The past few days I finally had time to play a little XBox, and I was able to finish Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II. Overall, the game is outstanding. I gave the first game a 9.5 (in my "Mental Game Review Book That No One Cares About Except Me"), and I give this game a solid 9. The only reason it didn't pull even with it's predecessor is because of its bugginess. Man, that game has so much lag! And it freezes for small periods of time, too. You'll be playing and the screen will freeze and you'll get ticked because it's been awhile since you saved, but then all of a sudden the screen starts moving again and life is good again.
As far as the storyline goes, it's pretty good. There are some nice little twists, but no big character revelations like the first game. Also, there's a huge lack of romance, which I found kind of disappointing. Especially since the new game allows you to gain and lose influence with the individual members of your party. The biggest annoyance was having to control different members of your party during certain parts of the game. I'm sure the developers thought this would be a nice way to mix things up, but your secondary characters never become nearly as strong as your main character. So when you're just getting comfortable with your Mandalorian Assault Armor and your dual light sabers, the game suddenly thrusts you into the shoes of one your off-characters who is wielding a measly vibroblade and regular clothing (I totally geeked out there. My apologies.).
The best thing the developers did was keep the original game engine almost entirely intact. If you were in love with the first game, you'll be right at home in the second game. Even the storyline references the first game heavily throughout. Revan is still quite the focal point and you run into several characters who were in your party in the first game, which is quite nostalgic in a very nerdy sort of way. All in all, Obisidian did a good job taking the reins from Bioware, and they've kept the excitement up for the franchise. I'm looking forward to KOTOR III. Please, God, let there be a III.
If you people are interested, my interview is up at Digital Strips. Just click on the Podcast for Feb. 27, 2005 at the top of the page. A few things I want to mention before you listen in:
- This is my first interview and I was kinda nervous. Not really, but kinda. - I talk a lot. I always have. My family teases me all the time about it. So, please, forgive my rambling in advance. :) - I was asked a question about "manga", and in my response I refer to it as "anime". I realize that "anime" and "manga" are different, but, again, I was nervous and I mixed the terms up. Please forgive me, all you hardcore TokyoPop Manga-Heads out there. I meant no disrespect. - I'm very loud. I don't know if I'm this loud in real life, but I'm loud on this Podcast. - I have an idiotic Ohio accent. I realize that most everybody has some sort of accent, but I think I sound like a direlect from to time. I'll work on my enunciation for further interviews. :)
All that aside, I had a lot of fun and I hope to have more opportunities to do interviews. I like people and I like talking, so it kinda works out. :) Zampzon and Daku at Digital Strips are great guys who really love comic strips, and I really appreciate them asking me to be on the show. If you guys get a chance, try to leave a message on their blog and let them know you appreciate what they're doing.
That's all for me, peeps. Leave a message in the forums and I'll respond posthaste. Or post-haste. Or al;skdjfa;l-haste.
Yes, you read today's comic correctly. Do not adjust your eyes, for you have read yet another tired bald joke! Do "bald jokes" ever get old? The answer, of course, is "yes". But I don't care. I throw caution to the wind and whip out the bald jokes with zeal. That's just the kind of guy I am.
Not much to report today. Don't forget about my interview with the Digital Strips guys on Monday. Of course I'll provide a link to the interview once it's up in case Monday comes and you've forgotten. But I'd appreciate it if you didn't forget. I cook and clean and take care of the kids while you're at work so you can come home and watch your dumb football games. The least you can do is listen to my interview!
Still working on the details for the upcoming comic book signing. Just wanted to let you know that event is still simmering on the backburner, and I'll be sure to let you know all the cool details as soon as I get them.
Oh, one more thing. . . If you're in Florida and you're planning on attending the Orlando MegaCon, please do me a big favor and swing by the Viper booth and tell them how much you enjoy my comic. Even if you hate my comic, lie to those guys and tell them you love it. And while you're there pick up some Dead@17 stuff and some Daisy Kutter stuff and tell Nicc Balce "Hey", but don't forget to tell them that you love my comic!!!
