Category: Comics

#03 – Attention Optional

I promised you a new comic on Monday, so here you go. Pretty surprised that I actually put it up on time, aren’t you. I know I am. Not that I have much more time to ramble on about shit, but you kind have to pay close attention to get what’s happening in the comic. Much the opposite of what the comic is about. Oh, and I created a little “comments.txt” on the work PC in the directory I keep the comics in, and people have been leaving me many words of praise and admiration. So at least I know some people are enjoying them for more than just images to butcher. This makes me happy. It’s a nice reminder of how well my Spare! comic did back in the day. Maybe I should get back to scanning those. I’m thinking I’m just gonna take them straight out of the notebook and just enhance the text so they’re readable. It’s lower quality, but it’s a lot easier on me than recopying them all.

I guess it’s an unavoidable topic, so here goes. Christmas was pretty good for me this year. My plan is to do not a review on all the stuff I got, but individual reviews on key items, and then a summary for the less-reviewable things. I’m also going to put together a list of the 10 best games I’ve played this year. This is in no way related to Penny Arcade’s annual “We’re Right” Awards. No way. So that’s it then. I hope to get something done by about Friday or so.

Look what came crawling back

OK! The computers are fixed (except for mine is now French), and I can start trying to get back on track of actually writing things for the site. First off – and most importantly – New comic! It’s nice to have some good comic material, even if it does mean I have to work. While you may not get the full extent of the hilarity (as this one is more for those on the inside), you should be able to find some sort of humour in it. If nothing else, I really like how the last panel turned out really well. And all my co-workers are loving these. I’d better start hocking my site at work…

I read a review of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door in TV Guide today and was absolutely outraged. It was a good review, but there were many errors and omissions of key game elements. I plan to do a comparative review on it tomorrow. That’s my plan anyhow. It may fall through, depending on whether or not I can get on the computer at all.

And that’s pretty much it for today. I threw you a couple fricking bones, so I think my job is done, and with as little bullshit as I can muster. I mean, there is an expected level of bull from me. I am just a novice writer and I do tend to ramble. Just look at that last sentence. Hm. Better just stop now.

West coast, it’s my beautiful day!

Did you know jackets are expensive? Yeah, it turns out they are. You see, I’ve never had to shop for a jacket before today, so I had no idea. But I did make a purchase, and at $100, it seems as though I got one of the cheaper ones. Gah.

In other news, if you’re reading this, you should go check the forums. And maybe post a bit too. Seems we’ve got a new member, and I’ve been posting in an attempt to get her posting as well. So there might be a short revival. You know we had some good times on there back in the day.

I thought up a pretty funny comic while I was sitting on the throne earlier today. You can check it out here. I could have spent some more time on it, but I think I’ve gotten my point across. And it’s very in the vein of both Penny Arcade’s and VG Cats’ humor. I’m not very sure how accurate it is, but let’s just accept that it’s somewhat funny.

In much more awesome news, Babamania has released the full version of Doobee Doowop Communication, which despite the really odd name, is a kickass song. If you didn’t check it out when I gave you the link, it’s the ending theme of the Rockman.EXE Stream anime. It’s got some really mellow parts, a rocking chorus, and is sung by at least three people, both male and female. Plus a lot of English lyrics that are sometimes humorous, and even the Japanese singing is funny in parts. It’s a very original song, and I don’t think I’ve ever reccomended anything more than I do this song. Download it, I can almost guarantee you’ll like it. If you don’t, it’s simply to spite me. I don’t see how anyone could not like the song. It’s just so catchy and loveable.I just listened to it like 6 times in a row. Time for an intervention. Hooray Pikmin soundtrack!

Ah yes, that’s the next thing I have to cover. Check this shit out, yo. PopJapan Torrents, you are my God. Or at least my hero. You see, if you scroll down a little and click the “Older Torrents” button, you’ll find a bunch of torrents to complete game soundtracks and arrangements! Hooray! It’s like a party in my ears and all my favorite games are invited! That sounded a lot less stupid in my head, trust me. Oh how I praise this site for it’s brilliant torrent collection. Oh the Pikmin soundtrack, how I adore thee. Next on my list of to-gets the the Tales of Symphonia soundtrack. Battle themes, away! did I mention they’ve got the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack? I knew THAT would get your attention. Suckers. (Note: It seems the Pikmin soundtrack is gone now… So get ’em while you can! And I still have the torrent if you want it.)

Finally, I have a very short review to make of Ape Escape, which I played for at least 6 hours straight yesterday. The game is fun, there’s no denying that. The premise is real stupid, and the voice acting could have been much better (And worse too. See RAD, MegaMan X4), but those weren’t nearly enough to keep the game down. Swimming is hard and stupid, but once you get the flying-majig and the RC car, you’re having boatloads of fun. The game is a litte too rip-off of both Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but I can forgive them, because Monkey Boxing is way too nonsensical not to love. The graphics blow, but that’s what you get with original Playstation games. It’s a huge game, with many, many monkeys to capture. I enjoyed my time with it, and did I care enough, would find a way to finish it 100%. But I really don’t mind. For the first time in my life, I can just let it go uncompleted.

