~

glee

2008-04-09T02:43:38Z

I went in for an interview at a little web design firm in Evanston this morning, and they hired me on the spot. : O The pay is (technically) much less than what I get now, but the billable hours are going to be about twice as much, so it mostly evens out.

And I won't have to buy my own RAM or my own copy of Adobe CS3 or my own G5 to run Parallels or my own Earl Grey tea, and the chair is WAY comfier. And there was a gamer rag on the desk, a tiny Greedo on the shelf, everyone but me came to the interview in jeans, and one of the owners is an old friend of one of my best friend's mothers, so....

I THINK I LIKE WHERE THIS IS GOING.

Theological allegiances aside...

2007-12-08T20:39:08Z

When it comes down to the epic battle between an overgrown talking lion Christ and an alcoholic panserbjørn, THE LION WINS.

The Golden Compass fucked itself over so bad I don't even know where to begin. Do not waste your money.

FOAMS!!!!!!

2007-11-20T22:48:11Z

TokyoPop put out a Dark Crystal manga.*

I saw a preview. It looks really well-done, and in a startling twist manages to pull of an amerimanga style that doesn't annoy the hell out of me.

I hope you realize you're now paying me for your portfolio site by buying me this book, capnchef. Hint hint. Nudge. SHOVE.

*Also a Labyrinth one. It sux mightily. Skip it, oh fellow children of the 80's.

Re: The Beach

2007-10-20T18:04:37Z

This episode. It stank. The Avatar trademark snappy dialogue was nowhere to be found.

I hate teen drama. Drama with teens in it is totally fine. But they hit a whole ton of stupid cliches in 15 minutes it looks like a multi-million dollar studio had been hired to animate lousy fan fiction. Azula managed to bring down what is probably the largest city on the planet with nothing but guile. She knows how to read people and situations.

And then she flails around like dork at a beach party and needs boytips from the contortionist with D cups. She admits JEALOUSLY? Wah wah mommy didn't love me? I like multifaceted villains, but not when those facets are bashed off with a sledgehammer.

Mei and Zuko have no chemistry at all. They are horrid together. Their lines are predictable. They are whiny and annoying.

The whole episode was awkward. Not funny-awkward or cute-awkward. Painful-to-watch-awkward.

Altho Iroh and the royal kiddos making sandcastles was beyond cute.

PSA for all you pencil-weilding dorks.

2007-10-03T05:28:27Z

Irene Gallo, Art Director for Tor Books, maintains a blog. Therein are WIP sketches and paintings from the top talent in the sf&f publishing industry. Just passing on the word.

HINT HINT.

I HATE MY JOB.

2007-09-28T17:13:28Z

I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job.

Fun Factoids

2007-09-27T04:20:44Z

A selection of useful links to individuals engaged in fantasy worldbuilding:

1. limyaael squeezes all the stupid cliches out of fantasy you don't even know you're propagating. Read the rants. ALL OF THEM. (thanks questionstar)

2. For when you need to know how badly quicklime thrown in somebody's face will burn their corneas, how long it would take to get from Alexandria to Tanis in 55BC, or what font those little inspiration messages are on Starbucks cups are in, we have little_details.

3. hindunet.org took down their incredibly comprehensive pictorial listing of Indian weaponry and martial culture. Pissed now. I was using that you guyz! Here is a substantially less good one, which covers all of Asia and some Africa too.

4. Scans of 19th century Braun & Schneider's History of Costume . The farther back you go the more romanticized it gets. Just warning.

5. Factual breakdown of exactly who makes up the Dark Lord's Vile Horde (or the Army of Goodness and Daisies and Kittens). Required reading for anyone planning to muster an army of thousands. Remember, they gotta eat.

6. How to draw a bow. No more cute noodle-armed elf archers, please. English longbows had a draw weight of 100 pounds or more!

7. Absolutely massive free catalogue of every videogame (+movie+tv show+anime but not as comprehensive) soundtrack EVER. Getting your hero's theme music or reliving your misspent youth is but a download away! ~~I totally did not download the collected works of Joe Hisaishi or anything.~~

Blah blah blah.