Okay, enough shameless self-promotion. Drop me a note in the forum and I'll hit you back with a witty reply.
I'm not sure I've ever talked about how much I love my wife. I know I've said many nice things about her, and I even write a comic strip inspired by our relationship. But I don't know if I've ever actually told you peeps that I love being married to my wife, Tricia.
People, I love my wife deeply.
You're probably wondering where this is coming from, so allow me to tell you . . .
Last night, while I was at work, I was reading a book called Every Man's Battle. It's a book for men on how to be better husbands and fathers, and how to cherish your wife. It's pretty heavy, spiritual stuff, and I'm really enjoying it.
Anyway, while I was standing next to the time clock waiting to clock out for the day, one of my co-workers saw the book strapped to the top of my lunchbox which I was holding in my hands. He asked me, "What book is that?"
I said, "It's called Every Man's Battle."
He looked at me kinda puzzled. "What's it about?"
"It's basically a guide on how to be a better husband and how to cherish your wife and perfect your marriage."
He rolled his eyes a little bit; not so much that it was obvious, but there was definitely a small eye roll. He turned away from me, clocked out, and walked out the door.
When I came home from work I kissed my wife on the cheek and said, "You know what, babe? We're weirdos because we're in love and we believe our marriage will last a lifetime." Tricia smiled and nodded.
So, anyway . . . I told that boring, rambling story basically so I could tell you this: I must be an abnormal white American male because I love my wife with all my heart, I look forward to our future together, and I thank God for her daily. Call me crazy, but this marriage will last many many years . . . . unless one of us dies.
Last night I recorded an interview with the guys over at Digital Strips for their weekly podcast. During the half-hour interview we discussed everything from the concept of You'll Have That to my take on the battle between webcomics and newspaper comics. We had a lot of fun, and you guys can listen/download it from the Digital Strips website this coming Monday the 28th. While you're there be sure to let them know how much you like their show and their website, and tell them I sent you. These guys are doing some cool things to help webcomics get more exposure, and I hope they stay encouraged in their awesome endeavor!
When I was in Michigan I bought a copy of Home Movies Season 1. If you're not familiar with Home Movies, it's a great show that was on the Cartoon Network (it's now in reruns). There's some really funny stuff on the DVD, including a guitar lesson by Thor Von Clemson which made me pee my pants laughing while melting my face off with intense guitar fury. Brendon Small, who is a co-creator of the show and also does several voices, wrote and performed all the music for Home Movies. And, let me tell you, this guy can thrash on an electric guitar. If you visit his site, www.brendonsmall.com, you can listen to several songs he wrote for the show as well as some other little jams. Freakin' awesome stuff.
I'll be chained to my drawing desk today. Not only do I have to finish up some comic strips, but my wife volunteered me to do some artwork for one of her class projects (she recently went back to college). Wives are great like that.
Well, I gots to get something to eat before I hit the drawing board, but feel free to leave me a note in the forums. I'd love to hear from you.
My wife and I are preparing to leave the vast, wintry wasteland that is Michigan this morning. We'll have breakfast with her mother and brother, and then we'll venture south to Ohio where it is a stifling forty-nine degrees Fahrenheit. We had a "snow storm" here in Michigan last night, and, believe me, forty-nine degrees never sounded so good. (I put the word "snow storm" in quotes because the Michigan definition of snow storm is quite different than the Ohio definition of snow storm. Currently, Port Huron is buried under 6-7 inches of pure, white snow . . . but it's just a "dusting". In my neck of the woods this would have been a level 39 snow emergency. President Bush would have flown in to declare it a federal disaster area, and the Red Cross would be busy setting up tents and organizing the disaster relief fund.)
Despite our short visit to Michigan, I was enlightened mentally and spiritually by several life experiences:
- I got my butt kicked three times at pool by my wife's Uncle Dennis. He used to be a tax advisor at H&R Block, and I'm glad I asked my tax questions before he annihalated me with his cuestick skills.
- If there's a buttload of snow on the ground, and the roads are slick, people in Michigan will still drive fast and/or tailgate you.
- My brother-in-law and I saw the movie Constantine which, in my opinion, is just okay.
