Remi's Bloglet - Monday 21 May 2007

Spider-man 3 was fine. Some great action setpieces, the best villain scene in the series (the Sandman re-forming himself and not being able to touch the locket), but overall a little . . . forgettable._
respond? (2)
09:44:28 AM, Monday 21 May 2007

The game that had my art in it, Orx, got a pretty scathing review. However, my art was called ". . . without a doubt the best part of the presentation of [the game]". Of course, considering the Style of the game was still '1', it didn't appear to help . . . so maybe it was damning with faint praise. _
respond? (4)
08:48:12 AM, Saturday 19 May 2007

The Heartless Bastards are playing next month. Wonder if I'll go? _
respond?
11:07:57 AM, Friday 18 May 2007

While I'm not as huge a fan of the comic as many people out there, it's still exciting to see that Persepolis is getting a respectful animated treatment. I got this from the Drawn! blog, and they didn't like the music, which is awesome and really works well off the stark tone of the drawings. _
respond? (6)
11:24:43 PM, Thursday 17 May 2007

Mouse Guard vol. 1, Runaways vol. 3, and Fell vol. 1 are all coming out next week. A cornucopeia of excellent comics! _
respond?
01:29:32 PM, Wednesday 16 May 2007

blar! _
respond? (5)
12:50:29 AM, Wednesday 16 May 2007

Today, while walking to get lunch, I saw a hawk holding a snake fleeing from crows. Omen or coincidence? _
respond? (9)
03:13:36 PM, Tuesday 15 May 2007

Neil Gaiman's pictures from Alan Moore's wedding. Warren Ellis calls Moore's outfit 'frankly surreal'. If I could tie in Garth Ennis, Mark Millar, and Grant Morrison, I would have the 6 Heads of Great British Comic Writers in the American Market in a Single Not-Comics-Related Post. _
respond?
10:47:39 AM, Monday 14 May 2007

Mmmmmm, back-patting. _
respond?
11:54:13 AM, Thursday 3 May 2007

I can no longer tell the difference between Matt Haughey and Jason Kottke's authorial voices.

But Mssr Haughey did find this cool-looking iTunes visualizer, so it's okay. _
respond?
10:51:33 AM, Thursday 3 May 2007

While I'm really, really looking forward to Ratatouille, it is going to make it more difficult to get people to pronounce my name right. The main character is named 'Remy'. _
respond? (5)
01:05:41 PM, Wednesday 2 May 2007

I can read the Great Books because they are building blocks to the present and that is always useful. Their points of view and divergences are interesting because I am able to take an enlightened view of them, because I do not live in their worlds. I can accept their dissent, and see how it changes my worldview, if at all. It broadens me to know those foundations.

Leon Kass is not foundational, he is a wrecking ball. What Leon Kass says has an effect on people, and his words carry weight in the present. He is actively trying to destroy or cut back all of the things that have moved people towards equality, all the things that are good about our society. He says I should act in ways I find ridiculous and backwards. So I laugh at him, and find him vile, and see no need to give a fair reading to his rockheaded retreading of Old Testament values.

In the very worst sense, Leon Kass is a nostalgist, and I have no time for that.

For those this makes no sense to, Leon Kass is the commencement speaker at my alma mater, St. John's College. _
respond? (5)
10:21:38 AM, Wednesday 2 May 2007

So it has been another year.
- I continue to have the greatest girlfriend in the world (I love you, Liz)
- I have continued to perform improv
- I have had artwork I was paid for published (first time!)
- I had my first Art Direction credit
- I was employed for a good chunk of the time, mostly happily
- I started writing a game
- I have made and strengthened many friendships
- I live close to my family

It has been a good year. I am 29. _
respond? (15)
09:25:59 AM, Friday 27 April 2007

Tonight my team CALIGULA THE MONOSCENE performs for the first time. I'm really excited. The monoscene is a 22-minute single scene, no edits, essentially an improvised one-act play. It's really fun, and I think we're pretty good at it.

Here's our facebook page for tonight's show. Beware, it has me in all my glabrous glory. _
respond? (4)
02:07:49 PM, Thursday 26 April 2007

My game, Young Adult RPG, has made it to the final round of the Game Chef competition. _
respond? (11)
10:50:24 PM, Tuesday 24 April 2007

The most destructive force for creative groups is nostalgia. Once people start talking about how it was better in the old days rather than working to make it better during the present, you're doomed.

I've seen far too many conversations recently that are halted because an old-timer comes in with, "Well, so-and-so came out of a happy accident of history, donchaknow?" Does that mean that we have to stick with so-and-so because that's how it has always been done? Does that mean we cannot meaningfully discuss so-and-so because we do not have the experience from which it originally sprang? Is present experience really that limited?

Let me make an example. Do I have to know about the evolution of Photoshop from version 1.0 to discuss what improvements could be made to the current version? Sure, knowing history can provide context, but just because something has been done in a certain way for a long time doesn't mean a serious discussion examining why is fruitless.

