A short update before I do some craziness...

So, ever heard of Gaia Online? Do you like the cute little avatars they have there? Would you like to make your own but don't have the gold? Are you an artist?

If you said yes to any of those questions (heck, even if you didn't), check this out.

One of the most belligerant group of oldbies (ie, my good friends that got me on Gaia to begin with) is having an art contest, because we are rich and love to flaunt our pixelated wealth. Anyway, there's a lot of categories and prizes for even those who participate, so if you like drawing stuff for Gaia, this would be a good chance to get some extra gold. Someone make my Phoenix Wright picture too, while you're at it, please!

I'm over 500 page views!

Considering how I don't actually really do anything I can consider art, I think that's pretty good. Even if it's just friends coming in, it's still nice to know they're keeping an eye on this.

As it got closer though, I figured I'd make something for it and put it up. Just not sure what yet. So, if I get a moment, you know, between taking care of flies and planning the Pokemon game, I'll add a bunch of things to the gallery.

Including some old files I found on my school ftp site. >.> That is, if I can figure out how to get my computer to view .psd files without owning Photoshop.....

Also, to all those who noticed me watching, just keep making awesome art things if you can, 'cause that's why I'm watching. ^_^

Finished on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 12:07:55 AM

Okay. So I'm thinking I have too many online journals. Which is fine, I just have to handle them better. In other words, I'm just going to start making journal entries separately and then post it into each of them; editing them a bit to suit them better. At least, in my mind, that's the obvious solution. Then again, my mind often takes weird paths. I think it's just that so many things are going at once, it's easier for a random word or phrase to remind me of one of those things speeding by. One friend explained talking with me around is like Russian Roulette. Normal conversation, normal, normal, random story from me that doesn't seem to relate to anything just said. Click, click, click, BANG! I actually kinda take that as a compliment because it makes me laugh so.

Anyway, THINGS! Things have been going on! Many things, in fact, and I have been busy to make sure that I get some done, along with my requirements to end up graduating this year from college. Finally. But I won't bore you with every little thing; I'm just going to talk about two of them, as highlight of what's going on.

Thing one! Anonymous! Apparently it decided to go up against The Church of Scientology. You see, there was this YouTube video of Tom Cruise talking about Scientology. But it was leaked and was not supposed to be public. So the Church of Scientology (CoS to make things easier for me) forced sites to take it down. Anonymous felt this was a grave insult to the right of free speech on the internet and decided to do something about it. So on February 10th, 2008 (yes this is over a week late, I'm that much of a procrastinator, think of it as an early heads up about the March 15th plans), protesters gathered at various branches of CoS to protest the harm, repression, and methods of the actual Church. While at some of the larger gatherings there was more media coverage and wackiness (from those 'just in it for the lols' ), I think some of the smaller demonstrations are a bit more interesting.

For one thing, one happened rather close by to where I lived, and I was able to show up to have a look at what was going on. I even took pictures that I'm going to put up on my dA account. The reason I like the smaller groups better is because I think it was able to make clear a more cohesive argument for what they're doing and sound more intelligent then a bunch of "cyber-terrorists, communists and religious bigots" as one person said in a local Pittsburgh paper. Also, that article shows another reason why I like the smaller demonstrations coverage. It was a pretty straight forward and interesting article. The reporter talked to members of the crowd (I was there watching him, even), got a statement from someone working at that particular CoS branch, and even got a local professor's opinion since he has been known to study and critique Scientology.

So I'm a little irked that these smaller demonstrations (especially Pittsburgh) seem to be falling by the wayside and not discussed as much. I'm sure it's partly hometown pride, but with Dave Touretzky being a well known free speech activist and critic of Scientology, you'd think it would have gotten a little more exposure. Touretzky was even recently interviewed for Wikinews where he discussed the group Anonymous and how the CoS is handling all the negative publicity this is generating for it.

As it stands, I found it rather enjoyable to visit the site, take photos, collect fliers, get some statements and then return to my college dorm with these small treasures, toss them at a roommate and then ramble on for an hour about it as he hurriedly tried to make sense of what I was saying for an article for the group blog he and two other friends of mine have been working on. In a sense, it's what I like to happen about projects I do. I gather a few things, talk about some ideas, and someone cobbles it together with their skills into something interesting. You might notice that my pictures are in that article as well. Also, there will be more on that group blog later, as well, as I want to see my friends succeed.

In an odd way, the emphasis the Pittsburgh group put on the 'tactics' of CoS and not the beliefs of Scientology, along with exposing some of the harm it has caused, seems to me kinda like Martin Luther's attempt to reform the Catholic Church. This might be expecting a bit too much or a heavy handed metaphor, but that's the idea I get from the most earnest of participants. Apparently a lot of people got comments from "Lisa" and her friend "Noah." Whether they just happen to be the ones most approached or organized beforehand, they were pretty good at making clear that it wasn't about beliefs, but tactics they were protesting, as mention in the Post-Gazette article I linked. I also got a comment from "Lisa," and tried to record it to video, but the camera I used doesn't have a microphone, so I unfortunately didn't get it. But at least the paper and others got the same statement from her. So all in all, I'm hoping to follow this and record these things, especially as they take place in Pittsburgh, and spread the word about it either via Eleven Names, or my own online journals, so people know that there are others who are definitely taking this seriously.