So, Trish and I will now pack up what few bags we have, load them in my Volkswagen Golf GLS (which is a high-performance vehicle . . . I have to fill it with premium), and drive over to her mother's house where we will have breakfast. Last I heard we were going to have a good, old-fashioned McDonald's breakfast. It's cheap and quick, and you can't go wrong with that.
Okay, I gotta start moving. Drop me a line in the forums and tell me how I used the term "toboggan" in the wrong context today. It'll be good times, peeps.
Today my wife and I are headed up north to Michigan to visit her family for a couple days. I always look forward to visiting Port Huron even though it is a vast, frozen tundra wrought with unhappiness during the winter months. When Trish and I make these trips, I like to tell people that my wife and I are visiting "Puerto Huron (pronounced "Hyer-own"). It sounds more tropical and luxurious. People then say, "OOOOO! What's the weather like there?" And I say, "Twenty below zero." And then they say, "The name of that place is misleading!"
One of the reasons I like visiting Michigan is because I love driving. I just really love it. One day, when I'm filthy rich, I'm gonna own a "driving car". This will be a vehicle purchased specifically for long road trips. It will be a great car with great handling and several cupholders. The big kind. So I can fit my Super Sized Coca Cola. And it will be a manual shift because that's the only way to drive, people.
We'll also be taking the iPod which is currently sporting nine hundred and ninety-five songs. I know that's chump change compared to some of you guys out there, but I'm proud of my MP3 collection. My dad says, "Why do you need nine hundred and ninety-five songs?" The answer: so I can write in my blog about how many songs I have, silly pants.
Be sure to drop a line in the forums and tell us what you think. I'll be out of town all weekend, but I'll still have access to a computer and internet. So, if you have questions I'll more than likely answer them. Unless I don't know the answer. In which case I'll just spout off a bunch of B.S. like usual. Hey . . . it got me through high school.
I'm so behind on comics right now it's not funny. I need a schedule, people. I drew a comic book for my wife for Valentine's Day, and it's put me off my makeshift schedule which resides in my mind. The strips will be done, though, so don't fret. I'll just have to go into turbo-drawing mode, which is a mode that should only be used in emergency situations in which plenty of chocolate milk is available. Luckily for you, the readers, chocolate milk was on sale at Kroger's and the WesMan stocked up.
The other night I sat down with my notebook to write the strips for March, and I realized that March has five weeks instead of four. That means you'll get 25% more comic goodness in the month of March! Not only will you get your comic goodness Super Sized, but I'm really excited about March's strips. I'm gonna start delving into the characters lives a little more, and we'll finally see where Andy and Katie work. Yes!! They have jobs!!!
There's so much I want to explore with these characters. All kinds of paths I want to take, but I want to make sure I don't rush into anything. I don't want to write myself into a wall, so I'm doing my best to make sure I flesh out both the short-term and long-term ideas for the characters. But sometimes you gotta dive right in, so that's what's gonna happen in March. It should be fun.
So anyway, there's some exciting stuff that Viper and I are working on that I wanted to share with you guys in a quick fashion.
First, we're working on a comic book signing. Yeah, I said it. A comic book signing. And guess what? It's at a real comic book shop. In my hometown. So quit calling me a liar. More details on this little shindig as I get them. But I've been talking to Jessie G. (that's what he likes me to call him) and my comic shop's owner to try and set up the date. Keep checking this site as I'll certainly post all the details as I get them.
Secondly, my wife and I are planning on attending a comic convention this year. It'll be my first convention ever! And we're looking forward to it. So, if you think you'll be in the vicinity of Chicago on the dates of August 5-7, why not swing by Wizard World Chicago and say, "What's up, homey?" I'll give you a high five, because, hey, high fives rule.
Thirdly and finally, we're cooking up one more G-Mail Giveaway. Yeah. We're doing it again. "Why are we doing this again so soon after the first giveaway?", you ask. I'll tell you why. The other day I checked my G-Mail and I have a crap-ton of new invites. And I'm not that cool, so there's no way I'll be able to get rid of all of them. Anyway, we're still working out the kinky kink kinks, so I'll keep you posted as to how we do this. But we'll be doing this really soon, because I think Google is getting close to opening the G-Mail floodgates.