2007-09-25T22:23:13Z

I got thinking a lot about the villain, and decided his motivation was too shallow. Then I started thinking about the "give the eldest son back his throne" plot, and how stupid it is. Birth order does not affect political ability. So instead, we are now dislodging the "true" and legal heir, a young man of purely noble bloodlines and questionable intelligence, and the man that pulls his strings. Introduced some ethnic tensions into the mix too, between the conquering and conquered (our hero's mother was of the conquered people).

I also realized the plot is a frantic race to avert rather than precipitate war in a nation that cannot afford human conflict on top of the climatic catastrophe that's grinding their civilization into literal dust. THIS DOESN'T SOUND LIKE ANYWHERE WE KNOW, DOES IT. GEE GOLLY.

Character Profile: Finvair
Anha’s youngest brother, 9 in the prologue and 12 during the main story. His mother Nalja died of childbed fever shortly after he was born, and is very close to his sister as a result. He’s extremely intelligent and levelheaded, but lacks confidence and courage. Unlike his sister, he has wholeheartedly embraced the message of peace and forgiveness offered by the Masamite church, thinks constantly of others, and tries to find a non-violent solution to conflict whenever possible. He doesn’t like physical combat but has been forced to learn, and isn’t half bad, but has never killed, and fears it. Instead of becoming a hunter, he was training to become the next lore master for their tribe, and has a freakishly good auditory memory.

Bound by Grandfather’s magic to the edges of the White City, and also bound to his lord’s life—if Anha kills him, Fin will also die. He serves as playmate/servant/bodyguard to Seloukos’ eldest son Hiron, but has been deemed too cowardly to be of much other use. His shadowworking is clumsy, and the little gods were not impressed enough with him to lend him one of their children's bodies to shift with.

His strength is in his compassion, and will speak against his sister when he feels her rage has overtaken her reason, or restrain her from causing harm even when he risks injury himself.

Character Profile: Grandfather (the mentor)
Centuries ago he was a wizard of the same people as Anha and Fin, and it was his son that went on to found their tribe. He challenged his own chief (his uncle) to a fight to the death, alleging he was a black sorcerer and would lead his people to ruin. Gorarun won, barely, but was fatally wounded. With his dying breath his enemy spat the curse of immortality at him, and, too weak to defend himself, his spirit became locked to the golden circlet the chieftain wore. He became nothing but a mute shade, forced to obey whoever wore the crown, enduring an eternity of life without its physical pleasures. Lord Seloukon’s father, a great collector of mystical and arcane artifacts (this being the only one that was actually magical) discovered the circlet and used him to engineer his rapid rise to power. By the time of the main story Grandfather has forgotten even his name.

He appears as a stout man-shaped shadow with burning white eyes, a terrifying figure. He was a powerful wizard in life, and the unnatural span of years he’s endured have made him even more so. He can send dreams and nighmares, lay bindings, and see or hear anything anywhere within the city walls. What he cannot do is interact directly with the world around him. Seloukon’s grandfather taught him to read and write, and he can communicate only by casting the shadow of letters on the wall.

Hearing his own people’s tongue for the first time in centuries stirred something in him, and he now tries to help his two adopted “grandchildren” in any way he can. He deeply regrets cursing Anha and Fin, and weasels around his lord's commands in any way he can. Fin especially is very grateful for his companionship, and pledged to somehow steal the crown and destroy it, finally freeing him to die.

First off, I hate one-dimensional villains, which is why Voldemort annoys the hell out of me. So, Seloukon:

He’s a handsome man in his early fifties, and pure Kuoros nobleman. He takes pride in his bloodlines and is nationalistic almost to the point of fanaticism. His family has NOT, however, always been as high as they are now, and it makes him a paranoid about that power slipping away.

He is now effectively the ruler of the Empire behind the throne, ever since Emperor Pyross’ mental acuity and overall health began to decline. He does crave power, but does not view this move as malicious or traitorous—he is aiding his country as best he can, by preventing Nikolias, a man with possibly divided loyalties, from ascending the throne and encouraging his mother's people to rebel. Seloukon can be a right bastard when he feels his power is being threatened, and has a sadistic streak he mostly takes out on Anha. And not physically, since he feels himself above such crudities as rape, but emotionally, and has her teetering on the edge of despair.

