Insomnia makes you not sleep? Who woulda thunk it

For some reason i couldn't sleep last night. I guess my head was just full of stuff. Stuff i want to do, things i'd like to get done. I tried to make a coherant list, but despite the fact that i couldn't sleep i was sleepy. Weird eh? 

Of course, the phone call at half past two in the morning made it all worth it :) 

One of the things in my head was about art, and drawing. The other was that i blog a lot about WoW and maybe i should make something out of that. Another was that picture at the top of the post. I mean, lots of people carry around bananas and guns in their pockets. Women shouldn't just assume. Especially if your friend is a monkey or an officer of the law. 

Ho ho ho, and all that

So it's christmas time again. You eat too much, and you drink a little bit too much, stay out until 2 in the morning on Christmas eve and then show up for church at 9. Good times. I personally love the holiday season, except for the commercial bits, but you have to take the good with the annoying i suppose. This is the first year in a long while where i'm not in the advertising business during Christmas, and i tell you what, some of my cynicism has been worn away. 

Also, presents are nice. 

To escape the heat today, my mum, sister and i went to see Valkyrie. I honestly wasn't very interested in it, but it was the only thing that was on at the right time. It's basically a historical thriller, and some of it is very very slow. And i mean sloooow, i can't say much without spoiling the plot, but bear with it. It was also interesting to see the German Resistance to the Nazi movement, as opposed to the American and British perspectives that we see a lot in world war 2 movies ( and admittedly, videogames). 

Tom Cruise was alright in it, he seemed very American though, which i thought detracted a bit from the film. Half the cast is also British, and their German accents were sometimes pretty laughable. But all in all, i was a little choked up at the end. After all, the film is based on the true story of the German resistance and all that. Real people gave their lives to fight evil, and paid the ultimate price for it. 

I also really don't like Nazis. I'm part Gypsy, and yeah, the Nazis didn't like them much. All in all, if i were to rate Valkyrie, i'd give it 3 slices out of 5. Which is a lot of slices of cake to eat. 

Not photoshopped at all

I mean, why would i photoshop something like that? 

Pictures are like stories without having to talk to people

I do not often leave this great metropolis that is known as Suva. But when i do, i sure as hell make sure that there is photographic evidence! Here's a couple of the Pre-Christmas holiday that i went on...kind of randomly. 

That's me trying to harness the power of the Hard Rock Cafe for Awesomeness. It worked, as you can tell. 

Thats the sister and I at this really Remarkable Sweet Shop. It was actually quite remarkable at how remarkable this store was. I may in fact, make a remark about it. 

I like to point out things. For example, the fact that we are at The Fijian. 

Or those strange plant men hiding in the bushes.

And the Kraken. I took care of that though, with some Kraken-punchin'. I really love my awesome hat by the way. It keepses the head warm, a very important thing if you're planning to move to a cold locale. 

Finally, i made this really unprofessional looking collage of some of the landscape pictures i took. As you can see, i have absoloutely no experience in the realm of photography :P

Just got back from the West

and feeling browner and happier for it. Was kinda an unexpected trip, and those are always the best. Plus, i got to score an awesome new hat. 

Will post a longer and more pictureful post soonish. 

Also, merry christmas ya monkies! 

Comparin' Colors

So i drew the lines for this a coupla days ago at Maccers (the same day that Lawrence did his undead santa sketch i believe) and Wilson asked if i could send him the lines for him to color. So i did...and here are both of our results :D

Wil's is very...trippy. My sister approves of it more than my more traditional colors...but then again, my sister says my drawing looks like something on the back of a bus seat. 

Happy fun mount time

Just a Belf, a troll and their bears.

You sa deserve to be punished sara ga

Spent the day with the little brother today, he is quite articulate now. Also, tall. For an eight year old. Mucking around town with him, i was kind of reminded of a younger me. We talked about vidjagames, cartoons, all sorts of stuff. And girls of course. He's at that age where girls are still icky though, i remember that too. 

