Saturday, August 2, 2008

Return of the Prodigal Dragon

Apologies for the lengthy absence, I've been busy with a lot of things, and just plain worn out to the point I couldn't sit down and draft up a decent post. Not to mention there hasn't been a whole lot going on in my life of late. Now that I have a break in things, I'm back and hopefully I'll be posting regularly again. I'll know next week if I do or don't post. Garden Update I promised some pictures and videos this post, I have some good and bad news on that front. Google Video, the site I host my video clips on, has not been playing nice with me for a couple weeks now. Clips aren't being listed properly, embedded clips aren't loading or playing, they're becoming more like YouTube than a reliable alternate video host. That said, I can't trust the links I have to the video content I want to show you, I can't trust that they'll function so I won't waste my time and yours with those right now. I've already sent two complaints to Google Video over the bugs I've come across, and the third one will be my last, I'll port the clips to another host and try again. I have next to no tolerance for something that is supposed to function a certain way and doesn't. I promised some pictures of the garden, I only have a few online right now, but I'll have some more next time as the tomatoes are going like mad, the pumpkins are doing all right, and the cayenne pepper plant (right) has already produced several bright red peppers which I'm rdrying to grind into powder since that's the only way I eat cayenne pepper. I could use the endorphine boost, that's for sure. The pumkins are doing well, the first hints of orange are starting to appear on the skins, these pics are weeks old when I first found the pumkins on the vines, so they're bigger and more orange now than they were in these shots. The pumpkins will be nice to have, I'm not much a fan of pumpkin pie, but I can learn to like it, or make other things with it that I will like we have 5 on the vine right now, and I expect more will start to surface as the blossoms attract bees. It's a lot of work, but I like the garden, it yields results for the effort that's put into it. Next post I'll have some tomatoe pics, as well as some non-storm clouds that I've shot, just for something different. the bell peppers are still not yielding anything, wish I knew how to get some bell peppers to grow. I'll also have more up-to-date pumkin pictures as well, maybe more cayenne pepper too. I'll just have to see what the camera gives me. Commerical Projects Update I can't actually link to anything here, but I can post a financial update on them. To date, my commercial projects have netted me: $0.00. I'll post this information once a month, for my own "benefit" if nothing else. Forum Update Anyone who has the link to the Role Play forum I frequent, the site's been down for two or more weeks now and I'm not sure when it'll be back up. I haven't gotten an update from the site's admin yet, but I know it's being worked on from what others have told me. I'll link it again here when it's back online. Comments: Yensid: Yeah, I'm updating there more often than here these days. Got a few others I need to pop in on as well. scorchbird12: Long time no see, taking a break sometimes does a person some good, but still it's nice to see familiar names come around again. One of my vids has those freakishly low clouds in it, I tell you I haven't seen a storm like that since I lived in TX where you expect low couds to spawn tornadoes. Unfortunately, I have to hold off on embededing the videos here, as I mentioned, Google Video is being a major [Censored] and not cooperating with me at the moment, so ultimately my readers here, and on my other blogs where I post videos suffer. Well, being stubborn can have it's advantages, but it has it's drawbacks too. AngelBest Dream: Well, I've been worn out from doing a lot of hauling for the band, fighting bad weather, and I had a friend over last weekend also. When I burn the candle at both ends, something has to give and for me, that's my online life. I am still plugging away at the novel, I hope to have it finished and ready for the promotional stuff to begin again, not sure exactly when, but I hope to finish it sometime. Keep at it, and go with your gut. That's the advice I can give you. Hopefully I'll be around more often than I have been, I've kind of been her and there across both sites, not really commenting, but I have been reading posts and stuff. whtdragon: I used to live in Tornado Alley, so wind scares me to no end. All the luck to you in staying out of harm's way in the wind. Weather's been nuts this year up here like you wouldn't believe, hot and humid one day, pouring rain and thundering the next. Yeah, that's one of those subtle directions that needs to be made bold faced or something, cause I had the very same issue myself till I took that literally. Whoops, I missed that till just now. Sorry about that. Anyway, they did that here some years ago, consolidated schools, and they talk about it every couple years as well, but, at least here the parents have enough clout in the local government to push school closings off for a few more years. Their arguments are very valid ones about class sizes, student to teacher ratios, as well as safety and transportation concerns. Personally, if the parents wanted to send a strong message to the school board that the idea smells worse than a titan arum, all of them who have kids that were pushed to other school districts would pull their kids out of the public school system completely and home-school them. A trend like that would command the school board's attention because that's state and federal funding they would lose out on, so much per head that's not at a desk in a public school. Sorry about the mini-rant there, I tend to get loud when I'm annoyed, no matter the subject. Iruka Sensei: I don't tan, I burn so no comment there. The weather's still being a bit loopy here, but it's settling down for the most part. If I sit down uninterrupted (can't do that till the humidity goes down, my room is like a sauna, and not in the good way), I probably could get it all hashed out and polished in a month or two, I might just try to do that as best I can here in August. I don't know a whole lot about publishing either save the annoyance that no one takes unsolicited materials anymore, and agents for first-timers are hard to come by as well. Oh well, as I learn this industry, I'll be sure to pass on what I learn to others. jomz I saw that on the news, scary stuff. At least I got the photos up finally, sorry I couldn't get the vidoe posted though. Honestly, I'm not sure my work is "worth" publishing, but I'm going to try anyway. I'd like to have something under my belt in the success category, right now, none of my successes do me any good in the financial sense, and even if I get a tiny little trickle, it would be better than nothing. Yensid: I'm going to respond to this one here because this is something I want on public record, no matter the fallout it generates. I see a lot of potential here with the the TOS and the enforcement of the document. Now, potential can be a good or a bad thing. It depends on the people in those positions of power to handle themselves appropriately, and not fall into the ruts of past experiences when they do take actions. The TOS has me at a disadvantage these days because of one key point that doesn't fully make sense. Should there be a "no commerical advertisements" policy on TheOtaku? Yes, given that one of the premium features is ads free browsing, and the ads help support the free users use of the site, it makes sense that the site has that policy. Here on MyOtaku, a site that's not ad supported anymore, and not in the mainstream otakudon anymore, does it make sense to have or enforce a "no adverts" policy? To me it doesn't, but the policy is there. What that does is cripple me in two ways. I can't display or direct readers to my best photographs. When it is published, I won't be able to fully "promote" my novel. The policy also puts a damper on those artists who take commissions here as well. Any artist that promotes commissioned artwork here is commerically advertising and that's a TOS violation when one applies "the letter of the law" to it. That creates an environment of double-standards if certain ads are prohibited while others are allowed. What the site may become is yet to be seen, it could go downhill and turn into Elfwood, it could ride a flat line and not really go anywhere, it could go in a positive direction, we'll just have to wait and see. Yeah, that's scary stuff. The sad thing is, the national networks are banking on the suffering you guys are going through out there to play "lets get more ratings by pointing blame fingers at someone". Bureaucracies will alway cause more problems than they are created to resolve, that's politics at it's finest. Instead of trying to figure out who's to blame for the resources not being there, national networks would be doing a lot of good to try to get people, equipment, and supplies where they are needed to help combat the fires and lend whatever aid is needed to the people in the areas affected. just.me That's quite all right, I don't get around here as often as I want to these days anyway, so a few days is quite all right. I like thunderstorms, but I don't like the wind. I'm stupid enough to go outside with a camera and try to capture lightning. Would be nice to get a torrential downpour to knock the humidity out of the air though, these little spits of rain with all the sky fireworks just don't do enough. Yeah, I know, I've been stubborn my whole life. I do wonder though, if I'll have a fight with the publisher over my special dedication when it comes down to the wire. "To the fine people at Workforce West Virginia, the West Virginia Bureau of Employment Programs, and a couple of US Senators, who did nothing to help me find a job, get into a training program, or fix the corrupt system which failed me." Don't be surprised if that's the reason my novel becomes well known. Whenever someone wants a book I have, I send them to the used bookstore, tell them the investment in a copy of their own is worth every penny, and I buy sometimes too. I really don't like to lend stuff out, I rarely get it back. Magnus Lensherr: A year's delay is a rough estimate on my part, I'm horrible with time estimates. Hopefully I'll have it done and already be in the process of promoting it to agents by the end of the year's time. I'll know as I go I guess. The delay is mostly because agents and publishers don't like to look at an "in progress" work, and I have no idea how long it'll take me to finish my major overhaul. Had I stuck with the original plot, I'd be submitting for consideration right now, but the delay will be better for the book I think. Animé Dreams!