But, and this is a big but, he doesn’t see himself as an “evil” man, but a pragmatic one. He cares very well for his own household and family, especially for his only son. At first, he had approached Anha with the opportunity for voluntary partnership, and it was only after she refused in disgust that he moved to trap her, because her talents were too valuable to the task of preserving his country. He does horrible, horrible things but believes them justified in service of the greater good.

To be done: Prince Nikolias (equal amounts love interest!!! and annoying sarcastic guy), General Mettic (um, Uncle Iroh with a drinking problem, and I don't mean tea), Emperor Pyrros (gonna croak soon), Yasmin (the cosseted intellectual with a raging crush on Anha), Lady Djosaena (Niko's sister and generally whip-smart badass politican), Farnasz (her husband), Matti (her adopted son and teenaged warrior monk), Empress Eirene (Anna Nicole Smith!), Prince Aleksander (Niko's half-brother and blowhard)

Dead people that still deserve brief profiles: Chiowe Ada (Niko and Djosaena's mother), Lief (Anha's husband), Heath (Anha's father),

Bizarrely Cheerful--WARNING SYSTEM ERROR

2007-09-22T00:09:57Z

I got a bite on a huge job yesterday. One of my former classmates snagged a job at an interactive media company that does kid's work.

Her boss was all like: NEED CHEAP PAINTERLY DEADLINE-CONSCIOUS KID'S ILLUSTRATOR NOW
and she was all like: I HAVE CONNECTIONS TO SUCH PEOPLE...BAT SIGNAL!
and I was all like: I'LL GET MY CAPE

She said words like "contract" and "fees" in her email, so it smells like the real thing. Getting a deposit and incremental payment anyways, just in case.

I hate writing comic scripts. I learned that this week. I also firmly believe that unless you're enjoying your hobbies, you're doing it wrong. Maybe I will just go for the novel. The longest piece of fiction I've ever written comes out at only a smidge over 21,000 words, so we'll see.

I need a new lj layout. Will have time to do this when?

Avatar Book 3 premier tonight and I gots no TV. ;_;

Aang: One with all living creatures.
Sokka: About to be one with the bunny-mouse, preferably with a nice teriyaki glaze and a hint of lemon.

Job Secured...Level Complete!

2007-09-18T00:53:57Z

I miss my PlayStation :(.

But I got a job. And since when it rains, it pours, an hour later I got a second. I'll be the Church Office Lady at Third Unitarian in Austin three days a week, and will also be doing gig-based holographic print production courtesy of kuroloki (THANK YOU AGAIN!).

This brings me up to three.

Plus the volunteer do-gooderism for Urban Habitat Chicago, in which I am Lead Designer (my staff consists of a jade plant and a stuffed moose, don't tell).

Plus the ~~ATLA fanfic~~ White City comic. I scripted the rest of the first "issue" while listening to gypsy punk-rock at the Old Town School. Don't ask. Now I have to write it down.

I made sesame eggplant dip with the stuff in the farmshare bag. It's kinda weird by itself, but I have this feeling it would make fantastic vegetarian gyoza filling. This needs to be investigated further.

P.S. kuroloki I lost your phone number. We have to figure out the transportation situation for Saturday.
P.P.S. I call you tonight, questionstar. Saturday won't work, for reasons vaguely alluded to in previous post script. Want to catch Stardust on Sunday?

I make with the tl;dr

2007-09-12T01:11:02Z

I'm going to be posting a whole ton of the background to The White City story I've been working on, mostly to have a backup of it accessible wherever I happen to be, and as a diary of the creative process because I like that sort of thing. Feedback is not required unless you're really moved, because this journal will be deluged.

I, and the characters when they speak, refer to it as “Earth”, but it’s not OUR earth. It shares quite a lot, from sheep to strawberries to the Silk Road, but has followed a somewhat different evolutionary path. Wooly mammoths are still hunted for their bones and ivory, for instance, and when one prays, there’s a slim chance a god will sit up and notice.

