Greetings, Cylons!

Wow.  It’s been awfully quiet around here in Spwugland.

*looks to the left*

*looks to the right*

Hmmm.  I suppose I wouldn’t feel good about myself if I just left you guys in a lurch on a Thursday, sitting about and twiddling thumbs, or whatever you have available to twiddle.

Be nice.

Well, I can’t offer much this week, but the least I can do is leave you something so that you aren’t bored.  The reason for my lack of time and space (dude, I’m a cosmic being!) is that I am currently getting ready for a convention this weekend.  In fact, it’s one of the cons that I really look forward to every year:

 
Horrorfind Weekend in Adelphi, Maryland.

 
You guessed it (always a bright one, you are), Horrorfind is a horror-themed convention,  and it is a blast.  It’s like going to visit Hallowe’en a couple of months before he comes to visit you!  It’s such a magical place - with beer carts being pushed around all weekend long so that you may never thirst, horror flicks playing non-stop on movie screens outside and in, celebrities from your favorite horror flicks and shows, and a dealers’ room loaded with cool horror novelties, films and decorations.

And this year will be even cooler!  Remember that movie shoot I posted about a couple of months ago?  The one where I dressed up as a giant smurf zombie?

That’s right – it premieres this weekend at the convention!  I finally get to see my efforts on the big… screen… in front of all those…

*ulp*

Okay, I think I need to lie down for a minute.  In the meantime, I leave you with this:

Tune in next week, as I post something that may or may not resemble an attempt at a con report.

The Don ain’t afraid of no ghost.  He is, however, afraid of having vegetables thrown at him.

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Waugh!  Yesterday was Wednesday wasn’t it?!  Don’t you hate it when one day transposes itself over another?

Anyways, quite a few things going on worth mention:

 -The Demon Mages, Issue #2 is on the threshold of completion.  Took a little extra time, but significantly less OT than before.  Look for that in and around the time of…

 -SAN DIEGO COMIC CON!  I’ll be happy to give you readers the extended post-con coverage (August 2nd.  Let’s be fair; jet-lag) , but in the meantime, a few lead-up articles will get passed around, starting next week.  There’s not much to say here, except that packing for ten days in two bags will be… interesting.

-Almost directly afterwards is Otakon 2008.  This blogger lives moments away from it, so like the event horizon of a black hole, it seems many individuals may be drawn into it’s vortex.  Convention roundup on that one as well will be posted, come August 13th. 

-Pixiv.net & Nico-Nico Douga are neat!  Even if your Japanese is lackluster, it’s easy navigation & content abounds!  I’m there most every day!  Google searches readily turn up non-native registration instructions, so there’s little chance of getting lost.

-BONESAW IS REA-DY!!!  Tough as heck with a keyboard, a little imprecise, but still an impressive game and I chuckled at most of the humor.  A cool homebrewed time waster.

-In the spirit of our nation, I watched Paul “John Adams” Giamatti in probably my most favorite role I’ve seen him play — as the whip smart, buck-nasty Mr. Hertz in Shoot ‘Em Up.  Funny to me to see commercials for his HBO special, and super-impose Mr. Hertz’s cellphone ringing.  Or maybe an extended gunfight with Ben Franklin. 

And now, some new art!  Both done by hand, with markers & pens — the second from back on June 13-15th for the Anime-Mid-Atlantic weekend.

That’s all for now!  See ya next week!

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Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!!! — uh..?  huh? wha– Oooooooooh, it was LAST WEEK.  Dang.  Oh well, better late than never, right?  I’d have had a good one, but lately the “love” shown by migraine headaches had me swooning.

 I’ll spare long discussions in favor of random artwork.  Everybody likes art!

Rediscovering old tools with new methods is exciting! (MS Paint)

[Demon Mage Tess, original character brought to you by Angry Viking Press]

And there’s nothing like that New Program Smell. (OpenCanvas)

[Casper, from a new arcade game, Deathsmiles] (c) 2007, CAVE/AMI.

But then, there’s always room for traditional fare. 

[”Ciel“, a mage character class in the Disgaea series] (c)2005-2008, Nippon Ichi Software.

And that’s it for now.  See ya next week!

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From all of us here at Spwug, we wish you, our dear readers, a very Happy Holiday!

Here’s hoping your holiday wishes come true!

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It’s almost inevitable. Every holiday season, sneakily nestled within the piles and piles of loot bought for you by people who actually know you and still like you will inevitably lurk a gift that no one in their right mind would ever, eeeeeeeeever want.  Typically, this is a clothing item of some sort from an aunt or an uncle who feels obligated to send you something because you were small and cute once and they choose to remember you that way for all eternity.  So, let us come up with some creative solutions to deal with unwanted holiday swag.

If your unwanted gift is an item of clothing, wear it for a day, especially if it’s particularly gaudy.  It’ll make for a nice conversation piece with your friends and co-workers especially if it doesn’t match your personal style.  Who knows, you could get such a laugh out of it, you just might keep the offending article.  If you really really can’t stand it, donate it as part of a clothing drive.  Someone out there can surely use a horribly colored sweater.  And you can always exchange it at the store.  Aunts and uncles are usually smart about clothing gifts.  They know you’ll probably hate it so they usually send along the gift receipt.