Wow did I have a lot to say today. And frighteningly enough, I know I forgot a lot of stuff. Oh, and I’m going to start moving the old work blog over. The October edition should appear sometime soon. Probably within the week. Whenever I remember to bring a diskette to work.

Band of the Month – September ’04

Yes, it’s that time again. Time for me to take a band and review it! Only, this time I kinda misjudged how much time I actually have to do it, so this one is probably going to be a little short and typo-filled. But in light of that little oopsie, the show must go on.

September’s BotM is one of my favorite (and apparently not too well-known) rock n’ roll bands,  Firehouse. While most hair/rock n’ roll bands were having their best times in the 80’s, Firehouse started up (or at least released their first album) in the 90’s. Probably right after the tides of pop culture had shifted, and this could be why they aren’t quite as popular as say, Poison. Actually, I don’t really have any idea exactly how popular or whatnot they were, but nobody I know personally has ever heard of them, so I can only assume that they’ve spend most of their career just under the big time radar. Nevertheless, they’ve released a grand total of 6 albums, one hits collection and one live performance disc, spanning all the way from 1990 to 2003. Not bad, I say.

While I’ve never been able to track down any of these discs (and looking at the track lists, I know I’d pick up at least one or two), I have listened to a lot of their stuff, and I’ll just make various assumptions about some of the CDs. The first one, a self-titled debut (which seems like a rather common way to name a debut), is all-around pretty awesome. It’s got a lot of their best stuff, like “All She Wrote” and “Shake & Tumble”. Also in this little bundle of joy is “Oughta Be a Law”, which at first listen I thought was Motley Crue. Possibly my favorite song on the CD too. And then down near the end is without a doubt their best slow song “Love of a Lifetime”. The next release was Hold Your Fire, and I’ve only heard one song from it, “When I Look Into Your Eyes”, which is pretty good, but if I based it alone versus any of the songs off Firehouse, it really wouldn’t hold a candle the the first disc.

Next up comes 3. Short, appropriate, and to the point. Not generally what you look for in an album title, but it works well. Again, I’ve heard very little music from this disc, and I can’t make an appropriate judgement of this CD. But the few songs I have heard were pretty good, so the rest is probably along that track somewhere. Then came the hits collection, Good Acoustics. Haven’t heard every single song on this one, but it’s a hits collection. It has to be good if it’s made up of their best stuff. After that comes Category 5 which seems pretty good, if a bit out of order. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems as though slower songs work best near the end of a CD, especially with rock bands, and this one’s got a really slow song, “Dream” right in the number 4 spot. But it starts with another of my favorites, “Can’t Stop The Pain”, so I’m not going to ding any points.

And that brings us to the live CD, entitled Bring ’em Out Live. This is pretty much a second hits album, just recorded at a live show. Then we get to the twentieth century albums, O2 and Prime Time, both which I have never heard a single song from. But I have read a couple reviews of them on Amazon and the reviewers seem to think that they don’t even come close to the stuff on the first two releases, so I guess that’s all I’m able to tell you about ’em.

As a quick conclusion, I love the music. It’s really not quite up to par with some of the bigger bands of the genre, but it could fill in in a pinch. I’d love to talk about what parts of the music I like, but I really have no clue what’s going on there. I’m not really licensed to review music. Anyhow, great band, and you should definitely download a couple songs to see what they’re like. And if you ever, EVER see one of their CDs in a store, you tell me. That’s an order. I guess this got a little longer than I expected, but there was quite a bit to say. And to make up for what’ll probably become a post drought (yes, this month will probably be pretty uneventful), here are some links that I fancy.

Ninja Turtles anime, reviewed – Yes, a Ninja Turtles anime. You will be 100% surprised at what goes on here. Unless you’ve seen it, of course. But still. Six pages of wacky Japanicised Ninja Turtles. I’m still in shock. And toying with the idea of squid ink pizza.

TMNT musics! – More turtles. A bit of an overdose for a normal people, but for a TMNT fanboy like myself, this is just icing on the cake that was that review. Oh, and they’re soundtracks and such from different TMNT stuff, like that live concert (which I have the original tape of!).

The Number 000 Blues – *sigh* Another webcomic. I’ve gotta stop reading new ones. It’s just too much to keep up with. This one’s a sprite comic about what goes on behind the scenes before and during the first MegaMan game. Pretty interesting for someone such as myself, probably mundane for someone such as yourself.

Spider-Man reviews crayons – If you thought the bullshit was done, here’s some more! Seriously, if anyone but Matt (except maybe -RoG- of I-Mockery) had done it, it would be stupid as hell. But somehow, it works and it’s hilarious. Must be another six pages here, but it’s mostly pictures.

In the nick of time!

