I have only just read the most recent Discworld book on account of a saga involving Amazon.ca, DHL, and a number of other factors too boring to go into. But a long train trip from New Orleans to LA gave me the perfect opportunity to catch up.

Before I say anything more I want to make it known that I was not disappointed. When you read what I have to say it may sound an awful lot like disappointment, but it wasn't, as such – unlike some books I could name I do not regret the time spent reading it, and the only standard to which I am holding it is the extremely high standard set by some of the other books in the series. It did not disappoint me: it provoked a number of thoughts which were probably unintended, and not exactly flattering, but mainly tangential to the book itself.

( A Stream of Consciousness on the Theme of Unseen Academicals (with one medium-sized spoiler and an awful lot of rambling) )

There are in fact two new Lunargyros pages today; you can read them here. Almost done thumbnailing chapter five, aaack!

I've been doing a lot of practice sketches of human anatomy, but not gonna post any of it since none of it is that interesting to look at. So, have a meme instead:

Put your music player on shuffle, and write down the first line of the first twenty-one songs. Post the poem that results. The first line of the twenty-second is the title.

It's Been, It's Been, It's Been, It's Been

Sitting in the corner
I left my heart in San Francisco
The mystery of death before us
Sunbeam, stop tugging me

One minute I'm in Central Park
Nobody loves you, everybody hates you
When I woke up I could see the daylight had already passed me
Here in the place where we first met

Maybe he's right
Hey Mr. Wonderful, oh you're so incredible
I'm wishing, I'm wishing
Follow the crowd and love everybody now

In the afternoon
My heart is crying for a stranger's name
How brightly shone the moon that night
Follow your common sense

These are my final lines


...Wow, that was surprisingly...poetically coherent? o_oa

Drawing: Anatomy practice and LG things

Writing: Just some script

Tiana probably did not have a well-rounded scientific education so it's perfectly understandable that she would make this error. The people who wrote the movie, on the other hand ...

( In Which an Insufferable Know-It-All Spoils the Mood but Provides Worthy Educational Content )

My work situation enables – nay, encourages – excessive stop-framing of excellent animation.

Sometimes it has unintended side effects.

Dunno when I'll do commentary again, but finishing up this tonight. XO/

( SHADE IMPULSE )

I promised a scan, and a scan you shall receive. LET THE FROG GAG SKETCHES BEGIN!

( Beware Mildly Reminiscent Dialogue )

First off, a meme:

Comment on this entry and I will pick out an icon of yours that I think best represents you. Then post the same in your journal!

Second off, even more Dissidia commentary:

( Stories for Bartz, Terra and Warrior! )

I wanted to take this week to do a whole ton of anatomy drawing practice...just focus on that as much as I can. So that means little to no Dissidia, except maybe in the evenings some. We'll see when it continues!

Drawing: Plans for that stuff...

Writing: Nah much

Oh hey, it's my PP bonus day in Dissidia, so I'm getting bunches of PP anyway. Woo!

In that mode, I'm trying hard to get as much of the game done as I can before Monday (if not to finish it), so plunging right ahead:

( Stories for Squall and Onion Knight )

Got back from Avatar late last night and then pretty much crashed into bed because I'd been up for 20 hours straight or something ridiculous like that.

Overall, the story was predictable, but it was still lots of fun to watch. It was worth the money for the delicious eye candy, especially of Pandora, but the story was basically POCAHONTAS. IN. SPAAAACE.

( More spoilers inside )

So yeah, go see it, but it's probably best to go with the mindset of I WILL SEE TWO HOURS OF SHINY AND PRETTY instead of I WILL SEE TWO HOURS OF UNIQUE AND COMPELLING STORYTELLING.

I leveled up a few characters while waiting in traffic this morning, so here's a bit more Dissidia playage:

( Through Zidane's story mode )

Aaaand okay, since we're gonna go see Avatar tonight and I did want to see that and see how it is for myself, stopping there for now.

Happy New Years, everydude! Hope you had a good time! I wonder if it's pronounced two-thousand-and-ten or twenty-ten?

So I got up at 4:30 this morning to go with my parents and my aunt to see the Rose Parade in Pasadena. While I've seen the parade on TV before, this is the first time I've ever gone in person.

