An augmented sketchbook scribbling. The augmenting is from July, and copied off another website where I had uploaded it. I was waiting to place it here until I felt it was finished to my liking, but now that is not feasible, as its full size, non-jpeg source is out of my possession. For its keeper, Hard Drive has fallen suddenly ill, and likely another week will pass before I have access to objects with which to determine feasibility of trasfering beared objects to other bearers.
Hard Drive looks out a window wistfully, wondering if the medicine will arrive in time to save it. It has no idea scientists keep it alive only for the purposes of accessing and removing the secrets implanted within its brain, with no regard for its continued function afterward. Life is cruel. Also possibly the plot to a Fred Savage movie from the 1980s.
I formerly backed up data to an alternate backing up drive prior to venturing on trips such as I am on now, due to concerns that very, very stupid things would happen, brought on by changes of circumstances. However, once I acquired a primary drive of greater storage capacity than the backup drive, I did the logical thing of ceasing to back up data at all, even as changes of circumstance became more frequent and did not necessarily require me to authorize them by leaving my house.
Seen here on a bed, a terribly impractical work location that is nonetheless a temporary safe spot from roving, toddling circumstances.
O hard drive, there is a hole in my heart where you used to be. And also in the side of my computer device where you formerly spun endlessly. You spun endlessly, of course, because Windows could not figure out how to re-initialize you without a full restart if you stopped or slowed down because it doesn’t expect people to have second hard drives instead of compact disc drives. Your ever-going status no doubt contributed to your susceptibility to liquid circumstances that left other more proximal and less crucial components mysteriously unaltered.
I should probably find some way of blocking that hole since Computor profoundly dislikes if something else tries to go in there.
Rygar Racing, the sport of kings.
I realize Rygar is technically a princess by virtue of his tiara and improper to be wagered upon by a king in most contemporary constitutional monarchies, but times were much tougher in his day. And for that matter, days were much tougher in his time.
Additionally, in this case it refers to non-kings playing the video game rygar against each other in a race to completion of it. The crowds have turned out in great numbers to view the splendor of its spectacle.
How much do I have to pay the “games done quick + 2016” people to STOP playing rygar? They could be DONE with it far more quickly.
And I say this as somebody who owns a framed copy of Rygar. I know what it is capable of. The frame is not for ITS protection.
I have a cruel, stupid life. Somehow or another I was informed in advance that the Rygar match would take place at approximately 8:30am beastern irregular time, and I became fixated on the idea of reporting this, on twitter, live as the event was in progress, which meant violating my sleep schedule in a most unfortunate manner, to wake up at 8am, like a person with a life, to do a largely lifeless thing. However, what sleep I had was restless and filled with made up mental images of rygar-playing. Which is to say, I had a dream about watching somebody else play Rygar. Could my existence be any more empty?
When I awoke I saw that the event had been rescheduled. At this point I ascertained that the effort put into keeping matters on schedule was faulty, and after several days of doing games quickly, but slightly less quickly than anticipated, everything on the list had been bumped forward four hours. Even to get one’s self psychologically prepared for Rygar that seems high. I had earlier noticed that posted videos were consistently a 3-10 minutes longer than the estimates, but I wasn’t expecting 4 whole hours to go missing. And they hadn’t:
I checked back around the 12:40ish adjusted start point, got my computer in the mood to watch videos, and then realized that the times had reverted to more or less what they were the first time I looked, which was by now four hours ago. I had, earlier in the day, forgotten that on the previous day’s visit to the Rygar schedule, I had only temporarily enabled scripts on the website, since I hate, and always have hated, when videos automatically try to load, which a video streaming website of course will want to do. It had not struck me that one of the scripts might have been adjusting the schedule to reflect my time zone, despite the considerably more dinkity, glitched font that replaced the fancy one when I saw the incorrect time. I am accustomed to living with broken things (in part from growing up with the likes of Rygar), and so do not necessarily assume somebody else’s thing looking broken is a cause for investigation.