I went and dropped him home in the arvo, and then took a stroll around the old neighbourhood. I had some good times up there, like the time i got in trouble for tagging that wall with a mate of mine, the first time that the same mate showed me the dog at number twenty five. Now this dog, barks like mad whenever you go past. And not the typical bark too, but this crazy, slobbering, i'm-going-to-rip-your-throat out bark that never seems to disturb you. It also always seems to wait until you are halfway past the gate, and then jump out and start it's thing. 

Anyway, we were walking past one day, the dog jumps out, makes us jump and my friend stops. Turning to me he asks "you want to see something funny?"

He turns to the dog, and makes a little spinning motion with his hand, and the dog stops barking, and runs around in a little circle. I swear to xenu, it was the funniest thing i had ever seem. Since then, everytime i would walk past number 25, i'd stop and wait for the dog to jump out, so i could make the motion and watch that dog spin around. The dog wasn't there today though, but i laughed anyway when the memories hit me. 

The reason that the punisher is up there is because John, Arjay (or Arc as he likes to called lately) and I went to see Punisher:Warzone. It was much better than i expected it to be. From the trailer, i was expected a mopey film, with a little bit of strange chandelier spinning action in it. Admittedly, the film had both those things, but it also had some brutal action, and a couple of cheesy one liners. If you're not doing anything, give it a shot. Hehe, i made a pun there, coz The Punisher shoots a lotta people you see? 

Northrend Bound

I have been having fun in Northrend. Despite the fact that the natives tend to be terribly hostile, and the cold. Seedus bought some thermal frostweave underwear yesterday though, so he has no need worry about the future generations of Little Seedus's being cold. Speaking of future generations, baby murlocs are too cute :D

Seedy had to rescue a few of the little tadpoles this morning, and after he did he made level 72. yay! Also, i had no idea that baby murlocs were called tadpoles, so you learn something new about fictional species of aquatic humanoids everday. I also really like Dalaran. It's a city of mages, and i spent a lot of time just walking around and talking to people. I also bought a bear, i think i will call him Barry. 

That's not Barry by the way, that's Berginald. Barry is much much bigger. 

What is that? is that the color of magic?

So Lawrence took us to a DVDer shop yesterday, and Eagle-eye John spotted it. It was just lying there, a DVD with a note attached to it. The note read "story like harry potter, 2 discs". I was a bit skeptical, having not heard that they were making a live action adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Color of Magic (the first book in the Discworld series, which i absoloutely love) and was actually slightly worried that it might be porn. I mean i dunno, when it comes to picking DVD's i usually manage to pick really bad B-movies, a skill i have inherited from my father. 

I bought it anyway, took it home and put the first disc on. For the next hour and a half, my face was like this: 

:) 

Basically they made a made-for-tv movie based on the first two books in the series, The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic. The story sticks very close to the plot of the books, so much so that i found myself quoting certain bits as the movie played. I have read those books many many times, and watching the actors go about their business was awesome. 

Complaints i have? well...none really, they omitted a couple of bits that might have been a bit tough to do the graphics for, such as the Temple of Bel-Shamaroth bit (and even then, they mention the temple like 3 times) and Rincewind the Inept Wizard is a little older than i pictured him in my mind. Okay, a lot older. This is mainly because i picture Paul Kidby's illustrations from The Last Hero when i picture him mentally, where he's a kind of skinny dude with a wispy beard in his late thirties, like the picture below:

Whereas in the Movie, he's played by David Jason, who looks like this:

I got used to it though, and Mr. Jason makes a pretty good Rincewind. I was also surprised at the amount of actors that were recognisable in it, like Sean "Samwise Gamgee" Astin as the Discworlds first tourist Twoflower, Jeremy Irons as Lord Vetinari (in a pretty small role admittedly) and Christopher Lee as the voice of Death. 

