I...HAVE... THE POWAHHHH!
Upon the advice of my wife (as well as several other artsy friends), I've re-invested in my business and purchased technology in the hopes of being more efficient. Thus, I'm now drawing with a Wacom Cintiq. It does increase my art output by reducing drawing time. If any of you have used other art tablets, unless you're far better than me, the CTRL-Z keystroke is your constant companion as you "miss" the line on your screen while inking the line you imagine exists on the tablet. Now, with this monitor I can draw on, I can see exactly where the pen is going and what I'm doing (though CTRL-Z and I are still on a first name basis). It's a little odd switching between using it as a drawing tool (for Photoshop) and then as a second monitor as it holds the palettes for other graphics programs (Illustrator, Freehand), but it seems to be an overall improvement. Now I just need it to earn its keep and we'll get along splendidly. :)
"Battlestar Galactica" wraps things up next week with a two-hour series finale. I won't spoil this week's ep for you, though I will say it wasn't overly exciting. We got lots of backhistory for several major characters, and a little shipboard drama leading up to teases about what's going to happen next week. In short, fans of things going kaboom are going to be let down a bit. As always, I really hope they know what they're doing, as it seemed an odd place in the narrative (just about to end) for a "catch our breath" episode like this...
NBC is is rolling out some new Sci-Fi offerings this summer, including "Meteor." It stars Christopher "Doc Brown" Lloyd as a scientist who sees two asteroids impact in space, sending little chunks and one big chunk towards Earth. From the brief description, I'm betting we're getting something like "Jericho" but with rocks instead of nukes. Also, the BBC's "Merlin" will air, giving Americans who don't know how to unlock all of the internet's secrets a look at this "young Camelot" feature.
And as a fan of the Man who Makes Maine Monsters, I have to pass along word that another crack is being taken to bring Stephen King's "IT" to a visual medium. It's going to be a movie this time around instead of a miniseries. Now, I remember liking and being scared of the miniseries when I was younger, but I find it doesn't hold up to my older eyes (except for Pennywise. Tim Curry was and still is awesome as the demonic clown), mostly from two things: 1. the acting and 2. the stuff they had to leave out. #2 had a lot of causes, one mentioned in King's book, "On Writing," where he mentioned pity for whoever had to write the screenplay. Half of the story takes place in the childhoods of the main characters, and a lot of really bad things happen to them which runs afoul of certain regulations regarding the appearance of endangering children. And without spoiling events of the book, there's a scene involving the kids, ah, "doing something un-kid like" near the end that you can't show on any screen that I know of without getting a knock on your door from the FBI. I further worry in that "IT" isn't a short novel, it flashes back and forth from the past to the present, and it has a pretty large cast. Also, if the director makes the cardinal mistake (in my opinion) of concentrating on the monster instead of the human characters, the movie will be a stinker. I think one of King's hallmarks is making characters believable, and then he gets us to care about them and root for them. That way, even if the monster was a demonically possessed bowl of pasta, we'd still turn pages to make sure our heroes won through without succumbing to unholy carbohydrates. And I wouldn't mind if they got Curry back to fill those clown shoes, again...
But enough horror, it's time for more horror:
- Bloody Fun Day is a Grim Reaper puzzle-game where you must strategically reap the souls of "cutie" creatures without expending too much of your own energy or you (as much as the Grim Reaper can) die.
- A "stimulus package" that has nothing to do with the economy: A collection of things that are always fun to draw.
- My gaming group was wanting me to solicit any reader experience with Wayfarers, the RPG. It was described as "what D&D would have been like with the continuation of the boxed sets instead of AD&D." Any shouts for this game, yay or nay?
- Kind of a neat idea: make dice from old keyboard keys. I'm not sure the "rules" they offer actually constitute a game, but it's a good start.
- Speaking of dice, here's a list of dice images, a few I'd never seen before or could even guess the use of. It also includes the ever-popular "d2."
- I've been sitting on this one for a while, but the die-roller in me finally forced me to put it forth. Beware of violent (though still) cartoony imagery and coarse language along with a hilarious tune in The Role-Play Tournament (Be Aggressive). I so want the mp3 for this one.
- Something left over from my trip to BashCon. For some reason, this graffiti I saw, incorporating the bolts on a stall wall, in one of the restrooms amused me.
- Just in case you ever find mysterious holes punched in your car, this might be the culprit.
- And we'll end with the Grim Reaper as well. It's Death vs. Monsters, a Robotron-like arena shooter with a bit of unique aiming system. Enjoy!