Overall, despite getting up at an ungodly hour, it was fun! We found good parking and seats because we got there so early, and we were sitting up in the bleachers instead of on the curbside. Mom was also smart enough to bring along squishy pads for the bleachers, and I'm really glad SOMEone thought of that, because I think I would've gone nuts at sitting on cold concrete for four hours. I tried to draw, and I got about a page of sketches out, but then tall people sat in front of me so I couldn't see anything or move my arms. :| There were delays, but pretty much the worst thing that happened was that I burned my tongue on some hot chocolate, so now I still can't taste anything.

I dunno who all usually watches the Rose Parade on TV, but they had some nice floats this year! I think my favorites were the biplane flying through the barn (I think it won the Animation Prize) and the one with the wizard and the origami dragon. Favorite band was probably the one from Guatemala. And I loved seeing all the decked-out horses, too...I was never really aware of just how friggin' huge the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales are until I saw them next to people. They're like the size of elephants. 8|

Other things I learned about the Rose Parade:
- Geez these get filthy. With all these people camping out on the sidewalk all day and all night, and with New Years partying the night before, it's bound to happen. But sheesh, that place was still choked up with trash before the parade even started! I would so not want to be on that cleanup committee. 8|
- I never knew this, but there's apparently a lot of billboard-touting Christian dudes with bullhorns that go around after the parade demanding that people be saved and warning of living in sin. And uuugh, it was aggravating, even to my parents. It's like...yeah, even if I agree with the message, the attitude with that sort of thing always comes off as judgmental and "I-know-what's-best-for-all-of-you." Dude, you may have a big billboard, but you don't know peoples' hearts.

There was reeeeedicilous traffic getting out, but since I wasn't the one driving and had the PSP with me, I didn't have to worry about that as much. >> Overall, it was also a really nice day today; with enough sun to warm up but enough cold temperature to keep it from being uncomfortable. It was a sunny-flowery way to start 2010!


Since I've been leveling more Dissidia characters, expect more commentary tonight!

Also, KH: BBS is out in Japan in a week.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


Drawing: Sketchies and LG

Writing: Nuttin'

Hi Internet!

It's a new year!¹

2009 was awesome, and then kind of depressing, and then it picked up again. The depressing bit was in the summer, which is where it usually falls, which is kind of weird, but there you go.

I was really looking forward to 2010 for reasons I am not allowed to say, and then I wasn't looking forward to it at all, for related (and similarly confidential) reasons, and now I'm looking forward to it again for only slightly related (but still confidential) reasons, which mostly have to do with not having a depressing summer.²

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for being awesome ... I know that sounds like a New Year's drunk talking³ but I've been thinking about it for months now⁴. It came as a bit of a surprise to curmudgeonly me how many well-spoken⁵, thoughtful, and intelligent people really are out there in Internetland, and how many of them actually care enough about what I have to say that they keep coming back to read it and supply their own comments. I'd never have guessed so many netizens had such a good grasp of spelling and grammar, much less have so much interesting stuff to say, so thank you for proving me wrong! And for encouraging me to draw stuff and put it online (though I admit I have not been as good about that lately as I ought to have been). There's nothing that beats a drawing block like having that big hungry maw of a blog to feed ... and I'm grateful enough of you stuck around through the art droughts to reward me when I did finally post something. YAY FOR YOU GUYS! There will be more when I get back to LA; I've got a small stack of scans to dress up on the train⁶ which will be posted soon after arrival.


¹according to our almost entirely arbitrary dating system.
²Not having a summer at all, really, in a way, but again ... there you go.
³Actually it's NyQuil
⁴Since my Villains essay, really, which was back in January, so almost a year! Shame on me.
⁵Or well-typed ... haha
⁶If I can find a plug ... I think there's one in the cafe car ...

I've been trying to think of what to say for the end of 2009 and the start of not only a new year, but a new decade. It's a little mind-boggling.

Looking back, it feels easy to see it as a negative year. I haven't had a solid job for the entire year, since graduating from Gnomon. I'm still living at home when I want to be on my own, able to support myself. And scariest of all, I have no idea where I'm going to be this same time next year, or when I'll get the break I need; the ability to head out on my own. The economy's been bad and that affects the people around me as well as myself.

And yet, when I think about it...in the end, I really have lots to be thankful for. I haven't had a solid job, but I also haven't gone more than two months this year without working. I have plenty of family and friends to support me. I get along well with my family and don't feel trapped or pushed around in my own house. I've been healthy and uninjured, and none of my closest family and friends have gotten badly sick or injured. I have practically every luxury I could ask for. I've grown in my art a lot this year, and have the confidence to keep going with it. The problems I've faced, I've been able to overcome. I helped successfully complete a HUGE LJ RP that I made a bunch of new friends through.