Okay, peeps, that's enough news for you today. If you get time, please stop by the forums and chat it up a bit. We'd love to have you.
I don't know about you guys, but I had a pretty busy weekend.
On Saturday, Trish and I went to my grandma's house for a Valentine's dinner. We had spaghetti and garlic bread. Trish says that my family always celebrates weird holidays that aren't normally celebrated. I think it's my fault, though. When I was younger I asked my grandma if we could have more "feasts", because I liked it when the family got together to eat massive amounts of food. So, now we celebrate Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Arbor Day, Secretary's Day, and Boxing Day (because my grandma was infatuated with Princess Diana).
My wife and I celebrated Valentine's Day early on Sunday. We went to dinner out of town, and we exchanged our gifts. Trish gave me a gift card for Sam Goody, and she had the very first You'll Have That comic strip framed and matted (the one in the forums about the Apple Store). It looks awesome, and she got a little choked up when she gave it to me. It's so great to have a beautiful woman who is so supportive of my "childish" dream. A lot of people turn their noses when I tell them I want(ed) to be a professional cartoonist, but Tricia embraces it. (Thanks, babe!)
I gave Tricia a wireless internet router and a wireless card for her laptop (a gift I couldn't afford to give her at Christmas). I also drew her a small, ten page comic book about our first date. It was a hit, and I feel like a stud.
In case you're wondering, I used my gift card to buy the following CDs:
Butterfly Boucher - Flutterby (Thanks for the recommendation, Britt! "Another White Dash" is my new favorite song)
Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News (I've read all the reviews, and now I can finally chime in as well: this CD is awesome)
Cake - Pressure Chief (I like Cake, but I don't care for this CD)
So there you go, peeps. My miraculous weekend. Stop by the forums and yell my ear off. I'd love to hear what you have to say!
If any of you are comic strip nerds like me, then check out the conversation Dave Johnson and I are having about webcomics vs. newspaper comics. Dave Johnson is the creator of Dog Complex, a hilarious comic strip that was published on the Universal Press Syndicate's Comic Sherpa website. Dog Complex was eventually able to make the jump to UP's MyComicsPage, but Dave opted not to when he was offered a great job at Microsoft. Rather than tell the whole story here, you can it read it for yourself in Dave's forums. At any rate, it looks as those Dog Complex is coming back on March 1st, but that's just an assumption. You be the judge . . .
For the sports nerds out there, Reggie Miller has decided to retire from the NBA at the end of this season. Love him or hate him, it's great to see a star athlete stick it out with a single team through thick and thin. I wish we'd see more athletes in all sports sticking to one team. Do you hear that, LeBron?!
Oh, and today's comic is based on an actual conversation my wife and I had. It always surprises me how much help we think people deserve, but how unwilling we are to help those people ourselves. Me included. I should take my own advice, but I'm tired right now . . .
I received my copies of Dead@17: Rough Cut Vol. 2 yesterday. So, if any of you want a copy of Rough Cut Vol. 2 with a forged "Josh Howard" signature, I'll be putting them up on E-Bay in a matter of hours. I'm waiting for the ink to dry. Bidding starts at a million dollars.
Stop by the forums and yak it up with us. Face it. You've got nothing better to do.
It's raining in southern Ohio. It's gray and dreary and, though I've not been outside, it looks cold. I hate days like this. You don't want to do anything productive from the second you get up and look out the window. *sigh* Only about a month and a half left of this crap.
I was visiting my friends over at the Digital Strips Webcomics Blog, and they've posted a link to an NPR report about the state of newspaper comic strips and the increase of comics on the web. It's interesting and kind of scary if you're an aspiring cartoonist. It's definitely worth a listen. Just scroll down the page and look for the topic "Strip Down?". I have a lot of opinions about the state of comics, and the "war" between newspaper comics and webcomics. If you have any interest in what I think, just visit the Digital Strips Webcomics Blog and look for some of my comments. I've got some long rants on there!
