetpack?", well, there it is. (Sooo coool).

Animation spoof of New Moon is coming along nicely. 11 days and counting but I won't get to anything today. Tomorrow I am hoping to get finished with the animation, and then the next day hopefully all the titles and perhaps start working on the extra ending. Always have an extra ending, but don't start working on it until the primary one is finished. That's how you meet deadlines.

Labor of Hate

This one is more of a "How I feel right now" sort of a funny. Plus, there's truth in how busy I was so there wasn't time for a more drawn out and (air quotes) funny comic. But, someone's head explodes, and that is always a good recipe in my book.

3 out of 5 stars

Photoshop wouldn’t open today, and while the fix was only a computer start away, there were too many “legitimate” programs in the middle of tasks to warrant such an interruption. Yes, I actually mix drawing with work, and that’s why I get promotions, instead of pink slips.

So instead, let me review a movie that I saw last night-Alice in Wonderland. It is very interesting to me that a movie on the 3-D bandwagon can feel so one-dimensional. All the characters seemed to lack motivation, only popping to life when you looked at them, much like an animatronics Disney ride. The visuals are stunning, and Danny Elfman’s music (Batman, Beatlejuice, basically anything Tim Burton) delights as always. But nothing ever congeals. If anything it reconstructs the hazy mindset that the original author must have had, opium and all. The CG seemed very poor, but that might be a result of my not viewing the 3-D version. However in one instance, the knave (Chrispen Glover) had a body fully rendered in CGI, but it never does anything that the actor couldn’t. The only reason I could gleam is that they wanted to make him slightly taller and skinnier than reality, but I’m pretty sure Chrispen Glover already had the skinny down, and height could have been done without a full body transplant.

Decisions such as that, in league with a story that is more a series of reactions rather than a plot, and you have the movie. A feast for the eyes, yet your mind will be hungry an hour later.

Media Whiplash

Hurray, my 100th post! (fireworks go off). Hope everyone likes vomit, cause I do!

Teen Scene

Yep. I know. "But Dan, how do you even know who these characters are?", "But Dan, how would you know how to draw Jacob shirtless without staring at him for more than five minutes?"

I know.

And I cry.

Training Day

I think the fire is pretty. I had a particular brush effect on that I didn't mean to use, but I went with it.

I went cake tasting for my impending wedding. I walked in and chose what flavors I wanted and they gave it to me. I didn't need to pay, and everything tasted great. I think I should go cake tasting more often. Of course, eventually they will either bar me from the bakeries, or consider me a Mormon.

Guest Spot

Ah, but Orcman wasn't the only comic I was submitting to the contest. This one is a collaboration between myself and Dustin Reese, a very talented artist and good friend. You will notice he draws better than I, and even added some textures to the strip. Also, my writing has taken a decidedly more adult tone to it, leading to a different angle of comedy than in-between calls usually shoots for.

I feel that this one is the stronger of the two entrees, and since it was a collaboration more people win if it is picked, so I am rooting for this one.

Next project/contest...how it should have ended animation entree. I is gonna win that one with pure effort.