When the story opens, the planet is entering a Little Ice Age after a comet struck the northern tundra. Glaciers are consuming the mountains in the north, and perpetual drought has struck the savannah in the south, turning formerly hearty farmland into barren dunes. Driven by cold or starvation, nomadic tribes are surging into the area controlled by an old, huge, highly advanced empire and clashing violently with its citizens, with disastrous consequences for all sides. Our heroine, Anha, was a princess (I use this word VERY loosely) of one of these tribes, from the pine forest and grassy valleys of the far north.

Character Profile: Anhavair
Firstborn daughter of the chieftain of the tribe of the Three Pines, and would have taken his place when he died. Nineteen years old in the prologue, twenty-one years old during the main story.

She has six arrow-shaped ritual scars on her torso: one on each breast, one on her sternum, one on each side of her belly, and one directly above her navel. They mark her as having a witch’s blood and power, called Shadow-working, which is passed on only though the female line. Her particular talents, and they are prodigious, lie in shapeshifting. She can take the form of an ermine, raven, or Siberian tiger at will, and while in that form retains every bit of her human intelligence. Mastering a new body takes years, and very few witches or wizards achieve more than three. In addition, she has somewhat weaker abilities to cross over into the Shadowlands, a realm of perpetual murky night where the gods and spirits dwell, very close to Dreams and Death.

She was a masterful hunter and extremely charismatic, flowering into a strong and competent leader her family, especially her father, was very proud of. She married at fifteen, became a mother at sixteen, and was widowed at nineteen when a plague burned through her tribe while she, her brother Fin, and small group of her warriors where out on a trading expedition. A rival chieftain, who did not approve of her father’s choice to trade with rather than raid the Imperial frontiersmen and teach his children their tongue, used it as an excuse to massacre those few of her family that survived the plague. She and her brother were exiled on pain of death. With nothing but their horses, their bows, and a few packs of trade goods, Anha saw no choice but to enter deeper into Imperial territory and hope her people’s reputation for bloodthirst would be enough to land her work as a guard or private mercenary.

It worked better than she hoped. She was noticed by a powerful Imperial duke who had directed many campaigns on the frontier against the encroaching horsemen and also knew the tales of their witchcraft were true. Unfortunately, his intentions were not altruistic. He was extremely power hungry, and saw in her magic an incredible tool to wield in his plot to overthrow the ruling dynasty. He trapped her with a curse, and now keeps her and her brother within the Imperial capital as spies, saboteurs, and assassins. She hates him for what he did to her, and hates herself even more for the cruelty and pain she has inflicted by his command.

I don't recall reading any stories that use a "minion of the Dark Lord" (as it were) as the main character. Does it just not occur to anybody?

digitaltart

Icky sticky can of worms

2007-09-10T14:53:24Z

Topic: race in fantasy. Or: I pretend I know what the hell I am talking about.

One of the protagonists is white. One of them is black. The rest of the cast mostly comes in various shades of darker-than-a-latte, because sweet bejebus am I tired of bland Eurocentric fantasy.

But. But, BUT…I’m afraid of appropriating and exoticizing, having been raised by people who are Not Cool with That Shit, but really, what’s the line? I have a genuine respect for the contributions the Islamic empires, because their art / astronomy / mathematics / medicine were INCREDIBLE and god damn the Alhambra is one place I want to see before I die (and thanx for passing the '0' our way, guys).

The fact remains the main character defaulted to white. BAD SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS WRITER. BAD.

On the flipside, fantasy fiction is absolutely rank with racist tripe. The Drow are still around, for chrissake. Around and popular, and no amount of revision to the game books will change how fucked up the concept is. They’re dark-skinned and violent and whipped by their women and live in the ~~ghetto~~ Underdark. You could not get any more blatant unless you dressed them up in cheetah skins and had them yelling ooga-booga while murdering all them ~~white~~ wood elf women.

My story lacks the white colonialist element that so pisses me off about most other stories that rely on this trope, since the pseudo-northern European culture is very primitive compared Middle Eastern/North African people to the south, but still. There’s so much pesky emotional investment in the character I don’t want to change her. Sigh. Any first work will be flawed, I suppose.