After watching it, i want to get my hands on the latest Pratchett novel that i haven't got yet. Also, i hope that they make a movie out of at least one of the Sam Vimes novels. Guard's Guard's! would be a great show. Or Thud! or Night Watch or the Fifth Elephant...okay basically any Sam Vimes novel would be good. 

Illustration from www.paulkidby.net who does most of the cover illustrations for the novels, check his work out, tis awesome 

Also, the story if you wondering, is nothing like Harry Potter. 

Remember that one time? Where i was all, Edd wants it?

I have ^_^

After finishing up another round of Market Research work, i scored some monies and a copy of Wrath of the Itch King. Lich King? Something like that. 

Seedus was the first to go to Northrend, for some reason (i was still unsure whether i would buy the expansion) i had respecced him from Arcane to Fire. I think i knew...besides, fire is the coolest spec ever, what with all the new instant spells you get for going aaaall the way down to the bottom of the tree. Too bad Living Bomb is useless :( 

It's a damage over time spell you see, and as a mage, you can't allow an enemy to be wailing on you while you wait for some DoT to take effect. We are not warlocks with huge health pools...we are weak little glass cannons. So, for the final payoff for the high end burst damage tree to be a DoT is a little...meh. That's the only complaint you'll get out of me about Fire as a tree. 

I just re-read those last two paragraphs and realised that if you knew nothing about WoW it would read like a foreign language =_=

Anyways, looks like i'm northrend bound now :)

Where a man can still be free...or a woman if you are one

'ello. So i've got a phone again thanks to John. He verily hath saved my buttocks, and he even made me go to Vodafone yesterday to get my sim card replaced. I think he just didn't want to go home :P

anyway, while waiting for John to show up and pick me up from my mum's office i drew things. Most of em weren't my idea, my sisters friend asked me to to draw her (my sister, not her friend) so i did, and gave her a sword. Then i drew myself...and gave me a biiig honking sword. Then John...and Lawrence, and before i knew it i had a whole bunch of characters :) 

So while lying in couch last night i tried to come up character classes and special attacks and stuff, for my friends and i. So, from left to right we have: 

Wilson (Totem-slinger): wields two axes (because Islanders have bonus to axes, it's a racial ability)  and has the ability to plant totems that boost the partys abilities. Can also heal people, so thats what we get him to do. 

Limit Break: Freak out! Wilson brings out a radio with awesome techno tunes that boost the partys attack power and damages all enemies that are not immune to music attacks (like old people, and nuns) 

John Michaels (Threat Manager): For some reason, John has the highest HP of eeeveryone in the party. We don't know what it is, just something about him. For that reason, we put him in front of whatever it is we are fighting, and get him to soak up the damage. Has abilities to get an enemies attention when he loses it like Threatening Email, and Bork!

Limit Break:  Shining Beacon. John begins to glow with the power of a thousand watt lightbulb, increasing the amount that he gets from healing, and all the bad guys tend to look at him more. And also has a chance to blind them with its awesomeness. 

Albie (Semi-employed Swordsman): wields a huge ass blade that doesn't look very sharp, but still could damage you plenty if he hit you with it. Also has the ability to affect the ebb and flow of time, speeding up allies and slowing down enemies. ( the techniques for that are annoying rib poke and  short story reading respectively) 

Limit Break: Overcompensation. Hits you with his huge sword several times, each blow doing slightly more damage than the previous one. Has the potential to finish fights quickly. 

Noodle (Ranter): Combination healer and damage dealer (like a paladin! but not like paladin...because they annoying) with a hammer that can heal or hurt depending on the situation. How does that work you ask? basically, if she hits a friend it heals them, if she hits an enemy they get hurt. Also has access to hammer space. 

Limit Break: Lkjhgfdsa. Unleashes a Rant of epic proportions, shattering the enemy's morale until they are naught but gibbering fools. Unless she's already fighting gibbering fools, then they are immune. 