If your gift is a DVD that you never ever wanted to watch on purpose ever (say, Showgirls), you’re in luck.  Hang on to the offending film and host a shitty movie party with a bunch of your friends.  Grab some nachos, crack open a six pack, and spend some time with your friends lambasting the cinematic travesty unfolding before your eyes.  And of course, you can always return it.

Those are usually the two types of unwanted swag that show up at my door every holiday.  If you find that your offending gift falls outside of these two categories, my suggestion is to always use it first before you return, donate, or mangle it.  You can get a lot of enjoyment out of a completely useless gift!

Happy holidays!  I hope you all have a great time with your friends and families!

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As we approach the end of the year, I’d like to step back and take stock of what’s going right and wrong with this column. I came in with no clear idea of what I wanted to do, so in the beginning, I just wrote about a few topics that I found amusing and tried to see if things flowed from there.

The problem with this format, in my mind, is that what I find amusing and what all of you find amusing is vastly different. I’m an old hand at the Japanese moe market, and things that you would find fascinating or fun, I barely think about in passing. So I’m really digging down into the niche stuff, while I’m sure there are a wealth of topics I haven’t delved into yet that would make better columns.

So, with a couple months of columns under my belt, I’d like to take this holiday break to find out what’s working and what isn’t. If any of you want to tell me what I’m doing right and what I’m doing wrong, I’m listening. Hopefully I’ll come back in 2008 with renewed purpose and another flood of random tidbits about moe-moe culture.

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Man, what a difference a week makes, eh? Crybringer here, for your Wednesday update.

It’s really tough to pin down any one thing to talk about, since a number of events and activities are centered around this time of year. It’s a funny sort of gravitational effect, from the cemented traffic lanes, crowded stores, busy busy busy blog posts, new releases, re-releases, private and personal get-togethers, and then of course the Big C. I mean, Comiket. Did I mention how excited I was for Comiket?!

So, coining my blog stylings from the esteemed Sports Guy of ESPN, here’s a geek’s bullet list of random events and points-of-interest. I might actually use text bullets!

• Last weekend was an EXCELLENT movie double-header. “I Am Legend”, starring Will Smith was a sensationally bleak ride for the first half. Although purists who were expecting Vincent Price, The Omega Man or a cinematic transcription of the book have plenty to boo about, the movie actually manages to command a degree of subtlety that most disaster or post-apocalyptic movies lose in the sturm-of-FX and drang-of-bad-dialogue. I think this review encapsulates the feeling. Spoiler-free, methinks. But following that was a rediscovered little brit-crime gem; “Layer Cake”, starring James Bon– I mean Daniel Craig. Bloody cool and visually sleek, just like the dialogue, but with smart pacing and a few legitimate twists. Excellent work, considering we never learn the lead character’s name. You can find it on DVD for a reasonable price and I DEFINITELY recommend it as a movie buff stocking stuffer this season.
• While everyone else in the gaming world is Rock Band-ing out, the nostalgic charm and soulful stylings of old arcade games still gets me moving. As a die-hard shoot ‘em up fan (You kids don’t know the meaning of “mob” unless it consists of 200+ projectiles ALL AIMING AT YOU!) , this “Shooting Game Historica” just makes my heart swell two sizes. A palm-sized Vic Viper? You shouldn’t have, Santa.
• One of my favorite artists, “o_8″ I rediscovered recently, was really generous in allowing me to join in some networked doodling sessions over OpenCanvas. It’s a slick little program, and for those artistically inclined, it’s far and away better than simple text chatting. For best results, use a tablet (another gift suggestion, AMIRITE?)
• A holiday tradition of mine, I’m actually breaking this year. It was this time, five years ago that I made a pact to read a good book over the holidays. I mean, I was at my parents house, adrift and far far away from a solid internet connection, quiet spot to draw or even a decent cellphone signal! What else was there? (oh yeah food.) Bruce Sterling’s “Holy Fire” kicked things off, then it was a double dose of Mark Roger’s “Samurai Cat” series. Did a run through some old Robotech/Macross US novelizations too! Now, I’m without a heavy dose of cyberpunk or satirical pop-culture slaying to drown out the Christmas carols! Who’s got some winners?!
• Lastly, let me wish you all the best this coming holiday — I’ll be back per usual on BOXING DAY, the worst single day of any retail grunt’s existence. Don’t let the horror stories fool you about Black Friday. It’s the returns after Christmas that carve a trail of tears into a part-timer’s soul. So please everyone, be safe, be happy, be Merry, and be extra nice and understanding to both your friends, family and those downtrodden soldiers of the cash registers! Their sacrifice might get you a replacement Rock Band!

