Board Stiff.

The message board is pretty screwed up right now. I don't know what happened, but when I checked it yesterday, I noticed that it wasn't working. Some error message was there. I did nothing to make this happen. I didn't change a thing between the time I last checked it and yesterday. So whatever went wrong was caused on the web host's end, not mine.

I left it up to tech support to try and fix it. However, thus far they have tried to fix it and told me that it was working, when it should have been painfully obvious to anyone with half a brain who spent more than 30 seconds looking at it that it was not fixed at all. I really can't be bothered to try and fix it myself right now. And it's not worth the effort since it's hardly used at all. So if it can't be put back to normal, I'll just axe the board entirely for now, and likely change my hosting provider this fall due to poor service.

It's a shame for this to happen. I know the board has not been brimming with activity for a while, and I guess I'm to blame for that. I just haven't really had it in me to keep the place going, and since I wasn't updating the rest of the site very much anyway there was little reason for anyone to use it. But just recently I was nostalgicly reminiscing and reading a bunch of posts going all the way back to when the board first opened. There really was a great little community there for awhile, and some very interesting posting going on. It would be a shame to lose all that. I wanted to try and make an effort to revitalize the board and bring it back to the way it was at that time, but I guess now that's looking unlikely and there's nothing I can do about it.

I do appreciate the people who did post, and I encourage you all to contact me if you have ideas on what could be done about this or what other courses of action there are. I don't want to let anyone else down.

Whatever happens, I'll let everyone know right here.

Sayonara.

Shocked.

I going to talk about some honestly serious business.

Canadian Wrestler Chris Benoit Found Dead With Family In Suspected Murder-Suicide

I really don't know what to say right now.

I've been starring at this blank screen for what seems like hours. There just... aren't any words. It's all so frustrating and confusing, and it's been that way since I first heard about this at around 6 p.m. yesterday. I'm shocked. But... I feel like I should say something so I'll do my best.

Chris Benoit was an incredible wrestler. He was just awesome in that ring. Every move he performed was done with incredible intensity and believability. Although he was never a flashy performer, he was well respected by the fans for his talent alone. He was the real deal, and could have a great match with just about anyone else on the card. The true wrestling fans absolutely loved watching his matches, partly because his matches were so well crafted, and partly because we could tell just how much effort and passion he put into performing for us. And the Canadian fans... well, we pretty much worshiped the guy. We were all so proud that this great Canadian wrestler could find success and win championships and rise to the top of his field by just being what he was: a quiet, tough wrestler.

I followed his career for a long time, and not only did I respect him as a wrestler and a performer, but also as a person. He stood up for what he believed it and knew the value of his own work when he left WCW, a company that held him down for so long. I know that he had forged great friendships in the business and that he was passing on his knowledge to the younger stars. Above all he was a family man. But what I respected the most about him was his silent intensity and dignity in the way he carried himself in and out of the ring. That attitude commanded respect, and that's something I like to see in myself. I'm a quiet person, and I keep to myself most of the time. His career is proof that you don't need to be loudest joker in the room in order to find success, and even though I'm an artist and he was a wrestler, I relate to that.

That's why this is all so shocking to me. To know that someone you have been watching on television almost every week for the better part of the last decade, someone who you have seen get knocked around in an admittedly stagged but no less physical and dangerous performance, someone who had received major neck surgery and came back stronger than ever, someone who you had the utmost respect for... to know that person has died... it's bad enough. To know that his wife and son have died as well... that's absolutely terrible. But now, to know that the people investigating this tragic event are operating under the theory that he murdered his family over the weekend and then committed suicide... there are no words for how that feels.

This guy was a hero to me and to millions of others, and I don't want to believe it. I can't understand how somebody like this could do something so horrible. I know I can't fully judge the kind of person he was simply on what I know from watching him on TV, but still, it doesn't make sense. If this is true then it'll break my heart.

I just don't get it. This just sucks.

Sayonara.

The June Catch Up.

My birthday was nothing too special. Just a quiet day at home. There was cake though! Cake is good.

I have finished all of my weekday art teaching commitments for the school year. All in all it was an interesting experience. I can't really say if it was positive or negative one though. It just was what it was; a job. Some students were cute, some were really into the material, and some were just bloody obnoxious. There were tough days that were really hard to get through, especially with the younger kids, and as I've said before, teaching these after school programs is completely different than anything I've been through in all my years teaching on Saturday mornings. But I got through it, I did the best I could, and I believe that some of the students improved their drawing skill. Hopefully I made a difference in the lives of a few of them. The administration is happy and I'll probably be offered to work there again in the fall.

So, not a lot is going on right now. I've been working on a new piece of art with ideas for several more, and they're all fairly big projects that are going to take up some time. I'm trying to get better and work faster though, so I can build up a more professional array of work to get out there. We'll see what happens.

Haven't been doing much else. Not much time for video games or anime or movies or anything fun. Oh well.

Nobody has said anything to me about the latest updates. That pretty much sucks. Suppose it's my own fault for not updating often enough.

That's all for now.

Sayonara.

RISE.

Today is my birthday. I am 27.

I celebrate by updating my website for the first time in over a year. How exciting!

Perhaps this is not the typical way one spends a birthday, but I make no allusions towards being in any way typical. Besides, today isn't just my birthday, it's also the 10th anniversary of the original version of this website! So, I couldn't just leave this place stagnant for something like that. So, take a look at the new updates and enjoy.

