Category: Art

Forty Eight Oh Seven

This post is part challenge, part present to you, my faithful readers. (The rest of you schmucks are just getting lucky. Hah!)

Several times during the last few weeks I’ve answered the question, “What kind of music do you like?” Rattling off a list of musical artists provides a clue, perhaps, but I think the only way to make sense out of the mish-mash of names is to hear what kind of sound puts a tap in my foot and a smile on my face. And so, I’ve carefully assembled what amounts to a broadcast hour of solid music. No commercials, no chatter, just tunes I love by some of my favorite musicians.

It’s up to you to a) see if you can stand listening to every song and b) try to discern who, if not what, you’re hearing. Ready? Steady? Go!
[audio:FortyEightOhSeven.mp3]
Good stuff, eh?

12 September, 2007
Thumbnail Theater: The Revival

A long, long time ago I created my own little rendition of something called “thumbnail theater,” a tongue-in-cheek parody of a popular anime series. The original, by someone calling himself “Toasty Frog” (what’s up with the animal nicknames, eh?) was based on Evangelion, and someone else made one for Cowboy Bebop. I figured that I was best suited to take on the Tenchi Muyo OAV series.

I probably figured wrong, but them’s the breaks.

When I converted from version to version to version of the various site platforms here, Thumbnail Theater kept breaking. Moving to WordPress completely broke the archive, and for a long time I figured that’s where it could stay: broken and forgotten. Then, a few weeks ago, I decided to resurrect the project in a more useful form, namely as a static page hierarchy within WordPress. The rest, as they say, is ~~history~~ lunacy.

At any rate, check out the TMTT revival currently in progress. I’ve reposted the six episodes’ worth of the first OAV, with the remaining episodes to follow as I get the chance.

8 November, 2006
From One Reality To Another

During one of those old-school websurfing binges, you know the kind, where you click and click and click with no idea where you’re likely to end up, I came across a LiveJournal posting exhorting fanfic writers to write a letter to themselves from one of their characters. Well, I’m no fanfic writer… in fact, I’m no sort of writer at all. But there is a character in my head who refuses to go away no matter how much I insist I won’t write about him…

Dear Karel,

You really let it get away from you, didn’t you? It’s possible, I suppose, that you just plain ran out of ideas. This seems less likely than the possibility that you got tired and gave up. There are ideas out there, ripe for the picking. You used to derive plot elements and scenes and locales from the oddest sources. What went wrong?

Hell, do you know where you’ve left me? Do you? You parked me inside of a mountain. With Jon, of all people. It’s not that he’s bad company, mind you, or a lousy business partner. No, it’s just that he’s not a very good bartender. Guess who that leaves minding the storefront more often than not? You only get one guess, the next two don’t count. I’m trying to hire on additional help, but you try finding reliable employees who don’t mind a crossdimensional commute at least four days out of seven. So far all of my prospects either can already travel across the facets of reality, in which case they don’t need the modest but respectable paycheck I can offer, or they are overwhelmed by the circumstances and afraid to show up for work the second day. Or, sometimes, the first.

I’m not cut out for this. Oh, it’s not that I mind being tied to one location for a while. It’s nothing like that. Hell, the very nature of the establishment means that I can come and go at will. No, it’s this whole business of… well, business! Military life was easier on my nerves, to say nothing of my sense of individualism, than this nonsensical life of customer service. You wouldn’t believe the sort of clientele I’ve had to put up with in just the few months since we opened the bar.

Remind me to tell you about the pack of sauropods that came through the other day. Surprisingly tidy they were, but rather rough on the glassware. Who knew that lizards had such a tradition of drinking songs?

Please, give me one of two things. I need either a way out of this life, or something to make my stay here more interesting. And I think you know the kind of “more interesting” I prefer. I don’t really care which, anymore.

No, wait. I want one other thing: a competent barkeep. I need some rest, damn it all.

Thanks ever so much,

Andrew K Wolfe,
Co-Owner, Chief Cook And Bottlewasher,
“Andy And Jon’s Whistle Stop”

12 August, 2006
Highly Motivated

This’ll be it for today. That’s not a guarantee that I will (or won’t) make more tomorrow, mind you.

First up we have a trio of posters inspired by City of Heroes screenshots I found on my computer. I hope that the humor is accessible for non-gaming folks:

The last entry for today has a bit of backstory. If you don’t know how I came to be “the little grey duck,” the following poster may confuse you:

When I was a teenager, one of my favorite phrases was “not this little grey duck!” It got to the point where people began calling me “ducky,” which (of course) caused me to drop that catchphrase like a hot rock. The damage, however, was done. The “ducky” has been following me around ever since. When the Internet Age began, however, after bumping up against a few all-too-popular pop-culture nickname choices, that “little grey duck” came to mind after long consideration and… the rest, as they say, is history.

It’s all about turning lemons into lemonade, right?

29 June, 2006
More Motivation

Y’all should know better than to encourage me, you know.

Rehabilitation is anime-themed, but I don’t think you don’t need to be an “otaku” to get a laugh out of it.

Mementos is based, oddly enough, on a serious bit of rumination.

Obsession may go over some folks’ heads. Suffice to say that I used to take my music collecting very seriously.

I have the sick, sad feeling that I’m not done yet. I should also get off my lazy kiester and put these into the gallery where they belong… if I do, I’ll redact this and the other entry accordingly. (Edit: Done! Thumbnails! Woo-hoo!)

29 June, 2006
I’m enthusiastic. How about you?

Take one down-and-out computer geek, add one good-quality image from one of his current favorite anime series, mix using an all-too-cool online tool, and what do you get?

I don’t know about you, but I’m enthusiastic about the results.

Okay. It’s your turn now… you know you wanna.

(Edited to add: One more before bedtime.)

(Probably more to follow during the next few days. You’ve been warned.)

28 June, 2006