Miss Dynamite at San Diego

I couldn't be in San Diego, but Miss Dynamite was. :-) Josh Lesnick in the center. Still don't know who the other two are. CheezyWeapon on the right, J.J. on the left. (Photo taken by Serge)

Otakuthon 2008 report

The years before, Otakuthon was held in the halls of Concordia University. It was probably a good learning curve for the organizers since it was less expensive (or free? I don't remember). But as the convention grew in size, it complicated matters. Last year, by no fault of the organizers, us guests were parked in a corner away from visitors. I tried to make with what we had. Another guest I shall not name (Cats *cough* VG *cough*) made some diva drama. So since the attendence was bigger, Otakuthon moved to a real convention center, the Palais des Congrès, next to Chinatown. I imagine it was a risky move, since they really needed people to show up to pay for the halls. (I've heard in the past that the Palais is expensive) But even though I don't have the official numbers yet, it seems like there was even more people than last year. Which is great, it means the con is growing. I mean, just from my point of view, it was packed! The entrance got jammed on Saturday opening and they had to let people in small groups to avoid a rush in the main hall.

My friends from Dragon Mango were invited as well, so I had some good company. Marc, Karen and Colleen also stayed at my place. This means I'll have a place to stay next time I go to Toronto, hehehe! Everything is going as planned! Colleen also drew me a sexy nun. The panels on webcomics and Flash animation seemed to go well, considering we didn't really prepare. a_a Nobody attended the Flash panel last year, so an attendance this year was a great improvement. lol I wasn't sure if we should explain the basics of Flash or more advanced techniques. Turns out there were beginnners and people more advanced in the crowd, so we did both. Maybe next year we'll just showcase our movies and let people ask questions.

Both me and Maïté made drawings in public demos. She took her time and I botched. And it shows. X-D After 30 minutes of drawing standing up my shoulder was sore anyway. For some reason, we weren't supposed to take photos of those... (?) But they gave us back our drawings afterwards, so... I don't get it.

Funny commission story: A guy asked me to draw his wife, with Eva and Blackie... in bondage. X-D I didn't want to do it cuz I don't like drawing caricatures, but he offered double $ and I no choice. lol I wouldn't have done it had the wife not been there. I know some guys asked me to draw their ex-girlfriend for revenge. But since the wife was present and approved, that was cool. In the end, everyone was satisfied. And no, I didn't exagerate her bust size.

Original art, DO NOT STEAL! Well, someone stole it anyway while we were at the Flash panel :-p I know someone else also got his art stolen, so maybe it was the same thief stealing art across the exhibition floor. It's the only thing I left on the table. That and a furry pic of Mao-Mix, which of course nobody stole...

o_O


So I met alotta people. Sold stuff. A lot of people just pass by and say "hey, I've seen this on Newgrounds". Oh, and I know some people always ask, but no, Miss Dynamite fans are not all perverted guys. There's also plenty of perverted girls. ;-p Thanks again this year to Carole Espiritu for taking care of guests so well. Thanks to all the other Otakuthon organizers making a great convention, it was needed. I'm not working today, I'm tired. I'm gonna rent some movies. x_X

Back from Otakuthon

The con was great.
Tired @_@
More later.

Laundromat sketching

Sketch done while waiting for my clothes to dry at the laundromat. The skull on Blackie is supposed to be a cat, but I had to do it from (bad) memory.

Otakuthon: events confirmed

Ok, on Saturday I'll be at the:
Webcomic Guests Panel from noon to 1pm @ room 518ab

On Sunday:
Animating in Flash from 4pm to 5pm @ room 524a
I'll try to give some cool animation tricks.

All the guests and exhibitors are in the same room this year, so I won't be hard to find. Room 517d

I'll probably also do soome large live drawing at Mini Kim's table sometime on Sunday (afternoonish).

For all the info: Otakuthon.

Otakuthon panels

I'll be at the Webcomic Panel on Saturday @ 12 pm to 1 pm and
the Animation in Flash workshop on Sunday @ 4 pm to 5 pm.
Mmh... I don't have the room numbers yet it seems.

I'll probably also take part in somekind of live drawing jam. Not what exactly what or when exactly. More info that later as well.

Otakuthon, July 26-27 @ Palais des Congrès. More info on the Otakuthon website.

Goodnight, sweet space sword!

Avatar is over.
Spoilers in comments.

I hate sound editing

I hate sound editing. But you have no idea how.

Sound is easily the most skrewy thing in Flash. (I don't program, so I don't know if Action Script is buggy.) I cannot bare the stress of working on the animation for hundred of hours, only to see everything fall apart when comes time to synch the audio.