Finally, I gotta say, Rise of the Silver Surfer is an AWESOME movie! It totally rocked! Don't wait for the DVD. Go and see it on the big screen, the experience is worth it.

Sayonara.

Newsworthy!

I had mentioned about a month ago that I was interviewed by The Associated Press for an upcoming article. I kept the details under wraps, since I didn't really know how it would turn out, or if anything I said was even going to be used.

Well, here it is! The article is, of course, about fans of Transformers and our excitement over the upcoming live action movie. It has now been published, and I'm happy to say that I am indeed a part of the final product, and it came out rather well. Give it a read!

Transformers' movie taps into young-adult nostalgia for 1980s toy craze

This link is from an Ohio outlet. There are dozens of other websites and newspapers carrying it all over the continent.

I was contacted for this article mainly because I won first place in the "TransGenerations" trivia contest at TransformersCon this past year. So I guess they wanted to talk to me because I know my stuff. When I was interviewed, I was asked a lot about that trivia, like what questions I answered correctly. I was a little nervous that maybe the article was going to be skewed in such a way that would make me look like a freak. But I did my best to represent the fandom well and I think I did that. I was also able to follow up via e-mail with the author to mention that I had worked on an 8-page comic for TransformersCon the past 2 years, and thankfully that tidbit ended up in the article. The author reassured me that I sounded much more normal than the usual people she has to speak to (those being lawyers, politicians, and businessmen). Good to know!

There was a lot of other stuff that was discussed that obviously didn't make it in. The main points are there, but what was mostly glossed over was that my interest in Transformers isn't really routed in nostalgia. It's not just something that I like because I used to like it as a kid. I like how the franchise has evolved and endured over the years, and I mainly prefer the newer lines over the older ones.

The really cool thing is that legendary Transfan Ben Yee was also interviewed. He's a huge part of what makes this fandom tick, a very important figure who has officially contributed to the Transformers mythology as a consultant on Beast Wars and writing various comic book projects. Compared to him I'm just small potatoes, so him being a part of the article adds a lot of legitimacy to it.

All in all it's a well done article that seems to be adequately researched. It's pretty cool to be a part of it. I don't really have my hopes up, but maybe it'll lead to something else down the line.

This Sunday, as in tomorrow, is my birthday. This is somewhat interesting. It is also the 10th anniversary of the original Ninjatron's SykoGrafix. This is more interesting. Maybe I should do something about that.

Sayonara.

Now this is just odd.

I got this message in my guestbook from someone called "Genesis", and I have no idea what it means!

His artwork is not bad, it's not good either! But it's not bad. I assume your just one of those guys from TransformersCon that was making fun of him that passed a couple of months ago. It's not nice.

I am quite certain that I don't understand! Not only is the English painfully awkward, but there is absolutely zero context for me to try and decipher just what this person is talking about! Whose artwork is not bad? What artwork is it? What guys from TransformersCon? Making fun of who? Arrrgh! It seems like I'm being chastised for something... but what? I can't even make any assumptions as to what is on this person's mind because I've barely been given anything to work with here. What's the deal?

Now, I'm all for anyone who wants to talk to me or leave messages or whatever. That's fine and I welcome it. But is it really too much to ask for people to at least attempt to make sense? Sometimes it seems like it is.

Sayonara.

When I'm Dead and Gone.

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Shocking how accurate this is. Especially if "the legion" is something like "The Legion of Doom".

Sayonara.

Too Japanime?

There was an interesting post in my guestbook recently.It's from "Timo". Not really sure what point Timo is trying to make here.

Nice..... just a bit too Japanime to be decent Comic book man....
sorry

Well, it's kind of like a compliment and then it moves on to become... I don't know... pity? Like it's too bad that my drawings look too much like anime, because they can never be made into a comic like that. That's pretty foolish if you ask me.

First of all, there are lots of comics that look like anime. Naturally, most of those happen to originate in Japan. Yes, Japanese comic books, or manga, are still comic books. Comics are comics, no matter what they look like. Furthermore, there are plenty of other comics from around the world that look a lot like anime. Street Fighter immediately comes to mind. And wouldn't you know it, UDON, the studio that makes the Street Fighter comics, is situated right here in Toronto, where I live. So there is absolutely nothing stopping anime style artwork, or any other kind of art for that matter, from becoming a comic. All that needs to be established is that there is a market for it.

Which leads me to my next point. If we're going to make this into a comparison between Anime and Comic books (which is stupid, but humor me), then let's look at the facts. Comic Book stores nowadays have a hard time staying afloat in today's marketplace, meanwhile Japanese comics published in English are kicking ass at retail outlets all over North America. So, with that in mind, if something looks like Japanese comics, isn't that a good thing? Doesn't that give it a better chance of finding success?

Furthermore, the way a comic is drawn is not everything that determines whether or not it's "decent". The only thing that can do that is, quite simply, if it's decent or not! If people like and it's done with quality arewhat matter the most. If it looks like "Japanime" has little to do with that, and in many cases, might actually help to get people's attention.

And finally, the word "Japanime" is pretty much an anachronism, and can be considered offensive. The word is "anime". That's all anyone needs to say when they are talking about Japanese animation.

Anyway, I know Timo was just trying to help, such as it is, and I don't take issue with anything said. Some things just need to be clarified. One way or another, my artwork is going to be put out there some day, and while I don't expect everyone to like it, the fact that it looks like anime isn't going to have any bearing on its quality at all.

Sayonara.