Upcoming!

Rants on heteronormativity, how to write feminist fiction without being misandristic and preachy, complete disregard for the disabled, and why writing about people who are not straight white men is not being "PC", but rather REALISTIC.

Awright.

2007-08-22T02:17:22Z

Nothing spectacular, but at least I can draw again.

I'm not sure I want to make it Sequential Images, now that it comes right down to it, for I have discovered a hitherto unknown wild passion for the written word. What I really want to do, I think, is make a big fat illustrated novel. Unfortunately, the publishing world has generally agreed illustrated books Are for Children, Okay, So Don't Go Putting Sex in Them. The only time I have seen this convention broken (and broken well), was Dream Hunters by Neil Gaiman and Yoshitaka Amano, and they're Neil fuckin' Gaiman and Yoshitaka fuckin' Amano, and whatever they produce will sell.

May turn this into a worldbuilding journal. That way, the guilt will propel me to write more maybe!

evilgecko @ 2007-08-13T20:51:00

2007-08-14T01:57:32Z

Me: It's lookin' a little slow at work this week. Maybe I can start those character sheets I've been meaning to--

My uterus: HOOORMONES FUN TIME!!!

Me: I hate my art. I hate my writing. I hate my me. *emo emo emo*

My uterus: NOW YOU BLEED.

Me: I may be a third-wave lesbian feminist, but I am not embracing this gift of my divine femininity. My divine femininity is being clubbed into unconsciousness with extra-strength ibuprofen and gelato.

My uterus: I HAVE SPECIAL TREAT FOR YOU THIS MONTH, TOFU-SLURPING, GRANOLA-BAKING, NONCOW-EATING HIPPIE. I CALL IT--"IRON DEFICIENCY ANEMIA".

Me: Oh, fuck you.

*collapses into bed*

P.S. nekokikichan where are you? When I said I'd buy you lunch that was not an idle threat.

evilgecko @ 2007-08-04T12:31:00

2007-08-04T17:37:40Z

(Art)

I have to get my license soon. I am not looking forward to this. Cars, frankly, terrify me. They are expensive to maintain, annoying to store, bad for the planet, and easy to kill people with. I recognize their necessity in certain situations, such as when you are transporting heavy furniture, but other than that I don't want to touch them. People tell me I am being silly for feeling these sorts of reservations.

About 43,000 people are killed in car accidents every year, 2,900,000 are injured, and if oil consumption continues at current rates (it's actually increasing due to the rapid industrialization of China and India), the supply will flatline about 50 years from now.

It's not that that I'm too scared of driving. It's that other people aren't scared enough.

Nothing Much

2007-07-21T05:49:00Z

I have moved out of my parent's metaphorical basement and now live in Edgewater, which is cause for a celebration that I don't have the energy to put on because I spent ALL FUCKING YESTERDAY IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO OR ON AIRPLANES. Maybe later. The place has a deck with a killer view. I have a cat now--Morrigan, Goddess of Death, whom I did not name and generally refer to as "Gordita", because she is. There are hardwood floors, a big full-length mirror, and no cockroaches, so I am counting this as a success.

Harry Potterfest blah blah I don't care. The magnitude of my apathy has surprised even myself. I think I spent all my dorkish enthusiasm on the Golden Compass movie and essays by Ursula LeGuin, who is 100x smarter than I will ever be. She makes me want to write things about warrior princesses who are through being caricatures of Third-Wave feminism as filtered through the adolescent male psyche, because inner strength is more interesting than outer strength, and metal bustiers pinch.

WARNING PERSONAL ITEMS OF PERSONAL NATURE BY WHICH I MEAN WHINING...
follows this announcement.

This love business is creeping me out, "me" being the sort of person with an imagination. It is very difficult to turn off, and I am therefore caught up in helpless extrapolation about what will happen when she decides she doesn't want me anymore. I feel like I could spend the rest of my life with her (which, I have been led to believe, is a common symptom of being twenty-two and in love). So I'm not sure which is more frightening: hoping it will last and finding it doesn't, or assuming it won't and being proven correct.