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Saturday, June 28, 2008

Son, Don't Cha Understand Now...

Weather's been nuts again, but I'll have some storm cloud/lightning video, as well as pictures of my cayenne pepper plant's first peppers next time I post. Novel Update While I was working on polishing up my manuscript, I got an idea for plot development. The only thing is, if I work this stuff into the story, it'll delay publication by probably a year if I'm lucky. I think it will be better for having this material in there, the story won't be as flat. Still plugging away at it though, I'm too stubborn to give up on this. Comments: the real yojimbo: Cutting my support for theotaku.com across the web where I haunt, and reducing my activity on the site itself are parts of me actually doing something bigger. Now, just because I'm not saying what all I'm doing, doesn't mean I'm doing nothing, I'm just not foolhardy enough to post the details publicly. I don't want anyone to be able to prepare counter meansures, that would defeat the purpose. Yensid: Taken care of off-site. AngelBest Dream: Very true, inspiration will only carry you so far. Good luck getting all that stuff done. Outlaw Melfina: If the premium thing is done the right way, not affecting the free users' ability to work with the site in an acceptable manner, then I could get behind it even if I'm not a paid member myself. I'm most concerned about "ads free" being part of that deal. Don't mind paying for no ads, but I do mind when browers and aps which block ads are inhibited from functioning properly. I'll give that a read if I haven't already. Shireishou: Talk about a sight for sore eyes, welcome back, I was worried about you. I never forget a good friend, please stop by more often if you can. I'm glad to see you're all right. I'm doing well, getting some energy back ans will soon be caught up on my overdue art projects (hopefully). Working out a new depth element to the novel, and just being my same old disagreaable (to most people anyway) self. What about you? The new system can be a bit overwhelming at first glance, but it's easy to get used to and work with. There's a Submission Guideline over on TheO now and it covers the technicals of submissions and stuff, worth a look. From there, submission pages for each category can be found as follows. Fan Art Fan Comics Wallpapers E-cards Fan Words (Info only) I think Fan Words and Quizzes are the most complex ones in terms of submitting stuff. The guidelines I mentioned above the list there cover a lot of details that I'm not familiar with off hand, so I recommend looking at that info. Animé Dreams!