I am not saying to ignore history, that is just as deadly. Just do not be trapped in it, and do not try to recreate it. _
respond? (3)
11:08:42 AM, Tuesday 24 April 2007

My first Harold team, Baby Liberty, had its last show tonight. _
respond? (1)
10:48:21 PM, Thursday 19 April 2007

This clip from the Korean animated film Aachi & Ssipak is totally bonkers. And Awesome. _
respond? (7)
11:32:47 PM, Friday 13 April 2007

Okay, so there was an ancient greek prayer/saying/recitation that was said over boys before sending them off to war. At St. John's there was a ceremony for students going off to fight in WWII. Does anyone have the faintest idea what this was? My memory is failing me. _
respond?
03:37:11 PM, Friday 13 April 2007

Regarding the last entry, I found a solution: PictoBrowser, a light-weight slideshow/gallery. _
respond? (9)
09:13:16 AM, Friday 13 April 2007

Okay, I suck, but this is a simple web-design problem that is on the verge of giving me a nervous breakdown.

I need to put up a photogallery. It has to be 500 pixels wide, and use this page's format (not difficult, I just have to paste something into a document with the proper CSS code in it and I'm good). The photos need to have some sort of obvious caption.

Right now I've got Flickr's photo-viewer embedded, and while I really like it, it doesn't have the captions and has some strange behaviors in IE, so I need to find another solution.

Ideally I'd be able to put new photos somewhere and they'd show up in the gallery without any futzing in Photoshop or what have you on my end. I don't want to have to continually update the page.

Any ideas? _
respond? (2)
04:06:09 PM, Thursday 12 April 2007

Top Shelf Comics, one of my favorite publishers, is having a 10th Anniversary Sale with several amazing books, including Alex Robinson's Tricked, on sale for just three bucks! (There is a minimum order of $30, but you'd get more than your money's worth) _
respond? (11)
09:09:18 AM, Monday 9 April 2007

So I did manage to finish my Game Chef entry, Young Adult RPG. It's a 4 player role-playing game that is meant to mimic the storytelling style of Daniel Pinkwater (and other YA authors, but my main inspiration was Pinkwater). The meat of the game is a collaborative world creation that sets the status quo for the game. Throughout the game you are encouraged to take pieces of that game world and make them strange and wonderful, exploring the nature of the specific form of weirdness that has taken hold in your particular game. It's a solid start on a game I'm really, really excited about.

You can check it out here. _
respond? (2)
06:27:00 PM, Thursday 5 April 2007

An addendum to Mike's earlier post: 300 PG Version.

via Penny Arcade, who don't need a dang link. _
respond? (1)
04:54:46 PM, Monday 2 April 2007

Holy crap, they're making a Dark is Rising movie with Dr. Who and Al Swearengen! Oh, hey, Ian McShane is also in Coraline and The Golden Compass. Awesome. _
respond? (4)
11:53:16 PM, Wednesday 28 March 2007

Went and saw a production of HMS Pinafore. It was awesome. _
respond? (1)
04:56:37 PM, Saturday 24 March 2007

Hey Martin, have you tried out Explosions in the Sky? I seem to recall you liked Mogwai. They're like that, except Texan. In the good way. _
respond? (1)
12:45:10 AM, Saturday 24 March 2007

I try not to ask favors from y'all very often, but I'd appreciate it if anyone who reads this message post something in the comments that is making them happy right now. Thanks. _
respond? (23)
12:20:24 PM, Monday 19 March 2007

I'm going to be doing Game Chef for the next two weeks. So I may not be posting much. Look for my name over on the forums if you want to see how I'm doing on my game. (I've made it so it will cancel out any posts by people not in my little group Xi). If this seems interesting to you, please join in! You've still got almost two weeks left to write a functional RPG! What could be more fun?

For those of you whom I owe stuff, it is prioritized above Game Chef. Don't worry. _
respond? (1)
02:48:39 AM, Saturday 17 March 2007

Nothing to see here, just testing a widget (learning how to embed a Flickr slideshow.) _
respond?
04:18:00 PM, Friday 16 March 2007

The Nigerian E-mail Scam storyline in Achewood was absolutely awesome, and seems to have ended in a rare defeat for Ray. "Your sentences are sung in the key of lie." _
respond? (3)
11:07:32 AM, Friday 16 March 2007

Liz read me some highlights out of the College and now I demand a picture of Eva Brann meeting Kid Rock. _
respond?
10:09:17 PM, Wednesday 14 March 2007

Things I was wrong about in 2003 (it's not an impressive list):
I didn't really want to see Willard

Nope, I just need to be able to balance my anxiety and my ability to work. I'm quite proud of The Mule, which, at 20 pages, is the longest single story I've told. I can do more.

I'm still disappointed that the Island Game died on the vine. I blame myself. _
respond? (1)
12:16:46 PM, Sunday 11 March 2007

I'm enjoying Sound Opinions. They cover a relatively wide-ranging number of artists and have a remarkable love of modern and classic pop and rock. _
respond?
12:09:23 AM, Monday 26 February 2007

Cave Story is the greatest NES game that was never made. Engaging controls, huge world that opens as you play, slick, if economical, graphics, it's all there. Go play.

[tip o' the hat to Ben Lehman] _
respond?
12:34:10 AM, Thursday 22 February 2007

Austin radio station KVRX has an impressive archive of live in-studio shows. _
respond? (1)
06:22:31 AM, Wednesday 21 February 2007

older entries