To summarize, I dreamt about Rygar, woke up early to watch Rygar, and then missed it, and I felt bad for missing Rygar, and had to wait two days for the Rygar to be posted in non-live form, and somehow made it a matter that took me a week to get around to writing about, rather than just making a few brief statements within the limited window that somebody else might care. And the truth of the matter is that my internet is too crummy to facilitate live-streamed video anyhow, and trying to process it often knocks my computer unconscious. I literally have no reason to live. Which makes my life a curiosity worthy of study and consequently worth continuing.
With that said, the fact that one of these people is simply called “darkwing duck” while plainly being a man [playing RYGAR] is terribly amusing to me. Also, I don’t know which of them it is. What a scary thought, to be in a room with a man named Darkwing Duck and not even be able to determine who it is. If your NAME is Darkwing Duck and people call you that in public, you ought to at least be dark, have wings, or be a duck. It was my belief that the internet nickname concept broke down in person; nobody should be able to use such varied, ridiculous names with seriousness when all the people they address look and behave fundamentally the same. I realize this is hardly original observations; the laughing at of nerd gimmicks executed in public was a staple of comedy television prior to nerds having loads of cash and becoming higher in number than not-necessarily-nerds. I further acknowledge that nobody on television has or will ever talk to me, while with nerds it is still possible, and I stand to gain nothing by attempting to irritate them. But the overall message of this bimshwel posting is that I do not do things for “reasons.”
A few years ago I sneered at the idea of paying somebody else to play video games (and other stupid things disconnected from value or necessity), but years before that I proposed paying people specifically to play really poorly-made video games well, so that the general population unable to devote their lives to enduring such abusive garbage could still fulfill any curiosity that the game’s existence might bring forth.
In that case, Battletoads. Of course it was bloody boring and I never posted it, and apparently erred in assuming that the Battletoad authors knew the correct names of Double Dragon enemies; the guy with the gun is actually named Willy, and I only know that from reading, within the past three months, another internet account of somebody complaining about the Battletoads game getting the gun guy’s name incorrect. Which, by the logic I was using in 2005 or thereabouts, makes weblog writers more qualified to design Double Dragon games than the people who were paid to make Battletoad games for several years. Also apparently there is a different Double Dragon guy named “Will” who has neither a machine gun nor a Y, and BT+DD also identifies him as “Lopar,” without considering that is just “Roper” again Romanized differently. I now know far, far too much about this.
They at least wouldn’t be able to point to this old magazine contest and say “blame whoever won that! It was their idea!”
But that is all well because I would hate to have paid somebody ten million dollars to do it when I could just get a whole bunch of other people to pay another organization entirely considerably smaller sums.
In this case now, game-quality is not a factor and the players do not keep the money, but the important thing is that they play exceptionally well. They are not regular dorks running a game at an average, unrehearsed pace, or worse, complete schlubs running a game for the first time and putting forth no effort but assuming their poor playing is inherently noteworthy.
Having said that, I have little interest in seeing a game I have not myself used being played very well, because I will have no concept of the challenge involved, how big a deal it is to have the challenge averted, how many of the original obligations are being skipped entirely, and, perhaps most importantly, the feeling of having a personal investment. The Quick-Game-Doer videos, specifically the one for Final Fantasy Threex, is often accompanied by viewer comments like “I’ve never played this game before and I’m so glad to see it” which seems to me the worst way to experience it first. The player is running from every encounter, skipping all the dialog, and you can’t hear any of the music, which is some of the best there is for the Superb Nintendo system, and just generally doing nonsensical-looking things that you would never do when playing properly. And also there are hundreds of videos already online of any of these games but especially this one that you could watch, some that aren’t even nonsensical, if you have such an ancient unfulfilled curiosity, why do you need somebody else to dump it in front of you? Sometimes they accompany this with a donation, so the totally stupid comment gets read during the video. It is like eating dessert before dinner. Except you are watching someone else eat it. And paying to influence what fork they use. For example, the background graphic is determined by which gets most money pledged to it. And the competing categories accumulate over thirty thousand dollars. From about 20 different people. Not quite ten million, but still more than that singular aspect is worth. And then people re-donate to bring their preferred image back into control. I believe in charity, but knowing what motivates people to part with their money is a form of illogic I will never be in accord with.