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Sunday, June 15, 2008

Springsteen on the Speakers

The double standard over at the sibling site which I mentioned the other day there still has me frustrated to the point I have nothing to say here today. That's not good form for the site to allow that in my book. With that in mind, I'm temporarily locking-out the Sanctuary and my writing Worlds (making them viewable to myself - NOT deleting them), they will remain so until the double standard is eliminated. I have no desire to support a site that promotes favoritism and inequality with my most profound and meaningful content. Comments: the real yojimbo: Definitely. This new one is better than that temp one that was up, and in some ways, I like it better than even the old one we had. Because a fight over the Terms of Service, and dealing with the flak such a movement would produce just isn't worth my mental energy. I'd just as soon argue with a brick wall, I'd accomplish more in less time. As for the link, it's not hard to find for the observant. I announced my personal web site last post, that wasn't a coincidence. I've also had the link up in the profile on the left there since last year at least. I have an online hub for all my activity and projects. Poobah is a semi-local band my friend plays drums with. I don't get to every show they do, but when I get out to the shows I help them set up their stuff and break it down afterwards. There's a video in the post before last one as well as another one further back. I sure do need it, thanks. AngelBest Dream: When I wrote the first draft of my novel manuscript, I sat down and made myself write at least two hours every day for seven or eight months, with a day or so worked in here and there for a break. I did my art in similar phases, but that died out cause I have to be inspired to draw, though I'm thinking of picking up the forced drawing thing again. Prioritize your time as best you can in a way that works for you. I just like to have that formal look from time to time, wish I have more opprortunity for it, I have two really nice ties with dragons on them I hardly ever wear. Magnus Lensherr: Thank you, I'll take all the luck I can get. Getting the look I wanted while maintaining a standards compliance in terms of table use was a real headache, and actually, what I have is not 100% satisfactory, I have cleverly hidden the one major rendering issue, but eventually I would like to fix it completely. When I started learning it, HTML was a fun thing for me, it still is, but it's a headache to do it right. If you've ever inked a picture you drew, pyprography is a lot like that, only hotter, and more painful when you slip and hit your finger. It takes a careful hand to do it, but it's not hard to learn or practice. That's all right, it happens sometimes, momentum is tough to keep up with all the time. I'll have to make a concetrated effort to get over that question thing I have though. It seems to be a problem that I need to correct if I'm going to be a good online friend to people. I am working on my nasty habit of going off-tpoic though. I tend to get distracted easily, it's a "stream of consciousness" thing. I'm not necessarily worried about the TOS per se, I do try my best to abide by them, I always have (I am not saying I've been 100% good at that however). I'm just sticking to the "letter of the law" on the adverts thing on principle. I want to play by the rules, so I've taken other measures to ensure my links are out there. Black Jacket: I didn't dissapear, I just haven't been keeping up with my posting here like I really want to, mostly due to the crazy weather lately. It's great to see another familiar "face" around here more often again, it truly is. Don't worry, I probably don't fully understand half the stuff I said myself. Yeah, I've been working on a web site off and on since 2005 actually. I put the link up last year and only just got through doing some real code overhauling to make the page more up-to-date in terms of the HTML and CSS that's being used, A lot of the code I use here on MyO is in the stylesheet for my personal site, I liked how I have that set up so much I'm using it there now too. Between the two, I like the look of this one better than the old one we had, but I would like to eventually see the old customizations like font face and color return, but that's off the radar right now, not at all important to me. Yeah, when I started doing those, I didn't know there was an actual term for that art medium. Pyrography applies to wood and leather burning, so since it sounds cool, I use it now. Animé Dreams!

