SMS (So Much Stuff)

Doing Laps at the Buffet

'The Bachelor' Recap

'The Bachelor' is such a stupid and entertaining show for so many reasons. I just love watching a bunch of stressed nitwits staring daggers at one another while being force-fed romance. It's garbage drama turned up to 11 between a bunch of two-faced sluts. Here's a recap of the first episode this season.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

AND THEN LATER

Realistic Goals

There's no disputing it, keeping a New Years resolution is hard. Nearly impossible, even. Here are some helpful tips to stay on track.

False Spice

Ectorgasms

Just Take The Compliment!

Downloadable Free Time

Whatever Revs Your Search Engine

Go For the 1-UP

Looking on the Bright Side of Failure

Time Out

The Bad Humor Man

A Rainbow of Blind

Sudden Mario Syndrome

Stupid Moon

Hello, fellow pumpkin fans, and Happy Halloween to you! Today I'm presenting a special Halloween/Horror themed comic that I've drawn to celebrate this holiday I love. The idea came to me a week ago and I've spent the last 5 days frantically writing and sketching to meet the end of month deadline. I used A4 printer paper and a BIC ballpoint pen as my medium, because I'm a never measure/cut once kind of guy.

It turned out to be maybe the biggest single project I've done for this blog, and I'm pleased with the results. I hope you enjoy reading it. 

Mapsession

A couple weeks back I watched a video online about a man who has been drawing an ever-growing map of an imaginary world for several decades. I was impressed by the commitment and creativity involved in maintaining this hobby. Days later while I was doodling I thought, why don't I try? So I got some paper, started drawing roads, and began forming my city.

I have to say creating a city that doesn't exist is pretty fun. As I continued to draw I found that my roads took on the grid-like quality of New York in some places, and the intersection nightmare of Paris in others. I began to imagine that the Parisian roads were part of an older more historical section of the city, while the grid was a modern, more developed area.

As I added additional sections to the map I added a river, parks, historical buildings, subway stations, and anything I thought it needed. I began naming districts and roads, and finally added some color. Here are the four segments I drew put together. Click for a larger view.

I'm pleased with how it turned out and I look at this as a practice run for another map. I don't plan to go out of control and keep drawing it for 40 years, but I sense where that man's obsession came from. Once you start, there is a strange interest in finding out what exists outside the borders of the world drawn so far. I've already started a new city map, which is similar in design to this one, and I'll post the results here if I think it's turning out well. That is all.

Fractal Dragons and Hidden Pixels

If you have graph paper on hand why not draw some fractals? All the cool kids are doing it. I've been toying around with drawing and designing fractals because it's a good way to pass the time, and to look like a huge nerdy nerd. I figured I would practice with a famous one, known as the Dragon Curve:

If you want to draw your own Dragon Curve (I bet you're fucking stoked), all you need to do is draw a straight line, then copy the line again at a 90 degree angle so it connects at the end of the previous line. Then copy those two lines again turned 90 degrees. Then copy those 4 lines turned another 90 degrees, and so on and so on until you go mad or lose your patience.

I like the strange spiraling pattern that emerges after copying and rotating a few times. But it's easy to lose track of what you're doing as the pattern becomes twice as complicated each time. The picture above took me four attempts (and I still had to scratch out a small mistake).

Here's a fractal that I made up:

Now I don't know if this fractal is completely original or if it was actually discovered in the 30's by some Austrian mathematician. I just started in the middle with a cross and began branching out equally in all directions and following a few basic rules I laid out for myself.

As I was drawing it I noticed emerging shapes that reminded me of video games. Can you spot the Mario mushroom, Zelda rupees and fairies, metroids, or Pac-Man? I like the way it turned out, though I would have kept going if I hadn't run out of paper.

Stupid paper, why must you have limits while my imagination hath none?

Space Creature Sketches

Thought I would share some sketches I did recently while at work. But Shane, you say, work is where you're supposed to work. I'll be the judge of that.

The collective theme in mind while I was drawing them is alien humanoid creatures. I imagine them to be part of crew on an intergalactic spaceship. Or visions from a drug-induced trance.

The Green Challenge: Second Update

Progress: 432 hours without meat.

Status: Tofurious?

Well, I've already made it more than halfway through this month and I think things are going well. I had a few moments of desperate hunger where I came close to buying a hamburger, but I've stayed strong.

I've found myself being more irritable and easily angered this month. It's like I'm losing my patience and becoming pissed off with almost any slight inconvenience. I don't know if it has any connection to this challenge, but look at all the aggressive vegetarians throughout history: Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Gandhi, Paul McCartney, Ellen DeGeneres, the list goes on!

The other night I had a dream where a giant slab of tofu was rampaging through the streets destroying everything in its path. Buildings were torn asunder and the air was filled with the screams of thousands as beams of fire erupted from its lifeless eyes.

I'm just joking of course. I haven't slept in two weeks.