And looking back over this whole decade, from 2000 to now? It's crazy how much has happened! I've completed high school, college and a graduate program in that time. I've gotten to visit a few places overseas. I've lived both at home and away from home. I've gotten through tough jobs, figured out how best to manage conventions, and met some artists that I really look up to. I've started a webcomic and kept it up consistently over three years. I can't even figure out how many awesome people I've met just from getting involved in the KH fandom. And I've seen my family and friends accomplish great things, too.

So while I am still scared about what this new year and new decade will bring, I think that in the long run, things will turn out all right. I hope everyone out there thinks about the long run...because I believe it'll turn out all right for you, too.

Aaaand some more Dissidia commentary! A bunch of it since I also did some yesterday before the play.

( Up through Tidus's story )

Hmm, I should probably do one of those introspective posts tomorrow, IDK. It's not often we get to the end of a decade like this.

Drawing: Commish stuff

Writing: Nah much

Last night, I went out with my family to see the Mary Poppins musical at the Ahmanson Theatre. We had terrible traffic getting there, but somehow managed to be on time regardless. Got super-high seats up in the balcony, but that's okay, too. I hadn't heard much about Mary Poppins, but I have seen the Broadway versions of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, and loved them both to death. ("Endless Night" is still one of my fav TLK songs ever.) And Mary Poppins was another movie from my childhood that I watched constantly, so this was bound to be just as good, right?

( Spoilers for the play )

OH, and 'cause it's Tuesday, there's a new Lunargyros page today. Expect more Dissidia tonight, although I really had to get some art-related stuff done before I go playing again.

Drawing: Many things!

Writing: Finished some stuff

For future reference:

When visiting New Orleans, it is infinitely preferable not to start out ill and then get iller, forfeiting one's appetite and stamina in the process. So, now that I've discovered that, I'll be sure to do it the right way in the future.

On the other hand, these antibiotic eyedrops are lovely ...

Happy icon use is ironic (though it does cheer me somewhat ... awww, goofy Facilier)

Time forrrrr...Lynx makes commentary while playing silly video games! This time, it is while playing through Final Fantasy: Dissidia!

Also, I suppose I should preface this by saying that thusfar I have only completed TWO of the original FF games: FFX and FFXII. I know the basic story of FFVII (and played Crisis Core), the basic stories of VIII and IX, and vague knowings-on of the rest.

( And here we go... )

In other geeky gaming areas, here is a pic of the Okami cookie I made, since I made a Sora cookie last year:



Ammy brings the sun! ~♥

I think it came out a lot better than the Sora cookie, but I'm still not at that the level of finesse and detail that my mom is with these cookies. Looking at it now, I think it would've been smarter to use piping for the outline and then fill it in with a thinner glaze, rather than use piping for the whole thing. (Also, my mom made a batch of black frosting RIGHT after I finished it with blue outlines, oops. :P)

Thinking about it, if I was able to get a lot more practice on these and got faster at them, it'd be fun to sell sugar cookies like these at a con. XDa


Also, I NOW HAVE DISSIDIA. HUZZAH!

1. The lake is up and the river is down.

2. The river is smaller than I expected and the lake is HUGE.

3. The French Quarter is both very unlike and disturbingly similar to New Orleans Square in Disneyland.

4. If you want to see off your cold, do not do a 2-hour walking tour of the French Quarter over midnight.

5. Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is actually a long way from the Quarter.

6. There are no cinemas in New Orleans proper, aside from one one-screen arthouse theatre.

7. The North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain is New Orleans' Orange County.

8. Café Beignet has really good beignets and a much shorter line than Café du Monde, but their coffee is weak.

9. Never visit New Orleans with a vegetarian unless you really like wandering around for a long time looking for somewhere to eat, every single time. If you are a vegetarian: look up restaurants' menus before you go, if you can, and make sure they actually have a vegetarian entrée – we had a list of 'veggie friendly' restaurants and most of them had only an appetizer or dessert that didn't have meat in it. If you're vegan ... don't even bother.

10. Of all the sights I've seen that were in Frog (more or less), St Louis Cathedral is the only one that still doesn't look real. It's just painted, you guys. It's a really clever three-dimensional painting. And it's smaller on the inside.

OKAY TIME TO GLEE OUT AGAIN



( Squeeing and spoilers and aaaaaaaaa )

BRB freaking out forever