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Monday, June 9, 2008

I Fell Off the World Again

Apologies for the delay, been crazy these last few weeks with bad weather and just plain exhaustion. Will try to get back into a regular pace, we'll see. My MyOtaku Site Technical Fixed a coding error that was rendering my page oddly on some computers. Update on how it's looking on other computers would be appreciated. Personal Web Site Technical Spent the better part of the night a while back rewriting the code for my personal Web site to give it similar feels across browsers. It's not exactly how I want it to look in either browser, for some reason "standards compliance" means nothing to anyone when it comes to the web so, it's as close as I can get it. It's also not coded up for larger resolution monitors, so anything larger than 1024x768 will probably have some visual artifacts that I can't correct, even though it should render in an acceptable manner. On a positive note I was able to code everything more standards compliant and work tables out of the layout. I can understand why they're not recommended for layout purposes in the new HTML standards and all, but they do have a place in coding. I tell you, I'm impressed by how the page came out in the end, so many mistakes and coding issues went into that. MyOtaku Technical If you haven't seen it yet, you haven't commented here in a while, but the comment box is nice and clean now, looks really nice. Desbreko was behind the coding for the new comment boxes here, very well done. Business Several people expressed interest in seeing a link to my photo print gallery here. Technically, posting that would be a violation of the new site Terms of Service, because it would be "commercial advertising" of the "not limited to" variety as outlined in the Terms. I had been talking about doing something with my photos for a long time (since at least 2006), that's the reason I mentioned here having some available for sale as prints, I finally got a few online for that purpose. I appreciate the interest in my work, and I don't make it hard to find that information even though it's not here. Entertainment Saw Poobah play again, no video this time, I was working on stills. Not sure if I'll put them online anywhere or not. I did get a few good ones. Art Got at least four major projects I want to have done this week. Two pyrography, and two dragon pictures that are overdue from last year. Will start immediately after posting this. Comments: kitbug69: Thanks, I did try to make it look good. Had to revert one thing, but that's no big deal. They're a cool band to see, and help out with loading and unloading. They like the attention too. I do tend to fluctuate a bit, sometimes I'm not on, sometimes I' on earlier than expected. I do need to add a disclaimer about the weather to that chart though. I forgot to mention that I'm paranoid about the weather and won't have the computer on in thunderstorms. Magnus Lensherr: Tiling is good, that means my code is right. I want it to fill the gaps as much as possible. I'm really horrible at troubleshooting code (you should hear my foul, flame spewing mouth when the code doesn't work right), but maybe the size of your BG, or possibly the screen resolution is part of the adverse tiling effect. That would be the first thing I'd look at if it were me dealing with it. It would be nice to be able to report comments, if only to help the moderators see patterns in the people who are posting that way. I'd like to say more on the TOS, but to be fair and polite, I'm keeping those comments off the sibling sites here. I'll update people here on the Print project, so far, not one single thing has sold, but then again, I don't really have a whole lot of exposure yet. I try to keep busy, still got some pyrography to get done, hopefully this week. I hope I have better luck with a publisher or agent or something like that this time around too. I'm on and offline often, I pop in and out in little bits now and then. I have so much to get done though that I'm just too tired to do it all and it gets put off. Well, I went just to answer a question, and I got my answer. This dragon just don't have the heart to go into the details yet. the real yojimbo: Thanks for pointing that out and for helping me get it corrected. AngelBest Dream: Having the link is the important thing, the whys and hows of it taking so long to get here, water under the bridge. I hear that, I've got a mess of stuff to get done. I think I'll really buckle into it this week and see how much I can finish. I don't think we'll ever know that for sure, but I hope the impact it's more readily remembered for making is a positive one. If I could afford it, and had the occasion to be, I'd dress up more often than I do. I like being casual, but I kind of like looking nice and neat sometimes too. wolf of sorrow Actually, yes I did. That's a positive sign for that connection being made. Yeah, I think that was partly my coding. Hopefully it looks all right now. That's a necessary inconvenience. I see that count not displaying and I ask myself "Is it worth stirring up all kinds of trouble just to report that one thing?" To me, it's not, so if you're in the backroom here more often, just be sure to pop over into the inbox once in a while. I'm always happy to comment where one is needed, and thank you for the luck, I need all of it I can get. I covered why I won't direct link my print gallery here, but I don't make it hard to find. jomz By default I give people the benefit of three doubts, so Adam is still good on that front, he hasn't used all of his yet, and he gained an extra one with the connection here. With that connection being made, and now the comment box looking nice and clean and much like a comment box, the site here is getting a second wind. Hopefully things will settle in and start to flow again. That's an easy format to work with, keeps things organized. Yensid: Took care of yours off-site. ElvesAteMyRamen Hello, and welcome to my little corner of MyOtaku, have some hot Jasmine tea and take a load off. I'm a friendly dragon, I don't bite. I've seen you around TheOtaku and MyOtaku myself. I write and respond from the heart, that's how I've always been, it's how I'll always be. Good to know that kind of thing is appreciated. Thanks, I think the SoBe Lizard Line Lizards make a neat theme. Thanks for the input, tiling BG means I did the code right. I don't have a widescreen computer to be able to check that kind of thing. I code it up for my resolution which is the 1024x768, and hope for the best in others. If no one tells me there's a problem, I assume it's all right. Yeah, It's good to see that people are coming back to MyOtaku, the connection solved a key core-level issue that many of us had. I'm grateful to Adam for doing this for us, would have been nice to have it done earlier on, but not knowing the technicals involved, I say getting it at all is a real treat. If comment quality both here and on TheO goes up, that will be a bonus to the connection being made. Since I can't get a traditional job to save my life, I might as well go abstract and try to pull in some cash with something I know I CAN do well and economically. Would really be nice to see my photos well received. Well, officially, I just go as a friend of the drummer, but I do help out with the gear as well which I enjoy doing in spite of all the heavy lifting (I'm a part-time Roadie you could say). The video thing kind of started when I took my Canon camera (it's a still image camera with video recording capability) to one performance a while back and recorded a few bits. I was testing the camera's video mode, I wanted to see what it could do and how it worked. I take the camera and will either shoot stills or video at every performance I go see just because I like to do it and the band likes to have their pictures taken too. I do have to point out that the first clip went up without them knowing it, they found out from someone they know stumbling on the video on Google where I host them, then I was asked to try to cover some of their originals when I record video. I need a video camera for that though, I'd get better quality footage that way. They like all the publicity they can get especially the free kind. The drummer, Mike, is a friend of mine so I'm glad to give them the publicity for that alone, but George (bass) and Jim (lead vocals/guitar) are both cool guys as well. Thanks for coming by, please don't be a stranger. Animé Dreams!