GorillaMask.net has gone through a major change. It’s been totally revamped, and you probably wouldn’t recognize it at a glance. And to think that I stole the site layout for myself just more than a month ago. That certainly was close. I guess this means that I’m not directly copying anyone anymore? Oh well.

There is more than that little note afoot, however. Two things, to be exact. Firstly, and it’ll be more important to my friends than anyone who’s stumbled across the site and has kept reading for whatever reason, I’m going to stop drawing new Spare! comics. As much as I loved doing it, I’ve realized that this comic endeavour is more of a big joke than anything else. Ever since I started reading Penny Arcade I’ve wanted to write my own webcomic. Reading Real Life made me consider starting a new site devoted to the comic, but there are two major obstacles in my way:

1) My source material is gone. With no more school to attend (for the moment), I’ve got nothing to write comics about. Sure, I could try to make some up on my own, but looking back at the fictional ones that I’ve already done, they’re some of the weakest ones there (bar the “imaginary girlfriend” saga, I really like those ones) and I’m just not good at writing funny. If someone would like to write for me, that would be excellent, but out of the people I know, and no offense to you guys, we’d need a whole team of writers to get anything done.

2) No webspace. Yes, I have a few options, but none of them sit quite right with me. Making another site on Angelfire is not something I want to do. Hell, I can’t wait to find an alternative for this one. I hate having to rely on free providers. A friend’s webspace? No. That way, I lose a lot of immediate control. And I wouldn’t be able to put up spur-of-the-moment stuff like this. It just wouldn’t be right. I could make my hard drive into a web server thing, but then my site would be a number, and people are less likely to remember a number than a name (not that “Torrential Equilibrium” is easy to spell either…). Someday, I’ll buy space and a domain name, but as it stands, that won’t be happening soon.

So as it stands, the comic is dead. I’ve begun the slow and painful process of Painticizing them, but that’s not looking too bright as an option. Nobody would respect a webcomic done in Paint. I’m probably gonna get a scanner for/around my birthday, so I’ll at least have them all up for viewage in a month or so.

Now, onto the other thing I needed to rant about. Damn, I went on so long about the comic that I’ve forgotten. Well, I’ll just leave this then. My brothers and I have all decided to forsake our Christmas presents this year, and will instead be getting a new computer (hopefully) sometime in November or early December. Yes, it’s a long time away still, but I’m pretty pumped. Obviously, there aren’t any ideas on the table yet in regards to specs or manufacturer, but it’ll certainly be able to run Doom 3, so I think that “the shit” is a pretty good ballpark description. Personally, I’m most looking forward to the possibly huge (looking at 200+ GB) hard drive. Living with ~10 (considering space for other users) gigabytes of storage space is very hard these days, what with current games taking anywhere between 500MBs and 6GBs each. Now that I’ve let out enough geek for the day, I think I’ll go do something productive, like mowing the lawn. Yeah right.

Ah, Hell. Now I remember. Planet MegaMan is currently offering MP3s of the entire soundtrack to RockMan X Command Mission. A pretty good bunch of tunes, if I do say so. Not quite as great as the original NES games’ tracks, but enough to tide me over until the game is released over here in the West. Go and download them now if you want ’em, as they probably won’t be up there long.

Of things that should come

I’ve totally forsaken sleep for it, but it brings me great joy to present you with the very first CG strip of my “Spare!” comic. I made it all by myself. Click for proper-sizedness.

As you may have been able to tell, I did it in MS Paint, like so many before it. I just don’t know how to use any of the advanced tools in Photoshop to make it look all pretty and such. But how I made it isn’t important. It’s why I made it. And Hell if I’m going to explain that.

I said I’d post again today, but this isn’t what I’d intended to put up. See, I was reading my new favorite webcomic “Real Life”, and decided I should go back to producing my own comic. Then I realized that I’ve totally lost all will and patience to draw. The problem is: I need a class to slack off in. Seriously, math class was one of my most productive comic-drawing times. But now that I’ve defeated high school, I have no proper comic making environment. It’s just not the same, and I discovered while making this one, that if I were doing it on the computer rather than by hand, I’d have a much easier time (thank the G man for copy/paste!) producing it. So I guess that I’ll have to learn Photoshop skills if you ever want to see more than this little teaser of sorts.

A little behind the scenes commentary: The last line used to be different, but I felt this new one was more sarcastic, and therefore would better suit the character’s personality. To see the original ending, you’ll have to get your mitts on my holy notebook or wait for the DVD.

I think that’s about it. I’ll post again tomorrow. I hope.

Back in black

Yet again, I really should be doing homework, but I’m working on the site instead. I posted the Christmas article, and I’ve been working on the other one, trying desperately to finish it. I’ve also been working on the comic, and I’ve got a few new rough strips and some ideas, so it’s coming along pretty well. Now that I’ve posted one article, I’ll do my homework and finish the other one for later tonight or right after school tomorrow. I’ll start posting the comic once I have a few ready to go. Which should be next weekend, if I work hard.

~Ryan out.