This is why artists are so annoying to date. Save yourself the trouble and DON'T DO IT.

evilgecko @ 2007-06-07T14:18:00

2007-06-07T19:22:07Z

Quick summary of events in no logical order:

1. Met Mayor Daley yesterday at a lecture on climate change (which was fantastic and had incredibly good free hor'devours ). He was as tall as I am in heels. My shoes gave me about 2 inches, and without them I stand 5 ft tall. O.O

2. Rescued a bagle-mutt-thing Em and I found running around Evanston. Its tags put it from somewhere in Austin, which is fuckall far away on the west side. It seemed healthy, smelled okay, and was cute as the dickens. I hope Buster D. Watson's family come to get him soon. I took a picture but it is stuck in my phone.

3. I NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE.

Chicago Transit Authority: Perfect Hell

2007-02-26T02:08:42Z

1. Wait half an hour on platform in freezing rain.
2. Watch train approach. Watch train pass you without stopping.
3. Wait half an hour in station enclosure. Attendant knows nothing about anything.
4. Train arrives at speed of elderly snail, sparking so much you can see the light a mile away.
5. Train stops, and you board.
6. Train can't get going again.
7. Train finally moves.
8. Heat goes out.
9. Lights go out.
10. Trains gets stuck on tracks about 9,000 times.
11. Crazy drunk boards.
12. Crazy drunk lights up.
13. Crazy drunk begins screaming homophobic insults at you and your girlfriend.
14. Delay due to second crazy drunk screaming insults at conductor from platform.
15. Delay due to first crazy drunk almost missing his stop and being too smashed to operate the manual door control.
16. Transfer to subway. Train passes you going wrong direction on wrong side of platform.
17. Wait 20-30 minutes for track to clear. Board train.

Average time of journey, my door to girlfriend's door: 1 hour and 10-20 minutes. Time last night: 3 hours and 30 minutes.

evilgecko @ 2007-02-22T16:52:00

2007-02-22T22:52:43Z

What kind of sick fuck wears flipflops in Chicago in February?

In other news, Mexican zombies.

2007-02-09T04:50:06Z

Somebody got the BRILLIANT idea to lock the kitchen door around 11 this morning, which meant I was stuck outside the main floor in my pajamas and couldn't get to class. I tried! Not my fault!

I'm working on a student film as concept artist! It's awesome! I am abusing exclamation points and someday they will undoubtedly come at me in a dark alley brandishing baseball bats in retaliation!

There's a ton of art under here, only a few of which are thumbnailed because I couldn't be bothered to do them all. The zombie ones are all from the film:

Aaaaaaaaaaannnnnggh Braaaaaaains

2006-12-04T04:23:02Z

I have decided to raise this thing from the grave because I have succeeded in unscrambling my brain. Done with angst.

NERD NEWS:
I got FFXII last week, and I've only played for fours hours but I love this game already. NO RANDOM BATTLES OMG SO HAPPY. They even fixed two of my big pet peeves about FF games: the characters now pull their weapons from scabbards, slings, and holsters instead of thin air, and characters bleed and bruise when struck during cutscenes. The plot seems very promising so far. I like political intrigue far better than the crazy shite that passes for a story in the rest of the damn things I've played (Tidus is the dead dream of a what now? Kuja is an evil monkey clone? What the HELL actually happened in Nibelheim?). Also there are sexy bunnies in black vinyl and English pirates on flying motorcycles!

ART NEWS:
Children's book illustration has eaten up almost all of my pleasure drawing time. Will post soon.

REAL LIFE NEWS:
I've discovered I really don't care for thong underwear. And I need to buy people ~~Christmas~~ Non-denominational Winter Holiday presents!

Unimportant Non-Announcement

2006-10-09T04:00:27Z

All entries in this account have been deleted and no more will be added. I have preserved the account so I may sporadically keep up with my friends page. If you are happening upon this journal for the first time, don't friend me. Well...you could, but it would be rather pointless.

My DeviantArt Gallery and portfolio site will still be updated on a regular basis. I assume that's why most of my friendlist is here in the first place.

~

*glee*