Here I am, inserting sound effects in Miss Dynamite 24, when for no apparent reason, the sounds in one particular Movie Clip goes completly out of synch, even though they're set in Stream. (which means they should be in synch.) Is it my fault and there's something I did wrong and I don't see? Is it just Flash that's fucked?? Beats me!?!

So I erase all the sound layers in that Movie Clip, I edit them back in. Now, if there's a constant background noise set to Stream, all the audio is in synch. So it works, but it still makes no fucking sense. The sound effect should still be in synch, no matter if there's a background noise or not.

So it works, but the bug is still there, and it's gonna drive me crazy until this movie is fucking done. What's gonna go wrong next? This is the part of working on a Flash movie where I regret it. I remember that the only reason why I started a new movie is because I forgot that part of working on it... Drawing comics is sooo much easier. I don't even need a computer, all I need is a pencil and paper. But I can't do animation without technology, without Flash. If it lets me down, I'm fucked! I felt a fucking knot in my stomach when that sound went nuts. Did I work all these hours for this out of synch piece of shit?

That was too much for me, I'm taking a break of Flash for the rest of the day.

Cuss-O-Meter

Created by OnePlusYou
"This is 18% MORE than other websites who took this test."

I love you Alice B. Toklas

So I was working at drawing sexy nuns when comes up this song I love from the Harper's Bizarre on Luxuriamusic.com: I love you Alice B. Toklas.

So I google it and discover it's from the soundtrack of a Peter Sellers movie about pot brownies. Then from Wikipedia I learn that Alice B. Toklas is an artist communist lesbian Jew from the early 20th Century (hence, I love you Alice B. Toklas and so does Gertrude Stein) who is famous for writting a cookbook with the first pot brownies recipe.

The things you learn on these Internets. @_@ I gotta use that song someday for Miss Dynamite. I love you Alice B. Topless... XD

Otakuthon 2008

I don't remember if I've already talked about this, but I'll be a guest at Otakuthon, on July 26-27. Unlike last year, this year the con will be at the Palais des Congrès. More info on the Otakuthon website.

I'll probably also be part of a workshop on Flash animation and discussion on webcomics. More info on that later.

Looking kinda pissed, Blackie

My back hurts, I think I worked over 12 hours today in Flash. x_X
Blackie is either cute or ugly when she's pissed. I can't tell which...

Are we fucked when Blackie gets free?

For some reason the gif animation is super slow in my browser, but runs at normal speed if I open it on my desktop. So download the pic to watch it properly I guess.

Jesus kidnapped by student

Here's the story: Webster Cook, a student at UCF, went to the Catholic Sunday service at church. He was given a communion waffer, or Eucharist, but did not eat it. He spat it out and left the church with it. Now the favorite church of pedos, the Catholic Church, is not pleased. They are treating this as a kidnapping.

"It is hurtful," said Father Migeul Gonzalez with the Diocese. "Imagine if they kidnapped somebody and you make a plea for that individual to please return that loved one to the family."

You see, for Catholics transubstantiation is not symbolism. When they say the cracker becomes the flesh of Jesus, they really mean it! They are eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking his blood. This magic would be crazy enough, but the cannibalism? BLERGH!

Anyway, student Cook eventually had to return the cracker because his life was threatened. Yeah, you read that right, death threats over a fucking cracker! He didn't even steal the cookie. They gave it to him and he chose not to eat it. Do church crackers come with a DRM? Had he eaten the stupid cracker, he would have pooped it. Remember when the Muslims got their panties in a twist like a Catholic school girl over Mohammed cartoons? People said, at least 'our' fundies are not THAT crazy. OUR fundies want to kill someone because -not because he stole it; he didn't- he didn't handle a cookie in the proper manner.

I almost feel like I should steal some church crackers too. Which is what PZ Myers wants to do.

Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? There's no way I can personally get them — my local churches have stakes prepared for me, I'm sure — but if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I'll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won't be tempted to hold it hostage (no, not even if I have a choice between returning the Eucharist and watching Bill Donohue kick the pope in the balls, which would apparently be a more humane act than desecrating a goddamned cracker), but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. I shall do so joyfully and with laughter in my heart. If you can smuggle some out from under the armed guards and grim nuns hovering over your local communion ceremony, just write to me and I'll send you my home address.

Catholics... your pope was a Nazi and you're worried about a cracker?

Episode 24 progress

Looking distorted, Twiggy?