I like to think that my life has more meaning than that of the sort of person who can toss a thousand dollars at dominance of what appears behind the mostly skipped-past text, for charity or otherwise, but I haven’t successfully procured so much money that I CAN toss a thousand dollars away. I could go to the bank and get a few hundreds but I would have to tie them to strings before tossing them so that would they be assured of coming back. Most of these people that I laugh at for devoting themselves to frivolous matters are getting loads of dollars with apparently enough time left over to watch other people play video games all week in. Maybe not Rygar, but there was also an Ironsword race.
And even with fore-knowledge a good game-showing can be frustrating, if a specific area that I would like to see executed skillfully is skipped in pursuit of the most efficient route to the primary game objective. And so it is almost better to see a live run of a game compared to an ideal take from something the person has recorded multiple times, since I can see how a good player recovers from error.
And specifically with regard to the “race” videos, I watched a few, and they were ultimately not so interesting, since both players were pursuing the same path, using the same glitches and exploits. Very little was improvised. When one player got ahead, as a result of an isolated random obstacle or one the other messing up, they stayed ahead. Much like a running race, I suppose. And so you can get a better sense of full completion, exploration, and the consequences of failure by watching a schlub’s video, but that will take them far longer, hours, days, to accomplish, they’ll usually be talking over it, and you can’t interact with them, and you are living through someone else doing something you could do yourself and feel less dirty for the time spent on it. It is not like tennis where you need a special huge setup, a human opponent in close proximity and the capacity for physical exertion. If you have two working phalanx digits, you have the capacity to play Battletoads poorly.
Thankfully, future generations will never have to.
one more inexplicable looped animated lizard wearing a furry coat despite a lack of other clothing or presumed endothermia. These require some effort but not much thought! At least out of context. But they fill space well when I am too busy to put forth effort and thought at the same time.
May 19: great gimpity did I kill him by posting this??! I should have given him a more proven weapon to defend with than the awkward gun-blade.
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I could not let my inoperable art tablet keep me from honoring the legendary career of broadcaster Morley Seifer.
I suspect tumblr is not going to appreciate this as much as it did Squalo Renhart.
On my part this is surely either a cry for help or a statement of unwillingness to accept help. Ironically, this is one of the more coherent digital art works I have made recently. It is as if I cannot do well unless I am doing something that there is no need to do well.
A strange series of structures I drew two years ago. I thought this lacked a central focus and wanted to wait until I thought of one to show it, but, assuming that is always feasible, it is not always necessary! I added the bird thing and the two figures near the lower edge, anyhow.
Between 2001 and 2006 I started a bunch of stories that I am still working through, but their settings all look so earthly or worse, domestic to me now. If I started another I would put it in a place like this. Although I fear I will attempt to relocate existing stories to this kind of place and make more trouble for myself than I require. Places without ground are more interesting to me. They are more fun to look at.
I think we can all agree.
I recently provided the theoretical cover imagery to “Island of Misfit Grooves,” an album of electronic music. Theoretical, I say, because it is downloaded music which therefore does not require any sort of physical appearance. Nonetheless I constructed one!
All sales proceeds are to be donated to the A Well Fed World charity. Buy this and help somebody else get a sandwich! Or you could just donate directly if you would rather not inadvertently offer approval to such troublesome imps as I have depicted.
In fact I have not heard the album! I was given a complimentary download code but my internet is so crummy that the job has never finished. True enough I can listen to the tracks for free by streaming them off the website I linked to, but I cannot obsessive compulsively hoard streamed data! Where is the negative self-enabling in that?
And despite appearances, with the previous “art” focused updates, it would be disingenuous to say I am too busy to write “entertaining” things for here. In fact I am as busy as always, but I am not making writing frivolity a priority at the moment. My illustrated frivolity seems to get better results. Although this drawing actually took about two months. But I can post this in a whole bunch of places and print it out and hypothetically divide the amount of time spent without apparent result to receive a diminished waste total. I tend to presume nobody outside of this little space, possibly within it, could possibly comprehend what I think is so funny about “We’re an American Band.” Or necessarily that is a good mark of character on anybody who does.
I have not much to say about this. And I do not wish for this to say much to me!
The drawing was an attempt at understanding how mask layers work in artwork computer programs. I gave up partway through and flattened the whole thing to one layer like I generally do, but I may try it again, provided this weirdo gets away from me. I cannot handle this sort of fiend judging me.