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Monday, May 12, 2008

Tired and Rainy

I'm beginning to like the format of the previous post, let's go with that for now and see how it goes. Been so busy lately, it's hard to keep up with things sometimes. My Site Technical If you haven't noticed, I've given the site here an overhaul, took care of all the major things I wanted to get done, and I'm liking how it turned out for now. The post header is trimmed down to give the post more room, I also pulled the button and stamp from the footer linking to my post with contact information in it instead. With the waning activity here, I don't see the need for me to have a button available, but I'll have a new one ready if the time comes when people want to have it again. Text should be viewable against all parts of the BG, and the BG image should be tiling for those people on monitores at higher than 1024x768 resolution. I don't have a high res monitor to test it with, so I can't ensure the results are picture perfect. It does take a second or two to load though, I think that's the CSS code I'm using doing that again. if it becomes a headache, let me know and I'll try to fix it. I do still have the MyO Support banner to make, I made that a lesser priority for now. Otaku Sites Technical Two major steps have unfolded here just last night, there is a link to the new TheO PM system in the backroom here, and our updates here are showing in the TheO backroom as well. The two sites have been reconnected in the ways that members have been asking to have done. Much gratitude goes out to the staff of the sites for making that possible, and I hope to see those features getting much use and promoting a Renaissance here on MyO. Also of note, the new TheO Terms of Service have been posted. Business I do have a couple photo prints available for sale online now, hopefully I'll see some kind of trickle income from that, especially as I add more photos to the few I have available now. I'm not linking it here right now. I'll probably have it on my personal website soon though. I'm still working on my novel, hope to have it finished up by the end of the month. Then the courting begins. Getting published is difficult. Entertainment Finally got that second Poobah video up and running, kind of funny that it was recorded at the same place the first one was, but on a different night. You can actually get a better feel for Jim's vocal range in this video. The guys asked me to try to cover more of the bands original stuff, so I try to do that when I can, though I'd like to get an actual video camera to do it right. Contact Chart Finally got a table showing my online availabilities put together. I'll link it in my footer when I'm not so busy. Comments: Magnus Lensherr: Passive Dissent ran it's course, and while I can't speak for any of the other members who actually took our efforts seriously, I can say that, to me, it was becoming apparent that the efforts were failing, and we were causing unnecessary and out-of-character tensions among some other members of theOtaku which was really something I had hoped to avoid. I would have been resigning from the movement coming off that rest break anyway, even if it had kept on going. I just didn't have it in me to keep up the pace needed for such a thing. It does me a lot of good to see that, even though it appeared otherwise, some of what was said made it to the right place. I actually have little hope for any license that's distributed through Fathom Events ever seeing a WV theatre, but there's nothing wrong with trying. At least what I can do is give them a charge from being my callous, call-it-like-I-see-it self. Yeah, for the past few years I've promised people in comments and stuff that I'd post a prom picture of mine, finally got around to getting it up. Honestly, it wasn't really much fun for me, so from my experience, your choice to stand by your friend and not go was probably the better one. Actually, my eyes are open, the flash reflecting off the glasses kind of hides them. I haven't tried to correct that yet, but I will try to see if I can clean it up some. There aren't too many other pictures of me at or ready for Prom though, just a few others in the house, and one a friend took at Prom itself. I think I should have included the key point that I went by myself (gasp, how cliché), so there's no secret significant other I'm hiding. I just forgot to add that to the paragraph when I posted the picture. Outlaw Melfina: The anime is running on TV over here now, and it's at those episodes. I know what you mean the show started ot really strong, but the currently running episodes aren't holding my interest. I've seen bits and pieces of one of the live action movies, but seeing it as it was intended, on the big screen would really be nice. It's nice to do things legit and stay legal, that's why I will at least try to talk some sense into Fathom Events and the local theatre chain. The original actually looks a lot worse given it's a polaroid photo, and it was one of my early attempts at photo restoration with software (I used Pixia for that one). All in all, it gets the job done. Yeah, you don't miss much not having them, just another pompus waste of resources for the popular crowd to show off. I'm coming to learn that when that annoyance crops up, it means someone's playing with code in the back-end. I've had it happen to me too, several times. This time was adding comment deletion to stuff, but it's messed up the guestbooks now from what I understand. Basically, expect that issue to crop up again when they work on adding stuff. ima loser baby: Of course it's sad, it is for me too. I put a lot of time and invested a lot in this site here. I can't do nearly as much over on the new site, and that frustrates me, because part of my personality is about expressing myself visually. Moving on is tough to do, but right now, I think it has to be done. I'm sure there will come times when something comes to my attention that needs to be said, and I'll speak my piece about it, otherwise, I'mm go back to blogging the way I have been. there has been some positive come out of thngs though, so I'm in good spirits about MyO right now. AngelBest Dream: You get around when you can, that's all that matters to me. In spite of myths and legends saying otherwise, one dragon can't move moutains, even with the help of friends, strong as we are together. All of us who tried did our best, we can't be faulted ending our effort. We have the connection to the sibling site now, which a is a big step for MyOtaku, one that a lot of people wanted to see. I understand that MyOtaku isn't a priority anymore, but it is nice to see it getting some attention all the same. If you ever need me to stand beside you for anything else, please let me know, I'll do what I can. You may not have been active there, but you did put a lot of work into saving MyOtaku in your own way, which will always be appreciated. Yeah, I'm not one to dress up too fancy these days, but once in a while I like to be really formal. Well, here's how I manage to get new things up and running while working the old ones. I take lots of notes, save them, then, when I have this itch to do something new or different, and the time to burn doing something new, I take out the notes, put the project together and there I go. Maybe you can use that method to work on your project in little bits at a time till it's ready to get underway. Right now a lot of my stuff is photography oriented over there, but I will be working some drawings in, possibly some pyro and written work too. If you need to, put down your pencil for a while, don't even try to do a piece for a bit, you'll be called to to work soon enough and once you get that call, it'll be like riding a bike. InuYashaFan4-ever: I'm coming to find that music reaches me deeper as I get older, the loud rock stuff I hear when Poobah plays out, oddly enough, makes me think. The campaign for change is a double edged sword (I have one of those, I should know), so I understand someone not wanting to get mixed up in things like that. It seems that at least the reverberating echoes of our shouts as they died down did reach the right ears though, that's a big plus for me. Would be cool to be able to see it, but right now, it don't look good. I don't remember how much the ticket cost me, I don't think it was nearly that much, but a WV school that's half falling apart at the seams can't get away with that kind of charge for a social event. jomz: Different people have different tastes. Actually, it's a blend of atmosphere, music, and watching the performance that comes together for me. An odd contradiction to the previous sentiments on loud rock music being relaxing, sometimes louder isn't always better. Something seems to have been effective though, which is all right with me. redmoonchick: Yeah, I'm finding out just how good it is at doing that. One thing people learn about me, much to their horror sometimes, is that I'm wickedly stubborn. Anything I've really put my heart into is something I'm going to fight fang and claw to protect as best I can, no matter what. If one method doesn't work, I fade into the dark for a while, then, like the 100+ cheesy sequels to a single bad horror film, I show up again and again out of the blue, doing different things to deliver the same message until it gets across to the right person. Right now, Adam has the benefit of the doubt, given the new developments here. My picture goes back to 1999, so it's been, almost ten years now since my Junior Prom. I didn't really care so much about the event given I took myself and all, I just had to know something that could only be answered by going, so I went. Yensid: I've e-mailed the reply to you instead of posting it here, I'll make it easy on anyone who's moved on from MyO like that, if I have their off-O contact info. Alphonse122: My efforts were no longer showing any productivity, and since beating a dead horse doesn't accomplish anything, I've decided to look at other options. I don't have as many hot-button issues to worry about right now anyway since the big one was resolved. I took myself to my Junior Prom (that's why it's just me in the picture), but even that took me probably a month to get all the prep done and have it scheduled for the right weekend. Two days, was that person mental? Us guys have it easier in the prep department, we can probably squeeze everything into a week if need be, but girls have a lot more prep to take care of and that needs time, one, maybe two months minimum. In all honesty though, I think Prom is more a Senior thing anyway, at least, that's what my Junior Prom felt like to me. Not all that spectacular, and I kind of feel I shouldn't have gone. Animé Dreams!

