HOLY SHIT. I seriously did not realize that I'd abandoned this blog for this long. Behold with amazement as a cunningly idiotic commenter drags me back to the land of blogger.com, which has apparently been absorbed by our lord Google. I stand in astonishment at a year number -3 from the current date, and almost to the day, to boot.

Ye gads, but what do I say after such a striking absence. No one actually visits this page, typically, although apparently someone found it recently, so hey, maybe -someone- will happen across this blog post.

I am, as it happens, attending college these days, studying to become a physicist, and I am also dating a truly awesome young woman. I still draw occasionally, although I'm hideously behind on commissions, and consequently have pretty much stopped taking them.

I have issues with absentmindedness. It's something of a character flaw, and it gets me in trouble often. It only seems to get worse as I move further into my life. I'm pretty sure I'm too young to be going senile, however. BUT! I think I made a resolution once not to use this blog as an angsty livejournal emo-fest, so I'll not linger on that. so I'll just go with this.

Hey, you. Yeah, the person reading this.

Have I ever said I'd do something for you?

Have I done it?

No?

Please remind me of it.

Often.

Seriously. I'm not just being lazy, or deceitful. I FORGOT, and I have NO SENSE OF THE PASSAGE OF TIME.

Help. Please.

Well, after deleting something like 20 blogspams from one of my old messages, I've decided to try enabling word verification. If that doesn't stop it, I may be forced to moderate, which I really don't want to do. Grr.

That aside, info updates! I'm into my third semester back at school, and I finally feel like maybe I'm getting my head together on a lot of stuff. Been working on clearing out commissions, getting my e-mail in order.

Also, I registered on some art sites, including (drumroll) Deviantart! After years of being unable to register because of some idiotic unilateral ban of all IPs from my local ISP, I finally managed to slip through the system! So now I can fave cool artists I find on there and actually -use- the site. I expect I'll keep a sampling of my art on various sites like it, (and possibly use them to stir up art trades) but this will remain my primary internet "headquarters". Once I get "moved in", though, I will add links to my deviant/etc sites in the links section.

Just added a couple of images to the site, one in Original, the other in H-Original. Also updated the "published" list in my Profile.

More updates to come soon!

First off, if our ancestors had used the rationale "it's the way things are, what are you going to do?" We'd still be colonies of the British Empire. That is unless the Spanish or the Germans had conquered them by now. Nothing can ever change for the better by using the argument "It's the way things are." If the way things are isn't GOOD, then goddammit, I don't -care- if it's the way things are, the way things are is -wrong-.

You want to know why "the way things are" bothers me? The State of the Union is a show. It's fake. What's worse, it's OBVIOUSLY fake. Consider that for a moment. What possible reason would a group of individuals have to produce such an obviously fake display?

I'm not talking about the president's propositions, or his speech. I'm complaining about the pauses for applause. The President forms a sentence, and the republicans stand up and applaud. The former President Clinton formed a sentence, and the democrats would stand up and applaud. Every single time, it's a standing ovation. Now, Standing ovations are acts of tremendous respect, and while I agree that the leader of the executive branch of our nation, no matter who he is, is deserving of some degree of ceremony and respect, Noone in this country is going to honestly say that every sentence the president forms is worthy of a standing ovation. So what should be a gesture of respect, or at the very least a calculated act of emphasis becomes an utterly empty gesture. Standing up and clapping becomes nothing more then an act of rigmarole, a process of going through the motions. At the very least, it says negative things about the senators and their motivations. At the worst, this extremely patronizing affair is an insult to the intelligence of the entire body of the American people. The president speaks highly of our education system, of the potential of our nation's youth and future, and the senate rocks up and down as if to say "Who's a good America? You're a good America, yes you are! Would you like health care? Who wants clean energy?! I bet you do, don't you?! Now roll over boy! Roll over! That's a good America!"

It offends me. There is very little in the world that bothers me more then being talked down to, but that's exactly what the state of the union address, or rather, the presentation of that address is. It is a testament to the low opinion our government holds over it's own people. They're patronizing you, they're patronizing me, they're patronizing every single American citizen.

You can blame the media, but as I pointed out, the media -apparently- aren't the ones running the cameras in this case. They're just draining the feed through to us. It's the Senate. It's the cabinet. It's everybody in that room, putting on a show as they look down condescendingly at the American people.

The state of the Union address was conceived as a method of direct address between the president and the legislative branch of our government. But the way the senate has co-opted that, and the cameras, as a way of displaying their support or disdain for the President is an insult to the American people and a symptom of the -painful- division that -both- parties are responsible for driving into our nation and our government.