I suspect this might be funnier without the fourth frame, which makes it sad. Somebody else suggested it was better without the fifth. So I compromised and ruined it twice by including both.
It has the potential to be accurate but for the moment it is not.
I think you are missing the greater message here. Also you may need to trim your carpet.
I was concerned I had forgotten how to draw with with clean colors and non-blurred lines. Now I am yet more concerned that I have not.
NOW you’re bringing that up? You really should have solved that problem before we got this far!
Eh well I must remember that old saying: Big plans, pigs for hands. I just made it up but in a few years it will be old! It will be a classic like drink in sand, feet in hand, and all the more impressive since your hands will now be pigs.
This is what my real art looks like now. I need to remind people now and later that my natural tendency is to draw things with no bearing on reality and even less on socially acceptable non-realities. The fact that this is somewhat clumsily drawn is not an allusion to the expression “ham-handed” which means to be bungling or unskilled; I assure you it is not a terminology I use and consequently I forgot that it existed. I think somebody who actually had pigs for hands should not even be expected to not be clumsy, and so criticizing them for it would be most unfair. My aggressive opening remark was due to the protagonist announcing the pig hands when we have work to do.
Are you not sure who your friends are? Whether you’re a good guy or a bad guy? Do you wish people would shut up about what a hero your deadbeat dad is and how little sense your sword makes?
Maybe you’re not a jedi or a sith at all, and maybe you’re a lion.
Dessert Island
I think you may be digging in the wrong place.
I acknowledge that I was raised to deal with christ-mas, that today IS the christmas day and that the picture I posted has nothing to do with christmas.
However, neither does this.
I hope you will find this informative.
I contacted expert voiceover artist Gewk Gilkengramen for the narration. Gewk refused in disgust, so I had to bring in this bozo instead from off the street. With that in mind I have also provided moderately readable text that says for the most part the same things.
I will provide more painful details at an ideally hypothetical point in the future.
Why are you pouting? Did you not pay attention to what you put in your own cart? Until after you paid and walked out? Typical miply stupid animal.
NO! Do NOT act like you are doing me a favor! I did NOT ask you to buy that!
Actually, as dopey as that thing is I would not recommend walking inside a shop rite without waterproof boots since there is usually a spill in there somewhere with no employee for miles.
If you are not familiar with Shop Rite, good. It is like a Stop & Shop or a Kroger or a Food Lion except you get an uneasy feeling that you are trash when you are inside.
The drawing is of course inspired by the older shop rite logo. The one that it is impossible to find a photograph of that does not look like a crime scene. The current Shop Rite logo does not just have weird lumps floating over a coal black mine cart; it also has shards and scraps in the mix.
Also note that while they redrew the graphic they didn’t fix the glaring spelling and grammar error in the store’s title.
This Shop Rite is at the Railroad Salvage plaza, which in the absence of better data I will presume means all the groceries were illegally stolen from train wrecks that may or may not have been engineered by the
yet older logo’s sinister silhouette of Inspector Gadget beside some sort of death ray.
This person was created when the protagonist from the Apple Macintosh Trashic “Climber” bumped into the middle elevator too many times.
Ordinarily upon collision Climber will turn sideways, flop out its legs and have impotent rage while totally immobile for 5 to 40 seconds, however much time you have remaining, which was the perfect time to strike. I would like to get my own screen shot of this but emulating old macintosh games is the most arcane and arduous task on the planet. Forced, impregnable obsolescence on an Apple product is nothing new. This is harder than using an itunes gift card without installing iTunes (AND quicktime), which is impossible. It is even harder than coming out of a shop rite without crying.
What’s worse: that this isn’t enough Chef Boy ar Dee to satisfy the masses, or that they refer to this tinned glop as “supplies?”
This person is happy because the pertinent Shop Rite is clearly out of business.
the next part of this story that only mentions shop rite at the end
the part after that one which has far too much shop rite in it
Self-Defense Portrait
They seem to work well together.
I have not had much time for image production recently! I fear it is evident. However, this one was considerably less trouble than the last evident “art-“themed picture I displayed here.