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Saturday, May 3, 2008

No One Dared...

I'm back, and my psoriasis is as in control as it's going to get with the weather playing with me like it is. Otaku Community Loud rock music in noisy bars is oddly, a good way for me to clear my head sometimes. Having been out with Poobah again, I got to thinking about the whole mess I found myself in early this month, and I was reminded of Sisyphus, man cursed for all eternity to roll a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down again, forcing him to start all over. On the dark, winding road coming back home after the show, at somewhere around 4:00AM, the futility of my outward efforts, through projects like "Passive Dissent", hit me hard. You could say that my eyes were opened to that "vision softly creeping" that Simon and Garfunkel sang about so many years ago, and I could see myself in the position of the dreamer, caught up in a world so distracted that communication has turned meaningless. What I came to realize as my Mom dodged the deer and kept pace the van driven by Poobah's lead singer, is that my words, and the words of everyone who spoke out for this community, for myOtaku.com, is that, we might as well have been pouring our hearts out to brick walls for all the good we've done. Aside from token action, and less than sincere interest, I do not feel I made an impact where it counts the most. Sure, I know others have rallied behind me, but can any one of us truly say that we've been effective in communicating our concerns to the staff, to Adam, in such a way that has commanded his attention? Honestly, I can't say that I've seen enough action to say that I've made such an impact. I do realize that Adam has his hands full with getting theOtaku.com running smoothly, and he has been under the weather lately as well. Maybe I'm just too impatient to wait before jumping to the conclusion that I'm not being heard. Whatever the case may be, things have not been getting done, and that has belittled my efforts. For anyone who noticed, I have taken down the Passive Dissent banner, kitabug has chosen to shut down the World for the cause, the activity was declining there, and with the reduced capacity of my efforts there, things didn't look too good for it. I think it's best that we all find a way to move on as best we can. You can count on me to continue to bring stuff to Adam's attention, it just won't be nearly as loud a roar in the future. Whispers are just as effective as shouts to get someone's attention in my experience, so lots of whispers may do more good than our shouts did. Campaigns of Another Sort Recent e-mail newsletters, as well as the June issue of Shonen Jump have brought to my attention yet another display of content distrubution ignorance on the part of, none other than Fathom Events. If that name doesn't strike any chords, it was last year that I had a discussion with Fathom Events over their lack of distributing anime content to WV movie theaters. Long story short, I got an empty promise from Fathom that they would consider WV for future anime stuff, and they haven't done that. I realize I'm the only WV resident here so this whole thing is moot to anyone else (unless you live in another cultural black hole that never gets this content), but I have to say something. Right now, there are two up-coming Fathom Events related to anime content. The Live Action Death Note movie which itself isn't anime, but it's connected to the anime and manga by name anyway. The second event, coming in June is the Bleach movie. I know, it's contradictory for me, someone who's openly admitted he don't like Bleach to complain about that film not coming to WV theatres, but this is a principle thing. I'd pay to see Serial Experiments Lain (the all-time worst anime I've ever seen) in theatres, just to say I saw something anime on the big screen. Right now, I'm working on writing a letter to NCM Fathom, as well as Regal Entertainment Group, Viz Media, Viz Pictures, and any other companies I discover are involved with this thing. It does me no good to ask anyone else to campaign this cause for me since it does not personally effect anyone else, so I'll just leave it at that and let you all know I'm doing this campaign. Lighter Notes It's May, and that means Prom season for High School. I know back in 2006, and 2007 I promised I would post a prom picture of me, and I don't recall ever actually doing it. In the spirit of the season, I dug up one of the pictures of me for my Junior Prom (I never attended Senior Prom, long story, not going there). I never was a photogenic dragon in my human form, but I do have to say you human creatures do make some really nice skin covers for your special occasions. The image quality is poor, it's a scan of a Polaroid photo, not the best combination. I am building a photo portfolio on a site I'll link here soon, and I've put a few things into my DeviantArt gallery as well lately, so my creative energies are getting a workout, and I do have other plans I'm working on as well. Also, I hope to have another Poobah video up in the next week or so, I just have to finish up with the credits, get it uploaded, and fight with Google for a day or two before getting it up here. Technical notes on things I've done and will be doing to my blog here. Blog posts have been extended to 500px in length Will widen posts to about 600px (for ease of viewing video clips) New Header banner will be put in place Background will be overhauled MyOtaku.com support stamp is in the works (the flag is cool, but I want to make my own) Comments: ima loser baby Stressing out over a Sisyphean task just isn't worth it to me, that's why I stepped back. Peaceful or not, putting heart and soul effort into something to get token interest is not worth emotional cost to me, it's not worth the stress. Hopefully future projects will be brighter and yield more positive results. DarkFaerie88: I know, and anyone can call me a coward or whatever for backing down, but it just is not worth it to me to keep pushing. I have hobbies, I have interests, I have a life beyond the realms of the siblings otaku, and I'd rather enjoy that than get the "Sound of Silence" treatment over needed improvements here. whtdragon: I know a lot of people appreciate what I, as well as others, have done to try to affect some kind of positive change both here, and over on TheOtaku. That's never been a doubt in my mind. It's sad for me to say this, but from where I stand now, I don't think there IS anywhere members like you or I can go with our concerns because no one who CAN do anything about them is listening with their full attention. When something is stirred by passion, it's not supposed to be a burden. I've thought about it a few times over in my absense, and that's what I came up with. I can and will speak where the need be, but I can't go heading up any major campaigns, the attention is too negative, too hostile, and too intense for me to deal with. My e-mail has been in my profile since 2004 or 2005, quite a while anyway, and all my points of contact are there just in case anyone seeks me in one way or another. I also have a blogger blog that I don't link to, and will not share through PM here. For personal reasons I'm trying to keep that one disconnected from here as much as possible. I don't make myself hard to contact, cause I've lost touch too many times already. BlackMagicianGrl: Well, the relaunch was for theOtaku.com, not myOtaku.com which is where we are now. A know a lot of people have brought up the "temporary" comment situation here in terms of not liking it, and Adam's asked for help in designing a new one, so hopefully it will be corrected soon. The break did me a lot of good, so I'll be good to go for a while. Animé Dreams!