(Be back with a festive pic in tow later today! >_<)

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Since Rich was kind enough to help me out a bit yesterday, and since I seem to be in an extraordinarily chatty, I feel like telling you about a couple of my family’s holiday favorites. When I was a very small child my parents tried to expose us to a wide variety of literary styles and subjects. My father would read us just about anything, but the one that left the most permanent impression on me was when he tried to read us the Orthodox-Geek classic, Lord of the Rings. We didn’t get very far into the story on the first try (hey, Dark Riders are freaking terrifying when you’re 4!) but I recognized that here was an author I wanted to keep on my own shelves.

Imagine my joy when I discovered that he wrote a far gentler fiction for his own very young children, and that he carried it on over 20 some years. I found this out the day my mother brought home his Letters from Father Christmas. In the copy that we have are reproductions of the actual letters, written in “Father Christmas’s” own shakey hand, and pictures he drew of elves making toys, the North Polar Bear making mischief, and even a few attacks by goblins who it seems have a weakness for mechanical toy trains. There’s a lovely article about it here, also. It also mentions an audio recording that I suddenly feel is necessary to my continued existence.

Just to make this an even longer post (I told you I was feeling chatty,) I would like to share my other somewhat geeky favorite. Berkeley Breathed has made a rather successful career of writing about penguins and anxiety closets, but did you know about this book? The Red Ranger Came Calling is a wonderful story about a boy, a very grumpy boy, who is shipped off to his aunt’s unexciting house every year for the holidays, and he very much is disinclined to go. He never gets what he wants, and knows that this year will be no different, until he stumbles across a secret. Santa Claus is not only real, but is retired not far from his aunt’s house. This boy introduces himself as the Red Ranger and challenges the ancient Santa to prove it. I really encourage everyone to find this book and read it, as the end will leave you both stunned and laughing out loud.

All right, I think I’ve blathered on for plenty long enough. Rich should be here soon to write about something wonderful I am sure, but I do rather hope you look into these book, since I think they are just right for the holidy geek in your life. Even if they don’t believe in Santa.

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So as Mr Rich said, I was forced to return to my ren-faire roots yesterday. At about 4:30 yesterday afternoon the wind took out the power to a large part of my neighborhood, and it turned out, many other parts of the DC area. This morning at sometime around O-Dark thirty the power came on, but the lovely cable monopoly hadn’t yet caught up with the power people and we just got internet back about an hour before I got home from work. Huzzah!

As far as geeky pursuits with no power cord went, I curled up on the sofa next to a warm fire and plowed through a couple of books. My family *gasp* talked! Being a bit on the intellectually geeky side we ended up discussing Zorn’s Lemma and the Axiom of Choice, and telling really dorky grad school jokes. Wrap that up with some Christmas cookies, sock knitting, and some Christmas Carol read out loud, and I’d call it rather a success, doncha think?

Well, I’m not going to write up the entirety of the post I had planned for today, maybe I’ll polish it up really good for next week, if I remember. I will however say that this is the time of year that charities make their really hard sell and that there are, out there in the world, loads of geeky charities to choose from. The big one that everyone thinks of is of course, Child’s Play, and I heartily encourage you to consider them if you have a few extra ducats after the holiday sales have done with you. Not only does it help sick kids, but it helps to ensure that the kids of today are the geeks of tomorrow!

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The holiday season has arrived, readers! Wake up with a lighter step! Take things with a warmer stride! And do your part to fight back against the Christmas-can-die-in-a-fire callousness.
(Seriously folks, you get semi-free stuff and certainly free food! Lighten up!)

But I’ll tell you, I personally am looking forward to something better than my Amazon Wish List. (If I had one anyway:)

COMIC MARKET 73* is on Dec 29th through the 31st in Tokyo! A motherlode more than your existing motherlode of doujinshi awaits!!!

*[The quick & dirty explanation is that Comic Market (Comiket) is a bi-annual Japanese small press convention of independant comic creators & cosplayers, offering primarily independent comics called “doujinshi.”]

As an artist & manga fan, I’m reminded around this time of year just how lucky we are to be able to reach media like this. Even if one hasn’t set foot in Japan, to think that one can actually sample, buy and communicate with the myriad creators at Comiket courtesy of the Internet is just mindboggling! And more so than before, there are individuals like the writers at Heisei Democracy, bold bloggers like Danny Choo, or able-bodied and strong willed artists and fans who are making their way to Comiket and experiencing the event firsthand. Someday, I hope to join them, and see the faces behind my favorite circles as well. I’ve GOT TO meet Himukai Yuji.

But, for now as I approach a real milestone of my life (30 years on this planet!) I look to Comiket news all over the net, steeple my fingers and itch for deliveries to my favorite mail order catalogues, and prepare to do what comes natural to me — geek the heck out. Add on the defensive buffs of Christmas holiday fever (+5 Happiness, Luck & WellWishes) , New Years Eve drunken schenanigans (+10 charisma, -6 agility) and my birthday to cap off the winter (30% critical up), and I personally can’t help but be a bit… jolly!

Likewise, more than new Iphones or 1080p TV’s… what events this holiday season are you all looking forward to?

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