If you have the time, swing by my forums and give us a piece of your mind! We'd be glad to hang out and chat awhile!
Sorry for no blog entry on Monday. I had to work 13 hours at my day job, which left very little time for blogging. But I'm back now and I hope you enjoyed yesterday's strip regardless of the lack of daily commentary.
There's not a whole lot going on around here. It's the beginning of February, so winter is pretty dreary in southern Ohio. I'm ready for the end of March when the temperatures start to go back up.
I'm also ready for the new movie theater to be finished. It was supposed to be done by December of last year, but they're still working on it. Not only is this theater going to be the biggest one in town, but it's being built practically in my backyard. Seriously. I can't wait for the summer when Tricia and I can walk to the movies. Hopefully the movies coming out this summer won't suck.
Last Friday I mentioned the Brendan Leonard Show. It was a program on ABC Family that aired every afternoon during the summer of 2003. Basically, the show was a bunch of kids in high school screwing around with a video camera making funny skits and playing practical jokes. It was pretty simple, but I liked it because it reminded me of the fun I had in high school. My buddes and I used to make funny videos all the time, and I even played a pretty awesome practical joke on some friends for their graduation party. Maybe I can put it up here for download. I wonder how I would do that . . . Jim Resnowski . . . I'm looking at you . . . :)
Anyway, back to Brendan Leonard . . . His show was cancelled after the first season, and all the guys in the show went to college. But now Brendan Leonard has a web show produced by the same company that produced the ABC Family show. It even has a few of the original guys in it, and it's the same format: a bunch of friends daring each other to do stupid junk on camera. It's good clean fun. You can visit the website at this address:
I have to go to work today, and I'm dreading it. I know that once I get there it won't be so bad, but I feel spoiled after having two days off. Work sucks.
I forgot to mention it on Wednesday, but Dead@17: Rough Cut Vol.2 hit the shelves and you should pick it up at your local comic book store. I contributed twelve comics for the anthology, and the book is very nice. It's 64 pages of wholesome goodness. If you're not familiar with the Dead@17 universe, this is a good way to get acquainted.
I'm hungry, so I'm gonna get something to eat and watch "Ed" on ABC Family. Or TBS. I always get those two channels mixed up.
Speaking of ABC Family, does anyone remember what happened to the Brendan Leonard Show? I thought it was a cool show, but it's not on anymore. I'd buy it on DVD if it's out there . . .
If you've been reading this blog for awhile you've realized that I love music. Currently, my favorite bands fit into the laid back, singer-songwriter genre. Bands like Dave Matthews, Ben Folds, Guster, Martin Sexton, etc. But every now and then I just need to rock. And I'm not talking "Van-Halen-rocking" or "Aerosmith-rocking". I'm talking "in-your-face-crazy-rocking". Which should be a genre in and of itself. Fortunately for me, I support a catalog of music that has plenty of rocking no matter what mood I'm in.
So the other day, as I was perusing my CD case looking for some rocking jams to fill my ears on the drive home from work, I ran my fingers across my Clutch CD. The CD in question is "The Elephant Riders", and, friends, believe me when I tell you that this band will melt your face off with their insane-rocking jams. I'd love to find some more of their stuff, so if any of you out there are Clutch fans, let me know what Clutch CDs rock.
While we're talking about music, let's talk about MP3s. I love 'em, people. And I want you guys to love 'em, too. But we here at YHT gots to exercise the responsibility, so please only rock the legal downloads. That said, you should check out this site:
Basically, this guy records his kickin' jams on his computer and then puts them on his website for everyone to download. There's a crapload of songs (I've got two CDs full), and most all of them are pretty good. Musically, he's kind of a mix between Ben Kweller and Weezer. Lyrically, most of the songs are pretty simple and feature a little dry humor. It's a lot of fun to listen to.
I'll try to post more links to MP3s as I find them. I like a lot of obscure bands, and most of these bands offer free music, so I can just link to it. But still, you should support these people, too. (I gotta cover my anus, you know what I'm sayin'?)