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Monday, April 14, 2008

Nine Hundred Words

I've been a member of theotaku.com and myotaku.com since August 30, 2008. I've had highs, and I've had lows, I think everyone who's been a member here has had both good and bad times. In just about every case, the good has outweighed the bad. In the months leading up to the relaunch and introduction of the "Version Vibrant" system on theotaku.com, I followed the developments as best I could, and reported those in my blog, for no reason other than to keep fellow otaku bloggers informed. Upon relaunch, and subsequent reduction in activity on the older blog arm, myself and other members came together with a goal, rekindle a sense of companionship among members, and promote renewed activity. In doing that, my voice became a flagship, not only for that particular cause, but as a champion of the "little guys" the "regular members" whose needs are varied. I never asked for that responsibility, I never set out on mission of establishing some sort of greatness. I speak where and what my heart tells me to speak. My heart is drawn toward the struggles of the "little guys" because I am one myself. I hold no special rank here, I never did, I hold no special privilege, I never did, I'm just another regular member trying to get by and hoping to get that next piece of work submitted sooner rather than later. The trouble with being that unwitting champion, even for a cause I strongly support, is that it puts a heavy burden on my mind. Each and every visit becomes something akin to a political public relations strategy session. The worry of "what will I be faced with on the site today?" is not something one should have over his head when coming online to be among friends. Speaking out was supposed to draw attention to something which needed to be out there among the community. I spoke on behalf of an issue that was important to me, not to make trouble for Adam, the staff, or any of the members here. Whether or not I have done that is not for me to say, but I do feel that I have caused undue strain where I had hoped to foster a sense of harmony. Right now my heart and mind are in conflict. My mind really wants me to continue on, doing what I have done here over the past few weeks, trying to be an ambassador for the preservation of the old, while giving the new it's fare shake as well. My heart tells me that I will not be able keep up that pace. My desire to help my friends is very strong, but I also know that there is only so much I can weather. I can only take so many waves after plowing head-on into a storm of partly my own making. My head wants me to tough it out, like warriors and dragons before me, my heart tells me I have to step back, I have to let other voices speak the messages of their hearts, I have to let others find their own wings and fly toward their desires. It's not an easy choice for me to make, but I have to distance myself from this thing for some time. I'm physically exhausted, mentally drained, and emotionally fatigued. It shouldn't be a chore to visit a site I've made my home for so long, I shouldn't feel an air of discomfort hovering about me as I move about the site. What all that means is, I need to take a break from from most, if not all, of my activity on both otaku sites. I know I need time away from otakudom here. I'm looking at about three weeks of keeping myself removed from the sites and all activities here at least. That means I will not be able to speak for Passive Dissent, I will not be able to champion the causes and the people whom have come to rely on my voice. I wish I could make it easier for those who need me most, but right now, all I can offer is a piece of advice I gave a friend recently: "If you feel strongly about something, don't be afraid to speak your mind. It may not be till you speak that others find the courage to speak along with you." One other key reason I'm taking this time off is my health. I have mentioned my psoriasis on myOtaku.com in the past, it's a skin condition I have which is, unfortunately, aggravated by stress. Without the details, I'm very uncomfortable and itchy, I have been for three days now. When I've stressed myself out to that point, it's past time for me to force rest upon myself. I do apologize for the rather sudden announcement, I know it's kind of unexpected. I will not be completely out of touch though. My contact information is up on my site here, and I will be active elsewhere on the web even though I am taking a breather from the otakudom here. Lots of dragon luck to Passive Dissent, to the staff and members of this otaku universe, and to all of my friends here. I hope to return rested, recovered, and to positive things. Until the next post... ...Animé Dreams! ~Hal Contacts: Sites/Profiles: DeviantArt: cosmictraveller.deviantart.com. MySpace: www.myspace.com/zephyrkaze Imeem: cosmictraveller.imeem.com (Note: I don't blog here) TokyoPop: tokyopop.com/phantomzephyr (Note: I'm not active here anymore) Instant Messaging Yahoo!: stagemanus MSN: nebulaghost@hotmail.com AIM: ZephyrKaze Comments: AngelBest Dream: Photography is a hobby of mine and flowers love me so they almost always take nice shots. Changing things up on Worlds is a good thing, and I'm happy to have a color scheme I really like there now. Get over there when you can, pop me a note or something too. All that glitters is not gold. And not all treasure is tangible. You are right though, my Sanctuary is one of my treasures, and it does fit to have place in my Worlds. I do apologize for ducking out on the site like this at such a critical juncture, but my alternate contact info is down there, my e-mail is over in the profile to the left there, so I'm not out of contact, if something major goes down that needs my attention, please someone don't hesitate to let me know. I'm not hard to find, or to contact. Mamma Vash Crabapples, such tart little things, yet they make some wonderful jelly. I didn't get the blossoms a year ago or th eyear before, but I did manage to get them this year. Flowers give me the best pictures when I shoot I think, they just turn out so professional-looking and I don't even have to try too hard to get them. Please check out the portfolio, I got a new piece of art up there too the other day and forgot to link it here. I have no plans to leave this place for good. Right now, my sore, itchy scalp though is telling me I'm pushing myself way too hard and need to slow down. I hope the community can manage without me for a little while, hopefully other voices will pick up the torch where I'm fumbling it here. I think it's a tall order to expect a 100% return to what we had, but we can bring it close if we try. I actually haven't been on the Rail Trail in Spring, so I'm not sure what it looks like. A lot of my shot are late summer/early fall. TheOtaku isn't really a nature photo gallery, so why not link to the place where my nature photos will be? Makes it easy to find me when I can't be on here, like for the next few weeks. Oh yeah, I'm still doing the wood burning stuff. In fact I'm working on a dragon piece that will be a "How I do it" kind of DIY knock-off. Spring is treating me well, hope it does the same for you. And you have no idea how much I missed that biscotti. Catch me on dA if you need anything in the near future, and don't worry, I will be back here as soon as I'm rested and recovered. Animé Dreams!