Siannie (Mini-feminist): Has various status effects depending on the gender of the ally or enemy. For example, there is the Feminist Propaganda spell, that will either increase a males attack power, or boost a females magical power. What? you thought it would have debilitating effects on males? tsk tsk

Limit Break: Tutti-Frutti: Deals [Ice-cream] damage to the enemy. No one said all limit breaks have to be cool. Don't worry though, it has an awesome animation.

Lawrence Cass (Zombeh Summoner): Caster class with minions (sound familiar?) and spells that cause plenty of damage over time (yes...really familiar). Lawrence, as his class suggests, summons zombies to take damage instead of him in the form of meatshield or to simply harass the enemy. 

Limit Break: Zombeh Hordezors: Summons a horde of zombies that wipe through the enemy, destroying all in their path. At the end of it, a dimensional portal is summoned to send them all back to the netherworld...has a small chance for the dimensional portal to fail...

That was fun :P

Off the grid again :(

Phone is missing again, i have lost count of how many fucking mobile phones that makes. I think i should stop wearing these pants with the tiny pockets. From now on it's giant cargo pants for me. 

/sigh

anyways, Pic of TJ and Raj up there, the dynamic duo from the ill fated TJ Bounty: Bounty Hunter series that i worked on with Lawrence. Was watching TV last night and drawing, so my mind must have been on automatic. It came out pretty well though :)

Click! Click!

So, long weekend after a week of being sick? check. Was definately a weekend to remember though, and it went pretty much according to schedule. Go out with the mates? yep. Get stopped trying to get into O's? yep. Some form of drama? yep. Watch a good flick at John's place? Gotcher. 

Things be good mon, things be good. 

Haven't done a whole bunch of drawing this week, the ol' art supplies have run low again. So as soon as John pays me back the failmoney that i gave him for Wrath i will have to make wonderful purchases of erasers, inking pens, markers and freaky fresh paper. I love that fresh paper smell, when you rip open the packaging and see all that lovely blank paper. 

I ran into a couple of old friends from school this weekend. And i'm not talking like, high school old, i'm talking primary school old. It was...interesting. The first thing i did when i saw him was sneak up behind and yell, "oy! fuck you!" in his ear. He remembered me after that. 

I would tell you about Drive Thru, but i'm sure Lawrence will tell you all about it, i give it two bob-ombs outta four though, so if you're looking for a slasher flick that will give you a laugh, give it a go. Also, i have learned that if you want to grab my attention with a movie, waiting for wiggas to get chopped up by a killer clown is a sure fire way. 

Imma go and play some more final fantasy tactics now, i'm stuck at the same place i was years ago when i was a twelve year old trying to wrap my mind around this grid based game. It seems i still haven't changed much from that kid. It's cool though, he's a pretty neat fellah. 

Hey uh...howsit?

yeah, due to sickness i have forgotten to mention that i finished final fantasy 12! yesh, it was early on tuesday morning, at around 3 o'clock, when Vayne the Undying finally fell to my blades and Magick (no one uses the Technicks, they are the useless). What a ride it was. Looking at my play time, i logged 60 hours into that game, and according to various websites, had only finished half of the sidequests. It is still up in the air whether i'm going to go back and finish them, i think Arjay might want his PS2 back.

Wondering if i can squeeze a little bit of FF7: Dirge of Cerberus in, before i hand it over :)

Also managed to get my hands on the PSX version of Tactics, after watching the intro to the new remake on youtube. 

yes, i am a Final Fantasy Fanboy, and damn proud of it. 

I threw a beanbag at her

I am depressed. There are all the signs, (and the sighs) and this bug that my lovely cousins have bestowed upon me. Then there are all the usual worries that i have, that i'm not doing anything in particular with my life, that the girl that i love is a thousand million kabillion miles away, that i don't have a job! 

man...i'm going to give myself early wrinkles and a receding hairline if i don't deal with this soon. 

I hate it when photoshop crashes

because it never does just after you save something. It will crash on you when you're just about to save a piece you've been working for the past hour on.