Act 3 is mostly completed, now on to Act 4. Check it here if you don't mind spoilers.

Edit: A no-price to the first person who can tell the name of the animation technique used in that Twiggy pic.

Tainted Ink for the win. It's called stretching. It's an old time-saving frame-by-frame animation technique. Basicaly, for rapid movements, you draw just one in-between frame between your two keyframes, but you stretch your lines from point A to B. It's like a motion blur, but drawn. In this case, Twiggy is turning her head. Out of context it looks weird, but during the animation, it's seemless.

Eva moé!

Raturday Night Live

Live Rat Cam!

I just bought a Logitech webcam for 10$. I plugged everything on my laptop this way I can run the cam without bothering me on my PC. I still gotta improve this setup. Find a good spot for the cam. The focus is manual, so I gotta decide if I put the camera closer or further to the cage. If I put it close, only one level can be seen at a time. I'll experiment as I go along. If this gets popular, I'll buy a better cam. Not bad for 10$ though. I'll disable the chat function for now because I don't want people sending me messages there.

100th page of Sister Wulfia Focka

I've finished the 100th page of SWF for Slipshine. I'm gonna go buy some ice cream with my money earned from pornography. :p

Rot in hell, Jesse Helms

The world is now better without you. I metaphoricaly piss on your corpse, you bigoted piece of human trash.

Blackie bondage

Lazy animator alert: the legs and stool were copy/pasted from Eva. (Protip: A lazy animator is a smart animator.)

We're all fucked when Eva gets free

2nd shot of Eva in bondage. That means there will more than one angle of her. Wow, that's quality animation!

And now for something completly different

Here's something to make up for the lack of Miss Dynamite updates lately.

Can you spot the differences? :p (I bet you spot only one)

FREE concert, Raymond Scott hommage @ Jazz Festival

I saw this concert with friends this winter and it was excellent, so I'm spreading the word for those who might be interested in Montreal.

This is an invitation to the FREE Concordia Raymond Scott "Quintette" concert at the MIJF on July 5th at 4:00 pm on the outdoor stage next to Complexe Desjardins:
For those who saw the big show in March, we have prepared 9 new pieces, doubling our repertoire, so expect a whole bunch of new stuff.
For those unfamiliar with the project, here is an article.
This is a great family show, all ages love Raymond Scott music, so come on out with kids or parents or both...
you can also see some past performances on the YouTube page from the March spectacle. hope to see you there!

Raymond Scott is most famous for Powerhouse, used in many cartoons.

“Believe Me, It’s Torture,”

I don't really like Christopher Hitchens. He's a Marxist, he supports the Iraq War and he's a drunk. Signs of a great personnality... Also, he thinks waterboarding isn't torture. Or at least he used to. When he claimed on Slate.com that waterboarding isn't torture, his outraged commenters challenged him to try it out. And to his credit, he did try it.

You can watch the video of the waterboarding session here.

As you can see, he didn't hold for very long. And he was forced to admit in this Vanity Fair article:

You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it “simulates” the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning—or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure.

It's a bitch to drown? No shit!

Also, a NYT article related to this.

The military trainers who came to Guantánamo Bay in December 2002 based an entire interrogation class on a chart showing the effects of “coercive management techniques” for possible use on prisoners, including “sleep deprivation,” “prolonged constraint,” and “exposure.”

What the trainers did not say, and may not have known, was that their chart had been copied verbatim from a 1957 Air Force study of Chinese Communist techniques used during the Korean War to obtain confessions, many of them false, from American prisoners.

How many kinds of stupid is this adminstration?

Dr. Henry Morgentaler to receive Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is the highest civilian honour in the country. Henry Morgentaler, an abortionist, is the leading militant for abortion rights in Canada.

IN BEFORE SHITSTORM!

lol Conservatives are gonna get an aneurysm. In all seriousness though, that guy is a fucking hero. A Holocaust survivor who did jail time in Canada to provide women with safe abortions. The Conservative government is gonna throw a fit about this, but there ain't much they can do to stop it. It should be entertaining.

Edit: Amanda linked to it, let's hope this gets traction.

John McCain is an hero

So ret. General Wesley Clark says, "I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down [like John McCain in 'Nam] is a qualification to become president" and the media gets its panties in a twist like a catholic school girl. John McCain, like Robert Mugabe, is An Hero. So it doesn't matter what someone like Wesley Clark, someone who managed to win a war, has to say about people like McCain, someone who wants to stay in Iraq for the next 100 years.
Update: Wesley Clark isn't backing down. Good for him!