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Saturday, April 12, 2008

Essence of Spring and Starlight Mints

One of my favorite times of year for photography work is upon me, and after doing some work in my backyard to prepare for a garden, I had to pick up the camera again and enjoy the cool crisp breeze on this Saturday afternoon and let nature reveal herself to me. Once upon a lifetime ago on myOtaku, I posted some photos of a crabapple tree in my yard, of course at the time the fruit was ripe and red on the branches. That same tree is in full bloom right now, the flowers a beautiful mix in shades of pink. Something tells me this is going to be a good photography year for me. But you don't have to take my word for it, just check out the photo and see for yourself. I like the wan the shot came out myself, got some others of the same tree, and some other wild flowers in my yard that look nice as well. Expect to see some new additions to my DeviantArt portfolio in the next few days. I got a couple real gems that I want to share so that's where I'll put them, since that's my place for photography stuff. I have to go on about the new "Red" color scheme that's over on theOtaku.com now. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it, it reminded me so much of those Starlight mints, the round ones with the red swirls all the way through. Being the crazy dragon that I am, I put a Starlight mint up as the BG image after setting up that theme as my main World theme. Up till "Red" came along, I didn't really like any of the color schemes, I was using the closest ones to what I was comfortable with. This one goes against my typical dark colors or green, but I never could resist a good sweet Starlight mint. I think there are two more as yet undisclosed color schemes coming, I'm curious to see what they are and if I'll like them. So, I'll warn you now, don't go to my main World if you're craving sweets, the alluring spiral of the starlight mint might just hypnotize you. Or at least make your craving ten times worse. Not much else to cover today, hope I can get some more nice photos in the coming week. Comments Everyone: I did read the comments from April 1 even though I'm being lazy and not answering them all individually like I should. Thanks for the clarification on the April Fool's Joke, I didn't check the calendar to realize that was the issue. As for adding me to messengers and on the sites, just let me know who you are so I don't go thinking you're a spam-bot trying to get me and there shouldn't be any problem. My MSN messenger is out of date and I can't upgrade to the newest one (it won't install on XP Service Pack 1 so it says), so chances are that's the one you'll have the most issues with in terms of it now always working. I will have my online messenger schedule up here soon. Last Post: AngelBest Dream: We've been working on that problem and it's not a big problem, it's a humongous problem. Hopefully the notes I have will help in the solution process, but only time will tell. I'll certainly try to have more material up. redmoonchick: Nice weather means the camera will be out a lot, so I'll definitely be enjoying myself now and then, and little breaks in nature are the best medicine to ease troubled minds. kitbug69: I saw your post about that, hope things work out for you all right, that length of time woudl drive me insane to not be online. Nah, I'd have mellowed out on my own eventually, I got a little help from mother Nature today as you can see from the picture up there. Animé Dreams!

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Monday, April 7, 2008

   Way too Sleepy a Dragon

First off, thanks everyone for pointing out the dA icon situation for me, I had forgotten it was April first. I take great solace in the fact that mine probably wasn't the only "help ticket" those losers got that day, and mine was probably not the nastiest one they got either, so we're even. Lately it feels like I'm pushing so hard and getting nowhere that I'm burning myself out. Whether I wanted it or not, I've become a voice for people here on MyOtaku.com and over on TheOtaku.com, a voice speaking out for the community. Being that voice puts a load on me, because I do have to keep up with the sites on a daily basis to know where the pulse is, what people are wanting done, and how they'd like to see the community come together. I hope a lot of this stuff is sorted out soon, cause I won't be able to keep up this pace for long. I did try to take more video of the band on Friday night, but the venue wasn't exactly the best layout for video work so none of it's good enough to me to put online. I hope to have some footage of their original songs at some point soon too, maybe this weekend, maybe another weekend where I'm familiar with the venue better. I'll worry about that all when the time comes, but hopefully it'll mean you'll get to see more video of the band. Weather's warming up, so that means I might have some footage from the tunnels I hike through soon as well. 'll get some pictures up somewhere for those who haven't seen them yet. It's hard to appreciate the splendor of the tunnels from a set of stills. I'll concentrate on that project when I'm less busy with other things though. Plans for the coming months: Learn Photoshop Submit more art at TheO at dA Get more photos of home and out and about Get more video of home and out and about More Paranormal Investigation Make more Sushi! Finish all my outstanding art projects from a year ago Catch you all next week.

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Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Recharging the Dragon