It doesn't -matter- if the democrats did it under Clinton. That doesn't have anything to do with my complaint. If anything, it reinforces the depth and the pain of this schism. This country is divided. Despite all our commonalities, and the relative uniformity of our differences, we are divided neatly in two by two corrupt organizations of career politicians that have seen fit to take their personal grudges and force-feed them into the American subconscious. They use their mutual grips on the largely mindless media to reinforce these mindsets. -That- is the "way things are". -That- is what we face. A nation divided, trained to hate itself by the mindless rhetoric of it's political leadership. And no, I -don't- think that we, as Americans, should roll over and accept that. Even if it's a lost cause, in fact, -especially- if it's a lost cause, I believe that we owe it, to ourselves, and to all the men and women who have given their lives for the sake of an ideal, to throw ourselves against the wall, to tear it down at all cost, because if there is any value at ALL to the nation we claim to love, then it deserves that. It NEEDS that.

Well, getting initial comments out of the way: It's now 2006, has been for about two weeks, and I'm back in school. Being that it's a new year, I've given long and serious thought to my resolutions, and so here they are for the world to see.

I have been terrible about many things. I have been deficient on carrying out favors and promises to my friends. I haven't spent enough time with my friends, neglecting some of my closest ones for the sake of others. I haven't worked on commissions enough. I haven't spent enough time focusing on my schooling. I have had trouble focusing on work. I also haven't been sleeping enough. So, thus follows my new year's resolution:

I resolve that this year I shall focus all my mental energy into warping the fabric of space-time, so as to lengthen the course of a day to give myself more time to work with.

Barring that, I'm going to try and be better about finishing commissions and trades.

It's another year, and another semester at school. I'm still working part-time while schooling, but I have fewer hours then last year. Unfortunately, four of those hours are Japanese II, and I've got some bad catch-up to do, so while I expect this semester to be lighter then last overall, the first few weeks are going to be rough. Even so, I'm optimistic that I should be able to secure a -bit- more productive time this semester. Also, I intend to draw more regularly.

Drawing is, as some would be quick to point out, rather like a muscle. It atrophies if you don't use it. Last semester, I was completely bogged down in my studies, and couldn't keep up with my art. That made it harder to draw when I did have time, and all in all just bogged me down. I overbooked myself on commissions because I needed cash, and the subsequent backlog paralyzed me.

Over the break, I've been working on getting two things accomplished. Getting a viable workspace (cleaning my room some) and getting my drawing legs back. I feel I've accomplished the latter to some degree, and the former...(looks around) Well, I'm working on it. But I -am- drawing again.

And, to some extent, writing, as well. The past semester of college had me in a philosophy and an English course, so essays were the order of the day. So hopefully I can continue that momentum here in my blog. Barring anything else, I might post some essays here and there when things are slow. ;p

So, in truth, my new years resolution is this: Draw more, and update my site more often. Which, in all honesty, shouldn't be hard. ¬_¬

As far as said updates go, keep an eye on the Original and Original Hentai sections, as well as some updates and corrections to the profile and links pages within the next day or so.

Finally, if I owe you a commission and have not contacted you lately, e-mail me. I'm pretty sure I've got everybody in my queue accounted for, but the holidays were crazy and I'm not what a person might consider "well organized" of late. Reminders are good.

Here's hoping 2006 is a good year!

(Random aside. It amuses me -tremendously- that blogger.com's spellchecker does not recognize the term "blog".)

When I was a little kid, I used to have a pair of Superman pajamas.

I stopped collecting American comics, habitually, a couple of years back. I could cite numerous individual reasons that I stopped collecting specific titles, but when you get right down to it, they just have a bad way of doing things. When an ongoing story isn't tied to any particular writer, the ebb and flow of good and lousy authors is just going to lead to irregularities, continuity, and characterization issues. Batman can be interesting one year, campy the next, and just downright bad the one after that.

But the -idea- of superheroes is something I have never lost interest in.

The idea of -Superman-, however, I had. For quite awhile. He has, at the core, a somewhat overbearing personality, a kind of arrogance, and a tendency to deal with problems with brute strength. He never faces moral dilemmas, he never has to sort right from wrong. He's Superman. He's always right. Sometimes he irritates the fuck out of me.

So it puzzled me when I watched the teaser for Superman Returns and felt myself nearly coming to tears. I couldn't figure it out. I don't -like- Superman. He's annoying. He's boring. He's a dick.

So why did I like this trailer? Why was I -moved- by this trailer? Well, from a technical perspective, it has excellent music and stirring imagery, there can be no doubt of that. But this was something more basic; something that I didn't know how to put into words at the time. It had to be something primal; ingrained into me from childhood. Something that was -part- of me.

Superman helps people.