And now thing two! Apparently participating in about four RPGs isn't insane enough, no, I must run one as well. Specifically, I'm going to be using the Big Eyes, Small Mouth third edition system. Which, by the way, is nearly impossible to find a physical copy of, because apparently ArtHaus doesn't like making money. Anyway, it evolved (HA! Sly wit!) from a conversation about how the middle stage of Pokemon evolutions (yes, more pokemon, sorry) is essentially the 'awkward teen' phase for Pokemon. I couldn't let this go, and now I'm running an Anime High School Scenario where everyone is a Pokemon. It's sorta a combination of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon; in which there's no humans or capturing and the Pokemon have created their own type of civilization, and Yugioh GX; in which part of the school curriculum involves learning about battles and participating in them. But for the most part, it's going to be like your typical high school. But as an anime. And everyone's a pokemon.

I'm still working out some ideas for teachers. So far, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have Mewtwo as Vice Principal and Mew as Principal, along with a Muk and Weezing as chem teachers, but I need to plot out some more teachers and actual school subjects (feel free to post ideas in comments, by the way). I also like the idea of having an Espeon as a music teacher and an Umbreon as a drama/theater teacher, but also they're sisters that just evolved differently.

There's a bit of finagling I need to do, but response/interest has been good, and I'm having fun, so I'm actually looking forward to this. Expect to hear more about this as it further develops.

Finally, I'd just like to remind everyone about Eleven Names, the group blog run by my friends. They are some interesting writers, and would greatly appreciate your viewership and comments. Besides, they might actually talk about things that interest you!

Small edit: Fixed a link that was a little weird, that's all.

After the amount I babbled on in my beholder deviation comments, I figured it would simplier to rant about the crazy backstories and in-jokes of things in the journal instead and link the two.

Which brings us to this lovely joke about Pokemon.

You see, one year, my friends and I went to a convention, and relaxing after settling in at the hotel, we turned on the TV and found an episode of Pokemon. We joked about a few things before one friend finally said, "You know, just once I'd like to see something like Wigglytuff further evolved into an even cuter creature and go [in a sickenly sweet sounding voice of course] 'Uawfulbastard!'" He then proceeded to act out how the people would react to this.

"So, um, we'll call it Squiggilyluff, right?"

"Nope. No. Pokemon say their names. You heard him. Uawfulbastard. That's its name."

"Yeah, but-OH GOD CHARIZARD IS EVOLVING!!"

"YOU'REMOTHER'SAWHORE!!!"

"....That's it, I'm out. You guys can collect them all on your own, I'm done."

And the other Pokemon would wave sadly as they said their goodbyes: "Uawful, fulbastard!" "WHOOOORE!" "I'llcutoutyoureyeandfuckthehole!"

It's been a joke that has stuck around ever since. Of course, any joke that needs explaining tends to ruin it, but the fact that I got a friend to make this animated gif for me based on it was really great and I'd like to share it. And sometimes, people want to know where these things come from.

The original artwork of Charizard is standard official art or some such I was able to find. The evolved form was actually a picture of, I think, Hydra from Final Fantasy fan book or some such, but in different colors. The friend I asked to get this done was also kind enough to rework the color scheme to make it match the Charizard colors.

And now you know, the rest of the story!

I spend a lot of time in my head. Or at least it seems that way to me. I will think about an idea I like, a story, a character, a joke, a plan, etc. and work it over again and again and again in my head. And this usually occurs when I'm nowhere near anything to mark this down or actually implement it. Like while I'm driving, or laying in bed trying to sleep, or other random moments of mind wandering/daydreaming. I like to think I have a good memory, and if I get the chance, I can revisit and work on these ideas like I always tell myself, but that isn't a foolproof plan, plus a lot of times I never actually do the work I plan.

That is what this account is for, in part. I originally made it to track some of my favorite webcomic artists, artist friends, and other random artists I liked who continually made stuff and put it on here. Towards the end of the year, though, I thought I should actually make use of this account for something more. In a way, I made a New Year's Revolution to actually work on some of the ideas I have, or put them to paper to get feedback so they could grow or be used by others.

So that's what I'm going to start doing. I'm not going to set a schedule, I don't want this to be work, but I'm going to try extremely hard to stop just thinking about my ideas/etc. and express them somewhere that I can get comments on and possible work them out.

I have a very wide interest base, so what I end up putting in here might not be very systematic. I'm already had some trouble figuring out what to mark some of the first few deviations I put up as. But I'm hoping with practice it will start to make more sense and easier to work with.

I'm not much of an artist or poet or writer, so I can't say I'll be putting up some great stuff to look at or read, but I hope that anything you take the time to look at was interesting, and if not, feel free to explain why.

I'm not very good at being original. I like to take something I've seen, heard, or read about, and basically play with it. I like to take something and expand it, in a way. And while I do sometimes get a specific idea to begin with, I don't always have the talent to do anything with it, hence why I usually end up just thinking about what I'd like to do. In a way, this is a way to say what these ideas are and maybe inspire others with more talent to carry it out so that the ideas I want to see are actually done, but also it's something I'm doing in the hopes of developing a way of doing it myself as well.

So here's to a new year, and let's see how this works out.