As soon as I put together those three simple words, it was like a rush of emotion surging up from my heart. My chest tightened up and I felt inspired, tense, excited. Like all the troubles of the world have melted away, and I could be an idealistic kid again, wearing blue pajamas with a red "S", and a blanket wrapped around my neck. Superman isn't about always being right, or being arrogant, or brute force, or any of the things that writers have characterized him with. He's about ideals. He's about believing in something and giving everything you have to it. He's about helping people and trying to make the world a better place. Superman helps people.

The world is a hard place. People are dying for no good reason in parts of the world most of us will never lay eyes on. The human race is hurtling headlong towards an energy crisis that will lay a social and economic collapse on those of us who live long enough to see it. Hatred, bigotry, and intolerance permeate us all, despite the fact that we all come from a common ancestry. We're all human beings. We all share a world and a genetic legacy with one another. We use terms like "honesty", "human rights", and "tolerance" to represent a code of conduct out of common respect for that very fact. To disregard these ideals is to ignore the very origin of who we are; what we are.

Superman is more then a character. He's more then an example to be followed. He's a symbol of faith in the human spirit. He's not to be looked up to for what he does or says, but why.

That means something to me. Whether or not the movie is good or not, I don't know. I'll go see it and decide then. But for now, I can only say that the trailer succeeded in reminding me of something that we all forget far too often.

Superman helps people.

And helping people is important.

...I emerge, blinded by the fires, flesh seared from my bones, and-

-Okay, okay, I just got buried by life for awhile.

See, this is why I try not to make promises like "I'll update once a week with -something-". Because I have the willpower of a tumbleweed, and once the habit breaks, PABAM! IT'S GONERS!

But this is a blog, not a repository for personal drama(HA-HA!), so I'll digress from flogging myself and talk about something interesting.

I was recently admitted to the City of Villains beta, and it's [NDA][NDA]
[NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA]
[NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA]
[NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA]
[NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA]
[NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA][NDA].

Pretty cool, huh?

In news I can actually talk about, school's started up again for me, and in addition to working part-time, I haven't had a lot of time to work on various things. To boot, I am...less then satisfied with my current level of coloring work, which has lead me to put off some projects rather longer then I should have. Visiting Fred Perry's websites does little more then fill me with dread and inadequacy in this regard, but I do it anyway, because part of me enjoys pain.

I've also recently become aware of the greatest game ever made.

Which is a perfect segue into an UNDERRATED GAME REVIEW!

Typically, when I talk about a game I think is underrated, there's some aspect of the game that hindered it's success in some understandable and unfortunate way. Advent Rising's frame issues early on, or the microscopic length of Way of the Samurai, or the tragic flubbing of the last fifth of KOTOR II.

However, in BG&E's case, there's really nothing wrong with this game. There's absolutely NOTHING that should have kept this from being game of the year on at least -some- list -somewhere, as well as selling a million copies at launch.

Nothing, except brand recognition.

BG&E had the misfortune to come out against Prince of Persia, a couple LOTR games, Deus Ex 2, And numerous iterations of Batman, Harry Potter, Max Payne, Resident Evil, as well as others. And with a hasty urge to compete, Ubisoft dropped the game to a budget price to make their little product look more appealing.

Which just goes to show that a big price tag says "Quality!" to the majority of the human race.

But I digress from the review! Let me count the ways! Beyond Good and Evil is a game directed by Michael Ancel and published by Ubisoft. Astute gamers might recognize Ancel's name from other things.

Starting with a fantastic blend of music and visuals to create a very poignant mood, the game begins with Jade, a tomboyish young woman who predictably is very fond of green, having to fight monsters to save the lives of the orphans she and her adoptive uncle Pey'j have taken into shelter from the interstellar war their planet is caught up in.

Right from the beginning, this is a game that sells itself on heart. Jade's relationships with Pey'j and the (impressively likeable) cast of BG&E are what make the magic that underlies through this whole game.

The basic gameplay is simple, but fluid, with a lot of fundamental similarities to the 3D Legend of Zelda titles. At it's core, it's an action/adventure game with a focus on fighting, but there's also a very well implemented stealth component to the game, which is implemented very well. All in all, it's a balanced, fun experience, and the cinematic style and the execution of it's heartfelt story makes the whole thing glow with goodliness.

You should go buy it. Now. It's cheap. (No excuses! Go!)

If I had any complaint, it's at the somewhat short length, and the fact that the story isn't finished. Initially, this was a source of solid woe, but recent word from the creator indicates that, despite the fact that the game didn't launch as well as it should have, they -are- planning to make more.

My heart rejoices!

But regardless, it's getting late, and I have other things to do before I abed for the night, so to the two or three people that are actually going to read this, I'll see you on IM. ;p